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" - - - .-- ---- - • * > . . . . . . . . * * * * -, –3 - - * ~ * *. • 28% : -- . . . . . . . . . ... -- - . - - , , -- * * & ... - *- : - .º. --- - - - - -- - . . . ". . " > - 2. * . *. ~ * * : _> - - --- * - •- . - - .* * x - -- ". . * * * - - – 2 > . -, * * ^* * $ : ~ * 's - --- . -'- -º- - - • * ~ * * * * • * * * - - - - *. * • - - - - • - -- - *> - - - - º - *. - “J .. --- - - - - . . . . . . -: - - . . :* : " - . . . . . . - . --- . . . . . American Edition. . . . . . - - -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * : . . i--- . . . . . . . – -- -- * ~ * WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, - - - By N. w. FiskE, ... - - - - * ...” ~ * • * PROFEssor of GR AND AN INTRoductory Essay, BY MOSES STUART, PROFESSOR OF SACRED LITERATURE. IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT ANDOVER. WITH A PORTRAIT, ENGRAVED FROM AN ORIGINAL PICTURE IN WYMONDLEY HOUSE. AMHERST, MS. J. S. & C. A. DAMS, AND L. B O LTW O O D. 1836 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by J. S. & C. ADAMs, and L. Boltwood, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. J. S. & C. Adams, Printers. º:- M E M O I R. of P H I L I P Do D D R D G E. BY REv. N. W. FISKE, A. M. PROFESSOR OF GREEK AND BELLES LETTRES IN AMHERST COLLEGE. THE church of Christ possesses a rich inheritance of im- erishable names. She can point, not only to her illustrious ounder, and the long list of primitive martyrs and worthies, but also to a bright succession of sons belonging to different ages and countries, whose memory, sweet in itself, and pre- cious to every saint, and honoured even by the worldling and the infidel, will, to the latest times, reflect her glory. What lover of the gospel does not delight to think of these great and good men, who, though dead, yet speak, and proclaim, in many lands, and by many tongues, the authority and ex- cellence of the Bible, and the unspeakable riches of redeem- ing love? Can the story of such witnesses for God and Christ be too often told? Can their lives be too carefully read, or their virtues too earnestly emulated P. The univer- sal voice of reason, piety and experience answers, No ; and duty plainly bids us seize every proper opportunity to exhibit that in the history and character of the departed, which, by confirming the claims and illustrating the value and loveli- ness of religion, may be instrumental in promoting the highest good of the living. Such considerations have induced the writer of the fol- lowing Memoir to attempt a brief notice of the life and cha- racter of Philip Doddridge. . The publishers of the present edition of the Family Expositor, could find no account of its author adapted to their limits. But should not the natural curiosity of many new readers be gratified, partially at least, if the circumstances of the case will not allow it to be done fully 2 And can the character and labours of such a man as Doddridge be exhibited, even hastily and feebly, without some prospect of usefulness? My method in the sequel will be, first, to sketch a rapid outline of his life and condition ; then to draw some princi- pal features of his character; and finally to suggest a few practical hints in view of his biography.” Doddridge could not boast of a splendid line of progeni- tors. He was descended, however, from a respectable fami- ly, originally settled in the county of Derbyshire, England. His biographers have recorded honourable testimonials re- specting several of his ancestors, whose names have escaped oblivion. His grandfather John Doddridge deserves special notice. He was educated for the church, in the university of Oxford, and promoted to an important rectory, but was ejected from his benefice, in 1662, by that blind Act of Uni- förmity, which “extinguished at once two thousand of Eng- land's brightest lights.” Although burdened with a family * The reader will probably wish to know on what authorities the following Memoir is founded. - - g & & Two writers, Orton and Kippis, who knew Doddridge pºly and inti- mately, have ably and faithfully portrayed him, each in a biography consider- ably füji. These authors are the principal sources of information. Aikin's biography also deserved to be consulted. Much use, also, by way of illus- trating particulars, has been made of a recent york, too heavy for republica- tion in this country, even if it were worthy. It is entitled: “The Corres- pondence and Diary of Doddridge, etc. by his Great Grandson, John Doddridge of ten children, he preferred to renounce an income of two hundred pounds a year, rather than violate his conscience b yielding to the requisitions of the act. Doddridge's grand- father on the maternal side, the reverend John Bauman, of Prague, in Bohemia, was also a sufferer from persecution for conscience sake. In consequence of the evils of Catho- lic influence after the expulsion of Frederic, elector Palatine, he left his native country about the year 1626, quitting his friends and a considerable estate, that he might enjoy the free exercise of the Protestant faith. After passing some time on the continent, he went over to England, and, being highly recommended by several German divines, he was appointed master of a free school at Kingston upon the Thames, at which place he died. The only child left by him was the mother of Doddridge. To be descended from suffering servants of Christ, from those who have made great sacrifices for liberty and con- science, is a natural motive to stimulate to religious exertion. Doddridge ever acknowledged herein an obligation of gra- titude to God, whose sovereignty had appointed it that his heart should beat, not with the blood of the degraded pagan, or of ungodly nobles, but of confessors and martyrs. Doddridge's parents resided in London. His father, Da- niel Doddridge, had settled there as an oilman, declining, from conscientious reasons, to prosecute the recovery of a large estate, to which he was legal heir. Philip, the subject of this Memoir, was the last of their twenty children, all of whom, except one sister, had deceased before his birth; such was the mortality which reigned in the family. He was born in London, June 26, 1702. The usual signs of life were sofar wanting, at his birth, that he was actually laid aside as dead; and it was only by the assiduous and persevering care of an attendant, who thought she perceived some motion or heat in the body of the infant, that his life was preserved. From infancy his constitution was feeble, and his physical tenden- cies toward a consumption; and he frequently expressed his wonder, that, with a frame originally so delicate, he had lived so long. 5 . His parents gave him early religious instruction. Allud- ing to the period of his infancy, in one of his letters, he says, “I was brought up in the early knowledge of reli- gion by my pious parents, who were in their character very worthy of their birth and education; and I well remember that my mother taught me the history of the Old and New Testament before I could read, by the assistance of some Humphreys, Esq.” This unworthy descendant of Philip Doddri - else shall I speak of him *) may have had good intºniº lº º has not done, much to increase the ſame of his yenerated ancestor. Önº other hand, he has done not a little to fix upon himself the chargé of jºviº. sought, in the true spirit of the son of Ham, to uncover a good man’s nakedness. *ś łº §. §. ii. to Doddridge the honour of w St.1QInable gallantry, and still more s r; * reproach of a decided orthodoxy. 3 O to wipe off from him the iv blue Dutch tiles in the chimney-place of the room where We commonly sat; and the wise and pious reflections she made upon these stories were the means of enforcing such #: Impressions on my heart as never afterwards wore OUI His education in letters was commenced at a private school in London, where he attended until the age of ten, when he was placed at the school which had been taught by his grandfather Bauman at Kingston. Here he continued till the year 1715, when, having previously lost his mother, he was unhappily deprived of his only surviving parent. We have an interesting memento of his pious inclinations, at this early age of thirteen, in the following reflection upon his father's death:—“God is an immortal Father. My Soul rejoiceth in him. for me. May it be my study to approve myself a more af. fectionate, grateful and dutiful .# Doddridge was now removed to a private school at St. Alban's, under the care of Nathaniel Wood. While here, he lost the whole substance inherited from his father, through the mismanagement of his guardian. But Providence raised up for the destitute orphan a most generous friend and bene- factor. This was the minister of the dissenting congregation at St. Alban’s, Samuel Clark, without whose kind encour- agement and assistance he could not have proceeded in his studies. At Mr. Wood's school Doddridge continued about three years. During this time, he made a public profession of religion, and formed a decided and strong wish to prepare for the ministry. He enjoyed the direction and instructions of Mr. Clark, with whose church he united. He now began to keep a regular diary, the contents of which, according to Mr. Orton, (who had access to all his papers after his de- cease,) gave abundant proof of a most diligent º of his time, and a deep solicitude to improve daily in know- ledge and piety. On leaving the school of Mr. Wood, he retired for a time to the abode of his sister, married to the Rev. John Nettle- ton, a dissenting minister. His mind was now thrown into anxious suspense, owing to the pecuniary embarrassments which threatened to thwart all his wishes to prepare for the sacred office. He received from a titled lady, the Dutchess of Bedford, an offer to educate him at either of the univer- sities, if he would dedicate himself to the established church. But such were the views and principles of Doddridge, that he could not honestly º the Thirty-nine Articles; and he respectfully declined the B.º. Still eager to labour in the ministry, he waited on Dr. Calamy, a divine then eminent among the dissenters, in order to obtain his advice and assistance. But instead of receiving any encourage- ment here, he was only urged to turn his thoughts to some other pursuit. Whatever influenced the benevolent Dr. C. to give the young applicant so decided a repulse, it was viewed by the latter as indicating the will of Providence, which, tº use his own language, he wished “to follow, not to force.” He accordingly contemplated the practice of the law ; and, by the aid of friends, he obtained from an eminent coun- séllor very encouraging proposals for entering upon a course of preparation. “Before I returned my final answer,” says Doddridge in a letter, “I took one morning solemnly to seek of God for direction; and so it was, that even while I was thus engaged, the postman called, at the dºor with a letter from Mr. Clark, [his generous friend at St. Alban's, in which he told me, that he had heard of my difficulty, and offered to take mé under his care, if I chose the ministry upon christian principles. This I, loºked º almost as an an- swer from Heaven; and while I live, I shall ever adore so seasonable an interposition of divine Providence.” After passing a few months at the house of Mr. Clark, being now about 17 years of age, he was placed in a is: senting academy at Kibworth, Leicestershire, kept by the Rºjohn Jennings. Under the tuition of this instrugº, fºr whom he always entertained high respect, Doddridge à classical and theological studies at Kibworth until pursue t - & ed with his pupils the year 1722, when Mr. Jennings remov } §§ P St to Hinckley. Here, July 22 of the same year, when ºJus twenty years old, having been previously examined an ña proved by a committee of ministers, Doddridge preache his first sermon. His text was , Cor. xvi. 22– If any II].3.It love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Mara- natha.” He preached with great acceptance, although some He has hitherto helped me, and provided MEMOIR OF DR DODDRIDGE. of the auditors were at first, to use his own words, “offend ed to see such a lad get up into the pulpit.” “It was a plain, practical discourse,” said he in a letter to his sister, “ º COSt me but a few hours’ study; but as I had the advantage of a very moving subject, and a good-natured, attentive peo- ple, it was received much better than I could have expected.” He afterwards learned, with great satisfaction, that two per- sons ascribed their conversion to the blessing of God atténd- ing that sermon. c oddridge, for a year after this, continued to pursue his studies with Mr. Jennings, occasionally preaching at Hinck- ley, and other places in the vicinity, according to a custom still followed in the English dissenting schools of theology. It was his tutor's wish and advice, not his own hasty choice, that led him thus early to obtain the customary license, and enter upon his public career. In June, 1723, he was settled over a small congregation in the village of Kibworth, having declined an invitation receiv- ed by him, about the same time, from the city of Coventry. His motives for preferring the former, with a salary of #. over thirty pounds, were chiefly his youth and inexperience, and his desire to make further advances in study. In a let: ter to a female friend just after his settlement, he humor- ously describes the retiredness of his situation:-" It is one of the most unpolite congregations I ever knew; consisting almost entirely of farmers and graziers, with their subalterns. I have not so much as a tea-table in my diocese, although above eight miles in extent, and but one hoop-petticoatin the whole circuit. ... I live here justlike a hermit; and were it not for talking to the cattle, admiring the poultry, and preaching twice every Sabbath, I should certainly lose the organs of speech.” n October, 1725, he removed his residence to Harborough, and became a boarder in the family of Mrs. Jennings, the widow of his former tutor, but still preached to the people at Kibworth, except on sacrament days, when Mr. Some of Harborough officiated, Doddridge on those days supplying the place of Mr. Some. Neither of Doddridge's biographers mention any reason for this removal to a distance of six miles from the family, in which he had hitherto resided after his settlement at Kibworth. Nor can it easily be conceived for what good purpose his unworthy great grandson has lately, after much frivolous painstaking in deciphering a mass of short hand manuscripts, revealed to the world a se- cret, which certainly does no honour to the memory of any body concerned. The change of residence was owing to an unfortunate, ill-timed, and badly managed attachment to the daughter of his first host, the origin and progress of which betrayed some unhappy foibles in the youthful lover, and the result of which was nothing but mutual chagrin and disappointment. In his new abode, however, Doddridge was brought into close intimacy with a gentleman, who, next to Mr. Clark, was perhaps the best friend and most valuable counsellor he ever enjoyed. It was the Rev. Mr. Some, already mentioned, a man of uncommon piety and wis- dom, esteemed the chief ornament of the dissenters in that part of the kingdom. In 1729, Doddridge was chosen assist- ant to Aſr. Some, and afterwards preached alternately at Ribworth and Harborough. During the period of aboutsix years, which had now eſapsed from his first settlement, his celebrity as a preacher was such, that he received pressing invitations to take the charge of various large Societics in different places, and was particularly solicited by a congre- gation in London. In these cases, he always consulted his friends, and sought the divine direction. Among the con- siderations which led him finally to decline these repeated offers, one of the most prominent was the desire to enjoy further private opportunity for general theological study. In the summer of 1729, after much deliberation, in view of the advice of many friends, and with the sanction and patron- age of a meeting of dissenting ministers, Doddridge opened at Harborough a theological academy. It was this subject, which first brought Doddridge into acquaintance with Dr. Watts. A young gentleman by the name of Benyon was contemplating the commencement of an academy in order to prepare youth for the ministry, and requested his friend Doddridge to write down some thoughts on the best method of conducting their studies. Doddridge consented, but Benyon very soon died; and, the letter containing the views of the former, and making a'most a treatise, remained ME}{OHR Of' DR. DOH)3DRIHDG j}. In the writer's own hands. . A Mr. Saunders, minister of Kettering, happening to see it in the author's study, obtained it for perusal, and afterwards showed it to Dr. Watts, who was so much pleased with the plan as to write remarks upon it, and communicate it to several friends. All concurred in opinion that the person, who had drawn up this scheme, was best qualified to carry it into execution, and should be solicited to do it. Thus originated, in apparent accident, the academy of Doddridge. A new field of usefulness was now opened, and one which was soon to be greatly enlarged. Not many months after receiving his first pupils, Doddridge was invited to settle over the dissenting congregation at Castle Hill, in Northampton. This invitation cost him many painful struggles and much anxious suspense ; but several providentiaſ circumstances, which he considered as very peculiar and remarkable, falling in with the weighty arguments in favour of a removal, turned the scale against his first decision and his cherished inclina- tions. The people of Northampton made provision for his taking his pupils along with him, and indemnified Mrs. Jen- nings for the expenses she had incurred in expectation that they and their tutor would continue longer in her house at Harborough. - On the 24th of December, 1729, Doddridge removed, with his academy, to Northampton. He had not yet been ordain- ed as a pastor, it would seem ; and the 19th of March, 1730, was finally assigned for the performance of that solemn ser- vice. In the mean time he had been seized with a danger- ous sickness, which threatened speedily to cut off a life now evidently most valuable to the church. He was, how- ever, mercifully restored, although remaining in a very fee- ble state even at the day of his ordination. In 1730, Doddridge was married to Miss Mercy Maris, of Worcester, a lady in whom he found every qualification to render wedded life happy, and towards whom he ever che- rished the utmost tenderness and affection. Although her constitution was delicate, and her health often so precarious as to cause alarm, she survived her husband many years. They had nine children, the four last of which died in in- fancy, and the first-born at the age of five. The latter was a daughter of brilliant promise, the object of her father's fondest affections, called by him “his lovely Betsy—the de- light of his eyes.” . On her death, he published his sermon entitled “Submission to Divine Providence on the Death of Children recommended and enforced;” of which Dr. Kippis says: “Few superior instances of pathetic eloquence are to je met with in the English language.” The other four chil- dron survived their father. In the double sphere of pastor and preceptor, in which Doddridge was called to move, at Northampton, for a period of twenty years, his abilities and virtues shone with increas- ing brightness. His excellence as a teacher and a minister was universally acknowledged; the congregation generally flourished under his care ; and the academy was filled with pupils, so that very soon one stated assistant, and at length two, became necessary. His reputation was not confined to England. One of the universities of Scotland conferred upon him the degree of doctor of divinity; and his name was ere long celebrated on the continent of Europe and in the colonies of America. The period of his life now before us is by far the most im: portant in respect to his labours, both for his own age and for posterity; but it presents few incidents upon which we need to dwell in the narrative. His cnployments confined him much at Northampton. He seems not to have been absent except occasionally on ministerial business, and usu- ally, once of twice a year, on a short journey to London or bé vicinity, in his vacations. Iiis whole time was engross. ed; and no sufficient allowance was made for relaxation and exercise between his pastoral labours, the instruction of his pupils, and writing for the public; and the vast amount of work he accomplished is really matter of astonishment. His friends feared the consequences of this incessant application; and they often remonstrated with him, and urged him in vain to a more sparing use of his strength. His constitution, origi: nally delicate, was imperceptibly impaired in consequence of such efforts; and whén, in December, 1759, he was called to St. Alban's to preach the funeral sermon of his early friend and benefactor, Dr. Clark, he contracted a cold, which brought on a pulmonary disease too violent and obstinate to yield to any re- y medies. At first, he could not be parsuaded tº diminish at gil t Y f : ; t his customary labours; but his disease, slightly abating in the spring, returned with violence in the sºnmer, and he was convinced, too late, of his immediate danger. On the 2d of June, 1751, he administered the Sacramefit to his peo- »le for the last time. In his sermon, (from fieb. xii. 23.) says }. Rippis, “he expatiated on the illustrious and innuinera- ble assembly that would meet together in the celestiai World; and, in the conclusion of the service, he mentioned, with marks of uncommon pleasure, the authority of Christ over ministers and churchēs; he dropped, likewise, some hints of his approaching decease, and spoke with great tenderness and affection to his people on the prospect of their final separation.” The fatigués of a journey to London, subse- quent to this, only increased his disorder. Qn July 14th, he once more, contrary to the entreaties of friends, address- ed his pupils and flock from the pulpit. His text was Rom; xiv. 8–4. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” . This discourse was admirably adapted to be, as in the end it proved to be, his farewell sermon. A few days after, he took partin the ser- vices of an ordination at Bewdley, and then retired to Shrewsbury, and spent several weeks at the house of the Rev. Job Orton, a former pupil and assistant, and his future biographer. - Åir, exercise, and recess from business and conspany, af. forded only transient relief. In August, by advice of his physicians, he repaired to Bristol, to make trial of the waters. But his health continued to decline, and he was advised, as a last resort, to sail for Lisbon, that he might en- joy a milder climate in the winter. He saw a formidable objection to this in the great expense it would incur, and the consequent injury, in case of his decease, to his impo- verished family. Generous friends soon relieved all his ap- prehensions on this score, and in a manner which awakened his liveliest gratitude. On the 17th of September, he pro- ceeded from Bristol to Falmouth, and, on the 30th, embark- ed for his voyage, accompanied by his affectionate and de- voted wife, and a female servant, who had offered her aid under circumstances which greatly endeared her to the in- valid. The first effects on the sailing of the vessel were highly pleasing. His spirits were raised by the novelty of the scenes and the softness and purity of the air. A pécu- liar charm was communicated to his devotional meditations and feelings. Often said he to Mrs. Doddridge, “Such delightful and transporting views of the heavenly world is my Father now indulging me with, as no words can express.” His countenance often reminded her of a verse in one of his own hymns ; “When death o'er nature shall prevail, And all its powers of language fail, l Joy througii, my swimming eyes sha)} areak, And mean the thanks i cannot speak.” {. Whatever advantage might have resulted from a voyage in part so cheering, was lost by an event, wisely ordered, no - doubt, but unhappy in its effects upon Doddridge's health. The vessel was becalmed some days in the Bay of Biscay, in weather intensely hot; and he suffered such exhaustion as threatened to terrainate his life, even befor - desired haven. He lived, however, to land at Lisbon, Oc ber 13, and was most kindly received and entertained the house of an English merchant, whose mother was C: of Doddridge's congregation at Northampton. On 21, he was removed into the country a few miles, by the ad- vice of the physician; but the rainy season cording on iº- mediately, and with unusual violence, deprived him of exer- cise in the air, and thus cut off the last hope of his friends. Doddridge, with quiet and happy resignation, submitted to the will of God. He was seized, on the 24th, with a violent diarrhoea, which soon wasted his little remaining strengt i>uring the subsequent hours, when he was in ſºil posses- sion of his rational faculties, many devout sentiments ºf aspirations were uttered, and affectionate messages. Yet ić for his children and his numerous friends at hoiſ: Among his latest remarks he told Mrs. D. that he the Lord was his God, and he had a cheerful hope, throug the Redeemer, of being received to his everlasting mercy, He died early in the morning of October 26, 1751, and, in the words of Kippis, “though in a foreign land, end, in a the {O- e reaching 2 *-* *-*. :--> 3 t : - }, +,-, }s 2 N. v. J J – ºrs r ^. Q * {{ W’ G ** G.S Słl j 7 g l 7 5 vi Sense, among strangers, his decease was embalmed with many tears.” His body being opened, in compliance with a wish he had expressed, his lungs were found in an exceed- Ingly ulcerated State. At his funeral, all the respect possi- ble was manifested; and his remains were deposited in the burying ground of the British factory at Lisbon. A hand- Some monument to his memory was erected by his congre- gation in their meeting-house at Northampton, with an in- scription composed by his friend Gilbert West.* The preceding sketch has exhibited something of the cha- racter of Doddridge. But the reader will doubtless desire a more distinct and vivid picture. I will therefore, in the second lace, make the attempt to draw one; and I shall notice, first, is personal qualities, social, intellectual, and moral or religious. . The social character of Doddridge partook of all the pecu- liarities of a temperament naturally ardent. He was highly Susceptible of tender impressions and warm attachments. He had a temper open and confiding almost to a fault. His disposition was exceedingly sympathetic and kind. All his native feelings and tendencies of mind received their cast and colouring from a prevailing sentiment of affection and respect for others. In him was a striking developement of the principle of reverence, one of the most essential elements of a truly noble character. It diffused its influence over all his feelings, rules and habits, in relation to social life. We distinctly trace it, combined with an ardent and affectionate spirit, in his peculiar virtues, and even, I may say, in his foibles and occasional mistakes. To these sources the candid ob- server would ascribe, in a great measure, whatever of ques- tionable conformity to worldly customs he might find on mi- nute inspection of Doddridge's early life. To the same causes was it owing, that he was sometimes deceived by im- postors; for whom he sometimes made exertions afterwards regretted by himself. Thence also sprang a trait which his enemies (for even the kind-hearted Doddridge had enemies) greatly exaggerated, and which his friends could not but notice. Said one of the latter, in the strong language of familiar intimacy, “You stand convicted of the odious sin of flattery.” Doddridge abhorred the character of the flatterer, but his natural temperament disposed him to admire and praise the excellencies of others; and if he sometimes over- rated, and, as it were, panegyrized them, it was from the kindness of his heart, and never from a sinister motive. He was a man wholly incapable of dissimulation; and yet a sort of instinctive dread of giving pain sometimes betrayed him into civilities and compliments which his own sober judg- ment disapproved. This, be it remembered, however, was chiefly in his youth. - It will easily be seen that Doddridge, with the natural dis- positions just exhibited, would be in the highest degree com- plaisant and polite in his manners. He perfectly well un- derstood all that belonged to decorum of behaviour, and paid a uniform regard to the forms of intercourse which pre- vail among the well-bred. He was particularly solicitous to avoid every thing distant and forbidding in his treatment of inferiors, and was remarkable for the easy freedom of access he allowed to his pupils, and to the poorest and meanest members of his congregation. The most churlish enemy neither found him morose or austere, nor was able to make him so. Hence in the family and the social circle, as well as among select friends, the presence of Doddridge was always welcome and enlivening. His conversational talents were admirable. There was a singular sprightliness and vivacity in his original character. This shows itself abun- dantly in his earlier letters. It appeared in his countenance and manner, also, both in the pulpit and in conversation. His familiar discourse was always entertaining and instructive, and not unfrequently splendid. “What made me continue in so joyful a mood after you left me * wrote one of his friends after a visit from Doddridge. “There could be no other cause than the delight inspired by your conversation; whereby you raised new sentiments in my soul, and infused into it an unknown sweetness.” Dr. Watts, speaking on the same topic, ºpº himself with equal warmth : “Such converse as I have lately enjoyed with you, gives a fair emblem of the social pleasures of the heavenly state.” * At tho decease of Doddridge, the family consisted of the widow, son, and three daughters. The eldest daughter, not far from this time, was married to John Humphreys, an attorney. at Tewkesbury; and Mrs. D. removed, with her family, to the same place. The son was educated for the law, and, during part of his life, was associated in business with his brother-in-law, at Tewkes- MEMOIR OF DR. DODDRIDGE. Of friendship Doddridge had a very elevated idea. His heart was formed to relish its peculiar pleasures; and his history shows, that he derived from it the most important ad- vantages. It was peculiarly fortunate, that, in the earlier part of his life, he found such friends as Mr. Clark, Mr. Jen- nings, and Mr. Some, . With a temper so open and soardent, a few mistaken friendships would have proved his ruin. His reputation in mature life brought him into friendly relations with many distinguished persons, both of the clergy and the laity, with whom he maintained a correspondence. It is evident that he considered the correspondence and conver- sation of intimate friends as one of the richest sources of earthly happiness. “Blessed be God,” says he, “for friend- ship, and the hope of its being perfected and eternal above If it be so delightful on earth, amidst our mutual imperfec- tions, what will it be in heaven!”. His quick sensibilities exposed him to the peculiar afflictions arising from friend- ship. “I have a few darling friends,” he says in one of his letters; “yet from them I meet with frequent disappoint- ments. . . . . My present happiness lies so much in my friends, that they frequently discompose me. ... I feel their afflictions more than my own, and am tormented with a thousand ima- ginary fears on their account, which my affection, not my reason, suggests. Every thing which looks like a slight or neglect from them, touches me to the quick. If they look upon me a little more coldly than ordinary, I am uneasy; and a thousand minute occurrences, which others take no notice of, are to me some of the most solid afflictions of life.” The analysis of Doddridge's intellectual character is not given very satisfactorily by any of his biographers. It ma be a question whether his profession and pursuits gave § scope to those faculties, which would have naturally taken the ascendency in his mind. A lively fancy evidently was one of the most striking characteristics in early life. Had this, with the kindred powers of intellect, been chiefly culti- wated in his subsequent reading and studies, it scarcely ad- mits a doubt, that Doddridge would have been celebrated as the possessor of a brilliant imagination; and might have . the brightest names recorded in the history of polite literature. His well-known lines on the motto to the arms of his family, (Dum vivimus vivamus,) said by Dr. Johnson to constitute one of the finest epigrams in the English language, afford a favourable specimen of the natural traits of mind, to which I have here alluded. “‘Live while you live,” the epicure would say, And seize the pleasures of the present day.” I,ive while you live,” the sacred Peñºleſ crles, And give to God each moment as it flies. Lord, in my views let both united be ; I live in pleasure when I live to thee.” Another specimen is in the following, written on a weak young man, who proposed a method of flying to the moon :- “And will Volatio leave this world so soon, To fly to his own native seat, the moon 8 *Twill stand, however, in some little stead, That he sets out with such an empty head.” Clearness and promptness of apprehension were traits early developed, and constantly exhibited, in the intellectual character of Doddridge. This enabled him to acquire know- ledge with great rapidity at every period of life, and was in part the Secret of his readiness and success in such various and perplexing duties as pressed upon him in his later years. It might seem to others merely an unusual activity of mind, a sort of mysterious power to do more in a given time than common intellects; but the most unlimited mental activity is of little service, either in making new acquisitions or ac- celerating efficientaction, without some corresponding clear- ness of perception. There is often a hurry of useless thought, in imaginary light and freedom, which may remind one of the deluded insect, that buzzes and buzzes on the window-pane, but makes no progress onward. The inquisitiveness of Doddridge deserves special men- tion; not that this quality was exhibited in him in any won- derful degree, but because its existence must be obvious to every one who reads his correspondence, and because it is a trait of mind absolutely essential to high improvement. Whatever book was recommended to him he had a desire to bury, where he died in 1785, aged 47. Mrs. D. died in 1790, at the age of 82. Mrs. Humphreys deceased in 1799, aged tº having been several years a widow. . yo maiden sisters died, one in 1809, aged 75, and the other in 1811, (13 CC! (+. º MEMOIR OF DR. DODDRIDGE. read; and all that promised to illustrate any subject of his studies he sought to understand. He solicited his corres- º to inform him of all that was going on in the repub- ic of letters, and took pains to request his friends to consult for him works not within his reach. Orton and Kippis both state that he had naturally a very strong memory; so that, while there were but few books, of any º on the general subjects of literature, which he had not read, he could both retain and easily re- collect what was most remarkable in them. His habits of reading seem to have been well calculated to aid the me- mory. He usually read with a pen in his hand, and marked in the margin striking passages, and often put down hints or references in a blank leaf of the book or elsewhere, with his own thoughts frequently added. His writings show, that he knew the proper use of reading, which he often inculcat- ed upon his pupils—not to treasure up in memory a mass of other men's thoughts, but to furnish the mind with materials for the exercise of its own powers. But after all, the chief characteristic that we notice in scanning the intellectual character of Doddridge, is his in- vincible perseverance. Nothing could divert him from his re- solution to acquire useful knowledge; and resistless disease alone could compel him to remit his intense application. Until driven from study by the malady which terminated his life, no moment was iº to pass without its appropriate employment. The smallest portions of time were precious. One of his students usually read to him while he was shav- ing and dressing. Whenever he journeyed or visited friends, he took his papers with him, i employed a part of every day in carrying forward some of his performances. After the Family Expositor was commenced, something was done every day towards completing it. Some may think lightly of this untiring diligence, as being a trait which is character- istic of common minds rather than of exalted genius. But does it not display a noble decision of purpose 2 And with- out stopping to dispute about what constitutes genius, who will not acknowledge the greatness of that mind, which chooses a high and useful end, and steadily, perseveringly and triumphantly pursues it to the full accomplishment? Such was the greatness of Doddridge. He aimed at per- mament usefulness. This led him to decline those flattering Fº or settlement, which most young candidates would ave eagerly embraced, and to prefer the retirement of an obscure village. This caused him to renounce the lighter pursuits of literature, for which he had a strong desire, and devote his days and nights to severer studies. This influ- enced him whenevar he wrote for the press; and hence it is, that the few controversial pieces he published are as va- luable to the reader of the present day as they ever were ; while the occasions of them, and pieces called forth from other pens by the same occasions, have passed into oblivion. In short, this decided and persevering purpose to do good, was the controlling principle of Doddridge's life, the spring and support of all his exertions. In this point we see the influence of moral and religious character; for his inflexible purpose was produced and sus- tained by an enlightened christian conscience. The reader need not be told, that it is the piety of Doddridge, which has peculiarly embalmed his memory and endeared his name and his works to the hearts of all that believe on the Son of God. The language of Kippis well expresses its most strik- ing peculiarity: “The primé and leading feature of his soul was that of devotion.” - A spirit of ardent devotion shows itself in the piety of his earliest years. It appeared as a redeeming excellence even in the midst of that brief period of folly, which has been forced upon our knowledge by his recent unworthy biogra- pher; and in maturer years, it shone out with angelic bright- ness and loveliness. The temper and habits of devotion he most sedulously cultivated. A regular plan for maintaining a devout frame of mind, through the day and the week, always lay upon his desk. No man ever entertained a deeper sense . value and efficacy of prayer. It was his own remark: “My weight of business does, in some measure, rob me of vil the greatest treasure I have in the world; I mean the hours I would wish to spend in secret devotion; without which there is no sweetness, no calm and serenity of mind, and therefore very little capacity for managing business. For so it is, though it may seem a riddle, that, when I pray and meditate most, I work most.” And perhaps few saints have generally had more enjoyment from communion with God. Speaking on a certain occasion of the presence of God as being peculiarly delightful, he says: “When I awake in the morning,(which is always before it is light,) I address myself to him and converse with him; I speak to him while I am º my candle and putting on my clothes, and have often more delight before I come out of my chamber, though it be hardly a quarter of an hour after my awaking, than I have enjoyed for whole days, or perhaps weeks of my life. He meets me in my study, in secret, in family devotions. It is pleasant to read, pleasant to compose, pleasant to con- verse with my friends at home; pleasant to visit those abroad —the poor, the sick; pleasant to write letters of necessary business by which any good can be done; pleasant to go out and preach the gospel to poor souls, of which some are thirsting for it, and others dying without it.” The piety of Doddridge was not exhausted in the devo- tions of the closet. Benevolence and public spirit were re- markable traits in his character. He acknowledged patri- otism as a Christian duty; and in the rebellion of 1745, he contributed, by his pen and by personal effort, to enlist in favour of the reigning family the energies of that part of the kingdom in which he resided. His heart was ever active in devising liberal things for the temporal and spiritual welfare of others. As resulting from this might be men- tioned a public hospital and a charity school at Northampton; and especially a missionary association among his people ; which reflects the highest honour both upon his heart and his judgment, as the first known attempt of the kind, and which he solicited his brethren in the ministry to establish in other places.” * He practised on the principle, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. In one of the annual reflections which he was accustomed to pen, reviewing his life and the dealings of God, and looking forward to the future, he writes: “I have this day made a vow, that I would consecrate a tenth part of my estate and income to charitable uses, and an eighth of all that shall this year come in from my books to occasional contributions, unless any circumstances arise which lead me to believe that it will be injurious to others to do it.” The following year he thus writes: “Having fully discharged the charitable account last year, I renew the like resolution for this.” His accounts, according to Mr. Orton, showed that he often exceeded this engagement. His humility was in general as obvious as his benevolence and charity. His increasing reputation and usefulness only produced deeper humiliation before God, and a higher feel- ing of obligation to divine grace. “It confounds, me,” he writes in a private exercise, “to think how often I have for- gotten God, and dealt falsely in his covenant, to reflect on the formality of my devotions, the mispense of my time, and the indulgence of irregular passions. I confess my guilt before God, and humbly cast myself on his forgiving grace, and on the mediation of my blessed Redeemer, as the only things which can give me a foundation of hope.” To one who had congratulated him on the success of his book on the Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, he writes: “I bless God, that I have not found my heart in- wardly exalted on this occasion, but rather deeply and affec- tionately humbled before him, under this instance of his goodness to an unworthy sinner, as I know myself to be.” To another friend he wrote as follows: “You talk of my strength and usefulness; alas! I am weak and unstable as water. How could I bear to look up to heaven, were it not for the righteousness and blood of a Redeemer? I have been reading the life of the excellent Mr. Brainerd ; and it has greatly humbled and quickened me.” w *r Scarcely anything in the character of Doddridge is more striking than his mild behaviour under injuries. Much in- * The document is said still to exist, containing the name of Doddridge and 150 members of his society appended to several articles of agreenment. of these is, that they will meet in their place of public worship, at least four times a year, to pray for the advancement of the gospel in the world, especi, ally among the §: and another, that, at these times; every ºne shall contribute something for “sending missionäries abroad, printing Bibles or One D other useful books in foreign languages, establishing schools and the like.” oddridge, in urging such a plan upon the dissenting ministers around him, re- marks; ºft is a feeble essay, and the effects of it in one congregation cºtt be but very small ; but if it were harvest such a little grain might at length produce 3 thousand fold I?’ generally to be ſoilowed, who can tell. What a May God multiply it a jūry and reproach he suffered, during the last twenty years of his life, in the midst of his greatest popularity and suc- cess. His house and family received insults from a popu- ace, who were urged on, probably, by unprincipled enemies. He was prosecuted before the ecclesiastical court, by a dig- nitary of the church of England, for teaching an academy. Some of his brethren in the ministry reproached him as a trimmer and double-dealer. He was not a little slandered on account of the favourable regard which, on his first ac- quaintance with them, he showed towards the Moravians and the Methodists. Some of his pupils, also, became his enemies, and sought his ruin; nor need it be a matter of wonder, that out of two hundred young men, a few should prove wicked, and requite their teacher evil for good. But all this seems never to have ruffled his temper. To a friend, who had apprized him of reports disadvantageous to his cha- racter, he says: “In the midst of all, my soul dwells at ease in God, and I find unutterable pleasure in a conquest over those resentments, which are ready to rise on such occasions, but which, I can truly say, are crucified on the cross of Christ. ... I had rather suffer many of these injuries, than offer one. It is my desire to behave under them as becometh a christian, and to be made more watchful by them. Let but my heart be with God, the visits of his grace be made to me, and the prospect of glory presented to my believing eyes, so as to engage my more constant pursuit; let but my temper be becoming a christian and ministerial profession; and I hope other things will impress me little.” Doddridge’s uniform cheerfulness and resignation in scenes of affliction ought not to be overlooked. Ali who possess even the first elements of religion, submit to the di- vine will; but is it not often with tardy reluctance, and sometimes with impatient and fretful struggling? Doddridge possessed a fuller measure of the filial spirit. It needed not a process of reasoning to convince him, that in his afflic- tions a Father's gentle hand was on him for good. The eye of faith instantly saw it, and a heart at peace with God, with the world, and with itself, joyfully responded: Even so, Fa- ther, for so it pleaseth thee! It is important to notice one other trait, which marked the temper of Doddridge, and diffused its influence over his whole character, sentiments and productions; I mean his catholic spirit. . Much of the loveliness of the man was de- rived from the law of candour written on his heart. It was his nature, as has been already hinted, to think and feel kindly respecting others; and the disposition to esteem others bet- ter than himself he evidently cherished as a christian duty. But it cannot be denied, that this amiable trait sometimes misled him. It not only exposed him to form too high an opinion of the merit of some persons, but also blinded him, in some measure, to the evils and dangers attending the errors of others, and made him too solicitous to be on friendly terms with all. He experienced the natural consequence of being claimed as belonging to opposite parties, while, at the same time, he was censured by both. Some even charged him with known insincerity in using certain phrases in a sense differing from his real sentiments. . In answer to this charge, after declaring that, both in his private correspondence and for the public press, he always wrote “as in the presence of God, and in view of the judgment,” and that he never would “purchase the phantom popularity by any compliances be- neath the dignity of a christian minister,” he says: “On the other hand, I do indeed desire to give as little offence as I honestly can ; and though I am, and always declare that I * The great grandson of Doddridge, Mr. Humphreys, in the last of his five tomes, (p. 14.) attempts to show that Doddridge did not believe in the personal JDeity of Christ. Yet the 9nly position he yentures, to , take is this: “If an intermediate path can be pointed out, congenial with the language of Scripture as admitted on both sides, it is probably the onc which Dr. Doddridge pursued;” and then he goes on to assert, that certain texts, when applied to the Messiah “refer essentially to God, without any intervention of separate persons, anj as a Being unlimited by space, and then under a peculiar manifestation.” But what is the proof that Dr. D. followed any such middle path as this Mr. H. q tºotcs one or two º from Doddridge, not at ali to the point, and asserts, acithout any proof, that Dr. Watts followed this path; he then quotes a letter in which Watts asserts his entire agreement in sentinent with Doddridge: from sugh premises Mr. H, draws his strong conclusion,! Now, in the face of all this, stands in one of Mr. II.’s own volumes, the following sentence in a letter of Doddsigge: ... I guard against apprehending. Christ to be a mere creature, or another God inferior to the Father, or co-ordinate with him. And you will In;lintain, that I believe him to be so. From whence, sir, does your evidence of that arise : If from my pritings, I apprehend it must be in consequence gf some inference you draw from theyn, of laying any just foundation for which I am not at present aware ; nor did I ever intend, I am sure, to say qr, intimate any thing of the king. If from º I must caution you against rashly believ– ing such reports. , I have heard some stories of Inf, .echoed back from your neighbourhood, which God knows to be as false as if I had been reported to Lave asserted the divine authority of the Alcoran, or to have written, Hobbe’s Leviathan.” Further, in one of his “ Sermons on the Power and Grace of MEMOIR OF DR. DOT) DRIDGE. am, in my judgment, greatly against the imposition of human phrases, yet, as some can hardly be avoided on the one hand or the other, I choose to adopt and use some that are ambi- guous, in what I take to be a fair sense, though not the only sense they might bear; and by declaring it, to endea- vour to fix a good idea to them, rather than absolutely to declare against, or even totally to disuse them.” Scarcely could this excellent man have made a greater mistake. How fatally ambiguous terms and phrases may be employed in Sapping the foundations of truth and piety, and how suc- cessful a device they are for gradually introducing into the churches the most destructive heresies, need not be describ- ed to any one at all familiar with the progress of error in this country. No fact in the history of our melancholy declen- sions is more glaring, than that the apprehensions of the Piºus, under the steady advances of false doctrine, were lulled to sleep by the use of scriptural and apparently ortho- dox phrases in a new and undisclosed sense. Terms and expressions generally understood to imply the most distin- guishing evangelical doctrines, were frequently used (I speak merely of the fact, and say nothing of the intention and the motive) by ministers, who had already renounced or rejected every thing peculiar in the faith of the pilgrims. Such a }; deserves the reprobation of every good man; and had oddridge indulged in any thing of the kind so as in fact (whether in intention or not) to conceal a want of evangelical Orthodoxy, or to conceal his real sentiments, the writer of this sketch would disdain to offer one syllable of apology for him. Doddridge indeed says, that it was his choice to declare the sense in which the phrases in question were used. This might justify the integrity of the man, but would by no means be an effectual safeguard against the evils of the practice. In fact, however, the sentiments of Doddridge were not con- cealed; although the peculiarities of his temper and charac- ter which have been pointed out, and the course of conduct resulting from them, might expose him to an impeachment of his orthodoxy; and ...; the enemies of evangelical piety have endeavoured to enrol his name among the advo- cates of what, by a strange misnomer, they call liberal views, yet no impartial examiner of his history and writings can doubt that his creed was decidedly what may be called Cal- vinistic. His lectures explicitly avow the doctrines of the Trinity, Deity of Christ,” total depravity of man in conse- quence of Adam’s fall, atonement by the sufferings and death of Christ, regeneration by special influence of the Spirit, elec- tion, perseverance, and eternal punishment. . But Doddridge attached no value to a faith merely speculative. He viewed the gospel as designed to exert a constant and mighty influ- ence over the heart and life, and he seems not to have always borne in mind how much its practical efficacy depends on a full reception of its peculiar doctrines. Let it also be remembered that, among not a few of the dissenters of his times, there was a tendency to Antinomianism; which Dod- dridge felt it his duty to oppose as strongly as did Dr. Scott, in more recent times. He alludes to this in a letter in 1736, in which he speaks of a furious attack made upon him during a visit to London. “The chief instruments of it were some tall pupils of Dr. Ridgley's. I have reason, however, to believe that it sprung from a party of Antinomians in this town. Some of the rudest things have been said of my cha- racter, especially as a tutor; and my academy has been even represented as a nursery of error and heresy.” Let it also be observed that in the later years of his life, after his ma- turest study of the Scriptures, and his greatest experiences Christ,” Doddridge, in a long passage, the whole of which shows his full be- lief in the Saviour’s perfect divinity, uses the following language : “The mys- terious union of the divine and human natures in the person of our blessed Re- deemer is that, which renders him the secure confidence of our souls.” Again, after exhibiting several particulars to illustrate Christ’s power to savé, he adds, “But is this all that we can say of our Redeemer’s fitness to answer the flºº ºharacter under which he appeared, and to effect the rºpºrtant work he undertook, * * * No, christians, we are very thankful, that we haye not so learned Christ. We have been taught to adore him, as over all, God blessed forever; as the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of his person; as Jehovah our righteousness; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, and who took upon himself no higher character than what he had a right to claim when he spake of himself, in his appearances to the saints. under the Old Testament, as the living and true God, as a person properly divine.” And in concluding he says: “You will not blame me that I have insisted thus copiously on the argument taken from the divinity of our Redeemer’s person to prove the extent of his power to save.” In yiew, of such passages, we may, ask, who can doubt, as to what Doddridge believed on the point in question? And, we may ask too, what is proved in view of them, by Dr. Watts’s asserting, that he entirely agrees with Dodº' dridge “in all ié sentiments of the Écºle of Christ #, (For Watts does make such an assertion substantially, as the , reader, will see on a subsequent page.) What is proved and settled hereby, Doddridge’s heterodoxy, or Watts’s orthodoxy 3 MEMOIR OF DR. DOD DRIDGE. . . - ix in piety, his doctrinaſ sº were more decided than dur- ing the earlier part of his ministry. He observed the gra- dual extension of opposite views with increasing pain. In a letter to the Rev. Mr. Barker, he writes: “The want of a becoming spirituality in some intended for the ministry, and a propensity towards some principles, which seem to me very injurious to christianity, if not quite subversive of it, press heavily upon my heart. I bless God I am attempting a lit- tle to remedy these things.” Among the remedies proposed by him, there was one, which showed no very great leaning towards liberalism; it was that the ministerial associations should adopt new rules respecting the admission of young men into the sacred office, requiring, along with other things, a more particular examination “into their acquaintance with, and sense of the great doctrines of christianity.” After all, there was in Doddridge, as he himself acknowledged, a want of boldness, an excess of caution, a fearfulness of offending, which sometimes restrained his freedom. “If I err,” said he to a friend, “I would choose to do it on the side of modesty and caution. When the world is to be remarkably reform- €d, God will raise up bolder spirits, who will work like your London fire-men; and I pray God it may not be amidst smoke, and flames, and ruin.” Having thus glanced at the social, intellectual and reli- gious qualities of Doddridge, let us now view him, for a mo- ment, in some of the most important of his public relations. Some particulars should be added to illustrate his character as a minister. First of all, then, he took care of his own soul. Among the striking proofs of this are the following resolutions made on his settlement at Kibworth:— 1. “I will spend some extraordinary time in devotion every Lord's day morning or evening, as opportunity shall offer, and will then endeavour to preach over to my own Soul that doctrine which I preach to others, and consider what im- provement I am to make of it. -- 2. “I will take one other evening in the week, in which I will spend half an hour in these exercises, on such subjects as I think most suitable to the present occasion. 3. “At the close of every week and month, I will spend some time in the review of it, that I may see how time has been improved, innocence secured, duties discharged, and whether I get or lose in religion. sº 4: “When I have an affair of more than ordinary impor- tance before me, or meet with any remarkable occurrence, merciful or afflictive, I will set apart some time to think of it, and seek God upon it. 5. “I will devote some time every Friday evening more particularly to seek God, on account of those who recom- mend themselves to my prayers, and of public concerns, which I never will totally exclude. In all the duties of the eratory I will endeavour to maintain a serious and affec- tionate temper. I am sensible that I have a heart which will incline me to depart from God. May his Spirit strengthen and sanctify it, that I may find God in his retirement; that my heavenly Father may now see me with pleasure, and at length openly reward me, through Jesus Christ. Amen.” As a means of personal religion, he kept frequent seasons of private fasting and humiliation. After his ordination, he thus employed each Saturday preceding the administration of the Lord's Supper. The following was his method on those days:– “I will endeavour to have despatched all my business, and whatever is necessary to my preparation for such a day, on Friday night: particularly I will look over my diary and other ymemorandums, which may be of use to me in the fast itself. I will rise early; endeavour, while rising, to fix upon my mind a sense of God and my own unworthiness, and will then solemnly address myself to God for his assistance in all the particular services of the day, of which I will form a moré particular plan than this. I will then read, and after- wards expound in the family, some portion of Scripture pecu- liarly suitable to such an occasion, and will make a collec- tion of such lessons. After family worship I will retire and bray over the portion of Scripture I have been explaining. Fºil then set myself, as seriously as I can, to revive the memory of my past conduct; especially since the ſast sea- son of this kind. I will put such questions as these to my- self—What care have I taken in the exercises of devotion ? What regard have I maintained to God in the intervals of it? What diligence nave I used in regarding Providence and redeeming time? What command have I exercised over my appetites and passions? What concern have I had to dischargé relative duties P. How have I relished the pecu- liar doctrines of the Gospel? And upon the whole, how am I advancing in my journey to a better world? I will then record my sins, with their peculiar aggravations, that I j, humble myself before ğ. for them; and my mercies, with the circumstances that set them off, that I may return fer- vent thanks for them. Having made a catalogue of hints upon both these subjects, I will spend some time in medita- tion upon them; and having read some psalms or hymns, which speak the language of godly sorrow, I will go into the presence of God, particularly confessing my sins and the demerit of them, solemnly renouncing them, and renewing my covenant against them. I will then consider what me- thods are proper to be taken, that I may avoid them for the future. A devotional lecture to my pupils will be an impor- tant part of the work of this day. f will, after that, spend some time in prayer for them, my family, and people. The remainder of my work shall be praise, with which I think I ought to conclude even days of humiliation; though some- times a larger or smaller space of time shall be allotted to this work, as peculiar circumstances require.” Thus did Doddridge, with all diligence, keep his own heart. But with equal solicitude he watched for the souls of his flock. “As it was large, and lay dispersed in most of the neighbouring villages, he had frequent meetings with the deacons and a few other persons, of whom he made par- ticular inquiries concerning the members and stated hearers,. their names, families, places of abode, connexions and cha- racters. He entered in a book the result of these inquiries, and what other intelligence of this kind he could honoura- bly procure. This book he often consulted, that he might know how, in the most prudent and effectual manner, to ad- dress them in public and private; and he made such altera- tions in his book, as increasing acquaintance with the people required. By this he was directed in the course of his pas- toral visits, and could form some judgment what degree of success attended his labours. Here he inserted the names and characters of the lowest servants in the families under his care, that he might remember what instructions, admo- nitions and encouragements they needed; what hints of ex- hortation he had given to them or others; how they were received ; what promises they had made ; and, also, who wanted Bibles or other books. By this list he was directed how to pray for them.” . He also kept on his desk a memo- randum book, in which he set down hints, as they occurred to him, of what might be done for the good of the congre- gation, and, at the close of every year, reviewed the state of his peºple, wrote remarks upon it, and laid down rules to guide his future conduct towards them. Besides the con- stant labours of the pulpit, he habitually made the most sedu- lous exertions in pastoral visits, weekly and occasional lec- tures, and regular catechetical instruction of the young. The preaching of Doddridge was highly popular. His pronunciation and action were considered by some hearers as too vehement; and some of his pupils complained because that, (after his settlement at Northampton, partly from choice and partly from necessity,) generally preaching without notes, he did not furnish a sufficiently correct model of pul- pit composition. Still, Doddridge was a very acceptable preacher. There was an insinuating earnestness and pa- thos in his manner, and an unaffected sim licity in the mat- ter and method of his thought, which, with a singular ease. carried along with him both the judgment and the heart of the hearer. Nor was his style so faulty as the complaint of the pupils just mentioned might suggest; although on this point Doddridge himself said: “You could hardly name a man living who has less [than myself] studied the artifices or excellencies of style in his compositions for the pulpit. I did, indeed, in my younger years, study the English lan- guage with great care, and I have reason to believe that it. was under a secret direction of Providence that I did so considering the number of writings, which, very contrary to my expectations, I have been led to publish; but I have ra- ther been chargeable with negligence than with an excess of accuracy in the style of my sermons, sometimes having hardly written for many months one complete sentence for the pulpit.” The truth is, he had a perfect mastery of lan X guage, and his chief fault must have been an exuberance of Words in the extemporaneous exhibition of his thoughts, as a copiousness sometimes bordering on redundancy is notice- able in his written style. But no reader of his printed ser- mons can deny, that they abound in specimens of beautiful and eloquent composition. Doddridge's chief aim as a preacher, however, was not to entertain an auditory by style or any thing else, but (in his own words) “to come close to their consciences, to awaken them to a real sense of their Spiritual concerns, to bring them to God, and keep them con- tinually near him.” Some readers will be interésted in the fact that Doddridge's sermons were more frequently textual than topical; they were not such discussions of a topic or subject as might have any one of several texts with equal propriety prefixed to them; but their materials and divisions were drawn from the text itself. It may also be worthy of re- mark, that he was particularly careful to notice all important providential occurrences in the religious, political, and natu- ral world, by occasional sermons adapted to them. . But we must quit this topic, in order to consider Doddridge in another interesting relation, viz. that of a teacher. This office he sustained twenty-two years with distinguished repu- tation. The origin of his academy has been stated. Its chief design was to qualify youth for the ministry, and the course of studies was arranged chiefly with reference to the Wants of such, although pupils contemplating other pursuits were admitted. Of about two hundred young men that came under his care, one hundred and twenty actually enter- ed the ministry. The plan of study contemplated a period of four years, and included, besides other branches, the lan- guages, mathematics, natural philosophy, civil and ecclesi- astical history, moral and intº science, and divinity. The details of the system cannot be given here: suffice it to say, that, although the term of four years is altogether too short for carrying young men from the schools to the ministry, yet the well regulated diligence maintained by Doddridge in some measure compensated for this, and his academy sent forth a number of ministers, who were highly eminent for their attainments and influence. The government and discipline of Doddridge were throughout paternal. All the pupils were usually accom- modated with board and lodgings in his own house ; and the regulations of the seminary were formed upon a medium between the rigour of public schools and the license and confusion where everything is left to the student's indivi- dual choice. His general course of procedure with offenders was, to admonish them privately in a serious and affectionate manner, and pray with them; if this proved ineffectual, to admonish before the whole body at their social worship; and when this also failed, to expel from the school. The natu- ral gentleness of Doddridge rendered it painful for him even to reprove ; and it was only with great difficulty, and under the plainest necessity, that he could proceed to the last de- gree of punishment. He became himself sensible, at last, that he had been too indulgentin admitting excuses, and not sufficiently strict in enforcing his laws. He was best fitted to manage the more amiable and tractable class of youth, who can be controlled by mild address and persuasion. In giving instruction, Doddridge made it his chief aim to awaken thought and inquiry, and to lead his pupils to under- stand both his own remarks and the subject before them. His method of teaching was usually by lº to them, which were read sometimes from a text-book, but more fre- quently from a system compiled by himself, and accompa- nied by extemporaneous discussions. He encouraged his pupils in a free expression of their views in starting inqui- ries, difficulties, and objections. On the matter presented at each lecture, he closely examined them at the next lec- ture in the same branch of study. His manner in the lec- ture-room was admirably adapted to secure attention and diligence. Doddridge seems to have well understood the importance of preserving the elasticity and balance of the mind in the process of education. Through the whole course, his lec- tures were so arranged as to entertain by variety, and not distract by multiplicity; and in the intervals between those of the greatest importance, and requiring the most vigorous application, were introduced such as demanded only slighter effort. He guarded with special care the habits of reading among MEMOIR OF DR. DODDRIDGE. his pupils. He steadily examined what books they perused, and took particular pains in pointing out what were best suited to their standing, capacities, and designs. He some- times gave them lectures on the library of the academy, going over the whole in order, and explaining the character of each book with such incidental hints as might be suggest- ed, and specifying the importance, time, and method of stu- dying it. It deserves notice, that he seriously enjoined on them to read some writer on practical religion every day, saying that negligence herein argued a defect of under- standing as well as of real piety. The manners of his pupils were not overlooked by Dod- dridge; and in the family of a man so truly polite, and so uniformly kind in his feelings and attentive in his notices to all around him, they had peculiar advantages for acquiring a handsome address. He considered gentlemanly manners as especially important to the success and influence of young ministers, and extended his friendly criticisms to habits of speaking and action, which might affect their appearance, whether in or out of the pulpit. But the great desire of his heart was to see all the youth under his care truly pious. Piety, of course, was not a requi- site for admission to his school, nor was it by all, at that pe- riod, considered an absolutely indispensable qualification in a candidate for the ministry. Doddridge, however, encourag- ed none to enter the sacred office without it, and constantly urged upon his pupils the absolute necessity of a renewed heart, in order to discharge ministerial duties with any com- fort to themselves or any acceptableness to God. Many methods did he employ to impress their minds with divine things, and train them to an ardent and elevated piety, by a daily silent influence in his expositions of Scripture and his regular lectures, by special seasons of social devotion and exhortation, and by private familiar conversation and prayer. Nor did he labour in vain. He had the pleasure to see many first embracing the Saviour, and others growing anew in grace, under his instrumentality. Several interesting particulars further might be touched in speaking of Doddridge as a teacher, especially as a teacher of candidates for the ministry. Two only can be here in- troduced. The first respects his views and advice concern- ing their subsequent studies, while engaged in the ministry. He urged them to untiring diligence. Of this virtue he was himself a most eminent example, rising early, and pursuing the work of every day, according to fixed plans, with unfail- ing precision. . All the arrangements of his seminary also were calculated to form them to diligent habits.-He recom- mended the cultivation of classical and polite literature. His own attainments in liberal studies were such as to command the respect of distinguished scholars of the age : Ferguson, Grey, Littleton, Secker, West, and Warburton, were among his correspondents. Whoever reads his letters will perceive, that, to the last of life, he was constantly gathering stores from the various fields of general knowledge, although in his writings he makes so little display of learning.—But he bound it upon the conscience of the young minister to make everything subordinate to the study of the Bible, of his own heart, and of the best means for saving Souls. Full justice cannot be done him here, without an extract from one of his sermons. “I have had some little taste of the pleasures of literature myself, and have some reason to hope I shall not be suspected of any prejudice against it; nor am I at all inclined to pass those contemptuous censures on the va- rious branches of it, in which ignorance and sloth are often, with strange stupidity, or with yet stranger assurance, seek- ing, and (it may be) finding a réfuge. But on such an occa- sion I must freely say, I fear many things, which employ a very large portion of our retired time, are studied rather as po- lite amusements to our own minds, than as things which seem to have any apparent subserviency to the glory of God, and | the edification of our flock; and consequently, I fear, they will stand as articles of abatement, if I may so express it, in our final account, and, when they come to be made mani- fest, will be found works that shall be burnt, as being no better, in the divine esteem, than wood, hay, and stubble, how beautifully soever they may have been varnished or gilded over.” “I would not, my young friends, be so severe and cruel, as to desire you should be confined from that high and ele: gant entertainment, which a person of genius and taste will MEMCIR OF DR. EODDRIDGE. xi find in the masterly writings of the ancient orators, histo- rians and poets; or in those polite and elegant pieces, which our own and other modern languages may afford; from which the wise man, and the Christian, will learn many things of solid use, as well as matters of most delight- ful amusement. Neither would I pretend to forbid some mathematical and philosophical researches, into which you are initiated in your academical course, and with which you will do well to retain and improve your acquaintance in the 3rogress of life, both to strengthen your rational faculties y that strenuous exercise, and to improve your knowledge of the works of God, which will appear great, wonderful, and delightful, in proportion to the degree of sagacity and dili- gence with which they may be searched out. Băt it is one thing to taste of these poignant and luscious fruits, and ano- ther to feed and live upon them —one thing to make the most noble and substantial parts of them our entertainment and refreshment; and quite another to make their circumstan- tial curiosities the chief business of our study, and the fa- vorite subjects of our most attentive inquiry. That true greatness and elevation of mind, which the gospel is so ad- mirably calculated to produce, would teach us a much sub- limer science; and if, for the sake of these little things, we neglect to pray for those whom God hath committed to our care, to inquire into their religious state, to pursue them with suitable applications and addresses, the time will come when we shall assuredly own, that we dearly purchased the most refined pleasures they could possibly give us; not to say, how much greater and nobler pleasure we evén now resign, while our duty is neglected. O, my brethren, let us consider how fast we are, as it were, posting through this dying life which God has assigned us, in which we are to manage concerns of infinite moment; how fast we are pass- ing on to the immediate presence of our Lord, to give up our account to him. You must judge for yourselves; but per- mit me to say, that for my own part, I would not for ten thousand worlds be that man, who, when God shall ask him, at last, how he has employed most of his time, while he con- tinued a minister in his church, and had the care of souls, should be obliged to reply: ‘Lord, I have restored many corrupted passages in the ancient classics, and illustrated many which were before obscure ; I have cleared up many intricacies in chronology, or geography; I have solved many perplexed cases in algebra ; I have refined on astronomi- ical calculations, and left behind me many sheets on these curious and difficult subjects, where the figures and characters are ranged with the greatest exactness and truth; —and these are the employments in which my life has been worn out, while preparations for the pulpit, or ministrations in it, did not demand my immediate attendance.” O, sirs, as for the waters which are drawn from these springs, how sweetly soever they may taste to a curious mind that thirsts for them, or to an ambitious mind which thirsts for the ap- plause they sometimes procure, I fear that there is often reason to pour them out before the Lord, with rivers of peni- tential tears, as the blood of souls which have been forgot- ten, while these trifles have been remembered and pursued.” The remaining particular alluded to above, is the influence of Doddridge upon the religious tenets qf his pupils. That He was orthodóx himself, has been already shown. Dr. Kippis, educated under him, states that his instructions were * The following list, with the time of publication, is taken chiefly from IXippis.-S. indicates Sermon. I730. 73S2. 1735. l736. Calvinistical. But it is a fact sometimes referred to by the enemies of evangelical religion with more triumph than the case any way justifies, that a number of this good man's pu- pils embracéd liberal opinions. This fact, let the most be made of it, can prove only that something more than Ortho- dox human teaching is requisite to bring and hold the mind of man in subjection to the humbling truths of the #. Grant that Doddridge imposed no shackles upon the freedom of inquiry; but if he had done it, is it likely that fewer of his pupils would have ultimately renounced their original faith? or, because Doddridge encouraged his students to think for themselves, is it thereby made certain that another man's pupil exercises no freedom of inquiry, if he does not become a liberalist or a rationalist? or that a modern teacher must have hoodwinked his scholars, if they all remain as Or- thodox as himself? We repeat it, the fact above mentioned proves nothing against Doddridge, and nothing against our faith. We lament the fact, and dare not say that some blame does not attach to the teacher. Perhaps this is one of the very particulars in which Doddridge, as he confessed, was sensible he had erred by an excessive caution. But we be- lieve one chief reason of the thing to have been, the gross mistake of putting unconverted youth º a course of di- rect preparation for the ministry, under the hope of their be- coming pious during the process. What other expectation can any rational believer in human depravity cherish, than that such youth, when the doctrines of the gospel, come to be discusséd as they ought to be in a theological school, will find the judgment enslaved to the heart, so that the former shall see the strongest evidence where the latter feels the greatest relish, and thus, in spite of reason and of Scripture, embrace falsehood P But whatever cause may be assigned in reference to the heresies of some of Doddridge's pupils, and the final apostasy of his school, how would this matter grieve his righteous soul could he return to earth and see whatbitterfruits have been made to grow, and what poisonous streams have issued, where he sought to plant the tree and fountain of life . His seminary, before his death, had been placedon a permanent foundation by the liberal endowments of Mr. Coward; and it was afterwards frequently called Coward's Academy. Subsequently to his death, it was removed from Northampton to Daventry; then back to Northampton; and finally to Wymondley. Both the founder and the patron would have shuddered at the thought, that their beloved school of the prophets would ever, send out such a theo- logian as Joseph Priestley ! And what wonder is it, that the pious heart of Mr. Orton, the pupil, friend, assistant, and biographer of Doddridge, was filled with anguish, when he lived to see the divinity chair of his revered tutor filled by Thomas Belsham | It is, however, due to the memory of all concerned to state, that, when appointed to the place, Belsham had not openly renounced his Orthodoxy , and when the lapse of eight years showed him to himself and to others as having descended to the lowest point of error, his resignation was tendered and accepted, on the ground that the spirit of Coward’s will forbade the idea that a Unitarian should be at the head of the academy. - To Doddridge as an author it seems impossible to do jus- tice in this place. For a list of his works, which is probably very nearly accurate, the reader is referred to the note below.” “Free Thoughts on the most probable Means of reviving the Dissenting Interest, occasioned by the Inquiry into the Causes of its Decay.” “Sermons on the Education of Children.” “Sermons to Young People.” e - S. “The Care of the Soul urged as the Que Thing Needful.” º S. “Absurdity and Imiquity of Persecution for Conscience Sake in all its Forms and Degrees.” * - -- “Ten Sermons on the Power and Grace of Christ and the Evidences of his glorious Gospel.” . “Submission to Şăine PF commended and enforced.” - - - - * * “The Temper and Conduct of the primitive Ministers of the Gospel illustrated and recommended.” 1737–S. S. & Practical Reflections on the Character and Death of Enoch.” J73S. “Sermon on Öccasion of the Fire at Wellingborough.” 1739. “The Family Expositor, or a Paraphrase and Version of the New Tes- tament, with Critical Notes and a practical Improvement of each Section.” First Volume. * - 1730–40. “Necessity of a General Reformation, in Order to a well grounded Hope of Success in War.” . “The Family Expositor, &c.” . Second Volume. * - & . “The Scripture Doctrine of Salvation by Grace through Faith, illustrat- ed and inproved, in two Sermons, &c.” “Pragtical Discourses on Regeneration.” * S. “The Evil and Danger of neglecting the Souls of Men plainly and seriously represented.” pvidence on the Death of Children re- — S. 1743. “Letters to the Author of a Pamphlet entitled ‘Christianity not ſounded on Argument. - S, “ Compassion to the Sick recommended and urged.” -> “The Principles of the Christian Religion expressed in plain and easy Y; ,änd divided into short lessons, for the Use of Children and Outlı. - . . The Rise, and Progress of Religion in the Soul.” — S. “The Christian Warrior animated and crowned.” . “Sernion on the Death of Rev. J. Shepherd.” 1747. “Some remarkable Passages in the Liſe of the Hon. Col. James Gardiner.” S. “The t'amily Expositor, containing the Acts of the Apostles, with ad- ditional Notes on the Harmony of the Evangelists, and two Disserta- tions : l; On Sir Isaac Newton’s System of the Harimonies. 2. On the Inspiration of the New Testarment.”. Third Volume. S.“ Christ’s Invitation to thirsty Souls.” “Works of Leigiiton revised, &c.” . “A plain and serious Address to a Master of a Family on the important Subject of Fanjily Religion.” - * S. “Reflections on the Conduct of Divine Providence, in the Series and Conclusion of the late WV ar.” . . - 4 .S. “Christian Candour and Unanimity stated, illustrated and urged.” 50. S. “The Guilt and Doom of Capernaum seriously recommended to the Consideration of the Inhabitants of London.” “Meditations ou the Tears of Jesus over the Grave of Lazarus.” “Hymns founded on various Texts of Scripture.” Edited by Job Ortºn. ižáš. “ºfº” Famil: Expósitorº Volumes fifth and Sixth. Edited by Mr rtOll. & & 1763. Course of Lectures on the Principal Subjects of Pneumatology, Ethics xii One of the first things attracting our notice is the great amount he wrote, considering the circuinstances of the case. All his publications were composed, or nearly so, between the years 1730 and 1750; and during all this time he per- formed the arduous duties of a tutor and a minister, and was engaged in a most extensive correspondence, both domestic and foreign. Yet, in these twenty years, crowded with such heavy official duties, he prepared a mass of composition amply sufficient to have come from a long life of comparative leisure. The practical character of his writings must strike every one. He did indeed, while young, write a few pieces for two periodicals of the day, viz. The present State of the Republic of Letters, and the History of the Works of the Learned; and a few papers from his pen appeared in the Transactions of the Royal Society. , Bésides these fugitive performances, all that he designed for the press was strictly of a practical nature. The Letters in answer to the pam- phlet entitled Christianity not founded on ..?rgument, and the Free Thoughts on the Means of reviving the Dissenting In- terest, may be called controversial; but they are only nomi- nally so; they breathe the same catholic spirit, and are cal- culated for the same happy influence, with his other writings. His Lectures, from the necessity of the case, must contain less that is directly practical; but these were prepared originally for his own scholars in divinity, and not for pub- lication; and nothing of a controversial spirit is found even in these. It was, in fact, impossible for 5 polemic. He could wield with resistless sway an argument of love ; but he dreaded a dispute. If anythink it a dis- º to the talents of Doddridge, that he confined imself to this department of writing, we beg of such to consider for a moment the question, which is the easiest, to write a book universally acknowledged to be learned, philo- Sophical, and profound ; or produce a work of practical piety, that shall, in all ages and all countries, not only be pro- nounced superlatively excellent, but actually exert a mani- fest influence in the religious world? Take the Divine Legation of Moses, a work learned, ingenious and acute beyond most others; yet we could name a hundred men that might have written it or its equal. Take, on the other hand, the Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, a book of which it has been well said, it “should be written in all lan- guages in letters of gold;” who could have produced it, be-, sides its author? unless indeed it were Watts himself, who partially conceived its plan. While the two works just named were in progress, Warburton, the author of the former, wrote to Doddridge thus:–“You need make no apology for writing so many things on practical subjects. hey are, when well written, by far the inost useful to the interests of christianity, as vast numbers of such tracts are a disgrace to it. But without a compliment, I have never yet seen any writings equal to yours on practical subjects.” It was the intention of the writer to characterize, sepa- rately and briefly, the more important of Doddridge's works; but other and sorrowful duties now forbid it. Respecting his Expositor, which he viewed as “the most considerable work of his life,” and upon which he laboured, in some form or other, about twenty years after its first projection, the reader will find a notice from the hand of one, whose opinions and criticisms on such a subject are of the highest authority, in the Remarks prepared as introductory to the present edition. With a few words more, therefore, I shall close. I would urge the reader to make some familiar acquaintance with the works of Doddridge. He will find in them no display of literary acquisition. This is another trait of his writings, and specially noticeable, as he was abundantly able to set off his pages with ornaments of this sort, if he chose ; and it would have accorded well enough with the taste of the age. Yet how little did this author care to gild his pa- ragraphs with a quotation or a rhyme how unambitious to use his own poetical talent, except to swell a hymn of praise to God, or fix in children's memories the love of Jesus! Doddridge transfused into his works the choice sentiments of others, gathered in his reading, and moulded over by his own thoughts and feeling. He seldom wanted other men's words. He seems to have studied with great pleasure the and Divinity, with References to the most considerable Authors on each Subject. .. 1790. “ Leiºs, &c.” Edited by Thomas. Stedman; t išū’ſ “Lºtures on Preaching and the Ministerial Character.” oddridge to be a MEMOIR OF DR. J.)ODDRIDGE. Writings of such men as Leighton, Howe, and Baxter. “Bax- ter is my favourite author,” he says in one of his letters, “and it is impossible to tell you how much I am charmed with the tleV9tion, good sense, and pathos, which are every where to be found in that writer.” In another, he suggests, that by the blessing of God upon his labours, “some sinners may owe their conversion, and some honest christians their edification, to his acquaintance, with Baxter's incomparable writings.” But there is another trait in the writings of Doddridge, for which they are to be recommended to all. There is a singu- lar union of tenderness and pungency. They infallibly reach the conscience, but they do it somehow more softly and sweetly than you would suppose it could be, and yet be done effectually. It might be difficult perhaps to analyze this influence, and show its elements, and how they operate: no doubt the peculiarly affectionate temperament of Dod- dridge, and his deep habitual devotion, are among the causes. But one thing is worthy of remembrance. Dod- dridge prayed over all the productions & his pen; repeatedly and solemnly did he dedicate them to God, # that they might be the means of saving sinners and glorifying Him ; and joyful to him was it, more than once, to hear of their sal lutary influence. A friend to whom he complained that the blessing of the Holy Spirit did not apparently attend his F. wrote: “God has set you high above most that he has made stewards in his house, and there are a great many, who will call you their spiritual father at the great-day of manifestation: remarkable power has gºi with many of the gospel reports, which you have uttered. If he now ği [. efficacious influence, surely he may do what he will with his own. . . . . Consider, sir, the Lord has done you more honour than even any man in your day; there is no one whose works have been translated into such various languages, and had so wide a spread. By these you are not only preaching with a loud voice, indeed, but will be doing so after your translation to heaven.” The following is found in Doddridge's diary, and call- ed “A Collect for the Assistance of God in my Studies.” “O God! I would humbly thank thee for that most favourable and indulgent interposition of Providence, which has fixed me in the employments of a student and a minister. As I would devote all my studies to thee, I beg thou wilt direct and assist me in them. Do thou, O God, give me a solid judg- ment, and a comprehensive understanding, a lively ima- gination, and a tenacious memory. Whether I read thy word, or examine the records of former ages, or study the writings of the moderns, for my edification in practical reli- gion, or for my improvement in human literature, may I plainly perceive that thou art with me by the prosperous suc- cess of all my undertakings. Particularly grant, if it be thy blessed will, that the three great engagements of a preacher, an expositor and a tutor, which fhave in prospect for the remainder of life, may be all considerably advanced by the studies of this day ; that glory may redound to thee, and benefit to the world, as well as entertainment to my own mind, by what I am now about to engage in, through Jesus hrist. Amen.” The secret of the ford is with them that. fear him. Doddridge, as a student and an author, did reve- rence to the Holy Spirit; and that glorious agent, who gives the efficacy to all human instrumentality and to all divine truth, is to this day putting the seals of most ho- nourable attestation on what he wrote. The glance that has been attempted at the character of Doddridge, may be properly finished by the following state- ment from Dr. Watts. - - “I have well known him many years, and have enjoyed a constant intimacy and friendship with him ever since the providence of God called him to be a º of human sciences, and a teacher of sacred theology to young men amongst us, who are trained up for the ministry of the gos- pel. I have no need to give you a large account of his knowledge in the sciences, in which I confess him to be greatly my superior; and as to the doctrines of divinity and the º of Christ, I know not any man of greater skill than himself, and hardly sufficient to be his second. As he hath a most exact acquaintance with the things of God and our holy religion, so far as we are let into the knowledge of 1829–1832. “The Correspondence and Diary, &c.” Edited by J. D. Hum- phreys, Esq. * * * * * * * rººt - During his life, various papers in certain periodicals, and in the Transactions of the Royal Society. - - MEMOIR OF DR. DODDRIDGE. them by the light of nature and the revelations of Scripture, so he hath a most happy manner of teaching those who are younger. He hath a most skilful and condescending way of instruction; nor is there any person of my acquaintance with whom I am more entirely agreed in all the sentiments of the doctrine of Christ. He is a most hearty believer of the great articles and important principles of the reformed church; a most affectionate preacher and pathetic writer on the practical parts of religion; and in one word, since I am now advanced in age beyond my seventieth year, if there were any man to whom Providence would permit me to commit a second part of my life and usefulness in the church of Christ, Dr. Doddridge should be the man.” In view of such a life and character every reader will make his reflections; and the writer might well, perhaps, spare him the weariness of receiving suggestions from ano- ther. But the pen was taken in hand for this Memoir, with the hope of doing some good; and now, with a most touching admonition upon me, by my own domestic circumstances, as to the frailty and uncertainty of human life, ought this opportunity of addressing a word to some immortal Souls to be lost? You are a parent. What then are you teaching your child? For what are you training him 2 Whatmanner of child shall he be? Under God you may lay the foundation for his be- coming more than a Doddridge, a Luther; or a Brainerd ; under the righteous government of the same Being, you may also do much to fit him to be an inheriter of eternal WOé. - Are you merely entrusted with the care and nurture of little children? Think of the kind office of rescuing from death that seen. “gly breathless infant that was reared into Philip Doddridge. Would you not bless God eternally that he honoured you with the like instrumentality ? Spurn not the humble office which may enable you to save from everlast- ing silence some tongue, that may in a few years pour on the ears of listening thousands the notes of Christian elo- quence in the thunders of Sinai, or the melting love of Calvary. TO º father I would say, If you are daily reading the Ex- positor in your family, and have it in your heart to bless God for raising up and qualifying its author thus to aid your prayers and your meditations, why not educate thatson, for whom you cherish christian hopes 2 Perhaps he may yet translate your favourite Expositor into the language of China, and millions of readers thereby be brought to bless God, that both Doddridge and his translator had fathers, who loved x * * X111 J º and the souls of dying sinners more than they did the world. Should some youthful student, now busy in the pursuit of learning, but undevoted to God in heart or purpose, be in- duced by curiosity, or in any other way, to look at these hints, he is urged to imitate the youthful º Go to your closet, and write a covenant with God, to be his forever; and may the Holy Ghost seal it with the blood of the Saviour, till the day of redemption. If you will not, as a son, give our heart to God, sorrow must be yours, that curiosity ever §: you to view the example of Doddridge, and to hear his exhortations. Many young ministers and candidates for the ministry will possess the present edition of the Family Expositor. Should any one of them turn his eye to this part of the book, which contains a Memoir of Doddridge, may he not be stimulated to holy emulation ? Ought he not to be provoked to love and good works 2 Decision, diligence, and love of souls, will remove mountains of difficulty. How formidable is the idea of writing a commentary or a translation of the Bible, if you look upon the work in its complete state | But Dod- dridge tells you the secret, how, with such a load of other things upon him, he could produce a work like the Family Ex- positor. “Every day a little.” Luther told the same. How, amid his struggles with the Beast, could he give to Germany a translation of the Bible 2 “Nulla dies sine versu;” no day must pass without translating at least a verse. Great genius is bestowed only upon few. But all may be diligent. All may redeem time from sleep, from company, from pleasure. Christian brother, do you ever expound to others the parable of the talents? Are you sure you make, in honesty and godly simplicity, every proper application of it to yourself? Once more: these pages may possibly be examined by one who is or means to be an author. He may learn, then, from the case of Doddridge, how to obtain the most desirable ce- lebrity. It is not secure to him, who covets most the breath of human applause, or cultivates most the powers of human genius, or displays most of human attainments. It comes rather to him, who most honours God as the Giver of every good and perfect gift. To those who render not to God that which is his due, in whatever form of worldly ambition they toil, and whatever they may seem to gather, all proves to be as the apples of Sodom. They Ée: upon ashes. True,indeed, as applied to them, is the language of the prophet: “Ye looked for much, and lo! it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it.” - R E M A. R. K. S ON Do DDR ID GE's FAM LLY Expos I To R. B Y M. S TU A R. T., P:ROFESSOR OF SACRED LITERATURE IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT ANDOVER.4 .* W Hz: God speaks to men, it is in language which men afe wont to use, and which they can understand. A reve- lition in a language unknown to men, and not spoken by them, would disclose nothing. The Author of our nature can indeed reveal himself or his purposes to us, in a way which is not dependent on the use of words. But a revela- tion by means of language must, from the nature of the case, be made by means of words which are spoken and understood. - From these considerations we may deduce the conclusion that the men who spoke and wrote the things contained in the Scriptures, and those to whom they were originally addressed, did understand, or might understand, the ideas which were intended to be conveyed. Did we occupy the places of those to whom the Scriptures were originally ad- dressed ; in other words, were the languages of the Old and New Testaments vernacular to us, and did we live in the Hand where they were used, and were we conversant with all the objects, natural and artificial, to which they allude, and the manners, customs, usages, laws, modes of think- Ing and reasoning of the people to whom revelation was originally addressed,—we should then need no commen- tators to cxplain the Bible to us, no lexicographers and critics to define the sense of the words employed. No good reason can be given, why the preaching of the prophets, of the Saviour, and of the apostles, was not as intelligible to a Jewish audience, as the preaching of a faithful minister of the gospel, in iºngland or America, is to an English or Ameri- can congregation. - All, then, that an interpreter of the sacred word would need, at the present time, in order to understand the Scrip- tures, would be to put himself in the same condition with those to whom this word was originally addressed. But to do this, is a task more difficult than may at first be #: The original Greek and Hebrew languages of the Bible can never be vernacular to him. The manners, customs, modes of living, and thinking, and reasoning, objects natural and artificial, and many things of the like nature belonging to the ages in which the Bible was written,_all of which must be fújly known in order to make the language of the Scriptures fully understood, are not, and cannot be made, so familiar to any modern interpreter, as they were to apostles and prophèts, and their cofemporaries. All that the nature of the case now permits to be done in the way cf effort, is to gain such knowledge of Hebrew and Greek as may be gained by means of critical and grammatical study, and such a know- marks was originally applied to by the pub- ridge throughout, which he agreed to do. A ledge of manners, customs, objects natural and artificial, and the like, as an extensive acquaintance with Hebrew antiqui- ies (in the most extensive sense of this word) may enable him to acquire. Every one, who for a moment considers the nature of the case before us, must accede to the correctness of this rep- resentation. A foreigner who should learn the English lan- guage merely by the aid of a dictionary, and while living in aforeign country, could not possibly enter into all the meaning of any of our standard English authors. The simple reason is, that a knowledge of the objects themselves, which our words are intended to designate, is altogether necessary to an ade- quate interpretation of an English author. That the same must be the case with a good interpreter of the Scriptures is quite plain. Consequently an extensive study of Hebrew antiquities is essential in order fully to un- derstand the meaning of Hebrew writers. Even with this º the interpreter cannot furnish himself so en- tirely with adequate help as would be desirable. The rea- son is, that no treatises on these subjects can now give him all that a personal acquaintance with apostles and prophets, and with the times in which they lived, would have given him. The reader will not doubt, if he gives any credit to what has been said, that an interpreter of the Scriptures, who is competent to perform the duty which he undertakes, must be a thorough Greek and Hebrew scholar, and at least a good Hebrew, antiquarian. . He will not expect a well- grounded solution of philological difficulties that occur in the Scriptures, except by the use of such means as a scholar of this character might employ. - - It is a question of interest, then, in respect to the commen- tary which is contained in the sequel of this volume, What was the critical furniture cf the author P Was he well rounded in classical learning, and especially in a know- edge of the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures? I say Hebrew Scriptures, as well as Greck; for I take it as a proposition now made out to the satisfaction of nearly all intelligent readers of the Bible, that the New Testament is so inti- mately connected with the Old, so filled every where with its idiom, and so built upon what the prophets had before said and done, that no expositor can hope to acquire a funda- mental and critical acquaintance with the New Testament, who is destitute of all critical acquaintance with the Jewish Scriptures. - º - * The testimony of Doddridge's principal biographers, Cr- and referred back this part cf the work to the au- iñor of the following Remarks. Ile has been, obliged to cxecute iliº cirčum- staticos almost as trying as those of Prof. Fiskc ; ;14 he fears that it is but #º. done. These facts are mentioned merely to account for it to the early in the summer, cut him off from all ºe'of doing this in proper time. He then commended to the publishers his hope of rº pſ Gy in his estimation, to perforin friend, the Rev. Prof. Fiske, as a proper persoi), º the labour in question. £ºof. Fiske has providentially been obliged to execute * The author of the ſollowing Rºl lishers, to write the Memoir of Đodd long protracted, sickncss, however, pºlic, why the work appears with, a kind of double introduction, Ciſcº- štajões beyond the contioi of publish crs or writers have rendered this of the Family Expositor, it in the midst of the deepest and most £rying scenes, of distress, by sickness in his finil. Ön this account he declined giving the history and character DeceSS&lry . PROFESSOR STUART'S REMARKS. ton and Kippis, particularly that of the latter, who has, on the whole, given the best account we have of his studies and classical acquirements, §: to show very satisfactorily, that the author of the Family Expositor was by no means an ordinary adept in a critical knowledge of the sacred languages. “He was,” says Kippis, “well acquainted with the Greek philosophers and orators; among the last of whom he was particularly devoted to Demosthenes. To the poets of Greece he was far from being a stranger; but he was not, I think, deeply conversant with the tragedians. I remember, while I resided with him, his having read Pin- dar with much admiration. With the Latin classics he was largely acquainted. As became a divine and a thaoiogical tutor, he diligently studied the ancient fathers, especially of the three first centuries. He paid particular regard to the apologists for christianity, and was a great master of Origen and Eusebius. #. the fourth century his knowledge of this species of literature did not, I believe, widely extend, although it did not wholly stop there. With ecclesiastical history he had a large acquaintance ; and civil history en- gaged no small degree of his attention.” - Such was the acquaintance of Doddridge with classical and patristical knowledge. It is evident that he had a strong thirst for both ; that he took great delight in reading an studying books of this nature; and equally evident that, if he had been wholly devoted to studies of this kind, he would have made great progress in them, and in all proba- bility have advanced himself to a place among the first or- der of critics upon the writings of the New Testament. But, besides these studies, he was deeply engaged in the pursuit of theological knowledge of every kind, as his Lec- tures on Theology abundantly evince. With these studies he joined those of various sciences, such as mathematics, specially algebra, natural philosophy, metaphysics, logic, rhetoric, natural religion, the evidences of christianity, and other things necessary in the principal of a school such as he taught, where an academic as well as a theological course of study is pursued. As to his knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, there are some facts which serve to show that it was by no means in- considerable. His mode of worship in his family tends to confirm this. He was accustomed, during the many years in which he was at the head of his theological seminary, to board many of his students in his own family; and not only these, but all the others belonging to the school, were as- sembled every morning and evening at his house, for the sake of social family worship. In the morning, one of the students was called upon to read from the Hebrew Bible into English ; and in the evening, the same thing was done in respect to the Greek Testament. This exercise on the art of the students, was followed, on the part of their tutor, § his making remarks, sometimes of a critical, but mostly of a practical nature. It was thus, for nearly twenty years, and during the whole time that Doddridge was employed in writ- ing his Expositor, that he was constantly training himself for his important and delightful task. Few men have ever taken more pains to do any work well, than he took to ac- complish this. Few indeed have better succeeded. As to the actual acquirements of our author in Hebrew, besides the indirect evidence already produced, there is another fact of no inconsiderable importance. When he died, he had nearly completed a new translation of the minor prophets, which he probably designed to publish, with short notes. But as the notes were not written, and the translation not completed, his friends judged it best not to publish the work in that imperfect state. And they were the more con- firmed in this judgment, by the subsequent appearance of Bishop Newcome's version of the minor prophets, accom- #. by short notes, which seemed to render the work of oddridge unnecessary. The evidences of Doddridge's knowledge of the Hebrew, in his commentary on the New Testament, are not very striking. Still, they are sufficient to be easily recognized by an intelligent and attentive observer. In his day, the criticism of the New Testament, as connected with the He- brew study, was little known, or at least little attended to, in England. The qualities of the New Testament Greek were but imperfectly developed; and few writers indeed brought the Old Testament to bear upon the New, in the same man- ner in which it is now done by the better sort of critics. One thing is obvious; so much so, indeed, that it scº. y needs to be mentioned at the present time. This is, that no man whose time is divided, as was that of Doddridge, be- tween the duties of a parish, a most extensive domestic and foreign correspondence, the academic and theological edu: cation of various classes of young men, and the critical study of the Bible, can possibly go very deep and be very pro- found in matters of great critičaſ nicety and difficulty. These demand a life to be exclusively devoted to them; and one life very scantily suffices to make any considerable advances into this boundless field of literature. What Doddridge could do, he performed; and he performed it well. We might say, perhaps, what any man could do, he achieved; for never was there an example of higher industry, or more diligent use of time, than he exhibited. His talents, more- over, were plainly far above mediocrity. He was not want- ing in quickness nor in acuteness of perception; his memory was excellent; his judgment remarkably sober and candid ; his taste and feelings highly cultivated, and all alive to sen- sations of intellectual or moral beauty. Joined to all these was a habitual and fervent piety, of an order altogether un- common. In a word, he was, so far as we can judge, a man of that class who could pray, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out , of thy law,” with a good hope that his supplication would be heard. It cannot be reasonably doubted that he prayed thus every day of his life, while a teacher and a writer; and as little ought we to doubt, that his supplications came up before the throne cf mercy with acceptance. From the very first part of Doddridge's course of life as a pastor and instructer of a school, he appears to have con- ceived the plan of his Fº Expositor, and to have direct- ed a great portion of his studies and efforts in such a way as to prepare him for the accomplishment of this his princi- pal work with success. His mind was never off from it. He carried it with him to his closet ; he intermixed it (if I may thus speak) with his devotions, and with his religious and other exercises in his family and among his students. He says, in the Preface to his Expositor, “I long since de- termined that it should be the main business of my life, as an author, to illustrate them, [the sacred º. and to lead my fellow christians to a due regard for them, by endeavour- ing, in as plain and popular a manner as I could, to display their beauty, their spirit, and their use.” No one, acquaint- ed with the business of authorship, can fail to discern that the course pursued by our author in keeping his main object atways before him, is the only one which can ever ensure suc- cess in any great undertaking. It is worthy of notice, also, that almost the whole of Dod- dridge's Expositor was written while the great mass of the population in the country where he lived were locked in the arms of sleep. Nearly all was composed in the interval be- tween his first morning devotions and the time for taking his breakfast. This was a mode of study to which his duties in his school forced him ; it is not one which is to be recom- mended to those who are better masters of their time than he was. But the industry which prompted to this is a duty for all, and would lead to consequences of the highest in- portance to the church. There can be no doubt, moreover, that the morning studies of Doddridge were the occasion of his giving to the world his brightest and best thoughts; for what is written after the severe labours and studies of a day, must usually be of a tamer character than that which springs from a mind invigorated and refreshed by sleep, and as yet- untired with labour. Such were the qualifications, and such the industry, which Doddridge brought with him to the composition of his Fa- mily Expositor. It will be understood, of course, that the first volumes of this work must have been composed with less preparation for the labour, than was made by study and exercise in the business of interpretation, for the closing volumes. V. . In respect to the execution of the work itself, we must judge by an examination not only of the ability actually dis- played, but also by the nature of the author's design. Com- mentaries on the Scriptures may be divided into two classes: the first is that which may be called learned commentary, being originally designed for the promotion of the critical study of the sº and mainly intended for this purpose. The circle to which this species of commentary must ever xvi be confined, is the circle of critical students, who design especially to obtain a knowledge of the original Scriptures. Within these limits it was not the design or plan of Dod- dridge to move. He states his main design to be that of “promoting family religion, and to render the reading of the New Testament pleasant and profitable to those who had not the benefit of a learned education.” Of course it is the second sort of commentary, i. e. popular commentary, at which the author aims; and at which, indeed, he almost ex- clusively aims. To judge of his performance, then, by the same rules which we would apply to the commentaries of Ro- senmueller, Gesenius, Hengstenberg, and others of the same cast, would be to judge of it by unfair analogy, and not in an impartial manner. The main question and the first in- quiry is, Was the author's purpose a good one, and worthy of his character and talents? And this question may surely be answered in the affirmative. We may ask, then, in the second place, whether he has respectably sustained the part which he undertook to perform. And on this question I must now beg leave to say a few things. The requisites to make a good learned, and a good popu- lar commentary are, to a certain extent, and must be, one and the same. In both species of commentary, a knowledge of the true meaning of Scripture is demanded. Commen- tators of both classes must come at this by a deep and radi- cal acquaintance with the original Scriptures, and with Jew- ish antiquities. Both must be philologists, in the best sense of this word. Both should attain to the same results, by the use of the same means; for the best means of attaining the proper results are, and must be, one and the same for both. But there is this difference between the respective compo- sitions of each. The author of a commentary for the learn- ed, not only gives his results, but also the process by which he arrives at them, be this historical or critical. This pro- cess he expects to be judged of by his readers, and he sub- mits to them both the principles of his arguments, and the mode in which those principles are reduced to practice. Not so, however, except in a partial degree, with the commentator for popular purposes. He gives results only ; at least he gives these only, where they depend on a process which would be unintelligible to the mass of his readers. He is obliged, therefore, from the nature of the case, to wear more the appearance of dictating opinions, than the com- mentator for the learned is ; because the latter can submit his reasons, and thus lay the whole case before his readers. The popular commentator, moreover, may preach. It is not his only business to explain the Scriptures, but also to inculcate and urge the truths which they contain upon his readers. This Doddridge has every where done; and so have Henry, Scott, Patrick, and indeed most other commen- tators of this class. The reader of Doddridge should know at the outset, that while he has exhibited the common English version by the side of his paraphrase, he has, in the paraphrase itself, made a new translation of the New Testament throughout. This translation was extracted from the paraphrase, and published in two volumes 12mo., in A. D. 1765; but, so far as I know, it has never come to a second edition. The reader who desires to see and judge of the qualities of this version by Doddridge, may select, it from the paraphrase, by reading merely the parts printed in Italic. He who does this will perceive at once, that the author had studied with great care the meaning of the original Greek, and that he often ex- hibits the sense of it simply, in his translation, to better ad- - - • *; - - eſ vantage than the paraphrase itself sometimes exhibits it. I would that he had oftener been merely a translator, and not always a paraphrast. • • The paraphrase itself has been a subject of praise and of blame, according to the different tastes and acquisitions of readers. One class of readers, who think that dwelling upon any matter, and saying a great deal concerning it, an turning it over on every side for inspection, is absolutely necessary in order to explain it fully, are greatly pleased with the paraphrase of our author. He has often done the very thing which they require. And not only has he done this, but even added circumstances which he mightnaturally suppose were attached to the original transactions described by the text. I open the first volume now at a venue, and fight upon the author's explanation of Matt. x. 16, “Behold, c igend'you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye PROFESSOR STUART'S REMARKS. - therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” The nattire of serpents and doves is so universally known among all classes of the community, that one ...} think it hardly necessary to guard against mistake here by a laboured para- phrase. Yet our author has given us the following paraphrase as expressive of the meaning of the text: “When our Lord had thus instructed his apostles as to their behaviour and office in general, he went on faithfully to lay before them the difficulties and trials they were to expect in the execution of it; and added, Behold, I send you out as so many innocent and defenceless sheep in the midst of a whole multitude of fierce and ravenous wolves, who will not fail to watch every opportunity to attack and even devour you : be ye therefore continually on your guard against them, and labour to approve yourselves prudent as serpents in avoiding unnecessary dan- gers; but, far from imitating the malignity and revengeful nature of that animal, maintain at all times a holy simplicity of soul, and be harmless and inoffensive as doves, those gen- tle creatures who are innocent and loving to a proverb.” I doubt whether any body ever mistook the passage be- fore us; but if they did, they needed not so wordy an ex- planation as this to set them right. Besides, in translat- ing 4 gérºu or, prudent, instead of wise, (as it is in our common version,) no advance is made in the way of explanation. It is as ſar from the actual power of a serpent to be prudent, as it is to be wise; but wary he may be, and actually is ; and this last word gives the véry shade of thought intended to be given by the use of pgåriſtol, and better also than any para phrastic expression can well give it. The closing sen- tence of the whole is almost an anti-climax, and is about as necessary as to say gravely that a raven is black, or a swan white. In the sequel (v. 19), the author, in explaining the expres- sion, “It shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak,” thus paraphrases it: “For it shall be given you in the very hour what you shall speak; proper thoughts and words shall be suggested to you, änd your minds shall be maintained in that composure and dignity which is necessary for the honour of the cause which you assert.” Now, all that is im- plied in this last clause may have been matter of fact; and probably it was; but that it is contained in the words of the text, I suppose will hardly be contended for. It would be useless to multiply specimens of the like na- ture here, as the reader has the work before him, and the ones already given do as really characterize the faults of the work, as any number of the like ones could do. The recur- rence of this fault is somewhat frequent throughout the Expositor; yet not so much so as has been thought, nor so much so as greatly to offend a serious, diligent, and well-informed reader. The real truth is, that what another class of commentators throw into learned notes at the bot- tom of the page, Doddridge has inserted in the paraphrase itself. In this way, without any of the parade of learning, and even without the ordinary appearance of it, he has contrived to imbody some of his best and ripest, thoughts on the mean- ing of words and the connection of thought in the New Tes: tament Scriptures. It requires some good share of critical reading and knowledge, to know how much Doddridge has really dome, where there is a show of having done but very little. Whether the method which the author of the Family Ex- positor chose, in order to convey his view of the meaning of the sacred writers, is the best method, may be doubted by some, and denied by others. Yet the question is not to be settled by mere asséveration, and less still by confident fault- finding. It is a matter which a priori theory cannot settle. Experience only can be the ſº and ultimate test. That experience we now have had, in the long use of this com- mentary by the christian public, and in the many times re- peated editions of the work. The public have thus said, that the book is a profitable one to them, and one which, whatever faults it may have, is very well adapted, on the whole, to their taste. e - - It was doubtless an error in judgment, when the author decided to make his paraphrase so verbose. There are not a few passages of the New Testament where the * (if I may so call it in this case) may and should be more brief than the original. How is it pºssible for any words superadded, to make many a thing declared in the New Téstament any plainer than it is in its simple original form : PROFESSOR STUART'S REMARKS. It is plainly impossible; and therefore it is inexpedient to add any prolonged explanation. There are other cases, in which the sentiment is expressed in the original by a va- riety of phraseology, which occasions a repetition of it. In not a few of these cases, the whole sentiment may be ex- pressed more briefly than in the original, and yet with entire perspicuity. In other cases still, what might be thrown into notes by way of explanation, may be summarily expressed in a paraphrase; which is the very thing that our author has so frequently done. But his fault is, in this part of his work, that he has not sufficiently observed the difference between the various cases mentioned above. Almost all of the paraphrase is diffuse, and some parts even prolix. Hence most readers are not so well pleased with the paraphrase as they are with the Improvement, or practical remarks, which follow. The manner, indeed, in which the paraphrase is printed, will account for a part of this feeling. Oftentimes the reader, unless he takes much pains, will not know when he has passed through the paraphrase upon one verse, and is come to the beginning of another. This greatly embar- rasses the reading of this part of the work in families, and renders them less interested than they would be if they could follow the author, verse by verse, and know when they had arrived at the end of each. The interest would then be kept up, because the explanation of the sentiment would appear to be more definite and satisfactory. It is to be hoped, therefore, that, at some future period, this mode of printing the work will be adopted; which will very much increase the usefulness of the paraphrase when read in fa- milies, where each can read a verse by turn, and each have the explanation of that verse separately given in the para- phrase. We come next to the notes at the bottom of the page, which are adapted, in the main, to the unlearned as well as the learned; although this is not without considerable ex- ceptions. In general the author has purposely, as he tells us in his Preface, excluded quotations from the learned lan- guages, even those that might have served an important purpose for a part of his readers. The insertion of such quotations was inconsistent with his main design. The notes which he has inserted, are some of them designed to vindicate his version, or the paraphrase, or (in the Gospels) to discuss some point of order, or to remark on other writers who illustrate or contravene the sentiments of the author on a particular passage, or to make observations on the beauty and force of various parts of the sacred writings. All of them are sensible, candid, courteous, and favourable to the spirit of piety; and many of them evince no small de- gree of critical skill and acumen, and clearly show that the man who could do so much, could have done more, if time and circumstances had permitted. To say that none of them are erroneous in point of criticism, would be saying more than I should venture to affirm of any man’s notes on the New Testament, or any part of it. But to aver that the notes imbody much sound sense and discriminating judg- ment, and that they display great candour and sobriety, and occasionally no small degree of acuteness; to say also that they contain much valuable information to the common reader, and even to the learned one,—is affirming no more than what seems to me to be substantially true. The man who should seek in Doddridge for the sort of commenta which he finds in Rosenmueller and Gesenius, would see in vain. But so the author has told him at the outset; and so the nature of his undertaking required that the character of his work should be. Why then should he be found fault with, because he has not done what he never proposed to do, and what the nature of the object in view did not per- mit him to do P - * On the whole, the paraphrase and the notes of Doddridge on the New Testament, contain as much sound sentiment and as few errors as any book of the same kind within the circle of my acquaintance. After all the light which philo- logical study has shed, during the last half century, upon the Scriptures, how can we expect to find in Doddridge, who wrote almost a century ago, all which a writer of the same cast at the present time might exhibit, in regard to philo- logical research 2. The demand would be unreasonable, and the thing cannot be rationally º ... But, in whatever respects there may be errors in the Family Expositor, (and errors no doubt there are,) yeºney do not seem to me, on xvii the whole, to be numerous and important enough to detract very much from the sterling value of the book; nor should they hinder the jº, of it to the Christian com- munity. I come, last of all, to what the author calls the Improvement, i. e., remarks at the close of each section of his work, which are of a moderate length, and of a practical nature, and which are designed to excite and to increase the spirit of piety and of sacred regard for God’s holy word. And here I know not well how to express my views and feelings in terms that are adequate to the occasion. I must say, however, that I know of no commentator, older or younger, foreign or do- mestic, that will, on the whole, bear a comparison with him on this point. I could easily select passages from other popular commentaries, which equal, or perhaps even excel, the corresponding ones in Doddridge; but then, again, there is more inequality and tameness, or quaintness, or irrelevant matter, or repetition, or dull and heavy remark, than are to be found in our author. Not that he is always the same. It is impossible that any man should be so. But still, he seems never to have suffered his lamp to go out, or even to be smoking, while watching before the altar of God. The study of the Scriptures always awakened his soul to pious and devout feeling ; and then he poured this out in his Improve- ments, which are so spontaneous, so simple, so unaffected, for the most part, and so touching in many places, that it is impossible for the pious reader to overlook or undervalue this part of his book. It has long held a preference in the English and American churches over most other works of the kind; and although for a while it has been almost laid aside, of late years, it is now beginning to gain the same preference again, which it has É. enjoyed. I am fully persuaded that it deserves it, and therefore find but rejoice to know the fact that it is gaining it. Not that I would by any means, or in any measure, depreciate other good works published here and elsewhere, and which in many respects are worthy of all esteem and commendation; but because there is in the Family Expositor an assemblage of excellencies which is deserving of universal approbation and patronage. It cannot be inapposite to say a word, in this place, re- specting the style of Doddridge in all parts of his works. In early life he cultivated, with great assiduity, a taste for polite literature. Most readers know well that he possessed a genius for poetry; some specimens of which, of an ex- quisite kind, he has given us in his devotional hymns and in some other pieces. The result of his natural taste, and of his efforts to improve it, was, that he attained to an English style of remarkable perspicuity, neatness and simplicity. There is, I believe, hardly a sentence, in all his works, which needs to be twice read over, in order to be understood by any man of an intelligent mind. This is an excellence of style which seems almost to be lost sight of by many highly gifted minds of the present day. The majestic pomp, the regulated swell, the harmonious cadence, the eleva- ted and stately movement, the diction remote from com- mon usage, together with long, involved, and inverted sentences, are the costume in which the thoughts of many great minds, and among these of not a few in the church, are of late presented to us. Some of these writers need a para- phrase, or (as one might almost *...] a translation into our real and veritable mother-tongue, in order to be made perspicu- ous. And yet this is the very style of which many a young adventurer in the field of authorship is greatly enamoured; a style ambitious, more or less inflated, decked out with gild- ing and embroidery, full of mannerism, and attracting (of course) more notice to the method in which a thing is said, than to the thing itself. I know it is affirmed, that “there can be no dispute about taste.” This, however, I do not believe. When I give myself to a writer, who takes me among the clouds, or plunges me into mists, however resplendent they may be, and however amusing to fancy or imagination, I always wish myself on plain terra firma. Give me a clear and gentle atmosphere, the steady light of the sun, and a place to walk in which is straight and easy, al- though not romantic, and I can wend my way with comfort. But to be continually climbing giddy heights and cloud-capt mountains, or to be plunging into Cimmerian valleys of “darkness visible,” is more of adventure than my moderated appetite ever craves. xviii Thus the great masters of writing among the ancients did not compel their readers to do; whose works have, for their solid qualities, become immortal. Thus did not Addison, and Steele, and Swift, and Pope, and Locke, and Cowper, and many others of the like character. And thus, also, did not Philip Doddridge. A child can understand most of his writings. Among all the practical religious books in our language, I know of no more perfect model, as to manner, than Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. The spirit of this book—a spirit which came down from the upper world—breathes forth in language simple, chaste, per- spicuous, unambitious and unadorned. The work will, no doubt, go down to the end of the world, and flourish with new and increasing vigour; while many an aspiring and am- bitious book, full of valuable thoughts and striking views, will be forgotten because it is not simple and perspicuous. It is in vain, then, to say there is no dispute to be made about style; or that style is little or nothing. #. be perspicuous and simple, is indispensably requisite in order to be immortal, as a writer for the church of Christ. - The very same charming qualities, which shine forth so conspicuously in the Rise and Progress, are equally appa- rent in the Improvements which are contained in the Family Expositor. I cannot express how strongly I wish such a neat and simple taste as these display, should be cultivated by all preachers of the gospel, and writers for the religious Fº We have not a few books in our language, written y men of distinguished talent and piety, that offend here and there by their quaintness, their prolixity, their heaviness, their repetitions, and their formal and endless divisions. But who wishes that christians should accustom themselves to quaintness and oddity, in matters of religion; which never can fail of detracting from its serious and awful nature ? Who wishes young preachers to say things in the pulpit, in the way in which the excellent Henry often says them in his commentary 2 For one, I do not; and with all the excellen- cies of Henry, I must confess that he is a writer with whom I should not wish the young preacher of the present day to be too familiar. His quaint, artificial, and verbose manner PROFESSOR STUART'S REMARKS. (which none can deny) is not a safe model for imitation. To consult him occasionally for sentiment, is what I should warmly recommend. But to become enamoured of his man- ner, never can be safe for one who desires fully to sustain the dignity and simplicity of the pulpit. Doddridge is a writer who j. s no mannerism. What- ever he has to say, he says it simply, and in the easiest and most perspicuous way in which he could say it; and he never seems once to have thought of decking out the progeny of his mind in gay, or splendid, or pompous attire. # know of no books, besides the Bible, which I could more heartily commend to religious writers, as to manner and spirit, than the works of Doddridge ; and among these, in particular, his Rise and Progress and his Family Expositor. I have only to add, in regard to this last work, that but three volumes out of the six were published before the wri- ter's decease. Still, he had finished the writing of the whole, before he left England on his voyage to Lisbon, where he died; and they were published by his friends, particularly by Mr. Orton, after his death, from the author's manuscripts. The edition to which the present Remarks are prefixed, is copied in all respects from the latest London stereotype edi- tion, the six volumes of the former editions being compressed into one. The specimens of the present American edition that have been shown me, appear to be in no respect infe- rior to the English edition. I trust that all readers will be satisfied with the manner in which the work is presented to them; for the worthy publishers have spared no pains and no expense, in order to render their volume as acceptable as it was possible for them to do. The price is lower than any one could have expected, who knows that the work has usually been sold in this country at from fifteen to eighteen dollars the set. I earnestly hope that the work may now be as widely diffused through our country as its merits entitle it to be, and that it may be the messenger of light and salvation to thousands who are now perishing in darkness. THEoLogical SEM.INARY, ; Andover, Sept. 17, 1833, Ş. EXPLANATION OF THE TABLES AND THE INDEX. The four Gospels are printed in harmony. The design of the Harmony is, to exhibit the life of our Savior, at one view;-that is, to arrange all that the four Evangelists have written in such a manner, as to form one connected history of Christ; where each event shall be given in chronological order; and where what they have all said in reference to each event of his life shall be exhibited in a connected form. Such being the arrangement, it could not of course be given in the order in which we find it in the New Testament. Neither the Books nor the chapters can guide the arrangement, but the occurrence is not unusual that parts of several Gospels and chapters are introduced, in the same section.—This arrangement has led some persons, before they understand its design, to suppose it complicated, intricate and inconvenient. But by a reference to the Table entitled ‘A table for the more ready find- ing any verse of the Evangelists in the Harmony,’ any one will see in a moment that it is not only intelligible but exceedingly simple. In this Table, you will notice Divisions for each book of the Evangelists, containing sepa- rate columns for the chapters, verses, sections and pages. The first Division is for Matthew. In this you will notice the chapters numbered in the first column at the left hand. The next column to the right hand of this embraces the verses.—Then next to the right is a column for the sections; and the fourth to the right hand is the column for the pages on which each chapter is found. To illustrate the use of this Table, suppose a Sabbath School scholar has a lesson in the 5th chapter of Matthew. Now how shall he find it ! Let him turn to the Table and trace down the column for chapters till he comes to the W. He then looks direct- ly against this on the next column to the right of this, and finds the verses in onesection;–in the same line with this in the next column is the section, and in the fourth column from the first on the right is the page, which he finds to be the 76th. Now by turning to this page (76th), he will find his lesson, provided it be in the first 16 verses; if not, the verses will be directly under those before referred to, and the section and page will be found precisely as be- fore. In the same manner the three other books of the Evangelists are arranged. The Index is exceedingly valuable. It contains a list of all the principal subjects and per- sons brought to view in the work, arranged in alphabetical order. By turning to any subject you will find references not only to the pages where any thing is said on the subject, but like- wise in most cases to letters, referring to Notes after the figures referring to pages. For in- stance, suppose you wish to find some note or remark in reference to the time when the Jew- ish Sabbath began. Look for the word Sabbath in the Index, and among the references you will find the following; Jewish Sabbath began and ended at sunset. 74, a. Here the 74 re. fers to the page, and the letter a, to a note on that page. º ši; : * * #FI * 'uyſpp ‘66 “A &—gi 'll li-g ...] It tºº -wiſpo 'gg ºut Ax •wyſpo '9; "Y | “uſpo “63 "XX QFI * Of-93 IIIA Iö–I "A "zºſ po “Sø IIIA 02 * #9—Ig lu Ax 95–ag "x Sø—LI "xx &#I •uſpp ‘g ºx! wyſpp ‘Alī, ‘pk - —e - TPT - ga–t: "In A ‘unſ pp ‘gg “Aſ 16—SI " IIA 69 93–LI ‘IX * - * OFI e £9-iſ. ...,,, 9I—I IX sºmºmºx - - 69. I - * #9–93 "Al ç8–Ig "HIN S9 * * --- , 9 I-I XX| Sgt gł–9g *- I IIIAX Ig—LI X | “w ſpp ‘9T 'XIX | 1QI *-*. * * 08—#6 "IIIx 19 - AL-gE “I HAX 9I—£I ‘x g[—£I "XIX | agſ *E* 8T-II "HIA có—gI "Aſ gº—SI 'll IX 99 - * ;I–I X &L–ſ "KIX get * 0I—# "HIA &I—I "Aſ AI-I "Iſ IX go 'uyſpp ‘aº, 'x * - - #9. I Iö—6I 'IIIA Iö—II ºx * * * 88.I -- §g—£gºix 'uyſpo ‘Ig iſ ºwnſpp ‘95 IIx #9 Q[...[... &9–6& - - * ºf Yi** ºuyſpu ‘68 'YI - - - 3. L ‘92, “Fø ‘91 IX * gi-8g ºx £9 Sø–F& ‘XI * - -- [gſ S& ‘Lö, "[X * A9–98. 'HM 3) gº—I “Yi T. ..... • ºmº — 09:I — I - #1–1 gax mº - 6&I *çf ‘Ff is sºme “unſpo ‘06 (IAX --- --- S&I sºmºm 9–I "Ill A 09–63 III ag—33 "ilk | [O 6I-CI ‘II.AX *-*. ugſpp ‘Qg 'u.) * - 09 * gg—[g "x: - - AGI * -- - 'uyſpp ‘Oz, Ix 69 * I—I HAx - - 9& * gg—#z, ‘II.A * 6T-L 'IX | Sg * unſpp ‘6I ‘i AX -- -- G&I * gz—SI ‘IIA - 9–3 ‘IX | 1Q ** —I "tax - - i:3I *m-. 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"Aſ Ig—I& ‘I g I ‘; I ‘IIIA gº *::::#; *-* * - § * £º of-91'. - § Ǻ, "II. - --- * [ *. ag “[g "Aſ 6–9L 'ſ &ö–9T “Al j £9. #3—#I 'll A --- - - 66 -- 09—#I ‘Al -- - & £ g|I-I ºn A - - * - S6 “ugſpp ‘g; "A -- gI ‘ī-I 't &I ‘AI Ig -- 9T.I.. T ~~~ * 2.6 of-16 "Al •ºmº -- - (g ** Og “6F 'XI If–Sg "XI - 93–I "Aſ - --- — 63 - --- *º 'uyſpo “[a, IIIAx Gö * C& ‘6I ‘HI (a-II ‘IA g—g AIX | Sø • * - — 06–0L IIIAX #6 ‘uy'pd ºf “In - - -- A. ‘uyſpp ºf Ia-II 'III - --> - 9& * Sł–9], "XI 29–gg “NI .6—I ‘HIAx| g6 0I—I ‘III -* - - Qi * gł–9; "Y gg–08 K. ‘uy po ‘ca, 'IIAX | a 6 ‘uyſpp ‘g ‘it *- - * f - gº-g X; 63-ºl sy Lö—# I HAX I6 II—I "H - ºm, * 8. *-ºs 99–88 "NI gT-3 ''x, £I—I ‘IIAx} 06 wnſ pp ‘gh *s --- * {{ I - XI aï-63 “I * ----- *-*. lº g== 12–6.2 x 'uyſpp “[g 'uſa itſ pm ‘Iz; 'IAx 63 93-6T “I -- * * C. * Iö–SI ‘NI *—a 3 “Iſ IA 03-8I AY | SS * [—I "Al g| “…T. "I —I ‘Al €I * *-ºs Ić–II 1ſt A 3I-L-I. AX| L3 * ga—[3 ‘III I ſ—G ‘I "Myſp7) “g I ſui SI •º ** OT-T IIIA "unſpp ‘Og Ax| 63 81–CI ‘I * - - AI * - waſ po ‘ba, ‘iſ A 63–13 ‘AX g3 SI-L ‘III S“L ‘I z1–1 'TH | C.I . * -- gº—#I ‘IIA 03–01 AX | #3 -*. g—[ ‘lu 9—I ‘I g—I III g » . - g[–I ‘IIA 6–I ‘Ax 93 * ‘wyſpp ‘G# iſ * - # I “uyſpp ‘69. "IA --> --- 38 * - * 'uyſpp ‘gſ ’n gi Sg—If ‘IA - * - IS - wº- -*. &I—I ‘li &I 0. ‘IA - * * 08 * 63–33 "Al -- * | I Tö–9I ‘IA - 'uyſpo ‘ºf VA ‘uſpp ‘ia 'Ap: 67. * 2–I II — * ( [ g[—I ‘lā A.I-OI ‘xt 95–09. "IA &: I ºf 84. - “unſpp ‘gº 'In - II—I "I 6 º 6–2, "YI 63—FI ‘IA 21–9 ‘ā ‘I "Aſk II - - - “uyſpp ‘Sl 'i § I "Ix -- •uyſpo “19 't gººms --- A. *E*- 9 *XI £I ‘āI ‘IA wyſ pp 66 ''x 91. *m. 99–19. "I * --- 9 - T2 - . *s S&–9T K g/. - Qg—69: "I - --- G ** g—I ºx! II—/ "I A gT-I X | #1. --- 93 I - --- y uyſpp ‘gg 'XI *-*. Cº-g "I - --- g * * 9—I ‘IA "uyſpp ‘ī-g 'IIIx gº. #I—I ‘I - - --- 6 * ‘uyſpo “If IIIA “wyſpp ‘aº, 'A #9–SI "XI &/. - #–I - --- I NH O ſº *GIXſlº I *x{{IVIN * AA ºf H.I.E.WIſº *J. O'ºſ S * Nº HO ſº *GIXſ).T. "XIXW W. * AA 3 (HJLJ.Y}^{ JLO ºf G ' A NO WITH W H CH H J, JH O NOILIsod's IQ & * GIH,L ONIAAOHS ‘’IGICI?IO &IIGIHJL NI SNO II, O GIS SIHJL HO SHT TV L * - --- -i ºr i : v - T fºr tº r XX A TABLE OF THE SECTIONS IN THEIR ORDER, &c. BECT Aſ AT THEYº , MARX. I.U. R. E. J. O. H. N. SECT. MAT THE W. MARK. LU RE, J O H. N. 143 |xxyi, 6–13 xiv. 3–9 - --- xii. 1–11 17S -- *º-ºn ==º xvi. 16, ad fin. 143 xxi. 1– xi. I—10 xix. 29–40 xii. 12–13 179 --- - - xvii. 1–12 147 | xxi. 10–16 xi. 11 xix. 41, gºlfin. -- ~~ Tº }S() • ST ~- * *. xvii. 13, ad-fin. 148 | xxi. 17 xi. 11 xii. 20–33 I81 | xxvi. 31—35 xiv. 27–31 xxii. 39 xviii. 1 149 . . xxi. 18, 19 xi. 12–14 --- xii. 37–43 182 |xxvi. 35–46 xiv. 32–42 xxii. 40–46 - 150 . …- xi. 13–19. xii. 44, adjin. 183 |xxvi. 47–56 xiv. 43–52 xxii. 47–53 xviii. 2–12 151 | xxi. 20–32 XI: * ad fin xx. 1–9 - lS4 | xxvi. }} 58, 69, xiv. ; 66, xxii. 54—62 xviii. #-É X II. {1(!. Ji ??. (161.hn. .# * 52 xxi. 33, ad fin. | xii. 1–12 xx. 9–19 --- 185 |xxvi. 59–6S xiv. 55–65 xxii. 63, ad fin. xviii. 19—23, 28 53 xxii. 1–14 . ... — - - 186 | xxvii. 1, 2, xv. 1–5 *NXiii. 1–4 xviii. sº lă4 |xxii. 13–22 xii. 13—17 xx. 20–23 --- ll—14 * 153 |xxii. 23—3. xii. 18–27 xx. 27—4:} -º-º-º: 187 | xxvii. 15–18, xv. 6–14 xxiii. 5–23 xviii. 39, ad fin § XXII: #. 44ft. xii. 23 § XX . #1.” ---- ISS sº 1. i) 24, 2 l—16 J XXI 11. I-2:2 zii. 3 *: xx. 45, Gd it is --- 8: xxvii. 19, xv. 15–2 xxiii. 24, 25 xix. 1– 53 |xxiii. 23, ad fin. ... ... — ams- --- 24– y 59 * xii. 41, ad ſix. xxi. 1– - 189 |xxvii. 32—34, xv. 21–23, 25, xxiii. 26–34 xix. 16–18 §§ {xxiv. 1-14 xiii. 1–13 xxi. 5—iš --- .: 27, 28 61 | xxiv. 15–23 xiii. 14—º xxi. 38–24 * — 190 | xxvii. 35–37 | xv. 24, 26, xxiii. 34–43 xix. 19–24 §3 |xxiv. 29–36 xiii. 24–32 xxi. 25–33 - 39—44 § 2 - 13 xiv. 37, ad fin. xiii. 33, adjin. xxi. 34–36 --- 191 | xxvii. 45—54 Nv. 33–39 xxiii. 44–48 xix. 25–30 1:4 | xxv. 1–13 sºms -- --- 192 | xxvii. 55–61 xv. 40, adjin. xxiii. 49, ad fin. xix. 31, adjin. 163 xxv. 14–30 * --- ** 193 | xxvii. 3–10, - * * }% |xxv. 31, ad fin. • -º-º-º: *-*. 62, ad fin. 167 | xxvi. 1–5 * xiv. 1, 2, 10, 11 | xxi, 37, adjin —- 194 | xxviii. 1–4 xvi. 1–4 xxiv. 1, 2, 12 xx. 1–17 14– - xxii. 1–6 s & 195 | xxviii. 5–10 xvi. 2–5–11 | xxiv. 3—ll xx. 18 163 xxvi. 17–20 xiv. 12–17 xxii. 7–18 xiii. § 196 || sixviii. 11—15 | xvi. 12, 13 ... - * H69 • T ~~ - — xxii. 24–27 xiii. 2, 3-17 197 - - xxiv. 13–33 -º-º: 170 | xxvi. 21—25 xiv. 18–21 xxii. 21—23, xiii. 2, 18–30 198 -- xvi. 14 xxiv. 33–43 xx. 19–23 28–30 199 - ** * xx, 24–29 171 . … - - - ºxii. 31–34 xiii. 31, ad ſin. 200 * * * xxi. 1–14 ‘172 | xxvi. 26–30 xiv. 22–26 xxii. 19, 20 - * 201 gºmºs - - ... — xxi. 15–24 #3 -- º xxii. 35–33 XIV. is...}} 202 |xxviii. 16, ad fin. xvi. 15–18 xxiv. 44–49 Acts i. 2, 3 tº =º- tºº - Xiv. 15, ad fin. w 17.3 * ** *. XV. I.-- 203 - xvi. 19, ad fin. xxiv. 50, ad fin. xx. 30, ad fin. IZ6 * - * xv. 12, ad fin. xxi. ult, 177 * --- - | xvi. 1–15 R E A D H N G T H E F A M H L Y EXPOSITO R. DIRECTIONs Acts i 4—13 As to the manner of reading this book in families, I would advise as follows:–First let the passage of Scripture be read from the common translation in the inner column, unless the family have their Bibles before them : then read the JVew Version by itself, which is interwoven with the Paraphrase, but distinguished by the Italic character ; and then the Paraphrase and Improvement. - As for the .Votes, I should advise the person who officiates, to select such as are of most general concern, and read them after the paragraph to which they belong : for it is not so agreeable to interrupt the sense by introducing them before it is completed. Other notes may perhaps be more fitly made matter of conversation afterwards: but this is referred to the prudence of particular persons, who will judge with a regard to in question. ~ xx the state and character of the families In reading the Compound Tect, it may be observed, that the words of the several Evangelists are distinguished by crotchets, thus [ ] ; and the clauses included within them are always marked with the name of the Evangelist from whom they are taken, unless a single teact only be added at the end of the verse, to which they must of course belong; or, where more texts than one are added, the crotchets which have nothing to distinguish them belong to the first. I am pleased to think with how much ease any attentive reader will distinguish the Tert itself from the fara- phrase, in consequence of the extraordinary care which hath been taken to keep the work in that particular remarkably correct; for which, I am obliged to pay my public and most thankful acknowledgments to my worthy brother and friend, the Reverend Mr. GoDw1N, who generously undertook the great trouble, not only of revising each sheet as it came from the press, but also of inspecting the manuscript before it went thither, and of making several important alterations in it, very much for the better; of which I should have been ready to have given a more particular account, if his modesty and goodness would have permitted it. THE F A M I L y Ex P o s I To R. THE FORMER PART OF THE HISTORY OF CHRIST, AS RECORDED BY THE EVANGELISTS. SECTION I. ST. LUKE's PREFACE TO HIS HISTORY, DEDICATED TO THEOPHILUS, A CHRISTIAN FRIEND, FOR WHOSE COMFORT AND ESTABLISHMENT HE WAS PARTICULARLY CONCERNED. LUKE i. VER. 1 . FORASMUCPI, as, many have taken in hapd to set #ºth in order a declaration of have been confirm those things, which are most surely believed among us. 1- ~ : 2 Even as they delivered Inot On thelr OWI) them unto us, which from the beginning were eye-wit- º, and ministers of the messes of what passed, W’OrC1 : 3. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect under- standing of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, - LUKE, i. WER. 1–4. LUKE i. VER. 1. WHERE.A.S many have undertaken” to compose the historyb of those important ſº which among us christians with the fullest and most satisfactory evi great foundation of our common faith; and since some of these historians have written, personal knowled mitted them to us, who were themselves, from the ce,” as the have trans- ge, but as they (whether apostles or others) of Christ's ministry, eye-wit- beginning and in proof of the sincerity of their testimony, courageously became ministers of the word,” that is, of the Gospel, amidst the greatest opposition; I also, having accurately traced all these things” from their first rise,ſ even from the very conception of John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of our Lord, have thought it proper to write an orderly account of them :5 and I choose to inscribe it to thee, O most noble Theophilus,h because, though thou art already in the general acquainted with them, yet I cannot but be 4 That thou mightest know concerned, that thou maySt more fully and the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been in- structed. circumstantially know the exact and certain truth of those things, in which thou hast formerly been instructed by those who were the happy instruments of initiating thee into the christian faith; and I am persuaded, thou wilt be greatly confirmed in it, by the attentive perusal of that history, with which I here present thee. IMPROVEMENT. LET us humbly adore the divine goodness, that facts of so º importance, as these now to be laid before us, € were not left to the uncertainty of oral tradition; but deliver to the church in writing, by persons who had so many opportunities of learning the truth, and have given such full proof of their integrity in relating it. Let us be t by whose united testimony the whole is confirmed; “ºt º l, that we have not only one such history, but that several undertook this excellent and necessary work, while it is also illustrated by the variety of their narrations, a Whereas many have undertaken.] This must refer to some Histories of the Life of Christ which are now lost; for Jiatthew and Mark, the only evangelists which can be supposed to have written before Luke, could not with any propriety be called ºrang , and of these tºo: JMatthew at least wrote from personal knowledge, not the testimony of others. One must readily conclude, the books referred to are lost, as none of the appgryphal Gospels now extant, published particularly %; (in his Codez Apoc. JYov. Test.) or Mr. Jones, (in his istory of the Canon,) can with any shadow of reason pretensi to equal antiquity with this of St., Luke. But I, cannot with , .3mbrose, aid Epiphantius suppose, that the evangelist here intends the Gospels of Basilides, Cerinthus, and some other early Beretics; since 1:e seems to allow these histories, whatever they were; to have been at least bonestly written, according to information received from the most capable judges: And it is strange that Eusebius should imagine the words are intended as a severe censure on the now unknown compilers of these histories, whoever they were. Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. iii. cap. 24. To compose the history.] To set farth in order a declaration, is so antiquated a phrase, that it would hardly be understood any where but jere; at least I am sure none could; by realiiºk it, so hºle; as, suess at the elegance and propriety of St. Luke’s words, aparassa Git 6, as nºw, which may more literally, and I think far more justly, be rendered to compose a history ; and I doubt not but Qur English word compose, may express as much regularity in the order of facts, as the evangelist meant to intimate. e - c. Confirmed among us with the fullest evidence.] I think TerAmpoqopm– pevov is rather to be understood, as referring to the fulrºss ºf that tri- Hence with which the facts were attended, than to the conſidcage with which they were believed. This seems most honourable, to the Gospel; but as I know the word is ambiguous, and often used in the latter sense, I have chosen to express that also in the Paraphrase. Compare 2 Tim. iv. 5. 17. Gr. * Y d of the word.] Some have conjectured, that Aoyos, the cord, here signifies Christ, as in the beginning of St. John’s Gospel. Pºaps it may; but I did not think it so evident, as to venture fixing it to that Sell Sè. * * e Having accurately traced all these things.] The original, Tapnkoxg: 0nsort Taqw axpúðs, plainly signifies that accuracy ºf investigation, on which the perfect understanding of his su');ect was built. . From their first rise.] Some very pions and learned writers have pleaded this text, as an argument for the inspiration of St. Luke’s Gospel, and consequently of the rest; because the word artoffey some- times signifies from above, or from Heaven ; as it plainly deth, John iii. 31. Jam. i. 17. iii. J5, 17. Eut Luke so evidently uses it in the sense here given; Acts xxvi. 5. and that sense is so common elsewhere, and See IllS SO absolutely necessary in this connexion with Taphro).s0nkort, that I cannot think this text at all to the purpose. The argument I mention, is one of those, which, like pieces of superfluous arniosis, encumber Father than defend ; and the more I am concerned about the çonclusio: here, or elsewhere, the more cautious sha}l I always be, that i Inay not draw it from such premises. g To write an ºrderly account ºf then, ka0s&ms act 5 patlaw.] It is chiefly on the authority of this clause that MI. Le Clerc, and many other modern harmonizers, have thought, (as Beza also did,) that all the other Gospels are to be reduced to the order of Luke, wherever they difier from it: a conclusion which, I apprehend, for reasons that shalf attes- wards be given at large, to be an occasion of many errors, and particu- larly injurious to the character of St. Matthew. I would only here observe, that the foundation of it is very precarious ; since it is ovident, this ºvºx, lºst inizłł, with grº-fit propriety, be said to have given ºn crººrig ºccuºil of tie. History of Christ, as the leading facts are in their due series, though some particulars are transposed. .h 9 most noble Theophilus.) That Theophilus is the name of n par- ticular person; enlinent in the church in those early days, and not (as Salvian, thought it). A general title applicable to every christiaº as a lºyer of God, Dr. Whitby, after many others, hath abundantly proved. What his rink in life was, we do not indeed certainly know ; but it Seeins, that it was pretty considerable, for Kpartare was then, as Ercel- § among us is, a title of honour and réspect usual in addressing noble personages: (see Acts xxiii. 26. xxiv. 3. xxvi. 25.) And it might with, some peculiar propriety be applied here, as Theophilus was "so worthy the name he bore, which signifies a true loccr of God. i Hast been instructed, Teot gov karmy.m.9ms.] The word doth with great accuracy express the instructions given to those who were training up fºr aſ a Huissiº to the christian church; whose name of Catechnumers was, as it is well, known, derived from hence, and applied, without any particular regard to the age of the persons concerned. Čompare Acts xviii. 25. Bonn. ii. 18. , I endeavour to express this in the paraphrase, but it would be very is tiproper to use the English word §§ FinOst literally answers, to the Greek, because that is now almost wholly ap- propriated to children. SECT, 1. LUKE I. * 4 Wer. 2 3 I8 THE DEITY AND INCARNATION OF CHRIST. **CT. each inserting some considerable circumstance which the rest have omitted. Let us rejoice in th * * * * ... -----e - - - e t providential 1. Care, which hath preserved this invaluable treasure through so man din Joice in tha e of the grossest darkness, and the hottest persecution. g y succeeding ages, and some of them periods Ver. 4 While we study this orderly series of sacred story, let us be concerned, that our faith may be established by it. and our other graces proportionably advanced; maintai a continual dependence on that blessed Spirit, by whose instruction it was written, to lead us into wise and pious réflections upon it. - To conclude; from the care Which this holy evangelist expresseth, for the edification and comfort of his friend Theophilus, let us learn to regard it as 9ne of the most important offices of friendship, to labour for the spiritual advantage of each other; by endeavouring, not only to awaken and instruct those that ite entirely unacquainted or unaffected with divine things, but also, as we have opportunity, to confirm the faith, and quicken the zeal, of the 5 most established christians with whom we Conyerse. Happy the men, whose tongues, and whose pens, are em- ployed in so good a work: may they never, in the remotest ages, fail of some excellent Theophilus, to welcome and encourage their pious attempts SECTION II. St. John begins his Gospel with a very sublime and em - * s * - - - - N - ~~~< *; phatigal account of the deity and incarnation of Christ; and of those gl • - tant purposes, for which he condescended to appear among us in the human nature "johni i Xi4. e glorious and impor John i. 1. John i. 1. “ECT. IV the beginning, before the foundatiºn of the world, or the first production of any created IN the beginning was the 2. being, a glorious person existed, who (on account of the perfections of his nature, and his º.º.º. W. wa. – being in time the medium of divine manifestations to us) ma properly be called the § God, and the word was *** *ord of God.”, “And the Word was originally with God, the ‘Father of aii; so that to him the words of Solomon might justly be applied, Prov. viii. 30. “He was by him, as one brought up with him, and was daily his delight.” Nay, by a generation which none can declare, and an union which none can fully conceive, the Word was himself God, that is, * Pºssessed of a nature truly and properly divine. I repeat it again, that the condescension of his incarnation may be more attentively *ideº. this divine [Word] was in the very º º;Miº in the be- y º ; with God, and by virtue of his most intimate union with him, was possessed of * infinite glory and felicity. And when it pleased God to begin his work of creation, all 3 All things were made by things in the whole compass of nature were made by him,” even by this almighty Word; º; ºnd without him was not any thing made, not so much as one single #. whether among made. 4 the noblest or the meanest, of God's various works. That fulness of power, wisdom, and 4 In him was life; and the benignity, which was in him, was the fountain of lifee to the whole création; and it is in ******** particular our concern to remember, that the life which was in him, was the light of men, 5 as all the light of reason and revelation was the effect of his energy on the mind. And the 25,And the light shingth in light long shone in the heathen world, and under the dispensatiºn of Moses, and it stilijºº Shineth in darkness, even on the minds of the most ignorant and prejudiced part of man- kind; and yet the darkness was so gross, that it opposed its passage, and such was the prevailing degeneracy of their hearts, that they did not apprehend it,for regard its dictates, in such a manner as to secure the blessings to which it would have led them. amining the ºfºº authors, may see what those learned, men, have said, to whom Dr. A. Taylor refers, in his Treatisé, on the ºility, p:,258. to which add, Dr. Pearson on the 5.4% p. 118. Dr. Scott's Christian Life, vol. *F, 565, &c. fol. and Dr. Watts’s Dissert. on the Trinity, No. iv, $ 3.—There is, however, a remarkable º: I shall mention to this purpose, as a ; of the rest; and the rather, because it is omitted in most of the collections I have seen on this head, a The word of God.]. The Greek Logos is now become so familiar to an English ear, that I doubt not but most of my readers would have understood me, had I retained it in my translation ; which, on account of the singularity of the idea here signified by it, I should have done had I not feared it might have been unintelligibič to a few at least, an so have impaired the pleasure they might findſ in so excellent a passage. I know that some of the Fathers render Logos, Reason, as M. f.e Clerc - to be its exact Sense doth ; though I apprehend they mean it in a very différent sense from him, who seems to understand it only as a strong Eastern phrase, to signify the consummate wisdom of the gospel §e. See his Har- *P. 44. But this will entirely enervaté and destroy the sense of ver. 14, as well as of those texts which speak of Christ’s coming Jrom God, enjoying glory with him bº the world was, &c. b The Word itas God...] I know how eagerly many have contended, that the word God is used here in an inferior sense; the necessary con: sequence of which is, (as indeed some have expressly avowed it) that this clause should be rendered, the Word was a God, that is, a kind o inferior deity, as governors are called gods. See John x. 34. and l Cor. viii. 5. But it is impossible he should here be so called merely as a governor, because he is spoken of as existing before the production of any creatures whom he could govern; and it is to me most incredible, that when the Icios were so exceeding averse to idolatry, and the Gen: tiles so unhappily prone to it, such a plain writer as this apostle should lay, so dangerous a stumbling-block on the very threshold of his work and represent it as the christian doctrine, that in the beginning of aii things there were two Gods, one supreme, and the other subordinaté: a dif- ficulty which, if possible, would be yet, further increased, by º; what so many ancient writers assert, that this Gospel was written with a particular view of opposing the Cerinthiams and ites; (See Iren. l. i. c. 26. l. iii. c. 11; Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. vi. c. 14.) on which, account a greater accuracy of expression must have been necessary. There are so many instances, in the writings of this apostle, and even in this chapter, (see ver. 6, 12, 13, 18.) where 9eos without the article is used to signify God in the highest sense of the word, that it is something surprising such a stress should be laid on the want of that article, as a proof that it is used only in a subordinate sense.—On the other hand, to conceiye of Christ as a distinct and co-ordinate God, would be equally inconsistent with the most express declarations of Scripture, and far more irreconcilable with reason. Nothing I have said above, can by any means be justly interpreted in such a sense : an here solemnly disclaim the least intention of insinuating one thought of that kind, by any thing I have ever written, here or elsewhere.—The order, of the words in the original (6eos my 6 Åoyos) is such, that some have thought the clause might more exactly be translated, God was the Word. But there are almost every where so many instances of such a construction, as our version supposes, that I choose rather to follow it, than to vary from it unnecessarily, in this important passage.—I am deeply sensible of the sublime and mysterious nature of the doctrine of Christ’s deity, as here declared : but it would be quite foreign to my purpose to enter into a large discussion of that great foundation of our faith; it has often been done by much abler hands. It was, however, matter of consgienge with me, on the one hand, thus sº to declare my belief of it and on the other, to leave it, as far as I could in the simplicity of Scripture expressions. I shall º in the words, or at least the sense, of Bishop Burnet, “That had not. St. John, and the other apostles, thought , it a doctrine of i. importance in the gospel scheme, they would rather have waved, than asserted, and insisted upon #. º;Jºã jºircumstances in which they wrote.” See urnet On the €S, D. 4U. • c./lll things were % by him.] It would be the work of a treatise rather than a note, to represent the Jewish doctrine of the creation of ăii things by the divine Logos; to which (rather than the Platonic) there may be some reference here. They who have no opportunity of ex- and not fully cited and explained in what I take. º in any. Philo Judaeus, (dé Profug. p. 465.) speaking of the cherubims on the mercy-seat as symbolical representations. of what, he calls the eqting and governing powers, makes this additional reflection: “The vine word § is above these, of whom we can have no idea by the sight, or, any other sense; he being himself the image qf God, the eldest of all intelligible beings, sitting nearest to him who is truly THE ONLY E, there being no distance between them :” (alluding, I suppose, to the form of those ancient chariots; where, as, in the chairs we use upon the road, the driver sat close to the person driven; which was not the case in all; compare Acts viii. 38.), “And therefore he (that is, God) says, , I will speak writg thee from the mercy-seat between the two cherubims; thereby representing the Logos as the gharioteer by whom the motion of these powers is directed; and himself who speaks to him, as the rider, (or person carried.) who commands the charioteer how he is to manage the reins.” O §§ vTepava) Tºrov (scil. Övvagea's Toum7 tºns kat 8aat)\lkms) AOTOX 6EIOX, et; oparmy ovk nX0tv Iösav, ãre uměevi Taov kar’ augēmoty epºepms go, a MA” apros etkov inapyov €cow, ray vomraov atra: ātavrºv 8 ſpeaſºvratos, 6 eyyvratos, pričevos ovros pictopus 6tas-muaros, TOY MONQY 6 es-tv allevó0s adtóðvpºvos. Acycrat yap, Aa)\ma’a aot avo9ev Ts IXaarmptov ava pegov Tov čvoty Xspg|8&tp: Ögö’ mytoxov učv etvai Tov čvvapedºv Tov AOTON, eroxov će row XaAgyra, cirike) evopºevov to mytoxo Ta Tpos opónv Te Tavros muto- ×marty. I insert this, as ākey to a great many other passages in Philo; and shall mention one more : (De JAgricult. p. 195.) where he represents od, as “governing the whole course of nature both in, heaven and earth, as the great. Shepherd and King, by wise and righteous laws; having constituted his unerring Word; his only-begotten Son, to preside as his viceroy over this holy flock:” for the illustration of which he quotes those remarkable words, Exod. xxiii. 23, though , in a form something different from our reading and version, “ Bellgld, I am. I will send my angel before thy face to keep thee in the way.” Thu Kat idop K. T. A. Tg Lev Gunía, Ta de Ústa, (a remarkable distribution,) as It tumv kat (3aat)\evs 6 ecos aye! kara,ówkmy Kai voucy, Tpostmaalevos row optov avre AOTON ſpotgyovov viop, 6s rnvertueMetav Tijs tepas ravth; ayeXms, ola ripeyašov 3aat)\cos rapxos, 6taðečctat. Kat Yap cup.mtat #9, Idov eyg) &lpit, aſtos-exa, ayyeXov plov ets ſpoqayrov gov 78 ØvXa£at as ev Tri odo). - d JWot so much as one single being.] There is an emphasis in the words ovće ev, which I thought it properto express in the version, than which nothing can be more literal. e That which was in him was life.] The most ancient fathers, that quote this text, so generally join the words 6 yeyovey with this fourth £erse, that I cannot but apprehend this to be the true reading. (See Dr. Mill’s Proleg.) But if anythink it improbable that łºś should have different senses here, and in the third verse, they will please to observe that the full sense of our version is expressed in the paraphrase, an that the alteration here made is of very small importance. That the heathems sometimes speak of their deities and heroes, as the light and life of mankind, Elsner hath shown on this text: Did not apprehend it, ov Ka-exagev.] It might not seem so strange, that the world did not ńily comprehend the spiritual, since it certainly Cr di THE PURPOSES OF CHRIST'S ſin CARNATION. 19 As this was the case for many ages, the divine wisdom was pleased to interpose in these SECT. * * * latter days, by a clearer and fuſier discovery; and for this purpose a man whose name was 2. John, afterwards called the Baptist, was sent as a messenger from God; of whose mira- culous conception and important ministry a more particular account is elsewhere given: but here it may be sufficient to observe in general, that though he was himself, in an 7. The same game ſorºwit; inferior sense, “a burning and shining light.” (compare John v. 35.) yet he came only 7 Yº; under the character of a servant, and fºr a winess, that he might testiff concerning Christ, him might believe. the true light, that all who heard his discourses, might by his means be engaged to believe 8 He was not that Light, and follow that divine illumination. And accordingly e most readily confessed, that he 8 §," "“” himself was not that light, but only [came] to bear witness concerning it. The true light of 9 wººl; which he spake, was Christ, even that sun of righteousness and source of truth, which, that cometh into the world, º; into the world, enlighteneth every man,h dispersing his beams, as it were, from one - end of the heavens to the other, to the Gentile world, which was in midnight darkness, as 19 He was,in the world, well as to the Jews, who enjoyed but a kind of twilight. He was in the world in a #º. human form; and though the world was made by him, yet the world knew and acknow- ñm... . . ... ledged him not. Yea, he came into his own [territories, even to the Jewish nation, which and hºcº, was under such distinguished obligations to him, and'to whom he had been so expressly. Fº as their great Messiah; jet his own [people] did not receive himk as they ought : 12 But as many as received but on the contrary treated him in the most contemptuous and ungrateful manner. Wever- #"...º.º.º.º. theless the detriment was theirs, and it was indeed unspeakably great to them; for to as fººm that believe of many as received him, and by a firm and lively faith believed on his name, ſeven] to all of IS Ild IIl6 = them, without any exception of even the poorest or the vilest, he granted the glorious privi- lege of becoming the sons of God; that is, he adopted them into God's family, so that they became .#to the present immunities, and the future eternal inheritance, of his children. And they who thus believed on him were possessed of these privileges, not in consequence of their being born of blood, of their being descended from the loins of the holy patriarchs, or sharing in circumcision, and the blood of the sacrifices; nor could they ascribe it merely to the will of the flesh, or to their own superior wisdom and goodness, as if by the power of corrupted nature alone they had made themselves to differ; nor to the will of yman, or to the wisest advice, and most powerful exhortations, which their fellow-creatures might address to them; but must humbly acknowledge, that they were born of God, and 6 There was a man sent from God, chn. JOHN I, 13 Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, w indebted to the efficacious influences of his regenerating grace, for all their privileges, and for all their hopes. Compare John iii. 1–8. Tit. iii. 3—7. and Jam. i. 18. ...And in order to raise us sinful creatures to such illustrious dignity and happiness, the divine and eternal Word, º person whom we mentioned above, by a most 14 And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the # *ś,°º. amazing condescension, was made flesh," that is, united himself to our inferior and Iniser- and truth. able nature with all its innocent infirmities; and he not only made us a transient visit, for an hour, or a day, but for a considerable time pitched his tabernacle among w8" on earth; and we who are now recording these things contemplated his glory, (compare 1 John i. 1.) with so strict an attention, that, from our own personal knowledge, we can bear our tes- timony to it, that it was in every respect such a glory as became the only-begotten of the Father: for it shone forth, not merely in that radiant appearance which invested him on the mount of transfiguration, and in the splendour of his continued miracles, but in all his temper, ministration, and conduct, through the whole series of his life, in which he ap- peared full of grace and truth;” that is, as he was in himself most benevolent and upright, so he made the amplest discoveries of pardon to sinners, which the Mosaic dispensation could not possibly do, and exhibited the most important and substantial blessings,” whereas that was at best but “a shadow of good things to come.” Compare Heb. x. 1. qoth, not fully comprehend the material, light, nor indeed any of the most him.]. It is so difficult to express the difference between eig Ta têta, familiar objects it discovers: but the word is º gf other sºses, and 6% w8tot, that few versions have attempted it; yet, as Grotius hatli and is sº lsº *:::::::::: 9. Yinghgld of a thing, 1.09% well observèd, the energy of the text cannot be understood without at **** ēś Aé. tiº", sº perºit; ifiº l; tending to it.” That the jºis. mation was, in some peculiar sense, under ičºv a.º. ... * * * * * * which all illustrate the cafe and guardianship of Čist beforgisiºnală, this pajá g The true light was Christ.] The original yet more clearly expresses the antithesis between this find the former verse; I have endeavoured to follow it in my version, without supposing avros understood here, to answer to £keuvos there. I cannot but think the conjecture of the learned Heinsius very elegant, that the my at the beginning of this verse might belong to the end of the former: the exact construction then would be, he, viz. John, was not that light, but he was, (that is, he existed and came,) that he might bear witness to that light : the true light, &c. was in the world, &c. See Heins. in loc. h Which, coming into the world, enlighteneth every man.]. So I choose to render it, though I acknowledge that our version may be consistent with the lº that it most exactly suits the order öf the words in the original; but the other is also very grammatical, paſs spxopévov ets Tov koopov, and suggests an idea more distinct from vet. 4. 'Not to urge, that the phrase of coming into the world is, with peculiar emphasis, used of Christ, and especially under the notion of a light. Compare John Xii. 46. . I am come a light into the world. John iii. 19. This is the condem- nation, that light is come into the world. - i T he world was made by him.] Some have sº this particularly |ºle; º the guqstics, who maintained that the world was made by an evil genius; and, that the God of the Qld Testament, and the New, were different and contrary persons. It is certain, that Irenaeus, and several others of the Fathers, with great propriety, have urged this text against that, mad notion.--Eusebius exposes these wretches in a very just and lively manner, and makes use of words which, if he had been f. contemporary, might have seemed directly levelled at a late un- appy writer, who strangely took it into his head to call himself The JMoral Philosopher. But alas, every succeeding age has had its moral D º who have attempted to remove that burthensome stone, the Bible, and have found it returning upon them, so as to grind them, and their schemes, and their confidence, to powder, The yords in my view are these : (Euséb. Eccles. Hist. lib. v. cap. 28. in fin.) , ATX60s apvngapºevot Tov revopov Kat Tot's ſpoºnTas, º kat absov 6tóaaka- Atas, trpodaget xapiros, ets coxaroi aroxetas ox&6pov Karo'X(abngav. “Some,” (who yet it seems pretended, to be christians,) “absolutely re- jecting the law and the prophets, by a licentious and atheistical doctrine, which they introduced under a pretence of magnifying the divine good- ness, or the gospel,” (for xaparos, grace, may signify either,) “have Pº themselves into the lowest jº. of perdition.” - - k He came into his own [territories, yet his own [people] did not receive seems strongly to intimate, and many learned men have shown it, in what appears to me a convincing light. 1 Who ºpere not born of blood, &c. but of God..] I am sensible, this yerse is, liable to great difficulty and ambiguity. It is an amazing liberty, the author of the .New Translation, published 1727, has taken with it, in explaining it of a birth, which they had, not from circumci- Sion, nor from the constitution of the body, nor from the institution of man, but from God. I readily allow, that et aiparov, of bloods, may include çircumcision, but cannot confine, it to that: Datriarchal descent, and the blood of sacrifices, were so much depended upon by the Jews, that one would suppose them included. Dr. Whitby, with many others, takes the will qf the flesh, to signify carnal descent, and the acilſ of man adoption ; which I should prefer to the opinions of Mess. L'Enfant and eausobre, who, without any reason assigned, understand by those born Qf the agill qf man, proselytes, as opposed to native Jews; a sense, in which I never could find the phrase used. The paraphrase I have given, §§ the ideas distinct; answers the frequent signification of jlesh elsewhere : (compare John iii. on. vii. 25. viii. 3, 8, 12. and Şal. v. 17.3 and conveys an important and edifying sense very agree- able to the tenor of Scripture. But I submit it to the reader, without Fº that it is the only interpretation the words will bear. I hope he will always carefully distinguish between the text and the partl- phrase, and remember how very different a regard is owing to the one and the other. \m Was made flesh...] Flesh often signifies man in this infirm and galamitous state. Compare, Gen. vi. 12. Numb. xvi. 22. Deut. v. 36. i. cxlv. 21. Isa. xlix, 26. Acts ii. 17. 1 Cor. i. 29. and many other places. ! n Pitched his tabernacle among {...} . There is so visible a reference, in the word coxmudoo’ev, to the dwelling of the Shekinah in the taber. *::: of Moses, that it was very proper to render it by the word I have uSCC1. Q Full of grace and truth.] It is , plain that those words, and wre bcheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, are to be considered as a patenthesis ; and these are to be joined with the preced- ing, thus, he dwelt among us—ſull of grace and truth. But the length of the º made it inconvenient to transpose them p The most substantial '...} That truth is sometimes used, not so much in opposition to falsehood, as to hieroglyphics, shadows, and types, an attentive reader must often have observed. See Heb. viii. 2, ix.º. and Dan, vii. 16, Compare Col. ii. 17, - - wº AN ANGEL APPEARS TO ZACHARIAS. - IMPROVEMENT. SECT: , JUSTLY hath our Redeemer said, Blessed is the man that is not offended in me : 2. the words to that great and glorious doctrine of the deity of Christ, which is here before Ver. I them all to the obedience of an humble faith; 2 cry out with sincere and unreserved devotion, JHy Lord, and my God! 3, 4 and we may peculiarly appl us. A thousand high and curious thoughts will naturally arise in our corrupt hearts, on this view of it; but may divine grace subdue so that, with Thomas, we may each of us fall down at his feet, and Let us adore him as the creator and preserver of all, the overflowing fountain of light and life. Let us with unutterable Pleasure hail this sun of righteousness, whose rays, by the tender mercies of the Father have visited our 5 benighted world, to hended and received §§de,9;a feet into the way of peace : and while we lament that the darkness hath not appre- im, let us earnestly pray, that he may ere long penetrate every cloud of ignorance and mist of error, and may diffuse among all the nations knowledge and grace, purity and joy. Let us especially pray, that he may penetrate our beclouded souls; and that they may, in holy correspondence 10 appearing, be turned as clay to the seal,” Job xxxviii. 14. to the purposes of his The world knew him not; but may we know him, and give him that honourable and grateful reception, which so great a favour may justly demand!—Yet what returns 14 can be proportionable to his condescension, in becoming flesh for us, and pitching his tabernacle among miserable and sinful mortals?—Happy apostles, that beheld his glory ! And surely there are in his word such reflections of # a We may also behold, and as will oblige us to acknowledge it to be a glory that became the Only-begotten of the Father. 12 Let us.gordially receive him, as full of grace and truth, that we also may stand entitled to the privileges of God’s children. And if we are already of that happy number, let us not arrogate the glory of it to ourselves; or ascribe it entirely to those who have been the instruments of this important change; but remember, that of his 13 ozºn will God hath begotten us by the word of his power, and that of him we are in Christ Jesus. To him then ſet us Refer the ultimate praise, if that divine and almighty Saviour be made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanc- tification, and redemption. I Cor. i. 30. SECTION III. An aggel appears to Zacharias, to give him notice of the birth of John the Baptist; and his mother, on her conception, retires. Luke i. 5–25. LUKE i. 5. the Romans had made king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, who belonged to that course of priests in the templé, which was called the course of Abiah ; as Abiah was the head of one of the twenty-four courses into *** which David distributed the priests, (compare I Chron. xxiii. 6. and xxiv. 10.) whose * memory was still kept up, though none of his line returned from the captivity. And his wife (that is, the wife of Zacharias) was one of the daughters of the hº family of 6 -Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both of them persons of a very fair character among men: and not only so, but sincerely and eminently righteous in the sight gf God, walking before him in the simplicity of their hearts, in a faithful observance of all the moral commands, as well as ceremonial ordinances and institutions,a of the Lord, in a 7 yery blameless and exemplary manner. And they had no child, because Elisabeth was SECT. IN the days of Herod the Great, whom 3. barrén and so pious a man as Zacharias was, would not, on any terms, think of taking ; another wife, while she lived:b and indeed there was no human prospect that their family would ever be built up, because they were both very far advanced in years. 8 ...?nd it came to pass, that when he was at Jerusalem, performing the priest's office before 9 God, in the order of his course, or of the class to which he belonged, according to the cus- tom of assigning the respective offices of the priesthood to particular persons then in wait- ing, which was done by lot; it so #: that his lot was then to perform the most honourable service of daily ministration, that is, to burn incense on the golden altar, which was before the Lord, contiguous to the holy of holies. º xxx. 7: xl. 5, 26.), - accordingly did, when he went into the temple of the Lord, either at the time of morning 10 or evening sacrifice. And the whole multitude of pious Jews assembled for divine worship, (according to the usual custom of the people at that time,) were praying without, in the courts of the temple at the time of incense,” to declare their concurrence with the priest in that intercession which he was making to God on their account. Compare Rev. viii. 3, 4. .And while Zacharias was in the midst of his devotions, on a sudden there appeared to him a person, whom, by the form and manner of his appearance, he immediately knew to be an angel of the Lord; and he was standing at the right hand of the altar of incense, 12 before which he was then ministering. ...And Zacharias seeing [him, though he was a man of such remarkable and experienced piety, was greatly discomposed, and an unusual terror fºil upon him. wº tº sº. 13 But the angel immediately scattered his fears, and said unto him with great gentleness of aspect and voice, Fear not, Zacharias; for I come unto thee with no message of terror; but, on the contrary, am sent to assure thee, that thy frequently-repeated praiſer for the redemption of Israel, as well as that which thou hast formerly offered for a blessing on thine own family, is at length heard: and in proof it, I add, that Elisabeth thy wife I 1 dation of that, elegant, figures q, Turned as clay to the scal.] This beautiful metaphor of the inspired incense; (see Psal, g:li. 2. Mal. i. 1 J. writer seems, by a very expressive contrast, to illustrate the meaning of ow kaze) affei in the fifth verse. It was for want of this, the darkness did not apprehend, or receive, the light :, did not form, itself into a due This he i. by which # LUKE i. 5. THERE was, in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain, priest named Zacha- rias, 9F the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daugh- ters of Aaron, and her name was lºlisabeth. .6 And they were both righteous beſore God, walk- ing, in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 And they had no child, jecause that Elisabeth was arren, and tiley both were now well stricken in years. 8. And it came to pass, that while he gxecuted the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, 9. According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense, when he }.} into the temple of the OTUI. - 19.And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of in- CCITSG. .11 And there appeared unto im ºn angel of the Lord, Standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And , when Zacharias savy...him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13 Rut the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias : for thy prayer is heard ; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear theo a son, and thou shalt call his name John rayer is so often compared to € W’. one reason of ordaining incerºse might be, to intimate the acceptableness of those Dious prayers, which were to , accompany it: * * * * burning fragrant perfumes was, and in the eastern nations still is, so viii. 3, 4.) and perhaps, ind indeed, correspondence to it, so as to put on its habit, and clothe itself with the lustre of its reflected beams. How glorious and happy is that soul, on which the knowledge of Christ hath that genuine influence 1 a Moral coºlinands, as well as ceremonial institutions.], Some have thought this distinction too nice: but it is certain, the word Śikatapata is sometimes used to signify ceremonial institutions ; (see Heb. ix. 1, 10.) though it is often taken in a much more extensive sense. It is however evident, that all expressed in the paraphrase must be intended in the fext, since, under the Jewish dispensation, they could not have approved & themselves upright before God, without an obedient regard to the cere- important a part of the entertainment of illustrious families, that one might well expect it in the house of God. It is so plain that this was onſy an office of daily ministration, and that Zacharias was one of the ordinary priests, that one cannot but be surprised that any should CW'er §eſſ from this circumstance of the story, that Zacharias was Sagan, or assistant to the high-priest, and was now performing his grand 9ffice on the day of atonement, and $o 9), this, foundation should calcu- late the birth of John the Baptist, and of Christ, and all the other feasts which depend upon them: yet this is done in the calendars, both of the Roman and Greek church. monial law. b Taking another wife, , while she lived.] Polygamy, as well as ºft, were, for *ś, hº * their º tºº i. § s; but they seem both to have been, in this age at least, (tisapprove Jews * Compare Mal. ii. 14– §. and #T º, of the best character. ITſin. iii. 2. g g - c jī’ere praying without, at the time of incense.] This was the foun- d Thy prayer is heard.] No doubt he, had often prayed for children; but as he seems now to have given up all expectations of that kind, it is reasonable to conclude, that these yords chiefly relate to his prayers for the deliverance of Isråcl by the Jºſessiah, whose appearance was, then expected by pious persons, conversar? in the sacre .# (Luke. ii. 25, 38. xix. ſº. xxiii. 51.) and the mix e earnestly dosired just at tºº. THE ANGEL PREDICTS 'FHE BIRTH OF JOHN THE B.APT1ST. - • * * , , , , , ,] . tº tal: an of shall ere long bear thee a son, to comfort thee in this thy declining §§2.3, and in token of the gracious regard of God to him, thou shalt call his name John,” that is, tie grace and - favour of God; to intimate, that the divine grace shall, in a very emirºat manpº, be 13 And thou shalt havejoy upon him. And this intimation shall be abundantly answered; for he sºl be a £erson ºßmany *" of so distinguished a character, that thou shalt have joy and transport in hiºn; &nd ºngº/ iš For hesiſte great in others shall also have reason to rejoice with thee, on occasion of his birth. Fºr he shall be ...nº.º.º.º. great, not in circumstances of outward dignity and splendour, but, what is Infinitely more #iº.º.º important, in the sight of the Zord, even Jehovah his God, whose approbation is the lºſion his motiºsº, highest glory: and in token of his being in a peculiar manner separated to his service, (like the ancient Nazarites, Num, vi. 3.) he shall drink neither wine, nor any other sort of intoricating liquor; and he shall be so early remarkable for wisdom and piety, that he 16 Ap; many of the chil shall appear to be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, cºnd thus dren of Israel shall he turn º - to the Lord their God. trained up, and animated for service, he shall, when he appears under a public character, turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God; whose ways they have so gene- rally forsaken, even while they are professing themselves to be his pectiliar people, and 17 And he shall gº before boasting in such an extraordinary relation to him. ...And to prepare them to receive the ###".”; . . Lord their God, appearing in the person of the Messiah, he shall go befºre him, as an sºlº illustrious harbinger in the spirit and power of Elijah, that is, animated by the same wisdom of juść sanctity, courage, and zeal for reformation, which appeared so remarkable in that cele- 5.º.ºeople Prepared for brated prophet; and, according to that prediction of Malachi, (with which the sacred canon concludes, Mal. iv. 6,) he shall meet with such glorious success in his ministry, as to convert the hearts of the fathers, with those of the children;3 that is, he shall bring many, both of the rising and the declining age, to that real piety towards God, will be the surest band of their mutual duty towards each other ; and mapy of those tº have hitherto been disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that is, insensible of the obj to real religion, which is the greatest wisdom, shall he make ready, as a peºple prºpar he Lord, raising in their minds an expectation of the Messiah, and a disposi come him when he shall appear. 18 Andzaćlºriassailuºtº .3nd Zacharias then said to the angel, By what sign shall I know that this desirable and #..."; }..."?'... ."º wonderful event shall be accomplished? For in the course of nature it many, and my wife well probable : since I am an old ingn, and my wife is also considerably gºvgºce: i. - sº 1In years. - And the angel answering: tid #A j, ºn I ºn Gabriel, that st jid in the res; i. f Gºd ... Aitºl aniwºº, , ººlºº tºº ºlio.º.º. º.º.º. tº sº thºse ºf tº §: "º # , and near the throne of his Majesty, as one of the chief officers in his celestial court; of presence of God; and a sent whose appearance to Daniel thou hast so frequently read: (Dan. viii. 16. ix. 21.) and it is to speak unto thee, and to b S ,-- Y; - ; ſº j- ..º.º.º. by a peculiar favour, that I am now sent to speak to thee, in this form of unusual conde- - cension, and to tell thee these joyful tidings. Aſy very appearance ought therefºre to have been owned as a sufficient confirmation of the truth of my message ; especially by thee who canst not but know how frequently, in Israel, the most illustriotis persons have been 20 And, behold, thou shalt raised up from parents wh + be diº, and not abič to : p n p w c had long been barren.h .3nd since thou dos je."ºti" hººd...”ilº in this, God will give thee a sign Ji,' Us C gn; which, while it confirms thy faith, shall also intimate f * ~ + * 4. §ºhjºlº, nº his displeasure against this sinful mixture of unbelief; for behoºl, that sail from this iºnºori, which moment be silent, &nd ºngble to speak any more, till the day in which these iiing's shall be shall be fulfilled in their sea- sc f; 80:l. accomplished, even till the day in which the child shall be born; because th - immediately believed my gards, which yet, through the divine indulgence and favour to thea, shall be assuredly fulfilled in their season, that is, as soon as thou canst reasonably expect, after thy return home. - Q - - - ~ : * #nd T a. - | "h I ****{ & ºt º * ~7. g +] - - S ..] 4- - - > tº ...:* the people, who stood without, were waiting for Zacharias, that he might dismi § {...'...'... them with his blessing; (Numb. vi. 23–27. and Lev. ix. 22, 23.) and they wºndered th - Ł S S *- { ! # h (ſ f temple. he continued so long in the temple,i beyond the usual time: for he staid a while after the Y this . . angel disappeared, to present before God such humiliations and thanksgivings as 22 And when he came out, extraordinary circumstance required. But when he came out he was not able to s #...","äe:"...i them, and by the consternation in which he appeared, they perceived that he had sein a that Neji sº a vision in vision in the temple; and he himself by signs intinated [it] to them ; and he continued dogf the temple: for he beckoned - %. stay at Jerusalem ; a circumstance wisely o d C {{ #.* t O §.º. "..."; and dumbs during the remainder of *. rderé speechless. by Providence, to awaken a greater and more general expectation, as to the event of so strange an occurrence. - e. * * * tºº, *"... tº 'iº / ..And after this appearance of the angel to him, it came to pass that ichen the remaining #"iſº"...º days of his ministration were fulfilled, he departed to his own house. . - fºliº departed to And quickly after these ºffs were ended, Elisabeth his wife conceived, according to the ºf Anjīāºr, those days prediction of the angel; and apprehending her condition, she concealed herself five months lº.º.º.º. in an obscure retirement; not only that her conception might more certainly appear, but saying, chiefly, that she might enjoy opportunity for those extraordinary devotions which this time, as they suffered so mºthy grievous things, by the oppression of the children, supposing it may relate tº domestic dissensions, inseparºle Romans, and the tyranny of Herod, which toward the cióse of his reign from the variety of religious sects then amośstige Jews, I was 'ºïing grew more and mºre insupportable. - - to comprehend that sease in may paraphrase.—Sir Nortofi Knatchbull’s e Thou shºt call his maine John...] It was the office of the father to manner of pointing the last cliuse of the verse appeared to the so cº- name the child's compare verse 62. It is well known, that this º, in - - - - • * ... --, ---> gant, that I could not but follow it: Elsmer would ſet; i.e. it hearly in the Hebrew lºn\, Johanan, (which occurs hear thirty times in the Old Tes- sºmé sense, By the wisdom of the just, tº pººre the disuſicºlicit &s g pro- faincht, though the English reader is not aware that it is the same,) is ple furnished for the Lord, or formed for him. (Compare Isa. xlii. 7 derived from nnn", and jºh, and properly signifies the grace and favour Septuag.) SC (2 Elsner, Obser-v. vol. I. I}. 179-i. • ? - t - t . . of thc Lord. Elhanan, and many of the other proper names among the h From parents who had loºg been barº, Zacharias being so plous 'fºrgiº, had such a kind of signification, and probably were givām in a priest cºuld nºt bººten ºve, Teº th: agºunt which th: Scripture token of their good wishes to the infant that received them. gives of the birth of Isaac, . tºº, º ºsº Sºunsel, &c., who f Joy and transport.] Aya MAgats properly answers to the word critita- Wºr; i. º; º º h º º º - º ºd - - 12 --> • * -1 s = ºv -- s's , ºr cr; a + rj oss Setú?) is ill C8 stances, migłit wel; nayº produces : ui at regar ;ºsſº, ºil.hº...iii.i.i. y being exceeting glad. a * * * * * * * < * is Sº i = {3 recallºted the story of the angel s ºpiº (9 Al anoºth in particulºs g" To convert fºc hearts of the fathers, injth those of the children : Whº the same scene .# º iii. his ºn CŞ §: º sºº gºigſpºlºgi Kapòugs. Taſspøy eiti Tekva;] Here is a plain, ellision to § synºpressions USctſ iny tine CeièSlgal Innessenger. OIl);}{lſe J Ulúš. Mal. iv. 6. whº, it IS Sklid, § we render it,) that Jºijg'; §. tºrº, the ‘‘i’s, long in the temple..] All that is here recorded might have passed heart of the fathers to the ºl:ldren, gºd the heaſt ‘ſ tº children to their in a few "inimutes: it seems probable, therefore, that since the pºopis fathers; box= $y mas >9, which the Seventy render, sºpótav Fºr PºS took notice of his continuing so much ingé than ordinary in tº #3; Tpos vlov ; in which words it is quoted, Ecclus., xiviii. 10... But St. place, he spent some time in secret devotion, where, in a mixture of fºly uke’s version seems as agreeable to the Hebrew. I thought Sir Norton affections rising on so, great and extraordinary an occasion, he might (natchbull’s reason sufficient to justify my rendering it as I have done ; easily forget how fast the moments passed away, - - - - which is just as our translators have rendered the like phrase, Judith k Deaf and dumb.] As koğ0s signifies deaf (Matt. xi. 5. Mark vii. ix. 10. 68Xov em” apxovtt, Kat apxovra €Ti 0&pgºv7 tº the Sercant icilk 32, 37, ix. 25. and Luke vii. 22.) as well as dumb, (\latt. ix. 33. Xii. 22. the prince, and the prince with the sºrgant. But, as Mr. L’Étant and oth- Ny. 31. and Luke xi. 14.) so it is plain from verse &. that Zacharias lost ers, not without some probability, reader it, to reconciſc fºurs an his hearing with his speech, during this interval. 18 21 22 22 3. AN ANGEL SENT TO THE VIRGIN MARy. SECT. Wonderful favour of Providence demanded: nor could she, under such a circumstance, re- frain from saying, — The most solemn acknowledgments well become me, because the Lord himself hath 25 Thus hath the Lord Like thus mňºulously interPºd, and done this great work for me, in his own good time, even tº jº 25 in the days in which he hath graciously looked down upon me, to take away my reproach of take away my reproach barrenness among men. For barrenness was accounted a peculiar reproach among the ** - Jews, who looked upon it as a singular happiness to be instrumental in multiplying the holy seed, according to the promises which God had made them relating to it. - IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 6. How amiable is the character of this pious pair, who were found walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lºrd, blameless!. May our behaviour be thus unblameable, and our obedience thus sincere and universalſ And let those whose office leads them nearer to God than others, remember their peculiar obligation to imitate such an example. 13 ... Let us observe with pleasure, that the prayers which such worshippers offer, come up with acceptance before Sod; to whom no costly perfume is so sweet as the fragrance of a character like this. An answer of peace was here returned, when the case seemed to be most helpless. Let us learn to wait patiently for the Lord, and leave it tº his own infinite wisdom to choose the time and manner in which he shall appear for us. 12. Zacharias, accustomed as he was to converse with the God of heaven, was nevertheless, as we see, thrown Into great consternation, at the appearance of his angelic messenger. And may we not regard it, therefore, as an instance of the goodness as well as wisdom of God, that he determines that the services which these heavenl 18, 19 Spirits render us should be generally invisible?—It is delightful to observe that amiable condescension with whic abriel, the courtier of heaven, behaved on this occasion. Letit teach us with pleasure to pursue the humblest offices of duty and love which God may assign us, towards any of our fellow-servants, even in the lowest stations. 17 . Happy was the holy Baptistin being employed in this blessed work of preparing men's hearts to receive a Saviour, and reducing the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. May we be inspired with some degree of zeal, like his in our proper sphere, to pursue so noble a design - We see in the instance of Zacharias, that some remainders of unbelief may be found even in a faithful heart: let us guard against them, as remembering they will be displeasing to God, and hurtful to ourselves.—And to 24 conclude, when providence favours us with any peculiarly gracious interpositions, let us attentively remark the hand of God in them; and let religious retirement leave room for serious recollection and devout acknowledgments. 18, 20 SECTION IV. The ansel Gabriel is sent to the Virgin Mary to inform her of the conception of Christ by her, in which she humbly acquiesces. Luke i. 26–33. LUKE i. 26. - - LUKE i. 26. SECT. IV the sixth month after Elisabeth had conceived, the same angel Gabriel, who had been AND in the sixth month the 4. the messenger of such good news to Zacharias, was sent from God to a small and incon- jº siderable city of Galilee, which was called" Nazareth; being charged with an important ºff, 116 G 3 *** commission to a virgin, who was contracted, according to the Jewish method of espousals, a.º.º.º.º. 27 to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the royal house #. David; which illus-seph, of the house of David; trious family was now reduced to so low a condition, that Joseph followed the employment º' " " " 28 of a carpenter: and the virgin's name was Mary, of the same lineage. And the angel nº entered in to the room, in which she was alone; and standing before her, surrounded with }º.º.o.º.º. an extraordinary lustre, he addressed himself unto her, and said, Hail, Q ihou distinguished #. Yºº...” Javourite of heaven I congratulate thy happiness; for the Lord is with thee, and is º about to manifest his condescending regard in a manner which shall oblige all around thee to acknowledge that thou art blessed among women, the greatest and happiest of thy sex. JWow the pious and modest virgin, when she saw this appearance of [the angel,] and 29 And whº she saw him, heard his message, as she plainly perceived it to be something of a very extraordinary i. yi ººlºº. nature, was much disturbed at his discourse;b and, not imagining herself at all worthy of †: tº of salutation such applause and congratulation, she reasoned with jã for a while, what kind of salu- **** tation this could be, and from what original it could proceed. •And the angel, immediately perceiving it, to disperse the doubt she was in, said unto her 30 And the angel said unto again, Fear not, Mary; for I am a messenger sent from heaven to tell thee that thou º' 31 hast found signal favour with God. And behold, and observe it with due regard, for I assure 3. And bºid, thºsia.it thee, in his name, that from this very time, thou shalt be with child, and at the properseason ºft',"...nº shalt be delivered of a son, and shalt call his name Jesus, the divine Saviour; for he shall caſhis name JESUS: come on that important errand, to save men from the tyranny of sin, and the displeasure 32 of God. He shall be ºß gregt and glorigus, insomuch that he shall justly be 32 He shall be great, and called the Son of the JMost High God; and the Lord shall give him the throne of David his jºiºſº father, from whom thou art descended; so that, like David, he shall be the Sovereign of jºi..."; ; ; God's chosen people, and possess that extensive empire which was promised to the seed throne of his father David. 33 of that holy patriarch. (2 Sam. vii. 12,13. Psal. ii. 7, 8, and Psal. cxxxii. 11, 12.) And he .33. And he shall reign over shall inherit the kingdom; with this circumstance of superior glory, that, whereas David ºf ºº ºf * - -: - e - T ... * ...! Ringdom there is now sleeping with his fathers, this exalted Prince shall rule over the house of Jacob (even shall be no end. all the true Israel of º for ever; and, though the most potent monarchies of the earth will be successively dissolved, yet of his kingdom there shall be no end, even as long as the sun and moon endure. See Psal. lxxii. 5, 17. Isa. ix. 7. Dan. vii. 14. ...And JMary replied to the angel, O thou heavenly messenger, permit me to ask, How 34 Then said Mary unto 29 30 34 of Moses’s prudence, nor indeed of common sense, would have rested his legislation if he had, not been truly conscious of its divine original; especially after two of Aaron’s four sons had been cut off in one day for a rash act in the execution of their office, as soon as they were initiated I Jºſy reproach anong men.] That barrenness was so amongst the Jews appears from Gen. xxx. 2. Sam. i. 1 1. Isa...iv. I. Jiv. 1. 4. and many other Pº. That a branch of the family. of Aaron should fail, would aſso be looked upon as a particular calamity, and might, by a ras; * - T ignorant and uncharitable people, be interpreted as a judgment; and so into it, and died without anal children, Nymb; iii. 4. much the rather, º;; the many promises God had made to in- a JNazareth.] A city in the tribe of Zabulon, which was reduced to so grease the families of his obedient people, Exod. xxxii. 13. Lev. xxvi. 9. low and gontemptible a condition, that no good thing was expected from IPeut. vii. 13. and Psal. cxxvii.3—5, I will here digress so far as to ob– thence. John i, 46. serve, that, considering how the whole Jewish policy was interwoven with those acts of religion which were to be performed by the priests alone, it º: ...; yº §§ º 3.t §3. ; iſ, for entailing the priesthgod on any other family, if that of Aaron should hap- c What kind of salutation.] She seems to have suspected it might pos- pen to be extinct, Leaying this contin º unprovided for was in ºſtect sibly pºéâ fºom the artifice of some evil spirit, to inspire º; putting the whole credit of the Jewish religion upon the perpetual con- sºilºfºity and pride. - - tinuance of the male branches of that family: an issue on which no man She was disturbed at his discourse.] Some would render ent ro Xoyo avre, on account of him ; and Heinsius hath abundantly shown how common this manner of speaking is in the sacred writings. MARY'S VISIT TO ELISABETH. 23 the angel. How shall this be, can this possibly be from this time, as thou hast intimated to me, since I am as yet a SBCT. seeing I know not a man 2 virgin 2d 2 4. e Jind the angel answering, said unto her, There is nothing in that objection, grea; as it §º; ; may seem, for this whole affair is to be a scene of miracle: the Holy Spirit shall cºme * jºiº upon thee, and the power ºf the Most High God shall thus overshadow thee by an amazing 35 “ fºg energy, to produce an effect hitherto, from the foundation of the earth, unknown: and Yºſh shall,be, bºrn 9f the: therefore that holy Qffspring of thime shall, with regard to this miraculous conception, as shall be called the Son of & 3-5 e 2. T well as another and yét greater consideration, be called the Son of God. ...And behold, to 36 confirm thy faith in a declaration which might seem so incredible, I further assure thee that thy cousin Elisabeth also hath, by the miraculous power of God, conceived a soft, though she be now in her old age; and this is the sixth month of pregnancy with her who hath long been called barren,” and spoken of as one who could have no hope of º; al mother. And scruple not to believe what I have told thee with regard to thyself as well as 37 her; #. thou well knowest, that nothing is, or ever will be, impossible to God, whose almighty power operates with equal ease in the most miraculous as in the most common productions. 35 And the angel answered Yne Holy O'Cº. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also con- ceived a son in her old age : and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. * - 37. For with God mothing shall be impossible. gººd. . .ind, strange as the message was, Mary firmly believed it,ſ and said, with the most 38 #"..."...º.º. tº amiable humility and piety, Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, and would approve sº tº ansel dº myself faithful and obedient; may it be unto me according to thy word I thankfully accept the honour of which I confess I am unworthy; and humbly resign my reputation, and even my life,8 to the divine care, and providence, while I wait the accomplishment of thy prediction. e Then the angel, having executed his commission, departed from her, and returned to his abode in the heavenly regions. IMPROVEMENT. WITH what holy wonder and pleasure should we trace this notice of an incarnate Redeemer! and how thank- Ver. 26 fully should we adore his condescending goodness, that for us men, and for our salvation, he did not despise the 27 womb of so obscure a virgin' * We are too ready in our thoughts, with Gabriel, to congratulate her on so distinguished an honour, and to 28 say, as one did to Christ in the days of his flesh, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, O Lord, and the breasts which thou hast sucked! (Luke xi. 27.). Butlet us remember there is yet a nobler blessedness than this, attending those in whose hearts he is so formed by divine grace, that they hear his word, and do it. gº e * Let us hear it, with joy, that he is Jesus the Saviour; but let us also consider that he is Christ the anointed 31, 32 Sovereign, who is to rule over God's i. le for ever. Remember, O my soul, that of his kingdom there shall be 33 no end; and esteem it thine unspeakable honour and happiness to be enrolled among his faithful subjects. The glories promised to such, in the future state, are so far beyond experience, or even imagination, that the might, to sense, appear as incredible as the message which Mary received: but let us remember the eternal truth of what Gabrief suggested to her, that nothing is impossible to God. He can therefore ripen our imperfect souls to 37 all the improvement and pleasures of the heavenly state, as easily as he produces the meanest vegetable on the earth. Let the temper of the blessed Virgin, on this great occasion, be therefore the beautiful model of ours: so, when the purposes of the divine love are declared to us, may we resign ourselves unto the Lord ; and with such calm º firm faith, and joyful acquiescence, may we wait the accomplishment of his gracious promise, and say, Behold the servants of the Lord! be it unto us according to his word! So do thou, O Lord, animate and Sup- ort us! and the weakest of thy children shall not stumblé at the greatest of thy promises through unbelief; but eing strong in faith, shall give glory to God. SECTION V. Mary visits Elisabeth ; her faith is confirmed by it, and she breaks out into a so:g of praise. Luke i. 39—26. LUK p i. 39. AND Mary arose in , those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; LUKE i. 39. IV those days, or soon after the time that she received the extraordinary message men- tioned above, Mary arose from Nazareth, where she then was, and went” with all the expedition she conveniently could, to what was called the kill country, which lay towards the south of Canaan; and came into a city of Judah, where Zacharias dwelt, with a com- …” fortable expectation that this visit might tend both to confirm her faith and vindicate her 40 And entered into the character. And accordingly she entered intº the house of her kinsman Zacharias, and, to house of Zacharias, and sa- luted Elisabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that, the pleasing surprise of her friend, saluted Elisabeth. .And it came to pass, that as soon as Elisabeth heard the salutation ºf Mary, the infant in Yºº tº her womb did, with a most unusual emotion, leap for joy, as sensible of the approach of him salutation of Mary, the babe leaped * Elisabeth was filled w Holy Ghost : * 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blesse in "héº, and whose forerunner he was appointed to be. ..And Elisabeth was directed to consider it in ** this view ; for she was immediately filled with an extraordinary degree of divine inspira- tion, by the influences of the Holy Spirit. her young cousin, she, in very exalted language, congratulated her on the occasion ; and, And, far from envying the superior honour of d How can this be—since I am as yet a virgin 3] . Some would ren:ler this, What! shall this be if I have no intercourse with a man 3 as if she would be resolved whether this birth were to be produced in a cohen; on or a miraculous manner. But I think it is more natural to suppose that she understood the former words as an intimation that the effect was im- mediately to take place, to which her present circumstance seemed, hu- manly speaking, an invincible objection. Our English Yersion, I kno:0 not a man, is more literal than what is here given ; but I do not appre- hend that the strictest fidelity requires to render the Hebraism so exactly ; the sense is evidently the same. - - e Who hath been called barrera.] I cannot think (with some learned and judicious persons) that to be called, and to be, signify entirely the same thing, so as that the former should be thought a mere pleomasm, aad ren- dered just as the latter. The phrase, seems to signity; in the language of Scripture, not.only that the thing shall really be what, it is called, but also that it shall be takcm notice of in that yiew: which, I think, will appear from an attentive consideration of the chief terts which have been produced to establish the opposite opinion. Compare Isa. i. 23. ix. ... xxxv. 8. xlvii. 1, 5. lvi. 7. lxi. 3, 6. Matt. v. 9, 19. xxi. 13. Mark . 17. I John iii. 1. w f Jhary firmly believed : It is worthy of our remar's, that Mary, though a young virgin, should so, readily believe an event, in itsei: so much more wonderful than that which Zacharias, though ail aged 1,3 issu, hill found it so difficult to eredit. ... Anil it may be observed, that the sacréºl writers are particularly careful to record instances of this kind, in which God doth, as it were, cut of tiec in owths of babcs and sucklings perſect his praise. s g Resign ung reputation, and even my life.] For both these, humanly Speaking, might have been in dangºr, considering the severity of the Mosaic law against those who have violated the faith of their espousals. ( understood his own words, which, it is certain, the old prophets, in some i The shadow of death..] Such phrases as thºse ºf Y. l,peculiar prº- cases, did not. See 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. priety, describe the ignorant and miserable State # tº: º world, ãº, the mercy promisedj to our fathers.] IIogna at eXcos pera ºhiº.º.º.º. P. of the ... ." refer to hº t lº as row rarepov huov most literally signifies to exercise mercy to owr §.º. º: º: .*. sº sº § *...}. Šiš. º ſºs fathers; and might perhaps intimate, that the mergy extended to the is EP bºoijishment of İsa. ix. 1, 2, to which Zacharias) gre pious patriarchs was owing to Christ, who was afterwards to appear. probably refers, I was not wiljing in the paraphrase to fix it to the Gen- ëömpåre Rom. iii.25. I cannot recollect any other place where roºmga, à. The sai'character and circumstances of the ſºlº al., this lime, as eXcog is to perform a promise. º described by Josephus, too well suit the representation here made. e The oath which he sware, unto Abraham.] . In vindication, of our k This solitude was a happy Fº It may further be ob- version from any objection which might arise to a learned reader from served, that such a retirement alsº contributed to his acceptance, by the construction of that original, pºvnaðmual ôtaffnkms—opkov bu (opoag, raising a character for ominent mortification and sanctity; inured him to k. r. A. see Bos, Ezercit. p. 35. and Elsner, in log. the oppositions he was to expect, in this § º º, Pººl f 'Anâ to walk in holiness and righteousness. This, as well as deliver- º with 9hrist, in th; º *.*.*. ; iš .#. ancé from enemies, being spoken of as the mérciful grant of God, I gan: possibly have ºr SOHO. G. i. º, him. (Com * § i. 3 Fº jº but conclude, it refers to those passages in which God promised to testiºn@ny which John a ºgº S #. haſ before #e d, that ſh jūſ out extraordinary degrees of a pious spirit on his people, ungºr th; Elsner hath shown, as. fi. §. lus .."of" pºlic"; O #ºn ºf the ſessiah. Compare Isa. xliv, 1–5. Jer. xxxi, 31–34, and 3. *::::::: º signifies the wauguratio P C(3I. - 367 D. VO!. i. D. & Ezek. xxxvi * JOSEPH'S SUSPICIONS REMöVED BY AN ANGEL. hand hath raised up for us ; through him let us seek the pardon of our sins, and deliverance from all the enemies SECT. of our souls. And let a grateful sense of his redeeming love engage us resolutely to walk in the strictest holi- ness and righteousness, as in the presence of God, and carefully to maintain before him a conscience void of of fence all the days of our lives. - May we carry this temper along with us into solitude and retirement: may it animate us in the busiest scenes 80 of life; and in every particular instance, may it determine us in our choice of either, and regulate our conduct in both. SECTION VIII. Ver,74 Joseph’s suspicions concerning Mary removed by the appearance of an angel to him. MATT. i. 18. NOW the birth, of Jesus Christ was on this wise : When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, be- fore they came together, she Holy Ghost. 19. Then Joseph her hus: band, being a just man, an not yilling to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. Matt. i. 18, to the end. MATT. i. 18. AND now, having given an account of the birth of John, afterwards surnamed the Bap-SECT. tist, we proceed to that of Jesus Christ, the great subject of our history, which was attended with the most surprising circumstances, and was thus introduced. His mother j with child of the Mary being contracted to Joseph, according to the method of the Jewish es G they came to cohabit together as man and wife, she was found to be with c pregnancy was, (as we have been informed above,) by the miraculous operation of the Holy Spirit. JWow Joseph, her husband, bei or * something very extraordinary in the case, and bei public infamyb by any severe persecution, nevertheless was so confounded with the con- currence of the strange circumstances that attended this affair, as that, in order to secure d; and this Cº. teous man,” g by no means willing to expose her unto the honour of his own character, and to behave with all the tenderness that might be to a person that he loved, he purposed to himself to have divorced her as privately as the law of Moses would have allowed, that is, only in the presence of two witnesses, and without assigning any particular cause. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold the ange of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Jo- Jind as he was revolving these t hings in his mind during the night season, full of the thoughts of what he was to do, he fell asleep; and, behold, an angel of the Lorde ap- ...hº..."; ; ; peared to him in a dream, and said unto him, Joseph, thou son of David, (as being [ineally not to take unto thee Mary thy wife ; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. original, 21 And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall Cl save his people from their shalf call Slil S. descended from him,) fear not to take home JMary thy wife, according to the espousals that have passed between you, though there may seem some danger of bringing a reflec- tion on thyself and family; for that which is begotten and formed in her, is of no human but was produced by the miraculous and unexampled operation of the Holy Spirit himself. And, in consequence of it, when her time is fulfilled, she shall bring forth Son; and thou, under whose protection and care he shall be placed during his infancy, his name Jesus, d that is, God 4-1- the Saviour; for he shall prove that glorious and divine person intended by God to save his people, even all that truly believe in him, both from the punishment and dominion of their sins, by procuring an ample pardon for them, and raising them, after a life of holiness on earth, to a state of complete perfection and happiness. 22 Now all this was done W tº: fit might be fulfille YV Ill C}} ow all this was done, (that is, this miraculous conception, together with all the circum- wº"poken" of the stances proper to attend it, was effected.) that this celebrated prophecy might be accom- Lord by the Prophet sº plished,e which the Lord had so long before spoken by the prophet ſsaiah, (Isà. vii. 14.) who said to the house of David in the reign of Ahaz, when it seemed in the utmost danger 23 Behold, a virgin shall be of being destroyed. “Behold, and attend to it with a becoming regard, while I assure 23 with child, and shall brin call his name Emmanuel; which being interpreted, is, God with us. . . ."...ii., §i you that God will accomplish a yet nobler work than what he is ready to perform in your deliverance from Pekah and the son of Tabeal; for an unspotted virgin, descended many ages hence from this royal family now to be rescued, shall, in a miraculous manner, con- ceive and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel;” which, being translat- ed, signifies, God with us; that is, God dwelling in our nature, on the most gracious and important design; a name in signification nearly equivalent to that of Jesus. 24 Then Joseph, being rais- ed from jº did as the an- gel of the Lord had, bidden lim, and took unto him his Marv his wife. Wife : sº Then Joseph arising from his sleep, with entire satisfaction and humble acknowledgment, 24 did as the angel of the Lord had appointed him ; v; and, without any farther delay, took home Nevertheless, in expectation of this wonderful event, and out of reve- 25 § And knew her not till rence to this sacred birth, he knew her not as a wife, though she dwelt under his roof: but she * * * * * continued a pure virgin even till she had brought forth her divinely-begotten Son, who, on account of his distinguished glories, with peculiar propriety might be called the first-born:ſ a 2 righteous man.]. It is without any just reason that this text is often assigned as an instance where the word ātkatos is used to signify merciful, and some, accordingly have here translated it a good-natured man. If we consider the information, which Joseph might have received from , persons, of such an extraordinary character as Zacharias and Elisabeth, (who would certainly think themselves obliged to interpose on such an occasion, and whºse story so remarkably carried its own evidence, along with it,) besides the intimation the prophecy of Isaiah gave, and the satisfaction he undoubtedly had, in the virtuous character of Mary herself, we must conclude, that he had acted a very severe and unrighteous part, had he proceeded to extremities without serious de- liberation; and that ſº her alcay privately would, in these circum- stances, have been the hardest measure which justice would have suf- ſered him to take. s & & * - To expose her unto public infamy.] It is very possible Tapads typia- where, by the way, I think it should have been rendered iſ Josina had given them rest.) This derivation most plainly shows how Christ’s being called Jesus was in effect an accomplishment of the prophecy that he should be called Emmanuel. c That this prophecy might be accomplished.] Teyv are strangers to the objections which ña#e. made against applying this prophecy to Christ, which drove Grotius and many others. uš pily to suppose, that it immediately related to the birth of a child of 1saiah's in a natural way, and only in a secondary sense referred to Christ, The controversy is too large for this place. I content myself with observing, that a son’s being both of one then a virgin, when she was married, was no such miraculous event as to answer such a poppous introduction ; and that, it seems, most reasonable to interpret Isa. vii. 16. as referring to Shearjashub, whom Isaiah was ordered to take in his hand, (ver. 3.) for, no other, imaginable reason but that something remarkable was to be said of him. So that the general sense, in short, is this : “You have affronted God by refusing a sign now ; yet his transcendent mercy will make your present forfeited deliverance (by the death of these con- federate kings, which shall happen before nyxin this child in my hand is grown up to the GNercise of reason) a sign of a much nobler deliver- ance by the Messiah, who shall be born of an immaculate virgin, and condescend to pass through the tender scenes of infancy, as other chil- dren do.” (Compare Isa. vii. .) And see Bishop Chandler’s excellent remarks on this text, in his Defence of Christiãºit; p. 325– 3.31. Mg, green's 4th Letter to Mr. Collins, and Usher’s Annals, Two at may here refer to that exemplary punishment which the law in- ficted on those who had yiolated the faith of their espousals before the marriage was completed, (Deut. xxii. 23, 24.) where it is expressly ordered, that a betrothed virgin, if she lay with another man, should be stoned. We may suppose, however, that the infamy of a public divorce, though she had not been stomed, may also be expressed by the same word. But then there was, besides, a private kind of divorce, in which mo reason was assigned, and the dowry was not forfeited, as in the former case ; and by this she would not have been so defamed . See Selden, Uz. AIeb. lib. iii. cap. º: 302, 365,366. and Lightfoot, Iłor, Heb. in loc. c An angel of the Lord.] Probably Gabriel, , who had been sent to Zacharias and Mary, That Joseph’s scruple did not proceed as some of the fathers supposed, º from veneration, appears from the reason given why he should take Mary, which in that case would have been the only reason against it. d, Call his name Jesus.], Bishop Pearson seems, to have set the ety- mology of this name in the clearest light, in his large discourse on it, (Pearson on the Creed, p. 69–71.) in which he endeavours to prove that JAH, orie of the names of God, enters into the composition, of the Hebrew name Jehoshua, to which Jesus answers. (Compare Heb. iv. 8. g . 5.2022. f Till she had brought forth her Son, the first-born.] There seems to be some peculiar emphasis in the expression Tov, vlov avrms rov ſporozo- kov, which justifies the turn I have given to the words. Compare Luke ii. 7. (where the very same words are used with a remarkable exactness ;) Rom. viii. 29. Col. i. 15, and Heb. it 6–Though I confess the force of the learned and candid, Dr. Daniel Scott’s remarks on this note to be such as to convince me that this expression might have been used with regard to the first-born son of any family, and consequently, that no certain argument of Christ’s superior dignity and glory can be drawn fº before Mºrt. erceiving there was 19 2 2 2$ THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST. **CT. And, according to the direction of the angel, he called his name Jesus. But several other first-born son: 8. circumstances, relating to this important event. will afterwards be recounted. §§§st gº he called IMPROVEMENT. * . MLATT. - I. - - \er, 19 WE see here, in Josepn, an excellent pattern of gentleness and prudence. In an affair which appeared dubi- ous, he chose, as we should always do, rather to err on the favourable, than on the severe extreme. He was 20 careful to avoid any precipitate steps; and, in the moments of deliberation, God interposed to guide and deter- mine his resolves. - With What Wonder and pleasure did he receive these glad tidings! With what pleasure should we also receive 21 them! For We too are informed of Jesus, who came to save his people from their sins. An important and glorious salvation indeed! Hosannah to him that cometh in the name of the Lord! Blessed Jesus! answer thy character in delivering us, not only from sin’s condemning, but from its reigning power 28 . Let our souls bow to Emmanuel, our incarnate God: and, while with holy wonder we survey the various scenes of his humiliation, let us remember too his native dignity and his divine glory. By him God hath fulfilled his ancient promises, in the most ample and glorious manner, in the fulness of time sending forth his Son, made of g.ºgman, and sprung like a tender shoot from the decayed stock of David his servant. 22 , While we study the oracles of the Old Testament, let is with pleasure trace the notices of the great Messiah there, even of Jesus, tº whom all the prophets give witness. May his name be ever inscribed upon our hearts. 24 In that name may we lift up our banners, and judge those reproaches a glory which we may meet with in his sacred cause !g 4. ~ - - SECTION IX. - The gonealogy of Christ from Abraham, as recorded by Matthew; and from Adam, as recorded by Luke. Matt. 1–17. Luke iii. 23, to the end MATT. i. i. MATT. i. 1. ** T. BEFORE we proceed to the birth of this Divine Infant, whose conception was so very THE boj.neration 9. remarkable, it will be proper to give some account of his descent according to the flesh. ºf Jesus, Christ, the son of ---- And we shall therefore introduce it with a table of the genealogy of Jesus Christ;a which David, the son of Abraham. *** is intended not only as an introduction to his history, but more especially to show that he 1 was the son of David, and the son of .3braham, as it was often foretold the Messiah should be. (Compare Psalm CXxxii. 11. Isa. xi. 1, Jer. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 15. and Gen. xii. 3. xxii. - 18. xxvi. 4. xxviii. 14.) 2 Now it is well known that Abraham, that renowned patriarch and friend of God, from 2 Abraham begat Isaac ; whom the whole Jewish nation had the honour to descend, begat Isaac in his old age, that #.º. º *::::: ; son of Sarah, according to the promise, with whom God’s covenant was established; and ºsa. Judas end his Isaac begat Jacob, on whom also it was entailed in preference to Esau, though his elder brother; and Jacob begat Judah and his eleven brethren, who became the heads of their respective tribes. Jłnd as Judah was the person to whom that extraordinary promise was made, that his descendants should continue a distinct tribe, with some form of government amongst them, till Shiloh, that is, the Messiah, came,b (Gen. xlix. 10.) and as it was from him that Christ descended, we shall confine ourselves to the line of his posterity. . We therefore add, that Judah begat Pharez, and at the same time, Zara, his twin-brother, of Thamar, who 4 had been his son's wife; and Pharez beggi Eston, and Esrom begaf Aram ; .4nd Aram begat JAminadab, and Amânadab begat Vaasson, who was prince of the tribe of Judah when the people were numbered and marshalled at mount Sinai, (Numb. i. 7; x. 14.) and JVaasson begat Salmon. 5 Jīnd, after their settlement in Censan, Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab,c who had been a native of that country, but entertained the spies at Jericho, and afterwards embracing the Jewish religion, had the honour to be thus incorporated with this noble family ; and Boaz their son begat Obed of Ruth, the Moabitess,d who had so resolutely chosen to adhere to 6 the God and people of israel; and, Qbed, in a very advanced age, beggt Jesse :e .4nd Jesse begat, besides several elder children, David, the celebrated king of Israel, who was favoured with the title of “The man after God's own heart,” and had an express promise that the Messiah should descend from him ; (compare 2 Sam, vii. 12–16, and Acts ii. 30.) ..And David the king begal Solomon of Bathsheba, who had before been [the wife] of Uriah the Hittite : and though that holy man, in this unhappy affair, acted in a way most un- worthy his character, yet God, on his deep repentance, graciously forgave him, and entail- ed the promise on his seed by her. ...And, to go forward therefore with the genealogy according to this line, Solomon begat - 3roboam the son of 3. And Judas begat-Phares and Zara of Thåmar; and Phares , begat. Esrom ; and Esrom begåt Aram; - 3 4 And Aram begat Aniina- dab ; and Animadab begat Naasson ; and Naasson begat Salmon; 5. And Šalimon begat Booz of Rachab ; and Booz begat Obcd of Ruth ; and Obed be- gat Jesse ; 6 And Jesse begat Dayid the king ; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wiſe of Urias; 7 And Solomon begat Ro- from it; yet, from the pen of one so deeply impressed with the thought phecy is so beautifully iſlustratej, and so strongly asserted by the present of it as Luke as well as Matthew was, I think it aay probably contain lºanie; bishop of London, (Dig Sherlock) in his ſº scourses on Hºphecy some reference to it.—On what terms, Joseph and Mary, a fºcryards lºissert. iii. p. 317, &c. that, if I was writing on this passage of the 13 lived, is of so little importance to us, that I_cannot bät wonder it should Testament, I should have little to do but to refer my reader to it. have been the subject of so mucil debate. It is sufficient for us to know that she was a virgin, mot only at the time of Christ’s conception, but at his birth, as the prophecy foretold she should be. The evºgelist, there- fore, wisely contented himself with regording this, without affirm- ing any thing further either way on this delicate subject: ſ say either way, for that the manner of expression here used will not certainſy prove that Mary had more children afterwards, q}\pears from comparing Gen. ii. 5. Psal. cx. 1. cxii. 8. and Matt. xxviii. 15. l Sam. xv. 35. Job xxvii. 5. xii. 2). - ... g In his sacred cause.] There was, humanly speaking, a probability that Joseph might have brought some suspicion on his character, or re- flection on his family, by admitting Mary in these circumstances. a The genealogy qf Jesus, Chrisi.] I am well aware that the word yevects, and the #e rew nººn, which corresponds to it, sometimes sig- nifies the history of a person’s life, (as well as other things,}, and not merely His gengalogy; (compare Gen. vi. 9. xxxvii. 2. Judith xii., 18. am. ſ. 23. and iii.6. Gr.). and that the learned .Vitſinka understands it gg in this place. . (See Vitring. Obserp. Sacr; lib. i. dissºrt. i. p. 39.) Yet, as it is much more frequently used in the latter sensé, (see Gea.v. 1; x. 1. xi. 10,27, xxv. 12. xxxvi. 1,9. Num. i. 20, &c. and Ruth iv. 18. in all which places it is applied to genealogies,) I think iºt With the learin- ed Dr. Scott, to render it as above ; oaky giving a littie hint of the more extensive sense the word may possibly bear. b Till Shiloh, that is, the Šiessiah, ca:me.] This sense of Jacob’s pro- c Of Rahab.] it is not indeed expressly said, she was Rahab of Jeri. ghos commonly, called the Harlot; but I think there can be no room to doubt it, as we know she was conterºporary, with Salmon, and may col)- clude, that she (this Rahab) was, as all the other women mentioned in tilis list, a remarkable person. Now there was no ºther, of that name, espc- cially of this age, of whom the compiler of this faile could (so ſtir as we can judge) suppose his reader to have any knowledge. d Boaz ücgut'Oied cf Riºth, the Mioabitess.] The son of a -ºſ.oabite, by an Israelitish iconian, could never be allowed to enter into the cºngréga- tion of the Lord ; that is, at least he Yas rendered, incapable of bºinº a prºce in Israel, and perhaps even Qf being waturalized by circaſſºcisiºn ; which may be the inéaning of the phrase, Deut. xxiii. 3. ... (See Mr. J.ow- man’s Hebrec Government, p. 13)... et seq.) at it evidently appears, from this celebrated instance, that this precept was not understood as ex- cluding the descendaits of an Israélite by a diſoakitish zºorign from any hereditary honours and privileges; otherwise, Surely, Salmon, the son of Naasson, prince of Judah, would never, have rºarried Rahab, one of the cccursed people of Canaan; no would the kinsman of Boaz haze want- ed a much better reason than he assigned, (Ruth iv. 6.) for refusing to marry Ruth when she became a widow. - e Öbed, in a very advanced age, begat Jesse.] That Salmon, Boaz, and Obed, mùst cach of them, have been about a hundred years old at the birth of his son here recorded, hath been observed by many, and is well - accounted for by Dr. Whitby in particular: Annot. Głl Ver, 4. THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST. Abia; and Abia begat Asa And Asa begat.josaphat; prosperous: and Josaphat begat Joram and Joram begat Ozias; boam; and Roboam begat Nebat; and 2 Kings viii. 18. unhappily dishonoured the holy family by an alliancé with Athaliah the daughter of Ahab, Anā (to omit Ahaziah, the son of that wicked woman whose impieties and cruelties rendered her so infamous, 2 Chron. xxiv. 7, the ungrateful Joash, her grandson, who mur- dered Zechariah the prophet, the son of his great benefactor Jehoiada, 2 Chron...,xxiv. 9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; otham begaft 20–22. and Amaziah, his son, who succeeded him) Jehoram, at the distance of the fourth §. may be said to have begat Uzziah the leper.f. And Uzziah begat Jotham ; and that wicked Ahaz, who, instead of being reformed by the châstising hand of God, trespassed yet more and more against him, 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. and ºffhaz begat the 10 And Ezekias begat Ma: religious Hezekiah, that distinguished favorite of heaven: .4nd Hezekiah begat Manasseå, nasses; and Manasses begat Amon ; and Amon begat Jo- S}{LS ; 11 And Josias begat Jecho- nias and his brethren, about the time they were carried his royal brethren, Jehoahaz an away to Babylon; so remarkable once for his enormous wickedness, and afterwards for his humble repent- ance; and Manasseh begat that infamous and hardened sinner .4mon; and .4mon bega: Josiah, that eminently pious prince, whose heart was so early and so tenderly impressed with an apprehension of God’s approaching judgments: ...And Josiah begat Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, who both of them were kings of Judah, the former predecessor to Jehoiakim, and the latter the successor of his son 3 and, about the time of the Babylonish captivity, Jehoiakim begat Jehoiachin, otherwise called Jeconiah," 12 And after, they were brought to Babylon, Jechoni- as begat Salathiel; and Sala- thiel begat Zorobabel; 13 And Zorobabel Abiud ; and, Abiud Eliakim ; and Eliakim bega *AZOr ; 14 And Azor begat Sadoc ; and Sadoc begaf Achim; and Achim begat. Eliud ; 15 And Eliud begat Elea- zar; and Eleazar begat Mat- who was so long the prisoner of the Chaldeans. And, after the Babylonish captivity commenced, this Jeconiah begat Salathiel;i and Sala- thiel begat Zerubbabel, that illustrious instrument of restoring and settling the Jewish basat commonwealth on their return from the captivity: .4nd Zerubbabel begat .4%iud, and bºat .4biud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim beggi Azor; and flzor begat Zadok; and Zadok begat * Achim; and Achim begat Eliud : .4nd Eliud begał Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan ; and JHatthan begat Jacob : .4nd this Jacob begat Joseph, who was the husband of Mary, that blessed virgin, of whom was born by the immediate power of God, Jesus, who is commonly called Christ, as he was indeed God’s Messiah, or anointed One ; the great iñº; and Matthan begat Jā- Sovereign, and Prophet, and High Priest of his church, completely furnished for the dis- “º And Jacob begat Joseph charge of all those offices by a most plentiful effusion of the Spirit, which was given not the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and vid from David until the carrying away into Babylon are four- teen generations; and from the carrying away into Baby— lon unto Christ are fourteen ing generations. by measure to him. This is the genealogy of his reputed father; so that we see, as it here stands, that all the generations, in the first interval or class of this illustrious family from .4braham to Pa- id, when we may look upon it as in its rising state, are fourteen generations : and after these, in the next class, from David to the Babylonish captivity, when it was seated on the throne, and may be reckoned as in its flourishing state, we may compute them as amount- to the same number; and, to consider them as they are represented here, they may again be counted fourteen generations :" and, in like manner, in the last class, frºm the Babylonish captivitu to Christ, when by degrees it sunk into obscurity, and manifestly was = • , * tº ºf ;: J 3-, f 5 °. in its declining state, then also we may reckon them as fourteen generations. LUKE iii. 23. And Jesus himself bºgan f Jehoran may be said to have bega! Uzziah..] It is undeniably evident, from 2 Chron, chap. xxii. and following, that three princes are here omitted. If this table was taken from any i.” records amongst the jews, the evangelist does not seem, respºsible, to the exactness of it: but, if he himseif drew it up, I think it will be bºut modest in us to spp- pose, that it was by some peculiar divine, direction that the sia gſ Jeho- Ham is thus animadverted upon, eyen to the fourth geºcratign : lis, inter- mediate descendants being thus blotted out cf the records of Christ’s family, and overlooked as if they had never been. . * * g The successor of his son.] On the death of Josiah, the neople took J ghoahāz, otherwise galled ޺ltºp, though a Noºr brºther, and phade i.im king in his father’s stead, (2 Kišgs xxiii. 32, 3}.) but Pharaoh-Necho in three months’ time deposéd him, and carried him captive to Egypt, ačcording to the prediction. of the prophet, concerning him., (Jer, XXii; } 0–12. Com ...P. 2 Kings xxiii. 33, 34.) And having thus, deposed ſim, he made Jehoiakim, the elier brother, who was formerly called Tjiàºjīn, king in his room. But this Jehoiakim, was sopn subdued by the king of Babylon, who, after his conquest, suſtered him for a while to continue on the throne; but, on his revolt to the King of Egypt again, he was slain by the Chaldeans, (2 Kings, xxiv. i. 2.) and thrown Qut un- buried, as Josephus tells us, (3rttig., lib. X: Cap., 3. [3]. 8.] §.3. Havºſ- camp.) ärjić to what the prophet had ſeretold, Jer. Nxii., 18 3.xxxi. 3). After his death, his son Jehoiachin, by some cailed £iºn the sceoid, was put in his placq ; and this is be who is els called jecominh, 1 Chron. iii. 16. and Conigi, Jer: Xxii. 24. But C: … • chóła- evher - r atte eign of three months, he was taken captive and imprisoned by Neb; , chadnezzar, 2 Kings xxiv. 8–16. (according to the prophecy, Jer: XXii. 3'-36.) and after thirty-seven years released, 2 King's XXv. 27. In the mean time, upon his being deposed, his uncle Zedekiah, the third son of Josiah, wººis raised to the throne ; but aſter a reign Qf eleven years, his ayes were put out, and he was, earried captive to Babylon, Jerusalem and the temple being destroyed, 2 *i; NXiv 17, 18. xxv. 7,--I have traced and stated the matter thus particularly, chiefly because it is a key, not only to the paraphrase on this text, but to much of the book of Jere- iniah, which, as it is plain that several chapters of it are displaced, can- not be well understood without a very exact knowledge of the preceding history. º * - h Jehoiakim begat Jeconia'..] I here, follow the reading of the Bod- leian and other manuscripts, (notice of which is taken in the margin of our Bibles,) Iostas Še eyevings Tov Igºdºstſ' Iaº Katja Če eyevynge Tov Hexovi ay. And this indeed seems absolutely necessary to keep up the number of fourteen generations : unless we supposes that the Jecomiah Þórð is a different person from that, becomiah mentioned in the next Verse, which seems a very unreasonable supposition, since it is certain, that throughout this whole tablé, each person is mentioneſ, twice, first as time son of the preceding, and then as the father of the following.—I am jiged to the candid animadyersion of Dr. Scott, for the sºll alteration iſ have made in my reading of this verse, from what was published in the first edition. - * i Jeconiah begat Salathiel.] I cannot take upon me, certainly to de- termine whether Salathiel was the son of Jecomiah by , descent or adoption. It is certain, that Luke (chap. iii. 27.), derives, Šalathiel ſigm I)avid, by Nathan, and not by Solomon, whose line might possibly ſail in Jeconiah. And, this would be most cvidently congruous to Jerem. i ë {\. RI- ! LUKE iii. 23. º g tº: Bat, though we have thus given the legal genealogy of Christ, from Abraham, as to be about thirty years of age, derived from Joseph his reputed father, we shalſ yet add another that ascends to Adam; xxii. 3). where it is said, that Jeconial should be abritten childless, as we Tender it. But, as the dispersion of Jeconiah’s seed is there threat- ened, and at least seven soils of his are reckoned up elsewhere, 1 Chroń. iii. 17, IS. (stipposing .2ssir, as the word signities, to be only a kind of sºrnºg of jºc ºpticº) a greater nºmber than one could suft- pose so unhappy a prince would alopt in his i; Prisonment, I should rather think the word Yººny translated childless in the fore-cited pro- phecy signifies, (as the Seventy suppose who have translated it,) cººking"); Tov, naked, stripped, or roºtca out ; and the more so, because it seems harsh to suppose eyevvmas should signify only he adopted : yet I own it is something, strange, that Šalathiel, who on this supposition was a descendant of Solomon, should be adopted by Neri, a descendant of Nathan, a younger and much inferior branch of Tavid’s fannily : or that it should be said by Jeremiah that mone of Jcconiah’s sect! shººd rule any ymore in Judah, if Zerubbabel, their first ruler after the captivity, was at furthest but his great-grandson. On the whole, I submit so dit}cuit a question to the determination of abler judges, and conterit myself with thus hinting at what I found most material on either side. If the two ge:26g!ggies do not speak of different persons that were named alike, I should eonjecture that Salathiel, the son of Neri, ºnight marry the daugh- tºr of Jeconial, and might possibly, on that account, ba also adopted by him. The attentive reafter will see, that this hypothesis at least softe:is the difficulties inseparable from eißer of the ſorºner. k Salathiel hegat Zerubbabel.] ‘īf;is illustrious person, Zerubbabe!, is so often said to have been the son of Sałaśitici, or Sica's 'c', which is nearly the same, (and according}y the Syriac here reads Schgiliºl,) see Jºzſa i ś. Hag. i. 1, 12, ii. 23. that, i incline rqore and more * S. Y : - - to think, with Dreggius, that the Zerubbabel mentioped I Chron. iii. 17–19. as the son of Pedaiah the brother of Šalathicl, was a different Yerson from this. . As the name Zººtböabel signifies a strºnger in Baby- lost, it is no wonder that it should be given to several children born.in the captivity.—If this solution be not allowed, I see not how the known difficulty here can be removed, unless by acknowledging that the books of Chronicles (the author of which is unknown) may have suffered by the injuries of time, so that the present reading of some passages may be incorrect; which is very consistent with owning the plena inspiration of those books. By allowing this, we should fairly get rin of tºo parts in three of the seemning contradictions in the writings of the Old Testa- macht, (I speak on an accurate review of them,) and should be free from time sad necessity of such evasive criticisms as are more like to pain a candid heart than to satisfy an attentive and pengtrating unind. The omission of a word or two in a gentºlºgical tables and sometimes the mis- take of a letter or two in transcribing, especially with regard to names or numbers, occasions many inextrigable difficultics, where, in the on igi- mal reading, all might be perfectly clear. , * l Zerābbabel begat Jºbiutd.] Rhesa, mentioned by Luke, chap. iii. ver. 27. was probably another son of Zerubbgbel. Abiud might, possibly be the same with Nieshullam, whose name is mentioned in 1 Chron. iii. 12. or perhaps he and his descendants falling into obscurity, their names might be no where preserved but in this ge):Calogy of Joseph’s family, which the evangelist transcribed as he found it. - in They may be counted fourteen generations.] I express it with this latitude, as it is manifest that three persons are omitted in the second class, between Jehoram and Uzziah, ver. S. and it is only by counting them as here represented that they make fourteen, generations. , And if, according to the reading of the Bodleian, Jehoiakim be introduced in 3 * & * * iii. 2, 29 Rehoboam begat Abijah ; and Abijah begat Asa, whose reign was so long and SECT. ...And Asa begat the good Jehoshaphat; and Jehoshaphat begat Jehoram, who 8. ALATT, I. 8 9 1. I () 3 14 15 I6 2 LUKE l II. 30 ſ THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST. *PST. and this is the account which Luke hath given us in his Gospel; where, after he had being (ºs was supposed) the 9. LUKE 23 Asºº 24 25 2G 27 2S 29 30 3] 32 33 34 35 spoken of the baptism of Jesus when he was beginning [his public minist, ,] and was ºf ºf son of Joseph, which was the 's-4 * * , 24 Which was about thirty years of age, he traces his descent in the finé of Mary,” whose father Heli #º adopting Joseph, whom he made his son-in-law, the descent of Joseph may on that §§oś,\; \; account be reckoned from him, and so is in effect the same with that of Mary. Christ ; ; ;j. ¥º. therefore being born of Mary after her espousals, may be considered, upon this account, ºniº. to be (as at that time he commonly was reckoned) the son of Joseph, who, by adoption, or § Yi, º, . . . . rather by the marriage of his daughter, was the son of Heli,” Thé son ..? Matihat, the which was the sºn of ji, son of Levi, the son of Hºlchi, the son of Jannah, the son of Joseph, The son of Matia- yº ºf thia; the son of Amos, the son of Vahum, the son of Eli, the son of JWaggai, "The son Mºhiº. * . . . 'l º gº * * Mattathias, which was the son of Jaff, the son of J1attathias, the son of Shimei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, The jºš. son ºf Jºannah, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, the son of §§."º. JVeri,” The son of JHelchi, the son of .4ddi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son § † Mºjº Wº; son of Er, The son of Joses, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, ; } };tº the son, of Levi, The son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of ºligº Jongn, the son of Eliakim. Th Meleah, th Maina. Aſ was the son of Neri, & Which On ſºn, son of Eliakim, he son of Meleah, the son of JMainan, the son of Mattathids, Wisłºścij, ºrigi the songſ. Wathán, the son of that celebrated king of Israel, David, the man after God's own \; ;...?'º. Wiś - - 5 heart, The son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Wii.º.º.º.º. /* * y - JVaasson, The son Qſ .#minadab, the son of .3ram, the son of Esrom, the son of Pharez, *hiº, ºidº, the son of Judah, The son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, who was, according to the promise, Whiºsº th hat I rable patri h .4braham, th Tergh ** 2 which was the son of Jorim, e Son of that honourable patriarch 4braham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, Thé šići, Šišššišič, Q T re ºs º-º o !, a s - sº which was the son of Levi son of Serug, the son of Ragau, or Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of ºn... º.º. *.*.* 36 Salah, . The son of Caiman," the son of Arpharad, the son of Shem, the son of JNoah, Šimeon, which was theson of 37 MATT. I £f seq. with whom he was preserved in the ark; and it was well known that Noah was son of #º, § Lamech, The son of JMethuselah, the son of Enoch, who was translated without dying, #º ºff. and was the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, The son of Enos, ºieß, Wiś. the son of Seth, the son of Adam, who, being descended from no human parents, but ; ; Nº. 4. - - & e * * º * * - y - formed by the immediate power of a divine creating hand, might, with peculiar propriety, #: ...º gº * & * - * e g g * * S > 2, W. º be called [the son] of God, in his original state the heir of immortality and glory. ºis º § - - - Was the Son. O £Gl; W ſº I C. was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, 33 Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Åram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son ošjudah, '$'; whichºlsº sº officób, which was ºn of Isaac, Yliich was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, 35 Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Rakau, which was the son of Phaleg, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sála, 36 Which was the son of Caiman, which was the son Of Arphaxai, which was the sgn of Sem, which was the son of Noé, which was the son of Lamech, 37. Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, 38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Séti, hich was the sºn of Ådam, which ºn fºi. . IMPROVEMENT. WHEN we survey any such series of generations, it is obvious to reflect how, like the leaves of a tree, one passeth away, and another cometh; yet the earth still abideth, and with it the goodness of the Lord, which runs on, from generation to generation, the common hope of parents and children. - Of those who formerly lived upon earth, and perhaps made the most conspicuous figure among the children of men, how many have there been whose names have perished with them! and how many of whom nothing but 13 their names are remaining ! Thus are we passing away, and thus shall we be shortly forgotten. , Happy if, while et seq. we are forgotten of men, we are remembered by God, and our names are found written in the book of life! There LUKE III. MATT. I. LUKE III. wlt. SECT. 10. they will make a much brighter ºpiº than in the records of fame, or than they would do even in such a catalogue of those who were related to Christ according to the flesh; whose memory is here preserved, when that of many, who were once the wonder and terror of the mighty in the land of the living, is lost in perpetual oblivion. We observe, among these ancestors of Christ, some that were heathens, and others that, on different accounts, were of infamous characters; and perhaps it might be the design of Providence that we should learn from it, or at least should on reading it take occasion to reflect, that persons of all nations, and even the chief of sinners amongst them, are encouraged to trust in him as their Saviour. To him therefore let us look, even from the ends of the earth, yea, from the depths of guilt and distress, and the consequence will be happy beyond all expression or conception. - ...”though originally the son of God, lost that inheritance of life and glory which, in consequence of such a relation, he might reasonably have expected: but the second Adam repairs the loss which we had sustained by the transgression of the first. We are now predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, and raised by him to the hope of a fairer inheritance than the terrestrial paradise. Let it be our daily labor to secure this in: valuable blessing; that so, as we have borne the image of the earthly Adam, we may in due time bear the image of the heavenly, and at length attain to the perfect manifestation of the sons of God. SECTION X. Christ is born at Bethlehem, and his birth revealed by an angel to some jº in the neighbourhood of that town; and he is circumcised on the eighth day. Luke ii. 1–21. - .* LUKE ii. I. - LUKE ii. I. tº * * & tº e ND i to pass i N'OW it came to pass in those days, or about the time in which John the Baptist was flºº āşşºat ileºe. born, and Christ conceived in the manner related above, that the Roman emperor, |LUKE II. ver. 11. and considered as the last of this glass, (which seems the bet- because the true ſather ºf Jºſh Pºga; to have been Jacob or James, ter reading, as jecomiah does not appear to have had any brethren,) Je; the $gh of Matthan. (See Matt, 1:.19, 18; f * ge 29 ...nii iſ thus bºrºń for the third class, which otherwise would "p The son aſ ºri.j Šeć, the latter end ºf note *ś his Cai s want one person to complete the number. q. The son of Caiman.] Ther; IS no mention made o gº; fº "in the fine of Nſary.j I am aware that Mr., Le Clerc and many either of the geºcalošič that, Moses gives §§"c. :: *. *i 2.) other leºči men have thought that Joseph was begotten by Heli, and but Salah is there said to b; the $9. * Arp jī, *}. º there- jópted by jãcoö :"int ſmuch rather conclude, that he was adopted fore have been introduced hº | º º º seventy utter- by ###, or rather taken by him for his son, upon the marriage of his prºtºrs, Who have inserted him. in bot § lºse Fº in the same fº i jujitº, and that fiji was the father of \{ary; because an ancient we, find him here; aſſºl: º this º º: }; t .*.*.*.*. º: jºish fabbi expressly calls her the dagghter. 9ſ. Heli; and, chiefly and was more generally upſ jº *ś € É. tº i. e i. because else we have indeed no true genealogy of Christ at all, but § some transcriber of this Gosp; * . i. goºd ...;; ...} es tºo different views of the line of Joseph, his repute! father; which we suppose that Luke himself mºnt C. º yº j geneſ, º: Would by no means prove that Christ, who was only by adoption his to follow the Septuagintº §º. º R. sey º §º.; son, was of the seed of Abrahaiſt and of the house of JDavig. Yet the that he has quoted from i. *...* º: º º º: ...” » d *::::: apostle speaks of it as evident, that Christ was descended from Judah, of any, consequence, as the sº o, the ex * \d WàS } : o É. #. Wii. 14 in which, if this gospel were (as antiquity, assures. Uš) us with the genealogy aſ ºgºſ # º .." w . jºy Sºtten by the direction of Paul, perhaps he may refer to this, Yºyºte clear, whether we reckon i. * as º łºmnºle º {lll ox T– before us. (See Mr. Whiston’s Harm:6ay ºf the ſour Evangelists, Prop. phaxaq, or whether WG COllS1( i; º * is gran †"a; ...th n xvi. p. 175. et seq.) . imuch léss, reason is thºr? tº object, 9 tº º lºrence łºść §ºsºft, who by adoption, or rather by the marriage of his daughtºr, between the manacs that §§ º # * º we * with is was the son of łłł. it is necessary to take the words in this latitude, the same persons in the O &SECIFI}{2}, ... : ; :S 13 ; ; ; ) is . O & liè il V, iiºt 1 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST AT BETHLEHEM. 31 qut a decree, ſºm, Cæsar Augustus Cæsar, published an edict, or decree, that all the land” of Judea, which was then SECT. jºi." “” united under one prince, and governed by Herod, should be publicly enrolled; or that the 10. number of its inhabitants, both male and female, with their families and estates, should - be registered. This he ordered, as a token of his particular º: against Herod º 2 (And this taxing was their king, and as an intimation that he intended º to lay them under a tax. ...?nd 3 * §: gººg, ºnius here we may observe by the way, that this was the first enrolment of the Jews, and was committed to the care ºf Cyrenius, or, as the Latins write it, Quirinius, a Roman senator; who, being [afterwardsjgovernor of Syria,b made a second enrolment or taxation, which 3 And all went to be taxed, was so famous in the Jéwish history for the tumults that attended it. And all the inha-3 *** ***** bitants of Judea were obliged to obey the edict, and went each of them to his own native city, or the place where his paternal inheritance lay," to be enrolled: a circumstance wisely . ordered by Providence, to verify the truth of ancient prophecies, and introduce the prom- ised Messiah; as, by their coming to be thus registered among the subjects of the Roman empire, the subjection of the Jews to the Romans very remarkably appeared. 4.Andºlephalººntº And thus the parents of Christ were providentially brought to Bethlehem, the place 4 º, where the Messiah was to be born, without leaving any room to suspect them of artifice º; ; and design: for, being thus obliged by the º: authority, Joseph went u º: ñºsº house and fine. Galilee, even out of the city of Nazareth, where he them dwelt, into the land of Judea, age of David,) most properly so called, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, which was the town where his ancestors had formerly been settled: (for, notwithstanding Joseph was reduced so low as to follow the trade of a carpenter, yet he was originally of the family 5 To be taxed with Mary and royal household of David :). It was to Bethlehem therefore that he went up to be ei- jºiºdwiſe, being great rolled; and thither he took with him, by divine direction,” Mary his espoused wife, who was now big with child, and very near the time of her delivery. g a.Anºthº, while . But the town was so crowded on this occasion, that they were obliged to lodge in the ºatia"; stable of a public-house, though in her present circumstances, it was so very inconvenient should be deliveredž for her. ...And so it was, that while they were there, either waiting for the proper officer * who was to register the people, or staying till their own turn came, the days of her preg- fºg.º. he nancy were fulfilled, and the time came that she should be delivered. And she brought him."jºidi., §§...forth her Son, even him that justly bears the character of the First-born ;f that glorious and laid him in a mánger; be: •S "irst- > * - * inors. cause there was no room for and excellent Person, who was the First-born of every creature, and the Heir of all things 2 3. 5 6 7 them in the inn. .#nd she no-Sooner was delivered, but immediately she swathed him ; being so miraculously strengthened by God, in this hour of extremity, as to be able to perform that office her: z self; and, having no other convenience near, she laid him in a manger which belonged to one of the stalls there;b because (as we have just now said) there was no room for them - in any of the chambers belonging to the inn. g º si, Andº, *...* .#nd there were some shepherds in that country, who were then lying out in the field, abiding in the field, keeping and º in their turns, over their flock by night;i which it was necessary they should .# * * * * do, to guard against the wolves and other beasts of prey, which were common there. 9 And, lo, the angel of the ſind, behold, on a sudden, an angel of the Lord came upon them, and appeared in a visible Lord came upon them, and form, standing in the air over their heads; and their eyes were immédiately directed to S 9 usual, when the same names are mentioned in a different language; nor have entered at the next jubileº, if he fived to see it. But things were will the Greek admit them to be so expressed, as to agree exactly with now faiien into confusion. The small remains of the ten tribes who the Hebrew. But, to avoid confusion, I have rather chosen, both in the were brought back at all were, after their return from the Captivity, in- fºrmer genealogy and this, to give. the nºmas'that are delivered in the corporated together in the neighbourhood of Judea, while straig.crs ld Testament as they are written in the Hebrew, to which our language were in possession of large tracts of land once theirs ; and the whole will admit us to come nearer than the Greek could do, and which must country of Samaria was in the hands of those whom the Jews, looked be allowed to be thg more exact and truer method of pronouncing them. upon as the vilest kind of Gentiles, that is, the Samaritans.—All that ap- (Compare Gen. v. 3. et seq. xi. 10–27, and I Chron. i. l—27.). Pears as to the circumstance mow before us is, that every, one was a 4ll the land.]. Though ouroupsum doth undoubtedly sometimes sig- obliged to be enrolled at the place to which his family belonged; and the nify the whole world, º xvii. 31. Rom. x. 18. and Heb, i. 6.) and Qbedience of the Jews to this decree is a plain proof that they were now $gmetimes probably, the Romgn empire, (as more especially in Rev. iii, dependent on the Romans, and the sceptre was departing from Judah. 19. and Xvi. 4. see Elsner, in loc.) yet I think the jearned and ingenious See Lightfoot's Harmony on Luke ii. i. and compare Gen. xlix, iO. and Dr. Lardner hath fully proved that it is to be taken in a more limited Numb. xxiv. 24. 2 §ense both here and Acts xi. 28. as it Rºs §: Luke Xi. 26. 2 (See d Of the family and royal household of David.] I have here rendered Lardn, Credib., of Gosp. Hist. part i. vºl. i. p. 533, and vol. ii. p. 57 ſ. at otkos family, and Tarpua household; because I apprehend, with Grotius, sº.) It is with peculiar propriety called the whole land, as it was soon that it may refer to the divisions of the tribes into families and house: after, dismembered; and Nazareth, where Christ’s parents dwelt, was holds. Compare Numb. i. is, it seq. and Josh. vii. i*, jš in this sense in a different division from Bethlehem, as jºiardºeli ºsérºes. of the words, after having told us that Joseph was ºf the house ºf Dºi, —That aſtoypad”) signifies a public enrolment, Elsner, on this text, º, s: alter Raymºlºgus natºoseſ Ş., tº tºº -,---> - Xp e p - y SIlei, S it would have been very unnecessary to add, he was also of his family: hath evidently shown. - but it was not at all improper to say, he was of his family and househölö #14 is pºst enrolment of Cyrenius, aſterwards governor of too: for all the issºis of £iaijani his stić 'tººn"; i. Syria, Auſm, aſtoypadºm 7porn eyevgro ñyèuovºvoytos ins_ Xuptas were any such remaining, would have been of David’s family, yet not of Kupmvtov.] The worthy person whom I mentioned above, Dr. Lardner, his household. If the word lineage only signified descendants, it would in his unequalled criticisms on this text, (part i. vol. ii. p. 718, et seq.) be exceeding proper to give Luke’s sense; but, as I apprehend it in- has given, the reasons at large which detérmined me to prefer that iteral cludes collateral branches, I thought fit to changé it. yersion I have inserted: Our own is plainly mistaken, and is indeed e By divine direction.] One can hardly imagine he would otherwise hºrdly intelligible. , The words might perhaps have been rendered, have exposed her to the hazards of such a journey at so unseasonable à This enrolment was before Cyrenius ºpas governor of Syria; which, to be time; for, whatever the emperor’s commands were, Such a case as šure, is a true assertion, and may perhaps, after aii, be indicated; but ary’s must to be sure have been admitted as an excuse for her not cond- I think the original expresses something more. Others have chosen tº plyi; with it; render it, ºd the tagation that was consequent upon this enrolment cas f The First-born.] See before the paraphrase and note f on Matt. i. first erecuted when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.-If none of the soju. 25. § $ 5.3%. - tions proposed could be allowed, (as I think either of these justjy may.) g Being so miraculously strengthened, &c.] I had, in the first edition, it would be a thousand times more reasonable to suppose à 'worá here and in many other tº: inserted the word probably in the para. omitted by some early transcriber, (perhaps 5 6&vTcpa, after Sy evero, phrase; but, on the whoſe, considering that in all such performances the than to think that so accurate, a writer as Luke, were he to be coſtsidered author, and not the paraphrast, is sº to speak, I judge it more Qnly as a common historian, should make such a gross mistake as to con- º here to remind my reader, (as I have elsewhere intimated,) that found this enrolment, in the reign of Herod, with that taration which he is to take it for grantèd I do not pretend in this instance, and a great happened several years after, on the banishment of his son Archelaus. many others, to speak confidently; but that the different character, which A fact of this #d was too obvious, and, I may add, too mortifying to distinguishes the divine tert from my fallible though upright attempts to thg, whole Jewish nation, to be so soon forgot; not to say, that so strict illustrate it, must guide him in determining what is certain, and 'what à Phariseg as St. Paul, (who probably reviewed this gospel,) educated only probable, and perhaps, after all, cery doubtful. by Ganjaliel, would be sure to remember it with some peculiar emo- h..?. manger which belonged to one of the stalls there.] Though Hºw the tumulºs that happened in the days of the taxing; which was Héinsids has learnedly proved that @atvm sometimes signifies a stall, yet #ſºrwards made by Cyrenius, (when, on the banishment of Archºlaus, it is certain, that more frequently it signifies a manger; and the manger udea was reduced to the form of a province, and annexed to Syria. § } - - * -- - - - - - $y, ſº º * --~~~ : - - " - - : - Was the most proper part of the stall in which the infant could be laid. under the government, of Cyrenius,) in opposition to which, a disturbº If (as tradition says) this stable was cut out of a rock, t ldness of i nce.was raised by Judas of Galilee, see Joseph. Antiq. Jud, lib. xvii. in :- ... ." §§: (; . - - ÇK, the coldness of it ** - - - - .2 sº Y must, at least by might, have greatly added to its other inco fin. ºxviii. cap. 1. § 1. Bell. Jud. lib. ii, cap. 8. §I, and Acts v. 37. €ll CCS. YV G 11}- J c Where his paternal inheritance lay.] $ome have conjectured that i Watching in their t ver thei k bu miori T * * Qseph might have a small, estate here: but that is, at best, very unger- i Watching in their turns over their flock by night.] The original, dºw- tº at least it is imprºbable that Jesus inherited it, (Matt. viii. 30.) or Aaggovrºs ºvXaxas Tns vukros, might more literally be rendered, that his mother enjoyed it during her widowhood. Šee join Xix. 23.27. Reeping the watches of the night; which intimates their taking it by turns -It is true, indeed, that had the Qriginal settlement of the divine law to watch, according to the usual divisions of the night. And, as it is not been duly regarded, estates in the land of promise would have been unº probable, that they exposed their flocks to the coldness of winter nights qlienable; and every male descended from Jacob, and not of the tribe of in that climate, where, as ir. Shaw has shown, they were so very un- Levi, must have been born heir to a certain Bºº. of land, allotted to wholesome, (see Shaw’s Travels, p. 379.) it ima be strongly argued some of his ancestors when the division was st made 3.9m which, how - from this circumstance, that those who have fixe upon December ſor ever, it might have been mortgaged The must, if his father"were dead, the birth of Christ, have been imistaken in the time of it. (3.2 { ECT. 10. * LURE I 0 I I I 2 13 15 I6 I7 19 2I THE SHEPHERDS DIRECTED BY ANGELS TO BETHLEHEM. it, by the glory of the Lord, which shone round about them with such incomparable lustre, as had in former ages been the usual symbol of the Divine Presence: ingly terrified at so uncommon and so awful an appearance. silent amazement, the angel said unto them, in the mildest and most condescending man- ner, Be not giftighted, O ye shepherds! for the design of m - nothing terrible in it; but, on the contrary, behold, and take the most thankful notice of the glory of the Lord shone rouni about them ; and they Were sore afraid. 0 And the angel said unto them, Fear not :, for, behold, I bring you, good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. and they were ecceed- .#nd, while they stood in appearance to you hath it, Ibring you good news, and greet you with the tidings ºf great and universal joy, which shall be now occasioned, not only to you, but to all people in the whole Jewish nation, yea, and to all the human race. For this very day, this welcome blessed day, there is born wnto you,' and unto , all nations, a glorious Saviour, who is even Christ the Lord, that illustrious Sovereign, whom you have so lon under the character, of the M3 Messi AH : he is eyesi now • to you, by which you will easily know him: you will find him an inſani in swaddling- bands, lying in a manger belonging to one of the inns. ...And immediately, to confirm them in the belief of S trious Prince should be born in such mean circumstanc Strange a truth, as that this illus- es as he had now described, there II . For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ g been taught to expect, by the title, and the Lord. * * * * - born in the neighbouring city of . David his royal father; and I call you to offer him your earliest hornagá. *...--> & into the town without any further delay, and inquire after him: for this [shall be] a sign Go therefore 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye, shall find the bgbe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was, with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising was seen with the angel that spake to them, a great invºliitude of the celestial army, praising God, and saying, God, and saying, in the most cheerful and harmonious accents, Glory be to "God in the gelic legions resound his praises in the most exalted birth, weace and all kind of happiness comes down to highest heavens, and let all the an strains; for, with the Redeemer's 14 Glory, to God in the ighest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. dwell on earth ; yea, the overflowings of divine benevolence and favour are now exercised towards sinful men, who, through this Saviour, become delight. Echo it back, O ye immortal abodes, to ours on earth peace benevolence and favour unto men!” the objects of his complacential “Glory to God in the highest! ..?nd it came to pass, that as Soon as the angel departed from them, and returned back into , 15 And it came to pass, as heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Come, let hath so graciously in haste, before the night was over, found º which had wonders, and had attentively considered [it] they humbly paid their dutiful respects unto arents with the marvellous vision hey had seen, they immediately published abroad a full account of this remarkable occur- rence, and gave a particular relation of the whole of that which had been told them, in so .3nd, upon hearing this strange account, there and, though they were prevented, by the meanness of his birth, from showing a due regard to one that made no better an appearance, yet all that heard [it] were astonished at those tilings which were related to their new-born Saviour; and having acquainted his wonderful a way, concerning this child. was a general surprise ; **) subject. But Jºſary in particular treassired up all th make any vain boast of such extraordinary favours regarded all these wonderful events, entering into reflections of her heart,” and improving them all, as been before revealed to her, §ſ. foundation for the rence towards her Divine Son. . And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things which they had heard and seen at Bethlehem," so perfectly agreeable, in every circumstance, to the ac- count they had received but just before, as it was told unto them by the angel; admiring the mercy of God in sending such a Saviour, and his with such early discoveries of him. \ .4nd when eight days from the birth of this Holy Infant were fulfilled, eighth day was come,) his pious parents failed not, according to the Mosaic law, under which they were placed, to circumcise the child; that so, *...; tions of nature to mortify, which was in part represented by that institution, he might nevertheless, in a regular manner, be initiated into the Jewish church, and thereby be - • us go immediately to Bethlehem, and # see this great thing which is dome, even this wonderful and important event which the Lord and Joseph, and the new-born infant with them, just in the circumstance a een described, lying in a manger. .4nd when they had viewed this scene of Joseph, and the babelying in these things, and carefully retained them in her memory; and, though she did not blaze them abroad among the populace, or and testimonies, yet she attentively the meaning [of them] in the secret a further confirmation of what had early actings of her faith and reve- e angels were goae away om, them into heaven, the shepherds said one to anoth- uS Inovy go even uinto r -.” - - J, made known unto us. And, accordingly, with one consent, they came flººd. e leaving their flocks to the care of Providence ; and, entering into the town, they followed the direction which the angel gave them, and quickly which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known UInto Uls. 16 And they came with aste, and found Mary and T a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroa the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard if, wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. - - them by the shepherds on this - 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered then in her heart. 20 And, the shepherds re- turned, glorifying and prais- ing God for all the things that they had heard or seen, as it was told unto them. - condescension in favouring them 21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JICSUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (that is, when the though he had not aſ engaged to the duties, and entitled to the privileges, of a son of Abraham, according to that covenant. And his name was called JESUS’ that is, the Divine Saviour; a name by which the angel had called him before he was conceived in the womb of his virgin mother. I do not mºa;i as to th9 k There is born unto you..] That one, of the Bodleian manuscript: reads it #1 ty, copies on the other side; and affords but a very slender support to, Mr. FHerminº’s conjecture, that this was a glorified httinax. spirit, perhaps that of Adams all wh953 happy descendants Inight, he, thinks, make up the chorus, (Fieming’s Cºristolºgy, vol. i. p. 30.) I should rather ima- giae, with Grotius, that this aftgel was Gabriel. I Giary to God in the highºst, and peace on cqrth ; bencvolence and favour tº cards ine;..] I am veil aware of the ambiguity of these words: he reading; for though the Alexandrian, and other manuscripts, instead of evö9Kia, give it evö9ktaş, as if the angels were proclaiming peace to men of favour and good will, or unto those who were the objects of the divine benevolence, and complacency ; (which is a zoºding that has been approved by many learned men, and in partigºu- lar by Béza:) yet ſ think, the authority of that is overborne by the ºré généraſ consent of the most ancient Inanuscripts, as Yell as by tº versions of the oldest date, and the quotations of the fathers in the jst early ages, which almost universälly oppose it. (See Afill and §rotius on the place.) 13ut, taking the original as it stands, A9& ºv ºlyt ºr rot; 08:6), kat Cºt y?5 &tp://v77, Cy av0p679ts £939kta, we must allow it to be capablé of different séases.—Somé choose to render it, Głory to @º in the fighest, (that is, in heaven.) &nd oil,éârth ; pegge, Yºa, Jagº, fºis men; but then, I think, instéad of £v inpua Tots, it rather would have been £y oppava) ; for so it is always usual to express in hcaven and upon carth. (Cómpare Matt...vi. 10. Luke xi. 2. 1 Cor. viii. 5. Eph, i. jö. iii. 15. Col. i. 15, 20... Rev. v. 3, 13.)—Others have given, as the sense of it, that the good-pill, or favou", which is now shown to men, is tha glory aſ £od in the highest, and is the peace or happiness of those that to us, is of very little weight, considering the consent of . r - proverb, or aphorisºn, Seems to destroy dwell on carth ; and this indeed, is an important sensº, and the original weiſ enough will bear it. But thus to change the doxology into a kind of much of its beauty.—I rather {#iak, that they are al] to be considered as the words Qſ, a rejoicing àºjīnation, and that they strongly represent the piety,and benevolence of these heavenly, spirit; and their àffectionate.good wishes fºr, the 3rosperity of the Ślessiah’s kingdom. (Sompare Mått. xxi. 9. Mark xi. 0. and especially Luke XiX. : The new translation that has been lately published, where it is rendered, to ment grº artill elicity in the divine favour, does indeed, express the Seº of the two latter clauses, tº 'no means with equal ardour. The shouts of a multitude, aré gºñorajiy broken into short sentences, and ºre commonly elliptic ; which is theºlºcause of the ambiguity here. As this bequty could not, bº rººrººd in a paraphrase, I have repeated the words, after they had een explained. m Entering into vindicated this se place. n Which they had heard and the meaning, § wº w I apprehend Elsner has abundantly ise of the wo: gupgåAAovog, in his note on this seen at Bethlehem.] Joseph and, Mary woujá, no doubt, upon such an 90easion, Šive them an account of those pºlis, which the sacred historians haye, recounted above, relating to the conception of this Divine Enſānt; and this interview must greatly confirm and comfort the minds of all concerned. s o His name was called Jesus.] Gipflus, thinks there might be an as- sembly of most of the remainders. 9 ayid’s family on this occasion; but surely, had there been many of them inhabitants of Bethlehem, their jºnºid not, in such circumstances, have been roduced to the nacassity of lodging in a stable. THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. IMPROVEMENT. 33 With what humble amazement should we contemplate this first appearance of our incarnate Redeemer! Surely secT. all the angels of heaven might justly have admired his condescension in assuming such a nature, as ours, and wearing a mortal frame, though it had been attended with all the ornaments and splendours earth could have given 10. it. Though, at his entrance into our low world, he had been born of an imperial family, placed under a canopy LUKE of velvet and # Or laid to repose on pillows of down, all this had been deep abasement in the eyes of those who had beheld the glories of his celestial throne, and the honours paid him by cherubims and seraphims: º behold, the Son of God, and the Heir of all things, is not merely in the abodes of men, but in a place destine for beasts, and, while wrapped in swaddling clothes, is laid in a manger. Yet, O blessed Jesus! how much more venerable was that stable and manger, when graced with thy sacred presence, than the most magnificent palace, or most shining throne of earthly princes ! How ill doth it become thy disciples to seek for themselves great things in this life, or to be proud of its pomp and grandeur ! ... Give us, º º the simplicity of children, and make us willing to be conformed to the birth of thy Son, as well as to his eath ! Yet, mean as his birth might appear, his heavenly Father did not leave him without witness. We see him, in II. Wer. 7 12 this wonderful account that the evangelist hath given us, surrounded with a brighter lustre than a court or a crown 9 could have afforded. Angelic legions are employed as heralds to proclaim the new-born King. And to whom are they sent? To humbſe pious shepherds, diligently employed in the duties of their proper calling, and watch- ing º night for the security of their flocks. Who would not gladly have shared in their poverty and fatigue, to have heard with them these good tidings of great joy? Let us observe with what delight these courtiers of heaven undertook the happy embassy to these lowly mortals. Let us with pleasure attend to the anthem of these benevolent spirits. Far from envying the favour that was done us, they ascribe glory to God for it, and take their part in the joy they give. Let this love of the whole heavenly host to us, awaken our love to them, and our longing for that blessed world, where we and they shall surround our dearest Redeemer, not in such a form of abasement as that in which he here appeared, but clothed in that celestial lustre with which God hath rewarded the humiliations of the manger and the cross. In the mean time, let our more intimate concern in this great salvation engage us more cordially to* with these blessed angels in their hallelujahs; ascribing glory to God in the highest for this peace on earth, this g ood- will towards men, the great fountain of our present tranquillity and future hope Above ali, if divine grace hath conquered all the foolish *...*: of our hearts against Christ, and taught us with humble faith to apply to him, let us, with the shepherds, b ess God for the things which have been shown us, and make it our care to abroad the savour of his name, that others may join with us in paying their homage and their praises to him spread SECTION XI. The purification of Mary, and her offering in the temple; where Christ is J.º. to God, and has a very memorable testimony given him by Simeon and Anna. LUKE ii. 22. ANI) when the days of her pººl, according to the law of Moses were accom- lished, they brought him to erusalem, to present him to the Lord; . & - 23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord; Every male that openeth the wornb shall lºb appointed for her xii. 2, 4.) were ſ: born, and in obe uke ii. 22—39. LUKE ii. 22. .4.N.D., after Mary had been thus delivered of her son at Bethlehem, when the forty days purification,” according to the time limited by the law of Moses, (Lév. lled, Jesus was taken by his ience to the divine command, they brought him to Jerusalem, there to present him as a first-born son before the Lord, in the temple; according as it is written in the law of the Lord, (Exod. xiii. 2. Numb. viii. 16, 17.) that “every first-born male arents from the place where he was iº"...##"...i. holy to the Lord, and shall be treated as devoted in a pećuliar manner to his service.” Agreeably to this precept, they now went up to redeem him,” at the price of five shekels, which was the sum appointed to be paid for every eldest son, without any 24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the ford, A pair of turtle-doves, or two *O 19 COIIS, - young pigeo are ordered to º (1, 25 And, behold, there was 8L II tºld I in erusalem, whose name was Simeon ; and the same man was just and de- yout, waiting for the consola- tion of Israel : and the Hol Ghost was upon him. regard to the condition of the family. . sacrifice, according to what is enjoined in the law of the Lord, Lev. xii. 6, 8. where they, whose circumstances were so mean as that they could not conveniently afford a lamb, air of turtle-doves, or two youn best the virgin's rank in life, and she did not affect on this occasion to exceed .ánd, behold, there was then at Jerusalem a certain man, whose name was Simeon ;d and he [was] one that was a singularly righteous and religious person, who was waiting, with many others at that time, for the coming of the Messiah, the great expected consolation of * Israel,” and the Holy Spirit of prophecy was sometimes in an extraordinary manner upon (Compare Numb. xviii. 15, 16.) And to offer a g pigeons; which gºing suited l * a Her purification; kaðaptops avrms.) The Alexandrian, and some other manuscripts, read avròu; and, as it must be owned, that both mother and child, for a while after the birth, were looked upon as cere- monially unclean, , it might not be improper (with Erasmus and some of the most considerable expositors) to admit this reading, and to Yen- der it their purification; as referring to them both. For, not withstanding it is true that Christ had no ºl impurity from which he needed to be cleansed, yet we may well enough suppose him, as he bore our sins, to have submitted to this ordinance, as well as circumcision s and as he came into the world, made of a woman, made under the lanc, he would be ready to comply with any institution of the law, that he might thus fulfil all righteousness. But as the lund that is referred to in this plage, speaks only of the woman, and of the sacrifice that was appointed to be offered for her purifying, i have retained the common reading, and have made no alteration in the version. .* * * * . . . . b The forty days—were fulfilled.] Mr. Whiston has supposed, in his Harmony, º: xiv. p. 15S, et seq.) that these.forty, days were liot ac- complished till their return from Egypt but although this may give the easiest solution to ver. 39, it crowds so many events into that little space, and so entirely depends on a precarious hypothesis that Christ wbas born about a month before the death of Herod, (which I thiº. Mr. Manne has entirely overthrown, in his Dissertation un the Birth of Christ, p. 42—45.) that it seems evident, upon the whole, that the purification preceded the flight into Egypt, as most harmonizers have thought. But whether the purification was before or gifter the visit of the wise men, is not so plain: I have placed it before, chiefly that I might not interrupt the thread of the story; and partly because the meanness of the Pirgin’s sacrifice makes it probable that she had not then received the presents that were offered by the ºpise men. Nevertheless, I acknowledge it very. possible, that the purification might happen during the interval of Herod’s waiting for the return of the wisc inen, and that the holy family might go from Jerusalem to Egypt the very night after Jesus had been presented in the temple; as §º intimates, in his excellent #;"| (chap. xi. xii.) which is so accurately and judiciously.com- #if: that, as far as I can judge, most of the faults in Le Clºrºs. Whiston, Wells, &c. may be corrected by it. It was first printed at Cambridge, 1634, and is almost entirely the same with that which was afterwards published under the name of Mr. Locke’s Life of Christ. . After all, I shall only observe, that this is one of the many instances in yhieh the Qrder of the sacred story cannot be circumstantially determined with demonstrative evidence. c They went up to redeem him.] Gol having acquired a peculiar right to the first-born of Israel, by preserving them amidst the destruction brought on the first-born of the Egyptians, though he had accepted of the tribe of Levi as an equivalent, yet would have the memory of it pre- served by this ſittle agknowledgment of five shekels, (or about tº cive Shiiſings and sirpence of our money,) which was the price that every first-bºrn child must be redeemed at :, and in case of an omission here, it might reasonably have been expected that the child should be cut off by some judgment. The first-born therefore were redeem cd by paying of this money, in such a sense as all the people were, when, at the time that they were plumbered, each of them paid half a shekel as a ransom for their souls, that there might be no plague among thcºn as there might otherwise have been, if that acknowledgment of the divine goodness had been omitted : Exod. xxx. 12–16. But that the five shekels demanded for the first-born were paid to redeem them from being sacrificed on the altar, is one of the most false and malicious insinuations that ever came even from the most inveterate enemy of revelation. d iſ hose name was Simeon.] Had Simeon, been, as, some suppose, the president of the council, and father of the celebrated Gamaliel, St. Luke would probably have inserted so honourable a circumstance. e The consolation of Israel.] This is a phrase that frequently is used, both by the ancient and modern Jews, for a description of the Messiah. The days ºf consolation is a gommon phrase annong them, to signify the days of the . Messiah: nor is there anything more usual with them, than to swear by their desire af sceing this consolatign : as Dr. Lightfoot proves by several instances, Hor. Hebr. in loc. And it is easy to observe, that the same way of speaking was made use of by the prophets, who qften introduced the promise of the Messiah’s coming, to comfort the people of God in their jº. Compare Isa. xlix. 13. lii. 9. lxvi. 13. Jer. xxxi 13. aud Zech. i. 17. II 8 10 13 14 20 17 SECT. 11. LUKE 23 - 5 34 SECT. 11. LUKE II. 27 28 29 arms, and praised God, and said, with the highest elevations of devotion and joy, Now, O my Sovereign Lord and Master, I thankfully acknowledge that thou dismissest thy servant - can die with pleasure, since thou hast dealt 1 * acious engagements of thy word to me: For mine eyes have at length behel d him, whom thou hast appointed as the great instrument of thy long expected § salvation : Even that salvation which ihou hast prepared to set before the fice of all people, ** as the glorious object of their faith and hope: Ordaining him to be a light for the illumi: natiºn ºfſº Géntiles, to reveal the way of life to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow ºf death, as well as giving him to be the consolation and the glory of thy people Israel, who have the honour of being peculiarly related to him. •ºnd when they heard this glorious testimony given to the infant Jesus, Joseph and his ?... . . . I astonished at those things which were spoken of him by so eminent a prophet Which appeared to them so much the more remarkable, w 30 33 34 3 5 36 37 lived only seven years with a husband from the time of her virginity; .4nd, as her husban died while she was very young, she had now been a widow about eighty-four years;k who, whatever estate she might have in the country, departed not from ; as to be able to resort thither at the hours of morning and of about fourscore and four 38 39 to the repose of the grave in SIMIEON'S TESTIMONY AND BLESSING. him ; flnd among other tº. it was divinely revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that ad seen the Great .4mointed of the Lord, and hi d he should not dieſ before he beheld the promised Messiah. cºnd he came, under the secret but powerful impulse of the Spirit, into the temple, just at the juncture of time when [his] parents brought in the child Jésus into the court of Israel there, that they might do for him according to the custom which the authority of the divine - - - .And when the pious Simeon had dis- covered him by his prophetic #. and saw that well-known prophecy accomplished, all nations should come into that second temple, he was latt had required and established in such cases. (Hag. ii. 7.) that the desire of 26 And, it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27. And he came by the Spirit into the temple:, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, - hen took he him up in his, arms, and blessed God, and said, eyes had transported at the sight of this desirable child, and took him with a sacred rapture into his ... v. x * eace ;8 and With me according to the in Gijzer were 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word : 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast pre: pared before the face of all people ; .. * 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And Joseph and his ... mother marvelled at , those ; things which were spoken of en compared with the miracu- him. lous circumstances which had attended his conception and birth. & ſº ºd. Sºmeon, in the warmth of his devotion, blessed them both, praying affectionately nº. for them, that the favour of God might continually attend them; and said to Mary his #ºol. ii., §§sº mother, Behold, this [child] of thine is º for an occasion of the fall and rising - - * e the means of bringing aggravated ruin upon some by their rejecting him, as well as of procuring salvation and recovery to others on again of many in Israel, as he in fact shal And, Simeon , blessed and said unto Mary is set for the fall and iº again of many in Israel; an for a sign, which snail be spoken against; their believing in him; and his appearance in the world shall be such, as if he was intended and set up for a mark of contradiction and reproach,h to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to many, while he shall be to others for a sanctuary. (Isa. viii., 4.) Yea 35 (Yea, a sword shall ierce through thy own soul +,-4- : a * - - - * - 5 with such cruel malice and indignity shall he be treated, that the time will come when a § ºt. dart shall (as it were) pierce through thine own soul,i and wound thee in the most sensible many hearts may”. manner, when thou art witness to those agonies which shall penetrate his. But these strange revolutions shall be permitted, and these mysterious scenes of Providence be opened, that the secret thoughts and reasonings of many hearts may be disclosed; or that 32, the real characters of men may be discovered, and the sincerity of those who are approved may be made manifest; while the hypocrisy and earthly mindedness of those who intend only their own secular advantage, under the specious prétence of waiting for the Messiah’s kingdom, shall be exposed; who will be soon offended at the obscure ance, and at the persecutions which shall attend him and his cause. ..f. A słnd there was also [one]...Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, a person of some form of his appear- 36 And there was one, Anna; prophetess, the daughter of considerable note in the tribe of Asher. She was now very far advanced in years, having #.º. always so near the temple, evening sacrifice: serving [God] with frequent fastings and prayers, in which this devout she was of a great age, an had lived with an husband seven years from her vir- r) + gin, ty. ; • usalem, but kep t 37 And she was a widow years, which departed not rom the temple, but served matron spent a considerable part of the night as well as of thé day. ...And she coming in at Gºiºtings and prayers that very time, which was the hour of prayer, joined with Simeon in what he had done, night and day. . . 38 And she coming in that and publicly made her acknowledgments to the Lord, that is, to Jesus,” who was now lºº.º.º.; present in the temple; and afterwards spake concerning him to all those of her acquaintance in Jerusalem that were waiting, like her, for the promised redemption of Israel by the unto the Lord, and spºke, o him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Messiah, of whose speedy appearance there was an earnest expectation raised among the pious and devout, as the appointed period of his coming now evidently approached." ..?nd the parents of Jesús, when they had performed all things according to the law of Lord, departed from Jerusalem: and, full of admiration at if the , 39 And when they had per- formed all things according 19 glorious testimonies that to the law of the Lord, they were given to their child, they some time afterwards returned to Galilee,” to their own f That he should not dic.] Our translation, that he should not see death, is most literal; but I did not apprehend the antithesis between sceing deqtº, and seeing Christ, to be intended as at all material, and therefore did not retain the Hebraism. º w g Titovt dismissest thy servant in peace.] There may perhaps be, an allusion herg to the custom of Saying, especially to an inferior, when parting, Go in peace. See note l, on Luke Wii. 3). Sect. lx. h .4 mark of contradiction and reproach..] The word pnºtoy seems bere to be used for a mark or butt to shoot or gart at 3 which finely intimates the deliberate malice and hellish artifice with which the character and person of Christ was assaultgd; while he cadured the cost- tradiction of sinners against himself, Heb. xii. 3. i 4 dart shall pierce through thine own soul...] Though pogºata seems often to signify a scord, as particularly in Rey, i. 16...ii. 12, 16. vi. 8. yet we are assured by Grotius, it properly signifies g. Thrgcign javelin. It may perhaps (as L’Enfant observes) be a beautiful allusion, to the preceding figure, as if it had been told her, that the darts levelled at her son should be reflected from his breast to hers, in such a manner as to wound her, very heart. Whether it be rendered, sword, or dart, it must undoubtedly refer to the part the holy Wirgin took in all the reproaches and persecutions which Jesus met with ; but never was it so signally fulfilled, as when she stood by the cross, and saw him at once so scorn- fully insulted and so cruelly murdered. See John xix. 23. k Had now been a widow about eighty-four years.] I know. that Grotius and many others interpret this of her whole age ; but I think it most liatural to suppose, that #. time of her nuarriage is opposed to that of her tººthood. In which she spent a considerable part of the night as well as of the day.]. This is plainly the meaning of night and day, nor Çan the ex; preSSIOP) jº. signify more. Pérhaps she might sometimes attend those ant; eins which the priests sung in the temple, during the might- ic.tº ches, Ps. cxxxiv. 1, 2. to which David may also allude, Ps. cxix. 62. In Jade her acknowledgments to the Lord, that is, to Jesus. Av66)- ſ:0X9yetro Fo Kopto.J. The late English version renders it, She er- pressed her thanks to the Lord, and spake of Jesus; and it must be ac- noºledged there are in this very section two instances, in which the relative pronoun refers to a remote, and not immediately preceding, Šub, stantive, ºr, º. and 37. But it is so evident that Christ is often called the Lord by Luke, as well as by the other sacred Writers, that I can see no necessity for giving this passage such a turn, contrary to all the ordi- mary rules &flanguage.—And if it be objected that the infant Jesus did not seem capablé at that time of resenting, her gratitude, as a rational a geiſt, fansºr, that Anna might properly be said to pºke lººr acº, lºdgements to the Lord, if she addressed herself to the child, as Simeon had done, confessing him to be the ºbſessiah. The original phrase may have a réfèrence to Simeon’s speech, and might be intended to intimºte; that this of Anna was a kind' of Žesponse, or counterpart tº his. But, it is also very probable that she, like Simeon, might also address some lofty jºin of praise to the God of Israel on this great occasion: ind if any one think the word Lord is here, put for Jehovgh, º the former interpretation seems to me more just and natural, I shall not oppose it as an error of any importance. - I n ſhe period of his coming now evidently approached.] The sceptre now a péºéâ to be departing from Judali, though it was nºt actually gºne."fjºs peaks were plainly near their period; and the revival of the spirit ºf prophecy, joined with the memorable occurrences relat- ing to §o birth of John the Baptist, and of Jesus, could not but encour- age and quicken the expectation of pious persons at this time. Ö ºfterwards returned to Galilee.] ... Luke has,ongitted the ºccºunt that \fººthº gives us of the visit of the disc men, and of the holy family’s retiring into Egypt; and so has taken no notice oftheir returning any more tº Bethlehem.” #ut there is no sufficient reason to conclude from hence, that these occurrences were antecedent to the plºrification 9/ glary, &nd fººt the hoi family immediately returned from Jerusalem to Nazareth. THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN FROM THE EAST. 35 returned into Galilee, to their city, Mazareth,” which was the place of their usual residence, and where (as will be seen SECT- own city Nazareth. hereafter) this Blessed Infant passed the days of his childhood and youth. 11. IMPROVEMENT. LUKE WHO can behold the pious Simeon thus welcoming death, whilst he embraced his Saviour, without wishing to reas pass over the intermediate moments of life to meet so peaceful a dissolution? May we, like him, approve our- selves the ºl servants of God; and then we may hope that, when our dismission comes, we shall share in his 29 serenity and joy. - We may comfortably expect it, if our eyes are now opened to behold with wonder and delight the great 30 salvation he has prepared for his people; and if our hearts, with our lips, are frequently praising him for this light 31 which he hath given to lighten the Gentiles, as well as to be the glory of his people Israel. 32 As such, may Christ be universally owned and adored, both by Jews and Gentiles. In the mean time, while 34 he is set up as a mark of contradiction and contempt, let us not §e ashamed of him or of his words; but rather let those indignities which are offered to him be as a sword to pierce through our own souls. Let us remember 35 that the gospel, with all the difficulties which attend it, is the great touchstone by which God will try the charac- ters of all to whom it comes. May our ready acceptance of it, and our zealous adherence to that sacred cause, approve the humble sincerity with which we inquire into its evidence; that Christ may not be to us a stone of ºf and a rock of offence, but rather the means of raising us to God and happiness, even to that redemption 38 for which they that wait shall never be ashamed ! Our circumstances in life are various. There are comparatively few who have such leisure for extraordinary devotion as was the privilege of pious Anna. Where it is found let it be valued and improved. But how great 36 and how many soever our engagements and entanglements in life may be, let the care of our souls be still our chief concern. Let us be serving God, in one sense or another, night and day; with prayers, pouring out our 37 souls before him morning and evening: and at proper seasons adding fasting to prayer, and public solemnities to private retirements' To conclude: let the example of these aged saints impress and animate those whose hoary heads, like theirs, 25 are a crown of glory, being found in the way of righteousness. (Prov. xvi. 31.) . Let those venerable lips, so soon 37 to be silent in the grave, be now employed in showing forth the praises of their Redeemer. Surely days should speak, and the multitude of years should teach such wisdom. (Job xxxii. 7.) Such fruit may they produce in old age : and may they have the pleasure to see all these pious attempts most thankfully received by the rising gene- ration, and most gratefully improved by them; that they may quit the world with the greater tranquillity, in the view of leaving those behind them, to whom Christ shall be as precious as he hath been to them, and who will be waiting for God's salvation, while they are gone to enjoy it! Amen. SECTION XII. The sages, or wise men, come from the east, under the guidance of a star, to inquire after Christ; and being directed unto Bethlehem, pay him their Omage, and offer him their presents there. Matt. ii. 1–12. MATT. ii. 1. NOW when Jesus was born MATT. ii. i. in B .N'OFW after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, even in the days of Herod the Great, SECT. in Bethlehem of Judea, in - --- - - * 3 3. the days of Herod the king, who, at the time of Christ's nativity, was king of that country, there happened a memo- 12. }.}}|...}}}..." rable occurrence, which gave a great alarm to the Jews, and made the era of Christ's birth - very remarkable among them. Tor, behold, there were [certain] sages,” that is, wise and MATT. learned men, (who, on account of their applying themselves to the study of natural phi- 1 * losophy, were called Magi,) that had observed a bright and unusual luminary in the heavens, which they were taught to understand as an intimation that a very illustrious person was then born in Judea, who was destined by God to that universal empire, the fame and expectation of which had spread so far in those parts: they therefore came from the east country,b where they dwelt, to Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish kingdom; and there they began the inquiry which had occasioned them to undertake so long a journey, 3 saying. Where is he that saying to those who, they thought, might be most likely to inform them, Where is he that 2 is born King of the Jews? for c !..º.º.º. º. is boſſ, king of the Jews? for we have seen a beautiful light, which we understand to be tº and recome toworship his star, in the east country, of which we are natives; and therefore we are cone, in hum- ble submission to the will of Providence, to prostrate ourselves before him,” and to pay our homage to him. For we have many other instances of a like kind, where events are con- nocted by fluke, and the other evangelists, which did not immediately follow each other; of which Luke XXiy, 50. is particularly memorable, as will be shown in its proper place, I have expressed it therefore with some latitude, as it seems to me probable, that upon leaving Jerusalem by the divine influence on their minds, had been led to innprove their knowledge of nature, as the means of ſeaſing them to that "of theº living and true God; and it is not at all unreasonable to suppose, that {l had fayoured them with sqme extraordinary, revelations of himself, they returned to Bethlehem, where they were visited by the ºcise men ; and which, as they had found it to be the place appointed for the birth of Citrist, they might suppose also to be the place designed for his education and abode, and might not ch9qse to remove from thence till God had oriered them to do it. (See Lightfoot's Harimony, Alatt. ii. init.) How- ever, if they now returned to Nazareth, it is more than possible that Providence might bring them afterwards to Bethlehem, upop some oc- casion or other, that, which the wisé pen came to inquire after Jesus, they mixht find him in the place to which they were directed. See Mr. \januc's first Dissertatiºn on the Birth qf Christ, p. 41, 42. and compare note in Um Niatt. ii. 11. in the next section: p To thcir orch city, JYazareth.j . It has been suggested to me by a very learned and ingenious writer, since the , publication of the preceding motº, that the parents of Christ carried him back from Jerusalem to Bethlehem after the purification, and lived there a year or more before the ºf:gi came; Joseph probably, thinking it his duty to settle there, from the persuasion he had that this wonderful child was the Messiah, and that the Messiah was to be cducated, as well as born, at Bethlehem, iyavid’s city. Froin hence he removed to Jºgypt; and when lie was di- rected to come back, Joseph appears to have designed to Teturn with Jesus to Bethlehem, had not God commanded him tº go to Nazareth, a place which he seems to have esteemed too contemptible to be the abode of so illustrious a person. And this gentleman thinks, that when Naza- reth is here called -my Toxty avrov, their own city, it intimates an at- tempt to settle elsewhere in a city that was not their own. a Certain sages.) It would be, quite foreign to my purpose to enume: rate the various conjectures of learned men, relating to these \iagi. find not annongst them all so wild an hypothesis as that of Vänder Hard, (JW evo ºf moirs of Liter. vol. ii. p. 62, et seq.) that they were learn- ed Jews who came from the colonies carried away by Shalmanezer and Nebuchadnezzar, and were ambassadors in the name of the whole body to pay their homāge to the Messiah, and to congratulate their brethren on his birth. It is most probable they were Gentile philosophers, who, O as he did Melchizedek, Abimelech. Job and his friends. and some others who did not belong to the Abrahamic family, to which he never intende absolutely to confine his favours.--As to the title that is here given them, it is certain that the word Mayot was not appropriated in ancient times to such as practised wicked arts, but frequently, was used to ex- press philosophers, or men of learning ; and those particularly that were curious in examining the works of nature, and in observing the motions of the heavenly bolies. (Compare Dan. ii. 2, 27. and Y. 11. Septuag.) And indeed. Magi is become a title so familiar to us, and is so far natural- ized among us, that I was almost ready to retain it in my version, had 1 not feared it might excite in coinmon readers something of the same idea. with magicians, which always suggests a bad sense. b Come from the east country.] do not venture to determine in the paraphrase, from what part of the east these philosophers game. Had they been (as Mr. Fleming supposes in his Christolºgy, vol. ii. p. 392.) a deputation from all the Mägi in Persia, Media, Arabia, and Chaldea, or had they been kings, as the papists fancy, so grand a circumstance as gither of these would in ail probability have been expressy recorded. I rather think, with Grotius, that they came from Arabia, which is often called the east, (see Gen. XXV. 6, 18. Job i. 3. Judg. vi. 3. Rings iv. 30. and Jer. xlix. 28.) . and was famous for gold, frankincense, and myrrh.. (Compare ver. 11.) And if so, their journey lay through a bar- ren and scorching country, and they were obliged to pass through deserts º for robbery and murder, which much illustrated their picty &l:TC! Z Cºll. c F3ſe have seen his star in the east country..] There is no neod of supposing, with some of the fathers; that they knew the signification of łł. star, by comparing it with alaam’s prophecy, Nurab. xxiv. 17. of Daniel’s, 1)an. ii. 44. and ix. 25. nor gan we §§ as Grotius seems to intimate, that they discovered it by the rules of their art. It is much II) Oro ºbie that they leaned it by a divine recetation, wiiich it is plain º they were guided by in their return, as we see afterwards at Ver. 1:2. d To prostrate ourselves before him.] This I take to be generally the 36 THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN FROM THE EAST. SECT. . .ind king Herod, who was a Prince of a very suspicious temper, and whose cruelties 3 when Herod the kia 12. had rendered him exceedingly obnoxious, to his subjects, when he heard [of this] inquiry ... º.º.º. i. : of theirs, was very much troubled; and all Jerusalem was also in perplexity with him ‘. lºandall Jerusa. MATT. ing he should make it an occasion of renewing-some of those tyrannical actions which iſ . had lately filled them with so much horror.” " 4 And therefore, to secure his crown, which Herod was afraid might be in danger from 4 And when he had gather; this new-born King, when he had called a council, and had assembled all the chief of the jº.º.d.; priests, and with them the scribes of the people, whose peculiar business it was to study ºff ...'.º.º.; and explain the Scriptures, he inquired of them, where it was, according to the jewish prº **** 5 phecies, that the long-expected #. was to be born 24 And they said unto him, with , 5.And they said unto him one consent, He is certainly to be born at Bethlehem in Judea; for so it is written by the ºf 6 prophet Micah, chap. v. 2. “..And thow Bethlehem Ephratah, in the land of Judah, incon- tºº is written by the pro- siderable as thou mayst now appear, yet art by no means the least among the cities be- tº jº. longing to the prin. heads ousands i tº ºf A^*.** he land ºf Juda; at not the ging to the princes or heads of thousands in Judah; for out of thee shall come forth a lºst among tº inces ºf great and illustrious Ruler, who shall feed and govern mi people Israel, most wisely and : "...."; }; tenderly performing the office of their Great Shepherd.” - ... ."ºº" " 7 . Then Herod, having secretly called the sages to an audience, º exact information from 7 Then Herod, when he had themi about what time the star, which they had seen, and which proved the occasion of ººººººº Yº their journey, first appeared to them; that he might thereby make some conjecture con- §.º. º cerning the age of the child to whose birth it referred. (Compare ver. 16. 8 . .And after they had satisfied his curiosity, and had informed him of * observations 8 And he sent them to they had made about this star, Herod communicated to them the answer he had received ...hº. hiº; i. from the priests and scribes; and, sending them to Bethlehem, as the place where they *śº might expect to see the new-born Prince, he said, Go and make a very eract inquiry con-ºil. cerning the child you are seeking; and when you have found him, return hither directly, and worship him º come and inform me of it, that I also, who would permit no interests of mine to interfere with the decrees of Heaven, may come with my family and court, to pay my homage to him, to which I look upon myself as peculiarly obliged. - *. 9 . .And, having heard this charge from the king, they departed from Jerusalem without the , 9 when they had heard the least suspicion of his treacherous and cruel design; and, behold, to confirm their faith hiº, in him to whom they were going, the very same star, or meteor, which they had seen in #; º; ;...; the east country, appeared to them again, and moved on before them in the air, fill it came ºf...;"...” down stilinearer is the earth, and at length stood directly ºver [the placej where the sacred "*" """ 10 infant was. ...And when they saw the star, thus pointing out their way, and at length by its station over it marking the very house in which they were to find him, they rejoiced with a transport of joy [which was] ecceeding great," to see themselves in so remarkable a manner under the divine direction, and with such certainty conducted to the glorious per- son whom they came to seek. - ...And when they were come into the house" where Mary was lodged, being now something better accommodated than at the time of her delivery, they found the young child with .Mary his mother; and how different soever this appearance might be from what they had expected,” they were not at all offended at its meanness; but, falling down on their faces before him, they paid him their homage: and, as it was customary in those countries to offer some present to any illustrious personage they came to visit,P they opened their trea- 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great Joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, t **i. the young child with Mary his inother, and ſell down and worshipped him : an when they had opened their 11 amazing thing that so suspicious and so artful a prince as Herod should 5ut this important affair on so precarious a foot, when it would have. Scen so easy, if he had not gone himself, under pretence of doing an honour to these learned strangers, to have sent a guard ºf soldiers with of his cruelty which he had formerly given in the slaughter of their * who might, humanly speaking, without any, difficulty; have Sanhedrim, (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiv. cap. 9. [al., 17.] § 4. and lib. XY. slaughtered the child and his parents on the spot. Perhaps he might be cap. i. 32.) his barbarous inhumanity was such, that he had, put to unwilling to commit such an act of cruelty in the presence of these sages, ºth hiſ ºdººijºuš jºi. (...ini. Hºi, iest their report of it might have renºred him iºnºſº.º. cap. 7. [al. 11.] § 5.) and after this tº: caused Alexander and Āristo- rather we must refer it tº a sacred infatuation, with which, God can, bulus, the two sons he had by her, to be strangled, in prison, on what whenever he pleases, confound the most sagacious of mankind. . irº º be no other than groundless suspicions. (Antiſt: lib. xvi. cap. 1 The star, Ór meteor.] I say, meteor, because no Star. could point out ... [al. 15. signification of Epºckvyetv. It is a ceremony still used tº eastern princºs, and hath' been of great antiquity. Compare Gen. xlii. 6, and | xliii. 26, 23. - - - - e Filled them with so much horror.] Besides that shocking instance - 6.) These and many other instances of his cruelty are ºf only a town, but a particular house. It is not at all strange. Justin jaj ºſa... by joju and it was probably about this verytime Martººnd other fathºliº.º.º. W. ...” considering that he executed many of the Pharisees, ofi occasion of some predictions how little astronomy was known in their days; but one, would not have they had given out, that God was about to take away, the kingdom from imagined Grotius should have gone so far as in the least to intimate such him : and likewise slew every one in his own family who adhered to those things that were said by the Pharisees. (Antiq. lib. xvii., cap. 2. tiº.] § 4.5 from whence it might be segn there was not any thing sº #ſous and horrid which such a cruel tyrant was not capable of Olng. fºil the chief of the priests.] All the citieſ, priests must comprehend hore, not only the high priest for the time being, and his deputy, with those who formerly had borne that office, but also the heads of the tizenty-four courses, as well as any other persons, of peculiar eminence in the priesthood. In this sense Josephus uses the word, Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 8. § 8. p. 973. Edit. Havercanº. t; PWhere the JMessiah was to be born;] Ilow, strongly, all this story implies a general expectation of the Messiah, I need not say. I would only observe, that Hérod seems to haye believed that such a person was foretold ; and, on the credit of the chief priests and scribes, that he was to be born in Bethlehem; and yet was, at the same time, contriving to º him; which was the height of impious madness as well as cruelty. h Art by no means the least.J. When this, and several other quotations from the Öld Testament which we find in the New, corne to, be com- pared with the original, and even with the Septuagint, it will plainly appear that the apostles, did not always think it necessary exactly to transcribe the passages they cited, but sometimes contented themselves with giving the general sense in some little diversity of language, as rasmus has well observed in his memorable note on this text. If the clause in Micah, which we render, though thou be little; be translated, Žºhol, small among the thousands of Judah 3, &c. it will solve the great difference which there seems to be between, the prophet and th; gººge- list; and I think it is the easiest solution of it: for the mark, of interra- gation is not alway º where the sense shows it must be implied: Šee the #ebrew of job xii. 1, 2, iſ Kings Xxi. 7. and Zech. viii.6.-I do not urge the learned Dr. Pocock’s solution, that the word Ty3 sig- nifies both little and great; which seems, by no means so natural and # an account of the matter, though Veil on this place prefers it to all otherS. * * * * º i Got exact information from them.] That, this is the signification of the word axoiáoo, the learned Dr. Scott’s note on this place hath abundantly convinced me; and to that I refer for the reason of giving this version of it here, and in ver. 16. e - § iñº you haze found him, return—and inform me..] It is really an 3. SUIS]) l C Oſl. m’ī’ācy rejoiced with a joy which was exceeding gregt.] , The original phrase, exaffna av Xaoay ugya)\nu gºodpa, is emphatical beyond any thing which I can think of in our language. They § a great joy very jmº, though very bad English, comes nearest to a literal yersion. in jºign they cºre come into the house.] Mr. Bedford observes, in his Chronology, p. 740, 741. that it is not expressly said, that the sages came to fººthlchén; buf, from the series of the account that Matthew giyes us, it sº so very plain, that few have questioned it: and it is the less to be doubted, because if Christ (as the author supposes) had been now at Kazăroth, he could hardly have been carried into lºgypt, without pass- ing through Herod’s dominions But, it is, more, difficult to determine whether, if the sages found him at Bethlehem, (as, we, have reason to conclude they diſ) it was within a few weeks of his birth, or (as Mr. Miannº supposes, p. 41.) about a year after, when they had spent some considerabſ's time' at Názareth, and afterwards, on some unknown oc: casion, made a visit to Bethlehem, where. they must have, contracted some acquaintance. The latter supposition is undoubtedly favoured by iuke'ii.33. and Matt. ii. 16. unless we say, that the star, appºared about the time of Christ’s conception. It also suits best with all the arguments brought to prove that Christ was born A.J. C.747, 9,749, and jºt Hºroi died A. Ú.C. 750, or 751, compared with the tradition of the holy färjjy’s spending two years in Egypt. (Se: Munster on \iatt. ii. 3.) These reasons have a face of strong, probability, but I cannot say they entirely convince me ; and, therefore in the Pºtaphrase I have determined nothing either-way. Compare note o and p, in the last section, on Luke ii. 39. p. 34, 35. . o From what they had expected.] Perhaps, they expected this great Prince ºoji have been born in the family of Herod; at least, we may be sure it was some surprise to them to find him accommodated 9nly like a carpenter’s child : Bºy wisely considered, that such miraculous honours as the star gave him, were far beyond any.external circum; stance, and therefore paid him their *...; as readily as if they had found him in the richest palace. An amia le example of that humble iºnºštěmper, which fits a man for the reception of the gospel. p Customary in those countries, tº offer.some Present to any illustri- ous personage they came to visit..]. That this, Was tºoſhaº. appears from many passages of the Qld Testaments (Gén; xliii. 11; 25, 1 Sam; ix. 7, 8. x. 27. 1 #ing: x. 3. Psal. lxxii. 10. and Prov., xyiii. 16.) And Şiaúndréſ, Chardin, and many other modern writers of the best credit, THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 37 treasures, they presented un-sures, which they had brought along with them for this very purpose, and presented him SECT. #..;; ** with the choicest produce of their country, fine gold, andſº myrrh.' . 12. i."º"; "Warned of And, after this, they were preparing to go back to Jerusalem, as Herod had desired — God in a dream that the MATT. should Hº, them; but God, who knew the barbarous intent of the king, interposed for the preserva- §º, º: tion of his son, and for their security and comfort. So, being divinely admonished in a 12 country another way. 'ream, that they should not go back to Herod, they returned into their own country, another and more direét way, not at all solicitous as to the consequence of Herod's resentment. IMPROVEMENT. LET us observe, with pleasure, this further honour which God did to his only-begotten Son, in ordering a new star to appear, as the signal of his birth, and in calling these illustrious persons from afar, to pay their early ado- rations to him. No doubt they thought such a discovery as brought them to the feet of their infant Saviour, an ample recompence for all the fatigué and expense of such a journey. They were exceedingly transported when they saw the star. So let us rejoice in every thing which may be a means of leading our souls to Christ, and of diº us to cast ourselves down before him with humility and resignation. etus look upon this circumstance of the sacred story as a beautiful emblem of that more glorious state of the christian church, when the Gentiles shall come to its light, and sages and kings to the brightness of its rising: when the abundance of the sea shall be converted to it, and the wealth of the Gentiles shall be consecrated to its honour. The multitude of camels shall cover it, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah ; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord. Isa. K. 3, 5, 6. How wonderful was the honour conferred upon so obscure a town as Bethlehem, when it was made thus illus- trious among the thousands of Judah (, Happy they who consecrate not only their gold and their other posses: sions, but also their souls and their bodies to that Great Ruler, whose office it is to feed and govern the Israel of God; under whose conduct and care they shall receive blessings infinitely more valuable than all the treasures of the east or the west But oh! the fatal power of carnal influence on the heart! This engaged Herod to receive the news of a Re- 3 deemer's birth with horror; and, with execrable cruelty and vile hypocrisy, to contrive his murder, under the specious form of doing him homage. Vain and self-confounding artifice | Let us rejoice in the thought, that ere is no understanding, or wisdom, or counsel against the Lordſ; no scheme so artfully disguised that he cannot penetrate it, or so politic { formed that he cannot with infinite ease confound it. - --- To what perplexity and grief might these sages have been brought, had they been made even the innocent 12 instruments of an assault on this Holy Child ! Put God delivered them from such an alarm, and º guided their return; so that, through his caré and favour, they carried home, in the tidings of the new-born Messiah, far richer treasures than they had left behind. Thus shall they, who in all their ways acknowledge God, by one method or another, find that he will graciously direct their paths. H. Ver. 2 I 0 f - SECTION XIII. The flight into Egypt; the siaughter of the infants; and the settlement of the holy family at Nazareth afler Herod’s death. Matt. ii. 3—33. MATT. ii. 13. MATT. ii. 13. AND, when, they were, de A.VD after the return of the wise men, when they had paid their homage unto Christ, and SECT. #. #; tj #. were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, with a message 13. i.º.º.º. ºil from heaven, saying, Rise up, without any delay, and take with thee the ift' and his sº mother, and flee directly into the land of Egypt,” and continue there till I shall give thee MATT. Ou there un- jº, ... }, notice to return; for Herod, alarmed by the extraordinary circumstances which have lately is " Herºd will seek the young happened,b is about to make a strict search for the young child to destroy him, lest he in 3 child to destroy him. time should prove a formidable rival of his family. - ...And Joseph, rising from his bed, immediately obeyed the heavenly vision : for he took the infant and his mother by night, and withdrew, with as hasty a flight as their circum- stances would allow, into the land of Egypt, near the borders of which Bethlehem lay. death of Herod, that it might .And they continued there till after the death of Herod, which happened not till several §§§. months after “ that what was spoken of the Lord by the prophet Hosea, on another occasion, gº might thus, as it were, be fulfilled anew ; and that in this appointment of the place where jº'... * * * Christ should take up his abode, there might appear to be a manifest allusion to that say- ing, (Hos. xi. 1.) “Out of Egypt have I called my Son "d Christ being in a much higher and nobler sense the Son of Gód than Israel, of whom the words were originally spoken. assure is, ſhe gustom is yet retained. See also Æliam. War. Hist. lib. ; in Egypt would make their abode there so much the more cont- l. º§ii, and frankincense, and myrrh..] This was a most seasonable opa €. I & 14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and depart- ed into Egypt : 14 providential assistance, to furnish Joseph and Mary for so long and ex- pensive a journey as that into Egy t; a country where they were en- 15 And was there until the A y “Jºey - - - Alarmed by the extraordinary circumstances which have lately happened.] When the wise men had come so far to |''. their homage to a new-born Prince, the Seyeral reports of what had lately happened tirely strangers, and yet were to abide there for some considerable time. r Another and more direct way.] This seems to be intimated in the word avakapapal, which might perhaps more literally have been ren- dered, bend back their course. Herod in the mean while waiting for their return, they had time to get out of his reach before his passion rose, which might have been fatal to them. . * s Such a discovery—of their infant Saviour.] I take it for granted here, that they had some divine intimation or human instruction, (which Joseph and Mary might indeed have given them,) that Christ was to sare his people from their sins, and was Emanuel, God with us. Surely God would not have guided them in this extraordinary manner, merely to pay a transient compliment to Jesus. . Their prostrations probably expressed religious adoration as well as civil respect ; and it is not un-. likely, that their report might in due time make way for the reception of the gospel in the country from whence they came.—And if, as early an- tiquity reports,(Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib,i. Cap., 13.) and, both Dr. Cave (Lit. Hist, vol. i. p. 2.) and the learned Dr. Grabe (Spicileg. Patr. vol. i. p., 1–6.) seem to think, some messages of extraordinary respect yerg afterwards sent from Abgarus, king of Edessa in, Arabia, to our Lord Jesus Christ, (which might be fact, though the letters now remaining should be supposed spurious,) it is very possible, the report, 9t these sages, preserved by tradition, (if they were then dead,) might, add weight to that of Christ’s miracles about thirty years after, and dispose that prince to take the greater notice of him. . a Flce into the land of Egypt.] This circumstance. doth not at all agree with the conjecture of Grotius, that this vision might appear after their return to Nazareth ; for then (as Le Clerc justly observes) it is much more probable that they would have been ordered to flee into Syria, which was much nearer to Nazareth than Egypt; to which they could not have passed from thence, without going through the very heart of Herod’s dominions, unless they had taken a very large circuit, with great expense and danger.—Thé great number of Jews which would, upon this occasion, be revived, and the behaviour of two such celebrated persons as Simeon and Anna, on the presentation of Christ in the temple, which might at first be only taken notice of by a few pi- ous persons; would probably be now reported to Herod, and must add to the alarm which the inquiry of the sages gave him. c Which happened not till several months after.] I pretend not to say exactly how many, but must content myself with referring the reader for the proof of this to AIſ. Manne’s most elaborate and elegant Disser- tºtion on the Birth of Christ, p. 35–39, which advances very consider- able }; pºli, to prove that Christ. was born in the spring, A. U. C. 747, Jul: Per. 4707, and that Herod died, about the Passover, A. U. C. I50. Jul. Per, 47 10. º towards the end of March ; though, on further examination, I rather incline to place the birth of Christ in Šej. tember or October, A. U. C. 749 March, A. U. C. 75 80-1. 963, ad fin. d Qut of Egypt have I called my Son.] It is well known that, from the time of Julian at least, the enemies of christianity have been cavji. ling at the application here made of a prophecy to Christ, which, in its original sense, seems to belong to the people of Israel. I.earned men have laboured with great solicitude to prove it literally applicable to Christ. Mr. Pierce’s hypothesis, (in his Dissertation on this text, added to his paraphrase on Philippians, p. 103, 108.) that the prophet is pur- suing two subjects together, and alternately treating of each, §§ must therefore be read interchangeably, one part referring to the people of Israel, and, the other, to Christ, (as if it were designed by God, that the prophecy of Christ’s being called out of Egypt should be obscured by such a method,) º indeed to be very ingenious : but I fear, if such liberties were to be allowed; it would render the Scrip- ture the most uncertain book, in the world. Bishop Chandler (in his Defence ºf Christianity, p. 294.) Supposes that calling out of Egypt is a proverbial expression for being delivered from imminent danger; which . and to conclude that Herod diod in . 751. See Dr. Lardner’s Credib. part i. vol. ii. p. 796– 38 SECT. 13. 18 intended to describe, when they were first delivered by the prophet, saying, “ In Ramah there was a most doleful voice heard, lamentation, and we *. as if Rachel, that tender mother, who was buried near grave, and was bewailing her lost children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are 19 But after this, when Herod was dead,k and an end put to all his cruelties, behold, qn angel of the Lord, again appeareth in a dream to Joseph, while he continued to sojourn he way is now prepared for thy return from hence, and I am sent ac- cording to the intimation that was given thee before, to bring thee notice of it; and there- fore now arise, and take the infant and his mother, and go back to thine own abode in the ºn land of Israel iſºr thou mayst safely do it, since they are dead who sought to destroy the 20 in Egypt, Saying, 21 2 2 23 And then, as plainly an event, to which those words might be a dren'ſ that were in Bethlehem, and in all the confines of it, from their entrance wpon the second year,” and wnder; as that, according to the time of which he had got eract informa- tion from the sages, must include all that were born there since the appearance of the star. is cruel execution extended itself to the neighbouring places, and in par. ticular tº Ramah, a town of Benjamin, which lay near Bethlehem, that remarkable saying tgas further fulfilled, which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, (Jér. xxxi. 15.) for this was plied with more literal propriety than THE MASSACRE OF THE INFANTS IN BETHLEHEM. Then Herod, seeing that he was deluded,” and that a great affront (as he imagined) designed him by the sages, as there was now no further prospect of their returning to him, was exceedingly enraged; and, in order to make the destruction of this unknown infant as sure as possible, he sentforth a band of murderers, and inhumanly slew all the male chil- WaS 16 Then Herod, when ho irr, saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceedin Wroth, , and sent forth, an slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in aii. the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, agcording to the time which he had dilſ. gently inquired of the wise IRºe II. …” l? Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, - . to the captivity of the Jews in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, which they were originally quot.” 3joung child’s life. .And Joseph had no sooner heard the message that was brought him by the angel, but he immediately arose, and cheerfully confiding in the divine protection, took the young child and his mother, according to the command he had received, and came into the land of Israel. But when, upon his coming to the borders of it, he heard that Archelaus reigned .22 But when he heard that 18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and }. and great mourn– ing Šhei Weeping for her ºiáře. and would not be ºforted, because they are In Oğ, - ing, and abundant mourning, is place,i had risen out of her 19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in jºi - 0 Saying, Arise, and take the . child and , his go inio the land of Israel : for they are dead which , sought the young child’s life. - 21 And he arose, and took #. §"...a child *. #. IHIQUllelſ, 3.Ind Canae t land of'Israel. IſliO the over Judea, in the room of his father Herod, knowing him to be the heir of his cruelty,” flºº... jºin ºf the room of his father as well as of his kingdom, he was qfraid to go thither to settle, or so much as to take it in Heroā, he was afºid tº his way; but, being again divinely admonished in a dream, he withdrew into the region of #jºğ Galilee, which was under the government of Herod Antipas,” a prince of .# racter, and who was then on such hostile terms with Archelaus, that there was no dan- - ger of his giving them up to him. And he went and dwelt in a little city, on the confines. 23 And he came and dwelt of Zabulon and Issachar, which was called.Wazareth, where he had formerly resided before in a city called Nazareth : he went to Bethlehem; and being thus returned to his own city, Jesus was there brought up and educated in a place so very contemptible among the Jews, that it was grown into * ither: notwithstanding, be- Qd in a dream, er cha- o, Galilee: might, have been said to have its agcomplishment in Christ’s escape, though he had fled into Syria, Arabia, or any other country : but, with all due reſerence to so great a name, I must observe, that neither Isa. x.23. Deut. xxviii. 68. of Zech. x. 11...seem sufficient to prove the use of such a phrase ; and I apprehend that if the use of such a proverb were proved, the passage before us would still seem a plainer reference to Hos. xi. J. than to such a general form of speech; so that the diffi- culty would still remain.—I once thought the words Snans" 9Nºn Ty: "P might be rendered and paraphrased after this manner: “ Though Israel be a child, that is, wayward an:! troublesome like a little infant; gºt I hare lºcal him, and, in token of my tenderness, to ilim, will ca: Jesus] ºnly Son out of £3.jpt ; having there preserved him from the dan- sers which threatened his infancy, that he may at length accomplish my great intended salvation.” . I § think that this conjecture deserves sping consideration, as much more probable than any other solution of this kind I have ever met ºff. on the whole, especially con- sidering the context, I chogse to take them, as Grotius, Heinsius, and tnºmy of the best critigs do, for a mere allusion; and the rather, as I am firly convinced that the next quotation, in ver. I7. must necessarily be taken in this sense. e Seeing that he was deluded.] The word everatzón, which properly signifies to be played with, well expresses the view in which the pride of Herod taught him to regard this action, as if it were intended to expose him to the derision of his subjects, and to treat him as a child, rather tiºn a prince of so great experience and renown, . - f Semi forth a band of murderers, and slew all the reqle children.]. A yery ingenio;is and learned friend of mine has attempted to account for Josephus’s silence as to this remarkable fact, by a conjecture, that instead of sending forth (as it was in the first edition) a detachinent of soldiers, (of which, ha justly urges, nothing is expressly said in the text,) jº might only sºil ºriggie orders"io have the children taken off, as secretiy as possible; so that it might not make any public noise, and come to the notice of the Jewish historian. But, in answer to this, (act to insist upon the argument from Macrobius, Sætitrngſ. Iib., ii. cºp. 4. that the emperor Augustus, had heard of it at Rome,) I would observe, that it is certain nothing of such privacy in the despatch of these chil- dren can be inferred from the word avg) giv, since it is also used to ex- press the crucifixion of our Lord, (Act; ii. 23, X. 39.) the stoning of Ste- phen, (Acts xxii. 20.) and the beheading of James the anostlé, , (Acts xii. 2.) all which were public czecutions; as well as the intended as- sassination of Paul by a band of armed thens Acts xxiii. 15. And if it be considered, on the one hand, how difficult it is privately to murder cliii.fren uti:ler two years old, as they are hardly ever icft alone: gnd on the other, Hoy ill such a gautious and uncertain procedure would have agreed with the ſurious disposition of Herod, and the º rage in which these orders were given, I beligve few will incline to this º: thesis.-As for the silence of Josephus, it is to be considered, that Bethlehem was but a small place; and therefore, in a reign of so much cruelty, the slaughter of its infants might not be taken very much notice of. Josephus was not pla enggh to remember it himself: and iſ he did not find it in the memoirs of Nicholas of Damascus, (that ſatlér- ing historian, of whom we know he made great use in compiling the life of Herod,) he might be unwilling to introduce it, even if he were particu- järly ..ºf with it; lest the occasion might have led him to mgn- tion what, gencrally at least, he is solicitous to decline, Imgan claristian affairs. Ö; the whole, if wé conſpare contemporary historians of every age, we shall find some material fäctor another omitted by each of thern ; yet that silence of one is peyer urgedgs aq, argumºntºins admitting ihe express testimony of the rest...See Dr. Lardner’s Credib. part. i. vº. ii. book ii. chap. ii. sect. i. p. 746, et seq., a . . . . . gîron, their entrance upon the second year.] The reasons which de- termined me to render airo 31&rovs, thus, may be seen in Sir Norton Hmatchbull’s excellent note on thisFº It is probable that Herod, in his passion, ordered the slaughter of the infants às soon as he perceived that he was disappointed, in his expectation of the return of the wiše man, lest otherwise the child he was so jealous of might be removed ; § - aggin to their ongn and as his gruelty extended even to those who had entered on the second }. which is expressly said to be according to the time of which he had got exact information from the sages, it must be matural to conclude from, hence, that it was not till some considerable time after the birtà of Christ that he was visited by the wise men, even though we should allow the first appearance of the star to have been (as some suppose) about the time of Christ’s conception. Compare note n, on Maft. ii. ii. .36–For the version of grgißoo, see note i, on ver, 7 p. 3 h Which they were originally intended to describe.] It is ve from the following clause, (Jer. xxxi. 17.) Thy children shall comé * * * jorrier, that, these lamentsd persons were not slain, but carried into captivity; and it is well known, that Ramah was the º where they were assembled to be led away to Babylon. . (Jer. xi. 1.) ...So that it is certain, this can only be an allusion, as it is intimated in the Pºpºº, And I look upon this as a sure argument, that a passagg in Scripture, whether, prophetical, historical, or poetical, may, in the language of the New Testament, be said to be fulfilled, when an event happeus fo, which it ºly with great propriety be accom- ºted. See Dr. Sykes on the Truth of Citristianiity, chap. xiii. p. 217, 6L Séº. - - - i Rachcl. who was buried near this piace.] See Gen. xxxv. 19. and I Sann. x. 2. - * _ _ --~ * - - k. Wheſ. Herod was dead.]...It is well worth while to read the particu- lar and affecting account which Josephus has given of the terrible death of this inhuman tyrant, whom God so remarkably made a terror to jºin- self, as well as, to all about...]im. (See Joseph. Antiq., lib. xvii. cap. 6. [a]. 8.] § 5. and Bell. Jud, lib. 1. cºp. 33. [al:31.7% 5, 6, 7) fusébius thought itsg great an iliustration of the gospel-history, that he has in- 'serted it at large, (Eccl. Hist, lib, I. rap. 8.) ºf exactncss, which joirs with Ioany other instances of the like, nature, to show us how ghºeſſfully we may, depend upºn the many invaluable extracts from a multitude of ancient boºks now, lost, which he has given us both in his Ecclesiastical. History and in his other writings, especially in hi razio. Evangclica. - . 1 They are dead who sought to destroy the young child’s life.] It is a very ingenious conjecture of AJr. Áſanne, that Antipater, the son of Herod, who at the time when Christ was born was beir apparent to his crown, and was a prince so cruel and ambitious, that be }. procured the death of His tyºo ºlder brothers, to clear his way to the succession, would very probably be an activg counsclor and instrument in secking * *s evident the destruction of the new-born Jesus, and in advising to the slaughter- of the inſaiſts. An:l, as this Antipáter ſijed but five days before Herod, both might be referréd to in these words of the angel, Phey are dead, &c. See Manne’s Disscat, p. 74, 75. and compare Josºph, ºffiltiº. Jud §. xvi. Cº. $. iai. iijº 4. ii. xvii. Cap. 1, & 8, ſai. i0.] § 1. Edit. Havºr. Cazirp _- ph The heir of his crucity..] Arghelaus, in the very beginning of his reign, massacred three thousand Jews-at once in the templga and was afterwards banished, in the tenth year of his government, to Vienna in §aul, by Augustus, 6:1 a complaint brought against him by the chicſ of the ſeves fºr his various crueltics., $ge Jºseph:4ntiq. lib. xvii. cap. 9. [a]. II.] § 3. p. 85i, and cap. 13. [a]. 15.1% 2. p. 866. . n &alilee, -under the government, of Herod Antipas.] . Herod the Creš divided his dominions by his last will, º: Archelaus to succeed him as King of Judea, Herod Antipes to be tetrarch of Gºñice and Peraa, and Philip to be tetrarch, of Trachomitis and the neighbour- ing countries (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvii.; ca. 8. [al., 11..] § 1.). But Hgrod Antipas ondeavoured to supplant his brother Archelaus, when applica- tion was made to the Romans to confirm the will, and went to Rome with a viéry of obtaining the kingdom, (which was left, to him in q. for- mer will,) in which he was supported by the interest of the whole fami- ly, who lººted Archelaus, and * his brother to be far more wortly 3f the kingdom; and, though he did not carry his point, the attempt was such as could mót but widen the breach the "3 was before between them, and left no room for º future correspon” ince. See Joseph. Antiq: lib xvii, crip. 9, [æ], Il.] § 4. and cap. 11. [al. .3.1 $4. * he ; aside into the parts. is . Praya- ~ JESUS GOES UP TO THE PASSOVER AT JERUSALEM. 39 that, it might be ſulfilled a proverb with them, That no good thing could be expected from thence; (John i.45; secT. ...tº; vii. 52.) so that by this a way was further opened by the providence of God, thqt it might 13. p ts, He shall be called y * } - a TNazarene. - - % fled, what had been spoken in effect by many of the prophets, “He shall, he called g – - - ºzaraean,” that is, he shall appearin mean and despicable circumstances, and be treated Mart. as the mark of public contempt and reproach. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT is our fallen nature, that it can be capable of such enormities as we have now been surveying? or what Ver. 16 imaginable circumstances of grandeur and power can free the mind of an ambitious creature from servitude and misery 2 Who can behold #. under the agitation of such a barbarous rage, and not see the vanity even of royal dignity, when the man that sways the sceptre over others, hath no rule over his own spirit? Surely none of the innocent victims of Herod's wrath felt so much from the sword of their barbarous murderers, as the guilty mind of the tyrant from its own unnatural transports. - - - The indignation which arises in our minds on the view of so much wickedness, finds a secret satisfaction in this thought. But how grievous is it to reflect on what the parents of these poor babes felt, while the Sword that 18 murdered their children in their very sight, pierced º their own bowels! Happy, in comparison with these, were the wombs that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck! Let parents remember, how soon their dearest hopes may be turned into laméntation, and learn to moderate their expectation from their infant offspring, and check too fond a delight in them. - - - Let us all learn to be very thankful, that we are not under the arbitrary power of a tyrant, whose sallies of distracted fury might spread desolation through houses and provinces. Let us not say, Where was the great Regent of the universe, when such a horrible butchery was transacted? His all-wise counsels knew how to bring good out of all the evil of it. The agony of a few moments transmitted these oppressed innocents to peace and joy; while the impotent rage of Herod only heaped on his own head guilt, infamy, and horror. He conceived mischief, and he brought forth vanity, (Job xv. 35.) and while he j to prevent the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom, and set º with impious rage against the Lord, and against his Anointed, He that sitteth in the heavens did laugh, yea, the Lord had him in derision. (Psal. ii. 2, 4.) at God, who discerns every secret purpose of his enemiès, and foresees every intended assault, knows how, whenever he pleases, by a thought, by a dream, to baffle it. - ~ ---. - ... The preservation of the holy child Jesus in Egypt may be considered as a figure of God's care over his church 13 in its greatest danger. God doth not often, as he easily could, strike their persecutors with immediate destruction; but he provides a hiding-place for his people, and, by methods not less effectual though less pompous, preserves his chosen seed from being swept away, even when the enemy comes in like a flood. - . Egypt, that was once the seat of persecution and oppression to the Israel of God, is now a refuge to his Son: 14, 15 and thus all places will be to us what divine Providence will be pleased to make them. When, like joseph and Mary, we are cut off from the worship gf his temple, and perhaps removed into a strange land, he can be a little sanctuary to us, and give us, in his gracious presence, a rich equivalent for all that we have lost. - - They continued here, till he gave the signal for their departure. Let us, in like manner, remember that it is 19 God’s part to direct, and ours to obey; nor can we be out of the way of safety and of comfort, while we are following his directions, and steering our course by the intimations of his pleasure! - Jesus survived his persecutors, and returned into the land of Israel again; but such was his condescension, 20 that he abode at Nazareth, which seems to have been allotted him as the most humble station. Let us never be 23 unwilling to bear reproach for him, who from his infancy endured it for us; nor take offence at the meanness of his condition, whose removes were directed by angelic messengers, as immediate envoys from the God of heaven! SECTION XIV. Jesus, at the age of twelve years, comes up to the passover at Jerusalem, and there discourses with the doctors in the temple. Luke ii. 40, to the end" LUKE ii. 40. º - - LUKE ii. 40. tº A.N.D the child Jesus, being returned to Nazareth, was educated in that city, under the SECT. wiſh wisdom; and the grace care of Joseph and his mother, and there grew up and became strong in spirit, discovering 14. of God was upon him. early marks of a sublime and heavenly genius, and visibly appearing to be filled with an uncommon portion and degree of wisdom; and it was plainly to be seen, that the grace of Lºs God was eminently upon him ; so that he made an extraordinary progress in knowledge ao" and piety betimes, and was this looked upon as a distinguished favourite of Heaven. (Compare Judg. xiii. 24, 25.) 41. Now his parents went to Now his pious parents went yearly to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover; as it was 41 Jerusal eve ear at the * ~~ +,-, +}sº ** * : * gº º - #.º.º.º.º. usual for those families to do that were remarkably º though only the adult males were by the law obliged to appear before the Lord on this occasion. (Compare I Sam. i. 42 And when he was twelve 3, 7, 21. 4. her he was twelve alear 3. * ri -; tº eºid, ‘iºtº'º jº...? 2. h .. : when he was tº: i.e. years old, and so, according to the Jewish maxims, 42 §ai. º. º'clºto; came under the yoke of the law,” his parents, when they went up to Jerusalem, according. of the-feast. to the usual custom of the feast, thought it proper to take him with them, to celebrate that lorious deliverance, which God had so many ages ago wrought for his people when he rought them out of Egypt, the memory of which was ārºfit; to be transmitted to every succeeding generation. (Compare Exod. xii, 26, 27.) #,And when tº find when they had finished all the religious solemnities to be observed in the days of 43. filled the days, as they re- + ~ * *g. & turned, the jäjºri unleavened bread, and were returning home, the child Jesus, charmed with the sacred eater- elhind in Jerusalem; and fai s snors-->++, ºr tº ºr § ºd śºkº ºnments of the temple, and º desirous of improving in the knowledge of his not of it. Father's law, staid behind them in Jerusalem; and neither Joseph nor his mother were Hººpº, aware [of it..] But thºugh they saw, he was not with them, yet, knowing his sociable 4t to have been in the company * - & Wººd temper, they supposed he was somewhere in the company (as several families travelled § lººr together on such occasions): And they went a whole day's journey before they missed him; i and then, in the evening, they sought for him º: their kindred and acquaintance, who were their companions in the journey, and with whom they had concludéd he had been. o He shall be called a JVazaraean.] If the solution given in the para- was foretoll by David ... xxii. lxix º * * #".º: º I. *. *ś in ...; tº: and {; and by %;lºš jº, • 9, by Isaiah, chap, lii. o is lost; for it is very unnatural to explain this a Came under the yoke of the law. tº: * * text by j being appointed a Nazarite, Judg. xiii. 5, or the truth of Grotius’s *:::ii. tº de º à: º Messiah’s being spoken of as Wetzer, the branch, Isa. xi. 1. or to were called bºp, or little ones, and afterwards bºnyx, or children account for it with Witsius, by God’s being called JVotzer, the preserver (since it is certain that the word iyx is often used for those under that 9. Tº Jºb vii.20. (See Wits. JHéletem; Piss...} 16.) The joint sense are: see 1 Sam, i. 24, judg. xiii. 24. and Hos. i. i. 3.) yet I think ºf many jº. is thus, ſºferred.to; John vii. 38, and James iv. 5. tº ta. asserted in the paraphrase is generaji, iioºed learned *And that the Messiah should be treated in a very contemptuous manner, men. See Wotton’s JMiscel, vol. i. p. 320, and Lightf Hor. Hº. in * 40 JESUS REMAINS AFTER HIS PARENTs AT JERUSALEM. SECT. ..?nd, not finding him with them, they returned immediately, and came back to Jerusalem, hiº And when they ſº l 14. LUKE 47 48 49 50 service as to be sécure of his protection ? And they did not perfectly understa vehich he spake unto them upon this occasion,é as being expressed in something of a con- 5I 52 Ver. 41 43 51 49 ever intent on learning seeki, might have been made upon him. .And, three days after their setting out,b t ownd him in an apartment of the t II. where the teachers of the law used to i. on it to the p emple, persons in particular were examined, and had a liberty to ask him every where with great concern, and ready to suspect that some hostile ass bac ault again"to Jerusai.m. seeking him. m not, they turned º #. iñº to Riº - * 18. Eliter ree 8-Y 8 tile Y º: and where young jid”. “th.”.nj. what questio sitting in the midst of the IlS they thought doctors, both hearing them, proper, for their further information.é Here was Jesus sitting in the midst of the doctors, jºi...” whose profession it was to teach on these occasions; for #h. placed # among and asking thern questions. others at their feet,” and was, with all possible diligence, both attending to them, and asking them such questions as he judged proper, for the further illustration of what they said. .And all who heard him, considering the tenderness of his age, were in a perfect transport of admiration” at his understanding, and at the penetration which he showed, both in the 47 And all that heard him were astonished at his under- Standing and answers. questions he put to them, and also in the answers he returned to what they asked him. ...ind when he was discovered by his parents, and they saw him thus employed, they likewise were struck with wonder; and his mother said unto him, Oh my son, ; dealt thus with us? behold 48 And when they saw him, they were amazed : and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou - hold, this is now the third day that thy father and I have sought thee, Why hiº from place to place, with inexpressible anxiety and distress. UlS : “ind he said unto them, What is the cause that you have sought me with so much concern? and why is it you were at such a loss where you should find me? Did ye not know that behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 49 And he said unto them; How is it that ye sought me 3 wist ye not that I must be I ought to be at my Father's 2ſ and that wherever I was, I should be so êmployed in his about my father’s business? cise and ambiguous manner. ...And he went down into the country with them, and came to Mazareth; and there he did not assume any air of superiority on account of the extraordinary applause he had met the words 50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. 51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them : with from the people who had heard him in the temple, but still continued subject to his bºº; all these parents, and respectful to them, as a most dutiful and obedient child. And his mother sayings in her heart kept all these sayings and occurrences in her heart, and often reflected very seriously upon them. - ...And Jesus advanced considerabl proportionably in favour both ...; ably religious, but so benevolent and obliging, all that were about him. in wisdom, as well as in age and stature,h and grew God and men; his behaviour being not only remark: as to gain the friendship and affection of 52. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. IMPROVEMENT. LET us, who are heads of families, take occasion, from the story before us, to renew our resolutions, that we ana 42 our house will serve the Lord; and remember, that it is a part of our duty, not only to God but to our domestics, to engage them with us in his public worship; the pleasure of which will surely be increased when we see them, and especially our dear children, joining wi Let children view the example of º hol us in attendance on our great common Father. * y child Jesus, with an humble desire to cºpy 46 love the house and ordinances of God, and thirst for the instructions of his good word. Let them think them- after it. Let them selves happy, if his servants in the ministry will bestow a part of their important time in those exercises which are especially suited for their instruction; and let them not only be careful to return the properest answers they can, but at convenient times, with modesty and respect, ask such questions as may be likely to improve them in knowledge and grace. Let those children whose #. is most promising and most admired, learn from the blessed Jesus, to behave themselves in an humble an he was the Lord of all, yet was he subject, not only to Mary his real mother, but to Josep 40, 52 posed to be his father. Such children may well hope that the grace of God will still be upon them; and, submissive manner to all their elders, and especially to their *. for though 5 though only sup- grow- ing in wisdom, as they do in stature, they will also advance in favour with God and men, and be the darlings of heaven, as well as of earth. Andoh, that the greatest and the wisest of us, those of the longest standing, and of the most eminent stations in the church, might learn of this admirable and divine child; that, always º our relation to God, and € modate ourselves to aii the disposals of his providenceſ his will, and promoting his lory, we might, with humble acquiescence, accom- ow easily could he, who discovered such early marks 47 of a sublime genius and a lively wit, have rélished the most elegant delights of science, and have eclipsed all the most celebrated poets, orators, and philosophers, of that learned and polite age | But he laid all those views aside, 51 that he might pursue the duties of him: and joined, as it would see hands. Let us learn from hence, t tº Three days after their setting out...] . The first º was spent in their journey homeward, the second in their return to Jerusalem, and the third in searching after Christ there.—The word eyevčTo, it came to pass, is a mere expletive : and, not imagining that the rules of the most faithful and exact translation would oblige me always to retain it, I have frequently omitted it. . . - c For }. further information.]. All these things w trated and confirmed by Dr. Lightfoot, in his Hor. Heb. on, this place, that iſ cannotiut refer the reader thither. See also Drusius’s excellent note on this plaço. & & e - isiting ºf their feet.] I have often thought it a great injury to the character of our blessed Redeemer, to represent this story, whether in pictures or words, as if Christ, at this tender, age, went up into the §ºats of the doctºrs, and there disputed with them. ... Not one word is said of his disputing by the evangelist, but only of his asking Some others, which was a very usual thing in these ºšičs, and indeed the very end of them. All was, no doubt, cº- jºh the utmost modesty and decorum. And if he, were, with others at the feet of these teachers, (where learner; generally sat, see ºx. 33 and Acts xxii. 3.) he might be said to be in the midst of them, as º sat . benches of a semicircular form, raised above their are so well illus- questions, and answerin that humble rank of life which his heavenly Father's infinite wisdom had assigned to assist in maintaining himself, and his parents too, by the daily labour of his at it is the truest greatness of soul to know our own place and office, and to deny S &nd Gil SCI Die S. t alſº in a § ort of diº Every learned reader must knowſ that the words &ia Pavro here and ečctXaxmgau in the next verse, are much more ſorcible than our translation of them, and much more literally rendered here. # fºught to be at my Father’s ev Tots Tg. Tºgº-60S P 8 Öet civat §: There is a known aft ity in the original. . I have chosen with Gro- tius, Capellus, Fuller, §. to follow the Syriac version of the words, where it is rendered, in my Father’s house, which it is certain they will well bear ; and so Josephus puts ev Tots 7 & Atos, for, in Jupiter’s temple ; contra Apioſ...lib. i. § #&; 449. Haverc. (Compare John Xix. 27. sther v. 10... yi., 12. vii. 9. Gr.), And, indeed, though a general apprehension of his being well employed might be a reason (as it is intimated in the paraphrase) against their excessive anxiety;... yet it could not (as the words in this connexion seem to imply) have directed them where to find him. It is to be remembered, this was the first visit Christ had ever, made to the temple since he was a child in arms; and it is no wonder therefore that the delight he found there inclined him to prolong it. g They did not perfectly understand the words which, he spake unto them.] It is strange Grotius should think avvmkav should here be ren- dered, They did not attentively consider, what he said, when the Yery next verse assures us JMary kept all these, sayings in her heart. The phrase only implies, that there was something more in Christ’s words than at first appeared. He conjectures there might be a reference to its being the }} who was to come into his temple, (Mal., iii., 1.) which if there be, it is indeed very obscure. It seems more probable, it may be an intimation that he had many other important visits to mäk Father’s house; which evidently appears by the sequel of the history. In wisdom, as well, as in age and stature.] ... It is well known that t tº º º º * e #Xixia may signify either age or stature; but I think the latter is meant here, because the former was too * to need the mention. It seems a very just and important remar * * * endowments of the JMan Christ Jesus were owing to the divine bene- ficence, and that the Deity communicated itself in a gradual manner to that human mature which it had assumed. e to his of Erasmus here, that all the THE OPENING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST'S MINISTRY. 41 Qurselves those amusements of the mind, as well as those gratifications of the senses, which are inconsistent with SECT. the proper services of our different relations and callings. 14. SECTION XV. The opening of John the Baptist’s ministry. Mark i. 1–6. Luke iii. 1-ae. Matt. iii. 1–6. MARK i. 1. THE beginning of the gos- pel of Jesus Christ, the Son of GQd; . . . - 2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my §º before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the i. his paths straight. LURE. iii. 1. Now in the fifteenth year of the reigi) of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pi— late being governor of Judea, and Herod, being tetrarch of Galilee,and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iłurea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abi- lene, . 2 Annas, and Caiaphas be: ing the high priests, the word of Goj [in those days] game unto John, [the Baptist,) the Son of Zacharias, in the wil- derness [of Judea). [Matt. iii. 1.] - , 3 And [MARK, John did baptize in the wilderness, and] came into all the coun- try about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentange for the remission of sins ; [Matt. iii. 1. Mark i. 4.] Matt. iii. 2. And saying, Repent ye.: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. MARK i. 1. THE beginning of the gos is recorded by the evangélist Mark, thus takes its rise from the first o ening of John's ministry. It was this John that came under the character of the great forerunner of the Messiah; as it is written in the prophets, and * Behold, I will send my messenger before thy face, thy way before thee; and, as the harbinger appointed to proclaim thy coming, shall, with remarkable solemnity, make it the business of his ministry to introduce thy kingdom.” So also it was prophesied, concerning him by Isaiah, (ch. xi. 33 “There shall be heard 3 oriº, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” and solemnly proclaiming to this purpose in the deserts of Judea, Prepare ye with readiness the way of the Lord, and 8traight and smooth, by removing every thing which might prove an obstruction to his gracious appearance.” These prèphecies (as it will jū be seen) received a very #. and remarkable accomplishment in John, who, from his office, was surnamed the aptist. JVow this eminent person made his first public appearance in the fifteenth year of the reign of the emperor Tiberius Cæsar, (reckoning the ; of his reign from the time when Augustus made him his colleague in the empire,b) when, Archelaus being banished, and his kingdom reduced into a Roman provincé, Pontius Pilate was governor or pro- curator of Judea ; and, as the dominions of Herod the Great had been divided after his death,” Herod Antipas, one of his sons, was tetrarch % Galilee, or governor of that fourth part of his dominions; and his brother Philip tetrarch of another fourth part, which was the region of Itured and Trachonitis, (the name now given to that tract of land on the other side Jordan, which had formerly belonged to the tribe of Manasseh,) and Lysanias was tetrarch of Jābilene,d a fair city of Syria, whose territories reached even to Lebanon and Damascus, and were peopled with great numbers of Jews. In those days,” while Jämmas and Caiaphas were high priests,f the word of God, by prophetic inspiration, came wnto John the Baptist,“ the son of Zacharias and Elisabeth, who ºf lived for several years retired in the wilderness of Judea. Compare Luke i. 80. p. 26. .And John, at the first opening of his ministry, did preach with great power, and baptize in the wilderness; and, perceiving the people inclined to pay an attentive regard to his doctrine, he did not confine himself to #: wilderness alone, but came into all the country his paths 2 3 about Jordan, and went a progress over it, from one place to another, on both sides the river, preaching every where, as he went along, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; earnestly exhorting men to repent of all the irregularitiés of their lives, and to be baptized, in token of their sincere desire to be washed and cleansed from them; and assuring them, at the same time, that if they attended on this institution in a truly penitent manner, they might consider it as a pledge and token of their being forgiven by God. el history of Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, as it SECT. 15. $º. in Malachi, (chap. iii. 1.) Mºk my Anointed Son, who shall preparé 2 “ LUKE III. And while he was thus urging his exhortation, and saying, Repent ye, he pleaded with MATT. them a yery new and important argument: for (said he) the long-expected kingdom of heaven is now approaching ;h and God is about to appear, in an extraordinary manner, J. to erect that kingdom spoken of by Daniel, (chap. ii. 44. and vii. 13, 14.) as the kingdom of the God of heaven, which he would set up and give to the Son of man, making it finally i Those amusements of the mind.] I hope my younger brethren in the ministry will pardon me, if I bespeak their - this thought; lest, if the main part of their time be given to the curicsi- Caiaphas but Ishmael that immediately succeeded Annas J $2 [al. 3..] § 2. p. 8 or Ananus, (Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xviii. cap. Q [al. 3. .) I cannot articular attention to ties of learning, and only a few fragments of it to their great work; the care of souls, they see cause in their last moments to adopt the words of dying Grotius, perhaps with much grešter propriety than he could use them : Proh!, vitam perdidi, operose nihil agendo — Alas! I have thrown away life in doing nothing with a great deal of pains. a The voicc of one crying in the wilderness.], Aſost commentators have innagined, these words originally to refer to the proclaimatign of deliver- ance from the Babylonish captivity : but there is no imaginable reason for supposing an immediate connexion between the conclusion of the thirty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, and the beginning of the fortieth ; nor gºn I.Qbserye any thing in the process of this chapter, which may not literally suit the evangelical sense here given it by Mark, as well as Matthew and Luke. - w - Reckoning, from the time, when Augustus made him his colleague in the empire.] Supposing Christ was born A.U. C. 7:17, (as in note c, p. 37.) it is absolutely, necessary to §.º. the words thus ; because the fifteenth year of Tiberius, if reckoned from the death of Augustus, began in August, A, U. 781, and would, thus be the thirty-fourth year of Christ’s life, which, is plainly inconsistent with Luke iii. 2; See Mamme’s Dissert., p. 136–140.) . But if the birth of Christ be placed (as seems most probable; in September, A. U., 749, and Tiberius was admitted to a part in the empire (three years before Augustus, died) in August 754, the fifteenth year of Tiberius on this computation began in August 778. And if John entered on his ministry in the spring follow: ing, A. U. 779, in the same year of Tiberius, and after be had preached about twelve months, baptized Jesus in the spring; 780, then, Jesus, at his baptism would be but thirty years of age ºf some odd, months, which perfectly agrees with what Luke says, of his being at that time ghgut §rw years old. See Dr. Lardner’s Credib. part i. vol. ii. p. q. Cy *** * j, a * * * c Divided after his death.]. Seg note n, on Matt. ii.22, p. 33. . d Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene.] $ºne have thought this Lysa- nias another son of Herod the Great; but it seems much more, probable that he was, descended from a prince ºf that, name, who had been governor of that country several years before. See Joseph. Antiq. Jud. łib. xiv. cap. 13. [al. 23.] § 3. p. 732. Havergamp... * * * e In those days...] This is supplied from Matt. iii. 1...where it is proper to observe that the phrase eviats àgépats exeuvats is used in a very extensive sense for that age of which he had spoken in the preceding words, though these events happened near thirty years after those re- corded in tº former chapter of that gospel.--And the phrase is here used with the greater propriety, as John did indeed appear under his public character while Christ continued to dwell at Nazareth ; which was the event that Matthew bad last mentioned. - f Whila .2nnas and Caiaphas were high priests.] As it was not Af ***, A & suppose, as Sorne have done, that Annas was high priest the former part of this year, and Caiaphas the latter; much less that Luke knew so little of the Jewish constitution, as to suppose there could be two high priests properly so ealled. The easiest solution is, that one was the high priest, and the other his sagan or deputy, so that the title might, with a ve yºgºnable liberty, be applied to Éoth." See note a, on John xviii. 13. S: g The word of Gºd came unto John the Baptist.] I think these words declare, as expressly as any words cans that John was called to his pro- phetic work in the fifteenth year of Tiberius; so, that, if Mr. Manne’s arguments prove (as ire supposes they do) that Christ was crucified in that fiftee;th year, then it will follow, that all the events, both of John’s ministry, and of our Lord’s, must be reduced within the compass of one year; which is, for reasons elsewhere given, utterly, incredible. To êonclujë that by the language which Luke here uses, he intends to ex- press the time of Christ’s death, though it did not happen in the same year, is doing the greatest violence imaginable, to the whole passage. How much easier would it be to admit of a little more latitude in the interpretation of Dam. ix. 26. an aversion to which seems to have plunged that accurate and ingenious writer into a train of inextricable difficulties. through all the latter part of his second essay: * wº h The kingdom gſ heater, is approaching.] ... Dr. Sykes, in his Essay, on the Truth of the Christian Religion, chap. iii. has largely proved that this phrase refers to those texts in famie quoted in the paraphrase. It properly, signifies the gospel dispensation, in which subjects, were to be gathered to God by his Son, and a society to be formed, which was to subsist first in more imperfect circumstances on earth, but afterwards was to appear complete in the world of glory. In some places of Scri ture, the phrase more particularly signifies the former, and denotes the state ºf it on carth ; (see Matt. xiii. throughout, especially ver. 41, 47. and, Miatt. XX. 1.) and sometimes it signifies only the state of glory : (1 Cor. vi. 9. and xv. 50.) but it generally includes both. It is plain that the Jews understood it of a temporal monarchy which God would erect, the seat of which they supposed would be Jerusalem, which would be: gome, instead of Rome, the , capital of the world; and the expected Sovereign of this. hº they learned from Daniel to call the Son of man. ; by which title t º, understood a very excellent person, who was the promised Messiah, the Christ, or the Jinoin Öº of God. Both John the Baptist, then, and Christ, took up this phrase, and used it as they found it, and gradually taught the Jews to affix right, ideas to it, though it was a lesson they were remarkably unwilling to learn. , This very demand of repentance showed it was a spiritual kingdom ; and that no wicked man, how politic or brave, how learned or renowned, soever, could possibly be a genuine member of it. See my Sermons on Re- generation, No. iv. p. 106–117. . 2 6 *. .x: 42 I THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. SECT, victorious over all other kingdoms. It is therefore (said the Baptist) of the highest im- 15. portance, that you should be the subjects of this kingdom; which, without a sincere and universal repentance, you cannot possibly be. *# And upon this occasion he failed not to repeat, and to insist upon that passage of Scrip-, Lukejii. 4. As it is written 4ture, º has in part been just now mentioned,) making it evident that this was all ºf exactly as it is written in the book qf discourses and prophecies of the prophet Isaiah; for flººd this indeed is he who was spoken of so expressly by that sacred writer, (chap. xl. 3-5.) #º.; when he is saying, with a manifest reference to the Messiah's kingdom, “There shall be ºthº gº ... heard the voice & one crying aloud in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord with h; ºth straight. tätt. the most thankful readiness, and cheerfully set yourselves to make his paths straight and plain, by removing every thing which might prove an obstruction when he comes on so 5 gracious a design. Ever valley shall therefore be filled up, and every mountain and hill .5 Every valley shall be shall be brought down before him; even the crooked roads shall be made into a straight ºut.º.o.º. way, and the º places shall be laid smooth and level; for by the mighty power of hi *:::::::::::::::::::iii.; race, which shall be now remarkably displayed, such a victorious way shall be made for jº ways his gospel, and it shall be propagated with such speed and success, that it shall seem as e if the whole face of nature were miraculously changed; and mountains and valleys, and ... forests and rocks, were to spread themselves into a spacious plain before the messenger of 6 it. And thus not the land of Israel alone, but all esh, or the whole human race, not ex- 6 And all flesh shall see the cepting the remotest Gentile nations, shall see and admire the great salvation of God.” salvation of God. *# * , .Now, that this extraordinary message might meet with the greater regard, God was . Matt, iii. 4. And the same 4 pleased to send it by a person on many accounts remarkable, .." especially for the tem-ºn;" "...theº; ºperance, and even the severity, of his manner of living. For this John wore (as the ancient §. *. tºº ºth. Fº used to do) a rough garment which was made of camel's hair, and so indeed was ºld.yº, and ut a kind of sackcloth; and he had a leathern girdle about his waist. (Compare 2 Kings º e vºw tº i. 8. Zech. xiii. 4. Rev. vi. 12. and xi. 3.) j.as for his food, it was such as the wilder- ness afforded, which was frequently nothing, but a large kind of locusts,k which the law allowed him to eat; (Lev. xi. 21, 22.) and wild honey, often to be found in hollow trees, or in the clefts of the rocks. (Compare 1. Sam. xiv. 26. Judg. xiv. S. and Psal. lxxxi. 16.) 5 These uncommon circumstances of his public appearance concurred with the time of it, tº Sº...hi to awaken in the people a great º for his preaching; for their uneasiness under the §º º:# Roman yoke, which then bore hard upon them, raised the most impatient desire ºf the ºfeſſiº, about or Messiah's arrival; by whom they expected not only deliverance, but conquest, and uni-" “” versal monarchy. They therefore attentively listened to this proclamation of his approach; so that the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and multitudes out of all the land of Judea, and all 6 the region round about Jordan, went out to hear him, and were attentive to him. And ſºn.W. º.º.d great numbers of them were brought under very serious impressions by his faithful remon-i."...º. }}. strances, expostulations, and warnings; and those that were awakened to repentance, [Mark i. ºl were all baptized by him in the river Jordan; expressing the convictions they were under, by confessing their sins, and, by submitting to this rite, engaging themselves for the future to reformation and obedience. - IMPROVEMENT. - Mank WITH what pleasure should we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God! and with what reverence * remember the dignity of his divine nature, amidst all the condescensions of his incarnate state; Mart. It is surely matter of unspeakable thankfulness, that the kingdom of heaven should be erected among men; that * , the great God should condescend so far as to take to himself a people from our mean and sinful world, and appoint his own Son to be the governor of that kingdom. How happy are we that it is preached among us, and we are called into it! Let it be our great care that we be not only nominal, but real members of it. For this purpose let us remember, and consider that, to become the subjects of this kingdom, we are to enter 6 into it by the way of repentance; humbly confessing our sins, and resolutely forsaking them, if we do indeed desire to find mercy. - Iº Let us bless God, both for the promises of pardon and for the appointment of the seals of it, particularly of baptismal washing; always remembering the obligation it brings upon us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of 3 the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. vii. 1.) - 4, 6 Ånd, being ourselves become members of Christ's kingdom, let us pray that it may be every where extended. May divine grace remove every obstruction, and make a free course for his gospel, that it may every where run and be glorified, so that all flesh may see the salvation of God! Mººr. , John, with this awful severity of manners and of doctrine, was sent before Christ to prepare his way. Let us learn to reflect how necessary it is that the law should thus introduce the gospel; and let all the terrors of Moses and Elias render the mild and blessed Redeemer so much the more welcome to our souls | - SECTION XVI. - John the Baptist addresses suitable admonitions to those that attended his ministry, - iah. Matt. iii. 7–13. SECT. Oh I, the 53 ptl Mark gº; , 8. £º."; º;**|| proclaims the approach of the Messiah. Matt. iii. 7 16. MATT. iii. 7. MATT. iii. 7. WHEN John opened his ministry, there were two yery different sects among the Jews; Hººgº.; that of the Pharisees, who were exceeding strict in ceremonial institutions, and in the the Pharisees and Sadducees i Every mountain and hill sligll be brought down before him.] , Grotius pºrt of the fogd of the Parthians and Ethiopians. (See Plin. JVat. Hist has most elegantly illustrated the reference that appears so plainly in lib., xi., cap; 29. and lib, vi. gº. 30.), Thººter excellently illus- this passage, to the custom of sending pioneers to level the way before trated by the learned notes čičius, Drusius, and Elsner, on this ſinces, when they are coming with numerous attendants; but by the º: but Erasmus is tediously prolix upon it; and, which is strange, import of the language that the prophet uses, it is plainly to be seen that he is very warm too; What need have we to keep a guard upon out the main work is God’s, though, men are galled to concur with him in spirits, when so great and so good-natured a man could be angry in a # which is every where the scheme of Scripture, as it certainly is of debate of so small importance;—l shall, add gºly on this point, with sound reason. ºp. Phil. ii. 12, 13. respect to the use ofiocusts for food, what Dr. Shāw tells us, that. When #", ºiână of locºsis.j"Though it may be allowed, on the author sprinkled with salt, and fied, they taste myºh like the river $º. sh; rity of the accurate Sandys, (see is valuable Travels, p. T83.) and who justly contend - - MATT. III. s for the signification of the word akptóes in his ex- many others, that there is in these parts a shrub called the Locust-tree, cellent Travels, p. 258. where he also observes that, as, the months of the buds of which sometimes resemble asparagus; yet notwithstanding April and May are the time when these insects abound, it may prºba; ji the pains Sir Norton Knatchbull, has taken tº prove it. I cannot by be conjectured, that John began his ministry abºut that season ºf . imagine the word aspióss is here to be understood as referring to the the year; which might also seem more convenient for receiving, and product of it. . It is certain, the word in the Septuagint and elsewhere especially for baptizing, so great a number of people, than winter could generally signifies the animal which we, call a locusi, or a large winged have been. * grasshopper, (see Rev. ix. 3,7,9.), which the law aſſowed the Jews, to i’Wén out to him.] The novelty of a prophet's appearance in lirael, £at, (i.ev. xi. 21, 22.) and which Pliny assures us made a considerable the family of John, the circumstances o his birth, and the extraordinary THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. come to his baptism, he said observation of human traditions; and that of the Sadducees, who, among other very ob- º #: º: noxious notions, denied the existence of spirits, and a future state of rewards and punish- º #.'; Math to ments. Yet some of both these sects, out of curiosity or popular custom, or from Some - e i º other unknown reason, attended on the ; this holy man: and when he saw among the multitudes that came to be baptized by him, that many, both of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” were coming to receive his baptism;b as he well knew the open profaneness of the one, and the secret wickedness of the other, he did not flatter them at all in his address, but said unto them, as with some surprise, O ye abominable broods of vipers,” crafty, malignant, mischievous creatures, who hath taught you to put on this form of humility and repentance, and admonished you to flee from the wrath which is surely and speedily to come? What is it that hath moved you to it, when you Pharisees think your selves so secure from it, on account of the pretended sanctity of your lives; and you 8 Briggforth therefore fruits Sadducees imagine it to be no other than a mere fable and a dream? Let me exhort you, ... "...º.º. * therefore, if you design to be baptized by me, to make it your serious and resolute care to - bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, and to act like those that are penitents indeed, for- 9, And think, not...to, say Saking, as well as confessing, your sins: And, if you neglect this, do not Xiº.º.º. ºf think it will be to any purpose for you to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our ... ºfather; relying on your descent from that holy patriarch, and your being that seed of his Pºgºnto Abraham. with whom a peculiar covenant was made ; I solemnly say, and declare it unto you [Luke iii. 8.] as a certain and important truth, That God is able, of these very stones that are before your eyes,” which he can animate and sanctify whenever he sees fit, to raise up those who, though not descended from human parents, shall be, in a much nobler sense than you, children to Abraham, as being made the heirs of his faith and obedience: and he would sooner work such a miracle as this, than he would suffer his promise to fail, or admit you to the blessings of his approaching kingdom, merely because you have the abused honour to descend from that peculiar favourite of heaven. These are truths of constant concern, and now particularly seasonable; for the patience of God will not much longer endure so º; a people. You think of national deliverance, but beware of national judgments; for I assure you that the hand of God is lifted up, and the are of divine justice is even now as it were applied to the very root of the trees; and therefore, every tree that doth not produce good fruit, (even every one that, while he professeth himself to be one of God’s people, contradicts that profession by a life of wickedness, or by the neglect of vital and practical religion,) is very certainly and quickly to be cut downf by death, and thrown into the fire of hell. Upon this, many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who expected to have been treated with greater respect, were so provoked, that they turned their backs upon the prophet, and refused to be baptized. (Compare Luke vii. 29, 30, and Matt. xxi. 25.) But it was other- wise with the common people, who were alarmed by what he said, and the multitudes, who were more ...i. asked him, saying, What then shall we do, that we may be pre- pared for the kingdom of the Messiah, and may escape this dreadful condemnation and approaching wrath? ...And he answereth and 3aith unto them, Be careful not only to observe the ceremonies of religion, but to attend to the great duties of justice and of charity too, which are incumbent upon you, as well as on the great and rich: and he, for instance, that hath two coats, let him impart one of them to him that hath none; and he that iai. plenty of food, let him do the like. Then there came also some of the publicans to be baptized. Now these publicans were a set of men, whose office it was to collect the taxes which the Romans had imposed on the Jews, and to pay them to others, who were called the chief of the publicans; and these people, being generally persons of an infamous character, for their injustice and oppression, applied themselves to John under a strong conviction of their guilt, and sava wnto him, JMaster, what shall we do to testify the sincerity of our repentance: Jłnd he said unto them, Though you are not absolutely required to quit your employment, take care that you exact nothing more than is enjoined you by your principals, whose ser- wants you are in collecting the public money. - ...And the soldiers also applied themselves to himé on the same occasion, and in like man- ner asked him, saying, And as for us, what shall we do? ...And he said unto them, Terrify no manh by a violent overbearing conduct, nor wrong º by false accusation, in order, to get a liberty of living upon him at free quarters; and be contented with your legal wages, or pay, not raising mutinies and seditions to get it increased. 10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every, tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is heyym doyn; and cast into the fire. fijke iii. 3.) Luke iii. 10. And the peo- ple asked him, saying, What shall we do then? 43 SECT. 16. MATT. III. 8 º 9 LUKE 0 I Il He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath"none ; and he that hath meat, let him do like- WIS 62. 12 Then, came also pub- licans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? 13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. ; 14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do vio- lence to no man, neither ac- cuse any falsely ; and be con- tent with your wages. character he had no doubt maintained for 'strict and undissembled piety, all concurred with the causes mentioned in the paraphrase, to draw such vast multitudes after him. - a Pharisees and . Sadducees.]. The most, authentic account of these sects may be seen in Joseph. Antiq. Jud...lib. xviii. cap. 1...[al. 2..] et Bell. Jud. lib. ii., cap: S. [al. 7..] Havercamp. All writers of Jewish Antiquities describe them largely ; but I think, on the whole, none better than Dr. Prideaux, Connect. vol. ii. p. 335–343. w - º - oming to receive his baptism..] I express it in this manner, for, though some understand the words eiti To Garriaga avTov, of their coming to oppose his baptism, I think the reasons for that interpretation not worth mentioning here, and refer my reader to Raphelius, who has given them a larger examination than they deserve. Annot. ex: Xen. c, O ye broods gf vipers.]. Some think this is to be understood as iſ it had been said, Ye wicked children of wicked parents : but such a reflection on their parents is not necessarily implied. The children of pious. Eli are called sons of Belial, merely with reſerence to their own licentious characters, as they knew, not the Lord. See 1, Sam, ii. 2.-The word Teuvnuará may be used in the plural, number, in reference to the different sentiments, and, if I may be allowed the expression, (familiar enough to the Jewish doctors,) the different families of these sects in (IUlèSt| Oſl. - d. We have Abraham for our father.] Dr. Whitby well, shows how eat the presumption of the Jews on this relation to Abraham, was. šūst. on this text, quotes a remarkable passage from thç Talmud in which it is said, “That Abraham sits next the gates ºf hell, and doth not permit any wicked Israelite to go down into it.”. These Jews might perhaps pervert the promise in Jer, XXXi. 35, 36. to ..}}}.} this vaſil and dangerous confidence, in opposition to such a multitude of º express and awful threatenings; particularly Deut. xxxii. 19, €t S67, e Of these very stones that are before your eyes.] The many learned commentators, who refer this to God’s calling the Gentiles, supposing some of them to be present here, seem to loose all the beauty of the ex- ression, which I have paraphrased at large, because I think few, if any, ave set it in so strong a light as it will well bear. It is a precarious $ºt the stones here referred to, were those set up in Gilgal. OSh. IV. 3, 20. { Is very certainly and quickly to be cut down..] It is expressed, in the original, in the present tense ; and it may be of some importancé to ob- serve here, that in Scripture langua near, is spoken of as if it was alr y done. Thus Christ speaks of him- self, as if he was already in Pºiº of his glory, while he was here on earth; John. xvii. 24; and sinners too are - - - represented as condemned glready, John iii. 18, and saints are spoken of as already glorified, Eph. ii. 6. and Heb. xii. 22, 23. º g The soldiers upplied themselves to him.] There is no reason to be- lieve that these were Gentile soldiers. Grotius has excellently proved, that the Jews in general did not scruple a military life; and a multitude of passages from Josephus might be added to the same purpose; and though most of the soldiers in Judea, which was now a province, might be Romans, Yet those º to Galilee might probably be Jews. Hää these been Gentiles, John Would surely have begun his instructions to them with urging the W#iº of the true God. h Terrify no man.] The word 6tagstants properly signifies “to take a man by the Sollar and shake him ;”, and seems to Haye been used pro- verbialiy for that violent manner in which persons of this station of life are often ready to bully, those about them, whom they imagine their infe- riors in strength and spirit; though nothing is an argument of a meaner spirit, or more unworthy that true courage which constitutes so essential a part of a good military character i . With your legal wages or pay.] The word oupovuous is well known to signify provision or food; but, when applied to soldiers, it is generally , that which is very sure, and very I2 44 - THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. SECT. And, as the people were in great suspense, and all were reasoning in their hearts with much 15 And as the people were 16. solicitude concerning John, debating the matter with themselves, whether he were the Mes- i.º.º. siah or not, John answered all that put the question to him, in the most direct and positive wietie; hºwer the §: *UKE manner, saying, I indeed baptize you with water, to engage you to the exercise of repent- nº John answered, saying uſ., , ance, which, by submitting to that rite, you solemnly profess; but there is one coming after ºften all...I indéed bº f se irºns Al4° - * fº e·ººr. - - - tize you with water [unto re- me, even the Messiah himself, who is much more powerful and considerable than I can pre-jºº. §§ tend to be; (see Jºhn x, 41) whose very shoes. I am not worthy so much as to carry after º.º.º. him, [or] to stoop down and untie the latchet of [them, but should esteem it as an honour to §§jº. erform the humblest ºffice of menial service for him. And, if you are indeed his people, §§ {...}º shall baptize you with a most plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit, and with fire; causing §º ; his Spirit to descend upon his followers in the appearance of a flame of fire, to represent ..."ºº"; its operating on the heart like fire, to kindle pious and devout affections, and to purify and i. 7,8] enliven the souls of believers. (Compare Acts i. 5. and ii. 3.) 17 . But you are to remember, this is an awful as well as an amiable Person, whose fan is 17 whose fan is in his hand, in his hand, and he will thoroughly winnow and cleanse his church, which is, as it were, ºil...º.º. • - <-2 = Z. - - s floor, and will gather the his threshing-floor, and at present is covered with a mixture of wheat and chaff: for such º', i. will be the nature of the doctrine he shall teach, as will effectually discover what is the #: jºš. real disposition of the hearts of men, and perfectly distinguish between the hypocritical 12.] - and the sincere. ...And happy will it be for those that standſ the trial: for he .# carefully gather them, as the whegi into his granary, and lay them up in heaven as his peculiar treasure; but as for the chaff which is found among them, as for those empty vain pro- fessors that are now mingled with his people, he will then treat them as men do the sweepings and the refuse of the floor, and burn them up as worthless and unprofitable trash; and I faithfully warn you, that it will be with ºnquenchableſ'. :k let this excite you º to escape so terrible a doom. (Compare Isa. xli. 16. Jer. xv. 7. and Ezek. XXii. 15. 18 Such was, in general, the tendency and purport of John's preaching: and, offering . 18. And many other things, ºnqny other échortations to them to the same effect, he published to the people these glad lºgº. Preached tidings of the Messiah’s approach, and endeavoured to prepare them to receive him in a proper º as will be more particularly shown hereafter. (See John i. 15, et seq. and III. 28, et seq. IMPROVEMENT. - MATT. WHAT an excellent pattern of ministerial service does John exhibitin the passage before us! Blessed is that * , gospel preacher who, like him, seeks not his own ease and pleasure, and indulges not to luxurious and sensual inclinations, but cheerfully accommodates himself to the state and circumstances which Providence hath assigned him, as infinitely more intent on the success of his ministry than on any little interest of his own that can interfere LUKE with it!—Happy the man who, imitating the impartiality of this faithful servant of God, gives to every one his I oº::1 4 portion of meat in due season, and abhors the thoughts of flattering men in their vices, or buoying them up with delusive hopes in their birth and profession, while they are destitute of real and vital religion! *T. May this plain and awakening address be felt by every soul that hears it! And, in particular, let the children 9 of religious parents, let those that enjoy the most eminent privileges, and that make even the strictest profession, weigh themselves in this balance of the sanctuary, lest they be found wanting in the awful decisive day. And if the wa is of the gospel have alarmed our hearts, and put us upon fleeing from the wrath to come, oh, let the 8 terrors of the Lord engage us, not only to confess, but to forsake, our sins, and to bring forth fruits meet for re- entance 1 N Let all to whom the gospel message comes, most attentively and seriously consider, in what alarming circum- stances of danger and extremity impenitent sinners are here represented. The gospel is the last dispensation we 10 must ever expect; the axe is at the root of the unfruitful tree, and it must ere long be cut down and burnt, be its branches ever so diffusive, and its leaves ever so green. ** ºr Christ hath a fan in his hand to winnow us, as well as the Jews. Oh that we may stand the trial' And oh “17 that, as his wheat, we may be laid up in the storehouse of heaven, when that day cometh which shall burn as an oven, and when all that do wickedly shall be consumed as stubble, and be burnt up as chaff! (Mal. iv. 1.) 16 And to conclude: that we may be prepared for that final trial, let us be éarnest in our º; to OUr gracious Redeemer, that as we are baptized with water in his name, he would also baptize w8 with the Holy Ghost and with fire; that, by the operations of his Holy Spirit on our cold and stupid hearts, he would enkindle and uicken that divine life, that sacred love, that flaming, yet well-governed zeal for his glory, which distinguishes the true christian from the hypocritical professor, and is indeed the seal of God set upon the heart, to mark it for eternal happiness. - SECTION XVII. - The testimony John the Baptist gave to Christ is taken nojº of biºg the evangelist, and his own testimony added to confirm it. - Oilil 1. iO-lè. SECT. e John i. 15. John N. i. 15. AS the Messiah now was shortly to appear, and the time just at hand in which he was to JOHN bare witness, of him, John enter on his public ministry, the way (as we have seen) was opened for his coming by and cricd, saying, This was I John the Baptist’s being sent to preach the doctrine of repentance: and when the people 15 came in crowds from every part to hear him, John bore his testimony of him in a public used to signify the § that was allotted for their subsistence. (Com- strap would be made the symbol of these worthless reprobates, or that it } ) pare Rom. vi. 23, where it is rendered wages; and J Cor. ix. 7, where we would be represented as burnt up.–As to the phrase of burning the chaft translate it clurges. - - with immieńchable fire, Mr. Horberry has obseryed, with his, usual accura- The chaff he pill burn with unquénchable fire.] There is in what the gy of #, (Inquiry into the Duration of Future Punishinent, chap. i. Baptist here declares, an evident allusion to the custom of burning the No. 1, 2.) that it is absolutely inconsistent with all yiews of the restora- chäff after winnowing, that it might not be blown back again, and so be tion of the wicked; and that, however the phrase of being consumed, like mingled with the wheat: and, though it may in part refer to the calami- chaff might seem to favour the doctrine gf their aimiltilation, (which ties to come upon the Jewish nation for, rejecting Christ, (as Bishop neverthéless it is certain no punishment of mind, or body can of itself Chandler has observed in his Defence of Christianity, p. 85) yet it seems effect,) the epithet of unquencilable given to, this fire, is so far from ghiefly to intend the final destruction of all sinners in hell, which alone proving it, that it cannot, by any easy and just interpretation, be recon- is properly opposed to the gathering the, wheat into the garner; (compare ciled with it. Matt. xiii. 40–42.) and howsoever it be certain that the word axwpov 1 Published these glad tidings.] EumyyeXt(ero has plainly this im- in Greek authors does, generally signify gll that is, lºft, of the corm when the port; and as it was a very imperſect intimation, rather than a full £º is separated, including the straw ... (see .# Annot... cz Płºń. tº discovery of the gospel that was given by the Baptist, it does not seem c. and Gen. xxiv. 25, 32. Septuag.) yet I apprehend, that in this place it so proper here to render it by preaching the gospel, though, the word must be equivalent to xvows, and signify chaff as distinguished from has often that signification; see Matt. xi. 5. Luke iv. 18. and Ācts viii straw, since one can hardly imagine either that any thing so useful as 4, &c. THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN THE APOSTLE. he of whom Ispake, He that declaration of the dignity of his person, and of the great design for which he was to come ; cometh after me is preferred before me : for he was before li. G. which, though it was at first expressed in general terms, yet did he afterwards apply it in particular to Jesus of Nazareth, pointing him out to be the person he had spºken of; and, with an earnestness that suited the importance of this grand occasion, he openly prºclaimed him to be the promised Messiah, and cried, saying, This is the person thit I told you of; and this was he of whom I said before,” (Matt. iii. 11.) He that cometh after me, as to the time of his appearance in the world, and of his entrance on the stage of public life, ls upon all accounts superior to me, and is deservedly preferred before me; for, thºg; indeed as to his human birth he is younger than me, and did not come into the woºd till a little after me, yet, in a much more noble and exalted kind of being, he eristed long ſº And of . flºº º * r ** $. C9. tº & - ºreºve” intimate friends, would my testimony to that of before me,b or even before the production of any creature whatsoever. * & ..And I, John the apostle, who had the honour of being numbered among his most with pleasure, in my own name, and that of my brethren, add the Baptist,” as I and they have the greatest reason to do: for of his overflowing fulness have we all received whatever we possess, as men, as christians, or as apostles; and he hath given us even grace upon grace; a rich abundance and variety 17 For the law was given by Nº but grace and truth +r l r < , , s ſº it, and to that holy man to canno by Jesus Christ. ly - ave been the messenger of it; yet to of favours, which will ever make his name most dear and precious to our souls. For the law was given º and we own it an honour to our nation to have received the sinner it is a dispensa- tion of death, and passes an awful sentence of condemnation upon him; [but] the Redeemer whom we celebrate is worthy of much more affectionate regards; for grace and truth came 8.5 by Jesus Christ,” who gives us an ample declaration of pardon, and an abundant effusion 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begot- ten Son, which is in the bosom - - of the Father, he hath de-invisible Bein clared him. * of the Spirit, those substantial blessings of which the Mosaic dispensation was but a shadow. His gospel therefore should be received with the most cheerful consent; for no man hath ever seen God, nor indeed can see him, as he is an incorporeal, and therefore an ng ; but thé only-begotten Son, who is always in the bosom of the Father, and ever favoured with the most endearing and intimate converse with him, he hath revealed and made him known in a uch clearer manner than he was before, by those discoveries of his nature and will, which may have the most powerful tendency to form us to virtue IMPROVEMENT. Happy are they, that, (like this beloved apostle,) when they hear the praises of Christ uttered by others, can echo back the testimony from their own experience, as having themselves received of his fulness / May an abun: dance of grace be communicated from him to us! We are not straitened in him: oh, may we not be straitened and happiness. in ourselves ; w imparted to our souls from him! but daily renºwing our application to him as our Living Head, may vital influences be continually With pleasure let us compare the dispensation of Jesus with that of Moses, and observe the excellency of its superior grace and of its brighter truth; but let us remember, as a necessary consequence of this, that if the despisers of Moses's law died without mercy, they shall be thought worthy of a mitch sorer punishment, and a more aggravated condemnation, who tread under foot the Son of God. (Heb. x. 28, 29.) May we ever regard him as the only-begotten of the Father; and, since he hath condescended so far as to come down from his very bosom to instruct us in his nature and will, let us with all humility receive his dictates, and earnestly pray, that under his revelations and teachings, we may so know God, as faithfully to serve him now, and at length eternally to enjoy him. SECTION XVIII. *. Christ is baptized by John, and the Hel MARK i. 9. ły Spirit descends upon him in a visible form. NPiºtº .4.V.O. it came to pass in those days, when great numbers of all ranks and professions among *** [*** * * * the Jewish people were baptized that Jesus came from the town of Nºizareth in Galilee, 45 SECT. 17. - JOHN I. Mark i. 9–ll. MARK. i. 9. àiatt. iii. 13, to the end ; Luke iii. 21—23. a This was he of whom I said.] This probably might happen at the time when Jesus made his first appearance among those that cane to be baptized by John; when at his offering to receive his baptism, though §. before had been a stranger to him, and knew, Rim not by any peſ- sonal acquaintance with him, yet, by some powerful impression on his mind, he presently discerned that this was he whom he befºre had taught the people to expect, and of, whose Fº he had given them so high a character. For it was plainly from his knowledge of him, that John at first would have declined baptizing him, as an honour of which he looked upon himself to be unworthy. , Nor is it to be doubted, but that, when first he knew the person of whose appearance, he had raised such expectations by his preaching, he would immediately, be rea; to acquaint his hearers, that this was ſic, who was intenſied by him ; which they themselves might have been ready to conclude, from the uncommon vºcration and respect with which the Baptist treated him, who had becil always used to treat men with the greatest plainness. And upen this account it may be proper, that this testimony of him should be introduced (as I have placed it here), before the particular account that the other evangelists have given of his baptism. Compare Matt. iii. 14. nd John i. 27, 30. g al 5 #ºristódiong before me; ſporos pig my..] This must undoubtedly refer to that state of glory in which, Christ gristed before his incarnation, of which the Baptist speaks so plainly, John. iii. 31. as abundantly to justify the paraphrase; (Compare note b, on John i. 3). $ 21). As for the preceding clause, ºptºpogdev gº Yºyonºv, W hich we render is pre- ferred before ine, I think Erasmus truly expresses the sense, of it, in supposil); it to rºſer tº th9s; distinguishing hoàours which had been jºid to Öhrist in his infancy, by prºphets, sages, and aggºls too, which łothing that had yet occurréd in the life of Jolin could by any means ual. • sº g eq; iſ add my testimony to that of the Baptist.] It is most evident, that what is said here in this verse, as Shººtº justly observes, must be considered as the words of the evangelist. John the Baptist, had never yet mentioned the name of Jesus; and the expression ºce all, shows it could not be his words ; for those to Xhom he addressed himself, do not appear to have received grace ſrom Christ. The last French version, with great propriety, includes ver, 15s in a parenthesis, and $o connects this fººth verse with the 14th ;--as if it had been said, fic dicelt among us—full of grace and truth :-qnd of his fulness have tre all received. d Grace upon grace.] This seems the most easy sense of xúptu avri xapt Tog, as av Pavlºv avtas is grief tºpom grief. (Theogn; v. 344.) Com- pare Ecclus. Xxvi. 15, 17. and see Blackwall’s Sacred Classics, vol. i. p. 164. Next to this, I should prefer Grotius’s interpretation, who would render it, grace of ºncre grace; that is, the freest grace imagina!!e. e Caine by Jesus Christ.] I cannot lay so much stress on the word eyev's To here, as opposed to c336m, as to suppose it, with Erasmus, to imply, that whereas Moses was oſſiy the ºnessenger of the lanc, Christ was the criginal of the grace and truth he brought into the werli by the gospel ; since all that is intended by syzygro is nothing more, than that it acas, of that it came by Jesus Christ, according to the sepse in which the word is often used in other places ; and & a here is used of Christ as well as of Moses: so that both are represented as mcs.scngers, though of very different dispensations. - In the boson ºf the Father.] ... Crities generally agree; this is one of the places in which gus is put for £1, but had it here been rendered near his Fºther's bosom, it raight as well have answered the design of the original, and world, [think, have begn as expressive of that intimate converse and entire friendship, winich the phrase inplies.—Elsner here cites a passage from Plato, concerning the regard due to the authority of a Son of God when speaking of his Fºther; and it is indeed surpris- ingly 9}ºsº lsn. Observ. vol. i. p. 296. - a Płºcn gll the people were baptized.] John continued baptizing so long after this, that it is very evident the word all must be taken with the restriction used in the paraphrases as it is oftentimes in other places. Jesus, cane from J\'azarciń in Galilce.] The learned Dr. Thomas Jackson, it his elaborate examination of this context, (see his Works, vol. ii. p. 515–519.) supposes, that John the Baptist, inquiring into 6.Ed hearing the name of Jesus, and the place from whenče he came, and, cquaparing it in his own mind with that celebrated prophecy, Isa. xi. 13.2. Goncluded, that this Jesus, or divine Saviour, as the word may signify, (see, note d, on Miatt. i. 21. p 27.) coming from Nazareth, the torcy of IRods, as the etymology of that name imports, was the Rod cºtt of the stern of Jesse, upon whom the Spirit §oś descend, and rest like a dove on a branch. And thus he would reconcile John’s address to Christ as so extraordinary a person, Matt. iii. 14, with his declaring (John. i. 31, 33.). that he lºcº him riot before; but this seems a very Fº solution, considering how possible it might be, that in so arge a place as Nazareth, there might be several persons of the name of Jesus, or Joshua, so very common among the Jews. It appears therefore much more reasonable to have recourse to the solution given in the paraphrase snd note d, on the last cited text, $ 21, that he had a Secret intimation given him who it was that came to be baptized by lim ; and all that this very ingenious writer has said, to show the vari- ous marks by which John might know Christ, without supposing such a Wer. 16 SECT. IS. MARK 46 SECT. iS. MATT. Ili. * theless, as soon as he saw him, he received the Messiah, upon whom the Spirit should visibly descend. (See the note on John i. 33. And, upon this account, such was the modesty of John, that he was ready to 15 too high an honour for me. 16 I.UKE III. 23 MLATT. 16 Mºnk I 0 THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST. Where he had lived for many years in a retired manner with his lan; and applied himself to John, that he might be baptized by John, in Jordan, near Bethabara. tion between them, that John was personally a 21.) bºptized by him tº and was accordingly (See John i. 28. § 20.) Now the providence of God had so ordered it, to prevent all appearance of a combina- stranger to Christ, (Johni. 33.) But never- for a secret intimation from above, that this was jºb; ºr 5. parents, to the river Jor- people were baptized, that esus came from Nazareth of Galilee: [unto John, to be bap- tized of him, and was bap- tized of John , in ...Jordan. [Matt. iii. 13. Luke iii. *}; Matt., iii. 14. . But John ad him, saying, I have and comest thou to me? ecline the service, and would have hindered him from doing what he proposed; and ac- cordingly said unto him, Thou art so much my superior, that I have need to be baptized by thee with that far nobler baptism which thou art to administer ; and dost thou come to me on such an occasion as this? I am confounded at the thought, and cannot but consider it as Jłnd Jesus, saycst, yet do not go about to hinder mayst be at present to enter into the vine appointments, it is decent replying, said unto him, Though it be really as thou me, but permit [it] now ; for, however unable thou particular reasons of it, yet, in submission to the di- fºr us thus to comply with all the duties of religion, and in 15 And, Jesus, answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be So now ; for thus it becometh us to fulfil aii ºsness. Then he suffered him. this manner it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness; and P. this account, as it is a part of my duty to attend this institution, it is therefore a part o thine to administer it. Then, as John knew that it became him not to debate the matter any further, he permitted him to be baptized. .#nd Jordan, as he was looking up fixing his eyes upon this wonderful sight, he saw the was anointed in a peculiar manner, an Psal. xlv. 7. and Isa. lxi. 1.) “ind, as a further testimony of the Divine regard to Christ, and of the of his person, this was attended with a very memorable event; for, • §pice came out of heaven, when it was thus opened, which said, Thou art my beloved Son,h in #: ; that is, I perfectly approve thy character, and acquiesce in thee as iator, through whom I will show myself favourable unto sinful creatures. thee I am well the Great Me (Compare Isa. xlii. i.) **! Jesus, at that time when he received the baptism of John, and was beginning the public exercise of [his ministry,) was about thirty years old;i at which time quit his retirement, being then in the full vigour of nature, and havin Which the priests used to begin their ministrations in the temple. 3–47. and 1 Chron. xxiii. 3.) %. Jesus was baptized, as soon as he ascended out ehºld, the heavens were immediately openedd unto him, and in a wondrous way ap- Peared as if they had been rent asunder directly over his head; and at that very instant, ... and praying" in a devout and holy rapture; and as John was also Spirit of God, in a corporeal form,8 as a glorious and splendid appearance of fire, 㺠with a hovering motion like a dove, and coming upon him ; as a visible token of those secret operations of that Blessed Spirit on his mind, by which, according to the intimations God had given in his word, he abundantly fitted for his public work. (Compare 16And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight- Way out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opene unto him,ſDUKE, being bap- tized, and praying,j and he saw the Spirit of God de- ;"; [LUKE, in a bodily shapel like a doye, and light- ing upon him. [Mark i.”ió. Luke iii. 21, 22.] of the water to the bank of Luke iii. 22. And [Joj a Voige came, from heaven, Which said, Thou art my be: loved Son; in thee I am well Flººd. [Matt. iii. 17. Mark l. e glorious dignity behold, a loud º 23 A. ſº hºl. be- e chose to §. e about thirty years attained the age in Compare Numb. iv. IMPROVEMENT. LET ogrLord's submitting himself to baptism, teach us a holy exactness and care in the observance of those V ... is pºsitive institutions which owe their obligation merely to a divine command; for thus it also becometh us to fulfil er.15 iſ righteousness; lest by breaking one of the least of Christ's commandments, and teaching others to do it, we become unworthy of a part in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt v. 19. e Jesus had no sin to confess or wash away, yet he was brºad, and God owned that ordinance so far as to make it the season of pouring forth the Spirit upon him. And where can we expect this sacred effusion, but in a conscientious and humble attendance on divine appointments? º - - Let us remember in how distinguishing a sense Jésus is the Christ, the anointed of God, to * the Father hath not given the Spirit by measure, but hath poured it out upon him in the most abundant degree. i. trace the workings of this Spirit in Jesus, not only as a spirit of miraculous power, but of the richest §. i. iness; earnestly praying that this holy unction may, from Christ our head, descend upon our souls! May his enlivening Spirit kindle its sacred flame there, with such vigour, that many waters may not be able to quench it, nor floods 2 - of temptation and corruption to drown it. * particular rerelation as is there suggested, does but confirm me the more in the necessity of admitting it. - - c That he might be baptized by him.] By this he intended to do an honour to John’s Ininistry; and to conform himself to what he appointed to his followers: for which last reason it was, that he drank likewise of the, Sacramental cup. , And this we may coñsider as a plain argument, that baptism, may be administered to those who are not capable of all the purposes for which it was designed. See Dr. Whitby's note on Matt. iii. 16. * d. The heavens were immediately opened.] I think it plain, (as Grotius and Blackwall have observed,) that what is here intended, is to intimate, that directly, on his coming up out of the water, the heavens, were opened : for it must certainiy appear to be a circumstance of small im- portance, and very, little, use, for the evangelist to say that, Jesus went wp straightway out of the water, after he was baptized ; , but, if we take it in the other way, it very fitly introduces the remarkable account, of what directly followed it. There seems to be such a transposition of the word ev6cajs, Mark i. 29. and xi. 2. See Blackwall’s Sacred Classics, vol. i. p. 89. - º e Jºs he was º It is observable that all the three voices from heapen; by which the Father bore, witness to Qhrist, Were pronounced while he was gaving, or very quickly after it. Compare Luke ix. 29, 35. and John xii. 28. - f He saw the Spirit of God.]. There is no question to be made but that this wqndrous sight was seen by both of then; ſor Mark has so expressed it, as plainly to refer the seeing it to Christ, and John the Baptist has in another place assured us that he saw it, and took particular notice of it as the sign, he was directed to observe as the distinguishing and gertain characteristic of the Messiah, John i. 32—34. And I have therefore so expressed it in the paraphrase, as not directly to confine the sight of it to CIther. - 5 - - - g In a corporcal form.]. This is the exact English of gropartko etóst : a phrase which might with propricty have been used, though there had not been (as niost understand it) any appearance, in the shape of the ani- mal here mentioned, but only a lambgºt flame falling from higayen ºth a hovering dove-like inction, which Dr. Scott (in his Christian Life, vol. iii. . 66.) supposes to have been all. Dr. Owen and Grotius think it was a ###! in the shape of a dove; and Justin Martyr (who, adds, that all Jordan shone with the reflection of the light) says, that it was ev et&st Treptarepas ; and Jerome calls it pagpa opyttos, the appearance of a dove. Iłoth these º: are much more determinate than the original; º: # ºº:: to leave this, and many other things, in the same itude as I find them. * left"; art my below:ed Som.] Both Mark and Luke express it thus; which inclines me to follow those copies of Matthew which agree yith them, rather than the more common reading there, This is my belovcd Son. Evêokmaa properly expresses an entire acquiescence in him. i And Jesus, whem beginning [his ministry] was about thirty jºrs old.] Of the age of Jesus at this time, see note, b, on Luke jii. 1. p. 41.-I can recollect no sufficient authority to justiſy our translators in rendering mv &act eToy Tptakov.7a apxopévos, began to bé about thirty years of age, or was now entering on his thirtieth year. To express that, sense, it should have been mu apxouéuos eval, &c. as Epiphanius, probably by a mistake, has quoted it.—The learned author of the Pindication of the beginning of JMatthew’s and Luke’s Gospel, extremely dissatisfied with all the common versions and explication of these words, would render them, Jºnd Jesus was obedient or lived in subjection [to his #3. about thirty years; and produces several passages from approved, Greek writers, in which apxoſtevos signifies subject. But, in all those places it is used in some connexion, or opposition, whigh determines, the sense; and therefore none of them are instances parallel to this. Luke cvidently uses apxopswov, chap. xxi. 28. in the sense we suppose it to have here; and since |. had before expressed our Lord’s subjection to his parents by the word āroragaopicyos, chap. ii. 51. there is great reason to believe he would have used the same word here, had he intended to give us the same idea. And indeed, if apxopévos be allowed to have the significa- tion which this accurate critic (for such º, he is) contends for hero, since there is nothing in the text to limit it, the phrase would intimate, he was subject to mone after this time; an assertign which should think both groundless and dangerous.--This clause o ly uke has been already mentioned in another ºº:: where it was only inserted (out of its proper order) to complete the Septe::ce: sec 99. p. 29, 30. CHRIST’S TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS. 47 Behold God's beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased? As such let us honour and love him; and as such let SECT. Ollr º ačquiesce in him, as in every respect such a Saviour as our wishes might have asked, and our necessities 18. TeGUllred. - - - § what amazement should we reflect upon it, that the blessed Jesus, though so earl ripened for the most LºkE extensive services, should live in retirement even till his thirtieth year! That he deferre his ministry so long, V "too should teach us not to thrust ourselves forward to public stations till we are qualified for them, and plainly discover er.23 a Divine call: that he deferred it no longer, should be an engagement to us to avoid unnecessary delays, and to give God the prime and vigour of our life. Our great Master attained not, as it seems, to the conclusion of his thirty-fifth year, if he so much as entered upon it; yet what glorious achievements did he accomplish within those narrow limits of time ! Happy that sérvant, who with any proportionable zeal despatches the great business of life! so much the more happy, if his - sun go down at noon ; for the space that is taken from the fº of time, will be added to the rewards of etermity. SECTION XIX. Christ's victory over the temptations of Satan in the wilderness. Luke iv. 1–13, Matt. iv. 1–11. Mark i. 12, 13. LURE iv. 1. #9 {º. flºº THEN' Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit, with which he had been just anointed in so secT. Jordan, and [MARK, imme; extraordinary a manner, returned from Jordan, where he had been baptized ; and imme- 19. #º Yº: |g ºhº; diately after this, was led, by the strong impulse of that Spirit on his mind, into that desolate 4. §to; ºnejº and solitary place, the wilderness.;” that he might there be exercised and tempted by the LUKE jºid tº most violent assaults of the devil; and, by conquering him, might afford an illustriºus 1". example of heroic virtue, and lay a foundation for the encouragement and support of his people, in their future combats with that malignant adversary. - - nd he was there in the wilderness forty days : and during that time he was tempted by MLARK ºś Satan; and also was surrounded with a ºf the most savage and voracious kinds of 18 " É. §§ºt wild beasts; but they were so overawed by his presence, that (as in the case of Daniel Asifiing.j tiuke iv. 2.j when in the den of lions, Dan. vi. 22.) none of them offered him the least injury:b and in all.#. º § º }. *i. ºr nd when he us fasted forty days and forty nights, as Moses the giver of the law, *.*. hºº! (Exod. xxxiv. 28) and Elias the great restorer of #. had done before #. (I Kings xix., ". §§"hºnºred.” tilike 8.) having been thus far miraculously borne above the appetites of nature, at length he felt 1 / 2.] them, and was very hungry, but was entirely unprovided with any proper food. ..And, just at that time, the tempter coming to him” in a visible form, ğ. on a human 3 appearance, as one that desired to inquire further into the evidences of his mission,) said, If thou art the Son of God, in such an extraordinary manner as thou hast been declared to be, and art indeed the promised Messiah, who is expected under that character,d com- mand that these stones become loaves [of bread] to relieve thy hunger; for in such a cir- cumstance it will undoubtedly be done. <> But Jesus answered, and said unto him, It is written in the sacred volume, (Deut...viii. 4 3.) : JMan shall not live º bread only, but by every word proceeding out of the mouth of od, or by whatever he shall appoint for the preservation of his life.” Íe can therefore support me without bread, as he fed the Israelites in the wilderness;” and, on the other hand, even bread itself, if these stones were turned into it, could not nourish me without his blessing; which I could not expect, were I to attempt a miracle of this kind, merely in compliance with thy suggestions, without any intimation of my Father's will. up into [Jerusalem] the holy ºr; Then, as the devil found it was in vain that he had tempted Christ to a distrust of Pro- 5 §"º". lº'ſ vidence, he was for trying to persuade him to presumption: and to this end, he taketh him §º.º the temple, along with himſ to Jerusalem, which, being the place where God dwelt in so distinguish- ing a manner, was commonly called the holy city;% and there he setteth him on one q the battlements of the temple, which, in some * of it, and particularly over the ;3. tº $3. It was so exceeding high, that one could hardly bear to look down from it.i, And as he 6 §§º: stood upon the brink of this high precipice, the tempter saith unto him, If thou art indeed #º. ſº.#. the Son of God, cast thyself down courageously from hence, and mingle with those that are i...º.º.º."...i # assembled for the worship of God in yonder court. The sight of such a miracle will un- tº histºli.e. deniably convince them of the truth of thy pretensions; and thou canst have no room to doubt of thy safety; for thou well knowest it is, written, (Psal. xci. 11, 12.) “He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee;k and they shall bear thee up in LUKE iv. 1. Mark i. 13. And he WaS Matt. iv. 2. And when he 3 And, when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones, be mad bread. [Luke iv. 3..] - 4. But [Jesus] answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed- eth out of the mouth of God. [Luke iv. 4.] 5Then the devil taketh him thee up, lest at any time thou a Into the wilderness.]. Christ probably intended, this, as a dº yout, ºr tirement, to which he found himself strongly, inclined, that he might. give vent to those sacred passions which the late grand 99¢urrences of the descent of the Spirit upon him, and the miraculous, attestation of a voice from heaven, had such 3, tendengy to inspire. It seems a very groundless conjecture of Mr. Fleming (in his gºlº vol. ii. p. 315.) that he was carried through the air to mount Sinsi., Mr. Maundrel's is much more probable, that it might be the w ness near Jordan : which, as he, who travelled, through it, assures.us, is a miserable and horrid' place, consisting of high barren mountains, so that it looks as if †e hiſ suffered some violent convulsions there:... (See Maundrel's ºls, p. 78.) This is the scene of the parable of the good Samaritan, (Luke x. 30.) Our Lord probably was assaulted in the northern part of it, near the sea of Galilee; because he is said here to be returning or góing back to Nazareth, from whence he came to be baptized, Mark i. p. 42. - - - 'b Sone of them offered him the least injury.] It is sºng? that any should think he was during this time hunted by the wild beqsts: this is tº more improbable, as such a hurry would have been inconistent with the design of God in leading him thither; which was, that he might be assaulted by Satan, at first probably by secret suggestions; the fºr ºf which would be increased by such a gloomy plage. The angels might be the instruments of intimidating the beasts, Could Dr. fightfoot have proved what he asserts, that this happened in October or November, the cold would have been; as he sugges'.” additional circumstance of affliction to our Lord: but it seems rather to have been in the beginning of summer ; see note b, on Luke iii. 1. p. 41. and note k, on Matt. iii. 4. p. 42. - - - - * - "c The tempter coming to him.]_Qur translation, which, in its render- ing of these words, is not so literal as the version I have given, ºn to intimate, what is not any where asserted in the sacred story, that,this was the first time the tempter came unto him; a circumstance which can hardly be supposed. - d The promised Messiah, who is expected under that character That the Hº supposed the Messiah would be in a very *ś mannel the Son Qſ God, appears from comparing Matt. xiv. 33. xvi. 16. xxvi; 63. John i. 34, 49. xi. 27. xx. 31; and Acts viii. 37. e As he fed the Israelites in the wilderness.] It is to this the passage that is quoted here hath a plain reference, as it stands in the Old Testa- In G. Tit. f Taketh him along with him.]. This is the exact English of Tapa- Aapſ3avet. (See Elsner, Observ. in loc.) But whether he did, or did not, § him through the air, cannot, I think, be determined from this gThe holy city.) This is a phrase that fre - r is quently and very pro- 2°rly is used to express Jerusalem. (Compare Neh. xi. 1. §lº. 1. §: ix. 24. and Matt. xxii. 53.) . The heathen writers, in like manner § i.fºllº º Whiº of º; ºiliº Were supposed - Special residence, and from whence their oracles w º, ; ; Ösºrº’ voi. i. p. 17, 18.) £S Were l, Ume le battlements of the tenple.] Though pinnacle agrees very well with the etymology of the Greek word, yet, ºãº its use among us, it leads, the $nglish reader to imagine, that he stood on the ſº a spire. The truth is, the roof of the temple was flat, and had hº...?'...}#; º it; (see Deut. *i; it's and somewhere on * * * of this battlement, we may suppose that Satan plac : - In hº º: .. ...'. this tºº. placed Christ, ! Hardly bear to look down from it..] Josephus gives us this account ãº. Jābitiq. Jud, lib. xv. Cap. 11. Lal. 14.] § 5. p. 781. Edit. Haver- k Čharge concerning thee, to keep thee..] Many (after . * > fºrt - - - - er Jerome) have observed that Satan made his advántage ºf quoting Scripture §§ by scraps, leaving out those words, in all thy pays. The cause of truth, and sometimes of common sense, hath suffered eat deal by t who have followed his example. y 8 gr 6. y those 48 . 3& fºr Titº Tºrſt A Priºr, A-R-T +--- ris- ** . CHRIST’S TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESs. SECT. ih r ?? ſ *** f han: ºri. • roº Tº gº * ECT É. gº ºé th91: º by any accident dash thy foot against a stone.” And surely flººh fººt $ºt a stone 19. 3. . may, º, º º Mººn Seems Common to all his saints. [Luke iv. 9, 10, li.j T. sº ** {{#siºrºg Said ºnto hiº, it is also written, to prevent the ungrateful ab MATT. a nº -o-nisas n < - * ...; , , \ . . ºf --, -; e ungrateful abuse of 7,[And] Jesus [answering] '...},...; Pºliº.º. these, (Deut. Yi. 16.) “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy ...º.hirº is Yi. 7 i. by dºmaidºg fºrther evidénce of what is already made sufficieſ: plain, as my tº º s re º º . º the ºlous and glorious testimony he hath solately given mé. *] & ºffgain, the devil, being resolved once more to attack him by the most dangerous temp- 8 Again, the devil taketh tatiºn he cºld devise, taketh him up into a mountain in those parts wº º, ºr him up into an exceeding jj . . . . . .º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º. Pºº, which was exceeding High ºf...; ... º.º.º.º.º. ººg ºnt ºf time, sheveth him, in an artful visionary represei. i.i.º. tation, gll, the most magnificent king: f : ], o a two-l º * * * * world, and th - or/ them ; di : Kingdoms of the world, and all the luxury, and pomp, and ...;º. § % § 3 displaying to his view one of the finest prospects that the most pleasur- iv. 3.) LUKE able &nd triumphant scenes could furnis tºn .And with tha mas ; on c 3 e IV. and falsehood P. devil i. … i. i-hº, .ºnd, With the most egregious impudence Luke iv, 6. And the devil 6 th; jºr...ºf erºsºftto him, fill this extensive power, [an, ') all these splendid flºº, Jungs, º # ºf ſhee, gnd all the glory of them, which thou hast now before thee; (for #!!! º per # º all delivered to me," who am the prince of this world, and i give it to whom I pledge.) ºf * rº, c. 4- ;43- Y - * s’ * tº ſº • *_1 &n "Il Orr - - 4 ñº great i. º . H * º With that wisdom and magnanimity which i ije # whº will ave now observed in thee,9 that T- sixza i . kn * -- *- 7... If thou, therefore, wilt Canst imagine * for all ti ºr à ~3 - propºse to give it thee upon the easiest terms thou ſºil'loº ânăj worship me. ..º.º.º. o. ºil that I desire is, that thou shouldst pay me homage for it: if there iºniſt tie.”fººt". fore tholºgilt but fall down, gnd worship me, upon thy making this littlé acknowledgment ..] - to pºe, all these things shall be thine. 8 7 f > * . * * * * 2.5 }^ls --.] * e % = Then Jesus, mºved with indignation at so blasphemous and horrid a Suggestion, 8 And Jesus answered and ºvered and said unto him, with becoming resentment and abhorrence, Gef iſſº said ºimºiº. º, ºniº, i. º.º.º."##."º"..."; º; 20.7°tite? {III (13 II, GIR£3.1 Drece? * Y, ( ; a-chº. snait wors *{ Ford'ſ G ;” º 3. jºr º Of the ay, | eut. vi. 13.) ow shalt worship the Śā; alºonjiº. ord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” It would therefore be unlawful this to serve." Mää.ºid': Worship thee, who art no other than a mere creature, even though thou wast indeed his deputy on earth; and how much more then must it be so, as thou artin reality the great .” avowed enemy of Gºd and man!", for such, under all thy disguise, I well know thee to be. - rº- y ** * * * ~ * .* t º F 2 - g = Sr * 13, ind when the devil had ended all the temptation we have given an account of being so 13 And when the devil had baffled and confounded as not to be able to present any others which seemed more likely jº ºtiºhº 7 y § {}-,-,--> 7... * 4°f ºt e r?- ** * † * eparte II]. I. A to succeed, he departed from him for a season; yet secretly meditating some future assault. lºa rom him for a (Compare John xiv. 30. § * * ...” & g y & º w g * * * ge •ºr. Anº then the devil having left him, behold, a detachment of angels came and waited upon , Matt. iv., 11. Then the 11 him,' furnishing him with proper supplies for his hunger, and congratulating so illustrious flºº: a victory over the prince of darkness. ºšišº'; MPROVEMENT. MATT. WHO can read this account without amazement, when he compares the insolence and malice of the prince of ...Y. , darkness, with the condescension and grace of the Son of God? w er. 1, V That was it that animated and imboldened Satan to undertake such a work? Was it the easy victory he had ** obtained over the first Adam in paradise? or was it the remembrance of his ºn fall, from whence he arrogantly concluded, that no heart could stand against the temptations of pride and ambition?' Could he, who afterwards proclaimed Christ to be the Son of the Most High God, and had perhaps but lately heard him owned as such b a voice from heaven, make any doubt of his Divinity ? Or, if he actually believed it, could he expect to vanquish him? We may rather conclude that he did not expect it; but, mad with rage and despair, he was determined at least to worry that Lamb of God, which he knew he could not devour; and to vex with his hellish suggestions that innocent and holy soul, which he knew he could never seduce. Wretched degeneracy! How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning 4 to be thus eagerly driving on thine own repulse and disgrace! - But, on the other hand, how highly are we ºbliged to our great Deliverer, who hath brought forth meal out of 5, 8 the cater, and stoectness out of the strong ' Who can sufficiently adore thy condescension, O blessed Jesus ! who wouldst permit thyself to be thus assaulted and led from place to place by an infernal spirit, whom thou couldst in a moment have remanded back to hell, to be bound in chains of łº, and overwhelmed with flaming ruin The apostle tells us why he permitted this: it was that, having himself suffered, being tempted, he might, by this ex- perience that he had of Satan's subtilty, and of the strength of his temptations, contract an additional tenderness, and be the more inclined, as well as better able, to succourts when we are tempted. (Heb. ii. 18.) . Let this imbolden us to come unto the throne of grace, to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in the time of need. (Heb. iv. º 3 Let us remember and imitate the conduct of the great Captain of our salvation : and, like him, let us learn to resist Salan, that he may flee from us. Like Christ, let us maintain such an humble dependence on the divine 6 blessing, as never to venture out of the way of it, be the necessity ever so urgent; nor let us ever expose our- 8, 9 selves to unnecessary danger, in expectation of extraordinary deliverance. Like him, let us learn to overcome the world, and to despise all its pomps and vanities, when offered at the price of our innocence. I By demanding further evidence of what is already made sufficiently tºptgtion; but Luke makes it the second, whence it evidently appears ; : That this is the purport of the phrase, tempting, Gºd, is easy to that Luke did not confine himself exactſy to observe the order ºf time je seen from comparing Exod. xvii. 2, 7. Numb. xiv. 22, Psal. lxxviii. in his story; a remark of vast importance for settling the Harmony. iš. and fºil cºi. 3. "See Limborch, Theolog. lib. v. Cap. 22. § 16. See note g, on Luke i. 3. p. 17. sº e m One of the finest prospects that the most pleasurable and triumphant p : Get thee hence, Satan.] The word viraye Plº expresses his au- scenes could furmish º As Christ, was probably attacked with this thority over Satan, as well as his detestation of so, Yile a $gggestion. temptation upon some mountain in the ºpilderness, this beautiful and q. The great avowed enemy of God, and man.] This odious haracter taking prospect that was represented to him, being set off by the horror is intimated in the name Sátan, which our Lord gives him, by, which of the place he was in, would in such a contrast appear peculiarly he roade it to appear he knew Him, however he might seek to be dis- charming ; see note a, p. 47. uised. If we suppose him, now, to have, worn the fºrm of an angel of in For it is all delivered to me..] _Grotius has well observed, that this light, (as 2 Cor. xi. 14.) it will make both this and the former temptation contains a vić insinuation, that God had done what none that truly un- look more plausible; for thus he might prétend, in the fºrmºr, to take āşşūds the nature of God and the creature can suppose possible, the charge of Christ in his fall, as one gf his célestial #98 dº; and in namely, that he had parted with the government of the world out of his this, to resign him a province which God had committed to. his ad- gº finds. "Ånd we aid to this, that in the text which Christ has ministration and care. And this º, be consistent with ..º. that quoted, there is enough to overthroy that notion; since, God’s, appro- he first appeared as a man...(it may bººs & hº traye i; who pre- priating to himself the worship of all his creatures plainly implies his tended to ask the miracle of turning stones º: for his ?"; sup: universal empire and dominioſ, over all, and the regard he, hās to the ply ;) for angels under the Old Testament, had often i. i* § ſºft relixious º and º # º: ########, º gº gº xviii. 2. xix. 1, 10, 16. Josh. v. 13, 14. Judg. vi. it is remarkable, that, among other things which several heathen Writers 3 12. and XIll. J, O, LV- . * wº jśiñitº Christians, this was one, to represent evil spirits as +3,...is came and waited upon him...] The word 6takovstv does often tempting men from their duty by views of worldy riches gºd grandeur; signify to acait at table : , see Matt...viii. 15. Luke xvii. 8. xxii. 27. and Sº which, Porphyry in particular says, they often would pretend tò jºki. §. As one celestial spirit might have been abundantly suffi- much more power than they realiy have. See Elsner, Obsero. vol. i. p. ºient for thorelief of our Lord’s negeñsities, it is reasonable to suppose, 18, 19. ; ; ; ; #;";";º: "º arined with that—which I have now observed in thee.] im the more, illustrious honour? f y T; *:::::: §: most plausible view in which the temptation could be Śatan, to which, for wise and gracious reasons, he was pleased to con- introiu, ed.: it is plain from the next verse, that this was the last descend. JOHN THE BAPTIST's TESTIMONY TO CHRIST. 49 To furnish us for such a combat, let us take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Let us not only SECT. make ourselves familiarly acquainted with the words of Scripture, but let us study to enter into the true design 19. and meaning of it; that so, if Satan should attempt to draw his artillery from thence, we may be able to guard — ; that most dangerous stratagem, and tò answer perverted passages of holy writ, by others more justly Mart. applied. • , - Once more; when the suggestions of Satan grow most horrible, let us not conclude that we are utterly aban- Ver. 6 doned by God, because we are proved by such a trial; since Christ himself was tempted even to worship the 9 infernal tyrant. But in such cases let us resolutely repel the solicitation, rather than parley with it, and say, in imitation of our Lord's example, and with a dependence on his grace, Get thee behind me, Satan. 10 If our conflict be thus maintained, the struggle will ere long be over; and angels who are now the spectators 11 of the combat, will at length congratulate our victory. & SECTION XX. John the Baptist being oxamined by the great men, among the Jews, acknowledges that h; s was not the Christ; and refers them to one among them, whom he confessos to be vastly his superior. ohn i. 19–28. John i. 19. ANP thi, is the ºrd, ºf WE have already taken notice of the honourable testimonies that were given by John in SECT. John, when the Jews sent } - s - - its j'Lºire; ºn is a more general way to the Messiah in his discourses to the people, before Jesus was 20. #ºn to ask him. Whº" baptized. We shall proceed to others that were more particular, which followed after - that event; and this that we shall now produce is the testimony of John, when the san- ºn hedrim, or grand council of the Jews, at Jerusalem, sent some who were reckoned among 19 the most venerable and holy men of the nation, even some of the priests and Levites, to inquire of him, saying, Tell us plainly, who art thou that drawest such a crowd of people John i. 19. 83 - after thee, and pretendest to something so uncommon P .4nd John, according to the natural plainness of his temper, presently replied to their 20 inquiry; amá with the utmost freedom, he most readily acknowledged, and did not at all affect either to deny or to disguise his real character; but in the strongest terms he solemnly protested,” I am not the Messiah, nor would I in the least pretend to arrogate to myself the honours which are due to none but him. What then 2 Art thou Elias And, upon this, they further asked him, What art thou then, if thou art not the promised 21 Yº..”. Messiah? .4rt thou the celebrated Elijah, come down from that abode in heaven, to tºphet? And he which he was miraculously translated, & Kings ii. 11.) to introduce the great and terrible answered, No. day of the Lord? (Mal. iv. 5.) And, in reply to this, he said, with the same plainness as before, Though it is true that I am come in the spirit and power of Elijah, yet I am not he. And they again inquired of him, .4rt thou a prophet of the former generation raised from the dead?’ T.And he directly answered, JYo, Now as it only was in negatives that he had hitherto replied, they said unto him there- 22 Whº fore yet once more, Tellus then plainly, JWho art thou? that we may, in a more direct and i. Whatsayestiñolioſ satisfactory manner, give an answer to them that sent us. Hºllat dost thou say concerni "33% said, I am the voice thyself? And, that they might not be mistaken in his character, and might be wholly left 23 §§§ ſº jº, without excuse, if they regarded not the end for which he came, he said, I am (what I §§§ {...}} have frequently before declared myself to be) the voice of one crying here in the wilderness,d phet Esaias. and saying, Make the way of the Lord clear and straight, by rémoving every obstruction; for he is now appearing for such gracious purposes, as demand the most cheerful recep- tion; as Isaiah the prophet said, in a passage which you cannot but be acquainted .. (Isa. xl. 3.) .Now the messengers that came on this errand were of the sect of the Pharisees ; who, as on the one hand they professed a great regard for the prophets, and believed their existence in a future state, so on the other hand they strenuously opposed any innovations in reli- gion, which were not warranted by the tradition of the elders. And therefore, upon hear- ing this account that John the Baptist gave them of himself, they asked him again, and said unto him with some warmth, Hºhy then dost thou take upon thee thus to baptize° all that appear to be awakened by thy preaching, in token of the forgiveness of their sins; since, by thy own confession, thou art neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor even a prophet of lower rank raised from the dead - And John answered them, by repeating the testimony he had formerly borne to the peo- ple, (Luke iii. 16, p. 44) saying, I, indeed baptize you with water; but there is one that for some time has stood in the midst of you, and is now coming to be daily conversant among you, whom as yet you know not to be so eminent a person, who will administer a 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but comfessed, I am not the Christ 21 And they asked him 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may 24 And º which were sent were of the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said unto him; Why bap- tizest, thou then, if thou, be not that, Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet 2 2 5 25 John answere I thon", saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one gunong you whom ye know not : a Solemnly protested...] The word (ogo No.; ſtev is the same which is incssengers of God to Israel of old; which especially appears from Mark rendered acknowledged in the former clauso; but being thus repgated, vi. 15. where to be a prophet, and to be as onc of the prophets, are spoken its signification seems to be heightened, especially by its opposition to gx movna'ato, he denied not. - * * - - b Art thow the celebrated Elijah 3) It is plain by this question, that they were strangers to the parentage of J.; the Baptist. And with regard to the .. be makes to this inquiry, there is no sgruple to ps made, but that the Baptist might justly ony that he was Jºlijah, as R6 indeed was not that prophet, though he camc in kis spirit. 7 See Luke i. c Art thou a prophet of the former generation raised from the lead : ] It is necessary ğ. this question should bounderstoºd with such a limita- tion, because John the Baptist was really a Yery illustriggs ſº Rt.8 Rºe may plaimiy 'see from what is said by Christ himself. Matt: Si: 9. And this' interpretation (which is largely vindicated by Castalio) segms hylactand Erasmus, who, because of the er it as we do, that prophet; concluding without any proof, that the Jews understood Ijeut. xviii. 18, hot of the Messiah himself, but of some prophet of considerable notº, who was to introduce him; and Grotius has supposed the question that they offer to refer to joremiah, of whose return to life there was a mighty rumour that prevailed among the Jews. (Compare Matt. XYi. 14.) But I can see no reason to restrain it to a particular prophet; and since, (as Limborch well observes in his dispute with Orobio the jewº) that text in Deute: ronomy was the clearest and strongest in all the Mosaic. Writings to enforce the necessity of submitting to the Messiah, it is prºbable John would have corrected so great a mistake, if they had put the question to him upon this presumption. e best French versions render it as I have done; and indeed it seems to me that the word prophet in the Pºwgngelists wnery, signifies one of those holy men who were the much preferable to that of Theo article 6 ſpoºnrms, would ren of us distinct, which they could pot be but on this interpretation : and i the alternative j be left out, and it be read as it is in some manuscripts and printed copies, He is a prophet like one of the prophets, there will be a ſoundation for the same remark, and one of the prophets must signify give aſ thc ancicnt prophets. d. I am thc voice qf,gue crying in the wildcruess.]...The late archbishop of Cambray beautifully illustråtes the humility, of this reply, as if this illustrious prophet had said, “Far from being the §. or Elias, or one of the old prophets, I am nothing, but a voice; a sound that, as soon as it hath expressed the thought of which it is the sign, dies into air, and is known no more.” See Fenel. CEuvres Philas. vol. ii. p. 193. e PWhy then dost th9w take, upon the 9 thus to baptize 7] It is not to be certainly determined from this text, whether the baptism of proselytes was then in use among the Jews, or not. The words jéd will make a very, strong and, Well-adaptad sense, should they be understood, as if it had been said, Why is it then,that thou dost institute such a neip rite as this 2. But surely too they will be very proper in the other sense, if we should take them to imply, Why is it then that thou dost take upon theo, without auy commission from the Sanhedrim, to administer bap- tº and that not only"(as is usual) unto those who before this were heathems, but even to §e Jews 2 And this (for reasons which it would not be proper here to enter upon at large) I take to be the more probable sense, and so suppose John’s use of this ceremony in such a manner, to be a strong intimation that Jews as well as Gentiles must become prose; lytes to the new dispensation that was then opening to, the world; ºn howsoever holy they imagined themselves to be, yet they all stºod in absolute need of being washed from their sins; as he before had most emphatically declared, Matt. iii. 8, 9. p. 43 50 JOHN THE BAPTIST’S TESTIMONY TO CHRIST. sECT. much more noble baptism, attended with such miraculous effects as will abundantly 20. justify mine. And this is he, that cometh after !. as to the time of his appearance in the .27. He it is...who.coming * º - ferred b world, whom yet I have declared to have existed long before me; and who is therefore ºf: John upon all accounts deservedly preferred before me, as being one whose glorious dignity is not worthy to uploose. I. such, as that I freely own him to be vastly my superior; of whom I am not worthy to be *7 employed in any office as his menial servant, not even to unloose the latchet of his shoe, or to untie the string with which his sandals are bound on. 28 These things passed on the other side Jordan, at a place called Bethabara, ºr the house tº of passage, which lay near that part of the river which was miraculously dried up, that the Wº: §§§." Israelites under the command of Joshua might pass over into Canaan, (see Josh. iii. 16, and Judges xii. 6.) which was the place where John was now baptizing. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.20 How remarkably were the words of our blessed Redeemer fulfilled in John, He that humbleth himself shall be 21 exalted 1 (Luke xviii. 14.) He declined assuming the name of any of the servants of God among the prophets; and yet our Lord bore testimony to him, as of a higher rank than any of the prophets, than whom there was nome eater among those, that had in a natural way been born of women. (Luke vii. 28. 27 Did John, this great and illustrious saint, speak of himself as unworthy to untie even the sandals of Christ? what reverence then do we owe him and what reason have we to admire his condescension, that he should honour us, who are so much more unworthy, with the title of his servants! - 26 Let not any, the most distinguished of that happy number, wonder if . be unknown by the world, and perhaps, too, slighted and despised; since it appears that even Jesus himself, not only at his first appearance, stood unknown among the Jews, but afterwards was rejected by them, when his claim was solemnly entered, and his miracles most publicly wrought. 19, &c. Vain, and worsé than vain, was this message and inquiry which, when answered, was soon overlooked and forgot. May divine grace teach us to inquire as those that are in earnest in our search 1 and then shall we know to saving purposes, if we thus follow on to know the Lord. (Hos. vi. 3.) SECTION XXI. John the Baptist bears a repeated testimony to Jesus as the Lamb of GQd ; which proves an occasion of introducing some of his disciples into an acquaintance with him. John i. 29—42. JoBN 1. 29. John i. 29. SECT. THE mert day, after John had returned this answer to the priests and Levites who were THE next day John seeth 21. sent to inquire into his character and mission, he seeth Jesus (who was now returned from ſº. §§ * Behold, with the strictest attention and regard, that innocent and holy Person, who may €SUS § unto him, and the Lamb of - - - HS coming i r ox - f - * God, which taketh away the his temptation in the desert) coming towards him; and says to them that were near him, º.º.º. y 29 properly be called the Lamb of God; as it is he that is the great atoning sacrifice, of which the lambs that by divine command are daily offered in the temple were intended to be types; which expiates and takes away the sin” of the whole world, and is set forth to be a propitiation, not only for the Jews, for whom alone the sacrifices of the law were offered, but for the Gentiles too, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him, may 30 receive remission of sins. And I now point him out, and tell you, This is he of whom I 30 This is he of whom I formerly have said, That after me there comes a man who is to be preferred abundantly ºft.; *~, - - - which is preferred before me: before me, as being one that is incomparably greater and more excellent than I; for he for he was before ine. 31 existed long before me.” (Compare John i. 15, 27... p. 45, 50.) And till the time of his 31 And I knew him not: appearance in a public way, I was a stranger to him, and did not personally know him ; ; ; flºº * #: for it was ordered so by Providence, that notwithstanding the relation which there was ... come baptiziºtă between us, we were not brought up in any intimacy of acquaintanée with each other; * yet in the general I was aware of his inten ed approach; and it was chiefly for this end, with a particular regard to him, that I came (as you see) baptizing with water, that he might tº: be more remarkably made manifest to Israel, and might be introduced with greater solemnity. e - - - 32 And John proceeded at the same time, while Jesus was before him, and bore his testi- ...? And John, bag record, - º * - , , I * - - mony to him, *}; This must be certainly the Son of God; for I declare that when he jäg #. jiàº. was baptized, Í plainly saw the Holy Spirit, in a surprising token of his presence, de-dove, and it abode upon him. 33 scending with a hovering motion like a dope from heaven, and it abode upon him, #nd that nº ºil, ſº you may not suspect any . between us, I repeat the assurance which I but just ºitiºn...a...; now gave you, that I did not personally know him ; but as he was approaching to me, I ºf . º.º. - * - - - iv, d h - r h h I h ild C. b dis e ish d Shaſt see the Spirit descend- had a secret intimation given med that it was he, whom 1 should see to be distinguished ing, and remaining on him, the by this sign; for he that sent me to baptize with water, as an earnest of that nobler baptism j. j...';** which is now soon to be expected, even that God whose messenger I am, he said unto me by an unquestionable revelation, This is the sign that I will give thee, that upon whom }. shali see the Spirit descending in a corporeal and miraculous appearance, and remain- 34 ing upon him, this is he that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. ...And I saw this sign with º 34 # #º §ºS. º own eyes; and upon this .."; evidence it is, that I have testified already, and still 3: "******* go on to testify, that this is really the Son of God, who is come into the world in a human a The Lamb of God, which expiates and takes away sim:) . It is Yell convincing proof that he was a Yery extraordinary person, and was the observed by the author of that excellent treatise called Christ the JMedi- strongest reason, that could well have been assigned, to show that he ator, †† is the only sense in which a lamb can be said to take away was worthy of their superior regard. Compare note b, on John i. 15. sin. Many suppose this refers to the paschal lamb ; but that was not in p. 45. • * * * * its chief intention so much an expiatory as a eucharistical sacrifice. ç We were not brought up in any intimacy of acquaintance with each Grotius strangely enervates the force of this text, b º explain other.] This was very surprising, cºnsidering how nearly related the it of that reformation of the lives of men; to which Christ did not only, were to each other, and how remarkable the conception and birth of § press them by the doctrine that he taught, but gave them an example. of of them had been, as well as what frequent interviews they might have it in his death, redecming them {* it is said), (rº, their pºin. Coºtiº had at the yearly feasts at Jerusalem. There seems to have been a par- Žith his own precious blood; (i Pet. i. 18, 19.) Whereas,there is not any ticular hand of Providence, in thus preyenting that agauaintance that thing more evident, than that the great design, for which he died was to might otherwise have grown up to an intimacy and tenderness of friend: atomé for sin, and to exempt us from º: that ºr iniquities ship, which, in the eyes of a prejudiced and censorious world, might have ãeserted; that, having pit agai, sin by the sacrifice of himself, we might reſidered jºhn's testimony to Christ something suspected it is probile have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of our sins. Com- that both Zacharias and Elisabeth died while John was very young; pare Heb. ix. 26, 23. . i. 7. and Col. i. 14. - - - - and then he might soon forget Jesus, though he had seen him in his 5 fºr he existed before me..] Dr. Hammond abundantly vindicates infancy. this interpretation. Had ſporos here, as in some other Places, signified di had a secret intimation given me.] The supposition of this, which chief, es-t, not my, would have been joined with it; and ohn the Baptist is so º agreeable to John’s prophetic character, easily reconciles would have said he is, and not he was, my chief, which would appgently this text with John’s respectful speech to Christ, when he came to be jºbºa jºy flat tautology, instead of a feason; whereas Christ's baptized; (Matt. iii. 14, p. 46.) as Jansenius, and before him Chrysos- jjing ºied before John, though he was born after him, was a most tom, observed. CHRIST CALLS ANDREW AND SIMO.N. 51 form, to accomplish the great work of redemption and salvation; who is therefore most SECT. reverently and affectionately to be received by us, as we regard his Father's protection and favour. 35 Again, the next º after, John stood, and two o tw his disciples: ..º.º.º.º. was walking at some little distance, he takes occasion to repeat his former declaration, and ..l.º.º.b.; jº says to his disciples, that he might ièad them to a due regard to Christ, Behold the Lamb of God, whom # before have represented as the great expiatory sacrifice for the sins of Iſleſ). 37. And the two disciples , ºffnd when the two disciples that were with him heard him speak such high and #.º.º. * * honourable things of Christ, they took such notice of it, that they immediately went on and followed Jesus, who was then returning to a lodging which he had at a small distance 33, henºus turned, and from that place.* And Jesus turning back, and seeing them intent on following and coming º after [him] says to them, not to discountenance and turn them back, but to encourage and They said, unio him. ini, invite them to a free cºverse with hijñā, m. seek? and what may be the business (which is to say, being inter. - 2. * J . i bºd, Master; where dwell that you have with me? And they said to him, with the greatest reverence and respect, est thou ? - Rabbi, (which being translated from the Syriac, which was the language that was then spoken by the Jews, is the same with Master,) may we have leave to ask thee, where dost thow dwell? for we are desirous of making thee a visit, that we may enter into some con- - versation with thee, which would not be so proper or convenient in this public way. c.º.º. º. º. And, pleased to hear of the inquiry they º }. says unto them, Come with me now, R1C, SCG. cy Carne tº . e. and saw where he dwelt, and and see where it is I lodge; for you shall both be welcome to attend me home. And *ś" they most readily complied with his kind invitation, and came and saw where he dwell, taking particular notice of the place; and they went in, and continued with him all the re- mainder of that day; it being then about the tenth hour, or four in the afternoon; so that they had an opportunity of spending the whole evening in conversation with him, abundantly to their delight and satisfaction. - nº.º.º. ...Now Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, who will make so considerable a figure in this º: jº, history, was one of the two disciples that heard John [speak of Jesus] in the manner we Pºi brothºr: is …, have before related, and followed him. And so §§ Ygly was he transported with the e first findeth his own * & e & wº * & brothº. Simºn, andji ſ㺠pleasure that he found in his acquaintance with him, that hé was ready to impart the joy- ºśful news to others, to whom he knew it would be welcome; and hastening to communicate sias, which is, being inter- : * - 5 * * * * 3. tº g preted, 'The Christ. it to his friends, as the most acceptable tidings he could bring them, he first findeth his own brºther Simon, and tells him with the greatest joy, We certainly have found the promised Júessiah; (which being translated from the Hebrew or the Syriac tongue, is the Christ, or the Anointed One.) - - 42 And he brought him to . And, that his brother Simon might be satisfied of the truth of what he told him, he brought jº. wº #; ; him unto Jesus. And Jesus looking steadfastly upon him, as if he had read in his counte- § §§ &; §§§ nance the traces of his character, and of his future service in the church, said, at his isi; interºtatiº. A tº coming to him, Thou art Simon the son of Jonas;i and thou shalt also be called Cephas; - (which in the Greek may be expressed by Peter, and signifies a rock;) a name well adapted to his character, upon account of that resolute and patient firmness with which he should maintain the cause of the gospel; and which also expressed the use which should afterwards be made of him, as he should prove, in subordination to Christ, one of the great foundations of the church. JMIPROVEMENT. 21. 37 38 39 .dgqin it came to pass on the next day, that John was standing near the same place, and * o of his disciples at that time were with him." And looking steadfastly on Jesus,f as he ag" LET our faith daily behold Jesus under the character of the Lamb of God, a Lamb indeed without blemish and Ver.29 without spot; by whose precious blood we are redeemed, as by an infinitely more valuable ransom than silver and fold. (I Pet. i. 18, 19.) As such let us humbly apply to him to take away our sins, and rejoice that (as the apostle ohn elsewhere expresses it) he is the propitiation, not for our sins only, # also for the sins of the whole world; all ages and nations being interested in the benefit of his atonement. (i John ii. 3.) Let us consider him as anointed by the Holy Spirit, and as baptizing his church with it; and learn, after the 33, example of John the Baptist, to bear our testimony to him again and again, with continued steadiness and grow- et seq. ing zeal. e Our satisfaction in him as the great and only Saviour, will surely grow in proportion to our acquaintance with him. If divine grace hath discovered him to us, and taught us to repose the confidence of our souls upon him, let us, like Andrew in the passage before us, be concerned to make him known to others; and especially to lead our nearest relatives and our most intimate friends into that acquaintance with him which is so absolutely neces- sary to their eternal happiness! - • . et the condescending readiness with which our blessed Redeemer accepted, and even invited, the visit of these two disciples, engage every, preacher of righteousness most willingly to give his private as well as his public labours, and his time, (valuable as that treasure is,) to the service of those who are seriously affected with the con- cerns of their souls, and are inquiring after the way to salvation. We are sufficiently honoured if, by any means, and by all, we may be instrumental in promoting that cause which employed the daily labours of God’s incarnaté sº Son, and at length cost him his very blood! 40. that Andrew was one of these; and perhaps John, the beloved apos- family, who possibly might be his brother-in-law, or was related to him tle, might be the other, who being the penman.9f this gospel, does fre- only in half lood.-Peter was sg remarkable a, person, that it might be quéntly conceal his name. Compare John xiii. 23. and xx. 2. . - prºper, to tell us; Xho was the first, means of bringing him acquainted f Dooking steadfastly on Jesus.] ºf his seems the most exact signification with Christ; and if John was the other disciple that is here referred to, of the word #. and I have thus translated it again in ver. 42. he might mean this as an humble intimation that Andrew’s zeal was in A lodging at a 'small distance, from that place.]. As Jesus was a his spect greater, hag his QYū-Ye, may observe here by the way, person who had no attendants, and was a stranger in this .# we that Peter was not the first of Christ’s disciples, (in which the papists may conclude, that he had only some obscure and private lodging here; would have been ready to have #º but that another was the means which must have been at no É." distance from the place where John of bringing him to an acquaintance with Jesus. T e Tuco of his disciples were with him.j . It plainly appears by ver, his gº? brother, to distinguish him from some other that belonged to the baptized, as may be gathered from his º ºfrº.º.º.day. .i Thou art Simon.) Some have thought, that Christ intended an allu- nd by this means he did an honour to John’s ministry, and had an op- sion here to his name. Simon; which may signify a hearer, intºn; the portunity of receiving his testimony. candour and impartiality with which he was Willing to hear Christ’s in- y tº gº * h 14e first findeth his own brother Simon.] This is a much more literal structions. (Ščeijr. §§§ notc.) But I did not express this in the translation of Euptaket ouros ſpºros géex$ov Tov távoy, 2tpoua, than paraphrase, because it is not certain., Perhaps our Lord only meant to that of the new translation in 1727, which renders it, The first that, he show, that though he had never seen him before; he knew his name and found, or happened to meet with, was Peter.—He may perhaps be called his family. Compare ver. 48. and John iv. 16, 19. 39 41 39 52 CHRIST CALLS PHILIP. - - : - SECTION XXII. +-- & The calling of Philip, and the interview of Christ with Nathanieſ. John i. 43, to the end. - i 4: John i. 43. Jo H.N. i. 43. SECT. THE next day after he had met with Peter, Jesus determined to depart from thence” to THE day, fºllowing, Jesus 22. Galilee, and there to enter, on his public ministry; and at his coming thither he findeth ºf Philip, whom he intended for one of his most intimate companions, and says unto him, unto him. Follow me. *N Follow me; which, being secretly influenced by his grace, he accordingly did. Now .44 Now Philip was of Beth- 44 Philip was an inhabitant of Bethsaida, which was a town of Galilee on the sea of Tiberias, ...}, ... * of Andrew and was also the city of Andrew and Peter, who have already been particularly mentioned; and by his calling these disciples, he gave an intimation of his purpose of making some longer stay in that country. 45 And Philip, after he was thus become a follower of Christ, findeth his pious friend ...; Philip findeth, Natha- nael, and saith unto him, We .Vathaniel, who was also of Galilee, and lived in a town of it which was called Cana, § “..."hºº"...i. (John xxi. 2.) and says unto him, We have found him who has so long been earnestly ex- ...º.º. ºf pected by us, even that illustrious and extraordinary Person, whom Moses gave us an K...fi. account of in the law, and whom the prophets also have described" in such a strong and - lively manner; and with the greatest joy I am come to tell thee, I know him who he is º: ºus the son of Joseph, who comes from Nazareth, and is undoubtedly the promised €SS18.H., - 46 -?nd when Nathaniel heard that he was one of Nazareth, his prejudice against the place .45 And Nathanael said uni 4. S-> to him, Can there any good was such, that he was ready to conclude that Philip was mistaken; and he therefore said it...º.º. unto him, Can any good thing at all, and especially any such great and glorious blessing ...aith unto him, Come as this, come out of a place so infamous as Vazareth 2d And Philip says unto him, Do - - not suffer yourself to be borne away by a vain popular prejudice, but come and see; con- verse with him yourself, and you will soon be satisfied. 47 Now when Jesus saw Mathaniel coming towards him, (though there was no personal ac-...ſº lºw, Nahºº! cº sº coming to him, and saith of uaintance between them,) at the first sight of him he presently discerns what was his real hiº." Beijä", "fjºi; i. character, and says, concerning him, so loud that he might easily hear it, Behold here deed, in whom is no guile;" cometh one [that is] truly an Israelite, º Rev. iii. 9, and John viii. 39.) a person that indeed deserves the honourable title of one of God’s people, and is worthy of his descent from Jacob, his pious ancestor, as being a plain and upright man, in whom there is no de- ceit, either towards God or man. (See Gen. xxv. 27.) 48 . Nathaniel, perfectly surprised at such an unexpected testimony, presently says, with all tº Nºhangel saith, intº º - - him, WI {I}OW the natural frankness of his temper, to him, Whenre dost thou know me, or how canst thou º'; at once thus undertake to answer for the most secret part of a stranger's character? Jesus ºilº * © º :-ol + 4. 4. called thee, when thou wast replied, and said unto him, I am not so entirely a stranger to thy character as thou art under the fiº, fººth. ready to suppose, nor do I take it merely from uncertain report; for before Philip called thee, I saw thee, when thout wast alone under the #. :* and as I was present in spirit to observe what passed in that secret retirement, I know how well thou deservest the testi- mony which I have now borne to thy integrity. * 49 'athaniel was so struck with this express reference to what he knew none could be .49 §"; hiº; Illy <01, - - - e - * * d saith witness to but God and his own conscience, that all his *. were at once removed; jºhº...?'..."; and he immediately "; to Christ, and says, with all that openness and candour that art the King of Israel. * - - - - e was so natural to him, Rabbi, from this one circumstance I cannot but believe all that my friend hath told me concerning thee; and therefore I not only honour thee as a wise and holy teacher, but am convinced that thou art the Son of God; yea, that thou art the promised Messiah, whom we so º have been expäcting as the King of Israel; for surely such divine knowledge can be lodged in no meaner person." 50 And Jesus upon this replied, and said into him, Dost thou believe me to be the promised .50 *...º.º.º. - Messiah, and the Son of God, merely because I told thee, that I saw thee wrider the fig- ..." "::"... .". tree ? Thou, who discoverest so honest and teachable a temper, shalt see much greater fig-tree, believestthou? thou things than these to prove it. ..ſind he accordingly proceeds and says, not only unto him, tº see greater things than but unto all that were then present with him, Vºjilj, ºrillſ, I say unto you,” and solemnly vºiº *...*. declare it as a most certain truth, to be regarded with the most diligent attention, and º''''''''''''''. received as coming from the mouth of one who is truth itself, That from this time you #º shall see such a surprising train of miraclesh wrought by me, in the whole course of my scending upon the son of succeeding ministry, that it shall seem as if heaven was opened, and all the angels of God “ were continually (as they appeared in vision to Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 12.) ascending and a Determined to depart from thence ; tıöz) ratv ºf A9:ww.] The fºrce Zech. iii. 19. I; that day ye shall cºll écºry inan his neighbour, under tha of the word 9:Aº seems to be something greate than our translatiºn . § ; ; §§ º º; #. e saw him § 5 : ‘63 86 Wº Xts ich may guiggest the H* | *T*.*.*.*** - * : * ~ manner; and 11 is very probable *::::::::::: nº.º.º. ...] ; £i. iº ſº #. h; wº then §ºf lº secret devout meditations. See Dr. * * * * ..". º: " -> *... • * * : * A*...* * s º- -* "r * ---- * : : - º, W." - : "RS 7). Y * º - s 20. John iii. 8 v. 21, 40. vii. 17. viii. 44. xvii. 24. xxi. 22. and 2 Tinn. iii. }*. : º ::::::::: W 0 ‘. P i. - 12.) Perhaps it may here intimate, that our I-9rd on this occasion broke such anyºne knoyedge can pg. 13 ; in no meaner person.] Just through the importunity of some, who would rather have persuaded % thºgºnºſ. Squarigºugd: Joſ; i.33; Qºlşe, sº a maſſ phich #: "..."...i..'...}}}..."; i.d.º.º.º. tºld me all things that cºer] did is not this the Christ? which plain;". from the Éaptist, or to have gone to Jerusalem, where they might ima- tºº, that they ºpposed the Messiah you'd be endowed with the ine that his ministry would have been opened more honouiably than in ºf perfººt knowledge, and have the gift of prophecy in the highest alilee. Compare John vii. 3, 4. (: {} ğı º; was a É. deal of $3. in Nat º; making such ing secretly influenced by his grace.] When we consider how tº tegºrittºoſ, if it WºS, before a mixed company for rist’s assuming b. Being ly y J the title of the Son ºf God, was afterwards interpreted to be no less than -w suddenly some of Christ’s disciples left their stated employments to : follow im. according as we |...}. Matt. iv. 18–22. Luke v. § 28. and blasphemy. John x. 36. and xix. 7. xix., 5, 6.) it seems reasonable to allow some singular kind º g, Perily, cérily, I say unto you ; gym', apm’, \{yto vpty..] There is on their mind, (as there was in the º of Elisha, 1 Kings xix. 19–21.) no doubt but that these words are to be taken for a solemn affirmation; which though for the present it, superseded the necessity of arguments, in which it is observable, that John has constantly repeated the men. yet did not exclude, their attending to that afterwards, which might be white it is only mentioned once by the other evangelists. And this wº necessary to defend their conduct to others. . may suppose him to have done either to excite the greater attention, or c Whom JMoses—and the prophets have described: ov expaupe Majans in a more emphatical and stronger manner to assert the truth, not only rat ow. Toogºmrat.j . This is a very literal translation: for ypadº fre- ºf the thing affirmed, but of the person tha; ºffirms it; For as amen in quently is used in the same sense elsewhere, 2nd in jºi: is justly Hebrew signifies truth, (Isa. lxv. 16.) So Christ, as being the true and Hendered thus, Rom. 3.5. (Compare josh. Kviii. i.judg. viii. 14. and faithful titless, is called, the Amen...[Rev. iii.,14.). This repeated as- * - ! - severation therefore may be considered as an intination to us; not only that the saying unto which it is prefixed is ##}. that we should re- *A'. 22. Septuag.) N cth.] As Nati I - f ace so infamous as JVaz As s Nathaniel was a native o - ** - * - p JVazareth.] m gard it as proceeding from the true and faithful PWitness. See lºr. Light- foot's Harmony, and Hor. Heb. in loc. Galilee, it #5. from hence that the Galileans themselves had but an ill opinion of Nazareth, as worse than the rest of that country ; and in- * - - - - - deed, by the figure its inhabitants make in the Evangelists, they seem to h From this time you shall see a train of miracles.] Accordingly, within have deserved it. See Luke iv. 16, 28, 29. and Matt. xiii. 54, et seq; . three days one glorious miracle was, perfºrmed by, Christ at Cana of e. When thou wast under the fig-tree.] 1 see, no reason at ai to think; Galilee ; which, being the town to which Nathaniel belonged, there is with Heinsiſts, that the conviction produced by these words in the mind great reason to believe he was present with the rest of Christ’s disciples of Nathaniel, proceeded from the ..}. he perceived them to bear to at it. Compare John ii. 2, 11. §ect. 23. 5 1 CHRIST ATTENDS A MARRIAGE-FEAST AT CANA. 53 descending ſº wait] upon the Son of man, and to receive and execute his orders: and SECT. thus you will be furnished with a most convincing proof that, humble as the form of my 22. present appearance is; I am indeed the illustrious Person foretold under, that title, and am intended for that glorious throne, around which the highest angels shall account ºf . honour to appear as humble attendants, when the whole world shall be convened efore 15. - JOHN * IMPROVEMENT. How cautiously should we guard against popular prejudices, which possessed so honest a heart as that of Ver,46 Nathaniel, and led him to suspect that the blessed Jesús himself was an impostor, and that no good could be expected from him, because he had been brought up at Nazareth ! But his integrity prevailed over that foºlish bias, and laid him open to the conviction of evidence, which a candid inquirer . always be glad to admit, even when it brings the most unexpected discovery. - How amiable is the character here given of Nathaniel: An Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile ! Ma the attainment of so excellent a character, and a resemblance to him in it, be the daily aim and emulation of who have the honour to be called into the Israel of God A constant intercourse with God in secret devotion will be a happy expression of one branch of this sincerity, and an effectual means of promoting the rest. Letit therefore be our care that the eye of him that seeth in secret, may often behold us in religious retirement, pouring out our souls before God, and humbly consecrating them to his service. The day will come, when those scenes of duty which were most cautiously concealed, shall be com- memorated with public honour: and when he who now discerns them, and is a constant witness to the most private exercises of the closet, will reward them openly. (Matt. vi. 6.) - Happy were those who saw the miracles performed by the Son of man while he was here on earth ! and happy 3 those favourite spirits of heaven which were ascending and descending as ministers of his to do his pleasure!. But in some degree yet happier are they who, having not seen, have believed, John xx. 29. As their faith is peculiarly acceptable, it shall ere long be turned into sight. They shall behold much greater things than ever were seen below, and more extraordinary manifestations of his glory than they can now conceive ; and, being brought with all his people to surround his throne, shall join in those nobler services which attendant angels render him ab ve. 4 7 SECTION XXIIF. - Christ attends a marriage-feast at Cana in Galilee, and Iniraculously changes water into wine. John ii. 1–1}. Jo IIx ii. 1. ANT) the third day there was a marriage in Cuna of Gali- lee; and the mother of Jesus was there : . .N'O}W the third day after Christ's Jo HN ii. 1. coming into Galilee, and discoursing there with Natha- niel, in the manner we have related above, there was a marriage at Cana, a town in Galilee,” which originally belonged to the tribe of Asher, (John xix. 28.) and Mary the mother of Jesus was there ;b it being the marriage of a near relation or an intimate friend of hers. 3. g-> F-y 2 And both Jesus was call- ºnq Jesús, and those of his ei ºisie to tº jºi ſ㺠º j ordan, with Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel, neighbourhood, were invited to the marriage : and Jesus, not affecting i. D].3.II 13.36. * - known to be in the the austerities which became the character and ministry of John the Baptist, freely ac- cented of the 3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have WY 11] [2. expected ; and when invitation, and favoured them with his instructive presence. tls Now, as it was known that Jesus would be present at the feast, this, in conjunction #3 with the events which had lately risen, occasioned a greater resort of company than was the wine provided for the entertainment of the guests fell short, the mother of Jesús, who either had seen some of his miracles in private, or received from him some hint of his intention, now” thought proper to inform him of it, and says unto him, 4 Jesus saith unto her, Wºo- man, what have I to do with COſ (10. Son, dost thou observe they have no wine to carry on the feast 2 - But Jesus not approving it, that she should take upon her to direct him in the exercise theº'ſ inéiouſ is not yet of his miraculous power, says freely to her, with an air of serious rebuke, and in a plain- ness of language suited to the simplicity of those ages and countries, O }}oman," what hast thou to do with me,” thus to direct me how and when my miracles are to be wrought? Let me now say at once for all, this is a thing that does not lie within thy proper sphere; and in particular, for what is now proposed, my time of doing it is not yet come, but it is i The angels of God ascending and descending.] If Nathaniel was, as some have thought, the person afterwards called Bartholomew, and made an apostle, (see Lightfoot’s Hor. Iſcúra. on Matt. x. 3.) he must regard the vision of angels attending Christ’s ascension as a glorious accomplishment of these words; as his final appearance at the day of judgment, when thº, Son of man shall come in his glory, and ail the holy angels with him, will yet more eminently be. Comparé Matt. xxvi. §4. where aſſ’ apri so plainly signifies hereafter, that I much question whether it might not justly have been rendered so here; but where i am dubious, I always choose the more extensive se::se, in which (as here) the more limited is generally comprehended. especially as he is no where mentioned in the gospel afterwards. Dr. Lightfoot’s Harmony, in log. .c Either had seen some of his miracles in private, or received some hiat, &c.] With Qut supposing the one, or the other of these, one can hardly imagine why she should thus apply to him on this occasion. For she could scarce suppose ire had money to htty any large quantity. ; nor would it have been so proper to have done it, if he had, lest it should have been interpreted as an affront to the bridegroom. but the supply that she expected, from him, was, by his working of a miracle : an: it is plain, that, not withstanding the rebuke she justly nuet with, yet she had still a view to this, by her direction to the servants afterwards, ver. 5. to do whatever he should order them. d O websnan.] We have no reason to conclude that there was any ruleness in his addressing to his mother thus. For though indeed it is a manner of expression that is very unusual among us, to call a person tºo man, when we are speaking to her, if she be one to whom we think that any respect is due ; yet some of the politest writers of antiquity make the most well-bred anºl accomplished princes use it, in their addressing unio ladies of the highest quality; and cwen servants too are sometimes represented as speaking to their mistresses in the same lan- See * Humble as the form of my present appearance is...] Though it be very true, as Dr. Sykes has excellently proved at large, that the phrºsa Soni of man does generally refer to the glorious kingdom over which Christ was to preside, according to the prophecies of Daniel, yet I think it equally evident, that it is originally used in the Testament in a sense that carries something of humiliation in it. See Job xxv. 6. Psal. viii. 4. cxliv. 3. Isa. li. 12; and ºiak Psal. lxii. 9., where we justly translate bºls ºn, men of low degree. A multitude of texts as well a 3 this before us, appear with great advantage, when this remark is attend- ed to ; though Le Clerc cannot by any means be vindicated in confining his interpretation so entirely to this latter view a Cana, a town in Galilee.] It lay toward the southern pºſt, Qf the land of Asher, (Josh. xix. 28.) and might be cºlled Caña in Galilee, to distinguish it from another town of that name in Coelosyria, Incationed by Josephus. Antiq. Jud. lib. xv. cºp. 5. [al. 6..] § 1. p. 731. IlacCr- £617???). - & b "the mother of Jesus acas there.]. Some have sapposed, this marriage to be celebrated at the house of Cleopas or Alplieus, whose wife was sister to the mother of our Lord, (John Xix. 25.) and one of whose sons was Simon the Canaanite, whom some have thought to be so called, from his being an inhabitant of this Cama. (Alark iii. 18.) . And this may be considered as the more probable, as Alary was not only present at the feast, but was §§d about supplying them with wine ; and when the feast was over, we are told at ver, 12, that Jesus was attended, at his leaving Cana, not only with his own disciples, but with his brethren, or his nearest kinsmen, who probably came thither ºs rela- tions, to bé present at the marriage.—As Mary here is spoken of alone, it may be reasonable to conclude, that Joseph was now dead, and that he lived not to the time when Jesus entered on his public ministry, guage; There are, some instances of this referred to in Blackya!!’s Sacred Classics, vol. i. p. 235, to which many more might easily be added. G Phat hast thou to do trith ºne 3} Some have thought 71 pou kat cot, might be rendered, PP hat is that to me and thee 3 “What does it signify to us; or what concern is it of ours, if they want wine º’ But Jesus was of so benevolent a temper, and Mary seems to be so far con- cerned as a relation, that it does not in this sense appear to be so proper a reply. It see:S rathºr to be intended as a rebuke to Mary ; and it was surely expedient she should know, that Jesus was not upon such occasions to be directed by her. And nothing is more evident, than that the phase in other places, has the meaning that our yersion gives its See Matt, viii. 29, and Judges xi. 12. 2 Saifi. xvi. 10. 1 Kings xvii. 18, 2 Kings iii. 13. and ix. 19. Septuag. f Jºſy time is not yet come.] Some are for adding a note of interroga- tion here, (as Gregory Nyssen does,) and so would render it, Is not my time yet conc 3 As if he had said, “Am I not old enough to know when to work miracles? and now that I have entered on my public ministry, is it not time that I should be exempt from thine authority and should be left to govern my own actions without any direction §; SEC T. 23. JCHN disciples that were with him, (namely, the two º that 2 ) being " e * x II. 54 CHRIST CHANGES WATER INTO WINE. SECT. best to wait a little longer, and leave it to my conduct to determine when it will be the 23. JCH N II. Ver. fittest and the most convenient season for me to interpose. In this his mother readily acquiesced, as conscious to herself that she had been over- hasty in the ſº but yet, as she inferred from his answer that he intended them s some extraordinary supply, she says unto the servants, with some degree of authority, as being in pºrt concerned in managing the feast, Whatever he shall order you, see that you carefully do [its] for he may have reasons for it, beyond what you imagine. .Voig there were set there, near the room in which the feast was kept, sic water-pots or jars of stºne, from whence the water might be taken that was made use of by the guests to...wash their hands and feet, and that was necessary for the washing of the cups and other vessels that were used at table, according to the Jewish custom of purifying, which in some instances was grown to such a superstitious nicety, as to requite a considerable quantity of Water to be ready upon such occasions: these jars were therefore of a consider- 7 able bigness, containing each of them two or three measures.h And Jesus choosing, for wise Teasons, to make use of these rather than the vessels in which the wine had before been cºntained, after some convenient pause, that the failing of the wine might be the more observed, gºes to the servants that were waiting, and says to them, Fill up those jars with S water. , ºff they filled them up to the very brim. And, having presently transformed the Water by his divine power into excellent wine, he says unto them, Now draw some of it out, and carry it to the president of the feast. And, in obedience to the orders Jesus gave them, they carried [it] to him. - - .Now when the president of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew hence it came, (though the servants that drew the water very well knew,) observing 5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. *..., 6 .6 And there were set there six water-pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. SS, 7, Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with wa- ter., And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them, raw out now, and bear unto l the feaSt. the , governor o And they bare it. 9 9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was, (but the servants which drew the water knew,) the governor of the feast called the bride- groom - - ió"And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine ; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: , but thou hast kept the good wine until now. 726; 10h that it had a finer flavour than any they had drank before, the president of the feast calls 10 for the bridegroom, at whose expense he reckoned that this wine had been provided; And says ºnto him, thou hast acted to-day in a very uncommon manner, for every man that makes a feast, first sets out the good wine, and when they have drank plentifully, so that their taste is not so delicate as before, then brings out that which is worse; [but] thow hast kept the good wine until now, and towards the conclusion of the feast surprisést us with ºisiºn bºttº: than we have yet tasted. This naturally gave the bridegroom an opportunity of declaring that he knew nothing of this new supply; which occasioned an examination of the servânts, and so a discovery of what Christ had done in it. This was the beginning of his public miracles, which Jesus wrought (as we have now related) in Cang of Galilee, and thereby manifested his glory; and that in such an illus- trious manner, that his disciples believed on him more sº than before, as the fact was so certain and so remarkable. II 11 This beginning of mira- cles, did Jesus in Capa of Galilee; and manifested forth his. §.; and his disciples believed on him. IMPROVEMENT. WE have here the first of Christ's public miracles, which we find was not wrought till about his thirtieth year. How much sooner could he have glorified himself, and amazed the world by the display of his divine power! But he waited his Father's call, and the delay added at length to the lustre of his works. It was performed to grace a nuptial solemnity: and who doth not see, that it was in effect a testimony borne to the honour and purity of that happy state, on which so much of the comfort of the present generation, and the existence of the future, regularly depends? -- How happy were these guests while Jesus was among them and how condescending did he appear, in making one on the occasion! His social and obliging temper should sweeten ours, and be a lesson to his followers, that they avoid every thing sour and morose, ; do not censure others for innocent liberties, at proper seasons of festivity and joy. - If his mother met with so just a rebuke for attempting to direct his administration in the days of his flesh, how absurd is it for any to address her, as if she had a right to command him on the throne of his glory! And how indecent for us to direct his supreme wisdom as to the time and manner in which he shall appear for us in any of the exigencies of life Her submission and faith manifested on this occasion are truly amiable: and with this we have surely reason to admire the benignity and generosity of Christ in this miracle before us, who consulted the pleasure and enter- tainment, as well as the necessity, of his followers; and by this abundant supply amply repaid any extraordinary expense which he might have occasioned to the family. How easily could he, who thus turned water into wine, have transformed every entertainment of a common table into the greatest delicacies, and have regaled himself daily with royal dainties! But, far superior to such animal gratifications, he chose the severities of a much plainer life. Blessed Jesus! who can say whether thou º 11 I 2 5 8 use of these large vessels, thus to, add to the dignity of the miracle, by But I conceive the sense in which it is generally taken, to be more natural and easy ; and I would rather choose to understand it of the time when he intended to perform this miracle, for which the proper moment, though very near, was ngt yet quite come, than to refer it in a more general way to the time of his doing miracles, in public, or more particularly to restrain it to the time of his suffering; yhich Christ inicod has elsewhere called his hour, and which Mr. L'Enfant supposes him here to intimate, that he would not anticipate by provoking the jeºs too soon; for this it would haye implied a denial of his mother’s request, which it is plain, from ver. 5. she did not apprehend, and which the event shows that Christ did not design. . * * Was grown to such a superstitious nicety..] Besides the pitriſtcq; tiºns that were appointed by the law of God, there was a multitutiº of others that were then practised in compliance with the tradition ºf the eiders. Compare Mark vii. 3, 4. and see Godwin’s Jºſoses and Maron, lib. iii. cap. 11. § 4. º - h Tuco or three measures.] The measures of the aucients are so Yery unce-tain, that it is hardly possible to determine the exact content of those vesseſs. Some havé Gomputed them to contain about two or three jogsheads; and it is rendered so in on translation as tº make them gºtain above a hundred gallons. i3 it it is hardly probable the vessels were solarge; and as the word pºpmras signifies no inore than nea- sures, it is much better we should leave it as we find, it unless the quantity could be determined yith more certainty. It seems most Erobable that as the Jewish bath was the most coºpmon measure that was used in liquids, this is the quantity designed, where measures are expressed without any limitation. And as the Jewish bath is regiºned to contain four gallons and a half, the content, of these vessels, if they are computed only at two measures each, will amount to no less than fifty-four gallons, which may be reckoned a suffigient quantity. See Dr. Lightfoot's Harmony, in loc. and Godwin’s JMuses and Aaron, lib. V j, Cſº, ?!. - • * i §§ to make use of these.] Jesus might rather choose to make the liberal quantity of time produced, which we have no reason to believe was all drank that day. If the feast, as was usual, lasted seye- ral days, (Gen. xxix. 27, 28. and Judg. xiv. 12, 17.) a considerable expense might by this Ineans be saved, and an equivalent given for the additional charge of entertaining so many of liis disciples. Not to say, that this would prevent any suspicion that the tincture or taste of the acater might be derived from any remainder of acine in the vessels: for indeed the goodness of the wine thus made, would be sufficient to obviate such a thought. k When they have drank pleatifully..] Though ſuc0vety often signifies, to drink to excess, yet it would be very unjust and absurd to suppose, that it implies here that these guests had already transgressed the rules of tempera:lee. None can seriously imagine the evangelist so destitute of common sgnse, as to represent Christ as displaying his glory, by miraculously furnishing the company with wige to prolong a drunken revel. It is much more :a::...ii. to conclude, that it signifies here (as it does in Gen. xiii. 34. Cunt. v. 1:... and Hag. i. 6. Septuag.) only to drink so fºrcely, as intiocently to exhilarate the spirits. Añd even this perhaps might only be the case of some of them, and particularly not of those who, drawn by a desire to converse with Jesus, might be but lately come in. e 1 This beginning of his public miracles.]. This interpretation seems much preferable to that of Grotius, who only supposes that this was the jirst miracle wrºught at , Cana, aſ other being afterwards mentioned, (John iv. 46. § 31 } for it is plain there must have been a long series of miracles wrought here to justify such a manner of speaking, which doth not at all appear to have been the case. . It, rather seems to be here represented only as the first of his public miracles; for it seems probable that the necessities of the family might sometimes have engaged him to hay: done something miraculous for its relief in private. See note c, D. Q3. JESUS CELEBRATES HIS FIRST PASSOVER AT JERUSALEM. art greater in what thou didst, or in what thou didst not do? 55 May none of us thy followers be too intent on in- SECT. dulging our taste, or any of our other senses; but pursuing those intellectual and devotional pleasures which 23. Were º meat and thy drink on earth, may we wait for that good wine which thou reservest forthy peºple tº the last, and for those richer dainties with which thou wilt feast those who shall drink it with thee in thy Father's king- º dom! (Matt. xxvi. 29.) t SECTION XXIV. Our Lord celebrates the first passover of his public ministry at Jerusalem; and yindicates the outer court of the temple from the profanation of t hose that bought and sold there. John ii. 12, to the end. John ii. 12. after Jesus had attended at this marriage, where he miraculously turned the water SECT. John ii. 12. AFTER this, he went down NOW to Capernaum, he, and his 5 jojºbº, ji into wine, he and his mother, and his brethren, (or his near relations,) and his disciples, who 24. tº were now ready to attend him wheresoever he should go, went down from Çana to Caper- - naum, a city that lay near the north part of the sea of Galilee, on the south border of the John land of Naphtali; and at this time the stay they made was but short, for they continued II. 13 And the Jews’ passover there not imány days. was at hand, and Jesus w t up to Jerusalem, .#nd the reason of their leaving it so soon was, that the passover of 13 * the Jews drew near,” when it was ordered by the law of Moses, that all the males should appear before the Lord; (Exod. xxiii. 17. and Deut. xvi. 16.) and therefore Jesus, who maintained a religious regard to the ceremonial as well as the moral part of the law, went wp to Jerusalem to worship at the º - JAnd, at his coming thither, he found in the outer court and cloisters of the temple, those 14 that, under a pretence of accommodating such as came to worship there with proper sacri- fices, sold oven, and sheep, and doves ;b and he also saw there the money-changers sitting at their tables, who, for a certain profit, changed any foreign coin into that which was cur- rent, and larger pieces of money into half-shekels, which were on some occasions to be 15 And when he had made paid into the sacred treasury. (Exod. xxx. 15.) Now, at the sight of this, Jesus was i.º.º.º. moved with a just indignation, to think that so sacred a place, honoured with such pecu- je."...i. the sheep, and liar tokens of the divine presence, should be profaned in this audacious manner, and so ºf great an affront be put on the devout Gentiles, in whose court this market was kept; and tº the tºies: therefore, having made a whip of the small cords, (with which they were used to tie the beasts to some rings fixed in the pavement for that purpose,) he %. them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the orén, which they had brought into it; and he also poured out 16 And said unto them that the money of the exchangers, and overturned the tables at which they were sitting. .4nd he ſº said to }.} that sold doves, Take all these things away from hence directly; [and] do not, §§§ºn for shame, make my Father's house, by such scandalous practices as these, an house of dize. public traffic, and turn it to a tommon market-place, or exchange. Now, by his saying thus, he openly proclaimed that God was his Father,” and made such a declaration of his 17 And his disciples remem- divine mission as could not but be greatly observed by the multitude. ...?nd his disciples, Hº, when they saw so meek a person in such an unusual transport of just displeasure, relºcin- ºnmenon bered that it was written of David," in words which well expressed the character of Christ on this occasion, (Psal. lxix. 9.) “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up ;” as if it were said, A regard for the honour of thy sanctuary, like a secret flame glowing in my bosom, preys upon my spirits, and would have consumed me had I not given it vent. * im, What si A fact so public and remarkable as this, could not but immediately come to the know- *...*.*. Whº ledge of the priests and rulers of the Jews,” whose supreme council sat in a magnificent that thou doest these things? chamber belonging to the temple:f some of them, therefore, when they heard of it, an- sidered and said unio him, By what authority dost thou thus take upon thee to reform what is amiss here, and what sign dost thou shew us, seeing that thou dost these things to prove 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money, sitting: 1. 7 18 Then answered the Jews thy having a divine commission, since it is certain thou hast none from the government? 19 Jesus answered and said Jesus answered and said unto them, You shall not want convincing evidence, that I unto them, Destroy this tem- have an authority far superior to what man can give me; for if you demolish this temple, a The passover of the Jezps drew near.] As the evangelists, have not expressly determined the number of passovers which happened between the baptism, and death of Christ, or during the course of his public ministry, so it is well known that learned men have been much divided in their opinions about them. By far the greater part have supposed there were four; reckoning this the first; the feast mentioned John v. 1. the second.; the passpuer º of John vi. 4. as the third ; and that at which Christ suffered the fourth. But there are others of a different opinion.—The celebrated Sir Isaac Newton reckons, five ; the first, this which is now before us; the second, according to him, happened four months after Christ’s discourse with the woman of Samaria, John iv. 35. the third, a few days before the story of the disciples rubbing the cars§. corn, Luke vi. 1; the fourth, a little after the feeding gf the five thousand ; and the last at the time of our Lord’s crucifixion. The reasons for this the reader will find at large in Sir Isaac Newton’s Observat., on Proph; part 1. chap. xi. and the most considerable of them will be touched upon in their proper places.—Mr. Manne has with great learning and ingenuity attempted to revive a long ºl. notion, that Christ’s aninistry continued but sirteen months; (see Manne’s second Dissertation, p. ii.5, et seq.) so that there were but two passovers, during the whole course of it. Mr. Whiston’s reasoning against this hypothesis, in the sixth of his late Dissertations, appears to me unanswerable. For he there shows that if this, was true, Christ must, have travelled, º, an average near ten miles a-day during the course of his ministry. Besides, the transpositions in Scripture which this would introduce seem very unwarrañtable and dangerous ; and, among other difficulties, it is none of the least, that Mr. Manne is obliged to suppose that Christ only purg. he temple at his last passover, and consequently that St. John has mis- placed this story; though ver. 24. of this chapter, and ver. 22, 23, 24. of the next, (sect. 27.) afford such strong arguments to the contrary. Com- pare note c, and note m, of this section, b Soldozen, and sheep, and doves.]. There must have been a grand market for these animals at such times; for Josephus tells us that no less than 255,509 victims were offered at one passover; see Joseph. de Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 9, (al. vii. 17, sect. iii. p. 399.) edit...Havercamp. c. He openly proclaimed that God was, his Father.] The most con- siderable argument which Mr. Manne has brought to prove that this eº- gulsion of the merchants from the temple happened only, in our Lºrd's st passover, and consequently that it is here §§ is, that such an open declaration, that the Temple was his Father’s house, Wºuld have put him too much into the power of his enemies, and would have been in- consistent with the prudent reserve which Čhist kept on this head. (See Manne’s Dissert. p. 179, 180. and compare Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity, p. 91, ct scq, as well as with the reflection of his brethren : John Wii. 3, et seq. the notes on which plgee, in § 9S. may be consulted here.)—But, in reply to this objection, I would beg leave to observe, 1. That for Jesus to call the temple itis Father’s house, did not amount to an express declaration that he was the Messiah ; since the Jews in general spake of God as their Father, John viii. 4). (See Joha x. 24, 25. With the note there, š 134.) And, 2. triºt though in the circumstances that here attended it, there was an oblique intimation of something ex- traordinary, it might not be so dangerous now as afterwards; because our Lord hot having opened the spiritual nature of his lºgdom, or as yet rendered himself obnoxious to the Pharisees by such just invectives as he afterwards used, they who expected the Messiah to appear about this time, and longed for his appearance, might be inclinable for a while to wait the issue of Christ’s pretensions, and so much the rather, as he now Wrought some wonderful miracles. (Compare ver. 23. and chap. iii. 2.). Accordingly we find in the beginning of the next chapter one of the chief among the Pharisees comes privately to confer, with Christin a yely respectful manner. It seems fiecessary to acquiesce in these solutions, because the conference which reſers to the miracles wrought at this feast, is expressly said to have been beſore John the Baptist was in Pº; Con pare John iii. 22–24, § 27. d Reißenbered that it was written of Dayid.]. That these words were originally, spoken of David, and pot of Christ, is plain from the fifti, verse of the lsixth Psalm : O God, thow knowest my foolisiness, and my sins are not hid from thee; which cannot be applićd to Christ. "Abun. dance of other scriptures are quoted with such a beautiful accommoda- tion as this. e Rulers of the Jews.] . It seems most probable that the Jews here ºnentioned were, rulers, because we know that the great assembly of Jewish rulers (that is, the sanhedrin) sat in the temple, and that the chief of them often attended public worship ther...”i his actiºn ºf Christ (in driving out the buyers and sellers) must undoubtedly come to their knowledge; and as their office would seem to authorize them to call him to an aeśount, we are sure their prejudices against him would ingline them to do it. * - A magnificent chamber belonging to the temple.] This fine rotunda was,called, from its beautiful pavement, Lishcath–Haggazīth, and stood on the wall of the temple, part of it within and part of it without its sacred precincts. . See Câlniet’s Dictionary, at the word Sanhedrim; Lightfºot's Description qf the Temple, chap. 9. and Witsii.Miscell. Sacr. lib. i. Diss. iii. § 65. l º 56 $ECT. I promise and assure you, I will raise it up again in three days.S 24. CHRIST CELEBRATES His FIRST PASSOVER AT JERUSALEM. him, in The Jews then said unto ple, and in three days I win roud derision and contempt of what they did not understand, This temple hath "; }; 20 Then said the Jews, Forty end six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days 2 been no ſess than sit and forty years building, (for it is now so long since Herod began to Johs repair it.) and notwithstanding many thousand men have been employed upon it, it is not "21 yet entirely finished; and wilt thou undertake to raise it wg in three days 2 R. certainly - will be foolish enough to pull it down, to try the experimént. But they were quite mis- 21 But he spake of the taken in the sense of what he said; for what they understood him to have spoken of the temple of his body. temple of Jerusalem, he spake of the much more sacred temple of his own body, in which the §§ dwelt, in a far nobler manner than in their holy place, (Col. ii. 9.) and he might 22 give some intimation of it in the gesture that he used in speaking. ...}}'hen therefore he .22 yhen therefore he was was risen from the dead, just on the third day after his crucifixion, his disciples remembered ºff hiº. - that he had said this to them ; and they yet more firmly believed the scripture, in all its pro- t) e l{li, Il Q 23 24 2 5 Ver.14 15, 16 I 6 19 º 23, 2 5 had said, this unto them ; and phecies concerning the Messiah's kingdom, and their faith in him was confirmed by the . ."... º.º. word which Jesus had spoken ; for such a wonderful event as the resurrection of Christ, had said. considered in its connéxion with this solemn prediction,i justly appeared as the fullest con- ceivable ſº of his divine mission. . - .ind while he was at the passover in Jerusalem, on the feast-day, many of the Jews who , 23 Now when he was in were then present there, seeing the miracles which he wrought, believed in him, and were ſº.º.º.º. * ſº *--> -Yº g . * * * > * * * * y, many believed inwardly persuaded that he was the Messiah; But Jesus did not care to trust himself to in his name, when they saw them," so far as to acknowledge it expressly, that he was actually the promised Messiah; ";"Hºººº..."...m. and, by confessing who he was, to put himself into their power, because he knew them all; ii.º.º.º. bº- ...And had no need that any one should testify or tell him any thing of the character of any “º Å. "j" ºf that man, though ever so much a stranger to him: for he himself, by an immediate and uner- ſº lºº ring penetration, knew what was in the heart of every man; and consequently knew that man. those people had such gross notions of the Messiah's kingdom, that there was no room for him to confide in them, or to expect them to be faithful to him. IMPROVEMENT. How powerful is the love of this world, when it could engage even the priests and the Pharisees to let out the temple itself for a market place though a professed zeal for the honour of it made so great a part of the right- eousness of which they boasted before God. But our Lord beheld the scene with just indignation; as that dis- pleasure is indeed just which arises from a sense of dishonour done to God, and contempt poured on the institu- tions of his worship. Happy shall we be in the warmest emotions of zeal which do not transport us beyond the rules of prudence and love, and make us forget those stations in life, which require the same principles to show themselves in widely different effects Methinks the state of the temple, when these traders had crected their seats and their stalls in it, and turned the courts of God’s house into a market, is too just an emblem of the state of our hearts, when we appear in the sanctuary distracted with worldly cares, to the neglect of that one thing needful, which then demands our most attentive regards. Would to God that in this sense our Father's house were not often made a house of merchan- dise ! Let us pray that Jesus, by his good Spirit, would assert it to himself, and drive out those intruders which break in upon our truest enjoyments, in proportion to that degree in which they intrench on our devotion. After a thousand proofs of his divine mission, the Jews were wicked and desperate enough, with sacrilegious hands, to destroy the temple of Christ's body: but let us be thankful for the undoubted evidence we have, that as an everlasting monument of his power and truth, he raised it again in three days. g - Happy will it be for us, if we cordially believe a gospel so gloriously attested; but most vain Will that belief be which doth not penetrate and influence the heart. Let us remember, that we haye to do with him that formed our nature, and is most intimately acquainted with all its recesses. He knows what is in man: may he see nothing in us which shall not be thoroughly agreeable to the profession we make, of being his faithful disciples! 24 To concitide: let us learn, from the caution which Jesus used, not rashly to put ourselves and our usefulness into the power of others; but to study a wise and happy medium between that universal prejudice and suspicion which, while it wrongs the best and the most worthy characters, would deprive us of all the pleasures of an inti- mate friendship, and that undistinguishing casiness and openness of temper, which might make us the property of every hypocritical pretender to kindness and respect. - SECTION XXV. - The form:cr part of our Lord's conference with Nicodemus, in which ho states the nature and necessity of rogeneration. John iii. HI0. John iii. 1. - NOW, while our Lord was thus attending at Jerusalem to keep the passover, there was a certain man of the sect of the Pharisees, whose name was Vicodemus, a magistrate of the Jews, and a member of the great Sanhedrim, (John vii. 50.) who, being alarmed, as many of his brethren were, and filled with wonder at the miracles that Jesus wrought, made him a visitin person, that he might more distinctly be informed of the nature of his doctrine, and of the true intent and purpose of his coming. But, lest any offence should be taken 2 The same came to Jesus Demolish this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.). It is x. 31. § 134, and see.Joseph. Antiq. Jud, lib. XX, cap;9. [al:8..] §7; p.978. most evident that Christ intended nothing more in these words than the and Lardner’s Credib. pºrt i. vol. 'if. 53-39. and *.ſ. ii. p. 853—860.) fººphrase ºxpresses, and did not mean to command then to demolish —Now, as the eightgenth year, ºf Herº's rei ; from the death, of Anti- #ffie ºmple, though his enemies indeed did, eome years after, misrepre- gonus, began some time in A. . 734, and his proposal to rebuild the ºf this saying, as if he had intimated a purpose of doing it himself, temple might then be made to the Jews at the feast of tabernacles, it Compare Mark xiv. 58. § 185. g º ºr e. s will from thence he but a few months more than ſºrty-six gºa's to the ñº tº finiš' pºem iſ and fºrty years building.] Mr. Whiston passover, A. J. 781. Or, since a year or mºre, might probably... b3 spent (in his jºie.g. of the Harmony, p. 143.) would render it, Forty, and sic in preparing for the wºrk.hgſor? he actually began it, it may, thus be a cars hath this temple bcen built : º: as it lº. º º º º: t down º: ; ſº or 783, which is the lowest time to which fºr gue from the time since the temple was built, to the time it Woºls \ls passover can be referrºg. . * tº s wº g - : “... ..~ 1--> 121 : * * 1. - - tainly be wrong; and Dr. #. resurrection of Christ, considered in its gonnexion, with this require to rebuild it, this sense must £er y § 3. This important thought is set in a very strong hº y Jori N. iii. 1. THERE was a man of the Pharisees; named Nicode- mus, a ſuiar"of the Jews. SECT. 25. JOHN III. - e - s i. y * le word cokočoit nºn may signify (as solemn prediction.] ..." flightfoot has well slown, that the word (2xoëoſinòn may § y ( predig in his Reasonableness of Christianity, vol. 1. p. we render it) it inath been so lºft building... IIor. Hºb. in loc.—Mr. Flém- ºg Dr. Jenkins, in ing’s calculation, (in his Christology, vol...#. p. 366–371.) to prove that 2; Seeing the miracl the second temple was forty-six years building, is not only very Prectºrious; ; ceuvg ºf: but also very ºfºº for hº words ...” º: º #. ɺ: ##### 4.k # build it, which he first proposed to , the people in the * *** **** * - case, 1 + n hº tº ſº , ; *. §º of his reign, (Joseph. }}. Jud. lib. xv. cap. 11. [a]. cłiºd in him...] It is in the original, believed in his name; a Hebra- * ~ - in ºi is hich it did not seem necessary to retain. Nothing is more com- jºjº, i. iiipercamp) and though he finished what he proposed in eight ...Y - # h himself. C º r - ; , g * monthan to put the name of a person for the person himself. Ompare of hiae years, it seeins (as Dr. Lightfoot and Dr. Lardner have judici jčín i. 12. #. 31. Psal. lxxv. P. Acts i. 15. and Rev. iii. 4. - g” ºws still went on improving and adorning it: - * * ously observéd) that the Jews still we * #. à g m Did not trust himself to them.] I look upon this as a demonstration *}º - is, under the government of bout the year of * * * §§§º; speaks of the temple’s being finished, and the that the passover here spoken of , was not thât at which Christ suffered: * éismissed: so that it seems they were at work upon it all the .## ministry and life. (Compare John viii. ; § 105. John vehich he frº) These words, as also those 45. plainly refer to some miracles wrought by of which äre not transmitted to us. for then there had been no need of such a precaution, and indeed no room for it. THE CONFERENCE OF JESUS WITH NICODEMU.S. by night, and said unto him, at his conversino Rabbi, we know that thou S-> art a teacher come from God; for ſo ºutta can do these mira- cles that thou doest, except Od be with him. conference with him at his own lodgings; and, with the grèatest reverence and respect, he said unto him, in his own name, as well as in the name of several of his brethren, sidered the account that has been given us, we know, and cannot but allow, that thou art a teacher come with a commission from God; for we are thoroughly convinced that none can ever do these wondrous miracles, that are in all respects so beneficial and divine, which we perceive thou dost, whless he be invested with a power from on high, and Go! himself be with him in an extraordinary manner. (See John ix. 30, 3.) I am come therefore to desire a more particular account from thine own mouth, both of the doctrine which thou teachest, and of the kingdom which thou declarest God is about to erect. Jesus, knowing the prejudices he laboured under, both as a Jew and a Pharisee, judged it necessary immediately to acquaint him with the absolute necessity of a thorough change, by divine grace, both in heart and life; a change so great, as might appear like coming into a new world, and would bring the greatest and most learned men to the sim- licity of little children. (Compare Matt. xviii. 3.) He therefore answered and said unto tim, Perily, verily, I say unto thee, and declare it with the utmost solemnity, as a truth of the highest importance, that whatever great privileges any may inherit by his natural birth, or how exact and strict soever he may be in ceremonial observances, winless a man be born again,” he cannot possibly see the kingdom of God, in such a manner as to secure an in- terest in its invaluable blessings. - Now, as this form of speech was figurative and concise, Nicodemus did not understand what it meant; and therefore says unto him, How can a man be born again, when he is old, as I now am 2 Can he possibly enter a second time into his mother's womb, and so be born over again P. It would be perfectly absurd to think that thou intendest this should be taken in a literal sense; and I confess, I am at a loss to know what figurative interpretation is to be put upon it. - Then Jesus, to explain his former meaning, answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, and again repeat it, That unless a man be born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; or, in plain terms, whosoever would become a regular member of it, he must not only be baptized, but as ever he desires to share in its spiritual and eternal blessings, he must experience the renewing and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit on his soul, to cleanse it from the power of corruption, and to animate it to a divine and a 6. That which is born of the spiritual life. For were it possible for a man to be born again, in the literal sense that you flºº. § § have mentioned, by entering a second time into his mother's womb, such a second birth would do no more to qualify him for the kingdom of God, than the first: for that which is born of the flesh, is only flesh ; and what proceeds and is produced from parents that are sinful and corrupt, is sinful and corrupt as they are ; but that which is born of the Spirit, is formed to a resemblance of that blessed Spirit, whose office it is to infuse a divine life into the soul. - Wonder not, therefore, that I said unto thee, and have declared it as a truth that you are all concerned in, That you yourselves, even though you are Jews, and Pharisees, and rulers of the people, yet must be born again ; since the degeneracy of the human nature is of so universal an extent, as to be common to you all. Nor have you any cause to be surprised, if there be some things in this doctrine of regeneration, which are of an obscure and unsearchable nature; for even in the natural world many things are so. The wind, for instance, bloweth where it will, sometimes one way and sometimes another, and is not subject to the direction or command of man; and though thou hearest the sound thereof, and feelest its sensible and powerful effects, yet thou canst not exactly tell from whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; for whatever general principles may be laid down concern- ing it, when you come to account for its particular variations, the greatest philosophers often find themselves at a loss; and in like manner, so it is with every one that is born of the Spirit; and you are so far from being capable of accounting for it, that it is easy to be seen there is a sovereign freedom in that divine agency, which makes it oftentimes impossible to say, why it is imparted to one, rather than to another; and there is a secret in the manner of its operation on the mind, which it is neither necessary to know, nor pos- sible to explain. - But Nicodemus, who had been accustomed to the pomp and ceremony of an external religion, answered and said unto him, How can these things be 2 for, after all this explica- tion, I am still at a loss to understand what this being born of the Spirit means, and there- fore cannot conceive how it should be so absolutely necessary. 10 Jesus answered and said Jesus then answered and said unto him, How, Nicodemus! art thou a teacher of Israel, unto him, Art thou a master of so distinguished a rank and character, and dost thow not know these things ſº when so 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, Şay, unto thee, Except a nian be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. .4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born When he is old 2 can he enter the second time into his mo– ther’s womb, and be born ? 5 Jesus ānswered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Exº cept a man be born of water and of the §iº. Cannot ğ. into the kingdom of 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born 8.83 lll. . 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be 2 a Said unto him, Rabbi..] This title cannot but appear very remarka- ble, as given by a person of so great dignity to one who, with regard to his education and rank in secular life, made so low an appearance as our blessed Lord did. - am cºme to desire a more particular account, &c.] Our Lord’s answer intimates, that he either º made; or secretly intended, such an inquiry; and it is impossible to enter into the beauty of this discourse, without considering it in this view. Our Lord touches on the following grand points, in which it was of the utmost importance that Nicodemus and his brethren should be informed :-That no external profession, nor any ceremonial observances, or privileges of birth, could entitle any to the blessings of the JMessiah’s kingdom ; – that an entire change of heart and life was necessary to that purpose ;-that this must be accomplished by a divine influence on the mind ;-that mankind was in a state, of gondemnation and misery;-that the free mercy of God had given his Son to deliver them from it, and to raise them to a blessed immortality, which was the great desigſ, and purpose of his coming :- that ill mankind, that is, Gentiles as well as Jews, were to share in the benefits of his undertaking;--that they were to be procured by his being lifted up on the cross, and to be received by faith in . ; but that if they rejected him, there was no other remedy, and their etermal aggravated condemnation would be the certain consequence of it.—Our Lord might enlarge more copiously on these heads, which it might be the more pro- per to do, as some of them were directly contrary to the notions com- monly entertained by the Jews concerning the jigssiah’s kingdom. c Unless a man be born again; eay pm ris yeuvmón avo0sv.] Some S would render avajësiſ, from abore but it is plain that Nicodemus did not take it so ; for he thought that, without entering a second time into his zºoth ºr’s comb, there was no, being born in the manner Christ spoke of, avo0:v, that is, again.—What is added at ver. 5. explains what was before undetermined as to the original of this birth. Dr. Owen, with great propriety observes, “That if regenerution here mean only re- formation of life, our Lord, instead of making any new discovery, has only thrown a great deal of obscurity on what was before plain and obvious, and known not only to the Jews, but the wiser heathéus, And indeed, (says he immediately after,) this is the main article in dispute between many. Some think all things in Scripture are expressed in condescension to our capacities, so that there is still to be conceived in many of them an inexpressible grandeur ; while, ou the other hand, others suppose that, under the pomp and grandeur of the most hyper- bolical expressions, things of a low and ordinary sense are to be under- stood.” See Dr. Qwen on the Spirit, p. 175.-Fór the full import of the º used in this verse, see my Sermons on Rogcucration, Nos. iv <? (I W’. d ſs sinful and corrupt as they are.] The many passages in which ficsh is put for a corrupt degenerate nature, enslaved to animal appetites and pursuits, seemed to me to justify this interpretation : and woul:1 to God, fact and experience did not so plainly windigate it ! (Compare Gen. vi. 3. Rom...yiii. 8. Gal. v. 17, 24. and Jude, ver, 23.) Indeed it seeins to me impossible to clear up either the beauty of the antithesis, or even the truth of the assertion, on any other interpretation. - e Art thout a teacher of Israel, and doeº tºok rot know those things 2) 57 openly with him, he secretly came to Jesus by night, in order to a private SECT. 25. 3 4 7 S 9 Rabbi," the wonders thou hast doné have been related to us; and, having seriously con- JoHN III. 58 THE CONFERENCE OF JESUS WITH NICODEMUS. SECT. much is every where said in the Scripture, of the purifying and quickening operations of of Israel, and knowest not - P 25. JOHN III. the divine Spirit on men's hearts? (Compare Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. and Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.) these things: It is high time thou shouldst be better informed concerning them. IMPROVIEMENT. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear with attention what the blessed Redeemer said on this great occasion. It is surely a matter of universal concern: for who would not desire to enterinto the kingdom of God? to be an ac- Ver. 3 ceptable member of Christ's church now, and an heir of glory beyond the grave?—But how is this blessing to be 7, 8 expected and secured? Thus saith the Lord himself. Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.-Let us remember therefore, that it is not enough that a new name be given us, or that a new profession be assumed; it is not enough that we are descended from the most pious ancestors, that we have been externally devoted to God by the early seal of his covenant, or that we openly have made a solemn and express profession of our own faith and obedience, and have been born of baptismal water in our riper years. There must be a new nature implanted, a new creation formed in our souls, by the almighty energy of the eternal Spirit, or it had been better for us that we had never been born at all. * * That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and as we all proceed from a corrupt original, we do not more evi- dently bear the image of the earthly Adam, in the infirmities of a mortal body, than in the degeneracy of a cor- 8 rupted mind. Oh, let us earnestly entreat that, being born of the sanctifying influences of the Spirit, we may bear the image of the heavenly . . And to these influences let us with all humility and thankfulness be ready to yield up our souls, as remembering, that they are of a free and sovereign nature, like the wind that bloweth where it will, and does not stay for the command of the children of men. Let none of us indulge a vain and useless curiosity with respect to the manner of the Spirit's operations, or Wonder that we meet with some things that are secret and unknown in matters of a spirituál nature ; when we see daily there are so many things unknown in the common appearances of the natural world, and indeed so few that we can perfectly understand. - May the pride of a falsely pretended reason, be subdued to the authority of faith ! And more especially, may such as are teachers in Israel, or who are designed for that important office, take their instructions with all humi- 2 lity, from this teacher sent from God! For it must surely be not only their calamity, but that too of the church in general, if its guides continue iº of those sublime and spiritual truths which Christ came down from heaven to reveal, or are so biassed by the carnal reasonings of a depraved mind, as to be indisposed and back- ward to receive them. SECTION XXVI. - The latter part of our Lord’s conſerence with Nicodemus, in which he opens ºftºn of his coming into the world, and shows the absolute necessity of faith in him. John iii. 11—21. John iii. 11. John iii. 11. SECT. JESUS, pursuing his discourse with Nicodemus, said, I find that you are stumbled at ERIFY ºniº ee, We speak that we do 26. this doctrine of regeneration, which I have now been opening to you: but howsoever it iº, and testify that wo Jºſs against it; for, verily, verily, I say unto thee, may still appear to be obscure and strange, yet labour to subdue the prejudices that arise º,sººnd yC receive not * - º S a hat in the doctrine we have now delivered, * we speak nothing but what we certainly know,” and testify no other than that which we have 13 (Compare Heb. vi. 1, 2. Psal. ciii. 11. and Isa. lv. 9.) Yet even these you will have no seen,b and can declare upon the surest grounds to be a most important truth, and to be perfectly agreeable to what we have received in commission from God himself; and yet, the disposition of the Jewish rulers and people is generally such, that ye receive not our 12 testimony, and are likely still to reject it: For those things which I have already told you 12 If I have told you earth- are but the first principles, to make way for what is yet more marvellous. Now, if I }, ºft hitherto have told you things which have been capable of being represented to you in a you of heavenly things? familiar way, and being illustrated by obvious and well-known similitudes; so that by reason of their plainness, and of the frequent references to them in the Old Testament, they may be called carthly things, and ye believe not even these ; how then would you be- lieve, if I should yet go on to tell you other doctrines, which are not capable of being thus explained ; and which indeed are so much more mysterious and sublime, that, in comparison of what has been already told you, they may be called heavenly things 2° 13 And no man hath as- just reason to suspect, when you consider whence they come, and who it is that reveals tºº. them to you; for no one ever has ascended up to heaven, to search into the secret counsels, ºn of man, which is and to obtain an intimate and perfect knowledge of the truths of God; unless, as you "" will see hereafter, he has done it, who is really descended from heaven ; [even] the Son of man, who is in heaven, as there is the place of his stated abode, whither he shortly will says only in the singular number, If I have told you carthly things, &c. - --- Could it be proved that the Jewish Rabbis, so carly as Christ’s time - - ł Śe Lightfoot’s Harmony, in loc. called a baptized person, one born, again, or born of water, that woul, strongly illustrate the passage before us. But though IDr. Claget and Mr. Locke, and after them; Dr. Clarke, give the words this turn, the fact did not appear to me so evident, as to allow of my inserting it in the paraphrasq.—However, it is strange fo me, that any should doubt whe- ther proselytes were admitted into the Jewish church by º: that is, by washing ; when it is plain from express passages in the Jewish law, that no Jew who had lived like a Gentile for one single day, could e restored to the communion of their church without it. Compare Nurab. xix. 19, 20. and many other precepts relating to ceremonial pollu- tions; by which the Jews were rendered incapable of appearing before God in the tabernacle or temple, till they were washcal cither by bathing or Sprinthºling. a J.P'e speak what we know..] §ome have supposed that, as Christ speaks here in the ſº he may refer not only to the doctrine that was delivered by himself, but to the testimony that was given to the truth of it by John the Baptist, and to the preaching also of his own disciples, who all concurred in testifying the same things; the certainty of which they were assured of by the teachings of the Spirit, and by their own experience, while it was known to Christ, by his omniscience; and by the intinate, acquaintance that he had with all the counsels of the Fāther.—And others have supposed, that he included here, with himself, the Father and the Spirit, §: are expressly spoken of in other passagés, as hearing ºcitness to the truth of what he said, and as agreeing with him in the tastinomy that he gave. . (Compare John viii. 18. xiv. 20, 23. and I John v. 6, 8:)—But there is no necessity we should sup; pose him to refer to any other than §ſ; since, nothing is more usual than for a person of authority to speak of himself in the plural number as Christ may be observed 46 have done elsewhere ; (Mark iy. 30.) an in the noxt verse he appears to have restrained it to himself, where ho b And testify that which we have seen.] Christ seems here to allude to what was mentioned in the law as qualifying a man to be a witncss, that he was able to declare of what he testified, that he had seen or known it. , (Levit. v. 1.) ...And as he therefore had a clear perception, and a certain knowledge of the truth of what he said, there was the highest reason to receive his testimony, and to regard him as a true and faithful 7City) CSS. - c Heavenly things,) . This has been understood by some, , of those sublime and heavenly doctrines that were afterwards revealed,—of the cternal generation of the Son, and of the fulness qſ the Godhead dwelling in him bodily,–and of those other mysteries of godliness, that are above the reach of human reason, and cannot be illustrated by earthly things. (See Lightfoot's Harmony, in loc.) Though it would rather, seem, that our Lord does more immédiately refer to the doctrines which he mentions in the remaining part of his discourse to Nicodemus:—of his descent from heaven to instruct us in the things of God, and be united to the human nature hore below, while by his diving nature he still continued to be resent above;—of the design for which he came into the world, to be ifted up upon the cross, that he might Saye us from our sins;–of eyer: lasting #!. and happiness to be obtained by faith in his death ;-and of tº jºi; those that shoujá reject him: which may be counted as the deep things of God, which he revegls, unto us by his Spirit, and which the natural man, who disregards, that Spirit, receiveth not, for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discorned. 1 Cor. ii. 10, 14. Jäscended up to heaven to search into–the truths of God..] The phrase of ascending into heaven is plainly used in this sense, Deut. xxx. 12. Rom. x. 6, and Prov. xxx. 4.—As for the turn here given to the particle £1 tº, see the note on John xvii. 12, § 179. THE CONFERENCE OF JESUS WITH NICODEMUs. - 59 º and as he now is present there by his divine nature, which fills both heaven and sect earth. 26. º; .And now I mention the Son of man, let me rectify that grand mistake of yours con- 5.º.º.º. cerning his kingdom, which otherwise may be attended with such fatal consequences. JoHN be lifted up; You expect to see him raised on a magnificent throne, and not only breaking off the yoke , , * from the Jewish nation, but leading them on to conquer and destroy the Gentiles: but I “ must assure you, that as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent on a pole in the wilderness, to heal those that were dying by the venom of the fiery sérpents there, (see Numb. xxi. 8, 9.) so also must the Son of man be first lifted wip on a cross, (compare John viii. 28. xii. 32, .. 34.) and then publicly exhibited in the preaching of the gospel, that sinners may by him hº..."; };"; *:: receiye a far more noble and important cure : Even that whoever believeth on him may not 15 #. bºhºet."liš' perish, as all in their natural state would otherwise do,f but may obtain so perfect a re- 16. For God so loved the covery, as certainly to have etermal life. For this is indeed the summary of that important 16 §º.; message which I bring to the children of men, that God so loved the world,” apostate and º, º miserable as it was; yea, to such an amazing and unutterable a degree did he love it, that Hººh, but have everlasting he gave even his only-begotten Son from his embraces, that whoever believeth on him, what- ever be the nation he belongs to, or whatever his guilt be, he may not perish under the 17 For Godsent not his son sentence of divine justice, but may have everlasting life and glory. For God sent not his 17 §º Son into the world to condemn the world, and to execute that vengeance upon them which through him might be saved their guilt might have taught them to fear; nor did he send him to destroy the Gentile nations, as your Jewish prejudices are ready to represent it; but that the world of man- kind, whether Jews or Gentiles, might be saved by him, even all without exception who i.º.e º Will listen to the overtures of his gospel. And therefore, on the one hand, he that be- 18 ja”heiß". "co. lieveth on him, how great Soeyer his sins may have been, and however unpardonable ac- flºº.º.º. cording to the tenor of the Mosaic law, yet shall not be finally condemned, but shall obtain ºoijºte "s."º a complete pardon : and on the other hand, he that believeih not, whatever his external God. profession and privileges may be, is condemned already, remaining under the sentence of his former guilt, yea, and subjecting himself by his refusal of the only remedy to greater and more aggravated woe ; because he hath not believed in the illustrious nameh of the only-begotten on of God, though expressly revealed to him on so glorious and important an occasion. 19 And this is the condem- JVow, through the great perverseness of mankind, I certainly foresee that this will be 19 *:::::::"j"..."; the case with multitudes; for this is the great condemnation, the crime that fills up the §.º.º.º measure of men's iniquities, and proves the surest cause of their final and speedy ruin, ******** that a divine light is come into the world, and yet men have loved darkness rather than light, and have chosen to remain ignorant, rather than to submit themselves to the teach- ings of this heavenly revelation; and the reason is plainly this, because their deeds were 2) For everyone that doeth evil, and they have not virtue enough to resolve on a thorough reformation. For every 20 tº ºf one who is conscious to himself that he doeth evil, and will persist in his wickedness, hatch ãºds should be reprotei:" the light, as the cause of anguish and shame to his guilty mind; and he cometh not to the * light, lest his actions should be reproved by it, and so his character exposed, and his con- 2) But he that doeth truth science disquieted. (Compare Eph. v. 13.) But he that practises truthi and virtue, sin- 21 §. .*.*.*; cerely endeavouring to adjust his actions according to the éternal law of righteousness, or that they are wrought in God, the nature and obligation of things, comes to the light with confidence and pleasure, and takes all opportunities of improving his knowledge, that his actions may be made manifest, as in open day; knowing it will appear that they are wrought in God, that is, that they are agreeable to the divine nature and will, and the consequence of that union of Soul with him, which is the highest dignity and happiness of a rational creature. Be it there- fore known unto you all, that this gospel §§ I preach, is the great touchstone of men's true charagters; and, as nothing but a corruption of heart can oppose it, so I faithfully warn you, that if you reject it, it is at the peril of your souls. - This was the purport of our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus ; and it appears by some - following circumstances of the story, that it made a deep and lasting impression on his mind. See John vii. 50. and xix. 39. IMPROVEMENT. How happy is it for us, that, since none of the children of men ever ascended up into heaven, to learn the Ver. 13 mysteries of divine knowledge there, the only-begotten Son of God has been pleased to come down from thence, 11 that he might instruct us! He spake what he knew, and testified what he had seen: Qh that men were so wise as to receive his testimony, be the discoveries ever so new, or the doctrines ever so sublime! Let us with peculiar pleasure attend unto that abstract of the gospel, which he exhibited in this profitable and comprehensive discourse with Nicodemus.--It presents to our view Christ, and him crucified. It opens, the treasures of divine beneficence and compassion, and shows us the Father of mercies so loving the world, which he 16 might justly have abhorred and destroyed, as to give his only-begotten Son to be a ransom for it. * * etus behold him lifted up on the cross, as the great attractive, to whom all were to be drawn . In him shall 14 - we find the divine cure for our souls, infected as they are with the poison of sin, if we behold him not merely 15 with a curious but a believing eye. Whatever our wounds be, if in the exercise of faith, we look to him, we shall not die of them; but it is owing to our own obstinacy and impenitence if we yet perish. e A far more noble and important cure.], The grand point of simili- homestly reported: and it is sad tº think, what an aggravation it was of tº loſſeº, is in the manner of performing the curé, that is, by believing the unbelief and, impenitence of that grand, council, who afterwards regards to something lifted up for that Pº by a divine appointment. treated Christ with so much contempt ºld milliºnity. - it would be blasphemy to run a parallel between Christ and that which h Believed in the illustrious name.] Though th9 ame of a person be ave us the jº. Sºund; and to taik, as Grotius angl Or. Clarke here often put for the person himself, yet I think it is ºther infinited in o, of the resemblance between bin) and the image, of the serpent, as he that expression, that the persºn spoken of is great an:l magnificent; and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, seems in this connexion to be º Itdi generally used to express either God the Father, or our foreign to the purpose. rd Jesus Christ. e - - - - - - : Iſ J. --- **** * * * : * ~ *- ; : - Fijæ & Q iſ , lis phrase often f As all in their natural state would otherwisg do...] This is strongly l He that ". tr º º i ºv §. ...] pº. º 30. Isa implied here, and yet more strongly, in i # where all º #. Sºlº, § ºf 3...?" §". © j. wer. 3.) And it is used believe are said to be condemned alreadiſ ; , and, till men enter deeply intº º' ºr A.:3: sº tiers i . . . . . . .,,...,' º this important truth, the gospel may indeed be their amusement, but I *}. sº §º.* º #. º $oſº.'" r it is li * - so ºr * • -S, a S ‘as ; as Mr. WV 901 19.S. ilu; 11us, S 5 tº 3 see not how it is like to be their sos OT their CUlrC - - - - - See Reig. of jvatire, chap. i.-Of the same kind is the phrase Tutely by º: º; It *". º t Yº...º. º, pºvčes, used more than once by St. John, perhapsinº º. 3y which Erasmus makes these the words of the evangelist, Tºther than 5 is loc - if lan ºred, practiseth a lic, that of Christ, but if it were admitted, it would destroy much of the beauty §§º. º iº prº tº and energy of that awful admonition which our Lord gives to Nigode- * That them are grought . God'ſ eyes. eigyaglevg.] Grotius thinks, mus, and by him to his brethren, in this his first entrance on his ministry. & 1 hat they a > - e it oniº signifies, agreeable to the No doubt, many of then attenied him to learn the result of this con- that ev is here used for kara, and that * only signines, agree ii is ex ference, which to tho best of his understanding we may conclude he divine nature; this is certainly comprehended, but it is not all it ex- SECT. 26. JOHN 20, 2I JOHN THE BAPTIST's TESTIMONY TO CHRIST. He might justly have appeared in a different form for the condemnation of sinners rather than their salvation. he Son of God might have come into an apostate world, armed with thunderbolts of flaming vengeance, to punish the violation of his Father's law; but his hands are filled with eternal blessings. As we love our own souls, let us apply to him in time for this salvation. Let us dread the aggravated con- demnation of those who, when light is come into the world, prefer darkness to it, and obstinately shut their eyes 19 against it, though it be the dawnings of an eternal day. - JMay integrity and uprightness preserve its ' (Psal. xxv. 21.) And, conscious of a real desire to govern ourselves according to the light we have, may we cheerfully lay ourselves in the way of more; that in the last awful day, when the sentence of divine wrath shall be executed on all the servants of sin, and their character shall stand disclosed in the most odious colours, ours may shine out beautiful and fair, and the good deeds that we have done, being now wrought in God, may then not only be accepted and applauded, but, through the grace of the Re- deemer, abundantly rewarded by him! :* SECTION XXVII. John the Baptist’s last testimony to Christ, on occasion of a dispute º, John iii. 22 Johs iii. 22. ~~ 3 to { his baptism and that administered by our Lord's disciples O the eſ] [i. John iii. 22. SECT. 4 FTER these things Jesus and his disciples came from Jerusalem, where they had kept AFTER these things came 27. JOHN III. 24 esus and his disciples into r • 7~. * - - - the passover together, into a part of the land of Judea, at some distance from the capital º city; and there he continued with them, and by their ministry, though not in his own per- son, baptized. (See John iv. 2.) ...And John was also at that time baptizing at Enon, which was a place near Salim, a town on the west side of Jordan; and he particularly chose that place, because there was a great wantity of water there,” which made it very convenient for his purpose: and they came For the reader will observe, that John the rom all parts, and were baptized by him. he tarried with them, and baptized. . 23 And John also was bap- tizing in Enon, near to Salim, because there was much wa- ter there ; and they came, and were baptized : 24 For John was not yet > Baptist was not yet thrown into prison;b as he was a few months after, by the injustice of cast into Prison. 25 26 28 2 9 30 31 and therefore I quickly expect to be dismissed from it.). And it is fit it should be so: for he that cometh from above, as Jesus did, is far above all the children of men, and so Herod, in whose territories that place lay. .And there was about this time, a warm and a º Jew,” who had been baptize baptism, whic withstanding their commissions and administrations were so harmonious, through ignorance and weakness, were ready to oppose them to each other. dispute [between some] of the disciples of John .25 Then there arose aques- by Christ, was administered in different parts by these two divine teachers; for not- purifying. _º - • * ~k, i. • {, , , tion between some of John’s about this right of puſ ifying; Or disciples and the Jews, about yet some, .#nd such was the concern of John's disciples upon this occasion, that they came to 25 And they came unto Johm, and said unto him, Rabbi, we are solicitous for t y of affairs: for he that was lately with thee on the other side Jordan, gavest such an honourable testimony there, behold, he now baptizeth, and people from all parts, yea, even such as have before received thy baptism, come unto him; which, as we come to honour in the present conjuncture #, .º.º. i, he that was with thee and to whom thou beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest, witness, behold, the Sa Ilhé ºth, ână îi 772.67. ll IIl. fear, may cause thy baptism to be neglected, and tend to the injury of thy character; since some are already making very invidious comparisons between him and thee. But John replied to his disciples, with a humility and integrity agreeable to the rest of , 27 John answered and said, his character, and said, in order to convince them further of the superior honours due to A man can receive, nothing, except it be given him from the blessed Jesus, Do not give way to such vain partiality and fondness for me: for a man heaven. can indeed receive, and therefore ought to assume, nothing to himself, unless it be given him from heaven ; but we are just what God is pleased to make us, and must stand in that rank which his infinite wisdom has seen fit to assign us. , Nor have you any reason to be .33 ye yourselyes bear me surprised at the report you bring me, or to imagine I shall regard it as a matter of com- witness; that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent º: for you yourselves, in what you now have said, bear witness to me,” and cannot before him. ut remember that, even from the very first of my appearance, I expressly said, and was on all occasions ready to repeat it, that I am not the Christ; but that I am sent as a harbinger before him; and therefore am so far from bein interest, that his success is my greatest joy. It is the bridegroom only that hath the bride; in any opposite and separate - 29 He that hath the bride is and it is his peculiar right to enjoy her as his own; but as for the intimate friend of the ºleiºhº ridegroom, , which - - - - - - Of t bridegroom, who standeth near him, and heareth him express his delight and complacency standºth jºi: hi.e. in her, he is so far from envying and repining at it, that, if he really deserves the name of §: greatly because of the ridegroom’s voice. This my a friend, he rather rejoiceth with exceeding great joy on account of the bridegroom's voice. joy therefore is fulfilled. Such therefore is the friendship and the high regard I have for Jesus, that this that you have told me is my joy; which is so far from being at all impaired, that it is heightened and completed on this happy occasion, which you should rather have been ready to con- gratulaté, than to have made it matter of complaint. I know that as to him, he daily must increase, and, like the growing moon, appear con- tinually more and more glorious: but I must gradually wane andſ 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. decline, till I entirel disappear from hence : (for the end of my ministry is now in a great measure answered, presses. His instance of the like use of the particle, in 1 Cor. vii. 39. seems insufficient; for to marry ev Tºo Kypto, in the Lord, signifies there, the marrying one who is in Christ, that is, a Christian. - a ſit Enon-because there was a great quantity of pater there.] It is exceeding difficult to determine the true situation Qſ this place, about which geographical writers are not at all agreed. We may conglude, however, from_ver. 26. that it was on the west side of Jordan, as Betha- bara, where John had baptized before; was, on the other side.—But nothing surely can be more evident, than that Tox\a ióata, many moaters, signifies a large quantity of water, it being sometimes, used for the Euphrates, Jer. li. 13. Septuagint. ‘ſo which, I suppgse, theſe may also be an allusion, Rev. xvii. i. Compare Ezek. xliii. 2; and Rev. i. i5. xiv. 2. xix. 6, where the voice of many waters does plainly signify the roaring of a high-sea. . - * - - t b John was not yet thrown into prison.] I think it probable from, hence as well as from tradition, and many other passages in this gospel itself, that St. John wrote it as a sº to the rest. For he speaks of the Baptist’s imprisonment as a thing $º known, and yet says nothing of his martyrdom, though he had given so large an account of his minis; try. We cannot suppose he would have, omitted so material a fact, had e not known that #. other evangelists had recorded it at large ; as will e seen in the next section, and in sect. 77. 31 Ho that cometh from above is above all ; he that is c A certain Jew..] The many copies which read it thus, as well as the authority of the Syriac version, and the citations of some of the fathers, determine me to prefer this reading, which I think gives rather an easier sense ; as a single Jew might most pr Pº be opposed to John’s, dis- ciples, who were Jews themselves; and as a considerable part of the nation had entered themselves into that number, at least so far as re- ceiving his baptism was a token of it. e You yourselves bear witness to me • avrot ipſets plot paptvpetre.] . There seems to be an intimation in these words, that what they them selves had just been saying, was a sufficient, proof of what the Baptist was going to declare; for they had described Jesus by the character of him to whom John had borne witness. - e Heareth him express his delight and complacency in her.]... Some have supposed that this alludes to a Fº ceremony *pºint the marriages among the Jews;, which the reader may, fing in Dr. Ham- mond, in loc. and Selden. Uzor. Heb. lib. ii.; cap. 16. But perhaps if may be a more general reference to any of the natural, expressions of §: on, such an occasion.—I pretend not to determine how far Bishop atrick may be right in supposing, “that this is an allusion to, the cabalistic doctrine, that Tipheret, the Great Adam, or the Messiah, is married to Malgûth, the congregation of Israel, as the terrestrial Ādan was to Eve.” See his Preface to Canticles, § 4. THE TEST MONY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 61 of the earth is earthly, and undoubtedly is above me; while, on the other hand, he that originally was of 'he earth, secT. keth of the earth : he tº & * *-*- * - - - an Ci Call ;*.*, *.*.*... being born, like me, in a natural way, is still of the earth, mean and imperfect, above all. never hope, by any refinements and improvements, to equal what is heavenly and diving : 27. but what he says will correspond with his original, and being earthly in his rise, he speak- Jºin eth of the earth: the subjects of his discourse are comparatively low, or howsoever noble and sublime they be, there is a mixture of infirmity and weakness in his way of treating them; whereas he who originally cometh from heaven, and who has shown so wonderful a condescension in his visiting this lower world, is still, in the midst of all his voluntary abasement, incomparably above all that dwell upon earth, not gº in the dignity and s) 32 And what he hath seen glory of his person, but in the spiritual and heavenly nature of his doctrine. . .And I de- * #.º.º.º.º. claré it to you with the greatest confidence, that what he hath seen and heard, or what he timony. - knows to the utmost degree of certainty, that does he testify and publish to the world; . and I exceedingly lament it, that notwithstanding all that eagerness of curiosity with which the multitudes are flocking now about him, yet no man º; receives his testimony; and among all that hear him, there are very few who are duly affected with what he de- 33. He that hath received livers, and yield as they ought to its divine evidence and importance. But he who hath 33 º “” indeed received his testimony, acts a most wise and happy part, and hath, as it were, set his seal [to it, that God is true; acknowledging his hand in these credentials given to ~, his Son, and his veracity, in sending him thus furnished to fulfil his ancient promises to 34 For he whºm God hath his people. For he whom God hath sent into the world as the promised Messiah, Speaketh 34 §.º.º.º.; the words of God, and all that he reveals should be regarded as divine Oracles: }. God Spirit by measure unlºhim, giveth not the powers and the inspiration of his Spirit [to him] by measure, under such lim- itations and with such interruptions as he gives it to his other messengers; but it dwells ... in him by a constant presence, and operates by a perpetual energy. For the Almighty 33 Father loveth the Son incomparably beyond the most faithful of his servants; and hath not only established him as the great Teacher of his church, but hath given the government of all things into his hand, that he may be regarded as the universal Lord. g tº 36. He that believeth on the So that, instead of repining at his growing glories, you should rather be solicitous to 36 jº.º.º.º.g; secure an interest in his favor: for this is the substance, and this is the end of my whole shall nºse life; but the testimony,h that he who believeth on the Son, hath a sure title to eternal life, and hath already ***** the beginnings of it wrought in his soul; but he that is disobedient to ille Son, and obsti. - - nately persists in his unbelief and impenitence, shall not see and enjoy that life; but, on the contrary, is so far from it, that the wrath of God, and the unpardoned aggravated guilt of all º: sins, abideth even now upon him, and will quickly sink him into final condemnation 8.I) Ol TUIII]. Thus did that holy man John the Baptist conclude those testimonies to Christ which are recorded in the gospel, and was quickly after imprisoned by Herod the tetrarch; as the course of this history will presently show. - IMPROVEMENT. 31 35 The Father loveth the Son, ; given all things into his han III, IT is indeed too true that the spirit which naturally dwelleth in us all, lusteth to envy, (Jam. iv. 5.) and it is far Wer.26 from being a low attainment in religion to look with complacency and thankfulness on the superior abilities and . of others, especially of those who once appeared in an inferior rank. But for the cure of this unrea- sonable and restless passion, so contrary to the true spirit of the gospel, let us remember that a man can receive 27 nothing at all º: it be given him from heaven. #: is God that makes one man to differ from another; and surely nothing can be more unreasonable than that, when we ourselves have received all from his bounty, our eyes should be evil because he is good. (Matt. xx. 15.) If we are indeed the friends of Christ, we shall rejoice to see his interest advance, and especially to see souls 29 espoused to him as the ; Bridegroom of the church, whoever are the instruments of promoting so happy a work. Would to God, that in this sense all the Lord's people were even as the greatest of the prophets, or as the very chief of the apostles! (Numb. xi. 29.) - But if indeed they were so, yet, like those brightest luminaries of the church, they must in time have their 30 change and their wane. If God does not darken their glories by a sudden eclipse, yet they who are now, like the Baptist, burning and shining lights, must, like him, gradually decrease, while others are increasing about them; as they, in their turns, grew up amidst the decays of the former generation. Let us know how to set as well as to rise; and let it comfort our declining days, to trace in those that are like to succeed us in our work, the open- ings of yet greater usefulness. So shall we grow in our meetness for that world where all the righteous shall shine forth together, as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, in a bright resemblance of him with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. As the surest means of guiding us to that happy world, let us make it our great care, by receiving the testimony 33 of Christ, to set our seal to the truth of God, engaged in his cause.—With how much pleasure should we do i and with what, joy should we reflect, that the Father so loveth the Son, that he has not only given him the rich 34, 35 and unmeasurable communications of the Spirit, but has committed also into his hand the reins of government! JLet his faithful servants remember it with joy, and cheerfully commit their concerns to him who is made head over all things for the benefit of his church. {#. i. 22.) And to conclude: let it engage us to see to the sincerity of our faith in him, and subjection to him ; since 36 4t is not a light matter, but our life, even the very life of our souls. May God awaken those on whom his wrath now abideth, to a sense of their danger, and may he strengthen in each of our souls that faith which is the pledge of a happy immortality *. f He that was of the earth.J. To render 6 @v ek tris yºns thus, pre- of the testimony that was given by the Baptist; though he seems him- vents the appearance of a tautology in the following words, ex Tris yns self at a loss to ſix the clause at which this supposed idiºs of he'. to 7t, which would otherwise seem unavoidable. son speaking begins. * * * : * .g. Under such limitations and with such interruptions as he gives it to i He that is disobedient to the ;: I think it is of great importance to his other messengers..] With what limitations and interruptions the ex preserve a difference in the translation; correspºndent to 5. in the traordinary gifts of the § were given, even to the greatest of the original, between 6 Trus-evgov ets, Tov viov, and 6 aireiðoy Fo children of men, we shall have repeated occasion to observe in the pro- cause the latter phrase.explains the former, and shows that the faith to cess of this work. * * & which the promise of life is annexed, is an effectual principle of sincere This is the substance, and this is the end of my whole testimony.] and unreserved obedience; and it is impossible to make one part of scrip- Rasmus here destroys (as he had done before, at ver. 16.) the beaut ture consistent with another, unless this be taken into our idea of saping of this discourse, by supposing that the latter part of it is to be consid- faith ; as I have shown at large in the first of my Sermons on Salvation ered as the reflection and attestation of the evangelist, upon occasion by Grace through Faith, vio ; be- JOHN THE BAPTIST IMPRISONED BY HEROD. SECTION XXVIII. - John the Baptist is imprisoned by Herod. Luke iii. 19, 20. Mark vi. 17–20 Matt. xiv. 3—5. - LUKE iii. 19. LUKE iii. 19. r * * * ~ * º - t & *QT THUS John went on to prosecute the great design of his appearance, and to prepare the BUT Hºodºreh.be. © Q * g * ſe ſe - 28, way for the reception of Jesus: but much about this time, it pleased God to permit the jºº # , ; … course º hi,ministry to be interrupted, and his life itself to be quickly after rought to Piº's ºtMºkº". it.” its period. For Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, having out of curiosity sent for . º.*...?'...} 19 him to his court, this holy man thought it his duty to admonish him in regard to the public scandals of his life and reign. . Now Herod being thus plainly and faithfully reproved by him, bºth on account of Herodias his brother Ph ilip's wife, (for, to the infamy and scan- dal of his character, he had ungenerously taken her fºom"her husband, and public ºl º in contempt of all laws human and divine,b) and also for all the other evils 20 #: Herod ad ſº which were many and great, that haughty prince was so exasperated, tº instead of falling under the admonition, he meditated revenge: And though 20 Added yet this abov, for the present he dismissed him,” it was not long before he prosecuted his design, and ºthe shºt º'jo.” Mass added Jºf this act Of Wickedness to all [the rest] of his enormous crimes, that he cºnfined "“” - tº and shut up John in prison. For Herød himself sent officers after him, and seized John, Mark vi. 17. For Herod 17 Whº, had returned to prosecute his ministry in a place which lay within the territories of hiº.º.ent ºth º Galilee; and having thus got him into his power, he bound him with chains,” and put jº rº". him in prison; though his confinement there was not so close but that his disciples were prison."{\iatt's* 3: º suffered to converse with him. (Compare Matt. xi. 2, 4. and Luke vii. 19, 22. Sec Yi) And though he might assign other political reasons to excuse his conduct, as if his .18 For John had said ºnto gºing pºpularity rendered him dangerous to the state, yet the true reason for which he # *.*.*.*.*.*. did it was this, that John had treated him with such a freedom as he knew not how to Wiś. “Mºxiù." bear, and had told Herod to his very face, It is not langful for thee that thou shouldst take upon thee, as thou dost, to have thy brother's wife, nor canst thou ever have any solid 19 peace of conscience while thou continuest to retain her. And for this cause Heroi as also Was yet more furiously incensed against him, and with an unrelenting cruelty still hung ... Upon him #, and not contented with what he suffered in his imprisonment, would fain hai: *9 put him to death, but she could not immediately compass that design: For Herod, notwith: standing all his resentment, still reverenced Johnh in his heart ; knowing that he was a righteous and, holy, man, of which the fidelity of his reproofs was a very convincing evi- dence. And therefore calling him to frequent audiences, he heard him discourse with atten- {ioni and pleasure; and was so far influenced by it, that he did many things according to his exhortations.k 4. e done, [Matt. xiv. 3, Mark vi. 17.] cº º ~ 3 I8 19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him ; but she could not. 20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and ob- served him ; and when he heard him; he did many things, und heard him gladly. ...But as John was still pressing him to dismiss Herodias, and telling him the insufficiency ... Mºſt, six. 5. And when he - S-> would have put him to death, 5 of any other reformation while he continued his infamous commerce with her, and she in .''...}}|...}}..."; the mean time wearied Herod with her importunity; when he at length was so far wrought ºuse ºy counted him as l } * ld | d] ] *** * £x H . e 5-> *-*. ~ 0. prophet. \pon, that he would gladly have consented to put him to death, he was so apprehensive of the consequences of it, that he durst not do it, since he feared the mutitude; because he knew that they respected John, and looked upon him as a prophet, and he did not think it safe to provoke such a factious people by an action so extremely unpopular. EMPROVEMENT. WHAT dangerous things are grandeur and power, if divine grace does not secure the hearts of those who AHATT, XIV. F.TRE I 3.2 o Possess them How unhappy are they whose fatal prerogative it is to be able to oppress with impunity, and to * * render it hazardous even to reprove them : * John well deserved the veneration and esteem of Herod, when he thus took the freedom to perform this dan- is gerous office of friendship, and to manifest a fidelity so seldom to be found in courts, and indeed so often wanting elsewhere. A wise princé would have courted his friendship, and sought his advice ; but he is at length rewarded with imprisonment and death. 17 This good man was taken from his work, and laid aside in the midst of his days and his usefulness; but he calmly acquiesced in the disposals of Providence, and no doubt carried along with in to his prison incomparably more happiness than his persecutors could find on the throne. * 20 In this confinement the prophet was not forgotten; but as if Herod had studied to increase his own torment, he must be sent for again and again to discourse before him. That he reverenced a man of such approved integrity, added to his confinement, as usual in such cases; (compare, Acts xii. 6. a On account of Herodias—for he had married her.] Josephus gives us an account of this incestuous marriage, which proved the occasion of the Baptist’s imprisonment and death, (Jantiq. (th. xyiii. Cap. 5. [al. 7.] § I, 4. / Havercamp.) from whence it appears, that this, Herodias was daughter to Aristóbulus, one of the sons of Herød the Great, anºl, coil- sequently was niece both to Philip her. former husband, and to Herºl Antipas the tetrarch, her latter. By I’hilip, whom Jºiºſ". also calls Herod, (as princes had often several names,) she had one daughter, whose name was Salome, (ibid. p. 885.) who probably was the young jady afterwards inchtioned, § 77, as instructed by her mother, to ask the head of John the Baptist. And that historian infortus us, that Herod the tetrarch, to make way for his marriage with Herodias, divorced, his former wife, the daughter of Aretas: which inade this commerce a kin of double adultery, and was the occasiºn of a war between those two princes, in which Herod’s forces were defeated. * s 5 in contempt of all laws human and divine.] The only case in which the late allowed of marrying one who hail been a brºther's, fiſt, was, when the brother died childless, (Lev. xviii. It). XX: 21. and Deut. xxv. 5.) whereas in this instance Philip, was yet living, and haſ a daughter by Herodias. It was also in violatigº ºf all the rites of h9s- pitality, thät Herod, while, a guest in his brother’s house, seduced, his wife; as Josephus expressly observes. Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 5. § 1. P. Though for the prèsent he dismissed him.] Else there would have been no need for his sending to seize him, as we are presently told he did. d Herod himself.] There seems to be aPºłº, emphasis in this ex- pression, which probabl º be designed to intimate, that his seizing John was not merely the effect, of Hérodias's solicitations, but of his own resentment.—The place where he seized him might probably be inon, wiere John had ſately baptized, and where he again might re- turn to his work; and if so, #; must have been in Herod’s jurisdic- tion. Compare note a, on John iii. 23. p. 60. - e Bound him with chains.] It is plain from Matthew’s, manner of ex- pressing this, that he bound him, and put him in prison, thut chains were and xxviii. 20.) so that those versions which consider cenºzy as am exp}ctive, lose part of the sºnse. f Dangerous to the state.] Joscelius expressly says, that [Igrod was afraid the authority of so great a nian should occasion a revolt anyong his subjects ; and that he thought it better to take hind off, than to ven- ture the danger of such a revolution as he might have occasioned, Antiq. lih. xviii. cap. 5. § 2. p. 834. He there adds, that he first confined him in the castle of Machieris. - g Herodius hung upon himp.] This seems to me the import of the phrase evätzsv «v76), which is with peculiar propriety applied to a dog’s fas- tening his teeth into his prey; and holding it down. See De Dicu, in loc, and compare Luke xi. 53. There seems an opposition seldom remarked between this and ver. 17. Herod hintsc{f Scized him, but Herodias went still further.—Josephus gives a very bad character of this Hºrodias, and assures us that her ambitious and envious spirit wits at last the cause of II erod’s ruin and her own. Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 7... [it]. 9..] h Repercnced John, & 5-6ct To. The same word is justly so trans- lated, Eph. v. 33. and there are many other passages where it has the same sense. See Luke xii. 5. and Rev. xi. IS. xiv. 7. - i Icard Jim waith attention.] So I choose to render ovvet mpet autov, rather than prescreed or prºtected him, (compare Luke ii. 19. Gr.) though I know that the word sometimes signifies to preserve. (Matt. ix J7.) Our English version of this possa;e appears to be improper ; and I hope the fittie trans yosition I have made hire will be forgiven, since it makes not the least alteration. in the sense, and suits best with the ge- nius of our language. Such little libertics cisewhere seem not so con- siderable as to need a more particular apology. . k Did many things.] Grotius would have it rendered, that he had Heard him formerly with pleasure, and had dome many things; supposing this refers to what had passed before his imprisonment; but such a change doth not appear necessary, as the paraºhrgse plaimſy shows. l Looked upon him as a º Accordingly Josephus says, (in the place quoted above in note f.) that the Jews in general looked on the CHRIST's CONFERENCE witH THE woMAN OF SAMARIA. 63 none can wonder: but while he would not be entirely reformed by his remonstrances, that he should hear him with SECT. leasure, and do manythings, is very surprising. Delusive pleasure! unprofitable reformation while, whatsoever 28. instances he gave of his regarding him, Herodias was yet retained. May divine grace preserve us from such fatal º: since, did we keep the whole law, and offend allowedly but in one point, we should become guilty of * all. James ii. 10. g We cannot wonder if a reformation thus insincere and partial was but short-lived, and was followed at length 20 by a grosser apostasy. More bitter than death is the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands bands. ğ. vii. 26.) To what may not the artifices of such an abandoned creature work up the wretch, that is entangled with her charms! Such was the influence of Herodias over him, that at her instigation Herod is pre- yailed upon to seek the death of that righteous and holy man, whose virtues he revered, and whose preaching he had attended with pleasure. - - But the fear of the people restrained him, though he was destitute of the fear of God, and had not any generous M.A.T. regard to men. Thus does God govern, the world, and thus does he protect his church, by often mäking it the . ** interest, even of the worst of men, to forbear those injuries and cruelties which the malignity of their natures might otherwise dictate. Let us courageously commit the keeping of our souls to him in j'. as firmly believing that, whatever hazards we may be exposed to, the wrath of man shall on the whole be found to praise him, and the remainder of that wrath shall he restrain. Psal. lxxvi. 10. SECTION XXIX. Christ going from Judea to Galilee, meets with a woman of Samaria, and enters into a conference with her, in which he discovers himself to her as the Messiah. John iv. 1–26. John iv. I. John iv. 1. §º THE testimony which the Baptist had given to Christ, together with the miracles he him; sect. ‘new how the Pharisees had - * - - - - º heari"that jesus made and self had wrought at Jerusalem during the passover, (see John ii. 23. and iii. 2.) impressed 29. #" *** the minds of the people to such a degree, that, during his long abode in those parts, vast numbers were continually flocking around him; which gave great umbrage to the Jewish Joºs rulers. When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees, whose interest in the sanhedrim ; ". was so considerable, had heard with great concern what began to be so much talked of abroad, that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John the Baptist himself had *ºhiºlſ done;” (Though indeed Jesus himself, for wise reasons, did not choose to baptize any with 2 §" * * * * his own hands, but left some of his disciples to do it in the name of a Messiah shortly to 3 He left Judea, and de-be manifested;) In order to avoid both their envy and their curiosity, he left Judea, after 3 P***** having eontinued there about eight months,” and departed again inio Galilee, his former abode, where the influence and power of the council were not so great. And he must needs go JVow, unless he would have taken such a circuit through Judea, and the neighbouring 4 through Samaria. parts, as in his present circumstances was very inconvenient, he was obliged to go through 5.Then comeſh he to a city the country of Samaria. He cometh therefore in his way to a city of Samaria, originally 5 gjºº called Sichem, but now, especially by the Jews, Sichar; which name they used as a term ground that Jacob gave to his of reproach,3 intimating thereby that it was the seat of drunkards: (see Isa. xxviii. H. son Joseph. and it was near that piece of ground which Jacob (having purchased it of the children o Hamor, Gen. xxxiii. 19.) by a particular grant gave to Joseph his beloved son. (Compare 6 Noy Jacºb's well, was Gen. xlviii. 22. and Josh. xxiv. 32.) And there teas a well belonging to it, called Jacob's 6 §§§ well; it having been used by him and his family while they dwelt in these parts. (See ºil..." it was Gen., xxxiii, I8. xxxy. 4.) You, Jesus, being wearied with his journey, sat down imme- - diatelyº by the side of the well; [and] it was then about the sirth hour, or just high noon; so that the heat joined with the fatigue of the journey to increase both his thirst and faintness.f - off jº"... "... And at this very juncture of time, there comes a certain woman of Samaria to draw water; † jës."j ºr,” and Jesus (on purpose to introduce a discourse by which he graciously intended her con- me to drink. version and salvation) says unto her, I desire you would give me [some] water to drink. 8. (For his disciples were For his disciples were not near to assist him, but were gone to the neighbouring city to buy 8 É. unto the City to 000. 9. Then saith the woman of . Then says the woman of Samaria to him, How is it that thow who art, as appears by thy 9 ãº: habit and dialect, a Jew, askest drink of mé, who an a woman of Samaria? for the reader dº...of gº..which am a must observe, that the Jews have no friendly intercourse with the Samaritans,” nor so much woman of Samaria 2 ſor the - 2 jº have º'àºjīng "wº as care to receive any favour from them, looking upon them as an impure and accursed the Samaritans. nation. - succeeding calamities of Herod’s reign as a judgment from Cod for his d A terºn of reproagh.J. It is remierkable, as Mr. L'Enfant observes, injustice to this holy man. that Sickar in the Syriaç language signifies a drunkard and a liar. a JMore disciples than John the Baptist himself had done..] I am not e Sat down. *:::: Ekathºsro 97.95, that is, weary as he wras, certain, whether this happened lºfore John’s imprisonment or after ; but says Dr. Whitby. I think, Mr. Blackwall has not sufficiently proved if I had been sure it happened bºſore, I should still have thought it pro- that grog sometimes signifies therefore, or, for this cause, though he has per.to add the Acçºint 9ſ that event (as I have done in the preceding attempted it in his sacred Classics, voi. i. p. 143, 144. The particle section) immediately aſter, his last testimony, though some other facts gº to have mºh the sense i have here given it, Acts xx. 11. and might possibly intervene ; but if (which, seems most probable) Matt. iv. may often be rendered, accordingly, upon that, or after ichigh. See Act. 12. and Mark i. 14. § 3!. init; refer to this journey, they both, in plain º. 3 ºf '33. ºij || "...i "jºu "...ii; 59 Čompare iššuer words, .. lt. Yiºſº. ſº i. º saying, Cºerr. º. i. p. 303. º - > * * *- : y it is astonishing that a person, of Air; Vy histon’s learning and sagacity f The heat, joi • attig • * is nur - - * should place all these events beſore the baptism and temptation of Christ. latiº º §: ...” ſºils; ºº:...'. Were his arguments to confirm his, eighth proposition fºr more specious exceedingly hot at nº even on days when the cofd has been vo than they are, they would nçver solve or balance the flagrant absurdity severe ife morning. y - c ry of making John declare, (John i. 32,34.) that he saw the Spirit descending g The Jews have no friendly intercourse acith the Samaritans.] This on . Christ, above a i. §fore, it did sº descend; yet this, intºnious must be the import of ºvºº here; fºr it is evºjºvet"; writer has forgotten himself so far, as to represent the matter in this con- that the Jews had s d #. s with th 5 It i "... • *- tradictory view ; (see Whiston's Harmony, p. 135–139, and p. 227. at the Hews had some dealings with them. It has been frequently ob: y view ; r - 9my, l 2. P. served, that many causes concurred to occasion this inveterate hatred of compared with p. 242;). The interpretation given aboye of Matt. iii. 14, the Jews to the Šarūtūns such as—not only their forei rate hatre §§ and Luke, iii.2ſ. (p. 46.) i. solve some of the chief arguments on j. j.jū.'... ...? *.*.*.*.*. which he builds this singular hypothesis. -vii * -º " " *- S ºdolatry in their religion, (2 Kings - - * te - xvii. 24, 33–41.) but also the miurious manner in which they treated b. Jesús, himself did, not choose to baptize any, with his own hands.) the Jews after their return from the captivity. (Ezra'iº i º Nºi.". This might be partly to avoid importunate inquiries whether he was the i-14.). -ănā especially their building a ièmple" on mount Gerizin. lessiah, and partly tº prevent thºse Pººjudiºs which night have arisen which they matiº tie gentre of their worship, in oppositi. toº": against the more perfect form of baptism afterwards instituted, if any , grusalem, Joseph. Antiq., lib. xi, cap. 8. Ånd perhaps nothing con. had received this less perfect baptism from Christ himself. . tributed more to expose them to the contempt and abhorrence of the c. After having continued there about eight months.] This appears Jews, than that infamous offer they made to Antiochus, of iºdicating from ver, 35, for hargest began quickly aſter the passovcr; Ley. xxiii. that temple to Jupiter, and admitting the rites of his idoiátrous worship, 0, 15. Christ, therefore staid. in Judea from one passover till, within at a time when the Jews were suffering the utmost extremities in defence four ponths of the other; that is, near eight, months; so that this,journey of their religion. See Joseph. Jºntiq.lib. xii. cap. 5. fai. 7.j & 5. Haver. into, Galilee must be made, near the middle of Winter, probably about camp. —The reader may §several passages in Whitby, and Lightfoot’s # brºamins of our December. See Sir Isaac Newton on Prophecy, p. #º: ºb. * loc. that express the mutual aversion of the two nations to y J. J. : : U tile 64 CHRIST'S CONFERENCE WITH THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. SECT. Jesus, to convince her that he was not under the power of such common prejudices, and 10 Jesus answered and said 29. to awaken her further inquiries, answered and said unto her, If thou hadst known the great ºft e - - - * - I ift of God, which he is now bestowing upon the children of men by his Son, and Jhoºt it tº Yºhº; ºn is that, sº untº the Gººle to drink; thou goºdst not ºnly have complied with his §º.º.º.º. 10 request, but wouldstere this time surely have asked him,h and he, without objecting to thee have given theeiving water. on account of the people to whom thou belongest, would readily have given thee livi water, far better than what thou art now drawing. By which our Lord intimated his ability and readiness to communicate those influences of God's.Holy Spirit, which afford the noblest refreshment to the soul, and therefore are often described by water. - .* 11 But the woman, who understood him only in a common sense of fresh spring water, nº. The woman, saith, unto says to him, with greater respect than before, . being struck both with the piety and #º kindness of his former reply,) Sir, thow hast no bucket, k nor any thing else to draw with, ºf from hence then has: and the well before thee, which is the only spring hereabouts, is very deep; whence hast thou that living water? thou then this living water, of which thou speakest; or what is the extraordinary supply, 12 which thou declarest may be had from thee ? Art thou greater and wiser than our father 12, Art thou, greater than Jacob, who gave us this well, leaving it to his descendants as a legacy of importancé; and ºf while l ... b • - - - - * - o ... --> 3 ** us the , well, and , drank while he lived, he drank of it himself, with his children, and his cattle, as the best water in herº himself...his chi: these parts? - dren, and his cattle 2 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whoever drinketh of this water, how much soever it .3 Jesus answered and said may be esteemed, though it refresh the º for a little while, will quickly thirst again : §§ºhº;; 14 But he that drinketh of the water which I shall give him, will find it so reviving to the soul, asſing w - * l r f * * • that he will never thirst, or be in danger any more of perishing for want; but the water of §§ sº which I shall give him will be a never-failing source for his supply, and will be in him as a "... º.º. untai water that will ti lly b on ~. d flowi - i- ... the Water that I shall i.; fountain of water that will continually be springing up, and flowing on, to everlasting life: him shall be in him. Weſt of for that which I shall communicate to him, will bring him to everlasting composure and jº"***** satisfaction of mind now, and will be the earnest and principle of eternal happiness. g ille. 15 The woman, still ignorant of his spiritual meaning, and understanding him only of º The Yºmº, jº º º, : e * * b - him, Sir, give me this water, natural water, says unto him, Sir, I claim thy promise, and desire thou wouldst give me tºitiºnotheither comé this extraordinary water, that I may not thirst any more, nor have the trouble to come **** hither daily to draw it, as I now do. - 16 Jesus, perceiving her ignorance, and willing to discover himself to her, in a manner that ...!? Jesus saith ºnto her, Go, might more immediately touch her conscience, says unto her, Go home, and call thy fºllºy husband, and come 17 husband to me, and then come hither again. The woman, sensible of the way in which she a.º.º.º.º. ived, and thinking to conceal her shame, answered and said, flave no husband Jesus tº 18 says to her, Thou hast answered well, in that thou hast said, I have no husband: For I jº" " | * * know that thou hast had five husbands, and that he whom thou hast now with thee, as thou ºf thou hast,had five hast never been lawfully married to him, is not thy husband;" in this respect thou hast ºriº now hast is not thy husband : spoken truly and properl in that saidst thou truly. 19 The woman, ...}at such an extraordinary instance of his knowledge, (yet desirous lººr... . - - * º him, Sir, I perceive that thou at the same time to turn off the discourse from a subject so much to her confusion,) says art a prophet. to him, Sir, I perceive, by thy discovering the circumstances of my life so truly, though I am a perfect stranger to thee, that thow art a prophet; and therefore I would gladly take this opportunity of being informed concerning that great question which divides the Jewish and Samaritan nations.” - 20 It is well known from the Mosaic writings, that our fathers worshipped on this mountain,” iº.ſ.º.º. which we think a circumstance of considerable weight in our favour; whereas you Jews that injerusalem is the place say, that the temple at Jerusalem is the great place, where we should all present our sacri– where men ought to worship. fices unto God, and ought to attend upon the duties of his worship, and whither all the tribes are to resort three times a-year. I would beg therefore to be informed by thee in this important case, which of the two I should believe, and which is really the place most acceptable unto God. -- - - 21 In answer to this case of conscience, Jesus says to her, Woman, believe me, and attend *º: to what I say, The hour is now . when this controversy shall be entirely over, and jºjº: neither on this mountain, nor at Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father, in the sºme manner ..."...h;"lºº. as ye now do; for God is going now to introduce such a pure and spiritual dispensation, the: 2 as will remove all manner of distinctions as to the place in which he would be wor- shipped, and supersede the ceremonies practised here or there. But as to this dispute jºyº; which has so long been carried on between the Jews and you, it is apparent on the prin what we know whº wº ciples of the Mosaic religion, that you Samaritans are in a gross mistake; and with respect not only to the place, but in a great measure to the object also, and the manner of your services, you worship you know not what ; whereas we Jews are much better instructed h Thou 7couldst § have asked him.] This seems exactly to ex- 3% xi. 26. § 140. with the notes on those places; and John xiii. 10. ress the force of the phrase, a U av 77 maraş a UTOP’. º * * pº would have # thce iiving water.] It is certain that the phrase m Is not, thy husband.] This can imply no, less, tha), that she WQS Hising pater does in many good authors signify spring water, or running Tºº! married to the man she lived with now, at all ; for Christ º to - ºte: in opposition to that which stagnate; ānā so quickly grows not allow the other five to haye been husbands, though her #. i. \\ſigreth he caine gºd dwelt at Çanerºatin.-We are expressly toll by JCh. , that Jesus, after the ºiracle which he wrought at Çana in Galilee went with his nother and his brethrén and disciºs to Čaperſºn, and continued some time, though not very long titºre, (John ii. 12, § 24.) ºld.it is, yery possible he tight visit it, agaia in his passig through Galijee, (jºhn iv. 43, 44. § 31) which iſ he did, after the citré wrought gº the noisièman’s sºn there, (which undoubtedly preceded this visit to Nazareth,) 1.9 would certainić meet with so; i.e. cxtraordinary regard, as the cure was perfor:yed at a disłaszce, and many other iniracles night then be wrought there ; so that this passage Inay refer to these and other Mºiracles isot particulariy recor:left by linke : as we have seen before that John refers to others (John ii. 23, and iii. 2.) which neither he himself had nientioned, nor iºd any of the rest of the cransclists. If it be asked, why Christ did not perform such miracles here as elsewhere 2 we answer—that this whole discourse is intended to prove that God might dispense these extraordinary favours as he pleased; and they do not appear to have irror:ght tic; sick to iniºn, ºnd seem to have suspected his Power; (cosh påre àisitt. xiii. 5S. and Śāk vi. 5. § 73.) a suspicion, the uñreason: bleness of which was greatly aggravated by the credible re- port Qt yńat he had dose in the fieighbourhood, and by the knowledge they had of his early piety and exemplary behaviour. * n.The heactº leas shºut w; for three jears and six mºnths.] This is again asserted by the apostle James, (ciap. v. ii.) either as grounded on our #.grd’s gut (ority here, or as a circumstance established by tradi- tion : for in both places it is spoken of as a thing well know: : nor can we doubt but the account is, very exact, though the particular time is not dietermined in the Gil Testament, nor is it certainly deducible from it.—Light:opt gºd Qthers have observed, that there is somewhat here remarkable in this cirguinstºnce of time, as it aşreys with the continu- ance of Christ’s public ſtriºtistry : that as Elijah sh;it up lºcaten by his prayer, so that it rained rºot on the curt' by the space of three years and six months, so ſººn the bapiššín to the d2gth of Christ, the heavens trere gpened for the like space of time, and his doctrine dropped as the rigin, and kis Spcecº distilled as the deto. (i) cut. xxxii. 2.) See Light:oot's Liaº- mony, and Grotius, in loc. o J, one qf thern ſcas cleansed but JVaanga tº c Šiº Of the the particie et ſºn here, and in some other remarkable places force of & note on Jolla xvii. 12. § 179. , $ge the { 70 - CHRIST'S VISIT TO CAPERNAUM. . . SECT. their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong, and dash him to pieces. But whereon their city was built, 32. Jesus, when he had permitted their madness to go this far, confounded their sight in fººmishteisthim down – such a miraculous manner, that he passed though the midst of them unknown,P and went 35 ; he, passing through ** away to the neighbouring city of Capernaum, where he abode for some time. ºils of them went is IMPROVEMENT * ,-- Ver, 16 WE see that it was the custom of our blessed Saviour to frequent the synagogues every sabbath-day: how well therefore does it become his servants to be constant in their attendance on public ordinances; espécially since those of the gospel are in many respects so much nobler than any which the Mosaic institution would admit! 17. In the synagogues the Scriptures were constantly read; and it is matter of pleasing reflection, that in all ages of the Christian church, the reading of them hath usually been made a part of the service in most of its solemn assemblies. Let it still be so with us, for this reason, among others, that so glorious a testimony to the genuine- ness of Scripture may not be impaired in our hands, but transmitted to those that shall arise after us. - And surely the Old Testament, as well as the New, deserves our attentive perusal; in which, if we are not strangely negligent, or strangely prejudiced, we must often meet with remarkable prophecies of Christ shining with a pleasing lustre, like lights in a dark place. (2 Pet. i. 19.) How amiable a view of him is given in that 18, 19 which he now opened Letus seriously attend to it. . It is a moving representation that is here made of the deplorable state in which the gospel finds us! The helpless prisoners of divine justice, the wretched captives of Satan, sº. and wounded, the eyes of our understanding blinded, and the powers of our souls enfeebled, and, as it were, bruised with those chains which prejudice and vice have fastened upon them! But in these miserable circumstances, Jesus appears to open the doors of our prison, to strike off our fetters, and even to restore our sight. He comes to enrich our impoverished souls, and to reach a far better jubilee than Moses could proclaim; the free forgiveness of all our sins, and the recovery of an inheritance of eternal glory. Surely it should be to us a most acceptable time. Blessed are the people that know this joyful sound; they shall walk, 3. Lord, in the light of thy countenance 1 (Psal. lxxxix. 15.) . . . * * * - - - 21, 22. In some sense this instructive and comfortable scripture is this day fulfilled in our ears likewise, Let us also bear our testimony to the gracious words of this welcome messenger, whom God hath anointed for such happy purposes: - - - - - 20 One would have imagined that while the eyes of his auditors were fixed upon him, their souls should have - drank in his doctrine, as the thirsty earth sucks up the rain, and that every heart should have been open to embrace him. But, O blessed Jesus, while thou art preaching these glad tidings of great joy, what a return dost 28, 29 thou find! Thou art ungratefully réjected, thou art impiously assaulted; and had their räge and malice been able to prevail, the joyful sound would have died into empty air as soon as it began, and this thy first sermon at Nazareth had been thy last. ... - - - - Thus disdainfully art thou still rejected by multitudes who still hear the same message echoing from thy word. And is there not a malignity in the hearts of sinners which might lead those of our own days to the outrageous wickedness of these Nazarenes, were their opportunities the same, rather than they would bow their stubborn hearts to the obedience of faith? But while they are crucifying thee afresh by their sins, and putting thee to open shame, may we honour thee as the Son of God, the Saviour of men; and labour by the ardour of our love, and the steadiness of our obedience, in some measure to balance the ingratitude of those who, while they are opposing thee, are destroying themselves | - º - - SECTION XXXIII. sº- Christ goes to Capernauan, and teaehes in the synagogue there with great acceptance; and galls Peter &nd Andrew, and James and John, to a - ºw ..." more stated attendance upon him. Matt. iv. 13–22. Luke iv. 31, 32. Mark i. 16–20. - - - $ - MATT. iv. 13. MIATT. r. 13. SECT. 4.N.D. Jesus, leaving Nazareth, from whence he was expelled and driven out in the un-Aiº ºils ºf 33, grateful manner that was beforé described, came and dwelt for a while at Capernaum, which ..., §§§ jº. - " - was a considerable city of Galilee, that lay on the sea-coast, even on the northern shore of f.º.º...?” Mºtt, the lake of Gennesareth, in the confines of Zebulon and Vaphtali; and from thence he """ ** * W., , made several small excursions to visit the neighbouring places. And this was ordered by wº.º.º. - - • * º º - - º hich was spoken by Esaias 14 a special Divine Providence, that what was said by the tºº, chap. ix. 1, 2.) i.º. S 15 might be fulfilled.” When, speaking of the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, by the aſſº; waſ of the sea, and the country about those parts of Jordan, which is called by the general #ºš. name of Galilee of the Gentilés,” (because so many Gentiles were early settled there, and tâ;” “ , --, - had filled it with a variety of superstitions,) he says, “That though God had once made ~ these nations vile, yet he would hereafter rénder them glorious;* since even there, by the . . tº. - 16 settlement and preaching of the Messiah among them, The people that sat in darkness saw nº ... * - * - - darkness saw great light: an (that is, should surely sée) a great and glorious light, to disperse that ignorance and Vice ºnjići sãº. which before clouded them; and, even iſ them thai sãt miserable and helpless in the dark #...” “ ” region and gloomy shadow ºf death itself, in the most melancholy and the most dangerºus ~ * condition, light has remarkably sprung up,” to cheer their hearts, and guide them into the - - ways of peace and happiness.” s ... . . . - - - 1- ~ -> * `-y rº As 17 Ånd from that time of his departure into Galilee,f Jesus began to preach in all the places * * that time Jesus p Passca through the midst of them unknown.] Whether the miracle d Though God hagºnade, theº.º. Yet he Wºłº, º lay in rendering himself entirely invisible, or in º on some other them glorious.], I follow, Mrs Medei.jus. and º {! ić$º *. Jörm, or in affecting their eyes or minds in such a manner that they interpretation of Isà is: 1. See Mede’s {{ariº, p. { ë §§ : ºi shouji not know him, we cannot certainly determine: , but it seems fery’s Kevictſ’; p. l?5, #26. where that interpretation is lºgº leatº ovident tº it there was something miraculous in the case. Compare John and improved : and fºe as a son to doubt that it is ‘...." º: viii. 59. Luke xxiv. 16. and 2 Kings vi. 20. - of the illumination and Rangu, thºse afficted countries should receive a That phºtºngs said by the prophet Isaiah night be fulfilled.] The coin- by the presence and preaching of Christ. . . l •;-- mon translation is word for word, correspondent to the original; bgt the e J.ight has sprung up.1 The heathen writers represented the ar: i. sense, as it stands here, is so entirely the same, that I was unwilling to of some, public benefactg. in a blacc, as a new light sprudg up in the spoil the strugture of the paraphrase by crowding in the word saying ; midst of darkness. See Elsner, Obsºrp. vol. i. p. 19. . . Hºt $1,3: 'sof nor do I think such an exactness necessary in order to rentler a version f From that time of his departure into Galilacºl , ºt is, but ºf ºº perfectly faithful. ...” * • - that śiñº sºaks of Christ’s dejarºize into fºilº (Yer. Jº all it b About those parts of Jordan.]. That megav sometimes hasº Sig- º more º: º ...h3 i. }II º; tº * hº ification, wi v co -- ... ºf i. 1, 7. and Numb. xxxii. of his leaving JVazareth, (which lie, hºis mºcht'989; 10 Yºº ºl: – #;.ill appear by comparing Josh y - - dent from #if: iv. I4, 15, and, John ziy. 43–45, that gilis, º #. 3 Galileº of the Gentiles.]... The learned Drusius has given a large preach in the synagogues of Galilee before ke ...; té). Nº. 'is *: account of the reason of this name, and concludes it was the uppe; thus I might have introdiºed ºft i. º º º oft *:::: § in the jamä of Naphtaji, whereas the lower lay in Zebulon, and that I would avoid as much as possible º § º .#. *:: will Rººm was situated on the confines of both...Grotius traces the ratiºn; compare notés b and c, in §#: }. ſ ... *; about Gaii: nºne up to Gen. xiv. T. but most commentators refer it to 1 Kipgs is. Pasily Herº that I suppose. Our § º e only º djº which ii. 13. supposing that Solomon’s giving a trägt ºf land here tº Hiram, lee in the four or five last months H. w º _j} 1S fºg. § ‘. § Not can occasioned it to Ée filled with foreigners, and to be peopled with a mix: Matthew, give; a general account below: ºlatº: V. t conclude it a second 3. *śjams, Egyptians, and Arabians; according to the account isee that Sir Isaäc Newtºn lºy # º jä. our Lord is that Strabo gives, &cºph. lib. xvi. p. 523. *- Circuit quits distinct from the former. It is true indee 3'- PETER AND ANDREW, JAMES AND JOHN, CALLED BY JESUS. hºtº º, that he came to, in a more public manner, and to say, Repent, and turn ºnto the Lord, fºr jºis' hid"," he is now fulfilling his ancient promises, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand; .ánd this tº ºthº was the doctrine which he was teaching them during the time of his abode, at Capernaum, days. . and this he made the subject of his preaching in their synagogue on the sabbath-days; not being discouraged by the ill usage that he met with at Nazareth upon his preaching ºf the 71 SECT. 33. LUKE IY. §2.And they were astonish: same doctrine there. And they were powerfully struck, and very much affected with his 32 ed at his doctrine : for his g tº & * g - * e ºo: was ºver. doctrine; for his word was attended with an air of authority and majesty, which, incom- parably exceeded that low and servile manner of preaching which the scribes and Phºri- sees commonly used in retailing their precarious traditions and insipid comments to the people. e Mark i. 16. Now as Jesus] . .4nd it was about this time that, as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he sque fico alked by the sea of Galilee - - * * * - * Yºlº łºś g; brethren, that have been already mentioned, Simon, who was also called Peter, and Andrew * - MARK I. º, his brother, casting a net into the seq; fºr by their occupation they were fishers. ...And after 17 t - * his brother casting a net in * s e 4. º tº some circumstances, an account of which will presently be given, (sect. 34.) Jesus said to Matt. iv. 18.] º - * r ** -i. * #-4 ,” * •S *#"A., jºus said unto them, Come after me, and from henceforth attend me constantly in the course of my hºº! ministry, and I will make you to become fishers of men, and give you such abundant suc- #s. ...?"tº cess in your ministry, that the number of souls converted by you shall be greater than is And straightway, they that of the fish you have been used to catch. And they, being struck with a very won- 18 S k th * tS, - d 1 - g - - - 3. • * º º º * ; ii.” Wiś, ſº derful miracle,k the particulars of which will presently be related, immediately forsook their nets, though the fishing trade was all they had to depend upon in life, and followed lº, And when he had gº .4nd going a little way from thence, he saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, 19 a little farther thence, he saw - e e º & & > * ~ * tº'º and John his brother; and they were in a ship by the sea-side, with Zebedee their father, §4;º; employed in mending their meis, which had been broken by the vast draught of fishes they the ship with Žeºdge their had taken just before. ...And he immediately applied to them, as he had done before to 20 flººns * * Peter and Andrew, and called them to follow him: and they no sooner had received his 20 And straightway he call orders, but presently they left their father Zebedee with the hired servants in the ship, and, ed them ; and they ſimple- ; *_ -- - . 1 A. a g & jaj: "ieß"ieś in consequence of the secret energy which attended that call, they joined with Peter and ;...º.º.º.º.º.º. Andrew, and with the greatest cheerfulness and readiness went after him, being deter- hired servants, and went after tº: 5 e * * sº º - > - him.’"išiai. iv. 3,33.j mined to continue with him as his stated attendants: and they were all afterwards honoured with extraordinary favours from their Master; especially John, who was his . bosom friend, and came to be called, by way of eminence, The disciple whom Jesus loved. IMPROVEMENT. Such was the zeal and courage of our blessed Redeemer, that he no sooner had been persecuted and assaulted at Nazareth, but he went and preached in the synagogue at Capernaum. Thus, may all the opposition that we 31 meet with in the course of our duty animate, rather than overbear, our resolution in performing it! How happy was the land of Zebulon and Naphtali in the visits of such a guest! And may we not add too, how happy is our own land in being visited by the everlasting gospel, which is now much more clearly discovered to us than it was to these coasts while Christ began to open his ministry among their inhabitants. DUKE IV". MATT. IV. 15 In us is this prophecy of Isaiah eminently fulfilled. We but a few ages ago sat in darkness; and behold we 16 See a great light. Our country, amidst all the advantages of its soil and situation, was, in a spiritual sense, the region and the shadow of death; but the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon us, nor do we only behold his rising beams, but his meridian lustre. May we not be so ungrateful as obstinately to shut our eyes against it, lest the ;: º and Emamuel's land, should on the whole prove to us the land of destruction, and the valley of eath itself! That this may never be our case, let us diligently attend to this divine Teacher, who speaks with such authority, and whose words are so weighty and powerful. May we feel the energy and authority of them May they call 32 IV. *~~ us off from every undue attachment to the business or the º of life And if he should ever see fit to t us, as he did these his servants, with a command to forsake our nearest relations, and our earthly all, for his LUKE MARK service, let us do it with pleasure; remembering on the one hand, that he who loves father or mother, wife or 17 “ children, houses or lands, more than Christ, is not worthy of him ; and on the other hand, that he who abandons these engagements for his sake, shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, and in the world to come life ever- lasting. (Matt. x. 37, and Mark x. 29, 30.) * SECTION XXXIV. St. Luke gives a more particular account of a miraculous draught of fishes, by which, Peter and his three partners were prevailed upon statedly - to ſollow Christ. Luke v. 1–11. - LUKE v. 1. - LUKE v. 1. And it came tº Pass that * THE calling of those four celebrated apostles, Peter and Andrew, and James and John, was briefly related above; but, considering the important part which most of them bear SECT. 34. said, Matt. iv. 13, after, leapins Nazareth, to have come and dºeit at the sea of Galilee. For they no sooner were gone home but they returned CŞıpermaum ; but if that should be allowed to imply his making this the again to their old employment, and continued in it tilj they were tº place of his more stated residenge, so as to call it his home, it is eyidently taken ºff from, any further regard to their worldly business, and wº, intimated that he did not stay long in it at first; and shortly after, it is particularly called by Christ to a constant and stated attendañº Ul I:On spoken of only as one of the cities, in which he was sent to proach, Mark hiºn. Sce Lightfoot’s Harmony on Luke v.3 * * * : *** * i. 38. Nor can I find that, after he began to preach, he ever continued k Being struck with a jº, wonderful miracle.] The account of this long in any one place ºxiracle (which is recorded by Luke, chap. v. 1–1].) I sh; . . ~ : - * , ; ; ; **** & e - - - - - ; : * * ~~ *~ - 3. . v. 1-11.) I shall consider # The kingdom of heaven is at hand...] See note h, on Matt. iii. 2, p. 41. in the next section; anºl shall there give my reasons, it not" a, for su p Powerfully struck.] See Luke ii. 47, 48. note e y *{{Js * osing it happenºi at this time, and was not, as $1. Whiston would i Tibo brethren, that have been already mentioned.] sºjohn ;ives, us an have it, the occasion of another call to these distipies. But 'i'ºld'. account (chap. i., 40–42. § 21.) that Andrew and Sinnon had before observé, that besides him, some who agree with me i: is to: - been called to the knowledge of Christ upon the banks of Jordan, and yet out of regård to the supposed regularity of § £iº, lºſſ. that the name of Peter had been then given to Simon : and it is probašić place this call of the four disciples after the ejection of the ºl that, from their first acquaintance with him, they folloſed Jesus for the cure of Peter’s nother-in-lino at Capernaum, and Christs travºs Some time, and went with him to Cana and Capernaum, go!" ii. 2, i2; through Galilee, which are recorded, Matt. viii. 14, 15. iv. 33 3; and § 23, 24.) and atteryards to Jerusalem; (John, iii. 13, lº; $ 243) an: Mark i. 21–39; (§ 35, 35.) See Gradock, Le Clerc, Wells, Clark, j tarried with him while he continued in, Judea, (John iii.22,927.) But I’Eufant, in their Harmonies. But they seem to have fºr ºt. Yhen, the Pharisees grew jealous of the number of his followers, and St. Mark expressly asserts, (chap. i. 21.) that after the cºiliºſtl. Herod was offended at the popularity of John, we may suppose, that four disciples, they ſcent into Cipernaum, and straighticay on the ºns. Jesus at his return to Galilee night think it prudent to dismiss his dis- ing sabbath he entered into the synagogue, and there ºf . , ºftej sº ciples for a time, till he himse f had jº about, from place to place to and then (ver, 29.) forthwith ichen they cere come out of the sºmnºgue, preach the gospel, and had informed the Pººl; more particularly, qf they entered into the house of Simon and Andren, ºth jamºs ºjºſº, the character of his person, and the nature of his doctrine: or, possibly # Signon’s Niother was cured.—Now it seems one of the most important they might lººpé him at the time when the Samºritans prevailed upon rules for settling the harmony of the erangelisi, that where any "ºf him, to go with them to their city, (John iv. 40; $ 30.) for after this we them has expressly asserted that he follows the 'o'; ºne, º shºuji read no more of his disciples being icith him till he now found them at in regard to º: transpose others who do not assert equal exactness i. LUKE SF CT. 34. LUKE 3 4 5 6 7 S 9 i 0 II Ver. 10 I I THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES; in 4 * * * - &= & - * º 3- . º ºing history, we shall here give a more particular account of it.” 0 P633, that while Jesus continued to reside at Capernaum, when the ºltiº. pressed upon him with eagerness to hear the worſ of God, ºf on the banks of which he had been walking, (Mark i. tººls, standing by the side of the lake, bºt with no person in them'; for ii. fishermen after the labour of a Very unsuccessful night, were gone out of them, and were washing their * * ..?nd entering into one of the vessels, which belonged to Simºn Peter, with whom, as well as with his brother Andrew,” we have al- ready seen that he had formed some acquaintance on the nets in the sea, as they stood on the shore. Wąs baptizing there, (John i. 37–42. sectºxi.) * A go *—e T 21 he desired him that he would put out a the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesa- ret, 2 And 3ay two ships stand- in 3 by the lake: but the fish- ermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Si- mon’s, and prayed him that he would st out a little from the ſaid. And he sat down; and taught the people banks of the Jordan, while John little way from tand, that he might thus avoid the crowd, and at the same time be more out of the ship. conveniently heard : &nd at a the vessel. ' •ºld when he had made an cºil of speaking fºrther into the deep water, and then tº dº, •ºnd Simon answering said 3ſour itrito him, Jºſaster, we £aight nothing ; nevertheless, I will let down the act, and make anothér triai at thy word, g- both in obedience to it, and in dependence on it. ...ini accordingly when they had done y £3; so that their net brake in several places as they * + c : 3 is p; ºff they heckoned to their partners James and John, who were : ºliance from them in the other vessel, to come and assist them; and they came and so that they tecre overloaden, and drew so much water that they "4 47, … . ." *: it, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; were drawing them up. Jilled both the vessels, seemed ready to sink. .Vow Simón Peter, seeing covered with confusion, * > me 2 Let me entreat ti given of his power was - account of the vast draight of fishes which and Johá, the sons ºf Zebedee, With wonder and amazgment at the sight of this surprising miracle. Simign, Bo not fear; fºr, instead of doing thee any harm, I from this time design to * * I will give thee such happy success, that thou shall captivate men; in greater abundance than those fishes which thou now hast caught. * !and, they, (that is, first Peter and Andrew, and presently after them, James and John, who were mending their broken nets with Zebedee their father, upon Christ's repeating the call,) left their vessels and nets, with the fish they had taken, even all they had in the world, and followed him; being now deter- mined to attend statedly upon his ministry, that they might thus be fitted for the great employ thee in much nobler work, in which sind when they had brought their vessels to * y work in which he intended to employ them. How Wonderful a choice does Jes the same divine power which prevailed on these honest equal ease have subdued the attended him in all his progress Us Proper distance he sat down, and taught the [this, fell down before the knees of Jesus in amazement, and, said, Lord, what am I, that thou shouldst come into my vessel to - ee now to go out from me; for I am such a sinful man, O Lord,e \ that I am utterly unworthy to receive and entertain thee, nor dare ſto continue in the Presence of so great and holy, a prophet. For this amazing proof that Jesus had now such, that asionishment seized him and all that were they had taken : Ānd in like manner also James tºo were partners in the trade with Simon, were struck multitude out of to the people, he sqid to Simón, Put out yet . 4. Now when, he had left nets into the lake for a draught of fishes. have been labouring all Speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for’s rºught., A. 5, And Simon, answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; néver- theless at thy word'ſ williet own the net. 6 And when they had this done; they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their Inct brake. 7. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they shoujä'comé and help them. nd they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. ... 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus? knees, saying, Depart from me ; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. s 9. For he was astonished, and, all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: 10 And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebe- dee, which were - partners with sºon. And Jésus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shaft catch In Yºh. II And when they had brought their ships to, land they forsook al], and followe life, > night, and have with him, on effnd Jesus said to IMPROVEA'ſ ENT. is make of those who were to be the chief ministers in his kingdom Surely fishermen to leave their little all to follow him, could with hearts of the greatest and wisest of the nation, and have engaged them to have through the country, with the exactest observance and the humblest reverence: but he chose rather to preserve the humble form in which he at first appeared, that thus he might answer the ,” schemes of Providence, and by the weak things of the world confound them that are mighly. (1 Cor. i. 27.) 2 5 Yet we may observe that he does not go to call them that stood all the day idle; but, on the contrary, confers this honour upon honest industry; on them that had been toiling all the night in the proper duties of their station and profession in life. Let us pursue our business with vigilance and resolution ; assuring ourselves that, how- ever mean it be, Christ will graciously accept usin it; and let us fix our dependênce on his blessing, as abso- lutely necessary to our success. These pious fishermen let down their nets at Christ's word, and it was not in vain. How vast was that power 6 which brought such a multitude of fishes into it ! but how much greater and more apparently divine was the which, by the ministration of one of these illiterate men, converted at once a much greater number of energy souls, and turned the despisers and murderers of Christ into his adorers! (See Acts ii. 41.) that particular. (See Jones’s Viºdication ºf . Hatthew, p. 111, ii.2.) This is the case here; and therefore I have here transposed not only. Luke Łut also Matthew, who uses votes of time much more frequently, an sectºrs to me in the main more exact in the Scrics of His story, than Luke. a We shall here give a more particular account of it.] Mr. Whiston there were delightful gardens on the banks of it, which possibly might be the reason of this name, which, some would have to be derived from tºno ºxx, the gardens of princes; though others rather think it to be only a corruption of the word Cinnereth, or Cinneroth, which is the name by which the sca was called in the Qid Testament. (Numb. xxxiv. 11. an Josh. xii. 3.) It was a large collection of waters, through, which the river Jordan passed, and was continually supplying it with a fresh quantity of water. Josephus tells us it was an hundred, and forty fur- ongs long, and forty broad. (Joseph. de Jud. lib., iii. cap. 10. [al: 18.j $ 7. I. 257. Havercamp.) And it was usual with the Jews to call such places seas where there was sugh a large extent of water. See Lightfoot’s Haringny, and Drusius, in loc. g - - c His brother Andrew.] The name of Andrew, is omitted by St. Luko in the relation that fic gives us of this story; but it is plain, from the account of it that we have just now had from Matthew and Mark in the foregoing section, that Andrew was then present with Simon, (in his Jſcrimony, p. 251 and 25%.), supposes, with some others, that this is a distinct story. from that of the calling of these disciples, which we have in the preceding section, aſid that they were tº cit called only to an occasional, bilt now to , a stated, attendance on Christ. But I could not acquiesce in this, for the following reasons : 1. There are many leading circumstances the same in the Harrations Qf bqih ; as for instance, that Peter, Aadrezº, James, and Joha, lºſt, their ships, their metº, and their father ; of, as HLuke c Xpressés if, lºft ail to follow Christ, on his promise tiºn: };6 would make tſie in fishers ºf men. . 2. There is ho circumstance of the story we have now before us which may not be reconciled with t;e other; as the attentive reader wiil perceive by my paraphrase, w especiałły on ver. 11, whºre (ajia may other cases) I havé chosen in and that they both were called at the same time. a few words to suggest the solution of seeming inconsister;cies rather d He had formed some acquaintance on the banks of Jordan.] See than to state the difficulties and answers at large. 3. If this interpreta- hote i, on Matt. iv. 18, p. 71. - tion be not allowed, than neither Matthew nor Mark have given us any e Go out from mc, for I am a six ſºl man, O Lord.] Pcter could not ãºnt of Čhrist’s calling these four iſjustrious persons and intimº, but conclude there was some peculiar presence of God with a person †iºds of fatthew to a stated attendance on him. Anſ, 4. There who could perform such a miracle; apā a, consciousness of sin, made gºing no reason to believe that these ſour disciples forsook Christ again him afraid to gºear in the presence of such an one, fest some infirmity jºin a jºys, or even a jeu, hours, after tilat cºſt vºică Ajatthey or offence should expose him to some, more than or:linary punishment; (Compare Judg. vi. 22. xiii. 22. and 1 Kings xvii. 18.)—It is also well in ſºfagi, have recorded. Yet this Alr. Whiston must suppose; for it * * . 4. - - # plain Öhrist left Capernaum and proceeded ºn his progress; the yºry known, that the ancients hºº! it improper and ºnsº, (where it could - be avoided) for good men to be in the same ship, with persons of an 2.2% ºy after those cures which so directly fºllowed that call of these disriples which is related by th9sº two ºn;&lists, , Segnot, k, Qin Mark I. 15. p. 75. and compare Mark i. 35–39. and J_mke iv. 43–44. § 33. . . * 2° g re S b The lake of 9; Thiſ ſº yº, }; 1S º: #."º. ..ºf Yºog, therc was any Strong Suspicion. See sailed the sca of Galilee, (Mark i. 16.) and the sea ºf T'al:Crias, (John, vi. Siner. UtySężº. .*.*... ...? Th, ; , ; * * * Ye º #ſºft by these names, as it was situated on the borders f Thou shalt captivate ºncil. J. This is the exact English of Šoypov, - - which is so translated, 2 Tim. ii. 26. To catch implies something more * * * * 4. - - of Galilée, and the city of Tiberias lay on the western shore of it. And which * - for # gº name, Gennesaroth, as #.. had a palace near Tiberias, of artifice than the word carries in it, or the occasion seems to require infamous character: nor would the heathens sometimes, permit the very images of their deities to be carried in the vessel with sugh, or eyen TWO MIRACLES PERFORMED AT CAPERNAUM. 73 Blessed Jesus! we would humbly bow ourselves before thee as the Lord of nature and of grace; and, instead SECT. of saying with Peter, Depart from us, for we are sinful men, we would rather say, “Lord, for that very reason, 34. while we own ourselves most unworthy of thy presence, we most impºrtunately entreat it: Come unto me, O Lord, for I º man ; and if thou stand at a distance from me, I perish ſ Come, and recover my heart Lºkº from the tyranny of sin; come, and possess and fix it for thyself!” == W. That secret power which these good men felt on their souls while the words of Christ were sounding in their 9, 10 ears, would be to thern a token for good as to the success of their ministry upon others. Surely we cannot wish . thing of greater importance for the edification of the church, than that the persons who are employed in its public offices may themselves experimentally know the power of divine grace, and be brought to a determination to follow Christ whithersoever he goeth, before they undertake to invite and persuade others to do it. * SECTION XXXV. Christ, entering into Capernaum, teaches in the º and casts out a devil; and coming into Peter’s house, cures his mother-in-law of a ſever. Mark i. 21–31. Matt. viii. 14, 15. Luke iv. 33–39. : MARK i. 21. MARK i. 21. - AND they wentiaºpº. WHEN our Lord had thus called Peter and Andrew, and James and John, they all left the SECT. : ‘i St. htw - - - º - - *"...b.h...ºfeſſi side of the lake, and entered with him into the city of Capernaum; and immediately on the 35. Hºhe synagogue, * Sabbath-day,” going, according to his custom, into the synagogue, he taught [them] the im- s * portant truths which he was in so extraordinary a manner commissioned to vindicate, or to M*** - - ...?? | * * - e 22 And they were astonish- reveal. And they were again struck with amazementh at the sublimity and excellency of his 22 ###,”;iºi doctrine, for he was continually teaching them in such a manner as one who had an immedi- j; "... . *:::: ate authority from God to dictate to them; and not as the scribes, their established teachers, scribes. who dealt in precarious traditions and fanciful allegories, the amusement of light minds, but Luke iv. 33. And in [thei utterly unfit to alarm the conscience, and to captivate the heart. L ...º.º. And there was in their synagogue a man that had the spirit of an unclean demon, or fallen # Withiºpiºian". angel, possessing him, by which he was miserably distorted and agitated; and he, either §",".. º.º. compelled to bear an unwilling testimony to Christ, or desirous by malicious praises to 33 23.] sº - bring him into suspicion as a confederate with those infernal spirits, cried out with a loud w; ºt,”.”; voice, Saying, in the name of all the rest, Let us alone; what hast thou to do with us, O 34 theºljesus of Nazareth: Jesus of Yazareth 2 Art thou come to destroy w8, by driving us out of our abodes on earth, ſº".º.º. to the regions of darkness? I well know thee, and, under all the disadvantages of thy ºgºoly one of God. (Mark present appearance, can sufficiently discern who thou art; and therefore dread thee as the "#"And Jesus rebuked him # One of God, whom he hath sanctified and sent into the world for the destruction of .#º º my . º it; but take nótice that I do not begin the quarrel by offering thee any in- the devil had thrown, him in July Or affron §º J ut Jesus, scorning praises from so impure a mouth, rebuked him, saying, Be silent, and 35 game out ºf him, and hurt come out of him; and, upon this, the demon having thrown him violently from his seat into *śer, the midst of the assembly, [and] having terribly convulsed him, cried with a loud voice, [and] tº came out of him; but was so restrained by the divine power and mercy, that he did him no jčej, Vºßs further harm; and the man immediately recovered, and was perfectly well. # ºi º§ ºf: | º º at SO º, 8. º º fº they ... quired of Mººk power] commandeth he even each other, and said, Płºńat an extraordinary event is this 2 and what a new and unexam- 27 #...º.º.º. pled doctrine is this? # behold he does not only * himself by his incomparable 2 fift.º. º, º manner of teaching, but with majestic authority and efficacious poºr he commandºth crew fieśd'."º the unclean spirits, and they instantly obey him, and come out of the possessed, showing §º ºf thereby that they are subject to him. . .454 his fame was sº raised by this signal miracle, the county roºm'ſ "about j that it went forth immediately through all the region of Galilee, and made way for his re- *A.3%hwin, when ception in the progress he afterwards took into cvery place of the neighbouring country. they were some out ºne ind presently after this miraculous cure, Jesus going out of the synagogue with his dis-29 jºš.*:::: 'A. ciples, they came, with James and John in their company, into the house of Simon and .3ndrew, dºgº who, being brothers, did then live together: :ºnd Simon's wife's mother was dangerously ill, 30 th: i. iść"or". trºj and kept her bedt of a violent fever; and having seen the miracle which he hād wrought fºrº.º. º.º. but just before in the synagogue, they presently tell him of her, and entreated him that he ii. ſ. Hºjj would be pleased to interpose for her recovery. .314 coming into the room where she lay, 31 gºi. and standing near her, he took her by the hand, and raised her up in her bed, and, with an band, ºffilified her up; [and air of majesty, rebuked the †: and immediately the fever left her at once: and she was in- 2 S jºi"; i: tº stantly restored to such a degree of strength, that she arose and waited "pon them; being tº so far from needing the assistance of others, as she had done before, that she became - {F} CITT - R ". sº -Yº - *- - 4. ~ ; ~ * 4- - Sl-- Matt. viii. 14, 15.] capable of taking her part in the business of the family. IMPROVEMENT. - JustLY may we join our astonishment with that of the inhabitants of Capernaum, and say, ſº hat manner of * teaching is this? and with what regard should it be received, when the devils themselves, and the most desperate 4- - *. • *-* - - rº, diseases, are thus apparently subject to him that uses it? o a And immediately on the sabbath-day.] It is in , the original rºts ºn the side ºf it; It is most incredible that an ºvangelist should have been gagſ?arty, in the plural number; and it is frequently expressed in the left to ascribe this man’s disorder to the spirit of an unclean denon, if it same manić, where it is plainly to be understool of a pºrticular day, as Ş. ołły kinacy or the failing-sickness; or that a physician, oil common §. º i.'ºïſ. "Aºs Aiii. ii. and elsewhere º, is no jºt sease should speak of it as, a ºne morabig circumstancs; that such a jis- s º - -th - * • - | *-* - - • Kl., a - - - A k \,-- 4. - - ! . . •r * ...t -i i z - * ºn tºn * f 1 35 — * f : i. but it is spoken here of the neſt sabbath; and probably of the very neit tº itſ not hºrt a ºn by leaviº him; e.g. itſ. 5:-}, tºia, the day after his coming back with his disciples to Capernăum ; see note k, word demons as the epithet unclean iºs tº have little force when join. *\}. k i. 18 ºš ed with devil, being tiecessarily inpšići in it. ----- - .. - on Mark 1. 18. P. G. - - - \,..., d Hacing terribly conculsed itiºn.] This seems to be the proper mean- b They were again struck with amazement.] . It has already º oº. ing of the word grap, & v that is used by Mark here, which signities to * - YY r * * > * •r - - - - - * - - w fº.º.º. º.º. º.º. º.º.º.º. lè Ik? Ulke l V. 32. ... ) 3-il -" so to º *: - : Iſ C. Y., ºf , Q lis S * S l] Stº SI 3 I\} t \ Kl COTY \' U1 iS I O In . . . [?: - jºijºſa in the miºs, of this last sabbath that he atºpºlº is sºmeºs j lºgº, ºn l ...; IS ... ."...ºs"i.e."ºised their wonder, and affected much, nor; atºl tº undersºnd it tºº ºl.º.º.ºhiº §. º ºi. manner as appears from the multitude of sick people have torm him, (according to the common translation,) which leaſis the §§§º. jºtiºn.”See Wiar; i. 33, 33. Luke iv. reader tº jº, he grievously wounded him, when Luke expressly 40. and Matt. viii. 16. in the next section. says that he hurt him not. This j ly th * ... - A - • e Did him no further.harm.) als is properly the sense of ſi j6:v c The spirit qf an unclean demon.]. It is well º that §: §. (3Xavav auroy ; for while the convulsion continued, it must have given - - *- - - > * * w- ºr s • - - • * >+ . - S.- y ... º º wº º "...". some pain, and might have been attended with lästing disorder, had not Mr. Joseph \lede and Lºr. Be RRCr, lil: ise : - * the restraining and healing power of Christ prevented. only lunatics or epileptics: but on the most impartial pertisal ºf what 4: yi w is . . Nº- w i C VV" (On 7" E- §º sº §ºid" is learned antagonists, P*. fully con- f I(cpt her bed. This seems the proper meaning of the word ka Vinced that there is no sufficient reason for departing from the received Kętr?: - *- - * • s interpretation; and f should think this story alone a convincing proof g Rebitked the fever.] There could be no inconvenience in the evan- “, 10 74 SECT. 35. Christ's triumph over him so much the more illustrious, and the appearance of that great LUKE 34, 35 MARK I. 29, 30 * NUMEROUS CURES PERFORMED AT CAPERNAUM. We see the malice of Satan in possessing and tormenting the bodies of men. God then permitted it, to render eliverer so much the more welcome.h. Such diabolical operations as these are now restrained; and it is matter of great thankfulness IV that they are. But would to God that malignant enemy did not, in a yet more fatal manner, possess the souls of 33 men, and work in the children of disobedience! Yet there can the power of Jesus prevail to bind the strong man, and spoil his goods. Wisely did Christ silence the suspicious praises of an unclean spirit; and vain is all the hope which men build merely on those orthodox professions of the most important truths, in which Satan himself could vie with them. Christ returning from the synagogue, finds the mother-in-law of Peter detained from the solemn assemblies, a prisoner at home under an afflictive providence, which that circumstance of confinement probably rendered yet more afflictive to her. But the mercy which the evening brought with it was a rich equivalent for all the sorrows 31 of the day. Jesus, their welcome guest, appears as the great Physician both of soul and body; a touch of his hand assuages the tumult in her veins, and at his voice the distemper leaves her. Surely, as the great Lord in the kingdom of providence, he performs those cures which are now wrought by natural means, and is to be owned in LUKE IV. SECT. THE remainder of the day Jesus spent in Peter's house; and in the evening them. Must not each of us thankfully acknowledge how often he hath rebuked fevers and other distempers by the skill of physicians, and the efficacy of medicines; so that they have departed from us perhaps when we 39 esteemed them desperate, and had received the sentence of death in ourselves. + ministered unto Christ. illet us learn to imitate the pious gratitude of this good woman; who, when recovered, immediately arose and Thus let it be our care that those lives which are spared by his goodness, and that strength which is renewed by his power, may be faithfully and affectionately devoted to his service. SECTION XXXVI. - * > *. Chris; having performed several cures on the evening of the sabbath day, retires early the next morning to his devotions; and declining a łºś. a º 7. abode at Căperhaum, takes a circuit and iv. 23, to the end. MARK i. 32. about Galilee, preaching and working miracles. Mark i. 32—39. Luke iv. 40, to the end. Matt. viii. 16, MARR i. 32. when the sum AND at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto n * * arº I + 3. --- s e 36. was set, and consequently the sabbath was ended,” they brought unto him, on their beds ; ; jº and couches, which they scrupled before to carry, all that were ill, and many that were and *} ºr MARK possessed with devils: Yea, all that had any persons in their houses sick of various distem- #."º" I. ..., pers, brought them winto him for relief; and he sent none of them away with a denial, but Huke iv. 30. All they that 32 4–2 ** nad any sick with divers dis- ** IV. MATT. VIII. MARK I. 33 LUKE IV. 41 phet İşqiah,” saying, (chap. liii. 4.) ſº had introduced.” Some coming as humble petitioners for spectators of the surprising miracles he wrought. cºnd there were devils also that came out of many, crying out with great violence, (as that before had done which had been cast out by him in the synagogue,) and saying, as that other did, We know thee who thou art, the promised JMessiah, and the Son of God. But he severely chid them, and did not suffer then to speak these things so frequently and largely as they would otherwise have done; for they well knew that he was the Messiah: but as with a sovereign authority cast out the [evil] spirits with a word: and treating those that LUKE were diseased in the most gracious and compassionate manner, he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed all that were sick, without the use of any means, how inveterate 9 and desperate soever their distemper was: That thus it might appear to be accomplished in some measure which was spoken of him in a more noble and important sense by the pro- * * “He himself graciously took our infirmities upon him, and with incredible labour, self-denial, and compassion, bore [away] the burden of our diseases,d and happily delivered us from those miseries which our corruption and depravity ..?nd this occasioned such a concourse of people, that in a manner the whole city of Capernaum was gathered together at the door of º - emselves or their friends, and others as curious eases, brought them unto him; and he ſcast out the Spirits, with his word, and, laid his hands on every one of them, and healed [a]] that were sigk.] [Matt. viii. I6. Mark i. 34.] Matt. yiii., 17. . That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our in: firmities, and bare our sick– nesses. . .Mark i. 33. And all the city was gathered together at e house in which Jesus was; the door. Wise reasons made him, in his own discourses, often to decline the opportunities he had of expressly avowing that title and character, so they engaged him in a much stronger manner to be more particularly cautious with respect to evil spirits, of receiving it from them.” Thus was it that the day was spent in preaching, and the evening in working miracles: e and after all this labour and fatigue, Jesus allowed himself but a very short repose; for in the morning he rose before it was light,ſ and as the day was coming on, he went out of the MARK Luke iv. 41. And devils also came out of many. gry- ing out, and saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of God. And he, rebuking thern, suffer- ed them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. [Mark i. 31.3 gelist’s using this phrase, more than in saying be rebuked the winds and sea, (see \{att. viii. 26.) for it is hardly to be thought the Jews would imagine the ſever a real person; but it was quite otherwise as to their notion of denſions. h The appearance of that great Deliverer so much the more welconſe.] It would be very foolish to imagine that God suffered these unhappy. persons to be possessed, merely that Christ might have the honour of citring them : but it is to be considered that the view under which Christ is roost irequently represented, is as the great antagonist to the prince of darkness, aſid the gospeš has its foundation in the rictory which Satan has gaited over mankind. Compare. Gen. iii. 15. \Latt. xii. 23, 29. 1 John iii. 8. 1 [eb. ii. 14. and Ronn. xvi. 20. (as also Matt. vi. 13. John xvii. 15. Eph., vi. 16. and 1 John ii. 13, 14. iii, J2. v. 18, 19. in all which piscºs 6 ºrgympos seems to signify the wicked one, that is, the detºl, wi:ose powerful infiuence over men is intinated or expressed in each of them :) and it appears from Wisd. ii. 24. that the Jews before Christ’s time had something of this notion, and considered the wicked in general as taking part with the devil: the words are, Through envy of tº ſiggil caine death into the wºrld, and they that do hold of his side do Ji?id it. Thig inspired texts above show that the expression is just ; and it was certainly on this account a most wise and gracious dispensation to perſºit tie decil about this time to give some unusual proofs of his existence, power, and malice, in thus attacking men’s bodies; which would naturally convince them what a dangerous engmy he was to their $quis, and what need they had of the patronage of Christ ; as the sensi- blº pictºry ºf Christ in these dispossessions would be a proof and specimen of that illustrious and complete triumph over him and his confederate powers in which our Lord’s mediatorial kingdon is to end. No kind of miracles therefore could be more fit to attest his mission, and to pro- mote his intérést anong men ; and hence it is that hardly any are more frequeñty (1:d, circumstantially described.—This seems a sufficietit answer to the difficulty proposed by Mr. Mede, (see his Works, p. 28. and a clear lyroof that ye shall do no service to christianity by endeavour- ing to disprove the reality of these possessions, or by dropping the mention of the invernal poigers in our preaching, how #j. soever such on:issions nuay grow. a jºen the sabbath was ented.] It is well known that the Jews reek- Mark i. 35. And in the morning, rising up, a great while before day, [when it was day,) he went out, and oned their day from cvening to evening, and that the sabbath begun and ended at sun-set. See Lev. xxiii. 32. - b Whigh, they scrupled before to garry..] We have a memorable in- stance of this scruple in John v. 10–16. § 46. c In a more noble and important sense by the prophet Isaiah..] . It seems evident that Isaiah, in the place here referred to, speaks of the sitſ. ferings which Christ endured for us : for on account of these only cou).] he be estegmed (as it is added in the chd of the verse) stricken, smit- ten ºf God, and afflicted. . So that the evangelist has only introduced it as an allusion to those words, as being capable of the sense here given jºi themselves; though we are certainly to understand them in a more ex- alted sense when we consider then in their connexion. Or if they should be understood by any as if it had been said, “Though he miraçu- lously cured our (iiseases, yet he was thus ungratefully censured;” it must be then allowed on this less natural interpretation, that Peter uses . them allusively when he applies them to the crucifirion of Christ, as he c vidently does, I Pet. ii. 24. Such instances arc frequent in the sacred writers ; and they are elegances and beauties rather than imperſections. Had it been argued from this text that the Messiah must have healed the sick, there had been then indeed some room for an objection. d Bore away the burden of our diseases.], Grotius has well observed the emphasis of the word effaş-gacy, which signifies, to carry a heavy load, (Rom. xv. 1. Gak. vi. 2.) and so does well express the indefatigable labours of Christ, spending the evening in healing the sick, probably with many intermingled discourses, after he had employed the day in preach. ing. ... I have endeavoured to suggest this idea in the paraphrase. . e Cautious of receiving it from them.] It is ºši. that if it was not by mere constraint flat these evil spirits made this confession, it was (as was hinted before on Luke iv. 33. p. 73.) with an artful design to bring our Lord into suspicion as acting, in confederacy with them; and the perverse Pharisees might perhaps lay hold of this occasion of fixing on Christ that impious and senseless calumny, that he did not cast out devils but ºß. the prince of the devils, Matt. xii. 24. f In the morting—before it was light: Toº? evuvéov Alav.] This does sufficiently express the sense of the original: for evvvyov Xiay does pro- perly signify, , when the night tºcs very fur advanced, or whºm it was yct deep night, and either of these interpretations, in this connexion, implies CHRIST'S JOURNEY THROUGHOUT GALILEE. .75 departed into a splitary place, house where he had lodged, to avoid the concourse of the people, or any interºption frºm SECT. #"“”* (** the family, and privately departed to a desert place in the neighbourhood ; and thºſe prayed 36. to his heavenly Father in secret, pouring out his soul in the most copious and affectionate II);LI]]}{2T. - MARK 36 And Simon, agd, they ...?nd when the day was something advanced, and crowds of people came to inquire after . . " ºwith him, followed him, Simon Peter, and they that were with him, (who have been already mentioned as his 36 - partners and ºjº) guessing where Jesus was, went out and followed after him. 6.ñº.º. º. º. And when they had found him at his private devotions, they said, unto him, Master, the 37 ii. Alºk ºn.” providence of God calls thee now to more public service; for all the people of the city are Lukeiv. 42. And the people assembled yonder, and are seeking qfter thee.* - • * : * , i. fought in, and camé into And what they said was immediately confirmed; for the multitudes sought after him with LUKE !º. so much diligence, that they traced the steps of Peter and his companions, and while they ". uji, º, ... . ; Were speaking, came even to the place in which they had found him; and they would fain 42 Inext tºº. have detained him a while, and º: in a very importunate manner that he should not de- there also ; for [I must preach - *ſ)??], Iſ? 114- 3-4 rail • rº º r - * - st a Tºf n +- tº'ſſingión, ſºil part from them. But they could not prevail; and he said to them that were his constant at MARK ºities ºf tº rejºin tendants, Let us go directly into the neighbouring towns, that I may preach there also, without 1. łºre came I forth. returning back to º at present; for, though we have many friends and well- 38 wºº icºi wishers there, I must by all means preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, as for that ...','º';..."; purpose I am sent into the world by my Father, with the most extensive designs of useful- tº mes; [and] therefore I came forth from his more immediate presence. - - º §n idºjinº ai'aº; And thus Jesus took a circuit with his disciples through all Galilee, teaching in their syna- MATT º º gogues, wherever he had an opportunity, and preaching the good news of the kingdom. which IV. ſº jºk; i. ſſ. God was about to erect; and he confirmed and illustrated what he said, by casting out 23 gºat" in §§, "... devils, and healing every disease and every malady of the people among whom he game. º: ...And his fame went irough all the neighbouring country of Syria; and they brought to 24 §§§ jº" him from thence, as well as from nearer places, all, that is, great numbers of sick people,i lº tº that were seized with a variety of distempers, and most formenting and incurable pains, even those which wºeje, ši demoniacs, and lunatics, and paralytics;k and he healed them, not excepting those whose #"...ºft.*P* : * cases were the most deplorable and helpless, ...And these miraculous cures, together with 25 35. And there followed him his excellent manner of preaching, rendered him so popular, that great multitudes of people #. dº.". %.º followed him from all the towns of Galilee, and from the region of Pºiº and even ..};}..." º: from Jerusalem, and the rest of Judea,” and all [the country] about Jordan,” both on its §.”*”* eastern and western banks. IMPROVEMENT. How delightfully were the sabbaths of Christ spent in the midst of all his fatigues How pleasantly did the MARK sun go down upon him, when he had been imitating that heavenly luminary in fiis steady and constant course; i. scattering a brighter light and more beneficial influences upon all about him - 32, 33 And when the sabbath had been spent in these labours of piety and love, how happily were the fruits of it 35 carried into the ensuing week! The first morning of it, that it might be most łºś and most profitably be- gun, Jesus rose before it was light, that he might enjoy God and himself in religious retirement. it surely be- comes us sometimes willingly to deny ourselves the gratifications of sleep, that we may have the better opportuni- ty for devotion. And it should be the peculiar care of those who are employed in God’s public service, to culti- vate communion with him in private, lest, while they keep the vineyard of others, their own be neglected and impoverished. (Cant. i. 6.) Our Lord's retirement is interrupted by the people who came to inquire after him, and desired to have detained LUKE him longer among them : and who, that has ever known the pleasure of conversing with him, would not desire IV. that it might be longer continued, and frequently renewed P But in this instance, their request must be denied ; 42 the great purposes of his ministry j his presence elsewhere, and he breaks through all that importunity which would have broken in upon his schemes of usefulness: a resolution which we must learn in some cases to imitate, if we would prosecute the business of life with vigour and success. Let us often reflect wherefore we 43 were sent, and judge by that where God would have us to be ; that by the intimations of his pleasure every mo- tion may be regulated, and every abode determined. wherever Christ removes, he still goes about doing good, publishing the gospel, and confirming it by the most MATT. amazing works of power and of mercy. How well were these miracles suited to awaken men's attention, and to IV. convince their consciences of his divine mission | Well might his fame go over the whole country: may it extend 23–25 itself now to the remotest regions, that all the ends of the earth may look unto him and be saved, (Isa. xlv. **) while he displays a healing power over their spirits proportionable to that which he here exerted on their bodie D - S e that the discuing of the dºſ was near at hand. And thus it may be easily gll in this general manner, see Mark i. 37. Luke iii. 21. John iv. 30. xiv. reconciled with Luke ; for jºyop.cuns fluspás, which the common trans- 26. 1 Cor. ix. 22. and Phil. ii. 21. - - lation renders, when it was day, might as well have been rendered, as k Even demoniacs, and lunatics, and paralytics;] Possession, mºss, tile day was coining on ; for yºvoſtcºms may be understood (as Grotius and the palsy, are justly reckoned as cases of great, Inisery, quºi little his observed) not only &lS expressive of the time that is already come hope; the Evangelist therefore º instanced in these. ! t lsº & W I- but as it::plying what is , car at #61; d, or what is forming now, an dent proo that, these were thought distinct cases; ior the giferent ready to approach. (Compare John, Niii. 2. and the mote there, Ś 169.)— readings are so iii.suppºrted as not to deserve a particular nºticº: Słome have indeed raisintai:y^d that different facts are referred to jn, the } From Pººl This is well known to have lºgº tº tract ºi land tºxts of Mark and Luke, before us ; the former referring to Christ’s ºl the º: i. of #: sea 3. º: º !. #. §§ §e tº: ºrg, the latter to his going out ; but it seems that \lark connects his º.º.º.9. i. º'ſ. into a distinct district. It formerly belonge gig tº so immediately with his rising, that no stress can be laid on to the half-tribe of Manasseh. - ~~ ! ; , , such a distinction. - - m. Tºm Jerusalem and Jºded.] Hence, Sir Isaac Newton concludes gºl the people are seeking after thee..] It is very likely that Peter that Christ had been at Jerusalem, at his second-passover; a tº hat tº they that were with him, warm as they were with the expectations these ºo:: had attended him from thence. (See Newton &n Prºphery, ºf a temporai kingdom, might this; this a very favourable oppor- Pilºlº).The circuit describgdahoyº might indeed have been the m- tunity of increasing Christ’s popularity, on which those hopes were º of four months, qnd probably took up most of that time; but built. * * * Matthew might have used this expression, if person wi.º.º. ºom à Confirmed and illustrated what he said.] It is justly and beautifully Jeruşalgm followed Christ here, though he himself had never intº there observed by the author of a late iiscourse on tº Hiracles ºf Christ, that at al. On the Whole; hºwevel ºnious and Tº the lºsis ºf tºy were not only a proof, but a specimen, of the power, he claimed as this learned author is, it is liable to so many ºections, that on the ma- jº’Aſſessiah. This his gºing sight to the blind illustrated his power of turºst deliberation; I dºst not venture to ºil upon it the structure of onlightening the prejudišči minds of men; his heating their bodies showed ºn haſſign?', entirely different from that of all other commentatºrs ºr jºšić he was to heal their souls, and was a specimen of his authority cept Osianger, which (if I mistake not) in post places agrºs with his to forgive sin, as it was in part an actual §§ of its punishment; his mºns; I rather choose to add an appendix; representing thg order in casting out devils was an emblem of his final victory 9Yer Satan; and his which the sections are to be read, according to him; Which w ill, tº the raising particular persons from the dead. was a convincing display of his more curious part of my readers, be sylfficient, and will excuse nge from power to accomplish a general resurrection. the necessity of swelling these notes in such a manner as I must other- i Jäil, that is, great numbers of sick people.] . It would be endless to Wise have done. - * pº enumerate the texts where common sense requires us to take the word n Jäbout Jordan.] See note b, on Matt. iv. 15. p. 70. CHRIST's SERMON ON THE MOUNT. SECTION XXXVII. Christ begins his sermon on the mount, with the beatitudes, and general exhortations to cxemplary piety. Matt. v. 1–16. - T * * r MATT. v. 1. MATT. v. 1. SECT. 4.VD, [Jesus, in his circuit, through Galilee, seeing the vast multitudes which flocked AND seeing the multitudes, 37. A LATT. 1. 3 4 5 6 Happy are they that, instead of desiring insatiably the possessions of others, and endea- 7 8 victory, and are accounted as the pleasures of the great: happy are the men that not only he went up into a mountain : and when he was set, his dis- around him from ałł parts, thought it proper to införm them more largely than he had ciples came unto him : hitherto done concerning the nature of his doctrine and the design of his appearance, that he might correct those false notions of the Messiah's kingdom" which so generally pre- vailed, and which would prove so pernicious to those who were governed by them. He therefore went up to a mountain,b that he might be the better heard by the crowds which surrounded him; and when, according to the custom of the Jewish rabbies in their ser- mons, he was set down to teach them, they that were already his disciples, and others that were disposed to receive information, came near to him. And opening his mouth,” with an air of great solemnity, to intimate the importance of what he was going to deliver, he taught then the most suitable and excellent lessons. And as happiness was the great end to which the wisest philosophers undertook to conduct their hearers, our Lord began his -> discourse with several weighty, though uncommon, remarks, as to the surest method of obtaining it: saying, You naturally congratulate the rich and the great; and expect, under the reign of the Messiah, to be advanced to wealth, and dignity, and power: but happyd are the poor in Spirit,” those humble souls that, deeply conscious of their ignorance and guilt, can quietly resign to divine teachings and divine disposals, and accommodate themselves to the ‘. circumstances which Providence shall appoint them; % howsoever they may be despised and trampled on by men, theirs is the kingdom of heaven; they will #. most likely to embrace the gospel, and they alone will be entitled to its most important blessings for time and eternity. - - . You admire the gay and jovial part of mankind, and please yourselves with the hopes of 4 Blessed, are, they that joy and festivity; but I say unto you, Happy are the men of a more serious temper, and H.; ºr they haſ becom- especially they that now mourm under a penitentsense of their sins; for they shall'ere long be comforted with the discoveries of God's forgiving love, and be cheered with the reviving rays of his everlasting favour. - You imagine that military courage and martial exploits are to introduce the kingdom now to be erected, and to raise men to distinguished stations in it; but I rather say, Happy are ºbey shall inherit the the men who are meek and gentle under injuries and provocations, and are cautious in of. g fering, but patient in bearing them; for they shall weather many a storm which would bear down the rugged and obstinate, and at length (as the Psalmist expresses it, Psal. xxxvii. 11.) “shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace,” which can only have its seat in such gentle bosoms. 2, And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3 Blessed, are the popr in spirit: for theirs is the king- dom of heaven. gº 5 Blessed are the meek: 6 Blessed are they which do, hunger and thirst after pighteousness: for they shall be filled. vouring to obtain them by violence or deceit, eagerly hunger and thirst qfter righteousness,8 and make it the delightful business of life to improve in all the branches of virtue and goodness; for they shall never be disappointed in these pious pursuits, but be abundantly satisfied with the righteousness they seek, (compare Prov. xxi. 21.) and be competently sup- plied with every necessary inferior good. (See Matt. vi. 33.). Far from training you up to delight in scenes of desolation and slaughter, I rather de- clare, Happy are the merciful and compassionate, that feel the sorrows of others as their own, and with tender sympathy hasten to relieve them; for they shall obtain that mercy from God which the best and happiest of mankind need, and on which they continually and en- tirely depend. * - Indulge not a thought of those licentious gratifications which are often mingled with 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in eart: for they shal) see God. abstain from these gross enormities, but are concerned that they may be#. in heart too, h avoiding every irregular desire and mortifying every unruly passion; resolute self. denial shall be the source of nobler and more lasting pleasure; for they shall see God : a That he might correct those false notions of the Messiah’s kingdom.] In order to enter into the beauty of this discourse; it is necessary to con- sider it as addressed not merely to the apostles, (who were not yet chosen under that character,) but to his disgiples in general, and to vast numbers §: who, affected with the sight or fame of his miracles, were now assembled around him ; probably expecting that he would immediately declare himself the Messiah, and ń of those false notions of his king- dom which so generally prevailed., Mr. Blair, in his excellent Discourses on this chapter, has shown (I, think beyond all others) how directly the beginning of this sermon is levelled against these prejudices. He has also observed (as it is very necessary to do) what a beautiful correspond- ence there is between the characters described in these beatitudes, and the blessings connected with them. - - b Węnt up to a mountain...] It does not appear in what part of Galilee this mountain was situated; and (if the cure of the leper, which Christ performed at his descending from it, was wrought in the confines of some other city, and not of Capernaum) there is no reason to suppose, as most expositors do, that it was in the neighbourhood of Capãrnaum. (See Mått. yiii. 1, 2, and note b, on Luke v. 12. .) Mr. Maundrel says, that what is now called. The mount of the Beatitudes, is a little to the north, of mount Tabor, §:# 115.) and if this be its true situation, it must be at some considerable distance from Capernaum.—I shall else- where give some hints of the reasons which have led me to conglude that this discourse was different from, and previous to, that which Luke has given us in the sixth chapter of his gospel, (ver. 20, et seq.) though many of the sentiments and expressions are the same. (See note a, on Luke vi. 20. § 53.) s * - c Opening his mouth.] ... I do not take the expression of opening his mouth, to be always a plconasm ; the manner in which it is used else- where may sufficiently prove the contrary. Compare Judg. xi. 35, 36. Job iii. 1. xxxiii. 2. and Acts viii. 35. x. 34. And thus the ancient Greek and Roman writers used it, as Elsner proves, Observ. vol. i. p. 20, 21. d #: I have here used the word happy rather than blessed, as more exactly answering to pakapuot, as the other does to evXoympevot ; and I the rather choose to render it thus, because our Lord, seems to in- imate by it, not only that the dispositions here reggmmended would be the way to future à essedness, but that they would immediately be at- tended with the truest hºp iness and the most noble pleasures. e The poor in spirit. }. I cannot think with Mr. Joseph Mede, ſp. 25.) that this chiefly refers to a disposition to part with their posses- sions for charitable purposes; or confine it, with Grotius and Baxter, to a disposition to bear poverty with resolution, submission, and cheerful- ness; yet I doubt, not but the latter of these is comprehended in that humility which is here expressed by poverty of spirit; which is a temper that indeed is absolutely necessary in order to our being cordially recon- ciled to the gospel method of salvation. f They that mourn under a penitent sense of their sins.] It seems proper to restrain it, within these limits, since, there is a sorrow of the icorld which ends in death, 2 Cor. viii. 10, and though mourning for the calamities of life be often allowable and commendable, yet it is so natu- ral an affection, and sometimes in its degree so sinful, that one cun hardly suppose our Lord here pronounced a blessing upon it in such general terms. s * g. That hunger and thirst after righteousness.] The very pious and judicious writer I mentioned above, in note_a, has taken a great deal of »ains to prove that these words are chiefly designed to recommend a ve of justice towards our fellow-creatures; and is for rendering xop- ragóngovtat, they shall be fed to the full, while those who are violent and rapacious as young lions, may lack and suffer hunger; Psal. xxxiv. 10. Bút the phrase ºf hungering and thirsting after righteousness, must surely be expressive of much more, than merely a steady care to treat all man- kind cquitably, and to avoid what would be injurious, and oppressive; and we may ráther understand it as a just and beautiful description of a holy ardour of soul, in pursuit of the most eminent attainments in uni- versal goodness, which will end in complete satisfaction, as the necessary consequence of perfect holiness in a future state.—These different views of the future blessedness sufficiently vindicate Qur Lord from the charge of tautology, though ye should suppose (as, after all that Mr. Blair has said to the contrary, I think we must) that our Lord leads the minds of his disciples upwards, in almost each of these beatitudes. . h Happy are the pure in heart.] Mr. Blair :Fºº this may refer to the expectation they had of possessing themselves of beautiful captives in those wars by which heº; that the Messiah’s kingdom would be raised and established. The large seraglios of eastern princes and great men, which, by a very mistaken taste, were regarded as matters of state and grandeur, gave too much countenange to such a wild and ex- travagant notion:. but as the hint is at most but obliquely intimated, I º: t it convenient to touch upon it only in a very transient and gene- Tºll Ind. Iln €I, - i For they shall see God..] Elsner has illustrated this text by showing, UHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. - 77 and, thus purified and refined, shall enjoy him in his ordinances now, and dwell with him SECT. for ever in heaven. - 37. 9, Blessed are the ºaçº; I come not, as you may fondly suppose, to lead you forward to the field of battle, or to akers : ăll b - - - - * iſſiºn" teach you to propagate religion by the sword; but, on the º declare unto *: MATT, Happy are the peace-makers, who not only avoid contention, but labour to extinguish it a " whéréverit prevails; for, though mistaken men may ascribe such a gentle dispositiºn to cowardice and meannéss of spirit, they shall have the honour to be called the children of the God of peacek and be owned by him in that dear relation, as they resemble him in the benevolence of their characters. * - º s - * , 10 Blessed are they, which Instead of these pomps and pleasures, these victories and triumphs, (in expectation of 10 *...*.*.*ś, which you may now be crowding around me.) my followers must prepare themselves for kingdom of heaven. the severity of suffering: but happy are they that areº for the sake of righteousness, and courageously endure the greatest extremities, for the testimony of their consciences: their richest treasure is beyond the reach of their most inveterate enemies; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and they shall reign with God in everlasting glory. & 11 Blºssed are ye, when And on these principles, happy are ye, my sincere disciples and faithful friends, when 11 ...; ſº men shall injuriously reproach jöu and persécute you, and shall falsely say every thing that is you, and shall say all “. 5 - jºfºil insi'you evil and scandalous of you for my sake, and because of your professed relation to me. Be 12 *ś exceed not discouraged under all this load of infamy and º ; but rather rejoice, and tri- tº umphantly eruli, because your reward in heaven [will be], proportionably great and distin- tº ºphets guished: for this has in all ages been the portion and the proof of the most eminent which were before you saints; and you particularly know from the sacred records, that it was thus they persecuted the prophets of their own nation," who were long before you the ambassadors fron God to them; and as you now share in the tribulation of these holy men, you shall ere long share in their glory. - 13, Ye, are the salt, of the Letit be, in the mean time, your care to imitate their piety and zeal, as remembering 13 ; "is"...” sº that you, my disciples, are to be as it were the salt of the earth, the means of preventing or Hºnºiodin; curing the growth of that corruption which prevails in it, and of seasoning men's minds §."º"...'...'..."; with wisdom and grace: but it would be most unhappy for yourselyes, as well as for them, trodden under foot of men. if you should be jºi. of those blessed principles; for if the salt be grown insipid," with what can it possibly be seasoned? It is no further of any avail, or significancy at all; but, as a useless thing, is left to be thrown out of doors, and to be tram led on by men, as the com- mon dirt of the streets: thus worthless and contemptible will you, my disciples, be, even in the most eminent stations, if you lose your character for real and vital religion. 14 Ye are the light of the And therefore, that this may not be the case with you, consider the distinguished cir-14 * † tº set * cumstances in which you are placed : you are, like the sun, to be the light of the world; and how conspicuous and bright jã you appear under that character'ſ Even a city that, like yonder town, is situated on a mountain,” cannot be hid, but will attract men's eyes from 15, Neither do men light a a considerable distance. . . .Neither do men light so much as a common lamp, and put it wn- 15 § * Gººd.” der a bushel, and conceal it there; but they rather set it on a stand, and it giveth light to all and it giveſh light unto all that are in the house. How much less will it become you, whom I have compared to the "#######, shine sun,” to hide or to suppress your rays? On the contrary, let it be your care, that your light 16 º, º may so shine before men, that they may continually see º ; works in every circum- jiàºoºººch's stance and relation of life, and may thereby be engaged to glorify your Father who is in in heaven. heaven; not only praising him for sending such a religion into the world, but also them- selves embracing your faith and imitating your holy example. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT abundant reason have we to bless God, that this large and edifying discourse of our blessed Redeemer Ver. i is thus particularly recorded by the sacred historian! Let every one that hafhears to hear, attend to it; for surely 2 never man spake as our Lord here doth. Let us fix our souls in a posture of humble attention, that we may re- ceive the law from his mouth. He opened it with blessings, repeated and most important blessings. But on whom are they pronounced ? and 3–12 whom are we taught to think the happiest of mankind?. The meek and the humble, the penitent and the merciful, the peaceful and the pure, those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, those that labour but faint not under persecution | Blessed Jesus! how different are thy maxims from those of the children of this world! They call the proud happy, and admire the gay, the rich, the powerful, and the victorious. . But let a vain world take its gaudy trifles, and dress up the foolish creatures that pursue them. May our souls share in that happiness which the Son of God came to recommend and to procure May we obtain mercy of the Lord ; may we be owned as his children; may we see his face; and may we inherit his kingdom . With these enjoyments, and these hopes, we will cheerfully welcome the lowest or the most painful circumstances. - Let us awaken and stir up our souls to the cultivation of those amiable virtues which are here recommended to our pursuit; this º and meekness, this penitent sense of sin, this ardent, desire after righteousness, this compassion and purity, this peacefulness and fortitude of soul, and, in a word, this universal goodness which be- comes us as we sustain the character of the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. 13, 14 Is there not reason to lament it, that we answer the character no more ? Is there not reason to cry out, with a `" & that the pagans thought a good man might see their deities in some cir- provements they learned from thence, might easily have suggested a gumstangºs, when to the wicked they were invisible. (Eisn., Obscrp. vol. much nobler sense, , which the paraphrase expresses. The word i. p. 22, 23.), But this, in their theology, might be intended to subserve (opavón has a peculiar beauty and strength here, and might literally SO:l) (2 fraudulent views, from which the nature of christianity is most $. rendered, if it be infatuated, or grown foolish, alluding to the common abhorrent. The remark, however, may in some degree show how natu- figure, in which sense and spirit are expressed by sºut'ſ holº". ral tºº, thought is, in, the words, before us... - metaphor too strong to be literally retained in the version, and therefore k The children ºf the Gad of §º So God is often called; Røm. contented myself with a distant initation, as we caii a flat if lºss is xvi.,28, 2 ºor. xiii. 11, Phil. iv. 9. and Heb. xiii. 20. º Ecclus. course insipid. Compare job vi. 6. and Čol. iv. 6. iv. 10.) To be called God’s children, signifies to be really so, and to have o 4 city that, like yonder town, is situated on a mountain..] Mr. Maun- &l º that name conferred upon us by a divine adoption. See drel tells us that there is a city called Saphet, supposed to be the an- 1 John iii. 1; and John is 12. - - - - çient Bethulia, which, standing on a high hill, might easily be seen | Triumphantly cºul...] Of the emphatigal signification of the word from the mountain on which $first made this disºscº ºbj aya3A acts, see noteſ, on Luke i. 14. p. 21. - . . supposes he might point to that here, as afterwards he did to thºs m Thus they persecuted the prophets of their own nation.] This is and the lilies : Matt. vi. 26–28. (Maundrel's Travels, p. ii.5.) Many abundantly evident from the known histories of Moses, Samuel, David, writers have, justly observed, that our Lord, like Socrates, takes his Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, &c. See 2 Chrºn. xxxvi. 15, similes from the most obvious things, familiarly known to his hearers, 16. Matt. xxiii. 29–35. Acts vii. 51, 52. and Heb. xi. 36, 37. . w and often be ſore their eyes, eyen while "he was speaking ; a thought n ºf the salt be grown insipid.] , Mr. Le Clerc sinks the meaning of this most largely illustrated by Sir Isaac Newton On the Prophecies, p. iś8, noble passage, yety, low, when he supposes our Lord, only intends to 149. e çompare his disciples to salt-ashes used in º the ground. . (See p How much less will it become you, whom I have compared to the Luke xiv. ; :) That passage in which Livy, calls Greego Sal Gem- sun, &c.] That this is the sense and spirit of this beautiful passage, tium, the salt of all the nations, on account of those intellectual im- Mr. Pierce has well shown in his fourth £issertation. * 78 CHRIST CAME TO ESTABLISH THE LAyy. SECT. good man in former times,” “Blessed Jesus! either these are not thy words, or we are not christians!” Oh, 37. Season our hearts more effectually with thy grace! Pour forth that divine oil on our lamps! Then shall the flame brighten; then shall the ancient honours of thy religion be revived ; and multitudes be awakened and animated MATT. by the lustre of it, to glorify our Father in heaven / Amen. SECTION XXXVIII. Our Lord declares his purpose of establishing and vindicating the nioral law, and enters on his divine exposition of it. Matt. v. 17–26. Tº . ºf ATT. W. 17. SECT. THAT the great design of our Lord's appearance might be more fully understood by the 38. multitudes that were now assembled around him, he proceeded in his discourse, and said, Suppose not that I am come to dissolve that goodly fabric of holy precepts contained in the MATT. sacred writings of the law or the prophets ; for I solemnly assure you, That I am not come V. ... to dissolve, but rather to vindicate and illustrate, to complete and adorn, [them," both by my example and discourses, as well as to answer the highest ends of the ceremonial insti- - 18 tutions. For verily Isay unio jou, That as their original is divine, their honours shall be 18 For verily I say unto perpetual; so that, till heaven and earth pass away, and the whole visible frame of nature ...; T. lº º * be disjointed, not one jot or one titlle shall pass or perish from the law, till all things which º hºm the 19 it requires or foretells shall be effected.” Phoever therefore shall himself transgress or violate “\} *...:";refore one of the least of these commandments which are contained therein; and especially, ºf ºne ºf whoever shall teach other men so to do, whether by his licentious principles or irregular tº sºlºbe...ii. example, he shall be accounted ſºme of] the least and unworthiest members in the kingdom . . . ."...º. of heaven, or in the church of the Messiah; and shall soon be entirely cut off from it, as shall do ind teach them, the - ; , , -v- . ..] - * -: *. - t unfit for so holy a society: but whosoever shall do them, and teach [them] with that i. fºllºatia advantage which nothing but the authority of a good example can give, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, and be treated with distinguished honour and favour, in 20 proportion to his zeal in so good a cause. , Let, this therefore be the care of all that hear me this day: for I say unto you, with all the Solemnity that so important an affair requires, That unless your righteousness abound far more than [that] which is apparent in the lives, or even required in the precepts, of the scribes and Pharisees,” as highly as they are ge- nerally esteemed, ye shall be so far from making any illustrious figure, that ye shall not by any means enter into the kingdom of heaven,” or be owned by the Son of man as truly his subjects. - To illustrate this, I will now proceed to explain some of those precepts of the law, which these Pharisaical teachers have, by their perverse glosses, enervated and dishonoured; and I will begin with the sixth commandment. You have heard that it was said to the ancients, and particularly to your fathers at mount Sinai, Thou shalt not kill;8 and you have been taught, that the only design of it was to restrain men from actual murder; and accordingly it has been added, That whosoever shall unlawfully kill another, shall be obnor- ious to the judgment, and be capitally punished in the common courts of judicature. 22 But I say unto you, That it was the design of God, in this precept, to prohibit extravagant assions and abusive language, as well as the most fatal effects of them in destroying the ives of each other: so that whosoever shall, without just cause,i be angry with his brother, so as secretly to wish him evil, shall be obnoxious to the judgment, or shall be liable to a worse punishment from God, than any that your common courts of judicature can inflict:k and whosoever to his secret anger shall add opprobrious and contemptuous words; or, for instance, shall say to his brother, Raca, that is, Thou worthless empty fellow, shall be exposed to yet more terrible effects of the divine resentment, and be obnoxious to a yet severer punishment, that will as far exceed the former as that inflicted by the Sanhedrim, which extends to stoning, does that which follows on the judgment of the inferior courts, which only have the power of the sword; but whosoever, in his unreasonable passion, shall presume to say unto his brother, Thou fool, that is, Thou graceless wicked villain,” MATT. v. 17. THINK not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 20. For I say unto you, hat except your righteous- ness shall exceed the right- Cousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 21 21 Ye, have heard , that it Yas said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill; an whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22. But I say unto you, That , whosoever is , angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whoso- gver shall, say to his brother Raca, shall be in danger of the council : but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. a To windicate and illustrate, to complete and adorn them.] I was will- e Ye shall not by any, means, enter into the kingdom of heaven.] This ing to take the word T.Anpoo at in its most extensive sense, as com; prehending what Christ has done to answer the end of the corcinomial }. as weil as to vindicate and enſorce the moral : yet by the connexion, it sºcms that the latter was chiefly intended ; and this phrase, the lau, and the prophets, is used in this sense, Matt. xxii. 40. it is strange, that any should have questioned whether the precepts of Mosºft, required such spirituality of obedience as Christ here demands. That great command, of # the Lord God with all the heart, &c.; and, gºr tleigh- jºir as ourself, (Matt. xxii. 37.) Inust surely gomprehend all this. shall only add, that Vitringa's interpretation of TAilpoto, who supposes it here to answer to the Chaldee ºpi, which significs to paraphrase, illustrate, open, or explain, seems to me worthy of consideration. (Corn- parº Roñ, kv. 19. FażAnpºokevät To evayyeXtov, I hace fully explained the gospel ; and Col. iv. 12. Tº TAripºgºvºt, ºv, ÖeXmpart to 969, com- plctiy instructed in the will of God.) See Vitring. Obsert. Sacr. lib. i. issert. iii. crip. 5. § 3. - º diº jut & one title.] The word toſa, which we render jot, un: doubtedly answers to the Hebrew, Helfer, jºd, whº acº the English word iº used sººms to be derived, and which being the least letter ºf their aipāabet, might properly be used proverbially on this :*::::::: which wo render title, properly signifies one of th9se little organentſ: curvatures, or flourishes, whigh, whºm Hebrew,is clegantly written, are generafly used at the beginniná and gºd of a letter, ºn Songtºn's at ຠcoºrs tool-ſthink it might, well have been rendergº tºº lºgº iºtic or stroke, &c. and so much the rather, as jot and title in English orn i ſv *h the same. *iº, things which it requires or foretells shall be giffected: «»s av ravra yewmrat.j The translation here given is most literal and com- prehensive. The law has its ºwhen its sanctions are executed, as - when its precepts are obey Cd. . s - - wº in #: #. or even required in the ſº aſ the scribes and phºriscº.j As our Lord levels his following discourse, Hººh jinst the corrupt lives of these Jewish teachers As aft inst their £9& tºnes, I conclude, that the text chiefly refers #9 thc latter ; yet since their lives were yet worse than their maxims, it ºust comprehend the jørner. They seem (so far as we can judge by this serinon, and º: 43riptures) to have taught—that, the precepts aſ the late extended oº: } jºiâctions—that a zeal in the ceremonial parts of religion woul: §cuse moral defects and irregularities—and that some, iº9 tº Pribi- i...º inseparably connected with a descent from Abraham, &c. must greatly surprise Christ's hearers, if the proverb, which has since prevailed, were of so anciº at a date ; for it has been commonly said by the Jews, that “iſ but try men were to enter into the kingdom of heaven, one of them would be . Pharisee and the other a scribe.” f jºu have heard ºat it, cas said to the ancients.] Thus are the words ephsūn Tots apx4:0ts, to be rendered. See Grotius and Whitby, in loc. g Thou shajº not kill.] I might have rendered Ov gºvévacts, ſhow shalt not cramit ºntºrder, as Dr. Scott has very properly done ; but 1 chcose to retain the words of the coun); andments, as they are usually expressex, among us; that it injkht at first hearing be more apparent to every reader, that what follows each is our Lord’s commentary upon it. b Shall be obliglia us to the judgment.] To understand this and the following verse, it is necessary to observe, that the Jews had a common court of tirentiſ-three ????), wherein capital sontences inight be passed, on which a male façfor fight be strangled or bol, calcd ; this was called the judgment; but the saniedriro, Cr council, was the Supreme Jewish court, consisting of screatly-tºro, in which the highest crimes were tried, which they, and they alone, punish cq with stoning, which was thought a more terrible death than the former. Seo Grotius’s excellent mate on this text, of which the connientaries upon it since him, are little more than transcripts. (Sec Bishop Hopkins’s Wºrks, p. 65, 66.)—As murder was undoubtedly a capital grinie, Dr. Light ſoº, &nd after lipi, Dr. Whitby, must be mistakcm. iii supposing that judgment here signifies punishinej, f from the immediate hand of Č. as in a case which j}. lancs would not reach. See Lightf. Hor. Hebr. and Whitby on Matt. V. . i JVithout just cause.] Though et Kn, without cause, be wanting in some old versions and manuscripts, the sense plainly in:plies it. See l}r. Whitby, in loc. - k To a worse punishment ſtop God, &c.] That judgment must here signify punishment from God, is plain, because this causcless anger might be so concealed in the heart, as not to admit of conviction before 113 (2?]. } Raca, that is, thou worthless º fellow.] Drusius gives, the most learned and accurate account of the etymology and import of this word, which seems pretty exactly to answer to coxcom B in our lan- Utage. 3. º Thou fool, that is, thou graceless wickcd villain.], Mr. Blair thinks that pope, thou fool, answers to RAKE HELL ; but that being only applied to a debauchee, seems too contracted. Wicked men are so often called CHRIST CAME TO ESTABLISH THE LAW. thereby impeaching his moral character, as well as reflecting on his intellectual, shall be obnoxious to the fire of hell, or to a future punishment more dreadful even than that of being burnt alive in the valley of Hinnom," from whence you borrow the name of those infernal regions. - * Remember therefore to lay, aside all your animosities, and to live in peace and love, as ever you would escape God's wrath, and secure his favour. Without this, your most expensive sacrifices would be so vain, that I must inculcate it on every one of you as a most necessary caution, If thou art bringing thy gift, however costly and free,” even to the very altar, and there recollectest that thy brother has any just cause of [complaint] against thed, do not content thyself with a secret, and it may be a treacherous, purpose, that thou ; ºvº. wilt hereafter accommodate the affair, but bring it to an immediate issue: And, leaving §.*.*.*..."; thy gift there, in the hand of those that are ministering before the altar, go away and first ths, ºr, and then come make it thy care to be reconciled to thy brother by an acknowledgment of thy fault, and and offer thy gift. by a readiness to make him any reasonable satisfaction; and then come and offer thy gift,” which thou mayest then cheerfully hope God will accept at thine hands. sº And it will be prudence, as well as humanity, to apply this advice to suits at law, #3"...º.º...": if you are so unhappy as to be engaged in them: my counsel then to each of you is, any time the adversary ſeii. That thou shouldst make it thine endeavour to come to a friendly agreement with thine YººHºº!: adversary'ſ quickly, while thou art in the way going with him to a magistrate; lest the adver- ;and thou be cast into sary should deliver thee to be tried before the judge; and the judge deciding the cause pIlSOn. against thee, deliver thee to the officer of the court, to keep thee in custody till payment be made; and thou, not having enough by thee to discharge an account inflamed with so many additional articles of expense, shouldst be cast into prison: Verily I say unto thee, Thy antagonist, when he has got thee at such an advantage, will be more rigorous in his demands than before ; and thou shalt not by any means come out from thence till thow hast discharged the very last farthing of thy debt. And surely if, by impenitent wickedness, thou makest thyself the prisoner of the divine justice, thy case will yet be more deplorable and hopeless. - 23 Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; - 25 Agree with thine adver- 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. IMPROVEMENT. [ET us seriously consider, and often recollect, the purposes of Christ's appearance: he came not to destroy the law and the prophets, or to dissolve men's obligation to observe them; but rather to enforce, as well as to fulfil them. How fatally shall we pervert the purposes of his coming, if we regard him as the minister of sin! How ungratefully shall we abuse the merciful constitution of his gospel, should we take encouragement from thence to violate his law Dangerous, as well as ungrateful abuse indeed! For God's eye will be watchful over its honours, and his hand exerted to maintain them; so that heaven and earth shall pass agay, before it shall fail of its accomplishment in being either obeyed, or avenged on the impenitent sinner. May it be our constant care to keep it ourselves, and to teach others to observe it! May we teach it by our lives as well as our lips; and let our daily conversation demonstrate how practicable and how amiable its precepts are So shall we be great in the kingdom of heaven, in the pursuit of which we may give full scope to i. noblest ambition of which human nature is capable. Let our hearts own, and feel, the spiritual sense of God’s law, that we may rise to a more sincere and more extensive righteousness, than that of the scribes and Pharisees. May we delight in it after the inward man, and learn to regulate our thoughts and our passions, as well as our external behaviour, by it! Fº let us avoid all the malignant and ill-natured passions, all thoughts of rash and immoderate anger, all words of contumely and reproach. If we would maintain communion with the God of love, let love govern in our hearts; and when we come to present our devotions to him, let us liſt up holy hands without wrath, as well as without doubting. (I Tim. ii. 8.) So may we promise ourselves a gracious welcome; so shall we carry away the most valuable blessings! - But are none of us strangers to this blessed state 2 Are none of us obnoxious to the divine displeasure ? If we are so, with what a holy soficitade of soul should we labour to make up the controversy, and come to an agree- ment, while we are yet in the way with this awful adversary ! lest we be immediately hurried before the tribunal of the righteous ji. of all the world, and be delivered into the hands of justice, to be reserved in everlasting chains, beyond the Fº of redemption. - * Ilord, we were all the debtors, and, in One sense, the prisoners, of thy justice ; and of ourselves were most incapable, not only of paying the uttermost farthing, but even of discharging the least part of the debt! We bless thee for that generous Surety, who has undertaken and discharged it for us; and by the price of whose atoming blood we are delivered from the chains of darkness, and are translated into the glorious liberty of thy children. fools in the Old Testament, especialiy in the writings of Davi.1 and gift, itn; lies that it was a free-ſciii offering ; which adds great strength Solomon, that the appellation in the Jewish language signifies, not so much a weak thoughtless creature, as a man deliberately guilty of sonne heinous crime, or, in onc word, a YILLAIN. On this account, I cannot but think it wrong that avomſot, Luke xxiv. 25. or aqpov, 1 Cor. xv. 36. should, by so harsh a translation as ours, have been confounded with such an infamous word as this. - n Burnt alive in the valley of Hinnon).], Though it is so well known to the learned, I must beg leave to remind my English reader, that the valley of Hinuo;i, or Tophet, had been the scene of those (ſe testable sacrifices, in which children were burnt aiive to Molech; (Coin pare 2 Kings xxiii. 10. 2 Chron. xxviii. 3, and Jer. Nix. 2–5. xxxii. 35.) and was afterwards defiled by Josial, 2 Kings XXiii. 10. and made a recep- tacle for the filth of the city, where fires were kept constantly burning to consume it: and it is probable, that if any criminals were executed on the statute, Lev. xx. 14, or xxi. 9, this accursed and horrible place might be the spot of ground on which they were consumed. . . However that were, it ºf both with regard to its former and latter state, a fit emblem of helf itself. (See Isa. xxx. 33. and Jer. xix., 11—13.) which, in the Syriac language, takes its name from thence, and was commonly called Gehenna by the jews, (Šeć fightſ." Hor. Hebr. in loc. and Pre- face to his Hur. of the JNew Test.)—It must, here signify a degree of future punishment, as much more dreadful than that incurred in the former case, as burning alive was more terrible than stoning; for I ap- prehend the punishment of each degree of anger and fury here mentioned is to be referred to the invisible world, or else our Lord’s words would not be generally true. o If thou art bringing thy gift, however costly and free..] Atopov, a * to the seutenge, beyond what it would have had, if the word had been {}vgtºn', sacrifice. p. First be reconciled to thy, brother, and then come and ºffer thy, gift.] It is observable that Philo, (de Sacrif. p. 844.) explaining the law of the tresſass-offering, tells us, “That whén a man had injured his bro- ther, and, repenting of his fault, voluntarily acknowledged it, (in which case, both restitution and sacrifice were required,) he was first to makö, *ºtºaſt, and then to codie into the temple presenting his sacrifice, and askin; ºr, on.”. This is a very just and fiatural account of the matter, and adds, a sreat illustration to this text; especially when it is con: sidered, that our Lord supposes in this case, not a trespass-affcring, but CI gºluntary siſt presented before the altar; and yet declares, that this will not be ºccepted, while there is a consciousness of having wronged a brother, and not made him reparation. q Qome to a .ſriendly agreement with thine adversary.) The word girtótko's properly signifies a person who is going to laid with another. I have rendered to 9teuvoov, come to a friendly agreement, because the original seems to imply, not only peace, but benevolence. r If, thou makest, thyself the prisoner of the divine justice.] This thought is a natural reflection on what was said before; but it is rather intinated than expressed in qur Lord’s words, which so maturally lead to the sense giyçn in the paraphrase, that, to those who are unacquainted With the popish manner of managing controversies, it might seem sur- prising they should ever be urged in favour of purgatory. The vanity and incomsistençy of it is well exposed by Bishop Sūrnet Ön the Articles, p. 169. and Limborch, Theolog. lab. vi. cap. 10. § 22 79 SECT. 38. MATT. W. 23 2 5 Ver, 17 18 19 20 21, 22 23 25 26 CHRIST's EXPOSITION OF THE LAw. SECTION XXXIX. Our Lord proceeds in his exposition of the law, strictly, prohibiting uncleanness, divorce, contention, and revenge; and urging the contrary virtues. Matt. v. 27, to the end. MATT. v. 27. MATT. v. 27 *9". JESUS proceeded in his sermon to the seventh commandment, and observed, You have YE have heard that it was 80 39, often heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not commit adultery; and that ; ºft. º.º.º. - - zºº - 5 ..ºf 5 Thou shalt not commit adul- law has been explained, as if it related only to the grossest acts of uncleanness: But I ter. MATT. - But I say unto you, say unto you, That it extends not only to unchaste actions and words, but even to Tºos.e. l.b.; as loºks, and the very thoughts of the heart; for whosoever, shall gaze on a woman" to lust ...º.º. qſter her, and thus cherish and indulge the secret workings of irregular desire in his iº with her mind, has already committed that adultery with her in his heart,b which this commandment j iºd to forbid, and thereby rendered himself, in the sight of God, guilty of the reach Of it. You will think me severe in requiring you so strictly to mortify all the irregular propen- sities of nature, but you will find it, on the whole, as much for your interest as it is to part with a gangrened member to prevent the death of the whole body; yea, indeed, it is infinitely more so. And if, therefore, thy right eye offend or insnare thee", or anything dear as thy right eye would be the necessary occasion of leading thee into sin, pluck it out with inexorable resolution, and cast it far from thee with abhorrence: for it is advantageous to thee, that one of thy members should perish, rather than thy whole body should be thrown into hell; which yet must be the fatal consequence of indulging the most favorite lust. 30 Yea, if thy right hand offend or insnare thee,d though it be so useful and necessary a part, do not spare it, but immediately cut it off and cast it from thee; for Irenew the declara- tion, That it is highly advantageous to thee, that any one of thy members should perish, rather than thy whole body should be thrown into i. to be the companion of thy guilty soul there, in everlasting horror and misery. - It has been said, (Deut. xxiv. 1.) Whoever would dismiss his wife, let him give her writing of divorce : and this precept, which was indeed intended to prevent the frequency jeº... º. ºft of such dismissions, by making it so solemn and irrevocable a thing, has perversely been ing of divorcement: 32 interpreted as a warrant for having recourse to it upon every trifling occasion. But such a .32 But I say ºnto you.That practice is directly contrary to the original design of marriage, and highly injurious to the ºf common good of mankind: I therefore think it necessary to restrain so dangerous a §º liberty, and say unto you, That whosoever shall dismiss his wife, except it be on the account º of whoredom, causeth her, by a second marriage, to commit adultery, or at least º ºrced, committen adul- Yº- her to great danger of doing it; and whoever shall marry her that is thus unlawfully dis-,” - - missed,3 committeth adultery, since the bond of the former marriage does in the account of God remain undissolved. - * - Jīgain, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, (Lev. xix. 12. Deut. xxiii. 21.),33, Thou shali not perjure or forswear thyself, but shalt diligently perform unto the Lord thiné #####"...º. oaths and vows: and this has been expounded as extending merely to those oaths in i. º i. shalt which the name of God is expressly used, and only prohibiting the violation of such, but º' " "*** tolerating the use of them, even on slight occasions, so it be not in confirmation of a false- 34 hood. But I say unto you, Swear not at all in your common discourse with each other,h even so much as by the creatures; either by heaven,i for it is the throne of the glorious 35 and holy God; Or by the earth, for it is under his dominion, and º: to him as his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city ſ the great King of Israel and of the uni- 36 verse. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, for thou art so far from having an absolute power over it, that thou canst not make the colour of one hair of it white or black :, so that these oaths by the creatures, if they have any sense at all, are an implicit appeal to God. 37 But I charge you to avoid the customary use of all such oaths, as well as of those in But let your communi- which the namé of God is directly expressed; and let your conversation be all plain and catio."be...'Yº...";...". simple: when you affirm, say, Yes, yes; and when you deny, No, no: for if yºu conduct ... .s.º.º.º.º.” yourself as you ought, this will be sufficient to gain you credit; and you may be assured, that whatever is more than these, cometh from the evil one, who artfully contrives, by the habitual use of swearing, even by the creatures, to lessen your reverence for the solemnity 29 29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it, from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee,cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profit- able for thee that one of thy members should Fººh. and not that thy whole, body should be cast into hell. 31 a 31 It hath been said, Who- soever shall put away his 33 33 Again, ye have heard 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God’s throue : . 35. Nor by the earth ; for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem ; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black: marriage. But I prefer the sense here given, because it makes this latter a Pyhosoever shall gaze on a woman; 6 (3)\erov, Yvvatka..] There are several other places where the word £3Xeira) *g. . to look º 3. It º: ith great attention, or to fiz the eye upon it: See Matt. vii. 3, XYiii. 19. ##: vii. 44. #. 18. §§ i. 9. iii. 4. 1 Cor. iii. 10. x. 12. Phil. iii. 2. i v. xvii. 8. - + - - ... • * § adultery with her in his heart.1. In the first edition I had rendered it debauched her, because it is plain ºptot}(evgev must. extend to single as well as married persons; but, on the apimadversion of a ièarned friend, I am convinced that the spirit of our Lord’s meaning is best expressed by retaining the word used in the seventh commandinent, and giving the passage such a turn,as I have now given it in the para- phrase, which does not at all limit the sense. But to render yvyatka a imarried woman, would be a limitation I, Ehink not to be justified. º' Gºiº inspare £icº.] It is well known that this is the force of the word akavåg) tºo, which most literally signifies, to be a stumbling block in a person’s way, or an occasion of his, fall; and, so implies mugh mºre than merely to displease. I mention this reinark, obvious as it is, because the sense of so mal) ºligº; on attending to it. See Rom. j. j. xiv. 13,3], *vi. 17. 1 Cor. viii. 13. Gal. v. 11. and Rev. ii. 14. à"if thiſ ſight hand offend or insnare thee..] The greatest part of Christ's uditors were poor people who lived by their daily labour; and to those the loss of a right hand would be a much greater calamity in that of a right eye, so that there is a gradation and force in this passage, beyond what # generally been observed. r − 1 r. º. - e’īāher than thiſ whole body should be thrown intº hell.] This plainly jº ºrine of a resurrection, though Christ had not yet ex- Sly taught IL. - - Prº, ºoint of whoredom.] It is very evident that Topveta, as here used, must have a more ambiguous and larger, sense than.the English word ſº; which generally answers to it; and must be d here o ry. - * - - un. §”; her that is unlawfully dismissed.] Mr. Blair (in the third volume of his Sermons, p. 111, 112.) explains this clause, is in- tended to forbid women divorçëd for to marry, which he thinks in additional punishment inflicted on, persons guilty ºf so enormº a crime, and a wise provision for preventing bad women from committing ădăitºry in hopes of opening their way to another more agreeable clause more correspondent to the former, and prevents the necessity o supposing plotzeva to be used in two different senses so near toge- ther. - h Swear not at all in your common discourse with each other.] The opposition between this verse and the 37th, limits the prohibition to this sense ; and, waving that, it would be necessary to interpret it as a re- strictive, rather than an universal, precept, and to consider it as more particulārly levelled at the common practice of the Jews, who reckoned swearing by the creatures, to be far more, exgusable than sicearing by the name of God, and made but little scruple of the frequent use of it. For that all swearing $ not here condemned as a thing absolutely evil, is fully evident from other passages of Scripture, and of necessity must be allowed to yindicate the conqugt of Christ and his apostles. Compare Mark viii. 12. Matt. xxvi. Rom. i. 9. ix. I. Gal. i. 20. 2 Cor. i. 18. and Heb. vi. - - i Either by heaven.], Though I allow, with the learned Heinsius, that the words ºn 6poo at 6X60s, may be rendered, By no aneans swear, either by heaven, earth, or the like ; yet it will not follow that the words only forbid swearing by creatureş, since ver. 37. forbids tohatcwer is more than yea or may. So that it is absolutely necessary to have recourse to some other solution of this prohibition, as well as of that in Jam. v. 12. where any other oath is forbidden ; and nothing is, more natural and easy than to understand it in both places as a prohibition of the use of oaths in eommon conversation. . - k Cometh from the evil one..] Ex Tº Tºvmps es-tv will properly bear this version ; and some copies read ÖtaffoXs, cometh from the devil. I would observe, that whether this version or the common one be admitted, the clause before us contains a demonstration that ver, 34. is to be ex- plained with the limitation proposed : for it is evident that oaths were in some cases not only allowed, but required, by the JMosaic law. . . (See Exod. xxii. 11. Lev. v. 1. Numb. v. 19, 21. and Deut. xxix. 12, 14.). So that if Christ’s prohibition had here referred to sucéaring in solemn and judicial cases, he would in these words have charged the divinc law with establishing an immorality, which it is most absurd to .#. ; and I cannot but wonder that so obvious and decisive a thought should not have been more insisted upon in this controversy. CHRIST'S EXPOSITION OF THE LAW. of an oath, and to lead itself. 38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not eyil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to 1 him the other also. you at length to take the name of God in vain, even by perjury SECT. You have heard that it has been said in the law, (Deut. xix. 21.) An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; and this statute, which was only intended to direct judges as to the MATT. penalties to be inflicted in case of violent and barbarous assaults, has been º aS encouraging a rigorous, severe revenge of every injury a man might receive. wnto you, That when you meet with ill usagé in the world, you do not immediately set ourselves against the injurious person) in a posture of hostile opposition, and with a reso- ution to return evil for evil; but, where the damage is not great, choose rather to pass it by, though possibly it might on that account be repeated, than to enter into a rigorous thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 4] And whosoever, shall probabl compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. prosecution of the offender. On these principles, if any man strike thee on thy 40 And if any man will sue cheek, patiently turn the other to him also.” ...} and to take away thy vest, permit him to take thy, mantle too;" for the loss of both would e but a trifle, in comparison of those vexations, snares, and expenses which would attend the continuance of the suit. And if any press thee to go with him one 41 mile, obliging thee and thy carriages to attend him on a public account,” rather go with right Jºnd if any one be resolved to sue thee at law, 40 him two more, than disturb the peace by a forcible opposition; for in many such cases as these, it will be more for your own comfort, as well as the credit of your profession, to submit, than contend. 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow" of thee turn not thou away. - kindness as a gift, 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt ove thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. When thou seest any one in real necessity, and hast it in the power of thine hand to do 42 it, give to him that asketh thee thy charity;P and do not turn away, with a severe denial, him that would borrow of thee;% for in some cases a seasonable loan may be as valuable a By such condescensions and favours, you will generally gain the friendship of those 43 with whom you converse; but if any should be so base as, notwithstanding all, to persist in using you ill, do not indulge to sentiments of revenge. I know you have heard that it was said to our fathers, Thou shalt love thy neighbour; (Lev. xix. 18.) and from thence, though in direct contradiction to many other scriptures, (Exod. xxiii. 45. Lev. xix. 17. and rov. xxv. 21.) some have argued, as if it had been added, Thou shalt hate thine enemy; and the precepts for destroying the Canaanites, (Deut. vii. 16. and the like,) have been 44 But I say unto you, abused to countenance such an addition." Love your enemies, bles S * tº thºujoºd I say unto you, Love your enemies, and whatsoever you may s to them that hate you, and pray for them which despit abhor their sinful practices, show a concern for the true welfare of But instead of favouring this pernicious maxim, 44 er by them, while you eir persons; bless e- - * făii, use you, and persecute them that in the bitterest manner curse you, (whether by profane execrations in their com- y Ou ; 45, That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise on the on the ev. evil, and on the good, and cute you ; That you may thus mon discourse, or by unjust amathemas in their ecclesiastical assemblies,) be ready to do good to them that hate you, and pray for the conversion of them that insult you,” and perse- 3. Father; for, with the most diffusiv P. yourselves to be the children of your heavenly 45 e kindness and beneficence, he causeth his sun to arise il and the good, and showereth down rain on the just and the unjust ; so that his señºrain on thºti enemies share in his providential bounties, and subsist on his daily care. on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them Let it be therefore your concern to imitate this extensive goodness: for if you only love 46 which loyeşou...what reward them that love you, what reward have ye? or what extraordinary praise can you expect? have ye do not e jti. s...}* * Do not even the most infamous and séandalous sinners, such as the very publicans, do the 4 - And if ye salute y brethren only, what do more than , others ? even the publicans so * YG of mankind, though your same 2 And if ye salute and embrace your b rethren only, or those of the same sect, party, 47 d; º; and interest with yourselves, what extraordinary thing do you practise more than the rest your advantages are so much greater than theirs? Do not even the heathens and publicans do so? And will not common humanity teach even the very worst of men civility to those that treat them with respect, and excite them to some sentiments of gratitude to their friends and benefactors 2 Zou who stand in so near a relation to God, as my Fº disciples, should far excel 48 them: be ye therefore, in these instances of undeserve and forfeited goodness," and in all# 48 BC ye thercſore perfect, I Do not set yourselves against the injurious person.] So the phrase avrus-mvat Tø Fovnpo may exactly be rendered. (Compare 2 Tim. iii. 8.) Had our Lord meant to intimate, that we should rather suffer our- selves to be murdered, and our families to be ruined, than resist the villain that attempts it, he would have laid down so strange a precept in the strongest terms: and it is very unreasonable to infer it from this passage which speaks of so trifling an injury as a slap on the face, or suing a man for the value of a waistcoat or cloak.-If it be asked, whether we are universally forbidden to resist on these occasions 2 ſ answer, we are ; unless we be in our consciences convinced that, in present circumstances, to stand on our defence will be more for the public good; and in those cases, this particular precept is superseded by the general law of uni- versai benevolence: ut I apprehend these expressions intimate, that on the whole, it will generally be for the best to wave rigorous prosecu- tions on such slight occasions. m Turn the other to him also..] This is a proverbial phrase, to express a meek submission to injuries and affronts. See Isa. I. 6, and Lam. iii. n Thy mantle too.] P'est and mantle more exactly answer to xt 7 gov and quartov than coat and cloak ; (compare John xix. 23. and see Casaubon, in loc.) and are parts of dress, under different names, still retained in Barbary, Egypt, and the Levant. See Dr. Shaw’s I'rarels, 5. 289—292. The mantle being much larger than the vest; must pro- łºśī. be more valuable ; and as it would be matural for a robber on the highway to take the outer garment first, I look on this manner of ex- pressing it as a good argument for retaining our translation of x646m vat, and rendering it sue thee at law, rather than take it in a more general way, as signifying to strive or contends though I know it has sometimes this last signification, as Lud. Cappellus urges. o Press thee to go, with him, &c.). The word, press seems best to answer the original ayyapevo, which is well known to be derived from the name of those officers who were commissioned for this purpose by the Persian emperors when Judea was one of their provinces. See Drusius, in loc. . (Compare Matt. xxvii. 32.). Among the Jews, the qisciples, of their wise, men were excused from such services; but Christ advises his disciples not to insist on that exemption. See Light- foot, Hor. Heb, in loc. - p. Give to him that asketh thee thy charity: to attsvt as Övös.] Mr. Blair would refer this to Tovmpg, in ver. 39. and render it, Give to the injurious person what he asketh thee; and has a very beautiful discourse upon it in that view: but it is plainly unnecessary to limit it; and I think that, on this interpretation, it would too much coincide with ver. 44. In whatever sense it be taken, it must admit of some exceptions, or it will not only be inconsistent with sº precepts as require us to take care of our fumilies, (as 1 Tim. v. 8.) but with natural justice and com- mon sense. It is armazing, therefore, that any who do not think, them- selves obliged, by the literal sense of this precept, to give or lend to every idle importunate creature whatever he asks, should, insist on a rigorºus interpretation of the preceding passage, from ver. e q Do not turn acay him that would borrow of thee..] Tov 6exovra aro as grºugagóat p n aſſos-pagms, is thus most literally rendered. r The precepts for destroying the Canaanites have been abused; &c.] These precepts were of a peculiar nature; and that in particular, Deut. xxiii. 6. Thou shalt mat seek their peace nor their prosperity all thiſ dgys for crer, relates to avoiding throughout all generations any association with the Moabites: which was an everlasting brand of infamy set upon them, for the affront, which, in the maſter of Peor, they had offered to God'himself, under whose conduct the Israelites were. But though it orbids any ſtational alliance with them, it seems that the settlement of Ruth in Israel, when she embraced the jewish religion, (Ruth i. 16.) and the permission given to the Moabites to live as tributaries under, David after the conquest of their country, (2 Sam. viii. 2.) were not at all incoinsistent with this law. e - - º s That insult wou ; eſſ mpgašovtov ipſas.]. As this word, according to the judgment of Erasmus, Beza, and several other able, critics, is derived from Apns, the mame of Mars, it may perhaps strictly answer to dra- gooning in our modern language : but as it is plainly used by St. Peter to express abusiàe language, (1 Pet. iii. 16.) I chose to render it insult, which may be applied cither to injurious words or actions. To traduce does by no means express the force of the idea. Nor can I think, with the learned Eisner, (vol. i. p. 30, 31.) that this clause, is to be interpreted chiefly of malicious prosecutions injudicial courts, though that be a sort of insult and persecution, undoubtedly comprehended among many others, and often expressed by the Greek words here used. t if ye salute and embrace your brethren only..] The word agiragmaðe alludes to the custom of saluting, by embracing. And when Christ cau- tions against confining their regards to brethren, he may perhaps obliquely glance at those prejudices which different sects had against 9ach other, and intimate that he would not have his followers imbibe that narrºw spirit. Would to God the hint had been more, attended to * the unhappy subdivisions into which his church has been crumbled; and that we might at least advance so far, as cordially to embrace our brethren in Christ, of whatever party or denomination they are {, , u in these instances of undeserved and forfeited goodness.]. The lºº to friends, enjoined by the scribes and Pharisees, was very imperfect: we are to labour after a more complete resemblance to God, in, lºš Enemiºs. duº forã therefore afterwards expressed it in a pārallel dis. course, by saying, Beyo merciful, as your Father also is merciful, Luke wt I say 39 11 82 CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. SECT. other respects, as far as frail mºrtality will admit, perfect, even as your heavenly Father is even as your Father whichi, 39. ; ;* whose name you will most effectually honour, and whose favour you will most in heaven is perfect. appily secure, by a care to imitate him to the utmost in all the moral perfections of his MATT. nature. (Compare Eph. iv. 31, 32. v. 1.) W. Ver. 48 IMPROVEMENT. ALAs how may we blush to call God our Father, while we resemble him so little ! And what reason is there 47 on a survey of these directions of our Lord, to acknowledge our deficiencies and our faults! Let us review the 43–45 many advantages we enjoy as christians, and the engagements we are under, in the particular circumstances in which Divine Providence has placed us; and blush to think, that we do so little more than others, perhaps in many instances falling short even of the virtues of heathens. Let us particularly be instructed by these lessons of our Divine Master, to recompense good for evil: lessons which come with peculiar grace from his mouth, as he was himself the kindest friend to his most inveterate enemies, and bore and forgave more than any but himself could possibly do. 38–42 Let us, who are his disciples, abhor contention and revenge. Let us not prosecute every little injury to the 46 27, 28 the meaner powers of appetite and passion. We see that he forbi € utmost, nor govern ourselves by those false maxims of prudence and honour, which pride and self-love have introduced on the ruins of real christianity. Let us not, even in the most legal methods, seek the punishment of those who have wronged us, except in circumstances in which we are in our conscience persuaded it will, on the whole, be greater charity to animadvert on the offence than to pass it by ; and even then, let us act in a calm and dispassionate manner, pitying and loving the persons of the injurious, even while, for the sake of society, we prosecute their crimes. - If this be our duty towards our enemies, how inexcusable are we, if we are cold and insensible to our friends: and how much worse than publicans themselves, if we do not love them that love us, and do good to those from whom we have received it. Happy is that Christian, to whom the God of nature hath given a heart so turned to sentiments of benevolence, that, in all these instances, love is a law unto itself! Yet let us remember, that the whole of our duty is not comprehended in these social regards. The great Author of our being, who hath endowed us with rational faculties,... requires that we assert their empire over not only gross enormities, as adultery, (which, though so unaccountably spared by the laws of many Christian countries, the heathens themselves have condemned as a capital crime, and which some of the most barbarous nations have esteemed infamous,) but the unchastity of the eye, and of the heart. Let us then earnestly pray that God would create in us a clean heart, and renew a right 29 spirit within us; (Psal. li. 10.) and let us maintain a most resolute guard over our senses and our thoughts, 30 remembering that there is no other alternative, but that the dearest of our lusts must be mortified and subdued, or our whole persons be cast into hell. - Elevate our affections, O Lord, to nobler objects than those which are suited merely to animal nature | Teach us to keep under the body, and bring it into Suljection, (1 Cor. ix. 27.) that we may not finally be cast away from thy presence, and fall into that dreadful state where every drop of sinful pleasure will be recompensed with full vials of misery and despair. SECTION XL. Our Lord having thus vindicated the Mosaic law, proceeds, in his divine Discourse on the Mount, to caution his disciples against valn-glory in alms-deeds, prayer, and fasting. Matt. vi. 1–18. MATT. vi. 1. MATT. vi. 1. sECT. OUR Lord, proceeding in his discourse to caution them against vain-glory, said unto TAKE heed that ye dº nºt 40 MATT. and admired by them : or otherwise, if this caution be neglected, you will have no reward WI. - - - • *-> rour alms bef to b them, Take heed, in general, that you practise not your righteousness,” or perform, not any 3. §". º: º: - - -- afi xin or i ~ : Semperl have no reward , of your religious action, in an ostentatious manner before men, making it your chief end to be viewed ºniº, nº from your heavenly Father, who knows all the secret principles of your heart, and indispen- I sably requires the greatest uprightness and sincerity there. The caution is so important, that I shall illustrate it in various particulars. Hºhen, .2 Therefore, when thou ºtherefore, for instance, thou performest [thing] alms-deeds, do not, as it were, sound a trumpet §º: - 3. - * a trumpet before thee, as the before thee, and make proclamation to all around, to induce them to take notice of it; ºtºiºhéli. - - 2 - - to in th /; .*. e.g. b • - gogues and in the streets, as it is customary for the hypocrites to do in the public assemblies,” and in the streets, that, thātūg; i.a. hºſe ºf acting their part as on an open theatre,” they may be applauded of men, who are the º yOUl; spectators of their liberality: verily I say winto you, that in this empty sound of human praise, they have their poor reward,” and must expect no acceptance and recompence from 3 But when thou doest let not thy left hand know what thy right hand is doing,” when it is stretched out to Hº what thy right hand 3 God. But when thou art º; [thine] alms, use the utmost privacy; and, if it be possible, Alias, icº not thy lºſt hand vi. 36. but it is probable he used a greater latitude of expression here; charity or liberality; because though I am well aware it has that signifi- to remind us of our obligations to imitate the Divine Being in all his moral cation sometimes, (I think not so often as some have supposed.) yet perfections. §: it here would §§ that º ſº between this and x Perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.] Muny authorities the following Yeºsé, Which, have endeavºurº tºllustråte in the Qarā- fire § by Effinº, in his mote on this text, to prove; not only that 'º' and which makes it so proper an introduction to this part of our the heathens gave the epithet of TeXctot, or perfect, to many of their ºd; jºy. ... ; : - * ~ : y gods, especially the chief; but that some of their writers describe b. In the public assemblies.] It is certain that the word Guvayoym clemency and goodness to enemies as a virtue by, which mortals make ſº be taken in this extent ; and though it is most probable it may even the nearest approach to divine perfection.—These words conclude here refer to religious assemblies, yet we may recollect on this occasion, Christ; exºejištºffication of the jaw from the corrupt glosses of the that it is a known custom in the eastern nations to distribute, alºns when jewish teachers. I know it has been objected to it, that considering the they are, going to enter on public counsels.--T he phrase of sounding a many figurative expressions used in it, º might as easily trace out the trumpet #&fore then seems ºnly a figurative expression, to represent their àitiés ºrimenáčá by the igit of reason aiolić, as adjust the sºnse of doing it in a noisy, ostentatious way as it is,certain, thºt tº do. &l thing i. obscure and hº #::ith # if ; .# º; º; ; #. º & (I, ºrgº Eliº used proverbially to express a cannot grant,) it is to be remembered, that the chief design of the gospel Public Qstentation. €3 & T, º r is not to #, us what is justice, humanity, and charity in particular ... c. Acting their lº' as on an open theatre.J. Erasmus and Reza very cases, which a viow of present circumstances can aloné discoverjºut justly observe, that fleabnvaſ in the Yerse before is a theatrical word; to awaken a regard to the known, though neglected, digitates of natural and Ömokptral is well known to signify players disguised,(as the Gre- religion on these heads ; and this may be most effectually done by such cian actors used to be) in masks; not to say that the sounding a trumpet animated and sprightly exhortations as these, especially when, consix may allude to the music of the stage. jave endeavoured to express dered as coming from a person whose authority and love concur to demand this in the phrases here used in the paraphrase. - our attention and obedience. d They have their reigard.]. Sir Norton Knatchbull earnestly contends a Practise not your righteousness.] As some copies, and very ancient that arexoval Tov pita00w av7(ov, ought to be rendered, they fall short of versions read diºatoavvmy, righteousness, instead of eXgmpoovvmv, alms- their reward; but the word at exa, is plainly used in the sense in deeds, and several of the fathers quote it so, I choose, with Beza, to follow which our translators take, it, Luke vi. 24; Philip. iv. 18. and Philem. that reading; because it preyents the appearance of a tautology in ver, ió. and it is with peculiar propriety, that human applause is here the foiſowing words, and makes this verse a general and very proper called their reward, as being that which they choose and seek. See introduction to the rémaining part of the section, in which the caution Beza's elegant note on the words. - * - s - - is branched out into the particular, heads of alms, prayer, and fasting. e Let mºthy left hand know what thy right hand is doing.] It is said, (See Dr. Mill, in %. Kºś I by no means insist on the that the poor’s chest stood on the right hand ºil they entered the syna- change : but if it be admitted, Í cannot acquiesce in the criticism of a gogues, to which some suppose the words, to allude. It is plainly a pro- fººd friend, who would explain righteousness as here signifying verbial expression of strict care to conceal an action. CHRIST's SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 83 these charitable purposes; and far from publishing it with vain affectation, conceal it, as SECT. in secret: and thy Father far as may be, from thy nearest friends: }. thine alms may be performed in secret; and 40. ºtſ", ºre..."; thy Father, who sees in secret, and knows every circumstance of your most retired actions, selfshall reward thee openly will himself be ready to honour and reward thee another day, and that openly before the MATT. assembled world. - * VI. ..And again, when thou prayest, (as, if thou art, my disciple indeed, thou often wilt,) thou 5 shalt not be as the hypocrites, who discover on all occasions the vanity of their hearts; fºr even when performing their particular, and those that ought to be their secret, devotions, they love to pray standing in the public assemblies in sight of numbers of people, and i. them exactly to one constant hour, contrive to be catched, as it were, just at that sacre ime;f not only in the common places of resort, but in the corners of the streets, where several ways meet; that they may thus be sure of being viewed by a great number of beholders; but howsoever, upon this account, they may indeed be admired of men, as persons of singular piety, yet verily I say writo you, that in this admiration of those that observe them, they have all their %; But thou, O my disciple, whoever thou art, 6 when thou prajest, and dost not intend it as a social exercise of devotion, withdraw from the sight and intercourse of men, and enter into thy closet, or any other retired apartment;5 and having shut thy door, to prevent interruption and exclude spectators, pray with a holy freedom of soul to thy Father who is with thee in secret; and thy Father, whº always sees in secret as distinctly as in the most open scene of action, will regard these addresses with peculiar pleasure, as the emotions of a pious and sincere heart ; and will another day reward thee º for these duties, which were so entirely referred to the views of honour- ing and pleasing him. - - & But when you pray, do not use a vain multiplicity of words,” as it is usual for the heathens 7 to do in the invočation of their deities; for they foolishly, think they shall be heard in their addresses to them for their speaking mitch. Be not ye therefore, in this respect like them, 8 since you are so much better instructed in the divine nature than they, and cannot but know that your prayers are intended to affect your own hearts, that they may be fit to receive blessings, and not to inform or work upon the heart of God : for your heavenly Father is ready to bestow his blessings on you, and always knows what you really want, even before you ask him ; which therefore should teach you to avoid whatever may look like prèscribing to him, by too minute and repeated a detail of particulars. 4 That thine aims may bo 5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hy- pocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the syna- gogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their re- ward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy ather, which seeth in se- fººt. shall reward thee open- Iy. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as , the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. - 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them : for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. p.A. º. ºf Thus therefore pray ye, or to this effect at least, and in this plain, concise, and humble 9 ºicſ; ie., ... manner, if not in these very words: “Our Father, who art seated on a throne of glory ed be thy name: in the highest heaven; while we bow before thine awful presence with the humblest reve: rence, we would nevertheless approach thee with a filial confidence, as our bountiful and compássionate Parent; uniting our supplications to thee, with hearts full of brotherly love, and asking for each other the blessings we seek for ourselves. We would so remem- ber our relation to thee, as to be above all things concerned for thy glory: and therefore make it our first petition, º thy illustrious name be sanctified 1 May the whole race of mankind, yea, thé whole world of intelligent creatures, pay that dutiful veneration to thy Iſ Thy kingdom come; thy divine majesty, which thy matchless perfections So justly require And for this purposé, 10 ºn earth” is nºt º gdom, which thou art now introducing among men, more perfectly come, , may it be established with greater efficacy, be more clearly discovered, and more reso- lutely pursued May thy will, always wise and always gracious, be doné, as in heaven, so - likewise upon earth ; and may we mortals, be taught to regard it with a resignation, 11 give us this day our acquiescence, and obedience, resembling that of the heavenly spirits ' And as for our- 11 daily bread: selves, O Lord, we would not seek the great things of life, we would not be anxious - about its distant futurities, but humbly entreat thou wouldst open that bountiful hand on which we continually depend, and wouldst give us this day our daily bread,” providing a competent º for our present necessities, and teaching us to refer the rest to thy con- 12 And forgive us qur debts, tinual paternal care And though we have in many respects been disobedient and un-12 *we forgive out “” grateful children, yet we beseech thee, O most compassionate Father, to forgive us our offences, whereby we stand chargeable, as it were, in thy book, with debts which we can never clear: yet do thou freely forgive them all, as we glso desire to forgive our debtors, even all that have in any respect offended and injured us: yea, such pardon may we 13 And lead us, not into receive from thee, our God, as we are willing to impart to them!" º do not bring us 13 temptation, but, deliver us into circumstances of pressing temptation, lest our virtue should be vanquished, and our Souls endangered by them; but if we must be thus tried, do thou graciously rescue w8 from the power of the evil one,” that he may not triumph in our sin and ruin! These from evil: for thine is the { Contrive to be catched at that sacred time. Thus, the late pious and eloquent Mr. Grove explains, and finely illustrates, this text in his Dis- course on Secret Prayer, p. § 4. It is plain this custom still prevails aumong the Mahonietans ;, as #feiffer has ºbserved, Theolog...]iehammed: Öer. p. S4S, 974. and Bohovius, in his Turkish Liturgy, Śl. See a re- markable illustration of it in Mr. Addison’s Freeholder, No. 59. g Enter into thy closet, or any other retired apartment.] Tapetov signifies closet, chamber, Wardrobe, warehouse, or any qther separatº place; and Mr. Blair piously conjectures, that Christ might use a word of such latitude, that none might, omit Secret prayer for want. Qf $Q Con- yenient an apartment as they could wish, to retire into. It will, I hope, be observed, that many remarks of this kind proceed on a supposition, that the Spirit of God directed the apostles in their writings to choose such Greek words, as most exactly corresponded to those in the Jewish anguage which Christ used. h Do not use a vain multiplicity of words : ºn 6 attoxeynants.] Beza. has well explained the etymology of the word; and, Dr. IHangmond shows how applicable it was to the devotion of the Gentiles. ... (Compare 1 Kings xviii. 26. and Acts XiX. It is plain that the Jews were runaing into the same ſault, if we º by their oldest Liturgies, (See Le Clerc, in loc, and Solden, de Simed. lib. i.,gap. xii. p. 467, cf. §2.) Tână îjr. Wotton has illustrated the text so well, if it be considered as referring to them; that one could wish he had produced some better Authºrities than he has done for reading iſokpital rather than 80Vukot. See Wot. JMisc. vol. i. p. 186–188. . . i That dutiful veneration to thy divine majesty.] The mamé of God seems a phrase nearly answering to that of majesty, when sºlº to 8.In &artijy sovereign as Air. Blair has justly observed, Serm. vol. iv. p. 42. k More perfectly come.] It is reasonable to believe this petition, had a sense peculiar to the period in which it was prescribed, and that We, under this perfect revelation of the gospel, cannot properly use it pre- cisely with the same meaning : but so cxtensive a phrase may justly admit of other senses, at least by ºccºſum odation, as the Jässembly’s Catechism, with great propriety, illustrates it ; and I believe there are few who decline the use of this prayer on this account, who do not often use scripture phrases with a much greater latitude. l Resignation, acquiescence, and obedignce.] I have here joined these several expressions, because I am not able certainly to determine which was most directly intended. There is a great deal of beauty and spirit in the interpretation which Mr. Addison gives of this petition: Spectat. vol. iii. No. 207: m Our daily bread: Tov aprov šuoy rov errovo tov.] I can see no reason fºr changing our received translation, and cannot but acquiesce in Mr. Miede’s remark, that crtova was signities what is sufficient for our present support and subsistence, as Taptovatog signifies abundant : so that this petition is nearly parallel to that of Agur, Prov. xxx. 8. (See Mede’s j}; p., 125.) This is a most excellent lesson to teach us, on the one hand, moderation in our desires, and on the other, an humble de- pendeage on divine Providence for the most necessary supplies, be our possessions or our abilities ever so great. . m Such pardon—as we arg, willing to impart to them.] It is hardly possible to imagine a more effectual expedient to promote the forgiveness of injuries than this, of making it a part of out daily prayer to ask such pardon from God as we in part to our offending brother. For in this circumstance, every malicious purpose against him would tum tº is petition into an in precation, by which we should, as it were, bind down the wrath and vengeance of God upon ourselves. o Rescue us from the evil one..] ‘Pva at mua; atro rou trovmpov may literally be rendered thus. For this signification of 6 Tovmpos, see mote h, p. 74. 84 CHRIST's SERMON ON THE MOUNT. SECT. things we know that thou canst do for thy children, and we are humbly bold to hope thou kingdom, and the power, and Amen. 40. MLATT. WI. Wilt do them for us; for thine is the kingdom of universal nature,P and the fulness of the slots, fºr ever, º ower, and the glory of infinite perfection; and to thee be the praise of all aSCT100 f; ever, ºffmen. So may it be "We most sincerely and earnestly desire that thgu mayest be glorified, and our petitions heard and accepted.” * Let this be the model of your prayers, for these are the most important blessings you ... 14 For if se forgive men can ask: , And, let me particularly charge you to remember the yiew and connexion in ###;"jº"; which I have taught you to ask the pardon of your sins: for if you forgive men their you. - ºffences, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, supposing that forgiveness to proceed om a truly religious principle: But %; do not forgive men their offences, but continue to cherish, resentment, and to seek revenge, neither will that God whom you call your heavenly Father own you for his genuine offspring, and forgive you your offences; but by using the petition I have now been prescribing, you will in effect bind down a curse upon yourselves. *-* * * 15 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. * I Would also apply the general advice I before gave to fasting as well as to prayer; and , 16 Moreover, whense fast, Nº. exhort you, That when tºp a private fast, (as I conclude my disciples #º often do.) you be not like the hypocrites, going about with a dejected, melancholy isfigure their face. That face, and putting, on a dismal air; for upon these occasions they emaciate, contract, and "āºr". . deform their countenances," that, by their sad and mournful looks, they may appear to men you, they have their reward. to fast, and may be esteemed as persons of unusual mortification ºft. verily - I say unto you, That in this notice that is taken of them by their fellow-creatures, they 17 have ºil their reward, and have not any to expect from Göd. But thou, O my disciplé, 17 But thou, when thou when thou keepest such a fast, and comest from thy devout retirement, dress thyself just as jºine head, thgū dest at jiher times; anoint thy head with oil, and wash thy face; instead of fouling it " " " " ' 18 with ashes: That thoſ mayºst not appear to men as one that fºsteth, but only to thy Faiher who is in, secret; and thy Father, who sees in secret, and observes what passes in retire- ment, as the surest test of men's true characters, will not fail to reward thee openly for thy 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy. Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee genuine and unaffected devotion. openly. {\{PROVEMENT. Ver. I LET us learn from these repeated admonitions of our blessed Redeemer, what is the only acceptable principle of 5, 16 every religious action; namely, a desire to approve ourselves to God in it; and let us particularly bring it into 2, 6 the instances in which it is here recommended. - Our Lord takes it for granted, that his disciples would be both charitable and devout. Let us cultivate both these branches of the christian temper, and avoid ostentation in both ; as remembering the day approaches, when every one of us must be made manifest in his true character before the tribunai of Christ.” And oh, what dis- coveries will then be opened upon the world!. How many specious masks will be plucked off, that the hypocrite's character may appear in its native deformity! And, on the other hand, how many secret acts of piety and bene- volence, which have been industriously concealed from human observation, will then shine forth in all their glory, celebrated and rewarded by God himself, who sees in secret, and whose eye penetrates all the recesses of our houses and our hearts There may our praise and our portion be In the mean time, let us with humble pleasure obey the call of our divine Master, and be often addressing our heavenly Father in such language as he hath taught us; entering for secret exercises of devotion into our closet, and shutting our door, excluding, as far as possible, every thought 18 6 which would interruptus in these sacred and happy moments. From thence let our prayers daily come before the throne like incense, and the lifting up of our hands be as the morning and the evening'sacrifice. (Psal. cxli. 2.) 9–13 Christ himselfhas condesgended to teach us to pray. Attentive to his 14, SECT. 41. MATT. WI, º tº e - §. animated by his example, and imboldened by his intercession, let us learn and practise the lesson. Shed abroad on our hearts, O Lord, thy Spirit of adoption, which may teach us to cry, Abba, Father to draw nigh to thee with filial reverence and con- fidence, and with fraternal charity for each other, even for the whole family to whom thou graciously ownest the relation Inspire us with that zeal for thy glory, which may render the honour of thy name, the prosperity of thy kingdom, and the accomplishment of thy will, far dearer to us than any interest of our own On thee may we maintain a cheerful dependence for our daily bread; and having food and raiment, be therewith content 1 (1 Tim. vi. 8.) most solicitously seeking the pardon of our past sins, and the influences of thy grace to preserve us from future temptations, or to secure us in them ' And may our sense of that need in which we stand of forgiveness from thee, dispose us cordially to forgive each other, especially as thou hast wisely and graciously made this the necessary means of receiving our own pardon' Our corrupted hearts are too little disposed for these sentiments; but may God's almighty power produce and cherish them in us! and while the comfort is ours, may all the glory be his, through Jesus Christ our Lord ' Amen. - 15 SECTION XLI. Our Lord cautions his disciples against the love of the present world, and urges a variety of lively and convincing arguments to dissuade them from anxiety about the morrow. Matt. vi. 19, to the end. MATT. vi. 19. MATT. vi. 19. I WOULD also take this opportunity of cautioning you, my hearers, against that covetous LAY not up for yourselves temper, which the Pharisees are so ready to indulge, (compare, Luke xvi. 14. and Matt, jº * * * wº j xxiii. 14.) and therefore add, Do not make it your great care to lay up for yourselves trea- 19 sures here on earth, where so many accidents may deprive you of them ; where the moth, p For thine is the kingdom, &c.] Though I am sensible there is some reason to doubt of the genuineness of this doxology, notwithstanding, all that Mr. Jones (in his History of the Canon, vol. j. f * 142.) has Cl3 urged in its defence, (see Dr. Mill, in loc. and Mr. Ha in his JVotes on Scripture, vol. i. p. 133. et seq.) yet it is certainly very ancient ; and as f added to the conclusion of our §'. it is intended to express the sincerity and earnestness with which we desire the blessing we ask, with some cheerfulness of hope as to the success of our petitions, q Ernagiate, contract, and diſorm their countenances.] I know not any word in our language which exactly answers to adjavić sat in this connexion. It is rendered corrupt, in ver. 20. (Compare Acts xiii. 41. Heb. viii. 13. and James iv. 14.) and properly §§ to change, spoil, and consume 5 and is , with peculiar elegance applicable to such an Bishop Hopkins, Af. Blair, and other excellent writers, have well observed, so admirably suits, and enforces § preceding petition, that I could not persuade myself to omit it. And I hope the learned reader will excuse ine, if, in matters of moment, I sometimes seem over-cautious of omitting some passages which are indeed wanting in many ancient manuscripts, and omitted by some celebrated commentators, ancient as well as modern. I apprehend I shall have done Iny part, in thus hint- ing at the doubt which learned men have entertained concerning them, where I conceive the reasons for such doubt to be considerable.—For the word amen, as it signifies truth, Sec motº g, O.) John i. 51. p. 52, when alteration of the natural countenance as proceeded from their emaciating themselves, and contracting their faces into a dismal form.—The learned author of Fortuita Sacra, p. 13–22, has rendered it unnecessary for me to add any thing more on this or the following verse. r Anoint thy head with oil, and wash, thy face.] This was usual among the Jews, not only at ſcasts, but at other, times. º Ruth ili. 3. 2 Sam. xiv. 2. and Judith xvi. 8. On the other band, dust and ashes CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. and where thieves break for instance, may spoil through and steal : through the strongest walls that you have raised about them, and may steal them away. 20 But lay uſ treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth selves treasures in heaven, where none of these accidents can happen; where neither moth 0 jºr. tº"; *::: nor canker can consume them, and where thieves cannot break in, rior steal them away; but §ai’ the arms of º and love shall secure you from every calamity and invasion. tº Wº...". The influence which this advice will have on your whole conduct, should engage you ?l i.” "**** to attend more diligently to it; for where that which you account your chief treasure is, there will your heart also be, and thither will the tendency and series of your actions be *The light. bº. referred. See therefore that you form a right judgment on so important an article, and do 22 : - e * † - - - s ...'...; not over-value the world and its enjoyments. For as the eye is the lamp of the whole shall be full of light: ody; and therefore, on the one hand, if thine eye be clear,b and free from any vitiating lºº'."; humour, ty whole body will be full of light : But, on the other hand, if thine eye be dis 23 º;..."; i.f. º. tempered, thy whole body will be full of darkness; so it is with respect to the practical ºil. ...'";#. judgment you form as to the worth of earthly and heavenly enjoyments. If therefore the CSS, il OW 3. S - * = * - - - s - lºow - light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! and if the maxims you lay down to yourselves are wrong, how very erroneous must your conduct be And do not impose upon yourselves so far as to imagine that your hearts can be equally 24 divided between heaven and earth: for as no man can serve two masters whose interests and commands are directly contrary to each other; but will quickly appear either com- paratively to hate the one and love the other; or, by degrees at least, will grow weary of so disagreeable a situation, so as to adhere entirely to the one, and quite neglect and abandon the other: so you will find you cannot at the same time serve God and Mammon," that unworthy idol to which so many are devoting their hearts and pursuits. - And I would charge you therefore to take heed that your affections be not engaged in 25 a service so inconsistent with religion and true happiness; and in particular, I say unio you,” Be not distressed with ancious cares about your subsistence in life,” what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, when your present stock of provisions is gone; mor, with respect to your body, what you shall put on when the garments you have are worn out. Is not life a better and more valuable gift thanſº and the body than raiment? And if it be, why should you not trust that almighty and gracious Being who formed your bodies, and ired them with life, to maintain the work of his own hands P ou may surely do it, when you reflect on his care of the inferior creatures. Look on 26 the birds of the air, for instance, that are now flying around you :f for though they are gay and cheerful to a proverb, yet do they neither sow nor reap : nor do they, like some other animals, gather a stock of food into hoards, to lay up for winter; and jet the rich providence of jour heavenly Father plentifully feedeth them; and are not you his children, much more valuable in his sight than they ; as well as much better furnished with means of providing for yourselves?s Why then should you at any time suspect his care.” And 37 after all, this immoderate carefulness is useless, as well as unnecessary; for which of you can, by fail his] anariety, add to his age or vigourh so much as one cubit, or even the smallest measure or moment beyond what God shall appoint? Nay, it is much more pro- bable you should rather impair than strengthen your constitution by indulging such a temper, which sometimes brings on gray hairs and death before their time. £nd as for raiment, why are you anxious [about that?] Observe not only the animal, 28 but what is yet much lower, the vegetable, part of the creation; and particularly consider do they spin : neither there the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not to prepare the materials of their "ºi I say unto you, covering, nor do they spin or Weave them into garments: Yet I say unto you, That even 29 #º sº the magnificent Solomon, in all his royal glory, when sitting on his throne of ivory and one of these. fold, (I Kings x. 18.) was not arrayed in garments of so pure a white, and of such curious 30 wherefore, if God so workmanship, as one of these lilies presents to your view. And if God so clothe the grass 30 were often used in times of deep mourning, or ºblig.ſºsting, which must Dr. Clarke in his Sermons, vol. iii. p. 116, cl seq., do, that our Lord only sadly deform the countenance. Sec 2 Sam. xiii. 19, Esth. iv. 1,3. Isa. lxi. addresses this to his apostles, who were to cast themselves on an extra- 3. Dan. ix. 3. and Jonah iii. 6. Qrdinary providence; without, being any ways concerned themselves a Canker may consume your corn, or corrupt the very metals you have for their Support. Mr. Blair has well proved the contrary at large in hoarded.] The word Époqus is by some translated Smut, or weave!, his excellent ºppºndit to his fourth Sermon, vol. i. p. 55, ºf seq. and it is and is supposed to signify any little insect that gets into corn and eats it, easy to observe, that the arºungents out. Lord urges cºntain nothing pe- fr. Blair seems to understand it so, and thinks our Lord here refers to guitar to their casº, but are built Qnºonsiderations, applicable to all clºis- clothes, grain, and gold, as the chief treasures respectively obnoxious to tidis, Compºſe Phil. iv. 6, and 1 Pet. Y., 7; as also luke xxii. 35, 35. moth, smut, and thieves; which may seem the more probable, as a diſ- and Acts XN. 34. from whence it appeats that the apostles themselves were ferent word, tos, is used for rust, Jam. v. 3. ut as 8pºts properly not $ntirely to neglect a prudent care for their own subsistence, in de- signifies any thing that cats into another substance, I father choose to Pººl9% 9" miraculous provisions. • - render it canker, which has much the same ambiguity; and to paraphrase f The birds aſ the air now flying around you.] , It is not so proper to it in a manner including both the senses. - - render rersiva foºls, as that word generally signifies the larger kind of b. If thige eye.be clear, Şc..] Some commentators hº explained this; birds, and especially those under the care of men.—For mentioning tic as if our Lord intended here to urgº the, practice of lišćrality, as whil; birds as then in their sight, see the latter part of mote To, on \iatt. º. ii. would have a great influence on the whole of a man’s character and p. 77. conduct; and suppose it illustrated by all those passages whºre air cril g 3rd Act tow nutch more valuable than thcy, as well as much better gue signifies a grudging temper, ºld, a gºgg Q'ſ a bºuntift, dispºsitiºn furnished with 1...eans of providing for yourselves *] Ork visis wº)\ov (comparé Deut. xv.9. Prov. xxiii. ſ. SNYiii. ??: ºl xxii. 9;...Hebr. ) and ... ... aw b dered, fºr f - tº the a | i. i. thosºtsi, which sińijää is pit for iſſºliții, (Roni.ii. S. ºf sº, may be rendered, ſº not go", gregtly the adrantage - - - - - s * | ** - Čf theºn 3 which may refer to men’s being capable of sorcing, reaping, VI. 85 our finest garments, and a devouring canker may consume your SECT. corn, or may corrupt the very métals you have hoarded;” and where thieves may dig 37. for yourselves But build your happiness on a nobler and more certain foundation, and store up for your. **** 24 No man can serve tº Q masters: for either he will hate the one, and love, the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. 25 Therefore 1 say, unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment 2 1]].S 26 Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not; neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they 3 * 27 Which of you by taking §§ can add one cubit unto his stature ? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? ... Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, and 2 Cor. viii. 2. ix. 11, 13. Gr.) See Hanamond, Whitby, L'Enfant, and Beausobre, in loc. But the sense given above appears most natural, as well as most extensive.—I have rendered an Ass clear, rather than single, as less ambiguous, and with more evident propriety, applied to the eyes it is opposed to an eye overgrown with a film, which would ob- struct the sight. * * - - c God and .jſammon.] JMammon is a Syriac word for riglics, which out Lord beautifully represents as a person whom, the folly of men had deified. It is well known the ãº. had a fietitious god of wealth ; but I cannot find that he was over directly worshipped in Syria under the name of JMammon. - * - d Therefore I say upto you, &c.] A late writºr, who takes, upon him, by the strength of his own reason, to reject at pleasure what the apostles believed and taught, strangely complains of a want of connexion be- tween this and the preceding verse. But can there be any better reason assigned against immoderste anxiety. than this, that such a subjection to ..}ſammon as this expresses, is utterly inconsistent with the love and Service Of 2 - - - e Be not anxious about your subsistence in life.] It is certain that the word uéptpºvago generally signifies an excessive anxiety (see Luke X- 41. xii.11. xxi. 34. and Phil. iv. 6. and indeed almost every other place where it is used;) which is agreeable to the derivation of it. There is no need therefore to say, (as Archbishop Tillotson, vol. ii. p. 235. and and gathering into barns, whigh the birds are not: and though I rather prefer the former sensé, I thought, it not improper to hint at the other; as I havo done in many other places where such ambiguities have cceurred. .h Can add to his age.] It is well known, that this is frequently the signification of the word m) tºta; there being many places where it is evident that it is used for age, (as John ix. 21, 23. and Heb. xi. 11.) and certainly it makes the best sense here : for it is seldom found that persons are solicitous about growing a cubit taller.—I confess a cubit ºf age is not a common phrase among us, though an inch of time be somo- times, used ; and in this view had I rendered cubit by inoment, as a learned friend who remarked on this passage advised, it would have been very justifiable. i JP as "of arrayed in garments of so pure a white.] As the eastern princes were often clothed in white robes, and they were generally count- ed a magnificent apparel, (compare Esth. viii. 15. and Dan. vii. think it more natural to explain the words thus, (as Calmet does in his Dissert. Vol. ii. p. 230.) than to suppose with Ray (on the Creation, In, 107.) that kpwd signified tulips of various colours, or a purple kind of łily Some have indeed quoted Cant. v. 13. in support of the last inter- pretation; but that text may refer to the fragrancy of those flowers, rather than their hue. §6 CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. SECT. of the field, and shelters and adorns the flowerk that grows wild amongst it, which is [flou- º; º: field, 41. rishing] to-day, and perhaps to-morrow is thrown into the furnace or the still, [will º not ...”.”. iº. much more [clothe] you, his servants and his children, Oye āf little faith ! that you should be jº. Fººglotte MATT, so diffident as to distrust his care, or in the least to doubt of it! * YOU!, O y 4. 1UP) : WI. Be not ye therefore any more distracted, and torn in pieces (as it were) with anarious .. 31. Therefore, take ng 31 2. !-- ~" ºr r-, h ights .. J;7] º 7, hal drink 2 H - - thought, saying, What shall and unbelieving thoughts, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink? How is it we ...".; hat sh <> º - - - or, What shall we 2 shall be provided for, or what shall we wear, in the remainder of our lives? (For it is tºgewithalshall really beneath your character, as my disciples, thus to distress yourselves on this account: º jº all these the heathen, who are strangers to the promises of God's covenant, and to the hopes of his ºne: .*.*.*.*.* glory, do indeed seek after all these things; and it is no wonder that their minds are taken joiºi up with them: but you have greater tº to employ you, and higher hopes to ani- ****** mate and encourage you.) For you may be assured, that as your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things while you dwell in the body, he will not fail to provide them for you. - But I exhort you, that you turn your cares into a nobler channel, and seek, in the first .33. But age, ye first the place, and with the greatest earnestness and concern, the kingdom of God and his right- Hº, sº àº; eousness;” labouring to secure an interest in the promises of the gospel yourselves, and things shall be added unto to promote its reception among others, that by the submitting to the righteousness of God, ” you may be thus accepted as righteous beforé him: in that you will be sure of success; and as for all these little things of which I have now been speaking, they shall be added to you over and above," and, as it were, thrown in amidst a crowd of far more valuable bless- 34 ings. And, therefore, while you faithfully attend to this, be not anarious even for the mor- 34, Take, therefore no row, and much läss for future years: for indeed the morrow shall provide for itself'; that flºº...” ºw. Providence which hath taken care of you formerly, shall send in new supplies, and suggest thºugiº, he things of it: new expedients, as new necessities and difficultiés require them. And, in the meantime, fººt.” you need not anticipate future trials; for without such an addition, sufficient for the present gal, [is] the evil of it, and it is well if you have wisdom and grace proportionable even to that. 3 3 IMPROVEMENT. - Ver.34. How kind are these precepts of our blessed Redeemer! the substance of which is indeed but this, Do thyself 31, 32 no harm. , Let us not be so ungrateful to him, and so injurious to ourselves, as to harass and oppress our minds with that burthen of anxiety which he has so graciously taken off. Every verse and clause we have been read- ing, speaks at once to the understanding and the heart. We will not therefore indulge these unnecessary, these 34 useless, these mischievous cares; we will not borrow the anxieties and distresses of the morrow, to aggravate those of the present day: but rather will we cheerfully repose ourselves on that heavenly Father who knows that 25 We need these things, and has given us life, which is more than meat, and the body, which is more than railment; 26, 28 and, thus instructed in the philosophy of our heavenly Master, will learn a lesson of faith and cheerfulness from every bird of the air, and every flower of the field. - Lêt the Gentiles that know not God, perplex their minds with unworthy suspicions, or bow them down to the 24 ignoble servitude of Mammon, that base rival of our living Jehovah: but we, far from desiring to share our hearts and our services between two such contrary masters, will cheerfully devote them to him, whose right to them is so 19, 20 infinitely beyond all room for any contest. Let us take heed and beware of covetousness, and make it our business not to hoard up earthly and corruptible treasures, but first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness; so shall 33 other things be added for present subsistence: and so shall we lay up in store an incorruptible treasure in heaven, in which we shall be rich and happy, when the riches of this world are consumed with their owners, and the whole fashion of it is passed away. 22, 23 While these divine maxims are spreading their light about us, let our eye be clear to behold them, and our heart open to receive them; and lef us cautiously guard against those deceitful Fº of action, which would give a wrong bias to all our pursuits, and turn the light which is in us into a fatal and incurable darkness. *-*. SECTION XLII, Our Lord proceeds in his discourse to caution his disciples against rash judgment, and to exhort them to irºptirtiality, prudence, prayer, and resolu- • tion; and warns them against seducers... Miatt. vii. 1–3). MATT. vii. 1. Aſ ATT. Wii. 1. SECT. YOU, my disciples, live in a very censorious age, and the scribes and Pharisees, who are J.DGE not, that ye be not 42. in the highest esteem for the strictness of their lives, place a eat part of their own reli-ºw £&d. gion in condemning others; but see to it, that you do not judge those, about you in this MATT. rigorous and severe manner, nor pass, such unnecessary or uncharitable censures upon * , them, that you may not yourselyes, be judged with the like severity. For in this respºt ºf 2 you will find, that according to the judgment with which you judge others, you shall be jigg; ;"º". ed; and by that very measure that ye mete to them, it shall be measured bººk to jou; God gºal be measured to and man will make great allowancés to the character of the candid and benevolent; but "*" they must expect “judgment without mercy, who have showed no mercy;” nor can they deny the equity of such treatment. (Jam. ii. 13.) * - ºf * 3 The caution I have mentioned is more apparently necessary, considering hºw prºnº dº.º.º.º. men are to be partial to themselves: bitt why dost thou, whoever thou art, look at that tier's eye, but considéréstºt little infirmity which is but like a mote in thj brother's eye, while thou observest not the - s - * - & t g * * k Shelters and adorns the ſlower.] The word apºtēvyway, which (See Dr. Sykes,º Christigiºus tº 35, 33). Ratiº sº ºlº we rendel clotive, properly expresses the putting on a complete dress that º: #3. gº; º g #!". § iº. t **ś. º § º: -- - - ~ | } ~ ; , 12.5 ; :- - - - "it A rºz, c, tº li: st ºr {} tiſt VH1 Ch St. tº ill, D3 sts tº C.Y. & it 1 \{i :\; tığ. ~ 3 - surrounds the body on all sides, and is used with pºguliar beauty fºr that º - **- - ~x * ty * * . 9. jº'stº, ºrnº ºbranº, viſiči (i.e. the skin in the iſſu- righlºss of God. Compare Ronn. x. 3. and Phil. iii mãì body) at oncé adorns the tender structurg of the yes&table, and likº- n 4dded ofter and above.] This seems tº be the º: jº °. Wise guards it from the injuries of the weather. Every microscope in word Troos-s0ngerat, than which .ºxºfession nothing could have ſº 6 which a flower is viewed, affords a lively comment on this text: more proper; for these temporal blessings are by no º esºłº i ſã thrºom into tic ſurnace of the still.] I ºpprehend that this may be the stipulations of the covenant g/ ºggºalſ. ºl. º be fºrº to as properly the signification of the word xxiglºy as oven; and that the the divine good pleasure, to add or withhold, as God shall see fit. Com- sºnse will thus appear to be more easy; for it cot hardly be supposed that pare I Kings iii. 11—13. * º - - - - - g, ass or floºrs should be thrown is to the oyº the day tº they are a Place a great part of their own rºl{ but while I am coming - benefit of the ... am coming towards it, another descends before me, and enjoys the ºl.º.º.º. 8 . Upon this, Jesus says to him, with an air of divine majesty and authority, Arise, take up 8 Jesússa, * ~ To : thy couch on thy should d y * , y & s . *. & - J 5 5 p esus saith unto him, Rise, V J d. ..And y shoulders, and walk away with it, to show how perfectly thou art reco- take up thy bed, and walk. 9 º is na such virtue attended these words, that the man immediately became well; and, 9 Andimmediately the man feaping up in a º of wonder and joy, he took up his couch, and walked away with Nººk up it. º .# house, through some of the most public parts of the city. x &ll) (1 W3. KC (1 ...— f * !\! ~ & ** zºw - * e com O RO º | ; day that this miraculous cure was wrought, it was the sabbath: yet Christ TAnd on the same day was - º ed him, even on that day, to carry his couch, both to show his own authority, ** H0 º s'. º the faith and obedience of his patient. The Jews therefore, who saw him 10 The Jews therefore said pass } II] º manner, said to him that was cured, It is the sabbath-day; and therefore it ººlºº 2. - º - * -* r * * - & s the sabbath-day ; it is t j. not º!l{!, ſºr thee this to carry a couch, or to bear any burthen whatsoever. (Compare lawful for thee to cº er. xvii. 21, 22. and Neh. xiii. 15–19.) How is it then, that thou art so presumptuous * 11 as to prºfane this holy day? But he answered them, by giving an account of his cure, and 11 He answered them, He only added. He that miraculously healed and made me well, and restored me with a word ººlºº * r - 2i errº * “. . .” ‘’” “ said unto me, Tak t 9 to º º and strength, even he said to me, Take up thy couch, and walk away with it; bei, and waii: C up thy 12 and I could not question his authority to dispense with such a ceremonial precept. And J3 Then asked they him upon this, dropping all mention of the cure, and only fixing on what seemed liable to º said exception.k th ked hi ºf 7 * º S-1, unto thee, Take up thy bed, ºxception, they asked hºm them. }}'ho is the man that said unto thee, on this sacred day, and walk? H3 º: . thy couch, and walk away with it? Now he that was healed did not at that time 13 And he that was healed know who it was that had cured him; for as there was a crowd of people in the place, Jesus ºf had modestly º: away among them, as soon as he had spoken the healing word. ãº", ºi, º, 14 But afterwards Jesus findeth him in the court of the temple, and said unto him, Behold, "ſºwards Jesus find by the singular mercy of God, thou art now recovered to health and vigour; but take gºi...in º jº, . heed that thou sin no more, lest something yet worse befall thee; for thou knowest in thine i.º.º. B º own conscience, that the iniquities of thy youth brought this calamity upon thee," and tº worse thing come intº the deliverance thou hast now received will be a dreadful aggravation of thy future guilt. the e. 15 The man then informed himself of those that stood by, who it was that spoke to him; ..]; the man depºrted, and and knowing him to be the person to whom he was obliged for his cure, he went away "º", "...º. from the temple, and told the Jews who had before examined him, that it was Jesus of whole. made num Nazareth who had restored him to health: expecting, no doubt, by this discovery, to have procured him that honour and respect which was due to so much power and goodness. 16.1nd yet the Jews were sº far from paying him any just acknowledgments, that on the , 16 And therefore did the contrary, they persecuted Jesus on this account, and endeavoured to put him to death, as an jºiº. implous transgressor of the law, because he had done these things on the sabbath-day; and, jºinº"things on in pursuance of that unrighteous and barbarous purpose, they brought an accusation the sabbath-day. against him before the sanhedrim," which occazioned the large and excellent apology related in the two following sections. 6 7 IMPROVEMENT. wer, 1 WHAT reason have we humbly to adore that Almighty Being who kills and makes alive, who wounds and heals 1 (Deut. xxxii. 39.). If the Jews had cause of thankfulness for this miraculous interposition, Surely those virtues which God has in a natural way bestowed on medicines, and that sagacity which he has given to men for the discovery of those virtues, are matter of much greater acknowledgment, as the blessing is so much more extensive and lasting. But how much greater still are our obligations to him for the blessings of his gospel, and the ordinances of his worship, those waters of life by which our spiritual maladies are healed, and vigºur restored to our enfeebled souls: ‘Let us humbly attend them; yet, during that attendance, let us look beyond them: for surely the efficacy of this pool of Bethesda did not more depend upon the descent of the angel, than the efficacy of the noblest ordinances depends on that blessed Spirit which operates in and by them. 3 Multitudes were continually attending at this pool : and why then is the house of God forsaken, where not one alone, but many, at the same moment, may receive spiritual sight and strength; Yeº, and life from the dead? Yet galas! under the diseases of the soul, how few desire to be made, whole! Blessº Jesus! if thou hast awakened that desire in us, we would adore thée for it, as a token for good; and would lift up our believing eyes to thee, in humble expectation that thou wilt graciously fulfil it. The man who was lately languishing on his couch, we quickly after find in the temple; and where should they be found, who have been raised up from beds of weakness, and brought out from chambers of confinerment, but in the sanctuary, rendering their praises to the God of their mercies? How reasonable is the caution which our 14 ſh The first that gent in—was cured.] This may b% well.considered as I Modestly slipped away.] The word & evevacu (as Casaubon observes a circºnstance wisely ordered by Providence, fo illustrate the superior, in his learned uote on th9, placº) is an elegant metaphor borrowed from power and goodness of the Son of God, wh9, not at distant periods of scimming ; and we may, thus observe, how well it expresses the easy time, but every day, not ºnly performed a single cure, but healed whole unobserved manner in which he, as it were, glided through, them, while; multitudes that resorted to hirn. s s s jiše a stream of water, they opencil before him, and immediately closed iºni..j ‘’īhere seems to be this emphasis in the word ekºtº; in again; leaying no tragg ºf the wº he had taken. . this connexión after & Toºnzag. It is very far from being an expletire, , in The iniquities of tº youth brought this calamity upon thee..]. Our though few versions take any notice of it. - Lord seems not merely to have referred to 0. general notion, that diseases Önly fixing on what seen;4 liable to exception.], They do not, ask, Xº, the punishments aſ sin, but to glance at some irregularities ºf the Jºão ºff thºas made thee well ? but, Who is it that bºſſe, tºº to take up man’s younger years, which, though,they yer. cºmmitted before Shiº tºo.ch upon the sabbath-day? though he had jus; told them, it was the was born, (for wearé, told, Yeº, 5...that this disabled man had laboured jºr his cure that gave him that command; fºr all that they. Prº- ūict his isorder thirty-eight years.) yet were perſectly known to j'was, not to head of any gºod that had been dºº their him. º s & - . . . jmiration and applause, but to lay hold of some .occasion #9 find, fault n Before the sanhedrim.] See the region for this conjecture in the to gratify the priſe and rnaliee of a censorious temper.—I am obliged next section, ver, 17. note a, compared with ver. 33. tº ºtius for this delicate remark, which well illustrates their lar- tiality and malignity. CHRIST WINDICATES THE MIRACLE WROUGHT ON THE SABBATH. Lord gave him there! Sin no more, less a worse thing come unto thee. May we see sin as the root of all our afflic- tions; and, by the bitterness of them, may sin be imbittered to us, and our hearts fortified against relapsing into it, especially when we have been chastised, and restored again! - One would have expected that, when this grateful creature published the name of his Benefactor, crowds should have thronged about jesus, to have heard the words of his mouth, and to have received the blessings of his gospel; and that the whole nation should have gloried in the presence of such a person, as far more valuable than,the descent of a heavenly spirit at some particular seasons for the cure of their diseases, or even the abode of an incarnate angel among them would have been. But instead of this, behold the malignity of our fallen nature, and the force of stubborn prejudice! They surround him with an hostile intent; they even conspire against his beneficial life; and for an imagined transgression in a point of ceremony, would have put out this light in Israel. Let us not wonder then, if our good be evil spoken of. (Rom. xiv. 16.) , Iſet us not wonder if even candour, benevo- lence, and usefulness do not wholly disarm the enmity of some; especially of those who have been taught to prefer sacrifice to mercy; and who, disrélishing the genuine contents of the gospel, naturally seek occasion to slander and persecute the professors, and especially the defenders, of it. SECTION XLVII. Christ vindicates the miracle which he had wrought at the pool º sabbath-day, and solemnly declares the dignity of his person and office. O —30 in v. 17 g Jo HN v. 17. - Jo HN v. 17. {{!!...º.º.º.º. THE miracle which he had just performed, was a plain evidence of his divine authority My Father worketh hitherto, - - 5 • ined bef and I work. and power: but Jesus being questioned by the Jews, and, as it seems, examined before their most solemn council,” for the cure he had wrought on the sabbath-day, he took the opportunity of declaring at large the dignity of his person, the evidence of his mission, and the absolute necessity of faith in him to their eternal salvation;b while, in reply to the malicious charge which they brought against him, he answered them as follows: 'My Hea- venly Father, in the administration of his providential kingdom, workelh continually from the beginning of the world even till now ; and upon sabbath-days, as well as others, he exerts that unremitting and unwearied energy which is the life of the creation: , and, in like manner, I also work, in obedience to the intimations of his will, and in subserviency to his glory. And in this very action I have given you so visible a proof that I am directed and assisted by him, that you ought humbly to acquiesce in it, without presuming to cayil at what is so evidently divine, or to limit the majesty of heaven by those rules which he has prescribed to his creatures. - - 18.Therefore the Jews . But upon hearing this suggested by our Lord in vindication of himself, they were so far º, hºnº, "... from yielding to the argument, that, for this very reason, the resentment of his adversaries broken the sabbath, bit said was increased; and being therefore more incensed against him than before, the rulers of º ji"; the Jews endeavoured the more eagerly to put him to death, because (as they imagined) he God. had not only violated the sabbath, but had now also gone so far as even to have called God his own Father,” in so peculiar and appropriating a sense, as in effect to make himself equal with God: while he thus argued his own right to work on the sabbath-day, from God’s working upon it; though this was evidently no argument with respect to mankind in general, nor had ever been pleaded by the greatest of the prophets in such a view. 19 Then answered, Jesus Jesus, therefore, to explain the matter more fully to them, and to leave them yet more *ś º *; inexcusable in their malicious opposition to him, answered and said unto them, Verily, Sº gº dº nothing.ºhiº, verily, I say writo you, and do most faithfully and solemnly declare, That the Son of God, ##"º: great and glorious as he is, now acts in an avowed subjection to the authority of the Father, ..ºs.º.º. * and can do nothing of himself; in pursuance of any distinct schemes or separate interest of his own, unless he see the Father doing it,” or perceive him intimating it as his pleasure that it should be done: for whatsoever are the things that he (that is, the Father) doth, even these likewise doth the Son in a most intimate conjunction with him; at all times cheerfully complying with his purposes, and esteeming it his honour always to be employed 20 For the Father loveth in his service. For the Father loveth the Son, and that with so entire an affection, that he #sº jºi" showeth him all things that he himself dothſ letting him into the secret of his councils, and he will shºw him ºute, and teaching him in the most wonderful and divine manner, to act in prosecution of works than these, that ye sº S-> - - º * - 5 * may marvel. them; and he will show, or point out to him, far greater works than these which he has * hitherto performed; which shall hereafter be accomplished by him, that you may all be *...º.º. filled with wonder, though you will not be open to conviction. You have now seen the º,"... ." § cure of one who had been long disabled by a disease, but I have not yet raised any from quickeneth whom he will, the dead: yet i. shall quickly see that it is not for want of power; for as the Father, - whenever he pleases, raises up and animates the dead, so also you shall have sufficient evi- *...*.*.* dence that the Son animates whom he will. Nor is it to be wondered at, that he should j º: have so great a power lodged in him; for the Father now in his own person judges no - man, but has given the administration of all judgment to the Son, before whom all men are a Before their most solemn, council.] I here follow Mr. Fleming’s felt upon his mind, leading him to excrt his miraculous power in this or opinion, (in his Christology, vol. ii. p. 298.), which seems to be confirmed that instance, I cannot certainly determine; but rather incline to the by ver. 33. and, there appears a great deal of additional propricty and latter, which might also be comprehended in ver, jº. The partició beauty in the discourse, when it is considered in this view. equ plm, which is exactly the same in signification with et pin, is here b He took the opportunity of declaring, at large the dignity of his also used in a less propér sense. See the note -v- I J & lº person, &c.) Christ' had hinted at several of these things in his con- jºij, Rºss; tº see ote on John xvii. 12. § 179. ference with JNicodemus, (John iii. 13–21. W 26.) who had probably re- S h hi --~.. ; , , , -o/ " * ported them to his brethren. But he here expatiates more largely on f Showcth him all things that he himself, doth.] The editors of the • 2-5. * r • - • *- : * *** - - some of them ; and, yo doubt, if Nicodemus, as a member of the coun- º º the w º &vvaty, which we have ren- cil, was now present, he hºard him with "great pičasure and improvº. ººl fººtº signifies, here to teach or form, to any thing, as a master lineht. - fºrms his scholar to do what he himselfdoth, and teaches him the secrets of c Called God his own Father.] This is the plain and literal sense of his art or prºfessiºn; but, I cannot acquiesce in this sense, as expressing the original, Tarspa tätov. The whole nation of the Jews thought God the . ºneaning ºf the phrase: It rather reſers to, the ample and their Father; (John viii. 41.) and they could not therefore have account- jº. hº Mºh the Sqn has of the whole plan of the editilasphemy to have used the phrase, had they not interpreted it in so ... ."...hº... . d º º relations and dependences; high and appropriating a sense. | * }. º * and the º es too, had, in comparison of this, jº."gº. nothing of himself.] I cannot forbear mentioning a 'º' *Jºiº. d.º. º #. sºlºi, wher; it remarkable note of the learned. Elsner; (Qbserv. Vol. i. p. 307, et seq.) in sense"... ..."; before him “º: Whiº "... {lſh probably A. s. which he shows by a great variety of instances, that the later, heathen . à understands it as if it ºf sº y elers, gºgos to the Soº writers seen to have ascribed to Minčºva, as the daughter of jupiter, ºd ºnderstånd; if, as if it, had been said, JPhatever the Son doui is by the 95 SECT. 46. Ver. Hå SECT 47. JOHN 17 2 (3 22 §§ things which our sacred Scriptures speak of Christ, as the Son of dircetion ºf the Father; but l think the genius of the Greek language od º would not in that sense have allowed the repetition of a prog, but it - * - - t * e Unless he see the Father doing it..] Whether our Lord here means would rather have been said, Tavra à rouet &txvugiy avra) : not to in- in the general, unless he see it to be correspondent to the Father’s schemes, sist upo'; it; that the sensein which I have explained it is much nobler, and or whether he refers to any peculiar divine impulse which he sometimes not so learly the same with what Christ had said in the receding verse. 96 CHRIST soleMNLY DECLARES HIS OWN MAJESTY. SECT. at last to appear, and by whom they are to be assi • - e - : gned to their final and eternal state. 47. And this important power God has committed to me,” that notwithstanding the humble 23 That all men should rºs the Father himself: yielding an unreserve form in which I now appear, all may be º; to honour the Son, even as they honour #2.É.iº.º.º. - - * honour the Father. He that - omage and obedience to him, as what is honoureth not the son, ho- necessary to approve their duty and fidelity to God: for he that, in such a circumstance, ºh” and on such a discovery, honoureth not the Son, as worthy of the highest veneration honour! ath sent him. eth not the Father that sent him; but affronting him in the person of so dear and 'so great an ambassador, must expect to be treated as an enemy and a rebel. 24. This is a truth of the utmost consequence to your final happiness, and therefore I Vºilºilº sºunts insist the more largely upon it: see then that none of you presume to pass it slightly over: ...a #... }} for verily, verily, I say unto you, and solemnly declare it in the presence 5f you all, it sº He that heareth iny word with an attentive regard, and truly believeth in him that sent in. ..."...”.” hath º; life: he is already entitled to it, yea, it is already begun in his soul; d.; passed fºom death uhtéïſe. he shall shortly possess it in its full perfection, and shall not come into condemnation for any former offences; but is passed from that state of death in which men naturally are 25 to a state of life, security, # felicity. Think not this an incredible assertion; for ieri, 25 Verily, verily, I say unto verily, I say winto you, and in the strongest terms renew the important declaration,h Th; you. The hour's cºming and the season cometh, and is now just at hand, when the dead shall hear the voice of iñº Son of #.º.º.º.º.'s...}} God, and they that hear[it] shall immediately live; for within these few months there #: "**** shall be some dead bodies raised to life by the word of his power, (see Mark v. 41. Luke e vii. 14. John xi. 43. and compare Matt. xxvii., 52, 53.) and many souls that are dead, in 26 sin shall, by his grace, be quickened and made spiritually alivei For as the Father has 25 For as the Father hath originally and essentially life in himself, so he has also given to the Son, that he should, for ºff. these purposes of glorious and divine operation, have a principle of life in himself to be fºe son to have life 27 communicated unto whom he will. (See 1 Cor. xv. 45.) And he has given him, authority, , 3. And hath given him not only to quicken men now, but also to execute final judgment, because he is the Son ºft :*:::...'...". ". man; and as he has voluntarily humbled himself to so lowly a form, (see Phil. ii. 5–1í. gºecause he is the God will accomplish to him all those glorious predictions !. represent him as possesse of universal and perpetual dominion, and coming in the clouds of heaven, in that day .#º * is set, and the books are opened. (See Dan. vii. 9–14. Phil. ii. 8, 9. à Il Cl fle D. Xll. 2. - 28 . And therefore, wonder not at this which I have now declared concerning the resurrec: ºº Mºyºl nºt this ºf tion of a few, shortly to be expected; for the hour is coming, in which all that are dead tº: * †. and buried now, and all that shall then be lying in the graves, though mouldered away § jºrº Vic." 29 and consumed there, shall hear his voice, And shall come forth out of the dust, they that º Aº, º, º ſº; have done good, to the resurrection of eternal #. and they that have done evil, to the resur- §§...&#: rection of final damnation. See to it, therefore, that you show a due regard to him, º.º.º.º. evil, before whom you yourselves are to stand; and do not rashly condemn a Person, from ºstesurrection ordan. 30 whose lips you are to receive your decisive sentence. Not that any corrupt bias of partial resentment will be brought into the proceedings of that day, or into any of my conduct; for I can { myself do nothing, but now act by a delegated power as the minister of a nºſº.º.º. righteous God; and therefore as I hear I judge, pronouncing according to the evidence ########"; of facts before me; and upon this accountit must appear that my judgment is just; because . sº jº.º. I seek not any distinct will or separate interest of my own, but the wise and holy will of the §jºia.’....” Father who sent me; which is, that every man should be treated according to his real character, and be the object of favour or of wrath, as his temper and conduct have been upright or wicked. 23 * IMPROVEMENT. WITH what humble prostration of soul should we bow before the Lord Jesus Christ, while W. read such words Ver. 19 as these ! Though he º under the form of a servant, and, as man and mediator, confessed a holy sub- 20 jection to his Father and his God, yet is he his own, his only-begotten Son, the Son whom he loves, whom he 23 honours, whom he commands all men to honour even as himself, and to whºm such power and authority are 26 committed, that he is the principle of life, and the administrator of judgment. Let us adore the wisdom of such 2, a contrivance, that he whº humbled himself thus low, should be so highly exalted; Let us labour to sº.” interest in him; treating him with that submission, duty, and obedience, which becomes at once the divinity of his nature, and the dignity of his office. ... • 25 May we be enabled by divine º so to hear the voice of his gospel, that we may arise to a life of holy obedi- 23 ence; that we may another day hear him with joy, calling forth, ºur sleeping dust, and arise to the resurrection 29 of life; while those that have despised and rejected him, shall find themselves the helpless prisoners of his justice, and with reluctance and terror come forth to the resurrection of damnation SECTION XLVIII. s: CT. Christ having declared to the Jews (and, as it seems, to the sanhedrim) the dignity of his Pº: office, and character, goes on to represent the 48. proofs of his mission; and concludes his discourse with proper admonitions and cautions. John v. 31, to the end. John V. 31. John v. 31. sons OUR Lord proceeded in his discourse to the Jews, and said, I have certainly entered a .º.º.º.º.e.'" V. very high claim, and represented myself as a person of great dignity ...thority; nor my wº". g This important power God has gommitted to me.] Though our Lord h Renew the important declaration.] These repetitions of this solemn here speaks of himself in the third person, yet afterwards, in ver. 30, asseveration are by no means Main, considering the vast importance, O ... he speaks in the first; and common sense, would teach all that jaj the truth; and how incredible it would ºppºr: that he who stood, before jin, that by the Son he here meant himself. Now. I appeal to any unpre- them in SQ jºie a form, was in reality the Lord of life, and the uni judiced person to judge, whether our Lord’s making ºugh, a geclaration versal º: Šee note g, on John, i. #" * - - * - as this before the Jewish rulers, and probably in all council, was not i Some dead bodie; raised to life, and many souls made spiritually far more liable to exception, than merely his calling the temple his alive:J I express it thus ambiguously, because I am soigºthing doubtful Father’s house (John ii. º ăt jis first passover; in the same manner whether it may nºt refer to the conversion of sinners by Christ’sº jong before had done, in calling God his Father, even When hº gather than the resurrection of a few by his miraculous ponder. M. ls wel it ideº years old. (Luke, ii. 49.). So little is thºſe iſ Mr. Manne's known, sinners are gfºgº represented in sº aS ºft# (Matt. viii. Argument from that text, (See note.C., on john ii. ió. p. 55.)—And it is 22. Eph. ii. 1. v. 14. l Tim. V. G. and Jude, ver. 12.) and if the expres; jº be remembered that, according to Mr. Manne’s Scheme of the sion, of axovaavres, is tº be taken as werender it, with the most literal }}... ."º this to have happened about ten mºtº exactness, ſº they tº hear, or º and they *:::::::::: attend unto Christ’s {leath, and ſong before many of those charges to his disciples not tº: ºf Shrist as to believe in him. Tit will then limit it to this sense; .."º him knºwn from whence, this, gentleman ºftuſº, at the jić" elems aíso favoured by ver. 24. where death plainly signifies a fărăcițed"words in john ii. 16. could not be spoken till his last pass- State of sin and condemnation. e - 0?: £7°. ºf sºft nº any distinct will or separate interest of my own.] This THE PROOFS OF CHRIST'S MISSION. do 1 say it without sufficient proof. Indeed, If I bear this witness of myself alone, it must sect. be acknowledged that my testimony is not immediately [to be admitted as] true:” you have a right to insist on other evidence; and a variety of it arises from the testimony of John, from the power of my miracles, from the testimony of the Father, and from innumerable John passages in your own sacred writings. 32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I §.º.º.º.º. of undoubted reputation and veracity that beareth witness of me; and I know that the he witnesseth of me is true, witness which he beareth of me is true and credible; and well remember, by the happiest tokens, the great fact on which it especially turned b, nor can you reasonably take upon you to dispute it; for the person I refer to is John the Baptist, whom your whole nation 33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. now attested and referred to, assuring you that he saw the Spirit in a visible form descend 34 But I receive not testi- mony from man : but these things I say, that ye Inight be 8aved. against my life, may be saved from that destruction which he foretold as the portion o those who should reject me, and which the -> (Matt. iii. 10, 12, sect. xvi.) He was indeed a burning and a shining light, (Ecclus. xlviii. 1.) 35 who, to his bright and distinct knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, join. ed a most fervent zeal in bearing his testimony to them; and for a while you were disposed 35. Ile yas a burning and a shining light; and ye were yvilling for a season to rejoice in his ſight. reatest of them shall not be able to escape. greatly to rejoice in his light;" but you did not express that continued regard to his preach- ing, which at his first appearance you seemed to promise. 36 But I have greater wit– ness than that of John ; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent mo. I will not therefore insist further on this topic, but proceed to other evidence. have indeed a testimony which is much greater still than [that] of John ; for the works of wonder and mercy which the Father has assigned and given in commission to me, that cording to his wise and gracious purposes I might accomplish them among you, even these miraculous works which I daily perform, are also witnesses in my behalf, and bear a most a C- convincing testimony to me, that the Father hath sent me as his Ambassador to men, with 37 And the Father himself, ywhich hath sent me, bath borne witness of me. Ye have the most ample commission to reveal his will. - - ...And indeed I may say with the greatest propriety, that by these miracles, as well as by 37 the public testimony that he gave me at my baptism, the Father who has sent me has wit neither head his vºice at any the strongest evidence confirmed my mission, and has himself borne witness to me: nor time, nor seem his shape. have you any reason to dispute the testimony that he thus hath given me, [though] you have never either heard his voice, or seen his form, as being one whom no man hath seen, nor can see ; for he has testified the same concerning me in his word, where he has 38 Andye have not his word spoken of me in the clearest manner. But, notwithstanding the Submission you profess to abiding in you ; for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. his authority, you will not be persuaded to receive the testimony he has given; and after all that he has said, it is still evident that you have not his word cordially abiding in you,4 nor do you show a due regard even to those former revelations which you acknowledge as divine; for notwithstandin T g all the reasons that are there given to induce you to it, you do not believe him whom he hath sent with a much fuller and clearer discovery of himself than - any of his former messengers have brought. 39 Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are enter into deep they which testify of me. instruct you in the way of obtaining it; and these now are [the very writings] which in 40 And ye will not come to numberless me, that ye might have life. not come to me, that you may have that eternal life which they direct you to obtain in this method, but rather choose to die under the force of your inveterate prejudices. 41 I receive not honour from men. of drawing multitudes about me re have not the love of God in yOUl. 42 But I know you, § y I speak of your coming to me: but let me remind my conduct proves, that I receive not glory from men,f regard for your instruction and reformation; for notwithstanding your distinguished pro- to follow and applaud º teaching; for the whole of fession of piety, and the eminent station in which you are placed, I know you, and have observed it for some time concerning you, that you have not the love of God in you, that 431 am come in my Father's great and only principle of true religion and happiness. 'ather’s name, and with evident credentials name, and ye receive me not : if another shall come in his from him; yet you receive me not; which, i Sºme,"jihº"wili º you had really loved him, you would undoubtedly have done; whereas if another should come in his own name,8 without such credentials, and set up a scheme of temporal gran- CelVG. See Heb. x. 9, 10. Matt, xxvi. 39, and note h, on Matt. xii. 7. §§ - a is not [to be admitted as] true..] That this is the sense of the word true here, is very evident; and appears in part from comparing John viii. J3, 17. § 103. • - • - * §"The great fact on which it especially turned.] The propriety, and spirit of our Lord’s expression, I know that the witncss which he bearctii of 3rd is true, is much illustrated, by supposing that here is º. oblique refer- once to that great event, the descent of the Holy Spirit gº Christ at his bap- rism, on which John so expressly grounded the testimony he bore, to Čárist the very next day after their messengers canºe to him, who proba- bly staid some time to make their remarks on his preachin; and conduct. (Seo John, i. 99–34. Ś 21.) And the blessed effects of this effusion on Čijrist still continued, and incessantly wrought in him: . . . c. For n ichiſe you were disposed greatly to rejoice in his light.]. Our Lord might speak thus of John though he was yet living, as his light was now in a great measure extinguished by his inprisonment : so that the argument from this text, for transposing this chapter, seems inconclusive. Had the samhedrim, as some have supposed, imprisoned John before he was seized by Herod, (see the preface to the Prussian Testament, p.244.) our Lord would hardly have failed to reprove them for it on so natural an occasion as this. - - • d You have not his word abiding in ſow.] Some would render it, You have not his LOGOS, that is, me, residing among ſong for any continuance of time, (see Mr. Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity, § 65.) and refer it to Christ’s making so short an abode at Jerusalem; but I profor the more obvious sanse. º John xv. 7. limitation the sense evidently ºires. e You search the scriptures.] There is a known ambiguity in the word spewyare, which may justify either this translation or the common one; nor is it very material, which is preferred. I thought the following words, yhich express, their high opinion of the Scriptures, rather suited the former; and it is exceeding probable that, at a time when the Pharisees were so impatient of the Roman yoke, they would with great diligence Search the sacred oracles for predictions, relating to the Messiah; though it is too plain, they had an unhappy bias on their minds, which prevented the good effects which might have been expected from that inquiry, had it been impartial.—It is also well known, that refined criti- cisms on their sacred writings made the most fashionable branch of learn- ing among the Jews; in comparison of which, profane literature was held in great contempt, and indeed by many of their zealots in great abhorrence. See Joseph. Antiq. Jud, lib. xx. cap. ult. § ult. and Mr. Bis- coe’s Sermons at Boyle’s Lecture, p. 89,90. - f. I receive mol glory.ſron men.] The whole series of this discourse ex- cellently shows how far our Lord was ſtom soothing the vanity of great and learned men, in order to obtain their favour. g Iſ another should comc in his own name.] ... Some think here is a refer- ence to Barchochebas, a noted impostor in the following age, for adher- ing to whom the Jews were severely chastised by Adrian. (Euseb. Hist, ccles. lib. iv. cap. 6. ut it is certain there were many other pretended JMessiahs who wrought no miracles, and yet met with a much better recep- tion from the Pharisees than Christ did ; and I doubt not but, Christ º: to include, at least, all those who appeared while the Sanhedrim (eX18te (1. 97 48. I would then first observe, that, besides what I have told you of myself, there is another 32 agreed to reverence as a prophet: And you know, that you yourselves sent messengers on 33 purpose from your own court unto this John, (John i. 19–27. sect. xx.) and he, in the most express terms, bore a faithful and honourable testimony to the truth of what I have upon me... I do not indeed receive the chief testimony on which I rest the credit of my 34 mission, from man; nevertheless, I say these things to you on your own principles, out of a tender and compassionate concern for your conviction, that you, who are now conspiring And I 36 You make it your employment and your study to peruse and search the scriptures,” and 39 inquiries concerning the contents of them; because you very rightly appre- hend that you have the doctrine of eternal life in them, that they contain the promises, and º bear a most important festimony to me. ...And yet the obstinacy of 40 your hearts is such, that, notwithstanding you profess so great a regard for them, you will you that it is not out of an ambition 41 ut I say it out of a tender 42 For I am, come to you in my 43 98 THE PROOFS OF CHRIST'S MISSION. SECT. deur and dominion, him you would readily receive, in pursuit of those worldly principles 48. which, though directly contrary to the love of God, yet bear the rule in your corrupt hearts. But how indeed can you believe in me, and fall in with such an humbling and self-denying 44, How can ye believe Johs scheme as that of my gospel, while, with an ambitious emulation, you are receiving honour ...º.º.º.º. W. º * another, and seek not the of each other,h and seek not that true honour which [comes] ſº the approbation of God ºr that comeº fºm Goi - it? On J W . * alone, and from the testimony of your consciences in his sig m; 45 Nevertheless, remember this, that you will another day appear self-condemned for this 45 Do not think that I will your infidelity: and do not think that, to convict you in his presence, I will accuse you to º the Father; it will not be necessary that I should do it; for even now, that JMoses in ºi...º. whºm you trust as your great lawgiver and patron, is (as it were) your accuser before God, 46 and charges you with being regardless of him as well as of me. For if you had believed 46 For had ye, believed JMoses, and really had that regard to him which you profess to have, you likewise surely ... ." . . ; e e - 5 lieved me: for he wrote of would have believed me; for he wrote concerning me, in . most memorable passages.k me. 17 But I will now concludé my, discourse; for if you do not believe his writings, which are 47 But if ye believengthis daily in yº hands, and the divine authority which you so strenuously assert, how shall I wºw shall ye believe expect that, under the power of tº ices, you should believe my words? - When our Lord had thus spoken, he withdrew; and they were so overawed with the majesty of his presence, and the unanswerable force of his discourse, that they did not attempt to seize or detain him. IMPROVEMENT, Ver. How various is the evidence of our Redeemer's mission, and with what pleasure should we trace it in the 32–37 testimony which John bore, the miracles which himself wrought, the testimony of the Father to him, and the 39 predictions which the prophets uttered and recorded ! To confirm our faith in all, let us be daily searching the Scriptures as the oracles of God, and the great fountains of life and salvation. . We profess a regard to them: 45 may that regard never be our condemnation' or the blessed penmen witness against us, as Moses against those who gloried in his writings, and yet wanted a true faith in them In proportion to the . in which we are convinced of the truth of Christ's religion, let us set ourselves to 41 cultivate the temper which he exercised. He sought not glory from men, but made his Father's will the rule of his actions, and his Father's honour the end of them. Let us not greedily catch at human applause, but aim at 44 an infinitely nobler object, even the honour that cometh from God alone, the only true judge of actions and charac- ters, because the only discerner of hearts. 42 May we have not only his word in our hands, but his love remaining in us: that thereby our natural aversion to the methods of his saving grace in the gospel may be subdued, that notwithstanding the obstinacy of our de- 40 generate wills, we may come unto Christ, that we may have life! May we receive him with the greatest readi- 43 mess, as coming to us in his Father's name; and not only for a season rejoice in his light, but steadfastly continue in his word, as made known to all nations for the obedience of faith; that the advantages which we enjoy may not be found to aggravate our guilt, and to condemn us with the unbelieving Jews! Christ showed the tenderness of his compassion even in the severity of his rebukes, and spoke these awful and 34 awakening words, that these his unjust and inveterate enemies might be saved. May they be the power of God 38 unto our salvationſ as they will be, if we believe in him whom he hath sent. SECTION XELIX. Christ vindicates his disciples from the censure of the Pharisees, for rubbing the ears of goºn in their hands, as they passed through the fields on a gabbath-day. Luke vi. 1–5. Matt. xii. 1–8. Mark ii. 23, to the end. LUKE vi. 1. LUKE vi. 1. SECT. AFTER the preceding conference with the Jews, our Lord departed from Jerusalem, AND it came to pass [at that 49. where he had met with such an ungrateful reception, and returned towards Galilee “..And ºf tººd me,) on the second sabbath :er the first, that [Jesus] - - º G it came to pass, that about this time, on the first sabbath after the second [day of unleavened went through the cºfields: & *. and his disciples [were an Luke bread, b] Jésus, attended as usual by a train of followers, (who had been with him at the flºgº,'...}}...aº. VI. feast,) went through the corn-fields; and as his disciples were hungry, and the barley was ..º.º.º. - - • 3. 5 I now ripe, they began, as they went, to pull off some ºf the ears of corn;" and rubbing them jºin.º.º. wn their hands to break off the beards and the husk, did eat the grain. (Matt. xii. 1. Mark ii. 23.] h Yoº are receiving honour of cach other.) This has much more spirit, if the feast of tubernacles.--For want ºf sufficient authºrities tº suppºrt we consider it as applied to the members of the sanhedrim, who had such either,9f these interpretations, Sir Isaac Newton, (On , Proph. p. 154; distinguished titles of honour, than if we only take it as iº to a mix– after #º and Beza, has advanced , another yet less probable off multitude, who might happen to surround Christ in the temple : the than either; which is, that it was, the second of the two frº; of the taste of the populace seldom lies that way. * - passover; as we call Easter-day itself. High Easter, and its octave, Low i rātājošeš in ºffiom you trust is your accuser.] This is one of the Easter, or Low Sunday. But though the seventh day, of ºnlcagemed most expressive passages that can be imagined, in which. Moses, their read was to be a holy cºnvggation, yet, the layo expressly allowed the great laxygiver, is represented as looking down with indignatiºn upon Jews to dress victºgls on it; Exod. Slſ, 16.) which would have afforded these ºiºs who gloried in being the most distinguished of his disciples; so direct an answer tº the Pharisees’ objection, that ope, can, harſily and seeing how injuriously they treated Jesus the great Prophet, turn- suppose Christ would have failed to urge it.—On either of these two last ing himself to God with a severe accusation against them, and, urging suppositions, it must be rendered, the scCond prime sabbath; but as his own predictions as an aggravation of their inexcusable infidelij}. . could not tºanslate it all, without fixing -it one way, or the 9ther, I i. fºe"ºning maſſ many most memorable passages.]...Christ ghose the former rendering, for these tºo reasons: J. Becq}sº, I capgot might perhaps intend to refer to what Moses had written-off the ,sééd ſing that they? is #. diyine command to observe the sabbaths which of the cºmmºn (Gen. iii. 15.)—of the seed of Abraham, in which, all the followed the day ºf the three great ſeasts, and particularly that of pente- jatiºns ºf the earth holid 5é blest; (Gen. xxii. 18.)—of the Shiloh who cost, with any such pºpuliar solemnity, as tº a ord sufficient reason for §ºmii śme tº gåtñº, the people.” (Gen. xiix. 10.j-and of the prophet this gistinguishing title; though large sagrifices. Yerº to be offered cycriſ whom God ºuñ ºise ºf ºntº them frºm among theyr brethren: (Déut, day for seven days after the pºssover, and fºr eight during, the Jººst_g/ ºf 13.j is ºf ºo the many ceremºnial institutions which had their tabernacles; which arg distinctly prescribed, Numb. Āšiii. 16–25; an final accomplishment in him. - xxix. 12, et seq. And 2. Because, considering what Philo, and Isidorus # Retºiºis"Gilee.] We may reasonably conclude this, be- assert, and Josephus Intimates, of “gºn being tipe in Jºdeºhout the Lime causºiaºji Duke ºehtion his being there quickly after this of the passover, (see Petav., Pär. Diš. lib. ii, cap;,11; Plin. Yaº, Hist: story. Compare Mark iii. 7. and Luke vi. 12, 13. with vii. 1; lih. xviii. cap. 13. and Joseph. Antig. lib. iii. Cap. 10. § 5.) and the law, b The first sabbath after the second day of *:::::::: brº sº # §§ }. presen ####, loaves ;: º # %*::::: l *::::::::::: >nda, & Q (gT" () (r. ; vet ſlot WIth OUI ev. xxiii. 1 (.) it seems probable t (*- * - ture to render devreporporov, the word used by Luke ; yet Il See also Scalig, Emend. Temp. Proleg. p. 25, 26. and * * ~ * * ~ * . £-K - $4 - r --> * - tºº & before that day. - * - º much hesitation; for it is so singular an expression, that (as, Brºšinº; *. §§§ºf suppose these cousiderations, or the authority of ijºji despair of seeiß is sense exactly ascertained-Could lib. Yi. p. 537, - #. ...'. ;P §§ i.; followers, šši er, flightfoot, and such great names, may have determined most jºiº. . Fº U C6 Wiśāče"º is jº.º.º.º.º.º.º.º. - * - G O vary e -: - - ; 9. second º ...tº; º of the sab º º º: if Rejand’s conjecture were to be admitted, that the ſpotoºgorov Over and pentecost, I should entirely acquiesce 111 the trans - - * - - - º-sº i Kºś iº. §§§s "sºnºvii.; was the first sººth §. º: ; sºº ; :º. th; fi. * #. ôllowed the second day of unleavened bread, from whence the fifty days of £cclesiastical, year... (See: Relºp ſ mtiq. Heb, lib. lv. #" ºothesi entecost were to be computed. See Lev. xxiii. 15, 16–On §§ ãhé is a conjecture which has so little to support it even in hypothesis, as {j could the great Grotius, or his followers, Woltzogenius and Éren- scarcely to deserve a mention. h l nius, have produced an instance in which Tpa)7:07parov, or Tptroſpa,Top, c To pull off some of the ears of corn.), The word saxºas; here used, occurs, there would have been reason to conclude with them, that there may indifferently signify ears of any kind of grain; but it might proba- were three prime sabbaths, which were accounted sabbaths of peculiar bly be barley; that being first ripe in those parts. (Compare Exog. ix. golemnity; the first, that after the day of the passover ; the second, which 31, 32.) Sir Išaac Newton lays a great deal of stress on this, for fixing ja the day 'hero mentioned, that after pentecoat; and the third, that after the time of Christ's death; concluding this passover must happen late, carvisºr VINDCATES HIS DISCIPLES FROM THE CENSURE OF THE PHARISEES. 2 And certain of the Phari; sees [ywhen they saw it, said unto theffi, Why do ye do that which is not lawful to do on §he sabbath-days : [Matt. xii. "Matt. xii. 2, [And] they ſº, ſº - - said unto him, Bºoid, "th which it is not lawful for any one to do on the s y disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sab- bath-day. [Mark ii. 24.] their Master also in the offended at the time and circumstances of the action, and reproving his disciples, said to them, Hºhy do ſe thus gather and rub out the grain; for that is a kind of servile work, MATT. º ? And that they might involve . ** same charge, though he did not himself join with them in it, they said to him, Behold, these thy disciples, in thy very presence, do that which it is not lawful for any one to do on the sabbath; and wilt thou permit it to pass without a reproof? Luke vi. 3. And Jesus an- swering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, .And Jesus said in answer to them, Have you, that value yourselves so much on acquaintance with the sacred writings, and set up for the expositors of them to others, > Mºnº never read that which David did, in his extreme necessity, when he and they that were with he had need andl was an , . hungred, [MARK, he,), and him were hu y th9y which were with him 2 [Mätt. xii; 3. Mark ii. 25.] ow he went into house of God [MARx, in the days of Abiathar the high- .) Have you forgot that this faithful servant of and eat the shew-bread, which had that very day Biºlºkº been taken from the holy table, and gave it also to those that attended him; which it was he shew-bread, and ga º, tº º, ºff neither lawful for him nor them to edi, nor even for the Levites themselves, but for the him; [which was not lawful for him, to eat, neither for tº: but for the , priests penSIn alone? [Matt. xii. 4. Mark Or ii. 26.] .. Matt... xii., 5., Or, have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath-days the priests in the teaple profane the sabbath, and are blame- . in this place is on 6 greater than the temple. you, that there is [somethi ance than the service ºf it. ". occasion as this, when, Mark ii. 27. And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man priests alone? Yet in this case, their necessity was judged a sufficient excuse for dis- ing with the observance of such a ceremonial institution. º ve ye not read in the law, that by those sacrifices which are appointed for the MATT sabbath-day, and some of them peculiar to it, the priests themselves, who minister in the s ". temple, are obliged to perform very servile works on the sabbath-days, in making up, the fires, killing, flaying, and dressing the sacrifices, and the like, by which others would be (See Lev. xxiv. 6–9.) justly reckoned to profane the sabbath; and yet, doing it with an immediate reference to 6. But I say unto you, That the service of God, they are accounted blameless, and really are so? Now I Say unto 6 greater than the temple here, and of much more import- y disciples therefore may surely be vindicated on such an in attendance upon me, in prosecution of my service, they do what is so muchless laborious than the offices which you allow there in the priests. .And he said unto them further on this occasion, The sabbath was made for the benefit of MARK man, subservient to the rest, and relief of his body, as well as to be spent in religious 97" for the sabbath. (Luke vi. 5) improvement; and not man for the observation of the sabbath, or of any other ceremonial institution whatsoever." Matt. xii. 7... But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not condemned the guiltless. a handful of corn to refresh them in my service. 8 For the Son of man is Lord eyen of the sabbath- gº. [Mark ii. 28. Luke vi. instances of his power over it. person of so great dignity and authority, that he indeed and he may hereafter give you far more surprising IMPROVEMENT". WITH pleasure we observe the zeal which these attendants of Christ express who chose on a sacred festival to ©xpose themselves to hunger as well as toil, rather than they would lose the benefit of his instructions, which, like the heavenly manna on the day preceding the sabbath, were then poured out in a double plenty. But what numerous auditory is so candid as to contain none who come, like these Pharisees, with a desire to cavil rather than to learn The malignity of their temper sufficiently appeared in taking exceptión at so small a circumstance: hypocrites that could thus strain at a gnat and yet swallow a camel (Matt. xxiii. 24.) scrupling to rub out a few \nser, imports, which seems here to answer to that modern phrase used by princes, Such is our pleasure. I always prefer acts of charity, &c.] I must here repeat a very Qbvious reinark, because the sense of so many important scriptures depends upon it, viz. that, according to the genius of the Hebrew language, one thing seems, to be forbidden, and another commanded, 49. 99 .#nd some of the Pharisees, who were employed by the rulers to follow him from place SECT. to place as malicious spies on all his discourses and actions, when they saw it, were y? How he went into the tabernacle, which is the house of God, in the 4 %. of Abiathár, who was afterwards the high-priest,” and then officiated for his father the Ahimelech. (See 1 Sam. xxi. 3, et & God, this man after his own heart, º You are therefore, on the whole, greatly to blame, to censure them; and would be 8 So, if they had only my dispensation for what they do, and were defended by no further arguments; for the Son of man is a is Lordi even of the sabbath [itself]; when the ſneaning only is, that the latter is greatly to be preferred to the former. The text before us is a remarkable instance of this ; as likewise Joel ii.13. Matt. vi. 19, 20. John vi. 27. Luke Xii. 4, 5. and Col. iii. 2; And it is evident, that Gen. xlv. 8. Exod. xvi. 8. John v. 30. vii. 19. and Inany more passages, are to be expounded in the same comparative sense.—A late ingenious writer says, “Our Lord does not, compare mural snd positive duties together here, but only the commandments of men with the commandments of God.” But it is plain, the series of our Lord’s arguments here is intended to prove, that circumstancºs of neces: sity dispeñse with some ceremonial observances which were in the general commanded by God, and manifestly goes upon ... this foundation, that ceremonial institutions being the means of religion, if circumstances occurred in which they interfered with the end of it, they were suspended of course ; and when this is the case, the conscience of particular persons is to judge as in the sight of God. - i For the Son of man is Lord, &c.] The author of the new translation renders it in Matthew, The $4bbath is sighservient to, man ; though he paraphrases iſ as it stands in Mark, The Son of man has a poºrer of dis- pensing with the law of the sabbath ; which is undoubtedly the true sense : for I cannot find that the Son of man does, in the New Testament, signify any one but Christ; and were the words (which are exactly the same) to be translated in Mark as he has rendered them in Matthew, they would be a mere repetition of ver. 27. The sabbath was made for man, ‘cº-It is worthy of Qur, notice, that Matthew introduces these words with yap, for, and Mark with &a Té, therefore, or so that ; and both con- nexions may be justified. Yet, as it is, hardly to be imagined both were equally intended, I look upon this to be a considerable proof that the sacred writers were not always critically exact in the use of their parti- cles ; a remark which I apprehend to be of great importance, both for clearing their sense and vindicating their character. Whoever considers the ambiguity of many of those Hebrew particles which correspond to the Greek, will find little reason to wonder at it. Compare Luke xi. 36. § 64. and mote d, there. . . º - - - k Even of the sabbath itself; kat row ga}arov.] This certainly im; plies, that the sabbath was an institution of great and distinguisheſ! importance; and may perhaps also refer to that signal authority which Čhrist by the ministry of his apostles should exert over it, in changing it from the secenth to the first day of the week. • * : : Our LUKE WI. But if you had known the intent of that scripture, Hos. vi. 6, and had considered what *.*. this meaneth, “I require mercy and not sacrifice; that is, I always prefer acts of chari ºf have to matters of positive institution, when in any instance they interfere with each other; !ou would not have condemned the innocent, as you have now done, merely for rubbing out XII. º, 7 Wer. I and that it was two years before that in which our Lord was crucified; and consequently that Christ’s death must be fixed to such a time, that the passover two years before it may be a late one. But I fear the argu- ment is not, so conclusive as one could wish, considering with what in- genuity and labour, it is pursued. For that great, man seems to have forgot how expressly Maimonides and the other rabbies assert, that the Jews did not, always fix their passoyer by the vernal equinor'; but, in case of a backward spring, added an intercalary month between that and :3bib. (See Lightfoot’s Hor. Heb. on Matt. xii. 1.) If this be credible, it shows how little we gau ascertain the Jewish passovers by astronomi- cal calculations ; and, if it be not, why did Sir Isaac proceed in his com- utations on those rules for the translation oſfeasts, which we have only § late rabbinical tradition ? See Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii. cap. 5), d Offended at the time and circumstances of the action.] The law so expressly allowed to pluck ears of corn as one passed through a field, that, malignant as they were, they pretended not to find fault with the thing itse f; (see Jºeut. XXiii. 25.) but they were perverse enough to think this a kind of reaping and dressing the grain, which was indeed ſorbidden on the sabbath. * e Jºbiathar, who was afterwards the high-priest.] If our present read- ing (which Beza suspects, though older than the Syria& version) be alſowed as genuine, i. is a remarkable instance of a person being designated by an office, which he did not bear till after the date of the event referred to ; in like manner as Cyrenius (Lùke ii. 2.) is called governor of Syria, because he was so after the enrolment. It seems in- deed that Abimelech was high-priest when, David took the shew-bread, though in all the story he is only called the priest, and as it is merely an arbitrary, supposition, that the father was sometimes called Abiathar, or the son Ahimelech, it seems impossible to defend the received read- ing otherwise than by supposing, with Grotius, that as Abiathar was a much more celebrated person than his father, our Lord mentions his name in preference to the other. He was probably present, and, for any thing we certainly know, his aged father might act by his adviće in #. º: referred to, which if he did, it was exceeding proper to mention l] In Il Cre. f Something greater than the temple..] So many manuscripts, with Theophylact, read ºut;ov, something greater, instead of pet;ov, one greater; (see Dr. Mill. in loc.) and in this yiew the opposition seems so natural that I prefer this reading. Our Lord might perhaps, point to his 900m body, th: noblest temple of the Deity; (compare John ii. 21. - : or it might refer to the work then going on; but the former sense is much more natural. g I require mercy and not sacrifice..] So 0<\g evidently signifies, When it cypresses the will of a superior; and this the original word : o e e o : ; : . : : 100 THE CURE OF THE MAN whose HAND WAS WITHERED. SECT. grains of corn, while they sought to devour widows’ houses; and Were, under this grave mask of the strictest 49. piety, inwardlyº of rapine and all wickedness (Luke xx, 47. and xi. 39.) *-> - - Let us attend to the sº Christ makes for his disciples. It speaks his own authori , as greater than the MATT. temple, and Lord of the sabbath: and well might he, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, *; a without the least presumption, use such language as this. It likewise declares much of the genius of his religion, 6, 8 which deals not in forms and ceremonies, and dispenses even with rituals of a diº appointment, when humanity 7 and benevolence interfere With the observance of them. Since God will have mercy rather than sacrifice, let us abhor the perverseness and wickedness of those who sacrifice mercy itself, not merely to ceremonies of a divine original, but to their own arbitrary lºventions, superstitious dreams, and precarious though confident determina- tions. Let us practise habitual caution and candour, lest, before we aré aware, we condemn the innocent and the piºus, and become guilty of what is much more displeasing in the sight of God than the faults which a peewish and censorious temper may fancy it discovers in our brethren. SECTION L. Christ, on a following sabbath, eures a man whose ha}d Was, withered; and vindicates that action from the cavils of the Pharisees. Luke v1. 6–11. Matt. xii. 9–15. Mark iii. 1-7 LUKE wi. 6. SECT. WE have just mentioned an instance of the Pharisees cavilling at a very innocent action AND º: º º also 50. of the iº. we shall now proceed to another, in which they charged our Lord him- Hºjº anº". arted self with the violation of the same sacred rest, in a yet more malicious and unreasonable #: i.º.º.º. Lº manner. For it came to pass also, when he was departed from thence,” (that is, from the **ś tº * 6 town in whose neighbouring fields they had rubbed out the ears of corn.) that on another wº, ºil.’’t j sabbath, he entered again, as he was used to do, into the Synagogue, in some other city Yºtº. º \º which lay in his way through Galilee, and taught his heavenly doctrine there. .4nd iii. i.) behold, a remarkable circumstance occurred; for there was a man present whose right hand was, withered, the nerves and sinews of it being so shrunk up that it was entirely useless. - 7 , ºffnd the scribes and Pharisees, who were there also present with him, watched him, to , 7 And the scribes and Pha- observe whether he would again heal on the sabbath-day; that º might find some new ºf hiº, whether - * - - * * * * he would heal on the sabbath- matter for an accusation against him, having succeeded so ill in the former attempt, and ºt". "...”. plainly perceiving that his reputation grew more and more among the people. tº assifist him. 8 . But when the synagogue-worship was despatched, and Our Lord's sermon was also con- s put he knew their cluded, he, knowing the malignity and wickedness of their thoughts and views, instead of tººls.ºhiº - - *. S-F -, *. * - T & - 17 which had the withered being discouraged by the design they had against him, said to the man who had the jºi.p...ist..."; withered hand, Rise up from thy seat, and sland in the midst of the assembly: and he º: §§ cheerfully arose and stood in the most conspicuous part of the synagogue, hoping to receive the favour of a cure. *...* And as the Pharisees saw what Jesus intended, they asked him, saying, Is it then to be ##;a;zº, i. 10 taken for granted that it is lawful to cure on sabbath-days as well as at other times? And #. º: they put the question in that general form, on purpose that they might have an opportunity ºf that they mishtaccuse 11 to accuse him, and not from any desire of instruction. .3nd he saï to them, in reply to that "if And he said unto them, insmaring question, H/hat man is there of you in all this assembly, who, if he have but one * ... jºhº; sheep that on the sabbath-day should fall into a pit,” and be in danger of perishing there, ºieśaſſifijiº, would not lay hold of it without delay, and make no scruple of attempting presently to ...º.º.º. 12 raise it up from thence, though it would be a work of some labour and §: **** men ºn leave it to your own consciences to reflect, how much is a man better than a sheep? So that nº. ..."; "hº ou must, on your own principles, allow that it is lawful to do well, and to perform the Whº º: do ovely acts of charity and mercyd even on sabbath-days: and you must own, for instance g that if a man should fall into a pit, it would be lawful on that day to pull him out; an consequently too, it must be lawful, if he labours under a disease, to apply any proper remedies for his cure ; much more then must it be so, to cure a person without any laborious application, merely by speaking a word. Then Jesus said further to them, To end the controversy in a few words, I will ask you ... Luke vi. 9. Then said Je- LUEE x. * - • F 3 * , sus unto them, I will ask you 9 one º Is it lawful to do good on sabbath-days, or to do cvil? to save life, or to ...".”; “º s it lawful on destroy [and] even kill the innocent? thereby secretly referring to the purpose of destroy-lºº º ing his life,” which, while they were thus scrupulous about the observation of the sabbath, ; i.jſijiai destroyº - MARK they were even then forming in their hearts. But they were silent; being convinced in ººl partney held * , their own minds of the reasonableness of what he said, and stung with secret remorse of their peace. conscience, yet unwilling to confess what they saw and felt. 5 ...And when he had looked round upon them all with a just indignation, being grieved for ...; ºn hº loº. the hardness of their hearts, and for that condemnation and ruin which he knew it would jaiºth". . bring upon them, as well as for the mischief it might occasion to others, he says to the man ºff. that laboured under the calamity which was mentioned before, Stretch forth thine hand. ...Sirºchºtiijani. ...And accordingly he stretched it out, and was not only strengthened for that particular And he stretched it out; and a PWhen he ºpas departed from thence.) There can be no doubt as to the favoured their base purpose of founding an accusation on our Lord’s connexion of this story, with the preçëding, in which all the evangelists answer. - • - f agree ; and indeed, had not Luke told us it was on, gmother saihath, the c [f he have but one sheep that should fall into a pit.], The common words of Matthew would have led us to imagine it had been the same yersion is more literai : but that which I havg §iºlaiºly Su ít S Oll r day. ... Perhaps hg might, spend most of the week in the town to which English isliom better, and appears to me perfectly faithful : for the stress the fields mentioned abºve belonged.—Beza’s favourite, manuscript, of the thought cannot lie 65 sppposing a man to have but one sheep in now at Cambridge, as well as one of Stephen’s, adds the following wordà all, but in this, that one only ſell into the pit; yet for the comparatively in Luke, immediately before this story: The same day seeing a certain small value of that one, he would not scruple to undertake the labour man at irork on the sabbath, he said to him, O man, if thou Knowest what of helping it out on the subbaſh. - thow dost, thou art happy ; but if thou døst not know it thou art citrsed, and . To do well, and to perform the lovely acts of charity and mercy.] a transgressor of the ſaid., This is undºubtedly a spurious addition ; for This is the meaning of that phrase, kaya's Touetw; in the use of which had the Pharisees heard any thing like this from Christ, they would the evangelist might intimate an º to some remainders of a moral have followed him no further, and ºbserved him no ingre, to find matter sense, distinguishing the natural beauty of such actions, which these even of capital accusation against him. And indeed it goes on a very worst of men could not totally eradicate. * - - - false supposition, that the ceremonial law was already abrogated. e Secretly referring to the purpose of destroying his life..] I appeal to b They put the question in that general form.] The word 6sparsvety every rºadār oftaste, whether there be not another kind of spirit in these is very extensive, and properly includes all the caſe, labour, and attend- words, on this ºp; of such a reference, than we could find in ance which the case ºf any distempered or wounded, person can require ; then) ſy any forced attempt to prºve, that lºot to have cured a githºred as I apprehend our English word cure also does : though, through, the hand in these circumstances would have been, in a sense, destroying life. pøyerty of our language, we are forced to apply it to those miraculous Such, cold and, unnatural criticisms have been a great dishonour to effects which were so instantaneously produced by the healing word of Scripture, and I persuade myself, the authors of them have not seen our blessed, Redeemer. What Syriac word they might use I know pot; whither they tended. but it is plain the question is put in very gencral terms, which best - : : º : ; GREAT MULTITUDES CURED UPON THE SEA-SHORE. 10} his hand was restored whole motion of which he was before incapable, but his hand was perfectly restored, and was well SECT. hº §hij (Matt sii 13- and strong as the other. - 50. §§nd the Pharisees went And the Pharisees were so incensed at the affront which they imagined they had re- §º.º. ceived, in our Lord's neglecting their censure, and intimating his knowledge of the evil, ** jº purposes of their hearts, that they were no longer able to bear the place; but went out of a * estroy him. [Matt. xii. 14.] * - ** 21 ºn. ºrrío a :#h # - ff taS the synagogue, and immediately took counsel together with the Herodians, who, differenta their civil and religious notions were from those of the Pharisees, joined with them in their enmity to Christ, and zealously united in a conspiracy against him, how they might º - Lukøy, 11. And they were him, either by a public prosecution or a private assassination. ...And they were filled with *** flºº, madness and rage against him, and discoursed over the point at large with each other, to 11 they might do to Jesus. determine what they might do to prevent the growing reputation of Jesus among the people, * * and to put a period at once to his labours and his life: . - * - - - Jº #icº But Jesus knowing [it] that nothing might hinder him, from fulfilling his ministry, with: * imselfiºence withis drew himself from thence, and went with his disciples to the sea of Galilee, on the shore of 15 ###" “"“” (” which he frequently preached to the people. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT actions are so fair and lovely, that malice cannot turn them into reproach P What characters are so un- ſº blemished, what so exemplary, that uncharitableness cannot revile and condemn them 2. While the eyes of dis- 7 WI tressed multitudes were turnéd to Christ as their only Physician and most valuable Friend, the eyes of the Pharisees are continually upon him for evil: and they behold his wondrous miracles, not for their own conviction, but that they may, if possible, turn them into the means of his destruction. So ineffectual are the most obvious and demonstrative arguments, till divine grace conquer men's natural aversion to a Redeemer's kingdom, and captivate their hearts to the obedience of faith ! To have reviled and dishonoured Christ, and to have endeavoured to prevent the success of his ministry, had MARK been a daring crime: but these desperate wretches conspire against his life; and, different as their principles and a " interests were, form a transient friendship, to be cemented by his blood. Blessed Jesus! well mightest thou say, JMany good works have I shown you, and for which of them would you murder me? (John X. 32.) hat reasoning could be more plain and forcible than this which our Lord used ? and yet, like deaf adders, MATT. they stop their ears, and harden their hearts against it. Inhuman creatures, that were more concerned for the . * safety of a sheep, than the happiness of a man! Yet would to God that unworthy temper had died with them; 11, 12 for surely there are those, even among professing Christians, who regard their cattle more than even the souls committed by providence to their care, and therefore, no doubt, more than their own too ! The indignation which Christ felt on this occasion was a just and amiable passion. Happy they whose anger, MARR like his, is only awakened by sin, and burns only to destroy that accursed thing ! - IJI. 5. The malice of the Pharisées did not restrain the benevolence of our compassionate Saviour, nor deprive the poor MATT. patient of his cure. Such let our conduct be | Let us not be overcome of evil; let not the most unjust censures, * * or the most malicious opposition, break our spirits, so as to prevent us from doing our duty. If others are mad Lººp with persecuting rage, ſet us pity them; and let all their fury against the cause of God be improved as a motive , ," to excite our most zealous .# courageous endeavours for its service. II. SECTION LI. Christ, retiring to the sea-side, cures great multitudes with such modesty and gentleness, as was agreeable to Isaiah’s prophetic description of his conduct. Iark iii. 7–12. Matt. xii. 15–21. MARK iii. 7. MARK iii. 7. s ຠsºil.ſº IT was before observed, that Jesus retired from the synagogue, where he had cured the SECT. j.d.º.º. iś" man that had a withered hand, and went with his disciples to the sea-shore: we now 51. pursue the story,” and add, that he was there attended by a great multitude of people, who 8 And from Jerusalem, and followed him from Galilee, and even from Judea ; And particularly from Jerusalem, where MARK {...}}...", "ſº that extraordinary cure lately wrought at the pool of Béthesda, and that excellent defence III. Tyre and Sidon, a great mul; with which it was followed, had greatly increased his popularity: nay, there were some tº #. "..."... that came yet further from the south, and were from Idumea; the natives of which country came unto him. being long since obliged to become Jews, had many of them seen Jesus at the feasts: and otherstoo attended him from the eastern regions, which lay beyond Jordan ; and also a great multitude from the western parts, even as far as from the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon, having heard what great and glorious things he did, came to him. • A 9 And he spºke to his ºffind he spoke to his disciples, that a little vessel should be in readiness near him, because of 9 jº"...; the multitude that was now flocking around him; that they might not throng in upon him ºilº lºst they in a manner which would have been very inconvenient to him, and would have prevented §§§ºil aled many, great numbers of them from seeing and hearing what passed. For he had healed many, 10 and he healed them all,) in- ... ]] ſtºl #}\;\f - ..~ 1-3 -> - ^ - •] f ºn a tºo, hºo, c ox! * §ºi that they pressed up- and [indeed] ſtil that applied to him; so that they eagerly rushed in upon him,” even is on him for to touch hº is many as were winder any remarkable scourge of God’s afflicting hand, ihat they might touch º had plasues. (Matt him, and so partake of that healing virtue which went out from him. Ånd they who were 11 ii. And unsigan, jºirits, possessed with impure spirits, as soon as ever they saw him, though they before were perfect when they saw him, fell down * * **** hi * liatel ëll down be for h * ** *- -ss--> - strangers to him, immediately fell down bºfore him in a posture of submission and homage 3 and such a terror seized the demons that possessed them, that they cried out, with all the f HVith the Herodians.) The Herodians were a sect of men Who, so proof of the keenness of that malice which could thus cause them to far as we can judge by their name, seem to have distinguished them- forget so deep a quarrel with each other. selves by their zeal for the family of Herol, whom they might perhaps a Vºº now pursue the story.] The connexion of this section with the compliment with the title of the Messiah, though it is plain that neither preceding, both in Åſatthew and Mark, is express: ani fºieșº jº Herod himself, nor the generality of the people, fell in with this extra; reader would once for all observe, that when I give no reason for plº vagant opinion. (See Matt. ii. 1–1.) However, from their high regard ing the sections in the order in which they stand, it is because i anºt to Herod, these men would naturally be zealous for the authority of the aware there is any difficulty or controversy about them. And thei: Romans, by whose incaps Herod was made and continued king fººd it following each other, in the evangelists, though without any express is proºable, as Dr. Prideaux conjectures, (Conject. Yol. ii. part 3, book note of exact connexion, I always reckon a good reason for contiºiº. 5. ad fin.) that they might incline to conform to them in some partigulars that order, unless there be some weighty argument inducing us tº which the law would not allow of; and particularly in the admission of change it. - - images, though not in the religious or rather idolatrous use, of them. b Obliged to become Jews.] That Hyrcanus had obliged them to this, erod's attempt to set up a golden cagic over the east gate, of the tºmple about an hundred and fifty years before tis birth ºf Căriși, ºe are assur. is well known ; (see §§i. Jºatia. li. xvii. cap. 6...[a]. S.] § 1-3.) by the account Josephus gives us, Antiq, lib. xiii, cap. 3. [al. ii.j Ś i. these complaisàpt courtiers would, no doubt, defend it; tınti the same c Rushed in upon him.] This the phrase cruittirret, auro yét more temper, might discover itself in many other "...# Qn º: strongly expresses; which significs, that they were ready to drive each jº. they were host ‘liºetically gºošte tº the Pºe. . other upon him; so, that, those nearer him could hardly stand, being the conjunction of their counsels against Christ is a very memorablo pressed'forward by those behind. 102 SECT. 51. MAR3. III. i |2 MATT. XII. Ver. * 1 9 2 0 21 17 20 19 GREAT MULTITUDES CURED UPON THE SEASHORE. appearances of horror and confusion, of the most high God.d But our Lord preserved the usual modesty of his temp others; &nd, being desirous to occasion as little distur saying, We know that thou art the Messiah, the Son €1. On º occasions, as well as - * s ance and offence as possible, he £harged them with strictness, and some appearance of severity eihai they sº not make sº s - : before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. 12 And he straitly charged them that they should not º him known. [Matt. xii. º i: º; § VISIt several of those parts himself, he was unwilling to give . ry alarm to his enemies; and he always chose to avoid every degreš of ostentation. So that in him it might be evidently seen to be accom the prophetſ (Isa. xlii. 1–4.) saying, “Behold the great A my very soul does entirely acquiesce, as every wa my, Spirit upon him; and he shall proclaim ju, gment righteousness, and truth, even to the most distant of any one hear his voice in the streets, manage his administration with and tenderness, or cane, which snaps asunder immediately nor shall he eclinguish even the smoking º So much tº . g. ugh gentleness and sweetness, with so much caution hºli, that (as it is proverbially expressed) he shall not break even a bruised reed nºi jº. when pressed with any considerable weight ar,” or the wick of a lamp, which, when it º º 2003 º by Fº º; &:- * s leSSlal l, my Servant 70/1.0377. {{1}e e i U 1. Je which was spoken chosen for the great work of redeeming and saving my people; he is my Heloped, in whom h qualified to perform it: for I will put that is, the great law of religion, Atend with * ~ 1 --> º the heathen nations. contend with martial violence, nor cry out in a clamorous and turbulent manner; nor as giving a loud and disquieting alarm: But he shall cº by Esaias the prophet, say- Ing, JS Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved; | Yºr §n soul is s: }}easod: I will put my Spirſ He shall mot R. him, and he shall §§ shall judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor neither shall any man voice in the streets. ruised reed shall he ... shall he not quench, till ho : 3 send forth judgment unto Vic- IS tory. first beginning tº kindle, is put out by every little motion: with such kind and con- descending regards to the weakest of his people, and to the first openings and symptoms of a hopeful character, shall he proceed, till he send forth judgmeni to victory,h or till he make his righteous cause gloriously triumphant over all opposition. And this gentle and 21, And, in his, name shall gracious administration shall charm mankind in so sensiblé and irresistible a männer, that **** the Gentiles shall conſide in his illustrious name;i and distant, yea barbarous, nations, shall seek their refuge and salvation in his grace; and therefore be justly abandoned by God. though Israel may ungratefully reject him, IMPROVEMENT. §gFELY face does not more exactly answer to face in water, than the character of Christ drawn by the prophet to his temper and conduct as described by the evangelists. How should Zion º and the daughter of '-4 Jerusalem shout, that such a King cometh unto her, meek and having salvation 1 ( ech. ix. 9.) Let us with pleasure trace his gentle administration, and with a cheerful confidence commit our souls to so, kind and so faithful, a hand: far from breaking, he will strengthen the bruised reed; far from quenching the smoking flax, he will rather blow it up into a flame. . How well does it become the disciples of Christ, and especially, how well does it become his ministers, to imitate what was so amiable in their Lord, and not to despise the day of small things | Let us not strive nor cry, but, laying aside all unnecessary contentions and angry debates, letus receive one another as Christ hath received us, (Rom. xv. 7) and, avoiding all vain ostentation, let us silently and meekly attend, each of us, to the discharge of his proper office. So may we hope that the cause of religion will go on successfully around us, and that 20 righteousness will in due time be brought forth to complete victory over all opposition, and, by its own genuine 21 influences, be happily established in the earth. ...The Gentiles trust in a Redeemer's name, and the British isles are numbered among those that wait for his law. May our souls with humble submission bow themselves to receive it, and observe it with such faithful care and obedient regards, that our example, wherever it is seen, may promote the reception of it among those that as yet are strangers to it! SECTION LII. Our Lord having spent the night in prayer on a mountain, in the morning chooses the twelve ºisºn. then comes down to the multitude assembled in the plain, and performs a great number of miracles among them. LUKE vi. 12, .AN’D it came to pass in those days” of his teaching near the sea of Galilee, seeing the general notice which was taken of his appearance, and the inclination which multitudes had to be further informed concerning him, determined to choose a number of persons, who should assist and succeed him in his ministerial work. And as the office to uke vi. 12–19. Mark iii. 13–19. I LUKE vi. 12. that J eSUlS, AND it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and con– tinued all night in prayer to §od. [Mark iii. 13.] . which he intended to assign them was of so great importance, even to the remotest ages, revious to the choice of them he went forth to a neighbouring mountain to pray; and his heart was so much enlarged on this momentous occasion, that, notwithständing all the labours of the preceding day, he continued all night at his devotions, in an oratory [de- d Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the most high God..] The Leicester manuscript reads it, Xv ci; 620s, vios Ts 6:8: Thou art God, the Son of God: which I mention, not that ſ think the authority of that sufficient to justify a change in the received reading, but only as one remarkable instance among many others which I could easily giye, of the negligence with which that º was collated by Dr. Mill’s correspondent; since this reading, meanorable as it is, is omitted by the Doctor. But f hope the world will ere loing be ſavoured with a far more exact account, not only of that manuscript, but of several others much more valuable than that, some quite onitted by Dr. Mill, and others very imperfectly collated. This we are encouraged to expect from the reyerCind, accu- rate, and indefatigable Air. Wasse of Ayno, whose obliging readiness to assist me in this work, I do myself the honour of acknowledging with the utmost gratitude.--His death, singe the publication Qf the first edition of this vóiuine, is a calamity to the learned world long to be lamented. - w s e He citarged them acilit strictness, and some sº of severity.] This we may take to be included in the force of that expression, 70\\a girl Tºpſt at Tots. - s f B'ſ Isaiah the prophet.] ... I refer the learned reader to Grotius and HLinsius, for the difference batween the original find the quotation here, which chiefly lies in the clause of sending forth judgment winto victory: gº ºſe shaft not break a bruised reed, nor eclinguish the smoking flar.] The immense pain: Zegorus and some other commentators have taken to show on what accounts either the Pharisees, or the multitudes, or the Jews or Gentiles, might be compared to a bruised reed or smoking flax, geem very wide of tſa purpose. They seem to be only proverbia) ex- pressions, to signify a person of a most gentle character, (as I illustrate them above,) and something to resemble the proverb among the Spanish Jews to the same purpose, If such a one vºcre to walk on a pavement of eggs he would not break them. (See Pol. Symops. in loc.) To suppose, with Dr. Lightfoot, it signifies he shall not make so much noise as break- ing #. Žišćl reed does, or pouring water on Smoking flux, sinks the idea to O J O Yºſ. h Till he send forth judgment to victorſ.] Isaiah says, to truth ; and we may take the words to signify, till hº make the cause of righteousness and truth completely victorious'; or, till at lensii, he take.g. righteous and speedy vengeance on the Jews for rejecting, him, to verify and ſulfil the truth of his predictions.—I have expressed it in a manner which may suit either; but I think the former mylºh prefer:ble, since then the words describe the general character of Christ’s administration in all agos, and especiaiſy as it best agrees with the sºnse of the original, He finil bring forth jūd;inent unto truth : , He shall not ſai!, nur * . couraged, till he fº set or established judgment in, the carth : tº phrases éxplain each other, and the sense of each is abridged here: iſ and the Gentiles shall conſide, in his namá.] . Isaiah’s, saying, chap xiii. 4. The isles shall wait for his lau, is illustrated and explained by this correspondent phrase which Matthew uses. * * a in those days.) There can be no doubt of the plgee ºf this section, since this choice of the twelve apostles, is mentioned both by Mark and Ílike just in this compexion; and Matthew does, not mention it at all, fiji he comes to speak of the mission of the twelve, whigh is plainly a different tijng, and happened some time ºfter. Compare Luke ix. 1, 2. ºt...”iº. $74. THE CALLING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 103 voted to the service] of God, where he had some opportunity of being sheltered by the SET. trees which were planted round it. - * * > 52. 13 And when, it was day, ...And when it was day, early in the morning, he colled his disciples to him, ſeven] those º whom he pleased, (compare John xv. 16.) and they cheerfully came to him upon his sum- º §º mons; and out of them he chose [and] constituted twelve." whom he also named his apostles, 13." §§. i.i.d or envoys; a name which well expressed the office for which they were designed: these §º ſº; he now fixed upon, that for some time they should continually be with him, not only tº High" ejºhº ſº, tº attend upon his public ministry, but to enjoy the benefit of his private conversation; that Preachi (Mark iſ tº 40 he might furnish them the better for the great work in which they were to be employed; and that, at length, after suitable F. he might with more advantage send them abroad to preach his gospel, and thereby make way for his own visits to some more, dis- Mark iii. 15. And to have tant parts, where he had not yet been. Jind, to enable them the more effectually to do it, MARK E.; "“” he détermined that they should then have power to heal distempers, and to cast out demons 15" **- from those unhappy people who were possessed by them; well knowing such endow- ments would command a regard, notwithstanding the meanness of their appearance. 16And Simon he surnamed Jind the twelve persons who were so signally honoured by him, and whose names 16 Peter; [Luke vi. 14.) (excepting that of Judas Iscariot) will be ever venerable in the Christian church, as being, next to Christ, the great foundations of it, (Eph. ii. 20. Rev. xxi. 14.) were these : Simon, whom (it has been observed before, John i. 42. p. 51.) he surnamed Peter,d that is, a rock, on account of his remarkable steadiness and intrepidity of temper, (see Isa. l. 7.) as well 17 And James the son of as the peculiar use to be made of him: ...And James [the son] of Zebedee, the fisherman; 17 §ºf y #ºn § b; and John the beloved disciple, who was the brother of James: and he surnamed them surpamed thegy. Boºges, Boanerges, which signifies, Sons of Thunder;e thereby intimating, with what victorious which is, The Sons of Thun- p Q-> l --- ~~. -: * * der; [Luke vi. 14.] and resistless power they should bear down all opposition, and with divine eloquence, and 1s And Andrew, and Philip, mighty miracles confound the enemies of his gospel: ..?nd Andrew, and Philip, ºf whose 18 *.*.*.*, first acquaintance with Christ we were before informed; (John i, 40, 43.) and Bartholomgo, ...stiºn of Aſſes, and and Matthew, or Levi, who had lately been called from the infamous employment of a §§§ publican; (Matt. ix. 9. p. 92.) and Thomas, who was also called Didymus, as having a §§ſº felotes) twin brother; and James [the son] of Alpheus, called James the Less; (Mark XV: 40.) and Ulke Vl, lºs lo; LO. Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, and who was [also called) Judas, or Jude, [the - brother] of James;f and Simon the Cananite, called also Zelotes,“ or the Zealot, as having 19. And, Judas º before professed a distinguishing zeal for the law: .4nd, worthy of being mentioned in the 19 §"; ..."; º' last place, or rather unworthy of being mentioned at all, otherwise than with the greatest [Luke vi. 16.] abhorrence, was Judas Iscariot, or a man of Carioth, (Josh. xv. 25.) that infamous, aban- doned wretch, who also was the traitor that afterwards was so ungrateful to his Lord, that he even betrayed himh into the hands of his bloody enemies: he had professed himself, with secular and worldly views, a disciple of Christ; and though our Lord well knew him, yet, as his character was free from any visible ground of suspicion, in order to accomplish what was delivered in the sacred oracles, he was pleased to invest him with this holy - office, and to place him among his apostles. (Compare John xiii. 18.) * nº ſind after he had acquainted these twelve persons with his design, and had given them Lºe §.'..."º"; such private instructions as he judged convenient, to render their attendance upon him 17 tº subservient to the execution of their important office, he came down from the mountain iii.ajºie. with them, and stood in the neighbouring plain, and as the morning was now pretty far * §...”..." ...tº advanced, the crowd of his disciples (gathered round him i and besides those that had !. º: ** be healed of followed him for some time, an were now persuaded of his divine mission, there was €11 G11S6 3 Ses : also still waiting upon him (as we observed above, Mark iii. 7, 8, p. 101.) a great mullitude of ºrſ." all parts of Judea, and particularly from Jerusalem, and even from the shore %. ºpe and Sidon, which lay on the Mediterranean sea;, who came to hear him, and viºleº" tº to be healed of their diseases: And they also who were infºsted with unclean and wicked 18 and they were healed. spirits, made their application to him; and they were cured of the terrible disorders which 19 And the whole, multi- those malignant beings occasioned. '..ſind the whole multitude of these unhappy people 19 #ºn ºf endeavoured at least to touch him; for so extraordinary were the miracles of this day, that him, and healed them all. in some instances, where our Lord did not so much as take any apparent notice of the case, yet there, went a divine, though secret, virtue out of him, and wrought so powerfully on those that touched him, that it healed them all, how desperate soever their distempers were. b In an oratory [devoted to the service] of God; ºr 7ſ ſpocevyn rg f Lebbeus, whose surname was Tilgddeus, and who was also called egg.] This is so singular an expression, that I cannot agree with our Judas, or Jude, the brother of Janºs.] That this person had all these translation; but rather conclude with Drusius, Prideaux, Whitby, ºnes, appeºš fººm comparing the catalogues given us in the places išāmīond, and many other good critics, that we are to understanå it before us, and in Alaº X. —4. and Acts i. 13. º being derived *..."... oºsº, ºiº. as Dr. Watºes tº from sº, which signifies the heart, and Thaddºus probably frºm in, a , render it, (in his fate ingenious Discourse on the Holiness of Piaggs, p. Syro-Chaldaic word, which, as some critics tell us, signifies the breast, iii.) and as the word seems also to be used, Acts xvi. iś. (Šee fiàrº seem equivalent names, and, may, signify, the hºarfi! Judas, perhaps tº mond, in loc.). £escriptions of these places may be found in most distinguish him from that other Judas whose faithless breast and foul writers of Jewish Antiquities, and in none that Íknow of hºtter than in heart had brought a kind of infamy on the name; so that neither Matthew Čálmet, (at the word Prosewiche,) and in Prideaux’s Connection, vol. i. p. nor Mark use it when speaking of this apostle; and John takes particular Š9. It is well known, they were open at the top, and piāntéâ care to prevent the confusion which might arise from the ambiguity of it. round with trees; as well as often situate by the side of seas or rivers, John Niv. 22. as was probably the case here. I did not chooses with Dr. Whitby, to g Simon the Camanite, called, also Zelotes.] It is matter of some doubt render iſ in God’s house of prayer; that phrase having been so peculiarly with me, whether he was called the Canaanite, as being a native of Çana appropriated to the templc. See Alatt. xxi. 13. in Galilée, as some have thought ; or whether it be derived; as Dr. Ham- & Constituted twelce..] So I choose to render erro ojos, rather than mond thinks, from the Hebréw Nep, Kanah, and signifies the same with ordained; ordination to the ministry carrying along with it, an idea by Želolcs. But though we have many instances of extraordinary zeal in no means suiting what passed now, which was so long before their Phinehas, Elijah, the Maccabees, &c., and read in ancient Jewish writers entering on the office, The word is used elsewhere, for appointing to an of the judgment ºf zeal by which Stephen was murdered, Paul assaulted office; I Sam, xii. 6. Gr. and Heb. iii. 2.-It is, probable our Lord ghose &c. yet I cannot find any sect, of men distinguished by that name, iii twelve apostles in reference to the twelve tribes of Israel, (see Matt. mentioned by Josephus, (Bell. Jud. lib. iv. cap. 3. [al. 5.] § 9.) a little xix. 28. Luke xxii. 30. Rev. xxi. 12, 14. and compare Exod. xxiv. 4. before the destruction of Jerusalem. If Simon had the additional name Deut. i. 23. and Josh. iv. 2, 3.) and therefore care was taken, on the death of Zelotºs given him on account of his personal zeal for the law, (which of Judas, to choose another to make up the number. (Acts i. 21, 22, 26.) is possible,) he might, probably be a Pharisee; but Mr. Fleming’s con- Which seems to have been a piece of respect paid to the Jews, drevious jecture, that he was the father of Judas Iscariot, who is called the son ºf to the grand offer of the º: to them; whereas when they had gºne. Simon, (jöhnºi. 4) seems very pregarious, considering, how common the rally rejected it, two more, Paul and Barnabas, were added, without any name of Simon was. See Fleming’s Christology, vol. ii. p. 167. rº, to the particular number of twelve. - * * * - h That even betrayed him.] . It is plain that kat has great force here §. He surnamed Pºtººl. Tº sºngine, here, ºlainly signifies to give an if it be rendered eren, or else it seems a mere expletive” additional name; ºnke ig >govt gºtia Iſºgov, , , - - - - i Unclean spirits.] It seems to me an excessive refinement in the e Baauerges, ºthick signifies, Šºlls Qſ. Thigºdºl. As it stands in this learned editors of the Prussian Testament, to distinguish (as they do in form, it is plainly a corruption of 92Y \Pa, Beni regesh. Considering the their note on Matt. x.T.) unclean spirits from other ºil spirits witch remarkable gentleness of John’s temper and manner of writing, it is more Inight possess men; supposing the word only to signify such kind of reasonable to interpret this title as in the paraphrase, than to refer it to spirits as drove men to ducell &mong the tombs, by which they became any thing peculiarly awful or awakening in their mannor of address, be- ceremonially unclean. How little it can be supported from Luke iv. 33. yoad what was to be found in the other apostles. jºjº, p.º. "ii"is", ºniºi is is 104 PART OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT REPEATED. _* - - IMPROVEMENT. SECT. WHEN we consider how much the church in all ages has been indebted to the labours of the apostles, and how 52. much we ourselves owe to them, we shall see great reason of thankfulness to our wise and graciºus Mäster, who was pleased to assign this work to his servants, and so eminently to qualify them for it, it is observable that before he sent them fºrth, he chose them to be with him in a more constant attendance on his person and ministry. MARK May all who succeed them as preachers of the gospel, be such as have intimately known Christ themselves, and *1, have been accustomed to spiritual converse with him; that they may, with the greater ability, zeal, and efficacy recommend him to others! - ** J 5 5 5 We may assure ourselves, that these, his future ministers, had no inconsiderable share in those petitions in which, with unabating fervour and intenseness of devotion, our Redeemer spent this memorable night. And if Luke we have any regard for the support of religion in the rising age, let us likewise be earnestly praying, both for *..., them that are already in the ministry, and för such as are preparing for it. This surely ought to be the frequent care, not only ºf those who have the tremendous charge of educating such as are, ere long, to be intrusted with the honour of the gospel, and the care of souls, but of those who are now struggling with the glorious labours and trials of that important office, and even of all those private Christians who cordially love the interest of their Master, and wish the salvation of their fellow-creatures. Lºtus unite Qur cries to him, who has engaged to be always with his church, even to the end of the world, and say, “Light up, O Lord, a brighter and a stronger flame in the lamps of thy sanctuary Polish these arrows of thy quiver, that they may pierce deep into the consciences of men! Let thy priests be clothed with salvation, that thy Saints may shout aloud for joy!. And pour forth upon them so plenteous an unction of thy Holy Spirit, that the odours of thy grace may by their means be diffused around, throughout all thy tabernacles; like that of the fragrant oil, which was poured on the head of Aaron, in such rich abundance, that it not only ran down on his beard, but reached even to the skirts of his garments! Amen, and Amen.” - SECTION LIII. Christ, in the audience of his new-chosen disciples, and of the multitude, repeats in the plain many remarkable passages of his sermon before elivered on the mount. Lūke vi. 20–33. - LUKE wi. 20. LUKE vi. 20 SECT. 4WD [Jesus] lifting up his eyes on his disciples, who surrounded him, and more especially AND he lined up his eyes 53. directing them to his apostles whom he had lately chosen, said unto them,” Happy are you jº. "...# who are enriched with divine knowledge and grace, though your circumstancés in this is the Kingdom of God. LERE world are poor and mean; for the kingdom of God, in all its transcendent and eternal *2, glories, is yours, and you are hastening on to the full possession of it. Happy are you who 21 Blessed are yethat hun- are note hingry, and destitute of all the comfortable accommodations of life, if you feel i. º.º.º.; that nobler appetite by which the religious soul longs after improvements in holiness, for now: for ye shall laugh. you shall ere long be filled with the most substantial and valuable blessings. Happy are ou who now mourn under a sense of sin, or under that wholesome discipline of affliction % which God reduces his wandering children, and trains them up to superior virtue; for all your sorrows shall pass away like a dream, and you shall ere long laugh and rejoice in 22 a complete deliverance from it. (See Matt v. 4.) Happy are you when men shall hate you, 22 Blessed are ye when and persecute you; when they slutil separate yout [from their assemblies,”] as unworthy of ºn ãº, §: communion with them; and shall reproach º in their private conversation, and cast out ºf ºpºliſ, and sº & * * * «s g te • & reproach nº and cast out jour names as infamously evil in their public acts of civil or ecclesiastical judgment, on ºmºsº; i. account of your professed adherence to the Son of man, (see John ix. 22, 34.) for that Son of man's sake. glorious and sacred person is able abundantly to repay all you can suffer for him: 23 And therefore, far from being dismayed and overwhelmed with trouble and distress at 23, Rejoice ye in that day, such abuses and assaults, be glad in that day, and with holy alacrity even leap for joy; for §ºg ...tº behold, your reward in heaven is great in proportion to your sufferings on earth: for thus ºf º q s -- gº wº e did their fathers unto the pro- their fathers did to the prophets of old, who now are in seats of distinguished glory. (See jets. Matt v. 11, 12.) g 24 . But there is, generally speaking, cause to denounce a woe to you who are rich ; for so ºt, Yºe ºntº you that are rich for ye have receiv- insmaring are the circumstances in which you are placed, that it is much to be feared you ºoºoij. have already received all your consolation, (compare Luke xvi. 25.) and will be so taken up with the transient pleasures of time, as to forget and forfeit everlasting blessedness. 25 There is generally reason to say, Woe unto you who are now filled to the full, and pam. fººtº º pered with all the most luxurious dainties! for you shall ere long suffer hunger, and fall Wºº, ºtºy...hai"; into a state of indigence, and misery, aggravated by all the plenty which you have enjoyed tº for yeshallmours and and abused. Woe unto you who spend your lives in mirth and gaiety, and are so vain as D. now to laugh off every solemn and awful thought! for you have reason to expect a portion in those doleful regions where, without intermission and without end, you shall mourn and lament. And again, I may generally say, in so corrupt an age as this, Woe unto º: when 26 Wº unto you when all * -- ~~~ ~~ * $ men shall speak well of you ! all men speak well of you!" for such universal applause is seldom to be, gaine º 2 6 s * * † without for so did their fathers to the sinful compliances; and thus did their fathers to the false prophets of old, who soothed false prophets. them in their idolatries and other crimes, with smooth addresses, and vain assurances of security and happiness. - f erally used as nearly synonymous terms, referring to the moral impu- xx. 17-19.) And indeed, since it is certain from Matt. vii. 28, 29. that § º; their natures. Čompare §. xii. 43. Luke xi. what that evangelist has recorded as the scrinon on the mºunt was all 24, and Rev. xvi. 13, 14. - - delivered at once; they who suppose this the very same, must grant, that à Said unto them.] Hardly any thing that I, have observed in, the great part of it was repeatgdat different times, and on different occasions. common Harmonies surprises me more, than that so many of them (Sep mote c. on Matt. vii. 23. p. 89.) r. Whitby and Mr. Blair agree make this discourse to be º very † º the mount; : #º with . in this account of the matter, chiefly on the reasons I have here | Matthew in his fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters. That was deliyer- assigººd. * & e º * º, sitting ºn 'a mººthin Matt. º this, (as it seems from b. Who are none hungry--if you feel that nobler appetite, &c.] Cºmpare Nºr i75"sºling in a plāīn; and, which weighs yet much more with note g, gn Matt. v. 6, p.76. And let it be observed in general, that the ine, there is such a difference in the expression, when the paralle) pas- sense of the more dubious ex ressions. In this discourse, may be much gazes come to be compared, that it seems evident, the evangeſists have illustrated by comparing parallel passages in the sermon on the mount; not rejated it exactly, if they meant to give us the same. On the 9theſ to which I have accordingly referred, not judging it necessary to repeat, fººd, there appears not the least difficulty, in supposing that Christ in th9 notes here, what I had ºśc : , , -, } }] his jght here repeat a part of what he had delivered some months before c Separate you from their assºliº] Grotius’s exce. ent §§ this to another auditory, and probably at some greater distance than just in clause well deserves a most attºntº e reading iºtaining & most earned i.e. nighbºrhood." (šge note b, on iluke y. i2.p. 9), and note dissertation on the Yarious, kinds of º among the Jews. b, on fait. v. i. p. 76.) For it is plain from other instanges, that this is d Generally speaking.] Compare Matt. xix. 23, sº It i. most ãº. nothing more than what he often ſº occasion to do, (Compare. Matt; that, such expressigns,as these in Scripture *ść. g ta en with some #.';*:::::"jºi...º. §§ {.. and xvi. 31. with xvii. 32, 23. and limitations, otherwiso they would be contrary to fact in somo instancos. PART OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT REPEATED. 105 27 But I say, unto you You, my disciples, if you would approve your fidelity to God and to me, must act in a SECT. jº.º.; very different manner, by which you will certainly expose yourselves to hatred and perse- 53. mies, do good to them which hate you ; cution: But I say unto jou, and to all that hear me this day, Far from entertaining senti- ments of malice and purposes of revenge, love even your enemies, and do good to them that LºB 28 Bless them that curse hate you : Bless them that in the malignity of their hearts revile and curse you; and cor- §ºn,'..." dially and fervently pray for them that most spitefully harass and abuse you. (See Matt. W. 44. - - 29 And unto him that smit- #!. as ever you would attain to such exalted degrees of fortitude and goodness, 29 ; : 3."º. §’ī; accustom yourselves patiently to bear the common injuries of life, which a false sense of §§º.º.º. honour and interest renders so much more intolerable than they really are. If, for instance, ******* a man smite thee on the [one] cheek, rather than return the blow, offer also the other to him; and if he take away thy mantle, do not by violence attempt to hinder him [from taking] also thy vest. (See the notes on Matt. v. 39. p. 81.) 2 8 WI. 30 give to every man that I would also charge it upon you to labour after a diffusive liberality, as well as exem- 30 tºº"...º.º.º. plary, meekness: be ready them to give to every one that asketh thee for an alms, where ask them not again. thou hast reason to believe it is charity to do it; and from him that taketh away thy pos- sessions in an injurious Inanner, do not immediately demand them back in the forms of law, 1 And, as ye would that but rather endeavour by gentler methods to reduce the offender to reason. And do not 31 #. º. º.º.””” by any means imagine, that the injuries you receive from others will cancel the bonds of common humanity to them: but as you would reasonably desire that men should do to you, do you also in like manner to them, and, by putting yourselves, as it were, in their places, en * to form your minds to an impartial judgment. (See note on Matt, vii. 12. p. 87. wiftº: sº §. § , ind indeed, if you only love them that love you, what great thanks are due to you upon 32 ...'...}}...is... that account P For there are some sentiments of gratitude common even to the worst of those that love them. - men, which incline the most scandalous sinners to love those that love them, and to profess ar an affectionate regard for those by whom they have been treated with respect and kindness. 33 And if ye do good to And if you do good offices only to them that are your benefactors, what mighty thanks are 33 tº: §§§ º, due to you for that? . For even the most infamous sinners, either from instinct, or from ners also do even the same mere self-love, may often be observed to do the same. (Compare Matt v. 46, 47. p. 81.) 34 And if ye lend to them And if you lend only to them from whom you hope to receive, and that, perhaps, with con- 34 tº siderable advantagé to yourselves, what favour do you show in that, or what extraordinary ners also lend to sinners, to thanks are due to you on that account? For even the greatest sinners lend to other sinners receive as much again . themselves, that, when there is occasion, they may receive the like assistance in return om them. - - 35. But, love ye your ener . But I exhort you to love your enemies, and to do good, and lend in cases of great neces- 35 ;:":" º sity, even when iſou can hope for nothing again:* and so your reward in heaven will be º rºjº tº great, and you will appear to be the sons % the Most High God; for in the course of his §º the Highest : for daily providence he is kind to the wrigrateful and evil, causing the undeserved benefits of Hºº unthank the sun and rain to descend upon them, and filling their insensible hearts with food and §§§ºore merci-gladness. (Compare Matt v. 44, 45. and Acts xiv. 17.) Beye therefore merciful, as he also 36 jº" " *** whom you call your heavenly Father is merciful; and unto whom indeed you cannot stand & related as his children, if you have no concern to imitate and to obey him. (Compare Matt. v. 48. p. 81.) IMPROVEMENT. How necessary is it that our forgetful hearts should have line upon line, and precept upon precept / If Christ did Ver.20 not think it improper to repeat this discourse, surely it will not be needless for us to renew our attention to it. Oh that every word of it were engraven on our hearts as with the point of a diamond, that we might learn, in spite of all the foolish wisdom of this world, to form ourselves on these maxims, as the surest guide to present and to eternal felicity' Our Lord again pronounces the poor and the hungry, the mournful and the persecuted, happy; and represents 21–26 those as miserable, who are rich and full, ſº and applauded: not that this is universaily the case, but because prosperous circumstances are so frequently a sweet poison, and affliction a healing, though bitter medicine. Let the thought reconcile us to adversity, and awaken our caution when the world smiles upon us; when a plentiful table is spread before us, and our cup runneth over; when our spirits are gay and sprightly ; or when we hear, what to corrupted nature is too harmonious music, that of our own praise from men. Oh that we may secure what is of infinitely greater importance, the praise of our heavenly Master, by a constant obediential regard to these his precepts May we be happy proficients in the art of bearing and forgiving injuries! May we be ready to every good 27–34 word and work! maintaining an eye quick to observe, a heart tender to feel, a hand open to relieve the calamities and necessities of friends, of strangers, and of enemies: giving to some; and where, perhaps, there may be little rospect of a return, lending to others; which, if it engage them to greater industry, is as real a benefit as if the oan were a gift. - On the whole, let us not presume to call God our Father, if we do not labour to resemble him; nor dare to 35, 36 challenge the peculiar honour and privileges of Christ's disciples, if we do not distinguish ourselves from others by the charity of our tempers and the usefulness of our lives, as well as by the articles of our faith and the forms of our worship. SECTION LIV. Our Lord goes on to repeat many remarkable passages of his sermon on the mount, with some proper additions relating to the same subjects. Luke vi. 37, to the end. LURE vi. 37. * , "º - LUKE vi. 37. - sect, jºi."...º. JUDGE not others with rigour and severity, and you may hope that you shall not your- 54 th .."."ji º"...". selves be judged with that severity which you must otherwise expect from God, and which ** - the most innocent and virtuous characters would not be able to bear: condemn not others T. with a rash censoriousness, and you shall not be condemned: forgive others their offences; “V. e. When you can hope for nothing again.]. I cannot think (as De Dieu since neither the phrase itself, nor the opposition in which,it stands to and some others have done, agreeable to the Syriac and Arabic versions,) wer. 34. will admit such an interpretation. See Dr. Whitby's note that p.móev awe) frt{ovſes should be rendered, causing mone to despair; here, I-4 106 PART OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT REPEATED. SECT. and if you do it from a truly religious principle,” you shall also be forgiven by God those demned; forgive, and ye 54. offences against him, which are infinitely greater than any you can possibly receive from **** your fellow-creatures. (See Matt. vii. 1. p. 86.) - LÜKE Give liberally to those that need your assistance, and it shall be given back to jou in a ...G., and it...shall. He VI. ..., rich abundance: for it will gain you so much love and respect, that God will so influence given unto you : good mens- ure, pressed down, and sha- men's hearts in your favour, that men shall, as it were, pour into your lapº good measure, ...ºf • “s 3 S * blessings pressed down, and shaken together, and even running over; for it may be taken as iºn."För with the same a general rule, that by the same measure that you measure with to others, it will in return be “...º.º.º.; measured back to you. (See Matt. vii. 2. tigalſ). . 86.) 39 He spake also, at the same time, a jºi. to them, (which he afterwards repeated, Matt. nº. º. ºf blin unto them : &I) L it shall be measured to you xv. 14.) to caution them against submitting with an implicit faith to the conduct of ignorant iai tººlini? sºil i. - ~ : - Jº lº F-85 - - * t both fall into the ditch 2 or vicious men, who might set up for religious teachers; and said, Can the blind undertake not both fall into the ditch to guide the blind? Irill they not both, in such a case, be likely to fall into a pit or ditch, which may happen to lie in their way ? And, in like manner, you have nothing to expect 40 fºom, following such men but to perish with them. There is little reason to hope that, un- h;" ºiºiº.º: * * - - • * +? wº- * º - s - - - der their instruction, you should be wiser and better than they : for it is, you know, a com- that ºffeet halfbºas his mon proverb, that the scholar is not above his teacher; but all that can reasonably be ex- "**** pected is, that cuery one who is a finished [scholar] should come up to him that teaches him ; and it is this that he will principally aim at, to be as his master: it is of great impor- tance therefore that you should well consider whom you take to be your teachers; for itis .-- necessary that your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, if you expect a share in the kingdom of heaven. (See Matt v. 20, and x. 24, 25.) 41 Yet, on the other hand, I would not have you to be forward in blaming them, or any .41 And why beholdest thoa other, while you neglect a due regulation of your own temper and conduct: for why dost the mote that is in thy bro- 2 ives ihou look at the little mote which is in thy brother’s eye, and observest not the much greater §§ §. 42 disorder which is like a beam in thine own eye? Or how canst thou, with any decency, or # Either how caust thou to any purpose, say to thy brother, Brother, hold still [and] I will take out the mote which is in º.º. º º Brother, thine eye; while thou art at the same time so blind and partial, that thou seest not the beam #º which is in thine own eye? Thow hypocrite, who falsely pretendest that zeal for the honour ."hºu. ... of religion which, while thou art thus careless of thyself, thou canst not really have, first tº Thou hypocrite. §§ cast oil the beam from thine own eye, and then thou wilt discern ſhow] to take out the mote that gº is in thy brother’s eye; which is an office that requires greater wisdom and conduct see.cººrly tº Bullºut the than in thy present circumstances thou canst be supposed to have. (See the notes on ºf that is in thy brother's Matt. vii. 3, 4, p. 87. 43 Till thou shalt thus reform thyself, there is not much to be expected from thine endea- 43 For a good tree bringeth vours to reform others: for as there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, so neither is tº: 44 there any bad tree which produces good fruit: For all the world is agreed that every tree is foºt; 4- º wº- - #4 For every tree is known to be known by its proper fruit: men, for instance,” do not gather figs of thorns, nor do they by his ºwn finitºr oftiºn; gather a cluster of grapes from a bramble. (Compare Matt. vii. 16. p. 88.) *::::::::::::: *.*.*.*. 45 And indeed, where men converse with any degree of intimacy, they may be known and grape. judged of by their words as well as by their actions. A good mān, maintaining an habitual gº'; '. sense of the Divine Presence, and feeling in his own soul a spring, of habitual, and diffin- ºr - - * - > d : ºil man out of sive benevolence to his fellow-creatures, naturally produces that which is good, out of the ɺt evil: for of the abundance of good treasure of grace and love which is laid up in his heart; and on the other hand, a briggeſh fººth th: Whº is § - p 3 ad man out of the bad treasure % evil principles and corrupt affections which is laid up in the hearthis mouth speaketh. his heart, produces that which is bad, which often breaks out before he is aware, and dis- covers his character, even contrary to his intention; for his mouth maturally speaks from the overflowing of the heart, and no man has so much artifice as to command it entirely, so that it shall never discover itselfin some unguarded moment. (Compare Matt. xii. 34, 35. sect. lxii.) 46 Yet remember, it is not merely by men's words that their character will finally be judged, tº..."...”. . ; - - - - s - 3rd, Lord and their estate fixed; especially, that it will not be determined by a few pious and devo: things which Tsay? tional forms of speech, which in themselves are of very little worth : for why do you call me, Lord, Lord, or what imaginable purpose does that profession serve, if in your prac- ice you are regardless of my will, and do not the things which I say and command to all that call themselves my disciples 2 (Compare Matt. vii. 21.) and do not the 47 This is a vanity of which I have formerly warned you; and to repeat the warning, I will 47 Whosoever cometh to shew you, on the one hand, to whom that man is like that comes to me, and hears my words, . i.º. ſºft. and practises agreeably to them: and, on the other hand, to whom it is that he may be re- you to whom he is like: 48 sembled, who hears my words and doth them not. As to the former, he is like a prudent, 4. He is like a man which man that built an house on the river-side; and, considering the importance of the under- uilt an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation e • - tº sº w l - on a rock; and when the taking, and the difficulty of the situation, dug deep through the sand, and marl, and gravel, flood arose, the stream beat till he came to the solid stone, and placed the foundation of his house upon a rock: and af ºmegºi; ºn that house. terwards he was abundantly repaid for all his labour and expense; for when the inundation ...'...}}''. ..." " came, the current of the river with an impetuous torrent violently broke upon that house, and yet was not able to shake it, because it was founded upon a rock: thus securely will the practical hearer stand the shock of temptations, and the trial of death and of the judgment was founded upon a rock. 49 day. But, on the other hand, he that hears my words, and does not practise them, is like a a.º.º. foolish man, that built an house on the bare surface of the ground, without any care to Se- º built an cure a foundation; against which the impetuous stream did violently break with the same tº fury, and, being unable to withstand the shock, it presently fell down; and the ruin of that gent; and immediately it house was irreparably great, and its inhabitants were all crushed under it. (Compare Matt. i.e. the ruin of that house was great. vii. 24–27. Sect. xliii.) a fyou do it from a truly religious principle.J. This must be supposed, the Jews wºre, into Which, a considerable quantity of corn ſºight be to make it consistent with those passágºs in which lore in God, and fait, received. Compare Ruth iii. 15. 2 Kings iv. 39. Neh. v. 13. Prov. in Christ, as well as other branches of the christian temper, are insisted Xvi. 33. upon as so absolutely necessary, that without them the greatest lenity c.jſen, for instance.]. This is one of those many places where the ānā indulgence to our fºlio.ºcreatures cannot give us a claim to the pro word yºp (for) has not its usual signification, of introducing the regson mises of pardon and sºlvation. . e b Into your lap.] Here is an evident reference to the mantles which of it of something ‘before asserted, but merely intimates an illustration 1ſ. THE CURE OF THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. i07 IMPROVEMENT. sº. LET a frequent reflection on our own faults teach us candour; and let a sense of our continued dependence on the divine liberality make us liberal towards those that need our assistance; lest we lose the comfort so justly LUKE forfeited, and abused mercies be another day repaid with measures of wrath, pressed down, shaken together, and v.; running over, Ver,38 We are another day to give an account of ourselves before God: let us, then, judge for ourselves in matters of religion; and be very careful that we do not stupidly follow blind guides, till we falſ with them into destruction. 39 “Lead us, O Lord, in the way everlasting Form us to a more perfect resemblance of our great Master! Make 40 us severe to ourselves, and, so far as it is real charity, indulgent to others : Sanctify our hearts by thy grace, that they may be as trees bringing forth good fruit, or as fountains pouring out wholesome streams' There may a good 41–44 treasure be laid up, from whence good things may be abundantly produced. There may those holy and benevo- 45 lent affections continually spring up, which may flow forth with unaffected freedom to refresh the souls and ani- mate the graces of all that are around us!” May these beautiful, striking, repeated admonitions, which our Saviour gives us of the vanity of every profession 46–49 which does not influence the practice, be attended to with reverence and fear! We are building for etermity; may We never grudge the time and labour of a most serious inquiry into the great fundamental principles of religion May we discover the sure foundation, and raise upon it a noble superstructure, which shall stand fair and glorious when hypocrites are swept away into everlasting ruin, in that awful day in which heaven and earth shall flee away jrom the face of him that sits upon the throne! (Rev. xx. 11.) SECTION LV. Christ, after preaching in the plain, goes to Capernaum, and niracuſously cureş, even at a distance, the centurion’s servant that was sick of a palsy. Luke vii. 1–10. Matt. viii. 5—13. LUKE vii. 1. LUKE vii. I. NOW when he had ended all IN the two former sections we have heard the excellent discourse that Jesus made ; and SECT. his sayings in the audience - ºthéºlé, he ºntº, now when he had finished all these his sayings, which, though immediately addressed to his 55. Capernauan. disciples, he had delivered in the hearing ofthe people who stood round him in the plain, having dismissed the assembly, he quickly after entered into Capermaum again. LUKE VII. 2 Andacertain centurion's .ini at that time the servant of a certain Roman officer in that city, º a centurion, i.º.º. "..."; from his having the command of a company of soldiers consisting of a hundred men,) who uie. was dear to his master, and greatly esteemed by him, was exceeding ill, and in great danger 3.And when he heard of of death. And hearing of Jesus, ichen he entered into Capernaum, where the nobleman's 3 jºjº, son was miraculously cured by him at a distance, (John iv. 46, sect. xxxi.) such was the icame intº hitijevºirs, faith of the centurion in his power to help him, that he came to him” with a very humble ;"jº"...º.º. and respectful application; which indeed he did not directly presume to make in his own #º § gºl person, [but first sent unto him the elders of the Jews, or some of the most considerable of ) IS SC FY31If L - “” them that dwelt in this city, in whom his generosity had procured a considerable interest; humbly entreating him by them, that he would condescend to come and set him free from Matt. viii. 6. And saying, the distress that he was in, not doubting his ability to heal his servant : ...And Saying, Lord, MATT. rd, my servant lieth at A.I., C. * - - - 4------ 7: iè * - g * * * * * s sº * * * -, - . y i. s. dºljicº my faithful and beloved servant lies at home in [my] house in a very deplorable condition, a Wii. ously tonmented. béing seized with the paſsy; which, though it has quite disabled him from motion, yet has left him sensible of pain, with which he is so dreadfully tormented that he can take InO rest. .And such was the regard the elders of the Jews had for him, that, being come to Jesus, Lºs they entreated him with great importunity, saying, He in whose name we now address thee, a * is one who is worlhy of this favour.b For though he be a Gentile, and a stranger among us, yet he is a worshipper of the true God, and greatly loves our nation ; so that he takes 5 many opportunities of doing good in the neighbourhood, (compare Acts x. 2.) and has carried his generosity so far, that he hath built us a synagogue for public worship, at his own expense. * - ºr sº * * .4nd Jesus, willing to pay some distinguishing respect to a person of so worthy a charac- MATT. Luke.vii. 4. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That is was worthy for wāom he should do this; tº 5. i*or he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a syna- 3O3 UC. Matt. viii. 7. And Jesus jºin , I will come ter, saith unio him, or sent him word by those who had petitioned for him, I will imme-, * diately come down to the centurion's house, to see the servant he is so concerned about, and heal him. s - - wº Tº J'i. And accordingly, Jesus went with them; and now as he was going thither, when he was LUKE §§§ºraß"; not a great way from the house, the centurion sent some other friends to him, and at last , VII. came himself in person, and answered the kind message which Jesus had sent him, saying wnto him, Lord, trouble not thyself to come any further; for I am not worthy that hou, who art so holy and honourable a person, shouldst enter under my roof; ſherefore, indeed, 7 neither did I think myself, who am an alien from this holy nation, worthy to come imme- diately to thee; but first chose to make use of the elders of the place, and of these my other friends: and all that I would now presume to ask is, That thou wouldst but please only to speak the word, and I know that my servant shall immediately be headed. Fºr even 8 1, º am only a centurion, a man ranged under the authority of my commanding officer," yet as I have soldiers under myself, order and govern them by the intimations of my will, whether present or absent; and I say to one, Go to such a place, and he goeth; and to amother, 8. hither, and he cometh; and to my slave,” Do this, and he immediately doſh, it: now I firmly believe thou hast yet a more absolute power over the strongest and most desperate diseases, and canst at pleasure command them off from the afflicted, when thou art either near, or at a distance; and I shall thankfully accept this cure in the manner that may be least inconvenient to thyself. house, the centurion sent friends to him, [and answer- ed.,] saying unto him, Lord, trouble pot thyself, for I am not worthy that thou should- est. cnter, under my reof: UMait. viii. 8.] 7 Wherefore, neither thought I myself worthy to come nato thee; but say in a wor: [speak the word º and my servant shall be healed. [\iatt. viii. 8.] 8 For I also am a man set under authority, havilig un- ther me soldiers; and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come, and lie cometh; and to my servant, I}o this, ... and he doeth it. IMatt. viii. 9..] a He came to him..] It is very plain, from Luke’s larger and more circumstantial representation of the case, that the centurion did not come at first in his own person, (see Luke vii; 6, 7.) but he, might properly be said to do that which he directed the claers to do in his name : and no- thing is more frequent, even to this day, in Qur courts of law, than to say that a person comes into the court and, asks a thing, which he asks perhaps only at third hand, by the counsel whom his solicitor has em- Lloyed in his cause. - - * b Worthy of this favour.] _By far the greater number of copies read it as it stands in our version, FPortly for whom he should do this yet the connexion seems to intimate that the original reading was Tºps:sts, Thou shouldst do this. I have chosen to render it in such a manner as will suit either. - * * * c Ranged wºnder the authority of my commanding officer.] It is, well known, that the Roman centurions were subject to the command of their respective tribunes; as our captains are to that of their colonels. d Slave..] As the word Óskos generally signifies a slave rather than a hired servant, I chose to render it, thus here, as thinking it most ex- pressive of the authority to which the speech refors. 108 THE CURE OF THE CENTURION's SERVANT. sect. .ind Jesus hearing these things, admired him on account of his great numility, and the 9 when Jesus heard these 55, strength of his faith; and, turning about, he said to the multitude that followed him, Verily, ºº,"; I declare unto you, That through all my journeys and converse, I have not found, even #. # º * all Israel, such an illustrious degree of jaith as now appears in this stranger, who only ..."...."; };"; }; WIII. sojourns among you. But I say unto you with great solemnity, That many shall at last $2.5 satjith, ſº lººt in come, not only from the neighbouring provinces of the Roman empire, but even from the *ś, ſº say remotest Gentile nations, which lie to the east and weste of its utmost boundaries, and . . 㺠sº shall sit down with your pious ancestors, .4braham, and Isaac, and Jacob, to share with ºilº 12 them in the delightful entertainments and final blessedness of the kingdom of heaven. But ...º.ºr;” many of the children of the kingdom, who were born within the sacred enclosure, and ºildºn ºf the appeared to stand fairest for all the mercies of the covenant, and indeed the bulk of the §ºff ewish nation, shall be rejected with abhorrence for their unbelief, and be cast out into that ºpine and smashins of loomy darkness which is without :é there shall be perpetual weeping for sorrow, and gnash- eeth, ing of the teeth with envy at such an enraging sight. 13 And, having uttered these words for the admonition of the Jews, and for the encourage- . 13 And Jesus said unto the ment of this pious stranger and his friends, Jesus said to the centurion, who now stood by, jº.º.º.º. .*. Go thy way homeh in peace; and be it unto thee, and to thy servânt, according to th; i.d. tº ºf his º, .And in that very hour that he spake these words, just at that instant, was his servant isiºn.jºealed in the l620Llë01. * ...And they who had been sent from the centurion as his messengers to Christ, returning Luke vii.10. And they that *ia with him to the house, were eye-witnesses of the cure, and found the servant that had been ...”..."; "“... 10 ". 5 sº - * - º: • º house, , found , the servant sick, restored to perfect health and vigouri This might occasion the conversion of the whole that had been sick. family; and was a miracle that greatly raised the fame of Jesus, and made the multitude more eager in their pressing after him. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 2 IT is pleasant to think of this good centurion, who, amidst all the temptations of a military life, retained the 3 principles, not only of liberality and humanity, but of piety too; and probably amidst the raillery of his irreligious 5 and idolatrous brethren, had the courage to frequent, and even to build, a synagogue. Surely his devotion did not enervate, but rather invigorate and establish, his valour; nor did he find himself less dutifully regarded by the MATT. soldiers under his command for this parental tenderness to his afflicted servant, which brought him thus humbl VIII., to petition Christ in his favour. Such may our officers be and we may hope that the hosts of heaven will with 9 pleasure cover their heads in the day of battle, and obedient troops be formed, by their example and their care, to the discipline of virtue as well as of war. - * 3 ºr - LUKE We see the force of real goodness to conquer the most inveterate prejudices: the elders of the Jews at Caper- VII. naum turn petitioners for a Gentile, for a Roman centurion. So may we disarm the virulence of a party spirit, • * and conciliate the friendship of those who otherwise might have their eyes upon us for evil! MATT. In plentiful circumstances and an honourable station, #. great is the humility of this worthy man!. How low * s are the thoughts that he has of himself! And with what veneration and respect does he address himself to Christ! And, had this centurion been even a tribune or a general, this humble address would well have become him when he was thus applying unto Christ. And how .#. it become us, when entreating the blessed Jesus to exert Lººp his healing power on our hearts, to bow with deep humility before him, and to say, “Lord, I am not worthy that * 7 thou shouldst come under my roof, or worthy the honour of appearing in thy presence. He that this humbleth ' ' himself shall be exalted, (Lúke xviii. 14.) nor do we ever .# fairer for the praise of Christ than when we see ourselves undeserving even of his notice. - w MATT. Behold an instance of faith in a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, by which their unbelief Was con- ** demned, O that the virtues of heathens may not another day rise up to our condemnation, notwithstanding an 10 higher profession and much nobler advantages! We cannot but rejoice to hear that many shall come from the east 11 and the west, to sit down with the pious patriarchs in the kingdom ºf heaven: but how déplorable, is the case of 12 those children of the kingdom who, with all their towering expectations, shall be cast out, and doomed to hope- less sorrow and to everlasting darkness . May almighty grace awaken those who are now ignorant of the value and importance of the blessings of the rospel; and excite those holy desires after them which may prevent that impatience and envy, that rage and espair, with which they must otherwise view them at an unapproachable distance ; yea, view them possessed by multitudes whom they are now most ready to despise * * SECTION LVI. After having quitted the multitude who crowded in upon him, and reposed him.5glf, that night at Qaſernaum; Jésus goes the next day to Naim, s and raises the son of a poor widº, from the dead. Mark iii. j9–21. Luke vii. iſ "jº. MARK iii. 19. MARK iii. 19. sECT, NOW after Jesus had performed this miracle, and was prevented thus from going to the AND... they went into an 56. centurion's, before he left Capernaum with his twelve new-chosen apostles, they went into "*** an housea where he commonly resided while he was in that city. , And the multitude that ei'; º: º: - º - º - º o ** - . y Mark had been standing in the plain assembled again about the doors and windows of the house; hºuld notºuch as at in, and, animated by the illustrious miracle hé had just performed on the centurion's servant, bread. 9 they pressed so eagerly upon him, that they of the family could not so miſch, as eat bread, d when his friend 21 though it was the proper hour for it. And, when his friends had heard [of it, that he was so 21 And when his ſtic nois i From the # and ſº £eºp. ſº. be ºnly tº Pºiº º º go a dark dungeon. Compare Matt. xxii. 13. xxv. 30. and phrase to signify coming from the most distant parts. lat I cann Ot ude, ver. 13. - º - w forbear observing here, that the gospel spread # rºof" to the "ºt i öo thiſ pay home.]. This most evideºly º and cºst of juriña, than to the north and’south of it; though it seems was at length come out of his lºsº: probably on º: º: €SUlS *:: rather to be ſº a.S. º ºftigº as will appear by com- § . it than he apprehended when he sent the second message by aring it with Luke xiii. 29. and Isa. xliii. 5, 6. } is [T]{2 in Cls, - º - t p f #. blessedness of the kingdom of hemºen.] So the phrase must i Restored to perfect health and vigour.] This the word pºtºvº here be explained ; for it cannot be said, with any propriety, either that seems to import; nor did it suit the honour and goodness of Christ to the holy patriarchs share yith christians in the present privileges of the leave the cure incomplete. Compare Matt. viii. 15. gospel state, or that the Jews weep and wail, on account of their being a They went into an house.] ...We must conclude, from the manner in excluded from them. which Mark connects this with the names of the º: #. Qp- g Gloomy darkness which is without ; rookoros to eforepov.] It has pened very quickly ſº. their º; º: º §. ..#. º: justly been observed by many commentators, that this phrase, which is form us of some previous i. y º *}. efºre is undoubtedly § used after the kingdom ºf iºn has been compaſſed to a banquet, they might be despatched in a lºw .* is strange that i.e. Cierc and contains a beautiful allusion to the lustre of those iñº rºls in the proßer place for }...'...' § the sermon in the plain. (See wºugh fºasts were générally elebrated, as opposed to that’īrīness ºthºrs should lºve place o; * € §s thiºs after the cure of the which surrounded those who by night were turned out : but it also Luke vi. 17–20. p. 103, 1. * tº: Matt, viii. 5.) seems to in- sometimes goes yet further, when the persons exciuded are supposed to centurion’s servant, tº the word stºre),00wTt (Matt, viii. 5. THE RAISING OF THE WIDOW OF NAIM'S SON. 109 hºhº intent upon his work as to go out of doors again to preach to the people, they went out SECT. lºgº.º.º. ii.º.ºhey after hi • * º * } ld. He is trans- 5 jaº isºegijišeň" after him, to lay hold on him, and importune him to come in ; for they sqid. He fºrgºs. 56. ported too far, not to allow himself time for his meals, after all the watchings of the last - - night, and the fatigue of this §. & & LUKE tº ſº; And, Jesus having so far yielded to their importunity as to repose himself that, evening riº" §,'...'... there, it came to pass on the nert day, that he went from Capernaum to a city called .Vaim :d and may ºf his isºlº and many of his disciples went thither with him, and a great multitude of others. And, when 12 yºn, with him, and much j, ~% - *- - 3 v. -i- * & f peºple: “” he approached the gate of the city, a circumstance happened, which proved the occasion o toº. one of the most memorable miracles of his life. For behold, the corpse of a dead person ...hº...! ñº Carried was carried out in funeral . (according to their manner of burying without the §'.º.º.º.”; walls of their cities,) and the deceased was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, ºple of the city was which made the case so much the more deplorable; and this sad circumstance, together tº with others which attended it, so influenced the minds of many of her neighbours, that there was a great multitude of the city with her. ºf tº nº ºften.º.º. ...And the Lord, seeing her in this afflicted condition, was moved with tender compassion H3 her, he had compassion on . * 3 ºzº.”. “v. g . * - her, and said unto her, Weep #. her; so that he prevented º of solicitation on their part, and said unto er, Weep not any longer upon this occasion; for I am come to bring thee consolation , lº And he came and tºughed and relief. And presently approaching them, he touched the bier, on which, according to 14 the bier; , and they that bare - 2 es g ~. at . jaj."º.; the manner of that place and time, the corpse was laid, covered over with a kind of mantle, Xº man, I say unto thee, or winding-sheet; and the bearers, who were carrying it upon their shoulders, stood still: and with an unaffected freedom and simplicity he said, in such a manner as discovered his * *::lºſſ divine authority, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise! And, as soon as he had spoken these 15 Şād; jij"hiaº is astonishing words, the youth who had been dead, awakened by that almighty energy which mother. . went along with them, sat #. and began to speak; and Jesus, when he thus had shown his ower in restoring him to life, discovered too the sympathizing kindness of a friend ; and pow w 5 :-> * g ymp c) 5 2 taking him * the hand, delivered him to his mother, in such a manner as to express the pleasure he found in changing her sorrow into a transport of proportionable joy; ºdºmº. And a religious dread fell upon all those who were present; and they glorified God, say-16 §d. hiº. #, "... ing, Truly a great prophet is risen up among us; and God has again graciously regarded his Bºijº ancient people, who were in former ages so often distinguishe º is favours. .4nd this 17 Šiš.”*Y* report of him, and of this glorious miracle which he had wrought, went forth, not only 17And his ºf him through the neighbouring parts of Galilee, but was soon spread through all Judea, and the went forth throughout all Ju- ê."º the whole region that was round about ; and greatly heightened and increased the mighty region round about. expectations from him which they had long since begun to entertain. IMPROVEMENT. IT surely becomes us likewise to glorify God on account of this great Prophet whom he has raised up, not only Ver. 16 to his ancient people Israel, but to be for salvation to the ends of the earth. (Acts xiii. 47.) Welcome thou Mes- 17 senger of the Father's love! How illustrious thy miracles! how important thy doctrine ! how beneficent and amiable the whole of thy behaviour ! - He went from Capernaum to Naim, still on the same blessed errand, to do good to the bodies and the souls of 11 men. Oh that our lives, in their humble sphere, might be such a circle of virtues and graces! that we might thus go about doing good; and might learn, by the happiest of all arts, to make the close of one useful and pious action the beginning of another! Of him may we also learn the most engaging manner of conferring benefits: that lovely mixture of freedom and 13 tenderness, which heightens the sweetness, and doubles the value, of every favour! May our hearts imbibe the same temper, and it will diffuse on our actions some proportionable gracefulness 1 May our bowels, like his, yearn over the afflicted, and our hand be ever ready thus gently to wipe away their tears But, O gracious Redeemer, how impotent is our pity when compared with thine!, with thiné, which could call back lamented children from 14, 15 the grave, and turn the sorrows of a weeping parent into a torrent of joy! We are sometimes ready fondly to say, 3. “Oh that thou hadst been near when the darlings of our hearts were snatched away from us, and we left them in the dust” But thou indeed wast near; for thou hast the keys of death and the unseen world! And this we know, that, if our beloved children are sleeping in thee, thy voice shall at length awaken them; and thou wilt deliver them to us, to die no more; and wilt thyself graciously take part in that mutual and lasting joy which thou shalt give to us and to them. * SECTION LVII. John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to Jesus, to inquire whether.he was the Messiah; and Jesus answers them in a convincing t oblique manner. Luke vii. 18–23. Matt. xi. 2–6. g though LUKE vii. 18. LURE vii. 18. AND the disciples ºf John WE have before mentioned the imprisonment of John the Baptist, and given some account spoºf jºº "i" ºf * * of the occasion of it. (Sect. xxviii. p. º .Now the disciples of John had the courage 57 sº * to resort to him where he was confined, and informed him of what passed: and they är. ( , ticularly gave him an account of all these things which had now lately been performe. by LURE Jesus;* how he had cured the centurion's servant at a distance, and raised the young man I sº at Naim to life when they were carrying him out to his funeral. timate that Christ was then entering Capernaum; and, the multitude Compare Luke vi. 12, ct sca. $52, whence it appears our Lord had sat was not yet dismissed when that cure was wrought. (Matt. Wiii. 10. , up the preceding night, and eaten nothing this day; but spent the morn. b They said, He is transported too far ; 97 t c{earm.] Our manner of ºš in giving a charge to his new-chosen apostles, and the advance of rendering these words, He is beside, himself, or, He is mad, is very of the day in preaching to a vast auditory, and working many miracles. iênsive. Čne can hardly, think Christ’s friends would speak so cop- d. To a city, called JVaims]. If Najm was a city of the tribe of Issachar temptibly and impiously of him;, and if that sense must necessºrily be and lay. at the foot of Mount Tabor, (where most geographers have rotained, it would be much more decent to reader the clause, It (that, is, placed it,) our Lord made a pretty long journey this day, especially ºn the mujtitude mentioned in the verse before) is mad, thus unseasonably sidering, what was mentioned in the last note; for he intist thus have to break in upon him. But 2 Cop. v. 13. is the only passage in the Ngw travelled about twelve miles. 1..ightfoot supposes it to be the same with Testament where the word has this signification. It hº signifies En-gannim, which is mentioned in Josh. xix. 21, and xxi. 33. but this to be greatly transported, or, as we express it in a wºrd deriye from lay also in the tribe of Issachar, and must have been at no less distance this, to be thrown into an ecstasy. (Mark ii. 12., v.,42, vi. 51. Luke from Capernaum. (See Lightfoot's Chorog. ad Luc. vii. ii. § 3.) The viii. 56. and Acts ii. 7. 12. xii. 16.) And, though the Seventy some- circumstance here recorded might probably happen towards the evening - §º. º iº º 26. § ii. 11. #: LS3L VII. at wº S jºy celebrated. - y $ O not find it ever signifies that faintneSS which arise.8 ft 0 in eS Ce3S a.º. ese things whic ad now lately been º labour or yvant of j ; but our Lord’s attendants seemed to have This is a plain argument, that this message #jº. º º feared lest his zeal and the present fervency of his spirit should have after the miracles which Luke had recorded in the preceding part of ū. been injurious to his health. g - tº . * * §hapter., And therefore, though Matthew has mention ºf ſºy othº. c. After all tho watchings of the last night, and the fatigue of this day.] facts and discourses before he relates this message, ºt, jus.". ił0 SECT, 57. JOHN THE BAPTHST SENDS TWO OF HIS DISCIPLES TO CHRIST “ind ºn John had thus heard in his prison the works of Christ, as the very brought him the news of them seemed * * * ned to have entertained some doubt concerning Jesus, Whether he was the promised Messiah or no: for their satisfaction, therefore, rather than persons that 19 And John, [when he had heard in the prison the works of Christ, calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them ºf his own,” he called two of his disciples to him, and sent them in his own name to Jesus, say- º W II. i 20 21 22 Ver. 18 2 23 ou he that should come, §: unto him, What dost thou say to this plain question, Art thow the great expected origo; we for another: {\ſatt. Messiah, whom we have so long been used to speak of by the º title of He that ****) cemeth,” or are we to capect another under that character? as I formerly bore my testimony to thee. Answer t he question as expressly **** who were employed by John to be his messengers to Jesus upon this ownenthemen worseon, important errand were come to him, they delivered said, John the celebrated Baptist, whose courage have been the occasion of his impri another under that character 2 their message with great exactness; and ºthº.aid: 2 ºf J isonment, has sent us to thee, saying, flrt thou he that Comºh, and dest thºu own thyself to be indeed the great Messiah of are age io expect ohn aptist hath sent us unto and faithfulness in his ministerial office iº, Althou, he that should come 2 or look we for another 2 ; Ae y -- - * ge + ** * - ºr- - e -> * ‘Y”:'esus Wää determined to return an answer to their question, by actions rather than 21 And in the same hour by words; and therefore in that very hour, -: * - While they were present with him, and were eye-witnesses of what he did, (as the message was on purpose delivered before a large he cured many of their in- firmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many Assembly ºf people, in which, as usual, there were many who came to be healed of various that there blind he gave sight. incurable distempers,) he exercised the power that he had of working miracles, and cured ºntrº) that were then before him of their diseases and plagues, and delivered them from the Possessiºn of evil spirits, and gráciously bestowed sight on many that were blinde •3rd then Jesus, answering their demand, said unio them, Go, and relate to John the things ighich you yourselves have seen and heard this day, as well as those formed of by others, who have been eye and ear witnesses of my miraclés and discourses: sºy, in particular, That the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deqf hear, the very dead are raised; and observe also, that I do not court the rich and the great, as impostors are most apt to do; nor do I bear a commission chiefly directed to them, as, some of the prophets did; but, as you see by the auditory now around me, the 4,5: 22 Then, Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen. and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleapsed, the deaf hear, the dead ar. raised, [and] to the §§ the gospeſis preached. [Matt. xi. that you have been in- poor, and even the meanest of the people, have the gospel preached to them; they have the gºod news of eternal salvation most freely published among them, and the blessings of it .* 23 offered to their acceptance. .3nd be sure you add further, that I appear in such circum- 23 And blessed is he, who: stances, that there is reason to say, Happy is he that is not scandalized or stumbled at ºne *, for he must be singularly wise and religious, who is not shocked by the strong * - e. Let John consider these things in themselves, and let him compare them with those propheciess which foretell that the Messiah should popular prejudices which lie against me. soever shall not be offended in ine. [Matt. xi. 6.] Work such miracles, (Isa. xxv. 5, 6.) that he should preach the gospel to the poor, (Isa. łxi. I.) and that many should despise and reject him. (Isa. viii. 14. liii. 1–3.) And he, and, by a parity of reason, you, and the rest of his disciples, may easiby collect a convinc- ing answer to the question you are come to ask, without any more express declaration from me.h IMPROVEMENT. WF have here in John the Baptist a very edifying instance of a most candid and pious temper. How solicitous was he to remove those scruples from the minds of his disciples which, perhaps, their excessive fondness for him 19 might have occasioned! He wisely sends them to converse with Jesus themselves: and surely they who most accurately inquire into the credentials he brings, will be most effectually convinced and impressed by them. Let us, when tempted to doubt of the truth of Christianity, recollect the various and unanswerable proofs of it which are summed up in these comprehensive words; arising from the miracles and character of our Let us and the prophetic testimony that was borne to him. edeemer, particularly rejoice that the poor have the gospel preached; and that the blessings of it are offered to enrich the souls of those whose bodily necessities we often > pity, without having it in our power to relieve them. And, since our Lord pronounces a blessing upon those that shall not be offended in him, let us consider what those things are, in the doctrine or circumstances of Christ, which have proved the most dangerous stumbling- sects nothing at all as to tºo order and connexion of it. (See Matt. xi. ) I have, with most other harmonizers, thought myself cloliged to fol- w J.uke, on the pringiples laid down above. See note *{} 9]. b For their satisfaction, therefore, rather than his oxyn.] Mr. L'Enfant, with some Gthers, thinks (as Justin Martyr, and Tertullian did) that John was so discouraged by his own long injrisonment, that he began Jhimself to do; 1bt whether Jesus was the Messiah ; and, agreeably to this, he supposes that when our Lord afterwards says, Happy, is he that, is not offended in me, he meant it as a cavtion to Jºhn, that he should be upon liis guard agaiust so dangerous a temptatiºn. But, considering what clear evidence John had before received by a miraculous sign from heaven, and what express and repeated testirinonies he himself had borne to Jesus, I cannot imagine this to have been, possible :, espe; cially as he foresaw, and forctoid, that he must himself ºgiº, be laid aside. (John iii. 30. p. 60.)—But his disciples might very probably be offended at this circuinstance, as well as at the freedom of Christ’s con- versation, so different from the austerity used among them ; and the re- fore he might think it necessary to put thern in the way of further satisfactioq; not to say, that the warmth of John’s temper might render him something uneasy at the reserve which Christ Inajitained; and that he might itnagine it agreeable to the general design of his own office, as his forerunner, thus to urge a more express, declaration.—For thºse reasons, I choose to render and paraphrase it thus, rather than with Limborch (Theol. Christ. lib. iii. cap. 11. $ 14.) to transkite it, Titou art he that sliguld come, and do we look for anºther? that is, We do not ex- pect any Messiah, but thee : so understantlin; it as a repeated tº stimony which John bore by proxy, when he could nº longer do it in his own person. All the spirit of Christ’s answer would be lost, if we were to un- derstand the message, in this sensg. - e c He that cometh; 6 spxogeyos.] . It seems that, by their speaking of the Messiah by this phrase, (He that cometh, or, Iſe that is coming,) the pious Jew in the most lively, manner expressed their confident expecta. tion of him, and their eager longing for his appearance, as the greatest and most welcome messenger of God to, man, and the mºst, desirable ºrson that ever did or should come into the yorli, (Seg Mark Xi. 9, 10. and compare Psal. cxviii. 26. Dan:, vii. 13. Hab. * 3. Septuag. Isa. jºii. ii. and Zech. ix. 9.) Bishop Pearson justly observes, that this, imong many other arguments, proves that the notign of two, Messiahs, jº suffering, and the other, triumphant, is a yain dream g the modern jºys that was altogether unknown to tho ancients. See Pearson on the Creed, p. 18.3. sº & as gº) * fo d Cºf their diseases and plagues.] Mas-ty'ss, plagues, or scounges, may probably signity some of the most grievous distempers, such as leprosies palsies, inveterate fluxes, &c. (colapüre \{ark iii. 10. &nd v. 29, 34.) and imay allude to their being supposed to be such corrections as intimated the great displeasure of Gºd against line persons on wholn they were sent. Compare John v. 14, and ix. 2. tº ſº. •e ºld graciously bestowel sight, &c.] The original phrase, skapugar To g33:red, seems to express, both in how generous and in how kind and affectionate a manner our blessed Redeemer pcryormed these CRſ.2°& S. f Happy is he that is not scºndalized or stumbled at ºne..] This was intended as an awful admonition to the ſiisgiples of, John, that they should themselves guard against those prejudices which night prevent their receiving Christ; and contaiºs a strong intination that their final happiness would be determined by the regårds,they should pay to Jim, as well as that these prejudices should generally prevail to hiºn’s ruin. See note c, on Matt. v. 29. p. 89. . . e - g Compare thern with those prophecies.] Archbishop. Tillotson has largely §§wºn tº cºrrespondeñº' between the Hººij. and events hero referred to. See Tillotson’s Hºr's, Vol. II., p. 451, et seq.--Dr. Thomas Jackson has laboured the jºint yet gore, largely in the second pilºt of his curious discourse on this text. See his Works, Vol. II. p. 4.7i), cf. seq. Q - * * * * h' Without any more express declaration from me.] Nothing could be more aſſºosité, natural, &nd, Gºvincinº, than ºgh an answer as this, which took its rise from wha, Christ was then dºing; and rested ºn the most apparent testimony of God himself in, astonishing miracles, to which they know their master, made no pretences; (sce. John. X.,4}.) miracies of so beneficent a nature, that no aușterities of a retired life Mºore by any means comparable to them ; , and miracles receiving an additional Justre from their being for told by a prophet many ages.ſi.e. fore, (see note i, on John ii. 22. P. jº and even by Isaiah "...ºf by whom the Baptist was $9. pariſºlar y described, that, as he himseſ had frequently referred to him, (Matt., iii. uke iii. 4–6. and John i. 33.) so his disciples must, nº doubt, have made themselves peculiarly familiar with his writings.-These, and, many other particulars, are set in most beautiful light by the masterly hand, of Bishop Atterbury, in is posthumous Sermons, vol., i. p. 41–50. who has. Yery, judiciºusly §§ridgºat is most material in the large discourse of the learned Dr jºcºon referred to in the preceding note. - CHRIST'S DISCOURSE TO THE MULTITUDE CONCERNING JOHN. blocks, and endeavour to fortify our souls against those temptations which may arise from them. So the trial of ! 11 SECT. that faith which is a much more valuable treasure than gold which perishes, though tried in the fire, may be found 57. unto praise, and honour, and glory, (I Pet. i. 7.) and we, on the whole, may be advanced in our way by incidents -- which at first threatened to turn us entirely out of it; as the faith of these disciples of John must surely be con- firmed by those doubts which they had for a while entertained. . .* SECTION LVIII. Jesus discourses with the multitude concerning John, and justly tºpiº of the perverseness of that generation. Luke vii. 24–35. Matt, - XI. 1 — 19. LUKE vii. 24. LURE vii. 24. - And when the messengers them, the or - %22 ºf fºr; ſº *A*. sº ai a cº- Sir re- §ºhiº. MQM when the messengers of John were gone away to inform their master of the things jº...a... joie which they had seen and heard, Jesus began to speak unto the multitude that still surrounded Vº w:...'...; intº him, concerning John the Baptist, and to inquire, into the reason of their having formerly *:::::::"ºinſ; ocked after him as they had done. I know (said he) that many of you were of the nåmber Étº * * * of his hearers, and were baptized by him: now I would seriously ask you, and advise you attentively to ask yourselves, What went you out into the willerness in which he preached, to behold? You did not surely go on any trifling occasion, or for a mere amusement: Hij}} C of you would be so senseless as to undertake a journey to see a reed or a bulrush shaken by the wind; nor can you say you found him wavering in his coilduct, or inconsistent in the testimony that he bore to me. 25. But what went yºu! But what then went you out to see? Yoil could not *- for to see 2. A man clothe - tº {} £ i-] re ãº; lº’. such a place, dressed in soft garments of the fine gant they which are gorgeously ** s vav : for behalf. Whº ſhaft macar & Kulanº. 3, ºf Jirº /strºyin:ſeh, arr apparelled, and live delicate- and sumptuous way: fºr behold. tº: that wear a splen ºil and live luxuriously, are § ...i.'. Kings’ courts. to be sought in royal palaces, rather than in a r tigh and barren wilderness; and you well Matt. xi. 8.] know that John's manner of living was plain and austere, such as suited the message he brought, and illustrated his integrity in delivering it. with any expectation to silk, and living i i cł Siłk, and living In an C ress, go find & *St. © 26 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, ll 2." Tº g . I say unto you, and º to allow that you went out to see a prophet? º than a prophet. [Matt. COC:\{Y}O}} prophet. X1. Sj. sº tº 37 [For] this is he of whom G it is written, Behold, I scue my messenger, before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. [\iatt. --- Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a For this is the very person of whom it is critten, (Mal. iii. 1.) “Behold, my Son, I send my appointed messenger bºſore thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee, and in a proper manner introduce thee into the world.” Wherefore I assuredly say unto you, That among all those that have been born of ºcomen, or the whole race of mănkind in all former ages, there hath not arisen a prophet greater than John the Baptist; for as he is, with regard to his moral and religious character, one of the best of men, so he has some peculiar honours superior to any prophet of former generations:* nevertheless, there is a sense in which he that is least in the Kingdom ºf heaven, not only in its final glories, but even here on earth, is greater than for my ministers, and people in general, shall receive superior supplies of the Spirit, and know many important truths relating to my gospel which have not bech revealed to Jº...I. * himself. * - º: º: He is now laid aside from his ministry; yet I would have you to reflect upon the ci §ºblºs.jišj'gº, sequences of his preaching, and to consider the success of it: and you must needs remitin- ;Pºd with the bap bef that when he came and preached the baptism of repentance, and publicly procłańſiºd that the Messiah was at hand, all the people in general hearing [him] preach, and even the publicans themselves, justified God, and testified their approbation of the divine scheme" in sending such an ambassador, by professing to fiti in with the design of his appearance, - and being accordingly baptized with the baptism of John, humbly confessing their sins, and 30 But the Pharisees and decl lawyers rejected the counsel of § - º against themselves, being not baptized of him. Matt. xi, 12. And from X1. 10. Matt. xi. 11. Verily, I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there Hath_not risen a greater [pro- phet] than John the Baptist : notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of hea- yen, is ... greater than he. [Luke vii. 28. 1 zº ºr ić . * t- unspeakable detriment, rejected the gracious counsel of God addressed to them, not being baptized by him, when they saw how plainly he dealt with them and their brethren.d &. ut though these great and learned men despised him, yet the good effects of his *.*.*.*.*; ministry on others are still apparent; for from the days of Jolin the Baptist, or from the hºvº, sº time in which he bore his public testimony to an approaching Messiah, even to the present .* * * * * time,e the spirits of men are so raised and animated by a desire after the kingdom of heaven, that it is (as it were) attacked with violence, like a besieged city; men of all sorts are pressing to get into it, and the violent seize it with eagerness:f multitudes are flocking around me, to be instructed in the nature of my kingdom ; and some of the most licentious characters, who have been looked upon as littie better than ruffians and bravoos, seem resolutely set on securing it; while others of graver and fairer characters are found to neglect it. (Compare Luke xvi. 16.) his is a new and very wonderful event. For till the prophets prophesied; and the law of Moses, as exp * 13 For all the prophets ained by them, was the only reve- a Superior to any prophet of former generations.], The obvious sgnsc * - Compare ver, 35. (at the end of this section,) Roni. iii. 4. and 1 Tim. of what is here expressed, together with the following words, does iii. 1 { plainly limit it to then glºve. And, it might properly be said that John d I foxv. ſº he dealt with them and their brethren.] Of this see was greater than º of the ancient prophets, on account of his wonder- the paraphrase on [...uke iii. 10. p. 43. ful conception and birth; his excellent knowledge of gospel-mysteries; see especially John iii. 27, ct seq. § 27.) his express, testimony to the ſessiah, and his remarkable success in making way for him : John was º himself the subject of ancient prophecies, and long expected by the Cºl Ulſ' Ch. b All the people in general hearing him º: The reader will ob- serve that (with Grotius) I take these to be the words gf Christ, continu- ing his discourse; whereas our translation seems, rather to, intimate they are the reflection of Luke on the sentiments of those who were now hearing Christ. I long considered them in this yiew; but it now seems to me so evident, from the most ancient manuscripts and versions, that the words, And the Lord said, at the beginning of veſ. 31., were not in the original, that I could not but connect and render them thus. Neverthe- jess I shall show so much regard to the common reading as to adºl (in note h, below) the version and paraphrase in that sense and compexion, ; submitting it, on the whole, to the learned reader to judgg, as he shali think proper; but must first desire him to consult Grotius, Dr. Mill, a:\d the Polyglott w * * c Justified God, and testified their approbation, &c..] From, the op- position between those that justified God and those that rejected his Coun- sel, it is plain, that to justify here signifies to approve and vindicate. c From the days gf John the Baptist, even to the present timic.], Sir Isaac Newton (On Prophecy, p. 159.) urges this as an argument to prove that Some considerable time, must, haye elapsed since John’s imprisonment. But, on the common hypothesis, it might be near a year; and our Lord might probably inchide some time of his ministry preceding his imprisonment: so that we cannot be much assisted in out calculations by this text. ... f The kingdom of heagen is attacked oith violence—and the violent seize it with eagerness :--8tašetat, Kat 8taara! apra', saw avy-mv.] The words of the original are very strong and forcible, and the translation I have given is very literal.—ſt seems necessary to interpret the latter clause as in the paraphrase, to prºvent the appearance of a tautology: Yet T did not venture to render 6tagrat ruffians, or bracoes; because { think the version should be left in as great a latitude as the original; and I was afraid so great a variation from what is commonly taken to be the meaning of this passage, might have shocked some at the first hear- ing.—To suppose, as a Hate ingenious writer has done, that this refers to the first attempts made to º the gospel in its infancy, and that apri's 7ty signifies tear it to pieces, does not appear natural in this con- nexiv.; ; though the word must be allowed sometimes to have that import. SECT. 58. L$: Kº, V. li. 4 2 But once more I would ask you, Pºhat did you then go out to see 2 Are you not ready 26 27 MATT. XI. LURIE * xl.- 29 sº aring their repentance. But the proud Pharisees, and doctors of the law, to their own 30 AIA Tº NE- º time of] John the Baptist, all I3 . 112 SEC T. 58. MATT. XI. I 3) 3I 3 2 33 34 35 Wer. 32 CHRIST'S DISCOURSE TO THE MULTITUDE CONCERNING JOHN. lation of God's will to the people of Israel; which, so far as it related to me, was but an and the law prophesied until obscure intimation of what men were to expect from my appearance: but John opened a * - much more perfect dispensation. And indeed (to speak more plainly than I have common- . 14, And if ye will receive ly done) if you will hearken to my testimony, and receive [it] this John is the Elijah who #,'....” ” ” a was to come,” or the person whom Malachi describes under that name, as to be sent be- fore the coming of the day of the Lord. (Mal. iv. 5, 6.) This is so important an intima- . 15. He that hatn ears to tion, that I must urge your most attentive regard to it: and therefore, He that hath ears ””” able to hear, let him hear [it, and let every one that has a mind capable of reflection, re- flect seriqusly upon it; for to understand and regard the character and mission of John aright, will have a most happy tendency to promote your receiving Him whom John was sent to introduce.h ºx [...And the Lord Jesus further said, To what then shall I now compare the men of this Lukayii. 31. And the Lord generation? and to what indeed are they like? Reflect upon yourselves, and you will surely ºf'; sº see the justice of the comparison which I am going to make. They are like a company faion ºpdºo whº are they of little children, whom you may sometimes have observed, as they were sitting in the "ºtoshi. market-place, to be so froward and perverse in their behaviour to each other, that no con- ...sºs lºº ºl. triyancé could be found to please them; and some of them you may have heard calling ºf ºil wi out to their companions, and saying, What shall we do to please you, and to bring you to .º.º.º.º. * - - - • * * * - - - - - unto you, and ye have not join with us in our diversions? We have tried all the ways we can think of: sometimes danced we have mºurned to we have piped to you a pleasant tune, and you have not danced to the music; and at other É",º, times we have changed the ditty, and mourned to you, or played and sung such dirges #) as are used at funerals, and you have not taken your part, and lamented with us; but are always finding fault with every thing we do, ină will not be prevailed upon to join with us. Such is that childish obstinacy and perverseness that appears in you, who think your- 33 For John the Baptist selves the oracles of wisdom in the present age; and you discover the same froward tem- ...º.º.º.º.º. per in far more important instances: for John the Baptist, of whom I have now been speak-say:He hath a devil. Tříait. ing, came with an uncommon austerity of behaviour, neither eating bread, as others do," 18.] nor drinking wine, but living on locusts and honey, and water in the wilderness; and Jou say, He has a devil, and acts like a wild distracted demoniac, whom an evil spirit drives from the society of men. On the other hand, the Son of man is come without any 34 The Son of man is come of this severity, eating and drinking, as others do, conversing familiarly among you, and ...} º §§ with a temperate freedom sharing in your festivals as well as your common meals; and agdaºine-bibber, a.ſiend you say, Behold a glutionous man, and a wine-bibber, a fit friend and companion of publicans Éiº * * and sinners ; thus ungratefully do you injure his character for that humanity and conde- scension which you should rather applaud. But, nevertheless, true Wisdom. still been 35. But Wisdom is justified justified and vindicated by all those who are indeed her children: and they who are truly wise ºf $3"* * * and religious must needs approve this beautiful variety in the conduct of Providence; and see that the difference in our manner of living suits the purposes of our respective appear- ances, and is adapted to promote the general design of . glory and man's salvation. IMPROVEMENT. How happy would it be, if we could learn to correct the natural inconsistencies of our temper and conduct by 24–26 wise reflections and considerations ! How much more improving would our attendance on the ministrations of MATT. XI. . I 2 F.UKE VII. 30 35 God's servants be, were we seriously to ask ourselves, to what purpose we attended! It ought surely to be followed with such considerations, since it is intended to lead us to the kingdom of heaven: 8. #. prize! too glorious to be obtained by faint wishes and inactive desires. There is a sense in which it still suffers violence: and how sad is the degeneracy of our natures, that we should exert so little warmth in such a pursuit, and so much for every trifle ! Instead of that holy ardour with which men should press into it, they fold their hands in their bosoms, and lose themselves in soft luxurious dreams, till the precious opportunity is for ever one. May divine grace display the crowns and palms of victory before our eyes, in so awakening a manner, at we may joyfully seize them, whatever obstacles may lie in our way, whatever must be done, or whatever must be borne, to secure them! - Let us not, as we love our own souls, through a proud self-sufficiency, reject the gracious counsels of God which are addressed to us, lest we should be another day condemned by publicans and sinners. Divine providence and grace are using a variety of methods with us: let not our perverseness and folly, like that of the Jews, frustrate them all: but rather let us show ourselves the children of wisdom, by falling in with its measures, and improving as well as applauding them. - tº SECTION LIX. Our Lord laments over the impenitent cities of Galilee, acknowledges the divine sovereignty in the dispensations of the gospel, and invites sin- ners to come to him. Matt. xi. 20, to the end. MATT. xi. 20. MATT. xi. 20. THEN, after Jesus had in general reproved the Jews for the perverseness of their carriage THEN began he to uplºid under the great advantages that they enjoyed, he began particularly to upbraid the cities in º: which most of his miracles had been wrought, because they did not repetit, and believe in tº they repºnteº. him:* And in the most affectionate and solemn manner he ičić, how terrible would ºś; be the consequence of their impenitence and unbelief; and said, Woe unto thee, Q Qhorazº, y - and woe unto thee, O Bethsaida, where I so often have conversed and taught!,for surely SECT. 59. $1ATT. XI. 2I g This John is the Elijah who was to comé.], How little therg is,ip Mr. forerunner, said, with & §. reference to these º: Colling’s objection º . Malachi’s Pºlº, of Flºº tors, ºº:: I liken the men of this generation 3 &c. ODIl- John the Baptist, many of his learned, antagonists have $hown j, and . pare note b, in this section; - - - *-* -- • r. s r. … : ; In Oſle ń i.e.; and stronger light than Mr. Bullock. See his i They gºtic children.] It is plain our Lord’s, exact meaning is, m, Prºf. p. 50. * that the men of that generation, or the cavillers, of whom he WàS n OVW h #; ;ſ ſº sent to introduce..] According to the received speaking, were like the childrºſ; complained of, anº º #"; made reading, fluke yii. 29, 30. must be introduced here, and may be para- the complaint; but, more especially in *ś S Style, º p #: phrased tº #33- and all the people that were present, and the publi like, often signifies only in gº that the t # ; en Q º, € I §: Žiš in particular, chen they heard [this] discºurse.hº. formerly trated by the following similitude: gànd. º € gºnus € uln(16 r- jººn baptized pith the baptism of John, justified,and approved the wisdom stood. Matt. xiii.24, and 45.xviii; 23. X: ii. º Lord had t of God, as illustrated in it. 'Biłł : Pharisees, and doctors of the a Because they did not repent and believe in him. § i T ho ; jºrd, in whose presence it was delivered; disrelished it; and, puffed up reason thus to upbraid them on § OCCaS10ſ, º §: # §§§ T †th a vain conceit of their own knowieige and goodness, rejected the time he had spent among them, and how ºy . he j ises . ...ijus ºungei of God towards them ; and not having been bqptized, by had delivered, as well as how many ...?. diº. §t .." WIOUlgh im, were displeased to hear So high an encomium given to John. 31— in these parts; as may be seen in several preceding SectionS. ºff the Lord, knowing how ready they were to cavíl both at him and his CHRIST'S LAMENTATION OVER THE CITIES OF GALILEE. II3 were done in you had been if the miracles which have been wrought in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon of old, SECT. ãºrčašāºšiji, º, though they were places so remarkable for their luxury, pride, and contempt of religion,b 59. .*.*.*.*.*.*.* they would long ago have repented with tokens of the deepest humility, covering themselves § But I say into you. It in sackcloth, and lying in ashes.” . Wherefore I say unto jou, That as they never had such Matt. #... gº...?'...'...} means of conviction as you have been indulged with, and have ungratefully abused, the ..., xi. judgment, than for you. condition even of Tyre and Sidon, in the day of the final and universal judgment,” shall be * more tolerable than jours, who will deservedly be exposed to a much !. weight of vengeance. (Compare Luke x. I3, 14. sect. ...} wjº lºº And thou especially, O guilty Capernaum, who hast been (as it were) exalted even to hea- 23 yen, siläibe brought down to ven, not only in wealth and magnificence, (compare Dan. iv. 22.) but, what is infinitely more §"...º.º. valuable, in the means of grace, by my long abode in thee, and continued labours among tº..."...;"; thine inhabitants; such dreadful desolation is appointed for thee, that thou shalt (as it were) §y!” “” ” be brought down to hell, being swallowed up in utter irrecoverable destruction: (comparé Isa, Xiy. 13, 15.) And thy punishment will be apparently just: for surely if the miracles tohich have been wrought in thee, had been performed even in Sodom itself, licentious and abandoned as that infamous city was,” it would have been convinced and reformed; so that, instead of being consumed by that shower of flaming vengeance, it might have conti- nued in all its glory and beauty even to this day. Wherefore I say unto you, That the condi-24 tion even of the inhabitants of the land of Sodom in the day of the final judgment, shall be more tolerable than yours; for your condemnation shall rise in proportion to your more aggravated guilt, and to those more valuable mercies and privileges which you have abused. .At that time also, (as well as at another that will be elsewhere mentioned, Luke x. 21. SeCt. ...] Jesus took occasion, from the circumstances which he then observed, to say,f 1 ascribe glory to thee, O Father,8 thou supreme Lord of heaven and earth, that while thow wast, in the course of thy wise though mysterious providence, hid these great things of thy ospel from those who hº the character of wise and understanding persons,h or from the earned scribes and refined politicians of the age, whom thou hast suffered, through their own pride and folly, to reject them with disdain, thou hast brought the humble to the knowledge of them, and hast graciously revealed them to many of the lowest and plainest .26 Even so, Father: for so of mankind, who, in comparison of the former, are but as infants. Mortifying as such a 26 ****** circumstance might seem, I cordially acquiesce in it, and say, Be it so, O my Father, since such is thy sovereign will and pleasure, thus to exalt thine own glorious name, and to lay the creature in low abasement before thee. And then, turning himself to those that stood near him, he said, Do not be led, by the 27 example of your great and learned men, to slight and despiše me; for, humble as my cir- cumstances now appear, all things are delivered unto me by my almighty Father, who has fully instructed and empowered me for whatever relates to the salvation of men:i and such are the mysteries and glories of my person and kingdom, that no one fully knows the Son but the Father;k neither does any truly know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son is pleased to reveal him : for I have that knowledge of him to which no creature can pre- tend; and it is my great errand to the world, to discover his nature, and will, and lead his wandering creatures into a saving acquaintance with him. A work which I undertake with the greatest cheerfulness and delight: and therefore, come unto me by faith, all ye that labour and are heavy burdened, whether with the distresses of life, or with the sense of guilt, (see Psal. xxxii. 4, xxxviii. 4.) or with the load of ceremonial observances which your unmerciful teachers are so ready to impose, (Matt. xxiii. 4.) and I will case you of the . grieveus burdens you are sinking under. - Be persuaded then to take my joke upon you, and to ſearm of me, as my obedient disci- ples; É. I am meek, condescending, and lowly in heart, amd will impose no unnecessary hardships upon you : but on such an application to me, you shall %. that refreshment to your souls which you in vain would seek elsewhere; that composure, satisfaction, and joy, which nothing but humility and meekness, with an entire subjection to me, can give. For such is the genius of my gospel, that though it will indeed bring you under some restraints, they are not only tolerable, but, on the whole, desirable; and I may truly say, that my yoke is easy and gentle; or, if there be a mixture of difficulty attending it, such assistancés and encouragements are provided, that with them my burden is light and pleasant" to those who by divine grace are engaged to submit to it. (Compare i John v. 3.) if the mighty works which 24. But, I, say unto, you, That it shall be more tolera- ble for the land of Sodom in #: day of judgment, than for l G. G. 25 At that time Jesus an– swered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of hea— yen and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 2 5 27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and mo man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and lie to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 28 Come unto me all ye that labour and, are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me 3 for. I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. b Places so remarkable for their luxury, pride, and contempt of reli- gion.] This is frequently the case with rich trading cities : and that it was so with these in particular, may be learned from many passages in the Old Testament, as well as from Prº writers. See Judg. xviii. 7. Isa. xxiii. 9. Ezek. xxviii. 2, 5, 17, 22. and Amos i. 9, 19.-Alay God pre- serve London in particular from resembling them in character, whom in commerce and grandeur it so much exceeds ! . - c Covering themselves in Sackcloth, qxud, lying in ashes.] As covering themselves with sqckcloth, (or hair-cloth, for such it was,) and lying in ashes, were usual expressions of mourning ; so they particularly were made use of on days of public fasting and deep humiliation for sin ; and therefore are justly introduced here, as expressions of sincere répétitance and self-abhorrence. Compare Esth. iv. 1, 3. Job xlii. 6. Isa. Iviii. 5. Dan. ix. 3. and Jonah iii. 6, 8. - d In the dam ºlºmºnij Dr. Hammond understands this passagº, as referring to the temporal calamities to come, on these places by the RQ- mans, who did indeed shortly after overrun the whole fountry, and made dreadful ravages in some of these cities. See Joseph. de Bell. Jud. lib. iii. cap. 6, 7... [al. 5, 6.] ct lib. vi. cap. 9.. [a]...vii. 17.] But there is no cviºlence that the destruction of these Jewish cities was more dreadful than that of Tyre and Sidon, and it was certainly less SQ than that of Sodom and Go- morrah; besides, our Lord plainly speaks of a judgment that was yet to come on all these places that he mentions. - - e Licentious and abandoned as that inſanous city, was...] It is well known, that those abominable cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had long since grown into a proverb for wickedness and misery. See. Sen. xiii. 13. xviii. 30. Deut. xxix. 23.xxxii. 32. Isa, i. 9, 10..iii.; 9.xiii. 19. Jer., xxiii. T4. Xlix. 18. Lam. iv. 6. Amos iv. 11. Zeph. ii. 9. Matt. X. 15. and Rev. X1. CŞ. • f Jesus took occasion to say.] It is in the original, arokptócts, 6 Ingovs strev; which our translation has literally rendered, Jesus answered and said: but when the words so introduced are not a reply to any preced- ing speech, I apprehend the version hºre given expresses, the sense of them with yet greater exactness.-The words (at that time) seem plainly to prove that what follows is to be introduced here, and conse- quently that Luke x. 21, 22, is a repetition of it on another proper occa- S 1 O1) . g I ascribe glory to thcc, Q Futher ſ] This is one proper, meaning of &op0Aoyoup at, as appears from comparing Heb. xiii. 15. and Rom. xv. 9. h. Thou hast hid these things ſrgin ºrise and wnderstanding persons.] God is often said, in Scripture, to do those things which he determines to permit, and which, he foresees, will be in fact the consequence of those circumstances in which his creatures are placed, though their wills are laid under no constraint. (Compare Exod. vii. 3, 4. 2 Sam. xii. 11, 12. xxiv.l. and 1 Kings Nxii; 22, 23.) In this sense alone could he be sai to hide those things from the learned men of this age, which he reveals so plainly, that honest and well-disposed persons, though children in ºngºliné, might come to the knowledge of them. (Compare Matt. i Has fully instructed and empowered me, &c.] I cannot, with Mr. L'Enfant, confine the sense of Tavta Itoi Tupeéoôm merely to the in- structions Christ had received from the Father: his eraltation to supreme polfer and government was so near, and so sure, that out Lord might with great propriety intend the phrase in that more extensive sense I have given it. Compare John v. 22. and Matt. xviii. 18. k .No onc knows the Som but the Father.] These words evidently declare that there is something inexplicably mysterious in the nature and person of Clºrist; which indeed, appears in the most convincing manner from the account elsewhere given of his Deity in Scripture. For I am neek, condescending, and lowly in heart.] Some have ap- prehended that our Lord here intends peculiarly to recommend the imi- tation of his humility and meekness, as what would especially tend, in the natural consequence of things, to promote the repose and tranquillity of their minds; tınd Dr. Watts, in a very beautiful manner, has paraphrased the words thus in his Hymns. (Book 1. Hymn 127.) #üt apprehend our Lord chiefly means to remind them of the general lenity of his tem- per, which would engage him to decline all grievous impositions and un- necessary burdens, and tenderly to instruct them in the way to pardon and life. Compare Matt. xii. 19, 20. § 51. - m. Åf burień is light and pleasant. TXadpor properly signifies both 15 114 SECT". 59. XI. 21—24 25 27 28 CHRIST'S FEET ANOINTED IN THE HOUSE OF THE PHARISEE. _* IMPROVEMENT. WHAT can we imagine more dreadful than the guilt and condemnation of those who hear the gospel only to despise it! How can we read the doom of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, without trembling for ourselves, lest we should incur the like sentence! . Such have been our religious advantages and opportunities, that, like MATT. them, we have indeed been lifted up to heaven: the Lord grant that we may not, by our misimprovément and disobedience, be cast down to the lowest hell! that Tyre and Sidon, and even Sodom and Gomorrah, may not at last rise up in judgment against us, and call down on our heads a punishment more intolerable than that which has fallen upon them, or which they must even then feel ! Our vain curiosity may perhaps be ready to ask, Why were these advantages given to them that abused them rather than to those who would have improved them better? But let us impose upon our minds a reverential 26 silence; since the great Lord of heaven and earth giveth not an account of any of his matters: (Job xxxiii. 13.) It is 30, Father; for it seemeth good in thy sight ! Still we see the gospel hid from many who are esteemed the wisest and most prudent of mankind; and, blessed be God, we still see it revealed to some who, in comparison of them, are but babes. Let not this offend us; but rather, taking our notions from the word of God, let us learn to honour these babes as possessed of the truest wisdom, and adore the riches of divine grace, if we are in their number, while many of superior capacities are left to stumble at this stone till they fall into final ruin. Whatever objections are brought against Christ and his ways, may we ever adhere to them, since all things are delivered to him by the Father | From him therefore may we seek the true knowledge of God, as ever we desire everlasting life We have all our burdens of sin and of sorrow. While we labour under them, let us with pleasure hear the 29 gentle and melodious voice of a Redeemer thus kindly inviting us to come unto him, that we may find rest to our souls. Let us with pleasure subject ourselves to him, and go on in our holy course with that improvement and cheerfulness which become those who learn by their own daily experience that his commandments are not grievous, 30 SECT. A.W.D one of the Pharisees who was present at this discourse,” and might feel himself 60. 36 37 39 40 4] and feel that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. SECTION LX. Jesus accepts an invitation to dine at a Pharisee’s house, and vindicates the woman who anointed his feet there. Luke vii. 36, to the end. LUKE vii. 36. LUKE, vii. 36. AND one of the Pharisees touched by some insinuations which it contained, under a specious pretence of respect to §º: nd he went into our Lord, though, as it seemed, with an insnaring design, invited him to eat with him that he †: house, and sat Iºs day, taking care to have others of his own sect present to observe what passed. And “"“” WLI - - - - - y- - - - - * º Jesus, being willing to express his condescension and candour, accepted his invitation; and entering into the house of the Pharisee, he sat down to table, without taking any notice of the omission of some usual ceremonies of respect which so great a guest might well have expected. ..And behold there was a woman in that city who had once been a great and scandalous . 37 And, behold, a woman sinner, and was still accounted infamous on account of the lewdness and debaucheries of her former life: and, when she knew that he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, she took encouragement from his late gracious invitation, and determined to give a remarkable to- ken of her reverence and love to so glorious and compassionate a 38 purpose she brought an alabaster vessel full of richly perfumed ointment; And standing by in the city, which was a sin- ner, when she knew that Jc- Sus sat at meat in the Phari- See’s house, brought an ala- - 2T baster box of ointment, aviour; and for this 38 And stood at his feet be- the couch on which our lord, according to the custom of those times, lay down to eat, §§ him weeping, and began waiting behind him in the posture of a servant at his feet, her very heart was melted with such pious remorse, that in the presence of the whole company she was unable to refrain #. o wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the airs of her head, and kissed eet, and anointed them from weeping in such great abundance, that she began even to water his feet with a shower with the ointment. of tears;b and, observing how wet they were, she wiped them with the fine long tresses of her haire which she wore flowing loose about her shoulders; and then, to show the warmth of her affection, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the perſumed balsam she brought with her, as not thinking herself worthy to pour it upo JWow the Pharisee who had invited him, observing [this, which, tions they maintained, appeared to him a very indecent sight, was so offended, that he said within himself. This man, if he were really a prophet, as he pretends to be, would cer- #. vile creature is that thus familiarl toucheth him, and would immediately have driven her away with a just disdain; for she is touch is enough to pollute him. . ..And Jesus, in reply to these uncharitable sentiments, which he discerned at their first rising in his heart, said to him, Simon, I have something to say to thee on this occasion, tainly have known who and what kind of woman such a scandalous and filthy sinner, that her ve * upon his head. according to the tradi- 39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, say- ing, This man, if he were a prophet would have known tº and What manner of wo— man this is that toucheth him; for she is a sinner. 4Q And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. which deserves thy regard. And, with an hypocritical profession of .#. he says, O And he saith, Master, say on. thou great Teacher,” ost: "..A certain creditor had two debtors, one of am ready to attend; and whatsoever thou woul - reely.) Then Jesus immediately delivered this parable as a just, yet mild, reproof to his whom owed him five hundred denarii or # 41 There was a certain St offer, Say [it creditor which had two debtors : the one owed five #ºred pence, and the other y: 42 Roman pence,” and the other owed him but fifty: Wow as they had not any thing to pay, "º And when they had no- light and pleasant; and xpngros, easy, may be also rendered gentle and agreeable ; and so with great, propriety may express that true pleasure and cheerfulness which are the genuine result of a sincere subjection to Christ’s government,...which is plainly the meaning of taking his yoke. (Comparé Deut. xxviii.; 47; 48. 1 Kings Xii. 4., and Isa. x. 27.)—It is observable that the word yoke is particularly used for ceremonial imposi- tions, Acts xy. 10. and Gal. v. 1. and the word burden, is used in the same sense, Matt. xxiii. 4. Compare Matt. xvi. 19. and note h, there, § 88. • * - e. º a One of the Pharisees who was present at this º Dr. Whitby has abundantly proved this to a different story from that of Jºſqry’s anointing Christ’s head a little before his death; (Matt. xxyi.6—13. § 145.) And indeed the difference is so great and so º that it is astonishing so great a critic as Grotius should so confound them, and build so many remarks on that gross mistake. - - s ºr’ b. To water his feet ºrith a shower of tears..] This is the proper signifi- cation of the word £3pexel v. Compare Matt. v. 45.--We are not to imagine she came with a purpose thus to wash and wipe the feet of Christ ; but, probably, hearing that the Pharisee who had invited Jesus to dinner haſ neglected the usual civility of anointing the head of his divine guest, she was willing to supply the defect; and as she stood near Jesus, she was so melted with his discourse, that she shed such, a flood of tears as wretted his feet, which lay bare on the couch, his sandals being put off, and observing this, she wiped them with her hair, which, she now wore flowing loose about her shoulders, as mourners commonly ; and then, not thinking herself worthy to anoint his head, poured out the liquid perfume on his fºci. In this view all appears natural and unaffected. - - c. With the tresses of her hair.]. So the word 6pt{t properly signifies ; and the English word tresses might be derived from it. It is well known that long hair was esteemed a great ornament in the female dress, (com- pare I Cor. xi. 15.) and women of pleasure used, to nourish and plait, it, and to set it off with garlands and jewels, to render themselves agreeable to their lovers. • - . Teacher.] So Gadagza Aé properly signifies, and I think expresses something more than the English Word master, especially in the sense in which it is now commonly used. Whether this was mere, hypocrisy, or whether it was intended as a sort of sneer on, our Lord, who, though he professed himself.so great a teacher, would allow this woman to use such #ejº ºth him, ſpretend not certainly, tº say, * - e Ége hundred denarii or Roman pence..] It is in the original ônvapua, which is well known to have been a Roman coin, in Value about seven- pence halfpenny of our money ; so that five hundred of them were nearly CHRIST WINDICATES THE WOMAN WHO HAD. ANOINTED HIS FEET. 115 ºf . sº that neither of them could discharge any part of his debt, he freely forgave them both SECT. §§§fth. Wii the whole of what they respectively owed: and upon this it may be reasonably expected 60. love him most 2 that both would have some sense of his goodness; say, therefore, which of them do you 43 Simon answered and said is , 717// / * 2 /? º: * *** * ..? F g g : r) erry, : LUKE I suppose that he to whom he think would love him most 2 And Simon very readily replied, and said, I suppose, so far as I forgºm." And hºji can judge from the circumstances thou hast mentionéd, that he to whom he forgave most 43" §:.."” *** could not but have the greatest affection for him. Añd [Jesus] said to him, t hast §. very rightly, and the reflection is evidently suited to the case that we have here efore U.S. wºś And turning himself to the woman, he said to Simon the Pharisee, Thou seest this poor 44 §."º. #'ſ...}” afflicted woman, and canst not but take notice of the extraordinary tenderness and affec- ºººº tionate regard to me that she has now discovered. I came into thine house as a guest, on jºhjaºshº; thine own express invitation, [and] thou didst not give me any water to º feet,f §.'...}}, ..."... .º. though that be so customary and necessary a refreshment on these occasions; she has head. plentifully watered my feet with her tears, and wiped them even with the tresses of her hair, bºº: Thou didst not give me the usual respect of a kiss, when I first came under thy roof; but 45 i.j"; she, ever since she came in,h has not ceased with the greatest humility and affection, even to *; ºawin, on no kiss my feet. Thou didst not so much as anoint my head with common oil, though few 46 didst of anoin."bºt this ºf entertainments fail of being attended with that circumstance; but she, as thou seest, has §ºinted my feet anointed even my feet with this precious and fragrant ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, 47 # Wherefore, I say unto and openly declare it both for her vindication and for thy admonition, her many sins, Hº,"; ;...". . which I well know have been exceeding heinous, are graciously forgiven; and therefore, #: º, . as I have been the means of bringing her to repentance and peace, she has thus testified the jºi." “ ” high regard that she has to me, and has loved me much,', as being persuaded that she never can sufficiently express her sense of the obligation: whereas thou, who art over-confident in thine own righteousness, lookest but slightly upon me; as he to whom but little is for- given, or who thinks his debt was but small, is not so much affected with the kindness of the creditor that forgives him, and loveth him but little. rºto her, , .4nd, to renew the kind assurance of the pardon that before was granted to the woman, 48 y 8 he says to her, in the presence of them all, I know the sincerity of thy repentance; and - therefore now, for thy encouragement under this severe treatment, Isolemnly declare that wº thiſ sins are forgiven. And they who were at table with him began to say within themselves, 49 lº. PWho is this arrogant and presumptuous man, that not only transgresses our rules by per- forgiveth sins also 3 mitting a harlot to touch him, but even presumes to say that he forgiveth sins, which is the nº.";"º". peculiar prerogative of God himself? But, far from recalling what he had said, he openly 50 jº, ºn...” “confirmed the consolation that he before had given, and said to the woman, Thy faith ha saved thee; and as the tenderness and love that thou hast shown have, in a convincing though silent manner, testified thy believing regards to me, under the extraordinary cha- racter I bear, gothy way in serenity and peace, and enjoy the comfort of divine forgive- º without afflicting thyself for the severity with which uncharitable men would treat thee. I\{P}{OVEMENT. How joyful an assurance must this be to a soul thus bowed down and humbled in the very dust, under a sense Ver. 50 of sin! How light did the reproaches of men sit upon her when she heard these reviving words from the mouth of the great Saviour, who alone had authority to pronounce them Our hearts surely upbraid us with many and aggravated sins; but we hear the tidings of pardom: let us gladly embrace it; and acknowledging that not five hundred pence, nor even ten thousand talents, are sufficient to ex- 41 press the greatness of our debt, let us retain the remembrance of it, even when we hope that God has forgiven it; 42, 43 and let us labour, that the tenderness of our love, the warmth of our zeal, and the steadiness of our obedience, may in some measure be proportionable to it: and, blessed Jesus, how distinguished must they then be et us with humble pleasure approach this compassionate Friend of sinners; who, though in one sense separate from them, yet thus freely and graciously encouraged the chief of them to apply to him, though he well knew that 39 condescension would expose him to the censure of the self-conceited Pharisees. May God preserve us from that arrogant confidence in our own righteousness, which, while it leads us to despise some, perhaps much dearer to 47 him than ourselves, would proportionably sink our value for the Saviour, and our love to him As for what remains, let the candour with which Christ accepted this invitation, and the gentleness and prudence 36 with which he behaved at this insmaring entertainment, teach us to mingle the wisdom of the serpent with the innocence and sweetness of the dove; and neither absolutely to refuse all favours, nor severely to resent all neglects, from those whose friendship might at best be very dubious, and their intimacy by no means safe. To conclude; let us avoid that very ill temper which this Pharisee showed in upbraiding this poor humble peni- 39 tent with the scandals of her former life. Where we have reason to believe #. sin has been lamented and forsaken, and consequently that God has forgiven it, let us cheerfully receive those whom our holy Master has not rejected; and if the remembrance of former irregularities cannot be entirely lost, let it only engage us to magnify the riches of divine grace towards such persons, and to rejoice with them in the display of it. - equivalent to fifteen of our guineas, and fifty to one guinea and a half— it ciam}\Bev, she came in, rather than those which have eign A60y, in the here, is no reason to believe that there was any mystery intended in first person, which our translation follows. - Qhrist’s fixing on these sums rather than any others that had as great a i Jinoint my head with oil, though few entertainments fail, &c.] How difference between them. * * , common, this circumstance was, may be judged by comparing Deut. f. Water to gqsh, my feet), Drusius, supposes this may be understood xyiii.49. Alic. Yi. 15. Psal. xxiii. 5. civ., 15. and cyli; 5. as it our Lord had said, “Thou didst not give me so much as aggter. to k Therefore she has loved me "ºff"; As passionately, as Clarius toqsh, my feet; whereas some guests have their feet toashed with wine opposes this rendering, and after all the immense pains Grotius has mingled initia spices.” Athenaeus does indeed mention such an extrava- taken to find a sense in that which our translation follows, I cannot, but gance; but to be sure our Lord did not intend the least insinuation in think the connexion evidently requires that we should render ott there- favoºr of it. - - * fore, rather than for or because, how singular soever such a sense of the g The usual respect of a kiss,. &c.] How customary it was for the particle may be Ånd so it is, the Hebrew particle that answers it is master of the house to receive his guests with such a salutation, to pro- used in Hos. ix. 15. All their iniquij is in Gilgal; for there I vide them with water to wash their feet, and to anoint their heads with them; or, therefore there I hatcd them. For it cannot be supposed that oil, or some liquid perfume, the reader, may see in many other commen; Israel is said to sin in Gilgal, because he hated them there; but on account tators, and particularly in Calmet's Account gf the Jewish, Feasts-It of the iniquity which they committed there, therefore it was, that there is possible Simon might omit some of these civilities, lest his brethren he ' them. Our Lord, by this answer, plainly showed his knowledge who sat at table with him should think, he paid Jesus too much rq- both of their thoughts and of her character. spect; and, if there was any such slight intended, it might be an ad- Go thy way in peace.] This was a usual form of dismissing infe- ditional reason for our Lord’s taking such particular notice of the riors, and was an expression of the friendship and good wishes of the neglect. . - Pºrsº speaking. (Gen. xliv. 17. Exod, iv. is: 1. Sam. i. 17.2 Sain: XV. h Ever since she came in..] The evangelist so expressly tells us, that 27. Mark v. 34. £uš. viii. 48. and Jam. ii. 16.) Compare Luke ii. 29; P: she heard of Christ’s being at dinner with the Pharisee before she came 34. There is an apparent propriety in the phrase here, considerins what in, (ver. 37.) that I make no doubt of following those copics which read had happened to discompose the tender siirit of this humble penitent 116 SECT. 61. IUKE VIII. 2 3 MATT. 2 23 And all the multitude of people round him, perceiving he had healed the poor distressed 2 2 2 4 5 called them to come near him, and said to them in the following parabolical expressions, 6 CHRIST CASTS OUT A DEMON, SECTION LXI. Our Lord, attended by sºme pious women, takes another progrèss, in which he casts out a demon; and, having vindicated himself from the blasphemous charge of a combination. With Satan, warns the Pharisees of the danger they were in of committing the unpardonable sin. Luke viii. 1–3. xi. 14, 15, 17—23. Matt. xii. 22–32. Mark iii. 22–30. LUKE viii. 1. LUKE viii. 1 JNOW, in pursuance of the great design which Jesus had been prosecuting in his ministry AND iſ came to pass after. y * - * - : . . " * - * ; & is ºn I gº ward, that he went through- wherever he had been, it came to pass afterwards (or after the events related above) that he Yºyº, village, travelled through every city and village in those parts; preaching in every place, and pub- ºf jº. lishing the giltidings of the kingdom of God, which he was now about to erect among #3. "...º.º. the children of men; and the twelve apostles, whom he had lately chosen, were with him; with him, as he thought it proper they should be for some time, that they might be further instructed for their work, and that their having been thus publicly seen in his train might promote their reception when they afterwards came to any of these places by themselves. And 2 And certain women which there were also some women with him, who had been cured of grievous disorders brought *: º º º upon them by evil spirits, and of other illnesses; [particularly] J.Mary, who was called Magdalene, ºil of whom JMagdalene, from Magdala, the place of her residence; a remarkable person, out of whom “” davils, had been cast no less than seven demons, who, probably for the sins of her former life, were suffered by God to agitate and torment her in such a manner as to render her a spectacle of great horror. ..And there attended him besides, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, a steward in 3 And Joanna the wiſe of the court of king Herod; who yet did not think such an attendance beneath the dignity gºsiº of her family: and one Susannah, and many other [women;] who, being persons of some ºntºrºioiº considerablé rank and circumstanges in life, assisted him with their possessions, which they "*** ºnly employed to supply him and his disciples with necessaries, as occasion re- UILT6 (1. - Q While he was making then this tour about Galilee and the neighbouring parts, there was , Matt. Kii. 22. Then was brought to him one possessed by a demon,” who had been rendered by this means both blind º.º. and dumb : and he immediately expelled the evil spirit, and cured him that had been so dumb andjie"healed hiº. miserably afflicted by it; so that it came to pass, that when the demon was gone out at the jº. - - pass, when the devil was gone command of Jesus, the person that but just before was blind and dumb, both spake and saw... ºliº Spake and saw. [Luke xi. 14.] - e gº - - • - 23 And all the people were creature in an instant, were astonished at the sight, and said, Is not this the Messiah, the ºgº. long-expected Son of David? 14.] ut the Pharisees who were with him, and particularly the scribes who came down from Je- rusalem, and still attended his progress to make their remarks on what passed, hearing º natural reflection of the people, and fearing lest their own credit should sink among them, as that of Jesus advanced, gave the most malicious and unreasonable turn to the matter which can be imagined; for they said, This is so bad a [man, and so notoriously trans- gresses the traditions of the elders, and the law of God,” that he is certainly himself pos- sessed by Beelzebub, and does not cast out demons but only by a secret combination with Beelzebub, who being the prince, [or] chief ºf the demons, with a view to confirm his own interest, expels other inferior spirits under his command, at the word of this Jesus, who - therefore deserves to be put to death as a magician, (Exod. xxii. 18.) rather than to be thus extolled as the Messiah. - - Jºnd Jesus, knowing their thoughts, though he was not within hearing of these reflections, 24 But when the Pharisees, [and the scribes which came down from Jerusalem,) heard it, they said, This fellow ſhath eelzebub,and] doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince (LURE, or , the ghief) of the devils. [Mark iii. 22. Luke xi. 15.] 25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, [and he called them unto º and said unto them [in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan *) Every king- dom divided against itself ſcannot stand, but] is brought to desolation ; and every city or house divided against itself before all the people, How can you possibly imagine that, in such circumstances as these, Satan should cast out Satan Pé It may surely be laid down as a maxim, That every ; dom, divided against itself, cannot long subsist in flourishing circumstances, [but] quickly sinks into contempt, and is brought to utter desolation; and every smaller society; if it be but a city, or a single family, divided against itself, shall not long stand, [but] falleth into #} º §§ inevitablé ruin. And therefore, if Satán rise up against himself, as he certainly does, if he jºi...fij - # And if Satan [rise up gainst himself, and) cast out * oin with me to confirm a doctrine so evidently opposite to his nature, and subversive of . kingdom; and if he assist in such a cause to cast out Satan, h it will be evident from a Called Magdalenc, from Magdala, the place of her residence.] As Imagg Nagap.muos is Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus the Nazarene, so Mapta Mayóa)nvn, which we are used to reader Mary Magdalene, might as well be rendered Mary the Magdalene, or Mary of Magdala, which was a town in Galilee beyond Jordan. See Matt. xv. 39. Out of whom had been cast scwen demons.] This is supposed by Gregory to have been only a proverbial expression, to signify that she was a person of a very bad character, whom Jesus reclaimed; apti Mr. L'Enfant advances the same, interpretation, as agreeable to the Jewish. style: but, as so much is spoken of dispossessions in the proper sense of the word by Luke, it is most natural to suppose this to be referred to here.—Some have thought she was the sinner frientioned Luke vii. 37. but there is no certain progf of it. And the conjecture of those who sup- ose her to be the sister of Lazarus, whose husband might have lived at K.i. is rather more improbable : since when Luke and John men- tion Mary of Bethany, they never intinate that it was Mary Magdalene. See Calmet’s Dictionary. - * c Then there was brought to him one possessed by a demon.] This miracle appears, to have been performed ºn the morning of that day,90 which Christ delivered, the parables of the sovyer, &c. (compare Matt. xiii. 1, et seq. § 65.) and on the evening of which he gº! thc sea, stilled the tempest, and went into the country of the $#adarenčs, where he dispos- sessed the legion. (See Mark iv. 35, et scq. § 59.) This is the reason of introducing it here, as most critics do; and no other story, ngt yet in- serted, can claim a place before it; the refore Matthew and Luke, in their different order, are transposed to agree with Mark, on that grand foundation laid down in note k, on Mark i. 18. p. 71. d The blind and dumb both spake and said.]. We have before observed, that koqos often signifies both deaf and dumb, (see note k, on Luke i. 22. p; 21.) but, as it is not said that Christ gave this, mall his hearing, it is jain he was not deaf. And indeed, it appears worthy of remark, that we £arily ever meet with entire blindness and deafness in the same person. e So notoriously transgresses the traditions of the elders and the law of God.]. There is sufficient reason to conclude that the Pharisees must go on this principle in, this random, charge, which had not the least shadow of a proof; and it was usual with them to esteem a contempt of their traditions as º criminal with the most express contempt of the law. It is also well known, that they charged Christ both with sab- bath-breaking and blasphemy. . . . . - - f Beefzebub, the prince or chiºſ of the demons.] There is no doubt but tlı is was spoken by the Jews, not merely in a general way of a prince of the dºnons, or of one of their chiefs, but in particular of him whom they considered as the prince of the powers of darkness: for in Mark it is rø apxovſt, though Matthew and Luke express it without the article.; and the following words show, he was supposed to be the same with Satan; the grand adversary. One of the titles given him was Beclzebub, or Baal-zcbub.; and a Philistine idol who had his temple at Ekron, (and is supposed by some to answer to the Grecian Pluto ; Jurieu, Hist. des JDogmes, p. (31) was plainly called by this name, (see 2 ſings i. 2, 3.) which is weil known to signify. The lord qf flies; this idol being wor- shipped, as some tell us, under the figure of a fly or beetle, as defending people from these insects; though others think it may allude to the vast in ultitude of flies with which the slaughter of their sacrifices was infested in the heathen temples, while (as the Jews report) no ſly was ever seen to come upon the § of any sacrifice in the temple at Jerusalem. (See Sclaign. De Diis Syris, Syntag. ii. cup. 6.) . But why the Jews should speak of him under this title as the chief of the decils, it is difficult to say; unless (as Heinsius conjectures, rather than proves) the Hebrew word 55, Zebub, signified a deadly kind of insect, whose sting was mortal, and which was therefore looked upon as a fit emblem of the mischievous hosts commanded by this prince of the poºper ºf the air.--The title in the Greek is Béex ºff 9x, Beelzebul, which signifies, The lord of a dunghill, and scems to be a contemptuous change of the former Dame, by which it was intimated, that the noblest of the heathen deities were fitter to dwell on a dunghill, than to be worshipped in a magnificerit (cºmple. g Satán should cast out Siriam.]. This answer of our Lord don:onstra- tively proves that Beelzebub and Satan are names for the same person; and, consequently, -that Satan was considered as, the , prince of those demons who were cast out by Christ, and who are elsewhere represented as his angels; so that it must disprove every hypothesis inconsistent with this assertion.—It may not be improper to add here; that the Jewish rabbies call every demon by the name of Satan; and often use the name in the plural number. So they call Sammael, which is but another name for fleeizébib. 5 Soºn 55 vil, the head or prince of all the Satans. See Casaubon, in loc. * - - h In such a cause to cast gut. Satan.]... It is certain (as many good writers havo observed) that the force of this argument consists in a tacit appeal to the genius and design of his doctrine ; which gvidently ap- peared so friendly to the, interest of true, religion, and so destructive to idolatry and vice, in which the kingdom of Satan consisted, that he must AND REPELS THE BLASPHEMOUS CHARGE OF THE PHARISEES. 117 he is divided against hence that he is divided Satan against himself; and how then shall his kingdom subsist 2 It plainly SECT. ; º; follows that, in such a case, he cannot stand, but has contributed himself to *" a speedy 61. siani, but hath an ind: period to his own kingdom. But, as you never can suppose that such a crafty and Saga- ºº::...'; 'cious spirit would, in so weak a manner, hasten his own confusion and defeat, Žºiarkiº füke fore, upon this account, must give up that uncharitable, inconsistent charge you have been 2 º X l. lo- ready to insinuate and urge against me, and must appear to have been guilty of the most extravagant absurdity, because you scruple not to say, that Feast out demons by the help of Beelzebub. . - 2. And if I by Beelzebº, And if indeed you will be still so obstinate as to assert that I cast ºut demons by the 27 ‘...}}}...','º','º'; assistance of Beölzebub, you may as well say that all miracles of this kind are this, Per- jºiºſº yºur formed; and I may particularly refer you tº determine by whom do your own children judges. [Luke xi. 19.] % ? Sofisa ov ;: s A aro red and extolled by you on that account expel them, who practise exorcisms, and are approved and extolled by y & 5 though some of them do it in my name 2 Therefore they shall in this respect be your judges, 2. But if I cast ºut jºy, and condemn you of a most partial and unequal conduct. But if you must allow that I 28 º ſº jº; cast out demons by thefinger [or] the power and Spirit of God, then it undoubtedly follows injºjºunto that the kingdom ºf God is indeed cone unto you, as I assert; and all the doctrines that I you. [Luke Xi. 20.] preach are proved by this to be divine, and consequently worthy of your most serious and obedient regard, since it plainly shows my superiority over all the infernal powers. . . enter into a strong man’s Otherwise, it is evident I could not do this: for how can any one break and enter intº i.e,'...a pºlis ºs, the house of a strong man and plunder his goods, while he is actually present to guard them, ;ºº unless he first overpower and bind the strong man, who will be sure to do all he can to is house. fšíark iii. 37.j defend them? and then indeed he may plunder his house of whatever he pleases; but with- out this, it will be utterly impossible tº do it. And therefore it is plain, from all these instancés of dispossessions, that I have power over Satan to control and bind him, and consequently that I act by a divine commission. º * , & But still it is not to be thought the contest will be carried on without an Opposition from the enemy, nor can it fail of giving some alarm: for while a strong man, completely 9 armed, guards his castle or palace from invasion and attack, his goods are in a profound peace,” and his prisoners, hard as their situation may be, are afraid to make any attempt - -- & to regain their liberty; and such is the quiet which there seems to be, while Satan reigns 22 But, when a stronger without any control. But when one stronger than he, or of more power than the warrior I ...; §§§ have mentioned, invades his garrison, and conquers him, he takes away all, his complete {ji.º.º. armoury, in which he placed his confidence, and distributes his spoils among his followers. §§§p.j" So shalf you see the infernal powers yet more completely baffléd and spoiled by me, and my faithful servants adorned by the trophies won from them. While therefore you are animated by such views, you ought not to allow yourselves even in a state of neutrality and indifference: for I must tell you, That he that is not cordially with me as a friend, is indeed against me,” and will acqordingly be treated as one that is an enemy to me; and he that does not sét himself according to his ability to gather sub- jects into my kingdom with me, is but vainly and foolishly scattering abroad, and, however otherwise employed, wastes his time and labour in what will at last turn to ng solid account.” Much more criminal and fatal, then, must the character and conduct of those e, who, with deliberate implacable malice, oppose my cause, and are resolved at all adventures to do their utmost to bear it down, as you are attempting to do by these vile insinuations which you have now suggested. * I therefore give you the most solemn and compassionate warning of your danger; fºr }}..."; i. i., § you are on the brink of a most dreadful precipice. That malignity of heart which leads ºniº you to ascribe these works of mine to a confederacy with Satan, may incline you to pass ...jºtº, the same impious sentence on the greatest and fullèst confirmation which is to be given to ºff º' my gospel, by the effusion of the Spirit on my followers; and therefore, tº prevent, if pºi- [Mark iii. 28.] sible, such guilt and ruin, verily I say unto you, That all other sins shall be forgiven to the children of men, and even [all] the other blasphemies with which they shall blaspheme ; but the blasphemy against the Spirit of God, in this most glorious dispensation of it,” shall not be forgiven f, those impious and incorrigible men, who shall dare to impute to diabolical operation those glorious works of divine power and goodness. ...?nd. I add, that wh989- ever speaks a contemptuous and impious word even against the Son of man himself, while here on earth in his obscure form, he may possibly be brought to repentance for it, and so it shall be forgiven him ; and consequently even your case, bad as it is, is not entirely hopeless: but whosoever shall maliciously speak any thing of this nature against the Holy §: ;...e."...it'." Spirit, when the grand dispensation of it shall open, in those miraculous gifts and opera: §§ ºldamnation) tions that will be attended with the most evident demonstrations of his mighty power, it * } ... ºil, A. Ak A K A. & ºf s shall never be forgiven him at all, either in this world, or in that which is to come ;' but he you, there- MATT. 29 Or else, how can one Luke xi. 21. When a strong man armed keepeth his pa- Race, his goods are in peace : r 4–1. 22 Matt. xii. 30. He that is not with me, is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad. [Luke xi. 23.] MATT. XII. 30 31 Wherefore [verily] I say 32 And whosoever speak- eth a word against the Son o man, it shall be forgiven him : but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come ; ſhath really be his open enemy, and rise up for the subversion of his grin cagº, before he could begome an associate with Jesus. See Arelibishop Til- lotson’s H/orks, vol. iii. p. 545: i By phon do your own children exprl them, who practise oxorcisms, not to demoniacs, who were far from being in peace or quiet, but to the case of simers, who by the arts of Satan are lulled irto a state of Secu- rity and confidence, while in the hands of their greatest enemy, and in the way to final destruction. *. s: . &c.] For the proof of this fact, see Acts xix. 13. Mark ix. 33. Luke ix. 49. Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. viii. cap. ii., § 5. p. 420. Hiſ cercamp. and Dr. Whitby’s note ; but above all, that of Grotius on this passage. I do not see that there is any need of referring this to the apostles, who had not yet been sent out ; and if they had, they to he sure would be involved in the same censure with Christ. It is more natural to suppose that the disciples of the Pharisees are here probably meant by their childrch. . . . k While he is actually present to guard them.] This the course of the argument plainly supposes; and the case in question proved tº presence of Safan. - - 1 J While a strong man, &c.] The reader will o'sserve, that (contrary to most others) I have introduced in this section I like xi. 1-1—23. as paral- lel to Matt. xii. 22–33). and Mark iii. 22—27. The reason is, because, as there appeared to me no certain evidence that the Hiirac’e and discourse recorded by Matthew were afterwards repeated at another time, (see note a, on Luke xi. 37. § 110.) so I was not willing to insert so long a discourse twice : yet it is not impossible it might occur again ; and if any, on the whole, judge it most probable it did, they may turn back from thence, and read these verses again.—I likewise thought the discourse, with the asłditions from Luke, appeared most complete and beautiful. m His goods arc in a profound peace..] Our Lori here (as also I ºnke x. 17–20. § 106.) evidently takes occasion, froß) having spoken of this— ossessions, to turn his discourse to that grand and complete victory over Satan, of wirich these initacles were a specimen ; and these words refer, n Heih.it is not irith me is against me..] How this is to be reconciled with Luke ix. 50. see the note there, $ 95. * o Wastes his time and labour in what will at last turn to no solid account..] This is a more natural sense than to take it as if our Lord had said, Iſe that does not gather skbjects into my kingdom, disperses them. According to the interpretation I have given, it is a most noble maxim of divine wisdorn ; and happy is the minister, happy the man, who attends to it. p 7'he blasphemy against the Sºirit of God in this most glorious dis- pênsation of it.) After all that Archbishop Tillotson has said (vol. i. Serm. 17.) to prove that the sin a gainst the Holy Ghost was that which thºse Pharisees committed, in ascribing tº c miracles of Christ to Sūlān, I have rather chosen to take the words in Dr. Whitby’s sense, and naust beg leave to refer to his paraphrase on the places above, and to his oxcel- Ignt dissertation on the subject, in his Fourth Appeºdix to Matthew, for the reasons which induced me to such a judgment. q It stiall ºvecer be forgiven him at all, either in tº is trorld, ºr in that which is to come.] [t is observed both by Lightfoot and Giotius, that through a fond imagination of the final happiness of all the seed of Abraham, the Jews supposed there were scine sins that had not been forgiven here, that would be crpiuted by death, and be fºrgiven after il : and that our Lord designed by this expression to assure them, that there was no forgiveness to be ſº those that should be guilty of this sitſ, either before of aſter death ; and that their expectations of ſorgiveness 118 THE DANGER OF SINFUL worDs. *ECT. is obitorious to eternal damnation, and must irrecoverably sink into it; nor will all the 63. grace of the gospel, in its fullest display, afford a remedy for so aggravated a crime, or furnish him with means for his conviction and recovery. 5 * . This admºnition, he gave them with such repeated solemnity, because they had mali- Markiii.30. Because they sociously said. He hath an unclean spirit, and performs these miraculous works by the #. He hath an unclean assistance of Beelzebub. plºll. gº IMPROVEMENT. - * T How condescending was the conduct of the blessed Jesus, while he dwelt among us! Though he was Lord of †" 3 all; he not only wayed the pompous manner of subsisting by continued miracles, but likewise declined to dwell with the rich and the great, with whom he could easily have secured to himself a constant abode." He chose a laborious itinerant course, and subsisted chiefly on the bounty of a few pious women, whose company and friend- ship he did not despise, That subsistence was most pleasing to him which was the greatest testimony of the respect and affection of his hearers, and at the same time gave the greatest opportunity to testify his own humility and self-denial, and to pursue his schemes for public usefulness. So may his followers, and especially his minis- ters, always judge! And may all the great things they seek for themselves, be such as lie on the other side of the grave, and are to be enjoyed in the presence of our glorified Master XII. : We have seen another triumph of Christ over the eviſ spirit, another of those glorious and delightful instances 23'29 in which the great Captain of our salvation, with superior strength, bound the strong man, and spoiled his goods. * * May the victory still be carried on to perfection 1 May his merciful alarms break that dangerous and fatal peace LºšE in which the slaves of Satan are for a while detained, that he may with greater advantage, and greater terror, 2. 22 plunge them into final and eternal ruin! And, in such a contest, may we abhor neutrality With pleasure and * * zeal let us list ourselves under the Redeemer's banners, that we may share his trophies! And, while others are 23 throwing away their time, their labour, and their souls, may we, by gathering with him, secure to ourselves ever- lasting riches. * MATT. We must surely be astonished to hear of that perverse and malignant interpretation which these wretches put on XII. Such convincing miracles: and it must move our indigmation to see the Son of God maliciously charged as an 24 associate with Satan. If they have thus called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his 25 household? (Matt. x. 25.) Let us learn to imitate that meekness of wisdom with which the blessed Jesus pursues his windication. Oh that his followers had ever traced it ! Yea, I had almost said, Oh that they had learned, 26 even from º union of confederate enemies, the danger of that house or kingdom which is unnaturally divided against itself! "It is matter of great thankfulness, thus expressly to hear that every other sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven; 31, 32 but awful to think, that the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is excepted, Let those who, while they cannot deny the facts of Christianity, despise and oppose its doctrines, tremble to think how near they approach to the boundaries of this sin, which is perhaps more obscurely described, that we may more cautiously avoid all such approaches. Butlet not the humble soul that trembles at God's word, meditate terror to itself from such a pas- sage; which, when viewed in its due connexion, cannot, with any shadow of reason, be º to belong to any who do not obstinately reject the gospel, and maliciously oppose it, when made known to them with its fullest evidence. FMATT. SECTION LXII. Our Lord goes on to caution the Pharisces of the danger of such sinful words; and answers to the exclamation of the woman who extolled the happiness of his mother. Matt. xii. 33–37. Luke xi. 27, 28. MATT. xii. 33. MATT. xii. 33. sECT. WHEN our Lord had thus faithfully warned the Pharisees of the danger they were in of EITHER make the tree 62. incurring unpardonable guilt, by blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, he proceeded to §º. hi.º.º. 3. | enforce the admonition in the following manner: Attentively consider what I have offered . hiº. ...}} º: the MATT to you, and eitherlay aside your vain and hypocritical pretences to religion, or quit that “"“”””” xii., malignity and wickedness which render these pretences insolent and odious: either make 88 the tree good, and show it to be so by making its fruit also good;" or else make, and allow, the tree to be corrupt, and its fruit also corrupt, if it in fact appear to be so: for the tree is to be known by the fruit it produces, which is an infallible proof of what quality it is. 34 (Compare Matt. vii. 17, 18. Sect. xlii.) O ye abominable brood of vipers, ye Pºvºsº, nº gº venomous, deceitful créatures, how can you, who are so wicked yourselves, Speak good jº º: things? It is surely a force upon nature whenever you do it; and you will easily return to ºle heart the such uncharitable and impious language as we have now been hearing from you ; Mºr the Speake El). 35 mouth naturally speaks out of the overflowing abundance of the heart. And thus, on the one * 㺠good man, out ºf the hand, a good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, freely and abundantly produces good i.º.º. 9..."); things, and scatters the seeds of wisdom and piety in the minds of all with whom he con- § ºf verses; and, on the other hand, a wicked man, being full of corrupt affections, and a secre; ºre ºnse malignity against religion, out of the evil treasigº o his heart, as naturally brings forth evil - things ; and, even when he labours most artfully to disguise himself and his gharacter. breaks out, like you, in some unguarded moment, into such language as betrays the shame he would conceal. (Compare Luke vi. 43–45. Sect, liv.) - f 36 But take heed how you suffer your tongues to run on in this profane and licentious man. Tº º, . . mer; for I solemnly declare unto you, That in the awful day of the final and universal ...'sſiºn;, i. i.i judgment, men shall give a strict ind impartial gecount for every unprofitable, and much #iº...hereof in the - - - * ... day of judgment. #oº for every pernićious, wordb which they shall speak; and wóe bé to them who have ve no other than a deceitful dream. (See Lightfoot's dations of life : bºt 9hrist cºme, 9 bring the gospel to the poor; and the }}}}|...}º. in loc.). But it is clearly shown by Fr. Whitby, purpºsés of his mission) requireſ, requent º is that which that this was used as a provertial expression; ºn, that it only signifiºd, a Jake the tree good, Šć). The sens; }}}} chosen is tha th. | ... thing should never be, when it was said, It shall not be, citigr in this sºems, Q \gree best with what follow; I ‘. ſ'; tº...";# #. jºoſii to cºne.-fjowever, as some think that it refers to the MI. Iºfanº, who suppºses...}...”. | }: #9;', *:::: ...”. ifessiah’s kingdom, which was often called tºg  º I have also me to be good, or ... thc º # ls ;". (I * ãºiá, eger US flin hinted at that sense, which is indeed included in the other, but does not suppose evgry one Who º G?! L ..". d sai lºš. &ot cannot but §§§m to me to be so properly applied her; ; for, if our interpretation be Grotius understand it as i . * OYC f 3. i; M.J. 1. } hiºt"; High, the in could not be committed till that age commºnºd, allow that Iny life, and théºnº.º.º. f ctrºne, a TG # y it."; g *i'he rich and the great, with whom he could easily have secured to ingonsistent with yourselves as to ...'...t #. a can º § £20/- himself a constant abode.) . Undoubtedly, to mention no more, the cen– zebub.” And it is indeed very P. e t * § may be ... word urion (who had wealth and genergsity enough to erect a synagogue at a,b For eiery unprºfitable, and º In Oſ (2 t ... ery §§§ º f. #. own charge, Luke vii. 5. p. 107.) would have been Yeº. willing, to Though the terms inconvenient ºn #. 6 &lre sq. mes, Pºlº have receive intº his house a single person of so extraordinary a cha- to things, gapable of ºff. §. orsg #; le ti ‘....". - "hºt #; 'i ..cter, so perfectly temperate, and so easy as to the Common accommo- v. 4, iſ ſit. iii. 9, and Heb. xiii. 17.) yet I cannot thin 3.V. Qll T LOT THE PERVERSENESS OF THE PHARISEES UPBRAIDED. 119 37. For by thy, words thou used that noble faculty of speech only to vain or to wicked purposes. For let every particl-SECT. *.*.*.*.*.*... lar hearer apply it to himself: it is not by thine actions alone, but in some degree by thy 62. demned. words, thou shalt at last be justified, or by thy words thou shalt be then condemned;" as b - º the tenor of these the disposition of thy heart is shown, and thy true character discovered. *... tºº.”, ºf And while he was speaking these things, a certain pious woman was so transported with XIſ. 37. iſſiº’a ceſſiºnal of a mixture of pleasuré at hearing his words, and indignation at the unworthy treatment he Luke the company lifted up, her ‘....". "...º. met with from his adversaries, that she could not forbear liſting up her pice, and, crying, out , xi. Bissed shºwombºhitº from amidst the crowd,” she said unto him, O thou diviné Teacher, Happy is the womb, of 27 tº sºo!" * Which her that bare thee, and thrice happy the breasts which thou didst suck! with what unspeaka- ble delight must thy blessed mother look on so illustrious a Son! . But he modestly and seriously replied, Way, rather happy are they who hear the word Q God which I preach, and keep it in their hearts as a vital principle of holy obedience; for they will be entitled to eternal blessings, infinitely more valuable than any natural rela- tion to me could give, or any opportunities of the most intimate converse with me, sepa- rate from such a practical regard to my instructions. IMPROVEMENT. / - WHosſ, heart does not echo back the exclamation of this pious woman? Yet who does not too frequently forget Ver.27 that weighty and important answer which succeeded it? Let us not only hear, but keep the word of Christ; and we shall thus be happy in a nearer union with him than ever could arise from any natural relation to him, and 28 shallere long have opportunities of more noble and more delightful converse with him, than those with which the Virgin Mary herself was honoured, during the time of his abode on earth. Let us especially attend to those instructions we have here received, and judge of ourselves by our fruits; MATT. 28 But he said, Yon, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. 28 never flattering ourselves that our hearts are good, if our lives are abominable and disobedient, and to every good 33% work reprobate. (Tit. i. 16.) And in particular let us remember, that not our actions only, but the fruits of our lips, “” are to be brought into the solemn account which we must give to the great Judge of all the earth; and that the day is coming, when all our idle and unprofitable talk, which has proceeded from the evil treasure of a depraved 37 heart, will undergo a strict examination, and we must answer not for our actions only, but shall be justified or condemned by our words. And, if foolish and wicked speeches are to be accounted for in the day of judgment, let us set a watch on the door of our lips to prevent them; and labour daily to use our tongue so, that it may indeed be, as it is in Scripture called, our glory. (#. xvi. 9. xxx. 12.) - - For that purpose, let it be our great care to lay up a good treasure of Christian knowledge and experience in our hearts; that while too many are poisoning those that are round about them with erroneous principles and vicious discourses, the opening of our lips may be of righteous things; and we may still be ready, upon all proper occasions, with freedom, variety, and spirit, to bring forth good and profitable things from the good treasure of our hearts; which may be edifying unto those that hear us, and may go from one heart to another. So will the Lord himself hearken with pleasure unto what we speak, and exactly record it in the book of remembrance that is written before him; and, producing it at last to our public honour, will own us for his, in the day when he makes up his jewels. (Mal. iii. 16, 17.) SECTION LXIII. 2ur Lord upbraids the Pharisees with their perverseness in asking a further sign; and delivers the parable of the relapsing demoniac. Matt. xii. 38–45. Luke xi. 16, 24–26, 29–32. MATT. Xii. 38. MATT. xii. 38. THEN certin ºf the scribes THEW’some of the scribes and Pharisees who were present, hearing how plainly Christ and of the Pharisees answer- S-> r jºiºt admonished, and how severely he rebuked them, answered him, by diverting the discourse §. *Nº...º.º. to another topic; [and] with a view to try him, demanded of him a sign from heaven, saying, see jøn from thee (fake Master, thou professest thyself a teacher of extraordinary authority, and we may justly ex- xi. 16.] ect some proportionable proof of it: now these supposed dispossessions which we have ately seen or heard of, are so liable to fraud and collusion, that we cannot fully acquiesce in them; but would gladly see a more remarkable and convincing sign from thee, and par- ticularly some such celestial appearance” as several of our ancient prophets gave. ... Bºº lºº But when the multitude was gathered in a crowd about him, eager to hear what Jesus 39 ...r.º.º.w.. ... would reply to this demand, and ready to conclude that he would now perform some said tº them. This is] an wondrous and peculiar kind of miracle, he answered and said to them, This is an evil and #.º.º.º. adulterous generation, a very perverse and degenerate people, [that, amidst such con- tº vincing miracles as I am daily performing, in the most public manner, still secks after a e given to it, but the sign of s --. * , ~ * - Tº C - - - x -: further sign : but no such sign as their bold curiosity prescribes shall be given them, unless % be] that one yet greater miracle, which I may not improperly call the sign of the prophet - the prophet Jonas. ffluke xi. 25; • , º “ - 4 º LUKE Luke si. 30. For as Jonas Jonah," because it bears so great a resemblance to that miraculous occurrence that will be "... was a sign unto the Ninevites, seen hereafter with respect to me. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites,d and was 30 here uses appov, idle, merely to signify mischievous. We are certainly nosed, the reader will excuse it, as it serves for a fit appendix to this accountable for useless as well as wicked discourses, , and they will be taken into that last survey which is to determine our character and state; which they, whose life is one continued scene of whim or sineering raillery, would do well seriously to consider..., And it was to our Lord’s purpose to observe it here, as it inferred, by the strongest consequence, the danger of such vile and criminal discourses as those of the Pharisees in this case. But discourse tending, by innocent mirth, to exhilarate the spirits, is not idle discourse ; as the time spent in the cessary recreation is not idle time ; nor does a wise and gracious God expect from men the life of angels. The Jews about Kimchi’s time, had a proverb among them, that a scholar may be improved cºco by the idle ºrords Qſ his master; but I think Heinsius had no reason to value himself so much as he seems to do, on his attempt to explain these words of Christ as an allusion to that.—If any, on the whole, are dissatisfied with the account of things here given, I would beg leave to ask them, whether unprofitable talk be not a sinful wasting of time 3 and whether that must not render a Imam in some degree criminal before God f - - c Or by thy words thou shalt, he condemned.] . Since both the clauses in this verse cannot belong to the same person, it is plain that kat here, as the Hebrew particle Vein many places, is put for the alternative Or : and jºbſ; to this we find, that instead of kal, the particle m is here inserted in many ancient copies. . . - t - hile he was speaking these things.] Luke brings in this story at the end of the parable of the relapsing demoniac, which was delivered just at the conclusiou of the discourse before related. And though it is uncertain at what exact time this exclamation was made, yet what was now said might be a proper occasion for it; or if it ba a little trans- i. section, and likewise prevents the more unequal length of the fol- O \\ IIl g. e From amidst the crowd..] So sk Tov ox)\ov plainly signifies; and it Inay thus, I think, be very properly connected with the words which fol- low it in the original. a Some such celestial appearance.] The words of Luke expressly fix it to this sense, and Matthew, in another story of this kind, (Matt. xvi. 1. § 87.) expressly tells us, they demanded a sign from heaten. (Com- pare also Mark viii. 11.) It is not therefore to be understood of a sign only of deliverance from the Roman yoke, or of the erection of the .51essiah’s temporal kingdom, as some have supposed, but rather of some miracle performed in the visible heavens, where, they seem to have thought, im- postors had less power than on earth. (Compare John vi. 3).)—“And they might probably conclude, they had the better excuse for naking such a proposal, as Moses, (Éxoi. ix. 22–24). Joshua, (Josh. x. iś.) Samuel, (1 Sam. vii. 9, 10.) and Elijah, (1 Kings Nyiii. 36-3S. and 2 Kings is 10.) had given such signs, (Compare Isa. vii. 11. and xxxviii. 8.) See, Vitring. Observ. Sacr: lili. 2, cap. 16. Adulterous generation.] This iš; signifies a spurious rarc, de- generateg from the bigty of their ancestors. (Compare Isa. lvii. 3, 4. sal. cxliv. 7, 8, and John viii. 39, et scq. c Unless it be the sign of the prophet Jonah..] As the resurrection of Christ was attended with the appearance of a descending angel, it was, with greater exactness than is generally observed, the verything that these Pharisees demanded, a sign from heaven. - d For as Jonah was a sign, &c.] The attentive reader may easily observe that some passages of the eloventh chapter of St. Luke are 130 SECT. 63. MLATT. 40 4] 42 43 THE PERVERSENESS OF THE PHARISEEs UPBRAIDED. miraculously sent among them by means of an unparalleled deliverance from the most imminent danger; so also shall the Sam of man, by a yet more surprising divine interposi- tion in his favour, be made a very illustrious sign to this generation. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish that swallowed him,” and yet after. Wards came out alive and unhurt; so shall the Son of man, after he has been slain by the infidelity and cruelty of those to whom he comes, be part of three days and three nighist in so shall also the Son of man De to this generation. Matt. xii. 40. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s holly ; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. the heart of the earth, and on the third day shall, with the ministry of an angel in à visible form descending from heaven, burst the bands of death, and come forth from the tomb living and triumphant. And, by a natural consequence, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in the final judgment with this generation,s and, by the circumstances of their case when Viewed together, shall plead against it, and conflemin it, as far more inexcusable than they ; Jor they repeated in the very dust at the preaching of Jonah, though he made them but a transient visit, and wrought no miracle in their présence to confirm his mission; and, be- hold, one much greater than Jonah is here, and you reject him, though he has been so long among you, and has performed a great variety of most surprisingsmiracles before you. 7 And much more may it be concluded, that the queen of Sheba, in the south country, §hall rise up in judgment with this generation, and, by the signal instance that she gave of her great desire to improve in knowledge, shall plead against the obstinacy and perverse- ness of this wicked age, and condemn it : since, great as her rank and her affairs in life Yere, she came from the ectreme boundaries of the earth, even from the remotest parts of the Arabian coast, to lear the wisdom of Solomon, that she might improve by his learned conversation, (see 1 Kings x. 1, ct seq.) and behold, however contemptible he may appear In your eyes, one much greater than Solomon, both in dignity and wisdom, is here before yon, and is daily conversant among you.h Take heed therefore how you behave to me, lest all your inquiries after the kingdom of heaven, and all your converse with me, serve only to aggravate your guilt and ruin. For, 44 4. 3) if speedy repentance does not prevent it, I foresee that (to borrow a simile from the late subject of our discourse) your case will be like that of a demoniac, who, after a little respite, falls into a more violent relapse : for, as it sometimes happens that an unclean Spirit, when he has gone out of a man, goes about, in a roaming discontented manner, through dry deserts and wild uncultivated places,i seeking some rest to his own malignant nature ; and, through the invisible restraint of divine providence, he findeth mone: Then he saith, I will return to my dwelling, from whence I came out; and resolves to make another attack on the person hé lately quitted: and it may be, when he comes to him, he finds, as it Were, an habitation empty of any better guest, and even swept and adorned to receive him:k that is, he finds the misérable sinner unaffected with his late affliction and deliverance, 5 and still a slave to those vices which render him an agreeable dwelling for Satan. And then, by the just judgment of God on such an incorrigible wretch, he goes and associates with himself seven other spirits which are yet more wicked and mischievous than himself, and, entering in, they dwell together there; so that the last condition of that man is much worse than the former. Thus also will it be to this wicked generation ;l instead of growing better, they will grow seven times worse than before, as both the natural and the judicial consequence of their rejecting the methods of divine grace for their recovery ; till, as if they were possessed of a multitude of devils, they are madly hurried on to their irrecover- able ruin in this world and the next. - - 41, The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this, generation, and shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonas ; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. [Luke xi. 32.] 42. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it : for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon: and, behold, a greater than Solo- mon is here. [Luke xi. 31.] 43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking_rest, and findeth none. "[Luke xi. 24.] 44 Then he saith, I will re- turn into mine house, from whence came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnish- ed. [Luke xi. 24, 25.] 45 Then, goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other, spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there : and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. [Luke xi. 26.j transposed in this section. But I will not insist on the necessity of doing it, since it is very possible the same words might be repeated again,; but - there is so very small a variation, and the discourse is so long, that choose to unite all the three evangelists, as far as might be, into one compound text. The reader who chooses to ſoliow Luke’s order exactly, will find a memorandum (beneath, $ 110. note a) of the place where this paragraph comes in according to that ; and I must, on the whole, leave it among so;ne other passages in the evangelists, where it is neither pos- sible, nor important, to determine the exact scrics. . . . e In the belly of the great fish..] It is no where said in the Old Testa- ment that Jonah was swallowed by a chale; and it is the less probable, as trhales are seldom found in the Mediterraùean, and as the gullet of a whale is said to be so small, as not to be capable of receiving even the head of a man. It is therefore much more probable it was a shark, or some other great fish, which, it is said, the Lord had prepared to Sical!oto aſp Jonah. (Jonah i. 17.) And the word km rog in Greek, (as well as tºn in Hebrew,) may signify any large fish, as some of the Greek lexi- coxraphers have observed. - - - f Pºrt of three days and three nights.] It is of great importance tº ob- serve, (as many good writers have done,) that the easterns reckoned any part of a day of twenty-four hours for a whole day; and say a thing was §one after three or seven days, &c.; if it was done on the third or seventh day from that last mentioned. (Compare 1 Kings xx. 29. 2 Chron. X. 5, i2. and Luke ii. 21.) And as the Hebrews had no word exactly answer- ing to the Greek wºxónji=pov, to signify a natural day of tibenty-four honºrs, they use night and day, or day and might, for it. So that to say & thing happened after three days and three mights, was the samg ºf to say, it happened after three days, or on the third day. (Compare Esth. iv. 16. Vºith v. i. Gon. vii. 4, 12. Exod. xxiv. 18. and xxxiv. 28.) See The Júiracles of Jesus jºinicated, p. 6—S. .. - & g Rise up in judgment with this generation.] Some think there is a reſer- oncé in this expression to the custom of witnesses rising up to give their festimony; but it was not properly on the testimony of the Ninevites that those sinners would be condemned. The plain meaning is, that tiº remembrance of their case would be considered as illustrating the uilt of those that rejected Christ; so that here those arc said to con- omnothers who furnish out matter for their condemnation. . . . - #"Oºº ºcaier than Solomon is here.] Our Lord speaks of himself in such sublime language with the utmost reason, and with perfect modesty and decorum. The humble form of his appearance, and his necessary reserve in declaring himself the Messiah in so many words, made it yet more expedient that by such phrases as these he should sometimes inti- nate it "and indeed his saying he was greater than Solomon, that most jjī ºstrious of aii the royal descendants of Dayid, was as plain an intima- tion as could well be given.—Here is, another undoubted instance, in which Lº has plainly inverted the order of our Lord’s words: for the ºxion cannot be secured without, transposing the verses as they stani in him. The attentive reader will observe many, more iſºstºe; jºjº'aime kind, and see from hence how little ground therº is for whºt son. Tº supposed, that Luke’s ageount is so exagº, thagall th9 gospels should be regulated by his order. See note g, on Luke i. 3. p. 17. i. Through dry deserts and wild uncultivated places.] Here is a plaju reference to the common notion that evil demons had their haunts in deserts and desolate places. . (Compare Isa. xiii. 21. and Rev. xviii. 2.) Some may, think, that a desire of doing mischief might rather have prompted the evil spirit, of whom our Lord speaks, to have continued in some city, or other place of public resort : but as he may be supposed in this parable to apprehend that, after being driven out, he should for a while be under some extraordinary restraint, it seems to me a very natural and beautiful circumstance thus to represent this malignant being *. of the sight of mankind, and rather choosing to seek his rest in the prospect of a sandy desert, than in the view of any more agreeable scene, whigh might renew, his anguish, by presenting to him the memorials of divine goodness to the human race.—Another explica- tion has been given to this passage, and Dr. Whitby and some others in- terpret it of the devils being cast out of Judea, yet finding no rest in the deserts of heathenism, because there also the apostles cast them out, which drove them to return again to the Jews, and to make them worse than before: but though it is possible that our Lord’s comprehensive mind might have some vic w to this, his hearers could not understand it thus; and perhaps, after all, the circumstances might be merely para- bolical .." ornamental. k Empty, sucept, and adorned to receive him.] Mr. Jurieu draws a strange argument from hence in favour of purity, , (one would think he meant of cleanliness,) that finding. his former habitation swept and adorned, the demon could not enter in without a gonfederacy of seven yet more potent than he. But this is quite wide, from the meaning of our Lord, who hereby strongly suggests, that indulging sinful habits is like sweeping and ſurnishing the house, to invite the abode of Satan there ; in the same manner as purity, devotion, and love are elsewhere represented as consecrating the soul for a temple to the Holy Ghost. (See 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. vi. 19, 20., Eph. ii. 21, 22. and 1. Pet. ii. 1–5.) I know some judicious writers have glossed more minutely, on these words, as if the meaning were, “empty of true grace, swept from gross sin, and garnished or adorned with seeming virtues and self-righteous- ness.” But with all due submission, especially to one very great name by which this interpretation is patronized, I think that in this connexion if enervatos rather than illustrates the sense and spirit of this fine pas- sage. Nor should I be forward to say that a reformation of life, with- out a thorough change of heart, though utterly unavailing as to his future state, brings a man more under the power of Satan than he was before, or màkes him worthy the punishment of being given over to seven de- mons instead of one. | This also will it be to this wicked generation.] They who have read the sad account Josephus gives of the temper, and conduct of the Jews after the ascension of Christ, and just before their final destruction by the Romans, must acknowledge that no emblem could have been more proper to describe them. Their characters were the Yilest that can be Conceived, and they pressed on to their own ruin as if they had been possessed by legions of devils, and wrought up to the last degrees o madness. CHRIST'S EXHORTATION TO HIS USCIPLES. IMPROVEMENT. #9 | 1/ET us, to whom the revelation of the gospel is so clearly made, fear lest these dreadful things should come SECT. upon us, and the abuse of our advantages should render us an easy prey to Satan, and a fit habitation for the powers of darkness. Let those particularly fear it, who, having been brought to some serious impressions and 63. some external reformation, are tempted to a relapse into former vices, which would render their latter end far worse MATT. than their beginning. (2 Pet. ii. 20.) God has seven devils had possessed them, and were driving them headlong to destruction. ermitted some such awful instances to occur; and unhappy wretches, perhaps some of them the children of religious parents too, who were once not far from the kingdom of God, have so abandoned every principle of religion, and every sentiment of wisdom and virtue, that it seems as if XII 43–45 May we, instead of demanding further evidences of Christianity than the wisdom of God has seen fit to give us, 38 make it our care to hear and obey, and diligently improve the light we have received! May we be brought to a sincere and lasting repentance by the preaching of Christ and his apostles, lest the Ninevités rise up in judgment 41 against us, and condemn us! say, as the queen of Sheba to the Jewish prince, (i Kings x. 8.) Happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, and hearthy wisdom! for thou speakest as never man spake, (John vii. 46.) and in thee all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid. (Col. ii. 3.) But oh, how many are curious to know what little concerns them, and are fond of improving their own wit, and trying that of others, by hard questions, while the far more obvious and important points of wisdom are neglected as beneath their regard; as if everything were more necessary than being wise to salvation | We need not travel to distant climes to learn this heavenly philosophy; no, it is nigh us, i. in our mouth ; and we are, on that account, so much the more inexcusable, if it be not also in our Heart. Om. x. 8.) SECTION LXIV. Our Lord declares his resolution of persisting in his work; urges the admission of the light he was dºiº and declares his obedient disciples dearer to him than the nearest relations could otherwise be. Luke xi. 33–36. viii. 19—21. Matt. xii. 46, to the end. Mark iii. 31, to the end. LUKE xi. 33. - LUKE Xi. 33. NO man, when he hath light- gº * & - 3. * * ed a candle, putteth it in a OUR blessed Lord, in the conclusion of this excellent discourse,” which was occasioned secret place, neither under a by the perverseness of the Pharisees, who had been impiously reflecting on his miracles, §...'...; and asking for a further sign, assured them that he was not thus to be diverted from his see the light. work, but, notwithstanding all their opposition to it, yet would he still go on to bear his testimony to the truth; and to engage them to a free admission and improvement of the light which was then shining round them, he addressed the following exhortation to them: You have indeed endeavoured to oppose me with the greatest obstinacy and perverseness, nevertheless you shall not silence me; for no man having lighted a º puts it in a bye place, or under a bushel, to conceal its rays, but rather sets it on a stand, that they who come in to the house may see the lustre that it gives: and thus, according to the chârge that I gave formerly to my disciples, (Matt v. I6. Sect, Xxxvii.) I too will take all opportunities of publishing the important message that I bring, and making my light to shine before men; and do you see that what I offer to you be received as it ought, and guard against 34 The light of the body is those prejudices which would lead you to exclude it: . For the eye is, as it were, the lamp §§§ of the whole body:b if thine eye therefore be clear,” and free from any vicious humour that ; º:; : }. would obstruct the sight, thy whole body also will be chlightºned ; but if [thine eye] be dis- is fºſſéſ darkness. tempered, thy whole body also will be proportionably darkened, and no other part can supply the defect: and so it is with respect to the jūdgment, which is to the mind what 35 Take heed therefore, the eye is to the bodv. §§§.”* darkness; which it will be, if those perverse maxims be adhered to on which you now go, in º my miracles, and the doctrine confirmed by them. (Compare Matt. vi. 22, 23. Sect. Xil. 36 If thy whole body there- It may indeed cost you some pains to reform your judgment, but the ;:#;"ºi; advantage will be an abundant equivalent for all the labour that you take in doing it. For #. #º though the case that I but just now mentioned is so sad, yet, on the other hand, if th give thee light. " whole body,” in consequence of a clear eye, and thy whole mind, by means of a rectifie judgment, be enlightened, having no part remaining dark through distemper or prejudice, § thus] all enlightened,°) the benefit of it will be such, that it will be as when a lamp f ii. 46. While ! lights thee by its sprightly lustre, and thou goest on with security and pleasure in those i. §ei', tº pºi. tº paths which would otherwise be full of uncertainty and danger. hold, [there came then] [LUKE, unto him] his mother #ºº multitudes were gathered about him, behold, there game unto him, just then, his mother and . ing withºut, they seniºuſ to his brethren, or near kinsmen: who, standing without, and apprehending the danger to him, calling him, andl, de siring to speak with.. * sº º * - * [\ºrk,iii.33, Lºkº Miº to call him away from so dangerous a situation; [and] for this end, desired earnestly to Mark iii. 32. And the mul: . S See to it, therefore, lest titat which is as the light in thee, be itself 35 titude sat about him, [and speak a In the conclusion of this excellent discourse.]. Luke has inserted here the following passages, which are delivered in words parallel to Matt. v. 15. and Yi. 22,23. (See the paraphrase and notes there, p. 77, 85.) Yet they appear in this connexion to have a different sense, which I have expressed at large. . . . - The eye is the lamp of the whole body..] . Nothing is niore gommon with the finest ancient writers, than, by an obvious figure, to call the eyes the lights of the body, as our Lord here has done.--I render Xuxpos lamp, because it had been so translated in the verse before, and it did not seem necessary to change it. & * c [f thine eye therefore be clear.] See note b, on Matt. vi. 22. p. 85. d For if thy whole body : ct ovv to a Gopa Gov oxov.] This is an un- usual rendering of the particle ovv, but it appeared to me necessary 5 for this verse is not introduced as an immediate consequence ſtom the foregoing, but both of thern are collateral inferences from Yer,34. as the mtelligent reader will easily observe. And if it be admitted that yºp, for, as well as ouv, therefore, is sometimes used with such a latitude, as that the former may be understood to introduce a reason ſor, and the latter to introduce a consequence from, something not immediately iºr ceding, as also that they are sometimes used promiscuously, it will, I think, clear the connexion in some places, where it will otherwise give us a º deal of perplexity, aad, I fear, after all our fine-spun reasoh- ings, but very little satisfaction, (See Luke xx. 37, 38. Rom. i. 16, et seq. Eſse t and Heb. ii. 9, et scq. Gr. and many other places.) Compare note i, on Matt. xii. 8. p. 99. e Being thus all enlightened.j By allowing these words, gºortivoy oMov, to be thus included in a parenthesis, we prevent the absurdity of supposing, as our translation would lead one to imagine, that our Lord says, If thy whole body be full of light, —the ºrhole shall be ſull, ºf light. ſe Čač. should be so rendered as to show, that the following words make a part of what our Lord asserts of the enlightened body: it shall be all as full of light as when a lamp, &c. f By its sprightly lustre.] This seems to be the force of the word agrpairn, which signifies a very strong, and vivid fiane, and is indeed most commonly applied to that of lightning; being here only used, in the New Testament for any other flame. (See \latt. xxiv. 37; XXyiii. 3. Luke x. 18. xvii. 24, and Rev. iv. 5. viii. 5. xi. 19. xvi. 18.)—It may, per- haps, be an oblique hint of the celestial original and vigorous active inſ ºnce of tºº. which Christ diffused to illumimate and guide the I?] II. C. g and as he was yet speaking, &c.) Matthew was so express in con- necting this story with the preceding discourses, (not to insist on Mark’s following the same order too,) that it is absolute); necessary to transpose Luke viii. 19, ct seq., unless we suppose that it happened ticice, and that perhaps on the same day; for Matthew assures us that the parable ºf the soicer (to which Luke aſsójoins it) was delivered this day, Mlátt. xiii. 1–3 May we own the superior wisdom of this divine Teacher, this better Solomon; and 42 SECT 64. LUKh 33 leasure and 36 .#nd as he was yet speaking these lively and important things to the people, who in vast MAT. XII. hi. which he exposed himself by such free remonstrances and admonitions as these, sent to him. MARK III. t with him, as about some affairs of importance. And, as the multitude sat round 32 I 6 132 64. MATT. XII. 49 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. SECT. about him, there was ng room for his relations to get near him; and, notwithstanding all they could not.como ât him that they could urge of a peculiar interestin him, the people were so eager in attending to *Hººpºº. ... xii. 47. Then orie him, that none of them were willing to give place, and they could not come at him on said unto"hiº. Béjà, tº account of the crowd. Therefore one of the people said unto him, Behold, thy mother and #.tº... tºº; [without seek for thee, and I thy brethren stand without at some distance, inquiring for *ſº earnestly desiring to stand desiring Luß to see, ilt see [and] speak with thee. What therefore must be done? 48 give orders to the people to make way for them to come hither to thee &YR to speak with thee. º, goº them, or fºrk';i.ºin.ºhiº. But he, to en- 48 But he answered and courage those that were truly serious in their attendance on his preaching, answered and iºnºid his said to him that told him, Who do you think is my mother? And who are those whom you jja: ; bºtM.; imagine I consider, as my brethren?h And looking round on them that were sitting about "ºld he poolea round him to hear his word, and stretching out his hand with an affectionate regard, ºf. about on them which sat l towards those that were his constant followers and professed disciples, he said, W dred or relations have I that are nearer to me, or more esteemed than these?" Behold my disciplº, and said, Bºhºlā nother and my brethren here. For these that hear the word of God, and practise it, are con- sidered and acknowledged by me as my mother and my brethren : nor do I thus regard these ºf . º.º.º.º. only that are now before me, but I declare the same too of all others of their character; whic [for] whosoever shill do, the will of God, my heavenly Father, even this very person, o jiàº. §§§ whatever place and family and station he be, is regarded by mé as my brother, or my sister, father which is in º or mother: for this pious disposition will render such dearer to me, than any of the bands ######, is ºf Iark iii of natural relation, if separate from real holiness, could possibly do. [ iii. 35. Luke viii. 21.] - IMPROVEMENT. Ver,46 So may it be our care to do the will of God, that we may be thus dear to our Redeemer, who ought by so 47–50 many tender bonds to be dear to us; and who, by such gracious and indulgent declarations as these which we have now been reading, is drawing us as with the cords of a man, and with the bands of love Still does the light of his divine instructions shine with the brightest lustre, and diffuse itself around us! Let us open the eyes of our mind with singleness and simplicity to receive it; and make it our care to act according 33, 36 to it. Thºm shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, (Hos. vi. 3.) and thus with cheerfulness shall wereap the fruit of a well informed mind and a well regulated life! LUKE XI. 35 May we be delivered from all those false maxims which would darken our hearts amidst all this meridian lustre, and turn our boasted light into darkness! Would to God there were not renewed instances of this kind continually occurring among us; and that we did not daily meet with persons whose pretended wisdom teaches them to forget or despise the gospel, and so serves only to amuse their eyes, while it leads their feet to the cham- bers of death! SECTION LXV. - - Christ, teaching by the sea-side, delivers the parable of the sewer, and assigns the reason of his speaki h {ti - - • * : : 3 LG CLC y i. i* iſfari: i. i*i;" i.e. 4—10. peaking to the multitude in parables. Matt. xiii. MATT xiii. 1. SECT. O.W." that day” Jesus, going out of the house into which, at the importunity of his friends, THE samg day went Jesus he had retired for a while, sat down by the side of the sea of Galilee, and began again to . of the house, and sat by 65. teach there. And such great multitudes of people were again gathered together about him, agintº teach..] [Markiv.i MATT. and came in crowds from almost ever, city round about to hear him, that they began to ſº. miei peoj were * 9 press upon him, as they had done before in the former part of the day, (see Luke viii. 19. Hººd, ºther...ſº ** p. 121.) so that, entering into a ship for the convenience of being better heard, and less in- veryº that"; "Wet commoded by them, he sat down on the vessel in the sea, at a little distance from the shore; i.º.º. º.º.º. and the whole multitude stood by the sea upon the shore, showing the utmost eagerness to stood tº the seaſ on the hear whatever he should sav. Mºr .#nd, to make his instructions the more agreeable to them, and the more deeply to im- Markiv. 2. And he [Luke 2 press them on the minds of honest and attentive hearers, he spake to them by a parableb jº a parable, an concerning a sower, which shall be now related; ſº in parables; and beginning with that of the Sower, in t he said unto them : - 3 Hearken with peculiar attention to what I am now going to say, that you may thus be 3 Hearken; Behold, there taught to hear my other discourses with improvement, and may not, through negligence, #. his seed :] [Matt. xiii. inconstancy, or carnality of mind, lose the benefit of my repeated instructions.” Behold, at the spring of the year,” a sower went forth to sow the ground with his seed. - 4 And, as the ground lay near a beaten path, it happened that, while he was sowing, some of 4 And it came to pass, as ho is my mother ? An ºr about him, and j stretched at kin- forth his "hani towards" is my mother and my brethren [Mark iii. 34.] and #}. brethren are these h hear the word of God, -* the same is my brother, and -* MATT. xiii. 1. the sea-side, fand began And great multitudes and were come to him out o 3 sea,] and the whole multitude shore. . [Mark iv. 1. Luke viii. 4. by taught ºom many things by taught them also many other things parabies, ana'ićunºhe. e course of his teaching this day, in his dogtrine, [Matt. xiii. 3. Luke viii. 4.] - Weint Out a SOwer to sow Luke viii. 5.] h Who is my mother ? &c.] To suppose that, our Lord here intends to put any slight on his mother would be very absurd ; he only took the opportunity of expressing his affection to his obedient disciples in a peculiarly endearing manner; which could not but be a great comfort to them, and would be to Susannah, Joanna, Mary Magdalene, and the other pious youngn who sat near him, (Luke yiii. 2, 3. p. jić.)". rich equivalent for all the fatigue and expense which their zeal for their heavenly Master occasioned. And as this seems to have been towards the beginning of their progress, it is observable, that our Lord appears to have been Mºuliarly concerned for their encouragement. Sec Luke Xi. 27, 28. p. 119. - - - j This very person is my brother, or my sister, or mother.] This possibly might be intended as an awful intimation to some of his near relatives to take heed how they indulged that unbelief which so long after prevailed in their minds. (Compare join'iii. 3:5. § 98.) For in this case the near- ness of their relation unto Christ according to the ſlesh would be no manner of advantage to them; but those that should be found to do his will would be preferred in his esteem before them, and be considered as united to him in a relation that should never be dissolved. This is one of those many places in which kat (and) is put for m (or); for to be sure our Lord could not speak of the same person as his brother, and sister, and mother. . See note c, on Matt. xii. 37. p. 119. a On that day.] Matthew is the only evangelist who expressly fixes these parables to the day on which the preceding occurrences happened; I say, fixes them to it; for though tho phrases, ev pºta Tov mºſtpov, on a certain day j and evaks, val; mſlepatº, in those days, be very ambiguous in their signification, (see Matt. iii. 1. and note e, p. 41.) I cannot apprehend any, thing more determinate than this of €v Tn muepa exetum, on that day. The way in which Luke introduces this discourse, as if it was delivered at the beginning of the progress Jesus made, before the passages that we have mentioned in the preceding sections, (s 61, et seq.) is not enough to fix the time when this discourse was made : and we havo already shown, in several instances, that it is no unusual thing with Luke to neglect the order of time; and sometimes only to relate a fact as happening on a certain day. (See Luke v. 17. and note a, p. 91. and compare Luke viii. 22. vi. 6, 12. xi. 14. and xx. 1.) Matthew might know the fact we have now before us more circumstantially than fluke, º the latter’s account be exactly true so far as it goes; a reflection .# we have frequent occasion to make with respect to all the evan- ge lists. .b A parable.] The word, according to its Greek etymology, properly signifies a comparison or simile : in which sense it is used here and in most other places ; though sometimes it appears to be particularly used for an instructive apologue or fable. (Compare, Ezek. xvii. 2; et seq.) And, as these often were expressed in poetical language, (see judg. l X. 7–15.) the word parable sometimes, signifies a sublimº discourse, elevated beyond the common forms of speech, though no simile be used. (Numb. xxiii. 7. xxiv. 15. Job xxvii. 1. xxix. 1. and Psal. lxxviii. 2.) And, as short parables after grew into proverbs, or were alluded to in them, hence the word parable is sometimes used for a proverb. Mic. ii. 4. and Hab. II. O. c The benefit of my repeated instructions.], As our. Lord afterwards explains all the parts of this parable, I tºº it sufficient to give this genera) account of its design in as few words as possible. . Dr. Clarke, by taking the contrary j.d in his paraphrase, (though in this he be ſo]lowed by others,) both renders the apostles’ question,as to the meaning of this parable very unnecessary, and occasions a needless and disagree. able repetition. d. At the spring of the year.]. Many circumstances below make this probable 㺠indeed ido not find that in Judea they sowed even yhºut sooner; but to conciude from hence, as Sir Isaac Newton. does, (in his Discourse on Prophecy, p. 153.) that, this parable was delivered in the spring, is very précarious. One might as well argue from that of the tăres, delivered the same day, that it was harvest. THE PARABLE OF THE SUY, ſº, LUKE VIII. MARK 0 I MLATT. XIII. 11 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables; because they seeing, see not; and hearing, they hear not, nei- ther do they understand. Mark iv. 12. That seeing they may see, and not per- ceive ; and hearing they may hear, and not understand: lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. [Luke viii. 10.] MARK 2 1 }23 º, º; .* º; the seed was scattered, and fell by the way-side; and, lying there uncovered, it was either secT. tºlden down, and the fowl; trodden whder foot by passengers, or picked up by the birds of the air, who presently came 65. #. º. and devoured it. -- vº on. . . . . .indsome of it fell on stony soil, upon a rock that Jay but just beneath the surface of the MARK ground riºi, º, º ground, where it had not much earth to cover it, and immediafely it sprang up, and appeared " §º green, because it had no depth % earth to make its way through: But its vérdure was very 6 up, beginsºlitiag ng ºf short-lived; for when the sun shone hot upon it, it was presently scorched by the warmth §: "*** * of its beams, and withered away almost as soon as it was spring up, because it had no tº "...º § room for taking root in such a shallow bed of earth, [and] wanted sufficient moisture to is soon as it was julººj nourish it. #º: hºtº . And some more of the seed being thrown, near the hedge, fell among the briers and 7 it withºi, thorns there, and when it began to shoot out of the ground, the thorns sprang up with it, **'.”; ºn among and grew so much faster, as not to leave it either room to grow, or nourishment to support #. ... ºº it; and so they choked it, and it yielded no fruit. - § §§º find the rest of the seed fellon good ground, and yielded fruit, which, being well rooted 8 tº (Matt sii. 7. Luke º jº. #. ſº increased to º §. ; and the º and pro- 8 And other ſell on good duced a rich and plentiful increase, some of them thirty, and some sirly, and even some an flºº... hundred ſold, for one grain that had been sown. º/, J/5 and broughtfºrtſ, somethirty, And when he had said these things, he cried out with a louder voice than before, and said jiàº. §§§ unto them, He that hath ears to hear these important truths, let him hear and regard them *** And when with the most diligent attention, and seriously reflect upon that instructive moralf which lº. º: º |.. is º: in º º I º: been º; had del d ti | Pried', 'ARK, and Šitid unto .And when the assembly was broke up. (after Christ had delivered many other simili- iºº ºft, tudes of this kind to ºwhich will be º afterwards,) when he i. parted with *śji', hen he the multitude, and was alone in a retired place, the rest of his disciples,é with the twelve who ...]"; i. º.º. had been with him while he spake these things, came and asked him [concerning] the para- sº. #. º º º We desire º wº In Ore º to º º º … • * * .*, *2 II, Q OT LI16 SeVeral CITCUIII)Stan CeS Of this DC17°CLÜle be 3 || 0.710 | QTVe UIS 162a Vē UO a S #";"; yº thee, why dost thou º in such a manner to the ja. 8. In * to them in parables, ºjº º which probably so few of them can understand? rººt * ...And he, º; said unto them, I thus express myself in parables, because, though it is e * *ºtºjº: granted, through the divine goodness, to you, whose hearts are open to receive the truth in ; ; *...*.*. the love of it, to know and understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which have Rijoſ."of". It"., been lóng concealed; yet it is not granted to others, who are prejudiced against them, but tº jºiºi, they are justly suffered to continue unacquainted with them: and therefore to them that are without, ãº. thiºs are without, and who are strangers, through their own neglect and folly, to what they might fºº" before have learned, all [these things are now involved in parables and figures; which, .# º affect º Of º hearer, and promote his º are º: 12 For, whosoever bath, to garded by the rest, and only looked upon as an empty amusement. For to every one who lº ń. any talent tºo him, and shows that he º it by his diligent #º #"º gf it, yet more shall be given, and he shall have a still É"; abundamce of means for his even that he hath. further improvement; but even that which he already hath shall be taken away from the & slothful º and |. yº #. him who . º . ; hath not any º to improve. ompare Luke viii. 18.) Thus wise men deal with their servants; and thus God will generally act in dispensing opportunities of a religious nature. And therefore, on this very principle do I now speak to them in parables, whereas I have formerly ised the º º: of discourse '. seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand; inasmuch as they do not honestly use the faculties that God has given them, but are like persons that have their eyes and ears, and yet will neither see nor hear. So that it is in just displeasure º: I ; to º in this obscure º that what has been their crime may be their punishment; that seeing my miracles, the may see the outward act, but not }: the ... arising from them: and hearing º discourses, they may indeed hear the sound of them, but not understand their true intent and meaning; lest at any time they should be converted, and [their] sins should be forgiven them, which to many of these people they never shall. is ..And thus in them is the º % Isaiah most exactly fulfilled, (Isa. vi. 9, 10.) which indeed was originally intended to include them, and saith, “By hearing you shall hear, (or you may still go on to hear with eagerness,) but you shall not understand; and seeing, you shall see, or you may still go on to see, but you shall not perceive. For, like a wretch . Matts Xiii. 14. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hear- ing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive : e Jan hundred fold, &c.] Such an increase, even in those fruitful countries, was not very common, but however sometimes happened. See Gen. xxvi. 12. - makes Matt. xiii. 12, both foreign and opposite to the purpose for which it was spoken. We must therefore submit to the difficulties which attend this matural interpretation ; which are much lessened by considering that fifteffect upon that instructive moral.]. This solemn proclamation was sufficient to declare that they also were to regard the following similes as intended to convey some useful instruction, and not as mere matter of amusement; e tº * * t g His disciples.] This is a very just translation of the phrase of Tept avrov, which frequently is used in the best authors for the disciples, or followers, of the person it refers to ; and as it thus agrees with Matthew, so we may fitly understand it of those who attended Christ, in his pro- gress with the twelve pººl. And in this way the style appears more maturai and easy, than if we read it as it stands in our translation, where it sounds somewhat harsh, to speak of those that were about him when he was alomé. s - h All these things are now involved in parables and figures.] Here yivsrat is plainly put for est: I therefore render it all things are in parables. See Matt. vi. 16. x. 16. Mark i. 4. Luke ii. 13, xxiv. 19. John i. 6. and elsewhere. g * ~ * i Seeing, they see not, and hearing, they, hegr, not..]. This is justly and elegantly paraphrased in the version of 1727, in a few words; they over- ; aghat they see, and are inattentive to what they hear. Yet I cannot think the Hebräism without some peculiar...emphasis. Our translators ºf well expressed the force of it, Gen. ii. 17. Jer. iv. 10. and Zech. Vl. 10. . * - k It is in just displeasure, &c.] A late learned writer has endeavoured to prove that Christ’s use of parables was not in displeasure, but in tender condescension to their aversion to truths, delivered in, a less pleasing manner; but this is in effect supposing both Mark (ghap, iy. 12.) and Izuko (chap. viii. 10.) to havo reported what our Lord says in a sense directly, contrary to what he intended; for they say in so º York's, it was that the multitude might not perceive nor understºº ex3 * : this happened after Christ had upbraided and threatened the neighbour- ing places, (from whence doubtless the greatest part of the multitude came,) which was some time before this sermon. (Sec Matt. xi. 20–24. $ 59.) And it is not improbable, that the scribes and Pharisees, who had so vilely blasphened him this very morning, (Matt. xii. 24. p. 116.) might with an ill purpose have gathered a company of their associates and creatures about Christ to insmare him; which if it were the case, will fully account for such a reserve.—It signifies, little to plead on the other side, that these parables are plain. Their being so to us, is no proof they were so to these hean:crs; and since the apostles themselves did not wnderstand even that of the sower, it is no wonder if the rest were unin- telligible to the careless and captious hearer.—Consistent with all this is what was said of the advantages attending this method, to those who were honest and attentive ; in the paraphrase on Mark iv. 2. p. 122. l, Secing you shall see, but you shall not perceive.] This is a just trans- lation of the original, both here and in Isaiah ; and is another considera- ble argument for the interpretation here given of the whole context.— A pious and learned friend, by whose, kind animadversions I have been ſºto insert some additional notes in this work, has urged several argu- ments to prove that this clause should be rendered,...sccing, &c., yoyº WILL not perceive. But on the maturest review of this passage both in Isaiah and the several places where it occurs in the New Testament, I cannot apprehend that it was spoken merely by way of complaint, but think it plain that it was intended also as a prediction. (Compare Kiaiſ: iv. 12. }. viii. 10. John xii. 40. Acts xxviii. 26, 27. Rons xi. S.) Now in predictions, we generally, render the future form, “ Such or such a thing shall happen,” though we only mean to express the cº- tainty of the event, without denying the freedom of tho moral agents >eereo" ºn it, or detracting from it in any degreg. 124 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER EXPLAfNEj}. SECT. who has besotted and stupified himself with riot, the heart or intellectual faculty of this 15 For this people's heart 65, people is, as it were, grown stiff with fatness,” and they hear with heavy ears, and draw up ºil; --— their eyes as if they were more than half asleep; so that one would imagine they were º § lest MATT. afraid lest at any time they should happen to be rôused, so as to see with their eyes, and hear ºf *** with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal jºi ° and save them, I therefore justly leave them to their own obstimacy, and direct thee, O shººtiºn." Isaiah, to methods which I know will increase it.” should heal them. I6 But º indeed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear: you .16. But blessed are, your have not only greater opportunities of instruction than others, but greater integrity and ; ; ; ** 17 seriousness in attending to them: and I congratulate you on so happy an occasion. For . i. verily I §t". verily I say unto you, That many of the most holy prophels, and most singularly righteous āś '...}} men, Inder the Jewish dispensation, have earnestly desired to see the things which jou see, º.º.º.º.º. gnd did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them : but only jºji had imperfect intimations of those mysteries which are now revealed with much greater ...”* * * * clearness to you, and will, through the divine blessing, render you singularly useful in this world, and proportionably happy in the next. (Compare Luké x. 23, 34. § cvi.) IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 12, LET.us, hear, with fear and trembling, these awful declarations from the lips of the compassionate Jesus himself. Here were crowds about Christ, who indulged such prejudices, and attended with such perverse 13 dispositions, that in righteous judgment he took an obscurer method º preaching to them, and finally left many of them, under darkness and impenitency, to die in their sins. - 15 Let us take heed, lest the j of divine Providence should be thus abused by us, as a means of casting us into a stupid insensibility of the hand and voice of the blessed God: or we may otherwise have ground to fear, lest he should leave us to our own delusions, and give us up to the lists of our own hearts. And then the privilege 14 of ordinances, and of the most awakening providential dispensations, will be vain; seeing we shall see, and not perceive ; and hearing we shall hear, and not understand. 16, 17 . It is our peculiar º under the gospel, that we see and hear what prophets and princes, and saints of old, desired to see and hear, but were not favoured with it. Let us be thankful for our privilege, and improve it well; lest a neglected gospel by the righteous §. of God be taken away, and our abused seasons of grace, by one method of divine displeasure or other, be brought to a speedy period. But if by grace it is given to us to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, let us féarn a thankfulness in some measure proportionable to the corrupt prejudices which have been overborné, and the important blessings which are secured to us. i 1 I SECTION LXVI. Our Ford explains the parable of the sower, and exhorts hºjpg. to a diligent improvement of their knowledge and gifts Mark iv. 13—25 Matt. xiii. 18–23. Luke viii. 11–18 MARK iv. 13. MARK iv. 13. SECT. 4.N.D when the twelve apostles, in a retired place, (as we observed above, Mark iv. 10..p. #. . ."º"..."; 06. 123.) asked Jesus the meaning of the parable of the sower, which he had delivered to the .º.o.º. ºil ...'. -- - -— multitude as he sat in the ship; he said unto them, Know ye not the meaning of this easy all parables? MARK and familiar parable, so nearly referring to the prophetic language 2 (See Jer. iv. 3. and IV. Hos. x. 12.) How then will you understand all the other parables that I have spoken, some 13 of which are much harder than this 2 M-ATT. SH33. W wie ſy F ~...~,142 as ove, i. e te Matt. xiii. 18. Hear ye M.ATT I shall however yield to your request, and show myself on all occasions ready to instruct thºreº; itablº; th: suis you : hear ye therefore, according to your desire, the explication of the parable of the sower. º.". T * You, the meaning of the parable is this. It is intended to represent the different success tº jºin; º; 1.5 of the gospel in the world; for the seed [which] the sower I spoke of soweth, is the word of flººr sºji. Yin, God, which I am employed to preach, and which will ere long also be committed to you : *** * * * * but too much of our labour will be lost on three bad kinds of hearers, whom I described in • the parable by different kinds of unfruitful ground. - - Aſ ARK ..?nd, in the first place, these are they whom I described as receiving the seed by the Mark i. 15. And these are * is way-side, where the word is no sooner soign, but the effect of it is presently lost, and their #...". Yº...i §: ° true character may thus be represented to you: when any one hears the word of the ; #.3. º woºd º heavenly kingdom, or of the gospel of the grace of God, and through a carelessinattention º';..."; understands [it] not; then Satán, that wicked one, who is the great enemy of God and §§.º. souls, flying as eagerly as a bird to his prey, comes immediately, and catches away the word ºriº ºil that was sown in his heart, lest they who have heard it should believe and be saved; and as ...º.º.º. nothing is like to be long remembered which is not well understood, all trace of it is ºff this jºb; which regiº; quickly lost out of such a mind, as grain scattered on the road: this, I say, is he that receiv- fºliº: ed the seed by the way-side in the parable. , - * ... * * 16 And these are they like- 16 And in like manner, in the next place, these are they who were described as having wis, which ºcciºğä"the received the seed in stony soil, or on a rock under a very shallow bed of earth; such, I i.e., tºº. §§ mean, who, having heard the message of pardon, life, and glory, which the word of the §§,'º','!'; gospel brings, immediately receive it with a transport of joy, and feel their natural passions §. jº. 17 elevated and enlarged at the report of such agreeable néws; But as they have no root of *, ºf ...º. roe, in deep conviction and real love to holiness in themselves, they have no true impression of themsgives, and so fºr;, the power of it on their hearts, and so believe it only in a notional, not a vital, manner, º #º. [and] endure in the profession of it but for a little while ; [and] afterwards in a time Q #;ºft sharp trial, especially when any domestić oppression or public persecution arises on account #: tºº of the word, they are presently offended, [and] apostatize from that warm and eager profes- #...ºnº s - - - - [LUKE, and fall away.] iſſat. sion which in times of less difficulty they were so forward to make. iii.;i."juke Wiii. iśī - XI 11. 21. 19, 19 And, in the third place, these are they whom I described by telling you, that they w; received sced among thorns; even such as hear the word, perhaps with #. constancy, and horns; such as hear the wordſ, - e - - , and when they hav the appearance of serious attention; [but] almost as soon as they have heard [it] go out 9f #####". º: the assembly, and, immerging themselves in secular affairs, permit the cares of this world, §§§. Zy e * : • a. * - w * º th d 'res Ul ness O TIC i w UKE, {lſº and the artful delusion of riches,” or perhaps the pleasures of [this] animal life, or the desires ièsures oftisińjämää. m Groven stiff’ pith fatness.] This is the proper English of £raxvvôn, a The artful delusion of riches.) This phrase, affarm Tov TAovrov, is and aſhudes to a notion the incients had, that a great quantity of ſat very elegant, and admirably expresses the various,ºrtſiºs by which about the heart stupified both the inteliéctual and sensitive powers. people in the pursuit of riche; excuse themselves from day to day, in Compare Det:t. xxxi. 20. xxxii. 15. Psal. cxix. 70. and Isa. vi. 10 putting off religious cares, and the confounding disappointment which *.* §: *-Tº's * ** ...— . *, - • --~~~~ * tº ºr ‘.. * §§ - ¿??¿T！！！!！！！！}\\\\\'\ N S§§§)}}}}}}}} £ the angels as his connexioſ, He is supposed to be the master aſ the ſicla, and of some iodge, or ſagm-house, in which these sefvants dwelt, d’īfī; afterwards be burnt, for fuel.] . This plainly proves, that the w 3rd &avia, which we render tares, does not exactly answer to that vegg table among us, which is a kind of pulse too good to be used merely S may seem some objection_to this ; but the reader may § 69, that I apprehend it may e tory; yet ſ acknowledge it that the house here spoken of might bé on the othcr side of the and at his order to assemble the whole world b ince what is here spo ſt is strange that any should have imagined that 6 roy objvrów signifies the knocking, or, as we commonly express of the tecth, through excess of cold. Yet some have Awful, important time! when the ower too strong to be resisted! e of life! that, when the day be consumed, we may while he is making see in my para- with this Pººl; akc, an be reconciled g Shail send forth his attendant angels.] The readcr will observe, how - - Lord here gives them of himself, attendants, who were at the last when be speaks of day to wait on him, efore him. ken of is supposed to pass h Gnashing aſ teeth.J. S in a furnacc of fire, (3puyttos for fuel - 1t, the chattering, e Afi or he had spoke some other parables.]... Some of these are con- been weak enough to arg tainod in the intermediate verse: ; (ver. 31- ºxplication of the parable would appear with some pecu thus immediately after it. | A fiſſile before ho crossed the l 31–35.) but I º: the iar advantage - Hell, Serm. iii. p. 14. ake.] I am sensible that Mark iv. 36. ue from hence, that º; iſometàn notion) the alternate extremities of heat and colº gºintº the ºut of the damned. See Archbishop Dawes's Sermous 0:1 to the Aſa- shcul:} con- ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SPEEDY PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL, up his jewels, and spared by him as his obedient children. ( • • spared, but honoured and adorned, and shine forth like the sun in our Father's kingdom; for these vile bodi shall be fashioned like to the glorious body of our Redeemer, (Phil. iii. 21.) and our purified and perfected Spirits shall be clothed with proportionable lustré, and reflect the complete image of his holiness. Amen. SECTION LXVIII. Our Lord adds other parables relating to the speedy progress of the gospel, and the importance of the blessings it proposes. Mark iv. 26–34 Matt. xiii. 31–35, MARK iv. 26. 44–53 MARK iv. 26. 127 Mal. iii. 17. and iv. 1.) Then shall we not only be SECT. bodies 67. ºpº Sºisſh; º; A.VD after Jesus, had delivered the foregoing parables, he went on with his disgourse to SECT. dom of od, - - - - - º * §lic.”s... 'in, "... the multitude, and further said, So is the kingdom of God, and such the nature of the dis- ground; pensation of the gospel in its progress, that it is º the growth of vegetables, fitly be illustrated by the case of a husbandman: and may 27 And should sleep, and upon the earth; And, after it is sown, should take no further thought about it, but sleep by rise night and day, and the - ja'...lī; a."º night and rise by day, and apply himself to other business: and in the mean time, without * up, he knoweth not how. 68. br it is as if a man should throw his seed MARs IV, . . Tº - his thought and caré, the seed should spring up and increase, he knows not how. For the 28 For the earth bringeth sº º ; : - - * 2 - fºſſitºhº, earth, by a certain curious kind of mechanism, which the greatest philosophers cannot fully blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. comprehend,” does, as it were, spontaneously, without any assistance from man, carry it through the whole progress of vegetation; and produces first the blade, then the ear, and 29 But when the fruit is afterward the full grain in the ear. But at the proper season for it, as soon as the fruit is 29 brought forth, , immediately §§§atiº"th."j.“... ripe, he immediatelyº: in the sickle, because the harvest is come; and all that remains is to cause the harvest is come. receive the bountif provision which the great Lord of all has produced by his own power. By such insensible degrees shall the gospel gain ground in the world, and ripen to a har- vést of glory: and therefore let not my faithful servants be discouraged, if the effect of their labours be not immediately so conspicuous as they could desire; a future crop may spring up, and the Son of man will in due time appear to gather it in. 30, And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what contpari- ..". the kingdom of God? or with what parable shall we place it in such a point of light 8.S IUI - - son shall we compare it 3 Matt. xiii. 31. Another parable put he, forth unto them, saying, rther to illustrate it 2 ...And he made a pause in his discourse, and then said, I am thinking whereunto shall we 30 After which reflection, he proposed another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven, MATT. ihº. of which I am speaking, or the interest of the gospel in the world, is like a grain of mus- XIII. tº is like tº tard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his field to raise and propagate the plant: It is, I ?” of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his field: ‘Mark, iv. 3].] - sł 2. - -C tºº, which tº considerable, and ſome of] the least of all the seeds that are cast in the groſſid.” But when 32 déï when it is sown in the it is sown some time in the earth, it grows up to a surprising degree, and becomes greater 8* * earth, is [the least of all seeds] that be in the earth. [Matt. xiii. 32.] . . - 32 But when it is sown, i than all other herbs; yea, I . even say, it becomes a tree, and shoots out great branches, so large and thick, that the birds of the air may build their nests in it, and come and lodge t - - • - tº ". its branches," [and] harbour under its shadow. In such a remarkable manner did our £reater thal) a G FOS 3. Lalſh ( - 2- rai - * * tº - - - É.i."tº ejº Lord intimate, that his gospel should prevail amidst all opposition; and, inconsiderable eth out great branches, so that the fowls of the air may {j and lodge in the ranches, ...and] under the shadow of it. [Matt. xiii. 32.] Matt. xiii. 33. arable spake he unto them : he kingdom o as its beginnings were, should spread itself abroad through the whole world, so as to afford weary and fearful souls a grateful and secure retreat. - He also spake another parable to them, to the same purpose with the former, which, like M3ATF. A.; the rest, was taken from a very familiar circumstance daily occurring in life: The kingdom ...” ič Šiš"...v."...high a covered up in three measures of meal; and though it seemed lost for a while in the mass of woman took; and hid in thre measures of meal, til whole was leavened. *; dough, it secretly wrought through it by a speedy, though insensible, fermentation, till at length the whole was leavened. Thus shall the gospel spread in the world, and influence and assimilate the temper and conduct of men. 34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables ; [an such, parables snak; he, º that so many enemies were then hovering round him, that had he declared the mysteries word unto them, as they were able to hear it;] and without of his kingdom in plainer terms, a parable spake he would have been in continual danger, and ºust, hº" without a series of repeated miracles, have been cut off by their malice; and upon this * - account, without a parable he spake not any thing, in all that he delivered to them on that 35, That, it might be fill-day: Thalso it might be seen that passage was remarkably fulfilled in him,” which was spoken 35 filled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will by the prophet, (Psal. lxxviii. 2.) and that he might with the utmost propriety adopt those gºnºmºuth in ºrables. I words that Asaph had delivered, saying, “I will open my mouth in yvill utter things which have arables, F will give ja"; "...e. "..."). vent to dark sayings of old, even to things which have been hid from the foundation of the world.”. For thus did Jesus teach important truths that were before unknown, in a manner something obscure, though to the attentive mind peculiarly impressing. yºnd after he had sent away the multitude, and was retired from them, he freely erpownded MAKs all these things to his disciples when they were alone with him. And when he had given them the forementioned explication of the parable of the tares, NATT. he again added some other parables to the same purpose, to promote the diligence, zeal, * say, like this grain, which indeed when at first it is sown in the earth, is very small and in- ºr ARs IV. w of heaven, said he, or the cause of the gospel, is like a little leaven which a woman took and - f heaven is S- 5 * •All these things Jesus spake to the multitude in parables; and with many other such para- 34 *"..."... bles spake he the word unio them, as they were able to hear and receive ſit ;} well knowing foundation of the world. Mark iv. 34. And when they were alone, he expound- ed all things to his disciples. Matt. xiii.44. Again : The a By a curious kind of mechanism, &c.] The word a prepairn, which is generally, in good authors, applied to artificial machings, so naturally suggested this thought, that f could not forbear hinting at it. The reader may see a very elegant illustration of it in Dr. Watts’s Philosophical Essays, No. ix. § 2. w = Let not my faithful servants be discouraged,. &c.] It cannot be the design of this parable to encourage private christians to imagine that religion will flourish in their own souls without proper cultivation ; or to lead ministers to expect that it will flourish in their people, while they neglect due 㺠in private as well as public. I hope there- fore the reader will acquiesce with me in the paraphrase given aboye ; supposing that our Lord meant to intimate that his apostles and other ministers were not to estimate their usefulness merely by their immediate and visible success, but might hope that, by their-preaching, a seed would be left in the hearts of many, which might afterwards produce happy fruit. On these principles, I doubt not but our Lord’s preaching greatly promoted the signal success of the apostles, (to which he might in pari refer, John iv. 38. p. 66.) an hope the remark may sometimes be applicable to our labours, especially with respect to those who, having enjoyed a religious education, and being restrained from grosser irregu- larities, have not been so far as others from the kingdom of God. There can be no reason to interpret this (as Grotius and Dr. Clarke have done) of Christ only ; he does not go away and sleep ; and he perfectly knows Role tire Sectl springs up ; 9n the other hand, every faithful minister may ge said to put in his sickfe, as having his part in the final harvest. (See John iv. 36. p. 66.) c The least of all the seeds, &c.J. Or one of the least : and so small, that it was Droyerbiałly used to signify a very little thing... (Comparé Matt. Xvii. 20.9 91. See Lightfoot’s Hor. Hebr. on Matt. xiii. 32.) d Conne and lodge in its branches.] The Talmud mentions a mustard- tree so harge that a man might with ease sit in it; and another, one of yhose branches covered a tent. (See Tremell. JYot. in loc. and Light- foot's Hor. Hebr.) And it is certain we shall be much mistaken, if we judge of vegetables or animals in the eastern and southern countries, merely by what those of the same species are among us. See Rapher. -ānnot. ex: Herodoto, p. 163. • e That it might be ſulfilled.) So many scriptures are thus quoted, by way of allusion, that I cannot think it necessary to suppose, as some late ingenious writers have done, that these words did not originally belong to the seventy-eighth Psalm, but are a fragment of some other, describing the manner, in which the Messiah was to preach. (See Jeffery’s Reviews D., 117.) They, have a plain connexion with the following verses, an might perhaps be a kind of preface to all Asaph’s Psalms, in which there are some dark sayings, though the greatest part of the séventy-eighth is very tº is ar. IV. 33 4-3 H28 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SPEEDY PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. SECT, and resolution of his disciples, in searching into and teaching these great and important kingdom of heayen is like 68. truths, in which the glory of God and the salvation of souls were so much concerned. Hºº.º.º.º.º. Particularly, he said to them, The happiness to which the kingdom of heaven, or the gospel- §º. MATT. dispensation, is designed to conduct men, is like an immense treasure hid in a field #º. aſl *", which when a man has found, he hides and covers up again with all possible care; and, in the #he hath, and buyeth that transport he is in for joy of it, goes and sells all that he has, and j, that field at any rate as being sure that it will abundantly answer the price. y 45 Or again, to represent the matter in a like instance, that I may fix it yet more deeply on , 45 Again; The kingdom of your minds, The kingdom of heaven is in this respect like, or may be illustrated by the hº’i."º. #. similitude of a merchant who goes about from one country to another, seeking the largest and ºn seeking tools 46 mºst beggiftſ pearls,” and other fine jewels; Who finding one pearl of an exceeding great 46 wh9, when he had ſound value offered to him on very advantageous terms, would by no means slip the opportunity, ºf Pºlº. but presently went away, and sold all that he had, and bought it; as well knowing . ji tº that hº had, and be a considerable gainer, though he should part with all he was possessed of for it. Thus though a resolute profession of my gospel may indeed cost you dear, yet it will, on thé whºle, be infinitely for your advantage, and richly repay all your losses. 2 But see to it, that you are in good earnest in your religion, and do not impose upon , 47. Again; The kingdom of yourselves by an empty profession: for, to add one parable more, which I shall again ..."; };"| "...'. orrow from an object with which some of you have been very conversant, The success of ... ºil.” " the kingdom of heaven in the world is like that of a met thrown into the sea, which gathered 48 in fishes] of all sorts; HWhich, when the fishermen perceived that it was full, they dragged nº high whº to the shore, and sitting down there, to survey the draught that they had made, gathered §§§ the good into proper vessels, but threw away the bad, as not worth their regard. So mixed . vessels, but cast the bad and undistinguished here are the characters of those who profess the gospel, which, as it is a Wüy. preached promiscuously to all, gathers in persons of all sorts, and hypocrites, as well as 49 true believers are brought into the visible church. But an exact survey will finally be taken 4° so shall it be at the ºff of the whole; and so it will be shown at last, how great a difference there is between them, ; ; ;":...”. by the assignment of their state : for at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth in §ed #; ºngº; º: the general resurrection, and separate the wicked from among the just, with whom they often have been joined before, even in the same religious society, and in the participation of the 50 same external privileges; .4nd they shall cast them into a furnace of fire, the seat of the .50 And shall cast them into damned; where their torments shall never end, but there shall be incessant wailing, and . furnace of fire: there gºshing of teeth, for rage and despair. - ºwailins and smashins º ...' I hen Jesús said unto them, Have ye, with the key tº them which I before gave you, un- ºl. Jesus saith, untº them, derstood all these things? They say into him, Yes, Lord, we clearly understand them. And ####". "..."; he said to them. See therefore, th things? They say unto him, 2 erefore, that as you understand them, you make a good use of them, Ygg Fºrd. for your own advantage, and that of others: for every scribe who is disciplined in the T; :::::::::::::::: mysteries, and has attained to the knowledge, of the kingdom of heaven, or every faithful ...º.º.º.º. king- minister who is fit for his work, is like a housekeeper, ... in a variety of goods for use, º º ſº and keeps them in such order, that he readily brings forth out of his store things new and º.º.º. old, as the several occasions of life require, dispensing them in such a manner as may best ºf treasure unass new an ... suit the case of those who are under his care. 58 . And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, which he added to those .53 And it came tºº. he had spoken in P. he departed thence that evening, to shun the further importunity flºº. "...: s - - - - these parables, he departed of the people, and crossed the sea with some remarkable circumstances, which will be i.e. 3. mentioned below. tº- - IMPROVEMENT. Ver.52 LET us be concerned to gather up these fragments, that nothing may be lost; and to lay them up in our memories and our hearts, that, according to our respective stations in life, we may have them ready for use. Mººk Let us remember, that sometimes the growth of piety in the heart is like that of vegetables i. earth. The 26*29 seca of the word may for a while seem lost: or when the fruit appears, it may advance and ripen but slowly. Let not ministers therefore too confidently conclude they have laboured in vain, and spent their strength for nought, because the fields are not immediately white to the harvest; but with believing hope, and humble patience, let them recommend the seed that they have sown to Him who, by the secret energy of his continued influences, can give at length a sure and pººl increase. Marr When Jesus took to himself his great power, and reigned, the gospel, which had gained so little ground under xiii., his personal ministration, ran, and was greatly glorified, in the hands of the apostles. The grain of mustard-seed 31, 32 shot up and branched forth into a Jºãº tree, and birds of every wing took shelter there: (O. that there had been none of the ravenous and the obscene ind !) Thus when the I. shall please to hasten it in his time, a iiitle one shall become a thousand, and a small one 4 strong nation. (Isa. lx. 22.) 33 Let us pray that the triumphant progress of his, kingdom may coº: In the mean time, let it be our desire that the principles of the gospel may, like a sacred kind of leaven, diffuse themselves through our whole souls; that all our powers and faculties, that all our thoughts and passions, may be, as it were, impregnated and elevated 44–46 by them. Let us remember the value of the blessings, it proposes; and regarding Christ as the pearl of great price, and heaven as that immense treasure; in which aloné we can be for ever rich and happy, let us be willing to part with all to secure it, if we are called to such a trial. - - - 47–50 t is not enough that we are nominal Christians, or possessed of the common privileges of the church: the day of final separation will come, and the angels employed in the work will not overlook us, but conduct us to the abodes of the righteous or the wicked. h that we may not then be cast with abhorrence into the furnace of fire but now seriously realizing to ourselves this awful day, of which our Lord has given such repeated prospects, may we sojudge ourselves, that we may not then be condemned of him 47 f Fix it yet more deeply on your minds.] Considering the many trials h But threw away the bad..] The word qampa, which we render bad, they were shortly to expect, it was proper the thought should thus be generally signifies corrupt or putrid, and, seºs ºn allusion to the draw- incilcated tº them by a variety of figures: Íng up somé dead fish in a net with the living, Mr., Horberry justly g Beautiful ºarls.] The sacred yriters elseywhere. §º and pre- observes, that this in the Štrongest tº represents the hopeless state of fe; ºn to jewels. See Job xxviii. 15–19. É.iii."; and viii., ii. sinners at last. Sce his Discourse of Fut. Punish. p. 29. SEVERAL PROFESS THEIR WILLINGNESS TO FOLLOW CHRIST. . . . SECTION LXIX. Our Lord having given some remarkable answer to some who seemed disposed to follow him, passes over the lake, and stills a mighty tempest as he was crossing it. Matt. viii. iS-27. Markiv. 35, to the end. Luke'viii. 32–35, ix. 57, to the end. MARK iv. 35. AND the same day, when the even was come, [when * #: iii.) º: ºliº; Were delivered, when about I'll In, UKE, he went || * - into a ship with his disciples; little while to retire from them, and he said } | US go OVC r tº Into the Other Side I: * tº ººzº .#jºi" tº discoursing; a ūke viii. 22.] 36 And when they had sent away. . the multitude, they 190k him even as he was in the ship. Matt. viii. 19. And [it came to pass, that as they went in the way,), a certain scribe game, and - said unto him, [Lord and, Master, I will fol. low thee whithersoever thou goest. [Luke ix. 57.] taining parables, and conclu they had dismissed the multitude, and had at len him just as he was in the ship,” without any further provision for their passage. But before we relate the particulars of their voyage, we shall here take occasion to add two or three little occurrences, one of which happened at this time. - Jind first it came to pass, that as they went in the wayd from the house out of which he MATT. came, to the shore where he proposed to embark, a certain scribe, pleased with his enter- *s 㺠from the tenor of some of them,” as well as from the zeal | with which the people flocked about him, that he would soon become a mighty prince, on declaring himself the Messiah, came with all the appearance of profound respect, and MARK iv. 35. JWOW, in the evening % the same day” on which the parables that we have been relating SECT. esus saw great multitudes still waiting about him,b purposing for a e came out of the house, and went into a ship, which ºn. Tº stood by the neighbouring shore, with those of his disciples with whom he had just been MARK j said unto them, Let us go over unto }. gth persuaded them to withdraw, they took 36 e other side of the lake. And when said unto him, O thou great Lord [and] JMaster, who hast another kind of authority than we scribes can pretend to, (Matt. vii. 29. p. 89.) I beseech thee to give me leave to attend 20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have hesis ; but the Son of man bath not where _to lay his head. [Luke ix. 58.] thee in thy passage; for I am determined that I will follow thee whithersoever thow goest, and devote myself entirely to the service of thy kingdom. And Jesus, knowi tives which engaged him to this resolution, saith unto him, Do not flatter yourself with the expectation of any temporal advantages from such an attendance; for I plainly tell you, that whereas (not to speak of domestic animals, which are under the care of man) eyen the very fores have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, for themselves and their young; yet the Son of man, successful as his kingdom must at length be, does now º in such low circumstances, that he has not so much as a place where he may lay his hed ; he knows not one day where he shall find food and lodging the next; and his followers must expect no better a condition. A declaration sufficient to deter a person who sought nothing but his present interest and advantage. 21 And . [he said unto], an- other of his disciples, [Follow Ine : but he] said unto him, ord, suffer me, first to go and bury my father. [Luke IX. 32 But Jesus said unto to whose remains I am him; Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead ; (but go of God..] [Luke ix. €0.] ...And to another of his disciples, who had for some time attended his discourses, he said, 21 Follow me statedly, as these my servants do, that thou mayest be trained u part with them in the ministry of the gospel. gladly do it: yet I beg thou wouldst first permit me to go home and bury my aged father,ſ going to pay my last duty. But Jesus, who thought it proper on 22 this occasion to make an extraordinary trial of his faith and obedience, said again winto ºſpreach the #igdom him, Follow thow me immediately, and leave the dead to bury their dead: let those who are themselves spiritually dead, perform the rites of funeral; yea, let the dead remain un- to take thy But he said unto him, Lord, I will most buried, rather than disobey my word when I give thee so great a commission; or than neglect it but one day when I say, as I now do, Go thou and preach this gospel of the king- dom of God,é which thou hast heard, and shalt further hear OII) IQ62. the mo- 20 º #º. 8.1SO Sal C1, L'Or VV 1 O110 VV - • ... • thee; ºrietie first ºil me first to go and settle the affairs of my family, and take my leave of them which are at ; ºil.” “* my house, as Elisha was permitted to do when called in so extraordinary a manner to the 61 & Andjesus said, unto prophetic office. . Kings xix. 20.) And Jesus said unto him, Take heed that no fond 62 affection for any who may stand related to thee, nor any solicitous concern about thy tem- Jłmd at a certain time,b another also said, Lord, I will presently follow thee; but permit LUke XI. him, No man having put his hand to the plough, and look- dom of God. jºijät for the king-poral affairs, prevent thee from executing the important º thou hast formed of l, devoting º to my service ; for no man having once laid ooking back, is fit for the service of ife kingdom is hand on the plough, and of God;k as indeed, if the afterwards , a. In the evening of the same day.] Or, that very day, aphen it was even- ing ; for these are the express words of the evangelist ; gy exeuvn Tm myºpa, , opt as yºvopſeums; and indeed they are so express that I am amazed any critics, who do not suppose he was mistaken, can pretend it was not the Sane day; which yet Dr. Clarke does, as if the phrase meant nothing more than one day towards evening. I dare not take so great a freedom with the sacred author, and have therefore been obliged to transpose, though not to contradigt, Matthew.—This indeed appears one of the busiest days of Christ’s life, as all the events and discourses re- corded from his miraculous cure of the demoniac, who was blind and dumb, (9 G1 p. 116.) happened in it; nevertheless, I see no absurdity in slipposing that all these things might pass in less than twelve hours. Compare note, c, on Matt: xii. 22. p. 116. - b Great multitudes still waiting about him.] They sometimes staid with or near him several days together. (Compare Matt. Ny. 32. § 86.) And it seems, that now they staid awhile after Christ had dismissed them, perhaps with a prayer or benediction ; (Matt. xiii. 36. p. 126.) for on his coming down again to the shore, the disciples joined with him in persuading them to dispeñse ; which, when they saw {:}; determined to cross the sea, they would the more readily do ; for so we may conclude from what Mark says above, ver. 36. that, just as he took shipping, they (that is, Jesus and his disciples) sent them away. And, this appears to the . be the easiest way to reconcile this difference, which is none of the leaSt. -- c They took him as he was in the ship.] This may seem an objection against the solution proposed in the last note; but I think the turn, given itſ the paraphrase may remove it. . If any are not satisfied with that answer, they must suppose that Christ’s going into an house, mentione by Matthew, was some time after ; which seems not so natural a sense of Matthew’s words. (See Matt. xiii.33. with note, f, p., 126.) But had that appeared to me the meaning of them, it would only have occasione the altération of a clause or two in the paraphrase : for, it would have been improper to have divided the explication of the parable of the tares from the parable itself. - - d as they went in the way.] As this and the next story are inserted by Matthew between his account of Christ’s giving commandment to cross the lake, and his entering into the ship to do it, (see Matt. viii. 18–23.) I cannot but conclude thoy both happened at this time; and consequently, that when Luke introduces it by saying, it was as they went in the way, his meaning must be at large, one day as Christ and his disciples were ywalking, and not (as Sir Isaac Newton supposes) as they went on in that journey in which the Samaritans had refused him a lodging. The follow: iºg words would indeed have been proper on that occasion; but they had aiso an universal propriety, as Christ {j no house or stated lodging of i’ſ & his own, and was now going over to a place where we do not find he had any acquaintance. But if any think St. Luke’s expression too §º to bear this interpretation, they must, iſ they would not impeach St. Mat; thew’s account of it, conclude that this little occurrence happened twice, as it is very possible it might. e Concluding from the tenor of some of them.], The parables of the mustard-seed and the leaven, were both spoken before the multitude, (\latt. xiii. 31, 34. p. 127.) and they were both so plain, that the disciples &lid not ask Christ to expound them; as indeed one can hardly imagine how any explication could have made them, more intelligible. ...The scribe’s forsåking Christ, on the declaration he made of his destitute circumstances, makes it evident he was actuated by these views. f To go home and bury, my aged father.], Some think that this expres- sión only intimates, his father was so old that he could not live long. But Christ’s answer seems to take it for granted he was already, dead. . . . Go thºu and preach the kingdom ºf God.]. As our Lord called, him now to follow him, we must conclude that this commission which he gives him to preach was not directly to be put in execution. The cir- cumstance was plainly extraordinary, and might turn on reasons un- known to us. 8. might, for instånge, foresee some, partigular, ob- struction that would have arisen, from the interview with his friends at his father’s funeral, which would have prevented his %; himself to the ministry.; to which he might refer in saying, Let THE DEAD bury their dead. "I see no reason to suppose any regard to the priests being for- bidden some usual ceremonies of mourning, which some have thought to be intended here. . * - e At a certain time.] This probably happened at another time ; for it would have begn very improper to have asked permission to go and bid his domestics farewell, when Christ had just made such an ānswer to the former: but the story is so short, and so much resembles the former that I choose (as St. Luke also does), to join them together... Nor do’ſ think it any reflection on the evangelists, that they did not follow the §§ time, provided they do not assert a regard to it where they vary On it. i Permit me first to settle the affairs of my family, and take my leave, &c.] In this latitude I doubt not but the phrase attoražaabat Tots els Tov otkov pov is to be taken here, though it has something of a different signification, Luke xiv. 33. § 121. Intending to §§ up his possessions, he probably designed to order hoºp they should be distrib among his iends; as Heinsius has yery well explained theP; - kJYo'nan having laid his hand on the plough, and looking back, is fit foº the kingdom of God.] Hesiod has given it as the character Öf a good ploughman, that he keeps his mind intent on his work, that he may make a straight farrow, and does not allow himself to gaze about on his com- 130 SECT. Work of ploughing the ground require that a man should look before him, and resolutel mind what he is about, you may easily imagine that the duties of a gospel-minister wi —— require a much more º attention, and more firm resolution. said before, that Jesus was about to cross the lake, when he was as entered into the ship, his disciples followed him; and they directly launched forth, even as ° many as could conveniently get à passage in that vessel, or any others that were there- tº: abouts; for they were all desirous to attend him; and several other little ships were also 69. MLATT. VIII. JESUS STILLS A MIGHTY TEMPEST. Jāmd now, as it was said Matt. viii. 23. . And when he was entëred into a ship, his disciples followed him : UKE, and they launched forth :], [and there were also with him other littlºbjºl [Mark iv. 36. Luke viii.22.] nd behold, Pº 8.8 sailed, he fell asleep; and there came down a great] storm of wind on the 24 with him. And as they were sailing over the lake, Jesus laid himself down in the ship; #. and] there arose a great and being wearied with the various labours of the day, he # asleep: and, behold, there #Pºsºnº, IV. came down a violent storm of wind on the lake: and on a su that there grose a great and unusual agitation in the sea, insomuch that the vessel was even covered with the swelling waves, which beat into the ship, so that it was now full of water, MARK and they were in extreme danger the refreshment of his weary of being cast away. And body, as well as for the trial of their faith, was asleep on a at the ship was covered with the waves; [and the Waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full;) [flüge, and they were in jeopardy.j [Markiy. 37, Luke viii. §: . Mark iv. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow : [and his den it was so tempestuous, ſº in the mean time, for 8 pillow in the stern of the ship, being greatly fatigued with the labours of the day.” And disciples came to him, and MATT. WIII. 26 when to all human appearance they were just sinking, his disciples came to him, and quakened him, saying, with great surprise and importunity, Master, JMaster, is it no man- not; ner of concern to thee that we are all of us in the utmost danger, and hast thou no regar to what we are exposed to in such a terrible extremity as this? Lord, save us, for we are just perishing ! awoke him, saying, Master, [LUKE, Master, carest thou 3, [Lord, saye us ; we d perish.J. [Matt. viii. 25. Luke VIII. Matt viii. 26. And he saith nto them, Why are ye [so . - * * Ul •ºnd he says to them, Why are ye so exceeding timorous, O ye of little ºf icº. faith? Can you imagine that God would suffer Me to be lost in a tempest? or that I #º. would consult my own safety in the neglect of yours ? Where is your fait that you have no faith in exercise on such an occasion, when you have had so many signal * ... [How is it that ye have no 2 and how is it faith?] Then he arose, and rebuked the winds, [LUKE, and the raging of the water:] eyidences both of my power and my tender care P And then rising up, with an air of di- jāºščejº vine majesty and authority, he rebuked the winds, and the raging of the water, and said to the sea, as a master might do to a company of turbulent servants, Peace, be still: and he be still ; and the wind ceasedj and there was a great, calm. ºrk iv. 39, 40. Luke viii. 27 had no sooner spoken, but the wind rested, and there was presently a great calm. And the *śt the men marvelled, ºnen that were with him were greatly amazed, and struck with such a reverential awe, that ººººº; 24 weather every danger! 25 help, may we cry out, 20 LºšB to turn a deaf ear to the calls of duty; or suffer us, when we once have en IX. 62 SECT. A.N.D after they were thus delivered from the danger of the storm, they came over other side of the sea of Tiberias, and arrived at the country of the Gadarenes ; a territory belonging, [or] at least adjacent, to that of the ancient Gergesenes, or Girgashites, (see MARK Gen. x. 16. xv. 21. Deut. vii. 1. and Josh. iii. 10.) which is situated over * , being that tract of land which fell to the lot of the half-tribe of Manasseh 70. 2 ...And when he was landed out of the ship, he was no sooner got ashore, but there immedi- ately met him two men” possessed with demons, coming out of the sepulchres, which were in they feared exceedingly, saying to each other, What a wonderful person is this, ...} power over diseases, but commandeth even the most tumultuous elements, the winds and the sea; and amidst all their rage and confusion, they humbly obey him, and are imme- diately composed at his command * to another, who has not Whatmanner of man is this that [LUKE, commandeth even the winds and the sea; [[UKE, and they], obey. him : [Markiv. 41. Luke viii. 25.] IMPROVEMENT. Ver.27 How great and glorious does our blessed Redeemer appear, as having all the elements at his command, and exercising his dominion over the winds and seas' He stills the very tempests when they roar, and makes the storm a calm. (Psal. cvii. 29.) He silences at once the noise and fury of the tumultuous waves; and, in the midst of its eonfusion, says to the raging sea, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no waves be stayed. (Job xxxviii. 11.) Who would not reverence and fear him? {#. and here shall thy proud ho would not cheerfully commit themselves to him? Under such a protection, how courageously may his church ride through every storm, and Christ is still with her, and she is safe even while he may seem to be sleeping. Blessed Jesus! that . of thine which here commanded the tempest into a calm, can easily silence all our tumultuous passions, an ourselves. May we still be applyin %. ', save us, or we perish / reduce our souls to that blessed tranquillity, in which alone we can be capable of enjoying thee and to Christ with such importunate addresses; and, sensible how much we need his And may it be the language, not of suspicion and terror, but of faith; of a faith determined at all adventures to adhere to him, whatever dangers are to be encountered, or whatever advantages are to be resigned. Did his compassion for us, and his desire of our salvation, engage him to submit to such destitute and calamitous circumstances, that when the fores have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, the Son of man himself had not a place where he might lay that sacred head, which with infinite mutual complacency and delight he had so often reposed in the bosom of the Father May our zeal and love animate us cheerfully to take our part in his indigence 21 and distress, if he calls us to it! May no considerations of ease or interest, or even of human friendship, lead us aged in his service, to think of desert- ing it, lest on the whole we should be judged unfit for the kingdom of God! Tſay thy grace, O Lord, animate our souls, that nothing may prevent our faithfulness unto death, and so deprive us of that crown of life which thy grace has promised to such a character! (Rev. ii. 10.) SECTION LXX. Christ being arriyed at the country, of the Gadarenes, dispossesses two demoniacs; and permitting the evil spirits to enter into a herd of swine, is desired by the inhabitants to withdraw ; and so returns to the western side of the sea. Matt. viii. 28, to the end, ix. I. Mark v. 1—21. Luke viii. 25—40. MARK v. 1. and was afterwards called Trachonitis. MARK v. 1. to the AND they came over unto the other side of the sea, [LUKE, and arrived at the Š. of the Gadarenes, [or ergese & * * § which is over º Galilee ; §§"; Galilee.], [Matt. viii. eyond Jordan, . Luke viii. 26.] And when he was come out of the ship; [LUKE, to land,) immediately there met him... [two possessed with devils, coming out of the panions. (Hesiod Egy. lib. ii. ver. 61–63.) Our Lord, on the like ob- vious principles, may use the phrase of ome that looks behind him while his hand is on, the plough, as a kind of proverbial expression, for a care- Hess, irresolute person, who must be peculiarly unfit for the christian ministry. , How happy had it been for his church, had this lively ad- monition been regarded, without which it is impossible opóoropiety rov Xoyov ring axm6etas, to divide, or rather direct, the word of truth aright, 2 Tim. ii. 15. See Bos, Observ. cap. vi. p. 28–32. * * 1 A great agitation in sea.] Xetapos pleyas properly signifies a mighty agitation : probably it was something of a hurricane. Iłł #j with the labours of the day.] ...This we may reasonably conclude from a review of the preceding sections. See also the latter part of note a, in the beginning of this section. a There met him two men.] Mark and Luke mention only one, who probably was the fiercer of the two, but this is no way inconsistent with the account that Matthew gives.—I cannot but observe here, that Mark tells this story in all other respects so much, more circumstantially than Matthew, that it abundantly proves that his gospel was not (as Mr. Whiston maintains in his Harmony) an abridgment of. Matthew. The same remark may arise, from comparing Mark V. 3. with Matt. ix. l 6. and Mark ix. 17–27. with Matt. xvii. 14–18 arallel passages; not to mention histories recorded by Maſk, and not to B. found in M atthew, See Mr. Jones’s Windication of St. JHatthew’s Gospel, chap. vii. and ix. b Coming out of the sepulchres.] Grotius supposes, that the demons chose to drive the men that they possessed among the tombs, to confirm ... and some other - CHRIST DISPOSSESSES TWO DEMONIACS. 131 # *ś, i. º near the city, whither they had fled as to a place affording them some SECT. tº jº, shelter, and suiting their ;. imaginations; and they were both of them exceedi 70. Jierce and mischievous, so that no one could safely pass by that way: and [one of these was i. out of º Yº \inglean Spirit, LLUKE, whic s e º tº º - a certain man of the city with an unclean spirit, that had been known to be possessed wit * had devils alongtime:1 (Matt. viii. 28. Luke viii. 27. 3 Who, [ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but] had his dwelling among tho tombs; and no mán could bind him, ſo not with chains: LLuke viii. 27.] 4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces; neither could any man tame him. * 5 And always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran, [and fel down before him, and wor- demons for a long time; Hho was so terribly outrageous that he wore no clothes, nºr would abide in any house, but had his dwelling sometimes in the burying-ground among the tombs, and sometimes in a desert, or a common, that lay near it; and was under so strong an operation of the diabolical power, that no one could confine him even with chains : Fºr he had often been bound with fetters and chains; yet in the most surprising manner the chains were broken asunder by him, and the fetters were beaten to pieces; and, after all the methods that had been taken with him, no one was able to tame him, either by force or entreaties, or 4 any kind of exorcism that had been tried upon him. ...And he was always night and day upon the 5 mountains, and among the tombs, crying outin a terrible manner; and, when there was nobody else to spend his rage upon, cutting himself with sharp pieces of the stones he found there. But when he saw Jesus afar off, the demon that possessed him was so overawed, that he 6 immediately ran and fell down upon his face before him, with all the appearance of the greatest reverence, and º him. l shipped him; [Like viii. ; have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I am not come here to enter 7 And cried . [LUKE, out] ; - - s with joudjoij jiā, into any contest with thee, and I beseech [and] adjure thee by that God whose Son thou What have I to do with thee, esus, thou Son of the mos high God? [J,UKE, I beseech thee,) I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not : [art thou come hither to tor- ment us...before the time ºl [Matt. viii.29. Luks viii. 28.] uke viii. 29. (For he had commanded the unclean spirit, [and said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean, spirit..] . For often- times it had caught him ; and he was kept, bound with chains, and in fetters; and he brake the bands, ...and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) [Mark v. 8.] 30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name 3 and he answered, saying, My name is Legion; for we are many:] because many devils were entered into him. [Mark v. 9..] 31 Athd they besought him ſº that he would not send them away out of the country, gnd] command them to ić ºut into the deep. [Mlark V", 10. Mark v. 11. , Now there was there [a good way off from them,) high unto the moun- tains, a great herd of [many] swine feeding. [LUKE, on the mountain.] [Matt. viii. 3 uke viii. 32.] - 12, And all the devils be- sought him, saying, [[f thou cast us out, send us [or Suf- fer us to go away] into the [herd of] swine, that we may enter into them. [Matt. viii. 31. Luke viii. 32.] 13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave, [and said ūnto them, Go.] And the unclean spirits went out [LUKE, of the man,) and en- tered into the [herd of } SYW lll & . and (behold,) the [whole] herd ran violently down a steep some superstitious notions of the Jews relating to the power of evil spirits over the dead. The heathens had undoubtedly such notions ; but Elsner, the demoniacs chose the caves of this burying-ground as a kind of shelter ; and he has shown, that wretches in extremity sometimes did the like- * - º * , º, c A desert, or a common that lay near it..] So it is said by ſluke, ver. I rather think, with out of regard to the gain of such merchandise, which they sold to the art, that thou do not exert the power which thou hast to torment me; I know there will be a season when thou wilt have an ample triumph over me; but art thou come hither to torment us before the time allotted for our final punishment?d And this he spoke as he Jesus was so moved with pity and compassion at the sight of such a miserable spectacle, that he already had commanded the unclean spirit, [and] said with an air of authority to him, Come out of the man, thout unclean spirit. For (as it was observed before) it had often 3eized him in a most violent manner; and notwithstanding he was bound with chains, and kept under the closest confinement in fetters, yet none of them were strong enough to hold him, but he would still break loose; and having broke and torn off all the bonds that they could fix upon him, he was driven by the impetuous impulse of the raging demon into the desert places where the burying-ground lay. ; .ſbud crying out with a loud voice, he said, What 7 .And Jesus asked the evil spirit that was in him, º What is thy name? And he 30 answered, saying, Jºſy name is Legion : for we are many.” And this reply was not without Some reason, because the evil spirit that possessed the man had many others with him, and a multitude of demons had entered into him, and had been suffered to unite their malice and power in harassing and tormenting the wretched creature. And as they found that Jesus was determined to dislodge them, they earnestly entreated him that he would not send them quite away out of the country;f hoping, that if they had permission to hover still about it, they might do something to obstruct the progress of the gospel, against which their chief efforts were centred: [and] they particularly were impor- tunate that he would not command them to go out into the bottomless abyss, the prison in which many of the fallen spirits are detained, and to which some who may, like these, have been permitted for a while to range at large, are sometimes by divine justice and º (Compare Rev. xx. 1–3. 2 Pet. ii. 4. Jude, ver. 6. and see Grotius, 777, l00. JWow, there was there within their view, at a considerable distance from them, on the mountains near the sea-shore, a great herd of many swine feeding on the mountain ; , for unclean as those animals were, the Jews in that country bred up great numbers of them Roman soldiers, and other Gentiles who were very numerous in these parts.s .4nd all the demons which had possessed this miserable creature (set upon doing all the mischief that they could, though they were under such a sensible restraint, and desirous to bring an odium upon Jesus as the author of mischief) entreated him again, saying to him, If thou art determined, after all we have said, that thou wilt cast us out of this man, send is, [or] give us leave to go away, to the herd of swine which is feeding yonder, that we may enter into them; for we have no power of hurting eventhem without thy leave. And immediately Jesus permitted them. to do it; partly to punish those who dealt in so infamous a commodity, and chiefly to prove the reality of a diabolical agency in these cases,h and to display the malice of those evil spirits: he therefore said unto them, You may go, since you desire it, and operate on those creatures as you please. .4nd upon this the unclean spirits went directly out of the man whom they had possessed, and entered into the herd of swine: and such was the strange effect of their power, that, behold, the whole herd immediately grew mad, and ran p their observations on the characters and circumstances of the inhabitants they might be capable of doing more mischief here than elsewhere, and on that account might desire leave to continue on the spot. . r # Which they sold to the Roman soldiers, and other Gentiles, &c.] The laws of Hyrcanus had indeed prohibited the Jews from keeping swine, (which shows it hai been much practised among them,) but §: adarenes, who had so many G See Eisner, Observ. Vol. i. p. 66–68. * Gentiles in the neighbourhood, having 29. that he was driven into the wittlerness. d Art thow come hither to torment its beſare the time?] Here was such long been under heathen government, (Joseph. Antiq., Jud. lib. xv. cap. a reference to the final sentence which Christ is to pass upon these rebel 7. [al., 11.] § 3. et Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 2.). [al. 15.] § ; and living in spirits in the judgment of the great day, to which they are reserved, the extreme ous and illegal (Jude, ver, 6.), as could not be dictated by lunacy; and it is much to be guestioned, whether either the person speaking, or any of the hearers limself, understood the sense and propriety of it. but Christ e My name is Légion, for tee ing from hence, that the number of these evil spirits was exactly, the zame with that of a ſtounan, legion, which was now upwards of six thousand. (See Pitise. Jez de Legion.) lt was a phrase that was often made use of to express a great number. Mark v. 9.)—It is observable, that. Luke here adds, that many demons were entered into him : so that it is evident he Fº It I, Ot a n) Grê lunacy, but a real possession. the vexation of thi. wretched creature; but in what manner and order, it is impossible for us to say, who know so little of invisible beings, That he would not send them out of the country.] ... I - x, 13, 20. that different evil genii preside, over distinct regions, by the direction of Satan their prince. . tinguished abilities, might be as much as possible the beneficial designs of Christ: and having made part of the country, presumed to do it, scanda as the employment was. See §. of Jesus iºniº, p. 34, 35. h To prove the reality of a diabolical agency in these cases.) The cavils against this miracle are equally malicious and weak. Our Lord’s permitting the evil spirits to enter into the swine, was not properly send- ing them into those beasts; or if he had done it; the punishment to the owners would have been just ; of had it been less apparently so, his extraordinary character as a prophet, and the proofs he gave of a divine go-operation, would have set him above our censure in an action, the ſull reasons of which we might not perfectly have known.—But though this solution is to me very satisfactory, it is not necessary to have re- course to it; for this action evidently appears both wise and gracious; inasmuch as it unanswerably demonstrated at 9nce the malice of Satan and the extent of Christ’s power over him. No miracles are more sus- icious than pretended dispossessions, as there is so much room for col- usion in them; but it was self-evident that a herd of swine could not be confederates in any fraud: their death, therefore, in this instructive and convincing, circumstance, was ten, thousand times a greater blessing to mankind, than if they had been slain for food, as was intended. are inqui.] There is no need of copclud- (See Lightf. Hor. Hebr. on Probably a band of evil spirits united in It seems from Dan. who perhaps were spirits of dis– appointed to reside hereabouts, to oppose 31 was acted by the demon that possessed him; who was afraid of being driven away: For Lº 132 CHRIST DISPOSSESSEs Two DEMONIACs. SECT. violently down a precipice into the sea; and were all suffocated in - º - - - * • * * ºn the sea, and perished in the place into ti r 70. waters;k being in number about two thousand. 5 p 5.º.º.º. Jłnd the swine-herds, seeing what was dome, fled in great amazement, some one way and ed in the waters:] and they - e Yere about two , thousand. MARK some another, and told all the story, both in the city and country; and circumstantially Mºś 3. We y - - º - related what had happened to the two demoniacs, and how the demons had been ejected ºine.[Lºhen they say from them. And when the people heard it, they were so much impressed with the report, .º.º. that th wit out wd a rºl • * , port, ſeverythingjin the city, an 13. º j out in Crowds to see what was done, and to satisfy themselves, on the testi. §§ º * r º - €13.11en to t - 15 ..º. Of t º OW }. as to the truth of so unparalleled a fact. And when they came ºilº,"änäijº. to Jesus, and sque the demoniac (even him that had been tormented by the legion, and out ..."...Whº Yi tº - of whom the demons were departed) calmly sitting at the feet of %. tº receive his ɺle. §§" viii. 33. instructions, and now decently clothed and perfectly composed, as being restored to his anº #!” Hº: º %º were struck º such a mixture of astonishment and reverence, that they Fºº with #º: w *g - e legion, * 16 10&re gº O º with so great a prophet, and dreaded the further effects of his º. i". ( Ompare LUlke V. 8. Sect. xxxiv.) ...And they also who were present, and had seem .." º ſº o º - * - - InCI CIOthed, anç t all t * . from the beginning, #. them a particular account of [it] and told them mind; and they wººi. more largely than the swine-herds had done, by what means the demoniac had been recovered; *ślaiso) that saw and also told them concerning the swine, how they had been so strangely destroyed by thé tº them iºnal means apparent agency of those evil spirits by which the men had before been possessed. ºijº. devils was healed, and also * .And behold, all the inhabitants of the whole city of Gadara, as the rumour increased; ººns the swife. [Luke 34 ºne out to meet Jesus; [and] indeed the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes "Witkiii.33. Analcholl, found about flocked to see so wonderful a person: and when they saw him, they presently iº. ºff. Canne Out to began, with all submission, to entreat him th. he would please to depart from them out of Wije §§ .#hº their coasts; pretending that they, who had so great a number of Gentiles round them, ś"ß". were not fit to receive so great and holy a person; for they unreasonably looked on him 㺠as the author of the calamity which ji the swine, and were seized with great fear, lest ; ºf ſº he should send some further judgments upon them, which they were j. the great ºs; tº jºyº; irregularities of their behaviour well deserved:" and he, by no means willing to j. º his presence on those who were so insensible as not to desire it, went into the ship again, #". §§§ºi."º". and returned back to the western shore of the sea. p again, "iſºla when he * * *...*.*.*.*.*...*.*.*. . of whom the demons were now jsºft 18 1. ‘’’’ ‘. ei upposed of some, Matt. xii. 43–45. sect. º.º.º.º.º.º. lxiii.) he might be in danger of a relapse, and dreading the terrors of his former condition flººr; § º lſº entreated him that he might be allowed to continue with him, to enjoy the further benefit of "; Bºuff 19 his instructions. Yet Jesus did not permit him to do it, but sent him away, saying, Return hº º to thine own house, [and] go to thy friends and relations at home, and fail not particularly i. ; º to tell them how great things the Lord God of Israel, whose messenger I am, has by his jº, º ºrº almighty power performed for thee, and how graciously he has had compassion on thee in * §§ those déplorable circumstances which rendered thee a spectacle of horror to them, and all #.º.º. 33.1 °" "** 20 that saw thee. And upon this, he went away and began to publish through the whole city of tºº iºned, and Gadara, in which he dwelt, ſº in all the neighbouring region of Decapolis, what great hºº! and wonderful things Jesus had done for him: and all men were amazed at so stupendous §ºtºsí. a miracle - SUIS had done for him; and all & men did marvel. [Luke viii. Mººr. ...And Jesus, having entered into the ship, departed thence as soon as the demoniac was “shatt. ix.1. And he entered X. , dismissed: and, leaving those ungrateful people who had no greater value for his presence, into a ship, and passed ºver, and came into his own city. Mark v. 21. And [it came to pass, that] when Jesus was passed over again by ship up- * he passed over the sea of Galilee, and shortly after came to his own city of Capernaum, where he had dwelt after his leaving Nazareth. (See Matt. iv. 13. p. 70.) ". . . . . . . . . to the other side of W. K the #: º 110 º tº b º h t Sé # ag % in the shi. to º e º; jà º º: - - • , W.A.A. W. H. W.' 63" 3.1 - : gathered unto him ; Land the 21 5 ut a great multitude gathered to him, [and] the people jº"; most gladly received him ;" for they expected his speedy return, and were all impatiently for they were all waiting for ; for him; and he continied some time on the sea-coast, teaching and working º" IIllta C16S, - -> - - -W-" - ..º . -> IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 3 FROM the remarkable story which is here before us, we must 'surely see the most apparent reason to adore the 13 good providence of God, which restrains the malignant spirits of hell from spreading those desolations amºng easts and men, which would otherwise quickly turn the earth into a wilderness, or rather into a chaos. But 12 what matter of joy is it to reflect, that all their fury and rage is under a divine control, and that they cannot hurt even the meanest animal without permission from above - - ... • a’ The unhappy creature whose state is here described in such lively colours, is an affecting emblem of those who 4, 5 are in a spiritual sense under the power of Satan. Thus do they break asunder the bonds of reason and gratitude, and sometimes of authority, and even of shame; and, thus driven on by the frenzy of their lusts and passions, they are so outrageous as to injure others, and to wound themselves. Hüman attempts to moderate and reform 15 them may be vain; but let us remember that the Almighty Saviour has a voice which can put this worst kind of demons to flight, and restore those that have been agitated by them to their right mind, so as to place them at his feet in holy composure, and in calm rational attention. . . - . . . . . 7 We see here a legion of devils trembling before the Son of God, confessing his superior power, howling as it were in their chains, and entreating the delay of their torments. And can human pride stand before him, and rebellious mortals triumph over him? Happy souls that are listed under his banners! They shall share the vic- the malignity of these demons, in this instance, served to illustrate the value of every miracle of this kind, and, to display the grace; as well as power, of Christ in every dispossession; in which view this circumstance àppears to have been determined with great wisdom, and goodness, though folly and perverseness have so strangely disguised it. | Time ºftole city of Gadara.] Josephus describes it gº, a Wºły Con; siderable place. It was, by the righteous judgment of God, the first jºijty that fell into the hands of the Romans, in th9, fºtal.Yaºnder espasian, and suffered grgat...extremities- Joseph. Bell. • I W . cap. 7. [al. v. 3. 4. Sée Wits. de Toccan...Trib. cap. 8. § 2, ń, i.e. he should send some further judgments upon them, &c.] Sóné have imagined that they thought Christ a magician, and feared the effects of his art; but the cause assigned in the paraphrase seems to mº much more decent, and all things considered, more likely. They were probably a licentious sort, of people, and might naturally, from what they saw, fear some further chastisement from S9 holy a prophet. n ºily reggiº him.j This Grotius has observed to be the meaning i The whole herd ran, violently down a precipice into the sea.] This story is an unanswerable demonstration of the error of the hypothesis advånced by the author of the late Inquiry, into the Case of the Demoniacs, &c. (Mentioned before in note c, on Luke iv. 33. p. 73.) hat ingenious writer is forced to suppose these swine frighted by the two mad men, and so driven down the precipice:... but, not, to mention the absurdity of supposing, their lunacy thus to rago; after Christ had spoken the healing word, one might venture to appeal to any body that has ob- served what awkward creatures swine are to drive, whether, it would be possible, without a miracle, for two men to drive thognty, and much less two thousand, of them into the water. It is a pitiablº; thing to, see a writer of such a character reduced to so hard a shift. He seems indeed to think the common notion of possessions absurd, and, dangerous, and certainly |P. it with a very good design: but it is, hard to say, how Christ could have encouraged that, notion more than by his condugt ön this occasion; and I doubt not but, this extraordinary occurrence was permitted chiefly to prove the reality of these possessions, and wi of the woºd (gºo.) and in this sense it may likewise be under always be effectual for the conviction of every impartial inquirer. k And were all suffocated, and perished in the waters.] The display of stood, Acts xv. 1, and xviii. 27. 2’ tories of the gr (Rom. xvi. 20.) Butoh, how stupid and how wretched were these Gadarenes, who preferred their swine to their souls, and be- - CHRIST IS ENTERTAINED AT MATTHEW'S HOUSE. 133 eat Captain of their salvation, and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under their feet shortly. SECT, - - - - - 70. -sought him to depart out of their coasts whose presence was their defence, and their glory ! May divine grace Mººk preserve us from a temper like theirs! And may those of us who have ourselves experienced the restoring power ... ". of Christ and his .. be engaged to adhere to our great Benefactor, and gratefully to devote those powers to 18, 20 his service which as rescued from dishonour, mischief, and ruin! SECTION LXXI. Christ being entertained at Matthew’s house, justifies his tº jºi with publicans and sinners, and vindicates his disciples º; not keeping so many fasts as the Pharisees and the disciples of John LUKE v. 29. - AND Lºai him a great NOW, after Jesus had continued for a while on the sea-shore, (as was observed, Mark v. SECT. feast in his own [MARK, and it came *::::: 21.) he entered into Capernaum : and Matthew, or Levi, who dwelt there, and who had 71. iñº"jesus sat at meat; some time since been called from his former office of a publican, into the number of his id. Matt. ix. 10–17. Mark ii. 15–22. Luke v. 29, to the end. LUKE v. 29. [behold; a great company of §"... stated attendants, (see sect. xlv. p. 92.) desirous at once to show his respects to Christ, and LUKE * @ſº to give his former companions and acquaintance an opportunity of enjoyºng his instructive so V. witſi, Jesus and his disciples,) s • . tº ºr sº ...'..."...º.º. conversation, made a great entertainment for him in his own house;” and it came to pass, that Wºr, ºW 3 º they follow- 5 CC } | In . Alatt. Mark ii. 15.] ſºlº, as Jesus sat at table there, behold, a great number of publicans, and such as had the general character of sinners, being invited by Matthew, came, and sat also at the table with Jesus and his disciples; and several others at that time were present; for there were many of the character above described in Christ's train, (compare Matt. xi. 12. and Luke xy. 1.) and they followed him with great eagerness, being charmed with the condescension with which he treated them, while many others shunned them with abhorrence. * Bºº. scribes But when the more reserved and stricter sort of people in that place, and in particular 30 ; : *ś, º their º; who º: to be most exact and scrupulous in their con- m U TIn UlrCGI ( ſ. - en! W COInVerS6 an - .7.6/f??.S. ſy imm. & tº: duct, saw him thus openly converse eat with publicans and sinners, they were offended; Why do ye eat an Fººd; º ples to others, égl and drink in such scandalous company as this? [and] especially, how drinketſ). With publigans ºf 18 it that your Master, who sets up for such an extraordinary Prophet, will allow himself to jº (Matt is 11. Mark do it? for, while our traditions teach even the students, and much more the teachers, of the him eat with sinners, . . they [your Master] ll. º Mark ii. 17. – When Jesus heard it, he [LUKE, answer- ###, and murmured at his disciples on that account, saying, Why do you, who should be exam- law, to avoid all commerce with such polluted and infamous persons, you see that he pub- licly eats and drinks with a considerable number of publicans and sinners, as if there were no scandal in being accounted their friend and companion. ...And Jesus, having heard that they were so offended at [it] answered them, saying, They MARK #."...º.º.º. that are in perfect health have no need of the converse and advice of the physician, but those 1,” that are whole have no need 27- - * - - • - * * of the physician, but they that are sick ; and therefore, out of compassion to their need of him, he visits and converses that are sick: 13. Luke v. 31, 32.] Matt. ix. 13. But ye - • vºr - and learn what th... ed at it, you may go your way, and would do well to set yourselves to learn the meanin Sacrifice. I will have mercy, and not of that instructive ſº (Hos. vi. , 6.) which I cited on a former occasion, (see Mark ii. 13. the disciples of of the Pharisees fast, §iºn."hdº, with them, though it cannot otherwise be agreeable to him to do it: and I act on the same call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, [Matt. ix. 12, principles; for I am not come to call the righteous, as you arrogantly imagine yourselves ove,” be, but such poor sinners as these, to repentance and salvation. But, if you are offend- MATT g 18” Matt. xii. 7. p. 99.) and which you Pharisees are so ready to forget, “I require mercy and not sacrifice.” For had you understood this saying, you would have seen that a cere- monial institution of divine authority, and much more a mere human tradition, is to give way to the great duties of humanity and charity, even where men's bodies, and much more where their souls, are concerned. - And the dis- Another occurrence which happened at the same time, and bore some resemblance to MARK ciples of John, and of the Pha- was thi - * * 5 - • ºśā'ū, the former, was this. The disciples of John the Baptist, who had himself lived so austere jº § º º; a life, and was now in a calamitous state of confinement, as well as the disciples of the II 18 hy do ſy - º - [LUKE, likewis º º Pharisees, used to.{ast often, and the latter particularly twice a-week : (compare Luke xviii. tº. §§ 12. sect. cxxix.). Now, seeing Jesus at a publican's table on a festival occasion, surrounded UKE,- §º. with so many of his stated followers, some of the disciples of Johm come and say unto him, Yy SC rºw. - • - * - * e • - e §§§ IVhence is it that we, the disciples of John, and also those of the Pharisees, havé frequently 14. Luke v. 33.] our days of solemn devotion, in which we fast, and make many prayers and supplications to God for ourselves and the people? whereas thy disciples fast riot at all that we can per- ceive; but, on the contrary, eat and drink freely, though thou professest a righteousness superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees. (Matt. v. 20, sect. xxxviii.) º 3. d ji i...º. And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber, who are invited to attend 19 §: ... ..."; the nuptial ceremony, with any decency mourm [and] fast while the bridegroom is yet con- º, ghºstinuing with them : As long as they have the pleasure of the presence and company of the ... "..."brid ºth bridegroom among them, they cannot reasonably be expected to fast, and every one would tl , th t t fast. - ** º wº §. tº ſº. 33.”-then account it to be out of season. Now my presence and converse renders this a kind of festival to my disciples: for, as John taught you but a little before his confinement, I am the great Bridegroom of my church:b you cannot therefore in reason expect I should wº.;fºcommand them to fast now, or that they should do it without such a command. But, I 20 ...'..."; "...i.assure you, the days will quickly come, when, as your master is separated from you, so even then shall they, º º: I, the Bridegroom, shall be taken away from them ; and then they must expect to undergo a days [Matt. ix. 15. 1 235.] . . . . } “” great deal of hardship, and particularly shall be obliged frequently to fast in those days; . S as those whom I have mentioned might do if their festival was interrupted by the removal a 4 great entertainment for him in his own house.) Nothing has per- per; (see § 15.) and so many things ha *w - - * rº - - - - * -* A v.2 s A & t . . ** * *. appened after the feast, (s 9. plexed the generality of Harmonies, more, an l, nothing has thrown, the that we cannot suppose them to †ave º crowded into ū. §§7.2 authors of them intô greater inconsistency with the sacred writers, than Imainder of the evening aſter supper; on which account it is certain the their taking it for granted that Matthew made this entertainment Qn feast was after the day of his calling, pe (a s it s > r, myss ht- the very day that "Christ called him to attend upon hin!., The early mediate stories) §§ ºãº ańer. §. º'º"; §. §. }{armonies ºf Tatian and Amniºius Yery justly separated them. (See and regularly passed his business into other hands, which to be sure, Chemnit. Harn., cap. 43.) Amid to the many convincing arguments from a principle of justice as well as prudence he would take caré which Mr. Jones has brought to prove that they ought tº be, separated to, d9. y - C:l I & (which see in his Windication of JMatthew, p. 129–137.) I will add, that b I qui the great Bridegroom of my church.) Some have supposed it seems to me very evident they were not both on the same day, there is in this similitude which Christ has used, a reference io || "...; from this consideration, (so obvious, that I wonder noue should have of C: les; ~ ** * ~ * > - (** -N 4 - evº: • 3 - * v. - ... º anticles; and it is possible there may. (See Carpzov. Defence mentioned it,) so manythings happened before the calling of Matthew, the Hebreng Bibie, p. *...}} There is no §§ à"ºncé". §§ that the day must be far advanced, and there could not have beea, time Jºhn had lately said to e wrepare a great feast, and invite a number of guests, at least till sup- 20, p. 60. *N* his disciples so expressly on that head. John iii. 134 SECT. of their beloved friend whose joys they were sharing.” (Compare 1 Cor. iv. II. 2 Cor. 71. LÜ f{ W. Ver. 29 31, MATT. _UKE 36–39 SEC 72. MATT. CHRIST IS ENTERTAINED AT MATTHEW'S HOUSE. XI. 27. Ş. do I now think fit to lay such rigorous commands upon them, because E will require at present to accommodate their trials to their strength. ...And, further to sº illustrate this, he spake also a parable, or proposed another similitude to them, saying, Vo ° man, when he is mending clothes, will of choice sew a piece of new cloth on an old garment,a but rather chooses what is a little worn: for otherwise it will be found that both the neit, being strºnger than the other, makes a rent in the edges of it when it comes to be stretched; and the piece that was [taken] out of the new, ſº ut in to mend the former rent and fill it up, agrees nºt in colour and form with the old; and, being improperly put together, is of no service to the garment, [but] takes away more from the old than it adds to it; and thus the rent is increased and made worse than it was before. wind again, on the same principles, no wise man puts new wine into old bottles, where the eather is weakened and almost worn out; (compare Josh. ix. 4, 13. and Psal. cxix. 83.) fºr else, if he should, the fermentation of the new wine will soon burst the bottles, and sé the ºpine will be spilt, as well as the bottles destroyed: But new wine must be put into new bottles, and by this means both are preserved. Now as, in the ordinary affairs of life, common sense distates a regard to the mutual agreement and disagreement of things, it is necessary that I should attend to them in my conduct towards my disciples; and, as the have not been inured to such severities as you and the Pharisees have long practised,” do not therefore choose immediately to impose them, lest otherwise, to the great detriment of the world, they should be discouraged from attending upon me. And you cannot surely blame me for this, when you consider how difficult it is to alter 39. No, man also having the ways of living to which people have been accustomed even in less things than these ſºlº now in question. As, for instance, though some may be fond of new wine, while it is yet ºffièSičiššētter. 5 fermenting in the vessel, yet those that have been used to drink another sort will have no liking to it; and no man who has generally drank good old [wine] that is well ripened and refined, will immediately choose to drink new ; for he says, The old is better, as being both more pleasant and more wholesome. Judge then how fit it is that I should not oblige my disciples to a new course of severities at once, but gradually form their characters to what the honour of their future profession and the usefulness of their lives may require. IMPROVEMENT. THERE is no reason to wonder that Matthew should gladly embrace so proper an opportunity of introducing other publicans and sinners into the presence of that condescending Saviour, from whom, though he once was numbered among them, he had received grace and the apostleship. Letus with pleasure observe how ready our 30 blessed Lord was to receive them. Surely, whatever .#. the proud Pharisees might take on such an occasion, 32 Jesus will appear peculiarly amiable in such a circle as this. Compassionate Redeemer! thou didst, as the great Physician of souls, willingly converse with objects that must have been most hateful to thy pure and holy nature! May we each of us have a due sense of the malignity of sin, that fatal disease of the soul, that we may with a becoming temper apply to Christ for a cure May we also, like him, be willing to condescend to the meanest and vilest, if it may be the means of winning them over to true religion and happiness! ever preferring mercy to sacrifice, and choosing rather to govern ourselves by the dictates of a benevolent heart, than by the maxims of proud and censorious men. zº - - '• * * Christ would not discourage his disciples by over-rigorous institutions; and it is unfit that his religion should be burthened with them. He suits the duties of his people to their circumstances, and kindly propºrtions their work to their strength, with a tender regard to their weakness, till by degrees they may be fitted for the more difficult and humbling services. From his example, and the whole génius of his gospel, let us learn to make all proper allowances to those about us, that we may teach them, and train them up as they are able to beat it; not crushing them under any unnecessary load, nor º them any º: which true friendship will permit us to grant them; lest the good ways of God should be misrepresented, disgraced, and abandoned through our imprudent though well-meaning severity: a caution to be peculiarly observed in our conduct towards young per- sons; and not to be forgotten with respect to those who, like the disciples here in question, are training up for the ministerial office. - prudence Luke v. 36. And he spake also a parable-unto them, No man putteth a piece [of new gloth, unto an old garment;] if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new, [and put in to fill it up,] agreeth not with the old, ARK, but taketh away from the old, and the rent is made º [Matt. ix. 16. Mark ll. 21. rº W_* ſ 37 37 And ng man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bot- tles, and . [MARK, the wine] be iPººl; and the bottles shall perish : [Matt. ix. 17 Mark ii. 22.] - But new wine must be ut into new bottles; and both are preserved. [Matt. ix. 17. Mark ii. 22.] 39 4. 13 SECTION LXXII. Christ having in the way cured a woman by the touch of his garment, raises the daughter of Jairus ſºom the dead, and afterwards performs some R. CA. Y. A 113 other miracles. Matt. ix. Iº. Mark v. 22, to the end ; Luke viii. 41, to the end. MATT. ix. 18. WHILE he was speaking these things to them in Matthew's house,” behold, a very remark- able circumstance happened, which opened the way to one of the most signal miracles which Christ ever performed: for, though it was an uncommon thing for persons in an elevated rank of life to pay any regard to him, (see John vii. 48.) there came a certain ruler of the synagogue in that city of Capernaum, whose name was Jairus ; and when he was •r!, t , , , rn i kº . y g ... “s “º T 5 g * r; besought him, that he would êntered into the room where Jesus was, and saw him, he fell down-at his feel with the pro- $ºgº º lMark foundest humility, and worshipped him in the presence of all the company, and entreated vº. Puke viii. 41.) MATT. ix. 18. WHILE he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler [of the synagogue, Jairus, by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his ſeet] and wor: shipped him ; [LUKE, and T. I 8 c [f their festival was interrupted, &c.] Our Lord seems here, with a beautiful propriety seldom observed, to suppose some hostile invasion to happen during the time of a nuptial feast, in which the bridegroom should either be slain or taken prisoner, which would damp all the joy of his friends, and change the scene into lamentation, fasting, and tº I’ll IIT g. - in: Neig cloth on an old garment.]. The proper meaning of the words pakov; ayyaqow, by which new cloth is herº expressed in the original, is cloth that has not passed through the fuller’s hands, and which is conse; quentlymāgh harsher than what has been often washed and worm, and therefore yielding less than that, will tear ayyay the edggs to which it is gººd. This sense Alſº hºº!, from exceptions not worth tioning here. See Albert. Obscºv. p. (1-(?: * - ingº you and the Pharisees have long practised.]. T hat the Phajºs used to fast twice a week, is plain from Luke xviii. 12. º ...iº. their young people were trained up to it. But it may be objegºº, that john's disciples were not so trained up, and consequently might have ars wered, #. the disciples of Christ might as well, and as soon as they, ha: o been brought under such severities and resºints. But the truth is, it was not divinely required of the one or the other. The character and circumstances of John laid them under some engagements not com: mon to Christ’s disciples, as he intimates; and, considering where and how the Baptist-appeared, it is very, proba \le many, of his stated disci- pics were Éssemes, who (as it is well known) were a kind of hermit Jews educated in great abstiuence, and more frequent ſºlings; than any, et the rest of them. (See Prideaux’s Cºurtection, part ii. p. 358.) And if so, nothing could have been more convincing than this reasoning. à H/hile he was speaking thºse things to thºut in Matthew’s house.] These words ſix the order of this section so plainly, that it is surprising Mr. Le Clerc should suppose that many c vents happened between the discourses recorded just above, and this application of Jairus to Christ, which St. Matthew so strongly connects. That critic is driven to the hard oxpedient of paraphrasing this clause thus: “While he discoursed with them on the same subject which he had been upon the beginning of the year:” which is extremely unnatural, and, so far as I can recollect, quite unexampied in any author, ancient or modern. (See Le Clerc's fiarºnomy, p. 107.) Had he thoužht of what is suggested |abºve, § 71. note a, p.133. to prove Matthew’s feast ſlid not immediately follow his calling, he would have seen this criticism as undecessary as it is forced. Luke viii. 42. For he had one only daughter, about twelve years ofage, and she lay a dying. Mark v. - squght him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death, [or is even now dead;] I pray thee come and lay thine hands on her that she may be healed, and she shall live. [Matt. ix. 18.] Matt. ix, 19. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. [LUKE, But as he went] [much peo- ple followed him, and throng- ed him.] [Mark v. 24. Luke viii. 42. Mark v. 25. And ºº:: a certain woman [which was diseased with] an issue of blogd twelve years, [Matt. ix. 20. Luke viii. 43.] 26 And had suffered many º; of many, physicians and had spent all § iiving; that she had ſº them, neither could be healed of any;] and was nothing better- ed, but rather grew worse; [Luke viii. 43.] 27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press be- hind, and touched [LUKE, the border . of J, his girment: [Matt. ix. 20. Luke. viii. 44.] 23 For she said [within her- self. If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. [Matt. ix. 21.] . And straightway the ſountain of her blood was dried up ; and she felt in her body, that she was healed of 23. And he be- A DISEASED WOMAN MIRACULOUSLY HEALED. 135 him to come immediately to his house : For he had one only daughter, about twelve years old, SECT. and, having in that bloom of life been seized with a very dangerous distemper, she then lºſſ, 72. to all human appearance, at the very point of death. And he applied himself to Jesus.With — the utmost importunity, and lºſſ entreated him, saying, Mydear little daughter is in the MARK last extremity, [or] is perhaps, as she was just expiring when I left her, even now dead;" 23 W. [I beseech thee] therefore that thou wouldst be pleased to come and lay thine hands on her, that she may recover; and I doubt not but, extreme as the case is, if thou wilt interpose In her behalf, she shall live. . . Jłnd Jesus arose and followed him, and [so did] his disciples. Now, as he was going to Mºſt the ruler's house, much people followed him to see the event; and they pressed upon him. In 19° such a manner that he could not walk without some difficulty. - Jłnd behold, among those that were crowding about him, there was a certain poor unhappy woman who had been long afflicted with a grievous disorder, having laboured under a flux of blood for no less than twelve years : And she had suffered a great deal from the many MARK W. 25. 26 physicians she had consulted, by disagreeable medicines and uneasy restraints, as well as by the great expense she had been at in applying to them: for indeed she had wasted all her substance, and spent all that she had upon them:" but her distemper was so inveterate, that she could not be healed by any ; and, on the whole, she was not at all the better for their prescriptions, but rather grew worse, and weaker than before; And, having heard of Jesus, and the extraordinary cures he had wrought, being ashamed publicly to mention hér case, she came in the crowd behind him, and touched the fringe which, according to the divine commandment, (Numb. xv. 38. and Deut. xxii. 12.) he wore upºn the border of his gº For, as she knew that many had before been healed by touch- ing him, (see Luke vi. 19. p. 103.) she had such a firm persuasion of the virtue that was in him, and of his power to cure her, that she said within herself. If I may but touch any part of his clothes, I shall be recovered.d And immediately on her having done it, the fountain of her blood that issued from her was at once stanched and dried up, and she felt such an unusual vigour and flow of spirits, that she plainly perceived in her body that she was healed of that wasting and dangerous distemper with which she had been chastised for so 2 8 2 9 that plague. [Luke viii. 44.] long a time.e 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that vir- tue had gone out of him, - turned him about in the press, healing and said, no touche **- clothes 2 fore Luke viii. 45. When all is it that has denied, Peter, and [his disci- ples] that were with him, said [unto hiº Master, [thou seest; the multitude throng thee, and press thee, and say— eSt thou, nd upon this she would have retired unobserved; but Jesus, who had secretly perform- ed the cure by the concurring efficacy of his will, immediately knowing in himself that virtue was gone out of him, thought fit on this occasion to show that it had not [Luke viii. § * escaped his notice, as well as to illustrate and commend the faith of the patient; and there- 5. immediately turned himself about in the crowd, and, looking round him, said, Pho just now touched my clothes 2 And all the rest that were near him, denying it.* Peter, and his disciples that were with him, said unto him, Sir,h thou scest that the multitude are crowding around thee, and press thee on every side, and dost thou say, Hºho has touched me? One might rather ask, Who that has walked near thee has not done it? or which way [Mark v Whº touched me? is it possible, in such a crowd as this, to avoid it? ...And Jesus said, I am well aware that ;"Anā’īāsus said, some- somebody here has touched me, not merely by accident, but on some important design : ...for body hath touched me ; for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me - Mark v. 32. And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. Luke viii. 47. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she [knowing what was done in her.] came [fear- ing andl trembling, and fall- ing, down before him, she [told him all the truth, an declared unto him before al the people, for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immedi- ately. [Mark v. 33.] Matt., ix. 22. But, Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said [unto her,). Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee, whole; [go, in peace, and be whole of thy plague.] I perceive that a healing virtue and efficacy is gone out of me, and am not ignorant of the particulars of the cure it has produced. - . ." tº Jłnd upon this he looked round about again, to see her who had dome this ; and directed his eye towards her with some particular regard. And when the woman saw that she was not concealed from his all-penetrating view, knowing (as we before observed) what a marvellouš work was wrought in her, she came º and trembling, lest he should be displeased with this surreptitious method she ha him all the truth; [and] declared to him beforé all the people, without any reserve, for what reason she had thus touched him, and how she had been immediately healed by that touch, of the grievous distemper she had been so many years afflicted with, which no force of medicines could remove or abate. - But Jesus, having thus turned about and seen her, instead of reproving her with the seve- rity she expected, said to her, in a most gentle and condescending manner, Daughter, take courage, and be comforted, for I am not offended with thee: I know the sincerity of thy faith, in the regard which thou hast shown to me, though mingled with some infirmity; and it has made thee well, and fitted thee for a cure thou couldst not otherwise have receiv- taken; and falling down before him, she candidly told ed: and therefore go home in peace and cheerfulness; for I dismiss thee with my bless- ing, (see note l, on Luke vii. 50. p. 115.) and assure thee thou shalt continue to be b Or is perhaps—even now dead..] It is certain from Mark’s expression eaxato; exct, which is literally rendered, is in the last extremity, as wºji as from the message relating to her death, which both he and Luke afterwards mention, that the łºś º, was mot dead when her father came out; and consequently that Matthew’s phrase, apri etc)\gurmgev, (if not Luke’s, avTri areffymakevi) is to be taken in this extent. She had been given over when her father iéfi her, and actually was dead before he §§ºid tº and he might therefore when he applied to Christ for his miraculous assistance, be ready to fear she was by this time dead, and might accordingly express himself in such a manner as to intimate his appre; hension of it. Nor is it necessary after, all, that we should understand the phrase in Matthew, as implying she was now actually dead ; for apri does not only signify, what is now come to pass, but what is just at hand, (as may be seen in Phavorinus,) and so it may innply no more than that she was considered as just dead, and that there was no hope of her recovery but by a miracle. & º - - - - c Spent all that she had upon them.] The ingenious Dr. Freind imagines that he discovers something remarkable in the difference of those seem- ingly synonymous terms which Mark and Luke make use of upon this occasion, and pleads that 6am avna aga, in the former, signifies to squan- der away; whereas Fº: in the latter, signifies a more 'adual consumption of her stock, º taking a little at a time from it. (See r. Freind's History ºf Physic, p. 37.). But, with submission to so great a name, I am not satisfied of the justice of the remark, since, Qū the one hand, Öarayaa) is used in a better sense, 2 Cor. xii. 15. (and 6a7avn, in Duke xiv. 28. is the necessary expense of building, as a prudent man would compute it ;) and, on the other hand, ava)\takao plainly signifies to destroy or consume, however that destruction or consumption be ac- complished. (See Luke ix. 54. and 2 Thess, ii. 8.), Nor does it seem altogether certain, that a tenderness in speaking of others of the faculty, is any sure diagnostic of a physician’s writings. d I shall be recceered.] It is in the original Goffmaopat, I shall be saved; and there are many other places in which the word is used in the same sense; as to be sure it may with great propriety be applied to a rescue from any imminent danger or pressing calamity, especially in an extraordinary way. Compare Mark v. 23. vi. 56. Luke viii. 33. xvii. §§§"º. 13 ºg. e Qf that distemper with which she had been chastised, &c.] This be- ing the plain meaning of pas-tyos here, I did not think it necessary to render it plague or scourge, as I have done in some other places. f To show that it had not escaped his notice..] And perhaps also to prevent a superstitious regard to any thing which might look like a relic of his, and from which weak people might, without any warrant, have expected benefit. g All denying it..] The phrase not necessarily implying that the ºccman. herself denied it, it would be unjust to suppose she was base or foolish enough immediately to deny what she had done ; especially as the next moment we find her ourning it at large with all possible candour. h Peter and his disciples—said wato him, Sir.] Our English word Master, which we indifferently apply to almost any man to whom we speak, whether learned or unlearned, and which modern usage in com- mou converse generally appropriates to inferiors, does by no means answer either to the Greek Štěaaka)\e, which signifies teacher, and would be most literally rendered doctor, (a word just of the same import in its original language,) or to £n to Tata, the word here used, which denotes at least a presiding authority. I have therefore here chosen to render it Sir ; and should think & 6agka)\e might as well be rendered Rabbi, as by any other word I can recollect. It is no wonder that titles of honour and respect cannot be perfectly translated from one language into another, considering the diversity of ranks and of ceremonies in different nations. tº IUKE 45 V III. NIARK MATT. 22 IX. 136 - THE RAISING OF JAIRUS’ DAUGHTER, . SECT. free from any return of thy distemper. And accordingly the woman was perfectly well from And, the woman was made 72. that hour, and the malady never returned upon her as long as she lived. whºle ſº (Mark In the mean time, while he was yet speaking to the woman, [some] messengers came from ...Nºk...he set MARK [the house of] Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, whom we mentioned above: and they jº, º, V sº said unto him, Thy daughter, in whose behalf thou art applying to Jesus, is now actually ºf ſºlº sºlº *...; pº . . . ºº - - *...*.**J him, Thy daughter is dead: * dead, and consequently beyond the reach of prayer and of help: why therefore dost thou ºff. §: trouble the great. Master in our Israel to comé any further? Do not trouble him to come ºh” into the house of mourning, where he can only renew their sorrows by the lateness of his " Ulke VI il. 49. 36 arrival there. But as soon as Jesus heard the word which was spoken by these messengers, 36 As soon as Jesus heard in which they related this melancholy news, he says to the afflicted ruler of the synagogue, iº§: Be not discouraged by these mournful tidings; and, notwithstanding, they have brought ºft thee such a sad account, be not afraid, as if there were no hope; only believe in the divine š. ...'...º.º. power and goodness operating by me, and I will answer for it, that, desperate as thy 904 daughter's case may now appear to a human eye, she shall still be recovered. LºšB ºnd when he came to enter into the ruler's house, he permitted mone of the company to Luke viii.51. And when vº, follow him in, except his three most intimate friends, Peter, and James, and John, the #...", ºff... .". brother of James, whom he was pleased to distinguish on this, as he did afterwards on ſº fºllº hº other occasions; and these, with the father and the mother of the deceased maiden, were jºiá.". the only persons whom he permitted to be eye-witnesses of the miracle he was about to #: ..."ºº"; 52 perform. And, as she was an only daughter, all their relations and friends who were Nº. 38'i" . . .” present wept bitterly, and lamented her: and, as soon as Jesus was entered, he saw the wieś, tumult, and the crowd of people who wept and cried out aloud; and there were also the flute ºft tumult; ſº #i players, as usual on such occasions, making a mournful moise with their musical instru gº. MARK ments, to soothe the grief of the afflicted family. ' And when he was come in to the house, gº [** V. so he says to them, Retire, and make way that I may see her; [and] do not weep in this ſtark v. 33. And when he abandoned and inconsolable manner: for why do you lament, and make a noise P and ..."º: hº ...}} where is the need of all this hurry and disturbance? The damsel, whose departure you so ſº, ºp.º.º. bitterly bewail as if her loss was irretrievable, is not finally dead, but is fallen asleep : and if *i.º. you have a little patience you shall see her awakened; (by which he intimated that this ºf Mattisºlike 40 death should be but like a transient sleep: see John xi. ii. 13. Scºxxix.) And they, not "ºld they laughed him understanding his true meaning, were so rude that they derided him, as if the assertion had ɺ ſº; been altogether wild and ridiculous, well knowing that she was really and certainly dead. When hºhºdºu; them allº, But he, too wise to enter into a clamorous debate with them, desired them to withdraw: º: and when he had put them all out of the way, he takes the father and mother of the deceased º.º.º.º. maiden, and those three disciples that were with him, and enters in to the chamber where jº. the damsel lay dead. And, approaching the bed on which the corpse was laid out, he took “ºne hold of her hand; and, to express his power over death itself, called with a loud voice, fºllº º; to her, (as if she had indeed been only asleep.) Talitha cumi; which Syriac expres- §: *::::::::::::::::: "...i. 42 sión, being translated into our language, signifies, Maiden, (Isay unto thee,) rise up. ...And É. i., §§ hee) arise. he had no sooner spoken these words, but présently her spirit came back again to animate ºtway [Luke the body which it had deserted, and she was so perfectly recovered that she arose and jº.º.º.º.º. * - - she] arose, and walked; for 43 walked; 'which she was well able to do, for she was twelve years old. ...And, as the life to she was ºf the age ºf twelve which she was restored was not to be supported by a continued miracle, but must have ####|*** * food to nourish it in a natural way, he ordered that something should be given her to eat; nº ºr ſhellºnded 4 1 º * e that something should be giv- which, on account of her late illness, she had not been able to do for some time. ºß LUKE .And her parents, and they [all] who were present, were exceedingly astonished, as well as º jiā, ś"... * - - - * - parents [and they all were **a filled with joy and gratitude; but [Jesus] behaved with his usual modesty," and strictly ionished Wii. ºria as; charged them, that illey should tell no man the particulars of what was done, nor make it ś"...hº". "É. MATT. their business to blaze abroad an event which would of itself become more public than he ºldº was IX, would have desired. And indeed, it soon did so; for such numbers knew that she was ‘ºame really dead, and saw her alive again, that the fame of it, as of a most illustrious and extra- ºn * * * ordinary miracle, went abroad into all that country; and, being made the common subject " - of discourse, greatly increased the reputation he had before acquired by so long a series of wonders that he had wrought among them. - - 27 .And as Jesus passed on from thence out of the ruler's house, two blind men, who had e jºi...º.º.º.º. heard of his being there, and waited for his coming out, followed him, as he went through #.º.º.º. the street, crying out, with great importunity, and saying, O thou Son of David, have Com- ºº: passion upon usin the miserable darkness that distresses us, and restore to us that precious tº *ś. }. 28 sight which we have lost. .And he took no notice of them as he walked on; but when he tº .."; àº, was come into the house to which he was going, the two blind men, by his permission, came lºº *ś *:::::: amio him; and Jesus says to them, Do you indeed seriously believe that I am able to, do *; ºne 29 is 2 They say unto him, Yes, Lord, we have not the least doubt of it. Then, he touched e.º.º.º...". their eyes, and said, Since you have that persuasion; be it unto you according ſo the sincerity yº faith bºit unto you. - - - - 3 way sº I ºf 30 of your faith...And immediately they both found that their eyes were opened, and they saw º -- Chl ströngly and distinctly. And Jesus gave them a strict charge that they should not report it charged them, saying, See - that no man know it. 31 publicly abroad, and should tell no man" of the cure they had received. But they were so "3i"But they, when they e i Wo, dost thou trouble the JMaster any further? Do not trouble him.] musical instruments were used by tº well as the heathem. }Y] A. ºft persons came, one might say, Why dost thou trouble him 3., as their lamentations fºr the dead, to $29th. the melane }. §§ ñjarº has it; and another as Luke, Do not trouble him. I am sensible friends by soft ºd solemn notes. There were #. who § e j .. neir the mention of both together is no ornament to the story ; and perhaps business, tº perform this gººn. to * º *; É. .*** jñº it might inve been as agreeable to our taste and, manner, had bºth been 17 ºlviii. 36.3 Chron, XXXV:23: and § C % es. 9. . 3. In j º exºssed by saying, Messengers came, who would have persuaded him nºt on this place.) Many hayº observeſ, l . ". ere º ‘. t º to }: given Jesus the trouble of coming. #, { º 1 In §§ the º of children, and larger and louder instruments on the death o ºr der as exact a view as possible of the (very consisteſt) all adult., , . i. s." --> * 3s. - -, * : !º different evangelists record the same facts; and it m. With his usual modesty.] #: à \\ . º }; º; jº. º: j ñá considerable enough, to excuse some little inºlºgances of with what perfect deco. 9...º. 3. .# º on * ºccº; głyſe which the execution of such a desigº mºst 9&ºlº: This remark and how entirely he alſº º '#. y i. ;Pººl o any t". is to be applied to many preceding and following passages. - of human applause: Dr. Lar §a 3S 1 ... }. i. 1 iS \y 1UIn a Just and § &ień' out aloud.]. A late version renders aXaXášovras, howling ; lively spirit of criticism. See his Answer to Woo #º - O which is indeed a sense that the original will bear, yet it is not always n Jesus gave them a strict charge, that theſ! show mo man.] Ult - - - - w , iſ: ~ : * ~ * - ~~ 3 - fectly the same. I intended - *:::s." C. §'i.º.). Áná as the word howling version is more literal, but the sensº.º. : l- > *- : , l, s , i. #ºn; but in the case of brutes, or where great con- the variation only, as a spººlºº ºf jºjº, the like º, which } tempt is designed, I rather choose to drop a little of º: of the º might be §: º {l #;". .*.*.*.*.*.*.*. - - à Compassionate reader by so, harsh an expression. our language, though (Pºº * •: x ~~~~ : jºss." §º; ; ..."...ºn in the eastern countries. ...t often ventured gº º §§ lºg as these. See Mr. š. §º. ió, Judg. ii. 4. and I Sam. xxx. 4. Éopºsºte on Homer’s Iliad, vol. ii. book vi. ver. 665. † The jiute-players, as usual on such occasions.] It is well known that {CHRIST RENEWS His visit. To NAZARETH. 137 werg departed, spread abroad transported at what he had done for them, that when they were gone out, they were not able SECT. his fame in all that country. -º-, that country. 32 As they went out, be- bold; they brought to him a devil. * 33 And when the devil was to refrain from publishing the miracle, but immediately began to spread his fame over all .#nd when he had thus cured the two blind men just as they §§§'º';ei'ºh where Jesus was, behold, they brought to him a dumb person, who had been for some time deprived of his speech by being pºssessed with a demon. And when by the victorious word 33 72. went out of the house * - - cºst out ºil mºnºid of Jesus the demon was expelled, the man who had so long been dumb spake readily and saying, [t was never so see: * if n, arvel lºt!. T : - , : the Inultitudes ºl; distinctly in Israel. º ; and the multitudes were asſonished, saying, It was never seen so, even in Israel itself,” though it be a people among whom God has wrought such unparalleled wonders. 34 But the Phariſees said, But the Pharisees continued their senseless and blasphemous charge against him as a 34 He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. magician; and, not being able to deny facts that were so notorious, in order to prevent the effect which they might have upon the people, they said, He certainly casts out these inferior demons by a wicked confederacy with Beelzebub himself, the prince of the demons,P whose interest gains for more than it loses by dispossessions wrought by such a hand. - IXIPROVEMENT. WE have here a scene of complicated wonders worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance. Any single story of this kind might justly move our admiration; but when we are reading the life of Christ, such a constelſation of miracles rises, that the number renders us less sensible of the lustre and glory of each. We may observe in the story of the distempered woman a mixture of weakness and of faith. reasonably think to steal a cure, without the knowledge of him by whom it was wrought; or imagine a charm in the garment that Christ wore, which could produce so glorious an effect, independent on his agency and will. Yet and a compassionate Redeemer commended her faith, and excused her 28 infirmity. Such candour should we exercise towards those in whom we find any thing trul she acted as if she had thought thus; She could not MARK et seq. valuable ; not 34 despising the day of small things, but ready to encourage and support the weak, and to commend whatever good we may discover in them. We have already beheld Christ frequently #. sight to the here a second instance of his power over deat of God . In how majestic, an - n, and behold one under its dominion hearing the voice of the Son € yet in how gentle, a manner, does he address himself to this admirable work! & Dansel, I say unto thee, Arise. And immediately she heard and obeyed. Thus shall he, with equal ease, call blind, and casting out evil spirits: but we have LERE VIII. 51, 54 forth myriads of his saints, who now seem perished in the dust: and it may be said with regard to them also, in 52 reference to that day, They are not dead, but sleep. The maiden, of whom we here read, arose only to a dying 55 life; a life which needed the support of food, and was in no respect more noble, or more secure, than that of other mortals: but we look for a better resurrection, in which all the infirmities of the body shall be left behind in the grave: and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor cryings. (Rev. xxi. 4.) In expectation of this, letus restrain immoderate sorrow when our pious friends are taken away : let us not make MARK too much ado on the occasion, not allow ourselves to be thrown into a tumult of passion, even when our children so * are stretched on the bed of death; but believing in Christ, and governing ourselves by his precepts and maxims, 39 let us in humble resignation, and submissive though mournful silence, wait the issues of his providence and grace; 36 since he knows how, as in this instance, to overrule the calamities of our families to the good of our souls, and even to strengthen our faith by those exercises which might seem most likely to overthrow it. - SECTION LXXIII. Christ renews his visit to Nazareth, where he is again rejected by the inhabitants ; and thence takes a circuit through the neighbouring country. Matt. xiii. 54, to the end ; ix. 35, to the end ; Mark vi. 1–3. MARK vi. 1. AND he went out from thence, and came into. in is MARK vi. 1. .4.YP Jesus, when he went out from thence,” and was departed from Capernaum, where sect .."...a...'...biºis; he had raised the daughter of Jairus, and performed the other miracles which have just - - - e * 73. gº follow him. (Matt sit been mentioned, came again into his own country and town of Nazareth, and there renewed the gracious proclamations which they had several months before so ungratefully rejected; MARK and his disciples, as usual, followed him thither. WI. 2 And when the sabbath- day was come, he began to > - - -Y ** †- so Compare Matt. xv. 32. Mark viii. 3. Gal. vi. 9. and Heb. xii. 3., 5.-- g IIe could not thcre do any miracle.] ... We are not to understand these But I think Fl l advanced enough to justify the rendering of words so strictly, as if the power of Christ was here disarmed, but only, ut I think E. §§ º very invading danger, as sheep are, when as they brought few sick people to him for a cure, he did not judge it iſ.” exposed to every in i..."e" º 3. convenient to obtrude his 'miracles upon them, and’so could not honour: thioy) up or abandoned by their shephed; Th d ekóa), laiml ably and properly perform them. On the same principle it is, that faith k Thrist forth labourers into his harvest.] e word ekpaam so plainly in some cases, though not in all, is made the condition of receiving a imports this, that I am sorry I retained our less emphatigº! translation cure; (compare Mark is. 23. Matt. ix. 28. and Acts xiv. 9.) and Christ in the first edition. "Whoever, considers, the immense difficulties and saw it proper to make if so here; as he well might, considering what oppositions which every minister of Christ’s kingdom was sure to they must undoubtedly have heard of him from other places, and what encounter in those early days, of it, will see, the necessity of spine un- they had confessed themselves but just before, of mighty works being usual energy and impulse, on the mind to lead any to undertake it. wrought by his hands: which shows indeed that their unbelief did not a Having called his twelve disciples tºgether.] There ºan se no room so much consist in a doubt, of his miraculous power, as of his divine to doubt that this is the proper place of the mission of the apostles, ºon- mission, which, to any unprejudiced person’s mind, that power so abun- sidering its connexion with the preceding stories in all the evangelists dantly proved. In this view therefore, if is hard to say how he could, that méntion it. THE MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. thrm power [i.u.KE, and authority over all devils; or] unclean spirits, to cast ther:l vſnclean spirits, to cast them out of those unhappy persons whom they had possessed, and ºft.* to cure every distemper, and every malady, how malignant and dangerous soever. of sickness; and all manºe of gisease. [Mark vi. 7. Luke iX. I . twelve aposties are these : The first, Sºmon, who is call- ed Peter, and Andrew his brother ; James the son of ebedee, and John his bro- ther ; § Rºw the names of the most, early followers of Christ, and the first that was called to a stated attendance upon him, (p. 71.) and whose remarkable zeal and piety rendered him a kind of leader among them, was Simon, who is also called Peter,b as Christ had honoured him with that sur- name; (see John i. 42. p. 51.) and Andrew his brother, who was called the same day with him: James, [the son] of Zebedee the fisherman, and John his brother, that beloved disciple; who were also called at the same time with the two former, as they were fishing # Philip, and Barthºlomº; at the sea of Galilee, (p. 71.) Philip of Bethsaida, and Bartholomew : Thomas called 3 Thomas, and Matthew the publican ; James the -son of Didymus ; and JMatthew, who had been the publican : James [the son] of .4lpheus; and Allº! Hºhose Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, and who was also called Judas or Jude, the bro- surname was Thaddeus ; 139 gift of working miracles, and gave them power and authority over all kinds of demons % SECT. 74. |Simon the Canaanité, and ther of James: Simon the Canaanite, a native of Cana;" and Judas Iscariot, or a man of 4 § jºiob who also rayed in lm. & * * laid violent hands on himself. 5 These twelve Jesus sent for thſ by two and two, and commanded, them [LU KE, to preach the kingdom of Got and to heal the sick,l saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not : [Mark vi. 7. Luke ix. 2.] * Carioth, that wicked and miserable creature, who afterwards even betrayed him, and then These twelve disciples Jesus sent forth by two and two in pairs,” that they might be agreeable companions and assistants to each other in their work; and he commanedd them. to go into those places which he himself purposed shortly to visit;” and to preach there the gospel of the kingdom of God, or to proclaim the joyful tidings of the approaching kingdom of the Messiah; and in confirmation of it, to heal the sick, and exert the other miraculous powers which he had given them. And upon this occasion he made an ex- cellent discourse to them, saying, In this circuit which I now send you, do not go into the way of the Gentiles ; for the glad tidings of the gospel are not yet sent to them; nor enter into [any] city of the Samaritans, if you should be obliged to pass through their country; though I once did it, and preached among them with considerable success. 6. But gº rather to the lost (See John iv. 40, 41. sect. xxx.) sheep of the house of Israel. 2 But my message is chiefly to be delivered to the Jews; compare Matt. xv. 24. and Rom. xv. 8.) and therefore go ye rather to them, the poor lost sheep of the house of Israel, who are generally wandering in the paths of error and sin; yet they shall receive this further token of my regard, that the first notices of my kingdom 7 And as go go, preach, shall be sent to them. saying, The kingdom of hea- ven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils; freely ye have re- ceived, freely give. the blessings of it. .#nd as ye go from one place to another, wherever you come, pro- claim this good news, saying, with that ardour and zeal which becomes my heralds,f The long-expected kingdom of heaven is approaching ; prepare yourselves therefore to receive it. And that a declaration of so great importance may not want suitable testimonials, and the meanness of your personal appearance may not render the truth of it suspected, (as any proper occasion offers,) heal the sick, cleanse the º: yea, raise the dead,” and cast out demons : for such a power I have given to you, and see that you exert it in a manmer most honourable to yourselves and me; [and as] you have received it freely, freely give unto others the assistance which it enables you to impart, and scorn the thought of making any gain of those for whom these works of mercy and power are performed. Mark vi. 8. And he com- manded them, that they should take nothing for their journey, saye, a staff only : [LUKE, and . he said unto them, [Provide] no bread, no money, ſpeither gold, nor sil- yer, nor brass in your purses;] [Matt. x. 9. Luke ix. 3..] Matt. x. 10. Nor scrip for vowr journey, neither, two coats |[LUKE, a-picce,) nei- ther shoes, [but be shod with iº. nor yet º #; s: he workman is Worthy of his Wra k \v]f gºat. (Mark viº. Luke is walk with. and cheerfully trust the # cause; and he woul 11 And [he said unto then,) Into whatsoever city or town b The first, Simon vºluo is called Peter.] The reasons assigned in the paraphrase are so apparently sufficient to account for Peter’s being named first, that it is strange any should have attempted to prove from this text the authority of Peter over his brethren, when we never find it declared by Christ, or claimed by Peter, or owned by any of the rest of the apostles, but rather find so many seriptures which appear to look a contrary way. See Matt. xxiii. 8–12. Acts xv. 13, ct seq. 2 Cor. xii. J 1. an:l Gal. ii. I j. - c Singn the Canaanite, a native of Cana.] The reader may see an lºation of this title, and that of Lebbeus, $ 52, p. 103. notes f; &iſh Cl Ş. d By tºpo and taro.] It is obvious this would conduce to the confirm- £ng of their testimony; as in the mouth of two agitnesses evcry acord is established, (\latt. xviii. 16.) as well as make their mission much more comfortable than if each had been sent alone. Mr. Fleming has taken pains to show, that there was great wisdom in joining them together in such pairs as are here intimated, on account of the resemblance or con- trast of their characters. The discourse is very ingenious; but the memoirs of some of the apostles are so short, that much of it is uncertain conjecture, rather than convincing argument. See Fleming’s Christol. vol. ii. p. 167, ct scq. - e Which he himself purposed shortly to visit..] Our Lord was now cntering at least on the third year of his ministry, and therefore pur- posed to take a larger tour than he had formerly done; concluding, that the fame of so many miracles would make way for his being heard with ` greater regard than before. Compare $ 3}. p. 67, and $ 36. p. 75. The time they had spent with him in an immediate attendance on his minis- try, since their first call to the work, would no doubt conduce much to their fitness for it; and the motice taken of them by nultitudes who had often seen them near Jesus would promote their acceptance in it. Sce Mark iii. 13, 14. p. 103. f Proclaim—with that ardout and zeal which becomes my heralds.] This is the proper import of the word kmpvggere; which is derived from knpuš, a herald. Probably they were to make this proclamation with a louil voice as they . through the streets of the towns they went to ; as Jouah delivered his message to Nineveh. Sce Jonah iii. 4. 8, Raise the dead.) Though many ancient copies have not this clause, and though we do not find that §§ apostles excrled any such porter whilst Christ lived ; yet since the oldest versions have it, and it is cor- tainly much easier to drop than to insert a clause by accident. I choose, with Dr. Whitby, to retain it, though there are great authorities on the other side. It is to me yery evident, that some passages in this discourse refer to events which did not immediately take place. See Matt. N. les, 2], 23. in the next section. - n Except only a staff, which they had in their hands.] There is no difficulty thus to reconcile this clause with what is said in Xiattirew, (yer. 10.) that they should not provide a stati, (as it is there expressed in the original, ſomée paſ}óov,) for imany copics read it in the plural number, pinós paſ}}ons, nor yet staves; which reading is confirmed by Luke, (ver. 3.) where, it is so expressed. Nor is there any gºod, we should suppose, with Heinsius, that et is pºſt for £rst here in Mark, as if they were commanded to take nothing with them, not cºrn, so in uch as a staff. For all that Christ intended was, that they should so entirely depend upon the providence of God, that they should set out with nothing but the staff in their hands; and that, however common it might be for those who were to travel a long way to be provided with two staves as \veſ as with two coats, they need not be solicitous to have another ready in case one should fail. & s i In your purses.] The original word, cyats, cypresses t they had of carrying money in a kind of fobºpocket Qr DU Yº a S made in the duplicature of their girdles. See Dr. Shā he custom Ise, which > 3 > I'l- s :ls \\ ^S / rat Cls, k JW or shoes, but be shod with sandals.] I apprehend the word $70&n- para, shoes, must here signify a kind of short boots, which they used in long journeys, that covered the whole foot and small of the leg ; whereas their sandals were pieces of strong, ieather, or ſcood, tied under the sole of the foot by strings, and something resembling modern clogs. See Calmet's . Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 615. on the word SANDALS ; and Lightfoot’s Hor. Heb. on Matt. x. 10. - 1. He would rather support you by a miracle, &c.] Our Lord intended this mission in part, as an initiation into their apostolic work; and i was, no doubt, an encouragement to them during all the reſpaigdºr of life, to recollect the singular care which Providence now took of them; though they had abandoned their families, and with them the means of subsistence, and went out wholly unfurnished for such all expedition. In this view Christ leads them to recollect it. Iauke XXii. 3). Sº I tº 5 6 8 X. .Voto the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first of them, who was one of the MATT. ./hud he commanded them that they should take nothing for [their] journey, except only a MARK staff, which they had in their hands:h and, to prevent any solicitudé as to the means of a VI. their support, he said unto them, Disburthen yourselves of all anxious cares on this occasion, rovide neither bread, or any other kind of food, for your subsistence, nor money to purchase provisions: neither gold, nor silver, nor brass coin, in your purses. Noreven take MATT. so much as a scrip to carry any manner of provisions for [your] journey; nor think it need- ful you should have two coats a-piece, or any change of raiment; nor what might seem more necessary still, even another pair of shoes, or any stronger than ordinary, but be shod just as you are with Sandals ;k nor yet take any staves, but only those that you are used to For the labourer is surely worthy of his food ; and as you may freely accept ^ the necessary supplies of life when offered by those to whom you preach, so you may 'ovidence of God to take care of you while engaged in so good a rather support you by a miracle, than suffer you to want what shall be necessary for your sustenance.1 ...And he further said unto them, Go forth therefore with a holy alacrity; and into whatever 11 140 SECT. city or village you enter, make it your first business 74. *{ATT X * * * 12 14 Ver. I * o, SECT. WHEN our Lord had thus instructed his apostles as to their behaviour general, he went on faithfully to lay before them the difficulties and trials they were to 6 I 5 75. I7 ‘HE T rTº T 7 ºn l'Hiſt, character for hospitality and piety; for I would character as my ministers to be very solicitous about. .#nd, as an early intimation of the friendly intention of your visit, when TWELVE APOSTLEs. to inquire who in it is of a worthy yeshall enter, inquire who - not have you endanger your own reputa- d tion, by taking up your lodging in any disreputable family: and whatever house you thus enter into, continue there till you leave the place; that you may not seem to have too great 11 a regard to the little circumstances of domestic accommodation, which it is beneath your in it is worthy; and [LURE ywhatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, ſtill ye de- part from that place..] [Mark vi. 10, Luke ix.4.] Jou first enter 12 And when ye come into into any family, salute it in a courteous and religious manner, saying, according to the an house, salute it: usual custom of friends when they enter the dwellings of each other, 13 house.” “And if the family be worthy the divine regard, your good wishes for its peace and prosperity shall come upon it,” and I will make the blessing that you tual; but if it be not worthy, evén then your kind wishes for its peace an *Peace be upon this t º: if the house be wor- thy, ſet your peace come upon ". effec- it. . tº it be not worthy, let hap iness shall your peace return to you. not be lost, but shall return into you in bléssings on your own heads, as being the genuine workings of that pious and benevolent temper which God always approves and rewards. •ºnd whosoever shall not receive you, nor in an obedient manner hearken to your words; 14 And whosoever sham aş for such unhappy persons, when you come out of that house or city in which they dwell, shake off the very dust of your feet dº a testimony against them,” or as a token that you look upon them as dévoted by God to destruction, and therefore desire to separate yourselves that you may not be partakers of their plagues. (Compare tº º 4, and Acts xviii. 6.) And indeed you have reason to do it; for verily I say unto you, That whatever profes- od, and however they may continue to boast of their national privileges, it shall be more tolerable, not only for the generality of mººth; ºf jº: Gentile sinners in the day of final judgment, but even for the natives of the land of Sodom ºi. entirely from them, sion they may make of their regard to the true not receive you, nor hear your words; when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the [Luke, very] dust of your feet, [for a testimony against ev. xviii. them...] [Mark vi. il. Luke ix. 5.] J5 Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Go- than for that city. vi. 11.] and Gomorrah, those monsters of tinnatural wickedness who were consumed with fire and brimstone from heaven, than for the inhabitants of that wretched city; for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah never sinned against such extraordinary light, and such singular favours, as they. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT abundant reason is there for bumble thankfulness, that the ambassadors of Christ were thus sent forth to preach the gospel, and that at length their number was increased, and their commission enlarged: so that instead of their being thus confined to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, their instructive line is gone out through all the earth, and their words have resounded even to the end of the world. (Psal. xix. 4.) May the purport of their mes- Sage be aggravated condemnation and ruin. seriously attended to since it will so certainly be a savour of life or of death, of eternal salvation or 2- TLet us tremble to think that it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for those by whom the gospel is rejected : and let us earnestly pray that divine grace may enable us to receive it in the love of it, and to obey the truth that we may be saved. (2 Thess. ii. 10.) * They who have the honour in this respect to succeed the apostles as ministers of this gospel, may learn most 12, 13 useful instructions from this discourse of our divine Master. Let them speak and act as the messengers of peace, 10 and the friends of mankind, who cordially wish well to all around them; and gratefully acknowledge the kind- ness which, as faithful labourers, they have justly deserved. Let them show a true greatness of mind, in an appa- rent superiority to temporal interests and present gratifications; easy in whatever accommodations they find where Providence leads them; and forgetting themselves to remember their Master, and the souls he has committed to their care. Let them faithfully warn ail around them of the importance of their etermal concerns, and of the unutterable 9, &c. danger of receiving the grace of God in vain, that, whether men will hear or forbear, they may be clean from their blood. And, while we º such a temper and conduct, we may cheerfully hope, that God will be with us in 5 the way that we go, an how precarious soever our circumstances may seem, will give us food to eat and raiment to put on. May we all have this token for good, that God will take care of our interests; even the consciousness of our being faithfully engaged to promote his glory, and our joyful readiness to spend and be spent for the service of souls (2 Cor. xii. 15.) SECTION LXXV. Our Lord faithfully warris lifts &postles of the danger and opposition they might expect to encounter in his service. MIATT. x. 16. Matt. x. 16–28. - gº AIATT. x. 16. and office in BEHOLD, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise expect in the execution of it; and added, Behold, I send you out as so many innocent and ºpenis, and harmless as MATT. defenceless sheep, in the midst of a whole multitude of fierce and ravenous wolves,” who “” * , , will not fail to watch every opportunity to attack and even devour you : be ye therefore continually on your guard against them, and labour to approve yourselves prudent as ser: pents, in avoiding unnecessary dangers; but, far from imitating the malignity and revengeful nature of that animal, maintain at all times a holy simplicity of Soul, and be harmless and inoffensive as doves, those gentle creatures, who are innocent and loving to a proverb. But be upon your guard against the men of the world with whom you converse, that you do not by any inadvertency give them advantage against you ; for they will seek 17 But be ware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will occasions of mischief, and betray you to the councils, and deliver you up to the Sanhedrim, m Peace be ution this house.] This gustom of saluting friends aflor this manner is still retained among the Turks and other eastern nations; #. I thought it not improper to express it for the illustration of what OILO WS. n Yongr peace shall cone upon it..]. This is one of those many passages 1n which (as the grammarians speak) the imperative is put for the future; that is, Lct it corne, for It shalt come. (So. 1 Cor. xvi. 22.) And perhaps many seeming impregations in the Old Testament may most easily §. accoupted for, by such an explication as prophetic predictions of what should happen to the enemies of God and É people. o Slake off the very dust of your feet, &c.] The Jews thought there was something of so peculiar an holiness in the land of Israel, that when tney camé home from any heathen country, they stopped at its borders, andſ wiped the dust of it from their shoes, that the sacred inheritance night not be polluted with it ; nor would they permit herbs to be brought to them from their neighbours, lest they should bring any of the dust of their land upon them. . So that the agtion enjoined to the apostles here was a lively intimation that when the Jews had rejected the gospel, they were no longer to be regarded as the Pºgº. of God, but were on a ºith heathens and idolaters. See Mr. Fleming’s Čhristoi, vol. ii. p. 10\}. - * a Jás sheep in the midst of wolves.] So frankly did our Lord, warn his apostles of the hardships and dangers with which they should be sur- rounded. Nothing jã be more fair, nothing more generous. Prudent as serpents...] Pijny has given as some Yery remarkable stories of the sagacity of serpents, some of which, I confess, haye the air of ſables. "(See Plin. JY'at. Hist...lib. vii. cap, 23, 27.) But it is certain there is a peculiar vivacity in their eyes; so that to be aS sharp-sighted as a serpent, was a proverb both among the Greeks and Româns. Sco Pr;ism. Adag. p. 580. THE MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 14] º, you in their syna- and other inferior courts of judicature, and will also scourge you in their }. ogues.” . .4nd SECT, flººdye shall be brought in some cases the prosecution shall be carried yet further; for you shall be brought before 75. ;”. º.º.º. º. governors and kings on my account,” for a witness to them and to the heathen, as this will my sake, for a testimony b : * º ...? & MÁ āşījāś give you an opportunity of testifying my gospel more solemnly both to Jews and Gentiles. *... . yOu º!". §: . . But when they shall accuse . with the utmost virulence, and deliver you up to appear 19° # jº: ; ; before such high personages, be not anxiously solicitous about your defence there, how you in."hūr"º"ji shall answer for yourselves, or what you shall speak; but cheerfully throw yourselves upon Speak. - the divine assistance, which shall be abundantly sufficient for you;ſ". it shall be given you in that very hour what you shall speak; proper thoughts and words shall be suggested to you, and your minds shall be maintained in that composure and dignity which is neces- 20, For it is not ye. that sary for the honour of the cause you assert.” For indeed, when you appear on these 20 #.º.º.º. occasions, and are called to answer for yourselves, it is not [so much] you #. speak, as the ather which speaketh in you. º ºg 3. & * * 5 d s :-) Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you, in defence of that gospel which it is his pecu- liar office to promote in the world. - ...?...And the brºther shall Nevertheless, all the wisdom and justness of your apologies, though divinely inspired, 21 §º will not disarm the malice of your unreasonable enemies, which shall prevail to such a sºcºsmºsº degree, as eyen to triumph over natural affection, and break asunder the strictest bonds of ºciºbºe. social life : for one brother shall betray another, not only to some slighter punishment, but even to a violent and tormenting death; and the father shall thus become the murderer instead of the guardian and protector of the son ; and children, on the other hand, forgetting all the obligations of filial duty and affection, shall rise up as witnesses against their own ? And yeshall be hated of parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you, my apostles, notwithstanding all the 22 #"##"...º.º. umanity of your character, and the benevolent design of your office, shall be the objects end shall be saved. of such general aversion, censure, and persecution, that you shall in a manner be hated of all men for the sake of my mame;f when your calling yourselves by it shall appear to your enemies themselves the only crime chargeable upon you: but be not discouraged at these trials; for he that courageously endures to the end, shall on the whole be saved; and what- ever extremities he may suffer in this world, God will not only deliver him from the destruction that shall come upon the wicked, but will amply repay his fidelity in the next. (Compare Matt. xxiv. 13. and Rev. ii. 10.) - - 23 But when they persecute But I say not this to encourage you to rush, upon martyrdom before you have a plain 23 §,"#,”; ii., § and lawful call to it: for, on the other hand, it will rather be your duty to prolong such tº useful lives to the utmost limits you lawfully may, and when they persecute you in one city, #ºs...}; i.º.º. to flee to another ; and though this may contract the time of your abode in each, be not discouraged at that, which may, on the whole, be no inconvenience; for verily I say unto you, You shall not have had time to finish [your progress through] all the cities of Israel, and to preach the gospel in every place, until the Son of man shall comes in a yet more awful º: to fulfil your prediction concerning the manifestation of his kingdom, and to take vengeance on your cruel persecutors. - 24 The disciple is not above And as for the unkind usage I have warned you to expect, you have no reason to be 24 # , ºr the servant surprised at it; for, as I have formerly observed, (Luke vi. 40, sect liv.) The disciple is eñº, #... not above his teacher, nor the servant above his lord. It is abundantly sufficient if the dis-25 jºi..."ij" ciple be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord; and in such a circumstance the disciple #.º.º.º.º.º.º. and the servant have cause for thankfulness rather than complaint. If then, as you have er of the house Beelzebub, - g * * how much more shalījºii already heard and found, they have called me, who am the master of the family, Beelzebub, them of his household 2 and reviled me as a magician, whom they should have received as the Messiab, (see p. 116.) how much more will they be likely thus to abuse his domestics, whose character and station are so much inferior to his - tº. "...# *::::::: Since therefore you have my example before you, and suffer in my cause, fear them not, 26 that shall nºt tº revealed, but courageously sustain the utmost efforts of their rage; and assure yourselves that I i.” " " " " will support you till you have finished your testimony: for there is nothing now hid which shall not be revealed : nor has any thing passed in secret between us which shall not be 7. What I tell you in dark- universally made known. See to it then, that you remember to what purpose I have ad- 27 §º mitted you to so great an intimacy with me, and discoursed so largely concerning my tº preacășeuponthehouse kingdom; and what I say to you in darkness, speak [it] in the light of open day; and ODS. what you hear, as it were, whispered in the ear, proclaim publicly with a loud vôice as from the house-tops. - 23 And fear not them which ºffmd though the boldness of your testimony may indeed at length cost you your lives, 28 #"ºf ººº... yet be not afraid of then who can only kill the mortal body, and cannot kill or hurt the failin.hich is alſº tº immaterial soul, which will still survive in all its vigour, while its tabernacle lies in ruins;h ; * * * * * but much rather fear, lest, by being unfaithful in so important a trust, you should incur the displeasure of him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, and has power to fill the separate spirit with anguish, or at the final judgment to re-unite it to the body, and condemn both to everlasting misery in that infernäl prison. c. Scourgº, fºlk, in their synggggies.) Cºmpare Matt. Xxiii. 34, and 21. and Rom. v. 18.-:As there seems in this text a peculiar emphasis in Acts xxii. 19. This is a sort of discipline which has long singe begn used the phrase for the sqke ºf my name, I choose in this edition tº 'rºr': in their synagogues; where they keep their courts; and which the more literally than in the first; though (as I had the to observed, "it is wretched Acosta teiis us he himself undºw ºf Seº-\cºst: 426 Kit, apparent that the name of a person is sometimes put for the persº finil Hun...ad ſin. Linborch. Coll... p. 349. Wits. P'it., Pauli, $ 1. § 19—21. º: See hotel, on John ii. 23. p. 56. and Vitring. De Synagog. Vºct. lib. iii. part 1. cap. 11. 3. Çiği, the Son of man staiš, come.] I do not find that the apostles d Before governors, and kings, &c.], Accordingly the, apostles were, Inºt with any, persecution in this first progress, from which thºs. several of them; obliged to appear before princºs, and, were severely returned to Christ, and told him all that they had done."(see Śląriº. prosecuted by, their malicious enemies before Herod, Agrippa; Felix, 30. and Luke ix. 10. § 7S.) and therefore, as well as for majºhº. "estus, Nero, Domitian, &c. as we learn from sacred or profane history. ſeasons, I, gannot understand the coining ºf the Son of man to signif. a for the honour ºf the cause you assert.l., Persons of so low an his overtaking them in this journey before they came to the end º. glucatiºn as the apgstles generally were might have been much terri; ngr does it appear natural, with lyr. Sykes, (in his Ésºy ºn tº ºrj. fied at the thought of º: before such great persoºses; and miſſht ºf Christianity, n., S5, & seq.) to refer it to Christ's conig tº judgment. have feared lest, in the hurry of their spirits, they should have been be it is ºathºr, as Mr. Whistºn observes, (in his Discourse ºf Prº. trayed into any º of language ºr behaviour, by Yhich, the p. 63.) to be explained of their being driveñout of judica by jº cause of the gospelinight haye suffered; so, that nothing £ould have been ions, so that they had not time to visit all"the parts"; it".ejº. more suitable than the promise which ous Lord here makes them, which destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, which is often cºiled #e ...". was sufficient to };}} a thousand anxious apprehensions, * the Sgn of man. See Matt. 24, 27, 37, 39, 44, and iXuke xviii., §. -** * > *, fºou,shall.be. lated of all men for the sake.g. my mgm.c.] They who ...,h Cannot kill the soul, &c.j'T have paraphraseſ the Vºis SO as to believed the testimony of the apostles, as multitudes did, gould not, but illustrate the certain argument they contai, tº prove the existence of ardently love, them as their fathers in Christ. (See Gal. iv. 15.). This the soul in a separate state, and its perception of that existence; else therefore is plainly one of those many scriptures in which the universal the soul would }. as properly killed as the body. Grotius has an ºx. terrn all is to be taken with great restrictions. See John xii. 32. Phil. ii. cellent proto here. - $ EC T, 75. MATT. X. so 2 I 24, 25 S.E. CT . T6. MATT. 29 yet there is not one of them that by any acci the observation and permission of your heavenly Father.” 30 noble and vital parts of your animal frame regårded by God, but even the very hairs 31 your head are all numbered by him. Fear not, therefore, that you should be overlooked ; 3 2 33 34 2S * * * * * pect some degree of persecution; (2 Tim. iii. i2. 16 bear it with a truly Christian fortitude. THE MISSION OF '{{if. Tº ELVI. APöSTLE.S. THow anna ront; * * -** * ~ *, +--- s 2 - ? --~ ; 2-1, +-- & † * * * How apparently fit is it that this eternal and almighty God should be the object of our numble fear, and that in comparison with him we should fear nothing else ! All the terrors of the world are disarmed by this; and by this, are its flatteries also disarmed. In whatever stations of life we are fixed, let this engage us to be faithful to God in them; so shall we be most truly faithful to ourselves. The apostles were exposed to peculiar dangers and trials; but all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must ex- 2.) let us therefore arm ourselves with the same mind, that we may May divine grace teach us to mingle the wisdom of the serpent with the innºcence ºf the dove, and to shelter ourselves from the ill usage of a perverse and sinful generation, so far only as we can do it without offering any violation to our consciences ! It is indeed matter of great lamentation, that the sentiments of benevolence and goodness, which seem so natural to the human mind, and are always so ornamental and delightful, should prevail no more and it is shameful, that the name of religion, so well calculated to cultivate these sentiments, should be made use of as an engine to destroy them; and instead of cementing kingdoms and families in closer and more affectionate bonds, should in- spire them even with mortal animosity. Let us bless God for our public liberties; and earnestly Persecution reigns in its utmost terror, the wrath of man may praise him, and the remainder strained" (Psal. lxxvi. 10.) pray, that where of that wrath be re- The ill usage which the blessed Jesus endured from an ungrateful world may surely prevent our being surprised or offended if we meet with some share of it too. reign with him.!, (2 Tim, ii. 12.) - May, we be willing to suffer with him, that we may at length And if, by unexpected revolutions in providence, we should be called out to the severest trials, may the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon us! and may we not account even our lives dear unto us, that, approving our fidelity Acts XX. 24.) to him, we may finish our course with joy! (1 Pet. iv. 14. and SECTION I, XXVI. Oºr Lord concludes his charge to his apºstles with an assurance of God’s providential care for their encouragement, and with a promise of abun- dant future rewards to all who shoul different parts to preach the gospel. Matt. x. 29, to the end; xi. i. MIATT. x. 29. AFTER these faithful warnings of the dangers to which the apostles would be exposed in his service, Our Lord went on to lay before them such encouragements as might animate faithfully serve him, or assist º Iil h; Yºrk; and after this they separate from one another, and go to i\lark VI, 12, 15. uke ix. 6. MATT. x. 29. ARE not tyvo sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fail on the their courage and pious zeal; and began with reminding them of the universal extent of ground without your father. the divine providence. ...Are not two young ..". said he, sold for a single farthing 2 ent shall fall to the ground and die, without ...And not only are the more 30 But, the very hairs of ſ your lead are all numbered. for, even as men, and especially as my servants and ambassadors, yout are more valuable yeare of more value than than ºnqny sparrows, or than the whole species of them; and therefore may assure your- selves that Providence will watch over you. And let it be a further encouragement to you to remember, that whatever you may now 32 whosoever therefore * suffer for your fidelity to me, it will on the whole be most amply rewarded; for the regard that every one expresses to me here, shall be publicly remembered and acknowledged hereafter: whosoever, therefore, shall courageously confess me before men, be he ever so mean in the eyes of the world, I also will not fail to confess him in all the glories of my final appearance, not only before the assembled world, but even in the immediate g 4– - • , f * - of my Father in heaven, to whose everlasting favour all my faithful servants shall be in- troduced: But whosoever shall renounce me before men, as ashamed or afraid to acknow- ledge his relation to me, I also will renounce him before my Father in heaven, as a mean and unworthy creature, who has forfeited all claim to my patronage and favour in that which is in heaven. wful day. But, to prevent the mistaken expectations which the apostles might form of the imme- diate temporal prosperity of his kingdom, our Lord further added, Do not suppose that I am come to send and establish peace on the land in which we dwell:9 for, though the ge- a sword. neral purport of my gospel has so powerful, a tendency to promote it, yet the prejudices and lusts of men will so oppose and pervert it, that it will rather seem, from the event of 5 it, that I came not to send peace, but a sword. For a few will indeed embrace it; but they 35 For I am come to set a will be so cruelly persecuted even by their nearest relations, that I may say, I am come to º ºn; agº. set a man at variance against his own father, and the daughter against her own mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,” when the circumstances of the family were such, that they might otherwise have agreed. So that the ties of blood shall be forgotten, and the bonds of friendship violated; and a man's enemies, yea oftentimes the most severe and inveterate of them, [shall be] those ºf his own family, and it may be, the nearest of his relations, from whom he might justly have expected the greatest friendship. 31 Fear ye not then efore ; In any Sparro W-S. º shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. TeSG}}CG 33But whosoever shall deny me before mon, him will also deny before my Father 34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against lier mother-in-law. 35 And a man’s focs shall lic they of his own household. +- 4- a .N. of one ºf them, shall fall to the ground, Śc.] Some have supposed there is a reference here to the two birds, which made a part of the leper’s offering. (ſzev. xiv. 4–7.) As if the sqnse of what our Lord ºxpresses were, that Providence determines which of those two insiºn; ſix gºt animals shall lice, and which be killed. But as the words are capable of a more extensive sense, and our Lord elseyvlacre ineptions five shºt- rows just to the same purpose, (Luke xii. 6. $, Ill.). I seg, no reason for paraphrasing them with any º view to that rite. They are a full proot of the universality of the divine providence; but the singular inter- positions of it in favour of good men, may in a much more convincing imanner be argued, from the prayers and praises offered in, Sgripture with regard to particular events, and the promises of temporal blessings made to those that fear and serve God. Nor can I think, we are much concerned to determine, how far any of these are miraculous, and how fºr the result of general laws settled in an exact CCIngruity to th. tein per and conduct of every indiyidual affected by them, which in omniscient God foresaw, and which his perfect schemes, might, easily provide for, by methods to us unsearchable. It ºr; Homer thought diving Pro- vidence ingº § ºyes of brute animnis. Sce Iliad, lib. xv. wer. 27 See also Grotius, in loc. . . b To send peace on the land in Whiº we dwell.] That the word y’m oſton signifiés some particular land, and especialſy Judog, rather than the achgle carth, is undeniably plain ; (compare Matt. xxiii. 35. and jºke i. 95.) aſ: I have given if that ºn herº. because there was no part of the workſ where christianity occasioned so much dissension, and none where peace was so much expected from the kingdom of the Alessiah. et how very up just, it is, that any of those contentions which the gospel has accidentally occasioned should be urged as an argument against its divine authority, the reader may sec in the expellent Scrinons of the present Bishop of Winchester on this subject, in his ºliscellancaus Tracts. In one word, the matter will issue in this ; that if christianity has occasioned more discord than any other religion, the only reason is, because it animates its professors to greater zeal for the truth, and better proves it to be worth their while to suffer for conscience Šakº, c And the daughter-in-law against her another-in-laid.] The thqught seems to sink here, as it is much more usual for mothers and daughter:- in-lanc, in whatever rc.lation, to quarrel, than natural parcºts and chil- dren, but if we consider, that our Lord Spgaks of this as the first occasion of a quarrel between them, it may intimate a supposition, that they were persons of a friendly, temper, who, even in, such a relation, might otherwise have lived together on easy terms: a thought which seems to me to enſiven the discourse, and which may lead us to reflect, how often iigotry entirely transforms a natural disposition, that in itself was mild and amiable, Compare luke xii. 53. note d. 3 i’; J. THE MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Prepare yourselves then for such severe trials as these, by remembering, that he who se loves his faiher or mother more than me, and is induced by his regard to them to disobey my precepts, or to renounce my doctrine, is not worthy of me, nor shall have any interest worthy of an interest in me and my friendship, though it should be an only child that he prefers to me, and for the sake of whom he abandons my gospel. And, in a word, he that is so concerned for his own ease and safety that he will not suffer for my sake, and does not resolutely take up his cross when providentially laid in his way, and follow after me," even to die upon it, when the honour of my name and cause requires it, and I, as the Cap. tain of his salvation, lead him on to it, cannot be owned as my faithful disciple, and is not worthy of an interest in me. (Compare Mark viii. 34. sect. lxxxix.) ſº Be assured, however, that you shall find it to be well worth your while to endure all 39 these extremities for my sake; for he that finds and saves his life, #. deserting my cause, shall lose it on the whole, as he will thus incur a sentence of final condemnation and destruction;e but he that out of faithfulness to me loses his life, and lays it down for my. sake, shall find it in a far more noble state of being, which infinitely better deserves the name of life. And as for you, my servants, let none be afraid of showing kindness to you, lest they 40 should share with you in your sufferings for my sake; for he that entertains you, does in effect entertain me, whose ministers you are; and he that entertains me, does also entertain him that sent me, and my heavenly #: will regard it as done to himself; as, on the other hand, all the slights and injuries which are offered to you will be considered as reflecting not only on me, but on him. And did men truly understand their own interest, 41 they would rejoice to assist you in that noble work in which you are engaging; for he that hospitably entertains a prophet,f in the name of a prophet, or with a pious regard to the office he bears, shall receive the reward of a prophet himself, or a reward proportionable to the worth of the person he shelters and accommodates in a time of danger and difficulty; and he that entertains [any] righteous man in the name of a righteous man, or with a cordial regard to the virtues of his character, shall himself receive the reward of a righteous man. Nor shall even the smallest and cheapest favour to the least of my servants be forgotten; . for whosoever, being able to do no more, shall give to drink unto one of these little ones, or to one of these my followers who makes the meanest appearance, even so much as a cup of cold water only, to refresh him in the fatigue to which he is exposed in my service, if he shall give it to him in the name of a º or with a real affection to him on account of his relation to me, verily I say unto you, he shall by no means lose his proportionable reward, but shall find himself abundantly repaid both with present and future §. 38 And he that, taketh not his cross, and followeth aſter me, is not worthy of me. 39. He that findeth his life shall, lose it; and he that loseth, his life for my sake shall find it. 40. He that receiveth you, receiveth me ; and he that re- ceiveth. me, receiveth him that serit me. 41. He that receiveth a pro- phet, in the name of a pro- Phe, shall receive a pro- phet’s reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And, whosoever shal] give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto ou, he shall in no wise lose is reward. Matt. xi. 1. And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence, to teach and to preach in their cities. when Jesus had made an end of giving instructions to his twelve disciples, and had prepared them for the service they were now to undertake, he did not lay aside the work himself, but still pursued it with an unwearied diligence and zeal, and departed thence to teach the Jews, in other parts, the doctrines of his gospel, and to preach in their cities. And, they The twelve apostles also, in pursuance of the commission they had now received, set tºo. ... out at the same time; and they departed from the presence of their Master, and cent ſhºehº through the towns of Galilee, an the neighbouring places, and preached the gospel wherever * they came; insisting with great earnestness upon it, that men should repent of their sins, and prepare for that glorious manifestation of his presence which God was about to favour them with. And, in consequence of that miraculous power with which Jesus had invested them, they expelled many demons, and anointed many sick persons with oil, as a signal of healing which he had been pleased to direct, (compare Jam. v. 14.) and perfectly cured them, whatsoever their malady was; and this they did every where as they went on in their progress. Mark vi. [departed, [through preached men should repent. ix. 6. I2. 13, And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them [every where.] [Luke ix. 6.] - - IMPROVEMENT. JUSTLY may the blessed Jesus set so high a - insist upon our readiness to abandon all for him, who is so just and equivalent for all. May his grace teach us to love him more than the dearest of our relations, and even to be ready for his sake to sacrifice our lives! May it 37, make us willing to take up and bear any cross for him, who bore his cross and expired upon it for us! The gospel has indeed been the occasion of much contention and persecution, not only in Judea, but elsewhere: 34, yet let us not charge it upon any malignity, or any deficiency in that, but on the lusts and corruptions of men, 36 who have either directly opposed or grossly perverted it. Let us endeavour to arm ourselves with courage to encounter, and resolution to endure, whatever persecutions or injuries our adherence to it may costus; ever con- fiding in that gracious Providence which extends itself even to the meanest creatures; reposing ourselves on the support of divine consolations, and esteeming ourselves happy, even in losing our lives in this world, if we may find them in that which is everlasting. - - In the mean time, may this excellent discourse of our blessed Redeemer animate us to every work of faith, and every labour of love | Let not the poorest be discouraged from some charitable attempt for the good of others; since the munificence of our heavenly Master will remember even a cup of cold water, given to the least of his . servants under that character. Yet since there will be such a variety of rewards, proportionable to different degrees of liberality and zeal, let us indulge a generous ambition of abounding in the work of the Lord, that we may shine with distinguished glory in the day of retribution, and have an abundant entrance into his kingdom. *† 29, 39 in my saving benefits: and he that loves even his son or º more than me, is not Mººr. 143 CT. 76. ...And it came to pass, after this solemn and instructive charge had been delivered, that MATT. XI. MARK value on himself, and on the blessings of his grace: justly may he MATT X. 3S 35 3G d. He that does not take up his cross and follow after me.] This alludes to the custom of persons carrying the cross to which they were to be fas- tened; and was a strong iptimation, that he should himself be crucified ; and that none could be a sincere christian without a willingness to bear even that shameful and cruel death for his sake, if he was called to it. See Grotius, in loc. e He that finds his life, shall lose it, &c.] The sense that I have given in the paraphrase, as it is much more...general and more important, ap- pears to me much preferable to that of Dr. Hammónd, who interprets the text, of the christians saving their lives by leaving Jerusalem in the last iege of that place by the Romans, and the Jews losing theirs by crowd- ing into it. The beauty and energy of Christ’s discourse in a paralle place, (Matt. Nvi. 24–25. § 89.), would be quite lost by this º tion ; , and indeed many christians had actually lost ūei, lives for the gospel, many years before that siege commenced, f Hospitably entertains a prophet.] The word dexousyog here plainly signifies to entertain in an hospitable cay, as it does likewise Heb. xi. 31. Jain. ii. 25. and glsewhere; nor can the gradation in the following words be understood without such an interpretation. The apostles were, no doubt, regarded as a kind of divinely-inspired prophets; though that title, by way of distinction, was afterwards appropriated to persons of an in- ferior rank. 1 Cor. xii. 28. and Eph. iv. H. 144 HEROD’s SUSPICIONS CONCERNING CHRIST. SECTION LXXVII. Herod hears of Jesus, and suspects him to be John the Bºis; Mºhº,lattººed, in a manner which is here recounted. Matt. xiv. 1,2, MATT. xiv. 1. MATT. xiv. 1. sect. Now at that time,” while the apostles were making their circuit about the Country, pro-AT that time ſking] Herod 77. claiming every where the glories of their great Master, and working miracles in his name, he tetrarch heard of the famº º - of Jesus, [LUKE, and of all king Herod (as the tetrarch we mentioned aboveb was generally called) heard of the fame at tº: d; i; ; ;": Mart of Jesus, [and] was informed by many of all the marvellous things that were done by him #º LUKE ..?nd, notwithstanding Hérod had imbibed the principles of the Sadducees,d which were Luke is. 7. IX. MARK culous works do as evidently speak a divine mission as any of theirs ever did. But in Mark vi. 16. VI and his apostles; for, by the account they gave concerning him in their mission, concur- [Mark vi. 14. Luke ix. 7.] ring with his own miracles and preaching, his name was every where spread abroad, and had reached many places far more distant than the court of Herod.” 2 ... And immediately his own guilty conscience suggested a fear which he could not forbear 2 And [he] said unto his disclosing to those that were about him; and such was his surprise and terror, that he said i.º. This....Jºhn, he rt • * - Y-2 Baptist; he is risen from the even to his own servants, This is John the Baptist, whom I put to death; he is undoubtedly dead, and therefºre"; i.i. risen from the dead, and for this reason he appears with greater honour than ever, and these ºf - e w selves in him. [Mark vi. 14.] extraordinary powers now operate in him, though before he wrought no miracles. - And he was directly opposite to such a supposition, he was exceedingly anarious° on account of the re-Rºplºgbººnsº.hº...it - - S • * was said of some, that John ports he heard ; for the notion was not º his own, but it was said too by some others, was risen from the āśād; that John was risen from the dead, and would undoubtedly use his miraculous power to - 8 jº, those who had murdered him. And, it was also conjectured by some that Elijah 8 And of some, that Elias - - º t º is h . had appeared ; and of others, d appeared, according to the general expectation, as the forerunner of the Messiah; ºf (compare Mal. iv. 5. Matt. Xi. 14. and xvii. 10–12.) and by others, that one of the an- wºn again; tāmā'ātics e - º - e • e º *A*. aid, that it is het, or as cient prophets was risen again from the dead; and others also said, It is certainly a prophet ...º.º.º. of the former generations, or [a person] at least, like one of the prophets;f for such mira-vi. 15.] But when 16 the midst of this variety of opinions, when Herod heard what was discoursed ". Jesus, Hººd ºdºº sºil; - - tº - - º John have I beheaded ; but he was exceedingly distressed, and said with great anxiety, John I have certainly beheaded, §§ºf §§§ and received the strongest proofs that the execution was performed; but who is this of .';...hºnº, ſº whom I hear such #.? I would not willinghy believe it, yet I cannot but suspect #. §º.'."º. º whatsoever be the name he now assumes, it is John, that venerable holy man whom I be-jºº" " " ("** headed, and greatly fear he is risen from the dead. And he was so uneasy under the consciousness of the enormous crime he had committed in putting him to death, that, licentious as his principles and character were,” he was alarmed and terrified with the apprehension of his being actually returned to life; and not knowing what to think of the reports he heard of Jesus, he earnestly desired to see him, that his doubts might be removed. 17 . Thus was his guilty mind perplexed and tormented, and not without reason; for as we , 17 For Herod had—laid have before observed, Herod had formerly seized John, and bound him with chains in ###"...º.º.º. 18 prison, on account of the reproof he gave him for his marrying Herodias; Because, as Herod sake: ..." - - ad seduced her from his brother Philip, who was still living, and had a daughter by her, n. **ś John had said to him, with a freedom that he could not bear, It is not lawful for thee thus to thy brother's wife. 19 have thy brother's wife. ...And we had likewise added, that for this reason Herodias also 19 Therefore, Herglas- was inéensed against him, and would have put him to death; but for a long time she could ºf.” ”" 20 not compass her design: For Herod had so great a reverence for John, that he would not .30. For Herod feared ield to her solicitations. But we must now inform the readér, that before this time she "T ad found a way of accomplishing her cruel purpose. - 21 For as her heart was filled with malice, and she was ever watching for an opportunity 21 And when a convenient to be revenged on John, at length a convenient day happened of preferring her petition with ſº. "... s e - his birth-day made a supper unexpected circumstances of advantage : A public festival was kept when Herod, on his to his lºrds, high §.” h birthday,; made a splendid supper for the entertainment of his lords, and of all the chief tº "“” officers of his army, and other persons of distinguished rank in Galilee, over, which he 22 presided: And, to grace the solemnity, Salome, the daughter of the above-mentioned He- 22 And when the dººr rodias by Philip her former husband, a young lady of celebrated beauty, coming in pub-;"...º.º.; licly among them, and dancing in the midst of the assembly; this instance of condescension, inſised #º so unusual in those days and countries, especially, in persons of such high dignity, was #....'s;"; SO º agreeable ºº unto Herod and his guests, that the kingsgid before peYººHºº wº them all to the maiden in a ki - * ...A "w W- - - of transport, Jºsk of me whatever thou wilt, and I will give ºil.’’ that time.] Both Mark and 1.uke so expressly connect this with 6 with Mark viii. 15,) not to mention a kind ºf hereditary quarrel which th: #: #. thºe. a "tº no roºdoubt that this is its there seems to have been between the Hérodian family and the Phari- true place. -> lod , sees. (See º: iji. 6. § § # It § In O jºi. to . arr rº ch we mentioned above.] Though he was called tetrarch rive at a steady belief of so great, an ºbsurdity ºs the pºlity ºf thºº!. * *::::::::: reason, as heir to only a fourth part of his father’s domi– The existence of the soul after death, and a state of future, retribution, jojet in this district,(which was that of Gälilee,) be, was properly a and other, evident principles of natural religion connected with boik, #.” See note n, on Mäft. ii. 22. § 13, and Lukg.iii., 1.9 15. will even force themselves upon the unbelieving Heart, and wring it with **śloºdistant” than the court of Herod...] The letters pretended to anguish, which, it cannot alway, though it may fréguently, conceal. have passed between Christ, and Abgarus, king, Qf Edessa, and pre- This is admirably illustrated by Bishop Atterbury, in his termion on this served by Éusebius, (Hist, Eccles. iii. i.a. ſ.3.) are . probably spu- text and subject. * - ious, though Ér. Cave, the learned Dr., Grabe, (Spicileg;, Ygl;, i.p. h As we have before observed.] I have ventured to repeat &ere a ſºw i`i; and the celebrated Mr. Addison, (in his Discourse on Christianity, clauses of Mark, because they seemed tº me i.º.º. necessary to in- sec. 1jºimºined to receive them. They might however, have their troduce the following account of Herod’s behºgding; ohn the Baptist. foundation in some message from that prince to Jésus. But the rging k These verses are before inserted at large, in § 28. p. 62. - in the paraphrase is much more certainly confirmed by Matt. iv. 24, 25. i When Herod on his birth-day.] Some great critics, and Marticularly . 75. Grotius, Heinsius, and Reland, choose to interpret this, of the day of d Hérôi had imbibed the principles of the Sadducees.) See note g, Herod’s accession, rather than his birth; which they think wºuld have belcw, * -- been more properly expressed by yºvé0Xtow than yewea toy. (See Elsm. e. He was exceedingly anxious.] Admiropät strongly expresses a mixture oºser. Vol. i. p. 100–102.) But it is evident the Seventy used mgºpa of doubt and fear, which must necessarily throw the mind into a very yevco caps for a birth-day. Gen. xl. 20. u%; ;, erson at least like one of the prophets.] This, plainly k Chief officers of his army.] Though the word x(\tapxos propºdy ºr *: 㺠by tíč’ jºiney generally meant one of the hºly signifies one who had the cººl,0ſ. a thousand men, and held a rank in #.º. Göd had raised up to his people in former s; and if the their army nearly answering to that of colonels in jº. “an be In O men, } be omitted, as it is in some manuscripts, the argument is reason to imagine that the entertainment Was confined just to that rank particle m lusi see notec, $20 of officers: ſhave therefore rendered it in a more general way, equally ...iisiºahá Character were.] Josephus tells us | This instance of condescension,so unusual II]. º iſ: Tºr § #."; dd jës” revailed much, among the rich and Lardner very justly ºxº that it was very ungsu, for ladies o' that the Sa º ... i. (al. 3.} & 4.) And it is very probable high rank to *E. before the meg, (Esth; i. 19.2.) and nuch lºſs tº i. § this sect, as “what is called in one text the leaven of the dance, at such banqººts as these. See his Credibility ºf the GGS)-cl Hiisi v. §ºcees, is in another called the leaven of Herod; (compare Matt. xvi. ry, vol. i. part i. p. 23. THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 145 3 And he ſpºmised her it thee. And when she seemed surprised at such a declaration, to encourage her to depend SECT. §§§ on what he said, he promised her with the solemnity of an oath, [and] profanely and fool- 77. ask of méiyiji give it thee, ishly sware unto her more than once,” I will give thee whatsoever thou wilt ask of me, even §º" * though it should be to the ſwalue of 'half % my kingdom. t MARK #º ºff. •And, young as she was, she perceived this was now grown a circumstance of high im- , VI. jº Ajº portancé, and might be managed to considerable advantage; she therefore went out, and 24 The head of JohnthöBaptist. said to her mother, who was not in the assembly, What shall I ask? And she, struck with - this unexpected opportunity of executing her revenge, eagerly replied, Ask the head of John the Baptist, who ºhave expelled and .# us both : for nothing in the power of the king to grant could give me equal satisfaction. º, sº ºn; bºrº , ºffmd, though at first she hesitated at so shocking a proposal, yet being thus before urged 25 º *** to it by her mother, and at length confirmed in the resolution," she immediately, after ºthº, a very short absence, came in to the king with speed in her motion and eagerness in her ºjº º countenance, and made her demand, saying, I desire that, in accomplishment of thy pro- ãº','!'};}" mise, thou wouldst give me, presently, the head of John the Baptist; and that I may be sure -w the execution is done, let the head be brought and delivered to me here in a charger, or large dish.” -- 23. And the king was, ex; And the king was ecceedingly sorry, as well as greatly surprised, that she should prefer 26 :*:::::::::::"..."; so strange a petition; nevertheless, as she persisted in it, for the sake of his repeated oaths, hiº, and out of regard to his guests, in whºse presence they were made, he would not deny her, fººm...ie. [but] granted what she asked, and ordered that it should be given her. flºbe given her.] [Matt. Ki* And immediately the king sent one of his guards,” as an executioner, that very night, and 27 27 And immediately the commanded his head to be brought into the assembly: and, as soon as the soldier had re- ...] §º"; ceived his orders, he presently went, and without any further warning, beheaded John in brºugh.in he went and the prison, And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the maiden ; and the maiden, 28 Fº 1I] * ” forgetting the tenderness of her sex," and the dignity of her rank, with a steady cruelty, ..º.º. agreeable to her relation to so ill a woman, brought [and] delivered it to her mother with jaj: j : the "dānj her own hands. . And thus, till the righteous judgment of God overtook them all, they º: themselves in the indulgence of their lusts, and triumphed in the murder of this oly prophet. 29 And when his disciples [brought it, and gave it to her mother. [Matt. xiv. 11.] - Jłnd the next day, his disciples hearing [of it, came to the prison, and, having permis- !..."; ... ºf sion to do it, took up his corpse, and laid it with great reverence and due lamentation in a tº #3 sepulchre belonging to some of them who were willing to pay this last act of duty to *** *** * * their master's memory: and then they went and told Jesus what had happened, and, remem- bering the repeated testimony which John had borne to him, continued their attendance upon him. IMPROVEMENT, How dreadful a thing is it to have a guilty and accusing conscience and how remarkable was the force of it, in the instance before us! Herod was a king, yet it addressed him in language of terror, and made itself heard and felt, amidst all the hurries and flatteries of a court. Vain was the power of a prince ; vain the caresses of a favourite mistress basely gratified with the blood of a prophet; and vain the yet more besotting tenets of a Sadducee. In one instance at least, a resurrection shall be believed; and if a prophet arise in Israel, Herod shall be among the first to say, It is John the Baptist, risen from the dead; and shall be ready to forebode the sad effects of his recovered life, and to prognosticate evil to himself from the mighty works he performed. Let us make it our care to preserve a conscience void of offence, that, instead of a continual torment, it may be to us a continual feast! - And if we really desire to preserve it, let us take heed that we be not excessively transported with the enter- 22, 23 tainments of life, or rashly enter ourselves into engagements which perhaps may plunge us into some degree of guilt, whether they be jº. or violated. We see, in this dreadful instance of Herodias, what an in placable degree of malice may arise in the hearts of 24 sinners, on being reproved for the most scandalous and mischievous vices. Instead of owning the obligation to one that would have plucked her as a brand out of the burning, she thirsts insatiably for his blood; and chooses rather to indulge her cruelty and revenge in taking away his life, than to gratify her avarice and ambition in de- manding a gift that might have been equal to the half of a kingdom. But how mysterious was that providence which left the life of so holy a man in such infamous hands, and per- mitted it to be sacrificed to the malice of an abandoned harlot, to the petulancy of a vain girl, and to the rash- ness of a foolish and perhaps an intoxicated prince, who made the prophet's head the reward of a dance! The ways of God are unsearchable 1 but we are sure he can never be at a loss to repay his servants in another world for the greatest sufferings they endure in this, and even for life itself when given up in his cause. We may reasonably conclude that death could never be an unseasonable surprise to this excellent saint. 27 When the executioner came into the prison by night, perhaps breaking in upon his slumbers, and executed his bloody commission almost as soon as he declared it, a soul like his might welcome the stroke as the means of liberty and glory; assured that the transient agony of a moment would transmit it to a kingdom where the least of its inhabitants would be, in holiness, honour, and felicity, superior to John in his most prosperous and success- ful state on earth. - - - His enemies might a while insult over him, while his disciples were mingling their tears with his dust, and 28 m Sucare unto her, more than º: This may be very well cºncluded because both the evangelists use the plural opkovs, Matt. xiv. 9. an Mark vi. 26. - * - in Bcing before urged to it by her mother, and at length confirmed in the MARK WI. 14, 16 25, 27 Tuvač significs a large dish, which the antiquated word charger well expresses; for which reason I chose to retain it. p One of his guards.] So agrkovXa7 (opa properly signifies, or one who was then standing sentry. . There were no executioners in those resolution.] So the word pogt?agócioſa seems to intimate, as Beza, with his usual accuracy, has observed; and there is indeed nuch more reason to wonder that she was induced to make such a request at all, than that she made some difficulty for a while of presenting it, consider- ing how savage it seemed, and how many pleasing views must be sacri- ficed to it. But at last her mother’s remonstranges seem to have wrought her up to great emotion, which the evangelist well expresses by saying, She came in evösö; perg arouëns, immediately, and, with cagerness. The whole narration of Mark, which is by, far the most cir- cumstantial, is very much animated; as Mr. Blackwall has justly observ- ed in his Szcred Classics, vol. i. p. 383. - - - o The lºcad of John the Baptist in a charger.] It is well known, that it was and is customary with princes in those eastern parts, to require the head of those they order to be executed to be brought to them, that they inay be assured of their death. be Grand Signior_does it to this day. Soo Dr. Lardner, in the place cited in note l, p. 24, 25. Th9 word times, whose peculiar business it was to put persons to death. - - - q Forgetting the tenderness of her sex.] This may lº be inti- mated in the epetition of the word maidcn. Jerome tells us, that Hero- dias treated the Baptist’s head in a very disdainful manner, pulling out the lºgue which she imagined had injured her, and piercing it with a l] &ed 16. r Till the righteous judgment of God overtook them all.]. Dr. Whitby, after many others, observes, that Providence interested itself very re- markably in the revenge of this murder on all concerned. Herod’s army was defeated in a war , occasioned by his marrying Herodias, which many Jews thought a judgment upon him for the death.9f Jºhn. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. cqp. 5. [al. 7..] § 1, 2.) Both he and Herodias, whose ambition occasioned his ruins were afterwards driven from their kingdom with great regret, and died, in banishment, at Lyons in Gaul. (Joseph. Ibid. cap. 7... [al. - - ..] § 2.) And if any credit may be given to Nicéphorus, (Hist. lib, l, cap. 20.) - Salome, the young lady who made 19 146 Jr.SUS AND THE APOSTLES CROSS THE SEA OF TIBERIAS. SECT. lamenting the residue of his days cut off in the midst. His death was precious in the sight of the Lord, and 77. the triumphing of the wicked was short. So will he ere long plead the cause of all his injured people, and give a cup of trembling and astonishment to those that have made themselves drunk with their bloºd, i.e. cruelty *** *nd tyranny do their worst, verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth. VI. (Psal. lviii. 11.) SECTION LXXVIII. When the apostles were returned from executing their commission, our Lord passes over the sea of Tiberias; and finding vast multitudes had fol- lowed him to the place of his intended retirement, he instructs and heals them; and, having miraculously fed above #: t * ::::::::::::"ºnºa'i, hºnºhaving y e five thousand, retires after MARK vi. 30. MARK vi. 30. sECT. 4.N.D quickly after this awful event of the Baptist's death,” which has been just related, AND the apostestwhen they 78 taxº~ e - - - were returned, gathered the twelve apostles, when they were returned from their circuit, gathered together unto Jesus, i.º. #le: º and told him all the occurrences of their late journey; recounting to him both what mira: sus, jºiâ’i."jº, *. hºhat they had done, and MARK cles they had done by his divine assistance, and what doctrine they had taught according to º taught. [Luke VI. - * LUKE IX. MARK 31 his direction. - ix. 10.] •ºnd when Jesus heard [of it, and was informed (as we have just now seen) of the death 31.And [when Jesus heard of John, as well as of the event of the journey which his apostles had been making, he 3...] : ...º.º. º. said to them, Come ye yourselves privately with me into a solitary place in the neighbouring i. ºrja †. desert, and repose yourselves a while after the fatigue of your journey, that we may there ..."..."; indulge such meditations as are suitable to this awful dispensation. And it was necessary had nººch as to to give them this advice, for there were many continually coming and going to and from * [Matt. xiv. 13.] the public place in which they then were, so ihat they no opportunity even to eat without interruption, and much less had they leisure for religious retirement and recollection. Jłnd accordingly, after these things,” he took them with him, and retired from the multi- Luke ix. 10. And [Johs, tude; and they departed from thence, (even from the place where they had been so much #. jº. • 10 crowded and hurried,) and setting out, in a ship privately, they withdrew into a lonely ºn they departed thenº WI. JOHN WI. desert belonging to the city called Bethsaida, which we have several times mentioned before. :: "..."; àº; §º aS #. desert was divided from the place they set out from by a creek or bay of i {º} e séa, Jesus, in passing to it, went over a part of the sea of Galilee, which is also some- ie., iijsº ºf times called [the seal of Tiberias," because that is the most considerable place on its shore. §§, ºf 13. Jānd when the people who had been attending on his ministry saw them departing, and, Mark i. 33. And ſºhen] though he was at some distance, many of them knew him,” and others thereabout heard of fº.º. 38 [it] a great multitude followed him; because they had seen his miracles, which he had just ºff.º. 3. before performed on them that were diseased, and, struck with the energy of them, were º! º impatiently desirous still to hear so divine a Teacher .4nd, therefore, observing how he j \; \;... º steered his course, and guessing right as to the place at which he intended to ſand, they they] ana;foot ſhifthe out of Tan thither on foot, and increased their numbers out of all the cities by which they passed: #; §§ and they pursued their journey with such eagerness, that they outwent them who had taken łºń, ſº §§ 13. Luke ship, and, getting round to the shore where he was to land, they came together to him, and * * **** stood ready to salute him in a large body. - - Jłnd Jesus, when he came out of the ship, and saw such a great multitude of people, who 34 And Jesus, when he had taken so much pains to meet him there, was moved with tender compassion for them ; ; º; because he perceived they were sadly neglected by those who ought to have been their spi-sion towards them, because ritual guidés, and were forced to wander from place to place, as sheep having no shepherd º.º.º.º.'...i to feed and take care of them; and with this he was struck to such a degree, that though he received them.] and began - - * • - - to teach them many things, he had come thither for retirement, he did not either dismiss or forsake them; but, on the tija.lºaft intº contrary, received them in a most condescending and indulgent manner, and began with flºº; ºft renewed zeal and fervency to teach them many important things; and, inJº ar, spake tº had nºd of heal: to them concerning the kingdom of God which he was now erecting, and healed many of #;" xiv. 14. Luke ix. their sick people, [even all] those that were brought to him, and had need of healing. •And, in prosecution of this design, that he might be heard and seen with the greater John vi. 3. And Jesus went advantage, Jesus went up into a mountain, and there sat down with his disciples, and the ########.” 4 multitudes about him. And indeed it was a season of the year which admitted it; for 4. And the tº feast the spring was now so far advanced that the passover, a grand feast of the Jews, was neare ****** this cruel request, ſell into the ice as she was walking over it, which, e The pgssover, a feast of the Jews, was near.]. Almost all who have closing suddenly, cut off her head. - compiled Harmonies of the gospels, have concluded that this was at least a. After this awful event of the Baptist’s death..] Matthew, Mark, and the third passover of our Lord’s public ministry; and Sir Isaac Newton I,uke are all so exprèss in the connexion of this story with the foregoing, reckons it the fourth. (See note a, on John ii. 13. p. 55.) . But Mr. that there can be no doubt as to the propriety and necessity of placing it Manne advances a most singular hypothesis, which is, that it was no 182 re. * assover at all, but was the feast of pentecost. (Jºissert., p. 163.) But b Aſter these things.] I have before observed, (in note a, on John v. É. has no authority for making such an alteration, all the old manuscripts 1. p. 93.) that Mr. Manne supposes this sixth chapter of john ought to and versions agreeing with the received reading, which therefore should be connected with the end of the fourth : (see his Dissertations, p. 157— not be changed without urgent necessity ;, whereas there is no necessity 163.) and the rather because he fancies, one may find a, connéxion be- at all for it, in this place : nor is it possible that this should be, as he tween John iv. 54. and vi. 1. the first of which texts tells us that Jesus supposes, the feast of pentecost, following the first passover of Christ’s was in Galilee; and the latter, that he went over the sea of Galilee, which ministry;...because such things are expressly said to have happened is the sea of Tiberias. But I cannot see the least force in the argument, between that passover and this feast, as could not be crowded into the considering how often Christ changed his place, and came back again to narrow, compass assigned them on this scheme. For, aggording to MIr; that which he had formerly .# nor can he urge it with any consist: Mianne’s scheme, the passover happened, on April, the 2d, the feast of ence, because, according to his own scheme of the Harmony, Christ had pentecost on May the 23d, and this miracle of feeding the five thousand crossed the sea to Gergåsa, and dispossessed the legion, after the cure of at the latter end of April. Now he himself allows that, after the first the nobleman’s son, and long before the passing over the sea that is here Fº [at which he staid long enough to work many miracles, and to referred to : (which was plainly not to Gergåsa, but, to the desert of have a conference with Nicodemus.) Jesus [having, as John tells us, Bethsaida:) so that there is no shadow of a reason for such an unex - chap. iii. 22. tarried some time with his †. in Judea, and made ampled transposition, which has no copy or version to support it. Be- so º disciples there, that he alarmed the Pharisees; see John iv. 1.] sides that this requires another change it; yer. 4, which is equally arbi- went through Samaria; and after having spent two days at Sichar, trary, and (as we shall show in note é, of this section) most contrary not [and every hour in such a circumstance is important, came into Galilee, only to the faith of all copies, but to the reason of things. and taught in all their synagogues; preached the, sermon Qu,the mount; c. Sometimes called the sea of Tiberias.] We have before observed, and then [having, as Luke tells us, chap., iv. 31. dyglº while at Caper- that it had various names. (See note b, on Luke v. 1. p. 72.) It is not naum, and taught them on the sabbath #! cured Peter’s mother-in- necessary to suppose they crossed the lake ; if they did, it was only over law; then, having cast out Legion, cured the paralytic, çalled Matthew, the extremity of it; or possibly they only made a coasting voyage round and [after having kept them with him, some time, as Mark and Luke some creek or bay of it; otherwise it is hard to say how the people go- intimate, $ 52, p. 1; sent out the twelve apostles; and having on one ing on foot could have been there before him, as it is said they were, Mark sabbath vindicated his disciples, for pluçking the ears of çory and ºn #33. See fightā’īº of iſºtº"...iv. i3 and Čajinet, jº, another cured the man with a withered hand, he then goes to Nazareth, Tom. I. part i. p. 89. - - [where he spent at least one sabbath;] and, after many other miracles, d Many knew him.] It should seem that Christ ordered the vessel to and the return of the twelve, goes, into, the, desert; [Jºhn the Baptist in be prepared at some distance from the place where the multitude was; the mean time having been seized, º it is directly said he was at liberty yet not so far off but some of the company could make a shift to distin' after the first passover, John iii. 24.) and after frequent audiences, while guish who he was. Herodia's ſong waited an opportunity to destroy him, being at length * = . £uke ix. 12. And when the day began to wear away, [MARK, and, was now far §º [and it was ever,ing;) then [his disciples,) even the twelve, came [MARK, unto him, and said; This is a de- sert place, and now the time is far passed,l send the mul- titude away, that they may go into the towns and coun- try round about, and lodge, [MARK, and buy themselves bread, and get victuals; [MARK, for they have nothing to eat..] [Matt. xiv. 15. Mark vi. 35, 35.] John, vi. 5. When Jesus then lift up his eyes, and saw a. Breat company come, unto him, he said unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these º, eat 2 .6 (And this he said to prove him : for he himself knew what he would do.) * * hilip answered him, Two, hundred pennyyworth of bread is not "sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. Matt. xiv. 16. But Jesus said unto them, º need not depart, , give ye them to cat. [And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hun- red pennyworth of bread [LUKE, and meat for all this Peºple, and give them to §§ f (Marſ: vi. 37, Luke ix. Mark vi. 38. He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye ’, go and see. * John vi. 8. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith into Y } II.] §"There is alad here, which hath five barley loaves, an two small fishes: but [LUKE, we have no more, and what are they among so many f Matt. xiv. 17. Mark vi. 38. uke ix. 13.] - Matt. xiv., 18. He said, Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down [upon the green grass;] [LUKE, and he said to his disciples,) [Make thern all sit down by companies.] [John, . Now there was much grass in the place..] [Mark. vi. 39. Luke ix. 14. John vi. 10.] º Luke ix. 15. And thiſ did so, and made them all sit down. [John, So the men sat down] [in ranks, by hun- greds and by, fifties, [John, in number about five thou- sand.]. [Mark vi. 40. Luke ix. 14. John vi. 10. Mark vi. 41. And when [Jo HN, Jesus] had taken the five loaves, and the two fishes, he looked up to hea- ven, and [Jo HN, when he had given thanks, he] blesse filuge, them.j and brake the ſoaves, and (J9HN,.. distri- buted] them to his disciples [LUKE, to set before the mul- titude] [John, that were set down, [and the disciples gave them to the multitude;] and [John, likewise] the two fishes divided he among them all, (Joh N, as much as they would..] [Matt. xiv. 19. Luke ix. 16. John vi., 11. 42 And they did all eat, and were filled. [Matt. xiv. 30. Luke ix. 17. John, yi. 12. When they wore filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the frag- ments, that remain, that no- thing be lost. FIVE THOUSAND MIRACULOUSLY FED. 147 •And when they had thus spent the day in a delightful attendance upon him, and it now SECT. began to decline, and indeed was so far spent that the evening came on, then some of his 77. disciples, and particularly the twelve apostles, who were now round him, came to him, and said. This is a solitary desert place, where there is neither food nor lodging to be had, and * the time of day is now far advanced; it will therefore be proper to put an end to thy, dis-12 course, and to dismiss the multitude, that they may go into the towns and country-places round about us, and find conveniences to lodge there, and may have opportunity to buy º: bread, and get other food; for they have fasted all the day, and can have nothing here to eat. - Then Jesus lifted up his eyes, and seeing a great company, who (as was said before) were come out of all the cities to him, he says to Philip, who, being a native of Bethsaida, was acquainted in that country, (John i, 44. p. 52.) How and whence shall we buy bread for 5 the entertainment of all these people, that they may eat with me before we part?...(..And 6 this he said only to try him, º to give him an opportunity of observing what followed more attentively; for he himself ve JOHN WI. well knew what he was about to do, and had deter- mined how to proceed.) But Philip, forgetting what had been done of this kind by 7 Elijah and Eiji. prophets so far inferior to Jesus, (1 Kings xvii. 14–16. and 2 Kings iv. 4–6, 42—44.) and even by Jesus himself at Cana in Galilee, (John ii. 6–11. sect. xxiii.) was surprised that he should mention such a thing, and answered him, Two hun- dred ſº of bread, or as much as could be purchased for two hundred denarii,f which is at present all our little stock, is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little refreshment, and much less would it furnish them with a full meal; it wi be necessary therefore immediately to dismiss them, that they may have time to shift for themselves. - But Jesus said to him, and to them that stood near him, who had "h; now made the same proposal, They have no need to go away fasting, nor am I willing to dismiss them so without any supply: and therefore let them have food for their refreshment here; and instead of sending them away to provide for themselves, do you make ready for them, and give ye them [something] to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we then go to an neighbouring place, and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread [and] meat for all this muſ- titude of people, and give [it] them to eat, that it may go as far as it can P-If such be thy pleasure, we shall not offer to dispute it, whatever be the consequence, as to ourselves. But, as he purposed in himself to entertain the multitude out of the little store of pro- visions they had, Jesus says to them, How many loaves have you here already? go * See that, and there will be no need of buying any more. Upon which one of his disciples, namely, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, went to inquire; and soon returning MATT. G I MLARK WI. 38. JOHN WI. back with an account of what they had, he says unto him, I find there is a lad here that has five coarse barley loaves, and two small fishes, which he would let us have ; but we have 9 no more to offer them, either of bread of meat; [and] what are they among so many to satisfy the hunger of so great a company ? .4nd he said to them, Do you be under no con- MATT cern about the scantiness of your provisions; but bring them hither to me, for even these exiv. shall suffice. I8 •And, when they were brought to him, he commanded the multitude to sit down upon 19 the green grass, º, at that season of the year was pretty high : and, that the distribu- tion of the food might be more orderly, and the number of persons be the better observed, he said to his disciples, Let them be placed in order, and cause them all to sit down by companies in rows. .Now there was then much grass in the place,é in which they might sit down with ease and pleasure. ...And his disciples would no more dispute the matter with him; but they did so as the LUKE Lord had commanded them, and caused them all to sit down, though they could not see , e.” how they were to be fed. The men therefore sat down by themselves in rows which there was room to pass between, by hundreds and by fifties, in a long square, containing an hundred in rank, and fifty in file:h and they were about five thousand in number, not to mention the women and children, who were placed apart. .And Jesus, taking the five loaves and the two ſº looked up to heaven with great rever- MARK ence and affection, and having given thanks to his heavenly Father for the bounties of his , , VI. kind providence, and the extraordinary instance of divine favour now to be manifested, he, in a solemn manner, blessed them, commanding upon the provisions before him that sin- gular blessing by which they were to be multiplied in the distribution; and then he brake the loaves in pieces, and distributed them to his disciples, that they might set [them] before the multitude, who were set down upon the grass as he #. ordered them: and accordingly the disciples [gave º round to all the multitude with believing hearts and unsparing hands: and he likewise divided the two fishes among them all, and gave them by the hands of his disciples to the whole company, supplying them with as much as they would take. And so 42 wonderfully were the provisions increased by passing under his creating hand, that they did all eat of them till they had every one enough, and were all fully satisfied. ...And, when they were all sufficiently filled, ic says to his disciples, Let there be no waste John made of any part of the divine bounties, but gather up the broken pieces that remain, that VI. 12. so nothing may be lost. The disciples therefore, in obedience to his word, went through 13 e $ that the grass was green : as it was before the passover, but not near the beheaded.] All these events, except those included in crotchets, Mr Manne expressly mentions; (p. 166–171.) and those that are so in- cluded, the evangelists in express words connect with the rest. Now I appeal to an unprejudiced person, whether it is possible these things could happen in a month. It may rather be doubted whether two years be sufficient for them, and others connected with them in the preceding sections. On the whole, I cannot recollect any instance in which a per- $on of such distinguished learning and abilities has been betrayed, by ove to any hypothesis, into so palpable an errot.—The reader will pardon * having been so large in confuting a scheme so inconsistent with that laid down above; and will, I hope, perceive that it is proved, not gnly to be precarious of unlikely, but even impossible. f For twº hundred denarii.j"This amounts to about six pounds five §hillings of our money. The mention of that sum seems to intimate (as in the paraphrase) that their whole stock amounted to so much. g There was much grass in the place.] It is also said (Mark vi. 39.) feast of pentecost, when even the corn harvest was concluded. Though they sat thus on the ground, under, no canopy bet the sky, and had only barley bread, and, as it seems, cold or dried fishes to eat, and probably nothing but water to drink; yet, as Mr. Henry truly and beautifully observes on Matt. xiv. 19. “There was more real grandeur displayed by the Master of this feast, than by Ahasuerus in that royal feast which was intended to show, the riches aſ his glorious kingdom, and the honour of his excellent majesty. See Esth. i. 4–7;” * * h An hundred in rank, and fifty in file.] That this is the proper import, is abundantly proved by Mr. Pierce in his Fifth Dissertation: annexed to the Hebrews. This was the shortest and exactest Way o ranging them, and reconciles Mark’s account above, with Luke's, who only speaks of their sitting down by fifties, Thus disposed, they would wait more patiently till they were served in their turns ; the number would appear at once, and they would see that Christ knew it. 148 |FIVE THOUSAND MIRACULOUSLY FED. SECT. the several ranks of the Whºle, company; and picking up the pieces that were left, they .13 Therefore they gathered 78. gathered them together, and filled no less than twelve baskets with the very fragments of the {{ºv.; #. º jive barley loaves, and of the two fishes, which remained over and above to them thai had Î.';*.*, '. MATT. eaten: a quantity vastly larger than they had at first. #; *::::...º.º. *21 And yet they who had eaten of the loaves and fishes (as by the disposition of the multi- jºbº. ºf tude in rows, the number of them might be easily computed) were about five thousand §§§3. º men, besides women and children, who sat by themselves, and might almost amount to an ºt, Xiy. 21:...And they that had eaten (of the loaves - equal number. I. : - * were , about #e §§ jºs The men therefore who were present upon this occasion, and were thus miraculously hº bºnd chil- "14 entertained, having seen the miracle which Jesus wrought, after all the preceding wonders of "jºhn'."º" ºn those the day, were so mightily struck with it, that they said, Truly this is the great Prophet who ...º.º.º. was to come into the world, and has so long been impatiently .."by us, éven the This is of a tº that ºf Messiah himself, whom God has appointed to rule, as well as to teach his people. (Com- tº should come into pare Deut. xviii. 18, and see also T. Mac. xiv. 41.) And concluding that the same mira- culous power could make itself victorious over all opposition, and easily could subsist and maintain an armyi in the greatest extremity, they began to enter into measures of ºming his title to the kingdom of Israel, and fixing him on the throne of David his a Uſł62 it. 15 Jesus therefore, knowing that they would quickly urge this proposal, and that their hearts ...W. hºmºeºſ. were so much set upon it, that they were ready to come and seize him by force to make him º º, king, was determined immediately to part with them, lest he should give umbrage to the ºl jealousy of the Romans, and lead the people that followed him into inconvenience and his disciples to get into the ruin: he therefore immediately obliged his disciples to get into the ship in which they had jº. jº ſº come thither, and to go before him to the other side of the creek, to the city of Bethsaida, said. Whilºsºntº while he dismissed the multitude, who upon seeing his disciples go abroad, would be more º'º"?” Mark - • - *- 2 V’l. - *- MARK easily prevailed upon to go away. And when he had accordingly dismissed the multitude, } Nº. ičić And Yº §: *...a and sent them off as well as his disciples, and the evening was now come, he again withdrew, º º according to his frequent custom, [and] ascended up by himself alone to a mountain in those ºf..."ºff - - - - Went up, OHN, mself parts, to pray to his heavenly Father; in which deſightful exercise he spent the greatest alone) §: º, part of the night. . . tºº, Matt six 8. John IMPROVEMENT. Ver,41 So evidently true is it, that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God! (Matt. iv. 4.) . How wonderful did the power of Christ appear, in thus multiplying the food! and how MATT. amiable his compassion, in his affectionate concern for the relief of his necessitous followers! It is to be esteemed *IV, 2 a great happiness, when the ministers of the gospel have it in their power to assist men in their temporal as well as spiritual necessities; and it is peculiarly incumbent upon them, thus io do good and communicate; for with such sacrifices from their hands dº is peculiarly well pleased, and the success of their ministry may be greatly promoted by them. (Heb. xiii. º JOHN The disciples received from the hand of Christ the food they delivered to the people: and so should ministers VI. . . be concerned, that they may receive from Christ what they dispense to others as the bread of life, and that they 11 also at the same time may live upon it, as the support of their own souls. How great an honour is it to be em- ployed as stewards of the mysteries of God | Letirot immoderate secular cares, let not the desire of worldly riches 15 or greatness, interrupt us in this blessed work! Christ withdrew from those who would have made him king: ill therefore does it become his disciples to pursue earthly grandeur; and most unworthy is it of his ministers, to act as if his kingdom were of this world. º we learn in every state to be content! (Phil. iv. II.) In want, may 12 We cheerfully trust Providence! In plenty, may we not wantonly abuse it! but learn, by his command of gather- ing up the fragments even of this miraculous feast, a wise frugality in the use of our enjoyments: that nothing may be lost, nor a reserve be wanting, by which the streams of future liberality may be fed! * • - MATT. When the day had been thus employed, Christ retired to a mountain to pray. Thus must secret devotion attend XIV, our public labours for the instruction and salvation of men, if we would secure that divine blessing, without * which, neither the most eloquent preaching, nor the most engaging and benevolent conduct, can command or promise success. SECTION LXX}X. As the disciples were upon the Jake, they are overtaken by a storm ; and Christ comes, tº them. Wºlking on the sea, and stills the tempest. Matt. xiv. 24, to the end. Mark vi. 47, to the end. John vi. 1 - John vi. 16. --- John vi. 16. sECT, IT was before observed, that, after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, Christ AND when even was now * - * * - - e *Alo . :- or tonne, his d 25 W'ent ordered his disciples to depart, and go before him to Bethsaida ; and accordingly, when the 㺠uº dº tº: 79. • * * * * * - •2 2J . "… ...; Aº evening was come, his disciples went down to the sea-[side;] :#nd having entered into the ship vi. 47.] º - e * 5 , 4. y : ~ 1- -: - ind that 17 And entered into a ship, Joºs which waited for them, and put off from land, they quickly met with a cross Wind, that and ºğ. vi changed their course, and were soon driven further from the shore than they designed ; so Nº. ºf..."; 17 that, instead of getting to Bethsaida, they were going to the other side ºf the seq., towards iſ ship was in the midst ºf Capernaum;” and, night coming on, it was now dark, and the ship was in the midst of the the sea º 1 Concluding that the same miraculous power could subsist and main- was observed, before, (Luke ix. 10. P. H%) that,they Yº...!?Y in a tain an army.] It is certain, that an .# of lºss than five housand desert place belonging to Bethsaidg which, probably Y. divided from j might, under such a fleader, have accomplished the greatest events, it by sqme bay or creek that run into the land; º Christ §§ only j'hº obtained even universal empire, had he been picasºi to oxert his ordered his disciples to pass over this, creek 'º } C. º, of Bet saida, ower to such purposes. They probably remembered how vast ºn where he might afterwards have jºined them, w hen be ºd Sent away }. had been §. by Gideon with only three hundred men witi, the people. But in their passagg thither, i. ſſ." arose; and they their trumpets and lamps; (Judg. vii. 22.) not to mention Samson’s were driven by a contray wind into the roidst o º i. § Cas slaying a thousand with a jaw-boné, (Judg. xv.15.) and other extrºgrqi- pernaum. This reconciles the º: lºw th 'É º: nº events of this kind régoričá in the Old Testament. (Šee 3 Kings the next section, where, notºithsºunding tº directiºn }}, lºg ºven iii. 31-34. 2 Chron. xx.33–35, and compare Tev. xxvi. 8). They also them to go. before him to Betisgidº Xo find them gains tº, ſº Ilſluºrº, i.e. that the hoie body of the jewish ation was then highly spirited which lay on the other side of the lak; $º. as below. Thi with these sentiments, and might reasonably expect that legions of them a P/cré going to the other side of the sea § is apernaum). us would soon pour in to the standards of such a Leader. exactly expresses what is aaid in the origina 3 mpxovºo Tepal. Ins k Obliged his disciples, &c.] This phrase may intimate that they, who 0axagºn; eis Kaſrepugup . and I cannot but look upºl, it as º. argui plainly appear to have been too fond of secular views, were rathér in- ment that Béthsaida lay on the east side of the sea of Tiberias, (though clined to stay, and quitted the multitude with some refuctance, in what most of our majave placed it in a different situation,) since Caper; they thought so favourable a conjuncture. But it was certainly the magm is alloºed by all to have been situated on the western shore, and hi Ées: prudence in Christ, considering what his Pººpºei...º.e, ſº is here, represented as lying, ºn the ºrg: side to Bethsaida, from order them away, and to dismiss them and the multitädé, before any which they were driven over the sea to Capernaum. (Compare note l, thing happened which could, alarm or offend, even the most jealous Above.) "iſ his situation of Bethsaida is likewise confirmed by Josephus, spies, who might perhaps herd among the crowd. - Bºii. Jud. iii. ii., cap. 9... [al. 8.] §ect. 1.), who calls it by the nºme of 1 And to go before him to the other side of the creek, to Bethsaida.] It Julias; which Pliny also speaks of, as on the eastern side of the Jake of and Jesus was not come unto them, º but was alone on the land.] [Matt. xiv. 24. Minrk vi. 47.] - 18 Amd, the sea arose, by reason of a great wind that blew, [and the ship was toss- d with waves; for the wind was contrary) [MARK, unto them.] [Matt. xiv. 24. Mark W . . º. 19 Sq when they had rowed about five and twenty or thir- ty furlongs, [in the fourth §ath of the night, Jesus] {Yix Riº, saw them toiling in roºvi, 12, and cometh unto them walking upon the sea, &n i would have passed b them.] [Matt. xiv. 25. sia; vi. 4S. Matt. xiv. 25. And when the disciples saw him wałk- iºg on the sea, [JoJ1N, and drawing nigh unto the ship,) they were [Joh N, afraid, 2:lying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear, [Mark vi. 49. John vi. 19. Mark vi. 50. For they all saw him, and were troubled, And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer, It is J, be not afraid. [Matt. xiv. 27. John vi. 20.] Matt. xiv. 28. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come uato thee on the water. 29 Anil he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus, 3) But when he saw the wind, boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he pried, saying, Lord, save The 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and gaught him, and said unto him, O, thoſi of little, faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Mark vi. 5). . And he went up unto them into the ship; [and when they were come into the ship, [John, they vyillingly received him, an time wind ceased : [Jo HN, and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went :] and they were some amazed in themselves beyond mea- sure, and Yondered. . [Matt. xiy; 32. John vi. 2). 52 For they considered not the 2iracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened. Matt. xiv. 33. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. * jFSUS COMES TO THE DISCIPLES WALKING ON THE SEAL 149 sea, they did not exactly know where. Now Jesus was not yet come to them, b (but was] SECT. still where they left him, by himself alone on the land, employed in secret devotion on the 79. mountain to which he retired. JOHN In the mean time they were in circumstances of great danger and distress; for the seq. upon it: and the vessel was tossed by the swelling waves; for the wind was contrary to them, and had driven them far out of their intended course. So when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty furlongs, or something more than a 19 league,” in the beginning of the fourth watch of the night, or about three o'clock in the morning,” Jesus, who knew the distress they were in, perceiving that they were weary with Towing, and in vain attempted to weather the storm, came to them walking on the sea,° by his miraculous power rendering his own body ighter than usual, or strengthening the waves to bear it; and, further to exercise their faith and courage, he seemed, at first, as if arose in a very tempestious manner, by reason of a violent storm of wind which blew hard I WI. he would have passed by them. ...And when the disciples, by that little light which the reflec- ** & J. º & - * & XIV tion of the moon on the water afforded them,f saw him walking on the sea, and passing near the ship, not perfectly discerning who it was, they were much terrified, saying, It is certainly } an apparition, for no human body could thus be supported by the water: and they had such a dread of what might be the consequence, that they cried out aloud for fear." For they all saw him; and, notwithstanding the miraculous power that he had lately given them MARK ovér evil spirits, (Matt. x. 1. p. 139.) yet were they greatly troubled. ...And therefore, to VI deliver them from that anxiety, he immediately spoke to them, and said, Take courage; for 50 it is I, your Lord and Master: be not afrasºl of me, who am your friend; nor of the violent tempest, which cannot hurt you while under my protection. hen, as they knew his voice, they presently began to lay aside their fears: and Peter, *. whose ratural temper was remarkably warm and forward, immediately answering, said unto 3 him, Lord, if it indeed be thou, who art walking on the sea as I now apprehend it is, I am so far from being afraid of the tempest in thy presence, while I continue in the ship, that I am willing thou shouldst, if thou pleasest, command me to come to thee even upon the water, and I will immediately venture to do it. And Jesus, that he thus might exercise his faith, 29 and by convincing him of his weakness, might give a check at the same time to his excessive confidence, complied with his proposal, and said to him, If thou hast faith and courage to attempt it, come then, and make the trial: and Peter, being now assured it was indeed his Master, came down from the ship, and fully satisfied that he was able to uphold and bear him up, walked on the water for a while, to come unto Jesus : But soon perceiving 30 that the wind was very strong, and the sea raging with great violence, he was afraid of being lost; and his faith failing him, he presently 5egan to sink,” and cried out in a great consternation of spirit, saying, Lord, save me, or I shall be swallowed up in a moment! .And immediately Jesus, stretching out his hand, laid hold on him; and, to remind him of his 31 unbelief, said to him, O thou of little faith, why didst thout doubt of my protection, when I was so near; when thou hadst my commission to make the trial, and hadst in part experi- enced my power in supporting thee thus far on the waves? - .#nd, taking Peter with him, he ascended to them into the bark;h and when they were come MARK aboard, they that were there received him with the utmost pleasure, as the great pledge of their common safety. And they quickly found the happy effects of his presence: for all the fury of the wind now ceased at once ; and, what was yet more surprising, the ship was immediately at the point of land to which they were going. ...And they were all erceedingly amazed in themselves, and astonished beyond measure,i as if they had never before seen any exertion of his miraculous power. For their heart was so hardened, and their mind so 52 insensible, that they considered not the yet more wonderful and glorious [miracle of the] loaves, which but the day before they had seen multiplied in so extraordinary a manner as to display even a creating power.b. 5] VI. Then they that were about him, even all that were in the ship, came and worshipped him, MATT. as in a rapture of wonder, devotion, and joy, falling down at his feet with the utmost rever- ence, and saying, We are now convinced that thou art indeed the Son of God, and hast an 33 unlimited power over the whole creation. Jind when they had thus passed over the lake, they came to a part of the land of Gemme- 34 sareth, and put to shore not far from Capernaum, to which, it was observed before, (p. 148.) 34 And when they were i. over, they came into the and of Gennesaret, [and drew to the shore.] [Mark vi. 53.] Ǻnnesareth. See Plin. JVat. Jist. lib. v. cap. 15. and Lightfoot. Cerit. Chorag. in Matt. cap. 93. b ...Yoic Jesus tº as not yet conc to them.] It is a great imperfection of our language, that we have no proper copulative particle but [and J which is here so much the more unhappy; as in laying together the whole narration of the evangelists, the use of that particle is much more fre- quent than it would have been in any single ons. I choose therefore here, and in some other places, to change it for the word [now] which in this connexion signifies almost, if not entirely, the same thing. c HVhen they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty furlongs.]-Probably, when they found the wind so violent, they were afraid of being ship. wrecked if they canne near the shore : and therefore having perhaps s:xiled a while before the wind, they now rowed out to sea : for, as they must have been several hours at sea, one can hardly imagine, that with so brisk, a gale they made no more way in all this time than a little above a league ; unless we impute it to their having laboured all they could to avoid crossing the sea, and to get to Bethsaida. d In the fourth watch of the night.] The Jewish night was divided into ſour watches, each containing about three of our hºurs, especially so near the cquinox. The first began at six in the cyening, the socond at nine, the third at midnight, and the fourth at three it; the morning. (See Godwin’s Moses and Aaron, book iii. chap. l.) F. Calmet (in the word Ho URs) thinks they learned this division from the Romans. See Veget. de Re Militari, lib. iii. cap. 8. and Pitisc. Lezic. in P'igil. .e., PWalking on the § This was thought so impracticable, that the picture of two feet, \valking on, the sea, was an Egyptian hieroglyphic for an impossible thing. And in the Scripture it is mentioned as the Prerogative of God, that he alone treadeth itpon the waves ºf the scu, Job IX. &. f By that little light, &c.] It is well known, that it is never cntirely dark, on the waters not to urge that the moon might perhaps now be in the last quarter, as it must have been, if this was about three weeks before the passover. g IIe began to sink.) He probably could swim, as most fishermen can ; (compare John xxi. 7) and perhaps he might venture on the Satch a lºgight that attempt he now made, with some secret derºdence on his art, viiich od, for wise reasons, suffered to fail him. The word sºfarovrºza ()at is very expressive, and may intimate that he felt himself sinking ºth. he had no hope of recovering himself, and expected nothing but that he should go directly to the bottom of the soa. h Into the park.] . Though the evangelists generally use the word 7\otov, which signifies any ressel in which men sail on the sea, I have sometimes varied if a little, in order to prevent titat ili cffect which the repetition of it so frequently as it occurs would have on the ear in road- ing; and have here called it a bark, that it may not be in:ngined like our inºdern ships. Accordingly, John calls it #A9tapº or a little vessel ; chap. vi. 22. . Compare John xxi. 3, S. \ . Ercecding'ſ amazed—and Gstomisked beyond in casurc.] The words Xta;, & K Tsptagoº & to Tavre, kg i. 80auptq or, are too emphatical to be exactly rendered; but this is plainly the sense of them: and the accuratic reader wiil observe that I suppose the words X tav ex reptagon, to be equally connected with affarpaëny and £137 an:72. . § As to display even a cºttiāg power.] Ilad not this been done, is hard to imagine how twelve baskets full of ſragments could have bêc. taken up: it was therefore in itself (as the evango list plainty intimates a more certain and glorious miracle than the ceasing of the wind imme diately of his coming into the ship. Their speedy landing after this mºs. also have, increased their astonishment. Considering this instance, alº that of Philip, Acts viii.39, 40. we have room to admire the condescen- sion of Christ, in submitting so often to the fatigues of journeying on foot from one place to another, when he could at pleasure have commanded angels ſo transport him. . With equal, case he could have waiked ashore from the waves of the sea, but with the most cdifying n:odesty he avoided the ostentation of it. - To the land. Gf Gennesareth, &nd put to shor 2 -ot far from Caperna- tim.] The land of Gennesareth was a large , act of ground on the western shore of the lake, in part of whic' papernaun, appears frc;m hence to have been situated. For though Al, "...ev and Mark only iº of their coming to the land of Gennesareth, ad putting to shore there, XIV. j 30 CHRIST CAUTIONS HIS DISCIPLES AGAINST worldLY MOTIVES, t - SECT. their course was tending. And when they came out of the vessel, as it was a place where , Mark vſ. 54. And when 79. Jesus had often been, they that were present when he landed, immediately knew him; and, º, ... º.º.º. ------- – though it was so early in the morning, the news of his arrival quickly spread through all iº straightway they knew MARK the neighbouring parts. For they were ready to inform each ołº of his coming; and the tºº. § * men of that place, who knew him, no sooner were apprised of his arrival, but presently they jºy ent ºlº. 55 sent out, and ran to every place in all that country round about, to give notice to their §º yºf §e;"; neighbours that Jesus was there, and that they now again should have the privilege of his º.º. reaching, and working, miracles among them: and they began to carry about the sick in him all jº'...'...} 56 beds, and brought unto him all that were diseased, to the place where they heard he was. And §§ sº heard he was. this was indeed the general custom wherever he came : as soon as he was entered into any ...; † jºhºe, he - tolens, or cities, or country [villages, they laid the sick in the most public streets, throug §:"...tº which they expected he would pass, and entreated him that they might at least touch the jº Jringe of his garment; and as many as touched him, believing in his power and readiness tºuchijº, but hiº. to heal them, were perfectly recovered, how extreme soever their illness had been. der of his garment: and as ched him, were *-, [Matt. xiv. 36.1 IMPROVEMENT. John THUS it still pleases Christ to exercise the faith of his people, that he may strengthen their dependence on him, * and demonstrate at once his compassion and his power. Thus are storms permitted oftentimes to rise around 17, Is them, and for a while they are left in darkness and are tossed with tempests: but he is near at hand, even when MARK they think him at the remotest distance; and when he seems to be passing by them, as regardless of their danger Yi and distress, he has designs of grace and mercy to them, and acts in such a way on purpose to quicken and excite 48 them to a greater earnestness and fervour in their applications to him. Happy would the Christian be, could he always discern his Lord, and always conceive of #. aright! but alas, how often does he appear to the disor- 49 dered mind as the object of terror rather than of confidence; and in a day of darkness, while he may seem to treat his suffering people with neglect, instead of seeking him with a more earnest importunity, how are they ready to be overwhelmed with fears, and to conclude he has forgotten them || MATT. At the command of Jesus, Peter ventured to go to him on the sea. . And through what storms and dangers XIV may we not safely venture, if we are sure that our Lord calls us! Yet the rebuke which he suffered may warn us 23–30 not rashly to throw ourselves on unnecessary trials, lest our excess of confidence end in fear and disgrace. Mo- desty and caution will adorn our other virtues, and render us amiable in the eyes of the humble Jesus. 30, 31 . In how many circumstances of life does the christian appear to his own imagination like Peter, beginning to sink in the waves | But in the time of our distress, like him, let us cry to Jesus for help; and, while we are lifting many as tou made [perfectly] whole. 3. 32, 33 up the hands of faith and prayer, we may humbly hope that Christ will stretch forth his omnipotent arm for our rescue. Let every experience of this kind, and all the seasonable aid he is from time to time imparting us, establish our dependence on him, and enforce our obedieńce to him as the Son of God. May divine grace deliver MARK us from that hardness of heart, that stupidity and insensibility of mind, which sometimes remains unconvinced VI, in the midst of evidence, and unaffected under the most moving illustrations of his abilities and willingness to 24 help us : * SECTION LXXX. * Our Lord, being followed by the multitude to Capernaum, cautions them against those worldly views with which they sought him, and declares himself to be the bread of life. John vi. 2; John vi. 22. John vi. 22. sECT. IN the mean time, while Jesus was thus charitably employed in healing those who were #.º.º. ...'; so, brought to him in the places near the shore, from whence he soon went forwards to Caper- šščič’sº: * naum, on the morrow after he had fed the five thousand, flºº search was made for him #:... º.º.º. John by those whom he had sent away the night before: for they were so affected with the ºli; disciples were enter. vi..., miraculous entertainment he had given them, that there were many of the multitude, who, º' § 22 though they might withdraw to a little distance on his dismissing the assembly, (Mark vi. º.º. biºlºgiples were 46, p. 148.) yet still continued on the other side of the sea that night, hoping to have another gońe away alone & interview with him in the morning; and, as they saw there was no other vessel there on the coast, but that one into which his disciples entered when they departed in the evening, and knew that Jesus did not go with his disciples into the vessel, but that his disciples went quay by themselves, leaving him there to spend the night alone, they made no question of his g 23 being still on that side of the sea. But in the morning they perceived that he was gone, oi., §º. and presently determined to go after him; and, though there were no vessels there the * Hºº: night before, yet were they quickly furnished with an opportunity of following him; for flºº. §§ there came other vessels very early from Tiberias, and put to shore migh to the place where they had eat the bread and fishesAfter the Lord had given thanks, ani commanded such a 24 When t } 24 miraculous blessing upon them. The multitude therefore, when they squ that neither Jesús tº Wººlºº. nor his disciples were illere on that side, went also themselves immediately aboard the vessels #º'; ;. that were now arrived, as many of them as could, and came to Çapçºnath, seeking for ...º.º. 25 Jesus with all the appearance of the most eager importunity. .And, when they had found ſº when they had him on the other side of the sea, in the synagogue of Capernaum, (see ver, 59.) as soon as the foºd hiº ºf side worship was over, and before they quitted the place, they accosted him with the greates; ſº,"..."...i respect, and said unto him, Rabbi, when and how camest thou hither? for, as thou didst not #63 hither? go last night with thy disciples, we expected to have found thee on the other side of the sea, and know not when thou couldst come, or what imaginable way thou couldst have of crossing the water. - & s º)^ * * - 26 But Jesus, modestly waving the recital of those extraordinary circumstances which aſſºvº,"; attended his passage, diverted the discourse to a yet more important and edifying Subject; lººd." and knowing, by an intimate penetration of their very hearts, that they were governed it because * ºil fi.” only by carnal motives in this attendance upon him, humble and zealous as it might appear, the loaves, and were fille, he answered them with great solemnity, and said, Verily, verily, I say untº 3/9% º' seek me, not because you have seen the miracles that I perform, and are convinced by them that I am a divine Téacher, but because you have eaten of the loaves, and were filled, and have from 27 thence concluded that you shall make yourselves rich and great by following me. But it is plain, from John’s account, that Jesús, at his landiº.º. tº Caper- morning from the º sº of the sea. Compare John vi. 22, 24, 25, in ...!!!";'í; ºthere the people found him that followed him in the the next section, and Weſ. O3- 9 & . AND DECLAREs HIMSELF THE BREAD OF LIFE. gº Labour not for the meat these are mean, and may be fatal, views; which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth, unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall, give unto ou: for him hath God the ather sealed, his divine mission. 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that 1. we might work the works of bo God? cure his favour to eternal life 2 29 Jesus answered and said, unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30 They said therefore un- to him, What sign she west thou then, that we may see, and believe thee & What dost thou work and I would form you to nobler and wiser senti- &:". ments: iaiour not therefore so much to procure the meat which perishes, and can only sup- port the mortal part of your nature;” but rather be solicitous to obtain divine knowledge and instruction, that meat which endures to eternal life, and will nourish you souls to endless felicity: this is that which the Son of man will most readily give Joy; ſor him has great Father of all, in mercy to his creatures, sent into the and sealed with this miraculous power, God the world for this blessed purpose, which he daily displays, as an authentic proof of They therefore, that they might appear willing to receive his instructions as well as his unties, said unto him, What must we do, that we may so work the works of God as to se- Jesus replying, said unio them, "Think not of meriting the divine favour by anything you can do yourselves ; for this is the great work of God, which he requires above all things, and which he will be ready to accept, that you believe on him whom he has sent, crediting his message, and venturing your souis upon his power and grace. Then, though they just before had seen such an astonishing miracle, and several of them lived in the neighbourhood of Capernaum, where he had so long multiplied those wonders, yet some of them were so unreasonable, that they said to him, after all the miracles that he ad wrought,” If thou wouldst have us to regard thee as invested with so high a character, that far exceeds whatever has been claimed by any one before, thou shouldst produce some signal evidence of a superior kind to all that has been done by others: what sign therefore showest thou from heaven, that we may see [it] and believe thee? & more than others, or even equal to what Moses did, that we should treat thee with so extraordinary a regard? . Thou didst indeed yesterday feed some thousands of us in an extraordinary manner with barley bread: but our falhers, who were incomparably more numerous than that assembly, did, under the conduct of Moses, eat manna, a far more 31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. What dost thou perform delicious food, in the wilderness, even forty years; as it is written, (Psal. lxxviii. 24.) “He gave them bread from heaven to eat;” and, when thou shalt give us as glorious a demonstra- tion of th Then } 32 Then, Jesus, said unto them, Verily, verily, I say un mission, we will pay thee an equal regard. * sus said to them again, Verily, verily, I say, and affirm it unto you, how strange §..."; ºr soever it may appear, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven which best deserves so that bread from heaven; but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread, of God is bread from heaven. he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. honourable a name: but this you are supplied with by my Father, who, sending me among you as your Instructor and Redeemer, giveth you now the true and most excellent For that is indeed the .#of God, and may most justly claim the title, which descendeth from the highest heaven,” whereas manna fell only from the clouds or the inferior region of the air; and which giveth life and true happiness to the whole world of believers, whereas what Moses gave only relieved the temporal necessities of one particular nation. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. They therefore, when they heard him speaking of so excellent a gift, were presently de- sirous to obtain it; and, though as yet they did not fully understand what he intended by this bread, some of the wiser and better part of theme had such a notion of its excellence, that they said to him, Lord, give us evermore this bread, on which our life depends, and let us always live upon this heavenly manna. 35 And Jesus said , unto them, I am the bread of life.: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. more; but may depend upon it, that he shall find the most restless desires of his soul 6 But I said unto you, that, ye also have seen me, and believe not. ese blessings of my satisfied, and, conscious of the noblest refreshment and nourishment already received, shall grow . to a state of everlasting complete satisfaction and enjoyment. But, valuable as 36 th e ace are, you are little disposed to pursue and accept them; for I have already told you, (ver. 26.) that you have even seen me, and beheld the miracles that I º and yet are so perverse and obstinate that you believe not [in me,) and will not 37 All that the Father giv-be prevailed upon to come to me for life and happiness. Nevertheless, though you reject 37 eth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me will in no wise cast out. j me, yet I shall not be universally rejected, nor shall the purposes of my mission be entirely frustrated; for all that the Father has graciously chosen to himself, and whom he giveth to me in consequence of a peculiar covenant, to be sanctified and saved by me, will cer- tainly at º come to me;5 and, on the other hand, if any of you find yourselves dis- posed to such a believing application to me, you have no reason to be terrified with any º that you are excluded from hope by any secret transactions between the Father and me; for Fiji. it to you as an universal truth, and perfectly consistent with the a Labour motto º the meat which perishes.]. Hardly any one can imagine our Lord intended to prohibit men’s labouring for, the sub; sistence of their bodies. Most of those who attended him probably had no other support than their labour: but his intent was plainly to declare how much the interest of the soul was to be preferred to that of the body. Šēe note h, on Matt. xii. 7, p. 99.) Epyašegºat 8pogw is to labour to procure meat. • • - b Him has God the Father sealed.] Some have ingeniously conjectured that this may allude to a custom, which princes might have when making grand entertainments, to give a commission under their hand- and seal, or perhaps to deliveſ a signet to those whom they appointed to reside in the management of them. . (See Elsner, vol. i., p. 311, 312.) H., it may º, be sufficient to say, that to seal is a general phrase for authorizing by proper credentials, whatever the hy bose be for which they are given; or for marking a person out as wholly devoted to the service of him whose seal he bears. - - c. Some of them were so unreasonable, that they said to him.] The sen- timents of those that speak to Christ in this discourse are SQ various, (compare ver. 34, 41, and the evangelist so expressly declares that there was a debate between some and others of them, ver, 52. that I think it would be wrong to imagine these to have been the {j and ungrateful sentiments of the whole multitude, who had followed him with so much eagerness from place to place for several days. d That is indeed the brºad of God, which descendeth from heaven.] It is necessary to translate 8 karağauvov, &c. in this ambiguous manner, that we may not supersede the explication which our Lord gives in ver. 35. , Dr. Clärke has justly observed this, and, it is of great importance to apply it to many other passages, where too clear and full a paraphrase of serve to flatten the whole.—Compare note c, on Mark iv. 3. * G sºme of the wiser and better part of them.] See before, note c, on W. C. Y. wº f I am the lºread of life.]. Though indeed it is yery usual with the sa- cred writers to represent divine instructions as the food of the soul, and to compare them to delicious and pourishing diet, (Sec. Psal. xix. 10. cxix., 103. Proy. ix. 5. Job xxiii. 12. Jer, xy. 16. and Heb. v. 12, 14.) yet I can recollect no instange in which the Instructor himself, as such, is called food, or any are said to eat him ; much less, in which, as below, they are exhorted to eat his flesh, and drink his blood; so that Dr. Clarke’s laboured and ingenious criticism on this passage, (in the twelfth of his. Seventeen Sermons,) is far from being satisfactory; and, however clear it may be of any such, design, I fear it has misled many to a neglect of that great doctrine of Christ’s atonement, to which there seems in this context so express a reference: g All thqt the Father giveth me will come to me..] I have given that sense of this celebrated and important text, which, on serious, and I hope im- partial, consideration, appeared to be most agreeable to the words them- selves, and to the general tenor, of Scripture. (See especially John xvii. 2, 6, 9, 11, 24.) Mr. Le Clerg’s gloss upon them appears to be un- natural, and fºr. Whitby’s, friyolous.--I do not mean in these notes to enter, largely into any kind of controversy; but dare not suppress or disguise what I am in my conscience persuaded to be the sense of Scripture, merely because it is not agreeable to the general taste of the age to take it in that view.—I render m{et, will come, because the word does not, necessarily in ply any thing more than the certainty of the event; and I would not lead any, merely in dependence on a trans- what is explained professedly in some subsequent verses yºu!] only 122. #5i SECT. 80. JCHN VI, 27 Then, for a further explication of this important truth, Jesus said to them, I am indeed 35 the bread of life;f nor is bread so necessary to the support of your bodies, as a believing regard to mé is to the life of your souls; he therefore that comes to me, and makes his application aright, shall never hunger; and he that truly believes in me shall never thirst any 152 THE NECESSITY OF FEEDING ON THE BREAD OF LIFE. SECT. former, That him that cometh to me, whoever he may be, I will by no means cast out,h nor i * 4- *re * * * ~5,3 icº - * *r = ~ - * 80. shall he be rejected or refused on any consideration whatsoever, And you have sufficient, 3s For I came down from reason to believe this, because I cºme down from heaven into this lower world, not to do my own 'º','º','º','º'; * 4. * * * * will, but the will of him that Jolix it ill, or to seek any separate interest of my own, but to do the will, and to seek the glory sent me. l VI., of him that sent me. And this is the will q the Father who sent me, That of all the whole 89 Ana this is the Father's body of my people whom he has given me, and committed to my care, I should lose none, not Xill which hath" sent me, even the meanes; member, but should assuredly raise it up at ike lºst day in complete glory º, º 'ºh, 40 and hºppiness. Or, to express it in more general terms, even this is the will of him thai sent ºit up me, That evºy one who views the Sen with an aitentive eye,i and, in consequence of that "º"Aºi'ſſº"; will of view, cordially believes on him, receiving him by faith, and trusting in him as an all-suffi- §§§. cient Sºviour, should have eterial life; did I will accordingly raise him up at the last day, biºim, ºh. and make him completely happy, both in soul and body, in the enjoyment of a glorious ini- §§§ºisº l mortality: nor are there any secret purposes and decrees of God inconsistent with the - sincerity of such a declaration. } \{PROVEMENT. Ver,32. How gratefully should we acknowledge the divine goodness, in giving this true bread from heaven for the life 33 of the world; and how solicitous should we be, that by a true faith we may feed upon it! In the midst ofso many 27 insmaring circumstances, let us be strictly watchful over ourselves, that the vigour of our pursuits and labours may not be laid out on the meat which perishes, to the forgetfulness of that which endures to eternal life: but ac- 40 knowledging those authentic seals by which Christ is marked out to that important trust, may we apply to him as sent of God the Father to be the Author of eternal salvation, and come to him to be partakers of his saving benefits! It must surely grieve us to observe the neglect and contempt with which he is too frequently treated ; but it may comfortus, that there yet remains a remnant according to the election of grace. (Rom. xi. 5.) All that the 37 Father giveth him, will come to him; and blessed be God that this appears to be no inconsiderable number Secret things belong to the Lord our God; (iXeut. xxix. 29.) let it therefore be our care to make first our calling, and then, by a happy consequence, our election, sure. (2 Pet. i. 10.) Whatever discouragements may arise in our way, may we fly to cast ourselves at the foot of Christ; and then we may be sure he will never, on any con- sideration, cast us out, but will receive us in the arms of his almighty, compassion; and, having sheltered and maintained us in his house on earth, will at length conduct us safely to the presence of his glory, and to the blessed abodes of complete felicity SECTION LXXXI. Christ having represented himself as the bread of life, enlarges on the necessity and benefit of feeding upon him as such. John vi. 41–58. John vi. 41. Joh N vi. 41. SECT. THUS did our Lord declare himself to be the bread of life which God had given them THE Jews then murmured 81. from heaven; but then, as his agreed not with their worldly views, the Jews who were about flºº..."...; him were so far from receiving the declaration with a becoming regard, that, on the con- from heaven. John trary, they took offence and murmured at it, because he said, fam"the bread which came "12 down from heapen, to feed and support the divine life in the sºil, did, being strangers to nº And they said, is nºt 4 the doctrine of his miraculous conception and divine mature, they said among themselves, §, jº ...º. is not this Jesus the sºn of Joséph, whose father and mºther, we have long known,”, having ºº lived many years in the neighbourhood!" How is it, therefore, that this man should claim ...}** down from hea- so high a character? or how does he presume to 86/, that I came down ſ. heaven 2 - - 43 Jesus therefore, who well knew all their secret suspicions, how artfully soever they might 43 Jesus therefore º: be whispered and concealed, replied and said ºnto them, Do not murmur among yourselves tºº on this occasion, but rather set yourselves seriously to reflect on your present state, an 44 your true interest. I know indeed that yº. prejudices against me are strong, and, with: ejº t & • • *. - - - out the influences of divine grace, will prove invincible and fatal: for such is the moral º: blindness and degeneracy of human nature, that no man can by a saving faith come and yº raise him up at the last make his application to me, unless the Father, who has sent ºne draw him by the sweet but "' owerful influences of his Holy Spirit on the heart; and [then] I will raise him up at the É. day, and finally make him a partaker of the complete felicity and blessedness of my 45 kingdom. For so it is written in the prophets, (Isa. liv. 18. and Jer, xxxi. 34.) “..And they .4. It is }º jºi shall all be taught by God,” by divine influences on their minds;" and there are many other tº, º tº passages much to the sainā purpose: (see Isa. ii. 2–5. Mic...iy, I-4, &c.) Tierºfºrº ºl...";"uº: every one who has not only been instructed in the true nature of God, but has both heard ºftone. and learned from the Father himself by virtue of these internal and efficacious teaching; - 1. of his grace, comes unto me, and cordially receives me under the character I profess. I sº. "...i. º,hº speak this of an inward divine teaching, and not to insinuate that any one on earth has seen " - the Father, and been taught by him, as one man is by the converse of another: no one 4 6 ** * - - - - • * * f • & * - . . . . ºf lation, to build #. argument on the word S.H.4LL, which it is well jº 97. (Comparo note b, on John ii. J. p. 53, and Matt. Siii. 56. known has sometimes been doing. - [2. 1 ºf . * ri tº § 3 ºffilia, that cºinctſ to me, whoever he may be, I will by no negris cast b Unless the Father who has sent me draw him.] The tº |. #. off.j”fo imit this latter clause by the former is not only missing, but in the pāraphrase seems so natural from a view of thº yº º ye. gomiračićting, the design of Christ, find destroying the wise and beauti and of their connexion, as well as so agreeable to. the W *: º 3. jūī turn of this text; than which t!.jyk few moré innportant for stating Scripture, that I wonder so many learned and ingenious men S You i. *Vº ...tºo times of the gospel which have unhººpily been the four- iſſoirº to disguise it by other interpretations. Dr. Qºke *...; ºr of much eager and uſicharitable dispute.--Tite expression oup m as an intination, that to be well grounded in natural º 1S tº º ex;3axo exo, is extremely beautiful ºnd emphatical. It represents an preparative for receiving the Christian rº. But, º º: iºnºis supplicant as coming into the house of some Pºlº gº; .# ºść. i, . not §eº & º & 4 W = ºf 4 + ºr st bin self at his feet, and to commit himself to his slºſki)3 Włłº 13 ; S 3 vulva ºr .. • & “º . . . * * * * great persºn, to cast himself at 2x vy all ºva. ight be rej F ... j. The doctor observes here, that when in Scripture on: - , t , gr - x * : « » º' - rejected, and of him, Ver. .49. 7 *...*... . . ; ; , , . ** rotºction and care. He might ſear his º nilgh tº be 2 º' - * ſo draw another, the word māy signify cither the action of -* * * * * * • * * * * * * * o the contrary. His person is said to draw anothgº tºº Yº 2 - “º ... -- ~ : Fxr - g 3 thrºst out of doors: but our Lord assures hiº, t ... ...? - all ti th ‘son said to draw, or of the person drafen, tºd tº happily produces - - †ºaſt are large grough to receive, shelter, and sp pply all the he person “” _ " - -b ic strongly against bººse º: §jyºshow many thousand souls have John Xii. 32. Jer, XXXi... ºnº, º: *i.; º! w hiº, ...iº. ...; łºgº.º.º. rted by these gracious words such a sense. The truth is, God’s drawing goes not ººlºº. I'...; been sensibly sixpported by these áº; ! --> . följoº, and our agtivity in doing it; but it. §lways includes a diving * g + ...'...e. j. Soº with an attentive eye.]. Thus the words to follow, gºd 9.8% º' 15, Q l. 33s Sarm -ol. iii i Every one who views * dered. Th ...”’öömpare judg. iv. 7. (see Dr. Clarke's Sormons, vol. iii. rā; 30.ºgºvºrov viou, should undoubtedly be rendered. . *. are ſº. 33. - many other places whºreºpº º . º *:::::: 16 . c Taught by God : éičakrot Tº ecº.). The word properly signifie*, pare Matt. xxvii. 55, Luke x. 18. XXi. 6, John XVii. 24. * * * *-* * they shaft be the disciples or scholars of God, wh9 shall.humbly sit down, *** father and mother we have long known.J Dr. Wells aráuš º ºf his feet, and receive instructions from him. his, in the & 4 ** - • * * * xpressly distinguished, from * b * ºr gº tº : º a ay ignºniº atter text referred to in the paraphrº, ºi f ;Oſłl §º: iº º: tºº. Šeſti. ài §§ h human instruetions relating to §. nature of God. Compára 1 Thess #4% after; for if he had been living, Jesus, when 9; º the iv. 9. grosa, would not have consigned his mother to the care of John, John PHE NECESSITY OF FEEDING ON Tjj; ; ; ; ; ; , ; ; O & J.J FF. 153 which is of God; he hath seen has enjoyed such an honour, except it be he who is come to men as the great Ambassador SECT. the Father. from God: he indeed, being statedly resident with him, and inseparably united to him, 81. has seen the Father, and conversed with him to a degree of intimacy and endearment which *...Yº, jºi...º nº can pretend to have known. In virtue then of those ample instructions I have 'º' jºi." received from him, verily, verily, I say unto you, and testify it as a most sure and impor-47." tant truth, that this is the only method of salvation; and ihat it is he, and he alone, who 48 I am that bread of life. believes in me, and reposes himself on me, that hath everlasting life. Remember, therefore, 48 that it is in this respect I tell you, F am the bread ºf life; not only as a Teacher of truth, and a Messenger from God to men, but as the great Redeemer, whom you must receive into your hearts, and on whom you mūst, as it were, feed by faith, if you indeed would have your life to be supported and secured. 49 Your futhºrs did cat And those who thus regard me will receive far more important blessings than Moses, of 49 .."." "“” ” whom you have now been boasting, could possibly give. For though indeed your fathers, under the conduct of that illustrious prophet, did cat mamma in the wilderness, yet it was ...º.º.º. not sufficient to maintain their life, and they are long since dead : [But] this, of which I 50 tº "mºa; it j, now speak, is the true bread which com6th down from heaven, and is of such a nature, that and not die. any one may eat of it, and have his life so nourished and supported by it, that he shall moš die, but be assuredly delivered from the condemnation and ruin to which the breach of God's righteous law has subjected every offender. wººd , Thus then I plainly tell you, how incre ible soever you may think it, That I, who came 51 ... "if..."eºf' is down from heaven for this gracious purpose, am the living bread, or a principle of divine º; life and eternal happiness, to all who shall faithfully receive me: so that if any one cat of }..º.º. #ive this bread, in spite of death and the grave, he shall live for ever. And, that you may more ******* distinctly conceive this important truth, and see the propriety of this language, I add, That the bread which I will give to such a one is my own flesh, which I will give as an atoning sacrifice for the forfeited life of the whole world of Jews and Gentiles,d of which every true believer shall partake. - ...Tº...wº But the Jews, whose stupidity often occasioned them to mistake, and whose perverse- 5 ji., §ºca."jº. ness led them to wrest his words, did not, or would not, understand him; and therefore give is his flesh to eat? contended with each other, the generality of them saying,” as if what he had said was to be taken in a literal sense, How can this man possibly give us [his] flesh to eat? What a monstrous and unintelligible doctrine is this §3. Then, Jesus said, unto Then Jesus replied in the same figurative language he had used before, and, without 53 º, § condescending to any further explication, said to them, However you may censure it as flºº.º.º. unintelligible and absurd, yet verily, verily, I say unto you, There is no truth Imore certain #"in ºu"“” “” in itself, and more important to you : for unless, by a cordial dependence on the atone- ment I shall make, and by the powerful influences of divine grace upon your hearts, yout eat, as it were, the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood,' you have no principle of nº ſº; spiritual life in you, and can have no claim to eternal happiness. For this is so important 54 §ternai'i: "ai'i'ii is a part of faith in me, that, to declare the necessity of it, I may say, (with such an altera- him up at the last day. tion of my former words, ver. 40.) He alone that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, hath - eternal º: and I will most assuredly raise him up at the last day, and show by his com- -- plete deliverance, how just a confidence he has reposed in me, amidst all the contempt with a.º.º. ºf which youtreatme. Forºny flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drinkindeed; and nothing 55 ;: "** * * * deserves the name so well, as nothing is worthy of being called life in comparison of that 55 He that eateth my flesh, which is hereby supported. For this feeding upon me is such, that he who thus eats my 56 .#...}}}.};" flesh, and drinks my blood, abides in me by an intimate and inseparable union, and I abide in himh by the unalienable tokens of my favour and love to nourish the divine life in his nº. º.º. §§he soul:, I say by the unalienable tokens of it; for as the living Father, the great source of 57 tºi. '..hº... life, has sent me into the world, and I live by the protection and care of the Father, who is me, even he shall live by me, continually dwelling in me, and communicating of his Spirit in the richest abundance to me; so he that thus eateth me, even he shall live by me, through the Spirit which I will also ºtbrea..which communicate to him. And if you attend to these important hints that I have given, you 58 came down from heaven : not - - * * §º may in general know what I meant, by saying as I have done, This is the bread that came ºisºnº, down from heaven; and by adding, * 49, 50.) that it is not in this case, as it was with for ever. - your fathers, who did eat manna in the wilderness, and yet are dead, without having found any efficacy in it to communicate a spiritual or sécure an eternal life; [but] he that eals this bread shall live for ever. - IMPROVEMENT. THE hearers of Christ murmured, and perversely objected against his doctrine. Let not ministers now wonder, Ve if the like capricious humour sometimes prompts their hearers to seek occasion of offence, where there is none : let 5% 3) 2 d Which I will give for the life of the whole world, &c.] There seems and the truc bread, is the most circellent and mourishing brºad. See above, to be a beautiful gradation in this verse, compared with ver. 31. They wer. 32. . . * - - ** * * had insinuated, that feeding a ſeto thºusands ºrith the five ſoarcs was an h Jääides in me, and I in him.J. After these words, the Cambridge inconsiderable thing when compared with what Moses did, when he fed manuscript, and one of Stephens’s, add, .3s tile Father is in mº, amid I the whole camp of Israel; but our Lord declares the purposes of his in the father, verily, ºrify, I sq. ºnto jou, Ercºt lig receive ſlie had; grâce ºnd bounty to be far more extensive, as reaching the whole world, ºf the Soº ºf ingº as the bread ºf life; yellºg to life in you. ...}}r. Aliſi and giving life, immortal life, to all that should believe in him. (in his motes here) seems to approve the addition ; but I think Dr. Whit- e The generality of them saying.J. Had this been the language of all, by has sº fully Fº it to be spurious, that...content myself with re- there could have been no contention between them, which yet is ex- ferring the readgy to him, (sºg his Ergºgnº.illii, p. 49.) and to Wolfius pressly asserted. - on this text. (Cur. Philol, Vol. I. p. Sº, ; 36.) - fººt the fish of the Son of pign, and drink his blood.]. This phrase a.ſ.º.º.º. Pºgliº.º.º.º. º.º.), Thº, human and naturally expresses a lively and habitual regard to Christ as the #reºt derivºl nature of Christ hº;', no doubt, the same dependence on the support of the spiritual life. The mention of his blood naturally leads P. oxidence and influence §: Goºha. ºther greatures have; and though to łł. thought of his atonement, as we are elsewhere told, Hºc hape rp- §hisłºś Mediator has life in himselſ, (as it was said before, John v. demption through his blood, (Eph. i. 7.) and boldness to enter into the #: § 47.) yet yas it given him of the Father, and it is he that qualifies holiºst by the blood of Jesus, (Heb. x. 19.) The sacrament of the cucharist Christ by his Spirit for the great, w ork ſor which he sent him into the is plainly intended to affect our minds with a sense, of these in portant world : and he accºrdingly IS º; º as upholding him truths, and our Lord might probably think of that, intended institution in it,...sº: xiii. 1; Compare John viii. .*. *; * = -- ~~~ : while he spoke : but as this was a future thing, and utterly unknown to k JVot as gour.ſºthº's did cat manng, and #. gea % This version of his hearers, tº seems to me unwarrantable to interpret this text as chiefly the words is perfectly agreeable to the original: & Kabos tºpgyov c Ta- referring to that ordinance; and nothing can be more precarious, than Tepes #40W. To ſavva. But I should not perhaps have taken too great a many consequences which have been drawn from it in that view, though liberty, had I avoided the elipsis in the Greek, and ventured to reduce some of them be authorized by very great names. * it to a plainer form, by rendering it, Not like that mamma achich your g JMy flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.], It might fathers did eat, and are dead. So Grotius has explained this passage ; more literally be rendered, is tradii; meat, and is trulu drink; but the and though it does not so qxactly answer to the Greek, and calºr:ot pass sense in which the word (indeedjis often used, gives a kind of paraphrase for a literal translation, it plainly expresses the sense of the place, and on the words. Just in this sense, the true light, is the most ercellent the words run more natural and easy. See Grotius, in loc. light; (John i. º, #. true vine, is the most noble vine ; (John XV. 1.) 154 CHRIST FORSAKEN BY MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES. ** them learn of their great Master, in meekness to instruct those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give Sl: them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. (2 Tim. ii. 25.) Our Lord expressly asserts the necessity of JOHN being taught and drawn by the fathe. in order to our knowing him, and coming to him. Let us therefore humbly `... seek these influences ourselves, and fix our dependence upon them in all our attempts upon others for their con- _. Version and edification. 4% ºl, Christ here gives us line upon line, and precept e upon precept, to illustrate and enforce this important doctrine of 53, 54 the necessity of regarding him as the bread of life, .# of ſeeding by faith, on his flesh and blood, which he has given for the life of the world. Let us, as we desire any part in his saving blessings, most thankfully receive his 55 flesh as meat indeed, and his blood as drink indeed. May God be merciful to those that call themselves chris- 56, 57 tians, and yet are strangers to such a believing intercourse with Christ, and to the derivation of spiritual life from him! If this be enthusiasm, it is the enthusiasm of Scripture; and the denial or forgetfulness of these important doctrines, is like a fatal palsy to the soul, which chills, as it were, all its nerves, and destroys at once its sensibility and vigour, its pleasure and usefulness. To represent and inculcate these great truths, our Lord afterwards instituted the Sacrament of his Supper, in which we not only commemorate his sufferings, but our own concern in them. It is the language of every intel- ligent approach to it, that we acknowledge the life of our souls to depend on the merit of his atonement, and the 58 communications of his grace. This is eating his flesh and drinking his blood: may we be nourished by it to eternal life Then, though this mortal part of our nature drop into the dust, our souls will live in triumph; nor shall our bodies finally perish, but be raised up by Christ in the great day, to take their part in the full joy of our Lord. There these intermediate ordinances shall cease, and copious uninterrupted streams of divine teachings, and divine influences, shall sweetlv flow in upon our ever-improving, active, rejoicing minds! SECTION LXXXII. Christ having declared that the foregoing discourse was to be taken in a spiritual sense, is forsaken § & many of his disciples; and while the apostles assure him of their continued fidelity, he intimates the treachery of Judas. Jo Any y n vi. 59, to the end. John vi. 59. John vi. 59 SECT. THESE things, which had been now delivered by our Lord, he spake before all sorts of THESE things said he in the 82. hearers in the sphagogue, as he was teaching at Capernaum.:” and, for wise reasons, he in- º he taught in volved a part | his discourse in figurative and mysterious language; as in particular, that * º' which related to eating his flesh, and drinking his blood. . V. 60 . Mani; therefore of those who following him as his disciples, having º said, This aßy ºf is a difficult and strange discourse; and who can hear or ünderstand it? In its literal sense ;";...". #. .”. it is plainly absurd, and we know not what other interpretation to give it. ºfa saying, who can hear 61 Bitt Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured about it, though they did not "Š1 when Jesus knew in speak out their objections and scruples, said into them, Does this which you have just now jºi...º. 62 heard so much offend you ? and do you stumble at it as incredible 2 ſº then if ye jºi'...} shall see the Son of man ascending up into heaven where he was before 25 would you thén lºgº; understand what was meant by the bread of life coming down from thence, as the food of where he was before? the world 2 Or would you then believe that I came from heaven, notwithstanding the 63 objection you have made as to the meanness of my parentage 2. Thus Our Lord intimated 63. It is the Spirit that his intended ascension; and in the mean time, as a key to his former discourse, he added, º.º.º. As in the human frame it is the jndwelling Spirit that quickens every part of it; and the I speak into you...they are flesh, how exactly soever organized and adorned, if separate from that, profits nothing, but * **** is an insensible and inactive corpse; so also the words which I speak into you are spirit, that is, they are to be taken in a spiritual sense, and then you will find they are life to your souls; whereas, to take them in a literal sense would be most unprofitable and 64 monstrous. It is indeed strange that you should think of it; but I know there are some of you who believe mot, and would shelter your infidelity under these mean and disingenu- ôus cavils. This he plainly told them: for Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that believed, and who did not ; and even knew the very person who it was that at last should so basely betray him. .And he further said, For this reason I told you, (ver. 44.) that no man can come winto me ercept it be given him of my Father;d because I know that the prejudices of corrupt nature lie strongly against such a doctrine as I publish, and that nothing but divine grace will subdue them. - From this time many who had borne the name of his disciples, abusing and misrepre- senting what he had now delivered, as if it had been either absurd or utterly unintelligible, went back, and walked no more with him ; plainly perceiving that their true character was now discovered, as well as that their secular views were disappointed. Jesus therefore said unto the tigeive apostles, Will you also go away? The multitude are gone, and will you also follow them, and leave me entirely alone P Choose for yourselves; 68 for I desire not to detain you against your will. Then Simon Peter, with his usual zeal, answered him, Lord, to whom should we go, if we were really disposed to quit thee P or what advantage could we expect by it? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and hast even now been directing us in the way to it; and God forbid that any other hopes and views 69 should ever be preferred by us to these However others may be governed by their carnal prejudices, and a deluded multitude may treat thee with contempt, we firmly believe, and assuredly know, on the most convincing evidence, that thou art the Messiah, the Son of the living God; in which persuasion we are determined to hazard all in thy service, and to sacrifice even our lives to thee. Jesus then answered them, Such a resolution might reasonably be expected from you all; 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the begin- ning who they were that be- lieved not, and who should betray him. * * º 65 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no In dº can come unto me, except it yere given unto him of my Father. 66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with liſh. 66 67 67. Then said, Jesus, unto the twelve, Will ye also go away 2 - 68. Then Simon, Peter, an- swered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 70 Jesus answered them, 70 appearance of the symbols of the Greek and Roman empires was an a .4s he was teaching at Capernaum.] Probably (as was hinted above, * fo argument of their existenge at that time. ver. 25. p. 150.) the foregoing discourses were introduced after the read- ing of the law and prayer. We are not to wonder at the dialogue which passed here ; there are many other_instances of disputes which either Christ or his apostles had with the Jews in their synagogues; See Matt; xii. 9, # seq. § 50. Luke xiii. 10, ct seq. § 117. Acts xiii. 44, et seq. and xvii. 17. b Ascending up into heaven, where he was before.]. A very celebrated writer thinks this refers to the Son of man appearing to Daniel in the clouds of heaven : . but his appearing to him thus in vision, was no more an argument of his being there at the time of that appearance, than the & Would you, then, believe that I came from leaven, &c.] What Christ here says of his ascension, may be further intended to intimate the necessity of taking his discourse in a figurative sense, as it would so soon be evidently impossible to eat his flesh, which was to be received into heaven. * -- Except it be given him of my Father.] To be draign by the Fathcr, (ver. 44.) and to have faith given him by the Father, are evidently sy. nonymous terms; which plainly vindigates the interpretation given above, and shows how far the loose and general glosses of Dr. Clarke. CHRIST WINDICATES HIS DISCIPLES AGAINST THE PHARISEES. 155 Have not, I chosen you for have I not chosen Ayou twelve to the honour of a peculiar intimacy with me, and to a sta- secT. º, * * * * * * tion of the most distinguished eminence and importance in the church 2e And §: I know 82. that one of you is a devil, and, under the influence of that malignant spirit of darkness, will turn my accuser and betrayer.f . JOHN 71 . He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray tions to fidelity and duty. - IMPROVEMENT. - WE have, through the divine goodness, been made acquainted with those gospel truths, in their full evidence, Ver.60 and mutual connexion, which were more obscurely hinted to those who attende on Christ's personal ministry: . This he spake concerning Judas Iscariot, [the son] of Simon ; for it was he who at that * $ $ 2 time began to harbour in his breast this execrable purpose, and had then thoughts of be- **one of the twelve traying him;5 though he was one of the twelve apostles, and therefore under peculiar obliga- may we therefore hearken to the spiritual sense of this sublime and excellent discourse! And as the credible 63 account of his ascension into glory is now added to the rest, let us receive the whole of his doctrine with the most 62 humble submission: earnestly entreating the influences of divine grace, that we may not only be drawn to Christ, but be so firmly attached to his interest, that whoever else forsake him, we may never go away. On the contrary, 65 may we rather collect an argument from their ingratitude and folly, more strenuously and more affectionately to 67 adhere to him!. Indeed, to whom should we go but to him? He has the words of eternal life. From him, therefore, 68 in all lowly subjection of soul, may we learn those lessons on which our everlasting happiness depends! May we never, like Judas, conceal a treacherous and disaffected heart under the specious appearance of piety 70 and goodness! This would be only imposing on ourselves; for his penetrating eye can never be deceived. May 64, 71 we approve the integrity of our souls in his sight, and repose an unlimited confidence in him, as one whom we 69 - believe and know to be a divine Saviour, Christ the Son of the living God! SECTION LXXXIII. Our Lord windicates his disciples in neglecting the traditions of the Pharisees, and condemns those corrupt teachers for preferring such traditions to the precepts of the divine law. MARK vii. 1. THEN came together unto THE [Jesus] the Phariscos and miracles which Jesus wrough Matt. xv. 1–9. Mark vii. 1–13 MARK vii. 1. t, and which have been mentioned above,a being spor. § of';i.e.; reported at the ensuing passover,” gave a further alarm to the Jews, and especially to their s3. [were of, and came from Je- rusalem. [Matt. xv. 1.] . 2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat with de- filed (that is to say, with un- washen) hands, they if possible, to insnare him. fault. - among themselves. 3 For the Pharisees, and all For this was a favourite tenet the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, hold- established teachers; so that, to obviate the effect of them, and to prevent the success of his ministry, there were then gathered unto Jesus the Pharisees, and some of the scribes, who MARx were stated inhabitants of Jerusalem, º .#nd, as they came [from themce], on purpose to watch, and, ooked on all his actions with a most malignant eye, they soon found an opportunity to cavil; for seeing some of his disciples eat bread found with what they counted polluted (that is, with unwashed) hands, they found fault with them of the Pharisees, on which they laid a particular stress, and indeed almost all the Jews pay a considerable regard to it,” that they do not allow ink the tradition of the elders, themselves to eat without washing their hands often with abundance of exactness,” and par- ticularly just before their meals: and this they observe, not in consequence of any express - divine command, but as holding the tradition of the elders, who thought this scrupulous care a decent º and memorial of their concern to keep themselves free from what- 4 And when they come from soever might pollute them. the market, except they wash - they eat not; And many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and tables. ...And especially [when they come] from the market, or any other place of public concourse, lest they should, without their knowledge, have touched any thing unclean, they eat not till they have washed their hands at least, if not their whole body. ..ſind there are many other things besides the washing of their hands, which they in Hºrazen vessels, and of like manner receive and maintain b the authority of the same tradition, [as] the washing of cups and pots in which their food is put, and of the brazen vessels made use of in pre- paring it, and even of the very couches on which they lie at their meals. 5.Then, the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but [transgress it, for they] eat bread with unwashen hands 2 [Matt. xv. 2.] Matt. xv. 3. But he answer- ed and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the coin- mandment of d by your łºś fia..." iiº).j" self, out of regard to your own Then the Pharisees and scribes, after they had censured the disciples of Christ among themselves, (as was observed before,) came to Jesus, and asked him, Hºhy do not thy disci- ples walk and behave themselves according to the tradition of the elders, as other pious and regular Jews do; but transgress [it] in a very obvious and material instance, for they eat with unwashed hands 2° Can they be so ignorant as not to know the traditions that for: bid it? Or are they so profane as not to regard them? -- ..?nd he answering, said unto them, Nay, but I may with much greater reason ask you, Hºly do you also transgress what is infinitely more sacred, even the command of God him- vain and superstitious tradition ? And this in several 2 4. 5 and Dr. Clagget are from expressing the true and determinate sense of our Lord’s words. - o Harc I not chosen you turclve 3 &c.] I see not the least reason, with Elsner, to expunge the note of interrogation, and render it, I have not chosen you alſ; which would entirely enervate the spirit of the following clause. - f My accuser and betrayer.] According to Mr. J.ocke, our Lord intimates that this was the reason why he had not more §§ declared himself to be the Messiah, because he kney Judas would hay, § CCARS e him of rebellion against the Romans: (for so the word ôtaffoxos does sometimes signify, a false accuser: see 1 Tim. iii. 11. 3 Tim...iii. 3. and Tit. ii. 3.) But } can see no proof that Judas; from the beginning, in: tended to betray Christ. It is more probable, he at first engaged with him in expectation of secular advantage; and finding those views disappointed, he might now begin to form that detestable, scheme, which he afterwards executed. If this was the occasion on which he first en- tertained the thought, (as I think it probably might,) one would imagine, that such an intination of his secret wickedness must have struck him to the heart. - * g * . g Had thoughts of betraying him.] The words mutAA&v avroy Tapa- 3téovat may properly, though not necessarily, import thus much ; and, I think, had not this been actually the case, Christ would not have said he is a devil, but rather that he would become one- a"Which have been mentioned above.]. As both Matthew and, Mark introduce the following discourse immediately after his crossing the sea to Cabernaum, when he but just before had fed the five, thousand, and John determines the debates in the preceding sections to that time; there can be no reasonable doubt about placing this section, and several more that are expressly connected with it, in this order. * t the ensuing passover.] That a passover followed quickly after the events before related, is expressly determined. (See John vi. 4. and the note there, p. iić and compare chap. vii. 2.) But the evangelists do not exactly determine whether Christ did or did not attend it. If he did not, we may conclude he had proper reasons for not doing it : but to be sure, such numerous and public miracles as he had lately performed, would be the subject of a great deal of discourse at Jerusalem. Com- pare John vii. 11, 12, and xi. 56. c Almost all the Jews pay a considerable regard to it..] Their rabbies carried this to a most ridiculous height; one of them deterºnining the neglect of washing to be a greater sin than whoredom ; and another saying, it would be much better to die than to omit it. Many instances of this kind may be seen in Dr. Whitby and Dr. Hammond, in loc. and Simag. Jud. cap. xi. p. 236. It is gºin that other nations commonly used to wash before their meals. See Athenæus, p. 408. Edit. Casaub. 1675. and Elsner, Observ. vol. i. p. 73. d Washing their hands often.] The word Tuyun is ambiguous, being very seldom used. Theophylact’s gloss would incline one to render it, as L'Enfant does, up to the clbows; and Beza translates it, trith thc fist. (See Godwyn’s JMoses and Jºlaron, lib. 1; cap. 10, p. 39.) Not being able certainly to determine the point, I thought it sufficient to add in the para- phrase, with abundance of exactness. Camero and Lud. Capellus (in loc.) explain it of holding up their hands closed, while the water was poured upon them; and I have nothing to object to the reasons they give for that ill terrºretation. * * * * e }. they eat with unwashed hands.]. It is in the original, eat bread; and I have sometimes retained the Hebraism, but did not think it neces- sary always to do it. Every attentive reader must have observed that food in general is called bread, in a multitude of places; and brººd is º; put even for the provisions of a royal table, 2 Sam. ix. 7, 10 &ind XII. 20. in Buxtorf. WII, 156 SECT. S3. MATT. XV. MARK VII. T2 MATT. XV. 7 8 fºtARK - VII. THE PHARISEES UPBRAIDED FOR THEIR Hypocrisy. instances you run to such a length, as that you fairly make void the command of God, and render it insignificant, that you may observe your tradition; though you consider not per- haps from whence it comes, or may easily know that it was derived only from a falſible man. I will give you one notorious instance of it, which you cannot dispute: for you well know, that God has commanded [by] JMoses, saying, “Honour thy }. and thy mother.”—A precept written with his own finger on the tables of stone, and guarded by that awful sanction, “Whoso curseth his father, or his mother, let him surely die without mercy.” (See Exod. xxi. 17. Lev. xx. 9. and compare Prov. xx. 20. and Deut. xxvii. 16.) Now for any one to suffer his parents to languish in want of the necessary supplies of life, must certainly be a yet more aggravated wickedness than an impious word, which may possibly escape a man's lips in a sudden transport of passion.f But what you teach is contradictory to this divine command; and an ungrateful child may justify himself in the neglect of it, in consequence of your tradition: for you assert, [that] any one may say to his father or mother, tº: that be] corban, that is to say, let it be reckoned as a devoted thing, or be considered as a gift dedicated to the altars by which thou mightest otherwise receive advantage from me,h and he shall then be free from the command, and not be under any obligation to honour and relieve his father or his mother. And in this manner, out of regard to such a rash and impious vow, you not only suppose he may innocently omit this evident duty of natural as well as revealed religion, but will no more permit him to do any thing for the relief even of his ſº or his mother. ..And ſº then it is evidently to be seen, according to the charge which I advanced against you, that, through a gross and impious superstition, you have even invalidated the word, [and, as it were, annihilated the command of God, by means of your tradition, which you have delivered as a rule of life to be observed with the most scrupulous exactness : and it were easy to be shown in other instances, that many such like things you do. Yet these are the things in which you vainly pride yourselves, as proofs of your religion; but, O you hypocrites, will did isaiah prophesy of such as you, and very fitly may those words which i. delivers in the name of God be applied to you, where he is saying of the superstitious Jews of his own time, what may be evidently seen to agree to you, (as it is written, Isa. xxix. 13.) “This people draweth near to me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; they make a pompous profession, and pretend to a great deal of devo- tion and jºi but it plainly appears, that their heart is far estranged from me.” Not- withstanding all your talk, then, of strictness in religion, yet as this appears to be expres- 7 sive of your real character, the doom of hypocrites belongs to you; and God may justly 8 MATT. - XV. 3, 7 4—6 affirm of such, (as it is added there,) “In vain do they worship me, while they teach doc- trines or lessons [that are] merely human inventions and injunctions,i being only the pre- cepts of men, that have no stamp of the divine authority upon them,” which yet they would insist upon as necessary parts of religion, and would impose them on the consciences of others. And this (as I have said) you may be charged with, not in one single instance only, but in many; for, leaving the commandment of God, you maintain the tradition % men, [relating to] the washing of pots and cups ; and many other such like things you do, with a zeal by no means required, and on which at best you lay a very disproportionable StreSS. - IMPROVEMENT. How miserable is the case of those who, while they earnestly contend for the forms Mark vii. 9. Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. Matt. xv. 4. For God [by Moses] commanded, saying Honourthy father and [thy mother: and, He that curseth ather or mother, let him die the death. [Mark vii. 10.] Mark vii. 11... But ye sqy, Whosoever] shall say to his ather or mother,. It is corban, that is to say, a gift, by what- soever thou mightest be pro- fited by me, [and honour not his father or his mother,) hº shall be free. [Matt. xv. 5, 6.] 12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his fa- ther or his mother. Matt. xv. 6. Thus have ye made the [word andl, com- mandment of God of none effect [through your tradi- tion, which ye have deliver- ed: and many such... like things do ye.] [Mark. vii. 13. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you; say- ing, [as it is written,) [Mark vii. 6.] 8. This people ... draweth high unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. [Mark vii. 6.] Mark vii. 7. Howbeit, in vain, do they worship me, teaching for doctrines tho commandments of men [Matt. xv. 9..] 8 For laying aside the com- mandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and, cups: d many other such like things ye do. of divine yº are his is losing both the improvement and reward which might be expected from a regular attendance upon it! 9 the case of all who draw near to God with their lips, while their hearts are far from him. May we abhor the 3 vanity of such hypocritical behaviour in the presence of Him who searches the heart and tries the reins of the children of men et us learn from this just and severe sentence which our Lord passes on these superstitious Pharisees, to avoid the temper he condemns in them. It much less becomes us as Christians, and especially as protestants, to impose on our brethren with rigorous severity those doctrinal decisions, or those ritual observances, which have not their express foundation in the word of God, to which we so constantly appeal as to our common rule. Happy had it been for the church in all ages and nations, had men exerted that zéal for the truths and the institutions of God, in the beauty and glory of their native simplicity, which has carried them on to defend and propagate their own inventions, till religion itself has almost sunk under the weight of the ornaments in which they have dressed it, and the unwieldy armour which they have hung about it! Let children léarn from the command which Christ has vindicated, to honour their parents by a tender care of them in their declining days; remembering, that as no filial duty and gratitude can ever fully repay our obligations to such friends, so an affectionate regard to them is a proper and necessary expression of our filial piety to the f In a sudden transport of passion.] Dr. Lightfoot (in his Hor. Hob in loc.) has well observed, that it is probable a phild must be in a trans- port of very undutiful passion, when he made the rash vow afterwards imentioned, that he would never in any instance relicve his parent, so that it was a kind of cursing him; but had it been said, ever so coolly and de; liberately, the argument hére suggested would have taken place, and would have justified the connexion. - * * g|Any oné may say, [Let that be] corban, that is to say, a gift.), So I &hoose, with Elsner, (Observ. völ.—i. p. 74.) to render the words in Matthew, 6; avetſºn, though, I confess, riot without some doubt. But I think it is best to leave as little as possible to be supplied, in order to did not insert it. The indeterminate manner of speaking, as given in the paraphrase ; rash and unnatural vows, as well as such a supposition.—Capellus with iminense labour, (and, I thin yond all further controversy,) has asserted the interpretation of this text - * and has produced a vast variety of froſſ the ºmnid, to show the superstitious regard the Jews bad to : the ridiculous ways they sometimes tion has no force, I cannot wholly approve this, versign, and therefore - it. Perhaps some of these pretended vows of theirs amounted to no more than an obligation to leave some proportion of the overplus of their estates to the temple treasury, after their death, which might in a thousand instances be made the cloak, of avarige and cruelty. - * it must be owned, would lºad to I think, be- P. to such make up the sense; and gn that principle, I should prefer the addition in our own translation of this place, he shall be free, to that which Sir Norton Knatchbull proposes, who would render it, You Say, [a man. honours his parents.] if he says it is corban, &c. thus supposing the passage to imply a repetition from the verse, before. But such a construction seeins to me quite unparalleled, and very unmatural. Grotius makes kat redundant, and would render it, You teach, that whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a giſt, &c.—let him not honour his father and mother; but in the way that I have rendered it, the sense is in effect the same, and the common sense of kat is rºtained."Some considerable critics, particularly Drusius, (de . Trilºus Sectis, lib. ii. cap. 17.) and Godwyn, (JIoses and Aaron, lib. vi. cap. 6.) give a very elegant turn to the following words, Čopov 6 say & #19 v Gotp:X79m3, and would suppose them to be an oath expressed in the elliptical Inanner, which was very common among the #.s. if so, they should be rendered, I succar by corban, or the sacred treasury, thow shalt receive no benefit from me. But as both the evangelists insert the particle 6, which in this construc- too; to evade them. See Lud. Capell. in Matt XV. 5. i. iiºning, jºin ine.j Sir Norton Knatchbull would render & #1ov, of my substance, or possession: but had this been the exact renderjpg, it joid have been ºx row guov, of which instances occur in Greek uthors. - * * º 3. i While they teach doctrines that are human injunctiºns.]... Sº I render 3,344.1% ºxa) was evta)ſtara av009Tow. The words seem tº allude to Isa, XXix. 13. where, though, the present Hebrew copies read the text agreeable to our translation of the place Their ſcar toucards me §º the precept ºf men, Grotius has shown how a small variation in i,j mightjastify the Seventy in that versiºn ºf theirs which the evangelist here föflows, the sense of which is much the same with what Jºãº º that place.--I would only observe further, that ðiðaoka)\ta in general signifies any, lesson, and not merely (as Bishºp Hººkin; con- tenºis) tº ioctrine of faith ; and that the purpose to which our Lord here applies it, plainly ShoWs that it must refer to ritual injunctions. See Éišhop Hopkins’s Works, p. 150, 151. - - 'º. THE PHARISEES UPBRAIDED FOR THEIR HYPOCRISY. 157 great Father of our spirits. Justly may he esteem his temples profaned, rather than adorned, by the most costly SECT. gifts, which are the spoils of nature, and the trophies of inhumanity. 83. sº-ºº-º-º-º: SECTION LXXXIV. Christ pursues his discourse against the Pharisees, and inculcates the necessity of inward purity. Matt. xv. 10–20. Mark vii. 14–23. MARK vii. 14. - MARK vii. 14. #Nº. ºlº, NOW when our Lord had thus condemned the Pharisees to their face, for the unwarrant. SEGT into thº. #'º'; able stress they laid on their vain and precarious traditions, he took this opportunity to 84. i...º.º. º.º." undeceive the people, and to let them see how insignificant this outward strictness was, on which the Bº insisted; and having called all the multitude together to him, he hººk ursued his discourse, and said to them, Let me charge every one of jou attentively to 1." earken to me in what I now deliver, and give all diligence, that you may understand it ; lest for want of doing it, out of regard to your admired teachers, you impose on your own lä. There is nothing, from souls in a matter of the greatest importance. There is nothing which enters into a man 15 §§§ {: from without that can really pollute him in the sight of God: it is not, I say, that which is Hºnº, or ally from without, and goes into the mouth, that renders him polluted; but the things §."Šº."º"; which come out of a man are those that actually defile him, ſeven] that which comes out of they that defile the man, [even tº $ g £º Hºjºſº [his] mouth. And I would have you to observe, that much is comprehended in these few 16 w mouth...] [Matt. xv. 11.] important words: remember them therefore, and think of them; and if any one of you has hº...” ears to hear, and a heart to consider, let him hear these things, and reflect seriously upon them. º, º And when he was come unto the house apart from the multitude, his disciples came to him, 17 jºjº"... according to their usual custom, [and] asked him concerning the meaning of this parable, . ... hººoºººººº or sententious, and to them obscure, saying. And they likewise said to him at the same MATT. ne_parable ; [Matt. xv.12.] ... 5 gº * * . I tº * Şığ.’iº. And said ºn- time, Knowest thou, and art thou sufficiently aware of it, that the Pharisees who heard this nº }}|...; saying were highly offended at it, as what appears to strike directly (as they represent the they heard this saying 2 matter) both at the authority of the oral and of the written law P 13 But he answered, and But he answered and said, As for their displeasure, I am very little concerned about it, 13 jº: ‘...."; nor shall I ever labour to ingratiate myself with persons of their character: for I consider planted, shall be rooted up them as a set of men doomed to destruction: and indeed every plantation which my heavenly Father has not planted, and every thing in religion which, like the vain traditions they ad- vance, is not founded in divine institution, but human invention, shall sooner or later be 14, Let them alone; they rooted up, and cast out of the vineyard as an encumbrance to it. Let them alone, and do 14 **ś ºff; not trouble or concern yourselyes about their censures; they are blind guides of the blind jing, both shai fall into the populace, that implicitly commit themselves to their conduct; and it is very easy to foresee ditch. the consequence; for, if the blind shall undertake to lead the blind, they will both fall into a ditch together, and encumber instead of helping each other; (compare Luke vi. 39. p. 106.) and so will these perverse Pharisees and their careless followers perish together. 15 Then answered Peter, . But Peter answering, said unto him, We would desire thee, however, to explain more 15 ..º. * clearly to us what is the meaning of this parable which they are so much offended at; for even we ourselves are at a loss to reconcile it, not only with the Pharisaic traditions, but with the injunctions of the law of God, which hath so expressly enjoined a difference of . meatS. - Mark vii. 18. And [Jesus , ºffmd Jesus said to them, Are you likewise still so void of understanding, as not to appre- MARK jº. ; hend the sense of what I said? by which you might have easily perceived that I did not ... vii. ; ºft.*.*. intend immediately to supersede any precept of the law relating to the distinction of clean 18 §h...".h"jo"; and unclean food; but only to declare that it is the temper of the mind which God regards, pºehle him? and that no external accident separate from this can render a man offensive to him; and, • *. v e LV5 after all the instructions I have given you, do you not yet perceive that it must needs be so, 19 Because [whatsoeveren- that whatsoever enters from without into a man cannot defile him 2 And that, for this obvious 19 º; reason, because whatsoever enters in at the mouth enters not into his heart, or mind, in which º jºi... sin or holiness is seated, and which alone is capable of moral excellence or pollution; but CºlS * º * * * ...iºn..."tº goes into the belly, and passing through the bowels, by the course of natural digestion and 17.] evacuation, is thrown off into the vault, a place which cleanses, as it were, and carries off the grosser dregs of all the food that a man eats. & ..ºhiº But, said he, It is indeed that which comes out of a man that really defiles a man, and 20 § 3. ...º.º. makes him sinful in the sight, of God, as it originally proceeds from within: [for] the łºś things proceeding out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and these are they that actually !he IYYOUlú) - * ! * * me §: ...?...Alsº dºfile g man, § they may thus be tainted with a gº deal of moral guilt and malignity. "ß"; º; out of ſº, frºm within, out of the heart of men, proceed all such corrupt and evil reasonings,b as 21 thºſi those of the Pharisees which you have now been hearing, and all those self-invented #.º.º.º.) sophisms, which exclude wisdom at the first entrance; and from hence also proceed adul- teries and fornications, and all sorts of sensuality and uncleanness; all acts of violence and wºjº [ i. murders ; And thefts, and insatiable desires, and malevolent affections of inhumanity and 22 jºil cruelty to mankind; the injuries arising from false witnessings and deceit; the vile abomi- Écº, § fool nations of lasciviousness and intemperance; an evil envious grudging eye, and that odious Il CSS · tº º 'º & ºr ºf $ temper which discovers itself by such a look; ſº rov. xxiii. 6. xxviii. 22. and 23 All these evil things xxii. 9.) the horrid outrages ef blasphemy and pride; and, in a word, all kind of folly,” wild º!. º: .*.*. many other moral irregularities. ...All these evils, are the things which] defile and many more which I might mention, come from within; and these are the things which 2 3 a JVot that which goes into the mguth, &c.] Though it is very true a it willingly admits ; 4 vºr Yºgº º ºx man may bring guilt upon, himself by eating what is pernicious to his with. º, i"far, flºº ſºil; '**'. d. º º: health, or by exces; in he quantity, of fºod and liquor; and a Jew Pharisees, who are contradiºse"ºft y §§§º t and might have, done it by presumptuously, eating what was forbidden by Sophistical reasonings, on the subtilty of which they ma jº | the Alqsaig law, which still continued in force; yet in all these instances, themselves ºth.; y Thay ill; Inly value the pollution, would arise from the wickedness of the heart, and be just - is proportionable to it;...which is all our, Lord asserts. & All kind of folly.] I apprehend that appoavvm here stands directly Corrupt and evil reasonings : of ôtaxoytogot oi kakov.] I choose to opposed to a god vauvm, or sobriety of º discourse; and therefore render it evil reasomings, rather than merely evil thoughts, as better suit- does pºſ: signify th9.wild sallies of the imagination, and ex- ; both the original and the occasion, and as containing a more univer- travagant passions and āppetites, and consequently must include à great sal and important truth: for those thoughts only defile the heart which many immoralities not tºchéâ ºth. preceding enumeration." 158 SECT. 84. MARK W II. MATT. XV. 18 19 SECT. S5. MARK WH. A SYROPHOENICIAN WOMAN APPLIES TO CHRIST. do indeed pollute a man, and render him an object odious to the infinite purity of the the man; Ibut to eat withun divine natire; but the bare undesigned violation of a ceremonial precept cannot do it; º;" " " and much more evident it is, that to eat with unwashed hands, which has no moral impurity " " ' " in it, and no authority but a vain tradition to forbid it, does not and cannot defile a man : #. it must have a very bad tendency to teach people to place religion in things so entirely oreign to it. IMPROVEMENT. MAY we be all taught of God to maintain a constant watch over our own hearts, as remembering that from thence are the issues of life, and from thence the sources of sin and death ! (Prov. iv. 23.) All the secret motions and sentiments of them are open to the divine examination and inspection. There then may we begin our cares, § § gºles from all filthiness both of the flesh and spirit, as ever we would perfect holiness in the fear of God. 2 COr. V’ll. 1. We see that secret abominations our Lord has here discovered and marked out. It is a matter of much la- mentation, that our corrupted nature abounds with such poisonous productions: let us earnestly pray that they i. be roºted out by divine grace, lest we ourselves be rooted out of God's vineyard, as at once encumbering and eforming It! - May the blessed Spirit of God create in us a clean heart, and implant in our souls a temper opposite to all these enormities May candour and purity, integrity and tenderness, piety and generosity, humility and wisdom, prevail in our hearts, and shine in our conductſ. And, in a word, whatsoever things are irue and honest, just and pure, § º Q º report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, let us think on these things, and práctise them : hul. IV. 8. Let those who are employed to guide others, be especially solicitous to know and pursue the right way them- selves; lest, instead of saving themselves, and those that hear them, they both of them at last perish together. We are in danger of it if, like these Pharisees, we inculcate on our hearers a zeal for the circumstantials and appen- dages of religion, while its essentials are neglected; and perhaps some of the greatest enormities of the mind are consecrated under an honourable name, and profanely listed under the banner of the God of holiness and love. SECTION LXXXV. Jesus withdraws to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and there expels a demon from the daughter of a Canaanitish woman; and afterwards, in his return to Galilee, cures a man who was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech. Matt. xv. 31—29. Mark vii. 24, to the end. M ii. 24. MARK v MARR. vii. 24. .4.VD Jesus arose from thence, and withdrew from the place where these invidious enemies AND from thence [Jesus] were continually lying in wait for him, to the borders ſ: coasts of Tyre and Sidon : and sº when he was comé into those parts, he entered into a house as privatély as he could, and tº Siddº anºe.dºt. would have had no one know [it] that he was there; but he had so many eyes upon him ºf wherever he went, that he could not long be concealed in that retirement. not be hid. [Matt. xv. 21.] Yea, an occurrence quickly happened that spread the fame of his arrival there through 25. For [behold, a woman all the neighbourhood; for behold, a Canaanitish woman came out of those coasts, to whom, º.º...','º' though an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, he displayed his power and goodness ...}}. º spirit, in a very remarkable manner. Now this was one whose young daughter, for whom she had jºi º: a most tender affection, was possessed by an unclean and malignant spirit, which often threw g.º.º.º. º *: her into violent agonies: and, as the fame of Jesus, and of the miracles that he had is iºns; 'vºº with a wrought, was known in all those parts, the afflicted mother was no sooner told of his *** **** arrival, but, having now an expectation of relief, from the great things she had heard of him, she came immediately to the place where he was, and cried unto him at some distance, with the most humble importunity, saying, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, thou Son of David,” consider my distressed case, and extend thy compassion to me, though a stranger; for my poor unhappy, daughter is grievously tormerited by a cruel demon, that delights in , the misery of my child; and I well know that thou art able to cure her. 26 *: ATT. XW. 23 24 25 MARK VII 28 Now it is here to be observed as somewhat singular, that (as we just now hipºd) the gº. Thºslº, tº roomſºn gas not a Jew, but a Greek, a native of Sjrophénicia,” or of that tract of Cañaan Hºà"; "ºft in which they now were: and therefore, though she thus earnestly besought him to cast ºf ...º.º.º.º. ille demon from her daughter, and the case seemed so compassionable, our Lord thought it b proper not to take such immediate notice of it as he had commonly done in º like - instances; But turning from her, as if he were regardless of her case, he answered her not sº ; ; , ºft"Aºi a word. * * ..., his disciples came, and be- .And his disciples came to him on the occasion, and entreated hiº, sdying, Dismiss her with jº º ...iii.'. the grant of her request; for she is so overwhelmed with her affliction, that she crieth after “” us wherever she sees us; and not only gives us trouble, but is likº to make thy abode O - here more public than thou wouldst have it. . But he replying, said, I am not sent, but to ...}}. hºº! tº: seek and recover the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and am charged with no immediate jºidsºhéº & thºuse of • & * > *xr * * * srael. message to the Gentile nations, to whom you all know this woman belongs. 'ºhan came she, [and fell Then, perceiving her case was the subject of their discouſie, she cºme nearer, and ſ: #º º: * - - - º * f * * ert ºw : a 3. **3. * 2. y * down at his feet in a most importunate manner, and worshipped him, º Lord, I beseec *ś. But I - - - . Fo- c. , 1. * a tº : Ç QTé. i\ } &ll K V 11, 2 { . ut. Jºsus thee to help me, though a stranger; for surely none evº fleeded º jº º e Jews, th sail tºo i.jºttºhijirº firſt Jesús said to her, (yet furthér to exercise and illustrate herºfºith.) º l he Je i.S; . #...", º'cº. - - - * - * ºn - -> º - * - 2 -} f * : )*a, */ ſſ ºf , Ill C. C. &LK i l l ; - children in God's family, first be satisfied; for it is not propº" to take the chi * €77. S * ? bread, and cast it unto the and throw it to the dogs; and such you know that you entiles are commonly deemed by *::::Aſſºca and our nation, on account of those impurities and abominations that prevail * *ie el: 'º' º him, º hº - - º º ...] : * ~ *r OI) a PG Ve . . y ct the clogs under the tºlbic ...And she replied and said to him, True, Lord, it W ould not be fit }. 39, is which ; º; afet even the dogs under their master's table are allowed to eat the children's Crumbs 10hich is high fill ºn their mas. & e - 1. - - 7 O. y - #Lillt. XV, 27. fall from it;d may I not then humbly hope, that, unworthy as I am, I may also receive ter's table.] (Matt. xv. 27.) it should seem that she, having lº that º was º:}% - - - y - An ºx. - r - - 2.0) * - * - i.ht ºve"learned it for the disciples, as they went lººt.º.º.º.º.º. :* that s: * jºi"; ". º report,) and might some time, #. at length got admittance intº the % and, ...}}. §hººl, of respect Without thoroughly understanding its meaning. profoundest respect, łº }%. % #sº & Q ſº .*. *::: *% an i wº, native ºf Syrophanicia.] This part of Phoenicia was so called, as §§§ 2;" threw horself at his ſcCt. COIn par g ºth. W º sº.” a it had been formerly conquered by the Syrians. - ãº, ford, yet the dogs, &c.] Both Matthew and Mark use the 1t hag De teth after he ſever she sees us...] As Mark tells...}15, Tu C, g3, A/ 5 O 5 d in the f Thruth, and in the c Fºr she crieth a d'ât. ºe and that the application of this word waſ, which we have rendered in the former, Tºuth, and in of ‘... §§ #: being jedºs he desired to have been; latter, Yes. It is sometimes a form of assenting, and gometimes o a O Lord, thou Son of David.]. Some, have argued, frºm this expres– TWO MIRACLES OF DISPOSSESSION AND HEALING. 159 º fragments of that mercy whº, is sº liberally bestowed on the Jews, and may have sºr. een in some instances wantonly abused. g 5. Matt.sv. 23. Then Jesus . Then Jesus answering said unto her, O woman, great is thiſ faith; and it was my design §º. *:::: i. §: to illustrate, rather than to overbear it; now therefore, for this lively saying, which argues MATT. tºº, so much humility and piety, go thy way with the kindest answer thou couldst wish, ; º; ... [and] be it unto thee even just as thou wilt; thy desire shall be accomplished in all, it; jº.º.º. extent, for the demon is already game out of thiſ daughter, and I assure thee that he shall hºle §: torment her no more. And accordingly her daughter was cured from that very hour ..And, MARK viº ºn an And when returning back to her house, fully persuaded of the accomplishment of what Jesus had told VII. shºs ºn to ſº, her, she found the demon was gone out, and her daughter was lying on the bed, composed º; anº, º yº º, she º very jº, been. from th is of T asid the bed. ` º ...And Jesus after this departed again from thence, even from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, MATT. Jºãº f. §§ and came near to the sea | Galilee, passing through several places in his way that lay, in so?". gº';* º, the midst of the coasts of Decapolis, from whence his fame had formerly brought multitudes à..."...'..."g.i.e."#r...; to follow him: (see Matt. iv. 25. note 1, sect. xxxvi.) and on a certain day, in his Journey, º, he went up to the top of a mountain, and sat down there, to rest himself, and to teach the jºid satiown there people, who in great multitudes resorted to him to attend upon his preaching, and brought [Mark vii. 31.] their sick to be healed by him. Mark vii. 32. And they flnd, among many other diseased persons, they brought him one who was very deaf, and MARK ºº::, had so great an impediment in his speech that he was almost dumb too; and, making known * in i. ;”."º". his case to Jesus, they besought i. º º º: #. his #. *...;; as he lº º 3 i.º. "P" "* * in many other cases, making no doubt that he would upon this be perfectly restored to his "ºne took him aside ſº and speech. And, taking him aside from the multitude, which was very numerous, 33 #!'};}} º ; he put his fingers into his ears, where there was a great obstruction, which hindered him hº, and touched his from hearing distinctly; and, spitting on his finger, he touched his tongue:, .4nd, looking 34 §d looking up to hear up, as to his Father in heaven, he groaned, in token of his earnest desire that these disorders lºgº; might be removed; and then said unto him, as with a voice of divine authority, Ephphatha: opened. . . . g hat is, Be opened. . .And immediately the word had its effect; and his ears were accordingly 35 ..º. º: opened, and the string of his tongue, which had hindered it from moving freely, was loosed, º loosed, and and he spoke distinctly, and in an articulate manner, which from his birth he had never '%'."."gharged them done before. And he charged the man himself, and them that were near, that they should 36 tºº.º.º.º. tell no one of it; but the more he charged them to conceal it, the more they were charmed ut the more he charged them, “. - 3 1 - 1.- * jºcłºśreat deal with his modesty and humility, and consequently so much the more abundantly did they tº ſº. isyond mºa-proclaim [the cure :] And all they who heard of it were struck with exceeding astonishment, 37 i. i.º.º. and said, He has done all things well, and performed the most extraordinary cures in the jº, most amiable and graceful manner; making, in this and many other instances, both the and the dumb to speak. deqf to hear, and the dumb to speak. IMIPROVEMENT. If there be any thing in the whole history of our Lord which might have a tendency to discourage and terrify MATT. the humble penitent, it would surely be his treatment of this poor Canaanitish woman, when she made so humble xv.23. and so affectionate an application to him; first keeping silence ; then intimating in words a coldness, not to say 24 an aversion; and at last representing her but as a dog in comparison of the Jews. Surely such an answer had 26 almost broke her heart, had it not been secretly supported by his grace, while his conduct seemed so unkind. Happy are they that, like her, (who, though, a Gentile, did in this instance approve herself a true daughter of Abraham,) can against hope believe in º: ! (Rom. iv. 18.), Happy they who can thus extract arguments even from discouragements!ſ They will finally conquer and triumph, as this pious woman did; and the honours of 28 their faith wilfbe commemorated even by Christ himself, who soon indulges the overflowing tenderness of his heart in the applause he bestows upon her, and the ample grant he makes her of all that she asked in its utmost eXtent. The story of the deaf man, whose ears were opened, and his tongue loosed, is one additional instance, among MARK many more, of Christ's humility, as well as of his power. He retired from the admiring multitude; he used means vil. 32. when he could easily have wrought without them; he solemnly addressed his heavenly Father, virtually acknow– 33 ledging, while he looked up to heaven, that as man he derived his miraculous power from above; and he was so 34 far superior to the sentiments of vanity, that he commanded men to conceal the most glorious and benevolent 36 actions. May all his followers, and especially his ministers, learn of him who was thus meek and lowly 1 (Matt. xi. 29.) neither acting as in their own strength when they attempt a spiritual cure, nor proclaiming their own praises when they have effected it. Then will they likewise do all things well; and there will be that beauty in 37 the manner, which no wise man would entirely neglect, even in those actions which are in themselves most excellent and great. --- - } SECTION LXXXVI. Our Lord, after many amazing miracles, feeds above four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fishes, and then goes over to Dahnamutha. Matt. xv. 30, to the end. Mark viii. 1–10. MIATT. xv. 30. - MATT. xv. 30. AN Pºłº, ºº:: º: .A.VD while Jesus was seated on the mountain to which he went up, (Matt. xv. 29.) SECT ... }; ..."ia." § there came to him, besides the deaf man of whom we have just been speaking, great muſt 86. §: *"... º. º. titudes, having brought along with them persons who were lame, or blind, or dumb, [or] ..';*et, and he hºled maimed by the loss of a limb, and many others who had different complaints; and they cast MATT. them : them. at the feet of Jesus, entreating his compassion, which failed not to operate on such XV tº...". º; occasions, and he healed them all. And so many and various were the displays of his 31 * * * * miraculous power in the cures he wrought, that ille whole multitude was perfectly amazed %;"; £º Philem. ver. 20. and see Blackwall’s Sacred Had Cl SSugs, Vol. i. p. 143. . * - - - - º Haq Qhrist’s patients, like Naaman, (2 Kings v. 11, 2.) bee nic e He put his fingers into his cars, and, Spitting, touched his º If in their §º on these \º fear they would *.*.*.*. any should ask, Why Qur Lord used these actions, when a word alone cure; and the induigence of a curious or a petulant mind would have would have been sufficient; and such means, (if they may be called been but a poor equivalent for such ſióss. means) could in themselves do nothing at, all to answer the end-f flºppy ºre they, &c,.]...The pious, moderate, and eloquent Bishop frankly contess, I cannot tell, nºr am, I at all congerned to know... Yet Hall, has a fine contemplation on this subject, to which I refer the reader I am º to imagine, it might be intended to intinate, in a very lively with pleasure and §§ this opportunity of observing. that (allowing manner, that we are not to pretend to ºnter into, the reasons, of all his something for the peculiarities of the age in which he'īvěj 1. met actions; and that, where we are $ºre that ºng.observance whatever is with to jevotional writings on the historical part ºf Ščišture, which appointed by him, we are humbly to submit to it, though we cannot see have generally given me so much entertainºt's his. Why it, was, preferred to...others which our imagination might suggest. SECT. when they beheld the dumb speaking forth the praises of God and of their great Deliverer; FOUR THOUSAND MIRACULOUSLY FED. º - ; saw the dumb to speak, the the maimed made whole by the recovery of hands and arms which they had lost, or which §º • - º - •e - - - º walk l the bli !e : were grown quite useless to them;" the lane walking with vigour and agility, and the binº º'º';...&#: MATT. seeing every object distinctly, and immediately bearing, without any inconvenience, the * MARK . This concourse of people continued with him much longer than could have been Mark viii. 1. VIII. MATT. XV. 39 (which, with several neighbouring cities, stood in the coasts of Weſ. full force of unaccustomed light:b and, struck with such various and pleasing wonders, they glorified the God of Israel, who had raised up so illustrious a Prophet to his people, and sent help to so many afflicted creatures whom no human power could have restored. - & * * * * In those days imagined; and, the season being favourable, they were so intent on hearing Christ and º "...ii.º. -- * - º - *- - * º º y hil V’l * † Tº cy” seeing his miracles, that they lodged two nights together in the fields:* and therefore, in Čačić. ciº išš. those days the multitude being very great, and having spent the provision they had brought ...ºut.jh into out with them, so that now on the third day they had nothing to eat, Jesus having called * 2 his disciples to him, says unto them, I cannot but have compassion on the .# of my ...? I have compassion, on hearers, who flock thus eagerly about me, and express such zeal in their attendance, as to #. §: expose themselves thereby to many inconveniences; for they have continued with me now days, and hºnothingtº: 3 three days, and I well know that they have nothing left to eat : And therefore I will not ºtiºn not] send send them away fasting to their own houses, lest, if i do, they should some of them faint by º §§ §§ º the way: for our Lord knew that several of them came from a considerable distance, an *...* "...º.º.º. for divers o •, - - * - were but ill furnished for procuring accommodations abroad. em came from far. [Matt. 4 . .4mil his disciples, not reflecting on the miracle he had lately wrought for the relief of the *iºnis º, l five thousand, or not imagining he would repeat it, answered him, From whence can any ºś one hope to satisfy these men with bread and other food here in this desert country, if he tº º had ever so much money to spare for the purpose? [And] especially whence should we, Wiśī. *: whose stock is so small, have so much bread in the wilderness as might suffice to§ so great multitude” (Matt. xv. 33.) a multitude, whose appetites are º of them sharpened by so long a fast? We cannot but wonder to hear thee mention such a design. 5 And he asked them, How many loaves are you provided with, or what have you at hand ...And he asked them, Hoy to eat? And they said, We have only seven loaves among us all, and a few little fishes, à.sº. ºia”. 6 which is a very trifle to the present purpose. ...And, having ordered them to bring out what º they had, he commanded the multitude to sit down in ranks on the ground, that they might militičjś be served, as before, in an orderly manner;" and then having taken the seven loaves, an º ºś sºlemnly given thanks to his heavenly Father, acknowledging his goodness as the great brake, and §º"; Author of all mercies, when he had blessed them before them all, he brake them into Fº; ; , ; proper pieces, and gave [them] to his disciples to set before them ; and they accordingly set people. [Matt. xv. 35, 36.1 7 them before the people. And, as they likewise had a few small fishes, he took them also in 7 And they had a few small the same mannér; and, having blessed [them] as he had done the bread, he commanded his jºi.;; disciples to set them also before [the multitude. before them. . 8 So they did all eqt, and were abundantly satisfied: and the disciples afterwards collected wºjº what was left, and they took up no less than seven baskets full of what remained of the up of the broken nºt...i fragments; which Jesus ordered them to gather up, that he might thus convince them in rºaskets ſuild the strongest manner of the greatness of the miracle, and teach them also, at the same time, to use a prudent §§ in the midst of plenty. º º 9 And they who had eaten of these loaves and fishes were about four thousand men, besides wºº º ji a considerable number of women and children, who were there in company with them, and men, ſºside wongqindchil: all partook of the same entertainment, te g .. dºtMatºvº .#nd, the repast being over, he dismissed the multitude; and immediately after this, enter- a."j. §lſº ing into a ship with his disciples, he crossed the sea, and came into º: of Dalmanutha, straightºy, he entered into Oſ. *. a ship with his disciples,) and gdala, not far from came ſinto the parts of jail. Gadará, on the eastern shore of the sea of Galilee,) and there he had an interview with §3 ºf some Pharisees, which will be related in the next section. IMPROVEMENT. WITH what a circle is our blessed Lord surrounded !“ Let us pause a little, and endeavour to paint him to * 30, 33 our imagination, on this mountain, where the astonished multitudes so justly extolled all these mingled wonders of power and grace. , Let us reflect on the dumb speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, and the blind seeing, that with them we may glorify the God of Israel. * - But who can describe the sentiments of these º creatures, who, without any dangerous or painful operation, found themselves, in a moment, restored beyond all the efforts ºf nature, and beyond all the prospects of hope with what pleasure did the ear which had just been opened, listen to the pleasing accents of his instructive tongue! How did the lame leap around him for joy and the maimed extend their recovered hands in grateful acknowledgments of his new creating power! While the Voice of the dumb sang forth his praises in sounds before unknown; and the eye of the blind checked the curiosity which would have prompted it to range over the various and beautiful objects of unveiled nature, to fix its rapturous regards on the gracious countenance of him that had given it the day ! - Let us hiº, reflect, with what correspondent pleasure mºst ºur Lord survey these grateful and astonished • * * * :4. -> * johf. whi ! These trophies of his great- CI' hile his benevolent heart took its share in all the delight which he gave - - g sº i. i. those of the field, the monuments of desolation and slaughter! Trophies, for which the hero must have struggled with the man, and might sit down and weep over his own success | y ºn 2 * : y which we render And besides, that the great number of cureş, which had been wrought but a The mained made whole.] The . º *::: ... signify just before might animate, theº. perhaps they might conclude that the maimed, does, in the strictest }%e šiai. ix. 43.) but it is sºng miraculous power,of Christ, which was displayº, in, so many glorious one whose laid or arm has º clºgſ. āşşići in those parts. (See Beza ins; tınçº around them, would either prºserve their health from being times applied to thºse whº ... ." ...'...inječ it may be used endangered by the large dews which fell in the night, or restore them *..."; in loc.) º: '..."; serv. vol. i. p. 77, and ſº ºrder they might contract by their eagerness to attend on to signify a lameness in the teet. Sºº - ºl' to ºxoiſ; Pºptra- his ministry. a ſh ... p. i06.) yet, as it is here opposed to X2NG US TéPº • --~ ; tº gº tº nº ºf * ºn Y" . [* Albert. olºr; p º: 'i mºst undoubtedly be limited as in the ...Tº...º might be ºd, É. º º º; º j Touvrag, the lange wo j ſppose that among the many mainted note h, on Mark vi. #. Ph. hi º;. §. |. § ºf i. tuº ği {...}. º: º ...i. º: were sº Mººi.º: §. º:§ jº º, thous l? C ſl WOUl g”. : ... 1- • * * * * a CleS O ~. - - - been ciſt ºff; and, łº, §º. ...'...}. e With what a circle is our blessed Lord surrounded !]. As this story ph G TC illºioi * #". *.. ..uºtoined’ light.j Šo far as we can offeeding the ſolºr thousºid, is j9."º. much the same with what we had - lºſſº *.*.*.*, *bjºi to 'sight which occur in the in 378...I refer the reader tº.º.º. that section (p. 148.) judge,by all i lesiºłº ...t."...sº and I could not forbear pointing for practical reflectiº; on the greatest part of this ; and ch9øse here to gospels, j . ."º: » indulge a devout gº iš. the hº flºº jś those cures out sº wonderful a.ºrºº: - fields.] This we may infer which, Christ performed, whigh, Constitutºs the Whºle of this improve- ſ C Tºº º: O ºff..."; * º: º hiº it §. as mºnt, having been elsewhere but transiently touched upon. º: juickly after the passover. (See $83, note b, p. 155.) THE PHARISEES DEMAND A SIGN FROM CHRIST. 161 ...Whose heart is so insensible as not to feeſ an humane as well as devout pleasure in the history of these and the SECT. like miracles, though the subjects on which they were wrought are long since mouldering in the dust! Butlet us 86. further recollect, that our divine Leader has other yet more noble and more permanent trophies, those immortal spirits which he has redeemed, and sanctified, and saved! So may our transported souls, O blessed Jesus, in the consciousness of health, vigour, and salvation, behold thee as our Deliverer! So mayst thou view us with satisfac- tion, as the travail of thy soul, in that mountain of God where we hope to offer thee nobler praises, and for ever to consecrate to thy service those powers which thou hast recovered from weakness, dishonour, and ruin! --~~~~L^*— SECTION LXXXVII. The Pharisees again demand a sign, and Christ upbraids them with hypocrisy in doing it; and, having crossed the lake again, he cautions his disciples against their leaven and that of the Sadducees. Matt. xvi. 1–12. Mark viii. 11—21 MATT. xvi. 1. .A.W.D when Jesus was landed on the opposite shore of the sea of Galilee, in the coasts of SECT. Magdala, the Pharisees and Sadducees, notwithstanding the difference of their principles, 87. and the alienation of their affections from each other, eed to join in an attempt upon him: and accordingly they came, and began to examine him in a yery crafty and insmaring Mººr. manner; and, to try him, yet further, desired him that he would show them a sign from 1 * heaven ;” pretending that they could not acquiesce merely in such miracles as he had wrought upon earth, where there was much more room for artifice and deceit, and evil spirits might have some greater influence than in the upper regions. (Compare Matt. xii. 38, sect. lxiii.) But he, answering, said unto them, It is most apparent you ask this out of a desire to 2 cavil, rather than to learn the divine will; for in other cases you take up with degrees of evidence far short of those which you here reject: as for instance, you readily say in an evening, [It will be] fair weather to-morrow, because the sky is this evening of a bright and #º ºft fiery red;...And in the morning, [It will be] tempestuous weatherb to-day, for the sky is red 3 #º.º.º. and lowering. O ye hypocrites, you know how to distinguish the face of the heavens, and to º, form from thence probable conjectures concerning the weather; and can you not [distin- ...'...'...ºf guish] the signs of the present times, and see by the various miracles which are daily per- the times 2 formed among you, and the other tokens which attend mine appearance, that this is indeed the period which you profess to desire with so much eagerness, and which you might dis- cern with much less sagacity ? g sº jº, ºniº And, sighing deeply, as being touched in his own spirit with a most compassionate sense ghed deeply...in his spirit, : ... -- ~~ - wº * s gº. ~~ à"ai. "Whº ºu"; of their guilt and misery, he said, Why does this generation seek after a further sign? Verily, §º as I said once before on this occasion, (Mati. xii. 39. sect. lxiii.) I now sayit again to wicked anºdulºo is gene you, This is an evil and adulterous ɺ. which demands a sign ; and no such sign as it º jº"; requires shall be given it, unless it be the sign of the prophet Jongh, who lay three days and #.”.” }.} ić. nights in the belly of the great fish, and then came out alive; to which a most remarkable xvi. 4.] !!! Rºlºs resemblance will be quickly manifested in the resurrection of the Messiah on the third ; that will moreover be attended with the appearance of an angel coming down from 1628. Veil. - 13 And he led them, and, And, having said this, he staid no longer to debate the matter with persons of so perverse i. iº §,”; and disingenuous a temper, but left them ; and enterº; again into the ship which brought flºº.) him over the sea, he departed to the other side of the lake. - Matt...svi. 5. And when And when his disciples were come to the other side of the sea, they were concerned to find MATT. §§º.º.º.º. that they had forgotten to take any bread; and, having used all the fragments which they 5 * fneither had carried over with them in the baskets, they had now mo more than one loaf with them in the MATT. xvi. 1. THE Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, [and began to question with him, and [tempting him] desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. [Mark viii. 11.] 2 He answered and said un- to them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather; for the sky is red; I 3 other side, º had forgotten it," with them to take breat they in the shi * ſº."º ship. more than one vº, i.e., ºn And Jesus, willing to improve this, circumstance, considering what had lately, passed, 6 them," saying.j Take "heed gave them a solemn charge, saying, Be very cautiously on your guardº against the leaven of §§.ºgº ihe Pharisees and Sadducees, and particularly take heed of the leaven of Herod:d .# §cees, ſanja; the leaven of thereby to caution them against those corrupt mixtures which these sects had introduce Herod..] [Mark viii. 15.1 p., the depraving of religion; which tended, like leaven, to overspread, and sour, and puff up the mind, and so to prevent the efficacy of divine instruction upon it. 7 And they reasoneg among But the slowness of their understanding showed itself on this occasion, as it had done 7 t! lves, saying, It is be- * º Aº * º Aº ‘ºº gº " * . * jºiº. "... on many others; and they debated privately among themselves, saying, [It * surely because bread. [Mark viii. 16.] we have taken no bread with us, that our Lord thus cautions us against the leaven of these 8 Which when Jesus per- ceived, he said, unto them, O men, as if they polluted whatever they touched. . ſº when Jesus perceived, as he knew 8 §hi.º.º. all the secret workings of their minds, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why do ye among ºn sºlves because ye reason in this manner with yourselves? and why is it that you are under such concern isºlº no brºad; because you have brought no bread ? Do you not yet consider, after all that you have seen 9 tº: Jºº. and heard, nor understand, what has so lately passed before your eyes? [and] have you !...icº still your hearts so hardened, and your minds so stupified, as not to draw so easy a conse- §§§ quence from such repeated miracles, as to be free from any anxious concern on this account, Markyi, ië, Having eyes, because you have but one loaf2. Are you like so many senseless images? Having eyes, do i., § º you not see with them? and, having ears, do you not hear? and, with those natural powers remember? [Matt. xvi. 9] of memory and reflection, do ye not remember what you were witnesses to but a few days lº.º.º. ººk, he five ago? Let me refresh your memories, and ask you, When I broke the five loaves, and you º *...*.*.* with }. own hands distributed them among the five thousand men till they were all satis- fragments took ye up? They fied, how many baskets full of fragments took je up? They say unto him, We well remember MARK VIII. 18 19 a Desired him, that he would shed them a sign from heaven.] On...the whole, I am ready to think, the two things mentioned in note a, on Matt. xii. 38. p. 121. are to be united; and that what they here demanded was the very, thing which Josephus tells us (Bell. Jud. lib. ii. cap. 13.. [al. 12 d impostors of those times promised, they would show them from God, under the character of gnºsia eXev6eptas, signs of liberty, or some miragulous appearance from heaven, to assure them of deliverance from the Roman yoke. . And on these principles, they continued their demands in the apostles’ times, (1 Cor. i. 22.) ič, so many signs from heaven had then been given; in the voice from thence; in the pre- ternatural darkness at our Lord’s crucifixion; in the descent of angels in repeated instances ; and in that of the Holy Spirit, in a visible form, as well as in the most sensible effects. (See Dr. Lardner's Credib. book i. chap. 5. § 2. vol. i. p. 291. - * * * b Tempestuous º So xeup (ov properly signifies. Dr. Light- foot justly observes, that the Jews used to value themselves highly on their §§ in prognosticating the weather. And Grotius has welſ ob- served, in his note on this place, what a variety of signs marked out that time for the arrival of the Messiah. º * * c Be very cautiously on your guard.] This sufficiently expresses the sense of the words oparé Kai Tpogexers, which are repeated in the original, to urge the cáutiºn with the greater force and emphºsis. , d Leaven of Herod..] Those, Sadducees, who were, also Herodians, might, with peculiar propriety, ba singled out by our Lord, to caution I62 THE BLIND MAN HEALED AT BETHSAIDA. SECT. that we took up twelve. ...And, added he, when in like manner # dividedl the seven [loaves] say unto him, Twelve. Matt, 87. among the four thousand, and fed them to the full, how many baskets full of fragments di ***And when the seven — you then take up?" flnd they said, Lord, we know we took up seven. among four thousand, how MARK And he #. said to them, Since you remember these facts, how is it that you do not ; ; º; WIII. - * e * pº, And they 21 understand by them that I did not speak to you concerning, bread, so as to blame you for sº º having brought no more bread, but meant that you should be on your guard against the H&###at.'...'. leaven of those erroneous notions and corrupt principles which are so common among the *:::::::::::::::::::::::::: Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees? Yº... the lea: MATT. . Then they were sensible of their mistake, and understood that he did not charge them to jº. **, beware of the leaven of bread, but that he intended to warn them of the evil doctrine and lºu..., Then under 12 example of the Pharisees and Sadducees, against which so many of his discourses were most stººd thº tº justly levelled them not beware of the leaven & of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. IMPROVEMENT. MARK So evident is it, that the circumstances of a Scripture story may be remembered, where the design of it is over- 1.1 looked or forgot! It is much to be wished, that those which we have been surveying may not increase the num- * ** ber of such instances. 19, 20 In all those cases wherein the arm of the Lord has been made bare in our favour, let us seriously reflect on the divine power and goodness, and learn from past experience to trust it for the time to come. Never let us fall into MATT. the perverse suspicions of the Israelites, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? (Psal. lxxviii. 19.) Butlet * ... us be strong in faith, giving glory to God, and cheerfully repose ourselves in his care, who can never want wisdom 8 to judge aright of the necessities of his people, or power to relieve them, even in the greatest extremities. 1. W. see a new instance of the perverseness of these scribes and Pharisees. They tempted Christ by unreasonable 4 demands; and he justly suffered them to go away without the additional demonstration they sought. It is not for us to prescribe to God what degrees of evidence he shall give us. Let us impartially pursue and improve what 2, 3 we have ; and be very careful that our sagacity and openness to conviction, in other matters of much less impor- tance, º not condemn our stupidity, or obstinacy, where the truths of God and the salvation of our souls are COINCETOle Ol. 6, 12 It is our concern to beware of erroneous principles in religion, and of every corrupt leaven which might be ready to insinuate itself into our minds; especially of that, which, like the leaven of the Pharisees, would exalt our confidence in ourselves; or, like that of the Sadducees, would impair our persuasion of a future judgment, and our solicitous concern to live as in the views of it. May the oracles of divine truth ever appear to our minds as the rule by which all doctrines are to be tried and letus, in the spirit of love, contend earnestly for that faith which we believe to have been once delivered to the saints; that both our sentiments and actions may finally be found blameless, unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ! Amen. * SECTION LXXXVIII. - :hrist gradually heals the blind, man at, Bethsaida; and owns to his disciples that he is the Messiah, applauding Peter for expressly acknowledging Christ g y him under that character. Mark viii. §P'à. Matt. xvi. 13—20. i. ix. 18–21. MARK viii. 22. MARK viii. 22. SECT. AND when our Lord had thus crossed the sea, he came to Bethsaida; and his fame being AND he ºth tº Pºli . he entered the place they brow ht hº blind * d en- da; and they bring a blin 88. well known there, as soon as he e p J broug (tm. (Z blºnd Trld??, (1710, €71- man unto him, and besought — `` treated him that he would be pleased, only to touch him, as being well assured that this him to touch him. MARK would be sufficient for the recovery of his sight. . .ind, as he chose to work this miracle in 23 And he took the blind VIII. . private, he took hold of the blind man's hand, and led him out of the town” in the most tender º * and condescending manner; and having Spit upon his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he he had *ś. his eyes, and § * * * * * . kin } id, I do indeed di put his hands upon him, he 24 asked him if he saw anything. And looking up, he said, I do indeed discern the forms of ºhiº things, in an imperfect manner, and see men walking before me, but it is so obscurely, as º. º.º.º. 5 * , º * & & said, I see men, as trees, walk that I am hardly able to distinguish them from trees, any otherwise than by their motion.b. ii. 25 Then he laid his hands again upon his eyes, and cqused him to look up a second time; and , 25. After that he, put his upon this he found his sight was perfectly restored, so that he saw every man and thing about hands again upon his eyes $ 85 xceeding white as snow,) [or God confer on his Śon, as an earnest of that in which he was finally to appear; and he i. º º º - uller on earth can white permitted these his servants to see it, that they might not be offended at those scenes of ſº, q, Mau. Asia Mark deep abasement in which they were shortly to attend him. (Compare Matt. xxvi. 37. sect. i. clxxxii. *** And behold, there appeared to them, at the same time that they saw their Lord in this , Markix. 4. And [behold, there appeared unto them * 4 splendid form, two men, that were talking with Jesus in a language and accent which the #., PF.”. talking three apostles heard and understood, who were known to be Moses the great giver, and with *ši.º.º. tº * Elijah the zealous restorer, of the law. These were the persons whom they saw with it. § jºjº 31 Christ, in whose honour their respective ministrations terminated; who, appearing to their jºi...,n}} #"; view in forms of glory somewhat resembling that which he now wore himself, spake of his ſººijé, he should erit, or departure out of the present life and state, which he was shortly after, éven at the accomplish at Jerusalem. ensuing passover, to accomplish at Jerusalem ;e suggesting and enlarging on such thoughts as were proper to animate him to so painful and flºº a conflict. 32 But Peter, and they that were with him, even the two other disciples, did not see the .32 But Peter and *...* beginning of this glorious vision, nor hear the whole of this wonderful and edifying dis- \; \;..."."º. course; for, wearied with the labours of the preceding day, they were quite overburdened were awºke, they saw his 5 - - • * *-* • ‘Tº “r * , k, glory, and the two men that and sunk down with sleep; but being awakened with the splendour of those rays which ºf with him. pierced through the darkness of the night that had before favoured their slumbers, they saw, to their inexpressible astonishment, his unusual glory, and the two men who were standing with him, and heard the conclusion of their conference, from whence they collected who 33 they were.ſ And it came to pass that, just as they were departing from him, Peter answered 33 And it came to pass, as g … 4- e - -2 ºv, c. - - ; c. - they departed from him, Pet and said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here in such a circumstance as this: let ºf: this glorious appearance and converse be prolonged; for we could delight to spend all the Šºlaster, it isºfº e w - - - - - * * to be here; and [if thou wilt] remainder of our days thus; and therefore, if thout pleasest, let us make three femis here,é jºb; a 4m high mountain apart from the people.] Jerome tells us. (Epist. d White and dazzling.] The words Xewkog efaq ſpañrov may literally 17, 18,) that there was in his days an ançient tradition that this was be rendered white as lightning : but as this º stands here connected mount Tabor, which lay in the tribe of Zebulon. Its standing apart (as with parallel passages in the other evangelists, I choose to render jt Mr. Maundrell observes that it does, Travels, p. 112.), is to be sure no dazzling, that some proper gradation might be obscrved, which would argument to prove it; for that expression only signifies that it was a otherwise have been destroyed. * private retirement, which it might, have been, had it made part of a e Spake of his crit, which he was shortly to accomplish at Jerusalem.] ridge of mountains. However, as this happened, at the distance of six Dr. Hammond and Le Clerc seem greatly mistaken in º; this to days, there seems to be but little probability, in Mr. Fleming’s gonjec; Cirist’s victory over the impenitent Jews in the destruction of Jerusa- ture, that since Christ was just before near Caesarea Philippi, this must lem by the Romans; for though the word cºočos does sometimes signify be the mountain in that neighbourhood on which one of, Jeroboam’s a military expedition, (see Elsner, Obscre. vol. i. p.219.) yet it is plainly calves had been worshipped ; over which he thinks it, a kind, of triumph is: for death, or a departure out of the world, 2 Pet. i. 15. and Wisd. that the Shechinah was thus gloriously º: it had been so iii.º.ºhich suits much better here with the construction, gy ‘lepboaXepſ. ióng affronted by idolatry. Sée Fleming's Christology, vol. i. p. 40. f Heard the conclusion of their conference, &c.] . It º not perhaps b To spend the night in that holy exercise.]. This appears, from Luke have been proper they should have heard the ghole o gº: God might ix. 37, where we read of their coming down from the mountain the 7tect intend to reveal some of those things to them by the Spirit, and the day. See p. 168. knowledge of others might be reserved to the discoverics of the heavenly is countenance was changed.] This was so striking a state. - :* - ??, ; , , , s : * :- - ciº %; ; (Wit. Jamlil. p. 22.) relates a story of Let us make three tents here.] Mr. Fleming thinks it is as if he had jjhich seems evidently to be borrowed from this; as many said, “Lord; let this mountain be tº Israel ºf i. a. } §: jºch Philostratus tells us of Apollonius Tyanags, seem also to fathers: fºld, as it were, thy courthere; and jet the people resort hither • * > - - * * * : * ~ * , , * * * * * * i *Y frºx re, attended !! y those thy - stories recorded of Christ by the to jearn thy will, and pay their homage to thee, “tººded ºy, thº .* § borrowed from other histo y glorified servants.” §§ Fleming’s Christology, vol. i. p. 16.) Eut this CHRIST’S TRANSFIGURATION ON THE MOUNT, j67 - and for Moses one, and one for Elijah, that thou with them mayst lodge here SECT. º º in a more convenient manner. This was indeed a wild kind of proposal, ill suiting the 90. arkix. Fºr hºist not, state of these glorified persons, or the subject of their late discourse; but it is the less to ſº, wº §: dºwº be wondered af, considering the great surprise in which Peter was, for he knew not what MARK sore afraid, "[Lukeix. 33.j he said, [or] should say; for such was the effect it had on him and the two other disciples a “ who were then present, that they were vastly terrified at the majesty of this unparalleled sight, which broke out upon them at once in so unexpected a manner. * * And as he was speaking thus, behold, there came a bright cloud, which, in a most surprising Lººp spread itself over the top of the mountain, and overshadowed them all: and the * isciples were seized with such a º of religious horror, that they feared when they entered 34 into the cloud,h and saw it diffused on every side of them. And behold, an ever-memorable 35 nacles, one fortnee, and, one for thee one, lº ix. º Wºlff he thus spake Jeh () |{ there Călin G 8. fight Čioud, and manner, overshadowed them : and d they feared, as they entered into the cloud. [Matt. xvii. 5. Mark is. 7. º ** & y tº 35"...ifaſſàid, there came circumstange then happened; for there came a most awful voice out of the cloud, as the a yoice out of the cloud, ſº said,J. This is my be- oved Son [in whom I am well-pleased, hear [ye) him. [Matt. xvii. 5. Mark ix. 7.] sacred symbol of God’s immediate presence, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;i hear ye him, therefore, with the humblest submission and obedience, as the object of my dearest complacency, and your surest guide to duty and happiness, in all respects superior to the greatest of your prophets. .And when the disciples heard [this voice, * fell prostrate on their faces to the ground M.T. with the humblest reverence, and were exceedingly terrified by this tremendous manifesta- " " tion of the present Deity. ..And Jesus, knowing their confusion, came and touched them, and said, Rise up, and be not afraid; infusing into them, at the same moment, a secret strength and fortitude of mind. (Compare Dan. x. 10, 19.) [LUKE, when the voice was And on a sudden, while the heavenly voice was uttered, Jesus was found alone, Moses and * jśa:"...io. Elijah disappearing in a moment; [and] the disciples, lifting up their eyes, upon the kind 8 " fºliº encouragement that he had given them, [and] looking round about them for the persons heir eyes, and J looked round -> - * - ; * - **.*.*.*.*. they had seen but just before, saw no man any more, but Jesus only with themselves, who j."º"; now again appearing in his usual form, graciously, entered into conversation with them in Luke ix. 36.] the same condescending manner he was used to do. 9 And as they came down And as they came down from the mountain on which this wonderful transaction had 9 passed, Jesus strictly charged them, that they should tell no one what they had seen, unless it were when the Son of man was risen from the dead; lest, till that glorious evidence was Matt. xvii. 6. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. - And Jesus came and touched them, and , said, Arise, and be not afraid. Mark ix. 8. And suddenly from the mountain, [Jesus charged them that they should tell . ...tº; §'. º from given of his divine mission, this story should appear as an idle dream, or an incredible *ślay tale. And when he spake of rising from the dead, they laid hold on that word, disputing * - ºy kept that say- * - G x-y 5 - 2 “s ing with themselves...anºs: among themselves what this rising from the dead could mean ; for as often, and as plainly, §§eºnº, d.º.º. as Christ had declared it to them, they could not persuade themselves to understand it in º, º Mºhº, a literal sense. However, in obedience to the charge he gaye them, they were silent as to º, #, j ... 'ºf what had passed, and told no one in those days any of the things which they had now seen those thirººy had and heard. - *śl, ſº ić. And his And his disciples, as they could not doubt but he was the Messiah, took that opportunity MAT- §”.º. º. of informing themselves as to a scruple which had long lain on their minds, and asked fººt first come? him, saying, Why then do the scribes, the teachers of our nation, and professed students of [Mark is. 11.] the law, say, that Elijah must first come before the Messiah appear 2 Is this vision that we have now seen, all the coming of that prophet which was to be expected P Jind Jesus replying said unto them, It does indeed appear from the Scripture, that Elijah ;h"; ; ; , ; shall first come to ;i. way for the Messiah, and regulate all things, by preaching repent- all things; ſand, how it is ance and reformation: and yet, how little is the influence that his coming will have upon §:"...ºf iº"; a wicked and ungrateful generation? And how is it also written of the Son of man himself." tºtal nought that illustrious Person whom Elijah is to introduce 2 It is º foretold, that he must *** * ~ *...* * suffer many things, and be contemptuously rejected; which evidently implies that his fore- 12 But I say unto you, that runner also shall be disregarded, and his preaching slighted. And the event, you know, *...*.*.*.*h; has been answerable to it: do not therefore expect another to appear, but observe what I hºtºvº, ii. now say to you, while I assure you that Elijah is indeed come #: as it is written of him” in various passages of Scripture; (see Isa. xl. 3. and Mal. iii. !) and they who pre- tended so º; to expect him did not know and acknowledge him, but have treated him in the most arbitrary and cruel manner, even just as they pleased, without any regard to piety, justice, or humanity: and thus likewise shall the Son of man quickly suffer by them, and with the utmost enmity and malice shall be persecuted by a hardened people, who will show no more regard to him than to Elijah his herald. - Then the disciples understood that he spake to them concerning John the Baptist, who was ºv foretold under the name of Elijah, as the Messiah was under that of David. (Compare Mal. iv. 5. and Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24.) l! And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly H2 whatsoever they listed, [as it is written of him :] likewise shall also the Son of man suf- fer of them. [Mark ix. 13.) 13 Then the diºs Ul Il- derstood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. seems too great a refinement, and too deep a scheme. , I rather choose to interpret them as words of rapturous surprise, intended merely to express the pleasure they had in what they saw and heard. The proposal was, ps St. Mark observes, very improper; but perhaps few, in such an aston- ishing circumstance, could have been perfectly masters of themselves.— The tents they proposed to build must be only slight huts or bowers; and there is no reason at all to suppose they meant any sumptuous taberna- cles like that of Moses in the wilderness; and, that no such idea might accidentally be raised, I choose to use the word tents. h There came a bright cloud, and overshadowed them, &c.] I cannot think it probable (though a late eminent critic, has so explained it) that this only means that the cloud cast a sluidoid, which fell upon them), but rather that it spread over the mountain ; and this not like a canopy or umbrella, but that it covered it in such a manner as a cloud does ; yet with this difference, that it was more like a thick smoke than a shower; and that whereas the skirts of clouds are generally rarer than the central parts, this was darker towards the edges; a glory being un the midst; and probably it was the darker part with which the apostles were enveloped, while the excellent glory (as St. Peter calls it, 2 Pet, i. 17.) seemed much higher, and the rays of it were much attempered by that part of the cloudy veil which was between it and them. And thus we know that the Shechimah had appeared in former ages, Pºiº when it took ossession of the tabernacle of Moses, Exod. xl. 34, 35. and the temple of Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 10, 11. - i In whom I am well-pleased.] Though neither Mark nor Luke have given us these words, we may be sure that, they were really spoken, as we have the concurring testimony both of Matthew, and of Peter, who has thus quoted them, 2 Pet. i. 17. Some , have thought their being omitted by Mark, an intimation that. Peter did not review that gospel with any great accuracy, supposing it was (as Clemens Alexandritius reports) put into his lands.-Perhaps the command that is added to hear him. mily refer to that solemn charge to hear the great prophet, Deut. XV l l l - 1 O. k They laid hold on that word.] So I think Tov Aoyov exparſigay may most literally be rendered; the verb often signifying to lay hold on, and, in consequence of that, resolutely to retain ; but never, that I can recoy. lect, to keep a secret: Compare Matt. ix. 25. xiv. 3. Mark xii. 1:3 au: Rev. xx. 2.-I think the words Tpog savtov; should be joined wify ovšmi-syrºs, as they are with the same word, Mark i. 27. ix. 16. Luk xxii. 23. and Acts ir. 29. | Shall first come and regulate all things.] . It is plain that aros 11-aq. Imael here, (as arokaragraats, Acts iii. 21.) cannot, as it gerº ally does, signify, restoring things to their former state, but only, in tho ſend rºll, reducing them to, order. . It is strange Tertullian (De Resur. ca,"35., should, inter from hence, that, Elijah the prophet is to come f efor, Christ’s second appearance. Grotius has well confuted that wild notion in his ºffivnotations, in loc. m Ayud get how is it written aſ the Son of man himself?] The construc. tion of this verse, in the original, is as perplexed as almost any in the New Testament. The Prussian Testament, which is followed by the late English version, renders it roundly and elegantly enough, “It is true,” said he, “that Elias must first come to restore all things, and tha; it is foretold of him, as well as of the Son of man, that he should ha`i. unuch to suffer, and be rejected with contempt.” But this is not strictly agreeable to the original, nor can I find the martyrdom of John the Bap- tist any where foretold in the Old Testament: I choose therefore to reh- der this clause as a question.—That kat sometimes signifies (and yet,) evidently appears from John v. 40. Luke ix. 45. Matt. xxiii. 37, and other }; n Elijah is indeed conc already, as it is written of him.] For the reason 168 AN EVIL SPIRIT BROUGHT TO CHRIST, IMPROVEMENT. - sº tr º: º delightful was this view ºf our blessed Redeemer, which the apostles had when he was ITH efore them, clothed, as it were, with the divine Shechinah, and shining with a lustre like that of the MLATT. ºis º º º; must it be to them, to see with him Moses and Elijah, those two eminent XVII. 3 with w onder and º ago quitted our world, but whose names they had often read in the sacred records Well might Peter say, It is good for us to be here. Well might he be contented to resign his entertainments and his hopes elsewhere, that they might prolong these delightful moments, feasting their eyes with these divine visions, and their minds with these more than human discourses. Nor can we wonder that the scene, transitory as it was, left so abiding a savour on his spirits, that in an epistle which he wrote many years after and but a iii. tle before his death, he should single this story from a thousand others to attest it as he does, and to argue from it. (Compare 2 Pet. i., 16–18.) . But oh how much more desirable is it to stand upon Mount Zion, and to behold those brighter glories which our Jesus wears in the heavenly regions ! To behold, not merely Moses and Elijah, but all the prophets, the apostles, and martyrs; and, in a word, all the saints of God in every age, whether to us per. - - - sonally known or unknown, surrounding him in a radiant circle; and not only to behold them, but to converse łº, with them. Lord, it is good for us to be there, in our desires at least, and in our meditations, till thou pleasest to - call us to that happy world, and to take us thither, where no drowsiness will cloud our eyes, where no hurry will MARK discompose our thoughts, but where the perfection of holiness and of love shall cast out every degree of terror IX 6. as well as of sorrow. c 3. In the mean time, let us reverently attend to that Saviour who appeared in this majestic form, and who comes * recommended to us with so many testimonials of his divine authority. He was again declared, by a voice from ”” 5 º tC) º the beloved Son of God: as such let us hear him, receiving all his revelations with the assurance LÜKE º i. 2 and all his commands with the obedience of love. If these sentiments govern our hearts and our lives, * the thoughts of that departure from this world which we are shortly to accomplish, will be no grief or terror to our souls. . Like our blessed Master, we may connect the views of it, and intermix discourse upon it, with the most delightful enjoyments and converse; nay, it will serve to render them yet more pleasing. For who would not long to be made conformable to Christ, even in his sufferings and death, if it may be a means of transforming us into the resemblance of his glories' z-> \ - Sry SECTION XCI. Christ, descending from the mountai - - - - - - * - iiil & * in on which he was transfigured, drives out an evil spirit which had obstinately withstood the at is oſ lii Alºjºs.” Wit...ºft."ºriº.”fººt.” y attempts Ol Piłs LUKE ix. 37. 37 LUKE is. 37. SECT. º did our Lord discourse with his three disciples after he had been transfigured in so ANP, it came to pass, that 91, glorious a manner in their presence; and it came to pass, that on the next day, when they ..."... º."; came down from the mountain on which the night had been so delightfully spent, a great hill, much people met him. MARK crowd of people met him. And, being come to the disciples, and particularly to the rest of Mark ix.14. And when he * , , the apostles, who, knowing their Master was on the hill, waited for him in the adjacent ...;;. - - zº ºf sº wºrk : * great multitude about them valley, he saw a great multitude around them, and, among the rest, some of the scribes and ână îné"ºbºtiºn; Pharisees, who were disputing with them, and endeavoured to take the opportunity of their with them. Master’s absence to expose and distress them. 15 . ;And immediately, as soon as he came near them, all the multitude seeing him, was struck Jºnd sºaishºy ºff into astonishment at those unusual rays of majesty and glory which yet remained on his #";..."...º. countenance;" and, running to him, they saluted him with the greatest marks of respect and running to him salute and affection: yet the scribes and Pharisees, without regarding his return, continued their '''Andheasked the scribes, ill-natured attack on his disciples. - Wº: }}". -: - • icº - * Zºº ºw * - º Ang , UKE, behold, J Lil I6 ºnd, taking notice of the warm dispute they were engaged in, he asked the scribes, ºrigijajº What is the point you are debating, and what do you contend with them about? º, 17 And, presently, upon his making this inquiry, behold, a [certain] man of the multitude jº, º, ...". came, and kneeling down to him, answered the question in effect; and crying out with a lº", *.*...": loud and eager voice, said, O thou great Teacher and Master in our Israel, I have brought tº ſº. #! e º - • 4- - • * |WI att. XV l l . *_w s thee my poor aſilicted son, who has for a long time been possessed with a dumb spirit; and besºch, thee, look jº Matt, the mālicious demon has deprived him of the use of his hearing and speech: And, in this º'; - g 3 * XVII. moving case, O Lord, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he is mine only child; [and] yet, jº 15 instead of being any comfort to me, is a most meláncholy spectacle of horror; let me entreat ſº, º º thee, therefore, to have compassion on [him, for he is lunatic, and grievously tormented waterji.e. ix.3s.j Icke with terrible fits, which frequently seize him, and sometimes endanger his life: for he often s; º ºś. ix... falleth into the fire, and often into the water. And, behold, wherever [this] spirit, seizes him, |...}}}.}}|...} we has no strength or thought to take care of himself, but suddenly cries out in a violent ..º.º.º. manner, and it convulses him so that he foams again at the mouth, and gnashes with his teeth. º .# g ºl in extremity of anguish; and thus he miserably pines and withers away in the bloom of his parteth from him." Ölark i. age: and [it] is with great difficulty that the malignant demon deparls from him for a little “statt. xvii. 16. And I while, having bruised him to such a degree by violent distortions, that he is hardly able to ſº. Marr use his limbs in the interval of these dreadful agitations...And I am persuaded there is and § º' tº jºir some more than ordinary difficulty in the case; for Ibrought him to thy disciples, and spake ..."; "tºº": - - • * 7 2. s & ; : gure him; . . [Mark ix. 18, 16 to [them] concerning him, and entreated ſº in the most affectionaté manner to use their Lºefijº) utmost efforts to cast him out ; and they could not accomplish it, nor heal him. thinjº .."o". 17 Then Jesus said in reply to him, O | incredulous and perverse generation of men; hºw, ...pºiſº sºeº, long shall I be with you before you will learn a becoming regard to me? How long shall I; i."jºli'i sº ºff assigned in the preceding note, I choose to connect these two clauses; and 2 Cor; iii. 7.) One would indeed have expected that ſuke, who has and conclude that the words which lie between; both in the original and mºtioned the fastre on Stephen’s countenance, when pleading his cause in our translation, are to be included in a parenthesis. - befºre the sanhedrim, (Acts yi. 15.) should have, taken some noticº of a Pſas struck into astonishment, &c.] F. is strange that, so ſew critics the fact here supposed; bºt, it is observable, Mark tells the story before shºuſiñº, ºid anything concerning the reason of the multituše's being us far more gircumstantially than either of the other evangelists; which, thus astonished. It could not be, as 1}octor Clarke supposes, his coming by the way, is another most convincing proof that his gospel was not (as down from the mountain the day after he went º: for they were gather: Mr. Whistón supposes) an abridgment of Matthèy- * j round it in expectation of his descent; and I do not remenber that be b JHe is lunatic.] rótius well observes, that this word (which exactly *ē; continued more than one night in such a retirement, Nor is it easy ansyers th? etymology of the original) might with, great propriety bº *Sim㺠the multitude were under any apprehension, after he had been used; though thºſº something preternatural in the case; as the evil no longer absent, that they never should be able to find him again...I Fi, vºid undoubtedly take advantage of those disorders into, which #.; ;iº’i. Whitby's naturai conjecture in his paraphrase, the brain and norves of this unhappy child were thrown by the changes which is agreeable to what we read of Moses, that the 3kin of hiºſge of the moon. - ...hº..."º cºme joign from the mount. (Compare Exod. xxxiv. 29, 39. bring [LUKE, thy son #e. {Mar #1; } Mark ix. 20. And they brought him unto him : and when he saw him, [as he was yet a-coming, straightway the spirit [threw him down, (liſtſ] tare liim, and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. [Luke ix.42.] 21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this gaine unto him? And he said, f a child : . . . 22 And oſt-times it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him : but if thou canst do anything haye compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him. If thou canst, believe, all things are possible to him that be- lieveth. 24 And straightway the fa- ther of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, f believe ; help thou mine un- olief. 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running togeth- er, he rebuked the [unclean] spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into ... him: [Luke ix. 42. Matt. xvii. 18.] 26 And the spirit cried and rent him sore, and came out º ;] and he was as one dead, insomuch that many iš. He is dead. [Alatt. xvii. 27, But Jesus. took him by the hand, and litted him up and he arose : [LURE; and he healed, the child, and de- livered him again to his fa- ther.] [And the child was cured from that very hour.] [Matt. xvii. 18. Luke ix. 42.] Luke ix.43. And they were all amazed at the Inighty power of God. Mark is. 28. And when he was come into the house, his disciples [came to Jesus apart, and] asked him privately, Why could not we cast hitn out? [Matt. xvii. 19.) Matt. xvii. 20. And Jesus said unto them, Because o your unbelief: for verily. I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard–seed, ye shalſ say unto this mountain, Remove hence, unto youder place, and it, shall remove; and nothing shall be impossi- ble unto you. * 21 Howbeit [he said unto them,), this kind [cºln come forth by nothing] bu i º prayer, and fasting. [Mark ix. 28.] AND CAST OUT BY HIM. 169 hiº. endure that infidelity which you are showing on so many occasions? And thus did he mean SECT. Ulke 1.x. at Once to j". the weakness of faith in the father, and in his disciples, as well as the 91. obstinacy and perverseness of the Jewish teachers, who were triumphing in their present disappointment: and then, turning to the father of the child and his attendants, he said, M* Bring thy son hither to me, and you shall see what my power can effect. IX. ...And upon this they brought him that was possessed to Jesus, and presented the poor 20 creature to him. And immediately, as soon as he saw him, while he was yet coming, the evil spirit, in a rage, wrought in him with such violence, that he threw him down and convulsed him; and he fell on the ground with great force, and there lay and rolled from one side to the other, a spectacle of horror, foaming at the mouth, and sweating profusely, till nature was almost exhausted, and he seemed ready to die. And, that the greatness of the cure might more plainly appear, while the unhappy youth 21 lay thus before him, he asked his father, How long time is it that he hath been thus afflicted? .#nd he said, Even from his childhood:* And the evil spirit is so outrageous, and so mali- 22 cious, that it frequently, as I said, has thrown him into the fire, and into the waters, when he has happened to be near them, as if he watched for opportunities to destroy him; so that I am sensible it is a most difficult as well as dreadful case: but if thou camst do any thing in it,” have compassion on us, and help us ; for surely none ever needed thy pity II]. Ore. ...And Jesus said unto him, The question is not at all concerning m ing the strength of thy faith; for if thou canst firmly and cheerfully believe, the deliverance will surely be effected, as all things of this kind [are] possible to him that believeth.* ...And immediately the father of the child, touched to the very heart to think that his dear 24 son might possibly lose the cure through the weakness of his own faith, cried out aloud, and said with tears in his eyes, and ardour in his countenance, Lord, I do from my heart believe that thy power is unlimited; yet such is my frailty, that when I look on this spectacle of misery, my faith is ready to fail me again: help me therefore against m wnbelief, º mitigating the circumstances of the trial, or communicating suitable strengt to my soul.f Then Jesus seeing that the crowd ran together, and was continually increasing round 25 them, rebuked the unclean *::: which had possessed the child, and said unto him, with an air of superior power and divine authority, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, who hast so mali- ciously deprived this youth of his speech and hearing, I strictly charge and command thee immediately to come out of him, and presume to enter into him no more, no further to dis- quiet him as long as he lives. .And immediately, as soon as he had spoken these words, [the evil spirit, having cried 26 out with great earnestness, and thrown him into violent distortions, came out of him; and the poor youth had been so miserably handled, that he fell into a swoon, and seemed as one º so that many who were present said, He is undoubtedly quite dead, and will revive no more. But Jésus, taking hold of him by the hand, lifted him up, and strengthened him, 27 so that he arose and stood on his feet. ...And when [he] thus had perfectly restored and healed the child, he took and delivered him to his father, who received him with an inex- pressible mixture of joy and amazement. And the child was well from that very hour, and these terrible symptoms returned upon him no more. - - ..And they who beheld it were all astonished at the ſilighty power of God, by which this LUKE illustrious miracle had been wrought. - IX. 43. ...And when he had left the multitude, and was coine into the house where he then resided, MARK his disciples, something mortified at the repulse they had met with in their late attempt, scº. came to Jesus when he was alone, and asked him privately, PPhy could not we prevail so }. 28 as to cast out this demon, and erpel him, since we have performed many cures which seemed equally difficult? - - ower, but concern- 23 .4nd Jesus said unto them, It was because of the remainder of your unbelief: for verily I MA.T. say unto you, if you had but the least degree of faith in a lively exercise, though it, com- 2'" paratively, was but as a grain of mustard-seed,5 you might perform the greatest wonders, so as even to say to this mountain here in the neighbourhood, Remove from this place to that, and it should accordingly remove ; and, in a word, nothing will be impossible to you. But 21 as to the case that was lately before us, he further said unto them, This demon which pos- sessed the child was one of a very obstimate kind, which cannot be expelled so readily as others; nor must you expect to have power over such spirits as these, to oblige them to to forth by any means, unless you do by frequent prayer and fasting intercede with God for is more abundant cooperation, and by such extraordinary devotions endeavour to prepare your souls for his further influences.h c From his childhood.j So the word Tauðtoôsv properly signifies; and I think, with Grotius, it is much more convenient to render it thus than Jº; his infancy. ºf thou canst do any thing in it...] . * * * * * g more violent on his approaching Christ, his faith might be ‘īhis was a yery natural manner of speaking, and yet and obliquely interesting the honour of Christ in the See Raphel. ex: Xen. p. 73 e (f, thou canst believº, something uncommon, To et tioning a singular conjecture which I lately had from the mouth of a - especially in biblical learning. He thinks, instead ‘i, as some copies read it; and then taking Tia Teva at to be the imperative mººd; would render and very accurate critig of To, it might be terrogation after Tu ; referring to et Övvaggſ, in the verse before : “Belicve: all things are ossible to him that believeth; eave the rest to me.” f Help my unbeligſ, s this method of paraphrasing, spirit by it;, yet it; and, on the whole, that the Hº! tº: of §: "To observe the exact medium b: though I have laboured after it. & arº & - mustard-seed.) It is very trifling to suppose, that have àbtained, thou g Faith as a grain of º &c.]. As the construction in thq Qriginal is &c.] It seems an inconvenienge inseparable from that sometimes (as in the present instance) §ºne iively and strongly pointed sentences should lose something of their - * keeping the original thus distinct, º - many of these expressions are so full of meanin here is a reference to the poignancy of mustard-seed, as an emblem of a vigorous and , lively faith. It is apparently a proverb to express any thing ingonsiderably small, that being, as our Lord expresses it, one of the smallest among scCds. Thus the rabbies say, the globe of the earth is but a grain of mustard seed, when compared with the expanse of the heavens. See Drusius, in loc. h This kind cannot go forth by any mcans, nºnless by prayer and fast- ing.]. An ingenious physician, mentioned by the learned author of the Inquiry into Demoniacs, &c. p. 47, instead of ev Epogeuxn kat wngrgia, would read ev Tpogexel vºlgretº, by constant fasting ; and supposé it refers to the necessity of frequent and long-continued abstinence, in order to the cure of sugh an epileptic distgmper as the child in question had been subject to. But as the criticism is founded on mere conjecture contrary to all the copies known in the world, so ſcannot think it at iſ natural in itself, or pertinent to the occasion; for it seems not at all to our Lord’s purpose to speak of the natural methods of cure, in answer to the apostles’ demand, why they could not miraculously perform it?— Nor can any instance be produced 19 prove that the expression is pro- verbial for any thing very difficult.—I could therefore see no reason to recede from the usual interpretation, which I have given in the para- phrase.—As for the interpretation of Chrysostom, and Theophylact, who suppose that yevos signifies at large this kind of beings, that is, demons, it seems very wrong; since the apostles evidently ää cast Out Imany demons, whatever peculiar malignity there might be in this and others of his rank, which might makg, more intense devotion necessary to eject them.—Sir Norton, Knatchbull’s sense is extremely forced, who under- stands it as if it had been said, 'This sort [of miraculous faith] advances Perhaps, observing the fit grow gin to fail. strongly pathetic, º * issue of the affair. wagat Iraq revoat, I cannot forbear men- ſº it with an in- dost thou mean by saying if thow camst 3” see thou to the firmness of thy faith, and may in part remedy retation require they should be §: were, is a felicity which I dare not say I ^ 170 SECT. 91. MARK IX. 14 MATT. XVII. 14, 15 LUKE IX. 38. MARK IX. 24 MLATT. XVII. * SECT. 92. w - THE DISCIPLES OFFENDED’AT CHRIST's PREDICTION OF HIS SUFFERINGs. IMPROVEMENT. THE invidious opposition which these scribes and Pharisees made to our Lord, and the ill-natured joy they ºxpressed in what they imagined would disgrace his disciples, appears exceeding odious; and it shows us the fatal effects of ambition, pride, and avarice, when they possess the hearts of those who should be (as these by their office Were) teachers of others. Such qualities render those in the number of the most dangerous énemies of man- kind, who ought to be its most affectionate friends, and most useful benefactors. May the light of the gospel break in on their souls, and form them to a better temper! The solicitous concern of this parent when he saw his child under such sad symptoms of disorder, may surely remind persons in that relation of the sentiments with which they should view those of their children who are, in a spiritual sense, under the power of Satan; and of the importunity with which they should entreat that the hand of Christ may be stretched out for their rescue. A lively exercise of faith is greatly to be desired in this, and all other applications of this nature. But alas, how often dø we find the remainders of a contrary principle ! In how many instances does that passionate exclamation of the father in this story suit us, -Lord, we believe, help thou our unbelief! How difficult is it, in the midst of so much guilt and weakness, of so much perplexity and unworthiness, to believe the promises of forgiveness and preservation, of grace and glory! Yet we may humbly hope, that He who by his grace has wrought the divine principle in Qur souls, will maintain it there. Only let it be our concern to oppose those corruptions which would enervate and suppress it. Perhaps there are some of them which will not be driven out but by prayer and fasting, by deep humiliation, and more than ordinary solemnity and intenseness of devotion. But surely they have littlé regard to the peace and security of their souls, who can allot only a few hasty moments to them, when they have whole hours and days to bestow, not only on the labours, but even on the amusements, of life. \ SECTION XCII. The disciples are offended at the warning Christ gives them of his approaching sufferings. He makes a miraculous provision for paying the tribute money. Miš. xvii.22, to the end. Markix. 30–33. Luke ix.43–45. MARK ix. 30. MARK ix. 30. J1NTD while every one of the spectators was amazed at this stupendous miracle wrought on AND [while they wondered - every one at all things which the child who had been so terribly possessed, and at all the other extraordinary things j. *...*.*ś — which Jesus did, our Lord and his apostles left that place, and, setting out on a further theºe, and Pº MARK IX. 30 •e * Galilee; h ld not progress, they departed from thence, and passed from the mountain on which he had been jº. º transfigured, through the rest of Galilee; and Jesus chose to do it as privately as he could; ſºuke is 43. for he was desirous that no one might know ſit, lest the important conversation into which 31 he then entered with his disciples should be interrupted. For while they continued travelling 31 For [while they abode ILUKE IX. 45 MATT. XVII. - º .* º sº Yxx" in Galilee, Jesus] taught his and conversing in Galilee, and especially when they came to the places where they .# disciples, and said unto them, ll Iſl Jesus taught his disciples” more largely than he had done before, what was to befall him. fMatt. Xvii.33. Luke is 43. (Compare Matt. xvi. 21. Mark viii. 31. Luke ix. 22. sect. lxxxix.) - .And he said unto them, with great Solemnity, Jäpply your ears attentively to these sayings,b Luke ix.44. Let these say- how disagreeable soever they may be, and let them sink into your hearts; for the Son of §§º.º.º.; man, instead of reigning in that grandeur which you expect, shall very shortly be betrayed delivered into the hands of into the hands of sinful men,” and shall seem for a while to be a helpless prey to their rage; º: for they shall put him to death in a most cruel and infamous manner; but they shall not lºsiºrºg finally triumph over him; for after he is thus slain, he shall rise from the dead on the third ºf “” “ * * day, according to the intimations I have often given you. (See p. 56, 120, 161.) ut they were so .# prepossessed with the expectation of a temporál kingdom, .45 But they understood not that they understood not this saying, plain as it was, and the sense of it was hid from them, ś so that they perceived it not ; foolishly imagining it inconsistent with what the sacred edit, not; and they ſearăd tº - * - T ask him of that saying, [and oracles had declared of the glorious success of the Son of man, and the universal empire Wºjtº: he was to establish. (Dan. vii. 14.) And yet they were afraid to ask him what was the xvii.33. Mark is. 32.) meaning of that saying, lest he should upbraid them as unteachable: considering how lately he had given them the like warning before, and how severely he had rebuked Peter for endeavouring to dissuade him from it; (sect. º: nevertheless, they perceived that their Master foretold his own death; and were ecceedingly sorry that a person of so excel- lent and amiable a character, from whom they had entertained such glorious expectations, should meet with so unworthy a return. Matt. xvii. 24. And [] And soon after this he came with his disciples to Capernaum; and when they were come cººpériauíº"aß to Capernaum, the receivers and collectors of the sacréd tribute,” which was gathered every 3. . . .” 4 year through all their cities, came to Peter, and said, Does not your Master, who has the gººd tribute ºne...ºneio character of so religious a Teacher, pay the usual tribute of the didrachma,” or half-shekel, ; Mºy §§ - 2 - 4-t- ire 4- rt - zo [Mark ix. 33. to the service of the temple P And he says, Yes, I know that he uses to pay it, and make IMar #. #. Yes. And 25 no doubt but he will do it now. And when he came into the house, Jesus, who was there when he wº"come into th: - * - * * * ir - house, Jesus prevented him, before, prevented him, before he could speak of the affair in question, and said to him, What ſº dost thou think, Simon, and what seems fit to thee on this occasion? Of whom do the kings Simon?'of whomášthe kin; not but by prayer and fasting. Raphelius has abundantly shºwn how c Shall shortly he betrayed, &c.] . Mark has expressed it in the present inconclusive thºse authorities from Xenophon are, by which he would tense, and says, The Son of man is delivered; but nothing is more, com: justify so odd a version of effeX6euv., (See Raphel. Annot... et Xen. p. mon, in the saggd language than to speak of what shouſd.certainly, and 44–46.) And were the words considered as they stand in Mark; where 3}}}|..."; ºf ºas already done. Compare John, Xii. 31. xvii. 4, 1], there is nothing said ºffith, it would be easy to perceive our flord as 24. Eph. ii. 5, 6. Heb. xii. 22, and Rev. xviii. 2, 4.—The explication of §eaking ºf "Kind of demons which they were not able to cast out; and many other scriptures depends on this obvious remark. #. some demons are more malignant than 9thérs, is most manifest from d The collectors { the sacred tribute.] Josephus has expressly asserted, Matt. Xii. 45. But oftentimes an explication has been built Hº the words that each of the Je - § of one evangelist, and many learned remarks have been made to establish the piece of money here mentioned, to the service of the temple. (See it, which could not be applied without great violence to suit the parallel Joséph, Antiq., lip. xviii, cap. 9, [a]. 12.] § 1.) custom which proba- place in another, and presently has fallen to the ground upon comparing § took its rise from the demand of that sum from each of the Israelites, them together. * - - - - - whenever they were numbered; Exod. xxx. 13. And therefore, with a For Jesus taught his disciples.J Mark assigns, this as the reason why Beza, Casaubon, Hammond, Grotius, and many other great critics, I he desires his journey should be private, viz. that he might have an choose to understand this passage, as referring to that, rather than to opportunity to talk over this, subject at ºf; Which shows that the any civil tax; chiefly because I...think, notywithstanding what Salmasius continuance or abode in Galilee, mentioned by Matthew, refers to, the says to the contrary, º Milton, p.259.) our Lord’s argument, ver. short stay they made in the places where they lodged; , and indeed he 25, 26, can otherwise have no force.—The reader will find an excellent could not so conveniently speak to all the twelve while they were note in Grotius here, which renders it unnecessary to enlarge any actually travelling. - - * ... " further. Järply your ears to these savings.] This, seems to me a just, transla- e Does not your Master pay the usual tribute, §: It seens then to ws used yearly to pay a didrachma, or half-shekel, tion of 6:06e ipsis ets ra ora öuov rows Aoyovs Tourovs, which is lite- have been a voluntary thing, which custom rather than law had establish- rally, Put these sayings to your ears; a phrase which our language will ed. In Nehemiah’s º it was accounted so, and the sum was then järäly admit. It intimates the propensity they had to withdraw and something lower. See Neh. x. 32. turn away their ears from such declarations as he was now about to make. { *-- CHRIST REPROVES THE DISCIPLES FOR THEIR CONTENTION. 171 of the º . custom, ºr of the earth receive custom or tribute 2 of their own sons, or of strangers? Peter 30ys to him, SECT. ºn chil. ord, it is evident they receive it only of strangers. Jesus said to him, Then the sons, by 92. ...; sº, virtue of their fathers dispensation, are free from the obligation; and, on the like princi. I i."fhºn are théºlā; ple, I, as the Son of God, might plead an exemption here, especially as I have not now *.*. *# Notwithstanding, lost the sum which is required towards the maintenance of the temple worship. Nevertheless, 2* W.shºld ºffend ºn go lest we should offend them, by giving an occasion to imagine that I put any slight on the flººf §: º .."; temple, or lest others from my example should in far different circumstances omit this tºº, º contribution, I will not debate the matter, but rather work a miracle than fail in the pay- jºujśī; ment. Go therefore to the sea, and when thou comest to the neighbouring shore, throw §. ºe in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when thou hast opened its mouth, thou shalt there find a piece of silver coin called a stater, which it has just swallowed; take that, and give it to them that collect the tribute, both for me and thee; for thou knowest it will answer their demands for both. Accordingly Peter went, and having caught a fish, he found the money in its mouth, and presently returned and paid it, according to his Lord's command. - IMPROVEMENT. How slow and untractable were the minds of the apostles, who understood not these plain things, when thus MARK inculcated again and again!, But, on the other hand, how much integrity does it show in the historian, to record sº.” what seemed so little to the honour of himself and his brethrenſ in this respect, and many others, surely credit 32 rises to the gospel, even by occasion of the infirmities of those to whom it was committed, and out of weakness they are made strong.—The lenity of our blessed Lord was truly admirable, that he should bear with such stupidity in his disciples with so much gentleness and patience, and should, with so much earnestness, go on to renew his Lº instructions to them. Let us, however, learn to be upon our guard against the prejudices of worldly interest, since, 4 .* as we see, they may take such strong hold of minds in the main upright and pious. And therefore let us earnestly pray that God would give us a greater relish for spiritual and eternal blessings. It cannot surely become us to seek the grandeur and riches of this world, when our blessed Master was so poor MATT that he could not pay this little tribute without having recourse to a miracle. Yet this he chooses, rather than to a XV". ive offence by a refusal, how justly soever he might have pleaded an exemption from it. Let us learn from hence that meekness of wisdom, which will teach us to seek the interest of others rather than our own ; and to consider 26 how we may edify others by the abundance of our good works, rather than how we may excuse ourselves in the omission of any. That extent of knowledge and power which our Lord displayed on this occasion, can never be at a loss for means to repay whatever we may thus sacrifice for his sake. SECTION XCIII. Christ reproves his apostles for their contention who should be greatest; and recommends to them humility and mortification. Mark ix. 33–37, 42, to the end. Matt. xviii. 1–9. Luke ix. 46–48. MARK ix. 33. **, * . . MARK ix. 33. AND b. in ºf house, he NOW when Peter was returned from the sea-side, and had paid the tribute money with sECT #.º.º. which the fish had supplied him,” our Lord, from a late occurrence which he had observed 93. selves by the way P among his disciples, took occasion to recommend humility to them : and º: in the house with his apostles, that he might naturally introduce the discourse he intended, he asked MARK them, About what were you disputing with each other on the way in so eager a manner, that 28° I could not forbear taking particular notice of it? 34. Bºt, they, held their But, instead of answering him directly, they were confounded with the question, and 34 peace : for by the way [there - º, ºniº.fdiº continued silent, being ashamed to confess the truth; for as they were travelling on the ..º.º. way, a controversy arose among them, [and] they had warmly debated the matter one with among themselves, [which of e º 3 * • i.e.” Shojã be 'greatesú another, which of them should be the greatest man in that temporal monarchy, which they [Luke ix. 46.] assured themselves that Jesus, as the expected Messiah, would erect, whatever sufferings might lie in the passage to it. tº dº; Jānd Jesus perceiving, notwithstanding their silence, the secret thought of their ambitious 35 ºf ...",..., "...”; heart, and º; the same carnality and emulation to be still working there, when he #yelves and saith ºntº thº, was sat down, called all the twelve about him, b and says winto them with great seriousness If any man desire to be first, * - - - - * - * - tº hi'i's list ºf ji, and earnestness, It is humility that is the way to honour in my kingdom; and therefore, *oral tº is if any one would be chief there, let him, in all the offices of condescending friendship to his s brethren, be as the last of all, and the servant of all. i.º.º.º. Now at the same time,” when the disciples were thus called, they came to Jesus, and find- MATT. $."..."º"; ing that he knew the subject of their late debate, some of them at º took the liberty of XVIII. rºst, in the kingdom of saying, Lord, decide this question, and tell us plainly who is intended to be the greatest in 1 le:LV6 Il I the kingdom of heaven, and to whom wilt thou commit the chief management of affairs in it 2 2 And Jesus called a little º r r * - • - * - child unto him, and [took andl Jłnd, when he had answered the inquiry in the manner related above, Jesus, in order to 2 §"hi. fij by himi in impress the important maxim yet deeper on their minds, having called to him a little child jº º ... that happened then to be in the house where they lodged, took and set him by him in the is silºnºmiſmarkix midst of them; and taking him up, and embracing him in his gracious arms, in token of **ś, unto you, his tender regard, he said unto them, I assuredly declare it to you as a most solemn and 3 f.A stater, which it has just syallowed.] . The stater was (as º generally introduced each with a brief hint at the subject of the former; in part from this text) a piece of coin, in value about two half-shekels, or, which, though it makes, the Pºłº on the first verse of a section according to Dr. Prideaux, near three shillings of our money, though most sometimes much longer than I should otherwise have chosen, yet I hope critics reckon the shekel but about half-a-crown. (See Drusius on this verse, may be attended with advantage sufficient to balance that inconve- and the 24th.)-I see no reason, with Schmidius, to suppose this piece of nienge: - - money was created on this occasion: but supposing, as in the paraphrase, b Called all the twelve about him.] It is, natural to suppose that twelve that 㺠fish had accidentally swallowed it, (perhaps as it was falling into persons travelling together on foot would form themselves into two or the water, near some other º I cannot forbeat remarking how illus- three little companies, while some of them, no doubt, would be attend- trious a dégree of knowledge and power our Lord discqvered in the case ing Christ, and discoursing with him : but our Lord jūdged it proper, as before us; knowledge, in penetrating into the bowels of this animal, he was now in the house, that all the twelve Šišić hear this admoni- though in the sea; and power, in directing this particular fish to Peter’s tion, though they might not all have been engaged in the dispute which hook, though he himself was at a distançe. ardly,any, circumstance occasioned it. can be imagined more fit to encourage him and his brethren in a firm c At the same time.] By these words, Matthew expressly fixes the dependence on divine Providence. And it is very natural to reflect how connexion between this story and that which concluded his seventeenth easily Christ could, if he had seen fit, have drawn up immense trea: chapter. , But Clarius seems to refine too much, when he supposes that sures, by this very method, from the heart of the sea.: but he intended Christ’s having thus miraculously provided for paying Peter's tribute that his servants should be enriched and adorned in a much nobler with his own, gave umbrage to the rest : yet this precarious turn serves imanner than with pearls and costly array. e the church of Rome as an argument for the supremacy of the pope ; nor a When Peter was returned,. &c.] In order to remind those who may is it wonderful, that in so weak a cause they should catch at such a hear these sections read in a family, of the connexion of them, I have shadow. 172 CHRIST REPROVES AMBITION AND RECOMMENDs HUMILITY. SECT important truth, That except ye be converted and turned from these ambitious and carnal except ye he gonverted, and 93. MATT. XVIII. MARK Where their corroding and upbraiding conscience is as a worm which dieth not,i dieth d the fi an unutterable anguish, still gnaws upon the heart; and where the fire of divine wrath, which ... * * * IX 4 5 yiews, and become like little children in lowliness and meekness, in a candid teachable ; ºft. temper, and an indifference to the great things of the present life, (Psal. cxxxi. 1, }} you dom of heaven. will be so far from having any distinguished rank among my subjects, that ye shall by no imeans so much as enter at all into the kingdom of heaven, or be entitled to any of its final blessings. Whoever therefore shall humble himself even as this little child, and act with 4, Whosoever, therefºre such candour, simplicity, and modesty as you see in him, he is the person that hereafter ß will be regarded as the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and will stand high in its final est in the kingdom of heaven. glories. And whosoever cordially shall entertain this child, [or] shall discover an affection- 5, And [Luke, whosoever ate regard to any one of such little children, in my name, and for my sake, as one whom I ºf: § - º ſº - • - e 5 love, and recommend to his care, entertaineth me; for I shall take the kindness as done tº: to myself: and I would have you to remember, that it shall not terminate even there, but jº. (as I have formerly told you, Matt. x, 40. p. 143.) whoever thus shall entertain and show # **ś - 2 • at is least among you all, a regard to me, entertains not me alone, but him that sent me,” even my heavenly Father, ii. ame hij who is honoured or affronted as I am respected or slighted. And this regard to the [* is 97. Luke is 43d meanest of my servants, I must urge upon you as of the utmost importance; for (as I just now told you (he that by such a condescension is as the least among you all, he shall be ... eminently great in my esteem, and be distinguished } peculiar marks of the divine favour. 6 But whoever shall deliberately do any thing to º and to occasion the fall of one of 3...But [whºsoevel, shº! 7 8 45 --. & Rºy it from corruption, and diffusing the savour of that knowledge and grace with which you are seasoned: but, as I added then, if the salt itself be grown insipid, with what will you season it? or what can restore you, if you are corrupted, who should be the means of 173 SECT. 93. MARK IX. unhappy 4 50 curing or restoring others ? See to it, therefore, that you have this excellent salt in your- selves; and, as one instance of it, be careful to maintain peace with each other, and do not give way to those very unbecoming disputes and ennulations which have been the occasion of my present discourse. IMPROVEMENT. How deeply is pride rooted in the heart of fallen man, when neither the daily instructions or edifying example of the humble Jesus could prevent it from appearing, even among the apostles themselves, in so mean and un- worthy a manner! Still did worldly interest and grandeur so intoxicate their minds, that they seemed even against hope to have hoped for it, and to have found out a strange kind of method of grafting these expectations even on the very cross of Christ, which was intended to destroy them. - How edifying and affecting are these lessons which the meek and lowly Redeemer gave us, with this little child in his arms, whose example we are required to copy' Lord, give us of thy regenerating grace, that we may do it; that we may be converted, and become as little children, free from avarice and ambition, malice and prejudice How melancholy is it to think, that many, who have by their office been employed to read and explain this lesson to others, and who have not been children in understanding, seem to have learnt so little of it themselves, as if it had never been at all intended for that order of men, to whom indeed it was immediately addressed l if there be any such yet remaining in the Christian ministry, let them seriously weigh the woe denounced on that man by whom the offence cometh. May the infinite mercies of God be extended to all professing christians who give them- selves up to worldly pursuits and projects; and especially to those who make the church of Christ º a kind of porch to the temple of Mammon, and the sacred office itself merely a convenient vehicle for swallowing down riches and honours! May, divine grace deliver us from such fatal snares, and form us to that self-denial and mortifi- cation, without which we cannot be the true disciples of Christ; but, after having pierced ourselves through with many unnecessary sorrows here, shall plunge ourselves deep into eternal perdition! May these repeated and dreadful representations of future misery, which we have now been reading, impress our souls in a becoming manner! Blessed Jesus! thou bringest good tidings; yet which of the prophets under the legal dispensation ever represented the terrors of the Lord in so awful a light as that in which thou hast placed them! Let none of thy ministers be afraid to imitate thee herein nor let any of thy followers presume to censure them for it! May we all be effectually warned to flee from the wrath to come ; and, as we would not another day be salted with fire, may our hearts now be seasoned with thy grace! and may we, by a modest and peaceful, a . benevolent and useful, life, be daily bearing a testimony to it, and, as the salt of the earth, may we be labouring to cure the growing corruption of the world about us! SECTION XCIV. Our Lord further enforces condescension and humility, and gives rules for th XV ill. • rº rº * * * * > s Matt. sºccommodation of disputes and offences among christi ***M e MATT. xviii. 10. FURTHER to promote the humility and moderation of his disciples, our Lord proceeded in the discourse which he began (as in the former section) with the little child in his arms, and said, Take special heed that you despise not one of these little ones, or that you do not cast contempt on the weakest and meaniest of my servants, nor slight even the soul of a MATT. xviii. 10. TAKE heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in Heaven their angels do always beliold the face of my Father which is in heaven. child; for I say unto you, that their attendant angels, while in heaven, do incessantly behold 1 the face of my heavenly Father;" and if the highest courtiers in the world above do not 11 For the Son of nian is disdain, on proper occasions, to minister unto them, much less should you disdain it. Espe- cially when you consider how much greater an instance of condescension you have con- | Shall be salted acith fire.] Grotius, Spanheim, Gataker, Le Clerc and ... Dr. Alill, have abundantly answered the favourite, criticism o Scaliger, by which he would here read Topic instead of rupt, that, it might be rendered, Eucry affering made big fire shall be Salled.—The lgarned and laborious Wolfius has proposed a multitude of interpreta- tions on this text. IIc and Mons. L'Enfant think it refers to the ſtºry trial through which christians must expect to pass : but this neither seems a natural sense of the phrase ièſ; nor does it so well suit the context, by which it should seem to be a reason why the infºrmal fire is mercr queuched. I know it may be answered, that it iss however, a reason why. the disciples should pragtise the mortification required above ; bºth it seems desirable, where it can be done, to interpret the particles in their most usual sense, though sometimes it is necessary (as we have elsewhere observed, p. 99, note i.) to recede from it. To sup- pose, as Dr. Clarke and some others do, that here is a reference to the ambiguity of the Hebrew word nºx, which signifies either to be salted or consumed, seems very unwarrantable : since a) to Ghatſ at has no such ambiguity; not to say how much it would impair the force of the sentence, leading to an idea the very contrary to wilat Christ had Suggested above no less than three times. - m Every sacrifice shall be seasoned will salt.] It is well known that the Mosaic law required this. See Lev. ii. 13.-Heinsius thinks; that as sqlt contracts and binds, it was therefore used as an emblem of friend- ship, which he supposes our Lord afterwards to reſer to ; and that it was the foundation of the figure by which a perpetual cngagement is called a covšmant of salt; Numb. xviii. 19. I should rather think it i:\tended as a circumstance of decency, that the meat of God’s table sliould be salted ; and conclude that, if it had any emblematical Ricaning, it was to recommend to the worshipper an incorrupt heart, seasoned with savoury sentiments of wist!om and picty. Sinners are elsewhere repre- sented as the victims of divine justice. (Isa. Nxxiv. 6. Jer. xii. 3. x}vi. 0. Ezek. xxi. 9, 10. and xxxix. 17.) And good nien (as in the end of this verse) are represented in another view, with regard to their conse- iſºgol, as acceptable sacrifices. Roim. xii. 1. xv. 16. Compare i tº U. 11. O a Their attendant axge's, while in #ccº:cm on this as an argument that cat: h g pod man angel. (See Suicer. Thesaur. vol. i. p. 43.) allow the force of it. &c.]. The fathers looked has his particular guardigm. And Grotius also seems to I apprehend this E.;; rather intimates, that the angels,who sometimes attend the little ones spoken of, at other times stand in Čodºs immediate presence ; and consequently that different angels are at different times cr;ployed in this kind office, if it be in- cessantly performined. Tºe general sense is plain, that the highest angels do not disdain, on proper occasions, to lº services of protection and friendship for the meanest christian ; but, as St. Paul says, they are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the #cirs qf salvation. (Hgh. i. 14.) say, the highest : because to behold the ſacc qf God may signify waiting near his throme, und be an allusion to the office of chief ministers in earthly courts, who daily couyerse with their, princes. See Grotius; and compare 2 Sãm. xvi. 19.1 Kings xii. 6. Estli. i. 11. and Luke i. 19 MATT. XVIII, Af ARK IX MATT. XVIII. 7 MARK IX. 43—48 174 94. XVIII. OUR LORD INCULCATES HUMILITY AND CONDESCENSION. SECT. tinually before you, than it is possible even the angels should give; for the Son of man gome to save that which was himself b that great and illustrious Personage, came not, as man and triumph upon earth, but by all the offices of humility . MATT. which was lost an * A well as 13 labour to seek that which is gone astray? And if he ha 14 pare Luke xv. 4, 5. sect. : 15 16 (Compare Prov. xxviii. 23.) But if he will not hearken IS 7 19 2 0 Jou, that he will bring it back with greater pleasure, and the recovery of it will give him a jºi. 'sºnſ.' more sensible joy, than the safety of the ninety-nine which had not wandered at all. (Com- #. Even so the love and tenderness of God for those who are regarded by him as his children is such, that you may be assured it is not the will of $four heavenly Father that any one of these little ones should be lost, for want of your care in attending it, or through your negligence in seeking its recovery. ..And as, in order to the recovery of your weaker brethren, admonition will frequently be necessary, let me lay down a rule which, when larger Societies are formed among you, it have imagined, to reign “” endearment to save that d undone; and he takes a gracious and constant oversight of the least, as s the greatest, of his redeemed ones. (Compare Luke xix. 10. Sect. cxliii.) Khat do 12 How think ye: If a man you think would be the conduct of a faithful shepherd? If a man had a flock of an hundred sheep, and but one of then should wander from the rest, would he not leave the ninety-nine in their pasture or fold on the mountains,” and go out with the most solicitous care and have an hundred sheep, and Qme of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety #: and 㺠the © untains, and seeketh that en to find it, I assuredly sanſ winto which is, gºne astray ? p fi y y say unto 13 And if so be that he find 63 rejoiceſh more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. ven so; it is not the will of your Fatherºich is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. 15, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between will be of great importance to attend to with the utmost care : If thou shalt know thy thee, and him alone; if he brother to be guilty of a fault, and he shall sin against thee, go and reprove him in the most shall hear, thee, thou hast gained thy brother. convincing, yet the most gentle, manner that thou canst; and that he may take it the better, let it be done between thee and him alone: if he will hear thee with due regard, it is well, for by this means thou hast gained thy brother; he will return to the way of his duty, and the endship between you will thus be established on firmer foundations than ever, in consequence of this substantial token of thy impartial sincerity and frankness of temper. º thee, take with thee one or , 16 But if he will not hear two more, who are persons of character and reputation in the society, that their presence º 'º. two more, that in the may add greater weight to the admonition given, and may be of service, either to silence mouth of two or three wit: his objections, and bring him to a sense of his fault, or to prevent disputes, and justify thy nesses every word may be established. conduct, if the matter should be carried further; as in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established more effectually than it could otherwise have been. (See Deut. xix. 15.) - But if he shall be still incorrigible in his fault, and disregard them in the advice they offer him for peace, then tell it to the whole church,” or society of worshipping 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church : but if he neglect to christians to which he belongs, and among whom he has immediate communion in gospel hear he church, let him, he ordinances; and if they concur in any admonition to the offender, and he be so far hardened unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. as to disregard the whole church, or society of christians, you have then done your utmost to reclaim him; and while he continues in this obstinate temper, you will do well to enter your protest against it, by forbearing any intimate friendship with such a person; and let him therefore in this case be to thee even as a heathem and a publican, or other most notori- ous sinner,ſ to whom you would perform only the common offices of humanity, but would * avoid his intimate society as scandalous, and to whom you are not under those peculiar obligations whereby christian brethren are bound to each other. These are the maxims which you, my apostles, are to inculcate on my other followers, and let them see to it, that they daily regard you; for verily I say unto you; You shall be furnished with such divine illumination and assistance, as shall abundantly confirm the authority of your decisions on every case and question which may occur; and fully prov that whatsoever you shall bind, even in this course of your humble ministry, on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall (See note h, on Matt. xvi. 19. p. 163.) And further, as a convincing token and demonstration of this, I say unto you, That this authority and power not only shall attend the actions of your whole united body, (as I formerly told ; be loosed in heaven. 18 Verily I say unto Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in hea- vem; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed € in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you if two of you shaji sº 13. but even agree on earth, as toughing if any tico of you shall agree together here on earth, concerning any thing which, they shall ºf think it prope; to ask in prayer, for the miraculous confirmation of any ºf their determina- all be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. tions, it shall be immediately done for them by my Father in heaven.h. For where but two º or three are assembled in my name, with a regard to my authority, and to the purpose of my glory, whatever the peculiar occasion be, I am there, by are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst my special though invisible pre- of them. sendé, in the midst of them, and will show, by all proper interposition of my divine power, the regard I have to their interest and their prayers. b For the Son of man himself.] The particle for here introduce; another reason to enforce the caution not to despise these ſittle ongs, and §§ a proof of their angels beholding God’s face. See note d, on uke Xi. gº the ninety-nine on the mountains.] The original will bear either this construction, or that which is given in our common transla- tion; but I have rather chosen to ºpgº it thus, as most agreeable to what we find in Luke, chap. xv. 4. 9,122 ãºrº him in the most convincing-manner that thou canst.] The word £Xe:ov signifies to convince as well as to admonish. Compare John viii. 9,46. xvi. 8.1 Cor. xiv. 24. Tit. i. 9, and James ii. 9.7-The reader Wiii observe, I ofton choose to give the full force of a word in the para- phrase, rathér than greatly, to increase the number of words in the ver; §ion, though so increased they might express no more than is expressed in a single word or two in the Gregh. . - e }} it to the whole church..] This is one of those many scriptures wich woujá have been very intelligible, if they had not been learnedly obscºred by ingenious men, whose interest, it has been to spread a cloud ºf them făm more and more convinced, that the vulgar sense of the Key festament, that is, the sense in which an honest man of plain, sense take it on his first reading the original, or any good translation, the true general sense of any passage; though an al- would is almost every where - - :- acquaintance with language and antiquity, with an attentive ºeditatiºn §º and context, may iſlustrate, the spirit and energy of a mºti- iºdéºf places, in a manner which could not other Yiiie be legſmed: The old fºliº editions of 1539 and 1541 render it, Tell it to the congregg- jº, and, I think, properly enough.--Thg wórd church is unhappily grown into a term of art, and has by different persons a variety of secondary ideas annexed to it; as Dr. Watts has beautifully shown in jlis Essay on Uncharitableness, p. 7–10. But it signifies in general an jeº, or number of people, called together 9n whatever,9Cºa;9, as is .# known. (Compare Acts xix. 32, 39.). It is in, the New Tes- inment generally used, as herº, for.4 particular assembly : (Acts Xiy. §.'íºof. i. 7 xiv. 23.xvi; 19.) but sometimes it is used for the whole bºy of christians, because they are now called out from the world, and are at last to be gathered together in the presence of Christ their head, (3 Thess. ii. i.) and to dwell for ever with each other...and with, him; 8 Thess. iv. 17.) Compare Matt. xvi; 18. Tºpil. i. 22. iii. 10. V. 24, and Jol. i. 18, 24.—According to Bishop Stillingfleet’s interpretation of this text (in his Irenicum, bººk ii. Chap. 5. §§.) it should be rendered, it to an assembly, or à select company. But it is certain, the forcº o the article is better preserved by our version; and as undoubtedly it must be an assembly of christians, (compare , 1 Qor. vi. 1.) so, no inter- pretation seems so natural, as that it should be that assembly which was under a peculiar obligation to...watch oyer the person in question, (compare I Cor. v. 12, 13., and 2 Thess. iii. 14, 15.) And that whºse advices and remonstrances he was peculiarly obliged to hear. , And this was likovºise comfortrabic to the usage of the Jews, who adnjonished offenders in their synagogues, and to many of their maxins, which corn- mºntaiors mention on this text. See Ligſ.tfoot's Hor. Hebr. in loc. and Selden, de Symed. lib. 1. cap:9. - & jš"a ſºn and a publican, or other most notorious signºr.] If I am not much mistaken, # celebrated text in Titus relating to heretics, (chap. iii. 10.) which requires that a man who disturbs the peace or sub- Sº the faith of his christian brethren, should be tºpice, adulonished, and then diºcăried by the society, may be much illustrated, by this assage: Wºjº case occurs, (as well as when an offended brother has just cause of complaint,) each particular pesº concerned must jºige as well as he can remembéring he is aeswerable to Christ for the impartiality of such judgment. g Iſ § two of you shall agree together here on eqrth.] The text so expressly refers to agreeing in a Pºłº that I wonder the learned and judicious editors of the fºrussian Testament should render it, Iſ any,two of you shall live on carth in a good understanding, with each other. Per- haps there may be a reference to the notion the Jews had, that it was 11ecessary at least ten should gonºr. In social prayer, if any extraor- ăiºticcess was expected. See Trigland. De Secta Iſaracorum, cap. x. p. 172. h It shall be done for them, &c.) That this, refers to a miraculous answer of prayer, may appear from comparing Matt. xxi. 21, 22. Mark *** * *OUI, OUR LORD CAUTIONS HIS DISCIPLES AGAINST AN UNFORGIVING SPIRIT. IMPROVEMENT. *~, I75 THUs happy are the meanest servants of Christ in the care and favour of their heavenly Master, and in the SECT. angelic guard which, by his high command, are continually attending even the lambs of his flock. So conde- 94. scending are the blessed spirits above, that even the greatest of them do not disdain to minister unto the heirs of guardianship and care; especially since the Son of man, that merciful Shepherd, has come forth into this wilder- 11, ness to save that which was lost, and even to seek and récover us when we were gone astray, and should other- wise have wandered on to our eternal ruin. º s e What could have been more happy for the church of Christ, than the observation of this plain and easy rule, 15, which he has given for ending disputes among his followers? And yet who, that sees the conduct of the generali- ty of christians, would imagine they had ever heard of such a rule 2 Instead of this private expostulation, which might often bring a debate to a speedy and amicable conclusion,--what public charges! What passionate complaints what frequent and laboured attempts to take, if the least scandalous, yet not the least pernicious, kind of revenge, by wounding the characters of those whom we imagine to have injured us! . . * As for church censures, how lamentable is it that they have been so little conformable to this rule, and in many 17 instances so contrary to it, in almost every christian nation under heaven! Is this the form in which ecclesias- tical judgments do appear in the popish, or even in the protestant, world? Are these the maxims by which they have been, or by which they are, determined, even by those who claim the largest share in the promises made to the apostlés, and boast with the greatest confidence of the presence and authority of Christ with them, to confirm their sentences, and to sanctify, perhaps, rapine and murder? Wain, wretched confidence! Let us earnestly pray that this dishonour to the christian name may every where be wiped away; and that true religion, and even com- mon humanity, may not with such solemn mockery be destroyed in the name of the Lord. s Let humble submission be always paid to apostolical decisions in every difficulty; and let the promises made 18 to these leaders in the christian church be some encouragement even to us, on whom the ends of the World are come. None but an omnipresent, and consequently a divine, Person, could say, Hºherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. His hº and his goodness can never be impaired: let it 20 therefore be an encouragement to social prayer: and let the remembrance of our Redeemer's continued presence and inspection engage us to behave ourselves agreeably to the relation that we claim to him, and to those expec- tations from him which we profess. SECTION XCV. Our Lord cautions his disciples against a revengeful spirit, and inculcates mutual forgiveness, by the affecting parable of the unmerciful servant. * Matt. xviii. 21, to the end. MATT. xviii. 21. MATT. xviii. 21. salvation. (Heb. i. 14.) Let not the wisest and greatest men #'s. those whom angels honour, with their º 12 THEN came Peter to § THEN” when Jesus had given this advice for the accommodation of differences among SECT. and said, Lord, how oft shal **ś"...”. his disciples, Peter, imagining it might be abused by ill-disposed persons as an encourage- 95. fºrgive him? till seven ment to offer injuries to others, came to him, and said, Lord, how often must I forgive my LIſle S : * tº - º brother if he offend against me? must I go on to do it wntil he has repeated the injury MATT. seven times 2 - XVIIſ. ..º.º. And Jesus, in reply, says to him, I do not merely say to thee, Till seven times, but even till 22 ...'...ºtſſº, seventy times seven; in short, the precept is unboundéd, and you must never be weary of tl IneS Se Ven. forgiving your brethren, since you are so much more indebted to the divine mercy than they can be to yours. 23 Therefore is the kin; , For this reason, or with respect to this matter, I may properly say, that the kingdom of 23 dom of heaven likened unto * * * * . . sº - tº- º ºaſiſ ºwji heaven, in its constitution and final process, may be likened to, or be illustrated by, the take account of his servants instance of a certain king that ruled over a large country,” who, as he had a great number 24 And when he had begun of officers under him, was determined at length to settle an account with his servants. ...And 24 §§"; º;"; when he began to reckon with them, there was brought to him one who had so abused the ten thousand talents: eminent station in which he had been placed, and the high confidence which his prince -- had reposed in him, that he owed him a most immense sum, and stood accountable for 25 25 But forasmuch as he ten thousand talents:b And as he had nothing to pay which could be any equivalent for #º the debt, or any considerable composition for it, his lord, according to frequent custom in hº º such cases, (Exod. xxii. 3. Lev. xxv. 47. and 2 Kings iv. i.) commanded him to be sold for a ºnal and P slave, and also his wife and children, and all the goods that he had, and payment to be made # ºn...hº. with the price of them, as far as it would go. The servant therefore, falling down in 26 #,'..."...º.”. helpless consternation, prostrated himself at his master's feet, and said, Lord, I beseech tº me, and I will thee to have patience with me for a while longer, and I will endeavour to pay thee all. Then 27 *..."the lord of that the lord of that unhappy servant whose affairs were so utterly desperate, being melted with . Yº..."; compassion, graciously discharged him; and, knowing how vain it was to expect he should 3rgave him the debt. ever pay him, declared that, on condition of his future good behaviour,” he frankly forgave him dii the debi. *.*.*.*.*.*.* But just as that servant went out from the presence of his generous and indulgent sove- 28 }*ś "...iº, reign, he met with one of his fellow-servants, who owed him but a very inconsiderable sum ºwed him an hºnº of money, no more than an hundred pence;3 and laying hold of him by the throat, and almost sº strangling him,” he said, in a furious and outrageous manner, Pay me that which thou inº, jºi....: owest me immediately, or I will detain thee as my prisoner. And his poor fellow-servant 29 ſeñāº; this ºt, and ... fell down at his feet, as he had done at his lord's, and entreated him, saying, in the very ...ºhiº. Hºi words which he himself had used but just before on the like occasion, Have patience Pººl, with me for a while longer, and I will endeavour to pay thee all. And he would not be 30 * * * * prevailed upon to forbear him any longer; but went away with him before a magistrate, '3 × xi. 23.24. John xiv. 13, 14...] John iii. 22. v. 14, 15. and James v. 16. etlib. XXXviii. cap. 38.) And even thus the sum must have amounted to See †iſiotson's Works, vol. iii. p. 307. s £6,759,000. See Prid; Connect. vol. i. Preſ, p. 20, and vol. ii. p. iśl. a JMay be likened to, or be illustrated, &c.], See § 53. note,i, p. 112. Our Lord; seems to have mentioned so large a sum, on purpose to Qwed him ten thousand talents.], , According to Dr. Prideaux’s, com- intimate the number and weight of our offences against Göd, and our putation, if these were, talents of gold, this would amount to seventy-two utter incapacity of making him any satisfaction, millions sterling ; which is so immense a sum, that it seems, strange c On condition of his future good behaviour.] This is a circumstance Antiochus the Great should be able to pay it, as Éutropius tells us he exceeding naturai, and, by the revocation of the ºdºr afterwards, it id, to purchase a peace with the Romans, (Eutrop. lib. iv. Cap. 2.) seems strongly implied. But by Livy’s account of the conditions of peace, they were talents of Ján hundred pence.] Reckoning the Roman denarius at seven- silver, of which Antiochus was to pay fifteen thousand talents, that is, pence half-penny of our money, it amounted to three pounds and half-a- five hundred talents down, two thousand five hundred when the senate crown. should ratify the peace, and the remaining twelve thousand in twelye e By the throat, and almost strangling him.] This is the proper import years, at a thousand tâlents a year. (Liv. Histor, tib. xxxvii, cap. 45. of the word £mviye, which yet moro strongly expresses his cruelty. * t 176 OUR LORD CAUTIONS HIS DISCIPLES AGAINST AN UNFORGIVING SPIRIT. SECT. gnd cast him into prison, protesting he should lie there till he should pay even the last want and cast him into prison, 95. farthing of the debt. till he should pay the debt. grieved at 31 So when his fellow-ser- .#nd when his other fellow-servants, sang what was done, they were ecceedinglyg MATT. Such an instance of unexampled cruelty from a man in his circumstances, and came and ºf . . .”. XY III. gave their lord the king an exact and faithful account of the whole matter,ſ who was highly *ś 32 incensed at so inhuman an action. Then his lord, having called him again, said unto him, alsºiš, after that with just, indignation, Thou wicked and barbarous slave, thou knowest that I frankly jºgº forgive thee all that vast debt which thou owedst to me, because thou didst entreat my pity: "ºhº.if h; 33 And shouldst not thout also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant when in thy power, *ś, even as I but just before had compassion on thee? Thöni art most inexcusable in what thou have hºmpsºidº hast done, and I am determined to treat thee accordingly. º yºu even as I had 34 And his lord, being justly incensed, revoked the grant of remission he had just before 34 And his lord was wroth, made, as forfeited by so vile a behaviour; and not only put him in prison, but delivered him sº *"...ºf; to the tormentors there, to ſetter and scourge him, till he should pay all that was due to him; iſ that was due unto hini. which was equivalent to condemning him to perpetual confinement and painful imprison. ment during life. - 35 And Jesús concluded the discourse with saying, Thus also will my heavenly Father deal .33. Sº, likewise shall my with you, if you do not every one of you from jour very hearts fºrgive his brother his 'º'; 'º'; trespasses; and I leave it to your own consciences to judge whether it be safe for you to §: º, ... * tempt the strictness of his inexorable justice, by the severity of your conduct towards your “"“” offending brethren. * IAIPROVEMENT. * . How unreasonable, and how odious, does a severe and uncharitable temper appear, when we view it in the Ver. 24 light of this parable! Yet what light can be more just than this? We are indebted to God more than ten thousand talents; from our infancy we begin to contract the debt, and are daily increasing it in our ripening years: justly, therefore, might he cast us into the prison of hell, till we paid the uttermost farthing. And were we to fall at his 26 feet, with the promise of paying him all, on his patient forbearance, it must be the Ianguage of gross ignorance, or of presumptuous folly, when addressed to a Being who knows our poverty, and knows that, in consequence of 27 it, we are utterly incapable of making him any amends. But he magnifies his grace in the kind offers of a free forgiveness; and shall we who receive it, and hold our lives and all our hope by it, take our brethren by the throat, 28 because they owe us a few pence 2 or shall we carry along with us deep-continued resentment, glowing like a 34 hidden fire in our bosoms? God forbid! For surely if we do so, out of our own mouth shall we be condemned, while we acknowledge the justice of the sentence here passed against this cruel servant. 35 Christ himself has made the application, so shall my heavenly Tather deal with Jou, if you do not forgive your brethren ; and he has instructed us elsewhere to ask forgiveness only as we grant it. (Matt. vi. 14, 15.) Let us then from this moment discharge our hearts of every sentiment of rancour and revenge, nor ever allow a word, or even a wish, that savours of it. And as ever we hope our addresses to the throne of divine mercy should meet with a favourable audience, let us lift up holy hands, without wrath, as well as without doubting. (1 Tim. ii. 8.) { trſt-r r 7- *- SECTION XCVI. Christ reproves John for prohibiting one who casts out demº in º because he was not of their company. Mark ix. 38–41. uke ix. 49, 59. MARK ix. 38. MARK ix. 38. sEcºr. IN the midst of the preceding discourse relating to humility and self-denial, the apostle ANR, Jºhn, answered him; saying, Master, we saw one 96. John (whether desirous of diverting him from a subject which he could not hear pursued ::::::: *.*.*.*. § - ** * - wº * * ~5 ~ ** * & JT O' or sº r name, and he followeth not without some consciousness of having deserved blame, or thinking it might receive some us; and we forbaâ him, ſhe MARK further illustration by his remarks upon the case that he should mention) interrupted our cause he followshºt with IX. Lord,” and answered him, when he had just been urging a readiness to receive one of the *) "he" *) least of his servants in his name, (Mark ix. 37. p. 172.) by saying, Master, while we were in our late progress, we saw one casting out demons in thy name,” who does not follow us, nor conversé with us as brethren: and we forbade him to do it any more, because he does not follow thee among us, and never had, as we apprehend, any regular commission from thee, and so might possibly have proved an occasion of neglect or reproach to the rest of thy disciples. - 39 But Jesus said unto him, Do not forbid, or go about to hinder him at present; for, by h;%; §º,"; thus making use of my name, he appears to have some reverence and regard for me, and tº #:"...a "hºiſi will not therefore set himself against me; since there is no man who shall be seen to work *i; } ... ºf such a miracle in my name, that can quickly, or on any slight occasion, speak evil of me, or mº, ifušºsé º say anything dishonourable of that name for which he professes such a regard: And be gº;; *::: º that regard ever so imperfect, I would not discourage one who acts thus now: for; with Éi & respect to such, and in a case like this, I may use a proverb (the reverse of that which I mentioned on a different occasion) and say, Whosoever is not against us, is for us;* and therefore I would by no means condemn a man for doing that by which the kingdom of 4 O f Gabe their lord an exact and faithful account.] This is the meaning see reason now to grant that efficacy to their adjurations, which he after- of the word ātea agmaav, as Albert has shown, Observ. p. 116. wards denied when the evidences § the gospel were prºposed sº much g Thou wicked slave.] The word 30 vXe is not always a term of re- ºº distinctly and fully, after the descent ºf the Spirit.—Dr. Clarke sup- ex * * - $ 2.42- 24 sers roach, nor does it necessarily imply more, than servant., (Compare ** that he was one of John the Baptist’s disciples. * §. xxv.21, 23.) Yet in this connexion, I thought it would well bear c PWhosoever is not against us, is for us...]. Quº Lord had ſoºmerly said, tºeſsion'ſ have given it, which may best express the indignation with (Matt. xii. 30.) He that is not with me, is diºist, ſº tºº,5iXīná which his lord is supposed to speak. e his hearers a just and necessary admonition: that, on the whole, the war #"ºmºnºc.] Imprisonment is a much greater between him and Satan admited of, nº neutrality. §§d that thºse Yºº punishment in the eastern parts of the world than here; state criminals were indifferent to him would finally be treated as his º: (See §specially, wipen condemned to it, are not only,forced to submit to a 3.31. p. 117.) But, here...in another ...hº..." very º y ſ. 3. vºn and scanty allowance, but are frequently loaded with clogs or different and seemingly, Qºtº Pº i. º: Of t i .# rokes of heavy wood, in which thy cannot either ſie or sit at ease; and, directing his followers to jūdge of men's C º lſ, LI C º canº. i. frcquent scourgings, and sometimes by racking, aſ: quickly brought to manner, and charitably to hope, that they W in O . º: liS º: .# intºy end. (Šeć Šamedo's China, p. 225.)...To this there is pro- wished well to it:-g conduct peculiari º 9. }. 16. In I\! S C:\USe i. jºby a reference here. Compare $32, note hy, p. 69. under so inany discouragement: d roba ...”. Wh9 . ...; .."Injou fordj 'i' havé inserted this story apart here, that their regard tº him, were afºvariºs.” **ś y § º €SS the thread of the preceding discourse might, not be broken ; that the it, though at the greatest lºgº; wº i.e. r. Baxter, think an jety: hird section might not be lengthened beyond due bounds; gild express declaratiºn of regard to Christ iO §§ º º º 1I] § {Tight have room to illustrate and improve this passage, which, the former case than now ; but it is º O Yº: | ..i. aris º S though short, has both its difficulty, and its Hāe, * us to be more rigorous in judging ourselves, than he allows us to be in - ing out demons in thy ngme.] Prºbably this was a case something judging each other. * .. rejeiji; that offic sons of Sceva; (Acts xix. 13–16.) and God might THE MISSION OF THE SEVENTY DISCIPLES. 177 Satan is in fact weakened, and my name glorified, though he have not my immediate and SECT. 41 For whosoever shall give express commission... I rather take it in good part, as I am willing to do an thing that 96. *... ..., gf*:::: º: looks like a token of esteem and affection to me, be it ever so inconsiderab e; for, as I iºnºid"ºjsij, ’f formerly told you, (Matt. x. 42. p. 143.) whoever shall present you with a cup of cold tºgter #ºº shºt not * only in my name, that is, because you belong to Christ, verily I say unto yºu, He shall not - losé his proportionable reward. And so he went on to warn them of the danger of offend- ing any of the weakest of his disciples, in the manner recounted and explained above. (See Mark ix. 42. p. 172.) And when he had concluded that discourse, he not long after quitted Galilee. Compare Matt. xix. I. sect. cxxxv. - IMPROVEMENT. IT is sad that the spirit which remains in so Inany christians, and in this instance appeared even in the beloved Saint John, should (as the apostie James expresses it) lust unto envy. (Jam. iv. 5.) How ill does that spirit become a disciple, and much more a minister of the benevolent Jesus! The apostle Paul had learnt and taught a better temper, when he rejoiced that Christ was preached, even by those who were his personal enemies, (Phil. i. 18.) To seek our own glory, is not glory ; (Proy, NXV. 27.) and to confine religion to them that follow us, is a narrowness of spirit which we should avoid and abhor. - Christ here gives us a lovely example of candour and moderation; he was willing to put the best construction on dubious cases, and to treat those as friends who were not avowed and declared enemies. Perhaps in this instance it might be a means of overcoming a remainder of prejudice, and perfecting what was wanting in the faith and obedience of the persons in question; at least it suited the present state of things, in which men are to be judged of by their professions and actions, as their hearts cannot immediately and certainly be known. utlet us judge ourselves with greater severity, remembering there is an approaching day, in which the secrets of all hearts will be made manifest; in which those who have indeed been neuters in the war between Christ and atan will be treated as enemies, and those other words will be fulfilled, He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad. (Matt. xii. 30. and Luke xi. 23.) In that day, may the sincerity of our hearts be discovered, and then we may rejoice in this repeated assurance, that the least of our services shall be kindly remembered, and abundantly rewarded according to the riches of divine bounty and grace. MARK 2+ [X. I 4 Ver. 38 39, 40 SECTION XCVIH. Our Lord sends out the seventy disciples with larze instructions, like those he had before given to the twelve apostles. LUKE X. 1. .4FTER these things, before he departed from Galilee, the Lord Jesus intending, when the approaching feast of tabernacles was over,” to make one journey more over the country in the last half year he was to spend on earth, ficed upon seventy others of his disciples also, besides the twelve apostles so frequently mentioned before, (see Luke ix. 1, et seq. sect. lxxiv.) and sent them out before him, two gnd two together, into every city and more rivate place into which he himself intended shortly to come; and thus, as it were, he ivided the whole country into thirty-five lesser circuits. And at their setting out he gave them many important instructions, nearly resembling ... .º.º.º.; those which he had before addressed to the 㺠and as it was a large and copious jº herº is field for service on which they were to enter, he said iterºfore to them, as he had formerly *:::::"º"#.º.º.º done to their brethren, (Matt. ix. 37, 3s. p. 13s.) The harvest is indeed grégi, and many into his harvest. souls are to be gathered in, but the faithful labourers are as yet very few; praft ye therefore the £ord of the harvest, that he would, by his immediate access to the spirits of men, titrust forth morè labourers into his harvest, though the work may prove so fatiguing and hazard- ous, that they are naturally averse to it.” - And as for you, go your ways with all the resolutiºn and zeal you can cmploy in your º, ºrth as lambs ministry, as indeed you will need it all; for behold, I send you forth as so many defence- 4. Śāºther purse nor less lambs in the midst of ravenous and cruel wolves. Yet as you go under the singular tºº.º.º. * care of divine Providence, carry not with you any purse of money, nor even a scrip for your provisions, nor any more shoes than you have now on your feet; mor stay so much as to salute any man as you pass by him on the way;d but let it evidently appear to all who see you, that your thoughts are full of the great errand on which you go. ..]nd, in all the stages of your journey, carry along with you those benevolent affections ” which are so well suited to the design of your mission: into whatever house therefore you shall happen to come, at your first entrance say, Peace be upon this house, and pray that prosperity and happiness may attend the whole family. And if any son and heir of peace, or any truly good man who is worthy of such blessings, be there in the house, your prayer for peace and prosperity shall be answered, and shall rest upon it; but if not, it shall not be entirely lost, but shall return upon you, and you shall be the better for those kind and friendly sentiments, even though the wishes they dictate be not exactly answered. Luke x. 1–13. LUKE X. I. AFTER these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent then two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. I 2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is 3 3 Go, your ways: behold, 4 5 And into whatsoever 5 house ye enter, first sa Peace be to this house : 6 And if the son of peace 6 be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. given us this account of Christ's sending out the seventy; ſess to be wondered at that he should do it so particularly, if tradition be true which Orisen and Epiphanius have mentioiºd, that he was himself one of the number. See Dr. Whitby’s Preface to Eliº Whºre he has shown this to be highly probable, and no way inconsistent with yhat Luke has said at the beginning of his gospel. ' c, That he trould thrust forth more labourers, &c.) Ās both Luke here and \latthew, in a parallel passage, (Matt. ix. 33.) use the word £A\m, which literally signifies to thrust out, I was willing to express the force qfit, in the version as well as the paraphrase. (See note k, on Alatt. ix. 38. § 73. p. 133.)—So many of the expressions used in this dis. colºrse are to be found in that to the twelve, $ 74, 75. that it is generally sufficient to refer to the paraphrase and notes there, for the explication of them here. a When the approaching feast of tabernacles was over.] It seems to me much more reasonable to suppose that Christ sent out the seventy before the feast of tabernacles than after it; considerin; how little time He had between that and the feast of dedication, in which interval he despatched his last circuit in Galilée. To take frotu those three limonths all the period to be allowed for their journey and return, seems incon- vºniènt. But it is astonishing that Air. Le Clerc, and some others, should suppose that these instructio: is were given to them in Christ’s journey to the above-mentioaed feast :, for, not to mention the impossi- jility of holding a discourse with such a number of people on the road, about an affair of such importºce; it is, CN pressly said, John vii. 10 that he went up to the feast of tabarnacles privately ; which is ntterly inconsistent with his being attended with such a train as seventy, or (according to that, author), eighty-two, persons: for Le Clerc supposes and it is the the ancient the twelve were also with him.— shali elsewhere give my reasons why I suppose the story of the Samaritains refusing him &ntertainment though recorded Luke ix. 51—55.) to have happened later than this. §. 7. note a.) At present. I would only observe, that the expres- sion, after the things, in the beginning of this chapter, may either refer to the stories immediately preceding, in the close of the former, from ver. 57. to the end, or to the general series of evenſs, recorded above, though (as I think the evangelist himself strongly intimates) one littlé history be transposed. - b He said therefore to them.] Luke is the only cvangelist who has § t War stay to salute &ny man, as you pass. by him on the way.] Our Lord did not intend by this to forbid his disciples in general, nor even ags of his ministers, a ſiecept use of the customary tokeis of civil respect to, Qºhers, any illore than, he forbids the use of shoes and purses; only While they were employed on this particular message, he required the for bearaace of them, that evºry ore who saw them pass by might per- ceive that their minds were full of the most important business, and that they were earnestly intent oa the immediate despatch of it. (Compare 2 Kings iv. 29.). This was the more necessary, as they were so much streitened for time. Sco above, note a. 2:3 178 THE MISSION OF THE SEVENTY DISCIPLES. SECT. ...?nd when you are entered into any lodgings, continue in the same house as long as you 7 And in the same house 97. stay in the town, cheerfully and contentedly eating and drinking what you find with them ; ºating, and drinking —for as, on the one hand, the common labourer is worthy of his reward, and therefore you, §'."is '...; ; Lºke who take so much pains to bring them to the greatest blessings, have much more right to flºº, Go not fiom iouse to * your entertainment; so, on the other, it is beneath you to be very solicitous and nice about YOUISG , 7 the manner of it; and therefore do not create an unnecessary trouble in the family where you are, or go from one house to another, in hope of better accommodations during the short stay you make in a place. 8 :#nd I repeat it again, Into whatever town or city you come, and they receive and enter- 8 And into whatsoever city tain you freely and cheerfully, be ready to accept their kindness to you, and without any ...º.º. º.º. 9 difficulty eat and drink such things as are set before you; .4nd I am sure I put it into your sº things as are ower to make them an abundant recompence, whén I commission you, as I do now, to dº.'...". teal the sick that are in it, and to say unto them, The long-expected kingdom of God is come ºf #hºmºgºs; near unto you, and therefore prepare yourselves thankfully to receive the Ślessings of it, "*** which are thus freely offered to you by the Messiah. * 10 . But into whatsoever city you come, and they perversely set themselves against you, and 10 But into whatsoever city do not entertain you, nor régard your message, go out into the streets of it, and say, in a ..."...","...º. 11 most public and solemn manner, Since you reject so gracious and important a message, into the streets of iºnſ. we cannot but consider you as rejected by God, and devoted to certain and inevitablé "ºn the very dust of destruction ; we therefore separate ourselves from all that belongs to you, and wipe off ºur º cleaveth on from our feet, as a testimony against you, even the very dust of your city which cleaves io ºu *ś"; 1s; nevertheless, know this assuredly, that the kingdom of God is come near unto you, and º.º.º. in the midst of all the calamities which are to befall you, let your consciences witness that gºod is come mish unto 12 mercy hath been offered and refused. . .4nd I say unto you, as I formerly did to your 12 But I say unto you brethren, That in that day of the final judgment it shall be more tolerable even for the That it shall hºmºe § era: accursed inhabitants of Sodom itself, than for that city, wheresoever it be found. *...*.*.*.ſor sodom 13 . Now, while our Lord was thus mentioning to his seventy disciples the wretched case of 13 woe unto thee, chore- those that rejected the gospel, he could not forbear reflecting that this was the condition of zij wºe.nto thee, Beth- some of those cities where he himself had made the most frequent visits, and the longest º; º abode; he therefore repeated the pathetic lamentation he had before taken up for them, ś and said, On this account, woe unto thee, O thou obstinate Chorazin ' woe unto thee, O º thou incorrigible Bethsaida ſ for if the wonders which have been wrought in you had been sºuns done in Tyre and Sidon, degenerate as they were, they would have repented long since, sitting in sackcloth and lying down in ashes, to express the depth of their humiliation and sorrow. 14 But though vengeance has long since been executed upon them, God will make manifest , 14 But it shall be gnºre the impartiality of his jºice, and it shall be more tolerable, in the day of his tremendous lº 15 judgment, for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And thou, Q most ungrateful and rebellious whº Capermaiſm, who hast been distinguished from all the rest by my longest residence in thee, ºil so that thou hast (as it were) been º up to heaven in that respect as well as in magnifi- cence and wealth, shalt be brought down even to hell, and sunk into the deepest and most irrecoverable ruin, since thou hast heard my gospel only to despise it. 16 And then turning to the seventy disciples, who still stood around him, he concluded his h; ; };"; }; instructions to them in these important words, (to the same purpose as he before had said despiseth ; despiseth me ; to the apostles, Matt. x 40 sect. Exxvi.) He that heareth you, in the discharge of this your àº; †º embassy, heareth me; and, on the other hand, he that rejecteth you, in like manner rejecteth me; and he that rejecteth me, rejecteth him that sent me, even the Father himself, whose credentials I bear, and who will punish the despisers of the gospel as impious rebels, who presume to contemn his infinite Majesty, and provoke his almighty power. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 1 So unwilling was the blessed Jesus to give over his kind attempts for men's salvation! He projected another circuitthrough the country, and sends forth other messengers, more numerous than the former company;-he renews 13, 15 his invitations to perishing sinners, and his lamentations over those who had hitherto rejected the counsel of God against themselves. (Luke vii. 30.) Thus let us love the souls of men; thus let us use repeated endeavours to déliver them; endeavours which would probably be much more successful than they are, if these wise and gracious ; of Christ to his ministers were more attentively observed by those who are honoured with that impor- tant Office. 3, 4 Let all such cast their care upon God; let them go forth cheerfully in a dependence on his protection and 5, 7, 8 favour; let them carry about with them hearts full of affection for the whole human race, seeking and praying for the peace of all around them; cheerfully contenting themselves with such things as they have ; (Heb. xiii. 5.) and hift: pursuing the grandeurs nor the delicacies of life with an eager attachment. 2 Send forth, O Lord, such labourers into thine harvest, and animate them to a becoming zeal in their work, by a deep sense of that dreadful condemnation which those will incur, who, despising them, pour contempt on their 16 diviné Master, and his heavenly Father, in whose name he was sent! May God preserve, our country from that 11 guilt and ruin! The kingdom of God is come nigh unto us, and we are lifted up to heaven by our privileges: may 15 we not, after all, be cast down to hell for the abuse of them but may divine grâce make such a way for the gospel º º that we may cordially receive all who faithfully proclaim it, and bid them welcome in the name Of the LOrd - -- e Wipe off the very dust of your city, &c.] For the import of this tionate temper of our Lord, it is, no wonder that he should renew his solemn action, see 374. note o, p. i40. from whence it will appear, that lamentation over those unhappy places. Where he had so intimately con- Dr. Edwards's singular interpretation (Edw. On Script, vol. ii. p. 189— yersed ; and that he should do it in such words as these, so well calcu- 193.) is not only foreign § contrary to our Lord’s purpose. He lated to alarm and impress all that should hear or read them. Oh that strangely supposes it an allusion to those courts, where, as in what we they might now have their due weight with those who might gas; them call pie-powder (or pieds poudres) courts, controversies were jinme- 9Vºr too slightly, whºm they occurred before in Matt. xi. 20–24; 1 (See #e; ecided, as it were, before people could wipe the dust gif their $ 59. p. 112, *}}} Öh that every impenitent, creature who reads them sho might know that the sentence of his own condemnation is now before his €.S. fHe repeated the pathetic lamentation, &c.] Considering the affec- eyes! - CHRIST DISCOURSES WITH HIS BRETHREN RESPECTING THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 179 SECTION XCVIII. Christ discourses with his brethren about his going up to the feast of tabernacles, and stays some time after thern. Jo HN vii. 1. John vii. 1. §º 4PTER these things, that is, after he had miraculously fed the five thousand, walked on sect. a y the sea to his disciples, and discoursed with the multitude concerning the bread of life,” 98. John vii. 1–13. would not walk in Jewry, §."**** *** Jesus for some time walked, or travelled, as we before observed, in Galilee, and there in- structed his disciples: (see p. 170.) for he would not then walk or converse familiarly in JOHN Judea,” because the Jews, and more especially their rulers, incensed by the growing fame , " of his miracles, and the freedom of his discourses, sought an opportunity to slay him, either byº assassination, tumultuous assault, or legal process. nd a very noted feast of the Jews was then near, which is [called] the feast of taberma-2 cles; instituted in commemoration of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness, and cele- º in º erected for that purpose, with great solemnity and joy. (See Lev. xxiii. 34, et seq. - Therefore his brethren, or near kinsmen in Galilee, said unto him, We would advise thee remove from hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also who are there may, for the confirmation of their faith in thee, behold thy miracles, and see the mighty works which thou performest here: For this retirement seems not at all to suit the great pretensions thou art making to a public and extraordinary character; as it is well known that no man will choose to act any remarkable thing in secret, that is himself desirous, like thee, to be publicly known and talked of.” If therefore, thou art really the promised Messiah, and per- Jormest these things, which we so often see at home, by a divine commission, go up to Jerusalem, and there manifest thyself to the great men of the world, and appear in places of the most public concourse; and thou canst not have a better opportunity of doing it than at this celebrated feast, which brings together so many, not only from the land of Israel, but from neighbouring countries. This they said, not out of any real friendship 5 and respect, but to make further trial of him, and in some measure to upbraid him with those precautions which he thought proper to observe; for, notwithstanding all the evi- dences he had given of his divine mission, yet neither did his brethren and kindred them- selves believe in him, when they saw that he took no such method to raise himself and his family, as they thought inseparable from the character of the Messiah, whenever he should appear.d - - Then Jesus said unto them, My time, either to manifest myself, or to go up to Jerusalem, 6 is not yet come; but your time is always ready, and such a circumstance in your case is comparatively of very little importance. You have no reason to fear any injury or assault, 7 as the world cannot hate you,” because it is on principles of carnal wisdom that you act, and so have nothing in your conduct that may draw upon you any particular opposition; but me it hates; not on account of any ill action which I have committed, but because, from a zeal for truth, and a desire of its reformation, I bear my testimony concerning it, that 8 Go ye up unto this feast: its deeds are evil. Do you, therefore, go up to this feast whenever you please, without 8 #"; }; #.'...'... waiting for me; and acquiesce in what I now tell you, that I do not as [yet] go up to this full come. feast;f for that which I judge my most convenient time of doing it is not yet fully come, nor do I need to be directed by you in my conduct on such occasions as these. .Now when he had said these things unto them, he left them to go up alone, while he con- :#; &#...” "**tinued [still] in Galilee for a few days longer. But when his brethren or kindred were gone wº º; º, up, then he also himself went up to the feast,” not publicly, with a train of attendants, as he wº tº "est"nºt had often done,h but as it were in secret, with as much privacy as he could. ... but as it were in . The Jews therefore, not seeing him appear as usual, sought for him at the beginning of esus, and where is he? or what can have prevented 2 Now the Jews? feast of tabernacles was at hand. 3 His brethren therefore. said unto him, Depart hence,. and go into Judea, that thy to disciples also may see the works that thou doest. 'or there is no man that doeth any thing in Secret, and he himself seeketh to be known, openly. If thou, do these things, shew thyself to the world. 3 5 For neither did his bre- thren believe in him. 6 Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not , yet come : but your time is alway ready, 7 The world cannot hate you ; but me it hateth, be- cause I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. 9 When he had said these º ií"then the Jews sought the feast, and said, What is become o #... º.ºast, and said, his coming up to the feast?i * $º * 12 And there was much . .ſhd there was in the mean time a great murmuring among the people concerning him ; .#"; "..."; for some said, (as they had, from the whole tenor of his life, the utmost reason to conclude,) said. He is a good man: oth Surelſk he is an eminently pious and a good man : but others, under the force of strong § ºut he deceiv- prejudices, suspected the worst, and said, Nay, that cannot be, but he certainly seduces the ignorant populace, however he comes by this power of doing it; and the wisest part of mankind must see that he will undoubtedly at last draw his followers into ruin, as some other impostors have lately done. (See Acts v. 36,37.) Thus they privately debated the 13 Howbeit, no man spake º * º - * = Y zł * matter; howbeit, no one that thought favourably of him, spoke his mind with freedom con- enclose the word [yet, which answers to gro in the original, in crotch- ets ; and the reason is, because I do indeed doubt whether it was in the oldest copies. And this doubt arises, not merely from Porphyry’s object. ing against this as a falsº hood, (for frequent experiºnce has taught us how little the enemies of christianity are to he trusted in their repre- sentations of Scripture,) but from observing that Jerome, and the other most ancient fathers who reply to that objection, do not iound their all a ſiſter these things, &c.] Those that I have mentioned here are the last which had been recorded by John. See a more particular uccount of them, Ś 78–82. k - b. He would not walk in Judea.] This may be an intimation, either that he was not at Jerusalem the Rººs Pºiº. or at least, made no public appearance or loug abode there. I am inclined to think the for: mer was the case.—Undoubtedly, bis omission of a journey thitlier at some of the great feasts might boy Inificate;1 by his extraordingly charac: ter, and those intimations be might have from his heavenly Father, of being dispensed with, for reasons not particularly known to us, who have no concern with theni. See notc b, $83. p. 155. * • c That is kimself desirous to be tº: known and talked of] This seems to be a very invidious and groundless insinuation, as if he was actuated by ostentations views: the contrary to which appeared so evi- dently in the whole of his conduct, that nothing but base envy could sug- gest such a charge. º - * - d JVeithcr did his brethren believe in him, &c.] . It is astonishing that these near relations of Christ, who must have had so many opportunities of seeing the glories both of his charagter and miracles: (W bigh lºst they here expressly acknowledge,) should gontinue in Qºbelief. But they jl. laid it down as a first principle, that the Messiah must be a temporal Prince ; and finding this mark of his mission wanting, and see- ing (more strongly than others not so intimately couyersant with him could do) his aversion to any such scheme, they would yield to no other proofs; and are, I fear, on the fatal list of those who perished, as thou- sands now do, by opposing hypothesis to fact. See Dr. Sykes, On the 'ruth of Christianity, p. 128. e The world cannot hate you..] These words, gentle as they may appear, contain a most awful insinuation, that these, his kinsmen were persons overned entirely by carnal views; and thereſore destitute of the love of. od, and all well-grounded hope from him. f I do not [yet] go up to this feast.] The reader may observe that I swer on his citing the passage wrong, but, as they justly night, on tits in- timation our Lord gave of his intending shortly to go to the feast, in tºt expression, Jºſy tinc is not yet fully conne.—It is a glorious testimony to the unblemished integrity of our Lord’s character, that so cunning uni in Veterate an enemy was forced to have recourse to such mean aſſº Fijil culous mgthods of aspersing it. See Dr. Mill on this text, and Čičić. e Järte Critica, part. iii. p. 232. g He also wept up to the feast.]. Our Lord might know of sotno circum- stance of particular danger which might, have rendered his going gºat the usual time, and in company with his brethren, unsafe, and tier fore Improper. . . - * h JNot publicly, with a train of attendants, &c.] I look on this as a most certain argument, that the story in Luke iN. 51–35. cannot (as most commentators supposº) relate to this journey; since it is so evident, he was, then attended with a numerous train of followers. Compare note as $97, p. 177. i Jºhere is he? or what can have prevented his coming up to the feast?] If our Lord had absented himself from the two preceding feasts, (which perhaps the expostulations of his brethren, ver. 3, 1. may imply,) there Was yet an obvious reason for the surprise which this question expresses; for undoubtedly our Lord used generally to attend on these occasions. ee p. 155. § 83. note b. k Surely.] It is possible, as our translators have supposed, that the word ort here may be only an expletive ; but to me it seems probable that it may not improperly be rendered surely or truly, which is ac- —, , , , 180 CHRIST WINDICATES HAISELF AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. SECT. Cerning him, for fear of the rulers among the Jews, who were jealous of his #. fame, º of him, for fear of the * G. W. S. 98. JOHN WłI. and looked with a very malignant eye on all who took any peculiar notice o Jesus. - IMPROVEMENT. -- WE see how little the greatest external advantages can do without the divine blessing, when some of the near- est relations of Christ himself, by whom he had been most intimately known, were not prevailed upon to believe in him. Who then can wonder if some remain incorrigible in the most regular and pious families P. How much more valuable is the union to him, which is founded on a cordial and obedient faith, than that which arose from the bands of nature and how cautiously should we watch against those carnal prejudices by which even the brethren of Christ were alienated from him - * ... - Our Lord, we see, used a prudent care to avoid persecution and danger till his time was fully come ; and it is l, 8 our duty to endeavour, by all wise and upright precautions, to secure and preserve ourselves, that we may have opportunities for further service. n the course of such service we must expect, especially if we appear under a public character, to meet with a variety of censures; but let us remember, that Jesus himself went through evil report and good report; by some 12 applauded as a good man, but by others, and those the greater part of his countrymen, condemned as deceiving the people. Let us learn of Christ patiently to endure such injurious treatment; and endeavour to behave our- selves so, that we may have a testimony in the consciences of men, and in the presence of God, that, after the example of our great Master, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have our conversation in the world. (2 Cor. i. 12.) #. will our namés be had in remembrance, and the honour and reward of our faithful obedience continue, when the memories of those that reviled us are perished with them. 1 r SECTION XCIX. Christ, going up privately to Jerusalem at the feast of tabernacles, Mºiſie, his conduct, and further urges the proofs of his divine mission. - bhn vii. 14–24. Jo HN vii. 14. John vii. 14. SECT. THUS were the Jews divided in their sentiments about our blessed Lord, and though NOW about the midst of the 99. JOHN VII 16 they eagerly inquired after him, they knew not where to find him; but now in the midst ºf .º.º."" the feast of tabernacles, about the third or fourth day, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and .. entered publicly into the temple, and taught the people, who were in vast multitudes 15 assembled there. .3nd the Jews who heard him were amazed, saying, How does this man 15 And ſhe jews maſſelled, understand letters?" or how comes he to be so well acquainted with sacred literature, as ...”iº ...",". to be able thus to expound the Scriptures, and to apply himself to us with such graceful-jearned? ness and propriety, having never learned these arts of address at any place of public edu- cation ? esus answered them, and said, There is no such reason why you should wonder at this; , 16 Jesus...answered them, for my doctrine, or that which I now teach you, is not mine own invention, or what I have ...; ; ; ; ;...” learnt by any common method of inquiry; but it is entirely his that sent me, and I learned 17 it by immediate inspiration from him. And if you desire rightly to enter into the evidences 1. If any man will do his 18 him instead of a thousand speculative arguments. In the mean time, you might observe 18 He that s 19 20 * { *- * -a 4- ºr - - - e- 1; --> - ** will, he shall know of the of it, you must make it your great care to maintain an honest and religious temper; for if ...º.º.º.º.e.'; any one be resolutely determined to observe the dictates of my heavenly Father, and to do God... wheticº I speak of his will,b though ever so contrary to the impulse of a corrupt nature, he shall then quickly * self wnderstand whether my .. of God, or whether I speak it of myself; for the evidence is plain to an honest mind, and the correspondence which such a truly good man will find between the whole system of my doctrine and his own inward experience, will be unto - - º º: something, even in the very manner of my teaching, sufficient to convince you that I am self seeketh his own glory : $5.2 ° but he that secketh his glory no impostor: for he that, in such a circumstance, and with such pretensions, speaks of him- * tº: self, without any divine commission, will govern himself by secular views; and a sagacious is iºni. observer will soon see that he is seeking his own glory and interest, even under the most self-denying forms: but he that in the whole of his conduct shows that he seeks the glor; of God, as of him that he declares to have sent him, gives great reason to believe that he is true and sincere in that declaration, and that there is no unrighteousness or imposture in him.” But your character is the very reverse of this, and you cannot but know it in your own 19 Did not Moses give you consciênce: for let me upon this occasion call you to reflect on your own conduct, and º, º 'º'; - - * keepeth the law P Why go appeal to that: hath, not Moses given you the law, and do you not eagerly contend for its sº §§§ {j}.e : divine original? and yet none of you observes the law which he has given you. If you den the charge, let me remind you of that grand precept, “Thou shalf not kill,” and then ask you, Wherefore do you go about to kill me, though an innocent and upright person, who am come to bring you a most important message from God? º This Jesus said, with reference to what he knew to be the secret design of some of his 2) The people answergd hearers, who were even then plotting his destruction; but the multitude, who were not §º.."; jº aware of it, ignorantly and rudely answered and said, Surely thou art possessed and dis- tracted; to talk thus; dost thou not safely travel from place to place, and appear in our most public assemblies, even here at Jerusalem, and who goes about or desires to kill thee? cordingly the sense that I have sometimes given it.—We should not, I words, 66).7 to fleXmua avrò Totew. (See § 22., note as P. 52), This think, unnecessarily conclude a word, to be quite insignificant in any important passage seems an express declaration, that every upright mºn writer of credit and character, especially in the sacred penmen. to whom the gospel is proposed, will see and own the evidence of its di, 1 JWo one that thought ſavourably of him, &c.] The reason, afterwards yine authority... which indeed might reasonably haye becm concluded given renders such a restriction absolutely necessary. Those that thought from the awful judgment pronounced on those who pºsurne tº rºject it. contemptibly of Christ might have spoken their minds as frecly as they & Nº ºn righteousness or imposture in him.] The w 3rd aôtkia, in pleased. this opposition to aXnffms, must signify imposture. Yet I think it the a How does this man understand letters?] I see no reason to believe fairest way to translate the original words in, all their extent, and gºtºnt that our ºrjãormed his discourses with quotations from, or references myself with suggesting in the paraphrase those limitations which the to, the writers that were then most celebrated for their learninº.91 show- particular connexion rºquires; - tº any extraordinary acquisitions in history, antiquities, &c. The evan- dº gº possessed and distracted.] §g some of then express it, gelists have given us no specimen of this kind; add it is certain, that for- John x; 20. He hath & º and is mad : which plainly hº as many Čign ſiterature was then in great contempt among the Jews.—The words have observed, that they thought som. of the worst kind and degrees of ūjoibºj, refer to our Þórd’s great acquaintaice with the Scriptures, finacios proceeded from the affençy of some, demºn: as many, Consideſ: jºjudicious and masterly manner in which he taught the people abiº Greek writers plainly did. (See Bos: Exerciº B. 41–43.) But it tº of them, with far greater majesty and nobler eloquence than the can never be argued from hence that Fº and lunacy are unive; jšºsºft attain to by a learned education.—Compare Mark i. 22. and saily synonymous terms. When joined together they seem to signify i. Matt. vii. 29. p. 89. note g. . **I tº * - fºnt thiºs; the former being put for the cause, and the latter for the b #e determined to do his will.] This seems to be the import of those cffect. - CHRIST WINDICATES HIMSELF AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. in the gentlest manner, and said unto them, I have, some time ago, perf very day, wonder on account of itſ that able work,” and you all, to this Jesus, referring to the design which he knew some of them had of renewing their prose- cution against him as a sabbath-breaker, because he had commanded the disabled n1&n at the pool of Bethesda to carry his bed on that day, (compare John V. 18. P. 95.) answered ormed one remark- I should order the 22 Moses therefore gave man I cured to Čarry his couch on the sabbath-day: Yet a little reflectiºn might con- unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers ;) and ye on the sabbath-day FTlal'ſ] = vince you that your cavit is very unreasonable, even on yºur own Principles: º gave you a precept, which required circumcision, * *tion, but had been formerly established by the o for Moses . that it is originally of Moses's institu- servation of Abraham, and of the other fathers of our nation, many ages before Moses was born, which therefore could not pro- perly be altered by him,s) day receive circumcision; that the law of Moses should not "'. be broken ; are ye angr me, because . I haye, made a man every whit whole on the sabbath-day ? and you scruple not to circumcise a man-child ºn the sabbath- 23 If a man on the sabbath-day, if it happen to be the eighth from his birth. If [then...] to Moses's law by deferring this sacred rite, you acknowle revent the violation of ge iſ fit that a man should receive it circumcision on the sabbath itself, [why] are you incensed against me, that, by speaking a word, I have cured a man who was entirely disabled,h on the sabbath; as if it was a more serviſe work to healthan to wound 2 or how do you imagine that I have not power, when I have thus healed him, to manifest the perfection of the cure, by commanding him to *::::::..º.º.d.º.º. carry his couch?i Judge not according to these prejudices which the meanness of my the appearance, but j righteous judgment. * appearance tends to produce; but judge righteous and equitable judgment; which if you do, you must necessarily acknowlédge my divine mission to be as evident and certain as that of Moses himself, to whose precepts you profess so great a regard. IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn of our meek and humble Master, surest evidence that we are truly his. to refer the honour of all we know and do to divine instructions communicated to us, and divine grace working in and by us; that, seeking the glory of God, we may have the Let us on all occasions remember, that integrity and uprightness will be a certain security to us against dangerous mistakes in matters of religion. If the light we already have be faithfūlīy improved, we may hum y gospel-doctrine is of God hope that more will be given in; nor shall we then fail of convincing evidence that the ; for the experience of its power on our hearts will check our passions, and destroy the prejudices that would prevent the truth from taking place in our minds. fetus receive his doctrine as divine, and hearken unto Christ as sent of God; and whatsoever be the vile re- proaches we may meet with from a wicked world, and the malicious designs it may form against us, let us be resolute and steadfast in the practice of the duties he has taught us, that with well-doing we may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. (1 Pet. ii. 15.) Our Lord was reviled as a demoniac and a lunatic; but instead of rendering railing for railing, he replied in the words of gentleness and sobriety. So let us endeavour to conquer the rudeness of those attacks, we may meet with in his cause; that we may, if possible, remove the prejudices so fatal to those that entertain them, and form men to that equitable and impartial judgment which would soon turn all their cavils against Christ into admira- tion, praise, and obedience. SECTION C. The Jews pass a variety of censures on Christ; and the sanhedrin, alarmed by the regard whigh some expressel towards him, send officers to seize him; but Christ openly declares that their purposes should not immediately take effect. John vii. 35–36. Johs vii. 25. THEN said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he whom they seek to kill 2 JoBN vii. 25. THEN, while our Lord was thus discoursing at the feast of tabernacles, some of the in- habitants of Jerusalem, who knew more of the designs of the sanhedrim than others who had spoken before, (ver. 20.) said, Is not this he whom they seek an opportunity to put to 26. But, lo, he speaketh death 2 But, behold, he is not only come up hither to the feast, but speaks openly and freely boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very as sani anu thing to prohibit him. Christ 2 as Say any -> p in the very temple itself; and th are so far from seizing him, that they do not so much 67 #. the rulers then indeed know they were mistaken in their former censures, and are they now persuaded in their consciences that this is really the 27 Howbeit we know this JMessiah 2 But we have sufficient reason to conclude this cannot be the case ; for many of man whence he is; but, when Christ cometh, no nian know- eth whence he is. 28 Then, cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am : and I am not come of myself, but he Then Jesus, though us know this man, from whence he is, and are sure that he was born of Joseph’s wife; whereas, when the Messiah comes, no man will thus know from whence he is ; for he is to be born in a miraculous way of a virgin.” they said this in a private manner to each other, and imagined that he could not have heard them, as he was teaching in the temple, and at some distance from them, cried out with a louder voice than before, and j}. me, and know from whence I am 2b Alas, it is great rashness and folly for you to assert it; Do ye indeed both know and whatever you may object, yet it is most certain that I am not come of myself, with e I have some time ago performed one remarkable work.] . It is plain the miraclo here referred to was wrought a year and a half before this feast. Compare 945. note a, p. 93. f.And yout all wonder on agrount of it.], I here follow Theophylact and Béza in joining the words Öta Tsſo to the end of this verse, because it is , certain that in their usual signification they cannot properly introduce the next; and John xix. 11. (§ 18S.) may be an instance of the like kind. —The Prussian translators render it, Because JMoscs gate you, Ǻcum- cision, &c. and the learned Elsner inclines to this yersion. (Elsner, O5scrp. vol. i. p. 314, 315.) But though I am sensible s evexºv some- tiºn as signifies because, (see Gen. xxxviii. 26. Numb. X. 31. and xiv. 43. Scottag. and Hebr.) f cannot find Šta gro ever so used ; and I think, if it be retained at the beginning of the next verse, it should be rendered, Jºs to this islatter; which sense it may perhaps have in Matt. xiii.52. xviii.33. and in a few other places; and so Grotius takes it here. See i}r. Whitby on this place. * g JNot that it is originally of JMoses, &c.] An excellent person, justly celebrated in the learned world, has lately suggested to me q thought Qin these words, (which I have not met with elsewhere, but have briefly hinted in the paraphrase,) as to the reason why our Lord makes this obvious remark, that circumcision was older than the time of Moses. Hai Moses instituted it, he would probably have ordered it so as to make it quadrate with his law relating to the strict rest of the Sabbath; but finding it instituted by a previous covenant, which his law could not disannul, (see Gal. iii. 17.) he left it still on the same footing.—This arguinent wiil indcod infer that the strict sabbatical rest was not observed in the patriarchal age ; but yet it might be a day of extraordinary devo- tio i, which ſ apprehend to be proved from Gen. ii. 3. . . ł, I harc citred a man entirely: , Our translation loses much of the emphasis: , the words oxov av?pgzov vyim croºnza literally signity, I have healed, or made sound, a tºolc ingn. But the ambiguity in our English word whole rendered such a version very improper. I therefore thought it necessary a little to vary the expression, but the seasº is altogether the same.—But singe I published this, a very accurate critic, both in the Greek and English language, has suggested another versio::, yet more literal than this, or any of the rest: I have made a man soiºd throughout. i That I have not power, when I have thus healed him, &c.) So our Lord himself states the argument, in a case nearly resembling this, (Matt, ix. 5, 6., p. 92.) and might probably here intend to insinuate it, though in an oblique manner. a He is to be born in a miraculous way of a virgin..] It is evident from Matt. ii. 4, 5. that the Jews apprehended the Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem; and from a inº; of other places, that they knew he was to be a descendant of i) avid. (Compare vet. -iº.) l know not how therefore to account for their saying that, vehich Christ came, rio ºnan icould know tº cºice he is, but by supposing, with Archbishop Til: 9tson, (vol. ii. p. 454.) that the words refer to an expectation they had that he would be born ºf a virgin.—As for the notion which justin Martyr mentions, that the Mcssiah should for a while lie hid, it seems Inore modern ; and they must put a strange interpretation on [sa. liii. S. §ſic. v. 2. and Psal. cx. 4. to draw any such consequence from the in as Dr. Whitby and Mr. L'Enfant suppose they did. b Do you both kno:5 inc, and knowe weſtence I am 3]. So Iłishop Chandler would render these words; (see his 126ſence, p. 3.34.) and it seems neces- sary, in or, her to vindicate the propriety, and indeed the veracity, of the reply; unless, with Beza and Camerarius, we suppose it to be spoken ironically. 184 SECT. 99. JOHN WII, 22 2 3 2 4 Ver. 16 18 SECT. I 00. JU) HN W II. 26 27 #82 THE JEWS CENSURE CHRIST, AND SEND of FICERs TO SEIZE HIM. SECT, vain and false pretences to a divine mission, nor do I want any proper evidences of it: that sent me is true, whom we 100. but he who sent me is true to all his promises and predictions," whom, nevertheless, with all know not. your boasts, ye know not. But I know him in a most intimate manner; for I an SOrū’ī) O' 20 ** r * v- in r- - JOHN from himd by a mysterious and divine generation, in conse f whi A sprung 29 But I know him : for I WHI. *'. * . * S 3 nsequence of which I am infinitely am, from him, and he hath etter acquainted with him than you, or any mere creatures, can be ; and he hath sent me Sent Ine. among you as his Ambassador, on an errand of the highest importance. 30 Then they were so provoked by this claim of a divine original, and by the charge 30 Then they souel k advanced against them, as ignorant of that God in whom they gloried as so, peculiarly tº hi."...i. own, that they sought an opportunity to seize him; yet God impressed their minds in such ºse his hour was a manner, that no one of them would be the first that laid hands on him ; and they were e kept under this visible restraint, because his appointed hour of suffering was not yet come but he had further services in life to despatch before he was delivered to them. ~ - 31 ºnd many of the people were so much affected with these discourses, that they secretly 31 And many of the people biliº! O71. him, and said to each other, When the Messiah comes, will it be possible he ºf; º do º º than these which this [Jesus] has done here at Jerusalem, and §§§ ; §. tº: over the whoſe country : l] 1 Cll till S 7110.7l hilth (iOne : This, however, could not be so privately said, but some information of it was sent to the 32 The Pharisees heard that Pharisées, who, when they heard ihat the people whispered such things concerning him, were #, "...º.º. greatly displeased and alarmed at it: dnd the Phárisees and the other members of the !"#.". "...'...}} grand sanhedrim, particularly the chief priests, among whom there were many Sadducees, [...” “" * * * see Acts iv. 1.) sent officers from the chamber in which they held their council,” into the "" adjacent court of the temple, to seize him, as he preached there to the multitude. 33 Then Jesus said to them, as soon as they appeared, I know the design on which some , 33 Then said Jesus unto of you are come, but God will not permit you immediately to execute it; for yet a little º.º.º. ...; while longer I am to continue with you, and [then] I am to go again to him that sent me. lºº. 1 so unto 34 And when I am returned to him, I shall be entirely out of your reach; so that you shall 34, Ye, hºll.seek nº and seek me, and wish that you had me in your power again, but you shall not find me; and jº. where I am, or where I shall then and always be, you cannot possibly come: which he said, referring to his speedy exaltation to the heavenly world, and to the impotent malice with which they should then oppose his triumphant cause. i. - 35 But he was not understood in that sense: the Jews therefore who were present said .35. Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither is he about to go, that we shall not find him? Will he leave º’."...º. Yº: Judea, and go to the remainders of the holy seed who are dispersed among the Greeks and §§º. other nations 2 and will he teach them, or the Greeks themselves,f even the idolatrous . ºptiles, 36 Gentiles, after his being thus rejected by his own nation at home and abroad? What [sort 35 what manner a saying of] saying is this which he has now spoken, You shall seek me, and shall not find me; and . ºf jº where I am, you cannot possibly come? Thus they continued cavilling at his words; yet .*.*.*.*.*.*. were so overawed by his presence, that they did not dare to offer him any violence, not-**** withstanding the commission with which some of them came. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.26 So confident is error in its own decisions, and so vain in its self-applauses | These unhappy people, every Way 27 mistaken, censure their rulers for a supposed credulity, in seeming, as it were, to acquiesce in Christ's claim to be the Messiah; and imagined themselves, no doubt, exceeding wise in rejecting him, while they blindly took it for granted he was the son of Joseph, and had not patience to wait for the authentic story of his miraculous concep- tion. Surely men had need to Jóok well to the force of those arguments, on which they venture their souls by rejecting the gospel. 28 "Our Lord answered their secret reasoning in a manner which might justly have alarmed them, charging them with ignorance of that God whom they pretended to know, and whom, with a presumptuous confidence, they claimed as theirs. And oh, that it may not be found at last, that many who have sº most confident of their interest in God, neither know him, nor are known by him 29 The blessed Jesus, who is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his Person, has the completest knowledge of the Father. May, we be so wise and happy as to seek instructions from him, that the eyes of our understandings may be enlightened, and the temper of our hearts proportionably regulated, by all the discoveries of the divine Being which he makes." How obstinate and desperately hardened were the hearts of those who, notwithstanding all the roofs that Jesus 30, 32 gave of his divine mission, were yet so fºr from hearkening to him, as to seek opportunities to destroy him So 3 2 angerous and fatal is the prevalence of error in such as like not to retain God in their knowledge, that they will even venture on the greatest wickedness, when once they are given over to a reprobate mind. (Rom. i. 28.)–May God preserve us from a spirit of delusion, and fill us with that wisdom, that we may know the things belonging to our peace; and being ready to receive the truth in the love of it, may we acknowledge and attend to Christ as sent of God! - - is . .” - - - 34 May we learn this heavenly wisdom in time, sing: the hour is apprºaching Whº Christ will be sought in vain, and all correspondence between him and sinners will be finally cut off' where he is, they cannot then come; and to be excluded from him, will at length appear insupportable misery, even to thºse who, with proud folly and fatal self-sufficiency, are now most ready to say unto him, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thee or thy ways. (Job xxi. 14.) a' f SECTION CI. - - ºr - - - - - S.- . * ºn ~ , t , g- {}; Christ invites his hearers to come and imbibe the Spirit from him;, and by these and othº. Kºçiºs disſºuries; º rºº º tlic ºfficers, SECT who return to the sanhedrim without hºun ; where a sl:ort debate arises between Nicodemus and his brethreh. Joliº v ii. 3 to the end- 101. Johs. vii. 37. Jo HN vii. 37. :- r1, . - 4. - DrCSG i SG IN the last day, that great SUCH were the discourses which our Lord made to the people, in the prese i of º ily ºf the tensi, Jesus stood 'º' who were sent by the sanhedrim to seize him; and this happened in the eighth and las * Pººr w - : ~ * : … • T * - Frarc. arv any thing in the paraphrase, since in either sense it, suggests so c Is true to all his promises and predictions.] There seems a reference vary any thing 19 paſº - - 4. • * : * * * ~ *- - W- here to the accomplishment of some of the prophecies already fulfilled strong a ſeason, for hºlicºg that Christ hath the most intimate know in him, together with a cheerful faith in what was yet to come. * Hedge of the Father. . - held thei ncil.] See § 34 t d'I am from him.] I should have chosen to render Tap' awry, with f. C £ºn. the chamber in which they held their council.J See 934. note tº. as I did in the first edition, to avoid a tautology;, but I ºn seſsi: ”?"; , a.º. or & . ...rezº.” Fº º *S 7 §: ; further reflection, tº i wºn a sufficient ºutbority for such a ., f ſill he go to the disperiºd |. tº ºf# º §: Gº! version. I therefore acquiesce in our own : § f". Gºo.cº.io, to By Greeks we are here to understa" '4” illi I CS, at THE PHARISEES ARE ANGRY AT CHRIST. and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. day, that great [day] of the feast of tabernacles, when, according to the institu - (Lev. xxiii. 34, 36. Numb. xxix. 35.) there was to be an holy convocation, attended with some extraordinary sºcrifices. Now, on this day, when it was customary for the priests to surround the altar with their palm-branches, and to pour out water in the temple, as an expression of the general desire of the Messiah's appearance, and the polling forth of the Spirit by him,a Jesús stood on an eminence; and proclaimed with a loud voice, saying, If any that he might be the better heard and seen, man thirst, that is, if he ardently desire true happiness, and long for the blessings promised under the administration of the Messiah, let him come unto me by faith, and drink his fill; for I am most ready freely to communi- cate every needful blessing, and particularly those supplies of the S irit which you profess 38 He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. so earnestly to desire. (Compare Isa. lv. 1.) - * = Scripture hath in many places said and promised, shall receive those supplies in so great an abundance, that he shall not only be refreshed himself, but out of his belly, or from For he that truly believeth on me, as the within him,” shall flow vital streams, and, as it were, rivers ºf living water, for the refresh- ment and comfort of others. 39 (But tºº. he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him _should re- ceive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; because that Jesus was not yet glori- fied.) Vow this, which was true in a more extensive sense, he peculiarly spake, of the Spirit” which they who believed on him should receive, and which some of them should also be enabled to communicate to others. But it was not then generally understood; for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given] in that extraordinary manner, because Jésus, was not ſet glorified; and it was the wise and gracious purpose of God to send him down on the church, after the ascension of Jesus, as a triumphant Conqueror, into his Father's presence. (See Eph. iv. 7–12. John xvi. 7. and Acts ii. 33.) - 40 Many of the people therefore, when they hear jº,'º'a'º free declaration and profession than he commonly made, said, Surely this [man] is at least this is the prophet.... . . Others said, This is the Christ. But some #. §haſ certainly the Messiah himself; but in opposition to this, some objected, and said, Shall the **** ** Messiah, when he appears, come out of Galilee, as we know this Jesus of Nazareth does? 42 Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of tº "séé"of"ºij."j"out and hath it not also added, that he is to arise from the town of Bethlehem-Judah, where of the town of Bethlehem where David was 3 ... . . 3 So there was a division * the people because of 11 II). 44 And some of them would have taken him ; but no man laid hands on him. David was [born, and which was the ancient seat of his family 2 (Compare Isa. xi. 1. and Mic. v. 2.) And thus they were divided in their sentiments, and there was a warm dis-43 sensionſ among the people on his account. - - - - ‘And the officers also, who had been sent to apprehend him, were at a loss what they 44 should do, and some of them would have seized } }, wim ; but, struck with the regard whic several of the people expressed towards him, and, above all, impressed by the dignity and sweetness of his discourses, and the secret hand of Heaven which wrought for his deliver- ance, they were so far restrained, that no man laid hands on him. 45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pha- risees ; and they said unto them, Why have ye mot brought him 2 your prisoner, according to the orders you received from us? 46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this IIlain. heard him yourselves, it must have disarmed your resentment against him. 47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived P 48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him 3 believed on him, or º of the Pharisees of a more private station ?h Yet you know these are most eminent for knoweth not 49 But this peo º cursed. - àW, eir acquaintance with religion, and are the most authentic interpre- le, who ters of the sacred writings in which it is contained: But this wretched herd of people, who 49 ** are so enchanted with him, know and regard not anything of the true meaning of the law, and, it is easy to be seen, are cursed with a judicial blindness, and given up to the most absurd and fatal mistake.i Hellenists or Jews that used the Greek language ; for these were the dispersed among them. There is therefore, I think, a sting in these words, beyond what commentators have observed. They insinuate, that if he was to go into foreign countries to address himself to the Jews there, who might be supposed not so well instructed as those that lived in Judea and at Jerusalem, he would not be able to make at:y prose- lytes, even among these ; but would be constrained to apply himself to the ignorant and stupid Gentiles, to seek disciples a poi:g the n: ; which, to be sure, appeared to these haughty Scorp ers one of the most in Rumous circumstances that could be imagined, and most incompatibie with the character of the true Messiah. a When it was customary for the priests to pour out water, &c.] That there was a custom on this day ºf...; out of the fountain of Siloam, and pouring it out before the Lord in the temple, at the time of evening sacrifice, and that the Driest who did it stood on some eminence, the Jewish Rabbies unanimously assure us... (See Reland’s flutiº. Heh. part iv. Cap., 6. § 6.) Some tº ink it was intelided to supplicate, the Éd. rain; but the context inclines me much rather to believe those Jewish writers, produced by Dr. Ilightfoot, (in his IIor. Heh. on this place,) who say it was meant as a way of invoking the divine influences of the blessed Spirit, and as a mark of their desire of having it poured out upon them. See Tremellius’s excellent note on this text. " b As the Scripture hath in many places said and promised.] Chrysos- tom, and after {{. many other eminent critics, refer this to the former clause, and understand it as if he had said, He that hath that faith in ine which the Scripture requires. (See Castalio, Zegerus, and Jac. Cap- pellus, in loc.) And thus they uyoid the difficulty which arises from our not finding the following words in Scripture.—But it seems much more natural, with Grotius, to suppose that here is a general reference to the several prophecies which refer to the effusion of the Spirit by the Messiah under the similitude of pouring out water; and accordingly...[ have paraphrased the words in that view of the connexion. See Isa. lii. 15. xliv. 3. lviii. 11. and Joel ii. 28. c Out of his belly, or from within him.] The belly is frequently put fºr the mind or heart. Compare Job xv. 35., xx. 20, and Prov. xix. 27. :-Pt songtimes signifies, in a more general way, the inward part of a, thing, (1 Kings vii. 20. Matt. xii. 40.) and may perhaps have some allusion here to the prominency of that capacious golden vase from which the water was now poured out in a large stream. d This he spake of the Spirit..] It is strange that, winem the evangelist has thus plainly commented on these words of Christ, a late eminent writer should venture to adyance a different interpretation, and explain them as spoken of the doctrine of the gospel. e Surely this man is a prophet.] As the article is prefixed, it might sec m natural to render it the prophet, were it not afterwards distinguished from the Christ. On this account I conclude that here, as also John i. 2}. 6 ºf cºp:/7 is signifies only a prophet, that is, one of the ancient pro- phºts revived. ... See § 20, note c. p. 49. f : warm dissension.] So I apprehend the word Xxtapa always signifies. And thus the word schism, which is just the same, (with an Etºlish termination,) expresses not merely not necessarily a separation from each other, but an angry debate, whether it be, or be not, attended with separation. g Yo ºn an ecer Spake 6s flºis man deth.] Piutarch mentions it as a memorable progf of the extraordinary eloquence of Mark Antony, whers \{aritis sent soldiers to kill him, that when he began Tapaw Tsvg tº t 7-op- 6 tº a Tºv, to plead fºr his life, he disarmed their resolution, and melted; them into tears, (Plutarch, Vit. p. 431.) But these officers are thus vanquished, merely , by hearing êniº gracious discourses to the people, which is a circumstance pouch more remarkable. They returns 1 Il a kind ºf amazº, and instead of seizing him as their prisonºr, op. making a laboured apology for their failure, only break' out into a pathetic exclamation that no man in the ºria º jiຠliś.” f: is a reflection which, I hope, we often make, as we read his discot.ses. h Hare, gyrºſ of the rºllers believed on him, or any of the Phariscº J I cannot think, with Grotius, that this is any intimation, that, if there. Yere any of the Great Council, who had favourable thoughts of Jesús, they were the Sadducees. The interpretation of the paraphrase is much easier. There is no reason to believe any of the Sadducees were inciº tº retive the Kosing i ; and, if the Pharisées had secretly suspest ºf them. of Słich an inclination, they would hardly have affronted them by such an is sinuation, in this grand assembly, considering the high rank in which many of that sect were. - i. This ºr, cho know, not the lair, are cursed.] I see no ground to think, with Grotius, that this refers to Deut. xxvii. 36. and is buiji ol ā supposition that the ignorance of the populace must always expose them. to a cursº. It rather intimates an apprehension, that God j given theri, o, . . . a spirit of fatal infatuation.-instances of their contempt of 183 tion of Moses, SECT. 101. JOHN W II 37 3 9 Then many of the people, when they heard this gracious saying, which was indeed a more 40 a prophet,” and probably comes to introduce the Messiah. And others said, Nay, this is 41 Hath not the Scripture said expressly, That the Messiah is to come from the seed of David? 42 Them the officers came back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, without accomplishing 45 the purpose for which they were sent: and when the Sanhedrim perceived they had not executed their commission, they said unto them, JWhy have ye not brought him with you as . The officers replied, We could not find in our hearts to attempt it; for surely no man 46 living ever spake in so engaging and irresistible a manner as this man doth ;é and had you Then the Pharisees, far from being softened by the account they gave them, answered 47 them in a scornful and upbraiding way, What, are you also deceived by his artful and popular address P Surely you cannot be so weak as to be thus infatuated 2 Pray consider 48 the conduct of those who are most capable of judging of this point: have any of the rulers I84 CHRIST GOES TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, AND RETURNS TO THE TEMPLE. SEC T. t pon his ‘Yºodemº, whom we before have mentioned as the person who came to 50 Nicodemus saith unto 101. º J º In. 1, #. D. º 57.) º both a ruler and a Pharisee, and §º: º ... .º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º. tºmºtiº : º, ºniºn you boast, so much acquaintance with," judge and condemn any man before ... . .hº" " 51 the magistrate, appointed to execute it, summon him into his presence, that he may hear J. from him. what he hath to say, in his own defence, and know, from credible witnesses, what , he hath done tº deserve punishment? (See Deut. xvii. 8–11. and xix. 15, et seq.) 52 , But they, Withºut entering further into the argument, answered him only by saying, in a .52 They answered and said slight and superficial manner, What, art thou thyself also of Galilee, that 㺠favourest Šºš's...º.º. the pretences of this contemptible Galilean 2; Search a littlé further into the matter, and . ºf Galileº arisetiºns thou wilt soon see the unreasonableness of doing it; for it is notorious, even to a proverb, * rophet. that no pºlº is raised up from Galilec, nor will God ever honour that contemptible , country, with such a production. * -ind, having said this, they would not wait for a reply, but immediately broke up the 53 And every man went Court; and So every one went away to his own house. unto his own house. . IMPROVEMENT. Ver:37 . WITH what delight and thankfulness should we hear this gracious proclamation of Christ, which he now made in the temple, and a while after repeated from the throne of his glory, If any man thirst, let him come unto me gavl drink; yea, whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely 4 (Rev. xxii. 17.) Blessed Jesus, had we been allowed to have prescribed to thee a form of words, in which thy kind purposes towards us should have been expressed, what could we have invented more pathetic, more condescending, or more reviving !—May we thirst 39 for the blessings of thy grace, and in the confidence of faith apply unto thee for them; and particularly for these communications of thy Špirit, which are so highly excellent and desirable, and indeed so necessary for us! Supply us with them, we entreat thee, in so rich an abundance, that we, in our different spheres, may supply others, and 38 from us there may flow rivers of living water! ** Well might such gracious words as these disarm the rage of enemies and persecutors. Letus add our testimony 46 to theirs, and say, Never man spake as Jesus speaks. Let us hear him with calm and thankful attention, while his voice still sounds in his word. , Happy are those that know the joyful sound ! (Psal, lxxxix. 15.) The Phari- 48, 49 sees, like deaf adders, stopped their ears against the voice of the Charmer; and, while they proudly censured the populace as a brutal herd, and gloried in their own superior wisdom, rejected the counsel of God: rashly judging without serious inquiry, and weakly borne down by vulgar senseless prejudices against names and places, which 51, 52 is all the senate of Israel opposes to the solid argument of Nicodemus ! That good man, already considerably improved by his interview with Jesus, was undoubtedly confirmed in his adherence to him, by observing the methods of their opposition: and where magistrates arm their authority to overbear argument, they will probably, #3 in the judgment of impartial men, produce a suspicion at least, that they know their cause to be incapable of a rational defence. : SECTION CII. Christ, having spent the night in retirement, returns to the temple, where an adulteress is brought before him ; but he avoids giving judgment in her case, and turns the consciences of his enemies on themselves. John viii. 1–11. John viii. 1. Joh N viii. 1. SECT. THUS the Pharisees debated the case, and in such dissension their assembly broke up ; JESUS went unto the mount 102. but Jesus, choosing to retire in the evening, that he might by secret converse with his * * heavenly Father be animated to all the labours and dangers before him, went up to a JOHN mountain in the nighbourhood of Jerusalem, which lay to the east of the city, on the In , other side of the brook Cedron, and is well known by the name of the Mount of Olives, where he spent the night in meditation and prayer. 2 . But, that his retirement might not break in upon the opportunity of public service which nº the present concourse of people gave him, he returned to the temple early in the morning; i...ºft. º and all the people who came to worship there, before they returned to their respective habit- ... ...” “” ations in the country, (the feast being now ended,) flocked around him to receive, his s * - instructions; and such was his courage and zeal, notwithstanding the late conspiracy which had been formed against him, that, sitting down in one of the cloisters, he instructed them as freely as he had ever done. ... - * 3 .Anºl, while he was engaged in this exercise, the scribes and Pharisees brought to him,a pººjº, womani who had just been taken in the commission of adullery,” having been wº ...,". "...hº...” betrayed into it among those intemperances which too often attend public feasts; aid, as ºther had set he: the court of judicature before whom she should have been tried was not yet assembled, 3. they took that opportunity of laying a snare for Jesus, by setting her before him, in the ~ 4 midst of the people who were attending his discourse. And, as if they were desirous of tº...º. information from him, they craftily said unto him, Master, as thou professest thyself an º'" extraordinary Teachér, we desire thou wouldst pronounce thy judgment on this case; here 5 is a woman who was taken in the very act of adultery. Wow Moses in the law has.cºm, e.l.º.º. º.º.º. nºmieſ us, that such infamous women'should be stoned,b (Lev. xx. 10. and Deut. xxii. 22.) “" s? : … Tſ , ºr, Hebr. in loc.) and reject, its authority. But I acquiesce in the reasoning of the learned Pr. ºò lºgº.º." (Hor. Hebr. in loc.) an §. to whom fºrgºfer the reader for the arguments to proºt quilientic ; § 53; ºr lºº, which you boast so much acquaintange with..] Soft the critical examination of these matters #;"|...” the sphere of as thºse words seem, there is a severe sting in them; and they in effect my present design. A mistaken apprehensiº. )< º º: amount to a charge, that while they professed such a knowledge of the in the story were indegent, and an ...'. rigour § t ‘. º §: i.º.d Zeal for it, they either knew not, or, regarded not, some of its who had fºllèp intº this truly detesº G. º *...perhaps 96 the plainest precepts, and were even unmindful of those which, as they gecasion of this omission, if it was lºgº; i. º: º, cº, ºre a court of jūdicature, were their peculiar concern. - ICrasmus conjectures, it might be 3%. py § Oh I); a º º º: j ñº, prophic: ; raised up from Galilee.] As it is plain that Jonah; and of his #;"| had been taken; 3. It º tº: WJT O !. t ; probable that Nahum also, was a Galilean; Sir Norton jºiciºuſ and story from the , apostle’s mouth, recq, ‘. it. §: } *E.P. §.". others, who imagine that these rulers Could not be ignorant of that, sup- Papias, and other gºinégt Pºrsº º t § CIn UITC 'Zid *pś, hat pose that #poºning here signifies the Great Prophet, or Messiah. But Eusebius, (Eccles. Hist. lil: #: ºf: * tº: ...}}}. ãoğ § ū; probably, hād, this been their meaning, they would rather have quoted Cºp: 6.) and other ancientº r1ters, º *ś. ture, shows that #. the text &#ich mentions Bethlehem as the birth-place of the Messiah; Pºssº, with a few other '...} the º nature, S f the crºw j Fie"...sº must therefore be acknowledged to be very mean and ºº with Whiº, º *: ºº::::::::::::::::: trifiing, and the abrupt manner in which the assembly was broke up, parts of the New Tes an. (as I ave shown at iáriº in the ninth G II?S to intimate their consciousness that it would not bear examination: evidence of Christianity, Which ài } ected with ti e ninth se: §rºught tº him a woman taken in adultery.] It is well known that of my Ten gº 1S j. º y connected W1 Ye genuinelless this sº is wanting in the Syriac version, as well as in the Alexandrian and purity of the Ney, es . j If ti ke accurately, this j ñódician copies, and indeed in most ºf the oldest manuscripts ; b Such women should be º: sh bet ºff'. **.* ãº. jeń engaged Bezá to question, and Le Clerc, with many others, to have been a womali who had been betrothed to a husbúIld, alld hatſ been THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY BROUGHT BEFORE CHRIST. 185 iºned, but what but, as thou takest upon thee either to supersede many of his precepts, or to interpretthem SECT ſº e in a very singular manner, we would be glad to hear thy determination in an affair of so 102. hº º: great importance; what therefore dost thou say? This they said tempting him, that, which accuse him: way soever he should determine, they might have an opportunity to accuse him, either to John the Jewish rulers, if he acquitted such a criminal, or to the Romans, if he ventured, though a " on the authority of the law, to pronounce a capital sentence against her, which he had no authority from the Romans to do,” and which the Jewish rulers themselves had at present no power to execute. (Compare John xviii. 31.) º º, But Jesus stooping down, wrote something on the ground with his finger, choosing (as it jºind, asidiºicari were) to speak to them by that action, rather than by words. But as they, thinking that 7 *"...hen they continued they had him at a great advantage, continued asking him with greater importunity, he raised jºjº himself up, and, without replying directly to their demand, only said to them, Let him a jºiº. . .'; you that is without sin in this or any other respect, pursue the prosecution, and throw the him first cast a stone at her first fatal stone at her, when she is condemned:e (compare Deut. xvii. 7.) thus prudently 8. And again he stooped avoiding a decision of the case, and leading them to reflect on their own guilt. And 8 º, and * * * stooping down again, he wrote on the ground, as he had done before, and left them to their - own reflections. biº'º'; But having heard [his answer, and being, by a secret energy which went along with the 9 .*.*.*.*... word of Jesus, in a very awful and powerful manner convicted in their consciences of their one, beginning at the eldest, own personal and aggravated guilt, they were ashamed even to look each other in the face ; º: º and so went out one by one, beginning from the eldest,f whose age and office tended to in- man standing in the midst crease their shame and remorse; and the impression passed even to the last, or the young- est and meanest of them. ...And Jesus was left alone by all the accusers, and the woman standing in the midst of the crowd, with which she had been surrounded before she was brought in. 10 when Jesus had liſted .And Jesus raising himself up, and seeing mone of those who had been soliciting his judg- 10 tº ment, but only the woman they had brought before him, said to her, Woman, where are those Woman, where are those thine accusers ? Has no man condemned thee, or is there none remaining to bear witness ...}*** against thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I take 11 11. She said, Nº man, Lºrd, upon me, at this time, and under this circumstance, judicially to condemn thee, though thy §:#; rºa.º.º. crime has been undoubtedly great; go thy way, therefore, without any impediment from go, and sin no more, me; but, as the Messenger of God, and Friend of souls, I warn thee that thou sin no - more ;g for such enormous practices as these must subject thee to a severer judgment from God than man can pronounce or inflict. IMPROVEMENT. THE devout retirements of Christ, and his early renewed labours, so often come in view, that, after having Ver. 1 made some progress in his history, we are ready to pass them over as things of course. But let us remember, 2 that in some degree they call upon us to go and do likewise ; and will another day condemn those who, while they call themselves his disciples, are given up to ease and luxury, and suffer every little amusement or sensual gratification to lead them into an omission of their duty to God and their fellow-creatures; an omission especially aggravated in those whom he has appointed to be teachers of others, and who have therefore so many peculiar errands to the throne of grace, and so many engagements in the morning to sow, or to prepare the seed of religious instruction, and in the evening not to withhold their hand from dispensing it. (Eccles. xi. 6.) While Jesus is teaching, his enemies address him, not only as an instructor, but as a judge; and yet, by this 3 specious form of honour and respect, they sought only to insnare and destroy him. So unsafe would it be always 6 M I to judge of men's intentions by the first appearances of their actions ! But our Lord, in his answer, united, as usual, the wisdom of the serpent with the innocence and gentleness of the dove; and in his conduct to this criminal, showed at once that tenderness and faithfulness which might have the most effectual tendency to im- press and reclaim her; if a heart capable of such infidelity and wickedness could be impressed and reclaimed at all. Go thy way, said he to this adulteress, and sin no more. Perhaps the charge may have little weight with such abandoned transgressors as she 5 but let all learn to improve their escapes from danger, and the continued exercise of divine patience towards them, as an engagement to speedy and thorough reformation. Let the force of conscience, and the power of Christ over it, (both which so evidently appeared in this instance,) 9 teach us to reverence the dictates of our own minds, and to do nothing to bring them under a sense of guilt; which, through the secret energy of our Redeemer, wrought so powerfully on these Pharisees, that, hypocritical guilty of this infamous crime before the marriage was completed ; for must say, with a great, critic on these words, Yescire celle, qua. JMagister such only are expressly condemned to be stoned. (Deut. xxii.22–24. ) optimus, neScirc nos vult, erudita in Scitiq, est: “To be willing to continue The jewish writers tellus, that when (as in case of other adulteries) ignorant of what our great Master has thought fit to conceal, is no incon- only death in general was denounced, without specifying the particular siderable part of christian learning.” & kind of it, strºngling was to be used. Custom indeed (as Grotius ob- e Lct him aſ you that is without sin, throw, the first stone at her.] Le serves) might have introduced stoning in all these cases; (comparé Ezek. Clerc makes the supposed impropriety of this reply a ſurther argument xvi. 38, 40.) yet that would not justify what they hero say. But our against the genuineness of this text, since the law did not require the flord’s spirit was too noble to take the advantage of Such a slip, if it was ºritnesses or erceiationieºs to be free from sin, in order to the efficacy of . a mistake: he had a much greater view, and siſenced them in a far more such a prosecution. But it may be answered, that our Lord’s certain effectual manner. - - knowledge of what the effect would be, vindicated the wisdom of his c To accºse him—to the Romans, if he ventured, &c..] It is very evi- putting the matter upon this issue, by which it is plain, in fact, he escaped dent that the Jewish sanhedrim sat by license from the Roman governor; their snare. - - - and though they had a right to try capital causes, it was necessary f Płęill out one by one, beginning from the eldest.] It is strange any (as it seems from passages elsewhere examined) that the sextenge they should have interpreted this clause so rigorously, as to jmagine that asseå should be recognised and allowed by the Romans before it could every particular person went out just according to his age. It seems only carried into execution. (See § 186. note c, on Matt. xxvii. 2. and to intinate that those elders of the people, who had been most eager in Šišš. ºote "h, on John six. 10.) For Christ therefore to have under- the prosecution, appeared under the most sensible confusion, and were taken the decision of this case would, ipso facto, have rendered him some of the first that left the assembly. And in this view it is very re- obnoxious to the Romans, as well as to the sänhedrim ; and had he con- markable; especially considering that they were now in the presence of demned her, a new occasión of offence must have arisen in consequence the multitude, before whom they would no doubt be desirouš to keep up of that to Pilate, if execution had been ordered without an applicatiºn the strictest appearance of virtue, in order to maintain their influence to him, and to the Jews, if Christ had directed such an application to be over them.—Though (as Dr. Whitby shows, on ver. 7.) adultery prevail- made. So that the snare here was mugh the same with that afterwards ed much among the Jews about this time, yet I see no reason to conclude laid for him (Wiatt. Xxii. 17–22. § 154.) in the question about the lawful— that their conscience convicted eyery one of them of this particular crime. ness of paying tribute. - e tº –Their partiality (as Dr. Lardner well observes) seems to appear in ã žotá ºn the ground with his finger.] The following Words, pin bringing, only the wºman, pot the man, when the law condemned both. mpoa Totoup evos, as though he heard them not, or, (as I would render (Lard. Credibil. part i vol. i. p. 79.) * y & * them) as not regarding them, are wanting in the most valuable manu- ...: Sin nºngre] Elsner (Qbserº. vol. i. p. 338.) and Suiser (Thesqº. scripts. Dr. Mill therefore, f ink justly, omits them, as several other vol. i. p. 205.) have shown that the word anaprayev, to sin, is used by printed editions ºf the Greek Testament do., Were they admitted, they the most elegant Greek classies (as the cºrresinondent word peccare is by would cut off most of the conjectures which learned men, have advanced the Latin) to signify the commission of adulternſ s which strongly intimates, as to mojº Cºtº, a question, which it is impossible for us tº de- that even the light of nature taught many ºf the heathems the exceeding termine, and which we’have no need at all to be solicitons about. I am sinfulness of it; which is tho more worthy of notice, as pot, only the inclined to think here was a language in the action itself, either to inti- greatest of their men, but (according, to their scandalous theºlogy), the mate that these iºnocritical Éparisees should be themselves, (as, the greatest of their gods too, gave it all the sanction it could have from prophet expresses it, jer. xvii. 3.) written in the earth, or that they example. wefe to attend to what was written: but I can determine nothing, and 186 CHRIST SPEAKS OF HIMSELF As THE LIGHT OF THE world. SECT. and vain-glorious as they were, they could not command themselves so far as even to save appearances; but the 102. eldest and gravest among them were the first to confess their guilt, by withdrawing from the presence of so holy a Prophet, from the temple of God, and from the criminal whom they came to prosecute. A like consciousness . John of being ourselves to blame, will abate the boldness and freedom of our proceedings with others for their faults, VIII. if, while we judge them, we are self-condemned; nor will the authority of a superior age or station of life bear us out against these inward reproaches. -SECTION CIII. Our Lord speaks of himself as the light of the world, urges, the concurrent testimony, of his Father, and gives the Jews repeated warning of the danger they would incur by persisting in their infidelity. John viii. 12—29. John viii. 12. John viii. 12. SECT. THEN Jesus, after the interruption that he met with while he was º j. THEN spake. Jesus again e W8 S 103. in the temple, by the Pharisees bringing in the adulteress, resumed the work unto them, saying, I am the efore y ić light of the world: he that tº- º in, and again proceeded to instruct the º: ; and observing the sun lately risen, follºweth me shall not walk 8.I.) C S C ; JOHN . * - º ning with great lustre and beauty, he spa jing, jam the true light of flºº" " " 12 the world, in whose appearance you ought chiefly to rejoice: sun arises, in a few hours to descend again, and may fail many of you before your intended journey is despatched; whereas he that follows me, and governs himself by the dictates of my word and Spirit, shall not be left to walk in the darkness of ignorance, error, and sin, but shall have the light of life, continually shining upon him, to diffuse over his soul knowledge, holiness, and joy, till he is guided by it to eternal happiness. 13 Some of the Pharisees therefore, who were then present, but different persons from those 13 The Pharisees therefore who had brought in the woman, enraged at the late disappointment of their brethren, said; "º"; wnto him, Thou bearest witness of thyself, and therefore, by thine own confession, (chap. v. is not true. 31.) thy testimony is not to be admitted as true, but may rather be suspected of vain-glory; nor can we believe such great things of thee, unless we have some further proof than thine own affirmation. - 14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I indeed bear witness of myself, [yet] as I ºláJesus answered and said speak from my own certain knowledge, and have already shown that I am comé with a ..."?";"; }; divine commission, my testimony is entirely and perfectly true, and as such you ought to ºr'. ... º. admit it, for I well know from whence I came, and whither I am going, and the most evident i º demonstrations of it have been given you, both in the nature of my doctrine, and in the ºne º' " " miracles which I have wrought among you: but you are so perverse, that, as often as I ‘’” have hinted or declared it, you know not to this day from º I come, and whither I 15 am going : Which is not to be ascribed to the want of sufficient evidence, but merely to , 15 Ye judge after the flesh; the force of your own prejudices; for you judge according to the maxims of flesh and judge no man. . sense, and will believe nothing in opposition to these principles which you have so rashly imbibed,” and by this means are justly liable to condemnation: but I wave that for the present, as I now judge no man, but rather appear under the character of a Saviour. 16 (Compare chap. iii. 17.) , Yet if I should judge, my determination and sentence is appa- nº elijº º rently true and right, and you would justly be condemned for not receiving my testimony; §. ." "...ſº fl. for I am not alone in what I say, but I and the Father that sent me, as we are in other ther that sent me. respects inseparably united, do evidently concur together in the testimony that I give. 17 And it is written in your own law, for which you profess so sacred a regard, that the tes- 17 It is also wº timony of two men is to be admitted as true, and matters of the greatest consequence are º, estimony • 18 without scruple to be determined by it. (Deut. xvii. 6. and xix. 15.) Now I am [one] ...}} º º º: who bear this witness of myself, in a fact, the truth of which I cannot but certainly know; º; º; ... tº and the Father who sent me is another, and surely a most credible Person, who is: bears witness of me. his testimony to me; thereby asserting the truth of every doctrine I teach, and the justice of every sentence I might pass. - - 19 Then said they to him, Where is this thy Father, to whom thou so frequently appealest? hiº {{h. id hº d;% mention him plainly, that we may know how far he is to be regarded, and produce him jºisºa."yeº as a witness. Jesus answered, You may well ask; for it plainly appears by your conduct tºº.d'É. ..º.º.; that you neither know me nor my Father, however you may boast an acquaintance with have known my Fainer also. him; and indeed, if you had known me aright, and regarded me as you ought to have done, you would also longere this have known who and what my Father is, in another manner than you now do; for I bear his complete resemblance, and it is my great business to reveal him to those who submit to my instructions. 20 These words Jesus spake with the greatest freedom, as he was teaching in the temple, in a 20 ºhiº. Yºak. . -- - s - * : 'sus in the treasury, as he certain part of it called the treasury, where the chests stood in which the people put their tºugh iſ theºnjº and 3 gifts for the service of that sacred house, (see Mark xii. 41. sect. clix.) the stores of which #iºiº.” were laid up in chambers over that cloister: and though he so plainly intimated that God tº , was his Father, and charged the Jews with being ignorant of him, in whom they boasted as so peculiarly their Goã, yet their spirits were kept under such a powerful though secret restraint, that no one seized him; which was the more wonderful, as it was a plage from whence it would not have been easy to have escaped without a miracle, and which was much frequented by his greatest enemies: but the true reason was, because his hour was not yet come in which he was, by divine permission, to be delivered into their hands. - a 21 Confiding therefore in the protection of divine Providence, Jesus then said unto them ... ºn jail lºsuº - - - - - unto them, I go my way, and again, as he had done before, (chap. vii. 33, 34. p. 182.) I am speedily going away from ..."...i.d.º.º. among you, and you shall seek me, and inquire after the Messiah in vain; but, as a just punishment for your having rejected me, you shall die in this your sin, and perish for your unbelief, by a single stroke of divine vengeance, which shalſ sink you into final condern- nation. Remember then, that I have warned |. with the greatest faithfulness, and now again I solemnly repeat the warning, that though you should be ever so desirous of e unto them, º * this a I am the true light of the porld..] The Messiah was often represented fice: after which, no doubt, many would be setting out for their habita- under this view. Isa. Xlii. 6. xlix. 6. and Mal. iv. 2. Compare Luke ii. tions in the country. w * 32. John i. 4—9. iii. 19. ix. 5. and xii. 46. - c. You judge according to the flesh, &c.] The same carnal prejudices # The sun arises to descend again, and inay fail many of you, &c.] still prevail in the minds of the Jews, and prevent their reception of Tie roader will remember this was the morning after the conclusion of Christ; they laying, it down as a first, principle, that he, is to be a great the feast of tabernacles, and probably might be before the morning sacri- temporal Princé and Deliverer. And the admission of false principles, THE JEWS WARNED OF THE DANGER OF PERSISTING IN INFIDELITY. 187 die in your sins: whither I admittance to me, it will be in vain; for you cannot come to the place whither I am now SECT. go, ye Cannot Come. º - - going, either to molest me, or to secure yourselves.. . . e- ºg ºr 4 103. wiß The Jews then said, with a very perverse and foolish contempt, What, will he kill himself, Willº; that he says, You cannot come whither I am going? We shall not desire to follow him upon John Caſin Ot COIn C, - those terms. - - VIII. 23 And he said unto them, And he said to them yet more plainly, So vile and malicious an insinuation as this, 23 }. º evidently shows that you are from beneath, the slaves of earth, and the heirs of hell; while, world; famingtofthis world, on the other hand, I am from above, and shall quickly return thither: you are originally #. this world, and your treasure and hearts are here; but as I am not of this world, my thoughts therefore naturally turn to that celestial abode from whence I came, and I inces. 24, said therefore unto santly labour to conduct men thither. But as to you, I labour in vain: and therefore I 24 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: just now said unto you, that you shall die in your sins, and it is really a great and awful an ic, ye shalſ die in your truth, and deserves another kind of regard than you give it; so that Iyet again would call SIſis, you to consider it; for if you believe hot that I am [he] whom I have represented myself to ; you shall unavoidably die in your sins, and are in effect the murderers of your own SOUls.° - Then said they to him, in proud derision, Who art thou, that such great regard should be 25 paid to thee, and that it should be so fatal a thing to neglect thee *, And Jesus said to from the beginnip them, Truly, because I am still speaking to you to this very day in so plain and affectionate & 8 . . . - º * * - - ; : i\º things to a manner, I have many things to say and judge concerning you,f and justly might upbraid 26 jº º you with the utmost severity, and pass an immediate sentence of condemnation upon you; hiº; "th for the present, I content myself with reminding you, that he who sent me is true : and, # ******** as I speak to the world only those things which I have heard from him, he will finally verif my words, and it will be at the peril of your souls if you continue to treat me with suc perverseness and contempt. . . . - º ušiºr; These things were very intelligible, when compared with what he had said before; [yet] 27 #.”***** so exceeding stupid were they, and so blinded by the prejudices of their minds, that they did not understand that he spake to them of God the Father as the Person who sent him. r - Jesus therefore said to them, I know that, notwithstanding all I have said, you will be 28 §, §º,"; still so obstinate as to persist in your infidelity, till you proceed even to take away my life; #.º.º.º.º. ºf phen, after all your professed desire of his appearance and kingdom, you shall have §as jºhº lifted up that glorious Person, the Son of man, from the earth, and have even proceeded me, I speak these things, so far as to put him to a violent death, instead of seeing his cause and interest overborne by that outrageous attempt, you shall then know, by some new and convincing tokens, that I am ſº and [that] I do nothing separately of myself, but in exact agreement with him, 29 And he, that sent me is speak all these things according as my Father has instructed me : . .And even now, 25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? ...And Jesus said unto them, Even the same that I said unto you 28 Thon said Jesus unto Mºhº in."..."; *; he that sent me is graciously present with me, to bear his testimony to the truth of what I º” things that say, and to support and vindicate me: and, whatsoever you may foolishly surmise, the ) IU). Father has not left me alone, nor will he ever leave me; for I always do the things which are most pleasing to him, and faithfully and constantly pursue the important work which he has committed to my trust. º IMPROVEMENT. SUCH may our character cver be, as we desire the supports of the divine presence Whoever be displeased, may we always do the things which please him; and with all diligence let us labour, whether present in the body or absent from it, to be still approved and accepted of him! (2 Cor. v. 9.) Our blessed Redeemer is the light of the world. With how much pleasure should we behold his rays! With how much cheerfulness should we follow, whithersoever he leads us; as well knowing that we shall not then walk in ºnes: and God forbid we should ever choose to continue in it, as the shelter and screen of wicked WOTKS : May we, with all candour and humility, regard and submit to the testimony which the Father has borne to him 17, 18 in so express and incontestable a manner! #. would be the consequence of our refusing to do it. The 21, 24 doom of these wretched Jews would be ours, to die in our sins. And oh!, how insupportable will that guilty burthen prove in a dying hour, and before the tribunal of God! How will it sink us into condemnation and despair! In vain shall those who now despise him, then seek admittance to the world where he is: thither they 21 cannot come: and if excluded from him, must be excluded from happiness. Justly might it long since have been our case; for surely he has many things to say of us, and to judge con- 25, 26 cerning us, should he lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, after his having been so long with us, yea, after we have, as it were, seen him lifted up and set forth as crucified among us ! (Gal. iii. 1.) May this faithful admonition prevail to our conviction and reformation; that our everlasting condemnation may not further illustrate the reasonableness, yea, the necessity of it, and the madness of hardening our hearts against it! Ver, 29 28 which are constantly taken for granted, and never examined, will, I fear, be attended with fatal consequences to thousands more. * - d That I am he, &c. ort cyto cºpſ7.] There is evidently an ellipsis here to be supplied by comparing it with ver. 12. Compare John xiii. 19. Alark Xiti:,6. and Acts xiii. 25. - - - e Are in effect the murderers of your own souls.]. The repetition of the threatening here, from ver. 21. is a very awful rebuke, to the folly of their answer, ver. 22. as if our Lord had said, “It wery ill becomes you to trifle and amuse, yourselves with such silly and spiteful turns, when your life, even, the life of your souls, is at stake, and to talk, of my killing myself, when, by your unbelief and impenitency, you are plunging your- selves into eternal death.” Thus do those passages in our Lord’s discoursgs, which to a careless reader might seem flat tautologies, ap- pear, on an attentive review, to be animated with a most, pgnetrating spirit, and to be full of divine dignity. A remark which will frequently occur, especially in reading those important discourses of Christ, which John has, through the infinite goodness of to his church, recorded after they had been omitted by the other evangelists. f Truly, because I am still speaking to you, I have many things to Sgy, gnd judge concerning you..] I entirely agrée, with the learned, Raphelius, (Annot; cz Herod, p. 292–303,) that all the difficulty of these words arises from a mistake in the pointing, as they stand in most copies; and think his method of restoring the true reading and sense the easiest and justest I have ever met with. He would point them thus, Tmv apxmv, 97 t kat Aaxº inty, roXXa exº Tept vpov Aaxciv Kat Kouvely. All that know any thing of the Greek language, know that Tmy apxny often signifies indeed, or truly ; and so the translation I have given is very literal, and makes a very good sense.—Mr. Fleming would render it, I gm, as I said to you, the Beginning, that is, the Person spoken of, Gen. i. 1. and elsewhere, under that title: but this, as well as our own version, is not anything like a just and grammatical translation ; though to be sure there is a sense in which Christ may most properly be called the £ginning. Compare Col. i. 18. Rev. i. 8.xxi. 6. xxii. 13. (see Fleming’s Christology, vol. i. p. 281.)—I shall only add, that some would render it, The same f am speaking to you of: but the version here given is more agreeable to the original, and by a proper pointing would appear natural and easy; if what jà be considered as one sentence jºi not been separated into two parts by a wrong division of the verses: g You shall then know that I am he..] This undoubtedly refers to the prodigies attending his death, his resurrection and ascension, the descent of the Spirit, the amazing miracles wrought by the apostles in his name, c.—But I am careful not to put such words into our Lord’s mouth in the paraphrase, as would have been unsuitable to the reserve which, on some of these heads, prudence obliged him to keep : or such as in other instances would have superseded further inquiry into the meaning of what he said. I think it most natural to refer these to the notes, or to the paraphrase on some following passage. . 188 CONTINUATION OF CHRIST's DISCOURSE witH THE JEws, SECTION CTV. Our Lord continues his discourse with the Jews in the treasury, the day after the feast of tabernacles; and labours to convince them how vain §eiºpretences to liberty and to the privileges of the children 6f Abraham were, while they continued to reject and persecute him. john viii. John viii. 30. N Vili. 30 Jo Hrt viii. 30. SECT. THUS did Jesus warn the Jews of the danger of rejecting him, and appeal to his heavenly As he spake these words, 104. Father as authorizing the whole of his administration; and, as he was speaking these words, many believed on him. many of his hearers were so struck with them, that they believed in him,” and were strongly John inclined to follow him as the Messiah. "#1 Then Jesus, knºwing the weakness and treachery of the human heart, and the difficulties sºlº which would lie in the way, if they attempted to put that inclination into practice, said to #. Yº. º º those of the Jews who were now ready to profess that they believed in him, If you continue flººre so my disciples in: steadfast in your adherence to my word, and yield a constant and universal obédience to it, “’ 32 [then] you are my disciples indeed, and I will finally own you as such. And you shall then 32 And yeshall know hº know the truth of my gospel in its full compass and extent, so far as it is necessary to your ...; ...'..." truth shall salvation, or conducive to your comfort; and the truth shall make you free, and fix you in that state of glorious liberty which is the privilege of my disciples alone. 33 But some that heard him were not a little displeased at this, as an insinuation that they wººd,'...} * - º º We be Abraham’s seed, and were not already free; and, strangely forgetting the servitude of Egypt and Babylon, and were névé, iigadºto. how often their nation had been conquered by others, and even how low it was at présent º"' " reduced by the Roman power, they confidently answered him, JWe are the seed of Abraham, a person always free, and the peculiar ſavourite of heaven; and we have never been in slavery to any man whatever, nor do we fear that God will permit us to be so: how then dost thou say to us, You shall be made free upon becoming my disciples? 34 Jesus, waving what he might easily have replied as to their former history, and the pre- yºresus. Answered thºſ: sent state of their civil affairs, that he might, give no unnecessary offence, answered them, Sºhº, ºf Perily, verily, I say winto you, and recommend it to your consideration as a most important sin, is the servant ofsin. truth, that every one who habitually practises sin,” and goes on in a course of it, is the slave of sin; and that is a servitude by far meaner and more dreadful than the yoke of an earthly 35 tyrant. JWow, as the servant does not always abide in the family of his master, but is, at his .35. And the sºryant abidºt; ... 2 ; r. - * * * & * S e Lord’s pleasure, liable to be dismissed or transferred to another; much less can you, |. §§ ºyer but who are the servants, not of God, but of sin, promise yourselves that you shall still, on account of your descent from Abraham, continue in those privileges which, by undeserved mercy, you hitherto enjoy : [but] the eldest son and heir of the family continually abides 36 in his father's house, and his power and influence [there] are always increasing.d . Thus do 36 If the Southereforeshaſ, I ever continue, and have power of receiving whom I will into the family: if therefore I, §." * shall be who am the only-begotten Son of God, and the heir of all things, make you free, you, claiming in virtue of my right and authority, will be free indeed,” and will not only be delivered from the bondage of corruption and the tyranny of Satan, but be entitled to those immunities and blessings here, and to that future inheritance of eternal glory, to which at present you have no claim. 37 And as to what you say, that you are Abraham's seed, I know that you indeed are, in a Aśī. natural way, the posterity ºf Abraham, as Ishmael also was; but what can that avail you, fºliº while you are so unlike Abraham in your temper, and are so far from being of a disposition hath no place in you. suitable to your descent from him, that you not only deride, but seek to kill me, because my word has no place in your hearts, and has not any weight or influence upon you, but is 38 of a tenor directly contrary to your prejudices and lusts. And, on the whole, there is so , 38 I speak, that which I great a difference between us, that it is really impossible to reconcile your practice with ſº my doctrine; for I speak that which I have seen with my Father, and which I know to be seen with your father. agreeable to his mind and will; and you do that which jou, have seen with your father, and show a visible conformity in your works to him: by which he intimated that their works as much resembled the nature of the devil, as his doctrine answered to that of God. 39 But they replied with some warmth, and said to him, Take heed on whom this reflection .39 Th; º: and said may fall; for Abraham is our father, and surely thou wouldst not insinuate any thing to ºn Abraham is our the injury of that holyjº. mémory, who was expressly called the friend of God. - Jesus says to them, If you were indeed, and in the most important sense, the children of ..". ź § :Abraham, jou would do the works %. .Abraham, and would make it the great business of your ; "ji". "...ºf 40 life to imitate so wise and so holy an example. But now you seek and contrive to *śhow yo seek to kiſſ slay me, a blameless and innocent man, for no other reason but because I am one who has me, a man that hath toid you faithfully told you the truth, which I have heard and received in commission from God: º }. .Abraham, your boasted ancestor, did not any thing like this ; but gave the readiest credit, ham. and the most joyful welcome, to all the messengers which God sent him. Nevertheless, a Many beliered in him.]. One can hard}y, think that the ambiguity dubiqis; and the yords will, make a goºd sense, independent on this of the expression of the Son of man’s being liſted up, (ver, 28.) engaged peculiar interpretation; which yet seemed remarkable enough to deserve them to this, in liope that it might intimate some exaltation to, a tem- a meption, here. - - oral kingdom. It is more reasonable to believe, that they felt their c Who habitually practises sin.] [Totºv º seems a phrase of fººts impressed with what they heard from him in the whole, preceding the very same import with working iniquity : I have therefore rendered discourse. Yet it is observable, that in the series of it he advances no it practises sin, as that word generally signifies an habitual course of new proof of his mission; so that probably these people were wrought action. - - upon by what they observed in the temper and conduct of Christ; bear: Tâ The servant does not always abide in the ſamily, but the son abidcs ing the perverseness of his enemies with so, much patience, spgaking of [therc] always...] I think Dr. Guyse's ingenious and pigus paraphrase and an ignominious and ſºlº with such holy composure, and express- note on these words contain an excellent illustration of them. The ing so genuine and Hively a sense of his heavenly Father’3 approbation, main sense of what he says on this passage, is much the sarne with what and so sweet a complacency in it.-And perhaps, would ministers gengr- I have given above (much as I had written it several years ago); the aily allow themselves to open, with freedom the native workings of a casting out Ishmael, though a son, of Abraham by the bond woman, heart deeply impressed with the gospel, the Secret charni might subdue boautifully illustrates the remark and the connexion. . It is strange that those whose subtilty and prejudice might be proof against the most Dr. Claget should think that Moses was the servant here meant: and conclusive abstract reasoning. - º ~ strangeſ yet, that Dr. Clarke should adopt so unnatural an interpreta- b 7'he truth shall make you free.] According to Sir Isaac Newton, tion. See Dr. Clarke's Sermons, vºl. iii. p. 4, §. tº a tº =y (Ön Proph. p. 149.) these words were spoken in a sabbatical year, when e. If the Son make you frce, &c.) Archbishop Tillotson (vol. iii. p. 578.) At the ſéast of tâbérnacles, which was just about the beginning of the thinks that this alludes to a custºn in, some ºf the cities of Greece, *ivil year, great numbers of servants were set at, liberty: and he sup- and elsewhere, whereby the sºn and heir had a liberty to adopt brethren, poses that the answer, of the Jews (ver, 33.) is to be, explained, with a *f; them the privileges of the family. † pecular reference to this, and contains, two distingt thoughts: . He are ff know that you are the posterity of Abraham.1, It seems probable ºn; sº, and consequently, had we ever been in bondage, we that our Lord speaks this, not to those, who bºljeved in him, but to sopp should have been set at liberty at this season, though, Gentile slaves are others in the tº: and that the phrase, They answered him, ver. 33. still detained; and, besides that, we never ºpere in bondage to any man at only signifies, that some of those who were present made such a jº, fººt the arguments by which this is fixed to a sabbatical year are reply. CONTINUATION OF CHRIST'S DISCOURSE WITH THE JEWS. 189 41 ye do the deeds of your though you are so far from doing the works of Abraham, I may well say, as I have just SECT. father.— now intimated, (ver. 38.) that you do the works of him who is indeed your father. . . . 104. -Then said they to him, we Then said they to him, We would have thee to know that we are not born of fornication ; *...". "...fºº we are not bastird Jews, whose blood has been contaminated with idolatrous allianges; 'º' čod." y b ut, by virtue of our descent from his people, and our profession of his religion, we have * all one great and common Father, [which is] God. . . - g; lºſſ, Jesus said to them, If God were indeed your Father, as you pretend, instead of attempt. 42 ‘...."...,’’. ‘;"Fº ing to take away my life, you would honour and love me: for, to speak without any reserve §º.º.º. ; on this important head, I renew the declaration, That I proceeded originally, and do, come sºft but he sent me. from God; and appear among you as his Messenger; for I came not of myself, but he has ...tº jº"...". sent me, and I constantly keep his commission in view. And why, do you not understand 43 cause ºf "cannot hear my this my language, and acknowledge it, simple as it is, to be indeed divine 2 [Is it] because word. you cannot hear my word?h Can you pretend to say that I decline giving you the most public and frequent instructions, or that those instructions are unintelligible and obscure ? - R. consciences in general know the contrary as to the main series of them. - 44 Yeare of your father the The case indeed is sufficiently plain, nor do I fear to represent it in the most express 44 #;"| "...º.º.º. terms: I tell you therefore, You are the genuine children º your father the devil;i and the murderer from the beginning, malicious and abominable lusts of that accursed spirit, whom I justly call your father, you §º..."i", "ºº"; will resolutely and obstinately pèrsist to do;k and even now there is the plainest evidence #"he"... P.” of your resemblance to him, in }.”. design to murder me, and in your º to the ###"...ii.º.º.; truth that I deliver to you; for he has always acted as the enemy of mankind, and was a of it. murderer from the beginning, in his attempt to bring destruction on the world by sin. (Compare 1 John iii. 8.) And to accomplish his destructive purpose, as his original integrity was lost by his apostasy from God, he threw off all regard to what was right, gnd continued not in the truth, but, by an audacious and most pernicious lie, ruined the first parents of the human race, because there was and is no truth in him ; and, indeed, when lie speaks a lie, he speaks % his own, and indulges the bias of his own fraudulent and perfidi- ous nature; for he is himself a liar, and was the father of it, or the first forger of that 45 And because I tell you detestable and pernicious crime. And, as you are of such a disposition, if I would flatter 45 ******* your prejudices and vices, you would hear me with pleasure; but because I plainly and faithfully speak the truth, without desire of favour, or fear of offence, you, being under the 46 which of yºu gºnvinceth influence of this false spirit, do not believe me. If you take º you to deny this, and 46 §§ ... ; accuse me of falsehood and prevarication in any degree, how will you prove your charge 2 me 3 Which of you convinces me of that, or any other sin 3 But, on the other hand, if it be evident 47. He that is of God hear that I speak the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God, or that is really a child 47 i.º.º.º.º.º. of God, and a partaker of his Spirit, hears with an affectionate and obedient regard, the near them not, because ye are 3. e e sº zy not of God. words of God, his heavenly Father, and receives them with reverence, by whomsoever they are brought: the reason therefore, why you do not hear mine, is because, as I have often said, you are not the children of God. IMPROVEMENT. MAY we approve ourselves the sincere disciples of Jesus, by continuing in his word, and being faithful even Ver, 31 wnto death, as ever we expect a crown of life / (Rev. ii. .. Without this, external privileges will turn to but 37,35 little account. The children of Abraham may be the children of Satan; and they are so, if they imitate the temper and works of the accursed fiend, rather than of the holy patriarch. The devil was from the beginning a 44 liar and a murderer; and all falsehood and malice are from him. Let us earnestly pray that we may be freed from them, and from the tyranny of every other sin to which we have been enslaved; that Christ, the Son, may make 26 us free of his Father's family, and of his heavenly kingdom . Then we shall be free indeed, and no more be reduced to bondage. May we prove that we are the children of God, by our readiness to hear and receive the words of our blessed 47 Redeemer, the words of incarnate truth, and wisdom, and love; whom none of his enemies could ever convict of sin, nor ever accused him of it but to their own confusion 1 May we resemble him in the innocence and holi- 46 ness of his life; that we may the more easily and gracefully imitate that courage and zeal with which he reproved . *. inners, and bore his testimony against the errors and vices of that degenerate age and nation in Which he LIVCCi SECTION CV. Jesus promising innmortality to his followers, and speaking of his own existence, as prior to that of Abraham, the Jews in the temple attempt to stone him; but he miraculously escapes from their hands. John viii. 4S, to the end. Jo HN viii. 48. John viii. 48. .#EN nº hºslº, NQW when the Jews heard Jesus so expressly declaring that they were ignorant of God, secT. and said unto him, Say we * & * * #3 ºit... thºu"º". Sº and were the children not of Abraham, but of the devil, they answered him therefore, with 105. f sº ri P g g ***** great rage and contempt, and said unto him, Do we not well say, that thou, who speakest – `. of Israelites in such language as this, art a Samaritam, rather than one of the holy seed, 20IS and art possessed by a demon, who hurries thee on to such outrage and madness?" VIII. $º: But to this insolent charge Jesus meekly answered, It is plain from the whole series of 49 7 iſ is Ulr II) - - & - #.á'.'do'... my discourses and actions, that I am not a demoniac, nor can any of you produce any thing Ilhô . in all that I have, said or done which looks like lunacy or impiety ; but the truth is, I honour my Father, by bearing a steady and consistent testimony to the doctrine he sent me to reveal to the world; and, because this is contrary to your corrupt prejudices and passions, therefore you dishonour me by such opprobrious reflections, in hope of discredit- g I proceeded originally, and do come from God. This seems to be the Xtvozsºly, in the preceding clause, evidently signifies to understand, proper distinction between &m)0ov and mRø. . The Seventy (as several Acts viii. 30. and to distinguish, John x. 14. - commentators have observed) use the first of these words to express the i You arc qf four ſqther the devil..] The account Josephus gives of the descent of children from their parents. (Compare Gen. xv. 4., xxxv. 11. Wickedness of the Jews about this time, abundantly vindicates this and Isa. xi. 1.) The form in which the other stands, favours the render- assertion of our Lord from any appearance of undue severity. See ing I have given, (do come from God,) and may intimate not only his Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 10. º vi. 11.) $ 5. cap. 13. (al. IG.) & 6. first mission, but iis exact attendance to every particular mnessage. Edit. Jíaverºamps, and Dr. Lardner’s Credibility, part i. book iſ chap. h Is it because you cannot hear my word 3) I choose to place a mark of 6. Vol. i. p. 304–310. interrogation after this clause, Ort & 6vvaaffe akgetv Tov Aoyov Toy k You will resolutely and obstimately persist to do..] This is plainly £pov; and juvaaffe axset v may refer, either to their opportunity of the sense of the words, 6exerc rotºty. See note a, on John i. 43. p. 52 hearing, which is the most common sense of, the word, or, to their a Possessed by a demon, who hurries thee on to such outrage and nuad- capacity of waderstanding : I have therefore included both.-The word ness.] See note d, on John vii. 20. § 99. p. 180. - 1jö THE JEWS ATTEMPT TO STONE CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE. SecT. ing my message. But as for what personally relates to me, I am little affected with i 105. I seek not my àen. glory; nevertheless, I know there is one that ºft. ... "... it, and who now judgeth of all that passes, and will at length “ſº 50 And I seek not mine own glory; there is one that seek- eth and judgeth. show the exact t º motiº he has taken of it, to my honour and to your confusion. For God will not only 51 verily, verily, I say 31 finally glorify me, but will confer the highest honours and rewards on all my faithful ser ºf ºp; vants; and therefore, verily, vertly, I say unto you, !. any one keep my word, he shall never * he shall never set, see death,” but shall surely be entitled to eternal life, and shall immédiately be advanced to so glorious and happy a state, that the dissolution of this mortal nature shall, with 52 respect to him, hardly deserve to be called death. * Then the Jews, thinking he had asserted that his disciples should be exempted from the 52 Then said the Jews into common lot of mortality, said again to him in a reproachful way, Now we assuredly know Hºnº, that thou hast a demon dwelling in thee, which hurries thee on to this madness and pride, i.º.º.º.º. otherwise thou couldst never talk at this extravagant rate: for Abraham, the friend of God º; º; and the great founder of our nation, is dead; and all the holy prophets, whom God raised “* * - up in succeeding ages, were so far from being able to bestow immortality on their fol- lowers, that even they themselves are long since dead; and yet thou presumptuously 53 sayest, If any one keep my word, he shall never taste of death." What, art thout greater than that venerable patriarch, our father Abraham, who is dead, and than all the most illus- i.e. "...dºe. trious prophets, who are also dead? Whom dost thou then preténd thyself to be, that thou ºwhom makest thoſ shouldst thus assume such a distinguishing glory to thyself? thyself? Jesus replied. If I only gloriff myself, by high encomiums on my own dignity and n.º.º.º.º.º. excellence, while I neglect the honour and service of my Father, my glory is nothing but ºś a mere empty sound; [...] it evidently appears by . the series of my converse and º.º. * miracles, compared with each other, that it is my Father himself that effectually glorifies "’ y º __ me, even he of whom you confidently say, that he is your God, though in this respect you 55 pay so little regard to his testimony. And notwithstanding all your boasts, yet neverthe- lºº.Ye. Yahºº Kºº ºss ſoft have not truly known him; but I well know him; and if I should deny it, and say łºś. that I know him not, or retract my pretensions to that peculiar and intimate knowledge of ººlºº him which I have so often professed, I should be a liar like you; but I repeat it again lºw him, and keep his notwithstanding all your enmity and your scorn, that I º know him, and continually - ~ 56 keep his word in its fullest extent and exactest purity. And I will tell you further, that ...ºu. fth. Abrahº though you despise me as unworthy of your notice, your father Abraham himself was even §ºj tº; and transported toith a joyful desire that he might see my day,d or the time of my appearance and glory, and in sºme degree, he saw [it] by faith, and rejoiced in the distant and imper- fect view,” thankfully receiving every intimation of the purposes of my coming which God was pleased to give him. - $5 Then the Jews said unto him, Thow art not yet fifty years old,ſ and hast thow, who but nº Tºshi; thºſey; $3 half a century ago wast not in being, any room, to pretend that, thou hast seen and con- ºś versed with Abraham, who has been dead more than two thousand years? Abraham : Jesus said unto them, Perily, verily, I say writo iſou, and solemnly affirm it as a most vºº "...". certain truth, how incredible soever it may seem, that º .Abrahám was born, I had a soil. Bºhº." glorious existence with the Father, and I am still invariably the same, and one with him.h *. 59 This appeared to them so direct a claim to the name and properties of the eternal tº JEHow AII, that, being ignorant of the divine nature of Christ, they thought it intolerable jºjšº'ºejº. blasphemy; and though he was then discoursing in so sacred a place as the temple, they ##### *i immediately took up some loose stones, with which they were repairing either the pave- by. 3. - ment or the building,i that they might cast them at him, to destroy him; but Jesus in a miraculous manner concealed himself from their sight, and went out of the temple, going #. the º of them unknown, and so passed on to another place till their fury was a Ittle appeased. 53 Art thou greater than our Father Abraham, which 54 57 5S IMPROVEMENT. ~. Wes. 48 WITH what patience did our blessed Redeemer bear, and with what meekness of wisdom did he answer, the 49 most virulent and opprobrious language! When he was rudely charged with being a Samaritan, and having a demon, he endured the contradiction ; sinners against himself; (Heb. xii. 3.) and being thus reviled, he reviled not b He shall never sce death..] The turn given to this expression in the paraphrase accounts not gnly for this, passage and, that, in John xi. 23. (§ 149.) but for what is said of Christ’s having abolished death, (2 Tim. i. IO.) flaving destroyed the devil, (Heb. ii. 14.) and, raised up christians Žith himself, and made them sit with him in heavenly, places. (Eph. ii. t;.)—Death is as nothing, compared to, what it would otherwise have hºn to the siméº, and 'the felicity of heaven is so sure and so near, that, by an easy and common figure, true christians are spoken of as already there. See the following, note. c Yet thuiz sayest, If any one keep my word, he shall never, taste of death.j This is not the phrase, which qur Lord used, yeſ. 31, though perhaps its signification is nearly equivalent. But I think it shows how improper it would be to interpret the preceding words, 9avarov & um Uzópman ets. Tov attova, He shall not see death for crer as if they signi- fied, ſhe shall not die eternally ; for on this interpretation of the words, there could have been no shadow of force in the argument they use, unless they had meant to assert that Abraham and the prophets cere deal, et; rºy adova, for ever; than which nothing could be further from the thoughts of any of the Jews, except the Sadduçees, who do not seen to have been the persons speaking here; See note 1, on John iv. 14. p. 64. d jºſas even transported with a joyful desire that he night see my day; myax\tagaro (va têm rmy mutpav inveſtmv.] It is necessary to translate the word nyax\tagaro thus, not only to avoid the tautology which our translation occasions, but also to preserve the force of the words wa tén. And indeed the expression may with, the strictest propriety signify iºing joricard with joy to meet the object of, our wishes, as well as cºſiting in the possession of it. See Blackwall’s Sacred Classics, vol. i. 9. 46–48. - ar * * ſ o He saic it by faith, and rejoiced in the view.] I cannot think with Mr. Fleming, ( histºlogy, Vºf 1. ji 221.) that the appearance of Çhrist to Abraham, (Gen. xviii. 1.) could with any propriety be here referred tº as Christ’s day. It seems much more reasonable to conclude, with jjr. Scott and Mr. Henry, that, it intimates sqme peculiar discoveries which the Špirit of God might make to Abraham for his own, ºri Yate Consolation, though not expressly recorded in Scripturg. And thus, with regard to him, as well as many other saints under that ºpen; tion, the sccret of the Lord might in an extraordinary manner be with them, and he might show them much more of his covenant than they could have discovered without such extraordinary assistance. Compare Psal. xxv. 14. and see Dr. Scott’s Christian Life, vol. v. p. 194.—Since I drew up this note, the reverend and learned Dr. Warburton has shown, that there is great reason to believe our Lord here particularly refers to a special revelation made to, Abraham, when he received that command from God to offer Nº. by which he was informed, that the sacri- fice then enjoined him was a symbol of the method which God would really take for the redemption of sinful men, by the death and resurrºc- tion of his own Son. See Diving Legation, vol. ii.,p. 580–627. and the Vindication of it, in the scCond volume of Occasional Remarks. f Thou art not yet fiſty years old.]. Christ was not new five and thirty : but Erasmus thinks that, worn with labours, be might appear ofder that, he was Lightfoot imagines, that as the Levites were discharged from the temple service at fifty, (cempare, Numb. iv. 3, 23.) that age, was proverbially used, as I think it might have beer, without any such in- stitution relating to them. It is little to the credit of Irena:us’s judg- ment to have inferred from hence, or admitted on an upcertain tradition, fathered on St. Luke, that Christ was now turned of forty. See Iren. lib. ii. cap. 39,40. - * g Before Abraham ºcq's bºrn.} Erasmus observes that this is the mean- ing of yoggðat ; and Raphelius abundantly justifies the interpretation, Jºnnot. ex: Xen. p. 133. --- ñI am invariably the same, &c.] Compare Heb. xiii. 8. I have long (with Chrysostom and many others) looked, on this text Asiat, least a strong intination of the Deity of Christ, Beary parallel to Heb. i. 12. ºv 3s 6 avros et, thou art the same—I cannot apprehend that “yo cºpt is ever used for I was ; nor imagine, that if our Ford had been a mere creature, he would have ventured to express himself in a manner. So neariy’ bordering on blasphemy, or have permitted his beloved disciple so dangerously to disguise his meaning. & sº i fook up some kose stancs, with which they were repairing, &g.] Sce Lightfoof, Hor. Heb. on this place; and note h, on John ii. 20. p. 56. , , k Going phy.ough the midst of them.] The omission of these words in this passage, as quoted by Chrysostom and Augustin; as well as in, some manuscripts, has led some to suspect they were ºdded from Luke iv. 30. See §§. mote p. p. 70. THE RETURN OF THE SEVENTY DISCIPLES. 191 again, (1 Pet. ii. 23.) And shall we too keenly resent the reflections which are thrown upon us! May but our SECT. conscience witness for us, and we need not fear all that are against us! 105. Christ honoured his Father, and sought not his own glory. So may we be careful of the honour of God, and cheerfully commit to him the º and care of our reputation! and we shall find there is one that seeketh, and judgeth in our favour. ~. It is a great and important promise which our Lord here makes, If any one keep my word, he shall never see death. 51 Sense seems to plead against it; but he is the resurrection and the life, and hath assured us he will make it good. Let us therefore be strong in faith, giving glory to God; (Rom. iv. 20.) Though not only Abraham and the pro; phets, but Peter and Paul and the other apostſes, are dead, yet this word shall be gloriously accomplished. Still 52 they live to him, and shortly shall they be for ever º from the power of the grave; so that death is to them comparatively as nothing. With them may our final portion be, and we may setlight by the reproaches, clamours, and accusations of prejudiced, ignorant, and sinful men! s Adored be that gracious providence that determined our existence to begin in that happy day which prophets and patriarchs desired to see, and in the distant view of which Abraham rejoiced Let it be also our joy; for 56 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; nor could the heart of those holy men fully conceive those 58 things º God had prepared %. them that love him, and which he has now revealed unto ws by his Spirit. (1 Cor. f II. 9, 10. *:: JOHN VIII, SECTION CVI. The seventy disciples return with joy: Christ foretells the greater success of his gospel, and praises his heavenly Father for the wise though mys- - terious dispensation of it. Luke x. 17–24. LUKE x. 17. LUKE x. 17. AND the seventy, returned AFTER these things, Jesus determined to take his last, and, as it seems, his most suc-SECT. º jº, cessful circuit through Galilee;” and, before he set out upon it, the seventy disciples, who I06. unto us through thy name. had been sent before him as his harbingers, (sect. xcvii. p. 177.) returned to him againb with great joy, attended with some mixture of surprise, saying, Lord, we have not only LUKE cured diseases, according to the power thou wast pleased to give us, (ver. 9. p. 178.) but, 17 X. though thy commission did not directly express so much, yet it appears that even the demons themselves are subject to us, when in thy name we command them to go out of such as they had possessed. - - 18 And he said unto them, And he said to them, I know that it is and must be so: for 1 myself saw Satan, the great 18 łłº as lieuthink prince of the º like lightning from heaven on his first transgression, and well e remember how immediate and dreadful his ruin was ; and I foresee in spirit that renewed, swift, and irresistible victory, of which this present success of yours is an earnest, which the preaching of the gospel shall shortly gain over all these rebel powers which, even in 19. Behold, I give unto you their highest strength and glory, were so incapable of opposing the arm of God. And, 19 Kºº..."... ...”i that you may more successfully pursue this conquest, behold I now give you a miraculous the pºwer of the enemy...and power securely to tread upon serpents and scorpions, those venomous and hurtful creatures, flºº, hall by any means (compare Mark xvi. 18. and Acts xxviii. 5.) in token of your triumph over the infernal spirits, and over all the might of Satan the great enemy, which he may set in array against you; and I will so effectually support you in all the trials you shall meet with, that nothing shall by any means be able to injure you, while you continue faithful in your adherence to my service. (Compare Psal. xci. 13. and Gen. iii. 15. 30 Notwithstanding, in this Nevertheless, rejoice not so much in this, that the evil spirits are thus subject to you, and 20 i.”.l., ºpiº that you are enabled miraculously to control them; but rather rejoice that your names are ºther ejoiºiº...ºr written in heaven, and that you stand enrolled among the heirs of that glorious world, as names are written in heaven. g - * † - - c $º the peculiar objects of the divine favour and love. ..?. In that hour Jesus re; In that remarkable hour, Jesus, in a pleasing contemplation of the success that should 21 §.8 º: i.º.º. attend his ; though it was to be propagated by such weak instruments, exceedingly heaven, and earth, that thºu rejoiced in ºf; and Said, in the words he had used on a former occasion, d (Matt. xi, hast hid these things from the ascribe glory to thee, Q. Almighty, Father, the Creator and Lord both of wise and prudent, and hast 25, 26. D. 113.) º: * .*.*.*.*.*.* heaven and earth, that while thou hast hid these things from the wise philosophers and priº- seemed good in thy sight. dent politicians of the age, thou hast discovered them in the mean time to others of an - inferior character, and hast graciously revealed them to the weak, the ignorant, and the poor, who are but as infants in the eyes of the world, and in their own apprehension: be it so, O Father! I cheerfully acquiesce in it, since such is thy sovereign, wise, and holy pleasure, to humble human pride, and to display the glory of thy name. *. tºº, º deliº; Then likewise did Jesus repeat the declaration of his own extensive authority, and said, 22 i.º.º.º. ii.'s. (as before, p. 113.). All things in the kingdom of providence and grace are delivered to mé is, but the Father; and yho % my Father; and no one perfectly knows who the Son is, except ihe Father; nor who the the Father is, but the Son • * e * ... ."Whº º jºi Father is, except the Son, and he to whom the son will be pleased to reveal [him :] so that reveal him. * from me you must learn the saving knowledge of God and the way to secure his favour. *Alºu dº tº flnd then turning to his disciples, he said [io º apart, Blessed are the eyes which do, 23 his disciples, and said pri- wº º ºteºd"; tº cºs or hereafter shall, see the things that you see : and (I may add) the ears which do, or here: .******* after shall, hear the things that you daily and familiarly hear. In the midst of all your 24 See : e - º p;|..}}}.}}|...}. poverty, fatigue, and danger, you have reason to think yourselves exceeding happy; for I §"; "..."; "is say unto ſolº and very solemnly assure you of it, That many of the most eminent prophets 9f the Old Testament dispensation, and even of the most pious and illustrious kings whom God raised up to reign over his people, desired earnestly to have seen the things which Jou a His last circuit through Galilee.], St. Luke has given us a large the law obliged to attend this feast at Jerusalem, account of several occurrences in it, omitted by all the other, evange- that was the time and place. lists; and I think there can be no doubt but it must come in here. It c I saw Satan, &c.] *śk this answer to the seventy loses much of was despatched between the feast of tabernacles, and the dedication; its beauty, and propriety, unless we suppose Šatam tº lºve bºn the Unentioned John X. 22,% 134.) or between the months of September and prince of the demons they spoke of and also allow the refºc. hinj ecember-I call it his last, circuit, through,,Galilee, because it is at in the paraphrase, to the first fall of that rebejiious spirit. Compare strongly intimated, that after the gonclusion ºf it be returned thigher no 2 Pet. ii. 4. and jade vº. 6...for the ºmiº is 'secti.". §º º º, º j l t and John X. #Tiº some of º §º may consult the notes in the paraiſei Ull GKly bliter his resurrection, Whilch was the next Spring, We find five passages referred to, whic ~ - • , ſ , w * hundred brethren in Galilee. (I Cor: Xv. 6.) It is lºſſ pºstº. §: , which have been considered in their proper places might be converted in this journey; for we never find him attended by d :ºnd said, in the words, he had used on a former occasion.]—They greater multitudes, nor his enemies more alarmed, than about this are here repeated with evident propriety, in the view of that glorious time. * * & - - success which should attend these his despised servants, as the destined b The seventy disciples returned to him again.], I presume not to conquerors of the infernal legions, by whom thousands of the poor should determine where or when they met him; but considering they were by be inculit to receive the gospel. it seems most probable 192 - WHAT IS NECESSARY TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE. SECT. See, and did not see them; and to have heard the things which you hear, and did not hear which, ye see, and have not 106, them : remember then how much you are indebted to the divinë goodness, and let it be tº hº ... your care to make a suitable improvement of them. (Compare Matt. xiii. 16, 17. p. 124.) have not heard them. X. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.23 AND are not our obligations in some measure proportionable to theirs, while these glorious sights are reflected 24 to our eyes from the mirror of his word, and these glad tidings are echoed back to our ears! Have not we also 21 reason to adore the peculiar favour of God to us, and to admire the sovereignty of his love, that he has been pleased to reveal his Son in us, and has given to such babes as we must own ourselves to be, that spiritual knowledge of him which he has suffered to remain hidden from the great, the learned, and the wise; Even so, Father, must we also say, for so it seemed good in thy sight : thou hast mercy on whom thou wilt have mercy, and often exaltest the riches of thy grace, by the meanness and unworthiness of those on whom it is bestowed. 20 Have we reason to hope that our worthless names are written in heaven? let us often think of that glorious society amongst whom we are enrolled as members, and rejoice in the thought of those privileges which result from such a relation to it: privileges, in comparison of which, a power to heal diseases and eject demons with a word, would hardly deserve our joy. In a grateful sense of them, let us adore the grace which gave us a place in the Lamb's book of life, and be ever solicitous to behave in a manner worthy of so illustrious a hope. - 18, 19 We have great encouragement to expect that he before whom Satan fell like lightning from heaven, will enable us finally to trample on his power. Let us not servilely fear that condemned criminal, already marked with the scars of the divine vengeance; but let us cheerfully hope that the triumph over him will be renewed by the preaching of the gospel. Quickened by that hope, let us more earnestly pray that the ruin of his gloomy kingdom may be daily more and more apparent, especially among us; that our gracious Redeemer, who reckons the interest 21 of souls his own, may have renewed reason of joy and praise on that account. Exert, O blessed Jesus, thine own 22 almighty arm for that great ; and, as thou alone canst do it, reveal thine heavenly Father to those who, by neglecting thee, show that they know not him! SECTION CVII. Christ answers the scribe who asked what he should do to inherit fºº! life; gººd illustrates his answer by the parable of the good Samaritam. uke x. 25—37. LUKE x. 25. LUKE x. 25. $ECT. WHILE our Lord was discoursing in this manner with his seventy disciples, an assembly §ººl ºf 107. of people gathered round them; and behold, among the rest, a certain man, who was a jin.” Nºte:"...; lagºyer, or one of those scribes who made it their profession to study and teach the law of iº, I do to inherit eternal LUKE Moses, and to resolve many curious questions relating to it, rose up with a design to try " ' *...* him;” and, to judge of the skill of Jesus in divine matters, said, O thou great Master and * Teacher in Israel, what must I do that I may inherit that eternal life, which thou so frequently proposest as the main object of our pursuits, and which is indeed most worthy of them. 26 And Jesus, as he knew with what design he had proposed the question, wisely returned . 26 He said unto him, what it on himself, and said to him, What is written in the law, which thy profession must ...}}...,"**** * engage thee to have made thy study ? how dost thou find the case to be determined there? and what is it thou dost so frequently read there? -- 27 ...And he replying, said, It is there written as the sum of all the commandments, (Deut. T.º.º.º.º.; vi. 5. Lev. xix. iś.), “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all é. ºß thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thiné, understanding; thou shalt unite, all ºl. º * * - - thy strength, and with all thy the faculties of thy soul to render him the most intelligent and sincere, the most affec- ºbj tionate and resolute service; and thou shalt also love thy neighbour as sincerely and ** imºy as thou lovest thyself.” esus readily approved his answer; but was desirous to convince him at the same time Tº: * * - - - - a wº wº º Wer 3. how far he was from coming up to what the law required : and, in this view; he said to jºioſº ºi Hº. him, Thou hast answered right: do this, and thou shalt live; do it perfectly, and thou wilt have a legal claim to life; or cultivate this temper sincerely, and Godwill not leave thee finally to perish, but will give thee all necessary discoveries of his will in order to thine - eternal salvation. º - * * - - 29 But he, willing to justify himself as to the integrity of his inquiry, and to display the ºthº, ..º.º. virtue of his character, not at all doubting but he sufficiently understóód his duty to God, ſº *" said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour, whom by this latter precept I am obliged to joye? for I would fain know the whole of my duty, that I may practise it in all its extent. - - 80 And Jesus replying, spake the following parable, which was intended tº show, in the .*... ."º: most lively manner, that every human creature, who needs our assistance, is to be con: ºn for jºiojº sidered by us as our neighbour, of whatever nation, or faith, or profession he may be: and §"; º: he said, J., certain man of our own country went down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and, ºnent ºf woºded" hºn, passing through those wild deserts and dangerous roads," he fell amºng some of those cruel fººted, leaving him jobber; who so often assault such as travel that way: and these ruffians, having both plun- dered, stripped, and bound him, and having also pounded him, in a Cruel and dangerous 31 manner, ident off, leaving him half dead. And it happened, that while he was in these 31 And by chance there a With a design to him.] Dr. Barrow concludes it was with an each of the words used here: Otherwise I should think Kapóta, the injeń śi sãºhim; the question being so determined by the Jewish heart, a general expression, illustrated by the three fºllºwing wºrdsjerg; doctors, that for n différeº answer fig might have been accused of ºith all thy soul, (Luxms,) that is, with the warmest affection; and with §: ($º Barrow’s Works, vol. i. p. 221.) but I see no certain proof all thiſ strength, (igguo;..) that is, with the most vigorous resolution of of so §d an intenti Oſ). here 21 Vitri .ith great perti- the will; gºd.” all thine understanding, (6tavotas,) that is, taking care ºº::::::::::iº ºjº, nency observes, Lila w - * • In , x * * * ccordingly we may observe, . (iv. -> * * * * ': thy God, Šć. Yº". ºd Aft;"sº § mºhº;; the word avvcats is used instead of ôtavota. And º very word IS #. ºšč. É. still read by the §§ assembly, both in their jujº translated ºft Fº #. #: ‘... *Thi passeg and ºming prayers, and is called, from the, first Word ºf it, d Passing through those y; bbérie l dćrs w » is morſ, 1 ſ) g # majºečā'if, Pedahzur's Ceremonies of the JModern lºgs, gºº.” well chosen ; for, so many ro *. and murders wºre hejhº "iſº"; it is observable, they leave Qut that clause, Thou Committed on this road, which lay through a kind of wilderness, that p: #9, an h J. Q hºr as thyself s.º.º.º. ii.i."...i. i.". Jerome tells us it was called tºp in, the bloody way.—Jericho is said to # #. thly 7telg e have been seated in a valley, and thence is the phrase of going down '. Thou shalt unite all the faculties of thy soul, &c.] I º t * ºhbishop ſillotson, we may acquiesce in this, general segåe 9 §§ ºiâu? bºing solicitous to seek a particular distinct idea to 28 O 1 t- - - - e iſounded him in a cruel and dangerous manner;]. This is strongly implied in the expression mXmya; tıridevres, having laid on wounds. THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 193 tº ºpiº: deplorable circumstances, a certain priest went down that way, who was going to Jericho, SECT. #...isjº.º.o. where so many of that profession wére settled;ſ and though, by virtue of his sacred office, 107. side. he ought to have been a peculiar example of humanity to the afflicted, yet seeing him lie at some little distance, and being willing to avoid the trouble or expense which a more LUKE * - e. articular inquiry might have occasioned, he crossed [the road, and went on, proceeding in * wi: ; *i.º.º. his journey without any further notice. . .3ad in like manner too, a Levite, going that way, 32 &ame ºd looked on hiſ ind when he was at the place, just came and looked on this miserable object,8 and immediately *** *** side crossed and passed by, without doing anything at all for his relief. Ánd thus the distressed 33 ºjºſº, ºreatºre might have lain and perished, but for a certain Samaritan, who, as he was travel- ."º"...º."..."... ling the same way, came to the place where he was, and seeing him in this sad condition, hiº; he had compassion on though he might easily know, or at least guess, him to be a Jew; yet, notwithstanding the J. general hatred of these two nations to each other, he was moved with véry tender compassion bound up his wounds, pouring towards him: And going to him, he bound up his wounds in the best manner he could, 34 jiàº.º. when, as the only means he had to cure them, he had poured in some of the oil and wine # , ºº, which he had taken with him as part of the provisions for his journey; (compare Gen. him. to an inn, and took care .....::: - s - - * 5 º of him. xxviii. 18.) and setling him on his own beast, because he was incapable of walking, he held him up as he rode, and with the tenderest care brought him safely to an inn, where he had some acquaintance; and there took further care of him, that he should be lodged and accommodated in a proper manner that night. And the next morning as he departed from 35 the inn, he took out of his purse two denarii, or Roman pence, and gave them to the land- lººd aiduºhiº, Take lord of the house; and at the same time said to him, Take all possible care of this poor care of him : and whatsoever * - thºu’sºidstºni wounded stranger, and let him want for nothing; and whatsoever more thou shalt spend on come again I will repay thee his account, I will repay thee as I come back. - 36 which now of these . .Now, said our Lord to the lawyer he was discoursing with, which of these three persons, 36 ºbºt ºf the priest, the Levite, or the compassionate Samaritan, dost thou think was the neighbour of igh to him that fell - - º, nº e ii. poor man that fell among the robbers ? And he said, Undoubtedly it was"he that had Then 37 37 And he said, He that mercy upon him, notwithstanding he was a person of another nation and religion. j.º.º.g. said Jesus to him, If this seem so amiable an example to thee, go, and do thou likewise; "" and if thou findest even a Samaritan in the like distress, consider him as thy neighbour, and as cheerfully perform all these beneficent and friendly offices to him: for those pre- do thou likewise. tensions to religion are but vain which do not inspire men with such universal humanity and benevolence. 34 And went to him, and 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two |. and gave them to the IMPROVEMENT. OF how great importance is it that we should every one of us be in good earnest making this inquiry which the scribe addressed to our Lord, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life 2 What ought we not willingly to Ver.25 do, and to bear, that we may secure so great a felicity ? Still will our Lord answer us from his word, that we must 26 keep the commandments of God, while we are looking to him as the end of the law for righteousness; (Rom. x. 4.) Happy are they that faithfully do it, that through the grace manifested in the gospel, they may have a right to eat of the tree of life! (Rev. xxii. 14.) - May this abstract and summary of the commandments be written, as it were, in golden characters, on the table of each of our hearts! May we love the Lord our God with all the united powers and faculties of our souls, and 27 our neighbour as sincerely and fervently as ourselves! And may we learn, from this beautiful parable of the good. Samaritan, to exercise our charity to our fellow-creatures in the most amiable manner! The Jewish priest and Levite had, no doubt, the ingenuity to find out some excuse or other for passing over to 31, 32 the other side; and might, perhaps, formally thank God for their own deliverance, while they left their brother to bleed to death for want of their assistance. Is it not an emblem of many living characters, perhaps of some whose sacred office lays them under the strongest obligations to distinguished benevolence and generosity ? But the good 33 Samaritan acted the part of a brother to this expiring Jew. ... O seed of Israel, O house of Levi, and of Aaron I will not the day come when the humane virtues of heathens shall rise up in judgment against thee! - Let us reflect with shame, what are the differences between one christian and another when compared with those 34, 35 between a Samaritan and a Jew! Yet here the benevolence of a good heart overcame even these ; and, on the view of a wounded, dying man, forgot that he was by nation an enemy. Whose heart does not burn within him, whose eyes do not overflow with tears of delight, while he reads such a story P Let us go and do likewise, regard- 37 ing every man as our neighbour who needs our assistance. Let us exclude every malignant sentiment of bigotry and party-zeal, which would contract our hearts into an insensibility for all the human race but a little select num- ber, whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self-love reflected. With an honest openness of mind, let us always remember the relation between man and man, and feel and cultivate that happy instinct by which God, who has formed our hearts in many instances alike, has, in the original consti- tution of our nature, strongly and graciously bound them to each other. SECTION CVIII. Christ visits his friends at Bethany, and commends the diligence with which Aſary attends his preaching, while her sister Martha was too anxious about the entertainment of her guests. Luke X. 3S, to the end. SECT LUKE x. 38. : LUKE x. 38. - e - - - s 10S. Yºlº, ABOUT this time” our Lord quitted Jerusalem, and set out with his disciples on his last *** ****journey from thence to Galilee, the feast of tabernacles (as was observed above) being fully * f Where so many of that profession were settled.] See Lishtfoot's Hur. ffebr; in loc. where he produces a passage from a considerable Jewish writer, to prove that twelve thousand priests and Levites dwelt at Jericho; which, if it had any shadow and degree of truth, vindicates the paraphrase, and shows how naturally the priest and Levite were here introduced, without any reflection on their office. . - g Came and looked on this miserable object.] This is the import of eXboy kat ióðv, as Raphelius has shown in his Mot. ex: Xen. p. h ºff certain Samaritan.] It is admirably well judged, to represgnt the distress on the side of the Jew, and the merey on that of the Sa- maritan; for self-interest would make thern see how amiable such a conduct was, and lay them open to our Lord’s inference, ver. 37. Had it been put the other way, prejudices might more easily haye interposed before the heart could have been struck with these tender circumstances. i Notwithstanding the hatred of these two nations to cach other.] See note. g., on John iv. 9. § 29, p. 63. Some writers tell us, this hatred arose so high, that if a Jew and a Samaritan met in a narrow way, they were exceedingly solicitous that they might pass without touching each other for fear of pollution on each side. If this was fact, it is a beautiñi illustratism of the humanity of this good Samaritan, who would not only touch this Jew, but took so much pains to dress his wounds, and to set him on his own beast, supporting him in his arms as he rode, as well as making such generous provision for him at the inn. k Bound up his wounds, &c.] As the Jew was stripped by the robbers, ver. 30. we may probably suppose the Samaritan used some of his own garments for this purpose ; which was a farther instance of wonderſul goodness, perhaps tearing them to make a more convenient bandage. Of the use the ancients made of wine and oil in dressing fresh wounds, see Bos. Exerc. p. 24. and Wolfius on this text. 1 Tuco demarii, or Roman pence.] These were in value about fifteen pence of our money. It is a very probable circumstance, that a man travelling without any attendants, and now going out to a considerable distance from home, should not have more to spare, especially as he was to travel through so dangerous a road ; and so it &ălă have been very imprudent to chârge himself with much more money than he was like to want in his journey; which would be the less, as it was usual for travel- lers in those parts to carry their provision with them. Coimpare Gen. xxviii. 18. and Josh. ix. 12, 13. a About this time.] I express myself in this indeterminate main her as to the date of this little but very instructive story, because I appre nd 25 194 ſt ECT. 10S. ‘...tſ KE X - * * 40 CHRIST'S VISIT TO HIS FRIENDS AT BETHANY. concluded. Wow it came to pass, as they were on their journey, he entered, with many of certain village; and a certain his attendants, into a certain neighbouring village called Bethany; (compare John xi. 1, .º.º.” Sect. cxxxix.) and a certain pious woman, whose name was JMartha, with the most cheerful 4- hospitality received him into her house, thinking herself greatly honoured by such a visit. - .#nd she had g sister called Mary, who, being earnestly desirous to improve this happy 39 And she had a sister oppºrtunity of advancing in divine knowledge and a religious temper, sat down at the feet ºil; - * - - - - - e > of Jesus, as an humble disciple;b and heard with most diligent and pleasing attention his Wojº" “” “"“” wise and gracious discourse, which, as his usual practice was, he began, as soon as he came In, to address to those that were about him. But Martha, too solicitous about the variety and elegance of the entertainment, she in- - tended for her sacred Guest and the company with him, was exceedingly hurriedº and º, ...", ºi, perplexed about much serving ; and coming in to the room where Jesus was, she, not without ºf some warmth and discontent, expressed how much she was offended at her sister's sitting jºi. still, and said, Lord, dost thow not mind that my sister has left me to provide and serve up she help me. the entertainment alone, which is more than I can well manage; while she sits here as calmly as if she had no concern in it? I would not take upon me to call her away from thy presence myself, but I beg that thou wouldst interpose in the matter; speak to her 40 But Martha was cum- therefore, that she may lend her helping hand with mine,” and let her then sit down to hear 41 42 thee discourse when the entertainment is over. ..?nd Jesus in reply said to her, O Martha, Martha, thow art over anrious and disturbed 41 And Jesus answered and with restless agitation of spirit” about many things which are not worth so much solicitude, i. "...hº. Mººi and might well have been spared on such an occasion as this: But let me tell thee, my trºgºś dear friend, that there is one thing absolutely necessary, and of infinitely greater importance Añ §§"º"; than any of these domestic and secular cares; even the care to have the soul instructed in º. i.) not be -: - - - • 4- a w- aken away from her. the saying knowledge of the way that leads to eternal life, and to secure a title to it: and Ji?ary is wisely attending to that; therefore, instead of reproving her, I must rather declare that she has chosen what may eminently be called the good part,5 which as it shall not be finally taken away from her, I would not now hinder her from pursuing; but rather invite thee to join with her in her attention to it, though the circumstances of our intended meal should not be so exactly adjusted as thy fond friendship could desire. - IMPROVEMENT. Ver.38 So steadily and zealously did our blessed Lord pursue his work, with such unwearied diligence and constant 39 affection | 40 No sooner is he entered into the house of this pious friend, but he sets himself to preach the word of salvation, and is the same in the parlour which he had been in the temple. O Mary, how delightful was thy situa- tion! Who would not rather have sat with thee at the feet of Jesus, to hear his wisdom, than have filled the throne of the greatest prince upon earth! Blessed were thine eyes in what they saw, thine ears in what they heard, and thine heart in what it received and embraced, and treasured up as food which would endure to everlasting life How unhappily was her good sister deprived of the entertainment of these golden moments, while hurried about meats and drinks, and tables with their furniture, till she lost not only her opportunity, but her temper too; as it is indeed hard to preserve it without a resolute guard, amidst the crowd and clamour of domestic cares! Happy that mistress of a numerous family who can manage its concerns with the meekness and composure of wisdom, and adjust its affairs in such a manner, as that it may not exclude the pleasures of devotion, and cut her off from the means of religious improvement! Happy the man who, in a pressing variety of secular business, is not so cumbered and careful as to forget that one thing which is absolutely needful; but resolutely chooses this better part, and retains it as the only secure and everlasting treasure Oh that this comprehensive important sentence were ever before our eyes! Oh that it were inscribed deep upon our hearts One thing is needful. And what is this one thing but the care of the soul? what, but an humble attention to the voice and the gospel of Christ? Yet, as if this were of all things the most unnecessary, for what poor trifling care is it not commonly forgot? yea, to what worth- less vanity is it not daily sacrificed ? Let the ministers of Christ, let the friends of souls in every station, exert themselves, that all about them may be awakened duly to regard this great interest; accounting it their meat and their drink to promote it. Let them be always solicitous that neither they nor others may neglect it for the hurries of too busy a life, or even for the services of an over-officious friendship. - - SECTION CIX. Christ being entreated by his discº to teach them to pray, repeats with some additions the instructions and encouragements relating to that uty whieh he had formerly given in his sermon on the mount. Luke xi. 1–13. LUKE xi. 1. OUR Lord then leaving Bethany, went on his way; dividing his time, as usual, between the care of teaching his numerous followers and the exercises of secret devotion. ...And as he was one day praiſing in a certain retired place, when he had ended one of his disciples said #.º 4. le.i. º: to him, Lord, we desire thou wouldst teach us to pray, and give us some short form which jjalsº aught his disciples. SECT. 109. EUKE LUKE xi. 1. AND it came to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one assistance which º; Spirit of God gives to the infirmities of our frail the evangelist has not exactly determined when it happened, which it - - - nature. Rom. viii. ? was of no importance for us exactly to know. It might very possibly be just at this time ; at least the want of any sufficient reason for trans- posing it, obliges me, on the rules I have laid down to myself, to intro- duce it here. - - - b Sat down at the feet of Jesus, as an humble disciple..] It is well known that this was the posture in which learners attended on their teachers, (compare Luke viii. 33. and Acts Xxii. 3.) and likewise grew into a proverb for humble and diligent attention. ... See the authors cited by Wolfius, in loc. and especially Vitringa, Synag. lib. i. part 2. CCIP. O. º Was exceedingly hurried.] The word Teptcarazo properly signifies to be drawn (as it were) different ways at the same time, and admirably - with so many objects of expresse S of a §. to to first. She had probably servants to these affairs; and the humility O 11t would have taken up with what ed: especially as she had so valuable SO 3. In improving her Inind in divine knowledge. - - - Y 1 - ... • - d ſend her helping hand weith nine.] This is the exact import of 3 rºyay-t} ºff n+at, which is also with the utmost propriety used for the e Disturbed with restless agitation of spirit..] The word rupſ?ačn is no where else used in the New Testament. It seems to express the rest- less situation of a person in a tumultuous crowd, where so many age pressing upon him that he can hardly stand his ground; or of water in great agitation. - - - f - - f There is one thing absolutely necessary : évos ée est xpera.] This is one of the gravest and most important apophthegms that Yer Was uttered; and one can scarce pardon the frigid impertinenge of The9phy: lact *Basil, who explain it as if he had only meant, One dish of meat tº 6/10 ug/l. * * & g The good part.] That pepts signifies a portion, there can be no reasonable doubt; but that here is any allusion to the custom of sending the best portion of an entertainment to a guest to whom peculiar honour was intended, seems too great a refinement, and not exactly suitable, to the occasion, though some considerable critics have defended it. (See Wolfius, in loc, and Elsner, Observ. vol. i. p. 225, 226.) I think render- ing Tny aya&nv peptóa, the good part, is more forcible, as well as more literal, than our translation; as it intimates nothing else to deserve th9 º of a good part when compared with this. Compare Matt. xix. 17. § 137. CHRIST TEACHES HIS DISCIPLES TO PRAY. - --- 195 may be proper for our frequent use, as John also taught his disciples,” and other leading men SECT. ôf the several religious sects among us have taught theirs. * ...And he said to them, JWhen you pray, you may use that form which I before have given as a comprehensive model and directory for prayer, (See Matt. vi. 9–13. p. 83.) and Saº in your addresses to God, “O God of the spirits of all flesh,b who dwellest in the high and holy place, with humble reverence we bow before thee, and with a filial confidence in thy mercy, and mutual love unto each other, we would look up to thee as to our God and Father, who with the most amazing grace and condescension art ready to attend unto the supplications of thy children from thy throne in heaven: we adore thee as possessed of infinite perfections; and as our first concern is for thy glory, we offer it as our first request, JMay thy name be every where sanctified; may thy perfections be displayed through all the world, and be regarded with the highest veneration And that the honour of thy Majesty : may be thus exalted, May thy kingdom come which thou hast promised to establish under . • the Messiah; may thy victorious grace be universally triumphant over all thine enemies, - and thy people be willing in the day of thy power! And, as an evidence of its efficacy on the hearts of men, May thy holy will be dome, as it is constantly in heaven, so likewise upon earth; and be as cheerfully submitted to, as fully acquiesced in, and readily obeyed in all things, as it is possible for us in this imperfect state to imitate those heavenly spirits who diº; ... day by das our delight in doing thy commandments, and hearkening to the voice of thy word! During & our continuance here on earth we would not be solicitous to seek great things for ourselves, but humbly beg that thou wouldst give us day by day our daily bread, and wouldst supply us, as our wants return upon us, with such a competent provision of the necessaries of life as may enable us to serve thee acceptably, and to attend without distraction and uneasi- 4 And, forgive us our sins; ness to the performance of our duty. . .4nd, though the guilt of our iniquities might justly flºº.º.º.º. § separate between thee and us, and withhold good things from us, we earnestly entreat thee lººtion; to extend thy mercy to us, and to forgive us all our sins; for even we, the bowels of whose & mercy cannot be compared with thine, are willing to forgive every one that is indebted to us, and desire to pardon all that have injured us: and, to prevent us for the time to come from falling into sin, bring us not into circumstances that will expose us to the danger of temptation, nor suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear; but keep us by thy grace from all iniquity, and rescue us from the power of the evil one, that he may never triumph in our fall, and we may finally be saved from all the ruinous effects of sin.” º ...And when he thus had taught them what they were to pray for, in order to excite and 5 §§ §nº encourage them to a believing importunity in prayer, he said to them, Who is there of you #!"; ; ; ; that has not observed the efficacy of importunate requests? If, for instance, he shall have ºpen". “ a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and knock at his door, and say to him, Friend, I § For a friend of mine in desire thou wouldst lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine, who was benighted on his 6 jº. '... ', 'journey, is just come to my house, and being altogether unprovided, I have nothing to set before *ion withinshan before him for his refreshment: And he from within, instead of granting his request imme- 7 ansºr'. ºi... diately, shall at first be unwilling to do it, and answer him, and say, Do not disturb ºne at º, so late an hour; for the door is now shut and fastened, and my children are with me in-bed and my children are with me g wº 3 7 - + - - in bei, i cannot isé and give and asleep; so that I cannot rise to give thee what thou askest. . Yet if he still go on to 8 º say unto you, Though press him that he would consider his necessity and comply with his request, I tell you, he will not rise and give him though he would not rise and give him the loaves that he desired, because he was his neigh- i: ; ; ;"; bour and friend, yet on account of his importunity, as he continues knocking, and will take º him as no denial, he ſeill at length get up and give him as many as he wants. Now then, if one 9 And isºtoyou, Ask, who was at first unwilling to régard his friend, was overcome at last by his continued ...jºhº earnestness, and yielded to his importunity, much more will God, who is infinitely good and it hiſ be opened into and rich in mercy, though he may not see fit to answer you immediately, be certainly pre- YOU!. - vailed upon at length to give you what you stand in need of, if you continue to be earnest and importunate in your prayers to him: and I say therefore to you, Whatever mercy you desire to obtain, ask it of God with a continued fervency, and it shall assuredly be given you; seek it with diligence, and you shall find it; and if it be awhile delayed, knock with an earnest importunity at the door of divine mercy, and it shall at length be opened to you. 10 For every one that ask. And the success of others may encourage you to this, as what indeed has been confirmed 10 sºi, º, . by happy and constant experience: for every one that asks with an unwearied fervency, seeketh findeth ; and to him ‘’J *: tº * * * #. e *- . -- * • * that knocket, it "shat!"bé receives; and he that diligently seeketh, findeth ; and to him that knocks again and again, opened. though for a while there may be some delay, it shall at length be opened. (Compare Matt. vii. 7, 8. sect. xlii.) 11 If a son shall ask bread ...And, further to assist your faith in these occasions, reflect upon the workings of your 11 $º.º.º.º.º.º. own hearts towards your offspring, and consider, PFhat father is there among you who if a if iºns; a fish, will is for a son of his shall ask him for bread, will give him a stone? or if ſhe ask] him for a fish, instead *śrºñº, age of a fish will give him d serpent? Or if he ask him for an egg, will be so unnatural as to 12 will he offer him a scorpion? give him a scorpion 2 and in the room of what is necessary for the support of life, will offer 13 If ye then, being, cyjl, him a thing that would be useless or injurious to him. If you then, who are at least com- 13 § {..."...º...?"; paratively evil, and perhaps some of you inclined to a penurious and morose temper, yet rºugh mºre shall ºr he know how to give good gifts to your children, and find your hearts disposed to relieve their -- sº §§§ * *. returning necessities by a variety of daily provisions; how much more shall [your] heavenly . Father, who is infinitely powerful and gracious, and who himself has wrought these dis- positions in you, be ready to bestow every necessary good, and even to give the best and - the most excellent gift of all, his Holy Spirit, to them that sincerely and earnestly ask him for it, to produce and cherish in their hearts those graces which may fit them for the services of life, and for the joys of an happy immortality? (Comparé Matt. vii. 9–11. p. 87.) - 2. And he said unto them, When ye, pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, ballowed be thy name: thy ingdom come : thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 4 5 And he said unto then, I09. LUKE XI. a Jºs John also taught his disciples.] Many learned men suppose that the Jewish masters used to give their followers some short form of rayer, as a pecutiar badge of their relation to them. This John the Baptist had probably done, though we know not now what it was. And in this view only can we suppose the disciples could now ask Jesus to teach them to pray : for it is not to be thought, that in the three preced- ing years of his iministry, he had not often given them instructions both as to the matter and manner of prayer. In this sense Mr. Joseph Mede and Dr. Lightfoot understand the request and answer before us; and I have never met with any thing upon it which has given me more, satis- faction, See Mede’s Pſorks, p. 1, 2, and Lightfoot's Hor. Heb; in log. od, &c.] I think it but justice to the reverend Air, Godwin to let the reader know that this paraphrase on the 2d, 3d, and 4th verses was written by him. I had here only given a translation, having paſſ- phrased this excellent prayer before in Š40, the notes on which mily be consulted here. * * * $. c Who is there qf you that has not observed the efficacy ºf importuºſº requests?] The words in the original do not make a complete grâmmuti- 196 SECT. 109. LUKE Ver. I 2, 3, 4 9, 10 SECT. 110. LUKE XI. 3S 39 40 41 42 CHRIST DINES AT THE HOUSE OF A PHARISEE. IMPROVEMENT. WELL does this petition become every disciple of Christ, Lord, teach us to pray! Thou hast taught us by thine example, and by the precepts of thy word; teach us also by thine Holy Spirit! Excellent is this form of sound and divine words which our great Master here recommends. God forbid that any of his followers should censure their brethren, who think it still proper to use it, not only as a directory but as a form too, though perhaps with Some little variation from the original sense of some clauses of it.d Let us attentively study it, that, concise and expressive as it is, our thoughts may go along with its several petitions. Let us learn to reverence and love God, and to consider ourselves as brethren in his family. Letthe glory of his name, and the prosperity of his kingdom, be much dearer to us than any separate interest of our own. Let it be our goºdial desire that his will may be universally obeyed, and with the most entire consent of soul acquiesced in by all his creatures, both in heaven and on i. Let our appetites and passions be so moderated, that having even the plainest food and raiment, we may be there with content: and, on the other hand, how plentiful soever Our Gircumstances may be, let us remember, that day by day we depend on God for our daily bread. Nor do we need even the most necessary supplies of life more than we need daily pardon; to which, therefore, we should be putting in our constant claim, heartily forgiving all our brethren, as we desire to be forgiven by God. Conscious of our own weakness, let us, as far as we can, endeavour to avoid circumstances of temptation; and when neces- sarily led into them, let us be looking up to heaven for support; labouring above all things to preserve our integrity, and to maintain a conscience void of offence. Depending on the certainty of these gracious promises, and encouraged by the experience of so many thousands who have on asking received, and on seeking found, let us renew our importunate addresses to the throne of divine ace; and, remembering the compassion of our heavenly Father, let us be imboldened, in the full assurance of aith, to ask every necessary blessing; especially the communication of that enlightening and sanctifying Spirit, without which our corrupt hearts will find out a ready way to abuse the choicest of his providential favours to the dishonour of his holy name, and the deeper wounding of our own miserable souls. - SECTION CX. Our Lord dining at the house of a Pharisee, seriously admonishes him and his brethren of º; * guilt and danger; by which they are exasperated rather than reformed. Luke xi. 37, to the end. - - LUKE xi. 37. LUKE xi. 37. JN'OW, after our Lord had delivered these things, it happened one day, that while he was AND as he spake, a certain speaking to the people about the great concerns of their eternal salvation,” a certain Pharisee º'º. then present invited him to dine with him ; and, with whatever view he might do it, Jesus, and sat down to meat. that he might not seem morose, or insensible of a civility, accepting the offer, went in to his house, and sat down to table. ./lnd when the Pharisee who had invited him saw that he was regardless of the tradition 38 And when the Pharisee of the elders, and did not first wash before dinner, according to the constant custom of their ... .º.º.º. sect, he wondered [at it, considering the character he had for an extraordinary degree of dinner. SanctiiW. º, Lord, perceiving his thoughts, and knowing that in some circumstances a faithful reproof is the most valuable token of friendship and gratitude, said to him, As I See *..." are now offended at my neglecting the ceremony of washing before dinner, I can- not but plainly tell you, that you Pharisees are too much like those vain people that cleanse only the outside of the cup and the dish, while the inside, which is of much greater import- ance, is left dirty and foul; for with regard to many of you, your inward part, even your very heart and conscience, is defiled, being full of rapine, and of all the foulest kinds of ollution and wickedness. But let me seriously ask you, O ye thoughtless creatures, and et me charge you that ye ask yourselves, Did not he that made the outside, make also that which is ...; 2 Did not the same God that created the body, create the soul too? and must he not intimately know his own work, and discern and abhor all those secret abomi- nations, which, in contempt of his omniscience, you study so artfully to conceal from your fellow-creatures P. (Compare Psal. xciv. 8, 9.) I would therefore, from the sincerest concern for your true honour and happiness, exhort you, not only to purge yourselves from secret wickedness, but to abound in the exercise of universal goodness, and particularly to give alms with liberality in proportion to your substance:* and then, if it be done from a right º behold, God, the great Proprietor of all, will accept and bless you; and though you should not be so exact in this outward washing, all things are pure to you, so that you may use them with comfort; whereas now you do, as it were, pollute and profane every thing you touch, and all the water in the world cannot wash away the stain. (See Tit. i. 15.). - But alas, you seem little disposed to attend to this kind and faithful advice; and there- fore my character obliges me solemnly to warn you of those approaching judgments 39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees Inake clean the outside of the cup and the platter: but your inward part, is full of raven- ing and wickedness. 40 Ye fools; did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also f 4] But rather give alms of sugh things as ye have ; and, behold, all things are clean Unto you. 42 But woe unto you, Pha- of those circumstances, I thought it was all I have said above to introduce the section before us will be true on cal sentence : but such accidental inaccuracies are sometimes to be found in the most approved authors. The sense is not the less plain. d With some little variation from the original sense, &c.] Dr. Guyse has excellently shown, in his note on Matt. xi. 13. that this prayer in its original sense was peculiarly suited to the dispensation then present, as introductory to the Messiah’s kingdom, and has given a Just and very ex- pressive paraphrase of it in that particular view. But there is not a clause in it which will not bear a more oxtensive sense, and express what ought to be our daily temper, and the breathings of our heart before God, No doubt, thousands of christians have daily refreshment and edification in the use of it; and it is astonishing that any should venture to condemn their brethren for it. But I would hope there are few of any profession now remaining, who have so Imuch the spirit of opposition and cen- SOr 10 US]] GSS. a. It hº one day, that chile he icas speaking, §: The attentive reader will easily observe that I have here omitted what occurs from the end of the 13th, to the beginning of the 37th verse. That passage is inserted, § 61-54. as being exactly parallel to Matt. xii. 32, et seq. and Mark iii.22, et scq. Nor could I see any proof that the same discourse, with just the very same circumstances, happened again here; and as this seemed improbable, in proportion to the variety and resemblance * , e. better thus to transpose Luke’s story, than to take the repetition for granted.—The phrase £y 3: Pro XaXma'at, while he woas speaking, will, I think, fairly admit the turn I have given it in, the paraphrase ; but if any judge otherwise, it will be ..yºr ** *r = }***: to the passage as inserted before, p. 116, et seq. and that supposition. g & ye thoughtless creatures...] As agpovcs is a milder word than popot, I choose to render, it thus, rather than as in our translation. (See note In, on Matt. v. 22. p. 78.). The learned Elsnør (Observ. vol. i. }}. 227.) explains the latter part of the verse as if it had been said, “There is a great deal of difference between cleaning the outside, and cleaning that which is within, and no such, neggssary connexion between them as you seem to suppose.” To justify this, he urges 2 Sqn. xix. 24. and one passage in Aristophancs, where Totely signifies to cleanse; but the sense is so unusual, and that commonly received so much more lively and important, that I could not persuade Inyself to deviate from our translation here. g - c In proportion to your substance..] Thus Grotius inderstands it. The learned Bos (Ezercit. p. 26.) has I, think, abundantly proved the words ra gºoyra (for kara 7& evovra) will very justly admit this sense, and are thus used by some of the best Greek classics. No other seems to agree so well with the connexion; not even that ingenious turn of Raphelius, (Annot. ex: Xen. p. 93–96.) who explains Ia evoura, by To earog Tov Tormptov Kat 7ms Tapoupiðos, Matt., xxiii. 26, or that which is within the cito and dish, as if it had been said, “Give meat to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, and make a liberal distribution of thºse things t are noińin the cup and the dish.” But the last view in which To eggfley had been mentioned, was, as expressing the temper, of the heart, ºver. 40.) which is a strong objection against this great man’s interpretation. CHRIST ADMONISHES THE PHARISEES OF THEIR GUILT AND DANGER. 197 risees for ye tithe mint and which, if speedy repentance does not prevent, will shortly overtake yºur whole sect, SECT. .*.*.*.*.* numerous and honoured as it is. Woe therefore unto you, Pharisees fºr, to gain the 110. ºğ admiration of the priests and the people, you most scrupulously pay the tithe of mint and º; jºid.” “ rue, and every [other] trifling herb that grows in your gardens, and expect to recommend º yourselves tº the divine acceptance by such kind of observances; but, at the same time, 42 you shamefully pass by and carelessly neglect the practice of righteous judgment to Your fellow-creatures, and of the love of God your Creator, as if they were matters of but little importance; whereas indeed these are the duties that you more especially ought to have w done; and yet, I own, you ought not to neglect the other, as even the least of God's com- mands are to be revered and obeyed. (See Matt. v. 19.) * 43 Woe unto you, Phari- Woe unto you, Pharisees, on account of your pride, which appears on every occasion, 43 ;...º.º. and in every affair of life! for you love the uppermost seats in all assemblies, even in the and greetings in the markets. iſſ§: * . to º: yº º,º: iº *::: salutatoms un the markets and other public places, 1LIeS O RIT ed respect, as the #. and fathers of the º º oracles of 'º. and the †† of holiness. Compare Matt. xxiii. 6—10. sect. clvii. - - 44 woe unto you, scribes Woe unto you also, O ye scribes and Pharisees, on account of your deceit, as under all 44 º, Pºisºº; those appearances of the strictest sanctity you are the most egregious hypocrites of the age!d or ye are as graves Which e- es - º - ri appear noi, and the men that for I may truly say that you are like concealed graves,” which, being overgrown with grass, yºkºrum are not aware ſº º 㺠#. of [them, till they stumble at them, and are hurt, or at y the touch of them. * - - - nº. .And one of the doctors of the law, who happened to be present, observing that in this 45 iſ."º,"äu".; last woe Jesus mentioned the scribes, who were a body of men to whom he and his thou reproachest us also brethren belonged, answered and said unto him, Master, in saying these things, thou re- - proachest not only the sect of the Pharisees, but us too, in a manner unbecoming the dignity of our holy profession, as the depositaries of the sacred oracles. - 46 And he said, Woe unto . But Jesus was so far from palliating the matter to ingratiate himself with them, that he 46 §:{}}.}}º plainly and courageously said, Nay, it is a righteous rebuke, and I intend it for you, and ous to be borne, and ye your- therefore particularly repeat it for your admonition: Woe unto you also, ye professed inter- ºś flººden {. of the law 1 for, by your rigorous decisions on the ceremonial parts of it, and the uman traditions which you have added to it, you load other men with º; burdens, and unmercifully lay them on, while you yourselves will not touch the burdens with one of your fingers,” but suffer your lives to contradict your precepts, even in some of the most important instances. #"; ; ; ; I also solemnly denounce a woe unto you all, for the malignity and cruelty of your 47 ; ;”; º; tempers under this mask of piety and dévotion! for at a great expense you build and §ºem. adorn the sepulchres of the prophets, as if you had a mighty veneration and affection for tºº. §ajº them, though your fathers slew them. But as you are regardless of the instructions that 48 .#bºjšje; the prophets gave, and appear in your conduct to imitate your fathers, truly you bear wit– jº ye build mess to them, rather than against them, and in effect º and vindicate the works of e jour ſº ;h for as | indeed slew them, and §, º their º i. yº. Imagine that you erected these monuments not so much in honour of the slaughtered pro- phets, as of the persecutors by whom they were so wickedly destroyed. (Compare Matt. xxiii. 29–32. sect. clviii. ºf gººd ºf . Therefore also the wisdom of God hath, said, and I am in his name commissioned to 49 $."...hº..."...a..j. declare it as his determinate purpose, I will yet send them other prophets and extraordinary sº shall .*.*i. the a oº:: 3. * º: i. gº toº; . the ºex- pequent for their recovery and salvation: but suc OW to De the narC IneSS Of the] I' hearts, that they will º despise and reject them; nay, [some] of them they will kill, 50 That the blood of all the and will persecute the rest: So that by filling up the measure of their sins, they will bring 50 .."; i.d.º.º. such a terrible destruction upon themselves, that the blood of all the prophets and martyrs jº, required of which has been cruelly shed from the foundation of the world, may seem to be required of Šišjāood of Abel, this generation : Even from the blood of righteous Abel, who in those early ages for his 51 §. *...}}}.} º; distinguished piety was murdered by his inhuman brother, to the blood of Zechariah, one ità, and hºtemjeºverily of the last of the prophets, who was slain between the altar and the temple. (2 Chron. xxiv. #...!?!?!'...nº 20–22.) Yea, in the strongest terms I tell you, and repeat it again, The ruin God will required of this generation. bring upon you in his righteous judgment shall be so dreadful, that it shall seem as if the uilt of all their blood had been laid up in store, that it might be required at the hands of this sº and heap aggravated ruin on their heads. (Compare Matt. xxiii. 34– 36, sect. clviii. 52 Woe unto you, lawyers . And I will add, that the disguises thrown on Scripture, and the methods used to con- 52 ceal it from the people, have done a great deal to bring on this terrible sentence: woe wr- d O ye scribes and Pharisees ºft. Though some copies want This seems to prove against Trigland, (de Karais, p. 58, ct seq.) that these words, and Grotius and Dr. Mill give them up, I think Dr. Whitby these lawyers were not Karajtes; for these added not traditionary bur- is right in retaining them; ºftºp because they so much illustrate dens to the law. - - - verse 45...See Whitb, Eram. JMill, p. 46. - - .h. And in effect approve and vindicate the works of your fathers.] Arch- e..Are like concealed graves...]. The discourse against the Pharisees, bishop Tillºtson (vol. ii. p.195,196.) has set, this text in a most strong which is recorded Mlatt. xxiii. (§ 157, 15S.) was 8.4% delivered at and beautiful light, and 'iº the turn which I have given it in the another time, and, in very different circumstances. , Our Lord there com- paraphrase. - - pares them to 7phited sepulchres, ver. 27. adorned on the outside, but i Therefore also the trisdom ºf God hath said.] Dr. Guyse (with Markius, defiled within ; but here to graces overgrown with grass, which might Excrc. p. 669.), paraphrases this clause as the words of the historian, and often happen to be by the way-side; (compare; Gen. xxxv. 19.) and so supposes him here to apply this character to Christ, and to declare that might occasion such accidents as are here referred to. Çllºist, the pisdom of God, further said, I will send them prophets, &c.—ſ f One of the doctors ºf the law.] I apprehend that woulkos may well be doubt not but Christ might with great propriety be spoken of by that rendered a dogtor or interpreter of the late ; which I generally choose, Fº : but, with all due respect to that Yº. and pious interpreter, rather than the word lawyer, because that naturally suggests to us a cannot apprehend it to be the sense of this passage; not only because modern idea of an office which did not exist among the Jews at this time, the Pºlº is unexampled in the evangelists, but chiefly because and has strangely misled some interpreters. These Jewish lawyers (as 99r Lord does not say...I.Señd to pow; but to illem. Yet I see no reason our translation calls them) were the most considerable species of scribes, to conclude (with Mr. Whiston, in his Essay for restoring the Old Tes- who applied themselves peculiarly to study and explain the law. Pro’ tament, p. 228.), that this is a quotation from any ancient writer. Christ bably many of them were, Pharisees; but it was no ways essential to Was empowered, without any such voucher, to declare what the counsels their office that they should be so. What touched the person here speak of divine wisdom had determined; and this manner of speaking strongly ing was, that our Lord in his last woe, ver, 44. had joined the scribes intimates that he was so; in which view it has, on this interpretation, a with the Pharisees. a - peculiar beauty and propriety. g Will not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.] Perhaps their k . The blood of Zechariah..] What reason there is to conclude the consciences might charge them with some private contempt of the in- Zechariah here spoken of is that prophet of whose death we have an junctions º most rigorously imposed upon others, in ceremonial pre- account in 3 Chron. xxiv. 30, et se. Will be shown in note g, on Matt gepts, as well as moral; or it may refer to the want of a due tenderness xxiii. 35. 3 is8. for the comfort of men’s lives, which they imbittered by such rigour, - 198 7 * * * sECT. therefore unfo you, interpreters of the law, on this account!, for by these unrig' 110. practices you have as it were taken away the key of divine knowledge; and instead of § 1URE Oracles bear to him, you have rather abetted the popular prejudices against him; and have IX- CHRIST CAUTIONS HIS DISCIPLES AGAINST HYPOCRISY. itſeous for ye have taken away the ºwlsº iſ: enºi * - s - - - ... • * * • - - not in yourselves, an tracing out a spiritual Messiah in Scripture, and illustrating the testimony which the sacred tºwere entering in y ye hundere been so perverse and obstinate in your opposition to the gospel, as that you have not entered 52 - - - * - ** in to the kingdom of heaven yourselves, and even those that otherwise were disposed to do 5 54 ceptionable topics : Thereby laying snares for him, and attempting, Ver.3 3 9 it, and would have entered in, jou by your wicked management have hindered. - But while he spake these severé and awful things with, so much freedom to them, the tº: as, he said these scribes and Pharisees were so exceedingly provoked, that they began fiercely to fasten upon ..."."; "...". * * * nd the Pharisees began to him,” an ºl rudely endeavoured to urge him to speak of many things that were the In OSt GX- urge him. Yehemently, and to if possible, to start §iº to speak of some unguarded word" which they hoped might fall from his mouth in the warmth of a.s. º: natural resentment; that they might take occasion to accuse him for it before the Roman ingº is nºt governor, or the Jewish sanhédrim; but the prudence of Christ frustrated their malice, in **** the midst of all the plainness of his faithful rebukes. IMPROVEMENT, FAITH FUL are the wounds of a friend; and such were the reproofs of Christ on this occasion. How well had et seq. all the entertainments of the Pharisee's table been repaid, had he and his brethren heard them with candour, 51 humility, and obedience! . These men despised them to their ruin: letus often review them for our instruction, 39, 42 43 he forgets the all-penetrating eye of God. It exposes the ostentation of those who 46 titles of honour, and eagerly affect precedence and superiority. And it evidently c 44 47, 4 2 o 5 SECT III. 9 I 2 LUKE XII. 2 3 4 5 that none of these dreadful woes may come upon us. This discourse of our Lord is a most just and severe rebuke to every hypocritical professor who is scrupulous and exact in matters of ceremony, while he neglects morality; and is studious to shine in the sight of men, while E. themselves in empty astises those who press on others the duties they neglect themselves, and so are most righteously judged out of their own mouth. - How melancholy is it to observe, in instances like these, the hypocrisy and deceitfulness of the human heart, and its desperate and unfathomable wickedness! and to see how men impose upon themselves with empty appearances, like these Pharisees, who built the sepulchres of the former prophets, while they were persecuting those of their own day; and, in contempt of all that was said by the messengers of God, were filling up the mea- sure of their iniquities, till the cloud which had been so long gathering burst on their heads, and poured forth a storm of aggravated wrath and ruin! May that God who has an immediate access to the hearts of men, deliver all christian countries, and especially all protestant churches, from such teachers as are here described; who take away and secrete the key of know- ledge instead of using it, and obstruct rather than promote men's entrance into the kingdom of heaven! How loud will the blood of the souls they have betrayed cry against them in the awful day of accounts! and how little will the wages of unrighteousness, and the rewards of worldly policy, be able to arm them against destruction, or to support them under it! SECTION CXI. Christ cautions his disciples against hypocrisy, and animates them against the fear of men by the promise of extraordinary assistance from his Spirit in their greatest trials. Luke xii. 1–1; LUKE xii. 1. IV the mean time, while Christ was thus discoursing at the Pharisee's house, many thºusands LURE xii. 1. IN the mean time, when there yvere gathered together an innumerable multitude of of people were gathered together,” and pressed with so much eagernes; to hear him; that they éven trampled on each other: and [Jesus] goi ciples in the presence of them all, See that you, more esp idke heed to jourselves, of being corrupted by the leaven of the Phar a vice which secretly puffs up their minds, and strangely spreads and lives, so as to taint and spoil the very best of their duties, B * . for you may assure yourselves, as I have told you formerly, (Matt X.26; 17) that ifiere is nothing now so secretly concealed which shall the folly of it; - - - Mark iv. 22. and Like viii. - not be discovered, and be openly unveiled another day; or hid, which shall not then at least be made known, if God erns and abhors. exposé those shallow artifices which he now disc have spoken w -> heard in the clearest effulgence of light : chambers and closets, shall then be proclaimed alo of all. T.And therefore let it be your care, not merely to save appearances, bº conscience, though at the greatest expense: for I say possible seriousness, who at the worst can only kill the body, and qfter the immortal soul being entirely out of their reach I will point out to you the great Qbject whom you shall reverentially to fear the great Almighty God, even him who, ng forth among them, began to say to his dis © ith the utmost caution, in the thickest darkness, sh; - - and what you have whispered in the most retired ud as from the house-tops, in the audience and most tender concern for your everlästing welfare, Fear no that have nothing more which they can do, as soon as it has quitted the body. But - people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he cially beware, and above all things began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beyware, ye of the - 2Sees, which is hyp Ocrºsy : leaven of the Pharisees, itself through their hearts which is hypocrisy. ut seriously reflect upon 2 For there is nothing covered that shall not be - - - revºaled; neither hid, that nor anything so artfully disguised shall not be known. does not more immediately So that whatever 3/out , 3 Therefore whatsoever ye bave spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear, in closets, shall be pro- claimed upon the house-tops. shall then be published and mainfai (O" 4 And I say unto you, my t to maintain a good friends, Be not afraid of thº 'ith all that kill the body, and after wnto you, my dear friends, W t those that have no more that they ***** can do. 5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him fear, while I exhort you most Wiśāśād, Hºi. after he has killed the body, has (See note g, on Mark vi. 19. p. 62.)— | The key of knowledge.] Vitringa understands, this of one fundamen: tai truth, which would have jed them into the knowledge ºf the rest; Yöß. Šºlji. i. p. 35.) bat all their endeavours to embarrass and bias the minds of men in their inquiries after truth, might be intendº! fºre; as well as more especially their disguising the prophºciés which feated to the \fessiah. Iffa Rey was delivered to them as the badge of their office, (see p. 163. note g, and Camero on this ſº there may be beautiful’aijūsion to that circumstance; as if he should have said, Yok żałºść), not to use, but to secrete it. (See Archbishop Tillotson. Vol. iſ p. 303.} :Eisner has well shown on this text, that the beatiºn priests were called «Anóouxoi, key-bearers. (Observ. vol. i. p. 228, 229.) . m Fiercely to fasten upon him.] So Geivos evexely properly signifies. Several more of the words here used àrà metaphors taken from hunting. Aſſogouart{ew might be rendered to mouth or bear down with the violenge of their words, as Theophylact exceijently explains it; but the addition of Tept TXetovºv engaged me rather to translate it as i have done. Grotius and Casaubon have shown jiຠit sometimes signifies to examine in a magisterial, way , but Eras- jº's note is, on the whole, the best I have seen upon this word. m To start some unguarded cord.] 6 mpg eqat in this connexion has a most beautiful propriety, and signifies the eagerness with which sports- men beat about for their game, to start it from its covert.—It is very probable, as Mr. Cradock conjectures, that the Pharisee who wºls, master 3f the house, had invited a great many of his brºthren and learned friends, on purpose to make a more formidable attack upon Christ, and by their concurrent testimony to charge upon him any thing which might render him obnoxious: and the presence of so many of them made the fiscourse delivered at this time more proper, and the courage and zeal it expressed more remarkable. See Cradock’s Harmony, part ii. p. G. a Many thousands of people were gathered together.] It, would be moſº exactly endered mani, myriads; but, lest every English reader should not know that a myriad is ten thousand, I render it many thousands: no! is it necessary to take the word in its strictest sense. Terhaps, this Yast assemblage of people might be owing to an apprehension; either that Christ might meet with some ill usage among so many of his enemºs, of "ºt "he would say or do something peculiarly remarkable on the occasion. Compare Luke v. 17, 19.9 45. - CHRIST CAUTIONS HIS DISCIPLES AGAINST HYPOCRISY. * Hººtº hºl; power to cast both that and the soul into hell; yea, knowing that I cannot too often ingul- ea, I say unto you, Fear | Iſl. cate it, I say unto you again, Fear him, and rather choose to venture ºn the #. dangers, and to sacrifice your lives, than to do any thing which may offend his divine Majesty. (Compare Matt. x. 28. p. 141.) * * 6,Are not five, sparrows . In the mean time, remember that your enemies cannot hurt even your bodies without : "...º.º."#.º. his knowledge and permission; for his providence extends itself even to the meanest works before God: of his hands: for instance, Are not five sparrows sold for so inconsiderable a sum as two farthings?b and yet not one of them, minute and worthless as they are, is forgotten before ... Bºyen the yely hairs ºf God; but he attends to all the circumstances of their lives and deaths. Surely then you 3. hº àº; will not be overlooked by him; but may justly conclude, that he has such a special and ... value than many particular concern for you, as that even the very hairs of your head are all numbered, so Sparrows. that not one of them can perish without his notice. Fear not, therefore; for as men, and much more as my servants and friends, you are more valuable than many sparrows, and will § Also, I say, untg you, be more remarkably his care than they. But howsoever he may now permit you to be Wºº. ;s; persecuted by your enemies for your fidelity to me, though he should even suffer you to ºgºnfess before the sacrifice your lives in so honourable a cause, you will be far from being losers by it in the angels of God; end : for I say unto you, That if any one shall freely acknowledge his faith in me before men,” the Son of man himself shall also acknowledge his complacency in such a person, and *… his relation to him, even before the angels of God, when they come to attend on his final 9. But he that denieth me triumph. But as for him that basely and perfidiously renounces me before men, and is § {...}}}.}cº" ashamed or afraid of maintaining so good a cause, him will I also renounce before the holy angels of God,d when they appear in a radiant circle around me, and wait, with solemn and observant silence, the important event of that awful day. (Compare Matt. x. 29–33. . 142. . - 10 And whosoever shall p Nothing can therefore be more dangerous and fatal than to oppose my cause, and that, º, especially when the Spirit is sent down on my followers after my resurrection and ascen- ; . unto him º; sion : º º; shall s º (I, º word †: * Son of º II] º, p. ë'...}{s}...p.º.º. state of his humiliation and suffering, he may possibly hereafter repent, an on that repent: Gsovitshallaorbeſortives. ...; may be forgiven him:* but as for him that blasphemeth the Holy Spirit, who shall then display his most glorious agency as my great Advocate and Witness; as for the wretch that maliciously imputes to diabolical operation the most convincing evidences of divine power and goodness that shall be given by the Spirit after his effusion, his crime is of such a nature, that it shall not be forgiven him; for he has thus opposed, the last method of God's recovering grace, and shall, as utterly incorrigible, be abandoned to final destruction. (See Matt. xii. 31. and note p, p. 117.) Af nº gº 11 And, when they bring But let me add, that however others may be affected by this testimony of the Spirit, }}"...º.º. one happy effect of its operation shall be tº furnish you, my apostles, for an honourable tºke, ºng though; hºw of discharge of your office in its most difficult parts: and therefore, in the opposition you ."ºliº,” shall meet with from your enemies and persecutors, when they shall bring you before the judicial courts which assemble in the synagogues, and even before greater magistrates, and the Supreme powers, whether Jewish or heathen ; though they may have not only your liberty, but your life in their hands, yet be not anrious how to behavé, or what apology you 12, For the Holy Ghostshall shall make for yourselves, or what you shall say in defence of the gospel you preach: For teach you in the same hour or Sºnº- # 1-3 : .* tº gº º # tg e >g * Orred to S what ye ought to say. the Holy Spirit himself shall teach you in that very hour, or in the season of the greatest difficulty and extremity, what you ought to say, and what answer you should make to their most captious inquiries, or most invidious charges. (Compare Matt. x. 19, 20. sect. lxxv.) Proper thoughts and expressions shall freely flow in upon you as fast as i. can Ultter them; so that with undaunted courage you shall be able to vindicate the honour of my gospel, and to confound the most artful or most potent of your enemies. IMPROVEMENT. LET us, from this discourse which we have been reading, learn the folly of hypocrisy, as well as the wickedness of it. ... lying tongue is but for a moment; (Proy. xii. 19.) and the great approaching judgment-day will show all in their true colours. May we live as those who are thén to be made manifest! May the leaven of deceit, by divine grace, be entirely purged out of our hearts; and all our conduct be so fair and equal, that it may appear more honourable and lovely in proportion to the accuracy with which it is examined; as the whitest garments are recommended, by being seen in the strongest light! -- - If we would preserve such an integrity of soul, let us endeavour to get above the servile fear of man: of man that shall die, and of the son of man, that shall be made as grass; as if the oppressor had us in his power, and were ready to destroy ; and where is the furſ of the oppressor? (Isa. li. 12, 13.) With what infinite ease can God restrain it; and, when it is let loose in all its violence, how little can it do to hurt his faithful servants Let this mean passion be overawed by the fear of that God who has our etermal all in his hands; whose vengeance or favour . reach far beyond the grave, and determine our final misery or felicity, as we are the objects of the one or the Other. While we are in the world, let us labour after a firm faith in the universality of divine Providence; from which the least of his creatures are not exempted, nor are they forgotten by it. Let us endeavour to enjoy the pleasure and comfort of such a thought; assuring ourselves, that He who regards the life of birds, and of insects, will not neglect the care and preservation of his children. in a steady persuasion of this, let us determine courageously to confess and maintain his gospel in the extremest b For two farthings, agaaptov Švo.] This was a Roman coin that e It may be forgiven him.] The common rendering of aq's Onasra is was then current in Judea, called as, or anciently assarius, which was more literal; but the connexion shows it must be taken as here; for it the tenth part of the deparius or Roman penny, in value about thrºe far would be madness to imagine that, in such a case as this, forgiveness. things of our money. Two Sºy: pmight be bought for one, and five must come of course, whether the blasphemer did or did not repent. for two of these, Compare Matt. x. 25. Wiś. . . m A^* What grammarians call an enallage of moods and tenses is very frequent; c If any one shall acknowledge me, &c.) The idioms of languages differ and I shall not always think it necessary to trouble the reader wº So much, that what is very elegant and proper in one, may, if verbaliy apology, when the reason of the change is so evident. #anslated, be contrary to grammar in another. This verse and the foſ- f Be, not gurious how to behave, or what apology you shall make for lowing aré instances of it. It seems to me a kind of superstition, to Moºrselyes.]...It is not, without reason that Christ so often touches on scruple such little changes as I have here made. this topic. The apostles, being poor and illiterate men, would naturally d_{{in}{citl I also renovince, &c.j Nothing can be more majęstic than this have been t hrown into confusion when they appeared as criminals in Jie. View which Christ gives of himsejf. To be cºnced by him is spoken presence of persons in the highest stations of life, and their solicitude. $º ºupstancé which would expose a man to the contempt ºf the wºuld be "h" so. ººr. proportionable to their piety, if they ap- Whole angelic world; and leave him no remaining shelter or hope. prehended the gospel, which was dearer to them than their own jives, Compare Matt. vii. 33. $ 43. note d, p. 89. and John v. 22, et seq. § 47. mighișºr is the hurry and disorder of their thoughts, when they were note h; p. 96. *. thus cºi... publicly to defend it. Compare notee. Sº Riatt N. İş, p, lºſiſ 199 SECT. III. LUKE XII. 8 9 I I I Q Ver. I 2, 3 4 5 6, 7 8, 9 200 CAUTION AGAINST COVETOUSNESS. sect. danger: knowi - - º • * º 111. fin s º ...; that thus only we shall secure the honour of being owned by Christ, amidst all the glories of his * in 3 Wºrd, to animateus to this holy courage, and to assist usin every other duty, let us ea - • * * -> - nestl f º * Holy Spirit, by whose influence the apostles were instructed and º in the discharge . ; # º and Yarious office; whose grace therefore must be abundantly sufficient for us, to cause us to abound in every good word and work. (2 Cor. ix. 8.) SECTION CXII. LUKE xii. 13. - LUKE xii. 13. skºr. 4.YD while he was discoursing thus to his disciples, one of the crowd that was then about AND one of the company 112. J esus, said to him, Master, I desire thou wouldst speak to my brother, that he would agree ºil. speak LUKE to divide the inheritance with me, which since the death of our father he injuriously detains ;..."łºśivide º to himself; for thou art well known to be a person of such an extraordinary character, that I would hope his reverence to thine authority may induce him to do me justice. 14 But, Jesus, as he did not come to meddle in such matters, prudently replied." Man, 14 And he said unto him, what dost thou mean by such a rash appeal to me? Who constituted me a judge in tem: Aſºº jūgº poral concerns, or, set me up as a divider over you? My kingdom is of a spiritual nature; or a divider over you ? and as to the civil rights and properties of men, I intermeddie not with them, but leave thº as I º them. (Compare Exod. ii. 14.) 2 15 upon this occasion, though he would not interpose in the affair, yet, to - their being fond of the enjoyments of the world, and . preserve them #: 3. cº #º: jº disposition, Jesus said to his disciples, and to them that were present, See to it, that with iº"; ºt"; ". the utmost care and resolution you be upon your guard against all kinds and degrees of ººººº...?...he things covetousness ;b for though it be a common, it is a very unreasonable, vice; since it is which he possesseth. evident that the comfort and happiness of a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions; nor can the continuance of his life, even for the shortest period of time be secured by that abundance. 5 16 ºnd, to enforce and illustrate this remark, he spºke a very Instructive parable to them, and 16 And he spake a parable said, There was a certain rich man whose ground bore fruit so plentifully, that he had not pºund 17 room to receive and lay up in store the vast produce of his harvest. And he found all his ##### man brought plenty an encumbrancé to him, so that he reasoned with himself, not without some consider-hiº able anxiety of mind, saying, What shall I do? for I have not room at present to store up i. jº.”. 18 my crop, should I stow it ever so close. And, after some pause, he came to a resolution, ºn and said, I will do this, as what appears to me the wisest scheme: I will pull down my old flº.I.ſ.º.º. i. barns, and build new, which shall ; larger, and much more commodious than they ; and tº ºil *:: there I will gather in all my rich increase this year, and all my goods that I already have in *** * I9 Store. .ini then I will retire from business, and sit down and enjoy the fruits of my 19 And I will say to m former labours, and will say to my soul with complacency and confidence, O my soul, thou ...iº. º hast now an abundance of goods laid up, on which thou mayst comfortably subsist for many fº future years; repose thyself therefore after all thy fatigues; eat and drink freely, without **** - any fear of exhausting thy stores; and be as merry as corn and wine and oil, shared with 20 thy most jovial companions, can make thee. But God beheld him with just displeasure, .20 But God said unto him and by the awful dispensation of his providence, in effect said to him, amidst all this gaiety º jºi of heart, in the variety of his schemes and hopes, Thou fool, who dost thus stupidly ; §ºośînée; both the dignity and the mortality of thy nature, and thy continual dependence upon me **** ...; thy supreme Lord! know to thy terror, that while thou art talking of a long succession of - pleasurable years, this very night thy soul shall be demanded of thee,” and be hurried away to its place; and then, where will all its boasted entertainments be, or who shall possess what thou hast thus laboriously provided, but shalt thyself never enjoy 2 And accordingly 21 the unhappy creature died that night, and all his wealth could do no more for him than furnish out the expenses of his funeral. And so, or such a fool in the divine account, [is] ... 21. So is he that layeth, up he that heaps up treasures to himself here on earth, and is not rich with respect to Godd in ..º. and is acts of charity and piety, which would secure a fund of celestial treasure º: in hi gº almighty hand, and therefore inviolably safe from such calamitous accidents as these. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.13 Most prudently did our Lord decline the invidious office of an arbitrator in civil affairs; and wisdom will 14 require his ministers generally to avoid it likewise. It is more suitable to our office, like our blessed, Master, to endeavour to draw off and disengage the minds of men from covetousness, and to pluck up the root of those eager contentions which so often divide even the nearest relations, and inspire them with mutual aversions more invin- cible than the bars of a castle. (Prov. xviii. 19.) 15 And, that a covetous desire of the enjoyments of the world may not create contentions, and engage us in pur- suits that will be fatal to our souls, let us º consider the true value of things, and reflect how little riches can do to make us happy, if we obtain them; and how very uncertain that life is, on the continuance of which our 16, possession of them does so evidently depend. But, alas! how º are there who are now as deeply engaged in ct seq. their worldly schemes as this rich fool in the parable, to whom God will, in a few weeks or days, if not this very 20 night, say, by the awful voice of his irresistible providence, Thy soul is required of thee! And then what will all these treasures do to purchase life, or to allay the agonies of death? So far will they be found from being capable of this, that they will rather serve to increase and imbitter the surprise and anguish of those agonies. a He prudently replied.] This appellant probably thought, that as the least, that our Lord intended the caution in this extent, whether he did Messiah, he would act in the character of a prince who would decide or did not so partigularly express it. - - - controversies relating to property.--My rendering the phrase he said c Thy soul shall be demanded of thee.] It is in the original atral Tovo ty, jºm, by the equivalent word replied, will not, I hope, be thought to They shall demand thiſ soul. Elsner, thinks it alludes to the messengers need any apology. º sent to fetch away the soul; an produces a remarkable, and well known b Sce to it, that with the utmost care you be upon your guard against passage from Plato, to prove that Sogates thought º; the office of a ali kinds and degrees of covetousness.] Opare kai ºvXaggeaffe is a lively spirit superior to men. See Elsngſ, Observ, Vºl. i. p. * ... • phrase, the fuſſ force of which I, have, endeavoured to exprº in the # Rich with respect to God..] There .#1% force and propriety in the paraphrase, not being able exactly go do it in the Yersiºn. (Čompare phrase eig €cov, which our language will not exactly express. It re- note c, on Matt. xvi. 6. p. 16].) Some old versions and very good presents God as a depository in whose hands the good man has lodged his copies read it, from all covetgukjºss to which I have shown so much treasure ; and who has,as it were, made himself accountablo for it in ºrd, as to insert the word all in the paraphrase; as it is certain, at another and better world. Compare Prov. xix. 17. CHRIST REPEATS HIS CAUTIONS AGAINST COVETOUSNESS. 201 Let it then be our labour and care that we may be rich towards God, rich in works of piety and charity. So sect. shall we safely consign over our treasure to the bank of heaven, and shall be enriched by it when we leave the 112. world as naked as we entered upon it, and lose all but what has been so wisely and happily spent. SECTION CXIII. Christ repeats the cautions and arguments against an anxious #. covetºus tºmper which he had formerly given in his sermon on the mount - uke xii. 22—34. LUKE xii. 22. - LUKE xii. 22. AND he said unto his dis- THUS Jesus cautioned his followers against setting their hearts on worldly treasures; but SECT. §º..."; as most of them were in such low circumstances as to be in greater danger of immoderate 113. your º: solicitude about the necessary supplies of life, he proceeded to caution them against this, ...”””” by repeating some of those admonitions which he had formerly delivered in his sermon on LUKE the mount.” And accordingly he said to his disciples, For this cause, that is, considering sº. the great uncertainty of riches, I say to you, and strictly charge, it upon you, That you be 22 not anacious abouti. life, what you shall eat, or how you shall procure food to support º, i. º.º. ºº it; nor for the body, what you shall put on to cover, defend, and adorn it. For you must 23 §.º.e.' * * * needs be sensible, the life itself, which you have received from God without any care or thoughtfulness of yours, is much more important than meat, and the body than raiment; and well then may you hope that the great Author of your life, and the Former of your body, will maintain his own work in a proper manner, without your anxiety and solicitude 24 consider theravens; for about it. Especially may you expect it, when you see the care which he takes of the 24 tºº...?"... .; inferior creatures; as, for instance, consider the ravens how they are subsisted; for they House, no barn, and God neither sow nor reap, and have neither storehouse nor barn to lay up any thing against a ;...","...tº; time of want, nay, their young ones are early deserted by their dams; and yet, voracious fowls 3 as they are, God one way or other feedeth them, so that you see the species is still conti- nued. Now, how much more are you better than they? and how much rather may you hope to be supplied with the necessaries of life, than any kind of birds? (Compare Matt, vi. 25, 26. p. 85. 25 And which of yop, with land ºver as this care is unnecessary, it will also be unprofitable: for which of you, 25 ...; *** by taking the most solicitous thought, can add a single cubit, or the least measure or - - moment, either to his age or stature ? (Compare Matt. vi. 27. and note h, on that text, sect. 26 If ye then be not able xli.) If then you cannot do the least matter,” as in this proverbial expression you grant, 26 fººt."; why are you ancious about the rest, as if you were to hold your life by a kind º perpetual east, why take ye thought -- g º, * for the rest 3 ease, and were secure against all danger of a sudden ejectment? 27 consider the lilies how But, to pursue the argument I began before, Do but consider God's providential care 27 º; even of the vegetable creation; survey, for instance, the fair and beautiful lilies, and reflect ; Tººlhº, how they grow; they neither labour to prepare the materials of their dress, nor spin it into § Fººt * * that cuiſióus form; and yet Providence clothes them in so elegant and splendid a manner, that I say unto you, Even Solomon, when on some grand festival he appeared in all his 28 If then God so clothe utmost magnificence, was not arrayed in so beautiful a white as one of these. And if God 28 #: i. º.º.º. # so clothe and adorn the grass of the field among which the lilies grow, though it is [flourish- the field, and to-morrow is . e * s º S-> * Gastºye.ºuch ing] to-day in all its verdure, and by to-morrow is cut down and thrown into the furnace jºjº,3° 39” 9 ° or still, (sée note 1, on Matt. vi. 30. Sect. xli. p. 86.) how much more [will he clothe] you, O ye of little faith, who thus suspect his care 2 *...º. º.º. ºf ind do not you then, who are acquainted with the care of Providence, and are parti- 29 #: º; cularly interested in it, be solicitous to seek what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor ful mind. be like meteors in the air, that are tossed about by every blast of wind, hurried with 30 For all these things do anxious cares, and agitated with a * of restless and uneasy thoughts.” For the 30 ºº:: Gentile nations of the world, who know little of Providence or of a future state, seek after in that ye have need ofthese all these lower things with great solicitude ; and they are more excusable in doing it: but things. you are directed to much nobler * of pursuit, and furnished with a more º support against such anxieties, in that paternal relation which God avows to you; and as your heavenly Father well knows that you have need of these things, he will certainly 31 But rather seek ye the provide them for you in a proper degree. Leave them therefore to his care, and, low as 31 flºº, your condition is, be not uneasy and disquieted about them: but seek ye rather the nings shall be added unto J . 2 ** ;4--, 3 tº º . & y Otl. kingdom of God, and labour to promote its interest among men; and then you may depend upon it, not only that you shall obtain that most important prize, but likewise that all these other necessary things shall be added to you, without your anxiety. (Compare- Matt. vi. 31–33. p. 86.) .* 32 Fear not...little, flock; I repeat the encouraging thought, Fear not, ye little flock, my dear property and charge, 32 §ut. §: º; however feeble you may seem ; fear not, I say, that you shall be left destitute of these §. common blessings of divine Providence; for it is your heavenly Father's gracious pleasure - to give you what is infinitely more valuable, even the kingdom of eternal glory: and can you possibly imagine that, while he intends to bestow that upon you, and even takes pleasure in the thought of making you so great and happy thered he will refuse you those earthly supplies which he liberally Imparts even to strangers and enemies? 33 sell that ye have, and Animated therefore by such a hope and confidence, instead of being solicitous to increase 33 a Repeating some of those admonitions, &c.) Most of the thoughts d Takes pleasure in the thought of making you so great and happy and º; used here occurred before, $ 41... and are, I hope, suffi- there.] This is the beautiful and wonderful import of the word £vºokmarev cientſ; explained there; I content myself therefore with referring the in this connexion, which generally signifies a pleasurable acquiescence. reader to it. 4, 6t Sèq. - And agreeably to this, it is most edifying and delightful to observe b. If then you cannot do the least matter.] This preyes that, to gºld Øſte how God is represented in Scripture as enjoying his own prescience, as cubit to a thing was a proverbial expression for making the least addi- it were with a peculiar relish, in the view of those glories which he has tion to it. & - * prepared for his }. le.—Hence those emphatical phrases of Wisdom c \for be agitated with restless thoughts.] After all the various and rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, or in the prospect and idea perplexed things which critics have said on this word, peºpºabe, (of 9f them, before they were actually made; (Prov. viii. 3i), of God’s which a very large account may be seen in the learned Wolfius,) the knowing the thought he thinks towards, his peºple; (Jer. xxix., 11.) and of sense I have taken is the most simple, and especially here the most hys rejoicing over them with joy, and silently resting in his love to them. natural. The authorities produced by Elsner, (Obsert. vol. #3% 233, § iii. 17.) The tenderness and energy of innumerable scriptures 234.) and several of those mentioned by Raphelius, (Annot. Ct. Xen. D epend on this remark; and many of those relating to election, pre- 97, §8.) seem to me to favour this sense, though some of them are pro- destination, &c. which have been as, dry rods of, controversy, Whº duced to establish another. It appears from them, that any speculations considered in this view, bud out into a thousand fair leaves and fragrant and musings, in which the mind fluctuates, or is suspended in an uneasy blossoms of hope and joy. besitation, might well º gºvered by such a word. 202. CHRIST EXHORTS HIS DISCIPLES TO WATCHFULNESS AND FIDELITY. SECT. your possessions to the utmost, rather be prepared, when Providence shall callyou to it, to ſºlºilº. 113. sell what you already have, and distribute [it] in charity;” that so you may provide for your- fººt selves purses which do not grow old and wear out, even a never failing treasure in heaven, i.e. nº whº no this LUKE that région of security and immortality, where nothief approachés to plunder the riches of º "“ ” * its inhabitants, nor doth the moth corrode and spoil the º of glory in which they appear. 34 And the more careful should you be about this heavenly treasure, because it is certain, 34 For where your treasure that where that which you account your chief treasure is laid up, there will your heart be ...” "**** also fixed, and the whole tenor of your thoughts and affections will naturally flow in that channel. (Compare Matt. vi. 20, 21. p. 85.) * - IMPROVEMENT. Ver:22 ARE we not all conscious to ourselves that on such topics as these we need line upon line and precept upon pre- 29 cept, as being too deficient in our regard, though God speak once, yea twice? (Job xxxiii. 14.) € See OUIT 27, 28 heavenly Father crowning the earth with his goodness: to this day does he clothe the grass and the flowers with the 24 same profusion of ornament; to this day does he feed the young ravens when they cry, (Psal. cxlvii. 9.) nor has 30 the meanest species of insects perished. Still does he know our necessities; and still he addresses us in the same gracious language, and avows the same endearing paternal relation. The experience of his power, goodness, and 23 fidelity, is increasing with every succeeding generation, with every revolving day. The life that he has given is supported º his care ; and the same hand that formed the body, nourishes and clothes it. Let us then cast all 32 our care on him, as being persuaded that he careth for us ; (1. Pet. v. 7.) Feeble as his little flock is, it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom ; and we are unworthy our share in so glorious a hope, if we cannot trust him for inferior blessings, and refer it to him to judge in what manner our present wants are to be supplied. 30 Let the heathens abandon themselves to these low anxieties; but as for us, let us thank God and take courage, 33 opening our hearts wide to every sentiment of faith in God and ; to men; and while we have this inexhaus- tible bank to draw upon, let us be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, so laying up in store for ourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that we may lay hold on eternal life; (1 Tim. vi. 18, 34 19.) the very hope and expectation of which, if our heart be set upon it, will give us incomparably sweeter delight than the securest possessions of this empty world, and the most ample magazines of its richest stores. • SECTION CXIV. - Christ exhorts his disciples to watchfulness and fidelity, in espeñº, of # cºming, and of the final account to be given for all their advantages. ke xii. 35–48. - LUKE xii. 35. LUKE xii. 35. SECT. OUR Lord having thus exhorted his disciples to a due moderation as to their worldly LET your loins be girded 114. possessions, proceeded to press upon them a serious preparation for their final remove from * and your lights burn- earth, and for the awful solemnities of death, judgment, and eternity.” He therefore went " ' ºb on to say, Consider yourselves always as servants who have a Master in heaven; and, that 35 you may approve your diligence and fidelity to him, let four loins be still girded up in a 2sture for active service, and your lamps be continually burning in readiness to receive 36 him:b And be you, on the whole, like men in a waiting posture, who, as good servants left .36 And ye yourselyes, like with a proper charge, attending to the work appointed them, wait for their Lord's return ...".”hºº”. from a marriage:feast,” or any other late entertainment; that when ever he comes and knocks fºllºwedding...that when at the º may immediately open it to him, and not be surprised in any disorder. º 37 Happy are those servants whom, when [their] Lord comes, he shall find thus watching for "gºessed ar, in him; and happy also will you be, if this shall be your case: for verily, I say unto you, viſts ºwłºń So condescending is your Lord and Master, that, if you answer this character, he will #.º. º.º.º. reward you as graciously as if some great man, absent on such an occasion as I have sup-That he hiſ gird himself. posed, finding his servants diligently waiting for him at his return, should gather up his ºn'...}}}. clothes and gird himself, and cause them to sit down to supper, and should come forth, him- and serve them. 38 self and wait upon them.d And at whatever hour the time of his arrival be, whether he 38 And if he shall come in shall come early in the second watch, or come late in the third watch of the night,” and find §§ [them] thus employed, blessed and happy are those faithful servants. so, blessed are those servants. 39 Bui do not think it is enough, if you would then be happy, to make some sudden pre- 39 And this know, that if paration upon notice of his coming; for the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the #. º.º.º.º.º. night; and you know this, that there is none so negligent and stupid, where a house is jº M. jº. he wººl; plundered, but if the housekeeper, who is intrusted with the care of it, had been aware at ...fijiº...",". what hour the thief would have come, he would undoubtedly have watched at that time, and ken through. would not have permitted his house to be broken open : he then that acts with prudence will be always on his watch, that, as he knows not when the thief will come, he may not find 40 him unprepared. Be you therefore also ready ; for at such a season as you think not of, and .49 Bºyed hegºſorºrºa's may least of all expect it, the Son of man cometh;f and as the day of final judgment will also : for the Son of man e Sell what you have, and distribute it in charity.], These Wºrds wer; Caº Wº should take to inform ourselves in our duty, and the resolution probāţi, as a #titſui seed in the minds of some who heard them; and with, which we should apply £8, the performance of it. - * * the liberal sale of estates a few months after, by which so many poor c From a marriage-feast.] There is no particular mystery in this cir- Christians were subsisted, might be in a great measure the harvest which cumstance. Our Lord, might P. instance in this, because marriage- sprung up from it under the cultivation of the blessed Spirit. Nothing feasts were generally the most splendid, and so prolonged to the latest * robable than that some of the many myriads now attending hours ls. In Ore - - - * OUIf º might be in the number of the thousands then converted. d And should come forth himself and wait upon them.] . It is true (as See Acts i. 41–45 Grotius and many others observe) that the Roman masters did soine- f Hºrses offich do not grow old and wear out..] This may be fitly taken times, during the Saturnalia, practise some gondesgensions, like these tº as an aijūsion to the danger of losing money out of a hole worn in an their slaves; but that was, perhaps, chiefly for their own diversion; and old purse. Such is frequently the º of this world, and so are its it is difficult, to judge how fºr Christ’s hearers might be acquainted with treasures hoarded up, and put into a bag toith holes. (Compare ## i. it; at least the words would be very intelligible without supposing any 5.) The rich men of Judea, so soon ravaged and destroyed by the Ro- such reference. a - • - • mans, particularly found it so. - - - e In the second or third catch of the night.] This ingluded all the time a A serious preparation for—death; judgment, and *##! I shall from nine in the evening to three in the morning ; and was as if he had give the reason of my interpreting this passage thus, a little 6elow, in said, whether he come early, or late, w - note f. though I am .# the generality of readers would rather f.At such a season as you think º Son of man coneth.] The coming have expected an apology if I had gone about to interpret it otherwise. Qf the Son of ſpan often signifies his providential interposition for the Zet your loins be girded up, and your lamps burning.]. As the easterns destruction of Jerusalem. (See Matt. x. 23. note g, p. 141.) But here I wore ſong garments, it was necessary that, when they had any thing to think it cannot be, taken in such a sens; begapse out Lord speaks of an §ºhiji ºtºed them to exert their strength or agility, they should immediate reward to be bestowed on all faithful servants, and an imme- tuck them up and girá them giose; a practice to which there are frequent diate punishment to be executed on all that were unfaithful , and ex- Fºreº; 55th in the ÖiáTestament and the New. (See 1 Kings xviii. pressly declares this tº be a matter of uniyersal concern ; all which ... 2 Kings iv. 29. Job. xxxviii. 3. Jer. i. 17. Eph. vi. 14, and 1 Pet. i. §: have very little sense or propriety when applied to the iš) iſſº the ſamps should be found extinguished might be an ingon- destruction of Jerusalem. It must therefore be understood of his coming jent circumstance to the master, and would be a demonstration of the to remove them from the capacities of service here, tº give up their #jºiáiénerg. The expressions taken together may intimate the account. And, if we suppose it to relate to death as well as judgment- CHRST EXHORTS HIS DISCIPLES TO WATCH*ULNESS AND FIDELITY. 203 cometh at an hour when ye be a surprise to the world in general, so the day when particular persons are called out of SECT. think not. this life, is often a sudden thing, and too frequently a fatal surprise to the persons most 114. intimately concerned in it. (Compare Matt. xxiv. 43,44. sect. clziii.) {-} LÜKE Peter illen said unto him, Lord, dost thou speak this awakening parable" to us thine : º: in particular? or is it also unto all in general, that what thoſ hast been saying is 41 ected - .4nd the Lord said in reply, Though none are entirely unconcerned, yet you my ministers 42 are more peculiarly to apply it to yourselves, and to consider me as asking each of you, Who is that faithful and prudent stewardh whom [his] Lord shall set over all the servants of his family,i to deal out to each of his domestics the stated allowance of food in its prope. season? As the guilt of such an officer will be greater than that of a common servant, if 43 Blessed is that servant, he prove negligent; so the reward of his fidelity will be pro ortionably great. Peculiarly 43 YººHºº, he happy is that servant in so eminent a station, whom his Lord at his arrival shall find thus ºf of a "truth. I say into #. in a faithful discharge of the trust committed to him. Truly I say to you, thqt 44 jºin he will prefer him to a much higher station of honour and importance; as if a person find. ** ing his domestic steward thus faithful, should upon that appoint him to take the care of all . that he hath, abroad as well as at home. (Compare Gen. xxxix. 4, 5, 6.) 45. But and if that servant But, on the contrary, if that servant I spoke of before as set over the family;” should 45 i. ºil say in his heart, My Lord delays his coming, so that I have nothing to apprehend from it; *:::::::::::: thé º, and on that foolish presumption shall grow so insolent and wanton as to begin to beat and jià..."... abuse the men and maid-servants, and to eat and drink in a riotous and extravagant man- 4; The Lord of that servant ner, so as to debauch [himself] with it: I assure you, that the Lord of that servant will 46 iº #, .#; come }. him in a day when he does not expect him, and in an hour which he is not quare lº.º. of and will scourge him with such severity; that hº will even cut him asunder; and, not- išijojº, ſº withstanding the profession he has made, God will appoint him his portion with infidels;” tion with the unbelievers, nay, in some respects his case shall be worse than theirs, as his opportunities and engage- ments have been so much greater. . - .And that servant who, like him I have been speaking of, knew his lord’s will by a parti- 47 cular declaration of it,” and, disregarding the instructions given him, did not keep himself ready,” nor set himself to do according to his will, shall have the sorest punishment inflicted - - on him, and be beaten with many [stripes.]P (Compare Deut. xxv. 2, 3.) But he who, like 48 tº the heathen, did not know the particulars of his duty by a clear revelation, and yet, sinning with few stripºs. for into against that degree of light he had, committed things which deserved stripes, shall be beaten .."; i.iii.; tº indeed, but with fewer and lighter strokes]" than the other. For it is a received maxim sº wºmen º among men, and God will make it the rule of his final judgment, that much improvement jºiºsº"; ho. " shall be required from every one to whom unuch is given ; and where much is deposited, the more will be demanded in proportion to it. (Compare Numb. xv. 29, 30.) - IMPROVEMENT. MAY our souls be awakened by these awful truths! and may we be engaged to gird up the loins of our mind, to Ver.35 be sober, and watch to the end / (I Pet. i. 13.) ~ 36 Great are our encouragements to diligence on the one hand, and on the other dreadful will be the punishment of our neglect. The time of our Lord's appearance is uncertain; let us therefore always be ready, solicitous 40 that when he comes he may find us so doing as he has required; living not to ourselves, but to him, and employing 43 ourselves about that particular thing, whatsoever it may be, which, all circumstances considered, we are verily persuaded may most promote the great ends of life, and the important purposes of his glory. How glorious are the rewards promised to such How justly may they awaken our emulation . He will prefer 42, 44 them to stations of more honourable and important service. He will set them down at his table, and minister (as 37 it were) himself to their delight, bringing forth the choicest dainties of heaven, and spreading before them an 41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this ºble unto us, Or even to 8.1, 5 42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his house- hold, to give them their por- tion of meat in due season 2 47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and pre- pared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, (which, by a consequence at least, it undqubtedly does,) it, strongly inti- mates his haying such a dominion over the invisible world, that every #. ºved into it might be said to be fetched away by him. Cornpare * @W. 1. g g This awakening parable.] It may signify particularly the simili- º of the Lord and his servants, or may extend to the whole of the (iHSCO U TS3 , h Who is that faithful and prudent steadqrd,3]. This interrogation had a lively force to turn their thoughts, inward, that each might ask himself Phether he was the nam? ... The Prussian version therefore (and that English one which follows it so close) loses much of the spirit of the passage in rendering it, If there begmy faithful steward, &c., . i The servants of his family.] So I render 6spaireta, which (as Elsner shows at large, Obserp. vol. i. p. 235.) exactly, answers to the Latin familitium, all the servants of a family; for which we have no one English word, any more than for at Tojterptov, which strictly signifies a determinate measure of wheat ; but here is put for all the daily food. (See £rasmus here.) By such a version the distinction between this and the 44th verse is set in a clearer, light than critics have generally given it. To be raised from the care of giving Qut food to the servants, to have the charge of the whole estate, was a noble preſerment. k If that servant I spoke of before, &c.] It is necessary thus to go back to ver. 42. for the explication of this; for it is most evident, from the whole tenor of Scripture, that the servant who at his Lord’s coming has passed his account in an honourable manner, will never afterwards ba in danger of incurring his displeasure. . . sº 1 Scourge him with such severity, that he will even cut him asunder.] Dr. Whitby has so clearly proved this to be the sense of Ötxo Topmast, that I am surprised, that any should since have coldly rendered it, shall te vr (press it, and was now actuall ji Aná, bºbold, there was poor disabled woman, who (as the Jews used commonly to exp 3 as nºw actually, woman which had a spirit Luke the case) had been afflicted by a spirit of weakness” no less than eighteen years, and was bowed f"; "...hº..."; XIII. - .* able resemblance between the fate of these Galileans and that of the whole chronology, of the New Testament, had now lasted three years: but It jewish nation; the flower of which was slain at Jerusalem by the Roman is certain the patience of God bore with them mºch, konger than another sword while they were assembled at one of their great festivals; (see year. Grotius therefore thinks it more probable it, may reſer to, the joseph. Bell. Jud. lib, vi. cap, 9... [ał; yii. 17.] § 3, 4.) and many thousands naſºe of a fig-tree, which if it bear at à)), Fº begins to tº it of then perished in the temple, itself, and were (as their own historian within three years after, it is ºl. but mights to be sure, be lºoked represents it at large), iiteraily buried under its ruins., Joseph. Bell. Jud, ºpon as barren, if it had disappointed the §sºcłºtion of the planter lib. vi. cap. 4. [al. vii. 19.] § 6. et cap. 5. º; *: y "F he f tº: ºfter the time in which it should have yieldcd fruit, : J, he ſocer in Siloam fell, and sleu, them.] From the foun- Which, Wils yet. W. * - - - tºść &# yº.º. walls of Jerusalem, a little, stream e Perhaps it may fear fruit: k'av pºv º kogirov..] . It is in the Howed into the city, (sa. yiii. 6.) which was received in a kind of original something of an abrupt wiy of sp;aking, º which, Raphelius #son, which some have thought to be the same...with the pool of has produçed many examples; (ºnet, ſº Xen: tº 102.93.) but I think §§hºsia. (See § {ings xx. 20. Neh. iii. 16, Isa. viii. 6. and John v.2; the way of rendering the idiom I have here used, would suit it in most i.7) #eing near the temple, it is no wonder, that many figſluented it of thosg "#"º... ..…....: - rºl - dinary for purification ; but the calamity occasioned by the fall of the neigh- f Under, the, additional cuitivation, &c.] The extraordinary º §ouñº toºer is not, that I can find, mentioned any where but beg; used to bring them to repeptance after the resurrection of Christ, by the jºbjy it had happened at some ſate feast.; and some of Christ’s effusion of his Spirit and the preaching of the º might, with freat jº sight then have been at Jerusalem.–Erasmus indeeſ, takes this propriety, be expressed by digging round the barren tree, and applying §. tº hºvº hºn Shiloh, the place, where the tabernaçke was first warm cºmpost º to its roots. ~~7. It is v rid h sºjº, fosſ. Kviii. i. Psa). lxxviii. 60.) but without sufficient reason; a fiad been afflicted by a suit it iſ toºghness.] It is, very evident the sº "fºujºs. i., fºg. This last instance might seem in some respects Jews apprehended that all remarkable disorders of body proceeded from more tö the urpose than the former, as there was no interposition the operation of some. º demon. Perhaps they º draw an §diºgº, dºth of these men; so that it sgemed, mºre immediately ºrgument frºm what is said of Satan's agency in the affliction of Job, jºini than that of the Galileans whom Pilate had massacred: (chap. i. and ii.) and tº º's. 6. (compare Scytuag.) and 1 Sam. fºr j Many laye supposed that thºse words allude to xvi; 14. They also considered, Satan as having, the pºſer aſ death, Heb. it. i. ºriºgºersonal ministry, which, as most have computed the ii. 14.—And that, in some maladies, this was indeed the case, is inti- A CROOKED WOMAN CURED ON THE SABBATH-DAY. and was bowed º; and could in no wise lift up her- elſ. 2, And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and ji"intº and the difficulty with which she was then come to attend the solemnities o ge & . s. * * 4. – 24” C3: ~4– .And Jesús seeing her, and intimately knowing all the sad circumstances of her affliction, f divine worship . LUKE tº loosed from thine infirm there, called her to him, and said to her, Woman, thou art, loosed from that affliction whic i8 And he laid his hands thou hast long been under by reason of thy weakness and malady. And as he was speak- on her: and immediately, she Å; made straight, and glori- 80 ºr OCla ing these words, he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was strengthened, and made straight; so that she stood before them all in an erect posture, and moved with as much ease and freedom as if she had never been disabled: and, a very affectionate manner glorified God before the whole signal and unexpected a favour, and declaring how long as was most reasonable, she in assembly ; praising him for so her illness had continued, and how desperate and incurable it was thought. 14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered wit indignation because that Jesus had healed on the sab- ath-day, and said unto the people, There are six days But a ruler of the synagogue,” instead of joining in acknowledgments of the divine power and goodness displayed in that gracious action of our Lord, was moved with indig- nation, which he endeavoured to disguise under the form of piety and zeal; and, as if he only had been angry because Jesus had healed her on the sabbath-day, he answered and said jºi unto the people, There are six days on which the common work of human life must be done; in them therefore come an be healed, and not on the O7. SOIſle of these therefore you may sabbath-day. surely find time to come and be healed, and should not make these applications on the sabbath-day, which, you know, is appropriated to the sacred purposes of religious rest and worship. 15. The Lord then answer- ed him, and said, Thou hypo- Then the Lord answered him with a just severity, and said, Thou hypocrite, who thus §'. ..."e: "...ºf makest thy pretended zeal for the honour of divine institutions a specious cloak for thy you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to water- ing 2 malice against me, art thou not self-condemned 2 Does not every one of you, even the Pharisees and rulers of synagogues among . his or or his ass from the manger, and lead 7in away to drink on the sabbath-day, as well as g the rest,d without any scruple or blame, loose on any other: though the work be more servile than what I have done, and the occasion 16 And . ought not this far woman, being a daughter o Abraham, whom Satan hath OOSe IOIO. less important? Now, if you have such a regard to the thirst of one of your cattle, was it not much more apparently fit, that this goodſ woman, who is a believing daughter of bound, lo, these ...hº. .Abraham, whom Satan by the divine permission has bound in this cruel manner, lo for thes S ears, be §§ on the sabbath-day 3 eighteen years together, should be loosed from this bond even on the sabbath-day, especially when it might be effected without any labour, by no more than a word and a touch? 17 And when, he had said these things, all his adversa- ries were ashamed: and all ...And when he had said these things, all his opposers were ashamed, and perfectly con- founded by the strength of such obvious and conclusive reasoning: and all the multitude the pºopiejºiced for aith, who were present rejoiced in his triumph; for they were greatly delighted with all the lorious, things that were one by him. * 18. Then said, he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like P and whereunto shall I resemble it 8 wonderful and glorious things that were done by him, in which there was so amiable a display of his goodness as well as his power. * * - Now on this occasion, for the further encouragement of his friends, and confusion of his enemies, our Lord thought proper to intimate the great increase of his kingdom, notwith- standing the malignant opposition it should meet with, which he illustrated by two para- bles formerly delivered elsewhere; and he said, To what is the kingdom of God like, and 19 It is like a grain of mus- tard-seed, which a man too what shall I compare it to 2 or how is it that I shall represent the propagation of the gospel in the world 2 It is like a grain of mustard-seed which a man took and goved in his garden ; jºints"; a.m.; and from so minute a seed it grew to a prodigious bulk, and became such a great tree, that it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged the birds of the air came and lodged in its branches. in the branches of it.’ first beginning seems to be contemptible, diffuse itself in time over the whole world, and So shall my kingdom, which in its the inhabitants of distant nations shall seek their shelter in it. (Compare Matt. xiii. 31, 32. and Markiv. 30–32. p. 127. 20 he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God 8 sº 21. It is like, leaven, which a woman took and hid i three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. And again .And again he said, To what * shall I liken the kingdom of God, of which I have now been speaking 2 or how shall I describe the efficacy of its doctrine 2 quantity of leaven which a woman took and covered up in a mass of dough, consisting of no less than three measures of meal; and yet it insinuated and diffused itself throughout till the whole lump was leavened. So shall the gospel make its way, and, by a secret It is like a little influence, shall spread its efficacy through the hearts of men, till it has changed them into a likeness to itself. (Compare Matt. xiii. 33. p. 127.) - 22 And he went through the cities and villages, teach- ing, and journeying toward Jerusalem. And thus he went through all the principal cities and villages of Galilee, teaching them wheresoever he came, and travelling on toward Jerusalem; to which he had now begun to steer his course, as he intended to be there at the approaching feast of the dedication, (John x. 22. sect. cxxxiv.) and to spend the little remainder of his time during his con- tinuance upon earth in that city, or the neighbouring parts; no more returning to these northern regions till he appeared here after his resurrection. IMIPROVEMENT. AGAIN do we see, in a very instructive instance, the power and goodness of Christ. It wrought on a poor Ver, 12 despised creature; but our Lord considered her as a daughter of Abraham, and honoured, even in her, whatever 16 traces of her father Abraham's faith and piety his penetrating eye might discern. Her zeal and willingness to attend on public worship brought her out, though she could not stand upright, and had probably in that respect 11 a much better excuse for staying at home than many could make who now often absent themselves from the much nobler services of the christian sanctuary. mated by our Lord’s reply here,...ver, 16. and by St. Paul’s words, 1 Cor. v. 5. where he speaks of delivering an offender to Satan for the gestruction of the flesh-The topic, is very, judiciously handled by that illustrious writer Mr. Howe; (sée his Works, vol. ii. p. 360, 3613) and there are some curious and entertaining remarks in Wolfius on this text. b Utterly unable to raise herself upright.] This version of ºn Öuvaucum avakutpat cus to TaureXes, seems preferable to that other which the words &ts ro travrexes might bear, “She could not lift herself up, so as to stand perfectly straight.” º Heb. vii. 25. Gr.) For on the rendering I have given, which is equally literal, the miracle appears much more important than on the other, c ºff ruler of the synagogue.] It is plain that there were several rulers of the same *ś. (Compare Mark v. 22. Acts xiii. 15. xviii. 8, 17.) And Dr. Lightfoot and Vitringa have observed that, in every town where there was a synagogue, there were at least ten men who were obliged constantly to attend on the public worship in it. Of these, three were galled rulers, who presided in directing the worship, and judged of such little disputes and litigations as might be determined in tho syna- gogue ; but not without a reserve of appeal to the several superior courts. If of these, three there was any one who had a distinguished authority, and might, by way of eminènce, be called the ruler of the Synagogue, it is strºnge the Jewish writers ornit to mention it, which, so fºr as I can recollect, they never do. See Wolfius on this text, and Vitringa, Synag. Vet. p. 585. d Even the Pharisees and rulers of synagogues among the rest.) Had not this been generally, the case, the answer would not have been sufficient for conyiction in the present circumstance. Perhaps this ruler might that very day have been performing such an office for one of his cattle with his own hands: I say, with his own hands; for it was by no means essential to his being a ruler of the synagogue that he should be a person, of Wealth or, dignity in common life; though probably in large and splendid cities º for instance, as Capernaum was,) such per- sons might generally be chosen.—Critics have collected passages from rabbinical writers, in which they allow it to be lawful to feed or water a beast on the sabbath-day. ee Light ſoot, Hor. Hebr. on this text; where he shows they were expressly allowed even to draw water for 20? together in so sad a manner, that from the time it first seized her, she was utterly unable to SECT. raise herself upright, or to stand straight. - 117. I XIII. 4 20 21 2 208 THE DIFFICULTY OF ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. SECT. . She met with Christ in the synagogue, and returned with a cure. And oh, how many, as the effect of such a. 117. Pious zeal, though they have not been loosed from their infirmities, have at least been greatly strengthened to bear eſſ), º t Qur Lord says, that Satº had bound her. That malignant enemy to our bodies and souls rejoices in any oppor: 16 tunity of hurting either. But it is pleasing to think, that his power is always under the control of Christ; and therefore shall, never be exercised on his people any further than their gracióus Redeemer sees it consistent with their good, and will take care to render it subservient to it. .4 How gravely does this ruler of the synagogue instruct the people in a point of ceremony, while his heart was full 15 ºf enmity to Christ, and hardened against every sentiment of human compassion Justly was his hypocrisy con founded and exposed. We should with pleasure see the Sun of Righteousness thus victoriously breaking through those clouds which 18, 21 envy and malice had raised to obscure him, and diffusing his sacred light from one end of the heavens to the other. TVWith pleasure should we view the accomplishment of these parables which represent the success of his gospel as $9.greatº, and we should daily pray, with increasing earnestness, that all the remaining nations and kingdoms of this world may at length become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ; and sincere converts flock to him from every side, even as doves to their windows' (Rev. xi. 15. and Isa. lx. 8.) SECTION CXVIII. Christ warns his hearers of the difficulty an; importance of entering into the kingdom of heaven ; and is not intimidated by the fear of Herod - - - - - rom pursuing his work. Luke xiii. 23, to the end. LUKE xiii. 23. LUKE xiii. 23. SECT. A.VD, as Jesus was proceeding in his journey towards Jerusalem, where he designed to THEN said one unto him, 118. be present at the feast of the dedication,” being attended by several of his disciples, in a Hºſe ºf pretty large compass which he took by the way, one of them said to him, Lord, are there them, Luke [but] few that shall be saved? Surely, if thy kingdom be so extensive as these parables *;s intimate, (see ver. 19, *] the number must be very considerable. - But he said to them, Instead of amusing yourselves with such curious inquiries with relation to others, attend to what more nearly concerns you, and be solicitous to secure 24 your own safety: And let me urge it upon you, that you exert your utmost strength to 24 Strive to enter in at the enterºin at the strait gate,b which I formerly mentioned as leading to eternal life, (Matt. ...'...º.º. i. vii. 14. p. 88.) and strain, as it were, every nerve to break your way through those enemies in, and shai not be able. who are always ready to oppose your passage : for I seriously tell you, the time is coming when many will importunately seek to enter in,” and shall not be able to do it. 25 And, howsoever they may now despise and trifle with the means of grace, this will ºf hereafter be the case, even with the mºst stupid and negligent of mankind, as soon as ever fººd. the great Lord and Master of the family shall, as it were, have risen up from his seat, and º.º. º. 3.;; with his own authoritative hand shall have shut and barred the door;d and you, among the #%.'; ;& º, us; rest, shall begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, with gréat earnestness, tºo"..." "º'º ºf Lord, Lord, we beseech thee open to us ; but you will cry in vain, and he who now So whence ye are : graciously invites and waits upon you, shall then reply to jou, I know you not, who you are, or from whence you are coine; but determine to treat you as strangers, for whom I have no friendship of regard, and who have never been approved by me. - 26 Some of you may perhaps then plead an intimate acquaintance and professed friendship, .25 ºn ºf ºiº and urge the privileges that you once enjoyed, and the conspicuous figure you made in ºf ºrº, ºi his church: but if any of you can carry it so far as that you shall begin to say, Lord, we lºst taught in " have eaten and drank in thy presence in a familiar manner," and thow hast thyself lived o among us, and often taught in our streets and houses, so that thou canst not sure have - 27 forgot us: Nevertheless, he will persist in disowning you, and say, I tell you again, I know ; P.M. º.º. tº you not, and whatsoever you pretend to, I regard not whence you are ; all the former rela- :"... "..."fºº". all tion to which you refer is (as it were) blotted from my remembrance, since your hearts Vº wºrk” ºf *. were still insincere, and your lives unsuitable to your fair professions; and therefºre depart from me, all ye that habitually practise iniquity; for none of your character shall ever be admitted here. (Compare Matt. vii. 22, 23. p. 89.) : 28 This awful word, how little soever you may now regard it, shall wound you to the heart, alº º; and throw you into agonies of everlasting despair: and there shall be the bitterest weeping "sff.jī’s; Abajº i and and gnashing of the teeth for madness, and rage, when you shall see your holy ancestors, ºf .4braham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets of the succeeding ages, in actual pos- *** **ś, session of the *†, of God; and shall find jourselves cast out with contempt, and thrust thrust out. 29 back with just indignation. Yea, they shall come from the mºst distant heathen lands, even tº flºº, º: from the east and the west, and from the north, and the south, and shall sit down in joyful ºt," dº."º" oi. º * - • • º d the south, and shail multitudes, to partake of the heavenly banquet with, your Pioli ºncesto. * the kingdom ºſ. # *i."#...". OCl. of God, while you are utterly excluded from it. (Cómpare Matt. viii. 11, 12. and note f, Šoš . 108.) - - •o cro 30 And, behold, this shall be the case not only of a few, but of great numbers: for there are lº, ...; i j}. who are now last in point of religious advantages, that shall then be first in honour tº first which hajj be and happiness; and there arc many who now appear first, that shall then be found last- (*. their beasts; a much more laborious work than leading them to it. See gºlºins Compare 1 Cor. ix. 25. Col. i. 29. 1 Tim. vi. 12. and alsº §§ #ºn. *the feast of the dedication.]. Mr. & jīany pill seek to enter in..] The Prussian Version renders if: shall - e text, that it refers to ** . . . . lowing passages in a different try, or attempt : but I apprehend from the con º - . º º: *...*.*.* *::::: gº; not appear that importunate entreaties when they were º jº. ..". § §§ §as "ever in Čajee before his resurrection, after º Journey. tººl; *ºw: though it is an awful truth, that these likewise ºn s i - - : (John xi. 54. § 141.) but, as that will be unsuccessful. - - {--4-- - - #º º tº: ºf enjamin, at no great § d The master of #ſº §º. is: lº. º, º; - .* * *-*. ; so, , ; c.; ar - VII, 9 ssage, as in many others, W 2 from Jerusalem, º Tisquisit. Chorogr., in Joaſt. #. V11, 9 1: Dà d d k art. * , a º * * * r r of his the very words of our Lord do not make a pār - th. "argument whicſ, Mr. Whiston drays, ſº theºe. º our 9 and - ** { }. º } Perhaps some of the nine -* ... : ** - . 385 - id drank in thy presence. erhaps . - w º jº yeº inconclusive. See Whiston’s Harmony, n * → *#. ::::::::::d fed b ºir; may º: ſº jº ** --- - * * * * r: - S I - y ;t Stre th to enter in (It the Strait gate.] e Origi- number. Compare John VI. * rennius refer - * : a -- * : * ni {...}} º §§ this. It imports the act of contend- the sacrifices presented to God º: to §..º. jºis, ing in the ... ardent and resolute ſº ºº::"; º: {. º;..."... di †iº. and unbelief, have - - s s” t the Stral 1S beset V y * - - - , ºf - - OF ſº. hº #". aspire to * crown of eternal profaned the Lord’s º: § * §######āşi. h #: .# % must §ed; and force our way; a representation equally just a sad sense peculiar to themselves, though 1 2. CHRIST'S LAMENTATION OVER THE IMPENITENCE OF JERUSALEM. 209 and, on account of their abused privileges, shall appear as the most infamous and miserable SECT. of mankind. (Compare Matt. xix. 30, and Mark x. 31. sect. cxxxvii.) º II 8. 31. The same day here These things our Lord said in his journey through Galilee towards Jerusalem; making 3. ..."..."º many pauses in his way, that, in consequence of the shortness of his stages, he might have tº thee out, and ºnce; an opportunity of greater usefulness. And it came to pass, on that day when he uttered XIII. for Herod will kill thee. these discourses, some of the Pharisees came, and that they might, if possible, intimidate and drive him to a distance, they said to him, Go forth, and depart from hence with all pos- * sible speed, into the territories of some other prince, for Herod, the tetrarch, in whose dominions thou art, is at this very time determined to kill thee,ſ as he did John the Baptist, thy friend and associate, and seeks but an opportunity to effect it. º cºlºgº. But Jesus was so far from being at all alarmed at this intimation, that he said to them 32 iºd, fººt'...tºi with great steadiness, Go and tell that for, that crafty, wicked, and voracious prince !...i.d.º.º. Behold, I cast out demons, and perform cures in thy dominions to-day and to-morrow, an » ºf 1 S113. * º - º - be perfected. carry on my work, a little while longer, and the third day I shall be perfected;% for the appointed time will quickly come when I shall finish my course, and have done all that 3. Nevertheless, I must I intend here. In the mean while he may well allow me a licence to stay in his territories 33 wº "...”: so long, at least on such kind and gracious designs; or howsoever he may be unwilling to ºphet allow it, yet nevertheless I must go on in this leisurely progress (as I just now said) to-day e and to-morrow, and the third day, till the determined season comes in which my ministry shall be fulfilled: nor do I fear the effects of Herod’s malice; for it cannot be supposed --- that a prophet should perish, or be put to death, any where out of Jerusalem,h-that unhappy city, the seat of the supreme court, challenging as it were to itself the sad prerogative of being the slaughter-house of the messengers of God. º e 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, And upon this, turning in thought at least towards Jerusalem, though it lay at the dis- 34 .*.*.*.*.* tance of so many miles, he took up a most affectionate lamentation over it, and said, ºº º Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou guilty and miserable city, who, though thou hast been distin- Šišeň ºth."... º guished by divine favours beyond any place on earth, yet with the utmost ingratitude and #º.º.º. cruelty slayest the prophets and stonesi as the vilest malefactors thºse glº are sent ºnto thee 3 Sy - as the ambassadors of God! How often would I have gathered thy children together unto myself with all the tenderness of parental love, and have sheltered, comforted, and cherished them, even as a hen [gathers] her little brood of chickens under her wings! yet you were still regardless of the offers of my grace, and would not be persuaded to hearken to my ; : "...º.º. call, and to accept my favour. And now, alas, behold with awful dread, and remark the 35 lº .*, prediction and event, your house is left unto you desolate; and the hour is just at hand *::::::: wº": jº, º when your children whom I would have gathered to myself shall perish, and your temple #jº º ji"; shall be utterly destroyed; and in the mean time I assuredly say unto you, That I will the name of the Lord. quickly cease my labours among you, and retire in such righteous displeasure, that you shall see me no more, till the time come when, taught by your calamities, you shall be ready and disposed to say, Blessed [be] he that cometh in the name of the Lord,i and shall in vain wish for the succour of him whom you now despise. (Compare Matt. xxiii. 37–39. Sect. clviii.) * IMPROVEMENT. AND who would not welcome such a Saviour, when he appears on so kind a design' Who would not bless him Ver,35 that cometh in the name of the Lord, to gather our souls with the tenderest care, and to shelter us from wrath and 34 ruin! that Saviour whose bowels yearned over us, and whose heart poured forth its blood for us! Too many reject him, and will not hearken to the kindest calls of his compassionate voice. Unhappy creatures! the time will come when they too late will be convinced of their fatal error. - * Let each of us be solicitous for himself. Away with those vain curiosities which serve only to amuse and dis- 23 tract our thoughts. Let us call and fix them down to the great concerns of our own salvation: and, if we would secure it, let us prepare to encounter difficulties, and strive, as for our lives, to break through all the opposition of 24 our enemies, and resolutely to enter in at the strait gate. How many have sought it when the door has been barred and how soon may the great Master of the house arise and shut it for ever against those who are yet trifling ! - - flet not hypocrites trust in vain words. The workers of iniquity shall be disowned by Christ at last, though 26, 27 they may have eaten and drunk in his presence. But oh, who can express the disappointment, the rage and espair of those who fall from such towering hopes, and plunge as from the very gates of heaven, into the lowest 28, 29. abyss of darkness and horror! Their hearts . endeavour to harden themselves in vain; their doleful cries shall be distinguished in that region of universal horror! but they shall not penetrate the regions of the blessed, nor interrupt the delight with which even the dearest of their pious relatives shall sit down in the kingdom of God. If we through grace have more substantial hopes, let us imitate the zeal and courage of our divine Leader; and, 31, 33 whatever threatenings or dangers may oppose us, let us go on day after day till our work be done, and our souls at length perfected in glory. But let us carefully distinguish between those things in which our Lord meant himself as our Pattern, and those which were peculiar to his office as a Prophet sent from God. That extraordinary office justified him in using that severity of language when speaking of wicked princes and corrupt-teachers, to which f Herod is determined to kill thee; 6exet as awok-swat.] For the force his office as the great High Priest and Captain of our salvation; as the of this phrase compare note b, on John vii. 17. § 99. p. 180. and note a, wºrd is used, Heb. ii. 10, X. § 9, 10. Wii. 27,28; - on John i. 43. p. §º: is very probable, considering both the wicked h. It cannot be supposcd that a prophet, &c.) John the Baptist had lately character, and suspicious temper of Herod, that though he had a perished in Galilee; so that the expression sk ºvćexétat can import no curiosity to see Christ, (compare Iſuke ix. 9. xxiii. 8.) he was uneasy at more than this version expresses, which Elsner has shown to be its pro- his spending so much time in Galilee, Jest he should occasion him some {j sense. (Elsner, Observ. vol. i. p. 242.)—Drusius, Grotius, Knatch- embárrassment either with regard to the Jews or the Romans; yet fear- bull, and many other eminent critics, refer this to the right which the ing, after all the anxiety which the murder of John the Baptist had given Sanhedrim alone had to punish a person as a false prophet. him, to make any attempt on his life, he might think fit thus to endea: . i You shall see inc no more, till you shall say, Blessed be he that cometh your to terrify him with an empty threatening. In this view, there would in the name of the Lord.]. Some, |Pºº these words refer to the be a peculiar, propriety in calling himſ-fox, rather than lion, wolf, or congratulations which Christ received on his entrange into Jerusalem, bear; to which savage beasts the prophets had sometimes, with a plain- (Matt. xxi. 9, Mark xi. 10. Luke xix. 38. and, John xii. 13. § J46.) urge ness becoming their character, compared wicked persons. Compare them as a reason for placing this section after the ninth and tenth chapters Zeph. iii. 3. Ezek. xxii. 27. and Prov. xvii. 12. . of John, or, between the feast of the dedication and his last passover. g And the third day I shall be perſected.} \lany suppose, and I think But as our. Lord repeats these words again, aſter his triumphant entry, very reasonably, that our Lord is not to be understood as speaking (Matt. xxiii. 39. § 138.) they must be capable of another interpretation, exactly of three days, but of a little period of time; see Hos. vi. 2. and and therefore can afford no such argument ; nor is there any intimatiqh compare the original of Ger;..Yxxi. 2. Ex9d. iv. 10, Deut. xix. 4. Josh. of his return into Galilee between these two feasts.--It does not imply iii. }. 1 Sam. Xix. 7. and 1 Chron. xi. 2., in, all which plages, yesterday they should ever see Jesus at all; but only that they should earnestly and the third day, signifies lately, or a little while ago.—On this, inter- wish for the Messiah, and, in the extremity of their distress, be ready to pretation the word Tºeisual, I §hail be perfected, may refer to Christ’s entertain any one who might offer himself under that character. Compare finishing the work of redemption, and, boing by death consecrated to ſuke xvii. 22, 23. § 128 - 27 210 THE CURING OF A MAN WHO HAD A DROPSY. SECT. we have no call; and by which we should only bring scandal on religion and ruin on ourselves, while we irritated 118. rather than convinced or reformed those whom we undertook so indecently to rebuke. SECTION CXIX. Our Lord being invited to dine with a Pharisee, °º a man who had a dropsy, cautions tºn against an affectation of precedence, and urges em to works of charity. Luke xiv. l—l LUKE xiv. 1. LURE xiv. 1. SECT. 4.V.D. it came to pass, that just as our Lord was finishing his journey through Herod's AND it came tº pass, as ho . dominions, he went i * #he chº ** 22 o a - - I 19 sº t disti t b º ; º: of one of the chief Pharisees, who was º: of of the chief Pharisees to eat grea Inction, by whom he was invited to eat bread, that is, to dine with him, on the rej. 6; the ºathºd. º; sabbath-day ; and many of the Pharisees were present there; and, as their usual custom that they watched him. 4 But they were silent; as not being able with any face to deny the legality of the action, ht seem to authorize or countenance those went into the house of one was, they were narrowly watching him, to make the most invidious observations on his conduct. “ind behold, there was a certain man before him that had a dropsy, who having heard that Jesus was to dine there, had conveyed himself thither, in hope of a cure. 2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. wind Jesus, answering to the secret reasonings which he discerned in their minds on this 3, And, Jesus, answering, ºccasion, said to the doctors of the law and other Pharisees who were then present, What jº do you think now of this case? Is it lawful to heal a distempered person on the sabbath-fi harisees, saying, Is it law- to heal on the sabbath- day? ºr can there be any thing in so benevolent an action inconsistent with the sacred day? rest which is required on that day 2 and yet unwilling to say any thing which mi 4 And peace.— they held their cures which Christ º on the sabbath-day as well as at other times; and which, in the general, they had been known to censure. When Jesus therefore found that they would make him no reply, he extended his com--And he took him, and heal. passion to the poor man ; and, taking him [by the hand,)d he miraculously healed him before them all, and dismissed him perfectly well, restored at once to his full stréngth, and reduced in a moment to his proper shape and bulkie #nd, more fully to cºnvince them how justifiable such an action was, even upon their own ed him, and let him go ; - 5 And answered them, say- principles, as he saw they were secretly cavilling at it, he said in answer to them, Which of ºligºlº an ass or an ox fallen into a iſou, if he have but an ass or an or that shall happen to fall into a pit, will not immediately Éiº'; ...º.º. draw him out without any scruple, even on the sabbath-day,f thoug laborious action, and the life of one of those animals is so much less important than the ! him out on the sabbath- that is a much more 3. health of a man? and can you then, without the greatest injustice, condemn me for what I have now dome 2 .And they were all so confounded at the force and evidence of what he said, that they were not able to answer him again to these things, though they had not the candour tº † acknowledge themselves convinced by them. 7 And he spake what may in one sense of the word be called a parable, that is, a grave, memorable sentence, (see note b, p. 122.) to those who were invited to di concise, an 6 And they could not an- him again to these hings. 7 And he put forth a para- ner, ble to those which were bid- when he observed how they chose and contended for the chief seats at the table; and, to den, when he marked how they chose out the chief reprove them for their pride, and recommend humility, he said unto them, There is one rooms; saying unto them, 8 thing I would on this occasion address to every one in the company, namely, When thou 8 when thou art bidden of art invited by any friend to a wedding-feast, or any other great entertainment, remember any ina, tº Wedding, it nºt down in the highest rootn ; the hint which Solomon has given, (Prov. xxv. 6, 7.) and do not sit down in the uppermost º', or hjrabºn ſº lest another of more honourable rank in life than thee should happen to be invited tim ; And he that invited you both should come and say to thee, Thou must give place to this than thou be bidden of him; 9, And he that bade thee person; and thou shouldst then, to avoid a second disgrace of this nature, begin with shame ..."&"; ; ;..." to take the very lowest place, as conscious how much thou hast exposed thyself by so * 10 haughty and foolish a behaviour. But rather, on the tºº, when thou art thus invited, - • lace thou camst find:# that when he that invited thee jºb.59 º' sºlº, in the go and sit down at first in the lowest thee,...Give this man place; thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. - ut when thou art bid- lowest room ; that when he comes into the room, he may say to thee, My friend, .. up higher; then shall thy ; that bade thee, cometh, he be followed with a distinguishing regard, and thous may Say, unto thee, Friend, - alt thus have honour in the sight both jº. of the master of the feast, and of all them that sit at table with thee, as having assumed ave worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with 11 nothing to thyself, but rather been contented to stoop to thine inferiors. For this may be the . 12. laid down as a certain maxim in life, and happy is the man that attends to it, Every one who exalts himself beyond his proper rank and circumstances shall be proportionabl 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself humbled and mortified; but he that willingly humbles himself shall be exalted and honoured, **** as well as beloved, both by God and man. (Compare Matt. xxiii. 12. and Luke xviii. 14.) Then said he also to him that invited him, If you desire to improve what you have to the best advantage, spend it in charity, rather than in ma thou makest a dinner or a supper, invite not so much t 12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou gigºnº and luxury: and when jeśdiº; ºut. ly rich friends, or thy brethren, or call not thy friends, northy a ſ!s he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees.] As all that follows from the º this fourteenth chapter to chap. xvii. 10 is placed by Luke before the account of his journey through Šamaria to Jerusalem; and as I find no other event in any of the evangelists before the feast, of dedication to which I conclude that journey refers, I am obliged (by the rule I laid down to myself, of never changing the order without apparent reason) to take all these discourses and stories just as I find thern ; though. I cannot pretend positively to say that Luke, who, no doubt, has sometimes changed the order in his narration, Has exactly observed it here. . It is however possible, that all recorded in these chap- ters might R. within the compass of a few days, and so would be con- sistent with interpreting chap. xiii. 32, 33. in a more literal manner than is absolutely necessary. . . . . - b A magistrate of great distinction...] . If (as Dr. Whitby supposes) the erson who gave the invitation was indeed one of the grand sanhedrim, #. might nevertheless have a country sent in Galilee; , as the higher courts never fail of allowing some recess to their members. So that Grotius’s argument for transposing this story till Christ’s arrival at Jerusalem seems inconclusive. - c Had conveyed himself thither, &c.] I cannot think, (as some sup- pose) that he was one of the family: because it is said that Christ dis- missed, or let him go, when he was cured, ver, 4. . - e aking him by the hand.] I know some have imagined that Christ led him aside to avoid ostentation : but the words do, not express, this ; and, as our Lord speaks of the cure both immediately before and, aſtºr it, there ºn be no room to imagine he intended to conceal it. Probably the circumstance of taking him by the hand is mentioned as an instance of his conjescension, and shows that there was nothing in the manner of the cure which could be objected to as a Servile, work, ... * * e Rejuced to his proper shape and bulk.] If any ask how this could be, I answer, He that at once could gure the dropsy with a touch, could, iffic pſease, annihilate the excess of water that caused it ; and it is rea: soºtſ to believe the cure was Yrought, in such a manner as would make the reality and perfection of it immediately apparent. If he have but an assor an or, &c.] Qur Lord had used the same reasoning before, almost in the same words, when.vindicating, the cure of the man whose hand was withered, (Matt..., xii. 11, p. 100.) and at another time had urged an argument in effect...the sang, with regard to the cure of the crooked woman: (Luke xiii. 15. W 117.), which may serve, among a variety of other instances, to vindicate several repetitions which must be supposed, if we desire to assert.the exact and circum- stantial truth of the sacred historians.—See Wotton’s JMiscel. vol. ii. p. 27. * - g"Sit down at first in the lowest place.] It is, most probable that Christ himself, as illustrious a person as he was, had accordingly done thus, and sat down among them in the lowest place at the table. THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER. - 211 brethren, neither thy, kins: thy kindred, or neighbours ;h lest they should also invite thee again, and thus a recompence secT. ſº be made thée, and all thou hast in return be to receive one banquet for another; which 119. ani a recompence be made would introduce an habit of high living, at a great expense both of money and time, and — "#"But when thou makest would occasion the disorder of your respective families. But rather, when thou wºuldst tº hº § º §§li §: make an entertainment which should turn to the surest account, let it be plain and frugal, ºw. y w and invite to it the poor, the disabled, the lame, [and] the blind, who are incapable of pro- viding for themselves: let these come frequently to thy house, to receive thine alms, or 14 And thou shalt be bless- “send portions to them” when they cannot come : (Neh. viii. 10.) And this will afford 14 # **ś thee a much nobler satisfaction than banquets can give; and, I may truly say, thou shalt #ºpºlº the resumed be happy in that they are not capable of making thee such a requital; for their prayers shall C J Ulst. descénd in blessings on thy head; and, besides all the pleasure a generous heart will find in the very exercise of such bounties, thou shalt be abundantly recompensed at the resurrec- tion of the just, if they proceed from a real principle of piety and faith. (Compare note a, p. 106.) - N MPROVEMENT. How happy were they who had frequent opportunities of conversing with Christ, whose discourses were always so wise and so useful! how well did he repay all the entertainments he received, in the advantages which he gave for religious improvement! . In vain might his enemies watch for occasions against him. In his to was the law Ver. I of wisdom as well as of kindness. (Prov. xxxi. 26.) And surely the lips of his ministers and disciples would feed many to their everlasting benefit, were this blessed model to be more carefully traced! (Prov. x. 21.) Lêt us particularly observe what he here says concerning a modest and humble deportment, which is indeed the 8–11 surest way to be honoured and respected. And let us take great heed that that good-breeding, which consists so much in the expressions of humility, and a readiness to prefer others to ourselves, do not degenerate into a mere form, and prove, as it too often does, the cloak of arrogance and pride; but that it have its foundation in a lowly opinion of ourselves, and an habitual disposition to submit even to our inferiors, when we may do it without breaking in upon the duties and decencies of life, and injuring those to whom it may be exercised, by an in- dulgence which they know not how to understand or improve. Let us hearken to these exhortations to charity from the mouth of our charitable Saviour, who gave himself for 12, 13 us. And as Christ pleased not himself. (Rom. xv. 3.) let us Inot allow ourselves to squander away great quanti- ties of money in what may gratify our own senses, or make a gaudy show in the eyes of the vainer part of man- kind; but let us be willing to spåre from the luxuries and superfluities of life, that we may bestow it on the poor and the distressed. And indeed, whatever our circumstances and possessions be, we must expect that the stream of our bounty will soon be dried up, if it be not supplied from the fountain of a prudent frugality. The self-denial may now in some instances be painful; but it will be amply recompensed at the resurrection of the just. May we 14 then meet with many whom our liberality has fed and clothed, whom our knowledge and zeal have instructed, and whom our holy examples have edified and quickened! Here will be a foundation laid for the endearments of an eternal friendship; when that which has been formed upon a partnership in vice or animal pleasure shall be for ever forgotten, or be remembered with mutual horror. -A SECTION CXX. Our Lord foretells, in the parable of the great supper, the rejection of the Jews, and the cailing of the Gentiles. Luke xiv. 15–24. y • UKE xiv. 15. LURE xiv. 15. F/URE xiv. 15 AND when one of them that ºv'D while Jesus was thus discoursing, one of the guests at the Pharisee's table hearing SECT. § 5:..."; 'º'; these useful things, and willing to keep up so good a spirit of conversation, said to him, 120. him, Blesséd is he that shal! Happy indeed isiº who sini be honoured so fºr as to gº bread in the kingdom of God: gºread in the kingdom of biºga man, who shall live in the time of the Messiah, and share the entertainments he LUKE will prepare for his people, when these virtues of humility, condescension, and charity nºw. shall flourish in all their glory ! • 19 16 Then said he unto him, On this natural occasion, Our Lord thought it proper to remind him and the company, 16 àº.” that many who, on mistaken notions of this kingdom, professed to desire it, were under y the force of such carnal prejudices on this head, that they would in fact slight and reject it. And to this purpose he uttered the following parable, and said to him that had expressed *w * so high a notion of the entertainments of his kingdom, .4 certain man made a great supper, ºnº and invited many guests: .4nd he sent out his servant at the hour of supper to say to those 17 that were bidden. Come; for that were invited, as they delayed their coming, My master desires you would come away *ś one as soon as possible, for all things prepared for the entertainment are now ready. . .3nd they 18 gº º, all began with one iconsent,) as if by mutual agreement they had all contriyed to put a i. I hº jºht". . slight on the entertainment, to excuse themselves on one pretence or another. The first said ºf ºn; ºil ſº pººl; to him that was sent, I have just now purchased a field, and I am wºnder a necessity of going go and see it: I pray thee g *- - 5 s - s *> jave me excused. . o see it; I entreat thee therefore to make my crewse, .4nd another, said, I have just bought 19 bººi five yoke of oren, and I am going to try thein, that I may see how they will draw ; I beseech I go to prove them...I pray thee therefore to make my excuse, and assure thy mastër that it is important business that "; ºthave prevents me." And another said, I have very lately married a wife, and shall have company 20 h Invite not so much thy rich fricads,--or neighöqºrs.] Probably (as to me a strong and awakening intimation that none who neglect works :Mr. Reading well conjectures) he observed in the Pharisees a humour of charity shall have their final lot among the righteous: which is evi- of making magnificent feasts, (on the sabbath-days, and on other occa; dent from the many hundred scriptures which indispensably require sions,) and of treating great persons, chiefly out of pride, ambition, and mercy as well as justice. (Compare Matt. i. 19. note a, p. 27.) ostentation; which might render this advice peculiarly proper; *ś. a Shall ég: bread..] . It is well known that the phrase, to eat bread, sig- if he who now gave this entertainment was, as many of his brethren nifies making a meal; and this not merely at a common table, but some- certainly were, very deficient in works of charity, See Reading's Liſe ºf times at a feast where the provision is very sumptuous. So perhaps it Christ, p. 256.--It is plain the word rich (as Grotius, well observes) might be at the table of this noble Pharisee, ver. 1. (See 2 Sam. ix. 7, refers not merely to neighbours, but to the kindred and the other persons 10, xii. 17, 20, and Prov. ix. 5.) Compare note e, p. 155. that are mentioned with them; for if these were in low circumstances, b With one [consent :) aſſo pºtas.] f all the various methods which their being related to them was an argument why they should be re- learned men have taken to supply the ellipsis here, (which may be seen garded rather than neglected. at large in Wolfius, Observ. vol. i. p. § GS3.) it seems to me most i The disabled, &c.]. We render avampous the mained; but the sig- natural to understand the word yyaping, that is, with one consent; which nification of the word is much more extensive, and indeed takes in bot supposition is maintained by Beza." The variety of their excuses render the lang and the blind afterwards mentioned; and may, also include çoiſms, with one voice, less proper. those whom the infirmities of age have rendered helpless.:Grotius thinks "... fij, thce make iny ercuse, &c.] It is a beautiful circumstance this Scripture was the foundation of the agapa, ºr lºve feasts, amº; that our ford here"represents both these bargains as already made; so the primitive christians; but it is not evident. Pliny has a fine parallel that going to see the farm and to prove the oxen that evening rather than passage.: See Plin. Epist. lib. ix. epist. 30. - the next morning, was merely the effect of rudeness on the one hand, ./lt the resurrection of the just.]. It is not so, evident as Dr. Clarke and of a foolish impatient humour on the other: and could never have supposes, that Ödkalov must here signify charitable men; it rather seems been urged, had they estécºè the invite or his entertainment. Ac- 212 ...e. 120. feast and neglect my own.” And that servant returning, told his lord all these things. Then THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER. SECT, to entertain, and therefore you will easily perceive I cannot come to attend your master's married a wife, and therefore Cann Ot COme. 21 So that servant came, Ver.24 the master of the house who had made the entertainment was very angry, as he reasonably and she wººd his lord these Like might be, to see such an affront put upon his splendid preparations, and such an ungrate. "...u. "...hº...º.º. ful return made for the peculiar kindness and respect he had shown in sending for these tº his seriºdic; 21 guests; and therefore he said to his servant, Go out directly into the streets and lanes of the tºº. city,” and bring in hither the poor, and the disabled, and the lame, and the blind, that they lººd, may come and partake of the entertainment; for I had rather see my house filled with “"“” the blind. 22 such guests than empty as it now is. And the servant quickly came back, and said, Sir, - - - what thou didst please to command is done; these poor distressed people are come in, and jº". "... sat down at the table, and still there is room for more guests, .# entertainment enough room. * . 23 provided to feast many others. And the lord said to the servant, Go out then into the roads 23 And the lord said unto without the city, and, rather than fail, look for the poorest and most helpless travellers, jºº ºf who are sheltering themselves under trees and hedges;ſ and, if importunity be necessary ği'iei", jiā, ś to such, press them that you find there by the most earnest invitation to come ing that my "***** house may be well filled. For I say unto you that mone of those men who were invited, if 24 For Isay unto you, that they should now be ever so desirous of it, shall be admitted so much as to taste of my . §dº"; 8wpper, since they have so rudely and ungratefully slighted it. Imy Supper. ...And in like manner, such will the divine conduct be with regard to the gospel. God sends his messengers in the most importunate manner to invite you Jews to come and partake of its rich entertainment: yetyou neglect it on the meanest pretences, and one is too bus and another too idle to attend to it. But he will severely resent the affront, and ſº it may seem to you as unaccountable a conduct as that which I have represented in this parable) will call in the poor, ignorant, and wretched Gentiles, who were wandering in the most helpless circumstances in the ways of idolatry and wickedness, and his church shall be filled with them; while you, who reject his gospel, shall in righteous judgment be yourselves rejected, and perish for want of those mercies which you now despise. IMPROVEMENT. MAy the infinite mercy of God forbid that this should ever be our condition! The gospel-feast, like the sump- tuous banquet of Ahasuerus, (Esth. i. 3, 4.) is of a very long standing: not only from week to week, but h m 22, And the servant said, 2 4 21, 22 age to age, God is sending to invite new guests ; and, after all the millions that have been regaled by it, and 18, 20 nourished up to everlasting life, there is yet room for more. Still are his servants sent from one time to another, 23 with all the fervour of the most affectionate persuasion, to urge sinners to accept of these desirable blessings: (for such only is the compulsion that becomes a feast, and suits the nature of reasonable creatures.) May we not . the grace of God in vain! May we not perish, as thousands before us have done, by making light of the Ospel: It has often been observed from this parable, that they were lawful occasions which these unhappy people pleaded as their excuse for neglecting the invitation. And how many perish by what is indeed lawful! But the care of our estates or cattle, our domestic affairs, and our dearest relatives, will be destructive to us, if they be minded as our main care, and our hearts be so attentive to them as to forget the ome thing needful. Are we of the number of those who, though once blinded, impoverished, and enfeebled by sin, are now brought as welcome guests to the table which divine love has spread 2 Let us adore the grace which opened the door to us, and opened our hearts to comply with the call; by its strong and powerful, though rational and gentle influ- ence, compelling us to come in. Let the servants employed in the message urge it with a becoming earnestness; as well knowing how much the heart of their great Master is in it, and how much the happiness of souls depends on their accepting it. Lord! may we see thy table furnished with guests, and ourselves be so happy as finally to 15 partake of those blessings to which we are now commanded to invite others! For blessed indeed are they who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God 2I SECTION CXXI. Our Lord urges upon his disciples the necessity of considering the º of religion before they take up a profession of it. Luke xiv. 25, to the €ll (1. SECT. 121. LUKE 2 6 LUKE xiv. 25. .A.VD as great multitudes attended Christ,” and went with him in this his journey toward Jerusalem, he turned about and said to them, You now attend me from place to place with LUKE xiv. 25. AND there went great mul- titudes with him; and he turned and said unto them, some tokens of regard; but seriously consider how much it will cost you to approve your- selves my faithful followers. If any one comes to me to be instructed in my religion, and to obtain the blessings of er occasion, to act as if he did even my kingdom, and does not prepare himself, on a pro hate his father and mother, and his very wife and children, and brethren and sisters, Weſt, his own life too, that is, if he be not willing to abandon all these rather than to forsake me, 26 ſ f any man come to me and, hate not his father, aug mother, and wife, and chil- and dren, and brethren, and sis- ters, yea, and his own life cordingly it is commonly found in fact, that men neglect the blessinºs and demands of the gospel, not for the most important affairs in life, with which they seldom interfere, but to indulge the caprice and folly of their own tempers, and to gratify the impulse of present passions, sometimes excited on very low occasions. - d I cannot come § As the process of the parable represents a wise and good man offended with this excuse among the rºst, we must sup: pose something in the circumstance of his receiving the message, or of appointing the time ſor entertaining company on his Qwn marriage, which implied a rude contempt of the inviter, and made the reply inde- cent. It was not necessary to descend to such particulars. * - é into the streets and lanes, of the city..] This seems the true distinc- tion between TXarel as and fivnas; the former of which signifies a broad, and the latter a narrow way, in which last the alleys may be included. f Into the roads and hedges.] Any gross and abandoned. Sinners might be represented as in this wretched condition. (See Eph. ii. 12–17.), But it seems an excessive refinement of Brennius, to suppose the hedges here mentioned refer to the ceremonial law as a partition ; as, it likewise is to explain the first clause as relating to the proselytes of the gate, and the second to the idolatrous Gentiles. One might as well infer from Ver. 24. that no Jews should be saved : and it argues a wrong taste in criticism to torture every circumstance into a fancied resemblange., , , , . g|Press them by the most earnest invitation to come in..] Nothing can be more apparently weak than to imagine, with St. Augustià and in any others, that these words can justify the use of compulsion and force in religious matters; the absurdity and iniquity of which I have repre- sented at large in my sermon on that subject. It is certain the word avaykača) is often used to express an importunity where there could he no secular terrors; Matt. xix. 22. Mark vi. 45. Gal. ii. 3, 14. vi. 12. (as is likewise the word Tapaſ}vaſoprat, Luke xxiv. 29. and Acts xvi. 15.) and several instances are produced by Elsmer, in which the word signi- fies pressing persuasion. (Observº. vol. i. p. 244, 2. And here, as it would be most indecent to imagine persons forced to an entertainment, so it would have been quite impracticable ſor a single servant to have com- pelled a multitude in this sense. There is an ambiguity in the English word [press,) which much more exactly answers to that in the original han the word our translators use : and it, seems to me the part of a faithful translator, especially of the sacred writings, to preserve the ambiguities of the original, though a paraphrase, which speaks only a man’s own sentiments, may sometimes venture to determine them. a Great multitudes attended Christ.) Perhaps the cure of the man who had the dropsy, and some expectations as to the event of Christ's visit to this Phariséé, might cause a crowd near his house ; and what follows might be spoken the same sabbath, on our Lord’s coming out from thence : but as the evangelist does not so expressly connect the passages, I was not willing to assert it in the paraphrase. b To act as if he did even hate his father and mother, &c.], Strictly speaking, to hate our nearest relatives, and our own lives, would be un- THE NECESSITY of DECISION IN THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION 213 also, he cannot be my disci- he cannot really be my disciple, whatever he may pretend. And whosoever does not stead- SECT. *# And whosoever doth fastly resolve even to bear his cross and to come after me, whenever he is called to tread the 121. nºt bear his cross, and ºne painful steps that I am taking in the way to crucifixion and death, he cannot be my disciple: after me, cannot be my disci- sº * ple. and therefore, as I gave these things in charge to my apostles, (Matt. x. 38, p. 143.) I Lºº repeat them to you as matters of universal concern, which require your most attentive con- sideration. . - 2s. For which, of you in- And it is necessary to dwell on the thought; for which of you, if he be a person of com- 28 º,. . . ºf mon prudence, and intend to build a tower,” or any other edifice, does not first deliberately counteth the cost, whether sit down and compute the expense it will require, and compare it with his own circumstances, hº that he may judge whether he has a stock of wealth [sufficient] to finish it? Lest when he 29 ºf ſº, hath laid a foundation, and is not able to complete [the workſ he had begun, fºr want. of iºdi'i º". . . money to go through with it, all who see it, as they pass by, should begin to deride him, 39 saying. This man began Saying, in contempt, This must be surely a wise man who thus began to build, and was not 30 #º "was not ** able to finish his plan; and here his imperfect work stands a lasting monument of his great discretion - tº...?' ºf ..Q. what Wise king, if he was marching out to encounter another king in war,' does not first 31 jºir. ...".”... sit down and consider whether he has any such advantage as to arms, strength, or situation, as tº may induce him to conclude that he is able with no greater force than ten thousand men to ºjº meet and oppose him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? .4nd if he find he has 32 hiº.º.º.º., not, while he that comes with this superior force against him is yet at a distance, he sends an is yet, a great way off, he embassy, and desires terms ofpeace.” acknowledging his readiness to submit to some things ; ;: which may be disagreeable, for the preservation of his dominions, and perhaps of his life. hº;; So then do you consider whether you think it worth your while to adhere to me on these 33 it iſºhº" terms, for I assure you, I will admit you on no other; and whosoever he be of you that does not be my disciple. not steadfastly º to give up all his possessions whenever he is called to it on my account, he cannot be owned by me as my disciple indeed. .# Sºisſºu. And if you are not my disciples indeed, your outward profession will be very insignifi- 34 §ºrgºň ju'i jº cant; for though salt in general is a very good thing, and my servants, as I formerly inti- soned 2 mated, (Matt. v. 13. p. 77.) are the salt of the earth; yet I must again add, if the salt be - grown insipid, with what can it be seasoned? or what can recover those whom my gospel li I & *: flºg will not influence and reclaim? . And as insipid salt is such a vile and worthless thing 35 iii., § ºn" as it"...t. that it is neither fit to be used of itself as manure for the land, nor even so much as fit for #ºath ears tº hear let a place on the diaghill, to be there mixed with other dung: [but] it is thrown out of doors, and trampled under foot like mire in the streets: you also will be no less useless and contemptible, if, under the advantages and obligations of a christian profession, you are destitute of a sincere principle of integrity and piety, and will be utterly abandoned and rejected as unprofitable servants. He therefore that hath ears to hear, let him hear it attentively; for it is a point in which not only the honour of my kingdom but the salvation of your own souls is concerned. . IMPROVEMENT. MAY our most serious attention be fixed on so important a truth; and may this plain and candid declaration of XIV. our Lord be duly regarded by us, as ever we desire to find the advantage of that relation to him in which we are Ver.33 so ready to glory ! If we would not be cast out with disdain, and trampled under foot as worthless and vile, let 34, us be solicitous that there may be the salt of divine grace in our hearts; and let us undertake a religious profession with that deliberate consideration which becomes a matter of such greatimportance. A hasty purpose will never 2S-32 bear us through the difficulties we must expect to encounter; and rash vows and thoughtless adventures in this case will only expose us to the derision of others, and the keener remorse of our own minds. Nor is the nature and evidence of religion such as to have any reason to fear the severest examination. The demands of Christ are indeed high, that the nearest relatives should be abandoned, and even life itself sacrificed 26 for his sake; that we be at least martyrs in resolution, and have so much of a reciprocal affection for him, as shall, like his love to us, be stronger than death. Yet how reasonable is the demand | Did he leave his Father's bosom 33 for us, and shall we scruple to abandon our houses and our kindred for him? Did he expire on the cross for us, and shall not we be ready to take up our crosses and follow him? Shall it not be delightful to us to trace his most 27 painful steps, and by the most costly sacrifices to approve our gratitude and our duty 2 Blessed Jesus, lead us! and by thy grace we will follow thee, whatever be the path, whatever be the burden, whatever the terror of the way; knowing that if we partake with thee in thy sufferings, we shall at length share with thee in thy consolation and thy glory! (2 Tim. ii. 12.) so sº SECTION CXXII. Publicans and sinners flock round our Lord, and he vindicates biºto £eive them by the parables of the lost sheep and piece of In Oney. - l? Re XV. I.- I'J, I,UKE xv. 1. 35 * LUKE xv. 1. - SECT. ºś him THUS our Lord addressed himself to the multitude, and especially to his disciples, on 122. - Rl'Il S 3 1nners, - T * * *> Aſ ºf anasºn the sabbath-day, as he came out from the house of the noble Pharisée with whom he inad LUKE dined. Now as it was then a season of leisure, and he appeared in public teaching the xv. natural wickedness, and equally contrary to, the dictates of humanity premises to be true) there would be any certainty w * * • * - - - dº ſity O - f" & and the genius of the ; } .." issºl º º º thing is allº; y tainty of such an intended said to be loved and another hated in Scripture, when the former is e Desires terms of peace : épºora za zoog et, * * * * - --> --~ -,+ 1.x i • * * ~ *- : º . . . . . . . . * : 2num/.] This represents much º and, especially whe); out of resºrd i. it, the liger * the feebler person as begging a peace; a tººkm º, i. Rººg! R. §ººd ºn. xxix. 31. Dcut. XXi. 15–17. and resignation Yº! which peace is to be sought from an offendjº &ll. 1. j. R.O.III. I. X. lºº. Tiålt U, V l. 2-4. Whq is possessed of a strongth, not (as in the cases * I } * - - w * & ºr ºn : “Sº sº. -- s - € Sl] ||YYYOSC Q trö c ſhe intend to build a tºger.] This phrase natºrally suggests to tº double, but infinitely superior to ours." The ‘.... º: the idea of a more magnificent, edifice than Qur, Lord’s hearers might of a late valuable piecº' clied Orthodoxy and Charity, (whº i. be.) probably think of on this occasion. It is plain that towers, were ſe: has given a quite different interpretation of this passage, which "so"; º: run up, probably of . º pºli, to º §§ as Igºn recollect, I have not yet seen, and which tº 'suºj had the care of keeping vineyards ºr flocks; and they were bºlt ºretty consideration. He º it (p. 43.) as referring to those who have not high in proportion to their basis, that they might command the larger º tº fight With their spiritual enemies, the woºd, the fij.nº º ºil, aid therefore make the best terms they can With the j'ºt Fº }ompare 2 Chron. xxvi. 10. Mie, iv. 8. Isa. v. 2. Matt. Nxi. 33. and Mark xii. 1. still neglecting Christ and religion. But if the passage be taken in this d Or aphat king marching out to encounter another king, $6. Accord- sense, our Lord, by declaring in the nºt Verse that he will make no ing tº Sir Isaac Newton’s, Chronology, these, words were spoken at our abatement in his own demands, plainly intimates hº jeºsº"it is'. Tºord's, last, passover, and might, refer to Hero's, leading his, ºrmy break through all opposition, and to determine to fºe alſº jifilufti. through Judea, against Aretas, king of Arabia. But as Herod did not in our way, which it will be our wisjöm", view and consider, that we then appear to be the weaker, I cannot see that (even supposing the may be prépared with proportionable resolution. 214 SECT. 122. I_UKE XV. 2 º 6 7 8 10 have found the piece of money which I had lost. And so ike manner a peculiar joy in heaven among the angels of God over one repeating sinner. Do not therefore wonder if I labour to promote their joy on this account, and condescend to familiar converse with those whom you proudly despise as unworthy your regard. Ver. I 7 4—6 : 8, 9 sincere conversion. And let the solicitude with which the little possessions o SECT. 123. I.U KE XV. -A CHRIST VINDICATES HIS RECEPTION 7 * OF PUBLICANS AND SINNERS. people, all the publicans in that place, and some other notorious sinners, who might not easily have been admitted into the Pharisee's house, drew near to hear him preach,” being charmed with the condescension which allowed of their access. ºflººd Jesus, moved with compassion for them, uttered some remarkable discourses, ad- mirably calculated for their encouragement, and that of others who had lain under the most aggravated guilt. But the proud Pharisees and scribes who were present, murmured 2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. when they saw such a crowd around him, and said, This man, while he sets up for a reli- gious Teacher, unaccountably gives access to the most profligate sinners, and sometimes cats with ihem, and makes no scruple to accept of invitations to their houses. (Compare Mark ii. 16. p. 133.) But [Jesus, for the encouragement of these poor penitents, as well as to rebuke the cen- sorious and uncharitable Pharisees, spake to then this parable, and said, What man is there of you that has a flock of an hundred sheep, who will not, upon losing one of them, imme- diately leave the ninety-nine that were feeding together in the pastures of the desert, and 5 #. from place to place in search after that which was lost, till he find it? And having at ength found it, he lays it on his shoulders, greatly rejoicing, as a man in such a circum- stance naturally would. cometh home, he calls together such an universal change of mind and character. Or, to illustrate the matter by another obvious similitude, that it may yet more power- fully strike your minds, Hºhat poor woman having ten pieces of silver money, though they were each of them but of the value of a drachma, if she losé one of them out of her little stock, will not presently light a lamp, and take the pains to sweep out the house, and search 9 carefully in all the corners till she find it? .4nd when she has found it, she joyfully calls her female friends and neighbours together,” to acquaint them with her good success; and, (Compare Matt... xviii. i2; i3. sect. xciv. p. 174.) And when he # § friends and neighbours, and says winto them, with the greatest pleasure, My friends, you may now rejoice with me: for my labour and search have not been in vain, but I have found my sheep which was lost.—And, as he thus is more delighted with the recovery of the sheep which he had lost, than with the safety of the rest which had not wandered ; so, I say to you, that greater and more sensible joy will wº be in heaven, among the blessed and benevolent spirits that dwell there,” over one penitent sinner, than over ninety-nine, righteous persons who do not need such deep repentance,” or ; 3 And he spake this para- ble unto them, saying, . What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it 3 ... 5, And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoul- ers, rejoicing. 6 when he cometh home, he calleth together his ſriends and neighbours, say- ing unto them, Rejoice with me; for I, have, found my sheep which was lost. . . 7 I say unto you, that like- wise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repent- 3th, more than over º; and nine just persons which need no repentance. 8 Either what woman hav- ing ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not ſight a candle, and Syeep, the house, and seek diligently till she find it 3 9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, say: ing, Rejoice with me ; for concluding it will be agreeable news to them, she says, Rejoice with me, my friends, for Iijºeºtithºcº"which i had lost. . 10 Likewise, I say unto you, There is joy, in the presence of the angels of God * one sinner that repent- 6th. say whid you, that there is in {MIPROVEAHENT. How graceful and lovely does our Lord appear, while thus opening his compassionate arms and heart to these wretched outcasts, for whose souls no man cared! Who can choose but rejoice at thisjubilee which he proclaimed among them, and at the cheerful attention which they gave to these glad tidings of great joy 2 May we, who are his followers, never despise the meanest or the worst of men when they seem disposed to receive religious instruc- 10 tion; but rather exert ourselves with a distinguished zeal, as knowing that the joy of the heavenly world in their recovery will be in some measure proportionable to the extremity of their former danger. Let us often recollect the charity and goodness of those perfected spirits who look down from their own glory with compassion on mortals wandering in the paths of the destroyer, and who sing anthems of thankfulness and oy, when by divine grace they are reclaimed from them. Let evéry sinner be touched with a generous desire, that hé who has been in so many instances the offence and burden of the earth, may become the joy of heaven by his this world are sought, when they are lost by any accident, engage us more earnestly to seek what is infinitely more valuable, our own salvation, and that of the immortal souls of others. May we in our different stations labour successfully for their recovery : that we may another day share in º which angels and glorified saints shall express, when they see them not only reduced to the paths of virtue and happiness, but fixed in abodes of eternal glory! ,” SECTION CXXIII. Our Lord further pursues the design of the pregeding parabjas, by delivering that of the proliga] son. Luke xv. 11, to the end. }_UKE xv. 11. WITH the same design of vindicating himself in conv of reproving the envy of the Pharisees, and of encouraging every a All the publicans and sinners drºp near to hºgſ, him.] §ome suppose they came by a particular appointinent from all the neighbouring parts. But as jºke goes on in the story, without any intimation of a change ºther in the time or fic Feene of it, I am inclified to think these ºſs- courses might be delivered the saràe day, that Chisi dined with the Pharisee, (; 119.) which being the sabbāţ-day, youjd give the publicans, who on other days were ein ployed in their office, a tº Cré Coºl yenient opportunity of attending.—Some have concluded (I could, heyer cº- jécture for what reason) that this happetºl in Gałłłoc of the Gentifies i.eyond Jordan, from wheticº, they say, Christ went up to Jerusalem. (Luka xvii. 11.) Buſ that the chief part of this assembly were Gentile idiºters can never be proved; and if it cºuld, it wºuld be no sufficient roof of Christ's being roy on the of Her side of Jordan. Yet I acknow- edge it highly probable that sor; 16 iſolatroits Geptiles ºpight join with tjºmułtitude, who, if they understood these parables, might justly draw great ongouragement from thern. - T b in the pastures of the desert.] Uncultivated, grouñº, used merely as common or pasture, was called wilderºss, or dººt, by the Jews, I lº §siºtion from arabla or enclosed land. Compºſe Jºsh. xv. 61.1 Kings jīā’īā’īngs iii. S. Matt. iii.J., and Mark vi. 31. (Compare also note c., on Matt. xviii. 12.994, p. 174. + = - 2 c Greater joy."pill be in heace!...Sºc.) Alluding, says Mr. L'Enfant, (a little too coldly,) to the style of the Jews, with whom it was usual to }...present the angéls weeping,'or the coºptiº of men, and rejoicing at §ºversion. But it seems very unwarrantºlº to suppº.ºhiº; § assºrting a thing, mierely because the Jews used thºs tºpºlº and ...iv. of it. We may rāther conclude from Yeº. 10. that, at least in some extraordinary cases, the angels are, either by iº revelation ... iśāof the conversion of sinners, which rºst to those ersing with publicans and sinners, LUKE xv. 11. AND he said, A certain man sincere penitent by **** benevolent spirits be an occasion of joy; nor could any thing have been suggested more proper, to encourage the humble penitent, to expose the rººpining Pharisée, or to animate all fo Zeill in so good a work as en- 33avouring to profimote the repentance of others, di ſ㺠cre, nictyºmina righteous persons, &c..] It cannot be our Lord’s incaning here that, God esſeems ofte peºt ºne. jº than 7ſ, ºcły-ºne confirme: at:l established saints; (who are, undqubtedly, the persons si.oken of as peoding no repentance: 9.1% universal change of heart and life, in which sense the word pergºutg is commonly used ;) Fºr iſ would be inconsistent with the divine Wisdom, #oºlnºś, and jºiness, to suppose this. But it is plainly as it º bad said, As a £ºther peculiarly rejoices when all &xtravagant child is reduced to a sºle of his duty, and one whom he had considered as utterly ruined by his follics, aid perhaps as de;;d, rcturns with remorse and submis- Šion; or as aliy other person, Yºlo hº recovered what he had guyen up fºr gone, has a more seſsible satisfaction,” it, than in several other things equally valuable, but pet in Silº tºº. 9 do the holy in- habitants of i.e.º. refoice in the conversion, of the most abandoned . sºrs, and the great Father of all so readily forgives and jºyºs tºº, that he may be represented as having ºn tlig jºy.”-Though, by the way, when höman pâssºs ºº ascribed to God, it is gettain they are to be taken in ſt figurative sense, entirely exclusive of those sensations which result from the corºmotions of animal nature in our- S *ši. calls her female friends [7 as º: 1 and neighbours tºgether.] It might seem hardly worth while (9 ºs', the consistulation of her friends ... sºil an occasion as finding a drachma, (for that is the piece of jº"mentioned, in yalue nºt aboye nine:pence 3) but, it is, Iº; ... tº part offic little stock, and the impressible and social THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAT, SON. 21 gº J. moving representations of the divine mercy, our Lord went on to utter another most SECT. beautiful and affecting parable. And he said, while this various multitude was standing 123. round him, There was a certain man in plentiful circumstances, and of a very condescend- 12 And the - 4. - º: * * ºr * - - g - Zºº - & º ºś### them, fondly conceited of his own capacity to manage his affairs, and weary of the restraints fºllº, ºhº divid- of his father's house, said one day to his indulgent parent, Father, as I am now come to ed unto them his living. - 4. * * -hoji * Cl .--> - hands that porti years of discretion, I desire thou wouldst give me into mine own hands that portiºn of goods, which, according to an equitable distribution, falls to my share. ...ſind he, unwilling to make any invidious distinction in distributing his effects, divided his living between them both,” and gave them his chief stock of money, reserving the house and estate in his own hands. ſº flºº ...And not many days after this division was made, the younger sºn gathering all his trea- 13 º'...'..."; sure together, and pretending a design of trafficking with it, took a journey, into a very jºjº º distant country; and there forgetting his relations at home, and living with a knot, of §cºhºlsºn." companions like himself, in a very ricious, debauched, and extravagant manner, he quickly - º on zł d J a h r! } g his cº- hºrror ra - - squandered away the whole of his substance. 14 And when he had spent ...?nd when he had consumé! all in this wretched course, it so happened, through the 14 㺠dº, jº righteous judgment of God upon him, that there was an extreme famine in that country bºº in §. - - º where he sojourned; and he soon began to be in want of the very necessaries of life. And he went and joine - * on a thosa w t : * > hiº; finding no shelter or relief among those who had been the companions of his luxury, and §§§,'...'...}." shared in the spoils of his substance, yet unable to brook the mortification of returning ****** home in such circumstances, he went and joined hiº. as a servant to a citizen of that place; who, thinking such a worthless creature unfit for any better post, sent him away into his groundsb belonging to an estate in the country, where he employed him to feed o---S 5 • swine; to which, however mean and disagreeable the employment was,” this unhappy 12 alſº youth, who had once lived in so much plenty and splendour, was forced to submit; And 16 ed his belly with the husks 2 T l- e - e tº the wine iii tº and even then, through the unkindness of his master and the extremity of the season, he was no man gave unto him. kept so poorly, that he had not bread, but would gladly have filled his hungry belly with the sorriest husks, which the swine did eat ; and yet there was no man that would take so much pity upon him as to give unto him one morsel of food; so sparing did the famine make them, and so much did every one despise this foolish and scandalous prodigal. 17 Apá when, he came to And now the infamy and distress of his present situation began to lead him into serious 17 elf, he sa - tº- wº s - - #.º.º. º consideration; and coming to himself, he so far recovered his reason, which had before tº been dethroned, and extinguished by the mad intoxication of sensual pleasure, that he said * p - in his own mind, Alas, how many hired servants in the family of my good father have bread enough and to spare, while I his child, who have known so many better days, am even erishing with }; and am not thought worth my food by this unkind master to whom my father, and will say unto have hired myself! Whatever be the consequence of it, I am resolved that I will sit IS #."..."rººi... no longer in this miserable condition; but I will immediately arise and go to my father, tº heaven, and before if all my little remaining strength can carry me such a journey; and, without vainly attempting an apology, I will say to him, O my dear injured father, I humbly confess that I have sinned against the great God of heavene by a long course of vice and wickedness, - and have been guilty also of the vilest behaviour before thee, in abusing thy goodness, and toº.”.º.º.º.º.º. grieving thee by my unnatural rebellion; .4nd, in consequence of this, I am no more i.e" is ."of"hºeſ". worthy to be called thy som, nor can I expect the favour of being admitted into thy family Van tS. On such terms again; nevertheless, do not suffer me to perish, but rather make me as one % thy hired servants,f and I will be contented for the future to labour and to fare as they o, so I may but live in thy sight. ...And accordingly he arose at that very instant, and set forward on his long journey, 20 passing through all the stages of it with a firm resolution, Providence taking care for his subsistence, though he was obliged to beg his way; and at length he came to the neigh- bourhood of the house in which his father dwelt. - But while he was yet at a considerable distance, his father, who happened to be them look- ing that way, saw him, and presently knew him, disguised as he was ; and his botgels Jearned over him to see him in so wretched a condition: and immediately, as if he had forgot the dignity of his own character, and all the injuries he had received, he ran to his child, and fell on his neck with an eager embrace, and tenderly kissed him with tears of joy. 21 Apq, the son said, untº And the son began to make his humble acknowledgments, as he before had purposed, and 21 º i.". said unto him, O my abused and injured father, I am ashamed to appear in thy presence; §§º. *º wor for such has been my vileness, that I have sinned against the God of heaven and before - thee, and am no more worthy to be called and owned as thy son, or to receive any token of hiº, §º: thy favourable regards. But, before he could make an end of the speech he intended, the 22 §º.º. 99mpassionate father turned, and said to his servants, who were now gathered round them, ºf hand, G9 immediately into the house, and bring out the best role that is there, and clothe him e with it, and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet, that my dear child may appear crooked pods, which by some is called St. John’s bread; but if the ac- £ount, which Saubert himself gives, of it be true, swims would hardly 1 in a tiime of 18 I will arise and go of I 20 And he arose, and came to his father.— —But when, he was yet a reat way off, his father saw im, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. temper of the sex may be perhaps thought of, as adding some propriety to the representation. - - * - ,- a Divided his living between then bºth] It is plain no significant have been fed with anything but the ins; part of this, sense can be put 90 this circumstance of the parable, as referring to the extreme famine. f therefore choose to retain our º’ersiº, "bit tº it dispensations of God to his creaturº. It is one of those many qrna- on the whole, to have been the fºuít of a tº somethingº, Willićiºn: - sº * - - - - *- s: - mental º Yºuld be weakness over-rigorously to kind. Šće iſrušiūš, jºio. accommodate to the general desigt]. - e Sinned against the great God of hear is xx, a r → ~ - ...” - - - - - - --> - eaven.] This was as Dr. Who—sent him into lis grounds.] That kat in such a construction observes, º; of the Prodigal, p. §§ * ºś º should be rendered in this manner, the accurate Elsner has shown by a father’s joke had been so casu, that his throwing it off had been an act variety of convincing instances. Observ. vol. i. p. 248. w of rebellion against God: anº; it showed also that his heart was touchºi c However, mean ànd disagreeable the employment was...] It is true with a sense, not only of the folly but the gaiji of his conduct, and that that among the ancient Greeks, the chief swineherd was looked upon as the fear of God began to take joid ºf hiº. an officer of no inconsiderable rank; ºs evidently appears from the Jake me as one of thy hired servants.] . He mentions this, not be- figure which Eumaeus makes in the Odyssey; but this was an age of greater refinement; the º youth was obliged to attend the swine jºimself; and if he be considered as a Jew, the aversion of that nation for this unclean animal must render the employment peculiarly odious to him; and probably this circumstance was chosen by our Lord, to {...} him as reduced to the most vile and servile state that could be 1II) ºgll] & Gl. d *}; the sorriest husks.] A late translation (after Brown, Saubert Grotius, and many others) renders kepart ov, carraways, or the fruit o the Garub-tree, which bore a mean, though sweetish kind of fruit, in long Cause such servants fared worse than slaves, but because he was himself an hired servant, and therefore naturally compared his own condition with those of that rank in his father’s family. g The best robe..] It is observed by Ferrarius (de Re Vestiar. lib. iii. cap. 24.) that the gººm, or long robe, was a garment which servants never Y9.e.; sº that his father’s ordering any such garment, and especially the Best, to be brought, was declaring in the most moviñº manner that can 10, magined, how far he was from intending to treat him like a servant. —His Whentioning the ring and shoes spake the same language; as many learned writers have observed. "Sea Wolfius, inijº. * * Jłred, 15 § of them ing temper, who had two sons that were now grown up to manhood. .4nd the younger ºf Pº 216 - THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. SECT. like himself: .4nd 1 tº rºs. 7 -- - - - - ... • ?, ??, 22. - & 123. there, a ; ill #. º º you run to the stall, and bring hithe: the fatted calf that is . 23 And, bring, hither the wº ere, and kill ith for a festival entertainment; and let us eat and be cheerful: For festeem tº...º.º.º.º. and I.C.KE this i. of the º, º, my life, and more joyful than the birth-day of one of ...; "i"º"; was ‘KE my children : Since this my son, that was s O' idered by d x s aro aros. ead, and is alive again; he *Y. life;i and he who wns ...i. Šd to be so long cºnsidered by me as dead, is restored to ..."...dº..." Aj ºf v 3 - “. …” cluded to be irrecoverably lost, is found, so that I have renewed they began to be merry. 24 hope of comfort in him. ..?nd the whole house was filled with joy, and, having made the entertainment ready, they began to be cheerful. * - 25. º, wº the jº, son was thus received into his father's house, his elder son was 2.Nºw, his elder son was abroad in the field; and as on his return, he approached the house, he heard the sound of º.º.º.º.º. 26 m.at SRC #! dancing, and was surprised at the discovery of such unusual joy. . .4nd calling ñº. §§ dancing: * of| le Sé? º to come to him, he inquired of him what was the meaning of these things, tº sº. ai *** 27 and what could have occasioned this extraordinary rejoicing 2 And he said to him, It is "jºi.”.” - because thy younger brother is come home; and thiſ father is so transported with joy at his is tº: sº hº unexpected return, that he has killed the fatted calf, and made a very splendid entertain- §º. **) - * * • e wº * wº * *- 3. s s - l: l - 28 ment, º & received him in good health again, and found him happily recovered to ceived him safe and sound. 3. . of his duty. ...?nd he was very angry at the kind reception of his brother, and 2s And he was angry, and resolved that he would not go in. would not go in :— * y * * .. . tº º: His father therefore hearing he was there, and being, told that he discovered some dºº- uneasingss, came out with great condescension, and calmly entreated him to be pacified, ther out, and entreated him. and to join with them in the festivities of the day. 29 b º instead of rejºicing on so happy an occasion, and running to embrace his penitent tº...! - * (* * * * * - O /12S ſºlth Cr, i.10, Se many rot er, he was still full of envy and resentment, and replied to his father, Behold, I have §§§º.; served thee these many years, and even to this day am as careful of thy affairs as if thou §: łºś. . * g g tº º * º ** $º nt : angl yet thou wast my master rather than my father; nor canst thou say, I have at any time departed never gayºst me a Ridithat I from my duty, or transgressed thy command; and yet thou hast never given me so much as ºake merry with my 30 a kid, ſº might make an entertainment with a few of my select friends : But as soon as ... º. º.º.º. y ...] ºf g * * * .* r * -Y - - - SOn W: f ever this thy favourite son was come, who has, as much as in him lay, devoured thy substance ºn º with harlots abroad, in a long course of scandalous debaucheries, to his own ruin and the ºi. " " " infamy of the family, thou East killed for him the fattest calf, and made him as welcome as Il G. Hallie C1 C8-11, - if he had been the most dutiful child upon earth. .4nd, though his father justly might have taken offence at his unbecoming reply, yet, with sº, º 'º'; unto him, great gentleness, he said to him, Son, thou art always with me, and art every day receiving ãº" some token of my kindness; yea, all that I have is in a manner thine, as thou art heir tº 32 the bulk of my estate:k But surely, on further consideration, thou must acknowledge that ºt, ºi, º, . it was fit we should feast and rejoice to-day : for this thy poor brother, who was but lately sºlº *inº tº: looked upon as dead, is, as it were, miraculously made alive again; and he who was lost to ºf dead, and is alive again; us all, is now º found; and it will much better become thee to join with us in joy and was lost, and is found. for his return, than thus peevishly to quarrel with my indulgence to him. - - -------- Now you who have heard this parable will easily see how indecent this conduct was, and how ungracious a figure this elder brother makes in my story. And I will assure you, that when you Pharisees murmur at the kindness shown to the publicans, or even the Gentiles themselves,” on their sincere repentance, you act with as ill a grace, and are the objects of still greater blame, in proportion to the degree in which men's eternal interests. - - are more important than those that relate merely to the present state. IMPROVEMENT. - LET us here behold, with all due attention, the moving representation which our gracious Redeemer makes of the folly of sinners and the compassions of God; compassions, which he describes as one who himself felt them, and who, in this respect, as well as others, was the express image of his Father. We have before us in this parable a lively emblem of the character and condition of sinners in their fallen state. Ver.12 They are thus impatient of the most necessary restraints; thus fondly conceited of their own wisdom; and thus, when enriched by the bounties of the great common Father, do they ungratefully run from him, and say unto God, 13 Depart from us, %. we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. (Job xxi. 14.) Sensual pleasures are eagerly sought; and perhaps all their earthly possessions and hopes are quickly paid as the price of them. While the means of 14 obtaining these pleasures continue, not a serious thought of God can find a place in their minds: and then, per- haps, afflictions, heavy and complicated afflictions, come upon them; yet eyen under that pressure they will often 15, 16 make very hard shifts before they will be persuaded to think of a return; till at length divine grace, working in concurrence with Providence, brings them to a better temper. - 17. When they see themselves naked and indigent, enslaved and undone; when they come to themselves, and recover the exercise of their reason, improving it to the only purposes for which it would have been worth while to have received it, then they feel the pangs ofPeº rémorse: then they remember the blessings they have 18, 19 lost, and attend to the misery they have incurred. And hereupon they are disposed humbly to confess their folly, and to prostrate themselves in the presence of their heavenly Father: they put the resolution immediately into practice; they arise, and go unto him. * º & º But oh, let us behold with wonder and pleasure the gracious reception they find from divine, injured goodness! 3 I 20 of those who have on the whole made a greater h The fatted calf, and kill it..] Elsner would render the word biggº of glory superior to that sacrifice it : truly urging that it was customary to offer a sacrifice at the iirtà, and sometimes at the unexpected recovery, of a child. (See Elsner, Öğ..." p. 3'ſ, 350.) But no such sacrifice was appointed among the jaws, nor could any have been lawfully offered but at jerusalem, which - - º's hºt appear to have been the scene of this parable ; so that I can see tion, that the best of men no just reason for such a rendering. | This thy brother.] thirtieth yerse: the e father Intima progress in holiness, and done. him more Ar here is a lovely sinners as in some respect their when there appears any * constant and faithful services. opposition between this and the lderson had there indecently said, This thy son ; the in his reply tenderly says, This, thy brother. And it is a moving ought to look on the most, abandoned brétliren still ; and should especially inclination to return. i”hat ºcciº dead, is restored to life.] It is by a very cominº and remember the relation, Sentiles ti selv M - #1 ºniº, that vicious persons are represented as dead, both by in ſo the publicans, or even the Gentiles, themse ves...] Many com— beautiful emblem that vic D :S p .*.*.*.* tº mºntators havº considered this parable in a view ºf Reculia ºpiº sacred and profane authors; < . . .” - - and Wölfius, in loc.) and the natural death of their ch jess grievous to pious parents, than to see them abandoned to such a course as this young sinner took.-Išut, to su * —21.) which con that statute (ſ)eut. xxi. 18 - - . - jjious son to death on the prosecution of his pàº. would in this & 8 - I, and ütterly spoil the tenderness and grace of in his intention. case be most unnatura this speech. k J3 j ñat I have is thine.] This is a material intimation, and suggests unworthy their g ..ainst murmuring at the indulgence shown to Kreat any Šº penitent jśhat the father gave this younger son parallel texts, condem a strong reason, ag. sinners; for as the joyful We * incline him to disinheri * did not g fººmarkable poſſitants, raiso them to a state ples, and p out of a partial fondness pose an allusion here to Acts xiii. 42–50. xxii. 21. emned a disobedient and s hended in our Lorg's design : Jews against the apostles for preag * * * 22, and 1 Y. • V. . E}}]]. 11. 1. (compare 1 Tim. V. .6 ºe, would be to the Jews and Gentiles; and have observed that, the murmurs of the hing the gospel to the Gentiles, (see Thess. ii. 16.) are represented by the conduct of the elder brother.--This was º a case compre- - - but be undoubtedly had s omething more He meant to show, that had the Pharisees been as eminently good as they º to be, yet it had been very "thè"jdé; brother, so neithér will God, elsewhere, on prope.9% º & lainly oxposes their haracter, to take o n their con h he shows the falsehood of those ypocrisy and guilt. Thus the ju enge at the kind treatment which might receive. Thus, does he here, and in §§ duct on their own principles; thoug #: 1gious AND he said also unto his OUR Lord then spake another parable, by which he intended to convince his hearers of THE PARABLE OF THE UNJUST STEWARD. 217 He sees them afar off; he pities, he meets, and embraces them; he interrupts their complainti,ºd agknowledg: SECT. ments with tokens of his returning favour. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant £hilºſo.º. I sp 123. against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him ; I will surely have mercy wipon him, saith the Lord. (Jer. xxxi. 20.) Thus does God welcome the humble penitent; thus does he open the º arms of his love to embrace him, and the treasures of his bounty to enrich him. He arrays him with the robe of ... a Redeemer's righteousness, dresses him in the ornaments of sanctifying grace, honours him with the tokens of 22, 23 adopting love, and invests him with the glorious privileges and immunities of his children. And all this he does with unitterable delight: he rejoices over him with joy; he rests in his love, and, as it. Were, "jº 90°. him aith singing, (Zeph. iii. ii.) and this is the joyful language of the song, My children that were dead are alive again; 24 and though they were lost, they are found. - gº Let heaven and earth unite in the joy, and echo back the song. Let no elder brother murmur at the Indulgence 25–32 with which these prodigals are treated; but rather welcome them back into the family, and even encourage every thing that looks like a disposition to return to it. And let those who have been thus received, wander no more: but ratheriet them emulate the strictest piety of those who for many years have served their heavenly Father, with- out having in any notorious instances transgressed his commandments. SECTION CXXIV. Christ delivers the parable of the unjust steward, and reproves the Pharisees for their covetousness and hypocrisy. Luke xvi. 1–18. LUKE xvi. 1 LUKE xvi. 1. SECT. disciples, There was a certain 124 rich man which had a stew— sº ard ; and the same was ac; cused unto him that he ha wasted his goods. the necessity of making a right use of their worldly enjoyments; and, having before rebuked the Pharisees for their envious and uncharitable temper, he said also to his dis- ciples, that were about him, There was a certain rich man who had a steward in whom he had long put great confidence: and he was at last accused to him, as having wasted his goods 2 And he called him, and which had been intrusted to his care. ...And calling him, he said unto #. What is this 2 fº...". strange account that I hear of thee? Can it be true that thou hast acted so unjust and account of thy stewardship; base a part P. Give an immediate and exact account of thine administration and manage- ment in this office; for thou canst be no longer steward with any honour to thyself or I,UKE 4XVI. for º: mayest be no longer Steward. * & satisfaction to me, while thou continuest under such imputations and suspicions as these. 3.Then the steward said £nd upon this, as might be well, imagined, the steward was much alarmed, and said 3 Y; ; ; º; within himself, in the reasonings of his own mind, What shall I do in this unhappy, situ- ...peº sº., ation of my affairs? for my lord is taking away my stewardship, and with it I shall lose j.d." ' " "* * * my subsistence. I am not able to dig, or to apply myself to any other laborious work of - < * husbandry;” nor can I expect, under this load of infamy, to be trusted by another in the business I have been accustomed to ; [and] I am utterly ashamed to beg my bread, after 4 I am resplved what to do, having lived so handsomely in the world thus long. And, after a pause, he added, I have 4 that, when I am put out of to ** e 17 3 -- * 3. #"ºrisi, "the "º at length bethought myself, and now know what I will do ; an expedient offers itself to receive me intº their houses, my mind by which I may secure myself friends, so that when I am removed from my #. they may receive me into their houses. * g 5 §o he called everyone of . And, in pursuance of this scheme, having called every one of his lord's debtors to him whom 5 hi, lºº. ## he could hope to oblige by so fraudulent a proposal, he determined to lower the several ſº owest thou into my articles in his book which stood chargeable to the account of each, and said, for instance, ICl * - * & And he said, An hundred to the first, How much owest thou to my lord? .4nd he said, .4n hundred baths of oil.b 6 ; : 3. *keºff .And he said to him, Take thy bill in which thou hast acknowledged the receipt of it,” and ānā it dº º j sit down directly and write another, in which thou shalt acknowledge the receipt of but fifty, write fifty. . and I will alter my book agreeable to that. Then he said to another, .4nd how much dost 7 Then said he to anºther; * > 2 * tº # * * **ś thou owe ? And he said, An hundred homers of wheat. ...And he says to him, Take thy bill à...sºs jºhº. "..."; back and write down an acknowledgment of but fourscore; and remember how easy I jºº ºths bill, have made thine account. . 8 Int! WTite fourSCO re. g g g źommend. ...And when the master heard of it, though he could not but be sensible that it was an act 8 º". ...º.º. of great injustice, yet he praised the unjust steward, as having done prudently however, and for the children of this world found out an artful expedient for his subsistence, by making friends who might shelter §§§º" him for the present, and perhaps recommend him to some new trust, in hopes of sharing again in the spoils of his dishonesty. And thus, said the blessed Jesus, when he had concluded the parable, the children of this world are wiser in their way, and generation,” that is, they generally act a more prudent part with respect to their secular interests, than even those who may be called the children of light, or than good men themselves, who are enlightened by God to see where their true happiness lies, do with respect to theirs, which are so much more important; º John xii. 36. 1 Thess. v. 5. and Eph. v. S.) for they seldom appear so thoughtful and active in the great concerns of religion, as worldly men are in pursuit of the momentary and precarious possessions of this present life. Jłnd I also say to you, Endeavour to make yourselves sure friends with these riches, which may not improperly be called the unrighteous or deceitful mammon ;" (as so little confidence Calvin states the matter; and it is, strange, so many learned writers should have puzzled themselves and their readers in so clear a case. .. a I am not able to dig, or to apply myself to—husbandry.) Ranhelius (Jìnnot. ex: Xen. p. iół, 105.) and Elsner (Observ. vol. i. p. 231.) have shown that the word axarretv signifies in general to culticate the land, and especially to prepare it for sced, which was one of the most laborious parts of the husbandman’s work in which day-labourers were employed, and consequently most fit to be mentioued by this steward, who, having been used to a delicate and luxurious way of living, would naturally think of such a change of life in the most discouraging view: Thg ex- pression sk tryºuto, I am not able, or strong enough to do it, has also a ºr beauty in this view, which is lost in our translation, and in most OtherS. .-- b Jan hundred baths of oil.] The Greek word 34tous is evidently de- rived from the Hebrew bºns, which we render baths in the Old Testa- ment. (1 Kings vii. 26. 2 Chron. ii. 10. Ezra vii. 22.) According to Bishop Cumberland, it contained about seven gallons, two quarts, and half a pint. Compare Joseph. Antiq. lib. viii. cap. 2. § 9.—The measure sº 9. And I say unto you; Maketo yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteous- 9 homers, which he allowed the debtor to deduct, would on this computa- tion contain 170 bushels of wheat, and might be as valuable as fifty baths, or about 37& gallons, of oil; so that the obligation conferred on both these debtors might be equal. c. Take thy bill in which thou hast acknowledged the receipt of it..] This bill, of wheat, kopovs, mentioned in the next verse, is the ni-, cor or homer of the Hebrews, containing about eight bushels and an half, Winchester measure. The word homer being familiar to an English ear, I have re- tained it in the version. This homer contained ten ephahs or baths, (Ezek. xlv. 11, 14.) and each of these latter tenomers. (Exod. xvi. 35.) Twenty robably, was something equivalent to a note under his hand, acknowledging the receipt of so much oil, and promising payment for it. The alteration of this plainly shows how much Dr. Clarke is 1nistaken in supposing the steward did no wrong to his master in this affair, but only gave the debtors the value of what he set off out of his own stock, he undertaking to pay his lord. (See Dr. Clarke’s Scrpions, vol. iii. p. 285.) For, not to say how improbable it is that this bankrupt should be able or willing to make such a considerable present, it is plain that, if he had intended it, he would have let the account remain unaltered. But by the exchange of bills, he cunningly made each of the debtors an accomplice with lim in defrauding his lord, and thereby provided against a discovery. - .d. In their generation.] vi. 9. xxxvii. 2. e The unrighteous or deceitful mannon.] Nothing can be more con- trary to the whole genius of the christian religion than to imagine that our Lord would exhort men to lay out, their j. goods in works of charity, when justice so evidently required they should make restitution It here signifies affairs, or acticms; as Cen. +& .318 : THE COVETOUSNESS AND HYPOCRISY OF THE PHARISEES REPROVED. * SECT. can be reposed in them;) that when you fail, and die out of this world, they may receive mess; that, when ye ſail, they 12 LU 4. You into everlasting habitations, and you may for ever enjoy the reward of e may receive you into ever- * - * -> * * * OUT D10US iºn. ...isita; charity and love, in an everlasting friendship with all those truly worthy ºngº, º: lasting habitations. º been relieved by it. Let this exhortation be regarded, not only by those that abound in wealth, but by all 10 He that is faithful in others; for he who, acting on strict principles of integrity and piety, is faithful in the ºjº ſº; smallest [trust, is, and would in fact appear to be, faithf, unjust in the least is unjust $º * * * * e app 3 J. : also in one of much greater j. importance if it were committed to him; and he who is unjust in the least matter, is, if he cn. can attempt it with views of impunity, unjust also in much. - - II If therefore it appears that you have not been faithful in the management of the unright- II. If therefore ye have not eous or deceitful mammon, as I before called those precarious treasures, who will infrust . flººrii 12 you with the true [riches 3] And I repeat it again, if jou have not been faithful in what was tºº your trust the & t * * Ulò 7°EC/16S : º another s, and only was committed to your care and management for a little while, . Ajifye have not been who do you think will º you [that which shall be] your own by an unalienable right and ñº, lº º eternal, possession ?& You cannot sure expect so high a reward without a behaviour cor- you that which is your own? respondent to it. I3 lº as I formerly have said, I tell you now again, No domestic whatever can serve two tº ...". "...hº. different masters; for he assuredly will either hate and despise the one, and love the other; § ...; ğ,"..cº. or at least he will adhere to the commands of the one and neglect those of the other: so, in the ºthº.º.º. like manner, you cannot faithfully serve God, and yet at the same time be the servants of º ºg. †.* your hearts engrossed by worldly interests and pursuits. (Compare Matt. * * VI. 24. p. 85. - 14 And the Pharisees also, who were extremely covetous, stood by and heard all these things ; ...lº And the hºisies alsº and they contemptuously derided himh as a poor visionary, who did not understand human §º: ; º: º only appeared to despise the world, because (as they supposed) it was out of his ed him. Tea CI]. - 15 wind he said to them, You Pharisees are they that justify yourselves before men, and find y15 And, he said ºntoºhºº, out a great many plausible excuses for possessing and pursuing the world as you do; but ** ºś God knows your hearts, and knows that it is not by love to him but to yourselves, that you gº º h; are animated, even in the most specious and pompous of your actions: for that which is †edº wº * #. highly esteemed among men is, in many instances, an abomination before Gód, who observes #" "*** the vile purposes from which it often proceeds, and cannot be imposed upon by any glit- 16 tering misrepresentation or disguise. (Compare I Sam. xvi. 7.) But a dispensation is now 16. The law and the pro: opening upon the world which will put you to deserved shame; for the law and the pro- ###"º"; phets [were] the only divine revelation among you until John the Baptist appeared: but . .º. and every jrom that time the kingdom of God is publicly and plainly preached, and every one forces his man presseth into it way into it; for considerable numbers, notwithstanding all your sophistry, stand well disposed to receive it, and are willing to secure its blessings at any rate. (Compare Matt. 17 xi. 12, 13. p. 111.) Yet I would not be understood as if ſ intended by what I say to put ... Alºji.e.ºh. any slight on former revelations; for I rather establish and vindicate them, and again 3. tº...º.º.º.º." declare it to you as a most solemn truth, That it is much easier for heaven and earth to pass away, and the whole system of created nature to be destroyed, than for one title of the law of God to iſ. or the least precept of it to be set aside as faulty. (See Matt. v. 18. -- 18 p. 78.) And, far from doing any thing to lessen or abate the force of it, I rather assert ... Whººd ºf it in its utmost extent and spirituality; insomuch that you know I have before declared, sº ºft notwithstanding all your boasted but dangerous traditions, that whosoever puts away his tº lºº. ...; wife, and marries another, unless it be on account of a breach of the most fundamental #; ; i.i.d."º. article of the marriage-covenant, commits adultery; and whosoever marries her that is put “” away from her former husband for any less important cause, commits adultery with her, as the first contract still continues in force, by which she is the wife of anothér. (Compare Matt. v. 32. p. 80.) IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 8 MAy the wisdom of the children of this world in their comparatively trifling concerns, excite a holy, emulation in the children of light! Is it not much better worth our while to employ all the attention of our thoughts in observing opportunities for the good of our souls, and to exert all the force of our resolutions in improving them, 9 than to labour merely for the meat which perishes, for that deceitful mammon, that treacherous friend, which will at best only amuse us for a few years, and will for ever forsake us in our greatest extremity? 1, 2 Let us take occasion, from this parable, to think how soon we must part with all our present possessions: how soon we must give an account of our respéctive stewardships as those who must be no longer stewards. Letus therefore manage them in such a manner as may most effectually promote the great purposes of our everlasting happiness. To this end, let us remember how absolutely necessary it is that we abound in works of charity an benevolence, and that we endeavour to abstract our hearts from an over-eager attachment to these lying vanities; for surely the trifies of earth are no better. Let us not imagine that our particular address can find out the secret 13 of serving God and mammon, since Christ represents it as an impossibility, and contradiction. 10–12 May we be found faithful in what God has committed to us, whether it be little or much; and govern ourselves, __” not by the maxims of this vain world, but by those of the jº. And if the same temper that led the covetous 14 Pharisees to deride our Lord, engage the children of this world to pour contempt upon us as Visionaries and enthusiasts, we have much greater reason to be grieved for them than for ourselves. Their censures can be matter to the utmost of their abilities.—JManmon, or wealth, is here called un- g If you have not been faithful in phat logs another’s, &c..] This is well orighteous, or deceitful, on account of its being so apt to fail the expectº- expressed, though not exactly rendered, in the yersion of 1727. If you tion of the owners; and in that view, is opposed to true riches, ver. 11. have embezzled what another gave you in trust, h020 can he give you...an —The mammon of unrighteousness, is plainly such a Hebraism as, the ºstºlº in perpetuity ? It probably alludes to a custom of rewarding stegard of unrighteousness, ver, 8. and the judge of unrighteousness, chap; faithful stewards, by giving them some part of the estate they have xviii., 6. Gr. which our translators have with perfect fidelity changed managed. . - into the unjust steward and the wrijust judge; and had they taken the h They derided him.] The word &epſvkrmot' ov might more exactly same liberty in many other places, the jad made many scriptures be rendered, then sneered. There was a gravity and dignity in our Lord’s plainer than they now *Fº to an English reader.—See Elsner, Observ. discourse, §. insolent as they were, would not permit them to vol. i. p. 252. where he has shown that ačukta signifies unfaithfulness, on jäugh out; but by some scornful air they hinted to each other, their mu- which account it is often opposed to truth. Compare Rom. i. 18. ii. 8. tual contempt; and they have, nº doubt, seriously answered for it, as and Deut. xix. 19. Mic. vi. 12. Hebr. others of their temper and character will. - - - - - f That when you fail, and die out of this world..] It is with apparent i Forces his day ºntºi º ºſº 8taxeral.] Some think this inti- propriety that our floºd suggests, the thoughts of death as an artidote mates that those who should have been readiest Q.9P. the door, rather against covetousness. Strange it is, that so many on the very borders of attempted to keep them out ; it certainly implies that there were strong the grave should be so wretchedly enslaved to that unreasonable passion obstacles in the way. THE PARABLE OF THE RICH GLUTTON AND LAZARUS. 219 of but little account to us, when we consider that the things which are highly esteemed by men are often an SECT. abomination in the sight of God. His law is sacred, and the constitutions of his kingdom are unalterable: may 124. the temper of our minds be so altered and disposed as may suit it! For another day, and another world, will show that real christianity is the only wisdom; and that all the refinements of human policy without it, are but Lºs specious madness and laborious ruin! . . XVI. SECTION CXXV. Our Lord, to enforce the preceding admonitions, delivers the parable of the rich glutton and Lazarus. Luke xvi. 19, to the end. LUKE xvi. 19. LUKE xvi. 19. º THAT his hearers might be more effectually dissuaded from addicting themselves to SECT. §e ºf worldly pursuits and carnal pleasures, Jesus added another parable, which might have 125. jº "?" * been sufficient to convince the covetous Pharisees of their madness in deriding what he had before said. And he addressed himself to them in words to this effect: There was a LUKE certain rich man who lived in the greatest elegance and pomp ; for he wore robes of purple XVI. and vests of fine linen, and daily feasted in a very splendid and luxurious manner. %. 20 there was in the same place a certain poor man named Lazarus,” a person indeed of eminent piety, but in the utmost indigence and distress; who being unable to labour, or so much as to walk, was laid down at his gate to beg the rich man's charity; and all his body being #,A# jº, #full of sores and ulcers, he was a most miserable spectacle: ...And, being almost famished Å; ; ;..."...º. with hunger, he earnestly desired to be fed, if it were but with the crumbs which fell from 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of SOres, from the rich man’s table: - - - - - º, he lºs came the rich man’s table; yea, he was in so exposed and abandoned a condition, that the very and licked his sores. - e - - - 2 - - dogs came and licked his sores,” which lay uncovered in the open air. But 80 it was, that in a little time the poor beggar, worn out with the load of so great a calamity, died; and, being a favourite of heaven, notwithstanding all his distress on earth, he was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom, the abode of happy spirits in a separate state; the rich man also died quiekly after him, for all his riches were not sufficient to procure the least continuance of his life; and he was buried with great funeral solemnity nº lºgº and pomp. But observe the difference of their circumstances beyond the grave. This jºh º ###, poor sensual creature was by God's righteous vengeance condemned to everlasting misery; and Lazarus in his bosom; and in the unseen world,” being in the midst of torments, aggravated by all the indulgence and delicacy of his former life, he lifted up his weeping and despairing eyes, and saw .Abraham from afar, and the poor despised Lazarus lying in his bosom, as a newly received 5 p - 2. guest at the heavenly banquet, placed next the father ofthe faithful himself. rºi. and said, "...And calling out with the greatest earnestness, and importunity, he said, Q father 24 .*.*.*.*. Abraham, have compassion upon me, a poor unhappy descendant of thine, and send Lazarus, that he may lip.thejº.º. not to reach out to me any of the dainties of heaven, for I presume not to ask so great a his finger in water, and cool : - - - - ºil... am torment- favour, but only to bring me a little water; and if I may not have a draught of it, I should ed in this flame. be thankful if he might be permitted to dip the tip of his finger in water to refresh my tongue,” though it were but for a moment; for I am so tormented in this flame, that it - excites an intolerable thirst, which is continually raging and preying on my very soul. ... Abrahaſhiº Sº; But Abraham said, with awful and inflexible severity, Son, remember the former days remember that thou, in thy º A. - - ** = * * - ißeds by goºd when thou and Lazarus were upon earth, that thou didst then in thy lifetime receive thiſ º #º good things which thou wast so foolish as to choose for thy portion, in the neglect of God evil things: but now he is 85 S • * • - * - e. - **, .* ...d. and thou art to and of thy soul; and likewise Lazarus then received [his] evil things, of which thou wast mented. witness; but now the scene is changed, so that he in his turn is comforted, and thou art - - ustly tormented; and neither his joy nor thine anguish can admit of any end or interrup- 3.Angºlº, tion. And besides all this, as to the favour thou desirest from the hand of Lazarus, it is a tween us and you there is a . . - - ...” e º ;-- gºiffixed' ºria; they thing impossible to be granted: for between us and you there is a great chasm fived, a vast §"º. unmeasurable void is interposed; so that they who would go from hence to you, if any ºjº...that wºuld should be so compassionate as to desire to help you, cannot; neither can they who are there Come from then Ce. come unto us; but we are still to continue at an unapproachable distance from each other. Then the rich man, as he perceived that his own case was irretrievable, said unto Abraham, There may however be a passage from you to the other world, as it is plain there is from thence to you: I beseech thee therefore, O father, that thou wouldst please to 28 For Ihave five brethren: send him to my father's house, on an errand of the utmost importance: For I have ther, five brethren, thoughtless young creatures like myself, who are now revelling on those pos- sessions which were once mine,f and are likely ere long to fall into the same misery with 22 And it came to pass that the beggar dicd, and was car- ried by the angels into Abra- ham's bosom, : the rich man also died, and was buried; t 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house ; a .3 certain poor man, mained Lazarus.] . An exceeding proper name, which seems (as Lud. Cappellus observes) to be derived from hiy N9, Ló azer, and signifies, a helpless person ; an etymology on all accounts much more matural than that so generally followed, which derives it from Eliezer, God is my helpcr.—Some, have imagined, from the name of Lazarus, and the particular detail oſ circumstances, that this was a history rather than a parabic; but this must be a groundless supposition as it is plain the incidents are parabolical. ut the criticism of Lomeirus, who explains it as a mystical representation of the Jewish and Gentile church, is far more extrayagant.--Dr. Lightfoot and others have shown that the Jews in their Gemara have a parable much to the same purpose. - - * Yea, the dogs came, and licked his sores.) Had the connexion in the original been attendéd to, I think there could have been no debate among commentators whether this were mentioned as an alleviation or nn addition to his calamity. For however lenient and healing the tongue of a dog may be in such cases, the words a NAq kat should be rendered ſca; as Erasmus, Beza, Schmidius, and Calvin contend, and above all, Raphelius abundantly proves. (Annot. ex: Xen. p. 106, 107.) The circumstance is surely recorded to show that his, ulcers lay baré, and were not (as Isaiah in another case expresses it, chap. i. 6...) either closed, or bound up, or mollified with ointment. Some versions add, that no man gave wºn to him ; which Grotius thinks is intimated in his wishin to be fed woit's the crumbs which the dogs used to, gather. (Matt. xv. 27. f so, it was with singular propriety that he who denied a crumb is re- presented as unable to obtain, a drop, but as it is not expresséd in the Greek, either here, or in Abraham’s reply, I did not choose to insert it. Hiying alms will be no security to those that live, a sensual life. g Carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom.] The Jews assign this office, to angels, (see Drusius, in log.) and; no doubt, with the utmost ;º considering how suitable it is to their benevolent nature, and to the cirguinstances of a departed spirit. The Greeks (as Elsner, Observ. vol. i. p. 255, and many others have observed) assign guides to the souls Obscry. Vol. i. p. 256,357. and Grotius, in loc. of the dead, to conduct them to their respective seats. It is strange ariy should render Tov koxrov Ts A3paap, Abraham’s bower, or (with Jac. Cappellus) Abraham’s haven. Out translation is in all respects much more just. It alludes to the way of representing the entertainments of heaven, by Sharing a magnificent banquet with Abraham and the other patri- archs. (Compare Matt. viii. 11, and Luke X xii. : And nothing can better, describe the honour and happiness of Lazarns, who had lain in so wretched a condition, before the glutton’s gate, than telling us that he was placed next to Abraham, and so lay in his bosom. (Compare John xiii. 23. § 170.) Thus Casaubon and Grotius well explain it.—As for the rich man’s sceing him there, Mr. L'Enfant, thinks the Jews borrowed this manner of speaking from the Greeks, who described the seats of the blessed as separated from those of the damned by a great impassable river, from the opposite banks of which they might converse. \lamy of them also expressly speak of a great chasm interposed. See Elsner, d_{p,the unseen world.] word úðms, as was observed before in note f on Matt. xvi. 18, p. 163.— Both the rich man and Lazarus were in. Hades, though in different regions of it. See Grotius’s learned and judicious riote here. - e Dip the lip of his finger in water, &c,.]. The Hebrews drank their wine, mingled with water; and large quantities of water, on one occasion Qr other, were used at their feasts. (See John ii. 6.) . There seeins, there- fore in this petition a proper, allusion to that.—Archbishop Tillotson observes, with his usual vivacity, that this is the only instance we meet With in Scripture... of any thing that looks like a prayer put up to a glorified, saint, (Tillotson’s Works, vol. ii. p. 142.) and even here the application was in vain, and no relief was the saint capable of giving.— t is observable, the rich man speaks as knowing Lazarus, and as sup- {...}. (ver. 28.) that his brethren also might know him on his appearing O Ene IIl. f. I have five brethren, &c.] . As no mention is made of *ś wife and children, but his five brethren are described as living stil This seems generally the sense of the §ek 220 THE PARABLE OF THE RICH GLUTTON AND LAZARUS. SECT. me: I earnestly entreat thee therefore that he may be sent to testify to them the reality and that he may testify untotham, 125. importance of this invisible world, that they may be awakened to avoid those evil courses ...º.º.""" that have been my ruin, and may not also come into this place of torment. ~ Iºke But .4braham said in reply to him, Thou knowest they have an excellent divine revela- , 29 Abraham saith untg ** tion in the writings of Hoses and the prophets; let them but hearken to the warnings and º.º.º. ). - - * wº prophets; let them hear 29 lº. that are given by them, and they have means sufficient to secure them from them. at Ciano’er. - 30 find when the poor tormented creature found this also was objected to, he pleaded still 30 And he said, Nay, father in their behalf, and said, Way, father Abraham, they will slight these as I foolishly did; but ..."... "... . . surely if one go to them from the dead, they cannot withstand so awful a messenger, but they will repent. will undoubtedly repent, and reform their lives. But Abraham put an end to the discourse with an assurance of the fruitlessness of any 31 And he said unto him 31 such extraordinary means for their conviction; and he said to him, The evidences of the #.”.....”.º.º. ºff divine revelation are such, that if they hearken not to Moses and the prophets, neither will they *.*.*u."ºhoº. they be persuaded to a thorough repentance and reformation, though one should arise from * * from the dead. the dead to visit them.* For though it might indeed alarm them for a time, the same pre- judices, and lusts which led them to despise those methods of instruction that God has given them, would also lead them ere long to slight and forget such an awful apparition as you desire they might see. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.19 Most evidently may we learn from this parable, that it is impossible to know either love or hatred by any º 20, 21 that is before us under the sun. (Eccles. ix. 1.) Who that had seen the pomp and plenty of this rich sinner, an compared it with the indigence and misery of Lazarus, would have imagined that the latter had been the child, and the former the enemy, of God? But let us judge nothing before the time. (I Cor. iv. 5.) Our Lord Jesus Christ shows us the period of all the prosperity of the wicked, and of all the calamities with which good men may be exercised.—And what availed the luxuriés of life, or the magnificence of burial, to a wretch tormented in 23, 24 flames? Surely the fierceness of those flames would be proportionable to the luxury in which he had formerly lived, and the sense of his torment be heightened by the delicacy he had once indulged. , May God awaken those unhappy persons, whatever their rank in the present life may be, who place their Happiness and glory in being clothed in ſº. and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day ! May they lift up their enchanted, deluded eyes, and see that pointed sword of the divine vengeance which is suspended over them by so weak a thread; and may 22 they take this warning from one greater than Moses and the prophets, from one that came from the dead to enforce it, that they pass not into that place of torment! 23 Let poor afflicted saints take comfort in what has now been read, though they may be despised and slighted by men. The time will shortly come, when those angels who now descend in an invisible form to minister to them, will appear as their guard to convoy them to the regions of glory. Abraham's bosom will be opened to them, and the dainties of heaven be set before multitudes who, perhaps, while on this side the grave, hardly knew how to procure even the necessaries of life, May we neverview those seats of glory, as this wretched sensualist did, at an unapproachable distance!, Let us 25 think seriously of his deplorable circumstances, when he asked a drop of water from the tip of Lazarus's finger, and yet was denied. Dreadful representationſ yet made by Christ himself, who surely knew how to describe the case with the utmost propriety. Behold, O our souls, this son of Abraham in that flaming prison, in all the restless agonies of torment and despair; and we may judge what dependence to place on a descent from pious ancestors, or a participation of external privileges. - & & * 27, 28 We inquire not curiously into the motives which engaged him to request that so extraordinary a warning might be sent to his brethren; whether it might proceed from a remainder of natural affection, from a fear of meeting them in the same misery, or from a mixture of both. It is enough to observe how and upon what principles, it was 31 denied: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead, Le; none vainly excuse themselves from iſºft. the evidence of the revelation God has given, on a pretence that if 30 they saw signs and wonders they would believe. The heart of man may be hardened against the most sensible and immediate miracle; but if that evidence were irresistible, it would ill become us to dictate to God when and 29 to whom it should be given. Let us examine and acquiesce in such as he has seen fit to afford ; and pass through our various scenes of #. as those that have eternity in view, and are persuaded we must each of us, in a few years at furthest, be with Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, or with the rich man in that tormenting flame. SECTION CXXVI. Christ repeats his exhortations to an inoffensive conduct * al ſº tgmperil and warns his disciples not to arrogate any merit to them- SG IV C.S. LiDike XV 11. 1–1 1. LUKE xvii. 1. . L ---> * UKE. xvii. 1. sECT. OUR Lord also about this time repeated to the numerous attendants who were then THEN said he unto the dis: 126. around him, several things which he had formerly said in a more private way to the dis- *śc. § º # ciples; and particularly addressed them in terms like these; Considering the general cor- ºn through whom Lukº ruption of human nature, the snares of the world, and the temptations of Satan, it is, im- y sº ***, possible but one way or other ſº should come; many professing my religion will, no ãoubt, act unworthy of themselves, and disgrace the holy name they bear: nevertheless, woe [be to him) by whom they come; and let me warn you therefore, as you love your own souls, to guard against the guilt and danger of being a stumbling-block to others. For I tº #ſºft assure you, it were better for such a one, even for him that by an immoral life proves a lºt #"... .". reproach and scandal to my cause, that he should die by the hānd of violence, and suffer the most shocking execution, yea, that a huge millstone should be hanged about his neck, and 2 in his father's house, one would imagine that our Lord intended Eccles. iii. 17, 21; xi. 9. § 7, 13.1% and . Ezek. xviii. 19, 20, 21.— § this wretched créature as a young man, who (unhappily for Bishop Atterbury has excélèntly shown the justice of Ábrahámºs asser- jimself, liko many moderm rakes) coming early to the possession of his tion here, in his incomparable discourse on this text. (See his Sermons, ºn broke his constitution by debauchery; and so left his riches vol. ii. Serm; 2), Thºpe tº of many who saw another Lazarus to the younger children of the family, having no other heirs. raised from the dead, (John xi. 46.) and the wickedness of the soldiers g if they hearken not to Moses, *c.). It is true Moses no where ex- who were eye-witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, and yet that very pressly asserts a future, state of regards gºd ſº ; yet the facts day suffered themselves to be hired to bear, a falsº festimºny, against its łºſei by him strongly enforce the natural arguments in prºof of it; (Matt, ºxyiji. 4, 15.) are most affégting and astonishing illustrations of and the prophets speak jainly of it, in many places. See, Psal. xvi. 9, this truth,; for éach of those miracles was far more convincing than such f0, 11. xvii. 15. xxiii. 6. xiix. 14, 15. lxxiii. 17, et seq. Prov. xiv. 32, an apparition as is here referred to would have been. ſ - - - - - ------------------ - --------- ; - --- – i - - ... 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(See Matt. 126. xviii. 6, 7, and the notes there, sect. xciii. p. 172.) & . 3 Take heed to yourselves: Take heed to yourselves, therefore,” that you may govern all your passions aright, and º: isiº th."julºº. particularly your resentments, by which otherwise much sin may be occasioned both to & ańd if he repent forgive him: yourselves and others. And if thy brother trespass against thee, do not lay up a secret dge against him for it, but plainly and faithfully rebuke him, endeavouring to convince #. of the evil he has committed; and if he appear to repent of his fault forgive him 4.And if he trespass against immediately, without insisting on any rigorous satisfaction. And if he trespass against 4 ... ." §: ; ; ; thee again and again, even though he should repeat his fault seven times in a day, (compare ºniº; Psal. cxix. 164.) and seven times, in a day return to thee, seriously saying, I répent of my # * * * * foily, and amfearily sorry for the injury'ſ have done thee, thº, .# forgive him even these repeated offences. (Compare Matt. xviii. 21, 22. p. 175.) - 5. And the apostles, said Then the apostles said unto the Lord, Lord, we are sensible that in this instance, as well 5 #."**** as in several others, we have need to pray thou wouldst increase our faith.b Oh quicken. our apprehension of the reality and importance of the motives by which all thy commands are enforced, and of the authority by which they are dictated; that we may not scruple to º: even to such precepts as these, how hard soever they may bear upon flesh and lood! nº ſº.; And the Lord said, If you had ever so little faith, though it were but as a grain of 6 *:::::::, ; # "... ..., mustard-seed, yet (as f formerly told you) it would conquer the greatest difficulties: so i.º.º.º.º.º. that you might, as it were, be able to say to this sycamore-tree, Be thou rooted up, and *śā’ī, ‘º's. planted in the sea, and it should presently obey you.” ºr *śaying Endeavour therefore to live in the exercise of this noble ce, and in a series of such 7 flºº, services as are the proper fruits of it; but in the midst of all, be careful to maintain the #jº; deepest humility, as in the presence of God your heavenly Master, on whom, as you are §. ...} 90 * * his servants, you can have no claim of merit: for who is there of you, that if he has a ser- vant ploughing his ground or feeding his flock, will, say unto him, as soon as he comes in 8 And will not rather say {..." the field, Come ind and sit down at the table with me? Or will he not rather say to 8 Wººl im, if it was a part of that servant's business to do it, Make ready somewhat for my flºº supper, and, when it is prepared, gird up thy garments close about thee,” and wait upon me º;" **#. :*: .#. I am eating and drinking; and afterwards thou shalt sit down to eat and drink thy- *####, than that set self? ...And suppose he should observe his orders with the greatest diligence, does he think 9 yant because”he did the himself obliged to thank that servant because he hath done what was commanded him 2 . I §§º.* apprehend he does not, because he has an authority over the servant, and may justly claim jºsº likewise ye. When ye his obedience as a matter of debt. , Now, to apply this to your own services; so likewise 10 #sº ye, when Jou have faithfully done all that was commanded you in the exactest manner, Y. yº; should still say, Surely we are worthless and unprofitable servants, who cannot pretend to which was ºut; tºdó" have merited any thing from the hand of our Master; for we have done no more than what we were, by virtue of our relation to God, and dependence upon him, indispensably obliged to do, as much as any purchased slave is obliged to serve his master. And assure ourselves, that no services will be so pleasing to God as those performed with such an }. spirit. !'...A. i. º.º.º. These discourses, and those above mentioned, happened in our Lord's journey to the Il ; gº feast of the dedication;3 and as he went to Jerusalem, to attend it, h he passed through the O e amaria and Galilee. midst of Samaria and Galilee, taking those parts of Samaria in his way which lay next to Galilee. t IMPROVEMENT. LET us renew our guard º every thing in our conduct which might give offence to the meanest and Ver. 3 weakest; and against eve ing which might by a bad example mislead others, or furnish the enemies of religion 2 with matter of reproach and accusation against it. Let us imbibe the forgiving spirit of the gospel, and, bearing 3, 4 in mind the numberless instances in which God has forgiven us, though we have sinned against him not only seven times, but seventy times seven,_let us arm ourselves, in some degree, with the same mind, and endeavor to forbear and forgive one another, even as God for Christ's sake has freely fºrgiven ws. (Eph. iv. 32. and Col. iii. 13. In a sense of the weakness of our faith, let us pray to Christ to increase it; and then those duties will be dis- 5 charged with ease and delight which appeared most difficult in a distant prospect. Yet when faith and patience have had their most perfect work, when our Master's will has been borne with the most entire submission, and 7–10 done with the most zealous despatch, let us not pretend to place any merit in our own actions or sufferings; but let us think of ourselves as the servants of God, yea, as unprofitable servants, whose goodness extendeth not to our great Master: and to the riches of his grace let us ascribe it, that our feeble powers are strengthened to the performance of our duty; and that our worthless services are accepted, and the numberless deficiencies of them mercifully excused. a Take hecd to #ºf. This contains a strong and important inti- 202.-That servants used to be girded while waiting on their masters, is mation how much sin and sgandal is occasioned by a severe quarrelsome well shown by Eisner, Observ. voſ. i. p. 25S, 253. See note b, on Luke temper in the disciples of Christ; as it not, only stirs up the corruptions xii. 35. p. 202. of those with whom they contend, but leads others to think meanly of a f Unprofitable º, The word axogwot sometimes signifies wicked, Profession which has solittle efficacy to soften and sweeten the tempers (Rom. iii. i2. Matt. xxv. 30.) but in this connexion it caſino have that of those who maintain it. - - sense. I. entirely agree with Heinsius, that here, and 2 Sami. vi. º. b Increase, ºur ſaith..] Waltzogenius himself acknowledges that their Septuag. it signifies incan or inconsiderabic, as the best of men certaini; applying to Christ to strengthen their faith, shows that they believed he are. ad a divine influence over the spirits of men. See Whitby, in loc. g, In, our Lord's, journey to the feast of the dedication.] See note a, c. You might say to this sycamorc-tree, &c.] I do not apprehend this text on Luke xiii. 23. § 118. and note a, on Luke xiv. i. § 119. to be entirely parallel to Matt. xyii. 20. p. 159. In this connexion the h. As he cent to Jerusalem.] As Luke has related the two little his- expression seems proverbial, and to be äs if he had said, As the least tories contained in the next section at some distance from each other, it #. of miraculous faith will (as . I said before).produce the greatest is very difficult (as the attentive reader will observe) to place thém effects, so the least degree of true, sincere piety will finally bear a man together without some tautology, I have therefore i.e.ºf the intro- above all opposition, and enable him to conquer the world. duction to one of them at the end of this section; leaving out the word ome in..] Raphelius proves that the word Tapex0oy has often this tyevero, it came to pass, which is a mere expletive, or at most does only SenSe: gººſe Luke xii; 37. and Acts xxiv. 7. See Raphel. Annot imply that what is mentioned in, the context happened in this journey, er Herod, p. 263. and especially Annot. ex: **C. - * * or may refer to the discourses Christ had before delivered, as we haºs e Gird up thy garments close about thee..] Compare Luke xii. 37. p. observed in the paraphrase. - 222 THE INTEMPERATE ZEAL OF JAMES AND JOHN REBUKED, SECTION CXXVII, Christ, travelling through Samaria, rebukes the intemperate zeal of James and John against those who refused to grant him entertainment; and . . - - }9. - g meals ten ieſicts.--Luke ix. 51—56. xvii. 12– LUKE ix. 51. *94. IT was observed in the close of the former section, that our Lord was now on his journey 127, from Galilee, near the feast of the dedication:” and it came to pass, that as the days were LUKE now almost fulfilled in which, he knew he should be received up to heaven again,b having ... despatched the ministry, which he was to discharge on earth; notwithstanding all the painful scenes through which he was yet to pass, his heart was so animated with a regard 51 to his Father's honour and the salvation of men, and so cheered with the views of his own approaching exaltation and glory, that, in defiance of all his most inveterate enemies, he résolutely set his face to go up to Jerusalem, though he knew it was the last journey he 52 should take from Galilee thither, and that tortures and death awaited him there. ..And, as his way lay through Samaria, being a stranger there, he sent messengers before his face, who in their progress entered into a village of the Samaritans to prepare entertainment for him ; lage of the Samaritºns, to 53 only desiring to take a lodging there, and to pay for their accommodation. “But the "şºgh; i. Samaritans had such a national grudge against the Jews, that they would not receive him, ceive him, bºat. §ſº nºr grant him the common rites of hospitality due to any stranger, because his face was ºi...ººh he would go directed towards Jerusalem; and they concluded from the season of the year, that this visit was intended as a peculiar honour to the temple there." - - .#nd when his disciples, James and John, who attended him,” saw it, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we speak for fire to come down from heaven to destroy them, as Elijah did with regard to his enemies, (2 Kings i. 10, 12.) for surely one word in such a case will do it, and the artillery of heaven will be much more ready to avenge such an affront offered to thee, who art so much superior to any of the prophets? But [Jesus] turning short upon them, rebuked them with a becoming severity, and said, Ye know not what kind of spirit ye are of; you neither consider the genius of the gospel, so much more gentle than that of the law, nor do you sufficiently know your own hearts: and if you were more diligently to examine them, you would soon find that there is a great deal of personal resentment and Ostentation mingled with all that zeal for me which wou so warmly express on this occasion. But I reject your motion as absolutely unfit to e complied with; for the Son of man came not into the world to erect his kingdom b military force, or by any other method to destroy men's lives, but to save [them; and there- fore will exert his miraculous power in works of mercy and benevolence, and not of terror ; vengeance. ..And they departed from that place, and went on till they came to another ºlt! (1978, K.U.KE ind as he entered into a certain neighbouring village, there met him ten men who were XVI, lepers, and who on that account were shut out from the towns to which they belonged; ** and as in this miserable state they could have no society with any but themselves, both 13 Jews and Samaritans conversed promiscuously together. And standing qfar off, lest they should pollute passengers who might come too near them, they lified up their voice, and said with great earnestness, having heard of the fame of Christ, Jesús, JMaster, we eseech thee to have mercy upon ws, as thou hast already extended it to others in these deplorable circumstances. And, seeing them as they stood crying to him, he said unto them, Go, show yourselves to the priests; intimating that the cure they desired should be performed by the way. And it came to pass, that as they were going in obedience to his word, they were all miraculously cleansed by the power of Christ, the efficacy of which was such as to operate at a distance as well as near. 15 And one of th w] And one of them, perceiving he was healed, was so affected with it, that he immediately hº returned with an heart full of gratitude and joy, glorifying God with a loud voice, and º.º.º.º. " iónd made a free and open acknowledgment of so signal a mercy. And, presenting himself "Té Ánd feli down on his but might in lifferently be applied to any other feast.—Heinsius con- LUKE ix. 51. AND it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 And sent messengers before his face; and the yent, and,entered into a viſ- 54 And when his disciples, ames and John, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did 2 54 5 55 But he turned and re- buked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 5 56 For the Son of man is pot come to destroy men’s ives, but to save them. And they went to another village. 56 Luke xvii. 12. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afāt Off: - - 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Alas- ter, have mercy on us. 3 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as º went, they were cleans- © (l. H. 4 15 H6 a Near the ſeast of the dedication.]...Taking it for granted that the following word, araxrupegs, refers to Christ’s ascension, (the retusons for which Isłalſ give below,) I think this the only place where this little story. can properly come in. Most harmonizers plage it just before the feast of tabernacles ; of which we had an account in the seventh and eighth chapters of John, (from sect. xcviii. to cv.) and chiefly of their authority, without a critical examination, I had mentioned it in that connexion in my Scºon against Persecution, p. 3. But I am now, cony inced that could not be the time; not only as it would increase the difficulty, by supposing. Luke then to say, that the line g/ his being received up was fiiffiticſ, though it must have been above half a fear before his death, but chiefly because that was not the last journey he made from Galilee to ſº. and because (as we observed on John vii. 10. note h, p. jºj ho madé that journey with all possible secrecy; whereas here he had a train of attendants.-No. commentators (qn our interprºtation of ºaXºgos) have, for the obvious reason hinted above, thought of plac- ing it higher; and lower I think it cannot be brought; for though ſ was once stroń gly inclined to take the words in their mgst literal sense, and to conclude this happened when Christ was going from, Galilee to Jeru- salem just bafore his ascension, after, having manifested his resurrection by his appearance to the five hundred brethren, 1. Cor. Xy. 6 (compare Wiatt. xxviii. 7, 16–18.) I have been obliged to give up that hypothesis, considering that he never after his resurrègtion appeared so publicly as in this story, (compare Acts i. 3. x. 40, 41.) and that he had, then no diffiguities to expect at Jerusalem against which he should steadfastly set his face.-Anil as for his journey to Jerusalem just, before, the passøver at which he suffered, he went from Ephraim near the wilderliess, (John xi. 54.) and passed through Jericho, (Luke xix. 1.) so that Samaria did not fié'injis way. Nor is there, that, I can find;..any, proof that he eyer went back to Galilee, between the feast of dedication and his death; which fiftink sufficiently accounts for the use of the phrase, of the days or time being fu C. - & * - b As the days were fulfilled in which he should be received up ev. To oup TAmpua 6a, 7 as figºpas 775 avaAmbºos avre.J. In all the reasonings of 'the former note, 'I 'have taken it for granted that ava)\mipeos, here signifies Christ’s being taken up to heapert : and this is so generally the §tion of the word, that I wonder any leaped, men should have #ºted it in a different manner.—Sir Isaac Ngwºon; ºnerely 9 juſt with “his hypothesis of preserving the order of Matthew. º strangely supposes that this Ogcurrençº happened in the first year o Čhrist’s preaching, (Newtºn, Où Prophecies, p. 153.) and º the passage before us as if ava)\mills were the same with avajºxm,,4 reneſſed ºntertainment, which would make it no exact date at all, * founds it with Öupcoats, and interprets it of his being lifted up on the cross: though, it is certain, the ideas of being liſted up to a state of sus- prension, and taken or received atp, are extremely aß". learned friend, for whose judgment I have justly a great regard, observing that Xnupt; sometimes signifies a scizure, ingeniously conjectures that ava- Ampt; may signify Christ’s being seized again ; imagining it may refer to a former seizure at Nazareth, Luke iv. 29. urging further, that avaXap- flavºo signifies to take again, and referring (I think without sufficient ey idence) to Acts xx. IS, 14. xxiii. 31, compared with ver, 10. and Eph, vi. 13. compared with ver. Il. in º; . But I beg leave, with all due deference, to observe, that avXXapſ3avo is the word which Luke uses for taking, in the sense this worthy person supposes, as denoting to seize, (compare Acts i. 15. and Luke xxii. 54.) in which he is sub- ported by the authority of Aristotle, Euripides, and the best Greek classics. And therefore, since the word is plainly used with reference to Christ’s ascension, Alárk X vi.19. Acts i 2, J 1, 22., 1. Tim: iii. 16, as also to that of Elijah, 2 Kings ii. 10, 13. Septuag. and since in all the places referred to above, it may be rendered, by taking ups (see Grotius on Mark xvi. 19.) I scruple not at all, with the most ancient versions, and the generality of critics, to follow the usual interpretation, which refers ava Ampts to Christ’s ascension ; especially since no considerable difficulty would be removed by admitting any of the preceding different interpretations—That the word days signifies no more than time, and is sometimes used to express what º: in an instant, is very evident from 1 Kings ii. 1. and Gen. xxv. 24. Septuag, * - c. As a păculiar honour to the temple there.] None of the feasts ob- served at Jerusalem could be more remarkable in this view, as this, was kept in commemoration of the temple’s being purified, after it had been †d by Åſitiochus Epiphanes, to whose idolatrous impositions the Šamaritans had wiiſingly offered to submit; as was observed before in note g, on John iv. 9. p. 63. Josephus observes; (ºlutiq., lib. XX. cqp. 6. £º $$... }.i.jºipºij.j㺠jº, going from Gälilee to Jerusalem, at their public feasts, took $amaria in their way; and it might be resented as something of an affront, con- sidering the antipathy of the two nations. * * djºieş and john, who attended him.]. That these, disciples, so re- markably distinguished by their Lord’s favour, should hayé some dis- tinguished zeal and faith, may seem less wonderful, than that a person of go sweet a disposition as John should make, so scwere a proposal. (Compare 596. Imp. p. 177.)—The affinity which this story has to the other with which £ºke has connected it, is (as Grotius justly observes) a sufficient reason for his having thus transposed it. i. THE NATIONAL DESTRUCTION OF THE JEWS FORETOL.D. 2 23 face at his, feet, giving him before Jesus, he fell down on his face at his feet, giving the most affectionate thanks unto SECT. tººks; and he was a same him as the immediate Author of his cure; and it is remarkable that he was a Samaritan. 127. rità Il. g º * †"And Jesus answering And Jesus observing it, answered and said, Were there not ten lepers cleansed 2 but where said, Were there not ten cy ;hs...}''uºre". # 1 are] the other nine, of whom it might have been expected, as they were Jews, that they Lº nine P should have expressed a greater sense of piety, and have been more ready to thank God 18. There are not found for their deliverance 2 How is it, that of all who were cleansed, none are found who have 18 gºº.glory * returned to give glory to God, but this poor stranger to the commonwealth of Israel ? And 19 19.And he said into him, he said to him, Arise, go thy way; this thy faith in my power has saved thee, and been ſºciº faith happily made the means of thy cure; and from these grateful sentiments with which thy heart is filled, thou mayst conclude the cure thou hastreceived is given thee in mercy. IMPROVEMENT. XVII. Who would not have imagined that the blessed Jesus should have been most cordially welcome wherever he LUKE came, when there was grace in all his words, and benevolence in all his actions? Yet these Samaritans would not IX. receive him because he was a Jew. And thus do unhappy prejudices, taken up on imaginary grounds, against 53 ºmen and things in the general, sometimes injure the best of men, and prove much more hurtful to the persons themselves by whom they are entertained. e The rash disciples would have called for fire from heaven; and let us observe how Christ treated the prºposal. 54 He treated it like himself; like the kind compassionate Friend of human nature; and also like Qne, who well knew what was in man, (John ii. 25.) and how little human terrors and severities can do towards producing a real con- version. Yet fire from heaven might have carried along with it some rational ground of conviction, which F. laws and sanguinary executions can never produce. What then would Christ have said to these disciples i they had themselves proposed to smite with the sword, or to cast fire-brands into the houses of these inhospitable men: Little do they know their own spirit; little do they understand either the true genius or the true interest of the 5 É. who have recourse to such violent methods as these to extirpate heresy, and to propagate truth. Let us less God that neither the guilt nor the misery of such a conduct is ours. tº *- - * Let us learn to search our own hearts, that we may form a thorough acquaintance with ourselyes; which will º promote both the comfort and usefulness of life. Especially let us attend to our aims and intentions, and e greatly jealous over our own hearts, lest we indulge our irregular passions under religious pretences, and set up the standards of malice and pride in the name of the Lord. 5 From the story of the ten lepers let us learn importunately to seek the influences of Christ, to purgeus from that LUKE far more odious and fatal disease which sin has spread over our whole nature; and, after the example of the Sa- ***. maritan, let us own the mercy we have received. Have we not reason to fear that, of the multitudes who are 12–16 indebted to the divine goodness, there is not one in ten who has a becoming sense of it? Let us labour to impress 17, 18 our hearts deeply with such a sénse. Let us remember what it is that God expects of us: and let us further con- sider, that as the exercise of gratitude towards such a Benefactor is most reasonable, so also in proportion it is most delightful to the soul: it is indeed (as one well expresses it) like the incense of the Jewish priest, which, while it did an honour to God, did likewise regale with its own fragrancy the person by whom it was offered. SECTION CXXVIII. Our Lord cautions the Jews against expecting a pompous kingdom of the Messiah, and warns them of the approaching national destruction which would be the consequence of rejecting him. uke xvii. 20, to the end. LUKE xvii. 20. LUKE xvii. 20. AND when he was demand- THUS Our Lord went on in his journey, and at length came to Jerusalem. ..And it was about secºr. ed of the Pharisees when the §§§... this time that, being asked by some of the Pharisees" when the kingdom of God, which he 12s. hā, answered them and said, had so often mentioned as approaching, should actually come, he answered them, and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: The kingdom of God cometh not with that external pomp and observation of men which Luke ou expect. Neither shall they point to this or that remarkable place, and say, Behold, NVII, 3. Neither º they º: § g * = e & * <- jº dº [it is] here, or, behold, [it is] there. For behold, and observe it attentively, the kingdom o is within you. God is already among you :b though, because it is an inward and spiritual kingdom, erected in the hearts of men, and not attended with outward grandeur, you overlook it as unworthy your regards. aß Wººto ºf . Jind he afterwards said to the disciples apart, Though you do indeed undergo some present 22 º!"When"; si desire difficulties in consequence of your adherence to me, }. you have so much greater extre- §ºr.”*ś ; mities before you, that the time will come when you shall wish to see one of these days of the ::::::::: “”. Son of man, and shall not see it; and the whole Jewish nation having rejected me, the true Messiah, shall yet long for the appearance of him whom they expect under that character, ; $º.g., ii." and eagerly listen to every one that pretends to it. ...And accordingly they shall say to you, 23 *...*.*.*ś Behold, ſhe is] here, or, behold, [he is] there; [but] do not you go out, on hearing such * For as the lightning, “Pºº him, nor join to follow [them] in any of their vain delusive schemes. For 24 th. ii.ht.eth"ou.”?"; he will indeed come, but in a very different manner from what they expect; even to exe- §§§ºj; ºute upon them a sudden and unavoidable destruction: for as the lightning which lightens heaven iº. also the Son from one [part] under heaven, shines in a moment with the greatest Swiftness to the other of man be in his day. [part] under heaven; 30 also in as swift and terrible a manner shall the coming of the Sox of man be in his day, when he P. to plead the cause of that gospel which has been so 25 But first must he suffer generally despised. (Compare Matt. xxiv. 23, 27. Sect. clxi.) Nevertheless, he must first 25. #º.” *** suffer many things, and be yet more opprobriously and Solemnly rejected by this generation © . of men, who shall by this public and national act of impiety and #. fill up the measure of their iniquities. (Compare Luke xxiii. 18–21. John xix. 15. Acis iii. 13—15. 26 And as it was in the Then shall º Vengeance fall upon them at once; and as it was in the days of 26. days of N o shall it be s tº * , jº jºi... ."he's. Noah which preceded the flood, so also shall it be in the days of the Son of man, or in those of man. days when he shall come in the manner I have now described, for the destruction of his 27.They did cat, they drank, enemies. For, notwithstanding the express predictions of divine judgments approaching, 27: they went on with their usual course as if there were no danger; they did eat, they dran . é a Being asked by some of the Pharises.]...I pretend not tº say whether Bezi, and Raphelius, (Annot. er ... P. 109, 110.) for a more particular O this was at Jerusalem, or some neighbouring place; nor is it any way vindication of it... it’ is ºain ºf f.o.º.' . properly say the material #9 º : - ---. So I łer the words evº- kingdcºn of God was in the Pharisees to whom he spoke, whose b The kingdom of God is among you..] So I render the words evtos tenſºr & is entirely alienated from the natu - * , º sº. Are and design of it. ºuay, referring the reader to those exact critics in the Greek language, 18 …” 224 THE NATIONAL DESTRUCTION OF THE JEWS FORETOLſ). SECT. they married wives, [and] their daughters were given in marriage; and with a confident they married wives, they 128. security the persisted in the business, entertainments, and luxuries of life, till the very §§§."...º. day in which Noah entered into the ark; and then the deluge came with irrésistible fury, i. .*.*.*.*. LUTKE & e - *g - - º º and destroyed th ll. j, sº that it overbore and destroyed them all at once. (Gen. vi. 13. vii. 21.) Likewise also "#";..."...it was 8 º it was at Sodom in the days of Lot; they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they *º: §:...'... planted vineyards and built magnificent houses, and never thought themselves more securé, §§§'...} or their pleasant country more like to flourish: Thus did they carelessly go on, despising §§. • 29 eyely admonition of their guilt and danger: But on the very day when Lot went out of 99 But the same day that Sodom, an horrible tempest of fire and brimstone was rained down by the Lord from heaven, Lºt Yeºui ºf §º it 30 and with a sudden overthrow destroyed them all. (Gen. xix. 14, 24.) Even so shall it be #heºn,".. º. - * - - - t- • from heaven, and destroyed in the day when the Son ſ man is revealed, when he will sensibly display his power in the *; #: 3. - - - • - 36 Even thus shall it be in destruction of this sinful people: the Jewish nation shall be as careless and confident as the ºn the son of man if there was not the least danger, indulging themselves in all kinds of luxury and extrava- **** gance, till they shall see ruin surrounding them on every side, from which it will be as impossible for them to escape as it was for the sinners of the old world, or the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Compare Matt. xxiv. 37–39. sect. clxiii.) - 31 In that day, if any one shall be taking the air on the house-top, or be retired thither for 31, In that day, he which any other purpose, and his best dress and furniture be in the house, let him not come down ;}º.º.º. into the house to take it away;d but let him flee the readiest way by those steps which go ºn, flºº down on the outside of the building: and he that is at work in the field, stripped of his thºj, * ..."; upper-garment, let him likewise not return back, though it be but a few steps, to take it. not return back. 32 (Compare Matt. xxiv. 17, 18. sect. clxi.). But remember the awful example of Lot's wife, with the dreadful issue of her delay and looking back; (Gen. xix. 26.) and take heed, lest, like her, you perish in that sudden vengeance which shall overtake your former abode, if you allow yourselves to linger in it, or turn back for the sake of any thing you have left 33 there. For in that day, he that shall seek to preserve his life by retiring into some fortified 33 whosoever, shall seek city, and especially into that where it might seem he should be safest, shall lose it; but he jºi... . . ; that shall be thought to take the ready way to lose his life, shall preserve it; for they who iſ: jº. regard my admonitions, and retire, however their conduct may be censured as imprudent, shall survive the general ruin. 34 I tell you, in that night, that gloomy calamitous time, the providence of God shall be 34 I tell you, In that night strangely seen, in delivering some of my disciples, when others in the very same places ...º.º.º. §§. and circumstances shall perish in the common calamity: there shall, for instance, be two and the other shajibe left.” persons lying in the same bed; and the one shall be taken by the enemy,” and the other dis- 35 missed. Two women shall be sº at the same mill; the one shall be taken, and 35, Two women shall be be working or walking together in the field; the # º tº: e 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 36 the other dismissed. And two men s one shall be taken and the other dismissed. (Compare Matt. xxiv. 40, 41. sect clxiii.) 36 T hall be in th 37 . .And they answered and said to him, Where, Lord, and to whom shall this destruction fielá; §§§º. happen?ſ. And he said to them, That commón proverb is applicable to the present occa- *%%.º.º.wered and sion,-Wheresoever the carcase º there will the eagles be gathered together;% wherever said unto him. Where, Hord? the impenitent and unbelieving Jews are, the vengeance of Godwill pursue them, and the Wºr..."º"...". Roman eagles shall (as it ...}} upon them as a helpless prey; and so, where their tº eagles be numbers are the largest, there the destruction will be greatest and most terrible. (Com- “"“” pare Matt. xxiv. 28. Sect, clxi.) - IMPROVEMENT. ver, 20 May our minds be formed to a true taste and relish for the kingdom of God! and may we learn wherein it con- sists; not, like the kingdoms of this world, in external pomp and splendour, but in righteousness, Peace, Joy in ... the Holy Ghost, and that inward subjection of soul to the divine government which is the essence of religion, and the grand security and felicity of our natures! Many are, like the Pharisees, talking of it. and expecting it, while 21 it is among them, and they know it not; and, perhaps, despise the humble christians in whom it resides, and most eminently triumphs. May they who think most lightly of it never have cause to wish at last for the return of those 22 days of the son of man, which are now their burden, rather than their pleasure, while they hear vital and inward religion in vain recommended and enforced' . . . . - º 26–30 What our Lord says of his coming to the destruction of Jerusalem, may be applied, as it is elsewhere, to his appearance at the final judgment, of which the former was a figure. Thus shall the men of that generation be iºnersed in business and pleasure; and that tremendous day shall come upon them, even as a thief in the night; sº that they shall find themselves overwhelmed with irrecoverable ruin, while they cry, Peace and sqftly. (1 Thess. v. 2, 3.) And thus doth the awful hour of death, which consigns men over, to judgment, surprise the generality of mankind, while they are thoughtless of it, and unprepared for its approach, amidst all the solemn warnings of it which they'daily receive. May, we be always in a prepared posture, and daily live as on the verge of eternity! 32 And if once we are engaged in a course of serious preparation, let us remember Lot's wife, and take heed that 31 we turn not back again. We flee as for our lives; let us not look behind us. Whatever is to be left, whatever is to be lost, it is enough if our life be given us as for a prey. - si_36 If wé have any just hope that it will be so given us, we have a great deal of reason to own and adore the riches of divine grace to us, of that distinguishing grace which has taken us when others are left; some, perhaps, em; ployed in the same business, and dwelling in the same place, and, may not I add, some lying in the same bed tºo! #. a word, let all seriously bethink themselves, and flee from the wrath, to come; God spared not Judea, that favourite country, when º rejected his gospel and his Son: let us fear, lest he also spare not us. (Rom. xi. 20, 37 21.) In this respect also, wheresoever the carcase is, there will the º: be gathered together. The same causes will produce the same effects; and when we, in particular, of these happy but sinful nations, consider our nume- * - ~ : - That this is the sense of the ging themselves in all kinds of luxury and extravagance.] It e The one shall be taken by the enemy.J - is ..º.º. fºr Öreat Britain to recollect, that when a pompous word Rapaxng,0mgerat, º aggºngsrat in the latter clause should injuïious way of living has come to its height in many of the pºst be rendered dismisséda.g. leſ, 50 I think Elsner has, abundantly proved; :...siºnable ancient and modern nations, there has been a very suddeq observ. vol. i. p. 262, 26.3.−He has likewise shown there, how customary jón to the ſowest state of servitude and, win: Alí histories abound it as for ºomºn to grind at the mill. See also Bos, Prerº. P. 30. ...tances of this kind; and God grant that our own age may not f Where, Lord, sº I have seen few paraphrases which do not super- adā one to the number 1 sede this º;; have forborne mentioning Jerusalem above, that I h; ome down in the house to take it away.] This shows migh; eave 199m, ºr º: ... ſº- - - º ãº. tºº. jº, ſºaft º:# #. ºf § §§ º º: *...**ś; - . I* * º - * * 7"M.C 7 t - - A. * * * - - jºint, from which there can be lºgºsº i.º. o the y f 381, et ). It is as if it had been said, The like causes will e r r ºn that many christians were preserved ermons, p. 381, et seq. - 3. - salem, from which it is yell known -- * y • 㺠ºffécs. But it seems to suggest so prope, an allusiºn. tº f - ius, in loc.—The Jewish houses were built produce the Žffect S. l- > -- * - by. º #aftº the outside to go down from the top. the Roman standards, and to the carnage they made of the Jows, that I §§§ é, on Luke v. 19. p. 91. could not forbear introducing the mention of it. y - PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER, AND HUMILITY, RECOMMENDED. 225 ous and aggravated . we shall see much greater reason to wonder that the judgments of God have SECT. been so long delayed, than that they should at last fall upon us with an insupportable weight. 128. SECTION CXXIX. Christ presses his disciples to perseverance in prayer, by the parable of the importunate widow; and recommends humility by that of the Pharisee and publican. Luke xviii. 1–14. - LUKE xviii. 1. LUKE xviii. 1. AND ho spake, a parable THUS Our Lord discoursed with his disciples of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem SECT. Hº ºft.*... by the Romans; and, for their encouragement under those hardships which they might in 129,- and not to ſaint: the mean time expect, from their unbelieving countrymen or others, he spake a parable to them; which was intended to inculcate upon them this great truth, that how distressed #. soever their circumstances might be, they ought always to pray with faith and perseverance, & and not to faint under their trials. * jºi..."...”...; For this purpose he discoursed to them in the following manner, saying, There was a 2 § 33. jū.”:... judge in a certain city, who neither feared God, nor reverenced man'; but was wicked In an . enough to set light by all regards to both, and to make his own humour and secular inte- 3 And there was a widow rest the only ruſe of his actions. And there was a widow in that city who had sustained 3 i.º.º.º.º.º.º. some injury from an enemy more powerful than herself; and, having no other way to unto , him, saying, Avenge e , 7 e º 3 3 º me of mine adversary. obtain redress, she came to him, at a place and time when she could not be denied access, and said, I come to put myself under the protection of the law, and to demand thine as- sistance as a magistrate, to do me justice against mine adversary,” that I may not sink under #Andº his oppressive attempts. This was her case and plea ; yet as she brought no present in 4 § lº.’, § her hand, he would not, for a considerable time, take any notice of it: but, as she still per- not God, nor regard man; severed in her petition, he afterwards said within himself, Though indeed I neither fear God nor reverence man, and therefore care not what becomes of this cause, or who has the right 5 yet, because this widow or the wrong of it; Yet, because this importunate widow gives me trouble by her continual 5 º º º,"; application, I will do her justice, lest, by her coming perpetually to me with this petition, coming she weary me. she even stun and weary me out with her cries.b 6 And the Lord said, Ilear .4nd the Lord said, Hear and observe what the unjust judge saith upon this remarkable 6 *****" occasion, and how he owns himself to be prevailed on by the continual cries of one whom 7 And shall not God avenge otherwise he would not have regarded. And if the earnest importunity of a poor widow 7 jº. §§ thus prevailed on an unrighteous person, shall not a righteous God much more be moved he bear long with them to vindicate his own elect, his chosen and dearly beloved people, that cry to him day and night under the cruel oppression of their insulting enemies, even though he may seem to ...ºll ºtha. bear long with them, to give them space for repentance? Yes, I say unto you, he will 8 aven gG helm Spee - §hel...herº..."; certainly vindicate them; and when he once undertakes it, he will do it speedily too; and ºf man cometh;shall he find this generation of men shall see and feel it to their terror. JVevertheless, when the Son of faith on the earth * ~ * 5 man, having been put in possession of his glorious kingdom, comes to appear for this impor- tant purpose, will he find faith in the land?d. The persecution will be so severe as almost to bear it down; but let the remembrance of what I have now spoken be a comfort to my peºple, and a warning to those that injure them. 9 And he spake this para- --- pake thi - j- rfrti. S 7 rººf. ike f Solf'; ifu in or ble unto certain which trust- He also spake this other parable to certain persons who, like the proud, self-justifying 9 ... ." ...jºes" tº Pharisees, with an arrogant conceit of their own merit, trusted in themselves that they were jahteous and * righteous, and despised others as reprobates. There were, said he, two men who went up to 10 jū’īwo men went up into the temple to pray there, choosing to offer up their particular devotions at that sacred place; *ś, 'º'; ...."; and the one of them was a Pharisee, one of that sect so greatly honoured among you, an publican. the other a publican, whom you are used to number with the most contemptible of man- lºhºhariº, sºlº kind. And the Phºrise, standing, by himself at as great a distance as he could from the 11 º, º miserable sinner who had entered the temple with him, as if he feared being polluted by not as other men are, extor- in o' hi ! Othe *SO] -s tº r imself.e praiſed in this m e tioners, unjust, adulterers, or touching him, or any other person less holy than himself.” prayed in this manner: O God, even as this publican : I thank thee that I am not as the generality of other men are, but have always had the grace to withstand those vile temptations which conquer and enslave them; so that I am not like the rapacious, unjust, adulterous generation among whom I live, or even like this wretched publican that stands there at a distance, who probably is all this, and more: 1 * ñº º; Thou knowest, Q Lord, that I am zealous in all the traditions of the elders; that in con- 12 jºs" " " " 'formity to them I fast tipice a-week; and with the greatest strictness I pay tithes of all that Ipossess, not excepting even the very herbs of my garden. (Compare Matt. xxiii. 23. and Luke xi. 42.) Thus the Pharisee offered his devotions, standing as mear as he could - to the court of the priests; confident in his own distinguished sanctity, and desirous to be inº #ºià"; observed by others. But the poor humble publican, standing qfar off in the court of the 13 ... ..."as his eyes"unto Gentiles, as unworthy to be numbered among God's people, and much more unworthy to heaven, but smote upon his ºšiº appear in the presence of so holy a Deity, would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, ful to me a sinner. the habitation of the divine holiness and glory; but smote on his breast, in token of the bitterest remorse and deepest humiliation, saying, O God, I entreat thee be merciful to me, a miserable sinner; who acknowledge that I have nothing to hope but from the riches of thine unmerited and forfeited goodness. …” a Do me justice against mine adcersary.] This, is, the undoubtſd im- in Acts vii. 3, 4, 11. and in numberless other places.—And the context port of the phrase ekötkmgov us ; and care should have been taken in here limits it to the less extensive signification.—The believing Hebrews the version, to express it so as not to suggest the idea of retense. were evidently, in great danger of being wearied out with their perse- . X. X § She even stun and ºceary me out..] :The word āroſtašm is very em- ºutions and distresses. (Col J intº º: #-li jº.º. Tá. is a ti - - - stun or beat down by violent and repeated blows Jan, ºl-45, ii. § V. 10. I Pet. ii., 20- ?5. iii. 14-17.. iv. 1, 2, 12–19; º Sl º ix. 27. t & v. 9, 10.)—Mr. Fleming argues from hence, that deism shall prevail c Though he may seem to bear long with them, &c.] The learned X*. Umuch towards the conclusion of the Millennium ; (Christol., vol. ii. 4 . . ºn as '...}, ..., with a smaï alteration in the accent, to p. 35S.), but, it is ºvident, from the connexion, as stated above; that this Fººt: ºuld render it, Shall he not avenge 'his º be inferred from this text; nor does the fact itself seem at - *3 ... • '...}, ...….. - - - º all probable. - - - ##############"."gººf. º.º.º. Pºim, &c.) Thus Camero think the words will naturally bear such a construction, or that the au- w; }%. Y IS C. .* it i. º º * i b r t tators thorities he produces are satisfactory, I choose to retail, ºr Yºjºa; tı tºº. a-vOcciº. ly th *śl Seen obser º y º º atoºs, Nor can i, on this interpretation, perceive any, inconsistency between that the Jews,especially the ſharisees, used generally to. eep private "... }.d's 'in. it"; "jºl'ºight º’lºg, and yet at length fººl.9m, Mondays rºl Thursdays, as the primitive christians did on execute a speedi and sudden vengeance on the persecuting enemies of his Wednesdays and jº. and Qºr Lord had §mg. reprº ed º; people. Compare Psal, lxxiii. 19. Plab. ii: § and especially Ecclus. Ostentatious manner of oing it. Matt. vi. 16–18. See Drusius, 172 {{J.C. ºxxv. iS. to which words Grotius supposes there is an 㺠here. . ... g .4 miserable sinner..] It is very apparent that the word sinner often 3 ºil he find faith in the land?] It is evident the word Yn often sig- signifies an abandoned profligate, or, as we. commonly express it; 4 nifies, not the earth in general, but somo particular land or country ; as 7picked meretch ; and not morely one who has in some instances violated ** 9 - 226 SIGHT GIVEN TO A MAN WHO HAD BEEN BORN BLIND. SECT. ... Now, added our Lord, I say unto you, and I would have you diligently observe it, that , 14 I telyou, this man went 129. this poor, humble, self-abasing man went down to his house justified rather than the other; ...º ji. and would have been far more, acceptable in the sight of God than the Pharisee, if he had evº. oººhaiºsafºth hi. Luke indeed been that moral upright man he pretended: even in that case his pride and con- ; ºft";iºi XVIII, , fidence in his own righteousness would have blasted all; for every one that evalieth him- be exalted. 14 self shall be abased, but he that humbleth himself shall be eralted;h as nothing is more hateful to God than pride, and nothing more amiable than lowliness of mind. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 2 . How hateful is the character of this unjust judge, who neither feared God nor reverenced man, but centred all his regards in himself. How hateful, and how contemptible in any circumstance of life; especially in a magistrate, the guardian of the public interest, in comparison of which he ought to forget his own. Yet even he was prevailed 5, 1 §. by importunity; and our Lord mentions it to encourage the fervour of our addresses to the throne of grace. 6 What then, is the blessed God, like this unjust judge, to be wearied out with a peal of words, and thereby weakly induced to do what would otherwise have been contrary to his designs? Far from us be so absurd and so impious a thought ! Our condescending Lord only intended to intimate, that if the repeated importunate cries of the afflicted may at length prevail even on an inhuman heart, they will be much more regarded by a righteous and merciful God, who is always ready to bestow his favours when he sees we are prepared to receive them. We may 7 be sure that God will vindicate his elect; let this encourage them, though the rod of the wicked may for a while rest on their back; and let it intimidate the proud oppressors of the earth, who, in the midst of all their pomp and power, are so wretched as to have the prayers of God’s people against them. 9 How instructive is this parable of the publican and Pharisee; and how well connected with the former, to teach us that humility without which repeated prayers will be repeated insults and affronts to heaven!, Let us not trust in ourselves that we are righteous, and despise others; but rather be severe to our own faults, and candid to theirs. 11 Behold this arrogant Pharisee, standing apart from the publican, but as near as he could to the seat of the divine majesty! And hear him boldly celebrating his own praises rather than those of his Maker! God, I thank thee that I am not as other men. We see a man may acknowledge it is the grace of God which makes the difference between him and others; and yet while he professes that humbling doctrine of the gº may be blown up with 12 pride: yea, be may nourish and express that pride by the words in which he declares hi .* his faith.-Mistaken crea- ture I that imagined this encomium on himself was a prayer, and trusted in this defective morality, and these cere- monies of human device, while an utter stranger to real vital religion. Happier, a thousand times happier, the poor publican, when abasing himself in the dust; when smiting on his breast; when owning himself a sinner, and 13 imploring the divine mercy as his only hope | Lord, we equally need it: may we with equal humility seek it! May we habitually maintain those views of ourselves which may promote that humility so necessary in order to the acceptance of our addresses, and therefore to the happiness of our souls. And indeed, if in our approaches to God we can place our confidence in any righteousness of our own, whatever we may imagine of our own know- .# or holiness, we have need to be #. again the first principles of both, and are strangers to the essentials OT religion. - SECTION CXXX. Christ opens the eyes of a man who was born blind; and the sanhedrim examine strictly into the evidence of the miracle. John ix. 1–23. John ix. 1. John ix. I. SECT. OUR Lord was now come to Jerusalem, at the feast of dedication, about the middle of AND as Jesus passed by, he 130. December; and as he was passing along through the streets of that city, he saw a poor ...}}}.” ” blind man who had been blind from his birth, that sat and asked relief from those that went by. JoHN And his disciples, taking notice of the poor man's case, applied themselves to Jesus, and hº Ix, ) asked him concerning it, saying, Rabbi, we desire thou wouldst tell us who it was that §§"..."; ... sinned in so extraordinary and aggravated a manner as to occasion such a judgment? Had that he was born §§ this man himself been guilty of some heinous crime, as some of our doctors suppose he might be in a pre-existent state 28 or had his parents, before his birth, committed some notorious sin 2 for we apprehend that he was born blind as a punishment to himself, or them, or both. - * - * 3 But Jesus, waving the curiosity of the question, answered, It is not because either this hiº; man or his parents have sinned in such an extraordinary manner as you suppose; nor was ºjº"..."...# the punishment of either the chief design of this dispensation of Providence; but, the in- ºld be made mani. tent of it was, that the miraculous works of God might be remarkably manifested in re- “ º 4 storing him to sight, as you will quickly see. For however the malice of the Jews may 4 I must work the works be irritated by it, I must perform the works of him that sent me, while it is day, and the gf hº hº §. opportunity of despatching it continues; for I well know that the night is coming, in when no man can work. which no man can work: I see death approaching, which, as it puts a period in general to human labours, so will close the scene of such miracles as these, and remove me from the 5 converse and society of men. But so long as I am in the world...I am the light of the wºr"; *:::: ##: world; and, as a proof of the divine illumination I am capable of giving, I have often ºil. restored sight to the blind, and I will do it in this instance. - - 6 Now when he had spoken thus, that he might exercise the faith and obedience of the 6When he had thus spoken, patient, and might show that he could command efficacy on whatever means he should he divine law, which, glas, has been and is the case, with the best of (John viii. ult, $ 105.) than that when Christ, was fleeing ºut ºf thººmple ; Šee'ísal. ºvi. 3. Amos is, 10. Matt. ix. 10, 11. xxvii. 45. Luke in the hasty manner described there, his disciples, as he passed away vi. 32, 33. vii. 37, 39. xix. 7. John ix. 24, 31, and 1 Tim. i. 9... . from his enémies, should put so nice à question to him, (as in wer. 2.) or jºy ºne that eralleth himself shall be abased, &c.j. This appears that he should stand still to discºurse With them, and to perſorm such a to have been a favourite maxim with our Lord, since we find it repeated cure in so leisurely a manneſ aft it l; plain this was done. . l almost in these very words no less than three different times; not to b In a pre-existent sº Dr. Lightfoot (Har; Hºb. in oc.) shows mention a multitude of expressions in sense nearly, equivalent. See that some rabbies have wildly fancied a child might sin in its mother’s ñíaft. xxiii. i2. and Luke Xiv. 11. Compare note k, 9 137. womb : but most gommentatºrs, with juster reason, agree that this refers à About the middle of December.] See John X. 32. and the note to the notion the Jews had of the transmigration of souls. They thought théré, ii.4.” Notwithstanding all the pains which Mr. Whiston has that if a man behaved himself ºmis. he was afterwards sent into an– §eſ to prove that the cure of the blind man, ºf which we haye an aº; other body, where he met with great calamities, and lived on much ... à éé, happened several months before Christ discovgred himself worse terms than before; whereas a mºrºus, ºtº than tº him in the temple, and indeed at the preceding feast of tabernacles, the former was supposed the reward of inº; Virtue b: notion iſ chºse, with the generality of critics, to introduce it, here inot merely which, they borrowed frºm the-Pythagoreans; Whigh *ś to be hinted that the thread of the story might not be interrupted, but because Mr. at by Josephus, and is plainly referred to, Wisd; Yiii. 19:30. (Cºmparo Wºisºn’s reasons (in his Harmºny, p. 385.) appear inconclusive. For Matt. xiv. 2. xvi. 14.)H-Perhaps the disci ſº put this question on I see not but all here recorded # happen within the compass of two łº to learn our Lord’s sentiments on this subject ºf curious specip- **śt, may, perhaps of one single day. And it seems lation; but he wisely declined an oxpress decision of the matter, to fix much more probable that rapaya» [as he passed] might be used here on something more useful. • without any immediate reference to Fapmyev in the preceding verge, SIGHT GIVEN TO A MAN WHO iHAD BEEN BORN BLIND. he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes o ind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go wāsījā;"pºof';iº, interpreted from the Hebrew, signifies which is, by interpretation - * §§ Iſe went his \º Jesus, as sent of God.) •therefore, and washed, and away Carne Sec10g. submission, he said to him, Go wash at the pool of Siloam ;” (which word Siloam, being , Sent, and so bore some analogy to the character of John He therefore presently complied with the direction, and went and washed as he was ordered, and had no sooner done it, but he came from the pool seeing ; and not only found his sight given him, but his eyes were at once so remarkably strengthened, that he immediately could bear the light.d 8The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, 227 please to use, he spat on the ground, and made claiſ with the Spittle, and anointed the SECT. #: eyes of the blind man with the clay; ...And then, for a further trial of his resignation and 130. The neighbours therefore, and they who had seen him before, and known that he was al. 8 ways blind, said one to another, Is not this he that sat in the street, and asked [charity] of said, fºot this he that sat those who passed by ? Whence is there such an astonishing alteration in him 2 And some 9 and begged 2. Some said, Thi º * º .# He % like him: person himself:e MU he Săl(1, J. 8. In ſlē. 7 & * Therefore said they therefol € said to him, unto him, How were thine Cou eyes opened 2 * 11 He answered, and said, A man that is calied Jesus roade clay, and , anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam and , wash: and I went, an washed, and I received sight. 12 Then said they unto him, Where is he 3 He said, I know not. 13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. 14 And it was the sabbath- day whom Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then again the Phari- ces also asked him how he *fad received his sight. He º • • , , , said unto them, He put clay received his sight. upon mine eyes, and I wash- cd, and do see. - 16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keep- § not . # sabbath-day. thers said, How can a man A+ * that is a sinner do such of God SO º, njiracles & And there was a rious sinner and sab division among them. enjoins. This is he: Said, It is assuredly he ; and others, It is indeed very [but] he said and confidently averred, Truly I am the very man. much like him, yet it cannot be the They ow then were thine eyes opened, which we know to have been blind? d any medicine have so strange an effect: * called Jesus, and who is famous for many other extraordinary works, made clay by spitting on the ground, and having anointed mine eyes with it, said to me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash there: and accordingly I went and washed, and immediately received my sight; and this is, in a few words, a true and exact account of this wonderful fact. Then said they to him, Where is he that performed this, and gave thee such directions 2 .And he said, I do not know; for I have never yet seen him, nor ever conversed with him, otherwise than as I just now told you. - - And they brought him who had formerly been blind to the Pharisees, in the grand Sanhe- drim, that he might be examined by thém ; that so, if there was any fraud in the matter, they might discover and expose it. JWow it was on the sabbath-day when Jesus made the clayſ in the manner before related, and opened his eyes; which was a circumstance that some of these hypocritical rulers pretended to take great offence at. The Pharisees there- fore, disposed to find all the fault they could, asked him again, how or by what means he .#nd he said to them, exactly as he had before declared to the people, He only put clay upon mºne elſes, and I then, according to his command, went and washed at the neighbouring pool of Siloam, and behold, I do now see perfectly well. Then said some of the Pharisees, This man, though apparently possessed of some extra- ordinary power, is not, to be sure, a messenger of God, nor can he perform these works by a divine agency, because he observeth not the sacred rest of the sabbath, which the law But others more wisely said, How can a man that is a noto- ath-breaker, as you suppose this man to be, do such great and bene- ficial miracles,” which wear all the marks of a divine original that can be imagined 2 And And he replied, .4 certain man, who is there was a warm debate and division among them on this important question; the few 17 They say unto the blind man again, What *: thou of him, that he hath fº thine eyes & Plc said, He is a Prophet. .* 1$JBut the Jews did not belićve concerning him, that ie had been biind and , re- ceived his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. }. unable to invalidate it if friends of Christ among them not failing to urge so great an advantage against the rest.h But, to prevent the offence that might be taken at their dispute, they turned and said 17 again to the blind man, (that is, to him who had been blind, and still was spoken of by that title,) What sayest thou concerning him, since he hath, as thou declarest, opened thine eyes 3 ..And he freely said, It is clear to me that he is a most illustrious Prophet; for surely other- wise he would have been unable to perform so great a miracle. The Jews therefore of this great council, being generally displeased with his reply, and 18 e miracle was allowed, would not believe concerning him, on his own credit, that he had formerly been blind, and had now received his sight; but repre- sented it as a confederacy between him and Jesus, by an easy fraud to get the reputation of so extraordinary a cure : and in this view they went gn roundly to censure it, till they 19 And they asked them, they might stric saying, Is this your son, who ºf y then doth he now see : 20 His parents answered how then doth he now them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind : 21 But by what means he now sectin we know not ; or who bath opened his eyes WTOU we know not : he is of age had called in the ſº of the man who maintained that he had thus received his sight, that tly examine them on this question. And they asked them, saying, Is this in- 19 jºrđa."#& deed your son, of whom it is reported that you say he was born blind? Give us an account of the whole matter; and particularly tell us, if you are sure that he was blind from his birth, See ? His parents answered them, and said, We assuredly know that 20 this is owr son ; and affirm it to be true that he was born blind, and hath continued so from his infancy: But as for this strange fact, how he now sees, we know not ; or who has opened 21 his eyes, we know not any more than he has told us, not being present when the cure was ht: he is himself of a sufficient age to answer such a question; if you please therefore isk’īn; he shii'speak of to ask him, he will undoubtedly speak cºncerning himself, and is best able to tell you his own 5 *> ... } himself. 22 These cords spake his parents, because they feare Story. These things his parents said in this cautious manner, not that they had any doubt of the łºś cure as wrought by Jesus, but because they were afraid of the Jews: for the Jews, in this agreed already; that is tº their highest court, had already agreed, that if any one should show such regard to Jesus of nian did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Nazareth as to confess him to be Christ, he should immediately be excommunicated and cast out of the synagogue,i a censure which was reckoned very infamous, and attended with c J%ash at the pool of Silgam.] Perhaps by this command, our Lord intended to make the miracle so much the more taken notice of; for a crowd of people would naturally gather round him, to observe the cvent of so strange a prescription. And as it is exceedingly probable that the blind man had a guide to lead him, especially through the streets of so populous, a city, he might naturally mention the errand they were going upon, and call those that saw him to a greater attention. Accordingly this thiracle was afterwards talked of with particular regard: John xi. 37. § 140.—As for the pool of Siloam, it was supplied from the fountain of that name which arose in the south-west part of Jerusalem. See note c, ou Luke xiii. 4. p. 206. and Reland. Palestine, p. 853. . d Could bear the light.] This is strongly intimated in the phrase, he came sceing. Compare note b, § 86. p. 160,-Perhaps he had been taught by the example of Naaman not to despise the most improbable means When prescribed in the yiew of a miracle. Yet it is plain he did not know this was Jesus of Nazareth yet, and so had no particular faith in him, (compare ver. 12.) which shows, by the way, that such a faith was not universally required as a condition of receiving a cure. . - e It is like him, &c.) The circumstance of having, received his sight Would give him an air of spirit and cheerfulness, which would render him, something unlike what he was before, and might occasion a little doubt to those who were not well acquainted with him: as Bishop Hall justly observes. f Il tris on the sabbath-danj, Src.] , Dr. Lightfoot (in his Hor. Heb. on yer, 6.) has shown, that anointing the eyes on the sabbath-day with any kind of medicine, was forbidden to the Jews by the tradition of the elders. g Such great and beneficial miracles.) This seems to intimate that they thought there were at least some miracles so glorious and so bene- volent, that no evil agent would have either inclination or power to perform them ; and that they reckoned this in that number. The thqught seems both rational and important, and is set in a very strong ſight by the learned Mr. Chapman, in his Euseb, ch: ii: * i. The few friends of Christ among them, &c.] If Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, both members of the Sanhedrim! were now present they would naturally distinguish themselves on this occasion ; an Gamaliel too, on the principles he afterwards avowed, (Acts v. 3S, 39.) must have been on their side. º - i If any ane should confess him to be Christ, &c.] Hence it appears, that though our Lord was cautious of professing himself to be the Christ in express terms, yet many, understood the intimations he gave ; and that most of his disciples by this time declared their faith in him under that character. It also further appears from hence, that the parents, and indeed the sanhedrim, knew who it was that, opened this man's eyes, though he himself was hitherto a stranger, to him, and was not yet ac- quainted with the dignity of his person. Compare ver, 25, 36. 10 11 <º. º. 228 THE MIRACLE EXAMINED BY THE SANHEDRIM. SECT. many civil incapacities and penalties. Not knowing therefore but such an interpretation 23 Therefore said his, pa- 130. might be put on their owning the truth of this miracle, his parents declined giving any par- " " " " "**** ticular testimony concerning it; and rather chose to refer them to their son, and said, He is JOHN of age sufficient to be heard as an evidence, and it will therefore be most proper that you * should ask the particulars from him. - IMPROVEMENT. - Ver, 5 OH that the zeal of our great Master might quicken us his too negligent servants! Still is he the light of the world, by his doctrines, precepts, and example. May our eyes by divine grace be opened to see, and our hearts be disposed to love and to follow, this light! It was a governing maxim with him, and he meant it also for our 4 admonition, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, wherein no man'can work. We are sent into the world on an important errand, to work out our own salvation, and that of others: may we improve the present day; and so much the rather, as we see the night approaching! On some the shadows of the 2 3 evening are already drawing on ; and as to others, their sun may go down at noon. Let us therefore, waving the curiosity of unprofitable speculations, apply oursclves seriously to the business of life, and zealously seize every op- Pº of usefulness. - 6, 7–. Our Lord, as it should seem, unasked, and, by the person on whom it was wrought, unknown, performed this important and extraordinary cure. And the manner in which he did it is worthy of notice: . He anointed his eyes with clay, and then commanded him to wash. . Clay laid on the eye-lids might almost blind a man that had sight; but what could it do towards curing blindness? It reminds us, that God is no further from the accomplishment of any purpose or event, when he works with than without means; and that all the creatures are only that which his almighty operation makes them. * –7 The blind man believed, and received the immediate benefit of it. Had he reasoned, like Naaman, on the im= propriety of the means, he had justly been left in darkness. Lord, may our proud hearts be subdued to the methods of thy recovering grace And may we leave it to thee to choose how thou wilt bestow favours which it is our highest interest on any terms to receive - 15, 17 . It must be a satisfaction to every true christian to observe the curiosity and exactness with which these Pharisees 18, 19 inquired into the miracles of Christ, and how thoroughly they canvassed every circumstance of them. A truth lil this need not fear any examination. Every new witness which they heard confirmed the case, and confounded the 20, 23 obstimacy of their unbelief–But surely the weakness of the parents was very pitiable, who, in the midst of the evidence and obligation of such a miracle, were more afraid of incurring a human sentence than of offending God, by failing to own so great a favour, and to confess the blessed Person by whom it was wrought. The fear of man bring eth a snare; (Prov. xxix. 25.) but they whose eyes Christ has opened in a spiritual sense, will see a glory and excellence in him, which will animate them boldly to bear their testimony to him in defiance of all the censures which men can pass, or of all the penalties by which they can enforce them. - w” SECTION CXXXI. The man wao was bgrin blind, that had regeived his sight, is a second time examined before the, Sanhedrº, who, provoked by the freedom of his replies, excommunicate him; but Jesus meets him, and declares hiſmself to be the Son of Čod." johnix ºf 38. John ix. 24. - John ix. 24. SECT. NOW, as the sanhedrim were not able to discover any fraud in the miracle mentioned in THEN again called they the 131. the preceding section by examining the parents, they therefore called a second time for the ºººººº; & - Jº", tº ,- ... ---> - * unto him, Give God the man who had been blind, and said to him, Give glory to God, by a free confession of the praise; we know that this JoHN fraud, if there be any collusion or artifice in this affair;" or, if the cure was really wrought "" ** in the manner thou affirmest, acknowledge the power, sovereignty, and goodness of the - Divine Being in working by so unworthy an instrument; for we certainly know that this - Jesus of Nazareth, the man of whom thou speakest, is a profligate sinner,” and deserves public punishment rather than esteem. . . . . - 25 Then answered he and said, If he be a sinner, I know not any thing of it, having no per- wº.º.º. º.º. sonal acquaintance with him; but one thing I certainly know, and will stand to the truth ºf...".o. aš";"| of it, that whereas I was blind, even from my birth, I now see perfectly well, and owe my §ºreas I was sight to the very person whom you condemn. — - y ~ - 26 TBut they again said to him, hoping that, in some minute circumstance at least, he might a.º.º.º.º. contradict his former account, and give them some advantage against him, Tell us once ºthº' more as particularly as thou canst, what did he unto thee? and how did he open thine eyes? 27 And as the man perceived that they intended only to insnare him, he answered them hi.º.º.º.º. • - r *G. :1 y all IQ3 (ly, an eagerly, I have told jou already, and yé have not regårded what I said, nor would at all ºilºt'ſ..."ºeſ. beſieve me: why would you désire to hear it again? Would you also become his disciples, .*.*.*.*ś ; will as many have ſately done, and some, perhaps, on occasion of this miracle which he has performed on me? • - - - - - - - - - - ‘ 28 The Pharisees them were filled with indignation, and were so greatly exasperated at what a.º.º.º." º: - - - - *- º - n (. y Sº I., 1* appeared to them so insolent a speech, that they reviled him in very gpprobrious language, º'ñº'ài. and said, Thou artindeed this fellow's disciple, as many of the herd of ignorant people are; *. but we would have thee to know that we scorn the imputation, for we are the disciples of Moses, and are too firmly attached to that great and hºly prophet, to regard such a de- - 29 ceiver as this. We well know that God spake to Moses, and gave the most ample evidence, ...W.º.º.º. of sending him with a divine commission; but as for this man, we know not from whence he is, º, . know hot nor canwëperceive any satisfactory credentials of his bringing any message from God to us. * * * * ºr e glor, onfession of the fraud, &c.) As it is nounced a known scandalous sinner by this high court of indicature : º º º: .# º; j. º º ſº . sºn, in any civilized country, failem on any K- * , , , , ; } f v- rimes not fully proved against them. Shou pe ISOil I gally convicted. - 1 - . - #º presumé, *::::::: the dictates of conscience, c, JWe are the disciples gfsºſosºs.) { Hº. they º but . tº intº their own innocence; there is a great propriety in the phrase maliciously and falsely, insinuated that j `. i. an oppositiºn taken in this sense. (Compare Josh. §: ; º: Rev. xi. 13.) º: §§ *:::: º that it was impossible for the same perSons to 76 tº - a gene liuratio the g|Ori OUIS IndIllé O J G OC1 ; JG UP) Gº (IIS - - - * * * -- ~ : #####| i.” 㺠§ ºd Šiš. xxvi. 63.)—The words d We knoid that God spake tº Moses.], º, partiali; ºil. QS *F ājjīānī; another sense, which I have comprehended in the paraphrase ; excusable; foſſ, if they believed the 'º'; §º on §. ey, ºn: O but I prefer the former. - miracles, credibly attested indeed, but performe à: º year. # Tºan is gºnºr.] I cannot, with Mr. Locke, (Reasonablenºss before they were born; it was much more ſº €, § ejr §. of Christianity, p. 38.) imaging this any proof of a tradition among the §º tº believe the mission of §º.; at least º º es; Jews that the §§§i. should be perfectly frce from sin ; but rather con- wrought daily among them, when they mig § #h Inally j. . :*.i jude, that inner here, as in ver. TG. signifies a notoriously Wicked man. been eye-witnesses to the facts; and one of wnſen, º: }. º '... it was certain, from the principles of their sacred writings; that ºperson their malice, they were here compelled to own, or at least found thein- not entirely sſpless might perform very illustrious, miracles. But how selves utterly unable to disprove. sovere an insult was here on the character of our Redeemer, to be pro- - THE MIRACLE EXAMINED BY THE SANHEDRIM. 229 3) The man answered and . But, not discouraged by their unjust reflections, the man replied with a becoming free- SECT. #...ii.º.º. dom of spirit, and said unto them, Hºhy, in this respect it is strange that ſoil know not from 131. §y.º.º. phenºt he is, and yet it is plain that he has opened, mine eyes. Now we all know in general ...” "***** that God heareth not sinners, and that persöns of infamous characters and immoral lives 'º' nº.º.º.º. cannot expect the divine acceptance in any common petition which they offer, much less sy" neareth not sinners : but i - - º - : 4-1- • l any man tº a worshipper of for the performance of a miracle ; but % any man be truly devout, and faithfully do his will, §º” his will him him indeed, he heareth with a favourable régard: when therefore God is found to hear a man in such an extraordinary instance as this, there seems the greatest reason to believe w; in...tº he is a person whose temper and character are approved by him. And this, is plainly an 32 }... º. ºf ... extraordinary instance; for, ſº." the beginning of the world it was never heard that any man §. º.º.i. opened the eyes of one who, like me, was born blind. It is surprising, therefore, that you, who allow that Moses was a prophet on the authority of his miracles, should in this case 33 If this man were not of judge so hardly of my deliverer, whoever, he be. But every unprejudiced person may 33 *** *** easily see that if this man were not sent of God, he could do nothing of this kind. 34 They answered and said And, not being able to endure so plain and forcible a reproof, which even stung them 34 º,...; to the heart, they answered and said to him, with great hatred and scorn, Thou vile pre- thou, teach us?" And they sumptuous wretch, thou wast entirely born in sins, and didst bring into the world with thee cast him out. . most evident tokens of divine wrath and vengeance ; and dost thou insolently take upon thee to teach us, the guides of the national faith, and members of the supreme court of ecclesiastical judicature ? ... We shall find out a way to correct this arrogance. And imme- diately they cast him out of the synagogue, passing a solemn sentence of excommunication upon him, though there was no shadow of proof that he had deserved it. 3; Jesus, heard that they Now Jesus quickly heard of their arbitrary proceedings that they had thus passed sentence 35 had cast him out: and when ** >{ 1,4'- - º ~ rº 7..." - i."j"fjºin...",".. on the poor man, and had cast him out for his sake; and, finding him soon after, he said to ºgºu believe him privately, Dost thou believe on the Son of God, the great expected Messiah? n the Son of God 2 … .] t- • - 5 **'. s 33 He, answered and said, #. answered and said, Sir, who is he, that I may believe on him 2 I know that such a 36 .#; ; **mish glorious Person is expected; and if he be already come, tell me but who he is, and where may meet with him, and I am ready to express a due regard to him who shall be pointed - out to me under that honourable and important character. - nº. Alº, i. ºf , . Then Jesus, to encourage him, under what he was now suffering on his account, said to 37 im, Thou hast, both seen 1,.. - e-, -i- - S-> - #, aftā'ītis'; thºuš him, with a degree of freedom which was very unusual,” Thou hast no need of going far to with thee. seek him; for thou hast both already seen him, and had experience of his power and good- ness; it was he that miraculously opened thine eyes, ...} indeed it is even he that is now talking with thee, who is that very Person. biº"Aajº .4nd, immediately yielding to that convincing argument which arose from what he had 38 #.” ”** himself experienced of his almighty power, he said, Lord, I most readily believe that thou art he, and humbly prostrate myself before thee, to render thee due homage as such. And, falling down at his feet, he worshipped him. IMPROVEMENT. So little does truth fear repeated examinations; and thus does it, after every trial, come forth like pure gold out Ver. of the furnace. So did this miracle of Christ appear to these subtle adversaries; so will the christian cause appear 24–27 to all who will diligently search into its evidence. Who can forbear wondering at the obstinacy of these Pharisees; and, on the same principles, at that of the pre- 28, 39 sent Jews, who, while they acknowledge that God spake by Moses because he wrought miracles, will not, on the evidence of yet more various and glorious miracles,ſ and those attested beyond all contradiction, acknowledge the authority of the Son of God himself? But we see this poor illiterate creature, (for such he undoubtedly was,) with the advantage of truth on his side, 30 baffles all the sophistry of his most learned antagonists. Great is the truth, and it will prevail. Great is this truth, so fundamental to the gospel, that Jesus is the Son of God: and this also, which is so important to natural religion and revealed, that God heareth not sinners ; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and do his will, him he hears, 31 and most favourably regards. May we be truly devout, and add to our devotion an obedient regard to the divine will, and the eyes of the Lord will be upon us, and his ears be open to our cry! (Psal. xxxiv. I5.) Then, being 34 favourably owned of God, we shall have no reason to fear the censures of men. If they cast us out, Christ will re-35, 37 ceive us, and perhaps reveal himself to us with more freedom, in proportion to the injuries we sustain from them. * ... 3- SECTION CXXXII. Christ admonishes the Pharisees of their danger; and represents himself as the door of the shº through which men must necessarily enter if they desire their own salvation, or that of others committed to their care. John ix. 39, to the end ; x. 1–10 ſº ſº; º; WHILE Jesus stood talking with the blind man who had received his sight, several people, SECT. ºt. §§ which sº who were then entering into the temple, knowing them both, and desirous to hear what 132. ght d that they tº 2-,--- - ...J & - * —l. - §".”; *... passed, gathered together about them; and Jesus said, so that they all might hear him, You blind. may see in this man, and in what has happened in relation to him, an illustration of the ** effects which my appearance is to produce; for I am coine into this world for judgment as 39 well as mercy; that, on the one hand, they who see not might see, or that the ignorant Souls who are willing to be instructed, might learn divine knowledge ; and, on the other hand. that they who see may be made blind; that such as are proudly conceited of their own science and, wisdom, may either be humbled, or exposed; and they who wilfully stand out, and harden their hearts against my instructions, may bring upon themselves yet greater darkness. 40 And some of the Phari- And º of the Pharisees, who were then present with him, heard these things, and an 40 sees which were with him …, - • º * “º S v 3 a ap- jiຠ'ºis... j prehending that he glanced at them, said to him, àre we also blind? and dost thou mean to unto him, Are we blind also? insinuate any thing of that kind? If thou dost, speak plainly. Now this they said, hoping - art” vº ſº S in ºn- Xr r - - > S > 3 > , , , - A -- ~ + . - - * - * sº §§º jº, sº §§ ...'sob: tººd the sº entº, as we observe in the beginning of ºśń º Aº any one had incurred the great inconveniences attending a sentelice of and Limborch on the other. Limb. "Čoliºt. cium Judæo, Scrip. iii’ excommunication, out of zeal, for the honour of Christ: Nº doubt this Quest. 4. No. 3. p. 13], ciscº, and Rºş. Gaj Sºśī. 51, et seq. passed privately between our Lord and this good man, though, presently 5 l, a sp. aa Scrip. m. p. 151, et seq 230 THE PHARISEES ADMONISHED OF THEIR DANGER. SECT. thereby to draw him into some dangerous reflection on the Sanhedrim, who had lately 132. passed their censure on the man whose eyes he had opened. -- Jesus $qid to them, If you were indeed blind, and laboured under unavoidable ignorance, 41 Jesus said unto them, if º You would not then have any sin in comparison of what you now have:* but now you say, ... .º.º. hº 41 Surely we see much more clearly than the rest of mankind; therefore your sin abides upon .."liº: ou with greater aggravation: and this conceit which you have of your own knowledge "* lders conviction, and prevents the first entrance of instruction into your minds. c sºs Nevertheless, whether you will bear or Whether you will forbear, I will for a while longer John's. 1. verily, verily, I 1 continue, my admonitions; and therefore, Verily, verily, I gay unto you who call yourselves º the shepherds of the people, that he who enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climb- §§: "º º: eth 2p some other private way, whatever be the character he may assume, the same is to be º ºne is 2 looked upon as no better than a thief and a robber. But he that comes in at the door of the **śereth in sheepfold is the true shepherd of the sheep; and such a one will always choose to enter in # |. º is the shepherd 3 by that which is the regular appointed way. To him, as soon as he approaches, the door- 3 º, Orter Ope keeper opens the fold,” and the sheep themselves hear his voice with regard; and he is well tº and he iſ..."; acquainted with each of them, insomuch that he calls each of his own sheep by name,” and j º 4 leads them out to pasture. ...And when he thus puts forth his own sheep from the fold, he him. tº wº y he Duttet) self goes before them to guide them to good pastures, and to defend them from any danger foºoºhejº, which may occur, and the sheep cheerfully followin; for they well know his voice, being ; ; ; ; ; 5 daily accustomed to it. But if a stranger corne to lead them out, they will not follow him; his §: e * * but, on the contrary, they will flee away from him, because they do not know ille voice of nºt fjº. º strangers. . - him; º tºw not the 6 . This short parable Jesus spake unto them; but they did not understand what it was that **śrake Jesus he said to them, but were quite at a loss to conjecture his meaning; though his intent in º.º. º..."; describing the character of the good Shepherd was plainly to show how far the Pharisees, ºre which he spake tºº, who assume the name, were from answering it; . to warn the true sheep, or persons of them. real integrity and simplicity, of the danger of being blindly governed and guided by them. 7 Then Jesus, to clear up what was most obscure in his former discourse, said to them 7. Then, said Jesus Suntº again, Perily, verily, I say unto you, and solemnly assure you, that, however you neglect º: me, I am the door of the sheep,” and it is only by authority derived from me that the people of the sheep. of God are to be taught .# fed. All that ever came before me, assuming the Messiah’s 8 All that ever came before character, or setting up for a despotic authority in the church, and teaching other methods . *...*. #;"; of salvation than by me,” are thieves and robbers, persons of very bad designs, who had no them. ſ warrant from above for what they did; and, whatsoever their pretences were, their ad- ministration has a fatal tendency to make havoc of the souls, they should watch and feed; but the true sheep, or those who are sincere and well-disposed persons, have not heard them, - So as to relish and regard their doctrine. I therefore repeat it again as a most important 9. I am the door; by me if truth, That I myself am the door; and if any one enter in by me, and acknowledge my ..."..."; hº authority, he shall be, like a sheep in his fold, safe from the invasion of what might injure out, and find pasture. and destroy him; and shall go in and out under my care and guidance, and shall still find - good pasture; that is, in consequence of his regard to me, and the enjoyment of commu- nion with me, his soul shall be fed and nourished with true doctrine, and shall obtain sub- 10 stantial happiness. For whereas the thigf only comes that he may steal, and kill, and destroy, , 10 The thief, cometh ng, —I am come for the benefit of all my sheep, that they may have true life, and that at length ; ; i; fº.º.º. they may have it yet more abundantly;f a most plentiful provision being made for their that, hºlight have life; * # and that they might have it 8 9 everlasting comfort and happiness, even far beyond what has ever been known before. more abundantly. IMPROVEMENT. 4. e tº gº * s JOHN LET is hear with an holy awe on our spirits, that the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world for purposes of Ix., judgment as well as of mercy; and make it our humble prayer that we may be enlightened by him, and not sealed 9 up under aggravated darkness as a punishment for our obstinacy and impenitence; for then all the means of knowledge which we have so basely perverted, will rise up to condemn us. IoHN Let Christ be regarded by us as the door from whom all true teachers derive their authority, and to whom they X. ... direct their administrations; and let it be our care that we enter by this door. Let inferior shepherds learn their duty, so plainly suggested here: Let them learn to know their sheep, and take as particular notice as they can of 3 each single person committed to their care; and let them go before them in all the paths of duty; for what could the greatest enemy to the flock do worse, than to lead them by example into the paths of destruction? 9 Happy souls who are entered in by this gate 1. Their safety, their comfort, is secure; they enjoy a holy liberty and plenty, and going in and coming out, they find pasture. if we are strangers to that entertainment and re- freshment which arisés from ordinances, (those green pastures which Christ has provided for his sheep in the wil- 10 derness,) we have a great deal of reason to fear that we belong not to his flock. He came that his sheep might a If you were indeed blind, you wºuld not have ºny...siº, &c.] Elsner hence that the eastern shepherds, at least those of Judeº gave particular Öğr; joi. i. p. 33.3.) understands this of corporeal blind tess; as if 9ar names to, their ºf: as mesſ, mea do to their dogs and, }:Crses.—Their gºt had said,” it is a great aggravation 6f your perverséness, that custºm alsº wºš to lead the shºp, playing on some musical instrument. you know by experience the diſſerence between blindness and sight, d I am the door, &c.] It would be very impertinent to run à, long §ficiºgliº'convince you of the importance of such a miracle, and ºf parallel here between Christ and, a door. The resemblance plainly tº giving poºr ºbich it is ºrought.”—Bat the following words, centre; in this one circºnstilage, that, as a man Intºst observe attd pass But mono for say, Jºe see, suit much better with the sense given in the through the lºft in Qrder to, his muking a. regular and unsuspicted paraphrase. entrance into a s heepfold; so he must mºniº broßeſ regard to Christ; b The door-keeper opens the fold.]. Grotius dogs not attempt the accº- in order to his being a true, tºgher in the º º phºs (as it mºdation of this circumstance: Mr. Cradock interprºts it ºf the IIoly were) throºgh ſº º ºß º o j #. } §. łºńost, and Dr. Whitby of God the Falher, as giving free, admission, tº }..."; ſº ing this, that Christ elsewhere ca 113 himself the Cay - s * ** * . *: - - - > * > * * * * * I tº 3 gº & & Jº 4 -* * * * 4. *_* is s those teachers w hº maintaº *...*ś º º tºº, o Alii that ever came before ree, &c.] If it could be shown by any which seemi, much, º.º.º.º.º.º.º. . . . prºper authority, that Hoº &ng ever signifies in neglect ºf me, or ſpo jºinisters...[t is suggested by Sir Isaac Newton, that, as these worſts & - y; 3. # ..;, i.ºr Ošere. Vol. i ’r, º wºken nôar ſº templé, where sheep were kept in, folds tº be 00pas passing by a door, I shouhl, with Elsner, (Cºser.c. vol. i. p. 327.) sold for sacrifices, Christ here alludes, to what was prºculiar, in th9sº prefer that rendering to aly other : but as this does nºt appear, it is ñis thi..."they were kept locked, they not only exglºded, the thief, evident that the words must be tºlerstºº with the limitation added in fººth."shepherd, till the door-keeper opened theim. (Seg, Newton Qſ, the paraphrase; for 9therwise, they would imply such a reflection on }º. 5" tº 'But ſcannot think, whatever occasiº, Christ might Moses and tº prophéis ºw.º.º. Lor; gould never, intend. take, from the sight of Shēºp, to represent his people, under that łmże, Perhaps, he might refer to sugh persons as Juºi Of Galilee, QI Theudas, .#.'"jºi...hºwºliºscribe them lik, sheep shut up who had been the occasion of destruction to their followers. See Acts v is a pºſſ to be sold for sacrifice: nor dºes the shepherd's lººting them 36, 37; s - fºrt v 4. s out, &c. agree with this circumstance: ſm, countries where there were, so f That they may have it more glundantly...To refer this latter clause, lºy savage beasts, it might be ordinarily pºcessary to have he folds at least ułtimately, to the º. which Christ his male for the future §rººd than amongºs, and the chief shepherd might oftgº leave and gternal happiness ºf ! his people, seems best to suit the other parts ...tº watch them while thus shut up, and come hiſitself to lead ºf this discourses ºf well as the genius of the whole Christian dispensation. them out to pasture in a morning. jerhaps the word Trºgºggoy may intimate how much this provision ex c calls his own sheep by name.] Dr. Hammond justly inters from ceeded that made by Moses. CHRIST DESCRIBES HIMSELF As THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 231 have life, and that they might have it more abundantly; that greater provision might be made for their instruction SECT. and consolation now, till they are brought to those better pastures he intends for them above. May his grace pre- 132. pare us for them! and his hand will certainly conduct us to them; nor need we fear the darkest passage in our Way. SECTION CXXXIII. Christ describes himself as the good Shepherd, who will lay down his life for the sheep. John X. 11—21. Jori N. x. 11. John x. 11. I, AM the good, shepherd: OUR Lord having thus represented himself as the door of the sheep, and intimated the SECT. #.º.º. ** regards to be maintained towards him, particularly by those that professed themselves 133. teachers of others, now changed the similitude, and said, I may also very properly add that I am myself, by way of eminence, the good Shepherd,” the Person frequently foretold in 'º' Scripture under that character, (Isa. xl., 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 23. xxxvii. 24. and Mic. v. 4.) º and I most fully answer it in all its branches, especially in this, that as the good shepherd on occasion laijeth down his very life for the defence of his sheep, and will expose himself to any danger for their safety, *: are 1 Sam. xvii. 34, 35.) I not only expose but sacri- fice my life for the good of my people. 12 But he that is an hire. The hireling indeed, who is not the true shepherd, and whose own property the sheep are 12 §ºicº. mot, as soon as he is apprehensive of approaching danger, and sees the wolf, for instance, seein the wolf coming, and or some other savage beast, coming, immediately regarding nothing but his own safety, is leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: | ful t c himself, and leaves the she ºnd fl Žs mem: mal h I - j."jºi"; only careful to secure himself, and leaves the sheep and flees guay; and so the wolf, meet amºśl. ing with no resistance, seizes on some of them, and disperses the rest of the sheep. Now the 13 causºil. "ii"flijià...a hireling flees on such an occasion because he is an hireling, and is not concerned about the careth not for the sheep, safety of the sheep, but takes the work upon him merely for his own gain, and the wages he is to receive ; and thus basely will those teachers act in a time of danger, who under- take the office merely in regard to their own secular advantage. 14 I am the good shepherd, - But I am the good shepherd, who have a true affection for my sheep, and am above the 14 i...º.””” influence of all such niean and selfish views; and such is the relation that there is between us, and such the love we have to one another, that I know and acknowledge my º and take the kindest and most tender care of them : and I am also known, acknow º mº"; Fº and confided in by mine: So that we mutually are dear unto each other; and even as the 15 i.º.di'i.ºn'... ii. Father knoweth me, and owns, his affection and regard to me by the sure tokens of his for the sheep. presence and approbation, and I also know, or acknowledge and honour, the Father, in the delight with which I do his will; so the affection is reciprocal between me and my sheep; and as it is in love to them, as well as with an ultimate view to his appointment and his glory, that I lay down my life for the sheep he has given me, so also do my sheep acknow- ; and confide in me, and so do I protect and patronize them. wº .And I would further observe to you, as a point of great importance, that I have other 16 §"ai. "... ... sheep which are not of this fold;b (meaning thereby the elect of God among the Gentiles;) łºś them also must I at length bring in; and I know that they will hear and obey, my voice, one shepherd. “notwithstanding that ignorance, vice, and misery in which they are now involved; and so, - all being incorporated into one society, of which I ain the Head, the Governor, and Guardian, there shall be one sheepfold [and] one Shepherd. 17. Therefore doth my Fa- And for this reason more especially does the Father lºve ºre, and approves it as an act of 17 | ther lov e - . 11... a 3... . - - ..". #; '..."i"; eminent duty and love to him, because I am come with this design into the world, to lay take it again. down my life for the redemption of my sheep, who are dear to him as well as to me, that I may take it again and possess it for ever, to be employed for his glory and for the happi- nº ºiºſº ness of my people. For though I am shortly to die by the hands of most cruel enemies, 18 jº"; º; ...º.º. yet no one deprives me of my life, or takes it from me against my will; for I have every tº hº moment a power to rescue myself at pleasure, and could cwen with mine expiring breath jºi º command immediate deliverance; but I will manifestly show that I lay it down of myself, Father. and voluntarily relinquish my body, sooner than my soul would in a course of nature †: been dislodged from it; and this in me will be a very regular though wonderful act; for, as I have life in myself, (John V. 26. ) I have full power and authority thus to lay it down when I shall think fit; and I have also power to resume it at pleasure, by entering into and quickening, my body again. And indeed this comingndment I have received of my Father, and shall ere long fulfil the charge in both its branches. 19. There was a divisiºn When our Lord uttered these remarkable expressions, there was a division therefore 19 therefore again among the jºu...'aº." " again among the Jews, (as there had been before, chap. vii. 43. sect, ci, and ix. 16. sect. Hº: cxxx.) especially on account of these last words. And many of them said, He has certainly 20 why hear ye him : a demon dwelling in him, and, by the operation of that evil spirit, is apparently distracted with one of the most malignant kinds of lunacy: why then do you give yourselves the 21 others said, These are trouble to hear him while he goes on in such extravagant absurdities? But others much 21 flºº ºf more rationally said, These are not by any means the words of a demoniac or a lunatic, for open the eyes of the blind?” there is the greatest consistence and energy in them; and besides, could a demon, that made a man mad, open the eyes of the blind, as it is plain this man has often and very lately done? It is rather madness to imagine that an evil spirit has such power, or that he would employ it to such benevolent purposes. a I am the good Shepherd.]. [...amy (in his Iſarmony, p. 338.), very deserves our remark, that they are here called the shºco ºf Christ justiy supposés that there might be some allusion hºe to Isa, Klili, while they were yet in ignorance and idolatry, as he intended at ſ }. nothing can be more precarious than the argument he seems to draw to bring them home, • * from hºnº, for placing this discourse at the feast of tabernacles, eyen c Voluntarily relinquish my body, &c.) That our Lord did so, evi- though it should be allowed that the fortieth of Isaiah wº real in the dently appeared from the strong cry he seat foºth just before his death, ©Ven ength synagogue at that time of the year: for it, is certain our Lord does not with which the centurion was reasonably so rauch impressed. See Luke confine himself to the lessom for the day in his quotations from Scripture, xxiii. 4; 47. and Mark Xv. 39. § 191. or his allusions to it. - d"fuji power and authority to lay it down, &c.] This the word &sguay b I have other sleep which are not of this ſold.]. There sºcins no rea, expresses, and the manner of Christ’s death abundantly proved it; and son, with Wolfius, to understand this of Jews living out of the land of as no reasonable objection can be made to the equity and wisdom of the Canaan, who could not with such propriety be said not to belong to the divine Being in giving Christ such a power, so the use he made of it (as fold ofisrael. The incorporating the Gentiles into one church with the ye, may further shºw elsewhere) is truly admirable. See novel, on Jews was indeed a grand event, worthy such particular miotice; and it Luke xxiii. 46. § 191 SECT. 133. JOHN X. 1 5 18 5 I 6 SECT. WOW it may be proper to observe, that the time when these discourses were delivered by our Lord, was the feast of dedication,” which was observed at Jerusalem in memorial of the 134. JOHN X. 24 25 28 29 3] 32 33 CHRIST IS CHARGED witH BLASPHEMY BY THE JEWS. IMPROVEMENT. THERE is not, perhaps, any where to be found a greater instance of the force of prejudice than in these perverse Jews, who censured Christ as a lunatic and a demoniac for one of the gravest and most excellent speeches that was ever delivered. Let us review it with all due attention and regard. Let us consider,Christ as the good Shepherd, and humbly commit our souls to him, as ever we desire they should be safe and happy. them. And he hath not laid it down in vain. We have known his kind regards to the flock vain. Delightful thought! sword of the Lord was awakened to smite him, has not so fallen work he voluntarily laid down, so he has also reassumed, in exposing and laying down his life for Our compassionate Shepherd, even when the as tº rise no more; but as in this great and good his life, and still bears in his heart the same concern for his flock, and uses his renewed life and exalted dignity for their security and happiness. Let us humbly acknowledge him as acknowledged by the Father: let us courageously and gratefully own him, and be ready to lay down our lives also for him. We are those other sheep of whom he Spake, who were not originall that the % all the flock may at length appear together, and may be which he determines to give it. of the fold, but by his grace are now brought in to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. Let us pray oundaries of his fold may be still more extended, and the whole number * of his elect accomplished, that conducted by him to the regions of that immortal life In the mean time, let us maintain all proper regards to him, and especially the most cheerful confidence in his care; repeating with evangelical views, and so with a peculiar sublimity of sense, those words of David as our own, (Psal. xxiii. 1–4.) The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: Sake. rod and thy staff they comfort me. e maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy SECTION CXXXIV. Christ discoursing of his union with the Father, is charºit, blasphemy and, being assaulted by the Jews, retires beyond Jordan. Oſłłl X. X2:2, John x. 22. to the end. r JoHN x. 22. AND it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. purification of the temple after it had been polluted by the idolatries and impieties of An- tiochus; and consequently it was winter. s the weather, Jesus was then walking in the covered walk that went round the temple, and 23 5 3 ºp 5 .ánd, to shelter himself from the inclemencies of .23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. was now in that part of it which was called Solomon's porch.b Them several of the Jews surrounded him, and said into him, How long dost thou hold us 24 Then came the Jews in an anxious and uneasy suspense? If thou art indeed the Messiah, tell us so plainly and expressly: which they said with a malicious design to insnare and accuse him. And Jesus answered them, I have in effect told jou over and over," yet you believe me mot; and had I offered nothing more, the works which I do declare it, as it is clearly to be seen that they bear witness of me in a language which you 26 would easily understand if you were to judge impartially. But you do not believe, because jou are not persons of such simplicity and sincerity as I described under the character of 27 my sheep. For, as I said unto you but just now, (ver. 4, 14, 16.) JMy sheep hear my voice, and I know and take care of them; and they, like shee ...And the consequence of that will be such as would make it well worth your while to lay aside all these prejudices, and to join with them: for I give wnto them an invaluable blessing, even etermal life; and guard them with such almighty power and constant care, that they shall never perish, neither shall any enemy, be he ever so acknowledge and follow me. round , about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. 25 Jesus answered them, I in mat Father's name sufficientl 3/ tly told you, and ye believed not; the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. 26 But ye believe not, be- cause ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. * 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : . 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. accustomed to their shepherd, subtle or ever so outrageous, be able to pluck them out of my hand,' or injure them while they remain in it. Nor indeed is it possible that any should; for my Father, who gave [them] to me on purpose that I might redeem and save them, is confessedly greater than all; gnd therefore they must needs be safe, as none is able to pluck [them] out of my Father's 30 hand. Now, it is a most certain truth that I and the Father are one:* and the union be- 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and none is able to pluck ſ. out of my ['ather’s l 3.81C1. 30 I and my Father are one. tween us is so strict and intimate, in nature as well as in affection and design, that his almighty power is mine, ſo be employed for the defence of my sheep; and no one can deprive them of eternal life without prevailing against him as well as me. e Then the Jews, transported with rage, took up some of the Stones which lay in the court 31 Then the Jews took up of the temple, where they were still repairing some of selves with them again, as they had forme stone him. the buildings, and armed them- stones again to stone him. y done, (John viii. 59. p. 190.) in order to But Jesus, with his usual mildness and strength of reason, answered them, I have showed .32 Jesus allººed tºº Yalve you many good works from my Father; and for which of these works do you go about to §tone me? or what have I ever done among you but acts The Jews replying, said unto him, Whatever thy other Many good works * showed you from my Father; of beneficence and kindness? for Yºlº of those works do * 5 * 34. yo Stone me ! - works have been, lt IS very appa- 33 The Jews answered him, a The feast of dedication.] As it is expressly said this ſeast was in winter, it is plain it could not be observgd in remembrance of the dedi- cation of Solomon’s temple, which was just ºfter harvest, (1 Kinºs Yiſis 3) nor of that of Nehemiah’s, which was in the spring, (Ezra.vi. 13, 16.) but the feast here intended must be that instituted by Judas Maccabaeus on his having purified the temple *nd altar from the pollutions and iſiojatriés of Åntiochus Epiphanes. This was gelebratº] evgry sº eight days successively in the month of December. (A \lag; iv. à 39.) j is mentioned by Josephus as a festival to which grºat tº ºft paid in his time. See Joseph, 4437, lib. xii, cap. 7. [al. 11.] § 6, 7. ànj Seljem. Å)e Syned. lib. iii. cap. 13. $ 7. * - - • * * b Solomon’s porch..] Josephus informs us (44; ... lib. viii. cap. 3. [a]. 2.j 33,9. and lib. xx. cap. 9.. [a]. S.] § 7.) that Solomon, when he built the temple, (finding...the area of mount Ziºn too small to answer his magnifigent plan,) filled up a part of the #43 acent valley, and built an $ºard portigo over it towards the east., This, was a most ngble strug; ture, supported by a wall 400 cubits high, and consisting, of stones of ãºt buſ, each stone (as it is said) being twenty cubits long, and six cubits ſligh. And Josephus speaks of it as continuing gyen to the time Şā’Ajbinº and Agrippa, which was several years after the death of Čhrist." This is caſied Solomon’s porch, Acts iii.11. and v. 12. face in effect told you over and over.] What he had just been saying of himself, in the preceding verses, as the great Shephord, was in sense equivalent to a declaration of his being the Messiah, I men- tion that discourse as what had just been delivered, because I think it most natural to explain the 224 Yerse as referring to what was said before,and not merely, to what follows: for else the evangelist would gº have said, Aſter these things was the feast of dedication. Xomparº John v. 1. vi. 4. and vii. 1, 2. - = * * d, JYeither shall any enemy, pluck them, &c.] This is the plain import and energy of the original, (8k apſtaget ris avta,) which is greatly enervated by adding the word man in the translation, as the authors of gºr English version have frequently done. ($.”. Matt. xi. 27. Mark xiii. 5. and Jam. i. 13.) . The sheep of Christ are exposed to so great danger from the infernal lion; (1 Pét. v. 8.) that I doubt not but this text most cminently refers to the care of their Shēphºri tº gui them from his assaults. . . e ſ and the Father are one..] If we attend, not only to the obvious meaning of these words in comparison with other passages of Scripture, but to the connexion of this celebrated text, it so plainly demonstrates the deity of our blessed Redeemer, that I think it may be left to speak for itseſſ, without any laboured comment.—How widely different that sense is in which christians are said to be one with God, (John xvii. 21.) will sufficiently appear by considering how flagrantly absurd and blas- phemous it would be, to draw that inference from their union with God which Christ dogs from his. ~. "THE JEWS ATTEMPT TO DESTROY JESUS. - 233 saying, For a good work we rent, from what has just now passed, that we do not stone thee for a good work, but for the SECT. ; hº '... most detestable blasphemy; even because thou, being only a wretched, mortal, sinful man, 134. #. º; a man, makest makest thyself God; pretending to be one with him in so extraordinary a manner, that his - yse II U. Oct. omnipotence and other divine perfections are thine. m - - - - - JOHN 34 Jesus answered them, Jesus, not judging it proper at that time to bring the sublime doctrine of his deity into ,” Fº }*** further debate, answered them, Is it not written in your law, or in those sacred books which you own to be of divine original, (Psal. lxxxii. 6.) where it is plain the persons that are - spoken of are princes and magistrates, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are ś children of the Most High 2° Now, if the Psalmist thus applied this character, and it 35 º gº appears he called them gods to whom the word of God then came,f merely with regard to not be broken ; that office which by divine designation they bore; (and certainly the Scripture cannot be broken, nor can you, with any show of reason, pretend to censure the propriety of those 36 say, ye of him, whom expressions which a divinely inspired writer has used :) How is it then that you are so 36 º; offended now or how do jou pretend to say concerning him whom the Father hath so Fºj ºf Isaid, solemnly sanctified, or set apart to this great work in his eternal councils, and whom he at € Nº Oil O I Us O:l length has sent into the world under such an exalted character, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? when you allow there is a sense in which even oppressive magistrates may be honoured with such a title.é 37 If I do not the works of And when I claim this character, and speak so highly of myself, I do not expect to be 37 my Father, believe me not credited merely on my own affirmation; if I do not the works of my Father, such glorious 38 But if I do, though ye works as could not be performed by any but a divine agent, believe me not. But if it be 38 *::::::: *.*, *.*.* apparent that I do such works, though you believe not me, and are regardless of my own and º that the Father testimony in the case, yet at least believe the mighty works that I perform; and let the is in me, and I in him. evidence of these remove the prejudices you have entertained, that ye may know and believe that the Father [is] in me, and I in him, by such a union as abundantly justifies the expression which seems to give you such peculiar offence. - 3) Therefore, they sought Then, though they knew not what to answer him, the Jews were so enraged against 39 ::...'...}{#in.” him, that they sought again to seize him, that they might accuse him of blasphemy before * the Sanhedrin: but he withdrew himself, as he had done before, in an extraordinary man- ner, and so escaped out of their hands. (Compare Luke iv. 30. Sect. xxxii. and John viii. 59. sect. cw.) - - 40 And yent away again flnd presently departing from Jerusalem, he went away again into the country beyond 40 º Jordan, to the place called Bethabara, where (as it has been observed before, John i. 28. and there he abode. p. 50.) John was at first baptizing ; and there he abode for a while, till the fury of the mul- h.º.º. titude was a little abated. .4nd many of the inhabitants of that place who had been for-41 i.e.: b." It';..."... merly acquainted with the Baptist, and remembered the strong and repeated testimonies ſº spake of this man were which he had borne to Jesus, came to him there to attend upon his preaching, and said TU, e. - - * - • *- --- among themselves, John indeed did no miracle himself, but he foretold extraordinary things of another; and we now find that all the things which John said of this man were exactly true, which is a divine attestation to the mission and authority of both. nº many believed on And many of them believed on him there, and happily improved this little season of his 42 ſº recess among them, as the means of their instruction and establishment in piety. IAIPROVEMENT. IT is worthy of remark, that we here see our Lord Jesus at a festival appointed only by human authority, in com- Ver.22 memoration of a national deliverance. He came from Galilee to observe it in the temple, though it was winter; and brought with him, as at all times, a heart glowing with the most ardent and amiable zeal for the honour of God and the salvation of men, even of those who were studying to insnare and destroy him. - What prudence, mingled with spirit and sweetness, runs through his answers to them What inestimable bless- 24, 25 ings does he propose, to invite them to enter into his fold! May we never forget those gracious words!, May we ever be entitled to all the comfort of them! I give unto my sheep eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither 28 shall any pluck them out of my hand. Lord, may we be found in the number of those secure and happy souls, even of those who know thee and who obey thy voice, and follow thee, whithersoever thou leadest them, by thine 27 example, thy providence, and thy Spirit! Then may we look on our eternal life and happiness as inviolably secure. Safely indeed may we trust it in his hands who could say, in so sublime and so glorious a sense, I and 30 the Father are one. The enemies of our salvation must triumph then over omnipotence itself, before they can 28, 29 wrest the sheep of Christ out of his hands; nor will his fidelity to God, or his love to them, suffer them to be seduced by fraud, any more than destroyed by violence. Blessed situation of thy little flock! O thou faithful, thou compassionate, thou almighty Shepherd, gather thou ur souls with theirs; and never suffer us to forget of how great importance it is that we still continue near thee, that we look up to thee for our defence and safety, and confide, not in our own power and wisdom, but in thine! Who could have imagined that any heart could have been so base as to have intended evil, or any hands so cruel 31 as to have armed themselves with instruments of death, against such a Person, while speaking such words as these ? Yet behold, these Jews do it, and that even in so sacred a place as the temple itself; as the genuine § 3ring of those who slew the prophet and priest of the Lord, even at his altar. (Compare Matt. xxiii. 31, 35. and (i. XI. 4S, 51.) But his wise and gentle reply disarmed them for a few months; and the divine care and power in an extra- 32 ordinary manner provided for his escape, and once more rescued him from their murderous hands. 39 Happy the inhabitants of the country about Jordan to which he retired especially happy, in that they knew the 40 day of their visitation . The testimony of John the Baptist is now recollected to excellent purposes, though he 41, 42 himself was mouldering in his tomb : nor is there any thing which a faithful minister will more earnestly desire, than that, even while dead, he may yet speak, for the honour of Christ and the salvation of souls. f To whom the word of God came.] I approkend the coming of the that every person whose office was typical of the Messiah might be ºpord of God to them, which is here mentioned; refers to the message then called a god; and on the other hand, that a creature’s being called by delivered to them in the name of God, rather than, in the general, to that panne would intimate that he was a typical person : the consequences their reçeiving a commission from him : but the difference is not very of which, I am sure, that worthy writer would abhor. (Campare 2 Cor; material. - iv. 4.) iſ think myséïf therefore obliged to acquiesce in that plain, and g When you allow—magistrates, &c.) A late learned and pious para- matural sense of the passage which the generality of commentators, both phrast apprehends, that our Lord here vindicates his claim to supreme ancient and ºi...º. given.—Jesus was charged here, by the Jews divinity, by pleading that, the Jewish rulers are called gods, not in a with ascribing, divinity to his human nature ; and, in reply to this, he general regard to their office as rulers, but as types of the Messiah; the shows that calling himself the Son of God did not imply, that; and that great Sºft of the church, who (as it is expressed at the close of this his works proved such a union of the human nature with the divine as eighty-second psalm) was to inherit all nations. But, not to urge that he had before asserted, than which no answer could have been more it seems improbable that such wicked magistrates as are there spoken of wise and pertinent. should be described as types of Christ, this explication seems to imply, 30 29, DIVORCES DECLARED AGAINST, EXCEPT IN CASES OF ADULTERY. SECTION CXXXV. Christ declares against divorces, except in the case of adultery; º: sº foºls other particulars relating to the married state. Matt. xix. 1–12. iyi &IK X, Ji-lº, TATT. xix. 1. M MATT. xix. 1. SECT. A.VD, after the instructions that were given by our Lord to his disciples at Capernaum, AND it came to pass, that 135. (which were recorded above from sect. x:iii. to xcvi.) it came to pass, that when Jesus had ºf fºr...; finished these discourses,” he arose ſº thence, [and] departed from Galilee, where he had jº. §§ Mart. "dwelt so long, and through which he had made such repeated journeys. And after he had jº **, first been up at Jerusalem, (as was before related, John vii. i0. p. 179.) and several other tº túatº." things had happened which have already been considered in their proper place, he came at length (as was observed in the last section, John X. 40.) into the borders of Judea beyond Jordan, where he spent some of the winter months, crossing the river as he saw occasion. 2 ºffnd his arrival was no sooner known, but great multitudes followed him from all the neigh- 2 And, great multitudes bouring parts; and, particularly, the people who had seen him º at Bethabara re-ºº: $orted to him again, (as was said, John x. 41.) and, according to his usual custom, he readil º; Nº ...; embraced the opportunity of preaching to them, and taught them there again, as he had tº tº hºle done elsewhere; and as they brought many sick persons to him, he healed them all there; which could not but increase the throng. 3 - ?nd the Pharisees, who always had a watchful eye on his motions, and attended him 3 The Pharisees also came with the most malignant designs, being now more especially irritated by the fame of his late º miracles, which they had in vain endeavoured to suppress, (see John vii. 32, 47. and ix. iśiñºi'fºo'ºt 16, 24.) came hither also to him, with the view of getting some advantage over him by . "Mººs.; * tempting him with what they thought a very artful and insnaring question; and, that they might, if possible, entangle him in his talk so as to find some reason to accuse him, or to discredit him at least among the people, they asked him, saying unto him, What thinkest thou, Master, is it lawful for a man to dismiss his wife for every slight cause of dislike which may be found in her?” or is adultery the only just reason for a divorce? 4 ſing he said to them in reply, Have ye not read, (Gen. i. 27.) that God, the almighty and 4, And he answered and all-wise Creator, from the very beginning of the creation, when he would not fail to consti- jº tºte human nature in such a way as might be most conducive to its happiness, in forming made ºfflon, the begin: the first parents of mankind, made them male and female, or one man and one woman? ...,"...”.”; 5 which would neither allow of divorce or polygamy. And do you not remember, that when [Alaº º l -y •r ~! •- + k\ z- ... + + - l- > - * - - 5 And said, For this cause the woman was at first brought to him, the man said, as taught by an extraordinary revelation shafī‘āº ſº. concerning the ends and obligations of marriage, which i. may in effect be looked ººlº upon as a divine testimony,” “For this cause, or on account of his engaging in the married shajibe one fish."{{Idºl". state, shºt! a man leave both his father and mother, when those dear relations of parental and ‘’” filial tenderness shall take place, and shall closely adhere to his wife; and they two shall be 6 joined in so intimate an union as to become one flesh.” (Gen. ii. 24.) So that it appears 6 wherefore they are no of persons thus joined together, that they are no longer two, but one flash, and should ac- tºº. 3. "...; cordingly regard each other as members of one body. What God therefore has thus closely joined ...hº. not mºn yoked together, let not man separate; but let the bond of marriage be steemed as sacred, *** ****) and incapable of being dissolved by any thing which does not make them cease to be one flesh, by making that of the one common to some third person. (See Whitby, in º * & 7 . They say into him, by way of objection against this, Why then did ºfosés, under divine 7. They say upto him, why irection and inspiration, command “a man whose wife found no favour in his eyes, because ºft. º.º. had discovered,” as it is there expressed, “some uncleanness in her,” or (as it has been ment, and to put her away? Inerally understood) some cause of distaste and aversion, “to give her a bill of divorce, and so to dismiss her?” (Deut. xxiv. 1.) MARK ..?nd he replied and said unto them, How is it that you take this matter; or what did you Mark x, 3...And he answer: * “s gº º have forbid them. Matt. xix. 13–15. Mark x, MARK x. 13. MARK x. 13. AND while Jesus continued here, as the inhabitants of the neighbouring country on the AND they brought º; banks of Jordan found their esteem for him continually increasing on their acquaintance §. §º with him, (John X. 41, 42. p. 23.3.) they brought to him, not only the sick, that they might # tº: be healed, (Matt. Xix. 3. p. 234.) but also several infants, [and] other young children, who, tº though they could walk and speak, yet were not capable of understanding his doctrine, saw it, §.º.º.º. that he might touch them, [or] lay his hands upon them in a solemn manner, and pray for º: 1.%;, ºff. 1% att, them;” not doubting but prayers so acceptable to God as his, would prevail both for their g present and future Thappiness. And when his disciples, and particularly the apostles, who were about him, saw it, they rebuked, those that brought them, as apprehending them too troublesome, and thinking it beneath the dignity of so great a Prophèt to concern himself about such little creatures, who were incapable of receiving any instruction from him. But Jesus seeing it, was greatly displeased, and moved with some degree of indignation , 14 But when Jesus saw it against his disciples; for he had a tender love to children, and well knew that a proper lºgº notice of these might turn to some valuable account; and therefore he said to them, Let file º; ; ; the little children, alone, and do not now, or at any other convenient time, hinder them from #.º.º.; ; coming to me: I am pleased, rather than offended, to see them near me: for of such is the God, Matt six. ii. Luke kingdom of God; persons of such a character are the true subjects of my kingdom, and ** heirs of eternal glory, to which many little children are received; and in token of it, the Verily I say I say winto you, as I have formerly told you, (Matt. xviii. 3, 4. sect. xcfii.) and would now wº. º: have you to attend with seriousness while I repeat it, Whosoever shall not be willing to re- #leºli."h.”shiºn; ceive 'the kingdom of God, or the gospel-dispensation and the happiness it promises, as a º * therein. [Luke little child, divesting himself of those prejudices and those secular views which men con- XV’ll]. I { . tract in their riper years, that he may come, as it were, to the humility and meekness, the simplicity and teachableness, of a little child, (compare Psal. cxxxi. 2.) he shall not in any wise, or on any terms, enter into it, be his genius ever so sublime, or his circumstances in life ever so considerable. - ..?nd having said this, he would no longer be detained from showing his regard unto , 16 Aud he [Luke, called these little children, but, having called them to him, and ordered the infants to be brought, #: ...","ä",º tº he took them up in his arms, tenderly embracing them with a holy complacency and love ; }; his hands upon them, and and, as a further token of the overflowing kindness and benevolence of his heart towards ºheſiºdºrº; them, he laid his hands upon them, and blessed them, recommending them in a solemn man- Luke xviii. 16.) - ner to the divine blessing and favour; which accordingly descended upon them, to strengthen their constitutions and to sanctify their hearts. Jºnd after this he departed from thence to another place in the neighbourhood, where the young ruler attended him, as will 2e presently related. IMPROVEMIENT. LET us make a pause here, that we may more attentively review this delightful and instructive sight; that we may see this compassionate Shepherd of Israel, thus gathering the lambs in his arms, and carrying them in his bosom s/ 14 with all the tokens of tender regard, (Isa. xl. II.) rebuking his disciples who forbade their coming, and laying his gracious hands upon them to bless them. How condescending and engaging a behaviour ! how encouraging and amiable an image - Let his ministers view it, to teach them a becoming regard to the lambs of their flock, who should early be taken notice of and instructed, and for and with whom tfiey should frequently pray; remembering how often divine grace takes possession of the heart in the years of infancy, and sanctifies the children of God almost from the womb. Let every first impression made upon their tender minds be cherished; and let not those whom Christ himself is ready to receive, be disregarded by his servants, who upon all occasions should be gentle unto all, and apt to teach. (2 Tim. ii. 24. - - 13 Let parents view this * with pleasure and thankfulness: let it encourage them to bring their children to Christ by faith, and to commit them to him in baptism, and by prayer. And if he who has the keys of death and the unseen world, (Rev. i. 18.) see fit to remove those dear creatures from us in their early days, let the remembrance of this story comfort us, and teach us to hope, that he who so graciously received these children has not forgotten ours, but that they are sweetly fallen asleep in him, and will be the everlasting objects of his care and love; for of such 14 is the kingdom of God. Ibid. he was much displeased with those who woul 15 Let children especially observe this. The great and glorious Redeemer did not despise these little ones; nay, # have prevented their being brought to him. As kindly would he, no doubt, have received you, ye dear children, who read or hear this; as kindly will he still receive you, if you go to him in the sincerity of your hearts, and ask his blessing in humble and earnest prayer. Though you see not Christ, he sees and hears you; he is now present with you, to receive you, to bless you, and to save you. Happy the weakest of you when lodged in the arms of Christ! nothing can pluck you from thence, or ever hurt you there. In a word, let us all commit ourselves to him; and let us be disposed to become as little children, if we desire to enter into his kingdom. Let us not govern ourselves by the vain maxims of a corrupt and degenerate age. Let not pride, ambition, just, or avarice, possess, torment, or enslave our minds; but, with the amiable simplicity of a Lay his hands upon them, and pray.] . This was a rite that was very of these infants.-Qur Lord might reasonably be, the more displeased early used, particularly by those who stood in any superior relation, with his disciples for endeavouring to prevent their being brought, as he when they were praying for a blessing, on young, persons. (See Gen. had so lately set a child among them, and insisted, on the negºssity of x}viii. 14–20.)—I see no reason to think, with Elsner, that they were their being made conformable to it; §faſt. Yviii. 2.3, 9.93. p. 171—ſ an brought to Christ for the cure of some malady; for in that case, it is obliged to Dr. Scott’s late version of Matthew’s Gospel (which, accord- not to be imagined that the disciples would have been so inhuman as to ing to the manner of the learned and ingenious author, is exact to a prohibit them. yº § º º: º: § and º: #. ºnses, b Knew that a proper notice of these, &c.] Christ’s showing his regard which I take this ºpportunity 9: §§9.1% ºf £rºude: - * st have b - ingly S- c. For of such is the ſcingdom of God, &c.] acknowledge, these words in such a manner to them, not only must, have been exceedingly pleas Q fant āptism to be an institution of Christ; ing to the parents, but the memory of this condescension might make will not of themselyes prove tº & §d. and *ś. impressions on the children themselves, and the sight but if that appears from ºther Scriptºes § be the º I think jºb ery edifying and encouraging to other young persons who most probable,) there will be prº rtionable º to believe that our might happen to be present; not to say ñoº instructive this gentleness Lord might here intend some referençº, tº ** cannot approve 9t to childréñ may be to ministers, and how much their usefulness may, rendering. Totovtov, such as resemble these. It is tho part of a. faithful or might have been, promoted by a due regard to it. Nicephorus tells translator mot to limit the sense of the original, nor to fix what it leaves us, toº: the celebrated Ignatius, afterwards Bishop of Antioch, was one ambiguous. A RfCH YOUNG MAN APPLIES TO CHRIST FOR DIRECTION. 337 children, let us put ourselves into the wise and kind hands of Jesus as our Guardian, and refer ourselves, to his SECT. pastoral and parental care, to be clothed and fed, to be guided and disposed of, as he shall see fit. For this pur- 136. pose, O God, may we be born again by thy Spirit, and formed anew by thy grâce!, since by this methºd alone we can be made meet to be partakers of the §. of the saints in light, (Coſ. i. 12.) and be so the children of God as to be at length the .#. of the resurrection, * SECTION CXXXVII. A rich young man applying himself, to Christ ſor direction, in the way to eternal life, and afterwards parting with him, gut of reº his sessions, gives our Lord an occasion of cautioning his disciples concerning the danger of riches. Matt. xix. 16, to the end. I Luke xviii. 18–30. pgs- iark X. {}_{}. MARK x. 17. MARK x. 17. AND, when he was gºne A.VD as he went out from thence,” into the way to some other place which he designed to ſº intº º visit, behold, a most remarkable occurrence happened; for there came one, even a certain ºff magistrate or ruler, who was a yºung person in very º circumstances, running with #." i.e. e."...i., §oi an eager desire to converse with Jesus before he left that place; and he no sooner was come MARK ..iº. *. tº near him, but, kneeling down to him with the humblest respect, he asked him with great .* ºnai'i.e. iśīattºxix. 76 reverence and earnestness, saying, Good Master, I am come to thee as a most wise and Luke xviii. 18.] gracious Teacher, and beseech thee to answer me a º of the highest importance: JWhat good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? for nothing lies with so much weight upon my mind as this, and I am determined to secure it at any rate. 1s And Jesus said unto And Jesus, upon this, said to him, Why dost thou call me good,” whom thou regardest º, gº. . . only as a prophet sent from God, and dost not look upon to be any more than a mere man? 3. inºis God; but if thou thou shouldst remember upon all occasions, that none is perfectly good but one glorious ...º.º. and immutable Being, ſeven] the ever-blessed and eternal God; nor can any man or angel 17. Luke xviii. 19.]. deserve the title of good in any degree of comparison with him, from whom originally stream forth all those rays of goodness which are but imperfectly reflected from them. J31ſt as to the question thou hast asked; If thou art resolutely determined to enter into liſe, it is absolutely necessary thou shouldst keep the divine commandments; the perfect observance of which alone can give thee a legal claim to it, and in the wilful neglect of which thou must never on any terms expect it. . - Then the young ruler, that he might fully understand the mind of Jesus, eagerly says to him, Which are those commandments on the observation of which my eternal life depends? Jesus said, Thou undoubtedly knowest the commandments which God gave to Moses, written on the tables of stone at Mount Sinai, among which those of the second table, º,"; however neglected by the Pharisees, are by no means to be forgotten; such as, “Thou Yºº #.*.*.**i.e., shalt not kill; Thow shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal ; Thou shalt not bear tº mºthe.ºhº false witness against thy neighbour; Thou shalt not covet any part of his property, or take love thy neighbour as thy- e - jº. 3, -1-3 * - T- 5 T J 2 jš, “tyi..."... jš, ië, any methods to defraud him;”d and that which indeed stands in the front of all these, Luke xviii. 20.) “Honour thy father and thy mother.” These are the six last commandments, which I now recommend to thy consideration ; and they may be all summed up in that one com- prehensive precept, “Thou shalt love thy ncighbour as thyself.” (See #j XX. I2—17. and Lev. xix. 18.) - 20 And the young man] ...And the young man, not apprehending the large extent and spiritual meaning of these §º,"; º replied, with great cheerfulness and confidence, and said to him, Jíaster, I have lº'º",º been early taught these precepts, and may venture to say, that I have conscientiously §: §.". "... ºil observed all these even from my infancy,” and have abstained from each of the vices and 21.] immoralities condemned in them; what then do I further need, in order to seeure the glorious prize after which I am seeking? --- 21 Then Jesus beholding -ānd Jesus looking steadfastly upon him, loved him, and felt the emotions of complacency lº.º.º.; mingled with tender compassion, in regard, to so young a person, who had maintained so ñºiá into him, ſüß honourable a character, in such an elevated station of life, and was under such concern #'ſ. **ś; about another world; yet at the same time, amidst all these hopeful circumstances, was thy way, sell whatsoeverthóu governed still by a secret fondness for the possessions he enjoyed in this: and, as our Lord thought fit to manifest this fondness to himself and others, when he had heard these things which have been mentioned above, he was pleased to call him forth to a peculiar trial; and therefore said unto him, Thus far it is well; but yet, alas, one thing thou still wantest,f in order to prove that integrity of soul and that prevailing love to God, without which none can be entitled to future blessedness: by me he now commands thee, if thou wilt be perfect, and determine to submit to all that he requires, to go thy way immediately and sell all thy possessions,é valuable as they are, and to distribute the money which arises from SECT, I37, 19 [He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said,) Thou knowest the commandments, {Thou shalt do no murder; Thou shalt not commit adul- tory; Thou shalt not steal ; Thou shajt not bear fºse 20 a 4s he went out from thence..] Both Matthew and Luke relate this on the mount; or he would not have pleaded his exact obedience to it. story of the young ruler immediately after that in the preceding section : ut the Jews in general seem to have thought that, if they abstained hut \lark is more determinate than either of them in the connexion, and from gross crimes, sacrifices might atone for singller néglects or oftences. more circumstantial in the narration. - º *- And this compound seems to have been that righteousness of their own. b Good Master. Wolfius observes that this was a title, which the in which, to their final ruin, they trusted for justification before God, i. Jewish rabbies affected ; which, if it were indeed so, might be an addi- the neglect of the righteousness which is of God by faith. Comparé tional reason for our Lord’s remark upon it. . - Rom. x. 3. and Phil. iii. 9. - & Windost thou call me good?]. It is certain that sº flººn; f One thing thou wantest.] Our Lord does not say he wanted but one manuscripts read this clause, Ti peºpotas ſept 700 a yºov, Why dos; thing; so that nothing can be concided from enºa.iº.h..s.º. thou ask me what good thing is tº be done? But neither the number of of an acquaintance with some truths, of which this youth, hopefuſai Copies, nor the turn of our Lord’s answer, will by any means admit of amiable as he was, appears to have been ignorant.” But 'it' ºs to #: charged on that want of sincere §§ which, his conduct presently dis- \l such a reading. - jºhº shali not deſraud.) As Mark, seems, to put this, for the tenth covered, that he did not come to the knowledge of them by a continued commandment, Dr. Hanmond º and Archbishop Tillotson (see and submissive attendance on the teaching of Christ. 'Seº johº. "ii. jis iſºs, vol. ii. p. 257.) suppose it a key to the sense of those words ()* *how shalt not covet; the meaning of which, they argue, is as if it had been said, “Thou shalt not be so desirous of thy neighbour’s possessions is to be willing to injure the owner by depriving him,Of them, that thou mays: secure them to thyself.” . But the apostle Paul strongly intimates that the sense of that command is much more extensive, (Rom., Wii. 7.) g Scll all thy possessions.] It is strange that the learned and ac- curate Dr. Clarke should suppose that Christ did not demand this in order to his being in a state of acceptance with God, but in order to his giving a testimony of exalted piety; or, at least, as necessary at that time to his being a preacher of the gospel. Our ilord’s manºr of pro - and as the preceding commandments had forbid to invade the life, the bj, the property, or reputation of another, so this requires a guard on those iº. appetites and passions which might by insensible degrees ičaj men to murder, adultery, theft, or false witness. e fiabe obserged all these even from my infancy.] The phrase aro vcornrog may indeed be very exactly rendered, from my youth but as he was yet but a young man, it is probably here put for infancy of childhood. It is plain he did not understand the spiritual meaning and extent of the law, according to our Lord’s explication of it in his sermon posing the trial, and his reflection on the young man’s going away. plainly show that it wus, in those circumstances, necessary to his salya tion. And indeed it is most apparent, that though God does not in fact require every man to distribute all his goods to others, and so in effect to become one of the number of poor to be relieved out of his own pos- Sessions, yet sincere virtue and piety demand an habitual readiness, not only to sacrifice our possessions, but our lives, at the command of God, and Providence does in fact, call some out to trials as severe as this.-- His refusal plainly showed he valued his worldly possessions more than #33 t º tº & SECT. the sale of them to the poor; do this, and thou shalt have an infinitely more excellent trea- hast, and 137. 3-tré in heaven ; and, in the assured hope of this, I call thee to comé and take wp the cross, A RiCH YOUNG MAN APPLIES TO CHRIST FOR DIRECTION. ; to the poof; and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take — amid with courage and resolution to follow me as my constant attendant, though it should MARK be even at the expense of thy life as well as thine estate. But when the yºung man heard that saying, and saw that all his gay and delightful pros- pects for life must be given, up in a moment, he was exceedingly concerned and troubled at it, and he cent away in great sorrow; for he was very rich, [and] had great possessions, which were lately falſen into his hands; and how desirous soever he was of eternal life he could not resolve to secure it at so great an expense. .#nd when Jesus saw that though he was very sorrowful, yet he chose rather to go away than to part with his estate in the views of eternal happiness, he looked round on all that were ghout him, and said to his disciples, Observe this instructive incident, and learn to mºke.this reflection upon it: How hardly shall they that possess the riches of this world eſter into the kingdom of God! Dwell upon the thought, and repeat it, in order, if pos- sible, tº wean your hearts from these delusive vanities which often prove so fatal to the soul: for verili I say unto jou, So many snares attend such circumstances, that a rich man gill hardly criter into the kingdom of heaven, or be brought to such a relish for the gospel and its future blessings, as either to resign or improve his worldly possessions in such a manner as the laws of that kingdom require. “ind the disciples were quite astonished at his words; for they were ready to imagine that, ere long; all the rich and great people of the country would appear for their Lord, and fix him on thc throne of Israel. But Jesus, answering again to that surprise which he saw in their countenances, says to them in the most condescending manner, My dear children, when you consider what I said more attentively, you will not so much wonder at it; for it is manifest that the gene- rality, of rich men place their chief confidence and delight in the things of this present World; and you know that true religion requires a heart abstracted from them, and placed on nobler objects: judge then for yourselves, how hard is it for them that thus trust in their rishes, to enter into the kingdom of God! And thereforé I say to you again in yet stronger terms, that your common proverb may have its place here. That it is easier for the huge cable of a ship, or even for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,h than it is .ſor a rich man to conquer the snares of his estate and the corruptions of his heart so far as to enter into the kingdom of God, and become the faithful, obedient subject of his Son. .#nd when his disciples heard [this] repetition and illustration of what was before said, they were struck into circeeding great and inexpressible amazement at it, saying one to another, And who then can be saved? Who that are rich can ever get to heaven? And what a dis. courageinent will it be to others to see the rich and the great neglecting salvation, and turning the means of their happiness and usefulness into the instruments of their destruction ? - - ...But Jesús, looking steadfastly upon them, saith unto them, With men it is indeed impos- sible, and the strength of corrupt nature alone will not be sufficient to encounter such dif. ficulties as these; but it is not impossible with God to animate their hearts against them: jor his grace has an almighty energy, and with God all things are possible, [even] the things which are most impossible with men, and seem so insurmountable to human strength as to be reckoned utterly impracticable; to him therefore let the rich and poor unite their sup- plications, that each may be rendered superior to the snares which attend their respective CIFC uſhstances. Thén Péter replied, and with some warmth and confidence began to say unto him, Well, Master, behold we have done what this youth, hopeful as he seemed, had not the resolution to do; for though indeed we had not much, we have left all the little that we had in the world, and have at aii adventures followed thee with the sincerest zeal and affection: what d shall we therefore have 2 f X. 22 5 24 26 27 28 re Wºr(£ for we persuade ourselves thou wilt not permit us finally to be losers in thy cause. Jºd Jesus answering said to them, You may depend upon it that you shall not, but will be found upon the whole to have acted the wisest part; for verily I say unto you, and 28 assure you of it, That you who have followed me in my humiliation, shall at length be dis- tinguished by proportionable honours: and in the great renovation of all things, when all the children of God shall, as it were, be born anew from their gra when created nature shall pit on its fairest forms to receive them, and the Son of man, presiding over that august assembly, shall sit on the throne of his glory, exalted above the highest ºngols of God, you also, my faithful apostles, shall sit around me upon twelve radiant thrones, jºging he tielve tribes of Israel; concurring joyfully with m3 in the sentence which shall then be passed on the Jewish nation, and on all the professed members of my church, as they have been sincere or faithless in their profession, and in the observance of those laws which you, by authority from me, their exalted Sovereign, shall have given them. * .And though some péculiar rewards are reserved for you with regard to your apostolic up the cross, and follow me. Matt. Xix. 31." Lukºi. 22 ſº when the young man heard that saying, he was sad, and went away LUKE, very sorrowful;] for le URE, was very rich, gºd) had great possessions. \{att. xix. 22. Luke xviii. 23 And [LUKE, when Jesus say that he was very sorrow- ful, he looked round about, and saith to his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! {Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall, hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.], [Matt. xix. 23. Luke xviii. 24.] 24 And the disciples were astonished at his words.— —But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it ſor them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God : 25 [And again I say unto you,) It is easier for a cannel to go through the eye of a needie, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. [\{att. xix. 24. Luke xviii. 25.) 25 And when his [disciples heard it, they were [exceed- ingly amazed,and] astonished out of measure, saying annong thernsºlyes, Who then can be saved : [Ylätt. xix. 25. Luke xviii. 26.] 27 An:l Jesus looking upon them, saith [unto them,) With men [this is] impossi- blo, bºt not with God : for with God all things are pos- sible, [LU Ex, even the things which are impossible with mon.] [Matt. xix. 26. X* iſ 1. 24 . Luke 23 Tiſſon Peter [answered, and] began to say unto him, Jo, we have left all, and have foiloved thce [What shall we have therefore ?] . [Matt. xix. 27. Luke xviii. 23.] A: A RR XIX. res; govern ſhe world from ther:ce by my word whole christian church whºst tº: the Jewish pation : rule of their ſaith and practice.” oternal life: and our Lord, with great wisdom, took this direct and con- vinci:12 lite thoºd of manifesting both to himself and others, that scºr:t insii iſ:crity and carnaţity of temper which prevailad under all these s},ecicºts pretences and promising appearances: - ji Easicrºfur a camcº to go through the elſe of a needle.] Theophylact, asºl after him some other critics, for Rapºn) ov read kaptXoy, which they explain of a cable rope, which might appear more, fitly to be mentionqd its what. cytºld nºt pass through a needle's eye. thers yery precariously assert that thcre was near Jerusalem a low gate citiled the Needle's Eye, tº ougi, which a cainel could not pass unless his load were taken off. jśt ſ see no reason for departing from the rege:yed reading and inter- pretation: rior is there any thing in this proverbial expression, as it liere stands, but what is very agreeable to the eastern º and Inay be jºrâjićled in other Jewish writers. See Dr. Lightfoot's Hor. Hebr. on §. &iº. 34. Vºhere it is shown there was a Jewish proverb to the same purpose of the elephant. * * * •º i. In the great renovation of §: I have given what appears to Inº, the mºst natural sense of this diſficult passage. Mr. Fleming agrees ºith our translators in connecting the words ºv.7m Tax (Yyáveata with the preceding clause, and paraphrases the verse thus: “As fºr Yºº my apostles, who have followed Irie in this new state of the church which ls to be brought to the birth; when I am to ascend to heaven, that I mas the general resurrection. in words which he knew would of those to whorn they were addressed. Matt. xix. 28. And Josus [ans ºvered and J said unto the in, Verily f say us to you That ye which have followct Ine in the regeneratio:3, whea tha Son of man sha}l sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upgn twelve ti, roads, judicing the 4 welve trihos of [srael. Mark X. 23. Luke xviii. 29. - Miark x. 20. [And] there is apd Spirit, ye shall be to the e twelve heads of the tribes were of old to my followers shall appeal to your decisions as the {Flemi-ig’s Christglogºſ, vol. i. p. 23.) But it seems plain to me, that our Lord refers in the foilo win; words to the tin:c of final retribution, which he elsewhere arentions as that in which he should sit on the throne of his givry, Alatt. xxv. 3i, 32.-Mr. Pierce (on Heb. i. 5.) follows Brennius in expounding the regeneration of the time when Christ should be (as it werc) bc.gutten again by his resurrection from the dead; but the criticisiºn seen;s yery unnatural, and the objection mentioned above lies against it in its full * laboured argument which Dr. Thomas Burnet deduces from hence, to prove the renovation of the earth at the millennium, is very precarious; since the words wiłł so fairly admit of another sense, referring them to - See Burnet’s Theory, vol. ii. p. 229, 230. k Shall sit upon ticelve thrones.] Our Lord well knew that Judas would fall from his office and dignity: but, as Matthias filled his Iſlace, and so stood cutitled to the promises he did not think if fit to enter into any particular distinction; but speaks to the whole body of the apostics * - |. accomplished to the far greater part force.—The ** A RICH YOUNG MAN APPLIES TO CHRIST FOR DIRECTION. 239 2 ºf ºth lºº character, yet there is no man in any state or condition of life, whether in this, or in any SECT. fºr, .*.*, §: future age of the world, who hath left, or shall hereafter leave, his house, or brethren, or 137. ºldºg...anji; ºr sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands; in one word, none who shall — — §§§; undergo the loss of any temporaſadvantages fºr the sake of the kingdom of God, [that ...] Mººk gºat six for my name's sake and the gospel's, But he shall receive manifold more for it in the inwar 30" 30 But hºliaſi' receive satisfaction and divine consolations attending real religion, [yea, even an hundred-fold 72070 ſºft in this present time, more than all the comfort he could naturally have found in houses, and fºresentitiºus, brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands; such shall be the delights of a ; "..."; : good conscience, and the secret manifestations of divine acceptance and favour, which hº .# shall mingle themselves with all the persecutions he shall here endure; and when they are #º over, as they will quickly be, in the world to come he shall inherit everlasting life, and be *** Puke ºviii.30) for ever enjoying that happiness which God has prepared for all his children, especially for º º souls as these, when all earthly relations are ceased, and the world itself is issolved. 31, But many that are first, But such will be the issue and event of things under the gospel, that many.[who are] 31 tºh';...". *\tº ...first in the advantages and privileges they enjoy, shall, notwithstanding this, fall short of §§ others, and be last in the great day of accounts; and those who are the last shall prove in this respect to be the first: for some, from whom it might be least expected, shall embrage the gospel, and courageously endure the greatest hardships for it; while others, with far greater advantages, shall reject it, and, under much stronger engagements, shall desert it. IMPROVEMENT. WHo can behold, without weeping eyes and a bleeding heart, this lovely youth perishing in sin?" What could Ver. 17 have appeared more promising than this solicitous concern about eternal life, in a young man rich in the posses- sions and high in the honours of the present world 2. To see him running with such eagerness to the feet of a Redeemer, kneeling down with such humility before him, calling upon him by so honourable a title, and profess- ing so sincere a desire of instruction, could not but lead us to conclude, Surely this man was not far from the 21 kingdom of God; nor do we wonder that Jesus beholding him loved him. Who would not have looked on such an object with complacency? Who would not have expected that this pleasant plant should have brought forth grapes? but behold, it brought forth wild grapes 1 (Isa. v. 2.) So have we seen, in the compass perhaps of our small observation and experience, many a fair blossom fall withering to the ground. So have the hopes of minis- ters and parents, and other religious friends, been disappointed with respect to many young persons, adorned with a variety of amiable qualifications, yet lacking one thing, and parting with Christ when put to the trial, after all the regard they have shown to his name, and all the pleasing expectations they have given of a willingness to serve him. O my young reader, whoever thou art, I earnestly pray that thou mayst not be added to that number *- - This unhappy youth imagined himself in the certain way of salvation, because he was free from the stains of 19, 20 fraud and injustice, of adultery and theft, of perjury and murder, or any other gross and infamous sin. But behold, how awful a method Christ takes to open to him that insincerity of heart which he seems himself not to have known Observe how strange a command he gives him, to sell all, and distribute to the poor. We cannot 21 say that the very same is directly required of us; yet, by this order that was given to him, we are obliged to part with our all when it cannot be preserved with a good conscience; and by the general rules of christianity, and by its fundamental precepts, we are in duty bound conscientiously to use, not only a little part of our substance, but even the whole of it, for God, as stewards who are another day to give up a strict account for all. And if we like not Christ and glory on these terms, our end will be no better than his. Of him we read, that after all his morality and all his zeal, he went away from Christ, (though sorrowful,) because he had great possessions. O 22 dear-bought wealth, which was the price of his soul! Let us look upon him, and receive instruction; let us learn to be upon our guard against this vain world, that Specious harlot, who hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her. (Prov. vii. 26.) How universally are riches desired, how eagerly are they pursued, by persons in all stations and of all professions of life! Yet what do they generally prove but shining mischief and gilded ruin 2 If we believe the incarnate wisdom of God, they make our salvation exceeding hazardous. Yet who does not wish for them? Who does not 23–25 think that he has wisdom and grace enough to stand the danger? But God knows otherwise, and therefore he keeps, or makes, so many of his children poor—Let them be contented with their safer state: and let those who are rich be importunate with God for those influences of his grace which can effect those things that are impos- sible with men. * On the whole, let us not think much of any thing which Christ demands, knowing that whatever we may lose, or whatever we may resign, we shall gain far more by his favor. The testimony of a good conscience before 2 him, a life of friendship with God, the consolations of his Spirit, and the hopes of his glory, will yield, even for the present, an hundred-fold more satisfaction than the possession of the greatest riches, or the enjoyment of the most 30 tender and beloved relatives. How much more abundantly then will ail be repaid in the heavenly state And, if we cannot trust the promise of our Lord for it, we are no more real christians than if we were publicly to Worship Mammon, or Plutus, with all the idolatrous rites of the ancient heathens. - 2 º: } 9 SECTION CXXXVIII. Christ, by the parable of the labourers in the Yineyard, warns the Jews against envying the Gentiles those equal privileges to which they should be called in the Messiah’s kingdom. Matt. xx. 1–16. MIAtt. xx. 1 MATT. xx. 1. Fº the kingdom ºf heaven IN order to illustrate the observation which our Lord had just been making, “that many SE CT. ***** *** who were first should be last, and many last should be first,” he added the following . 13S. parable, and said, This will be found to be the case in many instances; for the kingdom . of heaven, or the gospel-dispensation, is like or may be fitly represented by the similitude "ºx I Shall receive—an hundred-ſold mono in this present time, with perse- in the original, if that variation were allowed to which we may add, cutions.) Dr. Massey, in his Vernacula. Sacra, p. 18. proposes a very that the parallel passages both in Matthew and Luke jie strongly against different version of this period, viz., “Though he may not receive [gay pn the version proposed. . . . . . . Xagn] an hundred-fold (or a sufficient recompense) now in this tie, Jº Jºe's youth perishing in sin.J., Dr. Watts's excellent Sermon on º and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands : jãº..."; ... "#." I º º º, yet after persecution. t . ºn G. S () : : ~~ s occasion. s so much ºnty and pathos, St receive sº l l; ...? pu&T a ôtoy ov, and 2??. the world to gº €5 h ball much wisdom and plety, In it, that I could wish It might be attentively sufficient ºt ut I ". her think the authority º; erusº', especially by every one of my younger readers; for I wou find any satisf our substituting 6tayuoy for 610)-pay; nor can \ope fºre are few capable of reading it without some sérious impres- je."wº thiº. dº others wanting to discover him to his avowed enemies the Pharisees; and as it could not he will not come to the feast 3 but be generally known that the sturprising miracle which he had lately wrought had very much inflamed the rage and envy of his persecutors, they were suspicious whether he would venture to appear in public, and said one to another, as they stood in the temple, JWhat think ye of his coming to the passover? Do you suppose that, after this alarm, he # tº...?'. will not have the courage to come to the feast 2 But both the chief priests and the Phari- §: "... ." sees, concluding that he would not fail to come according to his usual custom, no longer if any man knew where, he were, he should show it, that they might take him. dissembled their malice, but published a mandate, by which they had given än express command, that if any one knew where he was, he should immediately declare [it] to them, that they might apprehend and bring him to his trial, as a disturber of the public peace, and a person dangerous to the state. ** a Was high priest that year.] It is well known that the high priest- tomple should quickly succeed the coming of the Messiah. See his Hor. hool among the Jews was not annual ; but the many reyolutions about IIcbi...on John Xi. HS, 5]. - that time might justify such a manner of speakinx, which significs no c To a city called Ephraim..] This city (which is mentioned with more than in those days, or at that time. gº Deut. Nxvi. 3...Josh. Bethel, 2 Chron. xiii. 19.) is by some called Ephrem, and is generally XX.G. Iºk. xxxviii. 8...and Mal. iii. 4.) See Dr. Lardner’s Credibility, supposed to have lain in the north-east part of the lot of Benjamin. part i. yol. ii. p. 878, S79. Being high pries; that year, he prophesied.]. The Jewish high priests Ce Reland's Palestinc, p. 376. and compare note a, on Luke xii. 23. * : *' - I). 2UR. * * had in fºrmer ages been often under the inspiration of a prophetic d.Took a little journey eastward, &c.] This we have reason to suppose, spirit: ºthere was therefore some peculiar congruity in putting this Qt Jericho would not have lain in his way to Jerusalem, which, yet we orucle into his mouth, and the dignity of his office would add some find that Jesus passed through in his return. See Luke xix. J. $ 143. Reculiar weight and régard to what he said.—It is a strange fancy of e That they might, purify themselves by some preparatory sacrifices.] r. Lightfoot, that Caiaphas knew Jesus to be the Messiah, and that the Dr. Lightfoot (in his IIor. Hebr. on this place) has shown, that as a Sanhedrim founded their ap Cºnsequence of the regards º of danger, from the Ro...ans, in variety of circumstances might happen to multitudes which would own to him, on a ridiculous interprey...tion require purification, so some sort of cleansing required no less than of Isa. X. ult, and xi. i. whence they inferred that the destruction of the seven days. SECT . 141. JCHN IXſ. 47 48 5 I 5 2 5 3 5 5 O 6 2.46 CHRIST PROPIIESIES OF HIS SUFFERINGS AT jś , s , , ; i. \ -- IMPROVEMENT. I C . . . . H ER} find such restless, such causeless, such incorrigible malice, as was in the hearts of these rulers 143, against Oſſºr blessed Saviour? What but divine grace can reclaim men, when to have heard of the resurrection of ;C n friends and confidents, who had just been eye-witnesses of it, instead of conquering their JOHN hearts, served only to inflame their murderous rage -k e - This i wº iere we evidently see the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of 48–50 righteºusness, that iniquity was there. (Eccles. iii. 16.) The high-priest lays down a most dangerous, though plausible, maxim, which is in effect no other than this, “That the murder of an innocent person by forms of anº (which, as a noble sufferer observed, is surely the worst kind of murder.) “nay, even of a person who by miraclès demonstrated that he was an ambassador from God, was to be chosen, rather than, by protecting and oběying him, to give umbrage to an earthly power which seemed superior to their own.” When will the politicians of this Carth learn to trust God in his own ways, rather than to trust themselves, and their own wisdom, in violation of all the rules of truth, honour, and conscience? Till then, like this foolish ruler, they will be caught in their own craftiness; and it is more than possible, that they may, in many instances, hasten the very distress they are con- triving to avoid. For this was here the event: the Romans (called therefore the people of Jìſessiah the Prince, Dan. ix. 26.) were sent as executioners of the divine vengeance, and the Jews were given up to a spirit of discord and madness, the terrible effects of which were such as cannot be read without horror, till their place and nation were taken away; nor could even the Roman general forbear declaring that the hand of God was apparent in their destruction. - - Ver. Let us attend to this divine oracle which God saw fit to put into the mouth of so wicked a man. Jesus has 51, 52 actually died for the people, even fºr all the children of God that are scattered abroad. His death is substituted instead of theirs, and by it they are redeemed and delivered, and shall ere long be incorporated together, and all the happy colony be raised to an abode of eternal glory. Blessed harvest, which springs up from redeeming blood! 56, 57 Heroic love of the dear Redeemer, which at the proper time brought him to Jerusalem, where he knew that evil was determined against him! Let us follow him, in a courageous adherence to God and our duty, in the midst lof danger and opposition; and not wonder if we are set up as the marks of infamy and reproach, when we see Jesus marked out by a public mandate, as if he had been a robber or a murderer; and find so numerous and grand a court of judicature, requiring their subjects to seize this most generous Friend of the whole world, as the grand enemy of God and his country. N * h i ~ } S a. H }}]* -- £3. C O * \ * SECTION CXLII. Christ, setting out on his last journey to º of his sufferings there; rebukes the ambition of James and John ; and renews his exhortations to humility. Matt. xx. 17–28. Mark x. 33—46. Luke xviii. 31 MARK x. 32. ÅIARK x. 32. secT. AT length our Lord departed from the place of his retreat, and though he knew the reso- AND they were in, the way 112. lution that his enemies had formed against him, yet he set out with his disciples, and, jº.º. ºf (taking Jericho in his road,) was determined to make his appearance in the temple at the #: Yºº. MARK approaching passover: and as, in pursuance of this design, they were in the way going up to jºid. “Aſſis § Nº. X. jºsalem, Jesus, to show his readiness to meet sufferings and death in such a cause, ident #jº sº * before them; and they were exceedingly amazed at the spirit and ardour which he dis- and ºn tº tell them ºf covered in so dangerous an expedition; and as they followed him, they were qfraid, both jº for themselves and him. ..And while their hearts were thus impressed, he took the twelve [Mattºxx. 17. Luke xviii. 31.j disciples again apart to himself, into a convenient retirement which they met with by the way, and began particularly to tell them what things should befall him in that important journey, that he might thus prepare them for the sufferings he should undergo, and that the accomplishment of his predictions might be some confirmation to their faith, during a series of events which he knew would so severely try it. And he said to them, 33 Behold, and observe what I say, We are now going up to Jerusalem, and it is the last .33}ehol; we go up to Jº; & 1- g A * * ..., 77 ij...' a 1, 2,2- * = . . º rusalem, UKE, and alſ journey of this kind we shall ever take; for now all things which are written by ths ancient thiºtiatºwitté. By the prophets concerning the sufferings of the Son of man, shall be exactly fulfilled; and the Son ºś. of man shall be betrayed by one of his own company, who has professed the greatest duty ºf ºtheson ºshi and affection to him, [and] shall be ungratefully delivered to the chief priests and the scribes,” º particularly to those who constitute the Sanhedrim, and who have already published so º severe an edict against him; (John xi. 57. sect. cxli.) and when they have him thus in tºº.j their power, they shall, with great formality, condemn him to death as a public enemy and 34 disturber. And, as they have not now the power of capital executions in their ºwn hands, .34. Anº, shall deliver him they shall deliver him up to the Gentiles, even to the Roman governor and his soldiers; and ºff.º.º. they, instigated by the malice of the Jews, and utterly ignorant of the dignity and glory tº hiº. of his person, shall mock and spitefully entreat him in the most contumelious and reproach-jin.aºjišiii. ful manner, and shall cruelly scourgé him, and carry their rude outrage to such a height, ſº º jihº, that they shall even spit upon him ; and, when this scene of mockery is over, they shall put ºio. iiºviii.3% him to a most ignominiotis and painful death; and, as if he was a common slave, shall 3.] even crucify him; and leave him to expire in the gradual agºnies of the gross; gº! yet all their malice shall not be able to triumph over him : for on the third day he shall rise aggiº victorious over the powers of darkness, and take possession of that gloriºus and universal kingdom which the prophets assign to the Messiah. (Compare Matt. xvi. 21. sect. lxxxix. and Matt. xvii. 22. sect. xcii.) * . . . 4.7- - - 47, -, 23, 21 º - a -- . . ; ; ; * EUKE ..And, plain as this declaration was, their prejudices were so great, that they did not tº nº. #4;. §iatt. xx. 18. Luke xviii. 31.] 3 e - * •l *** ** ** ºn # .* * xviii., stand any of these things thoroughly, being at a loss to reconcile his being filajn; with the º º º 34 possession of that kingdom which he was to inherit; and this matter was hid from them hº ºjº, to so great a degree, that, after all our Lord had said, they knew not the meaning of the spoke. things which were spoken. (Compare Luke ix. 44, 45, p. 170.) - tramed and delivered, &c. e word radač,0nocrat is the some zealous transport of popular fury, than that he should havg been a Shall be betrayed and delivered, &c.] Th - jº & 1 thus solemnly condemned, and delivered, up to crucifixion ; a Roman * - \. f (\" • b is - includes both his bein - s - & * ;ſº sº º iſe hands cº; º will y; § §#. #, ºº jº, * - e * -> y r ºr Indeeſi, When the J & W S COſ, C 1) m 10y splieſny, : º ºn enemies, ſº have therefore retained the different words by which our punishinent pºinted in the law was stoning, Gnd Ét. at last gave tº: º”...";º; ####";a crucify him.] This them, a geºgra. permission to täke liim ##. Ul K. † h º º £díčí is a remarkable proof of the prophetic § Wy § º; # §§ º §";...", º: §he }§º § º º* Yº § *k, rics # . • In or it war that ho Sholl . • * *** {: - - g “...º.º.º. 3. * : “ºff ; e § ########, It yº,º;º attempted) by tures might be fulfilled. (Compare Matt. xxvi. 56. and John xix. 36.) Matt, xx. 20. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, with her soºns, [James and John,) worship- ping him, and desiring a ger- tain thing of him, [saying, Master, we would that thou should do for us whatsoever ğı shall desire.] [Mark X. J. Mark x. 36. And he said ſº her, and ) unto them, What wilt thou ? or What that I should do ź.º. for you 37 [She saith unto him, Grant that, these my , two sons,] and they said–Grant unto us, that we may sit; the one on thy right hand, anti the other on thy left hand, in thy [kingdom and glory. [Matt. xx. 21.] Matt. xx. 22. But Jesus answered and said [unto them,) Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of. and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ? ... [And] they say unto him; We are able. [Mark x. 3) - 23 And [Jesus] saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup [that I drink, of] and be *::::: with the bap- tism that 1am baptized with : but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. [Mark x. 39, 24 And when the ten heard it, they [began to be much displeased, and] were moved with indignation against the two brethren [James and John..] [Mark x. 41.] 25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said [unfo them, Ye know, that the princes of the Gentiles cxer- cise dominion over them; and [their great ones] exercise authority upon them. [Mar x. 42.] 26 But it slº. not be so among you : but whosoever will be great among, you, let him be your minister. [Mark x. 43.] 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, [yed, the servant of all.] [Mark x. 44.] Mark x. 45. For even the Son of man came not to be c We may sit, the one at, thy right hand, and ille other, at thiſ left.] THE AMBITIOUS REQUEST OF THE SONS OF ZEBEDEE. Nevertheless they apprehended thus much, that whatever difficulties lay in the wºy, thºy should certainly end in his triumph and glory. And upon this presumption, then, the mother of Zebedee's chiliren came at their instigation to him, with her sons James and Jºn, who were peculiar favourites of our Lord; and they all three fell down at his feet, worship: ping [him] in a most respectful manner, and desiring a certain [favour] of him with great importunity, weakly saying, Master, we would earnestly beg that thou shouldst, give us a general promise to do for us whatsoever, we shall request of thee; for it would be a very great grief to us if we should not succeed in the important petition we have to present. .#nd he said to her ſº to them, You cannot expect that, whatsoever kindness I have for you, I should at all adventures enter myself into so rash an engagement; tell me there: fore particularly, What wouldst thou have 2 [or] What would you so earnestly desire that I should do for you, if I was fully disposed to grant your request? She says unto him, I entreat thee to grant that these my two dear sons, to whom thou hast shown so much regard, and who are so zealous for thy cause and interest, may be preferred to stations of the highest dignity, trust, and profit; [and] they joined with her in the same request, and said, Grant us, that when thou art establishéd in thy glorious kingdom, which, aS We º will shortly be erected in the world, we may not only have a place there, but may be fixed near thy throne, and sit in distinguished honour and authority, the one at thy right hand, and the other at thy left, as thy chief ministers of state.” But Jesus said to them in reply, Alas! you are under the force of such carnal prejudices and mistaken views, that you know not what you ask, or you would be ashamed of so unseasonable a petition. This is not a time to think of temporal grandeur and authority; but it is much more proper that I should ask you, and that you should put the question to yourselves, Are you able to drink of the bitter cup of which I am now about to drink so deep,” and to be baptized with the baptism, and plunged into that sea of sufferings with which I am shortly [to be] baptized, and, as it were overwhelmed for a time 2 .4nd they say to him, with a self-confident assurance, Yes, Lord, we doubt not but that for thy sake we are able to undergo all this. 36 37 .And Jesus says unto them, You shall indeed both of you drink of this my cup, of which I 23 am to drink, and be baptized with the baptism of extreme sufferings with which I am to be baptized; for you shall endure great extremitics for the sake of my gospel, and hazard i your lives in its defence: but as to what you have now desired, to sit on my right hand, and on my left, in my kingdom of glory, this is not a privilege which is mine to give by artial frièndship, or to the first and most importunate asker, nor can I dispose of it to any ut ſº those] for whom it is prepared by my Father, who has appointed that the exaltation and happiness of the other ...; shall be proportioned to the degrees of piety and holiness which are attained in this. ...And when ſhe ten other apostles heard [of it, and were acquainted with this motion which the sons of Zebedee had made, they began to be match displeased that they should aspire to a Süperiority to which each of them imagined he had himself an equal claim; [and] as they were moved with indignation against the two brethren James &nd John, they were going to expostulate the matter with some severity. - But, to prevent the evil consequences which might arise from such an ill-judged debate, and to root out that envy and ambition which prevailed among them, Jesus called them all to him, and said unto them, You well know that the princes of the heathen nationsſ lord it over them in a very imperious manner; and their great men, in stations of subordinate government, imitate their tyrannical masters, and exercise an arbitrary authority upon them that are more immediately subject to their command; and that ambition which is so natural to the depraved heart of man, engages them eagerly to pursue such distinguished stations, which may give them an opportunity to gratify it. But my kingdom is of another nature, and it shall mot be so among you; for, instead of appointing anyone among you as the chief who should govern the rest,” I toll you plainly, that you are to look on each other as brethren and equals, or rather, each to esteem others as worthier of regard than himself; indulge not therefore an ambitious temper, but whosoever would indeed be great among you, let him, instead of aiming at power and authority, choose to be your minister, and attend on the rest with all the himblest offices of condescension and love. .4nd whosoccer would be chief among you, or first in my esteem, and in future honour and happiness, let him be ready to behave himself on all occasions as your servant; [yea, let him be the servant, not only of your little fraternity, but of all that are about him:h with all humility submitting to the meanest Services, by which he may promote the spiritual interest and benefit of others. And wonder not that this should be required of you, when you consider how great an example you have of this temper in him who is so far your superior; for cwen the Son of •zo Yº *-* A sº There § Fº be an allusion in these words to a circumstancé which the Talimudical writers, relate concerning the sanhedrim ; that there were two officers of peculiar distinction, who sat on each side of the Nasi, or president of the court; the one called Ab Beth Din, or the ſather of the justiciary, who sat on the right hand of the president; the other Chacham, or the sage, who sat on the left. See, among many gthen writers on this head, Whištjäscºli.' Sºc.ºol. i. iii."; "Dissei. 3. § 46, 47. venom is ridiculously represented as coming ont of the cup in the form of a Serpent, to signify that the poison did not take effect. The princes of the keather nations.] Mark expresses it by of 33.sv- Teş apx; tı, Tajw córºov, which we reñder, they which are accounted to ride aver the Gentiles; but this (with Gataker, Cinn. lib. i. cap. 3.) I take to bº a pleonasm, and think it should be translated, Ticy who rule (ºr the ºentiles; and so it coincides with the clause inserted from Mat: thew. (Compare , 1 Cor. , Xi. 16. xii. 23. xiv. 37, and Phil. iii. 4. Gr.) Instances are prºduced of the like use of the phrase in the best Greek d. To drink of the cup, &c.] . It was customary among the ancients to assign to each guest at a feast a particular cup, as well as dish ; and by the kind and quantity of the liquor contained in it, the respect of the entertainer was expressed. Hence cup came in general to signify a portion assigned, (Psal. xvi. 5. xxiii. 5.) whether of pleasure or sorrow ; and, many instances occur in which it refers to tſ. latter. Compare Psal. xi.6. xxiii. 19. Isa. li. 17, 22. Jer. xxv. 15, 17. Zech. xii. 2. John Xviii. 11. and Matt. xxvi. 39, 42. e Pont shall indeed drink of my cigſ, &c.] Accordingly it is observable, that this James was the first of all the apostles who suffered martyrdom for Christ: (Acts xii. 2.) . And John was scourged by the Jews, (Acts v. 40.) and afterwards banished by Domitian into the isle of Patmos, where he speaks of himself as a companion of Christ’s tribulation : (Rev. i. 9.) Not to mention, Tertullian’s tradition, that at Rome he was plunged into boiling oil; by which, it is said, instead of being destroyed, he was sensibly refreshed; (Tertull. Pracscript. cap. 36.) nor what the pretended Prochorus says of the attempt made by some heretics to poison him ; which is generally referred to in the pictures of this apostle, where the ^ ...” authors, by, Mr. Blackwall, in his Sacred Classis, vol. i. p. may be added, 78s & Kguras ačikey, for adtkgvraç, Poliſh. iii. i. cap. 5. and Fow ev. iTºpoxn Öokgwrov, Epictet. Enchirid. cap. 30. § 11. g Instead of appointing any one among you as the chief, &c.] As the request of these two brethrén plainly showed that they did not under. stand our Lord’s words to Peter, (Mått. xvi. 18, 9. § SS.) as designed 74. to which - - Cºy to invest him with any authority over the rest of his brethren, so the answer which Christ here gives them, far from intimating any thing of that kind, concludes as strºngly against any such authority as a negative gršiūnēnt can be supposed to do, and seems abundantly to justify the turn given in the paraphrase. h The servant of all.] There is a gradation here not commonly ob- served. The word ātakovo; in the ſormer verse, which, for want of a better word, we render minister, is a name which might be given to any who occasionally attended Qthers, or was statedly employed to render them any particular kind of service; but Ögxog, scrgant, signifies one whose whº business it is to serve, and who is indeed the property of another. The words, of all, do likewise increase the gradation. 2 5 2 6 MARK X. 45. 248 Two BLIND MEN FROM JERICHO CURED. SECT. Imam himself, though a person of such illustrious dignity, and constituted to so glorious and ministered unºbutºgminis- 142. lasting a kingdom, came not to be waited upon, but to serve others; and was not sent into º ''...º.º. § the world to exercise a temporal dominioi, and in a lordly way to rule over men, but to - MARK take upon him the form of a servant, and not only to labour but to die for their good, and * , a to give his own life as a ransom for many who had forfeited theirs to the justice of an ° offended God. Think not, therefore, that the disciples of such a self-denying Master are to dream of secular power, dominion, and grandeur; but rather study to mortify these very unbecoming desires after it. - * 3'- +-º. 46 -?nd, quickly after this, they came to Jericho, where two blind men were cured by Christ, 46And they came to Jeri- which was soon after followed with the remarkable conversion of Zaccheus, as will be seem “T in the next section. - -- IAIPROVEMENT. Ver.33 ASTONISHING grace and compassion of the Son of God in going up to Jerusalem at this passover, when he so 34 circumstantially knew all the things which were to befall him there ! not only that he should be put to death, but in what manner he should suffer, and what cruelty and what scorn should introduce the last scene of his agonies' Yet, with so sad a prospect in his eye, he marched on with distinguished alacrity, leading the company, as if he 32 longed to encountër what they could not bear to see, or even to hear of Glorious Captain of our salvation give us the like alacrity in all the sufferings we are called to bear for thee! 35–37 Who would not grieve to see these good apostles still so much possessed with the spirit of this world, and still dreaming of preferment in a temporal kingdom 2 Who would not especially lament it, that his most intimate friends, James, and John the beloved disciple, should be the persons who should come to him with this strange 38 request? Justly did our Lord answer them, You know not what you ask. And may not the same answer often be made to us? When, therefore, he denies us the great things that we are seeking for ourselves, let us be satisfied with the denial he sees fit to give us; believing that it is wisdom and love, and not unkindness, that produces it. 38 Let us often ask ourselves, Can we share the sufferings which our Lord endured 2 If we do not desire to do it so far as he shall appoint, we are not worthy to be called his disciples. Letus then gird up the loins of our minds, and wait our Master's signal to go forth to any suffering or service that he shall require; ever ready to make our- 44, 45 selves the servants of all, and therein to imitate the humility of the Son of man, who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister : yet, after all we can do or bear for him, let our trust still be in the merits of his righteousness and blood, who gave his life a ransom for many. So shall we be fitted for those distinguished honours in the heavenly world in comparison with which, thrones and sceptres on earth are but empty pageants and childish toys. SECTION CXLIII. Our Lord, passing through Jericho in his way to Jerusalern; cures, two blind picn as he came 9tut frºm thence, and converts Zaccheus the publican. Matt. xx. 29, to the end. Ålark X. 46, to the enti. Luke xviii. 35, to the end; xix. l—10. MAR X. 46. R X MARK x. 46. sect. AND Jesus, being come to Jericho, proceeded on his journey towards Jerusalem ; and jºi; * 143, being observed by many as he was passing through the city, they were all ready to run jº *}}|...}} after him; and accordingly, as he went out of Jericho with his disciples in his train, a great him.] [Matt. xx. 29.) Mark multitude of other people followed him. - - - - x. 46. .4nd, behold, an occasion offered for a remarkable display of his power and grace at his Matt. Xx:30. And behºld; *...* departure, thence; for it cºme to pass. that Providence so ordered it, as he was yet nigh ſº. 30 unto Jericho,” that two blind men sat begging by the way side, as beggars use to do in places jºiºſºft that are much frequented; [the one] of whom was well known by the name of Rartimeus, ºnejº high-way that is, the son of Timeus.b And hearing the noise of a great multitude ſº. by, he, to- i. begging..] [Mark x. 46. I - - - T. l :ourse of qke xviii. 35. Icke gether with his companion, asked what that unusual concourse of peop e meant, and how º: # ; àº. > 4. * 27 J, , - ** f ºf -ºº ºf ºx --- t tit * XVIII. It was occasioned. And they told him that Jesus of º eth, that º º i. gº ºne 36, 37 who had performed so many miracles, was coming by, and a vast number of the people 9 & § §.º the town were with him. Ånd when he heard that it was Jesus of Wazareth, as he had fre- ºff."º"; Mark quently been told what remarkable cures of this kind he had performed in other places, he Kºś § x could not but look upon it as a happy circumstance, that he was now passing by the very ºf to gº on; anº. Jºli, 47 place where he sat; and immediately he began to cry out with, a loud vºice, and with great º' Gº,"; eagerness to say, Jesus, thou Son of David, thou great and glorious Messiah, pity my sad cried out, saying. Have mercy * . * º ſaw n° on us, O Lord, thou Son of condition, and have mercy on me! [Jea, % both] cried out, .."; in the same manner, ºf: º, and with one voice, Havé mercy on us, O Lord, thou illustrious Son of David, and exert xviii. * thy almighty power to deliver is from this deplorable darkness and distress! MATT ...And sºmé of the multitude who went before Jesus rebuked them for their making such a tiº"tº: §eº; xx. clamour; and as the voice of Bartimelis distinguished itself on this occasion, many par- ; [*. e - - - - • Y r - t t 31 ticularly charged him that he should be silent, and not be so importunate and troublesome : jā’ī‘āśāº; b. but they, knowing that if such an opportunity as this, was lºst it might never return, re-iñjºričić inčić is grät * - - “... * - * º deal, saying, Have mercy on garded nothing but the success of their petition, and therefore cried out a great degl the lºgº jore earnestly, saying, as before, Have mercy on us, O Lºrd, how Son of Davidſ and ... .º.o.º. Bartimeus especially repeated it again and again, saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy º §: - on me, and help me ! * - * * : - . Mark .4nd Jesus, as he was advancing forwards in his way, observe; how earnestly they cried; sºliń. à 㺠i. x, and as they still repeated their request, he graciously stood still, and ordered them both to tiºn) to be caliei, iijº 49 be called [and] brought to him, that they might tell him what it was they so earnestly ſº, ja. § desired. "...And upon this the people had their, expectations raised, and as they now con- i."...," i.".”.”. - - - r - ... → ~1: > - - tº fort, rise, he calleth thee. cluded that they should see him work a miracle, they ran immediately to call º blind º §§§ {...}º and his companion, saying to him, as also to the other, Be of good courage, and rise up, for ...i.ii, i.e. to him, and you may therefore hope that he intends to grant your request. * ; ºr Joº-> slation it is rendered, stored sight to one blind map as he entered in, and to another as ho *::::::::A;ºśī; º; as he cas come lug hi. he ºncur it, compare Luke xix. 233–40 which gspecially considering how, the multitude rebuked, Bartimeus for his signifies º or wo ift § of the justice of this remark, which has impºrtunity”, whigh. surely §§ Wºº". if such a curº #.§§§. tº "writer of great eminence i. the º; tººls had but just now been wrought at the other end of the same Jęt: º T. - . ; iii. 12. at e Septuagin *I). * º * - world, Luke †g. jº. § 4% ºf: º ºniº": "the son of Tineus.] It is º, probable Timeus might have been a version of Isa. ſ. 8. Jeſ. i. £uſºs account of this miracle with that ºf person of some motº that neighbourhood, whose son, by a complica- º, ºftiºn 1Wł &l 3. - - departcal or went oil? %f Jericho. Some have int eed fancied, that he re- THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 249 50 And he casting away his ºnd Bartimeus joyfully received the message, and, throwing aside his upper garment, that SECT. arment, rose, and came to : igl • * * ...e º I] ible haste d it might not hinder him a moment, he arose, and came to Jesus with all possible haste an &S Uls, 143. ; A. ſº he eageries; the other blind man also following as fast as he could. And when he was come — ... "...d"º.”hº. near, Jesus, to try his faith, and to encourage his dependence on his power and gºodness, MARK What withoughāti should o, unto thee 3 The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I answered and said unto him, What is the mercy you so earnestly entreat? or what dost thou 1s. desire I should do for thee? Anil the blind man said unto him, Rabboni, that is, my Master # . ::::"...r.º. and my Lord, the favour which I beg is obvious from the circumstance in which thou ščina;3 gºa.j"ºf... Seest me, even that I may be so happy as to recover my sight,” the loss of which I cannot # * * * * * but lament as a great calamity to me, from which I know that thou art able to deliver me. The other likewise by this time came up, making the same request; a 1d they both joined to say, Lord, we beseech thee that our eyes might be opened. Matt. xx. 34. So Jesus had Then Jesus had compassion on them both, and touched their eyes; and, as a testimony of MAGT. i. jºi", ºilº. his approbation of that eminent degree of faith which they had each of them expressed, 3 fºx. *!. |''}} º and Bartimeus in particular in the strongest terms, he said to him and his companion, Be § º' jºš º 'º it unto thee as thou hast desired; receive thy sight, [and] go thy way; thy faith has saved - wº Marks & Luke thee from the sad condition thou wastin; and if thou continuest to exercise it in a reliance * *.** upon me, thy eternal salvation and happiness will be secure. Luke xviii. 43. And im- ...And immediately their eyes were opened, and received sight, so that they now could see LUKE mediately [their eyes receiv- & XVIII. º; distinctly; and, with a grateful sense of their deliverance, they joined the company, and 3 Öſsº, Jesus, in the Yayºi followed Jesus in the way to Jerusalem, glorifying God for this amazing instance of his sº ilº ...” goodness to them: and all the people likewise, when they saw ſit, gave praise unto God, gººgºod. [Matt, who, in remembrance of his mercy, had sent them so gréat a Prophet, to appear and act xx. 34. Mark x. 52.] among them under the character of the Son of David. And presently the news of this surprising miracle was spread abroad; and [Jesus] having entered (as was said before) into the city, and having passed through Jericho, a vast number of people had followed him from thence; and this new instance he had given of his miraculous power increased his fame through all the neighbourhood, and drew the multitude, as he passed along, in crowds about him. ...And as he thus proceeded on his journey, behold, another most remarkable occurrence 2 happened, in which the efficacy of his grace was signally displayed; for [there was] a man in that country whose name was Zaccheus, who was the chief among the publicans, or head collector of the customs in those parts; and, having heaped up abundance of wealth by his gainful employment, he was very rich. And the great things which he had heard of Jesus made such a powerful impression on his mind, that when he was informed that he was coming by that way, he diligently sought an opportunity to see this celebrated Jesus, what sort of a person he was ; but he could not compass his design because of the crowd about him; for he himself was very little of stature. . .And running therefore before the rest of the 4 company, without regarding what they might think or say of him, he got up into a syca- more-tree, that he might see him there § ; for he perceived he was to pass that way, and the tree stood so near the road that he must go close by it. ...And Jesus, when he came 5 to the place where he was, looked up and saw him; and knowing his disposition, character, and circumstances, he immediately said to him, Zaccheus, make haste and come down ; for to-day I design thee a visit, and must abide for a while at thine house; and fully satisfied that I shall be a welcome guest, I take the liberty to invite myself thither. .3ad Zaccheus was so overjoyed that Jesus should distinguish him in such a manner, that he came down with all the speed he could, and gladly entertained him at his house, thinking himself highly honoured by the presence of so excellent a Person. *-* And the Pharisees, and other self-conceited persons who saw [it] were very much 7 offended at the particular regard that Jesus showed him; and they all murmured, saying, He is gone in to refresh himself at a man's housed who is certainly a notorious sinner, since he follows the scandalous employment of a publican. *Allº.º. But as Zaccheus now was quite another man than he had been before, and divine grace 8 tºº º #; *::::::::: had changed his heart, that he might fully obviate these reflections, and manifest the truth ñº. º: º 㺠#, º of his conversion, he stood forth in the face of all the company, and said to the gard with jºinºſis ºatia, great reverence and affection, Behold, O Lord, I acknowledge the sins of my past life, I restore him four-fold. and desire to testify my repentance for them by an entire and immediate reformation; as the first fruits of which, I openly declare that the half of my goods I give to the poor; and out of the remainder, if I wrongfully have taken any thing from any man by injurious charges or oppressive claims,” I am ready, not only to restore a fifth part more than the rincipal, (which is all that the law requires in such cases besides the trespass-offering, ev. vi. 2–5. and Numb. v. 7, 8.) but even to return [him] four-fold.ſ .4nd Jesus said to Zaccheus, and to them that were abóüt him, Surely to-day is salvation 9 Luke xix. 1. And Jesus entered and passed through ericho. LUKE XIXL 2 And behold, there was a man named Zaccheus, which was the chief among the pub- licans, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was ; and coul not for the press, because he was little of stature. 3 4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore- tree to see him ; for he was to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him Zaccheus, make haste, an come down; for today I must abide at thy house. 6 And he made haste, and game down, and received him joyfully. . 6 7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. 9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is the son of Abraham. come to this house; and it is evidently to be seen that spiritual blessings are imparted to it, and designed for it, when such a pénitent and religious temper is expressed: since, not- withstanding all the sins he has committed, it is now manifest that even this man also is a true son of Abraham, not only descended lineally from him,5 but of a character in some c That I may recover my sight.] This the word avg6Aºpto exactly the phrase of restoring seven-fold (Prov. vi. 31), seems only, proverbial, signifies, and seems to import that he was not born blind, but lost his sight by some disease or accident, which made him so much the more sensible of the calamity. Yet I acknowledge it appears from John ix. 11, 18. that the word is sometimes used in a greater latitude. He is gone in to refresh himself, &c.] he phrase kata) vagi Trapa Tuva, properly signifies to bait at a person’s house on a journey, referring to the laying down their own burdens, or loosºning them from their beasts at such times and places. See Wolfius, vol. i. p. 733. e If I wrongfully hare taken any thing, &c.] The word cavko paytºna a (as Heinsius has abundantly shown) may properly signify any kind of oppression, especially under the pretence ºf lanc. (Comparé Eccles. iv. l. and v. 8, Septung.) It seems therefore not so proper to limit it, as pur translation does, to an injury done by a false, accusation, which implies something of a formal trial, and defence of the party accused ; whereas many frauds and oppressions might be practised by such a tax-gatherer where nothing of §§ sort occurred. w I restore him four-fold.] This was the utmost that the Jewish law required, even in cases of a fraudulent concealment and conviction, (unless where an ox had been killed or sold, and so its labour lost to the owner, and the discovery rendered more difficult, Exod. xxii. 1.) for * . to express making abundant satisfaction. But if a man not legally con- Victod Qr accused voluntarily discovered a fraud he had committed, besides his trespass-offering, lie was to add to the principai only a fifth part. , Lev. vi. 5. Zaccheus therefore shows the sincerity of his repeat- ance by such an offer.—Some commentators (with Salmasius, de Faen. |. 242.) have remarked, that oppressive publicans were, by the Roman aw, required to restore four-fold: but this was only after judgment obtained, where they had been guilty of extgrting by force; whereas before conviction it was enough to make restitution of what had been taken ; and even after it, in common cases, all that the law required was restoring thcice as ºf rich. (Lég. locatio 3 ectigal. § 4, wad illic. and L. hoc cdiclo effic. Biºest. de Public.; als.)—Archbishop Tillotson justly observes, that had more than an eighth part of Zaccheus's possessions been unjustly gotten, he could not have been a', he to iriake stich restitu- tion, aſter having given away bait of what he now hºt to the poor, evºn ºligºsh he inad stripped himself of all. Tillotson’s j} cris, V Cºl. iii. D. Sö. *- g Descended lineally from him.] he name of Zaccheus (which is the same with Zaccai, Ezra ii. 9...) shows he was a Jew. See Lightfoot, £ſor. Hebr. in loc. and Salmasius, de Faen. p. 386. 250 THE PARABLE OF THE TEN POUNDS. sECT. measure worthy of so honourable a descent. And therefore, notwithstanding all your 10 For the Son of man is 143. murmurings, I rejoice in the consequences of this happy visit to him, as answering the ...”*** - c -77. - great purposes of my life; for the Son of man, as I have º declared, (Matt. xviii. Luke II. sect, Xciv.) is come to seek and to save that which was lost; and it is the grand design **in of his abode on earth to recover those who, like this poor Zaccheus in his unconverted state, were wandering in the way to everlasting ruin. IMPROVEMENT. THUS did Our Lori Jesus Christ, wheresoever he came, scatter blessings around him, both to the souls and the 2 bodies of men. W1 o can wonder that Zaccheus had a curiosity to see such a person And how happily did 3 that curiosity end! Christ ciously observed him, and, with an amiable frankness and openness of heart, invited 5 himself to be a guest at his house: choosing to accept the entertainment of a publican, and to distinguish with a particular regard one that was so desirous to see him. Ånd let us diligently observe how happy a change this 9 visit produced in the master of the family. O Zaccheus, well wast thou repaid for thine hospitality when salvation came to thine house, and the Saviour himself bore witness to thee as a son of Abraham! What cannot the grace of God effect? This publican was in the morning contriving only how he mightincrease 8 his estate by all possible methods of gain; and, before evening, he cries out, Lord, the half of my goods Igive to the poor. Thus does the Spirit of Christ operate on the soul, producing in it the fruits of righteousness and ëharity to our fellow-creatures, as well as of love to God and faith in the Redeemer. And surely the miracle by which the walls of Jericho were many ages before thrown down by the sound of rams’ horns, was not greater in its kind than that which now triumphed over the heart of Zaccheus, and threw down all the obstacles which corrupt nature had formed against the entrance of Christ into it. Now were his eyes opened, and he saw in a moment how much more valuable the pearl of price was than all the riches he j part with to procure it. And he judged rightly of religion when he saw the necessity not only of faith, but of charity too; and not only of charity, º: of restitution also to those whom he had injured, without which the highest pretences to charity are but presenting to God robbery for a burnt-offering. MARK Our Lord’s progress is marked with another work of divine power and beneficence in opening the eyes of the : ... blind. With what importunity was the cure desired And when the petitioner was for a while discouraged, with - - ** - 34-v- *** - f t- ... what eagerness was that importunity repeated, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me ! . Thus will the sinner cry to Jesus when he sees how much he needs him. But alas! men are not aware of their spiritual indigence and distress: they say they are rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that they are wretched, .miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. (Rev. iii. 17.) When once they come to be awakened to a just sense of their case, there is then room for hope, and great 49 encouragement for their address. We may in such circumstances say to them, as was said to Bartimeus, Be of good courage, rise, he calleth thee. With pleasure should we deliver such a message; with pleasure should we ead on the lame and the blind, the weak and the trembling, in their application of Christ; an in all the instances in which his victorious grace is exercised, should join with those who have received it, in glorifying God, and in celebrating the praise oft. Deliverer whom he has mercifully raised up for his people. - Ver. I,UKE XVIII. SECTION CXLIV. Christ delivers tha parable of the tem pounds committed by a prince to his sº agº, represents the vengeance taken by him on his rebellious subjects. Luke xix. 11—2 -- LUKE xix. 11. LUKE xix. 11. SECT. V’OPVJesus, on occasion of Zaccheus's conversion, having expressly said that he was come AND as ...i. 144 to be a saviour, the people, as they heard these things, were ready to conclude that at his jº:#;"; coming to Jerusalem he would opénly declare himself to be the promised Messiah; but he £eº."º").". Luke continued [his discourse,] and spake avery useful and instructive parable, because he was now j } ği jā’iº. drawing near to Jerusalem,” and he perceived they thought that the kingdom of God diately appear. would immediately be revealed among them, and that he, as the Messiah, would assume the government, and not only free Israel from the Roman yoke, but spread his triumphs over 12 all the heathen nations. In order therefore to rectify their notions on this head, and to warn 12 He said therefores. A them of the danger they would incur by rejecting him when they saw those secular views "...:"..."; disappointed, he offered to their consideration this similitude; and said, - himself kingdom, and to re- .4 certain person of a noble birth went to a distant country, in order to receive, from a “" superior prince theré, an investiture to a kingdom which was then fallen to himself, and of which the place where he dwelt made a part, intending afterwards to return, and fix his - 13 residence in his own country. And before he set out on his journey, having cºlled ten of 13.And ######; his servants, he delivered to them ten pounds," lodging one pound in the hands of each, and ſº said unto them, Trade with this money till I come back to take an account of your im- them, Occupy till ſcome. provement. (Compare Matt. xxy. 14, et seq. sect. clºv.) s & * - - - 14 "But in the mean time, some of his citizens, among whom he had before lived in a more hº private character and station, hated him, and sent, an embassy after him,” to prevent his ;....W."...iii.ii. establishment in his kingdom; expressly saying, He are at all adventures determined that this" to **** * we will not have this man to reign over us, and will endure all extremities rather than sub- mit to his authority. And during his absence, which continued for some time, they thought themselves very secure in their insults. - - - - 15 But, notwithstanding all the confidence of these rebellious citizens, they were unable to 15 And it came to pass, tend that this is an historical narration, that Archelaus is the nobleman a Because he cas near to Jerusalem.] The following parable, con- • * w referred to, &c. sidered in this view. as suited to the circumstance of time, and to the case of those to whom it was delivered, will appear a most wise and season- je admonition; and by neglecting the instruction it was designed to give thein, the Jews deservedly brought ruin on themselves, w 5 iſºent tº a distant country to receive a kingdom, &c.) . The parable scéms to suppose this noble jerson to be the son of a prince, wbo: 99 some domestic or public revolution, was to enter upon the possession o his dominions, and to be confirmed in the government. O them by the approbation of some more potent state ;, as the kings of Judea, and other neighbouring states, frequently were by, the Romani, Gee Joseph. ºiº. º.º. i4. [al. 23.j & 4, 5, et lib. xyii. cqº. 9. [al. Il;1). He is therefore described as setting out with the VIe W. O. being owned, at his return, as their undoubted Soyereign. (See Le Clerc's Harmony, §7.5” This representation of the matter is so natural,that one Woºl d ºfláer what room there could be for the controversy between Malle- manjūs and Athanasius de Paris about it. It is quite needless to pre- r" c He delivered to them ten pounds.] The pºva, or mina, as it is com- monly called, contained sixty shekels; (Ezék. xly. I2.) and therefore, according to the common calculation of the worth of a shekel, placing it at half-a-crown of our money, it was seven pounds, ten shillings; but according to Dr. Prideaux, who sets the shekel at three shillings, the mina was nine pounds sterling.—Our Lord probably chose to mention this small sum to illustrate the munificence of the master in bestowing on the faithful servant so great and noble a reward. Compare ver. 17. d Sent an embassy after him.]. This is expressed in such a manner as may intimate their sending ambassadors to the superior court, to enter their protest against his being admitted to the regal power, and to de- clare their resolution to oppose his accession. And so it wój, represents the solemn manner in which the Jews renounced Christ, acting as in the º of the Lord, and with a pretended zeal for his authority and glory r - THE PARABLE OF THE TEN POUNDS. 251 that when he was returned, prevent his exaltation to the throne, or to deprive him of the right he had of reigning over secT. #."º..."; them. And it came to pass, that when he had received the kingdom, and was come back with 144. ºff the full powers that were granted to him, he commanded these his servants to whomJºhad ===sºmeº joº "hº hºliº delivered the money, to be called to him, that he might know what improvement each of them Luke how jº. man had had made. tº * XIX. *śāleārst, say. And the first servant, who had gained the most, came near, and said, Sir, the improve- 16 jº, rºund * ment I have made of thiſ pound is such that it has gained ten pounds more....And when his 17 J.And he said unto him, lord had heard how diligent and careful he had been, he said to him, Pſell done, [thont] Wºl; §§§ good servant; since thouſhast thus been faithful in a very little, I will º reward it; for iftoºoº:: thou I will not only give thee, for thine own, this treasure of which thou hast been giving mº - so good an account, but as my dominion is now enlarged, and many towns and tracts of land are subject to me, I will advance thee to a most honourable station under me, and be thou governor over ten cities. - s .And the second came and delivered in his account, saying, Sir, thy pound which was 18 committed to me has been improved in such a manner that it has gained five pounds. ...And 19 the improvement he had made was pleasing to his lord, and he said likewise unto this, Thou hast approved thyself a good and faithful servant, and I am pleased with thy diligence, and ºf reward it proportionably: be thou also governor over five cities.” And after him another servant, who had been negligent and slothful, came and said, Sir, 20 behold [here is] thy pound which was put into my fiands; it is not at all diminished, but I have sº it laid up in a napkin : For I feared thee, because I knew thou art an 21 18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. * 19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five C1tleS. . 20.And another came, say- ing, Lord, behold, here is thy Yound, which I have kept aid #. in a napkin : 21 For I feared thee, be- cause thou art an austere Finan : ... thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not SOW . - * 22 And he smith unto him austere man, [who] takest up what thout didst not lay down, and reapest, or expectest to reap, what thou didst not sow ; and therefore, apprehending I might incur thy severity if any accident should befall this money in trade, I was determined not to venture it out of mine hands, and now return it just as I received it. But when his lord heard him offer such a 22 Pºśvile and groundless charge against himself as an excuse for his own negligence, he was I judge thee, thou wicked à * - sº & *--> -> tº * * º - servant iou knewest that filled with indignation, and says to him, Out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee, O x- I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow : [thou] wicked servant : thou hast taken upon thee to affirm thow knewest that I am an cºustere man, taking up, as thou expressest it, what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow if and thou mightest therefore, on thine own principles, conclude that I should expect to gather where I had deposited such a sum of money, and to reap where I had thus sown: And if it had been so, and I had really been as severe as thou wouldst basely 23 insinuate, why didst thou not [then, for thine own security, give my money into the bank, that when I came to call for it at my return, I might at least have received it with the com: mon interest, if not with the extraordinary improvement which might have attended a suc- cessful trade 2 •ſhid, further to testify his displeasure, he said to some of them that stood by, Take away 24 the pound that was intrusted with him, from that idle, suspicious, unfaithful creature, who might otherwise have had that, and much more, allotted him for his own property, and give it to him that has ten pounds. But they were much surprised at his assigning it to one 25 who had before received so ample a reward; and they said to him, Sir, he hath already no less than ten pounds,é which, with the honour and preferment thou hast further added, is surely an abundant recompence. Nevertheless, the prince stood by his former award, and 26 bestowed the other pound likewise upon him; declaring that his faithfulness and diligence was fit to be distinguished with the most favourable and repeated notice. And in this way it is, continued he, that I resolve to act; for I assure you, h That to every one that hath, or that improves what he hath, [it] shall be given, and he shall have yet more abun- dantly ; but from him that hath not, or that acts as if he had nothing intrusted to his care, even that which he hath, and neglects to improve, shall be taken away from him. (Compare Matt. xiii. 12. xxv. 29. Mark iv. 25, and Luke viii. 18.) And having thus inquired into the conduct of his servants, and treated them according to the different use they made of what had been intrusted with them, he then proceeded to pass sentence on his rebellious citizens who had refused to have him for their king: and, with a just resentment of their base ingratitude, he said, But as for those mine enemies who were determined to oppose my government, and would not have me to reign over them, bring them hither immediately, and slay º with the sword in my presence,i that others may learn a more dutiful submission by the execution of these rebels. Now all this was as if our Lord had said, Thus shall I at length appear, not as a tem- poral sovereign, but as the great eternal Judge and victorious Ruler over all, when, having received power and dominion from my Father, I shall bring all to their final account, and with infinite ease triumph over those who reject and affront my authority : take heed there- fore that you be not found in their wretched number, as many will be who pretend most eagerly to desire the Messiah’s appearance. º #.) when he had spoken these things, he continued his journey, and leading the way, went on before his disciples, ascending to Jerusalem, being determined to appear there at the approaching passover, though he well knew that he was to encounter persecution and death there. (Compare Mark x. 32. sect. cxlii.) 23 Wherefore them gavest not, thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury 2 , 24 And, he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, alſd give it to him that hath ten pounds. 25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) 26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given : and from him that hath not, even that he path shall be taken away rom him. Ae 27 But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. 27 28 And when he, had thus spoken, he went before, as- cending up to Jerusalem. e Be thou also governor over five cities.j It is observable, that in Matt. - express any thing of envy in the ſellow-servants, it is not to be regarded xxv.20–23. § 165. where the servants are represented as doubling the different sums intrusted to each, the reward is º, of as the same ; but here the sums intrusted being the same, and the improvement de- scribed as different, there is a proportionable difference in the reward; which, as it is a beautiful circumstance, was, no doubt, intended for our instruction. * ... • • f Thou knenbest that I am an austere man, &c..] This is not an acknow- ledgment of the vile and detestable charge of God’s demanding of men (as Dr. Guyse well expresses.it) move difficult services than he has fur- nished then for, or would assist them in, which is, as that, pious writer truly observes, a most unrighteous thought of God: but his lord only argues with him on his own base principles, and shows that even on them he would be justly condemned for his negligence: g g They said to him, Sir, he hath ten pownds.] So far as this seems to as a significant circumstance ; but only as an incidental one, to intimate § U.S, flat his lord gave to the diligent servant what he had gained for Y III). SQ iſ . h I assure you..] This seems to be the import of that phrase which so often occurs, I say unto you; as if he should have said, You may take it on my authority. - i Slay them with the sword in my presence.] This is the exact import of the word katao (paśare. It does indeed properly express the dreadful slaughter of the jºiº. Jews, by the sword of each other, and of the Romans; but that does not seem the chief design of the passage, which plainly relates to the far more terrible execution which shall be done on all impenitent sinners in the great day when the faithful servants of Christ shall be rewarded. 252 THE FEET OF CHRIST ANOINTED BY MARY AT BETHANy. IMPROVEMENT. SECT. LET us also hear and fear. Our Lord is gone, and has received his kingdom. He has delivered to us our stock 144. to be imprºved in his service; let us be animated to diligence in it; for proportionable to that diligence will be our reward, Let us remember we labour for ourselves while we labour for him; as all the progress we make in LUKE wisdom and in goodness, renders our own souls so much the happier, and will render them sº to all eternity. *ix Blessed servants that have the applause of such a Master, and share a reward as liberal as that conferred on a 17, 19 faithful steward, who should be made governor of a province containing ten cities! 20, 21 ... Let us beware of a slothful neglect of our stock: let us beware of à. hard thoughts of God which would discourage us from pursuing his service. Above all, let us take heed that we do not proudly and insolently reject 14 the government of his anointed Son, and either say with our tongues, or declare by our actions, We will not have this man to reign over us: for if we do, we speak a word against our own lives. He will be glorified by us, or 27 upon us. And oh, what shall we do if in #. dreadful day he should bring us forth as the helpless prisoners of his justice, and command us to be slain in his presence . How can we withstand his power 2 or to the horns of Whā; altº shall we flee for sanctuary 2 O Lord, our flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and we are afraid of thyº: ments. (Psal. cxix. I20.) May we never be the miserable objects of them: but, having faithfully served thee hºre, may that be to us a day of honour, reward, and triumph, which shall be to every présumptuous rebel a day of shame and terror, of dreadful execution and éternal destruction. SECTION CXLV. Christ is entertained at Bethany, and his feet anointed by Mary. The Jewish tºlers contrive to kill Lazarus. Matt. xxvi. 6—13. Mark xiv. 3–9, John xii. 1– John xii. 1. * * John xii. l. SECT. THE.W. Jesus came sir days before the passover to Bethany, which was a village (as was THEN Jesus six days be- 145. said, before, John xi. 18. sect. cxl.) that lay in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, where the ſº Włºś. abode of Lázarus was who had been dead and buried, [and] whom he lately, by an amazing Wº MATT. miracle, had raised from the dead. he raised from the dead. XXVI. .Now at this time, when Jesus was in Bethany,” where, by his frequently resorting thither, , Matt. xxyi. 6...Now when 6 he was well known, and had many friends that very much rejoiced to see him, as he was ;..."; };"º. JoHN in the house of Simon the leper, in testimony of their high º and great affection for [Mark xiv.3. - * wº join Kii. 3. There the xii. him, they made a handsome supper for him there, and treated Oil I, XII ere they im in the evening; which made him a supper, and was the usual time for entertainments with the Jews, especially on the evening of their lº.º.º.º. sabbath-days, which was the season when this feast was made:* and JMartha, who had the tibie with him.” “ ” formerly distinguished her care on a like occasion, (Luke x. 40, sect, cviii.) having seen that all things should be rightly ordered, waited on Christ at supper; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. * * * e - Then Mary, the other sister of Lazarus, being deeply affected with the Inany instances 3, Then, took Mary ſan that Christ had given her of his love, and especially with his late mercy to her family in ..."; ;...";..." recovering so dear a brother from the grave, was solicitous to give some uncommon token #"h.º.º. tº: of her gratitude and respect to so excellent a guest; she therefore took an elegant alabaster ºrêt is adjºjº pot, or vase, [containing] about a pound weight of unadulterated ointment % º Fº [which meas] exceeding valuable; and, having broke the top of the vessel, or shook 3 * > * * the per- feet with her, hair: and the fumed balsam which was in it, that it might be the betterli ugfied, and flow forth the ...;cº. easier,” she came behind him, and poured out the greater part of it on his head as he sat at xxvii. Afară şiv. 3.) meat, and anointed the feet of Jesus with the remainder; and, when she had done this, she, like the humble penitent mentioned above, (Luke vii. 38, p. º wiped his feet with the long ſlowing tresses of her hair; and the whole house was filled with the fragrant and deli- cious odour of the ointment. g - - - - ? Marr. But when his disciples observed it, there were some that were moved with ºnward displeasure hiº"; * tº: xxvi, at what appeared to them so great an extravagance, and said with a low voice to each other, }.º.º. 8 Why was inis waste of the ointment made, and such a quantity of this rich balsam poured säij, Wºw... this wºstº, out to so little purpose 2 .4nd they secretly murmured against her, and could hardly H., ºd º * as hill- • *4. is disc, ** * * * * Scari Mark xiv. 4, 5. goes refrain from rebuking her for it. One of his disciples, therefore, ſeven] Judas Iscariot, the [ .*.ii. *Then saith xij, son of Simon, that wretched person who was about to betray him, as if he knew not how to gº", is diciº. Judas 3 bear such waste, expressed a peculiar emotion, and said aloud, Why was not this fine oint- ºg jºon, which ment sold for a great deal of money: for it must have been worth ſeven] more than three "#"Whº's "º this oint- T or y tº g K~. * ~~13 e •: s S f ; iºundred pence; and thus it might have served for the relief of many, if the price of it had #º, #."; §: been given to the poor? This would surely have been approved of by our Master as a flººd ºn 5. much wiser and better way of disposing of it, than thus to lavish it away on the luxurious ºf 5." *** * a #7tem. Jesus was in Bethany.J Few passages in the Harmony have lem, which John has fixed to the next day, (John Xii. 12. § 146.) must pèrplexed me ingre, than this. I was º of opinion, with Origen, and have been on the first day of the week, this entertainment therefore, Theophylact, defended by Le Clerc and Dr. VV º and, especially by was on the evening of the day before, when the Jewish sabbath was over. Dr. Lightfoot (Harmon. .N. Test. § 71,80.) and Mr. Whiston; (in his d Unadulterated ointment of Spikenard.] I cannot take upon me abso- Žieze ºf Harpoº!, p. 28, 129.), that the stgry recorded by Matthew Hutely to determine whether the word triºtikm; significs that the ointment ſchºº. XXXi. Ú-13.), and ºrk (chap. xix. 3-9.) was different fººt was quite genuine and pure, (as Casaubon and L. Capellus assert,) or *::::::A; º O}} º gº #.º.º.º. º whether (as Grotius and Erasmus think) it be put for airuzarnç, and —that \} atti) & \,' ºn 11 ºf Clſ K Sł; OUI ICſ flá Vº { S a 11tuſ -- - - - Sºr: * ..º.º. ºf Y ºf sº hic of its place,—that Lazarus, if he made this entertainment, (which is not § * ºlºsſº, hºp *º º #: Expres; said by joij shouji have made use of Šimon’s house, as iétéº be the meaning of it, what is said of its great väijó must just; more coºyenient, for it, Tand that Mary should have pºured this gint: . calling it º Juent on Christ's head and pºly, as well as on his feet-than that Within ë Haning irºn the top of the vessel, or shook the perfumed balsam, the compass of four days Christ should have baen twice anointed, with Sir N tehbull d Dr. Ha d intain th * so costly a perfume, and that the same fault should be found with the *:::) Sir Norton Knatchbull, and Dr., Hammond maintain that guy action, and the same value set on the ointment, and the same words. Totºpg76 does not signify that she brake the vessel, which they think an used in defence of the woman: and all this in the presence of many of improbable circumstance; but only that she shook it so as to break the the same persons: all which improbable, particulars must be admitted, goagulated parts of the rich balsam, and bring it to such g liquidity that if the stories be ºff. as . º after # hi. i. it º: º fit to º: Yet I must own that the original does not g onfidently : there is no in 190ssibility in the thing taken So naturally express this. . w º *...* fidently ; for J) y § f And thcy murmured against her.] Whether this relates to more than bIn the house of Simon the leper.) It is not to be thought that he was Judas cannot certainly be said; since it, is well known that the plural now a leper; for in this case he would not have been suffered to live in number is sometimes put for the siggular; See, Gen; viii. 4; xix. 29. a town, nor would the Jews have come to an entertainment at his house: Judg., xii. 7, and Matt. xxvii. 44-Some have thought Judas Iscariot but either he was once a leper, and had been cured by Jesus, or else the was the son of that Simon in whose house the feast was made ; but the name was given to the family, as some considerabſe person in it had name was so common, that it cannot be concluded with any certainty. Deen formerly a jepcr. * g JMore than three hundred pence.] It is to be remembered that these c. When this feast was made.]. Though Matthew and Mark relate the wºre Roman pence, and consequently amounted to nine pounds; seven story where they are speaking of what happened but two days before the shillings, and sixpence; the expression, only intimates a eneri guess passover, it is more probable (as we have just now shown) that it is at the value by a round sum, (for, such three hundred denal ii were, placed by John in its due order; and as the following days appear to be though the correspondent value with us is not so,), as if we should say sufficiently distinguished, and Christ's triumphant entrance into Jerusa- on a fike occasion, it must have been worth above ten pounds. * THE FEET OF CHRIST ANOINTED BY MARY AT BETHANY., 253 ºf ºthe entertainment of a few minutes. Noºp this he said, not because he at all regarded, the poor, secT. § ºa'É.i. but because he was, notwithstanding all his retended piety and zeal, a subtle thief; and 145. fººd barº what was as he kept the bag which contained their little stock, and carried what wº ſº into it,h he d thought if so large a sum had come in just before he went off with it, (which he was now Marr, preparing to do, he should thus have had a fine opportunity of enriching himself, . . . XXY I. ut Jesus knowing the design of Judas, and perceiving that others were secretly joining 10 with him in this severe and uncharitable censure, without taking any notice of that Vile principle from which he knew [it] proceeded in him, directed his discourse to, his dis- ciples, and said to them, Why do you give such trouble and uneasiness to the good woman, of whose piety and friendship we have had so long an experience 2 Let her alone in what she is about; for what she has now performed is a good work, and she deserves to be com- ºwſ: mended fºr the great respect she has been showing towards me. For as to what has been 11 º, suggested now in favour of the poor, you have them always with you; and providence will Roever ye will, ye may do gg e p ; 3/ g & 3/ * * ;"|fºº}º ña. continually so order it, that some compassionable objects shall be still among you, that §§§' "*** whenever jou please you may have an opportunity to do them #. but me you have not always with you; for I am soon to leave you, and to be placed beyond the reach of your lsº jº tº kindness. And indeed my departure out of the world is so near, that with respect to this John §º buryins hath she action of our friend Mary &; you are ready to condemn, I may say that she reserved - XII. 7. wººdºº this ointment for the day ºf my burial: And not knowing whether she may have an . §§§ }. of assisting in those last offices, she has now dome what she could; for in that she §º.º.º has poured out this ointment on my body, she has in a manner come º: the time thus to 8 º y body g * gº tº the buying." Matº anoint and to embalm my body for the burial; so you may almost look upon it as a work 12 of piety and love to a dead friend, where a generous heart will not be sparing. And, on 9 b hed through thé whole, though you have such hard thoughts of what she has been doing, it shall not §§º."; finally turn to her reproach or damage; but as I graciously accept it, so I assuredly say ſºlº unto you, That wheresoever this gospel of mine is preſched, and it in time shall have its ńſitº” triumph over the whole world, this very action also which this pious and affectionate woman has now performed, shall be inserted in the history of my life, and be spoken of with honour jor a memorial of her friendship and affection to me; so that her name shall be embalmed in such a manner as to be far more fragrant than the perfume which she has poured forth on my head and my feet. (Compare Eccles. vii. 1.) Now these things passed at a public entertainment: a great multitude of the Jews there- John XI}, Matt; xxvi. 10, When Je- sus understood it, he said un- to them; Why trouble ye the Woman,” [let her alone;] for she hath wrought a good work Whº, pe. [Mark xiv. 6. John MARK IXIV. 6 TVerily I say unto yOu Wheresoeverthis gospel Shaji of her. John i. 9. Nº. people - tº fore, who had been dubious whether Jesus would come up to the passover or not, (com- game, not for jesus sake oniº, paré John xi. 56. sect. cxli.) quickly got intelligence of it, and knew that he was there in ºß Bethany; and they came #: in crowds from Jerusalem, and that indeed not only on from the dead. account of Jesus, who had been retired for some time, but also out of curiosity that they mi * see Lazarus, whom he had lately raised from the dead, who now appeared publicly with him.k But the chief priests and other members of the Sanhedrim were filled on this occasion 10 with such rage and envy, that, as they had already resolved on the death of Jesus, they consulted also how they might find some method to kill Lazarus, either by public prose- cution or private assassination: For they well knew that many of the Jews deserted them, 11 and went away to Bethany on his account, and were so powerfully struck with the con- vincing evidence of so astonishing a miracle, that they believed on Jesus; and while such a monument of his power and goodness continued they were afraid lest more should revolt to him. -- **. IMPROVEMIENT. WE see how happily Mary improved by sitting at the feet of Jesus, and what evidence she gave of her having chosen the better part. (Compare Luke x, 39, 42.) Like her, let us with humble thankfulness bestow our very Ver. 3 best on him who has given us that and every thing else. She gladly poured out her choicest ointment on him whose name is to every true believer far more fragrant than ointment poured forth. (Cant. i. 3.) How does her generous love shame those who grudge every expense in the cause of Christ! When we are relieving the pious poor, we are, as it were, anointing the feet of Jesus: we are indeed performing a service far more acceptable than any thing of this kind could in itself be. Let us remember that we have the 8 poor always with us; and that they are permitted to continue among us, that we may do them good whenever we please. Far be it from us to imagine that what we so spend is waste. Let all, who would not share in the guilt 4–6 and punishment of Judas, abhor the vile hypocrisy of making a º concern for the poor a cloak for an opportunity of enriching themselves with their spoils; than which nothing can be more infamous, or can have a directer tendency to mingle the consuming curse of a righteous and almighty God with all that a man possesses. 10 The Pharisees conspired to kill Lazarus. What a mixture was this of cruelty and folly! What was his crime? or what could their hope be 2 From what death could not Christ have delivered him 2 or from what tomb could he not again have recalled him? Yet something like this is the madness of all who hate and persecute others for being the trophies of the Redeemer's victory and grace. 10 But, the chief priests consulted, that they might put Lazarus also to death; 11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. Butlet not his servants fear; their Redeemer is strong, the Lord of Hosts is his name. erfect; and the day and hour is approaching, in which his triumph over all his enemies shall be so complete, that s friends shall be for ever secure, not only from being destroyed, but from being alarmed by them. * (Jer. l. 34.) His work is h Carried what was put into it..] . The learned Elsner (I suppose to avoid the seeming tautology) would render effuarašev, he took away, or carried off, that is, for his own use, what was put into the purse or bag. He refers to John xx. 15. and Matt. iii. 11:... viii. 17. as instånees of such a use of it; to which he adds others from Polybius, Athenaeus, and other good authors, (Elsm. Observ. vol. i. p. 33.3.) But the meaning here may be, that he had not only the keeping of the bag at that time, but that it was his stated office to take, care of it and manage its stock; and therefore I choose not to follow Elsner’s version, since ºffagrađe never signifies to carry off a part privately, which would have been expressed by evoord to ato, as it is v. 2. i She has reserved this for the day, qf my burial.] ..Mr. Whiston º his Więto gf the Harmony, p. 129.), thinks this is as if our Lord had said, “She has spent but a ſittie of this ointment now; but has reserved the main part of it to pour upon my head some days hence, which shall be so near my death, that it may be considered as a kind of embalming.” But besides the gencral reasons against believing the action repeated, which have been mentioned in note a. it is unnatural to suppose that, in the transport of her love and gratitude, she would use this little manage. Iment of keeping back most that was in the vessel; or that, if she had, John would have mentioned the quantity she took, which was no way to his purpose, or have taken notice of iñé room’s being filled with the odour of it; not to say that the prediction which Mr. Whiston supposes our Lord to utter, is quite trifling, and would seem to bespeak its own accomplishment in a manner which he never would have stooped to. .k Who now appeared publicly with him.]. Perhaps, after so extraor- dinary a series of providences as Lazarus had passed through, he might choose to spend some time in retirement an extraordinary devotion : and it is natural to suppose he would endeavour to avoid the impor- tunity of crowds who out of curiosity would be pressing in upon him, perhaps with some impertinent inquiries. 254 SF CT, 146. MATT. XXI. 2 Jind a she-ass standing tied at a door, and a young foal tied also with 3 MARK XI. 4 F.UKE XIX. 33 MARK XI. 6 7 -8 from the trees that stood by the side of the road, an MATT. XXI. 4 5 CHRIST RIDES IN TRIUMPH TO JERUSALEM. SECTION CXLVI. Christ rides in triumph to Jerusalem on an ass’s colt. Matt, xxi. 1–9, Mark xi. 1–10. Luke xix. 29–40 MATT. xxi. 1. 3.VD after Jesus had been anointed by Mary in the manner related in the preceding sec- tion, it came to pass on the next day, which was the first day of the week, that he proceeded Qn his journey. With his disciples; and when they drew nigh to Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage and Bethany, or to the outward boundaries of these two places,a at the foot of the mount of Olives, which lay to the east of the city, then Jesus, as d his sufferings was just at hand, being resolved that he would make a public entry into Jerusalem, sent out two of his disciples, Saying to them, Go your way into the village which lies yonder over against jou; and immediately, as soon as yºu enter into it, you shall there her, on which no ma ever yet sat: lay hold of the foal, and untie him directly, without any scruple OT gº about the owner's leave, and bring [him] hither to me. ..And if any man should take notice of what you are doing, and say to you, Why do you offer to intie the foal, and lead [him] away? you in reply shall say thus to him, Because Jesus the Lord has need of him : and, in regard to the authority of my name and character, he will immediately send him hither with the dam, that I may use either of them as I shall choose, to ride into the city: so that you may bring them both hither without any apprehension of accusation or scandal. ºffnd the two disciples that were sent on this errand presumed not to debate the reason- ableness of the orders he had given them; but presently went their way, and found, just as he had said unto them,” the colt with its dam tied abroad at the door of a house, which stood in a very open place at the entrance of the village, where two roads met; and, as Jesus commanded them, they immediately began to untie the colt, that they might lead him away. But as they were thus untiſing the colt, Providence so ordered it, effectually to prevent any clamour or reflection,” that the owners of it were near at hand, with several other per- sons. And some of them that stood by there, and particularly the owners of it, said into them, What are you doing there? Why do ye offer to untie the colt, which you know is none of your own 2 And they said to them, even as Jesus had ordered. We méan no injury to you, or to the colt; but Jesus, the Messenger of the blessed God, the great Lord and Proprietor of all, has need of him, and would borrow him for a little while to ride into the city; and his character is too well known to give you any reason to fear you shall lose ; any thing by your readiness to accommodate him in this little instance. were thoroughly satisfied, and let them go away with it.d ." .4nd thus they brought the colt to Jesus, and the ass its dam went with it: and, as they had neither of them any saddle, they threw their loose mantles upon the backs of them both, that Jesus might take his choice which he would ride, and might sit the more easily and decently on either: and as he chose the colt, though (as was just now said) it had never been broke or backed before, they set Jesus thereon.” - ...And many, ſeven] a very great multitude, who now surrounded him as he sat on the young ass,ſ ſº went on to the city, in token of their respect to him, spread their mantles in the way, that he might ride as upon one continued carpet; and others cut down little branches gathered flowers which grew near it, and strewed them in the way; according to the usual custom of expressing the public joy on the arrival of any illustrious prince. (Compare 1 Mac. xiii. 51. and 2 Mac. x. 7.) .Wow all this was done and permitted by Jesus, that what was prophesied of old concern- ing the Messiah might be fulfilled in him; and that by this occurrence it might be lite- rally accomplished which was spoken by the prophet Zechariah,” saying, (as it is written, Zech. ix. 9.) “Say ye to the daughter of Zion, rejoice greatly and shout, O daughter or inhabitant of Jerusalem, and fear not any of thine enemies: for behold, with pleasing amazement, thy King, the great expected Messiah, cometh wnto thee, meek and having sal- .#nd on this they vation; and, in token of the gentleness of his administration, and his strict observance of the divine law, he shall make his public entrance into thy city, not as other princes affect he time appointed for . John xii. 12–19 MATT. xxi. 1. AND [LUKE, it came to H. [John, on the next day, when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage [and Bethany.) unto the Mount o lives then sent jesus two [of hisj isciples, [Mark Xi. 1. Luke Xix. 29. John xii. 12.] 2 Saying, unto them, Go [your wayl into the village Over , against you ; an straight way [as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt (tied] with her,[whereon never man LUKE, yet] sat:) loose [him.) and bring [Ligº, him hither] unto me. [Mark xi. 2. Luke xix. 30.] 3 And if any man say unto you, [[UKE, Why do ye loose him 3) ye shall säy, [LUKE, thus unto him, Be- cause the Lord hath need of him :] and straightway he will send [him hither.] [Mark Xi. 3. Luke xix, 31. Mark xi. 4. And [the disci- ples] [I, UKE, that were sent Yent their way, , and foun [LUKE, even as he had said unto, them, the colt tied by the door without, in a place where, two ways met: and they loose him, (as Jesus commanded them.] [Matt. xxi. 6. Luke xix. 32.] - uke xix. 33. And as they were loosing the colt, [cer- tain of them that stood there, the owners thereof, said unto them, [What do yo Why loose ye the colt 2 [Mark xi. Mark xi. 6. And they said unto them, even as Jesus had commanded, [The Lord hath need of him :] and they let them go. [Luke xix. 34.] And they brought the colt [and the ass] to Jesus, and cast their garments [on them ;], [LUKE, and they set Jesus thercon.] [Matt. xxi. 7. Luke Xix. 35.] 8 And many; [even a very great multitude. [LUKE, as he [Jo HN, sat on the young ass, and went on,] spread their garments in the way : and others cut down branches [Trom]off the trees, and straw- ed them in the way... [Matt. xxi. 8. Luke xix. 36. John xii. 4. Matt. xxi. 4. . All this was done, that it might be fulfil- led which was spoken by the prophet, saying, [as it is writ- ten,) [John xii. 14.] 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, [Fear uot;] behold, thy king cometh unto thce, meek, a Were corne to Bethphage and Bethany.] As Bethany was the town both to Jesus, and putting on them their clothes (though it be spoken in the plural number,) impi and setting him thcreon, tes no more than setting from which our Lord set out, some have supposed there were two inlaces of this name; of which the one was fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, (as it is said, John xi. 18.) and the other that he now was come to, joined to the mount of Olives, and was but a sabbath-day’s journey, or but eight furlongs, distant from the city. . (Compare Luke xxiv. 50. and Acts i. 12.) But it is hardly probable there were two places of the same manue within a mile of each other; and it is much more natural to suppose that the ſimits of Bethany might gxtend to the mount of Olives, and be contiguous to the boundaries of Iłethphage, which was part, of the suburbs of Jerusalem, and reached from the mount of Qlives to the walls of the city. See Lightfoot, Harm. JY.T. § 72, and Whitby on Mark Xi. J. b Just as he had said unto them.] The exact knowledge which of r Lord showed of so many minute and most fortuitous particulars, must Surely impress the minds of these messengers greatly, and establish the faith of his followers. It is observable that many such things occurred a little before his death, which, considered in this view, have a peculiar beauty. gºmpare Matt. xxvi. 31–35. Mark xiv. 15, 16. and Luke xxii. 1; * - X c. [...ffectually to prevent any clamour or reflection.] I’erhaps, had not the owners of the beasts happened to be by, and had not, Luke expressly mentioned them, the phalicé of ancient or modern infidels youkl have found some occasion for raising an outcry on the ambiguity of the words ºfºe Yord has need of him. . Its being a weak and contemptible aii would not have prevented their using it, as we learn by abundant ex- 1G. :) Cº. 62. - - pºi g hey let then go..] If these people were not (as they possibly, might be) the acquaintince of Christ, they might gasily meet with him at j.fusājem, if they had a mind to inquire after the ass and colt; or, they might be left, according to their direction, at Somº house in the city: or be sent back by some of our Lord’s attendant; ; though the evangelists do not dº to such minute particulars. There is no appearance of Christ’s intending to show his sº in transferring the ºpe; ºf these creatures; and though, no doubt, he had a Power. to do, it; his usual prudence would #. y †ect him to wave it at a time when so 11:11) W eyes Were UlDOn F11 In 10ſ e.Vll: * *};.. º As all the evangelists but Alatthew speak express; of his riding on the colt, what Matthew says of bringing them {}— him upon the mantles thrown on that which he made choice of, and is mo intimation of his riding upon both. Jäs he sat on the young ass.) John says, that Jests, ºrhen he had ſound a young ass, sat thereon : but as the larget accounts given by the other evangelicts in a great measure supersoſie this, I could only bring in a part of that clause here ; though in the whole of this work I am as care- ful as possible to omit no one circumstance that any of the sacred writers IłłC Ilf ()!). g It might be litera!!y accomplished achich tras smoken, &c.] I shall not enter on a particular detail of the reasons which induce ing to believe that the prophecy of Zechariah is liere quoted according to its primary and literal sense ; but confont myself with reſerving the reader to Bishop- Chandler’s Déſence of Christianity, p. 102–107. and Mr. Butlock’s P'indication, p. 175, 176. - - h, His strict observance of the divine ſaw.j . The earned and ingeniors Bishop Sherfock has set this fact in a most just, and beautiful light, in his Fourth Dissertation annexed to the last edition of his Piscourse gºt Prophecy God, that he might keep the people of Israel in a more sen- sible dependence on himself, forbade the use of that strong, generous, and majestic animal, the horse, (Job xxxix. J.9—25.). in their armies; as also of chariots, Deut. xyii. 16. (Coºpære Josh. xi. G. Judges v. 15.) David therefore, who rode himself. on à ninje, and ordered Solomon to do so on his coronation-day, (1 Kings is 33, 34.) burnt thc chariots he took from the enemies, and ham-strung their hºes to make them unfit for war. (3 Sam. viii. 4.) And afterwards, when Solomon, (1 Kings iv. 23.) and succeeding princes multiplied horses, they were rebuked by the rophets, and chastised by God for it. (See Isa. ii., 6, 7. xxxi. 1; and }. xiv. 3.) And the removal of them is spoken ºf as matteſ of pro- mise in the days of the Messiah, Hos. i. 7... Mic...v. 10, 11...and Zech., ix. I0,--It is thoréforo with great propriety that Christ, in his most public triumph, chose, according to the prophecy before us, to ride 9m an ass. ~Nor are we to imagine there was any thing, mean and ridiculous in it; for the Éastern asses are a much larger aſid more beautiful animal than ours, and it plainly appears the patriarchs and judges of the Jewish nation thought it no disgrace to ride upon them 3 of which Abraham, (Gen. xxii. 3.) Moses, (Exod. iv. 20.) and Jair’s family, (Judges x. CHRIST RIDES IN TRIUMPH TO JERUSALEM. 255 sitti d to appear, in a proud triumphal chariot, or riding on a stately managed horse, decked SECT. § §..s.º. .*.*..., .# splendid º and attended with a pompous cavalcade; but he 146. X11, shall appear like one of thine ancient patriarchs or judges, in the earliest and best ages of thy commonwealth, sitting upon an ass; yea he shall come upon a colt, the ſ”. of an ass, *::::: º though it had never been backed before, shall in his miraculous hands be tractable 5 and gentle.” - * John. xii.16, These things Now it is to be observed, that his apostles and other disciples did not understand these join hº things at first, nor recollect the correspondence between the preceding prºphecy and the 16* glorified, then membered event: but when Jesus was raised from the dead, and glorſed at the right hand of the § #.;; Y; Father, from whence he sent down his Spirit, to instruct them in the mysteries of his word had done these things unto and kingdom, then they remembered that these things were written concerning him as the IIº. Messiah; and [that] they had done these things unio him without any designed reference to the prophecy, which, at the time of its accomplishment, they did not so much as think of. Luke xix. 37, And when And when he was come nigh to the city, [and was] now at the lower part of the descent sº ºść... of the mount of Olives . lay, as was said before, to the east of Jerusalem, and was “” at the descent of the mount > * * 2 * - JOHN of Olives, but a few furlongs from it, 4 great multitude of people, who were come from Galilee and ''. dº...º.º. other parts to celebrate the feast of the passover, Juaving heard, by some who had run 1: when...hº...hº...sus before the rest of the company, that Jesus was coming in this solemn pomp to Jerusalem, is "#%;i,j.ºlm- immediately resolved to go and usher him in with all possible respect: And accordingly ; : Wºłłº they took branches of palm-trees, which were commonly carried before those who rode in him, and cried, HQsanna,' w º - º, * * : f & r bjessed is the King offsrael, public triumph, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna! May, God save and #1.” " " "** prosper himſi Blessed [be] the King of Israel, who comes in the name and by the autho- rity of the Lord our God, to redeem us, and to rule over us. (Compare Psal. cxviii. - 25. 26. w.º.º.º.º. § as he rode along in all this pomp, the people who were with himk when he called 17 jºy. Lazarus out of his grave, and by that almighty voice raised him from the dead, among whom, º, from the dead, he had lain part of four days, testified [it] to the strangers who were come up out of the country, and told them what a glorious miracle they had been eye-witnesses to. 18 For this cause the people [And] for this cause among others, and indeed with a peculiar regard to this, the people 18 jº,"; also met him from the city in the manner which has been described above, because they miracle. heard that he had done this astonishing miracle, which, in some circumstances, exceeded any which he had wrought before. Luke xix. 37. [And] the . .4nd the whole multitude of the disciples that had attended him from Bethany, both they tº .*.*.*.*.*... that went before him, and they that followed after, in his triumphal procession began sº ples [that went before, and gº tº ... • :--> e 3 * * º, greatly to rejoice, and to praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works and glorious {...}}...it'. §§ miracles which they had seem performed by him on a great variety of occasions, and which tº ſº.;" they now particularly called to mind. . [And] as they now were met by a vast concourse 38 3S ſand cried.j saying, ths. of people from Jerusalem, they joined together in their triumphs and congratulations, and jºi...º.º. cried with all their might, saying, “Hosanna to the great illustrious Son of David, who Hººhºº.º. now vouchsafes to make his public appearance among us! Blessed be he, ſeven] the long- ... "...; *...*h." ... expected King and Sovereign of God's people, who now comes to us in the name of the [Matt. xxi. 9. Mark Xi. 9..] Lord 1 Ma i. most exalted honours be paid to him! May continued prosperity attend him! Let there be peace in heaven, and a rich variety of divine favours be dispensed from - thence; and in return for them, let glory be given to God in the most exalted strains, and tº.º.º.º.º let all the highest orders of angels join in his praises! Blessed and prosperous be the sacred MARK ingdom of our father David, ... * ... Y. A - l -- * e ; al-, - XI. ºth in the name of kingdom of our father David I May it speedily be established, and may it long flourish; 10 #"iyºgº " even that kingdom which is not gained by the alarms of war, and garments rolled in blood, rº but which comes in the name % fe Lord, and renders itself, by that powerful influence on men's spirits which we now feel, victorious over whatsoever would oppose it! Hosanna, therefore, in the highest strains! Repeat again and again your songs and your congratula- tions.” Thus they expressed their joyful and ..". expectations of his assuming the royal dignity, and vindicating Israel from the Roman oppression; and, imboldened by the display of his power in the resurrection of Lazarus, they feared not the resentment of their present masters, for declaring themselves thus openly in his favour. tº...ho...ºf flnd some of the proud and envious Pharisees, who were among the multitude as spies Luka he Pharisees from among the o “. 5 c * * juſtitude said unto him, rather than friends, were much offended at the high honours that were paid to Jesus, and XIX. **** maliciously said to him, with an intent to embarrass and expose him, Master, canst thou 89 be ...} with all this noise 2 or can it be consistent with thy great humility to suffer it? Why dost thou not rebuke thy disciples for such dangerous acclamations as these ? Dost thou intend to give encouragement to such seditious speeches, and to stand by the conse- quences which may follow them P $º And, he answer; and And Jesus, who was now determined to lay aside that reserve which for wise reasons he 4G said unto them, I tell you tºtif.sºlāhºlid; had formerly used, answered and said unto them, I tell jou, that the reason for these accla- ::::::::::::::::::: would in-mations is so plain, and the evidences of it so strong, that it must be great stupidity not * to see, and great obstinacy not to own it; so that if these should be silent, one might aſmost expect that the very stones should immediately cry out to proclaim my kingdom; yea, God would even animate the stones on such an occasion, rather than he would suffer me to want this triumph, so evidently marked out by his prophets. John xii. 19, The Pharisees The Pharisees then, turning from him with envy and rage, said to each other, Perceive John §§..."; i.e. ye not that you gain no manner of advantage by all your consultations, and the decrees of ...xii, prevail nothing? Šišić. th: your Sanhedrim P. Behold, the whole world is gone qfter him, till he has now thrown off world is gone after him. the mask, and taken upon him to declare his pretences; which, if the people thus fall in with them, must necessarily end in our ruin, and perhaps in that of the whole nation. *ſe instances. Nay, magistrates are spoken of by the general description need to be informed that the Hebrew word Hosanna signifies, Save, we g; those that rode on phite asses, Judges v. 10. (Compare Numb. xxii. beseech thee. 21, 2 Sam. Xvi. 2. xvii. 23.xix. 26.) So that all the ridicule, which has k JVovc the people who were with him.] . It is impossible that their not fallen on this passage must, to speak with all possible charity, be retorted undºstºnia; tº prophecy of Zechariah now, or recollecting it after- on the ignorance of those who have taken upon them to ceasure what Yards, (which are the things mentioned in the preceding verse, John xii. they did not understand. - 16.) should be the reason of what follows here. It appears then from i Hosanna! May God save and prosper him :) I suppose few readers hence, (and it is very material to observe it,) thatovy [therefore] is some- 256 CHRIST'S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. *r. IMPROVEMENT. sECT. LET us behold this meek triumph of the great Redeemer with pleasure | He entered the capital of his kingdom 146. riding upon an ass; a circumstance in which he made, though by no means a ridiculous, yet to be sure a very humble figure; yea, he appeared exactly as the prophet described him, upgn a colt, the foal of an ass—not yet John grown up to its best form, nor adorned With any sumptuous or elegant, furniture, but only covered with the XII, mantles of his }. attendants, and perhaps with nothing better for a bridle than a cord which might have tied 14 the foal at the door. Let us imagine that we saw the Son of God, and the King of Israel, thus proceeding towards J erusalem, and 13 the people meeting him, and surrounding him with their acclamations: Hosanna! Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Do not our hearts $pring at the sound 2 Do we not, as it were in spirit, go forth with MARK them, and join in their sublime th9ugh simple song? Thus let us welcome him into our hearts! Let us echo it *10 back!, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, with divine authority, and divine blessings in his hands ! And blessed be the kingdom he hath erected May perpetual prosperity attend it! May the north give up a swarm of subjects to it, and may not the south keep back her swarthy sons: May nations be born at once, and ºf thousands together made willing in the day of his power! Surely if these are not our affectionate wishes, the warm *io and zealous sentiments of our very hearts, it may almost be expected that the Very stones should cry out, to accuse and condemn our ungrateful stupidity. º Unhappy Pharisees, who looked on these triumphs with envy and rage, and grieved that the world was gome 19 gſter him! Yet less unhappy, had they not renewed their attempts against him, those fatal attempts which ended in their ruin! But who that had seen the prºcession, and heard the shouts of the transported multitude, could have imagined or believed, that before the end of the week they should have turned their voices against him, and instead of Hosanna, should have cried out, Crucify him? Yet so it was and Christ knew. would be so. Such is the unçertainty of popular applause ! Who would then purchase it at the expense of his conscience, or even of his ease : * ... These transports were raised by the hopes of a temporal kingdom; and when those hopes were disappointed, *In these transports were turned into rage. Oh that there may be none, under all the engagements of a christian, and even of a ministerial profession, who proclaim Christ with great appearances of zeal, only that they may exalt themselves; and wish prosperity to his kingdom, only as it may promote their own interest in a world from which it was the great design of his death to redeem his servants. SECTION CXLVII. * ins wept over Jerusalem, enters into it, ºpd Yindicates the femple a second time from the profanation of the traders. Matt. xxi. 10– Christ, having wep y 'i Mark Xi. 11. Luke xix. 41, to the end. LUKE xix. 41. LUKE xix. 41. *94. THUS Our Lord went on in his triumphant progress toward Jerusalem; and when he was AND . . was come 147 come near it, and had now the view of it before him, (the place where he was command. ºld the city, and ing an extensive prospect of it) beholding the city in all its present beauty and #% and *** considering the calamities which would shortly be its ruin, he tenderly wept over it, Saying, 42 saying, if thou hadst *42 Oh that thou hadst known,” even thou, unhappy city, which art now on the very point of ;º. §§#} being devoted to final destruction! ... Oh that at length, though with the greatest obstinacy iºnºunº’ī; ; ; ; thou hast despised the messages of all thy prophets, thou hadst but known and seriously ſº they are hid from thine regarded, at least in this thy latest day and opportunity of grace, the important things which belong to thy peace, and on which thy final happiness. depends ! But now, alas, they are hid from thing eyes, and God will leave, thee, in his righteous judgment, to this affected 43 ignorance and obstinate perverseness, till it end in thiné utter ruin. For the time hastens 43 For thºshall come on, and in a little while the days shall come upon thee, when thou shalt suffer all the hard- ºn º: ships of the closest siege, and thine enemies s draw a trench about thee, and compass thee §º. º ind round, and press thee in on every side,b so that with all thy numerous inhabitants thou “P y Slde, 44 neither shalt be able to resist nor to escape them: And they shall level thee with the ground wº. º, º 9n which thou standest, and crush thy children within thee under thy ruins; and shall not ºft;"h; ; leave so much as one stone upon another in thce of all thy splendid and sacred structures: §º, hº and all these terrible calamities shall overwhelm thee because thou didst not know and con- #.; . not the sider the appointed season of thy merciful visitation, nor attend to those overtures of grace “of” ** * which I have so often made in person to thee, and have still urged with so much serious- ness and tenderness. g * & & g $: ATT. .And Jesus entered into Jerusalem with great solemnity, amidst the joyful acclamations ºft ñº, jº ; *10 of the people; and as he made his entrance in such a public and remarkable way, the whole 㺠º: 10 city was in a great commotion at so uncommon an appearance, saying. Who is this that jº º, who * g & s * . * 'atulations 2 And the multi- "ii"And'ºï, said, II comes in all this pomp, and is attended with these high congrat his is Jesus, the Prophet, of tude that came with him, said, This is Jesus the great Prophet, who is of Wazareth in º.º.º. Galilee, even he that is so celebrated all over the country for the fame of his doctrine and miracles. tº • v -, -, + = 12 Jìnd Jesus, having come into the city by the eastern gate, alighted from the colt, and º; on f dir-c into the templ God, whither the people followed him; and when he had jº. ; ift, .###! observation jºi things there,e as he perceived those all things.j [Luke, began to times used in a looser sense, so as to answer to and or now in our lam– furlongs in circumference, yith thirteen castles in its circuit; and }. this 3 S means all hope was cut off that any of the Jews within the city should guage. - s º * s ſº -- * # Jud. lib. v. cap. 12.. [al. 13.] § 1, 2.)—He also tells us f hadst k sº fe have observed else- escape, , (Bell. Jud, lib. v. cap. ; 3. & º 3. i. % º: *.. fº, It ài º: §: jº. et is sometimes that when Titus had taken the city, and, contrary to his will, the ; * . º an ardeni rish, łº Numb. xxii. 29. and Josh. vii. . º Yº, fire, ºciº ºß º: seſ - --> & . 2 : ‘y - ſº sº. * sº # * * - 3.11 the Clty O Ye !] & Ul y - - y fit."º. º;;...";"; ºfººd&# 3; º,; sº º - - 3. º,...}.” b - ". - and grandeur : . (Bell. Juſt. 110. , VII. Cap. 1., Lal. 18. º > ;º. .."*:::::, §º ***"...i wards * whole §as : º º ###".; ãº, º iſe - * * * * ~ * ~ * • *-*. £ wpon amotney: ; as Socrates relates, 141st. *.**** * * * *. a cºty a - y § *: #:#;";º: §. accomplishment of every §: this º ºº, wº. #. help the sense; as I think it would do in most of the passages F. .# $9. jºin ºl. §º. d #. perusal of it which i...} :::::: jº º *g §gº; yº º mances ºff: as an opportunity of reading it. s . S I, Hºllie Il SCT!pt, VOL. I. D. 11. * - ey e - of a }; ºil-c; the ſound, jº Josephus says ; hi When he # gº: º: §§ §nſ; ſº, º * ex- t and almost impracticable this expression o t. Aylark, sus, w y º pressly, that though it was thought 3, great & -> & is soldie - of his public entry, took particular notice of all things there; ith a wall, yet. Titus animating his soldiers the day of his public entry - * *** * * * > y yº, # § surroundéâ it with a jail of thirty-nine which it is hardly probable that he would do without reforming tſie abuses CHRIST DRIVES OUT THE BUYERS AND SELLERS FROM THE TEMPLE. cast out all them that sold, and [LUKE, them that] bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money- changers, and the seats of them that sold doves: [Mark xi. 11. Luke xix. 45.] º were again renewed which he had formerly so solemnly chastised soon after he entered on his public ministry, he began with a holy indignation to animadvert upon them, as he had done three years before, and to drive out all them that sold and bought in the outer court of the temple, which was appointed for the Gentile proselytes to Worship in, but was made use of by the Jews as if it were a common market-place; and with an irre; - sistible authority he overthrew the tables of the exchangers of foreign money into the current coin, which those that came from distant parts might want to offer for the service of the sanctuary, (see Exod. xxx. 13, 14.) and likewise overturned the seats of them that sold dºves . 13 And said unto them, It is written, My house [is andl shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a.den of thieves. [Luke xix. 46.] the house of God, and shamefully pervert the use for which it was designed; for it is writ- tem, (Isa. lvi. 7.) “My house shall be called an house of prayer for all people, to which they shall resort for the performance of religious worship” but you have turned it into an house of merchandise, and made it (as the prophet speaks, Jer. vii. 11.) a den of robbers,” a place where traffic is carried on by persons of the most infamous character, who live by deceit and oppression, and practise the vilest extortion even in the house of the righteous and blessed God. (Compare John ii. 14—16. sect. xxi. and Mark xi. 15, 17. sect, cl.) 14 And the blind and the º ...; ººm- the city but they immediately desired to be led to the place where he was ; and they came 2 to him in the temple, and he graciously healed them in the presence of all the people. J5 . Yºº the thiſ But when the chief priests and scribes beheld the wonders he º: Oſ. Rºjº.º.º. ºf the very children wéré crying out in the temple, and continued the song which the multi- t; º º, ". #: tude had begun, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of Davidſ with joyful acclamations we Ç • y Say * , If OS 8. e ** - * - - & - - -- §"; º; congratulate his coming, and bid him welcome into the city of his royal father!” instead wgre sore displeased, - * And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, ea: have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast-per- fected praise 2 said to him, Dost thow hear what these children say? and judge it proper to encourage these unthinking creatures in such language as this? .4nd Jesus says unto them, Yes, I am sensible enough of what they say, nor is it needful or fit, I should reprove them for it. Are you unacquainted with the Scriptures; you that would have the people to regard you as the great teachers of the law 2 of have you never read what David says, (Psal. viii. 2.) “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained that strength whereby thout hast perfected thine own praise, by the weakness of the instruments made use of in thy service?”é You cannot but have read it, and I assure you, that as God in many instances has used, and in a little while will eminently use, some of the weakest and meanest of mankind to accomplish his great and glorious purposes, so this event is a most signal illustration of those words; and it is by a secret influence of God on the minds of these little ones, that they are led, as it were, to upbraid your silence and insensibility, by so remarkable and suitable an exclamation. ..And thus he was till the time of the passover, which was celebrated within five days after this,h teaching daily in the temple: but the chief priests and the scribes, and others of the rulers of the people, who had before decreed his death, according to the resolution which the Sanhedrim had come to by the advice of Caiaphas, (John xi. 53. sect. cxli.) were still contriving how they might execute their horrid design, and diligently sought an oppor- Luke , xix. 47. And he taught daily. in the temple. But the chief priests and the Scribes, and the chief of the people, sought to destroy him; 48 And could not find what they might do : for all the people were very attentive to hear him. out what they might do for that purpose, or what safe method they might take to seize him: for all the common people }. to him with so great attention and pleasure, that they hung, as it were, on his lips while he spake, and pressed upon each other for an opportunity of hearing him. The magistrates therefore feared lest the populace should tümultuously rise in his defence, if they offered any public violence to him, and that thus they might endanger themselves while they sought to destroy Jesus. -- - MIPROVEMENT. Next to the sight of a bleeding and dying Redeemer, there can surely be none in the whole world more affect- ing than this which is here represented, even the Son of God weeping over perishing sinners, yea, over the sinners of Jerusalem. We might perhaps have been ready to think, that, foreseeing so circumstantially as we know he did, all the ungrateful and inhuman treatment he was to meet with in this nest of murderers, with the scene of his sufferings, and the very house of Caiaphas in his full view, he should rather have taken up a proverb againstit, and have anticipated the triumphs of that awful day when God would plead his cause with irresistible terror, and avenge the quarrel of his sacred blood. But, behold, he seems to forget himself and all his wrongs, great and cruel as they were, and, in the midst of a procession intended for his honour, he melts into tears, as if it were for the calamity of a friend or a brother, and says, in the most genuine language of undissembled grief, Oh that thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace / 257 SECT. 147. MATT. XXI. 12 for sacrifices. ..And he said to them as he turned them out, Such practices as these profane 13 ...And there were many of the blind and lame,f who had no sooner heard of his arrival in 14 observed how 15 of being open to conviction, they were filled with indignation and resentment: And they 16 LUKE, XIX. tunity to destroy him : But they knew not how to effect it, and could not immediately find 48 with , which the Jews so shamefully profaned it; and Matthew so ex- be such a vast concourse of people: and there seems a peculiar propriety pressly joins his driving out the traders with the transactions of this day, in our Lord’s multiplying these astonishing miracles, § to §§ that howsoever it appears from several instances that the evangelists are the extraordinary act of apthority he had just been performing, and to not always exact in observing the order of time, it is highly reasonable make this his last visit to Jerusalem as convincing as possible, that those who would nºt submit to him might be lºft so much the more inexcusable. to suppose that Jesus purged the temple on this day. Yet it appears so - * - 3. o ordain strength, which is the evident from Mark’s account (ver. 12–17.) that the traders were driven g * ut of the mouth of babes, &c. out on the next day, when Christ returned from Bethany to the temple, phrase the Psalmist uses in the passage here referred to, was in effect (as after he inad cursed the fig-tree, that I cannot but suppose, with Mr. \\'histon, (in his View of the Harmony, p. 130, 131.) that this occurrence happened upices and therefore I have only given here what Matthew and Luke relate of this matter, reserving Mark’s ageount to the next day : (see Ś 150. note a, on Mark xi. 15.5 though, after all, , I dare not be confident in a case where the greatest critics are so much divided in their sentiments. d'As he had done three years before.] I see no reason to wonder at the repetition of such an āction, as this, or to imagine that John would have placed this story so early in his history as he does, if it had not happened then as well as now. (See John ii. 14–16. p. 55.)—Some have observed a greater severity in our lord’s treatment of those that sold doves now than before, as he now overthrew their seats, whereas he for- :merly contented himself with ordering the owners to take them away; (John ii. 16.) but I will not answer for the solidity of the remark. e i dom of robbers.] Bishop Smallbroke well observes, (in his Answer to Wooslton, vol. i. p. 168.) that our Lord in this expſCŞsion Seems to allude to the custom which robbers in these parts had of sheltering them- selves in dens and caves in the wilderness, where great multitudes of then, often joined in sharing their plunder. * . º. º. f The blind and lame.] Many such would, no doubt, be waiting in the several avenues of the temple, to ask alms at a time when there would sº wº the Seventy render it) to perfect praise; so that there is no need to be solicitous about that little variation in the quotation.--This general ob- servation of David was greatly iſºl by the Hosannas of these children; and yet much more by the triumph of the apostles, weak as in many, respects they were, over all the opposition of Jews and Gentiles. h Celebrated within five days after this.]...This was the first day of the week, or our Lord’s day; in commemoration of which Palm-Sunday was long ago denominated, and as ceremonies increased, was particularly observed. The passover was celebrated by Christ on the Thursday might following, and he was crucified on Friday. Some transactions of each intervening day are marked in the following history. . . s i They hung as it were on his lips while he spake.] This is the literal import of effexpeparo avrò aksaov. To render it, (as in a late version,) The populace weere strongly attached to his doctrinc, is far from expressing the f{} Sel] Se. - - - - - k House of Caiaphas in his full view.) If we may credit the best ac- counts of Jerusalem which remain, this was exactly the case.—I cannot ſorbear referring my reader to Mr. Howe’s excellent treatise, entitled, 'he Redeemer’s Tears inept over lost Souls; in which, as in most of his practical works, there are such sublime and pathetic strokes of j manly, and christian eloquence, as do a great honour to tho language an ago in which they were written. Ver.4.1 eX d 258 CERTAIN GREEKS INTRODUCED TO CHRIST. sEcT, . Behold, O our souls, with wonder and with awe, at once the goodness and severity of God! (Rom. xi. 22.) The 147 sinners of Jerusalem wept over, and yet abandoned to ruin! We have our part in all this: the tidings of the gospel are the things which belong to our peace, the things on which our everlasting happiness depends. Let us Luke remember that the time will come in which, if we do not attend to them, they will be i. from our eyes. There xix., is a limited day of mercy and grace; and therefore to-day, while it is called to-day, let us hear his voice, and not - 42 harden our hearts, (Heb. iii. 15.) lest slighted mercy at length retire, and vengeance take its turn; a vengeance which will fall the heavier, and pierce the deeper, in proportion to all the long-suffering and goodness which have been exercised towards us in vain. Let all, and especially the ministers of Christ, learn compassion to souls by such an example; and when the strongest efforts of love prove ineffectual for their recovery, let us at least be mourning for them before the Lord, .# weeping over the ruin which we cannot prevent. * MATT. Though Christ had cleared the temple from the profanations of these traders at the beginning of his ministry, he *is found the same pollutions returned at the close of it. And, alas, how often do we find it thus with respect to our hearts! How soon do those weeds spring up again which we had been endeavouring with a resolute hand to root up; and how often are efforts for reformation forgotten, even when the attempt appeared at first to be most neces- sary! Let us learn of Christ not to be weary of well-doing, but with continued zeal renew our endeavours again àIl Cl a Q'a IIl. 15 § scribes and Pharisees envied Christ, but the children surrounded him with their Hosannas; and he gra- 16 ciously accepts their feeble accents of praise, as ordained by God out of the mouth of babes and sucklings. Nor will he now despise the day of small things. Oh that we might have the pleasure to see little children pronounc- ing the name of Christ with reverence and love! And surely we who are parents must add, with a peculiar accent, Oh that our own may join in the choirſ May they learn the song from our lips; and may our whole lives be one continued visible proof of the devotion and affection with which we present itſ Amen. SECTION CXLVIII. Some Greeks that came to celebrate the passover at Jerusalem are introduced to Christ, who enters on an excellent discourse particularly suited to their circumstances : and retires in the evening to Bethany. John Xii. 20–36. Matt. xxi. 17. Mark xi. 11. - John xii. 20. John xii. 20. sECT. AND among those that came up to Jerusalem from different countries to worship at the éº, thº. Yeºjeº •. reeks among them that 148. feast, there were some Greeks, or persons who were descended from Grecian parents, and ºup "ºrs;"at #. used that language, but had forsaken the idolatry of their ancestors, and devoted themselves * - ſoºn to the God of Israel:” These therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida, a city of lºgº " ***, Galilee, and asked it as a favour of him to introduce them to his Mäster, saying, in a very jiāº;" §:..."; respectful manner, Sir, we earnestly desire to see and hear this Jesus of Nazareth, of whom ºf sºns, sir, we would we have been told such extraordinary things, and who has now been received into the city - with such unusual regard. 22 Upon this Philip comes and tells what their request was to Andrew, who likewise was º.º.º.º. of Bethsaida, .*.*.*. acquainted with Christ; (John i. 40, 44. sect. xxi. xxii.) lºſiºu." and then Andrew and Philip, having agreed upon it, went and told Jesus that some Greeks who were come to the feast desired admittance to him. 23 J1nd Jesus immediately ordered them to be brought to him; and as they were approach- , 23 And, Jesus, answered ing him, he answered them, saying,” At length the hour is come, and the appointed time is º; jºi,". "... just at hand, that the Son of man must be glorified; and I would have you look on the should be glorified: 24 approach of these Greeks as an earnest of the flowing in of all the Gentiles to me. But . Y. g.º.º. wonder not if my death is to precede it; for verily, verily, I say unto you, and assure you. Wiśliº ºft of it as a most solemn and important truth, That unless a grain of whéat fall to the ground ... º. *ś and die and waste away there, it remains single and alone, but if it seem to die and wither much fruit.” o after it is sown, such is the principle of vegetation which it contains, that a new produc- tion of the like kind arises, and it brings forth much fruit. And so it is that I myself shałł fall, and a new scene be opened, in which my kingdom shall seem to be utterly lost and * yet, like the spring corn, it shall assuredly revive, and appear beautiful and fruitful. - . 25 . But in the mean time, such difficulties are also to be expected by my faithful servants, nº hºlºh is . that it is but fit I should inform these strangers of what I have once and again told you, iº" is iſ ºw; that he who loves his own life too well to part with it for my sake, shall lose it, and expose shall keep it untoliſe eternal. himself to death in the worst and most dreadful sense of the word; but he that acts as if he hates his life in this world, by exposing it to the greatest dangers in the cause of my ospel, shall preserve it even to everlasting life, and secure a state of immortal glory and happiness. (&ºr;, Matt. x. 39. sect. lxxvi. Mark viii. 35. sect. lxxxix. and Luke xvii. 26 33 sect. cxxviii.) If any man therefore would engage to serve me as one ºf my loyal lºº, people, let him resolve to follow me whithersoever I shall lead him, whatever dangers and ##"ºil"..."; difficulties may lie in the way: and let him know, for his encouragement, that where I am, Yahºº: º, - 5 sº --. 5 me, him will any Father or where I shortly am to take up mine abode, there shall also my faithful servant be; for honour. - I will assign him an inheritance in that blessed world where I am for ever to rest and reign after all the sufferings I have endured here: and I assure you that, among all that follow me, if any man, of whatever nation he be, or whatever his religious profession may before have been, will faithfully serve me here," him will [my] Father also honour, and confer such rich rewards upon him as to make him for ever both great and happy. a Some Grecks—who had devoted themselves to the God of Israel.] It law; (compare Acts. ii. 5. viii. 27. xiii. 43.) Yet I will not venture is strange that such learned critics as isaac Vossius and Šálmasius should confidently to affirm it. - - P imagine these worshippers to have been idolatrous Gentiles. Dr. Whitby | #ethsºida ºf Galilée.] This town lay on, the borders of Syro- hop- and several other considerable writers have indeed thought that they were nicia, from whence (as Grotius thinks) these Greeks might gome: so that such as are commonly called proselytes of the gate, that is, (as most they might perhaps be acquainted with Philip as a neighbor; or other- readers well know,) persons who, having renounced idolatry, and being wise we cannot say why this circumstance relating to him is here, men- worshippers of the § of Israel, might, according to the law of Moses, tioned.—The learned Reland argues that there Yºre two Bethsaidas, of be permitted to dwell in Judea, and to converse among the J º which this isy most to the north. See Reland, Palesting, p. 653: - not with entire freedom. And it has likewise been thought... that the c jesus answered them, saying.] The phrase hære intºtes the suit. regard which Jesus showed to such, in vindicating the court of the Gen- abic mess of the following discourse to this particular occasiºn, º, attend- tilés (where they assembled for religious wºrship) from the contemptu- ing to which, many of the beauties ºf it will be discovered. Our Lord 3 is profanations of the Jews, (Matt. XXi. 12, 13. p. 257.) might dispose might perhaps enlarge on some of these hints; and, if his hearers took & these pious persons to address themselves to him.—But their attending due notice of them, and made a º. report on their return home, it at the passover leads me rather, to imagine (with Arndius, JMiscel. Sac. might prepare the . for the apostles, when they came by their preach- p. 6.) º they were what the rabbies now call proselytes of righteousness, ing more É to unfold and illustrate these important goetrimes...; that is, such as by circumcision obliged themselves to observe the whole if any man serve me..] Our Lord, by this indefinita expression, (ºf IRISA's Discº URS1. TO THE GREEK:8. 259 27 Now is my soul trous Having said this, our Lord paused for a while, and entered on a deep contemplation of SECT. º, ºf the very different views of things which lay before him. And then he added aloud, Wow 14s. figuº, but fºr this cause is my very soul distressed and troubled in an affecting view of my approaching sufferings; T. came I unto this hour. and what shall Isay? What petition shall I offer to God on this occasion ? Shall I say, John Father, save me from this dreadful hour, and from all the agonies which I am to endure in axiſ" the gloomy season before me?” Nay, but for this cause was I born into the world, and for this end I came even to this present hour, that I might bear the sufferings on which I am entering, and might redeem my people by them. And far be it from me to draw back 28. Father, glorify thy from such engagements and undertakings: I will therefore much rather say, Father, glorify 28 Il{LIIl C.- thine own name, and dispose of me and all my concerns in such a way as may most effec- tº: that great end. —Then came there a voice Then, at that .*. instant, while he was speaking, there came a voice from heaven [which §º ºff said.]. I have both already glorified [it] by the ; of thy ministry thus far; and I will giotify "again.” glorify [it] yet again in a more signal manner by what further remains before thee. 29 The people, therefore we multitude therefore who stood by and heard ...] though not all in a manner equally 29 that stood by and heard it, und; and some among them said that it #####"...º.º distinct, were perfectly astonished at the awful so * said, An angeſ spake to him, thundered,f while others who were nearer, said that an angel spake to him from heaven. 39 Jesus answered and said, But Jesus answered and said to his disciples, who stood near and distinctly heard it, 30 º: ºuse This voice from heaven came not chiefly for màſ sake, who was before assured of the affec- tion of my Father, and knew the purpose he had formed to glorify himself by me; but it was uttered for yours, that you may not be offended at the treatment I shall meet with, - and quit your hope in me, and regard for me, on account of any of the sufferings which 31 Now is the judgment of are coming upon mě. This indeed is a very critical and important time: for now is the 31 jºi."º"; judgment of this world,” which I am going, to conquer and condemn, that by my death my Out. followers may both be taught and enabled to triumph over it, and those may be convinced - of sin that believe not in me. (Compare Gal. i. 4. and John xvi. 8, 9.) Yea, now shall Satan, the ruler and god of this world, be cast out from that empire which he has so long usurped over the minds of men, and especially over the heathen nations. (Compare Eph. ... º. ºf ii. 2. and 2 Cor. iv. 4.) And when I am lifted up from the earth, though I may seem 32 jº..." " " " thereby to be made the trophy of mine enemies, yet such shall be the effect of that im: portant event, that I shall, thereby draw all men to me; that is, I shall lay a foundation for conquering the most stubborn hearts by so, rich a display of my love; and shall, by a secret but powerful influence on their minds, persuade multitudes of all ranks and all - nations to list themselves under the banner I raise. (Compare John iii. 14, 15. p. 59.) 33. This he said, signifying JWow this he spake of his being lifted up from the earth, as signifying by * death he 33 what death he should die. - * - Z- -

*{x tº #:...iſ...} ºi no fruit, said to it upon this occasion,” As thou, art fruitless now, continue always so; let lººp. Hººg no man,ſrººm, henceforwards ever, eat fruit of thee, nor any fruit hereafter ever grow upon §ºš" thee. And his disciples heard [it] and took notice of the words; and as soon as he had spoken them, (though his disciples, as they were passing on, did not observe it at that time,), the fig-tree immediately withered away; Christ intending by that significant action to intimate that the curse of God should thus wither and destroy the Jewish natio which he had before compared to an unfruitful fig-tree. (See Luke xiii. 6–9. sect. -- cxvi. p. 206.) IAIPROVEMENT. - How evidently necessary is the operation of divine grace to conquer the prejudices of a sinful heart, sin&e even ions the preaching . Christ himself, enforced by all his stupendous miracles, could not overcome those prejudices , xii. without it! And how cautious should sinners be, that they do not stop their ears to the joyful sound of the gospel, and shut their eyes against its glorious light; lest God should leave them to their own delusions, and in his 3 righteous judgment seal them up under final blindness and impenitence!. Then will they never be converted and healed, but die with that poison in all the faculties of their souls, which will make them for ever restless and miserable. Can we find words sufficient to express the madness of these Pharisees, who, while they were in their con- 42 sciences convinced that Jesus was the Christ, would not confess that conviction, and publicly pay their homage to him, because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God? Strange infatuation of the human mind 13 that it should be capable of believing there is a God, and yet of preferring the creatures before him; and should sometimes imagine the vain breath of popular applause or popular censure so considerable, as that God should e offended to please man; and all the honours and rewards of his heavenly presence lost, to secure a little regard g —40 d PWhen he said his glory.] These words seem so plainly to refer to but in March and April; (in which last this passover probably fel} :) Christ, that I cannot but approve the argument which the learned Bishop go:mpare josh. iii. 15. iv. 19. v. 16, 11, and 1 Chron. Xii. iś (Šee is 6 Pearson, draws from Isa. vi. I. to prove that Christ was, the Jehovah Lev. xxiii. 15–17. compared with Exoi. ix. 3i, 33, and Ruth ji. §3.) that spoke to the prophet. (Pearson On, the Creed, p. 125.) Dr. Clarke Now it is equally certain that one, and that the most delicate kind ºf indeed explains it of sceing the Father’s glory. (Script. Deçi, Qf the Triº, figs, was ripe in Jūlea at the beginning of summer; (as Nºe havé à fiº, p. 58.) But it is difficult to say, on that supposition, what the evangelist sort in England which are ripe before our harvest, having put out the intended by adding that clause, [and spºke of him :], and it would be autumn before, and stood the yāole winter:) see Hos. ix. ſo. Wiići. º. quite unexampled to suppose that avTop has two such different significa- 1. Nah. iii. 12. Jer. xxiv. 2. Cant. ii. ill-ſ3. and isa. Nº iii. 3." A j tions in the same line, as that the meaning should be; he saw the Father’s the fig-tree opening its leaves, which every body knows do not appear glory, and spake of the Son. , See Vitringa on Isa. vi. 1. p. 142, et seq. till aflºt the fruit, is spoken of as a sign of approaching summer, Xiaº. c \ſight neither incommode his friends, nor break in upon his devo- XXi. 32., Our Lord therefore at this time might well expect to fini tions.] This must certainly have been the reason of our Lord’s hunger & fruit on this tree, sing: the time, of gathering even these early figs ºas for none can imagine that the hospitable and rºost sensibly obliged not yet ºpine, which if it had, there, would have been no room for the family of Lazarus would otherwise have suffered Jesus to coine, out expectation, or the curse which followed it. That katoo; Gºroj, does ywithout eating; or, that, if he had eaten that isorgiº, he wºuld have not signify as some have ſancied, a kindly season för figs, but the been sº bungry, bºore he had walked two miles, as to #9 out of the Way time, of saihering them in, I think the learned Bisho, Riddº has abº to gather figs. To me there, appears an inexpressible chaim in this dantly proved. (See his Demºnstration of the jijañ. Ş. ii. p. 3S, 39.) oblique hint; it shows how little the exºgelists were inºlined tº enter H-Compare Alatt. xxi. 34. Ajark sii. 3...aji Nuumb. iii.33. 'ft is tº into panegyrics or reflections on the excellent character of their Afaster; this interpretation of the story, though ingomparably easier than any and is a specimen of that simplicity and nodesty Which might, inſepºlº gºer,L,Riow, will require a transposition of the clauss bºré is "as if ent of other arguments, almost compel, the ºssent of persons of a, like it had been said, He came, if hagi, he might find ºcº, ; for temper, to the wonderful story which they relate in so genuine and un- the time qf figs was not yet; and icic, he came tº it."jº jºid'.j but affected a manner. * * - s leaves. But no interpretation whatever can make the jast clause, as we f Seeing a single fig-tree.], Though in the first edition I had only ſolº real it, a reason for what stands in mediately befºe'ſ... that he found lowed Mark, and rendered it, sºčing g ſis-tree, I º further nothing but leaves; for it is wº) known, that if our conj figliºs consideration, that gukſu atav, which is the expression, Matthew uses have no young figs on them in \{arch of 'Aºû,'th. ca."ju. here, (though our translators make no difference), should have beca ren- that year. Nºne ºn deny another transposition ºf the like kijiù”. dered; a single fig-tree, which I have noy insertºl in the Yºsioi. Sãºne evanºelist, \lark, (xii. 3, 4, § 194.) both of thern probably being g The time of figs was not [yet] come.] I shall, not trouble the reader ºgcasioned by an accidºſtal interlineation in the original, and a mistašč with an account of all the strange allusions which have been given to the of some earlier transcriber, who did not bring in the iºt iin d"j difficulty which immediately arises in the mind on reading this, clause; exactly in its due place. ..See instances of the like kind, Gen. xiii. i.). nor with the particular reasons which may be offered against each. The ºld Jºsh. xxii. 22+And if with Heinsius, Knatchbuil, and’étalº, ºg best view of them all, that I can recollect, may be, had by consulting should here read & instead of 8, and render it, where he was it ºas the Witsius, in his ºſeletemata, and I think, the best, Solūtion may be segm season, of figs, we must admit of the same transposition, and consequently in Air. Hajieš ºd Discºurses, vol. ii. p. iii-fºſ, it is certain, should aii ºo advantage at all, by a version which (as all learneiº as he has there proved from incontestable authority, and we, have obº know) is very harsh, and attended with an inelegancy and imº, seryed, elsewhere, (note b, on ſ.hke vi. I. p. 93.) that the climate of which this would be no proper place to ºmi. - rpropriety Judea being abundantly warmer than ours, the passoyer, though never A 3rd:/ºst, said to it upon this occasion.] It is plain that in this place later than April, commonly fell, at the beginning, of their bºygst that this must be the sense of that phrase, jºs Gºa; Compare is, of their suminer, which is there vehemently hot, not only in May, note f on Matt, xi. 35. p. ii.3 * * 2ö2. - CHRIST VISITS 'i'HE TEMPLE AGAIN. *** from those who are perishing in their crimes, and willere long be themselves the objects of everlasting shame and I 19, contempt. May none of us ever indulge such a temper, or ever rest in an empty profession; lest, being like the fig-tree * before us, which had leaves but no fruit, the curse of Christ should be pronounced upon us, which would imme- :*, , diately wither us amidst all jerdure | Let us r - º - 3 * * 13, 14 º' Mº all Our Verdure! ... Let us remember that this was intended as oné of those significant actions by which the holy messengers of God frequently intimated approaching judgments. º would it have MATT. te - - - - º - - º xxi., is been if some, instead of searching out objections against it, had seriously considéredits design, and the sad aspect - - s .--> e - with which it looks on those who, like them, receive the grace of God in vain? SECTION CL. Y }, ris ! --> º ; : - ; - s s - Christ ºrriving at Jerusalem, visits the temple again; and, after a repeated effort to reform the continued abuses there, discourses with the - People in a manner which further exasperates the priests; and in the evening goes out of the city. Mark xi. 15–19. John xii. 44, to the end. MARK xi. 15. MARK xi. 15. SECT. 4.VD, soon after the fig-tree had been cursed, they come to Jerusalem; and Jesus enter- AND they come to Jerusa- 150. ing, as he had done the º before, into the temple, observed, as he was passing through .º.º. -*. the court of the Gentiles, that the people who had polluted it by their traffic were seated i..'...'...'...”. * there again; and being displeased to see that sacred place so shamefully profaned, he pre- tº '15 sently renewed his testimony against them, and began to drive out ifiem that sold and and the seats of them that bought in the limits of the temple,” and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and also sold doves, 16 the seats of them that sold doves : .4nd he permitted not that any one, for the sake of 16 And would not suffer shortening his way, should carry any burden or any kind of vessel through the courts of the tº ihººl. ºny temple; but strictly insisted on a die reverence to it, as a place that was entirely set apart vessel through the temple. 17 to God's immediate service. ...And he taught them at large the evil of such practices; saying 17 And he taught, saying to them, Is it not written, (as I observed but yesterday,) “My house shall be called an house Wººl § of prayer, and that not only for the Jews themselves, but (as the prophet says) for the sons ai º ; of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, or for those pious proselytes who from all i. }{h}...” made it a the neighbouring nations shall resort to it?” (Isa. lvi. 6, 7.) But you have turned it to * > * another use, and made it in effect a den of robbers, by suffering people here to carry on their trades, and to profane the place in which the Gentiles are to worship God, by scan- ; extortion and unlawful gain. (Compare Matt. xxi. 12, 13. and Luke xix. 45, 46. . 257. JOHN p ..?nd then, as considerable numbers of people were now gathered about him, Jesus cried, John Xii.44. Jesus, cried *...pr proclaimed with a loud voice, saying, Be it known unto you all, that in these extra- ;"...º.º.º.º. *"ordinary steps which I take for the reformation of abuses and the vindication of God's but on him that'séºn."” house, I act by his own immediate direction and authority ; and he that cordially believes - in me, believeth not in me alone, but in him that sent me, and thereby does an honour to the 5 Fatheghimself. .4nd he that sees me, and regards me with a lively faith, does also in effect ...º.º.º.ºth me, see hiſ that sent me, as the perfections of the Father are displayed in mé; whereas, he that ***** shuts his eyes against me, excludes the only means of being brought to the true knowledge 46 of him. For, full of the inspiration of his blessed Spirit, I am come a light into the world, .45 I am come a light into - • * > *- c- e …T. ido 3-, -īz. - the world, that whosoever that every one who really believes in me might not any longer abide in darkness, but might jeś"ºn"., ji". attain to the knowledge of all necessary truth, and the enjoyment of the most solid and abide in darkness. excellent happiness., .4nd if any one of you lear my words which I am so frequently and nº...ºf freely speaking, and will not believe in me, I do not now condemn him, or immediately ..."; "...”.j º: execute judgment upon him; for (as I formerly declared, John iii. 17, sect. xxvi.) I am nº world, but to not come at present to condemn the world, or to perform any work of wrath and terror, & whatever ill usage I may meet with in it; but the design of my appearance is mild and gentle, and I am come to save the world, and to make its inhabitants happy for time and - 48 for eternity, if they will be so wise as to hearken to the proposals I offer. Nevertheless, a.º.º. º.º. though I do not immediately judge any, yet he that rejects me, and does not receive my jºin on that judgeth him. words, will not escape final condemnation, but will find, to his surprise and confusion, #: ...º.º.º. that he has one that judges him : for the word that I have spoken, though heard with in- the last day. difference from day to day, is recorded in the book of God’s remembrance; and as the time will come when the proposals I have made shall be reviewed, ſeven] that very word shall judge him in the last awful day, as the tenor of it is so excellent, that to have rejected 14 re- r • - iori - - S. Rºo?" A9 For I have not spoken it will prove a man ignorant of God, and alienated from true religion and goodness. For of myself: but the Father 81 ld 4 9 4 7 49 I have not spoken of myself, either on my own motion, or on any precarious conclusions Whiº me, he ayº. drawn from principles divinely taught: but the Father who sent me, he gºpe me ample tº instructions and a particular commandment what I should say, and what I shall yet speak in . - ~ 50 that part of my work which is still before me. ...And I will faithfully conform myself to his e...."?" ºf instructions, whether men be pleased or offended with me; for I know that his command- listing: whatsoevg. I spºk onent is of the greatest consequence, and that eternal life depends upon the knowledge and º ºther observance of it; and therefore I would by no means vary in a matter of so much import- ance; but whatever I say unto you, I speak it just as the Father has given it me in charge, and alter nothing in the message he has sent me to deliver. So that the doctrine which I a To drive out them that sold and bought in the temple.] The time when Matthew or Luke in their account of the transflºtioſ: of the preceding this was done is fixed by Mark to the day after Jesus made his public day. (See § 147.)—But I see, no foundation at all for Mr.W histop S COin- entry into Jerusalem; and so (as was observed before, note c, on Matt. jecture, that on the former lay Christ droye them out of the Jew’s court, ºft'13". 355) this must have been a different fact from that related by and now out of that of the Géntile; : for, it is no way, prºbable that the Matthew, which he has introduced on the *:::::::: day, before the traders were eyer alloyed to introduce their wº: ºo tº iºnºcºrt, shoutings of the children. We have supposed it therefore to be repeat- for which the Jews, had a Reguliº, røyerence. Seg Mr. VV histon’s Pico jºr Lórá; for as it is improbabić that be would not purgé the of the Harmony, p. 131. and Dr. Whitby's note on Maºk Xī. 17. temple on the day of his triumphant entry, when Mark expressly says That very word shall judge him, &c. 6 Xoyos ov #XaXmaſa excavos that he looked rowind about upon all things, so it is, plainly intimated here kg wet avrov.] Our Lord, by this manner of speaking, represents, his that he did it, after his return from Bethany, on the next day-, Nor is it ºord as a person that should sit in judgment upon unbelieveys at the last at all unlikely that, after Jesus was depºrted out of the city, thºre would i. (Goºijää. iv.12.) isut I can see no ground fºr Mr. Fleming's be people enough, if it were only out of opposition to him, who would interpretation, (Christology, Vol. [.. } 136.) who would render it, The be ready to encourage the traders (sqme of whom might, perhaps, be Žogoš, which I have spoken of, shall judge, him ; as, if he had said, new comers) to return again to their places. And Jesus therefore seems & Though it is not my present business to do it, yet I have a commis- (as Mr. Whiston has observed) to have asserted the regard that was due sión frºm my Father, which is hereafter to take pº when I shall ap- to the temple now, with more severity and exactness than he had done pººr ºthy of that great name.” I do not recollect that our Lord had the day before, not suffering any one so much as to carry a vessel given himself the ić. of Logos in any of his discourses with the Jews; through the temple; which is a circumstance not mentioned either by änd therefore can seg no reason to suppose such a reference to it. THE DISCIPLES OBSERVE THE witHERED FIG-TREE. 263 - preach should be received as coming from the Father, and by rejecting it you will be SECT. guilty of despising his authority. - - & 150. Marksi. 18. And the scribes Thus did our Lord continue to reform abuses, and to teach the people with the utmost – and chief priests headiº, and seriousness and earnestness, on the second day of that week in which he suffered. And Pºk ;"º" ºn the scribes and chief priests were much offended when they heard [of it, and diligently 13 Riº, º sought hºw they might find out some expedient to destroy him, for they not only envied but §.* * * * dreaded him, because all the eople were visibly struck into attention and wonder at his doc- trime, and seemed disposed to receive it with a respect proportionable to its importance and solemnity. - 19 And when eyen was And, that #. might give them nounseasonable advantages against him, when the evening 19 ******* was come, he went out ºf the city, and spent the night, as he had done before, in a retire place with his disciples. IMPROVEMENT, How hard is it to purge a carnal heart, and disentangle it from the snares of a deceitful world! No sooner were Ver. these traders driven from the temple, but they return to it again, and are as busy the next day in the pursuit of 15–17 their unlawful gain as they had been before. And thus how often are convictions stifled by the love of this world! And if the voice of conscience, or the word of God, may interrupt us for a while in our unlawful courses, yet where it may affect our worldly interest, how ready are we to return to them again: and with what difficulty are we brought so far to lay aside our earthly projects, as not to take them with us into the house of God | Purge us, O Lord, from every irregular desire; pursue and perfect thine own work; and incline our hearts unto thy testi- monies, and not unto covetousness 1 (Psal. cxix. 36. - Most important is that proclamation which our Lord made in the temple, and is still making to us in his word: John believing in him, we believe in the Father; and seeing him, we see the Father. Let us be ready therefore to , XII, receive him out of regard to his divine authority, as well as with a view to our own happiness; for without him *, * we can have no access unto the Father, nor can we ever see him as a reconciled God. The sacredilight which he diffuses around him is not intended merely to amuse our eyes with pleasing speculations, but to animate our hearts 46 with holy affections, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke i. 79.) . If we desire therefore to escape an abode in eternal darkness, and to see light everlasting, lêt us faithfully follow him : otherwise we are condemned 48 already, and that word which he spake will become to us a savour of death unto death, (2 Cor. ii. 16.) and will judge us in the last solemn and dreadful day, when it shall sentence those who would not be saved by it. Let us now make that word the rule of our life, which shall then be the rule of our judgment. We may most comfortably venture our eternal all on the exact veracity of it. Christ has perfectly fulfilled the commission he received from his Father, as one that was faithful to him that appointed him; and stands so completely approved 49, 50 in his sight, that our only hope is, that we also may be accepted in him, and find mercy and grace for his sake. SECTION CLI. Jesus returning tº the city in the morning, his disciples observe that the fig-tree was withered away : being come into the temple, he confogrids the members of the Sanhedrim, who questioned his authority, and reproves them by the parable of the complaisant but disobedient son. Matt. XXi. 20–32. Mark xi. 20, to the end; xii. 1. Luke xx. 1–9. - | - s MARK xi. 20. MARK xi. 20. AND in the morning as they NOW Jesus, having spent the night with his disciples in a retired place without the city, secT. ºil, returned again to Jerusalem on the third day of the week in which he suffered; and in the 151. from the roots, they marvel: morning, as they were passing by the spot of ground where he had cursed the barren fig- §§ºś tree on the day beforé, when the disciples saw the fig-trees dried up from the very roots, and MARR iMatt. xxi. 20.] so entirely stripped of its leaves, that, though it stood at some distance from the road, they sº, Xi. easily discerned the change, they were greatly struck at the sight, and wondered, saying, * How soon is the fig-tree that stands yonder withered away, though yesterday it seemed so 21 And Peter...calling to flourishing! ºff Peter, recollecting what had passed, toºk notice of it to Jesus, and 21 sº º; º him, Rabbi, behold the fig-tree which thow cursedst but yesterday is now quite which thou curšedst, is with– withered awani. ^ a “gº. Jesus answering ind Jesus ńsuring says unto them, See that you have a steadfast faith in God, and a 22 fººth full confidence in his power and fidelity, when you feel him secretly moving on your spirits "" 23.3.g. sºuntº to stir you up to any miraculous, operation.” For I assuredly say unto jou, That if you 23 §§ºiºi, have such a firm and steadfast faith, and do not doubt of God's being ready to stand by you, * ºthis fifth is dº the you shall not only do such miracles as this of the fig-tree, but also shall perform far greater !ºliº; º; things; yea, whºsoever, under such an impulse, and with such a believing temper, shall ...hºvº attempt anything as difficult and extraordinary as if he were to say to this mountain which not doubt in his heart, but we are now crossing, Be thout removed from hence, and thrown into the distant sea ; and . tº..."; shall not at all doubt in his mind, but steadfastly believe that what he says shall come to pass, Fºllº, it shall accordingly be dome, ſº shall be to him just as he says. And for this reasón, to 24 ºver * encourage you boldly to act as God shall direct and instigate you, I Say unto you, That ºdyſhº.º. whatsoever things you shall desire [and] ask of God in prayer, to make it manifest that you unto you, What things soever .” --> * -, • 3 *. * ye º, § jºin are sent of him, and to confirm your doctrine ; if you believe that you shall actually receive G. prayer, ieve that ye re- ºf fºx r • As imo's - * ** e * * §§e them, and ye shall have them, however difficult the things may be that you request, yet in such circumstances they them. . [Matt., xxi. 22.] shall certainly be done, and you shall have them. p;"º. #4, #. But still I would subjoin one caution; that if you expect your prayers should prevail 25 - with God, you must take care to offer them in love as well as in faith; and when you stand praying," in the presence of that Majesty of heaven whom you have offended by so many a When the disciples saw the fig-tree.]. Matthew relates, this story of speaking Pawned all his credit as a messenger from God, and conse- the fig tree, as if the notice that the disgiples took of it, and the account lº all the honour and usefulness of his future life, on the immo- that Jesus gave them of the power of faith, followed immediately upon diate niraculous energy to, attend his words, and to be visibly exerted his cursing it. But Mark has so expressly referred these circumstanges 9m his uttering them. And hence it is that such a firm courageous faith to the next morning, and so particularly mentions Peter's recollecting is so often urged Qū those to whom sugh miraculous powers were given: what had passed before, that it is plain his order must be followed here, —But what kind, of intimation of God’s intended miraculous inter. which Matthew has néglected, that he might give us the whole of the position the apostles in such cases felt on their minds, it is impossible story together. or any, without having experienced it, to know. It is therefore an in- b Have faith in God, &c.] It is certain that the attempt of perform- stançe of their wisdom, that, they never pretend to describe it, since no ing miracles in public, was a remarkable instance, of faith in the divine words, could have conveyed the idea. . - power and fidelity; for they were generally introduced by some solemn & Pºlten you stand praying.) There is no room to doubt that standing declaration of Whit was intended, which was in effect a prediction of was their usual posture when they prayed; as Dr. Lightfoot observes immediate success. (So Peter says, Acts ii. 6. In the name of Jesus with respect to the Jews, (Hor. Hebr. on Matt. vi. 5.) and the learned 'hrist, Rise up and walk : ix. 34. º; Jesus Christ maketh thce whole : author of the Inquiry into the Worship of the Primitive Claurch, (chap. and again ver, 40. Tabitha, arise.) And in pronouncing this, the person ii., § 1.) has shown it to be the practice of the first ages of the christian 264 SECT. 151. MARK XI. 26 THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES QUESTION CHRIST's AUTHORITY. provogations, you should forgive, if you have any matter of complaint against any; jour Father in heaven maj also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgiº eVen your most cruel enemies, and much more your offending brethren, ieither will your Father in heaven forgive you your trespasses. (Compare Matt vi. 14, 15. xviii. 35.) Ånd if your trespasses be not forgiven, you have little reason to hope for such extraordinary inter- positions in answer to your prayers; or if those interpositions were to be granted, you would receive no mannér of advāntage from them, while, amidst all the glory of working 27 EUKE XX. * *4 3 4 5 the most amazing miracles, you lay under the load of guilt and condemnation. t º º, Jesus had been thus discoursing with his disciples by the way, they come again º sf8? º ; 5 gº! when le was ºn: into the temple, it came to pass that as he was walking j. while he taught the people who flocked around him, and zealously preached the gos- p ; the kingdom to all that were desirous to be instructed in it, the chief priests, and the º º and the elders of the people,” who were contriving his destruction, came upon him in a body, with a strong desire to confound and overbear him: ...And they spake to him in i. i. º as to sº º º at what had lately passed, saying, Thou 16fe takeIn UlDOn the G to reform the ... which is on 1- q & a tumultuous m Pop driv a the temple, which is our province alone, and hastin C l us, manner driven out those who had our permission, to traffic in the outer i. }. *. upon it, therefore, that thou tell us roundly and plainly by what authority ºn 2 • * * ** * º & * – f. - g * º • * º iſ lost a thes; extraordinary things 2 and who he is that gave thée this antihority on which thou presumest to do them? - w i Y - - • • - - e .4nd Jesus, that he might at once reprove the . of the question in those cir- umstances, and in effect return an unexceptionable, though oblique, answer to it, said to them in reply, I will also ask you one plain question on this occasion: and pray answer me this one thing, which if you tell me, I will likewise give you all the satisfaction you can desire, and directly tell jou, if you do yet indeed need to be told, by what awthority I do these things. You all remember the baptism of John, which was attended by such multi- tudes of people, and even by many of your leading men. (Compare Matt. iii. 7. sect. xvi. Now I would gladly know what you think of its original: from whence was it, that he had his commission? was it from heaven, as he openly professed? or was it merely a con- ? Answer his, and then I will immédi - w" trivance of men? Answer me this, and then I will immediately resolve your question. ...And they were perfectly confounded at so unexpected a demand, and reasoned among themselves, as it was natural to do, after this manner, saying, If we shall sq. that John's baptism was from heaven, he will say to us, HWhy therefore did ye not believe him, and yield ) 6 to his well-known and repeated testimony of me? But if we shall say that his baptism 7 as an enthusiast or impostor. 8 MARK XI. " MIATT. XVI. 28 2 3) had no divine warrant, but was merely the device of some wicked and designing men, who by that grave solemnity endeavoured to introduce their own ambitious schemes, we haye réason to fear that all the populace who are here assembled will rise up and stone us ; for they are all firmly persuaded that John was really a prophet sent of God; and as Yast numbers of them were baptized by him, they will never bear to hear him vilified, either * - .änd therefore they declined to tell him what were their real sentiments, and answered Jesus by saying, JWe cannot yet certainly tell whence [it was ;) for it is a question which still lies before the sanhedrim, and which they have not yet expressly determined. - and Jesus immediately replied and said whlo them, Veither do I think it at all necessary to tell you by what authority. I do these things; for the other question naturally requires to be detérmined first,f and when you think proper to decide that, you may easily perceive that the same answer will serve for both.* - And having thus silenced the members of the great council, whº had taken, upºn them to examine him for his late proceedings, he began to speak unto them, [and] to the people. who were now assembled, by several parables, of which we shall give a more particular account. And first, he said to the scribes and Pharisees with whom he had been discoursing, Yoºhºº evaded a direct answer to my question, but what think you of your own conduct in these circumstances, and of all the high professions you make of an extraordinary rever- ence for God, and zeal in his service #. 1 plainly téll you my thoughts of it, which are very naturally connected with the present subject. - Thºrº was a man who had two’sons: and coming to the first, he said, Son, go directly away and work to-day in my vineyard, wher?, thou knowest, there is business to do that requires thine attendance. And he answered in a very rudé and undutiful manner, and sºl, I will not : but afterwards consideringsbetter of it, he repented that he had used his fathér so ill; and, to make the best amends he could, he went into the vineyard, and jaboured diligently there. And when, the first had given so undutiful an answer to his father, he came to the second, and said tº him in the same manner as he had done to his brother: and he, being a smooth, plausible lad, answered with great submission and readi- 5. and Luke xviii. 11.) But as the word [ºnſij has no particular significaºgy hero, I might have omitted, it it) {ijātiºn, as the Prussian editors have frequently done, but that § not choose to multiply expletives in the Saçred writings. i"i, º, pass, that asiiººcas walking.] Luke, who tells this, as he dºs several other stories, in a less circumstantial manner, says it, Wºs ... ºne of those days; but the insertion of that clºuse hºg would have icon improper, considering how particularly the date of this fict is, fixed i., §fºrk.-:If the reader should happº elsewhere to meet, with the onission of a word or two in any of, the Evangelists, (which he very any - jīom will,) I hope he will not condemn it, till he reflect whether it f ºffic other question naturally réguires may not be accounted for in the sann C mºlſ, n ° f. w - ** 7% chief priests—and the elders ºf ºilº people.] These are titles that frequently occur, but it is not easy to ſix n determinate idea to them.— #3, the chief pricsts, I think we, mily understand any peculiar disting- §§§ º'Aºmic family'ſ so that it may include the high ſº dºuf, or stigan, any ºf the heads of the twenty-four cºrses of priºts ºf hiſ ºpen to be in waiting, and likewisº, of those whom the *jºidists called Catholiqin, Ämarcalin, and Memunnim, who (if thº' tº stimony may be credited). WGrº appointed to preside over the jºr pºsts and fleyites, and to regulate.º.º.º. the singers, &c. A sºmºry account of then may be seº," Reland, Antiq. 7ich. Part iſ. ... iii. § 3, 5-By the elders of the people, some church. (Compare Matt. Yi. attend in their courses the name of the, wholg signify the members of the grand Israelitish nation; were the persons, under, whose cognizance purging the temple would purpose to daunt him, and to of our Lord in º be much illustrated, suggested the substance of note g, g on John sanhedrim, ºnently and properly belonged; which is the more probable, as they most naturally fall. above mentioned, probably appeared in a - - - ić si ºil". *ś º against him, if thing exceptionable should fall from him on this 9] s pli Oſ): • to be determined first.] That singular turn which the reader will ºbsºrye, 9 be - - àràphrase, by which I think the propriety. of it to. Tº that very accurate and lèarned friend who *iº same answer will serve for both.] - - for as, on the one hand, the express esºnº. which John boro to Christ that ought against any ; that yout Yea- Father also which is in forgive you your Veſh Inay trºspasses; 86. But if ye do not forgive, neither . will your Father which is in heaven forgive yOur trespasses. 27 And they come again to erusalem : . and . [when , he was come into the tem º UKE, it came to pass, }. as he was walking, [Lu RE as he taught the people, and reached the gospel,] there LURE, came upon him],the chief º; and the scribes, and the elders [of the peo- ple;] [Matt. xxi. 23. Luke XX. L. Luke xx. 2...And spake unto him, saying, Tell us by what anthority dost thou these things 2 or who is he that gave thee this authority [MARK, to do these things ºl [Matt. xxi. 93. Mark xi. 28.] 3. And ſº answered and said unto them, I will also ask you [MARK, one qtlestion,] and answer ºne ; ſeven one, thing, which, if y& tell me, I in likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.] ... [Matt. xxi. 24. Mark Xi. 29. he baptism of John, [whence was it?] from hea- Ven, OT men 3 (MARK, answer me..] [Matt. XXi. 25. Mark xi. 30.] [ 5 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say [unto us,) Why then believed Ye him. nºt : [Matt. xxi. 25. Mark xi, 31.] But and if we º Say, Of men;...[we fear] all the Fº will stone us: for they e ſali] persuaded that John a prophet (MARK. in- Matt. xxi. 26. Mark WººlS dged.J., [ xi. 32.] 7 And they answered Wºº and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell] whence it tºſis, plau. xxi. 27. Mark X1. JJ. 8 And Jesus [MARK; an- swering] said unto them, Neither tell, I you by, what authority. I do these things: [Matt. xxi. 27. Mark Xi. 33.] Mark xii. 1. And he began to speak unto them [and to the people] by parables. [Luke xx. 9..] Matt. xvi. 28. But what think ye 2 A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, º work to-day in my vineyard. 29. He answered and said, I will not ; but afterward he repented, and went. 30"And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir; and went not. representatives who were Galled Viri Stationarii, that were appointed to at the hours of morning and evening sacrifice in but I rather suppose, it may to whom that title most the late action of Cl:riet in These, with the persons considerable company, Qº given to this answer V11; 22. p. • . This was Plainly the case ; must be a sufficient allowed, (since, accor phet was sufficient spoken in such an an impostor, would imply a like censure jº. of his divine Would understand thoso - mission, if that o ing to a jewish maxims The testiºnoſy of onc pro- to confirm the authority, of another :) so Christ had hºnogºbic manner of Johº, that to condºn John as - on the character of Jesus. ohm was THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD LET TO HUSBANDMEN. 265 ness, and said, Sir, I [am going] this moment to obey your commands :h and yet, after all, SECT. he went not to the vineyard, but spent the whole day elsewhere. e 151. ºf hºnºg Now I would leave it to yourselves to judge º, of the two youths I have been speaking •y §e!"...a..."..., "ån."; of did the will of [his] father, and with which of them he would, on the whole, be best MATT. first.— pleased. And without any hesitation they say to him, Undoubtedly the first of them? XXI. vº..”. º: Then Jesus, upon this, says to them, The application of this parable is very easy; for 31 the bibliºsº dº thus it is, that notwithstanding your professions of a regard to God, yet in your practice §: kingdom of God you are disobedient children, and reject his gospel; and verily I say unto you, That even the Inost abandoned sinners of the age, such as the publicans and common prostitutes, are much more open to conviction, and more likely to be wrought upon than you; and so many of them have already been awakened to repentance, that their example might lead You the waſ into the kingdom of God; but, with all your pretences to sanctity, you will a.º.º.º. not follow them. For, though }. have not integrity enough freely to own it, you know 82 ſº"...i.e."... in your own consciences that John came not unto jou in a suspicious manner, but in the tººl jº way of righteousness; and did, in all his ministry, maintain the uniform character of an yº had seen it, ºcºte ºf upright and pious man, as well as of a plain and awakening preacher, yet you believed him ſº that *ht be not; but the publicans and harlots, of whom I spake, believed him: and jou were still so obstinate, that even when you saw [it, and perceived a growing reformation among the most abandoned of mankind, yet you did not º rcpent [so as] to believe him. (Compare Luke vii. 29, 30. p. º And therefore I solemnly warn you, that your con- dition will another day be worse than theirs; and that you shall see those whom you now despise and abhor, entering into the glory from which you shall be excluded. IMPROVEMENT. How little do the most specious pretences of piety signify, if they are not animated by the heart, and confirmed Ver. by the life . How vain are all the complimental forms of religion, when addressed to that God who penetrates all 28–31 the secrets of the soul, and can have complacency in nothing but real and solid goodness. Yet how many are there who are free of their promises both to God and man, but always fail when the time of performance comes | And how many, with these unhappy rulers in Israel, go on to pride themselves in a kind of external nearness to 32 God, and perhaps in a boasted commission from him, who are themselves so far from his kingdom, that even pub- licans and harlots, who did not pretend to any religion, are more like to be brought into it than they, as being more open to a conviction of their sin and danger, and so more ready to embrace an offered Saviour ! Let us dread the guilt of receiving the grace of God in vain, lest, by rejecting the calls of the gospel, and abusing the privileges we enjoy, our hearts be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, so as to perish in impenitence and unbelief. In vain do we, like these Pharisees, inquire into the evidences of Christ's authority, if we are not heartily 23 resolved to submit to it. Yet with such cavillers and hypocrites must his ministers expect to meet. May they learn, by the example of their great Master, to answer them with the meekness of wisdom, and to join the sagacity 24–27 of the serpent with the gentleness and innocence of the dove! - The promises which are made to a miraculous faith in prayer, are not indeed our immediate concern; but we MARK may truly infer from them some encouragement in favour of the prayer of faith, on whatever account and in what- * ever circumstances it be offered: At least we may infer the necessity of forgiving injuries, if we desire that our 23, 24 petitions should be received with favour. Let us remember it, and labour to approach the throne of a forgiving 25, 26 God with hearts not only clear of every malignant passion, but full of that cordial and universal benevolence which may engage us to pray for all men, and particularly for those who have least deserved our kindness, and seem least disposed to requite it. SECTION CLII. " Christ utters the parable of the vineyard let out ſo unfaithful husbandmen ; from which, he takes occasion plainly to admonish the Jewish rulers of the danger and ruin they would ineur by the schemes they were forming against him. Matt. xxi. 33, to the end. Mark xii. 1–12. Luke xx. 9—19. - MATT. xxi. 33 MATT. xxi. 33. HEAR another parable : OUR Lord having thus reproved the priests and elders in the temple who had been SECT ...ii., § jº. º: questioning his authority, and shown how inexcusable they were in not believing John, 152. ji, and hººd, it round though they could not deny him to be sent of God, continued his discourse, and said to igged * is tº gº – - tº * * *-*-*- sºº *...* ºr them and to the people, Hear now another parable, in which you are very nearly concerned MATT. the wine;fºllº, ºil.” as your own consciences must quickly tell you: There was a certain man, a master of a , ºxi. tower, and let it out to hus- - - ~~~ A * > 7, a 2,72, • *- .** « * ** : ; , 33 i.i.d."... "wº intº a considerable family and estate, who planted a vineyard, and spared no cost to render it §§§. §§§ fruitful; for he made a strong hedge round it, to preserve it from the incursion of men or bj” “ easts, and digged [a place for a wine-press in it, [or] a large cavity which might serve as a fat for the wine, to receive the liquor when pressed from the grapes;", and he also bºilt a ower in it for the accommodation and defence of the labourers; and then he let it out to husbandmen, who were to pay him a certain acknowledgment out of the produce of it; and he himself departed thence, and took a journey for a long time into a distant country. 34 Anitat the season, when Jºhnd at the proper season, when the time of gathering in the fruit approached, and a return 31 tºº was to be made him from the profits of it, he sent his servants to the husbandmen who had flusiº, ºniºt farmed it, that he might receive from the husbandmen, that proportion of the fruit of the jº. vineyard which was due to him for the rent. And the husbandmen, wickedly conspiring to 35 tººk § * XY. iºn keep the vineyard to themselves, instead of receiving them with due respect, and returning teºsºvº; the appointed payment, seized his servants, and beat one of the chief of those who arrived gº njºu."... first, and sent him *ś and as the demand grew more pressing, they took up the iºnº"aº."º weapons with which their lord himself had furnished them for very different purposes, and xii. 3. Luke xx. 10.] slew another, and stoned another till they had driven him away. 35 [And] again be sent [an- .4nd when their lord heard the report of this their injustice, he did not immediately arm 36 tº himself against them, but sent again other servants to treat, with them, more in number and unto them iikewise fººd at higher in office than the first: but, still persisting in their wickedness, they did the same him who was the chief they j. j. ; and particularly, at him [who was the chief person employed to account with h Sir. I am going.] This was a proper emblem of the hypocrisy of ytov. The former signifies the wine-press, the other the cavity under it, the scribes and Pharisees, who addressed God under the most honour- in which the vessel was ſixed which received the liquor pressed fromi, able, titles, and professed the greatest readiness and zeal in his service, the grapes. The one of these naturally implies the other; but our Lord while their whole lives were a series of disobedience and rebellion. might without any impropriety mention both. a -3 fat for the wine.] Matthew uses the word X ºvov, and Mark wroXm- 34 263 SECT. them, they threw stones, and wounded him dangerously in the head, and sent him away not I52. Only empty, but very dishonourably and ºft MARK wounded, as they had done Y. THE PARABLE OF THE WINEYARD LET TO HUSBANDMEN. º,iºn; and Yº! }; - - - - - In the Phead, and Sent html ully treated. - s away shamefully handled,l he sent another of his principal servants; and him also they [Hüşe; and emity.] [Mar . Luke xx. 11.) .#nd again the third [time. e former, and even were so outrageous, that they cast him out *šišič. A. * - º * º • * * - again he * = of the vineyard, [and] killed him: and in like manner they assaulted many others who came jºjº ; with or after him on the same errand, beating some of them, and killing others outright. #ººd) º LUKE l - sº - - ar * * * * Siłyr and many others, beating XX. Then the Lord of the vineyard, being still unwilling to proceed to the last extremity ...". *.*. *... must needs have some respect for him, and will not presume to offer him any injury. with them, though they had been so very wicked and ungrateful in the treatment of his [Like xx. i2.j s servants, said to them that were about him, What shall I do further to reclaim them 2 I loº"; i. lº º: will send my own son to them.b Having yet therefore one son, who was his well-beloved, and shall *ś wiſ send my— the heir of the family, he sent him also last of all to them, as the only gentle expedient that jeº sº; wi remained, saying, Perhaps they will reverence my son when they see him:" for surely they ºf - -> But it may be they will everº. as when the husbandmen saw the son come into the vineyard, instead of paying any due regard ſº 'º'; to him, they grew yet more outrageous in their wickedness, and reasoned among themselves, Yºhº; saying, This is the only heir of the whole estate ; come, let us kill him, and seize on his in- #. tº: heritance,” that [it] may be ours from generation to generation, and no descendants of our Hºgjº º ji master may remain to give any disturbance to us or our children in the possession of it. him, and let seize ºn his 39 ind with malignant hearts and cruel hands they fell upon their master's son, and seized ..."...s.º.º. # him; and, fearing neither God nor man, they cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him,” Lºess, I.i. : --- - exposing his dead body in a most contemptuous and insolent, as well as inhuman manner. ajºi. '. Hºhen therefore the Lord of the vineyard himself cometh, armed with a power which they gº º ſº. (Mark º & you, to those treacherous and cruel 40 * WºwW - XX. 10. 40 When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will, he do unto those hus- ºn? [Mark ii. 9. Luke will be utterly unable to resist, what will he do, think husbandmen, when he has them entirely at his disposal And, as the Jewish rulers did not understand that they themselves were these unfaithful husbandmen, they say winto him, There is no doubt but he will wretchedly destroy those wicked and incorrigible wretches, nor is the most tormenting death too severe for them to expect; and he will then let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall faithfully render him the fruits of it in their proper seasons. - 41 XX. - - - 4! They say unto him, He will miserably destroy, those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other hus- andmen, which shall render him the fruitsin their seasons. LUKE . Thus did they, before they were aware, condemn themselves; and [Jesus added.] You ...fujá'íſsils suij *is have answered right: he shall indeed quickly come gnd destroy thes; hisbandmen of whom #sº I speak, whoever they shall appear to be, with terrible severity, and will give the vineyard #: the vineyard to others. to others. Now all this was as if he had said, Consider your own concern in what you Mark Kii. 9..] have heard: God has planted a church among you, and given you an excellent revelation of his will; abundant provision has been made, both for your protection and your improve- ment too: but you have ungratefully refused the fruits of obedience which were so justly his due ; and when he has frequently sent his servants the prophets, with one message and demand after another, you, the rulers and teachers of Israel, to whom the cultivation of the vineyard has been committed, have treated them in a most ungrateful and barbarous man- ner; and now at last he has sent his Son, and you are going to seize on him, and to add that murder which you are now contriving to the guilt of all your other crimes. I leave *... it therefore to your own consciences to judge what the eyent must be., And for this reason Mºtt. XXi. 43. Therefºre **is now I say, unto you plainy, That the kingdom of God, which you have thus vilely and ; d.º.º.º. ungratefully abused, shall be taken away from you, and given to a nation which shall bring you, and given tº a nºtiºn forth the fruits thereof; that is, his gospél shall be taken from you, and be carried to the . * * * Gentiles; who will have more regard to the favour shown them, and improve it much KE better than you have done. $ U X X .4nd, when they heard, this sad denunciation with which the parable concluded, and nºiºicº; 16 found that [it] was aimed at them, they said, God forbid that this should be the case with flºº" ". they said, God regard to us, nor can we ever believe that it will. - - And Jesus looked upon them with great seriousness and solemnity in his countenance, 17 And [Jesus] beheld them and said unto them, PWhat is this then that is written ? (Psal. cxviii. 22, 23.) Did you never ºf read, or never reflect upon this remarkable passage in the Scriptures, “The Stone which the ſūjāye lºg.º.d ſ\ſº, builders refused, the same is become the head-stone of the corner ºf This is the Lord's doing, ..ºft. Tº and it is wonderful in our eyes?” Words which, though they might seem to be accom- - is beggin - - g sz . - • ... l- > -- I , the head of the corner: [This plished in the exaltation of David to the Jewish throne, are in their highest sense applicable is the iora's idiº, and it is marvellous in our eyes fl rulers of the people, whose office it is to build up the church, is nevertheless chosen by Iij 18 God to be its great support and ornament. And therefore let me plainly tell you, That elä. (Ang] whºsoever shall all upon [this] stone, shall be while I am here on earth in this humble form, he shall be broken and damaged by it; ºn but on whosoever it shall fall, when raised up to so glorious an eminence, it shall even "' • U 17.1 UI. LU s \ \, l a “tº e grind him to powder,h like a brittle potsherd crushed by the weight of some huge stone 17 jected, the same is become 4- TV. --> Y. - - - - -: :* * - to the Messiah,” who, though disdainfully rejected by you scribes and Pharisees and [Matt. XXi. 42. Mark Xii. 10, whosoever shall fall upon this stone, that is, whosoever shall stumble at me and my doctrine j b I acill send my son.] ... The question is not here how prudent it would have been in a human father to venture his son in such a case as this ; for the power which God had of raising Clirist from the dead, and Inaking all his sufferings redound to his glory and happiness, quite alters the case. The design is to show the patience of God, and the wickedness of the Jews, by this emblem, than which nothing could be more expressive. - - - c. Pcritaps they pill reverence my son, &c.] Numberless predictions, in the Old and New Testament plainly show that God foresaw Christ’s death as a certain event. This therefore, like many others, is merely an orna- mental circumstance, which cannot without absurdity be applied in the interpretation of the parable. - d Corne, ict us kill him, &c.]. If such a proposal, would, have been the height of folly as well as wickedness in these husbandmen, it was, So intićh the more proper to represent the part the Jewish rulers acted in the murder of Christ, which they were mow projecting, and which they accomplished within three days. The admonition was most graciously given; but served only in an astonishing manner, to illustrate that degree of hardness to which a sinful heart is capable of arriving. e And cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.] So Matthew and Luke oxpress it; but Mark has changed the order of the words, and says, They killed him...and cast, him out of the vineyard; if we may not reſider that clause, They both slewo him and cast him out, so as not to deter- ining which was done first. One cannot suppose Christ uttered...it, both thºse ways; so that if there be no accidental transposition in Mark, he probably méant thereby to intimate what is hinted in the paraphrase, the exposing his dead body in a most daring defiance of public justice. hose that explain the casting him out of the vineyard, of excommunica- tion, which preceded or attended the execution of a capital sentence, do not observe the proper import of the vineyard. See below, note i. f The head-stone of the corner.] This [.. take to be the meaning of the words Kega\m; yov tag rather than the chief cºrner-stone, as it does not appear exactly to answer to akpoyoovatov, (Eph. ii. 20. and 1 Pet. ii. 6.) which, as the connexion in those places shows, (as well as the use of it in other, authors,) signifies that great corner-stone which, lay at the bot- topm of the building, as its support. What is mentioned, afterwards of this head-stone falliug on a person, seems not to suit with the supposition of its being Iaid on or under the ground. Compare Zech. iv. 7. . g Though they might seem to be ageomplished in the exaltation of David, &c.] Mr. Jeffery has justly observed, (in his Review, p. 119.) that on the principles of analogy this passage will be much to the present surpose, though it should be confessed that Psal. cxviii. was immediate- |. raeant of David; as it would prove, that the great builders of Israel might refuse one whom God intended for the Head-stone of the corner. h On ichomsoever it shall fall, &c.] Dr. Whitby supposes that here is an allusion to the two different ways of stoning among the Jews; the former, by throwing a person, down, upon a great stone, and the other, by letting a stone fall upon him. But as I cannot see that the latter was at all more aß than the, former, since in such a cast: a quick despatch mightseem most desirable; it seems to me that the force and beauty of this pathetic passagé would be in a great measure lost by such an interpretation. T'l-[E PARABLE OF THE WEDT) ING GAR MENT. $267 falling upon it from on high. (Compare Dan. ii. 44). So, whoever shall oppose me after SECT. my exaltation to glory, and the pouring out of my Spirit for the full revelation of my gospel 152. and ; # my mission, he will bring upon himself aggravated guilt, and dreadful, un- avoidable destruction. . LUKE 19 And when] the chief . And when the chief priests and the scribes and Pharisees had heard his parables which he I jº. º º had now delivered, they were so provoked at what he had said, that even in that very hour ... º.º.º.º. º. they sought to lay their hands on him, that they might prosecute him even to death; fºr §§§ they plainly perceived that he had spoken this parable of the wicked husbandmen that should ºn ºsº; be destroyed, against them, and had in effect set them all at defiance by the application xijëi.”. of so signal a prophecy to himself. But they feared the people who were then present in MATT. tº... the temple, because they esteemed him as a Prophet sent from God, and would not have gº” they took him for a prophet; borne that immediate assault upon him which the rage of these rulers would otherwise §"...!?"tº have engaged them to make. And therefore, not daring for the present to attempt to seize Luke xx. 19.] him with an open violence, they left him, and went away to take counsel in private against him, and to lay a plot for his life, which they might execute with less hazard to themselves. IMPROVEMENT. WHEN we read this parable, and consider it as levelled at the Jews, we applaud the righteous judgment of God in revenging so severely upon them the quarrel of his covenant and the blood of his Son; but let us take heed to ourselves, lest we also fall qfter the same example of unbelief. (Heb. iv. 11.) - God has given to every man some part of his vineyard to cultivate and improve, or some advantages to know Ver.33 and serve him. And as for us who enjoy the christian dispensation, we have particular reason to say, The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places. (Ps. xvi. 6.) What could he have done more for this part of his vineyard? How ungrateful therefore shall we be, and how miserable too, if we withhold the fruits he so reasonably expects; 34, 36 if we slight the messengers by whom he so frequently and so pathetically demands them; yea, if by wilful im- penitence and unbelief we in effect renew the slaughter of his beloved Son, after that amazing favour he has done 37, 39 us, in charging him with an embassy of peace to us, whose aggravated crimes had long since deserved that he 41 should have sent amongst us the messengers of his vengeance. Oh that we may never be condemned out of our own mouths in the censures we pass on the guilty Jews! We cannot surely think of the awful threatening of our Lord without some secret terror for ourselves, when we 43 consider how shamefully we of this nation have abused our privileges. The kingdom of God, said he, shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. God had been just, had he long since executed such a judgment upon us: may he be merciful to us all in suspending and averting it! May his com- passion particularly extend to those amongst us who reject christianity: for the passage before us has a dreadful aspect upon such Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear; whether they will submit or whether they will oppose, Christ is made the Head of the corner, and God will for ever establish him as such. Woe to 42 them who, instead of joining with him, and fixing the stress of their souls upon him, deliberately set themselves to oppose his cause and interest! On such undoubtedly will he fall like a mighty rock of adamant, and miserably 44 crush them in pieces, and grind them to powder, Thus did our Lord warn his enemies, most wisely and most graciously; but they despised the admonition, and hated him for what was so kindly intended. They sought to lay hands on him, because he had spoken this parable LUKE against them. High provocation indeed, to set their danger faithfully before them, that if by any means it were Xx. possible they might be awakened to escape it! ... But, alas, what can save those whose spiritual distempers are 19 exasperated by the most proper remedies prescribed for their cure! SECTION CL.III. Christ further warns the Jews of the lºnger, which would attend their rejecting the gospel, or resting in an insincere profession of it, by the parable of the marriage-feast and the wedding garment. Matt. xxii. ſ—ia. MATT. xxii. 1. MATT. xxii. 1. AND Jesus answered and .4.YD when the priests and scribes were retired, Jesus, being still surrounded with the sect. #º jº, * * multitude, answered and spake to them again in parables suited to the present circumstances 153 3. The Kingdom of heaven of affairs, saying, The kingdom of heaven, or the dispensation of the gospel, is like, and may tº ºf . , ..."; be well compared to that which happened in the case of a man [that was] a king,” who mºr, "sº ent ºn his set.” splendid marriage-feast for his son: And when all was prepared, he sent his servants , xxii. yāfi; di'ihººl wºe to call those who had becm before invited, that they might come immediately to the nuptial 3 §º "" banquet.' . But they were so rude and foolish, that they would not come upon the summons. # Again.hèentºrºh other .3gain he sent other of his servants, saying, Go and tell them that were invited, that I 4 "º" must insist upon their coming immediately; for behold, I have prepared my dinner; my have prepared as dinner; oven and my other fatted beasts are slain and dressed,” and all things are just ready to §º"; º; ; be served up to the table, therefore come to the marriage:feast without any further délay. ready; come unto the mar. But such was the perverseness of the guests, that, notwithstanding this repeated invitation, 5 "ºut they made light of they refused to come, and, gºod regarding [it] they went away, one of them to his field in #ºlº,"; the country, and another to his merchandise in the city. And the rest were so brutish, that, 6 merchaſſiss: laying hold on his servants who came with the message, they shamefully insulted them in - * º; a very outrageous manner, and even carried their ingratitude so far, that they slew some of spitériº, and slew them" them. ...?nd when the king heard [of it,) he was greatly provoked ; and, not long after, having 7 ºn tº hºº! sent his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and even burnt their city where they dwelči º lºtroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. - 7 i They perceived that he had spoken this parable agginst them.] Qne yaps; here properly signifies a nuptial banquct, in which sense it is would think they could be, at no loss ſor the interpretation of it, consider- often used by other writers. (See Raphel. Annot. ex: Poijä. p. 93, and ing how nº it resembles that in Isa, V; 1–7. With, which, they were; Wolfius, in loc.) it was sometimes customary to sena tº ºssaj no doubt, weł acquainted. Only it is to be observed, that there Israel in the case here supposed; which represented tº "conjº. is the vineyard, here the true religign, is represented, under, that figure; greater, and suited the repeated invitations given to the jºs tº Christ accordingly, there it, is threatened that the pineyard should be destroyed, himself during his life, and by the apostles after is dºth. *- but here that it should be let out to other husbandinen ; each event suiting c JMy oren and my fatted beasts are slain..] It was agreeable to the its connexion. * * * * * * * * simplicity of the ancient ages, to mention these as the chief parts of a a. The kingdom of heaven, is like, a king.] See note i, Qn Luke, vii. 32. royal entertainment. Thus in Homer and other ancient writers, we scº §: 112–It is observable, that Luke does not relate this parable here, princes of the first rank and dignity feasting each other with nothing ecause he had given us one very mugh like it before, which was spoken § - - - e ut the flesh of oxen, sheep, and swine.—Compare lsa. Nx v. 6. on a different occasion: (Luke xiv. 16–24. § 120.) for the same reason d Jānd, not long after, having sent his armies, &c.] This clause must he Qmits the question of the lawyer, Matt. xxii. 35. most of the discourse be supposed to come in by way of prolepsis or anticipation, for it is against the Pharisees, Matt. xxiii. and the parable of the talents, Matt. plain there could not be time, beforé the feast already prepared was xxv. 14, et seq. * * * served up, to attempt, an execution of this kind;—This circumstance b To call those who had been invited to the nuptial banquet.] The word seems to point at the slaughter of the Jews, and the burning of Jerusu- 268 SECT. 153. MATT. DXXII. 10 II I 2 3 14 Ver. 2 9, 10 THE PARABLE GF THE WEDi)}|NG GARMENT. which, being disaffected to him, had joined with these wicked men in concerting this gross and intolerable affront. - In the mean time then, upon the king's receiving intelligence of their insolent behaviour, 8 Thºusaith he to his st- he says to his servants, The marriage feast is prepared vants, The wedding is ready, * but their who were first invited were - - - -t-. - inot worthy of any part in it, or indeed of any invitation to it: %. let not the provisions I tºº have made be lost: go ye therefore to the most public ways, and particularly to the places nº". where several streets and roads meet,” and invite as many as you find there to the wedding- jhall find, bid to the mar- banquet. And accordingly these servants went out, as their lord had commanded them, "İso those servants went into the streets and other [public] ways, and assembled all that they met with, whether bad hº or good, without any regard to their characters or circumstances: and the feast was abwn- is they fºotº and dantly supplied with guests. ºjºs was But that, whatever habits they had on before, they might appear worthy to sit at such a tºll. A. Whenºin.cº. table, the king had ordered clean white garments to be delivered to each of them, and ap- hº tºº. pointed servants whose province it was to see that they were decently dressed; after ". a wedding garment: coming in to view the guests, he saw a man there who, though such habits were provided, yet was not clothed with a wedding garment;ſ but either in contempt of the feast, or pre- suming his own habit might do as well as that which was offered him, had refused to accept it. ..?nd he said to him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding 12 And he saith unto him, garment suited to the occasion? Was it not offered to thee 2 or hadst thou so little sense jºi. of decency and gratitude as to refuse to accept it in compliance with the order of my feast? arment? And he was speech: .#nd he was presently struck speechless,8 being confounded with the majesty of the royal “” presence, and conscious of his own insolence and folly. Then the king, being justly in- 13 Then,said, the king, tº censed at so great an affront, resolved to punish it by a severe imprisonment: and there- * i.. #."º. º fore said to [his] servants, Bind his hands and feet, and take him away hence from all the id º: §: joy and splendour of the guest-chamber, and cast him out into the darkness which is with- lººp"; out ;h and there, instead of the mirth and delight of my banquet, there shall be nothing but weeping and gnashing of the teeth for anguish and despair. §. Matt. viii. 12. p. 108.) Nor imagine, said our Lord in the conclusion and improvement of the parable, that this pººl.º.º.º. called, will be the case of one alone; for though it be a dreadful truth, yet I must say, that even but few are chosen. the greatest part of those to whom the gospel is offered, will either openly reject or secretly diso º it; and while many indeed are called to the gospel feast, it will be manifest, by their disregarding it, there are but few chosen in such a sense as finally to partake of its blessings. (Compare Matt. xx. 16. p. 240.) z - Thus did he strongly intimate to the Jews, that since they despised the rich provisions of his gospel grace, incomparably more valuable than those of a royal feast, and since they used the messengers whom God had sent to them in so ungrateful and barbarous a man- ner, they must expect to be cut off and destroyed by those hostile armies which Divine Providence would speedily bring upon them: but that the gospel should be embraced by the Gentiles, and vast numbers of them be converted and saved by it. And he further intended to insinuate, by the circumstance of the wedding garment, that as God had made Fº in his gospel for the sanctification of men's hearts, and the reformation of their ives, he expected true holiness and cordial obedience from all who professed to embrace it; and would another day take a strict review of all its professors, that he might separate habitual sinners from the number and the blessings of his people, and deliver them over to perpetual darkness and misery - IMPROVEMENT. How rich are the provisions of the gospell a feast indeed becoming the bounty and majesty of the King of heaven, and proportionable even to the love which he bears to his own Son, in honour of whom it is made : How wonderful is the grace which calls us to the participation of these provisions; us, who were originally sin- ners of the Gentiles, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise! (Eph. ii. ...] Yet has he graciously sent his messengers to us, and invited us to his house, yea, to his #. with the additiona 4–6 hope of yet nobler entertainments in reserve. May none of us reject so condescending a call, lest we turn his goodness into righteous indignation, and treasure up to ourselves wrath against the day of wrath ! (Rom. ii. 3.) Let us also remember, that it is not every one who professes to accept the entertainment, not every one who talks of gospel:blessings, and seems to desire a share in them, that will be admitted to it. No: in order to our partaking of an inheritance among the saints in light, it is necessary that we be made meet for it by the holiness both of our 11 hearts and lives. (Col. i. 12.) This is the wedding garment, wrought by the Spirit of God himself, and offered to us by the freedom of his grace. And it is so necessary, that without it we must be separated from the number 13 of his guests and friends, and even, though we had eaten and drank in his presence, must be cast out into outer darkness. º: xiii. 26.) - - Frequently let us think of that awful day when the King will come in to see his guests; when God will take a 12 most exact survey of every soul under a christian profession. , Let us think of that speechless confusion which will 13 seize such as have not on the wedding garment, and of that inexorable severity with which they will be consigned lem and the other chief cities of their country by the Romans; who are parations, to Which we must suppose the wardrobe of the prince corre- jºre considered as the armies of their affronted prince, whose ambassa- sponded, but likewise from the following circumstance of resentment dors they had indeed most cruelly and ungratefully murdered. against this guest, that a. º. was offered, but refused by him. And e The most public ways, &c..] The phrase 61&069; Tov 660V, signifies this is a circumstance ... (as Calvin observes) is admirably guited to the ways which were most ſrequented; which must be such, as are men- º method of God º: §§ ¥hº indeed requires holiness in tioned in the paraphrase. (Sée Boisius, Compar. in log.) This intimates j. er º our º Ing. jº } ;"#. § ...the ãº"the ut is graciously that the Gentiles }. as little reason io"expect the call of the gospel, as E º: . wor #" ID º: º, oly Spirit; and therefore may justly gºmºn passengers and traveilers to expect an invitation to a royal *.*}}..”. Pºº.j ect of so gºat a fºr;. banquet. g (ſe was strugk speechless.] I render it [struck Speechless.] because f Who, though such habits were provided, yet was not clothed toith the word chºp offm is in the passive form, and is very expressive. & It is a pedding garntent.] That persons º; º: #º. fºliº tº ſhe muzzling of cattle, 1 Cor. ix. 9. Compare 1 Tim v. 18. and isk, ed fi its in whi £U CS appo 3-I, IS eV1(162 ſit 1 I'Oill et. II. 12. • - - - - + * §º. º 'ºh; º º: º b *the Phaeacians, h Cast him out into the darkness which is pith9ut.] The mention of (Ödyss. iii. viii. ver. 402.) and from the account which Jºiodorus give; this circumstance in this connexion would incline one to think, either §§§ great hºspitality of Čšiiąs the Šicilian, who readily received all that the word aggro" (in Yºr. 4.) may signify supper as well as dinner, strºgérs, and at oncé supplied 500 horsemen, with clothes, wh9 by a (which some critics have thought,), or that, the king is ºppresented as jojº storm were driven to take shelter with him. (Diod. Sic. lib. xiii. yisiting the guests in the evening. But, not to insist on this, which is ºf p. 375, £dit. Steph.) Now it was usual, more especially at marriage- little moment, it is well known that hº of this kind were generall feasts, for persons to appear in a sumptuous dréss, adórned, as, some celebrated in rogms, that, were finely illuminated flººd, richly adorned. ºriters tºll us, with florid embroidery; (Dr. Hamraond, in loc.) th9ugh (Sce note. g., on Matt. viii. 12. p. 103.) And, considering how splendid many times white garments seem to have been used on such occasions. and magnificent the entertainments of the Eastern Princº were, it cannot (Öompare Rev. xix. $, 9). But as it could not be expected that travel- be thought an unnatural circumstance, that such an affront as this, off jerstäus pressed in should themselves be provided with a suitable habit, fered to the king, his $on, his bride, and the rest of the company, should we must therefore conclude, not only from the magnificence of the pre- be punished with such bonds, and thrown into a dungeon. t CHRIST QUESTIONED AS TO THE AWFULNESS OF PAYING TRIBUTE, 269 to weeping and gnashing of teeth. To have seen for a while the light of the gospel, and the fair beamings of SECT. an eternal hope, will add deeper and more sensible horror to those gloomy caverns; to have heard those glad 153. tidings of great joy, and to hear them, as it were, echoed back in accents of final despair, how will it wound the ear, and pierce the Yery heart; May God prevent it, by fulfilling in us all the good pleasure of his goodness, and º the work of faith with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us, and wein film, (2 Thess. * i. 11, 12.) when the marriage-supper of the Lamb shall be celebrated, and all the harmony, pomp, and beauty of heaven shall aid its solemnity, its magnificence, and its joy! SECTION CLIV. Our Lord confounds the Pharisees and Herodians, when they hoped to have insnared him by their question relating to the lawfulness of paying the Mºhegºgº ºff gºing to the lawſuin pay Ing MATT. xxii. 15. MATT. xxii. 15. º; , THEN the Pharisees, stung with the severe but just rebukes he had been #. them in sECT. e fººt entangle him in i; the foregoing parables, went out from his presence, and retiring, took counsel together how 154 talk. they might insnare him in [his] discourse, and find something on which they might ground . wºn; ºa º ºf an accusation or complaint against him. And they narrowly watched him in all his motions Luke §."º" jej"wº that day, and sent out spies to try if they could take him at an advantage, who should pre- 20 iºlº tend themselves to be righteous men, that were come, for the ease of their consciences, to fisciplesſ ºf the Pharisses propose a scruple to him on an affair of great importance. Now those that were sent on i., § {..."...iº, this errand were persons of opposite sects; ſevenj some of the disciples of the leading men wºrds, ſhat so they might de; among the Pharisees, who were very solicitous for the freedom of their country from every him unto the power and 7 * jº: "... mark of slavery; and [some] of the sect of the Herodians, a party of men (as was before authority...of the governor. [Matt. XXii. 16. Markxii. 13.] observed) peculiarly attachéd to the family of Herod, and consequently zealous in the interest of the Roman government, which was the main support of the dignity and royalty of that family. . .(See note f on Mark iii. 6. p. 101.) And these, different as their princi- ples were, combined together in an attempt upon Jesus, that, if an opportunity offered, they might lay hold on his words,” either to render him obnoxious to the people as an enemy to their liberties, or to deliver him up as a seditious person to the power and authority of Pontius Pilate, who was then the #º governor of that province. wº; ...}}. And when they were come to him, in order to accomplish their design, they craftily, ac- saying, Wister, we know costed him with an air of great respect, and with flattering expressions of the highest *...**:::::::"#iº, esteem; and asked him, saying, Master, we know and are well satisfied that thou art true ſº.º.º.º.º. and upright, and as thou comest as a messenger from God, so, after the example of those *śń"ºjº, faithful and courageous prophets who were in Israel in its better ages, thou sayest and º ë. teachest rightly, and art impartial and sincere in every thing that thou declarest; neither Mark_xii. 14.] carest thou for the censure or applause of any man; for thou regardest not the person of men, so as to be influenced by complaisance or fear, or any private views whatever, to deviate from the strictest integrity and veracity; but plainly teachest the way of God and nºvić ºf the path of duty in truth. We are come therefore to propose a question to thee, about §§§"is ºl"; which thou knowest that we Pharisees and Herodians are divided, and to which an § 2; tºº interested man who was governed by principles of human policy might, perhaps, be un- ii. i.uke xx, 22.] ” willing to answer: tell us, we pray thee, (for we have determined to submit our judgment and practice to thy sentiments in the matter,) What thinkest thou ? Is it lawful for tº: Jews, who are the peculiar people of God, and are many of us in conscience tender of acknowledging any king but him, or one of our brethren appointed by his immediate dele- gation,b to pay the usual tribute to Capsar, the Roman emperor, or not ? What dost thou advise in this case as right for us to do? Shall we give it to the collectors, or shall we not give it? We must beg an immediate answer, for the tribute is even now demanded of us. And here they ceased, as thinking they had him in an inextricable snare, and that he * could return no answer which .# not expose him to the severe resentment either of the Jewish people or of the Roman officers. • But Jesus, knowing their hypocrisy, which was indeed their reigning character, perceived *ś ºxii. 19. show me their craftiness [and] wickedness in this address, however pious and respectful it appeared, º, ºil; and therefore said to them, Ye hypocrites, why do ye tempt me by such an insmaring ques- #jºi". “iº tion, and seek to draw me into danger and destruction by it? Is this a proof of your *},…, xii. 16. Ana they regard and friendship to a faithful and impartial Teacher? But, that I may return a pro- brought ſunto him a pennyj per answer to your question, whatever be the view that you may have in asking it, show *...*.*.*.*, * me the tribute money which is demanded of you; and bring me hither a penny or denarius, 9 Rºjº, ºft, tº that I may see it. ...And they brought him a Roman penny. And, looking upon it, he . MARK ºf ºi'. intº, to them, ose is this image which is struck upon the coin, and whose inscription and title , Xi. ºf ºxii. 19–21, is this [which] it has round it?: And they, without perceiving his design, immediately 6 †† Anjesus answering said answered and said to him, It is Caesar's : thereby in effect acknowledging that they were # *º ºr under his dominion, by their admitting his coin as current among them. ..And Jesus answering, said unto them, Render therefore to Casar the things which are Catsar’s, and to God the things which are God's :d and labour so to adjust your regards and duties to both, x:AT” XX}} 17 Nº Ayº Mark xii. 15. Shall we XEl. give, or shall we not give 3– —But [Jesus] knowing their hypocrisy, [LUKE, perceive their cºſtinessj [and wick- edness, and ) said unto them, (hy tempt ye me, [ye hypo- crit; ?] [Matt. xxii. 18. Luke MATT. * X\}, fore] to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s, [Matt. xxii. 21. Luke xx. 25.] a That they might lay hold on his words.] They hoped to have in- snared him by the question they came to propose, whatever answer he could have returned. . If he asserted, on the oue hand, that tribute was to be paid to Caesar, the Pharisees, who generally maintained, (as Judas Gaulonites had done,) that such a subjection to a foreign power was in- consistent with the privileges of God’s peculiar people, would have *ndcavored, to expose him to popular resentment, as betraying the liberties of his country. Qn the other hand, had he denied the lawful- ness of this tribute, the Herodians would have had a very plausible pretenge of accusing him to the Roman power as a seditious person, º his persecutors had afterward the assurance to do: Luke xxiii. 2. 85. (Compare Acts xvii. 7.) Nay, perhaps the yery circumstance of taking upon him to determine such a question might, by these invidious inquirers, be construed as a pretence to sovereignty. See Voss. Harmon. Epaig. p. 54, 55. Qnº, of gur brethren, &c.] We are told that the grand argument which the followers of Judas Gaujonites, and others inclined to their party, urged as decisive against the authority of the Romans, was that text which prohibited their setting a stranger to be king over them, ileut. xvii. 15. And Grotius (in his note on Alatt. xxii. 16.) seems to think it was this that formerly engaged thern so vigorously to oppose the Chaldeans, and to refuse submitting to their government till Jerusalem was destroy- cd. See note q, on Luke xiii. 1. p. 295. -- - - c Whose is this image and inscription ?] Dr. Lightfoot tells us (in his Hor. Hebr. on Matt. xxii. 20.) that the Jews have a tradition annong them, that to admit of the title of any prince on their current coin, was an acknowledgment of subjection to him. It is certain their not during to refuse this coin, when offered them in payment, was in effect a gonfes- sion that they were conquered by the Româns, and consequently that the enlperor had a right to their tribute. - - Jºlºd to God the things johich arc God’s...] Diodate, Raphelius, and some other commontators, interpret this, as a caution against omitting the sacred tribute, on pretence § answering the demands of Caesar, who (they say) had claimof it to himself. But I apprehend, our Lord had a more exténsive view; and that, as he cautions the Pharisees against using religion as a pretence to justify sedition, so he also warns the Herolians that they should not, as they were too inclinable to do, make a compliment of their religion to the Romans, by complying with those 270 SECT. OUR LORD PROVES THE RESURRECTION TO THE SADDUCEES, that you may ...', on the one-hand, under pretence of religion, do any injury to Casar, 154. nor, on the other hand, under pretence of duty to Caesar, violate any of the commands of LUKE XX. 26 , ºffnd when they had heard [his] wise and unexceptionable [answer, they plainly found Ver. God, or fail of that respect to him which he requires: whereby he plainly intimated that tribute was to be paid to Caesar as due to his government; yet did it in such a manner, and with such restrictions, as prevented the inconvenience of a more express declaration. Luke xx. 26. And [when that they could not take hold of his words before the people, so as to incensé and stir them ..."...º.º.º. • * ~ : - - - - - - hey could not take hold o up against him as no friend to their liberties; and théy were equally unable to accuse him his words beforeig peºple: to the Romans of sedition, on account of any thing he had then said as derogating from ºãº, *: the rights, of Cºesar. They therefore wondered at the prudence and address of his reply, ſº jº"; by which he had effectually disentangled himself from what they thought must unavoid: ºik.j"**** * ably, have insnared him; dnd were so perfectly confounded, that they held their peace, and left him ; and, deeply sensible of the disgrace as well as disappointment they had met with, they went away amazed and ashamed. - - IMPROVEMENT. 25, 26 ; AGAIN does Qur Lord renew the repeated lesson he had before given us, both by precept and example, of unit- x -v I ng wisdom and innocence. How admirable was this mixture of prudence and integrity with which he confound- 20 ed these Pharisees and Herodians, who, contrary as their principles and interests were, conspired against him! 21 MATT. 16 2I SECT. 155. LUKE * For of a truth, O Lord, against thine holy Child Jesus, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the people of Israel, were gathered together! (Acts iv. 27.) and their words were softer than oil, when war and murder was in their hearts. (Psal. lv. 21.) - - - Let us not, with the simple, believe every flattering word, (Prov. xiv. 15.) since sometimes the highest encomiums may ºfesigned as the instruments of mischief: and too often they prove so when they are not treacherously Intended. e Our Lord was indeed the Person whom these artful hypocrites described; and was in that respect an excellent pattern to all his followers, and especially to his ministers. He knew no man in the discharge of his office: but, without regarding the persons of any, neither seeking their favour nor fearing their resentment, he taught the way of God in truth, and declared the whole of his counsel. - Let us particularly attend to his decision in the present case, and learn with the utmost readiness to render unto Casar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's. Our civil magistrates, by virtue of their office, justly claim our reverend regard; and tribute is most reasonably due to those who attend continually to the services of the public, and are, under God, the pillars of our common tranquillity and happiness. (Rom. xiii. 6, 7.) Let that tribute therefore be justly and freely rendered, with honour and with cheerfulness; as he is surely unworthy to share in the benefits of government, who will not contribute his part towards its necessary expensé. Butlet it also be remembered, that the rights of God are sacred and inviolable: he, and he alone, is the Lord of conscience ; and when that is invaded, it is easy to judge whether man or God is to be obeyed. (Acts iv. 19.) Let us be daily thankful, that in our own age and country these rights are so happily united. May a guardian Provi- dence continue to watch over both ! and may we seriously consider how impossible it is, under such a govern- ment, to be good christians without being obedient subjects, or to fear God, if we do not honour the king ! (1 Pet. ii. 17.) - - SECTION CLV. Our Lord proves the resurrection to the Sadducees, and answf: their ſºli; objection against it. Matt. xxii. 23–33. Mark xii. 18–27 - UlkG XX, X2 f tº - LUKE xx. 27. ſ.t. KE xx. 27. THEV, on that day in which our Lord had thus confounded the Pharisees and the ºligº ſhe same day, ºne - - it wºrn c x ***7 fºr r 34 to him certain of the Saddu- Herodians, some of the Sadducees came to him, who (as it was before observed) were a sº cees, which deny that there of pretended freethinkers among the Jews, that deny there is any resurrection of the dead,” is any resurrºſion; and they - * wa - -- : {-, : J asked Jim, [Matt. xxii. 23. or iny future state in which the soul exists after deathb to receive the reward of its actions. Aiºi. gºla * 27 And they applied themselves to Jesus, and asked him a question, in which they put a case rºjºsº.º. - * t - * -- - - -- iſ 4- [said aridſ], wrote unto us, If which they used often to urge against those who were of a different opinion from them- ºghºiardiº, 28 selves, and with which they also hoped to puzzle him : Saying, Jiſaster, if there be, as we ...º.º. ).º. MATT. 25 LUKE XX. 30. - * - w - him, and leave no children.] know thou teachest, a resurrection of the dead, how can this difficulty which we are going tºº.º.º. º. to propose be adjusted?, Moses, as thºu well knowest, said, [and] wrote to its this pre, º.º. cept, (Deut xxy. *) “That if a man's brother die, and leave a wife did no childrºn behind *śºka, ther, him, his surviving brother, should take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother "the first jº jº, sº º - - º * &. - - rif his and the first, whom he jia ( child of this second marriage being esteemed the child of the deceased, so as to inherit his jºia"ºft, º, ...i whole estate, and bear up his name. Now it so happened that there were with its, in a ce; hºinº º - • - * * - - - * º 4. J, 2. left his wife unto his brother. tain family in our neighbourhood, seven brethren; and the first of these brethren, when he Šºši Z- º te Mark Xii. 20. hall married a wife, died quickly after, and, having had no children, lºſt his wife ºf Coºse ...º.º. º to be married to his brother. And upon this, the second followed the direction of º; law, ſº º §§ - 1-ox ex- a + * -- ..]. A iIdle S.S. [Y] att, xxii. 25. Mark X ii. 21. and took her to wife; and he likewise, after he had been some time married, died childless, §"R.'ſ.');...'...' { 31 as his elder brother did. And then the third took her, and he also died, as the others had a diſtic ºff 32 33 * • º - - 4. - * * * * Y , o also [MARK, had her :] aud done, without issue: and in like manner also all the rest went ºn, till ºvely, one of the flºº"...,'...}}.} jº brothers had married her; and they all died, and left no children behind them. Ånd ºft'ssiº. Mark last of all, the woman herself also died, withºut any issue, not having married into º ºfÅ; |*.is of "º. family but this. The question therefore is, Iſhen they shall rise, as you say º all will tº sº, "ºº" the géneral resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for all the seven hal her to ºft ; : Tºº ºji and as º stood in an equal relation to her in this world, they all seem to have exactly tºº. 8. rise..] whose wife [shall she be an equal claim to her in the next. of the seven fj for [all]{MARK º - t * ~~~ - •o the] seven bad iyer to...wife: Thus they attempted in a sneering manner to overthrow all the arguments for a future §§§ Mark Xii. 23.] to have been a kind of common- * - - : . . . ** - Yº Y a tº rinizel; F in ºrra – c. • * x-1, r. • Incºntion b cre, Seen 5 - things which were ſorbidden by the divine law, that they might ingra- story which thcy mention bere, seen in the old Jewish writers. See tiº themselves with Casar’s party. See Prideaux’s Counction, Vol. }: º we pºet with it “. . .3öö -36S - - ightfoot, Hºº. 1169:... toº. : , ; - sly said, Acts xxiii. 8. º Tºwer. is any resurrection.] It is gºnerally known that b Gr any ſtºre sº...º. of the soul in thiſ rºsior, Sadoc, from whom the Sadducees took their name; taught that they denicºl ſtri: ºf. gº perc, and much of St. Paul’s §: (j.g. "to'º"sérºï from mercenary principles, that is, (as a sºpº, síº...º.º.º. àºsition' of such a denial on their #."...jºinea'it) from hope ºf reward gº ſº. ºf ºhº; ong...] ....", "º".º.º.º.o. prºves that Judas bº #is followers interpreted this as an implicit denial of a future º ſº: SG C 2 º'. #1. "ºil ºring sacrifices for the souſs of the and so iºd that perpicious motion of the uttºr dºtſ\ºtion of the sºn icy, d a resurrection, from its ºften "a at death, equally uncomfortable and absurd. See Drusius, in loc.—"I'lie skii::. OUR LORD PROVES THE RESURRECTION TO THE SADDUCEES. 271 Matt. xxii. 29. [And] Jesus state which might be advanced either from reason or from Scripture. And Jesus therefore SECT. #: º: answered and said to them, It plainly appears, from your manner of stating the question, 155. §criptijºs, of the power ºf that you are greatly mistaken, and go entirely on a wrong supposition; not knowing, on the God. [Mark Xii. 24. Luke ºr - s - , - * * * - - gº ich. if Ll xx. 34. one hand, what is so plainly intimated in the Scriptures of a resurrection, which, if well MA.i. understood, implies no contradiction at all; nor attending, on the other hand, to the power º of God, which is able with infinite ease to effect what to man seems most difficult and improbable. Luke xx. 34. The children of this world, marry, given in Inarriage : 35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrec- tion from the dead, [MARK, when they shall rise,] neither : marry, nor are given. In mar- the production of new blessed world which Go Xll. 20. 36 Neither can they die any more : for they are equal unto the angels §§ Gqq in heaven,) and are the ghildren of God, being the children 9 the resurrection. [Matt. xxii. 30. Mark xii. 25.] • in º. in very different circumstances when they shall rise, and neither marry nor are given in º; " " ": * marriage: For they can die no more, and therefore the rise of new generations is no longer 36 necessary, since in this respect, they are equal to the angels of God in heaven,” and are the children of God, and heirs of immortality and glory, being the children of the resurrection,” which shall instate them in a complete felicity, answerable to so near a relation to the Divine Being ; and consequently all such difficulties as you have now been urging are entirely superseded by the happiness and perfection of so exalted a state. And as to this particular difficulty which you now object, it ought to be considered that LUKE ** the children of this world do indeed marry and are given in marriage, according to the wise ision which God h de by that institution f iring the w f mortality, by 84 provision which God has made by that institution for repairing the wastes of mo y, by enerations. But they who shall be counted worthy to obtain that 35 has prepared for his people above, and to be admitted to the never-fading honours that will succeed the resurrection of good men from the dead, will be si.º.º.º. ºf. But as for the evidence of the resurrection in general, not to insist on many plainer 37 jºi...º.d.; passages in the other books of Scripture, for which you do not profess so great a regard, }.}º'º. I may say that even Moses in effect showed that the dead are to be raised, when, speaking of and thºod ºf Isaac and the what happened at the burning bush, (Exod. iii. 6.) he calls the Lord, from whom he there §§ jº, º..."; received his commission, “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Mºś Jacob.” And he had the highest authority for the expression; for, have ye not read in the §§§§ book of Moses, how God spake to him in ihe bush by this title 2 and hayé ye not observed *ś, ſº ºf § 3; what was then in effect spoken to you by God, saying in express terms, “I am the God of išac, and the Gºof.Jacobº Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?”f Now certainly God is not to be 38 §" **** *** called the God of them who are entirely destroyed, and left to continue in the state of the 38 For [God is not a God 9f the dead, but . [\l ARK, the God] of the living ; for all live unto him : [MARK, therefore do greatly 2/. dead, but the God of those who may be yet considered as the living : nor would he ever own the high relation of a God to those whom he finally abandons, and suffers to sink into Yg nothing; much less would what he did for the holy patriarchs, whose names he com- err. e - w s Šišić."ºrii. 32."ºk ºil memorated with so much honour, answer such a title, since he left them exposed to so } many trials and calamities, which multitudes escape of whom he has never spoken in such language: so that those good men must be considered as still in existence; and therefore it may be concluded, by a strong train of consequences, that all the faithful live unio him ;é for hē, on the foot of Abraham's covenant, owns himself the God of all such ; and conse- quently he must be an everlasting patron and friend to them, even to their whole persons, so as to recover their mortal part from the ruin and desolation of the grave. And therefore, on the whole, you greatly err in denying this doctrine; and your error tends to bring a disgrace on the whole series of divine revelation, and to weaken one of the strongest motives to a life of holiness and obedience. - 39 Then certain of the scribes answering, said, Mas- ter, thou hast well said. hast spoken so well upon this subject, that nothing solid can be objected to thy discourse. Matt. xxii. 33. , And when .And indeed when all the multitude that was #, ºniº"aſ"; unthought-of yet convincing argument, together with so clear an answer to a cavil in which xxii. doctrine. the Sadducees used to triumph as invincible, they were greatly astonished at his doctrine, 33 and plainly testified the admiration and delight with which they had attended his discourse. Less Luke xx; 40. And, after 4 resent in the temple at that time, heard [this] that, they durst not ask him any question at all. and confusion. c Järe equal to the angels of God in heaven.] Matthew and Mark say t - - only that they are as the angels, [Ös ayyeXot,) and though Luke expresses it by a stronger word, [t a gyyeXot, that they are cqual to the angels, yet all arguments drawn from hence, as proving an entire equality of glori- fied Saints with angels in all respects, must be apparently weak and in- conclusive. It is indeed the glorious scheme of redeeming love, to incorporate angels, and saints into one happy society under Christ as their common head; (Eph. i. 10.) but there are subordinations in united societies. "And if the fil of the apostate spirits occasioned any thing like, a vacancy in the celestial hierarchy, it would seem most probable it ymight be filled up from, heavenly spirits of an inferior order, who might , be preferred to the rank their degenerate brethren lost, as a reward for their approved fidelity to God. But it becomes us to be exceeding modest in our conjectures gu such subjects as these, lost we incur the censure of intruding into things which we have not secn. Col. ii. 18. ºl And are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.] This plainly intimates that good men are called God’s children, with a view to the inheritance to which they are adºpted, on the final posses- sion of which they enter at the resurrection. Compare Romans viii. 17. Gal. iv. 7, 1 John iii. 2. and Rom. viii. 29. See the Essay on Divine Dispensations, p. 8,9. * e ‘Other books of Scripture, for which you do not profess so great a regard.] The Sădducees are thought by many to have agreed with the Samaritans in, rejecting, all the other parts of Holy §g but the fiye books of Moses; which is particularly contended for by Serrarius, (Trihares, lib. ii. cap. 21. and Minerval, lil. iv... cap. 14.) But this is questioned by Drusius, (De Tribus Sectis, lib. iii, cap. 9. and Reland (ºutiq. Heb. part ii. cap. 11.) and Scaliger maintains the contrary, an shows that the passage from Josephus, (JAntiq; (ib. xiii. Cap. 10. [al. 18.] § 6.) which is commonly alleged in, defence of that opinion, only relates to their rejecting all traditions. (Elench. Trihaeres, cap. 16.) And indeed, as it appears from the Talmud that other parts of the Old Testament Were often quoted by the Sadducees, and arguments were brought from thence against them by the Pharisees to prove the resurrection, which they endeavoured only to evade without disputing the authority of texts, though they were not taken from the law of Moses, it is more reasonable to believe, with Dr. Lightfoot, (in his flor. Hell. on John iv. 25.) that they did not reject the other books of the Old Testament, but only gave a reat preference to the five books of Moses; and, laying it down as a principle, to recçive nothing, as an article of faith which could not be proved from the ſaw, if anything was urged from other parts of Sgrip- ture that could not be deduced from Mioses, they would explain it in seme other way. And this might be sufficient to induce our Lord to bring his argument to prove the resurrection from what Moses had said, And to confirm it by that part of Scripture, which was most regarded by ºsadducees, and upon which they now had grounded their objection O Itſ. f I am the God gf Abraham, &c.] . It is surprising to me to find learned men so much divided in their sentiments on this easy text. The force of the argument cannot surely rest on the word [am ;) because, though it be in the Greek, it is not in the Hebrew, where the words may possibly sig- nity, I ſhare been] the God qf Abraham, Śc. and the possibility of such a version would affect the conclusion on that supposition. But our Lord’s argument is equally forcible either way : for it is evident that it cannot properly be said that God either actually is or hath been the God o any whom he has suffered finally to perish : and (as the apostle strongly iſitimates), he would, humarily speaking, be ashamed, or think it infinitely beneath him, to own that relation to any for whom he had not provided a city, or a state of more permanent happiness than any which could be enjoyed in this mortal life. (See Heb. xi. 16.) So that the argument by no means turns (as Archbishop Tillotson and Grotius suppose) on the calluitous cirgumstances in which these patriarchs often were; but would have held good, had all their lives been as prosperous and glo- rious as that of Abraham seems generally, notwithstanding his pere- šrinations, to have been.—I cannot, as modern writers of note do, fall in with Mr. Mede’s notion, (in his ſºurks, p. 801, 802.) that our Lord refers to the necessity of Abraham’s being raised from the dead to inherit Canaan, in order to the accomplishment of God’s promise to give it to him ; both because I can see no such necessity, and because then Í think it would have been much more to our Lord’s purpose to have quoted the promise of the land of Canaan, than these general words. g So that all the faithful lice unto him.] It is evident that yap must here have the force of an illative particlé, and may be renderéd "[there- Jorg,) or [so that;) for what it introduces is plainly the main proposition to be proved, and not an argument for what immediately went before. In this connexion, the consequence is apparently just : for as all the faithful are the children of Abraham, and the divine promise, of being a God to hiºn and his sced, is entailed upon them, it will prove their con- tinued existence and happiness in a future state, as much as Abraham's. And as the body as well as the soul makes an éssential part of man, it will, prove both its resurrection and theirs, and entirely overthrow the whole Sadducean doctrine on this head. • h dſtºr, that they durst not ask him any thing at all.] It is eyident that t is is meant of the Sadduceds, and must be understood as limited. Then some of the scribes who were present being of the sect of the Pharisees, were pleased 39 to hear a doctrine of their own, so judiciously defended, and said in reply, Master, thou MATT. And as the Sadducees had nothing to reply, they were ashamed and disappointed; and x. after that they durst not any more presume to ask him any thing at all,h but retired in silence 40 SECT. 155. MATT. XXII. 23–28 doctrine of the resurrection considered on the one hand, and the omnipotence of the CHRIST DISCOURSES OF THE FIRST COMMAND OF THE LAW. IMPROVEMENT. WITH what satisfaction should we read this vindication of so important an article of our faith and hope Easily was this, boasted argument of the Sadducees unravelled and exposed, and all the pride of those bold wits, who valued themselves so much ºn that imaginary penetration which ſaid men almost on a level with brutes, covered with just confusion. Indeed, objections against the resurrection, much more plausible than this of theirs, may be answered in that one saying of our Lord's, Ye know not the Scriptures nor the power 8, God. Were the Scripture reator on the other, it could 29 not seem incredible to any, that God should raise the dead. (Acts xxvi. 8. LUKE xx. How sublime an idea does our Lord give us of the happiness of those who shall be thought worthy to attain it! They shall be equal to the angels Adored be the riches of that grace which redeems us from this dégenerate and 35, 36 misèrable state, in which we had made ourselves so much like the beasts that perish, (Psal. xlix. 12.) to raise us to 34 37 MARK XII. LUKE XX. SECT. 156. *-m- MATT. XXII. 35 36 said to him, Master, I desire thou wouldst inform me which is the first MARK Xīſ. 30 is the one great and only Lord : ...And }.} all occasions thou shalt regard and honour him ºoj is on Lord." [Nº. 31 degree as subordinate to this, and reducible to it. And the second, in its sublime and MATT. XXII. 40 so high a dignity, and marshal us with the armies of heaven! : Lºtus esteem so glorious a hope aright, and with the greatestintenseness of soul pursue and insure it. And as for those enjoyments of this present world which are suited only to the mortality and imperfection of it, let us moderate our regards to them, and cultivate those higher entertainments with the most solicitous care, which will be transplanted into the paradise of God, and ever flourish for the delight of his immortal children. Christ, We see, argues a very important point of doctrine from premises in which, perhaps, we might not have been able to have discovered it without such a hint. Let us learn to judge of Scripture arguments not merely by the sound, but by the sense of the words. And as our Lord chose à passage from the Pentateuch, rather than from the prophets, for the conviction of the Sadducees, let us be engaged to study the tempers and even the pre- udices of those with whom we converse; that we may, if possible, let in the light of divine truth on their earts, on that side by which they seem most capable of receiving it. In a Word, let us with pleasure think of the blessed God under that gracious title by which he manifested him- self to Moses at the bush. Still he is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; the God of Qur pious ancestors, the God of all our departed friends who are now sleeping in Jesus: for all their souls now live into him, and their bodies ere long shall be awakened by him. In like manner, if we are followers of them who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises, when we are gathered to our fathers, and our names, perhaps, forgotten among succeeding generations, he will still be our God. He will show us, by the blessed expe. rience of eternity, that when he treated with us by that title, and admitted us into the covenant by which he bears it, he intended for us something far nobler and better than the transient scenes of earth and of time could admit. SECTION CLVI. Christ discourses of the first and great command of the law, and confounds the Pharisees with a question relating to David's calling the Messiah his Lord. Matt. xxii. 34, to the end. Mark xii. Luke xx. 4 - MATT. xxii. 34. MATT. xxii. 34. THUS Jesus defended the great doctrine of the resurrection from, the vain cavils which BUT when, the Phaſisees were brought against it. But the debates of the day ended not here; for when the Pha- º 'º'; ' 'º' tº- - *- 5 the Sadducees to silence, risees heard that he had thus silenced and confounded the Sadducees, they were soon gathered they were gathered together. together again, with a malicious view of carrying on the same design, to try if they could any way expose him to the º and to make their remarks upon what he might say. And one of the learned scribes, [who was] also a doctor of the law, came with the rest; 33.phenone ſofthe scribes, and having attended to the discourse between Jesus and the Sadducees, and heard them ºff.º.º. reasoning together, perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him a further question, jºiniº. intending to make another trial of him as to his understanding in the sacred books; and §º ...dºjº. ſº great CO771- º and - º * - Say in * {3 IR XJ 1. - mandment of all that are contained in the whole law? Is it a ceremonial or à moral pre- ºić is the cept that is the most important, and deserves the preference 2 [first and l. great command- And Jesus answered him, The question thou hast put may easily be resolved; for surely the first, that is, the most comprehensive and important, of all the commandments of the law, ment [of all ) in the law Ż [\lark, xii.2S.J is that which is contained in Deut. vi. 4, 5. x. 12. “Hear, Mark Xii. 29. And Jesus answered him, The first of O Israel ! Jehovah our God all the commandments is ear, O Israel; The Lor as such, and love lhe Lord thy God wit thy mind, and with all thy strength;” that is, thou shalt consecrate to - powers and faculties of thy nature; and thy understanding and will, thine affections and jº",º executive powers, shall be all in the most vigorous manner employed in his service. (See §: this º note c, on. Luke X. 27. F. 192.) This is the first and great commandment, the º and ºº:: ºgº fundamental precept of the law, and there is no other which may not be considered in its all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all º ..] im all the united Lord ºd thou shalt love the Or thy God with , all §. 31 And the second is like comprehensive nature, [is] much like unto it, as well as given by the same authority,” º ..":"...º.º. ſeven] this contained in Ley. Xix. 18. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” for all jº. º. º. the düties you owe to your fellow-creatures may be reduced to this; and where this um- thºse "tītī XXii. 35.] ...' and generous principle of love is, the rest will easily and naturally follow. On the whole, therefore, there is no other commandment greater than these. And indeed I may say, that all the law and the prophets "#. upon these two commandments ; that is, it is the design of the whole revelation, in its different periods, and circumstances, to promote that virtuous and holy temper which may be expressed by the love of God and our neighbour. ...And the scribe, who had proposed the question with a design to try him, was struck Mark Xii. 32. And, the with the solidity and spirit of his answer, and said to him, Truly thou deservest to be ;...";..."..."º"; owned as a Master in Israel; for thou hast spoken to this important question excellently Matt. xxii. 40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. MARK XII. to them ; because in the very next section we read of a question which one of the scribes put to hiſm. - - a jøhich is the first and great commandment, &c.] This was a point that ofton was disputed by the Jewish doctors; some contending for the jaw of circumcision, others for that of sacrifices, and others, for that of the phylacteries. And though it was a rule among them. that the law of the sabbath was to give place to that of circumcision, yet they were not agreed as to the rest, which was the principal and most important fºecºt; only in general they were inclified to give the pºſerençº tº fºremonial part.—Dr. Lightfoot remarks, (in his Hor. Hºb. on Mark ji. 3.) that Christ answers the scribe out of a sentence which was writ- ten in the phylacteries, in which he avoided all occasion of offence, and plainly showed (as the scribe afterwards observes, Mark Xii. 33.) that the observance of the moral law, was more acceptable to God than all the sacrifices they could offer to him. - - - b. The scCond is like unto it.]. By quoting this with the former, he sufficiently guarded against a foolish notion which some say the Pharisees had, that the observation of one excellent precept of the law would excuse the transgression of many others; it is certain the Pharisees were ready to magnify duties of the first table, to the neglect of those of the second; on Which account it was 3xcºdingly proper to use such lan- guage as this. THE PHARISEES CONFOUNDED BY A QUESTION CONCERNING THE MESSIAH. 273 truth; for there is one God; well: for there is indeed one God, and there is no other besides him : And to love him, as SECT. # * * * * * thou hast said, with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and 156. 33 And to Joye him with all with all the strength, to consecrate all the intellectual and active powers of our whole nature the heart, and with all the *...* A. "with ji to him; and for a man to love [his] neighbour as himself, from a sense of piety to God as * º # Yºhº; ; well as benevolence to man, is far more important than all the burnt-offerings and sacri, 35" jºr him alºméº fices which the greatest prince could present at his altar; nor could the most exact and #.º...” pompous ritual observances be acceptable without such virtues and graces as these. , ºf "nºa'iº .And Jesus, seeing that he answered thus wisely, said unto him, It appears from these just 84 iſ "...ºft.*::: sentiments of thiné on this important head, that thou art not far from the kingdom of God; ºr from the kingdom of and such views of religion as these may be the happy means of preparing thee to receive - - - the gospel in that fuller manifestation of it which is now approaching. - the Pharisees were gathere And while the Pharisees were gathered together during this conference, expecting to have MATT. §§§ found an opportunity to insnare him, as he was still teaching the people in the temple, Jesus ºxii. Hºnº t;"sº: turned to the scribes and doctors of the law who were present, and asked them, saying, § ºbjºist. §§ How say the scribes so commonly as they do, that the Messiah is the Son of David? ... Let 42 fºº" sº º me ask you of that profession who are now here, Hºhat think ye concerning the Messiah in # Whātūnkge of Christ; this respect? Whose Son is he? They say unto him, Nothing can be plainer than what thou Nº.'s, §§§ representest as the general opinion; he is undoubtedly to be [the Son] of David. He saith 43 H. H.; Hºº: ºntº them, How then does David himself, speaking by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in fºliº.º. the book of Psalms, acknowledge him to be supérior to himself, and call him Lord?d for ºf you cannot but know that there is a passage expressly to this purpose, (Psal. cx, ...) which ºil.’; #3 you, readily allow to refer to the Messiah, in which you find David saying, “The Lord 44 * Loº, said unton, said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand in exalted power and glory, with all the ###!º, º majesty and honour of a King, till I make all thine enemies thy footstool, and cause thee .#'ſ...}"º to trample upon them at pleasure.” . If David himself therefore call him Lord, and speak 45 * Hºº à.#hen of him as his superior, as you see he doth, how is he then his Son 2° * - w - Now as the scribes and Pharisees were ignorant of the great doctrine of the divine nature çall him, Lord, how is he - • º • e of the Messiah, with respect to which, even before his incarnation, he was the Lord of Matt. xxii. 41. [And] while #º. them] his sº #: the common people hear - te - - hºlark sii. 37. David and of the whole church, they were quite-confounded with the question. And the '#'Aºi º"man was able vast crowd of common people that was about him, heard him with #. pleasure. And all 46 tº answer him a Wººd; nei, his adversaries were at such a loss, that no man could answer him, so much as a word; ther durst any man (from that - w - - • §§jºinº neither did any one ſº from that day forward, to ask him any more such insnaring questions. [Mark sii. 34) questions; as those by which they had now contrived to assault, and, if possible, to con- found him. . - - IMPROVEMENT. WHATEveR might be the design of the scribe in putting this question to Christ again, (which was in effect the MARK same with what another had proposed before, Luke x. 25. sect. cvii.) we have reason to rejoice in the repetition of ºxii. so important an answer. Oh that it might be inscribed on our hearts as with the point of a diamond' 23 The first and great commandment requires us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and soul, and mind, 29 and strength; and the second, which is like unto it, to love our neighbour as ourselves. But alas, what reason have we to complain of our own deficiency on both these heads! and how much need of being taught again even these first principles of the oracles of God! (Heb. v. 12.) Cân we say, with regard to the first, that the blessed God has the whole of our hearts 2 Is the utmost vigour of 30 our faculties exerted in his service P Do we make him the end of all our actions, of all our wishes, of all our pur- suits?—Or are we indeed such equitable judges between ourselves and others, as the second of these great com- 31 mandments would require , so is to seek our own particular interests no further than they may be subservient to, or at least consistent with, the good of the whole P Do we make all those allowances for others, which we expect or desire they should make for us?--Surely we must own we are far from having yet attained, or from being already perfect. (Phil. iii. 12.)—But if this be not in the main the prevailing and governing temper of our minds, in vain 33 aré our burnt-offerings and our sacrifices; in vain are all the solemnities of public worship, or the forms of domestic and secret devotion; and by all our most pathetic expressions of duty to God, and #ip to men, we do but add one degree of guilt to another. Let us then most earnestly entreat that God would have mercy upon us, and by his Holy Spirit write these laws in our hearts. - On these subjects let scribes instructed to the kingdom of heaven insist, lest they be condemned by this expo- 32 sitor of the Jewish law. And let those whose notions are thus wisely regulated, take heed, lest, while they seem 31 mear to the kingdom of God, by resting in mere notions, they come short of it, and sink into a ruin aggravated by their near approach to the confines of salvation and glory. As for the question of Christ with which the Pharisees were perplexed, the gospel has given us a key to it. Well MATT. might David in Spirit call him Lord, who, according to the flesh, was to descend from his loins: for before David XXII. or Abraham was, he is. (John viii. 58.) Let us adore this mysterious union of the divine and human natures in 41–43 the person of our glorious Emmanuel; and be very careful that we do not oppose him, if we would not be found 44 fighiers against God. Already is he exalted at the right hand of the Father: let his friends rejoice in his dignity and glory, and with pleasure wait the day of his comple: triumph, when all his enemies shall be put under his feet, and even the last of them be swallowed up in victory ! (I Cor. xv. 25, 54.) c Excellently well.] It is in the original Ka)\@s, beautifully, or finely, which expresses his high satisfaction in the reply much more strongly than the word well. - - - - - - d How then does David himself by the Holy Spirit, §§ Our Lord, we see, always takes it for granted in his arguments with the Jews, that the writers of the Old Testament were under such an extraordinary guidance of the Holy Spirit, as to express themselves with the strictest propriety on all occasions. (Compare John X. 35. § 134.), And I look on this as no contemptible argument for the inspiration of the New Tes- tament; for we can never think the apostles of Christ to have been less assisted by the Divine Spirit in their writings, when they were in other respects so much more powerfully endowed with it. * e. If Dapid himself therefore call him Lord, is he then his Son 3] This implies both the existence of David in a future state; and the autho- rity of the Messiah over that invisible world into which that prince was removed by death : Else, how great a Monarch soever the Messiah might have been she could not have been properly called Dayid’s Lord, any more than Julius Caesar could have been called the lord of Romu- lus, because he reigned in Rome 700 years after his death, and vastly gxtended the bounds of that empire which Romulus founded.—Munster’s Note on this text shows, in a very forcible manner, the wretched expe- dients of some modern Jews to evade the force of that interpretation of the 110th Psalm which refers it to the Messiah. f Presume from that day forward to ask him any more questions.] The plain meaning is, they asked him no more such captious questions; for the memory of this confusion impressed their minds during the short remainder of Christ’s continuancé among them ; and he was soon re- moved from them, so that they had mo further opportunities of doing it when that impression wore oft. *4 SECT. THE.W. Jesus, in the progress of his doctrine and discourse, spake to his disciples in the THEN gudience of all the people who were present, and took occasion (as he had done formerly, - — Luke xi. 39, et seq., sect. cx.) to expose and caution them against the pride and hypocrisy MATT. of the scribes and Pharisees, saying openly and freely to them, The scribes and the Phd. * risees sit in the chair of JMoses,” and are the public teachers and expounders of his law: 3.4ll therefore whatsoever they shall charge you to observe in virtue of that law,b pay a * becoming deference and regard to, and be ready to observe and do accordingly; but prac- tise not by any means according to their works; for they say well in many instances, but 157. XXIII. MARK MATT. XXIII 5 IUR. C XX. 46. MATT. XXIII. 6 tious to secure the highest seats even in the very 7 prostrate themselves in the divine presence with the same principle of vain-glory and Ostentation, they desire to receive salutations in the markets and other places of common concourse, (compare Luke xi., 43. sect. cx.) and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi;f a title of honour which they are fond of having repeated in 8 10 liarity. And call not [any one] on earth your father,h nor be fond of receiving this title from men who may be ready to speak of themselves as but children in comparison of you, to follow all your dictates; for one is your Father, and that of the whole I2 pare Matt. xx. 26, 27. p. 247.) CHRIST DISCOURSES WITH THE PHARISEES IN THE TEMPLE. SECTION CLVII. Christ discourses with the Pharisees in the temple, repeating the charg th Mark xii. 38–40. at sect. Mått. xxiii. 1–22. MATT. xxiii. 1. do not themselves practise according to what they teach. I therefore repeat it again, Beware of imitating the hypocrisy and following the example *...* of the scribes ;” For, by virtue of the traditions which in conjunction with the Pharisées they have added to the law, they bind together grievous . 4 without the least remorse lay them on men's shoulders, urging them by the heaviest penal- ties to conform to all their injunctions; but they dispense with [themselves] in the neglect of many of them, and will not so much as move them with a finger of theirs. (Compare Luke xi. 46. sect. cx.) Jłnd even when they do conform in other instances to their own rules, it is generally from a bad principle ; for there is none of all their works but what they chiefly do with a design to be viewed and taken notice of by men, as examples of extraor tº this purpose, in particular, they make their phylacteries remarkably broad,” that it may be * es and cºutigns, which, he had f } * uke xx. 45, gºer y advanced at the house of one of to the en MATT. xxiii. 1. spake J in hi ădºi.e." Łºś ..[in his *... ..of | #º: Into his disciples, [. xii. 8. Luke tº; 3.TR XIl 2 Saying, The scribes and º, Pharisees sit in Moses” €31. . 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do ; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. Mark, xii. 38. , Beware of the scribes : [Luke xx. 46.] & . Matt, xxiii. 4. For they insupportable burdens, and bind heavy" burdēns, ºd grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fin- gerS. * 5 But all their works they o for to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacte- For ries, and enlarge the borders ftheir garments. - tº. * ary piety. thought they write more of the law on those scrolls of parchment than others do, or désire to be more frequently reminded of divine things by the size of them; and, for the same reason likewise, they make the fringes and tassels which the law requires them to wear on the borders of their garments, as large as may be, that they may seem peculiarly desirous to remember the divine commandments, whenever they look upon them. (Compare Numb. xv. 38–40.) These are the self-conceited and vain-glorious men who affect to walk in long that they may appear with an air of distinguished gravity and stateliness; .# uppermost places at feasts, where guests of the first quality are used to sit; and are ambi- gogues,” where they should meet to * and the [LUKE, high- owest abasement of soul: And, on #. e every sentence, and almost at every word. But as for you, my disciples, be not you called Rabbi, nor value yourselves on the name, if it should ever hº to be given you; for one is your Master, ſeven] Christ; and ye are all brethren,é and as such should treat each other and implicitl garments, nd tºº à: #. X. de- Sire to Walk. In long robes;– love the ſºft 38.] Matt. xxiii. 6. And hove Uppermost rooms at est] seats in the synagogues; [Mark xii. 39. Luke xx. 46. 7 And [salutations] in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi: - [Mark ºii. 38 fºe . 46.] 8. But, be not ye called Rabbi : for one is your Mas- ter, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call mo man your father upon, the earth : for one is your Father, which is in heaven. with a loving freedom and fami- family, ſeven] he who dwells in the highest heaven, and before whom all the most distin- guished honours of the children of men disappear, as less than nothing and vanity. Weither be iſe called masters and guides; for one is your great Master and Instructor, ſeven] Christ, whose dictates you are ever to receive, and in whose name and authority alone 11 others. But, on the contrary, he that is, and would appear in the eyes of * greatest among you, shall be most eminent for condescension and humility, and will be ready to wait on the rest, and to behave himself on all .#nd what I have often 10 Neither be ye caſſed §. º'ciº. 1S your i\la Ster, et én, ChTHSt. §§ are to teach 3 God to be, the 11 But he that is greatest among you, shall be your - Servant. - occasions as your servant. (Com- told you will assuredly be found 12 And whosoever hsall a Sit in the chgir of JMoses.] Some think, here is an allusign, to those pulpits which Ezra made for the expounders of the law; (Neh. viii. 4.) and which were afterwards, continued in the synagogue, from, whence the rabbies delivered their discourses sitting. It is probably called Moses’ chair, because it was that from whence the books of Moses were read and explained ; so that he seemed to dictate from thence. It is strange that fightfööt Hor. Heb. in loc.) and Gussatus should explain this of a legislative authority; since the scribes and Pharisees, as such, had no peculiar authority of that kind. . . . . - b In Yirtue of that law.J.. If this limitation, be not supposed, this pas- sage will be inconsistent with all those in which he gondemns, the doctrines of the scribes and Pharisees. Had he meant (as Orobio and $9 mg popis writers have unaccountably pretended) to assert their infallibility, and to require an absolute submission to their dictates, he must have con- demned himself, as it was known he was rejected ôy them. See Lim- borch, Collat. Amic. p. 58, 114. - & sº c Beware of the º The word scribe in general signifies any one Con- versant about books and writings; and is sometimes put ſpr a civil officer whose business probably resembléd that of a Secretary of State : (2 Sam. s ings six. 2.) at other times it is used at large yiii. 17. 1 Kings iv. 3.2 - for a man of learning and ability. (I Chron. xxvii.32. Jer. xxxvi. 25. $ - - - But as Biblical learning Was Ezra vii. 6. Matt. xxiii. 34.1 Cor. i. 20.), r most esteemed among the Jews, the word in the New Testament seems to be chiefly appropriated to those that applied themselves to the study of the law; (perhaps including those whose business it was to transcribe it. these the public professors, who read lectures upon it, were called doctors or lawyers; and, probably, they who were invested with some public offices in the sanhédrim or other courts, sgribes of the peo- ple. (Matt. ii. 4.)—But that the scribes, as Trigland labours to prove (De Sectá Karabor, p. 68.) were Karaites, or textuaries, who rejecte those traditions which the Pharisees inculcated; seems, from, this text especially, utterly improbable. Our Lord commonly joins them with the Pharisees, and probably most of them were of that sect. d They make their phylacteries remarkably, broad.] , I doubt not but most of my readers very well know that the Jews (understanding E391. Xiii. 9, 16, and Deut. vi. 8. xi. 18, which commanded them to bind the lºo on their heads, and to let it be as frontlets, between their eyes, in a fºr:f sense) used to wear little scrolls of parchment, on which those passages were written, bound to their foreheads and wrists. It is gene- rally supposed they were called Pºiº in Greek, as being looked upon as a kind of amulet to keep them from danger. See Serrar. rihar. p. 38. and Drus., De Tribus Sectis, É. 263, 266. e The highest scats in the synagogues.] The doctors had seats by them- selves, with their backs towards the pulpit in which the law was read, and their faces towards the people: . These were accounted the most honourable, and therefore these ambitious scribes and . Pharisees con- tended for them. See Reland. Antiq. Heb. p. 6l. Vitring. De Synag. Pet. p. 191, et seq., and Wolf in loc. - f J. be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi..] Many learned men have ob- seryed, that, an extravagant notion of respect went along with this title which was derived from n-n, a word which signifies both magnitude and multitude, and , seems intended very emphatically to express both the greatness and the variety of that learning which they who bore it were supposed to be possessed of. (L'Enfant’s Introd. p. 98.)—Dr. Lightfoot teſls us (Hor. Heb. in loc.) that the words of the scribes are declared to be more amiable and, weighty than those of the Pºś and equal to those of the law: so that Gamaliel advised to get a rabbi, that one might no longer doubt of any thing. More passages to this purpose may be seen in Dr. e’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 80. and in Whitby and Elsner, in loc. They fully show the necessity there was for such repeated cautions as our Lord gives, and are an abundant answer to what Orobio objects to our Lord’s conduct in this respect; (see Limborch. Collat. p. 119.) for, considering their inveterate prejudices against Christ, it could never be supposed that the common people would receive, the gospel till such cº teachers as these were brought into a just disgrace. . . * g Ye are all brethren.]. It is observable that not one word is said of Peter’s authority over the rest, either here or on the Pºiº made by Zebedee’s children: though, had such an authority been intended, nothing could have been more natural or, necessary, than to have men- tioned and adjusted it. Compare note g, Matt. Xx. 26, p. 247. Call not [any one] on earth ſour father. ) The Pharisees, no doubt, had this title given them ; and Bishop Wilkins observes, that it is a title which assuming priests of all religions have greatly affected. . . i. One is your J.Master, ſeven] ..] It is remarkable that this occurs twice in the very same words, (here, and in, ver, 8.), Our Lord knew how requisite it would be to attend to it, and how ready even his minis- ters would be to forgot it. CHRIST DISCOURSEs witH THE PHARISEES IN THE TEMPLE. 275 exalthimselfshall be abased; to be a certain truth, That whosoever shall attempt in an ambitious way to eralt himself, secT. #º" shall, sooner or later, by one method or another, be abased; and whosoever, on the other 157. -- *, *, *** *-* - º 7 - hand, shall humble himself, shall be exalted to the highest honour.k --> 13 Bºtwoe untoyouscribes . Then Jesus, turning from his disciples, to whom he had hitherto been speaking, addressed MATT. #...";º"; himself boldly to those crafty enemies who stood around him waiting for nothing but an xxiii. ºf ſº inst.º. opportunity of mischief, and said, Woe unto you, ye scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites" for,” ::::::::"...#; ; ; ; by the prejudices you are so zealous to propagate among the people, you shut up the king- are entering to go in. dom of heaven against men, and do all you can to prevent their regarding it; for you neither go in yourselves, nor permit them that are awakened to a desire of entering, to go in ; and thus you make yourselves in some degree chargeable with their destruction as well as with your own, by the false notions you instil into their minds, and the prejudices you raise against me and my doctrine. (Compare Luke xi. 52 sect. cx.) - 14 Woe unto you, scribes Woe unto you, iſe scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that impose upon men by specious 14 #...º.º.º. forms of devotionſ but these forms cannot impose upon God, nor prevent his vengeance j.ºf a hºtº make lºſſ from falling heavy upon you : for, by your cruel extortions, you devour the houses of widows §: *ś and orphans, whose helpless circumstances, if you had any remains of humanity and gene- tº Mark si. 49. Luke rosity, might rather engage you to protect and vindicate them; and it is only for a pre- * * * * tº a tence to cover these crying immoralities, that you make such long and seemingly earnest prayers, hoping thereby to engage the esteem and confidence of others, that you may have the greater opportunity to injure and defraud them: but this complicated wickedness shall cost you dear; for therefore shall you receive greater and more dreadful damnation than if you had never prayed at all, nor made any pretences to religion. - - - & - ps, a; Yº Yº Woe unto you, ye. scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites as you are for with indefatigable 15 ºyeº'sé.'ini industry you do, as it were, compass the sea and the land, to make one proselyte to your own tº. º.º.º.º.º. particular sect and party; and then he is become [so] you often make him even doubly more in twº foid more the child a child of hell than you yourselves are; while, in order to approve the sincerity of his con- of hell than yourselves. version to you, he is obliged to vie with you in all the excesses of your superstition and bigotry. º”.º. (º %. wnto you, ye blind guides, who have invented so many nice distinctions to make 16 ājali'sºariºthèº men easy in their sins, and subservient to your secular interests! who say, for instance, £ºi JWhosoever shall swear only by the temple, it is nothing;" but whoever shall swear by the - ar by the gold * - $ - ? . * - 2 - - - e of the temple, he is a débiº, gold of the temple, whether by that with which a part of it is overlaid, or by that which is wº.º.º.º.º. ; up in its treasures, he is obliged by it, Ye foolish and blind [creatures, is not the 17 §'theºrºa.tift stupid sophistry of this distinction apparent to the weakest understanding 2 for which of the gold # these is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold, which without its relation to ...}} Whº!, the temple would have nothing in it more sacred than any common metal?. And ye also 18 i., §§eº say, just with the same degree of sense and piety as before, HPhosoever shall swear only by º that is upon it, the altar of God, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gift which is upon it, he is 1jº"fºols and blind! for obliged to the performance of his oath. Ye foolish and blind [wretches,) what an idle and 19 .*.*.*.*.*.*&# senseless distinction is this! for which can you suppose is greater, the gift, or the altar the gift? that sanctifies the gift, which, before it was brought #. was only a common thing, and 20 Whoso, therefore, shall might be used to any of the ordinary purposes of human life? The truth of the case is 20 i., §§º therefore plain and obvious; he that swears by the altar, swears in effect by it, and by all º, And ºnes, ºn … the things that are offered upon it to him, whose altar it is, .4nd he that swears by the 21 by hºmºiºi, temple, swears by it, and by him also that dwells in it, even the eternal and ever-blessed *...* him that dwelleth Jehovah, who honours it in a special manner with the tokens of his presence. . .4nd he 22 33 And he that shall swear that swears by heaven, which some of you are foolish enough to think a little oath, swears lºgº § # by the throne of the most high God, and by him who sits upon it, and fills all the train of that sitteth thereon. attendant angels with the humblest reverence and prostration of mind. Now, did you and your disciples consider this, that every oath by a creature is an implicit appeal to God, you could not surely talk of such expressions in so light and dangerous a manner as you commonly do. - IMPROVEMENT. .4s an ear-ring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a toise reprover upon an obedient car. (Prov. xxv. 12.) Ver. 1, Christ was indeed a wise and faithful Reprover; but the ears of these Pharisees were disobedient and uncircum- et Séq. cised. Let us, however, who are his disciples, attend to these instructions of our heavenly Master, and avoid every thing which has the remotest tendency to what he here condemns with so just a severity. - .* Let not our zeal spend itself upon the externals of religion. Let us not impose heavy burdens upon each other; 5, 4 nor lay down rules for the conduct of others, by which we do not in like circumstances think fit to govern our- selves. Let us not impose our own decisions in a magisterial manner on our fellow-christians, nor affect to be called fathers, masters, and teachers; remembering that Christ alone is our Master, and God our Father, and that 8–10 it is a dangerous presumption and folly to set ourselves in the place of either. Let us be upon our guard against 6, 7 that vain ostentation that would lead us to place any part of our happiness in precedence, and to value ourselves upon our rank, or upon any airy titles of honour by which, perhaps rather by accident than merit, we are distin- 7 guished from others; and which to a truly wise man, and especially to an humble follower of Jesus, will appear to be a very little matter. , Let us desire that honour which arises from condescending to others, and serving them 11, 12 in love; that honour which springs from the divine approbation, which it will be impossible to secure without un- affected piety. (John v. 44.) - God forbid that our devotions should ever be intended as a cloak of maliciousness, or as the instrument of 14 serving any mean and vile purpose! . Such prayers would return in curses on our own heads, and draw down on 15 them aggravated damnation. God forbid that we should spend that time, and that ardency of spirit, in making proselytes to our own peculiar notions and party, which ought to be laid out in making them the servants of God 16 k PWhosoever shall exalt himself, &c.] Christ seems by the frequent who, according to the unnatural custom of the ancients, acted a part repetition of this maxim, to intimate that he intended it not only for those under a mask. More’s Theolog. Works, }. 393. - who were to be teachers of others, but for all his disciples without ex- m Whosoccer shall succar % the temple, it is nothing.] It seems the Cºption. And it is well worthy of our observation, that no one sentence Pharisees º that, oaths by the creatures might be used on trifling Qf Our Lord’s, is so frequently repeated as this ; which occurs at least Qccasions, and violated without any great guilt. (See note h, on Matt. y. ºn times in the Eyangelists. Compare Matt, xviii.4.xx. 26.27.xxiii.; 34. p. 80.) But they excepted oaths by the corban, and by sacrifices; in #; Mark ix. 35. X. 43, 44. Luke xiv. 11. xviii. 14. xxii. 26. and which it is plain, that without any regard to common sense or decency, John xiii. 14. - e they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest; and there- Hypocrites.] Dr. More with great propriety observes, that the word fore represented these to the people as things of more eminent sanctity hypocrites, [viroko, rat, in its most exact application, signifies players, than even the temple or altar itself 276 CHRIST DISCOURSES WITH THE PHARISEES IN THE TEMPLE. SECT, through Christ! God forbid that we should delude ourselves or others by such idle distinctions in matters of con- 157. Science, as these which our blessed Redeemer has with so much reason and spirit exposed! - '...Let us retain the greatest reverence for an oath, and not accustom ourselves to triflé with anything which looks MATT. like it. , Let us consider heaven as the throne of God, and often think of the majesty and glory of that illustrious xxIII. *::::: that sits thereon; for a sense of his continual presence will form us to a better tempér, and engage us, with 17-22 a righteousness far exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees, to walk before him in all his commandments and ordinances blameless, - - SECTION CLVIII. Christ continues his discourse with the Pharisees, reproving them for their hºisy, ond threatening them with approaching judgments. Matt. * * xxiii. 23, to the end. MATT. xxiii. 23. - º - - - MIATT. xxiii. 23. SECT. QUR Lord further proceeded in his discourse, and said, JFoe unto you, ye scribes and wop unt, jes and 158. Pharisees, hypocrites! you may justly expect the severest vengeance; for je are careful to º hypocrites: for ye tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and every other common herb which grows in your § §º. º MATT. gardens, and yet have wholly neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, i. º.º.º.º. *:::, and fidelity;” these should chiefly have been regarded by you as what ye ought more espé and #.'..."...hº..."; cially to have practised, and indeed not to have omitted the other, as a réverént observance .....”.” G. 24 is due even to the least of God's commandments. (Compare Luke xi. 42. sect. cx.), Ye 24 ye blind guides, which blind guides of blind and wretched followers, who do (as it is proverbially said) caréfully ºº smººn" swallow strain out a gnat from the liquor you are going to drink, and yet can swallow down a camel ;b you affect to scruple little things, and disregard those of the greatest moment. 25 Hoe unto you, ye scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ſe cleanse the outside of the cup 25 Woe, unto you, scribes and of the dish, and are mighty exact in the observance of external rites and washings of ...º. the body, but are regardless of the inner parts, and unconcerned about your hearts and ºthº. consciences, which are full of uncleanness, and of all kinds of rapine and intemperance. §oº. full of 26 (Compare Luke Xi. 39, sect. cx.) Thou blind and senseless Pharisée, first begin with the 26 Tºo, blind pharisee; heart, and thereby, as it were, cleanse the inside of the cup, and of the disk, that thus the outside ºf ºt # is within of them may be clean also : for the life will of course be reformed when the heart is purified. §§ §§§ ; 27 Woe unto you, ye scribes, and Pharisées, hypocrites!...for ye resemble whited sepulchres, *; was unt, y ib which indeed appear fair and beautiful without, but within aré full of the bones of the dead, and Fij ºd ś 28 and of all that incleanness which arises from their putrefying bodies. Even so you also do ...º.º.º.º. indeed outwardly ºp; righteous unto men, who view nothing more than the external part peºantiñº ºrd bit y: - 5 of your character ; are within full of dead men’s P : ; but in the sight of a heart-sear hing God, who has a clear and perfect bones; and of all uncleanness. view of all that lies within, you are full of that hypocrisy and iniquity which is infinitely tºº. - - J * !y appear righteous unto men more loathsome to him than the most disagreeable objects can be to the human eye. §º §ººl of * - wº ; ~ ! ſay- º º hypocrisy and in 14 ulty. 29 Woe unto you, ye scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites' for, under a pretence of your regard "ºne, and veneration for their characters, you sumptuously build up the sepulchres of the ancient §§ º; jº; prophets, and adorm the monuments of the other righteous men of former generations, as de- ...}...º. 30 Sirous to preserve and honour their memories.d And ye Say, If we had been living in the sº of the righteons, d al } b s ... +2 ~ * j, 30 And say, If we had been ays of Olú” jºathers, we would not ſº een partakers with them in the blood of the holy II] .*. i OUIT flººrs W. G. - * r y- º w x * & 4- WOUl C 1) O have een 2 ſ— prophets which they shed, but would have treated them in another manner than our fathers ... ºf jºbſ. 31 did. . So that you really bear witness to yourselves, that you are the sons of those that mur- of the §; - dered th h iº d indeed º d d --~ 1- 31 Wherefore ye be wit– ered the prophets; and indeed your present temper and conduct more certainly speaks nºses' jºy., . e * in o' * pººr ; ov, , * $ ye are the children of th you to be their genuine offspring, and to be full of that very mali nity which you pretend ºğli. ºm 32 to condemn in them. (Compare Luke xi. 47, 48. Sect. cx.) ...And do you [them] fill up, as "###ji'ºea- soon as you think fit, what yet remains to be completed of the measure of your fathers' sure of your fathers. sins, that wrath may come upon this guilty land to the uttermost. º 33 Ye painted and deceitful serpents, ye brood of specious, but venomeus and mischievous, 33 ye serpents, we genera- vipers, how artfully soever you may evade human censures, how can you so much as hope iº by any of these vain pretences to escape what is infinitely more dreadful, that righteous “” ** * sentence of the unerring Judge which will consign you over to the damnation of hell?" (Compare Matt. iii. 7. p. 43.) s 34 . . Therefore, behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes instructed to the 34 wherefore, behold, I kingdom of heaven, to try you once more, and to give you the last call to repentance and ... .º.º. reformation which you must ever expect; but I know that this last attempt will, with fººthºlºilº regard to the generality of you, be º in vain; and that [some] of them ye will kill, i.i.'s...}... and carry your malice so far as to crucify them like common slaves; and when ye cannot pºsecute them effect that, [some] of them ye will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute | and ſon, ºne's wº 5 city to city. For thus will God in righteous judgment permit you to act, that ye may 35 That uponyou may come become the distinguished trophies of his displeasure, as if he were reckoning with you for the guilt of all former ages; so that upon you may seem to come the vengeance due for all 3 o a Fidelity.] The word Tuaits has undoubtedly this signification in d You build the sepulchres of the prophets, #. I can by no means many places.” (Compare Tit ii. 10. Gal. v. 22. and Rom. iii. 3.) But think, with Markius, (Exercit. D. 229.) many of whose criticisms are very there are many more in which it signifies the confidence reposed in ano- 19W and fanciſul, that Christ, here blames the º; the º; of ther; and it is of great importance to observe this. See Col. i. 4. and I those holy men; which as Elsner (vol. i. p. 160.) and Raphelius (Annot. Pet. i. 21. - ez Xen. p. 48. (show, was a piece of respect which most nations, have b Strain out a gnat and sucallono doscil a camel.) In those hot countries, paid to persons of distinguished merit, especially to those wh9, fell in a as Serrarius well observes. (Trihøres, p. 5i.) gnats were apt to fail into good cause. What Vitringa (De Siſnag. p. 22ſ.),tells us of the extra- wine if it were not carefully coverei: ana'ſ assing theiº, tº 3rdinary honours paid to the sepulchre of Mordecai, is ºn agreeable strainer, that no gnator part of one might remain, gren into a prover 5 for illustration of these words. . Josephus also; from JVicolaus Damaścenus, exactness about little matters.-Could any authority be produced in mentions Herod’s repairing in a very splendid manner the sepulchre of which kapım).oy signifies a large insect, I should with great pleasure ſol- #viº; ºp; 4; *śjº. #. º d; tº; - :y- - ..—Grotl U.S IS CGrta. In Jy Tight III Sayl I.] g, UI) { pr, ve Il CE) IS low the translation of 1727, in rendering the latter clause, swallow a agraph are to be §de: as one sentence; of which perhaps ver. £6'ſ ſº. 3.I c Whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful ºpithout.]—Though gº may be a parenthesis. -- * the first intention of whitening §§§ might be only to mark them e How can you hope by any º; * Fº tº escape that Sein- out, that thºjght be "avoidea; and 6 (as some jśsh wºiters.'...i fence, &c.] Raphelius has abundantly prºved that “Tºº køipſ, particulārīyāſāimonides, have observed) a heap of lime laid upon the (which is the same in sense with the 9riginal) properly signifies tº ceadé grave might answer the end; it is evident they were sometimes adornº, conviction in a court of iudicature, which is often done by the artifice of (ver. 29.) probably not only with plastering and whitewashing, but with the criminal. Annat. ca. Xen; p. 30, 31. . . - marble and other stone monuments: and, notwithstanding all the ap- fºre.j"Though Oléarius here would render öta Tero, in the plause which Vitringa (Observ. Sacr.lib. i. ł. ives to the inter- mean time, the version is so unexampled that 1 cannot, acquiesge in it; pretation which Dr. Lightfoot (Hor. Heb. in loc.) and 1)r. Pocock (Port. and if the connexion, as it stands, could not be accounted for, I should JMos. cap. v. p. 73.) have advanced, [ conclude that such ornaments were think it better to connect this phrase with the, close,9f the preceding here referred to; for [ cannot think Christ, would have called these verse, fjoid can ye escape, the dammation of hell for this?, or avoid the sepulchres beautiful, if they had been nothing but heaps of earth covered Jºe: of God for this mixture of injustice, cruelty, and hypocrisy P with grass. Compare notee, on Luke Xi. 44. $ 110. CHRIST DISCOURSES WITH THE PHARISEES IN THE TEMPLE. - - º s 1 4.3 r * * * r * all the righteous blood,shed the righteous blood which has been poured forth on the earth from the beginning of the W Orld; secT. ºpº jº; even from the blood of Abel, that eminently righteous man, whom his brother Cain then 158. #. tºº, º: slew, to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, one ºf the last º º * MATT ºften theºle’īnā’ī. We murdered While he was ministering between the temple º the º 5 łºś. as xxiii. altar. suming to intrude into the court of the priests, to perpetrate that most hor l # verily, I say unto you, near as possible to God's most immediate presence. Verily I say into you, That even the 36 §§." * guilt of all this righteous blood, and all these things that aré included in the woºs I hºvº enounced, shall come on this generation of men; so dreadful are the calamities which God will shortly bring upon it. (Compare Luke xi. 49, 50, 51. Sect. cx.) 37 QJerusalem, Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thoti) that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent 37 #º. unto thee by God for thy conversion and salvation; thou unhappy city, whº hast so often sº tººthº."ºf... been stainéd with the blood of the martyrs, that it is grown into a proverb, That a prophet §§§ {..} :"...",".. can hardly perish any where else, (Luke xiii. 33.) how often woild I have gathere thy lºatherethiºr chickens children together unto me, even with as much tenderness as a hen gathereth her chickens §§§ "* * * iogether under her wings to protect them from the assaults of any bird of prey, or whatever else might threaten their safety; and yet ye would not hearken to my compassignate calls, - but have hardened your hearts against my love, and repaid me with contempt, hatred, and our house is persecution Behold, the time is coming when you will see your folly, though too late; for 38 esolate. jour sacred house, in which you vainly trust, even this magnificent temple in which you now stand, is so near being utterly destroyed, that it may be said to be even already lºft desolate to you, so that the few who survive the general carnage shall be forced to sit down 30, For I say unto you, Ye and weep over its ruins. For I am now making my last visit here; and f say unto ſonſ, 39 #!!!"; i."fºº". That henceforth, since you treat me so ill, ye shall not see me any more till even ſé shall ...that comethin the name say, as thé multitudes lately did, but with sublimer passions and nobler views, Blessed of the Lord, [is] he that cometh, in the name of the Lord!h that is, till your calamities have taught you eagerly to wish for the Messiah, and divine grace shall have inclined you, as a nation, gladly to receive me under that character; but you little think through what scenes of desolation, exile, and misery, you must pass for succeeding ages, before that happy time comes. (Compare Luke xiii. 34, 35. p. 209.) And when he had thus spoken, he went out of the temple. * 38 Behold, left unto you IMPROVEMENT. MAy we ever remember how necessary it is that our righteousness should ecceed that of the scribes and Phari- Ver.23 sees, if we desire to enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. v. 20.) May our zeal be employed on the great ºtius of religion, justice, mercy, and fidelity, and not be laid out merely or chiefly on the circumstantials of it! May we be concerned about the purity of our hearts, and not merely attend to the decency of our external 25, 26 behaviour! May we be, not like painted sepulchres, fair and beautiful without, and full of all uncleanness within, 27, 28 but rather like the vessel laid up before the Lord, whose outside shone with polished gold, while within it was replenished with heavenly manna! (Heb. ix. 4.) How many, like these Pharisees, condemn persecution, and yet themselves are chargeable with the guilt of it! 29–32 May that never be our character, lest we be judged out of our own mouths, and lest we thereby fill up the mea- sure of our iniquities! - Behold the repeated tenderness of our compassionate Redeemer, even towards that guilty city that killed the 37–39 prophets, and stoned the messengers of God! He would, with the gentlest and most solicitous caré, have gathered them, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings / Thus does he still call and invite perishing sinners. Oh that the obstinacy of their own perverse and rebellious wills may not finally withstand all the overtures of his grace, lest eternal desolation be their portion, and they in vain wish for the repetition of those calls which they once so wantonly despised . --- . SECTION CLIX. Christ applauds the liberality of the poor widow whom he jºy casting her two mites into the treasury. Mark Xii. 41, to the end. auke Xxi. 1–4. . MARK xii. 41. MARK xii. 41. ãº. º .A.VD Jesus, having made an end of his discourse to the scribes and Pharisees, as he was SECT. ūjānīšehéâ’iº going out of the temple, sat down at a little distance, over against that part of it which was 159. #sº, º.º. ". called the treasury, because there the chests for collecting the contributions of the people many that were rich cast in stood, and in the chambers over that cloister the sacred stores were kept; and he looked up, MARK much. [Luke xxi. 1.] and beheld, with attentive observation, how the people cast their money, [and] brought their , ," offerings and free gifts into the treasury, at this public time; and many rich men cast in g To the blood of Zechariah, the songſ Barachiah, &c.] Though very learned men haye interpreted this of four different persons, I do not, with the learned and candid Witsius, (3)ſisccl. vol. i. p. 269.), think it an juexplicable difficulty which of these is referred to. I scruple not, with Grotius, Drusius, Casaubon, Erasmus, and many more, to explain it of that Zechariah who is expressly said to have been slain in that remark- able manner between the tempfe and the altar, (2 Chron. xxiv. 2), though I take not upon me to ğiºn. whether (as Chrysostom asserts) Jehoiada his father was also called Barachiah, which signifies one that blesses the Lord, as Jehoiada does one that confesses him ; or who ther the original reading was different from Qurs, as Jerome, says he found in the gospel of the Nazarenes, or the Hebrew version of Matthew.-it is by no means necessary, with Capellus, to allow that it was a slip in the Eyangelist’s memory ; but much more decent to suppose it an officious addition of some early transcriber, who might confound this martyr with Zechariah, one of the twelve minor prophets, who was indeed the son of Igaraghiah, but who does not by any means appear to have been mur- dered ; nor is there any reason to imagine the Yº... so soon after their Išturn, frºm captivity, would have, attempted so flagitious an act.— Though Theophylact understands the text of Zacharias the father of John the Baptist, on the credit of an idle tale of Origen’s, confuted by erone, in which he tells us that this good man was murdered in the temple, (see Erasmus, in loc.) he has bad few followers; and indeed the Story seems to have been made on the mistaken authority of the text in Quéstion; TV et after all, it seems still more unreasonable, with Arch- bishºp Tillotson, (vol. i. p. 137, ió8.) to understand those words as a {}}. of that Żëchariº, the son of Baruch, who, as Josephus says, Bell. Jud. lib. iv. cap. v. [aj. v. i.jš 4.) was assassinated in the mili; of the temple, just before the Romans besieged the city. Had we more 9 Widence of his bcing a righteous man, it would be harsh to supposé 'hrist, in such a connexion, to speak of a future fact as what was already done; or to charge that deed on the whole Jowish nation which was dome; contrary to the decree of the sanhedrin, by two resolute villains. All the martyrs from Abel to Zechariah, seems to have been a proverb : §nd it mișht naturally, arise from observing that Abºl was the first, and Zechariah in Chronicles the last, emiaently good man of whose murder the Scripture speaks. *- h, I'll eshgll say, Blºssed is he that comeſh, &c.] This was doubtless spoken aſter Christ’s triumphant entrançº into fºrusalem, (though fiéin. Siºs ºost unnaturally supposes it transplaced.) which shows the neces- sity of º the wºrds sºme such turn as they have in the paraphrase. –If we might be allowed, with Grotius, to translate cºa; cºrm) s, till !e icºtſd be glad to say, or wish you had said, Blessed is he that cornelli, §g., this would give a very plain and easy sense, nearly parallel to Matt. xxvi. 64. where aſt’ dort is perhaps used in the same sense. And thus the words might be explained as if our Lord had said, “From the time of my Pºiº appetrance at this passover, you shall not see me any, more till that awful hour of judgment, in Rºßich i shali appear in such º and power, that the proudest of you all shall have reason to wish YQ, lºd.cordially joined in those IIosannas which you intely re. buked.” This interpretation, could hº be justified, L should vastly prefer to any other. * The ºasury.], This treasury received the voluntary contributions of the worshippers who came up to the feasts ; and the money thrown into It was employed to buy wood for the altar, salt, and other necessaries not provided for in any other way 2.8 SECT. I 59. MARK XXI. 43 44 Wer. 41 4 9 43 44 SECT. 43 160. CHRIST FORETELLS THE DESTRUCTION-OF JERUSALEM. mich ; there being still this remainder of national goodness among them, though true religion was sunk to so very low an ebb. - .#nd there came among the rest a certain poor widow, whose character and circumstances 42 And there came a cer. he well knew; gººd she cast in there two of the smallest pieces of brass coin then in use, tº called mites, which, both taken together, only make a farthing of the Roman money. Wºjº. ii.; ..?nd our Lord was so pleased with this generous action of hers, that he took particular ***.d he called unto him notice of it, and even called his disciples to him to hear his remarks upon it; and as they his disciples, and sin unto stood about him, he says to them, Lock upon yonder woman, and observe the greatness of Hº'º';*ś”; her piety and zeal; for gssuredly I say winto jou, That this poor widow, however she may ºf more in than all they *-**** *- º - • - - - J which have cast into the secºn to men to have given but a very littlé, inconsiderable matter, has appeared in the treasury."tīukºi."j sight of God to have cast in more than all they who have thrown such sumptuous gifts into the tº casury. And, in proportion to her circumstances, it is much more ; for all these who , 44. For all [these] did cast have presented such large sums, threw in, comparatively, but a little part out of their §§§ §§ superfluity and réliºn langy of possessions into the offerings of God; but she, in the midst ºn. of her poverty and the daily straits to which she is exposed, has cast in all the little stock #ºn he of money that she had, [even] all that she had by her for her living ; not knowing where she should get the next mite for herself, to furnish out the necessary supports for her humble and indigent life. * MPROVEMENT. OUR Lord Jesus Christ had his eye on those who were bringing their gifts into the sacred treasury. Let us remember his eye is also upon us, to observe in what degree we are ready, on proper occasions, to contribute for the glory of God and the good of mankind; and in what proportion to the ability which God has given us. Let. 2 not the poorest be discouraged from doing something for these good purposes, however little they may have it in their power to perform; since Christ may acknowledge the noblest charity in the smallest gift; as wherever there is a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not. (2 Cor. Vill. 12. - Elet * imitate the candour of our blessed Redeemer, and be ready to be pleased with little services. The cir- cumstances of mankind are such, that few have it in their power to do great matters frequently for the service of others: but the desire of a man is his kindriess; (Prov. xix. 22.) the principles and circumstances of an action re- commend it more than the appearance it may make ; and a multiplicity of little kind offices, in persons frequently conversant with each other, are the bands of society and friendship. We ought therefore to preserve an habitual tenderness and generosity of mind, and be mutually willing to oblige and be obliged by them. To conclude: let us not despise the poor, since there are many of them who will, in Christ's computation, be found eminently rich in good works; many whose mite will, in the treasury of God, have the value of a talent, and will condemn the sordid parsimony with which many of the rich and great have cast their presents into it; while what the latter part with out of their abundance bears no proportion, in the account of God, to what the former freely spare from their necessity. Happy is it for every truly pious and benevolent mind, that it is to give up its final account to him who searches the heart, and who is witness to those devout and charitable purposes which will always stretch themselves out beyond the limit of actions, and engage the charitable soul to wish more good than the power and revenues even of kingdoms could effect. SECTION CLX. Our Lord fore tells the approaching destruction of J eruºlº; an: hº gº the remoter signs of its approach. Matt. xxiv. 1–14. Mark N i !! - E-lº. XX l. O— MATT. xxiv. 1. MATT. xxiv. 1. ?: 3 xrr}- 7 {. ed hi + - - - he olation AND Jesus went out, and 4 Nºi) when Jesus had thus confounded his adversaries, and had foretold the desolatio departed from the tºpič. that their aggravated sins would shortly bring both on the city and the temple, (Matt. xxiii. nºis dissiles...m. ("Y * * º - - wro - * f f t sł r hi th b ildi * {{S 33. p. 277.) fié left the place; and going out from thence, departed from the temple, where ###. º: Mºſt he had been discoursing to them. And as he was gºing away, his disciples came to [him, some spºkéïøşit Käsääon. XXIV. I 2 3 - º - : I -1.-- ~~ * - - * ed with goodly stones anºl and took that occasion to show him the splendid buildings and magnificent decorations of a "...”.' ...”s. the temple; and some, observing what a noble, structure it was, and speaking how it was auto him, Master, see what e e - ºr - -: - ... manner of stones, and what adornel with beautiful stones of a prodigious size,” and with costly gifts, which many per- tº "gººi"tº: sons, in accomplishment of their vows for deliverances received, ha hung up on the walls xiii. i. Luke xxi. 5. and pillars of it, besides what was laid up in its treasuries; one of [them] says into him, jºr, behold what vastly large and curious stones, and what stately edificºș are these.] • ..and Jesus replying, said unto them, [.48.ſor] these things which je behold with so much sº,'...º.º. admiration, do joi, not see the splendour and magnificence of all these.gººg! and pompous jºin.ºh. whiciº. buildings, which are the pride of the Jewish nation, and the wonder of all the rººf man- ; ºil. #. "...ºf find?' 'Yet, notwithstanding all the present grandeur of this stately temple, verill I * ...sº ºmio you, That the days will quickly come in which a yictorious enemy shall Pofane its jºiºiº. sanctity and deface its beauty, insomuch that there shall not be lºſt one single stone ſpºt º' another here, that shall not be entirely demolished," till no remains of any part of it shall be ſº; “ - zod - - preserved. - - -i. - ... ſ” F • -l., -, } 3 And as he sat upon the ..And when he was retired from the city, as he sat down upon º º, Qj Giº, wº º ºr * * Z., * I * - Ct. Of it. IFOlin [136 623 ST, l??& the temple, the disciples was over against the temple, and çommanded the finest prºpe fav ãºth a peculiar tº: disciples, Peter, and James, and John, and flºdrº, who were your; º p ... .º.º. "Hº --> * : * ~~~. -- I f * priºritcl? in or, Jºžºſsler, We Gºntreat privately, Šuying U KF share of his intimacy and confidence, came, tº him fift'3/5 º J7_i § C isial bei the Šfasterj'teñºs.ºhen’sº thºſe that thou wouldst tell us when these awful things shall happen? and what [shall be] the tºs. iii.; b. 3 º' Whº: ** * * * : - *** fro - ilrov tri sserts, (iâid. § 6.) that the marble of the temple was Josephus says that SQºme, of º likewise asserts, (ibid. 9 : . - - Tºw "---4--. § - - - o” f cº- d six ãd.” (Beii. Jud. so white, that it appeared to one at a distance like a mountain of snow; º wºre ſº: #ºš and the gilding of several of its external parts, which he there j º § iº, # Číapter, Which is one of the most entertaining must, especially ...} the sun shone upon it, render it a most splendi passages of gºń a kind Ieyer mét with. secrated and beautiful spectacle. - * § Costiy ºf s, &c.j Hanging up such avaðmuaia, or consecra c There shall not hºleſt and stºº lºgº another here, &c.] It seemed S - J & J “”; jº anºient temples—Tacitus, speaks ºf exceedingly improbable that this should happen in that ºconsiderin a Beautiful stones of a protligious size.] gifts, was common in moś º jerusalem. (Histor, lib.w. § 8.) the peace of the Jews with the Romans, and the strength of their citade º: ºf º; º wº a golden table, given by Poni- §§ forced Titus himself to acknowledge that it was the singular han º O veral golden viºles, of exquisite workmanship, as Weil, as of God which compelled them to relinguish fortifications, which no < y, all º (for josephus tºlls us, in the chapter cited, above, $ 4. Human power cºuld have conquered. (Joseph, Bºll. Jud...lib. Yi. Cap. łº iá'í ..jºters ºpinºzig) as tall as a män;) which somehºe 9: Galºſ. ſºil § 1. Compare note b, on Luke xix. 43. p. 256.)—Bishop that they d 4; ºresenting the Jewish nation under the Changeſ, ſustly, observes, that, no imposfor would have foretold an eyent thought referred to , God’s represgºné so unlikely, and so disagreeable. Deſcrce of Christianity, p. 472, 473. emblem of a vine; Isa. v. 1, 7. Ésal. lxxx. 8. Ezek. xv. 2, 6.-Aud CHRIST FORETELLS THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. shall be the sign of th and of the end of the world, [when all these things shall be fulfilled 3) [Mark xiii. 3, Luke xxi. 7.] 4 And Jesus [answºring them, began to say, Take epd that no man deceive you. Šiši'i. 3."ºxiºi" which you now inquire, let me in the first place caution you, that you see [to it] in the most solicitous manner, that no man deceive you with false pretences to a divine revelation 5 For many shall come in and commission. For many shall come in my name, and with the title peculiar to me, my name, saying, I am 8. a 1. - ; : A a. • 2 Čfirist (Loxº, and the time 80/1773, I am the JMessiah. 3. and the time of deliverance, so long promised and so long ex- draweth near and shall de pected by the Jewish people, is now come, when the yoke is to be broken off from their ceive many: [LUKE, go y not therefore after tiºn. neck, and their enemies are to be subdued under them ; and by these plausible pretences [Marksiii. 6. Luke xxi. 8] they shall deceive many; but do not ye therefore go after them; for all their promises and hopes will be in vain, and sudden destruction will overtake them and their followers. 6 ſº But when] ye shall hear of wars, and ru- But when ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars, among the Jews, and seditions ... "...º.º.º.º. ºi raised by them in several places against the Romans, see that you be not troubled, [and] commotions,] see that ye not troubled #. and ter— rified:] for all [LUKE, these things] must [LUKE, first] come to pass ; but the end is not yet. [Mark xiii. 7. Luke XX1. §. in the utter destruction of which, even by means of these 7 º Then said he un- to them,) Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdoin against kingdom, : and there shall be famines, and pesti- lences, and . [LUKE, greatl be terrified, as if the great event that I have now foretold would immediately happen; for all these things must first come to pass, and be the gradual openings of it; but the end of them, the jewish state, is not yet: nay, some of you, my disciples, will have several important services to perform here after these alarms are begun; services alarms, you may pursue with some peculiar advantages. And then he further added and said to them, Judea shall not be the only seat of war at that time: for in the neighbouring countries nation shall rise up against nation, and king- dom against kingdom:é and, partly as the consequence of these ravages and slaughters, and partly by the immediate hand of Providence on sinful men who have rejected the gospel, earthquakes indigers places, as also to exercise the faith and charity of its professors, there shall be severe famincs and [and troubles:] [LUKE, an fearful sights, and great signs shall there be from heaven.] ºrk xiii. 8 Luke xxi. 10, mortal pestilences; and there shall also happen great and terrible earthquakes in various #. and troubles and anguish of mind in the apprehension of yet greater calamities. ere at home there shall also be dreadful sights, and great signs from heaven, particularly a comet like a flaming sword waving over Jerusalem, and the appearance of contending 8 All these are the [begin- gº of sorrows. [Mark xiii. Mark xiii. 9. But take heed to yourselves: for [LUKE, beſòre all these,] they [LUKE, shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, and, shaji deliver you up to councils, [LUKE, and to the syna- gogues, and into prisons,] [to bj beaten [and afflicted shall kill you :] and ye [shall to be hated of all nations, and 1 shall be brought before rulers and kings for my [name's] sake, for a testimony against them. XXI. e severely scourged, º there;i and indeed they shal armies in the air.h But all these things [are] only the beginnings of those sorrows and alarms that will issue in the destruction of Jerusalem. But take ye heed to yourselves, and be cautious how you behave ; and though you meet with the severest persecutions, be not discouraged from persisting in the truth, and from continuing faithful in your regards to me: for before all these things shall happen, they shall lay their violent hands upon you, and persecute you with the greatest cruelty and rage; [and] shall deliver some of you up to the greater councils; [and] cite others of you to 'aº; appear before the inferior courts in the synagogues, and shall cast some of you into prisons, ; otherwise afflicted by confinement and a variety of hardships l go so far as to kill some of you in a few years; and as for the rest, ye shall be generally hated, not only by the Jews here at home, but by those [Alatt. XXiv. 9.T.uke abroad, and by all the Gentile nations to whom you go ; [and] shall be brought before l rulers and kings for my name's sake, and for a testimony against them that the gospel has been offered to them in the most public manner, even to the greatest of men, to whom you Luke xxi. 13. And it shall might otherwise have had no access. (Compare Matt. x. 17, 18, sect. lxxv.) .4nd it shall ******* also turn to you for a public and honourable testimony of the innocence of your cause, however it may be misrepresented, and of the integrity and uprightness of your conduct. Mark xiii. 10. And the gos- pel must first be published among all nations. ...And indeed, notwithstanding this early and violent opposition, yet before the destruc- tion of Jerusalem the gospel must first be preached among all the heathen nations which are subjected to the Roman empire, (see note n,) and there also you will be followed with the ll. But when they shall lead like assaults and you, and deliver you up, [set- 279 coming, sign of thy second coming, when thou wilt execute thy vengeance on these thine enemies: SECT. and of the end of the present age, and dispensation,” when all these things shall be accom- 4. plished, to make way for the brighter glories of that kingdom which thou wilt establish when all thy sufferings are over, and every thing which opposes thy triumph subdued .And Jesus answering them, began to say, with an air of solemnity agreeable to the im- portance of the subject on which he was going to discourse, As to the event concerning 160. – X, ATT. XXIV. 5 6 7 8 MARK XIII. LUKE XXI. 12 MARK YIII. * persecutions. But then they shall bring you before governors and kings, 11 and deliver you up to the Officers of justice, to be prosecuted as criminals in their most d The end of the present age.] So GovTeXsta Tov autovo's may well be rendered. Compare Matt. xii. 32. Rom. xii. 2. 1 Cor. x. 11. Eph. ii. 2, 7. Heb. vi. 5. ix. 26. in all which places atoy may be rendered age.— Archbishop Tillotson and many other excellent writors would retain our translation, and suppose here are two distinct questions; Jºhgt should be the sign of his coming to punish the ungrateſul inhabitants of Jerusalem 2 and What the sign of his final appearance to the universal judginent : And that Christ answers the first question in the former and the second in the latter part of the chapter: though where the transition is made, has been, among those that embrace this interpretation, matter of much debate.—Others have supposed the apostles took it for granted that the world was to be at an end when Jerusalem was destroyed; and that Christ was not solicitous to undeceive them, as their error might make them so much the more watchful; and therefore answers in ambiguous terms, which might suit either of these events.--—But it seems much more natural to conclude, that they expected the wicked persecutors of Christ (in which number most of the magistrates and priests were) would by some signal judgment be destroyed; and that hereupon he would erect a most illustrious kingdom, and probably a more magnificent temple, which they might think described in Ezekiel: an expectation which they did not entirely quit even to the day of his ascension. (See Acts i. 6.) Our Lord, §§ perfect integrity and consummate wisdom, gives them an account of the prognosticating and concomitant signs of the destruct tion of Jerusalem; and then, without saying one word of any temporal kingdom to be erected, raises their thoughts to the final judgment, º yhich the figures used in the former description might many of them be literally applied,) and sets, before them an heavenly kingdom, and eternal life, as the great object of their pursuit. Matt. xxv. 34, 46.— This I take to be the key to this whole discourse ; the particular parts of which have been admirably illustrated by many learned commentators ; but the whole scope and connexion of it, so far as I can recollect, fully explained by none. e JMany shall come in my name, &c.] See Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. ii. cap. 13. [al. 12.] § 4, 5.-Christian writers have always with great reason represented Josephus’s History of the Jewish War as the best commontary on this chapter; and many have justly remarked it as a wonderful in- stance of the care of Providence for the christian church, that he, an gye-witness, and, in these things, of so great credit, should (especiall in such an extraordinary manner) be preserved to transmit to us a coſ- lection of important facts, which so exactly illustrate this noble prophecy in almost º; circumstance. (Compare Joseph. Bell: j.I. º cap. 8. [al. 141) But as it would swell my notes too much to enter into a particular detail.Gſ thºse circumstances, i must content myself with referring to Dr. Whitby’s excellent notes on the twenty-fourth of Mat- . thew, and to Archbishop Tillotson’s large and accurate discoursg on the same subject, in the second volume of his Posthumous Forks, Ser, IS3 —l S7; p. 547, ct seq. f The time is come.] The word my yºke may signify either the apprºach. or gºrical, of the time, and may with great propriety express the first opening of a scene to be ºi. disclosed; in which sense it is applied to Christ's kingdom, as fireached by hiniself and his a postics during the time of his personal ministry, Such pretended Niğssiahs did indeed arise towards the close of the Jewish state. (See 1 John iv. 1. Acts v. 36, 37, and Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. S. [al. 6, 7.] § 6, 10.)—'I he Rhemish Jesuits, as much as they triumph in their jafāllible guide to the interpretation of Scripture, ridiculously explain this as a prophecy of Luther and Calvin ; which, I mention only as one instance, among m;any more, of their contemptible ignorance grwicked prevarication. " s \ation shall rise up against nation, &c.] Grotius gives us a par- ticular account of several wars of the Jews among the inselves. 㺠of the RQrnans with the Syrians, Samaritans, and other neighbouring nal tions, before Jerusalem was destroyed.—There were also &arthquakes at this tigejº Apamea. Jºãoçiçea, and Campania. (See Tacit. Jºnal. iii. xii. § {3, 5ºlib. xiv. § 27. lib. Ny. § 22. Sueton. . .Nero, cap. 38. Gºli, gap. 1S.)- The famine, in the days.gf Claudius is mentioned, Acts xi. 23. as well as recorded in history; (Sueton. Claud. cap. Iš and fuséb. #ſist. Eccl. lib., ii. cap. 8.) and many perished by it in judea. S㺠Joseph. J3 atiq. lib. Nx. cap.2. § 6. - - h Dreadful sights, gºd great signs from hearen, &c.] Of these appear- ances, see Joseph. Bgll. Jud, lib. vi. cap. 5. [al. vii. i2.j Ś 3, and H.H. {{istº: lib. v.,913.-I cannot here but add an excellent observation of Mr. West, relating to the authors by whom this prophecy, which is ex- R; in terms so very plain and circumstantial, is recorded,—that \iatthew and Mark were incontestably dead before the event, as Luke also yº might be ; and as for jº. the only Evangelist who sur- Vlved it, it is remarkable that he says nothing of it, lest any should say the prophecy was forged after the event happened. See West, 6., ii. Resurrection of Christ, p. 303. y i Shall deliver you up to the councils, \. çomplished; for Peter and John were called b IV. C., James and Peter before Herod, befºre Nero the gmperor, as well All this was exactly, ac- efore the Sanhedrim, (Acts beſ º *#. 2, 3.) and Paul - as belore the Roman governors Gallio, Felix, and Festus, (Acts xviii. i2. Rxiv. xxº. xxviii.) w 280 REMOTER SIGNS OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. SECT. solemn courts, settle it at such times in your hearts as a constant rule, not to draw up any tie it in your hearts, not to - ? 160. MARK formal speech, nor to premeditate what answer or apology you shall make; [and] be not ºfte, Yº: anxiously solicitous º: what you shall speak in your defence, to vindicate your- .#) tºº. º; selves and vour religion from the unrighteous charoes a sºn on-s: ~~~~ e ; oc • Speak: but whatsoever shall sº harges and aspersions of your enemies; but ; given, you in that hour, XIII, whatsoever shall be given in to you, and be strongly suggested to your minds in that hour, ſha; speak ºr it is nº * that speak boldly and resolutely; for it is not join that speak, but the Holy Spirit himself LUKE XXI. § º but #. Holy - - OSt., Ul Re XXI, - who shall assist and dictate to you. (Comparé Matt. x. 19, 20. sect. lxxv. and Luke xii. - - - - I * e - 4- - 11, 12. Sect. cxi.). For it is really my cause in which you are engaged; and therefore, Luke xxi. 15. For I will though you are ignorant and unlearned men, and so may be apprehensive you shall be ºoºmoºth and wisdºm, ** which all your adversaries 15 - :- * a", Yº-Y - & confounded in the presence of persons who are in rank and education so much your supe-shaji'not be lie j withstand, but shall be even astonished at the freedom and propriety with which you shall - - riors, yet depend upon it, that I will give you a mouth to plead, and wisdom to answer * * 5–7 whatever they allege against you, which all jour adversaries shall not be able to contradict or express yourselves, according to the various occasions which arise. (Compare Acts iv. 33, 14. MATT. ...flnd many that have owned themselves my followers shall then be offended, and give up f \latt... xxix. 10. And then **", all regard to the gospel, when they see the profession of it must cost them so dear; and # º, .º.º.º.º. having proved apostates, they shall become persecutors too, and shall betray one another, shall hate one another.” and hate one another, as being in their consciences secretly galled at the greater fidelity of MARK their companions. And this wretched temper shall rise to such a height as to breakthrough Mark xiii. 12. Now the **, all the bonds of nature, insomuch that one brother shall betray another, not only to impri- ºr *sonment but to death ; and the father, on the one hand, shall betray ſº I_UKE XXI. I, J. y * - - is] own som. ; and the soul : and º shall children, on the other hand, shall rise up as witnesses against [their] aged parents, and cause jºi.....: them to be put to death without compassion or remorse. .4nd these scenes, monstrous as tº 16. And ye shall ~ : ** * Ul Ke XXI. I. O. | C S II. they may seem, shall pass in your days, and before your eyes; nay, you yourselves shall be jºištěj have a painful share in them: For you, my apostles and servants, shall be betrayed and º.º.º. * th -- K. j 7.5 - [. TI enclS ; 3.11(1 S - persecuted even by parents, and brethren, and kindred, and those that pretend to be the most jº"; ºut º faithful and affectionate friends; and [some] of you shall they cause io be slain by the hand ** 17 of public and oppressive violence. And indeed this temper shall so generally prevail, that 17 And ye shall be hated yeshall be hated by almost all ranks and orders as well as nations of men, for the sake of ºtºkº.º,"*** T tº - - * - • º iny name and gospel, though they can find nothing else to object to your character, or accuse in your conduct; and they shall treat you as public enemies, while you are acting 18 the most generous and benevolent part. (Compare Matt. x. 22. Sect. lxxv.). But in the 18 But there shall not an midst of all your sufferings be courageous and cheerful, as knowing you are the care of a ****** peculiar and most gracious Providence; so that, on the whole, you shall be safe, and not 19 an hair of your head shall utterly perish, or fall to the ground unregarded. . In your patience 19 in yºpatience possess MIATT. therefore jossess if your soulsº'and be calm and sérene, the masters of yourselves, and *** above the agitation of any irrational or disquieting passion. For though your discouragements are great, and particularly on this account, that (as I Matt. Nyiv. 11. An * ld many XXIX, hinted before, ver, 5.) many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many; which some ºftº.” " * - - * ***** shall deceive many. . . . will urge as a further excise for suspecting and abusing you : And though, because iniquity Jºãº.ºca.ºe jºiguity - sºil thus abound under such a variety of forms, the lord of many professing christians, who ... ºld." " should be your protectors and comforters, will grow cool ; so that they shall be afraid or ashamed to entertain you, and shall be ready to throw up the cause which you so Zeal- 13 ously defend: Yet sink not under the burden; but remember this, and let it animate you ...13. But he that shallendº amidst all your difficulties, That he who resolutely endures all these extremities, and per- §§."º: sºul severes to ihe end, shall finally be saved, and have his life given him as a prey. (Compare Matt. x. 22.) 14 ..ſind know, for your further encouragement, that all their rage shall not be able to ºil ...'. - ºr - - - kingdom shall be preached in destroy the interest in which you are embarked, and to, which yºu sacrifice so much; for iii #º: I assure you, that this glorious gospel of the kingdom of heaven shall first be preached in all ºf fl; ...*** thc ºil, jº. (1 º, all iš. #: .#. ;" and then shall the .#of the Jewish shall the end come, state comé, and God, having thus gathered for himself a people from among the Gentiles, shall destroy even this temple itself, in which they have trusted so much, and which they have foolishly looked upon as an inviolable pledge of his favour. IMPROVEMENT. The whole of this prophecy most evidently shows ushoy vain and dangerous it is to trust in external privileges, and to cry out, as these foolish and wretched Jews did, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple k Fe shall be hated by all men for the sake of my name.] That not ºf £Pºsiºn. See 1 Sam. xiv. 45. 2 Sam. xiv. 11. 1 Kings i. 52. and Acts the apostles but all the primitive ghristians, Wege in general more hated xxvii. 34. - and jersecuted than any other religious sect of mº, is most nºtº?". m In your patience possess ye your souls.) Though the word Kraaffat .# jataji agºinted with ecclesiastical history: a fact, Which does often signify,to acquire or procurº (see Mºtº: X 9. Acts i. 18. viii. jºt'séem unaccountable, when we consider how inºffensive and bene- 35. Xxii. 38.) yet I cannot suppose, with Brennius, that our Lord intends vºtent their temper and conduct was, and how friendly,an, aspect their here chiefly to intimate that fortitude and tº: of spirit might have tº had on the security of any government under which they lived. . tendency to secure their lives, as it would enable them calmly to ºf...tº, aginº Afons. St. Real weaky insinuates, in his, ill- deliberate on the several circumstances which, might, ºriš: I, §ººt ji" to gº" iègnifision ºf the Eife ºf Jesus, i.264) that, they bºthink, that the sense which the accuſeº.º.Biº i; gives had any pºuſſar aversion to the name of Christ. The learned Dr. of this passage, in that excellent piece of christian philosophy, his Dis- Warburton has shown, beyond all contradiction, in his Inasterly man; course on Self-Possession, º: 4, 5.).; much more natural, as well as more ner, that the true reason of this opposition was, that while the different noble; as if our Lord ha. said, “By jº, the government of your jºa; religions, like the confederated demons, honoured by them, ºn spirits in these awful scenes, which will bear down so many others, §ly gººd with each other, the gospel taught christians, noºoº... you will secure the most Yaluable self-enjoyment, as well as, be able ñº jºys, to bear their testimony to the falsehogd of theº all, but most prudently, to ºuárºl again; the dangers which will surround you.” also with the most ſervent zeal to urg; the renunciation of them ps a n This ºf ºshii be preached in all the world, &c.] ...The accomplish- point of absolute necessity ; requiring all men, on the most trennell GO US ment of this extraordinary prophecy 1S admirably illustrated by IDr. jalties, to believe in Christ, and in all things to submit themselve; to Arthur Young, On Idolatry, vol. ii. p. 216—234. It appears from the }. jºrity (Šeć Čr. Warburton's Divine Legatiºn ºf Mosº, Yol. i. most credible records, that the gospel Yº...; in [dumea, Syria {...}}''.2%:2š.) ''A demand which bore so hard, especially 9, and Mesopotamia...by Judeº, in Fºyºtº, Mamº, Ala##º º the pride and licentiousness of their princes, and the secular interests of other parts of Africa, b; Mark, Simon, and Jude; in Ethiopia, by jºieś, that it is no wonder they raised so, yiolent a storm ºil); Candace's Eungºhs and Matthias; in Pontus, Galatia, and the neigh- it; wº ich, considering the character and prejudices of the populace, It bouring parts of Asia, by, Peter; in the territories of the Seven Asiatic Intist be very easy to do. b º: § ohn łł } * º § p §§§§ § º -- 1, 2,--- ~ + ; c. d drew ; in the northcrim and Westerú. ASld, ; º º ºº:: gº; ºf º tº: ; . fº. by Šimon and Jude; in Media, Carmania, and several eastern #: théréfère here intend to assure, them, that when they, ºne.9% the parts, by T omas : through * yº. ſº º §§ §º jº"...º.º.º.".e.jhey should fini they had not been tº ...}}...º.º.º.m.; i.ji aſſºieast instance, but that whatever damage they hºus: and Britain; in most of which p jº §§ C º; i. Were }. € #: tºined, it should be ampy, made up, ºnd, they at left jäced in a less than thirty years, after the death o rist, which was before the state ºf entire security, This is plainly the import of this proverbial destruction of Jerusalem. - NEARER SIGNS OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. of the Lord, are these buildings; when of this stately and magnificent structure, within less than half a century after it was finished, not one stone was left on another undemolished. - So particular a prediction, when compared with the event, must surely confirm our faith in Christ, as the great Prophet which was to come into the world. And we shall see reason to admire the wisdom and goodness of divine Providence in giving us, almost by a miraculous preservation of the author, such a commentary on this É. as is delivered down to us in the works of Josephus, the Jewish historian, which throw a much stronger ight upon it than if they had been written by a christian on purpose to illustrate it. Let us bless God that our own eyes have not seen such desolations and ruins, such commotions in the natural and moral world, such dissensions in civil life, such persecutions and hatreds amongst the nearest relatives, under the pretence of propagating religion: which, however propagated, is nothing without that love which is so often made the first victim to it. Yet too plainly do we see, in one form or another, iniquity abounding, and the love of many waring cold. Let us endeavour to revive on our own hearts a deep and lasting impression of divine things; and remember, when- i ever we are tempted to let go our integrity, that it is he alone who endures to the end that shall be saved. Whatever our trials are, fetus cheerfu y confide in the protection of divine Providence; nor let us despair of those continued influences of the blessed Spirit which may animate us to the most difficult services, and support us under the most painful sufferings. Let us therefore in patience possess our own souls, and maintain that com- posure and steadiness of spirit, as those that know how much more valuable it is than any enjoyment which can be taken away, or any temporal interest which can be brought into question. **. SECTION CLXI. Our Lord proceeds to dº the nearer prognostications of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the extreme severity of those calamities which should then fall on the Jewish nation. Matt. xxiv. 15–28. Mark Xiii. 14–23. Luke xxi.20–24. LUKE xxi. 20. OUR Lord having proceeded thus far in his discourse, added some more immediate signs º }. the near approach of this terrible destruction might be determined; and said, *..." #, # ºil When you shall see Jerusalem encompassed on every side with the Roman armies, [and] the jºi...º.º. abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, (Dan. ix. 27.) standing where it łºś. º; ought not, and displayed in an holy place; that is, when the standards of their desolating joº"th: "ifiejščiation legions, on which they bear the detestable images of their idols, are planted on holy ºregºat ºv. Fº :* then know that the desolation thereof is just approaching. And i. the way, now mention that remarkable prophecy, let every one that reads it pause seriously upon it, that he may understand its meaning; for it contains one of the most eminent predictions which can any where be found, of the time, purposes, and consequences of my appearing; 2! Thenlet them which are and the whole context is of great importancé. b. Now I say, when you see this signal, then lºº *...*... ...}, let them that are in Judea flee, as fast as they can, from the fortified cities and populous are in the midst ºf it, depart towns, to the mountains and the wilderness, where they will be secure ; and especially, let out; and let not them that are e g º 2 wº * ~ * e J 2 °. ...th...º.º. them that are in the midst of it, where Jerusalem stands, depart immediately out of it, #lºan sºv. 19 Mark before their retreat is cut off by the union of the enemy's forces near that centre; and let & mot them that are in the adjacent countries, by any means attempt to enter into it as a place Mark xiii, 15. And let him of safety; for all its strength, and all its sanctity, will not secure its inhabitants. Let every º one therefore retreat as fast as possible; and let not him that is taking the air on the battle- ãº, ºnly ments at the top of the house, go down into the house, rior enter into it to take away any ºngººrhis house. [* thing, though ever so precious, out of his house; but let him go down by the outer stairs, is Aid let him, that is in as the shortest way, lest he should linger to his own destruction. And let not him that is * tºº at work in the field, and hath laid aside his upper garment as an encumbrance, go back, so [Matt. xxiv. 18.] much as a few steps, to take his clothes," lest the enemy should surprise him before he can Luke xxi.22. For these be recover them. (Compare Luke xvii. 31. p. 224.) In a word, let every one flee for his ºfº.º.º.º.; life, and reckon himself sufficiently happy if he can escape with it, though in the most may be fulfilled. . naked and destitute circumstances: for these are days of most terrible vengeance, to which most of the threatenings of the prophets, even from the days of Moses, do ultimately refer; and they shall be so full of distress and misery, that all the most dreadful things which are written in them may then be said to be completely fulfilled." But more especially there will be woe and terror to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days; as their encumbrances will be peculiarly great, and they that are with them will be driven in a wild consternation to consult their own safety, to the neglect of those whom common humanity might teach them to guard and assist. Jānd therefore pray that no additional circumstances of difficulty may attend you; as, for instance, that this your precipitate flight may not be in winter, when the roads are bad, and the days short and dark; nor fall out on a sabbath-day; for a short journey may not be sufficient; and the regard which most of the christians in these parts will have for that day, may make them scrupulous of violating a rest they think so sacred, by a longer märch, even in a case of so much extremity. - LUKE xxi. 20. AND when ye shall see Jeru- salem compassed with armies, # the abomination of deso- 28] SECT. © NLATT. XXIV. SECT. 161. LUKE 20 MARK 5 & I,U HIE 22 Mark xiii. 17. But woe to them which are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days... [Matt. xxiv. 19. Luke xxi. 23.] 18 And pray ye, that your flight be not in the winter, [néither on the sabbath-day.] [Matt. xxiv. 20. ings were published. But that the period is long since elapsed is certain, however it might be reckoned ; as }. Bullock has excellently shown. See his Pindication, book ii. chap. 4. § 6. p. 216–218. and Dr. Sykes, Of Christianity, chap. 16... p. 297-301. - c Go back to take his clothes.] These are as strong expressions as one can imagine to urge the speediest retreat. It is indeed observable, that this whole discourse abounds with very lively figures of oratory, and is heightened with the noblest beauties of description... Were it necessary to produce authorities to prove that husbandmen, laid aside, their upper garment when at work, they might be found in Elsner, (Obsert, vol. i. 5. U9, 110.) but that learned critic has impaired the beauty of the text, ſº interpreting it as a caution not to go hone to fetch, them. ...Yºut tº turn back, implies fleeing directly without going back (as we speak, in the a Planted on holy ground.] . Not only the temple, and the mountain on which it stood, but the whole city of Jerusalem, and several, furlongs of land round about it, were accounted holy. (See note g, on_\latt. iv. 5, p. 47.) It is remarkable, that, by the special providenge of God, after the Romans under Cestius Gallus made their first advance towards Jerusalem, they suddenly withdrew again, in a most unexpected and indeed impolitic manner; at which Josephus testifies his surprise, since the city might then have been easily taken. By this means they gave as it were a signal to the christians to retire : which, in regard to this ad; monition, they did, some to Pella, and others, to Mount. Libanus, and thereby preserved their lives. See Joseph. Bell. Judº lib. ii., cºp. 19. ſai. 3ſ., $7, and Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. 5.5-Of the idolatrous º in the Roman armies, see Grotius’s excellent note on Matt. XX} V .. 10. b The whole context is of great importance..] . If any wonder, that so important a prophecy is not more frequently insisted upon in the New Testament, º think we may justly answer, that it was not proper for the apostles to urge it, as the exact commencement and termination of the seventy weeks was a nice controversy, out of their way, and not capable of being fully cleared up to the populace, with whom they were chiefly concerned; and as several of the events referred to in it had not their complete accomplishment till some years after most of their writ- country) so much as a land’s length, to take them up: and so it rises on the former verse. . d Jiſay then be said to be completely fulfilled.] Among many admir- able things to be found in that great original, Dr. Jackson’s Credibility of the Scriptures, I cannot but reckon that part of it in which he shows how exactly the prophecies of Moses were accomplished in the s-alighter and dispersion of the Jews in, and quickly after, this fatalywar with the Romans. See the passages quoted below, in note m, p. 2S3. MARK 17 18. 36 § 282 STE CT. 161. MARK XIII. 19 LUKE XXI. w *.. NEARER SIGNS OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. And a case of extremity it will indeed be ; for in those days there shall be a scene of great - - º - 19For in those days [II: RE, tribulation [and] distress in the land of Judea, and of dreadful wrath from heaven upon all #;º; this people, such as the like has not been known before, either here or elsewhere, even from the land, and with upon his the beginning of the creation which God has made, unto this time; nor ever shall the like be {. º: *:::::::: heard of any more * as no people ever have been, or ever shall be, guilty of so aggravated hºtº a crime, and so inexcusable a series of impenitence and infidelity. And therefore they tº - e - * , a - - * [Matt. xxiv.21, Luke xxi.23. shall fall by the edge of the sword in multitudes, both within and without the city; and the siliº; it º' * consequence of all shall be, that the miserable remnant which survives the general carnage sword, and shajibe led away shall be carried away captive into all the most distant nations of the world; and continue j.i...º.º.º. fºr many ages, under great infamy, calamity, and oppression. And, in the mean time, ºf tº; Jerusadeñº itself shall be trampled down and kept in possession by the Gentiles,8 till the times fligi. 6 appointed for these triumphs and insults of the Geniiles shall be fulfilled, and the day come when God shall remember his ancient people in mercy.n MARK XIII. 20 21 22 23 MLATT. XXIV. 27 Mark xiii. 20. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be ..?id during the wars which are to bring on this sad catastrophe, except the Lord had 7 * - shortened those days, no flesh could be saved; the whole nation would be utterly extermi- nated from the earth, and the name of Israel no longer be had in remembrance: but for §§§ {"hº jº. 7, 247 a * - - - Sölkey VV ho OS the elect's sake, whom he has graciously chosen to be at length partakers of the blessings of t.e.'s.j'...'. C * t. Al * { will so order it in his providence, that those days shall be shortened; for he ed.] [Matt. Xxiv. 22.] hºth still Surposes of love toward the seed of Abraham, which shall at length take place; (Rom. xi. 26.) and, in the mean time, he will make their continuing a distinct people, a means of confirming the faith of christians in succeeding ages.k As these then are the counsels of the divine wisdom concerning this people, do not ex: a l] saw t L s pect that when calamities begin to threaten them, any miraculous deliverer should be raised º.º.º. up for them: and if !". one shall then say to you, Behold the Messiah [is] here, or, be-lºº him * fº.º. hold [he is] there, do not believe ſit, or show the least regard to any such report. (Com-" paré Luke xvii. 23. p. 223.) For as this unhappy people, who are now so obstinately rejecting me, will to the last support themselves with vain hopes of that kind, and be ready eagerly to hearken to every bold, impostor, false Messiahs and false prophets shall arise, and shall pretend to show great signs and prodigies, managed with so much art, as might, [if it were] possible, be sufficient to deceive even the very elect, and to pervert my sincere followers and disciples themselves; though indeed their hearts shall be so estab- lished by divine grace as finally to be secured from the danger. But be ye cautiously upon gour gºtzird against so dangerous an imposition; for behold, I have expressly foretold you all these things, that on comparing the event with the prediction, your faith may be estab- lished by those very circumstances which in another view might have a tendency to shake - it. Théréfère, if they shall say unto you, Behold, we have found the expected Messiah, and Matt. xxiv,26. Wherefore, he is now gathering his forces about him in the wilderness for the deliverance of his people, É.i.º.º.º.º.; do not go jorth to join yourselves to his followers; [or] if they shall say, Behold, §: isj nºrth. Befºliº in th; in the sécrét apartments of some particular friend, where he is waiting to give satisfaction ...” “” believe it to those that desire it, do not believe ſº nor give yourselves the trouble so much as to - inquire into the affair. For you know there is and can be no other Messiah but me; and 97 For as the lightning when I appear, it will be in a sudden, amazing, and irresistible manner; and as the light- tº º' ning breaks forth from the east, and shines in a moment even to the west part of the horizon, jjiaisºne comingofthe so sudden ànd conspicuous also shall the coming of the Son of man be, both in his appear: **** ance to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the final judgment. (Compare Luke xvii. 24. p. 223.) And very extensive also will the desolation be ; for, as I formerly told you, 21 And then if any man 22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall, shevy [great] signs and wonders, [insounuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.] [Matt. xxiv. 24.] 23 But take ye heed: be- hold, I have foretold you all things. [Matt. xxiv. 35.] cruelties of the seditious and zealots within t 28 For wheresoever the car- which this very, phrase, and othçfs nearly parallel to it, frequently e Such as the like has #4 becº-ſtor écer Shall be..] This Josephus ex- - p; essly asserts to in-yº can fact: ºpil wh9ever, teads his account, or ºccur in th; Old Testament; as Brennius, justly observes. (Cómpare ; vein that justigious abstruct from,hin which, Eusebius has given, us, Ezek. xxx. 3. as also Jer. xxvii. 7. l. 27. Ezek. xxi. 25, 29. xxii. 3, 4) t; W. (Hist. Eccles, lit., iii. cup; 5, 6.), will see , a sad illustration of fill this ; And, if this be the sense of it, it seems an intimation that the Turks, or and, criminal and detestable as the Jewish ſation now was, will hardly be able to forbear weeping over th9se complicated miseries brought upon them by plagues, and fünſtle, and fires occasioned by the siege, and by the carnage made, not oily by the Romans, but by the yet... greater - he city, who reaiſy acted the part of so many incarnate fiends rather than of men. - They shall fall by the cºlge of the sºard, and shall be carrigºl captive, &c.] It appear; from Josephus that eleven hundred thousand Jews were destroyed in this war, and near an hundred thousand taken prisoners, and (according to Deut. xxviii. 68.) sold for slavés at the vilest prices. See Joseph. Bell. .ſud. (ii. vi. cºp. 9. [al. vii. 17.] § 3. g Jerusalem shall be trainplcºl down § the Gentiles.]... Their land was soid, and no Jew was allowed to inliabit there : (a rigour never used, that I know of, towards any other people conquered by the Romans.:) nay, they inight not come within sight of Jerusalem, or rather of Elia, the Harpe given to the nço city, which was built without the circuit of the former, when the foundations, of the old were ploughed up. A heathen temple was aſterwards built where that of Goºl had stood; and 9. Turkish mosque, pollutes it to this day : so remarkably was the hand of God upon thein. And it is well known, by the testinomy of a heathen Writer, (who risii;ulously a scribes it to a fital resistance, in the element,) that. Julian's impious atteºpt to rebuild their temple, and settle them in Jerusalern aºlin, in professed coutefnpt of this prophecy; was 3¢ veral times niraculously Mºisi by the irruption of balls of fire, which cousuined the workine:1. See Animiau. Marcel. iii. xxiii. Căli”. H. D. 230. ſ #º. türics ºf the Gcitſil.c.; be fulfil!cd.] It is much easier to vin- dicate the authority of the words Katpot ºvoy from the objection of Dr. Mill, (Prolgá, p. 133.) chiefly founded on their being omitted in the Cambridge Manuscript; than to detºunime the signification of them. I cannot suppose, with Messrs. Le Clerc and L'Enfant, that by the ac- complishment of the times of the Gentiles, we are to understand the time when Çonstantine put an end to the Gentile idolatry in Jerusalem, and established the christian worship there. (Euseb. Wit. Coast. līš. iii. cºp. 25.) It seems reasonable to suppose that here, as in most other places, the Gentiles are º: to the Jews ; and, consequently, that all the period between the destruction of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the ſews to their own land, so expressly foretold in Scripture, is here intended. (See Isa. XXyii. 2, 13. Ezek. xi. 17. XX.40, }. xxxiv. 13. xxxvi. 24, 28. xxxyii. 21—28. xxxix. 28, 29. Hos. iii. 5. Amos ir. 14, 15. and Zech. xiv. 10, 1].) With this indeed is connected the bringing in what St. Paul calls the ſulaess of the Gentiles, Ronn. xi. 25, 2:3. Tui unless it could be proved (which I do not recollect) that the inhabitants of Palestine shall then peaceably surrender it to the returning Jews, it séems most natural to suppose the time of the Gentiles here signifies the tiºne whe: they shall be rijited and punished; which is the sense in some other anti-christian power, may continue possessed of the Holy Land till the restoration, of the Jews; for one can hardly suppose their way into it should then be opened by the conquest of a christian nation. i Except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh could be saved, &c.] Such were the quarrels that prevailed among the Jews, that numbers of them were destroyed by one ançther; and the whole country was become a scene of such desolation and bloodshed, that not only those who were shut up in Jerusalem, but the whole Jewish nation, would have suffered much more by the longer continuance of the siege, considering how much the same spirit prevailed among them in other places.— Mr. Reading, in his Life of Christ, p. 389, understands the days being Short- cred for the elect’s sake, of the preservation of tho christians at Pella, whose safety he º: to have depended on the shortening of the siege, and whom he takes to be the elect intended here. . (See Dr. Whitby, on Aſanº siń. 2).)—Of the special providences by which the siege was shortened, see Grotius, on Matt. xxii. 22. * - k Their continuing a distinct people, a means of confirming the faith of christians, &c.) . This I have shown at large in my Ten, Seringns, Ser: N. p. 277–279. and the reader may see the remark further illustrated % Mr. Addison, Spectat, vol. vii. No. 495. and in Bishop Burnet’s our Discourses, p. 8–10. l False prophets shqll arise, and show, great signs and prºdigies.] This is not a mere repetition of what was said before, Matt. xxiv. 3. (p. 279. but relates to those impostors who appeared during the time of the siege of which see Joseph, Bell. Jud. (ib. vi. cap. §: [a]. vii. 2. and Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lić. iv. cap. 6. See also Grotius, on Mlatt. XXiv 24.—As for the objection which is urged from this text, against admitting miracles as a proof of doctrines, I would here transiently observe two things: 1. That it cannot certainly be proved that the works here reſerred to were true miracles; they might be like the lying powers, signs, and wonders, mentioned 2 Thess. ii. 9. Or, 2. That if we should, for argu- ment’s sake, grant them to be real miracles, yet they, are supposed to be wrought at a time yºhen there were in the christian church teachgri, sub; sisting with superior miraculous powers. But it ean Rever, be, inferred from such a supposition in that case, that God will suffer, miracles to be wrought in proof of falsehood, whºm there are none ºf his servants to perform greater miracles on the side of truth. And when such superior iniracles on the side of truth, do exist, the opposite miracles at most can only prove that some invisible beings of great power, who are the abet- tors Óffalsehood, are strongly engaged to support the contrary doctrine; the cousideration of which must excite all wise and good men to receive a truth so opposed with greater readiness, and to endeavour to promote it with greater zeal, as they may be sure the excellênce and importance of it is proportionable to the solicitude of these malignant spirits to pre- VC1]t its progress. CHRIST DESCRIBES THE DESTRUCTION OF THE JEWISH STATE. pase is there will the eagles (Luke xvii. 37, p. 224.) wheresoever the dead carcase is, there will the eagles, naturally be be gathered together. gathered together; and wherever the obstinate enemies of my kingdom are, they shall be sought out and destroyed; and here in particular I will send the Roman eagles, against them, who shall consume and devour them as a helpless prey, not only at Jerusalem, but over the face of the whole country; and afterwards in some more distant regions, where the greatest numbers of Jews are settled." - IMPROVEMENT. IF our Lord urges his disciples, with such speedy and solicitous haste, to flee from the sword of God's temporal judgments, how much greater diligence should we give to flee from the wrath to come! What are any of the little interests of life, that out of regard to them we should be willing to continue one moment longer exposed to a dan- ger which may sink us into everlasting perdition and despair? We have here a lively description of that aggravated ruin which was brought upon the Jews for neglecting Christ,-even great tribulation, such as had never, from the very beginning of the world, fallen upon any other nation, nor shall ever be equalled. . Thus was his blood upon them and their children. (Matt. xxvii. 25.) May we never know what it is to have this blood crying against us, for trampling it under foot as an unholy thing ! (Heb. x. 29.) For surely to the Jews, who thus rejected the counsel of É. *- they suffered were but the beginning of sorrows; and the famine and sedition, pestilence and slaughter, by which so many thousands perished, served only to consign them over to infinitely more terrible indignation and wrath, º and anguish, which will at last fall on every soul of man that doth evil, whether Jew &r Gentile. (Rom. ii. 8, 9. - These unhappy creatures eagerly listened to the very name of a Messiah, by whomsoever it was assumed, while they rejected him whom God had sent them, and who had so long, and with so much importunity, been renewing to them the offers of life and salvation. May none of us ever know the sad impatience with which condemned sinners will wish, and wish in vain, for those overtures and messages of grace which they now despise! In that sense wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together : wherever there is the like unbelief and impenitence, there will be in its degree the like ruin. Christ has graciously told us these things before: may we humbly attend to the warning, that none of this terror and destruction may ever come upon Us! SECTION CLXII. Christ describes the total destruction of the Jewish, state by strong ſigures, Tºny of them, literally, suiting...the day of judgroent; of which he proceeds, declaring the particular time of it unknown. Matt. xxiv. 29–36. Mark xiii. 24–32. fluk * * , UIK (2 XXI. XX * ALTRE - - LUKE --- i. 25. XX]. 25. AND there, shall be signs in OUR Lord proceeded in the awful representation of the judgments that were coming on #"º"jº, Jerusalem, and said, Before this desolation shall be completely come, there shall be (as I earth distres of nations, with told you, ver. II.) some extraordinary signs in the Sun, and in the moon, and in the stars— !.º.º. * * * eclipses, comets, and surprising meteors; and on the earth there shall be anguish and dis- tress of nations ; the sea and the proud waves thereof roaring, and breaking in upon the land with an irresistible inundation; While men shall be almost expiring with fear,” and overwhelmed with the sad expectation of those calamitous things which are coming upon the land: for this shall not be bike former invasions or captivities, which only produced some transient disorders in the state, or, at most, an interruption in the government for a few years; but it shall be attended with such a total subversion of it, and with such vast, ex- tensive, and lasting ruin, that it shall be a most lively emblem of the desolation of the whole world at the last day. For, immediately qfter the affliction of those days which I have now been describing,b the sun shall, as it were, be darkened, and the moon shall not seem to give her usual light; and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens, all the mighty machines and strong movements above, shall be shaken and broken in pieces:" that is, according to the sublimity of that prophetic language to which you have been accustomed, the whole civil and ecclesiastical constitution of the nation shall not only be shocked, but totally 30 And then shall appear dissolved. .4nd them shall there evidently appear such a remarkable hand of Providence jºiº in avenging my quarrel upon this sinful people, that it shall be like the sign of the Son ºf thgºes ºthº man in heaven at the last day; and all the tribes of the land shall then mourn, gnd they shall *.*.*.*.*.*; see the Son of man coming as it were in the clouds of heaven, with power affid great glory; - for that celestial army which shall appear in the air marshalled round the city, shall be a xxi. 27.] sure token to them that the angels of God, and the great Lord of those heavenly hosts, are Y tºn C of a trumpet, and they shall º -r to the mention 25–33. 26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are com- ing on the earth.- Matt. xxiv. 29. In mediate- ly after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light; and the stars shali fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. (Mark Xiii. 24, 25. Luke XXi. 25.] 2 heaven, with power ºd great glory. [MAR# xiii. 26. Luke t 31 And ſhephe shallsend set as it were in array against them. ...?nd to pursue the allusion—as at the great day th his º.º.º. angels shall in a literal sense assemble all his saints together, so also he shall then sºng orth his messengers" with the great sound of his gospel as of a loud trumpet, and they shall m in some more distant regions, &c.], There may perhaps be an ob- lique intination in this passages of the slaughter afºrwards made on the jews elsewhere, and particularly under Adriºn and Trajan; when what had boon foretold by Moses (Deut. xxviii. 49, et scq.). was remarkably fulfilled, and as an eagle flies upon its prey, their enemies pursued them to destruction: and the calamities they underwent were such, that, (as jjio Cassius informs us, Hist. lib. (9.) 50,000 were slain; 500 of their förtresses were demolished, and 900 of their chief towns in Egypt, Crete, &c. were plundered and burnt to the ground: not to mention the ter- rible things they afterwards suffered in France, Italy, Spain, and other arts of ºurope, in the decline of the Roman empire ; of all which, see F. Jackson’s fºrmal Truth of the Scriptures, book i. part 2. Sect. 3. chap. 6, 10–13. - - • - à"ºn; with fear.] This is the literal rendering of arovºxºvſkov aro (b563 v.–The signs here spoken of seem to be some of the latest of those mentioned in the writers referred to above, in notes g and h, on ver. 10, 11. p. 279. - * I e * used in such a strange latitude. What is said below, (in Matt. xxiv. 34. Mark xiii. 30. and Luke xxi. 32. p. 284.) seems also an unanswerable objection against such an intern retation.—I am obliged therefore to ex- plain this section as in the paraphrase ; though, I acknowiedge, many of the figures used may with more literal propriety be applied to the last day, to which there may be a remote, though not an immediate, reference. c The sun shall be darkened, &c.] It was customary with the prºphets, as it still is with the Eastern writers, to describe the utter ruin of states and kingdoms, not only, in general by an universºl darkness, but also by such strong figures as those here used, which all have their foundation in that way of speaking. Compare Isa. xiii. 10. xxxiv. 4, 19. lx. 3 Jer. xv. 9. Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8. Joel ii. 3), 31. iii. 15. and Amos viii. 9. d Coming in the clouds of heaven.] Sudden and irresistible destruction, in which much of the hand of God evidently appears, is (qs Dr. Whitby justly observes) often expressed by God’s coming in the clouds. , (Çon- are Psal. xxii. 9. l. 3, 4. Nevii. 2, 3. civ. 3. 1sa. Nix. l. xxvi. 21. lxxi. 5.) But I think the celestial appearances described by Josephus (as above, note hyon Luke xxi. 1]. p. 27).) lead us into the exagtest inter- pretation of this text, and greatly illustrate the propriety of these ex- pressions here. e Send forth his messengers.] Most translations, as weil as our ow.n; greatly obscure this text, by rendering the word ayyeXous, angels; for though it generally signifies those celcstial spirits who, are on great Gº casions the mossengers of God to our world, it is well known that thº word refersºot to their nature but to their office; and it is often ºpplieſ to men, and rendered messchgers. See Mark 1. 2. Luke Wit. 47 *, * ---" - b. Inincoliately after the affliction of those, days.] Archbishop Tillotson and Brennius, with many other learned interpreters, imagine that, Qur Lord here makes the transition from the destruction of Jerusalem, which had been the subject of his discourse thus far, to the general judgment: but I think, as it woujśl, on the one hand, be very, harsh, to Suppose à the sufferings of the Jewish nation in all ages, to be called, the tribula- tion of those days, so it would, on the other hand, be equally so to say that the general judgment, which probably will not commence till at least a thousand years after their réstoration, will happen immediately after their sufferings; nor can I find any one instance in which ev6eos is * ty 283 SECT. 162. MATT. XXIV. LUKE XXI. 21 XIII. 15, 16 MATT. XXIV. 21 d against themselves, all these things which 7, 8 MARK XIII. 21, 22 MATT. 28 SECT. 162. I.URE MATT. XXIV. 29 284 SECT. 162. LUKE XXJ. THE PARTICULAR TIME OF THE DAY OF JudgMENT UNKNowN. assemble his elect from the four winds, even from one end of the heavens to the other, or from gather together his elect from the uttermost part of the earlh one way, to those climates which lie under the ºthermost i. Yººtº: part of heaven the other way; and multitudes of all nations shall obey the summons, tºº."º"; though the Jews have ungratefully and foolishly despised it; and the Son of man shalibé fºº" honoured and trusted by millions now unborn, when this wicked and perverse nation has d ºf as tº a 28 perished in their rebellion and iº •And when these things begin to come to pass, be ... Luke xxi.,28. And when leT 29 30 31 32 33 MARK XIII. MATT. XXIV. 29 LUKE XXI. not you terrified and dismayed, but ra cheerfully look upwards, and lift up your heads . Hº with joy and assurance ; for, whatever happens, you will be secure ; and as soon as you lip your heads; for your re- see the first appearance of these signs, you may comfortably conclude that your complete **** fedemption and deliverance draws nigh;é for many of you will be safely brought home to \, the haven of eternal peace before these storms are ended, and the rest of you will not long survive them. - - -ind, further to illustrate what he had been saying, he spake to them a very easy and 29 And he spake to them a familiar parable, saying, Behold now, º learn a parable from the example of the fig- * lº §§§ º tree, and all the other trees that drop their leaves in the winter: When buds appear upon tº aſſic tº Matt, the fig-tree, and its branch is now become tender, and the sa rising in the other trees, they *śs yet shºot.fºrth their young leaves, and begin to open and spread, ſow see and know of your own º 8elves, by the observation you have often made, that summer is now near at hand, as these É. Jº, §: are certain prognostications of it: . So likewise you, when you shall see all these things come fºº; to pass, may assuredly know that the destruction of the Jewish state, and the advancement Š. . . . . . . & of the kingdom of God in all its glory, is just at hand, ſeven] at the doors; or that the time tjäljºš º; is coming when the desolation I have been speaking of shall come upon Jerusalem, and §º. 3. . the gospel shall be propagated all abroad, and take such root in the world, that you may jºioś assure yourselyes it shall never be destroyed. gºt six. 33. Mark si. And verily I say ºnto you; and urge you to observe it, as absolutely necessary in order Tº verily I say unto you, to understand what I have been saying, That this generation of men now living, shall not Tºi ºffº i. º pass away until all these things be fulfilled ;h for what I have foretold concerning the §§hº destruction of the Jewish state is so near at hand, that some of you shall live to see it all Mark siii.30) accomplished with a dreadful exactness. And the rest may die in the assurance of it; for 33 Heaven and earth shall another and yet more awful day shall come, when, in a literal sense, heaven and earth shall ºil ...isº º pass away, and the whole fabric of this visible world shall be dissolved before my majestic sºgg. Kºi." att, presence; but my words shall not pass away till they are perfectly fulfilled, and the efficacy of them shall remain in the eternal world which shall succeed these transitory scenes. But though Jerusalem shall be destroyed before this generation disappear, yet of that Marksiii.33. But of that great decisive day which is appointed, for the dissolution and the judgment of the world, ... ...?"º". and of the hour or season when it shall open upon men, and shall bring on their final sen: hiºi, heage. nºther tence, there is no one who knows the precise time, neither the angels in heaven, nor even flû, yºfatherons. the Son of man himself.k with respect to his human nature, or as a part of what he is com- missioned to reveal; for though it be determined by the divine decree, it is not known to any but my Father alone, or the indwelling Godhead from whom nothing can be con- cealed; and as he does not think fit to disclose it, let it be your care to improve this un- certainty as an engagement to the most diligent and constant preparation for its coming. IMPROVEMENT. LET us now raise our contemplations to that awful day, when all that was figuratively spoken of the destruction of Jerusalem shall be literally accomplished; and let us consider our own intimate concern in it.—Where will our hope and comfort, our light and our safety, be, when the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, when the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken? where, indeed, unless the almighty God, the everlasting Jehovah, by whose voice they were created, and by whose hand they shall be dashed in pieces again, shall condescend to be our light and our salvation? (Psal. xxvii. 1.) And if he indeed be so, then we may lift up our heads with joy, as knowing that our complete redemption draweth nigh, even that long- § 8 j 28 expected day, which, with all its solemn horrors, has still been the brightest object of our faith and our hopes. MATT. hen shall the Son of man indeed come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and send his xxix., angels to summon his elect, and to assemble them from one end of heaven to the other: for the Lord himself shall 39, 8' descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. (1 Thess. iv. 16. MARK XIII. May we hear the summons with joy, and stand in our lot among his chosen ones! What though the day an season be unknown P. It is enough for us that we know that all these interposing days and years, be they ever so * numerous, will at length be past; for the promise of the great Redeemer is our security, and he will hästen it in 31 its time ! (Isa. lx. 22. These visible heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the earth shall be removed out of its place; but the sure word of his promise shall never pass away; even that promise which is engaged for the salvation of his ix. 52. 2 Cor. viii. 23. Phil. ii. 25, and Jam. ii. 25. In some of which some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Som ºf places it sº als "; *:::::::ſ tº fººl, Nº. Were º forth anan coming in his kingdom. See mote i, on that text, p. 165. to carry on Goºl's great design of uniting all his chosen people in one i that day and hour no one knows.] I cannot agree with Dr. Clarke society under Christ as º, commºn head; Eph. i. 10..... * in &#. § VerSe to §§ & of jºusaien, the particular day f Lºok uplºard: ; awakvillare. This is an expression which admirably ºf jij"ºas' otºaº.e.' fºrtance, and as for the season of suits the load of labour and sufferings under which the apostles would be it, I see not how it could properly be said to be entirely unknown, after depressed in this afflicted state. , Sge Raphel. Jimngt. ex: Herod. p. 270. such an express declaration, that it should be in that generatiºn, and yet g Your redemption draws migh.J., As the resurrection is the time when at some considerabic distance for otherwise there would not have been we shall in fact be fully redeemed, or delivered from all the sad conse- room for the gradual accomplishment of the may prediction; uttered quences of sin, and therefore is galled the redeſption of our bodies: above. It seems therefore much fitter, with Dr. Whitby, (after Grotius,) (Rom. viii. 23. compare Eph. iv. 30; and Hos. Niii. 14.) so, in a less to explain it of the jast day, when heaven and, earth shif paSS & Way, proper sense, the deliverance fron, the toils and sorrows, támptations Šiš. is sometimes' ailed that day with a peculiar emphasis; a lºrºe and infirmitiés, of this sinful and calamitous life, may; on the like prin- answering to the great or remarkable day. Compare 2 Tim. i. 12, 18. ciples, be galled redemption. And, if we may judge of the length of the and iv. 8. - - * apostles’ lives by the extent of their labours, though we know not the k jvor even the Son of man himself.] There is not any thing in this time when many of them died, there is reason to gonjecture it was not assertion of our Lord, if we consider the two natures, in him, that is in- till about this Pºiº which, by the way, would be an argument they consistent with his trie divinity. For wº is ºpºlº to Olle were now most of them, young men. • * * -- - expressed in terms inclusive of his whole person. h This generation shall not pass atcay until all these things be fulfilled.) #. #: ...; human nature were communicated in a Though Brennius and Mede (in his Płorks; B5253) have berg hg honour graduaj manner tº him, jesus is said to have increased in vºisdom ; to be followed by so great an authority as Dr. Sykes, (Qſ Christianity, #. ii. 53) and even whije he was on earth, as he was present every p. 60) yet! must beg leave to, say, that I cannot, think the teſts they where with respect to his divine nature, he speaks of himself as the Son collect sufficient to prove, that by this generation [n Yevgg avTriſ We are of man who is in heaven. (John iii. 13.) or is it at all more strange here to understand the Jewish nation through all ages; as if our Lord in- that he should here be said not to know the day º for the final tended to say, they should continue a distinct people to the judgment- judgment, than that it should be elsewhere said that the Lord of §§ day. What I have expressed in the paraphrase, is plainly the most was crucified, (I Cor. ii. 5.) and that God purchased the church with his obvious sense of the words, and seems, to me, an evident, key § º: own blood. (Acts xx. 28.) € 0 & whole context, especially when compared with Matt. xvi. 28. THE SUDDENNESS OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE SON OF MAN. 285 people, Let us often review it; let us firmly realize it to our souls; and, seeing we look for such, things, let us SLCT. seriously consider what manner of persons we ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness, (2 Pet. hi. 11, 14.) 162. SECTION CLXIII. Our Lord urges the suddenness of his appearance as an engagement to constant watchfulness; repeating several things which he had formerly said - • & 4 - on that subject. Matt. xxiv. 37, to the end. Mark xiii. 33, to the end. Luke xxi. 34–36 MATT. xxiv. 37. MATT. xxiv. 37. BUTääthe days of Noºr: OUR Lord having told them in the preceding words, that though the time of his appear- SECT. #.º. ..º.º. ºomins * ance to the generaljudgment was uncertain, yet the destruction of Jerusalem should '...}. I63. before that generation of men was passed away, went on with his discourse, and added, - But this I will in general inform you, that, as sudden and unthought of as the deluge was MATT. which came upon the world in the days of Noah, so unexpected and surprising also shall º' 38 For as in the days that the coming of the Son of man, to execute his vengeance, be. For as in the days which were 38 W. º.º.º. before the universal deluge, they were so inconsiderate and secure, that they went on with were eating and drinking, g g 5 & & ë * & a 7 º' jºyinja giving in tº all their usual business, and spent their time in entertainments, eating and drinking, mar- jºi..." "*** rying wives and giving their daughters in marriage, thinking of nothing but present indul- gence and future settlements in the world; and went on thus in contempt of every serious 39 And knew not, until the admonition, even until the very day, that Noah entered into the ark;..And knew not nor 39 flºº; suspected that any evil was approaching, till the deluge came with an irresistible violence, §§§.i. and bore them all away with a torrent of destruction: so also shall the coming of the Son of man be: and, notwithstanding men have been so frequently and plainly warned of it, yet multitudes shall be surprised in an unprepared state. (Compare Luke xvii. 26, 27. p. 223. 40 Thenshall twº be in the I formerly told you, with relation to the temporal desolation of your country, and I now 40 ãº" repeat it, That of two men who shall then be at work together in the field, the one shall be Žiºrwºom, shall be seized and the other dismissed.b And of two women who shall be grinding corn at the same 41 #º mill, the one shall be seized and the other dismissed. (Compare Luke xvii. 35, 36, p. 224.) left. y And I may say the like with respect to that important event of the final judgment: Inany who have been engaged in the same station and employments, and who were intimately conversant with each other, shall then be found exceedingly different in their characters and states; and some of them shall be made the prisoners of divine justice, while others shall not only be spared, but be signally favoured by God. Luke xxi. 34, And take .And therefore, that no calamities of life or solemnities of judgment may be dreadful to Lº hº...;;... you, take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overloaded,” and your rational s?” §§§ powers dº and stupified by gluttony and drunkenness, or distracted with worldly ‘’’ # *.*.*.*.*... and secular cares; and by this means that awful and important day of which I have been uponjou unawares. ll i speaking, should come unexpected upon you. For the character of the generality of mankind 35 jiຠat that time will be such, that it shallºome on the greatest part of all them that dicell on the on the face ofthe whole earth face of the whole earth,d as a snare upon a thoughtless bird which, in the midst of its secu- 36 watch ye therefore rity, finds itself inextricably taken. (Compare Eccles. ix.12.) Let me therefore address 36 [MARK, take ye heed, and ray always; that ye may e accounted worthy to es- cape all these things that shall, come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man : [for ye know not [MARK, when the time is,j or what hour your Lord doth come.] §ºtt. xxiv. 42. Mark xiii. Matt. xxiv. 43. But know this, that if the good man, of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. this most serious exhortation to you with an earnestness proportionable to its importance: Watch ye against every temptation to negligence and sin; take heed of every thing which might lull you into a dangerous security, and pray always, with the most fervent importu- nity, that through divine grace you may be accounted worthy to escape all these calamitous and destructive things which shall assuredly come to pass just in the manner I have de- scribed them, and may be happily enabled, even in the day of his universal judgment, to stand forth with courage and acceptance before the Son of man;" for you know not when the time of his appearance is, [or] at what hour your Lord does come to summon you before him. - - But this you know, and would do well to consider it, that if the master of a house that MATs has at any time been plundered by robbers, had known exactly in what watch of the night :* the thief would have come, he would undoubtedly have watched then, and taking care to be provided for him, would not have suffered his house to be broken open, or have left the thief to make his advantage by coming at an unexpected time. And º as it is of so 44 much greater consequence on this occasion that you should be prepared against an unsea- sonable surprise, be ſe also ready, and learn, from such a common occurrence, to be upon your Fº for I tell you again, That at an hour when you think not of it, the Son of man cometh; and multitudes of people will be as much surprised as if they had never heard in their whole lives that he would come at all. (Compare Luke xii. 39, 40. p. 202.) 44 Therefore be ye also ready : for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. a They were cating and drinking, &c.] Dr. Woodward (in his Theory of the Earth, p. 98) thinks these were modest expressions to signify to the tribunal of God their giving themselves up to all the 9xtravagances of riot and lust; and c Your hearts be o Wolfius (in loc.) has most learnedly proved that yapetabat is often used in a very, criminal sense, F - - be to believe that the antediluvian sinners did so, these words may be on those rational faculties which aſ intended to express no more they pursued the usual employments and amusements of life, when they short, in comparison with that of \ were on the very brink of utter destruction. reason, that he had given the chief b Tudo men shall then be in th * - for its better connexion, I have introduced these words incidenta hinted how they may allusively be accommodated to the day of judg- ment, yet I doubt not they originally refer to the destruction of Jerusa- livered in his journey lem, to which alone they are properly applicable. After this paragraph 20–37. § there, is not a word peculiar to that; but many circumstances are intro- on either of those occasions duged which refer to the day of judgment, (and of death, as transmitting complishment of this proph to it,) and which can only be thus understood. I therefore humbly con- recorded b * ceive, that the grand transition, about which commentators are so much them, would also secure them from any unwelcome surprise by a call verloaded.]. The word 6apuvácoatv properly signifies burdened, or pressed down ; and so very elegantly and strongly expresses But how great reason soever there may the hateful consequences of intemperance, and the load which it brings e the glory of the human nature.-- ’s account of this discourse is very - [atthew and Mark, for this obvious & • heads of it before, partly in a dis- the field, &c.] . Though in the ºff. course of our Lord’s last coming, which w ; Dârily s than the security and gaiety with which The reader will observe, that Tºke * - as delivered to a very numer- S2 and Qus assembly, in Galilee, (Luke xii. 35–48. § 1j4.) and partly in another discourse, relating only to the destruction of Jerusalem, which was fiel © * thither, at the feast of dedication, Luke xvii. * 7. § 133., Here therefore he chooses to omit what had been inserted ; as John, who probably wrote after the ac- ecy, entirely omits it, as already so largely by the former three ; from whom, considering the circumstance - - 9f time, it came with infinitely better grace tha & :* divided, and so generally mistaken, is made precisely after these two ; : v \ * y gr han it could afterwards verses.--Our, Lord, in the following verses of Matthew and Mark, have done from him. s e - - e d It shall come on all them that dwell, &c.] The exhortati directs º, hº to º: final iºniº III Y. º are so º §." with this clause limit #&t of the tº; º congerned, by, repeating, almost in the same Words; the cautions and siderable number; for were it to be taſk • *s * advices he had formerly given, fluke.ii. 35, cise. Wii.4 in which whºi. l en otherwise, there could have eq context (as I there observed, note f. p. 202.) there is no reference to those e To stand before the Son of man * * º: that were coming on the Jews, which have been here merely th & lf ..]. I do not apprehend that this is tempora the subject of almost the whole Fºl. discourse. And the remem- brance of what had passed on th s lead them into the distinct understantling of what was now added. Though it may not be improper to recollect, that the same pious care in their temper and conduct, which would be a preparative against national been no room to offer them. ere th the sº º the º of beſore. . & - * Were thquSalids of the Jews that, by one providence or another, escape e fºrmer occasiºn might more easily temporal destruction, who couià with no propriety be said to standº Jſore the Son of man at his coming. I have therefore paraphrased this latter clause as an adyance upon the former, which gives this context a - - * - greater connexion and juster disti which most judgments, and entitle them to the special protection of Providence in H º J tinction, than the order in which mo armonies place these verses. 286 THE SUDDENNESS OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE SON OF MAN. • r. Fº Aº ** * * 5- - S 4. - - *** 277. -Jº s ECT. . [For the Son of man is] in this Fººt 63.4 man travelling to a distant country, who, as Marksiii. 34. For the son 163, he was leaving his house, gave gºthority to his head-servants to direct and oversee the rest #ſº º ºniº * *** **, º 'º º' £42*.x is rºy as a 4- * . . . . . * * – 7 ° $ . -, * * Kur J V; W ſlo 16 } in their business, and assigned to tº mail in the family his proper work, and particularly jºustº'ºtºty"; MARK commanded the porter to watch, and to see to it that the doors were properly secured, and inj...' ... XIII. 34 ready to be opened to him at his return. 1. 2 ºnant- MATT. ...And ºtho note do you, my apostles, suppose is the faithful and prºdent servant, of whom . Matt. xxiv. 45, who then ** lis lord has sº goºd an opinion as to have appointed him ruler oper the rest of his house. *..."ºllºw;ie. º - * s * - *t. W- - hold, to give them [their] proper portion of food in due season 2 You must easily apprehend Å."o; #"hº". that the expression, may with the utmost propriety be applied to that high office with sº, them meatin die sea: r & - & x f * ** - e 4- - sc. S I ~ - 46 º,º º º to º º placed in your integrity and wisdom. And, ; Blººd i.hºvº €XCIÉe WOUI to CliSC harge £illS *lt; * º - - & Whom his . Ford, when he is that º t whom hi i * * i. Cé Wyltin the gºates fidelity, let me add, Happy indeed conneth, shall find so doing. is ſº servant ſhºp his loºd, when he coingth, shall find thus employed in the propér duties * 47 of his important office, distributing to each his portion in a proper manner.f Verily I say wnto you again, as I ſºry did, that he will prefer him as highly as if a man shoulá make & 4. > * * *** : - y • wº - * * - his domestic steward, Who had served him faithfully, ruler or director of all his estate, as a º for his care in the due management of his office. (Compare Luke xii. 42—44. p 203. - < * *...* tº tº K_* * But, on the other hand. the fait **Tot. { is ſis * * lº 48 a cº, i 11 º . º % the f º Wretch that is dishonest in the execution of so high 48 But, and if that evil a charge snail be severely punished: an. iſ that picked servant shall presume to say in his sºft. sºrrº # 3. * is roºm or - Y) iſ * * gº º ºr 4. . *g *. * \ly lord dolayeth his coming; 49 heart, Jſi lord delays his coming ; And shall º that presumption begin to beat and abuse ºil; those of his fellow-servants who are more faithful than himself, and to eat and drink in a §§§ to Cat riotous and extravagant manner with the debauched and drunken part of them, or with and drink with the drunken; gº ! -- ~ 4- & rº * a + * * * * * - I • * - * s 50 other dissolute pºison: ; he will do it at his peril: For the lord of that servant shall cer- .50. The lord of that servant tainly come in a day when he does not expect [him] and in an hour when he is not at all ºf ſº 7. & ſº * * * * oošeth not for ſtrºn, and in atºgré, and cannot have time to put on a face of better order, or to provide and invent jºi!" （"ºak. 51 artful excuses; ind, seeing him in the midst of his revels and usurpations, he shall scourge *śl Anashan ºut him asun. him so severely, that he shall even cut him asunder,” and appoint [him] his portion with jºbº his por- hypocrites, the most odious kind of sinners in the sight of Godºh with these shall this false Hºe ºil ºf wº": - s * & - s creature be righteously doomed to dwell for ever in those doleful regions where there shall shashins of teeth. be nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth, proportionable to his former indulgence and luxury, and to the importance of that trust which he so wickedly betrayed. (Compare Luke xii. 45, 46, p. 203.) - MARK Let me then caution you, O my apostles and ministers, never to suffer this important Mark Niii. 35. Watch ye *". exhortation which I have now been giving you, to be forgot in any circumstance of life; ºo:: * but teach ye therefore continually, for ye kilow' not when the master of the house cometh, ##########". - 1. * * * e • e t * ; Illy º . R- * eye whether in the evening-watch, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning : $; tº crowns, 36 Early and late hold yourselves in a prepared posture, lest coming suddenly, he find you *...Sººº...suddenly 37 sleeping and negligent of your proper duty....And what I say to you in public characters, º, Ulm to I say to all my disciples, in every station of life and in every age, Watch; for in every age you I say unto all, Watch. and station you will have need to do it, and security may be attended with the most fatal Consequences. - * IMPROVEMENT. ItRE WHAT slothful hearts must we have if these repeated admonitions do not awaken us, -even line upon line, and *** * precept upon precept! The patience of God is waiting upon us, as it did on the old world, while the ark was pre- paring. (I Pet. iii. 20.) May we take the warning, and seek shelter before the door be shut against us! Let us 34 therefore take heed, lest sensuality and secular cares overcharge and depress our hearts, and amuse us with vain delusions, till sudden and unavoidable destruction come upon us. (I Thess. v. 3.) AI ARK We are by profession the domestics of Christ. Let us attend to the offices he has assigned us, though he seem xiii.34 at a distancé. Let us diligently wait his coming, at whatever season. Let his ministers especially wait it; and sº be solicitous that they may be found so doing, conducting themselves like wise stewards of the mysteries of God, 4;"; dispensing to every one his portion of food in due season. Then will our account be honourable, and our reward glorious. . .* - 48, 49 May God deliver us from the guilt and condemnation of the cruel, the imperious, and the luxurious servant, who began to beat his fellows, and to eat and drink with the drunken, since we are expressly told his dreadful doom! 51 Justly ãoes our ford declare that to such a one he will appoint a portion with hypocrites, terrible as their portion must be ; for no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves the servants and ministers of Christ, while we are the slaves of ambition, avărice, and intemperance. Wherever such are found, under whatever mask and form, may he reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation | Let us in the mean time be cºhorting each other daily, while it is called to-day, lest any by insensible degrees be hardened. through the deceitfiſlness of sin; ( Heb. iii. 13.) and let us always remember, that every exhortation which we give to others returns with redoubled weight upon 47 Verily I say unto you that he shall make him Fujº; over all his goods. ourselves. SECTION CLXIV. SECT Christ enforces his exhortation to watchfulness, by the parable of the ten virgins. Matt. xxv. 1–13. 164. MATT. XXY. 1. Matt. XXY, 1. ... OUR Lord, in order to impress upon the minds of his hearers a concern about the great ... .º.º.º.º. º - & - 1 * . : -- ~ 24; ºr, a vº-> r, lº ) CºlW & I) in C 11 tº € in C &l Ulſ) to tº Il 3:y, and awful day of future #. to which the latter part of his preceding discourse had . C s servant chon his Lord when he cometh, &c.) As no consigned over tº waii#4&nd ſºlºs,8ſ.” after it had been inflicted, #% ſº: º ºr the apostics, or other faith- I therefore, as before, (Lºike, Xii. 43.) must º: it of be in: severely ful ministers, at the time of Christ’s coming to destroy Jerusalem, this scourged, after which idle slaves were oº: t iºn |..." § §: jäß sufficiently proves a reference to the final juj%ment; and will they lived miscrably in egº; gº. 263. tit Is Our LOrd alludes Wºlf. In a jº permit us, with jr. Hammoºd, to understand the Gººstić. or, with In) Ost gºo;; Seg. **Nº, ãºotº his Al *ontion Dr. §, the apostate jeºs, as particularly intended by the wicked h His portion, with #. ites.] *º. * ºi i º º: sºvant" mºtioned afterwards ; which seems plainly to refer to a de- Seven Căverns in Hell, the ‘gº 3).ll ( ºt #. } e i. º'. }} |º. fºujied and persocuting clergy, hypocritically pretending to a distin- inhabited by hypºcrites. (Škº, i. w. 14 ;) Sher, W º t{l. º t º: guished zeal for christian foºls and institutions. , , , * a Jewish notion, by a very i. d.T º sº. I *i. #; §.If...it in ºrder.] That tearing and cutting, persons into seve- analogous to it, referred tº here: . fly; . . & where he º i. raf pieces, was a cruel punishment used among the ancients, none are, the same with º; i.º. º i §.”. Yx § acquainted with antiquity can doubt; and Wolſius on, this text has gº- taking the fearful and up }; º li ose. * º º: I CGA rºstrated it more copiously than any other gritiº I have seen. º apostătize, for the first sort of criminals, nars & Te Ple SC Yºſh tº CH3 SS - is the criminal is here represented as surviving this punishment, an THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS. 287 firgins, which took .their so plainly referred, went on to represent it under a variety of most lively figures, and Pºr- SECT. jºid..." " ticularly by the following parable'; saying, Then, or in that day of final account when the 164. faithful servant shall be rewarded and the treacherous hypocrite so severely punished, shall the kingdom of heaven, or the state of things under the gospel-dispensation, appear to MATT. be like the case often virgins,” who, being invited to a marriage-feast, which, according to lºw. the custom of this country, was to be celebrated in the night) took their lamps as soon as it began to grow dark, and went out together to neet the bridegroom, and to light him to the house where the banquet was to be kept. 2 And five of them were ...And it appeared by their conduct that five of them were prudent persons, and five of 2 ***** them were foolish and inconsiderate, who madé no provision against an accident which 3.They that were foolish might very naturally happen. They that were foolish, when they took their lamps, Went 3 º”*** forth with them lighted, but did not iake any oil with them beside that which was at first tº poured in: Whereas the prudent maidens, considering that they might perhaps be obliged 4 * to wait some hours, took a reserve of oil with them in their vessels which they carried with their lamps, to feed the flame when the former stock should be wasted. tº . , is ºn ºil. But while the bridegroom for a long time delayed his coming, as they were sitting near 5 ºney all slumbered the place from whence they expected him to "come, they all of them slumbered, and at ...”."º. length fell fast asleep. . .4nd in the very middle of the night, there, was a loud cry inade in 6 ... "...";"; the street, Behold, the bridegroom is coming 1 go ye out immediately to meet him, and arise Out to meet him. to attend the procession according to order. º - v - 7. Then all, those, virgias . Then all those virgins presently arose, and, to prepare for his reception, dressed, their 7 º, "" " " lamps, that they might shine as bright and appear as clear as possible. ...And the foolish 8 § And the foolish said yºo damsels in great surprise said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for you, seem to §: *::::::A; gº have a great stock with you; whereas our lamps are gone out, and all our oil is spent. ..º.º.º.º. But the prudent replied, ſº cannot do it, lest there should not be enough.ſº us and you, 9 ºf jºiº and so we should all be left on a sudden withoutlight, and the bridegroom be disappointed jº" and affronted; but rather go ye to them that sell oil in the nei thbourhood, and buy some 3. for yourselves as soon as possible, that ye may follow and join the procession.* - 10 And while they went to And while they went to buy it at that inconvenient time of night, the bridegroom and his 10 ºf ººlºº ‘.... retinue came, and those maidens that were ready to receive him, joined the company; and #"º. when they came to the bridal-house, they went in with him to the marriage:feast ; and, to e prevent disturbance, the door was shut and fastened. - T - 11 Afterward came also the .4nd some time after, the other virgins also came, and, knocking at the door, called with 11 }...'...” ” great importunity, saying, Sir, Sir, we desire you would open to us, who are also some of lºſt he answered and your guests, though by an unfortunate accident we are come a little too late. But he, 12 iº ...say unto you, being unwilling to be disturbed in the feast, and to open the door again, answered them, - saying, Truly, I say unto you, I know you not whence you are: my house is already furnished with guests, and I will admit no more. Thus these thoughtless creatures entirely lost both their i. and expense, meeting with nothing but disappointment and shame. And such will be your case if you content yourselves with a mere empty profession of religion, while you sink into a careless and negligent conduct, and remain destitute of that principle of real piety which ought to give lustre and vigour to it. - kºś *... See to it, therefore, that you maintain a constant watch, not presuming on preparations 13 flºº. §§.'... to be made hereafter; for your removal may be much more sudden than you are aware, cometh. - and ye know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man cometh to receive his prepared people to himself, and for ever to exclude the hypocrite and the sinner from the entertainments of his heavenly kingdom. IMPROVEMENT. LET us apply our hearts to the obvious instructions which this well-known parable so naturally suggests... We Ver, 1 are under a religious profession: our lamps are in our hands, and we go forth as those that expect to meet Christ; as those that desire and hope to be admitted to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. But, alas, how few are there that are truly prepared for such a blessedness! Would to God there were reason to hope that the christian church were so equally divided, that five of ten in it had the oil of divine grace in their hearts, to render them burning 2, 3, 4 and shining lights! - Let even such as have it be upon their guard; for our Lord intimates that the wise as well as the foolish virgins are too apt to slumber and sleep, and carelessly to intermit that watch which they ought constantly to maintain. There may be, at an unexpected time, a midnight cry. Happy the souls that can hear it with pleasure; being not only habitually, but actually, ready to obey the summons! Happy they that have their loins girded and their *::: burning ! (Luke xii. 35.) - he foolish virgins saw their error too late: they applied to the wise; but their application was vain. And as S vain will the hope of those be who trust to the intercession of departed saints, or any supposed redundancy of merit in them, while they are themselves strangers to a holy temper and life. In vain will they cry, Lord, Lord, 10–12 open to us. The door of mercy will be shut for ever, and the workers of iniquity utterly disowned. The day of grace has its limits; and for those that have trified it away, there remaineth nothing but the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude, ver, 13.) 5 G S, 9 a Ten virgins.] This whole parable contains a º reference to the one, since that can be the case only under one meridian at a time.— custom which prevailed among the Jews then, and still prevails among - A celebrated commentator, has clouded this parable exceedingly, by many eastern nations... (See. The Customs gf the Jeps and Indians, coin- attempting to explain it of the different effects Christ's admonition pared, p. 41, et seq.). The bridegroom used to conduct his, bride home concerning the destruction of Jerusalem would have on different per- in the evening by the light of lamps, which were used (as Elsner shows, sons. Observ. vol. # p. 114, 115.) by the Jews and Romans on the like occa- c, Buy.ſor yourselves.] This seems merely an ornamental circumstance; sign: they were carried by bridemaids, who used afterwards to sup and it is strange that any popish writers should consider it as favouring with them; and some tell us their number, must at least be ter.--It their doctrine of a stock of merits in the church, founded on works ºf seems, from the circumstances of this parable, that if any of the neigh- supererogation; since, if it referred to them at ań, (which there is no fours besides those who were directiy invited, thought it worth their reason to imagine,) it would rather expose than chcourage any depend- while to pay their respect to the new-married couples it was esteemed a ence upon them. - decent piece of civility to admit them to a share in the bridal feast, if d I kno: upu Jol.] . This circumstance in the parable is not absurd ; they made their appearance at a proper time. • * - for nothing intimated a personal acquaintance with them, and guests In the middle of the might.] Perhaps the tradition which Jerome asking admittance with such a - • " " - mentions, that asserted Christ would come to judgment at midnight, yond all reason and convenience. h a pretence might have been multiplied be- * } • *- - - z - - - - - -, * : - At least, its significancy in the ap- might be borrowed from hence ; though to be sure it is a very absurd blication is very apparent and important. 288 THE PARABLE OF THE FIVE TALENTS. SECTION CLXV. Christ repeats the parable of the talents, in a form something different from that in which he had before delivered it. Matt. xxv. 14–30. MATT. xxv. 14. MATT. xxv. 14. SECT. JESUS having delivered the preceding parable of the virgins, went on further to illustrate FOR the kingdom ºf heaven 165. the subject by the repetition of a parable resembling one which he had used some time #.º.º.º. MAtt, importance of preparing for my coming by a diligent . of § XXY, time when [the Son of man] shall come, and the grand a - e - - º tolio called hi before; (Luke xix. 12–27. sect. cxliv.) and said, Let me again remind you of the great ºfteå OUIT gifts ; for the unto them his goods. 14 :... ; ºs--- e inistration of judgment attend- ing it, [will be] as the proceedings of a man [who] going a long journey, called his servants 15 together, and delivered his effects to them. And to one of them he gave five talents,” and to 15, And, unto one he gave ** w - º - - •-r]. wº 2. • five talents, to another two another two, and to another one; to every man according to his respective capacity to manage . .'; ...º.º.º. the sum, and to the prospect there might reasonably be of his improving it: and imme-man according to his several diately he went away, and set forward on his journey. tº traightway took 16 ...And he who had received the five talents, went and engaged in business, and traded with 16. Then he, that had re; them in so diligent a manner during the absence of his master, that he doubled the sum, ...".º." . 17 and produced five talents more. And in like manner he who [had received] the two was so § made uen other five - - - • - S. 18 industrious in º them to the best advantage, that he also gained two more. ... But ºdlikewise he that had he who had received but one talent, being displeased that he had been intrusted with no lºwo, he also gained º - - - s other two. more, was seized with sullen indolence and servile fear, and went away directly, and at- . Bºths that had received tempted no improvement of it, but privately digged [a hole] in the earth, and hid his master's ºfts; º; money in it till he should return home. . . In Oney. * 19 . Thus the matter passed off for a while; but after some considerable time, the master of loº *ś those servants comes home and makes up his accounts with them, demanding from each, the and reckoneth with them. sum with which he had been intrusted, and inquiring what was the interest he had gained by it. 20 And he who had received the five talents, came near and brought other five talents with ...And sº, he that had rej them, saying, Sir, thou wast pleased so far to intrust me that thou didst deliver to me five ºf: talents when j}}. On thy journey; and such is the improvement I have made of ººgºleſiºłº 21 them, that behold, I have doubled the sum, and gained to them five talents more. And his }}|..."...º.º. *i; - * w - *-* * - - - :... five talents more. master said unto him, Fell done, thow good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful in "###"..."; unto him the management of a few things; and, having proved thee to be so in this lower trust, I Wºljone, ºu ºd an will prefer thee to a higher, and set thee over many more valuable things than these. in the #:"####"...". º: mean time enter thou into the joy of thy master, and share with me in the banquet prepared º. for myself and my friends on this happy occasion of my return. jºij, 22 He also who had received the two talents, came forward, and said, Sir, thou wert so indul- e.º.o.º. ...i • - - - eived two talents came and gent that thou didst deliver to me at thy going hence two talents, which I have endeavoured said, i.o.d, thºs delivered; to employ as carefully as I could: and behold, by trafficking with them, I have gained two "...'. º: 23 other talents to them. And his master said unto him, as he had done to the former, Well tº: *"Alohi done, thougood and faithful servant, thy care and diligence is as agreeable to me as if thy wººl trust had been greater; thou hast been evidently faithful in a few things, and I will in like jº: º manner prefer thee to a higher trust, and set thee over many moré valuable things than these ; make thee rule over many in the mean ; ..}}. to the entertainment now prepāred, and enter thou with thy com-º. thou into the anion into the ionſ of thiſ master. 24 p But he also . ź łº, the one talent,” came and said, with a sullen and gloomy ºn lºº, countenance, §: I knew º: that thou art a †: man, and that it is th §. #. t º *... i". thing to please thee, since thou art so exact with thy servants as even to think of reaping ºn. ...º.º. where #. didst not sow, and of gathering whence #. hadst not scattered any #."; º: º: could be taken up; requiring more in many instances than it is possible for them to do, ***** 25 be they ever so careful: , And being º with this thought, I concluded, that if by any .23. And I Was, aſ aid, ºd - • went and hid thy talent in the accident thy money should miscarry under my management, thou wouldst show me no ºthojas. iii. mercy; and therefore I went away, as soon as I had received it, and hid thy talent in the is thine. - - earth, in a place where it has been very secure; so that I have now taken it up, and behold, [there] thou hast thine own again, and wilt find it to be the full sum I received. ^ ºr n > 26 And his master answering, said unto him with a just indignation, Thou wicked and slothful sº.';...º.º.; servant, what a false and scandalous excuse is this, and how easily may it be retorted upon ºn...ºhiºsºnº.º. ſhee'ſ 'For if it were indeed, as thou maliciously sayest, and thou knewest that I was such ºf a tyrannical and unreasonable man as thou hast described, even that I reap, where, I did I have not strawed: noi sow, and expect to gather something up from whence I had not scattered it, thou mightest certainly depend upon it that I should expect to reap where I had sowed, and to j where I had scattered that which, in this instance as well as the others, might have 27 been an increasing seed. And therefore, if thou hadst been afraid to employ it in trade, tº.º.º.º. * . ...... to have put my money to the as these my faithful servants have done, thou shouldst have put my money, to. the bankers ..."; ; ; upon sufficient security, and thus when I came I might at least have regeived mine own with gº. 28 the common interest. And then, turning to the attendants, he said, Take ſe therefore the ºtheºleńt talent which he has thus abused from him, and give it to him that has ten talents, as a fur- #º; §§ §ºº 29 ther token of my acceptance and favour. For I would have all my servants observe, that h; ;..."; º; I shall constantly make this a maxim in j behaviour, That to every one that hath, and . § "º"b. diligently improves what he hath, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but fººtº: º: º: from him that hath not improved it to any valua le purpose, even what he hath shall be hijñāhāh. zº Fu. ents.] According to Dr. Prideaux’s calcula- in English. It was used by auditors ºr spectators, in, ºny public, exer- tiºn *ś čiºſ the . of the five must have been cise, to express the biºlºgº; when any part had been excellently ščjöö pounds sterling, and if silver, 2250 pounds. (See the Preface to performed. Bravely done comes something near it, but is not equally Āš Čonnezion, p. 20.) And perhaps this greatºum Was chosen, to in: elegant or forcible. . - - ... º. timate the Yºjue and importance of those capacities, and opportunities c. He who had received the one talent.] This may intimate that we are ...itº ºvº reasonabíč creature, and especially to every prº- accountable for the smallºst advantages with Yºich, Yº ſº, inºff.j fessing christian. '#'. fººt låy ny'very great stress on this remark, but it cannot imply that they who, have received much, will ordinarily because it is plain, that as Homer uses the word raXavrov for a sum, or pass their account best; for it is too plain, in fact, that Imost of those perhaps a small wedg? of gold, of considerably less value than the price whose dignity, wealth, and ñº. give them the greatest opportunities #.'; ... (fā, ś, ź.”750, 75i.) so the signification of it among of sº, sº forget they have any Master in heaven tº servé, or h later writers is very indeterminate. - - any future regkoning, to º and many of them render themselves In UC € ſhow good and faithful scrwant.] The original word £v much more criminal than this wicked and slothful servant who hid his has a peculiar force and energy, far beyond what I can exactly exprees talent in the earth. THE SENTENCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED AT THE LAST JUDGMEN'ſ. QSQ taken away. (Compare Matt. xiii. 12. Mark iv. 25. Luke viii. 18. xix. 26.) Such unfaith- secT. ful creatures must expect to be stripped of all, and not imagine that I will perpetually 165. mºnºe; º; suffer my trusts to be abused, and my business to be neglected. ...And, to deter others from §s: "...re"jali"; such an idle and unfaithful cónduct, cast ye the unprofitable servant, who has so wickedly MATT. Mººns and smashing of abused my goodness, into the dreadful darkness which is without; and there, instead of the sº * * * * * * delight and joy to which my faithful servants shall be introduced, there shall be nothing but weeping and gnashing of the teeth. ...Now this horrible darkness to which my parable refers, is no other than the dungeon of hell, to which every unfaithful servant must expect to be condemned in that approaching day of general account: fail not therefore to observe and report what I now say, that it may give the alarm to all who need it. - IMPROVEMENT. WHAT can excite us to a becoming care and activity in the duties of life, if we are deaf to those various and important motives which this excellent parable suggests? We have each of us received our talents, whether five, or two, or one; and if we be faithful, it matters not much under which of these classes we fall. Our acceptance Ver. I5 and reward will be proportionable to our diligence; nor will any be blamed because he has not received five, though many will be condemned for neglecting one. Yet a little while and our Lord comes to reckon with us, and even now his eye is continually upon us. Let us 19 ask our own souls, with what temper, with what courage, with what cheerfulness, shall we appear before him Let us think of that appearance with awe, but not with terror. Away with every unjust thou É and reasoning, 24 (with whatever artifice it be excused, with whatever honourable name it be dignified,) that would represent him as a rigorous and severe Master, and produce a servile dread, which would cut the sinéws of industry, and sink the soul into a sullen, negligent despair. f - Whatever our particular snares in life may be, let us think of the doom of the slothful servant, to awaken our 3 souls, and to deter us from every degree of unfaithfulness. And, on the other hand, let us often reflect on that unutterable transport which will overflow the breast of every real christian, when his gracious Master shall con- descend, in so honourable a manner, to commemorate his honest though feeble attempts of service; and shall say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been ſº in a few things, I will make thee ruler over many 21, 23 things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord! May that joy be the great object of our hopes and pursuits! and may our daily care in the improvement of every talent lodged in our hands, be a token to us that it will be sure and great! - * SECTION CLXVI. Christ concludes this important discourse with a plain and affecting description of the last Judgment, and of the different sentences tº.g., to be - - passed and executed on the righteous and the wicked. Matt. xxv. 31, to the end. MIATT. xxv. 31. MATT. xxv. 31. WHEN the son of manshall OUR Lord having hitherto described his last coming in a paratolical manner, thought 3: RECT. i. i*i; º proper to conclude his discourse with a §§ account of it, which Imght serve as a key 166. §§§ ubon the throne to many preceding passages; and he added, When that great and Ulustrious Person, whola - of his glory: you have so often heard of and so well known by the title of the So, of man, shall come tº a.at. all his final glory,” in the most public honours of his mediatori,\l kū-gdom, to which all , -s ". things shall then be completely subjected; (I Cor. xv. 25, 28.) and aſ, the holy angels who § { have long been subjected to him as his ministering servants, shall come with him; then shall he sit upon his glorious and majestic throne, conspicuous in the eyes of the whole 3? And before him shall be world, as the universal Judge. And all the nations of men who have lived on earth from 32 §º the remotest ages of time, shall be assembled before him; and he shaus.pnºte then from *her, as a shepherd ºli; each other according to their different characters, which he most perfectly kaows, with as videth his sheep from the > * º - 5 goaltS : much ease as a shepherd separates the sheep which belong to his flock, from the goals which 33 And, he shall, set the may be mingled with them, and places them in distinct companies. And he shall set the 3: #º ºhand, * sheep, that is, the righteous, whom he will own as such, and whose characters resemble the innocence, meekness, and usefulness of that animal, on his right hand, in tokea of his favour to them, and of the further honours he will bestow upon them: but the goats, that is, the wicked, who are so offensive to him that they may justly be represent ºf by goats he shall place on [his] left, to intimate his displeasure against them, and their final femoval from amongst his people; nor shall the haughtiest and mightiest sinner be able to resist that appointment by which he is placed in this situation, to await his sentence." (Com- pare Ezek. xxxiv. 17, 18.) 34 Then shall the King sa Then when, by the ministry of the angelic attendants, they are thus separated from each 34 **ś other, the great King of glory and of grace, who presid wer this * Come, ye blessed of my Fa- **** gr º Ory grace, who presides over this grand solemnity, sh ther inherit the kingdºm Pº, with the most condescending endearment, say to them on his º 'hand, Come, ye blesse jared for you from the e g lat, having been assessors foundation of the world: and favourite people of my Father, approach yet nearer to me, t with me in what yet remains of this day's awful proceedings, (1 Cor. vi. 2, 3.) you may go in with me to inherit the kingdom of holiness, glory, and joy, appointed for your portion in the divine purpose and decree, and prepared for you from the Joundation of the world. 35 For I was an hungred, And I am now descended to receive you to this kingdom with all these public marks of 35 *...*.*.*.*.* ... approbation and honour; for I well remember your good deeds in the days of your flesh, thirsty, and ye gave me diºſ. stränger, and and felt my own bowels refreshed by them, when I was hungry, and ye gave me ſº to ye took me in : eat; when I was thirsty, and ye caused ºne to drink; when I was a stränger, an Je took 35 Naked, and so clothed me in like one of your own families; When [I was] naked, and $/€ clothed me ; when I 36 a Jºſhen the Son of man shall come in his glory.]. If we observe the b All the nations shall be assembled before hi, * •l, correspondence between these words and those in chap. XXiy; 30, 31. (p. prevailed among some later Jews, #ſº: §hiº. º, 283.) it may seem probable that Christ intended to, teach his tº: in the resurrection, been as old as our Lord’s time, it is easy to see tº tº conceive of his Jirst coming to the destryction of Jerusalem as a kind words might have been understood as a direct intended ºpositiºn'...it of emblem of his final appearance, to judgment; gnd consequently it g Nor shall the haughtiest sinner, &c..] I can irºnº. a. Will authorize us to use some of the texts in the former chapter when nificent image than this: the assembled world distinguished'ºh jh discoursing of that great and important day.—I hope cyery reader will unerring penetration, and distributed into two j classes, with as observe with what majesty and grandeur, our Lord speaks of himself in much ease as sheep and goats are ranged by a shepheri in different this section, which is one of the noblest instances of the true sublimg companies.—The propriety with which our Łóid speaks of himself in that I have any where read; and indeed few º: even in the sacred the following words by the title of the King, is very observabič, and it writings themselves, seem to equal it. Methinks we gan hardly read it adds unutterable beauty to the condescending words he is represented as without imagining ourseſves before the awful tribunal it describes. . speaking on this great occasion. 290 THE SENTENCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED AT THE LAST JUDGMłyn. SECT. was sick, and ye looked after me;" When I was shut up in the solitude, confinement, and me: I was sick, and revisit: 166, affliction of a prison, and ye came kindly to condole with me in my sufferings, and to relieve . . .in prison, and my necessities there. * ye C8 me unto Ime. MATT. Then shall the righteous, in humble amazement, be ready to answer him, and say, Lord, 37 Thenshan the righteous XXV. what service were we ever capable of doing thee, that can deserve such notice from thee 3 ºilº, ºº, 37 When did we ever see thee hungry, and fed [thee?] or thirsty, and caused [thee] to drink 2 grºi, ań º **ś, 38 Or when did we ever see thee in the destitute condition of a stranger, and took [thee] in 2 “Śēś"... thee a 39 or naked, and clothed [thee? Or when did we ever see thee sick, or in prison, and came to ... and ºligº thee for thy relief? We never saw thee, blessed Lord, in such circumstances of distress,”:'''é. tºº. nor ever had an opportunity of showing any such kindness to thee, that thou shouldst now ..., Prison, and came distinguish us in such a manner, and speak so honourably of the service we have done thee. e 40 ...And the King, answering with renewed condescension from his exalted throne, shall not 40 And the King shall an- disdain to say unto them, I well know that ye abounded in such kind and compassionate Rºº, actions to the necessitous and afflicted saints around you; and verily I say unto you, In, Kºś as much as ye did [it] unto one of the least and poorest of these my dear #. who how ;...'...'...º. stand with you in this happy company, ye in effect did [it] to me * and I declare it in the me, face of all the world, that I take and reward it as if I had been relieved in person, and jº. welcome you to that blessed world where you shall be for ever reaping the harvest of these labours of love. 41 .Then, when his faithful servants are thus acquitted and honoured, he shall turn and say 41 Then shall he say also also to them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed and detestable creatures, into the ººººººººº; agonies of that everlasting and unquenchable fire, which was originally prepared for the iºi devil and his angels,f whose companions you must for ever be in the regions of horror and for the devil and his angels: 42 despair. And ye cannot but know in your own consciences that ye well-deserve it; for 49 For I was an hungred I was hungry, and ye did not give me so much as bread to eat; I was thirsty, and yé did anºeing on tº 43 not give me so much as water to drink ; I was wandering among you as a poor helpless Mºsty, and ye save me stranger, and ye did not take ºne in among your domestics and guests; I was naked, and tº ye did not clothe me; I was sick, and in prison, and ye did not look after me, or do anything ºi at all for my relief. 4- prison, and ye visited me 44 . Then shall they also answer and say winto him,” Lord, we are surprised at so strange a "... Then shall they also an- charge, and cannot apprehend ourselves liable to it; for when did we ever see thee hungry, swer him, saying, Lord, when or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not, to the best of our tºniº, º abilities, minister to thee? If we had ever seen thee in distress, we would not have neg- ºr ºpiº, lected to relieve thee; but we had never any opportunity of doing it. *gia not minister unto 45 And then shall he answer them saying, Perily I say unto you, and declare it in the most 45 Then shall he answer solemn manner, That in as much as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these once neces- 'hº sº. sitous though now triumphant saints, who dwelt among you on earth, and needed your jºiºicºe'ei assistance, je did [it] not to me: and I justly thought myself neglected and injured when ********* you shut up the bowels of your compassion towards them. - 46 .And so, to conclude all, these miserable wretches, notwithstanding all the excuses they 46 And these shall go away can urge, shall go away into a most dreadful state of everlasting punishment; but the right- tº eous, through the abundant grace of God manifested by his Son, shall enter into everlasting eternal. life:h and thus the great scene shall close in the eternal happiness or misery of every human creature who has ever lived on the face of this earth. IMPROVEMENT. LET us now behold, with an attentive eye and a solicitous heart, the end of all the living; that awful scene in Ver, 31 which the various dispensations of God to mankind shall terminate in the solemn day, when the Son of man shall 32 come in his glory, and sit on his magnificent throne. All nations and people shall be assembled before him, and 33 we must make up a part of the assembly. The sheep and the goats must then be separated: and, O my soul, amongst which wilt thou then be numbered? Is there an inquiry, is there a care, of greater, of equal, of compar- able importance 2 - 41 Let us view the sentence we must shortly hear, as he who will himself pronounce it has been pleased to give us a copy of it.—Can we conceive anything more dreadful than that which shall be passed on those on the left hand? To be driven from the presence of Christ as accursed, and to be consigned over to a devouring fire and this not only to the tortures of a moment or an hour, (as in some painful executions that have been known here,) but to everlasting fire, yea, to fire prepared for the devil and his angels, where they will be perpetual companions and perpetual tormentors! Should not the thought that he is in danger, in hourly danger of being sealed up under this sentence, awaken the most stupid sinner, and engage him eagerly to cry out, What shalīfāoº be sºvº. 42, 43 And on whom is this sentence passed? Let us attentively observe it; Not merely on the most gross and aban- doned sinners, but on those who have lived in an habitual neglect of their duty: not merely on those who have ravaged and persecuted the saints,(though surely their furnace will be heated seventimes hotter than that of others,) but even on those who have neglected to relieve them. - On the other hand, let as seriously reflect what it will be to be owned by Christ before the assembled world, and 34 to hear him saying, with a sweet smile, and with a voice of º and love, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation ºf the world. How infinite is the love that prepared that kingdom for us before we had a being how rich the blood that purchased it! how overflowing the grace that bestows it on such mean, such undeserving creatures' Bless the Lord, O our souls' in the prospect of it. Let men curse, O Lord, if thou wilt thus bless. (Psal. cig. 28.) Let them load our names with infamy, if thou wilt adorn them with such glory. Letall the kingdoms of the earth, and all the j of them, be despised and trampled under foot, when offered as an equivalent for this infinitely more glorious kingdom. d I was sick, and ye looked after me.] This seems the exactest sense of kingdom is said to have been prepared for the righteous from the ſongwda- ereakey!/aaffe ple, which in general signifies to take the oversight and care tion of the world; whereas here the everlasting fire is not said to have of anything that requires diligent inspectiºn and ºttendancé; (39mpare been prepared for the wicked, but for the devil and his angels. Compare jam... i. 37, and Eisner, Observ. Vol. I. p. 117.) and it strongly intimates, Rom. ix. 2 - - 4. - - - - - #...sticſ, aſſºciºe on the poor in their illness is a very acceptablé ag, ſhellshºll they alsº ºgº &c.). Pºrhaps it may only intimate this Charity ; and this is what many may have an opportunity of doing who shall be the language of their hearts, which Christ perceiving will reply have yery, little money to spare. - to it... I see ng, necessity for supposing they shall actually plead thus. £ Y & # to me.] That alms-deeds should be remembered with pegui Multitudes will no doubt remember, they have often heard what reply - will be made to such a F. God grant that, none who read it here those to whom it will be made 1 Iiar regard in the day of judgment, was a notion that early prevailed º: Jews, as appears # Chaldee Páraphrase on Eccles. ix: měy be in the number of - e. 7, which bears a remarkable resemblance to these words of Christ, and Everlasting tº: life.] ... As the original word might perhaps be an imitation of them. See, Mede's Works, p. 81:... atovtov is the same in both places, I thought it proper to use the same Prepared for the devil and his angels.] There is a remarkāble differ- word in the translation of both ; and Iniserable are they that dare ven- once- between our Lord’s expression here and in ver. 34. There the ture their souls on its signifying a limited duration in either. £91 º THE JEWISH RULERs CONSULT How TO TAKE CHRIST. *- Let us attentively observe the character of those who are to receive it. They are the useful and the benevolent SECT. souls: such as have loved the Lord Jesus Christ, not only in his name, and ordinances, and promises, but have 166. loved him in his laws and in his people too; and have known him in those humble forms in which he has been pleased, as it were by proxy, to appear among us. I was hungry, and ye fed me: thirsty, and ye gave ºne drink, &c.; for in as much as yt did it to one of the least of these my %. je did it unto me." Amazing words! that the meanest saint should be owned by the King of glory as one of his brethren. Irresistible argument to those that do indeed believe these words, to stir them up to abound in every good word and work!. Under this impres- sion, methinks, instead of hiding ourselves from those who should be to us as our own flesh by virtue of our com- mon union to him, we should not only hearken to their entreaties, but even search them out in those corners to which modest want may sometimes retire, and cast about in our thoughts how we may secure any happy º; tunity of relieving some poor saint, for their sakes, and for their Master's, and even for our own. What if Christ came to us in person, as a poor helpless stranger? What if we saw him destitute of food and raiment, or in want of any other necessaries of life? Should we not contend for it as an honour which of us should receive him into our houses, which of us should entertain him at our table, which of us should even strip ourselves of our clothing to give it to him 2 . And yet, he tells us, that he is in effect with us in his poor members; and we invent a thou- Sand cold excuses for neglecting to assist him, and send our compassionate Saviour away . Is this the tem- per of a christian 2 Is j the temper in which we should wish to be found at the judgment-day ? - But we know not Christ in this disguise. Neither did these unhappy creatures on the left hand know him: they 44, 45 are surprised to be told of such a thing; and yet are represented as perishing for it. Away therefore with all those religious hopes (vainly so called) which leave the heart hardened, and the hand contracted from good works! & we shut up the bowels of compassion from our brethren, how dwelleth the love of God in us? (1 John iii. 17.) Or 7 to what doth the love of Christ constrain us, if it be not to the exercise of gratitude to him, and the offices of cheerful and active friendship to those whom he now owns as his brethren, and whom he will not be ashamed to call so in the midst of his highest triumph 2 Blessed Jesus, how munificent art thou! and what a fund of charity didst thou lay up in the very words, which are now before us! In all ages since they were spoken, how many hungry hast thou fed, how many naked hast thou clothed, how many calamitous creatures hast thou relieved by them May they be written deep in our hearts, that the joy with which we shall finally meet thee, may be in- creased by the happy effect of this day's meditation' - MATT. 40 SECTION CLXVII. 3. The Jewish rulers consult how they might take Christ, and Judas agrees with them to deliver him privately into their hands. Matt xxvi. 1–5 #" i. Āfāºri. 1, 2, 10, #. Luke xxi. 37, to the end; ºiſ. 1–6. l y * LUKE xxi. 37. LUKE xxi. 37. ſº THUS our Lord ended his discourses on this subject on the third day of the week in SECT. .."; "...". . which he suffered; and thus he was generally employed, from the time of his public entry 167. §...º. * into Jerusalem to his last pºssover; he was teaching by day in the temple, and at night he — -” - went out of the city, and lodged at the mount called [the mount] of Olives, in the neighbour- LUKE hood of which Bethany lay ; in the retirements of which, particularly in the garden of sº- Gethsemane, he often spent a considerable part of the night; being desirous to secure that * only season of solitude, that he might prepare himself for his approaching sufferings by a 33 And all the people came proper series of extraordinary devotion. And as soon as it was light, he i. to the 38 fº.º.º.º.º. city; and all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, that they might thus ay hold of every opportunity to hear him; and he was solicitous hot to lose any time that might be improved for so profitable a purpose. -- JWow it may not be improper here to observe, that the feast of unleavened bread which [º Luke xxii. 1. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the pass- over, [and was after two days.] [Mark Kiv. 1.] Räit xxvi. J. And it came to pass, when Jesus had fin- ished all, these sayings, he said unto his disciples, 2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the pass- over, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. 3 Then assembled together the chief priests, and ... the scribes, and the elders of the Pºlº, unto the palace of the high priest, who was calle Caiaphas; [Mark Xiv. 1. uke xxii. 2 4 And consulted ſhow] they might take Jesus by subtilty, [and put him to death.] [Mark Xiy. J. Luke Xxii. 2.] 5 But they said, Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar among the people: [[UKE, for they feared the people..] [Mark xiv. 2. Luke XXIl. 2. mit Luke xxii. 3. Then enter- % e - ? r - - ..f ºf F. ixi ission d into ed Satan into Judas surnamed or them, just at that very juncture of time, Satan, by divine permission, entere was commonly called the passover, drew near, [and] was celebrated within two days after our Lord had delivered the prophecies and admonitions so largely recorded above.” And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished all these discourses, and the appointed hour for his sufferings was now at hand, he said to his disciples, Ye know that after two days the passover cometh; and in the plainest terms I now assure you the Son of man is then to be betrayed to his inveterate enemies, that, according to what I have often told you, (Matt. xvi. 21. and xx. 18, 19.) he may be put into the hands of sinful men to be cruci- fied: prepare yourselves therefore for that trying season, that you may not be hurried into any thing which you may afterwards have reason to repent. - Then, that very evening, the chief ſº of every class, and others employed in distin- guished services in the temple, together with the scribes and the other elders of the people, who were members of the grand sanhedrim, assembled together, not indeed in the temple, where they usually met, but at the palace of the high priest, who was then called Caiaphas; (as was observed before, John xi. 49. p. 245.) , .And there they entered into a secret con- spiracy, and consulted how they might privately take Jesus by some artifice, without giving an alarm to his friends, and might put him to death as soon as possible, which, one way or other, they were determined to do. But they had such an apprehension of his interest in the people, that some of them were rather for delaying it, and said, It will be more ad- visable to wait till after the passover, and not attempt to seize him at the feast, while there is such a concourse in the city from all parts; lest the design that we have formed against him should be discovered, and, considering how popular he is, there should be a tumult raised among the people, either to rescue him from our hands, or to revenge his death. Such were the cautious sentiments of some among them; for they feared the people; but others pushed the matter on with greater forwardness and zeal, and were by no means for deferring it; to which at length the rest agreed, upon finding a more favourable opportu- than they expected offering itself through the treachery of Judas. MATT. XXVI. 1, 2 3 5 LUKE XXII. Judas, who was also called Iscariot, and was (as we observed before) one of the number of 3 the twelve apostles who were chosen by our Lord from the rest of his disciples to the most honourable trust as well as the most endearing intimacy:b and as this malignant spirit Iscariot, being [one] of the nurmber of the twelve : [Matt. XXvi. 14. Mark Xiv. 10.] a Tico days § 151.) were delivered on the and he probably uttered the following words that eyening, which was just two days before the paschal lamb was eaten.—I do not find that any § I apprehend that the preceding discourses (from I of the transactions of the Wednesday are recorded, besides the general account given above. One ºf the number of the twelpe, & such high aggravation, that, it is observable, Tuesday of the week in which he suffered; } Thi circumstance of "C. FS Was ºl - each of the evangelists 292 CHRIST DIRECTS TWO DISCIPLES WHERE TO PREPARE THE PASSOVER. SECT. had before suggested to him the horrid design of betraying his Master, he now strongly 167. impressed his mind, that during his retirement he might easily find a convenient time for executing it, and might be sure of being well rewarded for it by the rulers of the Jews, º: .#nd, under this impression, he immediately went away from Christ and his Company to 4, And he went, his way; “, the house of Caiaphas, whom he knew to be a most inveterate enemy to his Master; and ºped with the ºhiº. having found means of introducing himself and communicating his general design, he ########!º conversed with the chief priests and captains of the temple, who were not yet gone away, ºt. xxvi. 14. Mark six. and deliberated how he might with the greatest convenience * security betray him unto *:::: them. And as the sordid wretch proposed it with a covetous vièv, before he would come Matt. xxxi.15. And said is tº any agreement with them, he said, without the least appearance of shame or remorse, ###"; ºftº:#; What are you willing to give me, and I will undertake to deliver him to you at a time and unto you ? É. II]. ºth you may effectually secure him without the danger of giving any alarm to e people : * •And when they heard his proposal, they thought [it] very practicable; and they were im V - - T - Mark_xiv, 11...And when 11 glad of so unexpected an offer from one of his own disciples to facilitate their measures, . º: Yº: *::: and therefore readily promised in general to give him a sum of money as a reward for that mºnºhºyº service; and at last they expressly agreed with him for thirty pieces of silver, which was º'º". the price to be paid for a slave wº jad been slain: (see Exod. xxi. 32.) and as they pro- Luke xxii. 5) posed it to express their contempt of Jesus, so God permitted Judas, covetous as he was, to acquiesce in that mean and trifling sum, (though he might easily have raised it higher,) that thus the prophecy might be fulfilled in which it had been particularly specified. (See Zech. xi. 12, i3.) - 1. ‘. ...And he promised to take a punctual care in the affair; and accordingly from that time Lºessiº, Aldbºrº 6 he diligently sought a proper opportunity to betray him unto them, that they might come *:::: º: º upon him privately, and apprehend him in the absence of the multitude: nor was it long him into §º. before this happened, as we shall quickly relate in its place. *hºlatºvi, Mlark xiv. ll.] IMPROVEMENT. WE see with what unremitting vigour the great Author and Finisher of our faith pressed forward towards the mark, and how he quickened his pace as he saw the day approaching; spending in devotion the greatest part of 37 the night which succeeded to his most laborious days, and resuming his work early in the morning! How much 38 happier were his disciples in these early lectures, thān the slumbers of the morning could have made them on their beds! Let us not scruple to deny ourselves the indulgence of unnecessary sleep, that we may come morn- ing after morning to place ourselves at his feet, and lose no opportunity of receiving the instructions of his word, and seeking those of his Spirit. - But while his gracious heart was thus intent on doing good, the chief priests and rulers of the people were no less intent on mischief and murder. They took counsel together how they might put him to death. eV. Set upon his head the price of a slave, and find an apostle base enough to accept it! #. O ye heavens, to have been witness to this; and be ashamed, O earth, to have supported so infamous a creature | Yet this was the man who, but a few days before, was the foremost to appear as an advocate for the poor, and to censure the pious zeal LUKE of Mary, which our Lord vindicated and applauded. (John xii. 4.—S. p. 252.), Let the fatal fruits of his covetous * disposition, instigated by Satan, be marked with abhorrence and terror; and if we see this base principle harbour- 3, 4, 6 ed in the breasts of those who call themselves the disciples and ministers of Christ, let us not wonder if, by God's righteous judgment, they are given up to those excesses of it which bring upon them lasting infamy and endless perdition. IUKE XXI. M ATT. XXVI. 3, 4 SECTION CLXVIII. Christ having directed his disciples where to prepare the passover, for him, gomes to, Jerusalem for the last time before his death, and sits down with them to the celebration of it. Matt. xxvi. 17-2). Mark xiv. 12—17. uke xxii. 7–18. John xiii. 1. t Y ii. 7. LUKE xxii, 7 1,UKE xxii. 7. SECT. WOW after this infamous bargain which Judas made with the chief priests to betray into THEN came the [first] day is their hands his innocent and divine Master, on the fifth day of the week, before the eyen- ;...º.º. ing when the first day of unleavened bread came,” in which, according to the precept of the ſitt. Xxvi. 17. Mark Riv. Luge law, which had expressly limited the time of it, the passover must be killed, or the paschal 12.] xxii. lamb be slain, in commemoration of the Israelites’ being preserved from the destroying angel, and delivered out of Egypt, Jesus determined to jeep the passover with his disci- 8 ples. And, that he might in a due manner celebrate it with them, he sent two of his dis- ciples, Peter and John, from the place where he had spent the night before in retirement with them, and said, Go to Jerusalem and prepare the passover for us, that we may once more eat [it] together. º ...And they kaijunto him, Lord, we are ready to perform the charge; and, that we may be under no uncertainty as to the place, only desire thou wouldst particularly tell us º or at what house, wilt thou have us go and prepare for thy eating the passover Wltſ, UIS. And he said unto them, I will give you a sign which shall put the matter out of doubt: ś. ; Go directly into the city to such a one as 1 will point out to you : [and] behold, assoon as is a riºrºwałºllºy ever you are entered into the city, a man will meet you in the street carrying a fº. of hiº. water in his hand; follow him, immediately into the house where he enters; for I know it Mºk; 3. - º - * nd [MARK, whereso- will be a place very fit for our accommodation.b And wheresoever he goes in, you shall say ever he hºji 8 And he sent [two of his disciples, Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. . [Mark xiv. 13.] * 9 And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we [MARK, go andl prepare [for \ge to eat the R;": ſººt. xxvi. 17. Mark xiv. 10 And he said unto them, [Go into the city to such a inan, and, behold, when ye 9 10. 11 * mºed it out in this view. “Compare with these places John vi. • p.122. . - C º pieces of silver.] A slave was rated by the law at thirty shekels of silver, which, if we reckon them at half-a-crown, (which is supposed to have been about their real value,) amounted to no more than three pounds fifteen shillings of our money—a goodly price that he was prized at of then , Zech. xi. 13. , a The first ſlay of ºnleatened bread came.] . There is no room to ques- tion that the time when, Christ sent his disciples to prepare the passover, was on the Thursday of the week in which he suffered ; and though the first day of unleavened bread, most strictly, so called, was the fifteenth day of Nisan, and began with the evening that the passoyer was eaten, yet it is not improbable that the evangelists might sometimes speak ac- cording to the usual way of reckoning days among other nations; and so, as the use of leaven among them was to ce; sc, by sun-jet at furthest, and they were obliged to eat their supper, which was the chief meal, with unleavened cakes, it might naturăily enough be called by this In 3.II) 8. - - b A man will meet you; &c.] As Samuel, having anointed Saul, for the confirmation" of his faith gave him several predictions relating to some very contingent occurrences he was to meet with in his journey, (see 1 Sām. x. 2-7) so our Lord seems by, these predictions to, have intended the same with regard to his jº and also to give them a most important hint that he foresay all the particular circumstances which were to befall him at Jerusalem when he went up thither for the next and last time before his sufferings.-The sending them to Jerusalem ou： do， laevael，1，1，1） ºg ſae， det ſo ºſſeſ， №ſſae(/([\$JUSYTIſſſſſſſſſſſſ, | | JESUS CELEBRATES THE LAST SUPPER WITH HIS DISCIPLES. 293 say unto the gool, man of to the master of the family, We are come to thee with a message from Jesus the Teacher; spot. º: º º, º and he says to thee by us...}ſy time is now very near,” and before I make my last, remº, 168. j, will cºas. I will celebrate the passover at thy house: where thén is the dining-room 3 or what con- over at thy house,] where is *. LUT K 2. the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the pºssover with my disciples 2 [Matt. XX vi. 1S. Mark xiv. 14.] 12 And he shall she w you a large upper room furnished [and prepared :] thºre , Inake ready [for us...] [Mark Xiv. 15.] venient chamber hāst thou to spare, where I may come and eat the pºssgter with my dis. ** v- ſ f ciples, and be secure from the interruption of any other company 2 ..?nd upon this he 7trill 13 * take you up stairs, and show you a large upper room which will conveniently hold us all; and you will find it furnished with all proper utensils, and prepared by all necessary Cir- cumstances of purification of every kind, so as to be, on the whole, in very good ºrder: there provide thé unleavened bread, the lamb, and the bitter herbs, and make all things ready for us against the time of our coming; for we shall be able to find the house without any direction from you.d - * @ - And after he had given these particular instructions to his two disciples, they ident gºt from thence, and came into the city, and found the man carrying the water, whºm they fol- lowed into a house, where there was, just as he had said to them, a commodious dining-room at liberty, and well furnished: and as the master of the house was free to let them have it, they did as Jesus had appointed them, and made the passover ready against the time when he should come to eat it. - . . ...And in the evening, when the proper hour for eating the passover was come, he ſame directly to the house where his messengers were, and sat down to the table with all the twelve apostles around him, to taste (according to the usage of those days) the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs, before the lamb was served up.“ . . - Now it is here to be observed, that before he began to eat the feast of the passover, (ts Jesus knew that his hour was come when he should depart from this calamitous world, in which he had sojourned for a while, to return to the bosom of the Father, in which, he originally dwelt, he was solicitous to order every circumstance of his conduct in this lºst intercourse with his disciples, so as might most effectually promote their edification and comfort, and make it clearly manifest, that having always tenderly loved his own that were in the world, he loved them in the most perfect manner, even to the end of his life," and would decline nothing which might be for their advantage. .4nd, to express the fervency and strength MARK XIV. 16 Mark xiv. 16. And his disciples vent forth, and ca:nº into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they [Hid as Jesus had a p- pointed them, and] made ready the passover. [Matt. xxvi. 10, Iauke xxii, 13.] 17 And in the evoning [Lt. KE, when the hour was co:nº, he cometh. [and sat ...} with the twelveſ IAU kg, g postles.] [Matt. xxvi. 20. Luke xxii. 14. John xiii. 1. Now before the feast of the passover, whº in Jesus knew that his hour was conno, that he should depart out of this world up to the Father, having loved his own, which were in the worl l, he loved them unto the end. JC, HN Xl ii. l of this affection, he said to them, as they sat LeRE together before supper was brought in, I assure you that I have most earnestly desired to , XXii. eat this passover with you, though I know it will be the last Ishall celebrate with you, and ** We jſ. from it but a few hours before I am to suffer from mine enemies the most cruel insults and torments, which shall end in death; yet such is my love to my people, and such my desire to glorify my heavenly Father, that no passover was ever so welcome to me as this. For now I sée the days of my humiliation almost finished; and I say unto you, That after this I will not celebrate any other passover with you, nor eat of it any more ill it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God, or till the institutions of the gospel-shall have perfected those of the law, and the ordinances of both are superseded by the more perfect enjoyments of the heavenly world. º And then, having received the cup with which it was usual for them to begin the feast, 17 he gave thanks to God for the redemption of Israel, in commemoration of which the pass- over was instituted, and for giving them this opportunity of celebrating this holy banquet together; and then said, Take this cup, and let it go round, and divide |. among iſotº- selves, and bless the God of your fathers. And see that you do it with a devotion suitable I to the distinguished solemnity which you have now before you; for I say unto you, Titat after what passes this evening, I will not drink any more with you of the fruit of the vine wntil the kingdom of God coine, and that complete and spiritual redemption, which is typified by this ordinance, shall be fulfilled and perfected. r IMPROVEMENT. WE may well assure ourselves, that the same divine penetration and prophetic discernment which enabled the blessed Jesus thus circumstantially to foretell to his disciples those most contingent occurrences which were to determine the place where they should prepare the passover, would also open to him a prospect of all that was to follow. All the scenes that were to be passed through on this fatal night and the succeeding black and bloody day were no doubt attentively viewed: the agony of the garden, the traitorous kiss of Judas, the cowardly ſlight of all the other apostles, the insults of his seemingly victorious and successful enemies, the clamorous accusations, the insolent buffetings, the scourges, the thorns, the nails, the cross, and all that he was to endure upon it from the hand of God and men. Yet behold, with all these in his view, he goes on with a holy alacrity, and this Sun of righteousncss rejoiceth as a champion to run his race! (Psal. xix. 5.) Yea, when he is sitting down to the paschal supper, (though therein was exhibited, in a most lively enablem, the bitterness of his own sufferings,) he utters these gracious and emphatical words, JP'ith desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer. luke. xxii. 15. And he said unto thom, With lesire I have desired to eat this pºss- over with you before I suffer. lf, For I say unto you, I will not any more eat there- of, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 16 17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves. S JS I'or I say upto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of Gºd'slidii cámºſ. Ver. 10–13 in this manner, seems to intimate that he did not go thither himself that inorning, so that it is very probable he spent most of the day in retire- ment for meditation and prayer. - c JIy time is near.] Every body knew that the time ſor eating the passover was moat ; so that these words must be supposed to have a further view. Anil I am therefore ready to believe that the owner of this house, to who:m out Lord sent this message by the name of The Teacher, might be a person who (though unknown to Peter and John) was it his heart at least a disciple of Christ; and our Lord might give this intinuation, that it was to be a time of more than ordinary importance to him, that it might be soune secret support to this man’s º under that violent shock it was soon to receive by his approaching S \l ºf Tl n ºr S. - - d We shall be able to find the house, &c.] The sane prophetic gift which cnabled Christ to prediet these circumstances, would, no doubt, guide him thither; and it is a beautiful modesty in the sacred historian, only to hint obliquely at it: but I apprehen l it the part of a paraphrast to set these particulars in a fuller and stronger light. .." To taste the unloavened bread, &c.] I must here entreat my reader, if he has an opportunity, to consult Ainsworth’s excellent note on Exod. xii. S. where he has collected front autheatic Jewish writers the best acconut I have any where seen in so little room, of the various cere- monies with which the passover was eaten, by wi;ich th; subsequent story is greatly jºiº. Among others, the following circumstairces should bo recollected : —That the master of the family began the feast with a cup of winº, which having solemnly blessed, that is, having a lored tº maine of God over it, he divided among the guests, (Luke xxii. 17.) and afterwards washed his hands :—Then the supper began with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, which when the master and the rest of the combaty, had tasted, one of the younger, persons present, generally a child, asked the reason of what was peculiar in that fast, at:cording to Exod. xii. 26.) which introduced the baggadah, that is, the showing forth or declaration of it; (in aliusion to which we read of shoyrinº furth the Lord’s death, 1 Cor; xi. 23.)—Then the master rose up and took another cup, and washed his hands again, before the lanıb was taste:}; and in this interyal, I suppose, Christ also washed the feet of his disciples.—Then, after eating the nassover, followed another cup, Mºi after haying delivered to each a piece of bread, was the sacra- mental cup at this supper :—Then, after some pious and friendly dis- course, the whole family, after having drunk at least a fourth, cup, sang some psal:ns of praise : ani so the solemnity e illed. —Acreeable to this is the account given in the Ro'is ivºrs Cereuwmics ºf all -\lations, vol. i. lo. 915–2}7. f He lored thern to the cond. } I sha}} in the next section hint at my reasons for agreeing with those crities who place the story of Christ’s washing his disciples’ ſect at the beginning of the paschal supper, rather than a night or two before.—At presett, I woull only observe that this verse seems intended by John to introllice not merely the story which immediately follows it, but the whole account of Christ’s behaviour to his friends in these last scenes of his life : and the refore, as ho prefixes it to the first circumstance that he has meationed of this passover, l ap prehend it proper to begin the whole story with it : especially since the words which I have placed next aller it are full of that love which he cxpressed to them, even to the last. 29.4 CHRIST REBUKES THE AMBITION OF HIS DISCIPLES. SECT. . So justly might it be said of him, as we see it is, that having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them 16S. to the end, O blessed Jesus, may the ardour, the courage, and the permanency of our love to thee, bear at least some little proportion to that where with thou hast condescended to love us! May we long, from time to time, to LUKE celebrate with thee that christian passover which thou hast ordained to succeed the J ewish, as the memorial of thy xxii. sacrifice . . Yea, may we long for the last solemnity of this kind, which will ere long come, after which we shall 16 18 no more drink with thee of the fruit of the vine, till it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God! fn the mean time may we be cheered with thy love, which is indeed far better than wine, (Cant. i. 3.) and, thus supported with those reviving cordials which thy gospel administers, may we keep ourselves in the lové of God, and in the patient expec- tation of thy final, most glorious, and welcome appearance 1 (2 Thes. iii. 5. and Jude, ver, 21.) - SECTION CLXIX. Chi, º: ambition which, his disciples most unseasonably expressed as they were sitting down to supper, by washing their feet, and jºyrºl, excellent admonitions to the exercise of humility, immediately before the eating of the paschal lamb. Luke xxii. 24–27, N. viii John xiii. 2. John xiii. 2. SECT. VOIP when our Lord had thus sat down to eat the passover with his disciples, (as was AND supper being ended, . 169. Said before,) supper being come,” and the antepast or introduction to it having been des- -y patched as above; just in the interval between that and the serving up the paschal lamb, Luke xxii, 24–There was ſº there was a most unseasonable contention among them, as they sat at table with Jesus Wºof ºil. **!!: , ºphic; - I - *-- *: * 2 which of them should be ac 31 which of them should be accounted the greatest in that kingdom of which he had been speak counted the greatest. ing, and which they interpreted of a temporal-dominion that should succeed his approach- ing sufferings. (Compare Mark ix. 34. and Luke ix. 46. p. 171.) - º, [..And upon this, though Jesus knew that the Father, by the sure engagements of an , John xiii. 3... [And] Jesus “3 immutable covenant, had given the government of all things into his hands, and was just ºilº, going actually to invest him with all power both in heaven and upon earth; and that, as §º gº from he came forth from God as his Messenger to men, so he was returning to God again; yet, ***** conscious as he was of so great a dignity, he was nevertheless willing to give his disciples an example of the deepest humility in this his last interview with them before his passion: 4 With this design, and in order to shame them out of that ambitious contention which he 4. He, riseth from supper, observed among them, in a more forcible manner than any words alone could do, he riseth ºft.*.*.*.*.*.*. from Supper;" and whereas it was only usual for the head of the family at such a time to himself. 3. wash his own hands, he lays aside his upper-garments, and taking a towel, tied it round 5 him like, a kind of apron: And then pouring water into a large ewer, or sort of cistern 5.After that he poureth commonly used on these occasions, he began himself to wash the feet of º disciples, and "º"; to wipe [them, after they were thus washed, with the long ends of the linen cloth with and * Nº.; Yºſh ſº which he gas girded, which hung down to his feet. º, wherewith he was 6 Then, when he had done with those who sat nearest to him, he comes to Simon Peter: º, and offering to do the like for him, [Peter] was so affected at his condescending to per- i.roºdosińoºsiº form such a mean office, that he #. to him, Lord, dost thou go about to wash my feet?” It is a thousand times fitter that I should wash thine; nor can I bear to see thee demean - 7 thyself thus. , Jesus answered and said to him, Thou knowest not now the design of what I 7 Jesus tº ºdiº am doing, but thou shalt know hereqfter; and as I shall presently explain the meaning of §º . . this action, so the time will quickly come when many other things in mine undertaking shalf knowhereafter. 8 and conduct, much more mysterious than this, shall be cleared up to thee. Yet still Peter Tiºlºo."º"; refused, and said to him, with more warmth than before, Lord, whatever be the intent of ..." j. ."h; the action, I cannot suffer it by any means, and am determined thou shalt never wash my ſº hº feet. . But Jesus answered him, Alas, Peter, that was rashly spoken; for there is a sense in på • which, if I do not wash thee, thou hast no portion with me; intimating thereby, that if he were not cleansed from sin by his blood and Spirit, he could never partake of the happiness of his people; and that, in the mean time, it became him to submit in this instance to his 9 direction. Upon which Simon Peter, struck with so awful an admonition, immediately } 9 º ...tº; sº º says to him, with that eager affection so natural to his temper, Lord, if this washing is to §"...i.".”hâlºni"; be a token of my interest in thee, I most jºy acquiesce in it, and am heartly desirous head. that thou shouldst wash, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head, too; for I desire that all my intellectual and all my executive powers may be sanctified by thy grace, and be entirely devoted to thy service. .* a Supper being come.] The reasons brought by Bishop Kidder, (in his as happening after the feet were washed, is mentioned by the other JDemonstration of the JMeššiah, part ific chap. 3. p. 60, file). by Dr. evangglists as passing at Supper; nay, John himself, when he speaks, in Lightfoot, (Hor. Heb. on Matt. xxyi.6.), and since 'y jr. Whitby, (in ver, 36 of Christ’s dipping the sop, and giving it to, Judas after, this, his notes on this place,) to prove that this supper was not the passover, plainly shows that supper was ngt ended.—As, the latter part of this but another supper at Bethany a night or two before, I have, briefly second verse comes in by way of parenthesis, I have transposed that obviated in the paraphrase or notes on the places on which they are clause, and inserted it afterward; in yer. 21 tº introduce what relates grounded, and therefore cannot think, it matériai to trouble the reader to Judas in the next section; a freedom which will, I hope, be easily with º: detail of ği The º º º excused. me to the contrary opinion (besides some others, of which a good, Sum- * »14; cr in or n lonx, mary is given in Dr. Guyse’s valuable note on’īis place) are these: b Thºre gas a contentiºn, anº º ..If the reasoning above be S ~~~~; * * -- - - if c > r, ºr - * -- ; allowed, we must certainly transpose Luke’s account ºf this contentign Such a disposition of the story best suits several of the circumstances of ...;..."; * ~in r, r l § - - - ; or: # ºr about superiority; for none can imagine it should folloy immediately the paschal supper, (particularly, the contention about superiority, and - --- y -: *-i To cf in or a lºssrai r - - - - after Christ had been giving them so affecting a lºsson.9f humility. But the inquiry abºut Judas, both whigh must 9n the other hypothesis, hºve . s less ºfte ºf this story than the other évange- been supéised:#2 and the prºprietº, 3...is ºpe;ially ºiced from #. ãº. ºjº.cºin; the person hat John xiii. 38. where our. Lord, says to Peter, the cock shall not crow till WàS to śt. ñº, after the Éucharist, though both Matthew and Mark thou hast denied me thrice; which must be spoken the very night Jesus - j ñºrajeń, and yet is so connected with this story of washing the place it before. disciples’ feet, by yeſ. 21. and ver. 31. that they gannot without great c He riseth from supper.] As it is here asserted that Christ rose ſrom followed.—The reader will observe here, that I have rendered Čeltſvov as preceding the gaschal, lamb; (Šeć Ainsworth’s note, quoted above, fjº'º ºf his hands...and, if I am rightly infºrmed, the Jews con- * - - - sº * * º -vi _º. *z sº - • morning was come: Acts xii. 18. xvi. 35. #tepas revoleums, when day ºf "...s. i.e. than to sup #on the Greek writers, it would be absurd to translate the word ended that this wishing happened, in the intºyal,between them. Though on. (Compare Mark i. 35, note. f. p. 74.) It is indeed an ambiguous gannot but think º considering how early the eyes year, in gupper: 3. Because it is expressly said, in ver, 1. to have been done Yii, 10.) one cannot ºppº that our ford, would be inclined to multiply violence be separated: and it is certain John xiii. I. will have a pecu- supper, we must allow º II]. SOH16 º, was begun, that is, as yevouevov, supper being comé, which is the sense in which the word is notélé, p.393.) They tell us that it was theº usuah.for the master of the This seems a more natural manner of explaining was come; and Acts xxi. 40. otyms yewouguns, when silence was made: ...a..."; i.º. ii. sect.jj or Bè. Edwards, (Erºcit, º Huke xxii; - w a term ; but the rendering above is here to be, preferred, I. Becausg it Judea) that it might be big enough plentifully to sup thirteen peºple; before the passover; which, if the preceding reason be admitted, deter- dishes on this ...si. CŞpecially as the former part of the night was to liar energy agéording to this plan ; which therg fore most critics have I suppose, the antepast h # been taken, which is mentioned by the Jews often used elsewhere: thus, John XXi. 4. root as y evowevms, is, when the 1: 7 i; 5 yewop evms, is, tinue the custom still. — - 7 as Jose, with Grotius, or Vossius, (Harm. in all which places, and in many more that might easily be collected 21.) that after the º iamb they eat another distinct suppº, and Nay, Luke iv. 42, ºvopºung #pepas, signifies, when the day was coming Vossius is pleased to call this ºl little lamb, (unus Agniculus,). I was much more natural to wash the feet of guests before than after and as all which remained uneaten till morning Was.to be burnt, (Exod. mines the point: 3. ‘Because part of the discourse, which John mentions be spent in watching and prayer. - CHRIST WASHES THE FEET OF HIS DISCIPLES. 10 Jesus saith to him, He Then Jesus, willing to lay hold on a hint which gave him an opportunity of pº i. tºº. useful a thought, says further to him, He that is washed already, ºr that ºil.’ . i. tiºn evºl. and’ºre ingº needs only to wash his feet, which may indeed easily be soiled by the ºt." alk, clean, but not all. and when that is done, he is entirely clean; as if he should have said The truly good mºn needs not that deep repentance and universal change which, is absolutely necessary # others, though he should, by renewed acts of penitence and faith, be cleansing #. from smaller pollutions, which are in some degree inseparable from the infirmity O º nature; and, in this sense, I know that you, my apostles, are clean *.hut ye; I must a º 11 For he knew who should you are not all so. For as he was acquainted with the secret dispositions of º, hº lººsaiahe, so he knew who would betray him; (compare John vi. 64. p. º and therefore he said, \'z ºl. 1 A & you are not all clean,” becauséhe knew the heart of Judas was polluted with º: SJI), and was so far enslaved under the power of the devil as to have consented to the Perpe- tration of the vilest wickedness. - - 12 So after he had washed When ºft. he had thus washed their feet, and had taken his u per-garments and º §§§ º, put them on, he sat down at the table again, and said to them, Do you #ow the ...; ..";"jnº, and design of what I have now been doing to you in the form of a servant?, ind, to explain ºyse what [have "one" the matter, he said to them, I must again rêmind you of what I formerly told you, but Luke xxii. 25. àº; what you seem so ready to forget, (see Matt. xx. 25, 26. and Mark X. 42.43.P. 247.) §§"..."; The kings of the Gentilés do indeed lord it over them; and they that exercise the most magisterial and arbitrary authority upon them, have a set of flatterers about them who en- over them à and they |. exercise authority upon lineIn e - - - * v- rai - e courage them in it, as an instancé of true greatness of mind, and give them the Yāîn title are called benefactors. 26, But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among O & r (7. •S r * ~! » ("A?” 7 fox's * 7 - Cr : you, let him be as the young- #. you are to show yourselves the friends 6f the world, not by governing, but by Serving i.ajhe that is chief, as he be not ambitious therefore in contending for superiority, but let him who is eldest, among that doth serve. - - * Ars rº fºs .** *.” d t d dent f all •š and you be as humble and obliging as if he were the youngest and most depen or all; and %. that presides over the rest in any office of peculiar trust and influence, [let him be] as 27. For whether is greater, humblé and condescending as a servant. Of this I have now been giving you an instance, hiº which surely you cannot quickly forget: for which of the two is naturally accounted greatºr sºme ºut tº by a stranger who happens to come in, he that sits at the table, or he that stands and gaits “nonsy”that serveth upon the guests? Is it not evident that it must be he that sits at the table?.. But Ham - among you as one that waits on the rest; and you have just now seen me putting on the - form of a servant, and performing to you, while you sāt at the table, one of the lowest offices of menial attendants,h in the very garb and posture in which any of the least of them could appear. You call me indeed your Teacher and Lord ; and therein you say Rºß: *** well; for [so] I am, and such authority }. I received of my Father. If º; I, i£iff then our Lord and who am [your] Lord and Master, and whom you know to be a divinely inspired Teacher, #: tº, º oś i. have condescended to so mean an office, and have thus washed your feet, and in all other one another’s feet. instances have shown my readiness in love to serve you, Surely you also ought to wash one another's feet, and should be ready to submit to all the humblest offices of mutual friend- 15 For I have given you ship. För I have in this instance given you an example, that as I have done to you, you also § º; ºuld should do, on all proper occasions, to one another.i And to engage you to the like humi- ið Veril. Verily. I say un; lity, Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I have formerly said, (Luke vi. 40. and Matt X. ºd; 2. p. 106, iſi.) The sérvant is not greater than his Lord, nor is the messenger greater hºreater than he than he that sent him; it will therefore very ill become you to disdain any thing which I # fºe'ºw these things, have not disdained. These are plain instructions, but remember they are capable of being happy are Ye if ye do them improved to the noblest practical purposes; and if indeed you know these things, and form a right conception of them, you are happy if you practise them ; for nothing will conduce more to your honour and comfort than an obedient regard to my instructions and example, especially in all the instances of humility and condescension; but if you neglect to act agreeably to them, your seeing them, and hearing them, will be worse than in vain. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT a mournful reflection is it, that corrupt nature should still prevail so far, even in the hearts of such pious men as the apostles in the main were, that after so long a converse with Christ they should still be so unlike him, and bring their eager contentions about superiority, in a state of temporal grandeur they were never to see, into the last hours they spent with their Master, and even to one of the most holy and solemn ordinances of religion | Such are the vain dreams of ambition, and with such empty shadows does it amuse the deluded mind! But let us turn our eyes to him whom we justly call our Teacher and our Lord; for surely, if any thing can effect a cure, it must be actions and words like these. The great Heir of all things, invested with universal domi- nion, and just returning to his heavenly Father to undertake the administration of it—in what a habit, in what an attitude, do we see him! Whom would a stranger have taken for the lowest of the company, but him who was high over all created nature ?, Blessed Jesus, it was not so much any personal attachment to these thy servants, as a regard to the edification of thy whole church, which engaged thee to this astonishing action; that all thy minis- ters, that all thy people, in conformity to thy example, might learn a readiness to serve each other in love! John xiii. 13. Ye call me grand benefactors to nations and men,f But you, my disciples, [shall], not [do] thus; : d He that has been bathing.] This rendering of the word XéXouſtevos is confirmed by Elsner, (Observ. vol. i. p. 337,338.) and gives as it were a compendious paraphrase upon it. Clarius has well, observed; that as the aroövrmotov, or room in which they dressed themselves after bathing, ywas different from that in which they bathed, the feet might be so sqiled in walking from one to the other, as to make it necessary immediately to wash them again. * e ,You are not all clean.] Some, have observed that Judas did not decline the honour of having his feet washed by Christ, though, Peter did; and have considered it as an instance of his pride. But if the dis- gourse between Christ and Peter happened before he game to Judas, it g Who is eldest among you, &c.] As pet. Gºv is here opposed to vecore- pos, the youngest, I render it eldest, as it is rendered Rom. ix. 12. See Gen. xxv. 23. 1 Sam. xvii. 14. Septuag. and compare 1 Kings ii. 22. h Performing one of the lowest offices, &c.] . This was so to a proverb. Sge 1 Sam. xxv. 41... and Grotius, in loc.—Dr. Evans well observes (Christian Temper, vol. i. p. 81.) that our Lord chose this kind office, though not absolutely necessary in itself, more strongly to impress the minds of his disciples, and to show that they ought to regard, not only the necessary preservation, but the mutual comfort, of each other. l # have § *ſong an ºlº &c.] Some have understood these had been indecent for Judas to renew an objection which had just been º º ź fººd; * º * *: thus over-ruled: and if Christ came to Judas before Pºtº, he might be ºshiºg the fººt has is .05 l/3 (1). ...(?:) cºlºremºny.9 . . I l ; • is - > * (" ! . . . c. * Wºushing the feet has as much to recommend it for a standing ordinance unwilling to be the first to dispute the pºint, test Christºuld conſpund ºf the gospel, as th: bºism ºil."...sing ºf'bi..."; thougl him, by inquiring whether he ...]”. from a consciousness of any sºn. Anº f ived the lºs real, lººt, thou;h jär"ºhj Giºjºsºsis' jºš jºios º żºłºś.9%.º.º. Pºçºf lºbe, thus enjºined, (see P. precautions. * sy *- º i. #: Christianity, book ii. chap. 14.) and the Moravian f Have the title of benefactors.] It is indeed possible that our Lord churches. Still retain it; yet as no such rite as this has over generally y - - ; ºr * º prevailed in the christian world, and as in many places and circum- may here refer to the title of evgpyerat, given to some of the Ptolemies stanges it would be an inconvenience rather than a kindness to do it ſor our friends, I cannot think these words of our Lord, so plainly capable of another sense, are to be interpreted with so much strictness. See Itigii Dissert. de Pedilavio, &c.—into what a farce this is turned at Rome on some occasions māy be seen in the Religious Ceremonics of all JN utions, vol. i. p. 417. and Selucidae, or to the ambiguity of the Hebrew word DYSYTX, which (as Beza has observed) signifies both princes and benefactors; but the general sense given in the paraphrase seems to me much more probable, especially on comparing it § the Syriac Version, where there is no such ambiguity, though one would most of all have expected it. 295 SECT. 169. JOHN XI: I. £ 10 I 1. I2 LUKE XXII. 25 JOHN XIII. 14 I5 I6 LUKE XXII. 24 JOIHN XIII. 13, 14 4, 5 15 296 JESUS CELEBRATES THE LAST SUPPER witH HIs Disciplps. SECT: , But why are we so slow to receive this lesson And why is our practice often so contrary to it! Surely to 169. cleanse us from these dregs of pride and Carnality, we need in a spiritual sense to be washād by him. Let us gladly submit to that washing, if we desire to secure any part in him. Which of us in this view may not see 'º eason to cry out with Peter, Lord, not our ſect only, but also our hands and our hea iſ May our whole nature be *in thus purified! and, warmly emulous of conforming to so bright an example, 3y We ever be maintaining a watch- fulness over our own spirits; correctin g the first appearances of irregularity, and washin g away every lightest stain Luke which our feet may contractin this various jºurney! So shall we be great in the sight and favour of ºur Master; **sa and, numbering ourselves among the least ºf his servants, shall be distinguished by peculiar honours, in proportion - t; the degree in which we think ourselves most unworthy of them. . SECTION CLXX. Christ, while they are eating the paschal lamb, declargs that ghe of his apºs;ſes should ºtray him, and at length marks out Judas as the §º. Who.ºpon, this retires with a rešeatmºst witch confirmed hiº, i. that flºi purpose. Matt. xxvi. 21–25. Mark Niv. 18–31. Luke xxii. Şilä, 2S→3' ohn Xiii. 2, 18–23. - LUKE xxii. 28. ſ. * , , Q by RE xxii. 28. SECT. THEN Jesus went on, as he was eating the passover, to instruct, admonish, and comfort YE are they which have con- 170, his disciples, by a series of most wise and pious discourse; and said, Depend upon it, you tº with meini's tempt. will find that humble and benevolent temper which I have recommended to you the way º; to the highest honours, if you have patience to wait the proper time; for as ye are they *** who have continued faithfully and affectionately with me in all my trials and afflictions; S6 29 by a sacred and inviolable covenant. I appoint unto you a king ión,” and solemnly engage , 29. And I appoint unto, you myself to bestow it upon you, even as my Father has appointed a kingdom unto me, and is §ºther hath 30 quickly about to raise me to it. Now the exalted honours which I shall there receive are "j Ye, may eat, and incomparably beyond those about which you seem so solicitous; let me therefore awaken drikaºyºn jºki. a nobler, ambition in yºur minds, while I assure you that you may expect to eat and drin; ;nºi, j, tº at my table in that my kingdom, or to be treated as my distinguished favourites and most isfiel intimate friends; yea, and in my final and most triumphant appearance, when I shall sit on the throne of my glory, you may expect to be assessors with me on that grand occasion, gn:l to sit upºn thrones, as I formerly promised you, (Matt, Xix. 28.) judging the twelve tribes of Israel,b and condemning the whole impenitent world for their contempt of that gospel which you, as the chief ministers of my kingdom, are to offer and unfold to them. JOHN But when I speak in this manner of your final honour and happiness, I speak not of you John xiii. 18; I speak not *is gll: I know the real character, and all the most secretviews and transactions, of those whom ſºliº * I have chosen; and could long ago have fixed a mark of infamy on the traitor, and have ;Pº put it out of his power to execute his wicked purpose; but, as I chose him to be one of iºti, iii.; Mººi.e.; my companions, I leave him to go on, that the scripture may be fulfilled, which says, me. (Psal. xli. 9.), “He that eateth bread with me, and has been nourished by my care and favour, hath lift up his heel against me, like an ungrateful brute that kicks at the kind master who feeds him.” Such treatment David met with from those whom he trusted; and such I know that I am to expect. 19 And this I tell yout now beſee it comes to pass, that when it comes to be accomplished, iº yº. g & g - - ~ ; d r $ you may be so far from doubting of the truth of my mission upon that account, that, on ..."; º; the contrary, you may more firmly believe that I am [he] that I told you I was, even the famie. 20 true Messiah. And, whatsoever therefore I shall suffer, let not your zeal to carry on my 20 verils, verily, I sa cause be lessened, but steadfastly persist in your adherence to it, with a firm persuasion Wiśr §:::::::: that I will support you in it; for in this view I look upon your interest as my own, and, ... jº,"; }; as I formerly declared, (Matt. X. 40. Sect. lxxvi. and Luke x. 16. sect. xcvii.) so now ſº receiveth him that sent most assuredly say unto you, Whoever entertains and shows regard to you, or any of my other messengers, as coming in my name, entertains me; and whoever entertains me, enter- tains him that sent me; as, on the other hand, when you or they are slighted, the affront redounds to me and to my Father. sº 21 Now when Jesus had thus said, he made a solemn pause. (The devil, as was observed sºrº: before, having already, by his vile, and pernicious insinuations, put it into the heart of Ju- i. º.º., §e hºrt ºf das Iscariot, [the son] of Simon, to betray him into the hands of his murderous enemies.) º § And, as our Lord well knew that Judas was then watching for an opportunity to accom. #!...", i.e., º, d; plish his horrid purpose, which he would execute that very night, he was much troubled in ºf §º. spirit to think of so ungrateful and impious a design in one so near him, and so much Yºjº te *** - ~~~~ on or sº º, and were cating the paschal supper, Jesus openly ºil obliged to him; and as they sat together, and were cating p pper, openly jº eateth }. º testified and said with a deep sigh, Verily, verily, I say unto ſº That, how incredible SQ- §§". #";*ś. ever the hint I just now gave you may seem, one of you who is eating with me in this ####"...sºiá."...". friendly and intimate manner will quickly betray me to those that thirst for my blood; Wºlsº #: [and] behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me [is] now with me on the table. ohn Xiii. 2.] 22 #. the disciples were exceedingly grieved to hear of his being betrayed at all, and much 22 Then the disciples º more to be told that it should be by one of their own number, while, no one being singled exceeding sorrowful, an out from the rest, the suspicion lay in common among them ; and they looked steadfastly ºr * . y Fingdom. is well known that the word with Christ in his kingdom ; (compare 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3, Rev. ii. 23, 27. sºft";#":#% º º to }.}} in virtue of a iii. 21.) but seems plainly to allude to the courts of judicature among gºint and therefore the last clause of this verse may probably refer the J . .." the inierior ; à." in : jºir; jº º to what divines commonly call the covenant of redemption, § whi ºº:: ſºwho had his Seat in the middle point of it. Compare Rev. iv. 4. as in Sari f •. * > O as º. ºº dº º sº - - § ; º; jº';" *:::::: º n: º ; c II: that qteth brºad with me, &c.] When these words are so plainly Vº º §: § the one hanj, the great importance of that undertaking to be ſound, Psal, sli. Ş. it seems very unnatural, with §r. Jeffery, (in $3. #. }s toº high it refers: and, on the other, the plain déclarations his §: łº º: they º; to § #. 13. 'ºff of those prophecies which his Spirit suggested, and the confidence with sº i §. scose º º t ere. ti or is §º with ¥hich he has promised those biessings, which, as Mediator, it empowers ài - . § ="f ºl. {} jº. i. º I OUl } • ejº, two }. him to bestow. it is therefore astonishing that any should treat it as the º j'. º, th $3. - § a"º". % ; it ...i. º #t gºe § ; - * -stematic brain.—For the engagements in it o!, Christ’s but, tel you. 6/67 £-gº 2 % 2C/R. S. ta CO7726 to pass that the creature of a Sy j * lºg .5 x 6' 6 Isa. Exi. i. 3. fake iv. 18, 19. scripture shall 53 ſulfilled, “One that catcth of my bread hath lºſt up his art, see Psakº. Hººle; the part of the Father, see Heb. x. 5. Aeel against me,” ye may believe that I am he, I rather think, with }sa. I.5, 6, Ang º i. i. ººjº, "... ." ii. i*i; fºſſ, fromius, that it is an ºommodation, and thiſ the sºni'.e. # *ś 3...] § 9, §rº 3. f.º.º.; # * * * are to be explained accordingly, as in the paraphrase. • 2\}. 3 e & Asº gº * 2.5, 7 : * * & * * g - * - - - - Y. ". ºft twelve tribcs of Israel.] †hº interprººftº given of this sº The § ; #. 3.", §§ tº: {####, ; sº lº romist. Here, (and before on Matt, xix. 23,3];7, p. 33) ºppºſiº 2 Sºtº ºntºed intº thºdisº"; na agroe D fºić to that which refers it only or chiefly to the power which the to betray his, Master to them; }* begg gbserved before, Luke xxii. 3. pre §. haj in the Christian church, as the ºśs of p. 291. and that this clause of John xiii. 2, would be inserted here, was #ſº # $º g mºpies ºf Pāini and Barnabas, the apostles intimated in the close of note a, § ſº, p. §4. where iºnºid"; | FX3. I.- : L Dºy RP O Hiſ editlS º from the honour of being assessors this transposition, of the Gentiles, shall be exclude JESUS CELEBRATES THE LAST SUPPER WITH HIS DISCIPLES. 297 looked one on another, doubt on each other for some time in silence, doubting of whom he spake, and studious to observe SECT. #. *::: “; in whose countenance they might read any peculiar confusion which might look like an 170. §.º. ºº indication of guilt; and, as they none of them knew where to fix it but the vile wretch §'io tº thiſ.j ji himself, they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it could be that was about to JoHN º; ; do this thing; and, earnestly desirous to be freed, from the suspicion of such heinous gº" onej i ori, is it ºf faï wickedness, they applied themselves to Christ, and began every one of them to say to him, sº **** one by one, Lord, is it I that am this guilty creature ?e Thou knowest that my very heart abbors the thought, and I hope I shall never be capable of entertaining it. JVow one of his disciples, namely John, whom Jesus loved with a peculiar tenderness and 23 honoured with the most intimate friendship, sat next him at the table, on his right hand - * and as they were all in a reclining posture, each of them resting on his left, elbow, so, in 24 Simon Peter therefore the place where John was seated, he was leaning on the bosom of Jesus. And as the ques- 24 º, ºil ... tion was almost gone round, and Jesus made no answer to it, but rather seemed to be of whom he spake. swallowed up in mournful contemplation, Simon Peter therefore looked upon John, and - beckoned to him with a motion of his head,ſ by which he intimated his desire that he should *...º.º.º.º.º. º ask him who it might be of whom he spake. . He then lying down closer on the 25 bºth unto him, * breast of Jesus, that he might put the question without being .." by the rest of the com- º Lord, who is it? And Jesus answered him with 26 23. Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 25 Jesus answered, He it is pany, secretly whispered and said to º," ºf a low yoice, It is he to whom I shall give this sop, when I have dipped it. ...And when he had When he had diſſed the sº, dipped the sop in a thick kind of sauce made of dates, raisins, and other ingredients beaten }...is.” ” together, and properly diluted, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, [the son] of Simon, putting it Matt. xxvi. 23. And he an- towards that part of the dish which was nearest him, and directing it towards him. Upon MA. jºi; º; which Judas put forth his hand to take it; and while he was just in this posture, others 2.” isºpºtº continuing the same question, to Jesus, he answered and said to them, [It is] one of the " # ...h. tºº. 3. twelve : [even] he that now dippeth, his hand with me in the dish, this very person shall 24. The Son of man [indeed] betray me.h And let him not vainly hope that I shall exert my miraculous power to 24 §:::::::::::::::::::::: rescue myself from the hands of mine enemies, after he has delivered me to them, and Yººhºº secured to himself the wages of unrighteousness; for the Son of man, great and powerful the Son of man, is betrayed : * -> . c. - - - º - ijiaiheen ºa for that man as he will finally appear, is indeed going to sufferings and death,i as it is written in the ºś; Scriptures, [and] determined in the divine counsels, concerning him k but as those pro- Mark xiv. 21. Luke xxii. 22.] - -, 5 - 5 phecies and counsels have no influence to destroy the free agency of the persons concerned in his death, so there will be a most terrible woe to that man by whom the Son of man is so jº, betrayed, and who presumes to set a price on his royal and sacréd blood: it ad been well for that man if he had never been born; for a speedy and most dreadful ven- geance awaits him, which will make the immortality of his being his everlasting curse. Then Judas, who was indeed the person that betrayed him, answered in some confusion, 25 lest by his silence he should seem to confess his guilt, and said, JMaster, is it I that shall do this thing, and to whom thou referrest in these severe words? And he said to him, Thou hast said [right;] thou art the very person, and I will conceal it no longer.] sop, Satan entered into him ...And after he was thus expressly marked out, not only by the sop which Jesus gave 39HN †. ... him," but also by the answer which he had returned to his question, Satan, entered into gº" That thou doest do quickly, him with greater violence, and stirred up in his bosom such indignation and rage at the “ - disgrace he had met with, that he could bear the place no longer, but prepared abruptly to leave it before the table was dismissed. Then Jesus said to him, HP'hat jou are going to do, do quickly; fºrther intimating to him his perfect knowledge of the appointment he had made with the chief priests and efders, and admonishing him, as it were, not to lose the opportunity by overstaying his time. But the reference being thus particular to what none 28 25 Then Judas, which be- trayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I ? He said unto him, Thou hast said. John xiii. 27. And after the 28 Now no man at the table §§ º, ºlent he of the company but himself was privy to, no man at the table knew what was his meaning, 29 For , some ºf them or for what purpose he spake this to him. For some [of them] thought, because Judas had the 29 thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said keeping of the common purse on which they were to subsist during their stay at Jerusa- unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against lem, that it was as if Jesus had said to him, Take the first opportunity to buy those sacrifices, §'ſ..."... . .j and other things, which we shall need for the feast to-morrow, and on the following days;" give something to the poor, or that perhaps he intended he should give something to the poor, which Christ used to do, though their stock was so small; but always did it in a very private manner, which made e To say to him, one by one, Lord, is it. I?] [...look on this as a strong proof that the facts mentioned John, xiii. 23–26, did not happen a night or two before; for if Christ had then privately marked out Judas to john and Peter as the traitor, the informätion must surely have reached the rest of the company by this time. . . . - 4 e Beckoned to him with a motion of his head.]. This is certainly, the import of the word vevet, which might more exactly be rendered nodded. g In a thick kind of sauce made of dates, &c..] The Jews still retain such a sauce, which they call charoseth, made of such kind of ingre- dients, about the consistence.9f mortar, to represent the clay in which their forefathers wrought while they were under bondage to the Egyp- tians. See *: Synag. Jud, cap. 18. and the Religious Ceremonies of ll JWations, vol. i. p. 215. - - - º - a', He that dippeth his hand, with me, in the dishl Some very ingenious persons imagine that Christ by this phrase only, declares it was one who sat on the same side of the table with him, and so ate out of the same dish; and, if it were so, there might seem a º in the discovery not observable on any other interpretation. But (not to insist upon it) that the lamb, which was to be roasted whole, Exod. xii. 9...was also to be served up in one dish; I cannot, but conclude that, if this had been our Lord’s meaning, on his saying here, (as Mark relates it,) in the same breath, eſs ek Tov 30.6eka, one of the twelve, he would have added £is cK røy guðaſtropºva'u, one of those that dip, rather than 6 eugaſtop evos, which plainly signifies, the very person that dippeth. . i The Son of man is indeed going.]. As we often, in common speech, say a person is going or gone, to intimate that he ls. º or dead, so Eſsner shows (Observ. yol. i. p. 119 ) that the word úrayet has the same ambiguity, Compare Josh. xxiii. 14. and Psal. xxxix. 13,--The repe- tition of that title of the Son of man, which is twice used here in the same verse, has a peculiar energy and dignity, not commonly observed. .k As it, is determined.] As this, passage is not liable to the ambigui- ties which some have apprehended in Acts ii. 23. and iv. 28. (which yet seem, on the whole, to be parallel to it in their most natural construc- tion,) I look upon it as an evident proof that those things, are, in the language of Scripture, said to be determined or decreed, (or exactly bounded and marked out by God, as the word > a) most naturally signi- fies;) which he sees will in fact happen, in consequence of his volitions, without any necessitating agency; as well as those events of which he is properly the Autº, s (and, as Beža weii expresses it, Qui sequitur Deum, emendate same loquitur, We need not fear fulling into any im- Pºlº of speech when we use the language which God has taught,) say, without any mecessitating agency , because I apprehend that this tºxt, angmg many others, must entirely 9verthrow the scheme which Mr, Colliber, (in his Inquiry into the Divine Existence, p. 97–102.) has so laboriously endeavoured to establish ; and which the author of the Persian Letters from Paris, (Letter lyi.) so confidently asserts, “That where God foresees an event, he always determines to render it neces. sary, and so to suspend the moral agency and accountableness of the creature concerned in it.”. Were this the case, nothing could be more unjust (on the principles of these authors) than to foretell punishments to be inflicted for such actions; which is plainly the case here, and indeed in most other places where evil actions are foretold. I Thou hast said right.] This is plainly, the import of the original Shrase, It is as thou hast spoken. (See Matt. xxvi. 63–65. Mark Niv. 5], 62. Luke xxii. 70. John, xviii. 37.) Thus, JWow you say something, signifies among us, You speak right. m Aſter the sop.]. It seems, yely unnatural to apprehend, with Dr. Reynolds, (in his Works, p. 10], 102.) that Judas was encouraged, by Çhrist’s giving him the sop, to hope that Qhrist would, aſter all; provide for his own safety, and admit him into favour again. Christ’s words above expressly cut off all such hope; and I believe ºš reader will j: the common account given of the connexion much Inore pro- a U.10. n, Which we shall necd for the feast.] . This is one of the passages which have led Grotius and other considerable critics to conclude that our Lord kept the passover at least one day sooner, than the rest of the evs. The controyersy is too large to be critically disgussed here: I content myself with referring to Dr. Whitby’s, excellent ſlissertation on the subject, (in his Appendix to Mark, xiv.) only observing, that the sup- position of Christ’s anticipating the day appointed by the law, is so im- probable, that iſ think it more reasonable to suppose, that the word feast or passgter, may signify the offerings attending the whole feast, an particularly those presented on the first day of winleavened bread; which is certainly the sense of the word elsewhere. .(See, Deut. xvi. 2. and hron. xxxv. 7–9.) And if this be admitted, it will obviate the most plausible argument for Grotius’s .# which is that taken from John xviii. 28. §. grounded on John xiii. 1, 2. xix. 14 and Matt. xxvi. 5. are obviated in the paraphrase or notes on those places, as the atten- tive reader will easily perceive. 208 JESUS CELEBRATES THE LAST SUPPER WITH HIS DISCIPLES. sECT. it the more probable that he should only give such an oblique hint of that intention. Of 170, this they thought, rather than of any bad design of Judas; for they did not imagine that, – if he was to prove the traitor, his wickedness could immediately take place; or that he John was so utterly abandoned as to go away to accomplish it with those awful words of his XIII., Master sounding, as it were, in his ears. 39 . But he was capable of committing the crime, even with this aggravation; and therefore .30 He then having received having, as was said, received the sop, he immediately went out without any further reply; ... º. ººlººly and as it was night, which was the time he had appointed to meet those who were consult- - ing the death of Jesus, under the covert of it he went to them, and fulfilled his engage- ments, in a few hours after, by delivering his Master into their hands. IMPROVEMENT. EUKR WHO would not gladly continue with Christ in the strictest fidelity, amidst all the trials which can arise, when xxii. he observes how liberally he repays his servants, and how graciously he seems to relish his own honours the more, 28 lin º: to the degree in § those honours are shared with º them a glorious kingdom, 29, 30 and erecting thrones for each of them And surely, though the apostles of the Lamb are to have their peculiar dignity in the great day of his triumph, there is a sense in which he will perform to every one that overcometh, that yet more condescending promise, I will grant him to sit down with me on my throme, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne. (Rev. iii. 21.) Let our souls in that confidence be strengthened to all the labours and sufferings to which he may call us forth. goHº. It is a melancholy reflection, that there should be any one in this select company to whom this endearing pro- XIII, mise did not belong; especially one who, having eaten of Christ's bread, should, in such a sense and degree as 18 Judas, lift up his heel º im. Deliver us, O Lord, from any share in that guilt! We are treated as thy friends; we are set at thy table : let us not ungratefully kick against thee, while the or knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib / , (Isa. i. 3.) - - - statt. If we would not do it, let us be jealous over ourselves with a godly jealousy. Happy are they whose hearts xxvi, witness to their sincerity in the presence of him that searches them, and can cheerfully say, Lord, is it I? Let 22 them say it humbly too, lest the infirmity of nature prevail upon them beyond their present purpose or apprehen- sion, and lead them on to do that, the very thought of which they would now abhor. - • . MARK How artfully must Judas have conducted himself, when, on such an intimation, no particular suspicion appears xv. 19 to have fallen on him . But how vain is that artifice, be it ever so refined, which, while it preserves a character in Marr, the sight of men, cannot in the least degree impose upon Christ!, The day will come when he will lay open the xxvi. false and ungrateful hypocrite in a more overwhelming manner than that in which he here exposed Judas; and 23–25 whatever advantage he may have gained, either by professing religion or by betraying it, he will undoubtedly find that it had been good for him that he had never been born. JOHN; One would have imagined that an admonition like this, which laid bare the secrets of his heart, and warned him XIII, so plainly and faithfully of his danger, might have wrought some remorse in his heart, or at least have proved 27 some impediment to the immediate execution of his design: but, being now given up, by the righteous judgment 80 of God, to the influence of Satan and the lust of his own deprayed mind, he is exasperated rather than reclaimed by it; and immediately goes forth, under the covert of the night, to hasten the accomplishment of that work of darkness, the consequences of which had been so awfully represented. O Lord, let thy grace and thy love do that for us which thy terrors alone cannot do! Let our hearts be melted by that nobler principle, and taught to abhor every thing which would displease thee! Oh, let them flow forth into such workings of compassion 29 to the afflicted, as engaged the blessed Jesus to relieve the poor out of his own little stock; and into those senti- ments of candour which would not permit the apostles, even after this admonition, to imagine Judas altogether so bad as he indeed was, but led them to put the mildest construction on their Master's ambiguous address to him! Such may our mistakes be, wherever we do mistake; the errors of a charity which would not by excessive rigour injure the vilest sinner, and much less the least and weakest of God’s servants' it was night SECTION CLXXI. º -> xhorted his disciples to mutual love, forewarns them of their approaching trial, and foretells Peter’s fall, immediately before the Christ having exhorte D £udiºst. Luke xxii. 31–34. jobſ. kiii.3i.º.o.º.d'é. 3. Jo HN xiii. 31. John xiii. 31. sacT, IT was observed in the preceding section, how Judas, being marked out both by Christ's º: 171. actions and his words, quitted the place in a mixture of rage and confusion; when there- jº.jh. —fore he was thus gone out.” Jesus said to the rest of his disciples as they sat at the table God is siórified in him. sogs with him, JWow is the Son of man. !. on the point of being glorified far more remarkably xIII, than ever; and God in a most il *:::"... º be flººd % º by the signal 32 If God be glorified and extraordinary circumstances O abasement and exaltation. And you may assure ºf e glorified in 32 ourselves, ; God be glorſed in him, God will also glorify him in and with himself, # jº in such a degree as shall in the most convincing manner declare his intimate relation tº * * * him; and the time will presently come when he will eminently glorify him, for the Son of man is very shortly to énter on the honours of his celestial and universal kingdom, and, in the mean time, some rays of divine glory shall shine through all that cloud of ignominy, reproach, and distress which shall surround him. . s - º dear little children, whom I love even with parental tenderness, and whom my Hàº. fº. heart pities under all your trials and sorrows, it is yet but a very little while longer that I ºbj'eek. §: am to continue with you; a few hours more will part us: and when I am gone, ye shall jº,§º: Wº: seek me, and wish for my presence and converse; but, as I said to the Jews, that whither I i ºto you. goye cannot come, (John vii. 34, and viii. 21. p. 182, 186) so I now, say to #. Ye cannot 84 as yet come to the place whither I am going. But observe my .# words, and let them 34 A new commandment I be written on your very hearts; for I give it you as a new commandment,” and press you 33 ore he was gone out..] The reader will observe, that if more than merely a renewed commigº...99"Pºº 1 John ii, 7, 8, and th: §ºſ; .# to #! order of this part of the story be 2 John, ver, 5.) , It seems astrong and lively. *#; #. the engage- just, Judas certainly went out before the eucharist was instituted. And ments to mutual love, peculiar,to the c º º #'; #: ; sin- #3ed one cannot reasonably suppose, Christ would haye commandeſ, gular and so cogent, that all other men, y ##. i. Wººl d º: Votaries, #. tº jºk of the cup, as the blood shed for him for the remission of may seem, uninstructed in the schog ń. #. Ship, an jºbſ. jis sins, when he haſ just before been declaring in effect, that his sins ap §ºp &S# Were, ‘gg #: pº 3.; §§". º; eś º: r - iorgiven. - s wf. Pytſlag. Cap., 33. tº: - - * alſº %; I apprehend this expression signifies much §a; to all other men on that account; but it may be observed, JESUS CELEBRATES THE LAST SUPPER WITH HIS DISCIPLES. 295 tive unto you, That ye, love by new motives and a new example to a duty which hitherto, alas, has been too little regarded; SECT. §: "..."; "hº"...”.. and from henceforth would have you to consider it as confirmed by a new sanction, and to 171. another, keep it ever fresh in your memories, That ye love one another with a most sincere and - ardent affection, such as mankind have never known before; yea, I would now enjoin John you, even as I have loved you, that ye also would love one another with a friendship which , ºilſ. may carry you through such difficulties and sufferings as I am º: to endure for you all. 34 35. By this shall all, men. This will be the most acceptable and the most ornamental token of your relation to me; 35 tº ..." ...'...", and I recommend it to you as the noblest badge of your profession: for by this shall all another. men know that you are my disciples indeed, if they see you have that lively and generous love for each other which nothing but my gospel can be sufficient to inspire. 36 simon Peter,said unto . On this Jesus paused, that they might have an opportunity to reflect seriously on the 36 ; , º, .4%. important charge he had given them. And Simon Peter, touched with what he had said thou ? Jesus answered him, - - *3 g1 - » : º * º §§e... sºlº sº; of his being ready to go whither they could not come, said to him, Lord, permit us to in- ... oil. ...hº...” }. whither art thou going? Jesus answered him, I tell thee, Peter, Whither I am going thou canst not directly follow me now; for thou art intended for service in my church for many future years: but let it suffice thee, that thou shalt follow me afterwards in the same 37, Peter said unto him, way," and dwell perpetually with me. Peter said to him in a transport of eager and ten- 27 tº ºil,'... der affection, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? Whatever difficulties and dangers may my life for thy sake. be in the way, the prospect of them does not discourage me; for I will most willingly lay down my life for thy sake, and had much rather die than part with thee. 3. Jesus answered, hiº, . But Jesus answered him, Wilt thou indeed so readily, lay down th: § for my sake? 38 }.º.ºx” tº º Alas, thou knowest not thine own weakness, or thou woulds never taſk thus confidently! Lºsº.º. ...And the Lord added with great earnestness, and said, O Simon, Simon, I must tell thee Luke. i., §."...'..."; that an hour of terrible trial is just at hand, which will press harder than thou art aware, .xxik º; he may iſ on thee and all thy companions here: for behold, Satan, as in the case of Job, (Job ii. 4, 5.) 31 wn ºwners has requested of §. a permission [to assault] you all by furious and violent temptations, that he may toss you up and down, and º ou] like wheat in a sieve: (compare Amos 32 But I hage, prayed for ix. 9.) But I, foreseeing the danger to which thou, Peter, wilt peculiarly be exposed, have 32 º, graciously prevented thee with the tokens of my friendly care, and have prayed to my strengthen thy brethren. Father for thee, that he would communicate to thee such supplies of grace, that thy faith may not utterly fail and sink under the violent shock it is to receive: and let me now exhort #. that when thow art returned from those wanderings into which I know thou wilt fall, to the paths of wisdom and duty,” thou wouldst be sure to make it thine imme- diate care to strengthen thy brethren, and do thine utmost, all the remainder of thy days, to engage all over whom thou hast any influence, to a steady adherence to my cause in the midst of the greatest difficulties.f - JAnd such was still the confidence that Peter had of his own steadfastness and zeal, that 33 he said to him, with renewed eagerness and warmth, Lord, what I said but now is the de- liberate sentiment and resolution of my heart: lead me therefore whither thou pleasest: for I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death itself; and whatsoever I may suffer by continuing with thee, none of the most cruel of thine enemies shall ever be able to part Uls. 34. And he said, [Verily ut Jesus, that he might convince him of his weakness, and prevent his ever trusting in 34 Fºº, ...Yºoº; his own heart again, said to him, Peter, I know the sincerity of thine intention, yet I most this dº, before that thou assuredly say unto thee, It shall not be the time of cock-crowing to-day; before thou shalt jºij be so terrifiéd at the faces of these enemies whom thou ... that thou shalt thrice my that thow so much as knowest me, and shalt solemnly disclaim all regard to me. (Compare Matt. xxvi. 34. and Mark xiv. 30. sect. clxxxi.) IMPROVEMENT. ALAs, how ready are we to forget ourselves; and how much safer are we in Christ's hands than in our own Ltºrm How frequently do we resolve like Peter, and in how many instances do we fall like him! We see the malice of ºxn. Satan, and how eagerly he desired to try the apostles, and even to sift them as wheat: we also see the gracious care of our Redeemer, who, foreseeing the danger of his servants, laid in an unsought remedy, to which they 31, s2 respectively owed their security or their recovery. et us rejoice that the great enemy is under such restraints, and can have no power against us, unless by per- mission from above. Let us rejoice that Christ is a constant and invariable Friend to his people, and still appears as an Advocate with the Father, and as a tender, faithful Shepherd, watching over them for good, while Satan is seeking to devour them. (1 Pet. v. 8.) Ifat any time that adversary get an advantage over us, let us endeavour, in the strength of divine grace, an immediate recovery, and when restored, let us exert ourselves to strengthen our 32 33 And he said unto him, Igord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to ãºath. that both he and Eunapius, like many moderns, seem to have had very iittle regard to truth, when falsehood might cast a slur on christianity. lijr. Clarke well observes, that our Lord seems to have laid this pecu- liar stress on charity, as foreseeing that general corruption and destruc- tion of true christianity, which the want of it would gause among those that should call themselves his church. (Clarke’s Scrutons, vol. iii. p. 297.)—Raphelius (Annot. ex: Xen. }i 137–139.) has the best note I over saw on the passage, though I think it hardly reaches the full spirit of it; in which he shows that Xenophon calls the lates of Lycurgus Kaworarot vogot, very new laws, several hundred years after they were made ; because, though they had been commended by other nations, they had not been practised by them-Perhaps_our, Lord may here insinuate a reflection, not only on that party-spirit which, prevailed so much in the Jews, but likewise on the emulations and contentions among the apostles themselves, which mutual love would easily haye cured. In this sense it is still a new commandment to us, who generally act as if we had not yet got time to learn or even to read it. c The noblest §. of your profession.] ... It is well known that the founders of new societies appoint some peculiar ornament, sign, or rºle of living, by which §, followers may be known from others. This UlOleCl IO, - d Thou shalt follow me afterwards.] I am ready to think our Lord here obliquely hints at what he afterwards further signified in his com- mand to Peter after his resurrection, when he ordered him to follow #."Čjohn`i. iś, ſº $ºi.) namely, that Peter sho e on the cross for his sake; which ancient history assures us that he did. See Euseb. Hist. ... lib. iii. cap. 1. © en thou art returned, &c.] Kat au more emisſpeºpas, a Tngºv 78s ačeX®ous gou, I cannot think the authorities which the learned Elsner roduces, (Obssro. vol. i. p. 276, 277.) sufficient to induce us, with Sir Norton khātºābālī, to translate these words, Do thou, Some time or other, concert and strengthen §ºor the signification of - W . º £7ta Tpsøelv, see Acts ix. 35. xi. 21. xi f Make it thine immediate care, &c.] I can see no gbjection against taking the charge in this comprehensive sense : and as I question not but Peter, after he had wept his fall so bitterly as we know he did, applied himself to rally his º brethren, and to prevent their fleeing from Jerusalem till the third day was over, in the morning of which he was *p betimes, and early at the sepulchre of our Lord. (See John xx. 2, 3. § 194.) So indeed the strain of his epistles shows his long and affection- ate remembrance of this solemn charge. Many passages of the first are peculiarly intended to animate his christian brethren to a courageous adherence to Christ amidst the ãº. dangers: l Pet. i. 6, 7. ii. 19, §). iii. 14–18. iv. 12–19. v. 8, 9, 10. and the second has several cau- tlOnS to £º them against the seductions of error, in some instances more to be dreaded than the terrors of the severest persecution. 2 Pet. i. 10, 12. ii. 1, 2, 20, 21. iii. 2, 17. g. It shall not be the time of cock-crowding to-day.] A careful perusal of § 181. compared with this, will show why I have not here brought in the account which Matthew and Mark have given ns of Christ’s admo- nitions to Peter and his brethren on this head; which appear to be the renewal of this some hours after. As it is plain from thenge, and the event that the cock actually crew before Peter’s third denial, we must certainly take the words of Luke ºnd John, as in this version, for the common time of cock-crowing, which probably did not come till after the cock which Peter heard had crowed, the second time, and perhaps oftener. For it is well known those vigilant animals, on any little dis- turbances often crow at midnight or before it; though they do not come from their-roost till about three in the *gº, which was usually galled the cock-crowing. (Mark xiii. 35.) See Dr. Whitby's mote on Matt. xxvi. 34. 300 s 171. XIII. 34, 31 SECT. SUCH was the admonition that Christ gave to Peter, and such was his discourse with his AND disciples while they were at supper; and now, as they were eating, or just as they had finished, the paschal supper,” Jesus took a cake of bread, and having in a solemn manner MATT. given thanks to his heavenly Father, and blessed [it] that is, having implored the divine 172. OUR LORD INSTITUTES THE EUCHARIST. SECT. brºthren; fºr surely it is most reasonable that we, who are surrounded with such various and such sensible infir. milies, should have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way. (Heb. v. 2.) In this instance, as in all others, let is be mindful of the dying charge, the new commandment of our dear Lord: John and let us show, upon all occasions, this distinguishing badge of our relation to him, even ouriove to each other. So will our profession be adorned, and the Son of man be further glorified hy the conduct of his servants on earth. so shall he at length glorify us with himself, and, after a short absence, cal 36 perfect love which must of course be the seats of everlasting joy. us to follow him into those regions of . . In the mean time, send down, O gracious Emmanuel, thy Spirit of love on all thy followers, that we may no 35 longer glory in the little distinctions of this or that party, but may show we are christians by this resplendent en- sign of our order! - * * May we bind it on our shoulders as a mark of honour, that the spirit of hatred, reproach, and persecution may vanish may again be universally said, as of old, Behold, how these christians love one another Amen. 4. and wear it as a crown upon our heads, like an unwholesome mist before the sun, and it SECTION CLXXII. - Christ, at the conclusion of the passover, institutes the eucharist. Matt. xxvi. 26–30. Mark xiv. 22—23. • MATT. xxvi. 26. Luke xxii. 19, 20. MATT. xxvi. 26. as they were eatin Jesus took º; j gave, thanks,) and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body, (LÚº. XXV, blessing on it, and on the ordinance then to be instituted, that it might in all succeeding which is given for you; this 27 29 you do in ages tend to the edification and comfort of his people, he brake the bread into several do in remembrance of me. [Mark xiv. 22. Luke xxii. §: pieces, and gave some of [it] to each of the disciples present, and said, Take this bread, and eat it with reverence and thankfulness; for this is my body, that is, it is the sensible sign and representation of my body,” which is freely given, and is speedily to be broken, bruised, wounded, and even slaughtered for you. Do this hereafter in your assemblies for religious worship, in a pious and affectionate commemoration of me, that you may keep up the me- mory of my dying love, may openly profess your dependence on my death, and impress your hearts with a becoming sense of it. (Compare I Cor. xi. 24. And in like manner, after they had supped, he also took the cup,” that is, another cup, 27, And [Lºke, likewise different from that which he had before divided among them; (Luke xxii. it. p. 293.) and hºſlº, when he had given thanks to his heavenly Father, and implored his blessing upon it as a solemn sacramental sign, he gave [it], to them, and said, Drink ye all of it, that is, of the 28 wine which it contains: and accordingly they all drank some of it. For, said he to them as Mark xiv. 23 he delivered it into their hands, This cup of wine is a representation of my blood, ſº that blood which is the great basis of the new covenant, ...] is itself the seal of the new . after supper, an gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying; Drink ye all of it: [and they all drank of it...] Luke xxii. Of § For ſhe said unto them,3 - [LUKE, cup] is my ood of the new testament covenant,” established in my blood, which is shed for you [and] for many more, as the great fºr theney º ransom to be paid for the forgiveness of sins ºf receive it therefore wi the engagements of that covenant, and with a cheerful hope of its invalu- able blessings; and do this as often as ye drink it, in a thankful commemoration of me, and with a proper care to º between this and a common meal, appropriating what i. y to a religious purpose. to comply wi is ordinance entire º in my blood, which is she al firm resolution [LUKE, for you ang for many, for the remission of sins. . [Mark xiv. 24. Luke xxii. 20.] (Compare 1 Cor. xi. 25.) And 29 But Iverily] I say unto have asserted in the paraphrase. But, with all due deference to his penetration, (which is indeed very great,) I must beg leaye to observe, that it still appears most probable to me that it was as I there represent t; not merely because Luke mentions a cup taken before the bread, (Luke xxii.17. p. 293.) but because, in the passage before us, (ver. 20.) he adds to that the mention of a cup after it. It is well known the Jews used several, cups of wine at the passover, and one of them, with the antepasts at the very beginning of the feast. (See note e, on Mark xiv. 17. . 293.) I know not how far so accurate a writer as Štiuſ: might further intimate this distinction, by using the word 6&apevos (ver. 17.) with respect to the first cup, which strictly expresses receiving it from the hand of another, º; of the servant who waited at the table, whereas Aaſºov (taking) is the word used, ver, 19. of which Tormotoy here in ver. 20. is governed ; which might have been equally proper, if the cup stood on the table before him, as the bread used in the eucharist probably did, . . . a Just as they had finished the paschal supper.] Maimonides and other rabbies teſ] us that it was a rule among the Jews, at the end of the supper, to take a piece of the lamb for the last thing they ate that night. (See Ainsworth, as quoted before, note e, ºp. 293.) If this custom was as old as Christ’s time, it would make this action so much the more remarkable. It would plainly show that the bread here distributed was a yery distinct thing from the meal, they had been making together; and might be, in the first opening of the action, a kind of symbolical inti- mation, that the Jewish passover was to give way to another and nobler divine institution. b Blessed it..] It is not expressly said in the original that Christ blessed it, that is, the bread; (nor indeed that he brake it) but it is very reasonable to imagine that this thanksgiving was attended with a prayer that the divine blessing might ...”. the bread. And it is so very plain, from or. x. 16. that the apostles taught christians to bloss the cup, that I cannot but wonder that one of the most accurate and penetrating writers of our age, should scruple to allow that Christ blessed the sacramental elements. The same word is used in Matt. xiv. 19. Mark vi. 41. viii. 7. and Luke ix. 16. where it is certain tin extra- ordinary blessing attended the bread and fishes in answer to his prayers: (See also Mark X. 16. Luke ii. 34. and Gen. ii. 3. Septuag.) It would indeed be absurd to interpret this of his gºing a virtue on bread so set apart, to work as a charm either on men’s bodies or souls, ; but hope few christians are so ill-instructed as to imagine this to be the case in the eucharist; and all wise and faithful ministers will, no doubt, be solicitous to preserve them from so wild and mischievous a notion. c This is my body..] When I consider that, (as a thousand writers have observed,) on the same foundation on which the papists argue for tran- substantiation from these words, they might prove, from Ezek. v. 1–5: that the prophet’s hair was the city of Jerusalem ; from John, x. 9. and xv. 1. that §§ was literally a door and a vine; and, from Matt. XXyi. 27, 28. and I Cor. xi.; 25. that, the cup was his blood, and that Christ commanded his disciples to drink and swallow the cup; I cannot but be astonished at the inference they would deduce from hence. ad I re- natus or Epiphanius reported such a thing,9f any sect of ancient heretics now extinct, one would have been so candid to human nature as to sup- pose the historian misinformed. As it, is, one is almost tempted to suspect it to be the effect of arrogance, rather, than error, and to consider it as a mere insolent attempt to show, the world, in the strongest instance they could invent, what monstrqus things the clergy should dare to say, which the wretched laity should not dare to contradict, nay, which they should be ſorced to pretend they believed. In this view the thought is admirable, and worthy the most malicious wit that ever lorded it over the heritage of God. . But it may deserve some, serious, reflection, whether it be not an instance of infatuation to yhich God has given them up, that it may be a plain mark to all that will use, common sense, of the grossest error in a church which claims infallibility; and may not be intended by Providence as a kind of antidote against the rest of its poison. gº & d JAfter they had º he also took the cup.] A learned divine of the Establishment, who has fayoured me with many sheets of accurate re- marks on this work, (which were of so great use to me in correcting it for the second edition, as to demand, my public acknowledgments,) has objected to the supposition here made of its being another cup, which I plicity wil e The seal of the new copemant..] It seems very evident, that when the Sacramental cup, here and in I Cor. xi. 25. is called the new, covenant, it must signify the seal of it; just as when circumcision is called God’s Covenant, Gen. xvii. 10... and it is there said, yer. 13. JMM covenant shall be in your flesh, we must understand the seal of it: and if by the seal of . the covenant be meant, as I here explain. it, and as most take it, “an appointed token of Qur accepting that covenant. and of God’s favour to us on supposition of the sincerity of that º ;” it is so plain that the eucharist, as well as baptism, is such a seal, that they who disapprove the word dº not the thing. (See The Plain Account of the Lord’s Supper, p. 168, 169.)—I have rendered the word 6taômkm, covenant, rather than testament or will; because it is eyidently the more usual signification of the word ; and because the old covenant, to which the new is opposed, cannot with any propriety be called a testament, with reference to the death of any testator, which is the idea chiefly insisted on by those who would retain our common yersion here;. d, by the Way, it *. on this principle, that the title of our Bible is impro- Fº and obscurely rendered, by a piece-of complaisance to the old atin versions, of which they were by po means worthy, and which they cannot at all the better deserve for that sanction which the papal authority has given to one of them, though it seems thereby to have been preferred to the original. * f In my blood, which is shed—as, the great ransom to be paid for the forgiveness of sins.] I apprehend this ordinance of the eucharist to have so plain a reference to the atonement or satisfaction of Christ, and to do so solemn an honour to that fundamental doctrine of the gospel, that I cannot but believe, that while this sacred institution continues in the church, º it will undoubtedly do to the end of the world,) it will be impossible to root that doctrine out of the minds of plain, humble chris- tians by all the little artifices of such forced and unnatural criticisms as those are by which it has been attacked. Unprejudiced and honest sim- s' wº always see the analogy this ordinance has, to eating the flesh f the Son of God, and drinking his blood; and will be taught by it to eed on him as the Lamb that was slain by the gracious appointment of God, to take away the singſ the world, The enemies of this heart-reviv- ing truth might as well hope to pierge through a coat of mail with a straw, as to reach such a truth, defended by such an ordinance as this, by any of their trifling sophistries. I CHRIST waRNs THE DISCIPLES OF THEIR APPROACHING DANGER. 301 ºß then our Lord repeated what he had said as they were sitting down to supper, (Luke SECT. łºś. of this fruit of the *. xxii. 18. p. 293.) Veruly I say unto you, That from this time I will drink no more of this 172. #. lº, produce # the #ſº #. # day #. I shall drink it new with you in the #. of łºś. my Father. 'God my Father: that is, till, being risen from the dead, I have received my mediatorial MATT. kingdom, and we shall share together in much nobler entertainments than earth can afford, ;” even in its highest religious solemnities, which shall then be happily superseded. º; , And when, according to the usual custom it the lºse ºf the .*. they had sung an 30 ºo::.."º; hymn of praise to God at the conclusion of the eucharist, and ad passed some remain- xiv. 26.] ing time in those discourses and in that prayer which will be the subject of the following sections, they went out to the Mount of Olives, where our Lord nad determined to spend some time iſ devotion, though he knew that Judas and his enemies would come thither to seize him. -** IMPROVEMENT. Let us now review, with most thankful acknowledgment, this gracious legacy of 9ür dying. Redeemer, this re- MATI viving and nourishing ordinance, which he instituted *: the benefit of his church the same night in which he was ºxvi. beirajed (i Cor. xi. 23.) so tenderly did his love for them prevail, when his heart was full of his own sorrows!” May we always consider to what purposes this holy rite was ordained; and as we shall, see the wisdom of the appointment, so we shall also be both awakened to attend to it, and assisted in that attendance! t is the memorial of the death of Christ, by which we represent it to others, and to ourselves. May we be ever ready to give this most regular and º: token, that we are not ashamed to fight under the banner of a cruci: *** fied iº !—It is also the seal of the new covénant in his blood. Let us adore the grace that formed and 19, 20 ratified that everlasting covenant, so well ordered in all things, and so sure. (2 Sam, xxiii. 5.) And whenever we approach to this sealing ordinance, may we renew our consent to the demands of that covenant, and our expec- tation of those blessings which are conveyed by it! a consent and expectation so well suited to the circumstance MARK of its being ratified by the blood of Jesus. Thus may every attendance nourish our souls in grace, and ripen them gº". for glory; that at length all may be fulfilled and perfected in the kingdom of God. 25 In the mean time, may God, by the influences of his Spirit, give to all professing christians right notions of this ordinance, and a due regard for it; that, on the one hand, none may, under the specious pretence of honouring it, live in the habitual neglect of so plain and important a duty; and that, on the other, it may never be profanel invaded by those who have no concern about the blessings of that covenant it ratifies, and impiously prostitute it to those sécular views, above which it was intended to raise them! And may none that honour the great Author of it, encourage such an abuse, lest they seem to lay the very cross of Christ as the threshold to the temple of those various idols to which ambitious and interested men are bowing down their souls! LUKE SECTION CLXXIII. Christ having warned his apostles of the danger to which they would be exposed, comforts them with the yiews of future happiness, and with the assurance of his own gracious presence, and that of his Father, in the way to it. Luke xxii. ohn xiv. 1– LUKE xxii. 35. & - & & LUKE xxii. 35. * AND he said unto them, THOUGH we mentioned Christ's going out to the Mount of Olives after he had instituted * * - © . * * *. 2d SECT. ... ."º"; the eucharist, it is very material to observe, that before he quitted the guest-chamber in 173. hºing? and which he had supped, he entertained his disciples with some large and affectionate dis- - ºlley SàICl3 8. courses, and put up an excellent prayer with them, which we shall now relate. And, to Luke introduce these discourses, he said to them, Hºhen I sent you, my apostles, out on your ºx". important embassy some time ago, without either purse to supply you with money, or scrip 35 to take provisions with you, or shoes besides those on your feet, (Matt. X, 9, 10. p. 139.) did you want any thing necessary for the support of life? And they said, No, Lord: we very well remember that the care of Providence over us was such that we wanted nothing; but wherever we came we found the hearts of strangers opened even with surprising free- dom to assist and relieve us. 36 Then said he unto them, Then he said to them, This was indeed the case in your former mission; but now you But now, he that hath a purse, łºśī; must expect much harder usage than before, and will be exposed to greater sufferings and º º * dangers in the prosecution of your ministry; and therefore let him that has a purse, take ment and buy one. [it,) and also a scrip, if he has one; and let him that has no sword be ready even to sell his gº." buy one with the price of it: so long a journey and so sharp a conflict is d; ; ;ºf efore you, that you had need be well armed and furnished for it. For I assure you, That 37 §...'...A. my enemies are now about to apprehend me as a malefactor, and, after all the love that I he was reckoned among the r e * * * - •e g H a. s transgressors: for the things have shown to an ungrateful world, this remarkable prophecy which is written concerning §ºns havº."º me, (Isa. liii. 12.) must yet be accomplished in me, “..And he was numbered with the trans- gressors :” for indeed all the things which are written concerning me in the Scripture pro- phecies must quickly have an end, and receive their accomplishment in my sufferings and death. Now you may easily guess at the reception you are like to meet with when you come to preach in the name and authority of one who has suffered as a malefactor, and yet demands faith and obedience as an almighty Saviour. bºº. §§ ; .And they said, Lord, behold here are two swords that we are furnished with already, 38 . j ...?"; which we are resolved, in case of any violent assault, to use in thy defence. And he said enOugh. to them, It is enough for weapons of this sort: my chief intent is to direct you to another John xiv. 1. Let not your kind of defence, even that which arises from piety and faith.b Let not your heart therefore. ... g. I will drink no more of this produce qf the vine.]. This may seem an story of the passoyer, and to mention their, going out, though that, did intimation, that though Christ drank with them after his resurrection, not immediately follow on their singing the hymn. Some such little cts x. 41.) he did not make use of wine. Perhaps their poverty might anticipations seem to me an advantage rather than an impropriety, in not allow them often to drink it ; and we do not find that he was eyer any Harmony, especially when attended with a paraphrase or notes present at any feast; at least, we are sure he never celebrated another and divided into such short sections as those must be which are intended passoyer with them. Nor does it appear that he partook of the eucha- for the use of families. - rist with them, or ever administered it, but at this time of its institution. a Here are two swords.]... Probably (as Mr. Cradock conjectures in his •An hymn of praise to God..] The hymn that was usually sung by Harmony, part. ii. p. 209.) some of the apostles brought these swords the Jews at the passover, is what they call the Hallel, which began at along with them, in their journey from § and Peraea, to defend Psal. cxiii. and ended with Psal.cxviii. some of which Psalms might be them against robbers... It afterwärds appears that one of them was used by our, Lord at the close of the º: yery suitable to this Peter’s. See John xviii. 10. § 183. occasion: though it is uncertain whether (as Grotius and some others b. My chief intent is to direct you to another kind of defence, &c.] think) it might not be some other hymn more closely adapted to the * º ty * This is strongly intimated by his saying, Two swords were enough, fo eelebration of the eucharist. I thought it proper here to conclude the they could not be sufficient to arm eisº, File, pl. gh ; for 30? CHRIST’S DISCOURSE To HIS DISCIPLES AFTER THE EUCHARIST. S E C.T. ºp F - - * ſº * - be troubled, though I am going to leave you in a world where you will seem likely to heartbe trºubled; ye believe 173, i. .*. helpless prey to the rage and power of your enemies: believe in God, the in G****** almighty Guardian of his faithful servants, who has made such glorious promises to pros- JOHN - - * * . . . * per and succeed the cause in which you are engaged; and believe also in me as the pro- 2×i V mised Messiah, who, whether present or ~ * * * º - - concerns, as well as ever able i. º in body, shall always be mindful of your 2 th * tº º, your faith and comfort, accustom yourselves often to look forward to 2 In my Father's house are e heavenly World, as those who are well assured that in my Father's house, from wi many mansions: if it were not I came, and whither I am going to take up my residence, th * º > -->: *. *... ..."; , ; }; it is really a spacious and glorious boa p the i. Il i ere are many mansions; and $o: to prepare a place for and everything to acc g date v. abode, where there will be ample room to receive you, inot so, as I k .. & º ate you in the most delightful manner; and indeed if it were though too much .." still acted with regard to the happiness of a future world, expressly, and n * ed with inferior views, I would before this time have told you so - much y; ºr l º ave permitted you to impose, upon yourselves by any airy dream:" & it . jº ould I have said so much as I have done to confirm that expectation: but as { * IUSé i glorious reality, so I am now going, not only to receive my own reward, but o prepare a place for you there; or to make room for your coming thither, and to dispose 3 everything for your most honourable and comfortable reception. And if I thus go and 3 And if I go and prepare a repare a place for you, you ma it #h of +hic nº- te : ... place for you, I will come {. p jor you, y y depend upon it that this preparation shalſ not be in vain, É.i.d.º.º.ºu..., f } º will certainly act so consistent a part as to come again and receive you to myself;8 §º wºre I am, 4 be usher we are now united in so dear a friendship, you also, after a short separation, may “"“”". "". fi10 j | am, and may dwell for ever with me. And surely I may say in the general, 4 And whither I go ye ; er all the instructions I have given you, that you know, whither I am going; and you know, and the way ye know. now the way that leads thither, and by which you may safely follow me; which I exhort 5 yº; therefore, that you would resolutely keep. dº."jº. still the expectation that his disciples had of his erecting a temporal king- 15 Phonnºith ºntº; 3. tomas, upon hearing this, says to him, Lord, thou hast never yet informed is ºft'. . whither sº 5 y 2 lever yet informed US º r - of the place. and k # * tº thou goest; and how can We 6 jº". in th tº so much as whither thou art going, and how then can we know the way? pos º §.” º thither? Jesus says to him, I have already intimated to you I am ... Jesus...aith, º lº going to the Father; and did you but consider this, you would soon see that ſain myself ; ; ; ; ;...; the way, and the truth, and the life;i that I s º ºs & and the life : no inan cometh .95 °. “. -v, “5 tº we life;i that I am to guide, instruct, and animate my unto the Father but by me. followers, in their passage to eternal glory, and that their progress will be sure and vigorous in proportion to the steadiness of their faith in me, and the constancy of their regards to me: and this indeed is the true and only way you can take; for no man cometh 7 to º: and enjoyment of the Father, to whom I am returning, but by means of § º ose proper, office it is to introduce sinful creatures to his presence and favour. If, sº therefore, you had known me aright, you would surely have known my Futher also, in whose tºº.". lory my ministrations so evidently centre; and such indeed are the discoveries that I ſºº" him, and have ave made of him, and such the manifestations of the divine perfections which you have Seeil Y (Ill., seen in me, that in effect it may be said, that from henceforth you know him, and have, as it were, already seen him. * 8 b Then ſhip. one of the apostles, hearing these words, says, to him, with a pious ardour pºliº.º. tº ecoming his character, Lord, do but show us the Father, and bring us to the sight and ſºle Father." ... of him, and it is happiness enough for us ; we desire no more, and resign every & 9 other hope in comparison of this. Jesus says to him, Have I been with you then,so long a 9..Jesus, saith, ºntº hiº; time, and conversed among you in so familiar a manner for successive years, and hast thou §... .';, i. * As Jirº * s you, and yet, hºst thou not yet known me, Philip? If thou hadstºwell considered who I am, thou mightest have ſº... better understood what I have now been saying; for he that has seen mº, has in effect seen º'º'; the Father, as I am the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his persºn. (Heb. º, then, Šhew us the Fa- #:% ..?nd how [then] dost thow say, after all that has passed between us, Show is the "' ./l. C1". - 10 Dost thou not then believe, though I have before affirmed it so expressly, (John x. 28. 1 º'º. º: s. * * * & * - 4 ; Ulſ T p. 233.) that I [am] in the Father, and the Father is in me, by so intimate, an union as to ſº ºn.”.” warrant such language as this?" The words which I speak to you from time to time, in tliat I speak unto you, 1 c Eclieve in God, believe also in me : Titarčucre cis Tov Běon, wat Sts heavenly places in which we are to dyeſ!, which would have been cott- gue Twa Tsvere.] These words are so very ambiguous, that (as Erasmus sidered as ſº by the entrance of such sinful creatures into them, observes) they may be rendered as herº, or as in our English transla- ...” the tabernacle, when nºw-inade, was, by ...'. passed through tion; or, jºbºe in God, and ye believe in, inc. or, Beliece in Goºl, the hands of sinners, on which accºunt an ºtonºment fºr the altar itself, and je believe" in me, and different commentators have taken them, in which was considered as idost holy, was the first act performed in, it ail those very different senses. But it appears most natural to render wº, it ºns opened. (Exod. xxix. 36, 37.) And, an atonement for the Fºuge alike in both places; and it is certain, an exhortation to # whole thbºnº alS polluted by the access of sinners to it was to be in Goi, and in Christ, would beyºry seasonablºonsidering boy wº. repeated annually. Lºv. xvi. 9...It ºr be improperto and defective their faith was. (See ver. §ºffié transition from the observe, that the word Toros is often translated room; (Luke ii. 7,2iv; passage in Luke to this in John, appears, so easy, º the paragraphs 10, 22. 1 Cor. xiv. 16.) and thus the signification here may be that Christ iſ is order, that I wonder no harmonizer should have observed it be- ..". to lº $º. º Or to º º *:::::: º I ge. he way which obstructed thcar entrance. his must at. Igast be in- °, in my Father’s house are many mansions.], Mr. Lé Moº thinks cluded, though the word £roſſºg at may perhaps express still more. Ciriºt fuſiàs to the various apartments in the temple and thº. Yº fºilicoſic again, &c.] This coming ultimately refers to, Christ’s number of persons lodged there. Maval signifies quict and continued solemn appearance at the last day to receive all his servants to glory ; 'ºïes, and therefore seems happily exprºsºft" by gºr, Bºlís: word yet, (as was hinted before iº.ſ. 9. Luke xii. 40, p. 202.) it is a mansions, the cryinology and exact import of which is just the sanic. beautiful circumstance, that the death of every particular believer, cop- .." ºr not, fºould hare told you...] Heinsius’s, version of jºords sidering the universal power and providençã of Christ, (Rey. § 18. sejmići, iess natural: he would connect and render them.ſº & pn, pº º º tºº. § º Satan is spoken of Gls having natt] ſo i !y power or death * * * * * * * - ctºrov &v vpil v3 Fºº! &LS iſ ºr Lord had said, Pład it not ãº. know, not achither thout art º It is probabie Tliomas might been so, I ibould have spoken in ºngº.º. and have tºld yºu. I think that “ifist intended to rºw: geome jº.º. earth, am going to preparé a § for you sh;it now f have no reasoa to say śi jis."ºurt there for a while, before he received his people to the that, the place being a ready prepared.”. But it, is hard to say what sense cºieştial glory. - can be made of viºr. 3- or, this interpretatiºn...! hat the piºus Jews cº- ºf ºn the ſcay, &c.) Our Lord had, so lately de);yered the sanne sidered all the glories of the Messiah’s kingdom as introductory tº the sentiment in language much like this (John x. 9, p. 230.) that it might happiness of a future, state ºf eternal glory, appears from a variety of ºf have been expected they should have understood him now. scriptures; and indeed it is difficult to say boy they, could think other- k"If you had knocil me, yºu would have.hººl ºf Father also...]—This º, onsidering how much this had been º * ; or .# they is.. .o.º.º. trºti, but it does not, determine, to what dºee he gouk have been gogg and pigus, h93 not º flºº º d!'}}• Inust be sº known, in order to receive saving benefits by him. Čompare Matt. iii. 12. Y.,8. 12. vi. 39. yº”; sº, tº XIX. 10. XXII. i Zord, show us the Father] The ex blication given in the pagºphrase 30.’ jºuke xiv. 14. xvi. 9. John iii. 15, 36. vi. # 68. xi. 24–27, , seeſ. 3 in a more probable sense than that in which Mr. #. f fin going to prepare a place.ſº When the #2. of heaven, is jajt a "iffhälä, had said, “Let us have a vision of ºthº, spoken of as prepared bºſº the foundatiºn of the ºld, (Matº ºxy: 3%) i. ºrea'ſ form, to testify the ngºgssity of thy removal from us.” iſis only refers to the diginé Pºpºse; but as that was ſounded in Christ'? (see Fjerning's Christology, vol. ii. p. 202.) f cannot apprehend that the itorial undertaking, (Éph. i. 4–6.) it might properly be said, that apostles thought the Father visible. § 6; it ºn intº heftyen as Quºſº.º.º. present (as it were) “... ºther, and the Father is in me.) .It is rºmºle ºf his º blood º; º F########!Å. º (###". Philo, speaking of the fºgos, has this expression; that he is fºrgos atkº Session Of It, il 6 py pr - * º'- - - gº § £: &#é. ix. 33,34) by #. purifying or consecrating the ºv P ãºrarai, the Father’s hºuse in which he dwells; which is nearly CHRIST'S DISCOURSE TO HIS DISCIPLES AFTER THE EUCHARIST. #. nºt of myºfilii but the which I discover and inculcate this important truth, I speak not merely of myself; but it §. ºth *” is really the Father who dwells in me that gives me my instructions thus to speak; and it is he that operates together with me, and performs the miraculous works that you have sº often seen, which are sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this assertion, mysterious as it 11, Believe me that I am in is, and incredible as it might otherwise seem. Believe me therefore in what I have said, §º"; *..."; that I [am] thus in the Father, and the Father is in me; or, if what you have so long e Or 2 & e * the very works’ sake. known of my general character and veracity will not engage you to take it merely on my single testimony, at least believe me on account of those works in which you have so fre- quently beheld the Father acting with me, and which indeed afford so obvious an argu- ment of it, that one might imagine the sight of a few of them might convince one that was before a stranger to me. sº * 12 Verily, Yarily, I gay unto And yet verily, verily, I say unto you, That you shall have, if possible, a yet stronger jº.; ºf evidence than what you have already received; for he that believes in me," that is, many of hººf';*:: my disciples in these early ages, and each of you in particular, shall receive such an abun- ;..."; Fift.” dant communication of the Spirit, that the miraculous works which I perform, he shall per- form also ; yea, works in some respect greater than these shall he perform; because I go to my Father, who has thought fit to reserve the most º gifts of the Spirit to honour my return into glory; in consequence of which, you shall be enabled to speak with all foreign tongues, to give the Spirit by the imposition of your hands, and to propagate the gospel with such amazing success, as to make more converts in one day than I have done in the whole course of my ministry. e g 13 And whatsoeverye shall And, in a word, you may depend upon it, that whatsoever you shall ask in my name, i: º, under the influence of that Špirit, and subservient to the great end of your life and minis- glorified in the Son. try,” I will certainly do it, that so the Father may still be glorified in the Son; who, when he is ascended up to heaven, will from thence be able to hear and answer prayer, and even in his most exalted state, will continue to act with that faithful regard to his Father's honour 303 SECT’. 173. JOHN XIV. 11 lºlºſhing which he has shown in his humiliation on earth. And in this confidence, I repeat it 14 " ****** again; for the encouragement of your faith and hope, that I will be as affectionate and con- stant a Friend to you in heaven as I have ever been upon earth; and if you shall ask any thing in my name, I will not fail to do [it] IMPROVEMENT. As we see, in the beginning of this section, that care of Christ over his servants which may engage us cheerfully to trust him for providential supplies when employed in his work, so we see, in the remainder of this, and in the LUKE, XXII, following discourses, the most affectionate discoveries of the very heart of our blessed Redeemer, overflowing in 35, 38 every sentence with the kindest concern, not only for the safety but the comfort of his people. We see a lively image of that tenderness with which he will another day wipe away all tears from their eyes: (Rev. vii. 17.) Surely when he uttered these words he was also solicitous that our hearts might not be troubled; and therefore has provided a noble cordial, the strength of which shall continue to the remotest ages, even faith in his Father and in him. O may that blessed principle be confirmed by what we have now been reading ! Let us observe with what a holy familiarity our Lord speaks of the regions of glory; not, as his servants do, like one dazzled and overwhelmed with the brightness of the idea, but as accustomed and familiarized to it by his high JOHN XIV. birth.” In my Father's house are many mansions, (delightful and reviving thought!) and many inhabitants in 2 them, who, we hope, through grace will be our companions there, and every one of them increase and multiply the joy. It was not for the apostles alone that Christ went to prepare a place: he is entered into heaven as our Forerun- ner; (Heb. vi. 20.) and we, if we are believers indeed, may be said, by virtue of our union with him, to sit together in heavenly places in him. (Eph. ii. 6.) Let us continually be tending thither, in more affectionate desires and more ardent pursuits. We know the way; we hear the iruth; oh may we also feel the life! By Christ, as the 4, 6 true and living way, may we come to the Father; that we may have eternal life, in knowing him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sentſ (John xvii. 3.) In Christ may we see him, and have our eyes and our 9 hearts open to those beams of the divine glory which are reflected from the face of his only-begotten Son, who is Jull of grace and truth ! (John i. 14.) Has he been thus discovered to us, as our Father and our God? let its suffice us: let it diffuse a sacred and lasting pleasure over our souls, though other desirable objects may be veiled ; ; and engage us to maintain a continual fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1 JOhn 1.3. - To this we are invited by every declaration of his readiness to hear and answer our prayers: and though those miraculous powers of the Spirit are ceased, whereby the apostles were enabled to equal, or even to exceed, the works of their Master, yet as we have so many important errands to the throne of grace, in which the glory of God and the salvation of our souls is concerned, let us come with a holy boldness to it, in dépendence on Jesus, that great High Priest over the house of God, who is passed into the heavens, and amidst all the grandeur of that ; º regards his humble followers on earth, and ever appears under the character of their Advocate and €II tº TleIlCl. - - SECTION CLXXIV. Christ proceeds in his dºg. With his disciples, recommending a regard to his commandments as the best proof of their love to him ; promising d --- * - his Spirit, and declaring his readiness to meet his approaching sufferings. John xiv. 15, to the end. º JoHN xiv. 15. - John xiv. 15. - * * * * * ge IF ye love me, keep my com-OUR Lord went on with his discourse to his apostles on this solemn Occasion; and ob- 13, f.i. SX * I mandments. serving the lively flow of their affection to him in this tender conjuncture of circumstances, parallel tº what the apostle says of Christ, Col. ii. 9... that in him digells his incomparable Dialogues on El RC6. * $4 all, the fulness of the God! bodily. Šēe fjº. 'Scott's Christian Life, the hearts of our preachers often and º vº; p. 559, note 2. illustrated by observing how the aposties, when describing the heavenly mergetic language, and seem n He that believes in me..] It is, most evident, in fact, that though this state, employ the mºst pompous and e promise be expressed in such indefinite language, it must be limited as indeed to ºr fºr words, and to be almost dazzled with the instre ºi in the paraphrase. g & º With the weight of the subject. (Compare Rom. viii. iś, ſº 9. Whatsºever he shall ask in my name, under the influence, &c.] As I'Cor. ii., §§v,"ä0...'... à"CŞ.”. “17. §".” ‘’ xii. 3 i.’ and reason in general requires some, such limitation, as is here given in the John iii. 3.) But Öhristjesks ºf it with a familiar ease and freedo º paraphrase, so the gonclusion of the verse #. implies, its for it was just as a prince who had bºnºated in a splendii court."...ii.; &nly by the grant of such petitions that the Father could be glorified in with easó"of many mºnifi. things, at the sudden view of º. º the Son. Pººsant Would be swallowed up in astonishment, and would find"im. p With what a holy familiarity, our. Lord speaks of the regions of self greatly ºr assº; - ~ b -- & glory, &c.] This is the remark ğa. pious Archbishop of Cambray, in home. y rrassed in an attempt to explain them to his gºuais at SECT. 174. JOHN: XIV. 304 CHRIST'S DISCOURSE TO HIS DISCIPLES AFTER THE EUCHARIST. SECT. he added. If you do indeed - 173. .###. that will be ºp. * º }o keep my com- me, than all your trouble and concern at parting with me. jthus on of your regard to g JOHN the correspondent expressions of fri - •3. As you may depend on 16 And, I will, pray the XIV p -- - - - my friendship to you:* and particu arly, that I will ask Fºllº. Sº, - - the Father, and he wil gave you amother Comforter,b that he many more th } OLS another Comforter, that he of my bodily presence, and abide with you, not fºr a season § as I .. pply º Want may abide with you for ever; 17 ever; [Even] the blessed Spirit of truth and grace, whom the world cannot §: #: * - as a Comforter, because it neither sees him nor knows him, being altogether j gº w;...º.º.º.º. sanctifying influences, and refusing to admit his testimony to me; but wou kno: *; is §b.”: ..."; some measure, even now, by his powerful Operations in you and b .."º - ſº II] §§ **.*.*hºiń. dwells with you in part, and shall quickly be more abundantly in a y . ; for eady tº eithº ºn.” hºi cº j of his gifts and graces. . nuy in you, by a much ampler be in you. 18 ncourage yourselves therefore with the pleasing expectation, and be as . - * - S-> 5 e assured that I will 18 I will ºfflººr 19 valuable tokens of my constant care. #. p is but º by º moSt .. - me no more, as it has done for some time past, tº: it knows me not: i. #. I º tº..." º... ..", º #. º again to you, and you shali ... º . }. # ji #.º. ause I - e e blessed effects of my distino-uishi tº y - live, you also shall live by means of those §: ºf* ...'. º: * gherish the workings of grace in your hearts, and to train you up to a sº º O 20 for sharing with me in eternal life. (Compare 2 Cor. iv. 16 hy And ; .*.*. 20 At th I fulfil this promise to you, you shall experimentally know by the most evident # ... knºw that *...*.*.*. ing tokens, that I [am] indeed in my Father, and that jou also are in me, and I reviv º, and ye in me. aß fin 21 by a most intimate and inseparable union. But this will only be the privilege of sº * He that hath evidence their love to me by an obedience to my word; for he that has my commandments mºdiº." * "...i. discovered to him, and diligently keeps them, he it is that loveth me; but none besides have *** **ś; any title to this character, whatever specious pretences they may make to it; and he that ºf º: thus shows that he loveth me, shall b } - y I • *: QA and I will love him, and wil - 5 e loved by my Father, and I will also love him, and in manifest myself to him. a most condescending and endearing manner will manifest myself to him, } 22 Judas was very much surprised at this ; not Judas Iscariot; for he, as it was said before, ...? &ndas.jaith, uptº him; was gone out before our Lord began this discourse: (chap. xiii. 3i sect. clºxi) and had "hºº"; he been there, he was always too much on his guard to have dropped any hint of his view liºuºia hº to Christ's temporal kingdom; but another apostle of that name, who was also called the world 2 Thaddeus and Lebbeus, the son of Alpheus, and the brother of James, (see note f on Mark iii. 18. p. 103.) a near relation to our Lord himself:e this Judas upon hearing Christ express himself in such a way, says to him, Lord, how is it that indu will manifest thyself to us, and not to the world? Dost thou not then intend to make a public appear- ance, which will be obvious to the eyes of all? pp 23 Jesus answered and said to him, As to that it may be sufficient to tell you, that, as I said ...º.º.d.s. before, (ver. 21.) If any man sincerely love me, he will in an humble an obedient manner ºf keep and observe º word; and if he shall be found to do so, my Father, who at all times . . ºiâ’iºśi has a tender regard to my honour and interest, will undoubtedly love him and we will ...'...}}}..." both of us come to him by the favourable tokens of our presence, and will make [our] con- - e stant abode with him : you are therefore to understand what I said of manifesting myself to him that loves me, not of any corporeal and sensible appearance, but of such a spiritual and intimate correspondence as the invisible Father of glory and grace maintains with his 24 people through me. But, on the contrary, he that does not really love me, does not observe tº lºº. and keep my words with any constancy and resolution; and therefore must expect no such ;Pºi..." spiritual and eternal benefits, whatever outward privileges he may enjoy: see to it there- ºft ... .”h:"F.;; fore, that you diligently hearken and attend to what Fº for the word which you hear which sent me. me speak is not originally or merely mine, but it is [the word] of the Father that sent me; who has particularly given it in charge to me, that I should thus insist upon practical and universal holiness as one great end of my appearance. - 25 And accordingly you Rnow that I have strongly insisted upon it as such; and these sº. Th., tºº things I have spoken to you again and again, while Icontinued personally present with you: º, being wº 26 But when the Comforter that I have promised you is come, ſº. the Holy Spirit, whom sº Comforter, which the Father after my departure will send in my name, to act as the great Agent in my cause, #,...º.º.º.º. And tº negociate the affairs of my kingdom, he shall teach you all things which it is neces º' things, - g - - - and bring all things to your sary for you to know, and remind you of all things which I have said to you, that you may tºº, Mºtsoever I not only recollect them in the fullest manner for your own instruction, but be able to re; have said unto you. 27 cord them for the edification of my church in succeeding ages. In the mean time, as In.”.” º'. *m now departing from }*. peace I leave with you as my legacy; and, as a blessing of my peace I give unto you: the greatest moment and importance tº, you, ºn/peace Igive unto you; such a peace as moné but I can impart; a peace with Göd and yourselves, as well as with your fellow- greatures, which will be the spring of solid and lasting happiness: and it is not as the ye shall In a Thus you may depend on the correspondent expressions of my ingong word of Christ’s temporal kingdom, though probably, the hopg friendship to you. The connexion may possibly intimate, that they of preferment and gain in it was the chief consideration which engaged might hope for an abundant degree of the sº communication, in him to follow our Lord. Let the reader indulge me while I j him proportion to the prevalency. Of £beir love to Christ. that he owes this remark to that incomparable person, the late Rev. Mr. b'Ée will give you another Comforter.] It is well known that the word avid Some of Hârborough; and let him join, with me in lamenting the trapakXmroç may signify a comforter, an advocate, or a monitor ; and it fatal modesty which engaged him with his dying breath to consign to is vident the bſessed spirit sustained each of these character.; but his the flames those writings, which (unfinished as some ºf them might have i.e. "Cojº discourse, ſchose to use the fºrmer, as our transla peared) would probably have been the means of spreading among tº have ionºſoland says it is by no contemptible criticism tºº. §§usands that spirit of wisdom, piety, and love, into which the whole 'ºhºeta."ºnstead of Hapgºmirov) read repºvyov, that is, the illus: soul of the author seemed to be transformed. trious, which answers to...ºſahomſºed iº.ſhe Arabic language : and so e A near relation to our Lord himself.] His father Alpheus seems tº jºhi as a prophecy of him. (Tol. Nazaren. P...?? Yºhº would have been the same with Cleopas; for as Judas ºnd James were the sons probably have thought this criticism very contemptible in any but the of Alpheus gº vi. 15, 16.) Sq James is elsewhere said to be the son enemies of christianity. w of Mary, (§ att. XXVII: 56 and Mark xy. 40.) who was the yife of 'ºïl not leave you orphans.] Elsner justly observes, that the case Cleopas, and sister to the mother of our Lord ; (John Xix. 25.) Judas, is of those who have lost the presence and Pätrºpº of sºme fear friend, therefore numbered with James, and, Joses, and Simoſ, ºmºng the though not in strict propriety a father. eigantly and tenderly gº brethren or near insº of jord, (Matt.”xii. 55. and Mark vi. 3.) j by this word opgºvovº. (Compare l 'if. ii." i7. G.,” See and Éeing so nearly related to Jesus, he might think himself peculiarly lsner, Observ. vol. i. p. 34. - - concerned to inquire into the meaning of an assertion which seemed in- à"Was always too much on his guard, &c.] It is observable, that consistent with the prospect of a temporal kingdom, in which, perhaps, Jºda's Iscariot was so finished a hypocrite, that "we never find him say: he expected some eminent office. CHRIST'S READINESS TO MEET HIS APPROACHING SUFFERINGS. Jé Fºº; world often gives and wishes peace, in an empty form of ineffectual, and often, perhaps, SEC1. I unto you. L. lot you heart be troubled, neither let * - unmeaning, compliment, that f give it unto you; but, as I most sincerely wish it, I will 174. it be afraid. most certainly secure it to you. Let not gº heart therefore be troubled at the º of my departure, neither lei it be afraid of what may befall you when I am gone; for I 'º' gº will help you to possess your souls in quietness and peace, and will establish it upon the firmest basis. 23 Ye have heard how I You need not then to be discouraged at the separation that will now be made between 28 :...º.º.º us; for as you have heard how I said to you, that I go away, so also you have been informed çome agatn unto you. f; ye as you have Jou, gº/, yo jº.; of my intention in it, and know that I have added, I will come [again] to you; and surely #' fºº"; if you loved me with a wise and rational affection, it would allay your sorrows in the mean greater than I. time, and howsoever you might have a mournful sense of your own loss, you would rejoice on my account, because I said, I go to the Father; for my Father, whose servant I am as Mediator, is in this respect greater than me, and consequently it must be my honour and º: to be in a state of greater nearness to him than the present world will admit. ... º.º.º.e, ºld And now I have told you this that I have been discoursing to you, concerning my own 29 tºº.º.º.º. removal, my return to the Father, and the descent of j irit upon you, before it comes ye might believe. to pass : that when it does come to pass, you may more firmly believe, not only on account of the extraordinary nature of the events themselves, but also on account of their exact and evident correspondence with these predictions of mine.f It will be your wisdom the rather to observe and review these things, as I shall not here- 30 after have time to discourse much more with you about them; for Satan, the prince of this apostate world, is coming to encounter me, and is raising a storm against me which will quickly separate us: nevertheless I have this comfort, that he has nothing in me, no guilt of mine to give him power over me, nor any inward corruption to take part with his tempta- º, tion. But he is permitted thus to attack me, and I contentedly submit to my approaching 31 ānā as the Father gāº sufferings, that the world may see and know, on the most substantial evidence, that I love %.º.º.º. 49 the Father so well as to refuse nothing whereby his glory may be advanced; and even as 2 s * the Father has commanded me, so I do, how painful or expensive soever that obedience may be. And therefore, that we may be prepared for this hour of temptation that is coming upon us, arise, let us go from hence, and retire to a place where we may more conveniently attend our devotions; and where I may be ready, when my cruel enemies shall come to apprehend me, to yield myself into their hands, and to submit to what my Father has appointed for me. IMPROVEMENT. SURELY, if we are not entirely strangers to the divine life, we cannot read such discourses as these without Ver.15 feeling some warm emotions of love to Christ: and if indeed we feel them, let us consider how they are to be 21 expressed. Our Lord directs us to do it in the most solid and the most acceptable manner, by a constant care to #4. his commandments; and sure such commandments as his cannot be grievous to a soul that truly loves him. (1 John v. 3.) The more we live in the practice of them, the more cheerfully may we expect the abundant com– 16, 17 munications of his Spirit to animate and strengthen us. - If we are christians indeed, let us not, in any circumstance of life, look on ourselves as helpless and abandoned 18 orphans. Human friends may forsake us; but Christ will come to us: he will manifest himself to the eye of 21, 23 faith, though to the eye of sense he is invisible; and his heavenly Father will love us, and watch over us for good: yea; he will come and dwell in the obedient soul by the gracious tokens of his intimate and inseparable presence. And do we any of us experience this P. We have surely reason to say that by way of admiration which the apostle said by way of inquiry, Lord, how and whence is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world! 22 What have we done to deserve these gracious and distinguishing manifestations! Nay, how much have we done - to forfeit them even more than many from whom they are withheld! ge With unutterable joy let us review this rich legacy of our dying Lord: Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give 27 wnto you. Lord, evermore give us this peace with God and with our own consciences ! for if thou wilt give quiet- ness, who can make trouble? (Job xxxiv. 29.) . How serenely may we then pass through the most turbulent scenes of life, when all is quiet and harmonious within' Thou hast made peace through the blood of thy cross; (Col. i. 20.) may we preserve the precious purchase and inestimable gift inviolate, till it issue in everlasting peace | In this let . our hearts be encouraged; in this let them rejoice: and not in our own happiness alone, but also in that of our now glorified and exalted Redeemer. As the members of his body, we ought certainly to maintain a pleasing sym- 28 º with our Head, and to triumph in his honour and felicity as our own. If we love Christ, we should rejoice ecause he is gone to the Father. And the same consideration may in its degree comfort us when our pious friends are removed; if we love them with a rational and generous friendship, and are not too much influenced by selfish affections under that specious name, our joy for their exaltation will greatly temper the sorrow which our own loss must give us. tº Our Lord uttered these words in the near views of a grievous assault from the prince of this world, who is the 30 prince of darkness; but there was no corruption in him to take part with the enemy. Too much, alas, does he find in us to abet his temptations: let us earnestly pray that the grace of Christ may §e sufficient for us; and that as his love to the Father engaged him to go through this painful conflict with the tempter, yet his love to us may make us partakers of his victory. In his name let us set up our banners, and the powers of hell shall flee before us. 31 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh,and hath nothing in me. . SECTION CLXXV. Christ represents himself under the emblem of a vine, and exhorts his disciples to faith and Persevering obedience. John xv. 1. JoHN xv. 1. * * 175. Hºhéºlºny SOME accident occasioning a little delay before they left the guest-chamber in which ‘’at - * e wº * Father is the husbandman they had eaten the passover, our Lord improved the precious moments in addressing John his disciples to the following purpose:* I am, said he, the true and most excellent XV John xv. 1–11. - SECT. . f. You may more firmly believe, not only on account, &c.] . It is Yery judiciously observed by Dr. Jenkin, (in his excellent Defence of Chris: tianity,) that when miraculous events are also the accomplishment of prophecies, the degree of evidence arising from them is the greatest that can possibly be conceived. - - * g Arise, let us go hence.]. See note a, in the next section.—That xat SQImetimes signifies though, or nevertheless, as I have rendered it, ver. 30, see note e, on John Xvii. 35. 3 iè0. a Some accident, occasioning a little delay, &c.] This may be gathered from the conclusion of the foregoing chapter, where our Lord had said, Järisc, let us go hence : for it seems very unreasonable to imagine that our Lord would address so important, a discourse as this to eleven pºp- sons as they were walking, especially in the streets of Jerusalem, at this public time; much less would he pour out so solemn a prayer as that in ; xvii. in such a circumstance: yet John Xviii. 1. (§ 181;) #;". implies that aji that follows between this and that, happened before he 9 306 ...” CHRIST REPRESENTS HIMSELF UNDER THE EMBLEM OF A WINE. SECT. vine,b by its union with whom my church is nourished; and my Father is the husband * I75. has planted this vine, and by whom it is cultivated that it # produce É". for his service. And every branch that is in me by an external profession, which yet is found bº.º.º.º. JOHN - - º: - * T & s - : * beareth not fruit he t gº to be a barren branch, and bears no fruit, he taketh quite away; that is, he cuts it offin .º.º.º. his righteous judgment, and entirely separates it from me: but every [branch] which bri beareth fruit, he purgeth it, 2 forth fruit, he##; that is, he prunes and dresses it, and, on ;!. ...º. # it may bring #ºo; wise and kind discipline towards it (though that discipline may sometimes seem severe) as may best answer the great end of its production, that it may bring forth yet more fruit than º: there i. be *g more desirable.” 5 3 And thus it is with you ; for, now the traitor is gone out, I may affirm, without - Jaxxr : ception that I made before, (compare John .*. *: sº that 'you CI)"e º: uéº §§ ilºš purged, in such a manner as to be clean, by means of the word which I have spoken to you unto you. - 4 whose sanctifying influence has operated on your hearts. Continue therefore in me, by the 4 Abide i º renewed exercise of humble faith and love; and I will be in you, to nourish and'supply §: *t. #"º: ou, as from a living root, with every necessary grace: for as, in the natural world, the º º: § ºf ranch cannot bear fruit of itself, but must presently wither, unless it continue in a sºft.* ºes": id."; union with the vine, and be nourished by sap from thence; so neither can you be able to In #. the fruits of genuine and acceptable obedience, whless you continue in me, and * the life of grace maintained within you by a vital union with me. y 5 repeat it again, as a matter of the utmost moment, That I am the vine, and 7 * 5 I ine, the branches, in the sense I have already explained. He i: that abides in º º: | bºrº, º §§ an intimate and vital union, and in whom, also I abide by the operations of my Holy ####"#, º Spirit in him, he, and he only, bringeth forth much fruit, to the honour of his profession, jº" " " " * and the comfort of his own soul: but the glory of it is still to be referred to me; for 8. separate from me you can do nothing, though you stand in the foremost rank of my followers, 6 and have already made some considerable attainments. And if any one that calls himself, 6 If a map abide not in me, my disciple, does not maintain such a regard to me as that he may be said to abide in mediº ..."; he is rejected and cast out with disdain and abhorrence, as a fruitless branch lopped off the ºd ś, ź. from the vine, and by consequence is presently withered; and as [men] gather up such dry i.e." e, and they are sticks, and throw them into the§ and there they are burnt, as a º kind of wood fit for nothing but fuel, (see Ezek, xv. 2–4.) so, in like manner, such will be the end of those unhappy creatures; they shall be gathered as fit fuel for divine wrath, and their external relation to me will not preserve them from everlasting burnings. 7 . But as for you my faithful servants, I assure you, for your encouragement, that if you ... If ye abide in me, andm steadfastly abide in me, and take care that in consequence of it my words abide in you, so §: ..ºhiº. # §. maintain a suitable regard to all my instructions, promises, and commands, this be done hºana ºne lessed union will entitle you to such signal degrees of the divine favour, that you shall ask in prayer whatsoever you will, and if it be, upon the whole, subservient to your own 8 happiness, and to the public good, it shall be dome for you. And let it therefore be your & Herein isºmy Father glo- caré to make the suitable returns of gratitude and obedience; for in this is my Father most jº...” - º m * - so shall ye be my disciples. eminently glorified, that you, my apostles, bring forth much fruit, by exerting yourselves -- to the utmost for the º ation of my gospel in the world, and endeavouring to enforce your instructions by the . of your lives: and in this likewise you shall appear to all to be my true disciples, and to act worthy of your character and relation to me. 9 And it is surely with the highest reason I would engage you to make this your aim : 9 As the Father hath loved because as the Fāther hath loved me, so have I also loved you, with the most constant and mesºe'ſ ºdºu !. invariable affection: continue therefore in my love, and always be solicitous so to behave, ***** 10 as may, on your part, maintain the friendship inviolate. And if you diligently and con- 10 If ye keep my command. stantly keep my commandments, then you will assuredly continue in my love; even as I have ºff...; always kept my Father's commandments, and so continue in his love; for this is the most ɺ solid evidence of it, which I give to my Father, and require from you. abide in his love. 11 These things I have º to you, not to grieve you by any intimation that I suspect the ...hº... thing, hº sincerity of your regards to me # that you may }. so fortified and animated against the º temptations of life, that my joy and complacency in you, as my faithful friends, might still hºoutºnight be full continue; and [that] your joy in me may be maintained in its full height, and may greatly - increase, as it certainly will, in proportion to the advancement of your resolution and zeal In my service. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 1 How desirable is it that we may learn from this discourse to regard Christ at all times as the spiritual Head, from whom life and vigour are to be derived to all his people ! Let us, by the exercise of an unfeigned faith, abide 4, 5 in him as the true viné; as being always sensible that without him we can do nothing; and that if we are in him 6 only by an external profession, we are not only in danger of being cut off and taken away, but shall, in the end, 2 be east into the fire. May we rather be purged and pruned, though it should be with the most painful dispensa; 8 tions of Providence, if by this means our fruitfulness may be promoted, to the glory of God and to the benefit Of 3 the world! May his word operate daily upon us, to cleanse us from remaining pollutions! and if we thus desire to be clean, let us take heed to our way, according to the tenor of that word. , (Psal. cxix., 9.) 7 We see our encouragement to º let us take it from Christ, and not be dismayed, nor yield to unbelieving 9 suspicions. As the Father has loved Christ, so does he also love his people, Let us preserve and cultivate this sacred friendship; and, whatever it may cost us, let us endeavour to continue in his love, and to avoid whatever 10 would forfeit it; making it above all things our care to keep his commandments. Christ always observing those went forth from Jerusalem. I conclude, therefore, that all this Rassed gourt by th: Şid: of the house, where the sight ºf a vine, might suggest §e they quitted the house where the passover was, eatep, though they this beautiful simile. (Compare Psal. cxxviii. 3.) , That circumstance probably rose from the table, as soon as those words; ºrišč, let gº gº hence, was, no doubt, common, in Judea, whigh agbounded. With; the finest łºśoken.” A short delay might leave room for this; for any,9me grap;;...See Gen. xix. 11, 12. Numb: Xiii.23. and Deut. viii. 8. who wº make the trial, will find that these three chapters may be delibe- & That it may bring fºrth quore fruit.] This strongly, suggests º Very Hºly read ºver in a quarter of an hour, and therefore might be spoken sublime and important thought, yiz. that one of the noblest rewards God in that small interval of time: e - can bestow on former acts of obedience, is to make the soul yet more b gºe and most excellent vine.] So the true light #. i. 9.) and holy, and fit for further and more eminent service, though it should be th; tº Śrºd (chap. vi. 32.) evidently signifies, . (See Raphgl; Annot; by gúch painful afflictions as resemble the pruning.9f a vine. & ez Xen. D. # *#; having ſately drunk with his disciples of the fruit d if any one does not abide in me..] It is strange that any should think 3% ºfte, and having afterwards declared that he wºuld drºk nogºgré this text conclusive argument against the dogtrine ºf perseverance; * if till he ºrank it new in the kingdog of God, (Mark Xiv. 25. p. 301 when to be in Christ, (yer. 2.), so plainly signifies making an external #ight possibly occasion Christ’s alluding to it. (See Grotius; in ióc.) profession of christianity, whether vain or sincere. Ör perhaps they might now be standing near a window, or in some _2^ CHRIST RENEws His EXHORTATION TO MUTUAL LOVE. 307 of his heavenly Father, cannot but always and invariably continue the object of his love and delight; may our SECT. conduct be such as that he may see reason to rejoice in us! and then we shall also have the surest foundation for 175. a sublime and solid joy. SECTION CLXXVI, Christ renews his exhortation to mutual love, and declares the Jews inexcusable in their unbelief. John xv. 12, to the end. John xv. 12. John xv. 12. i.i.º.º.º. OUR Lord, in order to impress the principles of mutual friendship and benevolence on THI that ye love one another, as have loved you. the minds of his disciples in the most powerful manner, recommended it to them at large on this tender occasion, and proceeded in his discourse to the following purpose: This is in a peculiar manner my commandment to you, which, by all the obligations you are under to me, I charge and conjure you to observe, That ye all do most cordially and constantly love one another, even if it be possible, with as great an ardour as that with which I have loved you ; so as to be ready to sacrifice your lives for each other, as I expose and resign 13 Greater, Joye hath no mine for you. (Compare John xiii. 34. and 1 John iii. 16.) And surely I can give no man than this, that a man *= #"dº. . ."f..."; more soli and important evidence of my affection to you ; for no man has ever manifested, friends. or can indeed imagine, greater and more disinterested love than this, that a man should be willing, not only on some sudden alarm to hazard, but on the coolest deliberation to sub- 14 Ye are my friends...if yº mit to lay down his life for the preservation and happiness of his friends. Now as I am do whatsoever I command yOUl. about to give you this grand demonstration of my love, so I assure you that you are and shall be acknowledged as my friends, and shall certainly share in the blessings of my death and life, if you practically acknowledge my authority, and are so influenced by my love as 15. Henceforth I callyou to do whatsoever I command you. I do not any longer call you servants, though I have not servants; for the servan t º * g & - - jºi ºhºi sometimes used the phrase, and formerly have seen it necessary in some points to treat you flººkſ ºf with reserve ; for the servant is not let into the secrets of his master, and knoweth not par- àºhei ºf º'Faî: i ticularly what his lord doth :* but I have not only in words called you my friends, (Luke have made knºwn untº You xii. 4. sect. cxi.) but on the whole have treated you as such: for all things that I have 16 Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you, an heard and received in charge from my Father, I have, so far as was convenient, declared to youb in the most condescending and endearing manner, as you very well know. Remember that you have not first chosen me, but I, by my sovereign and effectual grace, jº...",...; have chosen you to the honourable office of my apostles and ambassadors ; and have jºini, ſºld appointed and ordained you that you should go and publish what you have heard from me that your fruit should remain; • * * = * Étººk to all the world, and be so qualified and assisted, that you may bear abundant fruit in the of the Fathe...in my name, he most distant countries, and ſº the blessed effect of your fruit should continue even to may give it you. de 17 These things - I com- mand you, that ye love one another. the remotest generations;" yea, I have also raised you to such a happy circumstance, and made you so eminently the favourites of heaven, that, as I lately told you, (ver. 7.) what- ever you shall ask the Father in my name, he may perform it for you; and you may certainly end upon it, he will give it you. ut then again I would remind you, that if you would continue thus the objects of these his gracious regards, you must carefully practise your duty to each other as well as to him; for these things I command you, that ye love one amother; and this you should the rather do, 18 If the world hate, you, as you will be the mark of common hatred and persecution. Yet if you find the world hate ye know . that it hated me efore it hated you. and injure you, you have no reason to be offended or surprised at this; for you know, that mild and benevolent as my conduct has always been, yet it has hated me your Chief and 19 If we were of the world, Lord, d before it discharged its venom and mālignity on you. Indeed, if you were like the Wºia would love his 2 S-> gnity 3/ d, if 3/ ere like the ºn "...b. yºe . rest of the world, and your doctrines and practice were conformable to its customs and of the world, but I..hº maxims, the world is so generally under the power of selfish prejudices, that it undoubtedly chosen you out of the world, 5 you §.”.."...ii ºf would love its own, and you might expect much better treatment from it:e but because this is not your character, and you are not thus of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, not only to separate from, but to oppose its vices and enormities, and even to be leaders in that holy and necessary opposition, it is no wonder that upon this account the world haieth you, though the cause in which you are engaged be indeed so honourable, and your lives so useful and beneficent. * Reº.º.º. Remember and recollect upon this occasion, the word which I spake to you some time º, "..."... º. ago, (Matt. x. 24. and Luke vi. ...) and which I have but lately repeated, (John xiii. 16.) his lord. If they have per The servant is not greater than his secuted me, they will also ord, nor the messenger greater than him that sent him: ...tº'º"; º; i. if therefore they have persecuted me, and Providence has Pººl them to do it, you may gº ºs, they will reasonably conclude they will also persecute you, an keep yours also. $ º cannot justly, complain if you have your share of sufferings; and if you have seen that they have generally kept my saying, 21 But all these things will I will give you leave to suppose they will also keep yours.f But when you see, as you do not any longer, call a I ſº º - - - - - Kºº. &c..] Mr. Locke (in his Reasonableness of Christianity, p. 105.) refers this to the caution with wh Messiah; some instances of noter, on John iv. 26. p. 65 vow servants: for, the servant kngypeth not, exactly parallel to Matt. x. 24, 25. § 75. (See Lard. Credib. part i. vol. ii. p. 693.) hus Óv ſporos supº Eya), 1 Tim. i. 15. is well translated, of whom I am chief. - - e If you were of the world, the world would love its own.]. This seems to ich our Lord had spoken of his being the which have been already pointed out. See * me a strong intimation, that even in nations which profess christianit b All things that I have heard from my Father I have declared, to you..] if true religion fall 3 * ib y 9 , as it very possibly may, to a very low ebb, they - - y s Our ford had, no doubt, the fullest view, of the scheme of redemption that exert themselves remarkably for the revival of it, must, on the very undertaken by him; but the things, (compare chap. xvi. 12. of ..'é. es, and the abolition of the M osaic law, he wisely deferre the discovery of them : so that these words must be taken with the supposed. Would to God iimitation mentioned in the paraphrase, and signify that he had done, it so far as was convenient. apostles not being yet able to bear many - - principle here laid down, expect hatred and opposition; and § 177.) especially relating to the callin - * , exp pp ; and that the passages in Scripture relating to persecution are not so peculiar to the first ages, or to christians living in idolatrous countries, as some have g the malignity to be found in some of us against our, brethren, did not too plainly illustrate this remark. Men will probably experience the truth of it, in proportion to the degeneracy c That you should go and bear fruit, &c.] This was a security, to them of those around them, and to the vigour and resolution with which they that they should be preserved from immediate dangers; and, that their bear, their, testimony against prevailing errors and vices. Yet it is cer- jife should be guarded by, Providence till, some cºnsiderable, services tain that the imprudence and bigotry of some very good men has some: had been accomplished by their means,—When our Lºrd adds, that your times made matters worse than they would otherwise have been, and Édit should continue, he may allude to the custom of keeping, rich and perhaps has irritated the vices of their enemies, so as in part to have been generous wines a great many years, so that in some cases (which was accessary to their own damage, and the much greater mischief of those ëspecially applicable to the syeet Eastern wings) they might prove a that haye injured them. - * g cordial to those who were unborn when the grapes were produced. In f. If they have kept my saying, &c.] I am surprised that such a multi- this view there is a beautiful s < hope will be particularly felt when these reviving ºhapters are read. § It has liated me your Chief.] The words in the original, (eps Tºpal- observin rov gov pleugnkev,) which we render, It hated me before it hated you, (See W. ropriety in the representation, which I tude of learned commentators, and among the rest Gataker and Knatch: d bull, should contend that rmpetv Aoyov should here be understood of a person’s discourse with a malignant .# to carp at it. fius, in loc.) [Iapampetv has indeed that sense,Mark iii.2: Luke may (as Dr. Lardner well, observes), be more literally rendered. It vi. 7. xiv. 1. xx. 20. But no certain argument can be drawn from hepce, hººd ºne your Chief; which makes the expression more lively, and especially considering how constantly the phrase before us is taken in a SECT. 176. JOHN XV. 2 I 20 308 CHRIST DECLARES THE UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS INEXCUSABLE. SECT. very quickly will, not only my doctrine rejected, but my person assaulted, abused, and they do unto you for my 176. murdered, it must be a sensible warning to you to preparé for the like usage; and all these Fºy things they will in fact do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know him that sent “”" that Sent Ime. JQHN me; for their ignorance of that God to whom they boast so near a relation, does indeed lie XV2 at the bottom of all their opposition to me. And a dreadful account they will have to give 2 If I had not come and for it; for if I had not come and spoken thus plainly to them, they would comparatively have lºgº; had no sin;% but now they have no excuse of pretence for their sin, but, being committed i.e. flºº." 23 against so clear and strong a light, it stands exposed in its most odious colours: Yea, it 23.He that hatethmehateth appears rebellion against God, as well as ingratitude to me; for he that hateth and opposéth ***** me, hateth and opposeth my Father also, whose commission I bear ;h and this is what they 24 have done, after all reasonable methods have been taken for their conviction. If I had 24. If I had not done among wrought no miracle at all, nay, if I had not done among them such extraordinary works as no jº. other man ever did, not even their prophets, or Moses himself, they had not had any degree #º: if sin comparable to that which they are now under; but now, as they have rejected my su- ºated both me perior miracles, which they have seen with their own eyes, at the same time that they own the evidence of those which Moses wrought, of which they have heard only by distant report, they manifest such an obstinate perverseness of temper, that I may truly say, they have both seen and hated both me and my Father; and God himself will justly resent and 25 punish it as an indignity that shows their enmity to him. But [this is all permitted.]. that 2: But this, conth, to pºss, the word which is written in their law, or in their sacred volume, concerning David, (Psal. ..."; º; ; ; xxxv. 19.) might eminently beſº in me, as many ancient prophecies foretold that it lºw. They hated me without should, “Surely they have #. me without a cause.”i a Câul Sé. 26 But when the Comforter is come, whom, as I told you, (chap. xiv. 26.) I will shortly 23 ºut when hº gend to you from the Father, ſeven] the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, and i.."...º. º. is to reside in my church, he shall bear a convincing testimony to me, to vindicate my ...iii.º. 27 character from all the infamy they are maliciously attempting to throw upon it. And you ºwner. also, weak as you now º shall by his powerful assistance bear a courageous and con- º' ...”...". vincing testimony to me, because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry, been with me from the bo. and therefore are the best qualified to give an account of my whole conduct, which, the * better it is known, the more it will justify my cause, and expose the wickedness of those that rise up against me. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.15 THE Son of God condescends to speak under the character of a Friend; and with what humble gratitude should we attend to his words! He lays aside the majesty of a sovereign to assume this more tender relation; and surely our overflowing hearts must inquire, Blessed Jesus, what shall we do to express the friendship on our side 2 Let 14 us observe what he has here declared, Ye are my friends indeed, if ye do whatever I command you. Lord, we will run the way of these # commandments, when on this noblest principle thou shalt enlarge our hearts (Psal. cxix. 32.) 12, 13 . He has loved us with an unexampled affection, which has approved itself stronger than death; and in return, he requires us to love one another. How gracious a command! How merciful to our fellow-creatures and to our- selves, who should infallibly feel the benefit of the practice of it, both in the delight inseparable from benevolent affections, and in the circulation of kind and friendly offices, which, degenerate as human nature is, few are so abandoned as not to endeavour to repay ! ... Who would not imagine that the whole world should feel and obey 18, 25 the charm? And yet, instead of this, behold, they hate Christ, and his servants for his sake, though without a cause, and against the strongest engagements. Miserable creatures who by a necessary consequence, Whatever 23, 24 they j, fondly imagine, hate the Father also, and stand daily and hourly exposed to all the dreadful terrors of 8.It ty enemy. 19, 20 Let us not Wºr if the world hate us; nor greatly regard if it injure us. He are not of the world, nor is the servant greater than his lord; but surely the opposition which the gospel brings along with it, is nothing, when compared with those blessings which iténtails on all who faithfully embrace it. Were the sufferings and difficulties , a thousand times greater than they are, we ought to esteem the Pearl of price, the most happy purchase at any rate; and to be daily returning our most thankful acknowledgments, that Christ sent forth his apostles, qualified with such a knowledge of himself and assisted by such power from his Spirit, appointing them to go and bring 26 forth fruit, even fruit which should remain to the remotest ages. Through his guardian care, it still remains in the world: oh may it flourish more abundantly among us! and may its efficacy on our hearts and lives be more apparent! And may divine grace convincé those who now reject and oppose it, that in the midst of such various 22 evidence of his having come and spoken to them, they have no cloak for their sin! but with whatever fond excuses º may amuse themselves and others, it will quickly appear that the bed is too short to stretch themselves on it, and the covering too narrow to wrap themselves in. (Isa. xxviii. 20.) SECTION CLXXVII, Christ warms his disciples of the sufferings they must expect, and labours to reconcile them to the thoughts of his, remove, as what would on the whole be advantageous to them, as the occasion of sending the Spirit, which would be so great a support to them and their cause. John XVI. I-10. Z" Joris xvi. 1. - John xvi. 1. SECT. CHRIST further added, in his discourse to his disciples, These things I have spoken to THESEthings have I spoken R. unto you, that ye should not 177. you concerning the opposition which you are to expect from the world, and the proportion- ºff. * âble supports you will receive from the Spirit, that when the storm arises, you may not be § offended and discouraged, and much less be drawi to renounce your profession in order to 9 They shan put you out 1 avoid the danger. They shall indeed excommunicate, or cast you out of the synagogues; of the synagogués. 3. ". ood sense, for an obedient regard, in this very discourse, in which it Father, would seriously attend to this weighty admonition, lest hapl §. occurs. See John xiv. 15, 21, 23. xv. 10, Xvii. 6. they be found even to §: against God . (Acts v. 39.) ply g They would have had no sim...] [t is so evident from the word of God, i. They have hatcd me without a cause..] . It appears to me very evident (sée Roºm. i. 36,3], and ii. 12–15.) as well as from the reason of things, that Psal. xxxy. Gannot be, strictly, speaking, a prophecy concerning the that sin may be imputed to those who haye no revelation, that it is most Messiah, especially from ver, 13, 14, which represent a person incapable §ºiáčnt this is only a Hebraisin; as when, according to the pathetic of helping others, in their sickness, otheryise than by fasting and prayer; manner of speaking especially in use among the Eastern nations, that is whergas Christ (and, so far as we can find, he alºne) had a power o said to be nothing at i. which, when compared with something else, is working miracles whenever,he pleased. Nevertheless, that the enemies inconsiderably small. Šee Psal. xxxix. 5. Isa. xl. 17. 1 Cor. i. 28. iii. 7. Of the Messiºh should hate him yithout a gause, was expressly foretold, and compare John ix. 41. * - - (Isa. liii. 3–9, Dan. ix. 26. and Zech. xii. 10.) not to mention the argui j ñººth my Father also..]. How much is it to be wished that those who ment arising from Comparing all the places in which his innocence and make fight" of Christ, while they pretend a great veneration for the holiness are described, with those which refer to his sufferings. So * CHRIST'S DISCOURSE WITH HIS APOSTLES AFTER THE EUCHARIST. 309 #º.º. º. that is not all, for the hour is shortly coming, that whosoever, killeth you.” shall think secT. i.º.º."***ihai he offers [an acceptable], service to God:b to so mad a rage shall their zeal arise, and 177. 3 And these things will so thick is the darkness with which their minds are veiled. .dmd all these cruel things the § 3. "...º.º. will do writo you, because they have not known either the Father or me; which if they ha º I'ather nor me. one, instead of injuring mé, and exercising such inhumanities towards you my apostles, *** tº". º: tº: I they would haye received us with the greatest pleasure and thankfulness. But I have 4 ...iſ..."...'... spoken these things plainly to you, and forewarned you of them, that when the season comes Wºº, in which they shall happen, you may remember that I told you of them, and so may tº tº '.a."; i.e. what has so discouraging an aspect into a further confirmation of your faith. ...And I did because I was with you. not indeed say these things to you from the beginning of my ministry, because I was then with you, and could easily suggest proper instructions and consolations as new circum- 5 But now I go my way to stances of difficulty arosé : but now I speak them, because I am departing from you for 5 #". "... ." §. a while, and am going away to him that sent me into the world; and yet none of # & 2. - *- - - - - - goest thou ? asketh me, Whither dost thou go? nor is concerned to make those inquiries about that better world where we are to dwell together, which surely might well become you in such 6 But because I have said a circumstance. But because I have spoken these things unto you, and talked of leaving 6 jºi...º...” you for a time, your natural affections have been greatly moved, and sorrow has filled an pierced}}| very hearts, so that you seem almost stupified with it. tº ś But I tell you the exact truth of the case, when I say that it is on the whole advan- 7 .*.*.*.*.*.*; tageous to you, as well asF. for me, that I should go away, considering the agree- sº ment made between the Father and me in the council of peace between us; for if I do #'i'état."f Wii sei’i. mot go away, and appear in heaven under the character of the great High Priest, the Com- unto y Ou. forter will not come to you, since the gift of the Spirit is the fruit of my purchase, and is appointed to be consequent upon my being glorified; (John vii. 39, sect, ci,) but when I wiß. #. from hence, I will not fail to send him to you. ..And when he comes, he will abundantly 8 § ºie.s...a ºf display the efficacy of his grace, not only in the comforts he will give you under all your judgment: troubles, but in the wonderful success with which he will enable you to carry on my cause: * and will effectually convince the world, by your ministry,” of sin, and of righteousness, and li .9. jºuse they be ºf judgment. He will convince the world of that aggravated sin which they are guilty of 9 3 because they do not believe in me; to the truth of whose mission he will bear an unanswer- e...?'...º.º. ºi able testimony by his enlightening influences and miraculous operations: He will con- 10 §§e nºrð ‘’” “vince them of my righteousness and innocence, because it will evidently appear that I go to my Father, and am accepted of him, when I send the Spirit from him in so glorious a manner; (compare Acts, ii. 33. and Rom. i. 4.) and that my righteousness may therefore be relied on for the justification and acceptance of my people, since you see me no more appearing among you in the form of a servant, but are assured that, having finished what pººjº º I was to do on earth, I am taken up to heaven, and received into glory: And he will con- II judged. vince them of my being invested with the power of executing judgment, because the prince of this world, the great head of the apostasy, is now as it were already judged and con- demned, and shall then be triumphed over in a very remarkable manner, when his oracles are silenced, and he is cast out from many persons, and countries too, which he before possessed. (Compare John xii. 31. sect. cxlviii.) And Satan being thus divested of his power, my gospel shall be propagated through the world, and a full proof at length be given of my sovereign authority, in my coming to execute judgment upon all ungodly - sinners. 12.I have yet any things I have yet many other things to say to you with relation to matters of considerable mo- 12 to say unto you, but ye can- • * 4- * + not bear them now. ment in the settlement of my church: but I wave them at present, because I know that 13. Howbeit, when he, the you are not able to bear [them] now, and are not yet prepared to receive them.d But when 13 §§...'... "...; he, ſeven] the Spirit of ruth, is come, according to the promise. I have given you, he, as a fºr jūji not speak of faithful Guide, will lead you into all necessary truth: for he will not exceed #. commis- lºſiº. sion, and, like a careless or unfaithful messenger, speak merely of himself; but, like a wise jºin shºw you things and good, ambassador, whatsoever he shall hear and receive in charge, ſihat] will he speak; Ill (2. and he will show you things to come, as far as may be necessary to prepare and qualify you for the great work you shall be called to ; and will acquaint you with future events, the prediction of which, as delivered by you, may be a lasting testimony to the truth of my 14. He shall gloriſy me: gospel. And he shall indeed glorifiſme in the most signal manner; for he will take of 14 ...'...}}*.*.*.*...* mine, or of those doctrines which relate to me, and those benefits º I procure and tº: bestow, and will reveal and show, [it] to you in the most clear and attractive light. And 15 jºji"...ºf indeed all things whatsoever the Father hath are mine; and therefore, to express the whole º, and shall show it unto system of evangelical truth, I said unto you, that he will take of mine, and will show [it] to y Oll. yow; since whatsoever he reveals to you in the name of God, may be called mine, as all truth proceeds from me, and all real goodness is my cause and interest in the world. that I apprehend the turn given in the paraphrase saiciently justi- it to a crime not capable of conviction before any human judges; even fied. the want of a sincere love to Christ, though under a christian profession. a Whosoever killeth you..] As the lower kinds of excommunication SºC | 99. Y., 22. * - p among the jews were attended only with separation from synagogue ... b_Słaśl think that he giffers [an, acceptable], service to, God..] The worship, and from familiar converse, (Luke vi. 22.) or, in gases Qſ words, Aarpstay Tpogºspew Tº egº) might (as Abp. Leighton ob- greater guilt, with confiscation of goºds and forfeiture of all their sub- serves) be rendered, offers an Óblution or, sacrifice to God. This inti- stance, (Ezra x. 8.) the highest kind of it was a capital sentence,(Lev. mates, as that exceilgit man glosses on the text; (Serm. xvii. p. 302.) xxvii. 29.) the execution of which, when, regularly pronounced, was that “the servants of Christ, should be considered not only as sheep for indeed an act of duty and obedience to God, while they had the power the slaughter, but as sheep for the altar too.” The rage of persecuting of life and death in their hands: but after it was Wrested from them, enemies, and, beyond all comparison, the murders committed by papal some might perhaps think it an act of very acceptable piety allºt zeal, to crueity in the nāme of the Lord, in their hecatombs of whole burnt attempt such executions, though at the bazard of their own lives ; (of offerings, (if I may be allowed an expression which falls so far short of which the forty conspirators against Paul do therefore so boldly avow a the dreadful truth,) too justly illustråte, the remark. But how God will design, even to the high priest, as if it, were meritorious rather than resent the murder of his children upon his altar, the day when he makes criminal, Acts xxiii. 14, 1; and to such sort of facts these words of inquisition for blood will declare. oul Lord may peculiarly relate.—Permit me to digress so far as to add, c He will convince the world. So the word *Xe) {et properly significs. that I apprehend, in other cases; after they were thus disarmed of the Sºlº John viii. 9, 46. 1 Cor. xiv. 24. Tit. i. 9. and Jain. ii. 9.--For power of life and death, they had (as I may elsewhere prove) a depend- the ill - ence upon the interposition of Providence to add that efficacy to their son’s Pī'orks, vol. iii. p. 2S7–989. censures, which their power, infringed as it was, could not give : in ut you are not able to bear then nonr.) Those other things to which reference to which, this highest sentence of excommunication was in the our Lord refers, might probably relate to the abrogation of the cere- decline of their state called, Anathenia. JMaran-atha, or, a sentence which monial law, to the doctrine of justification by faith, the rejection of the the Lord would remarkably come to execute, though they themselves Jews, the calling of the Gentilés. and the likó i which might have given could not carry it into effect. St. Paul therefore, with a peculiar beauty some offence to the disciples, till their remaining prejudices were, re; and propriety, (but never, so far as I can find, fully explained,) applies moved. However, the prudence of Christ in this respect is an excellent ustration of this and the fºllowing verses, see Archbishop Tillot 310 CHRIST's DISCOURSE WITH HIS APOSTLEs AFTER THE EUCHARIST. IMPROVEMENT. - *...* , Hoy great is the ignorance and folly of them that persecute their brethren in the name of the Lord, and kill his 177. dear children under the pretence of offering him an acceptable sacrifice! Thus were the apostles treated by those ... that knew not the God for whºm they professed all this burning zeal. Letus bless Gojº. providentially xvi. sheltered from those effects of it which might otherwise bearso hard upon us; and let us diligently watch over our 5, 6 apostles, our hearts are filled with heart;, that no irregular affections may work there, and no uncharitable sentiments behaſhire. When, like the sorrow, let us be cautious that they may not be stupified 3 by it, so that any call of duty should pass unheard, or any opportunity of religious advancement unimproved; and let us not be indo- lent in our inquiries into the meaning’of 7 whether we are not sorrowful for that which is of rejoicing to us. those dispensations which we do not understand; but seriously consider indeed designed for our advantage, and in the issue will be matter We hear to what purposes the Comforter was sent. His coming was designed in a peculiar manner for the advantage of the apostles, and was of greater service to them than the continuance of Chists presence with them in the body would have been, not only to support With all necessary truth, and fully to instruct them in the mysteries of godliness. and comfort them under all their trials, but to acquaint them And he came also for the con- 3 viction of an apostate world: for the important errand he was sent upon was to awaken men's minds, and to con- 3 Vince them of their own guilt, and of Christ's righteousness, and of that awful judgment which should be executed > 10, 11 on the most inveterate of his enemies. Let us often think of the force of the Spirit's testimony to the truth of christianity, and endeavour to understand it in all its extent. Let us bless God that the gospel and the character of his Son were thus vindicated; and rejoice in the views of that complete conquest to which Satan is already ad- 13 judged. In the mean time, let us earnestly pray that the influences of the Holy Spirit may be communicated to 14, 15 us in such a manner that Christ may and shown SECTION CLXXVIII. * ºr be glorified in us, and we in him; and that the things of Christ may be taken to us by that Spirit; for it can only be doné by means of his influence and operations. Our Lord concludes his discourse with assuring his disciples that his separation from them would not be final, but that he would still act in their b d. favour as their Guardian, and make them finally victorious. John xvi. 16, to the en John xvi. 16. SECT. QUR Lord continued and concluded this excellent discourse to his apostles, in words to 178, the following purpose: It is yet but a little while and you shall not see me any more con- versing with you upon earth, as I have hitherto done; and yet again, for your encourage- ſº ment and comfort, I assure you that it is but a little while longer, and you shall see me ^'id again on terms of much greater advantage, because I go to the Father: plainly intimating thereby, that he would be so mindful of their interest with the Father, as ere long to bring them to an eternal abode with him.” But their thoughts were so taken up about other things, and they had still such expecta- tions of his establishing an earthly kingdom, that notwithstanding what he now had said was far from being obscure, they did not at first penetrate into the meaning of it: [some] of his disciples therefore said one to another, JWhat is this that he says to us? .4 little while and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while and ye shall see me; and why does he add, 18 Because I go to the Father?b. They said therefore among themselves, What is this little º: of which he speaks 2 we know not what he says, and cannot apprehend what he means 1t. - ºw Jesus, as the secret workings of their hearts were open to his view, knew that they I7 19 were desirous to ask him for some further explication of what he had been saying, and yet that they were afraid of being upbraided for the slowness of their apprehensions; and there- fore kindly prevented their confusion, and said to them, Do you inquire of one another con- cerning this which I said, A little while and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while and ye shall see me? Surely, if you reflect a little, it cannot be very difficult to under- 20 stand the meaning of that. Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall shortly weep and lament for a while on account of my being taken away from you,” and in the mean time the world shall rejoice as if it had prevailed against me; and you shall be sorrowful at the loss of my presence; but then you have this to comfort you in that interval of distress, 21 that your sorrow shall quickly be turned into joy. Just as a woman, when she is in labour, has great anxiety and sorrow because her hour of distress and agony is come; but when she has brought forth a child, she forgets the pangs she endured, and remembereth [her] tribula- tion no more, for joy that a man is born into the world, and added to her family for its future 22 honour and support. And so it is that you indeed have sorrow now, in expectation of the melancholy scene which is approaching; and it will very much increase your trouble to see me in a few hours more torn away from you, with inhuman violence, hung as a malefactor on the cross, and buried in the grave: but when your hopes are at the lowest ebb. I will Jo HN xvi. 16. A IITTLE while, and ye shall not see me : and again, a little while, and ye shall see me ; because I go to the Fa- er. .17. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is is that § säitä unto us: A little while, and ye shai not see , me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: an 9 Because I go to the Father : jš hey said therefore, What is this that he saith, little while 2 we cannot tell what he saith. 19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask im, and said unto them, Do yº inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me : and again, a little while, and yo shałł see me 2 pattern for ministers; and we had negd to ‘me structions and assistances of the Spirit of forget nor abuse it. - aſ intimating—he would bring them to an eternal abode, &c.) As this sense is evidently much more important, so it appears to me more natural and easy. that that of Mons. Le Clerc, who understands it as if Christ had said, “Though I am quickly to disappear from you, and, be Joºzed in the grave, I shall soon come again, and make you another isit of sºme jeºth, before f return to heaven by my ascension.” His going to the Father was no proof of this, though it strongly proved his àbility to introduce them to the heavenly world. . I apprehend that the whofe joy which Christ’s resurrection and ascension, as connected with each other, gave them, is referred to in the follºwing discourse, ¥h; therefore, is so paraphrased as to include all that is pertinent an material in the explication above. ~ * º b What is this he says, &c.) There are so mºy. Passages in the receding parts of this discourse which relate to Çhrist’s going to his father, (chap. xiv. 2, 12, 28. xv.26. xvi. 10.) that it is, a strange instance of the duiness of the apostles, that they did not understand him here. Perhaps it is recorded on puß to show what an alteration the Spirit afterwards made in them.–It is indeed difficult to imagine what cºuld perplex them, unless it were that they suspected the words, ºff little § and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see § earnestly for the in- od, that we may neither was to be expected. countenances and whispers might sh9.w. c Ye-shall weep and lament, h then but little relish to their food. See p. 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and, lament, but, the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A Nyoman when she is in trayail hath sorrow, be- cause her hour is come : but as Soon as she is delivered of the chihl, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow : but I will see &c. might, intimate, that after he had gone to the Father, and made a short stay there, he would come again, and settle an earthly kingdom ; and they might desire an explication in this view, having told them, that though they were sorrowful, he would come and - see them again after his resurrection, (ver. 20, 22.) and would introduce them to a state of comfortable converse with God by prayer, and a j of which none should deprive them, (ver. - - that he was quickly leaving the world to go and reside with the Father, from whom he came ; thereby gently intimating that no temporal reign And if we suppose him thus to have glanced Accordingly, after JQ. he adds, ver. }. 2 f. obliquely at the most secret sentiments of their hearts, it will account for that confession of his omniscience which immediately follows this 28th verse; (ver. 29, 30.) the reason of which would not appear merely from his discovery that they doubted about something, which their t, &c.] Whatever immediate reference this may have to the sorrows of the apostles immediately. on the death of Christ, before his resurrection, I question not but it includes all their subsequent afflictions in the days of fasting, when the bridegroom was taken away from them, as it is cleewhere expressed in a parallel phrase, (Matt. ix. 15.) which inust express much more than the abstinence of the one day he ſay in the grave, Supposing ºligº isºry possible) they had y * *. CHRIST'S DISCOURSE WITH HIS APOSTLES AFTER THE EUCHARIST. 31} you, again, and your heart quickly see you again after my resurrection, and your hearts shall rejoice - and afterwards, SECT. ; , ; ; ; * though I am absent from you in the body, yet I will fill you with such consolation, by my 178. - Spirit, that no one shall, by any means whatever, deprive you of your joy, which sha sweetly mingle itself even with your heaviest afflictions.d º - JOHN 23 And in that day yeshall And in that day, when I have sent the Comforter, you shall not inquire any thing of me,” 2. " ºil, ºsa...,n\; nor be puzzled with much greater difficulties than those which I have now been explaining; 23 §º. but divine illuminations shall be poured in upon you in the richest abundance, and with #. ***** it the spirit of earnest and successful prayer; for º verily, I say unto you, and repeat the important assurance which I before gave you, (chap. xiv. 13, 14. and xv. 16.) That 24 Hitherto have ye asked whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give [it] you. Hitherto ye have not 24 ºiº been used to regard me under the character of a Mediator between God and man, and joy may be full. therefore have asked nothing in my name; but then, having received a fuller revelation of the doctrine of my intercession, you may come with a cheerful boldness to the throne of grace, and freely ask whatever shall be necessary for you; and depend upon it you shall receive such a liberal supply, that in the midst of all your temporal discouragements, your joy in God may still be maintained in its full height. & 25. These things have I These weighty and important things I have often spoken to you in the obscurity of 25 i.º.º.º. ºf parables, which have appeared dark and mysterious to you; but the hour or time is coming fºllº when I will speak no more to you in parables or dark, sayings, but I will tell you what re- ºhºh.” lates to the Father with all openness and plainness of speech. In that day you shall ask in 26 iº ãº, ... my name, and shall present your supplications to the Father with an express acknowledg- ºntºyo. that I wilſ pray the ment of your dependence upon me for the success of your petitions; and I do not merely Father for you ; say to you that p will ask the Father on your account, and plead with him for the accept- ance of your prayers, though you may assure yourselves that I shall always be ready to do 27 For the Father himself it; But I represent it not to you in such a view as if every favour were obtained, and as 27 łºś it were extorted, merely by my importunity, from one who has himself no regard for your that I came out from God, happiness; for, on the contrary, I assure you that the Father himself most tenderly loves - jou, and therefore will be ready to grant your requests, and to watch over you with pater-, mal affection and care, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God, as the messenger of his grace to men; and have accordingly relied upon me with 281 came forth from the such steadfastness, that you have ventured your all upon that belief. And you have 28 ãº". fº.º. therein acted a very prudent and happy part; for I indeed came out from the Father, and world, and go to the Father, am come into the world to scatter a divine light upon it, and to conduct men into the paths of life and peace: and now again, having despatched my errand, I am leaving the world, and am going back to the Father, where I shall keep my stated abode, and whither I will shortly conduct you to a more glorious kingdom than you ever expected here. This is the sum of what I have been telling you, and was particularly my meaning in what I said ; (ver. 16.) “Yet a little while and ye shall see me again, because I go to the ather. 99 His disciples said unto And his disciples, struck with the correspondence of what he said to what was secretly 29 #º passing in their own minds, said to him, Lord, behold, now thou speakest very plainly to us, verb. and usest no parable or obscure form of expression; so that we clearly understand thy 30 Now are we sure that meaning, and rejoice in it. And now we know by this further token, even thy discerning 30 i....”..."; "...º. our inmost doubts on this head, that thou knowest all things, and hast no need that any one iº, ºne.º. º. should ask thee any particular questions, to inform thee of those scruples which thou seest gºalthou came sº º, lºng in the mind: on this account therefore we firmly believe that thou camest out from God. 31 Jesus answered them, Jesus answered them, Do you now at length believe? and do you apprehend your faith to 31 Do ye now believe be so firm, that nothing shall be able any more to shake it? Let me advise you not to be too confident; for I assure you, that in a very little time you will be found to act as if you had not any faith in me : pray, therefore, that God would fortify you against 32 Behºlºhºrºeth; those trials of which I have warned you once and again. For behold, the hour is coming, 32 ###!º yea, is so near at hand that I may even sayit is now come, that you shall aii be scattered i.º.º.º. and dispersed, and every one of you return to your own habitations and employments, or igne, because the Father is otherwise shift for yourselves as well as you can ; and to consult your own security, you with me. shall flee away and leave me alone; but yet I am not, properly speaking, alone, for the Father is with me, and he will comfort and support me in the absence of all human friends. - sº 33. These things. I have ... These things have I spoken thus largely to you, that whatever difficulties may arise in 33 spoken unto you, that in me * Hei with such consolations as these, you might ye might have peace. In the life, having been thus warned, and furnis g * * 㺠ºf laye lasting peace and serenity of soul by the exercise of your faith in me. In the world i.e. ºrjº flºwjī” indeed you shall have and must expect affliction; but be courageous and cheerful in your combat, for I have myself overcome the world; and, being possessed of a power infinitely Superior to it, I will make you partakers in my victory over all its terrors and its snares. IMPROVEMENT. WE are, perhaps, often regretting the absence of Christ, and looking back with emulation on the happier lot of Ver.16 those who conversed with him on earth in the days of his flesh: but if we are true believers in an unseen J esus, it e is but a little while and we shall also see him; for he is gone to the Father, and will so successfully negociate our affairs there, that whatever our present difficulties and sorrows are, they shall end more happily than those of a woman who, after all the pangs and throes of her labour, through the merciful interposition of divine Providence, 21 is made the joyful mother of a living child. - In the mean time, we have surely no reason to envy the world its joys and triumphs: alas, its season of weep-20 d JVo ome shall deprive you qf your #: As this promise will be for request. See Dr. Calamy, On the Trinity, p. 154. Y S - ever accomplished to all §§ faithful servants, so it is observable former is sometimes used almost in the ºfte º: fº §: how the Apostle Paul, in his more abundant afflictions, attests his expe- Matt. xvi. 1.) and the word seems to have the same ambiguity' with £iepce of its truth, when he. says, As sºrrowful, yet alleays rejoicing,” demandin English–The arguments some have drawn from hºgainst (2 Cor. vi. 10.) and mentions his share in the joy of christians as a most praying to Christ, on the preceding criticism, has no appearance of important and sacred oath. (I Cor. xv. 31.) - weight; and did £parago signify to praiſ would prove (if it proved any e You shall not inquire any thing of me..] We render it asks but I thing) that Paul lived, and Stephen died. in a ver warrantable, and thought it proper to make some distinction between sporado, which pro- perhaps an idolatrous, practice. y y un Warranta Dle, Darly signifies, to make an inquiry, and atteo, which is, to present a 312 CHRIST OFFERS A PRAYER TO GOD FOR HIMSELF AND HIS APOSTLES. SECT. ing will quickly come! But our lamentations are soon to be turned into songs of praise, and our hearts to be filled 178, with that solid, sacred, and peculiar joy, which, being the gift of Christ, can meyer be taken away. While we are in this state of distance and darkness, let us rejoice that we have access to the throne of grace J9HN through the prevailing name of Christ, Let us come thither with holy courage and confidence, and ask that we * may receive, and so our joy may be full. With what pleasure may we daily renew our visits to that throne before 26, 27 which Jesus stands as an intercessor; to that throne which is possessed by the Father, who himselfloweth us, and answers with readiness and delight those petitions which are thus recommended! May our faith in Christ, and our love to him, be still on the increasing hand; and our supplications will be more and more acceptable to him whose loving-kindness is better than life! (Psal. lxiii. 3.) 33 Surely we shall be frequently reviewing these gracious discourses which Christ has bequeathed us as an invalu- able legacy. May they dwell with us in all our solitude, and comfort us in every distress! We shall have no 32 reason to wonder if human friendship be sometimes false, and always precarious; the disciples of Christ were scattered in the day of his extremity, and left him alone, when they were under the highest obligations to have adhered to him with the most inviolable fidelity. May we but be able like him to say, that our Father is with us; and that delightful converse with God which we may enjoy in our most solitary moments, will be a thousand 33 times more than an equivalent for whatsoever we lose in the creatures. In the world we must indeed have tribu- lation; and he that has appointed it for us knows that it is fit we should ; but since Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings, has overcome the world, and disarmed it, let us seek that peace which he has established, and press on with a cheerful assurance that the least of his followers shall share in the honours and benefits of his victory. - SECTION CLXXIX. * Christ offers up a solemn prayer to the Father, that he himself might be glorified, and that those who were given him might be kept through his name. John xvii. 1–12. JoFIN xvii. 1. * * John xvii. 1. SECT. OUR LOrd Jesus Spake these words which are recorded in the preceding chapters, and then THESE words spake, Jesus, 179. lifted up his eyes to heaven, and poured out a most affectionaté and important prayer to his ..."; º;". — Father; an excellent model of his intercession in heaven, and a most comfortable and §. dialº's glorify * John edifying representation of his temper, both towards God and his people. And, that it śīleº’’” ” *I might more effectually answer these great ends, he uttered it with an audible voice, and said, O my heavenly Father, the appointed and expected hour is come in which I am to enter on my sufferings, and to complete the work for which I came into the world; and therefore I pray that thou wouldst glorify me thy Son, in those signal appearances for my honour and support in death, in my recovery from the grave, and mine ascension into heaven, which thou hast promised to me, and which I know that thou wilt punctually fulfil:” that thy Son also, in the whole series of his conduct, both in this world, and in that to which he is now returning, may successfully glorify thee, and accomplish the pur- 2 poses of thy saving love; According as thou hast, by the engagements of thy covenant, ... As thou #5 º iven him that power, over all flesh, that absolute dominion overall the human race, which jº ie will ere long receive and exert; that he may give eternal life to all that thou hast given many as thou hast given him. 3 him by that govenant to be redeemed and saved. And this is the sure way, to that eternal tºº.º.º. life;b even that they may know thee, who art the only living and true God, in opposition ºrđd.'ſ. to the idols they have ignorantly worshipped; and may know also and believe in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Christ, whom thou hast sent into the world as the only, Saviour: and to this therefore thou wilt bring them, and wilt make use of what I have already done, and shall yet further do, as the means of effecting it. 4 It is with Jºsure that I now reflect upon it, O my Father and my God, tº º #9; hº º that I have eminently glorified thee on earth during the whole of my abode here; that I tº jºiciºu". have been faithful to the trust that was reposed in me, in all that I have said and done me to do. through the course of my ministry; and greatly do I rejoice that I have now gone so far as to be just upon the point of having finished, by my sufferings, and death, the important 5 work which thou gavest me to do., Jind now therefore, Q my heavenly, Father, do thou ###, "...º.º. glorify me with thine own self, with the original glory which I had with thee befºre the . fº, º world was created,” and which for the salvation of thy people I have for a while laid aside, º: 㺠thee before the that I might clothe myself in this humble form. .. 6 I have manifested thy name, and revealed the glory of thy power and grace, to the men ...6 I have manifested, th whom thou gavest me out of the world: they were originally thiné, the creatures of thine . .” the men which * * g s º . gaygst me out of the hand, and the happy objects of thy sovereign choice; and in consequence of thy §. world: thine they were, and 2 º &zºº ºpe sº & purposes thou gavest them to me, that they might be instructed and sanctified, and formed §§§ ºil and for the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world; and such accordingly has been the influence of my doctrine on their hearts, that they have readily embraced 7 it, and hitherto have resolutely kept and retained thy word and gospel. And, notwith- t º *"º: standing the mean appearance I have made to an eye of sense, their faith has owned me # *552 eVe g & & ou hast given me, are of through this dark cloud: and even now, in this my humble state, they have perceived and *. known that all things whatsoever which I have said and done, and all the credentials which thou hast in fact given me, and which so many overlook, are indeed of thee; and that I am truly what I profess myself to be, a divine Messenger to the children of men, and 8 the Saviour that was promised to come into the world. This plainly appears to be their 8 For I have given unto lorify thy Son.] All the circumstances of glory attending the spread, that knowledge which he here calls eternal life, because the sº {{...] as, the appearance of the ...} to him in the eternal happiness of men depends upon it. th ld T arden, his striking down to the ground those that cºme tº apprººd g.The glory ºphich I had gith thee before the ºf. §: G 9 suppose im, his curing the ear of Malchus, his good confession, eford Pilate, with the Socinians, that this refers Qſily tº that g º which God intende his extorting from that unjust judge a testimony of his innocence, the fºr him in, his decrees; gº with Mr. Fleming, that it, refers only, or #ºm of Filatés wife, tº conversion of the penitent robber, the as- chiefly, to his being clothed with the shekinah, gº sink, and contract tonijing constellation of virtues and grage3 which shone $9 ôriºt in the sense far short 3: its genuine purpose. See Fleming’s Christology, öhrist’s dying behaviour, the supernatiºnal darkness, and all the other vol. ii. p. 247. and Whitby, in log. T surely b prodigies that attended his death; as well as his resurrection and asſº. d They, were º º º j ºrey, he §: reason to Šion, and exaltation at God’s right hand, and the missiºn of the Holy imagine from the sacred_story, that #. º €S yº ghosen to their Špirit, and the consequent success of the gospel, are all to be looked great º º *ś §es.”fººt i. ...; & y & º º Drevl Oils to LIle I * * }.} * º uſº, ###"&#%ight insert this clause (though neither natural sºnse of these wºrd, but what I have expressed in the para- a petition, plea, nor any other part of prayer) on purpose tº remind phrase. Compare John xv. 16. P. his a postles of the importance of their office; as they were sent to CHRIST OFFERS A PRAYER TO GOD FOR HIMSELF AND HIS APOSTLES. persuasion; for the words which thou gavest to me, I have given to them, I have re- Vealed already much of my gospel to them, and begun to deposit it in their hands; and in the midst of great discouragement and opposition, giving attention to the words I spake, they have received [them] with faith, and love, and made it manifest, by their embracing and adhering to my doctrine, that they have known in truth the divinity of my mission, so as to be fully satisfied in their own minds that I came out from thee with a commission to reveal thy will; (compare John xvi. 27, 30.) and while I have been rejected by an -ºw ungrateful world, they have regarded me as the true Messiah, and have shown they have 9 I pray, for them: I pray believed that thou didst indeed send me on the great errand of their salvation. I therefore §nº, dº.","... jray for them who have attended ºne as my apostles, and for all those who are, or shall be, me; for they are thine. § to the same faith and the same temper, that thou wouldst support them under overy trial, and wouldst regard them in a peculiar manner as the objects of thy care; I pray not thus for the unbelieving world, but for those whom thou hast graciously given me, and I am confident that my prayer for thern shall not be in vain; for they are not onl mine, but thine too, chosen by thy grace, and devoted to thy service. And indeed all mine interests, and my people are thine, and thine are also mine; and while thy glory is advanced by their establishment, I likewise am, and finally shall be, glorified in them : so near and intimate is our relation to each other; so sincere and active thy paternal affection to me, O my heavenly Father, and my filial duty to theo. Jºnd now I am to continue no longer in the world: but these my faithful servants are yet in the world, and some of them are to remain a considerable time in it, exposed to various hardships and dangers: whereas I (delightful thought!) shall soon have done with this §hoºl.o.º.ºt ... weary wilderness, and am coming to thee, who art the centre of my soul, and the supreme tº they may be one, as object of my complacency and desire.” But while I am separated from these my servants, - ºr gº so dear to thee and to me, vouchsafe, O holy Father, to keep these whom thou hast thyself given me, and let them be preserved through thy name; let them be kept in safety by thy mighty power, and be established in the faith by a constant regard to thee, and a sense of thy presence impressed on their hearts; that they may still continue united to us, and to each other, in cordial affection, and may be ome even as we #: one. Do not, O gracious Father, forget these my friends, in whose cause I have so affectionately engaged; for thou iº art witness, that while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name, and through son of pºſition ºf tº the influences of thy grace ; | Iguarded them whom thou gavest me with a most constant *ripture might be fulfilled care, and mone of them is lost, unless it be counted as a kind of exception, that the son of perdition perishes by his iniquity,f that wretched creature, who in a lower sense was indeed given to me, but fiever, like the rest, was taken under my special care, but is left to fall into deserved ruin,é that the scripture might be fulfilled which foretold it as the dreadful consequence of his treachery. (See Psal. cik. 8, et seq. compared with Acts i. 20.) IMIPROVEMENT. WITH pleasure let us behold our gracious Redeemer in this posture of humble adoration, lifting up his eyes to God with solemn devotion, and pouring out his pious and benevolent spirit in those divine breathings which are here recorded. From his example, let us learn to pray; and from his intercession, to hope. We know that the Father heareth him always ; (John xi. 42.) and singularly did he manifest that he heard him now, by all that bright assemblage of glories which shone around him in the concluding scenes of his abode on earth, and in those that attended his removal from it; and in all this too did the blessed jesus manifest his zeal for the glory of the Father. May we emulate that holy temper! and when we pray even for our own consummate happiness in the heavenly world, may we consider it as ultimately centring in the honour and service of God. them the words which thou firm gavest me ; and they have received them, and have known surely that, I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send IłłG. 10 And all ming are thine and thine are mine ; and f am glorified in them. 11, And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name 12. While Iyas with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and 313 SECT . 179. JOHN XVII. 9 10 II. I2 Ver. I Well may we be encouraged to hope for that happiness, since Christ has an universal power over all flesh, and 2 over spirits superior to those that dwell in flesh ; with which he is invested on purpose that he may accomplish the salvation of those whom the Father has given him, even of every true believer. this life, even the knowledge of God in Christ: let us bless God that we enjoy so many opportunities of obtaining it: and earnestly pray that he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, would by his divine rays shime forth on our benighted souls; and so animate us in his service, from the noblest principles of gratitude and love, that we may be able to say, even in our dying moments, with somewhat of the same spirit which our Lord expressed, Father, we have glorified thee on carth, and finished the work which thou gavest us to do; and therefore, being no more in the world, we come unto thee. Then may we hope, in our humble degree, to partake of that glory to which he is returned, and to sit down with him on his victorious throne. In the mean time, may our faith see and our zeal confess Christ! May we acknowledge his divine authority, as having come out from the Father May we be united in love to him, and to each other; and be kept by that divine word which is the security of his people, that none of them shall be lost! Let the son of perdition, who erished even from among the apostles, teach us an humble jealousy over our own hearts, whatever external privi- eges we enjoy; and engage us to maintain a continual regard to him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy! (Jude, ver, 24.) or trees; and Rev. xxi. 27. that there are some of the most abominable of mankind whose names are written in the book of life. See also Matt. v. 13. xii. 4... I Cor. yii. 5; 2 Cor. xii. 13. In all which places, as well as the preceding, it is plain that et pin is not used strictly as an exceptive particle; and that if it has any thing like that force, it is only e And I am coming to thce.] It is very plain that this clause, could not be intended as an additional argument to introduce the followin; petition; for Christ’s coming to the Father was the great security of his people: but it seems rather to be a short reflection on that dear subject, so familiar to his mind, with, which he for a moment rºßeshgd himself in the course of this humble and pathetic address. This I have en- deavoured to represent in the paraphrase. f Unless it be the son of perdition.] I am surprised that so many very learned divines, and amongst the rest, even Bishop Burmet himself, (whom I cannot mention but with the greatest honour,) should so roundly infer from these words, that the giving to Christ, in the pre- ceding clauses, cannot imply, an election to glory, since it is here inti- mated that Judas, who perished, was given as well as the rest. (See Burnet, On the ſlrticles, p. 160.) The objection to a mere , English reader might appear unanswerable : but those so conversant in the origi- nal might j. have observed, that if this text will prove that Judas was in the number of those given to Christ, in the same manner, Luke Iv. 26, 27. will prove, directly contrary to plain fuct and the yºhole tenor of the argument, that the woman of Sarepta was a widow in İstagly and Naaman the Syrian a leper in Israel top; John iii. 13. that, Christ ascended into heaven before he began his ministry; Rev. ix. 4, that the men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads, were either grass * to intimate that what it introduces may, in a less proper sense, be reduced to the number of things mentioned before it. And this l take to be its precise sense in this text; for which reason I render it [unless it be, though in some of the former instances it has not so much significa- tion as that, but is used with as great a liberty as [except] by Milton, when he says of Satan, —God and his Son except, Created thing nought valued he nor shunn’d. Thus likewise say pn is used, Gal. ii. 16. John v. 19. xv. 4.—The words before us might indeed refer to the apostles, (cºmpare John Xviii. 8, 9. § 183.) but I do not see any necessity of confining them to Christ’s care for their preservation, for th. reason giyºn above. - g Is left to fall into descrved ruin.]. The son of pcrdition signifies one who deservedly perishes; as a son of death, (2 Sam. xii. 3.) children of hell, (Matt. xxiii. 15.) and children aſ wrath, (Eph. ii. 3.) signify persons justly obnorious to death, hell, and crath. We see the certain way to 3 314 CHRIST RECOMMENDS HIS DISCIPLES AND CHRISTIANS TO HIS FATHER. SECTION CLXXX. Our Lord concludes his prayer, recºmmending his apostles, and succeeding christians in every future age, to the favourabl - * * - .--- - - - 3.V. regards of his Father and praying for their union on earth and glory in heaven. John xvii. 13, to the end. e reg s F } John xvii. 13. - e. John xvii. 13. SECT. OUR Lord proceeded in that excellent address to God which he had begun in the former AND now come I to thee; and these things I speak in 180, section, in such words as these: And now, O my heavenly F ather, I come unto thee with the world, that they might – unutterable pleasure; and these [words] of this prayer I speak, thus openly in the hearing five. jºy fulfilled "in #. of my disciples, while I, as yet am with them in the world, that they who now hear mé, hemselves. and those too for whose benefit it may be afterwards recorded, may have my joy, even that holy consolation of which I am the Author and Support, abundantly % in them. 14 And it indeed becomes me to be thus solicitous for #. comfort and happiness; for I 14 I have given them th have given them thy word, which they have faithfully received: and in consequence of this, .º.º.º.º. though they are indeed the greatest fiends and benefactors of mankind, yet the world has ºf ungratefully hated them, and will be sure to persecute them with the utmost violence, *** * * - because they are not of the same spirit with the world, even as I myself, in whose cause they are engaged, am not of the world, so as to conform to it in my temper and conduct. 15 Since therefore for my sake they stand thus exposed to hatred, injury, and oppression, I 15, I pray, not that thou mest affectionately bear them on my heartbefore thee, O my heavenly Father! yet I do #3"...º.º.º.º. not pray that thow shouldst take them immediately out of the world, . as it is ; since I shoulist"keep tº #: know the purposes of thy glory, and their own improvement and usefulness, will require *** their longer continuance in it; but I pray that thou wouldst preserve them from being either corrupted or overwhelmed by the evil which perpetually surrounds them, and that the - 16 subtilty and malice of the evil one may never overpower them. For I well know that 16. They are not of the they will meet with many trials which will bear hard upon them, because (as I have said) ºn * * * * * they are not of a temper suited to the common sentiments and practice of the world, eve: "" as I, their Lord and Master, am not of the world. - To arm them therefore against so formidable an attack, and to maintain and cultivate , 17 Sanctify them through this holy temper in them, I would entreat thee to complete the work that is so happily * * * * * * begun, and to sanctify them more and more through thy truth;” and as thy word and gospel which they are to preach is the great system of sanctifying truth, whereby real oliness is to be for ever promoted, may these thy servants feel more and more of its vital 18 energy on their own souls, to qualify them for the office of dispensing it to others! For 18 As thou, hast sent me as thou hast sent me into the world to be the messenger of this grace, I also have sent them Fºº *...* #!". into the world on the same errand, to publish and proclaim what they have learned of me. world. *. 19.And it is in some measure for their sakes, as well as for the salvation of all my people, that 19.And for their sakes 1 I now sanctify myself, or set myself apart as an offering holy to thee; that they also, ...";"...###"...; taught by my example, and animated by my dying love, may be truly sanctified %. the truth. s the truth, and completely fitted for their important office. And in presenting these petitions for them, I am not chiefly influenced by the personal - attachment of private friendship, but I consider them under their public character; nor do ºf ºº:: I pray for these my apostles alone, or offer myself merely for them, but for them also who their word; shall hereafter believe on me through their º whether it be preached or written; even for 21 those who are yet unborn, and on whom the ends of the world shall come: That, being animated by the same spirit, and inspired with the same love, they all may be truly and jai i".º.º.º. intimately one, as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee; that they also may in friendship tº #: and happiness be one in us, united to us and to each other, and deriving from us the richest Hºmeve the supplies of divine consolation; that so the world, seeing their benevolence and charity, and holy joy, may believe that thow hast sent me, and that a religion productive of such 22 amiable fruits is indeed of divine original.b And the glory which, by the covenant of re- demption, thou gavest unto me, I have, as aſ ºf by thee, given unto them, by my #.”:.."º"..."; faithful and invariable promise, as the great encouragement of their faith and hope; that one even as we are one: they may all be one, even as we are one, and, in consequence of such a blessed union, may 23 dwell together with us, and with each other, in eternal felicity: Thus therefore may it ever hat th r d be, I dwelling in them, and thou in me: that they, who now enjoy the first beginnings of §n". "...'..."; this happy state, may at length be made completely perfect in one, and be united in the ...". "... ." § most cordial love, without any jarring affection, or the least mixture of sorrow and com- them as thou'histióvoding. plaint; that so the clearest démonstration may be given of the efficacy of thy grace, and that the world by this means may know that thou hast sent me, while they perceive them under my forming care to become visibly and justly the favourites of heaven; and it may thus be manifest to all that thou hast lowed them as thou hast loved me, and hast extended this mercy to them for my sake. - 24 But no improvements, either in holiness or comfort, in this world, can completely an- - - - : -, -, -, + º-Yºº a e }, on- also, whom thou hast given swer the purposes of my love and the promises of my grace to them; and therefore, Ö Iny me, be with me where ſam: Father, permit me to say that I will, that is, I importunately ask it, and, in consequence ...º.º.º. of the mutual transactions between us, I am bold to claim it as matter of right, that they º, tiou loºdst me also whom thou hast graciously given me, even all thy chosen and sanctified people, may at ºf the foundation of the length be with me where I am, in that heavenly world to which I am now removing; that they may there behold and contemplate, with everlasting, delightful admiration, my glory which thou hast by thy sure appointment given me,” and art just ready to bestow ; for thout hast loved me before ille foundation of the world, and didst then decree for me that media- torial kingdom with which thou art now about to invest me. 17 20 20 Neither pray I for these 21 That they, all may be one; as thou, Father, art in 22 And the fº which 23 I in them, and thou in 24 Father, I will that they a Sanctify then through thy truth.] I see no reason to conclude, with Mr. Mede, that ev Tij axmóšta must be put for ets Tmy aXm6etav, that is, for the service of the gospel." That was indeed the remote end which our Lord had in view ; but the more immediate was, that their own souls might be transformed and purified by it.— To sanctify, signifies in general to set, apart to any appropriate use :, and is used with peculiar propriety with reference to a sacrifice; which seems to be the sense in which our Lord applies it to himself in ver. 19. Compare Exod. xiii. 2. xxix. 1. and Lev. xxii. 2. - - b That the world may believe that thou hast sent me.] This plainly intimates that dissensions among christians would not only be uncon- fortable to themselves, but would be the means of bringing the truth and excellence of the christian religion, into question :, and he must be a stranger to what hath passed and is daily pussing in the world, who does not see what fatal advantage they havg given to infidels to misrepresent it as a calamity, rather than to regard it as a blessing to mankind. May we be so wise as to take the warning, before we are quite destroyed one of another (Gal. v. 15.) • c The glory achich thou gavest me, I have given then; &c.] As it was plainly in his Father’s name, and by the authority of his commission, that Christ had given them this promise, which with a lively faith they had affectionately embraced; so this was one of the strongest arguments that could be urged for the complete accomplishment of it. d .jſ, glory which thou hast given me.] This may express the lustre --- CHRIST RETIRES TO THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 25 G righteous Father, the - - - §§§.º.º. i to those essential perfections of thy nature, O most righteous Falher, thus to distinguish 315 And herein thou wilt not only be merciful, but faithful and just too, as it is congruºus SECT. But I have known thee, and & e I - a. * * * * * * 180. hºnown that thou me and my followers with a peculiar glory: for though the gorld has not known or acknow- ast 86 ht, Inc. ledged thee,” yet I have known thee, and have accordingly directed the whole of my minis: ſº trations to thy glory; and these my servants too have known that thow hast sent me, and will courageously assert it, even at the expense of their very lives. And I have declared 26 thy name to them, and will, as I have opportunity, further go on to declare ſit, both by my word and by my Spirit: that their graces and services may be more eminent; that even the love with which thou hast loved me may be dwelling in them; and that I also may take up my constant residence in them, by my spiritual presence, when my bodily presence is removed, as it will quickly be. IMPROVEMENT. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it : , that the love where with thou hast loyed me may be in them, and I in them. - WE have indeed perpetual reason of thankfulness that our gracious Redeemer spake these words in the world, Ver.13 and recalled them thus exactly to the memory of his beloved disciples so many years after, that we in the most distant ages of his church might, by reviewing them, have his joy fulfilled in us. Let us with pleasure recollect that those petitions which Christ offered for his apostles were expressly declared not to be intended for them alone, 20 but, so far as circumstances should agree, for all that should believe on him through their word, and therefore for us, if we are real and not merely nominal believers. For us doth he still pray, not that God would immediately 15 take us out of the world, though for his sake we may be continually hated and injured in it, but that he would 14 keep us from the evil to which we are here exposed. For our sakes did he also sanctify himself as a propitiation 19 for our sins, that we might also be sanctified through the truth; for he gave himself for is, that he might redeem us Jrom all iniquity, and puriſiſ unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of goºd works. (Tit. ii. 14.) tº May these wise and gracious purposés of his lové be fulfilled in us! May we be one with each other, and with 21 him! May that piety and charity appear in the whole series of our temper and behaviour, which may evidently show the force .Pour religion, and reflect a conspicuous honour upon the great Founder of it! And may all con- cur to train us up for that complete felicity above, in which all the purposes of his love centre It is the declared will of Christ, and let us never forget it, that his people should be with him where he is, that they may behold his 24 #. which the Father has given him. And there is apparent congruity, as well as mercy, in the º: that where he is, there also should his servants and members be. The blessed angels do undoubtedly behold the glory of Christ with perpetual congratulation and delight; but how much more reason shall we have to rejoice and triumph in it, when we consider it as the glory of one in our own nature, the glory of our Redeemer and our Friend, and the pledge and security of our own everlasting happiness! Let us often be lifting up the eyes of our " faith towards it, and ſet us breathe after heaven in this view!. In the mean time, with all due zeal, and love, and 25 duty, acknowledging the Father and the Son, that the joys of heaven may be anticipated in our souls, while, the love of God is shed abroad there by his Spirit, which is given unto us: even something of that love wherewith he 26 has loved Jesus our incarnate Head. SECTION CLXXXI. Jesus retires from the guest chamber to the garden of Gethsemanes and in his way thither renews the gaution which he had given to Peter and the g rest of the apostles. Matt. xxvi. 31—35. Mark xiv. 27–31. Luke xxii. 39. John xviii. 1. * * * JoBN xviii. 1. John xviii. 1. LAND), when Jesus, had 4.N.D when Jesus had spoken these words that are mentioned above, and had concluded SECT. º; his discourse with this excellent prayer to his heavenly Father, he came out from the guest- 181. was wºnt, with his disciples, chamber where he had celebrated the passover, and, according to his usual custom every à."º: night, went forth with his disciples out of the city, and crossing over the brook Kedron, JoHN Y. ºłºś. which lay on the east side of Jerusalem, he came to the foot of the mount of Olives, where xviii. tijowed him.j"tiº there was a garden belonging unto one of his friends, into which he had often been used to xxii. 39.] retire; and though he knew his enemies would come this very night to seize him there, yet he entered into it,” and his disciples also followed him. Matt. xxvi. 31. Then saith Then, as they were on the way thither, Jesus saus to them, Notwithstanding all the faith MATT. Jesi is unto them, All ye shal º *- IXXVI. ou have professed in me, and all the affection which I know you bear me, yet not only : li - - - - 4 - 4-1. - CŞ one or another, but all of you, shall be offended because of me this very night; and the hour l §"; };"#"ºi is just at hand, when you will be so terrified by the distress befalling me in your pre- tº sºred abroad. [Mark sence, that it shall prove the sad occasion of your falling into sin, by your forsåking me, xiv. 27.] your Master and Friend, and leaving me in the hands of the enemy: for it is agritten, (Zech. xiii. 7.) “I will smile the Shepherd, and the sheep % the flock shall be scattered:” am that Shepherd, and you the timorous sheep, to #. ispersed by the assault made on be offended because of mg this night : for it is written, I 32 ºut after ſha'] ºn your Keeper. But, as it is afterwards added there by way of encouragement, “I will turn 32 . º"tº my hand upon the little ones,” to reduce and recover them from this dissipated state; so ŞS.] likewise I assure you for your comfort, that qfter I am risen from the dead, as I shall soon be, I will go before Joit into Galilee, and there give, not only you my apostles, but all my disciples, the amplest demonstration both of my resurrection and my love, whereby your hearts shall be established in the firmest adherence to me: and upon this he named the particular place where he would meet them.b 53 Ruſſ Peter answered But Peter was so grieved to hear him say that they should all be offended, and be scat- 33 and said unto him, Thoush tered from him, that, with a confident assurance of his own steadfastness, he answered and said to him, My dearest Lord, there is no trial can surmount the love I bear thee! and whatsoever danger or distress may be at hand, I am absolutely resolved and determined and beauty of Christ’s personal, appearance, the adoration paid high by the inhabitants of the upper \; and the administration of the affairs l • * * * * * * - Sam. xv. 23. of that providential kingdom which it is his high office to preside over. b He named the particular place where he would meet them.] An which a §§ prook ran, which took its name from the place. (Compare e Though the world has not known thee..] That kat here signifies though, the connexion, plainly demonstrates; and, Elsner produces many in- stances of it; (Öbserv. vol. i. p. 334.) To which the following instances from the sacred writers, may be added, among many others: Luke xviii. 7. John xiy. 30. Acts vii.5. and Heb. iii. 9. * * a Jägarden into which he entered.] Christ probably retired, into such a private place, not only for, the advantage of secret devotion, which perhaps he might not so well have º in the city at so public a time, §º also that the people might not be alarmed at his being appre- hended, nor in the first sallies of their zeal and rage, attempt to rescue him in a tumultuous manner.—Kedron was, as its pame signifies, a dark shady vale between Jerusalem and the mount of Olives, through appointment to meet in so large a region as Galilee would without this have been of very little use; and Matt. xxviii. 16. (§ 362.) expressly declares such an appointment. . We do not know the exact place, but we there learn from Matthew, it was a certain mountain; probably it might be near the sea of Tiberias; not only because we find Christ on the borders of that sea after his resurrection, (John Xxi. i. § 200.) but also because, as he had resided there longer than any where else, he had, no doubt, the greatest number of his disciples thereabouts; and it lay pretty near the centre of his chief circuits, and therefore must be most gonvenient, especially for those beyond Jordan, where many had of late believéd in him. See John x. 40–42. § 134 346 SECT . 181. MATT. XXVI. 34 CHRIST RETIRES TO THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. upon it, that though every one besides, and even all the rest of these my brethren, should be offended because of the calamities that are coming on thee, and upon this account º be induced to forsake thee, yet will I never be offended, but will follow thee even to the last. Jesus said to him, Peter, this confidence does not at all become thee, especially after the warning I gave thee at supper; but I repeat it again, and verily I say unto thee, Thai to- day, yea, ſeven] this very night which is now begun, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt repeatedly deny me in the most shameful manner; for after thou hast heard it once, thou shalt not §: admonished, but before it crow a second time thou shalt repeat the fault; nay, thou shalt do it thrice, and every time with new aggravations. # - But Peter upon this, instead of being awakened to a humble sense of his own weak- ness, spake the more eagerly, [and] with a mixture of grief and indignation at the thought, said to him, Lord, no danger whatsoever can induce me to be guilty of such baseness; for such is the sincerity and strength of my affection to thee, that though I should die with thee on the place, yet I will not deny thee in any manner or degree,d but would a thousand times rather fall by thy side in a brave and resolute defence, than so much as seem to neglect thee, or in any respect to fail of the strictest and most affectionate fidelity. Like- wise also said all the disciples, with equal sincerity of present intention, though neither he nor they had courage enough to abide by that resolution. Jesus therefore insisted no fur- ther on the matter, but left them to be taught by the event. IMPROVEMENT. - all men shall be offended :cause of thee, [yet] will I never be offended. . [Mark xiv. 29.] 34 Jesus said unto him, grily I say unto thee, That this [day, even in º night, before the cock crow (twice.j th9u shalt deny me thrice. [Mark xiv. 30.] 35 [But] Peter [spake the more vehemently, andl said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will i not deny thee, [in any wise.j Likewise also said all the disciples. [Mark xiv. 31.j Ver.31 . So feeble is the heart of man, and yet so ready to trust to its own strength ! ... So gracious is the Lord Jesus 32 Christ, that great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, who gave himself to be smitten for his flock when they had for- saken him; and then returning, sought them out again, and fed them in richer pastures than before 35 34, 35 SECT. 182. MATT. XXVI. 37 38 How reasonable is it that our hearts should be fixed in the most inflexible resolution for his service: that we should every one of us say, with the utmost determination of soul, Lord, though I How fit should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee!. For how could death wear a more graceful or a more pleasing form, than when it met us close by our Saviour's side, and came as the seal of our fidelity to him? Surely this is the language of many of our hearts before him, especially when warmed and animated by a sense of his dying love to us. Yet let us not be high-minded; for Peter, after this declaration, denied his Master; and the same night in which they had protested they would never leave him, all the disc (Matt. xxvi. 56.) Nor, on the other hand, let the view of that frailty discourage, thoug jº forsook him and fled. n it ought to caution, us; for the time came when each of them behayed as they here spoke; and they who in his very presence acted so weak a part, through the influences of his strengthening Spirit, resisted unto blood, and loved not their lives winto the death, for the testimony of Jesus. (Rev. xii. 11.) SECTION CLXXXII. Jesus enters the garden of Gethsemane, and falls into his agony there; during which his disciples fall asleep, for .# % gently reproves them, Matt. xxvi. 36–46. and warns them of the chemies’ approach. MATT. xxvi. 36. THE.W. after this discourse with his disciples, Jesus comes with them to the place we men- tioned above, which was called Gethsemane, as being a very pleasant and fertile garden,” and when he was arrived just at the entrance into the place whither he was used to retire, he says to eight of his disciples, Sit ye down here a while, and observe what passes abroad, while I go and pray in yonder retirement. * s = -s ºr - ...And as this was a yery extraordinary passage of his life, he took along with him Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, who had been witnesses of his transfiguration, and were now chosen by him to be witnesses of his agony. And as he went on with them towards a more retired part of the garden, he began to be in a very great and visible dejec- tion, amazement, and anguish of mind, on account of some painful and dreadful sensations which were then impressed upon his soul by the immediate hand of God. Then turning to his three disciples, he says to them, My friends, you never saw me in so great distress as now ; for my soul is surrounded on all sides with an extremity of anguish and sorrow, which tortures me even almost unto death; and I know that the infirmity of human nature must quickly sink under it, without some extraordinary relief from God; to him therefore I will apply with the greatest earnestness: and do you in the mean time continue here and watch with me," considering how liable we are to be surprised; [and] let me remind you Mark xiv. 32–42. Luke xxii. MATT. xxvi. 36. THEN cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane; and U.K.E.1 when he was at the place, hej saith unto ºº: Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder, [Mark xiv. 32.’Luke xxii. 40.] tº wº 37 And he, took with him Peter, and the two sons of Zebede, [James and John, and began to be sºrrowful, Sore amazed, and , very heavy. [Mark xiv. 33.] 38 Then saith he unto c After the warning I gave thee at suppºr.] See Luke xxii. 34. and John xiii. 38. p. 299. fpersuade myself that an attentive comparison them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me : [LUKE, and pray, that ye this awful scene: ſor Xevtſeva flat signifies to be penetrated with the most of those texts with these before us in Matthew and Mark, will cony ince the reader that these admonitions were first given at the table, and noty repeated as they went out: nor can I find any way of forming them aſl harmoniously into one compound text, without such a supposition. Spake the more eagerly,–I pill not deny thee in any manner or de- gree..] Ek Téptagov exeye paNAov,-ov pin gº airapungopat. I think the energy of these original expressions cannot be reached in a version: I have, therefore attempted it in the paraphrase: and must observe, that if Mark’s gospel was reviewed by Peter, as the ancients say, (and par- tigularly Clemens Alexandrinus, as quoted by Eusebius, Hist, Eccles. lib. ii. Cap, 15. on which seg Dr. Lardner’s Credibility, part ii. vol. ii. chap. 32. § 3.) it is peculiarly worth our notice, that the aggravations attending Peter’s d; of our Lord should be more strongly repre- sented by Mark than by any other. Evangeſist ; which, in that case, pro- bably was done by his own, particular direction and may be regarded as a genuing proof of his deep humiliation and p?nitence. Compare Mark Xiv. 60–72...with Matt. xxvi. 69–75. Luke xxii. 54—62. and John xviii. 25–27. § 184. a Called Gethsemane, as being a very pleasant, and fertile garden.) It is well known, that Enon-v Nº signifies the valley of fatness. The gar- den probably had its name from its soil and situation, and lay in some little valley between two of those many hills, the range of which con- stitutes the mount, of Olives; and it is with some peculiar reference to this situation, that some have rendered it torcular olei, or a fat of 02t. b He began to be in great dejection, amazement, and anguish of mind.] The words which our translators use here, are very flat, and fall vastly short of the emphasis of those terms in which the Evangelists describe lively and piercing sorrow; ; and admwovety to be quite depressed and almost overwhelmed with the load. Mark expresses it, if possible, in a more forcible and stronger manner; for ck9ap/8evo 64, imports the most shocking mixture of terror and amazements and Tspoxvirog, in the next verse, intimates that he was surrounded, with sorrow, on every side, so that it broke in upon him with such violence, that, humanly speaking, there was no way of escape, I have endeavoured as well as I could to express each of these ideas in the paraphrase.--Dr. More truly observes that Christ’s continued resolution, in the midst of these agonies and supernatural horrors, was the most heroic that can be, imagined, and far superior to valour in singic, combat, or in battle; where, in one case, the spirit is raised by natural indignation, and in the other, by the pomp, of war, the sound of martiſt] music; the º: of fellow-soldiers, &c. See More’s Theolog. #. p. 38.--Dr. Whitby, will not allow that these agonies arose from the immediate hand of God upon him, which he thinks not to be the case even of the damped in hell. But it seems impossible to prove that it is not... [Ie rather thinks that it might ariso from a deep apprehension of the malignify of sin, and the misery brought upon the world by it. . But considering how much the mind of brist was wounded and broken with what, he now endured, so as to give some greater external signs of distress than in, any other circum- stance of his sufferings, there is reason to conclude theré was something extraordinary in the degree of the impression: and it surgly comes much to the same, whether we say, that God, by his own immediate agency, impressed some uncommon, horrors gn his mind, or that the Strengt. º: spirits, and º s the tone of his, nerves, were so im- paired, that the ". he had of º should affect him to a de- ree of oxquisite and uncommon SenS1b111ty. g :*}..." with me..] Had they done this carefully, they would soon CHRIST's PRAYER IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEAIANE. I 31. sect. clxxxi. Mark xiv. 35. And he went forward a little, [LUKE, an was withdrawn from them ...} iºd sº ſºil *::: nee leſſ ClOVV In, J and fell LOT! his ſage], on the ground, and face to the Srayed, that if it were possi- with which }. the hour º from him. [Matt. xxvi. 39. Luke xxii, 41. s 36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible pnto theq; my Father, if it be possible,) take away this that thou immediately woul ºp; ſº ſº, now pass fom me, and let comfort and peace return to my soul: nevertheless, if thou seest me;...heyertheless, not wh 3.E * * g tº * s * 4. *"...iii.º...".”; º; it necessary to continue it, or to add yet more grievous ingredients to it, I am here ready [Matt. xxvi, 39.] to receive it in submission to thy will, and resolutely say upon the whole, JVot as I will, but as thou wilt; for though nature cannot but shrink back from these sufferings, it is the determinate purpose of my soul to bear whatsoever thine infinite wisdom shall see fit to appoint. ſº ſº bººth, º: the disciples, an ndeth s tº them sleeping ; and saith to the three disciples, Oſ?? unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou ? couldst not thou watch one inour? (What, could ye not watch with me one hour?] [Matt. xxvi. 40.] Pºiº to stand by me, and not was in such an agony ? And you that were so ready to join with him in the same profession, could neither of you be mindful of me: and in this time of my extreme distress, were ſe all so unable to perform 38 Watch, ye, and pray, lest ye enter into temptation: the spirit truly is [willing,) but the flesh is weak. [Matt. xxvi. 4I.] your resolution as not to watch one single hour with me? watch and pray with the greatest earnestness, that #. dangerous temptation which is now approaching:**t may not enter, into and fall by that spirit indeed is forward, and ready to express the dutiful regard that you have for me, and I know your resolutions of adher- ing to me are very sincere; but yet, as your own present experience may convince you. the flesh is weak;f and as you have been so far prevailed upon by its infirmities as to fall asleep at this very unseasonable time, so, if you are not more upon your guard, and more importunate in seeking for assistance from above, it will soon gain a much greater victory over you. 39 And again he went away [the second time,) and prayed, and spake the same Wººds, saying, Q my Father, words, or expressing himself to the like effect, with the same ardour and submission, saying, if this cup may not pass away Tom me, except I drink it, thy Y O my Father, if it be necessary, in pursuance of the great end for which I came into will be dome.] [Matt. - -- re- * tº be doned (Matt the world, that I should endure these grievous sufferings, and this cup cannot pass from me without my drinking blood. 40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for , their eyes were heavy,) g it, and yº out, as it were, the very dregs of it, I will still humbly acquiesce and say, thy will e done, how painful soever it may be to flesh and neitherwist they what toº weighed down with weariness and sorrow ; and he admonished them again as before : and swer him. [Matt. xxvi. 43.] Matt. xxvi. 44. And he left, them; and went away they were so thoroughly confounded that they knew not what to answer him; and yet im- mediately after, they were so weak and senseless as to relapse into the same fault again. .And having roused them for the present from their sleep, he left them, and went away ...in."j ºcãºhe thirā again, and prayed the third time, speaking much the same words as before, or offering peti- time, saying the same words; +; • Sº fºii. 33." Sa tions to the same effect:8 Saying Father, if thou pleasest to take away this cup from me, * * * by Ing e * - I s º g w * , tº Father, if thou be Wiii.; and to excuse me from the continuance of this bittér anguish and distress, it is what would remove this cup from me: ... .ºn...; greatly rejoice me, and with due submission I would humbly ask it; nevertheless, as I said 43 before, not my will but thine be dome. And in this last address, his combat was so violent tº and severe, that he was almost overwhelmed; and therefore, for his assistance against the powers of darkness, which united their force against him in the most terrible manner, thine, be done. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. there appeared to him an angel from heaven, standing near him in a visible form, strengthen- - ing him by that sensible token of the Father's protection and favour, and suggesting such 44 And being in an agony, holy consolations as were most proper to animate his soul in such a struggle.i. Yet with 44 all these assurances that he was still the charge of heaven, and quickly should be made have found a rich equivalent for their watchful care; in the eminent inn- provement of their graces by this wonderful and edifying sight. d Take away this cup.] Nothing is more common than to express a portion of comfort, or distress by a gup, alluding to the custom of the father of a family, or master of a feast, to send to his children or guests a cup of such liquor as he designed for them. See note d, on ń..."; ; ; of that note, compare Psal. xvi. 5.xxiii. 5. lxxv. S. Jer. xi. 7. xlix. 12. Lam. iv. 21. Ezek. xxiii. 32, 33. Hab., ii. 16. and Rev. xiv. 10. xvi. 19. In some of which texts there may, perhaps, be a reference to the way of executing some criminals by sending them a cup of poison; which is well known to have been an Eastern, though not (so far as I can learn) a Jewish, custom. * - * . and with the texts which are referred to at the end. than we could wish - * - S. Šgeºis much the same acords.] It is plaim, by comparing ver. 39. and 42. that the words were not entirely the same ; and it is certain that Xoyos often signifies matter; so that no more appears to be intended than that he prayed to the same purpose as before. e Watch and pray, &c.] How poorly is this exhortation answered by those vigils †ººl offices of ić omish church, which are said to have had their original from hence , , Rhemish Testam. p. 79.-I think it more proper, on a review, to render Støs 8k taxvorate in the preceding verse, with Dr. Hammond, Were ye so wrable, &c. than to retain our version of grays, what, which seems a less common and less forcible sense. f The spirit indeed is forward and ready, but, the flesh, is ºceak.] So gentle a rebuke, and so kind an apology, (as Archbishop Tillotson very }.} and beautifully observes,), were the more remarkable, as, our ord’s mind was now discomposed with sorrow, so that he must have the deeper and tenderer, sense,9f the unkindness of his friends. (See Tillotson’s Works, vol. ii. p. 435.)—How apt are we to think affliction an excuse for peevishness! But, how unlike are we to Christ in that thought, and how unkind to ourselves as well as our friends, to whom, in n . If thou pleasest to take away this cup ſram me.] The observing reader will easily perceive by the paraphrase; that I do not suppose our Lord hººd to be sº entirely from sufferings, and death. Such a petition appears to me so inconsistent with that steady constancy he always showed, and with that lively turn, (John Xii, 27, 28, p. 259. in which he seems to disown such a prayer, that I think even Flooker’s solution, though the best I have met with, is not sqtisfactory. (Hooker’s Eccles. Polity, lib. v. § 48.) It appears to me much safer to expound it, as Sir Matthew Hale does, (in his Contemplations, vol. i. p. 59.) as re- lating to the terror and severity of the combat in which he was now actually engaged. (See Limborch’s Theol. lib. iii. cap. 13. § 17.) This throws great light on Heb. v. 7. He was heard in that he ſeared.—Since the former editions, I have had the pleasure to find this interpretation beautifully illustrated and judiciously confirmed by the learned Dr. Thomas Jackson, in his Works, vol. ii. p. 813, $17,947. i fln angel from heaven, strengthening him.] Some of the ancient christians thought it so dishonourable to Christ that he should receive such assistance from, an angel, that they onitted this verse in their copies; as Jerome and Hilary inform us. It is indeed wanting in some manuscripts: but far the greatest number of copies have it; and could lilary have proved it a spurious addition, he would, no doubt, have done it, since it so directly contradicts the wild notion he seems to such tº with our best temper, we must be more troublesome 347 - - - º & " . . . . . ... i fººj tº also to pray for yourselves, that you may not enter into that dangerous templatoº of which sect, º" " " " " I have just been giving you notice, or may be kept from falling by it. See Matt. XXvi. 182, ...And going on a little way from thence into a more retired part of the garden, when he MARK was now withdrawn about & stone's throw from the place where he left them, he first humbly knelt down, and then, as the ardour of his devotion increased, he prostrated himself on his * º and prayed, that if it were possible, that dreadful season of sorrow; e was then almost overwhelmed, might be shortened and pass from him. .And he said, Abba, Father, I know that all things proper, to be done are possible to thee; 36 and, O my Father, if it be so far possible as to consist with what thy wisdom has appointed for the advancement of thy jº, and the salvation of thy people, ſearnestly beseech thee st iake away this cup of bitterness and terror? [ſeq,] let [it] XIV, .And upon this, rising up from the ground of which he had Îain prostrate, he comes again 37 , notwithstanding the distress that he was in, and the command that he had given them to watch, he finds them all asleep; and he particularly says to Peler, (who had but lately, made such solemn protestations of his peculiar zeal and fidelity,) What, Simon, dost iſſou sleep at such a time as this? and after thou hadst just declared thy resolution to die with me, couldst thou so soon forget thy so much as watch or keep awake but for one hour, when must again exhort you to 38 And when he had thus gently admonished them, he went away again the second time to 39 a little distance from them, and prayed as he had done before, speaking much the same ..And returning back to his three disciples, he found them asleep again; for the fatigue and 40 trouble they had ſately undergone had exhausted their spirits, and their eyes were quite RIATTY XXV S. I, J Kºº XXIIs SECT. 1S2, l, UKE XXII. 44 45 AºA TT. XXVI. 45 46 Ver, 40, 43 lUKE XXII. 41, 42 4 4 MATT's XXVI. 3 º 8 39, 42 4. I CHRIST'S ACONY IN THE GARí) EN OF GETHSEMAN E. Yictorious over all, his terror and distress continued; and being in an unspeakable 43 ºf ºººººººº... he prayed yet more intensel than before, insoºch, that, though he was now in the open *::::::"º. "º. air; and in the cool of the night, his stocal ran off with uncommon violence; yea, so extra- dºwn tº roºt. ordinary was the commotion of animal nature, that blood was also forced in an amazing D1&I, Her through the pores tºgether with the sweat, which was as it were great drops of bloºd falling down from his face, and dropping in clots on the ground, as he bowed himself to the earth.k - y :3; d rising up from #. after this dreadful conflict, he came back to his disciples the nº.º.º.º. third tige, and notwithstanding the repeated admonitions he had given them, he again §"i"...º."º.º. found them, 3iecping ; for their SenSeS W. Gre quite stupified and their spirits exhausted with third time.) he found them SO?”)'O?!? And he aid : the }}ºhn, d - 5 * sleeping for sorrow, [Matt, ſolº anale said to them, fifty do you still go on to sleep at such a season as this 2 xxxi. 35. Markºv. Aij his drowsy disposition makes it necessary to renew my exhortation, and to call upon you wº. # §'ſ.'...'. yet 9nce mºre to grise and pray that you mudy not enter into a circumstance of very danger- test ye enter into temptation. • * ~ * . o {{< - g - • * S- * gº. Otis temptation. But, as al this did not sufficiently rouse them, and he knew those that Mºtºxvii.; sº lº ºthe to ºpprehend him were just now entering the garden, he altered his voice, and said ...º.º. § to thern in an ironical manner, You may now sleep on if you can, and take your rest as long is º :] º: tg.º. as you please: I have been calling you to watch; but it is now enough; for this season i.º.º.º. º ºf watching is ºver, and I have no further need to press you to it: you will now be roused lºorsioners. Mark six. by another kind of alarm than what my words have given; for behold, the long-expected - 3 ** * * ** - , ºr * * Q., tº º *— liºn is at length come, and the Son of man is even now betrayed into the hands of the most inhuman sinners. 23rise, therefore, and let us go along with them whithersoever they shall bá. ſº l; . }. jºi; * e • *-e- - - • * *-*. m. tº o , he 1S at hall * fºlſ. lead us; for behold, he that betrajeth ºne is just at hand. Accordingly Judas and his ºtº, e." [ºk sº. retinue immediately appeared, and seized him in the manner which will be next related. IMPROVEMENT. O3, the most transient survey of this amazing story, we cannot but fall into deep admiration. What a sight is here! Let our souls turn aside to behold it with a becoming temper, and surely we must wonder how the disciples could sleep in the midst of a scene which might almost have awakened rocks and trees to compassion. Behold the Prince of life, God’s incarnate and only-begotten Son, drinking of the brook in the way, (Psal. cx. 7.) and not only tasting, but drawing in full draughts of that bitter cup which his heavenly Father put into his hands on this awful occasion. Let us behold him kneeling, and even prostrate on the ground, and there pouring out his strong cries and tears to him that was able to save him from death. (Heb. v. 7.) Let us view him in this bloody agony, and say, If these things be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry 2 (Luke xxiii. 31.) If even Shrist himself was so depressed with sorrow and amazement, and the distress and anguish he endured were such, that in his agony the sweat ran from him like great drops of blood, when our iniquities were laid upon him, and it pleased the Father to bruise him, and to put him to grief, (Isa. liii. 6, 10.) how must the sinner then be filled with horror, and with what dreadful agonies of anguish and despair will he be overwhelmed, when he shall bear the burden of his own iniquities, and God shall pour out all his wrath upon him? Behold how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God! (Heb. x. 31.) Here was no human enemy near our blessed Redeemer; yet such invisible terrors set themselves in array against him, that his very soul was poured out like water; nor was there any circumstance of his sufferings in which he discovered a greater commotion of spirit. Nevertheless, his pure and holy soul bare all this without any irregular perturbation. In all this he sinned not by a murmuring word or an impatient thought: he shone the brighter for the furnace of affliction, and gave us at once the most wonderful and the most amiable pattern of resignation to the divine disposal, when he said, Father, not as I will but as thou wilt.—May this be our language under every trial : Lord, we could wish it was; and we would maintain a holy watchfulness over our own souls, that it may be so! But in this respect, as well as in every other, we find that even when the spirit is willing the flesh is weak. How happy is it for us that the blessed Jesus knows our frame, and has learnt, by what he him- self suffered in our frail nature, to make the most compassionate allowance for its various infirmities! Let us learn to imitate this his gentle and gracious conduct, even in an hour of so much distress. Let us bear with and let us pity each other, not aggravating every neglect of our friends into a crime, but rather speaking of their faults in the mildest terms, and making the most candid excuses for what we cannot defend. Let us exercise such a temper even in the most gloomy and dejected moments of life ; which surely may well be expected of us, who ourselves need so much compassion and indulgence almost from every one with whom we converse; and, which is infinitely more, who owe our all to the forbearance of that God of whose mercy it is that we are not utterly consumed. SECT. 183. JOHN XVIII. SECTION CLXXXIII. Jesus is betrayed by Judas, and snized by the guard, to whem, after glºriºus displays of l;is power, lº, voluntarily surgºeſ himselſ, and is then forsakcii by all his disciples. Aja it. xxvi. 47–55. Mark Niv. 43–32, Luke xxii. 47–53. John Xviii. 2—I:2. G HN XYiii. 2. . . . . ) Jo Fix xviii. 2. .N'O}} when our Lord was thus retired to the garden, Judits alsº that betrºiſed him knew ANP, Judas, also which he, the place; for Jesus often resorted thither in company with his disciples," and had particu- fº jºi...","...i larly done it again and again since his coming up to spend this passover at Jerisalem. iiiticſ with his disciples. (Compare Luke xxi. 37. p. 291.) Judas therefore, taking with him. a band [of soldiers, Or 3 Judas, then having re- a Roman cohort, with their captain, (see ver, 12.) and some Jewish afficers, sent for that §. 㺠purpose from the chief priests and other Pharisees belonging to the Sanhedrim, who were and Piarisees coineth hither maintain, that Christ was incapable of any painful sensations. (See Dr. Chºstºlºgy, vol. ii. p. 130.), But however this be, I can bardly think, Mill, in loc. - as Dr. Scott suggests, that there was soºng supernatural agency, of th9se fis sizéat was as it were great drops of blood, &c.]. Many expositors evil spirits in the drowsilies; of the disciples, since the sacred historian have thought, as M. Le Clérc did, that the expression [6 tºos avrò is silent on this iread, and refers it tº another cause: &act tºpogºſłot atgaros) only implies that his drops ºf sweat were. large a Jesus, often resorted thither, iſ:{{k, his gisciples.] It was probably a and climiny like clots of gore; but Dr. Whitby observes, that Aristotle garden which belonged to one of Christ’s fº and t O yhich he ha; * anj Diodorus Siculus hôth mention bloody sweats 4s attending sºme išeň. of retiring whenever he pleased. And here accordingly be often extraordinary agony of mind; and I find Igeti, in his Jºſe of Pore used to spend some considerable tº jº iº pºlis ºnverse, tº §º jº, p. 26.5. and Šir John Chardin, in his. Histºry, of Persiſ, Yo!: the eyeings or nights after his indºlatiºn bleak, .*. "...; º ". i. p. 126. mientioning a like phenomenon ; 3.2 which Dr. Jackson (in his temple by day. It is indeed amºzing low. flesh j | lood cºuld go PWorks, vol. ii. p. Šiš.) aids another from Thuanus, lib. x. p. 221,7–Dr. through such incessant ſatiºus; but it is very P. pable Christ ºt §cºtt ind Wir. Fieming both imagine that Christ Bow struggled with the gzęrt some miraculous power QºS his own anima iſ."...iº. jº spirits of darkness.: the fortner. ...}. he was now surrounded with a it for such, difficult sºrºices, and § . ſt § eaſºn, an .#. Highty host of devils, who exercised all their force and malice, to gºrse- otherwise the copiºus dews W º i. º º Éd lºgº live cºnd distract his innocent soul; and the latter suppºses that Satán been very dangerous; (as hav º º ºft ºntº th #". '...} ...'., hoped, by overpowering him here, to have prevented the accomplish- cially when the body, was hgate y preaching in the day, and often by ment of the prophecies relating to the manner. and gircumstanges of his travelling several miles on foot. ãºil." (še a $cott's Christian Life, vol. iii. p. 149. and Fleming's CHRIST BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 319 with lanterns, and torches, chiefly concerned in this affair, comes thither with torches, and lamps, and hostile weapons; SECT. and weapons. which they brought with them, though it was now full moon, to use their arms, if they 183. should meet with any opposition, or to discover him by their lights, if he should go about to hide himself, as they foolishly imagined he might, among the private walks or other MARK y recesses of the garden. e -- it is e ºf XIV. diš. §hoºl ..., .And immediately, while he was yet speaking to his disciples, and giving them the * 43 jida. Šišić tºº, mentioned in the close of the last section, behold, this very Judas, one of the twelve apostles, §..."; ºri.º. came into the garden, and with him a great multitude of persons of very different stations jºine diºiºsis, and offices in life, who were sent with authority from the chief priests, and scribes, and ; *ś elders of the people; and, more effectually to execute their orders, they were armed with #º ºut. * swords and staves, to seize him by violence, if º resistance should be made to the attempt; and there were also with them some persons of superior rank and quality, who, full of im- patient and malicious zeal, could not forbear mingling themselves with the dregs of the * Alſº, he tº befººd people upon this infamous occasion. (See Luke xxii. 52. p. 320.) Now he that betrayed 44 º, ###4 Yº... . }. went a little before the rest of them : [and] that they might not be mistaken in the ;ºº person, he had given them a signal by which they might distinguish Jesus from any others ºtºjić who might chance to be with him,b saying, He whom I shall kiss at my first entering into ºś* the garden, is the person you are commissioned to take; be sure therefore to lay hold of & T. Sº º " " him immediately, and lead him away safely; for he has sometimes made strangé escapes from those that have attempted to take him, and if he get away from you after this signal, ...A. i. º.º. it will be your fault, and not mine.d. And accordingly, being come into the garden, he drew 45 §º. # near to Jesus to kiss him, as a signal to the company to seize him; [and] going directly to : "...# *śń º him with an air of the greatest respect, as if he had been impatient of his absence during Mºnº. Rised. Tº those few hours which had passed since he saw him last, and was quite transported with º” “* **** joy to meet him again, he said, with the fairest appearances of duty and friendship, Hail to thee, Rabbi, Rabbi / May the greatest pleasure and happiness continually attend thee! *iº .4nd upon this, he kissed him. But Jesus, well understanding the perfidious purposes con- tº. §e;..": ; ; cealed under this fond address, answered with great mildness, yet with becoming spirit, 50 " ' " gº ºf *i; and said to him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? and whence is all this ceremony and ifik: Kºi..."48. transport?. Think of it, Judas! Is this the friendship thou hast so often boasted 2 Alas, dost thou betray him, whom thou canst not but know to be the Son of man, with such a treacherous kiss? And dost thou think that he can be imposed upon by this poor artifice? or that God, who has promised him so glorious and triumphant a kingdom, will not punish x such baseness and cruelty to him? & e - ºn'...". . Then Jesus, though he fully understood what was to follow this perfidious salutation, as John fº w; knowing all the dreadful things that were coming upon him, yet did not attempt to escape, a "". §º, * * or to withdraw himself out of the power of his enemies: nevertheless he determined to ye : show them that he could easily have done it; and therefore as they now upon the signal that was given them, were drawing near to seize him, he went forth towards his enemies, and said to them, with the greatest composure of mind, Whom do you come to seek here? 3.Tºy Nºed ſº, And they were so confounded at the air of majesty and intrepidity with which he appeared, 5 º § Nº. aſſº; that without saying they were come for him, they only answered him, We are come to seek #.º.º. º.º. Jesus the Vazarene. Jesus says to them, You have the person then before you; I am !. I aly y ſlºwd Judas also who betrayed him, then stood with them; and he who formerly had followe sº...?', ºft: Christ as one of his disciples, now sorted with his open and avowed enemies. Then as 6 Yºward, and ſelf to soon as he had said to them, I am [he] there went forth such a secret energy of divine the ground. power with those words, that all their united force was utterly unable to resist it, so that they presently drew back, as afraid to approach him, though unarmed and unguarded, and ačić"Whº's º , "...fell at once to the ground,” as if they had been struck with lightning. Yet a few moments 7 they said, jesus of Nazareth, after, recovering from this consternation, they arose and rallied again; and them as they came up the secºnd time, he asked them again, Whom do you seek 3 ...And they said to him tº'º. º. ºf as before, Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus answered them, I have already told you that I am therefore, sº see."me, let ſhe?) if therefore you seek me alone, you may let these my companions and friends go these go their way: their way in safety; and indeed I shall insist upon that as a condition of surrendering # That the saying might be myself to you, which you may º perceive I could refuse if I thought fit. And this 5 #º; he said, that the saying he uttered before might further be illustrated and accomplished, have I lost none. “Qf those whom thou, my heavenly Father, hast given me, I have lost, and will lose, none.” See John xvii. 12. p. 313.) - 9 * b Had given them a signal.]. As those that eame to apprehead him see infinitely more fortitude in our Lord’s conduct on this great occa- were strangers to Jesus, and it was now night, and there were twelve sión, whºm this circulºst;ince, so judiciously though so linoiestly sug- persons together, probably dressed much alike, such a signal iliight be gested by St. John, is duly attended to. - thought more necessary. . * * * * # They drcº back and Jell to the groujid.]. As there were scribes and c He whom, I shall kiss is the person.] It is indeed probable, as Dr. priests amoº tiem, the must have "rºl of the destruglion of those Guys? and Qthers obserye, that our Lord, in great condescension, had companies ºbičh cºme to sº the prophet Elijah, (2 Kings i. 10, i2.) used (according to, the Jewish, custom) to permit his disciples thus to a fact which bore so geºt a resemblance to this, that, it is an aimizing salute him; when they returned to him after having been any tige absent. instance of the most objūrāte ºićReimass jºi they silon}} venture to d Legd him away safely, for he has sometimes made stränge escapes, renºw the assault on Çırisſ, after so sensible an experience both of his &c.] Compare Luke iv. 30. John viii. 59. X. 3:1. I am ready to imagine power and ..mercy. Nothing seeins more pººl. than that these from this precaution, that Judas might, suspect, that Christ would ea wretches might endeavour to persuade themselves and their attendants this occasion, reney the miracles he had formerly wrought for his own that this strange repulse was effected by soºn". Confederacy deliverance, though he had so expressly declared the contrary. See with Jesus, who opposed the execution of justice upon him; and they iſatt. xxvi. 24. p. 297. - - - might, perhaps, ascribe it to the special providence of God, rather than e Dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?]. There is great reason £9, the indulgence of Jesus, that they had received no further damage. to believe that our Lord uses this phrase of the Son,0ſ man to Judas on The most corrupt heart has its reasonings to support it in its absurdest this occasion; (as he had done the same evening at Supºr, twice in, a notions and most criminal actions. breath,) in the sense here given; (compare note i, on Matt. xxvi. 24. ! ſº thes; #9, their way.] What tenderness was here towards those § 170.) and it adds a spirit to these wºrls that, has not often been ob- who had so lately neglected him, (sleeping while he was in such an ex- served, which the attentive reader yill discern to be attended with much treme agony, that yet he would not suffer them to be terrified by so greater strength and beauty than if our Lord had only said, Dust thow much as a short in prisonment and the words also intimate that he in. retray me with a kiss? * - tended presently to dismiss them, as probably not thinking it ºieşt f Knowing all things that were coming upon him.] Our Lºrd not, only to appear before his, judges with such an attendance. His disciples, knew in general that he should suffer some great evil, and even death º }night consider this speech as an excuse for their försaking hirn: itself, but was acquainted also, with all, the particular circumstances of but had they viewed it in a just light, it would rather have a peared a ignominy and borror that should attend his sufferings; which º §§§ engagement upon, them to have waited for that fair lºo. he largely foretold, (see Matt. xx. 18, 19. and the parallel places, p. 245.) which our Lord seemed about to give them. though titløy of these circumstances were as, contingent as can well be , i.I have lost none.) Jansenius justly observes that it was a remarkable imagisted.—II is impossible, to enter aright, into the heroic behaviour of instance 9ſ the power of Christ over the spirits of men, that they so far our Lof Jesús Christ, without Guſºying this circumstance along with obeyed his worſås not to seize Peter when he had cut off the ear of us. ‘i ſº critics are in raptures at the gallantry of Achilles in going to Maſchus, or John, while he stood by the cross, though the must know i: 'tº witſ, when, he knew (according to Horner) that he should them to hºle. oº: most intimate associates. 1... . . . . . . . ; but he inust have a very low way of thinking, who does not 320 SECT. 183. MATT. XXVI. 5I 52 53 54 JOHN XVIII. - 11 12 LUKE XXII. 52 MATT. XXVI. 56 CHRIST SURRENDERS HIMSELF TO THE OFFICERs. And then, as he was speaking this, they that were sent to apprehend him came and laid Matt. xxvi. 50. Then came their hands upon Jesus, and took him prisoner, without his making any manner of resistance. º, lºſt; hº JWow, upon this, when his disciples saw that they had seized him, and began to apprehend º OOK - Ill II’l. - - . t ke xxii. 49. When ti what would be the consequence of these things, they said to him, Lord, shall we smite these whº ºu!';..'. impious wretches with the sword? for we doubt not but, as few as we are, thou cans. Wi."...iii.;; render us victorious over this armed multitude. And, without staying for his answer, . §: dº...!!!" W 6 behold, one of them that were with Jesus, ſ: Simon Peter;k having a sword, stretched out Matt...Nxvi. 31. And behold, s - - - - - *. * - * Qne of them which were with his hand and drew it with a rash inconsideraté zeal, and smote a servant of the high priest, jus, “j}, ..."...'s. whose name was .\falchus, who was one of the forwardest, and seemed particularly officious #hel **i."haº - - - - - - *. y in seizing Christ; and he struck full at his head, intending to cleave him down, but the fjoirs, irºit, ºnj" ºr...; strºke glºnced a little on one side, so that he only cut off his right ear. - àservant ºf the high priest’s, S-> º º 3. y **: - - [Joh Nº, and cut off his right Then Jesus, being determined to surrender himself into the hands of his enemies, and jºierº name wº ( . - - - . . Malchus.] [Mark Xiv. still to show that such a surrender was the effect not of compulsion but of choice, said *::::::: 50%. xiii. i*i wnto Peter, Return thy Sword into the sheath again ; for I will not have recourse to this [ É...",". '. º or any other method of defence: and indeed, all that take the sword shall perish by the ..º.º.º.º.º.º. Śwoºd, and they that, are most ready to take up arms are commonly the first that will fall jś iii. 11 by them; which might be intended as an intimation that the Jews, who were now drawing [John Xviii. 11.) the sword against him, should ere long perish by it in a very miserable manner, as they quickly after did in the Roman war: and that the sword of divine vengeance, in one form ºr anºther, would quickly find out all his implacable enemies. And besides, Peter, dost 53 Thinkest thou that I thou think that I want the aid of thy feeble arm, and that I cannot now entreat my Father, i.º.º.º.º.º. and have such interest with him, that he would presently furnish me with a celestial army ; # ºr "º". for my guard, marshalled in dreadful array, and consisting of more than twelveſiegions ºf ºººººººº angels?" But how then, if I should thus stand on my defence, shall the scriptures be 8. - 54 But how then shall the O Jilled, even the very prophecies, which I came to accomplish, which have so expressly fore-jºieș"* * told that thus it must be? Or how should I approve my submission to him that sent me? You only look at second causes, and have but an imperfect view of things; but I consider John xviii. 11. , The cup all the sufferings I am now to meet as under a divine direction and appointment, and re- Yºsiven gard them as, the cup which my Father has given me; and, when considered in that view, shall I not willingly submit to drink it? Shall I not acquiesce in what I know to be his Will? Or, would it be the part of a dutiful and affectionate Son to dispute the determina- tions of his paternal wisdom and love? Then, without any opposition, he surrendered himself into the hands of those that came 12 Then the band and the * - - - e - - - - tai d officers of to apprehend him: and all uniting in their enmity against him, the band of Roman soldiers, jº: 'º','º','!'; with the captain at their head, and the Jewish officers that came with them, seized Jesus as a him. malefactor, and presently bound him to prevent his escape. But as they were binding Luke iºidº, him, Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye at least that I may have my hands at liberty this lºsº; far, and stay but for a moment while I add one act of power and compassion to those I his ear, and hºleºhi. have already done : and calling Malchus to him, he touched his ear, and immediately healed him.” -- - Then Jesus said in that same hour to the chief priests, and to the captains of the temple 52 Then Jesus said (in that & *- to the chief guard,” and to the elders of the º or to those members of the sanhedrim who (as was jº.: "of"; º * >s : … . - * - im, temple, and the elders which said before, p. 319.) were so forgetful of the dignity of their character as to come to him ...?'..."...º.º.º. themselves with the dregs of the populace, at this unseasonable time, and on this infamous jº. occasion: to these he said, § to the multitude that now surrounded him, For what jº imaginable reason are you come out against me, as against a robber that would make a ºt, savi. 55. Mark six. desperate resistance, armed in this way, with swords and staves, as if you came to seize me * alt #. hazard of your lives? Hºhen I was with you every day, as I have been for some time 53 }*...iftº: past, [and] publicly sat teaching in the tem #. you had opportunities enough to have §: º º: secured me, if there was any crime with which you could have charged me: yet then you hºld) º: hands against me : did not apprehend me, [or] offer to stretch out [your] hands against me. But I know the jºid". power of reason better than youyourselves do : you have hitherto been kept under a secret restraint, tºº. ºut. XXVI. O.). which is now removed; and this is your hour in which God has let you loose against me, and the power of darkness is now permitted to rage with peculiar violence; for it is under the instigation of Satan and his infernal powers that you now act, with whatever pious - names you may affect to consecrate the deed. And in all this, I know that both you and º; ſº ºff." they are secretly overruled by divine Providence, to accomplish events most contrary to ºf the prophets jºr your own schemes; and it is done that what is written concerning me in the º of be fulfilled.— l the prophets might be fulfilled 2P. I therefore resign myself into your hands, though I have º !. # ſº. that I am not destitute of the means of deliverance, if I was inclined to use them. - Then all the disciples, who but a little while before had solemnly protested that they : Even Simon Peter.] None of the evangelists but John mentions the commanding officer which attended near the temple ſluring the time ºf nº ..º.º.º. 㺠which, ...; the others omitted lest the great ſeasº, in order to prevent any .."; oº: flºw S. (See it should expose him to any prosecution; but John, writing long after Joseph:lººk lit. XYi}; cº- 4. [al: º º * ! C à #. {l mº #. i his death, needed no such precaution. [al. vi. 6..] § 8.) And gi: appears to be d ag †. an º *In sº one, I Šmote a servant of the high priest, &c.] One would have, thought, as here by John, ver, 12. where the word in the original is ºx{Ataoxos, Bishop Hall observes, he should rather have struck Judas; but the which plainly shows it was a Roman officer, and is the title, given to - - - - • Lysias, (Acts xxi. 31, et seq.) who was commander of the garrison kept —Then all the disciples traitor, perhaps, on giving the signal, had mingled himself, with the ; or Peter might not understand the treacherous design of his by the Romans in the castle of Antonia; from whence there were de- kiss; or seeing Malchus more eager than the rest in his attack on ºft. tăchments sent at the time of the feasts, and posted, in the porticoes of he night postpone, All other resentments to indulge the present sally of the temple, to suppress any tumults among the people, when such great his indignation.—Though this might seem a courageous action, it was numbers flocked together.—But for these captains of the temple spoken really véry imprudent; and had not Christ, by some segret influence, of by, Luke, there is no doubt but they were Jewish officers, who are overåwed their spirits; it is very probable (as the pious Sir Matthew Hale said by John to have attended with the former; of whom it is to be ob- observes) that not only Peter, but the rest of the apostles, would have served, that as the priests kept watch in three places of the temple, and §ºto pièces. "(Hale's Contemplations, p.354.) - the Levites in twenty-one, so their leaders were called a ſparmyot Tov m More than twelve legions of angels.] The Roman armies were º; tepov, or captains of the temple ; and Josephus more than once speaks posed of Jegions, which did not always consist of the º: nº ... 9ſ one of the Jewish, priests by this title. , (Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 6.. [al. 5.] men, but are computed at this time to have contained a . six thou; § 2. cap. 9. [al. 8.] %; and, Bell. Jud...lib. ii. cap. 17. § 2.) See, Dr. sanſ; and twelve legions, were, more than were £ommºnly lºft Whitby, in loc. and Dr. Lardner’s Credib. part 1. vol. i. book i. chap. with their greatest generals. (See note e, on Luke viii. 30. p. ..) ii. § 15. - - istible would such an army of angels have been, - - * } • §. º spirits was able to destroy 185,000 Assyrians p That the scriptures, of the prophets might be fulfilled.]. This was a at one stroke 2 Kings xix. 35. - gonsideration which if duly applied, might have prevented his disciples nºſe"ºughed his ear, and healed him.] As this was an act of great from being offended at his sufferings : , and it strongly intimates that he compassion, so likewise it was an instance of singular wisdom; fºr it still kept up the claim, which he had formerly inade of being the s jeffectually prevent those reflections and censures on Jesus which Messiah; and that what he was now to go through, was so far from W’ O Úl ( *. being at all inconsistent with that claim, that on the whole, it was abso- ... < 1, , , z, a s r. F 's attack might otherwise have occasioned. - -- ºn tº: jº. temple.] #. was indeed a Roman guard and lutely necessary in order to make it out to full satisfaction, crowd CHRIST IS CONDUCTED TO THE PALACE OF CAIAPHAS. 321 forsoºk him, and fled. [Mark would never leave him, when they now saw him bound in the hands of his enemies, SECT. xiv. 49, 50.] according to his repeated predictions, forsook him and fled;4 each of them shifting for his 183. own safety as well as he could, and seeking to shelter himself either among friends or — strangers. MARK And a certain youth who lodged in a house near the garden, and was waked by the sit" noise of this tumult, having an affection for Jesus, and apprehending him in danger, arose out of bed with nothing but a linen cloth in which he lay, thrown about his naked body; and he followed him a little way after the rest of his disciples were gone, transported into a forgetfulness of his own dress, by his concern for Jesus: and the foung men that made a part of the guard, suspecting he was one that belonged to Jesus, laid hold on him. But 52 he, leaving the sheet which was wrapped about him in their hands, fled away from them naked, in the utmost consternation. After which Jesus was led to the palace of the high priest, and condemned there in the manner which will presently be related. - IMPROVEMENT. * The heroic behaviour of the blessed Jesus, in the whole period of his sufferings, will easily make itself observed ſº by every attentive eye, though the sacred historians, according to their usual but wonderful simplicity, make no encomiums upon it. With what composure does he go forth to meet the traitor' With what calmness does he receive that malignant kiss! With what dignity does he deliver himselfinto the hands of his enemies, yet plainly showing his superiority over them, and leading, as it were, even then, captivity captive, We see him generously capitulating for the safety of his friends, while he neglected his own; and afterwards, 8, 9 not only forbidding all the defence they attempted to make, but curing that wound which one of his enemies had 11 received in this assault on him. With what meek majesty did he say, Suffer ye at least thus far ! ...And he touched Lº his ear, and healed him. We hear his words, we behold his actions, with astonishment: but surely our indigna- º' tion must rise within us when we see so amiable and excellent a Person thus injured and abused; when we see the Son of man betrayed with a kiss: betrayed by his intimate friend, who had eaten of his bread, and yet lifted 47, 48. vp his heel against him ; (John xiii. 18.) and at the same time forsaken by all his disciples, even by him whom MATT. Mark xiv. 51. And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body : and the young men laid j on him : 52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked. he most tenderly loved, and who had so often leant on his bosom. Letus not wonder if some of our friends prove º'" false, and others seem to forgetus, when we have the greatest need of their assistance. When we deserve so much less friendship than Christ did, let us not think it strange if we find but little more. Nor can we reasonably be so much amazed as we might otherwise have been, to see sinners going on under the most awful rebukes of Pro- JOHN vidence; when we consider that these wretches who had been struck down to the ground by one word of Christ's with mouth, should immediately rise up and stretch forth their impious hands against him, to seize and bind him; 6, 12 though they might well have known that they lived only by his indulgence and forbearance, and that the same word that struck them down to the ground could have laid them dead there. Touch our hearts, O Lord, by thy grace, or it will be in vain that we are smitten with thy rod In all the remainder of this story, let us remember that Jesus voluntarily gave himself up to sufferings which he MATT. circumstantially foreknew, even though he could have commanded to his assistance whole legions of angels. His XXVI. Father's will was an answer to all that nature could plead in its own cause; and the good hand from which this 23 cup of his severest sufferings came, reconciled him to all the bitterest ingredients it contained. How reasonable, then, is it that we, who, having had fathers of our flesh that corrected us, submitted to the rod and gave them rever- ence, should much rather, after the example of our innocent and holy Redeemer, be in subjection to the Father of our spirits, and live! (Heb. xii. 9.) SECTION CLXXXIV. Jesus is conducted to the palace of Caiaphas.; Peter follows him thither, and denies him thrice. Matt. xxvi. 57, 5S, 69, to the end. Mark xiv. 53, 54, 66, to the end. Luke xxii. 5'ſ & john Xī. 13—18, 24–27 * f * Jo HN xviii. 13. John xviii. 13. AND they led him away to THE officers and people having thus sº Jesus in the manner described above, SECT. Annas first, (for he was, fa- ther-in-law to Caiaphas they led him away from the garden of Get which was the high ºriest brought him first to the house of .4nnas; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was that same year.) - 24 Now "Annas—sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high R. t.- . 14 Now Caiaphas was he yhich gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for that one man, the people. high priest that year,” or bore the office at that time : phas the high priest, as judging it most proper that the rest of the council should upon this XVIII. .Now this Caiaphas was he whom we mentioned 14 above, (John xi. 49–51. sect. ; who gave it as his advice to the Jews, that it was fit though innocent, show he uttered a kind of Oracle, which (as we there observed) contained a far nobler and occasion be convened at his palace. nd Jimmas sent him bound to Caia- 'd die for the preservation of the people; in which words Matt. s.svi. 57. And they sublimer sense than he himself intended or understood. that had laid hold on Jesus LUKE, took him, andl led in away, . [LUKE, , and §§ º #." º lº of) Caiaphas the high priest; 4 - where [all the chief priests, chief priests, and and] the scribes, and the elders were assembled with him.] [Mark xiv. 53. xxii. 54.] John xviii. 15. And Simon emane to those who had employed them, and 184. JOHN Jìnd they who had apprehended Jesus, took and led him away from Annas like a criminal in MATT. bonds, and, according to the directions which Annas had given them, brought him to the palace ºxvi. of Caiaphas the high priest; where, though it was now the dead time of the night, all the 57 #. scribes, and the elders, or the chief persons of the sanhedrim, with their proper officers, met together on a summons from Caiaphas, and were assembled with him, uke waiting for Jesus to be brought before them, ...And though Simon Peter had at first forsaken Christ, and shifted for himself, as the rest JoHN Peter followed ſafar offi and of his companions did, yet afterward he and another disciple, even the evangelist John, tºur *) q All the disciples forsook him and fled.]. Perhaps, they were afraid that the action of Peter should be imputed to them a]], and might bring their lives into danger. But whatever they apprehended, their preci- pitate flight in these circumstances was the basest cowardice and ingra- titude; considering not only how lately they had been warned of their danger, and what solemn promises they had made of a courageous ad- herence to Christ, but also what an agony they had just seen him in what zeal he had a few moments before showed in their defence, an what amazing power he had exerted to terrify his enemies into a Com- pliance with that part of his demand which related to the safety of his friends. He had also at the same time intimated his purpose of giving them a speedy and kind dismission; so that it was very indegent thus to run away without it, especially as Christ’s prophecy of their con- tinued usefulness in his church was equivalent to a promise of their pre: servation, whatever danger they might now meet with, . But our, Lord probably permitted it, that we might learn not to depend too confidently even on the friendship of the very best of men. {i him away, first to Jānigs, &c.]_It appears from, Josephus, (Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 2. [al. 3.} 9 3. p. 873. Havergamp.) that Annas, whom he calls Ananus, had been high priest before his son-in-law Caiaphas; and it seems to have been by his interest, that first Eleazar his own, son, and then Caiaphas, who married his daughter and probal bly had been his deputy, obtained that dignity; so that though he had resigned that office himself, yet the people paid so much regard to his experience, that they brought Jesus first to him, who, no doubt, took all necessary care to prepare Caiaphas for receiving him, as he could not but know that this was a most critical juncture. e do not read of any thin; remarkable, which passed at the house of Annas; for which reason his, being carried thither is .opmitted by the other evangelists. Cyril adds, kat airca Tet)\av autov Šećepºvov toos Katagay Tov Apxtepea, and they sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest ; which addition Erasmus, eza, and many others have thought it necessary to admit, both to ac- count for the word 7pg) Tov, first, in the preceding clause, and to recon- gile John with the other evangelists, who all agree that the scene of Peter’s fall was the palace of Caiaphas, not of Annas. Yet as almost the same words occur in yer. 24. it is sufficient to transpose that verse, and, introduce it here; whigh is intimated in the margin of some of our ibles.-For the phrase of being high priest that year, see note a, on John xi. 49, p. 245 4 322 PETER'S DENIAL OF CHRIST. SECT. bethought themselves, and determined to return; and accordingly they followed Jesus afar 184. JOHN XVIII. LUKE YXII. 5: MARK XIV. offb desiring to see what would become of him: and as that other disciple was known to the § test,” he was admitted without any objection or impediment, and went into the palace of the high priest with Jesus and the guard that attended him. But Peter, who had no interest or acquaintance there, stood waiting without at the door : That other disciple, therefore, who was known to the high priest, went out of the inner room into which Jesus was then carried in order to his examination, and spake to her that kept the door to open it; and so } her consent brought in Peter. And .#. they had kindled a fire in the midst of the large hall, and were set down together, Peter, hoping to pass undiscovered by mingling with the rest of the company, sat down a them with the servants, that he might be at hand to see the end of this affair, and warmed himself at the fire, while they were examining Jesus with circumstances which we shall afterwards mention.á wind, during the time that this important event was depending, as Peter was sitting among the servants without the room where Jesus was examined, and thought to have continued unsuspected in the hall below, there came to him one of the maid-servants belong- ing to the family of the high priest, who was indeed the same damsel that (as we just now 67 said) had kept the door: Jind seeing Peter as he sat warming himself by the fire, she fived I,UKE XXII. MARK XIV. 68 JOHN XVIII. 18 MATT. XXYY. JOHN her eyes earnestly wipon him, and observing in his countenancé the appearance of great con- cern, she said to some that stood near her, I cannot but think that this man is a follower of Jesus, and was also one that used to be with him tº and upon this presumption, she charged him directly, with it, and said, Tell us truly, Art not thou thyself also [one] of this man's disciples?". There is a great deal of room to think it; yea, I am fully satisfied that thou wast also with him, even with this Jesus the Nazarene of Galilee, who is now on his trial: , .4nd Peter, was so surprised at this unexpected discovery, that he roundly and confidently denied him before them all,é and said, Woman, I profess that I am not his dis- $3.T.uk ciple ; nay, that I do not so much as know him ;h nor do I waderstand what thow meanest in charging me with being one of his associates; for I am sure thou mightest as well have fixed on any other person in the company. ...And upon this, turning away as one who WaS ºftonted at the charge, he went out inio the portico;i and while he was there the cock Crew). r And the servants and Qfficers who had brought Jesus thither, and were now waiting for the issue of his trial, still stood there in the hall, having (as we before observed) made a large fire of coals; for they had been abroad in the night, and it was cold, and they were warming themselves at the fire. And Simon Peter, having staid a while in the portico, where he not only must have been incommoded by the sharpness of the air, but was, no doubt, in a restless commotion of mind on account of what had passed, came in again, . and, having mingled with the servants, stood at the fire-side to warm himself amongst them. Jīnā when he had thus been gone out into the portico, and was returned into the hall, after a little while another maid saw him again, and said to them that were there, (as her fellow- servant had done just before,) Whatever he pretends, I verily believe this [man] was also with Jesus of Nazareth : and presently [she] began to say openly to them that stood by, Surely this is !. of them that have endeavoured to bring all the nation into confusion, and while he would pass for a friend, is crept in hither as a spy. They therefore, taking *Y*::= notice of what both these women had spoken, began to tax him with it, and said to him, ° What, have we a rebel so near us? Let us know plainly who thou art: art not thou also, LUKE who pretendest to enter these doors as a friend, º of his disciples who has been doing so much mischief! And as he seemed in great confusion, another man that stood by saw xxii., him perplexed, and therefore charged it home upon him, and said, It is certainly so; thou 58 art also [one] of them, and deservest to suffer with thy Master. And Peter, as he could MATT. XXVI. 72 I,UKE YXII. 59 not bear his being taxed so closely with it, that he might take off all suspicion of his belong- ing unto Jesus, again denied [him] in the strongest manner, even with an oath,” and said, Man, why dost thou talk thus? I solemnly assure thee, and call God to witness to it, that I am not one of them ; and that indeed I do not so much as know the man, but came in hither out of mere curiosity to learn the occasion of this public alarm, without the least in- terest in him, or any concern at all on his account, whatever may become of him. ...And as he still continued there, imagining that he should now be safe from any further challenge, after a while, about the space of one hour qfter he had thus denied him, another man in the company confidently affirmed that the former charge was just, saying, Of a truth b Followed Jesus aſar off.] . It *Hºri from hence, that Peter and John recovered themselves quickly after their flight, or else they could not have followed him at some distance, and yet É ready togg into Caiaphas’s house with him. c Thal disciple was known to the high ſº We cannot imagine the acquaintance was yery intimate, considering the great diversity of their rank and station, in life; but a thousand occurrences occasion some knowledge of each other, between persons whose conditions are as un- 6: Jesus, but boldly chargin men of the nation, and solemnly warning II, COURSGC Ulen CC ôfit. (Acts iv. 5–12. e SO near a S to be with Jesus, the meaning may be, that some thus far, when the rest had forsaken him. Qudſ. g * * d flnd varmed himself at the ſirc, while they were examining Jesus, &c.] It is remarkable that all the evangelists record the fall of Peter, and none with circumstances of greater aggravation than Mark, whose & - gospel is said to have been reviewed by Peter himself, and indeed writ- entangle and disgover him than to s - i He went out into the gº hood was most unnecessary; and as it ten from his preaching. (See note d, on Mark xiv. 31. p. 316.) Though 1 Christ’s examination º during this interval, (which occasions most exactly answers to the Matthew, Mark, and John to interrupt, this story, to recount that,) I §§ interpreters render it. rather chose, as luke has done, to take the whole of it together, as best Jewish buildings at this time, suiting the design of this work: This man was also with him.] Her sex, and perhaps we may add, her, office, will not permit us to suppose that she had been in the garden with the multitude that *. ed Jesus : she therefore, must guess k by Peter’s countenance, thāt he was one of big frignals; unless possibly #e had seen them together in the temple or elsewhere. * & f Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples?] One would imagine from the word [also, when it is read in the gonnexion John has place it in, that in this question, she referred to John ; as if she had, said, Art not thou one as well as thy companion?, And, if this were admitted, it would be a plain intimation that John acknowledged himself a disciple of Christ. But it must be owned that the other eyangelists use the same word [also, though they say nothing of John’s being with Peter. colonnade; and therefore I £ cock crew.] . of our Lord’s prediction; haps it did; , and he m courageous if he regt Wit h a second attac With an oath.] Dr h I do not known him.] Jesus was so public a pe - - - known to thousands not at all in his interest, that this additional false- frequéntly happens when P allow themselves to transgress the bounds of truth, it was more like to - clear him. fapprehend that the word TooavXtov Jatin word vestibulum, by which many And considering the magnificence of the it is reasonable to conclude that this, which belonged to the high priest’s palace, was some stately, piazza or - cº rather to render it portico, than porch, a word equaliy applicable to the meanest buildings of that kind. It is strange this circumstance and bring him to some sense ht return persuaded that he should be more II] sº faii fººlier than any of the rest of the apostles, (except Ju and to make more remarkable mistakes in his conduct, tº this ºtioned against that extravagant regard which would after- wards be demanded to hººd his pretended successors. so did another disciple. That isciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. . [Matt. xxvi. 58. Mark xiv. 54. Luke xxii. 54.] 16 But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Luke xxii. 55. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were Set down together, Peter sat down among them [with the Servants to see the end, 1 [MARK, and warmed himself at the fire.] . [Matt. xxvi. 58. Mark xiv. 54. Mark Xiv. 66. And as Peter [sat without] beneath in the }. ace, there, cometh (unto im] one of the maids of the high priest: [John, the dam- sel that kept the door.] [Matt. xxvi. 69. John xviii. 17.] 67 And when she saw Peter [LUKE, as he sat º, the fire warming himself, she looked [LUKE, earnestly upon him, and said, [LUKE, This man was also with him :] [Joh N, Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples fl And thou also wast with Jesus of Naza- reth [of Galilee.] [Matt. xxvi. uke xxii. 56. John xviii. inke xxii. 57. And he denied him [before them all] oman, [J Say Ing, QHN, I am not;] know him not (MARK, neither understani'ſ what thou sayest.] *y [Matt. xxyi. 70. Mark xiv. 68. John XV ill. I /. Mark xiv. 68. And he went out, into the porch, and the cogk crew.... John xviii. 18. And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals, (for it was cold,) and ey_warmed themselves: and [Simon] Peter stood with them, and warmed himself. [John xviii. 25.] Matt. xxvi. 7]. And when he was, gone out into the porch, [LUKE, after a little whi.j another [maid] saw him [again,) and said unto them" that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth: [and she began to say, to them that stood by, This is one of them.] [Mark Xiy. 69. Luke xxii. 58.] . John xviii. 25. . They said therefore unto him. Art, not thou also one of his disciples P Luke xxii. 58. And another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. Matt. xxyi. 72. And [IUKE, Peter] again denied [it] with an oath, [John, and said, tivº." Man,”f am notº do not know the man, [Mark xiv. 70. Luke xxii. 58. John xviii. 25.] ^ Luke xxii. 59. , And [after a while,) about the space of one hour after, another con- ñº, affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was John before the council, not only maintaining the cause and honour of the murder of this Prince of life, on the chief em of their guilt and danger erhaps, when it is said there, (ver.jö.j that they took knowledge of Peter gnd John that they had been of them, or their attendants, remembered Peter and John as the two persons who had followed Jesus Compare John xviii. 15, 16. erson, and so well eople did not remind him of his sin : per- For it was cold.] It is §. §§§ that the coldness of the nights is nerally more sensible in thqse hotter countries generality s Clarke conjectures that Peter was suffered to than among us. § f{e ied him before them all. ow must these people be sur- prised, when, they saw (as, no doubt, some of them did) this timorous disciple, within the compass of a few weeks, when he was brought with Scuenteen Sermons, No. X. p. 23 das the traitor,) that we might Clarke’s ~s. PETER'S DENIAL OF CHRIST. 323 Yºlº, this man was also with him, and is a follower of this Jesus;º it is plain he also is a SECT. ſºu. . * * Galilean, and ... one knows that most of his disciples are of that country. .And upon 184. tº..." §te ſº h; this they that stood by came to him, and said to Peter again, Surely it is as this man asserts; jägi.T. P. and, notwithstanding thy denying it, there is no room to doubt but thou art also [ºne] of Mºk §. §§ them, for thou art certainly a Galilean; and I know it, said one that was there, by thy zo” jean, and thy speech agreeti speech: for such I have observed to be thy dialect and accent as agrees [to that] country, #;"|{{}}".” [and] plainly discovers thee to be of Galilée, as most of this man's seditious followers are. sº ; §§ º,; And one of the domestic servants of the º priest, being a relation of his whose ear Peter JOHN ºbi º" i. had cut off, pressed the charge home upon him, and said, How can you have the assurance oºº- ; F. j.º.º. to deny it? Take heed what you say: did not I myself see thee in the garden with him? 26 * - ee in the garden t º * - - with him 2 . Then Peter, being terrified to the last degree to think of the danger to which he should be MATT. tº; p.a.ſ.. ... exposed if he was discovered to be the person that made the attack on the servant of the :* §º fºr "à. high priest, which might in such a circumstance expose him even to capital º f"...º.º.º.º denied it again more violently than ever; and, that he might not any more be called in #"...”. ºf ºil question, he began to curse and to swear, and solemnly to imprecate the judgment of God hºmºſº, while upon himself if it were so; [saying] as he had doné before, I tell thee, man, I know not É.iº what thow meanest by such a false and groundless accusation; I do not so much as know jäjuke Xxii. 66. John this man of whom you speak, and was so far from being in the garden with him, that I am xviii. 27.] absolutely a perfect stranger to him. ...And he had no sooner thus denied him in this shocking manner, but immediately, while he yet spake, the words of Jesus were fulfilled, and, according to the warning he had given him, the cock crew the second time." Luke xxii. 61,...And the And Jesus, having been examined by the council in a more retired room, was now Lº #º. brought back into the hall, while they were consulting what they should do with him, so º tº: that he stood within hearing when Peter thus ungratefully denied him ; and hearing such º: shocking language from a voice so familiar to him, just as those dreadful words proceeded ſº hºtº gº out of his mouth, the Lord turned about and looked upon Peter with a mixture of earnest. ##"Mºkºj” ness and tenderness in his countenance, which, through the secret energy of the Spirit that went along with it, pierced him to the very heart: and then Peter recollected the word of the Lord Jesus, how he had said to him but that very evening, Before the cock crow twice, a.º.º. º.º. thou shalt deny me, thrice. (See Mark siv, 30.* 316.) And Peter could no longer bear 62 j."fiejº. the place, nor stand in the sight of his injured Master, but immediately went out,” quite ſº savi. 75. Mark siv. overwhelmed with grief and shame; and covering [his head] with his mantle,” he seriously ſº reviewed that heinous crime, in which he had discovered so much weakness and ingrati- tude ; and when he attentively thought thereon, and entered into all its aggravating circum- stances, he wept bitterly, and most earnestly entreated the divine pardon for so great and inexcusable a sin. IMPROVEMENT. How loudly does this affecting story speak to us in the words of the apostle, Let hum that thinketh he standeth, MATT. take heed lest he fall. (1 Cor. x, 12.) Peter professed the warmest zeal, and gave his Lord repeated, and, no gº". doubt, very sincere assurances of the firmest resolution in his cause ; and yet except Judas the traitor, none of his 69–74 brethren fell so low as he. But a few hours before he had been with Christ at the sacred table, and had heard from his own lips those gracious discourses which, as echoed back from his word, do still strike so strongly on the heart of every true believer. He had just seen those words remarkably and even miraculously verified, that Jesus having loved his own that were in the world, loved them to the end. (John xiii. 1.) How reasonably then might it have been expected that his own should also have continued their most zealous and constant affection to him P But Peter, who, if possible, was more than doubly his as a disciple, as an apostle, as a distinguished intimate, MARK most shamefully denies him; and that not only once, but a second, yea, and a third time, even with oaths and 6 #"; curses, as if he would by that diabolical language give a sensible proof that he did not belong to Christ: and who 6–71 indeed that had heard iſ, would have imagined that he did? Nay, to aggravate it yet further, it was done in the . presence of the other disciple, and even of Christ himself, who surely was much more painfully wounded by this 15, 16 perfidiousness of Peter, than by all the rage and fury of his enemies. Lord, what is man! What is our boasted `` strength but weakness! and, if we are left unto ourselves, how do our most solemn resolutions melt like snow before the sun! Be thou surety for thy servants for good! (Psal. cxix. 122.) The Lord turned and looked upon Peter. So may he graciously look upon us, if we at any time make any LERE approach towards the like sin! May he look upon us with a glance which shall penetrate our hearts, and cause º floods of penitential sorrow to flow forth! Peter went out and wept bitterly. He quitted that dangerous scene 61, 62 where temptation had met and vanquished him; and chose retirement and solitude to give vent to his overflowing soul. Thus may we recover ourselves; or rather, thus may we be recovered, by divine grace, from those slips and falls which in this frail state we shall often be making! Let us retire from the business and the snares of life, that we may attend to the voice of conscience, and of God speaking by it; and may so taste the wormwood and the gall, that our souls may long have them in remembrance. To conclude: let us express the sincerity of our sº sorrow by a more cautious and resolute guard against the occasions of sin, if we would not be found to trifle wi God when we pray that he would not lead us into temptation, but would deliver us from evil. SECTION CLXXXV. Jesus is examined at the high Priº gº and, afterwards condemned by the Sanhedrim on confessing himself to be the Messiah. Matt. xxvi. o sº - Mark xiv. 55–65. Luke xxii. 63, to the end. John xviii. 19–23, 28. SECT. Joh N xviii. 19. . Jo HN xviii. 19. 185. º jº Pº º WE now return to the examination of Jesus before the council, the thread of the story John ;...**** having been a little interrupted on the sad occasion of Peter's fall. The high priest there- XVIII. n The cock crew.) To reconcile this with what, the Jews pretend, that name which Christ had given him with a particular view to that forti- alſ the cocks used to be removed out of Jerusalem at the time of the tude and resolution with which he was to defend the gospel; perhaps passover, some would render 6 a.MekTop eqGovm rev; the ºcatchmen pro- thereby intending to intimate, how low this courageous hero was now claimed the hour of the night : but this, is so imatural an interpretation, ſºil. º and, yet to what a height of holy magnanimity he was afterwards that, rather than admit it, one would question the truth of that Jewish ſºlº and thereby, enabled to stand as a rock in that sacred cause, and tradition; or conclude, that if the custom it asserts did prevail in So fully to answer the name with which his Master had honoured him. Čhrist’s time, some coºk was accidentally left behind, or returned um- , p did covering his , head, with his mantle.] . Raphelius, and some observed to this place. The hurry of such a night as this might have learned critics, would render £7130Agov, throwing himº out ºf the occasioned much greater neglects than this supposes, cºmpany in a passionate, manner, which it is very probable he glid; but Jo Jind Peter, went out...] It is observable that, Luke in two or three 9thèrs, and particularly Elsner (Obserp. vol. i. p. 165,166.) and Lambert lines here calls him three times by the name of Peter; that memorable Bos, (ɺré. p. 21, 22.) with much better authority, would translate 324 CHRIST EXAMINED AT THE PALACE OF THE HIGH PRIEST. SECT. fore asked Jesus, as he stood before him, concerning his disciples, and concerning his doc- 185. trime; what it was that he taught, and with what view he had gathered so many followers. Jesus answered him, and said, What I have taught has been delivered in the most public 20 Jesus answered him, I ſº manner, and Thaº spoke it openly and freely tº the world; I have always, as I had proper ºil 30 opportunity, taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews continually resort ºf ºpºliº in the greatest numbers; and have said nothing in secret, even to my most intimate friends, jºi...hº. but what has been perfectly agreeable to the tenor of my public discourses. Why dost ºf why askej 21 thou therefore ask me, whose testimony in my own cause will not, to be sure, be much º regarded in such a circumstance as this, when I am standing as on a trial for my life? Ask ºld, they know wit I those that heard [me, what I have spoken to them in the whole series of my ministry; for “ behold they know it, and I am willing to appeal to any impartial person among them, as to the innocence, propriety, and usefulness of what I have said. 22 . Such was the calm and rational reply which Jesus made to those that examined him. 22 And when he had thus But when he had spoken these things, one of the officers belonging to the court, who then ºil; i.gº. stood by, rudely gave Jesus a blow,” saying, Dost thou presume to answer the high priest with the palm ºf his jºi. thus, by sending him to others for a reply to his question ? ºtes thou thé 23 And Jesus, with his usual mildness, answered him, If thou hast been one of my hearers, .33 jesus answered him, If and canst say that I at any time have spoken evil, either of God or man, in the course of º my preaching, thou wilt do well to bear thy testimony concerning that evil:b but if I have why smilest thou mé y spoken well, why dost thou strike me? Can reason bé answered by blows 2 or can such a Sober appeal to it deserve them 2 *T. Vow the chief priests and the elders of the people, and the whole sanhedrim, with all its Matt. xxvi. 50. Now the *"...a officers, not being able to make out a sufficient accusation against Jesus from such answers hiº.º.d.º.º. * * - - - e - all the council, sought [tor] as these, maliciously endeavoured by the vilest means to have something criminal alleged isé"º".g.:"Iś against him; and as they were determined to condemn him, that they might colour over ºn to death; ſºlark their proceedings with some form of law, they sought for false evidence against Jesus, that "' " they might put him to death ; and managed the trial in so partial and unjust a manner, that º ää in effect invite any of the most infamous of mankind to come and deposé 60 against him, with the assurance of being favourably heard; But they found none that fully .160 But found, none: [for] answered their purpose; for though many false witnesses came [and] falsely testified §§ §§ against him, yet they found none sufficient; [for] the testimonies they gavé did not so far * hº agree together as that a capital sentence could be passed upon him on that evidence; since ...anºs.j” such a case required, at least, the concurrent oath of two persons. (See Deut. xvii. 6. XIX. 15. .At ū. there came two false witnesses, ſº maliciously wresting some words he had –At the last [there] came formerly spoken relating to his own death and resurrection, rose up, and falsely testified *...* biºlº 61 against him, Sºying, upon their oaths, This fellow said, in our hearing, I am able to destroy jºist imit frk Kivää the temple of God, and to build it up again in three days; and would any one talk of "& And said, This follow destroying it, unless he was an enemy to that holy place P or think of building it again so ;Féº: Soon, unless he was in league with $º |Yea, one of them, designing to aggra- in three days.” MARK vate the matter, confidently affirmed,” We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is , Mark xiv. 3. ...We heard XIV, made with hands, and in three days’ time I will build up another which shall be made with- łº! .º. * out the help of hands, in obedience to my command. ' Yet neither thus did their testimony ń. º"...º. exactly agree, nor was sufficient to convict him; as evidently appears from comparing the wilºut hºnous made different words in which it was expressed: and as this difference was observed in court, wº.º. their they could not for shame proceed upon the evidence so as to condemn Jesus to death for s's Cºx tº ºr Li i Ka i s words which no two persons could pretend to ascertain; nor would they indeed have amounted to a capital crime, if they had jointly been charged upon him. LUKE . However, they resolved to try him in full council, even on this slender evidence, hoping Luke sº ***, that some further discovery would arise in the process of the examination. And accord- i."...ºf i.”.ii.; 66 ingly, as soon as it was day, after a very short recess, the elders of the people, and the chief §". jº. priests, and the scribes, who made up the Sanhedrim, assembled together; and they led Jesus §aphailing their council. away from [the house of Caiaphas the high priest, to their council, or to that magnificent ('9" ".” MARK chamber where their court used to sit for the despatch of public business. And, producing Mark, siv.6), And the - * s e * - gº igh priest stood up in t *"…a what imperfect evidence they had, to give some colour to their proceedings, while no #1'.'aš."jº's. regard was shown by Jesus to such false and frivolous accusations, the high priest stood up ºn; wºollºbiº * e -- * . 5 fhºp, or ? * * What is it which these wit– in the midst of the council, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? What is it that sº against thee? [Matt. 61 these men testify against thee? Is it true or false? But Jesus, knowing how vain it would ºf tresus, held his be to plead for himself in so unrighteous a court, whose members came determined to ºf sº not- condemn him, was silent, and made no reply. - e 1:13. LYiğilt. XXV l. Có. LUKE And they said to him, Why art thou so much upon the reserve? Dost thou give up the Luke xxii. 67. [And they xxii. pretensions thou hast formerly made, or dost thou still maintain them 2 If thou art indeed sºil. Art, thºu the Öhrist? * * - - -- ſº º t s. And he said unt 67 the Messiah, tell us plainly, and it will bring matters to a short issue.” And he said to *" " " "* * * 7 it, covering his head, which was a token of mourning and shame well blow, was in Giffect as if he had said, “This is what I think your preach- bécoming Peter on this occasion. (Compare 2 Sam. xv. 30. Esth., vi. 12. İng deserves.” But as he himself seems to assign another reason for this and Jer. xiv. 3, 4.)—As for our version, ſuchen he titought thereon,] I can blow, eyen the pretended rudeness of the answer Christ had made to the find no passage in antiquity in which the word has such a signification ; high priest, I have not, followed Mr. Bonnel in my paraphrase on the though to be sure that phrase expresses what was truly the case. I have preceding verse. See Bonnel’s Harmony, p. 362. thereforg inserted it, in the paraphrase, as I, would take every oppoſ: c Songht for false evidence—but found none..] As this was a great tunity of paying all due respect to so valuable a translation as ours is proofof Christ’s innocence, (for otherwise his confederates might have in the main. - É. glad to purchase their own security by impeaching him,) so it is a a Gave Jesus a blotc.) As the word partapa is supposed by many singular instance of the power of God over men’s minds, that for ail the etymologists to be derived from paſ}ºos, a staff or stick, Beza would rewards thºse great men could offer, no two consistent witnesses could therefore render it, he smote him ifith a staff; but the word is apparently be, procured to charge him with any gross crime, Possibly the exertion used for any blowo , and to limit it, as our translators do, to what we Qſ his miraculous ſº in , striking to the ground those that were most commonly call a slap on the face, does not seem reasonable; though forward to seize him, might intimidate the spirits of some who might Šuidas explains it so, and Āfātt, V.35 intimates it may have that sense. otherwise have been prevailed upon. . . . - b If I have spoken evil, either of God or man, in the course of my d Designing to aggravate the matter, &c.] This is one instance, preaching, ºf The pious and ingenious Mr. bonnel (whose exem- among many others, in which the bow of malice has been broke by plary life deserves frequent reading, and whose Harmony is in the main overstraining it, and innocence cleared up by the very extravagance of very judicious) is the only writer. I have met with, who seems to give those charges which have been advanced against it.—It is observable, the true sense of this clause. He urges the use of the word £XaXmaa that the words which they thus º Were º by Christ for Christ’s teaching, (ver. 20, 21.) and observes, that, beqring, witness at least three years before. (Compari: John ii. 19. p. 55.) Their going back could not refer to the answer he had just made to the high, priest, but sº far to find matter for the charge they brought, was a glorious though might properly,be used, is tº the course of his preºghiº, which the high silent attestation of the unexceptionable manneſ in which our Lond had riest É not heard. He also supposes, that in Christ’s appeal to his behaved himself during all the course of his public ministry. learers, the person who smote Christ was singled out by his eye, among e If thow at the JMessiah, tell, wº.] Probably these, wretches hoped others, as one who had been his auditor; and that the language of the to gain a great advantage against Jesus either way; if he confessed it, CHRIST'S EXAMINATION IN THE COUNCIL, 825 I know that you will not believe: And if I also, ask SECT. them, if I tell you, you will them If I tell wou ever so plainl & 5 f 3/ p y, Jou will only overbear 185. nº ºr I also ask you, [you] wherefore it is that you persist in this unreasonable infidelity, you will not answer me, not me with renewed violence, and will neither answer nor dismiss me. *ś. 63. And [again! And again the high priest answered and said to him, Think not that such eyasions will §º. º; suffice in an affair of such importance as this: thou knowest I have a way of coming at a “*” iºnºiºiºi, thai tº the certain truth, and therefore I adjure thee in the most solemn manner, by the name and §§§.fºº authority of the living God, whose high priest I am, and to whom he has committed the edi God? [Mark siv. 61.j power of administering this oath,ſ that thou tell us directly, in the plainest terms, whether thou be the Messiah, the Son of the ever-blessed God, or not? en 64 And),Jesus saith unto And Jesus º; said to him, Thou hast said ſº and mentioned me by my true and 64 jº proper title; for I am indeed the Messiah, nor will I ever recede from that claim: and fºliºe"º moreover, though you may now condemn me to death for asserting it, yet I solemnly 㺺tiº º §: declare to you all, That hereafter the day will come when ye shall see the Son of man, whº #wº gº now stands in this despised and lowly form at your tribunal, exalted to all the dignity and #IA. i."; ºut.”:#; glory which that high title imports, sitting at the right hand of the power and majesty of Ö9.] - º º º; with irresistible strength in the clouds of heaven, to take vengeance on the proudest of his enemies.h Luke xxii. 70. Then said º upon this, as they were willing to make sure of so important a confession, they ºf g; sº, "ºi pressed him with the question again, and all said, as in amazement, ºrt thoſ, then really 7 ºil. into them."yo say that Iain the Son of God, who is promised under the character of the Messiah? and wilt thou actu- ally abidé and stand by this profession, that thou art? And he said to them, I will never - *** - retract it; ye say right, and may be assured that I am. gº * * * e º hiº. º: Then the high priest, with all the hypocritical forms of pious indignation, rent his clothes, §º. ºn.'s..."; as in grief for the great dishonour done to God by so false an oath,i and so presumptuous ; “ jº. what further need haye we of witnesses 8 . Be- hold, now ye haye heard his blasphemy. [Mark Xiv. 63, 66 What think ye? They a claim as he pretended this to be ; and he said, He has now spoken the most direct blas- phemy, in professing himself to be the Son of the most high God: what further need have we of witnesses 2 Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy with your own ears. What think ye therefore as to the punishment he deserves? They answered and said, He is guilty of 66 º, ºlºid, tiº, the most notorious of all crimes, and deserves immediately to be put to death ;k what need Wtºge, wºº have we indeed of any other testimony? for we ourselves have heard [it] from his own mouth. \ºisai ... .". And thus they all condemned him as guilty of a capital crime; and accordingly sentence Hº ºf was passed upon him, no witness appearing in his defence, and none daring to plead his §§§ {\frk si. 6i iuke cause; though some of the council who had a friendship for him, and particularly Joseph xxii. 71.] of Arimathea and Nicodemus, disapproving these unrighteous proceedings, either absented themselves or withdrew. (Compare Luke xxiii. 50, 51. and John xix. 33. sect. cxcii.) Lukºiºi. Theº Then the men that attended the court, and had Jesus in custody, finding he was con- LUKE men that held Jesus mocked - g * º * * * 4./ 2 5, 7 - XXII iii., §i.e. nisonºgan demned by the sanhedrim, insulted him with renewed injuries and affronts, and carried that 63 " jº, º insolent usage yet further than they had done before;” for some of them, with rude indig- ſº sºft cºatt. nity, began even to spit in his face, and to buffet him ; and others scornfully abused and . º *...*hº had beat him. ..And, in derision of his title to the character he claimed, having covered his eyes, }}]]. I IO I (182 ºf the officers and servants struck him on the face with the palms of their hands, and on the jºir head with staves; and, in a scoffing and contemptuous manner, asked him, saying, Now º, show us how thou canst divine; and if thou art indeed the true Messiah, prophesy to us, jºisiaº Q [thou], Christ, who is he that smote thee? Such were the vile indignities they offered 65 ºf sº"; " ", * him; and many other things they blasphemously spake against him:" so that, on the whole, bº.º. º.º. had he been the vilest malefactor, they could not have used him worse; and common jº.” ” “” humanity, even in that case, would not have allowed of such barbarous insults. IMPROVEMENT. THUS was the patient Lamb of God surrounded by his blood-thirsty enemies: thus did the dogs encompass him, Ver. and the strongs bulls of Bashan beset him on every side : (Psal. xxii. 12, º thus was he brought as a lamb to the 63- 65 Slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth : (Isa. liii. 7, 8.) he was taken task jrom judgment, and suffered the worst kind of murder, even that which had the appearance of being legal. But ºv. those gentle words which he dropped in the midst of all the injuries which were offered him, are surely worthy 60, 61 ever to be recorded and remembered. It had always been his care to provide things homest in the sight of all men ; Jons and as he answered with a most graceful and courageous appeal to º that heard him, as to the innocence and XVIII. usefulness of his doctrine,—so it is well worthy our observation and reflection, that God so far restrained the rage 23 and malice of hell, that no such false witnesses arose against him as could on the whole asperse his character, or Marr, bring it under any brand of public infamy; though Judas, as well as others, might have sought a reward, or at xxyſ. least an indemnity, for their own villany in accusing him. And indeed it is no inconsiderable instance of God's 59, 60 providential government of the world, that wicked men are restrained by this one remainder of reverence for the divine omniscience, and dread of his vengeance, from destroying the reputations and lives of his children; they would condemn him on that confession ; and if he denied it, they would expose him on that denial, as afraid to maintain the pretensions he had made. * - To whom he has committed the power of administering this oath.] That the Jewish high priests had indeed such a power, may appear from comparing Exod. xxii. 1). I_ev. v. 1. and Prov. xxix. 24. xxx. 9. g Thou hast said right.] See note I, Matt. xxvi. 25. § 17). h Ye shall see the Son of man, &c.] There seems a plain reference here to the view in which the Son of man is represented, Dan. vii. 13, 14, where he is said to come with the clouds of heaven to receive a dominion, &c. or to appear as God did on Mount Sinai, in a chariot of clouds, attended by angelic hosts. Our Lord looked very unlike that person now ; but nothing could be more awful, majestic, and becoming, than such an admonition in these circumstances.—Br. Whitby excel- lently proves, in his note on Matt. xxvi. 64. that the right hand of power is a phrase equivalent to the right hand of God. - i Rent his clothes.) Though the high priest was forbidden to rend his clothes in some cases, when others were allowed to do it, (Lev. xxi., 10.) yet in case of blasphemy, or any public calamity, it was thought allow- able. (See 1 Mac. xi. 71. and Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. ii. 15. § 2, . Caiaphas therefore by this action expressed, in the strongest and most lº manner, his horror at hearing so vile a wretch, as he pretended Jesus, was, thus claiming, the sovereignty over Israel, and a seat at the right hand of God; and this when adjured upon oath on so solemn an OCCâS On. ~ * * k They answcred and said, He is guilty of death..] . A man who did not know the mighty influence of attachment to an hypothesis by fre- quent observation, would be astonished that any learned, accurate, and ~5 candid writer should not be able to see the mark of a judicial process and sentence here ; and yet should see them in the case of Stephen. Yet this is really the case. ..] No witness appearing, in, his defence, &c.) Dr. Samuel Harris, in his Obscrations on the Qld Testainert, (p. 109, et seq. Quarto edit.) has with much greater learning and ingenuity than solidity, endeavoured to prove this circumstance referred to in Isaiah’s words, chap. Jiji. S. jºhº shall declare his generation ? and his first and second Dissertation prefixed to his Essay, chiefly centre in this point. m Carried that insolent usage yet further than they had done before.] Luke mentions these indignities before his being led to the council, in Which he tells us he was examined on oath as above: but Ajatthew ani Mark mention them as immediately succeeding his being condemned as guilty of blasphemy, in the answe; he made when adjured by the high priest 3 and do not so particularly as Luke distinguish what happened in his examination at the house of Caiaphas from other subsequent cir. cumstances. The attentive leader will observe low they are formed in our compound text into one consistent narration. I do not see it neces. Šary to suppose that Christ answered to two adjurations, the one some hours after the other. Matthew and \lark maturally enough relate the whole of his examination together, though carried on in two different plages ; and it is probable some insults preceded, and others, yet more violent, followed, his being thus solemnly condemned by the sanhedrim as guilty of death. - n Jilany other things, they blasphemously spake against him.] There is Something very remarkable in this expression. They charged him with blasphemy in asserting himself to be the Sop of Göd; but the evange- list fixes that charge on them because he really was so. 326 SECT 185. MATT. XXVI. 63, 6 4 CHRIST'S EXAMINATION BEFORE PILATE. sºcially in countries where (as in our own) the punishment which human laws inflict on perjury is so much below its desert. When Jesus was examined on oath, he witnessed a good confession, and cited those that were now his judges to appear at his bar. Nor was it a vain boast! The s: of mgm is now sitting at the right hand of power, and will £re long come in the clouds of heaven: and then they that ēondemned, and insulted, and pierced him, shall mourn }º, ofſº º: i. 7.) * we be i. so wise i. º kiss º Son in jº. of Qur humble allegiance to him, * * 9° ºn Jūštly gºgºſ With us; yea, lest we immediately perish from the way, when historaihº, imo) to be kindled ! J §§ #. yea, Ie *. y p f º/, wrath is but beginning SECTION CLXXXVI. Jesus is brought before Pilate. The Jews demand judgment against him and Pilate examines him. Matt. xxvii. 1, 2, 11– §§§º."jºse; • 2, 11–14. Mark xv. 1–5. MATT. xxvii. 1. * * MATT. xxvii. 1. SECT. SUCH were the Vile º of this horrid and malignant night, and thus was Jesus [ANI) straightway] when the 186. condemned and treated as a maléfactor by the Jewish rulers. Anjas soon as morning was ºrº, º come, gll, the chief priests, having put Jésus out of the room where the sanhedriñ met, tation with the jelders of the ... consulted with, the elders of the people, and the scribes, and the whole samācārīm, what jeji. IXXY II JOHN 2 method they should take to execute this sentence they had passed against Jesus, and how .*.*.*.*::::: they might contrive to put him to death in the most severe and contemptuous manner. ſMark xv. 1.] wind after he had been insulted by the servants at the council chamber, when, for the , 2 And when they had greater security, they had bound him again, the whole multitude of them arose, and led him §º away from thence to the praetorium, (as it was properl called,) or to the judgment-hall, in they led # **ś which, the Roman magistrate was used to sit for the despatch of public business; for the Hº: Jews being now a conquered people, and not having the power of life and death in their ſºlº tººlſ; I * : A - : ...~~ xxiii. I. John hands, they could not execute Jesús without a warrant from the Romans; and therefore, xviii. 28. #9, prºcure their order for his death, as well as to render it the more ignominious and pain: ful, they determined immediately to carry him to them; and to ask, not a confirmation of the sentence which they had passed upon him as a blasphemer, but a new sentence of crucifixion against him as a seditious enemy to Caesar's government. Accordingly, having conducted him to the praetorium, they in a solemn way delivered him, as a state prisoner 9f considerable importance, to Pontius Pilate the procurator or governor, whom Tiberius Caesar had some years before this sent among them. •ºnd though by this time it was broad day-light, yet it was very early in the morning, John xviii.28. And it was *Y", and much sooner than the governor used to appear: he was therefore called up on this early, ºd they themselves ywent not into the judgment- 28 extraordinary occasion, but they themselves went not into the palace, of which the judgment- | le.ºhiºhº, hall was a part, because it was the house of a Gentile, and they were apprehensive lºst they jºi...º.º. they misfit should be polluted, and so prevented from eating those sacrifices which were offered on this first day of unleavened bread, and were looked upon as a very considerable part of the passover, of which the paschal lamb, which they had eaten the evening before, was only the beginning. 29 Pilate º willing in this instance to oblige the heads of the nation he governed, 29 Pilate then went out 3 31 0 - * • *rr-, •ol; or, r ** & - unto them and said, What complied so far with their religious scruples, that, leaving the praetorium, he came out of accusation bring ye against his house to them; and finding it was an affair of solemnity, he erected his tribunal in an his nº open place adjoining to it, as the Roman magistrates often did; and when Jesus was pre- sented as a prisoner before him, Pilate said to them, What accusation do you bring against this man 2 -> They answered and said to him, with some indecent smartness in the expression, (the 30 They answered and consequence of a secret, indignation to find themselves curbed by a superior power.) We ...","...º.º.º.; could not but have hoped you were so well acquainted with the sanctity of our court, and ſº delivered him up the integrity of our character, as to conclude, that if this man were not a notorious offender,d " & we would not have brought and delivered him to ihee; for as we would be far from any thought of punishing an innocent man, so, if his crime had not been very great, we might have dealt with him ourselves without thy concurrence. e g & Then Pilate said to them, Take ye him back to your own court again, and judge him 31 Then said, Pilate unto ccording to your law; for I am by no means, desirous of interfering with you in the regu-ºº. §ºse lar exercise of your judicial power. And this he said with a view of shifting off from "" himself an affair to which in the general he could be no stranger;” and which he easily saw would be attended with many perplexing circumstances. r - Then the Jews said to him again, You well know that it is not now lawful for us to put —The Jews therefore said ll, the chief pricsts consulted, &c.] Many critics. explain this of in the contingency ºf its being more painful, if it should in fact be ob- tº:#8 consult #fff; from the house of ğs, to the tained; Compare John xviii. 31. above. (See Dr. Larflner's Credib. place where the sanhedrim used to meet: but it appears from Luke, part is book i. chap. 2... sect. 5, 6. vol. i. p. 65—106, and jºb. Jāntiq. this was the place where they had before assembled and passed sentence Jud. lib. xx. cº-jº [al. 8.] sect, . 1.), , And indeed the Jewish writers upon Jesus, after, his first examination in the house of Caiaphas; and own that nº such power, was exercised by the Sanhedrin for forty year; his account of this matter is so circumstantial, that, I think it more rea- before the destruction, of the temp}e, as Dr. Lightfoot shows by several sonable to take these words, in the order in which, they are explained in qugatiºns, from the Talmud. (Hor. Hº., on Matt. :*}; 3. Gºd, John the paraphrase. Compare Luke xxii. 66. page 324. - xviii. 31.), though he supposes it was only lost by their disuse of it, and When they had bound him again...] They bound him when he was was not taken from them by the Romans-ºl he chiº, arguments fºr first apprehended, but had, perhaps, loosed him while he was under ex- their having $gchº powers (from *::::::::::::: ſºlº iii.; XVIII, i. & amination: or else they now made his bonds stricter than before, that so Acts vii. 57, 58. xii. 2., xxii. 4, 5. *śī. ji "th • XX. th 9, are º yer they might secure him from º danger of a rescue or escape, as he jºy answered in the notes, or obviated in the paraphrase, on those assod through the streets of Jerusalein. O1&CéS. -- . * * º * v- i. D c Not having the power of life and death in their hands, &c.) That d A notorious offender.] So I render kakoſſotos in this connexion, the Jewish Sanhedrím. had a power of trying and condemning men for because they had still, the power of inflicting slighter punishments; so crimes which the Jewish law made capital, cºnpot I think be doubted, that their bringing him to Pilate was a proof that they judged him to and, has all along been taken for granted, in this work, and since, the have incurred a capital sentence. The word malefactor has much the ublication of the first edition, it has been abundantly confirmed by same sense in our ordinary speech. - & É. Biscoe’s learned and elaborate dissertation on the subject, in his c With a view of shifting off from himself, &c..] Pilate could not be Sermons, at Boyle’s Lecture, chap. vi. part i. p. 123, ct seq. But that entirely ignorant of the case before him.; for, he began his goyernment they had at this time a power of executing such sentences without the at Jerusalem before Jesus entered on his public ministry,; and, besides express consent of the ſtºn governor, neither Mr. Manne’s remarks, many other, extraordinary ‘. which, he must formerly pºve heard (Essay i. p. 13–19), nor Mr. Biscoe’s, much larger argumentation, seen concerning him, he hºld, no doubt, begn informed at large of his public to me satisfactorily to prove. . I still think what Dr. Lardner has written entrance into Jerusalem, the beginning of the week; and also of his on the other side of the question unanswerable ; and indeed wonder that apprehension, in which the Jewish rulers were assisted by a Roman any can doubt of the mätter after reading this story. . For surely nothing cohort, which coºd hardly be £pgººd in that serviçe without the but a sense of necessity could, on the whole, haye brought the Jewish governor’s express permission. It plainly, appears by his whºle con- rulers to Pilate on this occasion;, since the rendering the execution itself duct, how unwilling he was to jº. in this §.” he seems therefore precarious, would have balanced the argument their cruelty might fied, cautious not to enter into the full sense of what the Jewish rulers in- CHRIST'S EXAMINATION BEFORE PILATE. 327 ºr ºn to death without your concurrence; (compare Matt. xxvii. 2. p. 326.) but it is a SECT. ******** capital crime of which the prisoner here before you is convicted; and as, after a fair trial, 186. he has received such a sentence in the sanhedrim, we only wait your warrant to proceed sºmsºmºmºmºsº * * * to execution. I_UKE bºº".. .And as Pilate could not but inquire of what crime he had been convicted, they resolved X* \º º: to mention that charge which might render him most obnoxious to the Roman power, and §§§§ to represent the matter in its mostmalignant view; and accordingly they began with great #ºſhe himself is Christ violence to accuse him, saying, It is not merely on a religious account that we have brought 5 s him before you, but we have also found this séditious [fellow] perverting the whole Jewish nation, from one end of the country to the other, and in effect forbidding to pay tribute to Casar, by saying, that he himself is Messiah, a King whom many of the Jews have expected to rescue them from all subjection to a foreign power; and this claim he has had the assurance to avow in open court; so that it is but a necessary piece of . to thee, and to the emperor, whose lieutenant thou art, to bring him hither to be condemned, and in- John xviii. 32. That the deed to leave him to be executed by you. And though they aimed at nothing more by ſolº savi s – a l- > * •e e * *Y* Tr §§§ this, than to make sure of their murdèrous designs, and to add new circumstances of shames;" ing what death he should die, and agony to the execution, yet Providence was pleased to overrule it with a wise intent, *. that the saying of Jesus might thus be fulfilled, which he spake more than once, see John iii. 14, xii. 32, 33. and Matt, xx. 19.) signifying or implying by what kind of death he should die, even by being lifted up from the earth, or by crucifixion, which was a Roman punishment; whereas, according to the Jewish law, (Lev. xxiv. 16.) he would have been stoned, (as his servant Stephen afterwards was,) having been impiously adjudged by them to have deserved death as a blasphemer. (Compare Matt. xxvi. 65, 66. and Mark xiv. 64. . 325. Matt. xxvii. 12. And when p * he was thus accused by the chief priests and elders,f who aggravated the matter MATT. ; : ; ; ; ; by the addition of many other things either entirely false, or grossly misrepresented; re-jºº §º gºvered nothins. proaching him as a blasphemer, a sabbath-breaker, and a magician; and, in a word, tº ºf in omitting nothing, which they, thought might blacken his character, he made them no answer. nº ºilº, ung at all. Then Pilate said to him, Dost thou answer nothing to all this 2 Hearest thou not 13 ; jºi..." tº."mº; the several charges they produce against thee, or hast thou no concern to vindicate thyself Hºolººwº, º from what they have alleged?...Behold, and consider, how many and how great things ūjārkyº. 4.j ** “ they witness against thee. But still, as Jesus knew how little all his apologies would signify, 14 cºw; he continued silent, and did not answer him to any one word; so that Pilate the governor somuch that iHilatejiຠgo was greatly astonished, and knew not how to account for so uncommon a behaviour. § sº" sº . Büt yet, as the governor had heard an honourable report of Jesus, and observed in this ſº ºf silence an air of meek majesty and greatness of spirit, ºther than any consciousness of XVIII. ñaiiagain, and alléjj, guilt, or any indication of a fierce contempt, he was willing to discourse with him more “ º: ºº: privately before he º; further. Pilate therefore entered again into the pratorium asked him, saying: "Artion which he had quitted to oblige the Jews, (ver. 29, p. 326.) and called Jesus in: and [as ºšiºjº, Jesus stood before the governor there, Pilate asked him, saying,...ſºrt thou indeed the King of XXiii. 3..] - the Jews, and dost thou really pretend to any right to govern them P sº dº. Jesus answered him, Dost thou say this of thyself, from the knowledge of any seditious 34 §:#;"...###. practices which thou hast ever observed in me? or is it only what thou hast gathered from of me 2 the present clamour made against me, and have others told it thee concerning me? gº Pilate immediately .# .4m. I a Jew? or do I know any thing of 3. peculiarities, 35 tº hiº"...iº,"...ºft further than I am informed by others? I do not at all pretend to it: but thou knowest ::::::::gntone; what has that thine own nation, and those who are esteemed the most sacred persons in it, even the e chief priests themselves, have delivered thee to me as a malefactor, and have charged thee, among other crimes, with treason against Caesar, in setting up for king of the country: tell me therefore freely, what hast thou done to deserve such a charge? for the more frank thou art in thine acknowledgment, the groater favour mayst thou expect. 36 Jesus answered, My Jesus answered him, Jºfy kingdom is not of this world, nor is it my business or design to 36 #;"|}..."...; º; erect a temporal dominion, and to establish any claim which should at all interfere with world, then would my ser; that of Caesar, or of which any prince has reason to be jealous. Indeed, if I would have §º entertained such views, I might have found support and encouragement from the ve flººmy kingdom not from persons who are now my accusers; and if I had asserted that my kingdom was of this tº savve world, and had favoured such methods of defence, my servants, who professed of late So great and so public a regard to me, would resolutely have fought that I might not have been delivered to the Jews,é or would attempt even now to rescue me out of their hands: but now my kingdom is not from hence, nor to be erected here; and therefore I have been so far from arming my followers with secular weapons, that the guard who came to apprehend me know I forbade their making use of those they had. 37 Pilate therefore said un- Pilate therefore said to him, Thou speakest however of thy kingdom and thy subjects: 37 tº...him, Art thou a kins art thou then really a king 2 TAnd, Jesus answered , ſind Jesus answered him and said, therein courageously witnessing a good confession, ####"...º.º. (1 Tim. vi. 18.) Thou Sayest [right;] I am indeed, as thou hast said, a king; the King of # º ; the Jews, and the appointed Head and Governor of the whole Israel of God; Inor will I Vºij. fºliº. wº: ever basely seek my safety by renouncing my divine claim to the most excellent majesty ness ünto the truth. Every and extensive dominion: may, for this ſ. was I born, and for this end I came into the world from another and much better abode, that I might bear witness to the cause of truth in general, and in particular to this great and fundamental branch of it: and I have given tended when they called him a malefactor; and answers them in am- now agtually in the hands of his enemies, I think it plain that it is to be biguous language, which they might have interpreted as a warrant to exe- taken in such an extent. It may be objected, that the number of Christ's cute Christ, if they found if necessary, and yet, which would have left disciples, had all the five hundred been assembled in arms, could have them liable to be questioned for doing it, and might have given him some been no match for the Jewish and Roman power at Jerusalem. But it is advantagº, against them; which a man of his character might have to be remembered, that (as Dr. Lardner with his usual good sense ob- wished. Their reply shows, they were more aware of this artifice than serves) the populace appeared zealously on Christ's side but a few days commentators have generally been. before ; and the reason of their turning against him was his not assum- fºnd when he was thus accused, &c.]. The reader may perhaps observe ing a łº, kingdom, as they certainly expected he would have done. that I haye transposed, Matt. xxvii. 11. and Mark xv. 2. But, it is only (See Lardn. Credib, part i. book i...chap. 5. vol. i. p. 30i.) And we because I think the other evangelists relate the story in such an order may further add, that a very small body of forces, under a leader en- as to show the propriety of this little transposition. g ſlowed with such miraculous power as Jesus iately exercised, might g JMy servants would have º &c.] Though our translation of have been sufficient lºanquis * all the Roman legions. Compare note m) toyt Sºvro may be more literal, yet, considering that our Lord was i, on John vi. 14. p. 328 - PILATE SENDS JESUS TO HEROD. SECT. Such ample proof of this, that every honest and well-disposed person who is indeed a friend one that is ofthe truthhearth 186. of the truth, heareth my voice, and pays an entire deference to my instructions.h Rºº. §§ }. Pilate says to him, What is the truth which thou referrest to, and speakest of as thy 3S Pintº minum, in John business to attest? And when he had said this, as Jesus made a pause, and did not imme- What is tiº Äni when it, *s diately make him any answer, his hurry would not allow him to wait for it; so he went *ś out again, to the Jews, and said to the chief priests, and the people assembled with them （, ; ##; ; ; abroad, I have examined the prisoner you brought me in private; and I must freely declare * º: that I find no.fault at all in this man, nor can I perceive that he is any enemy either to the ****) rights of Caesar, or the tranquillity and happiness of the Jews; and therefore do not see how I can with any justice condemn him to die. But his accusers refused to acquiesce in this, and advanced a more circumstantial charge against him, which gave occasion to that examination before Herod which will be related in the next section.” IMPROVEMENT. How much exactness in the ceremonials of religion may be found in those who have even the most outrageous contempt for its vital º: and essential duties! Yea, how much of that exactness may be made subservient Ver.28 to the mºst mischievous and diabolical purposes! These wolves in sheep's clothing would not enter into the house of a heathen, lest they should be polluted, and become unfit to eat the passover; yet they contrive and urge an impiqus murder, which that very heathen, though he had much less evidence of Christ's innocence than they, gould not be brought to permit without strong reluctance, and a solemn, though vain, transferring of the guilt from himself to them. - LUKE Justly might our Lord say, in the words of David, They laid to my charge things that I knew not. (Psal. xxxv. xxiii., 11.) But what can defend the most innocent and exceight against malicious slanders and defamations ! Or who MATT can expect, or even wish, wholly to escape, when such accusations are brought against Christ, even by the rulers XXVII of his nation, who should have been men of distinguished generosity and honour! But instead of this, they were 12 all an assembly of murderers, and lay in wait for their prey like so many devouring lions. JOHN Pilate would renew the examination of the cause; and so far he acted a cautious and an honourable part. Yet, XVIII. alas, how many that set out on such maxims want courage and resolution to pursue them . But the courage of 29, 33 Christ never failed. . He witnessed before Pontius Pilate the good confession we have now been reading, (1 Tim. 37 yi. 13.) and owned himself a King, though at the same time he declared (what it were to be wished all his fol- 36 lowers had duly regarded) that his kingdom is not of this world. Greatly do we debase it if we imagine itis; and most unworthy is it of those that call themselves the ministers of his kingdom, to act as if they thought it was. Yet such is the wickedness of some, and such the blindness of others in the Roman church, that though, of all the churches in the world, it is manifestly the most secular kingdom,i it arrogates to itself the name, not only of a part, but of the whole, of Christ's kingdom here below. 37 Christ came to bear witness to the truth; and a careful attendance to his testimony will be the best proof we can give that we love the truth, and the best method we can take to make ourselves acquainted with it. And of so great importance is the truth, that it surely deserves the attentive inquiry and the zealous patronage of the 38 greatest and the busiest of mankind. Let us not therefore, when we begin to ask what it is, like Pilate, hurry on to some other care before we can receive a satisfactory answer; but joyfully open our minds to the first dawnings of that celestial day, till it shine more and more, to irradiate and adorm all our souls. On the whole, imperfect as rege the character of this unhappy governor was, let us learn from him candidly to confess the truth, so far as we have 3.xml discovered it: let us learn, more steadily than he, to vindicate the innocent and worthy, and on no terms permit 4 ourselves, in any degree, to do harm to those in whom, on a strict and impartial inquiry, we can find no fault. SECTION CLXXXVII. Pilate sends Jesus to Herod, who having treated him with, great contempt, sends him back again. Pilate in vain endeavours to persuade, th9 Jews to consent to his rejease, who impiously prefer Barabbas, and persist in their demands of a sentence of crucifixion against Jesus. Matt. .Vi. i*i; })*::::. "Afak ºv. č it." fºe ºxiii.5-33. johº zviii.33, to the end. LUKE xxiii. 5. & LUKE xxiii. 5. c L. C. r." son-zza A , & s y ilm +, AND they were the more SECT. IT was observed in the preceding section, that when Pilate came out of the palace he bore º ºf sieś, 187. an open testimony to the innocence of Jesus, and declared to the priests in the presence jºiº of the people, that “he found no fault at all in him:” but they not only continued strongly #2'º';** lºº to urge their accusation, but were more violent than before, saying, We assuredly know - * - that he stirs up all the people, teaching the most dangerous and séditious doctrines through- ° out all Judea, beginning %; Galilee, that factious country, where he has been most busy, and from thence making a progress even to this place, and gathering up followers every where by the way, to the apparent danger and damage of the state. ,” * . !, imantired ºf f 77, WIl 6 When Pilate heard of 6 ...And when Pilate heard them speak % Galilee, he presently inquired if the man º Galilee, he asked whether the 7 they had brought before him was a Galilean. And finding that he was of that country, and mºiſè.". therefore that he properly belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, who was tetrarch of Galilee, he dº...º.º. willingly embracéd this opportunity to clear himself of so perplexing an affair, and imme- #jº. º: tº: * g & & * * Sel I WalS diately sent him away to Herod,” who being himself a Jew, was also at Jerusalem in those tºº days, having come up to celebrate the passover there. *- 8 and when Herod saw Jesus, he rejoiced cºceedingly; for he had a long time been very J. W. Hºod saw * -> 5 s".9 x tº 8 s & Jesus, he was exceeding glad: desirous to see him, because he had heard much concerning him in Galilee, (compare Luke fºr hºw as desirous to see him & * * -- * g ** º l ge b { h ix. 7, 9, sect. lxxvii.) and he now º that he should have an opportunity so far to satisfy ;º ºgº ºf his curiosity as to see some miracle done by him, and might be able also to determine whether ºf .."; ...". • , * > sº Sé G [] SOIII] he was, as he had once suspected, John the Baptist risen from the dead. (Compare Matt, ß, " " " ". 9 xiv. 2. p. 144.) And he examined him in many words, concerning a variety of particulars 9 Then he questioned with * , & *.. • , , ; } • , a z. 37 is v. “ & * ilee, by whom John the h Every person cho is a friend of the truth heareth my coice.] What this was Hérod Antipas,the tetrarch of Galilee, ºr ę. oft *::::: º: sº's incidentally, is to be regarded as an universal Baptist had been behgaded, and whom Christ had justly º: a S jºxim, all sincere lovers, of the truth will ficar him ; and accordingly a fox. (Luke xiii. 32. p. 299.) He was son to Herod the Great, under St john with aii simplicity, depending on the exidences, which he and whom Christ was born; and uncle to Herod Agrippa, (by whom James iſis iºthrºn had given of their mission from Christ, lays down the same was beheaded and Peter imprisoned,) who was eaten by º,(Acts §§t. I join iv. 3."JWe are of God; he that lºngicetſ; Gál heaſt, º, xii. 2, 3, 23.5 and great-uncle to that Agrippa who was by Paul's diš. ; it is manifestly the most secular kingdoin.) This Mr. º of course #'ſ..."; to ºf & §§ bºº ... iś S in ja's fi ſilºs in his most ingenious discourse on these arraignment before him, When he was, Sºpº, back unconſºlemneº. Wºus, a º has finely illustrated in his most ing jº additional proof of tº: fºliº of those º § the tº a - -- - - - * - - 4 1 w 1tious person, and particularly a 3 #I f ºf £ ºf , to Herod..] It may not be improper, for the sake, of Jews had brought against him as a şeştº j º less # tº §, ſº jºij,”history, ſo observe, that one who had stirred up the people in Galilee. ** *…* - * * - - zº CHRIST AGAIN BROUGHT TO PILATE. him in many words; but ho both as to his answered him nothing. trine: but as Jésus knew this was not a proper time and circumstance to enter into those questions, of which Herod might long ago have been sufficiently informed, he made him 720 (172S2O6.7°. 10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehe- mently accused him. Jłnd the chief priests and scribes, whose malice had prom - es stood in the présénce of the king, eagerly accusing him of the same crimes which they had ted them to attend him thither, before charged him with in their application to Pilate. 11 And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, an mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. &:. ...And Herod, with those of his soldiers who now attended him as his life-guard, looked upon Jesus with disdain, and treated him in a very contemptuous manner, like a poor incon- siderable creature who no way answered the account they had heard of him, neither say- ing nor doing any thing to gratify their curiosity; and having derided [him] for pretending to be a king, (as it was urged by his accusers he had done,) in public contempt of that claim, whatever it was, Herod clothed him with a splendid robe, and sent him back to Pilate, thereby intimating that he left him to do what he pleased with his prisoner, but that for his own part he apprehended his pretensions to royalty worthy of derision rather than serious resentment. 12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at, enmity between them- governor was , On sclves. 13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the Pºpº 8. O' 14 Said unto them, Ye have # JAnd Pilate, * the chief priests, an .And, whatever Pilate’s real intentions were, the compliment of sending Jesus to be ex- amined by him, was so well taken by Herod, and Herod's sending him back to the Roman the other hand, such a public instance of regard to him, that the same day Pilate and Herod became friends, an they were at enmity between themselves.” received an account of what had passed before Herod, called together the rulers, and with them the rest of the people who had appeared ainst him as his accusers, And said to them, You have brought me this man, Jesus of 14 were reconciled to each other: for before this, brjº"... .". Nazareth, as one that has perverted the people, and taught doctrines injurious to your reli- one that *...* the peo- ple: . and, behold, I having F examined him before you, have found, no fault in this man, touching those things whereof ye accuse him : I 15 No, nor X; º: for Sent y Oll to him : an O & nothing worthy of death is make any such discovery 3 done unto him. your utmost to convict him ut I must solem gion, and also to the civil peace and the Roman government; and behold, I have examined him], both in your presence and in private, and heard all that could be alleged against him; # declare that Jou have charged him with ; nor can I in my conscience think that you have made good any of the accusations you have brought against him: JVor yet has Herod been able to -- ſº I sent jow to him with the prisoner, that you might do efore that have found no crime in this man as to the things that rince, who being a person of your own religion, and well acquainted with your laws and customs, might have known more of the matter than myself; and yet behold, it appears to have been Herod's judgment, that nothing worthy of death has been dome him ;d for, instead of sending him back like one who deserves a capital sentence, he has treated him like an idiot rather than a traitor, so as plainly to show that he thinks him merely the object of ridicule, or to deserve at most, but 16 I will therefore chastise some slight punishment. And therefore, when tº * , as will be an admonition to him for the future not to use those wild, enthusiastical expres- him, and release him. I have chastised him by scourging, which sions which have given so much umbrage and suspicion, I will let [him] go and I believe you may depend upon it that he will give us no further trouble; nor would he have interest enough to do it, if he were inclined to the attempt. JWow it was usual at the feast of the passover, [and] even was grown manner necessary,” for the Roman governor, when such multitudes were assembled from all parts, to release to the people any one whatever crime it was that he was charge a very infamous and noted prisoner, whose name was Barabbas, that lay bound with some .e. other ruffians who had made an insurrection in the city in conjunction with him, and who ay bound had also committed murder in the insurrection ; and, besides the part he had acted in this seditious riot, he was a fellow of a most abandoned character, and known to be a robber, who had infested the highways with his villany; so that it was generally concluded he Mark xv. 6. Now at that feast . [the governor was wont,J[LUKE,and of necessity he must, [release unto the people] one prisoner, whom- soever they desired... [Matt. xxvii. 15. Luke xxiii. 17.] 7 And there was [then notable º Barabbas, which with them that had made in- surrection with him [LURE, in the city, who had commit- ted murder in the insurrec- by custom in a risoner whom they desired to be set at liberty, with. tion, º, and was a rob would receive sentence of death, and would be executed that day. And as the power of ber...] [Matt., xxvii. 16. Luke xxiii. 19. John Xviii., 40.] 8 And the multitude [there- they Q06?"e ſore, when they were gather- d of ed together,) crying aloud, ºld?!0 O began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. [Matt. xxvii. 17.] 9 But . Pilate answered them, saying, [Joh N, Ye have a custom, that I should re- lease unto you one at Dassover :] s º therefore] that I re- ease unto you ? [Barabbas : or Jesus, which indeed a custom, that I should release to you one at the passover is jied oblige you in this affair: whom will you therefore choose that I release unio Jow? reversing or executing such sentences then lay in the Romans, the people therefore, when gathered together about the tribunal, began with a great noise and clamour to de- Filate [that he would do] at this passover as he had always done to them upon the like occasions, and would discharge a prisoner. - And Pilate, hoping that he might preserve the life of Jesus, whose innocence he so clearly saw, determined to attempt it by this method; and accordingly, that he might in- duce them to choose him, he proposed no other alternative than that scandalous and out- } ty * - e º -y [whom) Jºn". rao'eous criminal whom we havedº now mentioned, and answered them, saying, You have and I am ready now to Barab- §ºº'º'; bas, that seditious and murderous robber 2 or this Jesus, who is called Christ, who, in 1 §ºtt. xxvii. 17. John xviii. now not what strange sense, is 10 (For he knew that the before chief priests, had delivered | for envy.) [Matt. xxvii. you in the fine robe in w sº that the chief priests and rulers had not delivered him up into his hands from a regard to justice, but merely out % envy at his popularity; and therefore he was willing to make retended to be the king ºf the Jews, and whom you see ich Herod has thought fit to array him 2 For he knew the proposal to the people in such a form as might be most likely to secure his life. This expression, eq6mra Aap. Tpav, does not so roperly signify, (as Le Clerc renders its), a white robe ; nor was it, as f. supposes, intended as a declaration of his innocence. It was rather some gorgeous garment which belonged to Herod or some of his officers, and was, perhaps, grown old, and they clothed him with it in derision of his having pretended to be a king. This usage was, exceedingly in- solent: perhaps the remorse of conscience, which Herød had felt on ac- count of the murder of John the Baptist, might render him cautious how #: iºned in any attempt on the life of jesus, which we do not find that le Cl101. c They were at enmity between themselves.] The cause of this enmity can only be §: perhaps it might be the slaughter which Pilate had made of some of the 㺠who had come up to sacrifice at Jerusalem. (See Luke xiii. 1. $ 116.) But M. Saurin, truly observes, that, considering on the one hand the jealousy of the Jews where any foreign, power was concerned, and on the other the oppressive measures generally, taken by those who are invested with commissions, like this which Pilate bore, *.conquered countries, and especially the accounts 4 b A splendid rºl. we have of his own bad character and conduct, their reconciliation is gºore wonderful than their enmity. See Saur. Serm, vol. x. p. º gº - d JNothing worthy of death has been done by him.] The phrase reºpay- É. avraj, must here have this signification, as the margin of our łible renders it : for though this is something of an unusual construc- tion, yet as Raphelius (Jāminot. cz Polyb. p. 259.), has produced many instanges of the like nature, it would be much harsher to suppose that a capital sentence, or any treatment from Herod which should intimate he thought Jesus deserved it, should be called, ačvov 0avarov, something worthy of death. - e Usual—and in a manner necessary.] There was no law to oblige him to this; but as acts of º: are generally popular things, this seems to have been first freely used by the Romans to please their tributaries, and now by custom was in a manner established. I find no substantiaſ reason to believe there was in the original of this custom any reference to the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage at this tline. 329 pretensions and the proof of his mission, as well as the tenor of his doc-SECT. 187. I,UKE XXIII. I I 1 3 MARK XV. ...And there was then in Pilate's custody 7 8 THE JEWS CLAMOUR FOR THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS. sECr. ... But the chief priests and elders, who were exceedingly solicitous to obtain their end, lest r 11, But the chief priests 187, this artifice of the governor should defeat all their laboured scheme, excited the most for- ºłºś. §§ ward of the people, [and] effectually persuaded the mob they had brought with them, that jiàºjīā *º they should fisk the governor, with a continual noise and clamour, that he would rather re-jºº *Y* lease Barabbas to them; that by this means the point they had in view might be secured, fiatt. ºvii.33. 21 and they might be sure to destroy Jesus. And therefore, when the governor answered them Matt. xxvii. 21. The go; in this manner, and said to them again, Take notice that your choice lies only between §”h.ºhiº; these, and therefore now determine for yourselves, which of the two do 3/011 desire I should flºº will ye that I release tº release unto you?. Then, as their principals had prompted them, they all cried out again "...iii XXIII º g e 3 g ...s ii. 18. And [John 's with one consent, in the same noisy and tumultuous way as before, saying, We will not ºnlºº (Jººlſ &ied 1. have thi b e s 5 5 - out [John, again] all at ave this [mºn.] but Barabbas : away with this [man, and release unto us Barabbas. And ºe, j, tº Nºuă. thus, when Pilate would have let him go, they denied the Holy One and the Just, and ºf ººº; desired a murderer to be granted unto them. (Acts iii. 14.) unto. §§ Barabbas. (Matt. * And Pilate, to divert them from the purpose they were so unreasonably set upon, again º';**ś";hat, *"12 answered and said to them,_PWhat therefore would you have me do with this Jesus who is ºdºsiºidº 12 lled Chri d wh - * to them, What will ye then CCIll & rist, and whom, if I may believe your own rulers, so many of you are ready to tha'i' hai'i, º; 18 call and own as the king of the Jews?f And they alljºy renewed their clamour, and º.º. cried out again, as before, [and] with one voice said to him, Crucify him: let him imme- tº; ãºneſied on º, º crucified; for he is fit to be treated as the vilest slave, rather than to be called , º §º Crucify him: ... [Let him be ; Pilate therefore, being still desirous to release Jesus, spake to them yet again; urging them .*.*ś 21 seriously to consider what they did, in thus preferring such an abandoned miscreant as Jºãº, ſºlºise Barabbas to so innocent a person. But they, without so much as offering any further rea- ºut they’riºd, saying, ; persisted in their importunity, and cried out as before, saying, Crucify [him, crucify 9" ". ** 2777. . - 22 And Pilate was so intent on delivering him, that he said to them the third time, Why 23 And, (MARK, Pilate will, you be, so cruel as to insist upon it? what evil has he done?h I declare to you all, as tºº."º"; I told you but now, (ver. 14. p. 339.) that I have found no capital crime in him: I will lºſiº ſºlº * Aey º Aº ‘bº º sº tº & * £º Tº º: a e of death in him : I will there- therefore, as I said, (ver. #k: astise him by scourging, and then I hope your rage will fºsis; in ai'i jºin be moderated, and you will be prevailed upon to agree that I should let [him] go without gº ºut. xxvii.33. Mark any further punishment. - - tº º Aº ‘º 23 But they, without pretending to answer the argument he had alleged, overbore it by a º Aº, hºwere jºint wild fury, and were urgent in pressing him with loud and importunate voices; and the more .."e."oº"; "mº he opposed them, they cried out the more abundantly, and violently, demanding that, what- fººl, ºi, ºf ever was the consequence of it, he might be crucified; and on the whole, notwithstanding theºs ojie.nº the further remonstrance of Pilate on the admonition of his wife, (which will be mentioned ºf in the next section,) their voices, and [those] of the chief priesis, (who, to encourage the - cry, had so little sense of common decency as themselves to join in it,) prevailed with the governor, though contrary to the convictions of his own conscience, to comply with their request. - IMPROVEMENT. Ver. BEHOLD how all imaginable circumstances seem to conspire to increase the infamy thrown on that sacred head 7–10 which now most worthily wears a crown of eternal glory ! . Of a truth, O Lord, against thy holy Child Jesus, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the chief priests, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel had determined before to be done. (Acts. iv. 27, 28.) The wisest person 11 on earth was by Herod and his soldiers derided as a fool; the most deserving was condemned by the chief priests; and the most innocent was treated as a criminal by Pilate, and furiously demanded as a public victim by the Jews. All the proofs of his innocence are overborne by a loud and a senseless cry; and those hosannas with which the 21, 23 streets and temple were so lately echoing, are exchanged into, Crucify him, crucify him / So uncertain is human applause, and so unrighteous may human judgments bel ut in the midst of all, the blessed Jesus stands collected in himself. Firm as a rock, he bears the violence of 18, 19 the storm, and is not moved by all the furious waves that beat upon him; and when he saw a robber and a mur- MARK derer preferred before him, and a sentence of the most cruel death clamorously called for and demanded against * him, he silently commits himself to him that judgeth righteously, who ere long brought forth his righteousness as 13, 14 brightness, and his salvation as a lamp that burneth. º; i Pet. ii. 23. and Isa. lxii. 1.) ord, if thou callest us out to share in thy sufferings, may the Spirit of God and of glory, thus rest on us!, And may neither the scorn nor the rage of our enemies separate us from thee, who did so courageously bear all this for us; nor may they ever sink us into any weakness of behaviour unworthy of those who have the honour to call themselves thy followers! SECTION CLXXXVIII. Pilate, having again and again renewed his efforts to persuade the Jews to gonsent that Jesus should be released, at length yield; to, heir importu- 3. §§ and ğiºs him up to be crucified. Matt. xxvii. 19, 24–31. Mark xv. 15–20. Luke xxiii. 24, 25. John xix. 1-16. John xix. 1. John xix. I. SECT. THEN, as the priests and people of the Jews continued their clamºrous demand that ºil. º; took 188. Jesus should be crucified, Pilate thought it most advisable to seem at least to consent to y g it, and therefore took Jesus and scourged him; hoping that, after he had been severely John scourged, the rage of the populace would be something abated, and they might at last be *** prevailed upon to consent that he should be dismissed. f. Whom you call the king of the Jews.) Pilate often repeats this title; ficient to have thrown the whole city and nation into, an uproar; but and it may seem strange that he should use it so frequently. Probably now they were deaf to every thing but the clamour of passion, and in he might do it partly to ridicule those pretences, and bring contempt on their madness forgot with how ſº a precedent they might furnish the scheme of a Messiai, and pārūy to procure from the Jews, in their the Roman governor. And indeed it turned º on themselves, zeal against Jesus, the strongest and most public professions of their when such vast numbers of thº wer? crucifixed, for their opposition to subjection to Caesar. the º the time of their last war. See note o, in the next g Let him be crucified.]. By this cry they declared the greatest degree se?"}}}.9% º 2 & agºs & of rage that can be imagined: for it was as if they had sº “Let him Why? what evil has he dome ëll Tt § ſº ;: º: whº you cajj our king, be treated like one ºf the vist ºf . outsiຠ(Annot. ex: Xenoph. p. 64.) has well prºved that Yºp is often used by the who has committed the most enormous crime.” ”fo have inflicted such correctest Greek writers, and particularly Xenophon, as an elegant ex- * a punishment as this on any free Jew, would probably have been sufi pietive, especially to introduce a question. THE JEws CLAMOUR FOR THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS. 831 *::::::::::...; Then the soldiers of the governor,” knowing that it was the Roman custom to scºurge SECr. j *}.} '. º prisoners just before they were put to death, interpreted Pilate's order on this head as a 188. §§ declaration that he was immediately to be crucified: and therefore they took Jesus, [and] to him."ºhºl."j"ºf led him away into the common hall in Pilate's palace, which was called the Praetorium, (as MATT. * ****) being the place where the praetor, a Roman magistrate, used to keep his court,) and there ..." they gathered to him the whole band or cohort, to insult and torment him, not being con- cerned to keep any measures with a person whom they looked upon as entirely abandoned 28 And, they stripped him, to their will. ...And having stripped him of that splendid garment in which Herod had con- 28 i.º.º.º.º. temptuously dressed him, in order to vary the mockery and affront, they wantonly clothed tºbe; (Mark xv. 17. John him in a vest of imperial purple, ſº put on him a scarlet robe over it, that in this gaudy *ś%d when [Joss, the dress he might have something of a mock resemblance to a prince : And, further to ridi- 29 º º, cule his pretensions to royalty, which they considered as an affront to their nation and his head, and *, *.ſº emperor, the soldiers having maliciously platted a crown of thorns, put it upon his head, b and #ºjº º ſº put a large reed or cane into his right hand, to represent a sceptre; and then they began in e him, and wed º - e ſº sº sº the knee before him, ſand a ludicrous manner to º their homage and salutations to him as to a new-created prince ; ºf on his coronation-day; ſand] bowing the knee before him, they did him reverence in a [Joh the Jews.ſºs.ind he scoffing way, and mocked him, saying, All hail, thou most magnificent king of the Jews! tºº. Hail mighty monarch we give thee joy on thine, accession to the crown! and then xix. 2, 3.] approaching him as if they would have offered him some present, as usual on such occa- 30 And they [did] spit upon sións, they smote him with their hands; And proceeded so far as to spit upon him even in 30 hiºn; §§ hºeº, his very face; and at last took the reed or cane, out of his hand," and barbarously struck tº zºo.j" “ ” him with it on the head; and so, as it were, nailed down the thorns into his forehead and . temples, and occasioned thereby exquisite pain, as well as a great effusion of blood: all which this holy Sufferer bore with the utmost meekness and composure, neither reviling tºp threatening them, but silently committing himself to the righteous, invisible Judge. I Pet. ii. 23.) - - - - Matt. xxvii. 19, when he In the mean time Pilate was taken up with trying and condemning SOIne other prisoners 19 ..º.º.º.º. who were to be executed that day; and while he thus was sitting on the tribunal he had i. sing. Hºe ºu". erected, his wife, having by this time been informed that Jesus had been brought before i. #,"? Yº,"; him, and was going to be given up to death, sent a very importunate message to him,” many things this day in a saying, I beseech thee, see to it that thou have nothing to do with the blood of that righteous dream because of him. One against whom the Jews are now demanding judgment; for I have suffered manythings to-day on his account in a dream,” and have had such terrible views represented to my ima- gination in my sleep this very morning, that I cannot but look upon it as something divine; and conclude that if thou dost upon any terms consent to his death, it will be attended - with dreadful consequences to thyself and thy family. John xix. 4. Pilate therefore Pilate therefore, alarmed by such a message as this, went into the common-hall himself JoHN . . ...": ; to see what they were doing with the º and when he beheld with strong emotion , ” him ſºuthat ye may all those indignities and torments which Jesus had borne, and saw how severely the sol- ;: "**** * * diers had scourged him, thinking that the sight of him in so sad a condition might move the Jews to compassion, he determined to make one trial more. And accordingly he came out again to the public tribunal where the Jews were assembled, and having ordered Jesus to be led thither, he said to them, j". before he appeared, Behold, I am bringing him out to you again, that ye may know and observe it, that I can find no fault in him, though the tortures he has now undergone are such as must surely have brought him to confession, if he were indeed guilty. - 5 Then, came Jesus forth, Thén, as he spake these Words, Jesus came out of the Praetorium wearing the thorny crown 5 Mºś".º.º. and the purple robe, now also dyed in his own blood, which streamed forth from all parts Pius aſſi into them, Bet of his body. And [Pilate], said to them, Behold the man! view him attentively; and hold the roan when you see what dreadful things the poor unhappy creature has suffered, let that con- tent . ; for surely, considering his innocence, he has suffered already much more than CD OUR O'D. . - 6 when the chief priest. When therefore the chief priests and º: attending officers saw him, fearing lest the 6 §§. º.º.º. E. should relent, they presently renewed their exclamations, and eagerly cried out as Örücify him, crucify him—" before, saying, We know the man sufficiently: away with him to the cross; crucify [him, - crucify [him i. and immediately order the wretch to be executed. g Tº: Pilate on this said to them, If ye are thus resolute and inexorable, I leave him in your ºß” hands, to dispose of him as you think fit: take ye him therefore, if it must be so, and cru- cify [him] yourselves; but I desire to discharge myself from having any thing to do in it, either by myself or by my Roman guards; for, as I have told you again and again, I find no fault in him worthy of any such punishment. 7 The Jews answered him, The Jews then answered him, There is no room to represent him as a faultless person, 7 nor any reason to be backward to condemn him ; but these objections you have made oblige us to mention one circumstance, which for the horror of it we would willingly have a. Then the soldiers, &c.] The evangelist John so plainly speaks of Jobn, wer. 13.) but it, includes all kinds of canes ; and it, is most pro- their crowning our Lord with thorns, and these other indignities, as pre- bable, this was a walking-staff, which they put into his hand as a sceptre, vious to Pilate’s last attempt to save him, that I think it proper to for a blow with a slight reed would scarce, have been felt, or have de- transpose those verses in Matthew and Mark which mention these cir- served a mention in a detail of such dreadful sufferings. cumstancés as after his condemnation and immediately preceding the d His ºcłfe sent to him.] ...While Rome was governed by a common- oxecution. Some of them might probably be repeated after Pilate had, wealth, it was unusual for the governors of provinces to take their wives delivered him to be crucified, while the instruments of death were pre- with them ; but afterwards it grew customary, and the motion made paring: and therefore Matthew and Mark mention the whole series of against it in the fourth year of Tiberius was rejected with some indig- these cruelties together: or the word Tore, then, (which is used by nation., See Tacit. Annal. lib. iii. cap. 33, º - Matthew,) may only signify that it was done about that time, not deter- e , I have suffered many things to-day on his account in a drean.] mining the order of each particular so absolutely as to be inconsistent Perhaps the word ampepov, to-day, may imply that she had dreamt with the most accurate and distinct account which John gives of the these things that morning, since Pilate rose; and as the heathens ima- whole process of this affair. Many instances of the indeterminate use of gimed those dreams most significant which came about break of day, that particle occur in the evangelists. See Matt. ix. 14. xxiv. 40. Mark she might, on that account.'...y the greater stress upon, then). Janse- xiii. º 26. Luke xxi. 10, 21. and John xix. 16. . • ." º mius thinks, she, had now a representation of those calamities which b Having platted a crown of thorns,. &c.] It is certain they intended afterwards befell Pilate and his family. (See note s, in the Improve- hereby to expose his pretended royalty to idicule and contempt; but ment.) . But it is an unaccountable thought of Mr. Fleming, that the had that been all, a crown of straws might have served as well. They devil might be the author of this dream, by which he might endeavour undoubtedly meant to add cruelty to their scorn, which especially ap- to prevent the death of Christ according to yhe prophecies. , His two ared in theißig him on the head when this crown was put on. arguments, from |her, calling Christ a man, (which is merely taken from f the best descriptions of the Eastern thorns are to be credited, they are our version, for in the original it is only 70 &Kato excavče, that right- much larger than any 㺠lſ; thesiº, eous Qme,) and from the disquiet which this dream gave her, are top in- & ook the reed or cane out of his hand.] The word ka?apos does considerable to need a particular reply. See Fiem. Christól, vol. ii. p. indeed sometimes signify a slender reed; (Matt, xi. 7. xii. 20, and 3 325. 332 THE JEws CLAMOUR FOR THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUs. SECT. concealed: we have a divine law which we received from heaven, by which blasphemy is We have a law, and by out 188. forbidden on the highest penalties; and by this our law he ought to die, though he were "...?'...}ºg."; – not chargeable with sedition and treason, because he has made himself the Son of the most God. On Of Johs high God, in such a sense as no creature can be ; and this he declared, but this morning ** in open court. (Compare Matt. xxvi. 63, 64. Mark xiv. 62, and Luke xxii. 70. p. 325.) 8 When Pilate therefore heard this expression, he was still more qfraid than before;f for 8 when Pilate therefore the Romans believed many poetical stories of men begotten by their deities, and thought .ºying, he was the them a kind of demi-gods, who could not be injured without engaging their divine paris “*” 9 in the quarrel. And therefore, apprehending that his wife's dream might also take its rise , 9 And went again into the from such a cause, he entered again into the palace, and taking him aside, he said to Jesus, ..."; }; º; Tell me plainly from whence thou camest, and from whom art thou descended 2 and what But Jesús gave him nºn- is this divine original which thou art charged with claiming 25 But Jesus, knowing that his * innocence was already apparent, even to the conviction of Pilate's conscience, gave him no answer to that question. 10 Then Pilate in surprise said to him, What, dost thou make me no reply, and not so much ºi! Then saith, Eilat, untº as speak to me in such a circumstance as this, in which thy life is so evidently concerned? §§ Dost thou not know, that I have power and authority to crucify thee, and have power to ºxº release thee if I please, notwithstanding all the clamorous demands of thine enemies?h *}ave power to release 11 Jesus calmly replied, Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee 11 Jesus answered, Thou from above, from the God of heaven, whose providence I acknowledge in all these events:i sº §§ therefore he who has delivered me to thee, even the Jewish high priest with his council, given the from , above: having far greater opportunities of knowing him and his law, hath the greater and moré º aggravated sin; yet thou thyself canst not but know, that on the principles of natural equity, sin. an innocent person ought not to be given up to popular fury. 12 ...And from this time Pilate was so far satisfied of the injustice of the prosecution, and of 12 And from thenceforth the innocence of Jesus, that he endeavoured the more earnestly to release him. But the jº.º.º. Jews still insisted on his passing sentence on him to be crucified; and apprehensive of the iº.ſf.thºſe this manº, * 5 - - - e. - * T - - - thou art not Caesar’s friend overnor's design, that they effectually might put a stop to his intention of discharging him, º. they eagerly cried out, saying, If thou let this man go off with his life, thou art not Caesar's ºf speaketh asainst Caº friend, though thou bearest his commission, and representest his person; for every one that "' makes himself a king of Judea speaks against Caesar our emperor, and in effect arraigns the legality of his government here. 13 When Pilate therefore heard that speech, he was very much alarmed, as he well knew 13. When Pilate, therefore how suspicious a prince Tiberius was, and how many spies he kept on all his officers, that }; #º nothing might be done or permitted by them in any of the provinces, which could at all flºº * * - - - - hat is called The Pavement, interfere with his authority:k and, that he might not then be charged with any want of bºt in the Héew.º. zeal for Caesar's interest, he brought Jesus out of the palace again, and once more sat down tº on the tribunal, which was then erected (as was said before, p. 326.) without the palace, in a place called in Greek, Lithostraton, or The Pavement, on account of a tº iece of Mosaic work with which the floor was adorned: but in Hebrew it was called Gabbatha, or the High-place, because it stood on an eminence, so that the judge, being seated there on his tribunal, might be heard and seen by a considerable number of people.] 14 And it was then the preparation of the passover, or the sixth day of the week, and conse-, 14 And it was the prepara; quently the day which féill before the paschal sabbath, which was observed with some ºft.*.*.*.*. peculiar solemnity; (see John xix. 31. sect. cxcii.) and the morning was so far advanced, .. that it ſº drawing on apace towards the sixth hour, and was now about the third hour, or nine in the morning,” which obliged them to despatch, that they might have execution f He acas still more afraid than before.] Though I think, with Mr. permitted Pilate to seize Christ as one dangerous to Caesar’s dignity, he Cradock and several others, the interpretation given in the paraphrase would have had as much power of putting him to death as he now had. the most matural, yet I canpot forbear mentioning that of Dr. Lardner, It is therefore much more reasonable to suppose it refers to the permis- who thinks he was afraid of a sedition among the Jews, from his know: Sion of God’s providence. No thought was more, prºper to the occasion; ledge of their great obstimacy in any thing in which religion might and I think the, interpretation I have given to the latter clause, in this seem to be concerned ; and he adds, he might be the more reasonably view, is natural, though, not yery common. But if º are not satisfied alarmed on this head, as since the beginning of his government he had with it, they may consider whether 6ta Touro may not be connected with met with two remarkable instances of their stiffness; one in an attempt the beginning of the verse, so that it might be translated, Thou couldst he made to bring the image of. Caesar into Jerusalem ; the other in a have no power at all against me, walless it were given thee from above for design he had formed of supplying the city yith, water at the expense this purpose. Compare note f on John vii. 21. $.99. p. 181. of the sacred treasury of the temple. See Lard. Credib. part i. vol i. k As % well knew how suspicious a prince Tiberius was, &c.] Eve p. 330 & - - body that knows the character of Tiberius, especially as illustrated by g Whence art thou?] It is strange Mr. Logke should think, (as he Suetonius in his excellent History, will see how naturally Pilate might does, in his Reasonableness of Christianity, vol. i. p. 133.) that Christ be apprehensive on this head. - declined giving him an answer, lest when he heard he was born at Beth- l in Hebrew, Gabbatha.] There are yarious etymologies of this word. lehem, h; should have any such apprehensions as Herod had enter; I think the most probable is that which derives it from nex, elevavit, tained. Pilate, probably knew nothing at all of that prophgcy; as Herod and so it intimates its being raised on high. It was, perhaps, a kind of himself indeed did not, till he had, learned it from the Jewish scribes stage or scaffold, in the midst of a spacious area belonging to the pājace, whom he consulted on, Qhrist’s birth; (Matt. ii. 4, 5, 6, p. 36.), The in ºhich the governor might place himself on public, and especially on answer which our, Lºrd had made to his former inquiries, showed how judiciaſ, occasions. it plainly appears from the connexion of the words, far he was from declining any danger; and, the true reason of his pre- that it ºas not in his house, §: somewhere without, probably in some sent silence was, that Pilate’s unsteady conduct rendered him unworthy open place. off"), further information. 4. 2 m Was drawing on apage towards the sixth hour, and was now about h Dost thou not know that, I have power to crucify thee 3 &c..] Even the third hour, &c.j ñifficulties, which seem to me quite invincible, they who maintain that the Jews had a power of executing capital sen- attend the reading which is generajiy received, [it was about the ºft tences in Christ’s time, acknowledge that power to have been under the hour, whether we reckon it, according to the Roman method of com- control of the Roman governor; and, that it was, in fact, so often con- putation, six in the morning, or, according to the Jewish computation, trolled, that at last the Jewish Sanhedrim removed from the chamber in tºlve at noon. The best commentators I know, (and among the rost. which alone they gould regularly Rºss them, that they might not have offate, jr. Guyse, think the whole difficulty of reconciling thºse words the mortification of seeing continually, how little their decisions availed, of join with Mark, who teiis us (chap. xv. 25. § işāj that Christ ºs when the most notorious criminal, if he, had but money, could buy a crucified at the third hour; and with Matthew and Luke, who exactly pardon from their commºn masters., So that the dispute, after all the agree with him in fixing the time of that darkness which happened inpise it has made in, the learned World, seems at last to terminate in this While Christ hung upon the cross, (compare Matt. Xxvii. 45. i., ºxiii. nigety," Whether the consent of the Roman goyernor were expressly £4. and Mark XV: 33. § jøj.) is easily’solved by understanding it, a. asked before the Jews Bºº. tºº, exºcution,9. Yºº tºº ºr ëording to the Roman àccount, of six in the morning. But, as John was granted if the contrary did not appear º’’ Qr, in other words, “Whe- a jewº, and eisewhere seems to use the Jewish account, (John i. 39, i. ther the efficacy of a sentence passed by the Ješ Yºre owing, to the 6, §§ that very supposition is in general improbable. Or jf, out of express consent or the connivance of the Romaps?” The conduct of the régard to the considerations which the learned, but here dubious and Jews in this case seems to prove, the former of these to have been the perplexed, Zeltnerus has urged, (see Zeltner. Hoſ. Pilat. p. 14, et seq.) true state of the affair; and yindicates not only the substance 9f what we were to grant it in §eºf. supposable case, very strong objections Dr. Lardner has maintained, but the particular manner in which he ºil lie against supposing it here. For though we should, with many expresses it. See note c, on Matt...? Xvii. 2, p. 326. . . - critics, take it for granted, that, the passover here fell late in April, i Thou couldst have to power at all against me ercept it, were given, thee (which was the latest it could fail,) the sun would not rise at Jerusa'ielº jrom above..] Some have thought that the word avoffey, from above, tiſſ near five o’clock, and one cannot suppose the sanfteirim assº.jéâ refers to the situation of the temple, which stood much higher than the till about break of dāy. How then is it possible, that their condemnation Praetorium; and that it is as if Jesus had said, “I know that whatever of Christ, his arraignment and examination, first before Pilate, then thou dost against me, is only in consequence .9f the sentence passed in before Herod, together with Pilate’s repeated examinations of him, and gonder court held above ; so that their guilt is greater than thine.” conferences with the Jews, about him, as also the change of dress ut though this would very well account for the connexion of the latter scourging, crowning with thorns, &c. should be despatched by six? part of the verse, I cannot think it altogether just; for had Providence. The very contents of the preceding sections seem to demonstrate tho PILATE CONDEMNS CHRIST TO BE CRUCIFIED. 333 saith unto the Jews, Behold done, as usual, before noon. And Pilate, finding he must, after all, yield to the º SECT. your king ! and consent to the death of Jesus, lest his former struggle should be misrepresented at 188. Rome, was resolved to manage this incident so as to procure from the Jews a public ac, knowledgment of Caesar's authority: and therefore, pointing to Jesus as he now appeared JoHN in this mock pomp of royalty, he says to the Jews, who were present in vast numbers, XIX. gº º, j ºf Behold your ing, if you think fit to own him, as it is said many of you have done. But 15 Ayº Mºrº, they again cried out with indignation and disdain, Away with [him] away with [him; we saith, intº ther.Shaſ...} are so far from owning him, that we desire thee to crucify him. Pilate sºfts to them, What, § #: ; jºir crucify your king ?"How strange and how extravagant a demand is this! And the no king but Caesar. chief priests answered, in the name of all the people, he have no kilºg but the emperor - < Tiberius Cæsar, whose royal authority we all of us acknowledge, and will always maintain, .Matt. xxvii, 24., when And Pilate, seeing that it signified nothing any longer to oppose the popular torrent, but §. £º º '... “... that they rather grew more tumultuous by the delay, was determined however to do all he 2. " ſº tº could to make his own conscience easy in complying with this their unjust request; and }..."; "is"; therefore he took water and washed his hands in the presence of the multitude," saying, I call ºdºsijnºt heaven and earth to witness that I am innocent of the blood of this righteous º ;] look * hº ...this just per- you [to] the consequences of shedding º and remember you are answerable for them, 25 Then answered all, the whatever they may prove. ...And all the people answered, saying, We will venture those con- 25 sº .*.*.*... sequences:—may his blood, if innocent, be on us, and on our children and may the curse of shedding it lie upon us throughout all generations !” gº s º e. gº #.º.º.º.º. ...And when they had said this, Pilate, who now was something, easier, in his own mind, ſº ºº::::::::. *; and was desirous to satisfy the people,” since he perceived it could be done no other way; 2. tº ºnes required. fººd sentence that what they demanded should be done, and that Jesus should be put O Cl628. UIl. 25 And he released to them ...And in pursuance of that sentence, he released to them Barabbas, who (as was said before) 25 #”.”.”..."; was thrown into prison for sedition and murder; but whom, aggravated as his crimes were, ºn º ºr they had importunately desired in preference to Christ; and having (as we related above, ;cºivº: John Xix, i. p. 330.) already scourged Jesus, he did not renew that torture ;" however, he ##### tº delivered him to their will to be crucified, with such circumstances as they thought proper; flºº; Mark . they soon showed that their tender mercies were cruel. Matt. xxyii. 31. And after And when the Jewish mob had thus prevailed, after they had mocked and insulted him MATT. # . # #: ; for a while, just as the Roman soldiers had before done in the praetorium, deriding his pre- jºr ..º.º.º.º. iii tences to a kingdom, and abusing him like the vilest slave, they took the purple robe off #º jś"hi. from him, and having dressed him again in his own garments, they led him away to be cru- [Mark xv. 20. cified in the manner which we shall presently relate. IMPROVEMENT. LET us now, by a lively act of faith, bring forth the blessed Jesus to our imagination, as Pilate brought him joirs forth to the people. Let us with affectionate sympathy survey the indignities which were offered him when he , xix. gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; and hid not his face from shame and I3 spitting. (Isa. l. 6.) Behold the man wearing his purple robe and thorny crown, and bearing the reed which smote him, in his right hand for a sceptre Behold, not merely the man, but the Son of God, thus vilely degraded, thus infamously abused Shall we, as it were, increase his sufferings, and, while we condemn the fury and cruelty of the Jews, shall we crucify him to ourselves afresh, and put him to an open shame? (Heb. vi. 6.) Or, shall we over- º: º with slight and contempt, and hide our faces from him, who for our sake thus exposed his own 2 Sa. Ill). 3. ( Let the hum even of this heathen judge, who feared when he heard he so much as pretended to be the Son 7, 8 of God, engage us to reverence him, especially considering in how powerful a manner he has since been declared to be so. (Rom. i. 4.) Let us in this sense have nothing to do with the blood of this just Person. Let his MATT. example teach us patiently to submit to those sufferings which God shall appoint for us, remembering that no " enemies and no calamities we meet with could have any power against us, except it were given them from above. 10 5 contrary.—On the other hand, it could not now be twelve at noon, since that among the Greeks, the persons on whose testimony others were put Mark assures us to the contrary, and his account is confirmed both by to death, used, by a very solemn execration, to devote themselves to the Matthew and Luke. (See, the places just, now quoted, and note d, on divine vengeance, if the person so condemned were not really guilty. Mark xy. 25, sect. clz.xxix.)—I cannot therefore but conclude, with (Elsner, Qbserv, vol. i. p. Bºº. are told by Grotius, (De Jure Columelus, (Observ, p. 77.) Beza, and Erasmus, that instead of the ell. et Pac. lib; iii, cap. iy. § 9. No 2.) that Titus commanded the sixth we should read the third hour, that is, nine in the morning. For women and children of the Jews to be exposed in theatres, and there to this, we have the authority of the Čambridge manuscript, and of Peter be devoured by wild beasts : a fact §§ I should have thought it ex- of Alexandria, who expressly asserts it was Tpirm, the third, in the tremely proper to mention here, if any authority were produced to original copy, which he says continued till his time; and though, as support it. But as I cannot meet with any such account in Josephus, Dr. Mill abundantly shows in his Annotation on this place, all the best I am ready to ascribe what Grotius says of it, to a slip of memory in manuscripts and ancient versions are on the other side. I am obliged that great critic; especially considering how improbabić it was, that §§ here to follow the superior authority of common sense: however, in humane *º. as Titus should be guilty of such almost unexampled submission to the greatest number of copies, I have still retained the cruelty. Qn the contrary, in the only passage I recollect, where Jose- common reading in the version, and have only given what I apprehend phus speaks...of gxpºsin; the Jewish captives to wild beasts, (Joseph. to be the true reading in the paraphrase.—Some other unsatisfactory Bell. Jud, lib. Yi cap. 9.. [al. vii. 16.] § 2.) it is expressly said, that hypotheses will be touched on in the note last referred to. See a large Titus sold all who were under seventeen years old. and accurate view of them in Wolf. Cur. Phil. vol. i. p. 969–976. p Desirous to satisfy the people : To travov Touma'at.] As his former n He took apater and washed his hands, &c.] It is Wei known that the administration had, given them a great deal of disgust, he might very Jews in some cases were appointed to wash their hands, as a solemn probably think it absolutely necessary thus to appense then); yet the: token that they were not themselves concerned in the murder committed afterwards followed him with their accusations to his ruin; and thus by some unknöwn person: (see Deut. xxi. 6–9.) but as this was also a by the righteous judgment of God, he lost all the advantage Wiich hº rite that was frequently used by the Gentiles, in token, of innocence, it hoped to gain by this base compliance, as Felix did, when hä afterwards is more probable that Pilate, who was a Gentile, did it in conformity to injured Paul on the same unworthy principles. Acts xxiv. 27. - them. See Grotius, in loc. and Elsner, Qbserv, vol. i. p. 122, 123. q Having already scourged Jesus; goaxexXaga.g.] Many critics, and o.JMay his blood be, on us, and our children ſ] As this terrible impre- among the rest Elsner, (Observ. vol. i. p. 125) have shown that scourg. çation was dreadfully answered in the ruin so quickly brought on the ing used to precede crucifixion; but as John, who is most ºcti, his Jewish nation, and the calamities which have since pursued that Wretched account of diº part of the story, mentions his having been scoursed be: people, in almost all ages and countries; so it was peculiarly illustrated fore, and says nothing of the repetition of it, (which consideri. Bilatés in the severity with which Titus; merciful as he naturally was, treated conviction of his innocence, }. would probably spire.) I choose to the Jews whom he took during thé siege of Jerusalem; of whom Jose— interpret the word in this manner, which the originai’vil vºwej phus himself writes, (Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 11. (al. vi.12.] § 1.) that bear, *- paa Ttyoupévot aveatavpovvro, having been scourged and tortured in a r They took the purple robe off from him.] It is observable, as we have 4. - - g • * y - -- . . . Kºsº . . very terrible manner, they were crucified in the view, and near the walls, seen above, p. 331. that Matthew (chap. xxvii. 28.) mentions a scºrict . of this city; perhaps, among other places, on Mount Calvary; and it is ºrobe, Kokkowm X\apºvča, and Mark (chap. xv. 17. as well as here) a very probable this might be the fate of some of those very, persons who purple garment, Tmu Topſpupay. I take not upon me to determine whe- now joined in this cry, as it undoubtedly was of many of their children, ther either of these words be used for the other, waving as in so or Josephus, who was an eye-witness, expressly declares, “that the other cases, the most &act sijäcio. oºthºr;”. number of those thus crucified was so great, that there was not room for garments used, a purple rest, and over that a scºrial Tobe joyº; R # the crºsses to, stand by each other; and that, at last they had not wood is probabie, whatever they were, Pijatº, or još jºchi '-'. 5 x - * - g *: 3 * * **** * * y of his chief officers º tº make crosses of.” A passage which, especially when com- would not cover his bleeding body with any ºn."bºte "ºnºid Pareſ with the vers; before us, impresses and astonishes mé beyond any and perhaps atter; hºàiºns ºejºe...'... 9ther which, I recollect in the whole, story...If this were not the very much better than the best which ºft governor’s ". could have Jinger of God pointing out their crime in crucifying his Son, it is hard to afforded. - - - say what could deserve to be called so. Eisnér fias abundantly shown, 334 SECT. 188. LUKE XXIII. 24, 25 MATT. XXVII. 25 Sººt. NOW after Pilate had passed sentence upon Jesus, to satisfy the restless clamour of the 189. Jews, and had delivered him to the soldiers to be crucified, his prosecutors, having gained their point, hastened his execution; and having insulted and abused him, (as was said LUKE XXIII. JOHN XIX. LT3 KE 27 28 bewailed and lamented him in a very affectionate manner. But Jesus turning to them, said, Alas, ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, who am willing to submit to all the suſ- ſerings appointed for me, as what I know will issue in the salvation of my people, and in glory; but rather weep for yourselves and for your children, in judgments that thésº crimes will quickly bring upon this 29 wretched people, whose calamities will be of much longer duration than mine. For, let it be remembered by you as my dying words, behold the days are surely and quickly go of you may live to see them, in which the innocent blood which this people have heir heads in so terrible a manner, ] the barren women and the wombs which 30 Then shall they who are now triump ‘x he condemned him; and to speak of him as a righteous Person, in the same bre CHRIST LED OUT TO BE CRUCIFIED. How, wisely was it ordered by divine Providence, that Pilate should be obliged thus to acquit Christ, even while ath with which he doomed him to the death of the most flagitious malefactor! And how lamentably does the power of worldly interestover con- science appear, when, after all the convictions of his own mind, as well as the admonitiºns of his wife, he yet gave him up to popular fury! O Pilate, how glor how justly did God afterwards leave tſ glor studious to oblige tº iously hadst thou fallen in the defence of the Son of Gód , and e thee to perish by the resentment of that people whom thou wast now so Who can without trembling read that dreadful imprecation, May his blood be on us, and on our children Words ; which, even to this day, have their remarkable and Jews through seventeen hundred vears. L they look on him whom they have p bow down in glad submission to that King to reign with him in everlasting honour Jesus, being delivered up by Pilate to the rage of the S-> and joy! terrible accomplishment in that curse which has pursued the * ord, may it at length be averted, and even turned into a blessing! May erced, and mourn, till all the obstinacy of their hearts be subdued, till they whom God has set on his holy hill, and thus are brought themselves SECTION CLXXXIX. Mark Xv. 21–23, ; 7, 28. gogle bears his cross to Qalvary, and is there nailed to 2 - Jo HN xix. 16. Luke xxiii. 26–34. it. Matt. xxvii. 32—34, 38. 6–18. John xix. 1 John xix. 16. AND, they took Jesus, and led him away. ' before,) they took Jesus and led him away to that terrible punishment.” ..?nd, to expose him to the greater ignominy and reproach, and to prejudice the people more strongly against him, there were also two other [men, who were] condemned to die upon the cross for a robbery, and were well known to § Luke xxiii. 32. And there, were also, two, other male- factors led with him, to be e great malefactors, that were led put to death. out of Jerusalem with him, to be executed at the same time; that in such company he might be thought to suffer for the worst of crimes. ..?nd Jesus, thus attended as a criminal, was led through the city, carrying a heavy part - , according to the custom of those º, were to be crucified: and in this manner he went out of the city to a place which lay on the western side of Jerusalem, but a little without the boundaries of it,b which was called in the Hebrew lan- of his cross on his shoulders John xix. 17. And, he bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place. of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha. guage, Golgotha, [or] the place of a skull; because the bodies of many criminals, having been executed on that little eminence, were buried there. ...And as they led him on, Jesus was now so faint with the loss of blood, so very sore with XXII, the lashes and bruises he had received, and so fatigued with the load of such a large piece *6 of timber, that he was not able to proceed so fast as they desired, especially considering how little time they had before them to finish their work. slowly to the place of execution, they met on the road a poor African, who was a native of Cyrene, named Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who afterwards became christians, and were of some note in the church: this Simon at that time was out of the country to Jerusalem; [and] they immediately laid hold on [him] as one fit for their purpose, finding him a strong man, and it may be, suspecting that Luke xxiii. 26. And, as they led him away, [they found a man of Cyrene, Si- mon by name, , IMARK, the father of Alexander and Ru-, fus, who passed by, coming out of the country, and j, they laid hold on, him; [gnd him they compelled, to bear his cross :] and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. [Matt. xxvii. 32. Mark X v. 21.] aº - And as he was advancing assing by as he came e was a favourer of Jesus; [and] pretending that the authority of the Roman governor empowered them to press any they met for this service, they compelled him to carry at least one end of his cross; and accordingly on him they laid the cross, that he might carry it qfter Jesus. ...And a great multitude of people crowded after him to see the crucifixion; and particu- larly a considerable number of women who had attended his ministry with great delight, follºwed him on this sad occasion; who were so tenderly affected with the moving sight, •w 27. And there followed him’ a great company of people, and of women, which also be- wailed and lamented him. that they not only pitied him in their hearts, but also vented their concern in tears, and my exaltation to the highest consideration of the ăreadful and some imprecated upon themselves, shall come down upon t that they shall have reason to say, Happy [are 28 13ut Jesus turning unto them, said, Daughters of Je- rusalem, \veep not for me but weep for yourselves, anº for your children. 23 For, behold, the days are coining, in the which they simall sity, Blessed are the barret), and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. ming, *—2 never bºre children, and the breasts that never suckled them: for as relations are multiplied, sorrow shall be multiplied with them, and parents shall see their children subject to all the miseries which famine, and pestilence, and sword, and captivity, can bring upon them. hing in my death, be trembling with horror in expect- ation of their own; and, considering present calamities more intolerable miseries, shall begin, in despair of the tains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us from the s Leave thee to perish, &c.] Josephus (Antiq, lib. Sviii. cap. 4. [a]: â, ) § 1, 2.) expressly assures us, that - • * ~ * * * number of seditious Samaritans, was deposed from his overnmºſ.º. Vitºíſius, and sent to Tiberius at Rome, who died be there. º proved hi 3. r s destruction. Titcy to Matt. xxvii. 31. and Mark xy. 20 - f two or more parallel passages, I a former section, and the other at the beginnin J D Stalſ, Ces O. connexion.—I may also adºl, ‘āiatt. Xxvii. 3—10. in which And Eusebius tells us after, (having, as others say, b violent hands upon himself, was an eye-witness to Inany of his gnormities, spe? * - - - - oration to Caius Cæsar, as one who had been, a man of a most infamo's charactºr; (Philo. Jud. in Lég., p. 1 ing, as Velesius well observes, it is the accusations of other took Jesus and led him aggy.] Pilate, having slaju a conside , (Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. 7.), that failing on his own sword. g of the next, for that this seems to me the exagt the evangelist relates the tragical een banished to Vienné in Gauls) grippa, who aks of hiſm, in his &l f rable fore he arrived uickly e laid Ö31.) and by that, manner, of speak- Iainly intinated he was thºn deild. jº following him, had before that It is evident this text is parallel But I have here, as in some other put one at the conclusion o bºtter ace of end of 30 'i'hen shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us ; and to the hills, Cover Uls. as the forerunners of future yet divine mercy, to say to the montº- more dreadful pressure of God's Judas; but I hope I shall be indulged in transposing it, partly that, I may preserve a better proportion in the length of the seglions, an chiefly that f may not interrupt the important story of Christ’s passion ; and I incre easily affoy myself to do it, because probably the very same con- sijeration engaged $fatthew a little to anticipate it. Iºt it only herº be observed tââ the death of this traitor seems to have happened befºre that of his \laster: so speedily did the divine vengeance pursue his aggravated crime. - b Čºrrying a heavy part of his, cross, accºut out of the city; &c.] Dr. Jºrd㺠jas abundantly proved from many quotatiºns that it Yas ºus- tº nºt dily for the Jews, (Numb. xv. 35. Kings xxi. 13. Acts vii. 55.5 but also for the Sicilians, Ephesians, and Bºgmans, 9 ºute their aiºtăctors without the gates of their Çitics. (See his Credibility, jti."ºj. i. p. 353,355.)—What our Lord garried was not the whole gross, but only that transverse, piece Q/ tgood to which his arms were afterwards fastencq ; and which was called alteriº, or ºrſ; going jºss tº stijºs or upright beam, which was fixed in the earth, This the jiàº'àºſ to carry, and therefore was called ſurciſer. Seo Bishop Searson, On the Crced, p. 203, 294. ^. - THE CRUCIFIXION. 335 31 For if they do these wrath, which is kindled against us. For if they do these things in the green wood, what SECT. ºf ºil; "“shall be done in the dry 2 if such agonies as these fall upon me, who am not only an innº; 189. cent person, but God's own Son, when I put myself in the stead of sinners, what, will become of those wretches who can feel none of my supports and consolations, and whose LUKE personal guilt makes them as proper fuel for the divinë vengeance as dry wood is to the ** consuming fire 2 s At length they arrived at the place of execution; and when they were come thither, even Mººr; to the place which (we before observed) was called in Hebrew Golgotha, that is to say, the * place ºf a skull, a little without the city [on] Mount Calvary, (which was the usual place “ for exécuting criminals, and seemed a proper spot of ground for the purpose, as on account of its eminence the malefactors crucified there might be seen at a considerable distance, Matt. xxvii.33. And when . were gome to [the] place called Golgotha, that is to say, [the] [LUKE, or gº of a skull, xv. 3. Luke alvary.J. [Mark xxiii. 33.] 34 They gave him vinegar 34 MARK XV. 23 LUKE XXIII. 34 JOHN XIX. 17, 18 MARK XV. 27, 28 LUKE XXIII. 27, 28 3 I s º and by a great number of spectators :) They proceeded to the fatal purpose for which they .."ºº"...i came; and as it was customary to give to dying criminals a potion of strong wine mingled thereof, he would not drink with spices, to cheer their spirits, and render them less sensible of their sufferings, the soldiers who attended him gave him nothing better to drink than vinegar mingled with gall, by that odious mixture further expressing their cruelty and contempt: º when he had tästed [ofit, that he might submit to every distasteful circumstance which Providence allotted to him, he would not drink any large draught of it, as knowing it would answer no Mark xv.23. And they valuable end to do it. ...And, as some of his friends had on that occasion provided a cordial §º: cup, they gave him [also] a draught of generous wine to drink, mingled with myrrh and other received it not. spices, which they thought proper on that sad occasion; but he did not receive ſº deter- mining to bear the full force of his pains unallayed by any such preparation, and to main- tain his thoughts in the most vigorous exercise. 25 And it was the third And it was now the third hour of the day, or nine o'clock in the morning, d when they 25 #;"; º; º; thus brought him to Mount Calvary; and there, when all things were made ready, they jöänºix. 18. nailed his hands and his feet to the cross, and crucified him. Jind they also crucified with 27 eiß ğ."..."...i. him the two malefactors, [or] robbers, that were mentioned before, the one on his right hand, fº.º.º. and the other on the left; and they placed Jesus in the midst, as a mark of the greatest in: jščijäjäjäjºjº dignity, to prejudice the multitude the more against him, and to induce them to regard §ºih.gº him as the most infamous criminal of the three. ...And thus the scripture was remarkably 28 iš. an ~. ... fulfilled, (Isa. liii. 12.) in which the prophet, Isaiah, speaking, with an amazing plainness fº. of the sufferings of the Messiah, saith, “..And he was numbered with the transgressors.” was numbered with the trans. And Jesus made no manner of resistance to this cruel violence, nor did he revile them "fºxiii. 34. Then said even when they were distorting his limbs as on a rack, and nailing his hands and his feet łºś on the full stretch to the accursed tree; but, in the midst of his anguish, he breathed out or they know not what they ". - * 2. 5 - & do. his soul in a compassionate prayer for his murderers; and pleading the only excuse which the most extensive charity could suggest, he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing ºf Thé Roman soldiers, who were the immediate instruments of his death, having indeed but little knowledge of him; and the Jews, who were the authors of it, through their obstimate prejudices not sº who he was: “for if they had known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor. ii. 8.) - : IMPROVEMENT. HERE let us pause a while, and make a few serious reflections on this amazing story, which the evangelists relate with so much simplicity. Behold the Son of God bearing his cross, fainting under the load of it, and at length extended upon it and nailed to it! Him they took, and with wicked hands crucified and slew him 1 (Acts ii. 23.) Blessed Jesus, was it for this that thou didst honour our nature by an union to thine own, and come from thy throne of glory to visit these abodes of misery and guilt Was it º: this that so many gracious discourses were delivered, and so many works of love and power performed ! for this, that thou mightest be treated as the worst of criminals, and suspended on a cross in the air, as if unworthy of a place on earth even to die upon Amazing and lamentable sight! Justly, O sun, mightest thou blush to see it! justly, O earth, mightest thou tremble to support it! - - Lord, like these pious women who had the zeal and fortitude to attend thee when thine own apostles forsook thee and fled, we would follow thee weeping : yet not for thee, but for ourselves, that our guilt had brought us under a condemnation from which we could be redeemed by nothing less than the precious blood of the Son of God, that Lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Pet. i. 19.)—We would behold herein the goodness and the severity of God: (Rom. xi. 22.) for while the riches of his goodness are displayed in his providing a ransom for the redemption of lost sinners, an awful proof is given of the severity of his justice in his not sparing his own Son, nor exempting him from the sorrows and sufferings due to sin, when he came to put himself in the stead of sinners: and may we not in such a view tremble for fear of him, and be gfraid of his judgments? (Psalm crix. 120.) Who can support the weight of his indignation, especially when it shall come aggravated by the abuse of so much love If these things be done in the green wood, what shall be done in the dry? And if such sufferings be inflicted, where there was not any personal guilt to kindle the flame, on one who only answered for the sins of others, what them will be the end of those who, by their own iniquities, are become as fuel prepared for the fire, and are as vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ? c They gave him also wine to drink, mingled with myrrh..] Some think that this was $our wine, called vinegar by Matthew ; but I apprehend the reasons, which Dr. Edwards, has produced (Erőrcit. p., ii. No. 2. p. 78–188.) sufficiently prove that this wine mingled with Inyrrh was a different mixture from the vinegar and gall which he received so far as to taste it. Probably those pious women, some of them (as the story shows), persons in plentiful circumstances, whose zeal engaged them to follow him to Calvary, and afterwards so liberally to prepare unguents and aromatic drugs º: his embalming, had provided on this sad occa- sion some, rich wine tempered with choice spices, which with perfect propriety he refused to taste, lest malice should insinuate he intended thereby to render himself insensible of the terrors of death. d It was now the third hour of the day, or nine o’clock in the morning.] I can by no means agrge with Vossius and some other critics, to read it here the sixth, hour; for there ought to be very cogent reasons for de- Pgrting from the authority of all the best copies and ancient versions. (See Dr. Mill, in loc.). Nór can I think, with Hj. that these words in Mark refer not to the hour of the day in which Christ was crucified, but to the length of time he had been upon the cross when his garments were divided, which Mark had spoken of just before, in wer. 24. For as Mark mentions the sixth and i. ninth hour, (ver. 33. this interpre- tation would oblige us to conclude, either that Mark used two very differ- ent ways of computation within the compass of a few verses, or else that Christ did not expire till he had been nine hours on the cross. And as these objections equally lie against Godwyn’s hypothesis, (Moscs and Jarom, book iii, chap. i.) that we are here to distinguish between the four larger and twelve smaller hours into which the day was divided, I do not think it necessary more particularly to consider it, though the learned Gerhardus in his Jarmony, prefers it to all others.-Compare note in, on John Nix. 14. § 1SS. p. 332. e Jilțd hººd, numbered with the transgressors.] I choose, in quotations from the Old Testament, to keep as close to our English version of the assage quoted as the Greek will allow me, that the memory of the º: may assist him in distinguishing the text; else I should havo rendered avopºv, criminals, as the word Eyva, which Isaiah uses, seems also to signify. The least offence is a transgression of the law of God, or a stepping over the boundaries he has prescribed; but this im- ports much more. * - f Father, ſorgigg them, &c.] This is one ºf the most striking passages in the world." While they are actually nailing him to the cross, he seems to feel the injury these poor creatures did to their own souls, more than the wounds they gave him ; and, as it were, to forget his own anguish in a concern for their salvation. I render 74 rotoval, what they are doing, as thinking that version most expressive of the present circum- stances ; and indeed it is tho exact import of what grammarians call the present tense. 336 THE CRUCIFIX}ON. SECT. How shocking is it to behold the vile indignities that were put upon a suffering Jesus, and to reflect upon the 189. cruel treatment that he met with from his insulting enemies! Yet º not we been verify guilty concerning this - matter? (Gen. xlii. 21.) Are we not chargeable with despising Christ? and have we not crucified the Son º God º, qfresh, and put him to an open shame? (Heb. vi. 6.) O may that apology be heard in our favour, Father, orgive T34 them, for they know not what they do For surely sinners do not know what they do, when they pierce Christ by their sins, and turn away their faces from him. But under all his sufferings, how amazing was his meekness! and how compassionate the concern which he expressed for his most cruel persecutors! . May we learn patience, and love to our enemies, from so bright an example of it! May we, like him, bless them that curse us, and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us! (Matt v. 44.) Instead of being ingenious to aggravate théir faults, and & paint them in the most ſº colours, let us rather seek for the best excuses which even the worst of causes Y. º; º ; influenced by that charity which, unconstrained, believes no evil, and hopeth all things even against ... hope. (I Cor. xiii. 5, 7. - Ibid. racious Saviour ! # dying prayer, and thy dying blood, were not like water spilt upon the ground; they came up in remembrance before God when thy gospeſ began to be preached at Jerusalem: and multitudes who were now consenting to thy death, gladly received thy word, and were baptized: (Acts ii., 41.) and they are now in glory, celebrating that grace which has taken out the scarlet and crimson dye of their sins, and turned that blood which they so impiously shed, into the balm of their wounds, and the life of their souls. .** SECTION CXC. Christ’s garments are divided by lot; and while he is himself insulted on the cross, he shows his mercy to the penitent thief. Matt. xxvii. 35– , 39– Mark xv. 24, 26, 29–32. Luke xxiii. 34–43. John xix. 19—24. JoHN xix. 23. l John xix. 23. SECT. THE soldiers therefore, when they had thus crucified Jesus, took his garments, which §aº 190. according to custom they had stripped off, that the shame of suffering naked might be flºº. §§ added to all the agony of the cross; and as it was usual for the executioners to have the ..º.º.º.º.º. 29 N garments of the criminal whom they put to death, they made four parts of his clothes, §:...hº. ºil *..., assigning to each soldier of the quatérnion employed on that occasion a part, and casting take land alsº: nºw - - - “s the coat was without seam, lots upon them, which of the four each man should take; and they took also the vest, or inner ºn.'...ir. garment: now the vest had this curious circumstance attending it, that it was without any gº, Mark 24 scam at all, being woven from the top throughout in one whole piece.” And as this was *śh.”;";efore considered by them as more valuable than ordinary, they said therefore one to another, Let :"...º.º.": us not spoil this coat, as we must do if we go about to tear it into four parts, but let us whºse it shall be that the cast lots for it, whose the whole of it shall be : and accordingly they did so, that the scrip- jº, ture spoken by the prophet Dayid in the person of the Messiah might thus be literally fill- iº .P. º. i. filled, which saith, (Psal. xxii. 18.) “They divided m º; among them, and cast lots :"eº'àº'à cºlo. for my vesture.”b These things therefore the soldiers %id, though with the utmost freedom ..."; º','!'}; as to themselves, yet by the secret disposal of Providence, which, by an undiscerned in-35) - e s fluence on their minds, led them to act in a remarkable correspondence to the divine MATT. oracle. And having done thus, they sat down near the cross, and guarded him and the other ... Matt. xxvii. 36. And sit- XXV; two who were crucified with him, that none might come there to rescue them before they #2" "****" were quite dead.” - - 37 .4nd, as the usual method was in cases of crucifixion, they put upon the cross, over his tº And set ºver his head head, a superscription in capital letters,” containing the substance of his pretended crime, ºrºgºs written in these remarkable words, THIS IS JESUS OF WAZ.A.R.ETH, THE #93; º; John KING OF THE JEWS. And indeed it was Pilate who wrote [this] title, and ordered ###ws."ºv. *o them to put it on the cross ; which, howsoever it was designed as a reproach to Jesus, was º.º."º"; in effect a declaration of his real character; and by the secret providence of God, was wrote [the] title, and iut it overruled in a remarkable and public manner to proclaim the kingdom of Christ, while it " the cross. 20 was only meant to expose and ridicule his title to it. Many of the Jews therefore that 29.his titletºn adºx came up to the feast of the passover, read this inscription ; because the place where Jesus ºś was crucified was near to the city, and lay but just without the gates: and, that the inscrip- ºth flº. "... }. - º º * * written in [letters of) I le- tion might be generally understood, it was expressed, by Pilate's order, in three languages, ºtºdiº.'ſº and written both in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin letters, so that it might easily be read "" ("******) by Jews, Romans, and most other foreigners.” º - - 21 Now when the inscription was drawn up, the chief priests of the Jews were very much nº, ſº * - - e - e - riests of the Jews to Piłat.", offended at the form in which it was expressed, and therefore objected against it, and said ºś io Pilate, Do not write, The king of the Jews; for we entirely disown him under that jº" " ' " character, as thou well knowest; but rather write, that he said, I am the king of the Jews. 22 But Pilate, who was very much displeased at the importunity by which, contrary to his rºllºwer...Whºt inclination and judgment, they had extorted from him the sentence of death he had passed ...” written, I have writ- upon Jesus, answered with some warmth, What I have written, I have written; and, who- ever may object against it, I am determined it shall stand as it is: - • * r * Matt. When therefore they were unable to procure any alteration, they were determined pub: tº hºleº" * - º - - - º - - e UKE, the people stood be- XAV!!, licly to turn it into a jest; and therefore some of them went in person tº Calvary, to insult 39 and scoffat jesus, even in his last moments. And the common people that stood beholding Žoren fro troughout in one whole piece.) Perhaps this c That none might come to rescue them, &c.]. This was the more clºſ.”.4% *...? ‘ānī º: of some of the necessary in this kind of execution, because. the ...; j." in ºut: pious women who attended him, and ministergd, to him of their sub- fixion were not geºgrally mortal. The person º ed ied º by stice. (fluke viii. 3.) The hint here given of its make, has set some the loss of blood, if any, large § º Fº y the pººls, y hº mechanical heads to work to contrive a frame for. Weaving such a vest; nails (as here) were used ; but chiefly by the violent distortion of the - - - limbs, which were stretched forth as on a rack: a circumstance which y 3. ictionary, on the Wor * - and a good cut of it may be seen in Calmet's JO. 7"y, must, no doubt, occasion exquisite anguish. West ºf ENTs. Vol. iii. p. 119. r? Y - sex-Sr. º. This Bis Pears O * ja:; der - 27 O12 gº •c.] We are no where told d They put after his head, a superSºriptiºn.] is. Bishop Pearson (On tº..."; #ºre are several other paş- the Creed, p.205.) and Dr. Lardner (Credibility, § . book º: chap. 7.9 10. §§§ in the twenty-second psalm, particularly that in which mention is vol. i., P. 347.) have abundantly proved to be usual in cases of any ex- made of piercing his hands and his feet, to which no circumstance of traordinar ;";"; d Latin letters.] It 'ritten in I, a ti favid’s personal sufferings seems to have borne any resemblance. It e In Hebrew, and Greek; an tº letters, G º W th en § a lin, therefore seems to me exceeding probable, that in this scripture and some for the majesty of the Roman. º: y * reek, Fº *). ormatiºn §§§ the mind of the prophet was thrown into a preternatural ecstasy, of the vast numbers of Hellenists who made º $hat lºnguage, is - ić or some secrèt intimation given to him that he therein per- indeed most provinges 9 the Roman empire did : (see Brere wood’s I ſ] W. i h Mijah, he wrote expressly what the Spirit dictated, with- Inquiries, chap. i.-iv.) and in Hebrew, as it was the vulgar language SOnate #: j."rºad to himself; so that David, might, for any of the place.—Thus the º set up in the temple, to prohibit out any part1CUllaſ. Teš l propriety, have jitem such a psálm, if his strangers from coming Yºthin th9ie Šºe limits, was written in all thing I can, find, with equa - or Sn In- nguages. See Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 2. [al. vii. Rºja liń"had been as prosperous, and peaceable as the reign of Solo ºhree languag D nº his son. (Compare 1 Pet. i. 10–12.) THE CRUCIFIXION. #37 hºliº.º.º.º. the execution reviled him; and even they that passed by on the road blasphemed him, shak-sect. .ed by, rev - hiſm, nº sº. * - ** g * | * * tº * $º ºf ing their heads at him, in an upbraiding, scornful manner; and º; i.e. *ś, and thou boaster, that wouldst destroy the temple, and build it again in three days! Iet us nºw see if − that jº, the temple, thou canst save thyself, and if thou art indeed the Son of God, give us a proof of thy power Nº. ...";#jºi...º now, and come down from the cross; for in thy present circumstances that will be the most º'". §: 3.º.º.º. proper miracle thou canst work in confirmation of thy pretended mission. And in like 41 #;"|". * *** manner also, the chief priests, together with the scribes and elders, and the rulers also them- ºf selyes, the malice of whose hearts had made them to forget the dignity of their characters, is. With then jºided him, and to attend among the mob upon this base and barbarous occasion, joined with them in jº. ºf their scoffs, and with a scornful sneer derided him; [and] mocking, said one to another, Ay, 42 łł ºark sv. 31, this is he that saved others, and undertook to give them perfect deliverance and everlasting #: ºther, himself happiness; [but] now you see he cannot save himself from the most infamous execution: #ºñe iºn º if he be really ine true Messiah, the Elect of God, and in consequence of that divine §jºh: Kºśćhoice, be the King of Israel, as he has so often pretended, let him now come down from ºf the cross, ſº save himself from death, that we may see a demonstration of his saving cross, [LURE, and save him- *g 4- * §§ I..."; sº power, and we will then believe him.f. Nay, they were at once so profane and so stupid as 43 § {##"º"; to borrow on this occasion the words foretold by David, (Psal. xxii. 8.) and to say, “He V". g h; #º. i.º.º. trusted in God, and boasted of his interest in him; let him deliver him now, if he will have ºil. inºsia'ſ him, or if he delighteth in him ;” for he has often said, I am the Son of God: the priests am the Son of God. themselves not observing that this was the very language which the murderers of the Messiah are there described as using. ...And the soldiers also who kept guard at that time, joined with the rest of the spectators, º • #. *i; 36. É"º. ; tiºn.". †† and mocked him ; coming to him, and offering him vinegar to drink in the midst of his "ºf", inz, iſ than be agonies; (compare John xix. 29, p. 339.) ºsaying, as the rulers and people had done, 37 # * of the Jews, save If thou art really, as thou hast frequently pretended, the King of the Jews, before thou fly seiſ. undertakest to deliver them, save thyself from our power, and so begin to assert thy claim . to a supreme authority. tº..."...i.; º; "... And one #. the malefactors also, who hung on the cross with him, regardless of that inno- 39 iºnºdºricified with him, cence and dignity which Jesus manifested under all his sufferings, and unaffected with a ;: "..."; "..."; sense of his own aggravated guilt, upbraided him with the same [reproach, and scornfully º ; º: sayºsºft blasphemed him as an impostor, saying, If thou art the Messiah, why dost thou not save Kºkº. §". “ ” thyself and us, who are now dying with thee ? But the other, awakened to a sense of his 40 tº ºi º ºr sin, and convinced in his heart that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, answered his Éost not thou ar'God, sº companion, and rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fegr God, even now when thou thyself #...?" *** art in the same condemnation ? In such an awful circumstance as this, dost thou dare to - . increase thy crimes with thy dying breath, and to behave thyself so insolently in the im- 41 And we indeed justly; mediate view of God’s righteous tribunal 2 ºnd we indeed are justly thus condemned ; 41 for we receive the due re- ºr, . * 3. s `--- .. ~ - * * - e & §r ºf jºi.e. ... this for we receive no more than what is due for the notorious crimes we have committed: but man hath done nothins amiss, this [man] has done nothing by any means amiss, nor is there the least insolence or º 42 And he said unto Jesus in that high claim which he has made, though appearances be for the present so muc I...";"; "...; against it. And having thus rebuked his companion, and testified his full persuasion of 42 ºn comest into thy kins- the innocence of Jesus, he then directed his discourse to him, and said to Jesus, lº. & upon him with the humblest and the most contrite regard, Lord, though this wretc derides thy mission, I firmly believe it; and I beg that thou wouldst graciously remember & me when ihow comest into that thy kingdom, to which I doubt not but God will raise thee h; #jº, ; }; in spite of death and hell... .ºnd Jesús, turning towards him, said to him, with a mixture 43 Tºday halt thod be withing of the greatest dignity and mercy, Perily I say unto thee, and solemnly assure thee of it in paradise. as a most certain truth, that this very day thou shalt be with me in paradise, sharing the entertainments of that garden of God, the abode of happy spirits when separate from the body;k and there shall thy departing soul, as soon as thou hast breathed thy last, imme- diately begin to reap the fruits of that faith which breaks through so dark a cloud, and honours me in the midst of this infamy and distress. AIPROVEMENT. . How great and glorious does the Lord Jesus Christ appear in the midst of all those dishonours which his ene- . mies were now heaping upon him While these rapacious soldiers were dividing the spoils, parting his raiment 23, 24 among them, and casting lots for his vesture, God was working in all, to crown him with a glory which none “” could take from him, and to make the lustre of it so much the more conspicuous by that dark cloud which now surrounded him. His enemies upbraided him as an abandoned miscreant, deserted both by God and man; but he (though able º to have come down from the cross in a moment, or by one word from thence to have struck these insolentwretches 39 A; dead on the place, and to have sent their guilty spirits to accompany the fiends under whose influence they were) f He saved others, &c.] Nothing could be baser than thus to upbraid i Wheſt thout comest into thy , kingdom.] Some have, inferred from him with this saving power, which was not a vain pretence, but had hence, that this malefactor, had learnt something of Christ in prison, produced so many noble and stupendous effects. An..! it was equally and have urged the lossibility of his having exercised, perhaps, a long unreasonable to put the credit of his mission on his coming down from and deep repentance there, against the sº of the sudden change the cross: a vigorous spring might possibly have forced the mails from that nigst have supposed in-this case. But Christ’s kingdom was now the ſtands and feet of a crucified person, so that he might, have leaped the subject of so much discourse, that,he might, on that day, and indeed from the cross. "What Christ had so lately done before their eyes, and in, a fey, minutes, of it, have learnt all that was necessary as the found- in part on themselves in the garden, was a far more convincing display ation of this petition., I cannot therefore-but look on this happy man, of 'a divine power, than merely to have descended now could have (for such, amidst all the ignominy and tortures of the cross, he surely been. "And though they promise upon this to believe him, there is no was,) as a glorious instance of the power as well as sovereignty of divine room to think they would have yielded to conviction; but all they graces which, (as many haye, observed,) perhaps, taking the first occa- meant was to insult him by it, as thinking it impossible he should escape Sion from the preternatural darkness, wrought so lº. as to pro- out of their hands. - uce, by a sudden, and astonishing growth in his last moments, all the g if iſſou art the King of the Jews.] As this claim seemed to them the virtues, which gould be crowded into so small a space, and which were most derogatory to the Roman authority, it is no wonder that the gmingntly manifested in his confessing his own guilt, in his admonish- soldiers grounded their insults on this, rather than on his professing him- ins; his gompanion for a crime which he feared would prove fatal to him, self the Son of God. in his vindicating the character of Christ, and reposing his confidence in h One ºf the malefactors also..] We are told indeed by Matthew, in him, as the Lord of a kingdom beyond the grave, when his enemies, were the plural number, that the thieves cast the same in his teeth; and triumphips over him, and hºlimself, abandoned by most 9; his, friends, Mark also says, that they that were crucified with him reviled him.; and Was expiring ºn a cross. The moiest. as well as the faith of his peti- hence some infer, that he who afterwards proved penitent, at first joined tiqn ºlay also deserve our attentive remark: * * * º in the biasphemy: but had that been the case, surely Lake, in so par- ºk, Thou shalt he with ºne in paradise.] Boš has shown, (in his, Ezerg: ticular a narrative as his, would not have omitted it. I therefore rather Philol. p. 49, 50.) that this expression, per’ epov eqn, thou shalt be with conclude, with most critics, that it is what is, commonly called an enal- me, was the language used when inviting guests to an entertainment; #. of numbers, the , plural º (as elsewhere) put for the singular, and the word ſº originally signified a garden of pleasure, such 3tS (See note Sf, on Mark xiv. 5. § 145. p. 252. and note a, on Mark i. 21 those, in which the Eastern monarchs made their magnificent banquets § 35. p. 73.) -- - . e Raphel. Jinnot, cr Xenoph. p. 119. 43 338 - THE CRUCIFIXION. SECT. yet F.; endured all, and was as a deaf man who heard not their reproaches, and as a dumb man that openeth 190. Tºot his mouth. (Psal. xxxviii. 13.), But as soon as the penitent thief addressed him with that humble supplica- - tion, the º of repentance, faith, and hope, Lord, remember me when thou comest infathy kingdom, he imme- tº diately hears and answers him: and in how gracious and remarkable a phrase ! . This day § thow be with inc :", in paradise! What a triumph was here, not only of mercy to the dying penitent, but of the strongest faith in God, • * that when to an eye of sense he seemed to be the most déserted and #. by him, and was on every side beset with the scorn of them that were at ease, and with the contempt of the proud, he should speak from the cross as from a throne, and undertake from thence, not only to dispense pardons, but to dispose of seats in paradise! Most ungrateful and most foolish is the conduct of those who take encouragement from hence, to put off their repentance perhaps to a dying moment: mostungrateful, in perverting the grace of the Redeemer into an occasion of renewing their provocations against him, .# hardening their hearts in their impieties; and most foolish, to imagine that what our Lord did in so singular a circumstance, is to be drawn into an ordinary precedent. This criminal had, perhaps, never heard of the gospel before : and now how cordially does he embrace it! Probably there are few saints in glory who ever honored Christ more illustriously than this dying sinner, acknowledgin him to be the Lord of life, whom he saw in the agonies of death; and pleading his cause when his friends an brethren forsook him and stood afar off. (Compare Matt. xxvi. 56, and Luke xxiii. 49.) But, such is the corruption of men's hearts, and such the artifice of Satan, that all other views of him are over- looked, and nothing remembered but that he was a motorious offender, who obtained mercy in his departing moments. The Lord grant that none who read this story here, may be added to the list of those who, despising the forbearance and long-suffering of God, and not knowing that his goodness leads to repentance, have been imboldened to abuse this scripture, so as to perish, either without crying for mercy at all, or crying for it in vain, after having treasured up an inexhaustible store of wrath, misery, and despair! (Rom. ii. 4, 5.) SECTION CXCI. Jesus, º his mother to the care of John, and suffered many agonies and indignities on the cross, expires ; amazing }. attending death, and alarming the consciences of the spectators. Matt. xxvii. 45—54. Märk xv. 33–39. Lúke xxiii. 44–48. John xix. John xix. 25. John xix. 25. SECT. A.N.D while he suffered all these insults and sorrows, there stood near the cross of Jesus, Now there stood by the 191. Mary his mother,” and his mother's sister, (whose, name was also Mary,) who was [the ºilº.º.º.º. wife] of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene; and with them also John, his intimate friend, º, j \; "... the relater ...}. story. Magdalene. Jesus therefore seeing his mother, and John the disciple whom he peculiarly loved, standing 25 when Jesus therefore 26 near, his affectionate care and regard to both so wrought in his heart in the midst of all his saw his #ºn. the dis- agonies, that he said to his mother, Woman, behold thy son: consider that dear friend off.º.º.º.º. mine as thy own child, and treat him with the same affection and care which thou wouldst ther, Woman behold thy son. 27 show to me under that near relation.d And then he said to that disciple, Behold thy mother, , 27. Then saith, he to the and entertain towards her that reverence and love which a child owes to a worthy parent; º;;..."; for I now solemnly with my dying breatlı, bequeath her to thy care. And from that hour girls took her unto his own that disciple took her home to his own [house,] and maintained her most cheerfully and “” respectfully, as if she had indeed been his own mother. º And Jesus having hung upon the cross about three hours, it was now near noon, or, Matt. xxvii. 45. Now (WII. e - * ~~; º * 7 • a) ſº º & [LUKE, it was about the is according to the Jewish manner of expressing the time, it pas about the sirth hour; qnd ſº, Yii, º Hº from the sixth hour, there was an amazing and supernatural darkness over the whole land of sixth hour there was dań. Judea till the ninth hour,e or till three o'clock in the afternoon: during which time, it was ...; ;..."º": as dark as if there had been a total eclipse of the sun, though in a natural way it was im- 3. Luke xxiii. 44.] 46 possible, as it was now full moon.,,.And this darkness with which the face of nature , 46 And about the ninth seemed overspread, was a lively emblem of the darkness and distress of spirit with which !º § the Lord of nature was then overwhelmed, and with which he struggled in the solemn silence and unutterable bitterness of his soul. But about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, in the Hebrew, or rather in the Syriac, language, Eloi, Eloi, lama a. His mother.] Neither her own danger, nor the sadness of the spec- even to persons that were the most respected. See note d, on John ii. tacle, nor the reproaches and insults of the people, could restrain iter 4, p. 53. > from performing the last office of duty and tenderness to her 1)ivine d Behold tºy soft.] Some have º: these words as if they only Son on the cross. ’Grotius justly observes, that it was a noble instance signified, “Beitold a person who will carry it to thee as thy son, and offortitude and zeal. Now a sword (according to Sii.leon’s prophecy, will take care of thee.” But as the tendenness of Jesus for his mother is i.uke i. 35.) struck through her tender heart, and pierced her very soul; expressed in the next verse, in the direction, that he gives to John to and perhaps the extremity of her sorrows night so overwhelul her spirits, treat her as his mother; it seems more matural to understand this former as to render her incapable of attending the sepulchre, which we do not exhortation as expressive of his kindness, for John, and so, to take it as a find that she did; nor do we indeed meet with any, thing after this con- direction given to his mother to regard him as her son with all the affec- cerning her in the sacred story, or in early antiquity; except that she tion ºf a tender, pºrent. continued among the disciples after our Lord’s ascension, which Luke e There was darkness over the whole land.] There are so many places observes, Acts i. 14. Andreas Cretensis, a writer, of the seventh cen- in which yn signifies a particular country, and not the whole earth, that tury, dogs indeed tell us, she died with John at Ephesus; many Yeº's I have chosen here to follow our translation; and the rather, because the after this, in an extreme old age; and it appears from a letter of the further we suppose this darkness to extend, the more unaccountable it council of Éphesus in the fifth century, that it was, then believed, she is that no Heathen writers, should have mentioned it except Phlegon; was buried there. But they pretend to show her sepulchre at Jerusalem, if his i.ieśń º excepted.” darkness over the whole earth at once, and many ridiculous tales are forged concerning, her death and assump- must have been preternatural at any time; and it is morally impossible tion, or being taken up into heaven, of which the best. Popish authors that a multitude of accounts of it should not, even by a tradition of themselves appear heartily ashamed. See Calmet's Dictionary, vol. ii. many hundred years, have been transmitted to posterity. What is said P. lººk 1, - - - - of the Chinesc chronicles mentioning it, must be very uncertain: and as b His mother’s sister, JMary [the wife] qf Cleopas.] It is not determined for Josephus’s gºission of it, I think Dr.More with reason, accounts for in the original whether she was the wife, or mother, or daughter of Cléo it, by his unwillingness to mention a fact which had so favourable an pas; but critics generally suppose she was his wife, and that he was also aspect on christianity; and the Jews would no doubt disguise it as led Áipheus, and was the father, as this Mary was the mother, of much as they could, and perhaps might persuade him, and others who jãºs, joses." and Šimon, and Judas, who are therefore cºlled our heard the report of it at some distange of time or place, that it was only Lord’s brethren or kinsmen. (Matt. Riii. 35. Sec note ex on John Xiy; a dark cloud or a thick mist, which the followers of Jesus had exagger- i. 304)-Grotius indeed thinks that Cleopas, was her fathgr, and ated, because it happened when their Master died. Such representations Alpheus her husband. After all, we cannot certainly determine it: but, are exceeding natural to hearts corrupted by infidelity. t like most other undeterminable pgints, it is a matter of no great impºſt- f As it was now full moon...] Mr. Shuckford, in his Preface to the ance. I know none who has set it in a plainer and juster light than Dr. third yolume of his cºcellent Connerion of the Sacred and Profane His- Edwards, Exercit. part ii. No. 1. p. , 61, S&q. tory of the World, has advanced some important considerations to prove c Said to his moth Wºla.j ... We have observed elsewhere, that that it is at least very uncertain whether the Jewish months, according Joseph probably was dead some time before : (compare note b, on John to the Mosaic institution, began with a new, moon, and consequently ii. 1. p. 53. and note *hj John vi. 42. p. 152.) and as Jesus'now showed whether their passover, which was fixed to the fourteenth day of the the tender concern he had for his mothér, in gommitting her to the care first month, must always happen at full moon: but he allows that, of John, so this concern that he º; for her support, must have towards the decline of their state, it did. , And indeed Josephus, who, Affected her no less than if he had called her, Mother; which some have being a Jewish priest, is an unexceptionable witness in this case, seems thought he might not choose to do, to avoid exposing her to the abuses of ºut it beyond all possibility of doubt, expressly asserting that the the populace, by a discovery of her near relation to him.... But womaïl day of expiation, and consequently their other feasts, were reckoned by was a title hé before had used in speaking to his mother, where no such the age of the moon. (Joseph. Jīntiq. lib. iii. cap. ió. 33. Askar? caution was necessary; and it was frequently applied in ancient times, row pinyos kata aexmumv.) - 'IHE CRUCIFíXI.O.N. 339 lama sabachthani? that is to r. Thain or i tº sabachthani?g that is, being interpreted into other words, .Hy God, my God, why hast thou şRCT. §§ forsaken me? which was . if º had said, O my ;Fº wherefore dost thou 191. **** (M** 341 add to all my other sufferings those which arise from the want of a comfortable sense of thy presence? Wherefore dost thou thus leave me alone in the combat, destitute of those ºf sacred consolations which thou couldst easily shed abroad upon my soul, and which, thou 46 knowest, I have done nothing to forfeit?h §§º ºf Jesus, by the use of these words, borrowed from the beginning of the twenty-second 47 stood [by] there; when they , by 3, . >e g & º s # mºniº, ſº Psalm, gave the spectators a useful hint that the whole of it referred to him; and it might #####|* * * well have led them to observe how many passages of it had then a literal accomplishment in him: but if this was any part of the design, it was not apprehended by them; for the Jews took them in a different sense, and some of them that stood by there, hearing [that] • sound of Eli, said in a scornful and insulting manner, Behold this [man, who has been used to talk as if he had earth and heaven at command, resolves to keep up the air of the Messiah to the last, and therefore calls for Elijah his forerunner, as if he had any authority to bring that great prophet down from paradise to his assistance. & Immediately after inis doleful cry, Jesus, knowing that all the grievous and terrible 'º things he had to suffer in the way to death, were nois upon the point of being perfectly 25 accomplished, and finding himself parched with a violent drought, as the consequence of what he had so long endured both in mind and body, that the scripture might be fulfilled, (Psal. xxii. 15. and Ixix. 21.) where the Messiah is described as crying out, “My tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink,” to show that he endured all that had been foretold concerning him, said, I thirst. - - 29 Now there was set a JVow there was set, as usual on such occasions, a vessel full of vinegar near the cross;k 29 Yº...º.º.º. and immediately upon his mentiºning his thirshone ºf them ran and took 4 spunge, andfilled ºniº’sº, and fijiº [it] with this vinegar; and putting it round [a stalk of} hyssop, which they had fastened ft with vinegar,j and put it rind of - * To g amº º"; };} on the top of a kind of cane of large reed, they put it up to his mouth, and in a contemp- John xix. 28. After, this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture, might be fulfil- led, saith, I thirst, ºpº ºthkº tuous manner gave it him to drink. But the rest of them that stood by, said, Let [him #. º ºgº" alone, and let is see whether Elijah, whom he has just been calling upon, will come and 43°'" ºilº.’, save him from the cross; [and] indeed he must take him down quickly, if at all. So little jºii"...e. were their hearts affected with this preternatural darkness, which had continued now three iºnº.º him hours; and thus cruelly did they insult him, even in his expiring moments; which had * * been most inhuman, though he had really been the vilest malefactor. dº º ...;*... When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, and thus had perfectly fulfilled the pro- º gºesar, he said. It is finish phecies relating to his sufferings, he said, It is finished; the important work for which I * * * came into the world is now completed, the demands of the law are satisfied, the justice of h;inº; God is atoned, and my sufferings are now at an end...ºnd crying out again with a great ; **ś iº and strong voice, which plainly showed that much of the stre of nature was yet in ºil'."; , ;";"º him, he said, with a lively faith and holy joy, Father, for so I will still call thee, though He jº, bowed his head, that claim is thus derided by mine enemies, I am now coming to thee, and into thy hands tºo."Maiº. I commit my departing spirit, depositing it with thee as a sacred trust, which I am confi- dent thou wilt receive and keep. And when he had said thus, declining his head, he volun- p |Matt., xxvii. 59. Mark XV. 37. John xix. 30.] tarily dismissed or delivered up his spirit, and expired. hºtºi, flºº. And behold, God, by a very awful and miraculous lº, avowed the relation Marr was qārkenedjºeiafti, which his Son claimed, and evidently appeared to take the charge of that dear and excel- º temple was rent in twaii * * * * * º, ºn ºn 1 ºr * … • £--- * ~~~~~ a di º 51 É., ºdº lent spirit which Jesus so solemnly recommended to him: for immediately upon his death, #; º; [while] the sun was still darkened, as was observed before, (ver, 45.) the veil of the temple, º"{\# **ś, which separated between the holy and the most holy place, though made of the richestānd Luke xxiii. 45.] strongest tapestry, was miraculously rent in two in the midst, from the top to the very bot- tom ; so that while the priest was ministering at the golden altar, it being the time of evening sacrifice, the sacred oracle was laid open to full view:” God thereby declaring, as it were, the abolition of the whole Mosaic ritual, which depended on a distinction between those two parts of the temple ; and intimating that a passage was opened into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, which was now poured out on mount Calvary. ...And at the same time, to increase the terror, the earth trembled, even to the very spot of ground on which the temple stood, and several of the rocks in the neighbouring parts were torn g Eloi, Eloi, lama, salachlhani?] it is evident these are Syro-Chºl- daic, and not properly Hebrew, words : for in the original of Psal. xxii. 1. it is not, as here, ºn pile mp5 ºnbs Snºs, but nºn-ry ne': Yºs Sºx. Dr. Edwards thinks our Lord in his agony repeated the words twice, with some little variation, saying at one time, Eloi, and at the other, Eli. This is possible; and, if it were otherwise, I doubt not but Mlark has given us the word exactly, and Matthew a kind of contraction of it. {). any scrious reflections on the Psalm from which they were taken, and to expose him to further contempt. k .3 vessel full uſ ringar..] It is well known that vinegar and water (which mixture was called posca) was the common drink of the Roman soldiers: perhaps, therefore, this vinegar was set here for their use, or for that, of the crucified persons, whose torture would naturally make them thirsty. - - - - ! /ſe dismissed or delivered up his spirit, and expired.] . The evange- lists use different words in expressing our Lord’s death, which I a little wonder that on r translators render in the same manner, he yieldcal See Edwards's Ercrgit. p. 193—196, -- * * * * * ** h PWhſ last, thou forsaken me?]. The pious and judicious Lord Chief Justice Hale, has a strange reflection on these words: “We may (says * - - • * ! :* inj with reverence conceive, that at the time of this bitter cup, the soul gate Alp the ghost. of our blessed Redeemer was for the present overshadowed with so much astonishment and sorrow, as to overpower and cover the distinct sense of the reason of his sufferings, at º: in some measure and degree.” (Hale’s Contemplations, vol. i. p. 72.) But the sense given in the paraphrase is much more natural. Thus in a most humble and nſfectionate manner he reminds his heavenly Father that he was only by imputation a sinner, and had himself done nothin; to incur his dis- pleasure.—I choose not, with Dr. More, (in his Theological Works, 5. 292.) to render it, How far, or to what degree, hast, thout forsaken me? ecause, though this would be a just version of Toº, the Greek word Łuart, which answers to it in Matthew, is not liable to such ambiguity. —I conclude with adding, that this interruption of a joyful sense of his Father’s presenge, (though there was, and could not, but be, a rational apprehension of his constant favour, and high approbation of what he was now doing,) was as necessary as it was that Christ should suffer at all. I'or had God communicated to his Son on the cross, those strong cousolations which he has given to some of the martyrs in their tortures, all sense of pain, and consequently all real pain, would have been swallowed up; and the yiolence done to his body, not affecting the soul, could not properly have been called suffering. - i And sound of them that stood by: &c.] Whether this was, as Dr. |Fdwards (Exercit. p. 196–203.) and Mr. Cradock (Harm, part ii. p. 256.) suppose, the mistake of some Hellenist Jews, who did not understand the Syro-Chaldaic language; or whether it proceeded from his being raised so high, that, amidst the rude noise around him, they did not distinctly hear, I do not pretend to say. Perhaps the malice of those * who did hear what he said, might misrepresent ſiis words, to prevent Or Mark and Luke say, & cºvevae, he expired ; J ohn, rapedoks To Trus up a, he yielded up his spirit , but Matthew’s language is yet more singular, agnks To Tvsupca, he dismissed his spirit : (as the same word, aſjinut, is used Matt. xiii. 35. Mark iv. 36. xi. 6. and else- where.) . Now this expression seems admirably to suit our Lord’s words, John X. IS. JYo man takcth my life front iné, bºtt I lay it down Qf myselſ, &c. (see the paraphrase and note there, p. 3313) showing, as the strong cry which so much impressed the centurion did, that he died by the voluntary act of his own mind, according to the power received from the Father, and in a way peculiar to himself, by which he alone, of all men that ever, existed, could have continued alive, even in the greatest tor- tures, as long as he pleased, or have retired from the body whenever he thought fit. Which view of the case, by the way, suggests an illustration of the love of Christ, manifested in his death, beyond what is commonly observed; inasmuch as he did not use this power to quit his body, as soon as ever it was fastened to the cross, leaving only an insensible corpse to the cruelty of his murderers, but continued his abode in it with a steady resolution as long as it was proper, and then retired from it, with a majesty and dignity never known, or to be known, in any other death; dying, if I may so express it, like the Prince of life. w m While the priest was ministering at the golden altar, &c.] This being so high a day, it is probable that Caiaphas himself might now be performing the solemn act of burning incense just before the veil; which if he did, it is inexpressibly astonishing that his obdurate heart should not be impressed with so awful and significant a phenom?non- There is no room to doubt but many of the other priests wh9 had a hand in Christ’s death saw the pieces of the veil ; which, considering its texture, and the other circumstances, must as fully convince them of 340 THE CRUCIFIXION. SECT. asunder:" Jīnd some of the tombs there were opened by the earthquake: and, which was 191. much more astonishing, a little while after, while the monuments continued unclosed, many bodies of those holy men who were sleeping there, were raised from the dustof death,” Mº And came out of the tombs after the resurrection of [Jesus, and entered into Jerusalem, iñe 3 holy city, and appeared unto many;" attesting the truth of that important fact, and declar- ing their own rescue from the grave, as a kind of first-fruits of his power over death, which should at length accomplish a general resurrection. - ...And when the Roman centurion, who stood over against him, and guarded the execution saw that he so cried out with such strength of voice, and such firm confidence in God even at the moment when he expired; [and] also saw what was [them] done in so miraculous a manner, in those amazing prodigies that attended his death; he glorified God by a free confession of hispersuasion of the innocence of Jesus, saying, Certainly this was a righteous ºqn.; [yea,] notwithstanding all the vile reproaches which have been cast upon him, truly # this man was what he declared himself to be, even the Son of God himself a .And the solº diers also that attended the centurion, even they that were with him guarding Jesus on the cross, seeing the earthquake,and those other things which were now done feared greatly,and said in like manner, Truly this Jesus of N azareth, whom we have been thus insulting and º was the Son of God; and his heavenly Father will certainly avenge his quarrel ..."; fig'às was the very terribly on us, and on the whole nation of the Jews, who have délivered him to us. Son of God. : di: all the multitude that gº come together on this remarkable occasion, to see this § *i; 48. Anº º: leful spectacle, even some of those who but a little before had been insulting him in his £9;, ºt, “jold;". dying agonies, when they saw the things which were done, returned, beating their breasts for this which wereºmote sorrow and remorse; in terrible expectation that some sad calamity woºd speedily befali "" ** them and their country for the indignities and cruelties they had offered to a Person for whom God had expressed so high a regard, even in his greatest distress. - JAIPROVEMENT. Wer. 48 AND surely we, when we return from such a view of it as this, have reason to smite upon our breasts too, and JoHS to be most deeply affected with what we have heard and seen in this lively description. Let us set ourselves, as **, with the mother of Jesus and the beloved disciple, at the foot of the cross; and see whether there be any sorrow * * like unto his sorrow, wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce anger. (Lam, i.12.) Well might the LUKE sun grow pale at the sight; well might the earth tremble to support it! How obdurate must the hearts of those IXXI 44 * sinners be who could make a mock of all his anguish, and sport themselves with his dying groans! But surely the , 40 52 And the graves, were opened, and i. bodies of the saints which slept, arose, 53 And, came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. MARK XV. Mark xv. 39. . And when the centurion which stood over against him, saw that he só cried out, and gave up the ghost, [LUKE, and saw what was dome, he glorified God, saying, Cértainly this, was, a righteous man, truly this man was the Son of God. ºt. xxvii. 54. Luke xxiii. t = Matt. xxvii. 54. And they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, and they feared great- blessed angels, who were now, though in an invisible crowd, surrounding the accursed tree, beheld him with other sentiments; admiring and adoring the various virtues which he expressed in every circumstance of his behaviour: and which, while this Sun of Righteousness was setting, gilded and adorned all the horizon. Letus likewise pa our homage to them, and observe with admiration his tenderness to his surviving parent; his meekness under all these . and provocations; his steady faith in God in an hour of the utmost distress: and his concern to accomplish all the purposes of his life, before he yielded to the stroke of death. Kºſſ. Yet with what amazement must the holy angels hear that cry from the Son of God, from the darling of heaven, xxvii. JMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Let not any of the children of God wonder if their heavenly 46 Father sometimes withdraw from them the sensible and supporting manifestations of his presence, when Christ himself was thus exercised; and let them remember that faith never appears with greater glory than when, in lan- guage like this, it bursts through a thiek cloud, and owns the God of Israel, and the Saviour, even while he is a God that hideth himself from us. (Isa. xlv. ...] May, we, in our approaching combat with the king of terrors, find him enervated by the death of our dear Lord, who thus conquered even when he fell ! May we thus breathe # out our willing and composed spirits into our Father's hands, with a language and faith like his, as knowing whom 46 we have believed, and being persuaded that he is able to keep what we commit to him wintil that day ! (2 Tim, i.12.) MATT. With pleasure may we survey the awful tokens by which God owned his dying Son, and wiped away the infamy XXVII, of his cross. The veil is now rent by the death of Jesus; let us be encouraged to come boldly to the throne o 51–53 grace, and to draw near to the holiest of all, into which he has entered with his own blood. (Heb. iv. 16. ix.12.) #. God render the knowledge of the cross of Christ the blessed means of shaking the consciences of men with 54 powerful convictions, and of raising them from the death of sin, to a life of holiness! And may we be so planted ſº in º likeness of his death, that we may at length also be planted in the likeness of his resurrection / om. vi. 5. JOHN XIX. 26, 27 LU KF. the reality of this extraordinary fact, as iſ they had actually been present when it was rent. * * - * p The rocks were torm asunder.] Mr. Fleming tells...us, (in his Christology, vol. ii. p. 97, 93.) that a deist lately travelling through Palestine was converted by viewing one of these rocks, which still re- mains torn asunder, not in the weakest place, but cross, the veins; a plain proof that it was done in a supernatural manner.--Sandys, in his exceſſent. Travels, p. 164. Jias given ån, accurate description and, (elinea- tion of this fissure; and, Mr. Maundrel, in his Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 73, 74. tells us, that, it is about a span wide at the º art, and two spans deep; after which it closes, but opens again belºw, as may be seen in another chapel below, contiguous to the side of Çal- vary,) and runs down to an unknown depth in the earth. He adds, that every man’s sense, and reason must convince him that this is a natural and genuine breach. w * - o Many bodies of holy men were ravsed.] That ingenious writer Mr. Tleming, who abounds with a vast number of peculiar conjectures, thinks that these were some of the most eminent saints inentioned in the Old Testament,; and that they appeared in some extraordinary splen- dour, and were known by revelation, as Eye’s original and relation was to Adam, or Moses and Elijah to the disciples at the transfiguration. He ventures particularly, to, conjecture yho they were ; but does not Iden- tion David among them. (Fleming, Of the first Resurrection, p. S8. But Mr. Pierce (On Colos. p. 68.) maintains, that it is, yery improbable that, had other saints of former ages risen, David should haye been ex- cluded: and since Acts i. 34. Droves that he did. not, now rise, he gon- cludes that the saints who rose, were some who died but a little before, perhaps such as had believed in Christ, and were well known to the surviving, disciples. It was to be sure a most surprising event; and Br. Whitby supposes John v. 25. was a prophecy relating to it. p And came out of the tombs after the resurrection of Jesus, &c.] Con- sequently it seems that the tom5s stood open all the sabbath, when the jaw would not allow any attempt to close them. What an astonishing spectacle !, especially if their resurrection was not instantaneously ag- complished, but by such slow degrees as that represented in, Ezekiel’s vision. (Ezek. xxxvii.) Yet I do not take upon me to say that it was so; for it is unprofitable too particularly to conjecture on such circum- / the aposties, on the descent of the Spirit, stances, which are not recorded. For this reason also I pretend not to say whát became of these persons; though, as one can hardly imagine they either immediately returned to #º. or that they continued to five on earth, (because it is only said, they appeared to many,) it secºns most natural to imagine they ascended into heaven with, QI after our Lord; perhaps from some solitude, to which they might be directed to retire during the intermediate days, and to wait in devout exercises for their change; for surely, had they ascended in the view of others, the memory of such a fact could not have been lost. q Certainly this was a righteous man, &c.] The most learned Mr. Wasse of Aynho, (whose death, since the publication of my first volume, is an irreparable loss to the jº of letters,) has a dissertation on these words of the centurion in the first number of the Bibliotheca J.iteraria, to which I am indebted for several hints in the paraphrase on these verses; but I have ventured to depart from him, in not...entirely incorporating Matt. xxvii. 54. with Mark Xy. 39. and Luke xxiii. 47. as the two latter only mention the effect of this surprising sight on the centurion, while Matthew gives us also an account of the effect it had upon the soldiers, who yety probably might repeat the words their §§r had spoke but just before, in expressing their sentiments on this occasion. I shall only add, that Elsner, in a very learned note on, this place, has shown that some of the heathens had a motion among, them that prodigies, especially storms and earthquakes, sometimes attended the death of extraordinary persons peculiarly dear to the, gods; and among other passages, mentions, that of Plutarch; in, which he tells us, that ºhém ftöiemy had crucified Cleomenes, while, the body hung deaſ, on the cross, a large serpent wound itself, round his face, and defended it from birds of prey; from whence, the Egyptian; eoncluded he was &l hº more than mortal, and a son of the gods. See Elsm. Observ. vol. i. . 1: D. 120, 12 / . e & vº z º. r.All the multitude.] That is, # multitudes; for it is no way ne- cessary to suppose that every individual ºn present was thus im- presséâ. Thé" conviction, produced by these prodigies undoubtedly made way for the conversion of such a multitude by the preaching of which was but seven weeks after, when these things were fresh in their memories. Acts ii. 41. THE CRUCIFIXION. - SECTION CXCII. While Christ continues hanging Qn the cross, his side is pierced, but his legs h Märk xv. 40, to the end. is own sepulchre. Matt. xxvii. 55–61. LUKE xxiii. 49. - AND all his acquaintance, A.N.D While Our and [many] women (MARK, who, when he was in Galilee; followed him, and ministered unto him, andl followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things: [Matt. xxvii. 55. Mark xv. 40. 41.] weeping themselves with the crowd of spectators, and stood ing eyes and sympathizing hearts; and of this * * * º - idio’iº offended him then he was in Galilee, and had there ministered to him, and liberally assisted him and his disciples with their substance; [and] had now followed him from Galilee the corpse, and lays it with respect in are not broken : Joseph begs - - - f f john Xix. 31, to the end. Luke xxiii. 49, to the en LUKE xxiii. 49. - Lord was thus expiring on the cross, all his familiar acquaintange mingled at a distance, viewing these things with number there were many pious women,” to Jerusalem, where they had constantly attended on his preaching in the temple, nor would they leave him in this great and last trial: Matt...,xxvii. 56. Among which was Mary Magdalene. and Mary the mother of James [the less.] and [of] Jo- ses, and the mother of Zebe- dee’s children, [and Salome, and , many other , women, which came up with him unto Jerusalem.] [Mark xy. 40,41.) John xix. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath-day, (for that sabbath-day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be, broken, and that they migl alW dy. and fied. .4mong whom there was Mary JMagdalene, and Joses; and there was also the mother of the a oftenmentioned as the sons of Zebedee the fisherman; and Salome also,” and many other zealous and affectionate women who came up with him to this passover at Jerusalem, and who had the courage to attend him, even when his apostles themselves had forsaken him Mary the mother of James the less and of Then, as the day was drawing to a close, the Jews were very solicitous, because it wº now the preparation for the sabbath, that the bodies might not remain all night tºpon, the 31 cross, which their law expressly forbade: (Deut. xxi. 22, 23.) and more especially, they were concerned that this profanation might not happen on the sabbath-day, (for that sabº bath, being the first which followed the passover, was a great day of peculiar solemnity;”) * * * they went therefore and entreated Pilate that he would send an order to the soldiers who were watching the crucified persons, that their legs might be broken, the more effectually to despatch them if they were not quite dead, and [that] they might then be taken algay.” 32. Then game the soldiers, An and brake the legs of the first j'."jºš.".; fore, who guarded the execution, came and brake the legs of º malefactor, or of him crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was that hung nearest the place where they had been sitting: and wº - w -- * * * hung in the middle, they went and brake the legs of the other who was crºtcified with him. But coming afterwards to Jesus, they did not break his legs, as they saw it was needless, 33 en passing by Jesus, who jai aiready, they brake not since it was plain he was already dead; and they were now impressed with some degree of his legs : 34 But one of the soldiers with a .# pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. reverence even to his corpse, by the amazing prodigies which they had just now seen. But yet one of the soldiers had so much boldness and inhumanity, that he pierced his side 34 with a long lance or spear which he had in his hand; and immediately there came out of the wound both blood, and water mingled with it; which made it plainly appear that, had he been living, the wound would have been mortal, having reached his very heart; and consequently put it out of all doubt that he was really dead before he was taken down from the cross. 35 And be that saw. it bare record, and his record is true : and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. is writing senses, that what he saith is true ; and he makes this declaration, that you, whoever you are, into whose hands this history may come sooner or later, may believé, and may be confirmed in your adherence to that gospel which is established on the death and resur- rection of Christ. 36 For these things were done,that the scripture should be fulfilled, one of him shall not be broken. in so many circumstances resemble Christ, (Exod. xii. 46. and Numb. ix. 12.) “..Not a bone of it shall be broken :”h a precept which, among many others, was given on purpose to lead the minds of believers to reflect on the 37. And again, another scripture saith, They look on him whom pierced. harmony and unity of design carried on (though by such a variety of persons, in no con- * cert with each º under the Old Testament, and under the New. they another scripture which says concerning the Jews, when they are to be converted to the Messiah in the latter days, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced ;” (Zech xii. ...And again, there is (compare Luke viii. 2, 3. p. 116.) 43 ostles James and John, whom we have so a 341 SECT. iQ2. I.U. KE MATT. XXVII JOHN XIX, Pilate upon this gave orders that it should accordingly be done: the soldiers, there- 3% ...And as this was so important, and indeed so fundamental, a point,” it may not be im- 3: proper to add, that it was one who saw [it] who has borne [this] testimony, and recorded so remarkable a circumstance ; and therefore his witness is undoubtedly true ; and now he this, he solemnly declares that he knows, by the most certain testimony of his . For, however inconsiderable these things may appear, they were permitted in the course of 36 divine Providence to be done, that thus ille º: might be remarkably fulfilled in what it says concerning the paschal lamb, which di 10.) for which reason God permitted them not only to pierce the hands and the feet or Jesus with nails, but also to open his side by that deep and large wound which we have w b ioning. . 4:2. And now In O een mentioning Mark X v. 4: [Johs, after this, when the .” ...And quickly after these things, as it was near sun-set, and the evening was now come, a JMany pious, women.] I hope, I shall give no offence by saying, what I am sure I say Yery seriously, that the frequent mention which is made in the Evangelists of the generous and courageous zeal of some pious women in the service of Christ, and, especially of the faithful and resolute constancy with which they attended him in these last scenes of his suffering, might very possibly be intended to obviate that haughty and senseless contempt which the pride of men, often irritated by those vexations to which their own irregular passions have exposed them, has in all ages affected to throw on that sex, which probably, in the sight of God, constitute by far the better half of mankind; and to whose care and tenderness the wisest and best of men generally owe and ascribe much of the daily comfort and enjoyment of their lives. b And the mother gſ the sons gf Zelicaee.] Though the construction, of the original be dubious, yet . I think it very rational to conclude that this mother of the sons of Zebedee, or of James the greater und John, was a different person from the mother of James, the less, and Joses: both as the sons of Zgbedee, though such distinguished friends of Christ, are never called his brethren, as James and Joses are, (Matt. xiii. 55. and Mark vi. 3. p. 137.) and as some scriptures plainly intimate that no more than two of the apostles were the sons of Zebedee. See Mati. x. 2. xxvi. 37. Mark iii. 17:, . - c Jand, Salome.] This Salome, who is mentioned here by Mark, is commonly supposed to be the mother of Zebedee’s children, mentioned by Matthew : but as it is expressly said there were many other women present, she might possibly |. some other disciple, and there is no suf- ficient reason to conclude they were the same. (Compare Mark Nyi. 1.) d For that sabbath was a great day.] It was (as Dr. Whitby in his paraphrase has well observed) not only a sabbath, but the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, from whence they'reckoned the weeks to separated from the scrum: either way pentecost; and also the day for presenting and offering the sheaf of new º §§ hat it was indeed a treble solemnity.—See note b, on Luke V1. l. I). SRS. c ºlight be taken, ancay.] It was customary; as Bishop Pearson (On the Crerg; p. 218.) has abundantly proved, to let the Šošics of persons who had been executed eontinue on the crosses or stakes, till they were çaten up by birds of prey.; but as this was forbidden to the Jews, the łogian governors probably used to oblige them by permitting such bodies as belonged to them to be buried. There cqīne out blood and apatcr.] whether this was, as Dr. Drake su 105.) the small quantity of water inc the heart swims; or wh I do not pretend to determine poses, (in his flnatomnu, yol. i. p. osed in the pericardium, in which ether, the cruor was now almost coagulated, and * . . . . . is . ſ. 1 it was a certain, prºfof Christ’s §eath; for he could not have survived such a wound, had it been given him in perfect health. g So, important and fundamental a point.] The grand evidence of Çhrist’s mission is his resurrection, which implies the certainty of his death: and thus crucifixion might have seemed, on a slight view, a less Hºer execution than some others, such as beheading, burning, and the like; but this wound would effectually exclude aii’ pretences of his having been taken down alive by his friends; and accordingly that is an evasion which, false and malicious as his enemies were, we do not find they ever had recourse to. .h, Not a bone of it shall be broken.] Dr. Arthur Young (in his Histo- rical Dissertation, on Revelation, designed to prºcnt Superstition, vol., i. p. 196; 203,204.) has a particulār thought on the reason of this prohibi- tion, that it was intended to oppose the manner in which the Egyptian sacrifices were sometimes ..º. to pieces, but I think the reason Sug- MARK XV. 42. 342 THE BODY OF JESUS TAKEN FROM THE CROSS. SECT. because (as we have observed) it was the preparation, or the close of the day before the sab- 192. bath, (John xix. 31.) for it was Friday evening, and the sabbath, which would begin at six o'clock, was near at hand, in which no work could lawfully be done ; Behold, there ; ºfte tº the governor's palace a certain rich man of Arimathea, (a city of the Jews, anciently ***, called Ramóth, which ſay in the tribe of £phraim, and was the city of Samuel, that cele. ” brated prophet) and he was named Joseph, and was a person of considerable note, being an honourable counsellor, or member of #. Sanhedrim, who had a general reputation as a 51 benevolent and upright man. The same was not concerned with the rest ºf his fellow- senators in Putting Jesus to death, and had not given the concurrence of his vote to the counsel and action of them that condemned him; [but was º who also himself humbl and affectionately, waited for the kingdom of God, being indeed a disciple of Jesus, though secretly, because he durst not openly profess his belief in him for fear of the Jews and 52 their rulers, whº were so strongly prejudiced against him. This man, awakened by the prodigies attending his death to greatér courage than he had before, though he knew it must necessarily draw upon him the haired a contempt of his brethren, yet went in boldly to the presence of Pilade,i and begged his permission that he might take away the body of Jesus, to preserve it from further insults, and bury it in a decent and respectful Iſla Inſler. •ſhud when Pilate heard his request, considering how lingering an execution that of the cross was, he thought it strange if he were already dead, and would not easily believe it; gnd therefore, having called the centurion to him who was appointed to guard the bodies, 45 he asked him whether he had been dead any time. And when he knew ſº of the centurion, and was certainly informed that, besides all the appearances of his having been dead before, he was afterwards stabbed to the very heart, Pilate, without any further scruple, gave him leave, [and] commanded the body to be delivered to Joseph: which he might be the more willing to do, as he was thoroughly convinced that Jesus was innocent; and it was generally thought by the heathens, that the spirits of the departed received some advantage from the honours of a funeral paid to their bodies. ...And Joseph therefore, bein - º fine linen, came to Mount Calvary, and with proper assistance took down the body of Jesus from the cross and wrapped it up in a kind of winding-sheet of clean linen cloth. MARK XY. 46 . . .4nd there came also at the same time with Joseph to the cross, Nicodemus, another mem- 5 **a ber of the sanhedrim, of whom repeated mention has been made in the preceding story, º and who was he that, at the first beginning of his public ministry, came to Jesus by night; (John iii. 1, 2.) and, as he was now grown more courageous than before, to testify his great regard for Jesus, he brought with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes, [that º 40 about an hundred pounds. To prepare then for his interment, they took the body of Jesus, without regarding the reproach to which it might expose them, and sipathed it up in a great many folds of linen, together with the spices (according to the Jewish custom of burying.) intending to embalm it in a more exact manner as soon as the sabbath was over; an hoping that in the mean time the spices lying near the body might preserve it from the least taint of corruption. - - - .. º - Now it happened very commodiously for his immediate interment, that in the yery neighbourhood of the place where he was crucified, there was g garden, and in the garden a 42 new sepulchre '...}; to Joseph. There laid they Jesus therefore in º s] own new tomb, which he had lateſy ordered to be hewn in stone out of a solid rock : to which there- 41 fore there could be no passage but by the door, and in which no man was ever ſet laid, so #. that there could be no room to imagine any other person rose from thence, And this they did without first carrying the body into any house to embalm it; because (as we have said before) it was the Jewish preparation-day, and the sabbath drett on, which did not allow their undertaking a work of so much labor and time: to be ready therefore for the re. COIY)- manded on the sabbath-day, they used no further ceremony in interring him, and chose a most convenient place to do it with despatch, for the sepulchre lºgs very near at hand. tº. And Joseph, having thus interred him in his own tomb, and so (as it was rophied con. *"...a cerning the Messiah, Isa. liii. 9.) “made his grave with the rich in his eath,” he took * care tº make aii things secure; and having rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre to block up the entrance, he went away to his own home. Tºrrows Luº And when Joseph and Nicodemus came and took down Jesus from the cross, Mary ** JMagdalene, and the other. Mary, who (as was said before) was the mother % James the less and Joses, (Matt. xxvii. 56. p. 341.) and the rest of the women also tº ºne with him from Galilee, and so affectionately attended during the time of his crucifixiºn, # ºre now desirous to see how they disposed of him; and therefore, when they carried o the corpse, these pious women followed after them, and sitting over, º f * * ".i. º which they saw them enter, beheld with diligent observation where ana tºp l?S ..". 56 laid. And perceiving that they did not embalm him, but only wound, º ºp * ; with the dry spices, they resolved to perform this last office of duty and * lection ź. in the completest and most respectful manner they could; and therefore º uneaſ. j.% returned into the city, and, before the day of preparation was quite finished, t º {...}. a great quantity of spices and balms for that purpose, that nothing º, pº º i. engaging in it as soon as the first day of the week should }. º º º º not they rested on the sabbath-day, according to the divine commandment, which they would violate even en so solemn an occasion as this. - º Arunathea) of the º named Joseph, the kingdom of God, [j even Wäs come, because it was the the preparation, that is, gay before the sabbath; ºt. XXvii. 57. Jolin xix. Luke xxiii. 50. , Behold, there, came a rich man of U. RE, a city MARK, an honourable count sellor.] and he gas a good ºn and a just : [Alatt. xxvii. 3 f 5i.) Mark xy. 43. Luke Xxiii. 51. The same had not con- sented, to the counsei and deed of them; [but was ongj who also himself waited for OH N3 being a disciple of Jesus, but Sęgretly, for fear of the Jews.] º Axvii. 57. Mark xv. 43. ohn Xix. 38.] - 52 This man went [MARK in boldly) unto, Pilate, an begged [John, that he might take away the body of Jesus.] Matt: xxvii. 58. Mark Xy. 43. John xix. 38.] - Mark xv. 44. And Pilate maryelled, if he were already dead; and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him, whether he had been any while dead. - 45 And when he knew, it of the centurion, [Johs, Pilate gave him , leave, [and com- manded the body to be de- livered] to . Joseph. . [Matt. xxvii. 58. John xix. 38.] thus authorized by Pilate, having bought a large piece of .46 Andjºseph) bought fine linen, and [John, came thcro- fore, andl took ãº. [Johl N, the body of Jesus.] and wrap- Fº ſit in a clean linen cloth.] Maſt; xxvii. 59. Luke xxiii. *S*r. And there came also Nicodemus, (which at the first came, to Jesus by night,) and º à m) Xture 9f myrrh and aſoes, about an hundred pound weight. 40. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes, with the spaces, as the mannér of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden ; and in the garden a ne Wy #ºhº 42 There laid they Jesus therefore[in Joseph’s own new tomb, which he had hewn] UKE, in Stonel [MARK, out Qt a rock, [John, wherein was never man yet laid:] because [LUKE, that day was the] Jews’ [LUKE, preparation, and the sabbath drew qm ;] for the sepulchre was. nigh at hand. . . [Matt. XXyii. 50. Mark xv. 46. Luke xxiii. 53, 54...John xix. jº, Matt. xxvii. 60. And he rolled ºn, great stone to, the door of the sepulchre, and de- parted. [Mark xv. 46.] gested in the paraphrase much more certain and important. . It is very Eastcins swathed HP their dead. weſl illustrated in Jiu Essay on the several Dispensations of God, &c. ref. p. XX 11. Čt seq. - - - P %. in boldly to Pilate.] It was indeed a colºrageous act for this rich and noble Senator º to own his friendship to Jesus in the midst of his greatest inſamy ; and a º: of such. *: could not but know that, if a resurrection should happen, nothing would have j ñjade his grave with the rich in his Isaiah, which having never to many, as it was to me. $4.4 × 2 2 criticism of a celebrated - mitted to mention the c Čhat I know of) been published, may be new Observing that the word Eytyn may be * º jaro" | 7 * * - ki the dual number, and that nºwy is the singular, he w ould suppose a kind xxiii. 55. [And Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary,) ūiapº, the mother of Joses,) and the women also which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and [sitting ovgºr against the sepulchre,) beheld [MARK, where] and how his body was laid. [Matt. xxvii. 61. Mark X luke \", 4 ( , 56 And they returned, and preparcd spices and oint- ments; and rested the sah- bath-day according to the commandment. It was, no doubt, by ºracle, that when Christ arose, he disentangled hºº!,...} º: SWathèS. - º (23.II] . . Let me here be per- divine on this passage of more natural than that he should have been brought into question º: *"...º. in the pretended fraud of conveying him away. k Scathed it up in linen.] This I take to bg the most literal, transla- tion of the ºffs eómaav avro offov tots; for 069wta were a kind of linen rouers, in which, as Elsner has shown, (Observ. vol. i. p. 347.) the ~, * iadys in the construction, and render it, “His death and, burial }.}}| º j,"; and with one rich ºngn; that is, º: }. expired between two malefactors, a rich map {that is, Josep #. i. théa) sh;iſ undertake the care of his funeral.”—But I intº i. º .# that no version of the words pleases mc so well on the whole as that o JUDAS REPENTS AND HANGS HEMSELF. 343 - IMPROVEMENT. - - tº sº WE have seen the sorrows of our expiring Lord ; let us now, like these pious women, raise Qur eyes to him with sººt. a holy and unfeigned affection, and be .#. pale and breathless on the accursed tree. , Let us view him. § 192. faith, till the eye affects the heart, and till we learn to glory in nothing but his cross, whereby the world may be crucified to us, and we may be crucified to the world. (Gal. vi. 14.) - , How wonderfully does #. providence of God appear to have regarded the body of Jesus, which had so long 31. 32 been the temple of the indwelling Deity, even when it was deserted of that spirit which had lately animated it, ” and while it hung (amazing thought, that it ever should have hung!) between the bodies of two thieves on a cross, 33. 36 without the gates of Jerusalem! He who has all hearts in his hand, interposed by a secret but powerful influence * on the soldiers, who brake the legs of the malefactors, to spare those of Christ; that so nothing which looked like 34 a prophecy of him, should want its proper accomplishment. But his side, was pierced; and how deep was º 35 wound, when immédiately there came out of it blood and water! Happy emblem of the blessed effect of his death! He came both by water and blood, (as he who saw and testified this important fact leads us to improve it, I John v. 6.) and by this means atones the injured justice of God, and purifies the Souls of them that believe in him. Our indignation rises against the man that could, by such an outrage as this, abuse the dead body of our Re- deemer; but oh, let us seriously remember the hand which our sins had in all that was now done . . He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: (Isa. liii. 5.) And therefore it is said concern- 37 ing those on whom the ends of the world are to come, that they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn. (Zech. xii. 10.) May we mourn over him with a genuine, evangelical sorrow, when we consider whom we have pierced, and how deep and how often we have pierced him, and upon what slight temptations; and under how many engagements rather to have bathed his wounds with our tears, and even to have exposed our own hearts to the sharpest weapon by which the madness of sinners might have attempted to injure him. The boldness of Joseph, and even of Nicodemus himself, deserves our notice on such an occasion. They are not ashamed of the infamy of his cross, but come with all holy reverence and affection to take down those sacred 46 remains of Jesus; nor did they think the finest linen, or the choicest spices, too valuable on such an occasion. * But who can describe their consternation and distress, when they saw him whom they trusted should have deliver; ſº. ed Israel, a cold and bloody corpse in their arms; and left him in the sepulchre of Joseph, whom they expected Mºr to have seen on the throne of David —We leave for the present his enemies in triumph, and his friends in tears, ... till his resurrection, which soon confounded the rage of the former, and revived the hopes of the latter; hopes go which must otherwise have been for ever entombed under that stone with which they now covered him. But happy and gomfortable is the thought, that this his transient visit to the grave has (as it were) left a perfume in the bed of dust, and reconciled the believer to dwelling a while in the place where the Lord lay. JOHN XIX. MARK XV. 43 SECTION CXCIII. Judas confessing his guilt, returns the money he had received from the chief priests, and then hangs himself. The Jews the next day demand and DLocure a guard to be set on Christ’s sepulchre. Matt. xxvii. 3" id. 62, to the end. MATT. xxvii. 3. Matt. xxvii. 3. THEN Judas, which had be: HAVING thus finished the account of the death of Jesus, it may be convenient here to SECT. #gº tº: mention the miserable end of that perfidious disciple by whom he was betrayed into the 193. #yº, hands of his enemies. The Jewish rulers having delivered Jesus to the Roman governor, e thirty pieces of silver to * • - :-- º - the chief priests and elders,” and having prevailed upon him to give orders for his execution, then Judas who had be- § trayed him, when he saw to his surprise that he was condemned by Pilate, and that they were sº leading him forth to die upon the cross, to which he seemed determined to submit, though he could so easily have rescued himself from it,” was seized with great terror and agony of conscience; and, repenting of the fatal bargain he had made, whereby he had brought such a load of guilt on his own soul, he carried back the thirty pieces of silver which they had given him, to the chief priests and the elders, while they were together in the temple that morning: for they resorted thither with a specious appearance of piety, before they 4.Sášing, Jºe inheºn followed the multitude to Calvary to see the execution. And coming in among them in a 4 that I have betrayed the in- . s *- - - - to c tº jent blood. And they said, wild disorder, he said to them, O Sirs! I have sinned in a most desperate manner, in that Whº is “"“” ** I have betrayed innocent blood to you ; for I am well convinced that Jesus my Master has done nothing to deserve this punishment to which you have delivered him, and I am not able to bear the thought of the concern I have had in it. . .And they answered with the steady coolness of those who knew no shame or remorse for their wickedness, What [is that] to us, whether thou thinkest him innocent or not? See thou [to that:] it is sufficient for us that we know he is guilty, whether such a wretch as thou art approvest or con- jºi. demnest our sentence. Jind throwing down the pieces of silver money in the temple, in 5 §º *..."; their very presence, with all the marks of agony and distress, he withdrew ; and going hanged himself. away to the brow of a hill, in some retired and melancho place, he there hanged himself; but the rope breaking by the force with which he threw himself off, he fell down the pre- cipice, and burst asunder with the force of his fall, so that all his bowels gushed out;b and he lay expiring, in a most painful and terrible manner, a spectacle of horror to all that beheld him alive or dead, as a multitude of spectators did. (Compare Acts i. 18, 19.) Alºhº; ,-ind the chief priests, taking up the pieces of silver, were at some loss how they should 6 Ul iſ ºwfliºt."ºut" i.e. dispose of them: for they said, } is not lawful for us to put them into the chest which is the silver pieces, and said, It Dr. Sykes, which I read since I wrote the paraphrase above : inn, JNevertheless he shall avenge or recompense his grave upon the wicked, and his death upon the rich ; or, which is equivalent to the former, but per- haps more exact, He shall aſſenge his grave, (that, is, his death, which brings him down to , it) on the gicked, gºſl on the rich iſ hen he dics, lºnpo. See Dr. Sykes on the Truth of Christianity, p. 256. . . . a Then Judas, &c.) For the proper place of this.stcry, which is here inserted out of its order,...see, note a, on John xix. 18, p. 334. , Matthew has introduced it immediately after the Jews had delivered Jesus to Pilate; but after this the Jews were so intent on persuading, Pilate to consent to his death, that there was hardly time for the Sanhedrim’s ad- journing to the temple, where this ogcurrence happened, before they had yrevailed with Piláte to condemn hirn: and as Judas must have often leard his Master say he should be grucified, Pilate’s order for his exe- cution must have more sensibly affected him than the Jews’ passing sentence on him, who had not then the power of putting, any one, to death.-The word Tote, then, with which the evangelist begins this story, may be taken in some latitude to introduce the mention of an ogcurrence which happgned ahout that time, whether a little before or after, and need not be interpreted with so much rigour as to determine it to an assertion of observing the exactest order in all circumstances. See note a, on Matt. XXvii; 27. p. 331. - b.-drid going acay, he lºnged himself; but the rope breaking, &c.) This method, which M. Le Clerc (Harn, p. 527.) and several other learned critics have taken, of reconciling Mātthew with what is after. Yards said of this fact, (Acts i. 18.) that falling headlong, he burst asun- der in the midst, and all his bowcls gushed out, appears to me much preſerable to that of those who would render armyśaro, he was stified or Sigfocated cith excess gf grief; (see La Motte, Of Inspir. p. 155.) a yersion which none of the authorities I have seen seem sufficiº to jºstify. Nor is it negessary to spºgº with Dr. Lightfoot, (Hor. {{ebr, on Matt. xxvii. 5. and Acts i. 18.) that Judas was carried away by the devil, and strangled in the air, and being thrown from thenge in § sight of all the city, was dashed in pieces by the violence of the 344 MATT. XXVII. ºf is called, The potter's fiel 9 10 able Person,”) “..And they were given for the potter's field, as (saith the prophet) the Lord 62 63 Pilate, as with an address of solemn importance: Saying, Sir, we remember that this noto- 64 days I will rise again from the dead:5 We desire therefore, that since his friends have been intrusted with the care of interring him, thou wouldst order that the sepulchre where jij". tº words to this occasion, I think it may Well, he windicated; ~~ A GUARD, SET UPON THE SEPULCHRE. SECT. called Corban, or the sacred treasury, because it is the price of blood, and would in effect into the treasury, because it is 193. be offering to God the life of a man. And these hypocrites serupled such a ceremony, while they still persisted in their resolution to destroy Jesus, which, if d desired it, they might yet have prevented. But afterwards, when they met in a bod about some other business, having consulted together what they º ieces of money, they bought with them that close in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem which in. j. jor a burying-place of foreigners who had no sepulchres of their 8 own, and whose bodies they scrupled to lay with those of their own holy nation. And therefore, by the way, that field was called in the Syriac language, Aceldama, that is, The ºthisi. .field of blood; (Acts i. 19.) and it bears that name even to this day, because it was pur- chased with that money which was the price paid for the blood of Jesus, and was in effect the purchase of the blood of Judas too. Then was that fulfilled, in a very remarkable manner, which was spoken by the prophet,” (Zech. xi. 13.) saying, “..And I took the thirty pieces of silver,” (which sum, the reader will i. observe, was the usual price of one who was sold for a slave, or of one whom the children of ºº Israel did sell, being esteemed among them, on an average, but the equitable price of such wºuj, ºf the a one; and was here the price of the blood of the Son of God himself, that infinitely valu- * of Israel did value. commanded me in vision, in token of his just displeasure against those who had put such jº. an affront on his pastoral care.”f But to return now to the main story. When, notwithstanding the confession of Judas, the Jews, had crucified Christ, and his friends had taken down his body from the cross, and laid it in Joseph's tomb on the evening of the sixth day of the week, on the morrow, ºes came together untº or on the sabbath itself, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests, and other 3 Pharisees, who belonged to the grand sanhedrim, dissembled together in a body to wait upon * ºw ox- ~~ r • A cº- sº & rious deceiver, who was yesterday put to death for his crimes, and is well known to have ºil'. ...'...H. A.; practised many arts to impose upon the people, while he was yet living, said, After three three days I will rise again. he is laid may be strictly guarded and secured till the third day is past, lest his disciples diº.º.º.º.º. ſº steal him away, and say ºnto should come by night and steal him away, and upon this should tell the people that, accord- the rºle, i ing to his own prediction, he is risen from the dead : and so the last deceit will be worse than . - e - - :vew g hall be worse than the first. the first, and the deluded populace will be more eager to profess their regard to him after Shall be WOrSC than the first his death, than they ever were while he was living. ...And Pilate said to them, You have a guard in waiting about your court in the temple ; , 65, Pilate said, lº.º. go your way therefore, and order as many of them as you think fit to march to the sepulchre, ºk. :"..."suº alsº and to keep sentry there all might, and thereby make [it] as secure as you possibly can. ..And accordingly they went and took a detachment of soldiers with them to the garden of Joseph; and having first satisfied themselves that the corpse was there, they secured the #: sepulchre as well as they possibly could, sealing the stone, that it might not be broken open watch. without a discovery of the fraud;i and also setting a guard near it, who took care to place themselves so, that they could not but take an immediate alarm if any had presumed to make the least attempt to open the sepulchre and remove the body, or even to embalm it. . c. The patter’s field.]. Thirty pieces of silver may seem a very incon- siderable price for a field so near Jerusalem : but, as Grotius well ob- serves, the ground was probably much spoiled by digging, it up for curth to make potters? vessels, so that it was now unfit for tillage or pasture, and consequently of Sinall value. d PWhich was spoken by the prophet.] Most, copies read it, by Jere; miah the prophet; yet it is universally known that these words are found no where in Jereiniah, but in Zechariah. (Chap. xi. 13.) it appears to me yery unnatural to say, with , Dr. Lightfoot, (Iſor; Helºr. in log.) that all the prophetic writings might be cºlled the book of Jerºniiah : because in ancient times the prophecy of Jeremiah was put at the be: ginning of the volume of the prophets: nor would the granting this fact, account for, the expression of its § spoken by him. Nor an I at all convinced by Mr. Joseph Mede’s reasonings, . (see liis H/orks, p. 963.) that these words, though recorded by Zechariah, or rather found in his book, were originally spoken º Jeremiah, and by some accident dis- ſº a principle on which the whole credit of the prophecies might je lestroyed. It would be a niuch less dishonour to the Sacred, writings, to suppose ºsmall errºr in the pen of some early transcriber, who night, (as Bishop Hall prettily conjectures,) by the mistake of ong letter only (supposing the word to be contracted;) write Iptov for Zptov. Ant ihough it is certain that Jeremiah was the received reſiding as curly as Origen’s time, yet there is room) to doubt whether any º \\ {ls named in the first copies, as the Syriac version, which is allowed to be image in the most early times, says only, . It was spoken by the prophet, without mentioning by whom. On the wholes. [.. think it more respect: ful to the evangelist, to suppose that some officious transcriber might either insert or change the prophet’s name, than to impute it, as Dr. Mill scems to do, to a slip in the author’s memory. . e jºic price of one who was sold, &c.J. We may either rendºr the words row rāzūnjizyju, by tripºnjavro año vigov.ſgoan), ºf one whº was sold, even of one whom the children of Israel did scl, and so consider, them as expressive of the common price a slave was rated at ºmonk them : or we may render them, af him that was sold or valued, (even their Qwil Messiah,) choin the very children aſ Israel sold, at this shameful price. And I think either of these versions would suit the original, and convey a lively and proper sense: I have therefore suægested, both in the para- hrase, though in the version, which could not well be equally am- jº, ſ have preferred the former. f.And they were given for the potter’s field, as the Lord coming pded mc.] It is plain these words are not exactly ſugged, either from the Hebrew or the Septuagint; yet I cannot think the difference so great as it at first ap- pears, since those words in the parenthesis, (Tny Tupºu Tov ret ſºngsvoo, 6v crºpſ mºuvro aſſo viºv Ispun),) which are not in either, may be coil- sidered as the words of the eyangelist himself; (to which he was natural: iy led by those of the prophet, ºl goodly price that I was prized ſit ºf then, j) and if, which might easily happen, <09kºv be written for £oºka, as eXº399 is ambiguous, it may be rendered yet nearer to the original, I took—and gave them, &c.—As, for the general propriety of º; T LI] G. ...ejón and sense of the prophecy in the Old Testament Šešms to be j. in order to represent to Zachariah, the contempt which Israel put ºn their God, he had a vision to the following purpose: He thought oint of the price of blood. ey had { i. * º º: * an’ſ bought with them the pot- do with those ter’s field, to bury strangers 8. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, 9. (Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy prophet, saying, An the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that 10 And gave them ſor the potter’s field, as the Lord ap- 62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the pre- aration, the chief priests and 63 Saying, Sir, we remem- er, that that deceiver said, 64 Command therefore that the ſºlº; be made sure he third day, lest his e is risen from the dead: so the last error e have a watch : go your C&I] . 66 So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing stone, and setting a God first appointed him to appear among them as a shepherd: (making him by that emblem a representation of himself:), after some, time, he directs him to go to the rulers of Israel, and ask, them, What they thought he deserved for his labour, in that office 3. They give him the rice of a slave, thirty pieces of silver; and this in the house of the ord, where the court sat. On this, God, as resenting, this idiº, offered to him in the person of his H. orders him to throw it down with disdain before the first poor labourer he met, who happened to be a potter at work by the temple gates, as a fitter price for a ittle of his: paltry ware, than a suitable acknowledgment ..? the favours they had received from God. Now surely, if there was ever any circumstance in which the children of Israel behaved themselves so as, to answer this visionary representation, it must be when they gaye, this, very snpm o thirty pieces of silver as a price for the very fife of that Person whom God had appointed their great Shepherd. And in order to point out the correspondence the more sensibly, Providence so ordered it that the person to whom this money went should be a potter, though the pro- bhecy would have been answºred. if, he lºad been a fuller, or of any other profession. It may also be further observed, that God’s ceasing to be the Shepherd of Israel, which was represented º the prophet’s breaking his pastoral staves, was never, fully answere till their final rºjection after the death of Christ; which may further lead us to refer the affront of their giving the pieces of silver to this event.—I do not remember ever to have segm this matter set in what seems to me its just and most natural light; but Grotius has some valuable hints upon it, which I wonder he did not pursue further. - - g g|Jºſter three days I will rise again.) Their intending to make the sepulchre secure only till the third day ended, showed that they pnder; stood our Lord’s expression of rising, after three days to be (as indeed it was) equivalent to a declaration that he would rise on the third day. §ºgº f, on Matt. xii. 40. p. 120. Compare also Deut. xiv. 28. with XXVI. 12. * . - - h fraving first satisfied themselves that the corpse was there.] Com: non prudênco would teach them to do this; and perhaps they...might feed tº: cruelty with viewing the dead body, as Herºdias did, with that sad spectacle, the Baptist’s head. See note q, on Mark.vi. 28, p. 145. i Sealing the stone..]. Some have, conjectured they might also,Cement it with lºad, or bind it with iron, but the sabbath would hardly have ilòºd'ºïs. The guard would prevent violence, and the séal would be a security against any fraud of theirs in confederacy with the disciples, if tº goºfi possibly have becil suspected. I have also hinted in th? paraphrase above, that this Fº of sealing the sepulchre might prevent any attempt, not only to, remove the body, but to embalm, it. }. it is tº j considered, that they had great reason to believe, that when tºo such eminent persons as Joseph and Nicodemus had already jã such a public honour, to the corpse, they would, desire ºººo... aim it; which accordingly they did really design. This would be such .." idiſtičiai"refiection on the proceedings of the samhedrim, as they Sºojã ºnly jesire to prevent. A mandate from Pilate for this purpose they could not be sure of obtaining, had they asked it; nor world an act of their own court have been free from uncertainty an inconvenience. This method of sealing the stone was therefore the mºst artful expedient that could be imagined ; which would effectually pre- Yºit, ºutletting it be publicly known that they had the least sus- REFLECTIONS ON THE REMORSE AND DEATH OF JUDAS. IMPROVEMEN IN how fatal a manner does the way of transgressors deceive them! Judas, no doubt, but a few hours before, was thinking with eager impatience of receiving this sum of money, which was the wages of unrighteousness: but though he might for a little while roll it as a sweet morsel under his tongue, yet how soon was it turned into the gall of asps within him 1 (Job xx. 12–14.) We see the force of conscience even in the worst of men. He that had slighted all the warnings that his Master gave him, and neither was affected by the remembrance of his goodness to him, nor by the fear of his displeasure, while he was set upon accomplishing his covetous design, no sooner comes to feel the sting of an awakened con- science, but he is filled with horror, and is unable to endure the cutting anguish of his own reflections. And thus could God, in a moment, drive the most hardened sinner into all the agonies of remorse and despair, by letting loose his own thoughts upon him, to prey upon his heart like so many hungry vultures, and make him a terror to others and an executioner to himself. - … We must surely admire the wisdom of Providence in extorting, even from the mouth of this traitor, so honour. able a testimony of the innocence of Jesus, though to his own condemnation. And who could have imagined that the supreme court of Israel itself should have been so little impressed with it as coldly to answer, What is that to us? See thou to that. Is this the language of rulers, yea of priests?, But they had cast off the fear of that God whose ministers they were, and had devoted themselves to gain and ambition. They therefore felt no remorse, even when Judas trembled before them, and appeared almost distracted under the sense of a crime in which they had been confederates with him. But their consciences were seared as with a red-hot iron, and all their familiar converse with divine things served only, in such a circumstance, to harden their hearts; as tempered steel gathers strength from the furnace and the hammer. Judas repents; he confesses his crime; he throws away the reward of his guilt: yet was there nothing of godly sorrow in all this. Despairing, he becomes his own executioner; and flies to death and to hell as a refuge from the rage and fury of an awakened conscience. Fatal expedient! thus to seal his own damnation! But the right- eous judgment of God erected him as a monument of wrath, and verified our Saviour's declaration, It had been good for that man if he had never been born. (Matt. xxvi. 24, and Mark xiv. 21. sect, clxx.) Tremble, O our souls, at this thought; that Judas, even one of the twelve, should fall into such depths of sin and ruin May we each of us be jealous over ourselves; and may we never presume to censure whole bodies of men for the fault of particular members, when we find there was a traitor and reprobate among the holy band of the apostles! We see the restless and implacable malice of Christ's enemies, which pursued him even to his tomb, and there endeavoured to blast his memory by fixing upon him the character of an impostor. They demanded and procured a guard for his sepulchre. And here also we have a repeated instance of God's taking the wise in their own craft tiness. (Job v. 13.) The seal and the guard served only more fully to attest the doctrine of Christ's resurrection, which they were set to overthrow, and to grace the triumph they were intended to oppose. Thus shall all the rage and all the artifice of his enemies at length promote the purposes of his glory: thus shall meat at length come out of the eater, and sweetness out of the strong. (Judg. xiv. 14.) The wrath yman, O Lord, shall praise thee; and the remainder of it shalt thou restrain, and shalt triumph over it, either by thy grace or by thy vengeance. (Psal. lxxvi. 10.) SECTION CXCIV. Christ rising from the dead, the guards, flee away in astonishment: Mary Magdalene, finding the sepulchre open, calls Peter and John, who, º: intº return ; while Christ himself makes his first appearance to her. Matt. xxviii. 1–4. Mark Xvi. 1–4. Luke xxiv. 1, 2, 12. JOh Il XX, l-l l . MARK xvi. 1 MARK xvi. 1. * ANP Nº sº... . .A.N’D when the sabbath was over,a which ended in the evening, (as was often observed º cº, ...}} Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, who was [the mother] of James, and Joses, §§§ dº and Salome, with Joanna, and some other pious women,b were so intent on embalming SVV Spices, th > y - - te e ...iº. º: i. the body of Jesus, that they had another consultation about it; and, not satisfied with the [Matt. xxviii. 1.] preparation they had made before, they bought more spices and ointments," that, after a short repose, as soon as ever they could see to do it, they might go and anoint him with 㺠º 'º. them, and pay him all the respect of an honourable interment. º \,...". Now Mary Magdalene, with the other Mary and Salome, were ready before it was day; and setting out very early in the morning," while it was yet dark, as it began to dawn dawn º 㺠day of #.;;...iii.; towards the first daj of the week, they went to take a view of the sepulchre," to see if all [to see the sepulchre,) [LUKE, picion of any such design. I state the matter thus largely, in regard to one of the most learned persons of the age, who seems to think this a very considerable difficulty. But, with respect to the principal point of his rising from the dead, it is surely most senseless to say, with that wrºtehed opposer of the mirágles of Christ, who has brought upon himself such just, infamy, that this sealing, the stone intinated a contract between Christ and them, that he should rise in the sight of the Jewish rulers on the third day. probably their design was on the fourth day to have opened the sepulchre, and have ºº:: the corpse to public view ; which, had it been in their power, had been the most prudent step they could have taken. But they do not seem to have been mad enough to think, that if Jesus rose from the dead, it must be just whem they thought fit to attend. * * a When the sabbath was over.] This, which Mark expresses by 6, Gye- vopºgov Tov gaff/3arov, Matthew expresses by another phrase, oupe adó3arov, in the end of the sabbath, or when the sabbath (and conse- quently the preceding week, of which the sabbath was the last day) was over ; as in Philostratus, oups pivot mptov is, aphen the mysteries were cmded. So that the controversy between Maijus and Wolfburg on this subject, seems needless; as the criticism of the former, who supposes these words in Matthew to belong to the close of the former chapter, and to refer to the time of sealing [be sepulchre, is very unnatural ; as Wolfius has shown in his learned note on Matt. XXviii. 1. . bjīary JHugdalene, &c. with Joanna and some other pious women.] In the account the evangelists have giyen Qt the women who first came to the knowledge that Jesus was risen, Mary Magdalene is men- tioned by all, the other Mary by the three first, and Salome only by Miaº; but i have named joanna here with the rest, as it appears from Luke xxiv. 10, in the next section, she was among the other women who §: the sepulchre, and was one of those who told these things to the apostleS. . c. They bought more spices, &c.] Luke had before observed, (chap. xxiii. 55. p. 342.) that they prepared spices and ointments, and then rested the sabbath day according to the commandment: and Mark here says, that 6tayevouévov row gaggarov, when the sabbath was over, myoogaav, they bought ſnot, they had bought] spices, and then (ver, 2 gº tº very early in the morning) came to anoint him. This I look upon as a strong intimation, that some time after six in the evening, (on what we call Saturday night,) when the sabbath was oyer, as it was then lawful to perform any common work, their generous hearts prompted them to purchase a larger quantity of aromatic drugs for this pious purpose. . Setting out very early in the morning.] The learned and ingenious Mr. West (of whose accurato Ohservations on the Resurrection of Christ I have given an extract at the end of the preface to the third volume of this work) supposes Mary Magdalene, with the other Mary, and Salome, to have set out to view the sepulchre before the time they had agreed to meet Joanna and the other women there, who were to bring the spices and to come about sun-rising to cymbalm the body : and, as, the word Tpot, made use of in this place both by Mark and John, (which we have rendered carly,) sometimes signifies over early, or before the appointed time, he naturally conjectures it has this signification here, and con- ckudes that the women came to the sepulchre at different times; the first setting out before the time agreed on, just as the day began to break, whereas the others came not thither till the sum was risen. (Sec West’s Observ. p. 45, 46.)—The difference between this and the scheme here given, chiefly consists in Mr. West’s supposing the women to have made two different visits to the sepulchre, and in consequence of that, two distinct reports to the disciples, whereas I have united them : though I do not suppose them to have all come together to the sepulchre, but only to have met there. Yet such advantages attend the scheme this author has proposed, that if it had been published to the world before I had composed this Harmony, I should have chosen to have formed it in a mearer agreement to it, but have now left it to appear with no material alteration in its order. e They went to take a view of the sepulchre.] I have here rendered the word m)0ov, went, (and have likewise explained the word extoucau in the same manner in the first verst of this section,) which agrees better with the order of the story, and is frequently the sense in which our translators have rendered it, glsewhere. See Matt. xii. 9. xiii. 3.x. Mark iii. 19. Luke ii. 44, Xiv. 1. John iv. 45. vi. 17. Acts iv: * xxviii. 14. The true import of the word 65tepmoat is to take a tº and thus implies their going to see if all things were in tho same Con- SECT . 193. MATT. 5 4 5 63, 64 65, 66 SECT . 2 194. 44 346 SECT. things were as they had left him: 194. THE RESURRECTION. and not long after, they were followed by Joanna, and bringing the spices which they the rest who were to meet them there, who came at the appointed time, bringing the spices º i.e. º. with them, which (as was said before) they had prepared to embalm the body of Jesus, and ºi, iiikºi. i*i; *** which indeed were a considerable weight; and sôme [others] of their iº friends went * * - ** also with them to assist on this occasionſ * . .ind as they were advancing towards the sepulchre, they were not under any apprehen-, 3 And they said amon Şion from the soldiers that were set to guard it, who had been stationed there, without their jºi.Y. h. ; knowledge, on the sabbath day, (sect. cxciii. p. 344.) but remembering the stone that was loºf àºm the Placed at the mouth of it, they said among themselvés, Who shall roll away the stone for us 4 from the door of the º which all of us together have not strength to remove? For 4 For it was very great. they had seen Nicodemus and Joseph stop up the entrance with it; and it was indeed very large and heavy. - re ut this perplexity of theirs was altogether needless; for God had provided a very ex- 2 traordinary way to remove that obstruction. .4nd, behold with due regard and admiration, it was this: There was, but a little before they arrived there, a great earthquake, (which Lºrd descendºm hºvº. would naturally awaken the guards, if any one of them had fallen asleep.) and very awful jº.º º: and astonishing were the circumstances #. attended it; for an angel of the Lord descend-upon it. tºg.from heaven, had approached in sight of the guards, and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat down upon it. And at the very same time, Jesus, like a sleeping conqueror awakening on a sudden, burst asunder the bands of death, and sprung up to a new and 3 immortal life. But none of the guards saw him rise, being struck into the utmost con- .3 His countenance was like sternation at the sight of the angel, who appeared to remove the stone: and well indeed ºn. " " they might be so; for his countenance was like the brightness of lightning, and his long t flowing garment was as white as Snow, glittering with extraordinary lustré beyond what 4 their eyes could bear. And the guards, though Romans and soldiers, trembled for fear at * - A. e tº ºr MATT Matt. xxviii. 2. And, be- hold, there was a great earth- uake : for the angel of the k 4 #º: §. the the sight of him, and became like so many dead men, falling down on their faces in a most flººmakeanabecame helpless condition. But quickly after, presuming to lift up their eyes, and finding he had disappeared, and had left the sepulchré open, they fled to some distant place, to consult JOHN th; ºn º in so surprisin º OCCUITenCe.g Joh 1. And M l y this time the women, who had set out as it began to dawn, were near the place; and Mººl. ...º. º. XX. 1 Mary Magdalene, transported with the iº. ardour of her affection, º ... º.º. §: º little before the rest; and, it being now light enough to discern objects, she looked forward, * and saw, to her great surprise, that the stome was already taken away from the sepulchre,h LUKE and that the tomb was open. ..And she was greatly astonished and alarmed at the sight, nº *. [...] XXIV., and presently concluded that the body was removed. She therefore stepped back and §§§º º: * informed her companions of this circumstance; upon which they [also] i; and plainly the sepulchre. [Matt. xvi. 4) º that * was ; represented, and that the stone was indeed rolled away from the €Ill Iſa.In CC Of the Septile/i7te. º' , And, not #: on the assurance Jesus had given them of his rising again from the 2 dead, they knew not how to account for the removal of the stone; but M ary Magdalene Peter, and tº the ºther dis; and her companions having consulted a little together as well as the confusion they were jºi. in would admit, it was thought best that some ; the disciples should be immediately ac-ຠiord º: quainted with it: she therefore runs back to the city with all possible despatch, and know-º;i...ºft. ing where they lodged, she comes to Simon Peter and to º: that other disciple whom Jesusº”. loved, (by whom this part of the story is most exactly and circumstantially recorded.) and finding them already up, and full of solicitude, about the event of this important day, she says to them, O my friends, the sepulchre is broke open, and some or other must have been there, who have removed the stone; nor is there any room to doubt but they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him :k so that I and my companions, whom I have left behind me, cannot find an method of performing that last office of respect and affection which you know we intended. John xx. 2. Then she run- meth, and cometh to Simon LUKE i2 heart was struck with such a circumstance, arose in a transport of various passions, and / n hearino this. wi rino. 7. W Luke xxiv. 12. Then arose And upon hearing this, without so much as staying to make any reply, Peter, whose rºl [and went forth, and dition as before, when they had seen the body laid in the sepulchre. the same angel as before, who, as if it were perfectly unknown by any (Luke xxiii. 55. P. 342.)—I think Maijus and Elsmer justly observe that former declaration, tells them just in the same words, “He knew they the twenty-third clapter of Luke should not have ended at the place it sought Jesus, but he was risen º’’ and, inviting them again “to come does; for here, as in several other places, a sentence is divided—[To and see the place where he had lain,” charges them again, to go and tell pºv gaſ}6atov navyagaw–7 m is pºta rov gaffſ arov—mX60w, &c.] Such his disciples that he went before then into Galilee.” This is such a simi: divisions are great instances of negligence in the person by whom they larity of words and qctions immediately succeeding each other, as I were first made; but in a work like this Harmony, they are less mate- believe can no where be paralleled;—The scheme I offer here (which is rial, and hardly in some gases avoidable. that which twice, at the distance of several years, presented itself to me f Some others of their female friends went also with them.] It was in- on a view of the evangelists alone) is encumbered with no such difficulty, deed a circumstance of decency, considering the office they were intend- nor indeed. With any worth naming, except what arises from the trans- ing to perform, that, the men and the women should perform their position of Mark xvi. 2, and Luke xxiv. 12. on which see note 1, in this respective parts in it by themselyes; which accordingly the evangelists segiºn, and note as in the next; , ; & * plainly intimate º did. Their setting out alone was a remarkable i She thcreſore runs back to the city, &c..] ... It is not expressly said, instance of their zeal and courage : perhaps some appointment might be whether the women with whom she came thither staid any where near made with Peter and John, (who were early up, as it should seem, on the sepulchre, or whether they returned to the city with her; but gon- this occasion,) either to meet thcro or come after them, to assist in re- Sigering that John, who was an eye-witness, has mentioned only Mary moving the stone, though not in embalming the body. Magdalene as running with the news, her companions in the mean g They fled to some distant place, &c. As nothing is said of any while might stay, at some distance, till Peter and John came, and had interview between them and the friends of Christ, there is great reason viewed tfit sepulchre; and might be joined there by the other women to believe that this was the case, as indeed it is on other accounts pro- who were to bring the spices, upon whose coming they might go into the bable it should be. sepulchre. (Compare Mark xvi. 2. and, Luke xxiv. 3. in the beginning h.jſary Magdalene saw that the stone was taken away, &c.] Every of the next section:)-John, hints nothing, at all of Mary’s having attentive reader may have observed how difficult it is to form the evan looked into the sepulchre before she ran back to him; and his narration gelists into one coherent story here, and to reconcile some seeming con- being, the last and most circumstantial, Inust guide us in adjusting what trarieties in their accounts: nevertheless I hope, on a careful examina- is ambiguous in the rest. .. tº sº º * tion of this and the following sections, it will be found not impracticable. k They have taken away the Lord, &c.] It is difficult to suppose, with I shall not mention the very different schemes other critics }. Dr. Ciºłºś. Dr. Guyse; and, mºny ºther critiº, that shºw 99%, hº nor the particular objections against them ; but would only add a word spoken thus, if the ângels had before this expressly assured her of Christ’s 6 tº concerning that off}r. Guyse, which is both new and ingenious, resurrection, and sent her away with such a message as they did to the yet not to me satisfactory. He supposes (in his note on Johnxx. 2.) that disciples, Compare nºte p, on Yeſ. 13. - #here were two appearanges of the angels to the women; and that Mark || And Peter arose.] Thºse words in Luke, come in after the account and fluke speak only of the first, and Matthew and John of the second; given by the women to the, eleven, and all the gest of the disgiplº, that is, in other words, (as I understand it,) that as soon as it was light, (Luke Kxiv.9.) or the angels’ appearing to them, &c. and so make the these £990 women came to the sepulchre, and saw an angel, who told chief objection against the scheme here offered to the reader: but the them, “He knew they sought Jesus, but that he was risen ;” and inviting word them, with which this verse is introduced by Qur translators, does jº” to comé and see the piacºphere he ions laid,” charged them.* to not well answer to Öe in the original ; and, as we have often showed go and tell his disciples that he pould go before them into Galilee.”. Upon * - * before that Luke is not always so exact in his order as not to admit of. this they go immediately and tell the disciples, (without saying any some transposition, so it will run us into greater, difficulties not to allow thing, that we find, of the vision,). “that some unknown person had taken away the Lord, and laid him they knew not where :” and then re- turning again to the sepulchre in less than an hour, they see another, or it in the present case, in which it is apparently reasonable to follow John’s order, who was an eye-witness, and who gives the last and largest account. And indeed, if no transposition may be allowed, it is THE RESURRECTION. 347 that other disciple, and came that other disciple whom we mentioned before, [and] went directly out, and never stopped SECT. tº he sepulchre.] (John º' till they came ić the sepulchre. And, not contented with the swiftest pace with which they 194. john xx. 4. So they ran & tº º unger man, he bººie: ai tº: could walk, they both ran together; and as that other disciple was the young 3. §ºi' oº"; out-ran Peter, who had the start of him at the beginning, and came first to the sepulchre: §. ame first to the sepul And slooping down [to look into it, he saw the linen clothes, or rollers, in which the corpse jºiº.º. had been wrapped up, lying there by themselves; but he did not at first enter in to the #!"; *...'..."; sepulchre. Then came Simon Peter very quickly following him, and having stooped dºwn 6 "; Fion cometh Simon Pe. to look into the sepulchre, as John had done before, he was not satisfied with this; but, te; fºi...º.o. that he might examine this important affair with such exactness as it deserved, he went into jº the sepulchre, and found the body was gone, but saw the linen clothes, with which it had jºijº been covered, laid by themselves, as John had observed from without. And he discovered 7 **śin that was another material circumstance which had not been remarked before, namely, that the napkin tºº which was about his head was not laid with the linen clothes, but was folded up in a place by §."...t.".","...a..."; itself,” in such an orderly manner as plainly showed that the body was not hastily hurried tself. away, either by friend or enemy; but made the sepulchre appear rather like a bed-chamber, which a person on his awaking in the morning had leisurely quitted. Then that other dis- 8 ciple who came first to the sepulchre, and, being less adventurous than Peter, stood hitherto without, went in also to view it; and when he saw the several parts of the funeral dress in - this situation, he was immediately convinced, and believed it now to be at least very pro- tº Fººtbable that his dear Master was indeed revived." For hitherto they did not know the full 9 H. ºdºu. meaning of those various intimations of scripture, to which Jesus had so often referred to convince them that he must certainly rise from the dead, (compare Matt. xvi. 21. p. 164, and Luke xviii. 31–34, p. 246.) which if they had considered, they would cheerfully have expected the sure accomplishment of them, and would not have been so much surprised at the news which Mary brought them. Then both the disciples went away again to their companions in the city,” [Peter] not being so thoroughly satisfied as John was, yet greatly wondering in himself at what had happened, and very much concerned as to the event of so surprising a beginning. ut Mary, who was now returned, stood near the sepulchre after Peter and John were gone from it, not indeed going into it as they had done, but weeping without, in great per- plexity at her not knowing what was become of Jesus: and as she wept, she also stooped down, [and looked] very wishfully into the sepulchre;...And there she saw with great sur- prise two angels in the form of men, clothéd in white habits, sitting one at the head, and - the other at the feet, of that niche in the sepulchre where the body of Jesus had been laid. ..And they said to her, with a tender regard, Poman, why dost thow weep thus 2 And she said to them, Alas, I have reason enough to weep; it is because they have taken away the body of Jesus my dear Lord, and I know not where they have laid him, or how the sacred Lord, and I k yº corpse may be neglected or abused.P. - º #.'... aš".” “"“” .And just as she had said this, hearing a sudden moise behind her, she turned back before ; And, when he hºg, thºs the angels could give her any answer; and she saw Jesus himself standing near her: and said, she turned herself back, 8-> * • . * e * & *> e jº jºštanjū; i she knew not at first that it was Jesus, his habit being changed, her eyes also overflowing knew not that it was Jesus, with tears, and her mind being so far from any expectation of his appearance, and so ºitressed that she did not so much as look up to the face of the person who ap- e8. Pećl. wº p Then Jesus said to her, with a gentle voice, Woman, why dost thou weep thus * and §ºšiji whom dost thou seek? And she, su posing him to be the gardener," said to him, Sir, if thow pºº."gº"; hast for any unknown reason borne him away from hence, where the master of the sepulchre saith unto him, Sir, if thou e have borne him hence, teji saw fit so honourably to lay him but a few hours ago,' I earnestly beg thou wouldst JOHN XX. 8 Then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed. 10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home, [Peter wondering in himself at that which was $gºe to pass.] [Luke xxiv. II But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping : and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, i2 And seeth two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her Woman, why weepest thou? she saith unto them, Because they have taken away my I 4 absolutely impossible in mºny passages of the gospel history to make any consistent Harmony of the vangelists at all; as every attentive reader must have often observed.--This was the view in which I former- ly considered, the account that Luke has given (ver, }*} of Peter’s visit to the sepulchre, which I have incorporated here with that of John, who at large relates their going there together, as soon as they received the first report from Mary, Magdalene of the sepulchre being open, and the body gone: and, as Luke does not mention Peter’s visit till after the report the women who had seen the angels, made to the disciples, it could not any way agree with that of John, without allowing the necessity of a trans- * But, on considering the observations made by Mr. West, I am . See note d, on John xxi. 20. $ 201. & o Went ancay again to their companions.) So Tºpog equTys seems evi- dently to signify : (compare Elsner, Observ. vol. i. p. 348.) According- ly soon after this the women found the eleven and the rest together. (Luke xxiv. 9.)—Ame}{\siv Tpos cavrov, never, that I know of, signifies to come to oneself, or to the exercise or possession of one’s own mind, as some have strangely interpreted these words. Luke’s expression in that case is different, Luke xv. 17. where he says of the prodigal, els £avrov eX60)w, when he came to himself.-It was very prudent in Peter now satisfied that Luke refers, not to the visit which Peter made with and John to retire immediately, lest they should have been questioned John, but to a second visit which he made afterwards upon the women’s by the rulers if found near the sepulchre. - coming with the report that they had seen two angels who had assured ..p They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid them Jesus was risen. These women Mr. West supposes to have been him.] This expression may very easily be accounted for, in our man; Joanna and the other women who came with the spices; upon whose her of ranging this story; but it is very harsh, to suppose she should coming to the disciples before the arrival of the two Maries and Salome, speak in this manner, if one of the angels had a few minutes before and telling them that they had seen two angels at the sepulchre, who tôld, her that Jesus was risen. She perhaps thought, they came to do? had informed them Jesus was alive, Peter, willing to see if the angels kind of homage to the place where he had lain, if she apprehended were there, immediately arose and ran again to the sepulchre, and, them to be angels; which whether she did or did not, we do not certain- without enteriag in, (as he had done before,) but only stooping down ly know. . - - - * and looking into it, as he could see no angels there, but . the linen q Supposing him to be the gardener.]. [t is very º that Jesus might clothes lying, (for so it is that the words Tà oðovta kelp eva gº should ; º; § º {l º Way º º "...i and her Y ºx tºº fs rain i • * ~ *, +,-, -, * > XY cast 2 aking him for the gardener, seems to Intimate there was nothing very be rendered,) came back again in great astonishment. (See West’s S jić in his dress: accordingly, when he appeared to the two disci- sidered merely as a human lºan, add great weight to his testimony. position. Observ. p. 52, et scq.). This I now think to be the best solution of this - difficulty, anºl there is thus no need of any transposition ; of which . could not but inforin the reader, as it is the principal circumstance in which the scheme that Mr. West has given differs from, mine, though 1 have left, the harmony to stand as before, that it may still be seen what I had offered, as it will either way. be found sufficient to acquit the evangelists from any charge of absurdity or contradiction. - m But folded up in a place by itself. , Perhaps our Lord, himself folded up the napkin ; and this remarkable circumstance might be in- tended to signify the perfect calmness and composure with \vhich he arose, transported with no rapture or surprise at his awaking out of this long sleep.–It would be very impèrtinent to inquire whence he, had his clothes; the angels no doubt furnished him with them; and perhaps the diversity of their colour or form might prevent his being known by his friends at first sight. • . e - - m. He said, and believed.] Many interpreters explain this only of his believing that the body was not there: but, that he must have believed before, on looking into the sepulchre. I rather understand it as a modest intimation that he, first indeed of all others, believed the truth of Christ's resurrection, inferring it, as he reasonably might from the order in which he found the sepulchre. These words have a forge and a grace, on this interpretation, which I think no other can give them. Mugh of the beauty of John’s manner of writing consists in such hints as these, which show the temper of that excellent man; and, were he to be con- ples in their way to Emmaus, they seem to have taken him for a person of a rank not much superior to their own. Her eyes might also be withheld at first from knowing Jesus by some supernatural restraint, as theirs were. uke xxiv. 16. r Sir, iſ thou hast borne him hence.] It is observable that she accosts this stranger in respectful language; even when she took him for a servant, (for kmſtoupos cannot, I think, signify the owner of the garden,) º reflecting, that an error on that hand would be more excusa- le than on the other, supposing he should have proved one of superior rank, in a plain dress : and also, that she does not name Jesus, but speaks in indefinite terms, if thou, hast borne him hence ;, iptimating that he was the one person of whom her own thoughts and heart were so full, that she took it for granted every one must know who she meant. Such language in such a circumstance was perfectly natural.—If there \vals any i. or arbour near the sepulchre, so that while she spake to Jesus she was not visible to her companions; or it this avenue was such, that while they came up to it, the sepulchre was between her and them; or if they were now, waiting at some distance, or coming up with a slower pace, being charged with the weight of the materials, for en- balming, (any one of which might very possibly be the case,) a diffi- culty with respect to the time of their coming to the sepulchre, which may offer ič to the sagacious reader in the disposition of the follow- ing section, when compared with this, will disappear at once. 348 B E.C.T. 194. JOHN XX. THE RESURRECT'ſ ON. immediately tell me where thou hast put him, and I will remove him, and take effectual care me where thou hast laid him, that his corpse shall be decently interred elsewhere, without giving any further trouble ** will” here. Jesus, on this, said to her, with a loud and distinct voice, in his usual affectionate way, Mary, dost thou not know me? [..And] Mary thereupon turning directly towards 16 Jesus saith unto her ary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni, 16 him, and eagerly fixing her eyes upon him, immediately discovered who it was ; and which is to say, Master. 17 MATT. º: with a mixture of unutterable passions, she said to him, Rabboni; that is to say, My [great] 'Master and Teacher! and so much was her heart affected, that she could º more, but immediately prostrated herself at his feet to embrace them. ut Jesus said to her, Do not stay here to embrace me [now, either to pay thine homage to me, or to confirm thy faith; both which thou wilt have other opportunities of doing: for I am not yet withdrawn from your world, and ascended to the heavenly court of my Father, as you may imagine I should presently do; but I shall yet continue for a little while upon earth, and give you further opportunities of seeing me again: let nothing there- fore now detain thee any longer, but go immediately to my dear brethren, for whom I have still the same affectionate regard as ever, and say unto them, I am risen from the dead, and after I have paid some visits to you, am shortly indeed to ascend into heaven, from whence 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not: for I am not § ascended to my Father : ut go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. I came : yet grieve not at that º but remember, that as I am going to him who is in a very peculiar .# Father, so I shall still be mindful of your interest; and jam also going to your Father, and [to] my God and your God; for such he is now become, through that covenant which he has established with you in me: on the whole, therefore, you have infinitely greater reason to rejoice than to mourn. . . .” -- . . . And upon saying this he immediately disappeared for the present; and the otherwo- men advancing to the sepulchre, where the angels continued, received the news of his resurrection from them, and were directed, as Mary Magdalene also was, to report it to the disciples, with a variety of additional circumstances which will be mentioned in the fol- lowing section. . . . . . - - . - IMPROVEMENT. - How fit is it that we should sing unto the Lord a new song; and with what thankful hearts should we join, on ****, his own day, and on every day, to congratulate the triumph of his rising from the dead, and to rejoice in this 1–4 birth-day of our hopes' JOHN XX. Now is the justice of God amply satisfied, or the prisoner had never been released. Now is the reproach of the cross ceased, and turned into proportionable glory. That reproach was rolled away at once by the descending angel, who appeared, not to awaken Christ from his sleep, or to bring him a new life, for he had himself a power, whenever he pleased, to resume that which he had voluntarily resigned; (John x. 18.) but he came to add a solemn pomp to his revival, and to strike the guards with such a terror as would effectually pre- i. * attempt on this glorious Conqueror when he was bursting the bonds in which he had for a while €62H] （1621 (1. - - - - * O Lord, we acknowledge the truth of thy promise, Thow didst not leave his soul in hell, neither didst thou suffer the flesh of thine Holy One to see corruption: (Psal. xvi. 10.) Now is Christ indeed risen from the dead, and be- come the first-fruits of them that slept. (I Cor. xv. 20.) May we, in conformity to his holy example, be dead to sin and to the world'; that like as Christ was raised tip from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also may walk in newness of life! (Rom. vi. 4.) Then will he that raised up Christ from the dead, ere long quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us. (Rom. viii. 11.), * T Let the faith of what has been done with regard to our glorified Head, and shall at length be accomplished with respect to all his members, daily gladden our hearts. When our eyes are weeping, and our souls sinking within T us, let us raise our thoughts to Jesus, our risen and now ascended Redeemer; who says to all his brethren these 17 gracious words, (which may justly be received with transports of astonishment, and fill our hearts, at the same time, with your God.” - - - The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is now, through the death and resurrection of his dear Son, (whom, by raising him from the dead, he has so solemnly owned under that relation,) become our Father and Qur &od. As such ſet us honour him, love him, and rejoice in him; and, when we must leave this world, which Christ has long since left, let it delight our souls to think that we shall likewise ascend after him, and dwell, with him in this propitious divine presence. In the mean time, if we are risen, with Christ, let us seek those things which are above, where Christ now sitteth at the right hand of God; (Col. iii. I.) and let us be willing, in what- ever sense God shall appoint, to be made conformable to his death, that we may also be partakers of his resurrec- tion and glory. (Phil. iii. 10, 11.) - . . . . - . . . .” joy unspeakable and full of glory,) “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and or receive the expressions of their homāge to him.”, (See the Appendix to his Sermons at Boyle’s Lect. p. 298–300.) J f there had been, any necessity ſor his ascending immediately, he surely would not first have s Do not, embrage me now; for I am not yet ascended, to #######". Mr. Chandler, in his Ansge; to the Considerations, on the Trial gº ºfte Witnesses, has given such convincing reasons in the present case ſor rendering the word arrow entbrace, (which I before apprehended to be the sense of it,) that I think myself warranted in changing the Yeſsion. We find indeed in the next section, that presently after this, when jesus appeared to the women who were fleeing, from the sepulchre they were permitted to embrace him. (Compare, Matt: xxviii. 8, 9. and Mark Xvi. 8.) But this is well accounted for by Mr. West, as Kracious- ly designed to calm their minds, and to remove the terror they were under; while Mary, who was under no such terror, had hºl, grief dis- ersed at once, and was immediately convinced, that it was Christ, upon § calling her by her maine. And, to induce her not to wait for any thing more at present, it was a very proper considerwtion that our Lord subjoins, For I am not yet ascended to my Father; in, which he at, once assured her that he was not yet quitting this world, and plainly in- timated his intention of seeing her and his disciples again, and paying frequent visits to them before his final departufe, when what he had iately said to his disciples of his going to the Father, (John, xvi; 23.) jºid be fulfilled by his ascensio: into heaven. (See, West’s Oh;erp. j67, et seq.):-The sense is obvious and, easy in this view, and Dr. Wà (in his note on this place,) Mr. Fleming, (Christºl. vol., iii. p. 502.) %. Cradock, and others, interpret, these, words as I have dong in the paraphrase; and it is strange that Mr. Whiston should think, this text inexplicable, unless we suppose “that Christ was, immediately to ascend to his Father, before he could at all converse with any of thein, appeare; to Mary, and then to the other women on their way to the city. The interpretation here given suits the words as well, and other scriptures much better. She probably thought, that if he was risen, he was also returned back to his heayenly Father to keep up his stated abode with him again, as he quickly after did : to assure her therefore of the contrary was exceeding proper, and the best reason that could be given to persuade her to waye any further discourse now, with which to be sure she must otherwise have been earngstly desirouš to detain her dear Lord.—To suppose, with Alessrs. L'Enfant and Beauşobre, that she meant this adoration as homage to a tempora] princc, and that our Lord’s answer was chiefly intended as a declaration that he rôtist ascend to his Father before he received his kingdom, appears to me very unnatural. …” • - - - t Go to my brethren, &c.] By calling the disciples his brethren, and God, their Father and their God, he intimates in the strongest manner the full forgiveness of their fault in leaving him, even without ever mentioning it; just as the father of the prodigal. (Luke xv.22, ºt. seq.) intimated his forgiveness of his undutiful behaviour, by calling for the best robe, &c. without any direct reply to what, his penitent chilä had said offiis unworthingss to be called his sqn.--These exquisite touches, which every where abound in the evangelical writings, give inexpressi- blo delight to a well-turned heart, and show how perfectly Christ knew our frame, sy sculp. Chorl - º ºnes: E. - THE THREE MARIES AT THE TOMB OF CHRIST . Published by Hessender ºne ºrameterº. Christ having appeared to Mary the women as they return to THE RESURRECTION. 349 SECTION CXCV. the other women come to the sepulchre, and are informed of his resurrection by the angels....He appears to the City : but neither their testimony nor that of Mary is received by the disciples. Matt. xxviii. 5–10. Mark xvi. 2, 5–11. Luke xxiv. 3–11. John xx. 18. MARK xvi. 9. NOW when Jesus was risén early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 2 And they [i. e. the other women] game unto the sepul- chre at the rising of the sun. Luke xxiv. 3. And they entered [into the sepulchre,) and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. [Mark xvi. 5.] 4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold [they saw] two men [who] stood by them in shining garments; ſome of them a young man, who had been sitting on the º side, clothed in a long white gar- ment.] [Mark xvi. 5.] 5 And [they were affright- ed, and bowed down r faces to the earth. [Mark xvi. 5.] Matt. xxviii. 5. And the angel answered and said unto the women, [Be not affright- ed:] for I know that ye seek Jesus [of Nazareth,J which was crucified: [LUKE, Why seek ye the living *#. the dead 2) . [Mark xv. 6. Luke xxiv. 5.] Luke xxiv. 6. He is not here, but is risen, [as he said;] ſºft behold, where they aid him ;] [come see the place where the Lord lay :] remember how he spake unto §: when, he was yet in alilee, . [Matt. xxviii. 6. Mark xvi. 6.] 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into, the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the thirã day TISé àgúII). 8 And they remembered his words. ... Matt. xxviii. 7. . [But] go [your way] quickly, and tell his isºl. Peter, that he is risen from the dead; an behold, he goeth before, you into Galilee, there shall ye see him, [as he said unto 'ou :] ; I have told you. tººk xvi. 7.] Mark xvi. 8, , And, they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre ; for they trembled, and were amazed: neither said they any thing from the º: as fast as possible; for they trembled, and were amazed at this angelic to any man, for they were V1Slon 5 --> MARK xvi. 9. WE have just now seen in the preceding section, that when [Jesus] was risen from the SECT, dead, very early on the first day of the week, (which day was afterwards observed by his 195. followers in commemoration of this important fact,) he made his first º: to Mary JMagdalene, out of whom (as was formerly said) he had some time, before ejected no less * than seven demons, who by an awful providence were permitted to join together in afflict- a XVI. ing her. (Compare Luke viii. 2. p. 116.) But it is now time to return to the women her companions, from whom she had parted 2 when she went to inform Peter and John that the sepulchre was open. (John XX. 2. p. 346.) These were now joined by [the other women] who had brought the spices, and, while Mary was sº in this interview with Christ, came up together to the sepulchre: and it was now about the time of the rising of the sun.” And having found the passage Luº open without any obstruction in the way, and observed, as they stood at a distance, that ...” Peter and John had done the like, they entered into the sepulchre themselves; but, as they had before suspected on seeing it open, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. ...And it came to pass that as they were in great perplexity on this account, and knew not 4 what to think was become of the body, behold, to their inexpressible astonishment, they saw the two angels whom Mary had seen but a little before, (who had disappeared upon their coming to the sepulchre, but now rendered themselves visible at once,) in the form of men arrayed in splendid habits, [who] came and stood by them, the women being unable to discover how § came in : and [one of them] appeared like a young man, with a beautiful and cheerful aspect, clothed in a long white robe, glittering with lustre like the º snow : and this was the angel who appeared at first to the guards, and [who had een] afterwards seen by Mary sitting on the right side of the entrance into the sepulchre. Jłnd they were greatly terrified at this extraordinary and surprising sight; and stepping 5 back to the very door,b they bowed their faces to the ground, and fixed their eyes upon it, in token of the profoundest respect.” But the angel, in a most mild and condescending manner, answered and said unto the MATT. women,” Do not be terrified at what you see; for we appear to comfort rather than afflict X* you, and have the best tidings to bring you that ever you heard: I know, that in the * strength of your affection you are come to seek that holy and excellent Person, Jesus of JNazareth, who was crucified the other day, and buried here: but why seek ye the living among the dead?, and why are you come hither with materials for embalming one who is possessed of an immortal life P. He is not here, but is risen this morning, as he said that he Lº should: behold the tomb where they laid him; the body is not here: come in, and satisfy gº". yourselves by the strictest inquiry; and view, with all the mixture of holy affections which are suitable to such a circumstance, the place where the Lord of life .glory, the Prince of angels and men, lay for a while a breathless corpse: but he has now triumphed over the grave; and you have no reason to be surprised to hear it: for it not only was most pro- bable in jº that this would be the case, but he also often foretold it. Remember par- ticularly how he spake unto you, when he was yet in Galilee with you, where I know with what kindness you attended and ministered to him:e Recollect that remarkable saying of 7 his which was so often repeated, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sin- ners, and be crucified, and the third day he shall rise again; (see Matt. xvi. 21. p. 164. xvii. 22, 23. p. 170. and xx. 18, 19, p. 246.) now this, as you well know, is the third day; and what he said is most exactly verified. (..And, while the angel spake thus, they called 8 to mind what they had heard from Jesus, and perfectly remembered his words.) But go Marr. quickly, added he, and communicate to your friends the joy which you now feel; yea, go xxviii. and tell his mourning disciples, and particularly tell Peter, who is so overwhelmed with his 7 peculiar sorrows, that he is risen from the dead; and acquaint them also, in further con- firmation of the truth of it, Behold, he is shortly going before you into Galilee;f for I am commissioned to assure you that there ye shall all see him, as }. said to wow that he would meet you there; (compare Matt. XXvi. 32. and Mark xiv. 28. p. 315.) Lo, I, who am one of the angels that stand in the presence of God, have told you this, and my associate here is ready to attest it; and therefore, important and wonderful as the message is, you need not at all scruple to report it. Jłnd upon this, instead of making any further scrutiny, they went out quickly,' and fed * and, whoever they met by the way, they said nothing to any one of them, for they a About the rising of the sun.] We have seem before, that Mary Magdalene, with the other Mary and Salome, set out while it was yet dark, and came within sight of the sepulchre for the first time, Just as it grew light enough to discern, that it was opened; (compare Alatt; xxviii. 1. and John xxi. 1. p. 345.) but by that time Mary, had called Peter and John, and they had viewed the sepulchre, and Joanna was come, with the other women who were to bring the Spices, which might all pass in less than an hour, the sun was up. These circumstances ºil agree with each other, and are presumptions in favour of the order which we have laid down. b Stepping back to the very door.] This it was natural for them to do; ...} from the angel’s afterwards inviting them to come in and view § sepulchre, we may infer that they were now precisely in this atti- tude. c They bowed their faces to the ground, and fixed their eyes upon it, c.] The words k\ivova (ov to Tpogorov ets Tmy ynv, do not intimate their prostrating themselves before the qngels, but a respectful and re- verential declining their heads, and looking downward, that they might not appear to gaze; which is well known to have been forbidden to the Jews upon the sight of a celestial vision. (See Exod. xix. 21. tºº. Judg. xiii. 20.) . And it was also considered as dangerous }. the hea- then, when their deities, or any celestial messengers from them, were supposed to make themselves visible; as Elsner has finely shown in his }earned and entertaining note here. jºin. Öserº vol. i. p. 284. d But the angel answered, &c.] I entirely agree with M! r. West, that the particle Ös should here be rendered but. See West’s Obserp, p. 2:3. e Rememtöcr hong fic spake unto you, when he was yet in Galilee.j This familiar manner in which the angel speaks of what passed between Jesus and them in Galilee, seems to intimate, that he had then becu present, though invisible, and heard what Jesus said. The hint suggests many agreeable reflections, which the pious reader wiłł dwell upon nt leisure.—The mention which he afterwards makes of Peter, whether it Were or were not by a particular charge from Christ, is also observable in the sºme view. - He is going before you into º When we consider this cy- pression of the angel to the women, as Mark has related it, f girarg— oft Toodyet, iſſus, &c.], the construction shows, as the learned Bos observes, (Exercit. p. 23.) that these words are the message which the angel puts into the mouth of these women, to be delivered by them to the apostles. ... But what is, added, [there siall ye sce him.) may, con- Sistent with this criticism, be understood as in the paraphrase, which makes the sense more complete, by adding a very material, and, to them who so tenderly º!"jºu. a very delightful circumstance, namely, that they should see him themselves, and not merely receive the most credible assurances of his resurrection from others. g. They went out . quickly..] This is the exact import of the word &\Govgat, which is the same in both the evangelists, but is improper- Jy rendered here in Matthew, they departed. (See West’s Observ. p. 36.) E CT. 195. MATT. XXVIII. 9 I () THE RESURRECTION. were very much affrighted; [but], with hearts full of fear at what they had seen, and with afraid, tand with fear, and a mixture also of great joy at this happy news which they had received in so awful a man- #"º". "tº: ner, they ran with all the speed they could to bring his disciples word. - xxviii. 8.] .#nd ds they were going on their way to tell his disciples,i behold, Jesus himself met them, Matt. xxviii,9. And as they saying, in the usual form of congratulatory salutations, Hail, my friends! I give you joy ...}... .º.º. of the day. And upon this, beginning to recover from their fear, as they saw it was All hai. 'Andº" aft: Jesus, they drew near in the most respectful manner, and, prostrating themselves before º, he feet, and him, took hold of his feet and embraced them, and paid their homage io him on this joyful OCC a SIOI). ^. Then Jesus, as he saw that they were still in a great deal of confusion, did not long , 10 Then said Jesus untg permit them to, continue in that posture, but comforted and dismissed them, as he had ºf ºilº,"; done before with respect to Mary; and said to them, Be not any more afraid, for you have into Galilee, and there shäi indeed no reason for it; [but, as you have now the fullest proof that I am actually risen from they see me, the dead, go ye therefore and tell my dear brethren, whoever of them you may meet here in the city; that they go away into Galilee, to the place I formerly appointed; (see note b, on Matt. xxvi. 32. p. 315.) and when a proper number of them is met there, they shall see LUKE XXIV. 9 10 MARK- order, And Hary Magdalene in particular went with the other women, and told the lis- sº lºgº XVI. 10 II MATT. XXVIII. me appear publicly among them, to remove all the remaining doubts which any of them may entertain as to the certainty of my resurrection. Now after Jesus had spoken these words, he immediately disappeared; and the women Luke xxiv. 9. And º ran on to carry the news: and when they were returned from the sepulchre to Jerusalem, ś, - * - and told all these things unto they told all these things to the eleven apostles, and to all the rest of the disciples whom the eleveu, and to aſ "the they met with then or on the following days, "having it much at heart to deliver this im- ** portant message in the most punctual and effectual manner. .#nd they were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and JMary [the mother], of James, and lº, ºil. Joses, and Salome, and the other women that had gone with them to the sepülchre, as above, jºio. º.º.º. -: º * ~4-3- º 4 × r - ºù ſº Yºº ºt * women that cere with them with an intent to embalm Christ's body, (p. 345.) who were the persons that were thus tº ºff tº: honoured with this message from the angels, and from Christ himself; and who accord- the apostics. - ingly came and told these things to the apostles, who had none of them as yet seen any thing more themselves than that the sepulchre was empty, and the linen clothes laid in * º - tº g M - ł: - - ciples that had been so constantly with him, as they were mourning and weeping for the loss ãº. ſº º: of their dear Master, that she also had seen the Lord; and that indeed he aï appeared to Nº. º: her the first of all the company, and had spoken these gracious things unto her as well as to th: Loºi and it". Thai them, relating to his resurrection from the dead, and had expressly ordered her to acquaint jºi...}* * them with his purpose of ascending ere long to his Father and their Father, and to his - God and their God. (Compare John xx. 17. p. 348.) But such were the prevailing prejudices that had possessed the minds of the disciples, #1. º.º. and so entirely were their spirits dejected and their hopes blasted by the death of their ... ."...º.º. Lord, that though they could not think this was related with a design to impose upon lºº them, yet they were ready to impute it to the power of imagination; and even when they filake ºxiv. fij a w p heard that he was actually alive, and had been seen by her, and by the other women who also testified the same, they did not in general believe it; but their words seemed to most of them as an idle tale, and they determined to suspend their belief of so important a fact, till they were satisfied of it by the testimony of their own senses; which through the great condescension of their Lord, several of them were before the end of that day, as we shall quickly relate. - IMPROVEMENT. We are now again called, as by the angel's voice, to come and see the place where the Lord lay, and to take an affectionate survey of that sepulchre which our rising Saviour had left, and where he had laid aside the dress of death, as a token that he should return to it no more. How wonderful that he should ever have lain there ! that the Lord of life should have dwelt among the dead, and from the glory of the throne of God, should have sunk down to the abasement of the grave!—But he has burst its prison doors, and has abolished death, and him who had the power of it; abolished it for himself and us. How are all its terrors now disarmed ! O death, where is thy sting 1, O grave, where is thy victory ! (I Cor. xv. 55.) - - With what pleasure did the angels deliver this gracious message of their Lord, as well as ours!, and with what transport did the pious women receive it! Behold the tender care of Christ over his people'. Angels have itimme- diately in charge to send the glad tidings to his disciples; and Jesus repeats and confirms them. Go tell mº brethren, I am risen from the deal. Lord, is this thy language concerning those who but a few hours before haſ forsaken thee! and one of them, with such dreadful imprécations, denied thee! ... Yet even that disciple is not excluded; nay, to him is it peculiarly addressed: Go tell thy brethren, and in particular tell Peter, that he, poor 7, 8 10 MARK XVI. 7. h IV tº ſcar and joy.] It was so natural for such a mixture of pas: Enyºnº ºve of the report they had hºrd from the women. Luke sjöns tº aſſis on this grand occasion, that iſ think very little stress is to xxiv.22–24. (See Wººst’s, Ohstrº, P: 7.8% Çifth J, is htf ( ; No. be laid on Mark’s inctitioning their fear alone, and Matthew’s mention - k. Jesus himself inct them.] I cannot think: Wi: º º Mºjº: !. §§ ing their joy with it, to prové, they relate different stories.—I have singe IIeb. #! loc.) that this relates to his |...". . . '...} rº, the jeasure to find, that this is represented in the same light by Mr. described before ; for though *L. dºg. º: § vet it is not ſo West, wºo has clºarly shown that both these sacred writers speak of the sometimes ºsed.(see, note b: 93. uR. Axiſ. §'. * *{. Mary was º saune fºlct. (See \Vest’s Obserp. p. 37–40. - - - - - - - - be admitted without, necessity. i. ...º.º. 㺠Y.Y. jº ae i Jind as they were going on, their way to tell his disciples.] , Admitting When Ǻrist appeared to her i. and t ..º.º. º -- i º º . what is here supposed, that there was but one vision of angels, (beside; this between that ap: the city y º; y #. 'º º; 1 Gº ( sº; that to Mary Rºjº. and, one message scnt by them, this Wili, I considerable part of the way in their lºsht. ne yº, . !”. º ºf lºgº ſ think, establish the order in which we have ranged this, stºry. , For if tell his jº, &l FC indºº Yº; *"...}. ...'. |...tº. Čaš jr. Clarke and many other critics strangely suppose) Mary’s inter- ºriº as Ur. * has shown º is º: i. n fe'...iii. au (s º: jºitſ, the aposties (John xx. 2.) had happened between the angelic Whitby, with cºnsideſ: ole º gº."; ſº º º i. vision and this appearance of Christ º thi lº jº º d. S i. º: º the sense of them seems him pºked ºn the is woull have been very unnatural. Matthew would, on thºut hypo- clºsé of thº PTCCºlº; Wººl - r ... l- > * , #º: iº ºidº when they had, fold, his disciples, [and thºſ 1 JMy brethren.] . The º º º º Jºrd iº. #. º jºl'tiºn not.) Jesus inct them, &c.—But Mr. West, who apprºhends language here which be º #. sº !. *; l º - º: §§ º $º ºther ºrjºraj distinct appearances of angºls, and twº distinct p. 34:2 No doubt, these aſ º ºfriº %. i. .." • § (i. º appearances of Christ to the women, (the first to Šiary Magdalene, and reporting this º, "..."; | latt ..", jº. W. ſº i. ‘... '...} º: ... sº to the other Märy and Salome, when the other women wºre brethrºit still, tº' º º º, John, 3 §§ | 6 . i. not present,) concludes that these sevgral facts were reported to the were immediately brought, º: It strike so powerlully Qi) their hearts, apostles at different times, and by different women; and that JQanna that they º nºt but ſº I think, refers not only to one report j the other women, who had only seen the angels after the two Maries m And to all the º . º: *. * of their iºus frien º ‘hº and Salome were gone from the sepulchre, made their report to the but to the re Yetition of the tes º ... " 3. - ºil" S 1ſ j whe sjoke the arrival of the two Maries and Salone ; and, by thus believed in Jesus: and it that, le, admitted, it will be an additional ...}. # "stºry"; a different order, he obviates the difficulty proof that what is sºld º.º.º. 12, shºuld he transpºsed in such a man; §: #... the account which the two disciples that were going to ner as is necessary for reconciHing it with the scheme we have proposed THE RESURRECTION. mourner, may especially be comforted. Compassionate Redeemer! thou hast brought up from the tomb with thee that tenderness and goodness which laid thee there ! Such is the freedom once in the most miserable and É. of thy grace, that thou sometimes dost first manifest thyself to those who were ondage to Satan.’ Whenever this is the case, may the peculiar obligation be remem. bered! May every remainder of unbelief be subdued in our souls l and may we joyfully communicate to all around us the tidings of a risen Saviour, and the merciful discoveries of his presence to us. SECTION CXCVI. The guards, returning to Jerusalem, make their report to the chief priests; and are bribed to say, thºſ the disciples stoig the body of Christ while they slept. Christ appears to Peter, and then to two other disciples. Matt. xxviii. I l—15. Mark xvi. 12, 13. MATT. xxviii. 11. NOW when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and she wº ed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. 12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, MATT. xxviii. II. .N'OW while these extraordinary things were transacting, and [the ºº:: oing to tell the disciples what they had heard and seen, behold, some of the guards, who had fled from the sepulchre in great consternation, began a little to recollect themselves as to the excuse they should make for its being broke open, and the body being gone, as it would soon be known that it was: they came therefore into the city, and told the chief priests, from whom they had received their immediate charge, all that had happened: ºfurged how impossible it was for them to make any opposition in the presence of the angel, who 'shook the very earth with the terror of his appearance, and therefore might be easily sup- osed to take away all power of resistance from them. And thus these ignorant and stupid ſº became in effect the first preachers of Christ's resurrection, and were witnesses of the truth of it to the most inveterate of his enemies.” This report could not but strike the chief priests into some amazement and confusion; and therefore they immediately convened the Sanhedrim ; and having met together with the elders of the people, they deliberated upon it, and consulted among themselves what they should do in so perplexing an emergency ; and particularly whether they should dismiss the guards, with a charge to .#the story they had told them, or should accuse them to the governor, and attempt to punish them for neglecting their duty : but, considering the 13. Saring, Say ye, His disciples came by Nº. and stole him away while we slept. 14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will per- suade him, and secure you. 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught : and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews un- til this day. manner in which the governor had appeared affected towards Jesus, and the many prodi- gies which had attended his death, by which Pilate's conscience must have been in some degree awakened; and also knowing they had no positive proof of any negligence or treachery in the soldiers, they resolved to commence no prosecution against them, and to pass it over without any complaint: but, apprehending that the most effectual method they could take would be to endeavour to pervert their evidence, they gave º, large #: of] money to the soldiers,b Saying, Since this strange thing has happened, whether there really was any sorcery in it, or whether it was merely your dream, it must for the public safety be concealed, or the whole nation will be deluded and undone: we must therefore insist upon it, that neither. §. nor your companions say any thing of what you imagine you saw ; but if any should question you about it, and pretend that this Jesus is risen, say ye only in the general, We were weary with so long a watch, and dropped asleep; and we conclude that his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.d. And you have no need to be afraid of being punished for your negligence; for if this should come to be heard by the governor, and he should blame you för sleeping on your guard, we will per- suade him to make no further inquiry about it, and by our interest with him will make you easy and secure. .And they took the money that was offered them, and did as they were taught ; and, ac- cording to their instructions, they concealed what they had seen, and pretended that some of the disciples must have taken the advantage of their weariness and neglect, and so have carried off the body while they were fallen asleep. And such are the prejudices of that unhappy people, that this story, wild and senseless as it was, is commonly reported among the Jews even to this day :" and they still choose, in opposition to the most certain evidence, to believe this extravagant suggestion, rather than yield to the truth of Christ's resurrection, though solemnly attested to them by many who saw and conversed familiarly with him after he was risen from the dead; of which number “Peter was one, who was early dis- tinguished by the favour of seeing him, and to whom indeed he appeared first of all the apostles.” (See I Cor. xv. 5.) §he preceding section. Compare note 1, on Lake Nxiv. 12. p. 346, 34 represents, though they could not seriously endeavour to persuade the guards they were in a dream. a These ignorant and stupid heathens became in effect the first preachers, &c.] Such news, coming from such persons, must undoubt- edly throw the priests into inexpressible confusion ; but it is remark- able, that neither the soldiers nor the priests were converted, by what the one saw, or the other heard. Perhaps the Solliers migilt think that Jesus, was, like some of their fabulous heroes, the son of some deity, who brought him to life again; but, instead of imagining themselves Concerned in the purposes of his resurrection, they might perhaps abuse their knowledge of it to contirin their belief of some superstitious tales of their own priests, which bore some little resemblance to it; as those of Alcestes, Hippolytus, Hercules, and many... others dial. See Valer. Max. lib. i. cap. viii. W 12; and Plin. JYat. Hist. (ib. yii. Cap. 52. . b. They gave a large suin of money to the soldiers.]...Mr., Ditton very well observes, (in his unanswerable De:nonstration of Christ’s Resurrec- tion, p. 296.) that had they not been afraid to put them to death, as they were Romans, it is very probable that Caiaphas’s maxim, (John Xi. 59.) That it was better one man should die than all the peoplc perish, would have cost some of them their lives: at least the commanding officer, had he been fully in their power, would have been in imminent danger. Could they have proved any neglect, no doubt, these soldiers would have been prosecuted to the utmost: (as Peter’s guards were afterwards, Acts xii. 19.) But as they were destitute, Qf all proof, it was prudence not to prosecute them at all; for, had Pilate acquitted them, it would have been in effect a public declaration that he was convinced Jesus was indeed risen. - c. Whether there really was any sorcery in it, &c.] They must, to be sure, be puzzled to account for it,is strange event ; and, laying it down as a first principle, “that Jesus must be an imposter,” they would, of coursº, incline to impute his resurrection, as, they had ascribed his miracles; to some diabolical operation. It is however ſº that such artful men might speak of it in such loose terms as the paraphrase d dºd stole him anpay while ºce slept.] It was ridiculous to pretend to say with any certainty what passed while they were asleep ; so that this was in effect. only hiring them to say that they kney nothing of the matter, and did not obserye any thing more than ordinary had passed that night. How absurd this pretence was, a thousand circumstances concur to show ; as most writers, in defence of christianity have demon- Strated, and, perhaps mone, in few words, better than Bishop Burnet, On the Jºrlicles, p. 64. e Rºported among the Jews even to this day.] This seems to intimate that Matthew wrote his gospel several years after our Lord’s resurrec. tion.—As to, the industry of the Jews in propagating this report, it is Yºry, observable, that Justin, Martyr (Dialog. cum Trºph. p. 368. §dit. Thirli.) expressly asserts, “that the J 9 WS, sent chosen men of consider- able rank over all the world, not only in the general to represent chris- tiunity as an impious sect, but to assert that the body of Jesus was stolen out of his tºmb by night, and that the persons who thus fraudul lently conveyed him away, took occasion from thence to report that he rose from, the dead, and ascended into heaven.” And this message is Spoken of as having, been sent before the destruction of Jerusalem. Compare note a, on Acts xxviii. 22. § 60. - f Peter was one,—to whom he appeared first of all the apostles.] Though the evangélists have not recorded the particular circumstances of oºr Lord’s appearance to Peter, yet it is evident that he appeared first to Peter before he was seen by the rest of the apostles. (Čompare l, Cork, xv. 5. and Luke xxiv. 34.) r. Lightfoot therefore supposes that Peter was one of the two disciples to whom Christ appeared as they were going to Emmaus; and imagines he was so §eº; desirous to obtain a sight of Christ, that upon hearing from the women (Matt. xxviii. 7, 8) that he would gº before thern into Galilee, where they should $66 him, he presently set out with Cleopas for Galilee; but having seen him in their way to Emmaus, they hastened back to Jerusalem to ac- 351 SECT. 195. Mi ARK XV I. 1() SECT, I96. MAT"ſ". XXVI I I. II 12 352 SECT. 196. MP ARK X’, I MATT. THE RESURRECTION. Now this account that Jesus was risen, was brought to the disciples by the women soon , Mark xvi. 12. After that, after his resurrection on the first day of the week; and after this, on the same day, he #. §§Pºlº, ſº I - te '• - te - peared to two of them, though in another form, or in a different habit from what he ordi- ºfteå and ºt" into "the narily wore,” as they were walking on the way, and going into the country to Emmaus, a *. i8 neighbouring village.h .And they went back directly, and told it to the rest of their com- 13 And they went and told panions; yet they did not all immediately believe them, till at length he appeared to all his iº: neither apostles together once and again, and gave them such convincing evidence as they could “"“” not withstand. But these facts are of so great importance, that we shall give a particular narration of each, and first of that which happened on the way to Emmaus, in the next section. IMIPROVEMENT. Su RELY there is nothing in the whole sacred story which does in a more affecting manner illustrate the deplor- able hardness of the human heart in this degenerate state, than the portion of it which is now before us. What but the testimony of an apostle could have been sufficient to persuade us, that men who had been but a few hours **** before the witnesses of such an awful scene, who had beheld the angel descending, had felt the earth trembling, 11, 15 had seen the sepulchre bursting open by a divine power, and had fallen down in helpless astonishment and con- 12 fusion, perhaps expecting every moment to be themselves destroyed, should, that very day, yea that very morning, suffer themselves to be hired by a sum of money to do their utmost to asperse the character of Christ, and to in- validate the evidence of his resurrection, of which they were in effect eye-witnesses? Nay, how astonishing is it that the chief priests themselves, the public ministers of the Lord of hosts, could act such a part as this They hear this full evidence that he, that Jesus whom they had murdered, was risen from the dead; and they well knew and remembered that he had himself put the proof of his mission on this very fact; a fact to which the prodigies at his death, which they themselves had seen and felt, added an º weight of probability. Who would not have expected that they should have been alarmed, convinced, and humbled 2 that they should have turned the remaining days of the passover into a public fast, and have solicitously sought out him who was so powerfully declared to be the Son of God, to cast themselves at his feet, and entreat his par. don and grace? But instead of this, with invincible and growing malice they set themselves to oppose him, and 13 bribe the soldiers to testify a lie, the most to his dishonour of any that hell could invent. And surely, had not Christ been kept out of their sight and power, they would, notwithstanding all this, have endeavoured to bring him down to the tomb again, on the very same principles on which the would have slain Lazarus after his resur- rection. (John xii. 10.) So true does it appear, in this renewed and unequalled instance, that if men hear not .Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. (Luke Xvi. 31.) No question but these very men, when pressed with the evidences of Christ's resurrection, answered, as Suº: ceeding infidels have presumptuously done, “that he should have appeared to them; if he expected they should believe he was risen.” “But what assurance can we have, that the same prejudices which QVerbºre the testimony of the soldiers, might not also have resisted even the appearance of Christ himself?, Or rather; that the obstinaºy which led them to overbear conscience in one instance, might not have done it in the other?, Justly therefore did God deny what wantonness, and not reason, mightlead them to demand: justly did he give them up to dishonour 15 their own understandings, as well as their moral character, by this mean and ridiculous tale, which brought men SECT. 197. LUKE - - xxiv. about sºrty furlongs, or somewhat more than seven miles, to testify what was done while they were º The most that common sense could make of their report, had they deserved the character of honest men, would have been, that they knew nothing of the matter. And we have a thousand times more reason to admire the con- descension of God in sending his apostles to these wicked rulers, with such additional progfs and messages, than to censure his providence in preventing Christ's public appearance. May he deliver us, frºm the treachery and corruption of our own hearts! May he give us a holy tenderness and integrity of soul, that ye may see truth wheresoever it is, and may follow it whithersoever it leads us; lest God should choose our delusions, and give us up, in his righteous judgment, to believe a lie, and to think" ourselves wise in that credulous infidelity which is destroying its ten thousands amongst us! - SECTION CXCVII. Christ appears to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, anº, fººd§º Scriptures to them, makes himself known in breaking of bread. - uke xxiv. LUKE xxiv. 13. Luke xxiv. 13. WE are now to give some further account of that fact which was hinted at in the close of ºthº, º, º, ºn the preceding section, of our Lord's appearing to two of his disciples on a journey : and gº #. Hºji, º, • • * * - W8 S ITOIn J & TU1SaleIIl (100. the case was this: Behold, (for it is a ver observable story,) two of them were º threes; fiſſion. that very day on which Jesus rose from the dead, to a village called Emmaus, which 400s Yom Jerusalem. Ånd as they 14 And they talked together iſ ºfteå joig, they discoursed together of all these wonderful and impºt things which ſº ºne whº 15 s - e - rai - - - ...And "Tā Ānd it came to pass, that jjately ºpené, and which could not but lie with great Weight on their spirits: while t d’º #CO!???.8 h; ; that as they talked about the sufferings and death of their beloved Lord, *::::::::::::::: ;: - gº S.- 4-3 lf drew near, and went with and the report which had been spread that morning of his resurrection, and argued the fºrew near, point together with visible marks of the greatest concern,” Jesus also himself drew near, as ... ſºm jerusalem who was going the same way, and travelled on with them. - - - ~ iovi ion of Christ when attested by them ; - i ar, irº. - sº * I* I (r. est of the eleven, as they Mark as not believing the resurrºgaolº ºv - w? Lºº' :* º º º gº iº º,"; ...tºrº’so suddenly and whereas when the two disciples frºm hº §§ to *ś nºw ot i. i. º 'Cºint; ific jord has appeared to Simon, else the rest, before they could tell *...}}. ; ". #. d to § }. º; º, hºc cºe back *::::::: §: º #. tº; º * É aßatiº ge: inºiſ àiščcºni may - ; vi. 13. & ke xxiv. 34. ut, had Peter been One OI, L. ... i. i*i;.. . . . . * ſº s - S §§ i. *:: º: ; tº in the large account which Luke be reconciled by observing, that, Various ºl. jº.º.º.º. - º,”,” this matter, chap. ºiv. 13, et seq.) his name would not Werº variously impressed; and that . their story was told, some re- #:...'. mentioned as ºft as that of Čicopas; Or º: ..º. of his lers from #;"; ; i. i.e. See Luke xxiv. 37, 41. ºr - , , , - - - - w inued silent, and have left Cleopa; to carry ºntºlº : A . *::::::::::-ji: * º §". sºaker. not does it suit with the cir- 9 198, and note a 9m Matt., Xxviii. 1 §: fººmmaus was a village about 2.É.” tº hat"...ſic."Fºrer's going tº the sepulchre, hiſ sº thc country to ºl ...'ai º". tº by Lºftº: (... i. º ted just before 'it joijä be only spoken of in this conversation Sixty furlongs distant from. º ºé account of its situation }.} º º º j.“...', ºio. hot by one of themselves, but by certain º- 13.) and Josephus º e." * jºie fºre, though they have been Šºš. “that ºre with ...hº" ºr that it should be said, when, they ſud.º.º.º. 6. [a]. ; § 6. t }. &e been a different place from that O . t jeńsie. vºs. 33.5 that they found the eleven gathered frequently confounded, this º º which lay near the lake of Gen- §: # ºf those that returned belonged to tha! ºgº and yº sº Nº. from Jerusalem. See Reland, *** 7 : *. - º, I-2. ----, … " a DeSareth, at à Iſlu CIl 8 e 4. so eſovon. Compare note b, on Luke xxiv. 34. - **** * * * r; - wº. º, to two of i. 3. The only reason which Masius Pººj; #. §º ;" ºffie word ovčnrety (as Mr. West ob- g f §g (siºlº. Cºic. völ. ii. p. 1788.) that this appearance a Argued the point together.J., inquire together ; and it appears ºff. fº, that 'which Luke describes as made tº º º, ; sº * †: tºº, g dºs; on the sufferings, and r heir iour: Enniaus, (chap. xxiv. et Scq.) is from the COnl? ; : Sº-º-º . ~ *: ir ºr ar. #: hº ºniº & . &o § §: #ºnteå herº by death, and resurrection of Jesus, the scope of their inquiry was, how to * A. -- - CHRIST APPEARS TO TWO DISCIPLES ON THEIR WAY TO EMMAUS. 16 But their eyes were holden that they s know him. But, that they might not presently discover who he was, and be prevented by this ** means from expressing their own thoughts with freedom, he appeared to them in something of a different form and habit from what he usually wore; (compare Mark xvi. 12. p. 352. and besides what there might be of an uncommon vigour and majesty in his countenance, their eyes were so affected and restrained by a secret but powerful influence on them, that they did not look upon him with that attention and recollection which might have been expected; so that, on the whole, though they were some considerable time in his com- Pº,3. they did not know him.b * 17 And he said unto them, nd he joined himself to them as it were by accident, and, after the usual salutation, said to them, May I inquire what are these matters which you are conferring upon between Jourselves as you walk, and about which you seem to be so much concerned 2 for I per- ceive you to be very earnest in discourse, and see that you appear with a sorrowful counte- 70017166. , - ...And one [of the two, whose name was Cleopas,” answered and said to him, You seem to be come from Jerusalem; and though you may perhaps be no more than a stranger there, tº jºiºſº, yet is it possible that you should be at any loss to know what is the subject of our con- 2. xts In OWI) & s . * * º * - • the tin; which a cº, versation, and what it is that gives us such concern ? Are you the only person that sojourns Pºsthºrº in these days? in Jerusalem, and is unacquainted with the extraordinary thingsd which #. been done there º pºliº a manner within these few days, that they engross the conversation of the whole city : What manner of communica- tions are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? J8 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art 19 And he said unto them, And he said to them, What are those things that you refer to ? And they said to him, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus Those that relate to Jesus, who was called the Nazarene: a man who was a prophet of the jº most illustrious character, and greatly powerful both in actions and in words; for he §'ieſ."&"...fºllº wrought the most astonishing miracles, and taught the most instructive and excellent doc- people : trine, which raised him to the highest honour before God and all the people of Israel, amon 2)And hºw the chiefſiests whom he publicly appeared for several months and years, And have you not then hear §"..."...º.º. how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to the Roman governor, and compelled and have crucified him. him by their importunity to pass a sentence of death upon him, and so crucified him between 2) But we trusted that it two robbers? And this must needs be an unspeakable affliction to us, who are two of his #. ‘....”.”. disciples: for we not only thought him a Messenger from God, as the old prophets were, §§§ {i}; but we verily º that he had been the Messiah himself, even the very person who should ‘. .””” have delivered Israel from the power of their enemies, and have established the long-ex- - pected kingdom of God among us; but now we are ready to give up all our hopes; for we have seen him on a cross instead of a throne: and besides all these melancholy [occur- rences, though he had given us intimations of his rising again on the third day, yet this is now the third day since these things were done, or since he was condemned and crucified, 22 Yea, and certain women and we have not yet received any convincing evidence of his being risen from the dead. It is ..º.º.º. true indeed, some women among us, of our society, have greatly surprised us with an account at the sepulchre : they brought this morning; who telſ us they were very early at the sepulchre in which he 23. And when they found was laid, with an intent to embalm him; And, not having found his body there, they came .#iºn away in håste to acquaint us with it; and besides this, they say that they saw also a vision ision of anºeis, which said or apparition of angels,” who affirmed him to be alive again, with some other strange and "#"ºn of them extraordinary circumstances. lºg pany, went themselves to the sepulchre, and found [it] to be, even so gº the women had said, ...nº." "jie".n."hai that is, that the body was goné, and saw the funeral linen laid in order there; but him they said; but him they saw not did not see : though we are informed that, since we left the company, some women have - come to them, who affirm that he has actually appeared to them himself, and declared that he was risen, and would show himself to his disciples: but still we have received no cer- tain proof of it ourselves, so that as yet we know not what to think of it, and cannot but be under great concern about it. - *. ...And upon this our Lord, without discovering who he was, said to them with some warmth, O ye thoughtless [creatures, and slow of heart to believe all the things that the prophets have so frequently and clearly spoken;f which, if you had attentively considered 25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken I men pretended also to have seen Jesus himself::But I am now inclined to acquiesce in Mr. West’s solution of this º who supposes it was Joanna, and the other women with her, who only saw the angels and did not see Jesus, that came with this report, to the disciples; who, though the appearange of the angels to thern at the sepulchre was after the two Maries and Salome were gone from thence, yet brought the pews of it to the disciples, before Mary Magdalenc and those to whom Jesus appeared, arrived with the account, that they had seen the Lord. reconcile these events with what had been foretold concerning the Mes- siah, which, by the message that the women had but just before brought from the º, they were yº called to remember... (Compare Luke xxiv. G, 7, p. 349. and xyiii. 31–33. p. 246.). Accordingly, when Jesus had inquired, ver. 17. Wigt grguments are these that ye are de- bating one with another 3 (for so Mr. West would reader its) this is the sº point he took occasion to illustrate and, explains (ver, 25, 27.) by, Show- ing them it was necessary, in accomplishment of what was foretold, that the Messiah should suffer these things, and so should enter into his glory; and with this view he expoundca to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. (See § Observ. p. 69–73.) - b They did not know him.) , A different habit, and their having no ex- pectation of seeing him, might in part prevent their knowing him : yet as it is said, their eyes acere restrained from knowing him, I am ready to think there was something more than this, even some particular agency of God to divert their eyes from looking steadfastly upon him, or so to affect their memories as to render them incapable of recollegting who he was. Compare Gen. xxi. 19. Numb. xxii. 31. and 2 Kings vi. 17, 18 c One of the two, whose name was Cleopas.] It has already been ob- served, that Cleopas was the same with Alpheus, the father of James the loss and Judas, who were two of the abosties. (Luke vi. 15, Jº) See notee, on John xiv. 22, p. 304. and note b, on John xix. 25. p. 338. Some suppose that the other was Luke, but Dr. Lightfoot endº Voui; to prove' it was Peter. (See note ºf on Matt. xxviii. 15. p. 35l.) It seems more probable that he was not one of the apostles, but might post sibly be one of the number of the seventy, whose name, is unceptiºn: d'Arc you the only ºperson that sojourns in Jerusalem. and is unſuc- quainted, &c.] This is the emphatical import of the original, a v provos irapotkets—kat ovk eyvos, &c. * * - e And say that they also, saw a, visiºn of anº's.) According to the order in which the story is digested in the preceding section, the women did not come to the disciples with , the report of what they had seen tº tween the appearance of the angels and that of - i."first seen "both, and therefore must undoubtedly have mentioned both: it may however be concluded, that (as Luke says, on their re- jating what they had seen, ver. 11, their words, seemed to, them as gº idie tale, and they believed then not) these travellers might apprehend that what the women took for an appearange of Christ, was at most but a vision of *:::::::: some imagined with respect to Peter, Acts, xii. Í5.} and what is added in the next verse, with relation to the men there sºken of, ibit him they did not see,) may perhaps imply that the wo- * Christ to them ; but For, notwithstanding it is certain that Mary Magdalene, on Christ’s appear- ing to her, went and acquainted the disciples with it, (Mark xvi. 10. and join &x. is.) yet, as they might be now assembled together by Peter and John at a different º from that where she met with Peter before, it is no way improbable, that by. Mary’s §: to Peter’s lodg- ings, who was now gone to megt the disciples elsewhere, or by some other accident unknown to us, Joanna and those with her might get thither first with the report of their having seen a vision of angels, who had declared that Jesus was alive. Inmediately on hearing which, some mem (of whom it is probable Peter might be the first) went away to the sepulchre, and, found things in the same order as the women said, but had no sight of Jesus. n whose return, these two disciples that were going to Emmaus left the ºilº. and through, as they were setting out, some might inform them that a report was brought by Mary Mag- dalene and some other women that they had seen the Lord, they might be as backward to believe it, and as ready to impute it to the power of imagination, as those in, whose presence the report was made.-I am obliged to Mr. West for this view of the matter, which represents it in a cloarer lº than any other scheme proposed before. (See West’s Observ. p. 106, 107.) f O thoughtless creatures, &c.] The word avom Tot is by no means of so bad a sound as that of fools, by which we translate it. (See note m, on Matt. v. 23. p. 78.) Yet, as Dr. Bullock justly observes, (in his Kindication qf Christ’s Resurrection; p. 174.) if the prophecies of the Old Testament had been (as Mir. Collins' pretends) only allegorical, there could not have been room for such a heavy charge of stupidity against these disciples, for not understanding them. It is, by the way, very weak in Mr. Collins, and some other deists, to urge the slowſhess ºf ist’s friends to believe his resurrection, as an argument that thº proofs of it were defective. Ön the contrary, as Bishop Chandler well replies, (in his Windication of Christianity, p. 45, 46.), their believip; afterwards carries the greater weight; for it removes all suspiciºn of a collusion between Christ and them in his lifetime; and also implies an 353 SECT. 197. LUKE XXIV. I6 20 21 22 23 ay, and some men, too, who were with ws, of our own com-24 25 354 sect, and believed them, would have prevented this surprise! Was it not necessary, accomplish those sacred oracles, “which testify before-hand the sufferin the glory that should follow,” (1 Pet. i. 11.) that the Messiah should ºff. all these things at 197. CHRIST APPEARS TO THE TWO DISCIPLES ON THEIR WAY TU) EMMAU.S. in order to 26 Ought not Christ to * have suffered these things of Christ, and and to enter into his eſ...}} y LUKE which you are so much stumbled, and [so, by his rising from the dead, should enter into XXIV. 27 28 29 going further, intendin 30 31 32 33 his glory? .# hereupon, #. from the writings of Moses, and supporting his discourse with e prophets,8 he interpreted to them, in a much clearer light than they the authority of all t 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he ex- pounded unto them in all the had ever seen them in before, the principal things which either had been typified or were ºethingsconcern. foretold concerning him in all the scriptures. mself. .And by this time they drew near to the village whither they were travelling; and when lºndhey dºighlin; they came to the house where they designed to tarry, Jesus, like one that was a stranger, to the village whither the went : and he made as thoug began to take his leave; and making no offer to turn in with them, he seemed as if he were he would have gone further. even compelled him by g indeed to do it, if he were not prevented by their request. But they their friendly importunity to go in with them, h saying, Let us prevail upon you to continue this night with us, where we assure you of a mosthearty welcome: and tº ...pe. as indeed we are so greatly delighted and edified with your company, that we cannot part 29 But they constrained him, saying, ºid: with us; for it is toward evening, an t. And he went in to tarry with them. with you, it may also be inconvenient for you to travel much further; for it is now towards evening, and the day declines apace. And he complied with their request, and went in to continue with them. •And it came to pass, as he sat down to table with them, he took a cake of bread; and though he only appeared as a guest there, he assumed the office of the head of the family, took bre . to heaven blessed or gave thanks over it, and then brake it and gave [it] to ******* e Ina, and looking them, just in t nner he had formerly been used to. .And they were so surprised at this circumstance, that they now looked upon him more intently than they had done before; and their eyes were then opened, and, to their unutter- 30 And it came to pass, as he sat at *: with them, he ad, and blessed it, 31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their able astonishment and joy, they knew him, and plainly saw that it was Jesus their dear sisht. Master! and as they were reparing to acknowledge him as such, he suddenly became invisible, and withdrew himself from before them in a moment.K .And they said one to another, How strange is it that we should discover him no sooner! Sure we might easily have known him even by that inimitable spirit and energy in his discourses so peculiar to himself; for, did not our very while he was talking to us by the way, and while he was opening the Scriptures to us? .And they were not able to conceal such good news, or to defer the publication of that which would give their brethren such a holy transport as they felt in their own breasts 32, And, they said one to another, Did not our... heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures 2 33 And they rose up the ... same hour, and returned to 5 Jerusalem.— hearts glow and burn within wsl and therefore, late as it was, they presently rose up from their unfinished meal, that very hour, and with cheerful speed returned to Jerusalem, and told it to the rest of their com- panions; (compare Mark xvi. 13. p. 352.) among whom they had soon after the pleasure of seeing their Lord again, in the manner related in the next section. - IMPROVEMENT. Ver.13 How delightful the close of so melancholy a day to these * travellers! A day surely long to be remembered 14 by them and by us! They were on a journey; but they did not amuse themselves on it with any trifling subject of discourse. Their hearts were set upon Christ, and ãº: their tongues were employed in speaking of him. 15 And behold, Christ himself, the dear theme of their discourse, makes one among them; he enlightens their eyes 30, 31 and warms their hearts, and at length makes himself known to them in the breaking of bread. So may we often be speaking of Christ, from the fulness of our hearts, when we go out, and when we come In! So may he still, in some degree, join himself with us in spirit, guiding our souls into divine knowledge, and ani- mating them with holy love! They bear an honourable and a just testimony to that great Prophet whom God had raised up for them, as mighty before him both in word and deed. But they knew not how to see through so dark a cloud: their hopes 21 were almost extinguished, and they could only say, We trusted this had been he that should have redeemed Israel. Pitiable weakness! Yet too just an emblem of the temper which often prevails in the pious mind, when the christian is ready to give up all, if deliverance does not proceed just in the method he expected. Yet was Christ even then delivering Israel in the most glorious and effectual manner, by those very sufferings which gave them such #: º thou art the God of Israel, and the Saviour, when thou art a God that hidest thyself from 'll S. sa. xlv. 15. In faithful friendship, and with a plainness well becoming his office, the compassionate Redeemer upbraids them with their slowness of heart to believe these things, when they had received line ". line, precept upon precept, concerning them. How justly do we fall under such a rebuke in many instances ! Let us then humbly say, Lord, increase our faith ! (Luke xvii. 5.) We should reasonably have thought ourselves happy in an opportunity of hearing or reading this discourse of Jesus, in which he threw such lustre on the prophecies of the Old Testament, and proved that, according to the tenor of them, it was necessary that the W.; should thus suffer, and so enter into his glory. As Providence has denied us this satisfaction, let us, however, improve this general and very important hint, that Moses and all the prophets speak of these things. . Let us delight to trace the hº beam from its earliest dawn, and to ob- serve how it grew brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. May the blessed Spirit, by whom those mysterious 19 25 26, 27 impartial examination of the fact, and the strength of those proofs that vanquished this incredulity. - 3. %; JMoses, and all the prophets.] It is no way necessary (with ºff. Méâé, in his ingenious discourse on these words) to ..}}}. that Christ's sufferings, resurrection, and exaltation, are each of them distinctly foretold in each of those parts of the sacred writings which are mentioned here. It is enough if Moses gives some intimations con; cerning him, which succeeding prophets carry on ; and if, when, all their testimonies are taken together, all these events, are expressed, by some one or other of them. It was very unbecoming the character of an honest writer, to represent our Lord, as here attempting to, prove his Fºrrection from scripture; which Mr. Collins pretends to have been the case. The precise point in view plainly was, to convince them that there was no reason to be scandalized at the death of one whom they took tº be the Messiah; nor in general to look on the report of his resurrec- tion as a monstrous and incredible tale. But that he was actually, risen, was to be proved º: º: *::: accordingly our Lord immediately sed, by discovering himself to them. e Ul h %; Cozmp #. &c.] It ºf; be rendered, they pressed him. (See note g, on Luke Xiv. 23. p. 212.) Every. body essfiy sees how iñé ºn there was for any proper compulsion in such a case as this. Probably one of them dwelt at Emmaus, or they were going to an inn, or to some friend’s house, where they could use the freedom to introduce this yºpknown stranger, for whom they had so high a veneration. i, Their eyes were opened.] I see no reason to conclude (with Cradock and Brennius) that his undertaking this office of breaking bread, or (with others) that some peculiar action or gesture in performing it, was the thing that made the discovery. (See note b, on ver, 16.), The evangelist strongly intimates that the miraculous influence, which before prevented their knowing him, was removed, though the other circumstances men. tioned might awaken them to more attentive observation. - jecame º withdrew himself from before them.] Eras- mus justly observes, that the word vanished leads the mind to think of the person vanishing as a mere spectre; he would therefore render adavros eyevero as we have done. Beza also observes, that air’ avrov is more expressive than avrots, and signifies our Lord’s being separated from them by a swift and sudden motion. I Did not our, hearts burn within us?]. This reading is far more ex- pressive, as well as fºr more authentic, than that of some copies, which, instead of katopeum here, have Kekaxuppleyn, Was not our }; veiled, &c.—Compare Psal. xxxix. 3. and Jer. xx. 9 - JESUS APPEARS TO THE ELEVEN DISCIPLES. 355 º were inspired, so direct our inquiries, that every veil may be taken off from our eyes, that We mºy see SECT. esus in the Old Testament as well as in the New; and sée him in both with that lively fervour of holy affection 197. which may cause our hearts to burn within us! And oh that we may especially find that, when we surround his — table, he makes himself known to us in the breaking of bread, in such a manner as to fill our souls with all joy as well as peace in believing ! (Rom. v. 13.) SECTION CXCVIII. The two disciples return to make their report to the apostles; and while, they are toº Jesus §pears to them the evening after his resurrec- tion. Mark xvi. 14. Luke xxiv. 3. John xx. 19—23. LUKE xxiv. 33. LUKE xxiv. 33. AND [they] found the eleven IT was observed before, concerning Cleopas and the other disciple to whom Jesus dis-SECT. ;:...º."" covered himself at Emmaus, that º immediately arose and returned to Jerusalem, to 198. - communicate the joyful news to their brethren there. And now when they came thither, they found the eleven apostles assembled,” and others with them, who, before these two could LUKE begin their story, were eager on their part to inform the travellers of the satisfaction they X*Y. i., § ºf ºa. had received since they went out: So that, as soon as they appeared, they heard several of 34 jº * * the company saying, as with one voice, O brethren, here are good tidings, which will make your hearts leap within you ! for the Lord is risen indeed, and has himself appeared to Simon Peter, who is here present to testify the truth of it.b 35 And they told what And the two travellers declared how easily they could believe it, and recounted the things 35 .*.*.*.*.*.*.*... [which had happened] to them in the way to Emmaus; and how, after many wise and them in breaking of bread. affectionate discourses, he was at last known by them in the breaking of bread, as they were sitting down to supper. But notwithstanding these repeated testimonies of the resurrec- tion of Christ, yet there were some in the company whose prejudices were so strong, and their faith so weak, that they did not believe either Peter or them,” (compare Mark xyi. 13. p. 352.) though most of them were convinced (as they had just declared) that the Lord was risen indeed. - Nº ſº. , ind quickly qfterwards, as they were speaking ºf these things among themselves while MARK .*.*.*.*.*:::::: they were sitting at supper, º himself appeared to the eleven, who were then all together , XVI. as they sat at meat, (Luke except one of them. And this appearance was attended with some remarkable circum- xxiv. 36.1 º stances, which shall be now related. John Xx. 19. Thep the same It was then on the evening ſ the same day on which he rose from the dead, [which was, JoHN # #, º; as we have before observed, the first [day of the week, even when the doors of the room K. the floors were shut, where where the disciples were gathered together were shut, and fastened on the inside, for fear of 19 the disciples were assemble gº * * sº * ##;"º"j...'... the Jews; as they did not know but some officers of the high priest might come to appre- Jesus [himself] and stºod in hend them on the scandalous pretence that they had stolen away the body, which was the midst [of them, an g & e 4- --- & * 3 e ...ith"., ºm.";ce"; now publicly laid to their charge : it was, I say, at this time and place, that Jesus himself unto you (Lukºi", 8% on a sudden came in, opening the locks of bolts by a miraculous power; and he stood in the midst of them in his usual form, and said to them, with a mild voice and gracious aspect, All peace and happiness be unto you ! thereby graciously intimating that he forgave their former cowardice, and would still continue to treat them as his friends, though they knew in their own consciences they had of late behaved themselves in a manner unworthy of that character and relation. Luke xxiv, 37, But they But they were greatly amazed and terrified at this sudden, unexpected appearance; and LUKE ...; *ś. as they knew the doors of the room were shut, and in the present hurry of their thoughts ... xiv. seen a spirit. did not immediately reflect upon the proofs he had so often given of his divine power, or on the evidences § had but just before received of his resurrection, some of them sus- * - ected that what they saw was only a spirit, or a mere airy phantom, and not a real body. wº. Anºsºi And he said to them, Why are you thus perplexed and troubled, at the sight of me, and 38 hy are ye troubled 3 an e sº * - - * § jºu..."ise"#. why do these doubtful and unreasonable suspicions arise in your hearts, as if it only were 33; ; my hands and the appearance of a spirit that you have here before you ? Behold my hands and my feet, 39 nº fººt it is"?'...self; which for your satisfaction still retain the scars of those wounds which I received on the hºle # *.*.*.*... cross, to convince you that it is I myself, and no other: handle me, if you please, and see tºes as ye see me have whether this be not really a solid and substantial body: for you know that a mere spirit or phantom hath not flesh and bones as you see me have, but is only an empty form present- ing itself to the eye, yet eluding the grasp of any hand. º, indsaying this, he shewed them his hands and his feet, and even the mark which the spear 40 i.". jº, '... ; had left in his side, which appeared like a large wound, newly though perfectly healed:e and side.] [John XX. 20.] several of them, and among the rest John the beloved apostle, who records this circum- nºisJº stance, had the curiosity particularly, to examine it. (Compare I John, i. 1.) And the John *.*.*.* disciples therefore were exceeding glad, as it might reasonably be expected they should be, ºº, when they thus saw the Lord, and ſearnt by such infallible tokens that he was really alive. §§ * - º 7 XXIV. Luke xxiv. 41. And while And for their further satisfaction, when [some of them] were so transported that they as 41 a They found the eleven apostles assembled.]. As Paul,(I Cor. xv. 3) lieged they them, but we are undoubtedly to understand these words calls the company of the apostles the tipelve, though Judas, the twelfth with such a limitation as in the ##!º See note g, on Mark xvi. 12. person, was dead; so Luke here calls, them the eleven though Thomaš, p.35% and, noteſ, on Matt. xxviii. 17; 3292. the eleventh person, was absent, as evidently appears from John XX. 24. d Jesus himself game in, ºğ the locks or bolts by a miraculous in the next section. - * - * power.) Dr. Wallis (Omi, the Sabbath, p. 25.) thinks the expression of bºnd has appeared to Simon Peter.]. None of the evangelists mention the doors being skirt, intends no more than that what follows happened anything of the circumstances of this appearance to Peter; but it has in the evening, when the doors are used to be shut up. But as the doors iºn ºbserved before, (note f. § 196; p. 351.) that the apostle Paul, ex- are said to haye been shut for fear of the Jews, it strongly implies they pressly refers to it, I, Cor. xv. 5.—The same apostle likewise mentions were fastened within ; and all that was heréin miraculous, was the jearance of Christ to James; (ibid., ver, 7.) Yet, as nothing is ºausin; then, as ºf themselves, to fly open and shut again very sudden- said of his having seen him that day, it much diminishes the credit of ly.—Elsner has showns (Obsert. vol. i. p. 351.) that this is sometimes § story which Jerome gives us from the Gospel of the Nazarenes; that spoken of by some of the pagan writers, especially those who may be jºines had vowed to eat nothing after the paschal, supper, till Jesus suspected of copying from the evangelists, as the effect of a supernatu- arose; on which account our Lord appeared first to him. . one of the ral power attending the appearance of their deities, or, other extraordi- apostſes seem to have had such a firm expectation of Christ's resurreg Aary persons, among them. The arguments which the papists bring tion as must have ...) the foundation of such a yow; and the order, in from-Hence, to prove that two bodies may be in the same place at the which fauli mentions his appearance to James, does Yery ill suit with same time, and consequently one in different places, is so evidently this story. Frobably Peter" was the first man, as Mary Magdalene built upon an absurd interpretation of the clause under consideration, as was the first woman, that was favoured with the view of our risen not to deserve any further notice. . . . Saviour. * . * * * e He showed them, his hands and his feet, &c.], Probably these marks & Some—did not believe, &c.] Mark expresses it in a general way, were Retained in his body when raised from the dead, on purpose to (chap. xvi. 13.) that they went and told it wnto the residue ; neither be give the greater satisfaction to the disciples of the truth of his resurrec- 356 CHRIST AGAIN APPEARS TO THE ELEVEN DISCIPLES. SECT. yet believed not their own eyes for joy, and were so astonished that they hardly knew where they yet believed not for joy, 198, they were, he said to them, Have you any food here left, that I may eat with you? And they flºº. "...; ave him such as they had, even part ya broiled fish, and of an łº, on which they mºtº y * LUKE had been supping just before. .ind taking º he ate before them, that thus they might pº ..";ºn: xxiv, be fully satisfied that he was actually alive, and had a true and real body. (Compare Acts ºnº.". 43 x 41.) * ...tººk it, and did * ...And when he hºd for a while gently uphraided and reproved them fºr their unbelig, and gº º ſº; WI. a for the hardness of their hearts, that they had not believed the repeated testimony of those ºbjī; and "hardness" of who had already seen him since he was risen from the dead, and that, even after his own ap-ºº."jºi". John pearance to them, #. should be capable of entertaining any further doubts: Then, that hiº, after he was isºn. ... they might be satisfied that he had graciously forgiven them, Jesus said to them again, Peace Jºãº aº. * be into you; may all prosperity and happiness attend you! As [my] Father sent me, and #dºi gave me authority to act in his name, so also I send you, to act as my apostles, under the you.” “” important character of my ambassadors to the children of men. * 22, And saying this, he in a solemn manner breathed upon [them, and said to them as one nº And when he had, aid that had divine authority, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, and take this as an earnest of what lºi º you shall further receive not many days hence: for thus will I shortly breathe out the sº the Holy Ghºst." miraculous influences of my Spirit upon you, in a greater abundance than you have ever 23 yet received them, to qualify and furnish you for this important office; In consequence of 23 whose soever, sins ye which, whose soever sins you shall remit, or shall declare to be forgiven, they are remitted and ; ; ;..."; forgiven to them ; [and] whose soever (sins you shall retain, or shall pronounce to be un- ye retain, they are retained. pardoned, they are assuredly retained, and their guilt lies upon them: for you shall have a power, not only of declaring what is lawful or unlawful under the gospel dispensation, but also of sending or removing miraculous punishments, and of discerning the spirits of men in such perfection as to be able with certainty to declare to particular persons in ques- tion, whether they be, or be not, in a state of pardon and acceptance with God. (See note h, on Matt. xvi. 19. p. 163.) And after this discourse with his disciples at his first appearance to them, Jesus departed from them for that time, and left them to spend the rest of the evening in those delightful exercises of devotion which this great occasion had so natural a tendency to inspire. IMPROVEMENT. LUKE WITH pleasure let us echo back the words of the apostles, and join in that glad anthem which so well suits a XXIX, resurrection-day, The Lord is risen, he is risen indeed. We owe our daily praises to God for the abundant demon- *stration he has given us of so important a fact, for every appearance of ë. to his disciples, and for all the infal- lible tokens by which he showed himself to be alive qfter his passion. (Acts i. 3. 36—41 He came with peace and blessings in his mouth; he came to disperse their fears, and to assure them of his for- giving love. How strong were those prejudices which so hardly yielded to such convincing proofs! And how rich was that grace which condescended to overcome them. JOHN Christ breathed on the apostles, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. May he also breathe on our souls, and xx, fill us with that glorious and divine gift, which, if it qualified the apostles for their extraordinary office, may much 22 more furnish us for the common duties of life!" May we try our state by the characters which they have laid down in their inspired writings; in which sense, among others, we may assure ourselves, that if they have declared our sins to be remitted, they are remitted: and if indeed they are so, we need not be much concerned by whom they are 23 retained. Vain and arrogant men may claim a despotic power which God never gaye, and which these words are far from implying. But whatsoever be the sentence they may pass, they whom God blesseth are blessed indeed. (1 Chron. xvii. 27.) May we always esteem it a very small thing to be judged of man's judgment, (1 Cor. iv. 3.) pitying rather than resenting the rashness of those, who claim any such discretionary sacerdotal power as can give the real penitent any alarm, or the impenitent any encouragement to continue in sin! SECTION CXCIX. Christ appears to the eleven a second time, a week after, the former; particularly offering, to Thomas, who had before been absent, the most sensible proofs of his resurrection. John XX. 21—29. Jon N xx. 24. Joh N xx. 24. spot. WE mentioned in the last section Christ's appearing to his disciples on the evening of that *...º.º. bº 199. day on which he arose: but it is further to be observed, that Thomas, one of the twelve, ...”.º.º.º.; who was also called Didymus, or the twin-brother, was not with them at that time when came. John Jesus came. The other disciples therefore, as soon as they met with him, told him, in a trans- tº: .* º #: Rº: xx... port of joy, We have seen the Lord with our ºwn eyes, and consequently can have no further jº 25 doubt &f the truth of his resurrection; for he has condescended to show us the very marks ºn jº jºin: of those wounds he received on the cross. But he said to them, This is a matter of too # dº, jº great importance for me to believe on any report, even on yours; and more is necessary to º: º hº Eonvince me of the truth of it, than merely a transientsight of mine own eyes; for, winless 1 intº his side, Twili to be: shall evidently see in his hands, as you say you have done, the mark of the nails, and, more I & W. C. than that, shall put my finger upon the very individual mark of the nails," and put my hand upon the very scar made by the spear in his side,” I will not by any means, or on any testi- mony whatsoever, believe his resurrection. - . . e g 26 And, as there was a great degree of faulty obstinacy in such a resolution, Our Lord leſ: a*, *, *ś" º him a whole week under the perplexity which it must necessarily give him; but qfter eight in, ind "Thºs with days, or on that day seven-night from our Lord's rising, his disciples were again ºthº ; : "..."...i dóórs as before, and Thomas was with them; [and] Jesus came to them again, the doors jºiºi, and said, Peace being shut and fastened as in the former instange; and suddenly throwing them open, and **** in a moment shutting them again, he stood in the midst of them, and said, as in his former gracious salutation, Peace [be] unto you. . tion; though indeed, without that additional circumstance, the evidence what he insisted upon; which I have, therefore flºured to express w. ve been very satisfactory. in the paraphrase, in terms which sugh perious often use. & * hall put . finger upon the mark of the nails.] I am sensible And put my hand upon his side.] §§ ! Yºuld ch99še tº render it, it # j #%#, º; the #ssiºn translators, to wave the #", º into # jº. % P; n jº. º ‘. ... • - ; :- i., § . * * * * at £t; here signifies it, ; y 'ill. b.) is upon the iſſion, and to render it, and put my finger into it; but, oil, furthºr s *-*. ae * * s h >r. ######e seems to be a beauty in this repetition, which admirably ground; and ets rmv *... avrov (Luke Xy. 22.) upon his hand. See represents the language of a positive man, declaring again and again ir. Stevenson, against Woolston On Christ’s JMiracles, p. 324. CHRIST AGAIN APPEARS TO THE ELEVEN DISCIPLES. 27 Then saith, he to #º. among them in his absence, as well as to convince thé over-scrupulous disciple, he said to jº ºth.º.º. Thomas, Reach forth thy finger hither, and behold and examine my hands; and reach thine and thrust it into my side : . º º, jie. on cror? . believe on this *iº: £iºu"; land hither, and put it on my side; and be not incredulous any longer, but Ieving. - evidence at least, which addresses itself at once to so many of thy senses. 23 And Thomas answered And Thomas, overwhelmed at once with such abundant demonstration and such humble § º go him, My Lord condescension, fell under the conviction in a moment; and, instead of entering on any further scrutiny,” answered and said to him, in the utmost transport of astonishment and joy, My Lord and my God! As if he should have said, I do not only now acknowledge thee to be Jesus my Lord, infallibly risen from the dead, but I confess thy divine know- ledge and power, and prostrate myself before thee as the greatincarnate Deity, the glorious Emmanuel.” T. º saith º º: - OmºS, be Callse thou hast - . * g & * gºtº these sensible demonstrations of my resurrection; and it is well: but still more happy are .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.* they who have not seen me themselves, and [yet] have believed on the credible testimóñy of Seen, and yet have believed. 3 tº º º s others; for they have shown a greater degree of candour and humility, which renders the faith it produces so much the more acceptable.f IMPROVEMENT. º 357 And then, to let them see that he was not unacquainted with what had lately passed SECT. 190. 2 JOHN XX. 8 Jesus says to him, Thomas, thou hast believed because thou hast seen me, and hast received 29 WE most evidently see in this instance of Thomas, as well as in many circumstances of the story mentioned Ver.25 above, how far the apostles were from being rashly credulous in the important fact of Christ's resurrection. It is apparent they erred in the contrary extreme; yet our gracious Lord condescended to satisfy scruples which were carried to an extravagance. " He renewed his visit, and at the same time renewed his salutation too. Peace be 26 unto you, was still his language; nor did he only speak, but act, as one who wished it, and was determined to give it. 8-9 What peace must it administer to the mind of this good man, when his Lord said, Reach hither thy finger, and 27 behold my hands, and reach hither thine hand, and put it on my side; and be not faithless, but believing.' Evidently did he hereby show, not only that he was risen from the dead, but that he circumstantially knew those events which had passed in his bodily absence, and needed not human information. Let us then ever behave ourselves as in the presence of Christ. Let us act, and speak, and think, in such a manner as may bear his inspection; and, struck with these united demonstrations of wisdom, power, and grace, let us prostrate ourselves before him, and say, Our Lord and ownegod! thus honouring the Son as we honour the Father, (John v. 23.) and adoring the veil of flesh in which it has been pleased to enshrine itself, and kindly to attemper, * indwelling deity through th though not entirely to conceal, its rays. . Though we have not those sensible manifestations which were granted to Thomas, let itsuffice us that the apos- tles were the appointed witnesses of all these things; and what they saw with their eyes, and their hands handled a the word of life, that have they declared unto us... (1 John i. 1, 3.) Let us thankfully receive so convincing a testi- mony. Let us show an upright and candid mind in accepting such evidence as the wisdom of God has seen fit to give us; remembering, that a truly rational faith is the more acceptable to God, in proportion to the difficulties yº, it is able to surmount; and that there are peculiar blessings in store for them who have not seen, and yet have believed. g SECTION CC. Christ discovers himself to Peter and scveral other disciples at the sea of Tiberias, while they were ſishing there. John xxi. 1–14. Jo HN xxi. 1. SOME time after these things,” between the last interview he had with the apostles at Jerusalem, and the public appearance which he afterwards made to the whole body of his disciples, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, near that mountain in Galilee where he had appointed to meet them. (Matt. Xxviii. 16, sect. ccii.) .And the manner in which he now manifested [himself] to them was thus : Simon Peter, and Thomas, who was called Didymus, and JNathaniel, who was an in- habitant of Cana, a town in Galilee often mentioned in the foregoing history, and also the ſº sº Zebedce, James and John, and two other of his disciples with them," were one day together in Galilee, whither they were returned by Christ's direction, to wait for the accomplishment of what he had promised, that they should see him on a certain mountain in those parts, and where they expected in a few days to meet with most of their brethren. 3 Simon Peter saith unto (Compare Matt. xxviii. ver, 7, 16. sect. cxcv. and ver. 16. sect. ccii.). And while they were thus waiting, Simon Peter, that their time might not lie on their hands, and that he Joã N xxi. 1. AFTER these things Jesus she wed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tibe- rias: and on this wise she w- ed he himself. 2 There were together Si- mon Peter, and Thomas call- eq （)idymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two of her of his disciples. c Reqch forth thy finger hither, § It is observable that Spinoza himself could find out no more plausible objection against this evidence of the resurrection of Christ, than to say that the disciples were de- ceived in what they imagined they saw, heard, and felt; (Vie de Spin. . 32.) which, if granted, would be in effect to allow that no men could |. competent judges of any fact whatsoever relating to their own son- plicity, candour, and wisdom, to yiell to reasonable evidence without seeing, than could be argued merely from having believed on sight after sufficient evidence of another kind had been proposed. It was thereſore, in effect, telling Thomas, “... It would have been more acceptable to him, if he had not stood out so long :” and it was doing it in such a manner as would be most calculated for the comfort, and encouragement of bel sations, and consequently would overthrow all human testimony in courts of judicature and elsewhere. - d Instead of entering on any further scrutiny.] It is not said that he actually touched the zoounds ; and Qur, Lord afterwards says (ver. 29. that this belief was built on sight; which seems to intimate that this con- descension of our Lord, together with the additional evidence arising from the knowledge which ſhe plainly had of that unreasonable demand which Thomas had made in his absence, quite overcame him : a turn of mind exceeding natural to so ſrank a temper as that of Thomas appears to have been. *. - - e JMy Lord and my God!]. The irrefragable argument arising ſrom these words in proof of the deity of our blessed Lord, (which so many good writers have stated at large.) cannot be eyaded by saying that these words are only an exclamation of surprise, as if he had said, Good God, §s it indeed thus For it is expressly declared he spoke these words to him : and, no doubt, Christ would severely have reproved him if there had not been just reason to address him thus. - . . . f Happy, are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.] If it be queried, {v}. a greater blessedness is pronounced on those who believe on more slender evidence, it may be answered; that our Lord by no means intended to assert that every one who believes without seeing, is happier than any one believing on sight; for then the meanest christian now would be more happy than the greatest of the apostles; but only, that where the effects of that faith were equal, it argued greater sim: lievers in future ages, to whom, in imany of his speeches to the aposties tº selves, our Lord expresses a most obliging and affectionate re- § {\Tú. a. Some time gſter these things.) Grotius thinks this whole chapter was written by, some elders of the church of Ephesus, and added to the rest of the book by the approbation of that society, as agreeable to the relal tjQns which they iº. from the mouth of St. John ; and Le Clerc follows him in this conjecture: but Dr. Mill has taken pains to invaji. date it;. (Prolegon. p. 249.) and the beginning of ver. 24, destroys the force of Grotius’s argument from the latter part of it. Sec note f, on that yerse, at the glose of the next seglion. , b ...Nathanicl of Cana in Galilee.] There is no doubt but this Natha- Riel is the person mentioned before, John i. 45-Or. Lightfoot, (Hºr. Reb. on Matt. x. 3.) Mr. Fleming, (Christol. vol. ii. p. 176.) and some others, take him to have been Barthºlomneno the apostie; but I think they give no convincing reason for that opinion. .C 2'ºro other of his disciples.] It is indeed uncertain who these two disciples were, though Dr. Lightſogt conjectures they were Andrew and Philip; (Hor. Heb. in loc.) which is not improbable, as they were both inhabitants of Bethsaida, near the sea of Tiberias. (John i. 44.) It is, however, a strange argument against it, to say, “that John must be Ohe, though he is not here mentioned,” when he is so well known to have been one of the sons of Zebedee, who are numbered hero among those that were present. S FC CT. 200. 2 3 Jú) [IN XXI. CHRIST APPEARS TO PETER AND OTHER DISCIPLES AT THE SEA OF TIBERTAS. SECT. might make some ſº fºr his own support, and for the entertainment of his friends, them, I gº a fishing. They 200. ºr ~ - - - e - - y go a fishing :d and they say to him, We also will go along with %. *ś. 'ºhº;; John XXI º to them, I w and give thee what assistance we can. They went out therefore, and immº, i. ºed"; i. * e te ~. - - OO - • ship .1m ship, and spent not only that evening, but all the following night, in throwing #. §§ ##"t night but though it was the properest time for fishing, yet they caught nothing worth the mentioning. 4 ...And when the morning was now come, Jesus,appeared and stood upon the shore; never- 4 But when the mornin ſheles; the disciples, who had no expectation of seeing him there, being at some distance *ś 5 from º º it not being yet perfectly light, knew not that it was Jesus. Then, as they kº tº: #;". º le º'. call, Jesus said to them, Have low anything to eat, my lads? or have them, §:... hiº.","...; yº taken fish enºugh to furnish out a meal? They answered him, jvoº we have been Rºat? They answered him, 6 toiling here all night in vain, . .3nd, he said to them, Lët me then advise you to throw the $And he said, unto them, nºt on the right side of the ship, and you will undoubtedly find [some.] ...And willing to try ºf # º º º; º right, they threw the net therefore as he had ...; ; º |T80teſ.thºm 3, Qrld m010 they were not able to draw it up into the ship again, on account of ; º' the multitude ºfties.ºhiejº" p again, Af ºthéºnuititutié of fishes. 7 * Jsº * º tohom Jesus peculiarly loved, when he saw such astonishing jº. S afte 4. * • *- - dºubled y i. }. j. *...* isappointment before, says unto, Peter. It is un- ; º;"; * 3 his occasion renewed that miracle which he wrought in when Simon Peterheard that thy ship some years ago, when he first called us to attend him. (See Luke v. 4–10 sect. Hºt #######: xxxiv.) Simon Peter therefore hearing him say, with the appearance of such good reason, ºldid cast him- that it was the Lord, was so transported, that he immediately girded on his coat, (for he self into the sea. £ds in a magner naked, having nothing on but his inner garment,f) and threw himself directly into the sea, and swam to shore, that he might pay his earliést duty to his dear 8 #;" º i. J. II] º º; visit he was making them. Ånd the other 8 And ºlº.; isciples, making the, best of their way, came to him as fast as they could with the boat, . .';*.*.*. * c w y from land, b drawing the net [full] of fishes after them; for they were not far from the land, but about Yº, º #4. two hundred cubils, or one hundred yards. §º drassins the netwith 9 As soon then as they came ashore, they saw a fire %. burning coals laid ready there and .9Assopn then as they were fish laid upon it, and a sufficient quantity of bread at hand; which jesus had miraculously ºf prepared, that they might see how easily he could make provision for them, even when ifierson, and bread. 10 they were destitute of the ordinary means of supply. And, that due notice also might be slº Jesps, saigh, untº, them, taken of the miraculous draught they had now made, Jesus said to them, Bring ºther Fºº which we 11 [some]9ſ the fish which you have now taken. And Simón Peter went aboard, and, with the "ij simon pºte, went up help of his brethren, drew the net to land; and it was full of great fishes, which, upon º º taking the number of them, they found to be no less than an hundred and fifty-three'; and indi, and irº. though they were so many and so great, yet the met was not broke. ſº º, yet Then Jesus said to them, Come ſº refresh yourselves,” after the fatigue you have had cºh ºf for so many hours. ...And none of the disciples presumed to ask him, Who art thou? or took "iſº"iufºliº. upon them to inquire how he came thither, or whence he procured the provision he then ºnowins that offered them? well knowing that it was the Lord, though he conversed with them in some- IU Wai S LIRC § 4QTC!, thing of a distant manner; but left him to proceed in his own way, as judging it most respectful to leave it to him to direct the discourse to more intimate and particular sub- †. à. such a manner and by such degrees as he should think fit; which he presently a ſter Jesus therefore came and took bread, as the master of the feast, and having blessed it, as he used to do, gave [it] to each of them; and likewise gave them some of the broiled fish. ...And this was now the third time that Jesus showed himself to such a number of his dis- . ciples at once, after he was risen from the dead; and it was attended with some very re-jºi..'i. markable and instructive circumstances, which will be particularly mentioned in the next he was risen from the dead. Section. 12 13 Jesus then cometh; and taketh bread,... and giveth them, and fish likewise. I4 This is now the third 13 14 IMPROVEMENT. - CHRIST first called these disciples when they were employed in the duties of their proper profession in life, and 1–3 he now manifests himself to them while they were so º ; perhaps particularly intending thereby to encourage an honest industry, in which indeed we aré far more likely to enjoy his presence, and to converse with him, than when we throw away our time in idleness and inactivity. A while he leaves them to labour in vain, that when the plentiful draught of fishes came, it might be the more remarkable. Sometimes he may deal thus with his ministers, in their endeavours to catch men; that we may be convinced * to whose power we owe our success, and may not sacrifice to our own met, or burn incense to our own drag. (Hab. i. 16.) 7 . All the disciples rejoiced at his appearance; but Peter was the foremost to cast himself at his feet. Conscious that so much had been forgiven him, he is solicitous to show that he loves much. (Luke vii. 47.) So may the re- membrance of our miscarriages work upon us, to make us more vigorous in Christ's service, and to inspire us with such zeal and affection as many waters may not be able to quench, nor the floods to drawn (Cant. viii. 7.) Let us not imagine this miracle was merely intended for a demonstration of Christ's divine power over all that Ver. 3–6 Il—13 d I will go a fishing.] It appears from this story, that several of the apostles were now returned to Galilee, where Christ had appointed to meet them ; which shows, that, the discourse (Luke xxiv. 49.3 202.) in which our Lord commanded them to continue at jerusalem till the #oly Ghost fell upon them, must come in after this chapter, and not before it, as it is placed in many Harmonies. . . . - - * e They were not able to draw it up into the ship again, &c.] . This was not merely a demonstration of the power of our Lord, but a kind provi- dential supply for them and their families, which might...be of service to them when they waited afterwards, in Jerusalem according to his order: and it was likewise a sort of emblematical representation of the great success which should attend their attempts to catch men in the net of the gospel. Compare Luke v. 9, 10. p.72. - * - f In a manner naked, having nothing on but his inner garment.]. It is of great importance, in order to vindicate several stories in Scripture which the ignorance or malice of some modern writers has charged with indecency, to observe, that among the Jews, (as Grotius and many others have shown,) they were said to be naked who had, only an under gar: ment on. Compare 1 Sam. xix. 24. 2 Sam. vi. 20. Isa. xx. 2, 3. and Acts xix. 16. g Come and refresh yourselves.] So I choose to render the word apto- rmgare, rather than dine; as Homer sometimes uses aptorov, to signify a morning’s meal. * The ihird time Jesus showed himself to such a number, &c.) Grotius explains this of the third day of his appearance; for he had first º; to severaj on the day of his resurrection : then, after eight days, he came to his disciples, when Thomas was preseat, ; and now, again, he showed himself at the sea of Tiberias. And it is plainly necessary that the words should be undersfood with some such limitation, to make them consistent with the accounts given by the other evangelists and St. Paul; which, when laid together, will, prove that this was indeed at least the seventh appearance that Jesus had made since his resurrection. For he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, (Mark xvi. 9.) and then to the women as they returned from the sepulchre, (Matt. xxviii. 9.) after this, he was seen of Peter, (J Cor; xv. 5.) and then the same § by the two disciples that were going to Emmaus, (Luke xxiv. 13-31.) and again the same evening he appeared to the disciples when Thomas, was absent;, (John xx. iśj on that day seven-night he appeared to the eleven when Thomas was with them, (John xx. 26.) and now after thesg, things he showed himself a seventh time to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, (John XXi. Í)-But, as John had particularly mentioned before the two appear- ances which Jesus made to his disciples when they were together, (John *. e till passeth through the paths of the sea. (Psal. viii. 8.) CHRIST DISCOURSES WITH PETER AT THE SEA OF TIBERIAS. It was also the work of wisdom and bounty. By the sale of so SECT. many large and fine fishes, a seasonable provisión was made for the subsistence of his disciples at Jerusalem, while they were there waiting for the descent of the Spirit. (Luke xxiv. 49.) Let every circumstance of this kind encourage us to trust him as the Lord of mature and of grace, who will withhold from us no necessary supply of either, while we are making it our humble and faithful care to promote his glory. SECTION CCI. Christ discourses with Peter at the sea of Tiberias, and gives a remarkable prophecy concerning the death of that apostle. John xxi. 15–24. John xxi. J5. John xxi. 15. $9 when, they had lined, WHEN therefore they had made a plentiful meal on this kind provision which Jesus had Jesus saith to - Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest supplied them with, there happened some circumstances in his succeeding discourse with hºu, º, mººthº, these; his disciples which may be worthy of more distinct notice; and particularly this: Jesús He saith unto him, Ye Lord; thou knowest - love thee. He saith unto him, eed my lambs. wouldst not do it? 'hº said to Simon Peter, Simon, [son] of Jonas, dost thou love me more than these do?” . Or wilt thou now maintain that thou hast such a zealous regard for me above any of thy brethren as thou once didst profess when thou saidst, that though all should forsake me, thou (Matt. xxvi. 33. p. 315.) He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou know- est that I love thee sincerely, though I [Jesus] said to him, If so, feed my la resume not to say more than any of my brethren. s;b and as I shall favour thee so far as to commit my church, in part, to thy apostólic care, remember that the most acceptable way of ex- pressing thy love to me, will be by taking care even of the weakest and feeblest of my flock. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, som gf Jonas, lowest thou, me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17. He saith, unto him the third time, Simon, son o Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said unto him the third time, Loy- est thou me & And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that “... I love thee. Jesus saith unto Imln him, Feed my sheep. fore, Yea, Lord, | And, to impress this with the greater force upon his mind, he says to him again the second time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, dost thou indeed love me? He answers him as he had done be- appeal to thee for the sincerity of that regard which I have to thee: thou knowest that I truly love thee. tenderness and care, and thereby demonstrate the truth of thine affection to me. And, that it might never be forgot by him or any that were present, he says to him the third time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, wilt thou abide by what thou hast said? Dost thou truly love me, and will that love of thine bear the severest trial 2 that he said to him the third time, Dost thou love me? And he said to him with great earnest- ness, My dear Lord, thou knowest all things; thou seest the very hearts of men, and, seeing § thou knowest that I do indeed love thee; though my late lamentable fall might justly bring it into question, and my repeated denial of thee renders me worthy of such a rebuke [Jesus] says to him again, Feed then my sheep with Peter was exceedingly grieved as this repeated inquiry implies. Jesus says to him, Well, Peter, I acknowledge thou dost indeed love me, and know how to distinguish between frailty and treachery; and there- fore I not only own thee as a disciple, but confirm thee in thine apostolic office, again re- quiring thee to feed my sheep; and be assured that I consider thy zeal for the edification and comfort of my church as the most acceptable token thou canst possibly give of thy love to me. 8 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou ... girdedst, thy- And indeed thou shalt approve that love, not only by labours, but by sufferings too; for verily, verily, I say unto thee, and would have thee to remember it as what shall surely self, and, Waleds, whº come to pass, that when thow wast a young man, thou didst gird thyself, and walk about with- thou wouldest: but when §§§ shººid, ºu'ji out control, whithersoever thou wouldst; but when thou art grown old,” thou shalt stretch stretch forth, thy hands, and another shall gird, thee, and carry thee whither wouldest not. out thine hands, and another shall gird thee as a helpless prisoner, and at length shall carry thou [thee] whither thou wouldst not naturally incline to go, even to those sufferings to which flesh and blood have the strongest aversion: yet I know that, notwithstanding thy late miscarriage, thy love to me will bear thee through all. 19. This spake he, signify- ^e tº tº ing by what death, he jºid And this he said, si had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. gnifying and intimating b & God. And when he namely, that he should suffer martyrdom, an what kind of death he should glorify God; die with his hands stretched out on the cross. And having said this, yet further to illustrate and explain it, he says to him, Follow me then, as I now walk along, and show that thou art willing to conform to my example, and to follow me even to the death of the cross. 20 Then, Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple ywhom Jesus loved follow- Jłnd Peter did so with great alacrity; but turning about, he saw that other disciple, whom Jesus loved, silently following him, in humble token of his readiness likewise to suffer #,” ...”... the greatest extremities in the service of so dear a Master.d Now, by the way, it may be breast at supper, and sa Lord, which is he that trayeth thee f : also at the be recollected that this was the apostle John, for whom our Lord had a peculiar kindness, who paschal supper lay in his bosom, and said to him, Lord, who is he that will betray 21 Peter seeins him, saith thee? (See John xiii.25, p. 297.) Peter therefore observing this disciple, and seeing him follow Jesus in the same manner as he did himself, though he was not called to it, says xx. 19, 26.) it seems Inost reasonable to conclude that he reckons this the third as referring to these. * * a jost, thou lºve me more than these do *] The original words, TXgtov rovrov, are ambiguous; and, besides the sense I have given them, they might signify, Dost thou love me more than thou lovest these nets and other instruments of thy trade, so as to prefer my service to any worldly advantages? In this sense Dr. Whitby explains them, and argues for it from this consideration, that otherwise Peter could not have appealed to Öhrist that he did thus love him, since it was impossible for him exactly to judge of the proportion between his own love to Christ and that ºf his brethren. But that learned commentator did not observe how modestly the reply is adjusted on that head. Peter Qnly answers, Yea, Lord, (or, assuredly, Lord,) thou knowest that I love thee; but does not add, more than these. And this beautiful circumstance in the answer ºfly much he was humbled and improved by the remienibrance O I lil S 3 ||. & *. b. Feed my lambs.]. The paraphrase shows how fair q, sense may be given to these words, without supposing they invest Peter with any such distinguished authority in the church, as, contrary to the most convincing arguments, the papists suppose, and make this suppositiºn the corner stone of their Babel, Bellarmine’s distinction between lambs sheep, an signifying the laity and, clergy, is very.trifling, nor can any example of the ife distinction be produced. . It is much more natural to suppose in general, that lambs here (as in Isa, X). 11 and many other places) may signify the weakest of the, flock, which, by the way, it is by no means to be taken for granted that the laity always are. So that, on the whole, this argument for the pope’s Supremacy seems almost as contemptible as that which some writers of that com- munion have drawn from these words, to prove, that heretics, though #. are to be put to death by authority derived from Peter; because eeding the flock implies a power of killing wolves. (See Boyle’s Philos. Qomment. vol. i. p. 82.)—! shall only add, that some have ob- served that aputa, being the diminutive of apua, signifies the least of my lambs; and, if we interpret this as an intimation of the care which Peter, as a minister of Christ, was to take of little children, it seems erfectly, congruous to the wisdom and tenderness of the great Shop- lºrd of the sheep, to give so particular an injunction concerning it; as I have shown at large in my Ten Sermons on the Potcor and Grace qf Christ. Serin. vii. p. 176, et seq. 2d. edit. c When thou art grown old.] Peter’s crucifixion is said to have hap- pened about forty years after this; but the time is not exactly and certainly known. d Silently ſollowing him, in humble token of his readiness, &c.] There is a spirit and tenderness in this plain passage, which I can never read without the most sensible emotion. Christ orders Peter to follow him in token of his readiness to be crucified in his cause: John stays not för the call: he rises, and follows too; but he says not one word of his jove and his zeal. He chose that the action only should speak that; and when he records this circumstance, he tells us not what that action meant; but with great ºf; relates, the fact only. If here and there a generous heart that, like his own, glows with love to Christ, sees and emulates it, be it so but he is not solicitous men should admire it. It was addressed to his Š aster; and it was enough that he understood it.-And, can any one be himself base enough to imagine that such a man could spend his life in promoting, a pernicious falsehood, (for such, in the secºnd, edition of the ninth of my Ten Sermons, flargely prove the apostolic testimony to be, if it were a falsehood,) and at last, in his old age, when his relish for every thing, but goodness and immortality Yas ºpe, Would so solemnly attest it as he does in the conclusion of his gospel: May, GQd deliver every one that reads this from a head so atally beclouded by the corruptions of the heart : 359 200. JOHN XXI. SECT. 201. JOHN XXI. I 6 21 360 SECT. 20 i. JOHN XXI. 23 24 Wer. 15—-17 I6 CHRIST DISCOURSES WITH PETER AT THE SEA OF TIBERIAS. timio Jesus, Lord, what [shall] this man [do, and what is to become of him? Must he, who to Jesus, Lord, and what shall is nºw follºwing with me, partake of the like sufferings, and in like manner testify his love this maidº by dying for thee? * - Jesus says to him, is that any immediate concern of thine, Peter? If I will that he tarry, , 22 Jesus saith unto him. If or continue alive, till I come in power and great glory to execute the judgment i have [...] º i. | threatened on mine enemies, what [is that] to thee, of to any one else? Follow thow me: fººt to thee : mind thou thine own duty, and endeavour to preparé for thine own sufferings; and pry not - with a vain curiosity into secret events which . befall him, or any other of thy brethren. Now is this answer was nºt rightly understood, this saying therefore went abroad among 23 Then went this saying the brethren, or the other followers of Christ, that this disciple should not die; and the tºº. advanced age to which he lived gave some further colour för it: but it was entirely built ºf ºil". º: upon a mistake; for Jesus did not say to him, or of him, that he should not die; but only, hº as it was expressed before, If I will that he tarry, or continue alive, till i come, what tº wiątistidištěč f that] to thee? 5 3. And this, is the disciple who testifies concerning these things, and hath written them as 24, This is the disciple above: and since he was an eye-witness to them, and has not failed, in a proper manner, §, ºf hº ; lº in the churches the credentials necessary to prove the veracity and exactness in...w.ow that O is rerº- + . g *- wº g his testi true. is, writings, ºne certainly know that his testimony is true, and doubt not but every "*" “ candid reader will receive it accordingly.f - IMPROVEMENT. WHAT if our Lord Jesus Christ should put the same question to us that he did to Peter in this remarkable passage, and should thus repeat it again and again? Are there none of us who should be at a loss for an answer? none of us to whom he might say, I know that iſou have not the love of Christ in you ?–Or are there none of us Wh9 apprehend that, if we had ourselyes been thus pressed, we could, at the very best, only have said, Lord, thou that knoºgest all things, knowest that I cannot tell whether I love thee or not?—Blush, and be confounded, Ó my soul, if thou must reply, with such uncertainty to a question of so great importance, and in a case where all the ardour of the heart might be so justly expected But are there not still some of us who through divine grace could reply with pleasure, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that, notwithstanding all the unallowed and lamented infirmities of our lives, we do indeed love thee?–And, if we are thus really conscious to ourselves of such an unfeigned affection, let it be our daily joy, that he who implanted this divine principle in our hearts, discerns and sees if there; and, knowing all things, he perfectly knows this, however we may be suspected, however we may be censured. Let us learn also by what method we are to express our love, according to our ability and opportunity; even by feeding his sheep, and promoting the interest and edification of his church. Let ministers especially do it; and let them not forget those dear creatures, the lambs of the flock. Jesus the compassionate Shepherd, as we see, 15 did not forget them; but taught his servants with the greatest tenderness, both by his precepts and by his example, 21 13 to gather them in their arms, and carry them in their bosom. (Isa. xi. 11.) Happy are those ministers who, instead of indulging a vain curiosity in things wherein they are not at all, or but very little, concerned, are spending their lives in such faithful services: feeding the flock ºf God, and taking the oversight of it, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but j' a ready mind; that when the chief Shepherd shall appear, they may receive an unfading crown of glory: (1 Pet. v. 2, 4.) a crown which will infinitely more than repay not only their labours, but their sufferings too. - Happy Peter, who, having worn out his better years in the service of Christ, courageously stretched out his aged arms to be bound, and, being borne away to tortures and death, shed the last slow ebb of his blood as a martyr for 20–23 him who had loved him and given himself for him.—And not less º the beloved disciple, so willing to hazard SECT. 202. S A:AT T. XXVIII. 17 his life in the same cause ; though he was not in fact called to lay it down as a martyrſ Our gracious Lord, who sees every purpose and every affection as it rises in the heart, favourably accepts of the willing mind, and will, through the riches of his grace, entitle them to the reward of equal suffering who have waited with a like readiness, though they have not been called out to the severity of the like trial. .." SECTION CCII. Christ appears to the whole body of the disciples at the appointed mountain in Galilee ; and, afterwards, meets the apostles several times at Jerº- salem, and discourses with them concerning the affairs of his kingdom. Matt. xxviii. 16, to the end. AIark xvi. 15–18. Luke xxiv. 44–49. Acts i. 2, 3. - MATT. xxviii. 16. MATT. xxviii. 16. Jy’Oſſ, quickly after the late interview which Jesus had with his disciples at Jerusalem, ºś the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to a certain mountain not far from the sea of Tiberias, "...º.º. ...; where Jesus had appointed to meet them. “And he appeared to them and above five hun- appointed them. dred brethren at once, who came together from all parts of the country on that important occasion.” And having seen him, they bowed down and ºp; him ; and though Some , 17 And when they, saw * & & * * x th - *6 s! • kii : of the company had doubted at first, yet they were afterwards fully convinced.” “And j';...a...?” " the greater part of them continued alive, as witnesses of the truth of his resurrection, for several years after; though others of them died in a short time, and went to their glorified and triumphant Lord in heaven.” See I Cor. xv. 6. Thus did he manifest himself in e This saying therefore gent glºroad among the bretº ent, &c..] ...That were jº, company with thgn; though, Ala#hey has not mentioned them. there was such a notion and tradition among the ancients, Fabrícius has (See West’s Obserp. p. 25, 29.) Yet, still it is not i. to imagine how particularly shown. Cod. Apoc. Jyov. Test, vol. ii. p. 533. any of the rest of this cºmpany could gºntinue to doubt *. the * Of ſ pºſe know that his testimony is true.) Grotius would, argue, from Christ’s º when they †: #.tº: §§ i. the plural number in these words, (Annot, in John XX., 3}.) that this jº ºf: º º: º: #. {{#ſ. §§ jºr hapter was not written by John himself, but was added to his gos- 9 ºthº §: ºf ford de cô ay, as above. Tº ...ii., some other hapds. (See note a, on John xxi. 1. p. 357.) But it 9 render and paraphrase the words ºgº as, : lº ; ,i,jūīy said in the beginning of this verse, that it was he who testified learned critics, Albert (Qbsº: P. #º sº º jºie these things; and, besides that we, have frequent instances of have produced many instances in which of is put for ſºvës. Ind all the tº jść ghange of numbers, (see Rom; vii. 14. and 1 Thess. ii. 18.) it is difficulty is remoyed, if we allow, a small change in the jº and take ...jºt from the words, I suppose, in the next verse, that, only.90c per; the rendering of the Prussian Testament, Even, they who, had before sº speaks. So that no more appears to be intended here that if he had doubic: ; or, which is much the same, though some had doubted. jºi." “Wve miversaily aliow that what is testified by a credible eye- b Several years after.] It is generally granted that the First Epistle ...ſi.ess, and asserted by him under his hand, must be admitted as a to the Corinthians was written at least twenty years after Christ’s resur- Nºij testimony, and pass for unexceptionable evidence: this is the case rection; and Paal there tells us, that the greater part of these, five hun- }, ... and therefore regard it accordingly.” - , dred then continued alive; And by the way, it was a wise und gracious a Thºugh some of the company had doubted, at first, &c.) , There is dispensation of Divine Prºvidence, º º º º: SO lºng, :18 no room, to think that this refers to some of the apostles, when Christ each of them, wherever %º: ed them, Yº: }: an authºritic jº"lateſy satisfied the most ingredulous among thern; but we are yitness of that impº act, the resurrection of Our Lord, the great ...tail; to inderstand it (as Mr. West has fully shown) of some that fundamenta) of the christian faith. - Acts i. 2. [And] through the Holy Ghost [he gave] com- mandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he she wed himself alive aſter his pas- sion, by many infallible - proofs, being seen of then, forty days, and speaking O the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Luke xxiv. 44. And [Jesus came, and spake unto them, saying,) These are the words which I spake up to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be ful- filled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms fºemies me. [Matt. xxviii. 8. 45 Then opened he their un- derstanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus, it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that, repentance and remission of sins shoul be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. . Matt. xxviii. 18. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Luke xxiv. 48. And ye are witnesses of these things. 49 And, behold, I send the promise of my faſh; upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until , ye be endued with power from on high. Mark xvi. 15. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel lo every Creature. GALILEE. 361 Galilee to a considerable number of his disciples at once; “and after that, he appeared to SECT. James,” and then (as we shall see º to all the apostles.”. See 1 Cor. xv. 7. 202. But though he showed himself thas openly to his disciples, “he did not publicly appear at any time to all the people; nor indeed did he show himself, in any other instance, to # so large an assembly even of his own disciples: but in the several appearances he made, 17 “ he chiefly conversed with the apostles, and conſined his visits to those witnesses that were chosen before by God to attest the truth of his resurrection ; who had frequent opportuni- ties of a free conversation with him, and, as we have seen before, (Luke xxiv. 30, 42, 43. and John xxi. 12, 13.) did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.” See Acts x. 41. ...sº And at these times of his conversing with them,” he more particularly opened to them ACTs what was the nature and design of their office; [and] through the Holy Spirit, which was 2 " given not by measure to himself, and which he had lately breathed into them, he gave com- jnandments and instructions to the apostles whom he had chosen, how they were to act: To 3 whom also he gave abundant evidences of the truth of his resurrection, and showed himself to be alive after he had suffered death, by many infallible proofs and iokens; being seen of them at various times for the space of forty days after his resurrection, and speaking to them of the things which related to the kingdom of God. - And these his last interviews with them were chiefly at Jerusalem, to which they re- LUKE turned soon after his appearance to them on the mountain in Galilee , and Jesus also came aº" thither, and made them repeated visits: and on one of these occasions he spake unto them, saying.” These [are] the words which I spake to you, and these the intimations that I often gave you while I was ſet dwelling among you, that all the things must be exactly fulfilled which are written in the Scriptures concerning me, both in the Pentateuch, which is called the law of Moses, and in the books of the succeeding prophets, and in the Psalms, and other poetical books of the Old Testament. And at the same time he not only in words expounded to them the sense of the sacred 45 - writers, but also, by a secret operation on their intellectual faculties, opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures in their reference to him. And in a most convincing 46 manner he enlarged upon the important subject, and said to them, When you consider all these things, you must certainly perceive that thus it was written, and thus it was necessary, in conformity to the council of God, and for the manifestation of his glory, that the Mes- siah should suffer, and should rise again from the dead, as I have dore, on the third day; ...And that, in consequence of this, and on this great foundation, the important doctrines of 47 repentance and forgiveness of sins through faith in him should be preqched in his name, and by his authority, to all the nations of the earth, beginning first at Jerusalem itself, though polluted with the blood of the Prince of life.f You know indeed (added he) how cruelly the Jews have treated me, and how ungrate- MATT. CHRIST APPEARS TO ALL IIIs DISCIPLES IN 4% fully they have º me ; but their outrageous malice has now done its utmost, and my * heavenly Father has not only rescued me from their hands, but is exalting me to all that height of dignity and glory which the sacred oracles have so pathetically described: for all authority is now given unto me both in heaven and on earth; and, in accomplishment of what was promised to the Messiah, I am raised to a kingdom which comprehends both the upper and lower worlds, and entitles me to the homage of angels as well as of men. ...And yet, though I could so easily command the ministry of those more glorious creatures, tº it suits best with the scheme of my gospel to make use of you, who shall accordingly be º' witnesses of all these things, by publishing the certain knowledge that you have of the im- portant truths of my death and resurrection; and who are therefore to look upon it as the great business of your lives to spread the notices and evidences of these facts. .ind, that 49 you may be fully qualified for so high an office, behold, I am shortly to send upon you the great promise of my Falher relating to the miraculous effusion of the Holy Spirit upon you. (Compare Joel ii. 28. and Acts ii. 16, 17.) And as the divine wisdom sees fit to honour this place, sinful as it is, with the first view of this surprising appearance, I charge you not to go from hence before you have received those gifts and graces you shall be furnished with for the discharge of your ministry; but do you continate here in the city of Jerusalem till you are invested with this power from on high;h whereby you will be enabled to bear your testimony in so advantageous and convincing a manner, that no falsehood or sophistry will be able finally to stand before you. ſlid further, he said to them, When you shall thus be furnished with the extraordinary *.* gifts of the Spirit, go forth into all parts of the world, and preach the gospel to every human 15 '" c After that he appeared to James.) It is probable this was James the son of Alpheus, who was still living when the apostle Paul wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians, whercas the other James, the son of Zebedee, had suffered martyrdom some years before. (Acts, Nii. 2.) But the circumstances of this appearance are nowhere recorded, nor havo we any cresiibie account yiere or when it happened ; only we learn, from tie order in which it is placed by the apostle Paul, that it was after Christ’s appearance to the five hundred brethren. See note b, on Luke XNiv. 34. p. 355. & $ - d And at these times of his conversing with them.]. As I have inserted in the first paragraph of tiris section what is said, in the First Epistle to the Corinati,isins, of our Lord’s appearance to the five hundred bre- thren, and to James, so I have thought it proper to introduce in this and the nexu section what reities to this story in the beginning of the Acts, (cf::ip. i. 2–1:2.) which reijders the narration more. ;"||...; an:l finishas thº account \visiºi, the sacred writers give us of the history of our Lord to tire time of the ascensio:). * * - e On oue of these accusations be spake, &c.) I use this indetermigate form of expression, because i see 119 ºrk by which we can particularly ascertain time time when the ſolio wing discourse was delivered ; only, ſ think it very plain it must be after their return to Jerusalem, (see Like xxiv. 49.) and consequently a very few days before our Lord's ascen- sion. I have thrown ail that tiré three evangelists say of these dis- courses into one continued discourse, though perhaps some of the in might be uclivered at different times. - - * f Beginning at Jerusale.ii.) As for the grammatical construction of the Greek word apkapizyºv, it would be foreign from the design of these notes to enter into it further than to refer the learned reader to Elsner, (Obserp, vol. i. p. 28S.) and Raphetius, (/lnyt. ex: Herod, p: 270, 277.) and to the original of Luke xxiii. 5 xxiv. 27. and Acts x. 37.-it was both graciously and wisely appointed by our Lord, that the gospel should begin to be preached at Jerusalem ; graciously, as it encouraged the repeatance of the greatest sinners, when they saw that g ven the murderers of Christ were not exempted from the offers of gospel-mercy ; and wisely, as hereby christianity was more abundantis a tiested, the facts being published just on the spot where they happened ; and as the vast concourse of people, of various nations, present there at the feast of Pentecost, would contribute greatly to its more speedy spread. g You Sºutll be acitnesses of these things.] That this was the grand business of the apostles, is evident; and the ingenious author of Jºſis- cellancº Sacra, (Essay iii. p. 17—23.) has taken great pains to show how the title of witnesses and the office of testifying is in the sacred writ- ings appropriated to the apostles. But after all, though it was indeed essential to the apostolic offices, that they, who bore it should be able to testify the facts us of their own personal knowledge, yet it is certain that a great many others who were not apostles, were able to testify the same : and it was their duty, and no doubt their care, to do it, as Providence gave them an opportunity ; and the aposties had niany other duties incumbent upon them for the edification of the church, and, in order to the performance of them, were furnished with extra- ordinary gifts and noweſs, for which they would have laud little occa- Sion litud it been their only business to testify these facts. h Continue in the city of Jerusalem till you are in cestcd, &c.) . This passage utterly overthrows Mr. Yy his lon’s assertion, that all this dis- course was delivered on the night Christ rose ſi on the dead; and that the ascension related by Luke in the codelusion of this chapter, is not that at the end of ſoriy days, when he quitled this curth to return to it no more, but a previous useension which was made on the resurrèg; tion-day. For nothing can be more certain than that the apostles did uit Jerusalem between Christ’s resurrection and the descent of the Spirit, and went into Galilee by Christ's appointment, which was Sig- mified to them by the angel and by himself too. 46 362 SECT. 202. MARK XYI. 16 MATT. XXVIII. 19 20 MARK XVI. I 8 CHRIST DISCOURSES WITH THE APOSTLES CONCERNING HIS KINGDOM. creature under heaven to whom Providence may lead you, whether Jew or Gentile: And take care that you deliver it with becoming seriousness, and let them see to it that they receive it with proportionable regard ; for it is a matter of infinite importance, Aná accordingly I now solemnly declare, That he who sincerely believes your testimony, an in token of that cordial faith, is baptized in my name, and continues to maintain a tempe; and conduct suitable to that engagement, .# certainly be saved with a complete and everlasting salvation; but he who believeth not this my gospel, when opened with such con- vincing evidence, and finally persists in wilful impenitence and unbelief, as he rejects the most gracious counsel of God for his recovery, shall be condemned by his righteous judg- ment to future and everlasting punishment, and shall, to his dreadful experience, find that gospel which he has despised to be a savour of death to him. - Qbserve then, the extent of your commission, and go forth therefore, not only into Judea, but into all the rest of the world, and prosélyte all the nations of the earth to the faith and obedience of my gospel, #º them in the awful and venerable name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;" that by this solemn initiatory ordinance they may profess their subjection to each of these divine persons, and maintaining suitable regards to each, may receive from each correspondent blessings. And see that you instruct the converts whom you so baptize, teaching ihem to keep and observe all things whatsoever I have commanded lºw ; as remembering that I am their Lord, and you only the messen- 'ers of my will. .ind, while you act in pursuance of these directions, though numberless difficulties will appear in your way, yet be not discouraged at them; for behold, I am al- wºſs with Joji, to support and comfort you, and in some measure at léast to succeed your abours; and I will to such purposes as these be with all my faithful ministers who shall . 16 He that, believeth and is baptized shall...be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Matt. xxviii. 19. 9 ye, therefore, and teach all ina: tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; 20 Teaching them to ob- serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, o, I am with you alway, cven unto the end of the world Amen. succeed, you in the work, even to the end of the world.” Amén 1 O blessed Jesus, so may it indeed be And may this important promise be fulfilled to us, and to our successors to the remotest ages, in its full extent!” cºnd he Yet further added, So far as it is necessary and expedient for the confirmation of my gospel, and the establishment of my cause and interest in the world, a miraculous power shall attend you, and others who shall join with you or succeed you in the first plantation of my church ; and in particular, these signs, and others no less wonderful, shall ..fºllºw thºm that believe, and be performed by those who in a lively manner exercise their faith in God, when he is inwardly exciting them to such operations:P in my name they shall cast out the most obstinate and mischievous demons who may have possessed the bodies, of men; they shall, by an extraordinary and hitherto unknown effusion of my Spirit, be enabled with the greatest fluency and propriety to speak in various new languages which they have never learnt; They shall take up serpents without being bitten or endan- gered by them;" and if, by some secret or open attempt made to destroy them, they drink any deadly and malignant poison, it shall not hurt them; [and] when they shall lay [their] hands on the sick and infirm, it shall be attended with a healing virtue and they shall im: mediately recover without the use of any further means. So that, in consequence of this extraordinary confirmation, my gospel shall meet with a very general reception, and my heavenly Father, according to his promise, “shall give me the heathen for mine inherit- ance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for my possession.” (See Psal. ii. 8.) Such was the purport of Our Lord's discourse; and in this manner he conversed with his disciples till his ascension; with the account of which illustrious fact we shall conclude this important history of his life. ſ IMPROVEMENT. , Mark xvi. 17. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up ser- pents; and if they drink, any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall reCOver. WITH how ill a grace could the Jews complain of any deficiency in the evidence of our Lord's resurrection, when he appeared alive to so great a number as five hundred at once! How glad must these disciples be when MATT. XXVIII. 16 i When opened with such convincing evidence.] This is by no means a proper place to inquire into the proportion between the evidence which was peculiar to the days of the apostles, and that which is com- - in succeeding ages has acted mon to our own. But I hope it will be considered, on the one hand, that more was said to those of whose baptism we read in the Acts; than is there recorded, before they were admitted to it. The christian ci hurch * a wise and safe part in retaining these words ; and they contain so strong an intimation that each of these per- how improbable it is that a divine revelation, introduced as the gospel ywas, should ever be left, so destitute of proofs in after-ages, that an honest man, after impartial consideration, might reject it; and on the other, hoºfit it was that the danger of neglecting it should be strongly declared, lest it should seem itself to have left men at liberty to trifle With it. k Shall be condemned, &c,.] As for the objection which has been urged against the truth of christianity, from the damnatory sentence which it here and else where pronounces on those that reject it, I have considered it at large since the former publication of this volume, and attempted to show that it is so far from being conclusive, that it would rather have been a great difficulty in the schemg of christianity if it had contained no such sentence. See my Second JLetter to the Author of Christianity not founded on Argument, p. 28-47. And I must earnestly entreat any reader who fancies there is any ſorce in what the deists urge on this head, attentively to consider what is there offered, before he presume on the º seritiment, which may perhaps be an error as fatal as it is 3. OSUli (1. 1 Proselyte all the nations of the earth.] The whole tenor of the sug- ceeding books of the New Testament shows that Christ designed by this commission that the gospel should be preached to all mankind without exception, not oily to the Jews, but to all the idolatrous Gentiſes: but the prejudices of the apostles, led thern at first to mistake the sense, and to imagine that, it referred only to their going to preach the gospel to the Jews among all nations, or to those who should be willing to become Jews. I render the word puff"Teva are, proselyte, that it may be duly distinguislicd from Ötöga Koizes, teaching, (in the next verse,) with which our version gonſounds it: . The former seems to import instruction in the essentials of religion, which it was necessary adult persons should know and submit to, before they could regularly, be admitted to baptism ; the latter. Inay, relate to those more particular admonitions in rezard to christian faith and practice, which were to be built upon that ſoundation. It is certain that no argument can be drawn from hence to the prejudice of infant, baptism : for had Christ sent out these missionaries, to propa- §te Judaism in the world, he might have used the same language: “Go and proselyte all nations, circumcisiºns them in the name of the God of Israel, and teaching the in to observe all that Moses commanded.” aptizing them in the na:ne of the Father, &c..] Though I dare not assert that the use of these very words is essential to Christian baptism, yet surely the expression must intimate, the peccssity, of some distinct regard to each of the Sacred Three, which is always to be maintained in the administration of this ordinance ; and consequently it ſmust imply sons is properly God, and that worship is to be paid and glory ascribed to each, that I cannot but hope they will be a means of maintaining the belief of the one, and the practice of the other, among the generality of christians to the end of the world. . n I am # with you, even to the end of the ſcorld..] As Christ’s presence with his surviving apostles and other ministers was as neces- sary after the destruction of Jerusalem as before it, nothing seems more unreasonable than to limit these words, by such an interpretation, as to refer them, only to that period : nor does it, indeed appear that the end of the world is ever used in any other than the most extensive sense, o .3 men ſ—so may it indeed be 'J Though the word Amen, with which each of the gospels ends, seems chiefly to have been intended as an intimation of the gonclusion of the book, and as an asseveration of the certain truth of the things contained in it, yet I think the turn here given to it in Matthew very natural, considering its connexion with that promise, which was undoubtedly the greatest strength and joy of that good man’s heart. St. John uses th9, like, turn in more express language in the last verse but one of the I&evelation. Surely I come ºft. Jāmcm { Even so come, Lord Jesus / - p These signs shall follow them thqt believe, &c.] It is exceeding, evi- dent that the word believe, in this place, must signify something differ- ent from that faith which had, in the preceding verse of Mark, been required as indispensably necessary to salvation; and can have no other rational interpretation than what is here given. q They shall take up serpents.] Jamblicus (Pºit. Pythag, cap. 28.) says that Pythagoras could do this ; and very credible writers have as- serted that in the eastern nations there is an art of charming snakes and serpents by the force of nyusic, so as for a while to suspend their dispo- sition to hurt. (See Bochart, Hierozoic, part, ii. lib. iii. cap. 6. and compare Psalm Iviii. 4, 5. and Eccles. X. 1.1.) But this power was un- doubtedly exerted without any such artifice, and included (as in the case of Paul, Acts, xxviii. 3-5.) an ability to head the most dangerous wounds given by the bile of the most noxious animals. r II, by some secret or open atternpt made to destroy them, they drink, &c.] [ add this clause that none may imagine God ever intended that these miraculous powers should be used merely for ostentation, or to gratify the curiosity of spectators. . Considering, to what degrees of cursed refinement the art of poisoning was by this time brought, as well as how frequently execution was done by, giving poison to Čon- demned persons in the age and country in which, the apostles lived, such a promise as this wil) appear more important than the reader might at first apprehend. - CHRIST'S LAST DISCOURSE WITH HIS DISCIPLES. 363 they saw the Lord! and with what pleasure must they hear him speaking of those things which concerned the SECT. kingdom of God! e * º §. have surely perpetual reason for thankfulness, when we think of that commission which Christ gave to his disciples: nor is it a circumstance of little importance, that they had it in charge, when they published this mes- sage of grace, to begin at Jerusalem; though the religious º that were abused by that ungrateful city had already been so great, and their provocations so many. Amazing condescension of the Prince of Peace, that he sent his ambassadors of peace to j when they had hardly laid aside the weapons with which they had slain him, and were scarce rested after the cruel fatigue which their officious malice had given them in abetting his murder! Behold, he offers them all the invaluable blessings purchased by his blood, while it was yet, as We may say, warm upon mount Calvary And, on the same principles, even unto this day, where sin hath abounded, there is grace abounding much more. (Rom. v. 20.) - * * * The commission he gave his apostles, though it began at Jerusalem, did not end there; nor was it confined within the narrow limits of Judea, but they were ap º: to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. We to this day, in our remote land, enjoy i. of it. Let us remember the important consequences that will one way or another attend the gospel thus brought us: If we believe it, we shall be saved; but if we believe it not, we shall be damned. Life or death, O my soul, is the certain issue of it, with regard to thee in particular. Be surely to thy servant, O Lord, for good, ë. cxix. 122.) and let my life be precious in thy sight ! - Christ opened the understanding of the apostles to apprehend the sense of Scripture. Let us study that sacred book with an humble dependence upon the aid of that blessed Spirit by whom it was dictated: and let these apostles, who were thus divinely taught, be reverently regarded as our surest guides when we are studying the oracles of the Old Testament; considering the extraordinary commission with which Christ sent them forth, the power from on high with which he invested them, and the ample credentials which he thereby gave them. These miraculous donations are now ceased, but that valuable promise still continues in force, That he will be with his ministers always, even unto the end of the world. In the strength of that gracious assurance, Q thou faith- ful and true Witness, would thine humbled ambassadors still go forth to all the labours and difficulties before them. Remember thy word unto thy servants (Psal. cxix. 49.) and may it be unto us according to it! Amen. SECTION CCIII. Christ, after his last discourse with his disciples, ascends, to heaven in their sight, from the mount 95 Qives in the neighbourhood of Bethany, and they joyfully return to Jerusalem, waiting for the Spirit. Mark xvi. 19, to the end. Luke xxiv. 50, to the end. John xx. 30, to the end. xxi. ult. Acts i. Acts i. 4. ACTS i. 4. AND, being assembled toge- SUCH was the conversation Jesus had with his disciples at Jerusalem, and such the com- .*.* tº º, mission he gave them; and now at length, having gathered them together on the fortieth §le ºil."ºº": day after his resurrection, he charged them again, as he had done before, (Luke xxiv. 49. promise of the Father, which, p. ñº not to depart from Jerusalem, to employ themselves in any secular cares at home, it he Ye have heard of but rather to spend some succeeding days in extraordinary devotion in the temple, or in & their secret retirements; that they might, with the most becoming temper, wait for the accomplishment of that promise of the Father which, [said he, you have, again and again, heard from me, both before and since my resurrection. (Compare John xiv. 26. xv. 26. 5 For John, truly baptized xvi. 7. and Luke xxiv. 49.) For John indeed baptized with water, when he was sent to call tº: #.... men to repentance; but, you well know that he declared at the same time, “there was one not many days hence. coming after him, who should baptize in a more glorious manner with the Holy Spirit.” (See Matt. iii. 11. p. 44.) And in accomplishment of this prediction, as you are now to be sent forth to preach the gospel, and to bear witness of me as the true Messiah, that whosoever shall j. in me may obtain remission of sins, you shall be plentifully fur- nished from above with all those graces that may enable you to fulfil your ministry, and by my means shall be baptized with an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit; and this - shall be done mot many days hence. Luke xxiv. 50. And he flnd he then took them with him out of the city; and passing over the brook Kedron |º out * * * * again, in a very different manner from that in which he had lately crossed it, (John Xviii. 1. . 315.) he led ihem out to the mount of Olives, and brought them through that ridge of - i. as far as to the boundaries of Bethany.” Acts i. 6, when they there- When therefore they were come together with such peculiar, solemnity, and Jesus had §. . .".m.º., thus assembléd them in a body, (as they apprehended, on some extraordinary occasion,) Lord, will hºnºhis time they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thow at this time, when they have just been guilty of restore again the kingdom to - * ***** * * * * - * * * * •. * * -- . . . * Israel? such aggravated wickedness, restore the kingdom to Israel? And wilt thou now in such a manner show thy favour to a nation which so well deserves to be destroyed, that Israel shall at this time be raised from its servitude, to that extensive empire which ancient pro- phecies have led us to expect under the government of the Měssiah? 7. And he said unto them, But, as Jesus was not willing to enter, on a subject concerning which the Spirit would {...º.º.º.º. ºf soon rectify their notions, he chose to check their curiosity, and said to them,'Whatevºr th. Father haifi put in his the schemes of Providence may be, it is not for you to know, and therefore is not proper for own power. -- you to inquire, what are those times or seasons which the Father has placed under his own authority; the Messiah's kingdom shall indeed be triumphant, and the Israel of God shall reign with him ; but where, or when, or how this shall be, it is not your present business 8. But tº: i." º: to inquire. And therefore now let not these secret things engage and take up your atten- §eºnºu: ... tion; but let me rather exhort you to mind your present duty, and to leave the event of ... . . .º.º things to God: and, to prepare you for the important service you are called to, you shall i. iiidéjaï, indeed, as I before have told you, receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you; §º..." "P" and by this means you shall be qualified to be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and is all Judea, and in Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth ; and you shall gather in subjects to my kingdom in the remotest regions, and subdue multitudes to the obedience of faith. a Jas far as to the boundaries of Bethany.], This at least must be the much nearer to Jerusalem, and took in part of the mount of Olives. import of the word cos; but what is said elsewhere, will not allow us (See note a, on Matt. xxi. 1. p. 254.)—It is indeed possible that our to extend it to the town itself; for the town of Bethany was about fifteen Lord might make his last visit on earth to Lazarus and his pious sisters; furlongs from Jerusalem, (John Xi. 18.) whereas the place from which but it is manifest he did not ascend from the town of Jethany, where our Lord ascended, on mount Olivet, was but, a sabbath-day’s journey, many, others must have seen him, but from the mount of Qliyes, where or about half that distance, from Jerusalem, (Acts i., 12.) So that, to none beheld him but his own disciples; nor is there any intimation in reconcile what Luke here tells us in his gospel, with the account he the words of the evangelist, that he came from Bethany to the mºunt of gives of Qur, Lord’s ascension in the Acts, we must conclude that he Qlives on the day of his ascension, but rather that he went directly from conducted his disciples only to the boundaries of Bethany, which camo Jerusalem thither. 202. LUKE XXIV. 47 AIARK LURKE XXIV. . 45 49 MATT. XXVIII. 20 S ECT. 203. 4 5 ACTS I.U. RE XXIV. 50 6 7 8 ACTS I. 364 SEC'T. 203. I_{j KE XXIV. 5 CHRIST ASCENDS TO HEAVEN FROM MOUNT OLIVET. 4nd then lifting up his hands in a most solemn and devout manner, he blessed them, as one Luke xxiv.50. And he liſt that had authority, riot only to desire, but to command, a blessing on them; and recom- mended them to the guardianship and care of his heavenly Father, to whom, an abode on earth, he was now returning. - ::ind it came to pass, after the Lord had spoken these things writo them, and had with great affection and solemnity, discoursed with his disciples of the work they were to do, and of qualify them for it, even while he was blessing them, the power they should have to up his hands, and blessed them, after so long 51 And it came to pass, (after the Lord had spoken [Acts, these things] unto he was them, while he blessed them, ACTs miraculously separated from them. ...And while they steadfastly beheld him, and fixed their #º źm. 10 eyes upon him with the strictest observation, he was taken up from the ground on which he stood, and gradually carried up into heaven,b as it seemed by the ministry of attending Acts i. 9. And while they beheld, he was taken up, LUKE, and carried up into angels (though he could certainly have ascended merely by his own power); and while hé fººl ºf sºlº hovered in the air at some distance from them, a bright cloud appeared, as a kind of trium- m out of their sight §§§ sat on the right hand phant chariot which God had prepared on this great occasion, and received him out of: #Markºvi. 19. Luke their sight; and, passing through crowds of adoring angels, he ascended to a throne highl exalted above all theirs, and sat down, even at y the right hand of God, on a seat of the highest dignity and authority, there to reign, in the glories of his mediatorial kingdom, till all things shall be put under his feet. (See I Cor. xv. 25, 27.) .#nd as they were steadfastly looking up to heaven, * - while he went on in his amazing and triumphant progress, behold, two angels, in the form of men, in white and shining rainent being of the number of those whose ministration God was pleased to make use of in this stood b 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as 3 he went up, behold, two men y them in white ap- 11 illustrious event, came and stood near them; Who also spake to them, and said, Ye men of "if which also said, Ye men LUKE 53 neSS. MARK 20 JOHN XXI. Galilee, why do ye stand gazing your Lord hi | to heaven with such great astonishment? Is it not what ºf mself has often told you, that he was soon to return to the glory from which jº"; tığ. he came 2. And we are now sent hither to assure you that this Jesus, who is thus taken up ºff. - ..from you into heaven, shall so come again in the very same manner as you have now behe him go into heaven: for the great day shall surely come, when he will visibly descend from Galilee, why stand....y.e gazing up into heaven? This you into heaven, ome in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. heaven in a cloud of glory, attended as now with a guard of angels, to dispense their final judgment to all the inhabitants of the world; but in the mean time, the heavens must re- ceive him, and you must no more expect his company on earth. :ffnd his disciples were so fully satisfied of his divine power and glory, that they wor- **g, shipped him with the humblest reverence, though he was now become invisible to them; and then (as he had ordered them) returned to Jerusalem with great joy, from the mount called Olivet, where he was parted from them; which is but a sabbath-day's journey, or about a Luke xxiv, 52. And they worshipped him, and [then] returned to Jerusalem, with great, joy, [from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath-day’s mile, distant from Jerusalem :” and it exceedingly rejoiced their hearts to think that Jesus journey :) [Acts i. 12.] their Lord was in this singular manner honoured by his heavenly Father, and received up into a state of everlasting felicity and glory, in which he would be able to protect all his followers, and to provide in the most effectual manner for their present and eternal happi- .3nd they were always in the temple, that is, they constantly attended there at proper , 53. And were continually times, and were daily present at the hours of prayer, praising and blessing God, both in jeº"A."< * his house and in their own retirements. .4men 1 May God always be praised by us, an ssing God. Amen by all who receive his gospel, for the discoveries and attestations of it given to these his servants, and by them to us! And in a few days after this, (as will be shown more largely in the following history,) their ascended Lord, in remembrance of his promise to them, sent down as a royal dona- tive the extraordinary influences of his Spirit upon them, fully to qualify them for that im- - oing forth with this furniture, they oman empire, and even among the arbarous nations, with amazing success, the Lord, according to hi them, an:l confirming the word of his grace by the signs and portant office to which they were designed. ..?nd {. the gospel every where throughout the whole Mark xvi. 20. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord work- ing with them, and confirm- ing the word with signs fol- lowing. Amen. is promise, working with miracles which followed it; which were at once the most solid, as well as the most obvious and popular, demonstra- tions of those divine truths which they delivered. .4men / So may the presence of the Lord be always with his faithful ministers! and may his gospel be attended every where with efficacy and success, as well as with convincing evidences of its divine authority! ...And thus we have given a i. account of the most remarkable * of Christ during the time of his abode on earth: but after all, it must be considered only Wiś ° as a specimen, rather than a full narration: for there are also many other thin said and did, and indeed many other signs and miracles that Jesus wrought, both before and after his resurrection, in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book of .º.º.º.º.º. the four Evangelists, which is here completed ; and which indeed are so numerous, that every one [of them] should be recorded in all its circumstances, I am persuaded the wor would amount to so vast a bulk, that the world itself would not be able to receive the books [John xx. 30.] that should be written, but the very size of the volumes would necessarily prevent the gene- rality of mankind from procuring or reading them.” But these most necessary and import- Johnxx.31. But these are JOHN RX, 31. assages of the life John xxi. 25. And there other things - d; [and many S that Jesus other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disci- ples, which are not written in ... should be written every one Q. #. P. that even the worl itself could not contain the books that should be written. b While they beheld, he was taken up, &c..] It will, I hope, be remem; bered, that it was for majesty, and not, of necessity, that out Lord used she ministration of angels in carrying himself to heaveſ):--Dr. Jeppings is as "observed, with his usual sagacity and propriety, (Scrºl. at #. ºrces, voi. i. p. 373.) that it was much more proper our Lord should ascend to heaven in the sight of his apostles, than that he should rise from the dead in their sight; for his resurrection was proved, when they saw him, alive after his passion but they could not see him in heaven while thcy continued upon earth. c Which is a sabbath-day’s journey from Jerusalem.] A sabbath-day’s journey is generally reckoned by the Jews to be two thousand cubits, ºñich was the distance between the ark and the camp, when they marched; (Josh. iii. 4.) and probably the same prºportion Was observed when they rested. This is usually computed at about eight furlongs, or a mile. lit as the camp took in a largé extent of ground, and this was only the distancé of those that encamped nearest to the ark, so it is evident, that as all the people were 3 repair gº the sabbath-day to the place of God’s public worship, a sabbath-day’s journey was more than £º thousand cubits to those whose station in the camp, was more remote from the ark: yet when they were afterward settled, in towns, #ºllowed no more than two thousand cubits, for a sabbath;day's journey. (Šee Selden, De Jur. Jyat. et Gent, lift. iii. º: 9. and Light- #3: Hor Hebr. on Îuke xxiv, 50. and Acts i. 12.) Compare note a, in this section, on Luke xxiv. 50: - - l .#13 ºre zigays in the temple..] Some have imagined (by comparing this with Acts i. 13, 14.) that the apostles, dwelt for some time afterwards in an upper chamber of the temple ; but they had no such interest with the priests as to allow us to suppose they would per- mit them to lodge in an apartment of the temple. It is stifficient that they were always there at the proper seasons; for it, is well known, that by night the temple was shut up. , (Compare Luke ii. 37. p. 34, an John xviii. 20. p. 324. Iey probably, joined their voices with the chorus of the Levites, as no doubt other pious Israelites did ; and must surely, from what they had already seen änd known, have learnt to use many of the psalms sung by them in a much sublimer sense than the generality of the people gould. - e The icorld itself icould not be able to receive the books, &c.] There would be no great ingonyenience in allowing an hyperbole here, aS Imost expositors do, of which we...megt with other instances, in . Scripture, (See Gen. xi. 4. Numb...,xiii. 33., and compare John xii. 19.) §: l think the sense given in the paraphrase easier, and more suited to the remarkable plainness of St. John’s style. Elsner explains this passage as if the evangelist had said, “If they were all to be particularly writ- ten, the unbelieving world would not admit them, so as to be moved b them to faith and obedience.” And he produces instances in which x opew has such a signification. But, as John knew the unbelieving world would reject even what he had written, this could be no reason for his writing no more.--Perhaps it may be a most delightful part of the entertainment of the heavenly world, to learn from our blessed Lord himself, er from those who conversed with him on earth, a multitude º CHRIST ASCENDS TO HEAVEN FROM MOUNT OLIVET. 365 written, º: yº might be-ant things are written in this plain way, and in this portable volume, not merely that the SECT. §§§ºf §ºś: reader may be amused by so curious a story, but that the faith, the hope, and the piety of 203. #ºi, º, *ś christians may be confirmed; and especially that you may more firmly, and assured Hºme. ” believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of %; partaking of the same divine glory with ºn the Father, and the sure object of his people's confidence; and that, believing it, you may 31° be so influenced by his instructive discourses, his completé example, and his dying love, that you may have eternal life through his name. And may God grant that, as it is all mºst certainly and circumstantially true, so it may have that happy effect upon all those by whom this history is perused from age to age! Amen. IMPROVEMENT. THUs did our victorious Saviour ascend on high, and lead captivity captive: the chariots of God which attended º: him were twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: (Psal. lxviii. it, 18.) and being gone into heaven, he is there 5: "" seated on the º: hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject to him. (1 Pet. iii.22) "...ers Let us his humble followers look after him with holy joy and pleasing expectation; congratulating his triumphs, £; 10, and trusting, through his grace, to share them. p Like the apostles, let us bow down and worship him; and while we continue here below, let us make it our LUKE daily labour and care to seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. (Col. iii. 1.) sº And instead of amusing ourselves with the vain dreams of temporal grandeur and felicity, or with curious inquiries after those times and seasons which the Father hath reserved in his own power, let us apply with vigour and zeal to ACTs that business which he has assigned us, labouring to the utmost to promote his gospel, and, by a #. improve- “” ment of our time and opportunities, to prepare for his final appearance, when the Lord himself shall descend from 11 heaven with more public splendour than he returned thither, and shall come in the glory of his Father, and his own glory, with a majestic pomp which every eye shall see, and with the sound of a trumpet, which even all the nations of the dead shall hear. • In the mean time, let us thankfully own his gracious presence with his disciples, whom he left behind him; and MARK with admiring gratitude reflect upon the happy consequences of that presence in the establishment of the gospel onº in the world, and the transmission of it even unto us, in so remote an age and country. - 20 Let us especially praise him for these sacred records, which contain such an authentic and exact account of those JOHN important facts in which we are all so nearly concerned; records incomparably more valuable than the writings of gº" our private estates, or the charters of our public liberties. Let us earnestly pray that their great design may be ** answered in us; and make it our importunate request to Him who is the Giver of all grace, that, through the ope- rations of that Holy Spirit, without the influence of which, even Scripture itself, with all our advantages for under- standing and improving it, will be but a sealed book or a dead letter, our faith may be nourished and confirmed by every portion of it which we read; and that our hearts may be so delivered into the mould of his word, that John believing on Christ, under all the characters he bears, we may have life through his name; and may at length , ºx. receive the end of our faith, in the complete salvation of our souls through him: to whom, with the Father, and the eternal Spirit, be undivided honours and everlasting praises. Amen, and .4men / - of such particulars of his life as will be well worthy our everlasting ad- an unutterable relish to them. Amen / So may it be tº the author of miration. In the mean time, the pious and attentive study of what is this Exposition, and to all those who do or may peruse it! here recorded, may most happily prepare us for such discoveries, and add - SECT. 1. "THE F A M I L Y E X P O S I T O R . THE ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES, WRITTEN BY ST. LUKE, SECTION I. ST. LUKE CONNECTS THIS HISTORY WITH HIS GOSPEL, BY A MORE PARTICULAR Account OF THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST THAN HE HAD THERE GIVEN. - Acts 1. VER. 1. THE former treatise which I lately * - - composed,” and inscribed to thee, O Theophilus, COIl- aimed a faithful narrative, as far as might be necessary for the confirmation of a christian convert, concerning all the most considerable things which Jesus began both to do and to ** teach,” and gave an account of the manner in which Christ opened the gospel, and in which he confirmed it, from his first appearance on earth to the last period of his abode upon it; 2 Even to the very day in which he was taken up into heaven again, after he had, by the influ. ence and assistance of the Holy Spirit, with which he himself was so abundantly anointed, given a proper charge to the apostles, whom he had chosen, to be the prime ministers of his 3 kingdom, and the great instruments of extending it in the world: To whom also, in order to fit them more completely for the discharge of their important office, he presented himself alive qfler his suffering, with many most evident testimonials of the truth of his resurrection; while, though he declined appearing publicly among the Jews, he often showed himself to his disciples, being seen by them at various times for no less than forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God, which was then shortly to be erected 4 to thern by their means. ;And, on the fortieth day after his resurrection, having assembled them together, with pe- culiar solemnity,” he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem directly,” though he was now to stay no longer with them, and they knew of no immediate business which they had there; but ordered them to wait there for the accomplishment of that promise of the Father to send the Spirit, which, [said he,ſ] you have so often and so lately heard from me. (See 5 John xiv. 26. xv. 26. xvi. 7...and Luke xxiv. 49.) For John indeed baptized with water only, when he was sent to call men to repentance; but, as he then declared, (Matt. iii. 11.) ACTS i. 1–12. - Acts i. VER. 1. THE former treatise has 3 I made, O Theophilus, of al. that Jesus began both to do and teach, a Tlic former treatise I conposed.] This former treatise is undoubtedly the gospel which was written by St. Luke, and dedicated by him to The- ophilus : and, as this history of the Acts was written by the same person, it is allowed by all antiquity, the author of it was St. Luke, whom the apostle Panl styles the beloved physician, (Col. iv. 14.) and speaks of as his ſellow-labourer, º: ver. 24.) who was with him at Rome when he wrote his epistles to the Colossigns and to Philemon, and again afterwards when he wrote his second, epistle to Timothy; (2 Tinn. iv. 11.) and so continued an associate and companion to the apostle Paul; as it is evident, from his manner of expression, the penman of the Acts had been, in several of his travels, and in his dangerous voyage when he went first to Rome. This book is generally thought to have begn written about the year of our Lord 63, at which time the history ends, which, it is reasonable to suppose, would have proceeded further, if it had been written later; and probably, as , Mr. L’Enfant, and others have observed, it made, as it were, a second part of St. Luke’s Gºl. which in all copies has the author’s name prefixed, while this is left without a title in the oldest manuscripts ; though, in the Syriac Version it is expressly ascribed to Luke, whom the translator seems to call his master.—Not to mention the supposed allusions to this book in Barna- as, Clemens Romanus, . Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, it is certain that Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus; Tertullian, Origen, and Eusebius, bear the most express testimonies to the genuineness of it, in a multitude of passages which I need not here insert, as they are produced at large by Dr. §§§ in the first part of the Appendiz to his History of the Plantation of Christianity, vol. ii. p., 295–310. and since the publica- tion of that by Mr. Biscoe, in his learned Discourses at Boyle’s Lec- ture, chap. xiv. xv. where he has shown, in a most convincing manner how capable these ancient writers were of judging in this matter, an jīow universally it was owned by the christians, of the first ages as a sacred book. How incontestably it demonstrates the truth of christianity, is shown at large in both these, useful treatises, and every attentive reader must needs observe it for himself. . • * - b Began both to do and to teach..] To begin to do a thing, as Heinsists and many other critics have observed, is a common Greek idiom, for Žºing or undertaking gºthing...Comparé Matt, Xii. J. With Luke § 1. and Mark vi. 2, with Matt. xiii. 54. See also Gen. ii. 3...Septugg; Num. ºv. T. judg. xiii. 5. xx. 31. Luke iii. 8. .xxi. 28. and Acts it. 4. Yet in most of these places it refers to some of the first actions or events of the kind. Accordingly I apprehend, with Chrysostom that,the phrase hero refers to the account which Luke had given of Christ's ninistry, froin the beginning and first rise ###. he speaks, Luke i. 2, 3.) to the ascension, with which he concludes his gospel. 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his Jas- sion ... by . many ilāhī, roofs, being seen of them orty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God : 4 And, being assembled together with them, com- manded them that they should not depart from Jeru- salem, but, wait for the pro- misg of the Father, which saith he, Yo have heard o 10 : 5 For John, truly baptized with water ; but ye shall bo c By the IIoly Spirit.] It is certainly much, more agreeable to thc order and construction of the words in the original, to connect and ex- § them as above, than to refer them, as the Syriac and, Ethiopic Versions do, to his choosing the apostles by the Spirit, or with Elsner, (Observ., vol. i. p. 353.) to his being taken up by it. . [t is no wouder, con- sidering how short a history we have of what passed between Christ’s resurrection and ascension, that this should be the only place which speaks of his acting by the Spirit after he rose from the dead: nor can I, with a late learned and ingenious writer, think that a sufficient rcason for adhering to the versions mentioned above. (See Benson’s Plantation. of Christianity, vol. i. p. 14, 15.) . His breathing on the apostles, and saying, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, (John xx. 22.) seems also to agree very well with this interpretation. To render it, the orders thcy accre to erecutc by the Holy Spirit, (as in the translation of 1727,) is altogether arbitrary, and is substituting a quite different truth instead of what was written by Luke. I have before inserted the remaining verses of this section in § 202, 203. to complete the History of our Lord to the timo of his ascension. (See note (l, § 202.) But, notwithstanding this, it will be easily excused that I have not omitted then here in their proper place, that the whole History of the Acts might stand together, and tho work be kept cntire. Having assembled them together.] Though some considerable, an- cient as well as modern critics, and particularly Chrysoston and The- ophylact, understand the word avva)\{outvos as expressive of Christ’s eating with his apostles during the forty days spoken of above; the notes of Elsric r, (Observ. vol i. p. 355..) and Raphelius, (6 : Xen. p. 146. et JIerod. p. 320, et scq.) seem abundantly sufficient to justify the version here given. e JVot to depart from Jerusalem.] This seems a plain intimation that, after our Lord hail met his disciples, in Galilee, he appointed the apostle; to meet him at Jerusalem, , or perhaps accompanied them thither, and spent his last days on earth there; doi:1; this last bonour to the placo where God, had chosen to dwell, and where the most solemn ordinances of his worship were administered. , f Said he..] These words, though, Qmitted in the original, are plainly implied. ãpheſius (ºr Xen. p. 146, 147.) has produced many exam. §. of such a change in the person speaking in the best Greek writers. Iany others occur in the sacred authors. Compare Luke v. 14. Arts xvii. 3.xxiii. 22. Gen. xxvi. 7. Deut. ii. 13. See .. Psal. ii. 3, 6. and xci. 14. And, I the rather, mºtion it, as it may account ſor many prophe. cies of Christ in the Old Testament, where fie is introduced as speaking on a sudden, in an abrupt manner; which is not so usual, especially in modern and Western writers. cº THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 367 baptized with the Hºly Ghost there is a nobler baptism you may expect from me; and to prepare and furnish you for SECT. not many days hence. the great work to which I have commissioned you, of preaching repentance and remission 1. of sins in my name, you shall be baptized with an abundant effusion of the Holy Spirit, far beyond what you have ever yet received: and this, I assure you, shall be done within acts these few days; which proved by the event to be but ten. - I. wº,". "...tº; But now, as the º: time was come for his returning to the Father, Jesus with- 6 jº"imº, Iº, drew with his apostles from the city, and led them out, as was observed before, unto the º.º.º mount of Olives, as far as to the boundaries of Bethany. (See fuke xxiv.50. note a, p. 363.) They therefore being come together, full of expectation that he had brought them thither with a view to some remarkable transaction, asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time break the Roman yoke from our necks, and after all this confusion restore the kingdom to the ungrateful people of Israel,é who have been thus shamefully abusing and crucifying thee ? is the empire of the Messiah immediately to be erected 2 and wilt thou begin it from Jerusalem, a place that, of all upon the face of the earth, seems to be the least worthy of such a distinguished honour? nº #: tº: But he, waving a direct answer to this curious question, and leaving it to the Spirit, 7 time."héºhji which was shortly to be given, to rectify the mistaken notions on which they proceeded in * ..* Pº " " it, only said to them, Cease your inquiries at present on this head; since it is not conve- nient for you now to know those times or seasons in which many remarkable prophecies concerning my kingdom shall be fulfilled: for the Father hath reserved them in his own power, under his own direction and disposal, and hath not expressly determined them in those predictions which certify the events themselves. And he hath taken this precaution on purpose that the minds of his people might be kept in an humble, dependent, resigned frame. It will therefore be your wisdom always to cultivate such a temper, applying fourselves diligently to the duties of your office, and leaving all events to be determined 8. But, ye shall, reggive }. his infinite wisdom and goodness. But for the present let it suffice you to be told, 8 §.º.º.º.º. that ere long, though I say not exactly when, you shall receive an extraordinary power { ... .º.º.º the Holy Spirit coming upon you; and, in consequence of that, shall be abundantly quaſi- ji, jadea, and in Šamaría, fied to be my witnesses both in the city of Jerusalem, and in all the land of Judea ; and not jºº "** only so, but in Samaria too, though you have never yet addressed yourselves to the Sama- - - ritans in any former mission, (see Matt. x. 5. and compare. Acts, viii. 5, 14, 25.) and even to the remotest parts of the earth ; the barbarous nations of which you shall visit with a success which shall gloriously illustrate my Father's promise, of “giving me the heathen for mine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for my possession.” (See Psal. ii. 8. 9 And when he had spoken 5. having said these things, he lifted up his hands and blessed them; (Luke xxiv. 50.) 9 jº, and while they beheld him with great earnestness, and high expectation of some extraordi: fºlved him out of nary event consequent on this solemn preparation, he was liſted up from the ground in a o is ve miraculous manner, and rose gradually higher and higher, till at length a bright cloud, con- ducted by the ministry of angels, who joyfully attended their returning Lord, received him out % their sight, and they saw him no more. 10 And while they looked This marvellous event was so astonishing to the apostles, that they continued with their 10 .*.*.*.*.hº...; eyes fixed the way that he was gone; and while they were steadfastly looking up to heaven lºod by them in white after him as he went on in his triumphant ascent, behold, two angels in the fºrmſ of men, in º Which also said, ye white and shining raiment, came and stood near them : Who also spake to them, and said, 11 *"...º.º.º.º. Ye men of Galileº, why do ye stand thus gazing up to heaven with so much surprise and This same Jesus, which is amazement? . This Jesus, who is now taken up from you into heaven, is gone to that world ‘...."º"...".”'. from whence he came, and in which he is to make his final abode: nevertheless there will majºr as sº have seen him be a time when he shall visit your earth once more, and so come in a visible form, riding go into heaven, on a cloud as his triumphant chariot, and attended by angelic guards, in the same manner as you have now beheld him going into heaven. Depart therefore in peace, and pursue the interest of his kingdom, with a firm assurance that his cause shall prosper amidst all op- position, and that while you are engaged in the service of this ascended, triumphant Lord, - you can never be losers by your fidelity and your zeal. 12 Then returned they unto Then were the hearts of the apostles filled with joy by what they had seen and heard; 12 jºi. "?... and having worshipped their ascended Lord, (Luke Xxiv. 52.) they returned to Jerusalem Jerusalem a sabbath-day’s from the mount called Olivet; which is but a sabbath-day's journey, or about a mile, distant JOurn Gy. - from Jerusalem.h And there they employed themselves in a daily course of public and private devotion, rejoicing in what they had seen, and firmly believing some extraordinary event was at hand, whereby they should be more fully qualified for the great work as- signed them; which, whatever the hazard of it might ić they were firmly determined to undertake and prosecute. IMPROVEMENT. If we have ever seriously considered the contents of this excellent, history on which we are now entering, we ver, 1 must surely see abundant reason to adore that gracious Providence which hath transmitted it to us, to confirm our faith, and animate our hope in the gospel. The account of our Lord's ascension, with which it begins, relates to 2, 9 #. of so great importance, that we may well bear the repetition of what we have read concerning it in the former istorv. § see the apostles still dreaming of a temporal kingdom to be restored to Israel. So hard is it for the best of 6 men to be entirely crucified to the world, even by the cross of Christ! (Gal. vi. 24.) Our Lord does not set him- 7 self at large to combat that error; nor is it necessary that we should be eagerly solicitous on the like Occasions, where mistakes do not affect men's characters or their eternal state. Prudently does he direct them to wave the * fºg the kingdon to Israel.] They seemed to have expected, that seems the most satisfactory answer to Rabbi Isaac's objection against when the Spirit was iu, so extraordinary a manner poured out, and the ghristianity, from his mistaken sense of these words. Chişşığ Eº }%; § º; Pºiº º à. º ſº Qf .# Part II. p. 59. º of righteousness, and of judgment, the whole nation. Of the Jews wou * -dau’s journe, - 4. - Qwn him for the §§ l, and so not only shake off its subjection to the lºſſ.º flºº C For .."...",...; ** itself rise to very extensive and, perhaps universal domi- ºnjī; this text with Luke xxiv. 50, and John xi, is majºseº nion. The word amoxabta Tavets intimates the shattered and weakened in the note on the former of thºse assages, § 353, note a *A. it is state in which Israel now was. And I cannot but think, our Lord’s with pleasure that 1 see it º illustrated by the learned Mr. ºpºwer inay intimate it should at length be restored, though not imme- Biscoe, in his Sermons at Boyle's Lecture, p. 35i-3.jī. "Åſſ, ºborate diately, or with all the circumstances they imagined; which concession and valuºle work; by referring to which fºsſi have an opportunity 368 1. ACTS I. 10 SECT. WOW the apostles being returned from the mount of Olives to Jerusalem, immediately after the ascension of Christ, (as was observed in the conclusion of the former section.) they presently retired for devotion, and went up eld their assemblies. And as this was the place where fjºj Mij, 2. *- ACTS I. 13 MATTHIAS CHOSEN APOSTLE IN THE PLACE OF JUDAS. SECT. indulgence of their curiosity. Let us learn to moderate ours, and refer times and seasons to him who hath reserved them in his own power. Let a sense of the perfect wisdom and pose us amidst all the darkness which veils our prospects of futurity. goodness of the Divine Being silence and com- With the apostles, let us look up after an ascending Saviour, and send our wishes and our souls to heaven, where he now is, and where he must remain till that important º in which he shall descend to the final judgment. Behold, he then cometh, in the clouds, and every eye shall see him! (Rev. i. 7.), May we view him to our joy and 11 not to our terror! and lift up our heads with a serenity and cheerfulness becoming those who see the approach of their complete redemption 1 (Luke xxi. 28.) In the mean time, may his cause and service be ever dear to us! and while he is attending to our concerns in the world above, may we, with grateful and joyful alacrity, pursue that which he graciously condescends to own as his interest here upon éarth! SECTION II. The apostles being returned to Jerusalem, and assembled withA. rest of the disciples, Matthias is chosen to succeed Judas in the apostolic office. CtS i. 13, x -- Acts i. 13. when they were entered [into the #| an upper room” where they usually to the end. Acts i. 13. AND when they were come in, they went ...” an upper º room, where abode both Pe- ºnto ter, and James, and John, and ndrew, Philip, and Thomas, the apostles commonly abode, all the eleven were there, both Peter, and James, and John, lºgº.zºº.º.º. 2 and Simon Zelotes, and Judas and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James [the son] of Alpheus, ºrºthé of jamés. and Simon the Zedlot, and Judas, or Jude, [the brother] of James.b But Judas the traitor was now dead, as was observed towards the close of and the vacancy occasioned quickly proceeded. - «» º e preceding history; (sect. cxciii.) by his death gave rise to that important business to which they 14 These all unanimously persevered in prayer and supplication, with great intenseness and 14 These all continued with 15 16 17 18 kingdom. ardour of soul, together with the pious women who were formerly mentioned as attending ord, and particularly Mary, so celebrated as the mother of Jesus; and also with his brethren and near kinsmen after the flesh, the cross of their one accord in . prayer and supplication, with the wo— men, and Mary the , mother of jesus, and with his bre- of whom there were some others thre. besides the apostles, whose prejudices, though once strong, were now happily worn off. Compare John vii. 5. .And in these days, while they were waiting for the promise of the Spirit, Peter in the midst of a full assembly of the disciples, spake as follows. . .Now the number of per- sons” that were met together in that place was about an hundred and twenty; the part of the five hundred to whom Christ had appeared (1 Cor. xv. 6) continuing in Tising up 15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the num- eater ber of the names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Galilee during this interval between the feast of the passover and that of Pentecost. And he said, O ye men that hear me this day, [and] whom I º as my brethren in the bonds of 16 Men and brethren, this 2 in the righteous ture should be fulfilled which the Holy the event, by the mouth of David,” and which God intended with a , who was so wicked a wretch that, in contempt of all the most so religion as well as of friendship ! it was necessary, in this awful passage of Scri Judas g scripture must needs have udgment of God, that ; ;h; #. Ghost § #. mouth of Pań - spake before concerning Ju- F. regard to das, which was guide to emn and en earing them that took Jesus. Spirit spake, long before obligations to distinguishing duty and fidelity to his divine Master, he became the guide of those that seized on the blessed Jesus, and marked him (Matt. xxvi. 47, 48.) for he was once numbered with us his apostles, and for ministry, with which our Lord was pleased to honour us as the principal officers in his The calamitous end of this unhappy man is therefore fresh in your memories; and it is known to all of you, that instead of enriching himself by his crimes, and securing those worldly advantages he so eagerly pursued, he only purchased (that is, was the occa- sion of purchasing) a fielde with that money which was the reward of his iniquity: for his And indeed he well deserved to be made a monument of vengeance to succeeding ages, considering the near relation in which he stood to Christ and to us; out to them by a traitorous kiss. conscience would not suffer him to keep it; but he threw it down, as you know, in the temple, and then going away; hº have supported the weight of his bo he hanged himself. (Matt. xxvii. 5.) #. breaking, he could not fully execute his horrid de- sign; and falling down on his face, he burst asunder in the middle,f and all his bowels were 17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry a while had obtained part of this 18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling head- long, he burst asunder, in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Put that which should of saving myself and the reader a great deal of trouble, in these notes; fºr which, therefore, I gladly take this opportunity of making my ac- knowledgment to the worthy author. - - a Into an upper room..] . I can see no sufficient ſeason for sº 3].S many have done, that this was in the temple. (Compare noſe, d, on i.ºke ºxiv. 53.) Epiphanius, says it was on mount Sion, and that a ºristian church was afterwards erected on the spot of ground on which it stooi. (See Hammond, in loc.). Perhaps they might the rather choose it, as giving some advantage for looking to the temple. But it is plain from many other passages, that upper rooms were 9ften large, and fit for containing a considerable number of persons. (Compare Mark Kiv. 15. and Acts xx. 8.) See Bos, Exercit. p. 64, et seq. . . - _* 5 The brother of jamcs.) The expression in the original is ambiguous, and may signify either son or brother. But Jude himself expressly de- termines it that he was his brother, in ver...I. of his Epistle. - - - cºunter of persons.] It is literally the number §. names; but it is well known that ovopara often signifies persons. (See Rey. iii.,4,&i. 13. and Raphel. Ez Polyb. p. 297.) And it best suits the English lan- guage to render it so. - d This scripture should be fulfilled, &c.] . Two, prophecies are after- wards judiºſ for this purpose (ver. 20.) from Psal. lxix. 25. and, ciº. § and it has been matter of much debate whether they dº in their original sense refer to Judas, or to the enemies of David. Mr. Jeffery (in his Review, p. 179, et seq.) maintain; the former, and Dr. Sykes. (On the Truth of Čhristianit, , p. 37,272.) the latter. It is geºg the sixty- iºtſ' fºaiſm is not to 5é"confined to Judas; for St. Paul (Rºm. xi. 9, ið...) has quoted the 22d and 23d verses of it as applicable to the unbe- jºijºs in general. There are so many passages in both the Psalms in question moré applicable to David than to Christ, that I was yery.in- jijë" tº "render the words before us, The scripture, which the # Ghost spake before by the m David, must necessarily have been ſu iſed concerning Judas, &c. and to have ºx Iained them as if the apostle ad said, “That vengeance which David foretold, as to be executed on his enemies, must much more fall on Judas, whose perfidious and cruel attack on Christ himself remiered him jºuch" oréº"jºi: is certain the order of the Greek words will not so naturally admit this; nor do I remember to have seen the phrase TXmoa,0mvat Tipt rivos, the particle ºrt, or ev, with the dative case, being much more proper in that connexion., (Compare Matt. xiii. 14. and Luke xxii. 37.) I therefore conclude, that while David prophesied of the calamities which should befall his persecutors, it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that the enemics and murderers of the Messiah should inherit those curses in a]] their terror, and be yet more miserable than the persons on whom they were more immediately to fall. This fact (in itself exceeding probable) I take to be asserted in these words as what was revealed, by the same Spirit to the apostle, Peter. And I hope the reader will excuse the length of a note which may serve as a key to many other passages of the New Testament. - - e Purchased a field.) It is worth observing, that an action is some- times said in Scripture to be done by a person who was the occasion of doing it. (Compare Gen. xlii. 38, Exod. xxiii. 8...] Kings Xiv. 16. Isa. vi. 10. Jer. xxxviii. 23. Rom. xiv. 15. 1 Cor. vii., 16. and 1 Tim. iv. lf.) But some would render £krma'ato, he possessed the field, supposing Judas was buried there. .(See Bren. and Heins. in loc.) Dr. Lightfoot thinks he was strangled in the air by the devil, and thrown down headlong in this field, ānā so might be said to possess it, and occasioned its bein called, The field of blood. (Hor. Hebr. on Matt. xxvii. 5. and in loc. f Falling down, on his façe, he burst asunder, &c.] Thus Matthew’s agº. count is reconciled with Luke’s above. (See note b, on Matt. xxvii. 5, p. 343.) I find the learned Qasaubon has taken the same method : nor can i see any reason to recede from this interpretation, on the most attentive review of the various solutions proposed by Mr. Biscoe. (Boyle’s Lect. p. 637-644.) But were I to, change it, I should prefer to any other that of Limborch,--that some Jew, who would have concealed the sui. cide, cut Judas down and threw him into sqme pit or valley, where he was afterwards found lying on his face, with his bowels gushod out. MATTHAs CHOSEN AN APOSTLE IN THE PLACE OF JUDAs. in a miserable manner e agonies both of body .# mind, to the horror of all that beheld him. . (..And by the way, this was a fact so public and notorious that it was known to all the 19 And it was known unto 369 oured out upon the ground; so that he expired in the utmost SECT. ;º: inhabitants of Jerusalem,é who could not but take notice of such an tºº. ACTS ed in their proper tº stance; so, that that field which was so purchased is to this day called in their la ge, , a " Acelaama, that is to say, The 19 which is the Syriac dialect, Acelaama, that is, The field of blood, as being bought with money which was in more senses than one the price of blood; having been the cursed - hire for which Judas sold the blood of his Master, and in effect his sº * tº Now, said Peter to the disciples, I observed to you that the Scripture speaks something 20 tº be jśā’īº., of this remarkable event; for it is written in the book of Psalms, (Psal. lxix. 25.) “Let his #}.}}|†iº habitation be desolate, and let no man inhabit it;” and again, (Psal. ciz.8.) “Let another take (that is, another shall take and º his office.” The former of these clauses is already awfully verified, as he is become such a spectacle of horror, that men will detest 3. Wherefore of these men the very place where he lived: and the other must now be accomplished. It is necessary 21 ..º.º.; ther ſº that of the men who have conversed intimately with us, and have attended during ºus went in and out among all the time in which the Lord Jesus was going in and coming out among us, and so can testif 32 Beginning from the bap- of all he did and said, Beginning from the baptism of John, when he first entered on his 22 i.º.º. º. º.º. ministry, even to the day in which he was taken up from usinto heaven, one of these should be lay that he was taken up 5 • * - s frºm is mºst one bºlai chosen to the apostolić office, to be made a witness with ush of that great and fundamental jº..." " " of fact, his resurrection from the dead, upon which the proof of his being the Messiah so evi- dently rests. ** The apostles had no sooner spoke but immediately the whole assembly assented to the 23 reasonableness of this proposal: and accordingly they set up two men, the one, Joseph called Barsabas, who was also surnamed Justus, on account of the remarkable openness and in- tegrity of his temper; and the other, a person of no less eminent note for his piety, who was called JMatthias. field of blood. 23 And they º; two, Joseph called Bârsabas, who Yas, surnamed Justus, and Matthias. ...; A. eytºeliº And they prayed with great solemnity, answerable to the importance of the occasion, 24 #&est". . ."ji saying, Thoi, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all, and perfectly discernest every secret tº these sentiment of the soul, and all the future circumstances of life! we humbly entreat thee to 3. show which of these two, whom we esteem thy faithful servants, thou hast chosen to be ad- 2. That he may take part vanced to this distinguished honour: That he may take part of this ministry, and share with 25 #: "..."..."; thine other servants in the apostleship, from which Judas is fallen by [his] transgression, to transgression...ſell, that, he his eternal ruin; that he might go to his own place,K to that miserable world which, in thy ****** righteous judgment, is appºinted for the reception of such heinous offenders, and the due punishment #such enormous crimes. *g tº, º, . .”.”: .And after this prayer they gave out their lots for each; and the lot fell upon Matthias, 26 §. Kºihi; : . . on which they concluded that he was the person whom God had appointed; and the rest ºn with the eleven of the apostles accordingly gave him the right hand of fellowship, so that for the future s º was numbered with the eleven apostles," and made the twelfth of that venerable society Of IY)62I). - IMPROVEMENT. IT was wisely and well determined by the apostles, to spend this interval of time in devotion and in christian Ver.13 converse; for never have we more reason to expect the communication of the Holy Spirit of God to us, than when 14 we are sharing our time between the one and the other, so far as Providence affords us leisure from our secular affairs. With their devotions they properly joined a care for the future edification of the church, and therefore 15 chose another apostle to complete the number which our Lord had appointed. It is dreadful to think how the vacancy happened, and by what a horrible transgression it was that one of this 25 sacred society fell from his office. The hand of God's righteous vengeance was heavy upon him, and brought him 17–19 in a few hours to public infamy and irrecoverable destruction. So that his example, dreadful as it is, shows us at once that no dignity of office can secure men from sin, and that when they break through the solemn bonds of a remarkably high and eminent profession, they must expect a punishment proportionably signal. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. (Prov. xi. 4.) The time is swiftly approaching when ill-gotten gain will j a burthen and a terror, and the wages of unrighteousness will appear as the price of an Aceldama, a field of 18 lood; even in that dreadful day when impenitent sinners go to their own place, to those abodes of misery which 25 are so properly prepared for them, and so justly assigned to them; assigned especially to those whose business (like that of Judas) it was to preach repentance unto others, to show them their transgression, and to warn them of their danger, and who were more especially obliged to have enforced their admonitions and their precepts by the peculiar lustre of their own examples. - But the badness of the man who in some instances may be advanced to bear the most sacred office, is not to be interpreted to the disgrace of that office itself. The apostles were careful to keep up the honour of theirs by seek- 21, ing out a more proper person, who might do his part towards taking away the reproach which Judas, had brought upon it, and might approve himself a worthy witness of the resurrection of Jesus, on the knowledge of which 22 depended the salvation of millions. After alſ, they refer the matter to the determination of Providence, to which 24 22 That Tpmvms yeuopeyos should be rendered, not falling headlong, but falling down an his ſace, see proved by §elius, (Ex: Polyb. p. 103, et scq.) and Elsmer, (Observ. vol. i. p. 358, 359.) - - - -ºº º º sº g ſtºgas known to all the inhabitants { Jerusalem.] Aringhius (in his Röm. Subterran. p. 436.) mentions a funeral, inscription dug up in the Via JWomentana, by which it appears that the fate of Judas became a (which are both the same;) but rather the º mentioned Matt. xxvii. 55. and Mark vi. 3. the son of Cleopas or Alpheus, and brother to at least two of the apostles, James the less, and jº. k To his own ſº CEcumenius, Hammond, and La Cene, seem to interpret, this phrase yery mºniurai. when they explain. it of a suc- cessor going into the place of Judas. That tétov roſtov signifies, a place proverbial form of cursing.—The reader will perceive, that with many of the best critics ſtake this verse to be a parenthesis, to be considered, not as the words of Peter, but of the historian ; which effectually an- swers the objection from the fact having happened but a few days before the speech was delivered. This also accounts for his calling the Syriac, which was spoken by the Jews at that time, their language; for Ron 9pm is the Syriac dialect. h One gf these should be made a witness with us...] They might reason- ably and modestly, conclude; that it was fit the number of apostles which Christ first chose should be kept §§ perhaps, in allusion to the twelve tribes of Israel. But it is impossi le, as well as quite unneces- sary, that we should at this distance of time be able to assign a reason why the two. that are, afterwards mentioned, and no more, were pro- posed as candidates. Perhaps a longer and more intimate acquaintance with our Lord might entitle them to a preference Qn this occasion, i Joséph called Barsabas.] The Câmbridge Manuscript reads Bar- nabas; but Dr. Benson seems to have assigned solid reasons for con- cluding this was not Barnabas the Cypriana (Acts iv. 36.) of whº read so often in this history, whose name" was also Joses or Joseph ; proper and suitable for such a wretch, and therefore by God’s righteous judgment appointed for him, many writers have shown, and particularly r. Benson, in his History of the first Planting of Christianity, page 23. (Compare Matt. xxvi. 24. John vi. 70, 71. and xvii. 12.) ...! They gave out their lots.] This was, no dºubt, most impartially ad- justed, though we know not in what particular method. he honour God has conferred on inquiries by lot, (Josh., vii. 14, 15.1 Sam. x. 20, 21.), and the custom of fixing, the officers of the priests in the temple, while in waiting there, by lot, (1 Chron. xxiv. 5, 7, and Luke i. 9.) might lead them to this turn of thought. , Grotius has shown in his note ere, that such a designation to sacred offices prevailed also among SOrne pågålil İlations. m JMatthias was numbered ºpith the cleven apostles.] Though Na- thaniel, and Matthias both signify the gift of God, I cannot think that this will prove them (as some have supposed) the same person, Nor can I see that the question of the right of choosing church-officers can regeive much light from so singular a story, in i. so peculiar an act of Go was expected. 47 THE DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON THE APOSTLEs. 370 SECT. they make a yº. appeal. Let us always remember the universal and intimate inspection of the Divine 2. Being. Thou, Lord, knowest the hearts of all ! ...All their treachery, and all their integrity is manifest in thy — sight; and, in persons of equal sincerity, thou discernest what renders one more fit than another for this or Acts that situation and service. Let it be our desire to follow Providence ourselves; and let us pray that God will |- set over all his churches pastors after his own heart, who may feed them with knowledge and understanding. (Jer. III. 15. - The lºt is cast into the lap; but, casual as the determination may seem, the whole disposal thereof is from the Lord. (Prov, Kvi. 33.) Let us own his hand in the determination of every circumstance which befalls us, and especially in those by which any solemn and important trust may be committed to us: and may the consideration of it be an additional engagement upon us to discharge it with becoming diligence and entire fidelity! 26 SECTION III. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, with the ſºne; part of the speech which Peter made to the multitude on that great occasion. Acts ii. 1–2] Acts ii. I. Aćts i. 1. SECT. THE disciples of Jesus, after the choice of Matthias, employed their time in devotion, AND when the day of Pen- 3. and continued the same course of religious exercise as before, for several succeeding days. ...", "ºff'...}}. ºffnd when the day of Pentecost” was completely arrived, that is, when the morning of the one place. Acts fiftieth day after the passover was come, it being then the first day of the week, the apostles, III. , with the rest of the hundred and twenty äisciples, were together; and they were all assembled with the most unanimous º in the same place, in the upper room which 2 Was º º where ..., ha }. to meet. : on a sudden there was a . d from f extraordinary and surprising sound from heaven, as of a rushing violent wind, which shook ...º.º.º.º. º.ºf . the very place, and came § ºſ. mighty ###, it º, all the house where they flºº Nº º 3 were sitting. And there appeared to them at the same time a number of divided tongues, "ºcated Unto made as it were of fire," i.e. bright flames in a pyramidical form, which were so parted as hº . to terminate in several points, and thereby to .# a proper emblem of the marvellous 3}}..." " “ ” * effect attending the appearance, by which they were endowed with a miraculous diversity of languages: amd it was ordered so, that one of these tongues rested upon each of them,a 4 who were then present in the room. And as soon as ever these lambent flames appeared to touch them, they were all in a most sensible and extraordinary manner filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues than they had ever used or understood beforé, with light and fervour, and a most ready flow of language, according as the Spirit gave them a power and facility of expressing themselves. JWow as this happened at one of the three grand yearly feasts, and at that in which the days were longest, there were sojourning in Jerusalem at that time a great number of pious i.e.:*::..º.º.º. men, [that were, by their descent or by profession, Jews; who were come thither out of der heaven. all parts of the known world, from every nation under heaven,” where any of that people dwelt, or any that were proselytes to the Jewish religion. - 6 Jīnd when this strange report came to be noised abroad, as it presently did, the multitude lºng. soon gathered together, and were quite confounded and amazed: for every one of this various ::::::...d.º.º. assembly heard one or another of them, as they addressed themselves by turns to people of #. sº every man .* - - - - º w - º - peak in his own 7 a different language, speaking to each of them in his own proper dialect. And they were all lagº; - astonished at it beyond measure, and wondered at this marvellous event, saying one to aß Mº; another, Behºld, hºw unaccountable is this! Are not all, these that speak by birth, and ºil country Galileans ? And how then do we every one of us hear them, as they direct their " gºº; speech to so many different people, who are here come together out of so many nations, 2 And suddenly there came 4 And #. were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and be- gan to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling 5 8 a. The day of Pentecost.] It has often been observed, that as our Lord was crucified at one of the great Jewish feasts, it was fit that he should be glorified at another. And this of Pentecost was chosen with peculiar propriety, as next succeeding that of the passover at which Christ suf- fered ; and also, as it was celebrated in commemoration of the giving the law from mount Sinai, on that day, (Exod. xix. 1, 11.) and as the Jirst Jruits were then offered and anointed. (Exod. xxiii. 16. and Lev. xxiii. 17.) To these answered the fuller discovery of the gospel on this occa- sion, and the anointing the first fruits of the christian church by the effu- sion of the Spirit, as Brennius has well observed. (See also JMiscell, Sacra, Essay i. p. 113–145.)—The solemnity of the feast, the general expectation of the Messiah that preyailed among them, and the length of the days, as it was about the middle of summer, would, no doubt bring great numbers to Jerusalem at that time.: who, when they returne home and reported this great event, would naturally make way for greater regard to the apostles when they came to the places where these people dwelt. - b Was º arrived.] The first day of unleavened bread, that is, the fifteenth of Nisan, began this #.” on Friday evening ; and this was the day on which they were to o from the er the wave-sheaf: an morrow after that day, that is, from the Saturday evening, they were to count seven weeks; or forty-nine days, which would bring the fiftieth, that is, the day of Pentecost, then to begin on Saturday evening; so that on the Lord’s day mºniº it might properly be said to be Hi, COIſle. See Lev. xxiii. 15, 16. The word gupt)\mpova 9at cannot signify, that the day was ended, but that it was fully come. Compare Luke i. 57. ii. 21. and see Beza, in loc. - - - c_Divided tongues as of fire.] . This wonderful appearance in the ſorm of fire might bg intended, to signify the quickening and purifying influ- emces of the Spirit; as well as to illustrate John the º prediction, that Christ should baptize with the Holy Ghost and 2pith fire. (Matt. iii. 11. and Luke iii. 16.) But I will not venture to affirm, with Mr. Flem- ing (Christol. vol. i. #: 324.) and Elsner, (Observ., yol. i. p. 364.) that it was to signify that the Shekinah (which appeared in a glorious flame surrounded with a cloud) was now passed from the Jews to the disciples of Jesus. The Jews (as Wolfius tells us) have a talg among thern relat- ing to the appearange of some flashes of fire which fell on an assembly of their doctºrs while they were studying the law; which probably was inyented to slur or imitate this important history.-Bos (Exercit. º, 67.) thinks each tongue #: complete, and that they are said to be di- vided on account of the distribution that was made of one to each person. But it seems that the division of each might aptly represent the variety of languages with which, each person was endowed; and some haye thought that the form of the mitres worn by bishops (according to the Roman ritual) bears some, allusion to the supposed form of these cloven tongues.—It is observed by Dr. Lightfoot and others, that as the divi- sign of tongues at Babel once introduced confusion, and was the means of casting off the Gentiles from the knowledge of thé true God, so now there was a remedy provided by the gift of tongues at Zion, to bring the Gentiles out of darkness into light, and to destroy the veil_ºphich had been spread over all nations. (Isa. xxv. 7.) See Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. and Grotius, in loc. Ó Upon each of *ś9 I of § i. 28, 29.) D 162 agree with the learned Dr. Benson, (Plant, who thinks (as jerome and Chrysostom did) that it is probable each of the hundred and twenty shared in this mira- culous donation. (See also JMiscell. Sacra, Essay, i, * 1, 102.) The hundred and twenty mentioned chap. i. 15, are plainly referred to, wer. 1. as the persons, here assembled. , And as this would best illustrate the pouring forth of the Spirit on the handmaids as well as on the servants Qf God, (ver. 18.) so it is certain that the º: which would con- fine this effusion to the apostles are of very small authority. Nor do eza’s arguments on the other side of the question appear to me by any means conclusive. Compare Acts X. 4. 5, and xi. 15–17. e From every nation under heaven.]. Should, this be taken for an hyper- bole, we have other instances in Scripture of the like Yºpº \l I, § ; as where we read of cities, palled up to heaven, (Deut. i. 28. ix. 1.) and of the dread of the Jews falling upo), every nation under the whole heggen. (Deut. ii. 25.) See also Gen. xi. 4. Judg. xx. 16. and Psal. cvii. 26.-- But, not to insist upon it that the Jews were then so, numerous as to have spread through every country, so that, as Agrippa in Josephus says, “There was not a people.upon earth, who had not Jews inhabiting among them :” (Bell. Jud...lib. ii. cap., 16. § 4. p. 191. Havercamp.) the expression here can signify no more than that there were some at Jeru- salem at that time from all theseyeral nations among whom the Jews were dispersed. (See Lightfoot and Wºº in loc.) It, Yould be very absurd to argue from hence that there must be natives of Britain and America at Jerusalem when this great event happened. And many arguments, º ºn such universal phrases elsewhere, seem as weak as this WOU ICI Oe. -- w w f When this report came abroad.], De Dieu concludes this must sig- pify thunder; which, he too confidently says, is always the import of Yp and povn in the Hellenistic language, and argues from hence that the rushing wind (ver. 2.), was attended with thumder., But the follow: ing clause, which refers the assembly to the different languages spokeri by those on whom the Holy Spirit fell, º shows that it was not thunder which brought them together; which, indeed, could hardly oc- casion their assembling in one place. a’ THE DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON THE APOSTLEs. man in our own tongue, speaking wherein we were born_f 9. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwell- ers in Mesopotamia, and i g to each of us in his own native language? For while there are among us Par- thians, and Medes, and Elamites or Persians, and those that inhabit Mesopotamia,” and those that dwell too in Judea, where the dialect is so different from that of Galilee: and likewise iii., "...º.º. # the natives of Cappadocia and Pontus, and of the country more properly called the progon- Pontus, and Asia, J.0 phrygia, and Pamphy- lia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, - 11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our ton of hylia #. this city [. Mosaic religion;h *. ul works #22 - 7 o ºs * 3-3 * * ivr º the wonderful works tonguesi the wonderful works of God, in the surprising testimonies he has given to sular Asia, as well as the inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces of Phrygia and Pam- of *::: and the parts of Africa which are about who are] Romans, some of us native Jews, a ogether with those of both these sorts who use the language of Crete, and those who are Arabians; we do every one of us hear them speaking in our own native §. and the many sojourners others of us proselytes to the the mis- sion of Jesus who was lately crucified, not only by the miracles he wrought, but by his resurrection and ascension. And while they are discoursing of these marvellous events, they run through such a great variety of languages, which no one can suspect they have ever been taught, with so much readiness and propriety, as among the most learned of mankind is perfectly unequalled. 12 And they were all tamazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What ineaneth this f - - thers mocking said, These men are full of new ...And they were all in a mixture of amazement and What can this unaccountable appearance possibly mean effect? But others of them, and particularly those who were native Jews, and understood none of these foreign languages, hearing the sound of their words as a kind of barbarous ſºlº, or what can it be designed to YY Inés }. derided them, and in a mocking and contemptuous manner said, Surely these men have begun the festival betimes, and are undoubtedly filled with suceet intoxicating wine,'. and therefore make this unintelligible noise. 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, he this known unto you, and hearken to my words: But Peter, standing up with t 15 For these are not drunk- ye suppose, seeing, it eleven, who were then in company with him, and who had each of them before been speaking in different languages, raised his voice so loud that those who had been reproaching them might hear it, and said to them, in the tongue that was commonly used among them, O ye men of Judea, and especially all you that inhabit . Jerusalem, whom I would be solicitouš in the first place to inform and convince, let this be known unto you as to the cause of this extraordinary appearance, and listen to with an attention becoming the importance of the occasion on which I speak: % words or these en, as * - a tº is"big the tºur ºf the men are not drunk, as you, who do not understand them, rashly suppose; and it is indeed day. very uncharitable for you to imagine it, considering that it is now but the third hour of the day, that is, about nine o'clock in the morning, the hour of morning sacrifice; before which, you know, none who have any regard for their character will allow themselves so much as to taste wine, and much less to drink any large quantity of it, whereby they would be rendered incapable of attending the service of the temple on such a solemn fes- 16 But this is that which H - was spoken by the prophet tival as this. Oel ; But this which has occasioned so much admiration, and which you know not how to account for, is that great event which was spoken of by the prophet Joel," chap. łºś ii. 28–32. where it is written, “..And it shall come to pass in the last days," or in the times in the last days, (saith WI upon all flesh : and your • * sons and your daughters shall Sp Trºft wpom all prophesy, and your young men: and as t The in shall See W*IS). On S, 3 D your old men shall dream * * - dreams: and divinely inspired dreams. 18 And on my serval lts - *} On 1 my han º I pour out the gifts of my Will pOur Out, in those days, .*- - Yºgº; # shall also prophesy, and s prophesy : - 19 And I will shew won- their sins. ders in heaven above, an signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour such destructive wars sha of smoke : di) Í º'º. §§ of the Messiah, saith the ever-blessed God, I will pour out an extraordinary effusion of my esh, that is, upon some of all ral e wonderful effect of it, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,” and your young men shall see Pºlº visions, and your old men shall dream significant € -and orders, of all ages and nations of a, in those days I will in a most extraordinary manner sº upon my servants, and even upon my handmaids ; and they all not only publish and proclaim the riches of In shall foretell the judgments that are coming upon those who shall jº, ..And d effusion of my Spirit shall be followed with a most awful revolution; for I will give you to see prodigies in heaven above, and signs upon the earth beneath :P and arise, as a punishment for the wickedness of those who reject the mercy I offer, that there shall be blood shed in abundance, and fire scattered abroad to consume your cities and villages, so that a cloud of smoke shall ascend from the ruins of 20 The sun shall be turned them. into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that and notable day of the COIT) e : 21 And it shall come Yéa, there shall be such confusion and misery, and all regular government both in ... church and state shall be so entirely dissolved, that the sun shall as it were be turned into §. darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and illustrious day of the Lord shall to fully come, in which he will take ample vengeance on every unbeliever. And it shall come P***********" to pass, that whoever shall, with humble submission to my method of saving grace in my g Elamites, and those that inkabit Mesopotama.1, Bishop Cumberland takes these to be the remainder of the Jews who had been carried cap- tive Ill to ś: rst by Tiglath-pileser; (2 Kipgs xy. 29.) and after- wards by Shalmaneser, and placed in the cities of the Medes. (2 Kings xvii. 6.) See Cumb. Orig. Gent. p. 225. h Romans, Jews, gnd prosclutes.] It appears from Josephus, Sueto- nius, Tacitus, the Roman satirists, and other writers of this age, in a variety of passages well known to the learned, that great numbers of Jews dwelt at Rome about this time, and made many proselytes to their religion. See Mr. Biscoe, ºfft Boyle’s Lecture, p. 85. . i We hear them speaking in our own tongues.], Cyprian and Erasmus, and some later critics, have thought (particularly from ver, 8.) that the miracle was not in the speakers, but the hearers; so that, while the apostle spake his own native Syriac, it would º: Latin to ope, and §. to another, &c. But this must be a mistake ; for we read of their speaking with tongues, ver. 4. before any foreigners came in upon them. (Compare chap. x. 46. and 1 Cor. xiv. 2.) Nor could, what they said on this supposition, have appeared a jargon to any ; which yet we find to have been the case, ver. 13. See Castalio, on ver, 4. k Filled with supect wine.] There was no new wine, or must, at the feast of Pentecost, as Beza and many others observe ; but y\evkos pro- perly signifies sweet wine. . We are informed by Plutarchs, that the an- cients had ways of preserving their wine sweet a great while ; and such wines are known to be very intoxicating. 1 The third hour of the day.] Josephus tells us, that on feast-days the Jews seldom ate or drank till noonj (De Pità Suá, $ 54, p. 26. Haverc.) which, if it were fact, would (as Grotius observes) render this calumny the more incredible.—As to the computation of the Jewish hours, see § 6. note b, on Acts iii. 1. - - m By the prophet Joel.] Some have exp}ained this prophecy as refer- ring, in its original sense, to the pouring forth the Spirit on the Jews at their last general conversion; and think Peter’s argument is as if he had said, “You need not wonder at such an event as this, since so much more is at length, to be expected.” (See º True Groinºis, p. 120.) i. attending to the context, I am led to º; - de; for reasons too long to be here stated, that the prophecy is here applie grace, but ardened in in its most direct sense, and that the event of this great day, and the destruction of the Jews for rejecting a gospel so confirmed, were originally referred to lſ) ) t. - - n In the last days.] Every one knows that the last days was a phrase commonly used to denote the times aſ the JHessiah; when the gospel should be published, which is the last dispensation of divine grace ; but here it seems to have a more particular view to the days immediately preceding the destruction of the Jewish nation, or the last days of that people, when the extraordinary means which were in vain ºfººd for their conviction, would fully justify God in the severest vengeance he should execute upon that härdened people. Q Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy..] Compare Acts xxi. 9. If this miracle had not been foretold, the argument for the truth of chris- tianity, from it wºuld no doubt, have been conclusive : but as it was re- ferred to in the Old Testament, it might dispose the minds of the Jews still more readily to regard it, as it was indeed the more remarkable. p Prodigies in heaven above, and signs upon the earth beneath.] This dqubtless refers to the prodigies and signs which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem ; (such as, the flaming sword hanging over the city, and the fiery comet pointing down upon it for a year; the light that shone upon the temple, and the altar in the night; as if it had been noon-day : the opening of the great and heavy gate of the temple without hands; the voice heard from the most holy place, Let us depart from hence the admonition of Jesus the son of Ananus, crying for seven years together, PWoc, woe, ºcotº the vision of contending armies in the air, and of in trenchments thrown up against a city there represented; the terrible thunderings and lightnings, and the dreadful earthquakes, which every one considered º; Some approaching evil.) All which, by the singular providençg of God, are recorded by Josephus, (Bell. Jud. lib. vi.cq3. 5...[al. vii. 12.] § 3. ct lil. iv., cap. 4. [äl. 7.) § 5.) in that his- tory of his, the truth of which, the Emperor Titus attested under his ºwn hand. (Sec. Joseph. Pºit. § 65, p. 33. Haverc.). And accordingly the greatest part of these circumstances are inserted in Tacitus, (Hist, Tib. 5. cºp. 13) and happily preserved, though most of his account of the siege and destruction"of Jerusalem beiosi. and said one to another, 371 SECT. 3. I 5 372 THE DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON THE APOSTLES." SECT. Son, invoke the name of the Lord, shall be saved" from this terrible destruction, and brought on the name of the Lord 3. into a state of security and happiness. - shall be saved. . These premises the apostle Peter afterwards applied to the conviction of those who had Acts rejected and slain Qur Lord; and the argument wrought most powerfully upon them. But "20 the prosecution and success of this address must be referred to the following sections. IMPROVEMENT. * WITH how much attention and delight should we read the history of this glorious event, so frequently referred to in the predictions of our Lord, and of so great importance to the christian cause, the miraculous descent of the Ver, 2 Holy Spirit! He came down as a mighty rushing wind, to signify the powerful energy of his operations, whereby 8 the whole world was to be shaken. He fell upon them in tongues of fire, cloven or §§ into several parts, to denote the most celebrated effect to be immediately produced, in causing them to speak, with the utmost readiness 4 and propriety, languages they had never learnt. An astonishing miracle! which was intended, not for pomp and 8–II ostentation, but to render them capable of propagating the gospel to the most distant nations, to which the grâce of God had determined to send it. *-2 1 It is observable that this divine gift fell upon them while they were unanimously gathered together; perhaps to intimate, that the influences of the Spirit are Inost to be expected where there is the greatest unanimity and the reatest devotion. Thus did the blessed Jesus accomplish what had been foretold concerning him, (Matt. iii. 11.) at he should baptize his disciples with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And surely the sacred flame did not only illuminate their minds with celestial brightness, but did also cause their whole hearts to glow with love to God and zeal for his gospel. To this purpose may he still be imparted to us, whether we hold public or private stations in the church; and may our regards to him be ever most dutifully maintained! . Especially may he be poured out II upon the ministers of it, to direct them how they should speak the wonderful things of Göd, and may their hearers, under his gracious energy, gladly receive the word! - Let us not wonder if the more common operations of the Spirit on men's minds be derided by profane ignorance and folly, when there were some, even on this glorious day, who were stupid or malicious enough to ascribe the 13 amazing event we have been surveying, to the supposed intoxication of the apostles, and to say they were full of 14, 15 sweet wine. Butlet us observe how well Peter windicated himself and his brethren with words, not of satire and reproach, but of meekness and sobriety, as well as of truth; showing at once the most perfect command both of his 16–18 reason and of his temper. Justly did he apply on this occasion that celebrated prophecy of Joel, in which this grand event is so exactly described. Let tis adore the divine goodness, which has poured forth the Spirit like a refreshing dew upon his church. Let us pray that we may all receive it in such degrees as may suit the present state º things: and let us deprecate those judgments which the contempt of the Spirit has too evident a tendency to produce. * --- 19, 20 ustly might God have made our land gloomy and horrible with blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke; justly #: he have turned our sun into darkness and our moon into blood. Let us adore his patience that these national judgments, which are so well deserved, have been thus long withheld. But let us also remember that the great and notable day is approaching, in which the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven inflaming fire, taking ten; geance on them that know not God, and that obey not a gospel so gloriously attested. (2 Thess. i. 7, 8.) Then shall these figurative expressions be literally fulfilled: then shall the heavenly luminaries be quenched in their Qrbs; the elements shall melt with fervent heai, and the earth and all that is therein shall be burnt up. (2 Pet. iii.10.) 21 But even then, all those that have believed in Christ, and with obedient love have called upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved with an everlasting salvation. May that be through grace our ha #. portion; and may its prospects be daily brightening upon us, till it shall open in its full lustre, and shine ...; and glorious amidst the flames of a dissolving world! ". SECTION IV. Peter continues his discourse to the people just after the descent of the Holy Spirit, and shows that Jesus, whom they crucified, was risen from the -> dead, and was the true Messiah. Åcts ll. 6 * Acts i. 22. Acts ii. 22. secT. WHEN Peter had quoted the passage in Joel mentioned above, as referring to the days XI. º: A. of the Messiah, he added, Ye men of Israel, let me charge it upon you that ye hear these . ºrđº. words with an attention proportionable to the importance of them: You cannot but remem- .*.*.*.*.*. gTiS, { Acts ber that there hath lately appeared amongst you a celebrated person, called Jesus the Naza- jºin ºth."...sº II, rene; a man who was approved and recommended to you” by God himself, by those . * * * 22 powerful operations, and wonders, and signs, which God wrought by him in the midst of you, * in your most public places and assemblies; as ye yourselves have seen, and cannot take 23 upon you to dény but that ye also know: Yet you were so far from paying him any be- 23 Him, being delivered by º & gº - +. * : the determinate counsel and coming regard, that you entered into an impious and ungrateful conspiracy against his #.º.º.º.º. :4'- - s - e * "y • *; -: tº º have taken, and by wicked life; and have, in prosecution thereof, seized him, even this º prophet, being given j,”; “...."; up into your hands by the determinate counsel and prescience of God,” who well knew what jin. treatment he would meet with from you, and for wise and good reasons permitted it to be: Him, I say, by the hands of Gentile sinners,” with public ignominy you have fastened [to > - 24 the cross] and slain, as if he had been the meanest and vilest of malefactors. But be it uß. º known unto you, that God hath abundantly vindicated the honour of this his dear Son, of ; º # .#"; whom you had thus infamously abused, and hath borne a most gº testimony to his ſº * * * innocence, truth, and dignity; for it is he whom God hath raised up from the dead by...a miraculous effort of his divine power, having loosed the bonds in which he lay, when the pains { death had done their work upon him a as indeed it was impossible, all things con- sidered, that he should finally be held under the power of it. q Whosoever shall invoke the name of the Lord, &c.] This context b Prescience of God..] Grotius, as well as Beža, observes, that 7pg- being quoted thus, was a strong intimation that nothing but their ac- yyasa is must here signify decree; and Elsner has shown it has that signifi- ceptance of the gospel could secure them from impendent ruin. Bren- cation in approved Greek writers, And it is gertain £kóoros signifies - nius has proved by an ample collection of texts, (in his note on this one given up into the hands of the enemy. See Elsner and Raphel. lace,) that calling on the maine of the Lord is often put for the whole of rº- in loc, * s * e }. And if it do not here directly signify invoking Christ, which is c. By the hands of Gentile sinners.] That is, by the hands of the sometimes used to express the whole christian character, (compare Acts wicked and idolatrous Romans, who were the immediate agents in the i. i4, 31.3.xii. 16. Röm. x. 12, 13. and I Cor. i. 2.) it must imply, that crucifixion of Christ, yet Yere Qply the instruments of the Jewish rage it is impossible for any who reject him to pray in an acceptable man- and cruelty in what they did. Some copies read it, Čta xerpos avopay, ner. How awful a reflection : by the hand of the *::::# . - * º a Recommend to you..] Aročečetypeuov ets àpas, pointed out to you as , d.º.º. Pºſt ºf death..] Beza conjectures, (I, think with great pro- the object of your most respectful regards bability,) that as the Hebrew word, Sºnn, with the variation only of one k rº PETER'S DISCOURSE TO THE PEOPLE. 25 For David speaketh con- cerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved : rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreoyer also my flesh shall rest in hope : firm of the leave my soul in hell, neither ygilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 27 Because, thou wilt not sepulchre, shall rest in a ſº. and assured hope; Because I am fully satisfied that thou fe separated from it, in the unseen world;é neither wilt thou per- wilt not leave my soul, whi mit even the body of thine 28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shaft Imake me ſull of joy with thy countenance. gions to w For David saith concerning him,” when he is speaking in the person of the Messiah, (Psal. xvi. 8, et seq.) “I have regarded the Lord as º: meſ with an assurance that in the greatest trials I am called to, he will continually be ready to appear in my be: half; because I know that he is at my right hand in the whole series of my labours and 26. Therefore did my heart sufferings, that I might not be moved by any of them. And for this reason, upon account 2 confidence I have in him, my heart is glad, and my tongue exulteth in the mºst cheerful manner; yea, and moreover too, even my mortal fl 'esh, while it lodges in the oly One, thy peculiar favourite, whom thou hast set apart to such honourable and important services, so much as to see corruption in the lie so long there as, in the course of nature, to be in danger of putrefaction. Thou hast 28 made me to know the ways of life, to which thou wilt assuredly conduct me ; and after all my sufferings here, thou wilt fill ine with joy in those upper and more glorious re- #. thou wilt raise me, making me glad with the light of thy countenance, and grave, or to 2’ º; me to dwell in thine immediate presence, where there is fulness of joy, and at thy l right 29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. patriarch and, where there are everlasting and uninterrupted pleasures.” And now, continued Peter, when he had recited these words at large, ye men of Israel, whom I respect [and] love as my brethren, permit me to speak freely to you concerning the avid who wrote this, and to open a hint which, if pursued, will lead you into the true sense of many other scriptures which you and your teachers are far from under- standing. As for the royal Psalmist, you well know that he is long since both dead and buried, and that his sepulchre, in which his dust remains, is here among us in Jerusalem 30 Therefore being a pro; even unto this day.h Iſe therefore could not say this of himself: but being a divinely in- Fº and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to spired prophet, and knowing t him, that of the fruit of loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne ; God had, in a special revelation from heaven, Solemnly his sworn to him with an oath, that of the fruit of his loins, or out of his descendants, he would, according to the flesh, when he should send his Son into the world in the human nature, raise up the promised Messiah, to sit on his throme, and to inherit universal empire. (Psal. 29 3 {} 31 He seeing this before, CRXxii. II.) He, with a firm reliance on the faithfulness of God, foreseeing [this] great 31 spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not * event, by divine inspiration spake the words which I have now been repeating : not mean- S 5 left in hell, neither his flesh ing them of himself, or intending they should be taken in any lower sense, but referring did see corruption. them to the resurrection of the JMessiah ; thereby plainly signifying that his soul should not be left in the unseen world, nor his flesh be suffered to see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God - raised up, whereof we all are accordi Witnesses : This very Jesus then, whom we assert to be the true Messiah, God hath now raised up ng to the tenor of this promise; of which resurrection, astonishing as it may seem, all we his apostles are witnesses on our own personal and certain knowledge; having seen 32 33 Therefore, being by, the him with our eyes, and examined into the truth of the matter with all possible care. And 33 right, hand of God and having received of Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. exalted, t ; more than this, we solemnly assure you that, mean and contemptible as this Jesus once jº. among you, he is invested now with sovereign dominion; and being exalted therefore to supreme majesty and glory at the right hand of God, and having, as the great anointed of the Lord, received t promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he hath, agreeably to the notices he gave us before his ascension, which happened but ten days ago, shed forth this miraculous effusion of it, which has produced the wonderful effects that Ayou now see and hear, and which is given us as an holy unction from above, by which he constitutes us ministers in his church below. 34 For David is not ascend- ed into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LoRD said unto my Lord, my right hand, to one superior to himself, when he says, (Psal. cx. 1.) “The Lord Jehovah said unto my 35. Until 1 make thy thy footstool. Lord, that is, God the Father said unto the Messiah, (whom, though in one sense he is to * be my son, I honour as my Lord,) Sit thow exalted on a throne at my right hand, Until I 35 -- ºnake all that are so presumptuous as to go on to be thine enemies ily footstoolk and lay them prostrate at thy feet, so that thou mayst trample upon them at pleasure, as entirely subdued.” 33 Therefore let all the little point, may indifferently signify pains or bonds, the former is here used for the latter, which to be sure agrees best with the connexion. Else it must necessarily signify the state of confinement to which the pains of death had brought him, º an Hebraism which sometimes occurs. Compare Matt. xxiv. 15. and Rev. xvii. 1. e David saith concerning him.] It is plain that st; avrov here signi- fies, of or concerning him. The particle els has the same import, Eph. v. 32. and irpos is likewise used in the same sense, Heb, i. 7. as the prefix 9, and the particle 9N, is sometimes in H brew put for 99. Compare Gen. xx. , 13. xxvi, 7. Esth. iii. 2, Psal. iii. 3. XXXV. 19, 24. xci. ii. and Job xlii. 8. (See Elsner, in loc. and Gataker, On the Title to Jantoninus.) Mr. Jeffery (in his True Grownds, p. 121.) ob- serves from this text, and lays great stress, upon, it every where, that the apostle does not make David to speak these things first of himselt, and then º Mºjº only in a secondary scnse, but quotes them as ferring to Christ alone. re I }}. regarded the Lord as always before me..]. The sixteenth Psalm, from whence this quotation is taken, cannot, without great difficulty be wholly explained as sipoken in the person of the Messiah ; and yet it is very hard to say, on that supposition, where hg, is first, introduced as speaking. We mighthawe imagined the sense of the tenth verse to have been, * am persunded thou ºpilt not leave my soul in hell, because thout ºpilt not suffer Christ, thine Holy One to see corruption in the grave; and, by what thou wilt do for him in raising him up, thou wilt give me a security of my own resurrection.” This, I say, inight have seemed an easy solution, did not the apostle, in the 31st verse, refer both the clauses to Christ. I therefore suppose the transition to be inade imme- diately after the 7th verse of the ſ”salm, aud to express the instruction which David received from God, in a revelation concerning the Messiah made to him in the night season ; when, perhaps, he had some vision in which he heard him speak the following words.-The passase is here quoted in the words of the Greek translation, sotnething diſcrent ſron the Hebrew ; but the sense is much the stilnº. g Thou wilt not leave my soul in the unseen world.] Bºzº (to guard against the popish doctrine of Christ's descent into hell) would reader the words as they stand in the Hebrew Sºxgº ºva;, my corpse in the grave ; and it is certain that nephesh and sheol have sometimes these sig– nifications ; (see Whitby and ſººza, in loc.) and the phrase of bringing a #º liſe dough to the grave, or up from it, often occurs: (Compare sal. xxx. 3. xlix. 15. lxxxvi. 13. lxxxviii. 3. lxxxix. 48.)—But as Luxm, which is the word here used, can hardly be thought to signify a dead body, and āśns is generally put for the state of separate spirits, (see note f, on Matt. xvi. 18. p. 16.3.) the version here given seemed preferable to any other; nor can any just inference be drawn from it in favour of Christ's descent into the hell of the damned. - h. His Sºpulchre is among w8 unto this day.] Jerome mentions the re- mains º: sepulchre as extant in his time; (Hier. Epist. xvi. ad JMarcell.) and a large account of other testimonies concerting it may be seen in Fabricius. (Cod. Apoc. Pet. Test. p. 1063–1070.) It is strange that this sepulchre should have survived so much barbarous rage as we know Jerusalem was often subjected to ; but perhaps it was rebuilt in liter days. As for the treasures which Josephus so often mentions as found in this sepulchre by Hyrcanus and łºd, (Antiq., lib. vii. cap. 5. [al. 12.] § 3 ;-lib. xiii. Cºtº. 8... [a]. 16.] § 4;—lib. xvi. cap. 7. [al. ií.] § 1 -él' Bell. Jail. iii. i. erip. 9. §§. Håvºré!) iſ think, with Écº, the stories have an air of fable. i flecording to the flesh.] This is expressed in the original in such a manner, with an article prefixed, (To kara gapka avaºt most v Tov Xota Tov,) as seems to refer these words, not to the loins of David, but to Christ; and so may be an intimation, that it was only with respect to his human nature that the Messiah should descend from 1)avid, while there was still a higher nature in which he was superior to him, and was indeed to be regarded as the Son of God. (Compare Rom. i. 3, 4.) It was with a view to this, that Clºis nº some jº suppose these words to be inserted hcre by the apostle; and I have therefore so dis- posed them in the version as to leave no room for any ambiguity. & Outil I ſnake thinc enemies thy footstool.] This text is quoted on this 9ecasion with the happiest address, as suggesting, in the words of David, their great prophetic monarch, how certain their own ruin must be, if they went on to oppose Christ.—Elsner has a fine collection of ancient º referring to the custom of trampling upon the vanquished dead C - d 1 1 \'º. And indeed it appears from other passages of his writings, that the great patriarch whom 34 1 mentioned before, had some views to this kingdom of the Messiah ; for David, who has Sit thou on never yet been raised from the dead, is not himself ascended into heaven in the body, to be advanced there to the highest dignity and power; but plainly intimates that this belonged Therefore upon the whole, from this concurrent evidence both of prophecy and miracle, 36 37.4 THREE THOUSAN1) CONVERTED AND BAPTIZED BY PETER. SECT. and from the testimony God has given to that Jesus whom we preach, not only by his house of Israel, know assut- ad 4. Acts sions and rooted prejudices, that God hath made this Jesus whom you rejected and crucified, II. Wer. 34, SEC 5. resurrection from the dead, but by the effusion of the Holy Spirit on his followers, let all #. * º ; the house o if Israel assuredly, know, how contrary soever it may be to their former apprehen- lºited, both iord º and Christ, that Lord and that .4ſessiah, whose kingdom you profess so eagerly to desire, and who 36 will surely come to execute his wrath upon you, if you are still so obstinate as to continue 23 24 in vour sins. Thus Peter concluded his discourse: and God blessed it as the means of awakening and converting thousands, as we shall see in the following section. IMPROVEMENT. LET us firmly believe the wisdom of the divine counsels, and humbly adore the depths of them; according to which, without the least violation of that human freedom on which the morality of our actions depends, those events happen which the wickedness of men as really effects as if Providence were wholly unconcerned in them. Let us thankfully own the riches of that grace which gave our Lord Jesus Christ to be a sacrifice for us, and then raised him triumphant from the grave, to reign at the right hand of the Majesty on high, far above all princi- 31 pality, and power, and might. (Heb. i. 3. and Eph. i. 21.) In him the prophecies aré accomplished: His soul was 28 not lºft in hell, nor did he so much as see corruption in the grave. And we may consider his resurrection as a pledge given us for our assurance that God will not abandon us in that ruinous state to which his righteous sen- tence for a while brings our bodies. He will at length redeem them from the power of the grave. (Hosea xiii, 14.) He will show-us also the path of life which our Redeemer hath trodden, and, by treading, has marked out 26 for us; and will conduct us to his right hand, where Jesus reigns, and with him everlasting pleasure. In him T. ACTS II. 38 therefore let our heart be #. and in him let our tongue rejoice; and when it is thus employed, it will indeed be the glory of our frame. (Psal. xvi. 9.) In this hope let our flesh rest; nor let our faith stagger at the promise of § as if any thing could be hard to Omnipotence. (Rom. iv. 20, 21.) - In the mean time, beholding this wonderful effusion of the Spirit as the blessed consequence of the ascension and exaltation of Christ, let us, with that affection which becomes his disciples, take our part in his glory and joy, 5 Let us triumph in the thought that God hath now said unto him, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine ene- mies thy footstool. And whiſe we rejoice in the security which we have as his friends, let us pray that the blessed time may come when every opposing power shall be brought down, and when we shall see that sight for which our eyes so long have been waiting, even all things put under his feet. (I Cor. xv. 25, 27.) Hasten, O'Lord, that glori- ous day: and whatever our station or furniture is, may we be honoured as the happy instruments of doing some- thing, whether by life or by death, in subserviency to this great design! SECTION V. Great numbers are converted by Peter’s discourse, and being immediately baptized, signalize themselves by their piety and mutual affection, which produces a further increase in the church. cts ii. 37, to the end. . . ; so- Acts ii. 37. Acts ii. 37. THUS Peter addressed himself to the Jews on the day of Pentecost: arguing from the NOW when they heard this, miraculous communication of the Spirit, that Jesus being risen from the dead, was de-ºi ſãº"; clared by God to be the promised Messiah, and charging them, on this, incontestable tº Kºłºś. evidence, with the aggravated guilt of being his betrayers and murderers. Vow when they ſailºš rethren, what heard [these things,) they were pierced to the hegrt with deep and lively sorrow, and felt suc - a conviction of their enormous guilt, in the injuries and indignities which they had offered to this glorious, this divine Person, that with the utmost eagerness and solicitude they cried out, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men [and] brethren, what shall we do to free ourselves from that guilt and danger which our own folly and wickedness have brought upon us? - - - - - - * - ..And Peter said unto them, Through the divine goodness still continued tº you; your pººj; ; case is not yet desperate : Repent therefore of this aggravated crime, and, in token of your º'º. #" the desire to be washed from the guilt of that blood which you have so rāshly imprecated upon ...º.º.º.º.º. ourselves and your children, (Matt. xxvii. 25.) be each of you baptized” in the name of the haſ ſº the ºflºti: ford Jesus Christ,b in order to the forgiveness of that and all [your] other sins; and Jº Holy Ghost. not only shall obtain the free and full remission of them all, but also shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which he will own the work of his grace upon your hearts, and - 39 qualify you for serving that Lord whom you have crucified. For the promise of the Spirit , 39 For the promise is unto 40 * * J ... you, and to your child is madé, as you see in the forecited passage from Joel, (ver. 17, 18.) to you, and to your ; ;"|I'º..."; jº whom God is ready to admit to the same privilege with you : and not only so, jºins the Por" out but it extends to the fººt nations, to all that are afar off;q as well as to them that are God shakſ call- near, even to as many as the Lord our God shall, call by the preaching of his gospel; which shall be propagated to the ends of the earth, and receive glorious attestations every where, by the effusion of the like miraculous gifts as we have received on many, and by the gon- rºunication of the inward graces of the Spirit unto all who shall become obedient to the faith. 7 Y → . - - Z-A ºn ºf - - d with many other words he bore his 40. And with many other Thus Pete! addressed himself to the º: i. }. Aſ oth di ider. Wººds.ºhºº. testimony to these important truths, and earnestly exhorted them to an immediate gonsider- hoſt, saying, sive ºurselves ation of the danger of persisting in their infidelity; saying, in the conclusion of all, See that you lay these things to heart, receiving them with such regard as the importance of - h of iſou. ized.] They are not only called here gift of the Spirit had been mention?d just before, i, seems most naturaſ tº: "...º.º. #: ofºº of baptism is required to interpret this as a reference to that passage in Joel which had been ... j."ºrje tº the forgiveness of their sins: fºr though ºn tº sº largely regiº allºi (Y. 17, et ; :) yherº God prºmises the ºffit; jºg and believing, they were, agcording to the teno, of the gospel sion ºf the Spirit on their sons and ºr daughters : cand accordingly I º : ant entitled to tº emission of their sins; yet as Christ had for have paraphrased the latter clause of this wºrse as referring to its extra- co ºo:: appointed this solemn rite as a token of their taking up the ordinary gifts; and the rather, as, the sanctifying influences of the Spirit §§ Srofession in a public manner, there could haye been no suff- mast already have been received, to prepare them for entering into the ºpºliº. }}. §§hº tº their epºntance and faith, if this precept church bºbaptisº: But if the pºpulisº be interpreted as referring to a §§ #: had not been obeyed remoter clause, the ſorgiveness of their sins, this whole verse must be Of Christ halC }. of Je jºist.] The learned Vitrigga has taken a taken in a greate. latitude, as referring to the encouragement which aſ f R. ngme. ºftovº the phrase, 3arrºga5 it cus Xota Tov, future, coaXerº and their children had to expect the benefits of the gos- great deal of pains to show that the 9 2 ‘Y r" d - which view. I think you!! . - * * r > * 4. - -- r xotºrov, and girl ovoſtart Xp17 row, have º In which view, I think, it would much favoºr infant baptism, as gig ovopa Xptgrow, ºvovoſta'ſ ºptºſ”, fü ſº ºhich imany writers on the subject have largely shown. † significations; and labours to prove that the lºit Pºº.º. ºr º Since P knew nothing as * = }, , , jºjºs Le Clerc understands it) being ºff. ...? all that are aſſur, off.J., Since Peter knew nothing as yet of the is bºre lººd) ; ño"are ºfessing to devºte intended, callinº of the Gentiles, he could only mean by this, that the lººd qmong º of it. See *#4. Öğeº. Sacr. iiş, ſii, cap. 22. gospel should be preached to all the dispersed of Israei in distant tº: # ºu. 'anjº, Jºãildren.] "Considering that the natious; but the Spirit of God might have a further view. THREE THOUSAND CONVERTED AND BAPTIZED BY PETER. fºr this untoward genera. the case requires; renounce that obstinate unbelief, in which you joined with, those who SECT. 1OIl. crucified Christ, and be ye saved from that ruin which will quickly come upon this perverse 5. and depraved generation. - -* b And the exhortation was not in vain; for many were awakened and wrought upon * it. º rº, jºy They therefore who received his word with readiness, were baptized; thereby taking upon 41 i.i.”... ." . . them the public profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah: and there were added to the . . ; ; # number of [the disciples] that very day about three thousand souls.” Nor was this ºnly a . - ” transport of sudden pºsiºn, with which they were affected only for the present, with an - . . . . - impression that quickly wore off; but, on the contrary, it produced the most solid and 42, And they continued lasting effects. And, notwithstanding all the apparent danger to which they were exposed; 42 - = 3 -: *- - * ;%;"º.; ; they continued steadfast in their attendance on the word which the apostles preached, and ºins of bread, and in resolutely adhered to their doctrine. And though many of them that believed were such * as had come thither out of foreign countries, who would otherwise have returned home im- mediately after the feast, they staid a considerable time longer at Jerusalem, to be more \ thoroughly instructed in the Christian faith; and they all lived in the most endearing fel- lowship and intimate friendship with each other, and particularly expressed their mutual 43 And, fear, came upon affection in breaking of bread together,” and joining in the exercise of social prayer. And 43 #ºliº; many others who were not converted, when they took notice of this wonderful effect of the the apostles. apostles' preaching, were mightily struck and impressed with the thought of it; so that a reverential fear and inward dread fell upon every soul, and spread itself over the whole city and neighbourhood, at the sight of so unexampled an event, which they apprehended might be the forerunner of some public calamity on those who had slain that Jesus, of whom it was declared by his disciples that it was all effected by his power: and the consternation was further increased, as many miracles and signs, which plainly showed an extraordinary divine interposition, were wrought by the apostles in his name. sº ºf “Tº º Jānd all that believed were together, meeting as frequently as possible in the same place:h 44 ' and such was their mutual affection and love to each other, that they had all things in com- 44 And all that believed were together, and had al things common; sº jºi mon.i, And this generous principle went so far, that they who had estates or any other 45 §. *.*.*.*.*.*... valuable substance, sold their possessions and effects, and readily divided the price of them to man had need. 46 46 And they, continuing all their brethren, as every one had particular necessity. (Compare chap. iv. 34, 35.) And 46 daily with one accord in the - they continued resolutely and unanimously in the temple at the appointed hours of public H.P."...º.º. worship every day: And at other times they associated as frequently as they could, break- their meat with gladness and ing bread from house to house, each family making entertainments for their brethren, espe- singleness of heart, - cially for those who were sojourners in Jerusalem. And they partook of their common refreshment with the greatest joy on the side of those that made the entertainments, and with disinterested simplicity of heart in those who received them, and on all sides, with nº ºf the sincerest sentiments of devotion and friendship. Such was the effect the gospel had . iá."...iº iº"aii upon them: and in this manner they went on, praising God for the riches of his grace to ... §ºly such as them, and having in the general that favour and respect among all the people which so e amiable and benevolent a conduct would naturally secure. º the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom they had given up their names, added daily to the church considerable numbers of those happy souls who by this means were saved from the general destruction which was approaching, and from the future punishment to which they would otherwise have been transmitted by it. IMIPROVEMENT. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; and far more beautiful than a jewel of gold, or an ornament offine gold, is a wise reprover on an obedient ear. (Proy. xxvii. 6, xxv. 12.) Happy are they who feel such a holy compunction of soul as these penitents did! Salvation is come to their house, and though they sow in tears, they shall reap in joy. (Psal. cxxvi. 5.) What reason have we for thankfulness, that when we are crying out, What shall we do? the ospel gives us so ready an answer, and directs us to faith and repentance as the sure way by which we may obtain the remission of our sins, and at length rise to an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Let us rejoice that 38 the promise is to us and to our seed, and that the important blessings of it will run down from generation to gene- 39 ration. And let all the ardour of our souls be awakened to secure these blessings, and to be saved from that ruin 40 in which we shall otherwise be involved with the crooked and perverse generation among which we live. Glorious effect of this convincing and excellent discourse, when three thousand were in one day added to the 41 church! three thousand, who not only expressed some present good impressions and resolutions, but continued Wer.37 e There were added—that very day about three thousand souls...] It is commonly said that all these were congerted by one sermon. But it is. probable, that while Peter was preaching, in the Syriac language, the other apostles were preaching at Some small distance, much to the same purposé, in other languages; and it is not surely to be imagined that none of them but Peter should be blessed as the means of converting any soul; not to insist... upon it that he himself might deliver severa discourses this day to different auditories, when the concourse of people was so great, and their languages.so, various:-It will not be improper to add, that Tºpogété0mgav emphatically signifies, to pass over to a body of men, as Bós, Raphelius, and Elsner have shown ; and that Elsner has shown at large, in a very curious note on this clause, not only (as Gataker, Rºß, and many others have,) that, souls often signifies persons in the Greek and Latin classics, but also that Jamblicus, in his Life of Pythagoras, has exactly imitated this passage, in the account he ives of that philosopher’s success in Italy, as proselyting two thousand y one discourse, engaging them to continue with him, frequently wor- shipping in the temples, and sharing their goods in common, as these - primitive christians did. Facts of which we have no manner of con- vincing eyidence, and which were probably intended to slur christianity %;" invidious comparison. (Elsm. Observ. vol. i. p. 375, 376.) Compare § note C. s - - - s f hhey continued steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine.] This may intimate, on the one hand, that many efforts were made to shake their resolution; and on the other, that ºpon fuller inquiry, they found all things as the apostles had represented. - g In breaking of bread..] Though we have great reason to believe that the eucharist was often celebrated among these primitive converts, per- haps much oftener than eyery Lord’s day, yet [...cannot see reason to conclude with Suicer, (Thesaur. Eccles. vol. ii. p. 105.) I,iglitfoot, Pearson, and many others, that this phrase must here refer to it, since it may undoubtedly signify common meals, as Casaubon, Grotius, Wolfius, and several others have shown ; and in this sense the phrase is used, Luke xxiv. 35. where it is plain the eucharist could not bo intended. h In the same place.] Dr. Whitby pleads that, as they were at least three thousand one hundred and twenty, they could not be in the same plage, and therefore would understand it of communion in the same action. He would rather render it, (as our translation does,) they were together ; and produces several places from the Septuagint to this pur- pose, as Ezra, iv. 3. Psal. xlix. 2. Isa. lxvi. 17. Jer. vi. 12, &c. But, as it generally signifies, aſ assembly in the sane place, and many larger assemblies than of three or four thousand people are held, it seemed, best to render it, thus, only qualifying it as in the paraphrase, especially as girt To avro has plainly this sense, ver. 1. IInd all things in common.] Peculiar reasons made this community of goods eligible at that time: not only as so many sojourners who had çome from other parts, would justly be desirous to continue at Jerusal lºm much longer than they intended when they came up to the feast, that they might get a thorough knowledge of the gospel, but as the pros- |. likewise . of the Român conquests, which, according to Christ’s shown prediction, were soon to swällow up all Jewish property, would gf course dispose many inore readily to sº their lands. But the New Testament abounds with passages which plainly show this was never intended for a general practice. None can reasonably imagine that the number of christian converts, even then at Jerusalem, is to be ac- counted for by a desire to share in these divided goods: for it is evident, that as the portion each could have would be very small, so the hardships to be endured for a christian profession would soon counterbalance such advantages: and accordingly we find the converts at Jerusalem were soon reduced to such necessiious circumstances, as to need relief by the contributions of their Gentile brethren. Candour would rather lead phen to argue the incontestable evidence of the gospel, from its prevail- ing on the professors of it to part with their estates to relieve persons Wh9, excepting the community of their faith, had no particular claim to their regards. If such instances were numerous,' this argument is strengthened in proportion; and if they be supposed few, the objection is proportionably weakened. - 376 THE LAME MAN CURED BY PETER AND JOHN. SECT. steadfast in the religion they had embraced, and sacrificed all their worldly interests to it. How glorious an earnest 5. of the future success of the gospel! How great an encouragement to the apostlesinail the difficulties they were to encounter', and how convincing a proofto all ages of its truth! since all these proselytes were made upon the agºs spot, where, if it had been false, it is impossible it should have been believed by any one rational inquirer, how mean soever his capacity, or how low soever his rank in life had been. •; * - - Let is reflect with pleasure on the happy change produced in the character and state of these converts. Bitter 46 as the first pangs of their convictions were, anguish soof, yielded to delight. Pardon of sin, and the hope of glory, added a relish, before unknown, to the supports of nature, the accommodations of life, and the endearments ºf 47 friendship. Whilst their hearts were opened in sentiments of gratitude to God, who had provided a laver for their crimson sins, which rendered them like wool and like snow ; and to that Redeemer who had saved them by that 44 blood which they had cruelly and impiously shed, they were also dilated in liberality and bounty; and they un- 45 doubtedly found a rich equivalent for all the worldly possessions which they resigned, in that holy joy which º; up in their souls when the treasures of the gospel were opened to them, and dealt out with so generous & II:lil (1. - So may the kingdom of Christ spread and flourish in the souls of men! So may that blessed time come when, through the operation of the same Spirit, (for that Spirit is for ever the same,) nations shall be born in a day! Let is not despair; the morning was glorious, and in the even-tide it shall be light. (Zech. xiv. 7.) In the mean time, let us thankfully own whatever progress christianity may be making amongstus or others, though by slow degrees; and acknowledge that it is the ſº." Lord of the church who, by #. secret but powerful influence, adds unto its respective societies such as shall be saved. May the additions every where be numerous, and may the great Au- thor of all good be more thankfully owned in them all! . *E*- 7 SECTION VI. Peter and John, quickly after the feast of Pentecost, cure a man, who had been lame from his birth, at the temple gate, which occasions a great concourse of admiring spectators. Acts ili. 1–11 Acts iii. 1. * - - Acts iji. 1. SECT. WOPP while the church was in the flourishing state described above, an extraordinary cir- Now Peter and John went cumstance happened which tended still more to increase its numbers and reputation: for ºf flºº.º.º. 6. at the hour of - • - prayer, bein — on a certain day about that time,” Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of the ninth hour. , Oelrig ACTS prayer, [being] the ninth hour, that is, about three o’clock in the afternoon;b which was III. the usual time of day when great numbers attended the evening sacrifice, and joined their prayers with those of the priest who was burning incense before the Lord. (Compare Luke i. 10.) 2 . .4nd a certain man, well known among them that frequented the place, who had been .. 2 And a certain man, lane lame from his mother's womb, by a weakness in his ankles, which rendered him incapable ºyº of walking, was carried thither by the help of others; whom they daily brought and laid iº; down at the eastern gate of the temple, which is called the Beautiful gate, being made of .'; ;º Corinthian brass, and richly adorned with the most curious workmanship: and here he ed into the temple : lay, to ask alms of those that entered into the temple to pay their devotion there, as such charitable actions seemed peculiarly suitable when men were going to make their suppli- cations to the God of mercy; and the relief that he obtained there was the only means he 3 had for his subsistence. Such was the case of this poor cripple, who, seeing Peter and 13. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, applied himself to them among the rest, and begged to ...i.d.º." " 4 receive an alms of them. But Peter, being then (as was observed before) with #. the sº...ºni.i. beloved disciple, felt at that time a strong emotion of soul, which intimated to him that § Fºol". with John, the divine energy was then to be displayed in an illustrious miracle to be wrought by his means: and turning therefore to the poor man, and looking steadfastly upon him, he said, 5 Look upon us. And accordingly he ficed his eyes upon them, as eaſpecting to receive some-.5. And he gave heed unto 6 thing %. them for the relief of his necessities. # Peter, under the divine impulse, ...hº...” “” intended him a far more important favour; and therefore suid, As for silver and gold, I a...ºf ſºrrº. Šiš have none of either to impart to thee,d were I ever so free to do it; but what I have in my jº"I';*, *::::"fin; power I willingly give thée, and thou shalt find it not less valuable: I say unto thee, there- #'ſ...";sº fore, in the great and prevailing name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and as a proof that he walk. - 7 is indeed the Messiah, rise up and walk. And Peter taking him | the right hand, encou- 7 And he took him by the raged him to do as he had said, and raised him up ; and immediately on his speaking this tº #: and touching him, his feet and his ankle-bones, which had before been disabled, were in an ºle-bones received 8 extraordinary manner strengthened, and reduced to their proper situation. And leaping up "sº he leaping up, stood, from the place where he lay, he first stood in an erect posture, which he had never before tº been able to do, and then walked about with strength and steadiness, and entered with them jº, and leaping, and praising into the court of the temple, there to offer his first-fruits of thanksgiving; sometimes walking, “ and sometimes leaping for joy, and, in a rapture of astonishment and thankfulness, praising God for so singular a mercy manifested to him. (Compare Isa. xxxv. 6) - 9 And all the people who were there present, saw him thus walking in the court of the h;º."º"; e - - im protis, - - - - - - God: temple, and the cloister adjacent to it, and heard him praising God with this uncommon Gºa. ey knew that it 10 ecstasy of delight: And they knew him perfectly well, that this was he who had sat so long wºº. § a About that time.] Thus I would choose, with Grotius, to render the fices were º and incense, as a kind of emblem representing words ert To avro, at the beginning of this chapter, as it does not seem º . the golden altar. See Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xiv. to suit so well with the original, to take them to imply no more than that cºp. 3- lº!: $. • .. rTwº. - - Peter and John went u .# to the temple. . I see no reason to sup- cCalled the Beautſul gate.]...This gate. Whigh was added by Herod posé, with fºr flightfoot, that this happened the same day on which to the court of the Gentiles, was thirty cubits high, and fifteen |...} the Spirit was miracuſously poured out, or to conclude, with others, and made of Corinthian brass, more Rompºus, in its workmanship and #it it was not tiſſ the next year, or at least several months after. The splendour than those that were covered, with silver and gold. (Joseph: time is no where determined; but it appears most probable that it was Bell. Jud. lib. v. Cap. 5, [a]...yi, S.J.S $.). Josephus, i. oºr, Bres;nt soon after the feast of Pentecost. Coimparc note c, on Acts iv. 4. § 8. copies stand, says it was the oute gate ; but Lud. Capelius thinks this à"...º hºr ºf prºſer, being the ninth hour.] it may suffice once for reading is wrong, and that it was,the inner gºte bety ºn the court of the ali to observe, that the Jews divided the time, from the rising to the Gentiles and that of Israel; and Grotius allows of his reasoning. See setting of the sun, into twelve hours, which were consequently, at differ- Grotius, in loc. "T" i. 3 - - - - ent times of the year, of unequal length, as the days were longer or d Silver and gold I have none.] This was after the estates, were sold, shorter. When we say, therefore, (as we often do in this work,) that (chap. ii. 45.) and plainly shows how far the apostles were from chrich- the third hour was about nine in the morning, the ninth about three in ing themselves by the treasures which passed through their hands, as jº ºffernoon, &c. we are not to be understood to speak with the utmost Mr. Reynolds well observes in his, Letters, to, a Deist, Nº. iii. p. 242, §§ºss ſhe third hour was the middle space between sun-rising and By his mentioning gold as well as silver, (which a beggar, like this could noon, which, if the sun rose at five, was, half an hour aftºr eight, if at not expect,to receive.) he probably meant to speak of himself as con- seyen, was half an hour after nine, &c.—The chief hours of prayer were ºil a poor iman, and not merely to say that he had no gold tº third and the ninth; at which seasons tho morning and ovenigg sacri- about him. PETER'S AFFECTIONATE DISCOURSE TO THE PEOPLE IN THE TEMPLE. the Beautiful gate of the tºm; at the Beautiful gate of the temple, to beg for alms of those that entered in and game.9tit; § ºd...; and they were fift with awful astonishment, and felt in themselves likewise a kind of joy- t ºhich had happened ful ecstasy, something resembling his, at that miraculous event which had befallen him. '''A., as the ſame man And upon this, while the lame man who was thus wonderfully healed, full of the tender- Yiº est sentiments of gratitude, still kept his hold of Peter and John," and walked on between i.e."ºo"thèſ.'... tº them, sometimes taking them by the hand, and sometimes embracing them as his great §...tº jºi..." benefactors, and the means of his deliverance,—all the people in the neighbouring parts, - alarmed with so strange a story, ran together to them in great amazement, to the spacious and celebrated portico of the temple, which (for reasons elsewhere assigned) was called Solomon's portićo.f And Peter observing the great concourse of people, and finding that they were exceedingly affected with the miracle which had been wrought, took that oppor- tunity of making a very instructive discourse to them, which will be recorded in the en- suing section. IMPROVEMENT. HAPPY are those souls who are so formed for devotion, that the ſº returning seasons of it, whether public or private, are always welcome ! Doubly delightful that friendship which, like this of Peter and John, is endeared not only by taking sweet counsel together, but by going to the house of God in company' (Psal. lv. 14.). If we desire this devotion should be acceptable, let us endeavour not only to lay aside all the malignant passions, and to lift up holy hands withgut wrath ; (1 Tim. ii. 8.) but let us stretch out our hands in works of benevolence 377 SECT. 6. ACTS III. 11 Wer. 1 and kindness. To our piety let us add the most diffusive charity which our circumstances will permit; and there 3, 4 are none whose circumstances will forbid every exercise of it. As for those that have neither silver nor gold, such 6 as they have let them give. These holy apostles, we see, had not enriched themselves by being intrusted with the distribution of those goods which were ſaid at their feet; but had approved themselves faithful stewards: the members of Christ were far dearer to them than any temporal interest of their own; and fatally, sure, would the church in all ages have been mistaken, if it had measured the worth of its pastors by their wealth. They bestowed nevertheless a much more 6 valuable bounty. And if it be more desirable to heal men's bodies than to enrich them, how much more advan- tageous is it to be the instrument of healing their souls! which, if it be ever accomplished, must surely be in the same name, even that of Jesus of Nazareth. May, he strengthen the feeble powers of fallen nature, while we are attempt- ing to raise men up; and may spiritual health and vigour, when restored, be improved, like the cure wrought on 7, 9 8 this lame man, in the service of God, and a thankful acknowledgment of his goodness! We are not to wonder, that as the name of Jesus, their great Deliverer, is incomparably precious to all that truly believe, such have also some peculiarly tender friendships for the persons by whose means he has wrought this good 11 work upon them. May many such friendships be formed now, and be perfected in glory; and, in the mean time, may the ministers of Christ be watching every opportunity of doing good, and especially when they see men under any lively impressions which tend towards religion 1 May they have that holy mixture of zeal and prudence which taught the apostles now to speak, a word in season; a word which proved so remarkably good, and was owned by God in so singular a manner for the conversion and salvation of multitudes that heard it! SECTION VII. Peter makes a most affectionate discourse to the people assembled in º temple, on occasion of the cure of the lame man. Acts iji. 12, to - the end. iii T 9 Acts ifi. 12. AcTs iii. I2. AND when Peter saw it, he THE miraculous cure of the lame man at the Beautiful gate of the temple, was presently SECT. answered unto the people— reported in the city, and occasioned (as we have seen before) a vast concourse of people, who ran together to the temple, and gathered in crowds about Peter and John, astonished at so marvellous a cure, and eager to behold the persons who had wrought it. ..And Peter seeing ſº was ready to improve it as a proper opportunity of renewing his address to them upon that important errand with which, as an apostle of Jesus, he was charged; ac- cordingly he answered those of the people who were there assembled, and were earnestly inquiring into the circumstances of the fact, in the following manner: —Ye men of Israel, why ". men of Israel, why do ye wonder so at this which has now happened, when so much ; , ; * ; ... greater miracles have lately been performed among you? or why do ye fir your eyes so tº 5. Sº power or earnestly on us, with that astonishment which your looks express, as if it were by our own º,had male "power, or by any º piety and holiness of ours, that we had made this poor man able to 13 The God of Abraham, walk 2 We would by no means take the honour of this miracle to ourselves, but would §ºś direct your views unto the great Original of all, even the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, º ºf and of Jacob, whom we adore and reverence as the God of our fathers;", and would have šiniºieś, you to consider what has now happened as a signal proof that he hath glorified his Son lºw- determined tº Jesus, and given all power into his hands, even that Jesus whom you, kind as his design and exemplary as his life was, ungratefully delivered up to the Roman power as a criminal, and treated with such vile contempt as that you º renounced and refused to accept of him in the presence of Pilate, when he was satisfied of his innocence, and determined to re- oº: jºiº º º lease him. But you, I say, renounced the Holy and Righteous . One, declaring that you ..'...'... would not own him as your king, nor even be contented to admit of his discharge, when you : it was offered by the Roman governor, and pressed upon you; and were so set against him, that with outrageous clamour you desired rather that Barabbas, one of the most in- famous of mankind, a robber and a murderer, might be granted and released unto you. J5 And killed the Prince of And while you asked for the deliverance of so vile a wretch, you inhumanly and insolently * * * * * killed him who is the great Author and Prince of life, the only person who had power to conduct you to it;b whom nevertheless God has amply vindicated, having raised him up e Kept his hold of Peter and John.J. Perhaps fearing his lameness should least design to divert their regards from the God of Israel.—For the return if he lost sight of them, as Beza and others have observed. force of the word mpvngagös, which we have rendered renounced, see f The portico called Solomon’s.) The reason why it was so called; and Heins. Exercit., Sacr. p. 354,253. what a sort of building it was, may be seen in note be on Jºhn X; 33. p. b Killed the Prince of life.) Even him to whom the Father had given 232. To which we may add, that this is said to have been the only part to have life in himself, (John v. 23.) and, whom he had appointed to of the temple which was not destroyed by the Chaldeans. e conduct his followers to life and glory. The contrast between their a The God of our fathers.]. This was wisely introduced here in the killing such a person, and interceding for the pardon of a murderer, a beginning of his discourse, that it might appear they taught no new destroyer of life, has a peculiar energy. religion inconsistent with the Mosaic, and were far from having the pay 4 - ACTS III. 13 14 15 g 48 378 PETER'S AFFECTIONATE DISCOURSE TO THE PEOPLE IN THE TEMPLE. SECT. from the dead; of which we his apostles are witnesses, upon a repeated testimony of our own from the dead: whereof wo - º * - * - - e al fitnesses. 7. Senses, in circumstances in which it was impossible that they should be deceived. . .And *iº; name, º; e God is still continuing to heap new honours upon him, whom you have treated with so fº n his name, hº In 8. *...* much infamy : for be it known unto you, it is by faith in his name that he hath strengthened jaºn..."ºff. III. - * - - 16 this poor man,” whom you see here before you, and whom you know to have been unable º from his birth to walk; [yea, I repeat it again, as what highly concerns you all to know hiº in and regard, It is his name, and the faith which is centred in him, and which derives its efficacy from his power, that has given him this perfect strength and soundness which he now manifests before you all. 17 And now, brethren, while I am urging this for your conviction, that I may lead you to 17 And, now, brethren, I repent of your great wickedness in crucifying so excellent and so divine a Pérson, I would Yº,'..."; };". not aggravate the crime you have been guilty of beyond due bounds, so as to drive you to rulers. despair; as I know that it was through ignorance of his true character that you did *. OMS º also your rulers,” by whom you were led on and prompted to it: for surely if the ignity and greatness of his person, and his divine authority and mission, had been known, both you and they must have treated him in a very different manner. (Compare I Cor. 18 ii. 8.) But God permitted this that you have done, and overruled it for wise and gracious el; Bººthose hings, which purposes; and hath thus fulfilled those things which he so plainly had foretold by the mouth §riº, of all his prophets in the various ages of the world: even thai Christ should suffer as an #9 ºld sumº, he atoning sacrifice for the sins of his people. (Compare Acts xiii. 27.) ath so fulfilled. 19 See to it therefore that it be your immediate care to secure an interest in the benefits ...!?, Repeat...yº, thºſe?” purchased by his death: and to this purpose let us exhort you to repent of your iniquities, #########. and, with a sense of what you have done amiss, to turn to God in the way of sincere and º.º.º.º.º. universal obedience, that so your sins may be blotted out, and you may be delivered from tº the presence • the heavy burden of your guilt; that seasons of sacred refreshment and delight may come 20 upon you from the presence of the Lord:* And that, in consequence of your complying cºnd he shallsgnd Jesus -> * * - - - Christ, which before was with this important counsel, you may not only be received to all the joys of a state of par- ºedºvº. don and divine acceptance, but he may at length send unto you this Jesus Christ, who was so long before appointedſ by God to this blessed purpose, and represented and proclaimed under such a väriety of symbols as the great Saviour of lost sinners; that having triumphed over all his enemies, and accomplished all the prophecies as to the prosperity and glory of his church on earth, he may finally receive you and all his faithful servants to complete 21 and eternal happiness above. Submit yourselves this day, then, to this glorious Redeemer, ºhº; whom you must not indeed expect as immediately to appear in person among you : for #id."f in" in. heaven must continue to receive and retain him till the long-expected and happy times of ."... º.º.º. the regulation of all things,” that is, till the great appointed day when God will rectify all pºets since the world the seeming irregularities of his present dispensations, and make the cause of righteousness * and truth for ever triumphant and glorious: concerning which great [events, (that is, that such a Saviour should be raised up, and should at length be fixed in universal dominion, º hº like,) God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets from the beginning Of £27779. In 22 For Moses, the first of these prophets whose writings are come down to us, has in the nº. §§ 3; º; plainest terms described him, ...”. said to the fathers in his early days, {ijeut. Xviii. §§: ſº: 15, 18, 19.), “Surely a prophet shall the Lord your God in after-times raise up unto you, Hºº. º: out of the families of jour brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear and hearken to in all hearijithiºlatsoever 23 things whatsoever he shall say writo you. ...And it shall come to pass, [that] every soul who hºhºl. say unto You. Ul - - - tº shall come to will not hearken to that prophet, and be obedient to him, shall be cut off from among the Riº *...; - : All mercw.k and b de le of th raº ni- - d h will, not hear that Prophet people without mercy, and be made an example of the severest punishment due to such shall he destroyed from 24 aggravated and ungrateful rébellion.” Yea, and those that succeeded Moses, even all the agº º the pro- prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as spoke anything largely con- pºets ºn Samuel and those cerning the future purposes and schemes of divine Providence, have also foretold these jº.º.º. #: important days, which, by the singular favour of God to you, ye are now so happy foretold of these days. aS to See. * 25 Let us now, therefore, solemnly entreat you to regard and improve these declarations in 25 Ye are the children of a becoming manner: for you have peculiar obligations to do it, as you are the children of c and by faith in his name he hath strengthened, &c.) The construction prising to find Dr. Thomas Burnet, Mr. Whiston, and ºther legned of the original, as it is commonly pointed, is so exceedingly perplexed, writers, urging it for such a restoration of the paradisiacal state of the that Heinsius’s manner of pointing seems greatly to be prºférred. "Hè earth as they on their different hypotheses have yentured to assºt, with: places a period after carepdogs, referring that verb to 6 €eos, in the out any clear warrant from Scripturgy and amidst 4 thousand difficulties preceding verse, and To ovop a to £660kev, in the latter clause of this. ¥h clog our conceptions of it. (Compare note l, on Matt. xvii. 11. p. y arh , or ... , 27:27 ºf K- > • £ º - d 7 .# ºº:: gººd º : c.] Probably, if it had not been sº h From the beginning of time.]. See note b, on Izuke is 70. p. 26. they would have been immediately destroyed, or reserved to vengeance - - - - ; viii. 15, et without any offer of pardon. Yet it is plain their ignorance, being in i JMoses said to the fathers.) This quotation from Deut. xviii. 15.8 itselfligijº criminal amidst such means of information, did not excuse {{! does in its primary sense refer to the Messiah, as Dr. Bullock and them from great guilt. x ~~ Mr. º, hºg º sº ; he lºs, º #!"; e That seasons of reſreshment may conc, &c.1 So it i F- rophet, but . a. Saviour, and a Lawgiver too. Up, this scº * J_uther, fºſfºſ. I)e '#';"Riº."º,";". Limborch chiefly buijff, in that noble controversy º Yº! º: 329.) I think very reasonably, render the words on as av eX6600 av, &c. justly called Amica Collatio cum erudito Judæo, which not only...º a- *- ~~ : ... -- ~ 3, …": ! in a variety of beautiful, and some of them very, uncommon, ar; tınºğ, as the same phrase is used Luke ii. 35. 070s av amokaxv4.0ajaty, &c. tº at Šut is aigo on both sides so fing a model of a genteel and articable ºn: the thoughts may be revealed; and Matt. vi. 5, orog av Čavogt, that they nºr of debating the most momentous guestion, as it ºf...? been may be seen. (See also Acts xv. 17. and Rom. iii. 4.) Erasmus and much for the credit of their gligion ºnd ºf themselves; if all other advo- Fiscator render it, Seeing times of refreshment are come and Beza, cates for christianity had followed. Justip Martyr’s Dialogue with “After that, or, when they shall coinc. But the authorities produced in Trypho is written with much of the same decent spirit, though by no favour of this version seem not sufficient to justify it; nor was the blot- means with equal compass and solidity of thought. * º ting out the sins of penitents deſerred to any distant time. Divine k Šhgil 5, Cº off from among the people.]... One, cannºt lºº.º.º.º. refreshment would no doubt immediately iºſe itself with a sensé"ºf masterly address than this, to warm the Jºys of the dreadful consequence pardon, and eternal happiness would certainly at length succeed; but of their infidelity, in the very words of Moses, their fayourite prophet, the fºllowing clause seems to intimate that feter apprºhended the 'com out of a pretended zeal for whom they were ready to reject christianity, version of the Jews, as a people, would be attended, with some extra- and to attempt its destruction. See apo'º, §4. note k. - ordinary scene of prosperity and joy, and open a speedy way to, Christ’s | All the prophets from Samuel 3 As Samuel is the earliest prophet descent from heaven, in order to the restitution of all things.--I have the next to Aſosos, whose writings are come down to us? and as the books pleasure, since. I wrote this, to find that the learned Vitringa agrees which go Jºſe his name, and were probably begun by his pen, speak with me in this interpretation. Vitring. Observ. Sacr. lib. v. cap. 6. very expressly of the Messiah, (l, Sam. ii. 10. 2 Sam. xxiii.3—5.) nothing - - ºn bºunnecessary, and hardly any thing more unnatgal, than f Before appointed.] Instead of ſpokcknpv) peuov, before preached, I to draw an argument from this passage 9.SRPPºt the notion of Samuel’s here follow Beza in reading Tpokezeiptopglov, as Tertullian and several being the author of the Pentateugh, which j; tºg: *...; #. and of the fathers quote it, and the Aſixandrian and several other valuable Sºy Tºsºnº. directly to contradigt. (See Lord Barring- s. and ancient vers - ºn tº * * * * * * g ton's fºur fispensat. Appendix, No. iii) . It would be trifling manuscripts, and ancient versions likewise, have it: and then vg ºv must to argue #. this expression of all the prophets, that ºvery one of them, (as in this version) be referred to aſſaaret An, shall send to you, &c. and particulariy jonah and Obadiah, mußt, have said somewhat of the The regulation of all things.] This amokarao Tacts may so well be ājjī.”fiš' abundantly sufficient that it is true of the prophets in oxplained of regulating the present disorders in the moral world, and general. f the seeming inequalities of providential dispensations, that it is sur- -> THE TWO APOSTLES EXAMINED BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM. 379 ...Pºčº the prophets, and of the covenant which God constituted of old with our fathers, saying tº ºbſa-SECT. §§§A. ham again and again, (Gen. xii. 3. xviii. 18.xxii. 18.) “..And in thy seed shall all the families 7. hiº.º.º.º.º. of the earth be blessed.” And accordingly this Messiah, who was promised as so extensive #!..." " " "," and universal a blessing, has sprung from him; and to you first,” God having raised up his Aºs º, g; child Jesus from the loins of this pious patriarch, has sent him with ample demonstratiºns 2g". jºseºm iś bºss Woº, of his divine mission, lately in his own person, and now by our ministry and the effusion .*.*.*.*.* of of his Spirit, to offer pardon and salvation to you, and to bless you, every one of you turn- ing from your iniquities;" in which, though by profession you are God's people, you have been so long indulging yourselves; nor are the vilest and most aggravated sinners among you excepted from the grace of such an invitation. Let it therefore be your most solicitous care that this gracious message may not be addressed to you in vain. IMPROVEMENT. HAPPY the minister whose heart is thus intent upon all opportunities of doing good, as these holy apostles were ! Ver. 12 Happy that faithful servant who, like them, arrogates nothing to himself, but centres the praise of all in him who is the great Source from whom every good and perfect gift proceeds! Happy the man who is himself willing to be forgotten and overlooked, that God may be remembered and owned He, like this wise master-builder, will 13–15 lay this foundation deep in a sense of sin, and will charge it with all its aggravations on the sinner, that he may thereby render the tidings of a Saviour welcome; which they can never be till this burden has been felt. Yet will he, like Peter, conduct the charge with tenderness and respect, and be cautious not to overload even the 17 greatest offender. We see the absolute necessity of repentance, which therefore is to be solemnly charged upon the consciences of all 19 who desire that their sins may be blotted out of the book of God’s remembrance, and that they may share in that refreshment which nothing but the sense of his pardoning love can afford. Blessed souls are they who have expe- rienced it! for they may look upon all their present comforts as the dawning of eternal glory; and having seen Christ with an eye of faith, and received that important cure which nothing but his powerful and gracious name 20, 21 can effect, may be assured that God will send him again to complete the work he has so graciously begun, and to reduce the seeming irregularities of the present state into everlasting harmony, order, and beauty. In the mean time, letus adore the wisdom of his providence and the fidelity of his grace, which has overruled the 18 folly and wickedness of men to subserve his own holy purposes, and has accomplished the promises so long since made, of a prophet to be raised up to Israel like Moses, and indeed gloriously superior to him, both in the dignity 22 of his character and office, and in the great salvation he was sent to procure.—This salvation was first offered to 26 Israel, which had rendered itself so peculiarly unworthy by killing the Prince of life. Let us rejoice that it is now 15 published to us, and that God has condescended to send his Son-to bless us sinners of the Gentiles, in turning us from our iniquities. Let us view this salvation in its true light, and remember that if we are not willing to turn from iniquity, from all iniquity, from those iniquities that have been peculiarly our own, it is impossible we should have any share in it. SECTION VIII. The two apostles being seized by order of the Sanhedrin), and examined by them, courageously declare their resolution of going on to preach in the name of Jesus, notwithstanding their severest threatenings. Acts iv. 1–22- Acts iv. 1 Acts iv. 1. AND as they spake unto the THUS it was that Peter and John improved the opportunity of addressing themselves to SECT. º;...; the multitude who had assembled in the temple (as we have seen before) upon occasion of 3 ptain of the temple, and the * * º - º Śāāducees, came upon them, the miraculous cure of the lame man; and while they were thus speaking to the people, a considerable number of the priests came upon them ; and with the priests there came the Acts . captain of the temple, that is, the person, who commanded the guard of Levites then in IV. 2 Being grieved that they waiting;" and the Sadducees also joined with them : For this sect of men were greatly 2 taught the people,and preach- S-> - s - - y s: .."º"... exasperated against the apostles, being peculiarly grieved that they taught the people in the rection from the dead. name of that Jesus whom they had so lately put to death, and especially that ſº reached the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, as exemplified and iºnºſ in [the person of Jesus; whose recovered life had so direct, a tendency to overthrow the whole system of the Sadduceam tenets, which denied every thing of that kind, yea, even the ex- istence of the soul after death, and any future account of the actions of life. (Compare * *:::: º Acts xxiii. 3.) .And therefore, that they might prevent their preaching any more, they 3. tººthºe day."for it" as laid violent hands upon Peter and John, and seized them as seditious persons, who were now even-tide. labouring to incense the populace against the conduct of their governors: and they com- mitted them into custody wintil the next day, that when the sanhedrim met at the usual hour, they might consult what it was proper to do with them ; for it was now late in the even- ing,b and was no fit season to have them examined. 4. Howbeit, many of them . But in the mean time, the disciples had the satisfaction to see that the apostles had not 4 #. ..º.º.º. laboured in vain; for many of those who had heard the word preached by them, believed; men was about five thousand, and the number of the men became about five thousand, including those who had been con- 5 And it came to pass on verted before, and still attended on the instructions of the apostles." - -- théºrow, ºthèities, ind the next day there was a general assembly of their rulers, and elders, and scribes, a'ſ ºriº high. Whigh constituted the Sanhedrim, who gathered together, and formed a court at Jerusalem : priest," and "čaiapias,” and And there was with them.Annas, who had formerly been the high priest, and Caiaphas also, 5 6 m To you first.], Accordingly the gospºl was (by the astonishing grace the discourses they held on this occasion; which I suppose is generally of our blessed Redeemer) every, where offered first to the Jews., Had it the case as to the speeches recorded by the sacred historians, as well as been otherwise, humanly speaking, many who were converted in this others. method might have been exasperated and lost.... * c The number—became about fire thousand, &c.] Dr. Benson concludes n Every one of you turning, from 1919, iniquities. That it, All those that five thousand were convérted on this occasion, besides the tº of you that turn from sin shall be entitled tº his blessing: This, which thousand mentioned before, (chap. ii. 47.) Had it been jä, as thº, is just equivalent to Beza's, seems a natural version of the words ev To that so many were added to the 'ºuï it had determined the sense to amogrpedºeuvekaoTov, &c. And I choose it, because it is plain (as be as he and others understand it. (See Lightfoot and Whitby, in loc.) Orobio, with his usual sagacity, objects to Limborgh) that Christ did But I think the use of the word eyeum0s here (whereas my is used chap. not in fact turn every one of them from their iniquities, though, it must is 15.) favours the interpretation I have preferred. It is hardly to be be allowed that he took such steps as were very º for that pur- thought (unless it were expressly asserted) that another day should be pose: and the version...seems further preferable; as the apostle knew so much more remarkable for its number of converts than that on which that the Jews would in fact, reject the gospel, and bring destruction on the Spirit descended. And as for any argument drawn from the proba: themselves as a nation by that means. * - bility of more than five thousand being converted in a year’s time, I a The captain of the temple..] See note Q, on Luke xxii. 52, p. 320. must observe, that I see no proof at all that this event was a year, or b It was now late in the ;: As Peter and John went up to the eyen, a month, after the descent of the Spirit; nay, I rather think it temple at three in the afternoon, this expression makes it probable some highly improbable the sanhedrim should suffer the apóstles to go on so hours might be spent in preaching to the people, and consequently, that long unquestioned in their public work; and to suppose they did not what we have in the former chapter is only an abstract or specimen of teach publicly, would be most absurd. - + SECT. who then bore that office, and John, THE TWO APOSTLES EXAMINED BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM. • a Priest's kindred, who came and joined the council upon this occasion. . dred of the high pri wind having ordered the apostles to be brought before them, and set them in the midst of jº"tº Ağs the assembly, (the place where criminals used to stand to be tried by their court) they in- "And when they had set quired of them, saying, Declare to us truly, and without reserve, what is the bottom of them in the º this affair : By what power, or in the authority of what name, have you done this strange º' work which has been wrought on the cripple now healed? Is it by the art of medicine, . by magic? Or do you pretend to any prophetic mission, in attestation of which this is One : and .4lerander,” and as many as were of the high John, and Alexander, and - - as many, as were of the kin- Then Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, according to the promise of his now glorified 8 Then Peter, filled with Master, which was upon this occasion remarkably verified, (compare Matt. x. 19, 20, and ºğ jº, ºg Mark xiii. 11.) spake with the utmost freedom, and said unto them, O ye rulers of the ple, and eldºrºi,” 9 people, and elders of Israel, before whom we are now brought as malefactors! We are not 9 If we, this day be exa. conscious to ourselyes that we have done any thing to deserve censure or punishment; ...?...; ; but if we are this day examined and called to an account as criminals about the benefit con: means he is made whºle. ferred upon the impotent man, and you would have us to declare by what means he is saved - from his calamitous state, and healed in the manner which you now see, we are most free 10 to tell you what we before have testified on this occasion. (Chap. iii. 16.) Be it known therefore to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that it is by the name of Jesus Christ of JVazareth, whom you a few weeks ago cricified with all the marks of detestation and con- tempt, as a criminal worthy of the most infamous death, but whom God hath owned, in that he hath raised him from the dead,é and received him into glory: [yea, I declare it again, and will abide by it, whatever be the consequence, that it is im, even by that illustrious name of his, that this poor man, whom you well know to have been a cripple 11 from his mother's womb, now stands before you perfectly sound and well. And give me II This is the stone which leave, Sirs, to tell you, that this Jesus is a person with whom you are all intimately con- ... hºº! ... cerned; for, as David expresses it, (Psal. cxviii. 22.) - ad 8 10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Irsael, that by the name o Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole, “This is the stone which was con- the head of the corner. temptuously refused and set at nought by you, who by your office should have been builders in the church of God, that is indeed become the very head of the corner, to which the whole 12 building owes its strength, its union, and its beauty.” And there is really salvation and healing in no other but in him; neither is there any other name under heaven given out b God among the children of men, whether of patriarch or prophet, or priest or king, in whic we must be saved and recovered:h for though we are not thus disabled and afflicted in body, yet there are other maladies of a much more threatening nature, for the cure of which you and I, and all that hear me this day, must, as we value the very lives of our souls, apply to Jesus, and only to him. .Now when they of the council saw the boldness of Peter and John, and observed the freedom of speech with which they pleaded their Master's cause, and the high degree to which they extolled him in the presence of those magistrates who had so lately condemned tº were #eſ. him to the most shameful death ; and understood at the same time that they were illiterate º; §§§ º men, and in private stations of life, they were greatly astonished. And upon further recol- ºhat they had been with lection too they knew them, and remembered .#. two disciples that they had been with º Jesus, particularly the night that he was taken, and had attended him to the house of Caiaphas, where several now in court had been present at his examination.k (Compare 14 John xyiii. 15, 16.) , .4nd they would gladly have done their utmost to confound a testimony ...1% which bore so hard upon themselves. But seeing the man that was cured, whom they knew º'º. #4,#"; to have been so long lame, now standing with them perfectly recovered, they had nothing to nothing against it. say against the fact, though they were most unwilling to own a doctrine which [it] tended ºf 4- * - nded them to go aside out SO strongly to prove. of the council, they conferred But as they did not choose the apostles should perceive they knew not what to say, "gº; man wo having ordered them to withdraw for a while out of the room where the council was ºn; do to these meſſ for that 16 they privately conferred among themselves, Saying, What shall we do with these men? . It #iº, ...”. jº. would be neither reasonable nor safe to †† them now ; for that indeed a very surprisin them, is clearly manifest to all the inhabitants Q 12 Neither is there salva- tion in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. 13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that 13 14 And beholding the man 15 manifest to all them that 3 dwell in Jerusalem; and we and signal miracle hath been wrought by cannot deny it. 17 Jerusalem, and we ourselves cannot possibly deny [it] JNevertheless, on the other hand, d. Annas the high-priest, and Caiaphas.]... As it seems evident that Caiaphas was the high-priest at this time, it may appear strange that the title should be given to another, merely to signify that he, that is, the Annas spoken of, was that Annas who had once borne that office with reat honour, and had now most of the authority, though his son-in-law Xaiaphas had the name.—I would submit it to examination; whether, placing a comma after Avvav, the following words might not be joined, rov apxtepea kat Kataqav, and rendered, the high priest also, that is, Caiaphas; though I confess the insertion of copulatives between each name in the following clauses does not favour such a version: and therefore I rather incline to acquiesce in the former solution; for the illustration of which, see Mr. Biscoe, Jät Boyle’s Lect. p. 653. e John, and Alexander.] It is very eyident these were persons of great note among the Jews at that time; and it is not improbable that (as Dr. Lightfoot and others suppose) the former might be the celebrated, Rab- ban. Jochanan Ben Zaccai, mentioned in the Talmud, the scholar of Hillel, and that the , latter might be the Alabarch, or governor of the Jews at Alexandria, brother to the famous Philo-Judaeus, and in great favour with Claudius Cæsar, Josephus mentions him often, and tells us, among other things, that he adorned nine gates of the temple with plates of gold and silver. Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 5. [al. vi. 6..] §3. ... f Jās many as were of the high pricst’s kindred.] Or, as others render it, of the pontifical family. . Dr. Hammond explains this of the twenty- four members of the Aaronic family who presided over the twenty-four courses: others refer it to those who were, nearly related to Annas and Caiaphas: but Grotius thinks that it includes the kindred of those who had lately been in the office of figh priest, which (he says) made them members of the Sanhedrim., Who were ºpe. members of that coun- gil, it is extremely difficult to say : . but I cannot, think, with a late learned writer, (Mr. Biscoe, Jät Boyle's Lect. p. 79.) that the presence of Alexander (though statedly resident in Egypt), will prove that this was not properly the sanhedrim, but an extraordinary council occa- sionally called, consisting of some who were, and others who were not, of that court. It is very evident they act with, authority as a court of judicature here, and the council, expressly called Xvueóptov again and again in the 5th chapter, (ver. 21, 27, 34, 41.) refer to the acts of this assembly as their own. (Compare chap. v. ver: 27, 28.) And the same word is #. used here in this chapter, ver. 15. 17 But that it spread no g Whom God hath raised from the dead..] They, knew in their own consciences that, it was , so ; and; though º; had hired the soldiers to tell a most senseless and incredibie tale to the contrary, (Matt. xxviii. 12–15.) yet it is observable they did not (so far as we can learn) dare to plead it before Peter and John. - h. In which we must be saved.]. Dr. Whitby and some other later writers have taken a great deal of pains to prove that a 60mvat here sig- nifies healing, and have argued for it from the connexion, and from many texts, especially in the evangelists, where it plainly has that sense, as it has likewise, Acts xiv. 9...where it is translated, to be healed. (See Matt. ix. 21, 22. Mark v. 23. vi. 56. x. 52. Luke xvii. 19. and, compare note d, on ñíark v. 38."p, fº.) But it is strange that any should not have seen, that if the most determinate word for healing had becn, herg used, (as 9epairevönvat, or taggai,) it must have signified spiritual an eternal salvation, since it is plain, that when Peter says, ev č, ćet a go0n- waſ juas, he takes it for granted that all who heard him needed to apply to Christ for this healing. Now there is no reason to believe they were all aſilicted with bodily maladies, nor could he have any imaginable warrant to promise them all supergatural recovery in that casgº- Raphelius, in a remarkable note on this text, ( Herod. p. 32 ) endeavours, among other things, to prove that ovopa, or the name of a person, was a manner of speaking used in reference to one regarded as God, and the Author of salvation. . . . - - - i iliiterate men, and in private stations of life.] The original words, aypapparot kat tétotal, have literally this signification, that they were noiséholars, nor in any public rank of life, as the priests and magistrates were; but they import no want of natural good sense, or any ignorance of what was º the subject of debate ; so that our translation seems very unhappy here. - - - º; §, them that they had been with Jesus, particularly the night that he was taken, &c.j Šće note g, on Luke ºxxii. 57. p 322. to- tius justiy observes also, that the rulers were, often present, when Christ taught publicy, and sº might have seen. Peter and John near him at Öther times, as well as on the occasion mentioned in the para- phrase. • • . - c. i Nºcertheless.] Instances in which ax\a signifies º: alre numerous in the New Testament ; and it is, often rendered so by-Qur translators. See Mark xiv. 36. John xi. 15. Itom. v. 14. 2 Cor. xii. 16. THE TWO APOSTLES EXAMINED BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM. 38i flºº. it is equally plain that both our credit and our interest require us to suppress the rumour SECT. that ºst..."; he ſº of it as much as we can ; and therefore, that it may not any further spread ºft the peo- 8. to no man in this name. ple, and be a means of raising discontent, and pèrhaps of occasioning some dangerous — insurrection among them, which may throw the city and nation into confusion, let tº Aº severely threaten them with the most rigorous punishment, in case they persist in such bold I ,” discourses as those we have now been hearing, that so they may not dare to preach as they - have done, and from henceforth may speak no more to any man in this obnoxious name: ałºś. And the whole council, having agreed to this as the most proper method they could at jºi". . . .'; present take with the apostles, they called them in again; and telling them how much they I)3. In 6 OT J CSUS, were offended at the liberty they took, they charged them in a very strict and severe man: ner, that, upon pain of their highest displeasure, and as they regarded their own safety, and even their lives, they should not presume on any account . to speak any more, or to teach the people in the name of Jesus;" if they would not be looked upon as seditious persons, and be dealt with as incendiaries and rebels, as their Master had been ; whom they still asserted to have deserved the punishment that he had suffered. & ...º.º.º. ut Peter and John felt themselves animated in this arduous circumstance with a I9 Wi.e."; i.i.” "... courageous zeal which would not permit them to be silent, lest that silence should be in- *.*.*.*.*.* terpreted as a promise to quit their ministry; and therefore, answering them with an un- 3.e". ’ daunted freedom, they said before them all, Whether it be a fit or a righteous thing in the sight of God, to whom we are all accountable, to obey you rather than God, judge Me." You cannot but know in your own consciences on which side the superior obligation lies; and tºº you must therefore expect, that we shall act accordingly. For though we respect you as 20 seen and heard. “our civil rulers, and are heartily willing to yield all subjection to you so far as we lawfully can, yet since God hath charged us with the publication of this important message, on which, as we have already testified, the etermal salvation of men depends, we dare not to be silent in a case of such importance, and are free to tell you that we cannot but speak the things which we have so often seen and heard, and which God hath so miraculously emi- powered us to declare, not only in this city, but throughout all the earth. 21 So when they had fur- And though the apostles spake with such great freedom, the council were so confounded #'ſ."...hº. by the force of truth, that they did not think fit to proceed to any further extremities at Hºº that time; but having threatened them again in severer terms than before, they dismissed ... glºrišjā Ś."; tı.; them ; finding nothing done by them for which they might with any show of reason punish which was done. them, and not daring to proceed in so arbitrary a manner as they would otherwise have done, because of the people, whose resentment they feared: for such was the impression that was made upon the people by the cure of the lame man, that they had all a high esteem and mighty veneration for the apostles, who were publicly known to be the instruments of 22 For the man was above working it, and all glorified God in raptures of astonishment for that which was done. And 22 §º indeed they well might be affected with it, for the man on whom this miracle of healing ed. was wrought, was more than forty years old; so that hardly any thing could have appeared to human judgment to be a more 㺠case than so inveterate and confirmed a lame- ness; and yet he was (as we have already related) in one moment completely cured by the word of the apostles, and the power of their divine Master operating with it. IMPROVEMENT. - WE see, in the instance before us, the natural but detestable effects of a proud, bigoted, over-bearing temper, Ver. even whereit seems least excusable. The Sadducees themselves, though they believed no future state of retribu- 1–3 tion, yet persecuted the apostles as eagerly, as if they, like some other Jews, had expected to merit heaven by their severity to them. (Compare John xvi. 2. On the other side, it is delightful to observe the zeal and courage with which Peter and John defended the cause 19, Ii of their crucified Redeemer, even in the presence of those by whom he had so lately been condemned. Thus can God give power to the feeble, and increase the strength of them that have no might. (Isa. xl. 29.) The testimony 12 they ‘bore is well worth our regarding. There is salvation in no other, neither is there any other name under heaten given among men, whereby we must be saved. Oh that the ends of the earth might hear and reverence that name ! Oh that thousands to whom it is yet unknown, may learn to build all their hopes of salvation upon it! and may we never be ashamed to own it, never afraid to adhere to it! May we speak of it with such a savour, may we defend it with such a zeal, that they who are round about us Inay take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus, and 13 trace the genuine effects of our intimate acquaintance with him Never was there an instance of a more memorable combat between the force of evidence and of prejudice; never a more impudent attempt to bear down the cause of unquestionable truth by brutal violence. But great is the 16–18 truth, and it will prevail. May the ministers of the gospel never want that courage in the defence of it which these holy men expressed ; always judging it infinitely more reasonable, more safe, and more necessary, to obey God than man! Never may we be ashamed to profess our reverence and love to him who is our supreme Ruler and our most bountiful Friend; and may he give us such an inward and heart-influencing sense of the worth anu sweetness of his gospel, as may effectually prevent our betraying or neglecting it! I 8 2 | SECTION IX. Peter and John return to their company; and having told them what had passed, they all unite in an inspired Iſrayer, which is attended with a renewed effusion of the Spirit, in consequence of which they all preach the gospel with new vigour and wonderful success. The number of converts, and the sales of estates, are greatly increased Acts iv. 28%. - - ACTS iv. 23. AcTs iv. 23. º tº ºr - - w * e SECT. #Nºi...º.º. PETER and John º dismissed from their examination by the Sanhedrim, with a strict To t • 8.IIY - (* - & ::::::::: "..."º charge that they should preach no more in the name of Jesus, no sooner were at liberty but ºn elders had said they came to their own company, and related all that the chief priests and elders had said to acts tlnto thern. them, and how severely they had threatened them. IV. 23, are brought by Elaner in his note here. * they must, on their own principles, easily see the absurdity of expecting m They charged, them that they should not speak any more in the obedience to their commands from good men who believed themselves name of Jesus.] The very thing that men conscious of the truth, of the divinely commissioned. There is a passage which bears some resem. apostles’ testimony, and self-condemned, would do: attenpting by vio- blance to this, in the apology of Socrates as recorded by Plato, [Oper. lence to stop their mouths, as they knew they could not answer them p. 23.] which appears to me among the finest of antiquity. When they any other way. - - - were condemning him to death for teaching the people, he said, “O ye n Whctlier it be righteous—to obey you rather than God, judge ye.] Athenians, I embrace and love you; but I will obey God rather than Gal; iv. 30.2 Tim. i. 12, And many instances from profane writers As they professed to believe the being, and infinite perfections of God, af 882 S F. C.T. 9. ACTS IV. 25 28 29 reasons, thou wouldst permit to be dome.b. And as to what now remains to accomplish this important scheme of raising thy church on the sure foundation of his cross, we beseech thee, O Lord, to regard these their haughty threatenings, with which they are endeavouring to discourage the chosen witnesses of his resurrection; and to give wmto these thy servants, and to all others that are to join their testimony, to speak thy word with all freedom and resolution,” in the midst of the most violent opposition that can arise: 30 especially whilst thow art animating them by the performance of such works of power and out thine own almighty hand for healing the most incurable dis- 31 32 33 mercy, and art stretchin tempers; and while such astonishing thine Holy Child Jesus: which we THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THE APOSTLES ºffnd phen they heard [it] a divine inspiration came upon all that were present in an 24 And...when they heard extraordinary manner, so that they imme in the following prayer, which upon this one in the assembly ; and the that are in them : Who didst b (Psal. ii. 1, 2.) “Why did the } iately lifted up their voice with one accord to Goda $ occasion was suggested by the Holy Spirit to every said, Q thou supreme Lord of universal nature, we humbly acknowledge thou art the God who didst make heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things thine Holy Spirit say by the mouth of thy servant David, & * & eathem nations rage, an ſº 26 forming projects which must certainly end in their own disappointment and ruin? Why that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, , Lord, thou art God which hast made heaven an earth, and the sea, and al that in them is ; nº Who by § ºth #. * * g TV Servant i_\avid hast Sai the people imagine vain things, º.º. ; and thg people imagine vain did the kings of the earth enter into a confederacy to set themselves as it were in hostile "####, kings of the earth array, and why were the rulers of it, forgetting their mutual differences, combined together stood up, and the rulers were athered together,against the in one association against the Lord, and against his Messiah, whom he hath anointed to iºdºº’i. 27 be the great Ruler of all?” . We, O God, have now seen the literal accomplishment of 27 For of a truth, against these words; for of a truth here has been a most audacious conspiracy in this city of Jerusalem, where we now are, against thee, ánd against thine Holy Child Jesus, thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both whom thow Herod and Pontius Pilate, h the Gentiles and the hast so visibly anointed with the Holy Ghost, and with power to accomplish the glorious Mºle of Israel, were gather. work of erecting thy kingdom among men; and both Herod the tetrarch, and Pontius ad together, Pilate the Roman governor, with the heathen and the people of Israel, have combined in the impious attempt. for we know that, in the midst of all this impious fu they have only been able to do what thine hand ha łut it is our unspeakable comfort to think, that by their utmost rage they cannot break in upon thy schemes, or prevent the efficacy of any of thy purposes 28 For to do whatsoever ... thy hand and thy counsel de- 5 termined before to be done. they have shown against thy Son, pointed out before, and what thy unerring counsel, to which all future events are obvious, had before determined that, for wisé rage of the enemy may be excited by them. Jłnd while they were thus pra, they felt upon their hearts, they spake the word of signs and wonders as these are done by the name of , hope thou wilt still continue to perform, however the * ing, God was pleased miraculously to declare his gracious acceptance of their petitions; for the place in which they were assembled was shaken as the upper room had been on the day of Pentecost, (Acts i. 2.) and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit;4 and, being animated by that strong impulse which through his operation - God wherever they came with all God with boldness. 29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 30, By stretching forth thine hand to heal : and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child €SUIS, 31 And when they nad prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; , and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of courageous freedom, and renewed their public testimony without any appearance of fear, on the very day on which they had been so solemnly forbidden by the sanhedrim to preach -: any more in the name of Jesus. Jłnd that sacred Agent wrought upon their souls not only as the Spirit of zeal and cou- rage, but of love, so that the very heart and soul of the whole multitude of believers, nume- rous as they were, was all one; nor did any one [of them] call any of his possessions his own; but all things were common amongst them,” and each was as welcome to participate of them as the original proprietor could be, being in these new bonds of christian fellowship as dear ower, that is, with divine force of eloquence and of eir important testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus ; and great grace was upon them all, so that the energy and sweetness of the gospel was felt by the inward experience both of speakers and hearers, beyond what it was pos- to him as himself. And with great miracles, did the apostles give fift t sible for words to express. JVeither was there any one indigent person among them, though many of them were far from their habitations, and many others in low circumstances of life : for as many as were 32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one, heart. and of one soul : neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own ; but they had all things common. 33 And with, great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. 34 Neither was there any among them that lacked : ſor as many as were possessors rietors of lands or houses, sold them as fast as they could find any to purchase them, ºf land.º.ºu; sºle. ng brought the prices o 35 And, laid them down at pro * * w * * * * 35 and brought the price of the things they had sold, whether it were more or less, .4nd laid [it] ºil, down at the feet of the apostles, to be disposed of as they should direct; who discharge their trust with the strictest fidelity, and took care that distribution was made to every one the apostles’ feet: and distri- bution was made unto every man according as he had need. according as any had need for his present, relief: (compare chap. ii. 45.) the apostles esteeming themselves sufficiently happy while living in the same plain manner with their brethren, in the opportunity which the divine goodness gave them of being so helpful to others both in temporals and spirituals, gou; [Tstoop at Če Tºp 6 to pa)\ov ji ipt v.] and if you would dismiss me and spare my life; on condition that I should cease to teach my fellow-citizens, I would rather die, a thousand times than accept the proposal.” What are ten thousand subtilties of the ancient philoso- phers, when compared with a sentiment like this ' - - a When they heard, [it] they immediately liſted up their voice, &c..] It is strange any should have imagingd this was a pre-composed form, since, besides all the other absurdities of such a supposition, it so ex- pressly refers to the threatenings of the sanhedrim, (ver. 29.) of which they ś been but just then informed ; and the words, akovo avTe; buoëupačov npav povny, will not allow us to imagine any interval between the º of Peter, and John, and this prayer. I conclude it therefore probable, that all their voices might join by immediate inspi- ration ; which seems a circumstance graciously adapted for the encou- ragement of them all to suffer the greatest extremities in this cause, and answers the phrase here used much better than if we were to suppose one only to have spoken, and the rest to have put their cordial Amen to it; which yet would be a much more tolerable account of the matter than that which I first mentioned. * * * * b. Have combined to do, &c.) Limborch (Theolog. lib. ii. Cap. 30. $ 17.) contends strongly for a transposition of the words thus: They have con- bined against thine Holy Child. Jesus, whom thow hast anointed to do. 70.hgt #hine hand and thy counsel had determined, &c. But this transposition is arbitrary; and it is so expressly, said elsewhere by Luke, when he was entering on his sufferings, that the Son of man, went as it was determined concerning him, (Luke xxii. 22.) and it so plainly º. in fact that these circumstances were expressly determined or marked out in the pro: phecies of the Old Testament, that I see not what end the admission of itſch a transposition would answer. It is much more rational (as we ob- served in note i, on that text in Luke, p. 297.) to explain, this determi- nation in such a manner as to make it consistent with the free agency of the persons concerned. When God’s hand, and his counsel are said to have determined these things, it may signify God’s having pointed out this great eyent so wisely concerted in his eternal counsels, and marked before-hand as it were all the boundaries of it, (as the word Tpocopt at may well signify,) in the prophetic writings. This seems more naturai than to supposé (as Bishop Pearson and Dr. Hammond do) that it alludes to }. designation ºp the Lord’s goat on the day, of expiation which was by liſting up the lot on high, and then laying it on the hea of the animal to be sacrificed. See Pearson, On the Creed, p. 185. and Hammond, in loc. - * c. Give into thy servants to speak thy word with all freedom..] ... Elsner has shown here, by some very happy quotations, that several of the hea- thens acknowledged the [Tapfingid freedom of speech, on great and press- ing occasions, to be a divine'gift. Compare Prov. xvi.l. They accre all filled with the Holy jº I will not assert, that cloven tongues fell upon them again; but I think, it probable, with ſºr. Benson, that some visible symbol of the Spirit’s descent might now be 4 IV G.I. sº is wº § e All things were common amongst them.] See motº i, on chap...ii. 44. p. 375. Tº have one heart and soul, is a proverbial expression for the º: intimate and endearing friendship, as Elsner and others have ShoWI). f Great grace was upgm, them º, Casaubon, Grotius, and some others, understand this of the favour they had among the people on ac- count of their charity and good conduct; but this is by no means the º import of this phrase, which is very different from that used, cts i. 47. ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA ATTEMPT TO DECEIVE THE APOSTLES. 383 IMPROVEMENT. This was indeed the golden age of the church: and it is impossible to trace the memoirs of it, if we love Sion, SECT. without a secret complacency and exultation of mind. How amiable and how venerable do the apostles and 9. primitive converts appear in this native simplicity of the christian character! and what a glory did the grace and Spirit of God put upon them, far beyond all that human establishments, splendid dignities, or ample revenues, Aºs could ever give to those that have succeeded them | While the multitude of them had one heart and one soul, and 3 ,” each was ready to impart to his brethren whatever he himself possessed, how high a relish of pleasure did they receive, and how were their joys multiplied by each of their number! Thus does divine grace, when it powerfully enters into the heart, open it in sentiments of generosity and love. 33–35 Thus does it conquer that selfish temper which reigns so frequently in the minds of sinful men, and makes them like wild beasts rather than like brethren to each other. Providence does not indeed call us entirely to give up our possessions, or to introduce a community of goods among christians, in circumstances so different from those which we have now been surveying: yet surely it is always our duty, and will be our highest interest, to remem- ber that we are not original proprietors of what we possess, but stewards, who are to manage what is intrusted to our care for the honour of our great Master, and the good of his family here on earth; continually ready to resign any part, or even the whole of it, whenever these important ends jºi. such a resignation. n the meantime, let us frequently lift up our hearts to the great and ever-blessed God, who hath made heaven, 24 and earth, and the sea, and all that is in them, that he would support and extend the progress of that gospel in the world which he hath so graciously begun to plant. Kings may still set themselves, and rulers take counsel, against 25, 26 it; but he knows how to turn their counsels into foolishness, and their rage into shame. He hath anointed Jesus his Holy Child with the oil of gladness, and placed him on his throne in heaven; and all the united malice and fury of his enemies can do no more than what shall make part of his wise and gracious scheme for the government 29 of his people. Let us pray that he would give freedom of speech to all employed in pleading his cause; and that he will plentifully anoint them with the effusion of his Spirit: and let the signs and wonders which were done by 30, 31 the name of Jesus in former ages, encourage us to hope that he will never totally desert a scheme which he once so illustriously interposed to establish; and consequently let them animate us to exert ourselves in its service, whatever labours, threatenings, or dangers may meet us in our way. SECTION X. The sale of estates proceeding, Ananias and Sapphira attempt fraudulently to impose upon the apostles, and are immediately struck dead. That event, together with many other extraordinary miracles wrought about the same time, promotes the increase of the church still more and more. Acts iv. 36, to the end ; v. 1–16. Acts iv. 36. - Acts iv. 36. AND Joses, who by the apos-AMONG the rest of those primitive converts who so generously contributed of their sub-secT. º;; stance for the relief and subsistence of the poor believersin so extraordinary a circumstance, 10. #...º.º.; ..; there was one Joses, who, on account of his great benevolence, and usefulness, was much — Čyprus, respected in the church, and by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which, being inter- Acts preted from the Syriac language, signifies, 4 son of consolation.” He was a Levite, who IV. was so far from being prejudiced against this new religion, as it might seem to oppose his 36 temporal interest, that he gladly devoted himself to its service : [and] was a native of an- 37 Having land, sold # other country, being by birth a Cyprian. And having an estate, which was capable of being 37 §§º...?..." alienated without any transgression of the law, he sold it, and brought the money, as others had done, and laid it down at the feet of the apostles,” desiring they would dispose of it in such a manner as might be most serviceable to the necessities of the saints. And the ad- dition which it made to the public stock was so considerable, that it seemed to deserve this particular mention. #"...# A.º.º. But it is, in a very different point of light, and on a very melancholy occasion, that we “...” Šºši. #ºaº are obliged to mention another person beforé we leave this story. There was also among º ReSSIOn, these early professors of the gospel, a certain man named Amanias, who, with the concur- * † Pºlº repºe of Sapphira his wife, sold an estate; and fraudulently secreted part of the price, his º º .."; wife, also being conscious ſ it :] and bringing only a certain part .#it, he laid it down at sººn laid it at the the feet of the apostles, as the rest did, pretending that it was the whole of the purchase- p e money; and consequently intimating, that, having deposited his all in their hands, he should hope for the future to be taken care of among the rest of the brethren. ; Bºeg.iº. ... But upon this, the Holy Spirit, under whose direction the apostle Peter acted, imme- why hath Satan filled thine a- * - * - - - jeś j diately suggested to him the fraud, and the awful manner in which the Divine Wisdom *...*.*.*.*, * * * saw fit to animadvert upon it. In consequence of which inward suggestion, looking price of the land : - º - ss -- “*” :S sternly upon him, he said, O ºffmanias, why hath Satan, through thine own wickedness in .* to his temptations, filled thine heart with such a degree of covetousness, false- Qod, folly, and presumption, [that thou shouldst audaciously attempt] to impose on the Holy Spirit himself," under whose special direction we are; and to "secrete part of the ... 4 Whiles it º was price of the land thou hast sold, when thou pretendest to have brought the whole 2 #'hile ******" it remained unsold, did it not continue thine, notwithstanding thy profession of faith in 3 . 3 4. a Joses—surnamed Barnabas—a son ºf consolation.] Considering how Limborch, Collat. p. 134. (and it is one of the weakest and meanest things common the names of Joses and Joseph were, there seems no just reason I remember in his writings,) that it was no sinall advantage to poor to conclude, as some have done, that this was the, Joseph mentioned, fishermen to be treasurers of so considerable a bank. But nothing" can chap. i. 23, as a candidate for the office of an apostle. (Compare note be more unjust and unnatural, than to suspect that men who were so i, on that, text, p. 369.)-Nor can I see any reason to conclude, with ready to sacrifice their lives to the cause of truth and the happiness of bp. Wake, (Apost. Fathers, Introd. p. 62.) that this Joses, was called a mankind, should be capable of falsifying such a trust as this for the sake son of consolation, to express the great consolation the brethren received of a little money. . Their miraculous powers were joined with a thousand from the sale of his estate. The name seems rather to refer to his ex- marks of probity in their daily .. to warrant such a confidence, traordinary abilities for the ministerial work, and to, those gifts of the yhich was but a natural token of due respect. We see in chap. vi. 2, Spirit whereby, he was enabled both to comfort and to exhort, as the 3, 4, how ready they were soon to transfer the management of this affair word also signifies.—Mr. Fleming makes it a mºst h9nourable title in- to other hands; and the following story furnishes us with an additional deed, as signifying, a son of the operation of the Paracletc, that is, of the answer to this cavul which is beyond all exception. Holy Ghost. - s - d Filled thine heart—to impose on the Holy Spirit..] The Hebrews ex- b An estate, which was capable of being alienated, &c.]. He could press a person’s being imbaldened to a thing, by the phrase of his heart not have sold that which was his paternal inheritance as a Leyite ; but being filled. (Compare Esth. vii. 5. and Eccles. viii. º And Bos has this might perhaps be some legacy or purchase of land in Judea, to abundantly shown that Devgagóat riva signifies to lie to a person, or to which he might have a title till the next jubilee, or perhaps, some land impose upon him, (Bos, Exercit. p. 73, 74.) but I cannot recollect that it in Cyprus; and we may suppose it mentioned, either as the first foreign ever signifies to belie a person, as Dr. Benson would here render it estate sold, or as of some extraordinary value. - - - Hist. of Christianity, voi. i. p. ió3. c Laid it down at the feet qf the apostles.] Orobio insinuates, Jºpud 384 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA ATTEMPT TO DECEIVE THE APOSTLEs. SECT. Jesus? And when it was sold, was it not still in thine own powere to have given or not given was sold, was it not in thine 10. the whole, or any part of it, into the treasury of the church, as thou shouldst think proper? §§iº. Why then hast thou admitted this thing into thine heart, so meanly and so profanely to dis- heart. Thº, hast not lied Acts semble on this solemn occasion? Thºu hast not lied to men alone, to us, or to the church, ***** * whose treasurers we are; but hast lied to the blessed God himself, who, residing in us by his Divine Spirit, is determined to make thee a terrible example of his displeasure, for an affront so directly levelled at himself, in the midst of this astonishing train of his extraordi- nary operations. 5 ind flnanias, hearing these words, while the sound of them was yet in his ears, fell down 3.And Ananias, hearin and expired; that by his sad example all might learn how dangerous it was to affront that §º ."º: Diviné Spirit under whose influence the apostles acted. And it answered its end; for great #.º.º. them that fear came not only on the immediate spectators, but on all that heard the report of these "" ese things. 6 things. Then some of the young and able-bodied men in the assembly arose, and perceiv- ...And the yºung men arº ing there was no room, to hope for the recovery of one who was struck dead by such an §º *hºne immediate act of the divine power, they bound #. up in his mantle, without any further circumstance of mourning or delay, and carrying [him] out they buried [him.] 7 , ºnd after the interval of about ihree hours, his wife Sapphira also, who was absent when sºlº"; hº this happened, not knowing what was dome, came in to the place in which they were assem- § is ºff. ..."; hº 8 bled. ...And Peter, upon this occasion, said to her before them all, Tell me freely, Sapphira, *śjunto with that uprightness which becomes a disciple of Jesus, whether you indeed sold the land her, Tell ºne whether ye sºlº only for so much money as you know your husband brought hither, naming the sum. And . º $º 9 she said, Yes, it was sold exactly for so much. Then Peter, by an immediate impulse of tº º the same Spirit which had before so awfully interposed, said unto her again, How is it that j."...º.º."; gow, have thus wickedly conspired together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord, as if you had £ºj really suspected whether he were capable of discérnmg the affair or not, and were resolved tây ja... .º.e.'. to bring it to a trial 2 Alas, unhappy woman! it will appear to be a fatal experiment to ***** you both ; for behold, the feet of those who have just been burying thy husband, whom divine vengeance has already struck dead on this occasion, are even now at the door upon their return, and they shall forthwith carry thee out, and lay thee by him in the grave. 10 .4nd immediately upon this, she also fell down at his feet and expired; and the young .1Q. Then, fºllºshg, dº mºn, who were just then coming in, ſound her quite deaffin a moment; and accordingſ; º; Il they carried her out, and buried her by Ananias her husband. And great fear came wpon all 3.jh.º.º.º.º. * ound her dead, and, carrying the assembly, who were eye-witnesses of what had passed, and upon all others that heard the fier ſoji, buried her by her report, which was soon spread abroad, of these things; who could not but acknowledge that *ša great fear came it was the immediate hand of God by which they both died, and that he was just in this upon all the chºſºh, and ºn awful dispensation. as many as heard these things. 12 And many other stupendous signs and wonders were done among the people in the most ...º.º.º.; public #. by the hands of thºposiles: and they continued in the §: fellowship º :::::::::: and union with the whole company of believers, and were frequently all unanimously to Kºśs...}. gether in that spacious building which we have already mentioned by the name of Solo- porch. imon’s portico, conversing together with the most affectionate expressions of mutual 13 endearment. And none of the rest, who were not really converted to ji, presumed .13 Andº & ºt * •e tº -- * i.e. man join himself to them: but to join himself to them, as some mean-spirited creatures might possibly otherwise have tºpºlºgnified them. done for a while, in a low view of some transient advantage by a share in the distributions º that were made. But all the people had a mighty veneration for the apostles, and magnified them, with the highest expressions of reverence and respect, as persons who were owned 14 by God in the most signal manner. And though the death of these two unhappy offenders ... Alºeºsº, he g - & L = * - e. * more added to the Lord, mul- terrified any from hypocritically joining their company, yet the success of the gospel was jeºrien" d"wº- promoted rather than hindered by it, so that great multitudes both of men and women, be- men? lieving their testimony, were so much the more [willingly] added in a solemn manner to the church of the Lord, and made an open profession of their faith; wisely inferring from what had happened, how dangerous it would be to oppose or suppress the inward convictions of their minds in a matter of so great importance. 15 And they were further animated to boldness in their profession by the many #. 15 Insomuch that they * * * º : brought forth the sick into the miracles which succeeded to this work of terror; insomuch that, all along the most public streets, and laid theſiºd; streets, they brought out the sick, and laid º at their doors on beds and couchés, when * §º..."; they were not able to walk; that at least the shadow of Peter as he was coming by might i.ºnisht overshadow somé of them. overshadow some or other of them. And this extraordinary faith was rewarded by the heal- ing of many in that circumstance. z-> * 4. I - 16 and as the fame of these wonderful works spread abroad, multitudes also [out] of the gēś cities round about came together to Jerusalem, º: the sick and those that were troubled ;: ;či, with unclean spirits; who, by the divine power of Jésus working in his humble disciples, Wººd"With "unclean e PWhen it was sold, was it not in thine own º . It evidently ap- tion of this seeming severity in note f...we, nay add, that such exemplary pears from hence that no christian converts were obliged to sell their punishment of 59 heinous a crug. was the more º *f; estates. ... An answer to the popish, argument from hence, in favour of tianity...was Q9W iſ its first rise. So, just at the º of t % I ‘. Wºº. sººrerogation, may be collected from our paraphrase on Matt. º Nº º .."; Yiºliº; jº, X1X. I2. D. & as it seems) of much less agg º ; V LaC V - X • , , , ~. f hºms—ſell down and expired.] This severity was not only wise: º: sº on º »le. Lightfoot . . . “ - - - .*, *, *- … . sº * £7?? Jown ſummself to }}l. T. O righteous, considering that complication of vain-glory and covetousness, ºne ºf the ºt.º.º. & y of fººd and impiety, which, as fimborch and Mr. Biscoe (p. 659– tºº, º º ‘....'"; gº; #: §61.) have ºeii"proved, the action contained; but also, ºn the whole, º 'º';..."; B } - - ftft. § wise ani’ ºracious, both as it served to vindicate the honour of the #be; #; ºº:: s: ěbr Whi,"...r.º...". Płoś blossed Spirit, so motoriously affronted by this attempt to impose ºn * §: 1 y ºia in this sºns, . is this an v w those §hº been so lately and eminently anointed by his extraordi- themselves before to the apostles in this, sense; nor is this any where the * i. effºić. and further, as it tended most effectually to deter any º of the word ko)\Xaa-6at, which signifies, “...ºft. OT *:::: - y z12. “ * c : * ~ ns ith, to adher cleave to any. (Compare Acts is. 26. x. 28. xvii. 34. §ojºsº from joining the christians merely for the sake of a with,;9 6. Or s {-} & & - resent jº, t; which, by a fraud ike this, many might, on easy terms, Beza would have it, that ko), Aaobal signifies here, to attack or touch, É. ºujśā ā‘pretence, whº would also, no doubt, have proved i and that Aotºrºv, the rest, refers, to their powerful enemies, as distin- reat scandal to a profession taken. P. ºn such infamous motives; guished from the people : but that signification of ko)\aabat is, as he {{... wer. 13.) This likewise was a very convincing ºttestation ºf acknowledges, very unusual, and is here quite unnecessary. L'Enfant the apostles’ most upright conduct in the managemenkº º: with jºs the meaning is, that persons of distinction had not the resolution which they were intrusted, and indeed, in fºº! of their divine mis- i. join them, whatever inward conviction they might, have as to the sión for none can imagine that Peter would have had the º $9 truth of their doctrine. But after all, it is most natural to understand pronounce, and much less the power to ºxecutº, sº flºº i. t #: it as if it had been said, “The people held them in distant admiration, #hº had been at the same time guilty of a much, baser fraud of the like and presumed not on any, false pretence to jºi. them, if not truly con- jºină, or had been belying the Holy Ghost in the whole š. his #jº, verted to their religion:” which yet, (as it, appears by the next yerse) iºns to be under his miraculous influence and direction;. See Cradock's many were who readily came into a full and solemn profession of it, as 5 * 24 * - * * # * * Jäpost. Hist. p. 27. and Reynolds’s Letter to a º . l #. º late miracle was a glorious, though dreadful, demonstration sy - i. r * - in vinyl ion- its truth. .* g She also fell down—and expired.] To what is sai before in vindica- of its THE APOSTLES MIRACULOUSLY DELIVERED FROM PRISON. 385 spirits; and they were healed were all healed; as persons in the like circumstances had often been by Christ himself in SECT. every one. the days of his flesh. So that the alarm which this gave to the enemies of the gospel, grew 10. continually more and more painful to them, and occasioned some remarkable proceedings against the apostles, which will be related in the following section. agrº IMPROVEMENT, LET us behold, with humble reverence, this awful instance of the divine severity, so well calculated to impress Ver. 5 the minds of these new converts, and to prevent any of those frauds which the charity of those who were most 11 zealous in their profession might have occasioned in some others. Letus learn how hateful falsehood is to the God 4 of truth, and make it our care to avoid it; and not only shun a direct lie, but the taking undue advantage from any ambiguities of expression, and, in a word, all recourse to the arts of equivocation. God only knows how soon 5, 10 such treacherous lips may be sealed up in etermal silence. How does Satan delude the heart which he fills! And how peculiarly fatal is the delusion, when he leads men 3 to sins which especially affront the Holy Spirit of God. That Spirit rested on the apostles, and taught them to dis- cover the hidden things of darkness, so that they who tempted it fell in the attempt, and became a sign. May 9 integrity and uprightness ever preserve us ! (Psal. xxv. 21.) And, while we avoid all the kinds and arts of dissi- mulation, let us peculiarly detest those which would offer a double insult to the God of heaven, by taking their dress from the religion which his own Son has planted. - The church is never happier than when the sons of falsehood are deterred from intruding into it. If its mem- 13 bers are less numerous, it is a sufficient balance, that it is more pure. We see what singular miracles were done by the apostles; miracles equal, and in some respects, as it seems by these instances, superior, to those which 15, 16 Christ performed in the days of his ministration here below. When will the happy time come in which men shall express as great a concern for their souls as they here did for their bodies? When shall the streets and assemblies be filled with those who, from a sense of their spiritual maladies, shall apply to the ministers of Christ for healing 2 Let it always be remembered, that whatever they do for this happy purpose, it is indeed their Master that does it by them; and that all their most assiduous applications, separate from his blessing, can effect no more than the shadow of Peter could have done, if the power of Christ had not wrought on those over whom it passed. SECTION XI. The apostles continuing to preach to the people; are &D rehended and imprisoned, and, after a miraculous deliverance, are brought before the sanhedrim the next day, and scourged; Čamalièſ's advice prevailing to prevent any further extremnities. Acts v. 17, to the end. Acts v. 17. ACTS v. 17. - THEN, the high priest rose IT was observed in the preceding section what extraordinary miracles were done by the SECT. §hº "... apostles in the name of Jesus, whom still, notwithstanding all the menaces of their rulers, 11. §f the Śāīdāgees) and were they continued faithfully to preach, and to assure the people of his resurrection from the filled with indignation, dead, and of eternal life to be obtained through him. #. this, as it might reasonably be ACTs expected, drew another storm upon them : for the high priest grising, as it were, with 7 V awakened and renewed fury, and all they that were with him, which was the sect of the Sad- ducees,” who were especially devoted to his interest, and most offended at the doctrine of the resurrection, were filled with zeal and indignation against these men, who, as their enemies affected to represent it, made so dangerous an attack both on their religious and 18 And laid their hands ºn political establishment. And, in support of these unjust charges, they were determined 18 #:::::::::::::..." "" to bring them to another trial before the sanhedrim, and for that purpose laid their hands i. !. apostles, and put them into the common prison, where the vilest of malefactors were odored.b 19. But the angel of the But, that God might evidently show how impotentall their rage was against those whom 19 ;..."...:"... *... he determined to support, and that they might be imboldened with a becoming confidence them forth, and said, to bear their testimony in the midst of oppositions and dangers, an angel ºf the Lord was sent to them, who appearing in the midst of them by night, opened the doors of the prison, and, without giving any alarm to the keepers, or any of the other prisoners, bringing them out of that place of confinement, said, As God hath thus miraculously interposed for your 1 tº: si deliverance, neither flee nor fear; but ge, as soon as the gates are opened, and, presenting 20 §§ośii." “ yourselves boldly in the temple, as you did before you were seized, (however disagreeable the doctrine that you preach may be to those who believe nothing of a future state,) speak to the ſº assembled there at the hour of morning sacrifice, all the words of this glorious gospel with which you are charged, on which the eternal life of men so evidently depends, and by which alone their final happiness can be secured. tº. A. º.º. º; ...And the apostles hearing [this] divine command, made no scruple immediately to obey 21 #jºrſ."iſſue ºniº, it, and were so far from being discouraged by the fear of persecution, that, with an earnest and taught.— zeal to carry on the work they were engaged in, they went very early into the temple, and taught the people with the same freedom as before, who assembled there to pay their morning adorations unto God. jº. But in the mean time, the high priest being corne, and they that were with him, into the #j.º.º. tº room where the council was usually held, they called together all the members of the sam- º”. hedrin, even (as we have hinted several times before, that the name signifies) the whole §"the prison to have them senate of the children of Israel, being solicitous that there might be as full a house as pos- brought. sible on so important an occasion. .3nd when they were convened, they sent proper officers to the common prison to take charge of the apostles, and to have them brought into e.º.º.º. their presence, that the court might proceed to their examination and punishment. But 2 jºij, ºrči.e. and when the officers came thither, to their great surprise they found them not in the prison; and told, yet could not discover what way they had taken to make their escape, considering the cir- cumstances that appeared on inquiry. Returning therefore to the council, they made their 2 a The sect of the Sadducees.] There is no sufficient, reason from this directly opposite to the notions they maintained. See the paraphrase on text to conclude, with Grotius, that the high priest and his kindred were Acts iv. 3 & S. p. 379. ** Sadducees, though it is probable they might be sq., as Josephus, affirms ... b Into the cºmmon prison.] That this was, as the paraphrase expresses that some of the high priests were of this sect, and ºś Ananus, it, the plase where the vilest malefactors were lodged, cannot be doubted, one of the sons of that Annas who was father-in-law to Çiğiaphas, , (See But it is not certain the apostles were actually thrust among them; and Mr. Biscoe, Jät Boyle’s Lect. chap. v. § 4. É. 110, 111.) The Sadducees I think ver, 23, makes it rather more probable they were in an apart however would be most ready to exert themselves in persecuting the ment by the inselves. - apostles, as they were most exasperated by their doctrine, which was 49 386 SECT. 11. ACTS W. 24 26 – and having found the apostles in the temple, brow 27 Master. ...?nd accordingly the captain and those that attended him, when th 28 29 30 3} 32 33 34 THE APOSTLES EXAMINED BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM. report, Saying, We found indeed the prison shut with all possible sqfety, and the keepers .23 saying, The prison trul standing without as sentinels before the doors; but having opened [them, and gone into the º shut with all safety, - - - e keepers standin place in which the prisoners had been put, and where we did not doubt but we should ºhcºeñº'do.'"; find them, to ºur great astonishment we found no one within of those whom we sought. § ºped wº .Vow when the [high] priest, and the captain of the temple, and the other chief priests who ". . . ."he high were gathered together, heard these words, they doubted concerning them, .." knew not jº, #. what to think of it how this could be ; that is, whether they had procured their liberty by º flºº, corrupting the keepers, or whether there might not be something miraculous in the deliver. º.º. whereunto ance of persons whom such extraordinary circumstances had attended. But one who knew "º...one and told their disappointment and the uneasiness it gave them, came into the court, and told them, ś saying, Behold the men whom ye put yesterday in prison, are now standing in the temple, §"º"; however they came thither, and are teaching the people assembled there º; as much free’ and teaching the people. dom and confidence as ever; which indeed does not look like a clandestine escape, which could only have been made with a view of flight and concealment. Then the captain of the temple went with the officers by the direction of the sanhedrim, º ght them away, but not by violence, for lºº they feared the people, lest, if they had offered any violence in their presence, it might have they feared, he peºple'. so provoked them that they should be stoned: for the people were so fully persuaded of º, should have been a divine power engaged with the apostles, that they held their persons sacréd, and would not have borne any ºpen attack upon them. The apostles, on the other hand, were ready gheerfully to obey the summons, that they might repeat their testimony to their divine had brought 27 And when they had them to the place where the council was sitting, made a report of what they had done, and º. º.º. set them before the sanhedrim., -ind as soon as they appeared, the high priest, singling out high priest asked them, Peter and John, who had so lately been examined before them, asked them, Saying, Did .2. #*::::::A; , ; d. we not strictly charge you two in particular, but a very little while ago, and so in effect all jº.*.*.*.*. the rest of your cºmpany, that you should not, on pain of our highest displeasure and the ºf . g -: - tº s º gº ed Jerusalem with your utmost rigour of the law, teach any more in this name of Jesus of Nazaréth 2 And & - 26 Then went the captain - behold, ji. and intend to bring instead of regarding our admonition, or showing any sense of the great lenity with which ** blood upon us. the court then treated you, you have been more busy and more daring than before in your seditious practices, so that you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine; and it all centres in this, that you would bring the odium of this man’s blood upon us, and would incense the populace against us, as if he were an innocent person whom we had murdered: so that it is no thanks to you, if we are not stoned or torn in pieces by them, for that act of neces- sº justice, for such it was, which we were obliged to do upon him. - --- ut Peter and [the rest of] the apostles, who were now all before them, answered and * ſº º: said, O ye senate of Israel, you cannot but in your own consciences know, as we plainly Wºjnº.g.'...; declared before this assembly when we received the charge now referred to, (chap. iv. 19.) than men. that it is absolutely fit and necessary to obey the almighty and ever-blessed God rather than men, be they ever so great and powerful. We assuredly know, and we testify it to 30 The God of our fathers you as we have been testifying to the people, that the God of our fathers hath raised up jº.º.” Jesus his Son, whom ye slew in the most infamous manner that ye could invent, hanging him crucified on a tree, as if he had been the meanest of slaves and the vilest of malefactors. But this very Person, notwithstanding all the outrage with which you treated him, hath God eralled at his own right hand, [to be] a Prince and Saviour to his people, to give re- entance, or to send terms of peace and reconciliation by him, even unto Israel,a by whom e hath been so ungratefully insulted and abused, and to bestow on those that shall repent, the free and full remission of all their aggravated sins. And we are appointed his witnesses of * r *s l these things, how incredible soever they may appear to you; and so is the Holy Spirit also, ;";";..."; § whom God hath given not only to us the apostles, but also to many others of them who lºsiven to them that * submit themselves to his government,” most evidently attesting the same, and proving how " absolutely necessary it is for every one, great and small, to Tay aside prejudice and oppo- sition, and with humble penitence to believe in Jesus. ...And the high priest and the Sadducees, when they heard [this] courageous testimony .33 when they heard, that, and faithful remonstrance, were enraged beyond all measures of patience and of decency, ...º.º.º. so that they even grinded their teeth at them, like savage beasts that could gladly have - devoured them ; and with hearts full of rancour they immediately consulted how they might put them all to death, either under pretence of blasphemy, or for sedition and rebellion against the supreme council of the state. But a certain celebrated Pharisee then in the Sanhedrim, whose mame was Gamaliel,f a doctor of the law, who trained up a great number of young students in the most exact knowledge of it, and was in great esteem among all the people on account of his learning, jº. m tº - g te *= people, and command- wisdom, and piety, rose up ; and as he ºi to speak }. mind with great freedom on displit the aposties forth a a very tender point, he commanded the apostles to be taken out for a little while. And then "#####d onto them, ye addressing himself to his brethren, the other members of the court, he said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to men of Israel, to whom Divine Providence has committed the guardianship of this people, 31 Him math God exalted Yith his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are his witnesses sº , 34. Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor o law, had in reputation among c They feared the people, lest, they should be stoned.] This may seem a surprising change in the people, considering the eagerness with which they demanded that Christ should be crugified. But it is exceeding pro- bable, that seeing the mighty power, which wrought in the apostles, they might entertain some hope of obtaining temporal deliverance by their means, (compare Acts i. 6.) of which they were so, exceeding fond, and a disappointment in their hop3 of which had turned their Hosannas into the § Crucify him, crucify him . See {}r. Lardner’s Crcolibility, vol. i. p. 179. f To give repentance unto Israel.] As repentance was not actually wrought in Israel by the efficacious grace of Christ, I think it evident that 63 ºvat petavotºv here signifies to give place or room for repentance, just as the same phrase does in Josephus, (4;itiq. lib. xx. cap. S. [a]. 6.] 7.) where he says, that the Jews, rising up at Caesarea in a tumultuous manner, the wiser people among them went to intercede with the gover- nor, Öovva t pºsta iſ at av ćirt Tots Teſpa)'gºv 21 g, i. e. to publish a pardon to those who should Jay down their arms ; agreeable to the turn given to the expression in the paraphrase. * - e The Holy Spirit also, whom God hath giren to then ipho sighinit, &c.) The testimony arising from this miraculous coinmujication of the Spirit to christians at that time, entirely removes the objection from ("hrist’s not appearing in public after his resurrection: for, had there been any imposture, it had been easier of the two to have persuaded people at a distance that he had so appeared to the Jewish rulers, or even to the multitude, and yet had been rejected, than that he had given his servants such extraordinary powers: since, had this assertion, been false, every one might have been a witness to the falsehood of such a pretence, with- out the trouble and expense of a journey to Jerusalem, or any other distant place. - f Gamaliel.] This was the elder of that name, a man in so great honour among them, that Onkelos, the author of the Targum, is said to have burirt seventy pound weight of perſumes at his funeral. Nay, it is said the honour of the law failed with him. If he were really, as he is reported to have been, the author of those prayers against christians so long used in the Jewish synagogues, he must have lost that moder- ation of temper which he manifested here ; .*.* exasperated at the growth of the new sect, and the testimony so boldly borne by the apos; fles. He was Paul’s master, (Acts xxii. 3.) and , no doubt he informed that headstrong youth (for such he then was) of what now passed, and of many other things which rendered his sin in persecuting the christians so much the more aggravated. See Wits...}ſºleten. cap. 1. $ 13. p. 12, 1.3. an: Mr, Biscoe, JAt Lºylc's Lect. chap. iii., § 9. p. 77, 78. yourselves what ye intend to do, as touching these men. $39 ºt if hº of §ºd, ye Cannot overthrow it ; lest . te jap; ye bºund even to it be really the cause of God, # against God 0 4 THE APOSTLEs scourg ED AND DISMISSED. 387 and the great care of their public affairs! I think it my duty on this important occasion, sect. seriously to advise you to take heed to yourselves as to what you are about to do to these 11. 36 For hºſore these days men: For you cannot but know that several remarkable occurrences have lately happened §:...F."...º.º. which havé awakened a great degree of public expectation and regard; and it may not be acts himself to be somebody; to . g gr p : exp wº es 2 W. . fºr"º"; improper to recollect some of them at this crisis. You particularly remember, that some 36 i.giº: "ºſsº, time ago one Theudas arose,8 pretending himself to be some extraordinary person, to whom a ;..."... "...ºbe; number of men, amounting to about four hundred, adhered; who, notwithstanding this, was 5 e scattered, and . . º } g * 2 * brought to nought. himself quickly slain by the Roman forces, and all who hearkened to him were scattered, jiàº. ...'...'t. and, after all the boasting promises of their leader, came to nothing. After himh Judas the 37 of it taxi.iº. Galilean arose, in the days of the late enrolment, and endeavouring, on the principles of §º. º, '#'...; sacred liberty, to dissuade the Jews from owning the authority of the Romans in that in- is nºthiº stance, he drew a multitude of people, after him; and the consequence was, that he also *śhow rea, unt, you, himself was quickly destroyed, and all who had hearkened to him were dispersed." And 38 §ſ. ñºs, ine, and therefore, with regard to the present affair, I say unto you, and give it as my most serious ... "...º.º..."..."; and deliberate advice now in the present crisis, Refrain from these men, and let them alone to men, it will come to nought: go on as they can, neither siding with them nor violently opposing them; for if this counsel which they are taking, or this work which they have performed, be of men, if it be º a human contrivance and deceit, which we are not capable of proving that it is, it wi soon sink and come to nothing of itself; some incident will arise to discredit it, and the whole interest of this Jesus will moulder away, as that of Theudas and of Judas did, which seemed to be much more strongly supported by human force. But, on the other hand, iſ 39 which . not appear to me impossible, you cannot with all our power and policy dissolve it; but, even though these particular instruments should e taken off, he will undoubtedly raise up others: And it will certainly become you, in regard to your own safety, to be particularly cautious, [and take heed] lest you not only lose the benefit of any deliverance which may be intended for Israel, but also be yourselves found even fighters against the power and providence of Almighty God; an undertaking which must prove infinitely fatal to all who are so rash and unhappy as to attempt it. A. Alºiºſhº; ...And as the council were unable to elude the force of what Gamaliel said, they yielded to flºis, ºbjeº, him, acknowledging that his advice was safe and wise; and having called in the apostles, ..º.º.º. º. and ordered them to be scourged and beaten with rods in their presence, that in somé mould not speak in the name 8 • s - - * # g 5 *ś" measure they might vent their indignation, and might expose them to disgrace and shame, they strictly charged them, as they had done before, (chap. iv. 18.) not to speak any more in the name of Jesus, if they would not incur yet severer punishment; and, having threat- ened them with what they must expectif ever they were brought before them for the same crime again, they dismissed them for that time. 3. -- 41 And they departed from . Thus were the apostles sent away: and, far from being terrified by all the cruel usage ºften ºf ººoºº; they had met with, or by the threatenings of their adversaries, they departed from the pre- rejoicing that they were • * * * * 8-> sº-> * * -: counteå worthy "to suffer sence of the sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were so honoured in the course of divine Provi- shame for his name. dence as to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ, and to be exposed to infamy for the sake of his venerable and sacred name; rightly judging that a punishment of this kind, though generally shameful, became a glory to them, when borne in so excellent a cause, and for the sake of him who, though so divinely great and so perfectly happy, had submitted not 42 And daily in the temple, only to stripes, but to death for them. Instead therefore of obeying the order of the rulers, 42 3. "...","...,"; they grew so much the more courageous and diligent in spreading the gospel; and every preach Jesus Christ. day, from morning to might, they ceased not to pursue this great work, but took all oppor- tunities to preach in the temple, though within sight of the sanhedrim, and among many of its chief members, who being obliged by their office often to resort thither, must frequently see and hear them; and at other times, between the seasons of public worship, they were engaged privately from house to house; and on the whole, one way or another, it was their constant business to teach and to preach Jesus as the Messiah, and to proclaim with un- speakable pleasure the good news of life and salvation given to sinners by him: the san- hedrim, in the mean time, by the special providence of God, suffering them to go on, and affecting to overlook them as beneath their motice, though still with a secret rancour, which at length broke out into the extremest violence. IMPROVEMENT. WHICH shall we survey with the greater surprise, the continued courage of the apostles, or the continued malice Ver. of their persecutors?... Again they seize them, again they imprison them; but how vainly do these feeble worms, 17, is amidst all the pride of dignity and power, º: the counsels of Omnipotence The angel of the Lord opens the door of their prison, and leads forth his faithful servants to renewed liberty: 19 g One Theudas arose..] . As the Theudas mentioned by Josephus (Antiq, lib. xx. cap. 5. [al. 2...] § 1.) under the character of a false pro- phet, (who drew a great number of people, after him, with a promise of dividing Jordan before them, but was defeated and beheaded, most of his followers being also slain or º º when Fadus was procurator of Judea, that is, according to Capellus, seven, or according to Dr. Whitby at least ten, years after this was spoken, there can be no reference to him here. I am therefore ready to conclude, with Dr. Lightfoot and Basmage, (whose opinion Dr. Lardner has so learnedly defended,) that among the many leaders who, as Josephus assures us; (ºil. iii. xvii. Cap. i0 tal. * § 4–8,) took up arms in defence of the public liberties, when the grand enrolment and taxation.were made by Cyrenius in the days of Archelaus, (see note b, on Luke ii. 2. p. 31. there was one called Theudas, which (as Grotius observes) was a very common name among the Jews.-He seems to have been supported by smaller numbers than the second of the name, and (as the second after: wards did) perished in the attempt; but, as his followers were dispersed and mot slaughtered, like those of the second. Theudas, survivors might talk much of him, and Gamaliel might have been particularly informed of his history, though Josephus only mentions it in general. Dr. Lard- ner, in his judicious remarks on this subject, has shown that there were many persons of the same name whose histories greatly resembled each other. See Lardner’s Credib. of Gosp. Hist. Part I. Book ii. chap. 7. h Aſter him.] Bos has taken great pains, in his note on this text, (Erere. Sacr. p. 75–78.) to show that pºsta . FouTov may signify, besides him, and even before him, in this connexion with º Toutgov. Tov §§epºv, which he would render of late days. (Compare Acts xxi., 38.) This he observes in favour of his interpretation of ver. 36. which he supposes to refer to the Theudas of Josephus, whose insurrection he thinks must have happoned before this speech of Gamaliel.—But as Beza and many others , have abundantly proved that this would quite overturn the chronology either of St. Luke or of Josephus, I conclude that the very indeterminate expression, Tp, Tourov hiºpov, in the preceding verse, is most safely rendered, some time ago, which, especially in an assembly of aged men, (as no doubt. many of this council were.) might well be used in reference to an affair which, though it happened more than 36 years before, must be fresh in most of their mentories. (See Dr. Lard- mer’s Credibility; Part I. Book ii. chap. 7.) And as Judas might arise after Theudas, though the same enrolment might (as is supposed in the preeeding note) occasion the insurrection of both, I see no need of departing from the usual rendering of the preposition picra in this con- struction, which every body knows is generally used to signify after.— To connect pera Tourov with the preceding verse, (as some propose, is quite unnatural in grammar, as well as disagreeable to fact. i Judas the Galilean arose.]. Josephus’s account of this Judas Gaulo- mites, as he is generally called, may be seen in the beginning of the eighteenth Book of his Antiquities. k ..?ll who had hearkened to him were dispersed.) . Dr. Lardner justly observes, this does not, imply, they were destroyed, and imagines, that thqugh Gamaliel would not directly assert it, yet hé insinuates, (agree: º to his principles as a Pharisee,) that perhaps Judas the Galilean, as Well as the apostles, might be actuated by some divine impulse, and that in one instance as well as the other, the doctrine º: survive when the teachers were taken off. (See Lardner’s Credibility, Part I. Book ii. chap. 1. § 3.) But the argument will be good on the conjnon interpretation; and as the word here used, ćusakopmuangºn, especially in this connexion, most naturally implies a calamitóus and disappointing dispersion, I apprehend that, had it been intended in the sense my learned and much esteemed friend supposes, the present tense would rather have been used. 388 REFLECTIONS ON THE EXAMINATION AND CONDUCT OF THE APOSTLES. SECT. an office which this celestial spirit could not but perform with delight; as it was, no doubt, with unutterable 11. ACTS W. 21—26 pleasure that he gave them their errand, to go and publish with undaunted freedom and zeal the words of this life, of this gospel, which enlivens dead souls, and points out the road to an happy immortality. Oh that the folly of those who have heard it had never converted it into a savour of death ! * - Yet behold, the council renewed the attack! The same madness which instigated the Jews to seize Jesus when they had been struck to the ground by his miraculous power, (John xviii. 6.) animated these wretches to contrive the destruction of persons whom § himself had just before rescued from their hands; as they had formerly Hº that of Lazarus, (John xii.10.) who had, by a yet more astonishing wonder, been recalled from the gravé. ń. . fatal extravagances will not prejudice hurry the mind! Against what convincing evidence will it not arden at : Ye shall, says our Lord, be brought before councils for my sake; and it shall be for a testimony against them. 29 (Matt. x. 18.) And such was this repeated admonition, which these holy prisoners then at the bar gave to the 30, 31 judges of Israel. Still they urge the divine authority of their mission, still they proclaim him as head of the church and world, whom these very men had so lately crucified in so outrageous and contemptuous a manner. The point to him whom these priests and rulers had insulted on the cross, as now exalted at the right hand of God, and urge them to seek repentance and remission of sin from him to whom they had denied the common justice due to the meanest of men, the common humanity due to the vilest of criminals in their dying moments, giving him in the thirst of his last agonies vinegar mingled with gall. (Matt. xxvii. 34.) - Thousands of the people had fallen under this charge, and Jesus the Prince had taken them under his protection, Jesus the Saviour had washed them in his blood. But, by what is too frequently the fatal prerogative of great- 38 ness, these princes of Israel had hearts too high for the discipline of wisdom, and were enraged against these 34 humble ministers of the Son of God; who nevertheless addressed them with all the respect which fidelity would allow, and could gladly have poured forth their blood for the salvation of those who so cruelly thirsted for it. They gnashed on these faithful ambassadors with their teeth, as if they would have devoured them alive; and justly will gnashing of teeth be the eternal portion of those who thus outrageously rejected the counsel of God against themselves. (Luke vii. 30.) - But God raised up a guardian for the apostles where perhaps they least expected it, and the prudence of Gamaliel for a while checked the fury of his brethren: so does God sometimes use the natural good sense and * temper of those who do not themselves receive the gospel, for the protection of those who are faithfully devoted to 35–37 its service. Gamaliel had attentively observed former events; which is indeed the way to learn the surest lessons of wisdom, which are to be learned any where but from the word of God. He had seen some ruined by their 39 seditious zeal; and let those who call themselves christians, take heed how they rashly rise up against legal autho- 40 SECT. 12. ACTS VI. 1 2 3 rity, lest, taking the sword, they perish by it. (Matt. Xxvi. 52.) Judiciously does he admonish the council to take heed lest they be found fighters against God. May divine grace ever guard us from that fatal error into which all who oppose the gospel, whatever they may imagine, assuredly fall! . They cannot indeed dissolve it, but the dash themselves in pieces against it. Be wise therefore, O ye kings be instructed, ye judges of the earth! (Psal. ii. 10.) For reasons of state the apostles were to be scourged, though their judges were inwardly convinced that it was at least possible their message might be divine. Deliver us, O Lord, from that policy which shall lead us to imagine any evil so great as that which may offend thee! The punishment which these excellent men suffered was infamous, but the cause in which they endured it rendered it glorious: nor could those stripes be half so painful to their flesh, as an opportunity of thus approving their fidelity to their Lord was delightful to their pious souls. Well might they triumph in bearing the scourge for him who bore the cross, and died on it for them. Let us arm ourselves with the same mind, if in a severer sense than this we should be called for his sake to resist unto blood, SECTION XII. The choice of the seven deacons. Stephen preaches Christ, and, aſº disputing yith some of the Jewish societies, is brought before the Sanhedrim. Acts Wi. ACTS vi. 1. Acts vi. 1. .N'OW in those days of which we have been speaking, and some time after the fact last AND #bº. recorded had fallen out, the number of the disciples being multiplied, there arose a murmur- §§§iº.º. ing of the Hellenists or Grecians, that is, of those converts, to the gºspel who, being ºff.; foreign Jews, and coming from the western countries, used the Greek language in their their widºws were ºglected synagogues and in their conversation," against the Hebrews, who were natives, of Judea, in the daily ministration. and used the Hebrew or the Syriac tongue; because, as they were strangers at Jerusalem, and had not so much interest as the natives, some of their necessitous widows were in some degree at least neglected b in the daily ministration of the charities that were distri- buted to the poor members of the church. And as the apostles were concerned, though not alone, in that distribution, (the money raised as above by the sale of estates, having been brought to them,) they were solicitous to obviate all those reflections which might fali upon them on this occasion, as they might otherwise in some measure have affected their usefulness. tº gº g * * * : y ...And the twelve apostles having called the multitude of the disciples, together.” communicated tº...º.º.º. the matter to them, and said, It is by no means proper or agreeable that we, who have an office ºft and sº # }. not to discharge of so much greater weight and consequence, should leave the important care ;ºft . of dispensing the word of God, to attend the tables of the poor, and see who are served tâbles. there; and yet this we must do in order to prevent these complaints, unless some further mea- * † sures be taken by common consent. herefore, brethren, as you easily see how incon- 3 Whereforebrethrenikok - zians, that is, foreign Jews, &e.] This, for reasons which may b Their vidows were neglected.]. The apostles undoubtedly acted 3 bººt large in jr. Bensen’s History, #9; to me by fär the, most very faithful part in the distributiºn of nºneg. raised by the º, of probabie of the seven opinions mergioned by Fabriciuš, (in his Biblioth, lands. (See nºte c, on , & : -- ** & a-g r * +- 4. * * * * , - 14 For we have heard him 14 divinely-inspired law, as one that has no reverence at all for its authority. For we our say, That this Jesus of Naza- selves have heard him saying, that this same Jesus of Vazareth, whom he celebrates so much º º; upon every occasion as the long-expected and desired Messiah, having been rejected 2n} tºº" crucified by your authority, in concurrence with that of the whole Jewish people, shall nevertheless destroy this city and this holy place; and, in consequence of that, shall entirely change the rites, and custons which Moses delivered to us,” and put an end to the whole authority of his law. 15 Jand, at the very instant that this heinous charge was advanced against Stephen, all that ...And all that sat in the * sº s * * ex r g - . .r council, looking steadfast! were sitting in the sanhedrim as his judges, firing their eyes upon him, saw a surprising ..."...s.º.º.º. radiancy upon his countenance, so that it appeared like the countenance of an angel:b God been the face of an angel. ach a kind of academy or college of young students Gal. ii. 2.) . This therefore seems to have, been the inference they drew *::::::::::: iºdiei under some celebrated rabbi, it is no wonder from what he taught of the destruction he denounced on the Jews if they jºurseries should afford disputants like these sypken Qf here. continued in their unbelief. But it was ºvery pºcºrious inferencg; as . nºmous cords azainst JMoses and against God..] See mote a, on #. º: º: % º flººſe without any repeal of tho -: V. - aw, and therefore they W tº 1: SºS. . * ch:Šºji * customs which JMoses delivered to us..] I see no rea- b, Like the countenance, aſ an ºld...Grºtius. Brenniº, L'Enfant, so. º.º.eſºthº Stephen knew the mystery of the abolition of the and some others, interpret this as a provºbial expression of the majesty jíosaic jaw, which the apostles do, not #Bem immediately to have under; and beauty of his countenance, arisin; from ºranspor; of inward joy, jº 'it' is much less probable that he openly taught What Paul in the consgiousness of innocence, and expectation of glory; though he jºseif many years after insinuated with so much caution. (Comparé had go cruel a sontence and execution in view. (Compare Gen. xxxiii. ...Acts yii. 1. Then said the high priest, Are these things BO 2 And he said, Men, bre- thren, and fathers, hearken ; The God o ; unto our father raham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. 4 Then came he out of the land, of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran ; and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into ºnd, wherein ye now We II. 5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no not so much as to set his foot on : yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after hjun, when as yet he had no child. 6 And God spake on, this wise, That his seed should so: journ in a strange land; an that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. Å; STEPHEN's VINDICATION OF HIMSELF. being pleased to crown the natural benignity, sweetness, and composure of his aspect, with a refulgent lustre, like what those celestial spirits have sometimes worn when they have appeared as his messengers to men. * º º Nevertheless, the council proceeded against him, and the high priest, without any par- ticular notice of it, said with an affected calmness, as to a common criminal on his trial, ...Are these things indeed thus as these witnesses have deposed ? Thou art permitted to make thy defence, and this is thy time to speak; if therefore thou hast any thing to offer in thine own vindication from this charge of blasphemy, which the witnesses have so expressly advanced against thee, plead it, and the court will patiently attend to what thou hast to say, before it proceeds to sentence. :- * And upon this Stephen began a large discourse,” in which, in the softest and most in- offensive manner, he solemnly declared his firm persuasion of the divine authority of that law which he was charged with blaspheming; and proved to them from their own Scrip- tures, that God's gracious regards to his people were not limited within the boundaries of that land, nor appropriated to those who were subjected to the Mosaic ritual; at the same time reminding them of some instances in which they had ungratefully rejected those whom God had appointed for their deliverers, that they might becautioned against repeat- ing the fault in this instance to their final ruin. He therefore traced the matter to its original, and said, JMen, brethren, and fathers, I beseech you all, whether old or young, whether of 391 SECT". 13. ACTS WH. 1. 2 greater or lower rank, to hearken to me while I offer these things, which may not only serve for my own vindication from this unjust charge, but may likewise remind you of some important particulars which it is your highest interest in present circumstances seriously to consider. It is well known to all of you, that long before our law was given, or the place in which we stand had any peculiar sanctity, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, by some resplendent and majestic symbol of his º while he was yet with his idolatrous ancestors in Mesopotamia, (Gen. xi. 31.) before he dwelt in Charran, which for a while he did, after he had removed his abode from Ur of the Chal- deans, which was the land of his nativity. In this idolatrous land it was that God ap- peared and said to him, Depart from this thy native country, and from thy kindred, who are now alienated from my worship, and come away from this land, which for so long a time has been the seat of thy family, into a pleasant and excellent land which I will show thee, and to which, by my extraordinary interposition, I will guide thee, though thou at present 3 dost not know either its situation or its product. Them Abraham, strange as this com- 4 mand might seem, with all submission readily obeyed it; and departing from Ur in the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt for several years in Charram, having been led by divine conduct hither, and not immediately receiving a signal to proceed any further: but, by another call from God, he was directed to depart from Charran ; and accordingly from thence, after his father died, he, (that is, God,) by the singular interposition of his provi- dence, caused him to remove his habitation into this land in which you now dwell. .4nd yet upon his coming into Canaan, he gave him no present inheritance in it, not so much as the dimension of his foot, or a piece of land which he might cover with the sole of it; for the little portion of it that he could call his own, he held by purchase, and not as-by any claim of divine donation: .\ſevertheless he £º to give |. a lasting possession to him, even to his seed after him,” when [as yet, by the way, he had no child, and, humanly speak- ing, it was not likely he ever should have one; but the faith of our pious ancestor triumphed over all these seeming difficulties, and joyfully embraced the divine revelation and promise. 5 .And when God had brought Abraham into this country, he did not keep him and his 6 posterity here till the time they were to enter upon the possession of it in consequence of this divine grant, but, on the contrary, God spake [to him] thus in a vision, (Gen. xv. 13, 14.) “That his seed should sojourn and be strangers in a foreign land, and they among whom they sojourn shall enslave and abuse them ; and these events, with the circumstances preparatory to them, shall extend themselves to the full period of four hundred years.f 10, 1 Sam. xxix. 9. Eccles, yiii. 1. and Esth. [Apoc.) xv. 13.) And upon this the translation of 1727 takes the strange liberty of rendering it They saw an air of majcsty in his aspect. But, with Dr. Hammond and Benson, I rather think there was a supernatural splendour, as on the countenance of Moses, Exod. xxxiv. 29.--It was indeed a most astonish- ing instance of the incorrigible hardness and wickedness of their hearts, that they could murder a man ou, whom God put such a visible glory, similar to that of their great legislator : but perhaps they might ascribe it to magic; and we know how little, they made of other miracles, the truth of which they were compelled to acknowledge. Compare Acts IV. H. D. - c. Stephen, began a large discourse.], Le Clerc, with , a mixture of rashness and weakness, into which, be frequently falls in his reflections on Scripture, not understanding the true scope of this excellent dis- course, presumes to censure it as containing many things not to the pur- pose, as well as many slips of memory, though it is expressly said, (ver. 55.) that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit when he delivered it. ... I am ersuaded †: it will be admired by all that well upderstand it, and hope the hints I have given in the paraphrase will lead the reader into the true design of it, and show the propriety of the circumstances intro- duced. , Dr. Benson has illustrated it in a large and yety judicious man- ner, in his History, vol. i. p. 123–135., which I shall leave the curious reader to consult. I only add, that had not Stephen been interrupted by their fury, it is probable he would have added some other articles, and have summed up the discourse in such a , manner as to show that the main design of it was to humble that haughtiness of spirit which occa- sioned their rejecting Jesus and his gospel. d After his father died.] ... Many passages in Stephen’s speech have been objected to, as contradictory to the account given of the same facts in the Old Testament. can by, no means acquiesce in the answer which some have given, that Luke’s inspiration only secured to us an exact account of wº Stephen said: for it seems very unreasonable to suppose, that on so extraordinary an occasion the Spirit so expressly Uroinised in such circumstances, (even to the Seyenty as well as to the apostles,) should leave him to frequent and palpable slips of memory, into which it is not probable any intelligent christian minister would now fall, in a like circumstance. It seems therefore much more honourable to christianity to suppose, that iſ there are any passages here which can- not be reconciled with the passages of the ja Testament to which they refer, (which most that have been objected to certainly may,) it is owing to some error of transcribers, from which, as it is plain from various readings, cven the copies of the sacred books have not always been Secure, as without a continued miracle it is impossible they should. But us for what is here urged, as if it were inconsistent with Gen. xi. 25, 32. xii. 4, from whence it is argued, that as Terah was but 70 years Qld when Abraham was born, and Abraham but 75 when he departed from Haran, these make no more than 145 years ; but Terah lived to be 2:35, and so must have lived 60 years after Abraham left Haran : whereas Stephen affirms that Abraham went not from thence till after his father...duéd º in answer, to this, it is well observed by Mr. Biscoe (chap. xyiii. }. 595—600.) that this objection is built upon an timproved supposition that Abraham was Terah’s eldest son, or that he was born in his 70th year; not to insist on the solution which is offered to this difficulty by Le Clerc, Knatchbull, Capellus, and others, that, accord- ing to the Samaritan copy, Terah lived but 145 years. Čiº enius’s so- lution, built on the distinction between karovket v, sojourning, and perol- Neuv, firing his abode there by the purchase of a sepulchre, seems too raean a subterfuge to be particularly discussed, . c Even to his seed.] he particle Kat so often signifies even, that I think it much more matural to render it thus, and to consider this clause as º the former, in order to avoid that express contra- digtion which seems to arise, from translating it as we do. ºf Four hundred years.] ... Many good critics suppose that this is unen- tioned here, as well as in the text from which it is quoted, (Gon. xv. 3.) as a round sum, without taking notice of the broken number, the exact time being four hundrej and thirty years, as Moses determines it, Exod. xii. 4), with whom, the apostle Paul agrees, Gal. iii.) For Abraham was 73 years old when he came into Canaan, (Gen. xii. 4.) which being çonsidered as the beginning of the period, from thence to the birth of Isaac was 25 Years ; and Isaac was sixty years old when he begat Jacob, Who went to Egypt at 130; which numbers added together make 215 years. And from theºge to, the time, of Israel’s departure from Egypt was ºf; Ygars more; (See Joseph. Antiq., lib. ii. cap. 15. [a]. 6..] § 3. But Moses, in the text quoted from £xodus, refers to the whole period of the sojourning of Abraham and his family in strangers in those lands before Isaac’s birth, and - - anaan and , Egypt, as ; whereas, this promise being made but a little * the prediction taking place from that event, must include only 405 }..."; which *ht in a round sum be yet moro easily and roperly çalled four hundred. See Bishop Patrick on Gen. xv. 13. and it. Whitby, in '... • 392 STEPHEN'S VINDICATION OF HIMSELF. sº. :*." º: ºf.*...* ..º. said God in the sºme oracle, “I will 7 ſº, ſatiºn tº whold 7 y judge, and p *, righteous and, tremendous severity; and afterwards fºllº. ACTS they shall come out of that land, and serve me in this place, inhabiting this land in which tº: ji º ğ. thou now dwellest, and erecting a temple for the perförmance of my worship here; "This *g. jºº ºlei 's was God's promise to him while he was yet undircumcised; and in confirmatiºn of it". ºr "ºf"...i. gave him, as you well know, the covenant of circumcision, a sacred rite, which, far from º º **. blaspheming, I revere as the solemn seal of this contract between God and Abraham. ºith'i. Isº andº.bing, circumcised himself as soon as God required it, (Gen. xvii. 23. 2.) is tº * * quickly after begat Isaac, and circumcised him also on the eighth day according to the divine - appointment; and Isaac [begat]. Jacob, and Jacob [begat] the twelve patriarchs who were - the respective heads of our twelve tribes of Israel. 2 9 .4nd in those days the providence of God began to work for the accomplishment of 9 And ...the patriarchs, that surprising prediction which I mentioned but now : for the rest of the patriarchs, ...º.º. §§ thºugh their relation to such holy ancestors might have taught them a much better lesson. º but God being moved with enºys at the superior regard which Jacob showed to his favorite son. most inhumanly sold Joseph their brother into Egypt, where he became a slave, and went through a great variety of calamities: nevertheless God was with him there, though no longer in the promised land, and made that º a scene of very glorious providence 10 towards him. •ºnd he there delivered him out of all his afflictions which his integrity and 10, And delivered him out #. hał brºught upon him, and gave him favour and high veneration, on account of that §.'...º.º.º. distinguished tºisſom which appeared to be in him, in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; **ś"; º and he constituted him ruler over the land of Egypt, and in particular over âll”his ºyal §: º,"; º d'É house, committing all things in the palace, as well as elsewhere, to his direction and his house. gypt &nd 6. management, even to the management of this despised Joseph, whom his brethren (then - ". hole house of Israel) had most outrageously insulted and abused, and even sold for a Slal VG. - 11 And, according to the predictions of Joseph, which had awakened so great an attention, , 11 Now there, cºme, a when seven years of plenty were past, a famine came upon all the land of Egypt, and ex- º: tended itself over Canaan too; and this calamity reduced them to such greaf ºffliction and jºin."ºther. distress, that they knew not how to subsist, and even in this fruitful land our fathers did found no sustenance. 12 ot.ſºd sufficient sustenance to support themselves and their families. But Jacob, hearing .19 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, ordered his sons to go and fetch them a supply from thence, #.º.º.º. and, sent our fathers, the ten patriarchs, thither first, keeping Benjamin with him at home. e Sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time that they went, when, sorély against his good father's will, Benjamin , 13 And at the second time accompanied them, Joseph was made known to his brethren; and as the matter was imme- º dº *...*º diately made public, the family and descent of Joseph was discovered to Pharaoh, of which §d."...' ...". he ; not been particularly informed beforé. unto Pharaoh. 14 And upon this, with the full consent of that generous prince, Joseph sent and invited his 14. Then sent Joseph, and aged father, Jacob, and all his kindred, to him, into Egypt; who accordingly went down º **, *, 'º thither in a company, amounting, in the whole, together with their wives, to seventy-five threescore and fifteen souls. souls, without reckoning Jacob himself, and Joseph's family already there. And thus their sojourning in that land began, during which they were still under the care of divine Pºnce till the time of their return to Canaan approached, of which I shall presently Speak. IMPROVEMENT. Acts THUS loud may the clamour of malice and falsehood rise against innocence and truth. Incessant blasphemy is vi. charged on one of the most pious of men; and we wonder at it the less, since it was charged upon Jesus himself; 13, 14 and, if they call the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household ! (Matt. x. 25.) His VII. disciple learns of him not to render evil for evil, but answers in the language of calm reason, and of meek though 2 powerful conviction. - While Stephen leads back our contemplation to so many remarkable facts of the Old Testament, let us reflect 2–5 upon them with those devout affections which become the Israel of God. Let us adore the God of glory that ap- eared to Abraham, and called him forth to be so bright an example of faith and piety, in leaving his country and i. to follow the leadings of Providence, when he knew not in what settlement they should end. Let us, in imitation of him, whose children, if true believers, we also are, sit loose to every thing in this world, that we may be ready to leave it when God shall, by one providence or another, give the signal for our remove. If the next step of duty lies º before us, let us trust our Leader to mark out all that follow, in such an order and to such an end as he shall think fit; secure of this, that while we follow Infinite Wisdom, we cannot wander out of the way to true happiness, and that all the divine promises shall certainly be accomplished, whatever cross event may seem to interpose and obstruct. * 6, 7 When God appointed that the seed of Abraham should sojourn and suffer in a strange land, the pious patriarch acquiesced in it: nor let us be over anxious about the difficulties into which our posterity may be led. , Let us 8 adore the divine goodness, that he has established his covenant with us, and with our seed after us; and while we, in imitation of Abraham, bring our infant offspring to receive the solemn seal of that covenant, let us remem- ber our engagements to instruct them, as they grow up, in the tenor of it, and labour to the utmost to engage their g Being moved with envy..] From what Stephen mentions of the story though it is probable, they were nºt, born till after Jacºb's, arrival, in of Joseph, it was obvious to infer, (as many good writers have ob- gypt; and, having first computed thern at sixty-six, he then adds served,) that the greatest favourites of heaven might suffer by the enyy }.} and his two, sons that were beſore in Egypt, and, reckoning of those who were called the Israel of God, and might be exalted by Jacob with them, makes the whole number, to amount to seventy, But him after having been rejected by them : á thought worthy of their Stephen speaks of all that went down with him, and so excludes Jacob consideration with respect to Jesus; but it would not have been proper himself, and the two afterwards, born, and Joseph and his children, directly to insert such a reference in the paraphrase, as prudence would which reduggs the number thus: the eleven brethreº, with Dinah their not allow Štephen, in the beginning of this finely-adjusted defence, to sister, and fifty-twº, that, had descended from them, amount to, sixty- say expressly what they couldſ not have borne to hear, as appears by the four; to which, adding eleven wiveſ, (some ºf the patriarchs having inner in which they resented his application of these premises when probably buried theirs, and but few of their, children being yet, married,) he was drawing towards a conclusion. they amount in all to sgyepty-five, See Pool’s Synºpsis, and Whitby, hºmºmting to secenty-five souls.) Of the various solutions which #4%.º.º.º. Boyle’s Lect. º: xviii. p. 602–606. Could Iearned men have given of the seeming, inconsistency between this the reading of Tavres or Tavros instead of revre, (which Boza mentions account and that given by Moses, (Gen. xlvi. 27., Exod. i. 5. and Deut. as a conjecture,) be supported by proper authorities, so that it might be x. 22.) which makes them id: seventy, (with which also Josephus agrees, rendered, all gnomºnting to seventy souls, it would make the whole matter Jºintin. iii. ii., cap. 7... [al. 4.] sect. 4.) the most, probable. Seein; to be this: quite easy. , Grotius also supposes that the original reading here was ñíosés expressſy leaves out all the wives, (Gen. xlvi. 26.) whom he had seventy, and that the Septuagint copy was altered to its present forin, jīºefºº sons of Israel carried with them, (ver. 5.) and only to suit with the mistaken, reading of seventy-five j, for in the two first speak of those that came out of Jacob’s loins, inserting, in the catalogue, texts referred $9 in the beginning of this note, the Septuagint read that he gives of his children, two grand-children of Judah, (to #. seventy-five, while, in Deut. x. 22. they agree with the Hebrew, and #: piācāof £r and Oman, who had died in Canaan,) Hezron and Hamul, read seventy, which is somewhat strange. * STEPHEN'S VINDICATION OF HIMSELF. under the rod of an Egyptian tyrant. cº- The mysterious conduct of divine Providence with regard to the pious Joseph, who became a slave that he might be made a prince, and who was trained up for the golden chain in the discipline of iron fetters, may surely be sufficient to teach us to judge nothing before the time, and to wait the end of the Lord, before we arraign, the seeming severity of a part of his conduct towards those whom we might imagine the most proper objects of his regard. And surely it will appear none of the least considerable of those rewards which Providence bestowed on the approved and distinguished virtue of Joseph, that he had an opportunity of nourishing his pious father, in his declining days, of spreading a mild and pleasant ray over the evening of a life which had been so often beclouded with storms, and of sheltering (as it were) under his princely robe that hoary head which had once been turned into a fountain of tears over the bloody fragments of the many-coloured coat, - -- SECTION XIV. Stephen procecds, in his discourse before the sanhedrim, to enumerate several other facts in the Jewish history, all tending to the purpose of his own vindication and their conviction. Acts vii. 15–36. Acts vii. 15. Acts vil. 15. | C 5 so Jacob, went down, into STEPHEN, while he stood before the council with the radiancy of countenance taken ;" *** * notice of above, proceeded in his discourse, and said, I have observed to you, brethren and àthe IS, fathers, how Jacob went down into Egypt; and you well know, that having been supported - about seventeen years by the filial gratitude and tenderness of Joseph, he died there: and 16 And, were carried over our fathers also, the patriarchs his children, ended their lives in the same country. And {...; tº Aº, yet, by the way, they were solicitous not to be buried there; but as Jacob was imme- ºf diately brought up, with solemn funeral pomp and procession, to be buried in the cave of Ç's...” Machpelah with Abraham and Isaac, (Gen. I. 13.) so the patriarchs also, having been em- balmed and put into coffins in Egypt, (Gen. l. 26.) were, at the return of Israel from thence, carried over to Sychem, and were laid in the sepulchre which was made in that field which Jacob bequeathed to Joseph as a peculiar legacy; he having first, as Abraham had done in a like case, purchased for a sum of money,” that is, for an hundred pieces of silver, of the sons of Emmor [the father] of Sychem, from whom in particular the place was named: and the Amorites having afterwards seized it, Jacob had by force recovered it out of their hands. (Compare Josh. xxiv. 32. with Gen. xlviii. 22.) And it was by their own direction the heads of our tribes were kept to be interred here, that they might testify thereby to their posterity, as long as their embalmed bodies continued unburied in Egypt, that they died in the faith of Israel’s being led forth from thence and settled in the land of promise, which accordingly happened. .And, to make way for the accomplishment of this event, as the time ſ near which God had sworn to Abraham, (Gen. xxii. 16, 17.) the people 17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, whic the promise drew d had sworn to Abraham, * - * * * * of srael, though ºf lºw and multi- they had such a small beginning, grew very numerous, and multiplied exceedingly in **If ºther king arose, #. and they continued there for many years in very comfortable circumstances, till which knew not Joseph another king arose, of a different race an 19 The same dealt subtilly and had no regard to his memory. with our kindred, and e entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young chiſłren, to the end they might not live. family from the former, who knew not Joseph, (Exod. i. 8.) He therefore used them in a barbarous way; and forming crafty and treacherous designs against our kindred, lest they in time should grow to be too powerful, treated our fathers most injuriously, and cruelly contrived to cut them off from being a people, by causing all their male infants, in obedience to a most inhuman order that he published, to be erposed or cast into the river Nile, that in a little time their race might perish, and be quite extinct. (Exod. i. 22.) - Such was the miserable state to which our fathers were reduced: in which afflictive, per- secuting time it was that the celebrated Moses was born ; and he was so exceeding beauti- ful,b that his parents were struck with a peculiar desire of preserving him; and, that they might, if possible, secure him from the execution of the barbarous edicts I have just now mentioned, he was bred up with all the privacy that could be,ſº three months in his father's house : but as they were unable to conceal him any longer, he was committed by them to the care of Providence, and having put him in an ark of bulrushes, they laid him in 21 And when, he was east the flags upon the brink of the river Nile. (Exod. ii. 2, 3.) And being thus exposed, the º ºś'; providence of God so ordered it that he was found by the daughter of #. who at the sight of him was moved with pity, and took him up,” and nourished him, with a purpose for her own son. with Mark X v. 40.) and Lovöas Iakoſłov is Judas the brother of James. (Acts i. 13. compared with Jude, ver. 1.) , Nor was this only usual with the Jews, but (as Bochart has shown in the place cited before) we have many instances of the like way of speaking in the laost approved Greek writers. (See [Jr. Whitby’s note on #. xxiv. 1.)—The other objections 20 In the which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months: a Which JAbraham purchased, ‘...] It is so evident from Gen. xxxiii. 19. and Josh. xxiv. 32. that the field at Sychem or Shechem, in which the bones of Joseph (and, as it should seem from this passage, and from what is asserted by Jerome, Epitaph. Paulº, those of the other patri- archs) were buried; was purchased, not by Abraham, but by Jacob, and also that Abraham’s sepulchre was purchased, not of Emmor or Hamor, the former proprietor of Jacob’s ground, but, of Ephron the Hittite, (Gen. xxiii. 10, et seq.) that it seems demonstrable that this passage hits suffered something § the addition or omission of transcribers: for to suppose that Stephen or Luke º used the name of Abraham for Jacob, is, I think, one of the grossest affronts that can be offered to the character of eithér. A real slip of memory would be a trifle, when com- pared with such a designed prevarication. , But, without supposing - either, I apprehend, with Beza, in his admirable note on this text, that I.uke probably wrote only, which he (that is, as the connexion fixes it, Jacob) bought, &c. which was the exact truth ; and some officious tran- scriber, who fancied the verb wanted a nominative case; and thought he remembered the urchase of Abrahams,(which it is plain he did not exactly distinguish,) put in his name. This solution, which is advanced by the learned Bochart, (Hierozoic., part. i. lib. ii. cap. 43.), Dr. Benson, and others, is so natural, that I will, not trouble the reader with the mention of several others which may be seen in Dr. Whitby, Sir Norton Iºnatchbull, and, Brennius ; but shall only observe, that if this be not allowed, (which has indeed no copy to support it,) the easiest sense seems to be that which Mr. L'Enfant, has given in his note, That Jacob died, he and our fathers, and, they [that is, Qur fathers,) were carried over to Sychem, and buried; he [that is, Jacob, in the sepulchre which Abra- ham bought for a sum of money, and they [that is, the ºgº) in that which was bought of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem.— That Eppop row Xuxei, is very justly rendered Emmar the father of Sy- ghem, (as he is declared to be in the Old Testament,) though the relation be not here expressed in, the original, sufficiently appears from other passages, in which not only the relation of a son, of which we have fre- quent instanges, but other relations too, are left to be supplied. So Mapua Iako60w is JMary the mother of James; (Luke xxiv. 10, compared 50 which Rabbi Isaac has inade against this passage, (Chiss. Emum part ii. cap, 63.) are so trifling, that I content myself with referring to Mr. Bis- coe’s full account and learned solution of them, Boyle’s Lect. chap. xviii. p. 607—609. b Exceeding beautiful.] This, our translators render in the margin, fair to God, which is the literal sense of the original, agrew's roo 6ta). Grotius and others have observed it is a common Hebraism, being no more than an emphatical expression to demote his extraordinary beauty, which might perhaps be not unfitly rendered divinely beautiful, the name of God being often introduced to express such things as were extraordi- mary in their kind. So in the Hebrew, what we translate gregt wrestlings, is wrestlings of God; (Gen. xxx. 8.) goodly cedars are rS 00: . (Psal. lxxx. 10.) great mountains are mountains of God; (Psal. xxxvi. 6.5 and an excecding great city is a great city of God; (join iii. 3.) IroXts pſeya)\m Tao 660, Septuag. And in like manner, in the New Testament, (2 Cor. x. 4.) weapons mighty through God, on Xa juvara to 6eo, might not improperly be rendered very strong weapons. This then agrees with what is said of Moses, (Exod...ii. 2.) that he was a goodly .#. and, in the account Josephus gives of him, he says, “That when he was but three years old, his extraordinary beauty, was such that it struck, every one that saw him ; and as they carried him about, persons would leave their work to look at him.” (Antiq, lib., ii. cap. 9.. [a]. 5.] § 6.) The fame of it had also spread among the heathen ; for Justin, in his Histºry, relates from Trogus, (lib. xxxvi. cap. 2.) that besides the inheritance of his father’s knowledge, (whom he takes to have been Joseph,) his beautiful appearance greatly recommended him. See Grotius and Whitby, in loc. c The daughter of Pharaoh took him up.] All these extraordinary cir; cumstances relating to the birth, preservation, education, genius, and 393 own personal consent to it; and then they will be truly rich and free, though in the penury of a famished land, or SECT. ACTS VII. 9, 10 13, 14 <ºs: 394 STEPHEN'S VINDICATION OF HIMSELF. SECT. of adopting him for her own son, And Moses by this means was educated in all the whole 22 And Moses was learned 14. circle of arts and learning which came within the system of the celebrated vision, and ɺ #: philºsophy of the Egyptians: and such was his remarkable roficiency, that he was #ºi, mighty * mighty in the solidity of his discourses,” and in the prudence of his actions';f so that he 2 made a very conspiºgous figure, both in the counsels that he gave and the commands he executed, in that polite and justly renowned nation. * ... But when he lºgº arrived at the full age of forty years, he was conducted into a very dif- c.23 And when he was ful; ferent scene of life; for having been instructed in the knowledge of his real descent, and º.º. §: in the principles of the Jewish religion, it came into his heart tº visit his brethren the 'chi. He jºiºi,” dreſ of Israel; and his spirit was so impressed with it, that all the pleasure and grandeur at the court of º could not make him easy, without going in person to take a survey 24 of their state. And there beholding one § them] injured by ää oppressive Egyptian task- 24 And seeing one of them master, who had subdued and got him down, and seemed about to take away his life, his jº. §º: generous spirit was not able to brook it; but he defended [him, and Smiting the Egyptian § ºi", "...: With a monial wound, he at once rescued and avenged him it was ºppºsei (É.i. the Bººting: 11, 12.) ,-ind as he did this action by a special impression from God on his mind, inti- .25 For he supposed his bre; rºating the important work for which he was intended, so he supposed ifia; his breiren, fººd observing th kable ci 5 sº - !!, how, that. God by his hand *Wing the remarkable circumstances of the fact, by which he substantially declared his would jeliyºhem; but they readiness to venture not only his fortune but his life in their service, would have understood "** that the action was expressive of what they might hope to obtain by his means, and inti- mated that God would give them salvation and deliverance by his hand.g. But they were so exceeding stupid that they did not understand it. And the nºrt day he showed himself again .26. And the next day he to Wo of them as they were quarrelling together, and would have interposed between them, jºyº; and have persuaded them to live in peace and friendship, saying, jien. my friends, consider tº: 3%, ºre brethreº, descended from Jacob, Qur common ancestor, and how too joined in śy O affliction as well as in religion, which ought doubly to cement your affections to each - 27 ºther: why then do ye injure one another?' But he ihat injured his neighbour, unable to 37, But he that did his 2 bear with his plain and faithful reproof, insolently thrust him away, saying, what hast thou º 2 5 2 6 - sº 3 'ing, `Wh to do with this controversy 2 HWho has made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thout i. riºd ºise": kill me, as I know thou didst yesterday slay the Egyptian? His blood may cost thee dear "º will thou in me, as 29 enough without adding mine to the account. (Exod. ii. 13, 14.) Then Moses, as he found tº digst the Egyptian ses. the matter was discovered, and was apprehensive that in conséquence of it the Egyptian 23 Then fled Moses at this Power would be soon armed against him, while the Israelites were not inclined to use #iº. #y effort, for his protection, nor to put themselves under his guidance, presently fled from he begatº sº.” Egypt at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where, nevertheless, Providence furnished him with a comfortable settlement, though in circumstances of great retirement; for he became the chief shepherd to Jethro, the prince of the country, and marrying Zipporah, his daughter, he begat two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. */ 30 , ſind when forty years more were fulfilled, in which Israel had continued under this 30 And when forty years bondage, and Moses had been trained up in that humble and retired life for the great work ..º.º.º.º.; for which God had intended him, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flâme of fire jºi. in the midst of a bush, while he was feeding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law in the bº."" flame of fire in a wilderness of mount Sinai, even of that mount Sinai which (as you know) lay in the confines of the Midianite country, not far from the Red sea. (Exod. iii. 1, 2.) '...And Moses 31 When Moses saw it, he seeing [it] admired the vision, for the bush burned with fire, and yet was not consumed; ...º.º.º.;; and as he drew near to behold and survey [it] more particularly, the voice of the Lord came the voice of the ford'éamé 32 unto him out of the bush, [Saying, “I ſam] the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, ""; *I am the God of and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, who led them safely through, all the diffi: ºft. culties of life, and still manifest a friendship to them; in consequence of which, I am not jºi... ii. even now ashamed to own that title.” And Moses upon this, perceiving that it was God ... mºled, and durit himself who was there present and spake to him, trembled at this appearance of his - Majesty, and did not dare to behold it, as he intended, with a curious regard. And the , 33 Then said the Lord to Lord said unto him, “Loose thy shoes from thy feet; for the place in which thow standest ºft; is now holy ground, while I thus visibly appear upon it; and it becomes thee (by that thou standest is holy ground. usual token of respect before princes) to express thy reverence for my royal presence. In 34 hº seen; I have seen - - • sº • • the affliction of my people have surely seen the evil and oppressive treatment of my people which are in Egypt, and I ºićiºgºtºd'iº have heard their groaning; and, moved with pity and compássion at their sufferings, I am ... .º.º. come down to deliver them by thine hand. And now therefore come and lay aside imme- ºn Wºomei'ººn"; diately thy cares of a shepherd for others of much greater importance, and I will send thee **** 8 w 3 I 3 3 3 4 character of Moses, serve to aggravate the crime of Israel in rejecting the war against them, gave them a total defeat, and drove back the small him when he offered himself to them as a deliverer under so many ad- remainder of their forces in confusion to their own country. yantages, and when Providence had so wonderfully interested itself in g He supposed that his brethren would have understogd, &c.] . They his favour. . . - an might have known that the time drew near which God had prefixed in his d Educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.] Geography, geome- protnise to Abraham, ii) a º which might, probably be delivered try, arithmetic, astronomy, natural history, physic, and hieroglyphics, down by tradition, and which would be more like, to be remembered are all inentioned by angient writgrs as branches of Egyptian literature. under their oppression, as the patriarchs had; in dependence upon it, As for magic, in the bad sense of the word, it is not to be imagined that directed that their bones should continue unburied in Egypt. And when so good a maq would have any thing to do with it. Several ancient tes- they saw a person of so much dignity, authority, and influence, whom timonies to the extraordinary learning of Moses may be seen in the fol- God, had so wonderfully preserved, interposing in this generous and lowing, passages: Phil. De Pit. JMos. lib. i. p. 470. Justin. Mart. Quaest. heroic manner, which plainly showed that, he, in good earnest, intended 4 Orthod...,xxv. Orig. Contra Cels: lib. iii. p. 139. Clem; Alex. Strom. at all hazards to do his utmost for their deliverance, it would have been lib. i. †. 343.--I only add, it must have been a self-denial which mone highly reasonable for them to have taken occasion from this action of but a lover of learning, and one who has made soune, progress in it, can his, to enter into some treaty with him relating to it. * . . - understand, for a person of such a genius and education, in the prime of h He that injured his neighbour, thrust him ºgg, It is plain the life, to leave the polite court of Egypt, and live as a retired shepherd in speech of this single person is represented, ver. 35, as expressing the the Arabian desert. - sentiments of the §oſ. body of the people, as their slowness afterwards e JMighty in discourses.] It may seem difficult to reconcile this with to believe the mission of Moses, when attested by miracle, (Exod. v. 20, what Moses himself says of his own want of eloquence. . (Exod. iv. 10.) 21.) seems evidently to show that it was. - - Some have attempted to do it by explaining this expression as importing i Loose thy shoes from thy feet.] It was formerly in the eastern nations the wisdom of the laws he gave, as they explain the next clause, nightſ and is now in the southern, esteemed a ceremony of respect to put oft' in actions, of the miracles ; wrought. But Stephen seems rather to the shoes when approaching a superior, lest any of the dirt or dust refer to what he was in the court of Pharaoh than to what he afterwards cleaving to the shoes should be brought near him, and, that the person proved... I conclude, therefore, that it expresses such a weight and soli- approaching barefoot might tread more cautiously. This, which per- dity in his counsels and speeches, as may be yery. Čonsistent with the haps was introduced at first in court apartments where rich carpets might want of a flowing elocution: and the remarkable calmness of his natural be used, the King of kings requires to be done in a desert, as a token of temper would render him more entirely master of himself on great oc- the infinitely greater reverence due to him. (Compare Josh. V. 15. and casions, rather than others of readier speech.with warmer passions. ccles. v. T.) "On the same principle; it seems, the priests ministered nd in actions.]... Archbishop Tillotson (in his Works, vol. ii. p. 23.) thus in the tâbernacle and temple, no direction being given for shoes or and many others, think that this refers to a story mentioned by Joséphus, sandals as a part of their dress, though all the rest of it was so particu- (Antiq. lib. ii. cap. 10. [al., 5.]) that when, Moses dwelt in Pharaoh’s - larly prescribed. - - -- court, the Ethiopians invaded Egypt, and Moses, being made general in STEPHEN'S WINDICATION OF HIMSELF. 395 into Egypt, to demand their dismission from that proud tyrant who so injuriously detains secr. and oppresses them.” (Exod. iii. 5–10.) . ~ * * 14. 35 This Moses whom they And thus you see, what in present circumstances it will be proper for you to reflect Éjºi; º; upon, that this Moses, whom they renounced;k saying, with disdain, has constituted thee ACTs thee a ruler and a judge & the 2 ge 5 tº ; , º, 5 * VII ; : º, a ruler and a judge? even this very person did Goñ. by the hand of the angel who º $º i., §§ ...fºº # to him in the bush, send [to be] a ruler and a redeemer. And though he hesitate for a 36 pºeffºliº.ºhiºh, while, he afterwards complied; and at length led them forth in triumph, a willing people 36 He brought them out, i. 5 e tº 5 P . . . * rº after, that."haft"...o.º listed under his banner, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and afterwards in Yº... the Red sea, where, Pharaoh and his host were overwhelmed; and working many other he wilderness fort; miracles, in the wilderness for the space of forty years, where indeed they were every day miraculously fed by manna from heaven, and conducted by the pillar of fire and cloud. and in t IMPROVEMENT. yeaſs. He is indeed faithful that hath promised; he remembereth his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded, Ver.17 even to a thousand generations. (Psal. cv. 8.) He multiplied his people in Egypt, that Canaan might not want inhabitants when the sinners against their own souls that then held it should be cut off: and when he had deter- mined so to multiply the holy seed, vain were all the attempts of the ungrateful Egyptians to destroy the kindred 18, 19 of him by whom, as they had formerly confessed, their lives had been saved. (Gen. xlvii. 25.) Yet was the rod of the wicked permitted for a while to rest upon their back, that the remembrance of the bondage, and the cruelties they had there endured, might, throughout all generations, be a source of joyful and grateful obedience to that God who delivered them from the land of Egypt and from the house of bondage, and an engagement to serve him who had so illustriously triumphed over idolatry, as it were, in its head-quarters. The church has often had its winter season, yet Providence has overruled the severity of that to conduce to the verdure and beauty of its spring, and to the fruitfulness of its summer and its autumn. Moses was born in the midst of this persecuting time, and, when exposed, was the care of Divine Providence. 20, 21 The compassion which God put into the heart of this Egyptian princess was to draw after it a train of most important consequences. Moses was fitted for the great part he was to act in the close of life by very different means; the learning, the magnificence and politeness of the court of Egypt, were to do their part, that he might be able to 22 appear with honour in that court as an ambassador, and to conduct himself with becoming dignity as a prince; but they could not do the whole. They were to illustrate his generosity in seeking, in the jº of such various leasures, and at the expense of such high prospects, to vindicate his oppressed brethren, whose sorrow touched his 23, 24 eart, and whose groans pierced (if I may so express it) through all the music of the court, through all the martial noise of the camp, in which he might sometimes reside and command. Glorious triumph of faith, that when he was come to such full age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and chose rather to meet with affliction in the cause of Christ than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin! (Heb. xi. 24, 25.) But forty years of retirement in the désért of Midian, spent in the meditations and devotions for which the life 29 of a shepherd gave so great advantage, must ripen him to feed God’s people Israel; while they, in the mean time, †. groaned under the continuance of that bondage from which they were so backward to accept of a proffered 25 € 1.IVēl’er. At length light breaks in upon them in the midst of their darkness. Let us turn aside and behold with proper 30, 31 affection this great sight, the bush burning but not consumed ; and therein an emblem of the preservation of the church even amidst the fiercest flames. Let us hear with pleasure that voice which proclaims to all that hear it 32 so compassionate and faithful a God, which opens so glorious and lasting a hope, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ... “Thou art not, O Lord, the God of the łº, but of the living ; (Matt. xxii. 32.) these pious patriarchs therefore live with thee, and their believing seed shall partake of that life and joy in the city, which because thou hast prepared for them, thou art not ashamed to be called their God.” (Heb. xi. 16.) How does God manifest the heart of a parent towards these his oppressed children! I have seen, I have seen the 34 affliction of Israel. Thus, O Lord, dost thou see all our afflictions ! Let thy church, and each of thy people, . trust thee to come down for their deliverance in thine own time and way: let us with pleasure behold this Moses 35, 36 whom they rejected, and from whom a worthless offender could not bear a reproof, made a leader and a redeemer. So is our blessed Jesus, though once rejected and despised, exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. It is not in vain that we have trusted it is he that should redeem Israel. (Luke xxiv. 21.) He has conquered the tyrant of hell, he has broken our chains, he has brought us forth into a wilderness, but a wilderness in which God mourishes and guides us; and he shall ere long have what Moses had not, the honour and delight of leading all his people into the land of promise, and dividing to them a joyful and everlasting inheritance there. SECTION XV. Stephen proceeds in his discourse, till his audience are so enraged that they rush upon him and stone him. Acts vii. 37, to the end. viii. 1. Acts vii. 37. e - º ACTS vii. 37. - THIS is that Moses which STEPHEN went on, in his discourse before the sanhedrim, to mention several other SECT. #...","...hº..." i. circumstances concerning Moses, which ho judged important to his present purpose ; and 15. Lord #9. º: * Hºº having taken notice of the commission he received from God to be a ruler and deliverer, * Il • ** & * * * - {..., ejºhe. and of the wonders that he wrought in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, he acts added, This is that Jºoses, who expressly said to the children of Israel, (Deut. xviii. 15.) “.3 prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from amongst your brethren like writó me; him shall ye hear.” Thereby pointing out that Jesus of Nazareth, who is to be re- garded as the great Prophet and Lawgiver of Israel, by whom God has sent you, as he did y Moses, a new system of precepts, and new ample discoveries of his will. 3S This is he that was in & * - - º & * This Moses is he who was the chief in the assembly convened in the wilderness, who had 38 the church in the wilderness, k. This JMoses whom they renounced.]. As the terms of high respect in which, Stephen, through the whole of this discourse, speaks of Moses, tended to show how improbable it was that he should have spoken con: temptibly of him, as the witnesses pretended; so, this circumstance of the Israelites having rejected him whom, God had appointed to be a ruler and redeemer, intimated how possible it was that Jesus, whom they had lately rejected, might nevertheless be constituted a Saviour by the divine determination. a JA prophet shall the Lord your God, &c.] As to the justice with which this prophecy is applied to Christ in its original and literal sense, see Dr. ullock’s Sermon on Deut. xviii. 18. and Mr. Jeffery’s True Grounds, p. 128–135. whom I mentioned before, in note i, on Acts iti. 22. p. 378. tºº, add Bishop Sherlock, On Prophecy, p. 187, et seq. This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness.] When this clause is quoted, as it has been by some very great men, to prove that Christ was the person who brought Israel out of Egypt, gave them the law, conducted them through the wilderness, &c. the argument from thence is certainly inconclusive; for ovros here evidently answers to ovros, ver, 35, and to ouros 6 Möwang, ver, 37. and the following clause, which expresses his being with the angel, plainly proves the gºsgl to be a different person. But I think the doctrine itself, “that Christ was the God of Israel, or the angel who appeared to Moses,” a grººt º' certain truth, capabie of being evinced from many passages, of the Qld and New Testament, and from this paragraph in º, though not from this clause; and I hope in due time to show that the *#. ments which Mr. Pierce has urge against it from Heb. xiii. 2. an i. 2–4. are quite inconclusive.- I follow ...; Heinsius, º the Prussian transiators, in rendering rºmata, assembly, as our trans ators 396 STEPHEN'S VINDICATION OF HIMSELF, SECT. the honour of conversing with the angel that spake to him there on mount Sinai, and of with the angel which 15, fransacting all things with our fathers, whom he then entered into covenant with God. º.º.º. § — (Exod. xix. 3, 17. xxiv. 7, 8.) And it was he who received the lively oracles of God to give ºf jij; #1.” Açı's them unto us, even those oracles of the living Jehovah which are so full of divine life and * * * ". . energy, which were delivered in so awakening and impressing a manner, and which instruct 39 us in the way, to life and happiness. . Yet notwithstanding §, you cannot but remember 39. To whom our fathers that this is the illustrious prophet to whom our fathers, even after all the proofs of his º.º. tº: miraculous power in Egypt and the Red Sea, would not be obedient; but acted a part yet hearts turned º more stupid and ungrateful than that which I mentioned before, (ver. 27, 35.) when they "º" (as it were) thrust him from them a second time, as in contempt of all these wonderful 40 *Ppearances of God by him, and returned back again to Egypt in their hearts; Saying to 40 saying, unto Aaron, Aaron, at the very foot of that mountain upon which God had visibly manifested himself ºkº ..º.º. º. to them, while the sound of his voice was . it were) yet in their ears, and though they which brºugh us ...tº. but a few days before had seen their great leader ascending up to him by an intimacy of §§§ Yººt not approach allowed to he other mortaſ, “...Make us gods who may march before us, and con- dºctus in the way; for [as for] this Moses, who indeed brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him, and cannot have patience to wait for him any 41 longer.”...And they stupidly made a £alſ, in imitation of the Egyptian Apis, in those very , 41 And they made a calf days while they cºntinued encamped in that remarkable situation, and brought a sacrifice ... .º. to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands, as if, instead of a reproach and jiº Wºkºtº; 42 abomination; it had been an ornament and defence to them. (Exod. xxxii. 1, 6.) But ºf God turned, and upon this, God was most righteously provoked, so that he turned, as it were, away from ſº wºrship tº them, and, as in many other instancés, punished one sin by letting them fall into another; .'; ...'...". yea, at length he gave them up in succeeding ages to the most abandoned, public, and Fºº ºftºº, ºil, general idolatry, even to worship all the host of heaven with as little reserve, and as little tºº."...#..."º"; shame, as the most stupid of the heathem nations; as it is written in the book of the pro- ºft.* wears in the phets, and particularly in that-part of the volume of which Amos was the penman, (Amos e V. 25–27.) “Q ye house of Israel, did ye offer victims and sacrifices to me alone, even for 43.forty years in the wilderness? You know that even then you began to revolt and provoke me to jealousy with your abominations: And you have ever since been renewing and aggravating your rebellions and treasons against me; for you have openly taken up the tabernacled of Moloch, instead of confining yourselves to mine, and have carried in public procession the slar of your god Chiun of Remphan,” paying a religious veneration to the emblematical figures and representations ...? you have made whereby to worship them; and therefore I will pour out on this generation the wrath that you and your fathérs havé been so long treasuring up, and will carry you acay into captivity beyond Babylon, into countries more distant than those inhabited by the captives who were carried from Damascus.”f * Nor can you be insensible that their crime was far more aggravated than the idolatry of the heathen whom they imitated, considering the exact model of religious and divine wor- ship which God had given them: for the tabernacle of witness, in which the tables of tes- timony were lodged as a constant witness of the relation between God and Israel, was with our fathers in the wilderness; a tabernacle which was made in all respects as he had ap- pointed, who spake unto Moses, commanding him to make it exactly according to the model 45 which he had seem in the mount. (Exod. xxv. 40.) Hºhich also our fathers who succeeded .45 which also our fathers them in the next generation, receiving from their hands, brought in with Joshua, when he tº $.". Hºº led them over Jordan into the land which had been formerly in possession of the heathem, ; poSSes- - 9d drave out before the face e - - - of Qur fathers, unto the days heritance to them; and this tabernacle continued to be the resort of the pious worshippers º 46 of Israel until the days of David, Who found favour before God, and was made j 46 Who found favour be- g orc God, and desired to find placed him; upon which he made it his petition,h that he might have the honour to find a Jacob. more stable and splendid dwelling for iſ: God of Jacob ; and with this view he conse- - 47 ing it. But as he was a man of war, and had shed blood, the offer that he made was not 47 But Solomon built him accepted, (1 Chron. xxviii. 3.) nor was there any temple for the worship of God, for many "** divine appointment, built him an house, which till the reign of that prince he never had commanded or permitted to be done. gº In 82 #3 Yea, ye, took up , the tabernacle of Moloch, and the Star of your god łº, figures which ye made tº worship them : and I will garry, you away beyond Pabylon. 44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had ap- pointed, speaking unto Mo- ses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. 44 Sion of the Gentiles, whom whom God drove out from before the face of our fathers, and divided the land for an in- of David ; successful in the wars he undertook in defence of that kingdom over which God had lºgºſ. crated a considerable part of the spoils which he had taken from the enemy towards erect- years after the settlement of our fathers in Canaan, till Solomon at length, by express do, Acts, xix. ult, because I am, persuaded it refers, not in the gene- ral to their being, incorporated into one church, in the appropriate sense of that word, but to their being assembled round the mountain on the solemn day when the law was given. Ex9d. xix. 17, et seq. c To whom our Fathers would not be obedient.] This is observed by Stephen once and again; and he insists upon it largely, thºt they might see it was no new thing for Israel to rebel against God, by rejectſng deliverers sent from him. sº d. You have openly taken up, &c.] The learned De Dieu has a most curious and amusing, but to me very unsatisfactory, note on this verse. He saw, and [...wonder so many great commentators should not have seen, the absurdity of imagining that Moses would have suffered idola- trous processions in the wilderness. Therefore he maintains, that Amos here refers to a mental idolatry, by which, considering the tabernacle as a model of the visible heavens, (a fancy, to be sure, as old as Philo and Josephus,) they referred it, and the worship there paid, to Moloch, so as to make it in their hearts, in effect, his shrine, and there also to pay homage to Saturn, whom he would prove to be the same with Chiun or Remphan, who (as this critic thinks) might be called their star, because some later rabbies, out of their great regard to the Sabbath, which WV 3.S. among the heathens Saturn’s day, have said many extrayagant and ridicu- lous things in honour of that planet. Lud. Capellus hints at this inter- pretation, too. But the words of the prophet, and of Stephen, so plainly express the making of images, and the pomp of their superstitious pro- cessions, (See Young, On Idolatry, vol. i. p. 128–131.), that I think, if external idolatry is not referred to here, it will be difficult to prove it was ever practised. [ conclude therefore, considering what was urged in the beginning of this note, that God here refers to the idolatries to which in succeeding ages, they were gradually - begun to revolt in the wilderness by, the sin of the golden calf; which certainly appears (as Grotius has justly observed) from its being assigned as the cause of their captivity; which it can hardly be conceived the sin iven up, after haying of their fathers in the , wilderness, almost seven or eight hundred years before, could possibly be; though, in conjunction with their own wicked- mass in ſojowing ngés, God might (as he threatened: Exod. xxxii. 34.) remember that. Compare 2 Rings xvii. 16. xxi. 3, xxiii. 5. e JMoloch and—Remphan.]. Probably the sun was represented by Moloch, and some star (whether Saturn, Venus; or the Moon, I cannot determine) by Remphan; which plainly is intended to answer to Chiun (if that were the original reading) in the old festament. but neither the etymology of the name, or, the particular planet to which it referred, seems to me sufficiently evident. The learned reader will find a curious dissertation on this subject in Vitringa, Qāseri. Sacra, vol. i. lib., ii, cap. I. with which he may compare Wits. Miscell. lib. ii. diss. v. § 2–17. Beza reads Itephan for Remphan, and interprets it of some gigantic statue of Hercules, called Chiun from his strength ; and Iaud. Capellus and Dr. Hammond interpret it of an Egyptian king called Remphis. But I can pronounce nothing certain concerning so obscure à point. - f Beyond Babylon, into countries, more distant, &c.]. Thus Dr. Pri- deaux, Connect. vol. i. p. 13. reconciles Stephen’s quotation with the ori- ginal in Amos, where it is said, beyond Damascus; and I find no solu- tion more natural. But Beza, observing these words to be quoted in Justin Martyr according to the Hebrew, thinks the original reading here accidentally changed. g The tabernacle of witness.] As Stephen had been accused of blas- pheming the temple, he with great propriety takes occasion to speak of their sacred places with due reverence, as raised by special direction from God, ...P. corrects that extravagant regard for them, and con- fidence in them, which the Jews were ready to entertain. h Made it his petition..] ... So mrmaaro signifies ; and from the account the Scripture gives of Dayid, it appears how much it lay upon his heart, and how greatly he longed to find out a place fg, the Lord., (Çomparé 2 Sam. vii. 2, et seq; and Psal. cxxxii. 1–5.) The gold and silver and other costly materials he had prepared for it, amount to so vast a sum, STEPHEN'S VIN1)ICATION OF HIMSELE'. 397 d º,ºlº § Yet, after all, we are not to imagine that he permitted it even then for his own sake; for, SECT. ºś as it was acknowledged at the same time by Solomon himself, (2 Chron; vi. 18) the Most 15. phet, High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, be they ever so rich, splendid, and majestic; as the prophet Isaiah, also says, (Isa. lxvi. 1.) where he is speaking in the name of God, Agºs 49 Heaven is...my throne, “Heaven is my royal throne, and the whole earth is no more than my footstool; and how ra" Wºº. §§ then shall my presence be confined to any º ? What suitable house will you what house will ye build * ºf what is the build for me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of my stated rest? Hath not my hand 50 šāºš hand made made all these things; and whatever splendouf they havé, did not I form the materials, and all these things endow the workmen that have fashioned them with all their art and genius 2 Do not imagine then that you can confer any obligation upon me by such structures as these, or by any act of homagé which you can render in them; nor think that you can charm me to continue my abode there, or to be a constant guard to you, merely because you have such edifices amongst you.” - eiß, , , And Stephen finding, by a confused murmur in the place, that they understood whither 51 ...i."ºf...; his discourse was leading them, and perceiving by the eagerness of their countenance that ºº: as sour father duºso they would be like soon to interrupt him, applied himself more closely to his persecutors in these remarkable words, which he boldly addressed to them under the influence of the Holy Spirit, by whose immediate direction he spoke: O ye stiff-necked, inflexible, and obstinate sinners, who, though you have received the sign of circumcision, and boast that you belong to God as his peculiar people, yº. in reality are alienated from him, and uncir- cumcised in heart and ears, so that you will not hearken to instruction, or be tenderly and seriously affected with it, nothing can be more plain, than that ye always do resist the Holy - Spirit, and set yourselves in opposition to all his gracious efforts for your recovery and sal- hiº.º.º.º. vation ; even as your #"g. did] in former ages, so do ye now. Which of the f.p.: tº cuted 2 iši ...”.”; who were acted by that Spirit, did not your fathers persecute?i yea, they slew those who tº spake before, and published #. glad tidings of the coming of that Righteous, Onek of whom ône, ºf jºy."hº jow should have heard with delight, and whom you ought to have received with the most jº" betrayers and ºur humble reverence and joyful consent; but of whom, instead of protecting and honouring him, you have now become the perfidious betrayers and the cruel murderers; for by you his death was contrived, by you he was condemned, by you the sentence was extorted lº'...}. against him, and execution urged and obtained: Which is the less to be wondered at, as 53 §§njiajº," you have already despised so many advantages, and given such amazing proofs of the obstinacy and hardness of your hearts; who have received the law, which was delivered from mount Sinai with such awful pomp, through ranks of angels" that were marshalled in solemn array on that grand occasion, (compare Deut. xxxiii. 2.) and yet have been so hardened that you have not kept it : and now you go on to add sin to sin, in rejecting the . milder and more gracious dispensation of the gospel. - º: ...And hearing these things, their hearts were, as it were, sawn asunder; and not permitting 51 i.i.a.iº.héâ'... him to proceed any further, in a transport of rage they gnashed their teeth upon him, as if him with their teeth. th; would have devoured him alive. 55 But he, being full of the ut he being full of the Holy Spirit, was by no means terrified with the evil which 55 #º.º. º, seemed to be determined against him: but looking up steadfastly towards heaven, he saw, in jº º jºi a most delightful visionary representation, even while he stood in their court, a bright .*.*.*.* * * symbol of the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. . .And being un- 56 dº is able to contain his joy, he cried out in a sacred transport, and said, Behold, even now I see śnº majã ºn tº the heavens opened,” and the Son of man, that glorious Sovereign whom you condemned right hand of God. and murdered, stand at the right hand of God,” where he shall ever reign to save his people, and at length to execute full vengeance upon his enemies; as he himself solemnly warned you, when, like me, he was your prisoner. (Matt. xxvi. 64.) a 5...hº. § ...And this declaration and reference provoked them to such a degree, that crying out with 57 theft" ar. ..."uº a loud voice, that they might drown that of Stephen, they stopped their own ears, as if they with one accord, could not bear to hear such blasphemy as they conceived he had spoken, and furiously 58 And cast him out of the rushed upon him with one accord: And casting him out of the city by a gate which was 58 §jº"; near the place where the Sanhedrim sat, as soon as they had got without the boundaries of that sacred place, which they judged it a profanation to stain with human blood, they stoned him ;P and the two witnesses whose hands were first upon him to put him to death, * 2 that it is not easy to give an account of it. See 1 Chron. xxii. 14. xxix. see Psalm lxviii. 17.) he would not have had recourse to so forced an gº Tºz s & interpretation. i Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute?], I see no rea- n I see the heavens opened.] Witsius declares it as his opinion, (Jºſis- son to conclude from hence, that many scriptures containing the history cell. lib. i. cap. xxi. § 6.) that the heavens were really divitled, or ren- tº sº; º: º º Jºº. s *: W hiº º dered transparent, so that the throne of Christ’s glary there became tains: ( iš. #". § º º ift ting thi F º j, º . visible. But, not to insist on many other in; probable circumstances this in a limited sense, ºnly as ºtºtº, thºst ºf theºsºl attending this hypothesis, it would tién have been a miracle if aij that such unworthy usage; and, We knºw that attempts Yº sometim's ºr present had not seen it for 'on such a declaration they would *ś. 5%. º, of Jehovah at once. I Kings xix. 10, naturally look up. It is mugh #jº". to suppose he saw a & ... '''''}}...’, ‘Al... sº ~~ -- ~ * ~ *- : * : ** - --- visionary representation, God miraculously operating on his imagina- k That º §º. Y. by \\ }. º sº tion, as on Ezekiel’s when he sat in his house at Babylon among the º lºne perfectly righteous. Compare Isa. It il. I 1. Zech. ix. 9. §: Of º: alſº Jºseº and seemed to himself transported • I “ke - - thither. (Ezek. viii. 1–4. say miraculously operating ; for ti * * * .* -1. ~ -ºr * * - sº - - * * -s * * Y 3 3. The betrayers and ſº It is a fine º imagination is not itself capable of performing § .# 'wonders, the sanhedrim was obliged, by yºu? or ºf Yey fº º * ...! whatever some yery ignorant of human nature, or disingenuous enough and defend the lives of the prophets with . tº “...; h9Y much knowingly to misrepresent it, may fancy. am very ready to con- more to prºject such *ś, *::::: * Ç '...'...}}}. clude, with Mr. Addison, that other martyrs, when called to suffer the ous assault! ſºad of which, they, * get ºn i. ***** ***** last extremities, had extraordinary assistances of some similar kind, or but haſ º § become * in his º ": on Heb. ii. 2, and ſº º could not surely have endured the torments under which m Thrºugh ranks, aſ diſsels.]...! sº sºlºs...” "ºil. they rejoiced, and sometimes preached Christ to the conversion of Gal. iii. 19, that, God made use, Qt ange's ºs thº lººººººº...Q. tº spectators, and, in some instances, of their guards and tormentors toº the voice heard from mount Sinai. And, so far as I ºn judge of the Sée Addison, Of Christianity, chap. vii. § 5. º learned Elsner’s arguments, in his dissertation against Cººeeins on this o Standing at the right hand of God ñi N. Tay * * * head, from Wolfius's abstract of thºm, he sºcms.ºohºº ºlyantºse; loºt #j * # '#'. Łº §§ º yº. Y. § (in his excel- but this text is so properly rendered through ranks of angels, (ets 6:17-a- . .'; ºr: cism, p. 69.) observes, that Xhrist, is generally X that I hend nothing can be argued from hence but represented sitting, but now as standing at God’s right band that is yºus % gov,) that I apprehend n 5 * u i stav - º: - as risen up from the throne effiis glory to afford help to his distressed # they º the º, with #. Pºi º º servant, and ready to receive him. 1t thus, justly obscrying that it is a m) II tary \\ OTºl. 11C 1 in Slus I) as Utl Rell * - * - great º & *::::: ". Watašiūs hints, that the word ay yºv here, cºś $º.º. bºº º, . º i.toning Fº <d; sº - ~ : frº - ro ci arni fias on essen of sat is on-n- • -> * ',• . * * * y ** W., all tury, and exceeding tin G #º º: places º jºiº. *ś power, which the Jews regularly had ; Jº; ujough it might have ºf º §º lat otarayºs is to be traged to a challº º i. *''''' tended to passing a capital sentence, (which yet we read nothing of Spxtbººi, a copy or explication, as if it liad been said, he lºw has here) was not sufficient (so far as i cau find on the most careful renewed been copied-out and expounded to you by a series of prephets.” But examination of all Mr. Biscoe has º carrying it into execution had this learned critic seen how easily these expressions, as here trans- without the consent of the Romans. The Jews were more than once lated, may be reconciled with the supposition that Christ, as the great ready to stone Christ, not only, when, by their own confession, they had God’s presence, presided while troops of angels assisted, (as, not power to § any. One to º xviii. 31.) but when nothing 8 Il eſ of independent on these texts in the New Testament, it is certain they did, had passed which had the shadow of a legal trial. (Compare John viii. 398 SECT. 15. ACTS W. J.I. 5 60 THE STONING OF STEPHEN. iTY * * * ge -: gºe * ** * (Deut. xvi. 7.) laid down their upper garments at the feet of a 904trig man whose name was clothes at a young man's Saul, who willingly took the charge of them, to show how heartily he concurred with them feet, whose name was $aui. in the execution. * cºnd thus they stoned Stephen, who during this furious assault continued with his eyes 59 And they stoned, Ste; fixed ºn that glorious vision, invoking his great Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my ºº:::::::: spirit" for; important as the trust is, I joyfully commit it to thy powerful and faithfüí jº" SUIS, hand. And having nothing further relating to himself which could give him any solici- 69 And, he kneeled, down, tude, all his remaining thoughts were taken up in compassion to these inhuman wretches ºf: who were arming themselves for his destruction; so that, after having received many vio- º, ſº had lent, blows, rising, as well as he could, into a praying posture, and bending his knées, he ****** Criºl out with a loud though expiring voice, O Lord, charge not this sin to their account ACTS VIII. Ver. 37 38 39 40, 41 42, 43 44 47 48, 49 D 5 *! 5 7 5 O ; 6 0 5S with strict severity proportionable to the weight of the offence; but graciously forgive them, as I do from my very heart! And when he had said this, he calmly resigned hissoul into his Saviour's hand, and, with a sacred serenity in the midst of this furious assault, he Sweetly ſell asleep, and left the traces of gentle composure, rather than of horror, upon his breathless corpsé. ºffid Saul, the young man mentioned above, at whose feet the witnesses laid down their Acts viii. 1–And Saul clothes, was so far from being shocked at this cruel scene, that, on the contrary, he was in “” ” " §ell pleased with his slaughter; being so full of rage and malice against the christian name, that he thought no severities could be too great for those who thus zealously endeavoured to propagate it. IMPROVEMENT. - THANKFULLY must we own the divine goodness in having fulfilled this important promise of raising up a pro- het like Moses, a prophet, indeed far superior to him whom God's Israelis, on the highest penalties, required to ear. May Wº be all taught by him, and ever own that divine authority which attends all his doctrines and all his commands! By him God has given us lively oracles indeed, that may well penetrate deep into our souls, as being well contrived to animate them, and to secure their eternal life. But O, how many of those who have heard of him, and been baptized into his name in a more express manner than Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sco, (1 º: x. 2.) refuse to hearken to him, and in their hearts turn back into Egypt; being guilty of practices as notoriously opposite to his precepts as the idolatry of the golden calf to those of Moses! Long did the patience of God bear with Israel in succeeding ages, while the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of Remphan diverted their regards from the worship of their living Jehovah: but at length he gave them up to captivity. ...Well have we deserved, by our apostasy from God, to be made pro- portionable monuments of his wrath; yet still he continues graciously to dwell among us; and while the Jewish tabernacle, formed so exactly after the divine model in the mount, is no more, and while the more splendid temple which Solomon raised is long since laid in desolation, the Most High God, superior to all temples made with hands, infinitely superior even to heaven itself, continues still to favour us with his presence, and condescends to own us for his people, and to call himself our God. Let us take the most diligent heed that we be not uncircum- cised in heart and in ears, and that we do not, after so fatal an example, resist the Holy Spirit, and, by rejecting Christ, incur a guilt greater than that of the Jews, who violated the law received through ranks of attendant angels; for that milder and gentler form, in which this divine Lawgiver has appeared to us, will render the ingratitude and guilt of our rebellion far more aggravated than theirs. The reproofs of the holy martyr Stephen were indeed plain and faithful, and therefore they were so much the more kind; but instead of attending to so just and so wise a remonstrance, those sinners against their own souls stopped their ears, lift up an outrageous cry, and, like so many savage beasts, rush upon him to destroy him; over- 6 whelming that head with stones which shone like an angel of God. Fatal instance of prejudice and of rage | But how were all the terrors of this murderous crew, when armed with the instruments of immediate death, dispelled by the glorious vision of Christ at the right hand of God . Well might he then remain intrepid, well might he commend his departing spirit into the hands of his divine Saviour, as able to keep what he committed to him until that day. (2 Tim. i. 12.) Let us with holy pleasure behold this bright image of our Redeemer, this first martyr, who following so closely his recent steps, (as he suffered so near the place that had been the scene of his agonies,) appears to have imbibed so much of the same spirit. Having thus solemnly consigned his soul to Christ, all that remained was, like Christ, to pray for his murderers; full of compassion for their souls while dying by their hands, he only said, Lord, lay not this sin to their chargeſ and then gently fell asleep, expired in holy composure and Screnity of soul, and slept sweetly in the soft bosom of his Saviour. O Saul, couldst thou have believed, if one had told thee while thou wast urging on the cruel multitude, while thou wast glorying over his venerable corpse, that the time should come when thou thyself shouldst be twice stoned in the cause in which he died, and triumph in having committed thy soul likewise to that Jesus whom thou wast now blaspheming ! In this instance his dying prayer was illustriously answered: in this instance the lion lies down with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid; (Isa. xi. 6.) and it is most delightful to think that the martyr Stephen, and Saul, that barbarous persecutor, (afterwards his brother both in faith and in martyrdom,) are now joined in bonds of everlasting friendship, and dwell together in the hº company of those who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. vii. 14.) May we at length be joined with them, and in the mean time let us glorify God in both ! - 59. x 31, et seq.). How far they now might have formed those express we cannot believe any good man would haye Pājd to a mere creafure.— notions of what the rabbies ...ifſ. judgment of zeal, I know, not; but Bishop Burnet (On the 3rticles, p. 48.) justly observes, that Stephen it is certain they acted on, that, pringiple, aud, as if they had thought bºre worships Christ in the very same manner in which Christ had but eyery private Israelite had, like Phinehås, who is pleaded as an exam- a little white beſore worshipped the Father ºn the cross. - - ple of it, a right to put another to death on the spot, if he found him in r Charge not this sin to their account.) The words in the original, ãºapitaibreach of the divine law; a notion, by the way, directly con: ſum armaris avtots Tmu apºapſtav Tavrqv, seem to have an emphasis which, trary to Deut. xvii. 6. which requires at least two, witnesses, in gapitºl though I have hinted in the paraphrase, (as well as I could without cases where there is a legal process. See, Dr. Lardner’s Credib. Part I, multiplying words to a degree that in this circumstance would have been Book iſ chap. 2. vol. i. edit. 3. p. 112–139, Dr. Benson, suggests, some very improper,) I could not exactly and naturally express in the ver. probable reasons which might induce Pilate,(who probably, still con; sion. ſt is litérally, Weigh not out to them this sin; i. is, a punish- tinued procurator of Judea) to connive at this great irregularity and ment proportionable to it; alluding (as Elsner weiſ observes) to outrage. Hist. of Christianity, Å; *** * * -- - passages of Scripture where God is represented as weighing micn’s cha- q invoking and saying, &c.]. This is th9, literal version of the words racters and actions, in the dispensatigns of his justice and providence. £Tika.Aoupsvov kal Neyavta, the name of God not being in the original; Comparel, Sam. ii. 3. Job xxxi. ſ. Prºy. xvi. 2. Isa. xxvi. 7. Tan. V. Neverthéless such a solemn prayer to Christ, in which a departing,soul 27.-Sce Elsner, Obsert. Yok. i. p 395, 3%, is thus solemnly committed into his hands, is such an act of worship as PHILIP PREACHES AT SAMARIA. 399 SECTION XVI. The christian converts, being dispersed by persecution, go into other parts and preach the word. Philip the deacon goes to Samºria, where many embrace the gospel, as Sinion the sorcerer also professes to do, and on that profession is baptized. Acts viii. 1–13. AcTs viii. 1. Acts viii. 1. AND at that ling there was 4.N.D in that very day in which this inhuman murder was committed on Stephen, who sect. thºu?...”..." ..."; led the van in the glorious army of martyrs, there was a great persecution excited against 16. Jerusalem and they were all the church in Jerusalem, which continued to rage for some time; and such was the severity scattered abroad throughout . tº 5 - . T. c * * * jºio.jśi with which they were pursued by their malicious enemies, that all the principal members Acts Samaria, except the apostles. of the church were dispersed through the regions of Judea and Samaria,” except the apostles, , VIII. who with undaunted resolution were determined to continue at Jerusalem, how extreme soever their danger might prove, that they might there be ready to serve the interest of the church as there should be occasion. ...And Stephen was no sooner left for dead, but certain devout memb had the courage to 2 show themselves openly as the friends of that holy and excellent man, whose blood had been so unrighteously shed; and accordingly gathering round the corpse while it lay ex- posed to public infamy and abuse, they carried Stephen forth [to his burial] with solemn funeral procession, and made great lamentation for him, mourning that the church had lost so excellent an instrument of usefulness, though he himself was so much a gainer by it as to be the object of congratulation rather than condolence. But Saul, whom we mentioned before, like some furious beast of prey, made havoc of 3 the church without mercy,” not only breaking in upon public assemblies, but entering into houses, and dragging from them, without any respect either to age or sex, men and women, ſº he committed to prison for no pretended crime but that of having embraced the OSI)624. g Nºrtheless God overruled all this cruelty and rage to subserve his own wise and gra- 4 cious purposes: for they who were dispersed went about into several parts, preaching the wordd wherever they came ; and in many places they were remarkably successful, to ! which the consideration of their being persecuted for conscience-sake might in some measure help to contribute. Jºnd we have particularly one instance of it in Philip the deacon;” who, after the death 5 of his beloved brother and associate Stephen, came to the city of Samaria;f and knowin that all distinction between the people of that country and the Jews was now removed, 6 And the people with one freely preached Christ unto them, and proclaimed him as the promised Messiah. ...And the 6 §§ *ś.”. people who inhabited that city, notwithstanding their natural prejudices against the Jews, i.ing...i.e., the miral unanimously attended to the things that were spoken by Philip; as they not only heard the cles which he did. rational, convincing, and pathetic words which he spake, but were eye-witnesses of what he wrought in confirmation of his doctrine, and saw the astonishing miracles which he per- 7 For uncleanspirits crying formed. For unclean spirits, which had possessed many, crying with a loud voice, came out 7 ..º.º.º.º. of them at Philip's command; and many others who were paralytic and lame, and laboured y that were possessed º : , - - 2 * - Žiš them and many taken under the most obstinate disorders, were immediately healed. .And there was great joy in 8 ..º...” “that city on account of those benevolent miracles which were performed by Philip in it, .8,And there was great joy and of that excellent doctrine which he preached among them, containing such welcome in that city. tidings of pardon and eternal salvation. But at the time in which the gospel was thus brought by Philip to them, a certain man 9 Hººsiº, named Simon, was before in that city, who had made himself very remarkable by using the oretime in the same city ? • , ºr 5 - - z-> ised sorcery, and bewitched unlawful arts of magic,3 by means of which he had performed such things as were exceed- #: ...?"... ii.; ... ing marvellous and asionishing to the whole nation of Samaria, pretending himself to be some -> exiraordinary person,h possessed of supernatural powers: To whom they all paid great 10 2 And devout men carried jº to , his burial, and #. e great lamentation over l! II). - 3. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, enter: ing. into every house ; and haling men and women, coln- mitted them to prison. 4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word. f 5Then Philip, went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 9 But there was a certain some great O}} G = 1) To whom ". all gave regard, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is surely the great power of God, featest, sº an is the long-expected Messiah, and (if we may so speak), Omnipotence itselfincarnate, or he tºfºº power of 5 heed, from the least to the OCl. • º - * - *.*, *, had could never do such wonderful things. And they paid this regard to him, not on seeing 11 a. They were all dispersed, &c.] Perhaps it was then that Ananias went to 1)amascus, chap, ix. 10. while others, after they had preached the gospel in the hº parts, travelled on to Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, chap. xi. 19. - Detout men.] Dr. Bénson thinks, (as Dr. Hammond, in loc. and Mr. Baxter, vol. iv. p. 864. also did,) that these were proselytes, as he also imagines Stephen to have been ; but I can find, no proof of either. Such a token of respect to one who had been publicly executed as a blasphemer, was an expression of zeal and piety which might justly en- title them to this honourable character. Thus, Luke gaſ's Joseph of Arimathea a benevolent and upright man, when he speaks of the gene- f Canac to the city of Samaria.] For the origin of the Sanyaritans, and the differences between them and the Jews; see note g, on John iv. 9. p. 63. It is certain they were better prepared to receive the gospel than phost of the Gentile nations, as they worshipped the true GoD, and ac- knowledged the authority of the Pentateuch; and as we do not find that they had either such notions of the Mlessiah’s tempora] reign as the Jews, or had received the Sadducean principles, which yere both very strong prejudices against the christian scheme. (See Dr. Benson’s History, yol. i. p. 153.) It is not improbable that the city here spoken of was Sychem, where Christ himself had preached in the beginning of his ministry, (John iv. 5, 40, ct seq.) which was for many years the capital roms and courageous regard he showed to the body of Jesus. (Luke Xxiii. 50.) It is possible the manner in which these devout men celebrated the funeral of Stephen, might be urged by the enemies of christianity as an cxcuse for further severities. c Like some furious beast of prey, made havoc of the church.) Wol- fius observes, (Cur. Philol...in loc.) that this is the most proper, significa- tion of:\upatvero, which is often applied to the savages of the desert. d Preaching the word..] There is no room. to inquire where these poor refugees had their orders. They were endowed with miraculous gifts; and if they had not been so, the extraordinary call they had to sprea the knowledge of Christ, wherever they came, among those, who were ignorant of him, would abundantly justify them in what they did. e Philip the deacon.] We are sure it was not Philip the apostle, both as he continued at Jerusalem, and as this Philip had nºt the power of communicating the miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit by, laying on of hänäs. (Compare yer. 14, 15, 17.), It must therefore be the deacon; no other of that name beside the apostle having been mentioned in this his tory. Some think that, for his fidelity and, diligence in his, inferior office, he was raised to the work of an evangelist., (Compare, chap. xxi. § aná'i Tim. iii. 13.) But to infer from hence, that they who are or- dained to the office of deacons have, by virtue of that, a right to preach publicly, is not only ungrounded, but seems contrary to the reason as- signed by Peter for choosing deacons, chap. vi. esides, Apol- jós' preached before he was baptized;...therefore much less, can we imagine he was ordained. (See Acts xviii. 24, 25.) And Grotius justy observes, that in circumstances, like these, any private person might do it. (Compare chap. xi.20. and see, Owen, . Of Ordination, D. §§§ As for ir. Hammond’s criticism on the words knowgativ, and evayyext- geabat, as if the former signified public preaching, and the latter teach- ing in a way of private converse, it is sufficiently confuted by cqm- paring ver, 5. and 40, chap. xi. 20. xiii.33. Riv. 15. and many other passages. of that country. See Joseph. Jºntiq. lib, xi, cap; 8. § 6. . . g Using the unlawful arts of magic.], Dr. Benson thinks playevoy to be entirely of the same signification with May og, and intendéd to tell us that this Simon was one of the sect of the Magi, for whose principles and history, see Dr. Prideaux, Conngºt. Yol. i. p. 17-1, ct seq. It is indeed possible he might profess himself of that sect; but iſ think thé"Word playev Gov imports much more, and amounts to the same with one who used enchantments, pretending, in consequence of them, to exert some supernatural powers; whereas the word Magus (at least about Christ’s time) seems to have signified much the same with our English word Sage, and to denote a proficient in learning, and especially in astronomy and Qther, branches of natural philosophy to which the Persian Alagi ad- dicted themselves, and so gave name to many who were far from hoid- ing, the peculiarities of that sect. (Compare note a, on Matt. ii. i. p. 35.) et as many natural, philosophers pretended also to be magicians in the common sense of the word among us, and might make their na- tural knowledge subservient to that pretence, when it was mere impos- ture, it is not improbable that they generally called themselves Magi; and so the verb gayevoy might come to signify the making use of unlaic: Jul arts, (as, it plainly does here,) while the noun from whence it was derived might still retain a more extensive and innocent signification. h Some extraordinary person.]. Irenaeus tells us, (lib. i. cap. 30.) that Šimon boasted he had appeared to the Samaritans as the Father, to the Jews as the Son, and to the Gentiles as the Holy Spirit; and 'justin Martyr, that he asserted all the names of God were to be ascribed to him, and that he was God above all pringiºality; power, and virtue. (See Just. Mart. Apol. ii. p. 59. et Dial. p. 349.) But if he ever made these pretences, it was probably after this time; for before it he seems to haye been entirely a stranger to the first eléments of the christian doctrine, to which these blasphemies refer. The version of]727 renders à èpvapºts rou 9&ov, peyaxm, the plenipotentiary of God; but that is far from expressing the émphasis of the phrase. 400 SECT. 16. ACTS VIII. 13 "Ver. 2 I 4 1 3 5, SIMON MAGUS BAPTIZED. 9ne or two extraordinary facts, but because he had for a long time astonished them with the regard, because that of lons lying wonders that he wrought by...[his] enchantments. tº hºllºwitched them But when they gave credit to Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, ...'Bºº, they believed and the important truths connected with the name of Jesus Christ, they embraced the jºi"; gº in great numbers, and were baptized both men and women. * Q96, and, the name of Jesus .4nd Simon himself also believed the truth of that doctrine which this divine messenger §...a....” taught, though his heart was not savingly transformed by its power; and being baptized hºmºſº, on a profession of that faith, he always kept near to Philip, beholding with amazement the º, ‘. ...}} great and powerful miracles which were wrought by him, with which he was himself as ...º.º.º. much transported as the Samaritans had formerly been at the sight of his magical per- signs ...hº... formances. IMPROVEMENT. - rººs IT was honourably and well done of these devout men, to pay this last token of respect to the remains of this first martyr in the christian cause, by carrying him to his funeral with solemn pomp and public lamentation, though he died like an infamous criminal. "Our ever-living and victorious Lord, no doubt, took it well at their hands, and they will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just, when that mangled body which they deposited in the grave shall be transformed into the glorious image of him for whom he gave it up to destruction, and to whose immediate and faithful care he committed the far nobier and more important part. - The wrath of man, O Lord, shall praise thee! (Psal. lxxvi. 10.) It was particularly made to praise thee in this instance by sending out the gospel-missionaries, who, during the short repose of the church, had been qualifying for their work, and dispersing them through all the neighbouring countries. Had the calm continued longer, while they were so happy in the love and fellowship of each other, they might have been too much inclinable to build their tabernacles at Jerusalem, and to say, It is good for us to be here: (Matt. xvii. 4.) such delightful mutual converse might have engaged them to prolong their abode there to future months, and perhaps years. In mercy to the churches therefore, and even to themselves, whose truest happiness was connected with their usefulness, were they, like so many clouds big with the rain of heaven, driven #. ways by the wind of persecution, that so iº º empty themselves in fruitful showers on the several tracts of land through which they went preaching the groSpei. - #: the remainder of the wrath of this cruel Saul and the rest of the persecutors was so restrained in the midst of its career, that the apostles, who of all others seemed the most obnoxious persons, were for the present secure in Jerusalem; the power of Christ wrought secretly for their defence, and, by some unknown operation, either softened or awed the minds of those who (humanly speaking) had it in their power to add their blood to that of Stephen. Thus was our Lord's prediction fulfilled with regard to them in some of the most pressing dangers that could be imagined, that not a hair of their head should perish ; (Luke xxi. 18.) and thus was their idelity and courage ap- proved, by their continued residence even in this hazardous situation, till Providence gave a further signal for their removal. In this, and in that, they were no doubt directed by supermatural influence; and we may admire their dutiful obedience to those commands the particular reasons of which we cannot now fully trace. The continued outrages and cruelties of Saul serve more and more to illustrate the sovereignty and freedom of divine grace in that conversion which we are hereafter to survey; and give us a view of a very delightful contrast between the warmth of those efforts which he made first to destroy, and then with proportionable zeal to save. It is also pleasant to observe how the gospel mutually conquered the prejudices between the Jews and the et seq. Samaritans, teaching the Jews to communicate and the Samaritans to receive it with pleasure. It was a wonderful 9, 11 providence which had permitted the enchantments of Simon to be so successful before ; but at length Simon also 13 believed and was baptized. We see in this, as in a thousand nearer instances, that there may be speculative faith SECT, 17. ACTS VIII. 15 16 in the gospel where there is no true piety: and if such persons, on the profession of that faith, where nothing ap- ears contrary to it, be admitted to those ordinances by which christians are distinguished from the rest of mankind, it is an evil in the present state of things unavoidable; and the conduct of christian ministers and societies in ad- mitting such, will be less displeasing to God than a rigorous severity. May God give us wisdom to guide Qur way that we may obtain the happy medium between prostituting divine ordinances by a foolish credulity, and defrauding the children of the household of their bread, because they have not reached such a stature, or do not seek it in those forms or gestures which our mistaken caution may sometimes be ready to demand! SECTION XVII. Peter going down to Samaria to impart spiritual gifts to the converts there, discovers and censures the hypocrisy of Simon. Acts viii. 14–25. ACTS viii. 14. -- Acts viii. 14. -- - º re sti erusalem, heard that NOW when the apostles Jy'OW when the apostles, who, as we observed before, were till at J. 3 which were at Jerusalem Samaria had received the word of God by the preaching of Philip the evangelist, as Was ºt."sajarjº related above, they were desirous that these new converts might be further settled in their º ºſº"; christian profession, by those spiritual gifts which no inferior teacher or officer in the church jà: could bestow; and accordingly sent to them two of the most considerable of their Qwn number, namely, Peter and John, who had been so remarkable for the miracle they had performed, and the courageous manner in which they had borne their testimony to the gospel: Who, though once strongly prejudiced against the Samaritans, now cheerfully 15. Wh9, when they were º - - ... come down, prayed for them, undertook thé province; and going down thither, prayed for them that the might receive jºy ###"...."; the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, and so be openly put on a level with the be- Holy Ghost: lieving Jews, and be shown to be equally owned by God as his people. For though the 16 For as yet he was fallen supernatural influences of the Spirit were displayed among them in the surprising miracles which Philip had performed, these extraordinary powers were not communicated to them, i Si. : also believed.] Perhaps as Mr. L'Enfant and Limborch (perhaps in proportion to, the degree in which ºne ponogreq. and, loved conjº: think Philip an abler magician than himself, and his #e Mastër,) had asked a Pºiº º domen ſº from heaven jº, by pretending to be his disciple, he might have an opportunity of to consume them. (Luke ix. 54. º º º *ś º of learning his superior arts. - - the gospel much better.--It is observe à # tl ! I § {lm Ol O i: lat k #eholding with amazement, &c.) It fleem; with particular elegance as Péter was sent with John on º errand by the other apostles, they and propriety, that the same word which had been used to ºxpress the had no notion of his being their head or superior. r - manner in which the Samaritans were affected with Simon’s egºn; b That they might receive the Holy Spirit..] We shall not, entºr into jºis, (ver. 9, II.) is here used to describe the impression which Philip’s any controversy as to the foundation this has been sº to lay for jes made on him, it being there expressed by &tarov and eče º ſite of confirmation, as now practised in some christian and pro- a rakevat, and here by £8 targro. It seems therefore quite wrong to testant churches. It may be sufficient to obserye, that here were extra- Iraniate the former infatuated, and the latter transported, as the author ordinary #. evidently §ſ. by ;"; º ; and how of the above-mentioned version hºs dºne..., - suitably this was done º; P. º: º ! ſl # Hºphrase, alº.º. strongly prejudiced against the Šamaritans.l., John and more largely shown by 1) r. BenSOn. tSt. Vol. i. p. 157, wis jºhº who, provoked at their inhospitable treatment of Christ, PETER CENSURES THE HYPOCRISY OF SIMON. 401 § 3. ...; "in º and he was not yet fallen on any of them, only they were baptized, as was said before, in the SECT. maine ºf the forájesus. ... ºne of the Lord Jesus. But after the apostles had been praying for them, God was then 17. lºſiº",º,"; pleased, in a visible and extraordinary manner, to answer their request; for they had no — ceived the fio; Ghost. Sooner laid [their] hands on these Samaritan converts, and recommended them to the divine Aºs favour, but it was followed with a wonderful effect, and they immediately received the Holy 1." Spirit, and spake with tongues, and performed other extraordinary works. tº: Alºjº .Now when Simon the magician, of whom we spake before, said with astonishment that 18 tº apºlº hai"the Höft the Holy Spirit in his extraordinary operations was thus apparently given by the imposition ;..."," "mºred of the apostles' hands, as he imagined with himself, that if he could perförm the like, it y might turn considerably to his own honour and advantage, especially if by this means he could form persons to the knowledge of languages which they had never been at the - * trouble of learning in a natural way, he went to the apostles, and offered them a consider- d; jº. ... able sum of money; Saying, Let me prevail with you by this reward to give me also this 19 ever'ſ as hºis, he mºre power which I have seen you exercise with so much ease, that on whomsoever I shall lay ceive the Holy Ghost. my hands, he may receive this extraordinary communication of the Holy Spirit. TÉ But Peter º wº hº JBut when Peter heard so infamous an offer, he was not able to conceal his indignation, 20 §."º"..."; and therefore said to him, in his own name and that of John, Let thy money go with thee tº be tº the destruction to which thou art thyself hastening, since thou hast thought so vilely of pur 2Oney. the free and invaluable gift of the blessed God, as to imagine it might be purchased with 21 Thou hast neither part money. It is very evident, from such a detestable proposal, that notwithstanding the pro- 21 § {...","... }:#; ; fession thou hast made, thou art indeed an utter stranger to the efficacy of the gospel, and sight of God. ast no part nor lot in this matter, nor any interest in the important spiritual blessings to which all these extraordinary gifts are subservient; for thine heart is not upright in the sight of God,d otherwise thou wouldst think far more honourably of this Spirit of his, than 22 Repent therefore of this to form a mercenary scheme to traffic in it in this scandalous manner. Repent therefore 22 {...}; in "hoº immediately of this thy enormous wickedness,” and beg of God with the deepest humilia- of thine heart may be for tion and the most fervent prayer, if perhaps his infinite mercy may yet be extended to such *śfierceived at thou a wretch, and the blasphemous indught of thy corrupt heart may be forgiven thee: For 23 º, º ºss, though thou wast so lately washed with the water of baptism, I plainly perceive that thou and in the bond of iniquity. *- : * > * - w as 3 - art still in the very gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity;f plunged in that hateful pollu- tion which must be bitterness and poison in the latter end, and held in the chains of thine own covetousness and carnality, and consequently in a servitude utterly inconsistent with that state of glorious liberty into which the children of God are brought; so that thou art on the borders of dreadful and aggravated destruction, if immediate repentance does not prevent. - a.º.º.º.º. And Simon, as he could not but be very much alarmed by such a solemn admonition, 24 for me, 'º' Hºº &#" i.; answered and said to the apostles, If you indeed conceive my case to be so bad, at least §. :***Poken extend your charity so far as to make your supplications to the Lord on my account, that mone of these terrible things, which ye have often spoken of h as the fatal consequence of sin, may come upon me; for I am far from disbelieving the truth of the gospel, how improper soever my proposal might be, or however derogatory from the honour of it. hā, ś Thus did the two apostles, Peter and John, perform the errand they were sent upon, 25 th: wººthºr... and executed their commission: when therefore they had borne their testimony to the truth §§... º. of the gospel,i and had spoken the word of the Lord Jesus Christ to many who had not * pel in many villages : ~ * > . 5 w * * * º of the Samaritans. received it from the mouth of Philip, they returned to the other ten at Jerusalem: and as they went along, they preached the gospel in many other towns and villages of the Samari- tans which lay in their way. IMPROVEMENT. LET us observe this peculiar honour by which the apostles were distinguished, that the Holy Spirit was given Ver.14 by the imposition of their hands. Thus did Christ bear his testimony to them as the authorized teachers of his 15–17 church; and it evidently appears that we may with great safety and pleasure submit ourselves to their instruction; for these extraordinary gifts were intended in some measure for our benefit; that by an entire resignation to their authority thus attested, we might be made partakers of those graces in comparison of which the tongues of men and of angels would be but as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. (1 Cor. xiii. 1.) Who can read without horror the infamous proposal which Simon made, when he thought of purchasing the 18, 19 gift of God with money? With somewhat of the same horror must we look on all those by whom sacred things are either bought or sold; it is an infamous traffic, about which an upright man cannot deliberate a moment, but 20 will reject it at once with an honest scorn and indignation, like that of Peter in the present instance. God grant that none of the ordinances of Christ may ever be prostituted to secular ends, which seems a crime almost equally enormous! In vain is it for men to profess themselves christians, in vain to submit like Simon to baptism, or lik eº . c. Let thy money go with thee to destruction.] This is not an impreca- ance, for that is contrary to the whole tenor of the ; but that, tion, but a strong way of admonishing Simon of his danger, and of ex- after the commission of a sin so nearly approaching blasphemy against pressing how much rather the apostle would see the greatest, sum oſ money lost and cast away, than receive any part of it on such shameful term S. d Thine heart is not upright in the sight of God..] This is no instance of Peter’s miraculously discerning spirits, for every common minister or christian might have made the inference in such circumstances. But, on the other side, this story will by no means prove Peter to have been destitute of this gift. He might (like Christ in the case of Judas) have discerned Simon’s hypocrisy long before he thought fit to discover it openly, or he might have the gift really in some instances, though not in this; for there is no more reason to suppose that Christ ever gave any of his servants an universal power of discerning the hearts and charac: ters of all they conversed with, than there is to believe he gave any of them a power of healing all the sick they came near, which we are sure that Paul (though he was not inferior to the chief of the apostles, 2 Cor. xi. 5. xii. 11.) had not, otherwise he would not have suffered the illness of Epaphroditus to have brought him so near to death, Phil. ii.25–27. nor have left so useful a fellow-labourer as Trophimus sick at Miletum, | In. IV - X:U, e Repent therefore, &c.] Here is so incontestable an evidence .9f an unconverted sinner being exhorted to repentance and ſ'." while he yvas known to be in that state, that it is astonishing it should ever have been disputed ; and one would tilink none could be so wild as to imagine faith in Christ was not included in that repentance and §§ which an apostle preaghes to a baptized person as the way of 9btaining forgive- ness. The dubious manner in which he speaks of his being forgiven, intimates, not that his sincere repontance might possibly fail of accept- the IIoly Ghost, there was little Teason to hope he would ever be brought truly to repent. . . . - ſ In the grill of bitterness, &c,.] The gall of bitterness is the bitterest gall; and the whole sentence expresses, in Poter’s strong manner of speaking, how odious and wretched a creature Simon now appeared to him : how much more odious in the eyes of a holy God, must such a sinner be Compare Deut. xxix. 18. xxxii. 32, and Isa. lviii. 6.—Alber- tus, Obserc., p. 236. and De Dieu, would render, it, “I see thee as the very gall of Štúñej and a bumiie of iniquity.” Compare Matt. xix. 5. 2 Cor. vi. 18. Heb. viii. 10. in which places the former thinks it is used in the same sense as here. See Beza’s beautiful illustration of this tº Xt. g J}ſake your supplications to the Lord on ºnly account.] It is much to be feared this pretence of conviction and humiliation was only to pre- Yeni Peter and John from disgracing him among the body of christians: for it is reasonable to suppose this conversation passed in private be- tween them : and perhaps Sinion night have some hope that, if the secret were kept, he might reduce the people, when Peter was gone, to their former subjection to him, notwithstanding their conversion to christi- anl ty. - h These things which ye have spoken.) As the plural number is here used, (if it be not, as I think it sometimes is, put for the dual,) since ono cannot imagine, as i hinted above, that the proposal was publicly made, it seems most natural to refer this to the awful things...he had heard; in the course of christian preaching, concerning the terrible effects of the diyine pleasure against impenitent sinners in the future world. i Borne their testimony.) See note g, on Luke xxiv. 48, p. 361. 51 402 PHILIP INSTRUCTS THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. SECT. him to adhere constantly to the ministers of the gospel, if their heart be not right with God; an hypocritical con- H7. ACTS VIII. 22 24 crimson stains, and break in pieces fetters of iron. duct like this will proclaim it aloud, that they are in the O God, from this odious and - • all of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. olluting gall, which naturally overspreads us; and loosen these bonds of sin with Wash us, which Satan may sometimes bind those who have a name and a place in thy church, and in which he conveys them to final and everlasting destructionſ & Yet let us not utterly despair even of the worst of men, but direct them to that great universal remedy, a deep and serious repentance of their sins, and an earnest address to God by prayer; to him who can wash us from It is some token for good when sinners seem to fall under re- proof, and desire the prayers of those who are more upright than themselves. But if men are animated in such requests and submissions by no more noble and generous a principle than a fear of destruction from God, there is great reason to suspect the sincerity of that ripentaneº which they profess, and to º that, like Simon, they will unsay all their confession, and perhaps, like him, (if we may credit the most aut entic uninspired histories of the church,+) become open enemies to that gospel which they pretended for a while to believe and reverence. SECTION XVIII. Philip, by divine direction, instructs an Ethiopian eunuch, in the faith of Christ ; and having baptized him, goes and neighbouring coasts of the Mediterranean sea. Acts viii. 26, to the end. ACTs viii. 26. preaches the gospel in the AcTs viii. 26. SECT. WHEN these important affairs at Samaria were despatched, and the church there was in AND the angel of the Lord 18. so flourishing and happy a state, an angel of the Lord spake to Philip the evangelist,” who had been so successful in his labours amongst them, saying, Arise, and go towards the south, Acts by the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is through the desert or wilder- V", a mess of Judea;b for there in that retired solitude thou shalt meet with a person whom I 27 will mark out to thee, with whom thou art to have a conversation of great moment. Jłnd without presuming more particularly to inquire into the design of the errand on which he was sent, he arose and took his journey as the angel had directed him: and behold, a certain Ethiopian eunuch,” a grandee in the court of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians,” who was the pérson that presided over all her treasure, was travelling that way; who, as he was entirely proselyted to the Jewish religion, had lately come to worship at Jerusalem at 28 one of the great feasts: This man was then returning home; and his mind being deepl 29 30 3 1 impressed with devout and religious sentiments in consequence of those solemnities which had passed in that sacred place, as he pursued his journey, while he sat in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah ;" that he might thus fill up that vacant space of time which his journey allowed him, to some valuable purpose, and so might be better prepared to ass with safety through those busy scenes which would lie before him when he arrived at ome. ...And the Spirit, by that secret #."; which inspired men could certainly dis- tinguish as a divine revelation, said to Philip, Approach and join thyself to this chariot, and enter into conversation with the person who sittéth in it, without fear of offending him, or exposing thyself to any inconvenience. JAnd Philip, running up to the chariot, heard him reading the Scriptures; for he read aloud, that his own mind might be more deeply impressed with it, and that his servants who were near him might receive some benefit by it. And Philip, being well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, easily perceived that it was the book of the prophet Isaiah, which was then before him, and that the passage would give him a very proper opportunity for entering into discourse with him concerning Christ, and delivering to him that evangelical message with which he was charged. He #. took occasion to begin the conversation from this circumstance, and said to the eunuch, Dost thou understand the true sense of those sublime and important things which thou art reading 2 ...And the eunuch was so far from being offended at i. freedom he took, that he mildly and respectfully said in reply, How can it be that I should fully understand such obscure oracles as these, unless some one who is better acquainted with the contents of them should ide me, and throw that light upon them which I, who am so much a stranger, to the ewish affairs, must necessarily want? And concluding from the question he put, besides what he might conjecture from his habit, that he was better acquainted with these things than himself, he requested Philip that he would come up and sit with him in the chariot, where there was room conveniently to receive him, that so he might be further informed in 32 matters of so great importance. JVow the period or passage of Scripture which he was reading at that time was this ; (Isa. liii. 7, 8.) “He was brought to the slaughter as a 33 sheep; and as a lamb, before its shearer [is] dumb, so he opened not his mouth : In his deep humiliation his judgment was taken away ;f and who shall declare or describe his spake unto Philip, saying, rise, and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethi- opia, an eunuch of great authority, under ... Candace queen of the Ethiopians who had the charge of al her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, .28 Was returning; and, sit- ting in , his chariot, read Esaias the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said unto, Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, inderstandest thou what thou readest 3 31 Amd he said, How can I, except some man should guide me & And he desired Philip, that he would come Ul h p and sit with him. 32 The place of the Scrip- ture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lam dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth : . 33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away : and who shall declare his k Histories of the church..] See Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib, ii, cap. 14. Theodoret, Haeret. Fab. lib. i. cap. 1...and compare note h, ś 13. p. 399. a Jan angel of the Lord spake to Philip.] It gives us a very high, idea of the gospel, to see the ministers of it receiving such immediate direc- tion from celéstial spirits in the particular discharge of their office. . . b Which is desert.] The construction of the Creek leaves it dubious whether this clause refers to Gaza, or to the way that led to it. Dr. Benson, with Grotius, 1)rusius, and other considerable writers, cop- cludes that Gaza, (a city of the Philistings often mentioned in the Old Testament, Judg. xvi.1, 21.-Zeph. ii. 4. Zech. ix. 5.) after having been conquered by Pharaoh, king, of Egypt, (Jer. xlvii. 1.) was ruined by Alexander the Great, and afterwards rebuilt with great magnificence, (Arrian, De Erped...fller. lib. iv., cap. 2. Strab. Geograph, lib. xvi. p. 522. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xi. cap. 8. § 4. ct lib. xiii. cap. 13. [al. 21.] § 3.) the new city was built at some distance from the old, which was left in ruins, and àº. called, Gaza the desert. But as this last fact is not sufficiently attested, I rather think, with Beza and Casaubon, that Philip is here directed to take that road to Gaza which lay through the wilderness, which (though perhaps it might not be, the shortest) was ghosen by the eunuch as the more retired , and I think the Greck idiom favours this interpretation, as it is not h; but avT m early &pripos. c A certain Ethiopian cunuch..] It is certain that the Hébrew word pºnt, which answers to £uvovX0s, an eunuch, is sometimes very pro- perly rendered an officer. (See Gen. xxxy.ii. 33. xxxix. 1. 2 Kings viii. 5. I Chron. xxviii. T.) And the learned Heinsius takes pains to estab: lish an etymology of evyovkos, which should make it an intimation of the good disposition of the person to whom it was given. But in what sense it is used here, is an inquiry of no manner of importance ; and I think any curious discussion of such kind of questions would by no means suit a Family Expositor.—I only add, with, Beza, that it seems quite ridiculous to imagine that avno was intended to signify any thing more than Tig ; I have therefore rendered it accordingly... . . . d A grandee in the court of Camdace the queen oſ, the JEthiopians.] It appears that Candace was a pame common to several 9ſ the queens who reigned in Meroe, a part of Ethiopia to the south of Egypt. (Compare Plin. JYat. Hist, lip. vi. cap. 29. and Alexand. Geniel. , Dier. lib. i. cap. 2.) So that it is very uncertain whether this princess be the person mentioned by Dio Cassius and Strabo, as at war with the Romans in the time of Augustus.-I know not how far we arg to regard the authority on , which De Dieu tells us that the name of this eunuch was Judith, i. that of the queen, by which she was distinguished from others, dC3S3. • c Sat in his chariot reading, &c.] ... Probably, this chariot was some- thing in the form of our chaises with four-wheels; for though the eunuch did not guide it himself, there was room for another person to come and sit with him, (ver. 31.) the charioteer therefore seems to have sat on a seat by himself. ... . - e. * f In his humiliation his judgment was taken away.] . The present reading of the Hebrew clause answering to this, is much inorg agree- able to our translation of Isa. liii. 8. He was taken from prison, and from judgment... But the Seventy interpreters, whose, version is here #ſºft transcribed in the Greek, and exactly rendered in our transla- tion, instead of npº tºwpp 5syp, appear to have read ripº tootyp Yºsys, which seems either to have been the true reading, or in sense PHILIP BAPTIZES THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. \ generation ? for his life is taken from the earth. generation 28 for, innocent as he was, his life is cut off from the earth.”—A passage ex: SECT. pressly referring to the meekness with which the blessed Jesus should endure all his suf- ferings, while ungrateful sinners, in contempt of all laws both human and divine, perse- cuted him even to the death. 34 And the eunuch answer- ed Philip, and said prophet this 2 of himself, or of some other man & 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus, e had to say ; and beginni g from this very scripture, in which he was so neated, preached to him the glad tidings of that Jesusi of whom not Isaiah a º, did the eunuch, answering to Philip, said, 1 beseech thee to inform me of whom doth the ified, fºlio. spºketh the prophet say this 2 of himself, or some other person 2 Was Isaiah thus inhumanly put to h death by the Jews? or did he foretell the sufferings of some future and greater person 2 Then Philip, secretly adoring the divine Providence in giving him so fair an opportu- 35 nity, opened his mouthſ with an air of solemnity proportionable to the importance of what | lainly deli- ". but so many of the other prophets, spoke: and after he had laid before him the predictions re- corded in the Scripture concerning him, he bore witness to the lorious accomplishment of them, and gave him the history of those extraordinary facts which had lately happened in confirmation of that gospel he taught. 36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water; and the eu- much said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized P His noble hearer, in the mean time, listened attentively; and though he saw no miracle 36 performed in evidence of the truth of Philip's doctrine, he found such a light breaking in upon his mind from the view of the prophecies, and such an inward conviction wrought in his spirit by the diviſie influence, that he became a sincere convert to the gospel, nd having for some time discoursed together of the person and the sufferings of Christ, and of the method of salvation by him, as they went by the way they came to a certain water, there being in that place some pool or stream adjoining to the road; and the eunuch, having learnt what was the rite of initiation which the great Prophet and Sovereign of the church had appointed, was willing to embrace the first opportunity that Providence offered of making a surrender of himself to Christ, and being received into the number of his º; upon which he said unto Philip, Behold, [here is], water; what should hinder my 37 And Philip said, If thou ...And believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. . he an– Syvered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, eing baptized, and becoming from this hour one of your º ? hilip said unto him, If thou believest with all thine heart this gospel w taught thee, so as cordially to subject thy soul to it, then it may lawfully and regularly be done without any further delay. And he answering, said, I firmly and undoubtedly believe that Jesus Christ, whom thou hast now been preaching to me, is really the Son of God; and own him for the promised Messiah who was sent into the world for the salvation of lost sinners; and I desire with all my heart and soul to give myself up to him, that he may save me in his own way. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into .#nd upon Philip's declaring his satisfaction in this profession of his faith in Christ and 38 subjection to him, and readily consenting to receive him as a fellow-christian, he ordered the water, bºth Philip, and the chariot to stops and they both went down to the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and the eunuch ; and he baptized him. 39 And when they were come up out, of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away. Philip, that the eunuch saw him, no more; and b went on his way rejoicing. there he baptized him. .And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord, which fell upon 39 the eunuch,” immediately smatched away Philip" in a miraculous manner, and the eunuch saw him no more ; for as it thus appeared that Providence designed they should be sepa- * rated, he did not attempt to search for him in the neighbouring parts, or to go any where to follow him, how much soever he esteemed his conversation; but getting up again into his chariot, he went on his way rejoicing, with a heart full of thankfulness that he had been favoured with the privilege of so important an interview with him ; and that after having received the gospel from his lips, he had seen such a miraculous confirmation of its truth in the sudden manner in which this divinely-commissioned teacher was removed from his sight, to which all his attendants were witnesses. But Philip, quickly after he was separated from the eunuch, was found at 4:otus, or 40 40 But Philip was found at equivalent to it; for I cannot think, as Beza and many other commen- tators do, that it refers to Christ’s being taken by his resurrection from his confinement in the grave, and from the judgment or sentence which had been executed upon him; agreeably to which Mr. L’Enfant renders it, His condemnation was taken away by his very abasement : that is, his stooping to death gave occasion to this triumph; a sense neither natural in itself, nor favoured by the connexion as it stands in Isaiah. It seems rather to mean, if the Greek version be here admitted, “Jesus appeared in so humble a form, that though Pilate was convinced of his innocence, he seemed a person of so little importance, that it would not be worth while to hazard any thing to preserve him.” Le Clerc (in his Supple- ment to Dr. Hammond) intimates this interpretation, with a small and (so far as I can judge) unnecessary and unwarrantable change in the ver- sion, . In his humiliation he was judged, he was taken away. ut Our translation is far more literal ; and, to take away a person’s judgment is a known proyerb for oppressing him. See Job xxvii. 2. g Who shall declarc or describe his ſº This is one of the many passages of the Qld-Testament prophecies in which it is not so difficult to find a sense fairly *Nº. e to Christ, as to know which to prefer of several that are so. Many ancient as well as modern writers have reſerted it to the mystery of his deity, or of his incarnation; but Calvin and Beza say this was owing to their ignorance of the Hebrew, the word ºn not admitting such a sense ; and it is certain it very ill suits the connexion with , the following clause. r. Samuel Harris has a long discourse, ywhich seems only a fine-spun cobweb, to prove that it refers to his not having any witnesses to appear for him and give an account of his life and character, as he takes nsy in the former clause to signify his having no advocate to plead his cause. See his Second Discourse, p. 65, et scq. and his Essay, p. 14. !6. ...Qthers, with Calvin and Beza, think it is as if the prophet had said, “Who can, declare, how long he shall live and reign, or count the numerous offspring that shall descend from him 2° But, not to say that this idea, is much more glearly expressed by the prophet in verse 10, which on this interpretation is a tautology, I cannot find that nºt and yº are used as synonymous terms. The for- mer of those words in the Hebrew signifies the same with a generation of men, in English, who are contemporaries : . Gen. vii. 1. Judg. ii. 10. #j. xcv. 10. cix. 13. and as yewea in the Septuagint has most frequently this sense, so it evidently has in the writings of Luke. (See Luke xi 30, 50. xvii. 25. Acts ii. 40. xiii. 36.) And therefore I suppose, with Dr. Hammond, the sense to be, “Who can describe the obstinate infidelity and barbarous injustice of that generation of men among whom he ap- peared, and from whom he suffered such things?’’. But as it did not seem proper to determine this by rendering it, as in the version of 1727, Who can describe the men of his time f (because a translator of j. ture should leave ambiguous expressions as he finds them,) So I thought it would be best to insert the paraphrase on both these clauses in the notes, that I might leave room for the eunuch’s, question in the next verse, which otherwino must have been superseded. h Philip opened his mouth.] See note c, on Matt. v. 2. p. 76. . . . i Preached to him Jesus.) Limborch very largely shows, in his conn- mentary on this passage, how shamefully, the Jews pervert the whole d of Isaiah, in expounding it of the affliction of Israel ; and I am surprised to find that Dr. Hammond intimates, it might be accomplished in some one who lived quickly after Isaiah’s time.—See all that Alr. Collins has urged on that head (Literal Scheme, chap. v. W 12. p. 208– 220.) abundantly confuted by Dr. Bullock, Pindic. p. 147–156. Com- pare Bishop Chandler, Qf Christianity, p. 174–178: . * * k I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God..] It is surprising to see in how many ancient copies and versions this verse is omitted. (See Dr. Miłł, in loc, and the version of 1727.) “Nevertheless,” says Beza, “God forbid I should think it ought to be expunged, since it contains such a confession of faith as was in the apostolic times, required of the adult, in order to their being admitted to baptism.” Allowing it to be genuine, it fully proves that Philip had opened to the eunuch the doctrine of Christ’s divinity; and indeed, if he had not done it, he must have given him a very imperfect account of the gospel. l, They both cent down to the acater.] . Considering how frequently bathing was used in those hot countries, it is not to he wondered that baptism was generally administered by immersion, though I see mo proof that it was essential to the institution. It would be very unnatural to suppose that they went down to the water, merely that Philip might take up a little water in his hand to pour on the eunuch. A person of his dignity had, no doubt, many vessels in his baggage, on such a journey through so, desert a country, a precaution absolutely necessary for travellers in those parts, and nevcr omitted by them. See Dr. Shaw’s Travels, Prgſ. p. 4. - m. The Spirit of the Lord, which fell upon the eunuch.) The Alex- andrian manuscript and several other old copies read it, IIvsupia äytov creaty 87, Tov evv8xov, ayyeXos 3: Kuptov np7678, K. T. A. that is, The Holy Spirit ſell, won the eunuch, but an aigel of the Lord snatched away Philip. And therefore, considering also how exceeding probable it is that a person of his rank, going into a country where the gospel was cutirely unknown, should be furnished for the great work of preach- ing it there, by the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, I thought fit to insert it in the paraphrase. (See Dr. Benson’s History, vol. i. p. .). I may here add, that, Eusebius, assures us (Eccles. Hist, lib. ii. cap. 1.). this new convert planted a flourishing church in Ethiopia; and it is a fact in which all the most ancient histories of Ethiopia agree. n Snatched aucay Philip.] Probably he transported him part of the way through the air, a thing which seems to have happened with respºgt to some of the prophets. Compare l IXings xviii. 12. 2 Kings iis lº: Ezek. iii. 14. TÉ. spacious plain which was probably the scene of this miracle, would make it so much the more conspicuous, and it would no doubt prove a great confirmation of the cunuch’s faith hich I have 37 404 SECT, 18. ACTS3 WIH. Ver. 26, 27 28 30 31 32, 33 36–38 39 40 SECT. 19. ACTS IX. 2 3 CHRIST APPEARS TO SAUL ON THE WAY TO DAMASCUS, Ashdod, a city that was more than thirty miles from Gaza, in the southern part of the Azotus: and passing through, country which had been formerly one of the five governments belonging to the Philistines; #5.3." (1 Sam. vi. 17.) and going on from thence he preached the gospel with great success in Joppa, Lydda, Saron, and all the other cities along the coast of the Mediterranean sea, till he came to Caesarea,” where Providence directed him to settle for a considerable time. (See Acts xxi. 8, 9.) - IMPROVEMENT. THERE is great reason to adore the gracious counsels and purposes of God with respect to this Ethiopian eunuch ; he was a chosen vessel, and desiring to improve that weak light which he had, God took effectual methods to impart to him more. Thus shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. (Hos. vi. 3.) An angel of the Lord is sent to give directions to an evangelist to meet him in the desert, and to instruct him there in what he had not learnt in his attendance at Jerusalem. And Philip, in obedience to the divine command, immediately retires from the more public service he had been engaged in at Samaria, to execute whatever God should please to call him to, though he should order him to go into a wilderness, as he could open even there a door of opportu- nity to make him useful. And while, like Philip, we govern ourselves by the intimations of his will, we shall not fun in vain, nor labour in vain. (Phil. ii. 16.) - It was a prudent and exemplary care, especially in a person engaged in such a variety of public business as the eunuch was, to improve that vacant space of time which a journey allowed him, in reading what might edify and instruct him even as he sat in his chariot! He chose the sacred oracles, and, while perusing them, was in an ex- traordinary manner taught of God. The question which Philip put to him, we should often put to ourselves, Understandest thou what thou readest ? Let us choose those writings which may be worth our study, and then let us labour to digest them, and not rest in the empty amusement which a few wandering, unconnected, and undis- tinguished ideas may give us, while they pass through our minds like so many images over a mirror, leaving no impression at all behind them. . The Scripture especially will be worthy of our study, that we may understand it; and we should earnestly pray that this study may be successful. For this purpose let us be willing to make use of proper guides, though it must be confessed that none we are like to meet with at present can have a claim to that authority with which Philip taught. It is pleasant, nevertheless, with a becoming humility to offer what assistance we can to our fellow-travellers on such an occasion as this ; and God grant that we who do it, especially in that way which is most extensive and lasting, may neither be deceived in Scripture ourselves, nor deceive others by misrepresenting its sense. If we enter into the true sense of the ancient prophecies, we must undoubtedly see Christ in them, and particu- larly in that excellent chapter of Isaiah, which the pious eunuch was now reading. Let us often view our Divine Master in that amiable and affecting light in which he is here represented: let us view him, though the Son of God by a generation which none can fully declare, yet brought to the slaughter as a lamb, and dumb as a sheep before its shearers. And let us learn patiently to suffer with him, if called to it, in humble hope of reigning with him, (2 Tim. ii. 12.) even though, like his, our judgment also should be taken away, and we be cut off from the land of the living. Let those who firmly believe in him as the Son of God, enter themselves into his church by those distinguishing solemnities which he has appointed for that purpose, to which the greatest should not think themselves above submitting. Let the ministers of Christ readily admit those that make a credible profession of their faith in Jesus, and of their resolution to be subject to him, to such ordinances, not clogging them with any arbitrary impositions or demands. And when men are come to a point thus solemnly to give themselves up to the Lord, and have done it in his appointed method, let them go on their way rejoicing, even though Providence should separate from them those spiritual guides who have been owned as the º instruments of their conversion and their edification. The servants of Christ are called to glorify him in different scenes and stations of life; happy if in one state and country or another they may spread the savour of his name, and gather in converts to him, whether from among the sons of Israel or of Ethiopia. - SECTION XIX. Saul setting out for Damascus with an intent to persecute the ºrch,there, is miraculously converted by our Lord’s appearance to him on the way. Acts 13. 1–9. Acts ix. 1. Acts ix. 1. WE have observed in the preceding history, that the persecution against the disciples of flººlyet beating ºut Jesus was very violent .*. after the death of §: hen; and particularly, that the ºdº"; youth who was called Saul distinguished himself by his orwardness in it; insomuch that #: went unto the hig all the principal members of the cñurch were driven away from Jerusalem except the apos- y ties. (Sect. Xvi. Acts viii. 1, 3.) But Saul was so exceedingly outrageous in his zeal against the gospel, that he could not be satisfied with this; his very heart was set upon extirpating the followers of Jesus, and, like some ravenous and savage beast, he was still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord; in every word he spoke he menaced their destruction, and, as if all the hardships of exile and imprisonment were too little, with a most cruel eagerness he thirsted for their blood. . With this intent he came to tº...A. i., H. the high priest," whom he knew to be much exasperated against them, 4nd petitioned for .g.u."ºh!ºi letters from him in the name of the whole Sanhedrim, (chap. xxii. 5; xxvi. 12.) directed to #, ºil the rulers of the Jewish synagogues at Damascus, whither (as he had been informed) some #º of those distressed refugées had fled, that if he found any of that way there, whether they "e"s". were men or women, * º .# them bound to Jerusalem, to be proceeded against in the severest Imanner by the Sanhedr1m. º - ~. ...And as he was hº on his journey, and was now come near to Damascus, it being ciº": º: Cesarea.] This was a city on the coast of the Mediterrangan emphatical expression, as, Elsper has well shown in his illustråtiºn of sé, º: : º caſſeå $tratonice, or Straton's Tower. See it; but it will not prove that he was able to accomplish the death o joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 11. Lal. 19.] § 2; et, Bell. ; iii. i. cap. 3. many of the christians, though he might threaten it with almost every Å, Ä, it was far distant from Česarea. Philippi, (of which we read, breath. It pust increase his rage tº hear that those whom he had been #t. Xvi. 13) which was situate to the north, in the tribe of Naphthali, instrumental in driving from Jerusalem, were so successful in spreading āj near the sources of Jordan. See, note c, on Mark viii. 27, p. 162, the religion he was sº eager to Igºt out. - a After the death of Stephen..] . There are many disputes as to the c Caine to the high priest.]. The person now, in that office seems to time of Paul’s conversion. The learned Spanheim advances several have been º e inveterate enemy of Christ, who had so great arguments to prove that, it happened six, or seven yśars, after Christ's a lapſ! in his death: He would therefore fº º SO actly G i...º “the fourth year of Caligula, Ä, Ö. 40. I rather think, and bigoted a zealot, as Saul; and it is Ye, known, that, the Sanhe- with i). Benson, (agreeably to Bishop Pearson’s Chrongiogy,) that it drim, however its capital power might be abridged by the Romans, was was a pretty deal sooner, but that the exact time cannot be fixed from the supreme Jewish court, and had great influence and authority among any circumstances transmitted to us. - a • their synagogues abroad. Witsius h i ºr larg d 5 §régºing out threatenings and slaughter.] This is an exceeding d Come near to Damascus.] Witsius has given us a large and enter CHRIST APPEARS TO SAU1, ON THE WAY TO DAMASCUS. 465 just about the middle of the day, a wonderful event happened, which threw the whole SECT. course of his life into a different channel, and was attended with the most important con- 19. sequence both to him and the church; for on a sudden a ſº light from heaven Shane suddenly there shined round about him a light from hea- Wen : 4. And he fell to the earth, and heard ayoice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why perse- cutest thou me f A CT5 around him,” exceeding the lustre of the meridian sun: (chap. xxii. 6. xxvi. 13.) And IX, such was the effect this wonderful appearance had upon him, that he fell to the ground, being struck from the beast on which he rode, as all that travelied with him ifiewise were, (chap. xxvi. 14.) and to his great astonishment he heard a loud and distinct voice, saying unto him in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? And as he saw at the same time the bright appearance of some glorious person in a human form, he was possessed with awe and reverence, and said, jº. art thou, Lord? and what is it that I have done against thee? And the Lord Jesus (for it was he who had condescended to appear to him on this occasion) said, I am that Jesus, [the JVazarene, jf whom, by the opposition thou art making to my gospel, and by thy cruelty to my disciples, thou madly persecutest; (chap. xxii. 8.) but remember, [it is] hard for thee to kick against the goads,8 . all thy fury can only wound thyself, without being able to do me or my cause any real Inju Jłnd when Saul heard and saw that he who had so often been affronted and despised b him, even that Jesus of Nazareth whom he had so blasphemously and virulently opposed, was such a glorious and powerful person, and yet that, instead of destroying him immedi- ately, as he might with ease have done, he had condescended thus compassionately to expostulate with him, his mind was almost overborne with an unutterable mixture of con- tending passions; so that trembling at the thought of what he had done, and amazed at the glorious appearance of Jesus, he said, Lord, what gilt thou have me to do 2 For instead of carrying my mad opposition any further, I with all humility resign myself entirely to thy disposal, and humbly wait the intimations of thy sacred pleasure, determined to submit to whatsoever thou shalt order me... .ºnd the Lord said unto him, Arise and stand upon thy feet, and go into the city, and I will take care that it shall, there be told thee what thou must do, and thou shalt be instructed in all things which I have appointed concerning thee: Acts xxvi.16. For I have (chap. xxii. 10. xxvi. 16.), “For I have thus appeared unto thee for this purpose, to consti- ; :"... ...", tute and ordain thee a minister and servant to me in the great work of propagating my jī; º; ; gospel, and to appoint, thee a witness both of thºse things which thou hast now seen, and i...ºr:#;"; of those in which I will hereafter manifest myself unto thee: And in the testimony thou in ºhiºn f wif appear shalt give, I will be with thee to protect thee by my power and providence, delivering thee unto thee - give, p y my p & 5 g if Öelivering thee from the in the midst of a thousand dangers, from the malice of the Jewish people, and of the §§§: Gentiles; to whom, as the one or the other may come in thy way, I now send thee, That I toº". #. make thee instrumental to open their blind eyes, and to turn [them] from darkness to jº.jºhº light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may thus receive the free and full jº"...º.º..."; #: of all their most aggravated sins, and may have an inheritance among them that may receive forgiveness of e Scº T. e is e 35 © ins, and inheritance among are sanctified by means of that faith which is in me.” . . #º.” . And the men who travelled toith him, upon their rising from the ground, to which they Acts is. 7. And the men had been struck upon the first appearance of the light from heaven, stood in a fixed Dosture .."; º' perfectly astonished, and seemed for a while to be turned (as it were) into statues And voice, but seeing no man, they were so confounded, that they uttered not a word, hearing indeed the sound of that voice which had spoken to Saul,i without distinctly understanding the sense of what was º (chap. xxii. 9.) but seeing no one, nor perceiving who it was that had been speaking to him. But Saul, when he had seen this heavenly vision, arose from the earth ; and though his eyes were open, he was incapable of discerning objects, and saw no one man of those who stood near him; for his nerves were so affected with the glory of that light which had shone from the body of Jesus, that he had lost the power of sight: (chap. xxii. 11.) but they that were with him led him by the hand, as it would not be safe for him to ride in such a condition, and brought him to Damascus. .4nd he was at his lodgings there three days without sight, and during all that time he neither ate nor drank,” but lay for a consider- able part of it as in a trance, in which he saw some extraordinary visions, particularly of 4 And he said, Who art And the Lord am Jesus whom thou persecutest :, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6 And he trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. º 6 ACTS XXVI, 16 7 I ACTS IX. S 8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man : but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damas- CUlS. 9 And he was , three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. taining account of this city in his Life of Paul, cap. ii. sect. 2... It was the capital city of Syria, (Isa. vii. 8.) and abounded so much with Jews, that Josephus assures us ten thousand of them were massacred there in one bour, and at, another_time eighteen thousand, with their wives and §§ #oseph. Bell. Jud. lib. ii. cap. 20. [al. 25.] § 2. et lib. vii. cap. 8. dil. 2C. & e A light from heaven shonc around him.]. This was occasioned by the rays of glory which darted from , the body of our Lord. Some baye thought that Saul, being a learned Jew, would easily know this to be the shekinah, or visible token and symbol of the qivine presence, and that he therefore cries, PWho art #9; Lord 3 though he saw no human form. See rºl Barrington’s Miscell. , Sacra, Essay iii. p. 5. But I think the question implies, he did not know who or what he was, and that it is plain from chap. xxii. 14. and other texts, that he did see, amidst this glory, a human form, which, yet he night got at first imagine to be that of Jesus, though Stephen had, probably in his hearing, de- clared that he saw a vision of this kind, chap. vii. 55, 56. Elsner sup- poses, with De Dicu, that this was, lightning, and the voice thunder, and is large in showing how generally the heathems thought such phe- nomena to attend the appearance of their deities. an Jesus the JYazarene.) So it is that the words are related, (chap. xxii. 8.) and there seeins, something peculiarly pointed in this expression. A pretended Messiah from Nazareth bad, no doubt, often been the subject of his blasphemous derision ; our Lord therefore uses that title more effectually to humble and mortify him: g It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.) . Dr. Hammond º, observes, that this is a proverbial expression of impotent rage which hurts one’s self, and not that against which it was levelled.--It is no great matter whether the latter part of this verse and the beginning of the next (which clause is omitted in many ancient copies, and versions) were originally here, or, whether (as Dr. Mill supposes)...it were, not, since it certainly is found in the parallel passages, chap. xxii. 8. xxvi. 14. ut I think it most probable it was accidentally omitted in some very old copy, whence the rest were taken, and that the omission was occa- sioned by the transcriber mistaking the words b kvptos, ver, 6. for the like words in ver, 5. a, thing which might easily happen in transcribing. —I hope. I need make no apology for giving the reader, in the first yiew of this wonderful and delightful story, a full account of it in a kind of compound text, in which all the circumstances, added by Paul himself elsewhere, are inserted in one continued narration. But I reserve the notes on the passages so brought in, till we come to tho chapters to which they belong. * - h Stood perfectly, astonished.] To stand, astonished does indeed some- times signify merely, to be astonished, without any reference to the par- ticular posture, as Beza, L'Enfant, and others have observed. So in Qur English phrase, to stand in jeopardy is to be in jeopardy, 1 Cor. xv. 30, and to stand in doubt is to be in doubt, Gal. iv. 20. (Compare, Matt. xii. 46. Mark ix. 1: John i. 26. Acts, iv. 10. and many other places.) But the expression here may be literally true, and in th;it interpretation seems to convey the more lively idea. - e i Hearing the voice.) Beza, Vatablus, and Clarius, think they heard Saul’s voice, but not that of Christ; Dr. Hammond; that they heard the thunder, not the articulate sound which attended it. Þr. Benson, as akovety often signifies, to understand, supposes theso attendants were Hellenist Jews, who did not understand the Hebrew, which was the language in which Christ spake. But I think, with Dr. Whitby, that the Imost probable way of reconciling this with chap. xxii. 9. is that which is expressed in the paraphrase, and that it is confirmed by John xii. 29. when some present at the voice from heaven which came to Christ, took it for thunder. See Mr. Biscoe, Jät Boyle's Lect. p. 665, 666. k But secing no one.) So it was with the men who were with Daniel when he saw the vision, (Dan. x. 7.) And the heathens, however they came by the notion, thought their deities often rendered themselves Viºle to Que only, in a company consisting of imany. See Eisner, Observ. VOl. 1. O. ge l Płith9út sight.] Scales grew over his eyes, not only to intimate to him the blindness of the state he had been in, but to impress him also with a deeper sense of the almighty power of § and to turn his thoughts inward, while he was rendered less capable of conversing with external objects. . This would also be a manifest token to others of what had happened to him in his journey, and ought to have been very con- Yinging and humbling to those bigotéd Jews to whom, as the most pro- able associates in the cruel_work he intended, the sanhedrim had § those letters, which Saul would no doubt destroy as soon as possible. & - - m Weither ate nor drank.] Grotius and some later writers think, this was a voluntary, fast, in token of his deep humiliation for the guilt he had contracted by o §. the gospel; Bº it might very possibly be the result of that bodily disorder into which he was thrown by the vision, and of the attachment of his mind to those new and astonishing divino 40t; CHRIST SENDS ANANIAS TO RESTORE SAUL’S SIGHT, SECT. Ananias who was to visit him, (compare ver, 12.) and the remainder of it he employed in 19. such deep humiliation, and humble, earnest prayer, as suited his past guilt and his present astonishing circumstances. ACTS IX. - IMPROVEMENT, LET us pause a little on this most amazing instance of the power and sovereignty of divine grace in our blessed Redeemer, and adore and rejoice in its illustrious triumph. , Who, of all the enemies of Christ, and of his church, seemed ripest for tenfold vengeance 2 Whose name will be transmitted to posterity as the name of the person who most barbarously ravaged the innocent sheep and lambs of Christ's flock, and, like the ravenous wolf, most Ver. 1 insatiably thirsted for their blood? Whose very breath was threatenings and slaughter against them, and the busi- secT, NOW while Saul lay blind at Damascus, in those melancholy circumstances which have 20. Acts was a pious man according to the strictest precepts of the law, and had, an honourable {X. 12 diate relief: And accordingly he hath just now seen thee in a vision," as a man whºse name ness of his life their calamity and destruction ? Who but Saul; the very man for whom, under another name and character, we have contracted (if I may be allowed the expression) that tenderness of holy friendship, that, next to that of his divine Master, his name is written on our very hearts; and whom, though once the chiefest of sinners, we reverence as the greatest of the apostles, and love as the dearest of saints. Thy thoughts, O Lord, are not as our thoughts, nor thy ways as our ways. (Isa. lv. 8.) . He had Damascus in view, which was to be the scene of new oppressions and cruelties; he was, it º be, that very moment antici- pating in thought the havoc he should there make, when, behold, the light of the Lord breaks in upon them, and Jesus the Son of God condescends in person to appear to him, to expostulate with him! And how tender the ex- 4 postulation!, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Tender to Saul, tender to all his people; for it expresses his union with them, his participation in their interests; so that he looks upon himself as injured by those that injure them, as wounded by those that wound them. - Who, in this view, does not see at once the guilt and madness and misery of persecutors ? They have undertaken a dreadful task indeed, and will find it hard to kick against the pricks; they will surely find it so when Jesus appears to them in that vengeance which he here laid aside ; when he sits on his awful tribunal to make inquisi- tion for blood, and to visit upon them all their inhumanities and all their impieties. But here our merciful Redeemer chose to display the triumphs of his grace rather than the terrors of his wrath; and, behold, how sudden a transformation it wrought! Behold Saul, who had so insolently assaulted his throne, 6 now prostrate at his feet! surrendering, as it were, at discretion: presenting a blank, that Jesus might write his own terms, and saying, as every one who is indeed the trophy of divine grace will say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? As ready to employ all his powers for the service of Christ as he had ever before been to arm them for the destruction of his j - - What must the attendants of his journey think on such an occasion ? If they were also converted, here were further witnesses added to christianity, and more monuments of divine grace erected; but if they were not con- verted, what an instance was this of their hardness and obstinacy and even though their bodily sight was conti- 8 nued, how much was their blindness worse than his Let us pray that we may all be taught of God!, and if we are brought to resign ourselves to God in sincerity and truth, let us acknowledge the internal operations of his grace as that to which the victory is owing, even where external circumstances have been most remarkable. 9 The situation in which Saul lay, seems indeed to have been very melancholy; his sight lost, his appetite for food gone, and all his soul wrapt up in dep astonishment, or melted in deep contrition and remorse; but though he might sow in tears, he reaped in joy. (Psal. cxxvi. 5.) It appears that light and gladness were sown for him. He came refined out of the #. and these three dark and dismal days are, no doubt, recollected by him in the heavenly world, as the era from whence he dates the first beamings of that divine light in which he now dwells; Let us never be afraid of the pangs of that godly sorrow, which, working repentance to salvation not to be repented of will soon be ten thousand times overbalanced by that exceeding weight of glory, and those full transports of eternal joy, for which it will prepare the soul. - - 3 gº Ö 7 SECTION XX, tore his sight: Saul is baptized, and having Dreached the gospel Christ sends Ananias to Saul, to Tes - r > , rage of the jews, is sent by the disciples to Tarsus. Acts is. 10– at Damascus and Jerusalem, to avoid the ACTS ix. 10. Acts is. 10. ANI) there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Anallias : and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. been just described, it pleased the Lord, on the third day, to provide for his comfort and instruction: for there was a certain disciple at Damascus whose name was dnanias,” and he character among all the Jews who dwelt in the city, as well as among the disciples of - 10 Jesus, to whom he was allied in the strictest bonds: (chap. xxii; , 12) and the Lord appeared and said to him in a vision, Amanias. And he said, Behold, I am here.] Lord, 11 ready to receive and execute thy, commands. And upon this the Lºrd [said] to him, Arisé and go to that which is called the Straight Street, and inquire in the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus whose name is Saul; for behold, he is now.. with great earnestness and afféction, and I have compassion upon him, and am determined to send him imme- 11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street, which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus : for, behold, he prayeth, - - 12 And hath seep in a yi- sion, a man named Anani is it has been intimated to him is Ananias; and this person has been miraculously repre: sented to him as coming in and laying his land upon him, that he might recover his sight, which by a very extraordinary occurrence he has for the present lost. - ..And JAmanias, astonished to hear such a name mentioned in such a connexion; answered, Lord, is it possible thou shouldst send me on any message of favour to Saul of Tarsus 2 have heard of many concerning this man, even at this distance, how violent 3 persecutºr he 14 has been, and how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem: ºlnd I am credibly informed that he is now come hither to Damascus with an intent to persecute thy people 13 coming in, and putting. his hand on, him, that he inight receive his sight. 13 Then Ananias answer- ed, Lord, I have heard b of this man, how much evil ń. hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem : 14 And here he hath au- ions with which during this time he seems to. have been favgur- .*ś those discoveries mentioned, 2 Cor. xii. 13 et seq. and Gal. i. il, et seq. were made at this time, is matter of some debate, and may ise examined in a more proper place. f Anani ly in thi name was Amanias.] As we read of Anania; only in this story, it is #". dºrmine who he was. Dr. Benson thinks him to have #een a native of Jerusalem, and one Whº ga: carried the gospel from thence to Damascus. (Hist. Vol. i. B 168.) Some of the ancients, say he ... of the seventy disciples. Others, frºm his being cºlled a le: yout man according to the law, (chap. xxii. 12.) have ºus; º .*. proselyte of righteousness, as it is usual now to speak. Perhaps he Holy Spirit descended, and honour christian of the oldest standin officer of the church there; wh further intimate. b And he hath seem, &c. - are the words of the historian, parenthesis, and rendered, 4% K. T. A. F In 31 ll f ive of Damascus converted at the first Pentecost, when the was a nati Ve O ed with this ennbassy to in that place, and so, very probably, an ich the commission to baptize him juay Saul as a &c.] Mr. L'Enfant and several others think, these and therefore should be included in a he, i. e. Saul - * "jjīāh;is name would have been expressed, Kai 6.24vXos etéev , saw a man, &c. But then SAUL BAPTIZED. 407 thority from the chief priests, here, and that he has authority ſ." the chief priests to bind all that invoke thy name, and to SECT. fººd all that call on thy carry them prisoners to Jerusalem to be tried there. - • 20. ºśń ś , But the Lord said unto him, Ananias, thou canst not imagine, that I am ignºn, of any §º..."; of these things, or that it is for thee to debate my sovereign determinations: Go tºy way, Aºs §º and execute immediately that message of mercy with which I have charged thee; for; how 15” - y gs, and the - * children of Israel: eat and aggravated soever his former transgressions may have been, I assure thee that this very man is to me a chosen vessel,” whom I have by my free and sovereign, grace ordained to bear my name as an apostle, and to preach my gospel, the truth of which he shall maintain with the greatest fidelity and courage before the Gentile nations and their kings,” and before the children of Israel, and shall be made an instrument of eminent ! service: for I will immediately introduce him into a scene of action quite different from 16 what he hath hitherto known, and will show him how many things he, who has done sº much to oppose and injure my cause, must at length suffer for my name;" and he shall undergo them all with such cheerfulness, as shall render him an example to my saints in all the remotest ages of my church. - - - And upon this Ananias presumed not to object any further, but with all readiness and 17 joy undertook the message: he went thereforé, and entered into the house to which he had been so particularly directed; and being introduced to the person whom he was sent to visit, and laying his hands upon him, he said, My dear brother Saul, for I most readily own tº thee under that relation, the Lord, ſeven] Jesus who appeared to the on the way as thou. tº sijº, a dºlléâ with camest hither to Damascus, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled the Holy Ghost. with the Holy Spirit, which shall be poured out upon thee in a miraculous way before, I Aºts,xxii, 14. The God of leave this place. “For the God of our fathers hath, in his secret and mysterious counsels, sº tºº. §§ fore-ordained thee to know his will, and to see that righteous person whom our ungrateful XXII. Yº...º.º.º. nation hath crucified, and to hear as thou bast done the voice from his own mouth, though of his mouth. he be now returned to the celestial glory: for thou shalt be his faithful and successful wit- 15 wºn...º. ness, and shalt be employed to testify unto all men the truth of those things which thoſ; hast tiºn has seen and heard... already seen and heard, and of those which he shall hereafter reveal unto thee. And now, 16 tº why dost thou delay a moment longer?...Arise and be baptized, and thereby express thy *...*.*.*.*.*, desire to wash away thy sins, invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that illustrious Ing On the name of the and divine name which thou hast formerly opposed and blasphemed.” - ately there fell from his eyes And immediately, as soon as Ananias had entered the place and laid his hands upon him, *ś there fell from his eyes (something] like scales; and he presently recovered his sight, and is ºf upon this arose and was baptized. And presently after this, he received the extraordinary nd arose, and was baptized. * * º ; : s - gifts of the Holy Spirit,8 by which he was much more particularly instructed in the con- tents of the gospel, and fitted to communicate it with the greatest advantage to others. And having received food after a long abstinence, he was quickly strengthened, and recovered 19 his former health and vigour, which it was his immediate caré to employ in the serviee of his new Master. Jłnd as things now appeared to Saul in quite another light than they had done before, s disposition was entirely changed; and he associated with those whom he had come to persecute, and was for several days with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately after 20 §jºi"tº's."ºf his conversion, he preached Christ in the synagoguesh with great freedom and zeal, and *ś. But all that heard ºn proved by incontestable arguments that he is the Son of God. And all that heard him were 21 were amazed, and said," is astonished, and said, Is not this he who in Jerusalem was so exceeding zealous in his oppo- §."º, "...hº..."; sition to this way, as to spread desolation among them who called on this very name? and #º: who came hither also to this end that he might seize on all the followers of Jesus whom he ######jº; could find, and carry them bound to the chief priests 2 Whence, then, proceeds such an tº gº...asea is unaccountable change?, But Saul, perceiving there was such particular notice taken of the 22 more in strength, and cºn matter, and hoping that his testimony might have so much the more weight in consequence §º, #:... p.; of the knowledge which they had of his former character, was strengthened and animated that this is very Christ. so much the more in his zeal and activity, and confounded the unbelieving Jews that dwelt at Damascus, confirming and evincing with the fullest evidence, that this Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the JMessiah. - Jind when many days were fulfilled, in which several events happened which are else- where hinted at; and particularly, after he had made an excursion into Arabia to spread the gospel there, and returned to Damascus again, (Gal. i. 16–18.) the Jews, finding it was impossible to answer his arguments or to damp his zeal, resolved to attempt another 16 For I will show him how great things, he , mus suffer for my name’s sake. 17 And Ananias went his yway, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that ap- peared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, ord. ACTS IX. Acts, ix. 18. And immedi- 19 And when he had re- ceived meat, he was strength- ened. —Then was. Saul certain days with the disciples which hi were at Damascus. I 20 And straightway he preached Christ in the syna- 23 And after 2 3 that many c 4 chosen vessel.] Beza justly observes; that an instrument of build- laying on of Ananias’s hands was introductory, to Saul’s receiving his ing, agriculture, &c. is often in Greek called a kevog—and the word may very probably have that signification here. One would think none who knew Saul’s character before his conversion, could imagine there was so much merit and excellence in it, as that he should on this account be spoken of by Christ as a choice or singularly valuable person. ‘Com- pare 1 Tim, i. 13–15.), Yet this has been hinted of late, though the igº speaks of himself as separated from his mother’s womb, Gal. i. 15. which, in concurrence with many other scriptures, shows how much more natural and reasonable it is to acquiesce in the obvious and com- mon interpretation we have given. - efore the Gentile nations, ..] Amanias, could not infer from hence, that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles while they con- tinued uncircumcised, and so aliens from the commonwealth of ſsrael, &c., (a mystery which Peter did not yet know ;) for Christ might have used these expressions, had Paul been brought before heathen kings for preaghing him as the Messiah to the Jews and proselytes. - e I will show him how many things he must suffer, &c.) , If (as Grotius seems to think) this intimates that Saul should presently have a reve- lation, and perhaps a visionary representation of all his sufferings among Jews, and, Gentiles by land and sea, in tumults and imprison- ments, of which this book and his ſºpistles give so large a description, it must appear a most heroic instance of courage and zeal, that with such a yig w he should offer himself to baptism, and go on so steadily in his ministerial work. Never sure was there, on that supposition, an exacter image of Jesus, who so resolutely persevered in § work, though he kney all things that were to come upon him. - - onnething like scales.) Perhaps the Qutward goat of his eyes might be scorched with the lightning, and what fell from them might have some resemblance to the small scales of fishes.—Grotius thinks this was an emblem of the darkness and prejudice which before veiled his § and their falling off intimated the clearer views of divine things which he should for the future §§§ g He received the Holy Spirit.] We are sure from ver. 12. that the sight; and as this is connected, with his receiving the Holy Spirit, in ver. 17. it is reasonable to conclude that they were both conferred at this time... Yet it seems evident that the recovery of his sight preceded, and the effusion of the Spirit followed, liis baptism ; so that Ananias must have laid hands on him twice, if that action of his attended the de- scent of the Spirit on Saul; and it is the more probable it did not, as we do not elsewhere finil that any but the apostigs had the power of con- ferring it. ... (See chap. viii. 16, 17.) Dr. Benson has illustrated this by a variety of insenious arguments, and is particular in his conjectures (perhaps too minutely pursued) as to the several gifts which were now commºnnicated. Hist. vol. i. p. —180.) We are sure he had an ample revelation of the christian scheme, otherwise he could not have been qualified to preach it as lic did, (Compare Gal. i. 12. 1 Cor. xi, 23. xv. 3.) And we particularly find he was enlightened in the sense of the Old-Testament prophecies. He had also, no doubt, many other miraculous gifts And powers besides that of speaking with tongues. ut whether these were given (so far as they were statedly resident in him) instantaneously, or gradually, I think we cannot certainly deter- mine. Some miraculous effects did, beyond all doubt, immediately appear. - ...h Inumediately he preached Christ, &c.] Dr. Wells (Scrip. Geog. vol. iii. p. 375, ct in loc.) says, that as soon as Saul had strength to go any where abroad, he retired into the desert of Arabia, where he supposes him to have been favoured with the full revelation of christianity, and to . have spent some considerable time in devotion, atter which he returned to Damascus, and preached; which he argues from Gal. i. 16, 17. But that seems inconsistent with what is here said of his preaching imme- diately. , I therefore imagine his going into Arabia, (to which Dámascus now, belonged,) was his making excursions from that city into the neighbouring parts, of the country, and perhaps taking a large, circuit about it, which might be his employment between the time in which he began to preach in Damascus, and his quitting it after repeated labours there to go to Jerusalem. 408 SAUL PREACHES AT DAMASCUS AND JERUSALEM. SECT. way to silence him, and, that they might effectually accomplish i g gº º sº * * * * - g º * Qmplish it, conspired to kill him.i St Ir * 20. But Providence so ordered it that their design was happily discovered . made jº, t; ...'...}} ºjows Saul, who therefore kept himself concealed, and would not give them any opportunity to was ºś ACTS execute their purpose; and though they watched all t ...” * - watched the gates day and _IX. some assassin or other was waiting . of them "...; º º#: Yºº “as : #. if i. should offer to retire from thence, yet they could not compass their cruel design. 㺠. ..".; i. º: it was no way proper he should be ; hººd;ple, tº º • * ~ * & --~~, preserve a life of so much value, took ... .º.º.º. him by night, and let him down by the side of the wall in a basket, and so dismissed *... downtº the walkinabasket. heartily committing him to the divine protection, by the assistance of which he escaped the 26 hº º J º h; were lurking about the gates. (2 Cor. xi. 32, 33. .#nd when, Saul was come from Damascus to Jerusalem, he immedia * - associate with the disciples; but they all feared him, not believing that he, º .# ; sº º: himself so much by his rage against the church, was indeed a disciple; but suspecting that : jº iºnºſ. tº: di the change he professed was an artifice to work himself into their confidence; and by that ºil." 27 means to have it in his power to detect and ruin a greater number of persons. }}}. º º was a disciple. mabas, whose information had been more express and particular, taking him by the hand ºl º: tº: with an endearing friendship,” brought him to the tººl. Peter and James, the rest being #. .*.*.*.* º then absent from Jerusalem;’ and |he related to thenſion he had seen the Lordjesus Čhrist ºf º "...} in the way to Damascus, and that he had spoken to him in a manner which had sweetl ;..."; ,"ºp. conquered all his former prejudices against the gospel; and how, in consequence of i. mascus in the name of Jesus. change which was then made in his views and in his heart, he find pre boldly at Da- mascus in the name of Jesus, even at the apparent hazard of his life. 28 On this they glad received him into their number, and into their most intimate friend- 28, And he was with them ship, and he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem, for a little more than a jºie. and going out at 29 fortnight; (Gal. i. 18.) ...And with the greatest freedom he there bore his testimony to the 35 And he spake boldly in º ſº as boldly and as publicly in the name of the Lord Jesus as he had done ...";..."; “...; €IOre at La LIla SCUIS, §ei.”. *.*w. .And he spake and disputed, not only with the natives of Judea, but also with the Hel- ºnes went lenists, or with those foreign Jews who used the Greek language,” and came out of other parts to worship at Jerusalem, as being earnestly desirous that they might carry along with them the knowledge of Christ into their own lands: but some of them were so enraged at this unexpected opposition from one on whom they had so great, a dependence, that they - 30 attempled to kill him. ...And the brethren, being informed [of it, judged it necessary to con- 30 Which when the brethren sult his safety without any delay; and therefore several of them conducted him to Caesarea" ºf...";";". with such despatch, that he had not an opportunity of enjoying any interview with the fººd sent him churches in Judea which lay in his way, ğ. i, 22.) and from thence they sent him away with proper recommendations to Tarsus, the noble capital of Cilicia, and his native place where they apprehended he might meet with some support from his relations, and pursue the work of God with some considerable advantage; which he accordingly did. 31 . Then the several churches that, were formed through all Judea, and those more lately ..º.º. planted in Galilee and Samaria, being greatly edified by the seals that were set to the trut fºu's lº of the gospel, and by the confirmation of the news of Saul's conversion, (though they could ºf ºilº jº in not enjoy the benefit of his personal labours,) not only advanced in christian º: #. º‘. *}o; and hôliness, but had also a happy interval of external rest, as several circumstances in the ** multiplied. civil state of the Jews at that time concurred either to appease their enemies, or to engage them to attend to what immediately concerned themselves. And as the followers of jesus were not corrupted by this respite, but continued with exemplary devotion and zeal walk- ing in the fear of the Lord, and evidently, appeared to be in an extraordinary, manner supported by the aids, and animated by the consolation, of the Holy Spirit, they were i The Jers conspired to kill him.] What an amazing instance is this Beza well observes, we are quite ungertain on W si of the malignity of these wretched creatures; that when so great a per- were then absent from jº. Had ...:"...º.º.ºs. secutor was by, a vºice and appearance from heaven converted to chris- staid but about a fortnight, he would no doubt have seen them. tianity, they should be so far from following his example, that they p Jews who used the Greek language.]. So the Syriac version with should attempt to take away his life : In this design they were assisted great pro reſſ, explains the word, Hellenists; of whom see note a, on § the governor of the city under Aretas, king of Arabiaº (2 Cor. xi. 32, Acts wi: P § 12. p. 3& know not on what authority Epiphanius, as #3.) by whatever revolution it had come into his hands, after having been quoted by Beza on this text, asserts that these Hellenists endeavoured conquered by the Romans undº º Jos. Antiq. lib. xiv. cap. 2. to revenge themselves on Saul, by reporting every where that his con- tal. 3...] § 3. "See Dr. Benson’s Hist, vol. i. p. 196. version to christianity was the result of a disappointment in his ail: k They watched all the gates of the city.] This shows there were great dresses to the daughter of Caiaphas the high priest, as her father would numbers engaged in this bloody design; for Damascus was a large city, not accept him for a son-in-lay. If they told such ap idle story, it and had many gates. It seems that the Jews had not now so much power must however imply that they thought Saul a person of some rank, to there as they had when Saul was despatched from the sanhedrim, other- have been capable of forming finy such, prétension. , wise he might have been seized and carried to Jerusalem, by some such q Conducted him to Casarea.] I should have concluded this had been ...missiº’s “he himsejf had borne. But they had some interest, in the celebrated city of that name, on the Mediterranean, sº, so often Aretas's deputy, and therefore endeavoured to coinpass his death by this mentioned afterwards, and frºm whence, he might so easily have passed indirect method. See Miscell. Sacrg, vol. i. Abstraſt, p. 15. * by ship to Tarsus, had, not Paul himself told us he went through the ińen Saul was come to Jerusalem.] This is the journey of which régions of Syria and Cilicia, (Gal. i. 21.) which intimates, that he went he speaks, Gal. i. 18. in which he formed his first acquaintance with by land, and makes it probable that it was Cºsarea Philippi, near the Peter, the great apostle of the circumcision. But it is plain, as Mr. borders of Syria, which is here spoken oſ. Compare note or on Acts Cradock well observes in his excellept Apost. Hist. p. 65, he went nºt viii.;0, p. 494. to acknowledge his supremacy, but [fa'rap'naat) to see and converse with r Being edified.] I ſollow Beza's construction of this intricate verse, jºb ofter and feilow-labourer; and it seems by the expression, ºi, most ºréeable to the ººk ſº refer the reader to Dr. creptiva Tºpog autov, that he lodged with him. Hammond’s learned note on the word 6tkočop ouplevat, edified, for an ſº sº pºſing that the change he professed was an artifice, &c.J. It account, ºf that figurative expression, which is properly a term of may seem strange that so remarkable, an event as Saul’s conversion architecture. • * - -- should be concealed so long from the christians at Jerusalem : but it is s Had rest.] This is by, no means to be ascribed merely or chiefly to to be considered that there were not then such conveniences of corres- Saul’s conversion, who, though a great zealot, was but one young man, pondence between one plagº and another as We AQY have; and the war and whose personal danger proves the persecution, in some, measure, to then subsisting between, Herod Antipas and Aretaş, Kjósj."Anti. have continued at least three years after it. I conclude, therefore, the #."x:#.”.”5. ii. 7..] § i.) might have interruptéd that between perigd spºken of is that which commenced at of quickly after hiºtting jamascus and Jerusalem: not to urge, that the unbelieving Jews, in 99t for §, and entirely acquiesce in Dr. Lardner’s most judicious order to prevent the argument which, the christians might, draw from observation. Örgii, Book.f. citão. 2, § 2. vol. i. p. 203-219;) that this Saul’s , conversion,...might very, probably affect to give themselyos repose of the Öhristians might be occasioned by the general alarm which fºsterious airs, as if he was only acting a congeſted, partisure to find º.º.o the jews, ſabout A.D. 40.] when Petronius by...hº...ºrder their account in such a pretence, by mortifying the disciples, and of Căligula, (incensed by some affront said to have been offered him by bringing Saul into suspicion: , * the Ålºdian jews.j attempted, to bring the statue of that emperor º #; gºing him, &c.] Some have said, I know not on, what ºdon; them, and to set it up tº the holy of holies ; a horrid profana- evidence, that Barnabas was an old ºgguajºncé of Saul, and had been tion, which the whole people deprecated with the greatest concern; in Formerly his fellow-student under Gamaliel. (See Reading’s Life af the most solicitous and affectionate...manner. See, Joseph, Bºll., Jud. Öhrist, p. 565.) ...Perhaps, he º: have seen Ananias, or some other lil. ii., cap;,]9. iài. 9..] Antiq., lib. xviii, cap. 8, [al. Il-J Philo de Legat: witness of peculiar credit, on whose testiº9tly he intrºduced him." It ad Cai. p. 1024 and the large account given of the state ºf the Jews at }...'...'...itāīānātender friendship was established between this time, by P. ponson.” (Hist. vol. i. p. 201—210.). How long this them from this time: g rest continued we do nºt certainly know, probably till Herod inter- jºr, the apostles Peter and James, &c.J. Paul himself tells us, that on rupted it, as w? shall see hereafter, chap. xii. init; * & his going up to Jerusalem he saw no other of tho apostles, Gál. i. 19. tº 'cºlsºiation of the Holy Spirit..] Some think Tapak Angel signi- - as a messenger of comfort and peace to Saul in his darkness and distress! PETER, CURES AENEAS AT LYDDA. 409 considerably multiplied by a new accession of members, whereby the damage sustained in SECT. * the late persecution was abundantly repaired. IMPROVEMENT. How admirable was the condescension and care of our blessed Redeemer, in sending good Ananias thus early We cannot wonder at the objections which were at first ready to rise in his mind, but must surely yield to the great authority by which they were overborne, Gothy way, he is a chosen vessel. Thus does it become us to acquiesce in all our Lord appoints in pursuance of the schemes of his electing love; and thus should we, with brotherly affection like that of this holy man, be ready to embrace even the greatest of sinners, when they are brought in humility to a Saviour's feet, But when he is thus glorifying his power and his grace, what gratitude and love may he justly expect from those that are happy objects of it! º. the scales are fallen from their eyes, when they have given themselves up to him in the solemn seals of his covenant, when they have received the communications of his Holy Spirit, how solicitous should they be to love much, in proportion to the degree in which they have been forgiven" (Luke vii. 47.). And with what zeal and readiness should they immediately apply themselves, from a principle of gratitude to Christ and of compassion to sinners, to declare that way of salvation into which they have been directed and, So far as they have opportunity, whether under a more public or private character, to lead others unto that Jesus on whom they have themselves believed. - . . And now let us with sacred pleasure behold the progress of grace in the heart of Saul: let us view him risin from his bed of languishing with a soul inflamed with ſove and zeal, testifying the gospel of Christ, and confound- ing the Jews that dwelt at Damascus: let us behold him running the hazard of his life there, while their obstinate hearts refused to receive or endure such a testimony; and then returning to Jerusalem, desiring to join himself to the company of those whom he had once despised and persecuted; and on that most public theatre, under the very eyes of that Sanhedrim from which he had received his bloody commission, openly bearing his testimony to that gospel which he had so eagerly attempted to tear up by the roots...Thence let us view him travelling to Tar- sus, and visiting his native country, with a most earnest desire to fill Cilicia, as well as Judea and Damascus, with that doctrine which his divine Master had condescended to teach him, and to be the means of regeneration to the inhabitants of the place from whence he derived his natural birth. - - - And while we behold with reverence and delight the hand of God with and upon him, let us, as we are told the churches in Judea did while he was by face unknown to them, glorify God in him. (Gal. i. 22, 24.) . In all the labours and writings of Paul the glorious apostle, let us keep Saul the persecutor in our eye, still remembering that (according to his own account of the matter) it was for this cause that he, though once the chief of sinners, obtained mercy, that in him, as the º Christ might show forth a pattern of all long-suffering to them that should hereafter believe. (I Tim. i. 15, 16.)—Well might the churches be edified by such an additional evidence of the truth and power of the gospel. May the edification be continued to churches in succeeding ages; and while a gracious Providence is giving them rest, may they walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and be daily multiplied, established, and improved SECTION XXI. Peter cures AEneas at Lydda, auil then raises Dorcas from the dead at Joppa. Acts is. 32, to the end. *- ; ºr o Acts ix. 32. ' Acts is. 32. #! sºft i HAVING despatched this important history of the conversion of Saul, and of the vigour ...ſ.º.º.º. and success with which he set out in the christian ministry, let us now turn to another to the saints which dwelt at scene, which happened during that peaceful interval mentioned above. .Wow it came to Lydda. pass at this favourable juncture, that the apostle Peter, as he was making a progress through all the [parts] of the neighbouring country, that he might rectify any disorders that occurred, and instruct and confirm the new converts in the knowledge and faith of the gospel, among the other places that he visited, came also to the saints that dwelt at Lydda, a considerable 33 And there he fºund, a town not far from the coast of the Mediterranean sea. .4nd he found there a certain man §"hºle.” º§ whose name was £neas, who had been long disabled by a palsy, and had kept his bed eight jº, and was sick of the years, in so deplorable a state as to be quite incapable of rising from it, or to be any way "#"And Peter said, unto helpful to himself. .4nd Peter seeing him, and perceiving in himself a strong intimation hº º, i. Christ Inaketh the e Whole ; arise e º * * anºkºyºſ. And fie Messiah, in whose name I preach and act, now at this instant healeth thee,” and operates, arose immodiately. while I speak, to strengthen and restore thy weakened frame: with a dependence there- fore upon his almighty agency, arise and make thy bed.b And upon this the palsy left him, and the disabled mān was all at once so strengthened, that he arose immediately, and did it. Jłnd the miracle appeared so extraordinary to all the inhabitants of the learned and cele- "brated town of Lydda,” and to those of the fruitful vale of Saron, part of which lay in the neighbourhood of it, that they no sooner saw him and had an opportunity of being informed in the particulars of so unparalleled a fact, but they believed that he in whose 35 And all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron saw and turned to the Lord. fies in the general patronage and assistançc, as it well may 3, and theſe: seems to think it refers, to a couch on which he was to lie at the fore in the paraphrase I have expressed, both. De Dieu takes great table : but perhaps it might mean as if it were said to him, “Whereas pains to prove that ropeuopewat Taº 6086–87 Anóvyovro signifies that they advanced more and more in religion, &c. But it seems much more matural .# º it of the *:::iºde to their numbers in consc- quence of that advancement in Diety, &c. * a Jesus the Messiah (Íñāough Xplºros) healeth thee..] It is worth our while to observe the great difference there is between the inapner in which, this miracle is wrought by Peter, and that in which Christ per- formed his works of divine power and goodness. The different charac- ters of the servant and the Son, the creature and the GQd, are every where apparent.-Claritis justly observes here, that no faith on the part of the person to be healed was required; and the like is observable in many other cases, where persons, perhaps ignorant of Christ, were, Sur- prised with an unexpected cure. But where persons petitioned them- selves for a cure, a declaration of their faith was often required, that none might be encouraged to try experiments out of curiosity, in a manner which would have been very indecent, and have tended to many bad consequences. - - - - - - * b. Make thy bed.] Beza thinks it is in effect bidding him take up his bed; but De Dieu well observes, that grposov rather signifies to smooth it. As he was nºr the present to quit his bed, Dr. Hammond Aºd you have hitherto for a long time been unable to help yourself at all, now you shall be so entirely restored as not only to be able to rise, but to shake up and smooth your own bed, against the next time you have occasion to lie down upon it;” which he might immediately do, as a proof of the degree in which he was strengthened. c The learned and celebrated town of Lydda.] I call it so because there were several celebrated Jewish schools there, and the great sanhe- drim sometimes met near it. (See Lightfoot, Cent. Chor. JMat. cap. 16.) It was but one day’s journey distant from Jerusalem, and is said by Josephus to have been so large a town as not to have been inferior to a city. (Antiq.lib. xx. cap. 6. ſ: 5.] § 2.) Some have supposed it was the same with Lod, which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. (1 Chron. yiii. 12, and Neh. xi. 35.) . However as it stood near Joppa, it must have been situate near the borders of the tribe of Ephraim.—Saron, or Sha- rqn, which is here connected with it, was not a town, but a large ſertile plain or valley that lay near to fydda, and extended from Caesarea to Joppa, in which were many villages, as it was noted for its delightful situation, and the fine pasture it afforded for their flocks. Compare 1 Chron. xxvii. 29. Isa. xxxiii. 9, xxxv. 2. lxv. 10. 20. ACTS TX. 10–12 13, 14 15 17 23–25 26 28, 29 30 SECT. 21. ACTS 32 that the divine power would be exerted for his recovery, said to him, Eneas, Jesus, the true dº *E= PETER RAISES DORCAS FROM THE DEAD. SECT. hº it was done was undoubtedly the Messiah, and so turned to the Lord, and embraced 21. Ospel. - * - ng the number of converts in these parts was greatly increased } ºr and yet 36 Now there was at Jopp Acts more astonishing event which happened about the same time. For there was then at #ağ." jºjº, ñºl *ss Joppa, a noted sea-port in that neighbourhood,d a certain female disciple, named Tabitha, ..."; ; ;...º. 410 36 interpretation of 4- tº se Woman was full of d who, by the inte m of her name into the Greek language, is called Dorcas; [...] yºnd alms *e; wº € Cilvie she was universally respected as a }. of a very lovely character, for she was full of goo g 37 works and alms-deeds, which she did upon all proper occasions. ...And it came to pass in those tiº ... i. days, while Peter was at Lydda, that she was sick and died. And when they had washed her ºdiºiºmºn t; corpse, according to the custom of the place, they laid her in an upper chamber. hº tº aid her in •And as Lydda was very near Joppa, being but about six miles off, the disciples at Joppa a. ºn as Lºd. 38 - hearing that, Peter was there, sent two men to him, entreating [him] that he would not by da was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter any means déay to come to them,' that he might give them his advice and assistance under ...; that great distréss which the loss of so dear and useful a friend could not but occasion. Wouliºt."; ". .#nd Peter presently arose and went to Joppa with them. And when he was come to "j"Then Peter arose, and Tabitha's house, they brought him into the upper chamber where she was laid out; and all wºn. the widows stood by him, weeping for the loss of such a benefactress, and showing the coats ºf and mantles which Dorcas made for charitable purposes while she was yet continued with ...º.º. ii. 40 them. And Peter putting them all out, as he found in himself a powerful encouragement ºats and arºs &h; to hope that the petition he was about to offer was dictated from above, and therefore Rºde while she was should certainly be heard, kneeled down and prayed with great earnestness; and then turn- tº ing to the body, he said, as with a voice of authority in the name and presence of his great º Lord, the sovereign of life and death, Tabitha, arise. And he had no sooner spoke these º 41 words but she opened her eyes; and seeing Peter, she immediately sat y .* p yes: 7 39 ge * Jānd giving her and when she saw Peter, she his hand, he raised her up on her feet; and having called the saints and widows, who were **And he gave her his near the chamber, and had impatiently been waiting for the event, he presented her to them hand, and lified ºup; and alive. when he had called the saints * and widows, he presented her 42 ſhud ...] wonderful fact was presently known throughout all the city of Joppa ; and **And it know 43 many more believed in the Lord upon the credit of so signal a miracle. ...And as Peter was º: ilºpº". willing to improve so favourable an opportunity of addressing to them while their minds were **ś’ Aºi. impressed with so astonishing a miracle, he continued many days at Joppa, in the house of that he ºed mangjays i. one Simon a tanner:#from whence he was afterwards sent for to Caesarea upon an extra-; * * * * ordinary occasion, which will be related at large in the next section. IMPROVEMENT. Wer.32 BLESSED apostle ! who was thus enabled to imitate his divine Master in what he himself has celebrated as the 38 brightest glory of his human character, in going about doing good; (Acts x. 38.) and who had always a concern, like him, when he performed the most important offices of kindness to men's bodies, that all might be subservient to the edification and salvation of their souls. - 33 Behold, in what has now been read, not only a disease, which a continuance for eight years had rendered in- 40 veterate and hopeless, but death itself yielding to his command, or rather to the infinitely superior power of his Lord, the great conqueror of death for himself, and (adored be his compassionate º all his people too. It is most delightful to observe with what solicitous care of pious humility Peter immediately transferred the eye and 34 heart of Æneas, and of every spectator, from himself to Christ, while he says, JEneas, Jesus Christ healeth thee. He would not leave them any room for a surmise, as if it was by any power of his own that so astonishing a cure was wrought; but leads them to consider it as the act of Christ, and to ascribe the glory of the work to him, whose minister he was, and in whose name he spake. Thus if God favour us as the instruments of healing and animating those souls that were once lying in a hopeless state, not only disabled, but dead in trespasses and sins, let us ac- knowledge that it is not we, but the grace of God that is with us. (I Cor. xv. 10.) Great, no doubt, was the affliction which the disciples sustained when so amiable and useful a person as Dorcas was taken away from them by death; a person whose heart had been so ready to pity the afflicted, and her hand 30, 39 to help them; a person whose prudence and diligence had also been as conspicuous as her charity: for she well knew there were circumstances in which to have given the poor the value of these things in money, would have been a much less certain and suitable benefit than to furnish them with the necessaries and conveniences of life thus manufactured for their immediate use. And surely the garments which she made and distributed, must be the more precious to them in some degree for having passed through so kind a hand. Let us be emulous of such a characterin all the expressions of it which suit our circumstances in life, that when we are dead, the memory of our good actions may survive, to the credit of our profession, and to the glory of God. & It was a circumstance which greatly enhanced the value of the intended miracle, that it was to call back from the dead so excellent a person. And with what humility, with what faith was it performed ! Again does the servant follow not only the path but the very steps of his Lord, in dismissing all witnesses, that nothing might look like vain-glory, that nothing might interrupt the fervour of that address he was to pour out before God. , First he bends his knées in prayer to the Lord of life, and then he directs his voice with a divine efficacy to the dead. So may we, O Lord, learn to address ourselves to those under the º of spiritual death, with that spirit and vigour which i receive by solemn and affectionate intercourse with thee, who hast the life of nature and of grace at thy command - Who can imagine the surprise of Dorcas, when thus called back to life again, or of her pious friends, when they saw her alive? For their own sakes, and the sake of the indigent and distressed, there was cause of rejoicing; 37, 38 .40 41 d Joppa, a noted sea-port.] This, was the nearest maritime town to Jerusalem, and was the only port belonging to it on the Mediterranean sea, but was more than a day’s journey distant from it, though some have said Jerusalem might be seen from thenge. (Strabo, Geogr. lib. xvi. . 522.) We find it mentioned in the Old Testament by the name of jº as belonging to the tribe of Dan. (Josh, xix. 45.) It was the on account of her amiable form, which rendered her peculiarly pleasant in the eyes of her ºts.ºthers suppose, it rather to have signified a wild goat; and so the name might be intended to allude to the spright- liness of her temper, or to the quickness of her sight-For the etymology of the words, see Drusius and Grotius, in loc. ~- - - * f That he would not delay to come to them.] We can hardly imagine they urged his coming merely to comfort them under this breach ; but lace to which the materials for building Solomon’s temple were §:ht in floats by sea, and carried from thence by land to Jerusalem. (2 Chron. ii. 16.) Jonah took ship from hence for Tarshish. (Jonah i. 3.) And as it lay between Azotus and Caesarea, it was probably one of the cities where Philip preached the gospel in his progress. (Acts viii. 40.) Thore are still some remains of it under the name of Jaffa. . e Tabitha, who by interpretation is called Dorcas.] She might, as Dr. Lightfoot supposes, be one of the Hellepist Jews, and be known among the Hebrews by the Syriac name, Tabitha, while the Greeks called her, in their own language, Dorcas. They are both words of the same im- port, and signify, a roe or fawn, in which sense the word Aopkasis often ised by the Septuagint. Deut. xii. 15, 22. 2 Sam. ii. 18. Cant. ii. 9. iv. 5, &c. And thus the name might probably be given her in her infancy if they had any view to what followed, it was an astonishing, instance of faith, as it does not appear the apostles had before this raised any one from the dead. Were we to have been judges, perhaps we should have thought it much better that Stephen should have been raised, than forcing; but we must submit qur reasonings on, what we think fittest and best, to the infinitely wiser determination of Providence, or we shall be most foolish and misérable creatures. - e g In the house of one Simon the tanner.]... Some render it, a currier. His business perhaps is mentiongd; that it might appear the apostle was not ejevated, by the dignity of the late miracle, above mean persons and things. - CORNELIUs DIVINELY INSTRUCTED TO SEND FOR PETER. 41 and much more in the view of such a confirmation given to the gospel, and such a token of Christ's prºsenge with SECT his servants. Yet to herself it was matter of resignation and of submission rather than of exultation, that she was 21. called back to these scenes of vanity, which surely would hardly have been tolerable, had not a veil of oblivion – been drawn over those glories which her separate spirit enjoyed. But we please ourselves with a charitable and *...* reasonable hope that the remainder of her days weré yet more zealously and vigorously spent in the service of her 41" Saviour and her God, yielding herself to him as in a double sense alive from the dead. Thus would a richer treasure be laid up for her in heaven; and she would afterwards return to a far more exceeding weight of glory than that from which so astonishing a providence had, for a short interval, recalled her. SECTION XXII. Cornelius, an uncircumcised though pious Gentile, being divinely instructed to do it, sends for, Peter, who, taught by a vision not to scruple it, - returns with his messengers to Caesarea. Acts x. 1– ACTS x. 1. HITHERTO the gospel had been preached to the Jews alone; but God was now deter-SECT en a way for the discovery of it to the Gentiles; and, that a proper decorum 22. might be observed in the manner of doing it, he first sent it to one who, though uncircum; f ; cised, was nevertheless a worshipper of the true God, whose story we shall here proceed Agºs to relate. Let it therefore be observed, that while Peter continued at Joppa, (where the 1 X. conclusion of the former section left him,) there was a certain man in the neighbouring and celebrated city of Caesarea, named Cornelius, who was a centurion, or commander of an hundred men, of that which is called the Italian cohort or band of soldiers,” which at- ſe tended the Román governor, who commonly kept his residence at this city. This Corne-2 iº lius was a man of distinguished piety, and one that feared and worshipped the only livin gººgle, and Prayed to and true God with all his house, giving also much alms to the people of the Jews, thoug aſ Way. he was himself a Gentile; and praying to God continually in secret, domestic, and public devotions, as he esteemed it an important part of his daily business and pleasure to employ himself in such sacred exercises. Now at a time when he was thus engaged, he evidently sap in a vision, about the ninth 3 hour of the day, (that is, about three in the afternoon, which, being the hour of evening sacrifice, was chosen by him as a proper season for his devotion,) an angel of God coming in to him, in a form and habit of surprising brightness, and saying to him, Cornelius' And 4 lºgº; having fired his eyes upon him with astonishment, he was afraid, and said, Hºhat is it, Lord? §"º"hi." Fhy ºf Protect me from all danger! and let me know the meaning of this vision'". And presently *...º.º.º.º the angel executed the commission with which he was charged, and said to him, Thy " repeated fervent prayers, and thine alms with which they have been attended, are come up into the divine presence as a grateful memorial before God, far more pleasing to him than the most fragrantincense. ..?nd he is now about to give thee a very singular demonstration 5 of his favour, by discovering things to thee which it is of the highest importance that thou shouldst know. Send therefore some of thy men to Joppa, and fetch hither [one] Simon, 3. He lodgeth Will, one; whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon, by trade a tanner, whose house is by the 6 mon, a tanner, whose house - - : - - • *w - - ~ : 4- #"; thºsiº’Ée"ji sea-side ; and when he is come, as he will be instructed from above in the message he is tº hee what thou oughtest to bring, he shall tell thee what thou must do for the security of thy final happiness. . . 7 Andwhen the Angel which As soon then as the angel who spake to Cornelius was gone, he was so earnestly desirous 7 º §º..."; to hear what Peter was to say to him, that he immediately obeyed the orders that were jº. º, given him; and calling two of his domestics and a pious sºldier, who was one of them, that Acts x. 1. THERE was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, *.*. a cention of the band called mined to o the Italian band, 2 A devout man, and, one 3 He saw in a vision evi- dently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. 4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, 5 And now, send men to Joppa, and call for anc Simon, whose surname is Peter. 8 9 sº ar. always attended his person and waited upon hit. #nd having related to them all [these] º, things just in the manner they had happened, he ordered them to go for Peter, and sent he sent them to Joppa. them away to Joppa that very evening. 9. Qo the mortow, as they And as they set out too late to reach the place that night, on the next day, while they ¥º º º pº, were on their journey, and drew near the city, Peter went up to the top of the house to pray;" "...º.º. the flat open roof with which the houses in those parts were built, affording a more con- Ö"Ai ho"became "very venient place of retirement than could at that time be found within doors; and it was now jºb."lºº. . about noon, or the sixth hour of the day.” And he was hungry, and would gladly have taken ready, he ſelf into a trance, a little refreshment;f but while they were preparing dinner for the family, he fell into an a The Italian, cohort or band of soldiers.) A Roman cohort was a company of soldiers gommanded by a tribune, consisting generally of about a thousand. (See Pitisc. Léxic, in vocé cohors.) Many, with on this distinction of proselytes, till my reasons for doing it have been examined and answered. c PWhat is it, Lord 3) Grotius, have explained this as if the meaning yere, that Cornelius was a centurion of one of the cohorts belonging to the Italian legion: and the edi- tors of the Prussian Testament, with our Eyglish follower, have ventured (quite contrary to the original} to translate it so. But I refer the reader to the many learned and judicious things which Mr. Biscoe has said, (ºft Boyle’s Lccl., chap. ix. § 1. p. 330–335.) to show that the Italian legion did not exist at this time, and that the version here given is to be retained. I think it exceedingly probables for the reasons he urges, that this was a cohort different from any of the legionary ones, and conse- quently that Luke has here expressed himself with his usual accuracy;. and that the mistake lies, as it generally does, in those who think they have learning enough to correct him. . It is probable this was called the Italian cohort, because most of the soldiers belonging to it were Italians ; whereas Josephus mentions Caesarean cohorts, from whom it might be proper to distinguish this. (Jºntiq. lib. xix. cap. 9.. [al. 7..] § 2. ct lib. xx. cap. 8. [al. 6..] It might perhaps be the life-guard of the Roman governor, who generally Éid. in this splendid and celebrated City. b A man of distinguished piety, and one that feared God...] It is a very unwarrantable liberty that is taken in the version of 1727, to translate the latter of these clauses, a proselyte. I hope in a proper place to show that the name of proselyte was never applied by so ancient and correct a writer as Luke, to an uncircumcised persons and that, there is nq suflicient authority for the distinction, so generally admitted by learned men, between proselytes of righteousness, who by circumcision became debtors to the whole law, and proselytes of the gate, who, worshipping the true. God, renouncing idolatry, and submitting themselves to th9 observation of the seven (suppose) precepts of Noah, were allºwed, though uncircumcised, to live among the Jews, and converse familiarly with them... But the question is too complex, and tog important, to be andled in these notes. I therefore only desire that I may not be con; demned for waving all those interpretations of Scripture which depend Dr. VV hitby thinks these words are addresse to the angel as if Cornelius had said, “Sir, what would you say to me fº But it is both more literal and natural to render it as in the paraphrase, and to understand it as a sudden exclarization and prayer to God to preserve him, and let him know what was the design of so astoliishing an appearance. ent up to the top of the house to pray.] It seems a strange fancy of Mr. Reeves, (Apol. vol. ii. p. 68.) that this place to which Peter retired was some upper room where the disciples used to assemble, and that he went up to it as a consecrated piúce, in which his devotions would be more acceptable to God than elsewhere.-it is not improbable that he might the rather choose it for the advai;tage it gave him to look towards the temple at Jerusalem, to which Peter might hitherto have the same regard as the other Jews had, who used to turn their faces towards it when they prayed. ... (Compare l Kings viii. 29, 30, 44. Psal. cxxxviii. 2. Dan. vi. Tú. John ii. 4.) - e About the sitth hour.] Besides the two stated hours of prayer, at the time of the morning and evening sacrifice, (of which we havé taken notice before, in note b, on Acts iii.; J., p. 376.) the more devout among the Jews were used to set apart a third, and to retire for prayer at noon. Thus David says, Evening and norming, and at noon, trill. I pray F (Psal. lv. 17, and Daniel also kneeled upon his knees three times a day, an prayed. (Dan. vi. 10.). Whether Peter was induced by this, or by some other reason, to retire for prayer at this time, it seems at least to have begin customary in the first ages of the christian church to offer up their daily prayers at the third, the sixth, and the ninth hour. See Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. vii. p. 722. f Have taken a little refreshment.] After alt that Limborch and seve- ral other writers have said, this seems to me the most proper import o the word yewaag 641 and the authorities produced by Raphelius (Annot. er Herod. p. 343, 344.) and Elsner, (vol. i. p. 407.) to prove, that it sig- nifies just the same with making a set meal, confirm me in the contrary Oplºilon. PETER DIVINELY PREPARED TO VISIT CORNELIUS. SECT. ecstasy or trance,” in which a very remarkable and instructive vision presented itself to him. For he had a strong impression made upon his mind, and apprehended, while he lay in this state, that he saw heaven opened, and something of a large extent descending to him from ACT's above like a great sheet or wrapper,h which was fastened at the four corners, and so let down to the earth by an invisible hand: in which there were all [sorts of| things in great 12 variety, even four-footed animals of the earth, and wild beasts, and reptiles or creeping 13 things, and fowls of the air of several kinds. .4nd while this plenty of provision was before him, there came a voice from heaven to him, saying, Rise, Peter, since thou art hungry, and take thy choice of what thou wilt out of this great variety; kill any of these animals 14 which may be most agreeable to thee, and eat freely of what is before thee. But Peter “ said, with a kind of pious horror, By no means, Lord; I would much rather continue fasting a great while longer than satisfy my hunger on such terms; for I see only unclean animals here: and thou knowest, that from a religious regard to the precepts of thy law, I have never, from the day of my birth to this hour, eaten any thing which is common, or unclean, nor took the liberty of tasting what is prohibited in itself, or polluted by any 15 accidental circumstance that has attended it. And the voice [said] to him again the second time, Those things which God hath cleansed by such a declaration of his will in bidding thee to eat of them, do not thou any more call common, but readily submit thyself to his directions, and leave it in the power of the great Lawgiver to change his precepts as he 16 shall see fit. And, that it might impress his mind the more, and he might give the more articular attention to it as a thing established by God, the vision was not only doubled, ut this was done three times successively, (compare Gen. xli. 32.) and at last the vessel, with all that was in it, was taken up into heaven again. ...And Providence so ordered it, that at this very juncture, while Peter was doubting in himself what the vision which he had seen might import, or what it was designed to point out to him, behold, the men who were sent from Cornelius, the pious centurion mentioned 18 above, having inquired out the house of Simon the tanner, stood at the door; And calling to those that were within, they asked if one Simon, whose surname was Peter, lodged there: and being told that he did, they desired immediately to speak with him on an affair 19 which was of the utmost importance. Vow as Peter was reflecting on the vision, and was attentively revolving it in his own mind, the Spirit, by an inward, suggestion, said unto 20 him, Behold, three men are inquiring for thce. Delay not therefore, but arise and go down to these men, and take the journey, with them which they shall propose, without any scruple of conversing with them, or the person from whom they come; for I have sent them: and when thou comest to compare their message with what thou hast now seen, thou wilt easily know the intent of this vision, and the use thou art to make of it for thine own direction. v Peter instantly, before any message from the strangers could reach him, went down from the house-top to the men who were sent to him from Cornelius; and while they still continued at the door, said to them, Behold, I am [the man] whom you inquire for: What is the cause for which you are come hither ? 22 ...And they told their story in a few plain words, and said, Cornelius, the centurion, a righteous man, who feareth, God, and hath a character, attested by all the Jewish people, though he be not completely a proselyte to their religion, has been divinely instructed, by the ministry of an holy angel, to send for thee to his house, and to hear words from thee upon some important subject, in the º of which we do not doubt but thou art fully in- structed, though it be not particularly known to us: we therefore desire that,in compliance with his request and this divine command, thou wouldst be pleased immediately to go with us to Caesarea. Having therefore called them in, he entertained [them] there that night. And the next day Peter set out with them; and some of the brethren who were inhabitants of Joppa went with him upon so great an occasion, which could not but excite their diligent attention, and raise a high expectation. 17 21 23 IMPROVEMENT". WE are now entering on a series of the story in which we ourselves are intimately concerned: we are goin Ver. I see the first-fruits of the Gentiles gathered into the church ; and let us see it with gratitude and delight. 11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descend: ing unto, him, as it had been a great sheet, knit at the four ºrs, and let down to the earth ; 12 Wherein were all man- ner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts ànd, creeping things, an fowls of the air. ...And there came a yoice § him, Rise, Peter; kill, and 14. But Peter said, Not so Lord; for I have never eateſ, any thing that is common or unclean. 15. And the yoice spake un- tº him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. 16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. 17 Now while Peter doubt- ed in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sept from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate, - 18 And called, and asked, whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged theſe: ... . 19 While Peter thought on the vision; the Spirit said un- to him, Behold, three men seek thee. 20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing : for I have sent them. 21. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from , Cornelius ; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? 22 And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel, to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. 23 Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain bre- thren from Joppa accompa- nied him. gº to Most amiable and exemplary is the character of Cornelius, who, though exposed to all the temptations of a military life, 2 maintained not only his virtue but his piety too. He feared God, and he wrought righteousness; and daily pre- sented before God prayers' and alms, which added a beauty and acceptance to each other: and he was also an example of domestic as well as of personal religion; as if he had been trained up under the discipline of that heroic general and prince who so publicly and so resolutely declared before an assembled nation, even on the 3, 5, 6 sº position of their general apostasy, 4s for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Josh. xxiv. 15.) o him God was pleased to send the gospel; and the manner in which he sent it is well worthy of our remark. An angel appeared, not himself to preach it, but to introduce the apostle to whom that work was assigned. With 4 what holy complacency of soul did Cornelius hear by a messenger from heaven, that his prayers and alms were come up for an acceptable memorial before God! They whose prayers and alms are proportionably affectionate and sincere, may considér it as a testimony borne to the gracious manner in which an impartial and immutable God 7, 8 regards and accepts them.—Yet after all that they have done, let them learn, by the conduct of this devout, up- right, and charitable man, not so to rest in their own virtues as to neglect inquiring after that way of Salvation which God has established by his Son, but always ready to regard it as the one thing needful; let them maintain an uniformity in their character, by a diligent and candid attention to the declaration of it in the gospel. g An ecstasy or trance.] The word Skargºs properly signifies such a rapture of mind as gives the person who falls intº it, a look of sto: misjºnent, and renders him insensible of the external, objects round him, while in the mean time his imagination, is agitated in an extraordinary manner witſ, some striking scenes which pass before it, and take up aſl the attention. nations of men. The reader may see some extraordinary instances of this jºind mentioned by Gualtperius, in his large note on this,text. . - jī Sºfting—i.e. a great sheet or wrapper.) As, we do not in English call sheets vºss Els, I thought the general word here used more, pro- perly answered to a kevos, which extends to all sorts of household fur- jture as well as instruments of husbandry, war, &c. and has, no worſ that frecoilect, in our language, exactly answering to, it. The other word, offyn, signifies any large piece of linen in which things are wrapped, and seems to have been an emblem of the gospel as extending to all i Kill and eat..] This appears a general intimation that the Jewish christians were by the gospel absolved from the ceremonial law, in which the distinction between clean and unclean ments inade so considerable a art.—Mr. L’Enfant and some other critics have observed that the Jews ooked on unclean animals as an image of the the case, renders this émblematical representation peculiarly proper. See Grotius on ver. 15. p. 408.) and Raphelius that ax}\a should here b .* entiles; which, if it were k . Therefore arise and go down..] The learned Elsner, (Obserg. vol. i. (Annot. ex: Herod. e-rendered therefore, and have produced severa instances from approved authors in which it has that signification. p. 345, 346.) have observed PETER PREACHES THE GOSPEL TO CORNELIUS AND HIS FRIENDS. 413 Peter retires for secret prayer in the middle of the day, as if he had learned of David to say, Evening and morn- SECT. ing, and at noon, will I pray and cry aloud. (Psal. iv. 17.) He seeks a convenient retirement, and in that retire. 22. ment the vision of the Lord meets him; a vision mysterious indeed in its first appearances, but gradually opened by divine Providence, the process of which renders manythings plain which at first seemed dark and unaccountable. Agºs This vision declared to him in effect the abolition of the Mosaic ceremonial law, of which the precepts relating . . * to the distinction of meats made so important a part; and we see here with pleasure, that strict as his observation 14 of it had been from his very birth, he was not nów disobedient to the heavenly vision, but freely received the un, 21, 23 circumcised, and freely goes to be a guest to one who was so. Thus let is always preserve an openness and y of mind; and, in proportion to the degree in which we appear willing to know the truth, we shall find Impartiality that the truth will make us free. (John viii. 32.) -- s Nevertheless, as it was an affair about which some difficulties might arise, (and some censures may, even in the way of duty, be incurred,) he takes some of the brethren with him, that their advice and concurrence in what he 23 did might be a further justification of his conduct, to those who were not P; sufficiently aware of the divine direction under which he was. How agreeable a mixture of prudence and humility | Letit teach us on all proper occasions to express at once a becoming deference to our brethren, and a prudent caution in our own best-inten ed actions, that even our good may not be evil spoken of, when it lies in our power to prevent it. (Rom. xiv. 16.) SECTION XXIII. Peter coming to Caesarea, preaches the gospel to Cornelius and his friends; and, upon their beiieving it, and receiving the Holy Spirit by a gº; ºusion, he, without further scruple, admits them into the church by baptism, though they were uncircumcised Gentiſes. Acts x. 24, to the end. Acts x. 24. ACTS x. 24. *. AND the morrow after they IT was observed in the preceding section, that Peter and some of the brethren set out from SECT ë.º.º.º. tº Joppa, upon the invitation of Cornelius; and we now add, that the next day they entered 23. find had called together his into Capsarea; and good Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his relations ***** and most intinate friends upon this great and important occasion. ACTS 25 And as Peter was com. Ånd as Peter was entering into his house, Cornelius met...him ; and, to express his as *. lºº; reverence to one so remarkably the messenger of heaven, falling down at his feet, paid 25 worshipped him. “homage to him.” But Peter would by no means permit this; and therefore raised him up, 26 ºśſº saying, flrise, for I also myself am nothing more than a man as thou art, and pretend to fió also am a man. ” right to such profound respects as these, but am ready in civil life to pay thee all the regard that is due to thee. tº g º - 27 And as he talked with This happened just at the entrance of the house; and thus discoursing with him, he went 27 him, he went in, and found . * ge e jºr"... ." in, and found many of the friends and acquaintance of Cornelius gathered together; so } **And he said unto them, that Peter, at the first sight of them, expressed some surprise. And he said to them, You 28 Ye knºw how that it is a cannot but know that it is looked upon among us as unlawful for a man that is a Jew to *ś... join in friendly conversation with a Gentile, or to come into the house of one of another come unto one of another nation, who is not at least naturalized by circumcision and a full conformity to our law, hºº! which I am well aware that you are not: nevertheless God hath lately shown me that I *}}º.º.º.º.º., am to make no such distinction, and to call no man common or unclean. Hºherefore, when 29 |...}}... .".”. I was sent for hither by your messengers, I came away without any contradiction or de- iñº; º; bate. I would ask therefore, and desire to know from your own mouth, on what account have sent for me 3 you have sent for me.” 30 And Corpelius, said, " ...And Cornelius, with all frankness and seriousness, said, It is now four days ago that I 30 jº. . .'; was fasting till this hour, and at the usual time of evening prayer, at the ninth hour, I prayed jºb, hºſlººd in... in my house; and behold, to my unspeakable surprise, a man appeared and stood before me hº º tººl; "bº in bright raiment, whom I perceived to be an angel... .4nd as this put me in some fear, he 31 elgiº, d said, Cornelius, said, in a most gentle and engaging manner, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms xº~~ thºpraj is heard, and the are graciously remembered before God, who is about to give thee a most important token of lºgºmbºnes his favourable regard to thee: Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose sur- 32 §§ºregºſº, name is Peter; he lodgeth in the house of [one] Simon a tanner, by the sea-side; who, when *...º.º.º. he is come, shall speak to thee of various things now unknown to thee, but on thine ac- º: •º quaintance with which, new scenes of duty and happiness shall be opened upon thee. Whº. When he cometh, shali Immediately therefore, that very evening, I sent unto thee the messengers whom I now see 33 **śī, therefore I returned with thee; and thou hast done very well, and acted like a pious and charitable sent to thee; aid thou hast person, in coming. Now therefore, we are all here present before God, disposed to hear, §ºi with a becoming reverence and attention, all those things which God hath given thee in }; º' chgºe, * - - - 7 - - - - - - - - -f * * * * * * * * manded thee of God. Then Peter opening his mouth, and addressing himself to them with a seriousness and 34 f * ºśi solemnity answerable to so great an occasion, said, Of a truth, I perceive, and am now fully perceive that God is no re-satisfied, whatever my former sº were as to the difference between the Jews and specter of persons: Gentiles, that God, the great Father of the whole human race, is no respecter of persons, and accepts no man merely because he is of such a nation, nor so determines his regards 35 But in every nation he as to confine his favours to the seed of Abraham and the people of the Jews alone: But 35 that feareth him, and Yº- that in every nation, he that with a true filial reverence and obedience feareth him, and in eth righteousness, is accept- * * e te * wº ed with him. consequence of this worketh righteousness,” whatever be the family from which he is 36 The wº § Gag descended, though he be none of the posterity of Abraham, is acceptable to him. And this 36 * * * * * I apprehend now to be the meaning of that message which he sent to the children of Israeli a find falling down at his feſt, paid hanage to him.] He could not, as and their religion; as it was certail:ly the case of many before tho some have fancied, imagine Peter to be an angel, considering how the peculiarities of Judaism existed, and even before the institution of iii. angel had spoken of him. But his reverence, for him as a divine mes- Abrahamic covenant. I think this text proves that God would sooner senger, together with the custom which preyāiled in the East of express- send an angel to direct pious and up, gut persons to the knowledge of ing the highest respect by, prostration, might induce him to full gown at the gospel, than suffer them to perish by ignorance of it. "fººt far’āoº, his feet, and offer an homage which Peter wisely and religiously intimating that some such persons may bo found an;ong those that declined. . - º tº reject christianity when offered to thern in its full evidence, it deter. b. On what account you have sent for me..] Peter knew it º revelation, minºs nothing concernia; the existence of such in every nation, though and by the messengers, who were sent from Cornelius: but he puts him it tells us how God would regard them, supposing them to Nist.’ - on telling the story, that the company might be informed, and Corne- d That message which, he sent, &c.] I was long of opinion, with Eras- lius himself awakened and impressed by the narration ; the repetition mus, that the whole of this verse was to be referrej'to tº first wººds of which, even as we here read it, gives a dignity and spirit to Peter’s of tho next; as if Peter had said, You Know the cord which he sent, succeeding discourse, beyond what we could otherwise so sensibly iº #" º published, &c. But, upon further con- perceive. º - * - - sideration, I have changed my view of it, and preferred that interpre- ç He that feareth him, and togrketh rightgowsness.] This, for any tation which Irenaeus and Chrysostom #º in § thing I can see, might be supposed the case, of many who were far from Beza, Grotius, De Dieu, L'Enfant, and most of 'the moderns, have being in any degree Jewish proselytes, and had never heard of the Jews followed them. And I have acquics.coºl in it, not onjy in regard to the 414 PETER PREACHES THE GOSPEL TO CORNELIUS AND HIS FRIENDS. *. proclaiming the glad tidings of mutual peace by Jesus Christ, the great Ambassador of !3. e * º Israel,...,preaching peace, by peace; whº, after all his abºsemºnt, being exalted to his kingdom, is become Lord of oil, ſº c;..."; "... not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, and under that character will manifest the “ I ;) . *** riches of his mercy unto all that call upon him. (Compare Rom. iii. 29. x. 12.) And '86 since this is the case, far be it from me to maintain any further reserve with regard to those * whom God hath been pleased through him to receive. I shall therefore set myself with pleasure to communicate to you the method of salvation by him. & 37 . You cannot but in general know something, though it may be only in a confused and imperfect . 9f the report there, was but a few years ago through all Judea, which began ...º.º.º. first and took its rise }. Galilee, just in your neighbourhood, after th baptism which gº #;";º"; 38 John preached, who went before that º, person to preparé his way.'ſ mean the " " " Preach. report [concerning] Jesus of Nazareth,” how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit, and sº fººd; with a power of performing the most extraordinary miracles in attestation of his divine #yºw; mission; pho went about, and passed through the whole country, doing good wherever he ºft came, and particularly healing all those who were oppressed by the tyranny of the devil, dis. Fºllºdºvii; fºr Či possessing those malignant spirits of darkness with a most apparent and irresistible supe- was with him. riority to them; for God himself was with him, and wrought by him to produce those 39 astonishing effects. .3nd we his apostles, of whom I have the hºnour to be one, are wit- Tesses ºf all things which he did, both in the whole region of the Jews, and particularly in Jerusalem, their capital city; for we-attended him in aii the progress which he made, be. holding his miracles and hearing his discourses: thog, nevertheless this ungrateful people were so far from receiving with a becoming regard, that they cleið him in a most infamous . manner, even hanging him upon a tree and crticifying him, às if he had been the viiest of 40 malefactors and slaves. . Yet this very pºrson, though so injuriously treated by men, haſh the ever-blessed God raised up from the dead on the third day, according to repeated pre- º dictions; and, as a demonstration of the truth of it, haſh giveſ him to become manifest after 37 That word, I sau, ye know, which was biºi 39, And, we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree. 4), Him God, raised up the third day, and she wed him Openly ; 41 his resurrection, and evidently to appear, ..'Yot indeed to all the Jewish people,f nor to return to those public assemblies of them which he had often visited, but to certain wit- nesses who were before appointed by God for this purpose: even to us, who conversed very 42 with the greatest certainty, bear witness to the truth of this important fact. And he hath given in charge to us to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation by him to the people, and to testify wherever we corne that it is he, this very Jesus of Nazareth, who is the person ap- ſº by God [to be] the glorious and majestic Judge in the great day of future account, 43 their final sentence from his lips. 44 45 41 Not to , all the people, Jut unto witnesses chosen before... of God. cwen to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the intimately with him before his death, and were so far favoured that we have calen and i. drank together with him several times qfter he rose from the dead; so that we can, and do, 42 And he commanded us to preach unto, the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God #. º the Judge of quick and 63&C. oth of the living and the dead; who shall all be convened before his throne, and receive And if this were a proper audience wherein to insist upon this subject, I might copiously show, (as in due time I may do,) that to him all the Jewish prophets bear witness,” and that from what they foretold concerning him, it appears that every one who believeth on him shall receive the forgiveness of their sins 43 To him give all the pro- Fº witness, that through his name whosoever believ- eth in him shall recoive re- bni hi mission of sins. iſ has name, - though their crimes be attended with aggravations ever so heinois, for which there was no pardon to be had by means of any other dispensation. Phile Peter was yet speaking these words, the Holy Spirit, without the imposition of the apostle's hands, fell on Cornelius, and upon all his friends, that were hearing the word, in such a visible appearance of cloven tongues as that in which he fell upon the apostles and (Compare chap. xi. 15.) - Jºnd all they of the circumcision who believed, as many as came with Peter upon this occasion, were exceedingly astonishedk to see that the miraculous and important gift of the Holy Spirit, which they supposed peculiar to the Jewish nation, was poured out upon the Gentiles also ; who, as they imagined, could not have been admitted into the church with- out receiving circumcision, and so subjecting themselves to the observation of the whole “ other disciples at the day of Pentecost. 44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. - .45 And they of the circum- cision which believed wore astolished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured §. !he gift of the Holy TO:St 46 Mosaic law. But now they found it was incontestably evident that even those who were £” 4. . not circumcised might be partakers with them of the highest privileges; for they heard them, 46 For they heard them great judgment of some of these writers, and their exquisite skill in (he Greek idiom, but also because I see not how Peter could reasonably take it for grânted that Cornelius and his friends were acquainted with the message of peace and pardon sent to Israel by Jesus Christ, that is, with the gospel, wi:ich if they had known, there would have been no me- cessity of his own embassy to thern. It must he allowed, indeed, that Christ did not expressly preach this doctrine, and declare the admission of the uncircumcised. Gentiles into his, church ; but he had dropped obliged to give that perverse people the Jews the highest and most strik- ing degree of cyidence that could be imagined, (süpposing this would have been such,) so it is certain that the evidence which he gave of this fact, by the miraculous gifts conferred on the chosen witnesses of it, was of a nature capable of being conveyed to the world in general, in a much more convincing manner than Christ’s appearance in the temple for severał succeeding days could have beer. g Appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead..] This several hints concerning the extent, of his kingdom, which Peter, on was declaring, in the strongest terms; how entirely their happiness, de- such a striking occasion as this, might recollect as referring to this great pended upon an humble subjection of soul to him who was to be their event. (Compare Matt...viii. 11, 12., John X. 16. xii. 32. Mark, xvi. Jä, final Judge. 16, and Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.) In this yiew there was a peculiar pro- priety in mentioning Jesus as Lord of ali: but nothing can be more tºnnatural than Heinsius’s gloss and version.--The Logos, cho preached eace, &c. is the Lord of all. The LoGos is never said to do any thing § Jesus Christ. - e Concerning Jesus of JVazareth..]. He was rºot ashamed to own that the person he preached as the Messiah came out of a place so infamous among the Jews as Nazareth, since all the reproaches of that kind were so abundanthy rolled away by the glorious circumstances which he aſterwards relates.—The diſficulty here in the construction of the origi- na, seems to be the best removed by supplying the word kaTa, concern- ing, and so referring it (as Sir Norton Knatchbull and others have done) to the report which they had heard. The sense, however, will be the same, if avrov be considered as redundant, (in the same manner as we find the like expression used, Matt. xii. 36.) and the clause rendered, as it is in our translation, Hono Gºod anointed Jesus, &c.—ſt is more natural to admit either of these explications, than to repeat the words [You know] from the preceding verse, (as some would do.) and to suppose that Peter said to persons who were strangers to the gospel, You know Jesus of Nazareth. ºf 4. gº º ºn . e. - fjvot to all the people.J. This is not a place, for. Yindicating, the wis; dom and righteousnéss of that dispensation 9f Providence which ordered that Öhrist should not appear publicly after his resurrection. Many valuable writers have doné it at large. See Mr. Ditton, On the Resur. pºrtiii. 560-70. Bishop Burnet’s Fong. Dific. p. 52–53. , Dr. º Ó Christianity, chap. x.p. 164, et seq., Mſ., Fleming’s Christol. vºl. iii. 4–498. Bi Blackwall, Al Boyle's Lect. h'iº him all the prophets bear witness.]...Compare note f on Luke xxiv. 25., p. 353.−It is observable that, in this discourse to an audience of Gentiles, the apostle Peter first mentions Christ’s person, miracles, and resurrection, and contents himself with telling them, in the general, that there were many prophets in former ages who borc witness to him, without entering into a particular enumeration of their predictions. And Limborch récommends this as the best way. Qt beginning the con- froversy with the Jews themselves, as being liable to least cayil.—It would, however, have been easy to have proved the truth, of what the apostlé here asserts, from several testimónies of the prophets, ſhad, it been proper for that audiengº,) as will appear-by compºſinº Isa. Jiii., J.J. er. xxxi. 34. Dan. ix. 24. Mic. vii. 19. %. xiii. J. Mal. iv. 2.--We may further observe, that we do not read of Peter’s yºrking any miragle on this great occasion, as the preceding festimony of the angel, and the descent of the Holy Spirit in ſº miraculous gifts, while he was speaking to them, were sufficient proofs both of the truth of the gospel, and of Peter’s being an authorized interpreter of it. i. The JHoly Spirit fell upon all, &c.) Thus were they consecrated to God as the first fruits of the Gentiles; and thus did God direct that they shoujá be baptized, giving this glorious, evidence of his receiving then into the christian church as well as the Jews.--It is observed by Dr. Lightfoot, that one important çſfect of this descent of the º Spirit upon thern probably was, that hereby they were enabled to understand the Hebrew language, and sº had an ºpportunity, of acquainting them- seives with the prophecies of the Old Testainent in the original. k They of the circumcisioſ::ſuccre, astguished.] ... The Jews had long ago a proverb, among them, “That thq Holy Spirit never rests upon an p. 49 ishop erm. iv. p. 25, 25. * * *gº 1. * * - --> - - §erºons ºff, Mſ. Superville, tom.jv. p. 9-12. Bishop Atterbūry’s heathén.” This astºnishment shows that methon prevailed even in these jºsºm. Serm. voſ. i. p. 382–190, and JMiscell. Sacra, Essay ii. p. 77, #3 ºf Śājī only observe, in one word, that as God was by no means christians, whether the proverb was so old or not. * CORNELIUS AND HIS FAMILY BAPTIZED. 415 spºke with ºngues...and all speaking in [diverse] languages which they had never learned, and glorifying God for SECT. §.” ”* the figh displayof his ºraçãº; the ñº in such exalted sentiments and language as 23. abundantly proved their minds as well as their tongues to be immediately under a divine - CTS operation. A - • g - - * * X. 47, Can, any man...fºrbid Then Peter, yielding to the force of evidence, however contrary to his former prejudices, 47 water, that these should not b łºś. ... with great propriety answered, Can any one reasonably forbid that water should be broº ht, §º º, Holy Ghost as or offer to insist upon the common prejudice which has prevailed among us, that these Well ſls We ersons should not be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus, and solemnly received into is church, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? It is surely his seal set upon them; and it would be an arrogant affrónt to him to refuse them admission to the fullest communion with us. º º 1. º. ººmanded ...And as none of the brethren that came with him pretended to object any thing against 48 ... º.º.º. "r; it, he immediately ordered them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; choosing to §º him to tary make use of the ministry of his brethrén in performing that rite, rather than to do it with * e. his own hands, that by this means the expression of their consent might be the more ex- plicit. And being thus received into the church, they had so high a value for the conver; sation of this divine messenger, and for the joyful tidings which he brought, them, and were so earnestly desirous to be further instructed in that faith into the general profession of which they were baptized, that they entreated him to continue with them several days, and omitted nothing in their power to make his abode agreeable as well as useful. - IMPROVEMENT. THERE is no room to wonder that a man of Cornelius's benevolent character should be solicitous to bring his Wer.24 kindred and friends into the way of that divine instruction which he hoped himself to receive from the revelation 27 now opening upon him. What noble or more rational office can friendship perform 2 and how deficient is every thing that would assume such a name, which doth not extend itself to a care for men's highest and everlasting Interests | It must, no doubt, be some prejudice in favour of Peter on the minds of these strangers, to see that he declined 25, 26 that profound homage which good Cornelius, in a rapture of humble devotion, was perhaps something too ready to pay him. . The ministers of Christ never appear more truly great than when they arrogate least to themselves, and, without challenging undue respect, with all simplicity of soul, as fellow-creatures and as fellow-sinners, are ready to impart the gospel of Jesus in such a manner as to show that they honour him above all, and have learned of him to honour all men. - - That humble subjection of soul to the divine authority which Cornelius, in the name of the assembly, expressed, 33 is such as we should always bring along with us to the house of the Lord. And happy is that minister who, when he enters the sanctuary, finds his people all present before God, to hear the things which God shall give him in charge to speak to them, and heartily disposed to acquiesce in whatever he shall say, so far as it shall be supported by those sacred Oracles by which doctrines and men are now to be tried. - Well might Peter apprehend so natural a truth as that which he here professeth, that God is no respecter of 34, 35 persons, but every where accepteth those that fear him, and express that reverence by working righteousness. Let us rejoice in this thought; and while we take care to show that this is our own character, let us pay an impartial regard to it wherever we see it in others, still cultivating that wisdom from above which is without partiality as well as without hypocrisy. (James iii. 17.) º - We also know that important word which God sent to Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. 36 May we know it to saving purposes, and, believing in him, receive the remission of our sins in his name! May we 43 show ourselves the genuine disciples of this divine Master, by learning of him, according to our ability, to go about 3s doing good, sowing, as universally as may be, the seeds of virtue and happiness wherever we come! And then, should the treatment which we meet with be such as our Lord found, should we be despised and reproached, should we be persecuted and at length slain, he who raised up Christ from the dead, will in due time also raise up us; 39, 40 having suffered, we shall reign with him, (2 Tim. ii. 12.) and share that triumph in which he shall appear as the ap- 42 pointed Judge both of the quick and dead. - Let us not esteem it any objection against his divine mission, that God did not humour the wantonness of men 41 So far as to cause him to appear in person to all the people after his resurrection; it is abundantly enough that he appeared to such a number of chosen witnesses, who were thus enabled to evidence the truth of their testimony by 44, 46 the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. (1 Cor. ii. 4.) Of this, what passed with regard to these converts, when the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they spake with tongues, is an instance worthy of being had in everlasting remembrance. Let us rejoice in this anointing of the first-fruits of the Gentiles, by which their adoption into the family of God was so illustriously declared; and let us be ready, after the example of Peter, whatever pre-con- 47, 48 ceived prejudices it may oppose, to receive all whom the Lord hath received, from whatever state his grâce hath called them, and cordially to own them as brethren whom our heavenly Father himself doth not disdain to num- ber among his children. - SECTION XXIV. Peter being questioned about his interview with Cornelius, gives a particular and faithful narration of it, for the satisfaction of his brethreu, who were under strong Jewish prejudices. Acts xi. 1–18. Acts xi. 1. Acts xi. I. AND the apostles, and bre-THUS Cornelius and his friends were initiated into the christian religion, as was related SECT. i., § ºšeši; above; and Peter abode with them awhile at Cesarea, to confirm them in the faith they 24. § received the word of had embraced. But in the mean time the apostles and other brethren who were in Judea, OCI. heard in the general that the uncircumcised Gentiles also had received the word of God, and ACTs had been baptized; which very much alarmed them, as they were not informed in all the 1 * particular circumstances attending that affair. 3.And when, ºfter was And when Peter was come up from Ctesarea to Jerusalem, they of the Jewish converts 2 tºº."º"... who were still fond of the circumcision which they had received, and of the other ceremonial *ion contended with him, , injunctions to which they had submitted, warmly expostulated and contended with him * Sasins. Thou wentest in about what he had done;" Saying, there is a strange account come to us lately, and we 3 1 Can any one ſº !eater, &c.] . Erasmus supposes. A. trajection, 9 conclude they were baptized by pouring water upon them, rather than transposition of the words here : as if it had been said, “Who can forbid by plunging them in it. that these should be baptized yith water?’’. But it seems phost natural a. Contended with him.] How good an argument soever this may bc; tº understand it, (as Dr. Whitby does.) “Who can forbid, that water as Bishop Burmet and many others urge it, against the supremacy Qi should be brought?” In which view of the clause, one would naturally Peter, it is nome against §e inspiration of the apostles; ſor it only PETER'S ACCOUNT OF HIS INTERVIEW WITH CORNELIUS, SECT. cannot bút hear it with great surprise and displeasure, that thou didst go in as a guest to to , men uncircumcised, and 24. Yer. C# seq. the house of men who were uncircumcised, and didst edt and drink as freely with tº as if idiºsit with them. they had been God's peculiar people as well as ourselves; a thing, as thoh well knowest, ... • agº quite unexampled among us. - - - 4 ...And upon this Peter, beginning from the vision he had seen, which was evidently de- 4 But Peter rehearsed the signed to dispose him to such condescension, opened to them [the matter] in order, and ##"...a...hey.º. ave them a full detail of all ti - ~ --> - * - ; : and expounded it by order 5 # ve tr t bef i. of all the particulars with the exactest truth and simplicity: saying, unto them, saying, was, Just º ore this extraordinary, event happened, which I confess may well surprise 5 1 was in the city of Joppa, yºu, praiſing, in a proper place of retirement in the house of Simon the tanner in the city ºffii.º.º.º.º. - - - - * * * - * Hł VCSS e §: |* º th º #SCI2C) º ; vision, even something like a great sheet dé. º . #!"º". 7 º Cºxe77, WY Wà S / 67 (º. Tº ºf 7- * - ºn- 4 º' is ºr. r - Teat Sheet let down from 6 ºf g e to h * I as tº dºwn by the four corners; and it was so directed that fº w came º 9 *ē, find as I was looking attentively wipon it, I observed and saw a great "àºj, when I r *- . .* r **- sº - OT) LR) e W : yº O º footed creatures of the earth, and wild beasts, and reptiles, and fowls of the hā'ºï 'º.' . . ... buºnºice of this circumstance, that, they were all of sorts prohibited by our jºin. • **** * - - • - - Ql Of the eartſ) § i ...And I heard a £oice, from heaven saying to ºne, Arise, Peter, kill any of these ani- jºidºsºn...; mals that are here before thee, and eat freely of whatever thou pleasest. But I said, By º, i. means, ſºi £º common or unclean, nothing prohibited in itself or polluted º,..., Ārise, Peter; 9 y º º %. } hath ever entered into my mouth, and by thy grace nothing of that kind § Bājja, Not so, Lord: *... shall...;ºgicº answered me the second time from heaven, Those things which God ſºliº. 10 hath cleansed by bidding thee to eat of them, do not thou any more call commºn. .ºnd this jºi." “. was done three times exactly with the same circumstances, that it might make the greater impressiºn upon my mind ; and at length all the things which I had seen were drawn up again into heaven. ed into my mouth. - 11 gººd behºld, at that instant, as soon as the vision was over, while I was thinking what 9 But the voice answered ºne again from heaven, What º nath cleansed, that call In Ot tholl COmm On, .. nd this was done three º: 3. *. §§ were drawn - - ** * * • - 3 gºlin Weſt. might be the meaning of it, three men were come to the door of the house in which I was, "liºğediate- 12 who were sent from Caesarea to me by Cornelius the centurion. .4nd immediately the Spirit łº, º: - - * i- º - O 6. In OUIS commanded me to go with them without any scruple or debate. Accordingly I went, and these ºn 8. sia brethren also, who are here present, and are witnesses of all that happened afterwards, "ße Spirit bado me 13 went along with me 3 and we arrived at Caesarea, and entered into the man's house. .4nd go yº. nothing doubt- when I had inquired what was the reason of his sending for me, he presently told us how #ife.”...; ...” º he had seen an angel standing by him in his house, and saying to him, Send men to Joppa, .º.º.ºred into the 14 : ſº.º, º º, º is Peter: who shall instruct thee in the way of life, 13 à. shewed h; hº * * r **** - .62.É ()?/ ? (). t - •º r A º - - - he had seen an angeſ in his and speak words to thee by which thou and all thy family shall be saved, if they are attended hou. Wii.hºn's; to with a proper regard. unto him, Send men to Joppa, 15 And as Ibegan tº speak, before I had made any considerable progress in my discourse, ...º.º." " the Holy Spirit fell upon them in the visible form of cloven tongues of fire, even as it did wººi ſpon us at the beginning of our public ministry, after the ascension of our blessed Lord. §§tº * 16 (Chap. ii. 3, 4.), -ănd this was so extraordinary an occurrence, that I immediately remem- tº: bered, and could not but seriously reflect upon, the word of the Lord Jesus as then *}'}; fl.ºf 5 remarkably verified, how he said but just before his ascension, (chap. i. 5.) John indeed bap- wº º: tº: tized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit: for this J.; forth of ººººººº; - * * * - - - "I water; Ye Sh:1 } w the Spirit upon them appeared to be a kind of baptism, whereby that prediction was won- ;..."&##" is "#. 17 derfully accomplished. Since therefore God himself, the sovereign Dispenser of his own favours, gave to them the very same gift as ſhe did] to us who had before believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I should be able to prohibit God, or should presume to oppose # 'º';...? &#. myself against his wise and gracious pleasure? It rather appeared to me, as I persuade sº, that I could withstand myselfit must to you, my brethren, matter of congratulation and praise, than of cavil or “” complaint. - ...And when they heard these things, they acquiesced in them with pleasure, and glorified God 18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, host. for so wonderful a manifestation of his rich grace, saying, God hath then given to the poor ...”.”..."; ă. Then hath God also to the 17 Forasmuch then as God 18 fº *67) (27? Iſſ - - - - ife d r - Gentiles also repentance unto life,4 and has not only made them the overtures of it, but has Gentiles granted repentance gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on #. wrought it in some of their hearts; and we shall rejoice to see it prevailing more ºff. ...” 8LIl Ci (I) Ol"G. * .. - IMPROVEMENT. WITH what joy ought every one who loved God or man to have heard that the Gentiles had received the word of the gospel ! yet we find those of the circumcision disputing with Peter upon the occasion. Their prejudices as Jews were so strong, that they thought the passage to the church must still lie through the synagogue, and so remembered that they were disciples of Moses, as almost to forget they were the disciples of Christ. Let us always guard against that narrowness of mind which would limit even the Holy One of Israel to the bounds which we shall mark out, and exclude others from his favour, that our own honour may appear so much the more signal. But let us with pleasure observe the mildness and prudence of Peter; warm as his temper naturally was, and high as he was raised by the divine favour. Though he had been so remarkably turning the key of the kingdom ofheaven itself, and opening it by immediate divine direction to the uncircumcised, that they might enter; yet he 1, 2 proves, that some who did not well understand the principles on which they went, took upon them, without reason, to arraign their conduct, and consequently did not in this respect pay a becoming deference to them. It plainly shoys how little regard was had to any uncircumcised persons, whatever profession they might make of worshipping the God of Israel, and is therefore very inconsistent with what has generally been sup- posed, and so much insisted upon, of the great difference which the Jews made between those who are commonly called proselytes of the gate and the idolatrous Gentiles. Had it been usual to distinguish. them, so much in their regards, Peter would not have needed to vindicate his conduct by urging the vision, since he knew, from the first mention of Cornelius to him, (chap. x. 12.) that he was poſłapºwog row 6 cov, gº feared God, that is, as these critics would explain it, a proselyte te gate. <ſ, Peter opened to them [the matter] in order.] As it is probable that they were only some of the Jewish converts who questioned Peter about what he had done, he might no doubt have overborne them, by urging his apostolical authority, and referring them to the miracles by which it was established : but he chose to treat them in a more gentle anq condescending manner, giving, therein, a most amiable example of i.umility and condescension, which it will be the glory and happiness of gospel ministers to follow in circumstances which bear any resemblance to 1 1S. -- * * * e c Were all of sorts prohibited by our law.] There is no sufficient reason to suppose, as most have done, that all manner of living crea- tures, clean and unclean, were presented to Peter in his vision ; for though it be expressed in very general terms, especially in the first ac- count of it, (cháp. x. 12.) yet it is manifest there would have been no room for Péter’s scrupling to eat, had he seen any creatures there but what he apprehended to be prohibited by the law. And the translation I have given of that verse, which perſectly agrees, with, the original, will not oblige us to suppose that any animals were there but such as were esteemed unclean. - d God hath then given to the Gentiles also repentance unto life.], . In this they acquiesced for the present, til] the controversy was renewed by some fiercer zealots, chap. xv. 1, 5. But I beg leave to observe here, that it you!!! have been yery.jmproper for them thus to have spoken of the Geptiles in general, if they had only meant $gch as had already forsaken idolatry, # were worshippers of the true God. They º speak of those to whom this repontance was granted, as persons, wh9 before, according to their apprehension, were in a state of death; -in which condition it is probable they had thought all ūncircumcised persons to be; and without doubt they must mean to include the idolatrous Gentiles among the rest, as those §§ were most evidently and certainly so.--To render this clause, “God has terms of their repentance,” is, i in an unwarrantable manuer. granted salvation to the Gentiles on the think, determining and limiting the sense BARNABAS CONFIRMS THE DISCIPLES AT ANTIOCH. stands not upon the general honours of his apostolic character, nor insists upon that implicit submission to him which some, with no such credentials, have been ready to arrogate to themselves. But he condescends to the Founger brethren, and gives them a plain, distinct, and faithful narration of the whole matter, just as it was. hus let us learn, in the spirit of gentleness, humility, and love, to vindicate our actions where they have been uncandidly mistaken. And when we have the pleasure to know that they are right, let us enjoy that happy reflection to such a degree as not to suffer ourselves to be disquieted and put out of temper by the rash charges and censures of those who will judge our conduct before they have examined into it; and are disposed, more to their own detriment than it can possibly be to ours, to err on the severe extreme. , Peter, we see, very circumstantially recollected what he had seen and heard. Let it also be our care to treasure up in our memory, and to inscribe on our hearts, whatever God shall be pleased, though in more ordina methods of instruction, to discover to us; and never let us be disobedient to any intimation of the divine will, but, on the contrary, always most cheerfully acquiesce in it. Who are we, that in any respect we should resist God? and particularly, . are we, that we should in effect do it by laying down rules relating to christian com- munion, which should exclude any whom he has admitted? Oh that ăil the churches, whether national or separate, might be led seriously to consider how arrogant an usurpation that is on the authority of the Supreme Lörd of the church Oh that the sin of this resistance to God may not be laid to the charge of those who, per- haps, in the main with a good intention, in an over-fondness for their own forms, have done it, and are continually doing it! #. these brethren of the circumcision, let us be willing to yield to the force of evidence, even when it leads us into an unexpected path; and let us glorify God when he is pleased to manifest himself to those who seemed to us to have the least room to hope for such a favour. Whether it be to us or to others that God hath granted repentance unto life, may we rejoice in it, and adore his goodness therein' For it is certain that none of the delights of life, which men so fondly pursue, are half so valuable as that godly sorrow which worketh repentance wnto salvation SECTION XXV. The gospel is preached at Antioch.: Barnabas coming thither, confirms the diseiple - - * w who are there called Christians. Agabus visits them, and oretells the famine, which occasions their sending alms to S jerusalem. Acts xi. 19, to the end. Acts xi. 19. Acts xi. 19. Now they which were scat- IT is now proper to mention some other circumstances relating to the church elsewhere. tºº. We observe therefore, that during the transactions which have been before related, they ; ºf who were dispersed from Jerusalem by the distress and persecution which arose about Stephen, enlce, and . Vy prūS, after they had gone through Judea and Samaria, (chap. viii. 1.) travelled as far as Phaenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word of the gospel to mone but the Jews only; not Antioch, preaching the word to none É. unto the Jews Only. 20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto, the Grecians, preaching the Lor €SU.S. of them who bore a part in this work, were men that were natives of the island of Cyprus, and of the province of Cyrene in Africa, who having heard the story of Peter's receiving Cornelius, though a Gentile, into the communion of the church, took occasion from thence to imitate his example, and having entered into Antioch,” spake freely to the Greeksb as well as to the Jews; preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus to them, and inviting them to 21, And the hand of the accept of his invaluable privileges. ..And the hand of the Lord was remarkably with them ; ..."...º.º. in this pious labour, and a great number of the Gentiles were so effectually convinced and turned unto the Lord. wrought upon by their discourses and miracles, that they believed and turned unto the Lord Jesus, consecrating themselves to the service of God through him, with the most humble dependence on his blood and grace. ...And the report concerning them came to the cars of the church that was at Jerusalem, who, as they had lately seen a way was opened for the conversion of the Gentiles, received the tidings of this further progress of the gospel with peculiar pleasure; and, desirous to con- firm them in the faith into which they had been initiated, they sent forth Barnabas to go as far as Antioch: Who, when he was come thither, and beheld the grace of God manifested towards, them in bringing them to the knowledge of himself in a Redeemer, greatly rejoiced in the good work that was begun among them, and exhorted them all to adhere io the Lord with full determination and resolution of heart, whatever circumstances of diffi- culty and extremity might arise. And the exhortation, as it came from his mouth, was peculiarly graceful and effectual, for he was a good man himself,” and full of the Holy 22 Then tidings, of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Je- rusalem : and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 23 Who when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the OrC}. 24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much peo- being at all apprehensive that the Gentiles were to share in the blessings of it. But some : 417 - ºf ECT. 24. ** *-*. (“S *A. I 18 SECT. 25. 2 l 23 Spi- ple was added unto the Lord rit and of faith; and speaking from the deep experience of his own heart, and with ë. - full authority which so exemplary a life gave him, as well as with such extraordinary divine assistance, he was the happy, means, not only of confirming the faith of those who had already embraced the gospel, but of bringing others to an acquaintance with it. ..And thus a considerable number believed and were added unto the Lord, and were by baptism received into the church. Them Barnabas perceiving, after some abode there, that he wanted an assistant in his labours, went to Tarsus to seek Saul, whose departure thither we mentioned above in the 26 And when he had found last particulars which we related concerning him. (Compare Acts ix. 30.) And finding him 25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul : a Having entered into Antioch.) This is an account very different from that which ecclesiastical history gives us, which affirms that Peter was the first who preached the gospel at Antioch, which I mentioned to ment of the two different periods that some have supposed, in the first of which it was preached only to those called proselytes of the gate, and in the second, to those who were before idolaters; yet the hypothesis show how little these traditions are to be depended upon as to the first settlement of christian churches in the world, of which I think we know little certain but from the New Testament. It seems more probable that Simeon, Lucius, and Mamaen, who are mentioned, chap. xiii. 1; might be the first preachers here.—Autioch was then the capital of Syria, and, next to Rome and Alexandria, was the most considerable city of the empire. - Spake to the Greeks.] Instead of EXAmvta ras, the Alexandrian manuscript, which is favoured by the Syriac and some other ancient versions, reads EXXmvas, which common sense would require us to adopt, even if it were not supported by the suthority of any manuscript at all ; for as the Hellenists were Jews, there would, on the received read- ing, be no opposition between the conduct of these jº and those mentioned in the preceding verse. Here, undoubtedly we haye the first account of preaching, the gospel to the idolatrous Gentiles ; for it is cer- tain there is nothing in the word EXAnvas to limit it to such as were worshippers afthe true God; nor can I find the least hint in the New Testa- seems, in itself so improbable, that it stands in need of the strongest proof before it can be admitted, as I may elsewhere show at large. It is, well known, that as the Greeks were the most celebrated of the Gen. tile nations near Judea, the Jews called all the Gentiles by that general name: Compare Rom. x, 12. 1 Cor. xiii. 13. Gal. iii. 2S. Col. iii. 11. See also 2 Mac. iv. 10, 15, 36. vi. 9. xi. 24. . c. A good man.] The author of JMiscell. Sacra thinks the expression signifies that he was a man of a sweet and gentle disposition, not dis- posed to lay any unnecessary burthens on these new converts, and so he pore fit to be employed at Antioch in these circumstances, Jºbstract, D. 1 S. d Went to Tarsus to scek Saul.] I have never been able to discover on what foundation the ingenious writer mentioned in the last note asserts, that this was the second time of Saul’s being at Tarsus aſler his con- version, and that he had in the mean time (that iss since his first journey łº, Acts is. 30.) made the tour of Syria, aná preached the gospel le re. 53 4.18 SECT. 25. ACTS XI. PAUL AND BARNABAS SENT WITH ALMS TO JERUSALEM. there, he gave him such an account of the state of things, and such a view of the pro- him, he brought him unto bability of extensive usefulness which seemed to present itself there, that he succeeded Antioch- g i. i. proposal, and brought him to Antioch,” at his return to that populous and cele- rated city. .And it came to pass that they continued there, and assembled at proper times in the church –And it came to pass, that 26 Jor a whole year, and taight considerable numbers of people: and the disciples were by divine à.º.º.º.º. 27 28 29 30 Ver. 19 20 21 23 * * * * * themselves with the church appointment first named Christians at Antioch ºf a title that was really an honour to them, and j º jºi d * well adapted t tº º thei lati g & the disciples were cahed and was very pted to signify their relation to Christ as their common Lord, and Širis...}; i.ºtij their expectations from him as their Saviour. ..?nd in these days, while, Barnabas and Saul were at Antioch, certain prophets who were 27And in these days came divinely inspired to foretell future events, came from Jerusalem to Antioch...And one of Fºjº" Jerusalem un- them whose name was flgabus, stood up in one of their assemblies, and signified by the im- ºft mediate direction of the Spirit, that there should shortly be a great famine over all the §: º, Aº land; which accºrdingly came to pass quickly after in the days of Claudius Cæsar, the #: º ºf sº, Roman emperor then reigning. ...And, in consideration of the distress which it might bring ...e. jº"; along with it, the disciples at Antioch determined that, according to the respective abilities of *ś. * tº º wº * - as iples, ever each,h they should send a liberal contribution, to the assistance of the believing brethren who man according to § §. dwelt in such great numbers in Judea,i and had many poor among them, who would par- º jºji ticularly need to be supported in a time of such calamity. And this accordingly they did, in #%ich * sending it to the elders, to be delivered to the deacons, or to be otherwise distributed as a;'s...º.º. º..."; they should think fit; being satisfied that they would make a prudent use of what they gººds of Barnabas and sent them upon this occasion by the hand of Barnabas and Saul, who took the money they "" - had collected to Jerusalem, and, as the famine lasted for some time, were afterwards em- ployed in prosecuting this generous and necessary work by new collections elsewhere. IMPROVEMENT. LET us with pleasure observe how, in the instance here recorded, the blood of a martyr was the seed of the church; an event afterwards so common, that it became a proverb. Thus they who were scattered abroad on the death of Stephen, every where dispersed the gospel; and let us be thankful that some of them brought it to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. Freely did it run, and illustriously was it glorified: but with whatever evidence and advantage they preached it, with whatever spirit and zeal, (in some measure the natural consequence of having been called to suffer so dearly for it,) the success of all is to be traced up to the hand of the Lord that was with them. This engaged men to believe and turn unto the Lord ; to stop in their career of sin, to pause upon their conduct, to accept of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour, and to consecrate themselves to God through him. Oh that this hand might be with all his ministers! Oh that such success might every where be produced by its powerful operations ! Well might Barnabas rejoice when he saw such a scene, and more distant brethren be pleased when they heard of it; for what is the triumph of the gospel but the triumph of human happiness? And who that has cordially received the gospel, does not feel his .. heart most tenderly interested in that? He wisely and properly exhorted them, having once embraced this divine and glorious dispensation, with full purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord; and there was great need of such an exhortation, as well as a very solid foundation for it. Such diffi- culties will arise in our christian course, though we should not meet with persecutions like theirs, that we shall need a most steady resolution of mind in order to our adherence to the Lord; but let us arm ourselves with it, and hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, since he is invariably faithful who hath promised. (Heb. x. 23.) Such exhortations as these will be most effectual when they come, as in this instance they evidently did, 24 from a good man, whose example will add authority to his words, and so be a means not only to quicken religion 26 descent an in the hearts of those who have already embraced it, but to propagate it to those who are yet strangers to it. With pleasure let us reflect upon this honourable name which the disciples of Jesus first wore at Antioch; they were called christians, as it seems, by divine appointment. And would to God that no other, no dividing name, had ever prevailed among them . As for such distinguishing titles, though they were taken from Apollos, or Cephas, or Paul, let us endeavour to exclude them out of the church as fast as we can ; and while they continue in it, letus take gréat care that they do not make us forget our most ancient and mostglorious title. Let us take heed that we e Finding him, he brought him to Antioch.] This he might do, as very He therefore supposes all, these to be included in this prophegy. (Serm. rightly judging, that since he was by his country a Greek, though by at Boyle's Lect chap. iii., § 3. p. 60–66.) But the persons with, regard #e. of the Hebrews, that is, descended from two Jewish to whom it is here mentioned, were sº much more concerned in, the first Parents.”he would be peculiary” fit" to assist ilim in his great work, of these, which seems also to, haye been the most £xtreme; that, I am §ºiſy considéºn; of the one hand, his fine accomplishments as a still of opinion the prediction chiefly refers to that. Which was,the death scholar, and on the other, his extraordinary conversion, and eminent in which Helena, dueen of Adiabene; sº generously relieved the Jews piety and zeal. with corn and other provisions from Egypt and Cyprus, whigh, * the By divine appointment first named Christians at Antioch.] They §: proves that the famine was not universal at that time. See Wits were before this called by the jews Nazarenes, or Galileans, and by JMelétèm. dº Pit. Paul, cap. iii. 355... sº - I s each other, disciples, believers, brethren, or saints. But they now as- h According tº the respective abilities. 9ſ. each.] I think this all that, is sºeā the nine ºf their great ileºder, as the fiatonists, Pythagoreans, intended by kabos murope. To 74s, though the words might more literally picureans, &c. with much less reason had done the maine of theirs;. ſ be rendered, according to the abundance which each had; for it is hardly think, with Dr. Benson, that the use of the word xonua 7ta at implies to be imagined that every christian at Antioch was in abundant or that it was done by a divine direction, and have translated, it aggordingly; pientiful circumstanges; nor do I think, any thing can be inferred coll- (comparé Njått. ii. jë, 23. Luke ii. 36. Acts x. 32. Heb., viii.,5. X ſ. 7. cerning the extent of the famine from, this gircumstance, as it, p ainly * * ~ * jor the name appears not to have been begun when the cºllection was resolved upon. were given them, as ecclesiastical history tej's us, by Euodius, (who i They should send to the assistance, ;} Xīº has shown at large is inefitioned"by" it as their first bishop.) or by Barnabas of Saul, as that it was commºn, for the Jews whº ived in foreign lº.ºy; sen Bishop Pearson seems to think. (See Pearson, On the Creed, p. jö3.) relief, in times of distress, to their poor brethign aſ Jerušºgm: ( º: 'ſhºi arºdºïd'Yvisits thinks it a circumstance of remarkable De Simag: Pet; lib. iii. Part, I., cºp. 13.P. —, # tencier .# wisdom that this celebrated name should arise from Antiochs a church in these Čentile converts at Antioch would tend powerfully to §. i- §onsistin."of", ºf jjaj ºmiſes, ºther than from Jeru: ate the affections of their circumcised brºthrººº...Yºjº ºf salem, dignified in so many other respects; and that it was a kind of ledgment, though not an equivalent, for the Yº poverty *} © victory gained over Satan, who from Åntioch had some ages before the saints in Judea had incurred by the sale § elr *:::::: jºiº b: raised so many cruel persecutors of the church of God. Wits. De Pit. for the peculiar persecutions which they underwent from their unbe- Paul. cap. iii. § 5. lieving countrymen. g g ºne over all the land.] As it is certain alkovſºn, may k Sending it to #º I am much º; º: pº of # have such a limited signification, (see note a, on Luke ii. 1. p. 31.) I fol: Whitby's judginent should think §§ º #. ; º; iºtăistºniº, ºftst, and refer my reader to ººººººº...".”.”:';. .*.*.*; those reasons for doing it, which he may find at large in DI. Lardner’s would of all others have been mos i. it. the |. Lord Barrington ibility. (Book f. chap. Ti. 3 3 vol. i. p. 539, et seq.) .The learned christians. It seems much more rational Wººl tles at J } g §§ºº. §§ ºś. year O audius [A. D. 44.3 universal. ut Mr. Biscoe rather thinks g h Philo the apostles took a tour into * * j ñ, a course of some left to take care of the church.there. Whilº ..} º §º j,h §sº *...*:::::::"...º.) that there were the neighbouring º fully #6 º: º aft hº. º famines in various places during the reign of Claudius, not only, in Yºs: (JMiscell. Sacr. Essay ii. ſº ti. #ch; and Dr iſºmº has Judea, which began the latter j of his fºurth, and was continued in that we have of elders tºº C º §e: in which he labours to prove his fifth sixth, and seventh years, (of which Josephus takes notice, º, large and very remarkable no Šiš. º: with those called º OI Jāntiq. #. ... cap. 3, § 6. et cap. 5. fšl. 3.} $3.5 but also at Rome in his that these elders were the same officers. f sº 11 v 4 », Fººd: (as mentionéd by fjio, iii. ix. p. 671.) and that Syria, in his bishops, and thinks there is no gº evidence ſº sº º: tho fººth, (Cros. iii. vii, cap. 6.) Greece in his ninth, (Euseb; Chron. p. name of elders or presbytº, Yº ſº sº º º tºº *: § 6 - §4.5"; hiſ ſtay in his ténth and eleventh, (Tacit. Jºnnai; lib. xii., cap. tween thern and deacons : but this is not a place to enter accurately into 23, ºnj"Suetoñ. &lānā. cap. 18,) were visited with the like calamity : inquiries of this nature. xii. 35.) and therefore am not solicitous to inquire whet] PETER. APPREHENDED BY HEROD. 419 do not so remember our difference from each other in smaller matters, as to forget our mutual agreement in em- SECT. bracing the gospel of Christ, and in professing to submit ourselves to him as our common Prince and Saviour. 25. The notice of the famine brought to them by Agabus the prophet, awakened the generosity of the christians at Antioch to supply the pressing necessities of the saints in Judea. The possibility, at least, that it might have *::: affected themselves, would have led some to conclude it the part of prudence to keep what they had to themselves; 27*.so but they argued much more wisely, choosing thus to lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come, and to secure a title to that peculiar care of Divine Providence which is promised and engaged to those who mind not every one his own things, but each the welfare of others and of all. (Phil. ii. 4.) SECTION XXVI. Herod having slain James, seizes Peter, and commits him to Fºo is Acts X11. delivered by an angel, in answer to the prayers of the church. Acts xii. 1. Acts xii. 1. NQW about that time, Herod JWOW about that time, when Saul and Barnabas were preparing to set out for Jerusalem, SECT. #... ."... . to carry thither what had been collected by the christians at Antioch for the relief of the 26. church. saints in Judea, Herod Agrippa,” the king, abusing the authority with which he was in- - vested by the Roman emperor, laid hands in a very injurious manner on some of the church, Acts to persecute and afflict them. ...And he carried this injustice so far, that he even slew James , XII. the son of Zebedee, the brother of John, one of those three apostles whom Jesus honoured with such peculiar intimacy; beheading him with the sword, as an enemy to the state, as well as an opposer of the law of Moses. -- ...And as he found that no immediate vengeance overtook him on this account, and like- 3 ºß, wise saw that [this] was acceptable to the Jews," whose favour he laboured by all possible Then were the days of un- means to conciliate, he went on further, and presumed to seize Peter also, renowned as he leavened bread. was for such a variety of miracles, which were wrought by him at Jerusalem in the name of Jesus. And it was in the days of unleavened bread, during the feast of the passover, that nºe ºr Peter was apprehended. And having seized him at this #. time, when so many Jews 4 mended him, he put him in - … S. ~ a2. *** cº- . j'div. º. § were come together from all parts, he put him in prison, delivering him to the custody of four §.º.º.º. Quaternions of soldiers, that is, to sixteen, consisting of four in each pº who were to re- ɺiſºt, ſieve each other by turns, watching him constantly f day and night. This Herod ordered the people. for the greater security of so . a person, intending immediately after thed". to bring him out to the people, to be made a spectacle to them in what he should suffer; as Jesus his Master had been on the first day of unleavened bread. - In the mean time, therefore, till the day of execution came, Peter was thus kept in the 5 prison. But as the importance of so useful a life was well known to his christian friends, earnest and continued prayer was, with great intenseness and assiduity of mind, made to 6 And when, Herod would God on his account, by the whole church at Jerusalem. And the event quickly showed 6 ... º.º.º. ... that this their earnest supplication was not in vain; for when Herod was ready to have fºliº brought him out to execution, ſeven] that very night before he had designed to do it, Peter §§§§ºid. was quietly sleeping between two soldiers in full calmness and serenity of mind, though kept the prison. bound with two chains,d which joined each of his hands to one of the soldiers that lay on either side of him, in such a manner that it was (humanly speaking) impossible he should have risen without immediately awaking them : and the other two guards then on duty stood sentry before the door, and were keeping the prison, that there might be no attempt of any kind made to rescue him; because he was looked upon as a prisoner of great conse- quence. ...And behold, an astonishing deliverance was wrought out for him in all this extremity of 7 danger; for an angel of the Lord presented himself on a sudden, and a glorious light shone in the whole house, dark and gloomy as it was: and this heavenly messenger was no sooner come, but giving Peter a gentle blow on the side, he awoke him, saying, Arise quickly. .4nd at the same moment of time both his chains fell off from [his] hands; yet the soldiers were, * - - nto by a miraculous power, kept so fast asleep, that they were not at all alarmed by the noise §"º"..."...",".. of their fall. .3nd the angel said to him, Gird thyself presently in the clothes thou hast on, 8 lid. And he saithuuto him, tie thine inward garment about thee, and bind on thy sandals, that thou mayst walk out; ºut about thee, and accordingly he did so. And he says to him further, Throw thy mantle round thee, and } -- - -, -, -, --> S > follow me out. And Peter going out of the prison as he was guided by the angel, met with 9 owed him ; and wist not that * , - - - s it was true which was done I10 º in his way, # Så VW 8L VISIOU). e did not know that what was done by the angel was true and real, but only supposed 10. When they were past that he had seen a vision, as in some other instances he had done. .3md passing through they came unto the iron gate tº lºgiº leads into the city, which, though it was a heavy gate, and very strongly fastened, yet was & Cº. and they "wº no hinderance in their way, but #. to them as of its own accord....And thus going out 7 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw it 5 Peter therefore was kept in prison, ; but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. 7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, an a light shined in the prison : and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, say: ing, Arise up, quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. - 8 And the angel said unto 10 And he went out, and fol- and followed him as he was ordered. ..And he was so astonished, by the angel; but thought he that the firstººd the iºnºwº; the first and second watch, where the guards were all asleep, they came to the iron gate that which opened to them of his out, and passed on through into the city, they went together t tough one street; and immediately the angel, having done a Herod Agrippa.] So the Syriac expressly renders it; and there is no reason to doubt, especially considering the similarity of circum- stances mentioned below; that this Herod was the prince whom Josephus calls Agrippa, which probahiy was his Roman, as Herod was his Syrian, name. He was not (as Grotius by a s ºf memory says) the son, but the grandson,...of Herod the Great, by his son_Aristobulus ; (Joseph. Jāntia. lib. xviii. Cap. 5. [al. 7..] § 4.) *}. to Herod Antipas, who be- headed John the Baptist; brother to Herodias, whom that incestuous and adulterous, tetrarch married ; and, father to that better Agrippa be- fore whom Paul made his defence. (Acts xxv. 13, et seq.) Caius Cali- gula, with whom he had an early friendship, when he became emperor released this Agrippa from the confinement under which, Tiberius ha (on that very account) kept him, and crowned him king of the tetrarchy of his uncle Philip, to which he afterwards, added the territories of An- tipas, whom he banished to Lyons in Gaul. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 6.. [al. 8.], $ 10, 11. et cap...7. (al. 9..] § 2.) In this authority Clau- dius confirmed him, and made him king of Judea, adding to his former dominions those of Lysanias. (Antiq.lib. xix, cap. 5. [a].4.] § 1.) Mr. Fleming thinks it was high treason against the Messiah for him to assume the title of ºi of Judea ; and that, this arrogancy, joined with his gruelty's rendered him more yorthy of that terrible déati, described ś. low...Flem. Christol. Vol. III, p. 358. Slew James with the sword.] Thus was our Lord’s prediction re- lating to him ſulfilled. (Matt, NY. 23.) , I know, not how far we are to º upon the tradition which we find cited by Eusebius, (Eccles. ist...lib. ii. cap. 9.) from a book of Clemens Alexandrinus, now lost, in which he reported, “...that the person who had accused James, observing the courage with which he bore his testimony to christianity, was con: yerted, and suffered, martyrdom with him.” But I think it is very beautifully observed by Clerius, who had a great deal of the true spirit Qf criticism, that this, early execution of one of the apostles after our Lord’s death, would illustrate the courage of the rest in going on with their ministry, as it would evidently show, that even all their miracu- ous powers did not secure them from dying by the sword of their ene ill leS. ç Said that this was acceptable to the Jews.] Josephus tells us, “that this prince was a great zealot for the Mosaic law; that he dwelt much at Jerusalem, and was fond of all opportunities of obliging the Jews, as his #º Herod had been of pleasing strangers ;” a charactor wel º; what Luke here says of him. See Joseph. Antiq, lib. xix. COLD. V’ll. W. J. ‘l Bound with tico chains.] It is well known that this way of securing prisoners of importance, by chaining each of their hands to a guard, was practised among the Ronians ; and the reader may find authorities to this purpose produced by Grotius, in his note on Acts xxviii. 16. and by Dr. Lardner, Credib. Rook I. chap. 10. § 9. Vol. I. p. 521, 522. 420 PETER DELIVERED FROM PRISON BY AN ANGEL SECT. all that was requisite for his deliverance, ºnd set him at full liberty, departed from him on one street, and forthwith the 26. ACTS extraordinary event, said, JWow I know XII. a sudden, and left him alone to go where he pleased. W angel departed from him. .And Peter, being come to himself, and recovered from the first astonishment of such an 11 And when Peter was truly that the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose cause I gone tº himself; he said. Nºw was going to suffer, hath (as he formerly did, chap. v. 19.) - I k now of a surety that the sent an angel, one of the many Lori haisºn; §aj heavenly spirits under his command, and hath delivered me from the hand of Herod, who jºi intended my death, and from all the expectation of the Jewish people; who, beneficial miracles I have wrought among them, were thirsting for my blood, and waited * ingº to see my execution. uch was the grateful sense that Peter had of his deliverance; and recollecting where 12 And when he had con- he was,” he presently concluded whither to go, and came to the house of Mary the mother jº.º.º.º.º.º. of John, who was surnamed Mark, where many christians were gathered together, and were jºi...hº...". spending the nightin praying earnestly for his deliverance: and God answered them while ºnº ey were yet speaking; for he had now discharged the prisoner for whom they were so 13 much concerned, and brought him to the very house in which they were assembled. And , 13 And as Peter knocked at as Péter stood and knocked at the door of the outer gateſ which entered into the house, ºf . §§º: Ver. I 2 son than Ja Lord; and not the less dear because so early dismissed from mortal life and labour, an that they might guard against the danger of admitting any person whom they did not Rhodā. know, a maiden whose name was Rose, went to the door, to listen and inquire who was 14 there.” Jłnd he had no sooner answered, but knowing Peter's voice, she was so transported with joy and surprise, that she did not open the gate; but running to the company that were jº. 15 assembled in the house, she told [them] that Peter was actually standing at the gate. • * ~ * > they said to her, Surely thou art distracted, to imagine so incredible and so impossible a thing. But she persisted in it, that she was sure she heard his voice; and confidently ºff. affirmed that it was undoubtedly so. Them, as they knew not how to account for it, they gº so. said, in their confusion of thought, It is then probably his angel, who has assumed his form * his angel. to bring us some tidii .gs of him; or perhaps he is executed in prison, (as John the Baptist was,) in the night, andſ his separate spirit has appeared as a token of its being employed, as angels are, in ministering to the church on earth.h But Peter in the mean time continued knocking, them together ; and when they had opened [the %. upon which they went out several of - * they saw him, and rejoiced to find §§diºiºdº 17 that he was there, but were exceedingly astonished at the sight of him. ..And as he found, hiº # *.*.*. upon his coming in among them, that his presence threw them into a confused transport, them with the hand, to hold which grew so ſoud that he could not easily be heard, he beckoned to them with [his] hand #: '..."; "... "...# to be silent, and related to them how the Lord had conducted him out of prison by the ministry bººthinoº of the prisºn; of an angel. And having told them the º of what had passed, he said, Let care #. unto es brethren, of these things, that they may magnify jºi iº; eat deliverance, and consider it as an engagement to serve him with greater be taken to inform James,i and the other God for this resolution and zeal. And presently departing from thence, he went to another place,K and continued some time in retirement, that he mi * ght avoid the search which his persecutors would of course make for him when they should find that he was gone. .And accordingly, as soon as it was day, there was no small tumult among the soldiers on his account, and no search was spared that they might know what was become of Peter ºf For the guards awaking out of their sound sleep, could none of them give any account of become of Peter. what had passed, and were ready to suspect and accuse each other of negligence or 19 treachery in giving the prisoner an opportunity to make his escape. And indeed very fatally for them had he escaped; for Herod searching for him and not finding him, examined iº" of "hº"...ašeš". the keepers as strictly as that he was gone while they slept, and thought it by no means prudent to ossible; and as he could make nothing out by his inquiry, but Şeºpºlºat mation that he suspected a miraculous interposition of Providence in favour of a man whom he had devoted to destruction, he ordered them to be immediately led away to erecution". for their negligence; and so the affair ended, and shortly after his life too, as we shall find in the following section. IMPROVEMENT. WE have now before us the death of another martyr, and that martyr an apostle, and that apostle no less a per; es the brother of John, who was also one of the chosen favourites and companions of our blessed and bloody death. He was slain with the sword; but that blow, which was hardly, if at all, to be felt, in one and of Herod, and from a after the many #: º: º of the peo- Of the Jews, the house of Mary the mother gathered together, praying. sel came to hearken, named 14 And, when she knew eter’s voice, she opened not ºr ladies, but ran ...And in, and told how Peter stood efore the gate. . 15 And they said unto her, But she con- stantly affirmed that it was Then said they, It Peter continued when they 16 But knocking: an But he beckoning unto declared unto he said, Go, shew these James, and to the and went into another place. I8 Now as soon as it, was day, there was no small stir 19 And when Herod had sought for him, and found o * - - - l t to death.- lve any Inti- tley should be put to dea dismissed by a violent e Recollecting where he was...] This is so natural an interpretation of auvidov, that there seems no need o r. Hammond’s conjectural emendation, who would read it crevéov, making hastc, as he also would, chap. xiv. 6. - - f.At file door of the outer gate.]. Though De Dieu, chiefly, on the authority of Kimchi, in his distinction between nyv and nnp, interprets this of a kind of picket in a pair of great gates, I apprehend (according to the accurate and useful description which Dr. Shaw has givºn of the jouses in the Éast) that the word TuAgov here properly significs what we generally call the gateway of a large house, by, which, if theſe be, an area surrounded with buildings, you pass into it. And it is probable that this was no small house, as many, were assembled there. - - g To inquire who was there.] That this is the most exact signification of the original word úzakovgat, is abundantly demonstrated by Raphe; lius (Annot. ex: Xen. p. 1:9.) and Elsngſ, (Qbserv. vol. i. p. 411.)—I render this maiden’s name Rhoda by the English, name Rose, as, when; ever I meet with Greek names in use flººj us, I think it most natural to give the English termination ; and shall only add, that Grotius has well observed the Jews frequently gave to their female children the name of agreeable flowers or plants. Thus Susannah signifies a lily, Hedessa, a myrtle, Tamar; a palm-free, &c. jº’;"jiggſ, 32.j Though I have followed the more common rendering here, I pretend not cºrtainly to say that Sir Thomas Browne is mistaken (in his Religio Medici, p. 19.) when he says, (as Clarius, Čameron, and Hammond also do) that the word (tyrexos here signifies messenger, as to be sure it often does... (Compare Mºtt. xi.10. Mºſki. 2; fºke Wii. 24, 27. ix. 52. and Jam, ii. 25.) They might perhaps think he had sent somebody, who telling her he came from Peter, she, by mistake apprehended it to be him. But I think it much porº probable that, as § averred that she ki.ew his voice, they then judged it to be something supernatural. . It is § no means certain they imagined this to be his ºrdian angel; for Philo speaks of it as a recºived notion among the jº. that the souls of good men deceased officiated as ministering spirits. See Phil. De Sacrif. Cain. et Abeliš, p. 131; and De Giganti- bºts, p. 286. and Dr. Waterland’s, Serm. vol. ii. p. 90, But whatever their notion was, one way or other, no argument can be drawn from it as to the truth of either of these suppositions. i Inform James.]. As James the brother of John was, dead, (ver..2.) the person hero referred to must be James the IAfss, the brother or kins- man of our Lord, and author of the General. Epistle which bears his name. He appears to have been a §§ considerable weight and importance. Peter therefore particularly directs the message to him; for his encouragement, and to engage the concurrence of his thanksgivings to God on account of this extraordinary deliverance. -> k went to another place.]. It was convenient he should withdraw from Jerusalem; but it is utterly incredible that he noy Yent to Rome; ºn made that abode of twenty-five years ther? which the popish writers protorld. The absurdity of which pretenge has been abundantly demon- ºj'by many protestant writers, and by none more pertinently, in a few words, than by Beza on this place. - j Pyjºcºs become of Peter.]. Elsner (Qbserv. vol. i. p. 412.) and Raphelius (Ez Xen. p. 160.) have so abundantly proved, that 7 t apa 6 IIST pog eyevero, may with great propriety be thus rendered, that I seo no reason to imáginé, as Erasmus here, hints, that it may reſeſ to some Hºtion at Peº had been transformed, perhaps by magic art, into some form or shape different from his own. .. - m Örjº them to be led away to execution..] It is well known that the word araxónvai has this signification. See Beza and Heinsius, in loc. —He probably punished them with such severity, lest an apprehension of a miraculous deliverance shou ave prevailed, and $9 christianity have gained, as it probably, did, additional strength. 'hat had so motoriºusly happened to all the twelve appstles Qn a circumstance much resembling this, (chap. v. 19, et seq.). would no doubt add great weight to such a representation ; and it seems that this seasonable internosition of Providénºa, joined with the death of Herod soon after, put a speedy &nd to this persecution. tiFROD's RECEPTION OF THE DEPUTIES FROM TYRE AND SIDON. 421 short moment transported him to his long-loved Lord, and introduced him to that endeared converse with Jesus SºCT. in his heavenly presence, of which all the most intimate hours spent with him upon earth, not excepting that of 26, the transfiguration itself, (to which he was an eyewitness) were but an imperfect shadow. But how strange was it that this should please the Jews! To see the slaughter of one of the most excellent * persons that ever adorned their nation, one of the greatest benefactors, his Lord only excepted, that ever had 3 appeared in all the list of the prophetic and inspired race! Yet thus it was that they proceeded to.fill up the measure of their fathers; (Matt. xxiii. 32.) and such was still the hardness of their hearts, that after having rejeº ed the message, they soon came to hate the messengers and to thirst for their blood. The surest token of wrath .."; upon them to the uttermost! As indeed it was but a few years more and such an execution was donº upon them as seemed to be the accumulated vengeance due for all the righteous blood which had been shed from Abel to James. - - & g Peter was also imprisoned, and was bound with chains; and no doubt the prayers and tears with which the 5, 6 church was contending for his delivery, would appear exceedingly despicable to his enemies, if known by them? but they found to their confusion that his Redeemer was strong. (Jer. I. 34.) The Lord Jesus sent an angel to him, who found him secure in his innocence, and happy in his hope, sleeping between those two guards who per- haps in a few hours were to have been his executioners, and sleeping so sweetly sound, that the brightness of the angel’s presence did not immediately awake him. The angel Smites him, and his chains fall off; the iron gates 7, 10 are opened, and the prisoner is set at full liberty. So does the angel of death smite, as it were, but with a gentle blow, the servants .* Christ, and the fetters of mortality fall off; the doors of the dungeon are opened, and they are led into the New Jerusalem, where they find another kind of society, another kind of rest, another kind of joy, than Peter knew even in the first transports of his deliverance. . The prayers of the night were added to those of the day. Pious men and women, the aged and the young; 12, 16 were assembled on this important occasion: and while they were praying, God answered ; while they were yet speaking, he heard. (Isa. lxy. 24.) Behold, Peter is himself sent among them, to bring them the astonishing news of that real deliverance which at first appeared to him but as a vision of the night. What delight must such a mercy give them, especially when considered as an answer of prayerſ What an encouragement must it be to hem aſ to hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering, and in every future exigence by prayer and supplication to make their requests known unto God! (Phil. iv. 6.) Peter was solicitous it might be known to the 17 surviving James and the other apostles, that they might º God in him, and might take encouragement from it to go on boldly in the prosecution of their work. With such views should we own the goodness of God in any deliverance he grants us, that others may learn to confide in him, and may join their praises with ours. . e Herod, in his disappointment, turns his rage on the soldiers, and makes those unhappy men the victims of his 18, 19 wrath. Unhappy indeed, if they had not learnt from Peter, whilst they had him in their power, that lesson which his charity would be so glad to teach them, in what he apprehended to be the last moments of his life, to believe in Jesus for life and salvation. But whatever they suffered, a much severer vengeance was reserved for Herod, on whom God quickly began to visit that innocent and pious blood which he had spilt, and that too after which he had thirsted; for in his sight he must have appeared the murderer of Peter as well as of James. 9 —-º SECTION XXVII. Herod, on his reconciliation to the people of Tyre and Sidon, makes a public oration, for which he is extravagantly applauded, but for his pride on that applause is miraculously destroyed. Acts xii. 19—24. - Acts xii. 19. AcTs xii. 19. AND he went down, from WE have just given an account of the miraculous manner in which Peter was delivered SECT. j.“ ” ** from the cruel attempt of Herod, and of the transport of rage in which that tyrannical 27. prince ordered the guards to be put to death, though in reality they had been no way ac- cessary to his escape. And now after this disappointment, Herod departed from Jerusa- Acts lem, and passing from Judea to the city of Caesarea,” he abode [there.] till, in the midst of ºil. all his pride and glory, the judgment of God overtook him, and Providence avenged the * death of James, and the designed murder of Peter, in a most awful manner on this perse- cuting prince. & 20, And, Herod, was highly ...And very observable were the circumstances of his miserable end ; as introductory to 20 ;P's. wº which it must be observed, that Herod was highly incensed against the Tyrians and Sidoni- ºne ºrº ans on account of some supposed affront which he had received from them, which provoked § ºus tº him so far, that, having vowed a severe revenge, he was preparing with all speed to make ºntº ... war upon them. But as they were a trading people, and were apprehensive of the conse- išičičičğ ºntº quences of the king's displeasure, they unanimously came to a resolution to send proper representatives to Caesarea to appear before him ; and having found out means of gaining Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, to espouse their interest, and being introduced by him, they begged for an accommodation of the difference, and earnestly entreated he would grant them terms of peace, which they found it absolutely necessary to sue for, because their country was mourished and maintained by that of the king ; they having little corn of their own growth, and not being able to subsist without a constant supply of provisions from - Judea and Galilee. (Compare 1 Kings v. II. and Ezek. xxvii. 17.) *...*.*.*.*.*. ..And to make the transaction as solemn as possible, upon a set day which he thought 21 º *::::"hiº, proper for that purpose, when a grand assembly was held, Herod came forth with great ãº, inade ºn oration untº magnificence and splendour, arrayed in a royal habit, and being seated in a public theatre e - wpon the throne, made an oration to them with a great deal of state and affectation of elo- quence, expressing at large his clemency and condescension in admitting them to favour, 22 And the people gave a when he could so easily have subdued them by force. ...And the people, who flocked in 22 multitudes to this grand spectacle, were so charmed with his appearance and address, that a Passing from Judea to Cesarea.] This is, the same Casarea which terers an occasion of complimenting him with the title of a deity.— Mr. was formerly called Straton’s Tower, and had been rebuilt by Herod the Fleming imagines they therein referred to the glory with which the Shº- Great. (See note o, on Acts viii. 40, p. 404). Josephus, (who gives, us an kinah used to appear, and that Herod, being impious enough to assume account of the death of Herod Agrippa, which ;: illustrates this of the honour of it, provoked the divine Majesty \,...i any further suf- St. Luke) says, that he went to Caesarea, in the third year of his reign ferance, so that he sent a disease upon him, which rendered him cquaily oyer the whole country, to celebrate games there in honour of Claudius contemptible and miserable. (Flem. Christol. vol. ii. p.300.) Eisner has Qaesar, to whom he had been, so much obliged. (Antiq., lib. xix, cap. §. #. several instances of the madness of heathen princes who arrogated ſal. i.j; 2)" it seems that the oration, afterwards mentioned, was made divinity to themselves, and some of them came to infamous ends. (Ośserr. in a full theatre there, , , , º vol. i. p. 413, #14.) But, to be sure, Herod’s knowledge of the true God, º in a royal habit.] Josephus expressly ; that his fine robe and of his jealousy with respect to divine honours, rendered his guilt in- was richly wrought, with silver, which, reflecting the rays of the rising comparably more aggravated than theirs. sun with an unusual and almost insupportable splendour, guve his flat- - 43.3 SECT. 27. ACTS XII. THE DREADFUL DEATH OF HEROD. they all cried out, as in a rapture, as soon as he had done speaking, Surely [it is] the voice shout, saying, h is the voice of a god that we hear, and not that of a mortal man ; and the unhappy prince, instead of of a sod, and not of a man. expressing a just indignation at such base and impious flattery, hearkened to it with a secret complacency. - But immediately all this haughty parade was disgraced and exposed; for an angel of the 23 And immediately the 23 Lord, by an awful though invisible operation on his vitals, smote him with a sore and Angel ºf the Lºrd sº him; 24 * e s - * because l t God th grievous disease, because he gave not God the glory in rejecting these blasphemous ap-ººh § lauses. On which he was presently forced to quit the place in extreme torture, and ſº and save up the eing miserably eaten and tormented (as his grandfather, Herod the Great, had been) with e a vast number of small worms,d which bred in his bowels, and rendered him a most nau- seous and horrible spectacle to all about him, he expired in equal agony and infamy: sunk as much below the common state of human naturé as his flatterers had endeavoured to raise him above it. ...And upon this the word of God grew more and more successful, and in every place where 24 But the word of God the seed of the gospel was sown, the number of believers was considerably multiplied, “"“” and their faith greatly established: and after all the opposition of its enemies, who had endeavoured to extirpate it, the progress of christianity was apparently promoted by the concurrence of these extraordinary events, in the deliverance of Peter and the death of Herod, that cruel persecutor, under such evident tokens of divine vengeance. IMPROVEMENT. The wrath of a king is as the messengers of death ; but a wise man (says Solomon) will pacify it. (Prov. xvi. 14.) The world generally teaches this wisdom to its votaries, and the ties of interest are felt when those of affection Ver.20 have but little force. Tyre and Sidon were nourished by the king's country, and therefore they sought peace with 21, 22 23 him: but how much more necessary is it for all countries, and people, and princes, to seek peace with the God of heaven, by whom the earth and all its inhabitants are nourished, who giveth rain from heaven and fruitful sea- sons, and can by his sovereign word turn the heavens into brass, and the earth into iron. (Deut. xxviii. 23.) How vain and impious was the applause of this servile multitude, when they were so ready to compliment a mortal man in shining apparel, and on a royal throne, with the title of divinity and how wretched the infatuation of his mind, when he could receive that ascription without horror, yea, even with complacency! Thus do pomp and power, wealth and grandeur, take away the heart of their possessors; but never is a mortal nearer to destruc- tion than when he forgets that he is a mortal. With pleasure, no doubt, did this angel of the Lord come down to execute upon this proud and persecutin prince the vengeance due to the honours of God, which he had invaded, and the blood of the saints which he had spilt. Let us adore the triumph of the injured Majesty of heaven: he was smitten with death, with a death equal- ly tormenting and ignominious: vermin devoured this god; nor could all his robes, his guards, or his physicians, preserve his living body from being as easy a prey to them as the carcass of the meanest slave. Thus is the Almighty Sovereign of the universe known by the judgment which he executeth upon the haughty 24 kings of the earth. (Psal. ix. 16.) Well might the gospel flourish on occasion of such an event, when this royal SECT. 28. ACTS XII. corpse was (as it were) given for manure to the roots of that vine which he, in contempt of the King of kings by whom it was planted, had impiously endeavoured to root up. SECTION XXVIII. Paul and Barnabas, being returned from Jerusalem, to Antioch, are sent Qut from thence to preach the gospel to the Gentiles; an; coming to Cyprus, SI In sº ite Elymas with blindness, and convert Sérgius Paulus the Roman governor there. Acts xii. ult. xiii. 1–12 Acts xii. 25. - - d Acts xii. 25. WE have formerly taken notice of the message on which the disciples at Antioch sent AND Barnabas and Saul re- Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem, to carry their alms to the brethren there, who were jºij}''...}. threatened with an approaching famine, which Agabus had foretold: (chap. xi. 29, 30. tº and tººk with theºlºin, . 41s.) and we shall now observé, that Barnabas and Saul having fulfilled [their] ministry, “"“” Mark. 5 º faithfully performed the charge committed to them, returned back to Antioch from Jerusalem,” bringing along with them John, whose surname was Mark.” c.An angel of the Lord smote him.]. Josephus tells us, (in the place Herºd; and dates, the beginning, of the faming Accordingly... (Credib. citeſ above,) “That as he did not rebuke this impious flattery, he was Book I. º: xi. 32, vol. i. p. 54.1.). I, ord Barrington thinks, it was dur- immediately seized with exquisite and racking tortures in his bowels, so ing Paul’s abode at Jerusalem on this ogcasion, that he had the vision in tº compºſſed, before he left the place, to own his folly in ad- the temple, mentioned Acts xxii., 17-21; and that hºn, the Lord Jesus mitting such acclamations, and upbraided those about him. with the gave him that commission to the Gentiles expressed Acts xxyii. 17, 18. ºfteå øndition in which they then saw their god; and being carried which word he supposes to have been spoken at this timg, and that this out ºf the assembly to his palace, he expired in violent agonies the fifth extraordinary fact is referred to Acts xiii. 2. When the Spirit,spºaks as day after he was taken, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and the seventh having already called him, and Barnabas to the work to which they ºf his reign;” (reckoning from the time of his first advancement by Cali- were then to be separated; which must suppose that artiabºs, had gº tº tº tetrarchy of his uncle Philip;) being the fourth year of the 959 sºme £ogrespºndent. Visigº gº, as mentioned in that of Paul. émperor Claudius, A. D. 44.—Some hāve supposed, when it is said an (See JMiscell. Sacr. Essay ii. p. 26, 27.) But I shall i". my reasons, when angel smote him that this is only a Jeywish phrase, to signify he was sud- I come to the texts in question, why I understand them in a different denly seized with this disorder.” But I think it expresses the real thqugh sense and connexion. s jºšišić agency of a célestial spirit on this occasion. Compare 2 Sam. b John, whose surname was JMark.] It appears from, what Grotius has xxiv. 16. 2 Kings xix. 35. º urged."ºing ºi ;Iarc, Evang,) that this was a different person from d Being eaten with worms.] Beza and Elsner think akoxmkoffporos Mark the Evangelist, who was for several years the intimate companion signifies in the general ...consumed with permin, and may express, the of the apostle Peter, and seems to have been converted, by him, as ho jºcăilei';loºdiº, of which, as the latter of these critics calls him his son, (1 Pet. v. 13.), a title, which tºg, anostles, ºsed to Kiyo has shown, (vol. i. p. 417,418.j several persecuting and cruel princes #9 those who were the fruit of their ministry. §ºgº 1 Cor. iv. J5. jave died.' (Compare 2 Mac, fx. 9. and Euseb. Eccles., Hist, lil: Yitſ. Gal. iv. 19. and Philºm, wer. We learn from Scripture, that this ºp. 16.) I think, with Dr. Lardner, (Credib., book, I. ºpap. i. § 6. Vol. person was the son of Mary, at whose house the disciples met to pray i.º. 33.40.) tº jose;hus, out of a partial fondness for. Herod Agrippa, for Peter when he was imprisoned. (Act; xii.12.) and hº ..º.º. of as whom he haſ so much extolled, has concealed this º: which was sister’s son to Barnabas, (Çol, iv. 10.) who appear; to have had a great the true cause of those excruciating pains in the bowels o which this affection for him, not only by his taking him with them § º: and Herod, and his grandfather Herod the Great, died. See Joseph. Antiq, lib. from thence to Pamphylia,(Acts xii.5, et seq.) where lºngu º he xvii. cap. 6. (al. 8.] § 5. e was discouraged by the difficulties of the work, ſrom gola; ". uſt jº c Théºdori of God grew and was multiplied.] The expressions here used and returned to Jérusalem; (ver. 13.) but by his #.º. § ter Wy #" S; (mu&ave kat cºnt/vvero) relate properly to vegetables, and may be in- when they were setting out upon anot jº. t a; A. sº sºlº go tended to signify that the growth 9f the gospel, that is, its prevalency in with them toºvisit the churches, which Pau § ñº. . º: t *\}. º § injšanj jives of some, was (as it were) the means of sowing that º ãº. ºnº digin;" |}}}'}; "####"returned Jºrom ºld A. of hiº ſº the Acts; but jº. º, dº. §º.º.º. .-- - • , r d critics, that they returned after ter, that he is regqinmended, alteº ºvs- flºº::::::: $ºe. the commitment and Şians ; (Col; iv., 19.) and, when he was at Rome, the apostle mentions s * g - & - - |abourers, (Philem. ver. 24.) and at last speaks of deliverance of Peter; and that it was to avoid breaking the º of him among his fellow-la hat Was useful to him in the ministry. the story, that their return Was, not mentioned sooner. (See Flem; his desire to, see him, as ono f jºi. Vol. ii. p. 330.) But Dr. Lardner argues, from its being inserted (2 Tim. iv., 11, § that the ðisión was not executed till after the death o ELYMAS THE SORCERER STRUCK. WITH BLINDNESS. 423 JVow there were in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers of great SECT. note,” particularly Barnabas, the generous Levite whom we now just mentioned, who had 28. given up the whole of his estate to charitable uses; and Simeon, who was also called .Niger, or the Black, from his swarthy complexion; and Lucius, the Cyrenian, a native of Africa; Agºs and Manaen, a person of considerable rank, who was educated with Herod the tetrarch in . * his father's court,d yet thought it no disgrace to appear as a christian minister; and, to 1 mention no more, Saul, that remarkable convert, whose labours in the church were, as We 1...ſºlº shall further learn, so eminently useful, And gº they were ministering to the Lord in pub– 2 §: “...idº’s...a..., "... lic, and joined fasting to prayer, the Holy Spirit by immediate revelation said, Separate to Hºjº me Barnabas and Saul for the extraordinary work of preaching the gospel among the work whereunto I have called - º sº € II] . Gentiles, to which I have now expressly called them.* e 3 And when the .And having on this notice appointed a solemn day for this purpose, in which they fasted 3 º and prayed, and laid their hands upon them, in token of their designation to that extraordi: them away. nary once, | dismissed them from Antioch with all the most affectionate tokens of christian friendship. l They, therefore, being thus sent out by the immediate direction of the Holy Spirit,ſ and 4 §§"sº...”.”; animated to a noble elevation of soul in the thought of such an important mission, departed thence they sailed to Cyprus, to Seleucia, a considerable port in the Mediterranean sea; and from thence they sailed to the island of Cyprus, so celebrated, or rather so infamous, for the worship of Venus, who was supposed to hold her peculiar residence here, and therefore was commonly called sº ºjº “the Cyprian goddess.” . .4nd being arrived at Salamis, the eastern port of the island, and 5 j". § {{*.*.* consequently that which lay nearest to the place from whence they came, they tºº.|. erS Of Uſha fº.º.º. word of God in the º of the Jews there; for there were great num *.*. - had also John for their attendant, who waited upon them Acts xiii. 1. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas and Simeon that was Caſſed Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Mamaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2. As they ministered to the had fast- laid their they sent 4 So they, being sent forth ter. people in Cyprus: and they with great respect, not pretending to a character by any means equal to theirs. And having traversed the whole island as far as Paphos, which lay on its western coast, 6 they found there a certain Jew who was a magician [and] false prophet,é whose name was ..º.º.º. a Jew, whose Bärjesus, or the son of one Jesus or Joshua. This was a person who was much regarded, 7 "Wº the de- and was at that time with the Roman proconsul there, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, of a 6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, uty of the country, Sergius - e - - º, steady conduct and thoughtful temper, ready to inquire after truth, and capable to judge called for $ºnaba and Saii, of its evidence; who having received some general intelligence of their character and .#;"“” ” “messages, sent some of those that were about him, and calling for Barnabas and Saul, desired to hear the word of God, that he might know what was the purport of their preach- 8 But Elymas the sorcerer ing, and what regard was due to the doctrine they taught. But #. or the magician, 8 tº #. (for that was the meaning of his name Elymas, when translated into the Greek language.") seeking to turn away the del as he was sensible that he should be no more regarded if their doctrine was received, set puty from the faith. himself all he could to hinder the effect of it, and withstood them in their preaching, en- deavouring in a crafty way, by a variety of false insinuations which he used, to turn away the proconsul from embracing the faith,i . - ºhº; hen Saul, (who is also [called] Paul,K and will generally be spoken of hereafter by that 9 # § jº name, by which the Romans and Greeks would most naturally mention him,) being filled him, with the powerful effusion and impulse, of the Holy Spirit, turning to Elymas the sorcerer, ##"...i.º.º.º. and looking steadfastly upon him, said, with just indignation, O thou wretch (who art] full º; of all deceit and of all wickedness! thou notorious son of the devil, that great deceiver, ofall righteousness, Wilt tº the adversary both of God and man! thou enemy of all righteousness I wilt thou not "...º.º."*** cease to perpert the right ways of the Lord, and by thy perverse misrepresentations to lay a stumbling-block before those that would embrace the gospel? Thou shalt be confounded hº in this cursed undertaking, and made a signal monument of the divine displeasure. And j"...#"; };..."; behold, even now the almighty hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose gospel thou opposest, seeing the sun for a seasºn, is upon thee, and thou shalt be struck blind by it, and shalt not be able to see even the sum * * * *" itself at noon-day for a certain time, that thou maystbe convinced of thy sin and folly, and - mayst, if possible, be brought to repentance for it. And immediately, while Paul was yet 0 l 11 c Certain prophets and teachers.] Who of these might be the stated pastors of the place, and who only occasional residents there, we can- not, I think, with any *ś. etermine, only that Paul and Barna- bas were of the latter.—Mr. Fleming, on the supposition mentioned in note a, concludes that this assembly might be held with some peculiar regard to Peter’s danger, , and that in it the Spirit directed that both ɺlºni śānabas should be received into the now diminished number of the apostles. See Fleum. Christol. Yol. ii. p. 230. d JManaen, who was educated with Herod, the tetrarch..]. He seems by this to have been a º of considerable rank, and having been a courtier, might probably have learnt some peculiar arts of address, yet he had no share in this extraordinary commission granted to Paul and Barnabas. (Compare 1. Cor. i. 23, 27. Josephus, (Antiq., lib, xv. j 10. [al. 13.] § 5.) mentions one Afanaem an ssene, who had foretold Herod the Great, while he was yet a boy, that he should be a king, and was afterwards in high favour with him ; and some have thought this was his son. (See Mr. Biscoe, At Boyle's Lect., chap. iii. § 11. p. 79 81.) That Manaen, Simeon, and Lucius, were all apostles, is a strange opinion of Dr. Scott’s, (Christian Life, vol. iii. p. ió93.) which so judicious a man could never, have entertained, haſ it not seemed neces- sary to solve a difficulty, which I hope we shall presently see is only imaginary. º e for the work to which I have called them.] . If there be any reference to a past fact in these words, it is probably, to some revelation person- mily made to Paul and Barnabas, to , signify that they should take a journey into several countries of Asia Minor to preach the gospel there. }. that they were now invested with the apostolic office by these inferior ministers, (though expressly asserted - - others.) is a thing neither credible in itself, nor consistent with what faul himself says, Gal. i. 1. And that they now received 3, power, before unknown in the church, of preaching to the idolatrous. Gentiles, is inconsistent with Acts xi. 20, 21. and, upon many other, considerations to be proposed elsewhere, appears to me absolutely incredible. #; the Holy Spirit.j" This seems to be added to remind us, that by Clarius and many though they were solemnly recommended to God by the prºyers of their brethrén, their authority was not derived from them, but from the Holy Spirit himself. - g J1 magician and false prophet.] There were many instances of real or pretended sorcery among the Jews in these days, which seems £9 have been designed by the devil and wicked men to slur the miracles of Christ and his apostles. "But, by confounding them in several instances; the christian cause was magnified yet more than it would otherwise have been. . Nevertheless it is to be feared they wrought on many who were not wise and candid enough to examine, so as to introduce a general contempt of all pretenges, to supernatural powers as false or inconclu- sive ; a sad instance of which we have eveu in Marcus Antoninns, who, though he professes some revelations to have been made to himself in dreams, (JDe Rebus Suis, lib. i. § 17.) yet reckons it among the great advantages he received by conyersing with Diogenetus, that he learnt from him to despise all stories of miracles and dispossessions. Jºid. § 6. h, That was his name when translated, &c.] The most probable ety- molozy I have found of it is that which derives it from the Arabic word glaim, which signifies, one acquainted, ºpith, hidden, secrets, from the Hebrew Dny, alam, to hide, and is used in the Arabic Version of the Old Testament for the Hebrew tonn, a magician. See Beza, in loc. i The proconsul..] So the word avôviratos properly signifies ; and though Beza and Dr. Hammond, as well as Grotius and Mr. L'Enfant, (who has taken almost all his notes from him,) say that the title was improperly applied to the governor of Cyprus, as they suppose, by way of compliment, while he was only avTarpat myog, a sort of lieutenant : Dr. Lardner . has with great learning vindicated the accuracy with which St. Luke speaks, (Credib. Book.I. chap. i., § 11. vol. i. p. 57–54.) and shown (from Dio, lib. liii. p. 504, A. et lib. liv. p. 523, E.) that they who presided over the Roman provinces by the appointment of the senate, (and Cyprus was now of that number, though it had once been praetorian,) were called proconsuls, though they had never filled the consular chair; which (as appears by the Fasti Consulares) was the gase, with the excellent and happy, goyernor of whom we speak. See Mr. Biscoe, Jät Boyle’s Lect, chap. iii. § 1. p. 55, 56. k Saul, who is also called Paul.] Some have thought the apostle had originally two names, and many others that he changed tire former for the latter, with design, either out of deference to Sergius Paulus or to the Gentiles, among whom he now preached so much as to be called, by way of eminence, (though not in strict appropriation,) their apostle. See Dr. Hammond, in, loc.. But I think Beza's account of the matter most easy and probable that having conversed hitherto chiefly with Jews and Syrians, to whom the name of Saul was familiar, and now Coming º Romans and Greeks, they would naturally pronounce his, name Paul; as, one whose Hebrew name was Jochanan, would be galled by the Greeks and Latins Johannes, by the French jean, by the Dutch Hans, and % the English, John. See also Grot. in loc. Beza thinks the family, of this proconsul might be the first who addressed or spoke of him by the name Paul. 424 PAUL AND BARNABAS COME TO ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA. SECT. speaking, a thick mist and darkness fell upgn him; and going about in the utmost confusion, on him amist and a darkness; 28. He sought some to lead him by the hand, not being able so much as to find the door without a ºf guide, and afraid that he might run upon any one who stood in his way. º Then the proconsul, seeing what was done, yielded to so convincing an evidence, and * - - * º * * - 12 Then the deputy, when , believed the gospel; being also struck with admiration of the internal evidence which he he saw what yºgº, H. - - - - a * , - e. - p * ished atth soon discovered in the doctrine of the Lord, and which broke in with increasing lustre on ºdatinº his mind, in proportion to the degree of attention with which he inquired into it. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 2 WE who were once sinners of the Gentiles, and now, by the divine goodness, are brought to the knowledge of the gospel, have abundant reason to be thankful that inspired messengers were sent to teach it, being separated to 4 that purpose by the direct appointment of the Holy Spirit. May they that go out to this sacred work in all nations and in all times, maintain a becoming regard to his influences; and may he make their way prosperous! That he may be engaged to do so, it is certainly convenient, upon the justest principles of reason and piety, to send them 3 forth with solemn prayer; in which ministers and private christians should from time to time concur, with an in- tenseness and seriousness answerable to the occasion. - 6, 8 Wherever the messengers of the gospel go, they must not be surprised if Satan raise up his instruments and children to oppose them, especially where they would endeavour to introduce religion into the hearts of princes or other great men. Well does the prince of the power of the air know how dangerous every such blow is to his kingdom. Nevertheless, the King of kings knows how to make way to the hearts of the greatest among the chil- 7 dren of men; nor can any of them show a more solid and important prudence than to inquire impartially into the evidences of the gospel, and to give themselves up to be governed by it; a happy resolution, which they will probably be disposed to form in proportion to the degree in which they observe its nature and tendency: for 12 surely every intelligent person that does so must, like Sergius Paulus, be struck with the doctrine of the Lord, as well as with the miracles which were wrought to confirm it. º 9, 10 Justly might Paul Fº that man who endeavoured to obstruct the progress of divine truth in the world, a child of Satan, and an enemy of all righteousness: justly might God, who knew all his secret wickedness and 11 perverseness of soul, smite him with a blindness which, while it rendered him incapable of seeing the light of the meridian sun, seemed but a doleful emblem of that more fatal darkness which, through the corruption of his heart, had spread itself over his mind, and prevented the light of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, from shining upon it. (2 Cor. iv. 4.) Have we not reason to fear that God may, in his righteous judgment, punish that iniquity of spirit with which many now rise up against the right ways of the Lord, (not ceasing to pervert and disguise them, that they may more plausibly and effectually oppose them,) with an internal blindness in which they may wander on to their destruction? And if others, stupidly permit themselves to be guided by them, what can be expected but that the blind leading the blind, both leaders and followers should falſ into the pit? (Matt. xv. 14.) SECTION XXIX. Paul and Barnabas come to Antioch in Pisidia, where the former delivers a remarkable discourse in the Jewish synagogue. Acts xiii. 13–42. Acts xiii. 13. Acts xiii. 13. sECT. THE reader was informed, in the last section, of the success with which Paul and Barna- NOW *...*.*.*. 29. bas preached the gospel in Cyprus, where Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul, was con- i.º.º. verted to it; and we are now to add that, loosing from #: they and their companions, É.º.º.º.º. ty - - - rom them, returned to Jeru- Acts who were desirous to spend some longer time with Pa y that they might be more fully º *... instructed in the christian faith, came to Perga, a town in Pamphylia, a province of the Lesser Asia, which lay east of Cilicia, to which it was contiguous, and on the northern &oast of the Mediterranean sea. But John, surnamed Mark, perceiving they intended a long tour in those parts, and that they were like to meet with much oppositiºn, among the idolatrous Gentiles, to whom they were carrying the gospel, could not, by all the Warmest remonstrances of Paul and his own uncle Barnabas, be persuaded to share their labours and dangers in so excellent a cause; but taking the opportunity ºf a vessel which he found in that port bound for Palestine, he withdrew himself from them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 Nevertheless they remained inflexible in their resolution of prosecuting the important .14 Bºyhen they depºſtºl work in which § were engaged; and therefore going on from Perga, ity came to fln- º iš, ºt tioch, a considerable city in the district of Pisidia,” which lay north of Pamphyliº; and ºli Jºãº º consequently further from the sea: and entering into the Jewish º: on the sabbath- 3 & 11 Ivi º - 15 day, they sat down” among those that were worshipping there. And after the customary º And º the ºf reading of the proper section for the day out ºf the law, and another out of the prophets, the ºl. • e "tº - rulers of the synagogue sent rulers of the synagogue, knowing in general the public character which the two celebrated jº. saying.º.m. - -> s • - - - , , ;, ], and brethren, if ye have any strangèrs sustained, and being curious to hear from their own mouth that new dºctrine which ...";"jo.º.º. had fade so much noise in other places, sent one of the inferior officers to them,” saying, People * * Men [and] brethren, if you have any word of exhortation to the people, or any declaration - - - . . - •: Barnabas enter the roconsul believed.] I can see no reason at all to imagine, with should be so.Heaſed: 99% ºf: 2.) Yet Paul and • I, , - Lºftº: § p. 21.) and Dr. Benson, (vol. ii. p. §.) that synagogue without opposition, and meet with 3. regard which noue can §jūššāºšiūšºas the first convért to christianity among the idolatrous imagine the Jew; would show to excommunicated º: earne Čenties which, if their own interpretation of Acts xi. 19, 20. (unsatis- men have accounted for this by sayin; that elders º º º; factory as it sééras) were to be allowed, would appear incredible from the Jews, (such as Paul, and Barnabº are ºp;" § ºf iº this very context; for who can imagine that Paul and Barnabas should, though sometimes scourged in the *...*; wer, nºt cº i.” them. as We are: assured they did, traverse the whole island 9f Çyprus; from c. The rulers of the sºft. sent to ºn.] id: thinki, a ". Śālāmis to Paphos, without converting one person from idolatry; though fruitless attempt which some learned }. have º }.} º the it is here uncontroverted that they ;: an º: º 8. In f conditions º yº Pººjº. tº: fully understood its gxtent?–Limborch justly argues in , tºgur, of gºues, ñº O Settle aul bas had tl } - - * t has been supposed that Paul and Barnabas had gone through £hºstiºn magistracy from hence, as it is neither credible, that if jºi. O ºf d * - . . * w l t ated to t w that their sitting down in the seats appropriated to the jīāulus abdicated his office, so important, a, grºumstaº should be, these forms, an led th ers, though strangers to them, to send - Pai should have acquiesced in his continuing in it, if doctor; 9r teacheſs lei.º.º.º. : º *. §: * º: to the will of C. which §§ gºld not fail fully º ºśń But º iº º: ;*: : im. See Limb. Theolog. lib. V. cap. 73.9 ºr - mud, that after public wo 2, is: •l- > ºii. The situation of this place is thus described, to to the people in the synä893.e. º slº §igh hº .."; intimate how carefully it should be º; from Antioch in Syria, i. € §§.§ºnd §e in: § § aśīahdiº...'...uji re tly mentioned in this history. ecency which Lh w - • sC) ";#º: they sat down.] Fie º; ſºlº #. º ‘ºf’.” º,§§§ ...hº...º: jº. º; - icated, at least on conviction, by an act of the their desire of doln& ...P. * - X--> --. º “ of ;: ... .". crucifixion of our Lord; º John, ix. the devotions Fº wº this Hººg # t gº might refer. See #". xii. 43.) and it is what he had foretoid to his apostſes, that they Mr. Biscoe, At Boyle's Lect. chap. vii. 9 2. p. 7 * * ~ * PAUL'S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE THERE. to make which may conduce to the edification of the assembly, speak [it] freely, as this is SECT. - the proper season of doing it. !6. Then, Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. worshi of Israel chose our fathers, ºil.."... such I well know the seed of Israel to be, graciously chose our pious and venerable fathers, Then Paul stood up, and wavi, ig his hand, to render the audience more attentive, said, Ye mem % Israel, and all ye that fear God, and are met together i §º Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be the objects of his special favour, and for their sakes was land of Egypt, and, with an # *ś"h."h; pleased to promise most important blessings to their offspring: accordingly he took them f it under his protection from their first beginning, and raised the people from that prostrate and Out Of it. dejected state in which they were while sojourning in the land of Egypt, under the tyranny of Pharaoh:e and, to deliver them from that inhospitable and oppressive country, he led them out of it with an uplified and extended arm, having displayed his power in a variety 18 And about the time of of most astonishing miracles, by which he pleaded their injured cause. forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. ness, carrying them (as it were) through a course of education there, to form them, in those retired circumstances, to a habit of observing that admirable system of laws which he there 19 And when he had de- thought fit to give them. stroyed seven nations in the :-> > ij ºf Č.a. ašijää theless, they had been sustained by so many miraculous tokens of his care; and having their land to them by lot. erected more than cast out seven mighty nationsé who were before settled in the land of Canaan, and had irty kingdoms there, defended by fortifications of great strength, as well as by numerous forces both of horse and foot, he distributed their whole country to them for an inheritance, and supported them in it for many generations. 20 And aſter that, he gaye wnto them judges, about the ...”."º isansactions, [which lasted] about four hundred and fifty years, that is, after the choice of fifty years, until Samuel the our fathers and the birth of Isaac, in which the promises to Abraham began to be accom- prophet. plished, he gave [them] a series of judges, by whose heroic interposition he delivered them from those repeated oppressions and miseries which their frequent revolts to idolatry had brought upon them. And this continued, with some intervals, till the time of Samuel the prophet, who was the last of these extraordinary leaders and magistrates. 21 And afterward they de- sired a king : and God gave :- Jānd from that time, too fond of being like their neighbours in that respect, they desired 21 i. inºsa; "...'...".; a king, (1 Sam. viii. 5.) insensible of the favour which God had done them in assuming ºis; a gian, of the tribe 9, the character and relation of a king to them : and God gave them, first, Saul the son of Kish, Benjamin, by the space of forty years. a man of the tribe of Benjamin ; and his government, 22 And when he had re- lasted for the term of forty years.i moved him, he raised "Puntº Saul, and removed him from réigning over Israel, for his mand in the business of Amalek, and for other crimes with that of Samuel the prophet, ...And having in his righteous displeasure rejected rebellion against the divine com- of aggravated guilt, (1 Sam. xv. d All ye that fear God, hearken.] This discourse seems chiefly intended to illustrate the diving economy in opening the gospel gradually, tººl preparing the Jews, by temporal mércies, for others of a yet more important nature. The apostle, in co: sequence, of this, had a very handsome and unaffected opportanity of showing his acquaintange with their Scriptures, which it is well known they esteemed as the highest part of literature and object of science.—The expression, ye tºgt fear God, is ambiguous, and would best suit those that Bad, by embracing the Jewish religion, entered into covenant with the true God, yet so as not to exclude any others in whom a filial reverence for the Divine Being was a governing principle. . . e Raised the people, phile sojourning in the land of Egypt.] Beza, and Mr. L'Enfant explain this as referring to the honour the Israelites were in during the ministry of Joseph it, Egypt; but Elsner; (Obser:..ycl. i. p. 418,419.) has shown that the word viſioqêv often signifies to deliver or raise out of a calanitous state. (Compare Psal. ix. 13. xviii. 48..cxiii. 7. Septuag.) And, as Joseph prudently declined any attempt to make his brethren courtiers, and kept them in the country under the character of shepherds, (a profession whigh the Egyptians held contemptible rather than honourable, Gen. xlvi. 34.) I think it by far mere natural to inter- pret the passage as in the paraphrase. f Endured their behaviour.] This is the proper import of the word crporoºopngey, and it was very fit to give this oblique intimation of that perverseness and ingratitude which so early began to prevail among thcm. he Syriac renders it by a word which signifies, to nourish or educate, so that Beza conjectures they read cTp:%293pºsu and it suzgests so beautiful a view of the conduct of Providence towards then) in this respect, that I could not forbear inserting the thought, though Srefer the common and almost universally received reading. Yet I find }. Hammond thinks the other was probably authentic, and observes that the expression of nursing them (for so he understands...it) is bºutifully connected with that of taking them up when they lay like an exposed infant. Compare Deut. i. 31., and Ezek. Nyi. 4, 3.8. - g Cast out sºven ºil. Namely, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amiqtites, Cânaianites, Perizzites, Hivites, an Jebusites. Deut. vii. 1. Josh. iii. 10. xxiv. 11. h Aſter these transactions, [which lasted] aligut four hundred and fiſty years...] The course of the sacred history will by no means permit us to imagińe that the judges in their succession, continued #59 years afler the settlement of Israel in Canaan ; singe we learn from 1 Kings vi. 1. that ; :omon began to build the temple in the 430th year after they came out of Egypt. It is certain, therefore, that, if, we make no alteration, in the reading here, or in the Old Testanents the words must be so pointed as to justify my inserting in the version those words, ſºchigh lasted.] in Yºhich iſ follow Mr. L'Enfant and the translation of 1727. In that case, f think the time must be computed from the birth Qf Isaac, on the prin- ciples which Mr. Lampe has § down in his excellent Compendium qf jºios. ifs, lib. i. cap. 5. § 1–7. Yet I own that Dr. Whitby, has the ãºthority of many great names, ancient and modern; to justify him in following the chronology of Josephus, who places thé buildin; of the tºpic in the five hundred and ninety-second year after Israel’s going out of Egypt, (ºntiq., lib. viii. cap. 3. [al. 2.] § 1.) which would admit of allowing thrée hundred and thirty-nine years for the administration of the judges, and one hundred and eleven for the years of the several tyran- mical oppressions, in all four hundred and fifty years, reserving forty for Šatº'ºïSºul together, forty for İavid, and four for Solomon, in whose fifth year the temple was begun; and the coincidence of . ºne numbers in §§ Book of Judges, as illustrated by Dr. Lightfoot. (Hor. eb. in loc.) and Mr. Biscoe, (Boyle's Lect. chap. XX, p. 666,667.) is very remarkable. But I was cautious of paraphrasing this text in a manner which must allow an important error in our Hebrew conics, and affect the whole system of the sacred chronology. * * * i. For the term of forty years.] It is the opinion of Bęza, Grotius, Calvin, Brennius, Woltzogenius, Limborch, (Amic. Collat. cap. 26.) and several other cºśī. critics, that the forty years here spoken of do not all belong to the reign of Saul, but include at least a consi– derable part of Samuel’s government. Dr. Henson has also more lately declared himself on the same side of the question, (Hist. of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 31.) and Messieurs L'Enfant and Beausobre give us the same interpretation : but the learned Mr. Biscoe has ad- va:ced so much in favour of the supposition that the reign of Saul con- tinued all these forty years, (Sérin. at Bºyle’s Lect. chap. xvii. p. 612 —616.) which Mr. Bedford also maintains in his Chronology, that I think it incumbent upon me to give some better reason than merely the authority of the greatest names, for paraphrasing the chause as I have done, especially as most of the authors mentioned above have only given their opinion, and none of them has entered fully into the question. The chief consideration which determined me is this : Samuel is ex- |.. said to have judged Israel all the days of his life : (1 Sam. vii. 15.) But we are sure that he lived the greater part (probably by far the greater part) of the forty years preceiling Saul’s death ; for David was hut thirty years, cliff when he began to reign over Judah, (2 Sam. v. 4.) which was not till after Saul was slain ; and Samuel did not only anoint him, (at which time, we cannot suppose David to have been less than eel years old.) but lived a considerable time after, that is, till about the time of David’s going to Paran, (1 Sam. xxv. 1.) which seems to have been but a little before his sojourning in the country of the Philistines, where he dweit only a year and four months before the battle of Gilhoa, in which Saul fell ; (1 Sajn. xxvii. 7.) a circumstance that greatly favours the opinion, which (as i) fusius observes) so commonly prevailed among the Jews, that Saui survived Samuel but littig more than two years." am indeed far from thinking that Saul’s reign is to be reckoned only from Samuel’s death : , the contrary is most apparent ; and Mr. Biscoe has abundantly proved that the actions jº to him must have taken up many years, . But of the forty in question, it may well suffice to allow twenty to him from his anointing, and the former twenty (computed from the grand action at Mizpeh) to Samuel; who might in that time bo past his prime, and so be inclined to associate his sons with him, till on their miscarriages the people took occasion to demand a king, who at first, we are sure from the story, lived privately, and whose authority was never so great as to swallow up that of so illustrious a prophet and judge.—I know the authority of jojº is urged in dº of the scheme I oppose ; for he says, according to our present copies, “ that Saul reigned cighteen years during Sanjuel’s life,” which I think very probable,” and two, and tyenty after his death.”...(Joseph. Antiq. lib. vi. cap. 14. [al. 15.] § 9.) But this is utterly incredible; for David then could not be eight years old when Samuel anointed him, which, as was said before, was, some considerable time before, the prophet died; and it may therefore be assuredly concluded (as Dr. Hudson intimates) that the true reading is that of Epiphanius, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Eutychius, which leaves out Kat gikogu, and twenty, so as to assign him but two years after the prophet’s death, which agrees very well with our interpretation;–The argument for Mr. Biscoe’s scheme, taken from Fshbosheth’s being forty years old at the time of his father’s death, (2 Sam. ii. 10.) would indeed be of great weight, if the sacred historian had any where told us that Saul was very young when anointed by Samuel; but the word ºn- which is used on the first mention of him, (I Sam. ix. 2.) º rendered by our translators a choice young man, has not neces- sarily that import. The Seventy have often rendered it Övva-og, exxesTos, TeX&ºts-ms, strong, choice, warlike, and here cup cycóns, of a stgtcly presence ; and I think it would be easy to show, that in Imany places where they render it véautokos, (as indeed they frequently do,) it only signifies a person in the full rigour of his constitution. It seems by no means probable that God should choose a stripling for the first king of Israel ; and I think what is said of the age of fjº. compared with the passages mentioned above, plainly shows that Saul was then in his prime, perhaps about thirty-five, and justifies the prudence of Pag- nin, Montanus, . Alunster, and the Vulgate, who render, it electifs, a choice person; without determining any thing concerning his youth, in which they also agree with the Syriac and Arabic Versions. .* 425 29. with devout hearts to *.* P m this day, hearken,” I beseech you, with patient attention, for I shall mention 17. The God of this people several facts which well deserve your serious regard. The God of this peculiar people, for 17 XIII. Jind then for the 18 space of about forty years he endured their perverse and ungrateful behaviourſ in the wilder- At length he put a period to that pilgrimage, in which, never-19 ...And, to omit many remarkable circumstances in this period of their history, after these 20 54 -" 426 - PAUL'S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA. SECT. 23. and 1 Chron, x, 13.) he afterwards raised up to them. David for a king, the person so them. David to be their king; 29. justly celebrated in all succeeding ages; to whom also he gave a more glorious ; º §: ; º Tacts in his word, (1 Sam. xiii. 14. and Psal. lxxx. 20.) and said, “I have found my servant Da º #.sº :*; ... the son of Jesse, a mºn according to mine own heart, who will not disregard my voice as jīālīāīºli.” 23 Saul has done, but shall do all my will, and rule my people with integrity.” From him it was declared that the Messiah should descend, and by a special covenant c.º.º.º.º. he was assured that his throne should be established to all generations. (Psal. lxxxix. 3, 4. §§ º, §§ Now therefore, of this holy man's seed, according to the tenor of that frequently repeated Jesus: promise, (Isa. ix. 6, 7.xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.) God hath raised up unto Israel Jesus, the great and illustrious Saviour, so long foretold in the sacred oraćles, whom I am this day - 24 come to preach among you. This is the person God had so often promised he would send 24. When John had first into the world, and he appeared just in the time and with the circumstances which those ºff;..."; divine prophecies had pointed out; John the Baptist having been sent before as his herald, all the people of É. and having preached in a very convincing manner, to introduce his appearance, the baptism of repentance unto all the people of Israel;k even that baptism which, in token of their repentance, they were commanded by God tº receive; thereby to signify, on the one * hānī; their desire to purify themselves from all their pollutions, and on the other, to testify 25 God s.readiness to forgive them, and admit them into his favour. And when John was just 25 And as John, fulfilled Julfilling his course, he said, Whom do you imagine me to be? I am not [he] nor do I at all Hinºjº. - - * *~ J - - am 2 I am not pretend to be the promised Messiah: but behold, there cometh one after me, the shoes of lºbºbehold; there cometh whose feet I am not worthy to unloose, nor to perform the lowest office of menial service º º º § to him. (Compare John i. 20, 27.) - loose. 26 And let me assure you, men [and] brethren, even all you who are children of the family , 26 Men and brethren, chil- of ſtbraham, and all those among you that truly fear God and serve him, of whatever family jº or hation you may be descended, let me (I sayſ solemnly assure you that these things are...sº º, ſº your great and immediate concern: for untô you, though providentially cast at some ***** distance from time and place in which this message of John was first delivered, and in which Jesus at first appeared, yet unto you wº the word of this great and important salvation sent. 27 For the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and their rulers, not knowing this illustrious person, 13. Fºr they,that dwell at though God bore such a convincing testimony to him, and being also ignorant of what was łºś. signified by the sayings of the prophets, which are read every sa bath-day among them, (as ºolºº. they have this day been among you,) have unwittingly fulfilled [them] in condemning him. tº. *...*.*.*. 28 And though they could find no sufficient cause of death [in him, nor indeed any thing in his flººd * in bondemning Whole conduct capable of any degree of blamé, yet nevertheless they requested Pilate, with $ And though they found 29 the utmost importunity, that he might be condémned and executed. And when they had jºi...ºft. º. inadvertently accomplished all things that were written concerning him, in such a circum- Shºbº Šišić. O stantial detail of particulars as is truly astonishing, taking him down from the cross,” on fii.º.º.º.º.º.ºr which he had expired in the midst of ignominy and torture, they permitted his friends to ºilº ºn, 30 bury him, and laid him in a tomb. And there they took the titmost care to guard him; º; and laid him in a but God raised him up from the dead on the third day, according to his own repeated tº. §§eº “ ” rediction, which they had heard from him before, but were unable to obstruct and hinder YG Cle:3 CI - 31 its accomplishment. ...And after he was risen from the dead, he appeared for several days to 31, Apd he was seen many those that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem a little beforé his déath; who most of §§§ them continue to this day, and are his witnesses to the people of the Jews, among whom they lºº, ºils wit- still reside, and where any of you who go up to Jerusalem may hear it from their own mouth. "“” the people. 32 And we, who are sent out by him on the same errand, and furnished with all proper 32 And we declare unto credentials for that .."; do now bring you these good tidings, that the very promise tº: tº: which was made to the fathers, and which was the hope and joy of their posterity through unto the fathers, so many succeeding ages, God hath now accomplished to us their children, in raising up .33. God hath, ſulfilled, the 33 Jesus from the dead. And it is manifest that by his resurrection he has declared him, in º the most convincing manner, to be indeed his Son; so that it was, as I may speak, the le.º.º. as it is also birth-day of his reign, as it is also written in the seventh verse of the second Psalm," #º gº º 34 “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” And agreeable to this, because he hath hº thee. | raised him from the dead, no more to return to the grave, the seat of corruption,” he hath said he ºº::"...º.º. thus by the prophet, (Isa. lv. 3.) “I will give you the sure mercies of David;" that is, §§§º º mercies which, by the resurrection of him whom I have now set upon the throne of wise.] §§§ 35 David, are made sure to you, and shall prove eternal as his life and reign. Wherefore *ś he saith also also in another, and that a very remarkable [place, he saith, (Psal. xvi. 10.) “Thou wilt ºf 36 not permit thine Holy One to see corruption.” T.Now it is evident this must refer, not to ºne Holy one to - - 5 Iruption. the inspired writer himself, but to some other person; for David, by whom this psalm was ...; ...}}}.}}| written, having faithfully served his own generation of men according to the will 3. God, i.ºhiºi... ead of fell asleep, that is, died, and was gathered to his fathers, and being laid among the and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. k John having before preached, &c.] He mentions the preaching of John the Baptist in this incidental manner as a thing already known to them, because it gave so universal an alarm to the whole Jewish nation, .# ºt probably be heard of in foreign countries, at least as remote 3 S ºf ISIGI18. - º - I Whom do you imagine me to be 3 I am not he.J. Raphelius has taken Fº to prove, from some similar passages in the Greek, classics, that oth these clauses may be considered as united in an affirmation, an rendered, “I am not the person whom 33. suppose me to be,” that is, the Messiah. Annot. ex: Herod. p. 251, 252. m"Taking him down from the cross.]' The apostle, was far from being ashamed to mention the most ignominious parts of his Master’s, suffer- ings to those who were strangers to the gospel, knowing how sufficiently he answered all that could be objected from thence, by what he added and testified concerning his resurrection. - In the second Psalm..] A few copies read it (as Jerome, and Augus- segmed, them to be born out of the earth anew. Compare Rom. i. 4. Heb. i. G. and Rev. i. 5-–Mr. L'Enfant says that the anointing-day of kings is sometimes called their birth-day, for which Heinsius has produced some authorities, Exercit. Sacr. in Matt. xiv. 6. Compare note h, on Mark vi. 21. p. 144. - - p The grave, the seat of corruption.] Beza here observes, with his usual accuracy, that as Christ neyer saw corruption at all, the Greek Öiaºbopa [corruption] must signify the grave, as nºt in Hebrew also does : compare Psal. xgiv. 13. cyii. 20. and Lam. iv. 20. just as the coffin of a man, raised from the dead; as soon as he was put into it might be called his sarcophagus, though his fish had not been consuméſ 1ſt It. q. The sure mercies of David.] The blessings of the Messiah’s reign may be called the sure mercies, of David, either as they were promised to that prince, tp which sºft the translation of 1727 determines it, by rendering it, “I will faithfully perform the promise made to David,” or time also did) the first, but they are overborne by such superior authority, as the name of David is sometimes given to the Messiah himself. that I am surprised they should have been followed by any yho dig great heir of David, of whose §§ and glories #. º º: not affect to *. from the received readings as much as possible.—ſt faint shadow. Compare Jer. xxx. 9. Ezek. xxxiv. 33, 34. xxxviii. 3.; seems evident from hence, that the Psalms were then placed in the 25. Hos. iii. 5. 3. when Isaiah calls them sure mºieş, he may pro: same order as now; and it is observable that this is the only quotation bābly refer to the last words of David, in which "ho uses the sºme of the Öid Testament so, circumstantially made in the new-Bežá expression with regard to them, 2 Sam. Xxiii. 5. and the propriety of jo conjectures that neither first nor second was mentioned in the original application here is evident, as it was the resurrection ºf Čhrist which Copy. " - rendered the blessings he promised sure to his people, who without that o This day have I begotten thee..] Bishop Pearson (On the Creed, p. could, have had no hºpe frºm him; as the apostle argºes at large, I Cor, 252.), well $gºs, that it is, with peculiar propriety and beauty that xv. 14, et seq. See Mr. Jeffery’s True Grounds, p. 139. God is said to have begotten Christ on the day of his resurrection, as hº - * PAUL'S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE THERE. 427 jºised former ages, saw corruption, just in the same manner as other human, bodies do yhen the SECT ***** soul is separated from them. But he of whom these words were spoken, and whom, as I 29. have just been telling you, God raised up from the dead, did not continue in the grave SQ —— g long as to see corruption, being laid there on the evening before the sabbath, and raised º u.}...º.º early the morning after it. Be it known therefore unto you, men º brethren, that by sº that throºi, this "mº. him, even this glorious and exalted person, the remission of sins is preached unto you, even º;','!'};" the for the full and assured pardon of all %. offences, be they ever so great and ever so aggra- p.A., "ß.º 'i wated. And by him every one who believeth in him is, immediately in consequence of that 39 iii.s.º.o.º. º. faith, freely and fully justified and acquitted before God, not only from the guilt of smaller ºustified by the law of miscarriages, but even from the #; of all those things which are in the highest degree º riminal, and from which ye could not on any consideration whatever be justified by the law § Moses, but which expressly were pronounced by that to be capital offences, for which the criminal was immediately doomed on conviction to die without mercy, so that no room was left for any sacrifice of atonement. ; , This is the substance of the message with which I am charged: see to it therefore, I 40 beseech you, as ye value your own souls, that what is spoken in the prophets, as the fatal consequence of rejecting it, may not come upon you : for they speakin very awful language nº º ... º.º. to Sugh; Isaiah, for instance, when he says, ſº. xxviii. 14.) “Behold, ye despisers, ye 41 *Woº":"... ."ja; scornful men that look with häughty contempt on that corner-stone which I lay in Zión, ...?'...; ;", º the judgment I will execute upon you is so terrible, that it shall be a vexation only to un- - - , though a man tº g declare it unto you ; derstand the report:” And in like manner too the prophet Habakkuk, when he says, --- (chap. i. 5.) “Behold ye, and regard and wonder marvellously, turn pale with terror and disappear, as those that shall perish at once, and vanish (as it were) out of sight, coa- sumed in a moment by the fierceness of my vengeance: for I perform a most amazing , work in your days, even a work which ye shall not believe if any one tell it you.” And the destruction God will bring upon you, if you reject the gospel, would appear far more - incredible to you, should it be described in all its terrors, than the desolation that was formerly threatened; which nevertheless, as your unbelieving fathers found to their cost, was circumstantially executed upon them. - ..º.º.º. tº . This was the substance of Paul's plain and serious address to the Jews in their syna 42 jeºgºtićs'És º gogue at Antioch in Pisidia, to which they replied nothing at present; but while the Jews º, ºhº were going out of the synagogue,” the Gentiles, who out of curiosity were many of them preached to them the next C s “s ºx-x t; * -: sabbath. assembled there on the fame of the arrival of such celebrated men, earnestly desired that these words might be spoken to them again the following sabbath, when they promised to attend themselves, and to bring as many of their friends as they could; and thus the assembly broke up for that time. IMPROVEMENT. THAT the Scriptures have been publicly read in Jewish and christian assemblies, from the primitive times, is a Ver.15 noble evidence of their genuine authority, which it will be our undoubted wisdom to transmit to those who are to arise after us: from them succeeding generations will be fully informed of that edifying story which the apostle 17–19 here briefly recounts—of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and their settlement in the land of Canaan, ac- 20, 21 cording to the promise of God to their fathers; and will also learn the ungrateful returns which they made to the divine goodness, when they rejected the Lord from being King over them. (1 Sam. viii. 7.) --- The character of David, as a man after God's own heart, who would fulfil all his pleasure, is surely worthy of 22 being emulated by every christian. In this respect, may he who is feeble among the Lord's people be like David.' (Zech. xii. 8.) Like him may we all be solicitous to serve our generation according to the will of God; to do all 36 the good we can in the age and station in which Providence has fixed us, though it be in a crooked and perverse generation; gradually striving to mend it as fast as we can, and waiting our summons to fall asleep, as we quickly must, and be gathered to our fathers. Were we the greatest princes upon earth, we, like David, must see cor- ruption in the grave: but let us rejoice to think that Jesus, whom God raised up according to his promise, saw no 33, 37 corruption; and if we are his people, he will ransom and redeem us from it. (Hos. xiii. 14.) He, though so outrageously and infamously treated by the Jews, was nevertheless in the most convincing manner 28, 29 declared to be the Son of God, his only-begotten Son. Such a resurrection proclaimed him to be so; (Rom. i. 4.) 34 and, in consequence of it, the sure mercies of David are now given us by him, and the plenary remission of all 38 the most aggravated transgressions is through him proclaimed. For ever adored be his glorious name ! most thank- fully accepted be his overflowing grace which frees us from the guilt of those offences which the law of Moses 39 condemned without mercy, and takes out the dye of scarlet and crimson sins! Let us take heed lest, if we despise so great a salvation, we meet with an astonishing vengeance, the justice of 40 which will be attested and applauded by the messengers of God to the Jewish and the christian church. All the prophets, and John the Baptist, superior to them all who bore witness to Christ, and all the apostles and succeed- 24–27 ing ministers in every age, have concurred to admonish us of our danger, and they will another day rise up to- 41 gether in judgment against us, if all these admonitions are given in vain. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which i spoken of in the prophets, applied, nor are they addressed chiefly to the Gentiles, but to Jews by birth or proselytism. (Compare ver. 16. and 45.) . Several Gentiles were indeed present, who probably came out of curiosity, drawn by the fame of such celebrated breachers; and some, of them might drop in, while r By the lazo of JMoses.] That law appointed sin-offerings to º: smaller offences, so far as that the offender who offered them should be free from all further prosecution on account of them : but this very view of them shows how absolutely necessary to the being of society it was that they should not be admitted in the cases of murder, adultery, &c. These crimes therefore, were made capital ; nor. was the , dying criminal, however penitent, allowed to offer them, which would have been quite inconsistent with the temporal pardon connected with them. But the expiatory sacrifice of Christ takes away the guilt of all sin; and though it by no means affects the manner in which offenders would stand in human courts, (which the Mosaic sacrifices did,) it delivers from the condemnation of God in the invisible world, with respect to which the others could have no efficacy at all, as it was a very suppos- able case that an impenitent sinner might, present them in, all their ex- agtest forms. Compare Rom. viii. 3. Gal. ii. 16. and Heb. x. 4. Se Mr. Hallett, vol. ii. Disc. iii. p. 269, et scq. - * * * * s Turn pale with terror, and disappear.] There, is an ambiguity in the word apavaabnre, which may be rendered either of these ways; and as both these senses are consistent, and would, probably concur, both are inserted in the paraphrase, though, as I think the latter moré expressive, I have jº that as preferable. , The attentive reader §§ yerstands the original, will see that I have often taken this RQ & Lll OCl. t Address to the Jews.]. How impertinently Mr. Collins urges this as an instance of the apostles’ arguing with the Gentiles from allegori- cal interpretations of prophecies, must be evident to every, attentive reader on various accounts; for these scriptures are not allegorically he was speaking : and, as in the series of his discourse they heard of an extraordinary person by whom all that believed in him might obtain pardon and happiness, they were desirous of having that doctrine further explained to them, and, upon a promise that it should be done, took care to engage a vast auditory against the next sabbath, as we shall presently, see. u While the Jews were going out of the synagogue.] To render ££tov- Tov će ek Tris a vyayaoyms Tov Ioudacov, when faul and Barnabas ºpere gone out of the Jewish synagogue, is both supposing the inspired historian to have made an unnecessary distinction with relation, to a synagogue which º; before to belong to the Jews, and making him to have expressed himself in an ungrammatical manner; nor, on the other hand, can we well suppose that Paul and the Gentiles staid in the synagogue when *} the Jews had quitted it. I therefore render it, while they arcre g oth g gut. x The following sabbath.] Some interpret cus To perałv Gaffgafov of a day between the tweg sabbaths, as there is a tradition among the Jews, mentioned by JDr. Lightfoot, and others, that Ezra, commanded them tº assemble on the second, and fifth days of the week, (our Mºjº: and Thursdays,) for the study of the law, in their synagogues. But I think that verse 44. determines the expression to the sense our version gives its nd Lud. Capellus has shown that it is not an unexampled manner of speaking. $ECT . 30. ACTS XIII 43 44 ºd on the following sabbath, almost the whole city was gathered together to hear Gentiles had spread abroad of what had 4 5 46 THE JEWS PERSECUTE THE APOSTLES AT ANTIOCH. SECTION XXX. The Gentiles at Antioch in Pisidia accept the gospel, which the Jews reject, and raise a I Acts xiii. 43, to the end. COIll Ullſh. ACTS xiii. 43. A LARGE account was addressed to the Jews, in that when the synagogue was brok and Barnabas, professing their belief of the exhortations to confirm them in the suaded them to continue in the grace of Goda gospel which they had now embracéd. Qf God, in consequence of the report which the persecution against the apostles, who therefore go to Acts xiii. 43. given in the preceding section of the discourse which Paul had NOW when the congregation their synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia; and the effect of it was, ºff. l ºp; many of the Jews, and of the devout proselytes, though not of the stock of Israel, had embraced the Jewish reli - doctrine they taught; w faith, and speaking to them with great earnestness, per- which they had received, and to retain that s and religious proselytes who, followed j arnabas : * who speaking to ti 3 lºt: i. " ion, followed Paul jej"...ºt.’....". gave them further the grace of God. the word .44 And the next sabbath- day came almost the whole city together, to hear the been delivered before, which awakened in many others an earnest desire of attending to word ºf Gºd. that repetition of their extraordinary message w to make. But the Jews, who continued stron, :- delivered to them, seeing the Gentiles assembled in such great multitudes, were filled with ºf zegl for the honour of their law and nation, which they foolishly imagined to be hurt b this new sect, and with indignation and envy at the regard which the inhabitants of Antioch ly prejudiced against the message which had been .45 ich the apostles had engaged themselves * But when the Jews say multitudes, they were fill- with , envy, , and Spako against those things which were spoken by Paul, contra- dicting and blaspheming showed to it beyond what they had ever done to the Jewish religion; and therefore they opposed the things which were spoken by Paul and Barnabas : not only contradicting them, and cavilling at their allegations, but also blaspheming and reviling these divine teachers as impostors and seducers.b Then Paul and Barnabas, perceiving that no good imp - - ression could be made upon them, were not concerned about saying appearances, but with great freedom a fervent zeal tempered by wisdom, and animated by unfeigned charity, said, It was neces- sary, according to the general instructions of our divine Master, that the word of God, which we are come to deliver, should first be spoken to you Jews; for, undeserving as you b 46 º º * º: on or of s as W3.NCCI DO1C1, and Sāld, of speech, and with ºs. that, the word of God should first have been spoken to you : but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of ever- lasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. are of such a favour, he has directed us that wherever we comé we should open our ministry with an address to you, inviting you to faith and repentance, that you may, in the first place, partake of the benefits of his kingdom. (Compare Luke xxiv. 47.) But since Jou thus disdainfully, thrust it away from you, and by that very action do in effect adjudge and condemn yourselves as unworthy of that etermºdife and glory which, through the richés of his grace, he has so freely offered to you,” behold, we turn ourselves to the Gentiles,d and declare to them that they are also invited into the church of the Messiah, and shall, upon their believing in him, be admitted to all the privileges of his people as readily as if they had been descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or had been trained up in the wor- ship of the true God, and were by circumcision entered most expressly into covenant with 47 him. For 39 the Lord hath charged us to do,” (Matt. xxviii. 19. Acts i. 8.) in consequence 47 For, so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for safwation unto the ends of the earth of that prediction which was uttered by Isaiah in the name of God, (Isà. xlix. 6.) where he addresses himself to the Messiah, ſsaying, “I have set thce for & light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation to the remotest ends of the earth.” Thither therefore will we carry his saving name; and we doubt not but they will thankfully accept that gospel which you so ungratefully despise and reject. .And the Gentiles hearing [these things,) that the way now was open for their admission into covenant with God, and they were welcome to the benefits of the Messiah's kingdom, rejoiced greatly at the happy tidings, and glorified the word of the Lord, which had invited ...º.º.º. º. them to share in all the blessings of his grace, and brought the knowledge of salvation to iieved. 3. them: and as many of those who were present as were, through the operation of divine #. upon their hearts, in good earnest determined for éternal life, and brought to a reso- ution of courageously facing all opposition in the way to it, believed,f and openly embraced the gospel; which others who were remiss and unaffected about their future and everlasting concerns, stupidly neglected, though they could find nothing solid to allege against the 48 And when the Gentiles heard this they were glad, and flººd the word of the r rºy a. To continue in the grace gf God..] The gospel is often called the grace of God, and the word of his grace, with the utmost propriety, as containing the richest display of his grace in the free pardon of our sins by Christ, and the provision he has made for our sanctification and eter- nal happiness. Compare Acts xiv. 3. xx. 24. Rom. vi. 14. Gal. v. 4. Col. i. 6. Tit. ii. 11. 1 Pet; v. 12. s & b Blaspheming and reviling, &c.] The word 6Agagnuouvres, in this connexion with avTu}\syovres, must signify their giving them abusive language. Probably they charged them to their faces with falsehood and villany; and represented the cause they were carrying on as most contempt, jie and wicked. It may seem strange this did not prevent the conversion of the Gentiles. But they would easily see it was the regard that Paul and Barnabas expressed for them which had exasperated the Jews: and it is not improbable that some miracles might have been wrought during the preceding week which would set the character of these divine teachers above the danger of being overthrown by the mali- cious insinuations or conſident assertions of thºse furious opposers. . c Adjutoige yourselves wmycorthy of life.] This text most plainly shows that persons are said to be self-condemned, who furnish out mat- ter of condemnation from their own words, though, they do not actually pass sentence on themselves; for nothing was further from the thoughts of these Jews, than declaring themselves unworthy of eterna] life for not believing the gospel; they rather expected that life by rejecting it. d Behold, we turn to the Gentiles.] The meaning is, not, that they in- tended no more to make an offer to the Jews, for we find they continued to address thein first wherever they came ; but they openly declared, that while they continued at Antioch, they should lose no more time in fruitless attempts on their ungrateful countrymen, but would employ #ºselves in doing what they could for the conversion of the Gentiles there. e For so the Lord hath charged us...] . They might have argued this from the texts quoted in the paraphrase ; but Paul had also received a more express command to this purpose. Compare Acts xxii. 21. xxvi. 17, 18. * As many as accre determined for etermal liſe believcd.] I cannot think, with Sir Norton Knatchbull, that we should take rezaypevot here to signify tho same with avynypſevet, and, placing the commia after it, render the clause, is many as were met together, (that is, all the Gen- tiles,) believed to [or in] eternal life, which I think neither the import nºr order of the words will permit.—Much Jess can I allow of Mr. Jos. Mede’s interpretation, that 787 ayuevot eſ; Conv at Govtov is a periphrasis to express proselytes of the gate, (supposing the distinction of such pro- selytes ever so well founded,) since we nover meet with the phrase elsewhere as a description of them, which indced might much better suit other proselytes, and since there is no reason to believe that they all, and only they, were now converted, or even that the chief number of . converts wº, among them, when almost the whole city were gathered together.—The word Tagoa) has various significations : it is rendered ordained only, here and Rom. xiii. J. (where the margin, I think more properly, renders it ordered :) elsewhere it is rendered determined, Acts xv. 3. addicted, 1 Cor. xvi. 15. and most frequently appointed, Matt. xxviii., 16...Acts xxii. 10. xxviii. 23. In the Greek classigs, I, think it generally, in its passiye form, signifies, “Men, who having been ap- pointed for some military expedition, (and set in their proper offices, as we render it, Luke vii. 8.) are drawn up in battle-array for that pur- pose.” (See {}r. Hammond’s learned note here, with Le Clerc's addi- tion to it, and Raphelius, Ez Horod. p. 353–3(2.) So that it, expresses or refers at once to the action of their commander in marshalling them according to the plan he has ſorrmed in his own mind, and to their own presenting themselves in their propºr places, to be fed on to the intended expedition. This I take to be |...}. its sense, here, and haye there- ſore chosen the word determined, as having ºn armbiguity Šomething like that in the original. Perhaps if one word alone yere to be used for Taagø in all the places where it is used, it should be ordered. The meaning of the sacred penman seems to be; that all who were deeply and seriously concerned about their efºrmal happiness, (whether that concern began now, or were of longer date,) openly, einbriuced the gos- pel; for surely noné could be said to believe who did not make an open profession of christianity, especially in such circumstancºs.; and where- ever this temper was, it was undoubtedly the effect of a divine operation on their hearts, and of God’s gracious purpose thus to call them; and list them (as it were) in their proper places in his army, under the great Captain of their salvation. - PAUL AND BARNABAS GO TO ICONIUM. 429 49, And the word, of the evidence by which it was supported. ...And as these new converts joined their most zealous SE Cº. Lord was published through- º out all the region. and affectionate labours with those of Paul and Barnabas to propagate it, the word of the 30. Lord was borne on, as with a mighty torrent, throughout all that region, which by this & CTS means was watered as with a river of salvation. ..& 50 But the Jews stined up But the Jews, provoked beyond all patience at such a conduct and at such, success; 50 ‘....hº...}}}.}} stirred up [some]'devout women of considerable rank, who having been prºselyted to thei. #.º.º. religion, were peculiarly zealous for it," and also applied themselves to the magistrates of jºi...iii.ºf the city, representing these new preachers as exciters of sedition and innovators in religion, their coasts. who might occasion danger to the state; and thus they raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their territories with violence and infamy. 51. But they shook off the But they, when they were going from the boundaries of that place, shook off the dist ºf dust of their feet against º * * - - 9 H them, and came unto Iconi- eet for a testimony against them ; as their Lord had commanded his apostlé to do, Ul Ill, in token of the certain ruin which should befall such despisers of his gospel. (Mark vi. 11.) ..And departing from thence, they came to the neighbouring city of Iconium, and there re- newed the proclamation of those glad tidings which many of the inhabitants of Antioch had so ungratefully rejected. - #2 And the disciples were But the disciples who were left there were filled with great joy that so blessed a message 52 #j. §§º *** * had reached their hearts; and as Paul and Barnabas had laid their hands upon them, they - were furnished with an abundant communication of the gifts as well as graces of the Holy Spirit, whereby they were not only confirmed in the faith which they had newly embraced, but were also rendered capable of carrying on the interests of christianity in that place, when the first planters of their church could no longer continue to cultivate and water it. IMPROVEMENT. - It is a great comfort to the ministers of the gospel, that amidst that incredulity which too generally prevails, any Wer.43 are found who will credit the gospel; any to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed, in conquering their prejudices against it: with a chosen remnant of these God will support his faithful servants. Oh that the instances of that consolation may be more numerous and more remarkable in our days - It is matter of some encouragement when numbers crowd to attend upon the preaching of the gospel; for faith 4 cometh by hearing. (Rom. x. 17.) They who reject the counsel of God against themselves, will no doubt be pro- . voked at such a circumstance, and the malignity and envy of their hearts will stir up opposition and contention: 43 but God knows how to bring good out of evil; nor should his ministers be discouraged by the contradiction of sinners, but rather turn themselves to those who may be more willing to hear. In the mean time, let those that thrust from them the word of God know, that, in the language of Sèripture, they judge themselves unworthy of eternal life; and since they will not condescend to accept of it on these terms, the great Author thereof will not condescend to give it on any other. And the day is coming when we shall see, and the whole world shall see, how much reason they have to glory in that height of spirit which they now show. Let it be the daily joy of our souls, that the Lord Jesus Christ was given for a light of the Gentiles, and for God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. Through the tender mercies of city God, the day-spring from on high hath visited us. (Luke i. 78.), Let us pray that it may arise and shine upon the remotest nations. And indeed, if yo are entirely unconcerned about its propagation in the world, we have great reason to fear that we have ourselves no part in the saving benefits which it confers. May the silver trumpet every where sound, to awaken the nations 48 to list themselves in this holy war under Christ, against all the enemies of salvation; and may many appear deter- mined for eternal life, and, like these converts of Antioch, courageously set themselves in battlé-array against every thing which would oppose their progress towards it! Väin then will all the rage of persecution be, by whomsoever it is excited or maintained; though by persons of 59 the highest rank or the most honoured characters. If the messengers of Christ be cast out of one place, they will 51 appear with renewed zeal in another: and they who are proselyted to christianity, though in a great fight of āfilic- tion, will have the Spirit of God and of glory resting upon them; and will be enabled to rejoice, not only in the midst of their afflictions, but on account of them. In the mean while, the dust shaken off from the shoes of the rejected ambassadors of the Prince of Peace will be recorded as a witness against those that have despised their message, and will expose them to a final condemnation in the day of judgment, more intolerable than that which ". º: sº on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, or which their wretched inhabitants are them to expect. IVlark VI. 11. 4. # 4 6 4 7 SECTION XXXI. Paul and Barnabas, after some stay at Iconium, go to Lystra: the inhabitants of that city, struck by a mir - be restrained from giving the in divine hop ours. Acts xiv. 1–18 AcTs xiv. 1. Acts xiv. 1. º ºß. IT was observed in the preceding section, that Paul and Barnabas, being driven away sect. jº jº. from Antioch in Pisidia by the persecution which the Jews raised against them, retired to 31 the JeVVS, Öl ſld SO SOil Re; tha • > - * f * * * ~ * : Sº ºv ºn Y- - Te •. g ºilº, § &#. Iconium, a city of Lycaonia in the Lesser Asia, to the north of Antioch, .4nd it came to lº, also of the Greeks, pass, in a very little time after their arrival at Iconium, that they went both together into the Acts tº - synagogue of the Jews there, and sºake on the great subject of the gospel-salvation in , xiv. 2 But the unbelieving Jews sitch a manner that a great multitude both ºf the Jews and ºf the Greeks believed.” Bid the 2 acle wrotºsłit on a ladie rºad, coºkl Hardy ** }. Devout women of £onsiderable."gºl am, much at a loss to knºw garrington (Wiscell. Sacrg, vol. i. p. 105, c. scq.) and Dr. Benson (vol why so many learned writers interpret this of proselytes of the gate. ii. p. 37.) infel that the Holy Spirit desºioi, these converis Withoºt it is quite unnatural to suppose, either that such should be called devout the imposition of hunds, ºit; periaps in thaning tongues. But this ºl rather than, those that had fully embraced the Aſosaic, religiogs or that Pears to me a merg, conſcºttº, and indeed a yº mºj º: they should be more, zealous than, the others, in resenting an imaginary phrase of being filled viii, the shiri can to fle" tº jº prove it. iąjūry done to the whole body of the Jews. Bºt taking then, for wººl (Compare Acts vi. 3, 5, vii. 55 xj.'º. Niš.'s. Like ... is "à l'ek čcially of figure newly proselyted to Judaisin, and fall of an opiniºn, of the Eph. v. 18.) And hiti the anajoº ºlići (f thºjuit.jo. º ...) sanctity and privileges of the people to whom they now belo: geki, they suppose expedient bººm he imagine; diſſºt º' §§. first nothing can bé more natural, than tº suppose that they would instigatº; fruits of the prºsélytes of the gºtº aid of the jºš Gºl. i. their husbands and other relations to the warmest resentinent, against really observed, then, according tº "tº irincipiºs of ū. ić. j Paul and Barnabas, whom they would look upon as leveilers and .#.'º an iſºediate effusion Gf the Špiºn º aliyoStatCŞ. * - a & v }{tileſ, O:l Seſ; us Pitufus, as it di Yoruelius a: is ºis rººf. H. Caine to Iconium.] Raphelius,(Ex..., Xenopk. p. 161-164.) has taken than on these Antiochians, \!..."...,' tºº...! |ºl. º great pains to settle the geography of this place, and has fully proved call the harvest of idóñºrous Geºtiles, who were lot cited ji'iº ihat it lay, not (as it is often plgººd) in the middle ºf Lycao; iii, which pel, had been preached through all Cyprus and Paºli, ii., bºth tº Jews occasions 'sonie perplexity in, following passages; but on its western and Gentijºs- |- sº il a {l ſt: i)}ly 11tt, UC'ſ #1 to - borders, and just of the confines of Pisidia, Galatia, and Phrygia, to a 3/ittitude—ºf the Greeks helieved.] Dr. Whitby and several other the latter Q: which it seems once to have belonged. learned writers Seč m to imit this text more than the re is any reuson to i Were filled with joy and with the Iſoly Spirit..] Hence both Lord do, by supposing the Greeks ièrºejić". . .e. j. . 4:30 SECT. 31. ACTS XIV. 4 candour. THE LAME MAN HEALED AT LYSTRA. ºf studied all they could to put a stop to its progress, stir, habitants of the place, and filled them with malignity against the christian brethren, and º * º especially against those celebrated Jelos, whº were greatly provoked at the growing success of the gospel, and stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil-affect- ed against the brethren. 'ed up the minds of the heathén in- teachers of a religion with respect to which they had - e I * * Hºº H * * * * ; , º $ --- s g 3 entertained such unfavourable prejudices. Nevertheless God was pleased to Interpose in .3Longtime therefore abode 6 and even to stone them as blasphemers; When the project was just ripe for execution, Éaul and Barnabas having received intelligence of it, prevented the attempt by withdrawing from thence, and getting away from Iconium they fied to Lystra and 7 which were contiguous provinces. ...And there they preached the gospel in a very successful S 9 lame from his mother's womb that he never had walked at all. Now it so happened, that in 9. The Some place of public resort near which he was laid to beg for alms of those that passed ń. by, this man heard Paul speaking, who firing his eyes upon him, and seeing, by the ardour that he h H 0 II 1 2 3 …” cordially fell in w such a manner, as to prevent their rage from running animate his faithful servants amidst all the opposition and har cºlºne, therefore, they continued their abode the of] the Lord Jesus Christ," who bare witness to the word of his grace which they delivered, and gave a variety of miraculous signs and wonders to be service to confirm the faith of the new converts, and to prevail & the gospel, and might have convinced all the inhabitants, g Jews, whom contrary side; and as a violent attempt was going to be gº But the nultitude of the city was divided into two opposite parties; and some 4 were of the same mind with the unbelievin * new preachers might be expelled as disturbers of the established religion, and others most with the apostics. r: h with the apostles, whom they received as messengers from God, to guide 5 men to true piety and eternal happiness. But, on the whole, the magistrates favoured the they speaking boldly in the ~!s; g Lord, which gave testimony dships they met with: for a unto the wºrd of his ºraçã, * •." - s and * * * ** – re,b speaking freely in [the cause j §§§º. presently to an extreme, and to done by their hands, which were of * ith many others to receive if they had exercised a becoming But the multitude of the was divided : and part g e * * & Clt * they joined in esiring that these ... . . Jews, and part 5 And when there was an assault made, both of the made by those who had conspired Šies...isiºn."jew". against them, both of the Gentiles and of the Jews, with their respective rulers, to injure ºitºuleº toºse ºff; cities of Lycaonia, and to the adjacent country near the b manner, so that the church was still propagated by the But there happened one circumstance while they we taken notice of; and as it gave occasion to a remarkable occurrence, it will not be impro- # er to relate it more particularly. There sat a certain m }. Jeet, and thereby rendered incapable of providing a despitefully, and to stone the II) - 6 ºf hey were ware of t; and, fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unito the region that lieth round about : 7 And there they preached the gospel. erbe, which were both orders of Cappadocia and Galatia, very methods taken to destroy it. re in these parts which was much 8 And there sat a certain an at Lystra, impotent in * 2 his feet, being a cripple from (In Czł Lystra [who was] disabled in his º womb, who ne– maintenance for himself, being so * * * same heard, Paul who steadfastly be- him, and perceiving ad faith to be healed, and humility which was expressed in his countenance, that he had faith sufficient to be healed, and finding also in himself that the power of Christ was to be displayed on this - Oçcasion, directed his speech to the poor cripple, And said with a loud voice, in the hearing 10 said with a loud voice, of all that were assembled there, as one that was conscious of the divine authority by Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. which he then acted, Arise, and stand upright on thy feet. And the lame man immediately attempted it, in a believing dependence on the power of Christ, which wrought so effectu- ally in him, that he leaped up at once from the place where he sat with an astonishing agility, and not only stood tipright, but walked about as firmly and steadily as if he ha been accustomed to walk from his infancy. cºnd the multitude who were present when this wonde Paul had done by only speaking a word, were all in raptures of astonishment, and lifted 11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying rful cure was wrought, seeing what tºp their voices in loud acclamations, saying, in the Lycaonian language,” The gods are in the peºh.º.º. descended from heaven to us in the form and likeness of men.f And perceiving Barnabas to is be a person of the better presence and of the more majestic port, they called and Paul, who was a little active man, they called Mercury,3 because he was the leader of the discourse, on which account they thought he migh eloquence. - ..?nd the priest of that Jupiter who was esteemed th [whose image] was therefore placed in a temple erected to him before their city, in the suburbs, not far from the place where the miracle was wrought, immediately brough crowned with garlands,i according to their usual manner, to the gates of the place where he gods are come down to in the fikeness of mem. 2 And they called Barna- bas, Jupiter, and Paul, Mer- curius, because he was the t more probably be their god óf chiefs,” him Jupiter . 13 Then, the priest of Ju- piter, which was before their city, brought oxen and gar- t orem lands, unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. e tutelar deity of that place, and Paul and Barnabas were ; and would, with the multitude, have offered sacrifice [to them, heast, proselytes of the gate. The argument from their being found in the Jº wish synagogues is very inconclusive ; for, as was obseryed before, the ſame of such extraordinary teachers as Paul and Barnabas, might naturally draw together great numbers of people who di. I not usually worship in the synagogues. b For a considerable time, therefore, &c.] . Some think the second verse should be included in a parenthesis, and that the particle [therefore] refers to the success that £j and Barnabas had met with at Iconium, (which had been mentioned, ver. 1,) as what induced them to continue preaching there for a long time: while others who would make no break in the connexion, choose rather that pſev &v should be rendered for in- deed; and, supposing the rage of the Jews to have been exasperated by their long stay and preaching there, would render the beginning of this verse, For indeed they had tarried a long time, &c. (See Dr. Whitby, in log.) işut the connexion may be well enough preserved though we retain the asual sense of the particle av, if we consider what is here expressed as an account of the great firmness and undaunted zeal with which these faithful ministers pursued their work; that since the Jews were so intent upon opposing them, and laboured to incense the Gentiles too against them, they therefore thought it needful to continue preaching with the greater boldness, and to make the longer stay there, for the establishment and confirmation of the new converts, and for the vindi- gation of their own character, and of the cause they were engaged in from the injurious cajumnies and false aspersions of their enemies, tijj they proceeded to such violent methods, that they no longer could remain with any safety there. C Speakingſrecly [in the cause of] the Lord.] Some would render the words, Taffna tašopevoteſt To Kvp to, being inspired with great resolu- tion by the Lord; but though this was undoubtedly the gases, I am not sure the words themselves 6xpress it. , Bezº renders it, in, a dependence on the Lord ; and indeed the original will very naturally bear that SČ 1S6 a sº - d Having received intelligence of it..] They were, as it should seem, informed of it when the mob was actually raised, and coming towards the piace where they were, Solne have imagined it, might be by inspi- ration; but I see no necessity for hâking recourse to that. - e. In the Lycaonian language.] This; as some Say?, was pº a dialect of the Śreek, but rather approached the Syriac, as that of Cappadocia. is said to have done. fºhe gods are descended to us in the likeness of men.] It appears from Af numberless passages in the heathen writºrs, that they suppo;? this oſton to have happened. See Horner Gºffs. (ºr ver. 485, et seq. Hesiod, Op. et 7)ier. ver. 249,254, ct seq. Catull. De Nupt. Pel. Ver., 384, et seq. and the notes of Grotius and Éisner on this place, which last great critic has shown that this notion particularly prºvailed with respect to Jupiter and Mercury. Observ. vol. i. p. 420–422. g Barnabas they called Jupiter, and . Paul Jºſércury.] Chrysostom observes (and after him. Mr. Fleming, Christol. vol. ii. p. 226.) that the heathens represented Jupiter as an old but vigorous man, of a noble and majestic aspect, and large robust make, which therefore he supposes might be the form of Barnabas ; whereas Mercury, appeared young, Hittle, and nimbie, as Paul might probably de; for he was yet but a young man. Yet the reason given by Luke is different, and more naturally leads to the turn given in the paraphrase. amblicus calls Mercury eso; 6 roy Xygoy #y spºov, with a remarkable correspondence to the words of the sacred historian, autos nu 6 #youpévos Tov \970°- See other learned illustrations of this title, gited by. Mr. Biscº 4t Boyle’s Ecct. chap. viii., § 8, p. 313.314. Mr. Harrington well oly- serºes (in his jñozks, p. 330.) that this persuasion might, gain the more easily on the minds of the T-ycaonians, on aſ count of the well-known jé of jujiter and Šíercury, who were said to have descended from #ºve, in human shape, and to have been entertained by Lycaon, from whom the Lycaonians received their name. jī ºſſic priest ºf Jupiter, [whose image] was has shown that it was customary to build temples licſore their city.) Elsner to their deitics in the §§§uits, and to set up their images before the gity,aft, the gºtºs. ( ºstrº. vol. i. p. 435.) See also ſº. Biscoe, chap. Viii. l). 3 13. it has bºn" argued from hence, that the heathens considered their several images, of Jupiter 6r instance, as so many distinct Jupiters, that is, as jºing some spirit sent from the god to whom their Worship was ultij †ately referred, to reside, in then 3, which, as Mr. Warburton well observes, may account for the dispute between two Jupiters, the 'l ongºs, ºf the Cajtojimus, mentioned by, Suetonius. August, cap- 91. §ce Warb. Div. Legat. Vol. }. i. p. 279—281. note. - i"bººed with garlands.]. It is well known that the heathen; used ºrºbºti, the images of their deities and the victims they offered to them, with chaplets of floweri, as appears, from a multitude of pilº ...jºti, ii, the Éatin and Greek classics. See Raphel. JVot. ex: Herod. p. 364, and Mr. Biscoe, as above, p. 315 - 431 SECT. 3}. ACTS XIV, 4 THE PEOPLE OF LYSTRA ATTEMPT TO DEIFY PAUL AND BARNABAS. to acknowledge the obligation they were under to them for this condescending and bene: ficent visit, and to take this opportunity of imploring their continued protection in their public and private affairs. 14 Which whº the apostles, But as they were leading on the sacrificial procession towards them, the apostles Bar- Hºl § nabas and Paul hearing ºf the purpose for which it was intended, were struck. With a riºnong the people, tº becoming horror at the proposal, and rent their mantles, in token of that mixture of indig- ing Out, nation and sorrow with which they beheld this strange abuse of a miracle wrought to destroy that idolatry which from thence they took occasion to practise ; and in this moving and expressive manner they ran in among the multitude, crying out with the greatest ear- nestness, And saying, O Sirs, unhappy and misguided mén as ye are, why do ſº these things with regard to us? We are not what you imagine us to be ; and far from having any title to divine honours, we assure you that we also are mere mortal men as others are, obnoxious to the same common infirmities of human life with yourselves,k and are come § hither with a design of preaching ille gospel to you, that you may be directed to the proper object of religious adoration, and may effectiially be taught to turn from these vamilies which you now worship, to Jehovah, the one only living and true God, who made the 16 who in times past suſ. heaven and the earth, and the sea, and all things which are contained in them : who in for- §º * *** mergenerations permitted all the heathen nations to walk in their own ways, and left them under the darkness into which they were gradually fallen, without giving them any reve- 17 Nevertheless, he left not lation of himself, either by a written law, or by prophetic messengers: though even then * †º he did not leave himself entirely without witness, nor were they altogether destitute of any jºin foſſa., and means of coming to a better knowledge:” for he was continually testifying his deity, his §y;nºin. presence, and his care, by the substantial fruits of his liberality, doing good to his creatures with a bountiful hand, º giving us all, whether Jews or Gentiles, refreshing showers of rain from heaven, which none of the idols could grant; and, through the concurring influ- ences of the sun, producing fruitful seasons, administering thereby not only to the neces- sities but the delights of life, and filling our hearts with food and with gladness too. Since, therefore, to all his other favours he has now added this of sending us with these miracu- lous powers to instruct you in his nature, and to point out to you the way to happiness, forbear these vain and offensive rites, and set yourselves seriously to attend to the gospel, which it is our great business here to proclaim. .And saying these things, plain and reasonable as they were, they hardly restrained the 18 people from their purpose, and scarcely could prevent their sacrificing to them. IMPROVEMENT, HAPPY are the ministers of Christ in the midst of labours and persecution too, if they have the presence of their Ver. Master with them; and if the Lord, as in this instance, bear witness to the word of his grace. Almighty Saviour, leave us not destitute of that presence which is our hope and our joy! but bear witness with all thy faithful ser- vants, while they are bearing their testimony to thee! Infinite Wisdom governs those revolutions in Providence which seem most mysterious. These repeated oppo- sitions which the apostles met within their work seemed to threaten their destruction; but they served in effect to render their testimony more credible, when borne in the midst of so many dangers: they served also to exercise the graces of these new converts; to add a growing evidence to christianity throughout the remotest ages; and they were the means of spreading the gospel to a greater variety of places, when the apostles were forced to make such short visits at many, through the inhospitality of those from whom they deserved a quite different reception. The cure of this cripple was but one miracle of a thousand which the power of Christ made common in those days; the effect of it one way and another was very remarkable : the multitude, struck with the exertion of an energy truly divine, by an error to which human nature is (alas!), too incident, fix their eyes on the instruments, and pay that honour to mortal men which was due only to that God by whom that wonderful work was wrought. Yet a mixture of piety amidst all that superstition cannot but strike the mind with some pleasure, joined with the compassion we must feel to find it so wretchedly misguided and allayed. When they thought the gods were come down in human form, they were desirous immediately to pay honour to them. The Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh: but, alas, in how different a manner was he generally received received indeed with out- rage and infamy, instead of that prostrate adoration to which he had so just a claim. These his servants with an honest indignation reject the homage offered to them, and regardit with horror rather than delight. lt was a courageous testimony which they bore to the vanity of these heathen deities, while sur- rounded with adorers and their priests. While they confess their own infirmities as weak and mortal men, they, with heroic boldness and j truth, proclaim the one living and true God, the Creator and Governor of heaven and earth, of the sea, and all that is therein. Let us adore him as the Author of all the blessings of Providence, as giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons; and while our hearts are filled with food and gladness, let our hearts rejoice in him, and to him let us devote that vigour which we derive from his daily bounty. Above all, let us praise him that we have not these witnesses alone of his presence, his power, and his goodness; but that he who once left the nations to go on in their own ways, has now revealed unto us the path of salvation, and given us that true bread from heaven, of which iſ a man eat he shall live forever. (John vi. 58.) I I 5 15 And saying, Sirs, why to Ye these thi:1;s & We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you, that ye should turn from these vanities, unto the living God which made l:eaven earth, and the sea, , and things that are therein : I 7 18 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them. 3 8–10 11—13 I 4. I5–17 SECTION XXXII. Paul and Barnabas being driven from Lystra, by a persecution excited by the Jews, return through Derbe, Pisidia, and Pamphylia, to Antioch SECT. © . 32. in Syria, where they make some abode. Acts xiv. 19, to the end. Acts xiv. 19. Acts xiv. 19. . AND there came thither cer; WHEN Paul and Barnabas had put a stop to that undue respect the people would have tain Jews from Antioch and shown them, and had instructed them to worship none but the true &. they still con- ACTS XIV. 19. k Obnoxious to the same common infirmities.] This is also the meaning of the buotoračng, (Jam. v. 17.) and nothing could be more absurd or injurious to the character of these holy men, than to imagine that it refers, in either of the places, to any thing of ungoverned passion. From these vanities.] bold expression, when, considered as , ad- dressed to a whole crowd of bigoted idolaters, with their priests at their head. It naturally leads us to reflect, how, unlike, the conduct of the apostles was to that of the heathen philosophers; who, instead of enter- ing a generous protest against the absurdities of the established worship ) Žhough it often led to such scandalous immoralities, meanly conformed to it themselves, and taught their disciples to esteem such conformity an essential part of a good citizen’s character; which seems to have been the design even of the dying words of Socrates himself, a circumstance hardly to be mentioned without years. See Mr. Warburton’s Dic. Legat. vol. i. p. 322. m. He did not leave himself without witness.] As a friend, in sending us frequent presents, expresses his remembrance of us and affection to \ls, though he neither speak nor write, so all the giſts of the divine bounty which are scattered abroad on every side, (as a late pious philo- Søpher most justly observes,) are so many witnesses sent to attest the divine care and goodness; and they speak it in very sensible language to the heart, though hot to the ear. (See JVature Displayed, vol. ii. p. 7.) 4.32 SECT. tinued for a little while at Lystra, and endeavoured to improve PAUL AND BARNABAs DRIVEN Piº RSECUTHON FROM LYSTRA. hat advantage which the Iconium, who persuaded the 32. CUre of the lame man had given them for preaching the gospel there. But though they ºf jºi. Yere so happy as to make some converts to it, they were soºn interrupted in their work'; ...'s ºsiſ."hº"haibº, º fºr quickly after this, [spinel Jews came thither from the neighbouring cities of .4ntioch and ** *10 Iconium, and persuaded the multitude to disbélieve what they taught: and representing them to be deceivers, they prejudiced their minds to such a dégree against their persons and their doctrine, that the very people who, but just before would have adored them as deities, nºw rose to put them to death as malefactors; and accordingly having stoned Paul in a tumºtºous manner in the streets, they dragged him out of the citij, supposing him to be 29 dºgº. But as the disciples were gathered about him with a view of performing the last office 20 Howbeit, as the disci. of affectiºn to him, in bearing him to his funeral with proper regard, to their unspeakable Fºº surprise they found him so r T ho -o- of § - Y : jº immedia folv r ... lººse. and came Tºto the sur y fou in so, restored by the power of Christ, that he immediately rose up as its aſſº ºxiday he in perfect health,” and his bruises were so healed that he entered into the city agains'and ſº * * * Wis not only able to walk about it, but the next day found that he was capable of under- taking a jºurney, and departed with Barnabas to Derbe, a city of Lycaonia, on the borders ºf Cappadocia; as they did not think it convenient to proceedin their progress to Galatia, 21 Phrygia, or any more distant province. •ºnd having preached the gospel at Derbe, to the inhabitants of that populous city, and ºngde a considerable nºmber ºf disciples there, they trod back the road they had taken, and 22 returned first to...i./Sira again, and then to Iconium and Antioch in Pisidia; Confirming the souls of the disciples which they had made in those places in their former journey; ex- horting them to continue in the christian faith with a steadfastness becoming the evidence and importance of it; and ſtestifying] that it is necessary we should enter into the kingdom of God through many tribulations, which, as God has been pleased to order matters, will unavoidably lie in our way, but which it will be abundantly worth our while to encounter in so good a cause, and in the views of so glorious a reward. •And when they had with the concurrent suffrage of the people constituted presbyters for them in every church, who might take care of them when they were gone away to other parts, having prayed to God with solemn fasting, that a blessing might attend their inspec- tion and labours, they committed them, in the infant and distressed state of the church at that time, to the guardianship and care of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom they had be- lieved, and so quitted them, with a cheerful confidence that he would carry on that good work which, in the midst of so much opposition, he had happily begun amongst them. 24 ...?nd passing through the province of Pisidia, they came ăgăin to Pamphylia, which was 25 the country where they had landed when they came from Cyprus. (Chap. xiii. 13.) And having spoken the word of the kingdom in the city of Perga, where they had been before, they went down from thence to flitalia, which was a maritime town on the coast of the 26 Mediterranean sea. . .4nd not thinking it proper at that time to travel through Cilicia, though they were then on the borders of it, and some christian churches were already planted there, (compare chap. ix. 30. xv. 41.) they took shipping, and sailed from thence to the coast of Syria, and went up the river Orontes to Antioch in that province ; from whence they had, by the divine appointment, been solemnly recommended to the grace of God for that work which they had so vigorously prosecuted, and so happily accomplished. (Chap. xiii. 2, 3.) They were therefore very desirous both of rendering a particular account of their ministry there, and also of returning their grateful acknowledgments to the divine providence and grace, to which they owed their safety amidst so many extreme dangers, and their success in such difficult labours. - .ind when they were come thither, and had gathered the church together, they related to the brethren at Antioch what great and wonderful things God had done with and by them, in 21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, 2 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that, we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. 23 23 And when they had or- dained them, elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. 24 And, after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. 25 And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia: 26 And thence sailed to An: tioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace O od for the work which they fulfilled. 27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, —they re- hearsed all that God had done 2 Raphelius (Éc Herod. p. 365, 33.3.) has a curioſis note here, in which he shows that the pagans spoke of rain as given by God, and, which is very remarkable, not as coming from the gods; and this he thinks a remnant of patriarchal piety, in a form of speech older than the first idolatry. So that there is no need, with Dr. 'Hºmmond, to have recourse to the w Jewish proverb, that the keys of life, rain, and the resurrection, were elders by election. The celebrated author first mentioned has.endea: alteays kept in God’s own hand. Compare Jer. xiv. 22. voured iargely, to vindicate this interpretation from the exceptions, of a Having stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city, &c.] Probably Dr. Hammond, Dr. Seaman, and others, who make Xé90Tovia thg they left his body exposed to the cpen air, intending that he (to whom same with xstpođeata, or the laying on of hands:. . See Harrington's a fºw days beforé they would baye sacrificéd oxen) should be a prey to Prerogative of Popular Government, chap. v. This is not a place for wild beasts of birds. There might be something, extraºrdinary, in the discussing so nice a question; but as I am in my own judgment con- appearance of his body in this circumstance, which led them.to con- Vinced he is in the right, I chose to ºº:: the passage agreeable to *|†: ine was dead while he was yet alive; for one can, hardly imagine that notion, though ſ"do not fix it in the translation. ! have not ren- that they would have been contented with any yery slight and transient dered it orđained, because custom has, among us especially, affixed to ity;uiry whether he was dead or not. it is observable, we, read of no that word, in such a connexion, the idea of laying on hands in prayer sign injury offered to Barnabas, who seems to have had no share in the to invest à person with, or mark him out ſor, the ministerial office: and citects offhis popular fury; and it is probable that Paul’s distinguished this, which } doubt not was here done, seems to be intimated in the fol- Zºf marked him out as the object of their distinguished cruelty. ...But joying clause. It seemed to me that the word [constitute] would pro- it is surely a strange thought of Wojtzogenius, that this was permitted perly express the apostles’ presiding in that previous choice, which by God as a punishment on Paul for the concern he had in stoning probably the people signified by Xzipotovº, the stretching out their Stephen. Higwever, the apostle might well insert it in the brief history jands. "And this interpretation appears most naturally to, suit the cir- he gives us of his sufferings, 2 Cor. xi. 23–27. of which few are parti- janºs of things, as well as the import of the original words made cularly mentioned in this book. - jº"; he peºple would, no doubt, have a great deference to the judgment of the apostles in the choice of those officers who were in some authority of Suidas, who explains xelpo Tovua by exX0×m Tavros Kºpoats, “the election of magistrates, or ratification of laws by many, signified by holding up or stretching 6lit the hand.” (Compare 2 Cor. viii. #3 Raphelius has confirmed the same, interpretation. ... (Vat. gr. Xºn. p., 135. And the old English, Bible translates it, When they had ºrdained them b. He rose up as in perfect health..]. That just after he had been stoned, - * - - - and dragged about the streets, and left for dead; he should rise and ſº to Éil up their places in exercising the christian ministry, ºloš walk back into the city, must certainly be the effect of a miraculous them and on the other hand, whatever, extraordinary powgr their in- the dead. This is the more illustrated by his going the next day, to º'ai éct authority it might have warranted, yet cºnsidering how jerse; whereas, in a course of nature, he would then, have felt his ... the comfort and usefulness (not to say, the subsistence), of thes; bruises much more than at , first, and, probably, after the best care that finisters, who had no human laws to establish them, would depend could have been taken of him, wºlf hardly have been able to turn ºn the free consent of the people, and what a natural authority the himself in his bed. - express declaration of that confight would give them in the execution of c Entered into the city.] Probably by showing himself alive among fºr office, the prudence as well as the known humility of the apostles the new converts at least, if not to others, he hoped, as he reasonably would jead them to take that conse t \; expressly as they tººl; might, to confirm their faith in the gospel and their courageous adhe- (compare I Cor. ix, 14.15. 2,991. X. Š. hess. ii. 6. hilem; yer. 8, rence to it. Permit me to add "here, that though it was not till the 3. i §§ v. 3.) which it would be, the more natural and expedient to next journey hither that Paul formed his intimate, acquaintance with ſo, as the civil government of thºse plages, was in a great, measure Timothy, (Acts xvi. I, 3.} yet since he speaks of Timothy as bºxing ºpular, (as Mr. Harrington hits, shown: Ibid., chap. ii.), and as the been a witness of his stifferings here and in the neighbourhood: (2 Tim. ºsties also knew how ºxpressly the Cºnsº of the Jewish people had iii. 10, 11.) whereas we ; nothing of any remarkable sufferings in jºin the settlement, of their ºivil and ecclesiastical affairs, that second progress. (Acts xvi. 4.) it seems he began, his acquaintance How with that hopeful youth, whose pious nother Eunice, and grand- mother Lois, (2 Tim; i. 5.) seem now to have been entered into the chris- fan church, though he was not adraitted till afterwards. d When they had constituted presbyters for them, &c.] Mr. Harrington (in his Works, p. 327.) renders the words x&lporovno avrés avTats #peaflvrºpov;, ordained them elders by the votes of the people, urging the ..}s * ºriter has also well illustrated, Ibid, ghap. iii.-Sif §,'ºuï i. an admirable note º which lie establishes the ºrgion ſhave given, by many incontesº authorities even of ...lesiastical writers; and, though it be true that in some cases (as Dr. #.īās"jearnedly shown) xetpg|Tovew signifies to constitute or appoint to an office, where, there,9.9% be no voting at all, I cannot see any evidence that the word is so to be interpreted here. THE JEWISH CONVERTs URGE THE NECESSITY OF CIRCUMCISION. 433 ..º.º.º.º. the whole of their voyage and journey in all the countries through which they had passed; SECT. flºor of faith unto (compare chap. xv. 12. and xxi. 19.) and more especially acquainted them with what extra- 32. - ordinary success he had been pleased to bless their ministry among the heathen, and how he had opened a door of faith and hope to the Gentiles, who had so long continued in igno- Acºs rance, idolatry, and misèry,” making the gospel shine into their hearts, and graciously 2í" receiving them into the number of his people. . w i...º.º.º.º. And Providence permitting them, after their long fatigues, to repose themselves a while 28 - ” in that agreeable situation amidst their dear brethren and friends, they resided there a con- siderable time with the disciples, establishing them in their adherence to the gospel, and in a behaviour suitable to their profession of it. IMPROVEMENT. WHo would value himself upon the applauses of a multitude, when he sees how soon these changeable inhabit- Ver-19 ants of Lystra were instigated to assault him as a malefactor whom but a few days before they were ready to adore as a god, and how easily they were prevailed upon to exchange the instruments of sacrifice for those of murder! They stone him, and drag him out of the city for dead: and who that had seen this lamentable sight would not have concluded that here the labours of Paul were ended, and that henceforward we should hear no more of him in this glorious history 2 But God, who amidst all their outrage secretly preserved the flame of life from being utterly extinguished, interposed miraculously to heal his wounds and bruises, and on a sudden restored 20 him to perfect health. Thus could he always have protected his apostles, so that, in a literal sense, not one hair of their heads should have perished; but it was more suitable to those wise maxims on which he proceeded in the government of the world, to suffer them at length to fall by their enemies, and to pour out their blood as a seal of their doctrine, and of the sincerity with which they taught it; nor could any death be more glorious, or, when taken in its full connexion, any more happy. - With pleasure let us trace these holy men in all the stages of their undaunted and successful course; convert-21 ing some, confirming others, and, upon the whole, like their divine Master, scattering blessings wherever the come. Let their exhortation still have its power with us to engage our steadfast continuance in the christian faith 22 through whatever tribulations we are called to pass; be the way ever so rugged and painful, let it be enough for us that it leads to the kingdom of heaven. Thankfully let us own the divine goodness in all the assistances we 23 receive as we pass through it, and particularly in that which all ages derive from the christian ministry, settled in the church, by the wise care of its blessed Founder, to be a perpetual blessing to it, May all the prayers which are offered for those who in succeeding generations are set apart to the work, in those solemn devotions which usually attend their ordination to it, be heard and answered And may ministers and people flourish in knowledge and i. under the constant care of the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls! The success which attended these two apostles in their course, and the pleasure with which they returned to 26 the place from whence they had so affectionately been recommended to the grace of God, may be an encourage- ment to our prayers and our labours. Whatever we do in the advancement of the gospel, let us, with these holy men, acknowledge that God does it by us; and let us pray that the door of faith may be opened so wide, that 27 all the nations º the earth may enter in and be saved. SECTION XXXIII. Some Jewish conyerts urging it as necessary that the Gentile christians should observe the law of Moses, Paul and Barnabas go to Jerusalem to con- sult the apostles and elders upon that question : an assembly is callod, in which Peter declares on the side of their liberty. Acts xv. 1–ll. Acts xv. 1. ACTS xv. 1. Aº jºin tº jº. THE conclusion of the last section left Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, where they con- secT came down from Judea, - - - - 5 g ;" i.e. bºen...ini tinued a considerable time. And now a circumstance occurred which was the occasion of 33. # *śP'º jºr very considerable consequences in the christian church there and elsewhere; for some per- Moses, yo cannot be saved, sons who came thither from Judea, taught the brethren, in their public and private discourses, Acts insisting with great earnestness, and saying to them in the strongest terms, That except , XV. ye be circumcised according to the manner prescribed in the law of Moses, and become obedient to all the whole system of his precepts, ye cannot º be saved by the gos- pel; which was intended to make all that are converted to it Jews, and that they could not otherwise be true and genuine christians. ... º. i.i. There being therefore a contention upon this account at Antioch, where there were se-2 #...”.”;... veral converts from among the Gentiles, to whom this doctrine could not but be very dis- lºgº agreeable; and no small debate arising [on the part] of Paul and Barnabas, who strenu- ğaiºi.jī Qūsly opposed these Jewish zealots, and maintained against them that christians converted ſººn... from other nations were as free from the Mosaic law as if it had never been given at all; apostles and elders, ubout * - - - - - - ***, 3 this question. the church thought it advisable to get the best satisfaction they could in an affair which affected the liberties and consciences of so many; and for this purpose they resolved that Paul and Barnabas, and some others of their number, should go up to the apostles* and elders at Jerusalem,b to know their sentiments about this grand question. 3.And, being brought ºn . They therefore upon this set out from Antioch, and being brought forward on their journey 3 their way by the church, f c - & - - they passed through Phenice by several of the church,” went through the countries of haºnicia and Samaria, which lay ...ºf ºilº in their way, relating, to all their fellow-christians whom they met with in the several º, ºil...eat joy towns through which they passed, the conversion of the Gentiles,d by the blessing of God unto all the brethren. on their labours; and by this account they occasioned great joy to all the brethren. e Opened, a door % faith to the Gentiles.] It is certain the gospel was acquiesced in his determination alone ; but as others might have preju- carried º, the apostles, in this journey, to many celebrated countries to dices against him on account of his having been so much concerned with which it had never before reached; but as, on the one hand, it is certain it the Gentiles, it was highly expedient to take the concurrent sense and had been preached to the Gentiles before, so, on the other; it, seems a judgment of the apostles of the circumcision upon this occasion. groundless, conjecture of Mr. Cradock, that in this journey Paul went as b And elders at Jerusalem.] By what authority these have been con- far as to Illyricum, (a province in Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic cluded to be some of the hundred and twenty mentioned Acts, i. 15. I sea,) preaching the gospel, (Rom. xv. 19.) and suffered all the hardships am yet to learn, notwithstanding what is suggested by Dr. Whitby, in to which he refers, 2 Cor. xi. 21, et seq. See Crad. Apost. Hist. p. SS. lqc. and Dr. Benson, vol. ii. p. 55. It seems to me, that any officers of a. They resolved that Paul, &c. should go up to the §". It is gene- the church to, whom, the stated inspection of it was committed, might rally allowed that this is the journey to which Paul refers, Gal. ii. 1,2... properly be called elders, whether they were or were not of that number. when he says that he went up by reyelation, which is very consistent , c. Being broughtforward on their journey % church.] This is plain- with this ; for the church in sending them might be directed by a revela- ly the sense of the word TpoTepºpôevres, which is constantly used to ex- tion, made either immediately to Paul, or to some other person, relating press the regard which was shown to those who travelled any where to to this important affair. Important indeed it was, and necessary, that preach the gospel, or to take care of the affairs of the church, whom it these Jewish impositions should be solemnly opposed in time, because a was usual to bring forward on their way. Compare Acts xx. 38. xxi, 5. reat number of converts that, were zealous for the law would eagerly Rom. xv. 24. 1 É. xvi. 6, 11. 2 Cor. i. 16. Tit. iii. 13. and 3 John, fall iu, with such a notion, and be ready to contend for the observance of ver. 6. it.—Many of the christians at Antioch undoubtedly knew that Paul, was Relating to all their fellow-christians—the conversion gf the .Gen.- under an extraordinary divine direction, and therefore would readily have tiles.) It is surprising that the author of Miscell. Sacra, (Essay iv. p. 55 º 434 SECT. 33. *...* and gave them an account of the success with which he had blessed their ministry among " ... the Gentiles, in their late travels through Cyprus, Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia. 5 But some of the sect ºf the Pharisees that believed,” who were still zealous for the cere- 6 8 AN ASSEMBLY OF THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS AT JERUSALEM. ºffnd being at length arrived at Jerusalem, they were received with all due respect by th whole church, and particularly by the apostles and elders who resided there º th y the lated to them what great and wonderful thi monial law, rose tºp and said, That though they heartily rejoiced in the conversion of so many of the heathen to the knowledge and faith of the gospel, yet it was absolutely neces. sary to circumcise them, and to instruct and charge them ; its ceremonial as well as moral precepts. Others in the company opposed this as an inno- vation of a very unreasonable nature, and as what might be jº sequences: and to bring the matter to an should be debated at large in a full assembly. wind accordingly when the day came, the apostles and elders were gathered 7 consult upon this affair, and to consider what was fit to be determined in it. much debate,f Peter rose up in the assembly, and said to them, Men Very Well know that some considerable time since the ever-blessed God, who is so remark- resence, choses that the Gentiles by my g º - ieve in that glorious dispensation. And in proof of this, while I was preaching to Cornelius and his family, who were uncircum- çised, that God who knoweth the heari bare witness to them that t ey were accepted by him, by giving them the Holy Spirit in a miraculous effusion and a visible appearance, even nd gs, ſhe did] to us at the very beginning, on that ever-memorable day of Péntecost, which fulfilled our Lord's gracious promise, and furnished us for our great and successful work. ably among us by many gracious tokens of his nowth should hear the word of the gospel,h and b ngs God had 4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and, elders; and they declared all things that God had done with them. ſe- #. done with and by them, 5. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them. OŠēš III to keep the iaw ºf Wije. £ep the whole law of with pernicious con- issue, it was agreed that at an appointed time it 6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a i. while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear, the word of the gospel, and believe. 8 A d, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; together, to §. after [and] brethren, you 9-ind this, it eyidently appeared that he made no distinction between us and them, having 9 And but no difference purified their hearts as well as ours by a sincere faith, and thus sanctified them effectually than could have been done by any external rite, and made it manifest that he 11 transgressions in consequence of it? Wer. 1 5, 10 imposing a yoke on the neck of 2 Prudent undoubte was ready to admit them to the blessings of his gospel. 19 . Now, therefore, my brethren, why do you not acquiesce in such a determination? Wh where the divine will is already sufficiently declared; and go about to tempt God, by a proposition of ciples a grievous and burthensome yoke, which neither our fathers nor we have been able ...’, cheerfully and regularly to bear, without being exposed to greatinconveniences and many But far from consenting to what some of you pro- pose, we, who are sufficiently instructed on this head by our great Master, do fully and as- do you insist on further terms as necessary, suredly believe that we ourse much more between us and them, ºrity- ing their hearts by fait 10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to P; *ś upon the neck of the disci- ples, which neither our fa- thers nor we were able to º on the neck of the dis- ll. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall ves are saved, not by obedience to the works of the law, but be saved, even as they by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the same manner as they are: and thereforé we cannot consent, that while they have that faith upon which salvation depends, we should urge upon them the observation of those ceremonial precepts of the law by which we our- selves know we cannot be justified. Thus Peter pleaded: and James afterwards seconding his discourse, the council acqui- esced in it, (as we shall presently hear.) only enjoining some easy restrictions, to avoid giving unnecessary offence to their circumcised brethren. IMPROVEMENT. How early did the spirit of bi g § otry and imposition begin to work in the christian church! that fatal humour of rist's disciples, by making indifferent things necessary ! ... An unmanly and anti- christian disposition, which has almost ever since been rending the church to pieces, and clamorously throwin the blame on those who have been desirous, on principles truly evangelical, to stand fast in ) their divine Master hath made them free. (Gal. v. 1. the liberty with whic ow foolish and how mischievous the error of making terms of communion which Christ has never made and how presumptuous, the arrogance of invading his throne, to pronounce from thence damnatory sentences on those who will not, who dare not, submit to our uncommissioned and usurped .# | ly was the part which these Antiochian christians acted upon this occasion, in sending these messengers to the apostles for their determination: and it will be our prudence, now we can no longer in person consult those ambassadors of Christ, to make their writings the man of our counsel, and the standard both of our faith and worship; appealing to the tribunal of Christ, our Master and our Judge, from those uncharitable censures which we may sometimes incur even from his faithful though mistaken servants, for retaining the simplici- ty of that religion which these authorized interpreters of his will taught. 50, et seq.) and Dr. Benson, (vol. ii. p. 49, 50.) should think Paul and Barnabas told their story in so ambiguous a manner as to leave room for those that heard them, both here and at Jerusalem, to conclude that the Gentiles of yhom they spake were only proselytes of the gate, and not idolatrous Gentiles. . Had the distinction been material, it would no doubt have been inquired into, and though no inquiry had been made, yet it would have been very disingenuous in Paul and Barnabas, when (as these writers allow) their work had chiefly lain among the idolatrous Gentiles, to conceal that circumstance, and leave the assembly in gene- ral terms to make a decree relating to christian Gentiles, in which, in fact, but a very small part of them should be concerned. But indeed it is most groundless to imagine that if the distinction had been ever so great between proselytes of the gate and other Gentiles, it should, in any cir- cumstances or at any time, have been an obnoxious thing, or a thing that should need conceaſment, that the true God had been préached to idola- ters. for the argument from Gal. ii. 2... I º hereafter give my rea- sons for concluding it refers to Paul’s teaching, that even the Jews them- selves were by Christ freed from any general obligation in conscience to observe the Mosaic ceremonies, g e But some gf the sect of the Pharisees, &c.] , I cannot but wonder, with Raphelius, (Ez Herod. p. 367.) that Beza and some others should think this is a circumstance which Paul adds to his story, when the connexion go evidently shows them to be the words of Luke the historian, inform- ing us that these messengers found some at Jerusalem who held the same unhappy principles which had so much disturbed the peace of the church at Antioch. To support the other interpretation, Mr. L'Enfant is obliged to make an addition to the text, and render it, But [said they] some of arisees, &c. See Wolf. Cur. l. in loc. f.After much debate.] The debate which arose in this assembly may indeed prove that there were some in the church at Jerusalem who had not a due regard to the authority of the apostles; but it cannot, as many have supposed, afford any just argument against their inspiration; for this dispute does not appear to have been among the apostles themselves; and, if they really had debated the case awhile, their decision at last might have been under an unerring direction. And I know not any rea: son to conclude that their inspiration was always so instantaneous and express as to supersede any deliberation in their own minds, or any con- §: with each other. e & g God among us chose.] There seems, as Heinsius and many others have observed, something harsh in this expression, to take it as if Peter had said, “ God chose me from among us alſ.” The words [among wº) are wanting in the Syriac Version, and some read [among yºu :] put the sense given in the paraphrase seems. So º, and pertinent, that I see no reason to wish for any authority to change the received rea !'}; h That the Genties by my mouth should hear the word qf the gospel.] It is surprising to me that the learned authors I have so, often mention: ed above should argue, that because the persons to whom Peter first preached the gospeſ were not idolaters, that ; because Cornelius was a worshipper of the true God, (for what his friends were, none can certainly say,) therefore the questión now before, this assembly must only, be, * Whether pigselyºs of the gate were obliged to observe the whole lay of Moses?” See Miscell. Sacr. Essayiv. and Dr. Benson, vol. ii., chap.3. A, 5.6. f. see not the force of this argument, since it evidently, takes it for granted, both that the assembly would know and recollegt that they were prosejytes of the gate, merely from his calling them Gentiles, and jścisión wºuld be judged more necessary for such converts than for those who had before been idolaters; both which suppositions appear to me very unwarrantable, Peter’s argument Fº is, “Cir- cumcision cannot be necessary for Gentile converts, because God by the effusion of his Špirit declared his acceptance, of uncircumcised Qentiles in Cornelius’s case.” And this º will be conclusive, if Gentiles be taken in the most extensive, which we are sure was the most usual, sense of the word; that is, for all who are not, either by birth or com- plete proselytism, Jew8. * THE SPEECH of JAMES IN THE ASSEMBLY AT JERUSALEM. 435 Great joy was occasioned to the churches through which Paul and Barnabas passed, when they recounted the sEcºr. conversion of the heathen. Oh that such joy may be renewed to us, by the success of all who, with a truly apostolic, 23. self-denial and zeal, go forth at any time to the vast multitudes of the Gentiles which yet remºn ºn the face of Acts” this uncultivated earth of ours, so great a part of which is yet in a spiritual sense a wilderness! Whatever success XV, they may have in one part of our Lord's vineyard, or we in anothér, let us all remember it is in Consequence of what God does by us and by them; and let us adore the riches of divine grace, to which we owe it, that We are chosen to make a part of God's people ourselves, and to carry, the knowledge and power of his gospel to others. May our hearts be purified by a vital, and not merely enlightened by a notional, faith !, May that God who 8, 9 knowéth all hearts, bear witness to us, by giving us his Holy Spirit to seal us to the day of redemption And being, under the influence of this sacred Agent animated in the most amiable manner to adorn our profession, When We have done all, may we humbly repose ourselves upon the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as knowing that it is 11 only by the rich and free display of it that after all our labour, obedience, and care, we can expect salvationſ SECTION XXXIV. . The speech of James in the assembly of the apostles and elder. at J ºlº with their decree in favour of the liberty of Gentile converts. CtB XV. 1. - AcTs xv. 12. IT was observed in the last section, that a meeting of the apostles and elders was held at SECT. Jerusalem, on account of that attempt which the judaizing christians had made at Antioch 34. dºing ºtºacº to bring the believing Gentiles under the yoke of the Mosaic law ; and an account was wonders, God had wrought ‘’’. 8-> 8. • e - - - *::::::::"thè'éniès tº given of that speech in their favour with which Peter had opened it, wherein he recounted Acts the story of Córnelius, and the manner in which he and his friends were admitted into the .xy. church without circumcision, yet with most evident tokens of divine º: It was 12 then judged convenient that they, who had been in a peculiar manner the apostles of the Gentiles, should proceed with their narration: and accordingly the whole multitude which was assembled” kept silence, and attended to Barnabas and Paul, while they were relating what great signs and wonders God had done among the heathem by them, to reclaim them from their idolatries; and with what miraculous operations he had confirmed their me- thod of admitting them into the christian church, though they never made any effort - towards engaging them to be circumcised, and become Jews. 13 And after they had held Then after they had done speaking, James the son of Alpheus, one of the apostles, 13 ºś"; "...; answered, saying, Men ſº brethren, I desire you would attentively hearken unto me, hearken unto me: i., while I give you my most deliberate thoughts on this impºrtant question. Our beloved 14 hºtº brother Simon Peter hath just been relating how God first looked down on the Gentiles, in #:...º.º.º.ºf his abundant mercy, to take from among them a people for the honour of his name, who Ineop " should with us be accounted to him for a generation ; sending his servant to them in an extraordinary manner, and crowning his labours with such tokens of success, and such characters of divine acceptance, as could leave no doubt as to the regularity of his proceed- ings; to all which the relations made by our other brethren Barnabas and Paul, do wonder- 15 And to this agree the fully agree. And though this may seem quite contrary to some of our prejudices in favour 15 Mºſthe Prophets; *** of our nation and the law of Moses, yet if we will give ourselves leave impartially to y examine and consider, we shall find it by no means incredible; for the words of the pro- ºilº, phets harmonize with this, as it is written, particularly by Amos, (chap. ix. 11, 12.) “ º I6 §§§. this I will return to my people in mercy, and will restore the house and build up the taber- nacle of David my servant, which is fallen down ;4 yea, I will rebuild its ruins, and set it Acts xv. 12. THEN all the multitude kept silence, and gave audi- ence to Barnabas, and Paul down; and I will build again º hero; and I will . ight again, with such strength and glory as shall be observed by all around: That not 17 mºiº.º.º. #ſºews alone, but all the remainder of micn, may earnestly seek the Lord,” even all the . "...º.º.º. Ai º heathen nations upon whom my name is called, who in that day shall know my name, and S §º.o.º.o.º.ii be received into the number of my people, saith the Lord J ehovah, who, by his almighty these things. power, with unfailing faithfulness doth all these things.” 18. Known untº God are all [..Now] such a prediction is agreeable to the wise and steady plan of the divine govern- 18 his works, from the beginning e * - - º --~~ * -- ~l £ 7. * f wº S of the world. ment; for all his works are from etermity itself known unto God, whom no unexpected event can ever surprise, but who has fixed his schemes on so perfect and exact a foresight Jews understood and admitted the words in the sense that James quotes them, or they would not have submitted to his interpretation, consider- ing bow strongly they were prejudiced against the consequence he drew from them. - e That the remainder of men, &c.J. De Dieu has a learned and curious note here, to account for the variation of this quotation from the original. lf the ancient reading were, That they may possess the remnant of Edom, (which there is room to question,). we must suppose, with Grotius, Cradock, and others, that as the º Rhets declared some of the greatest enemies of the church, such as the Edomites were, should submit them- selves to it, the apostle had a right to interpret these words as in effect declaring that all the residug of nem, that is, the whole heathen world, should be converted.—Dr. Sykes (Qf Christianity, p. 294.) very justly refers this to the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles in the }. a The whole multitude..] I suppose this whole multitude is spoken of, ver. 22. as the whole church; #: I cannot enter into the force of those reasons on which the learned Éeza concludes that ail that is mentioned from the sixth to the twenty-first verse, passed in a synod of ministers only, and was not communicated to the rest of the church till afterwards, when they º in the letter which contained the result of this meeting, ver. 22, et scq. It seems to me most probable that it was in one of their worshipping assemblies that Paul and Barnabas had declared all things that God had done with them ; , (ver. 4.) and that now at another, yet more numerous, and held on this particular occasion, they told the story more largely, with an account of particular miracles and other occurrences. And this the word [multitude] seems further to imply. Yet I presume not absolutely to determine the question. • e b Done among the heathen by them, to reclaim them from their idola- §: For the reasonableness of taking it in this extent, see note h, ... p. 4,54. * - - c James answered.] It is plain from hence that the matter was not determined by yirtue of any authority in Peter; and it seems very pro- vidential that James should have made such a speech on this occasion, and that he should have used the expression kpwºo, I determine, (ver. 19.) which, had it been found in Peter’s speech, Would have been a much In Ore Flº. argument in favour of his weakly-boasted supremacy, than the whole Scripture now affords.--It may not be improper, also to observe, that if Peter had introduced his discourse, like that of James, with saying, Hearken unto me, it would no doubt have been, strenuously pleaded in the same yiew. They who have interpreted this, as an instance of the authoritative proceedings of a bishop in his own diocese, ave not, to be sure, sufficiently considered the difference between the apostolical and episcopal office; nor how little pretenge any,supposed episcopal power of James at Jerusalem could give him to dictate to Peter and his other brethren, in desiding a cause in which the whole christian world, and not only his own supposed diocese, was concerned. d. After this I ºpill return, &c.] These words are quoted from Amos ix. 11, 12. according to the reading of the Seventy, who might Pºš. follow, a correcter copy of the Hebrew than the present; and Bishop Chandler (Qf Christianity, p. 174.) seems very justly to argue that the in the natural world, which had been nothing at a day ; , nevertheless, as he there well observes, they would in this view afford a very good argument for admitting, in the most candid manner, those of them, who were already converted.—The heathen upon whom the name of God is called; is so, proper a description of those that are converted to the trug religion, that when any urge that it must refer to those who were, before their conversion to christianity, worshippers of the true God, it only shows how much they are distressed for arguments to sº an hypothesis. See next ; note h. f Jill his works are from etermity known wouto God..] It is plain the apostle does not (as some have strangely º speak of God’s works - - - - all to his present pur- pose, but of his dispensations towards the children of men. Now he could not know those without knowing the , characters, and actions of particular persons, on a correspondence to which, the wisdom and good- ness of those dispensations is founded., Thus, for instance, he must have known there would be Gentile idolaters, a thing as dependent on the freedom of the human mind as , any, thing we can imagine, or, he could not have known that he would call them into his church. This text, therefore, must remain an unanswerable proof, amongst a thou- sand more, ſrom the word of God, that he certainly foreknows future contingencies. 436 THE LETTER OF THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS. secT. of the most contingent events, that he is never under any necessity of changing them in 34. the minutest circumstance. Wherefore I cannot but determine in my own mind," and I doubt not but you will 19 wherefore mysentence Acts readily concur with me, that we ought not to disquiet those who from among the Gentiles i. that we trouble not them, XV. º Gen- OC! : uestion: But only to .20 But that we write unto are converted by divine grace to the knowledge and worship of the true God, and to tºº 20 obedience to the gospel, with such observances as those now in 21 strangled, and [from] bloodi And though the l evil in them, yet it is necessary to join the prohibition of them to that of the former; for write to theft, that they abstain from things grossly scandalous, and such as would give jºjº. greatest offence to their brethren of the circumcision; particularly, from the abominable l follutions of things sacrificed unto idols, and fornication, and [from eating that which is "***** atter of these have no moral and universal , 21 For Moses of old time llutions of * * ls, and from ornication, and from things lath in eyery city them that preach him, being read in the we know that Moses hath from ancient generations had, and still continues to have, those ºngosues every sabbath. who preggh him and his institutions in every city, being read in all the Jewish synago dy. ºvery sabbath-day; and these things are so expressly forbidden in his law, that while the Gentile christians indulge themselves in any of them, it will be impossible there should • be that communion and harmony between them and the Jewish converts which the honour º and edification of the church requires. 22 This advice was very acceptable to the whole assembly, who unanimously declared their ...}} approbation of it. Now then it seemed good to the apostles and elders, and there met together, to send to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas, some chosen men from among themselves, to add the eater authority to the report made in a matter of so great ...;"; 22 Then pleased it the §§ NO HE church, to send chosen men of their own company to Anti- och, with Paul and Barnabas; ####,A#isº: • aſS3.0%lS, ſind Slla S, Chlef men all the church amgn the brethren: 23 And they wrote letter#. he apostles and elders, and bre- importance; and the persons they selected on this occasion were Judas surnamed Barsabas,K thrensend greeting untº the and Silas, who were both men of well deserved the high reputation they possessed. These therefore they despatched to Antioch, writing by their hand these things that fol-heard."º"ºrtin rincipal account among the brethren, and persons who º ". rethren which, are of the ... Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia: ºf Forasmuch as we have which low:”, “The apostles and elders, and other brethren assembled at Jerusalem,” send greeting ºil...º.º.º. to all the brethren converted to the christian faith from among the Gentiles, and particularl 24 to those in Antioch and the other parts of Syria, and in the province of Cilicia. bled you with words, subvert- ing your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the Forasmuc law: to whom we gave no as we have been informed, that some going out from among us, with a pretence that we had s"; º; sent them forth, to whom nevertheless we gave no commission to make use of our names,” being t seemed good unto us, assembled with one have troubled you with their discourses, unsettling your minds, by confidently saying that .º.º. ºd śsº [you must] all be circumcised and keep all the prece unto you; with our beloved ts of the law of Moses, or otherwise Éannabas' and Paul, 25 you cannot possibly be saved: We being unanimously assembled to debate this matter, have thought proper to send you chosen men of our own body, with our beloved brethren Barna- Lgilesis Ch 26 bas and Paul; Whom, by the way, we highly esteem as men that have courageously, in Jáa. 27 repeated instances, earposed their lives for the name of our we have therefore sent two of our brethren, Judas and Silas, the bearers hereof, who will 3 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our rl St. - e have sent therefore - - and Silas, who shall Lord Jesus Christ.” With them fºllºw the same things y mollth. - 28. For it seemed good to also tell [you] by word of mouth the same thangs that we now write, together with the cir- i. º.º.º.º. cumstances of our consultation on this head, which we pass over, as the particular detail }. 28 of them would carry us beyond the proper bounds of a letter. For it hath seemed good to "###at ye abstain from no greater lay upon you en than these necessary the # Spirit," and therefore to us, who desire in all things to conform ourselves to his peats, ºffered to idols, and sacred that is strangled, and from fornication; from which you rection, to impose no further burden upon you besides these necessary things " . * - - 29 Namely, that you abstain from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from any thing ...º.º.º. ºf rom blood, and from things trangled, and from fornica- -> yourselves, ye shall do wel will do well to keep yourselves at Fareye §§ g I cannot but determine in my own mind.] This the word xpato may maturally express, and be taken to imply judging in our own mind, with- out pretending to impose that judgment on others. h Those who from among the Gentiles are converted to Gud.] It is evi- dent this description much better suits these who were now, as it is else- where expressed, (1 Thess. i. 9.) turned from idols to serre the living and true God, than those who, having had the knowledge and fear of God, before, were now instructed in what was peculiar to christianity. i The fºliº: of idols, and fornication, and that achich is strangled, and blood.]. It is not for a note in sugh a work, to enter into all the diffi- culties and niceties of this text, or the various opinions of commentators upon it. Omitting for the present what may be said of fornication as mentioned here, which I sh; refer to note s, below, I must declare, that on the whole, the most rational interpretation of the passage, seems to be this: that though neither things sacrificed to idols, nor the flesh of strangled, animals, nor, blood, have, or, can have, any moral evil in them, which should make the eating of them absolutely and universally unlawful, (compare I Cor. viii. 1, 8, 9. Rom. xiv. 14, et seq., l Tim. iv. 4. Matt. xv. 11.) yet they were here forbidden to the Gentile converts, because the Jews had such an aversion to them, that they could not converse freely with any who used them. This is plainly, the reason ywhich James assigns in the very next words, (yer. 21.) and it is abundant- ly sufficient. This reason is now ceased, and the obligation to abstain #. these things, ceases with it. But were we in, like circumstances again, christian charity would surely require us to lay ourselves, under the same restraints. . As for the hypothesis which has begin so largely broposed by the author of Miscell. Sacr. Essay iy, and defended by Dr. §. ist. vol. ii. p. 58–67.) to which Jr. Hainmond’s interpreta- tion very nearly approaches, “that this, decree only related to such christians as had, before they embraced the gospel, been proselytes of the gate, and was never intended to include those converted from among the idolatrous Gentiles; ” besides what has been noted on many assages aboye, to show how unreasonable such an interpretation would e, I desire it may be considered further, that the Jews must as much scruple to converse with one who had been an idolater, and continued, after º a christian, to eat of these jº. unclean things, as with one who had before been a worshipper of the true God, and used them; and consequently, that if this decree were to be interpreteq under such a limitation as these authors propose, it would haye been quite insufficient for the intended purpose of accommodating affairs between, Jewish and Gentile christians, as nothing would have been done with respect to those of the latter who had been idolaters, though they were by far the more numerous of the Gentile converts.--This will more, evidently ap- pear, if the *º. opinion in question be compared with the occasion of enacting this decree. . The Jewish zealots insisted upon it; that Gen- tile believers should be circumcised : this coungil determined that they should only observe these necessary things. Now, as it, is certain the demand of circumcision was, and would be, made on all Gentile con- yerts, and not #; on th9se who had known the true God before they became christians, these injunctions must be as extensive as that ãº. rotius, has a learned and curious note on this text, which I could wish might be consulted by those that have opportunity. k Jigdas surnamed Barsabas.]. Some have thought this was the same with Joseph called Barsabas, (Acts i. 23.) candidate with Matthias for the apostleship, the son of Alpheus or Cleopas, and brother to at least two of the apostles, James now present, and Jude ; than whom we know not any one person not an apostſe of greater note in the church at this º ºrs suppose that he was brother to him. See Dr. Benson, WO i. 11. D. O.). I Silas.] This seems to have been the person, elsewhere called Syl- yanus ; (2 Cor. i. 19, 1 Thess. i. 1. 2 Thess, i. et. v. 12.) a most intimate friend and beloved companion of Paul ; and, as it seems, also a citizen of Rome, Acts xvi. 37. - - m Writing, 3. As for the construction of ypalpavres with attoo- 70Xots, and some other supposed solecisms of this kind, I with pleasure ºhºrned reader to Raphelius, JVot. ex: Herod. p. 370-372. and - J -- * * * D n Jand other brethren.]. I conclude, with Mr. L'Enfant, that these brethren, who were neither apostles nor elders, were privatº christians, whom the apostles in their great condescension joined with them on this occasion, as well knowing that, their declared concurrence would strengthen their obligation, not only to acquiesce in this, decree, but to support it. And it was the more prudent to do it, as the liberty this gave to the Gentile christians would something affect the secular interests of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. . - - - o To whom ace gave no commission.] This was directly fixing the lie upon them, if they had pretended to use the apostles’ names in impos- ing their tenets; and, as the matter of fact was, known, would be a §. means of weakening their credit, and so render them less capable of doing mischief. * - - p That have exposed their lives, &c. - - tion of Paul and Barnabas, was far from being a mere compliment, but exceedingly prudent, as it might be the means of removing, the preju- dicos conceived against them by the Jewish converts or teachers, who, as it appears from many passages of the epistles, endeavoured as much as possible to lessen the character of these apostles. It would also be a useful expression of the harmony between them and those of the C] [Cl]. In CJS1 Oſ). - - - - q. It hath seemed good to the Holy, Spirit..] This may include , the decision which the Spirit had given by his descent on Cornelius and his friends, but seems more directly to express the consciousness which this assembly had of being guided by his influences on their minds in their present determination. But it cannot be extended to any, ecclesiastical §ouncils, that have not inspired apostles to preside, as they did here. See BP. Burnet, On the Articlesi.p. 196. - r These necessary things.) They were all hº necessary in order to promote a free converse between the Jewish and Gentile chris- tians, and especially to secure communion at the table, of the Lord, where we cannot imagine that Jews would have eaten and drank with person; whom they thought in so polluted a state as those who indulged themselves in the things here prohibited. On the other hand, it seems the jews on these conditions gave up any, further debate about the rest of forbidden meats, as well as circumcision and many other articles. - s - § Jºid from fornication.] As the infamy of what is commonly called simpic fornication was not so great among the Gentiles as the nature of the crime deserved, it has been generally thought that the church at Jeru- saiem, chose to add this prohibition, though it might be a kind of digression from the immediate design of their letter to do it. Others interpret the word of marriage within the degrees of kindred prohibited by the Mosaic Such a testimony to the reputa- THE MEssBNGERS FROM JERUSALEM ARRIVE AT ANTIOCH. 437 the greatest distance that may be." And so we bid you heartily Farewell; wishing you, SECT. with the sincerest affection, all peace and prosperity in our common Lord, which, in the observation of these directions, you may expect.” IMPROVEMENT. people for his name. We are that people: let it be our concern, that as his name is named upon us, we render it becoming honours, and remember what an obligation it lays upon us to depart from in y May the fallen tabernacle of David also in due time be raised up, and all its ruins repaired, that, when God's ancient people are remembered by him, the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and, the fulness of the Gentiles may be broughting God, who hath a complete view of all his schemes and of all his works from the founda: 18 tion of the world, will accomplish this also in its season. In the mean time, let us gratefully acknowledge what he has already done. - Let us be peculiarly thankful that we are freed from the burdens of the of liberty. Yet let us take due heed that we do not abuse it to licentiousness. (Gal. v. 13.) Let us learn from the tenor *is decree, tenderly to regard even the prejudices of our christian brethren, and to be careful that we do not violently overbear them; but rather that, so far as honour and conscience will allow, we become all things to all men, and be willing in some respect to deny ourselves, that we may not give unnecessary offence tº others. Most prudently did the apostles determine, this affair, under the influence of the divine 34. ACTS pirit: and whatever 28 XV. LET us adore the divine condescension in looking with pity º the Gentiles, to take from among them a Ver, 14 iniquity 1 (2 Tim. ii. 19.) 16, 17 Mosaic institution, and called to a law 19–21 hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them, let us treat with all becoming regard—The messengers from 23, 26 Antioch, by whom they returned this decree, were persons of an amiable character indeed; they had hazarded their livés in the service of Christ, and joyfully went on to expose them to new dangers; thinking themselves, no doubt, exceeding happy in the success of this negociation, as also in the society of those pious brethren of the 27 circumcision who accompanied them in their return with this letter.—May the blessed time come when the minis: ters of Christ of all denominations, laying aside their mutual animosities, shall agree to study the things, which make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another! (Rom. xiv. ...] Then will liberty and truth have a more easy and universal triumph, while love melts and cements those souls whom rigorous severity has only served to harden, to disunite, and to alienate. SECTION XXXV. The messengers from the assembly at Jerusalem arrive at Antioch, and, after continuing, there some time, Paul and Silas, and Barnabas with John surnamed Mark, set out different ways, to visit the churches they had lately planted. Acts xv. 30, to the end. Acts xv. 30. SO when they were dismiss- ed, they came to Antioch : and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle : read, they rejoiced for the consolation. 32 And Judas and Silas, being prophets also them- selves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and con- firmed them. thither, being AcTS xv. 30. They therefore being thus dismissed, came .* Se solemn auditory, each of them in a copious discourse echorted and strengthened the brethren, most affectionately endeavouring to confirm them in their adherence to that gospel which they had embraced, and pressing them to a conduct answerable to it. 33 And aſter they had tar- ried there a space, they were let go in peace from the bre- thren unto the apostles. 34 Notwithstanding, pleased Silas to abide there still. e sº come with him from Jerusalem. 35 Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teach; there in teaching and preachi others also that were prophets an Paul also and Barnabas continued with the disciples at .4ntioch,” and employed their º the good word of the Lord, in conjunction with many teachers, (Acts xiii. 1.) who perceiving the readiness ing and preaching the word time of the Lord, with many oth- ers also. law. (Lev. xviii. 6—18.) Mr. L'Enfant would explain it of victims offered by prostitutes out of their scandalous hire; (Deut. xxiii. 18.) which, he says, makes a beautiful sense, and obviates a very consider- able difficulty. Heinsius also vindicates, this interpretation at large, and shows that Athanasius uses Topveta for Topvikm 8vo.ua. I pretend not absolutely to determine the question; but think it material to ob- serve, that, if it be taken in the worst sense that can be imagined, it can- not prove the universal unlawfulness of eating blood, since not only that, but eating things sacrificed to idols, and strangled, are joined with forni- cation; and yet we are sure that neither of them were absolutely evil in themselves, or universally forbidden. (Compare 1 Cor. viii. ! 3: 9. and the other text cited above in note i, on ver. 20.) It is remarkable that both Irenaeus (Adv. Haer: lib. iii. cap. 12.) and Cyprian, (Testimon. lib. iii. cap. ...}} in quoting these words, add, “And do not to others what you would not have done unto, yourselves.” But as no ancient version or valuable manuscript, has this addition, and it seems not to suit the connexion in which it stands, I cannot but conclude it the spurious interpolation of some who admired this moble maxim so highly as to attempt, though in an irregular inethod, to recommend it to the utmost. t From ºphich you acould do well to keep yourselves.], That is, you may hope it will end well. This gentle manner of concluding, was worth the apostolical wisdom and goodness. Too soon did succeeding coungils of inferior authority change it for the style of anathemas; forms which have, I doubt not, proved an occasion of consecrating some ºf the worst passions of the human mind under sacred names, and whigh, like some ill-adjusted weapons of war, are most likely to hurt the hand from which they are thrown. - & - , a Continued at Antioch.] It is generally thought that during this time Peter came to Antioch, and after having for some time conversed freely with the Gentile christians, changed his behaviour towards them on the arrival of some Jewish zealots from Jerusalem, according to the account we have, Gal. ii. 11, et seq. which, if the first verse of that chapter refer to the journey to the council described above, seems indeed, to have been the case. Nor do I think that visit can be reſerred to Paul’s second journey to Jerusalem after his conversion, Acts xi. 30. though Barnabas also attended him then, because it was not till after that journey that the gospel of the uncircumcision was so solemnly com— pmitted to him ; (Acts xiii. 2, 3,) which the apostles at Jerusalem acknow- ledge it to have been, at the time spoken of Gal. ii. 7–9. If it be asked why Paul, in his rebuke to Peters did not cut short all further arguments by referring roundly, to the Jerusalem degree, if then made 2 { answer; he might perhaps do it, though not in that part of his speech. which he mentions in the Epistle to the Galatians; yet even there he refers to what Peter himself had laid down as the foundation of that decree. (Compare Gal. ii. 16–18. with Acts xv. 11.) And it likewise Seens, to be intimated that Peter had gone further in his condescensions than the Jerusalem decree extended its decision, not only in receivin the Gentiles to church communion, or admitting them to converse with him, but living after their manner, as if he had himself been without the law; (as Paul himself in, proper circumstances used also to d Cor. ix. I yet afterwards dissembling his conduct, as being solicitous to make a secret of it; whereas Paul, though just at the crisis of the Jerusalem decree he had, thought it his duty to keep on the reserve, and Wave a declaration of his sentiments on this head, lest unnecessary debates as to the obligation on believing Jews to observe the law should have diverted the council from the business then in hand, and have frus- trated the purpose of that joyurney : (Gal. ii. 2.) yet when that point was çarried, and he had quitted Jerusalem, used great freedom in declaring his opinion, which was, “Not that the Mosaic ceremonies were in conscience to be avoided, but that even to the Jews themselves they were indifferents, any further than as the peace and edification of others were concerned,” I hope the reader, will excuse my digressing to clear up this great diffigulty here, which I have not seen elsewhere stated in what I, think the fairest light, especially since it is souncertain whether I may live to publish the remainder of this Exposition on the Epistles. f THE reader has been just presented with a copy of that important letter which the apos- SECT. tles and elders, and church at Jerusalem, sent to the Gentile christians by two of their own 35. body, in conjunction with Paul and Barnabas. .And having made some stay there, they were dismissed with great respect, and most affec- 33 tionate desires of prosperity and peace, from the brethren at Antioch, to return to the apostles from whom they came; whose friendly care of them the church at Antioch most gratefull it acknowledged. But Silas, having formed a most intimate and endearing friendship with Paul, thought proper to continue there a while longer than his companion Judas, who had 34 3 5 to Antioch, and assembling the whole multitude of the church there, they delivered the epistle Acts 31, Iſhich when they had to them: And when they had read [it, they all rejoiced for the consolation [it brought,) in sº". assuring them that so venerable an assembly concurred in vindicating their liberty from 31 the yoke of the Mosaic ceremonie ..And at the same time Judas and Silas, who were the special messengers from Jerusalem 32 ſº also themselves, (persons of great ability in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and eminently qualified for the work of the ministry,) did not only deliver the particular message with which they were charged, but, on occasion of such a numerous and 4.38 SECT. 35. ACTS XV. 37 we may inquire] how they do, and see what is the state of religion among them.' And th; 38 with them before. (Chap. xiii. 5.) But Paul accounted him not Worthy of that honour, 39 40 41 Wer. A CONTENTION BETWEEN PAUL AND BARNABAS RESPECTING MARK. which there was in the people to receive the gospel, were gladly employed in dis- pensing it. * ..?nd after they had continued some considerable number of days there, Paul, whose egº, And, some days after, active spirit was ever forming some new scheme for the advancément of the Christian fººl. +- - - e • - e go again and visit our cause, said to Barnabas, his beloved associate, Let us return and visit our brethren in all º the cities where we have been, and in which we have preached the word of the Lord, fººt º'. Yº! they do. - * - - - - & - - * 37 d - Barnabas was heartily willing to fall in with the proposal; yet, notwithstanding what had gººd". Hº"º". happened in their former progress, he was so far influenced by his #". äffection to º, whose surname was his nephew, that he advised to take along with them. John, surnamed Mark, who had set out - 38, But Paul thought not and did not think it by . means proper to take with them that person who, on some con. § º º: ideration or another which seemed to him not very honourable, had withdrawn himself from jºi...it them, returning back from Pamphylia, as was related above, (chap. xiii. 13.) and went not l] Ot With them to the Work. with them to the performance of that work into the effects of which they were now going to inquire. - This was an affair not easy to be accommodated, as each insisted on his own scheme 3. º º . and reasons; there was therefore on the whole a sharp fit. of qnger between them,” so that j". º: they at last separated from each other:* and Barnabas taking Mark along with him, sailed to jº. jºi his native country of Cyprus, where the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus had some .º.º." “* time since been converted, and Elymas the sorcerer had been struck with blindness. (Sect. *::::) But Paul made choice of his faithful friend Silas for the companion of his travels, º And Fºllº Silas, and departed frºm Antioch, being, as before, (chap. xiii. 3.) commended to the grace and jºi..., blessing of God by the brethren there....And he went through Syria and Cilicia, which was thº. his native country, *:::::: and establishing the churchesd which had been planted in sºaº dific.' ºff; those parts, in their adherence to the christian faith; and so proceeded on to Lycaonia, the churches. Phrygia, Galatia, Mysia, and other more distant parts, in the manner and with the circum: stances which will be related hereafter. - IMPROVEMENT. How happy an office had these good men, to go about from one place to another, comforting and confirming 30, 31 the souls of their brethren wherever they came! They had their present reward in the pleasure of it, and are now 32 36 39, 40 also reaping in the heavenly world the fruits of their labour of love. Deliver us, O thou Father of mercies, from lording it over thine heritage, and overbearing the consciences and liberties of our brethren, with whatever secular advantages it might be attended; and give us to taste at least something of the generous pleasure of these faithful messengers, though it should be with all their labour and persecutions. While we endeavour to comfort, may we be also ready to exhort and quicken, one another!, May christians animate each other in the work and warfare to which they are called: and may ministers remember how great a part of their work consists in practical addresses, to which, like Judas and Silas in the instance before us, they should choose to digress, rather than entirely omit them. None can wonder that Paul and Barnabas were desirous to visit the churches they had planted; for it is natural for those who have been spiritual fathers to have a peculiar affection for their offspring, as it also is for the children which God hath given them, to honour, and love those who (as the apostle expresses it) have begotten them in Christ Jesus. (I Cor. iv. 15.) Happy is it indeed when the visits of ministers, animated by such a spirit, are improved to the blessed purposes of advancing the work which divine grace has already begun, and of addressing cautions as well as encouragements with such affection, wisdom, and zeal, that it may finally appear they have not run in vain nor laboured in vain. (Phil. ii. 16.) - -> It is with sensible regret that we read of any difference, and much more of a sharp contention, arising between Paul and Barnabas, so dear to each other in the bonds both of human and christian friendship ; but we see it arose to some degree of severity, in consequence of a remainder of imperfection in the temper of the one or the other, yea, probably of both ; they separated therefore, but it plainly appears that they did not become enemies. They preached the same gospel, though in different companies, each taking his proper circuit; and thus the work of the Lord was performed with greater despatch, and perhaps with greater success; while Mark, who afterwards 41 SECT. 36. appears, as well as Barnabas, to have been restored to the intimate friendship of Paul, was, on the one hand, endeavouring to show that Barnabas had not chosen an unworthy associate; and, on the other hand, Silas, the fellow-labourer and fellow-sufferer of Paul, would take care to behave in such a manner that this great apostle might have no reason to repent of the preference which he had given to him. * * º To conclude: we see that both Barnabas and Paul go to their native country. Some peculiar affection to it when it is not injurious to the general happiness of mankind, is natural and allowable; and it is certain We cannº show our love to it in any nobler and more important instance, than by endeavouring to promote the progress and success of the gospel in it. SECTION XXXVI. - - - - - - - - ion of their labours, Paul and Silas passing through several provinces of the Lesser Asia, and having associated.Timºthy Yºm * the companigno D *: OW Cr #, #urope, and arrive at Macedonia, by the special direction of a divine revekation. Acts xvi. Fagg, ACTS xvi. 1. - Acts xvi. 1. WHEN Paul set out with Silas on his journey, it was observed before that he went THEN came he to , Derbe * * * - * and Lystra : &nd, behold, a through the regions of Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches; and passing on from ºtaff isciple was there, º - d Timotheus, the son thence he came to Derbe and Liſstra, where he had preached the gospel in his former #".º.e.'...n. 'ºh; progress. ...And while he was at Lystra, behold, a certain disciple was there whose name was §§:º Timothy, the son of one Eunice, a believing Jewess, but of a Greeian father; and we men- & ACTS XVI. 1 - - - • tments of Paul, to recover him t of anger.) so the word Tapoguguos properly signifies, Barnabas might conguſ.With tºº. - - - bº *::::::: {...} *...* I had ...: º: §. P.I.: word º fºr indolent and timorous disposition. See note b, on Acts ::... ..... . . . . . . . r • * * * * * * X}}. 20. D. 4323, - * * i.º. dº ed from it, I fear it would have been unintelligible to d confirming the churchés.] Mr. Crºgºś (in § £post. Hist, p. 99.) mº 'riºrated from each other.] Yet it appear; not, only that, Paul and many other; hiº that Paul sailed from. § *.h. §§§ this and Barnaúas were afterwards thoroughly recoliciºd, (compare 1 Cor. time, and returning to the º: §º '#. y § º . j if #"; tº jº.; ; ; 'A'...i...? im as a companion in his laboups. (Compare Col. FV; might lead us to SuPP! y .11c ºx 1 ºut , #######". Tim, ºp iſ..." it is pºie the exioſtations of $º'ſ may elsewhere give my reasons why I cannot be of this opinion. 2. Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Him go forth and circumcised him, because of the J THE JOURNEY OF PAUL WITH SILAS AND TIMOTHY, 439 tion it as a circumstance worthy of note, because he afterwards became a very considerable SECT. person in the church as well as a faithful and useful friend to the apostle. He was an 86. eminently serious and devout young man, who was remarkable for his early piety, having been trained up by his good mother, and his grandmother, whose name was Lois, in an acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures from his childhood; (2 Tim. i. 5. iii. 15.) and, upon the whole, was one who had an honourable character given him by all the brethren in Lystra would Paul have to and Iconium. Him therefore Paul, who had before contracted some intimacy of ac- §... quaintance with him, (2 Tim. iii. 10, 11.) determined he would have to attend him in his ºws which were in progress, and to go forth to preach the gospel with him; and that he might not give an ACTS XVI. 3 th terS : - - . º. - º -- **ś"...”. unnecessary offence to the Jews, by appearing so intimate with an uncircumcised person, Greek. 4 And as they went through #. ...}. C Ole CreeS IO - tº were ordained of the apostles they delivered to their custody an exact and attested cop and elders which were at Je- º w rusalem. 5 And so were the churches in full council at Jerusalem. established in the faith; and increased in number ãaii 6 Now when they had gone throughout, Phrygia and the region of Galatia fößidden of the # - to preach the word in Asia, 7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed he took him to the place where he dwelt, in order to his more constant attendance upon him, and circumcised him with all due solemnity, and before proper witnesses,” according to the usage of the Jews in those days; which he did, (as was hinted before,) not that he thought circumcision in itself necessary, or of any avail to salvation, but on account of the Jews who were in those places; for they all knew his father, and were apprized that he was a Greek : they would therefore naturally conclude that his son had not received the rite of initiation into the Jewish religion, and consequently looking upon him as a Gentile, would ,” be offended themselves at Paul’s intimacy with him, and propagate that offence to others. After this, Paul laid his hands upon him, and set him apart to the ministerial office, con- ferring upon him extraordinary gifts, (2 Tim. i. 6.) which were attended with prophecies of his eminent future usefulness. (1 Tim. i. 18. iv. 14.) .And as they passed through the several cities of those regions, that peace might be secured 4 among the brethren, and no unnecessary burden might be laid upon the Gentile converts, of the decreesb which were de- termined as a rule for their direction, by the apostles and elders that were assembled lately The several churches, therefore, where they came, being 5 watered by such faithful labourers, and encouraged with so favourable a decision of the grand point in question, were much confirmed in their adherence to the christian faith, and increased more and more in number daily. .And with such views and such success they cheerfully pursued their journey, and went 6 through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, which had never before been visited with the light of the gospel, as the provinces before mentioned had been; and in their travels through Galatia they were received with such peculiar affection, as if an angel from heaven, or Jesus Christ himself, had come among them ; and such readiness was shown to hear the word, that they made a considerable number of most zealous converts. (Compare Gal. iv. 14, 15.) [JAnd] after this, being forbidden by the Holy Spirit (who at that time had other work for them to do) to fº the word in that part of the country which is called the proconsular Asia,” in which Colosse, Laodicea, and some other cities lay; When they were come to Mysia, which was the most western province of the Lesser Asia, 7 delivered them r to keep, that Y. and were oly Ghost to into Bithynia : but the Šiš and lay on the coast of the AEgean sea, they attempted to turn northward and to go to suffered them not. e flourishing cities of Nice, Nicomedia, and Chalcedon, straits of the Euxine sea; but the Spirit [of Jesusd] let permit them to do it. ...And therefore passing by the northern * borders of Mysia, without visiting many places there, they went down to Troas, which lay OIlº shore of the AEgean sea, near the ruins of ancient Troy, so celebrated in history and poetry. h; wie they were here, undetermined to what coast of Europe they should sail, if according to their intention, they crossed the sea, a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a certain man before him, whom he perceived to be a Macedonian,” entrealing im, and saying with greatearnestness, We beseech you to come over the sea to Macedonia, and help us ; for we stand in great need of your assistance, and shall joyfully receive you. Jłnd this is a circumstance which the author of this book well remembers, for he at- tended Paul in his journey, and can relate what follows from his own knowledge: as soon £º then as he had seen this vision and declared it to us, we immediately agreed that it was to 3.01 C be regarded; and accordingly we endeavoured to go out from the port of Troas, where we then ſay, to Macedonia;f assuredly inferring from this vision, that the Lord Jesus himself Bithynia, that º might visit and so pass into Europe by the ºf them know that it did not 8 8 And Mysia, came down to 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in stood a and prayed him Come over into M and help 10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to fº into Mace- assured donia, that the ... a. And circumcised him.] In order to judge rightly of Paul’s conduct in this affair, which some have censured christian he always openly avowe 9 the night; ere man of Macedonia, saying, acedonia, UlS. transposition would be most unwarrantable, the parenthesis is quite unnecessary, and would pervert the sense. Mr. L'Enfant observes that the word áoyuata, which is here used to express decrees, always * as they do other things in did not understand it, we must recollect that ity) because the {% that the Gentiles were free from the yoke of the Mosaic, ceremonies, and that the Jews were not to expect salva- tion by them ;” and he also taught, “ that they were not in conscience obliged to observe them at all, except in cases where the omission of them would give offence.” But because his enemies represented him as fººli peºple to despise the law of Moses, and even as blaspheming it, he therefore took some opportunities of conforming to, it publicly himself, to show how far he was from condemning it as evil; an extra- vagance into which some christian heretics, early ran, and with which the apostle himself has been most unjustly charged of late by a writer too contemptible to be named. This is the true key to his conduct, here and Acts xxi. 4. . And though, when the Jewish, zealots would have imposed it upon him to compel Titus, who was a Greek, to be cir- cumcised, even while he was at Jerusalem, he resolutely refused it; (Gal. ii. 3—5.) yet here he voluntarily persuaded Timothy to submit to that rite, knowing the omission of it in him, who was a Jew, by the mother’s side, would have given offence ; and being the more desirous to obviate any prejudices against this excellent youth, whgše early ac- quaintance with the Scriptures of the Qld Testament (2 Tim. iii. 15.) might render him peculiarly capable of preaching in the Synagogues with advantage, which, had he been uncircumcised, would not have been i. Grotius observes this was probably the beginning of Luke’s acquaintance with Timothy, though Paul knew him long before. See mote c, $ 32. p. 432. b They delivered—the decrees.] The author of JMiscell. Sacra, (Essay iv. p. 34.) first taking it for granted that the decree was particu- larly intended for the churches of Syria and Cilicia, and not for any converts from the idolatrous Gentiles, would have this verse and the next transposed to the conclusion of the foregoing chapter, or the three intermediate verses that begin this chapter enclosed in a parenthesis. But it * from the contents of that decree, that it was intended for all Gentile christians living among Jews; and it appears from the pre- }. story, that great numbers of Jews were to be found in Derbe, ystra, Iconium, and the neighbouring places; and therefore, as the signifies something temporary and ceremonial, and not, laws of perpetual and universal obligation. Compare Eph. ii. 15. Col. ii. 14. c Forbidden to preach in that - - called the proconsular Asia.] As all the places mentioned in the former yerses lay in Asia Minor, it is evi- dent that, the word Asia must be thus explained. It is also apparent that flourishing churches were afterwards planted there, partic º: at Colosse, Laodicea, Sardis.Thyatira, and Philadelphia: so that it seems to have been the determination of Providence, that instead of going through this region now by such a leisurely progress as that in which they proceeded, in their, former journey through Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia. &c. they should hasten to Europe directly, and preach the gospel first in Philippi, which was a Roman colony, and then in the neighbouring parts; while in the mean time the Asian provinces now p. over might hear some report of it from their neighbours, and so e prepared to receive with greater advantage the labours of the apostles, when they should return to them, as Paul aſterwards did. hap. xviii. 23, ct seq.). By this means the spread of the gospel would in any given time be wider than (other circumstances being equal) it would have been had they taken all the interjacent places in their way. .d The Spirit...[of Jesus.) So many ancient, versions, readings, and citations, add the words, [of Jesus,) that I thought myself not only authorized, but obliged, at least to insert them thus, and perhaps might well have omitted the crotchets. See Beza and Dr. Mill, in loc. e Já certain JMacedonian..] Some think Paul knew his country by his dress or language, or by his naming it, as we find he did. et perhaps the word Tis may intimate that it was some particular person whom Paul knew ; for which reason I render it literally, and wonder that Grotius should ºplain it as if it were the guardian aiigel of Macedonia that now appeared. } We immediately endeavoured, &c.] This is the first place in which Luke intimates his attending on the apostles; and it is very remarkable that here he does it in an oblique manner; nor does he indeed, through- out the , whole history, once mention his own name, or relate any on thing which he 8aid or did for the service of christianity, though Pau 440 SECT, 36. ACTS XVI. 12 Ver. 3 4, 5, 6 8 6, 7 9, 10 11, 12 SECT. 37. \ ACTS XVI. 14 I 5 PAUL AND SILAS PREACH THE GOSPEL AT PHILIPPI. called 14.S. to preach the gos el to them. Setting sail therefore fI'O???, Trotts, with the advantage for to preach the gospel unto of a strong'easterly wind, we ran directly to the island of Samothracia, which lies near the "#"Therefore loosing from Hellespont; and having thus despatched the larger #. of our little voyage, we came the Troas, we "came with "a next day to the celebrated É. of Neapolis, on the Thracian shore, near the borders of ; tº: ia: ...And landing there, we came from thence to Philippi, which is - polis ; Macedonia : . S-> 5 ..f ppl. a city of the # And from thence to Phi- first part of Macedonia;5 for it is well known that the province is divided into four parts, liº.;; [and] this is a Roman colony.h .And we continued in this city for some days, and met with % º part of Macedonia, - • - e a colony. And we w several remarkable occurrences which we shall relate in the next section. tºiº. -- IMPROVEMENT. LET us with pleasure observe the prudent condescension of the apostle Paul, in becoming all things to all men, and particularly to the Jews as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews; (I Cor. ix. 20.) for this purpose circumcising his companion Timothy, that he might give them no unnecessary offence. Nor was the condescension and zeal of this pious youth to be less esteemed, who was willing to submit, not only to that painful rite, but to all the yoke of ceremonial observances to which he was obliged by it, in a view to usefulness in the church. Well may it expect eminent service from those ministers of the rising generation that set out with such a spirit; while, on the other hand, when a fierce and haughty sense of liberty is the reigning, darling character, and a determination is formed to submit in nothing, to oblige in nothing, as the first elements of the christian temper seem as yet to be unknown, there is great reason to believe that the doctrines and precepts of the gospel will not, cannot, be successfully taught; great reason to fear that such instructors will have their reward in the empty applauses which they give to themselves and each other; while they brand those who are solicitous to become wise that they may win souls with reproaches which God will remember in the day when he shall judge the secrets of all hearts; and will fin many of them far different from what such rash men have presumed to pronounce them. Indefatigable were the journeys and labours of these ambassadors of Christ; they travelled through wide-ex- tended regions, and sowed the seeds of knowledge and of life wherever they camé, and God gave the increase. But the economy of divine Providence was very remarkable, in not permitting them to preach in Bithynia, and forbidding them to do it in Asia. What were the particular reasons of this determination we know not: perhaps the inhabitants of these places were remarkably conceited of their own wisdom; perhaps they had treated the flying reports of the gospel with contempt; or possibly, without any particular displeasure against them, their visitation might be delayed in a view to more jº good. But hº was it for Galatia, Phrygia, and the neighbouring parts, that they were not included in the prohibition: and happy is it for this sinful land of ours, that the abused, insulted gospel is not taken away, and that its ministers are not one way or another forbidden to repeat those offers which have so long been rejected and despised. he visit of a Macedonian imploring the help of the apostle, was justly regarded by him and his associates as an intimation of the divine pleasure that i. should pass over thither. And surely did those nations of the earth that have not yet received the gospel know in the general how great a blessing it is, instead ofopposing those messengers of it who might offer to spread it among them, they would rather in the most pressing manner urge and entreat their presence, and with the #. joy sit down at their feet. May they who are intrusted with this glorious embassy imitate the pious zeal of these hºly men, and be willing, when called by Providence, to cross lands and seas on so pious and so charitable an errand * SECTION XXXVII. Paul and Silas preach the gospel at Philippi; but some of the inhabitants, ºſovoked at their casting out a spirit of divination from a damselºthere, rise ºulºgº them, scourge them, and cast them into prison. The jailer is awakened by an earthquake, and converted by the preaching of Paul. Acts xvi. 13–34. ACTS xvi. 13. Acts xvi. 13. IT was observed in the close of the preceding section, that Paul and Silas, in company º with Timothy and Luke, the penman of this history, arrived at Philippi, and made some ...º.º.º. stay there. And now we go on to relate that on the sabbath-day we went out of the city to .. ºś the side of the river Strymon, where, according to the custom of the Jews, there was an º'º. oratory or a place of public prayer; and sitting down when the devotions were over, we spake to the women that were assembled there, for most of the congregation were of that sex. - -º .*** * fai irr - h tiv the city of I4 And a certain woman And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who was a native of & QJ named Tydia, a sejér of pur- Thyatira in Asia, and a devout worshipper of the true God after the Jewish, manner, was ºffiº.º.º. present at that time, and heard [the discourse;] whose heart the Lord opened, by the secret ºt."; and gentle influences of his grace, to attend in such a manner to the things which were º';..ºhiº. g 8-2 y unto the things which were spoken by Paul, as to be effectually wrought upon and converted by them. . .ind when she *śh ba - * - - g V - was baptized with º she earnestly entreated ws, saying, If you have judged me to be tº...". faithfill to the Lord Jesus in the profession I have made, and really esteem me a sincere bºº.º.º. if ... - T ºr - - have judged me to be faithful christian, I beg that you would enter into my house, and continue to make your abode §§"..."...i.". aks of him in most honourable terms, Col. iv. 14.2 Tim. iv. 11. and view, some coins (dug up, I think, within the last Century), show that a j. #. viii. jS. as the brother whose praise in the gospel went colony was planted t º by Julius Cæsar, and afterwards much aug- through all the churches. The same remark may be made on the rest mented by Augustº. §ee panheim, De Usu et Prast. JWumism. Diss. of the sacred historians, who every one of them, show, the like amiable ii. p. 105,106. and Dr. Benson, vol. ii. p. 14. • * modesty; nor is the charming story St. John tells of himself (John xxi. a Where, according to custom, there was an oratory.] The original 20, et º •º **.*. #. note d, on that º 9 words are remarkabſe, and much º Ot) ºjº. |ſ. 201, p. 359. And when Paul speaks of his own services, it is by no y r To a mere expletive, and only renders *anº in an ostentatious way, but in his own necessary vindication, #"; º *: * .."; D. § y’but I º with appealing to his enemies for the known truth of them. By which # º, this authorities do not fully answer. sº. Mede renders it means Providence has so ordered it, that the º of many important #. % o permitted the Jews to have an or and the translation facts which would otherwise have been lost should be preserved, and trºphºp itted w #. the word Il - . . r; of 1727, Where they were allowed to have it. But,as the word generally, preserved in such a manner as to carry the strongest *ś along with refers to custom, and as it is certain that the Jews had a custom of them. Such instances of divine wisdom ...i.; in Scripture, are WOr– building their oratories or proséuchas, or places of public prayer, by l the sea-side, or near rivers, for the sake of purifications, (which were thy our attentive observation and our thankful acknowledgment. .. # A city of the first part of Jºſacedonia.]. As Amphipolis is meptioned actised also by the heathens before solemn devotions; see [sa. lvii. 6.5 ſ have found no reason to recede from the yersion I have given by Livy (lib, Kly, gap. 29.) as the chief city ºf this first regiºn of Maçe- r donia, in which º lay, I §º with Mr. Pierce, (Pref. to Jais g Like vi. i2. (see noteb, on that text, p. 103.) and with pleasure * rºº ºn - befor - - - Wº on Phil.) to follow the Syriac here, as, Qhrysostôniºso,390s, . # reader to the admirable critic mentioned aboye, for the abundant reading irporn; instead of ſpºrn ins; though it be true; as Mr. Biscoe jºi.". "... ." ...","...autiñºjication of the phrase, jº ..º.º.º. º.º.º. §: : the #. city they met with in ilā; journey; but the au- Hººgº º: 5. -ºº: I. have chosen the word oratory thorities #: Pºiº satisfactory. Grotius explains ºr than Pºiº as more º Fº #.; .."; * ... - St Clty that W ". - - - s - ilo, £7". D. (J2, f : * if. º };}} *i.e. by using a word originally Latin, &0\ovia, in- }}...?. !"). ºriº ... vol. ii. p. 85, 86, and gSpeci- stead of the correspondent Greek word atroukia, plainly intimates it was ally to Dr. Prideaux’s Commerion, vol. i. p. 337'333, for a further 2 Roman colony, which ver. 21. certainly proves it tº have been ; and account of these places. £hºji the critics were long puzzled to find any mention of it in that PAUL AND SILAS SCOURGED AND CAST INTO PRISON. - 4.; ; And [there] as long as you stay in this city. ..?nd she was so extremely pressing and impor- s1.cº. tunate, that she even compelled its to comply with her proposal. tº 37. 16. And it came to pass, as . .Vow while we continuéd her guests, ii came to pass that as we were one day going to — ãº,...; the oratory or praying-place mentioned before, we were met by a certain girl who had º §.ºniº hºus, which been for some time under the influence of what the Greeks call a Pythonic spirit, that is, adº'" rought her masters much irit of divination b whi }, ox: Stinnoc is sº - t h h 6 gain by soothsaying: a spirit of divination, which they suppose to be an inspiration from Apollo, whom they call Pythius:” and though she were bit a slave, she was a person well known in the city, | The same ſºllowed Paul and one who brought her owners much gain by her pretended prophesying. ..?nd following 17 house, and abide therc, she constrained us. and us, and cried, saying, f i. men § tº: jº h of the most high God, which • ' - shew unto us the way of sai- she cried out, Vation. 18 And this she did many days. But Paul, being griev- ed, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. the same hour. vants of the JMost High God, who declare unto you the only true way of salvation. this she did for several succeeding days; but at length Paul, being wearied with so tedious a circumstance, and grieved under an apprehension that this stratagem of Satan might lead the people to imagine that the preachers of the gospel acted in a confederacy with the evil And he came out spirit to whom the heathen worship was addressed, turned towards the damsel, who was then very near him, and said to the evil spirit by whose emotion she spake, I charge thee, after Paul and us, when (as was said above) we were going to the worshipping-assembly, saying with great earnestness of voice and gesture, These men are the ser- ..?nd O thou invisible power under whose influence this unhappy creature is, in the name of Jesus Christ, whose gospel I preach, to go out of her immediately. And it went out that very hour, so that she had never such kind of supernatural agitations any more, nor pre- tended to any gift of prophecy for the future. 19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their ains was gone, they caught aul and Silas, and qrew them into the market-place, unto the rulers, ...And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men being Jews, do exceed- ingly trouble our city, 21 And teach customs which are not lawful for us to re- ceive, neither to observe, be- ing Romans. 22 And, the multitude rose up , together against them : and the magistrates rent off it is not lawful for us, as we are But when her owners saw that the hope of their gain was gone out with the evil spirit, laying hold of Paul and Silas, whom § Timothy and Luke, the two Evangelists that attended them, they dragged them away to the market-place, to accuse them to the magistrates, d, who held their court there. ..And 20 having broight them thither to the afficers intrusted with the government of the city by the Romans, they charged them as disturbers of the peace, and introducers of a new religion that was inconsistent with the laws, and said, these men being Jews, disturb our city in an insufferable manner, .4nd take upon them, in an unwarrantable way, to teach customs which 21 ey looked upon as much more considerable than mans, to receive and observe;” being such as would lead us to renounce the gods of our country, and to abstain from many things which the laws of Rome require. And the populace rose up together against them, and joined the cry, as if 22 they had been guilty of the worst of crimes: and upon this the officers, without any legal §ºndeommanded trial, immediately gave orders that they should be punished; and violently tearing off their garments in a shameful way,3 commanded them to be beaten with rods by the hands of º the lićtors or public beadles, to whom that office belonged. (Compare 1 Thess. ii. 2. and to beat them. 2 Cor. xi. 23, 25. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them; they cast them into prison, charg— .#nd when they had severely scourged 18 19 and laid many stripes upon them, the officers were 23 so incensed against them that they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them as jºº " " " safely as possible, lest among their numerous friends any rescue should be attempted: Hºho 24 34 Who having received having received such a strict charge from persons of so great rank, threw them into the inner such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the escape; and such was t stocks. º - be no way disagreeable to him. 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and , sang praises unto God : and the - they were placed, sou prisoners heard them. prison, and secured their ſº in the stocks, h. that they might not be able by any means to he fierceness of his temper, that a command of this kind would g in his cause, and for the support he gave them under those sufferings: and the other prisoners heard them, with sur- prise at that serenity and cheerfulness which they discovered in the midst of so many cala- 26 And ... there was mities a great earthquaket so that 3 *-* - the º .# º that the . VYe Tê Sil 8. § 6 Il 3. In Ci i Ill (Il G. (11– ately all the regard to th doors were ...And on a sudden, while they were thus engaged, there was a great earthquake, so foundations of the prison were shaken; God thereby testifying his gracious em as the faithful ambassadors of his Son, who for his sake were used in so opened, and everyone’s bands outrageous a manner; and immediately, by the force of the earthquake, all the doors were were loosed. opened, and the bonds of all the prisoners were at the same moment miraculously loosened,i yet their spirits were impressed with such astonishment that none of them attempted to flee away. b A certain girl apho had a Pythonic spirit..] . As Plutarch (De Defect. Orac. p. 414.) tells us those who were inspired with this spirit were eyyaarpup v6oi, or spake as seeming to send the voice from their bellies, and Galen mentions the same fact, some late, writers have supposed the whole pretence to such inspiration to have been founded on the art of throwing out the voice in some extraordinary manner, which has been Fº by some of late among ourselves, and that all the cure wrought y the apostle was only discovering the cheat, and disabling her from playing this trick any more, See The Inquiry into the Case ºf Demo- iniacs, p. 54. And Mr. L'Enfant seems to favour this notion, though he says, in terms of remarkable ambiguity, “it was an imposture which must be the work of a malignant spirit;” as also Dr. Bedson, who calls her “ a lunatic person who was reckoned by the people to be possessed, &c.” Hist. vol. iii. p. 87. , But the manner in which . Luke relates, the story, plainly implies that he th9ught it a real possession, and that Paul took it himself in that view. Nor can, I apprehend that her behaviour, or hist or that of her masters afterwards, can be accounted, for, without allowing it to have been the case. See Mr. Biscoe, 4t Boyle's Lect. chap. viii., § 2. p. 29.4—300. Essay towards Pºnd, lit. Sense ºf th: De- mon. p. 67–70. Further, Inquiry, p: . Reply to It, p. 79–82.-It is well known that the Hebrews call the spirit with which such persons were supposed to be agitated, anx, Ob, because the bodies of those who appeared to be possessed by them were violently distended, like leathern bottles full of wine and ready to burst; Compare Job xxxii. 18, 19. , c Apollo, whom they call Pythius.), This title, it is generally said, was given to Apollo, ön, account of his having destroyed a monstrous serpent that was called Python. See Erasmus, Gualtperius, and Le Clerc's Supplement to Dr. Hammond, in loc., But it seems rather that this story of the Python was a fable grounded on his killing one who for his cruelty was surname ython, that is, serpent or dragon, from whence Apollo had the name of Pythius. See Strab. Geogr. lib. ix. p. ; Bochart, Hieroz. part ii. lib. iii. cap. 5. and Mr. Biscoe, as above, Châp. Vll I. W 2. p. 294. - - e - jº. magistrates.] Though the Syriac and Arabic versions omit these words, the most authentic copies insert them. These magistrates are here called apxovres, and afterwards arpatmyot, the latter of which words the Greeks used to denote Roman praetors; and if it were applied to the duumviri, who were the governors of culonics, it was by way of compliment. #ut Mr. Biscoe has welfprovéd º are oxamples of such an application. Boyle’s Lect. chap. ix. § 3. p. 346. e Teach customs ºchich it is mgt lainful, &c.] The mºnsters of this girl had not only lost all the gain they might have made by her practice of the arts she professed, but likewise what they might have sold her for in consequence of those extraordinary qualities which were now ceased. Yet as the laws made no provision for an event of this kind, they thought it proper to ground their accusation on an attempt to introduce a new religion, which was indeed forbidden by the Roman law, (Cicero, De Aleg. lib. ii. cap. 8, 10, 14, 27. Liv. lib. Nxxix. cap. 16. Sueton. August. cap. 93.) though every one was tolerated in worshipping what deities he :leased at home. (See Mr. Biscoe, chap. ix. $ ii. p. Grotius and r. Whitby, in loc.) The conquered provinces were left at full liberty in this respect; yea, and the Romans themselves were sometimes se- verely punished, by their generals or other Inagistrates, for insulting places, or rites, or even animals accounted sacred. f And the officers.] De Dieu supposes indeed, that the apxonºrs; or magistrates mentioned ver. 19. were the civil rulers, and the argarmy at spoken of here were military officers, to whom the former sent them to execute their sentence. But the contrary is plain from ver. 19. com- pared with ver. .35, el scq. and especially with ver. 37. where Paul in- sists on their being uncondemned. g Tegring off their garments.] It is well known this was the Roman method of proceeding in such cases. (See Mlr. Biscoe, chap. ix. § 4. p. 347. Groſjus and Dr. Whitby, in loc.) De Dieu shows from ºt. JMischna, that it was also practised among the Jews ; but that was not régºried in the present Case. h Secured their ſcºt in the stocks.] It is generally supposed that these were the gippi, or large pieces of wood, used among the Reinans, which not only loaded the legs of the prisoners, but sometimes distended them in a very painful mainer. ... (See Grotius, in loc. Mr. Biscoe, chap. ix. § 5. p. 348. and Elsner, Obserc, vol. i. p. 439, 440.) So that it is highly probabie the situation of Paul and Silas here might be much more painful than that of an off qider, sitting in the stocks among us, especially if (which is very possible) they ſay with their bare backs, so ately scourged, on the hard or dirty ground, which renders their joyful framic expressed by songs of praise so much the more remarkable.— Beza explains it of the numellae, in which both the feet and the neck were fastened in the most uneasy posture that can well be imagined. i There uras a great earthquake the doors stere apcmed and the bonds loosened.] Elsner has most happily shown, in his notes on this text, (Obsert. vol. i. p. 441–444.) that each of these threo things was But at midnight Paul and Silas, being kept awake by the painful circumstances in which 25 ght their relief in devotion; and having prayed, they also sung an hymn to God, praising him for the honour they had of suffering 2 6 56 443 . SEC T. 37. ACTS XVI * 28 29 31 33 26, 27 (I Kings xix. II, 12.) His soul, as weſi 28 were, laid bare. A sudden transport of astonishment convinces him of his extreme danger. fully stopped in that terrible moment in which he was rushin 29 gers of earth; and being taught by a secret grace which he 26 THE PHILIPPIAN JAILER CONVERTED. “ind the jailer awaking out of his sleep upon this violent concussion of the earth, and 27 And the keeper of the seeing the doors of the prison opened, was in such consternation that he drew his Sword, and was going to kill himself; naturally supposing that the prisoners, embracing so favourable an opportunity, were fled; and fearing lest their escape should be imputed to his con- 27 nivance and treachery, and he should be proceeded against with the utmost severity, be brought out to a painful and ignominious execution. But Paul, being aware of that horrid act which his rashness intended, and anxious to 28 prevent it, cried out with a loud voice, and with the utmost earnestness, saying, Stay thy desperate hand, and do thyself no harm; for we are all here, prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his Śword; and would have killed himself, Supposing that the and prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a º; iº O !'; O harſh ; for We are a and none of us shall take the here. - opportunity of escaping, while the hand of God is working thus awfully around us. ..?nd upon this he called for lights,” and eagerly sprang motion; and being in a perfect tremor, he fell down with the humblest reverence before the feet of Paul and Silas, and lay a few * * moments in speechless consternation and confusion: down before Pau 30 and then in the most respectful manner bringing them out from the inner prison in which they were confined, he said, Q Sirs, what musi I do that I may be saved;" for I see no- $ºo.º. in with a violent and impetuous .29. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and game , trembling, and, fell Í and Silas; 30 And brought, them out and said, j; what must f thing but danger and misery, both temporal and spiritual, surrounding me? ..?nd they said to him, answering together as with one voice, Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” whom it is our office to preach as the great and only Saviour, and 31 And they said, Believe on the forājésus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy humbly commit thyself to his almighty protection, and thou shalt be saved from every evil, house. - 32 (tnd thine house too, if they also believe.” And as he discovered a most humble desire to 32 And they spake unto be further instructed in the faith which they taught, they readily embraced the º portunity, and Spake to him, and to all that were in his house, the word of the Lord, claring the contents and purport of the gospel. . …?nd the word came with such a power, that his rou tidings, and the tenderness of it immediately flowed them; so that, taking them that very hour of the night, he washed their stripes, remained unhealed," and was immediately baptized, himself and all his domestics with him. 34 ºffnd having brought them into his house after this solemn rite had been performed, he the table before them with the best provisions he had at hand; and be ieving in God with all his house, he was even transported with unutterable joy at the sudden light which had sprung in Upon him, and at the happy prospects which were by divine grace presented to his view as a christian. op- him the word, of the Lord, p and to all that were in his de- house. gh heart was melted at these gracious 33 And he tºok them the forth toward these messengers of same hour of the night, and t; **, washed their, stripes;, and which still was baptized, he and all his, r straightway. read 34 And when , he had brought them into his house, he set meat, before them, and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house. IMPROVEMENT. W E see reinarkably in this period by what various methods divine grace operates upon different persons. . . As Ver.14 for Lydia, she was touched by a gentle influence descending upon her like dew from heaven; her heart was melted under the word as snow by the sun; and by the soft yet powerful hand of our blessed Saviour, was made willing 24 and obedient. But when the Lord came to subdue the stubborn heart of the sayage jailer, who seems to have taken a barbarous pleasure in afflicting his pious prisoners, he came in the whirlwind, the tempest, and the fire. as his house, was shaken with an earthquake, and the foundations, as it His hand is merci- g on to seek a refuge in heli from the seeming dan- fiad not as yet been instructed to seek, he falls down before Paul and Silas, honouring them as among the first of mankind, whom he had just before treated, not only 30 as slaves, but as the worst of villains; yet he is now ready to receive the law and the gospel from their mouth, seeking the way of salvation from them, and declaring his readiness to submit to whatsoever they should tell him. What unutterable delight must it afford to these afflicted servants of Christ, when they saw this astomishing 25 change Surely it appeared that their prayers and their praises came up in remembrance before God. They had, with a serene conscience and a joyful heart, been singing praises to God in the stocks, and behold, new matter of praise is given them, and in the midst of all their sufferings new songs are put into their mouth, and new occasions for thanksgiving pour in upon them. Those bonds which, however pondérous in themselves, sat so light upon them, are now miraculously loosened; and the far more infamous and dangerous bonds which Satan had fastened esteemed, even by the pagans, a token of some divine appearance in favour of the oppressed and afflicted who suffered wrong ſully, and were dear to them. - k Drcup his sncord, and ngas going to kill himself.] Though it is true that some of the philosophers condernned self-murtler, yet it was not only justified by many, others, (see Grotius, in loc. and Mr. Biscoe, chap. ix. § 6., p. 340.) but had in fact prevailed much amous; the Ro- mans, especially about that time, and had, in the metaory of soille then living, been (as it were) dignified at Philippi by the example of those great men, Brutus and Cassius, almong others who fell on their own swords there. - 1 Paul, being aware of that horrid act, &c..] As they were all at present in the dark, it is not easy to say how Paul knew of the jailer’s purpose, unless it was by hearing, song desperate Ygris that declared it, or by some immediate suggestion from God, which 9 midst such a scene of wonders is by 119 ſnºans incredible. - m He called for lights.] As pºza is in the plural number, it seeins to imply, that on this alarn, several of his atteudants came with torches, and were present at thc inquiry which immediately followed ; nor did he in the least scruple to throw hiºsclf down, before all his domestics, at the feet of these his holy prisofºrs, who were so evidently honoured by the God of nature. - - • . . nºſhat must f do that I may lic stººd.]. Grotius, thinks, that in this inquiry the jailer yent upon the natural principles of the immortality of the soul. Dr. Whitby, with nuch, greater propriety, supposes that he spake thus to them, as referring to the tº stimony of the Pythoness, (ver. 17.) which had been so oſten and so publighy repeated, that these Scrºants of the most high God taught ſhe wray g/ salvatign. , I apprehend, the sense of what he says to be very extensive, as if he should have asked, *What méthods shall I take for my security;” Probably a vast mul- titude of ideas rushed into his mind at once. He say by the earthquake the power and displeasure of God; and together with this, the sweetness and joy of Paul and Silas in their bonds, their willing continuance in prison, when they might so Qasily have, escaped, ºne their, generous §oſićitude for the life of one who had used them so ill, were gll circum. stances fit to strike powerfully on a mind so passionate as his seems to have been, and might all do their part toward convincing him, that these men were indeed divine inessengers, and that the divine displeasure was falling on the city, and particularly on, himself, for persecuting them. Perhaps some kind and pious words which Paul and Silas, who took all opportunities of doing good, might haye uttered while he was fastening their feet in the stocks, might throw further light on his mind, when recollected annidst such extremity of danger : and, no doubt, the Spirit of God added conviction and energy to all. - o Beliero in the Lord Jesus Christ.] To believe in Christ, does un- doubtedly in its primary signification imply, trusting in hiºn, or com- mitting ourse!yes to his protection, as I have here paraphrased it. (See Dr. Watts’s Harmony of all Relig. chap. viii. p. 65.) #. this connexion it would iñºſº, imply, submitting to the further instructions o these his special ambassadors and authorized messengers : and it always includes a desire to be delivered from the power of sin, and a disposition to comply with his scheme of salvation, which, is to purify to himself a pºliº pg| zealous of good works. The full import of which scheme *aul and Silas would not ſail to open to this new convert as soon as possible ; and accordingly it is prescutly added, that they spake to him the word of the Lord. p Thou shalt be saved, and thine housc.] . The meaning cannot be, that the eternal salyation of his family could be secured by his faith, but that his believing in Christ would be the best security of his family from prescut, danger, and that, if they also themselves believed, they jj be entithed to the same spiritual and everlasting blessings with himself; which Paul might the rathºr add, as it is probable that many of them, under this terrible alarin, might have attended the master of the family into the dungeon. . . * - e q He washed their stripcs, which still remained unhealed.] I mention this circumstance, as it serves to show what I have elsewhere observed, (and it is of great importance to remember it,) that the apostles.had not a power of working miraculous cures whenever they pleased ; no, not even on their own bodies, or those of their dearest friends. Sec note d, § 17, p. 401. Iład they possessed such a power, it would have been their duty to have used it, unless they had (as Christ with such a power in fact had) a discovery of the divine wiłł, that in such or such instances the use of it should i. waved. On the other hand, the continual use of such a power would have frustrated inany of those noble purposes in providence which their sufferings answered, and would have introduced ipany inconveniences which an intelligent reader will easily apprehend from this general hint. - - -- - r And was immediately baptized, himself and all his...] IHis being thus baptized with his household, seems to be the only reason which the Čiček commentators had to think this jailer’s name was Stephanas, and that he is the person referred to 1 Cor. i. 13. xvi., 15, 17. But...it is much more probable that Stephanas was tº Corinthian, from all the places here cited, PAUL AND SILAS HONOURABLY DISCHARGED FROM CONFINEMENT. upon these sons of persecution and violence, fall off too. The awakened jailer asks the question of all others the SECT. most important, and asks it with an earnestness and respect that witnesses its sincerity, Sirs, what must I do to be saved 2 - 443 37. Gracious God, to whose efficacious influence the most obdurate heart must submit, awaken Inultitudes who, Agºs like this once wretched sinner, but now beloved and triumphant saint, are insensible of their danger and misery; XVI. that seeing themselves perishing, they may inquire after salvation! And may it please thee to put a faithful word 31 into the mouth of thy ministers, that they may all join in directing such awakened souls to believe in Christ, and trust to him for salvation | When they are brought to this they may well rejoice; and however their hearts may 33, 34 be enlarged towards those who have been the instruments of this blessed change, none of the effects of their ten- derness or generosity can afford a pleasure º to that which they shall find in the consciousness of having rescued souls from eternal death, and conducted them into the way of salvation. SECTION XXXVIII. Paul and Silas are honourably º from, their confinement by the magistrates of Philippi, on insisting upon their privilege as Romans; and leave that city, after visiting the new converts there. Acts xvi. 35. Acts xvi. 35, to the end. ACTS xvi. 35. AND when it was day, the THUS Paul and Silas spent the remainder of the night in the house of the jailer, sharing 'magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. and increasing that joy which he found on the admission of the gospel into his heart. ..And when it was day, the praetorian magistrates of Philippi, who were terrified by the earth- quake,” sent the lictors or beadlesb by whom they had been scourged the day before, to the keeper of the prison, saying, Dismiss those men with the custody of whom thou wast yes- terday charged; for this correction and confinement is all the punishment we upon them. 36 And the keeper of the rison. told this .."; to É. The magistrates have sent to let you go : now there- fore depart, and go in peace. may pursue your journey in peace, sure of our earnest prayers that all prosperity and hap- piness may attend you, wherever you carry those good tidings which have been so com- fortable to us. But Paul jud 37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us in- to prison; and now, do they thrust us out privily & Nay verily; , but let them come themselves, and fetch us out. thrust us out of the city privately? By no means; it is not at all fit that magistrates should be encouraged in such oppressive and arbitrary proceedings as these, which may be so injurious to the most innocent and worthy citizens, whenever a popular cry is raised against them: they cannot but know that this their illegal proceeding hath given us a great advantage against them, if we were disposed to prosecute them to the utmost, according to the Roman law; if therefore they desire to accommodate the matter, let them at least . come themselves and conduct us respectfully out of this place of confinement, d into which we have been so unjustly thrown, and thus let them make the best amends they can to 38 And the serjeants told - these words unto the magis- trates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. more to have scourged our reputation and character, after having irreparably injured ...And the beadles reported these words to the praetors, who (as we observed above) were 38 the magistrates from whom they came. were qfraid, well º even to have torn the garments of a citizen, and much im, especially thus publicly, and without hearing his defence, us in our persons. ...And when they heard that they were Romans, they was a crime which might have exposed them to very high penalties, if the person injured had entered a complaint against them in the legal forms. 39 And they came and be- sought them, and brought them out; and desired them to depart out of the city. rashly inflicted upon them. ...And they came therefore in their own persons to the and comforted them” in the best manner they could, acknowledging their innocence, and commending the patience and fortitude with which they had borne the punishment so Jind conducting them out with the most respectful treatment, they requested that they would excuse what was past, and would with all convenient speed depart from the city, to prevent any of those popular tumults which might be the conse- quence of their longer abode there; where perhaps the rage of their former accusers might occasion further embarrassment, both to the magistrates and to them. 40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia ; and when entered [into the house of] Lydia, their convert and friend, with whom they had lodged a Were terrified by the earthquake.] Tyo ancient manuscripts men- tion this circumstance; and it is in itself very probable, separate from their authority. - - b The § or beadles.] Perhaps the word pagóovXot, which Grotius would have to be retained in its Greek form, might have been rendered vergers, most agreeably to its etymology; but as such, officers. only bear a ſittie'wand, or something resembling one, and the Roman lictors had a large build of them tied together, I thought the word beadles, as it is also the name of the officers by whom offenders among us are gene- rally whipped, would present to an Pnglish reader the most genuine €tl. - - c. They have beatch us, who gre Romans.] It is Well known that the Vålerian law forbade that a Roman citizen should be bound; and the Sempronian, that he should be beaten with rods. §e Dr. Lardner’s ib. book il chap. x. § 3, 4. vol. i. p. 498–500.). If it be asked, Why Paul and Silas, who had the same iºr; not plead this privilege before? I must answer with Mr. Biscoe, That the hurry and noise of the execution prevented it; and perhaps, amidst such a tumult: it ºf: be apprehended that the people would have murdered them, if they had not been in some measure appeased by their sufferings; not, to say how possible it is that the plea, if made, might not be regarded amidst such a riotous mob. The circumstanges of Paul, when he ūji it, Acts xxii. 25. were much different.—If it be further asked, Why it was now so soon believed? it may be replied, not only that it was an oxtremely hazardous thing to make such a claim falsely, (for Claudius punished it with death; Sueton. Claud, cap. 25.), but also, that there was a certain dignity in the manner in which Paul made this plea, which added a sensible credibility to it, especially as they had now no further sufferings to apprehend, and as the earthquake, which might perhaps affect the whole city, seemed to have so evident a reference to their case. See Mr. Biscoe, Jät Boyle’s Lect. chap. ix. $ 7. p. 350, et seq. d. Let them coine themselves and conduct us out..] In all this Paul seems to have had a regard, to the honour and interest of christianity in this place, as well as to their own civil rights as men and Romans; for such a token of public respect from the magistrates would undoubtedly en- cQurage the new converts, and remove a stumbling-block out of the way of Qthers who might not have discerned the true lustre of the characters of Paul and Silas amidst so much infamy as they had before suffered. e They came and comfortcal them.] So, our translators render the word Tapeka Aeo av, in the next verse, as well as in many other places. Com- pare Acts XX. 12. Rom. i. 12. 2 Cor. i. 4. vii. 6. in all which texts and pmany others, it can have no other signifieation, though in several others it must, signify exhorted, as it, is justly rendered Acts xi. 21. 1 Thess. ii. 11. Heb. iii. 13. and elsewhere. There are other instances in which it signifies to entreat, 1 Cor. iv. 13. 1 Tim. v. 1. But [ prefer the first sense here, as the latter is expressed in the following clanse, and as it *: us an idea of a more respectful treatment, as De Dieu also has 1Inted. SECT. 38. ACTS XVI, shall inflict 35 ..?nd the keeper of the prison told these things to Paul, saying, The praetors, our chief 36 magislrates here, have sent orders, that you may be dismissed, and I inform you of it with great satisfaction: now therefore you are at full liberty to go out whenever you please, and ed it proper to animadvert on the manner in which they had been used, 37 and therefore called for the beadles, and said to them, As for these magistrates from whom you come, they have beaten us, who are Romans and free citizens as well as themselves;” and this they have done publicly m the most ignominious manner, as if we had been com- mon slaves, though we had never any legal trial, [and] were uncondemned of any crime at all; and after this they have cast us into the common prison ; and do they now think to rison where Paul and Silas were, 39 .And upon this, coming out of the prison in the honourable manner we have described, 40 they candidly agree to excuse what had been done in prejudice of their rights; and only 444 IPAUL PREACHES AT THESSALONICA AND BERGEA, SECT. before. And when they had seen the brethren whom they were to leave behind them, they they had seen, the brethran, 38. comforted them with an account of what God had doné both for them and by them in the hºmºte” prison, and exhorted themſ to such a steadfast faith and exemplary life as christianity always - ** required, and was peculiarly suitable to their present circumstances; and then they departed 40 out of Philippi, and directed their Journey westward towards Thessalonica, wheré they met with new difficulties, which will be related in the following section. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. We have seen Paul and Silas suffering, not for doing evil but good; for great good undoubtedly it was, to cast 16–19 out the demon which possessed the young woman of whom we have been reading, and made her an instrument of mischief, though to her mercenary masters a means of gain. Could she indeed have foretold future events, as perhaps she very falsely pretended, it had been a curse rather than a benefit to mankind to know them; but it is . probable that this evil spirit, being himself unacquainted with them, did, like many of his brethren, only delude his votaries with ambiguous answers, which proved the occasion of false expectations and numerous inconveniences. At least, it diverted them from all proper regards to the true God, the supreme Disposer of all events, and confirmed them in their unhappy attachment to those which are by nature no gods, to those vain idols by a regard to whom Satan was honoured, and the living Jehovah injured and affronted. 18 . Wisely did Paul, in imitation of his Master, refuse applause from so impure a tongue. Yet with what con- sistency could these heathens persecute him 2 If this damsel spake under a divine direction, why should she not 17 be credited when she testified that these were servants of the true God, that taught the way of salvation? If they were indeed so, how absurd, how impious, and how dangerous must it be, to treat them with outrage instead of reverence What an affront to God! What defiance of salvation . If Apollo was indeed any thing more than an empty name ; if he was judged to have any power and any deity, what regards were owing to that Jesus of Nazareth, who appeared so much superior that Apollo fled at his very name! But the god of this world had 19 blinded their eyes, and reason and conscience remonstrated in vain, so long as the hopes of gain lay the opposite . way... Deliver us, Q Lord, from such fatal madness, and teach us how much more valuable salvation is, than any worldly interest which must be sacrificed to it! 22, 23 . The ministers of Christ, Paul and Silas, had been injured in their reputations, and abused in their persons; and in this instance, as in many others, were treated like the filth of the world, and the †† of all things, while the ploughers ploughed upon their back, and made long furrows. (I Cor. iv. 13. Psal. cxxix. 3.) The plea of privi- 37 lege amidst so tumultuous a multitude, might have been in vain, and therefore was for the present prudently waved; but it was justly afterwards urged, and the magistrates challenged for their arbitrary proceedings before they knew who and what they were, and required to attend upon them in person, to acknowledge and atone for their fault. Here was a true magnanimity, proceeding not from pride but from humanity. Their reputation as minus- ters of Christ was worthy of a j, and worthy of some reparation, where it had received so notorious an insult. The rashness of the magistrates was also worthy of being rebuked and mortified; which might have proved an occasion of suffering to other innocent persons, had not this instance of it been animadverted upon ; yet no revenge was sought, nor were they, as some have been in the like case, laid under a necessity of buying their peace, to avoid a prosecution which might have ended in their ruin. Paul knew how to join the tenderness of the christian with the dignity of the Roman citizen, and contended for his own rights no further than that very contention might be an act of general goodness. Let us go and do likewise. Let us learn, even from the example of these unjust 38, 39 rulers, to be willing to hear reason and truth from those who seem most our inferiors, and openly to retract any ill- concerted steps which we may have taken ; especially, let us be willing to make the best reparation in our power to the innocent and the deserving, if through imprudent heat or weak credulity, we have been engaged in any degree to injure them. SECTION XXXIX. Paul preaches at Thessalonica and Bergea, but is soon chased from both these places by the violence of the unbelieving Jews. Acts xvii. 1–15. ACTS Xvii. 1. Acts xvii. 1. sECT. WHEN Paul and Silas had quitted Philippi in that honourable manner which was de Nºwhººpa; , 39. scribed in the former section, they went forward in their progress; and taking their journey ºia."ºne". westward through ºpºlº and 4pollonia, which were likewise considerable cities of º,” 8, Açış Macedonia, (the former of them having been once the capital of the first part of it,) they XV II. 1 came to the celebrated Thessalonica, a city which lay near the coast of the AEgean fled, where the Roman governor held his residence, and where there was also a Synggogue of the - 2 Jews. ..And, according to Paul's usual custom of applying first to the Jews, he entered in 2 And Pºlº, to their assémbly and made one among them, and strongly argued and discoursed tº them, ś for three succeeding sabbaths,”off: various passages out of the Scriptures, for which they with them out of the scrip. 3 professed so great a regard; Opening º with great exactness, and evidently showing 3 º: and alleging, them, by clear and incontestable arguments taken from these sacred oracles, that the that Christ must needs have f They conſorted and exhorted them.] I unite the two senses of the tion, (1 Thess. i. 9, 10.) so that a church was ſºliº the midst of word §§ ſº would, to be sure, mingle on such an occasion con: their persecutions, which became famous in all Macedonia and #º: §oº exhºtº such an extraordinary interposition of God (ibid. ver, 5–8), And though the 3postle, ºftº: hº º º: for his suffering servants, and such an addition inade to their church, new converts with extraºrdinary tenderness during # apo, º: had a natural tendency both to cheer their hearts, and to invigorat; was quickly forced to, leave them, (chap., ii. 7, S, *: º .# º º: their pious resolutions. Accordingly it appears from faui's Épistle to about the same time, lost some christiºn §. ſ ". who }. this cº, that there were many excellent christians among them who dear to them, and might have been º º | (c. lap. º: véry expressed an affection for him, and a zeal for their religion, in some seq.), yet they continued to behºe W. eſſ, .. that. § jº, a }.} considerable degree correspondent to such encouragements and obliga- confortable account of them by Timothy, (c lap...ºu. id: *}. #hººl. tions. Phil. i. 5–7, 29, 3). iv. 10, 14—18. wards advanced in , faith, charity º º dº; s # *...; g And departed.] Though many circumstances might bow have im- trials, (2 Thess. i. 3, 4.) though sºle fºy !. º 1rregu .# {lſh É vited their stay at Philippi, they wisely complied with the request of into an ille and negligent way of ; which . º, º: H. the imagistrates, that they might not seem (as Brennius well observes) to upon a christian, profession, and *...*E.". Jºã ...'. express any degree of obstimacy or revenge, and might, give no suspi- (lb. iii. 6—15.) It also appºis that when #º .. ist ... º: they cion of any design to stir up the people to any kind of sedition, an opportunity of binting to them the rise.9 § IC º rated proph hey a For three succeeding sabbaths.] It has been concluded from hence a little mistook his meaning,&#Yº º §: #. € º *ś. º; that Paul continued but three weeks at Thessalonica; but as it evidently 2 Thess. ii. 1:12. I conclude that t º nints, "..., ...º.º. appears, that while he was in this city, he not only, Wrought, with his complete and illustrate the short, accoun #. 11) but that they will own hands to procure a subsistence, (f'ſhess. ii. 9.2 Thess. iii. 8.) but here or elsewhere, be disagreeable to my readers, be of th §. idt I also received supplies more than once from Philippi; (compare Phil. iv. rather be pleased to havº as complete a §. *i. e of the Scripture IG.) I ºft, it gº Fº Pºlº (as Dr. Benson § i.º. #; i\istºry of the christian church in the apostles’ time. f - vol. ii. p. 94, 95.) that after the Jews appeared, so obstinate in their --~1. in ºr - is seems the proper import of the word Éačić as most of them did, he desisted from disputing of teaching in b. #º, *...*ś #: & # #. §: the eyes of their synagogue after the third sabbati, and then preached for some time *P*T*}”2$2. d'Éisner ; the last words of the preceding among the Gentiles, before the assault meationed ver. v. which drove Spéctºrs: Grotius an 㺠aº ºvºodºv'étavotyov, opening and .#o.ihi; it.’ 'ft appears that during his stay here great numbers verse should have begun tºº." Ypap y cov; opening ar jºijójátērs received the gospel with remarkable zºal and affect evincing from the Scriptures, &c. - * PAUL CHASED FROM THESSALONICA AND BERCEA, 445 in Messiah ought, according to the whole tenor of the prophecies, to suffer the last extremi- SECT. º:..","..."; ties from the unbelieving generation among whom he was to appear, and then tº lºse frºm 39. is Christ. the dead, how contrary soever it was to their ſº apprehensions; and that this is the 5 true expected Messiah, ſeven] Jesus of Nazareth, whom, said he, I make it my business to º § and risen again you, 18 declare unto you, and to all to whom I come. - This was the substance of what he inculcated upon them in repeated discourses; and 4 the success was various: for, notwithstanding all the prejudices evidence of what he said, that some of them believed and - so a considerable number of the devout Greeks, who had either embraced the Jewish re. , 4 And some of them be- lieved, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multi- tude, and of the chief women not a few. of the Jews, such was the adhered to Paul and Silas; and ligion, or at least worshipped with those that had, and not a few of the principal women of sº the city. ji 5 #: the º . be- ieved not, moved with envy #. j yº ello WS Of the baser SOrt, an gathered a company, and set fille 1D all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. But, on the other hand, there were many who rejected the gospel, and that, as it after- º; with great malignity of heart. For after some time the unbelieving Jett's, ith indignation, and in a wild transport of ungovernable zeal on the occasion, gather- ed together some mean and proftigate fellows, and maki - a tumult; and assaulting with great violence the house of Jason,” where Paul and his com’ panions lodged, they endeavoured to bring posed them to the füry of the mob, whom they had so incensed against them, 6 And when they found were ready to have torn them to a mob, threw the whole city into them out to the people, with a design to have ex- that they pieces. But not finding them, as they expected, in the ..º.º.º. house, they dragged out Jason, and some others of the brethren, who were with him, to the fiers of the city, crying, rulers of the city, crying out with great fury, These turbulent, mischievous men, that have These that have turned the yworld upside down, are come hither also; turned the world upside down, and thrown every place through which they have passed into the utmost confusion, are now come hither also to create the same disturbance among us 7 whom, Jason hath re- And this Jason has privately received and sheltered them under his roof, and so hath made ceived : and these all do con- trary to the decrees of Cesar, himself responsible for all the mischief they may do here: and it is highly necessary that saying that there is another an immediate stop be put to their proceedings, as all these men are certainly engaged in king, one Jesus. some design that may be dangerous to the state, and are in effect guil of high-treason against the emperor; for they act directly contrary both to the decrees and interest of Caesar, sayin j, that there is another independent and even superior king, [one] Jesus;" whom; he were crucified at Jerusalem several years ago, they foolishly assert to be raised to universal empire, and demand the obedience of all men to him as their supreme Lord. 8 And they troubled the people, and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken a formidable nature which security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go. But they were not willing to might be alleged against them, were in a manner strangers to him; and therefore, having only taken security of Jason and the rest of the brethren who were brought before them, to bind them to their good behaviour, and to appear when they were called to answer to the charge exhibited against them, they dismissed them for that time. 10. And the brethren, im: mediately sent away Paulan But the brethren, perceiving to how great personal danger the apostle and those that at- §".”; “...º.º. tended him would necessarily be exposed by a longer abode there, immediately, without who coming thither, went into the synagogue of the jews. any further delay where such important lives were concerned, sent away Paul and Silas by ºnight to the neighbouring city of Beroea, where they hoped they might pursue the charita- ble design of their journey with less opposition; and accordingly, when they came thither, they went into the Synagogue of the Jews, not discouraged by e ill usage they had met with upon their addresses to them elsewhere. 11 These were more noble than, those in Thessalonica, in that they, received the word with all, readiness of mind, and searched the Scrip- tures daily, whether those things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed: also of honourable women which were Greeks, aud of men, not a few. and also several of the Grecian women of considerable rank, and of the men not a few ; so But an unha of the Jews of 13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica, had knowledge at the word of God was preached of. Paul at Berea they came thither, also, and stirred up the people. they came thither also, raising his associates as factious and that there was, on the whole, a fair prospect of founding a flourishing church in this place. y opposition soon arose from the malice of their persecutors; for as some - 'hessalonica understood that the word of God was preached by Paul at Beraea with such promising success, not content with what they had done to oppose it at home, [a storm among] the populace, g and representing Paul and turbulent people, to whom it was dangerous to give any the least shelter or countenance. ...And then immediately the brethren, equally solicitous with 14 those of Thessalonica in the like case, as to the danger he might incur in consequence of 14 And then łºś. the brethren sent away Paul, c. Jason.]. As Jason seems (by Rom. xvi. #} to have been a relation of Paul, it is not improbable, that he was a Hellenistical Jew; but Mr L'Enfant’s argument from his name seems not sufficient to provo him to have been so. - d Another king.] Though the Roman emperor did not pretend to be the only king of monarch, yet in all the conquered provinces or depend- ent states, there could be no king established without his consent : änd it is not improbable that the title of Lord, so frequently and so justly given by christians to their great Master, might be used as a handle of accusa- tion on such an occasion as this. - - - - * 9. Qf a nobler and more generous disposition, &c.] . There is, as Dr. Whitby has observed, a peculiar spirit and propriety in this czpression, as the Jews boasted that they were eXev6spot kai evygvets, free and nable, by virtue of their descent from Abraham and the other patriarchs. ese Beroeans, imitating the rational faith of their great progenitor, were evyevso repot, his more genuine offspring. * - f Daily examining the Scriptures.] It is very unjust to argue; from the conduct of the apostle with respect to the Jews, and from that of these free, and generous inquirers, that christianity cannot be proved otherwise than from the prophecies of the Old Testament. It might be demonstrated from various topics of external and internal evidence to those who never, heard of any former revelation. Another very, im- portant additional argument does indeed arise from the accomplish- ment of prophecies; and whgn, it has been asserted (as we know it has) by the authorized teachers of the gospel, not only that Christ is a divine Messenger, but also that his appearance was foretold to the Jews, uhem it is impossible to vindicate §§ inission without showing that it was so. But, in examining the particular texts in question, we are not only to inquire whether the sense given by the apostles be, in itself consider- ed, most easy and natural, which is ji. the case; but (especia. ‘y on account of the obscurity which must of course attend prophecy) we are to consider whether the improbability of the scnse, they give in any particular instance, or in all instances, bě sufficient to balance the other proofs they produced of being under a divine guidance, before we can draw any conclusion to the prejudice of their plenary inspiration; so very far should we be from concluding, without such an overbalance, that, christianity is false, which yet has generally been the way of our indolent halſ-thinkers, and of Mr. Collins in particular, whose reflections on this text gave occasion to this remark. g Raising a storm among the §§ Mr. Blackwell has rightly observed, (Sacr. Class. vol. i. p. 230.) that this is the exact import of the word GaAgua, which expresses a violent agitation of the sea, and admir- ably illustrates the rage and fury of a seditious multitude. Compare sal. xciii. 3, 4, Isa. xvii. 18, 13. Jer. xlvi. 7, 8. See Elsnor, Observ vol. i. p. 446. 6 7 Jind as the charge was formed in such a Inanner that their neglecting it might render 8 them obnoxious to the Romans, they troubled and alarmed both the multitude and the magistrates of the city when they heard these things, which seemed to contain something of they could not fully understand. proceed to extremities against a neighbour merely for harbouring persons who, whatever 9 I 0. Here, therefore, as in other places, these messengers of Jesus gave them an account of II the general contents of the gospel, and of the commission which they had in charge, always to open it first to the Jews, wherever they came. ..And they had the satisfaction to find that these people were of a nobler and more generous disposition than those of that religion at Thessalonica,” by whom they had been so ungratefully chased away; for they received the word with all readiness of mind, daily eramining the Scriptures, whether those things which Paul and Silas in their repeated discourses asserted, were indeed so. Many of them therefore finding how exact a correspondence there was between the words of these chris- tian preachers and those of their own prophets to which they referred, believed the gospel; H 2 446 SECT. 39. ACTS XVII. PAUL CHASED FROM THESSALONICA AND BERGEA. the growing influence of his unjust accusers, and the peculiar malice which they had to go g; it were to the sea: against him, sent away Paul, as if he were to go by sea to some of the southern cities of jº., ºil, "*" Greece; and they chose to direct him to the road which led to the sea, that if he had not an opportunity of embarking, or did not think proper to do it, his malicious enemies might at least be discouraged from any further attempt to pursue him; which they might proba- bly have done, if they had known he would have travelled by land. But Silas and Timo- thy, as their characters were not so public, or their persons so obnoxious, did not go with him from Beroea, but continued there a while longer, to settle the new-planted church, and to instruct them more fully in the doctrine of the gospel. 15 ...And they that conducted Paul, brought him by land as far as the celebrated city of Athens, 15, And they that conduct- Ver, - G C1 S l -- e. r ºn or recei .* ºr a gºº ed Paul brought hi t that unequal % #. ºf *..."; among the Greeks; and having received an order from ºn...; ºvša. him to Silas and Timothy, that they should come to him as soon as might be,” to inform him mandmenºnio Silasanāśi- of the state of the new converts he had left behind him at Thessalonica and Bergea, §§ they went away; and he continued alone at Athens, with a heart full of solicitude on ac- count of his brethren, and of these infant churches, {M[PROVEMENT. WITH how much grace and propriety might the apostle say of bonds and imprisonments, in the most grievous 1, 2 circumstances that could attend them, Yome of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto me, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grâce of God. (Acts xx. 24.) He gave a remarkable proof of this heroic temper, when having (as he himself ex- presses it) been shamefully entreated at Philippi, he was bold in his God to preach the gospel of God at Thessalonica too, though it were with much contention, through the perverse opposition of these unbelieving Jews. (1 Thess. 11. 2. ) - 3 He boldly declared to them, and proved it by unanswerable evidence, that the Messiah whom they so eagerly 5 expected, and of whose temporal kingdom they so fondly dreamt, must, in order to establish his claim from the accomplishment of prophecies, suffer, and rise from the dead; and then he showed, agreeably to these important premises, that Jesus whom he preached to them was that very person. But instead of receiving his testimony with thankfulness, and the word of God with obedience, what iniquity and obstinacy of heart did these Jews show ! Unhappy nation, who, as Paul most justly speaks of them, (1 Thess. ii. 15, 16.) having killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, persecuted the apostles also: not pleasing God, and being contrary to all men, forbidding, so far as in them lay, the appointed messengers of this glorious salvation to preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved: thereby, alas, filling up the measure of their iniquities, till wrath came upon them to the uttermost, and avenged at once the blood of Christ and that of his ministers whom they had slaughtered, and those immortal souls whom they had laboured to destroy. Their blind and furious zeal for the law, to which, after all, the apostles did a much greater honour than they could possibly do, engaged them to list under their banners the vilest and most infamous of mankind, certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, the pitch of whose understandings, as well as the turn of their tempers, rendered them the proper tools upon such occasions: and these profiigate wretches themselves, the reproach and the plague of 6 mankind, are the persons into whose mouth that senseless cry against the apostles was to be put, that they turned the world upside down. Competent judges indeed of the interests of society, and worthy guardians of its peace - - - Such charges, we see, may be brought against the most innocent, the most benevolent, and the most useful of mankind. Thus was Paul accused by Tertullus as a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition throughout the world, and a ringleader of one of the most pernicious sects that ever appeared in it. (Acts xxiv. 5.) Nor did Jesus, our di- winé Master, escape; but was accused, condemned, and executed, as a traitor to Caesar and to his country. But could these clamorous creatures have thought of proof, where would they have been able to find it? If to testify the truth which God had given them in charge—if to exhort to universal love—if to command men that they should study to be quiet and do their own business, that if it were possible, as much as lay in them, they should live peaceably with all men, doing good to all as they had opportunity—if to enforce these exhortations by the strongest arguments, the warmest exhortations by the most amiable examples—if thus to teach and thus to act were turning the world upside down, the apostles were indeed the subverters of it: but O, who would not pray for the happy time when the world should be thus subverted 7 Let the claims of Jesus to universal monarchy be rightly understood, and Caesar shall find nothing contrary tº 9, 10 11, 12 his just decrees, but every thing subservient to his truest interest. The Redeemer's kingdom is tºol of this world, (John xviii. 36.) nor can the just rights both of princes and subjects be ever so ºffectually established, as by a sub- mission to him. May the kings of the earth be so wise as to know this, and all under their government so happy as seriously to consider it! - - - * Security was taken of Paul's friends, and it was prudent in the magistrates to carry it nº further. The apostle himself was obliged immediately to quit them, under the shelter of the night, with a heart full of tender solicitude for these new converts; yet he did not reflect upon his journey to Thessalonica. With regret, but, amidst all the difficulties he met with, was (as he afterwards tells them) incessantly thanking. God on their ºccolº, because they received the gospel which they heard of him, not as the word ºf me”, but (as it is in truth) the word ºf God, and become fºllowers of the churches of God elsewhere. (I Thess, ii.13, 14.) - º - Providence brought him in safety and liberty to Bergea, and here he ract with a more candid reception: the Bergeans showed a true nobleness of spirit, for they received the word with readiness, and searched the §: ptures daily, that they might }; for themselves whether things were there as Paul represented them. While the ministers of Christ are faithful and skilful in the execution of their office, they will not desire that what they say should be received with an implicit subjection; but will be contented, will be solicitous, it should be tried by the standard of Scripture. To this touchstone may our doctrines and exhortations be honestly brought, and let them always be received or rejected as they are found agreeable or disagreeable to it. º s - - - - e ** r to him as he had ordered, or at least h an order to Silas and Timothy, that they should come to him, &c.J., Per- these hºpes: And th9%hº ºf - - hºsíaſ expected some jářášić ºcess would attend his labours one of them, that is, Timothy, he Yº §§ §ºß’ : Athens, and was therefore desirous to engage the assistagee of these gspecially as h9 Yaº, so solicitous about his dear friell l 3. oious and excellent persons. Nevertheless § did not see fit to answer See 1 Thess. iii. 1, 2. * THE INQUIRIES OF THE ATHENIANS CONCERNING PAUL’S DOCTRINE. 447 y SECTION XL. • Paul continues a while at Athens, and being deeply affected with the idolatry of that learned city, makes an excellent discourse to them, but with little success. Acts xvii. 16, to the end. Acts xvii. 16 Acts xvii. I6. Now while Paul waited for .N'OW while Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy, after the message he had sent them SECT- tºº.º. (as was before observed) to come to him at Athens, the notice that he took of their religious 40. sº the city'wholly given to state affected him with such concern and indignation, that his spirit within him was strongly idolatry. moved, and had an unusual kind of edge set upon it, while he beheld the excessive super; † stition of that famous city, which was esteemed the seat of learning and politeness, and º pºisºtº found it in so gross and scandalous a manner enslaved to idolatry.". He therefore discoursed 17 º”: "nº"... publicly upon the great principles of natural and revealed religion in the synagogue, Hººhºº addressing himself to the Jews, and to the other pious persons [that worshipped with them] with him. on their sabbath days; and took all opportunities of speaking about matters of religion every . day, in the great forum or market-place, to those Athenians whom he met with in the public. edifices which were erected there. 18.Then, qertain.philosº; But some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers opposed themselves to him ; the former 18 {}*.*ś"... of which entirely dénied a Divine Providence, and heid the world to be merely the effect liftºn; º; º; of chance, asserting pleasure to be man's chief good, and limiting his existence to the §º present state; and the latter maintained the doctrine of a universal necessity, and proudly ...}}...; exalted their wise men as if they were in some respects superior to the Deity himself. jśtiºn." The notions of both these were so directly contrary to the doctrine which Paul taught, that it is no wonder they proved violent antagonists; and as several were present at these occasional debates, some scornfully said, JWhat will this retailer of scraps say?e this trifling fellow, that has some where or another picked up some scattered notions, with which he is vain enough to think he may make a figure here P.And others said, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities or demons: because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrec- 2 tion; the former of which they, through their negligence in attending, ridiculously took for a deified man, and the other for a goddess.f - - ...And as the crowd increased to a greater number than could conveniently hear him in 19 lºº, the place where they then were, they took him and conducted him to that celebrated hill #.º.º. whereof near the citadel, which was called ille Areopagus,é being part of their city dedicated to holl SpeakeSt, *S : Mars the god of battle, whom they called Areios, and the seat of that illustrious senate who had the name of Areopagites, from their assembling there. And when he was come thither they applied to him, saying, May we be allowed to know more fully and particu- .29 Earthºubridges certain larly what this new doctrine [is] which is spoken by thee! For thou bringest some strange 20 º"..."... ...; things to our ears, exceedingly different from what we have ever received from any of those what these things mean. many professors of various learning which this celebrated city has produced: we would therefore willingly know what these things mean; and choose to hear them from thine own & mouth, rather than by the uncertain report of others, who may not perhaps clearly under- stand what thou intendest, or accurately relate what thou hast said. Now this was entirely agreeable to the genius of the place; for all the Athenians, and 21 the numerous strangers that sojourn among them, delight to spend their leisure time, 19 And they took him, and 21 (For all the Athenians, and strangers which were there, spent their time in no- a His spirit within him was strongly moved.] The word rapa): 91.870 signifies, that a sharp edge was as it were set upon his spirit, and that he yyas wrought up to a great eagerness qf zeal. Yet it is observable, that it did not throw him into any sallies of rage, either in words or actions but only engaged him courageously to attempt stopping this torrent of popular superstition, by the most serious and affectionate, yet at the same time manly and rational, remonstrances. Oh that christian zeal had always produced such effects.' g - - - b He § the city cmslayed to idolatry.] This, which is here expressed in the original by Katetőgo)\ov, appears to have been its proper cha- racter, Athens was therefore called by Ælian the Altar of Greece; and Xenophon observes, “ that it had twice as many sacred festivals as any other city.” (Xen. De Rep. JAthen, p. 700.) he grave Pausanias tells us, “it had more images than all the rest of Greece:” (Attic. cap. 17, 24.) and one of the satirists humorously says, “it was easier to find a god than a man there.” (Petron. Satiric. cap. i.j r. Hammond has a fine note to illustrate this. See also Mr. Biscoe, Jät Boyle’s Lect. chap. viii., § 11, p. 317, 321., and The Knowledge of Divine Things from cgel. p. 238,239. The author last mentioned tells us, (I wish I could find on what particular authorities,), that a fool had been capitally con- denned there for killing one of Æsculapius’s sparrows, and that a little child accidentally, taking up a piece of gold that fell from Diana’s crown, was put to death, for sacrilege. (Ibid. p. 240.) . The prevalence of such a variety of senseless, superstitions in this most learned and polite city, which all its neighbours beheld with so much veneration, gives us a most lively, and affecting idea of the need we have, in the Inost improved state of human reason, of being taught by a divine revela- tion. May the admirers of the Grecian wisdom seriously cousiger it, and º will find almost every one of their classics an advocate for the § OSD62 I > jº. Jews and pious persons that ºcorshipped with them.] . It appears plainly from this text, and perhaps also from ver.4. I think beyond any other, that the character of aeſłopºevot is at least sometimes given by Luke to persons who used to worship the true God, and yet were not circumcised, which if they had been, I think they would not have been distinguished from Jews. But that the title was appropriated to such, and especially that such could properly be called proselytes of the gate, in the technical sense in which Maimonides, and almost, all our modern writers from him, explain the word, will by no means follow. d Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.] The Epicuream mo– tious canne so near to those of our gay world, that it may seem less needful to explain them any further than is done in the paraphrase : and as for those of the Stoics, different writers, º to their ſond- ness for, or their prejudices against, the philosophy of the pagans, and of this séct in particular, have represented their doctrines in a very different view ; and indeed the notorious inconsistency between some of their own writers and some of the ancients, in their account of them has greatly perplexed the matter. But I think Dr. Benson has expressed Mimself, on the whole, in a very impatial and judicious, as well as gomprehensive, manner, (Hist, vol. ii. p. J00,) when he tells us, “They held that matter was eternal,God cºrportal,” that is, a fiery substance, and that either God was the soul of the world, or, the world itself a $94. They” generally “looked upon all things as subject to an irresist- ible fatality,” though some of them at least seem to me to have exenºpt- ed the human will from it: “that virtue was its own sufficient reward, and vice its own sufficient Fº • - - e And they fluctuated c.N. ceedingly as to their belief of uture rewards and punishments, though they had some expectations of a future state” of existence, “as well as of the conflagration and renovation of the world;” with relation to which, several of them seem to have expected a continual revolution of exactly similar events at equally distant periods of time.—The attentive reader will easily see how opposite the genius of each of these sects was to the pure and humble spirit of christianity, and how happily the apostle levels his incomparable discourse at some of the most distinguishing and important errors of each, while, without expressly attacking either, he seems only intent on giving a plain summary of his own religious princi- ples, in whigh he appears a most charming model of the true way of teaching and reforming mankind. (See Dr. Bentley, flt Boyle’s Lecture, Sermonii. at the beginning.) For a larger account of the Epicureans and Stoics, see, Le Clerc's Eccles. Hist. Çrol. § ii. cap. 4, 5, Budaeus in his excellent #ist of Filii, cap. iv. § 35–50. et föid. 's 36–37). and above º ſº the latter, Lips. JHariuduct. ad Phil. Stoicam, praesertime lib. I. CCI)). 1-4; lº). - e Retailer of scraps.] This was the best phrase I could think of, to express the original, Greppo Moyos, which signifies, “a contemptible creature, that picks up scattered seeds in the market, or elsewhere;” and therefore Mr. Fleming (Christol. vol. ii. p. 429.) would render it grain– gatherer, or less literally, holder-forth. To have rendered it this mountebank, §§, the translation of 1727 does, seemed both ludicrous, and inaccurate. The original admirably expresses the contempt they had of an unknown foreigner, that pretended to teach all the several professors of their learned and illustrious body of philosophers.-Witsius (Jºſcletem. p. Sl— S3.) has taken great pains to show, by many authorities, that it conn- prehends the three ideas of meanness, garrulity, and impicty, as if it had been said, This contemptible, prattling, sacrilegious creature ; but as this seems to strain the matter to an extreme, I chose the least malig- liºnt sense, especially as that was petulant enough, and gives one but an ill idea of their sense and politeness. Josus, and the resurrection.) It seems with great reason that Dr. Hammoud follows Chrysoston's interpretation, which is that gi * *. iven in the paraphrases Stupid as the mistake, seems, it is the less to be won. dered ut, sing: Resurrection might as well be counted a deity as Shame, =r Pauline, and Desire, among the Athenians, (Pausan. Attic, cap. 17.) or as the Fe ver, and song things too scandalous here to name, were among the Romans, as Dr. Hammond, Mr. Reeves, (Apol. vol. ii. p. 53) and Imany others, have long since remarked. Rapbelius’s attempt to over. throw this interpretation, by proving that Ögiftovtov signifies the person of a demon, and also any propcrty or work belonging to him, (Jānnot. cr en, p. 157–172.) is quite unsuccessful; for none of his authoritics provº, it expresses both in the same place. 5, They took him and conducted him to the flreopagus.) For an account of this celebrated place, and the court of judges which sat there to tº Qll the most important causes, civil or criminal, see Archbishop Potters Grcek •ºtia. book i. chap. 19. and, for the etymology, Dr. Hammond, and Le, Clerg’s Supplement. As the cognizance of religious causes is: lay in these judges, Beza, Dr. Hammond, and some other critics. have thought that Paul was brought to a formal trial before them; but it evi- dently appears to be a mistake, not only from the title by which Paul addresses them in his discourse, (from which Limborch argues,) but from 4he, whole tenor of the story, and particularly as the persons who brought hi:#1 hither are represented, not as accusing him of any thing 9bnoxious, but only as desiring to be informed what that strange thing, his new doctrine, was. 448 PAUL’S DISCOURSE TO THE ATHENIANS. SECT. of which many of them have a great deal, in nothing else but telling or hearing somewhat thing else, but either to tell 40. ; which may amuse that speculative and curious temper they are exceeding prone to ****w thins.) Indulge. º Paul, therefore standing up in the middle of the Areopagus, where he might be most con- ?? Then Paulstood in the veniently heard by a large number of people, addressed himself to them in a very suitable midst of Mars’ Hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, f perceive discourse, and said, Yemen of Athens, it seems as if I might address you with the greater that...] things ye are too Superstitious. prospect of success on the occasion which now calls me to speak among you, as I perceive -- streets of this elegant and magnificent city, and beheld the objects and instruments o worship," I found an altar on which there was this remarkable inscription, “To the unknown ####, "Soft”v}. God;” so desirous do you seem to be that no deity, whether known or unknown, may be RNOWN passed by without some regard. Now I should think myself inexpressibly happy, if on 23 you are erceedingly addicted to the worship of invisible powers: For as I passed º the , 23 For as 1 passed by, and beheld your devotions, I 3/01/r found an altar with this 'in- 1. * GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly wor- ship, him declare I unto you. this incident I might graft those instructions which might bring you to the true knowledge of religion, and determine the devotions you seem so ready to pay to him who is the only Worthy object of them; Him, therefore, whom in this instance 24 larly knowing, him do I now publicly declare unto you. to preach among is continually giving g you, even the one glorious and éternal God who made the world and all things that are therein; and it is evident that such must be the excellency of his nature, that being the supreme and uncontrollable Lord of all the dominions of heaven and earth, 25 he dwelleth not in temples made with hands : Neither is he served by human hands lifted up in prayer, or stretched out with the most costly offerings, as if he stood in need of anything which we can give or which we can do:" for he himself is indeed the Benefactor from whom all our enjoyments and all our powers of action are derived: as he tº to all the human race life, and breath, and all things, which they can 26 neither consecrate to him or possess themselves. ...And he hath made of one blood, and caused to descend from one original pair, the immediate work of his own almighty power and goodness, the whole nation and species of men," now, by his providential caré, so propa- iſe worship without particu- This is the deity that I am come 24, God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing; seein he giveth to all life, an great VerSa. breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and, hath determined the times before, appointed, gated as to inhabit and cover all the face of the earth, having marked out, in his eternal and and the bounds of their habi. unerring counsel, the times fore-allotted [to each] in their respective order,” and appointed 27 the several boundaries of their different habitations. All ; * eat end, that they º t providence, centring in this one their Maker, if possibly, amidst all the darkness which ht be excited to seek after the Lord & & * h their own degeneracy and prejudice have brought upon their minds, they might feel after him, and be so happy as to fi tation : 27. That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: gs, in the disposition of his him out, in the knowledge of whom their supreme happiness consists; who indeed, though he be so little known and regarded by the generality of mankind, yet is not far from every one of 28 us: For in him we perpetually live, and are moved, and do exist;P the continuance of all our active powers, and even of our being, is ever owing to his steady and uninterrupted .# laws of operation which eased to lay down for himself: as some also of your own poets have in effect said, an 29 particularly Aratus, in those remarkable words, “For we his offspring are.” We therefore, i. upon us, according to those sta p ... h The strangers that sojourn among then, delight to spend their leisure time (evkapovy) in-somewhat new.] It is well known that the young - nobility, and gentry of Italy, and most of the neighbouring countries, enerally studied some time at Athens, where there were the most cele- rated professors in all the liberal arts, and sciences. Several of the critics have shown how remarkable the Athenians were for their love of sº ſº none, that I recollect, better than Raphelius, Annot. ex: Xen. p. 1 (2) l l J. - i Exceedingly addicted to the worship of invisible º This English phrase, which is very agreeable to the etymology of Četa tºat- provegrepot, has, what I think a version of Scripture should always if possible haye, the ambiguity of the original, which Dr. Hammond, and especially Revius, On Palla, prove to be capable of a good as well as a bad sense ; (compare Acts. xxv. 19.) whereas neither superstitious nor relixious have that ambiguity.—Dr. Lardner, Credib. Book, I. chap. 8. § 7, vol. i. p. 30. (as Mr. Fleming also had done, Christology, vol. ii. p. 431.) has well observed, that giving it the worst, signification of which it is capable, does not well suit the decorum which so well- bred a man as Paul was would no doubt maintain before this polite assembly; . whereas, on our interpretation, it opens his discourse, not only in an inoffensive, but in a very obliging, manner, which I have en- deavoured further to express in the paraphrase. This accurate critic shows, that strangers at Athens used to begin their public discourses with some compliment to the place and its inhabitants. The medium Paul chooses cannot be sufficiently admired. : - * * .k The objects and instruments of your worship.] This is the proper signification of aeſłaapſara, which has no English word exactly corres- ponding to it. Compare 2 Thes. ii. 4. | To the unknown God..] The express testimony of Lugian (Philopat. ad fin.) sufficiently proves that there was such an inscription at Athens, and shows how unnecessary, as well as unwarrantable, it was in Jerome to suppose that the apostle, to serve his own purpose § this, turn to an inscription which bore on its front a plurality of eities. Whence this important phenomenon. arose, or to what it particularly referred, it is more difficult to say. Witsius, (JMelet. p. 85.) with Heinsius, (in log., understands it of Jehovah, whose name not being pronounced by, the Jews themselves, might. give occasion to this appellation; and to this sense Mr. Biscoe inclines, Boyle’s Lect. chap. viii. sect. 22._p. * 325. r. Welwood (Pref, to the Banquet of ºn, p. 18, 19.) sup- loses that Socrates reared this altar, to express his devotion to the one living and true, God, of whom the Athenians had no notion, and whose incomprehensible, being, he insinuated; by this, inscription, to be far beyond the reuch of their understanding or his own ; and in this 1 should joyfully acquiesge, could I find one ancient testimony in con- firmation of the fact. As it is, to omit other conjectures, I must give the preference to that which Beza and Dr. Harnmond have mentioned, and which Mr. Hallet (12isc. on Scrip. vol., i. É 307, 308.) has laboured at large to confirm and illustrate, though I, think none of these learned writers has set it in its most natural and advantageous light. Diogenes Laertius, in his Life of Epimenides, (see lib. i. p 29.C. with the Notes f J. Casaubon and Menagius,) assures us, that in the time, of that phi- losopher, [about 600 years before Christ,) there was a terrible pestilènce at Athenis, in order to avert which, when none of the deities to whom they sacrificed appeared able or willing, to help them, Epimenides advised them to bring some sheep to the Areopagus, and letting them joose from thence, to follow them till they lay down, and then to sacri– fice them (as I suppose the words Tºp ſpoºnkovrt €eº signify) to god near whose temple or altar '#: then icere. Now it seems probable, that Athens not befng then so fuſi of these monuments of superstition as afterwards, these sheep lay down in places, where none of them were hear, and so occasioned the rearing what the historian calls anonymous 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. - e hath wisely been 29 Forasmuch then as we altars, or altars each of which had the inscription, ayvogrº €89, to the wrknown God, meaning , thereby the Deity who had sent thic, plágue, whoever he were; one of which altars at least, however it might haye been repaired, remained till Paul’s time, and long after. Now, as the God whom Paul preached as Lord of all, was indeed the Deity who sent and removed this pestilence, the apostle might with great, propriety, tell the Athenians he declared to them him. whom, without knowing him, they worshipped, as I think the concluding words of the 23d verse may most decently be rendered. - m JYeither is he served by human hands, &c.] Dr. Bentley; (At Boyle's Lect. Serm. II., p. 43.) and many other critics, have well observed, this refors to a foolish notion among the heathens, that the gods fed on the mes of sacrifice. Their votaries , also clothed their images with splendid garments, and waited upon them in other services ill becoming #. majesty and purity essential to the diving nature. g n He hath made of one blood (Trav cóvos av6potov) the whole nation of men.] By this expression the apostle showed them, in the most un- affected manner, that though he was a Jew, he was not enslaved to any narrow views, but looked on all mankind as his, brethren. I see no reason to imagine, as Eisner does, that the apostle has any, refºrénee here to a notion of some of the philosophers, mentioned by Julian tº that the whoſe human race sprung up from some drops of sacred bloo which fell down from Jupiter.” }lsner, Observ. Vol. i., p. 447, It would, I think, have been beneath him to have taken the advantage of such an ambiguity of expression. If it be objected, (as I know it has been,) that no principle of reason gould prove that all mankind were descended from one original pair, I answer, that it was not necessary. for the apostle separately to prove every, article of his doctrine, of which he here gives a summary account. Had they heard him out, he vºid no doubt have given them proper evidence that he had a com- mission from God to teach it, and that therefore it was to be received on authority of the revealer. & gº - w ths The º fore-allotted to each in their respective º The ex pression portrayagvov; kapous, signifies the ſeisdºn as we I as reality of this divine dispºsition of events, as fixed by,God in his etermal coun- gels under the conduct of his providence; which thereſgre I have º- deavoured to express in the paraphrase: (Compare, note f, on chap. Xºl. 48, p. 428.) This evidently struck at the root of the whole Epicurean SYStG IYY. * * ~ * > . y p In him we live, and (º) º mocca, º : .F. . ress that continual and necessary dependence, 91, de- §". . their existence and all their operations, ſº their ; and Ašš, Cause, which the truest º as we dº, theo ‘. †cies.”ffie thought, in words just like these, is foun hit 1% old Češi poet but faul does not mentiºn it as a 199%tºº...?.. º, rather think, with Le Clerc, that the º borrowed it from hence, though, to be sure, many of the ancients had befºe. expressed themselves much i. i. ºosé. See Gataker, Ad Antonin, lib. iv. sect. 23. et lib. v. se; ace his offspring are.] These words Tºv Yºſ, at Yº's "Helº (whº I jose to put into a poetical order in the Yersiº, as best imi: tº..."thè"jinaſ) are well known to be found jº Aºi. poet of §ficia, Fajã own country, who lived almost 300 years before this i.e.” I’vºider so few writers should hay? added that they are, with the alteration of one letter %. to be found in the ymn of eanthe: to Jupiter, of the Supreme Gód, which I willingly mention; as beyond colºrison the purest and finest Piegº 9: natural, religion, of its length, ... ii.o." in the whole world of pagan antiquig 3 and which s? far as I can recollect, contain? ºlin; unworthy of a §hiºns Or, ja”.I. saii. of an inspired, pen....{t is to be fºnd iſ, Heº Steph: foes. Philosoph, p. 49, 66 seq. and, with Duport’s Latin Translation, in PAUL’S DISCOURSE TO THE ATHENTANS. 449 *†, ſº with all the noble powers and faculties of the rational nature, being, only the º # sº ğheisiike untoºid, or God, and bearing but a feeble ray of those consummate and original glories, which silver, or stone, graven and man’s device. *** forth in him, ought not surely to imagine the Deity to be like any thing inferior even to ourselves, any thing so mean and vilé as gold, or silver, or stone, (of which last material, 4. base as it is, most of the idols are made,) how curiously soever wrought by the art and con; 30 Andºtings ºf thisig, trivance of man. Such are indeed the gross conceptions that have ſong een entertained 30 º"...º. by a great part of mankind, but you are now called to correct these irregular ideas, and every where to repent: to govern yourselves by more rational and exalted views of religion: for though God, as it were, overlooked the times of this ignorance, and did not bear any general testimony against these corruptions in worship, nor severely punish the nations who fell into, them, so long as they maintained any thing of natural virtue, humanity, and probity; he now interposes in a public and solemn manner, and expressly charges all men to whom the x sound of his gospel comes, every where to repent and return to his worship and obedience, ºn as they regard their eternal happiness and salvation. And this he requires with a merciful 31 idiºidº: kind of severity and importunity, as what must immediately be done, because he hath ap- ; :... "...} : pointed a great and awful day in which he will judge the whole world in righteousness, and hath ordained: whereof he p S. 3/ - J * º hath given assurancºunto all pass a final sentence of happiness or misery on each, according to his true character and jº, a " " behaviour; which he will i. by [that] illustrious Man whom he hath, by miraculous inter- positions, marked out as ordained for that important purpose, of which he hath given sufficient assurance to all men, by raising him from the dead according to his known and - public prediction, whereby he has demonstrated how able he is to raise others. - a.º.º. And when they heard him making mention, though but incidentally, of the resurrection 32 jº."mi"...º. of the dead, some rudely mocked, and, without staying to hear the evidence, made a jest of º, º, ...hear thee it as a despicable and incredible tale, not worthy to be any longer heard: and others, again of this matter. - - - * T :: *-*. - b º whose curiosity was satisfied in hearing in a few words his scheme and design, would not allow themselves to attend to his proofs of so extraordinary an assertion; but coldly said, It is enough for the present: we will hear thee again upon this subject, when a more con- venient opportunity offers. - - - - .And thus Paul, finding so little disposition in this learned auditory to receive the truth, 33 or so much as to hearken to the evidence of it, went out of the midst of them, and left by far the greater part of the assembly, (notwithstanding all the conceit they had of their own learning, knowledge, and wisdom,) in that deplorable state of ignorance, folly, and super- stition, in which he found them. . . . 34. Howbeit certain, man Nevertheless, though what he said was so generally slighted, some men adhered to him, 34 ..º.º. and inquired further into the evidence of that extraordinary doctrine which he taught con- mong the which was Diony - - - s w sins the Areºgite, and a cerning Jesus and his resurrection; the consequence of which was, that they believed the Wºmaris, and ospel, and made a public and courageous profession of it: among whom was the cele- rated Dionysius the flreopagite, a magistrate of great honour and dignity among them, and a woman of considerable rank and character in the city, whose name was Damaris; and there were also some others with them whom we shall not pºrticularly mention. IMPROVEMENT. ADoRED be the depths of divine counsel and grace, that when, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew Ver. 23 not God, it pleased God, by what they impiously derided as the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. (1 Cor. i. 21.) Whose spirit is not stirred, in some measure, to behold the learned and polite city of Athens, not 16 only abandoned to trifling speculations, but enslaved to idolatry and superstition? and, on the other hand, who 21 can be so insensible of all the charms of reason and true eloquënce, as not to be delighted with those prudent and generous attempts which Paul made to recover them from it? When derided and affronted as a vain babbler, as a 18 retailer of scraps, by those who indeed showed themselves to deserve that infamous name, judging a matter before they heard it, and so convicting themselves of shame and folly, º xviii. 13.) he, in the meekness of wisdom, 22 addresses himself to them with that soft tongue which ... the bones. (Prov. xxv. 15.) His doctrine º: as the rain, and his speech distilled as the dew. (Deut. xxxii. 2.) Pity it was that it produced no more valuable fruits, but rather was abused, by some that heard it, to nourish those poisomous weeds which were, alas, the native growth of this luxuriant soil. We see that while Paul passed through the streets of Athens, his mind was filled with such pious and benevo- 23 lent affections as became the mind of a christian and an apostle; and beholding this inscription, To the unknown God, he applies himself immediately to declare him to them. Adored be the divine goodness, that we are from our infancy happy in the use of such divine instructions as he gave the Athenians and others: and that though we worship a God whose infinite perfections can never be traced out, he is not entirely an unknown deity to us! May he be known, adored, and obeyed, wide as the works of his hands extend Even he, the Supreme Lord of 24 all, who made heaven and earth, and all that is in them; in consequence of which he is infinitely superior to all 25 our most exalted services, as well as beyond any of those representations of him which the ignorance and folly of men have invented in gold, silver, and stone. His power created all, and by his goodness all are supported. Lêtus 29 consider ourselves as his offspring, honouring and loying him as the great Father of our spirits; and since we have 26, 27 so necessary and uninterrupted a dependence upon him, since in him we live, and move, and exist continually, let 28 all the affections of our hearts, and all the actions of our lives, be consecrated to his service. And this so much the rather, as it evidently appears, by the revelation of his gospel, that he does not overlook us, but in the most solemn manner calls upon us, and upon all men every where, to º and to return to him; setting before us in so clear 30 a view the awful solemnity of that appointed day in which he will judge the whole world in righteousness, by that 31 33 So Paul departed from among them. Cudworth’s Intellect. System, book i., chap. 4. p. 433,433., and I any sorry I know not where to refer my reader to a good Fnglish version of confronted the pride of the haughtiest Stoic of them all; and at the same time, bore down all the idle plea of fatality; for who could repent of s it. The apostle might perhaps refer to Cleanthes, as well as to his countryman Aratus, when he introduces this quotation as what some of their own poets had said. - - - • r r God, as it were, overlooked the tºmes of this ignorance.] This regſ ôov expresses, which Mr. Howe paraphrases. “The beams of his eye did, in a manner shoot over them;” (Howe’s, PWorks, yol. ii. p. 23.) that is, He , did not appear, to take notice of them by sending express messages to them, as he did to the Jews, and now also to the Gentiles, as, it follows, charging all men every whére to repent.—The reader will easily per- ceive there is a dignity in this latter expression, becoming one who was conscious to himself that he was indeed an ambassador from the King of heaven, who could (to allude to that remarkable story, Livy, lib. xlv. cap. 12.) draw a circle about the greatest monarch, and demand a deci- sive answer before ho stirred out of it. This universal demand of re- pentance, declared, in the strongest terms, universal guilt, and admirably dºjº. he apprehended he could not but have done 2 .s Without staying to hear the evidence.] We are by no means to ima- gine this was all the apostle intended to have said; but the indolence of some of these philºsophers, and the petulancy of others of them, cut him short; and so they went down, to righteous condemnation, under the guilt of having rejected a gospel, the proof of which they might have learnt in one single day, but would not give themselves iñº trouble of examiniug; and this is the condemnation among U.S. t Dionysius the Areopagité, &c.] The members of this court, of which Dionysius was one, are weiſ known to have been persons of , great dig- nity chosen from among the best families and characters in Athens, so that the title ‘. into a proverb, of honour and integrity. See Ciç::/?d Jättic. lib. i. Epist. 14. Aud. G2ll. JYact, Att, lib. xii. cap. 7. Wits. JMeletem, p. 86–88, and Mr. Biscoe, Jät Boyle’s Lect. chap. viii. § 12. p. 325, 32i; y - 57 450 SECT. Man whom he hath ordained to this glorious purpose, even by Jesus, to whom, as the Son of man, all wisely and righteously committed. The Lord grant that we may all find mercy of the Lord in that i. 18.) In the mean time, may the declaration of it bring multitudes to repentance and faith. 40. ACTS XVII. 34 II, SECT. 4FTER these things, of which an account has been given in the preceding section, Paul 41. ACTS XVIII. PAUL SETTLES WITH AQUILA AND PRISCILLA AT CORINTH. judgment is ay ! (2 Tim. and especially, may it work thus on those who, like Dionysius and Damaris, are distinguished by their rank and circumstancés church among those that are yet unborn life, that their usefulness in the world may be as extensive as their influence, and their names precious in the w SECTION XLI. Paul settles for a year and a half at Corinth with Alº and Priscilla; is encouraged by # vision of Christ there, and rescued by Gallio from e rage of the Jews. A cTs xviii. 1. Acts xviii. 1–1 Acts xviii. 1. AFTER these things, Paul departed from Athens, and departing from Athens, came to the polite and flourishing city of Corinth, so famous for its ..."...cºn. elegance and magnificence, and equally remarkable for the dissolute manners of its in- habitants.” And finding there a certain Jew named .1quila, a native of Pontus, a province of the Lesser Asia, not far from Galatia and Cappadocia, who was lately come from Italy, * with Priscilla his wife, because the emperor Claudius Caesar had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome;b Paul entered into such an intimacy with them, that he went to them jºi 3 to lodge at their house. And as he formerly had learnt the business which they followed; and was capable % exercising the same trade,” he continued with them there, and wrought tº: I Cor. iv., 12. and 2 Thess., iii. 8.) for they were tent-makers by trade, whose business it was to make tents or pavilions of linen or skins, which were much used, not only by soldiers and travellers, but by others in those hot ſat it] for his subsistence: 2 And, found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pon- tus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (be- cause that Claudius had com- e ws to depart from Rome;) and came unto them. 3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers. countries; and Paul (as we have said) had been instructed in that art, as it was usual for those of the Jews who had the most learned education to be brought up to some mechani- cal employment, for the amusement of their leisure hours, and for their maintenance in life, if any unforeseen revolution should strip them of every thing else which they had to de- pend upon. But while he took up his abode here he disputed in the synagogue every sabbath-day, and earnestly persuaded both the Jews and the Greeksd to embrace christianity as a religion founded in reason and truth, and the great source and security of º; both in time and eternity: and he had some success, particularly with regard to the fa 4 And he reasoned in the Synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. milies of Stephanas and Epenetus, who were some of the first converts to christianity here. (Compare 1 Cor. . xvi. 15. Rom. xvi. 5. and I Cor. i. 14, 16. ...And as soon as Silas and Timothy, whom he had expected at Athens, came from Mace- donia to him at Corinth,” Paul, further animated by the presence of his brethren, and the 5 And when Silas and Ti- motheus were come from Ma- cedonia, Paul was pressed accounts they brought him of the happy consequences of his labours at Thessalonica and in Piºjº, and eißhe elsewhere, was borne away by an unusual impulse in [his] spirit,ſ and zealously persisting Jews that Jesus was Christ. in his work, openly testified to the Jews, and by the strongest arguments endeavoured to convince them, that Jesus was undoubtedly the true Messiah, whom they pretended im- 6 patiently to expect. But when, instead of receiving a testimony so warmly urged, and supported with the most demonstrative proofs, they obstinately and perversely set them- 6 And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed he shook his raiment, and sai our blood be selves in opposition to the doctrine he taught, and even blasphemed that glorious name on intº hº - • . . * - 4-1. - . e 8-) * - upon your own heads: I am which he was pressing them to fix their ºn: ; he shook his garment, to signify that from that time he was determined he woul have no more to do with them or anything belonging to them; and also to intimate that God would soon shake them off, as unworth to be numbered among his people: and upon this he solemnly said to them, Let the guilt of your blood be upon jour own head, and there let it rest: I am pure from it, and declare unto you, that by this wilful impenitence and unbelief you are your own murderers. (Com- pare Ezek. xxxiii. 2–9.) And as God and man can witness that I have done all in my a Corinth, &c.] Antiquity abounds with passages relating to this city, which, before it was destroyed, by Mummius, was looked upon by the Romańs as a riyal almost as dangerous as Cartbage ; and báving been restored by Julius Caesar, with its almost, unparalleled advantages of situation, was grown very considerable. The reader may see some en- tertaining remarks concerning it in Witsius, Meletem. p. 90. b Claudius Juad commandcºl all the Jews to depart from Rome.] Though Josephus be silent as to this edict, probably as , he, thought it more pru- dent to omit the mention of it in a history in which it is plain he studies to recommend himself and his people to the Romans, yet j is, well known that the fact is expressly meritioned by Suetonius, (Claud. cap. 35.) and that Dio (lib. lx. p. 669. A.) has something tº th9 same purpose; for prohibiting their religious assemblies was in fact banishing them, as Mr. Fleming observes, Christol. vol. ii. p. I pretend not certainly to determiné whether that Chrestus whom Suetonius mentions as the occasion of those tumults º the Jews for which they were expelled from Rome, were, as Abp. Úsher (Annal. p. 669.) and Vandale (12e Örac. p. 604) suppose, a seditious Jew, or whether, as it, is generally thought, the name be a . of Christus. (See Tertull. Apol. cap. 3. and Lactant. lib. iv. cap, 7.) Yet I think the latter, much, more pro- bable; and that the spread of christianity; which was looked upon as a sect of Jews, and which we know prevailed at Rome about this time, gave that jealous and wretched emperor an unnecessary. alarm, the occa- §ion of which Suetonius, not thoroughly ºº:: has misrepre- sented. And if this were the case, it might be, as Dr. Lardner well observes, (Credib, Book I. chap. 11. § 3. yol. i. p. 556.) an additional reason why Josephus, who is always cautious on this head, has passed it over without notice. c Of the same trade.] It has with great propriety been observed and shown by many learned men here, that it was a point of conscience with the Jews to teach their children some trade; even though they bred them up to the liberal sciences. Hence one of their Rabbies is sur- named the shoemaker, and another the baker, &c. (See Drusius and Grotius, in loc. Wits. m, p. 11, 12, and Mr. Biscoe, Jºlt Boyle’s Lect. chap. vii. § 3. p. 272—274.) And, it is a custom still prevailing among the Easterns. I think Sir Paul Rigaut somewhere observes, that the Grand Seignior, to whom he was ambassador, was taught to make wooden spoons. And this is intended, not only, for an amusement, but to remind youth of the highest, rank how possible it, is that they may făli into circumstances in which it may be necessary for them to Support ife by such labours as these, which to be sure, are vastly preferable to begging. It is therefore . ungenerous, in Orobio, to mention this as any reproach to Paul, or as bringing his gharacter into the least degree - - Paul might have peculiar reasons for this at Corinth, of suspicion. not only as being a stranger, and with some prejudices lying against him as a teacher of a new religion, but perhaps also, as Mr. Cradock observes, (Apost. Hist. p. 1) 1, 112.) from some prophetic intimation of that false apostle who should arise there, and make a great merit of pre:LChing gratis, while at the same time he domineered over them in a Inost inconsistent as well as upchristian manner. (See 2 Cor. xi. 7– 20.)—Whether Paul and these his companions made common, tents, or wove tapestry-hangings, is a question of no importance, though I, think the former probable, as the latter would require a more exact skill than a person so ºrajiy employed in far different work would be like to 3.C.C., Ull Té. Persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.] Some render £Teuffe, he tried to gain upon them ; but the word, persuade is often used to signify the attempt, without determining the success. It is , generally taken for grºnteſ that these Greeks were a kind of proselytes; but we have before hinted how possible it was that Gentiles might, out of curiosity, attend such extraordinary preachers in Jewish synagogues, though thqy did ngt commonly worship there, which would especially take place in this instance, considering the miracles which Paul wrought at Corinth, to which he so often refers in the two epistles which he afterwards Wrºte to that...church. Comparel Cor. i. 6,7. ii. 4, 5, xii. 4–11. xiv. 2 Cor. xi. 5. xii. 12, 13. e Jºls. Soon, as Silas and Timothy came from JMacedonia.] Silas and Timothy had been left at Beroea, when Paul came from thence, and had directions sent them, as soon as he arrived at Athens, quickly to follow him ; (chap. xvii. 14, 15.), which Timothy accordingly did, and was sent back again by Paul to Thessalonica, to confirm the faith of his dear conyerts there, of whom he had brought so good an account. (1.Thess. iii. 2, 5, 6.) And it seems to have been from this journey that Timothy now returned with Silas, having, probably joined him before he left Macedonia. This account of the matter seems more probable than that of Mr. Cradock and some others, who suppose that both Silas and Timothy came from Bergea, to Paul at Athens, and that after Timothy had been sent to Thessalonica, and brought the good tidings referred to, both he and Silas were sent from, Athens to Macedonia, and were ap- pointed to meet Paul at Corinth, which seems multiplying journeys without proof or necessity. - - - • - • * f Was borne away by an unusual impulse in [his] spirit..] Heinsius and some others think that the phrase ovvetxero 76) Tuevpart means he was borne away by an extraordinary impulse of the Spirit ºf God, the agency of which in this matter I readily acknowledge, but apprehend the phrase here used rather refers to the effect that agency produced. Compare ver. 25. chap. xix. 21. Røm., xii. 11. for the expression; and for the effect, Jer. xx. 8, 9. Amos iii. 8. . PAUL IS RESCU Eij BY GALL; O fºr Gyi i H E RAGE OF THE JEWS. clean : from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. 45] power to prevent so sad an event, I now desist from any further attempts of this kind; and SECT. from henceforth, while I continue in this city, I will go and preach to the Gentiles, who 41. will readily receive that gospel which you so ingratefully reject. ..And going out from thence, he went into the house of one whose name was called Justus,” “. who was a worshipper of the true God, though not a complete Jew by profession, and 7” whose house was adjoining to the synagogue; and there he taught. - - - But though he did not succeed to his wish in what he delivered to the Jews, yet his 8 riº ºf labours among them were not entirely ineffectual; and it was particularly remarkable that #".º.º.º. Crispus the ruler of the synagogue believed in the Lord with all his house : (compare I Cor. §.s.º.º.º. i. 14.) And many also of the Corinthians, hearing not only the report of his conversion, and were baptized. but the discourse of the apostle, found the conviction which it produced so powerful, that they believed; and, in token of their full resolution to adhere to i. gospel, whatever extre- mities might arise, were baptized, and thereby entered into the christian church, and settled . .* 1n 15. - pjº, º At this time Paul, conscious of many imperfections attending his person and address, ãº'aii, ºpéaj was discouraged in a view of the learning, politeness, and grandeur of many Gentile inha- hold not thy peace: bitants of the city to whom he was to speak, so that he was, as he himself expresses it, “among them in weakness and in fear and in much trembling:” (1 Cor. ii. º and these alarms were much increased by the violent assaults which had lately been made upon him in other places through which he had passed, and the contempt with which he had gene- rally been treated. But the Lord Jesus Christ interposed in a very gracious manner, and said to Paul by a vision in the night, Fear not to go on with thy work even here, but speak my gospel boldly and courageously, and do not keep silence under any present discourage- ment or future apprehension: For I myself, by my powerful and gracious presence, am continually with thee, and will engage for it that no man shall fall upon thee to injure thee here; for I have much people in this city,h and am determined by my grace to make . º successful among many by whom thou art ready to apprehend it will be espised. .And encouraged by this assurance, in the fidelity and security of which he firmly con- fided, Paul did, as it were, pitch his tent at Corinth, and sat down [there] for a year and six months; teaching the word of God among them with all freedom, though with deep humility, and maintaining himself by the work of his own hands. And by the divine blessing on his diligent and pious labours, which he so generousl gave them, a most flourishing church was º at Corinth, “the members of which were filled with all knowledge and utterance, and came behind in no spiritual gifts, for the variety of which they were signally remarkable.” (Compare 1 Cor. i. 5, 7.) But so glorious a progress of the gospel here could not fail of exciting the opposition of its ene- mies; and accordingly, when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, during the residence that he made at Corinth, the Jews, being now resolved to bear no longer, made an assault upon Paul with one consent, and brought him before the tribunal of that magistrate, Saying, in the most clamorous and furious manner, This turbulent [fellow] is the author of insufferable mischiefs here and all over the country; for he persuades men to worship God in a manner directly contrary to that which the law requires and appoints, and so would introduce corruptions in religion, and, to the utmost of his power, would endeavour to subvert it. .4nd when Paul would have opened [his] mouth, and was about to have spoken in his own defence, Gallio would not give him the trouble of making an apology for what he did not §:... .ºOº. look upon to come within his cognizance; but preventedſ him, and said to the Jews, If it ºº: that fººd were an act of injustice, or any mischievous licentiousness, O [ye] Jews, with which you yOu ; charged the person you have now brought before me, it were but reasonable, as it is my office to guard the public peace, not only that I should bear with you in this prosecution, though managed indeed with some excess of eagerness, but also that, on proper proof, I should exert the power with which I am invested, to punish the offender in proportion to his 15 But if it be a question of crime : But if it be a question concerning the propriety of words and names, as whether the Yº..."..."...º.º. § person whom he so highly extols should be called your Messiah or not; and whether God iji be no judge of such is to be worshipped in the way required by the law which is received among you as divine; 7)watt.crs. or what regard is due to any particular ceremony of it; see to ſº in your own way, and settle it how you will among yourselves: for I know the design of my office too well to interfere on such an occasion, and will be no judge of these matters, which are so foreign lºſſ. he draws them from to it. And with this wise and determinate answer, to which he adhered notwithstanding the judgment-seat. all their clamorous importunity, he drove them away from the tribunal, and proceeded to other business. ...And all the crowd of Greeks who were present, perceiving how little favour the Jews 7. And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. 9 10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee, to urt thee: for I have much people in this city. 11 And he continued there a year and six months, teach- ing the word of God among them. 11 12 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment- Seaty - 13, Saying, This fellow suadeth men to worship contrary to the law. §d 14 And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gal- lio said unto the Jews, If it 14 17 Then all the Greeks took g Into the house of one called Justus;] It has been supposed that Paul was denied the use and, liberty of the synagogue by Sosthenes, who, when Crispus , was º was made governor, of it. , (Fleming’s Christology, vol. ii. p. 23.) But Paul himselſ so solemnly broke off all further treaty with the Jews in a public way, that we |...} seek no other reason for his choosing some other place for discoursing to the people who might desire, his instructions, . Accordingly he taught here; but of his having been there more than once; so, that it seems to refer to the journey mentioned, Acts xvi. 6. (.4ſiscell. *Sacr. Abstract, p. 31.) and to have been before that mentioned in the 23d verse of this chap- tº T. - - k PWhen Gallio was proconsul ºf flehaig;). Sºe note, i, on chap, Yiii. 8. p. 423.--Dr. Lardnér justly, observes, (Credib. book i. chap. l. § 12. vol. i. p. 55–57.) that this is also another instance of the exact propriety see no proof at all of his quitting his lodgings with Aquila, and therefore § negd of inquiring (as some have done) what was his reason for (iOling 15. h f have much people in this city.] I cannot think, with Limborch and Dr. Benson, (Hist, vol. ii. p. 210.) that virtuous and well-disposed fººthens, as such, are here called the people of Christ, or have the cha- racter elsewhere of his sheep, (John x., 16, but rather that the ex- pression takes in all who should according to the gracious purposes of §. be converted to christianity; whatever their tempers then were, even not excepting, those very vicious, ill-disposed, corrupt persons, whose character in their unregenerate state is described in such strong terms, (1 Cor. vi. 9–11.) where the apostle speaks of what they were before they were converted. . . i Sat doion there a year and six months. - his First Epistle to the Thessalonians; (1 Thess. iii. 1–6. compared with Acts xviii. 5.) which seems to haye been the earliest of those which oc; cur in the New Testament; and quickly after, it, his Second-Lord §arrington also thinks, that from hence he wrote his Epistle to the Gala- tians; which seems probable, as he refers there to his haying been but lately among them, (Gaſ, i. 6. iii. 1, 3. iv. 15.) and yet hints nothing During this time he wrote with which St. Luke expresses himself; for though the province of Achaia, which comprehended all the rest of Greece, had a more various fortune than that of Cyprus, and ſrequently changed its form of govern- ment; yet, A. D. 44. (which is generally supposed to have been about eight years before this event.) it yas restored to the senate, and so be- came proconsular. It is general hy thought this Gallio was eider brother to the fanious L. Annæus Seneca; the moral philosopher, who was pre- ceptor to Nero, of which, as Mr. Biscoe shows, there is great ºß. Boyle’s Lect. chap. iii., § 3. p. 57, 5S, 1.4 question comicºrning words and names.] This wise and equitable magistrate º such it appears by the ancient writers that he was, see Grotius, in loc. and enson, vol. ii. p. 126.) seems to have heard the accusation which the Jews brought, and to have perceived by it that the dispute was whether Christ was to be called the Messiah, and whether the Mosaic law were to be imposed on all who worshipped the true God; and therefore (as the author I mentioned last well j he had more honour and generosity than to make Paul answer, under the notion of a criminal, wi. by §§ Roman ſaw, the matter, did not º within his cognizance, and there was nothing criminal in the Charge. * …) 452 SECT. 41. Acts XVIII. 17 Ver. 1 2 3 4 6 9, 10 12 14, 15 SECT. 42. ACTS XVIII. PAUL’S DEPARTURE FROM CORINTH. found from the court in this tumultuous and vexatious suit, in which they plainly saw Sosthenes, the chief ruler of that Paul was insulted for the regards he had expressed for them, laid hold on Sosihemes, ...”.”. the ruler of the Jewish § whom they looked upon as the chief occasion of the pro: ºaſiºcatiºn ºf secution, and beat him violently; and this was so near the place where the proconsul was "*** sitting, that it might be said to be before the very tribunal, and under the judge's eye.” But though this were certainly an irregular proceeding, Gallio did not concern hims lf to interpose at all in the affair: for perceiving no great mischief was like to follow, he was willing, by his connivance, to leave so troublesome a plaintiff as Sosthenes to feel - some of º consequences of that confusion which his own bigotry and ill-nature had OCCāSIOI) eCi. IMPROVEMENT. MUCH of the divine wisdom and goodness is seen in providing for those who are employed in the work of the ospel, suitable associates and companions in their labours; and particularly happy are they to whom God hath een pleased to give, as to the pious Aquila, such a companion, in the nearest relation of life, as may help them forward in the way to heaven, and may assist them in the service of religion while they continue on earth. Much were the fatigues of Paul’s life softened by the converse of such friends, who no doubtrendered the common busi- ness of life more pleasant, as well as the work of the Lord more delightful. ... We find them, while endeavouring to propagate the gospel, maintaining themselves (for reasons peculiar to that situation) by the labour of their own hands, and even Paul the apostle wrought with them; not because he had not a right to demand support, for he strenuously maintains that right at large, in his address to these very Corinthians, (1 Cor. ix. hº but to shame his mean-spirited enemies, who accused him of acting on mercenary views; and because he thought in his conscience on some other accounts, that his fidelity to Christ would be so much the more apparent, and his labours by this means so much the more successful. And what faithful minister, who in his conscience apprehended that to be the case, would not choose to act as he did? In the mean time, he was engaged as usual every sabbath-day in discoursing to the Jews, and in demonstrating to them the truth of the gospeſ; and it is pleasant and edifying to observe with what earnestness he applied him- self to do it; but their inveterate prejudices prevailed over all the cogency of his demonstration and all the warmth of his address, so that he was forced at length to give them up as incorrigible. Yet let us observe how he gave them up ; with what grief, mixed with justindignation at their folly and ingratitude ' shaking his garment, and saying, Your blood be upon your own heads ! I am clean.Thus are impenitent believers their own murderers; they bring upon themselves even the blood of their own souls. Grievous it is that it should rest upon them; but absolutely necessary that we, who are the messengers of God to them, should take heed that, if they must after all bleed by the sword of divine justice, we ourselves may at last be found pure; for terrible beyond expression would it be, if by our treachery or neglect their blood should be required at our hand. The apostle's success among the Gentiles raised new opposition, and his infirmities frequently occasioned returning fears: but how graciously did our Lord interpose for his encouragement and support, assuring him of his protection, and promising him yet more abundant success! Blessed Jesus, thy grace was sufficient even, for this thy servant, amidst all the labours of the ministerial and apostolical office, amidst all the internal as well as external difficulties he had to encounter in the discharge of itſ (2 Cor. xii. 9.) May that grace be imparted to us; and may it appear that thou hast much people, wherever thou fixest the bounds of our habitation, and the sphere of our ministry ! - The tumultuous rage of the Jews is nothing surprising, for we have been accustomed often to read of it; but the prudence and moderation of Gallio is truly amiable: that wise Roman well knew the extent of his office as a magistrate, and was aware that it gave him no title, no pretence, to dictate in matters of conscience, or to restrain men's religious liberties, so long as they abstained from injustice or mischievous licentiousness, by which, the public peace might be disturbed, and the rights of society invaded. May God give to all the magistrates of the earth such a spirit! and the gospel, under the influences of divine grace, will soon become an universal religion, and show the world how little need it has of being supported by civil penalties, to which those are generally most ready to have recourse who, like these Jews, are confounded by fair argument. SECTION XLII. at Ephesus by the way, goes to Jerusalem; he aftgrwards, sets out from Antioch, on apothº progress: Paul departs from Corinth, and callin - - - fhrygia. Apólios preachés at Ephesus, and being further instructed in the christian doctrine, goes to and visits the churches in Galatia an Achaia. Acts xviii. 18, to the end. Acts xviii. 18. Acts xviii. 18. THUS the tumultuous opposition that was raised at Corinth by the Jews against the pro-ANP Paul ſº tºrº º - º e ere yet a good while, and gress of the gospel was appeased; and Paul still continued there for a considerable time ; ;...");}"...a..."; i. after it; and [them] taking leave of the brethren, with whom he had made so long and bºgº.º.º. - - ? º * ... into Syria, and with him comfortable an abode, he sailed from thence in his return for Syria, and took along with Écija ºuijº having him his two intimate friends Priscilla and Aquila; having shaved his head at the port of lº Cench rea: Cenchrea, in the neighbourhood of Corinth, before he began his voyage; for he had made a vow of doing it, on account of some extraordinary deliverance received;” and there he performed it. must refer to the same person, that is, Paul; nor is there any Wºjsłł in what some suggested, that Aquila is mentioned here aſter his wife Pris- cijja, to show that it was be that shaved his lead, since they are men- tioned thrice by the apostle Paul in his epistles, (Rom. xvi. 3. 1 Cor. m It º be said to be, before the very tribunal.] One cannot ima- gine that Gallio so little understood the dignity of his office as to suffer a person uncondemned to be scourged or beaten with rods in his imme- diate presence. I apprehend therefore, that as neither the word aaart- yogo nor paſ}6t;0; is used, but Tvrto, whose signification is moré gene- ral, the real case was, that just as Sosthenes came out of the court, which §". might be held in some open place, (see John xviii. 28, 29... p. 326. and John xix. 13. with note k, on that place, p. 332.) the mob laid hold qf him in a riotous manner, and, beat him, probably with their fists; and though the noise of this turnult, and some flying report of the assāult on Sosthenes, might reach Gallio’s ear, while he sat on the despatch of some other business, he did not seem to take any notice of it, for the reasons suggested in the paraphrase. - a Having shaved his head at Cench rea, ſor he had a 7:070.J. Grotius, Heinsius, Dr. Hammond, and . Witsius, (JMeletein. p. 99–101.) think this clause refers to Aquila, who was, mentioned immediately before ; and some of them º: that he, and his wife Priscilla were left, not at Ephesus, but at Cénchrea; and Chrysostom interpreted the clause thus. But with due deference to such great names, I must say, that though it be not certainly determined by the original, it seems much more probable, from the construction, that ketpaſtevos and karmvrmºre xvi. 19.2 Tim. iv. 19.) and where there could be no such reason to in- duce him to it, he has twice named Priscilla first; and as it appºis. from, º. 36. that Aquila and Priscilla were at Ephesus, when Apºllº was tiere på from vºr. 18.. that they set out with Paulſion Corinth to makeºd intended voyage in his company, it is most likely they wºº! now to jºhesus, and were not left at Cench rea.—As for this Yºkº Justly objørved by Salmasius, that it could not be a yow of Nazaritcship, for then the hair must have been burnt in the temple Under th. caldron in which the peace-offerings were boiled. (Num. vi. IS.) Petit thinks the mºtiºn of his vow relates only to Paul’s return to Judéa, aº not at alſº is shaving his head, which words he would ſinglude in a parenthesis, supposing the Jews at Corinth, word their hair long, di- Čor. xi. 14. I rather think his vow was an expres- goodness in preserving him, from such imminent dangers during his ſong abode here; but, whether he now ºut off his hair, yoºving from this time to let it grow, till he came tº Jºsa; jºm, or 'Wićther some accidental pollution befell him here, which obliged rectly contrary to - - sion of gratitude fºr the divine PAUL’S PROGRESS THROUGH GALATIA AND PHRYGIA. 19. And he came to Ephesus, and left them there ; but he himself entered into the syna- Qºle, and reasoned with the but during that tims he ſº € G. W.S. º 2. When they desired him there, and reasoned with the to tarry longer time tº: consented not; 2. But bade them fºré well, have stailed longer with them, saying, I must by all mean t cntered into the synagogue on the sabbath - ws upon the great su & * though they were desirous of hearing more upon this head, and therefore entreated him to * yet he did not consent to do it: But took his leave of them, which he spent ject of Jesus being the Messiah...And keep this feast that cometh ... saying, It is necessar for me by all means to celebrate the approaching feast of the passover Jerusalem : but I will again unto you, if Go º wº- And he sailed from Ephesus. !/011 again, ºff at Jerusalem; but when I have despatched my business there, I will turn my course to God willing, and make as long an abode amongst you as Providence shall per- mit. And so he set sail from Ephesus. 22 And when he had landed at Cesarea, and gone up, and saluted the ghurch, be went down to Antioch. the alms which he had brought from the churches of the Gentiles, he afterwards went down from thence to Antioch in Syria, where he had formerly made so long a stay, and where there was so flourishing a christian church. 23 And after he had spent gome time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples. ..?nd having spent some time [there, he again set out upon another progress, and departed from Antioch, going through the country of Galatia and Phrygia in an orderly and regular manner, so as to take in all the places that lay in his way where he had formerly preached the gospel; confirming all the disciples that he met with there in their adherence to the gospel, whatever opposition and difficulty might arise. And his presence was most wel- come to all their churches, who could not but greatly rejoice to see him amongst them who, as a father, had begotten them in Jesus Christ through the gospel. 1 Cor. iv. 15.) 24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty ; * Scriptures, came to tºphesus. - - 25 This man was instructed Ing, Cºlé to Ephesus. in the way of the Lord ; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently iſ: things of the Lord, know- ing only the baptism of John. (Compare JVow while he was thus employed in those parts, a certain Jew whose name was .4pollos, a native of ſile candria in Egypt, an eloquent man, [and] powerful in the scriptures of the Old Testament, which he had diligently studied, and had an excellent faculty of expound- This person was in some measure already instructed in the way of 25 the Lord ; and being fervent in spirit, and earnestly desirous to promote the progress of the truth and the conversion of souls, he spake and taught the things of the Lord with great accuracy and exactness to the best of his knowledge, though as yet he had but an imperfect notion of the gospel, being only acquainted with the baptism of John; so that he insisted upon the doctrine of repentance, and faith in a Messiah who was quickly to be revealed, 26, And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue : whom when Aquila and Pris- cilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of Go more perfectly. for the reception of whom he showed that it was necessary they should have their hearts prepared. And to this purpose he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, pleading the cause of God and real vital religion, with an earnestness becoming the importance of the subject, as well as freely reproving the Jews for those evils which were so commonly to be i found among them, and battering down those vain hopes which, as the seed of Abraham and disciples of Moses, they were so ready to entertain. ..ſind .44 wila and Priscilla being then at Ephesus, and hearing him express so upright and so good a spirit, were desirous to * - - ^ *~ * * - I romote his further improvement in knowledge and usefulness; and accordingly they took him with them to [their house,] and there explained to him the way of God in a more com- plete and perfect memner. 27 And when he was dis- º to pass into Achaia, the rethren , wrote, exhorting ...And shortly after, when he intended to go over to flehaia, that he might preach the word at Corinth and other places in that province, the brethren of Ephesus wrote to the disciples tº isºetºe... there, cºhorting them to receive him with all affection and respect, as a person whose characº who, when he was come ğdº nºiić ter well deserved it: and being arrived there, he greatly helped those who had believed believed through grace : through grace,f and was eminently serviceable in establishing and confirming those who 23 For he mightily, cºn; had embraced the gospel. For he strenuously debated with the Jews, and that in the most vinced the Jews, and that bublicly, she wing by the Scriptures that Jhrist. public manner, and upon all proper occasions; making it evident, and clearly showing by esus was the Scriptures, not only that a glorious spiritual deliverer was there foretold, but that Jesus of Nazareth, though so ungratefully treated by their rulers at Jerusalem, was, and is in- deed, the only true. Hessiah, so that the salvation of men depends upon receiving and sub- mitting to him. him to do it, that he might begin the day of his purification again, of whether his vow terminated here, I cannot certainly say. Yet the last seems to me, most probable ; for the expression; he had a corr, seems not to agree with the supposition of his beginning it here ; nor could he on any accidental pollution have renewed his purification as a Nazarite any where but at the temple. (Num. vi. 9, 10.) I imagine, therefore, that (upless, as Grotius and Dr. Lardner suppose, the Jews allowed them- selves great liberties in this matter, when in forciºn countries) Mcphi- bosheth’s yow duting Dayid’s exile (2 Sam. xix. 24.) might more nearly resemble this of Paul. Spencer has shown, in his excellent dissertation on the Nazarite’s vow, (De Leg. Heb. lib. iii. cap. 6. § 1.) that the Gen- tiles, as well as the Jews, had such a custom. Dr. Lardner thinks that Paul’s reason for hastening to Jerusalem was that he might accomplish his vow; but I see not how that could be any reasºn why he should keep the feast there, since the vow might have been accoºpiished cither before or after it. See Dr. Lardner’s Credib. book i. chap. 9. § 7, vol. i. p. b And there he left them.]. It is observable that the Syriac Version inserts this clause afterwards in ver, 21. whicli seems its most matural place : “And he left Aquila and Priscilia there, and sailed from Ephesus.” - c It is necessary for me by...all means, &c.] This was not, from any apprehension that he was obliged in conscience to celebrate the Jewish feasts, , (compare Rom. .xiv., 5. Gal. iv. 10, Col. ii. 16.) but be- cause he desired to seize that opportunity of meeting a great num- ber of his countrymen at Jerusalem, to whom he might preach the gospel, or whom, if already converted, he might furiñor 1nStruct, or might remove the prejudices that were groundlessly imbibed against him. Going through the country, af Galºtia and Pitrygia, &c.} . Probably he passed through part of Cilicia, Cappadocia, and Lycaonia, which all lay in his way from Antioch. As }. would take him up a great deal of time, most commentators, 1 think very reasonably, allow four years for this journey, including, his stay at Ephesus; that is, from the Year 54 to 58.-Coming to Galatia, he gave those directious concerning charitable contributions referred to 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. and I sha]] after. Yards mention the reasons which conyince me that he wrote his First Tºpistle to the Corinthians in this perioi, that is, probably, during his stay at Ephesus. Sec note a, on Acts xix. 21. - e Being cnly acquainted pith the baptism of John..] It is generally supposed he #ai been in Judea when John was baiºtizing, and havin: been baptized by him into the faith of a Messiah shortly to appear, on bearing something more of the gospel, he believed in Christ under that character, but had not yet been baptized in the name of Christ, nor re- ceived the gifts of the Spirit, which were often miraculously commu:i- cated in that ordinance. (See Cradock’s ºffi: ost. J ſist. p. 1:37.) If this was indeed the case, as John the baptist was beheaded more than twenty years before this tinie, Apollos could not now be, as is gene- rully supposed, though I think no where asserted, a young man ; and consequently, his condescension in submitting to the instruc- §§ these private christians is the more renal kabie, and the more {lill 1:LD! C. f Jie greatly helpcd those who had beliercd through grºce.] Mr. L'Enfant and Limborch render it, “He was, thiough the $ºnce of God a great help to those that had received the ſaith.” But this, though f think it dºes not greatly affect the sense, seems an unnecessary transpo- Sitigu. The best comment on these words is what we are told elsewhere, (1 Cor. iii.6.) Paul planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. It is indeed true, both that the Corinthians had believed through grace, and that through grace Apollos helped them; the latter strongly, implies the former ; unsi the original words may possibly speak either. But the transposition fixes them, which I think should not be done ; and fixes theiº, if i mistake not, to the less probabic Sense. }t appears from many passages in Paul’s Epistle to the Coriº- thians, that several of the christians there, charmed with the eloquence of Apollos, were ready to set him up as the head of a party, and to make invidious, and foolish comparisons between him anti the apostle, yºho had bgen their father in Christ, and who, though he might have ess volubiiity of speech, was on the njost important accounts far supe- rior to this eloquent and zealous teacher. (See 1 Cor. i. 12. iii. 4-S, 21, 22., iv. 3.) ...Yet this occasioned no breach between Paul and Apollos -the latter of whom plainly appears to have come to Ephesus when Paul returned thither, and to have declined going to Corinth again, given when Paul would have persuaded him to it; probably to avoid any the remotest appearance of desiring to countenance any party that miglit have been formed in his own favour. I Cor. xvi. 453 .4nd setting sail from Cenchrea, he arrived at Ephesus, and there he parted with Aquila SECT. and Priscilla, and left them behind him, having made but a very short stay in that place; 42. ACTS XV III. 21 ..And after a safe and prosperous voyage, landing at the port of Casarea, he went w/ 22 immediately to Jerusalem, and there attended at the feast: and having with great tender: ness saluted the church there, and expressed his kindness and affection to it, and delivered 23 24 2 6 2 7 454 SECT, 42. * - PAUL INSTRUCTS SOME OF JOHN’S DISCIPLES AT EPHESUS. IMPROVEMENT. How happy was the church in these unwearied labours of Paul! And how happy was Paul in those repeated #. and in that health and spirit which God gave him to undertake and go through with such labours! Happy in preaching Christ to so many to whom he was before unknown Happy in beholding the blessed fruits § of his labour, and visiting the churchés he had formerly planted in one province and another, and which in thisin- 13–23 termediate space were grown up to some maturity Prudent likewise, in such a concern, to water those plants by renewed instruction' So let gospel ministers cherish the divine life in those souls where they have been instru- mental to produce it, ever remembering that it is a matter of so great importance as well deserves our repeated care and our renewed labours. *- Well was it also for the churches, that such a promising and hopeful fellow-labourer as Apollos was raised up 24 to him and to them. To be fervent and courageous in spirit, to be eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, are 25 happy talents for such as are to be devoted to the ministry. May all that enter on this work among us come forth with a zeal and courage like his and I must add, may they also come forth with an humility like that which, in 26 Apollos, adorned all those bright talents with which he was endowed What he knew, he zealously taught; what 27, 28 2 he did not know, he was willing and ready thankfully to learn; and that not only from the mouth of an apostle, but of a fellow-christian in inferior life—from Aquila, yea, and from Priscilla too. Since God had given that wise and pious woman to know the way of the Lord, by longer experience and to greater perfection than he, Apollos, amidst all his popularity and applause, was willing to become her disciple, and to learn from her, in private º those evangelical lessons which decency did not permit her to give, or him to receive, in public as- Seſſl Olle.S. ,” It was prudent in Apollos to take, as well as just in the brethren to grant, proper letters of recommendation when he was going to the churches in Achaia, sº he was a stranger; and well did he answer this recommenda- tion, and make himself known amongst them by valuable services : mighty as he was in the scriptures of the Old Testament, he might well demonstrate from them to the Jews at Corinth, that Jesus was the Messiah; and happy would it have been for the church and the synagogue there, had they known no distinguishing name but his: .Vevertheless, one said, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos. (I Cor. iii. 4.) We may reasonably hope that this zealous evangelist expressed the same displeasure which the holy apostle himself did on such an occasion; and laboured with all his might to impress them with the thought, that neither he that planted nor he that watered was any thing, but God who gave the increase to both. May it be impressed deeper on the hearts both of minis- ters º people, that all the glory may be rendered to him from whom all our gifts, and graces, and successes proceed : - SECTION XLIII. Paul in his circuit coming to Ephesus, instructs some of John’s disciples whom he fººth; performs extraordinary miracles, and preached the word with great success. Acts xix. ACTS xix. 1. AcT8 xix. 1. N'OW it came to pass, that while the eloquent Apollos, of whom we have just been speak- ####,G#.º.º.º. ing, was at Corinth, and was entertaining them there with the charms of his oratory as well º as the strength of his reasoning, Paul having passed (as was obseryed before, chap. xviii. 23.) ºilº through Galatia and Phrygia, and visited the upper parts of the Lesser Asia, came to the iº, lg Ce celebrated city of Ephesus, according to his promise, (chap. xviii. 19, 21.) with a purpose of making some stay in it; and finding [there] some disciples in whom he did not observe any of those extraordinary gifts which he bad discovered in, or communicated to, so many - others,” He said unto them, Haveye as yet on your believing received the Holy Spirit 3 and 2 He º: have the gifts that are bestowed by the effusion of the Spirit been imparted to you? And jeºnjº they strangely replied to him, Way, we have not so much as heard of any such peculiar Pri, i.º.º.º. ºf vilège under the present dispensation, and are so far from having been partakers of it, that theº'ai Holy Ghost. we know not whether any have been favoured with this extraordinary effusion, or whether. 3 there be any Holy Spirit given now or no...?nd Paul was so surprised at this, that he said tº hºlidºº.º. - º - Unto what then were ye bap- to them, Into what then were you baptized, if you have never heard of what is so well known ºe; jºid, tinto with relation to the Holy Spirit? for christians are appointed, at their first admission into '9": "Pº" the church, to be baptized in his name, as well as in that of the Father and gf the Sop, and the gréat promise of the gospel gives them an assurance of the effusion ºf the Spirit. But they said, We were only baptized into John's baptism, having been in Judea about the time of his ministry; and so we were taught to look for a Messiah quickly to be revealed; and hearing what was testified of Jesus with proper credentials, we emb :aced him and his religion. Jind upon this Paul Said, John indeed administered the baptism of repentance, and v: ſº wº came to prepare the way of the Lord, telling the people that they should believe in him that is, º *...* *ś - tº e º * - ºrſ - to t e OD1e, that they was to come after him, that is, in Jesus Christ, whose servant he professed himself to be, j d º. hºw; so much inférior to him as not to be worthy to loose or to bear his shoes. It is highly jºin that * º - - * **-- a- s º congruous, therefore, to the intention and design of John's ministry, nºw to profess your * faith with all solemnity in that Jesus to whom fie afterwards bore such express and re- - * º g * * - :ll... --- - 5. When they heard this 5 peated testimonies. And hearing [this, their hearts were so impressed with what he said, tº'ºe ºn the that they joyfully submitted to the direction and advice of the apostle, and were baptized ºne ºf the ford'Jesus. 6 into the name of the Lord Jesus.b And immediately after the administration of this Solemn 6 And when Paul had laid - - :- - - 5 - a Finding thcre some disciples, &c.] Beza has a singular opinion, con: b and hearing this they cºrº lº, §º: Fº º §: cerning these persons. He thinks they were almost the whole body of 19 wed the Qºniº of many ºf. !º the ºrds of Luke; as if it had christians at Ephesus, and that as łaj found they had none among tinuance,0ſ, ſº i.;”; º, º cºrºnº,"sº.'int them who appeared to have received the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, been said, “John indeed º º º: º to his ministry, were, in (of which gifts, indeed, they had never so much as heard;) he imparted they ch9 heard him, and paid A. º since he was the JHessiah whom them to twelve of the number, perhaps intending them för stations of effect, baptized into the name ºf º;', jihé correspondence which is some peculiar eminence in the ºf. But this account of the matter John spake of as slight!!! i. #.", tºn the particies pev and Ös, is must, ſº think, appear, very improbable, when it is considered, that every where else said to C fou?) (1 l) C } | 5t) verses must make bne Aquila and #sº. who came from the Corinthian church, so Gnºnent urged as a demonstratiºn that the #. and 3 º es himself with an un- for its spiritual gifts, had made some abode at Ephesus, and that Apollºs, continued sentence... The learned j º: Í think all who ºilov aſter he had profited by their instructions, would probably gº in, the usual confidence on this hº º: º these converts an evy synagogue there, before he left the Fºº, (chap. xviii. 19,25,26,) which this interpretation do, that aul dic '...'s # ićncy of the baptism they if he did, it can never be imagined he would be silent, on this head. l but only declared his acquiescº º .*. gifts of the Špirit. ut conclude, therefore, these twelve men were pious Jews, whº bºying had already received, ºß to hº bºism of John and of vºted for the kingdom of God, and being many years before baptized I think it evident beyond all disputº, '#. it º: it is plain, in by John, or, some of his disciples, had, on receiving something of the Christ were in their own nature º l t §tº they were hap: &idence of christianity, believed in Jesus, but, perhaps, cºrning 99t, of fact, that when persons were tº . o t] º of had not received some remote country, had not enjoyed.aſ opportunity before of being tized of course, Yºhº;; wº * j, s did, (Matt. iii. 5, 6 instructed in anything relating to the Holy Spirit, more than might be the baptism of John, which we º | as {{...", i. 7 (Čom are Aët: ièarned from the Old Testament. who prohaily afterwards received christian Daptism. I) THE EFFECT OF PAUL's PREACHING AT EPHESUS. 455 his hands upon them, the ordinance, Paul laying [his] hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upgn them, and they spake SECT. ºº::. with new tongues which they had never learned or understood béfore, and prophesied in 43. & such a manner to the edifiéation of the church, as plainly showed they were enriched and prophesied. 7 And all the men were at once in all utterance and in all knowledge. And they were in all about twelve men who º about twelve. had the happiness of being thus º furnished with the gifts of the Spirit; 8 And he went into the And Paul, as he was used to do in other places, went into the synagogue of the Jews at 8 §º; Ephesus, and discoursed with 14 §ºrº." "*** kingdom of God, erected in the world under Jesus the Messiah. hardened, and believed not, taught, before the multitude, and doing their utmost to inspire them with a contempt for it, parted from them, and sepa- *"ºf this continued by And this was done by Paul, and was his daily practice,# the space of two years;* so that all 10 that all they, which dwelt in O Lord Jesus, both Jews and * * * & • --> gºesus, both Jews and there in his former journey. (Chap. xvi. 6.) 3 Ul I : - & sº * g º 12. So that from his bºdy curing those that were brought to him, handkerchiefs or apronsf were carried from his body the diseases departed from and the evil spirits themselves came out of them that were possessed; which soon raised ...And while he abode there, some of the vagabond Jews, [who were] professed exorcists, and 13 vagabond Jews, exorcists, & f the Lord Sº º ºſ º- “… ºf .;";”; whom Paul preaches, to come out of those whom you now possess. . .4nd so it was that 4 And there were seven which did so. P” was some secret charm in the name of Jesus to which these infernal agents would submit. know, and Paul I know ; s º * are ye that pretend thus, without any authority, to command me in that tremendous name 2 backs, and beat them with great violence, so that they fled out of that house in which they .#nd this was done in such a public manner that it soon became known to all the Jews Lord Jesus was magnified. ..?nd those who had formerly been professors of unwarrantable 18 of their wickedness and folly, that many of them who believed struck with this triumph of for the space of three months, * #. boldness and freedom, disputing for the space, aſ three disputing aminersuadiº months, with all that opposed him, and strongly evincing the things which related to the dom of God. * • • * ir 9 9 But when divers were But as some of the Jews were hardened and would not believe, but still º II] º & ſº - º . * r e #"ººh"º º infidelity and rebellion, speaking reproachfully of the way of salvation which the apost before the multitude, he de- * w g & ºil; he departed from them, and separated the disciples he had made, º daily, for º àily in the school of one time to come, with all those who debated his doctrine, in the school of one Tyrannus. 10 And §º, sº ºf ºil sº the inhabitants of the neighbouring province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word §§aiºthè"ºf"tº of the Lord Jesus, though for some peculiar reason he had been forbidden to preach it Ti And God wrought spe; And to add the greater efficacy and success to this important doctrine, God wrought 11 §º"***** many extraordinary and uncommon miracles by the hands of Paul : So that, besides his 12 | t th * • g- s g 4- § "...ito those that were sick at a distance, and presently upon their touching them, the diseases #º they were troubled with, however threatening or inveterate they were, removed from them, went out of them. - º * * the reputation of the apostle to a very high degree, and added the authority of a divine attestation to what he taught the Ephesians. 13 . Then certain of the ... ."roºi... pretended to a power of expelling demons,é undertook to name the name of the Lord Jesus them...hich had exispiis, over those who had evil spirits and were possessed by them, saying, JWe adjure you by Jesus saying, We adjure you by * º * * e º Jººººººº; there were seven sons of [one] Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this, desirous of the sons of one Sceva, a jew, honour or profit which they thought would redound from such cures, and imagining there and chief of the *-* se lä And the evil spirit, an: But the evil spirit answering their adjuration with contempt, boldly said,h Jesus I know to swered and said, Jesus t * - - * - àut my cost, and Paul I know as his appointed servant, whose power I cannot resist; but who who are ye? the man in whom the evil spirit was sprung upon them, and quickly getting master of them all, prevailed against them to such a degree as to tear off their clothes from their had attempted the cure, naked and wounded, and became public spectacles of scorn and derision, in a city where these things were peculiarly regarded. and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus ; and they were so affected with the thought of so re- markable and awful an occurrence, that great fear fell upon them all, and the name of the arts, which they had diligently studied as the means of helping them to do extraordinary things by the power of magic and the assistance of invisible agents, were now so sensible the evil spirit over the sons of Sceva, came of their own accord, and publicly confessed and 19 Many ofthem also which made a declaration of their unlawful deeds of this kind. .4nd a considerable number of those 16 And the man in whom . the evil spirit was, leaped on them, and, oyercame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fied out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus ; and fear fell on thern all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. - 18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and she wed their deeds. ii. 38–4]. iv. 4. vi. 7.) And therefore, if I were assured the construct tion of these two verses were that which these gentlemen insist upon, I should interpret the 5th Yerse in a sense quite contrary tº theirs; as if it was said, “But they who paid a due regard to John, when they came more explicitly to understand who the promised Messiah was, were baptized into the name of Jesus, as you therefore must be, in order to a regular admittance into his church.” . And then I should suppose Luke, having given this, intimation of the baptism of these converts, which must of course follow such a declaration of Paul, left us to collect that for ourselves, and only mentioned the communication of miraculous gifts to them on their being thus baptized. But on the whole,_As the expression is not of Ös asso avres, but aksaavres éc,-as avTats, (ver. 6.) seems so plainly to refer to the persons just before said to be baptized, months, (yer. 8.) and his sendins Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia, (yer. 22.) but that as he staid nine mouths longer in these parts, towards the end of which he returned to Ephesus, they might perhaps both return thither before he quitted it, and consequently, that he might have jeft Timothy at Ephesus when he was driven from thence, (chap. xx. i.) and so have written his First Epistle to him before the meeting at Miletus. (Chap. xx. 17.) See Mr. Boyse, Qf Episcopacy, p. 335 –I must add here, that to render EXAnvas, (i.e. Greeks,) at the end of this verse, prose: lytes, is an unexampled boldness in a late translator, and quite misrepre- sents the sense of the passage. f Handkerchiefs or aprons : º m Guptkluffta..] These two Ilatin words, for such they originally are, have been differently rendered : but —and as it is so natural to suppose that Luke should not omit to mention the baptism of these men, I rather conclude that there is an ellipsis in the 4th verse, (though I own it not a very common one,) so that To Xaº Xeyov is put for Xeyov će rºº Aaº, (as if the expression were, But he said to the people, at the same time, that they should believe in Jesus,) and the particle Ös might more probably be omitted by Luke, as it is used three times besides in these three verses. * c For the space of three months.] The late Lord Barrington supposes, (Misc. Sacra, Abstract, p. 33.) that after Paul had been sonſe time at iºphesus, he visited the neighbouring towns of Asia, and then returned to Ephesus again.—And it seems not improbable that the foundation o some others of the seven churches in Asia, so particularly favºured with the Epistles of our Lord, might now be laid. Compare ver... 10. d In the school of one Tyrannus.] I cannot think there is any reason to conclude, as Sir Norton Knatchbull does, out of regard to the article Twog, that the word Typavvos expresses the rank rather than the name of the person, and therefore to render it, “A certain noblemah Qr ruler of the city,” since it is so evident that in Luke’s writings 7ts is often added to a proper name. ... (Compare Acts xxi. 16. xxii.12. xxiv. l. XXV. 19.):- It seems a groundless conceit that this was the Tyrannus mentioned by Suidas, who wrote on popular seditions, or that it refers (as others think) to one of the descendants of Androclus, mentioned by Strabo, who had an hereditary title in his family. (Strab. Geogr. lib. xiv. init.) , The name might be frequent among them, as King is amongst us; and this yrannus might very probably be a converted Jew, and the school, re- ferred to a kind of beth midrasch, or divinity hall, designed for reading theological lectures, as Dr. Lightfoot supposes, Chrom. in loc. º e This pas done for the space of two years.]. The very learned and in- genious Mr. Boyse argues from chap. xx. 31. that Paul spent three years at Ephesus and in the neighbouring towns of Asia, and therefore con- cludes that this clause expresses the time between the end of the three the etymology of the first plainly determines it to signify a piece of linen with which, the sºcéat was triped from the face; and though the latter may possibly signify drawers, which is the interpretation preferred by Calmet, (Disser. vol. ii. p. 232.) yet as I do not find the ancients wore such a habit, and as it may most literally be rendered, things girt half round the waist, I choose, with Grotius and our translators, to use the word aprons; for though aprons made no part of the ordinary dress of the Greeks, yet they night very probably have been used, both by men and , women, to preserve their clothes while engaged in any kind of works that might endanger the spoiling them.—It is justly observed by many writers, that these cures wrought upon absent persons, some of them, perhaps at a considerable distance from Ephesus, might conjuce greatly to the success of the gospel amoug those whose faces Paui jºi not himself seen. g Paggbond Jews, who were exorcists.] Dr. Whitby, Mr. Biscoe, (At Boyle’s Lect. chap. vii. § 6, p. 281, ct seq.) and several other critics, have produced many passages from 1 renaeus, Qrigen, Epiphanius, and jo. sephus, to prove that several of the Jews about this age pretended to a power, of casting out demons, particularly by some arts and charms del Tived from Solomon. See Joseph. Antig. lib. viii. cap. 2. 3 STi jo not here use the Word conjurors, as some have done, because, whatever afi: nity it has with, the etymology of exorcists, it expresses, among us, those Who act in combination with inſernal spirits, rather than such as adjūr. them by a divine name. b The evil spirit answering, &c.] Not to insist on the demonstration arisin; from this story, that this demoniae, was not merely a lunatic, we may observe, that the evil spirit under whose operation this man was, segms either to have been compelled by a superior power to hear an un: Willing testimony to Jesus, or craftily to have intended by it to bring Paul into suspicion, as acting in confederacy with himself; and if the latter of these were the case, God, as in other instances, overruled this artifice of Satan to the destruction of his own cause and kingdom #56 SECT. who had practised magical and C?{}^2O2H.S arts, to express their detestation of them, bringing used curious arts, brought together, burnt them before all who were present: and as it was observed that i. books 43. AcTs value of them, and found that it amounted to fifty thousand drachmas, which were the XIX 20 2–6 11, 12 13, 14 15, 16 A TUMULT RAISED AT EPHESUS BY DEMETRIUS. their boo. together, and urned them before all men : there were a great many of them which bore a high price in that place, they computed the jºyºuſºi"tº jº and found it fifty of them - i pieces of silver. thousand - º st * - C- -u * ps • r-2 f -- ºr ..? ºt *e [pieces] of silver most current in those parts.k So powerfully did the word of the Lord grow 20, so mightily grew, the and prevail, and so remarkable was the triumph of the gospel over all considerations of word of God, and prevailed. honour or interest that could be opposed to it, on this or on any other occasion. $: - - IMPROVEMENT, Ver.20 THUS may the word of God still grow and prevail wherever it comes, and separate between the sinner and his sins, be they ever so customary, ever so reputable, ever so gainful! And thus may the flame of love and zeal 19 consume every snare which hath detained the soul in a base captivity to it! In order to the production of so noble an effect, may those who are so indifferent to his sacred operations as if they had never yet heard that there was an Holy Spirit, be filled with it, and be made obedient to it! And may 8, 9 they to whom the mysteries of the gospel are committed, declare them boldly, whoever may be hardened, who- ever may oppose, and how evil soever some who boast of their knowledge of God may speak of this way! l We cannot expect that the miracles of Paul's days should be renewed in ours, but we may humbly hope that the noblest effects of his preaching will be renewed; that dead souls will be quickened, the languishing revived, and evil spirits cast out from men's minds, where their possession is more fatal and dangerous than in their bodies. And God grant that none may ever undertake to invoke the name of Jesus upon such occasions, or to appear under the character of his servants, who have not cordially believed in him themselves, and received their com- mission from him We need not wonder if, in such a case, like these sons of Sceva, they meddle to their own wounding, and prove the means of irritating rather than curing those disorders which the influence of Satan has introduced, and which the Spirit of Christ alone can effectually remove. - SECTION XLIV. Paul is driven from Ephesus, on occasion of a tumult which Demetrius raises, and the Chancellor prudently appeases. Acts xix. 21, to the end. Acts xix. 21. Acts xix. 21. SECT. WOW after the extraordinary cures and conversions at Ephesus which have been men- AFTER these things were 44. 22 from what he O 5 tioned in the preceding section, when these things were fulfilled,” Paul, who was much concerned about the spiritual welfare of his former converts, and very solicitous to pro- Acts - mote the progress of the gospel, had thoughts of leaving Ephesus, and purposed in spirit,” **, that first passing through Macedonia and Jáchaia, where he had planted so many flourishing ended, Paui purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have beer- there; i must also see Rome. churches some time ago, at Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, and other places, he would then go to Jerusalem ; saying, .4fter I have been there, it is necessary for me also to see Rome, that I may bear my testimony to the gospel in that metropolis of the world: and accordingly Providence brought him thither, though in a manner something different rst intended. namely, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, to lection ready for the poor christians in Judea, he º cured no small gain to the several artificers by this means: Whom therefore he one day, upon a general summons, gathered together in a great number, with all the inferior work- .4nd in this view, sending two of those who ministered to him, prepare his way, and to get their col- him if 3íaid some time longer in that part of Asia, waiting for a convenient opportunity of following them. - 23 And there happened about that time no small tumult concerning that way of worshipping 24 God, and securing a happy immortality, which Paul taught. ... For there was in the city a man whose name was Demetrius, by profession a working silversmith, and a man of con- siderable influence; for making small silver shrines, which were models of the celebrated temple of Diana there, he employed a considerable number of men under him, and pro- 22 So he sent into Macedo- nia two of them that minis- tered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself staid in Asia for a season. 23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that Way. - 24 For a certain man named emetrius, a silyersmith, which made silver shrines for Diana; brought no small gain unt O the craftsmen : 25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like i Who had practised curious arts.] Philostratus, Chrysostom, and a variety of more ancient authors, quoted by many, and especially by Mr. Biscoe, (JAt Boyle’s Lect. chap. viii. § 1. p. 290–293.) have inientioned the Ephesian letters, meaning by then the charms and otlier arts of a magical kind which the inhabitants of that city professed ; and as these practices wore in so much reputation... there, it is no wondºr that the books that taught them, how contemptible socver they might be in them- sºlves, should bear a considerable price. - k Fifty thousand pieces of silver.] If these be taken for Jewish shekels, and valued at three shillings each, (which are the principles of Dr. Ben- son’s computation, Hist. vol. ii. p. 149.) the sum will amount to £7500 sterling, or, setting it at half-a-crown, to £5250. But as the Attic,drachm gººms to have been inore frequently used among the Greeks, than any coin equal to the Jewish shekel, I think it more natural to compute by # which, if with Dr. Prideaux we reckon it at 9d. Teduces the sum to 1875 a When these things were fulfilled.]. Many events referred, tº in the Epistles happened during the Fº is probable that Philemon, a convert of Paul, (Philem. ver. T9.) and Epaphras, afterwards a minister of the church at Colosse, were converted about this time. (CQI.i.4, 7, §. ii. i. iv. 12, 13.) The apostle was also visited by several, christians from neighbouring parts, during his abode here, particularly by Šošthe- mes and Apollos from Corinth, and by some of the family of Chloe, a woman, as it seems, of soºne figure there; (1 Cor. i. 1, 1].) as also by Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, all from the same place; (1 Cor. ×vi.Tº.) and Onesiphorus, who afterwards visited him so affectionately at Rome, was, as Timothy had frequen, opportunities of observing, very serviceable to the apostle here. (2 Tim; i., 16–18.) . And there is reſt reason to believe he wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians from ence, (1 Cor. xvi. 8.) and about this time; for it is plain—that Aquila and Priscilla were then with him in Asia, (1 Cºr. xi. 19.) as they now were, (Acts xviii. 18, 19, 25.)—that it was after Apollos had visited Čorinth, had watered Paul’s plantation there; and was returned to Ephesus again, (1 Cor. iii. 6. xvi. 8, 12.)—and, that it was when Paul himself, having lately given, a charge to the Galºian churches on that head, (compare l Cór. xvi. 1, 2, with Acts. Xviii. 23.) intended a journey from Asia to the Macedonian gnd Corinthian churches, and was sending Timothy to prepare his way, (I Cor; iv. 37,19. Xyi.5, 10. compared with the verse now before us, and that which, follows.) . Hence it apprears that no dopendence can be had on the spurious additions, at phº end of the Epistles, which do not §, tell us that he wrote to the Galatiºns from £5me, contrary to the probability there is that he wrote it from Corinth, (as was hinted before, note i, on Acts xviii. 11.) but also affirm, in spite of his own declaration to the contrary, that he wrote the First to the Corinthians from Philippi. b Paul purposed in spirit..] It is not certain from the original, c087 to ey Tº Tvengart, whether this relates to a determination he was moved to by the Holy Spirit, by whom he was directed in his journeys, or (as Beza and Grotius suppose) to a purpose he formed in his own mind; But as we find that he delayed the execution of it, and was by several circumstances led to alter his intended course, and to continue longer in his progress than he first designed, it seems more reasonable to refºr it to his own spirit; nor is it unusual to insert the article, where it only relates to the human spirit. See Acts xyii. 16. Rom. i. 9. viii. 16. 1 Cor. ii. 11. v. 5. vi. 20. Gal. vi. 18. Eph. iv, 23. Gr. Accordingly Beza ren- ders it, Statuit apwd se, and Stephens, Induzit in animumn. c Sending Timothy and Erastus.] Timothy was a person very pro- per to be employed on this occasion, not only on account of his ...i. character, but also as he had formerly been in Macedonia with Paul, and had assisted in planting the churches there. Acts, chap. xvi. and, Xvii. Erastus, who was joined with him, was chamberlain of Corinth, (Rom. Xvi. 23.j and they were charged with a commission to promote the col- jection which Paul was making, both in the Européan and Asiatic churches, (1 Cor. xvi. 1, 3. Gal. ii.,10.) for the poor ghristians in Judea, which is afterwards so lárgely urged in the Second Epistle to the Cor- inthians, chap. viii. and iX. - d A zoorking silversmith, making silver shrines of Diana.] Dr. Hari- mond jong since gave it as his opinion; that these shrines, were little models of this famous temple, probably sogething like those of the church of the Holy Sepulchre brought from Jerusalem ; and Mr. Biscoe has added many learned quotations to illustrate and confirm, that ºpin- ion. Käoſiºs"Iccº chap. viii.33. p. 300–302.), See, also Raphe). E: fºod. p. 330 and Ez Xen. p. 175—177. , Yet after all, the mention of these models is not so express as absolutely to ºcłude Bèza’s conjec; ture, that the business of Demetrius, might possibly be, making a sort of coins or medals, on the reverse of which the temple might be represent: ed. He has given us a cut of one of these, in which the image itself, with its various rows of breasts, is exhibited as seen through the open doors of a temple. It is possible this company of wºrkmen might take in those that ºrought in all these sacred commodities, and likewise those that made a kind of pageants, intended for Fº processions, nr- which Điana was represented in a kind, of movable chapel resembling her great temple, in a larger proportion than these supposed models, to whišh some passages of antiquity undoubtedly refer, and which the Romans called ThenSat. - A TUMULT RAISED AT tºp HESUS BY DEMETRIUS, 457 §ºjº nº who were employed about this business; and when they were met, he said, My friends, SECT. flºoºſt. “ ” and all you honest men that now hear me, you very well know that our maintenance (which, 44. thanks be to the gods, is a very liberal oné) arises from this manufacture of making silver 23. Moreover, ye seg, and shrines. And therefore I thought it proper to call you together, that we may unite our *** hº, counsels for its security against the danger that threatens the whole company, of which I 2 XIX. am satisfied you cannot but be sensible: for you all see and hear that this Paul of Tarsus, all Asia, this Paul hath per- suslded, and turned away tºº, Peºple, *ść, that they be . no, gods, which are },z a Hie with hands: only of Ep hºsus, - us,” and has turned them asic §: lil º". to }. Set at nought ; but also that the * - temple of the great goºděss should be deprecieted and ruine Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be the world worshippoth. who has º resided so long amongst tis, has persuaded great numbers of people, not ut almost of all the provinces of Asia, as they have occasionally visite from the established religion, saying that they are not true 2. So that not only this our deities, nor worthy of being at all worshipped or regarded, which are made with hands:f So 27 that if this be suffered any longer, there is danger, not only that this occupation of ours , which must be the necessary consequence of his success, but also that the celebrated temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her jºia and grandeur destroyed, whom now all.ſlsia and the whole world worships;8 so #. hither from all parts to pay their homage to her, to the vast advantage of our whole city, at they resort and carry home with them great numbers of our shrines, to exercise their devotion at home, till they have an opportunity of coming again to worship in her temple. 28 And when they hearl these sayings, they were full ing, Great, is Diana of the Ephesians ! - And the whole city was filled with conſusion ; and having caught Gaius - and Aristarchus, men of . Mace- donia, Paul’s companions in travel; they rushed with one accord into the theatre. 30 And when Paul, would have entered in unto the peo- they ran about the city, and cried out with great violence, saying, Ephesians.h ſind this outcry of theirs gave a general alarm, so that the whole city was 29 filled with confusion: and with a wild, ungovernable zeal they rushed with one accord into the theatre, where their famous games were celebrated to the honour of that deity, dragging thither, Gaius and Aristarchus, two men of Macedonia, [who were] Paul's fellow-travellers. ...And when Paul heard of the distress and danger of his friends, and would have gone in 30 to the theatre to address himself to the people, that he might either bring them to a better And such was the effect of what Demetrius said, that . hearing [this] they were all 28 #jº... ."filled with rage; and mad to think that both their trade an º - their religion were in danger, reat is Diana of the le, he disciples suffered temper, or at least get his friends discharged by surrendering himself, the disciples that were ll Im II Ot. ği'And certain of the chief with him would not permit him so to expose his valuable person. And some too of the 31 of Asia, which were his venture himself into the theatre §º.º.o.º. # Asiarchs, (as they were called,) that is, of the principal afficers chosen by the community of sing in that he wº, not .4sia to preside over the public games and feasts which they were used to celebrate at certain intervals in honour of their gods, as they knew Paul, and had a friendship for him, sent out some messengers to him, and earnestly desired that he would not venture himself - into the theatre, since the rage of the people was such, that if he came, it would be with - the utmost hazard of his life. 32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another; for the assembly was con- fused : and the more part the knew not wherefore they were come together. 33 And they drew Alexan- Jind in der out of the multitude, Some therefore, as they stood there in the theatre, were crying one thing, and some 32 another, according as their passions led them, or as the zeal of others prompted them; for assembly was exceedingly confused, and the greater part did not know for what they were come together, having only joined the crowd upon the alarm that had been given by the cry of the #. of their goddess, without learning what had excited it. the midst of this confusion they thrust forward .4lcrander from amongst the mul- 33 §:..."... };"...º. titude, that he might speak unto the people, the Jews also urging him on, fearing lest they, And Alexander beckoned who were known to with the hand, and would e disaffected to all kinds of idolatry, should suffer in the tumult, }. ...ie"; a.c."... without being distinguished from the followers of Paul. And .4!erandcr was willing to comply with the design, and therefore beckoning with his hand for silence, would have made But when they knew that he was a Jew, and consequently an 34 enemy to their image-worship, they would not suffer him to speak; but one voice arose réat is from them all, and the whole multitude united as one man, crying out in a tumultuous way, for about the space of two hours together, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. But the chancellor,” who was a person not only of considerable dignity with regard to his office, but likewise of great discretion, having pacified the people so far as to make them tolerably silent, said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there in the world that has any intelligence of things at all, that does not know that the whole city of the Ephesians is with the most humble and careful regard devoted to the temple of the great goddess Diana," and the people. 34 But when they, knew a defence to the people. that he was a Jew, all with one voice, about the space of two hours, cried out, Diana of the Ephesians ! 35 And when the town clerk had appeased the peo; }: he said, Ye men of Sphesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great god- ess Diana, and of the image e Great numbers of people, not only of Ephesus, but almost gf all Asia.] Dr. Whitby observes, this is the exact rendering of the words Eógavv– Tm; Aguas travov ox\ov" so that, as the paraphrase explains it, it may refer to what Paul had done among them at Ephesus, which was the whole that could have fallen under the observation of Demetrius and the gompany. - - - - - - f Saying that they are not deities chich are made with #&nds.] This łº, shows that the contrary opinion generally prevailed, na:nely, that there was a kind of divinity in the images of their supposed deities, which Elsner well shows the heathens did, think, thqugh some of then: and particularly Maximus Tyrius and Julian, had learnt to speak of them just as the papists now do; who indeed may seem to have borrowed some of their apologies from the jºions."$ºism. Observ. Vol. i. . 4.0.)–40s). p g Whom all Asia and the world worships.] Diana, as nuany, critics have observed, was known under a great variety of titles and ch:tracters, as the goddess of hunting, of trayelling, of child-birth, of emchantbients, &c. under one or another of which views she had undoubtedly a great number of votaries. h Great is Diana, & - epithet of great was given by the heathens to Jupiter, Diana, and others of their deities; to which he adds, that the ascription of it, to the true God, is in Scripture called magnifying him. See Elsmer, Obsero. vol. i. O i Årstarchyts.] This friend and companion of Paul was afterwards his fellow prisoner at Rome in the cause of the gospel. Col. iv. 10. k Some of the principal officers of Jäsia sent to him.] . It has, from this and the following passage, been concluded by many, that the people at Ephesus were then celebrating the public games in honour of Diana, oyer which these officers presided ; (as Grotius, Salmasius, and Dr. ammond have largely shown ;), and as it is not probable that, in such a tumultuous hour, several of them should have sent to him at once with such a message, unless they had been in the theatre together; I cannot but declare myself of the same Qpinion, though I, know that thé theatres were places in which the Greeks often met for the despatch of public business, when there were no shows exhibited. (See Raphel. Jºe Xen. p. 177.) Some would render the word Aquapxot, primates ºf Jºsia, and I think yery...properly: (see Mr. Biscoe, 4t Boyle’s Lect. chap. viii. § 4. p. Šošºo; and as they were persons of great dignity, and some of them priests too, this civil message from them was at once a proof of their candour, and of the moderation with which Paul had behaved, which made then thus kindly solicitous for his safety. Dr. &c.] Elsner has shown here, how frequently this Benson thinks they recollected the danger to which Paul had been ex- posed in a combat with wild beasts in tilis very theatre, to which some have supposed the apostle refers, 1 Cor. xv. 32. a text which we may consider hereafter. ..] They thrust ſerieqrd Alexander, &c.] Grotius thinks this was Alex- ander the coppersmith, once a professed christian, but afterwards an apostate, and in enemy to Paul; (1 Tim. i. 20, 2 Tim. iv. 14.) and he supposes it an artifice of the Jews, who knew themselves obnoxious on account of their aversion to idolatry, to employ one of their body in declaring against Paul on this public occasion. But ſ question whether the word grºxyyeva flat would have been used, had he chiefly intended an accusation against Paul : nor is it evident to me , that, he had yet renounced christianity or incurred the sentence referred to above, if this were indie ed the same person, and not some other Alexander. nn The ºcciº...] Our translators have rendered the word Tpaji- p47sus, the town-clerk; it literally signifies the scribe or secretary; but as he seems to have been a person of some authority as well as learning, I thought the word chancellor, which Mr. Harrington, also uses, (Works, Wi 33S.) was preferable ; mor, would recorder have been much amiss. Mr. Biscoe (.3t Boylc's Lect. chap. viii., § 4. p. 305.) endeavours to prove, on the testimony of Domninus and Apulcius, that the office referred, pot to the city of IEphesus; but to the games, and that the person who bore it represented AI:oilo, one of the chief of their deities, and the supposed brother of Diana; which, if it were indeed the case; would give great weight to his interposition. He appears by this speech a per- son of considerable prudence and great abilities; for he urges in a few words,--that there was no need of such a public declaration that they were votaries of Diana, since every body knew it, ver, 35, that the persons accused were not guilty of any breach of the laws, or pub- lic offense, ver. 37.—that if they were, this was not a legal method of prosecuting then, ver. 3S, 39.-and that they were themselves liable to prosecution for such a tumultuous proceeding, Yer. 49. . . n T'lic city of the Eplicsians is decoted, &c.] Though this was the best way of rendering the word vegropos which, on the whole, occurred to me, yet I am sensible how far it is (even with all I have added in the paraphrase) from expressing the sense and spirit of the original; . It iroperly signifies a priest or priestess, dcrotcd to scne particular deity, whose business it is to look after the temple, and see that it be not only kept in good repair, but also meat and clean, and beautified in a proper Inanner; so that, by the way, the word churchwarden among us ex- presses but a part of the idea.—It appears by some angient inscººp- tions on coins, and other authentic testimonies, is: Mr. Biscoe, p. 306, * 3 458 A TUMULT RAISED AT EPHESUS BY DEMETRIUS. SECT. to the worship of the miraculous [image] that fell down from Jupiter; as undisputed tra- yhigh fell down from Jupi. 44. dition assures us the sacred image in our temple did? Since then these things are plainly tº Seeing then that these incontestable, and this celestial image is no way concerned in any censure of those made things §§§ht'; bº. - A n as ºf 3 - - - - against, ye Ought to iet, with hands, it is necessary for you to be quiet and gentle in your proceedings, and to do #:33;;..." nothing in a precipitant manner, by which you mightrun W. Into Vast inconveniences and dangers before You are, aware. And it is particularly important to attend to it now, , 37 For ye have brought because indeed you have taken a very unreasonable and unwarrantable step; for you havé;...ºft. violently seized,and brought these men into the theatre, who are neither sacrilégious robbers ... tº: of temples, nor blasphemers of your goddess,” which one would imagine by these exclama- * tions of yours that they were ; but who, so far as I can learn, behave themselves in a grave and orderly manner, and occasion no disturbance to the state by their private notions, whatever they be. If therefore Demetrius, and the artificers that are with him, have suf- .33 Wherefore if Demetrius' fered in their property, and have a charge of any privaté injury to offer against any one, the ºhiº, ºhiº. ---> * • -l-‘ 4. - - - S 3. with him, have a matter civil courts are held, in which they may have justice done them; or if they have any crime against . . the lºi, relating to the state to allege against any, the law directs them how they should proceed, ...; and there are the Roman proconsuls to whom they may apply, who are the proper judges of such cases:" let them then bring their action and implead one another, and traverse their suit in a legal manner in either of these judicatories, till it is brought to a fair deter- mination. But if the cause be not properly either civil or criminal, and you are inquiring 39 but if ye inquire any any thing concerning other matters relating to our common utility, or to religion, which may ºscº. f ial th - doubt but it shall b •º. ters, it shall be determined in seem of a special nature, there is no room to doubt but it shall be determined to the general à lawājāś. satisfaction in a lawful assembly of the Asiatic states, who will inquire into it impartially, and with a diligence proportionable to its importance. And to this it will be highly expe. , 40 For we are in danger to dient to refer it; for indeed" we are all in danger of being called in question by our superiors Higº.º.º.º.º. - º - º J. " • T - - - dy’s §. there heing no jor the insurrection which has happened this day, as there is no sufficient cause by which we ACTS XIX. 37 3 8 39 40 cause whereby, we may give can account for this tumultuous concourse, which therefore may justly give some alarm to ****this concourse. the Roman magistrates. ...And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly; and without any further 41 And when he had thus violence they returned to their own habitations. spoken, he dismissed the as- sembly. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. MAY God grant that the zeal of the heathens in the worship of their imaginary deities may not rise up in judg- 28, 34 ment against us for the neglect of the living Jehovah! They rent the skies with acclamations of the greatness of 24 their goddess, and spared no cost to adorn her temple, or to purchase the models of it: may a sense of the great- ness of our God, who dwelleth not in temples made with hands, fill our minds continually, and make us ready to spend and be spent in his service In too many instances, indeed, religion has degenerated into craft, and been made the pretence of promoting men's secular interest. Would to God that all artifices of this kind were to be found amongst heathens! But the spirit of these votaries to Diana has too often invaded the christian church, and perhaps raised not a few tumults 28, 29 against them who have been its best friends,-We see how mad and furious is the rage of an incensed populace: 30, 31 let us bless God that we are not exposed to it, and be thankful for that kind providence which preserved the pre- cious life of the apostle, when, g/ter the manner of men, he fought with beasts at Ephesus. (I Cor. xv. 32.) - 35, The prudefice of this chancellor is worthy of esteem, who found out a way to quiet this uproar. Happy had it et seq. been for him if the good sense he showed upon this occasion had led him to see the vanity of that idle tradition 26 which taught them that an image fell down from their imaginary Jupiter, or that those could be gods, who were made with hands. But the god of this world hath in all ages blinded the minds of multitudes, (2 Cor. iv. 4.) and they acted like idiots in religion, when in other instances their sagacity hath commanded a deserved and universal admiration. The prevalence of idolatry through so many polished and learned, as well as savage and ignorant, nations, both ancient and modern, is a sad demonstration of this. Let us pray that they may consider and show themselves men; (Isa. xlvi. 8.) and deliver their own souls, under a sensibility that they have a lie in their right hand. (Isa. xliv. 20.) For this the labours of Paul were employed; and the progress of that gospel he preached appears matter of great joy, when the effects of it are considered in this view. May it, like the morning light, spread from one end of the heavens to the other, while the admired vanities of the heathen are degraded and cast (as the sacred oracles assure us they shall be) to the moles and the bats. (Isa. ii. 20.) 41 25–27 307. and Raphel. Ez Xen. p. 177, 178.) that there were some particular persons at Ephesus who had this office; but the chancellor, with great strength and beauty of language, to express the unanimity and zeal of the whole city in the service of Diana, speaks of it as one such attendant devotee in her temple: and as veokopog is compounded of a word which signifies to suceep, it imports the humility with which they were ready to Stoop to §ºs. office of service there. As for the tradition of this image’s falling down from Jupiter, there was the like legend con- cerning several other images among thé heathens, (as Mr. Biscoe has shown by many learned quotations,. p. 307, 308.) as there is likewise concerning some pictures of the Virgin Mary in popish churches. - o JVeither robbers of temples nor blasphemicrs of your goddess.] It is very ungenerous in Orobio (Apud Limborch, Collat... cum Jud; p. 134.) to in- sinuate from hence, that the fear of suffering kept Paul from declaring against the established idolatries here ; and it is much more so in Lord Shaftesbury, (Charact. yol. iii. p. 86.) to represent the apostle, and, his companions as acquiescing in this defence of the chancellor, and shelter- ing themselves under it, though it maintained that they allowed the divinity of Diana and her image. Not to insist on Brennius’s remark, that nothing said against gods made with hands could affect an image which was supposed to have fallen down from heaven, nor to urge Paul’s absence, though that puts him quite out of the question, as to any reply to this speech.; it is obvious to answer, that the chancellor’s assertion is only this, “ ‘īhāt the persons in question had not disturbed the public peace by any riotous attempt to plunder or demolish the temple or altar of Diana, nor did they, abuse, her by scurrilous language.” This was much to their honour; but in how serious, strenuous, and courageous a manner the apostles bore an open, though always modest and peaceable, testimony against idolatry, the whole series of their history and writings show. Orobio forgets that the Jews were here silent; and both he and the noble (but often inconsistent) writer of the Characteristics forget how irregular a step it would have been for any Jew or Christian to have detained an assembly, then so prudently dismissed, and how very ill- timed the best religious discourse would then have been, which indeed might have left the maker of it in a great measure chargeable with all the mischief which should have followed. D There are the Roman proconsuls.] I cannot but agree with the learned Mr. Basmage, (Annal., vol. i. p. § that the province of Asia was at this time administered by Celer and £lius, who were procurators after the death of Silanus, (Tacit. Annal. lib. xiii. cap. 1.) and having, as such officers sometimes had, the ensigns and ornaments of consular dignity, (Sueton. Claud. cap. § {..} might naturally enough be called pro- consuls. This seems a more natural interpretation than it would be to say that the proconsuls of neighbouring provinces were present at these games, and so might be referred to here ; for, not now to inquire how far their power might extend out of their proper E. it is obvious to remark, that this could be no argument to Demetrins, who could not prosecute his action during the games, nor command the stay of these noble visitants after them,--I must not forget to own my obligation to Mr. Biscoe for the clear view, he has given me of the sense of this and the following verse, which I first found in him, (Boyle’s Lect, chap. viii. § 6, 7. p. 308—312.) and then, with a most remarkable similarity of interpretation, in Mr. Harrington’s Works, p. 339. ... / - q And indcc.d.]. Raphelius has remarked (Annot. ,ez Xen. in Acts iv. 27, and xvi. 57.) that yap often signifies indeed; which seems to me an observation of moment. - - * - r In danger of being called in question for the insurrection, §º) There was a Roman law which made it capital to raise a riot: “Qui catum et concursum fecerit capite puniatur ; and it has been observed, that the original words a ragcºs and a varpoºng, remarkably answer to those of that law. *- ... • * - sºvo cause by phich we can account for this concourse.] Fire, inunda- tion, the sudden invasion of enemies, &c. might have excused and justi- fied a sudden concourse of people rushing together with some violence; but the chancellor with great propriety observes there was no such cause, nor any other adequate one to be assigned. PAUL’S JOURNEY THROUGH MACEDONIA AND ACHAIA TO TROAS. 459 SECTION XLV. Paul.having made a tour through the country of Macedonia, goes to Achaia; and returning back again through Magºlonia, takes jº at Philippi, and so comes to Troas, where he held an assembly in which the night was spent, and Eutychus, killed by a fall, was raised to life : after which Paul proceeds on his voyage. Acts xx. 1–16. Acts xx. 1. . Acts xx. 1. AND affer,the uproar was WE have given an account of the insurrection at Ephesus, how it was excited by Deme- SECT. tºº ...; trius and his workmen, and prudently quieted by the interposition of the chancellor. Wow 45. flººted for to go after the tumult was ceased, Paul calling the disciples to him, and embracing [them] with ſº great affection, departed from Ephesus after the long abode he had made there; and having Agºs passed through Troas in his way, he crossed the sea from thence to go into Macedonia,” to 1 * visit the Philippians, Thessalonians, and Beroeans, to whom (as was observed before) he - had sent Timothy and Erastus while he stayed in Asia, (chap. xix. 22.) and from whence Timothy was now returned, and left behind him at Ephesus. 2 And when he had gone oyer those parts, and had given them much exhorta- tion, he came into Greece, 3 And there abode three pmonths. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he roposed to return through Macedonia. ...And after Paul was come to Macedonia, as he was goil ously pursued the work in which he was engaged; and found there, and comforted them with much discourse, he came from thence into Greece, that he might visit the churches at Corinth, and in the neighbouring cities of Achaia. And 3 when he had continued [there] three months,” he was now ready to set out from thence with what had been collected for the poor brethren in Judea ; but as he understood that an ambush was laid for him by the Jews when he was about to embark for Syria, he upon this through, those parts,b he zeal- 2 #. eachorted the faithful he account thought it advisable to return by way of Macedonia, so that the churches there had a happy opportunity of receiving a third visit from him. 4 And there accompanied him into Asia, Sº, of Berea; and of the Thessalo- fiians, Aristarchus and Se- cundus; and Gaius of Derbe, - º: Timotheus; and of Asia, ychicus and Trophimus. ried for us at Troas. 6. And we sailed away from- Philippi after the days of un- leavened bread, and came un- to them to Trons in five days; where we abode seven days. 7 And upon the first day of -the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ...And on the first º day, met together to ...And Sopater the Beropan not only attended him in his shipping, but crossed the sea with him, and accompanied him as far as what is called the Proper Asia; and there went also with him some of the Thessalonians, namely, Aristarchus and Secundus, and also Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, who was now come to him from Ephesus: and of the Asiatics, or natives of the Proconsular Asia, there were also, in the 5.These going before, tar- number of those who joined their company, Tychicus and Trophinus.d Macedonian journey till he took 4 These two last 5 mentioned having information of the time and place where º might expect us going be- fore to Asia, staid for us a while at Troas, where we were to la - ...And some days after they had left us, we set sail from Philippi, after the days of an- 6 leavened bread were ended, and crossing part of the * five days,” where we continued seven days, conversing with the christians there.f of the week, when the disciples, as it was usual with them on that 7 reak bread, that is, to celebrate the eucharist in remembrance of the death of our blessed Redeemer,é Paul being now to take his leave of them, and about to nd. gean sea, came to them at Troas in a Departed from Ephesus—to go into JMacedonia.] It is very natural to conclude (as Dr. Benson and many others do) that Paul now-left Timothy at Ephesus, and that he refers to it, (1 Tim. i. 3.) he being by this time returned from that embassy mentioned Acts xix. 22.-As the apostle went through Troas, which lay in his way to Macedonia, he met with a fair opportunity of preaching the gospel there; (2 Cor; ii. 12.) but not, receiving those tidings of his friends at Corinth which he ex- pected by Titus, he passed on to Macedonia, without further delay, (Ibid, ver. 13.) intending to proceed to Corinth from thence, since he could not visit that church first, as he had once intended, 2 Cor. i. 15, 16, Compare 1 Cor. xvi. 5, 6. - b Going through those parts.]... In Macedonia, after great anxiety in his mind, he at length met with Titus, who brought him a comfortable ac- count of the state of affairs at Corinth, (2 Cor. vii. 5–7.) and in par- ticular, what he said of their liberal disposition gave the apostle reason to glory in them, and to excite the Macedonians to imitate their gene- fosity. in assisting the contribution he was now raising for the poor ghristians in Judea, which was one great part of his business in this journey. (2 Cor. ix. 2. viii. 1–14.) The Second Epistle to the Corin- thians was therefore written from Macedonia at this time, (see the places last quote | and was sent by Titus, who, on this occasion, returned to § the collection, in still, greater, forwardness.-This tour through hilippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia, Thessalonica, and Beroea, would of course take up several months, and no doubt many circumstances would occur at most of these places, which made Pauſ’s presenee with them for a yhile highly expedient.—It seems probable that Paul wrote his First Epistle to Timothy from hence, expecting to return to Ephesus again, and then designing that Timothy should continue there till he came, (1 Tim. iii., 14, 15. iv. 13.), though Providence ordered the matter otherwise. I shall hereafter, if God permit, mention the reasons which incline me at present to beiieve that Paul wrote his First Epistle to Timothy now rather than after he was set at liberty from his first im- brisonment at Rome, to which time Bp. Pearson (ºffmnal. Paul. ad Jīn. i4. p. 22.), and Mr. flé Cidº (Écºl. #St. Cº. i. 3."65 & 3) refer it. The principal of them are well, stated by Dr. Benson, ist vol. ii. p. 167—199.) than yhigh I remember nothing more satisfactory on the Šuš. ject. See also Mr. Boyse's IWorks, vol. ii. p. 293, 294. c Continued there, three months.]. It seems that Paul met with busi- ness here and in other places, which detained him longer than he ex- ccted. From hence, he probably wrote his celebrated Epistle, to the omans; for it plainly appears that Epistle was written before his in- prisonment at Rome, and in it he speaks of a collection made by the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, with which he was hastening, to Jerusalem, (Romans xv. 25–27.) a circumstance which fixes it to this time. It also appears from Romans xyi. 21. that Timothy and Sosipater (or Sopater, one of the noble Beroeans) were with him when that Epistle was wrote, which agrees with the fourth verse of this chapter, by which we find they both attended him into Asia.; and consequently, if the date of the First Epistle to Timothy be as it is fixed above, Paul found some unexpected reason to send for that, evangelist, to come to him, from Ephesus, to which place (as we find from what follows) the apostle did not, according to his own intention, return. . d'And of the Asiatics, Tychicus and Trophimus.]. The several persons mentioned in this verse are thought by some to have been joined with aul as messengers of the churches in carrying their contributions to the or brethren at Jerusalem. Compare, 1 Cor. xxi. 3, 4, and 2 Cor. viii. 9–23. (JMiscell. Sacr. Mbstract, p. 36, 37.) We know but few parti- culars of most of them from what is said concerning them in other places.—Sopater, who ih some ancient manuscripts is called the son of Pyrrhus, is generally thought to be the same with Sosipater, wh9 ºn Paul has mentioned as his kinsman. §: xyi. 21.)—Aristarchus of Thessa; loniga is mentioned before as a Macedonian, (Acts xix. 29) he attended Paul in his voyage to Rome, º xxvii. 2.) and was his fellow-labourer, (Philem. ver. 24.) and a fellow-prisoner with him. (Col. iv., 10, 11:)– Secundus is not mentioned any where but here:Gaius of jerse, if he be not a different person of the same name, is elsewhere mentioned as a man of Macedonia, (Acts xix. 29.), of which, as some suppose, he was a native, but descended of a family that came from Derbe. He was bap- tized by Paul at Corinth: (1 Cor. i. 14.) and entertained him as his host while he abode there; (Rom. Xvi. 23.) and afterwards St. John directs his Third Epistle to him.—Timothy was a Tative of Lystra, (Acts xyi. 1.) whom Paul particularly honoured with his friendship, and distin- uished by his two Epistles to him, as well as by joining his name with his own in the title of several other Epistles. (2 Cor. Philip. Col. 1 & 2 Thess. Philem.) . He frequently attended the apostle in his travels, and laboured with him in the service of the §º. in which he was so diligent...and zealous, that it is no wonder he was imprisoned for it. (Heb. xiii. 23.)—Tychicus of Asia was often sent on messages by Paul, (2 Tim. iv. 12. Tit. iii. 12.) and more than once was recommended º him to the churches as a beloved brother and faithful minister and fel- low-servant in the Lord, whom he employed not only to acquaint them with his own affairs, but for this purpose also, that he might know their state and comfort their hearts. (Eph. vi. 21, 22. Col. iv. 7, S.)—Trophi- mus, who was of Ephesus, appears to have been a Gentile convert whom we find afterwards with Paul at Jerusalem, (Acts, xxi. 29.) an who attended him in other journeys till he left him at Aliletum sigk, (2 Tim. iv. 20.)—These two last are said to be Asiatics, and being dis- tinguished here from Gaius and Timothy, , who were of Derbe and ystra, which lay in Asia Minor, it is plain they are so called as being natives of the Proconsular Asia.-I shall add only, that it seems, from the construction of the original, that only Tychicus and Trophimus went before to Troas, to whom I have accordingly restrained it in the paraphrase. - * * * e 8. to them at Troas in five days.] Paul in his former progress came from Troas to Philippi in two days, (Acts xvi. 11, 12.) but cross- ing the sea is very uncertain, and it was easy for the voyage to be lengthened by contrary winds, so that we need not explain it of the time that passed before they joined the company that tarried for them: Paul did not set out from Fij till after the passover week; and if his voyage was deferred, i. some have thought,) that no offence might be given by his travelling at a season, which the Jews account- ed so peculiarly holy, the same reason would induce those that went before him not to begin their voyage at that time ; so that Paul seems to have tarried some days after them, before he set sail : nor is there any reason to suppose, with Dr. Lightfoot, (Chron. in loc.) that these five days were not spent in sailing down the river Symon from Philippi, and crossing part of the AEgean , sea, but that Paul took a longer circuit, and went first to Corinth, before he came to them at TO ſls. - f lyhere we continued seven days.) This Paul might choose to do so much the rather, as he had declined such great views of service as were opened to him when he passed through it before in his way to \lacedo- nia. (2 Cor. ii. 12, 13. Perhaps ho might now lodge at the house of arpus ; but it seems to have been in a later journey that he left there the books and other things to which he refers, 2 Tim. iv. 13.) It plainly appears, from the manner, in which Luke speaks here and all along atterwards; that he attended him in all this journey and voyage, though, by his altering the expression, he does not seem to have been with him since he was at Pij in his former progress. (Acts xvi. 12, et seq.). Compare note f on Acts xvi. 10. p. 439. * g When the disciples inct together to break bread, that is, to celebrate the eucharist.] It is strange that Mr. Barclay, in his Jäpology, p. 475. should argue from ver. 11. that this was only a common meal, and not the Lord’s supper. It is well known the primitive christians adminis- tered the eucharist every Lord’s day; and as that was the most solemn and appropriate, as well, as the concluding, act of their worship, it is no wonder that it should be mentioned as the end of their assembling; whereas, had nothing more than a common meal been intended, Luke would have hardly thought that worth mentioning, especially, when, Paul being with them on a Lord’s day, they would so naturally have 460 THE DEATH AND RESTORATION OF EUTyCHUs. SECT. depart on the inorrow, preached to them with great fervengy, and was so carried out in his reals to depart on the mot. 45. work, that he continued his discourse until inidnight. ...And by the way, there were many ...h §h º his lamps in the upper room in which they were assembled; for, whatever the malice of theft ºd"º"; many *...* enemies might insinuate, the christians held not their assemblies in darkness, but took all i. º º §. prudent precautions to avoid every circumstance that might incur censure or even suspi tººther. 9 cion. But this occasioned them to keep the windows open, to prevent the immoderate héat 9 And there sat in a window of the room; and a certain young man whose name was Eutychus, who was there sitting in Łºś gn open window,” fell into a profound sleep; and as Paul continued his discourse a long time, a deep sleep: in "..."; he was so overpowered with sleep, that he fell down from the third story to the ground, and ºff - 2 s - gh 3 down with , sleep, and feſt 10 was taken up dead. This threw the whole assembly into disorder; and Paul, upon this down from the third of, and º - * y. :- - , ,< *. ut, up lº ºf dead breaking off his discourse, went down and fell upon him, and taking him in his arms, said, "ij Åi"Fºnt down, Do not make any disturbance, for I assure you that his life is in him; and God will quickly jº. 11 restore him to perfect health. And having thus composed and quieted their minds, Paul ºfte:ºr hiºi"; returned to his work, and going up again into the chamber where the assembly met, and * whº h f havi broken b d and with th st of the discipl - tº hen he therefore was guing broken bread and eaten with the rest of the disciples, in commemoration of the death come tip #. and had of Christ, when this solemnity was over, he conversed with them a considerable time longer, § ". ºff...; ºff even till break of day;k and so went out from that house, and departed from Troas, to meet break of day, so he departed. 12 the ship which was to take him aboard at Assos. And before the assembly broke up, they 12 And they brought the brought the youth into the room alive and well, and were not a little comforted at so happy ſº..." were an event; and the rather, as they might apprehend that some reproachés would have been occasioned by his death, if he had not been so recovered, because it happened in a chris- tian assembly which had been protracted so long beyond the usual bounds of time, on this extraordinary occasion. 13 . But we that were to go with Paul, went before into the ship, and sailed round the neigh- 13 And we went before to bouring promontory to Assos, where we were to take up Paul; for so he had appointed, ; *...}. .º.º. º - 5 e - 2 - º there intending to take in choosing himself to go afoot from Troasthither, that he might thus enjoy a little more of the Hºuis ºd he ºppoint: 14 company of his christian brethren, of whom he was then to take a long leave. And as soon jºi"* * * * as he joined us at Assos, according to his own appointment, we took him up in the ship, and ...And when he nºt with 15 came to the celebrated port of ºſtylene in the island of Lesbos. And sºiling fromience, º' " we came the next day over ; Chios, the island so famous for producing some of the nº. º. º.º.º. day we arrived at Samos, and 16 the mouth of the river Maeander, and came the day after to Miletus : For Milet º i\Ll Retu S. he would not spend the time at Jerusalem the day of Pen- º finest Grecian wines; and the day following we touched at the island of Samos; and steer- §."ğ.". # *::: ing from thence towards the Asian shore, having staid a while at Trogyllium, we put into jºji.' ...; Paul, under the next day we came to whose direction the vessel was, had determined to sail by Ephesus, which lay on the other "iš For Paul had determin- side of the bay, without calling there; and much less would he go up the river to Colosse tºº. or Laodicea, that he might not be obliged to spend any considerable time in Asia; for he in X; ; hºsti. i*i; earnestly endeavoured, if it were possible for }. to do it, to be at Jerusalem on the day of jºi...º.º. Pentecost. Nevertheless, he sent for the ministers of Ephesus, and made a very remark-tocost. able discourse to them, of which we shall give a particular account in the next section. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. I WITH what pleasure would Paul, and the christians of Macedonia and Achaia, enjoy these º interviews 2 with each other! A blessed earnest no doubt it was, of that superior pleasure with which they shall meet in the day of º Lord, when (as he had testified to some of them) they shah appear as his joy and his crown. (1 Thess. ii. 19, 20. We may assure ourselves that his converse with his friends at Troas was peculiarly delightful; and may reason- 7–9 ably hope, that though one of the auditory was overcome by the infirmity of nature, and cast into a deep sleep during so long a discourse as Paul made, yet that many others were all wakeful, and gave a joyful attention. Nor can the apostle be censured for imprudence in protracting the divine exercise, in such an extraordinary circum- stance, beyond the limits which would commonly be convenient. 9–12 Eutychus was unhappily overtaken, and he had like to have paid dear for it. His death would, no doubt, have been peculiarly grievous to his pious friends, not only as sudden and accidental, but as the sad effect of having slept under the word of God, under the preaching ºan apostle. Yet even in that view of it, how much more inexcusable had he been had it been in the broad light of the day, in a congregation where the service would hardly have filled up two hours! Where yet we sometimes see christian worshippers (if they may be called wor- shippers) slumbering and sleeping; a sight, I believe, never to be seen in a Mahometan mosque, and seldom in a pagan temple. Had those near Eutychus that had observed his slumber, out of a foolish complaisance forborne to awake him, they would have brought perhaps greater guilt upon their own souls than he upon his ; and when his eyes and ears had been sealed in death, might perhaps have reflected upon themselves with a painfºil severity, as having been accessary to his ruin. But the mercy of the Lord joined with and added efficacy to the compas. sion of Paul his servant; in consequence of which, the life of this youth was restored, and he was delivered well to his friends: whereas many that have allowed themselves to trifle under sermons, and set themselves to slee , or who, as it were, have been dreaming awake, have perished for ever with the neglected sound of the gospel in their ears, have slept the sleep of eternaſ death, and are fallen to rise no more. º - 16 We see Paul solicitous to be present at Jerusalem at Pentecost, declining a visit to his Ephesian friends, something far nobler and more important in view, in which accordingly he ſell upon him, may signify that Pan] threw himself, e.g. the bºyºs we find them enoployed; and it is quite unreasonable to suppose they Élijah and Elisha did on those they intended to ſºise, (1 Kings xvii; 21. spent, their time, in feasting, which neither, the occasion nor the hour 2 Kings iv. 34.) and that jº may either signify his embrac- would, well admit. HThe argument which some over-zealous papists ingº, at the same time, of his iiſting him up in his arms, with the have drawn from this text, for denying the cup in the sacrament to the assistance of some that stood near.’ - laity...was 39 solemnly given up in the council of Trent, (Paalo, Hist. k Conversed till break of day.]. A remarkable instance of zeal in Paul, b. iii. p. 486.) that it is astonishing, any who profess to believe the when in a journey, and when he had been $o long employed in public divine authority of that council, should ever have presumed to plead it exercises; jiຠ'under alil 8. º;', º: ag? Iſl:. . . . . º - a - 7...’ 4. … ver. 25.) that he shotriti never have h Sitting in an open *::::: The word Bupts plainly signifies an open º #: together any more. * window, which had a sort of wooden casement or little door, which i’īnāºured tº 5 at Jerusalem on the day of Peutecost.* It is ob- was set open that the room might not bºoyer-heated with so much ºom- servéâûy ºf sojom, (as was hinted on a former oºgaiº.9. this kind, pany and so many lamps. It is well known the ancients, had not note ... ºn Aºtº xviii. 2i. p. 353.) this was that hº might have an oppor- yet glass in their windows, though the manner of making that elegant tºty’ ºf ºtiñº"a greater number of people, from Judea and other and useful commodity was invented long before; - - parts, the jays being then longer than at any ºther fºst: In conse- i His life is in him.] Some have iºn; that, as God immediately ºf this, ºe journeys might perhaps be saved, and papy pre- intended to raise this young man, from the dead, the soul, still remained jºinst his pārson and ministry ºbviated; and; which was par. in the body, though not united to it, (Cradock, dºgst. Hist, Yoi. ii; tºyºiderable, the readjest, and best, opportunity taken of p., 1%. note.) But if we conceive of the soul as purely an inmatgrial distribitiº": those Jewish, christians, that lived, perhapi, at some substance, I'must own myself at a loss to guess what such kind of ex- jišºm jerjem, the Ims with which he was charged. Yet, by pressions mean. It is well known that wuxi, often signifies life; and "ºfeſſº providence, this very circumstance of meeting so many the words only import, that though he was dead before, ſhe apostle now strºgers at the feast was the occasion of his imprisonment. See Acts perceived some symptoms of his rerival.—ſ only a dil, that exercazº, xxi. 27, ct seq. PAUL's ADDRESS TO THE ELDERS OF THE EPHESIAN CHURCII. 461 amongst whom he had lately made so long an abode; º no doubt, denying himself a most pleasing, ente. SECT. tainment, out of regard to the views of superior usefulness. Thus must we learn to act; and, if we would be of 45. any importance in life, and pass our final account honourably and comfortably, must project schemes of useful- ness, and resolutely adhere to them, though it obliges us to abstract or restrain ourselves from the converse of ACTS many in whose company we might find some of the most agreeable entertainments we are to expect on or Yºy to heaven. Happy shall we beif, at length meeting them at the end of our journey, we enjoy an everlasting pleasure in that converse which fidelity to our common Master has now obliged us to interrupt. - SECTION XLVI. Paul’s pathetic and important discourse to the elders of the Ephesian church, when he took his leave of them at Miletus. Acts xx. 17, to the end. Acts xx. 17. Acts xx. 17. AND from Miletus he sent to IT was observed in the preceding section, that Paul's concern to be at Jerusalem by SECT. #º" " " Pentecost prevented his going to Ephesus to visit his christian friends there; but as he 46. was not far from thence, and was desirous to see them, he took this opportunity of gending — a message to Ephesus from the neighbouring city of Miletus, while the ship in which he acts was embarked ſay at anchor there, and called thither the elders of the Ephesian church.” XX, 18. And, when they were And when they were come to him he made a very affectionate discourse, and said to them, 18 #. % §º You well know, my dear brethren, how I have been conversant among you, and in what 19 day...that I came intº Asia, manner I have behaved, all the time which has elapsed from the first day in which I enter- ; sºº # tº: ed into Asia ;b Not only instructing others in the principles cf divine truth, but in the aſ "j } }}}, ... whole tenor of my conduct serving the Lord Jesus Christ myself, with all humility, and with majºears; ind tempt lowliness of mind, and with many tears of tender affection, and in the midst of many trials lºft. #.* which befell me, especially by means of the ambushes which the malice of the Jews was con- tinually laying for me; by which they endeavoured as much as possible to destroy both 20 and how I kept back my person and my reputation, and to frustrate all the success of my labours. Neverther 20 ºf less you know that nothing discouraged me from endeavouring to discharge my duty, [a you, and have taught you can witness for me how Ihave suppressed nothing that was advantageous, or which could be ; * * * * * of any service to your edification; not [neglecting] to preach to you, and to teach you pub- licly in worshipping assemblies, and, as God gave mé opportunity, from house to house; - inculcating in visits and in private meetings, the same great doctrines which I declared in 21 Testifying bºth to the the synagogues and other places of concourse and resort: Testifying and urging, with the 21 :::::::::::::::::::::::: greatest earnestness and affection, both to the Jews and Greeks, #. great importance and repentance toward God, an * • - - - " - - fifth toward our iori less absolute necessity of rementance towards God, and of a cordial and living faith in our Lord Christ ºp 2 g e Jesus Christ, in order to their eternal salvation. . * * * : And, hºwglishold. I go ...And now behold, I am going bound, as it were, in the Spirit, under the strong impulse of 22 bound in the Spirit unto Je- - - 5 - - - - 5 5 - c 1 j:...'...t."...º. is the Spirit of God upon my mind, which intimates my duty to me in such a manner, that #.. that shall behl me I can neither omit nor delay it; and am firmly resolved to proceed to Jerusalem ; not articularly knowing what I shall suffer in that city, or what the things may be that shall Gjºnºid,".. º. “fall me in it when I come thither: Excepting that the Holy Spirit testifies, in almost every 23 # *.*.*.*.*.*.*a**ś city through which I pass. Sanring, by the mouth of the divinely-inspired Drophets whom city, saying that bonds and Cuy g 1 pass, saying, by * * * y p1 } p - ištiºn." "find among the christians there haſ bonds and affictions await me." But I make no account 24 24 But none of these things g º 5 g - * mºntº of any of these things, nor do Iesteem my very life precious to myself on such an occasion,” }º so that I may but faithfully and joyfully finish my course as a christian and an apostle, and might finish my course with • ** * ºr ºr e | º 5 iºdiºnisłºśń fulfil the ministry which I have received ºf the Lord Jesus, ſeven] to testify the truth and urge }...'...}, ...?; the importance of the ; gospel of the free and abundant grace of God, to which I the grace of God. am myself so highly obliged, beyond all expression, and beyond all the returns that I can - ever make, by any labour or suffering I may undergo for its service. 1. º.º.º. .#nd now, behold, I know that ye gll, my dear brethren, among whom I have so long 25 #. *... ."ht conversed, preaching the kingdom of God,” shall not see my face any more; for if ever #ingdºn ºf God, shall seemy should return to these parts of the world again, it is particularly intimated to me that fºg. Wiśre Itake youto I shall no more come to Ephesus. Wherefore I sent for you, that I may take my solemn 26 i.",..º.º.º.º. ºff leave of you; and I testify to you all, this day, that if any of you, or of the people under mºl. your caré, perish, I at least am clear from the blood of all men. For God is my witness, 27 tº..."...'...'"; that I have sincerely laboured for the salvation of all that heard me, and have not declined " counsel of God. to declare to you, with the utmost freedom and integrity, all the counsel of God;g but, on the contrary, have laid before you the whole system of divine truths relating to our redemption by Christ, and the way to eternal happiness with him, in the most plain and faithful man- ner, whatever censure, contempt, or opposition I might incur by such a declaration. a Called thither the elders of the church.] . It is so plain that these elders are in the 28th verse called bishops, that the most candid writers of our own establishment allow the distinction between, bishops and presbyters not to have been of so early a date. Compare Phil. i. J. Tit. 1. On 1 . et. Y. 1, 2, , which are equally strong to the same purpose. Dr. Hammond would indeed evade the argument by saying, that he called together all the diocesan bishops of all the neighbouring parts of Asia. But it is certain the congregations of Asia, Galatia, Macedonia, &c. are spoken of in Paul’s writings as distinct churches; and it is diffi: cult to conceive how such a number of diocesans could have been called together on so short a warning, without supposing them less conscienti- ous in point of residence than one would haye suspected such primi- tive ministers should have been ; nor can we imagine that Paul would have connived at so gross an irregularity and so dangerous a precedent, had he found it out among them b How I have been conversant, among you all the time, &c.] This can only mean, that during the whole time of his stay annong, them, he had behaved himself in the manner afterwards described ; and consequently there can be no room to inſer from hence, as Dr. Hammond does, that all the Asian bishops were present. . As by far the greatest part of the time had been spent at Ephesus, and the ministers there could not but know how he had acted and conversed in the near neighbourhood, it is evident he might use this expression to them alone with great propriety. c Testifying and urging, &c.] The word 6tapaptupôpal sometimes signifies, to prove a thing by testimigny, (Acts ii. 40. viii.25) and sometimes from a conviction of its truth and importance, to urge it with great carn- estness. (1 Tim. v. 21. 2 Tim. ii. 14.). It is plain that we are to take it in the latter sense in this place, but both are included, ver. 24. d JW or do I estcem my life precious to myself.] It adds great, beauty to this and all the other passages of Scripture in which the *pś, express their contempt of the world, that they were not uttered by persons like Seneca and Antoninus, in the full affluence of its enjoyments, but by men under the pressure of the greatest calamitjes, who were every day exposing their lives for the §§ of God, and in the expectation of an happy immortality. e I know that ye all among whom I hare concersed, &c.] The late learned, moderate, and pious Dr. Edmund Calamy observes, that if the apostles had been used, as some assert, to ordain diocesan bishops in their last visitation, this had been a proper tinye to do it; or that iſ Timothy had been already ordained isº, of FPhesus, Paul, instead of galling them all bishops, would surely have given some hint to enforce Timothy’s authority among them, especially considering what is added, ver, 29:30. See Pr. Calamy’s, Defence, vol. i. p. 78, et scq. , Ignatius would have taſked in a very different style and manner on this head. Shall not see my face any more.] . I cannot think, either that the force of the expression, ovaert gºpcats—iſters ruvres, is sufficiently expressed by saying, ye shall not ALL sec my face any more, or that such an in- timation, which might possibly concern only one or two, should have Qccasioned such a general lamentation as is expressed, ver. 38. and the re- fore I gonclude, that the apostle had received some particular revelation that if he should ever return to these parts of Asia again, (as from Philem. ver, 22. I think it probable, he might,) yet that he should not have an opportunity of calling at Ephesus, or of seeing the ministers to whom he now addressed. - - g Wot declined to declare to you, with the utmost freedom and integrity.] My learned and ingenious friend, the Rev. Mr. Brekell, (in his Chris: tian Płºgrfare, p. 33. note,) has proved by some very apposite quotations from 1)emosthemes and Lucian, that the proper in port of the word $70a TeXAgo in such a connexion is, to disguise any important truth, or at least to decline the open publication of it, for fear of displeasing those to whom it ought to be declared. 462 SECT. 46. *— you that you take heed to yourselves, and to the whole CTS XX. 3 28 29 0 3 I therefore wit which I abode at Ephesus or in the neighbouring parts,” I ceased not to warn .# 32 33 34 35 a * PAUL'S VOYAGE FROM EPHESUS. nºgº #º Yºlº to live and die with comfort, and to give up your ount well in that day which I have so often º to you, I solemnly charge & & ockh over which the ro- s constituted and appointed you inspectors or bishops ſº. then that you tº: that important charge, and be careful diligently to feed the church of God, which he hath : º º ... blood," #. y becoming incarnaté for its salvation, and cº St. Suffering S an * * * * Pº ...; º divine. gs eath, in that human nature which for this pur- Vonder not that I give you this charge in so strict a manner; for, besides the weigh reasons for it which I hinted above, I know this, that after my #: . º in these parts, nºtwithstanding all I have already done to preserve discipline and truth ºgº (1 Tim. i. 20.) seducing teachers, like so many grievous and mischievous wolves, will enter in among you, who, with unwarrantable and pernicious views, having no mercy on the flock, will fall tipon it with voracious eagerness and overbearing violence and make a terrible havoc, out of a mean and wicked regard to their own private an secular interest: Yea, which is yet more lamentable, even from among your own selves proud and factious men shall arise, speaking perverse things, contrary tº sound doctrine, in order to draw away disciples from the purity and simplicity of the christian faith as I àe. livered it to }. that they may follow after them till they are destroyed with them. Watch | all diligence and care, remembering that for the space of three years, during e O716 to whom I had access, by night and by day,” with tears in mine eyes, which manifested the tenderness and sincérity of º concern for their happiness. Let it then be your care, that a church planted by me with so much labour and solicitude of soul, may not be ravaged and overthrown by the enemy, but that it may long continue to flourish. -ānd now, brethren, as the providence of God is calling me away, and appointing me other scenes of labour or suffering, I most heartily and affectionately recommend you to God, and to the word of his grace, to his gospel and blessing, to his presence and Spirit; [even] to him that is able to edify and build you up in your holy faith,” and to give you at length an inheritance of eternäl life and glory among all that are sanctified by divine grace and so prepared for it, - s’ “” As for me, it is a great pleasure to reflect upon it, that I have a testimony in my own conscience, and in yours, that I have not directed my ministry to any mercenary views of pleasing any, how distinguished soever their circumstances might be, nor sought by any methods to enrich myself among you. I have coveted no man's silver or gold, or costly raiment, but have contented myself with a plain and laborious life: Yea, jow yourselves know, that far from having any secular and worldly designs in preaching the gospel, these hands which I am now stretching out among you, have ministered by their labour to my own necessities, and even have assisted to support those that were with me. (Comparé I Cor. iv. 12. 1 Thess. ii. 9. 2. Thess. iii. 8, 9.) In which, as well as in other respects, I have set you an example, and by the conduct I observed among you, as well as by the doctrine that I taught you, have showed you all things that relate to your duty, how that, thus labouring as ſhave done, you oughi to assist the needy and infirm, who are not able to maintain themselves;P and should be careful to remember the wºrds of the Lord Jesus, that he himself, while he conversed with his disciples, said, “It is much happier to give than to receive.”" . See to it, therefore, in that ministerial character which you bear, that you, above all others, be an example to the flock of a generous and compassionate temper; and instead of making yourselves burdensome, be as helpful to them as you possibly can, both in their temporal and spiritual interests. * *s 28 Take heed therefore un- to yourselves, and, to all th flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you over- seers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchas- ed with his own blood. - 29 For I know this, that after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in #. you, not sparing the OCK • 30. Also of your own selves shall men, ärise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears, 32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and give you, an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. . . 33 I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. 34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these lands have ministered unto my necessi- ties, and to them that were with me. 35 I have she wed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak; and to remember the words of the rd Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. ... such express mention; h Take heed—to the whole flock.) A ſº er concern for the safety and prosperity of the flock would no doubt ſead them to guard, against the admission of such persons into the ministry as were like to hurt the church, and to do, what they could towards forming others, to thºt im- portant office, and almitting them into it with due solemnity. But as the Ephesian chutch was for the present supplied with ministers, it was not so immediate a care as their preaching, and therefore did not require im; i. 15. and ii., 17, 18, with 1 Tim. i. Christ complains as prevailin; hºre, (Rev. bouring city of Pergamos. (Ibid. which some In For the space of three years.) . Mr. conclude that these years IEphesus, chap. xviii. 19. aúd that it was a considerable time before chap. -xix. I.) that i i Orcrichich the JHoly Spirit has constituted you º As it was by the operation of the foly Spirit that they were qualified for this high office of the christian ministry, so there was reason to believe that the apostles and elders who might, concur, in setting them apart to it, and the several members of tiºn church who chose them to such a relation to that society, were under the guidance and direction of that and condemned, doctrines of Hyūgneus and *mº & ver. 14, rry - have urged from hence, to prove that the First Epistle to Timothy was written aſter this inceting, is quite inconclusive: L’Enfant and some other critics are to be reckoned from his first arrivil at But it is so plain that he made, no stay then, after his preaching thrºe months in the sy years in the school of Tyranniis, (chap. xix. Alexander; (compare 2 ) as also those that after- wards introduced the Nicolaitan principles and pragtices, ºf which as well as in the neigh- ii.6.) So that... the argument 15.) he returned thither, (compare tº seeins to me much more probable, that though, nagogue, he taught only two 10.) he spent three years sacred Ågent; and the expression shows, as, good Mr. Baxter well gº- scrwes, (Works, vol. ii. § 234.) how absurd it is for any to reject the ministry in general, under a pretence that they have the Holy Ghost to teach thern. § the church of God, which he hath redeemed with his own blood.] IIoW very little reason there is to follow the few copies which read Kºſº instead of ees, the Rev. Messrs. Enty and Lavington have so, fully shown, in their dispute with Mr. Joseph Hallet on, this text, thºſ think this passage must be allowed as an incontestable prºof that,th? blood of Christ is here called the blood of God, as being, thº blood of that Män Who is aſso Čoli with us, God manifest in the flesh ;, and I'...nºt but ºprehend that it was by the special direction of the Holy Spirit that so remarkable an expression was used. Raphelius has shown that Tºp. It just v often signifies to er Herod. p. 383.) - | Grievous wolves.] Some, thinking that the word flapet; properly signifies their strength, would render it oppºssive; but I see no reason for departing from our English version. Their, eager and overbearing temper made them, no doubt, grievous to the christian church, though jºstitute of secular power. The apostle evidently makes a distinction; between the wolves who were to break in upon them from without, and the perverse, teachers that were to arise from amºn; themselves. interpret both of seducers who called themselves ghristiãº, (a. false prophets are called by Christ, wolyes in sheep’s clothing, Matt...vii. 15.) for Paul would not have spoken of heathen persecutors as #9 ºsé. after his departure, considering what extremities from Persºns of that kind he jad himself suffered in Asia. (2 Cor. i. 0.) It seems probable §réjàº, that by the grievous wolves he meansjudaizing false. apostles, who, though they had before this time done a great deal, of mischieſ at Corinth and elsewhere, had not yet got any º; at Ephesus ; and by the perverse monarising from among themselyºs, he ſº º such as jºygeiſus and Hermogenes, and some others who revived the exploded preserve from destruction. (Not- in or about 1.]his city. Compare note c, on Acts xix. 8. p. 455. and note e, on Acts xix. 10. ibid. n By might and by day.] This may probably, intimate that sometimes they had their might-meetings, either about the time of the tumult, to ayoid offence ; , or because intany of the christians, being poor, weſo obliged, as Pātī himself was, to spend a considerable part of the day in secular labours. Compare ver. 34. o, Ecci, ſo him that is abic, &c.] Though the gospel may be said to be abic to edify men, as the Scripturgs are undoubtedly said to be able to jiake them ific unto safration, (2 Tin). iii. 15.) yet it seems something harsh to say, that doctrines or writings can give us an inheritance. Šome have explained Fø Xoyº, the word, as signifying Christ, to whom it is evident these operations may be ascribed; (compare Akutt, Svi. 13. Öol. iii. 33.2 iii. v. S.) but as I do not remember that Christ is ever called the Word of 206's grace, I rather suppose that Tø 6vvapºvº re- fers to €ca), since God was evidently the last person mentioned before ; and as it is certain, that whatever the Word does, God does by it; this just be acknowieigeſ to be the sense, whether the construction be or is not admitted. Čompare Rom. xvi. 25, 27. and Jude, ver, 24, 33: ..., p To assist the º: The word ac{}evouvtov has exactly this sig- nification, and, as Rapheſius shows at large, QMot", ºr Herod. p. 384, et seq.) may express either sickness or poverty, ºs the Hebrew word 5i also does. (See my Sermon on Compassion to the Sick, p. 6, 7.) It must here signify, to be sure, such poor º: as are disabled some way or another from maintaining themselves by their own labour. Compare Eph. iv. 28 • * q Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, &c.], This is a true and pre- - º: written. In I cious monument of apostolical tradition, which, these aºtic meanºrs, is happily preserved. Dr. Tillotson, CŞol. iii. 387.) Monsieur Ablancourt, (Apoph, ARC. p. 3.) Grotius, other writers, have quoted passages from Plutárch, Seneca, and others ofthe ancients, bearing some resenblance to it. - - and some -- * * - PAUL's voyagE FROM EPHESUS. 463 ...And whº had tº And having said these things, he kneeled down and prayed with them all in the most fer: SECT. ken, he kneeled d d - • - * :::::: §"...'.” vent and affectionate manner, and with the tenderest expressions of the most cordial 46. 37. And they all wept sore, friendship, took his leave of them. And there was great lamentation on this occasion ####. Paur. neck, an among all those that were present; and falling upon Paul's neck, they embraced and kissed “º 38 sorrowing most of all him with great affection, and with many tears: Especially grieving for that melancholy 38 §.º.º. word which he ake, and which immediately had struck their very hearts, when he told #inº º iºn- them that they should see his face no more in those parts, where they had so long. enjoyed *** * * the benefit of his ministry, inspection, and converse. And thus they conducted him to the ship, commending his person to the protection, and his labours to the blessing, of his great Master. - IMPROVEMENT. *: THough these elders of Ephesus were to see the face of the apostle no more, which was indeed just matter of Ver.25 lamentation, yet we would hope this excellent discourse of his continued in their minds, and was as a nail fastened 38 in a sure place. May all christians, and especially all ministers, that read it, retain a lively remembrance of it! May we learn of this great apostle to serve the Lord with humility and affection 1 May those who are called to 19 preside in assemblies, and to take the charge of souls, withhold from their people, nothing that is profitable for 20 them! and, not contenting themselves with public instructions, may they also teach from house to house, showing the same temper in private converse which they express while ministering in the assemblies; and testifying, as matter of universal and perpetual importance, repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! And 21 O that the divine blessing may attend these remonstrances, that many may every where repent and believe - May all ministers learn the exalted sentiments and language of this truly christian hero; and each of them be able to say, under the greatest difficulties and discouragements, in the view of bonds and afflictions, and even of martyrdom itself, JVome of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto me, so that I may finish my course 23, 24 % joy, and may fulfil the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of od 1 Such resolutions may they form when they enter on their office, and may they act upon them in discharging 28 every part of it; taking heed to themselves, and to the respective flocks over which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers. Accordingly may they take the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly; not for filthy 33 lucre, but of a ready mind; (I Pet. v. 2.) coveting no man's silver, or gold, or rainent; nor affecting to enrich, or aggrandize themselves or their families, but always ready to relieve the necessitous according to their ability, 34, 35 remembering this precious word of the Lord Jesus, so happily preserved, especially in this connexion, that it is . more blessed to give than to receive. . Thus while they are not shunning to declare, in the course of their public 27 ministry, the whole counsel of God, may they also be examples to the flock of a uniform, steady, and resolute piety And to quicken them to it, may they often reflect that the church of God committed to their trust, was 28 redeemed by his own blood May it be impressed deeply on all our hearts, that we are intrusted with the care of those precious sculs for whom our Divine Redeemer bled and died 1 May we therefore see to it, that we are watchful to preserve them from every danger; that we warn them day and night with tears; and, in a word, that 31 we order our whole behaviour so, that when we must take our final leave of them, we may be able to testify as in 26 the sight of God, that we are clear from the blood of all men Such ministers may God raise up to his church in every future age such may his grace make all that are already employed in the work! and for this purpose, let every one who wishes well to the common cause of Christ and of 32 souls, join in recommending us to God, and to the word of his grace, whence we are to draw our instructions and our supports. This will be a means, under the divine blessing, to keep us from falling in the midst of all dangers and temptations; till at length he give us an inheritance with all the saints among whom we have laboured, that they who sow and reap may rejoice together. Amen. SECTION XLVII. The apostle proceeds in his voyage from Miletus, to Caesarea, and resolutely pursues his journey to Jerusalem, notwithstanding repeated warn- ings from inspired persons of the danger he must encounter there. Acts xxi. 1–16 Acts xxi. 1. - Acts xxi. 1. AND it t , that af- ri - - * - º tºº, IT was with difficulty Paul and his company had departed from the elders of the church sECT. and haijäuää, ä, ºne of Ephesus; but after the instructions he had given them he was determined to pursue 47. § jº. his voyage: and as soon as we had withdrawn ourselves from them, and had set sail from §§jašº Miletus, we came with a direct course to the island of Coos, and the mert day to that of Agºs unto Patara: Rhodes, and from thence to the port of Patara, a city which lay on the continent, in the * int A. §"#. º, sº territory of Lycia. And finding there a ship that was passing over to Phoenicia, quitting the 2 §ojaj'ºh!” vessel which had brought us hither, we went aboard this other, and set sail : ...And coming 3 §ºº.W. º. within sight of Cyprus, we pursued our voyage without touching there ; and leaving it on covered Cyprus, we left it on S ... “y: E * * 5 85 the left hand, and sailed into the left hand, we sailed by the southern coast of that island to Syria, and landed at the cele- §. *: wº, tº brated city of Tyre, the principal port of Phoenicia; for there the ship was to unload its lade her burden. freight. ...And we continued there at Tyre seven days, finding a number of persons in that 4 4.And finding disciples, we city who were disciples of our common Lord ; among whom there were some who told #“...";i`i; ; Paul, by the inspiration of the Spirit, if he tendered his own liberty and safety, not to go Špirit, that...should not go up to Jerusalem,” since it would certainly expose him to great hazard, and very threatening up to Jerusalem. dangers would await him there. s 5 And when we had accom. But when we had finished these seven days, we departed from thence, and went our way, 5 Eººpi with a full resolution of embarking again to procéed to Jerusalem, notwithstanding aſ the "hººsiº"; º; these admonitions; as Paul deliberaté judged that all the sufferings he might meet with in the course of his ministry would tend to the furtherance of the gospel, and that it was his duty to fulfil his engagements to the churches in delivering their aims to the brethren there, whatever might happen: and though he did not yield to the persuasion of his friends at . Tyre, yet they omitted no imaginable token of respect, but all attended us out of the city, r That they should see his face no more.]. As this, which, is, St. Luke’s to overthrow all that he or others have built o -- ~ : * : - own tº: leaves no room for the ambiguity which might be greatly, to confirm the argument suggested §§ ºpposition, and imagined in the expression used in, ver. 25. it seems to me most evi- a If he tendered his own liberty and safety, not to go up, &c.] It is §ently to prove that the First Epistle to Timothy could not, as Bish9p necessary to take, it with this limitation; for 'half the Špi;t Šilići. Pearson so earnestly contends, (Op. Posth. Diss. I. cap. ix. § 5.) be writ- his journey to Jerusalem, we may be sure he would have desistad ten after this, and so late as the year 65; and consequently, it appears from it. 464 SECT. 47. ACTS XXI. PAUL’S DETERMINATION TO WISIT JERUSALEM. with [their] wives and children; and kneeling down on the sea-shore, where we were to part, way, with wives and chil- we once more prayed together, and so took our leave. ..And having affectionately embraced jºi"...º.º.º. each other, we that were going to Jerusalem with Paul went on board the ship to proceed #iº.º.º.ºwn on our voyage, and they that dwelt at Tyre returned back to their own houses. ošº.º.º.º. .4nd finishing our course by sea, we came from Tyre to the port of Ptolemais,b which lay ; ship ; and they returned t Iſle again 7 l * -- * to the south of the former city, on the same coast of the Mediterranean sea; and embracing "%"...fºften we had finish- - *- d 8 9 I0 11 12 13 14. 15 16 Wer. the Urethren, there, we continued with them no more than one day. ed our course from Tyre, we * ame to Ptolemais, and salut- w - * s * - - * C And on the morrow, Paul and his company departed from Ptolemais, and travelling by ...hº..."...is land, came to the city of Casarea,” which had been rendered remarkable in the church by *śy, we that the residence of Cornelius the devout centurion, and was celebrated over the whole coun- were ºf Paul's contanje. - * +- lºw- ºl.1: e * parted, and cam to - try, not only for the elegance and º of its buildings, but likewise as the place ºi'...'...'. }. the Roman governor generally resided and kept his court. And entering there into łºśhiº.º.ºn; - • * * s y 07.16. the house of ſº the evangelist, who was [one] of the seven deacons mentioned in the for ºven.'...i.abºde ºil.” mer part of this history, (chap. vi. 5.) and who had settled at Caesarea after he had bap- tized the eunuch, (chap. viii. 40.) we lodged with him during our stay in this city. Now ...And the same, man, had had four virgin daughters who were all prophetesses, as the miraculous gifts of the Spirit #ºvitsinº which Were sometimes communicated to women as well as to men. (Compare Acts ii. 17, 18. ::ind as we continued [there] many days, a certain prophet whose name was flgabus, who had 10 And as we tarried there been acquainted with us some years before at Antioch, where he foretold the famine which #.º.º.º. had since happened in the days of Claudi > * rom ºugea a certain prophet, - pp in the days of Claudius Caesar, (chap xi. 28.) came down from Judea named Asabus. to Cºesarea. And coming to its when we had several of our friends together, he uttered a 11 And when he was cope prediction which greatly affected us all, attending it, as usual, with a significant and pro- ºi hºnºś s * and bound his own hands an pne 5 ** 5 e took up Paul's girdle, and binding his own hands and feet, he said, Thus flººd ºh tº saith the Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration I now speak and act, So shall the Jews at Jeru-jº. $ºsiºn"; i. salem bind the man whose girdle this is, and shall deliver him a prisoner into the hands of the ºº, Gentiles - . and shall deliyer him into the . . hands of the Gentiles. .And when we who were present heard these things, solicitous for the life and safety of so nº And...whº...we heard dear a friend, and so eminent a servant of Christin the gospel, both we his companions #;"º. ...; who came to Caesarea with him, and also the inhabitants of that place, entreated him with hiſ not to so up **.* tears, in the most pressing and endearing terms, that he would not go up to Jerusalem, since "" it appeared that he would be exposed to such imminent dangers in consequence of that Journey. But Paul, sensibly touched with the concern which we expressed on his account, and J3 Then Paul, answered yet resolutely bent upon following what he apprehended to be the evident call of duty, ºi; jº whatever sufferings it might expose him to, answered at once, with the greatest tenderness ...º.º.” bound and firmness of spirit, What mean ye, my dear friends, by weeping thus, and even breaking º,”; “...";". º heart by these fond solicitations? Cease your tears and your importunity, in an affair º 'º' W ere conscience pleads on the opposite side: for I can assure you, as I told my brethren of Ephesus, in my last interview with them, (chap. xx. 24.) that I am ready with the #. cheerfulness, not only to be bound and castinto prison, but also to die at Jerusa- em, or wherever else I may be called to it, for the honourable and beloved name of the Lord Jesus; and shall esteem it a most glorious and happy period of life, to pour out my blood in defence of that blessed gospel which he hath, committed to my charge. Jłnd when we plainly .# that he would not be persuaded by any importunity we , 14. And when he wººd ºf could use, we ceased to press him any further, saying, #. the will of the fºrd be dome! .º.º. May he protect his faithful servant, whithersoever he leads him and overrule his confine- done. ment and affliction to the advantage of that glorious cause, on which it seems, on the first appearance, to wear so threatening an aspect! --- .And after these days had been spent at Caesarea, Paul would not lose the opportunity of . Aldº being present at the approaching festival; and therefore making up our baggage, we went up §§e:" and to Jerusalem as expeditiously as we could. ...And [some] of the disciples alsº from Caesarea ...hº..."; went *; with us, and % [us] to the house of one Mnason a Cyprian, an old dis- ãº"aºl. 3t with ciple, with whom we should lodge; which we were the more willing to do, as he was a . fºº; person of established character and reputation in the church. we should lodge. IMPROVEMENT, - Let us observe and emulate that excellent and heroic temper which appeared in the blessed apostle St. Paul, in 11, 13 this journey to Jerusalem. When still the Holy Ghost testified in every city, that bonds and afflictions awaited 14 him; when his friends in so fond a manner hung around him, and endeavoured to divert him from his º: he was not insensible to their tender regards: far from that, his heart melted, and was even ready to break under the impression; yet still he continued inflexible. There was a sacred passion warmer in his sºul than the love of friends, or liberty, or life; the love of Christ constrained him, (2 Cor: V. 14.) and made him willing, joyfully willing, not only to be bound, but to die at jerusalem for his name who had indeed died for him there. Oh that such as this might be the temper, such as these the sentiments, of every minister, of every christian For surely imprison- ment in such a case is better than liberty; and death infinitely preferable to the most É. life secured by deserting his service, or flying from any post which the great Captain of our salvation hath º: UIS, On the other hand, let us learn of these wise and pious friends of Paul, to acquiesce in the will of God, when the determination of it is apparent, how contrary soever it may be to our natural desires, ºr even to those views which we had fºrmed fºr the advancement of his cause and interest in the world; where perfect resignation may be diffi- cult in proportion to the degree of our piety and zeal. Can any teach him knowledge ; (Job xxi. 22.) or pursue the urposés of his glory, by wiser and surer methods than those which he has chosen? In this instance the bonds of É which these good men dreaded as so fatal an obstruction to the gospel, tended, as he himself saw and wit- b Ptolemais.] This was a tº: º on the sea-coast, which fell tribe of Manasseh; that it had once been called Straton’s Tower, but by lot to the tribe of Asher, who did not dri º - - * §nt nameºs. Accho.” (jūg. i. 3i.) It was enlarged and beautified dedicated to, Augustus Caesº, when he rebuilt it almost entirely 9 iy the first of the Egyptian Ptolémies, from whence it took, its new aſ: marble; so that Josephus, who was well acquainted with it, º, uS it pºliation. It was the scene of many celebrated actiºns in that series of Yaş.the figº ºil of judea. See Joseph, Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 9. Lal. # ºpeditions which was called the Holy War. The Turks, who are 13.) }% et Bell. Jud. lib. iii. cap. 9... [a]. 14.] § 1. * * M jº ºf aii'this region, caii it. Acca, or Agra; and notwithstand: , d. Brouglºſs to one ſºnº.'' Cyprian, an old disciple..] Mnason }. ignifiº advantages of its situation, on one of the finest bay; on that a native of Syprus but an inhabitant of Jerusalem, whg probably haſ! coast, and in the neighbourhood of Mount Carmel, it is now, like many been converted, either by Christ or the apostles, at the first º: jº jë"ani ºient cities, only a heap of ruins. See Mr. Maun- the gospel there.T.I..hº...? followed Sir Norton Knatchbull’s. Yºº drell’s Journey to Jerusalem, p. 53. * º s of the words, as that which appeared to me best to suit the Qriginal ; for & Cº.j io what I have said, in the paraphrase concerning this it...ºns very unnatural to city, fºil only add, that it lay in the tract of land which fell to the with them. rive out the inhabitants. . Its took its name of Casarea from a noble temple which Herod the º; render a yovres Myaa wyt bringing Jºnason * PAUL'S INTERVIEW WITH JAMES THE ELDER AT JERUSALEM. 465 nessed while he was yet under them, to the furtherance of it! (Phil. i. 12.) and what they apprehended would pre-SECT. vent their seeing him any more, occasioned his returning to Caesarea, and continuing there for a long time, when, 47. though he was a prisoner, they had free liberty of conversing with him. (Acts xxiii. 33. xxiv. 23, 27.) And even to this day we see the efficacy of his sufferings, in the spirit they have added to those epistles which he wrote while º a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and in that weight which such a circumstance also adds to his testimony. Let Jesus XI. therefore lead us and all his other servants whithersoever he pleases, and we will bless his most mysterious conduct insure expectation of that day when whatis now most astonishing in it, shall appearbeautiful and ordered for the best It is pleasant to observe the honour paid to Mnason as an old disciple. An honourable title indeed it is; and 16 wherever it is found, may days speak, and the multitude of years teach wisdom (Job xxxii. 7.) And may there be a readiness, as in this good old man, to employ all the remaining vigour of nature, be it more or less, in the service of Christ, and in offices of cordial love and generous friendship to those who are engaged in the work of the Lord! *-*- SECTION XLVIII. Paul being arrived at Jerusalem, after an interview with James and the elders of the church there, is assaulted by the Jews while worshipping in the temple, and rescued by Lysias the Roman officer from the extremest danger of being torn in pieces by their fury. Acts xxi. #ng Acts xxi. 17. ACTS xxi. 17. AND when we were come to IN the preceding section we gave an account of our setting out_on our journey from SECT. º; ºf prehen * Caesarea; and now we are to add, that when we were arrived at Jerusalem, the brethren 48. ... And the day, following there received us with great pleasure and affection.* ...ſind the next day Paul took us with i.e.j", "h".; him who had attended him in his journey, and entered in with us to the house of James the Acts were present. apostle, commonly called James the Less, or the Lord's brother; and all the elders of the tº". flourishing church in that city were present there, to receive so important a visitant, of whose 19 And when he had salut- arrival and errand they had heard. .3nd Paul-having embraced them with great affection, 19. §º presented us, that were of his company to them : and after this he gave them a particular wrºught among the Gentiles account of all those things which God had done among the Gentiles by his ministry since by his ministry. he lastléft Jerusalem; informing them of the success that he had met with in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus; of the churches he had planted in all those places, and of the opportunity he had enjoyed of visiting most of them a second time, as well as of taking a review of those in Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lystra, and other parts of Asia, with the plantation of which they had formerly been made acquainted. (Acts xv. 4.) And he concluded with an account of those alms which he had brought from the Gentile converts for the relief of their brethren of the circumcision at Jerusalem. Jłnd when they heard [it] they glorified the Lord Jesus Christ for this wonderful de-20 monstration of his presence and grace with his servant; and then they said to him, Dear and honoured brother, we rejoice from our hearts in the triumphs of the gospel among the Gentiles; and as we doubt not but the whole body of the christian church is dear to thee as well as to us, we assure ourselves thou wilt candidly join in all prudent endeavours for removing any prejudices which may have been weakly imbibed, to the injury of that mutual affection which we so earnestly desire to cultivate : in a word, thou seest with thine own eyes how many myriads of believing Jews there areb who are gathered together from all parts to Jerusalém, on occasion of this feast; and they are, in the general, persons who are all zealous for the observation of the Mosaic law, as supposing it ofperpetual obligation 21 And they are informed on all our nation, without excepting those that have embraced christianity. . .Now, so it is jºi.º.º. that, through the prejudice and falsehood of thine enemies, they have been (we doubt not, ºilº, very falsely),infºrmed of thee, that wherever thou comest thoſ teachest all the Jews which :::::::...";ºft are among the Genlile nations, to apostatize from the law of Moses;* saying, That they flººr to walk aher oight not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the other rites and customs §º is it therefore 2 which we have learned from our forefathers as of divine institution. What is it them which 22 ..º.º. ººli may not be apprehended on such an occasion 2 . The multitude, no doubt, who have been come together: for they will * hear that thou art come. thus informed of thee, must by all means come together to observe thy conduct narrowly; for they will soon have notice of thy being here, and must needs hear that thow art come; and they immediately will form their judgment of the truth or falsehood of the information - they have received, by what they discover in thy present behaviour of regard or disregard 23 Do therefore this that to the Mosaic ceremonies. And therefore, to show them that, how far soever thou art from i.º.º. i. º.º.º. imposing them as necessary to salvation, or teaching men to seek justification by them, yet on them ; thou dost not think there is any intrinsic evil in them, nor teach it as a matter of duty, that believers in Christ should disuse and reject them; do this that we say to thee,d and let us counsel thee to take this method, as the best expedient we can think of for immediately taking off any ill impressions which might otherwise be apprehended: There are with wis four men who are converts to the gospel, and have at present a vow of Nazariteship upon 24. Then, take, and purify them: Now we would advise thee to take them as thy companions and partners, and purify 24 º.º. thyself with them, according to the Jewish ritual; and be at all the necessary chargés .# jºi them, that they may shave their heads, and offer the sacrifices which the law has appointed in that case:* | then all that come up to the temple, and see thee in these circumstances, 20 And when, they heard it, they glorified the Lord; and if unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe ; and they are all zealous of the law : a The brethren reccived us with great †† and aſlection.] The alms he brought with him would be one, though far from being the only or the chief, circumstance of endearment; so that the prayers of his christian friends were answered, that his ministry with respect to Jeru- salem (§ cus ‘Ispovga}\mp) might be acceptable to the saints, Rom. xv. 31. b Hou, many myriads of believing Jeyes there are.] I do not apprehend º!. on this text and history, that the gospel never designed to set the evs at liberty from the law of Moses, except with º to sacrifices, though he allows that the Gentiles were not, intended, to be, subject to it. (See JNazaren. p. 35, But it is evidént that he fell into that erroneous opinion; (so directly contrary to many other scriptures, such as, º onn. xiv. 14. Eph. ii. 14, Dol. ii. 14—17. III]. iv. 4. 2 Cor. iii that it can be certainly argued from hence; that there were more than thirty or even twenty thousand Jewish believers now present at Jeru- salem; for the word puptačes may only in general denote a great number; but it is certain that the greater, part of them were not stated inhabitants of Jerusalem, but only visited it on occasion of this great festival; (compare ver, #: that no certain argument can be deduced from hence as to the plura § of congregations supposed to have been now under the care of the bishop of Jerusalem, if there were indeed any christian officer who had that title so early, which it does not appear from Scripture that there was. It is surprising, therefore, that the in- genious, Mr. Slater should lay so, much stress upon this text in his Original Draught of the Primitive Churches. e * c Thow teachest all the Jews, which are among the Gentile nations to apostatize from JMoses.) It is a leading observation of that vain and un- happy man, Mr. Toland, in his JNazarents, which ho grounds princi- * - 11. Heb. viii. 13.) by not attending to a most ob- vious medium between enforcing it on their consciences as necessary, and condemning it as unlawful. I have strongly expressed this medium in the paraphrase on ver. 23 and 25. d Do this that use say to thee..] To interpret this advice given to the great apostle of the Gentiles by the body of these elders, as an authori- tative episcopal command, would be apparently absurd ; and yet it is the only passage in the whole context that glances at all that way. e Be at charges cith them; that they may shave their heads.] Josephus not only tells us in general that it was customary with persons in any sickness or distress to make vows, and to spend at least thirty, days in extraordinary devotions, (Bell. Jud, lib. ii. cap. 15. § 1.), but also ;: that when Agrippa, came to Jerusalem; he §eå sacrifices of thanks- giving, and ordered a good number of Nazarites to be shaved ; (Jāntiq- lib. Nix. cap. R. [al. 5.] § 1.) a phrase exactly answering to this; from 466 SECT. 48. ACTS XXI. 25 26 PAUL ASSAULTED BY THE JEWS AT JERUSALEM. will know, by their own observation, that there is nothi mining that they S to º; º, tº s º strangled, and from fornication. cree, they cannot imagine what at all inconsistent wi hap. xv. 28, 29.) - of truth and reality in those thi e which they have heard of thee; but that instead of forbidding these §: to j may know, that those things thou thyself walkest regularly, keeping the law, and avoiding all occasion of offence. as for the º; thou knowest we have written some time ago to them, deter- uld think themselves obliged to observe none of these things, except it be ves from what is offered to idols, and from blood, and from that which is § nd as we all concurred in this de- - ou mayst now do, according to the advice we give thee, * * * * * * * asserting their liberty in the manner thou so constantly dost: nor will this be any proof at all that thou thinkest the observation of these ceremonies neces- Ul also Walkest orderly, and keepest the l - (lW. 25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have writ- tºn, and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep them- selves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from for- ThiC&tion. sary to the salvation even of believing Jews, though duty, prudence, and charity may, in sº particular instances, dictate a conformity to them. OW # men who had engaged in the vow, and the very ing to the rites of purification, till an offering should be offered for every one º as this was the unanimous advice of James and the brethren, Paul, on ma- ture deliberation, determined to comply with the proposal; and accordingly he took the - next day being purified with them, accord- g * ... - the law, he entered with them into the temple: d were in waiting there, the purpose he had formed for t 26 Then Paul took the men; and the next day purifying himself with, them; entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offing should be offered for every one of them. claring to the priests who accomplishment of the days of of them, as the Mosaic ritual re- quired, (Num. vi. 13, et seq.) that so all proper preparations might be made for that pur- pose. 27 . But as the seven days which were to complete this affair were about to be accomplished,h 3. And when the jeºn 28 tumultuous and outrageous manner; Crying out to all that were present, Ye men of Israel, help; and exert that pious zeal which so provoking and heinous a circumstance must surely excite; for this is the wretched and detestable man that every where teaches all men a set of principles most directly contrary to the people of the Jews, and the divine law we have received by Moses, and to this sacred and venerable place, which hath been and further, brought erected for the service of God at so vast an expense, and so solemnly devoted to him. 29 has justly forfeited his life to its injured honours. who had attended him in his late journey, (chap. xx. 4.) 30 31 32 formed by those upon duty, that the Jews that were come from Asia to celebrate the feast of Pentecost,i seeing him in the days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, temple, threw all the populace into confusion, and laid violent hands upon him in a most when they saw him. Hº temple, stirred up, all , the people, and laid hands on him 28 Crying Qut, . Men f Israel, help : This is the man that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place : - reeks also into the temple; and hath polluted this holy place. ...And on these malignant principles he hath even brought Greeks into the temple, within that enclosure which no foreigner may enter, and º hath polluted this holy#. ; and so º ...; they rashly imagined that Paul had brought with which was appropriated to native Jews, or to such as were proselyted by circumcision to : the entire observation of their law. .4nd the whole city was moved on this occasion, and there was presently a tumultuous hold on Paul in a furious manner, they dragged him out concourse of the people; and lay ing: of the temple, that it might not ... with his blood. shut by order of the proper officer, to prevent any further riot or violation of those sacred or they had before seem rophimus the f 29 º '#. had iºn #. in # 4, , , …" º ore with him, in the city - • in the city with him, Trophimus an ɺhesian, him into that part of the temple whom they supposed that 3 Ul lº rought into the Cºmple. 30 And all the city was moved, and the people ran to- gether: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple : and forthwith the doors were shut. .4nd immediately the gates were enclosures, as well as to exclude Paul from seeking any sanctuary at the horns of the altar. .And when the multitude, who had now got him in their cruel hands, were so outrageous that they went about to kill him," word was brought to Lysias, the chief officer of the rrison, who was the tribune of the cohort, and was called by the Greek title of hºll Jerusalem was in an e signifies) a thousand men, with their proper cem- his command; and as a detachment of his men kept guard in the outer Roman Chiliarch, from his having (as that wor turions, under portico of the temple during this public festival, to prevent any tumult," he was soon in- alarmed the tribune, who knowin l the city of Jerusalem was in confusion. This presently how much it was his concern to check such turbulent proceedings, immediately took soldiers and some of the centurions belonging to the cohort whence Dr. Lardner (Credib. Book i chap. 9. § {: vol. i. p. 473, 474-) very naturally argues, that to be at charges with Nazarites was both 8. common and very popular thing among the Jews. The learned Witsius also has long since produced a most apposite passage from Maimonidºs, in which he expressly asserts that a person, who was not himself a Nazarite, #: bind himself by a vow to take *. with one in his sacrifice. (Wits. Meletem. cap. x. § 3. p. 149.) The charges of these four Nazarites would be the price of eight lambs and four rams, besides oil, flour, &c. Numb. vi. 14, 15. - * - • fºot. thyself walkest regularly.] It is indeed very, evident from hence, as Mr. Löcke well observes, (6. the Epistles, p. 4.) that what- ever might have passed between, Pâul and James,on this head in private. (compare Gal. ii. 2.), James and the brethren thought it most regular and conyenient that the Jewish ritual, should still be. QBserved by those of the circumcision who believed in Christ; and considering what, tribu- jation the church at Jerusalem must otherwise have been exposed to by the ganhedrim, who no doubt would have prosecuted them to the utmost as apostates, and also how soon Providence intended to render the prac- tice of it impossible, and to break the whole power of the Jews by the destruction of the temple and city and nation, it was certainly the most orderly and prudent conduct to conform to it, º it were looked upon by those that understood the matter fully (which it, was not néges- sary tºat all should) as antiquated and ready to vanish away. Heb. Vll 1, 1 J. g Paul took the men, and the next day being purified with them, &c.] If anything more than has already been said, seem necessary to vindicate ` the brethren in giving, and Paul in takin; this advice, which I cannot think there does, the reader_may consult Čalvin’s note'here, and Wils. JMeletem. Cap. x. . p. 150–152. - hºls the seven days were about to be accomplished.] Beza supposes that by these seven days are meant the seven weeks that introduced the feast of Pentecost, which was usually called the feast of weeks, Qr that at jeast we are to understand them of the last week before it; but it is much more natural to refer them to the § of purification which were to be completed before the sacrifices should be offered that were to close the vow. It is, however, inconsistent with what follows, to render the words eplex)\ov avvrexeta flat, that i. were almost ended, as if the tu- mult in the temple happened towards the conclusion of these seven days, When Éaui declares to Félix, in the defence he made before him eight days after he was seized, that it was then but twelve days since, he Yºut up to jerusalem; (chap. xxiv. 11.) and it is evident it was not till the third day after his coming thither, that Paul began his purification. The phrase implies no more than that the seven days were about to be accomplished; and by comparing chap. xxi. 18, 26. xxii. 30. xxiii. 12, ãº. i. ii. it appears that the time of his seizure must needs have been towards the beginning of them. 31. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, uproar: 32. Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and i The Jews that were from ºffsia.] Paul had lately spent three years in preaching there, and, notwithstanding the success his labours were at- tended, with, had met with great opposition from these people,; (compare Acts xix. 9.xx. 3, 31. 1 Cor. xvi. 9.) so that it is no wonder these should be the leaders in such an assault upon him. • R Teaches—contrary to this place.) Every thing contrary to the law would be justly interpreted as contrary to the temple, which, was so evidently supported by a regard, to it. But perhaps Paul might have declared that the destruction of the temple was approaching; which de- claration, we know, was charged on Stephen as a great crime. Acts VI. 14. - 1 Brought Grecks into the temple, within that enclosure, &c.] It is very evident, and universally, acknowledged, that any stranger might worship in that which was called the court of the Gentiles; but these zealots, without any proof but an uncertain conjecture and rumour, imagined Paul had brought some uncircumcised Greeks into the inner part of the court, which was appropriated to the people of Israel, as was notified by the Greek and Latin inscriptions on several of the pillars which stood in the wall that separated it: Mn det ax\oq,w}\ov traguevat, JW9 foreigner must enter here. (Joseph., Bell, Jud...lib. v. cap. 5. [al. vi. 6.] § 2. et lib. vi. cap. 2. [al. vii. 4.] § 4.). But it is to be observed, by the way, that a proselyte who by circumgision, had declared his submis- sion to, and acceptance of, the whole Jewish religion, yas no longer looked upon as a foreigner, but as .9ne naturalized,and so a fellow- citizen ; to which there may be an allusion, Eph. ii. (9. lm They went about to kill him.) Philo says, that any unçircumcised Fº who came within the separating wall mentioned above, might e stoned to death, without any further process, (Legat. ad Cai. p. 1032.) which is confirmed by the last passage Paul indeed brought such a one thither, that rule (allowing its authority) could not have affegted him, since he himself was a Jew. Yet what the Jews called the judgment of zeal would no doubt have been pleaded tojºiſy the murder, had it been perpetrated according to their wicked II]tent. - n Kept guard in the outer portigo of the temple, &c.] Josephus as- SülreS UIS #. Jud. lib. v. cap. 5. [al. vi. 6: $8.) that a déº. of armed soldiers, belonging to, the Roman legion which lodged in the adjacent castle of Antonia, kept guard in the porticoes of the temple which surrounded, the court of the Gentiles, on feast days, to prevent disorders ; and he has another passage to the same purpose, JAntiq. lib. xx. cap. 5. [al. 4.] § 3.--It is evident that Lysias was not present when this tumuſt began. I think it Pºlº as Dr. Lardner conjectures, edib. book i. *}; 2. § 14. vol. i. p. 221, 222.) that he was the oldest oman tribune at Jerusalem, and was the commanding officer at the castle above mentioned, and of the legion quartered theró. *: from Josephus; but had PAUL ASSAULTED BY THE JEWS AT JERUSALEM. 467 §.º, ºirãº: with him, and ran in among them to suppress the riot. The Jews were therefore ...}. SECT. ... "...ſºjº, before they could accomplish their design; and when they saw the tribune and the soldiers 48. left beating of Paul. come among them, they ceased from beating Paul;” which they had begun to do in such a manner, that had he hot been thus seasonably rescued in this critical moment, his life Agºs 33. Then the chief captain must soon have fallen a sacrifice to their rage. Then the tribune drew near and took him * §º §§ into his custody; and supposing him to be some very criminal and obnoxious person, in jº.º.º. º. order to prevent his escape, he commanded him to be bound with two chains. And as, he manded who he was, and 5 - e º - what he had done. “found the people so enraged against him, he inquired of those that were the forwardest amongst them, who he was, that such a géneral outcry had been raised against him, and - - what he had done to deserve it. + 34. And some cried one And such was the confusion of this riotous assembly, that some among the multitude 34 §: cried out one thing, and some another: and as the tribune saw it was in vain to think the §§º matter should be cleared at present, and that he could not know the certainty of anything jºiº by reason of the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle of Antonia, where *śnd when he same upon the Roman garrison was kept. But when he was upon the stairs which led up from, the 35 the stairs, so it was jºie nearest gate of the temple to it,” it came to pass that he was borne up from the groundº 36 #inºiſ. #. the soldiers who had him in charge, because of the violence of the crowd. For the multil 36 Fºr the multitude of the of the people pressed after and blowed him as far as they could; and when he was out of ºś* their reach, pursued him still with clamorous invectives, eagerly crying out, Away with him, away with him! for he deserves the worst of punishments, and should immediately be put to death. IMPROVEMENT. IT is delightful to observe how the same principles of humble and benevolent piety wrought in the mind of Wer.19 Paul on the one hand, and on the other in those of James and the brethren of the circumcision, while the one recounted and the others rejoiced in what God had done by his ministry among the Gentiles. May ministers always remember, that whatever good is done by their ministry, it is the work of God, and that the praise is to be rendered to him And oh that, whenever they assemble and meet with each other for religious and friendly con- ference, they may have cause for mutual thankfulness while they hear and tell what efficacy God is putting into the word s spoken by them, which is never like to be greater than when the ministers of it appear least in their own eyes! A prudent precaution, consistent with the strictest integrity, discovered itself in the advice which James and the 20, Jewish christians gave to their beloved brother Paul on this occasion, to conform to the customs of the Mosaic et seq. worship in an affair in which he very innocently might do it; thereby to show, that as he was not a slave to cere- monial institutions, so neither was he a bigoted zealot against them, nor one that made it a point of humour to oppose them in matters of indifference, and to father that opposition on conscience. When will the leaders of our churches agree to teach their followers, by such wise and mild examples, to study the honour, and comfort, and usefulness of each other, pursuing the things that make for peace and tend to promote mutual edification? (Rom. xiv. 19.) Yet what prudence or what integrity may not sometimes be mistaken or misrepresented! What good may not be evil spoken of, and abused as a cloak for mischief, when men's hearts are overflowing with malice, and are so wretchedly corrupted as to take pleasure in indulging it under the disguise of religion | What numerous falsehoods 28 attended the charge which these furious Jews brought against Paul, in every article of it! Yet it is believed on the credit of a noisy rabble; and it was owing to the gracious interposition of a very remarkable providence, that this light of Israel was not immediately quenched, and that this holy apostle was not torn in pieces º: Outra- geous mob, fierce and irrational as so many wild beasts, before he could have any liberty to speak for himself. Let not religion be condemned unheard, and then surely it cannot be condemned at all. Let us with pleasure 31–36 reflect that God can raise up guardians to it from the most unexpected quarter, and animate men, like this Roman officer, from considerations merely secular, to appear most seasonably and effectually in the defence of his faithful servants. Let us adore the wise conduct of Providence in instances like these; and let us always pursue oar duty with courage, since God can never be at a loss for expedients to secure us in our adherence to it. SECTION XLIX. Paul makes a speech to the people at Jerusalem, in which he gives them a particular account of the means by which he was ongaged to embrace and preach the gospel. Acts xxi. 37, to the end; xxii. 1–16. Acts xxi. 37. ACTs XXi. 37. - - AND as Paul was to be led IT has been shown how Paul was rescued from the tumult of the Jews, who would have SECT. tºº killed him; and with what violence they followed him with their cries, when he was taken Tag y y. • * - * e speak into theºlºšaid, from them: but as Paul was going to be brought into the castle, to which the Roman ***** soldiers were conducting him, he said to the firibune who commanded them, May I be acts allowed to speak a few words to thee? .4nd when the tribune heard him speak in the *** Ešº wºn tº Greek language, he said in some surprise, What, caust thou speak Greek? Art not thou 38 ãº's mºdest an º that Egyptian who didst some time before these days stir up a sedition, and lead out into the jº, º, wilderness four thousand murderers,” who committed horrible depredations there on all who were murderers 3 were so unhappy as to come within their reach P The public is so exasperated against thee, that it naturally occurred to my mind thou mightst be that most desperate of criminals. o They ceased from beating Paul.], It is said just before, they, went and having brought them through the wilderness; and, increased the about to kill him; which they intended to have done, as, Dr. Lightfoot number of his followers, to thirty thousand, he led them to mount has observed, by what, the Jews were used to call the beating of the Qlivet, promising them that at his command the walls of Jerusalem rebels, in which they did not stay for any legal process, but having should fall down, that they might enter the city; but the Jews, instead found that any had profaned the temple, the people rushed immediately of joining with him, stood on their defence; and Felix marching Out upon them, and having dragged, them out, beat, them with staves and against him with the Roman soldiers, he was deserted by his followers, stones in such a cruel manner, that they often, died, under their hands, and fled with a few of his chief adherents, most of which were either (See Dr. Lightfoot, Chron. in loc, and Scrwice of the Temple, º: i. § 3.) taken or slain, but the Egyptian himself made his escape. (See Joseph. And thus they would have treated Paul upºn a mere pretence, had they Bell. Jud. lib. ii. cap. i. §. 12:] § 5. et Antiq. lib; xx. cap. 8. [al. 6 not been prevented by the coming ºf the tribune. - § 6.) There is indeed a considerable, difference between the sacre hen he was wron, the stairs.] These stairs are particularly, men- historian and Josephus, as to the numbers mentioned by each; for the tioned in the passage from Josephus which is referred to in the begin- reconciling of which, I refer my reader to the learned Mr. W.ará's solu- ning of note, n; and it appears by the account he jº that the castle tion of this difficulty, as reported by Dr. Lardner, (Credib. Book ii. was situated at an angle of the temple, and had a number of stairs chap. 8. Yol. ii. p. 497, et seq.) and conclude this note, with the just descending both to the western and the northern portico. Uemark of Dr. Lårdner as to the great accuracy, with which, Luke has a JArt not thow that Egyptian; &c.] Josephus (as almost all the learned represented Lysia's speaking of t; matter. The men were led into the commentators on this verse have qbserved) §º. mentions this - * l - - - Wilderness, the impostor’s name was unknown, he being only, called an ś impostor as coming into Judea while Fe §§ hiC • XXyas governor there, Egyptian ; he had escaped alive, and most of his followers had deserted h he had been some years before this tumult: (Compare Acts xxiv. him; so that a tumult of the Jews about him would have been no unnatu- e º his account of him it appears, that, calling himself a prophet, ral circumstance, (as some have objected) since he had long ceased to he took many of the common people with him from Jerusalem, be their idol. 468 SECT. 49. PAUL's SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE AT JERUsALEM. #. Paul said to him, Thou art entirely mistaken both as to my person and character, as .39 *...*. said, # ºn.” I hope fully to convince thee; for I am no Egyptian, but am indeed a Jew of Tarsus in Hºué. #"ciſ"i"cia,”, *7 - I - . . re a citizen of no inconsidera tu :b and - - - r citizen of no mean city: and Cilicia, and therefo Af siderable city;b and I entreat thee thou wouldst išš jºid"; *** favour me so far as to permit me to speak to the people, who, by this unreasonable attack j. 4. upon me, show how little they know of me; and for their sakes, as well as my own, I could 40 wish them to be better informed. And on his giving him permission to say what he , 40 And when he had given ACTS XXII. - - * * * * * gº - e A him li y P l t pleased, Paul standing on the stairs that led up to the castle, beckoned with his hand to the lºº. ºft ſº ; and when he found there was a great silence, and they were ready to attend to what the "hº º; Q 8. e said, he addressed them in the Syriac tongue, which was then the common language of #º the Jews, and therefore called the Hebrew dialect; and made a discourse to them to the tº the Hebrew tongue, following purpose, saying, aying, Men, brethren, and fathers, of whatsoever age, rank, or circumstance of life, I beseech you jºi...ºr º: that you would compose yourselves patiently and candidly to hear my apology [which jº.';*.*.*. I make] now to you for myself and my conduct; and I cannot but hope it will fully con- unto you. 2 vince you how much you have been misinformed concerning me. (..And when they heard .2.(And when they, heard - * in. x7 * that he spak the Hebrew that he addressed them in their vulgar tongue, and spake what was then called the Hebrew tº j. dialect, they were the rather disposed to hearken to him, and, numerous as the assembly was, more silence; and he saith) 3 kept a strict silence; and he went on with his discourse, and said.) It is well known to 3 I am verily a man which r multitudes that I am indeed by birth and religion a Jew who was born at Tarsus, the chief #,' 'º' *::::::: city in the neighbouring province ºf Cilicia; but my parents were so warmly attached to ºf & e g se d S . } & -oil ... * * Gamalie), and taught accord- their religion, and so desirous that I might be well instructed in it, that they sent me, at a ." §§ Pºº great expense, to be educated here in this city, at the feet of that celebrated teacher º.º.º.º.º.º. ge * * * * * * - 3 * Gamaliel,” by whom I was trained up [and] accurately instructed in the law of our fathers; ye affare this dağ. being from my very youth exceedingly zealous for the honour of God and his sacréd insti. * , ºf sº tº * & & way unto the death, bindi sition to the religion of Jesus than I was, who persecuted the followers of this christian way ...} \}..."; }; and manner of worship even to the very death; binding both men and women who professed both men and women. it, without any regard to sex, age, or quality, and delivering them all into prisons,f where 4 tutions, as you all are this day. Nor was there any in those ; more violent in his oppo- .4.º. pºsecuted this 5 they were closely and severely confined. As also the high priest is my witness, and all the d 5 à. also the high priest or º otl 'it ł all court of the elders;s for he and all the other members of the Sanhedrim well know how ......"; iv, ~ : * r y -- ~4- } - ; F whom also I received letters eager I was to give them all the assistance in my power towards rooting out the gospel, if yº Went possible, from the whole face of the earth: from whom also having several years since tºº."º"bi. i. received letters to the brethren, empowering me to act against those for whom I have now so ...” Jºie..."; };"; great an affection, I went to Damascus with a most resolute purpose, according to the tenor punished. of my commission, to º; those that were there, where I imagined many might have sought a retreat, bound to Jerusalem, that they might take their trial here, and be punished according to the utmost rigour of the law. (Compare Acts ix. 1, 2.) 6 And if you desire, as you probably may, to know how I came so entirely to change my ºli; ºne ºf hº * & * * º s I made my journey, and sentiments and measures as to engage in the defence and service of a cause which I so was º mighlinto ſºna; • T \,; it; - n; -* * ron- Cus about noon, Suddenly earnestly had laboured to destroy, I will give you a plain and faithful account of the won- i. shone from heaven"; derful event which occasioned it. Be pleased therefore to observe, that it came to pass on real iºtroundatiºn. that most memorable day of my whole life, that as I was on my journey, and was now come wigh to Damascus, where I had as it were my prey in view, about moon, on a sudden a great 7 light shone about me from heaven : ...And I fell to the ground in unuttérable astonishment, ...And... ſell gºtº. tº . e ge * ground, and heard a voice and at that instant heard a voice from heaven saying lo me, Saul, Saul, why dost thou perse- jºu..., ºai, Šâj, 8 cute me? But I answered trembling, Hºho art thou, Lord? and how is it that I havé per- "gº, secuted thee? And he said unto me, I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thou persecutest by the §:};}...}º furious rage with which thou art pursuing my disciples, and art endeavouring to destroy jºjº. 9 my gospel. And they that were with me saw the light indeed and were terrified; but they *::::::::...'...}. te • = . . º * * me saw indeed the light, and heard only a confused sound, and did not distinctly hear the voice of him that spake to me.h ºf jºi 10 And I, finding no further disposition to oppose that glorious Person who had condescended ºce of him that * º p e Tº ºr sº ºr to º in so gracious a manner to stop my wretched career, and to expostulate thus ij A. :º lº mildly with me, when it was evident he could have destroyed me in a moment, immediately aſſº.º.º.". surrendered as it were at discretion, and said, Lord, what shall I do? And the Lord said jºif;ãº; wnto me, flrise and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thce, and a particular account jº...",".. shall be given thee of all things which are ſº for thee to do, and thou shalt be to do. informed what extraordinary services are allotted to thee, after all thou hast done 11 against my cause and interest. .4nd as, when I was risen from the ground, I could not ..] lºng when I could not g - w wn $ for the glory of that light, see by reason of the glory of that light which had broke in upon me with so bright a lustre ****** ight b A citizen of no inconsiderable º The inhabitants of Tarsus, which more, it was not for want of zeal and rage, but merely of power. But seems to have taken its name from Tarshish the son of Javan, (Gen. x. there is no reason to think that this sacred history contains a full account 4.) boasted extremely of their º as Dío Chrysostom observes, of all the outrages committed against christians during the period to Qrat. 33. ad Tarsenses; and Strabo tells us, (Geograph, lib. iv. p. 483.) that whigh it extends. ….... - they were so considerable on account of learning, as well as commerce, f Into prisons.J. Witsius observes here, that there were two sorts of wealth, and grandeur, that they might dispute the prize with Athens prisons among the Jews; one only for confinement, the Qther where and Alexandria.-Paul, by saying he was a Jew of T'arsus, proved that iney were placed in most uneasy postures, and put to a kind of torture; he had a right to be in the temple. ſor the illustration of which he introduces, some curious passages froni c Born at Tarsus.] is, as the learned Witsius well observes, the rabbies. See Wits. Ji?cletem. cºff 1. Sº I S. º: jãeſetem. cap. i. $3.5 shows how little credit is to be given to the tra! "g ºigh priest is my witness...] That is, I can appeal to him for the ition inentioned by Jerome, (De Script. Eccles. cap.Y.) that Paul was proof of this, It will not follow from hence, that he who was now high born at Gischalis in Judea, and driven from thence to Tarsus, when that priest, also bore that, office when Paul persecuted the christians; he city was sacked by the Romans, since it is directly contrary to this might then perhaps be only an inferior member of the samhcdrin, on testimony of his own; and I mention it chiefly to show how soon tradi- which supposition this, appeal would be proper, and consequently no tion erred in facts of any considerable standing; nor do I remember any light gap begained from hence to fix the date of Paul’s conversion. proof of such a devastation at Gischalis aboup the time of Paul’s birth, h_Did not distinctly bear the voice, §§ To what I have said on chap. which was somewhat later than that of our Lord. Compare, Acts vii. ix3.7.9.19. note i, p. 405, I, shall only add, a remark of, Mr. Fleming, 58. I honour the testimony of the fathers exceedingly when they º (Christol, vol. i. p. I03.) that as in the castle of Cleves, (and he might on their personal knowledge ; but when they report facts said to have have added, in the cathedral of St. Paul and elsewhere,), there, is a happened long before they were born, I dare not lay much stress upon gallery, so contrived, that two persons standing with their backs to them. * each other in opposite parts of it may distinctly hear each other, while d' At the feet of Gamaliel.] Strabo tells us, in the passage referred to a pgrson standing between them in the middle gan, hea. neither; It lS above, that, it was customary, among the inhabitants of Tarsus for the easily conceivable that the air º; by the ministry of º . the 'oung people, when they had gone through a course of education at immediate power of Christ, be so disposed as, to º St] Ch 3. '#. }; to travel abroad for further improvement.—Of this celebrated inenon. But ſ do not apprehend that, had this been § º, ºu!'; Gamaliel, to whom the care of Paul in his younger years was committed, companions would have heard a gonfused sound, as I thin h it is ;"; See note #. on Acts v. 34, p. 386.-The phrase ºf being brought up at his intimated they did;—Elsmer has shown in a ſºuriº, §. hºre; t * the feet plainly alludes to the posture in which the , scholars were usually heathens thought divine voices as well as visions º it ti ; one. º placed, who sat on the ground, or on lºw, seats, while their teacher was in a company without º; perceived by the rest. l serv. .. - 1: p. raised on a kind of throne. Compare Luke x. 39. . 466–468 give the story here without aſy large parap "ji. erring e Persecuted this way to the death..] We, know he was concerned in to § 19, p. 404, et seq. where it first occurs, for any further explication Ór the death of Stephen, (chap. viii. I.) and iſ he was not so in that of many illustration it may need. , - PAUL'S SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE AT JERUSALEM. 469 quite to dazzle and blind my eyes, being led by the hand of those that were with me, I SECT. came to Damascus. - 49. ...And one Ananias, a by no means destroyed his regard to the being led by the hand of them as that were with me, I came nto Damascus. º 12 And one Ananias, a de- yout man according to the layw, having a good report of ious man according to the law, whose acceptance of the gospel hed osaic institutions, and who on that accounthad § #...he Jews which dwelt an honourable chargcter among all the Jews who dwelt [at £º was sent to visit i. : I iščane unto me, and stood, And coming to me by a divine appointment, and standing by me as I lay blind upon my bed, 13 and said unto me, Brother * Šaul, receive thy sight. And he said to me Brother Saul, look up, and fix thine eyes upon me. And in that tely hºur the same hour I looked up and momentſ found my sight restored; so that Ilooked up upon him, and saw him distinctly. "º he said, The god And he then addressed me in words which I shall never forget, and which have sing? 14 *.*.*.*hº been remarkably illustrated; for he said, My dear brother, the God of our fathers º jºi" will.i.d."; fore-ordained thee to know his will as now manifested in his f. and to see that right- tº hear eous Person whom our nation so ungratefully rejected and crucified; and hath even * A tº granted thee the singular favour to hear a voice from his own mouth; though he be now .. 15. For thou, shalt he his ascended to the regions of celestial glory: And this because he intends to qualify thee for 15 §§...º.º.” the most honourable and important service in his church; for thou shall be his authentic witness to all men to whom thou mayst come, of those wonderful things which thou hast . . 15 And now, why tarriest seen and heard on this extraordinary occasion. .4nd now, considering this, why gost tho'ſ 16 ..º.º. delay in the most solemn manner to declare thy joyful acceptance of these benefits 2 lºi Jirº immediately and be baptized, and thereby take the method which Christ has ap ointed -- to wash away thy sing ;k declaring thy desire of renouncing them, and invoking the name of the Lord jestis, who has so mercifully interposed to deliver thee from them, and made that ordinance a token of remission. IMPROVEMENT. By whatever methods God hath been pleased to bring us home to himself, and to introduce into our minds the Ver, 6 saving light of his gospel, we shall have long and indeed everlasting reason to recollect it with pleasure; espe- et Seq. cially when he hath gone in any remarkable manner out of his common way for this gracious purpose. They who have in this respect obtained mercy of the Lord, should undoubtedly make it their care often to recollect the particular circumstances, and should be ready on every proper occasion to recount those wonders of power and love, for the encouragement and instruction of others. (Compare 1 Tim. i. 16.) e The learned education which Paul had received at the feet of Gamaliel, was once, no doubt, the matter of his 3 boasting and confidence. Unsanctified learning made his bonds strong, and furnished him with many a specious argument to oppose the gospel: yet when divine grace changed his heart, and turned these accomplishments into another channel, they made the conquest so much the more glorious, and rendered him the fitter instrument to subserve God's wise and merciful purposes, for the defence and propagation of Christianity by his means. Wher- eyer learning is possessed, may it be so directed and improved and wherever it is perverted and abused, may Christ manifest his victorious power to cast down imaginations, and every high thing which eralis itself in rebellion against him, till every thought be brought into a willing and thankful subjection to his authority (2 Cor. x. 5.) , , , Adored be the condescension of that blessed Redeemer which spared this prostrate enemy, and reduced him 7, 8, 10 by the tender expostulations of mercy rather than the terrors of wrath; exerting that secret transforming power ‘’” upon his heart, without which this miracle, astonishing as it was, would have had no thorough and abiding effect. Speak, O Lord, from heaven, to them that ignorantly persecute thee; and make them, humbly willing to receive the law from thy mouth. (Job xxii. 22.) If they who saw this tremendous scène and the astonishing consequences of it, were not themselves subdued to the gospel, (as it doth not appear that they were,) it must certainly be a sad illustration of the hardness of the human heart, almost beyond parallel; especially when we consider how eager Paul would undoubtedly be, to make those who had been the associates of his crime, the partners of his faith, service, and hope as a christian. But however these efforts might miscarry with respect to them, there were those who glorified God in him. (Gal. 15 i. 24.) Let us take this renewed opportunity of doing it; and as he is still by his writings a glorious witness to Christ among us, on whom the ends of the world are come, let us, by receiving his testimony with a most cheer- ful assent, set to our seal that God is true. (John iii. 33.) 9, 11 t SECTION L. *s. . Paul proceeding in his defence to the Jews at Jerusalem, is interrupted in his remarkable story by their violence; and when about to be scourged by order of the tribune, is exempted from it on pleading his privilege as a Roman citizen. Acts xxii. 17–29. Acts xxii. 17. ACTS xxii. 17. AND it came to pass, that --- r six, o fin o f oxy- Y: an YT: ~!," --~~~~ ; {* Cº- & &\; º.º.º.º. PAUL went on to give the Jews, to whom he was addressing himself from the stairs of sect Jerusalem, even Wii.f.a. the castle of Antonia in Jerusalem, an account of some further circumstances relating to 50 tº “” “ ” " " the reason he had to engage in the cause of christianity; and he proceeded, saying, it ſº came to pass, that after I had preached Christ boldly in Damascus and Arabia, when I TACTs was returned to Jerusalem,” }} was praying here in the court of the temple now before your xxii. 18 And saw him saying eyes, I was in a kind of trance or ecstasy.b And I saw him, even the Lord Jesus Christ 18 i To sce that righteous Ferson, and to hear a voicc from his nowth..], l see no reason at all to refer this (as Lord Barrington and Dr. Benson do) to a future vision of Christ, and a ſuture commission to be received from line. . It plainly appears from Paul’s own narration, that he had already seen him and §§ speak. It is therefore most evidently naturai to refer it to the past rather than to a future event, though I own it may include both. * * * k Be baptized, and mºash away thy sins.] Baptism in the adult, ex- cepting the very peculiar instance of Qur Lord, was a token oſ confes- sign and humiliation for sin, (Qi, which account it is called the baptism of repentance, Matt. iii. 11. Mark i. 4. Luke iii. 3. Acts xiii. 24. xix. 4.) and of a desire to be cleansed from it, as the body was by water cleansed from its pollution ; and being administered to such professed penitents, by diviſig appointments, as a token of favourable regard to then, it was a seal Q: pardon. ...Nor did God ordinarily give any par- ticulār person any public and visible token of pardon till he submitted to baptism ; and this may explain in what sense baptisin might be said to wash away sins, and elsewhere to save. Compare 1 Pet. iii. 21. See Acts ii. 38. and the note there, p. 374, º , a Wlen I was returned to Jerusalem.] . . Lord Barrington, (JMiscell. Sacr. Abstract, p. 19. and Essay iii. p. 11; et seq.) and Dr. Benson, (vol. ii. p.,6, et seq.) suppose this memorable circumstance (which they make Paul’s mission to §. idolatrous Gentiles) to have happened in the second journey he xiade to Jerusalem, A. D. 4+ (which is mºtioned by Inke, Acts xi. 3). xii. 25.) and maintain it was the same º with that referred to 2 Cor. xii. 2. as having happened fourteen years before the date of that epistle. I rather think the expression intimates that it was on his first return to Jerusale: n that he had this vision in the tem- ple; and what he pleads here (ver. 19, 20.) as to the probability of their receiving his testimony, suits, that circumstance of time much better than the other. His dispute with some Hellenist Jºws who, toward the close of his first visit to Jerusalem, attempted to kill him, (chap. ix. 29.) engaged the brethren also to hasteu his departure; and our Lord’s orders to him at tilis critical season might determine him to yield to their in- stances, which perhaps his desire and hope of usefulness at Jerusalem might otherwise have opposed, But when he had been forced in that manner to ſlee for his life, while the memory of his zeal against chris- tinnity was comparatively fresh in their memory, it does not seem natu- ral to suppose he would have pleaded the probability of their regard- ing it after an interval of six years more, which, according to the chro- nology of these ingenious writers, must have been the case. b. I was in a kind of trance or ecstasy..] See, note g, on chap. x. 10. p. 412. Perhaps he might, continue standing all the while with an intense- ness of countenance, which, if it were observed by any near him, might be imputed to the fixedness of his devotion, or, if he fell down, it might be looked upon as an epileptic fit. All that he saw and heard was (to e sure) only a miraculous impression on his own nerves, not to be per- ceived by any other persons. 470 SECT. 50. ACTS XXII- 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 3 24 2 J 2 6 2 28 29 PAUL'S DEFENCE OF HIMSELF. * - * #. * heard hº º, to me, Make haste from this dangerous place with all the autome, Make haste, and get gence at may be, and depart quickly from Jerusalem; for they will not receive thy #. #. § *::::::::: tº'...}},...'.#: º,ºſº . º, º: thy destruction. ºieştiºi. illing to give ti d f my labours with my gear countrymen, and so un- . 19 And I said, Lord, they willing to give them up as desperate, that I presumed to expostulate with Christ himself ...º.º.º. on this occasion, and said, Lord, I cannot but hope that my addresses to them will be § lºe them attended with success; for as Jerusalem has been witness to the zeal with which I once ar opposed thy gospel, they to whom I would speak cannot but know that with the utmost eagerness and cruelty I was but a little while ago imprisoning, and scourging in the syna- gogues," all them that believed in thee, whenever I could get them into mine hands: And 20 And when, the bloog of that when the blood of Stephen, thy faithful and courageous marty, was unjustly and bar. º.º.º. barously shed, almost on this very spot of ground, I also was º by and consenting to ºft.* "...sºjeº. his slaughter, and was so officious on the occasion, that I even kept the garments of those *Hººsiment of them that slew him : (chap. vii. 58.) I may expect therefore, that a testimony from me will be heard with some peculiar regard, when they see that the evidences of thy gospel were strong enough to conquer such inveterate prejudices and such furious rage against it. º:i. º §§ !. by a jº. º charge; and he said to me, Reason pºlº § ºff. Ul C ll O Thiſ 2UQ7/ III]IOle --~~ - e e - art: 1.Or I will send thee hold, I will send thee }: off to #. § ºd .te %;". to my direction; for be §§ºntº. §§ii. 5 * * * **/ . . " - es, and thou shalt preach the gospel, and publish i. glad tidings of salvation, with much greater encouragement and success among II]. - ..And they heard him with quietness and attention to this word, and [them] were so en- a. ºnºv.ºn ºf raged as soon as he began to speak of a mission to the Gentiles, and this too in such a §§ *:::::::::::: light as if the Jews were in a manner given up and rejected, that they were no longer §§.º.º. able to bear it; but lifted up their voice in a most outrageous cry, saying, Alway with this flºiº... is not blasphemous fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live any longer upon it; since - he hath proved himself such a traitor to God and his chosen people, that he would pre- sume, even by his own confession, to prefer the Gentiles to us, as if they were more in- terested than we in the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom. And while they said this they affected to break out into all the forms of lamentation as well as expressions of rage. as if such a degree of impiety had never been heard of before. 5 °5 ...And as they were crying out in this furious manner, and were rending their garments in º.º.º.º.º. token of indignation and horror at this pretended blasphemy, and casting dust into the air *...º.º.º. an that it mightfall down on their heads, and so they might appear more completely in thé 5 habit of mourners for the dishonour done to God and his people; The tribune, not knowing .24. The chief captain.com; the particulars of what had passed, but perceiving, by the effect, that Paul had exasperated ... º.º., º: rather than a º: them by the apology he had been permitted to make, commanded Fº that he should be brought into the castle ; and as no witnesses regularly appeared to give in- ºf: formation against him, he ordered that he should be put to the question by scourging him in against him. y the severest manner; that so he might know from his own confession, since he could learn it no other way, for what cause they raised such an outcry against him. And as they were binding him with thongs for this purposé, Paul said to the centurion wº.º.º. who stood by to command the guard upon this occasion, Is it indeed, lawful for you to §"...º.º. ...". scourge a man who is a Roman citizen,” and this too, while he is uncondemned? Consider, lºº..."; before you do this, how you will answer for the violation of my privilege, of which at a §hi A koman, an proper time you must expect hereafter to hear, ºnd the centurion ; [this, presently he: º, º went and told the tribune, saying, Comsider what you ſtre about to do, or you may be en- the ºbie capº, sº tangled in a difficulty of which you seem not to be aware; for this man says he is a Roman, º and consequently protected by the privileges of a free citizen from such usage as is pre- 7 paring for him. ...And upon this the tribune, who was alarmed at this report, came and said ...?...Then hºlief.º io him, Tell me truly, as knowing how unsafe it will be to trifle with me by offering a plea º: Tāl; of this nature if it cannot be supported, art thou indeed a Roman citizen, as I am told thou “” ” hast asserted? And he said, Yes, I most assuredly am, and I am capable of producing pro- - - er evidence of it, if it be insisted upon, in due time and place. And the tribune gnswered, a. And the chief captain - º * - 2 2 answered, With a great sum am surprised to hear this, considering the appearance thou now makest; for I, who (as obtained ithis freedom. And thou seest) am a person of high rank in the army, obtained this freedom with a considerable tº said, But I was ſº sum of money, which I can hardly suppose thou shouldst have been, ºble to phy, unless there has been some extraordinary change in thy circumstances. And Paul replied. But I was under no necessity of making any purchase at all of this kind, for I was [free) born, my father having been entitled to that honour and privilege before mº: - - They therefore who were about to have put him to the question immediately departed from a...?"; º; - - - 3 º departed from him whic him; and the tribune was glad to compoſind the matter so; for he was much { Faid when shôjá have examined him : ñºem that he was indeed a Roman, and was greatly concerned because he had bound him *: º: in order to his being scourged; which was a breach of privilege for which he might have iº ind been accused by Paul to his superiors. He contented eff, therefore, with confining **** • him a little while, till he could bring him before the Jewish council; fearing lest, if he had dismissed him immediately, the Jews would be incensed against him, and he might thus have been in danger of something much worse from Paul's enraged and tumultuous € ſhe ſºles. - C § in the synagogues.] . It is strange that Beza (on Matt. X. e To scourge a jugn who is a Roman.] See on this head, note c. on 17) should think this so incredible as to suspect the reading is corrupt- Acts xvi. 37. p. g - - dock, Till ed, when the same phrase occurs again, Matt., xxiii. 34. as well as in the f I was [free) born..] I cannot think, with Mr. Cra * - illº passage before us; nor is there any need we should suppose that syna- and some other crities, that this was the consequence, of his ºšič gues must signify not places of religious but civil assemblies, when, native of Tarsus. Dr. Lardnºr has, I think, pººl º € §. what Vitringa has alleged in confirmation of the use of such arguments against admitting that city tº have been a cº , or what ractice from the Jewish writers: (Šumag. Wet. lib, iii. part i. cap. 11.) the Romans called municipium, that is, a, place. wº all the 3. piphanius directly mentions a fact of this kind, (Contra Hºres. tom. ii. were free, of fome by birth. I therefore think it much º: TOD:li)}G lib. P. p. 135.) and it appears, from what Eusebius had cited from a that Paul’s father; or $ome other of his ancestº; might dye been. ºriter against the Montanists, to have been no uncommon Cºsº; (Eccles, warded with the feedom of the city for his fidelity a; . cry º sº jī; iii. v. Cap. 16. p. 230.) . The custom has since been confirmed and military service as ºn auxiliary to the Romans, as Josephus says §. illustrated in the §eſºta instance of Acosta.) Limborch Collat. cum several Jews Were: (Antiq. lib. xiv. Cap. 10. al. 17.] § 13, #3"h º Jud. p. 349, 35 Compare notee, on Matt. x. 17. p. 141. " fºr. flariner, Credib. Book I: Cº. T0. § 6; vol. i., p. 502–513:... §§ * d # ºft ºn by courging...] That the Romans, used this serves, in the nº sº.” nºt only that the freedom of the city º: nº is proved by several learned writers, particularly by Đr. be bought, but that joine Öf Claudius’s favourites and creatures at last fardner, Credib. Book I, chap. x. $ 1, 2, voi. i. p. 496–498. and Mr. sunk the price scandalously low. Biscoe, chap. ix. § 8, p. 355, 355 PAUL BROUGHT BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM. IMPROVEMENT. 471 WE learn from this scripture, as well as from many other passages, that our Lord Jesus Christ, though invisi- SECT. ble, is present while the proclamation of his gospel is made, and is ever attentive to the temper, with, which it is received. Justly therefore doth he resent the injury that is done him when these messages of life and peace are neglected. justly doth he often, in the course of his providence, remove those ordinances, which men have ºn- gratefully slighted, and call away the faithful ministers who have stretched out their hands all the day long to a dis- obedient and gainsaying people. (Rom. x. 21.) - e * * It is not an easy thing for a servant of Christ, who is deeply impressed with divine truths himself, to imagine to what a degree mén are capable of hardening their hearts against them. They are ready sometimes to think with Paul, Surely it must be impossible for any to resist such arguments and such addresses: but experience makes them wiser, and shows that though they smite the rock again and again, it is in vain till divine grace melt it into streams of water. F- {º} - - Blessed be God, that when his gospel is removed from one place it is sent to another; nor shall itever be totally rooted out of the world, while seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, continue their revolutions. Adored be that grace which sent Paul and the other apostles to speak unto the Gentiles that they might be saved. The life of our souls was in that commission, and all our eternal hopes take their rise from it. But what cruel malignity did these Jews express, whom all the wonders of this astonishing story could not convince, nor all the eloquence of it persuade 1. On the contrary, for no crime but that of being made the ambassador of divine mercy, and the instrument of deliverance to thousands of perishing sinners, they raise a cry against the ambassador of God as if he were the most impious of blasphemers, and would have hurried him from the face of the earth as unfit to live upon it. How much less were they fit to continue here! But thus forbidding the apostles to speak to the Gentiles, (as he himself observes,) they filled up the measure of their iniquities: so that, after the abused mercy of God had waited a little longer, his deserved wrath came upon them to the uttermost. (1 Thess. ii. 16.) Most unrighteous was it in the Roman officer, on this popular clamour, to attempt putting this best of men to the torture: most reasonable was Paul's plea as a Roman citizen, to decline that suffering. # is a prudence wor- thy of being imitated by the bravest of men, not to throw themselves into unnecessary difficulties... Nor are we under any obligation as christians, to give up our civil privileges, which we are to esteem as the gifts of God, to every insolent and turbulent invader. In a †† circumstances, gratitude to God and duty to men will oblige us to insist upon them ; and a generous concern for those that are to come after us, should engage us to labour and strive that we may transmit them improved, rather than impaired, to posterity as yet unborn. SECTION LI. Paul being brought before the sanhedrim, after having been unjustly smitten by the command of the high priest, occasions a dissension in the council, on which his sentence is delayed; but a conspiracy being formed against his life, he informs the tribune of it. Acts xxii. 30. Xxiii. l—22. Acts xxii. 30. Acts xxii. 30. - ON * º WHEN the Roman officer had rescued Paul from the people in the manner already de- !... º.º. is is scribed, he lodged him in the castle that night; and on the morrow, desiring to know clear- gºse; ºf the lººd ly and certainly of what he was accused by the Jews, which he could not make out from what him f his bands, and com- - - - jºid had already passed, as he did not understand the Hebrew language, in which Paul had :*.º.º.º. made his apology to them, he loosed him from [his] bonds in which he had laid him a close «» ºwn." prisoner, and commanded the chief priests and all the other members of their sanhedrim to come together and to hold a court; and bringing Paul down from the castle he set him be- fore them, that he might be examined and tried according to the laws and usages of his own country; that so the most seditious of the Jews might have no reason to complain of the manner in which they were treated. Acts. Xxiii. 1, And Paul, And Paul looking altentively on the Sanhedrin, as he stood before it, that he might ob- sº §§. serve whether he could recollect the faces of any whom he had formerly known in that ... º.º.º. court, said, Men [and] brethren, though I am brought before you as a malefactor, to be ex- *ce belore coauna amined and judged by you, I have the secret pleasure of being conscious to myself that - none can justly advance any charge against me; but whatsoever be objected to me, I ap- eal unto the Searcher of all hearts that I have even to this day, though it is so long since have declared myself a christian, conversed before God in all good conscience,” and lived in the faithful discharge of my duty to him and to my fellow-creatures. 2 And the high priest Ana; But Amanias the high priest, who, knowing in his own heart his inveterate enmity to :a::::::::"...º.º. Paul, and the steps he had openly taken for his destruction, thought himself insulted by the mouth. such a solemn declaration of his innocence, commanded those that stood by him at the bar to smite him on the mouth, for what he represented as so insolent an assertion; which was accordingly done. 3 Then said Paul unto him, hem. Paul, animated on a sudde - s r • * * - shall Smite thee, thou T 3 ted O Idden by the secret impulse of a prophetic spirit, which God - * - s - - - §ºi"; ; ; bore him, as it were, for that moment beyond himself, said to him, God is about to smile hee in a very awful manner, O thow whited wall!” thou false painted hypocrite! For a ſhavéeven to this, day conversed before God in all good conscience.] 6. (al. 5.] § 2.) that this was Amanias the son of Nebed * * - . Paul could not intend by this to intimate that he thought himself free station was head of the sanied in. He hai łoś. ...}. from guilt while persecuting the christians, since he so expressly de- to Rome, to give an account to Claudius Cæsar of his behaviour, in the çjares the contrary elsewhere. (See 1 Tim, i. 13.1 Cor. xv. 9. Gal. i. 13.) quarrel §§ happened between the Jews and Samaritans during the He was only examined with respect to his conduct as a christian, and government of Cumanus in Judea, but was acquitted, probably by the therefore it would not have been pertinent here to, haye referred to his intercession of Ágrippa the Younger. The diffiºsº, have been conduct while a perseguting Jew, though it were indeed true that he did urged from Josephus against his being high priest ºw. He answered b got then act against his goºscience, how criminal soever he was in suf Mr. Biscoe in a very learned and judicióis rººr.”” (1 Dy §º misinformed. The plain sense of this passage is, e Gºd, is about tº smite thée, Q. thou whited icall !] . Alluding to the that his conscience when examined as in the sight of God with respect beautiful outside of some walls which are full of jit and rubbish within tº what they alleged against him, did not charge him with any known The account Josephus gives of the charaº ai'ſ... . this wretch and deliberate contradictions to its dictates; and so it Was, in effect, a abundantly illustrates this speech of Paul. He might well be called a solemn and j § º to the Searcher of all hearts that he Whited, wall, not, only as he committed this indecency while gravely had not devoted himself to the service of the §º in which, he was sitting in a sacred character on the tribunal of justice, but alsº as it i. #. engaged, , from, any mean and dishonourabfe principle, but was same time, that he carried it very plausibly towards the citizens and ully convinced of the truth of it, and therefore prepared to abide all stºod high, in their favour, he most impiously and cruelly defrauděj the º: in its defence. Well might there be in such a case a natural inferior priests of the subsistence which the jºine i. assigned them §ºy...?" Joy arising in an upright, heart from a consciousness of its own so that some of them even perished for want. (Joseph. Antiq., lib . jºrity, amidst such violent calumnies as were now advanced against cap. 9... [al. 8.] § 3.) And Göſi jià remarkably smite him, as after his 5 Ananias the high ori t.] Dr. B H. l. ii 221.) M. own house had been reduced to ashes in a tumult begun by his own sº, Biscoe, (Boyle? § . ..]... $'s ensºn, (Hist, yol. ii. p. .), Mr. he was besieged and taken in the royal palace, where having in ºniº justly ºbs Oyl. º **R; iii.,9,8, p. 79-75.) and Şeyqal othgris have attempted to hide himself in an old aqueduct, he was dijout'i Justly observed from Josephus, (Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 5. [al. 3..] § 2. 3. cicap, slain (joseph. dii. Jä, äb."ji. cap. 17. [a]. 18.] § 2, 6, 9.) an event 50. ACTS XXII. 17, 18 19, 20 21 22 25–29 SECT. 51. ACTS XYII. ACTS XXIII. 2 3 472 SECT, 51. ACTS XXIII. 4 5 6 7 * PAUL EXAMINED BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM. **t thºu on the tribunal of justice, pretending to judge me according to the law of God, to judge me after the law, and yet in a presumptuous violation of the law commandest me to be smitten, though con: º, ºn landes, mºtº be r; - - ** ſº º * ~ * > s”: Smitten contrary to the law Ż Victed of no crime, and guilty of no indecent behaviour. The Supreme judge will not - suffer thee finally to escape, but will ere long animadvert upon thee, in righteous ven- geance for this violence. But they that stood by were greatly offended, and said, Dost thou, who pretendest to so 4 And they that stood by much religion, presume impiously to revile the high priest of God, the most sacred person ; ºt thou God” in our nation, and consequently in the whole world? - > - •drid upon this Paul, unwilling to enter upon a question so difficult to be cleared up as 5 Then said Paul, I wist the divine original of that impulse on his mind by which he found himself inclined to utter tº: those remarkable words, only touched upon a circumstance attending it which was of a jºiº more ambiguous nature, and said, Indeed, brethren, in the sudden transport of my mind, * * * * *Ple. I was not aware that it was the high priest,” otherwise I should have been cautious how I had taken such a liberty; for I know that it is written in the word of God, (Exod. xxii. 28).Which I desire at all times, and under the greatest provocations, to make my rule, “Th9% shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people;” and I should be sorry that any should take encouragement, from what I then said, to fail in paying due respect to magis- trates, whatever their personal character may be. - : But Paul perceiving, as he looked about him, that the one part of the court were Sad-.6 But when Paul perceived ducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrim, Jiſen [and] brethren, I was by ... ºil:"...ºhiº. my education, and still am in my judgment, a Pharisee, as I was also ihe son of a Phari- ; jº. See : nor is there any one more zealous for the great fundamental doctrine of that cele- #:...'..."; pl.: brated sect: and I am well satisfied, that if the whole secret of my prosecution were fairly sº - - - - - - - - - rection of the dead I am call- and thoroughly laid open from its first principles, it would be found that it is for the hope edinºuestion. I have of a future state, and the zeal with which I teach the resurrection of the dead, that I am now brought into judgment;5 nor would some of my greatest enemies have expressed such indignation against me, had not the whole tenor of my public teaching so evidently tended to confirm a doctrine against which they are so violently prejudiced. Jłnd on his speaking this, the council fell to disputing, and there was presently a contem-.,7And when he had so said, tion on this head between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, several persons of each sect *:::, *ś. #. 8 appearing warm in the debate: and the multitude was greatly divided: for it is well known Sãºduceesi, and the multi- 9 10 I I !2 4 that the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angél nor separate spirit; but the tºgeº *śāucces Say Pharisees not only confess both, but contend earnestly for the certainty of the resurrection, ºt and the real existence of angels and other spirits. łºśt. Jłnd upon this there was a great clamour in the assembly; and the scribes who were] on 9 And there arose a great the side of the Pharisees arose, and contended, saying, JWe find no evil in this man, and can º perceive no reason for his being condemned or detained; but if a spirit or an angel hath and strºyes, sayin: We in: - - - - no evil in this man : but if a oken to him in the manner he represents, let us acquiesce, and wait the event; and, as jºin'...'...thºſe. amaliel formerly expressed it among us, in an argument which then was judged by glim, let “sºotfight against the sanhedrim worthy of its regard, let us not fight against God, which must end in our ruin.h (Compare Acts v. 39.) ...And as a great disturbance arose, some of them urging that he should be set at liberty, ºhºl.º.; - - * * - * -- -- s - - SS S } - while others eagerly insisted on his condemnation, the tribune was informed of their dis-É.i.”; ii.º. - º • - - - - i. t- should have been pulled in orderly proceedings; and fearing lest, amidst the tumult, Paul should be torn in pieces by pieces of them, commanded them, he commanded a party of the Roman soldiers to go down and take him by force from the ºldiers tº go ºn...and the midst of them, and so to bring him up again into the castle of Antonia, from whence he jº."º"; }; had been led. him into the castle. --> ..And after they had lodged him there, it came to pass that in the following night the Lord º fºllº Jesus Christ appeared to Paul in a vision, and standing by him, said, Be of good courage, jä, äºf ºićcº. Paul; for as thou hast testified these things concerning me at Jerusalem, and all the malice . *. tºº. of the Jews has not prevented thee from faithfully discharging, thy commission, so thou ou bear witness also at must also bear thy testimony to me and my doctrine at Rome; and, notwithstanding all the Rome, difficulties thou hast now before thee, I will support thee to go through the trial, and turn it abundantly to mine own glory and to thy consolation. - s And when it was day, some of the bigoted Jews, who were, exceedingly provoked that ºfº.º.º. &- e - CG. I tºll il O l y Paul had thus been rescued from the council, resolved that they would be the means of jº". §§a". * • g - º - f .** *** * - r his destruction, and entering into a conspirgº/, bound themselves will, m º ºurse, flºtºº, jºi. º: saying, That they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And though it was pºink in they had killed so black and horrid a design, yet they were more than forty of them who had made this rash *"And they were more * de and barbarous agreement. º than forty, which had ma º - - - - º r n + k n this conspiracy. ...And having fixed upon a scheme for putting it in execution, they came without reservº "ºº"; same to the to the chief priests, and to those of the elders whom they knew to be his enemies, and said, chief priests and elders, and - 2 * tº ſº. Tº .r 1), is in the verv beginning of the f Part were Sadductes.] Josephus assures us that many, of this sººt Yººhººned about five years after this, in the very beginning were in Płº lºğ. among ... "...a j; ; Joseph. Antiq. lib. - w • - - - * : * - - - - & - - - - ** 23, .. to be smitten.] God in his law xiii. gºp. 19.4: º3.9. et lib: xviii.,gap, 1.1a;2; * . . - - ſt # £iºſ the * ºf §: xix. 15.) Yet we find repeated g For the hope and resurrection Qſ, the dead, & c.] Orobio º i. forbade a ſtylolence, in Judgment... [Ley. Xº:... . * } upon Paul as an artful manner of declining persecution, unworthy hº insults of this very kind; indecent as they always %. gº ºß. §aracter of an upright and generous man. (Limborch, Cellat. Gum. Jud. tº kinsº. ººººº...","..." ...º.º.º. Yll I. º. * - - • * - - * ..I.Y : the C1) 16:1 llll I * 7 II - º - gi, priest.) This is a natural ren- part, though pot the Wh9e, 9% tº ; º; º ; on vºl. i.e. b d #########,”; tº ſº. §: 'wº cannot fairly be raged the Šadduceds against christianity, was the º . . d º de º i. to % {& #h priest, nor can it be g.º.º. 9 the doctrine of a j.º. ; sº º, §§º Sº Cl a ry i. - as y - A. * - * ºn tº y - - ". & * *…*** jº that º would enter on so curious and so dangerous a JºëS- See Acts iv. 2. w | º; i. iºn: it as a sup- tº theistice of his accession to that office. Some have thought he' h Let MS º †† o fit have spoken to him, they might proba; § not know him personalſ ºut his habit and place in the sºledº Fºl. gase, that an anº d jº. which Pauſ had professed might distinguish him; or fr’wo were to suppose, * º: #. º *. i.e. to the jić, as Dr. Benson observes, rin or , a • *- : - * ~ * . * a v. Cilt tº Cºl R ) OVW * - - - #5 • , * -- • Păul. hearing *...*.*. łºść, fºr Paul’s answer Hist. vol. ii. p. 224. 'I be reader will ºf a º; jº #. º: . Wr § On son speaking, whoever, he were, to be a blance to the speech of Gamaliel, refere: to '3.) º º is happened É. yº ... ."...ºeji to fºllow the explica appears ſº º §". ii. p. 5:29.) Iſhat this halop #.F this matter ºven in the paraphrase, which will. easily, ſeconºilº after the death of that celebrate #. º This plainly shows that our all that passed with Christ’s promise of being with his a postles, when i The J.ord standing by him, * º b §: º %iºn though ºp; jºr jji (ºft.". Iš Ājāº xiii. iiº) for according to Lord approved the part ºil had acted before the sanned II'm, ‘s’ y i - - - º jūīout understanding or considering the cir: m ºttered a true prediction, and then alleged a true some have censured, lº Yºº y º - r .* #º º use of the §º in which it was spoken; cuinstances of it....The pious.*.*.*. § º: º only §º. jigºjićh'hº might justly have urged in his ownyin: ºbserves, that it must bº.º.º.º.º. * - - * is aſh º 'º º Yy senthus approved and encouraged by his º had an undoubted right to recede if h9 Christ as Paul was, having been - * jº" º, :::::::::: jeºnjº both of the historian and of General, to be led, on to further º #. to be immediately dis #.; is wall worthy our remark. j." Ānā ºuch a temper he expresses, Phil. i. 20–26. * * > 6 *_j A CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWS AGAINST THE LIFE OF PAUL. said, we have bound our- We are so transported with zeal at the outrage that has been done to our sacred law, that SECT. tºº."ºf... .º.º. we have one and all bound ourselves by a solemn analhema, not to taste any thing of food, 51. we have slain Paul. till we have slain this Paul, whom we look upon as so notorious an enemy to God and his country, that if the course of public justice against him be obstructed, it will no doubt be . sº tº * ... a meritorious action, which you will certainly approve as what must be pleasing to God XXIII. * .# *ś, "... himself, to take him off by such a method as this. Vow therefore do you, with the pther 15 §hief cºntinº’he bring members of the sanhedrim, signify it as your request to the tribune, that he would bring !..."..."...hº..."...; him down from the castle to you to-morrow, as ; you would more accurately examine and gº ºf discuss what relates to him; and we are ready at all adventures, even at the hazard of our §§§ {...'...ir... lives, to kill him before he can come near you. And we will manage the attack in such a *śup...i.e., manner, that you shall not appear at all concerned in it, nor have any alarm about the tºº..."; ; ; mº till you hear that he is actually dead. - }...hº...}}.}}|...}, ... But how privately soever this matter was conducted, the providence of God so ordered 16 thiſ...}."..."; it; for the deliverance of his faithful servant from this inhuman and bloody conspiracy, that said, ; º Paul’s º: ..", § of the º . § ;" intº castle of º; jº gate the chie gapºn; orhº (as we observed before) he now lay confined, tol Ot?! e whole story. An aul call- 17 |º a certain ºn to el ! one of the centurions to him, who commanded part of the cohort under the tribune, bijº tºº. §§ presented his kinsman to him, and said, I desire thou wouldst conduct this young man to inji, i.e.; the tribune, for he hath something of importance to tell him. He therefore took and led him 18 ####"...", Ş., iſ to the tribune, and having introduced him, said, Paul the prisoner calling me to him, desired lº.º.º.º. ... that I would bring this young man to thee, who has something of considerable importance to the e. * “ ” “” tell thee, though what it is I do not at all know. And the tribune in a very obliging and 19 tº ºp; condescending manner, taking him by the hand and leading him into a retired place, where Wººtºniºidºti, none might overhear them," inquired [of º saying, iñat is it that thou hast to tell me? i...ºft.*** speak freely, for I shall give thee an attentive hearing. And he said to the tribune, I have 20 hº received certain intelligence that the Jews have agreed together to ask thee that thou wouldst jºjº.º. bring down Paul to-morrow to the sanhedrim, as if they would inquire something more accu- jºiº, rately concerning him. But if thou hast any regard for the life .# so innocent and worthy a 21 juiº '...whº of ºil; man, do not be prevailed uponº them to order him to be so brought down : for there are more "#"Bºot dou yield than forty of them lie in an ambush for him, who have obliged themselves by a curse neitherto unto them: for there lie in eat nor drink till they have killed him; and they are now ready, with their weapons as it S. #'ſ...}, ... were in their hands, to execute this their murderous purpose, waiting only an order from bºund, themselves, with, an thee to bring him by the place where they are posting themselves, in expectation it will oath, that they will neither sº º 8–5 5 -- eat nor drink till they have prove the signal for his death. º; The tribune therefore hearing this, dismissed the young man with a charge, saying, |Be 22 from theº., , , , º sure thou] tell no man that thou hast discovered these things to me, and depend upon it that I lº;'.”..."; will bearin mind what thou hast told me, and do what is proper upon the occasion. And *...º.º. i accordingly he took immediate measures for Paul's security from this intended assassina- |...}}...” tion, of which a particular account will hereafter be given. IMPROVEMIENT. NExT to the history of the great Captain of our salvation, as recorded by the holy Evangelists, none of the Ver. 1 christian heroes of whom we read makes a brighter figure than Paul; nor is there any who seems a spectacle more worthy the view of angels, or of God himself. , N obv su ported in the midst of persecutions and indignities, by the testimony of his conscience as to the integrity with which he had walked before God, and therefore assured of the divine aid, he appears superior to all human injuries. Most unrighteously did the high priest command that 2 mouth to be smitten which had spoken the words of truth and soberness: most justly did God verify the predic- tion of his faithful though despised servant, and smite that whited wall with speedy destruction which had stood in 3 such a haughty opposition to ; gospel. Paul might have urged a great deal in defence of what he had said, and yet he chose prudently to decline that 4, 5 defence; and seems much more solicitous to prevent the abuse of what might appear dubious, than to assert his own cause to the utmost that it would bear." Thus should we sometimes be ready, as the Psalmist beautifully expresses it, to restore what we took not away; (Psal. lxix. 4.) and for the peace of society, and the edification of others, should be content to wave apologies which we might justly offer. Let us learn particularly to revere that authority with which God hath clothed magistrates, and be very cautious how we speak evil of the rulers of our people: let the ministers of the gospel especially be cautious of it, lest the ministry be upon that account blamed, i. their own character exposed, as if they were trumpeters of sedition rather than ambassadors of the Prince of GºalC6. - Our Lord had given it in charge to his apostles, that they should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves; (Matt 6–8 x. 16.) both these characters are joined in §. behaviour on this important occasion. It was no dishonest artifice to divide the council and to engage the favour of the Pharisees by reminding them of what, if they considered the circumstances of the case, must needs appear to them to be truth; that it was his zeal for the doctrine of the resur- rection that brought upon him a great deal of that opposition which he was then encountering, and that the most convincing evidence of that doctrine depended on the facts which, as an apostle of Jesus, he publicly maintained. And it had been most happy for the Pharisees had they always borne in their own minds the caution they now gave the Sadducees, to take heed of fighting against God. May none of us provoke the Lord to jealousy, as if we were stronger than he which we shall certainly do by rejecting the tidings he hath sent us by his apostles, and the life and immortality which he promises in his gospel. Graciously did Providence provide for the rescue and deliverance of Paul from the tumult then excited, and the conspiracy afterwards formed. Who would not lament to see a design of murder avowed with impunity before the chief magistrates of the Jewish nation, and approved by them under a pretence of religious zeal, while it was con- secrated to God by the solemnity of a vow 2 The time was indeed come, when they that killed the servants of Christ 9 the same design themselves. (Acts xxy. 2, 3.) See Dr. Lardner’s Credib. Book il chap. ix. § 9. vol. i. p. 474–4S3. and Mr. Biscoe, -ăt 10, 12, et seq. 14, 15 k We have bound ourselves by a solemn amathema.) This seems a proper rendering of the very emphatical form in the original, AvabegaTl ava68- parta apſev cavro vs. Such execrable vows as these were not unusual with the Jews, who challenged to themselves a right of punishing those, without any legal process, whom they considered as transgressors of the law, and in some cases thought that they were justified in killing them; Josephus mentions a case not much i. to this, of some that bound themselves with an oath to kill Herod, in which they gloried as a laud- able intention, because he had violated the ancient customs of their nation. (Antiq. lib. xv... cap. 8. [al. 11.] § 3, 4.) It is no wonder, there- fore, that these Jews should make no scruple of acquainting the chief priests and elders, with their conspiracy against the life of Paul, who were so far from º them for it, that not long after they renewed Boyle’s Lect; chap, yii. § 5. p. 278—281.--Dr. Lightfoot has shown from the Talmud, (Hor. Hebr. in loc.) that if they were prevented from accomplishing such views as these, it was an easy matter to obtain an absolution from their rabbies. | Paul calling one of the centurions to him.]. Though Paul had an express promise from Christ for his security, (ver. 11.). yet he did not neglect any proper means of safety. Compare. Acts xxvii. 24, 25, 31. m Taking him by the hand, &c.] It is observable that Lysias seems to have conducted this whole affair like a man of great integrity and prudence. 474 PAUL SENT FROM JERUSALEM TO CESAREA ****, though: the did, God good service, (John xvi. 2.) as if no libation or offering could have been so pleasing to him *l. ašthe blood of his saints: but names alter not the nature of things: God regarded their counsel; with righteous - abhorrence, and he laughed them to scorn. In vain did they form and approve a conspiracy which heaven had ACTs determined to defeat; their lying in wait was, we know not how, discovered to a youth, and by means of that 16 ºz youth, Wh9 might perhaps have seemed beneath their notice, God as effectually preserved Paul as if he had sent an angel from heaven to deliver him, and turned the cabals of these bigots that thirsted for his blood into per- plexity and, shame. So, Lord, do thou continue to carry the counsel of the froward headlong, (Job v. 13.) and save from the hand of violence and fraud all who commit themselves unto thee in well-doing, and humbly confide in thy wisdom and goodness. - SECTION LII. Paul, for thº, ºreservation, of his life from the conspiracy of the Jews, is sent by night from Jerusalem to Caesarea, where he is presented to felix, and quickly after is accused by Tertullus in the name of the Sanhedrim. Acts xxiii. 23, to the end; xxiv. 1- Acts xxiii. 23. * - - Acts xxiii. 23. SECT. IN the last section it was shown how the conspiracy which the Jews had formed against AND he called ºnto in two 52. Paul’s life had been discovered to the Roman tribune. Now as this officer was a very :*: h; #: equitable and worthy person, he was determined to consult the safety of his prisoner, tº tºeji’. Acts whose innocence he was the more convinced of from such base methods taken to destroy ...ºft. **", him; ańd finding it necessary for this purpose to remove him from Jerusalem, he called to third hour of the night, him tºp of the centurions in whom he could particularly confide, and said to them, Prepare immediately the two hundred soldiers under your command, that they may be ready to go directly to Casarea; and take with them a further guard of seventy horsemen and two hun- dred spearmen, and let them begin their march by the third hour of the night; (that is, at 24 nine in the evening ;) -?nd provide beasts to set Paul upon, if a change should be necessary; , 24 And provide them beasts, and see that you conduct him in safety, and with all convenient expedition, to Felic, the Hº: governor of the province. the governor. 25 .4nd he also wrote an epistle to Felix on this occasion, the contents of which are expressed 25 And he wrote a letter 26 in this copy: “ Claudius Lysias, the commander of a º of Roman soldiers at Jerusa- "º.; S e 26 Claudius Lysias unto the lem, to his Eccellency Felic, the governor of this province, Isendeth] greeting, with the sin- hºllºwerhof Fe- 27 cerest wishes of health and prosperity. This comes to inform you, that as this man, who "######|aken of is called Paul, was seized by a múltitude of the Jews, who made a sudden insurrection on ...'..."; i. i. his account, and had like to have been slain by them, I came upon them with a party of Sol- came with an army, and diers, and receited him from their furious assault; and I am the better pleased I had an jºi. 28 opportunity of doing it, as I have since learnt that he is a Roman citizen:* .And desiring so , 28 And when I would have much the more on this account to know particularly what was the crime of which they ac- i.º.º.º.; cused him, I bro:ght him before the sanhedrim ; imagining that was the most proper tribu-jin, forth into their council: nal to discuss a cause of such a nature as, from general circumstances, I apprehended this 29 must be. .3ad after they had examined him, I found he was accused of no great crime, and 29 Whom I perceived to be that a cry was raised against him only concerning some nice questions of their law; but that ºf nothing was charged upon him, of which, if there had been sufficient proof to have convicted to lººse worthy of 㺠him, he would have been worthy of death, or even of bonds : nevertheless, I chose to keep * * * him confined fºr a few days, that I might not too much exasperate the people by dismiss- 30 ing him impediately, But when, during this time, it was signified to me that an ambush nº lº would be laid by the Jews for the unfortunate man, with an intention to assassinate him; ºit". ****'. and with this view a scheme was formed to have him brought down from the castle to the .º.º.º. sanliedriū, on a pretence of further examination, that they might kill him by the way; I also, ſo say before thee what thought it my duty immediately to provide for thé security of his life, and therefore have ºff” “** ** sent [him] under a guard to thee, commanding his accusers also, who by these unwarrantable - measures have rendered themselves much suspected, to come and declare before thee what they have to allege against him. And so, with all due respect, I bid thee most heartily farewell.” - - 31 The soldiers therefore, as it was commanded them, taking up Paul, and mounting him, w; º; & zºº ºr Yº r hºn" ("Y YY I : ty ^ ºn A- * - – t \ - - according to the kind provision which Lysias had made, brought him by night-marches $.”. ...sit"; by through Nicopolis and Lydda to .4ntipairis, a city within the borders of the tribe of night to Antipatris. Manasseh, which lay not far from the Mediterranean sea, about thirty-eight miles distant 32 from Jerusalem. Ånd the next day after their arrival at that city, as they concluded he was 32 on the morrow º left now pretty secure from danger, the two companies of foot returned with the spearmen, to ºn. the castle, at Jerusalem, leaving the seventy horsemen to go with him to the end of his 33 journey. Jºho accordingly guarded him the rest of the way, and entering with him into 33 who, when they came Caesarea, which was about thirty miles from Antipatris, acquitted themselves of their trust; ºº:::::::::::: and delivering the epistle they had brought from Lysias to Felix, the governor, they pre-sented Paul also before him. sented Paul also bºfore him, and so completed the affair with which they had been - charged. - T - - hº; i. 34 .4nd when the governor had read [the letter, and understood that Paul was sent as one ºf what province he was. accused of the Jews, that he should try his cause, he presently asked of what province he was: :"...º."* ** - - * > - - - º - he was of Cilicia ; - 35 and being informed that he was of Cilicia ; I will hear thee, said he, and thoroughly examine "35"I will hear thee,said he, r S cł s a And I have since learnt that he is a Roman.] As it appears from north-west of Jerusalem, as it was in, the way from thence to Çies area. the preceding story, that when Lysia's first rescued #ai out of the Its ancient name was Capharsalamya; (1 Mag. vii,31... and Joseph: Antiq. hands of the populace, he did not so much as imagine him to be a Ro- lib. xii, cap. 19. [a]... 17.] § {:} or Chabarzaba;, (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. man, it is plain that pºut/ou here, as Grotius well observes, is put for cap. 15. [al. 33.] § 1.2 but Herod the Creat rebuilt it, and, gave it the kat £1, affy, according to the turn given in the paraphrase ; and conse— name, of Antipatris, in honouſ of his father Antipater. (Joseph Bell. quently, no shadow of an argument can be drawn from hence to prove Jud. lib. i. ca. 21. [?]- 18: $.9; ºt Antiq. liº, XV 1. § §: 9.) $.33 that the Jews had then a power of putting those of their countrymen to Some h;ye supposed it was but qigºtº.9 tw ...' H]] j TOINT erusalem ; death ºo were not Román citizens, as Dr. Lardner has well argued in but Mr. Biscoe (whose agcourt is followed in the º arăşe) has shown his i.rºg, and I think very conclusive, examination of this question. it was something mor? than thirty-eight § our *śl, pust have - (Crediš. Þóð; i. Chºº. 2. See aspeciaii; 3 jo. voi. i. p. 144-143.) Beza been too far for Öne night's march; hº t º ſº | observes, it thinks Lysias represents the fact a littſe unfairly, and would have made is nºt necessary,tº conclude that Pau Wii garººq t * tº Quen, ht, jºiº Bºjieve that he knºw. Paul was a Roman before he rescued him: ol that the soldiers returned in, 9tº i t 3S .* y said that they but his conduct appears in the main so honourable, that I rather think travelled by night; which they # j. º by the N. ay id': IS it he only means in i. general to intimate that he had on the whole been probable they took Paul with them rºm |...}. . Il Ig i. and reached more sojicitous io provide for Paul’s security, out of regard to his being Cºsgrea. the nest day, when it º išs osephus, that from Jºru- a Roman citizen. salem to Caesarea was six hundrº ºr I) Cºl.I. sººnty miles. 3rought 7, ºn by night to Antipatris.l. Very different accounts are (Bells, Judº lib., i. #jº 5. et Jämtiq. lib. X; º; I J. [a]. I2.] § 2.) given of the 'gituation of Antipatris, which must however have been See Mr. Biscoe, Jät Lect. chap. 10. D. 388—391. PAUL ACCUSED BEFORE FELIX BY TERTULLUS. 475 when thº. tire º: into this matter, when thine accusers are also come, which I suppose will be in a few days. SECT. j.“toº."k. ‘.."#. And in the mean time he commanded him to be kept bound in Herod's praetorium,” where a 52. ody of soldiers was quartered, under whose guard prisoners were often detained. judgment-hall. aſºcºiº. And, ſº ºffnd, according to the expectation of Felix, it was not long before he had occasion to . five days, Ananias the higl *. * º - * . . . º #s."ºi"; call for Paul again; for after he had been but five days at Casarea, the high priest, 2ngnias, 1 ...,..., ºilº, apprehending the matter to be of the utmost importance, came down in person, [with informed the governoratainst several of the elders who were members of the sanhedrim; and they brought along with aul. them a certain orator [called] Tertullus, whose business it was to open the cause, and to harangue the governor in the most agreeable manner that he could : .4nd they all made their appearance in form before the governor, and advanced a general accusation against Paul, on which they desired to be more particularly heard. And he being called to hear 2 his charge and make his defence, Tertullus began to accuse him,” saying, with more regard • to interest than truth, - - - May it please your Excellency, .3s we enjoy great peace by your means,” and many illus- §'....”.j"...is *: trious deeds are happily done to this whole Jewish nation,f and many disorders rectified, by !ºhis nation by thy the continual caré and vigilance of ſour prudent administration ; We accept [it] always, 3 º *Wºept it always, and and in all places, most noble Felir, with all imaginable thankfulness, and it grieves us to be º; dº under this unfortunate necessity of troubling you with our complaints, though we are well 4"|Notwithstandi... that i assured of your generous disposition to remedy them. Nevertheless, it is impossible that 4 5..." ...”..."; }; the wisest governors should prevent some troubles arising to the state under their care, wºuldest hear us of "thy while so much sedition and wickedness remain in those who ought to behave as orderly *** **** subjects; and therefore, that I may not trouble you further with any laboured introduction, - I humbly beseech you to hear us º: we have to offer in a few wards, according to your well-known goodness and humanity, with your [º] candour, and to bear with me while I briefly open the charge against this notörious offender, whom we are obliged to pursue even to this august tribunal. For indeed, to speak with that plainness which truth and justice require on such an 5 ! this man a most pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all c 2 And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to ac- cuse him, saying, —Seeing that by thee we 5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the , Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazărenes : occasion, we have found the Jews throughout the world; and, to give the completest idea of his malignity that a few words can express, he is not only a member, but even a ringleader, of the detestable sect of the Nazarenes, than which none has ever sprung up amongst us more dishonourable to the law of the Jews, or more dangerous to the government of the Romans. It would be easy 6 to allege many gross instances of his impiety, which they who have known his conduct abroad fail not to testify; but it is needless to insist on any other facts against a criminal who has been so audacious, that but very lately he attempted also to profane the temple,” by bringing uncircumcised persons within the sacred boundaries from which they are excluded, even by your authority as well as by our law, on pain of death. As he is one, therefore, who has rendered himself on such a variety of accounts obnoxious and odious to our whole nation, and against whom we have so many accusations, we seized him a few days ago as a motorious offender, and would have judged him according to our law, which, in such a case as this, it is well known we had a right to execute in its fullest extent, and might have done it even on the spot. But Lysias the tribune, commander of the Roman garrison in 7 Jerusalem, coming upon us with a great and armed force, took him away out of our hands, and so interrupted the course of our just and regular proceedings against him: Nor had 8 we troubled you with hearing us on this occasion, had not he sent him hither, command- ing his accusers to come to you, if they intended to prosecute the affair any further; by which means you might yourself, on a proper examination, take cognizance of all these things of which we accuse him. We promise ourselves, therefore, from the known wisdom, equity, and goodness of your Excellency, that as we can all aver the truth of these facts on which we ground our charge, you will please to consider the importance of the case, in which the national honour, safety, and religion are so nearly concerned, and will either punish this notorious criminal as he deserves, or order him back again to Jerusalem, and interpose your *hº, which is here supreme, to prevent any further opposition to the legal pro- ceedings of the Sanhedrim against him, .And when Tertullus had concluded his smooth and flattering oration, the Jews also who 9 were present gave their assent to all that he had urged, saying to Felix, that it was true that all these things were so as he had alleged in this discourse, and that he had truly re- presented the cause which had now brought them to Caesarea. And on this Felix ordered Paul to offer any thing which he had to urge in his own de- fence; of which, the issue of the cause, an account will be given in the next section. IMPROVEMENT. 6 Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and woald have judged according to our law. 7 But the chief captain Lysias came wpon us, and with great violence took him away out of Qur hands, 8 Commanding his accusers to gone unto thee: by ex- amining of whom thyself nayest take knowledge of all these, things, whereof we ac- cuse him. 9 And the Jews also as- sented, saying that these things were so. To hear the most amiable goodness injured by false and virulent accusations, is what we have been accustomed Ver to in the perusal of this sacred history, in which we have now advanced so far. The surprise of it therefore is 2–9 abated. But who would not lament to see the great talent of eloquence, in itself so noble, and capable of such c Herod’s practorium.] This was a pºlace and court built by Herod - -*. among the Romans, at least in public disourses, to Fofar sugh events to the Great, when he rebuilt and beautified Caesarea; probably some tower Divine Providence rather than, human, efforts, of which he brings many belonging to it might be used as a kind of state-prison, as is cominioninº remarkable instances, which show either the piety or the policy of the such placºs, - - - d Tertullus began to accuse hiºn.] Almost every word of this oration is false; the accusation of Paul, the encornium of the government of Felix, and the declaration of a lawful intention in what they had done and attempted. - * e... We cºjoy great peace by your means,] lie probably refers to what Felix had done to clear the country of robbers and impostors; for all historians agree that he was a man of so bad a character, that this go- vernment was a plague to all the provinces over, which he presided ; and as for Judea, its state linder Feſix was so far from being what Ter: tullus here represents, that Josephus (besides what he says of the bar- barous and cowardly assassination of Jonathan the high priest by his means) declares that the Jews accused him before Nero of insufferable 9ppressions, and had certainly ruined him if his brother Pallas, had not interposed in his favour. (Joseph. Jāntiq. lib. xx. cap. 8... [al. 6, 7.] § 5, , 9.), See also Tacit. Histor, lib. v. § 9. et ſlumal. lib, Nii. § 54. . Illustrious deeds are happily done, &c.) Elsmer (Observ. vol. i. p. 472, 473.) proves this to be #. exact sense of the words kaTopôtopaſ (ov yºvopºvov, illustrious undertakings happily accomplished, and shows the compliment was here the higher, as it was usual, even at this time, great men of antiquity who ºnade use of such language. Ö; the other hand, apparent slights put upon religion by perseas in public stations, are proofs. Qf a weak understanding, that cannot fºil of making them contemptible, not only among all religious, but all pludent, rºen. g Iłas attempted also to profane the temple.] Tortułłus artſ;}ly men- tions this as the most express fact he li:id to charge upon him, as he kilew that the Romans ailowed the Jews a power of executing, even without forms of law, any person who should be found in such an act of profanation, and seems to have it; tonded to make a merit of their moderation, that thcy intended hievertist-less fairly to have tried him and not to have destroyed him on the sliot, as Lysias had justly charge, them with attempting to vio: and it is observable that he no where ex- pressly avows so Inuch as a design to have put Paul to death, though it. was undoubtedly intended; so that I cannot but wonder that this story should ever have been urged to prove that the Jewish courts had the Yower of executing capital punish taents wit!; out a wºrrant from the &omans. The phrase which Tertułłus afterwards uses. Qi the accusers being commanded to come to Felix, (ver. S.) though the high priºst hin- self was known to be one of them, shows piaiały to what subjection they were reduced. 476 PAUL'S DEFENCE OF HIMSELF AGAINST THE ACCUSATION OF TERTULLUs. *97 excellent use for the public good, abused to such infamous purposes, on the one hand to varnish over crimes, and 52 ºn the other to render innocence suspected, and virtue itself odious! Had that of Tertulius been much greater ... than it appears by this specimen, it would only have served to perpetuate his own shame to posterity for the mean :: flattery he addressed to Felix, and the cruel and unjust invectives which he poured out against Paul. But history is juster than panegyric or satire, and has left us the character of the one .# the other painted in its true colours: and mugh more, evidently shall every character appear in the justest light before the tribunal of a righteous Gºd where Paul and Felix, and Tertullus and Ananias, are to meet again. There may we, with the apostle have honour and praise, whatever eloquence may now arraign, whatever authority may now cóndemnus'ſ 5 2, 3 In the mean time, where we enjoy great peace under the magistrates which Providence has set over us, and worthy deeds are done by them for the honour of God and the good of mankind, let us always thankfull accept 5 it, and take care ourselves to be quiet in the land. Should they who call themselves the followers of *: be indeed pestilent fellows and movers of sedition, they would act not only beneath their character as christians, but Čirectly contrary to it, and in a manner which must, by necessary consequence, forfeit it; nor should they affect to beringleaders in sects and parties. Their Masteris the Prince of peace. In his service let them exert themselves; but always in the spirit of love, labouring by the meekness of their tempers and the usefulness of their lives, to silence, and, if possible, to shame, the clamours of their ignorant or malicious enemies. * **... ---> . - * -ºrrº-Z.º.º. -- -_- riº.” . - --~" - SECTION LIII. Paul windicates himself from the accusation which the Jews by the mouth of Tertullus had advan 4. - e. - w - - - ced against him, in such a manner that Fe only orders him to be kept under a gentie confinement at Cæsarea. Acts ºxiv. ióº. lix AcTS xxiv. 10. - Acts xxiv. 10 SECT, TERTULLUS, and the Jewish priests and elders who were coine from Jerusalem to THEN *śj...'... 53. Cesarea with him, opened their charge against Paul, in the presence of Felix the Roman fººd,” governor, in the manner which was represented in the former section. Then Paul also, y : after the governor had made a signal, by his nodding to him, that it was now his time to “ſo speak, answered the accusation they had brought against him in terms to this º: : Knowing that thou, O Felix, hast been for several years a president and judge to this ,-Forasmuch, as I know nation,” and consequently art not wholly unacquainted with its customs, or with the º, . temper of its rulers and people, I answer for myself with the more cheerfulness in thy pre- ºft ºfteerfully an: 11 sence:b And after all that has been said by iny accusers, I have no cause to fear they *ſº it thou may- should impose upon thy judgment by the charges they have brought against me, as thou ºf mayest easily know, by evidence which cannot be disputed, that it is no more than twelve went up to Jerusalem for to days ago, the greatest part of which I have been confined, since I went up to worship at “” Jerusalem, and publicly to pay my homage there to God, on my return from a long jour- 12 ney I had taken into distant parts. And so far was I from attempting to excite sedition, 12 And they neither found * - - in the templé disput that I aver it to the face of these mine adversaries, and defy any one to prove the contrary, Śāś e? 72, f/ ? is nºrfi - ºf H, m, 7. º, or up the people, neither in the that they neither found me so much as disputing with any man in the temple, nor making ºl any where an insurrection or any manner of disturbance among the people, either there or 13 in the synagogues, or in any other place in the city of Jerusalem : JVor can they, notwith- 13 Neither can hºy, prºve • * * ~ *:-4 . ar - e. - * - - - the things where of they now standing all their positive assertions, produce any fair and sufficient proof of this or any ...'. other of the things concerning which they now accuse me, though I am charged with so muc confidence as a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition. 14 ... But as to what they have alleged against me with regard to the sect of the Nazarenes, 14 But this I confess ºntº this I confess unto thee, and am not ashamed publicly to avow it in the presence of the #;º greatest personages upon earth, that qfter the way which they call a sect or heresy," so do I the God ºf my fathers, §e: § e -> e - - º lſ tl l * h worship the God of my fathers,” even according to the rules and precepts which Christ m "...º.º.º.º. i. great Master has given; which is far from being heresy in any infamous sense of the word, Prophets: since it is most consistent with firmly believing all things which are written, both in the law and in the prophets, and is indeed most evidently built on those sacred oracles, when rightly 15 understood and explained. And while I act on this maxim, I rejoice in the midst of all , 15 And have hope toward - - - which they themselv the tribulations which can befall me, having a cheerful and assured hope towards God [of §º. that] great event which they themselves also profess to crpect, even that there shall be a re- i.º.º.º.º." * º * 4- y oth of the just and unjust. surrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust, when every man's true character - shall be laid open, and he shall receive according to what he has done. And upon this ac, sº count, in the firm expectation and the hope I have of this,” I daily exercise myself, and º. o. ºf ºnce make it the continual care and study of my life, to have always an inoffensive conscience tow”** both towards God and towards men: that so, whatever accusations are brought against me, my own heart may not condemn me as long as I live, but I may always find a support within, amidst all the injuries I may meet with in a mistaken and unkind Wºrld. -> 17. They have represented me indeed as a profane and lawless person, as if I had thrown 17 Now after many years contempt upon religion, and done them a great deal of Wrong; but so far have I been from doing any thing to injure or expose the J ews, to whom by birth I belong, or from attempting to profane the temple, as these my enemies falsely pretend, that I have given a Hast been for several years a judge to this nation.] It might be more been evident even before the Sanhedriſm, where,the authors of the tumuſt exact to render troXXoy grov, many years; but it seems to be used with did nºt, dare to appear against him. #"I –21, but think 'this a place some latitude here. Bishop Pearson thinks it could not have been more c Aſter the way which they call heresy.] I cannot .#. is a . - tiºn five years and a hiš' bit"Ní. fššče 'hāśā tº proºf ºwhere the word atpeats, which I own to be often indifferent, is used in think very successfully) that, it might now have been more than seven a bad sense; for Paul, plainly intimates that christianity did not deservc §. since Felix enterég on his government here." This was considera: the name they gave it. Yet while it was not, the national religion, but bly longer than any of his three predecessors, Fadus, Alexander, or Cu- its professors were distinguished from most of their º their manus, had presided in that province. See Mr. Biscoe, At Boyle’s Lect. adherence to Christ, as the Leader they chose to follow, they might pro- ehap. ii. § 2. p. 44, 45. perly be caiied a sect of a party of men, unles; the very wºrd sect; or b I answer for myself, § Mr. Cradock, in his valuable Apostolica? §§ º º: i. sº which none well acquaint- History, part ii. p. 288, 289. (which, with his Harmony, I cannot but ed. With the Freek lºº •. Y” y $o ºr #e. especially to young students, as among the most useful and d The God of my fathers..] It has º º: judicious expositions of the New Testament I have ever seen,) well ob- Yºry Pºoper plea before a #9man magistrº #. J p : w) d serves how exactly Paul's answer corresponds to the three articles of under the protection of the Roman laws, since the jº; j } leſeas, *ērāllūš's charge, sedition, heresy, and profanation of the tenºple.—As had be introduçëd the worship of new gods, º * . * that pro- to the first, he suggests that he had not been long ºft, at jerusalem begion. And, Elsner has jº º: jº..”.º: . to form a § 3. In §.; #. jº, alſº º º #. # gourable among the Greeks an } t º • I. P. fact, to produce any eyidence of such practices. Ver. 11–13.−As to the f Je • As * e ...'. Confessés himself to be a christian, but maintains it to be n \,e And upon this accºunt; &c.], I am sensible the º: ..ſ.º. which religion perfectly agreeable to natural light and to the revelation of the literally signifies in this, is ambiguous, and may refer to what goes bc- prophets, and consequently not deserving to be branded with any in: fore or to what follows; but as, in the latter construction, it seems al- famous or invidious title. &. 13-iö, Änd as for the profanation of most an expletive, and has great weight and spirit in the fºrmer, I chogse, the tempfe, he teiis them that, on the contrary, he had entered it with With Grotius, to explain it. §§ referring to his hope ..º.º.; some peculiar rites of religious purification, and had behaved himself That ev 7 graj sometimes signifies on this account, is shown by Rapha- there in a most reaceful and regular manner, so that his innocence had lius, Annot ex Xen. p. 185. 1 6 § FELIX REMANDS PAUL TO A GENTLE CONFINEMENT. 477 lºº to my many public and important proofs ºf my particular regard for the good of my country, and SECT. nation, and OfferingS. of the veneration that I have for all that is sacred. Accordingly now, qfter several years 53. which I had spent in other parts, I came to Jerusalem, to bring alms to the poor of my – nation, which I had been collecting for them in the Gentile provinces where I had any in- ºg. terest; and went, as one that had a vow, to have made the offerings which the law requires. * fº.º.º. (Compare chap. xxi. 26.) Upon which, at the very time when I was thus employed, some 18 jº" Asiatic Jews, who raised the first outcry against me, found me purified in the temple, which multitude, nor with turnu it. it is manifest I had a right to enter as a Jew, and where I attended neither with any mul- titude about me, nor with any design of raising a tumult, (as they have taken upon them - to insinuate,) but behaving myself with that composure and reverence which became the ºº: tº act of solemn devotion in which I was engaged. Those very persons, therefore, who began 19 here before thee, and object, - 4 4. º - ~ * 3 e 3 if they had alight instºne, the commotion, and, by their falsely charging me with brin Greeks into the temple, raised such a flame among the people, that I was in immediate danger of my life, if Lysias had not come and taken me away, ought now to have been present before thee, and should have come to accuse [me] face to face, if they had any thing material to allege against me. But it may justly be concluded, that the prosecutors in their own conscience know my innocence, and therefore they have not thought fit to produce them, nor even to single out any one fact to be legally proved by the deposition of proper witnesses; but would rest the matter on general invectives and uncertain report, as thou must thyself have observed. * ...º. º.º.º. Or if it be otherwise, let these themselves who are here present say, though they are my most 20 º: º;% ºf inveterate enemies, if, when I stood before the sanhedrin, they found any crime in me; Un: 21 "#";#;"; one less it be their pleasure to accuse me with relation to this one word which I cried out when I vče ºf ºf: gººd; stood among them, That it is surely for the zeal with which I appear in defence of the great *::::::...ºf º: doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, I am judged by you this day: (chap. xxiii. 6.) a §aid in question by you this word to the truth of which I am persuaded their consciences must bear witness, whatever day other cause of }.}}| or complaint they may artfully pretend. * - u.Aºi. '. And when Felic heard these things, and perceived how little they made out in their ac- 22 jet"...l..."ºf"; cusation against Paul, he put them off without bringing the matter to a decision, saying, ..º.º.º. After ſhape been more accurately infirmed concerning [is] way or form of religion whic said, When Lysias the chief - • * 4. - - T - - ... in jºliº.º. Paul teaches, and have inquired more particularly into its principles and tendency, when ...” “"“” Lysias the tribune comes down to Cesarea, and gives me an account of what he knows as to the facts in question, I will take further cognizance of the ſº between you, and will be ready to hear any witnesses, on one hand or the other, which either party may think proper to produce, that I may finally determine it. 23 And he, commanded a And in the mean time dismissing the assembly, he commanded the centurion to whom he 23 centurion to ** º; ; had before been committed, to keep Paul as a prisoner at large, and let him have all the to let him haye liberty, and * * * - - - g ***s-, º e - - that he should forbid none of liberty consistent with securing him, and to hinder none of his friends from assisting [him] or #"....”" coming to him: thereby plainly showing that he was convinced it was merely a malicióus prosecution, and that he was a person no way dangerous to the public. IMPROVEMENT. WE here behold the righteous as bold as a lion, under false accusations most confidently advanced by persons of XIV, the highest rank and the most sacred, though (by a strange contrast) at the same time the most detestable, character: Ver.1) and the more Felix was exercised in affairs, the more easily might he discern the genuine traces of innocence and integrity in his whole defence, to which, plain as it was, he seems to have paid more regard than to all the compli- mental and insinuating harangue of Tertullus; so great is the native force of truth, even on minds not entirely free from some corrupt bias | - * Justly did Paul dare to avow his serving God according to the purity of gospel institutions, by whomsoever it 14 might be called heresy; nor need any fear that charge who make Scripture the standard of their faith, and in the sincerity of their hearts seekinward divine teachings, that they may understand the sense of it; taking care not to run before their guide, and, with this injured servant of Christ, making it their daily exercise to maintain, in the 16 whole of their conversation, a conscience void of offence towards God and men. A noble, though in some instances an arduous, exercise! such an exercise, that he who maintains it may look forward with pleasure to the unseen world, and, through the grace of God in a Redeemer, may entertain a cheerful hope of that resurrection which, 15 #. º soever it may be to the unjust, shall be to . the righteous the consummation of their joys and of lell O'IOrW. - wāºr danger such may incur in consequence of a steady regard to that hope, let them courageously commit 22 themselves to him that judgeth righteously, who knows how to raise them up protectors where they might least j. it, and to make, as in this instance, those that are strangers to religion and virtue themselves, the means of delivering them from unreasonable and wicked persecutors, and not only of guarding their lives from violence, 23 but of securing to them many conveniences and comforts. - SECTION LIV. Paul, after having been heard by Felix several times, and once with great conviction, is nevertheless left a prisoner by him when Festus his successor arrived at Caesarea, before whom being again accused by the Jews, he is obliged to appeal to Caesar. Acts xxiv. 34, to the end; xxv. 1-13, Acts xxiv. 24. AcTS xxiv. 24. SECT, ANE tº º, .4WD after Paul had been kept some days in this gentle confinement, at Caesarea, Felix, 54. §"Dºña Wic."º", who had been absent for a short time, coming thither again with Drusilla his wife, who was Jewess, he sent for Paul, a Jewess,” sent for Paul, that he might hear from his own mouth what were the principles #. f.After I have been more accurately , informed concerning this cay..] which made a É. of their accusation; and we soon aſter find, that The words in the original are very ambiguous, and might rendered, Felix sent for Paul to give him an account of his religion, (ver, 3.j “That Felix, when he had, heard these things; havins, been more accu- and ºdeavoured, by this as well as other means, to inform himselfin it. rately informed concerning this way of christianity, and knowing it not to .g. To hinder mone of Juis friends from assisting him, &c.]" This was a he so mischievous a thing as these accusers, suggested, put them, gift” circumstange gragiously ordered by Divine Providence, which would But I rather think, with Beza, Grotius, and others, that they are all the make Paul’s confinement much lighter than it could otherwise have words of Felix, and take the meaning to be, “That he would takg an been, and give him an opportunity of much greater usefulness. itapho- opportunity of being more particularly informed of this sect and of its lius shows, (Annot. ex: Xen. p. 185, 186.) that the word imperetv is some- aspect on the public Fº and when, Lysias should come, and times used for assistance in general, where personal ministration and give him an account of what he had Qbserved, congerning it, as well as attendance are out of the question, and as it'is'hºdiştiijhºfrº, of the circumstances attending Paul’s apprehension, &c. he wºuld de; and prefixed to, coming to him, it may probably signify sending him termine the affair.” Which answer wās the more proper, as, Paul did food, books, or othºconjation. omparé Luke viii. 3. not deny that he was indeed a leading person among the christians, a Drusilla his wife, who was a Jewess.] Josephus gives us a partieular 478 & PAUL ACCUSED BY THE JEWS BEFORE FESTUS. * -. 1 * ºr * * 4. * y- . : 52 -- - - tº * + = * SECT. of his religion, and night gratiſy her curiosity as well as his own, in obliging that cele- and heard him concerning the 54. ACTS XXI., 25 26 27 ACTS XXV. 2 3 4 5 6 bråted prisoner to give some account of himself before them; and he heard him discourse at large concerning that faith in Christ as the Messiah which he taught as of so greatim- portance. But as Paul knew the character of his hearers, he took occasion to attend what he delivered on this subject with proper remarks concerning the obligations we are natu- rally under to the moral law, the guilt incurred in various instances by the breach of it, and the account finally to be given to God; all which render the knowledge of a Saviour and a cordial acceptance of him, so absolutely necessary; and adding such illustrations as might best suit the characters and circumstances of the persons to whom he was address. ing, he particularly reasoned concerning righteousness, as he know Felix was an unjust and PPPressive governor; and concerning temperance,b as he knew that both he and Drusilla had notoriously violated it, she having léft her lawful husband to cohabit with him; and to enforce these reasonings, he faithfully admonished all that heard him, of an awful and tremendous judgment which was certainly to come, at which the highest personages should appear, and stand upon equal terms with others before that righteous tribunal. And while he was cºpiously and seriously insisting on these important subjects as one who felt the weight of what he said, Felix was so deeply impressed, that he could not conceal the in- Ward perturbation of his mind, but trembling in a manner that was apparent to Paul and all that were present, answered him, Go thy way for this time, for I have other engage- ments before me which require my attendance; and I will take some future opportunity? to call for thee, and hear thee talk more largely on these subjects than the urgency of my affairs will now admit. - > ..?nd this he said, as he hoped also at the same time that money would be given him by Paul, that he might set him at liberty;d for he had observed what he hinted in his defence against the Jews, (ver. 17.) that the alms of the christians had been deposited in his hands, upon which account he hoped for some considerable ransom ; and therefore, in this mean and dishonest view, he sent the more frequently for him, and discoursed with him, but never appeared under equal impressions any more. .Wow after Paul had been in custody till two years were ended, Felic was succeeded in his government of that province by Portius Festus: and as he knew that he had by his oppressive administration furnished the people with abundant matter of accusation against him, Felip, being willing to ingradiate himself with the Jews at quitting the government, in a vain hope that it might prevent them from pursuing him with their complaints, left Paid a prisoner;e though he was in his own conscience persuaded not only of the inno- cence bat the worth of his character. Jſhen Festus therefore was come into the province of Judea, he had no sooner taken pos- session of the government, but qfter three days he went up from Caesarea, which was the usual residence of the Roman governors, to Jerusalem, the capital city; both that he might gratify his curiosity in the sight of so celebrated a place, and also that he might there, as at the fountain head, inform himself of the present state of their public affairs. ...?nd the high priest, and several persons of the chief rank among the Jews, appeared before him with an accusation against Paul, and earnestly entreated him that he would not, as they pre- tended Lysias and Felix had done, obstruct the course of public justice against one whom they knew to be so notorious an offender: Begging it as the only favour they desired against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem to be judged there ; forming a scheme, at the same time, in their own secret purposes, of laying an ambush of desperate wretches for him, who they knew would readily undertake to intercept his journey, and to kill him by the way! But Festus prudently answered, as God inclined his heart,” that as he had business of another kind to employ him while he continued at Jerusalem, he thought it best Paul shoull be kept a while longer at Capsarea, and that he himself would shortly set out [for that place.]. Therefore, said he, let those of you who are best able to manage the prosecution, and who can most conveniently undertake the journey, go doºm along with [ine; and if there be any thing criminal in this man for which he should be panished by the Roman laws, let them accuse him in my hearing. sº .4nd thus having continued among them more than ten days, he went down, as he had said, faith in Christ. .25. And as he teasoned of righteousness, temperange, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when] I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. 26 He, hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that, he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and com- muned with him. 27 But after two years, Porcius Festus came into Felix’ room : , and Felix, will- ing to she w the Jews a plea- sure, left Paul bound. Acts xxv. 1. Now, when Festus was come into the pro- vince, after three days he ascended from Cesarea to Je- rusalem. 2 Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews inform- ed him against Paul, and be- sought him, 3 And desired favour against liim, that he would send for hi:\, . to Jerusalem;, laying wait in the way to kill him. 4 But Festus answered, that Paul sluould be kept at Cesa- rea, an: I that he himself would depart shortly thither. * 5 Let them therefore, said be, which among you are able, go down with me, and accuse this man, if there be any wickedness in him. 6 And when he had tarried atmoog thei:1 more than ten days, he went down unto account of this lºdy, who was the daughter of 11erød Azrippa, and sister siderable a person among the christians, his charitable sect, that had sold of that Agrippa múſitioned in the next section. She had he ºn marrieil 1:1eir, pºssissiº, to at:lintain their poor to Azizus, kiig of the Emesencs; but Felix being surnek with he beauty, largely for i:is deliverance. brethren, would contribute which was reliarkably great, made use of the agency of oae śirpoºl, it e Lºſt Paul a prisonºr.) . It has already been o' served, (note e, on vºicked jºy, whº professºri finiseif a magician, to persuade her tº chap. xxiv. 2. p. 475.) ſºft t this hºse artifice did not, Pſevent their clan:or; abandon hºr husband and marry him ; which, more to avoil th; envy of Gus age isation; from follo wing him tg Rogº which had certainly ruined per sistérixercities than out of joyo to Félix, she did, though Azizu; him; Hill not the intºrest of his brothºr Pºllºs prevailed to obtain his had but a ſittle before submitted to circumcision, and so embraced pariſon fro:p Ngro. How ºnuch more girectually had, he consulted the Judaism, as the condition of the nuptials. £ * ing to Dr. Hudson’s interpretation of a dubious passage of Josephus, sºortoft by the express testimony of Zonaras) consumed with th9.9% u She was afterwards (accord- |. of his minº, and ºn the whole the security of his fortune too, had - to reformed his fife on Patti’s admonition, an:l cultivated those serious in pressions which were once so strengly rºtate u: not is is conscience 1–It §'íad by Fºix it,"a tºrriñje grºtion of Vesuvius. . See Joseph. Jºatia, was juring time, two years of Patti’s its prisoºctit bere, that those cell- - - r - - lib. xx. cap. 7... [al: 5.] § 1, 2. ſhāt jøarned pºlitor justly observes, on tentions arose bºt ween the Jews and Gentiles as tº their respective the tºtijony of 'i'agitas, (iſis.ºh. v. gap. 9.) that Felix was also, mºr; rights in Cosărea, which, after tºny titºulis and slaughters of the Jºys, #1'to ºther Drusili...,’ (probably befºre this.) the grand-daughter of wére i5:43 ined railer than appeasºil by the hearing at Rome, and did it Antony and Cleopatra. See also Dr. Lardºer’s Creiſiä. book i. chap. great deal towards exasperating the Jewish nation to that waſ Yº! i. § 3. p. 41–43. * * * * §nded in its utter, ſuity. , see Joseph. Beil. Jud. lib. ii. cap. 13. [al. 12. B Concerning righteousness and temperance.] [Iow suitable this dis- $ 7. et cº. 1 1. [a]. 13.] § {, 5. course was to the character and cirgumstances of so unjust and legi &l { }.gying an antbitsh, tº hiſt hiº by the pay.]. The high priests about prince, may appear from the preceding note, and note e oa wer. *. P. this tiſſue wºre, according to the account Josephits, gives of them, such ** * nojsters of raße, tyra:ay, a 34 crºcity; that it is not to be wondere ( ). * *.* g - r & ... And Irill take some future opportunity.] This the phrase, kgº”.6% such a design §ºuld have Been, fevoured by him who now bore the office. paraxagov fully expresses. He thought it did not become the dignity Josephus petitions a great huniber of assassins at this time called sicarii; of a judge of the bench to receive even such oblique admoaitions and or poikºarders, froin the weapons they carr ied, by whom many ºtiocent - t * ãºfore night realiy intend to give him persons were murflerød. Joseph. Bell. Jºſi, lù. ii. Cup. 3. [al. 12.] § 3; eproofs from a priso:lºr, ſin g •,• * * * * * g -i i , , , ; ; ; , , , , ; ; , , s \ , , , , i. : ºaſiºn..."; priºtº. Paul must no doubt discern ties; º; lºg º ºs Goi incłined his hºart.] of confusion that would be so apparent in his countejiaºgº, which would Föstºs, who, as a new #9xernor, could not It was really strange that but incline to make himself give him, some hopes of succeeding, in this impºtaº º for such a popular, should deny this, request, when it seemed to be so reasonable, ãº, and cºnsequently would give hini spirit. When hº restlined the discourse. This must naturally increase in a'ſ cºnse, frºm persons of such eminent rank in the Jewish nation. If Félix a conviction of his curiosity had iné lined him to i.ear this gº use himself, since it is cortain - - *** * * * * * KY • , , , -i or '-º's . . . . . . . . ~~~. . . . . . . . ; .r * -** - - jiàocence, and esteem for his virtues; yet, in Pitº. 9. aji, he was so fir faul inight imave been Hurried up from Ciesarea within four or five days. from reforming his life in however tº persist in his re g - * - * : * * sº nºt Y f fºx ; , ; - * in: ... istance and iiiustration of the treachery.of the huiſjºn heart tinuance of Paul’s life, and how evidently, ge:Heral, that he &ould not do justice to Paul, from the issuing g; the ordeſ; gº Festgs staid, on the, whole, more than he conviction might perhaps prevail so far as to engilge him to 129 at Jerus;1}t; m, oat; woºl. 1 ºn ag: tº 3 jie º have done it. But when is jºićiºriºg him to the Jews. How affect- ºg conside law.ipºli ººlºº the churches º: on the con- under God, his life depended He hoped also that monelſ wºuld be given him, &c.). He ſpirit not on this resolution of Festus, it must surely lead us to reflect by what onjy jave a view to the money collected by Paulº, Widº; brought to invisible springs the blessed $94,597 erºt fie world; with what silence. * * * º * * * * * : * * g ** ~ * ; , , , z, ºri f tº , ris drºwn ºn ºn 1 , , ºr v. 1 jºis.jem; but perhaps he might also imagine, that Paul being so con- and yet at the same time with what wisdoºn and energy | PAUL'S DEFENCE BEFORE FESTUS. 479 Cesarea; and the next day to Caesarea; and several of the Jews attended him, as being determined to lose no time, SECT. ...hº... but to prosecute the affair in the most strenuous manner, they, possibly could. .ſhid the tº when he was come, nºrt dº silting doom, on the iriunal, he commanded Paul to be brought before him. ...And 54. e lvºr & tº $."j"... ... when he appeared, the Jews who came down frºm Jerusalem presented themselves in a Acºs from Jerusalem stood round * sº tº e * XXV, fºº".”: numerous company, and stood round about him; bringing many heavy accusations ºggins! ºu."...ii."...ai. Paul, like those which Tertullus had formerly advanced before Felix, which, nevertheless, § which the “” "it was evident that they were not by any means able to prope by proper witneſſes: VC. g tº ſº. * ~ * * - While he answered for Paul therefore, while he answered for himself, insisted ºn his innocence, and said, What- 8 g T & sº * #;"; };";..."; ever my accusers take upon them to allege against me, I aver, that neither against the law against the temple, nor yet Year & . ->~~~~ o' & ime I was seized, nor against against Česar, hºe’ſ offend: of the Jews, to which I was expressing my regard at the veryt inst C t ; I :*::::::...'...". iñe temple, to which I came with a design to worship there, nºr agaiºt Cººl,º. - always have behaved as a peaceable subject, have I committed any offence at all: I openly deny their charge in every branch of it, and challenge them to make it out by proper evi- dence in any instance or in any degree. 9 But Festus, willing to do But Festis, willing to ingraiiate himself with the Jews by so popular, ºn action at the 9 ºwº, beginning of his government, answered Paul and sqid, I am a stranger in a great measure tº...sº to the questions in debate among you, which the Jewish cºuncil must nº. doubt under- #. § * * stand much better: wilt thou, thereforé, go up to Jerusalem when I return thither, and there be judged before me in their presence concerning these things, that so the persons who were eye-witnesses may be more easily produced, and I may have the sanction of the Sanhe- * dim's advice in the sentence I pass, in a cause which has given so great an alarm, and - - which is apprehended to be of such public importance? 10 Then said Paul, I stand * tº sº. theº.º.º.º.; orin the city itself, said, I am standing at Caesar's tribunal, where, as a Roman citizen, Hought tºº J.;"ºff tº be judged, and I insist upon my privilege of having my cause decided there: I have inowest. done no wrong to the Jews, as thou, O Festus, knowest ſº well, and must have per- 11 For if I be an offender, ceived clearly by what has this day been examined befo - tº: º *...; wrong to any, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I pretend not that there is any hºtºgi: ; bºr there"; thing’so sacréd in my character as to exempt me from human jurisdiction; and in that none of these things whereof S-5 ºf - e * w * -- ~~ * - ;....'... case I refuse not to die, nor do I expect or desire any favour, but what I insist upon is §§§ them. Tap strict and impartial justice, equally due to all mankind; and if, as I know, in my ºwn & conscience, and as thou hast from the course of this trial the greatest reason to believe, there is nothing but malice and falsehood [in these things] of which these mine enemies accuse me; no man can justly give me up to them merely to gratify their prejudice and cruelty.' ...And since it is an affair of so greatimportance, in which I have reason to believe my life is concerned, I must insist upon the privilege which the laws of Rome give me, and appeal wnto the hearing of Casar himself.k before whom I doubt not but I shall be able to evſnce the justice of my cause. But Paul, apprehensive of the attempt which might be made upon his life in his joirney; 10 ré thes. For if indeed I have dome 11 12 Then Festus, when he Then Festus, having spoken for a while in private with the chief persons of the Roman 12 ; $º...”.. army and state about him, who constituted a kind of council, called in the prisoner again, ºcsº unto Čá and answered him, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar thou shalt go : for how sar shalt thou go. desirous soever I am to oblige the people of my province, I will never allow myself, upon any occasion, to violate the privileges of a Roman citizen. I will therefore give proper orders as soon as possible for conveying thee to Rome, that thou mayst there be presented before the emperor himself. In the mean time Paul was remanded to his confinement, and his accusers returned to Jerusalem a second time, with the mortification of not having been able to accomplish their purpose against him. IMiPROVEMENT. z In the conduct of Paul towards Felix, we see the character of a gospel minister illustrated in a most amiable Acts manner. What could argue greater magnanimity than to deal thus plainly with a man in whose power his liberty was 2 Yet he did not soothe and flatter him, but acted the part of one infinitely more concerned about the salva- tion of his hearers than his own temporal interest. He chooses faithfully to represent the evil of those vices to which Felix was especially addicted; and displays the terrors of the judgment to come, as enforcing the sacred laws of righteousness and temperance, which Felix had presumed so notoriously to violate. Let the haughtiest sinners know, even upon their tribunals and upon their thrones, that the universal Judge and the universal King wiſl show his superior power, and will ere long call them to his bar; and if they are conscious of allowed disobedience and rebellion against that Supreme Lord of all, let them, like Felix, tremble. XXIV. Great is the force of truth and of conscience in which the prisoner triumphs while the judge trembles. And O' 25 how happily might this consternation have ended, had he pursued the views which were then opening on his mind! But, like thousands of awakened sinners in our day, he deferred the consideration of these important things to an uncertain hereafter. He talked of a more convenient season for reviewing them; a season which, alas, never came for though he heard again he trembled no more that we can find, or, if he did, it was a vain terror, 26 while he went on in that injustice which had given him such dreadful apprehensions, of which his leaving Paul 27 bound was a flagrant instance. , Let every reader seriously weigh this remarkable but terrible case, and take heed of stifling present convictions, lest they only serve to increase the weight of guilt, and to render the soul for ever more sensible of that greater condemnation to which it will be exposed by wickedly overbearing them. In the mean time we do not find that Drusilla, though a Jewess, was thus alarmed." She had been used to hear of a future judgment; perhaps too she trusted to her being a daughter of Abraham, or to the expiations of h I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal.] Grotius and other writers hayc k I appeal unto Caesar..] It is well known that the Roman law allowed abundantly proved that the tribunal of the Roman procurators in the such, an appeal to every citizen before sentence was passed, and made it rovinces, as it was held in Casar’s name, and by commission from highly penal for any governor, after that; to proceed to any cytremities him, was jooked upon as Caesar’s tribunal, * * * against the person making it. See Dr. Benson’s Hist. vol. ii. p. 237. and i ºvo man can give me up to thcin merely to gratify, &c.) The para- Mr. Biscoe, At Boyle’s Lect. chap. ix. $9. p. ; º: expresses the force of xapugaadat, which I knew not bow to do ! Constituted a kind of cºuncil.) Dr. Lardner has abundantly shown, y any one English phrase. This, as Dr. Lardner observes, will by no by opposite testimonies from Josephus, Philo, and Dio, that it was cus: means prove that º: Jews had the power of life and death in their tomary, for, ºl considerable number of persons of some distinction to ands;" (Credib. book i. chap. 2. § 10. vol. i. p. 141, #42.) for Paul might attend the Rouman prefects into the provinces, with whom they were reasonably apprehend, not only that he iºli be murdered by the way, used to advisº, especially in matters of judicature. (Credib. boºk i. . he probably would have beens) but that, had the sanhedrim con- gº. 2. § 15. vol. i. p. 225–227.) See also Mr. Biscoe, (as above,) p. emned him, Festus might, for political reasons, have acted the part 359. . that #iatº did with respect to our Lord, in permitting and warranting in Wo to hºt find that Drusilla, &c.) For this excellent remark I the execution, though in his own conscience convinceti of his innocence, an indebted to lºishop Atterbury, in his unequalled sermon on this sub- and even declaring that conviction. See Matt. xxvii. 24, 25. ject. - *— wº." - 480 PAUL ARRAIGNED BEFORE AGRIPPA AND BERENICE. SECT. the law, which were never intended to answer such Pº. ; and so, notwithstanding the natural tenderness of 54. her sex, was proof º those terrors which seize t us to guard against those false dependences which tend to elu SO º on her husband, though an heathen. Letitteach e convictions that might otherwise be produced by Acts the faithful preaching of the word of God. Let it teach us to stop our ears against those siren songs which would * lull us into eternal ruin, even though they should come from the mouths of #. who appear like angels of light; for the prince of darkness himself could preach no more pernicious doctrines than those which reconjie the hopes of salvation with a corrupt heart and an immoral life. - Acis In the conduct of Festus as well as of Felix, we see what dangerous snares power and grandeur . prove to a kin *.9 ºn who is not influenced by resolute and courageous virtue. The liberty of the worthiest of man SEC 55. — And when some days were passed after his appeal, king Agrippa, (the son of Herod Agrippa, F was sacri- ficed by both to their political views of ingratiating themselves with the Jéwish people. Happy that ruler who, approving the equity of his administration to every man's conscience, has no need to court popular favour by mean compliances; and whom the greatest eagerness of men's unjust demands can never turn aside from that steady tenor of justice which a righteous God requires, and which will engage that protection and favour in which alone the most exalted creatures can be happy, in which alone they can be safe. SECTION LV. Agrippa and Berenice coming to visit Festus, Paul is, at their request, brought forth to be examined before them, in a large assembly of persons of considerable rank and figure. Acts xxv. 13, to the end. AcTS xxv. 13. T. THUS Paul continued in confinement, º the order of Festus the governor, till an oppor- tunity could be found of sending him to Rome, that he might there be tried by Cæsar. º and #.º. of Herod the Great,) who had considerable territories in that neigh- 13 bourhood,” and Berenice his sister, with whom he was suspected of living in an incestuous 2 commerce,” came to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus, and to congratulate him on his arrival in the province. 14 And as they continued there many days, Festus, among other subjects of discourse which occurred, laid before the king the business of Paul; saying, There is a certain man whose name is Paul, left here in bonds by Felic, who has occasioned a great deal of speculation 15 in these parts, and indeed involved me in some difficulties; Concerning whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews were very earnest in their applica- tions to me, and informed [me] of him as a motorious criminal; desiring ; against 16 him for several facts which they laid to his charge, and pretended to be highly º : To whom I answered, that it is not the custom of the Romans, when a crime is charged upon a person, to give up any man to destruction (which I plainly perceived they intended to bring on this Paul) till he that is accused have the accusers openly produced, to give their evidence against him face to face,” and he have also º to speak, and be allowed an opportunity of making his defence as to the crime laid to his charge; which has so evident a foundation in reason and equity, that one would imagine it should be the common law and custom of 17 all mankind. n therefore upon this th. y attended me from Jerusalem, and were come with me hither to prosecute him here, I without % delay sat down upon the tribunal, the very mert day after my arrival, and commanded the man to be brought forth before me. 18 Against whom, when the accusers stood up and offered what they had to say, they brought no charge % such things as I supposed they would have done, from the general clamour they 19 had made against him as a seditious and dangerous person: But instead of this, they had certain matters of debate, or questions of a different nature, which they urged against him with great vehemence, relating to some niceties of their own religion;9 and particularly about one Jesus of Nazareth that was dead, whom Paul unaccountably affirmed to be alive, though at the same time he acknowledged that he had been crucified at Jerusalem, and expired on the cross. Of this he pretended to produce some extraordinary and to me ut: terly incredible proofs: but as I was still dubious of the question relating to him, how far it might affect the state of the Jews in general, I said to Paul, that if he were º he should go to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me, where I thought I might have an opportunity of hearing the cause, and of examining into several particulars with greater advantage. But Paul, apprehensive (as I plainly perceived) of some clandes- tine attempt upon his life, was so averse to this, that he immédiately prevented any further thought of trying him at Jerusalem, by pleading his privilege as a Roman citizen, and gp% pealing to be kept to the hearing of [our] august emperor himself; upon which I comma ed him to be kept under confinement as before, till I could send him to Casar by some conve- nient opportunity. - + - - - 22 Then Agrippá said unto Festus, I know this affair has made a great deal of noise in the 0 2 I Acts xxv. 13. AND , after certain, days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute eStüS. 14 And when they had been there many days, Festus de- clared Paul’s cause unto the king, saying, There is a cer- tain man left in bonds by Felix : 15 About whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief . º and the elders of the evy's informed me, desiring to have judgment against III] . 16 To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the fºot mans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself con- cerning the crime laid against III). 17 Therefore, , when, they were come hither, without any delay on the morrow I sat on the judgment-seat, and I commanded the man to be brought forth. 18 Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed: - ut had certain ques- tions against him of their Qwn superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive : And because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem, and Hºſe be judged of these mat- eIS 21. But when Paul had ap- F. to be reserved unto the . j of Augustus, I com: manded him to be kept till I might send him to Cesar. 22 Then Agrippa said unto a King JAgrippa.]. The prince here mentioned was the son of Herod accusations were 9ttº be heard in the absence 9 f tº sº; persoº, Agrippa, spoken of before, chap. xii. 1. (see note a, on that text, p. 419.) Dr. Lardner has shown, Credib. book i. chap. 10. ... vol. i. p. 515, * - - r; + ll argues,) that the and grandson of Åristobuſus the son of Herod the Great. As he was 516.--It evidently appears from hgpº, (as Beza we 7/. but £ºn years of age when his father died, the º: Claudiºs judgment they demanded against Paul (yer: lä.) was not a frial buſiº. qid not think proper to appoint him king of Judea in t father, but made it a Roman prºvince; h - uncle Herod, he made him king of Chalcis, which, after he had governed - it four years, he exchanged for a greater kingdom, and gave him the cause himself. tetrarchies of º and #. % Yºh, ºl. d Relating to §§ º r y £a. S SpeakS 181T ge 8 V is] t O S x +.. • * * part of º with several towns in Peraza. Josephus spe g Y ###: (whatever §ºtes to the contrary) that he would of him in a multitude of passages, the most material of which are go e room of his sentence upon a previous conviction, which they falsely and wickedly ---- - x s bāśly it was the knowledge which Festus had of owever, on the death of his Bººk: Čižn. that engaged him to determine to try the jºi. a Jew, and now Y is arrival at his province, it jected by É.i.ariner (Crºſſ book'. §ap.". § vol. i. p. 43–55) is "sºft a word as superstițion; so that this text.º.d.º.º.ºr and Mr. Biscoe. (Boyle’s Lect. chap. ii. § 3. p. 49, 50.) argument that the word Aetat6aºpovia will aſ - - Śrī. inéestuous commerce Juvenal tion, like that given it above, in the version of Aº XYii; 22. See note - i, on that text, p. 448. And it is very remarkable, not only that the b And Berenice, his sister, &c.] speaks in a gelebrated passage, (Sat. vi. ver. 155, et seq.), as, well as ll admit a milder interpreta- - * - " - - - 1, on Inal, - + I, is ºwn ord in st dicts (reported by osephus in the passage cited below. It is certain, this lady had first jewish"ºlijoſ is spoken of by this word in sevgal ggies, (ºported by .*.*. to her own uncle, Herod, king of º; aſter, whose josephus) that were made in its favour, (infig.ſiº; Ai: {0, 19. [a]. 17.] death, on the report of her scandalouš, familiarity wit her brother ºf jºió, fl. 15.5 but that Josephus himself used it in the same sense #" she married Polemon, king of Cilicia, whº she soon fºrsºok, too. Beli jià. iii. ii. cap. 9. [al. 8.] §3. where he has the phrase to 7-ng gll thou he had submitted to circumcision, to obtain, the , alliance. (joseph. Antia, lib. xx. cap. 7. [al. 5.1, 6.3.) This was also the person whom Titus Vespasian so passionately loved, and whom he would have made empress, had not the clamours of the Romans prevented it. See religion." See Elsher, Observ. vol. i. p. 47 Aetatóatuovtas axparov, to signify their invincible attachment to their |4 6, 477. e Our qugust emperor.] Since Augustus was not properly one of the - - * * t * + v . . n < * * thought the import of Xeſ worro; **T*.* - - - - * .V ot. Pºti SC. "Hººij. ii.a...º names of Nero, (as it was of Titus,) I g - s Sueton. in Tit. cap. 7. cum Aſot. Pitisc. and Tacit. His lib P. 2, here, which was §§ a complimental form of Bpeaking, might be most es Have the accusers ſace to face.] That, according to the Roman law, justly expressed by this version. PAUL ARRAIGNED BEFORE AGRIPPA AND BERENICE. 481 ºldº world, and therefore should be glad of an opportunity of gº; my curiosity, with a SECT. §hºshai: ..."... more particular and authentic account of it; so that I also would desire to hear the man 55. myself; that I may learn from his own mouth what it is that he maintains, and on what – principles he proceeds. And Festus, who was willing to oblige the king in this respect as §: soon as possible, promised that he would order Paul to be produced, and said, To-morrow & thou shalt hear him as largely as thou pleasest. 23 And on the morrow, The next day therefore, king Agrippa and his sister Berenice coming with great pomp and 23 # *ś splendour, and entering into the place of audience, with the tribunes and other officers of .."; ; ; ; ; Roman army, and likewise with the principal men of note and eminence in the city of § ºt."...ejj Caesarea; at the command of Festus, the governor, Paul was brought forth. gº & ºfes. ...And Festus opened the occasion of their meeting with a short speech, and said, Qking 24 bºgº foºth; .#grippa, and all ye who are present with us in this numerous and splendid assembly, ye 24. And Festus said, King - * - 4. Aºi...ºf see this man, Paul of Tarsus, concerning whom all the multitude of the Jews have pleaded *:::::::::::::\ºf with me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out with the greatest earnestness, that he was a j'jº"...”... man of the most infamous and mischievous character, and ought not to be suffered to live ºf wºº pon, arth any lºnger. But for my own part, after the most diligent and impartial inquiry, 25 #"; i.”uš"nº"; I could not apprehend him to have done any thing worthy of death, or find that he was guilty "...º.º. 1 ºn that of a breach of any of our laws; yet, when I would have seen whether the Jews had any hé ºf cºnjitted nothing evidence at home to have supported any material charge against him, as he himself de- .."...sº ſº..."; clined that trial to which I would have brought him at Jerusalem, and has appealed to the tº have determined º of [our] august emperor, I have determined to send him to Rome to be heard by “º'ºn, I have no cer him. But the account I have received of him is so confused and inconsistent, that he is 26 § thiº; "tºº ºne concerning whom I have nothing certain to write to his Imperial Majesty. , Wherefore I tº ightiijeffre'... have this day brought him out before you all, and especially before thee, O king .4grippa, who iº9 art well acquainted with the Jewish customs, that qfter further examination taken, I may minatiºn"had, f might have have something more intelligible and more considerable to write, and may know better how *ślomeun to represent his cause. For it seems to me very absurd, as I doubt not but it will also ap-27 º #;"; pear to you, to send a prisoner to be tried before Caesar, and not to signify also at the same crimes laid against him. time what are the crimes or causes of complaint [alleged] against him on which the em- peror may proceed in giving judgment on his case. IMPROVEMENT. MystERIOUs as that dispensation was which permitted Paul's labours to be interrupted by so long an imprison: Ver. 14 ment, it is nevertheless very pleasant to trace the manner in which all was graciously overruled by a wise and kind Providence. On this occasion he had an opportunity of bearing his testimony, first before rulers and kings 13, 17 in Judea, and then in Rome, and in the palace of Caesar. None of the jewels which these princes might wear, none of the revenues which they might possess, were of any value at all, when compared with the advantage which their converse with Paul gave them for learning the way of salvation. But how shamefully was the advantage neglected, even the price which was put into their hands to get this divine wisdom' (Prov, xvii. 16.) Alas! how coldly do they speak of the most important mat-19 ters, even those relating to the death and resurrection of him by whose knowledge and grace alone hell was to be avoided and heaven secured! There was a question about one Jesus who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. A doubtful question But, O Festus, why was it doubtful to thee ?, Surely because thou didst not think it worth 20 thy while seriously to search into the evidence that attended it; else that evidence had opened upon thee till it had grown into full conviction, and this thine illustrious prisoner had led thee into the glorious liberty of God's ºn: had led thee to a throne far brighter than that of Caesar, far more stable than the foundations of the earth. It is no wonder that Agrippa had a curiosity to hear Paul; it is no wonder that the gospel story in general 22 should move curiosity; but God forbid that it should be considered merely as an amusement! in that view it is an amusement that will cost men dear. In the mean time the prudence of Festus is to be commended, who was 24, 26 desirous to get further information in an affair of such a nature as this ; and his equity, which bore a testimony to 25 the innocence of the apostle, is worthy of applause ; as well as the law which provided that none should be con- 16 demned unheard: a law which, as it is common to all nations, (courts of inquisition only excepted,) ought to be 27 the rule of our proceeding in all affairs, not only in public but private life, if we would avoid acting an injurious part in the censures we pass on the character of others, and exposing our own to the just reproach which they seldom escape who take upon them to judge a matter before they have heard it. (Prov. xviii. 13.) SECTION LVI. Paul makes his defence before Agrippa, Festus, and the rest of the audignce, in a manner which leads them to conclude he might have been set at liberty had he not appealed to Caesar. Acts xxvi. 1, to the end. Acts xxvi. 1. ACTS xxvi. I. THEN Agrippa.º.º. THEN Agrippa said unto Paul, when he stood before him and Festus, and that great SECT. itted t * * * & - * , = «-» g Hºpe" “” assembly of fióbility and gentry which was met at his examination, It is now permitted 56. unto thee to speak for thyself: do it therefore with freedom, and be assured that all due re-— -Then Paul stretched gard shall be paid to what thou hast to offer on this occasion. ACTS gººd and * Then Paul, stretching forth his hand in a graceful and respectful manner," addressed ºxvi. à"; "think myself happy, himself to the splendid audience before which he stood, and made his defence in terms like king Agrippa, because Is |ali these : **wēi ſ㺠myself this day these. wº & e before º: º; all º: O king Agrippa, I esteem myself peculiarly happy, and look upon it as no small advan-2 º: Yºo an accuse tage to me and my cause, that I am this damſ called to make my defence before thee con- 3. Especially ºf cerning all those things of which I am accused by the Jews: Especially as I know that thou 3 thee to be expert in , a o * * ** * , * *ion, aniquestions which art accurately acquainted with all things that relate to the customs which prevail, and the f I also would desire to hear the man myself.] No doubt but Agrippa had great Lord gf the cºmpire, a title by which, it is well known, the emperor learnt from his father, (by whom, it is to be remembered, James had been was now often spoken of. - put to death and Peter imprisoned, Acts xii. 2.3.) and from many others, a Stretching forth his hand.] Elsner (Observ. vol. i. p. 478,479.) shows something of the history and pretensions of christianity ; so that be this to have been esteemed at that time a very decent expression of an would naturally have a curiosity to see and discourse with sº eminent a earnestness in one that spoke in public, though some of the most illus- christian teacher as Paul was ; who, on account of what he had been in trious Greek orators, in earlier ages, such as Pericles, Themistocles, his unconverted state, was, to be sure, more regarded und talked of and Aristides, thought it a point of modesty to avoid it. But this was among the Jews than,ány other of the apostles...; E. : the effect of a false taste; and it is plain the eloquent Demosthenes often : "ſo his ſuperial jižajesty..] Tº ºpio plainly signifies, To the used the sºme gesture with St. Paul hero. 61 482 PAUL ARRAIGNED BEFORE AGRIPPA AND BERENICE. SECT. questions which are in debate, among the Jews;b to some of which my cause and discourse are among the Jews: where- 56. will refer: wherefore I humbly entreat thee that thou wilt hear me with patience and indul- ..." "** * * gence, since it is necessary for me to enlarge circumstantially upon some important parti- ACTS culars which cannot be justly represented in a few words. **", I will therefore begin with observing, that the manner of my life from my youth, which, 4 My manner of life from from the beginning of that age,” was spent among those of my own nation at Jerusalem, is #; **ś 5 well known to all the Jews there; Who are acquainted with me from the first of my settin #Jerusalem, know all the out in the world, and indeed from the very time of my entrance upon a course of liberal “; which knew me from the education under that celebrated master Gamaliel; and if they would candidly testify what jºia”.nº.º.; * - * º e - - - e ify, that after the most they know to be true, they would join with me in assuring you that I lived a Pharisee, traitétºt ºf our religion according to the rules observed by that which you well know to be the strictest sect of our ***** religion,” in every thing relating not only to the written law of God, but likewise to the 6 traditions of the fathers. And now Istand in judgment in the midst of this assembly, not ...And now I stand, and am for any crime that I have committed, but indeed fºr the hope of that promise of a resurrec-3;..". §§.". tion to eternal life and happiness by means of the Messiah, which in time past was made our fathers: 7 by God unto our fathers :*To the accomplishment of which important [promise] all the 7 Unto which promise our known remainders of our twelve tribes, in one part of the world or another, hope to attain; i.º.º.º.º.i. and by the expectation which they have of it, are animated in all their labours and suffer- tº come. #, "º"; ings for religion, while they are worshipping continually, night and day, in the stated and º, * constant performance of their morning and evening devotions, whether in the temple or in other places in which they present their prayers; concerning which hope, O king Agrippa, glorious and reasonable as it is, I may truly say I am now most unjustly and inconsist- ently accused by the Jews: for the doctrine I preach contains the fullest assurance and demonstration of a resurrection that ever was given to the world; and I am persuaded it is this that provokes those of my enemies who disbelieve it, to prosecute me with so much 8 malice. But can there indeed be any evil in maintaining this doctrine myself, and en- , § Why shººtbºlount 8. º, incredible with you, d 2 deavouring to convince others of it? Permit me, O my honoured auditors, to appeal to that "Gośājā aise 'the you, and say, why should it be judged an incredible thing by any of you, that God, a Being * of infinite perfections, and the original Author of #.". frame, should raise the .# and continue their existence in a future state Pf Will not his almighty power enable him to do it? and will not the honour of his moral attributes be hereby illustrated and vindicated? And if it be credible, is it not important enough to deserve the most attentive regard 2 I am confident, Sirs, you would º have thought it so, had you passed through such extraor- dinary scenes as occasioned a change in my views and conduct; which, therefore, I will plainly and fully open to this august assembly. 9 I once indeed thought with myself, that I ought in conscience to do many things most sºlº. - * - e. self, that I ought to do many contrary to the name, and destructive of the interest and religion, of Jesus the Nazarene, thigs contrº to the name whom inder that title I once impiously derided, esteeming all his pretences to be the of ***** 10 Messiah most false and contemptible. I determined therefore to exert all my power 10 which thing I also did against those who owned him under that character; which accordingly I did, particularly º żºłº, # in Jerusalem, where many now living were witnesses of my wild rage, and cannot but pºison, having received at: remember how I shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the ºt; chief priests to do it; and how, when º of them] were killed, I gave my vote against #, , ave my voice [them]s and did all I could to animate both the rulers and the people to cut them off from * - 11 the face of the earth. (Compare Acts viii. 1, 3. xxii. 19, *} .And frequently punishing ...ll. And I punished them oft - - - - > 3.3 !, and - them in all the synagogues, wherever I could meet with them, I compelled [them, if I could jº. s - - rPºi - h and being exceedingly mad possibly effect it, to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ, which I now so highly revere, ºi...º. ºftcºi and openly to renounce all dependence upon him: and being *::::::::::: mad against them even unto strange cities. 8. them, I persecuted [them] even to those foreign cities to which some of them had fled, hunt- ing out the poor refugees, and endeavouring to drive them, not only out of their country, 13 whereupºlas, ºnt sº to Damascus with authority but out of the world. - - g - - . . and commission from the 12 In this view as I was going to Damascus, with authority and commission from the chief chijº"...aag, old º * : “v, - 13 At mid-day, O king, I priests to execute this cruel purpose º all the christians I could find there, (compare saw in thº, liºn, 13 Acts ix. 2, et seq.) At mid-day, ji. was] in the way thither, and was now drawing near fºº: brightness the sun, shining round s - - :* of - the end of my journey, I solémnly declare before thee, O king Agrippa, and before this sº ºn which assembly, as in the presence of God, I saw a great and most astonishing light from heaven, ''''"Aºi º"...were an iſ exceeding the splendour of the sun, Shining about me and those who irºgileſſ with me. And faileñºr heard. * - - º voice speaking unto me, and when we were all fallen down to the earth as if we had been struck with lightning, I very jº. distinctly heard a voice speaking to me, and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul; why i; iº *i; }; dost thou persecute me?"[It is] hard for thee to attempt an opposition to me, and madly to tº kick against the pricks. b Especially as thou art acquainted with all the customs, &c.) Some be awakened to prayer, and that others #. on grayel, and placed thorns manuscripts have added here etóos, or £Tug Tapevos, which our transla- #º º: t ºld not turn without being pricked by them. tors have received into their version; but there is no necessity for this 1 US, etem. cap. 1: 9 ſo. addition, as appears from several instances of the like construction in the e That promnisc # was made b * God §§§ºrs.] See the most approved Greek authors, which are produced, in their remarks on Pº, and notes and g, on Luke xx. *...* Pºff tº . ld pl this place, by De Dieu, and Ráphelius, Annot. cz Xen. p. 187.-It is ap- f Why should it be judged an incredible thing, *#) º t h ace a parent that Agrippa must have had great advantages for an accurate mark of interrogation after Ti, and read it, What? is it thoug glº- acquaintance .#. the Jowish customs, from his education under his dible, &c. which is indeed suited to the animated manner of Paul's father Herod Agrippa, and his long abode at Jerusalem; and agreeably speaking ; and a thousand such examples occur in ancient authors, to º by the permission of the #. º º º º of º §. the persons introduced must be supposed perfectly to understand sacred treasure, the government of the temple, and the right Of nonſilſlåſ- e rules of decorum. . - - ing the high priest, as Dr."fariner has §§ and proved. Credib. g I gave my vote against them.] Paul had no vote in the samhediº; book i. chap. 1. § 9. vol. i. p. 49 nor ºld we certainly knºw that, any more than $º º to c From the beginning of that age.] Probably as Dr. Wells observes, death for christianity befºe Paul’s conversion, in whose Con #. m his just criticism on these words, (Sacred Geograph. vol. iii. p. 280.) he ther?...Was AS Yºting at all. But the meaning º, is, (as º w; jajin'his jiljhood been brought up in the schools of Tarsus, and there obºvgs.), that he instigated the Pººl: against them º §. tº. ) G formed to an acquaintance with the politest of the Greek and flºan au could, in that instance and any othér that might occur w sº º: thors, till he entered on a kind of academical course under the celebrated salem or elsewhere, which (as was hinted º: #. l § §ia. êºliei about the fifteenth or sixteenth year of his age, when he game p. 458.) Hi}}, perhaps be more than are recorded: º - iš. r to Jerusalem, and was there §d # of the beginning of his renders it, fjoined with those that condemned, them, and 9.9 §.” j youth. h Ils th f tº *:::: Greek phrase karmveyka pnºpov has sometimes this genera he strictest sect of our religion.] So Josephus calls the sºgt of £h9 signification: ; - i. z., Piſº. almost #. .."; which the apostle uses, Bell. Jud. I. compelled, them to łºś. . I cannot º the Jºº. lib,i. cap. 5. [al. 4.] § 2. and in a variety of other gº; gollected by Witsius, that this refers to his obliging them to use that form ºf pººr #r. Bišč. i. Bºjicº, i.i." Chap. iv. § 3. p. 92. And Dr. Whitby ascribed to Gamaliel, in which, the christian religion was º: als has shºº (in his fºrmed note on this text) that it was in many respects heresy; and by imposing whigh, he ºppºse. º '# G #4;. stricter, both as to doctrine and life, than that of the Essenes; ſº ap- vent christians from §§ in synagºgue-Wºp. h I ilā fleen, ears from the gospels that many rigorous severities were used %. . cap. i., § 22.) But the frequent instancº Ye has iſ: t . º; sº 8. Luke xviii. ſi, 12. Matt. xxiii. 5, 23, 25, 28. , And itsius into the synagogues, and joining in, their . "A almly ShoW #. assures us, (I suppose on the authority of some rabbies,) that they used § not to have been so ançiently º e .#;"; Jn to º on narrow planks, that, falling down from them, they might Boon lińy (iii. x. Epist. 94.) proves that heathen persocutors obliged chris- PAUL ARRAIGNED BEFORE AGRIPPA AND BERENICE. 15 And I said, Who art - thou, Lord 2 Äniſ he said, I presume to kick in jesus whom thou perse- which way have CuteSt. 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a ruinister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which will §. unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To Qpen their eyes, and whom I moto send thee;i to turn them from darkness 5 to light, and ſrom the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive ſorgiveness of from that spiritu appeared to me in this divine lustre and persecutest by the opposition thou art making to my cause and interest. But though, by engaging in this desperate attempt, thou hast forfeited thy life, I am determined graciously to spare it, and to use thee hereafter as the instrument of my glory; arise, therefore, and stand upon thy feet; for to this purpose I have in this extraordinary manner appeared unto * thee, even to ordain thee a minister of my gospel, and a witness both of the things which thow hast now seen, and of those in which I will hereafter appear unto thee. And thou shaltexpe- rience my gracious presence with thee, delivering thee from the rage and malice of the Jewish people, and also from the dangers thou shalt encounter with among the Gentiles, to hat I may make thee instrumental, by the preaching of my gos- pel, to open their eyes, which are now in a miserable state of blindness, that t ‘... ºdarkness in which they are now involved, to the light of divine knowledg lory, said, I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thow turn jº.; and holiness, and from the power of Satan, to which they are now in a wretched subjec- §§;.” tion, unto the love and serviće of God; that so they may receive the free and full forgiveness of all their sins, be they ever so many or ever so aggravated, and may obtain an inheritance among them that are sanctified, through that as its great Object, and consists in devoting t my care as the Saviour of men. 19. Whereupon, O. king Agrippa, I was not disobe- dient unto the heavenly W. 1SIOIn 20 But she wed first unto them of Damascus, and Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and them tº the Gentiles, that they Damascus, where I was going when this vision ha Jerusalem and through all the country of Judea, an came, in my various and wide-extended travels from one country to another, that t should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for IC pentance, ſºil. which is in me, which terminates in me e soul to my service, and committing it to From that ever-memorable time, O king Agrippa, through the grace of God subduing my heart, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, with which he was pleased thus miraculously to favour me: But I immediately engaged, with all the united powers of my 20 at soul, in the service of that divine Master against whose interest and kingdom I had hitherto been acting in so strenuous a manner; and accordingly I openly declared, first to them at ened, and afterwards to those at É. to all the Gentiles wherever I should repent of their sins, and turn to God with their whole hearts, performing de worthy of that repentance which they profess, and without which the sincerity of it can never be approved in his sight. 21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. I once had, seizing me in the temple some time ago, attempted in a tumultuous manner to have killed me with their own hands; and since I was rescuéd at first by Lysias the tribune, 22 Having therefore ob– to the counci tained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and they have repeated the attempt again and again, contriving to assassinate me in my way ń. which they urged that I might again be brought. I impute it therefore 22 to an extraordinary providence that I am yet alive, and publicly à fulness, that it is by having obtained help from God that I continue until this day;" and - I endeavour to employ my life to the p Moses ******* courageously testifying, both to small and great, as what is rea eclare it with all thank- oses for which it is ſº. resolutely and y a matter of the greatest concern both to the meanest and the most exalted of mankind, the way of salvation by 23 That Christ should Ruf. fer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should she w light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. JMoses have declared should be ; means of revealing know Christ Jesus my Lord: thereby indeed in effect saying nothing but what the prophets and That is, in short, that the Messiah having suffered, and being 23 the first of those who rose {. the dead to an immortal life, should discover light, and be the edge and happiness, both to the people of the Jews, and also to the Gentiles; that by following his instructions and obeying his commands, they also might at length obtain a glorious resurrection, and a life of everlasting felicity in the heavenly world. 24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. much study of these ancient records, on which thou layest so great a stress, drives thee to madness;" or thou wouldst never talk of such facts as these, or expect to be credited in such wild assertions.” tians that fell under the trial, not only to renounce Christ, but also to curse him ; and I think it appears from hence, that the Jews imposed the like test jº them. - i The Gcatiles, to whom I note send thee..] This text entirely overthrows the scheme which Lord Barrington and Dr. Benson have taken so much pains to establish; relating to Paul’s receiving his first commission to preach to the idolatrous Gentiles several years after his conversion, viz. in his second journey to Jerusalem. See note a, on Acts xxii. ii. p. 439. To support that hypothesis, (for it is no more,) they are obliged to maintain that these words were not spoken by Christ when he met him on the way to Damascuss but in the vision he had in the temple at the time referred to above. But as the , words make a part of the sentence in which Christ bids him rise from the astonishment into which his appearance to him on the way to Damascus had thrown him, and as he afterwards (ver. 19, 20.) speaks of his first preaching Christ at Da- mascus as the effect of these words, I think every unprejudiced person must see that they belong to the story of his conversion: and this is as reconcilable with Peter’s first opening the christian church, to the un- circumcised Gentiles, as the general commission, which. Christ gaye to all the apostles before his ascension. Mark xyi. 15. Matt. xxviii. 19. The plain answer to the seeming objection arising from both is, that though these commissions were indeed very extensive, yet they were not at first fully understood by those that received them; and Paul, as well as the twelve, might perhaps imagine, that if any Gentiles Were converted, (which, to be sure, the apostles all expected, multitudes would be,) they must first be received into the Jewish church by circumcision and then into the christian, by baptism.—Many good manuscripts and ancient versions do indeed leave out, vvv, now ; (see Dr. Mill, in loc.) but few of these read aſtos-eXXQ, I will send thee; and if we admit the reading cus ot's gº aſſos-ex\6), to whom I send thee, the sense will be much the same as if we retain that which is commonly received. k That they may turn, &c.] This seems to be the sense of the original Top graſpeilaº, which (as De Dieu observes) may properly be rendere thus without the need of any supplement; and this will best agree with the construction, and with the sense in which the word is generally used in other places. Compare chap. ix. 35. xi. 21. xv. 19. xxvi. 20. xxviii. ! To have killed me with their own hands.] Beza justly observes that this is the exact import of Ötaxsºpvaag flat, which was the more pro- E. used here, as there was reasoni to apprehend that Paul would have ech actually pulled to pieces {3, a 3rac{}m} in an assembly, as it seems, less numerous and less violent than that which seized him in the temple. °º, xxiii. 10. p. 472. - m Having obtained help from God, &c.] This may very probably ex- press the sense he had of the late interposition of Providence in his favour, touched upon in note g, on chap. xxv. 4. p. 478. n Much study drives thee to madness.] This is the exact import of the original, TIoMAa ge ypaugata ets finiſtav reputperet. Perhaps he might know that Paul in his present confinement spent a great deal of time in reading ; and this was the most decent turn that could be given to such a mad charge. But nothing can be at once more invidious and ridiculous (as, those two properties often go together) than the gloss which Mr. Collins gives to these words, (Grounds and Reasons, p. 7%. as if Paul’s applying the Old-Testament Scriptures in an allegorical sense had led Festus to make this reflection ; whereas it is not certain that Paul quoted any particular scripture in this whole discourse, much less in an allegorical interpretation; nor would it have been possible for Festus (an entire stranger to the Jewish prophecies) to have made any judgment as to the propriety or impropriety with which they were ap- plied. And any person of common cºndour would easily see, that if such a thing had been in question, º indeed it was not,) the conviction of Agrippa, so well versed in Jewish affairs, would have been a much stronger argument that the prophecies were applied right, than the cen- sure of Festus could be for the contrary. - ... o In such wild assertions.] Besides what is hinted in the paraphrase, it would appear, quite absurd to Festus to hear Paul (as he did in the last sentenge of his speech) talk of a resurrection from the dead accom- plished in Jesus as the first-fruits, or pretend that a person should come from the Jews, whom he looked upon as a barbarous nation, who should enlighten not only his own people, but even the Gentiles too, and, among 483 ainst the goads. And I said in astonishment, Who art. thou, Lord? and sect persecuted thee? And who can judge of my surprise when he who 56. ACTS XXVI. 17 1. 1 8 9 Now let any one judge whether for this I should be treated as a criminal worthy of 21 death, or whether indeed I have deserved these bonds: yet on account of these things, and for no other cause, the Jews, who have the same inveteracy against the gospel of Jesus that ..?nd as he was thus making his defence, Festus, astonished to hear him represent this 24 despised gospel of Jesus of Nazareth as a matter of such high and universal concern, and thinking the vision he had related as introductory to that assertion quite an incredible story, said, with a loud voice which reached the whole auditory, Paul, thou art distracted; 484 SECT. 56. ACTS XXVI. 26 28 29, And Paul, powerfully struck with so remarkable an acknowledgment, said, with great fervency ºf spirit, and yet with perfect decency, O king, I would to God that not only thou, but glso all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, ercept these bonds.’ My afflictions. I would bear myself till Providence shall release me from them, 30 32 either qf death or of bonds. And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might certainly have been Ver. 2 hast delivere almost persuadest me to become a christian mys PAUL ARRAIGNED BEFORE AGRIPPA AND BERENICE. But this invidious imputation was so far from provoking Paul to any indecency, with a perfect command of himself he calmly and gravely replied, I am not mad, most noble that 25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of Festus; but I utter the words of truth and sobriety," which will bear the test of the severest truth and soberness. examination ; and I desire nothing more than that they may be brought to it. For king himself knoweth of these things, and is no stranger to them, to whom also I speak with ſº imboldened by his permission, and assured of his candour: e has better and more favourable thoughts of what I have been saying, as mone of these the , 26 For the king knoweth of º;i things, before whom also I speak freely : for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done for I am persuaded things are entirely hidden from him : for this is not [an affair] that was transacted in a cor- **** ner; the death of Jesus, the preaching of his gospel, my rage against it, and sudden conver- sion to it, were all open an tuni - - notorious facts, of the truth of which thousands had oppor- of being certainly and thoroughly informed; and I am satisfied the king has often 27 heard of them. Nor can he be ignorant of the correspondence of these things to the pre- dictions of the Old Testament: Oking Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? Yes, I know §§ that thou believest them to have written by a divine inspiration, and art aware of the weight 27 King Agrippa, believest know of those arguments which are derived from the authority of their testimony. Thén ágrippa said unto Paul, Thou hast given such an account of these matters, and p.º.º. character." aul, Almost thou persuad- d what thou hast been saying in so natural and so earnest a manner, that thou jºisé. elf, instead of condemning thee under that * 29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, ex- cept these bonds. but my satisfaction in the truth of the º is so entire, and the consolations I experience from it are so solid and noble, that I coul wish nothing greater and better to this illustri- ous audience, than that every one present had an equal faith in it, and equal zeal to promote its interests; which I earnestly pray that God may excite in your hearts. •ºnd as he said this, that the impression Paul began to make upon the court might reach arose, and Festus the governor, and Berenice, and those who sat with 31 them upon the bench; for Agrippa was able to hear no more. to the governor's apartment, they spoke one with another, saying, It is ovident, so far as we can judge by this discourse, which hath all imaginable marks of candour and sincerity, no further, the king 30 And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and t º º º: - Aº - s and they that sat with thorn : And when they had retired º: gone aside, they talked be- tween themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing wor- that this man, whether his reasonings be or be not conclusive, hath dome nothing wort ly thy of death or of bonds. 32 Then said Agrippa unto estus, This man might have set at liberty upon this hearing, without any further debate, if he had not appealed winto bººt". Hijº'. Caesar:” but as he has judged it necessary to take that step, he has indeed put it out of not appealed unto Cesar. our power to discharge him, and therefore he must stand by Caesar's award; to whom it will be convenient to send him as soon as possible. IMPROVEMENT. PERFECTLY does our blessed Redeemer, in this instance, appear to have answered his promise, that when his disciples were brought before speak. (Matt. x. 18, 19.) overnors and kings for his sake, it should be given them in that hour what they should or indeed it is impossible to imagine what could have been said more suitable, or what more graceful, than this discourse of Paul before Agrippa; in which the seriousness and spirituality of the christian, the boldness of the apostle, and the politeness of the beautiful contrast, or rather a most happy union. gentleman and the scholar, appear in a most There was no appearance of flattery in congratulating himself º an opportunity of speaking before one l skilled in the manners and in the records of the Jews; for the more t ey had been attended to, with the greater 4, 5 advantage would the cause of christianity have appeared. There was no arrogance in his insisting upon the strictness of his former life; since those things which were once gain to him, he had long, since counted loss for Christ. (Phil. iii. 7.) The excellency of the end that inspired him was proportionable to the manner in which he 7 was impressed with it. Well may they serve God instantly day and night, who have the hope of a happy resur- 8 rection before them; nor is the hope presumptuous and vain, since it is founded on a divine promise. Why should it seem incredible with any, that he who gave life should restore it—that God should raise the dead? 9–11 . It was this expectation that supported the christians while Saul breathed out threatenings and slaughter against them; (Acts ix. 1.) while mad with a profane and impious rage against Jesus of Nazareth, he compelled them to blaspheme, and persecuted them even to strange cities. But a conduct like this must occasion to him the keenest remorse when he came to know what he did, and to see how gracious and condescending a Lord he had been 14, 15 persecuting in his members: when he took so gracious a method to reclaim him, it is no wonder that it left an indelible impression on his memory and on his heart. Indeed the story is so pleasant and so instructive, that we may well bear to read it a second and a third time; or rather may rejoice in it, as so many instructive circum- stances are added to those which we before endeavoured to illustrate and improve. (Compare Acts ix. 2–16. and xxii. 5–16.) the º polite and learned Romans and Greeks. This, in conjunct - *. - r. Eccº;'t these bonds.] Some have thought, (as Grotius does,) that he tion with what Paul had said of the manner in which this was revealed refers to his imprisonment in general, arguing that it would have been to him, would lead such a half-thinker as Festus appears, to conclude roundly that he was a yisionary enthusiast. - p I am not mad, &c.], This answer, in this connexion, appears, inex- pressibly beautiful; and if great and good men who meet with rude and insolent treatment in the defence of the gospel, (which is often the ease,) learn to behave with such moderation, it will be a great accession of strength, to the christian cause.—Raphelius shows, (as Beza had before observed,) that a goqpowwwn, sobriety, is with the strictest exactness opposed to pavua, madness. Annot. ex Xen. p. 188. q Thou almost persuadest me to become a christian.]. To interpret this as an irony, evox, Yoo pe Tetêets, &c. as if he had said, “this is a very compendious way of pérsuading me to become a christian,” is supposing Agrippa very unseasonably, and absurdly ludigrous; and tººk there Imay º Solne ambiguity in the words if read alone, yet it is certain the manner of his speaking, which must either be very solemn and earnest or with a most contemptuous sneer, would determine the sense beyond all doubt. Now it plainly appears from Paul’s answer, and from the sense in which he there uses ev oxya), almost, in opposition to ev ToMA60, altogether, that he took him to mean seriously that he was almost per- suaded, and consequently that he did indeed inean so. —To explain the words as if he had incant, “Thou persuadest me to be almost a chris– tian,” or, “to begome an almost christian,” that is, an hypocritical pro- fessor, is quite foreign to the purpose ; nor could Agrippa have any temptation lo be so. indecent to have brought him to plead before Agrippa and Berenice in gliains. But it has been justly, replied, that, such instances aro to be found in antiquity. See Tacit. Annal. lib. iv. § 28. s This man onight have been set at liberty, &c.] Though this declara- tion of Agrippa would not secure Paul’s deliverance, yet it might do him some service that a testimony to his innocence was pronounced, by so learned and honourable a person of the Jg wish nation and religion. Festus would probably entertain a better, opinion of him !'}}. this ac- count, and would give directions to the officer Yho attended him; to treat him with so much the greater regard... I shall only add, that though it might seem in this view an unhappy circumstance that Paul had made this appeal, yet as it was, at the time that he made it, the properest method he could take for his own security, he would haye reason to reflect upon it with satisfaction; and we before observed, that his visit- ing Rome under the character of a prisoner, was overruled by Provi- dence to answer some important purposes. Compare Phil. i. 12, ct SCQ. t The discourse, of Pap! before , Agripps;}. The reply of Paul to Agrippa is so excellently illustrated in Three Discºurses on Jrresolution in Religion, by my much honoured friend the Reverend Dr. Samuel Clarke of St. Alban’s, that I cannot but earnestly recommend them to the perusal of all who desire thoroughly to enter into the strength and spirit of this beautiful part of the sacred story. PAUL LEAVES CAESAREA ON HIS VOYAGE TO ROME. 485 What can be more affecting than the view which our Lord here gives us of the state in which the gospel found SECT. men, in comparison with that into which it was intended to bring them 2 A gospel ministry was to open their eyes 56. before blinded, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Saian to God; that they might receive the remission of their sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Enlighten, Q Lord, the dark Corners ::. of the earth; vindicate the wretched slaves of Satan into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and adopt & them to that inheritance which thou hast prepared for thy sanctified ones! - Wonderful scheme of divine goodness? and happy thé men who are employed in promoting it! Let the profane 24 world call their zeal madness, and account fol it in a less decent and candid manner than Festus himself did, these 25 would be found the words of truth and sobriety; and the God of truth and of wisdom will approve them as such, when the wisdom of the world shall all appear foolishness and madness. (1 Cor. iii. 19.) * God grant that none of us may restin being almost persuaded to be christians! When convictions begin to open, 33 let us follow the celestial ray whithersoever if leads us, and not be disobedient to the heavenly vision. Would to 19 God that all who shall read or hear this discourse, might be not only almost but altogether prevailed upon to be 29 christians, and might attain to a temper like that of the blessed Paul, even though his bonds were not to be ex- cepted. For that religious joy which such a disposition must introduce, would render chains, yet heavier than his, light; and they would quickly be transformed into ornaments of glory, which shall deck the soul in the pre- sence of God with a lustre infinitely superior to that which the diadem of Agrippa or the robe of Festus could. SECTION LVII. Paul sets out on his voyage from Caesarea to Bome, and having suffered great extremity in a storm, received assuºce of his preservation by a vision, which he communicates to his companions for their encouragement. Acts xxvii. 1–26 …*& w Acts xxvii. 1. Acts xxvii. 1. AND when it was determin- IT was observed in the conclusion of the last section, that Aº apprehended Paul SECT #!"). º."## might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed unto Caesar; but the appeal, being 57. tº tertain ºisºners made, could not be recalled; and therefore, as it was determined that we should sail into tºn- Italy,” they delivered Paul, and some other prisoners in his circumstances, to a centurion ºf 2 And entering into a ship of the Augustan cohort whose name was Julius. And going on board a ship of .4dramyltis, a jº" ºil.". City of Mysia not far from Pergamos, we weighed anchor, intending to sail by the coasts of §.º.&#&#: the Lesser .4sia; Aristarchus a Macedonian, a christian brother of the city of Thessalonica, salonica, being with us. being with us,” who was glad of the opportunity of attending Paul on an occasion of so great importance to him and to the church. tº gºt 3: ... And steering our course northward from Casarea, the mert [day] we reached Sidon, a 3 ouched at Sidon. And Ju- ...Sº * * gº - * * - e. * i."...ie. g.º.d celebrated city on the Phenician shore; and Julius the centurion treating Paul with great ºść humanity, permitted [him] to go to his friends there, whom he had not been able to visit in himself. his way to Jerusalem, (chap. xxi. 3, 7.) and to enjoy the benefit of their kind care towards rendering his voyage as agreeable as they could, as well as affording him some present re- freshment. *...fººd ºhen..we, hºi ºlnd weighing anchor from thence, we sailed under the island of Cyprus, leaving it on the 4 launched from thence, we s e jdé; Cºptºads; left hand, because the winds were in the south-west quarter, and so were contrary to us, and the winds were contrary consequently prevented our taking the more direct course, which we might othèrwise have 5 And when we had sailed done by sailing more to the west, and leaving Cyprus to the north. .4nd sailing through 5 jºi."º “... "... the sea that lies over against Cilicia and Pamphylia, without an opportunity of calling on Myrā, a city of Lycia. any of our friends at Tarsus, Attalia, Perga, or Antioch in Pisidia, where Paul had once and again made so delightful a progress, (see Acts xiii. 13, 14, xiv. 25, 26. xv. 40, 41.) - we came to the port of Jºſſra, [a diºſ Lycia, whose celebrated promontory we might ..Q. And there the Seaturiºn descry at a considerable distance. . found a ship of Alexandria nd there the centurion finding a ship of Alexandria 6 §ginºſa; ſº that was bound for Italy, quitting the other vessel which had brought us to Myra, he put is tº x - e y 5 s *-* . . * *-* *** & p? us tºlerC11). vs on board it, and embarked with us. º: •ºnd when we had sailed slowly for several days by Rhodes and several other small islands 7 ºº:: a. Which lay near the Carian shore, and were hardly got over against the point of Cnidus, a §º.º.º. celebrated port of Caria, the wind not permitting us to make greater despatch, westeered to over against Salºne; "'the south, and sailed under Crete, over against the promontory of Salmone, on the eastern cº, sº, it coast of that island: And passing it with difficulty, when we had made the cape we came to 8 Čiča"ie ºf iº, a certain place called The Fair Havens, the most considerable port in that part of Crete, in jºunt” was the city the neighbourhood of which was the city of Lased." 9. Now when much time ind as much time was spent in making of this little way, and the season of the year was 9 Yº so far advanced that sailing was now hazardous, because the fast of expiation was already gº; past oper, and consequently winter was coming on apace,” Paul spake to those who had the º”.”.” them, chief direction of the voyage, and prudently exhorted [them] not to put out to sea: Saying 10 §. Jºiº, ºi unto them, Sirs, I perceive that if this voyage be pursued according to the present scheme nº damage, not only of you have in view, it will be attended with much injury and great damage, not only to the º:" "*** lading that we have on board, and to the ship itself, bitt also, in all human probability, to our lives; and therefore I should think it highly conducive to our common safety, rather to winter here than to attempt to proceed any further. a -1s it was determined that we should sail.] Some ancient copies and d The city qf º, I see no reason, with Beza, to change this versions read it, that § should sail, which may seem Ingst proper, as readins for Akassa or Elaea, merely because we do not read of Lasca those that sent away Paul had no power over Luke or Aristarchus; yet elsewhere, it is very possible a place may be but once mentioned in they also determined, though freely, to sail. - _. -- aſ:cient iristory, or id: this may be the Lasos of Pliny, which he They delivered Paul and some other prisomgrs.] Dr. Lardner proves describes as situated in the eastern part of Crotc.; (see Air. Biscoe, it at large, particularly fron several passages of Josephus, that prisoners Boyle’s Lect. chap. x. § 4. p. 379.) a circumstance which well suits'ii. 9f importance used frequently to |. sent, as from 9ther provinces, so tºº, wg have given, though not that of Beza, who takes Salmone frºm Judea, to Rome. Credib. book i, chap. 10. § 10. Vol. i. p. 531, to have been the promontory Salmonium, which he places in the ºstern 532. . . s e - coast, a situation that no way agrees with the rest of the description c. Aristarchus a Jiſacedonign, º This good man, by birth a Thessa- mor, with the authority of Dionysius, Périeg. ver. iii. 3nt this is nº lonian, had been with Paul in Ephesus at the time of the tumult there, a place to a just geographical controversies otherwise ſtiaki Woji (chap; xix. 29.), where he had been seized by the mob and exposed to be easy to show that this excellent critic has given, in may rCSpects, a great hazard. . He aſterwards attended him to Macedonia, and returned very wroag account of this voyage. * - y with him to Asia. (Chap. XX. 4.) He now accompanied him to Rome, e.Sailing tºas now? hazardous, because the fast was already orcr.) The and, was a, fellºw-prisoner with him there; (Col. iv. 10.), and is mentioned fast here spoken of was the day of atomsment, which wºoij to i. in Paul’s Epistle to Philemon, (ver. 24.) who was probably their common kept on the tenth day of the seventh month, ºilèſ'firiº jºs. A. friend, as a, Valuable assistant in, his ministerial work. It was, to be gońsequently must ſave been about the 35th of our Sºpº 'Ś. Şūre, a grºat, comfºrt to the apostle to have the company of two such Lev. xvi. 23, Xxiii. 27. Numb. Nxix. 7. Philº, in sºi passages frien is as Luke anº! Aristarchus, as it was also a great instance of their quoted by Dr. Whitby in his moie herº, speaks of this is an 'ill'iº affection to him, that they would, follow him when he was going as, a sail, as Aratus also does; and it would naturăily"hº so, not only on prisoner to Rome, not being ashamed of his bonds, and especially account of winter approaching, but also because of the Nº. that they would uttend him at a time when they knew sailing to be flows, that are still well known in the Miediterrascan. See Raphe; dungerous. Compare ver, 9. •Yot. c.c. Herod. p. 397. and Veget. De Re-Militari, lib. iv. cap. 39. ACTS XXVII. 5 (1S 13 14 16 driven before it. 17 being staved, as what might be o is ind as we were exceedingly tossed by the storm, and their was danger of the vessel's foun- by heaving overboard the goods that she was isst wares into the sea. .4nd the third [day], the tempest was so great that all the passengers as well as mariners were employed; and we cºst 91ſt with our own hands the very tackling of the ship, which in such circumstances we 19 laden with, and throwing out the heav 20 2I 22 are further to endure. Nevertheless, even now, bad as the situation of affairs may appear, I erhort you to be of good courage: for though you are ready to conclude you must ine- vitably perish, I assúre you that there shall be no loss of any single life among you, but only the ship, which must indeed be dashed in pieces. Nor is it without good authority that speak in so express and positive a manner with regard to an event which seems to you * { 25 sake. CT, 7 5 PAUL OVERTAKEN IN HIS VOYAGE BY A STORM. thirgs which were spoken by Paul; in other views, that these were more greater part of the company advised to set sail Phénice to winter there; [which is] a kind of almost any wind that could blow. and by the help of a Fair Havens, and sailed on close tº the shore of Creter to sea, the ship was in great danger, ous whirling kind of wind, which by But J ulius the centurion, in whose breast the determination of the affair lay, paid greater ºrd in this instance to the opinion of the pilot and the master of the vessel, than £, ios. imagining, notwithstanding the esteem he had for him : il * - competent judges in the business of navigation. .4nd the katº, Rotwithstanding its agreeable name, was not commodious to inter in, the rom thence, if they might possibly reach to e 7 ouble haven on the southern coast of Crete, loºg tº the south-west and north-west, where, in consequence of a jutting point of land which defended it, they hoped, on getting into the upper part of it, to ſie'secure from º! as the Weather caine to be more favourable, and the south wind blew gently, which would prevent their driving out to Sea, supposing they were now side-wind might coast along the island, they weighed anchor from the as on a sudden there arose against it a very tempestu- the mariners in this sea is called Euroclydon, or in l ; N G vert!, (-), 8:: * 'to roºt (1- riou believe: ; ; ; c. 123 ste, a , d the owner of time ship, i.ore than those tilitigs wi:ich were spoken by Pauſ. 12 And because the haven was not commodious to win- ter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to win- ter; which is an haven of rete, and lieth toward the South-west and north-west. 13, And when wind blew softly, that they had §t purpose, loosin sailed Ślose º Xrete. 14 But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon the south supposing ained their secure of [their] thence, they urpose, But not long after they had put modern language a Levanters which often shifts the quarter from whence it blows, and ward of the east. the western coast of Crete, the - † girding the ship to keep it from bulging; and fearing, as the wind had varied more to the • # fall upon the greater or the lesser those quicksands on the African shore so famous for the destruction of mariners and struck sail, that so their progress might be slower, and some more favourable north, and blew them towards Africa, lest they show Syrtis, vessels, h º * accordingly in our case was first east and by north, and afterwards several degrees south. -ind as the ship was violently hurried away by the force .# not able to bear up against the wind, which was so very boisteróus that tº speak) she could not look the storm in the face, we gave [her] up to the wind, and were •ºnd running under a certain island called Claudd, a little to the south of violence of the storm was such, that with the utmost diffi- culty we were hardly able to get masters of the boat, which we were willing to secure from * fuse in any exigence: HWhich when tº they “sed, all the helps they could to make the vessel able to ride out the storm, under- 15 And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. 16 And, running under, a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: I7 Which when they had taken up, they used helps, un- dergirding the .# and ſear- ing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven. it, and was (as the seamen use at last they had hoisted Weather in the mean time might come for their relief, and so were driven before the wind. dering, the next [day] they lightened the ship, 18 And we being exceed- ingly tossed with the tempest the next day they lighténèd the ship ; - ig Aid the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. should have been desirous to have preserved, preferably to the most precious wares with which she could have been laden. pirited, then Paul standing in t -Wow as we knew not where the wind had driven us, for neither sun nor stars appeared ſº several days, and still the sea ran high, and no small tempest pressed upon [us, all the little remainder of hope that we might be saved and delivered from the danger we were in, 10as in a Inanner taken away from us, and the whole company expected nothing but that the ship would certainly be lost, and we should perish with it. •And when in all this time they had no heart to think of taking any regular refreshment, so that there was great want of ſº and their distress was such that they were quite dis- s we midst of them, said, Sirs, if it were proper to reflect upon what is past, and now irretrievable, I might tell you that you ought to have hearkened to ºné, and not to have loosed from Crete at so inconvenient a time, and so to have gained this 20 And yhen neither sun nor stars in many days ap- ſº and no small tempest ay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. 21, But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. injury and loss which you have already suffered, and be exposed to that distress which you 22 And now I exhort, you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the sh;g. 23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God whose I ain, and whom f at best very uncertain, or rather utterly improbable; for there appeared to me this very night serve. an angel of the God whose servant and º humbly and diligently worship, though most o I joyfully confess that I am, and whom I you are so unhappy as to be ignorant of 24 him. He is so great a God, that all the heavenly hosts adore him, and are ever ready to execute his commands; and one of them hath come to visit me on this occasion, saying, Fear not, Paul, for thou must be presented before the tribunal of Casar; and, behold, God 24 Saying, Fear mot, Paul; thou must be brought befºre Caesar: and, lo, God hath giyen thee ail them that sºil with thee. hath not only determined to rescue thee from this imminent danger, but he hath also gwen thee the lives of all them that sail in this vessel with thee, who shall be preserved for thy º: take courage, sirs, and lay aside your fears; for I trust in God, whose Ul - that it shall certainly be so, according to the mºi- word is faithful and his power almighty, 25. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for | believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. - 26 Howbeit we must be cast 26 mer in which it hath been spoken to me. But I know also, that we must be cast upon a upon a certain island. f Close to Crete.] That aggoy is to be taken as an adverb, and not as the name of a plagg, Beza has so fully demonstrated, that nothing need be said in proof of it here. g Ji tempestuous wind, which is called Euroclydon.J. The learned Dr. Bentley (in his Remarks on Freethinking, part ji., § 69, 70.) has taken a great deal of pains to establish the rºading of the Álexandrian Manu- script, admitted also by Grotius and Cluverius, (Sicil. Antiq, lib. ii. p. 442.) which is EupakvXav, agreeable to the vulgar Euraquilo, the north- east wind, which was indeed proper to carry the ship from Crete to the African shore, and so might expose them to the danger of the Syrtis. (Ver. 17.) But I think, my learned, friend Mr. Brekell, in his ingeni- ous introduction to his discourse called Euroclydon, has advanced such objections against that interpretation as cannot be answered, and abun; dantly proved that it could not be a point-wind, but was rather a kind of hurricane, often shifting its quarter, and accordingly not bearing them forward any one way, but tossing them backward and forward in the Adriatic ; (ver. 27.) which is very agreeable to the account which the learned and accurate Dr. Shaw gives of the matter, in his. Travels, p. 53–361. where he explains it as one of the furious kind of winds, now called Levanters, which are easterly winds not confined to one single point, but blowing in all directions from the north-east to the south-east. —See also Erasinus on this place. h Lest they should fall upon the quicksands.) See a good collection of the descriptions given of the greater and the Jesser Syrtis, by approved writers of antiquity, in Gualtperius’s note on this verse. e i To have gained this injury and loss.] Both these words, iflow kat Çnutav, are used, ver, 10. and I doubt not but they have here a refer- Čnce to what the apostle had declared before...—The first, iſłpts, generally signifies some kind of wrongs; and accordingly it, and, its compºunds and derivatives, are almost always used in this sense. (Compare 2 Gºr. xii. 10 Matt. xxii. 6. Luke xi. 45. xviii. 32. Rom. i. 30. 1 Tim, i. 13.) But it extends to any violent assault. (Acts, xiv. 5, 1 Thess, ii. ?:), and is here used for that of wayes and winds. I apprehend the English Yord injury exactly corresponds to it, and is used in the same latitude. Thus none would scruple to say a ship had been much injured by a storm- The other word, Knuta, signifies a loss, especially a ſinci (compare note f; on Mark viii. 36. . p. 165.) and perhaps it may be used to injnuate that this foss was a kind offino paid ſor their oxyn imprudence. To gaul a loss seenis so odd a phrase, that ºne would think kepông at was here put for sustaining, unless the use of it were intended to intimate, that in such extrenre danker they were to. look upon it as a circumstance of great advantage to escape with their lives, or (as it is elsewhere expressed with great spirii) to 4 apr lºſe given ſer a lºrey. (Jør. xxi. 9; xxviii. 2. xxxix. J.S. xlv. 5.) And it seeins to me, that in all the instances, col- jected by Elsier inere, though in another view, the word has precisely this scnse and ſorce. Elsner, Observ, vol i. p. 486, - sº PAUL SHIPWRECKED ON THE ISLAND OF MALTA. certain island, and that the vessel will be wrecked upon the coast of it; nevertheless, we sect. shall, if we take care to use the proper means for that purpose, all escape and get safe to 57. land, and from thence shall pursue our voyage to Italy more prosperously in another — vessel. IMPROVEMENT. We see in this renewed instance the great force of a virtuous character, and of a truly worthy and honourable Ver. 3. behaviour, towards engaging the esteem of all around us... Julius the centurion had a reverence and affection for Paul, which, as in the beginning of this voyage it procured for him the satisfagtion of conversing with his friends at Sidon, and receiving the fruit of their affection, so it was, in the progress of it, the occasion of saving this great apostle's life, and with it that of the rest of the prisoners. (Ver. 42, 43. Let us learn thus to soften the fierce and to convince the prejudiced, and humbly trust in that God who, if our ways please him, can turn our enemies into friends, §: xvi. 4.) and can preservé and bless us by means of those who were intended to be only the instru- ments of affliction. from the account which is here given us of the danger and distress which Paul and his companiºns suffered 17–20 upon the mighty waters, let us learn to pity those who, being providentially engaged in a seafaring life, are often in such deaths as these. When we hear, as it may be we do, while far from the shores of our island, the stormy winds raging around us, and see the effects of their fury in those stupendous instances which sºmetimes appear, let us send up, as it were upon their rapid wings, our compassionate cries to that God who holds them all in his fists, (Prov. xxx. 4.) that he would help and save those that are ready to be swallowed up quick in a Watery grave, and perhaps many of them, while just on the brink of eternity, in the number of those that are of all others most unprepared for it. appy the man, in whatever extremities of danger, that is conscious of a relation to the God of heaven as his 22–25 God and his Father; that can say, like Paul in this blessed parenthesis, Whose I am, and whom I serve | Let us, when we can use the language, take the comfort of it, and commit ourselves to the guardian care of Qur God with cheerfulness. He knoweth them that are his, and will take care of his own. Let our faith put a reality into all his promises, that it shall certainly be even as he hath spoken unto us. Thus let us encourage ourselves in the Lord our God, (1 Sam. xxx. 6.) and the event shall not shame our hopes; but we shall find, by happy experience, that God will not only save us from ruin, but conduct us to joy as well as to safety everlasting. Amen SECTION LVIII. Paul and his companions, after having suffered further extremities in their voyage, are at length shipwrecked on the shore of Malta; but all escapo with their lives. Acts xxvii. 27, to the end. ACTS xxvii. 27. ACTS xxvii. 27. BUT when the fourteenth SEVERAL threatening circumstances of the violent storm which Paul and his compa- SECT. #º.º.º. nions met with in their voyage, were described before; and we now proceed to observe, 58. about midnight the shipmen ºf M. * º IR ſy. *** * - * - deemed that they drew near that when the fourteenth mighl was come, as we were tossed up and down in the Adriatic sea,a to Some COUIntr wº jº º; depth of the water, they found ſ twenty fathoms; and having gone a little way from thence, ºxvil #º; and sounding again, they found [it] only fifteen fathoms; which decrease of their sound. * #."; "“” ings convinced them that this apprehension was just. ...And therefore, fearing lest they 29 ...ºrillºt º should fall upon some rocky shore where there might not be depth of water sufficient to keep ...thºst'ſ...anj; the vessel from striking, they cast four anchors out of the sterm, and heartily wished that the gººstern, and wished *|| break, and more clearly discover our situation. 30 And as the shipmen were ut when the mariners perceived the danger so extreme, they endeavoured to flee out of 30 §§§º the * and to provide for their own safety by making to the shore; and when, to com- ºf ºººººº...; pass their design, they had let down the boat into the sea, and were just going into it, whder i..."...r.º. §§ a pretence that they were about to carry out anchors from the ship-head, to make the vessel *I said to the cent. * it. by . hº à º Fº who knew that it Y. º will of º 31 rion and to the soldiers, Ex- that all proper endeavours Shou e USed for thell Dreservatlon llì a Clependence On the $º..." "i", promise he had given them, perceiving the design 㺠had in view, said . Julius the cen- º and; º that wº with him, º these mariners continue in the ship, with- out whose help we know not how to manage her, ye cannot be saved ;b for the promise made of your lives was to be understood as given ; condition of your taking º In OSt a.º.º. prudential measures to secure them which present circumstances will admit. Then the º' tº '*** soldiers, who had learnt from their commander to pay a deference to what Paul said, that the success of this intended fraud might be effectually prevented, cut off the cords of the boat, by which it was fastened to the side of the ship, and let it fall off into the sea before any of the mariners were got into it. *. sº tº: ..?nd while the day was coming on, before they had light sufficient to discern what they 33 ºil tº take meat, saying, should do, Paul earnestly exhorted them all to take [some] food, saying, To-day you are º, iº looking for the fourteenth day since you have been in this distress, and all of you continue tinued fasting, having taken fasting, having taken nothing of a regular meal; the necessary consequence of which is nothing. that you must thus be very #. and weak, and unfit for those fatigues which may further lie before you; for it will be a narrow escape that we are to expect, and we may find 34 wherefore I pray you to great difficulties in getting on shore. As therefore till the morning rises we can attempt 34 º: º º § by way g º to º # exhort you ; improve this little interval of leisure y making use of it to take [some] food, since it is plain that this is proper to be done for your sqfety, as it will make you fitter to act for yº OWI). tºº. lºſſ. 8.S #. 3 2 a In the Adriatic Sea.] It is well known to those acquainted with application of this remark to - - - ...r.º. raphy, § º tº: part º the º which lay ...”. easy and important. other affairs of greater moment appears to south of Italy was called the Adriatic Sea, and that which, is moy the c. Continue fasting, having taken nothing. i r: y Gulf of Venice ya; the Sinus Adriaticus, See Grotius in loc. and Mr. which, for twenty days together, took º;"...º.º.º. Biscoe, At Boyle’s Lect. chap. x. § 4. p. 380,381. - he must mean, they never madé full meals, nor slept whoſe' nights to: nless these continue in the ship, ye cannot be saved.] To what I §h; The same interpretation must be given to this phrase, which have said 9f this in the paraphrase and improvement, I shall only add, Mr. Brekell also thinks, may intimate that they were now at short"j. that God foretºld the deliverange of the ship’s company as certain, lowance, as they were like to have a much longer voyage that "…as it though suspended on this, condition, because he knew it would be.com- first intended, and had two hundred and seventy-six souls on board plied with, and directed Paul to urge the necessity of that compliance, (Euroclydon, p. 26.) But Grotius declares against this last o inion. as what he knew would be the successful means of seguring it, though which is to be sure uncertain, though I think it might possibly be the none can, deny, but these sailors had a natural power of goin out of the case, and that ver, 38. is not decisive to the contrary. ship, or the soldiers a natural power of permitting them to do it. The ACTS XXVII. the mariners suspected about midnight that they drew near some land: And sounding the Acts SECT. circ 58. ACTS XXY (i. PAUL SHIPWRECKED ON THE ISLAND OF MALTA. umstances, may require; and you may allow yourselves this refreshment with the greater cheerfulness; for I can renew the assurancé I before gave, that whatever risk you run, and whatever labour we pass º; hot a hair shall fall from the head of any of you.d .#d when he hgd spoken this, and had taken bread, he begged a blessing on it, and gave thanks to God before thºgll, for that provision which he gave them in their necessities, and for the assurange of life with which he had favoured them by so particular a revelation; 36 and having broken [it] he set them an example, and he himself began to eat heartily. And being all encouraged by the cheerful and pious discourse of the apºstle, they also i. [some] food, as he had done; and on the whole, sad as their circumstances were, they made a 7 comfortable and refreshing meal. And by the Way, we had a great number of persons 88 aboard, and gene in all in the ship no less than two hundred and seventy-sir souls ºf after they had done their meal, being satisfied with food, they once more lightened the ship, and having been told by Paul that they should run upon some island, they threw away the very stores they had on board, and cast out the remainder of the corn into the sea. .#nd when it was day, they had the shore before them, but did not know the land, and still Were at a loss What course to take; but they perceived a certain creek, having a level shore cºnvenient for landing, into which they were minded, if they were able, to have thrust the 40 ship, ind with this view, when they had weighed their anchºs, they committed [the | to the sea, and tried to stand in for the creek, at the same time loosing the rudder-bands; that they might reach the land with greater safety, and hoisting up the mainsail to the wind, g 41 which seemed to set right for their purpose, they made for the shore. But Jalling on a place * 9. 39 not an hair fall ſrom the head of any of you. 35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in pre- §ence of them all ; and when !. ad broken it, he began to €alt. 36. Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. 37 And we were in all in the ship, two hundred three- score and sixteen souls. 38 And when they eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and ºt"Sº wheat, into the sea. 3 nd when it was day, they knew not the land : but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the yhich they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. 40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rud- der-bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and had Which was a neck of land where two seas met, such was the violence of the current, that they ran the ship aground; and the forepart, which struck upon the sand, stuck fast, and remained immovable, while the hinder part was broken to pieces by the force of the waves. In this critical juncture, as there were several prisoners ... who were to be conveyed in custody to Rome, there was a most unjust and cruel purpose formed against them, and the counsel of the soldiers was, that they should kill the prisoners, les: any one should take this opportunity to swim away, and should escape out of their hands: of which they did not care to run the hazard, as they well knew how severe the Roman law was in such cases 43 where there was any room to suspect the guards of connivance or negligence. But the ºnturion, being desirous to save so worthy and considerable a person as Paul,h hindered them.from executing.[their] purpose, and commanded those that could swim to throw [them- 44 selves] outfirst into the sea, and get away to land; .4nd as for the remainder, some adven- tured themselves upon planks, with which the wreck supplied them, and others upon some of [the things] which they found means to get out of the sº ; and so, through the singular cºre of Divine Providence, it came to pass, according to the prediction of Paul, that they all got safe to land, and there was not one single life lost. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. THE section we now have been reading contains a remarkable illustration of the obligations we are under to use 31, 32 the most proper means for security and success, even while we are committing ourselves to the care of Divine Pro- vidence, and waiting the accomplishment of God's own promises. For it would be most unreasonable to imagine that he ever intended any promise to encourage rational creatures to act in a wild and irrational manner; or to remain inactive, when he has given them natural capacities of doing something at least for their own benefit. It is in exerting these that we are to expect his powerful aid; and all the grace, beauty, and wisdom of the º would be lost if we were to take it in any other 'º. TO º in a contrary view, is at best vain and danger- ous presumption, if all pretence of relying upon it be not profane hypocrisy. - - - - - - it. . &ll"e º in danger . tfie º º this jºi and perishing life . They cast out their goods in a storm; they throw away the tackling of the ship to lighten it; and for many succeeding days forget 33 even to eat their bread. O when shall we see a solicitude any thing like this about the concerns o their º dying souls: Alas, amidst the extremest danger, they are rather like those who, in such a storm as this, º have been sleeping on the top of a mast. (Prov. xxiii. 34.) Let us not wonder if, when awakened on a su º: and made to see and to feel the extremity of their case, they are for a while taken off from attending as . to their secular affairs; nor rashly censure that as madness which may be the first entrance of true wisdom into their inds. * * * - mº see how cheerful Paul was amidst the rage of winds and waves, under a sense of the faithful care of his God; and how the assurance which he gave to the rest that their lives should be preserved, º their P. sions in the ship were all lost, animated them to eat their bread with cheerfulness. With how muc #. º: fulness may they sustain all temporal losses, and relish, in the midst of them, all the º; º º, É. Providence, (as some always º ...; eternal life is secured by the word of God, and the engagem covenant which he has confirme an Oath ! - - - - º -: •re 24 To conclude, It was to Paul jº. lives of those that sailed with him were gº. and his º 42, 43 owed to him a double preservation, first from the sword, and then from the sea. T º º area º to those faithful servants, and a community of interests with them, be the means of great temporal a . out the that are strangers to the covenant of promise. Surely after so many remarkable º . i. . inter- apostle to the company of this ship as a teacher commissioned by God, and favoured with extraor y made towards shore. And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground ; and the forepart stuck fast, and re- mained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. 42 And the soldiers’ coun- Şel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. * - - 43 But the centurion, will- ing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and com- manded that they which could swim should cast them- selves first into the sea, and get to land : 44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it caine to Dass, that they es— caped all safe to land. 42 18, 19 34–36 ſ: oi lighten the ship, it is not easy to suppose they should }..."...f. a method to increase the Yºº #º hat tºy had frequently two rudders to their ships Bochart an º #;"; º, firmed by several º: jº º: Hieroz. part. ii. lib. 4. Cap. A r" 3|Siler, Obsert?. VO!: 1. D: & lº: jºinsail to the bind.]. So our º º the word apreſtová, and I, who am not accurately acquainted with the form either fancientor of modern ships, shelter mysel §: º; #: but Grotius (who contends that a Kévos, wer. 17. signifies the mainingst, and consequently that the mainsail was now gone, yº; § º * was a sail near the forepart of the ship, answering either to S. * }: Čail the foremast, or to the bowsprit; which last seems to agree ; . l the account which Stephens...has collected from * most considerable authorities. See his Latin Thesaurus, in the Wor P: º: t only i. Bºiesirous to save Paul.) Thus God, for Pau ‘ī sa § not only saved aïthe rest of the ship’s compan from being lost in t e ...'." kept the prisoners from being murdered according to the §§ an tit- barous proposal of the soldiers, who could have thou º In O . scheme hiſ they been all condemned malefactors, and ad t tº É. S} instead of convºying them to their trial, been carrying them to the place of 6x9cution. ºi Not a hair shall fall from the head of any of you..]. Some think this alludes to a custom among Inariners to make yow's in times of extremity, and to shaye their heads in gonsequence of them, and so interpret these words as if it were said, “You need not cond your hair; you shall be safe without that ºº::. (See º: º: 07? ſº P: ...} 3ut it appears, to have been a proverbia anº, general expression 9 #: sº Compare 1 Kings i. 32. Hait. X. 30. Luke Xii. 7... xxi. 18. e PWhen they Juad weighed the anchors, they committcd [ſhe ship] to the seq.], Some rather choose to render this, that having cut the anchºrs, they left them in the sea ; and the original indeed is dubious, and will admit of either Sense : fisplexºr: Ta; aj kvpus, cutov cus Triv 0a)\aagav. See De Dieu, in loc. sº }.}} the rudder-bands : avevres Tag Ševºnpº as Tov Théaxtºv.] Dr. Benson observes, agreeably to the judgment of Gººs, at their ships in those days had commonly two rudders, one on each ide, Whigh were fastened to the ship by bands or chains, and on logsing these bands, the rudders sunk deeper into the sea, and by their weight renſºred the ship less subject to be overset by the winds. ... (Hist. Vol. ii. p. º #. it seems rather that the rudders had been fastened before, . . had jet the vessel drive, and were now loosened, when they h #. I of them to steer her into thº'creek; and after they had just been throwing PAUL HOSPITABLY ENTERTAINED AT MALTA. 489 courses with him, they must be very inexcusable if they did not henceforward commence his attentive hearers and SECT. humble disciples. Those of them who did so, would find their deliverance from the fury of the sea but an earnest 58. of another deliverance infinitely greater and better; and are long ere thislodged with him on a far more hospitable shore, and in a more peaceful harbour, than Malta or than earth could afford. : SECTION LIX. sº Paul and his companions are hospitably entertained at Malta. He miraculously escapes the fatal effects of a viper’s bite, cures Publius’s father of a fever, and then pursues his voyage to Rome. Acts xxviii. 1–16 Acts xxviii. 1. THE apostle Paul and all the rest of the ship's company having escaped the danger of SECT. Acts xxviii. 1. AND when they were cs- §§ then they knew that the island was calleå Miejita, the shipwreck, and being thus got safe [to land.] they had no sooner reached the shore but 59. some of the inhabitants came to them, and they then knew that the island on which they 3 And, the barbຠRºº were cast was called Melita or Malta." .4nd the barbarians of that place (as the Romans, sº ple shewed us no little kind- XXVIII. though in many respects more barbarous themselves, proudly accounted those who were its native inhabitants) treated us with an uncommon degree of humanity;b for having kindled a fire, they brought us all to [it,) because of the present rain which had followed the storm, and because of the cold, with which we were almost ready to perish. a.º.º.º. Now as Paul was gathering up a bundle of slicks and laying [them] upon the fire, a viper 3 jiàº'ຠº which had lain concealed among the wood, coming out of the heat upon feeling the warmth jºjº of the fire, fastened upon his hand, and bit it. ...And as soon as the barbarians saw the fierce 4 3 And when the barbarians animal” hanging on his hand, as they perceived he was a prisoner, and had some notion of :*::::::::::::::::::::::::: a divine Providence and its moral government, they said one to another, This man is cer- ºlº.º.º. tainly a murderer; or some other detestable criminal, whom the divine vengeance hath not though he iath escaped § permitted to live, though he be saved from the danger of the sea. But as the miraculous 5 ºnseance suffereth power of Christ instantly interposed to heal him, (compare Mark xvi. 18. Luke x. 19.) he 5 Ånd he shook off the without any manner of confusion shaking off the fierce animal into the fire, suffered no evil, ;”***** and took no further notice of what had happened. However, they crpected, according to 6 wºulºf: what they had known to be usual in such cases, that the venom would soon operate in such .*.*.*.*.*... a manner that he should either have swollen or suddenly have fallen down deal upon the # * lººk; spot: and having logited a considerable time to observe the effect of it upon him, and seeing harm come" to him, the no mischief at all befall him,” instead of taking him to be a murderer, changing their minds tº and said they said that he was surely some deity descended in a human form, as nothing less than 3. the power of a god could ward off so extreme a danger.f g wºrd ºf , ...And in the neighbourhood of that place where our shipwrecked company had met with so 7 in of thºjiji, º kind a welcome, there was the estate of the chief magistrate or governor of the island,8 §º... whose name was Publius ; who with a generous and friendly disposition having received its days courteously. into his house, entertained us there in a very courteous and hospitable manner for ihree days a; fl. §§§ together. And so it was that at this yery time the father of Publius was dangerously ill, 8 § a “fºr and ºft"."jóº being seized with a fever and bloody flur, by which he was confined to his bed; to whom #.º.º. Paid going in, made him a yisit in the apartment where he lay, and having prayed for his inds on "ſim, and iſ aid recovery, laid his hands on him and healed him. .Now, therefore, when this [miracle] was wrought on a person so well known and of so 9 great importance, the news of it soon spread abroad; and as they were desirous to obtain the same advantage, all the rest also who had disorders of any kind in the whole island, as many as were able to travel, or could any way be brought, came to Paul and were healed. 10 Who also honoured us And this was followed with the highest testimonies of esteem and gratitude from all the 10 Will, "tº dº." d; people, who also seeing such a divine power exerting itself by means of one in our com- !. ºth things as pany, honoured us with great honours, as men peculiarly favoured by heaven... .ºnd such º was the respect and kindness they had for us, that when we departed thence, they brought us plenty of provision, and put on board such things as were necessary for our comfortable accommodation; so that, by the good providence of God, and the generosity of these hospitable and grateful people, we were well furnished for pursuing our voyage to Rome. ..And after we had been ashore three months, we departed from thence, having shipped 11 ourselves (as we had done before, chap. xxvii.6) in a ship of Alerandria that had wintered in the islan l, whose sign was Gemini, or the Twins, that is, Castor and Polluſc, fictitious ness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. lſh. 9 So when this was done, others also, which had dis- eases in the island, came, ant were healed : II And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had win- tered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. a JMelita or Malta.] . It is well known that this small island (aho;:t twelve miles broad and twenty long, and sixty distant from Sicily to the south) took its name from the abundance of honey found in it. , it also yields a great deal of cotton, and though it has but three feet depth of earth aboye the solid rock, is very fruitful, Paul’s shipwreck here en- gaged a kind of superstitious regard to it, in coinsequence of which it was j." A. D. 1530, by the emperor Charles V. to the knights of St. ohn in Jerusalem, when they had been expelled from Rhodes by the Turks: they are a thousand in number, of whorn five hundred always reside, and are called Hospitallers. -- he barbarians treated us with uncommon humanity.] The Greeks and Romans reckoned all other nations but their own, barbarians, as c Seeing no mischief befall him.] Flsner observes that many of the Heathens thought there was something divine in the nature of serpents, and that deities, or good genii, who were made use of as the instruments of delive ring and honouring those that were the peculiar favourites of the gods, often appeared in that shape. (Elsner, Observ. vol. i. p. 492, 493.) Hence idols were often made with serpents near them; and there have been numerous and indeed astonishing instances of religious wor- ship paid to that kind of animal, absurd as it may seem. Sce Rcrelat. Eram, tith Candour, vol. i. p. 80, 81. Dr. Jenkins, On Christianity, Vol. ii. p. 3.; sºis. Éision stillagićet, orig. Sºº. §1315is and jr. Charles Owen, On Serpents, Dissert. iv. p. 2. f They said that he was a god..] Grotius, Dr. Whitby, and some otliers, differing from them in their customs or language; and all mankind are therefore comprehended by the apostle Paul under the distinction of Greeks and barbarians, Roºm. i. 14. 'i his island, which had several eon- modious havens, was peopled by a colony of the i2hunicians, and the in- habitants were noted for their civility to strangers. See fioſor. sic. ib. v. p. 204. Edit. Steph. - - c The fierce animal.] This is the proper import of the word 0dpuov, here used. Bos has well shown (Exercit. p. 9), 91.) that the physicians use it to express any poisonous animal, and Lucian in §l. applies it, as here, to a viper; (Philopseud, tein. ii. p. 333. Edit. Graev.) but to ren- der it beast is by no means justifiable. See Bochart, Hicroz. part ii. lib. 3. p. 2. * d This inan is certainly a murderer.) Elsner says (Obscru...yol. i. p. 489—491.) they concluded he was a murderer rather than º of any other crime, because they saw the viper hanging on his hand, which therefore they judged to have been the offending part, according to the rule which (as he shows by many curious and entertaining instances) prevailed much among the ancients, that persons were often remarkably punished in that part of the body which had been the immediate instru- ment of their sin. Beza jºiy observes that ovk eva:rey should be rendered, according to its exact form, kath not permitted, to signify that they looked upon him as in effect a dead man, after having been bit by that venomous creature. think they took him for IHercules, AXe{ikakos, who was worshipped in this island, and was, according to Ptolemy, (Geograph. lib. iv. cap. 4.) one of the gods of the Phoenicians. - & - g The chief of the island.]. Grotius, has produced an ancient inscrip- tion, by which it appears that the title of ſpotos, or chief, was given to the governor of this island, and so it is used here by St. Luke, with his usual propriety of expression. h PWhose sign aras Castor and Pºllux.] It was the custom of the an- çients to have images on their ships, both at the liead and stern; the first of which was called rapagmpov, the sign, from which the ship was named, and the other was that of the tutelar deity to whose care the ship was committed; which probably might give occasion to the fable that Europa was carried away by Jupiter in the shape of a bull. There is no doubt but, they had sometimes deities at the º: and then it is most likely, if they had any figure at the stern, it was the same, as it is hardly probable the ship should be called by the name of one deity, and becominiſted tº the care ºf another. (See Bochart, Chan, lib. ii.,édº,3 inii, and Nir Biscoe, it Bºlºs Ecci. Cian.viii. 3. p. 325,327.) The figure that was used for Castor and Pollux, as J }r. Lightfoot says; Wºº that of two young men on horseback, with each of them a javelin I [] his hand, &c. But others have observed that the sign of Custor, and follux was that of a double cross; and though, the Gregks took hº for a sign in the zoºlific which was called thº’ī'wins, and considered as 499 59. ACTS arrived XXVIII. danyS. Ver. 7–9 PAUL’S ARRIVAL AT ROME. SECT. deities of the heathen who were supposed to have some peculiar power over storms; their figure therefore was placed on the head of the vessel, and to them it was peculiarly dedi- cated. . .4nd not long after we had left Melita, we made the island of Sicily; and bei at Syracuse, the most considerable city of that island, we continued [there] three jº, we tarried there three - From thence we coasted round the eastern shore of Sicily, and came over against the * city and promontory of Rhegium, in the southernmost part of Italy, from which, as the .º.º. name of that place implies, it was supposed the island of Sicily was broken off. And after day the south windies, and 12 And landing at Syra- 3 And from thence we etched a compass, and came We came the next day to lying by one day, we had a favourable gale, and the south wind arising, we pursued our #iteji'. voyage, and came in two days to Puteoli, a noted town for trade, which lay not far from 14 Naples, and was very famous for its hot baths; Where we had no sooner landed but we ... 14 where we found bre- hren, and were desired to found some christian brethren, and were earnestly entreated to stay with them seven days, tº: with them seven days: that they might have the better opportunity of hearing Paul, and of conversing with him; and so we went toward Rome. 7 • * *- and the centurion was so good as to consent that we should stay: and so, having left the ship, we went the rest of the way by land to Rome. .#nd from thence several of the christian brethren who resided at Rome, having heard of our affairs, and particularly that we were on our way thither, (as they were sénsible o J T • ; we • . - - * * the great character of Paul, and the important obligations which they were under to him. źpii-Forum, and the Three 15. And from thence, when f the brethren heard of us, they Came to meet uS as far as averns: whom when Paul for his excellent Epistle to the Romans, written a few years before this,) came out to meet sº"; tºd’éj,”. us, and to attend us in our entrance into that illustrious city: jar as ºppä-Forum, a town adjoining to the famous Appian Way, w and º of them came as took courage. , hich was fifty-one miles distant from Rome; and º only to a place called Tres Tabernae, or the Three Taverns, which was but about thirty : whom when Paul Saac, he thanked God for the en- couragement which this circumstance gave him to hope that these christian friends, who were so forward to begin an acquaintance with him, would be a support to him during his confinement there, and a means of promoting the success of any attempts of usefulness which he might be able to make among them; and accordingly he took courage, and pur- sued the singll remainder of his journey with new spirit and alacrity. ..?nd when we came to Rome, Julius the centurion, who ever since we set out from Caesa- rea had treated us in so friendly a manner, and whose regard for Paul could not but be jº...";"| ". 16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion deliver- greaty increased by what had passed at Melita, delivered the prisoners, according to his tain ºf the guard; it. Paul was suffered to dwell by him- commission, to the prefect or captain of the praetorian band:" but as he gave a very kind ºf ºth: ; and honourable account of Paul, he was permitted to dwell apart from the other prisoners him. in a house of his own," with a Roman soldier that guarded him,” till his cause might be - heard; which, by one accident and another, was put off from time to time, so that it was not despatched till above two years after his arrival at Rome. IMPROVEMENT. LET us again pause, and on this new occasion of doing it, adore the wise conduct of Providence, though its 1, 2 ways were in the sea, and its path in the great waters. (Psal. lxxvii. 19.) Still did our dear Redeemer take care of his faithful servants and ministers, not only delivering them and their companions from destruction by shipwreck, but roviding tenderly for them in their destitute condition, when their wet and probably torn garments seem to have een all they could call their own. The custom of Rome and Greece taught them to call all nations but their own barbarous; but surely the generosity which these uncultivated inhabitants of Malta showed, was far more valuable than all the varnish which the politest education could give, where it taught not humanity and compassion. - It is with pleasure that we trace amongst them the force of conscience and the belief of Providence; which some more learned people have stupidly thought it philosophy to despise. But they erred in concluding that calamities must always be interpreted as judgments; and let us guard against the same error, lest, like them, we unwarily censure, not only the innocent, but the excellent of the earth. God wrought a most seasonable miracle for the preservation of Paul from the fury of the viper; and this frank 6 and honest, though ignorant, people, immediately retract their censure: but, as human nature is apt to do, they fall immediately from one extreme to another, and from pronouncing him a murderer, conclude him a god. They 10 afterwards submitted to be better taught, and learnt to regard him as what he really was, a holy man favoured of Heaven, and raised up to be an instrument of great good, both to the bodies and souls of his fellow-creatures. Let us also be willing candidly to correct and confess our mistakes, when means of better information offer; and study to adjust our notions of men's characters according to truth; that we may neither calumniate nor deify them, but judge righteontº judgment. (John vii. 24.) Well was Públius, the chief of the island, with the other inhabitants of it, rewarded for their kindness to these distressed strangers, by the cures wrought on the diseased in their respective families; and naturally did their kindness and liberality to thcm increase with such experience of the miraculous power which wrought by Paul. We cannot but conclude that this holy apostle, whose heart was always so warm with zeal for Christ, especially sacred to these fictitious deities, whom they supposed to be the sons of Jupiter by 1,2:{a, it was not at first represented by two boys, but by wo beasts, as referrinz to the ſruitſu!:less of goats, in producing twin kids about the time the san was in that constellation. (See Hyde, Relig. Pers. cap. 32. and .% attrº Displayed, vol. i. 9 2. p. 253,234.) The appear- ance of both those coastellations together was (as L.F. Hummond has observed, after Stra')o, Pausanias, and other ancient writers) thought favourable to imariſis rs, and therefore, for a good oaned, they had them carved or painted o: the head of the ship, and gave it a name from thence, which the sacred historia” does not scruplg to use. . i Syracuse.] This capital city of the island of Sicily lay on its eastern coast, and is said to have been twenty-two miles round, and to have equalled Carthage in its riches. (Sec Strabo, lib. yi. p. 186. and Livy, FIist. lib. xxv. cap. 34.) It was by this time well recovered from the desolation wirich 3, arcellus had brought upon it, two hundred and ten years before Christ, when the celebrated Archinnedes was slain here. k"The christian brºthren who resided at Rome.] It is very remarkable that we have no certain information by , whom christianity was first preached in Rome. Probably, as some inhabitants of that most famous city were present at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, (Acts ii. 10.) they being converted themselves, might at their return carry the gospel thither, confirming it by miraculous works, and by the exercise of ex- traordinary gifts. r1 a H. . s He thinked God and took courage.] This expression, may perhaps intimate that his courage began in some measure to be shaken. He knew there was a famous church at Rome, which had been long planted Rom. i. 8. and to which, about three years before this journey, he ha written a ſong epistle, (compare note c on Acts xx. 3. p. 459.), in which he had expressed an affectionate desire to see them ; (Rom. i. 11. XV. 32.) in a near view of doing which he now rejoiced, esteeming it as the first- fruits of their friendship, that they had come a day’s Journey to meet him, no doubt in a very kind and respectful manner. He might reason- ably expect they would contribute much to lighten his bonds, as no doubt thay did, though so strange a yºgº seized them when he appeared before Casar to make his apology. 2 Tim. iv. 16. m To the prefect or captain of the praetorian, band..] It was customary for prisoners who wore ºft to R. to be delivered to this officer, who had the charge of the state prisoners, as appears from the instance of Agrippa, who was taken into custody by Macro, the praetºrian pre: fect that succeeded Sejanus, (Joseph. Antiq., lib. xviii. . cap. 6. [a]. 8. 35.) and from Trajan’s order to Pliny, when two were in commission. (Plin. lib. x. epist, 65.) See Dr. Lardner’s book i. chap. x. $.11. vol. i. p. 532, 533. and Mr. Biscoes. At Boyle's Lect. chap. ix. 9 9. p. 360. ºffe'Person who had now this office, was the noted Burrhus Afſanius; but both before and after him it was held by two. Tacit. Annal. lib. xii. § 42. et lily. xiv. § 51. - - * - n Apart from the other prisoners in an house of his own.] Raphelius has shown (Annot. cz Xen. p. 191.) that the expression ka0° tavrov may signify either apart, (for which, see, Box. Pºgroit., p. §1.) or at his où pleasure. But it is well known it often signifies at one’s own house; and so ºr. 30. seems to explain it here... By this means he was excuse from all the affliction which lying in the common prison, among the wrºtched creatures who would probably have been his companions there, must have given to a man of his sense, education, and piety. - o, With a soldier that guarded him.] This soldier was probably chained to him, as the Roman custom, was. Who that had met Paul in these bonds, would have guessed at his real character, and have imagingd him to have been one of the most upright, benevolent, and generous of man- kind Yet such the apostle undoubtedly was, PAUL's INTERVIEw witH THE CHIEF OF THE JEws AT ROME. 491 when it was º with such a deliverance, would take this happy opportunity of diffusing the Savour of his secT. name here. He would tell them, no doubt, who it was that healed them, and testify to them of that greater salva- 59. tion and more important cure which they were to seek from him; nor can we imagine that his labour was entirely — in vain, in the Lord. Happy wreck on §e ruins of which the temple of the Lord was raised, and by occasion of ACTs which barbarians were transformed into christians! Who can say how many distempered minds were healed, how * many sons and daughters were born to God and to glory, in these three months which Paul and Luke spent here ! 11 For modest as that beloved physician of souls as well as of bodies is in everything relating to himself, we cannot imagine that he was inactive or unsuccessful in the pious labour. And how naturally did all this tend to raise the regard of the ship's company for these servants of the Most High God, to whom, as instruments in the hand of his good providence, they first owed their lives, and now their accommodations; to whom also, we hope, some of them owed even their own souls - It is extremely probable that the indulgence showed to Paul in Rome, the remains of liberty which he enjoyed 16 While in bonds there, and the much more valued opportunities of usefulness which that liberty gave him, wéré, in Some degree, at least, owing to the experience and report of these extraordinary events. Thus, O Lord, shalt thou lead us into whatever difficulties and dangers thou pleasest, and we will cheerfully wait the happy event which shall at length prove the wisdom and kindness of thy most mysterious conduct. * In the mean time, even while travelling in the bonds of .#. may we see thine hand in all the countenance 14, 15 which we meet with from our christian brethren; and cheered with their converse and their friendly offices, may we, like Paul, thank God and take courage, in an humble assurance that thou wilt stand by us in every future unknown extremity; and wilt either manifest thy power and goodness in raising up human supports, or display thine all-sufficiency in a yet more glorious manner, by bearing us up when they all fail us! - * SECTION LX. The history concludes with an agcount of a solemn audience which Paul had of the Jews at Rome, soon after his arrival there. Most of them re ject the gospel he published among them, but he continues to preach it during two years of his confinement. TActs xxviii. 17, to the end. Acts xxviii. 17. Acts xxviii. 17. †Pº.º. *pś PAUL's confinement at Rome was not so strict but he had liberty to send for persons to secT. tº jº"... him ; and while he waited for his appeal to be determined, he was willing to remove the 60. ther:— prejudices of his countrymen, and, notwithstanding the injurious treatment he had met with, would suffer nothing to be wanting on his part to make them sensible of the affec- Acts tionate regard that he had for them: accordingly it came to pass, that after he had been ºxviii. there three days, Paul called together those that were the chief of the Jews who sojourned then at Rome. -- cº; º; , And when, according to his desire, they were come together in the private house where then, Ten ind ºthen, he dwelt, he said unto them, Men [and] brethren, though I have done nothing contrary to th r - --- - ſº º ###!";"; the interest and honour of the Jewish people, or to the authority of our paternal customs as §:*:::::::::::::::::::: derived from the holy patriarchs and Moses, yet was I delivered a prisoner from Jerusalem Jerusaiei, iii., §§ iºds ºf into the hands of the Romans: Who having examined me, and heard all that my adversaries 18 *isºhen they had could suggest against me, were willing to have set [me] at liberty, as there was no offence examined me, wºuld have ſet which they could judge to be a sufficient cause of putting me to death, or of keeping me ...;;.” ” under longer confinement, to be discovered in me. But when some of the Jews, who in 19 sº **** tº consequence of gross º had entertained strong prejudices against me, con- #jeść...; tradicted and opposed my discharge, and were violently set upon preventing [it] I found ###!!!” it necessary to remove my cause to Rome, and was obliged to appeal to Casar: and this I tº assure you I have done, not as having any thing of which to accuse my own nation ; for whatever injury I have received from any particular persons, I heartily forgive them, and wish the whole Jewish people, without excepting even my most inveterate enemies among them, all possible prosperity and happiness; but I was, contrary to my inclina- tion, forced on this appeal purely in my own defence, and to prevent that assassination tº which I knew some ill-disposed persons were contriving against me. For this reason, 20 ave I called for you, to see - - se - - --> £ºf therefore, as soon as I came hither I entreated that I might see and speak with you, m jº.º.º dear brethren, hoping to prevent any prejudice which might be entertained to my disad- chain. vantage: for indeed I am rather worthy of your compassion and friendship than of your resentment; as [it is] on account of that which is the great common hope of all Israel that I am bound with this chain; my sufferings arising from my regard to that glorious Messiah for whom Israel professes to wait, and to that eternal life which he hath purchased and procured for those that receive him under that character. wº; º; And they said to him, We have neither received any letters as yet from Jerusalem, or any 21 out of ſuffea concerning thee, other part of Judea, concerning thee; nor has any one of the brethren of our nation that ;"...º.º.º.º. has come hither, related to us what is the purport of thé charge on which thou art to be "gº of j. hear of tried before Caesar, or so much as said any evil at all concerning thee. Butt ice are willing 22 tº jº'; thou shouldst give us an account of thy doctrine, and desire to hear from thee what thou ...'...". º: ſºil": thinkesi, what thy particular sentiments are, and what thou hast to say in defence of thy spoken against. tenets as a disciple and missionary of Jesus of Nazareth ; for as concerning this sect, which professes so high a regard to him, it is known to us in the general, that it is every where spoken against,” and that bad sentiments are entertained of it both by the Jews and heathens, as teaching a revolt from those ways of worship in which people have been edu- cated, even among us as well as them, and requiring unbounded subjection to a person who seems to have no imaginable claim to it. - tº . And having appointed him a certain day, which might best suit the convenience of most 23 jºintô'idgi. that were then present, many of them came to him in the morning at his lodging ; to whom º; he erpownded various passages of their own scriptures, as well as the chief principles of the versuading then concerning christian faith; testifying in the most cogent and pathetic manner the erection and estab- lishment of the kingdom of God under the Messiah, and earnestly persuading them of the a It is every where spoken against.] Some think this refers to a fact the grossest calumnies which the ignorant heatheus advanced against mentioned by Justin Martyr, (Dialog, cum Tryph. li I7] ct 368. Edit, them. The fact itself is in all respects very credible ; but I apprehend Thirlb.) and afterwards by Origen (Contra Cels. lib, vi. p. 993, 294.) that the exact date of it cannot be ascertained, not can I any where find and Eusebius, (Eccl. Hist, lib. iv., cap. 18.) that the Jews at Jerusalem (as some have asserted) that it is mentioned by Philo Judæus;... See my sent chosen men of the most distinguished character all over the world, Sermons on the Power and Grace qf Christ, $ºc: f: 233,264. 2d edit. -- representing the christians as an atheistical sect, and charging them with b Testifying the kingdom of God..] Prebably, as Alr. Cradock well 492 PAUL'S INTERVIEW WITH THE CHIEF OF THE JEWS AT ROME. S*9*. things that relate to the Lord Jesus under that character; which he proved both from the - - - J y if the 60. law of JMoses, and from the writings of the prophets : and he was so #: upon this grand łłº.; *... affair, that he continued his discourse from morning till evening.” ſº from morning till even- xºi. •And the event of what he said was various; for some of them were happily persuaded to .24 And, some believed, the ...A embrace Christianity; by the things which were spoken; and some, on the other hand, were ºil." influenced by such strong Pºiº that they believed not, but were so hardened as to 25 reject the gºspel amidst all the evidence which he advanced to support it. .ſhid so, dis- 25 And when they agreed §: with each other, they broke up the º: Paul only saying [this] one word in the jº, close of all, on occasion of that obstinacy which he observed to prevail in most of them, Fºllº; Surely well did the Holy Spirit. speak by Isaiah the prophet to our fathers of old, (Isa. vi. jº ..º.º. the 9, 10.) and well does the description it has given of them set forth the hardness of your 26 hearts, and suit you even to this day; When it says, in that awful commission the prophet 26 saying, Go unto this was commanded to discharge, “Go to this perverse and obstinate people, to whom I lºº. have so often sent in vain, and sa Hearing hall hear, and • * * * * shall hear, and shall not un: - , gna say, Hearwig yes ear, and shall mot understand; and derstandſ; and seeing yºshii 27 seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive : For the heart of this people is become gross, and as *ś t º - g º #. * * * gross, C 27. For the heart of this peo- it Were grown stiff with fatness; and with their ears they hear heavily, in a dull, stupid way, pºisya...'... their and they have drawn their eyes together, as it were on purpose to compose themselves to jºi...ºft.'...}} sleep, lºst they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and understand with ºn}} rº- - - 2 YeS ( V’ - r [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” As if he had said, They jºi". "&#. agt in such a manner under the most awakening means as if they had studied artfül ways ºn shºe; f deri - - e - verted, and I should heal ºf rendering themselves insensible, and were determined not to receive my message, and them. 28 the salvation which it proposes to them. Therefore be it known unto you, however your 28 Be it, known therefore proud hearts may resent it, that the salvation of God which you despise, and seem to º, i.º fortify yourselves against, is sent to the Gentiles; and they will hear and embrace [it] and ſiles, and that they will figãr sº inherit the blessings which you reject. To them therefore will we preach all the words" of this life, and I in particular will from this day forward seek, in their faith and obedience, my consolation under that grief which the infidelity of my brethren gives me. 29 dnd when he had said these things, the Jews departed out of the place, not being prevailed 29.And when he had said upon to receive the gospel, yet having great debates among themselves: some thinking there Hº: was considerable weight in what Paul'had urged to defend it, while others were enraged, ins among themselves. and spoke of him and his arguments with great contempt and indignation. 30 . But nevertheless they who were most his enemies, and most desirous to add affliction 30 And Paul dwelt, two to his bonds, were not permitted by Providence to do him any harm; for after this Paul Mºjº: continued two whole years at Rome,” in his own hired house, before he was heard by Caesar Čičinºtºhim, or his deputy, upon his appeal. And during this long period of time, he was solicitous to do all he could to promote the gospel of his divine Master, though he could not act so freely as he desired: in this view, therefore, he received all that came to him to be instructed in the design and evidence of the gospel; Preaching with great ardour and zeal 31 Preaching the #. of God, º; º Ings © LOTO, JestlS the kingdom of God as established in the person of his exalted Son, and teaching, those ºf º: which relate to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the religion he hath instituted in the Čhrist, with all cºnſidence, world, with all freedom of speech, [and] without any restraini from the Roman magistrates. **** In consequence of this, many converts were made, and this confinement, which seemed to have so discouraging an aspect, was on the whole a means of promoting the gospel. Many of his retired hours were also employed in corresponding with the christian churches, and writing several of those excellent epistless which were to be so great a blessing to the most distant ages. 3 l IMPROVEMENT. LET us with pleasure observe that uniform tenor of christian zeal, and compassionate regard to the salvation of men, which prevailed in the mind of Paul, and reigned in it even to the very period of this history, yea, to that Wer.17 of his life. No sooner was he arrived at Rome, but an earnest desire of communicating the blessings of the gospel to his kinsmen according to the flesh, engaged him to send for the Jews, and to confer with them concerning the 19 kingdom of God; generously forgetting his own wrongs, and waving those complaints he might so justly have obseryes; (4post. Iſist. part i. p. 306.) lie insisted on two topics.; that g Many of his retired, hours were also employed in corresponding, the kingdom of God, which they had so ſong expected, was of a spiritual &c..] It is well known that the Epistle to the Ephesians, (or, ºs Song and not of a temporal nature;—and that Jesus of Nazareth, in whose think, to the Laodiceans, to whom, howeyer, it is certain Paul did name he preached, was the person forei old as the promised \fessiah and write, Čºl. iv. iój to the Čolóssians and Philippians, as well as that to Lord of that kingdom: - Philemon, were written from hence during this imprisonment, and that c From morning till evening.] The length of this conference shows to the #ébrows 1n gº after it; but as for the Second to Timothy, bow zealous a desire Paul had for the conversion of his countrymen. I am ready to think it of a later date.—It seems highly Pººl. that It was undoubtedly a vary curious and important discourse, and we about the end of the two years here spoken of, he was set at liberty. should have wished to have been favoured with it, as weji as with that Some have questioned whether he ever, returned, into the East again, of our Lord, of which we have only a general account, Luke xxiv. 27. which yet, frºm Philem. ver. 22, and Heb. xiii. 23. he seems to have But as God, for wise reasons no doubt, Jias seen fit to deny as that expected. Clemens Romanus (Ad Cor: Epist. i. cap. 5.) expressly tells pleasure, jet us acquiesco in this, that we know enough to confirm our us that he preached in the West,and that to its utmost bºunds, which faith in the gospel, if we discover a teachable temper; and if we do not, roust at legst include Spain, whither he intended to go... (Rom. xv. 34, the narration of other discourses and facts would probably have occa- 25,) See. Chrysost. vol. viii. p. 59. 'heodoret adds, that he went to the sioned new cavils; for there is hardly any argument in favour of truth, Isländs of the Sea, as elsewhere he numbers Gaº! (thºt issFrançº) and from which a prejudiced and captious wit cannot draw an objection and Éritain among the disciples of the tent-Imaker., (See Bn. Stillingfleet’s frame a sophistry to maintain error. Orig. Brit. §: 39.) But in what order he took these places, or how, long d Well did the Holy Spirit speak to our fathers, and well does the he remained in any of them, cannot be determined.—We are told, how- description suit you, &c.] The apostle here could not refer to them all, ever, that about the year of Christ 65 or 67, ſº. chronologers differ, and because some believed; 5ut it is probable most of them rejected the gos: {think we cannot exactly fix it,) he returned to Romeº, where sºme sºy pel.--As for the quotation from Isaiah which he applies, to them, I he met with Peter, who was thrown, into prison with other christians, On would observe, that it is quoted oftener than any other text from the Old a pretence of being concerned in th9 burning of the city. Chrysostom Testament, that is, six times, in the New; (here and Matt. Xiji. 14, 15. tells us that he here converted one of Nero's concubines, which so in- Mark iv. j}.inke viii. 10. John Xii. 40. and Rom. xi. 8.) yet in such a censed that cruel prince, that he put bim to death ; probably after an variety of expression, its plainly proves the apostles did not confine imprisonment in which the Second Epistle to T imothy was written.—It themselves exactly either to the words of the original or of the Greek is, T think, universally agreed amºng all ancient writers who mention VerS1 OT!. * - his death, that he was beheaded, at AquຠSalyia, threg miles from .e. Paul continued two whole #. at Rome.] As Luke concludes his ſome for being free of that city, he gould nºt be crucified, as Peter history with Paul’s abode at Rome, before his journey intº Spain, we was, agcording to the tradition 3f the fatin church, on the yery same É. infer, as Dr. More observes, (Theolog. Works, p. 220.) that he wrote day. It is sajä, and there is great reason to believe it, that this glorious both his Gośći and the Acts while the apostle was still living, of whose confessor gave his head to the fatal strokg with the greateñtcheerfulness; actions he was himself an eye-witness, and by whom it is very probable and also that he was buried on the Via Ostensis, two miles from Rome, this book was revised, as the ancients also say his gospel was. where Čonstantine the Great erected a church, to his mºmory, A. D. f In his own hired house. Dr. Lardner proves from Ulpian, that the 318. which was successively repaired and beautified by Theodosius the proconsul was to judge, whether a person under accusation were to be Great and the Empress Placidia, (See Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. ii. §: thrown into prison, or delivered to a soldier to keep, or committed to 22. Not. Fleury’s Eccl. ist, vol. i. book ii., chap. 23., and Dr., Wells’s sureties, or trusted on his *. of honour. Credib. book i. chap. 10. § Geogr. of the JWew Testament, partii, chap; 6. §. ). But his most 9. vol. i. p. 524, 525. It appears from hence, that the persecution glorious monument remains in his immortal writings, which if God spare against christian; at Rome, was not then begun; and perhaps, Paul’s my life to illustrate, I shall esteem the doing it one of the greatest, h9. friends in Nero's family (Phil. iv. 22.) used their interest with the em- nours which can be gonferred upon gº an the most important service peror to procure him this liberty. my pen can perform for the church of Christ. REFLECTIONS ON THE CONCLUSION OF THE HISTORY OF PAUL. 493 made against his accusers and persecutors. He found them here, as well as in Judea, under prejudices which he SECT. could not conquer with all his strength of reason and eloquence. They called the christian religion a sect, and 60. maintained that it was every where spoken against: but if this were indeed the case, how far was it from being sº any reason, against embracing and obeying #. gospelſ since all the men upon earth might attempt in vain to . make falsehood truth, and truth falsehood, in any single instance; and might as well pull the sun from the firma- & ment, as, by all their malice and rage, dethrone ºj Redeemer whom God hath established by a decree firmer than the ordinances of heaven. * º No scripture of the Old Testament is more frequently referred to in the New than those words of Isaiah, which 26, 27 contain so just a description of what the Jewish nation was in the days of that prophet, and in those of Christ and his apostles. How deplorable a case to be spiritually blind and deaf under the brightest # of the gospel and its loudest proclamations; to harden the heart against the most gracious offers of healing and life, and to arm 25 themselves against their own salvation with weapons of eternal death! Justly were they at last given over by God, and sealed up under incurable obstinacy. May divine pity and help be extended to those who are marching on by large steps towards the same character, and as it seemstowards the same end Adored be divine grace that any are inclined to hear and to obey. To them the ministers of Christ may turn with pleasure, and find, in their be- 28 lieving regards to the gospel, a sufficient recompense for all the labours and hazards they encounter in a faithful concern for 1fs propagation. - To conclude all, Let us adore the gracious conduct of Providence, which secretly interposed to moderate the 30, 31 º confinement, and thereby gave him an opportunity of performing various and extensive services to the church, of which he must otherwise have been incapable. The wrath of man praises God, and the remainder of it he restrains. (Psal. lxxvi, 10.) He hath allotted to each of his servants, in his infinite wisdom and goodness, a due proportion, both of labours and sufferings, and neither earth nor hell shall be able so to break in on his schemes as to obstruct the one or increase the other. The sacred history, which is now closing upon us, af. fords many illustrations of this remark: let us be thankful for it; and while we peruse it, let us indulge those reflections which may naturally arise from it, to establish our faith in the gospel, and to quicken our obedience to it. Amen •º THE F A M I L Y E x P O S I TO R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N T H E EPIST LE TO THE ROMANs. This celebrated Epistle was probably written from Corinth when Paul was travelling through Greece, after finishing his tour in Macedonia, about the year of our Lord 58, which was the fourth of the Emperor Nero. The chief arguments to prove this have already been stated in a few words, p. 459, note c ; and they are 㺠from comparing Acts xx. 1–4. with Rom. xv. 25–27. xvi. 21. But I shall exhibit them again in my notes on those texts, as they occur in the Epistle, and shall observe the same method elsewhere on the like occasions. The design of the Epistle has been much more controverted than its date; and yet it seems so obvious, that hardly any thing has surprised me more than the different and inconsistent plans which ingenious writers have given of it. I should but confound the reader, as well as swell this preface beyond all due bounds,if I should attempt distinctly to propose and examine them here. Instead of this, I shall º, content myself with exhibiting (not my own hº for truly it has been my care to have no hypothesis at all, but) what, upon reading the Epistle, without any view but that of following the apostle whithersoever he should lead me, I find to be assured fact; and I will state these contents in as few and as plain words as I can, and so every reader will easily see what this great author intended, by seeing what he has done; for no doubt he answered his own design. * Nº. Now I think it must be evident to every reader of common discernment and attention, that Paul is labouring, through all this Epistle, “to fix on the mind of the christians to whom he addresses himself, a deep sense of the excellency of the gospel, and to engage them to act in a manner agreeable to their profession of it.” For this purpose, after a general salu- tation, (chap. i. 1–7.) and profession of his ardent affection for them, (ver. 8–15.) he declares, that he shall not be ashamed openly to maintain the gospel at Rome; for this general reason, that it is the great and powerful instrument of salvation, both to Jews and Gentiles, by means of faith. (Ver. 16, 17.) And then to demonstrate and vindicate its excellency in this view of it, the apostle shows, tº * º I. That the world greatly needed such a dispensation; the Gentiles being fallen into a most abandoned state, (ver. 18, to the end,) and the Jews, though condemning others, being themselves no better; (chap. ii, throughout ;) as, notwith- standing some cavils, which he obviates, (chap. iii. 1–8.) their own scriptures testify. (Ver, 9–19.) So that there was a universal necessity of seeking for justification and salvation in this method. (Ver. 20, to the end.) & * II. That Abraham and David themselves sought justification in such a way as the gospel recommends, that is, by faith; º iv. 1–12.) and that a very illustrious act of it entailed everlasting honour on that great patriarch from whom the ews boasted their descent. (Wer. 13, to the end. … … tº is º & * III. That hereby believers are brought into so happy a state, as turns the greatest afflictions of life into an occasion Of iov. (Chap. v. 1–II. * º g J #v"; the cities brought on the seed of the first Adam by his ever-to-be-lamented fall, are with glorious advantage repaired to all who by faith become interested in the second Adam. (Ver, 12, to the ºld.) g º V. That far from dissolving our obligations º practical º: º #. sº * them by peculiar obliga- ions, (chap. vi. 1–14.) which the apostle strongly urges upon them. er. 15, to the ena. e * * º . general tº: i; º;# the gospel in the first six chapters of this Epistle, hey must be acknowledged considerations of the highest importance. anº were great .# of Jews at Rome, many of whom had embraced the gospel; to make them, therefore º: sensible how glorious a dispensation it was, and to take them off from a fond attachment to the Mosaical law, . they were married to Christ by a solemn profession of his religion, (chap. vii. 1–6.) the apostle . º b º. paratively ineffectual the motives of the law were to prºduce those degrees of obedience and oliness, º }IC y #, a . y faith in the gospel we obtain. (Chap. vii. 7, to the end. Chap. viii. 1, 2.) And here, in all the º €r O #is cele- brated chapter, the apostle gives a more particular view of those things which rendered the º i. º € #. for this great purpose, viz. that of forming the soul to Joliness, than the legal economy had been : (c #,* • J. e S- covery it makes of the incarnation and death of Christ; (ver. 3, 4.) the spirituality. of temper º W . I º i us; (ver. 5–8.) the communication of the sanctifying and comforting influences of the Spirit of God, w º € º: j formed to a filial temper; (ver, 9–17.) the views which it exhibits of a state of glory so great i. ustrious, tha rt i joie creation seemed to wait for the manifestation of it; (ver, 18–25.) while, in the mean ". €VerS . º e Jºnder aſ their trials by the aids of the Spirit; (ver. 2%37.) and an assurance that all events sho i. e º j advantage; (ver. 28.) since God has in consequence of his éternally glorious plan already done so much forus;(ver. 29, 30.) A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 495 which imboldens us to conclude, that no accusation shall prevail against us, and no temptations or extremities separute us from his love. (Ver. 31, to the end.) - . . . <- As the blessings so affectionately displayed above had been spoken of as the peculiar privileges of th9se who believed in the gospel, this evidently implied, that as all believing Gentilés had a full share in them, so all unbelieving Jews must necessarily be excluded from them. But as the calling of the Gentiles and the . of the Jews was a topic of great importance, the apostle employs the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters in the discussion of it, and so concludes the argumentative part of # Epistle. * e introduces what he had to say on this interesting subject, by declaring that he thought most honourably and affection- ately of the Jewish nation; (chap. ix. 1–5.) and then shows, ge 1st, That the rejection of a considerable part of the seed of Abraham, and even of the posterity of Isaac too, was an incontestable fact, which the Jews themselves could not but grant to have happened, that is, with respect to the descend- ants of Ishmael and of Esau. (Ver. 6—13.) g 2ndly, That the sovereign choice of some individuals to peculiar privileges, to which none had any claim; and the . appointment of some, from among many criminals, to peculiar and exemplary punishment; was perfectly con- sistent both with reason and Scripture. (Ver, 14–24.) 3rdly, That the taking the Gentiles to be God's peculiar people when Israel should be rejected, had been actually fore- told, both by Hosea and Isaiah. (Ver. 25, to the ...) 4thly, That God hath graciously offered the gospel salvation to Jews and Gentiles, on the same equitable and easy terms; though Israel, by a bigoted attachment to their own law, had rejected it. (Chap. x. throughout.) 5thly, That, nevertheless, the rejection of Israel, though according to their own prophecies it be general, and attended ğ. astonishing blindness and obstinacy, yet is not total, there still being a number of happy believers among them. Chap. xi. 1–10. 6thly, That § rejection of the rest is not final, but that the time shall come when, to the unspeakable joy of the whole christian world, the Jews shall in a body be brought into the church of Christ. (Ver. 11–31.) - - And lastly, That in the mean time their obstinacy and rejection is overruled to such happy purposes, as serve, through the whole various scene, to display, in a glorious manner, the unsearchable wisdom of God. (Ver. 52, to the end. The remainder of the Epistlé is taken up in a variety of practical instructions and exhortations, which hardly admit, and Indeed do not need, so particular an analysis. The grand design of them all is, “to engage christians to act in a manner worthy of that gospel, the excellency of which he had been illustrating.” He more particularly urges, an entire conse- cration to God, and a care to glorify him, in their respective stations, by a faithful improvement of their different talents, (chap. xii. 1–11.)—devotion, patience, hospitality, mutual sympathy, humility, peace, and meekness; (ver. 12, to the end;) and in the whole thirteenth chapter, obedience to magistrates, justice in all its branches, love as the fulfilling of the law, and a universal sanctity of manners, correspondent to the purity of those religious principles which they º In the fourteenth and part of the fifteenth chapters, he dilates more largely on mutual candour, especially between those christians who did, and those who did not, think themselves obliged in conscience to observe the ceremonies enjoined by Moses; and pleads a variety of most pertinent and affecting considerations in this view, (chap. xiv. 1. to chap. xv. 17.) in prosecuting some of which, he is led to mention the extent of his own labours, and his purpose of visiting the Romans; in the mean time, recommending himself to their prayers. (Ver. 18, to the end.) And after many salutations, (chap. xvi. 1– 16.) and a necessary caution against those that would divide the church, he concludes with a benediction and a doxology suited to the general purport of what he had been writing. (Ver. 17, to the end.) From the j here given, the reader might form some conjecture of the rich entertainment provided for him in this jº were he yet a ...; to its more particular contents; but, blessed be God, they are already familiar to almost all who have any regard for the Bible, and take any delight in perusing any part of it. I shall not therefore detain such from Paul's invaluable periods, any longer than whilst I observe, that whereas the interpretation of several phrases which occur here has very much divided commentators, and laid the foundation for many unhappy contentions, which have been more efficacious to alienate the affections of christians than all the apostle's arguments, powerful as they are, have been to unite them; I am very solicitous to handle this Epistle in as pacific a manner as possible. I shall therefore, as plainly as I can, give that sense of the disputed phrases which appears to me most natural, and briefly suggest, in the Notes, the reasons which induce me to understand them in the sense I have preferred. And I hope my readers will be contented with this; for were I to produce what interpreters of different opinions have alleged, and canvass the reasons by which they have endeavoured to support their explications and criticisms, I must turn my work into a treatise of polemical divinity; and so quite change that original plan, which I hope will be found much more entertaining and useful: nor should I, if the º were thus changed, be able to comprehend in this whole volume, what I might easily find to offer on this Epistle 8||Oſł62. ' - THE APOSTLE BEGINS HIS LETTER WITH A P A R A P H R A S E A N D NOT E S ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. SECTION I. GENERAL SALUTATION TO THE CHRISTIANS AT ROME, IN WHICH HE TRANSIENTLY TOUCHES ON SOM y- w OME VERY IMPORTANT DOCTRINES OF THAT GoSPEL WHICH IT wº's His Gfºr "DESIGN Tô it. Usiºtº AND ENFORCE. ROM. i. 1–7. RoMANs i. VER. 1. SECT. MY dear christian brethren, you receive this º from Paul, who, though once a bitter 1. ROM. ersecutor, hath now the honour to style himself a servant of Jesus Christ, whose propert i. humbly professes himself to be, and glories in it as his # happiness to be jº at the command and disposal of such a Master. And he is the more sensible of his great 1 obligation to this, as he hath been, in so wonderful a manner, called, not only to the fellow. ship of that holy faith which we all profess, or to the common services of the ministerial office, but even#; be] invested with the distinguished character of an apostle” in the church. He once indeed boasted that he was of the Pharisaic sect, separated from the rest of the Jews by ceremonial observances, in which they place so peculiar a sanctity; but he now rejoiceth much more that he is, by so special an act of condescending grace, separated to the glorious and saving gospel % the blessed God, destined and devoted to its sacred in- 2 terests; Even to that gospel which, before it was thus expressly committed to the christian apostles, was, in a more obscure manner promised, and in some measure declared and ex- hibited, by his prophets, in the records of the holy Scriptures, on which such bright lustre 3 is now thrown by comparing the predictions with the events. I would take every oppor- tunity of promoting in your minds, and my own the highest regard to this blessed and evangelical dispensation with which God has favoured us, relating chiefly to his only- begotten and beloved Son Jesus Christ, our great anointed Saviour, our ever-honoured Master and Lord, who was born a few years ago, of the seed and family of David according to the flesh, that is, with respect to his human descent, and so far as flesh was concerned in 4 the constitution of his nature: [But] who is also to be regarded by us in a much higher view, as having been determinately, and in the most convincing manner, marked out as the Son of God,” with the most astonishing display of divine power, according to the operation of the Spirit of holiness, which having originally produced that Holy Thing which was born of the Virgin, exerted its energy upon him on so many occasions, and especially in the triumphant resurrection from the dead,” which amply rolled away all the reproach of his cross, and entitled him to the honour of the first-born among many brethren. 5 This is that illustrious person by whom we have received grace and an apostolical mission,” as I esteem it the greatest of favours to be thus sºftand furnished for this important work; especially since the plan is so extensive, and it is the glorious design of it, that out of regard to his name all nations might, in due time, be brought to the obedience ºf the chris: tian faith, and thereby rescued from a state of idolatry and wickedness, formed to the most rational and sublime pleasures in the present life, and fitted for a state of complete and 6 eternal felicity. This is the grandscheme which God is already carrying on in many Gentile nations, among whom are !. Romans, illustrious in the world on many accounts, but on none so happy as on this, that ye also are now the called of Jesus Christ, invited by him into 7 the fellowship of his gospel, and a participation of all its invaluable blessings. And as RoMANs i. VER. 1. PAUL, a, servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle; separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, ag- cording to the Spirit of holi- ness, by the resurrection from the dead: 5 By whom we have receiv- ed grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among nations, for his name: 6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: 7 To all that be in Rome, a Called to be an §§ As the judaizing teachers disputed Paul's it to the operation of the Spirit ºf God in the production of Christ's + claim to the apostolical g ice, it is with great propriety that he asserts body, by which means the opposition between kata gapka and ka? a it in the very entrance of an epistle in which their º: were to be Tveup a will be preserved; the one referring to the materials acted entirely overthrown. . And the attentive reader wil pleasure what a variety of other most proper and important thoughts observe with great upon, the other to the divine and miraculous Agent. Compare Luke i. are suggested in other clauses of this short introduction : , particularly a Resurrection from the dead..] E. avgarageos vexpov is rendered by the views which the Jewish prophets had given of the gospel, the descent of Christ from David; the great doctrine of his resurrection and āś, some, resurrection from among the dead, i. the sending the gospel to the Gentiles, the privileges of christians as the behind; and Mr. Fleming has taken great e. leaving many of the dead pains to show, that wherever called and beloved of God, and the faith, obedience, and sanctity to the compound word ečuvas agº; (for he considers it as one word) is used, which they were obliged in virtue of their profession. Öccasion will it is always in this, sense., (See Flem; Q Res., p. 70.). By this resº- be given for the like reflections on a thousand, other occasions, though rection Christ was declared the Son of God; but to say he was consti the limits of such a work as ours will not allow us so particularly to tuted the Šon of God by it, seems very unscriptural, since he was pro- trace them. - - * * - claimed under that title so long before his resurrection. b Determinately marked out..] That this is the exact signification of e Grace and an *:::::::: mission.] Many would render it the favour 8ptabºvros, Elsner has learnedly proved. Compare Acts xvii. 31. of the apostleship. ; ut that rendering is not the most literal : and it is c, The Spirit of holiness.], . It seems to me so little £º to the certain that faul’did receive grace, to subdue his heart tº the obedience style of Scripture ig general to call the divine nature of Čhrist the Spirit of Christ and fit him for the ministry of the gospel, before he received *}oliness, or the Hôly Spirit, that highly as Iesteem the many learned his apostojical commission, wheneye; We suppose, that commission toº iná accurate commentators who have given it this turn, I rather refer have been dated. I therefore choose to keep the clauses thus distinct. THE APOSTLE'S AFFECTION FOR HIS FRIENDS AT ROME. 497 beloved of God, called to be God hath especially committed this ministration to me, I do therefore, agreeably to the sect. ;###, Fº: ; gº of my office, inscribe this epistle to all in Rome who are to such a degree - el and the Lord šić Christ. oved o among that holy people who solemnly profess themselves consecrated to his service. And as, in this view, ſmust think of you with great respect, so I most unfeignedly wish grace and favour to you, with all kinds of prosperity and peace, from the blessed God, the great original of .."good, who is now become our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is exalted at his right hand, that he may scatter down all the blessings of providence and grace on his people, and may rule over all things for the good of his church. IMPROVEMENT. LET us begin the perusal of this excellent, though in many passages obscure and difficult, Epistle, with paying our humble acknowledgments to the divine goodness that we are favoured with so valuable a part of Scripture as that contained in the apostolical epistles. How happy are we who read from the pen of those holy men the senti- ments they entertained of christianity under the full illumination of the sacred Spirit, and so learn what were the leading affections which prevailed in their minds!. By these letters they open all their hearts to us amidst their labours and sufferings, that we also may have fellowship with them in those important things in which their communion was with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. 7 1. od as to be called to the privileges and hopes of christianity, [and] numbered — ROM, I. With particular pleasure let us peruse the writings of Paul, who was in so peculiar a manner called to be an Ver. I apostle, and separated to the gospel of God. He gloried in the name of a servant of Christ, and let us emulate it as the greatest honour. Let us be animated to exert ourselves to the utmost under that character, since God hath been pleased to bring us, though originally sinners of the Gentiles, to the obedience of the faith, and to reveal unto us the gospel of his Son, that glorious gospel predicted by the prophets and opened by the apostles, yea, by their divine Master. May our hearts adore the great Emanuel, who, though he condescended to be made of the seed of David ac- cording to his flesh, had a divine nature infinitely superior to it! Let us often reflect on that glorious display of the power of the Holy Ghost in his resurrection from the dead, by which be was marked out as the Son of God; and yielding to the force of such a demonstration, let us confide in him as Jesus our Saviour, and obey him as Christ our Lord. We are called to partake of the privileges of his people; we belong to the society of those who are eminently beloved of God, and who lie under obligations, as they are called a holy nation, a peculiar people, to be indeed saints, to be holy in all manner of conversation, as being entirely devoted to God and the Redeemer. May such grace be imparted to us from God our Father, and from Jesus Christ our Lord, that we may not dishonour the sacred community to which we belong, that we may not with millions be cast out at last infamous and abhorred, but may enjoy its most important privileges in that state of final and everlasting glory in which the kingdom of the Son of God shall terminate. - SECTION II. The apostle strongly expresses his affection for his christian friends at Rome; thereby to introduce, with greater advantage, the considerations he had to lay before them in the process of the Epistle. Rom. i. 8–15. Romi. i. 8. Roy1ANs i. 8. - 5 2 3 4 7 FIRST, I thank my God I AM now setting myself to write to you, my dear brethren at Rome; and I must, in the SECT. º º: º first place, declare to you, that I unfeignedly thank that most glorious and excellent Being 8.hroughout the whole who is now become my covenant God and Father through Jesus Christ, by whom we have so pure and steadfast, and produces such genuine fruits, that it is declared and celebrated through the whole world, and is universally looked upon, by all christians in this extensive 9 For God is my witness, empire, as a most happy presage of the general spread of their holy religion. Such a re- Mººg.º. port as this cannot but excite my praises, as being so agreeable to the tenor of my peti- in the gospel of his Son, that P. - - & - wº lºº ºilº mºmen: tions; for God, whom I make it the continual business of my life to serve, with the greatest jº,” “* * * integrity and ardour of my Spirit, in the gospel of his Son, is my witness, and I appeal to him with confidence on so solemn an occasion, as it is he only who can judge of the fact, how incessantly I make mention of you, Romans, when I bow my knee before him in solemn received the adoption, and bless him for you all, that your faith in his invaluable gospel is RQM. 8 9 2. I. 10 Making request, if by seasons of devout retirement; Always entreating in my prayers the permission of his 10 ºpeº.º.º.º gracious providence to come unto you, if by any means now at length, after so long a delay, jºurney "by the Wiii of God I may have a prosperous journey to you, by the will of God; on whose blessing I am sensi- to come unto you. ble the prospérity of all our ways depends, and to whose wise determination I desire to * submit all my schemes and purposes, even those which are formed with the most affec- 11 For I long to see you, tionate regard to the good of his church. Nevertheless, so far as may consist with this due 11 Hº. ... ...} resignation, I am humbly importunate with him on this head; for I desire greatly to see ye may be established ; you, not from any curiosity which the grandeur and magnificence of your city excites, nor from any prospect of personal advantage that I might receive from the most considerable of you, in the greatest distinction of circumstances, but that I may impart to you some spiritual gift by the laying on of my hands in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ;" that by the further experience which you may then have of the operations of the Holy Spirit, as well as the edification to be received from what discourses may pass between us, you may be established in your christian faith, and fortified against all temptation either to renounce 12 That is, that I may be or dishonour it: That is, in other words, [I desire] that while I am among you we may be 12 comforted together with you ./yº" * * * * - is "thºuti faith"both of comforked together, as I have great reason to believe that we shall by the exercise of the you and me. mutual jaifi both of you and me, while I am communicating and you receiving these bless- * ings, and those correspondent graces are working on each side, which I doubt not will be for my improvement as well as for yours.b a Impart to you some spiritual gift.). Bos interprets this of preaching great temptations which the inhabitants of Rome were under, both to the gospel, which was a divine kind of food by , which, their souls might infidelity and º would make such assistances more desirable, be strengthened, and which be, as with the richest liberality, was will- and the apostle more solicitous for such an interview.—As for the words ing to impart and distribute among them. But as spiritual gifts, in the ev Špty, it makes the construction much plainer to read them before language of St. Paul, have generally another signification, (compare ovurapak)\mönvat, as they can *}} means otherwise have any force I Cor, xii. 1, 4, 9. xiv. 1, 12.) and it was the particular, office of the at all. They must therefore, as L'Enfant has well noted, be rendered aposties to bestow miraculous gifts by the laying on of their hands, I being among you. have taken the passage in that view; and though it is, reasonable to For my improvement as well as for yours.) This, thought, so full súppose the christians now at Rome had some share of these endow; of respect to his christian friends at Rome, is suggested with great deli- ments, chap. xii. 5–7, it is highly probable that on Paul’s arrival cacy and address; and it is very reasonable to suppose that jº new among them they might * them in much greater abundance. The instance in which miraculous gifts were communicated by the laying 500 THE ABANDONED STATE OF THE GENTILES. SECT, abominable idolatries, founded on the falsest representations of God, and often supported shipped and served the crea: Ulte 3. by a train of artful forgeries; and, upon the whole, they worshipped and served, with re-j *ºhº;; ligious homage and solemn devotion, the creature, to the neglect of the great Creator, who, Amen. * however basely and ungratefully overlooked by men, is surrounded with the perpetual 25 homage of the heavenly world, and blessed for ever, Amen! May he ever be held in the highest veneration by all his creatures in heaven and earth, throughout all succeeding ages - 26 Therefore, I say, because of this inexcusable neglect of the ever-blessed God, he aban- 2%. For this cause god gave doned them to the most infamous passions; for even their women, from whom the strictest §ºlº modesty might reasonably have been expected, changed the natural use of the other sex to º - • tº - * • • ** * that which is against nature : 27 that which is against nature.” And likewise their males, leaving the natural use of theyº. 27 Apd likewise also, the have been inflamed with the most scandalous and abóminable desires towards each other, jº.º.º. males with males perpetrating that which is most shameful to mention and detestable to think lushone tºwardſºnotheºn of, and receiving in themselves the just recompence of their error, in that stupidity and de- yº 28 generacy of mind to which they were evidently left. And, thus, upon the whole, as they §: were not solicitous” to retain God in their knowledge, nor to propagate suitable conceptions "j"..."...º.ii of him, or address him by proper acts of rational and pure devotion, God delivered them ſº º over to an undiscerning mind, to do things most inexpedient" and enormous, as he cannot ºpioia.ind. more dreadfully punish one sin, than by giving up the offender to more. And accordingly, $º which are not universal depravatiºn and corruption seized and possessed them, and the whole series of .º.º.º. their discourses and actions showed that they were full of all manner of injustice, lewdness, Wiś.”º. "mischief, covetousness, and malignity; perpetually injuring each other, and drawing damage ..."...º.º.º. and misery on themselves; while they were filled and intoxicated with every imaginable ièity. Witºres.” vice, envy, murder, contention, fraud, the inveteracy of all evil and pernicious habits, which 30 no sense of decency or regard to reputation or interest could reform. Instead of enter- 30 Backbiters, haters of taining those friendly regards to cº, other which common humanity might have taught ºr "ß, cººl them, they were whispering something against those that were present, as well as back- things disobedient to parents, biting such as were absent: and being haters of God, discontented with his government, and disaffected to his rule as a righteous and holy Being who could not but be highly displeased with their abominations, they were violent and overbearing in their behaviour to each other, proud of what they had, and arrogant boasters of what they had not; inge- nious inventors of evil and vicious things, who piqued themselves on making some new discoveries in the arts of sensuality or mischief. And it is no wonder that when there was such an impious disposition to rebel against God, they should also be disobedient to earthly parents; And that they should act in so wild and unaccountable a manner as to 31 Without understanding, seem to be without the natural understanding of men; implacable in their resentments, iº. without natural affection, even to their own children in some instances, and to their unmºrciful: parents in others. And when a reconciliation was attempted, and mutual engagements entered into with the highest solemnity, they were, on any present appearance of advan- tage, presently for breaking those pacific treaties, and unmerciful in pursuing their schemes 32 of cruelty and revenge, whenever they got any new opportunity of doing it. This was the 32 wh9 knowing the judg: character which generally prevailed in the heathen world, who, though they knew the ſº. righteous judgment q É. - and though their consciences, as well as the lessons of their lº º ‘....", §'.#. wisest teachers, told them that they who do such things as these are worthy le San)e, - - ſº yet not iºnºid them. .# do these things themselves, but also look with complacency upon and agree together writ t- those that do them; forming confederacies to countenance and support each other, and impudently outbraving those who should presume to bear testimony against them. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. WHEN we dwell on the representation of that character which this humane and candid apostle gives, is of the 21, &c. heathen world with regard to their idolatries, impieties, and other immoralities, what reason have We to bless God for the dispensation of the gospel, which hath wrought so effectually for the reformation of thousands Who might otherwise have been as deeply drenched in all these enormities as the vilest of them | For we know that it was not the barbarous nations alone, but some of the politest, who, in º: of all the opportunities they had of . better, and in opposition to that better knowledge which some of them actually obtained, were often distinguishe for the superstition of their worship and the scandal of their lives; so that the chief illustrations of this sad subject are to be borrowed from Egypt, Greece, and Rome. • Let us learn not only to guard against the vices for which the heathens are here branded, (knowing that the practice in us will be yet more criminal,) but let us cultivate the opposite virtues of justice and temperance, be- 29 31 nevolence and contentment, peace and charity, sincerity and humility; and let us, cherish the natural tender affections. If offences arisé, let us always be ready to hèarken to terms of reconciliation, and faithfully observe 32 our engagements; taking the greatest heed that, knowing so clearly as we do the judgments of God, we do not, by any means, give countenance to, and seem to join in a confederacy with, sinners. - e- Let us bless God for all the capacities and opportunities he hath given to the heathen nation; of coming to the 19, 20 knowledge of himself by the things that are made, which declare his eternal power and godhead, and render inex- cusable both atheists and idolaters among them. But when we recollect how many either entirely, lost the truth, . imprisoned it in unrighteousness, letus be most affectionately thankful for so superior a light, for that gospel whic 2 9 3 I known that idols are often called lies. Isa. xliv. 20. Jerem. iii. 23. xiii. among polite nations, and persons in other respects º: jº. º 25. xvi. 19. a- humanity, is a most striking instance of §§ º thlS ass !?, o To that which is against nature.] Many horrible illustrations of this that of Kiſling their aged parents also was oft he counterpart. - may be seen in Bos, Exercit., in loc. - - u Who, wough they kncu, the righteous judgment ºf God, &c.] The p Were not solicitous. J. Eòok pagav imports a concern to ". things Ciermont copy inserts the words ovk evonggy after :::::::::::::::: to a trial or touchstome, which this translation expresses much better than , is , ing, Mr. Locke renders it, Who, though they ºckpowledsº ours, which coldly renders it, thºſ, liked not. - - § wº #####. wa) prescribed them by à. and discovered hings most incrpedient.] Å. original expression is a meiosis to 'º','!'..."; . did not understand that they who do, these express things most detestable ; as asikea £pya signifies all the imhu- º º º therefore, guyevöoksgi, live well with manities which Achilles most ungenerously practised on the corpse of 3 * &g : - - rith th ithout any marks of * - - * * - - y CIO that is, converse with them withou y •. Hector. , Compare Wisd. xiv. 22–27. See Bos, in loc. §: §: ; 'Whereas the Jew, who condemns the evils which r JMischief, malignity, immeteracy.] According to some acute com- he ; -oc h more inexcusab e?’sº connecting this verse with mentators, Tovmpt a signifies doing mischief, kakva a malicious temper, º But I neither think the authority of the Clermont and kakom6eta a custom of repeating it frequently. copy by any means, sufficient tº justify our admitting, this reading, nor s Wiolent and overbearing.] ‘Yéptsm, is properly opposed to go?pov, ºf imaginé it would make a good ºf .*. . ..º.º. i. § and expresses the character of a mán who is resolved to gratify, his own of right prescribed by God, they º: º º; i. i. #; ppetites and passions, and, to pursue what he apprehends his own of it would expose them to punis lº"hi'i. wer. º: ignorant #ºss, right or wrong, without at all regarding those inconveniences numberless passages in heath.º.º.º.º.º. ... .º.º. . jīºngs which he may thereby bring upon others. of it iſ he Vulgar Latin does inº" this §"; t Without natural affection.] Aş-opym may include the absence of but they add, nom solum Titº ſ."; S ºt º { ſee with both parental and filial affection. The custom of exposing, new-bºrn “not only they who gº àº, {i iºn. º prefer- ;..."jj, ºvačiča’so générally in the heathen world, and that others that commit them?” whº *. THE RIGHTEOUS CONDEMNATION OF WILFUL SINNERS, 501 is to every believer, without exception, the power of God for salvation, and which declareth the righteousness of secT. God as the object of our faith. May we properly receive it, and so escape the terrors of that divine wrath which 3. is revealed from heaven against all impiety and ünrighteousness of men e * To this revelation let us give the most attentive heed, and be much upon our guard against those Vain and Rºt sophistical reasonings to which they who, knowing God, neglect to glorify him as God, are so ready to fly; lest 2s" wé approve ourselves fools in proportion to the degree in which we profess to be wise, and provoke God to give us up to an injudicious mind, and to leave us to that reciprocal influence which evil principles and evil actions have to render each other more inveterate and incurable. *-*m. SECTION IV. he apostle discourses more particularly of those who knew, their duty, and yet he ed contrary to it, and of the cºndemiatiºn they must expect from God; that so he might properly intº the particular charge he had to ś against the Jews, as, above all others, answering that character, Rom, ii. 1–16. rx? 1 Roy ANS ii. 1. I HAVE just been speaking of the great and aggravated, guilt of those who not only do things which they know to be displeasing to God and evil in themselves, but also agree together to countenance those that do them. And it may be, some who know they are - not of that number,” but, on one principle or another, bear their testimony against the revailing immoralities of those about them, may imagine themselves secure and happy. must º argue, from the premises just laid down, that thou art ine.ccusable, O man, twhosoever illou art, that judgest and pretendest to pass sentence upon others; for I know what the character of such generally is, and I know that the very best of them all have their blemishes and faults; and therefore I may º that wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself; for thou who judgest dost the same things in many in- stances,b and consequently art convicted out of thine own mouth. ... For we know in general, that the judgment of God is according to truth and justice against all those who do such things, ºilo, uh, however they may behave towards their fellow-sinners....And canst thou then, by the o’i. i*i; "tiºn, sentence which thou passest upon others, think to evade that, which goeth forth against . . ."º thyself? Or reasonest thou thus, O man, whosoever thou art, whether pagan philosopher or est the same, that thou - º 3. 2 * * sº jescape the judgment of Jewish teacher, who judgest those that do such things, while thou doest them thyself, that thow Gºło, despisest thou the shouldst escape the judgment of God? Or is thy heart so obdurate as to make light of those 4 #. ..","..." judgments which thou must certainly meet, because they are not immediately executed? ing; not knowing that the andſdost thou indeed despise the riches of his gentleness, and forbearance, and long-suffering,” tºº, "" exercised towards thee, for such a length of time, so as to think it may be safely trified with? Surely if thou dost thou art shamefully ignorant indeed, as not knowing that the goodness and gentleness of God leadeth thee to repentance; he bears with thee, that thou - mayst prevent the threatened blow by humbling thyself before him and forsaking thy º, º sins. But this day of mercy and grace has its limits; and however thou mayst flatter ...s:"...ºbjśī, thyself now, the consequence will soon appear fatal, and thou wilt find, to thine unutter- *ś º: Yºº able confusion, that by this hardness and impenilence of thy heart thou, art treasuring up judgment of God; to thyself a more abundant store of wrath in the day of final wrath, and of that revelation of the righteous j º of God which is now, as it were, under a veil, and so disregarded because unseen; but it shall them be set forth to view in all its lustre and terror. The divine Being is indeed a most gracious and indulgent Father; but be it known unto. 6 thee, that he is also the wise and holy Governor of the universe, who will recompense every . . man according to his works in the final distribution of good and evil, how unequal soever ...º.º.º.; his present dispensations may seem. To those generous and elevated souls that are not 7 sºlory and honour and discouraged by present difficulties, nor insnared by the allurements of the world, but *** amidst them all, by a patient and persevering course of well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, he will graciously render the great prize they pursue, even eternal life: ..º.º.º. But to the perverse and ungrateful children of contention, who quarrel with the merciful 8 the truth, but ºbey ºright dispensation that should have saved them, and are obstinately disobedient to the dictates of tº inſiaation "truth, but servilely obedient to the usurped and base tyranny of unrighteousness, perversely opposing the evidence of true religion because they are averse to its practical design, [he ** * . . . . . . . . a. º. will render] a quite different portion: for them is reserved all that can be imagined most Ul % º dreadful; indignation shall be conceived, and wrath shall break forth against them; The §§hºiſ, "tº jº'fist, sharpest tribulation, the most hopeless and inextricable anguish and despair,” which shall and also of the Gentile ; be poured out in a torrent of unmingled misery, even upon every soul % man who worketh that which is evil. This shall be rendered to the Jew in the first place,f who, far from escaping by his superior advantages and privileges, will, by the abuse of them, be Ronſ. ii. 1, "THEREFORE thou art in- excusable, O man, whosocver thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest ano- ther, thou condemnest thy- self; for thou that judgest doest the same things. SECT. 4. ROM. II. 2 , 2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things: 3 5 6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 8 But unto them that are 9 able to Mr. Locke’s, though by no means agreeable to the original.—ſt d Children aſ contention.]. Mr. Locke thinks that patience in the for- seems here to be implied, that to look with complacemcy on the vices mer verse, and contention here, refer to the malignant enmity with which of others is one of the last degrees of degeneracy. - the Jºws gndeavºured to exclude the Gentiles from the church; (com. a Šome who know they are not of that number.] There is a greater pare Gal. i. 7.1 Tim. vi. 4, 5.) but it seems much better to explain it iſ a delicacy in the apostle’s transition here than most commentators have |...t. which shall indeed include this as one instance of obstimacy imagined. From what he had before said to prove the most abandoned and peryarseness, without contracting that extensive and important and ignorant of the heathens inexcusable in their wickedness, he justly sense, which our interpretation, gives. And that the contention of the infers that the crimes of those who had such knowledge of the truth as to condemn the vices of others, were proportionably yet more inexcusa- ble. This was eminently the case with the Jews; but he does not directly speak of them § the 9th yerse, but draws the inference at first in such general terms as might also comprehend Gentile, philosophers, and all others who contradicted the moral instructions which they them- selves gave. * * * b Dost the same things.] Dr. Whitby, shows by mauy very proper quotations, chiefly from Josephus, that the Jews of that age were guilty of many of those crimes which had been enumerated above. See Joseph. De Bello Judaic. lib. v. cap. 13. [al. 16.] § 6, et lib. vii. cap. 8. [al. 28.] § 1. Iºdit. Havercamp. - c Gentleness, forbearance, and long-suffering..] Mr. Blackwall (Sacr. Class. voſ. i. p. 306.) enlarges on the great emphasis of these words in the original. He thinks xpngorms signifies bencoolence and generosity in the general, avoxm increy in the proposals of pardon, and happiness to fallen creatures, and gaxpoffvpua patience in attending so long on such obstimate wretches. I have given what I take to be the exactest render- ing of each ; but did not judge it convenient to protract, the paraphrase of so lively a passage, by attempting in many words to illustrate it. Gentiles is included here, evidently appears by the conclusion of the sentence. ... e Indignation and worath, tribulation and anguish, &c.) Here seems to be a reference to those expressiye words, (Psal. lxxviii. 49.) where Speaking of the Egyptians, it is said, he cast upon then the fierceness of his anger, acrath, and indignation, and trouble. And it may finely inti- mate, that the Jews, would in the day of vengeance be more severely punished than eyen, their Egyptian enemies were when God made their plagues so wonderful. 2Tevoxopt a properly signifies straitness ; and is used by Xenophon to signify a narrow way that cannot be passed. See Raphel. JYot. et Xen. in loc. As for the difference between €ugos and Qpym, Elsner (Obserg, vol. ii. p. 14.) takes some pains to show that the former, signifies the first conception of anger, the latter a desire and pur- pose of punishing. Some reference to this interpretation will be found in the paraphrase, though expressed as briefly as possible. ſ To the Jeld first.] Here we have the first oxpress mention of Jews in this section ; and it is introduced with great energy and weight. Their being trained up in the knowledge of the true religion, and having Christ and his apostles first sent to them, will place them in the foremost rank of the criminals who obey not the truth. 502 - THE RIGHTEOUS CONDEMNATION OF WILFUL SINNERS, SECT. obnoxious to distinguished wrath, Nor shall the Greek escape, who shall be judged accord- --- 4. ing to the light he hath enjoyed, or the opportunity he had of enjoying moré. But, as 10 But glory, - I said before, and repeat it with pl - - sº :- ». ... "...ºr ºl 5 p pleasure, as the moré delightful part of the subject, which Kº"...º.º. ºf * I love to dwell upon; #9% honour, and peace [shall be] recompensed to every one who ź. I worketh good; first to the Jeng, who stands fairer (in virtue of the divine revelation he enjoys for distinguished degrees of it, as well as receives the first messages of this salvation; 3. then to the Greek, who, if he exclude not himself, shall not be exempted from his proper 11 share : For there is no partial acceptance of persons with God,” which should engage him, 11 For there is * on account of outward condition or lineaſ descent, to spare ºbstimacy and wickedness in , offersºns with gº respect Jew, or to .." the humble faith and obedience of a Gentile. And he will fully display this impartiality,of administration in the great day of universal judgment: for as many as have sinned without the Mosaic law, and have continued impenitent in their crimes, shall º: the law perish; the light of nature, without the knowledge of revelation, being º º dº jº * º: C[S | º have sing under, the instruction and obli: nºi. 5 Proportionable severity, be judged by the law,i and meet with a .º.º.º.º. more awful sentence, as their offences have been aggravited fi h discoveries hº iºt lawi, and as * * e > *-> y such express discoveries many as have signed in the 13 of the divine will: For not the men who are merely respectful hearers officiano of God in jº.” “j” by the the synagºgues, or loud and vehement applauders or defenders of it elsewhere, [are] just 13,0ſor not the hearers of before God, In OF wi) he eyer accept any encomiums upon it instead of the obedience it §§ lºš § demands; but the doers of the law, who steadily and universally, in the tenor of their lives, be justified. act, agreeably to its precepts, they, and they only, shall be justified in the day of finai audit and account, whether their knowledge of it were more or less express. For when the 14 For when the Gentiles, Gentiles, who have not the written revelation of the divine law, do by an instinct of nature, Sºft.º.º.º. and in consequence of the untaught dictates of their own mind, the moral duties required by ºil, hºw, §. the precepts of the lack these having not the benefit of an express and revealed'ing, aré º “*” " nevertheless a law unto themselves; the voice of nature is their rule, and they are inwardly taught, by the constitution of their own minds, to revere it as the law of that God by whom 15 it was formed. And they who are in this state do evidently show the work of the law, in 15, which shew the work its most important moral precepts, written upon their hearts by the same divine hand that . . . . .'; engraved the decalogue upon the tables given to Moses; their consciences joining to bear lººke; witness to it, and [their] mutual reasonings among themselves, accusing those that breakº Sing Or else excusing One 16 such precepts, or defending those who observe them, attest the same thing. As therefore anºther; there are sure traces of some natural knowledge of the law, a due regard will be maintained shiftº: towards them, and on this most equitable principle will the grand process be conducted, º.º.ºhrist accordins to in that awful day when God shall judge the secrets of the hearts of men by Jesus Christ," gospel. according to the tenor of that glorious dispensation which I may call my gospel, as it is committed to my care; in which no doctrine is more important or evident than that of a universal and most impartial judgment. 1 2 1 4 IMPROVEMENT. LET us revere the righteous judgment of God, which is here laid before usin, so particular and affecting a man- ner; remembering we are each of us to have our part in that day of final retribution, and that the secrets of our Ver. 16 hearts will then be made manifest. Let us often réflect upon the awful result; and consider that indignation and 8, 9 wrath, tribulation and anguish, will be our portion, if we are contentious and disobedient to the truth, yea, if we 7 do not, by a patient continuance in well-doing, seek the promised glory, honour, and immortality; which if we I do, we shall, through the grace of God, secure everlasting life. Vain will our knowledge and our profession otherwise be, and our testimony against the sins of others will only inflame the guilt of our own. Let it ever be remembered that the goodness of God, which we have such daily reason to acknowledge and 4 adore, gently takes us, as it were, by the hand, and leadeth to repentance; and while we continually live upon it, let us not act in contempt of it, or abuse it to our own inconceivable detriment. Is the wrath already laid up so 5 small that we should be increasing the treasure? increasing the terrors of the day of wrath and revelation ºpthe righteous judgment of God? - It will be a most impartial as well as important day. Nor are we concerned to know how the heathen will fare 14, 15 in it: let it suffice us, that if they are condemned, they will be righteously condemned; not for remaining igno- rant of the gospel they never hād an opportunity of hearing, but for violating those precepts of the divine law which were inscribed on their consciences. Let us bless God that he has written it there, and reverence the traces of his hand on our own minds; always remembering that the discoveries of revelation were never intended to erase or discredit the dictates of nature, but to illustrate and confirm them. 12 We shall be judged by the dispensation we have enjo ed; and, how devoutly soever we may hear and speak of 13 it, shall be condemned, if we have not acted agreeably thereto. The Lord grant that we may all find that mercy of the Lord which we shall every one of us need in that day; and that we may find it, may we keep that day continually in view, and direct all our actions with regard to its grand decisions! SECTION V. Paul proceeds to fix the charge upon the Jews, that they were sinners, as well as the Gentiles, and consequently stood in need of justification by SECT. the grace of the gospel as well as they. Rom. ii. 17, to the end. 5. Romi ANS ii. 17. RoM. ii. 17. — I HAVE hitherto been speaking of the inexcusable guilt of those who, have the greatest ſºlº all; ROM. gº -> & . s & * * d a Jew, and restest in the opportunity of knowing their duty, and in consequence of this acknowledge it, and Con- assing the final sentence he is i Parish—the judged.]. These tºº different, that one determined by their real characters. This is very consistent with an would hardly think they, Were intended to signify the same ideas; yet - - - • * * both from reason and revelation, lie against Sup- inequality in distributing advantages and opportunities of impreyement, so many argument; - - - s according to the sovereign pleasure of the great Lord of all. This as posing the wicked heathens annihilated, as Mr. Locke seems to insinu- jºjº ºf the apostiè's, so often repeated, will appear the more import- ate from these words..that I think it most rational to interpret both these ant and seasonable, as the Jews thought that no Israelite should be expressions as signifying real punishment, but in different degrees. . ièprived of future happiness, whatever his faults had been, unless he k By nature.j Raphelius (Nothº DKen. in loc.) shows that animals †e ºilº of apostasy, idolatry, and a few other very enormous crimes. are, said to, d9 that, by, tºº which they do by instinct; and Elsner §. Af."jörlin; fiscºurses concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion, Observ. vol. ii. p. 16.) that Ta Tov * signifies the duties inculcate p. 36,27. and the notes there. & by the law. T ~ 4 l- > → ~ : 3- hºned without the Mosaic law, &c.] It is evident that must here be l According to my § Nothing is more contrary to the apostle’s intended, for none can sin without the natural law, under which all are meaning, as expressly declared §§ than that all men are to be judged born. by the gospei. He only means that the gospel teaches such a judgment g Acceptance of persons.] That is, in, THE NEED OF THE JEWS FOR JUSTIFICATION BY THE GOSPEL. law, and makest thy boast of demn others for acting contrary to it, while ; they are guilty of the same evils. I will God, now keep on the reserve no longer; but will boldly declare, that in what I have said con: cerning such, I meant the conviction not merely of heathen philosophers, but of wicked Jews; and if thou, O reader, art such an one, I apply myself personally to thee. Behold, thou bearest the name of a Jew,” and thou º: thyself on the knowledge and profession of the law, as if that would save thee; and thou gloriest in the true God, in whom thou believest; as if thy descent and profession, by virtue of the peculiar covenant he made 1s And knowest, his will, with thy fathers, must necessarily entitle thee to his favour. Thou boastest of it as thine º; honour and happiness that thou knowest [his] will, not merely by uncertain conjecture and are more excellent, being in- tº - & 5 w º' e !. structed out of the law ; reasoning, but by an express revelation, and that thou accurately discernest and dis- tinguishest upon things that differ, which untaught nature may in many respects, con; found; being thyself well instructed out of the law, having been from thy infancy catechised 19 And art confident, that and educated in the accurate knowledge of it. And in consequence of this, thou art very Hºjº', *:::: º”. confident that thou thyself art fit to teach the whole Gentile world; to be a guide of the which are in darkness, blind, as thou thinkest them to be ; a light to them that, for want of the light thou dis- 20. An instructor of the persést, are in darkness; fln instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of these babes,” as thou fºliº.º.º.º.º.º. esteemest them in comparison with thyself; having perhaps not only the sacred oracles in which hast the form of know- Yºº. - c * - j of the truth in the thine hands, but also, in order to render thee more expert and methodical in the use of law. them, a summary, a compendious system and form of the knowledge and truth which is contained in the law.d - 91 Thou therefore which Now I deny not that thine advantages are in this respect very great; but I must cau- teaches, flºº; º; tion thee that thou art not deceived by any absolute dependence upon them, and must press thou not thyself? thou, that - - “” jehºtºman should not thee to reflect how far thine own temper and conduct is agreeable to this knowledge and steal, dost thou steal 2 rofession. ‘Let me ask therefore, thow that teachest another, teachest thow not thyself? ost thou act as if thou hadst forgotten thine own precepts, or didst imagine they did not oblige thee?, Thow that preachest, for instance, a man should not steal, dost thou think thy- 22 Thou that sayest a man self tolerated to steal?” Thou that forbiddest a man to commit adultery, dost thou commit :*::::::::::::::::#; adultery? Thou that dost so abominate idols, and speakest of them at all times with such Thou ſhalabhoºtides, dóst great and just abhorrence, dost thou commit sacrilege by robbing the true God of what he thou commit sacrilege: so justly claims from thee, whether of outward tribute or inward homage; while thou so 23. Thgu, that makest thy strénuously disputest against any other object of worship 2. In one word, thou, that gloriest boast of the law, through . * -, 1- - *h * . . . *-. §.i. tº laºğisiº in the law as so excellent, and thinkest it such an honour to be acquainted with it, dost est thou God? thou by the transgression of the law dishonour God, and act as if thou wert studying the de- claration of his will only to show him in a more presumptuous and contumacious manner 24 For the name of Gºd is that thou dost not regard it? . It is not an improbable supposition that I have now been tºpº. tº ºr making; for I, who have had an opportunity of knowing . long experience the temper written. and character of the Jewish people, know it to be such, that I will boldly say to their -- faces, “The name of the God of Israel, for which you profess so warm a zeal, is by your means blasphemed among the Gentiles, and his holy religion brought into contempt by your notorious and scandalous immoralities; as it is written in your own scriptures, concerning our fathers, whose evil deeds you so generally imitate.” (Compare 2 Sam. xii. 14. Isa. }. 5. Ezek. xxxvi. 23.) 25. For circumcision verily My duty absolutely requires me to give such cautions and to make such remonstrances Pºiº if thou keep the * ... iśe i.a. as these ; for circumcision is indeed profitable if a man keep the law :f his being a Jew, if pºsion he be truly a good man, will give him many advantages %. becoming a christian, and, * “” were his obedience perfect, would entitle him to the blessings promised in the law. But if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is in effect become umcircumcision; thou wilt have no more benefit by it than if thou hadst never received it; as thou well knowest * - ... that, according to the tenor of the law itself, circumcision, far from being any excuse for e...º.º.º. thy offence, will rather expose thee in many respects to a much greater punishment. .4nd ness of the law, shalf not his therefore, by a parity of reason, if the umcircumcision, that is, an uncircumcised person, ob- #;" * servé and obey the greatest and most important precepts or righteous determinations of the law, though without any acquaintance with the book that contains them; if he faithfull and steadily conform himself to the main branches of virtue and rectitude it requires, shall not his uncircumcision be imputed or reckoned as circumcision ? Shall he not be treated as favourably by God in his final account as if he had been circumcised, when his not being so does not proceed from any contempt of the divine authority, but from his knowing nothing of the rite, or not apprehending it in his particular circumstances to be his duty ...And hallºt uniºlm, to practise it? Yea, it is certain that the umcircumcision that is by nature, a man who con- cision, which is by nature, if 5 it jºi."law, juiº ties, tinues uncircumcised as he was born, accomplishing the great moral purposes of the law, ..º.º.º. in subserviency to which its rituals were appointed, shall judge and condemn thee; who, while thou actest by the letter of its ceremonial precepts, and retainest circumcision and all its appendages with the greatest exactness, art nevertheless, in things far more essential and important, a transgressor of the law, to the spiritual meaning and extent of which thou continuest an utter Stränger, and which thou encouragest thyself by these external observ- Therefore some, transposing the last, clause, render it very plainly and d Form.J. Mopºgogus has this signification, 2 Tim. iii. 5. And Bos properly. In the day...when God shall, according to my gospel, judge the (Exercit. p. 100, idl.) shows that it often signifies the skcteh or outlines *::::::::: §if Mr. Mage, transposes the whole sixteenth verse to join it ºf a thing; which suits the interpretation here given better than he .."#. º; th; and I think it very evident the thirteenth, fourteenth; seems to apprehend.—L'Enfant rénders it, having in the law the rule of *...*.*.*.*.*.*, *.º.º.º. ººledºrºſkºw not whether gºpºsever signifies that of a few words may bo pardoned, considering the different genius ; º article has any force, it is in favour of the rendering we of ancient and modern, eastern and western, languages. I - - & Bearest the name of a Jew..] The apostle frequently addresses him- e Dost thojt steal?] . Grotius on the text proves from Josephus, that self to unconverted Jews in this Épistle, and especially here; for no sºme of the Jewish priests lived by rapine, depriving others of their due doubt there were many of them at Rome, who might be curious to share of the tithes, and even suffering them to perish for want; that know, what he, who had been so violent an enemy to christianity, 9thers were guilty of gross uncleanness; and as for sacrilegiously ſob- would say to regonumend it. And Paul’s great love to them engaged bing God and his altar, it had been complained of as early as Malachi’s him, on the contingency of such an event, to insert such passages; and days, Mal. i. 8, 12, 13. So that the instances are given with great pro- other passages are calculated for the conviction of other unbelievers, as priety and judgment. well as for the edification of christians. f For circumcision, &c.] It is most evident that ya th io- s ** * h > --> gºvt ** - , , , , , , , , - - • ** - - ---- 3. * ~. p cannot here sig Ö b Piscernest º: s that differ.] So Beza renders Óoxtſtašets ta nify that the following words are a reason for what was asserted in :::::::::::::: 8.It Smer vindicates it in a manner which seems very those immediately preceding; it seems little more than expletive, as the $93 ... though Qapellus, Hammond, and Erasmus defend our particle now among us often is. I shall not therefore in many passages translation, approvest things which are mºre excellent. See Elsner, Öserv. take the pains of endeavouring to find such a connexion as would justify vol. ii. p. 17. - - - the use of it in its strictest propriety; in attempting which, º have & Blind-ignorant, babes.) These were titles which the proud Jews vainly perplexed themselves to no other purpose than to make the often gave to the Gentiles. writings of St. Paul appear more obscure than they really are. 503 SECT. 5. ROM. II. 17 18 2 () 22 2 3 26 27 504 THE STATE OF JEWS AND GENTILES FURTHER ILLUSTRATED. SECT. ances, to neglect. For upon the whole, as you would not allow any man to be truly a J eW, 28 For he is not a Jew, merely for any outward rites which he might observe, if he continued uncircumcised, how .#. is one outwardly ; and g ;4 - - * * ! - that HI. ClS - carefully soever he might conceal it; so must I freely declare to you, that he is not in the Wii.isºr.jj. RQM, most sublime and important sense a Jew, that is, one of God's covenant and beloved II. people, who is merely so in outward show ; meither indeed [is that] the true circumcision 29 which is apparent in the flesh: Nothing merely ritual or ceremonial can recommend a man 99 But he is a Jew, which to the divine favour; but he [is] a Jew, that is, one of God's chosen people, who is one in ºne inwardly ind circum: the hidden part, as Dayid expresses it, (Psal. li. 6.) or in the secret recesses of the soul; ;"; "... *...hº. and the acceptable circumcision |. that] of the heart, which your own prophets so often jºise is not of inculcate, (see Deut. x. 16. xxx. 6. Jer. iv. 4.) when they urge the putting away all inward "" ut of God. - impurity and obstinacy, as that which is most highly offensive in the sight of God. This excellent circumcision is seated in the spirit, consisting of a change made there by the operation of the divine Spirit himself, and not merely in an external conformity to the letter of the law, of which the worst of men may be capable. Now such a person, what- ever his outward profession may be, is one whose praise [is] not so much of men,é who, eager to spread their own sects, applaud those who become their proselytes, or most strenu- ously retain their peculiar forms; but is of God, who alone knows the heart, and whose esteem and complacency is infinitely preferable to that of whole nations or worlds. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.28 LET our hearts be always attentive to these lessons of inward religion which the sacred oracles fail not continually 29 to inculcate. It is the praise of God that is in question; and who can be so lost to all true greatness of mind, to all generous ambition, as that he should not long and even burn to obtain it? Or who can enjoy or attend to the praise of men, while he has any reason to fear that God condemns? - 17 To have the name of a Jew, or of a christian, how little will it signify ...To boast in an external and temporary 18 relation to God, if we are such as shall finally be disowned by him, will make us the more wretched. To have known his will, to have distinguished things that differ, and set up for instructors or reprovers of others, will only 19—21 furnish out matter of condemnation from our own mouths, if, while teaching others, we teach not ourselves. Well 24 may the punishment be aggravated where the guilt is so great; when it brings so peculiar a reproach upon religion, and in effect dictates so many blasphemies against the name of God, at the very time it pretends to exalt it. We pity the Gentiles, and we have reason to do it; for they are lamentably blind and dissolute: but let us take 26, 27 heed lest those appearances of virtue which are to be found among some of them condemn us, who, with the letter SEC 6. RQM. ii. 25.) that it in some circumstances profiteth * Nor do I deny it now : Isa III. of the law and the gospel, and with the solemn tokens of a covenant-relation to God, transgress his precepts, and violate our engagements to him; so turning the means of goodness and happiness into the occasion of more aggra- vated guilt and misery. SECTION VI. After removing some objections, the sad case both of Jews and Gentiles is further illustrated, and the representation shown to be agreeable to the - * s a º scriptures of the Old Testament. Rom. iii. 1–19 jº N iii. p * = & Roy1ANs iii. 1 Rom. iii. 1. T. BUT some may be ready to object, “If it be so that no circumcision but that of the heart WHAT advantage then hath will avail to men's final happiness, what them ſº the advantage of the Jew, or what the #:...'...}** rofit of circumcision, which yet you seemed to allow when you said but just before, º: - that it 2 Much every way: chiefly 2 profiteth much every way, or in a yariety of respects; as I shall hereafter more fully show, º:::::::::::::::::::::::::::: tºº. chap. ix. 4, 5.) and chiefly in that the who have received it have been intrusted with the oracles of God” in the divinely-inspired scriptures, by which they are taught many important lessons, which may direct their lives and dispose them to embrace the gospel, to the security of their final and everlasting salvation. 3 Of great importance indeed are these divine oracles to this purpose. ..And what if some, 3. For what iſ some did not and they a considerable number, of those who once possessed these invaluable treasures, jºi. believed them not, or did not duly consider what they speculatively believed, and so rejected effect? the gospel to which they were intended to lead, shall their unbelief disammul and enervate the faith of God?b Shall it destroy his fidelity to his promises, or preventour º them and rni oi - - in or reo 2 •k- we should insinuate , 4 God ſorbid.: yea, let God 4 owning their accomplishment with becoming regard? God for bid that eſtrºe, but every in a liar; any thing of this kind. No : let the blessed God ever be acknowledged to be true and . .","...##". faithful, though every man be esteemed a liar and unfit to have any confidence reposed in mightest he iºd, in hy * “º “o º - rº * * g sayings, and mightest over- him; as it is written, (Psal. li. 4.), “That thou mightest be justified in thy words, and cºhºl, thou artiudged. mightest upon the whole overcome when thou art called into judgment;" that they who in- solently dare to arraign the equity of thy conduct may soon meet with the confusion they deserve.” r & * † tº bie r 6% righteousness recommend 5 But if our unrighteous- 5 But a Jew may be ready further to object and say, “If our unrig ness commend the righteous- the righteousness of God,” and illustrate his perfections in that way of becoming righteous ;...º.º.º.º.º. by faith which he now ordains, what shall we say, and what are we to expect? Is not God i. ăț §º: ninrighteous, who inflicteth that wrath which it is well known you assert he will execute upon hºmahj the whole jewish nation for rejecting it?” Inow speak as a man who had a mind to cavi. at the gospel might plead, and by no means express my own sentiments, as you may well I [I] alſTII) 62. 6 § God forbid that I should harbour such a thought or allow such a consequence; ſº ºft; };}}}" how then should God judge the world? With Abraham our father, I acknowledge him * under the character of the Judge of all the earth, and maintain that he will always “do s 7 right.” (Gen. xviii. 25.) - And as for such a caviller, he might as well speak out and say, 7 For if the truth of God I have included both ; , and binted, in the g Praise is not of men, &c.J. Perhaps here is a referenge to the ety- fun at last intº each other. - º mology of the word jº, itääing derived from the name of Judah, which last words of the parºphºse at ". sort of intermediate sense; as the signifies praise. Compare Gen. xxix. 35. and xlix. 8. attentive reader will ###, judgment.]. Elsner and Bos have abun- a The oracles of God..] This is so remarkable and important a testi- d C. *::: §º, ja, has this signification, (compare Acts xxy. º, to the divine insipiration of #: Old !...ºgº §§ º rt §". %. # wakav, in such a connexion, signifies to carry the * º . YXVI • O, 3. - - * g can ſeave no doubt concerning the full persuasion of St. Paul upon this bserv. vol. ii. p. 18, 19. and Bos, in loc. head. cause. See ź.9% §º, Though the phrase be in itself ambigu- Ul * od.] This is an ambiguous expression, and , may d The righteo - & chéºl{# #. §, of God, or that ātā of ours which God has ous, I § fi." Whitby has abundantſy proved it has here the sense we jºied out as the way of obtaining justification and life. The senses give it, - THE STATE OF JEWS AND GENTILES FURTHER IL1, USTRATED. 505 º, º “If the truth of God hath abounded to his own glory by means of my lie,” my falsehood and SECT. # in “” is."jčí ..."; iniquity of any kind; if he has taken occasion to overrule my offence to the accomplish- 6. sinner * ment of his word and the honour of his administration; ichy am I nevertheless called into judgment as a sinner, and arraigned for that as a crime which is attended with such happy * º ºgºne; ?” [.And why may I not say,) (as we are calumniatel, and some most injuri- ...; d.º.º.; Qusly affirm that we maintain,) “Let us do evil things that good consequences may come ** **ś". from them?” You may easily see that principles like these would justify the greatest just - * crimes in the world, if they might be so overrilled as to prove the occasion of good; and - consequently, would so entirely confound the nature of good and evil, that I think it not worth while to argue with such persons, whose condemnation is indeed so apparently just,f that I leave them to be convinced and silenced by their own consciences, and only men- tion such a detestable principle solemnly to warn you against it. º; flºº But to return from this long digression—If the question I mentioned before be repeated, 9 #"º"hººp.j and any say, “JPhat them, upon the whole, have we Jews the advantage of the Gentiles so ; ſº, that far, that in consequence of having these oracles of God which we have received, the * promises which he will never fail to observe, and the principles of righteousness which he will never himself violate in his conduct, we can claim justification before God by virtue - of our obedience to his law º' Not at all; for we have before proved that Jews and Gentiles , 10 As it is written, There are all under sin, and have placed them as convicted criminals at the divine bar; .4s it is 10 ºne ishteous, no not written; (Psal. xiv. 1.) in a variety of passages which may be applied to the present oc- a.º.º.º.º. a.º. casiºn, “There is name righteous, nº, not one; Therº,is none, that understandeth his duty 11 †'...}, ... c. * and his true interest; there is none that seekelh after God, and constantly endeavoureth to pººl; secure his favour. They are all declined from that moral rectitude which is the glory of 12 i.o.º.fijiº, the rational nature; they are altogether become useless as to the great end for which they i.º. that doeth gºod; no, were made, so that there is none that practiseth good, there is not so much as one. (Psal. xiv. #3 heir throat is an open 1–3, liii. 1–3.) Their throat [is] noisome and dangerous as an open sepulchre, gaping to 13 ;"º swallow them up or poison them with its infected air; with their tongues they have used i iºn of asps is under their the most mischievous deceit ; and while they make the fairest profession of friendship, the pS : mortal venom of asps [is] hid under their lips, which utter the most infectious and fatal sºul of slanders. (Psal. cxl. 3.) They are men whose mouth [is] full of cursing and bitterness; 14 ro e Psal. x. 7.) so that the most shocking profaneness mingles itself with that malignity of sº feet are swim to heart towards their fellow-men, which breathes in every word. Their feet [are] swift to 15 “. run towards the places where they have appointed to shed the blood of the innocent. (Prov. alºnd misery i. 16, 18.) Ruin and misery ſº on the whole, in all their ways ; they bring it upon 16 ii"Ai"tºay of peace others, and so, by an inevitable consequence, upon themselves at last. .4nd as for the 17 *}}.º.º.orge way of peace and happiness, they have not known or regarded it. (Isa. lix. 7, 8.) And to 18 before their eyes. sum up all in one word, the great cause of all this degeneracy is, that the fear of God is not before their eyes, but they are utterly destitute of any true principle of r ion, of any reverence and love to the great and adorable Object of it.” (Psal. xxxvi. I.). what things soever the law This, my brethren, is in general the sad character of mankind in their fallen state; and §, "...ith"; ſhe. ... the representation is the more striking as it is borrowed from the sacred writings. .Vow ; :"...º.º.º. we know that what the law saith in such passages as these, it saith to those that were under aii the "ºrii mº."bécoiº the law;i they do not immediately relate to the heathen, but contain the character of those guilty before God. that were at that time the professing people of God. And as most of these passages are borrowed from the writings of David, Solomon, or Isaiah, it appears that, even in the best days of their state, they had a great deal of enormous wickedness among them. And if Israel, even at such a time, could not justify itself, much less can it be imagined that the idolatrous nations of the Gentiles should be able to do it; so that every mouth must be stopped, and the whole world stand convicted before Golk as guilty, and acknowledge itself obnoxious to a dreadful sentence from his tribunal. Now I earnestly desire to bring every reader under a sense of this, as what is of the highest importance in order to receiving the gospel with becoming gratitude and joy. - &=} IMIPROVEMENT. WHO can read this melancholy picture of human mature, copied by the hand of an apostle from the lines first drawn by inspired prophets, without deep humility and lamentation? To this was it sunk, that there was none righteous, no not one ; none disposed to seek after God or to cultivate his fear. , And from this bitter root, the apostasy of our nature from God, what detestable fruit proceeds ! the throat which is like an open sepulchre, the deceitful tongue, the envenomed lips, the malicious heart, the murderous hand ' And who can wonder that such rebels to their heavenly Father should sometimes prove ruffians to their brethren? - Let us bless God that we have been preserved from falling into such enormities, and from falling by them. His grace has restrained us from sinning against him in such an aggravated manner; his providence has guarded us from those whose feet are swift to shed blood, and in whose paths there is destruction and misery. Let us remember the view in which these instances were brought, even to evince this deplorable but undemi- able truth, that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. The purpose of conviction therefore being answered on our RoM. III. 19 Now we know that Ver. 10, 11 IS 13, 14 15, 16 e If the truth of God, &c.], 'The Prussian Testament renders this seems much more, reasonable to account for, the , diversity we find be- clause, “In the mean time, if my lie conduces to the glory of God by making the grandeur of his truth shine forth with superior advantage,” c. This is the clear and genuine sense, but it is not consistent with the rule I generally ſollow, to deviate so far from the words of the original; and I mention it as a specimen of many liberties in which I have declined following that version, after attentive examination of it. Whose condemnation is just.]. I think this must imply that there are certain rules which God has laid down for us, disobedience to which in any imaginable circumstances is universally a moral evil; even though the quantity of good arising from thence to our fellow-creatures, should e greater than that arising from observing those rules. For if this be not allowed, there can be no shadow of force in the apostle’s conclusion. É As it is written..] These scriptures are collected from different parts of the Qld Testament; but there are many editions of the Seventy in which they all stand together, in the fourteenth, or, according to their order, thirteenth Psalm ; which has given some occasion to think that 9ther alterations may have been made in that Greek version, to render it more agreeable to the New Testament; though many passaxºs might escape the notice of such as made this attempt, if it were really made. But it must have been, as we see in this instance it was, a fruitless one ; considering how wide such copies were dispersed, and how different the religious *gſ the persons with whom they were lodged. It 4 tween the original and quotations, by supposing the sense rather than worls intentionally regårded; and some accidental alterations have happened since in the Hebrew copies, which, in several places, may miike the difference greater than it originally was. h Tacre is none that secketh aſter God, &c.] It is allowed that this Massage only provics directly what, was, the character of the Jews in avid’s time; but it plainly shows that the wrath of God was awaken- ed against them as well as others for their sins: it proves also that a general degeneracy might prevail among them, though by profession God’s, people; and it suggests, a strong presumption, that if, Israel in David’s time, which was one of its best ages, was so bad, Gentile nations were still worse; and in all these views it was much to the apostle’s purpose to produce the passage. The like observation is in a great men- sure applicable to all the following quotations; as the paraphrase on ver. 19. suggests, or rather as the apostle himself there evidently in- Sln\lateS. i What the law, saith..]. It appears here that this word law doth some- times signify the Old Testament in general; for not one of the quota- tions above is taken from the Pentateuch. Stand convicted before God...] Soºročukos To egg seems exactly to signify. Archbishop Tillotson would render it º; to divine justice; - * - which is the same in sense. See his Works, vol. i. p. & © e d © • * * * * * * e° lº e e o * * * a tº © e º e © Q • * , , * e © © e © © ſº & 506 SECT. 6. III. 6 produce an abhorrence of every thing evil, which must necessarily be displeasing to him! SECT. 7. III. 21 23 at all between one believer and another: For all have sinned, as we demonstrated above, and come short of the glory of God,” they have failed of rendering him that glory that was $'; so justly his due, and thereby have not only made themselves unworthy the participation of 24 2 5 26 THE NECESSITY OF JUSTIFICATION BY THE GOSPEL. hearts, let us humble ourselves before God as those that stand guilty in his presence and obnoxious to his judg- ment. Thankfully let us own the inestimable goodness of God in having favoured us with his sacred oracles, and en- Rosſ. deavour to improve in the knowledge of them. Thus instructed, let us be careful to form the most honourable notion of God, as the worthy and universal Judge, who will never fail to do right; and may these views of hin or let us ever allow ourselves to be brought under the influence of those fallacious and pernicious maxims which would persuade us 8 that the goodness of the intention sanctifies the badness of the action, or that the pretended benevolence of the end will justify irregularities in the means. God’s judgment and decision is final; and an inspired apostle's au- thority is an answer to a thousand subtilties which might attempt to turn us from the strictest rules of that im- mutable rectitude on which it always proceeds. SECTION VII. From the representation made above of the guilt and misery of mankind, the apostle deduces the necessity of seeking àºtion by the gospel, and consequently the excellency of that dispensation, as exhibiting the method of it. - RoNANS iii. 20. I HAVE just been pro Rom. iii. 20, to the end Rom. iii. 20. osing to you convincing evidences of the universal degeneracy THEREFORE by the deeds and corruption of mankind, and showing you that the whole world must stand convicted º.º. º. ºº before God: therefore let all my readers be persuaded to admit it as a most certain prin- RQM. ciple, and at all times to act upon it, that according to the just and humble acknowledg- flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the know- ledge of sin. ment of the Psalmist, (Psal. cxliii. 2.) no flesh shall be justified, or pronounced righteous, before him,” by works of complete obedience to the law of God,b whether natural or re- vealed: for instead of justifying any man, it only anticipates, in a more obvious and affecting manner, the sense of his condemnation; as by the law is the knowledge of sin,” it discovers to us how grievous a thing it is, and exhibits the righteous displeasure of God against it. But yet, blessed be God, every door of hope is not shut against the sinner convicted b the law: for the righteousness of God, that is, the manner of becoming righteous whic God hath ordained and appointed in his gospel, without that perfect obedience which the law requires, is now made manifest; being indeed attested by the whole tenor of the law 22 and the propºilets,4 which join in leading our eyes to the great Messiah: ness of God, which he hath appointed us to seek by the exercise of a living faii. on the of his Son Jesus Christ; to whom he commands us to commit our souls, with all humble and obedient regard. This way of obtaining righteousness and life is now, I say, inade ºrianifest to all, and, like a pure, complete, and all them that believe, whether they were or were not acquainted power and grâce 21 But now the righteous- ness of God without the law is manifested, being witness- ed by the law and the pro- phets; Even the righteous– 22 Even the righteousness of God adhich is by, faith of Jesus Christ unto all and up- on all them that believe: for there is no difference : glorious robe, is put upon with, or subject to, the Mosaic law before their conversion to christianity; for there is in this respect no difference 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of O(| : glory and happiness with him, but stand exposed to his severe and dreadful displeasure: .#nd if any escape it, they are such as, being induced to embrace the gospel, are justified freely, without pretending to plead any merit of their own, by his rich and sovereign grace, proposed there by virtue of that redemption and deliverance which is in Christ Jesus his well-beloved Son: };"hom God hath in his infinite mercy proposed and exhibited to us in honourably discover himself as pro- pitious to us, and converse favourably with us, as he did with Moses from the mercy- seat; an inestimable privilege, which we receive by virtue of faith in his atoning blood, the gospel,f as a propitiation through whom he ma 24 Being justified freely by his grace though the re- demption that is in Christ Jesus : Whom God hath set forth to , be a- Dropitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are §§ through the forbearance 25 with which the throne of God is, as it were, sprinkled over, as the propitiatory in the of God; tabernacle was with the blood of the sin-offering. (Lev. xvi. 15, 16.) And this is ap- pointed for a demonstration of his righteousness in the remission of sins, which now appears to be accomplished without any reflection upon that awful attribute which might seem to have a claim so directly contrary to it; and this remission extends not only to the present but former age, and to all the offences which are long since past, according to the forbear- ance of God, who has forborne to execute judgment upon sinners for their repeated provo- cations, in reference to that atonement which he knew should in due time be made. He 26 To declare, Isay, at this has, I say, proposed his present ever-memorable Son for a demonstration of his righteousness, which now, in this and signal time, is so wonderfully illustrated in the great trans- a Be justified, &c.] . The lear:yed Vitrigga hath with great pro;ºriety ob- served that this word is horrowevi ſroni Ps. 1. cxliii. 2. and ºust therefore signify to receive tº testimony of being rigºtteotts frontº a judge, and gº not mereſy signify to obtain ºneſcuſ. To be justified also so::)etimes signifies to overcome in jūdg:1:ett, (Psal. ii. 4.) and the expression of being just bºſoro God implies the sa:me. And that this is the sense of the word in this Epis- tle, appears fron several passages; particularly Rom. ii. 3. So that on the whole, as he argues, justificatio:) is not a phrase parallel to fºrgiveness, but refers to a judicial process, and carries in it the idea of acquittal, praise, and revirº. And indeed it seens to me always ultimately, to re- fer to the being promotiated aſſi treated as righteous in the great day o God’s universal jud::it:ent. See Roºm. ii. 13, it;. b By works aſ the iate.] I think, with Mr. Locke, that the word la'2 must here be taken in this extent, comprehending ceremonial and Inoral, revealed ani natural. And this I conclude, not so much from the omission of the article, (compare Rom. ii. 12, 14, 25, 27. chap; iii. 31. chap. v. 13, 29. in all which places, and many more, vup 25 without the article signifies the -ºſosaic layo, as the setise evidently proves,) but from the conclusion which time a posile draws, and the whole tenºr ºf his sub- sequent argument; which woºd have very little weight, if there were room to object, though we cannot be justified by our obedience to the jaw of Moses, we may be justified by our obedience to God’s natural law. And Ilothing can be more evident than that the premises from which this conclusion is drawn refer to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, and cousequently that law has here, and in many subsequent pas; sages, that general serise.—A very ſcarried person has lately, proposed to render £3, ep; ov, v'ſ, 9, by the laid ºf toorks; pleading £3&rtºpov Ötöaxng (Heb.' vi. 2.) as a parallel instance: but l have declined this rendering, as (ver, 27.) the apostle cypresses the lazo aſ works by word: placed in a different order, vºla Tør ſpy ºv, opposed to wºp 9 rººs : T. : : © : 20. 1 and (ver. 23.) Xajpts £pyov wogg is plainly, as we render it, without the works aſ the law: ; a 5 the coqtinuation of the apostle’s argument in refer- ence to Abraham shows. Nor can I see what great end could be served by allowing this criticism : since the apostle glsewhere asserts justifica- tion, xogis ºpy ºv, without works, (chap. iv. 6.) And to say that epytov is put clliptically for vops #. (that is, works for the law of works,) is very arbitrary. Nor can I conceive that any one can be justified by the law of works without being justified by the works, or vice versa; and this is expressly Paul’s assertion, chap. iv. 4, 5. c. By the land is the knowledge of sim.) This strongly inplies the broken and disjointed state of human nature, in consequence of which the pre- cepts which God gives us will, oa the whole, only serve to convict us of guilt, but not to produce in obedience by which we can finally be ac- quitted and accepted. Some render it, the laid takes cognizance of sin. d Attºsted by the laºo, and the prophets.] See, in this view, Gen. xv. 6. Isa. liii. vult. Dam.jY. 24; e Come short of the glory of God..] Mr. Fleming, and after him, if I mistake not, Lord Barrington, explains this falling short of God’s glory, as signifying the loss ºf that lucid resemblance of the glorious Śiś, which they, after Mr. Joseph Mede, suppose our first parents to have worn in their primeval state. But if it were to be granted they had such a glory in that state, I cannot think it would have been natural to have calfed it God’s glory, or to explain the word ja repoviral of losing it, which certainly signifies a deficiency of what might have been attained, rather than the loss of what is actually possessed. Compare Matt. xix. Cor. i. 7. Heb. iv. 1. chap. xii. 15. - f Proposed.] Some contend that Rp 286eto here signifies to exhibit; others, that it signifies to deteriniće, in lºr:d, or fix upon. (Compare Bos, in loc. and Eph. i. 9, ; i. Roº. i. 13.) I have chosen the i. propose, as i.a. ixi: just ti: să:ne : i: ſºigu - THE NECEssITY OF JUSTIFICATION BY THE GOSPEL. 507 * * * º - - w ! . . . r s: : - , , ; c.; * * lºſiº ºf actions of our own age, intended for this purpose, that he might be and appear Jºº, and SECT. he might, be just, and , the Se Y2 justifier §rinºcºliº: yet at the same time, without impeaching in any degree the rights ºf * gº; 7. eth in Jesus the Justifier of him who is of the faith of Jesus, whosoever he be, that is, of exer; º - who sincerely believes in him, and acquiesces in that method of salvation which God he h * c -7 In ſſ º \- *** rºß ...Contemplate, I beseech you, this only way of redemption and geºpº.º. 27 tº Nāş; bºth. Where then [is] boasting in our own righteousness, or on account of any other peculiar law of faith. privileges? or what reason can any who partake of these blessings have to glºry in thºrn- selves? You will easily see that it is entirely excluded. And reflect further, by that lºº is it excluded ? [By the law] of works 3 by that of Moses, or any other lºw promising life only to perfect obedience, and threatening all disobedience with inevitabiº death ? By no means. ' This would leave a man all the little reason for boasting he could possibly have f ! even that he had acted perfectly right and well, and had all that excellence and worth o character which a being in his circumstances could attain. But if you suppose him to have recourse to the gospel, by the law of faith it must certainly be excluded, since the very constitution of that requires persons to acknowledge themselves sinners, and, as guilty and indigent, to make an humble application to the free mercy of God in Christ for pårdon and every other blessing which is º to their final happiness. 23 Therefore we conclude We therefore are come to a conclusion of this part of our argument, that a mºtº, ºf what- 28 # *.*.*.*.*, 3 ever nation, profession, or character, is justified by a true, lively, and effectual faith, in the the law. gospel, without the works of the law;h that is, though destitute of any legal works in con- sequence of which he could claim justification and life. - *- rºº, º, ... º.º.; And this naturally leaves room to add, [ſs, God.]...who hath established such a method 29 #."...icº”y. Fº. of justification, the God of the Jews only, and not also of the Gentiles 2, Strely he is the Gentiles also : God of the Gentiles too; since it is very evident that all claim from works being this uni- 30 i.e.; it is, one God, versally given up, the Jews and Gentiles must in this respect stand upon a level. So that 30 jºjº. . . [it º one God, the same eternal and unchangeable Jehovah, that will justiff the Jews, - - • * have received circumcision, not by that, but by faith; and will justify the Gentiles published by him, and established in his perfect obedience and meritorious suffer gi. circumcision through faith. who - too, who are still in their uncircumcision, through the same faith; and therefore demands the grateful love and the new obedience of both. 31, Do we then make yoid Now while we maintain this method of justification and salvation, can it be said that 31. #: .jsłº, we derogate from the honour of God's justice or his law Do we set aside the lago by faith 3.W. as if it were a faulty, or annihilate it as if it were a useless, thing P. God forbid that we should ever insinuate such a design or entertain such a thought. Way, on the contrary we really establish the lawk on a firmer foundation than ever, and place it in a juster and more beautiful point of light: for we show also its honour displayed in the atonement as well as the obedience of Christ; and we make it of everlasting use for attesting the truth and illustrating the necessity of the gospel, as well as for directing the lives of men when they profess to have received it; as we shall abundantly show in the process of this dis- COUTSé. IMPROVEMENT. LET our whole souls rejoice in this glorious display of the divine mercy, in so beautiful a harmony with divine ustice, in our redemption by Christ; to which the apostle in this section bears so noble a testimony. We are all Ver 20 ecome guilty before God; so that if he should mark iniquity, no flesh living could be justified before him: let us therefore, with all reverence and esteem, and with all joy, embrace the righteousness of God as now attested 21, 22 by the law and prophets, by Christ and his apostles, which shall be upon all believers without any difference; 23 humbling ourselves deeply in the presence of God, as those who have sinned and come short of his glory, and 24 seeking to be justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. *-* * To him let us continually look as the great propitiation; exercising faith in his blood, and rejoicing that those 25 which seemed to our feeble apprehensions the most jarring attributes, are now reconciled and glorified. . Let us readily acknowledge that boasting is excluded; and in the grateful overflowings of our souls fall down before that 27 throne whence pardons are dispensed, and confess “that this act of grace is our only plea,” and that we must remain humble before God for ever, in a sense of the demerit of our sins and the abundance of his mercy. Let Jews and Gentiles unite in thanksgivings to God and in love to each other, as having been all involved in 29, 30 the same condemnation, and all partakers of the same compassion. And let christians remember that God "? intended by this illustrious display of grace, not to supersede but to establish his law. May we therefore make 31 it our concern, that not only the actions of our lives, but the sentiments of our hearts, be directed and determined by it! as it is now enforced by more powerful motives than when it appeared in its unaliayed terrors. SECTION VIII. The apostle here shews that Abraha; and David sought justification in such a way as the gospel recomniends, that is, by faith Rom. iv. 1–12. RoM. iv. J. - RoMANS iv. J. WHAT shall we then say I HAYi} been observing to you that we christians, by maintaining the doctrine of justifi- SECT that Abraham, our father as on faith, instead of slipersedino ~~ +, la i S-> * - - e cation by faith, instead of superseding and enervating, do indeed establish the divine law, s and assert, in the most convincing manner, both its authority and purity. For the illus. . tration of this, therefore, let us consider the important instance of Ábraham, and the man- Rosſ. ner in which he was justified. Fhat then shall we say that the holy patriarch Jłbraham, IV. 1. g Just, and the Justifier, &c... By jitºft. Aff. Taylor, would, understand can suffice to our justification which is not in fact productive of obe- mercifº, and Mr. Locke faithful to his promises i biit, either of these dience; and when the matter is thus stated, there is 'uo appearance of makes but a very cold sense when Soñpared with that. We have here contradiction, & -- *- given. It is no way wonderful that God should be merciful; or faithful ... i Gnº God, who justifieth the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision to his promises, though the Justifier of believing sinners; but that he § Mr. Locke would reuger, it sºcing God is one, and sup- jë. just in such an act might haye seemed incredible, had we not Fº it an alſusion to the prediction, Zech. xiv. §. that the iori spºil received such an account of the propitiation and atonement. Put our be one, and his name one; fulfiiied tº the Dublication of the gospel. explication is vindicated in a most masterly and unanswerable, manner But I think this supposed allusion far-fetched, and sº got any occa- by the worthy quthor of an excellent tract, entitled, Chºist the JMediator, sion for supposing £x Tigretos, by faith, and Öta 7 tºrsºs, through faith, p. 85, &c. to which I with great pleasure refer the reader. * * to signify, different things; nor can I see what different idea can here h Ā lively and effectual faith without works,. &c.] By thus, guarding be affixed to them. L'Enfant renders it, he icil; justify the circumcision the assertion we sufficiently see h9w very consistent it is With that of by faith, and uncircumcision by the same jºiń. - Št. James, (chap. ii. 17, 23, 24.) who only in effect asserts that no faith k PWe establish the land.]. Some render it, May, but we are the persons 508 ABRAHAM AND DAVID WERE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH. SECT. our reverend father according to the flesh, hath found effectual in this respect?” and to what 8. must his justification and acceptance with God be ascribed 2 For if Abraham ºre justi- *ś. . . Jied by circumcision,or by the merit of any other works, rather than by the free grace and sº '', Ajº, ºff ** mercy of God, then he hath sºmething in which he may glory; but it is certain, by what the ɺlory, but not tº * , sacred oracles express; that though the behaviour of this célébrated person was indeed i. i* God. nocent, fair, and honourable before men, yet ſhe * not any thing to boast in the sight of 8 god. For that ſtill the Scripture upon this head? (Gen. xv. 6). “Abraham believed a For what said, the scrip. God, when he made him the promise of that miraculous and important seed, and so it was 8...anjº ieved imputed to him, or, placed to his account, for righteousness, or in order to his justification:” fººd ºnto that is, God was pleased graciously to accept it, though he had not that complete and perfect righteousness which might in strict justice be demanded of every .* creature as the 4 ºnly condition of his bºing acquitted at the divine bar. Now to him who thus workeih to 4 Now to him that worked, the utmost extent of all that was required, the reward proportioned to that work is not is ºeckonedor Chârged to account as matter of grace, but of debt; and he may glory at least in having “” ut of debt, 5 diligently earned it. (Compare chap. xi. 6.j But to him who in this sense workei, noi, Who can by no means pretend to have wrought all righteousness, but humbly believeth on him who declareth the freeness of pardoning grace, and by that justifieth even the ungodly, if he repent and return, the phrase used concerning Abraham may be applied with the strictest propriety, and it may be said that his faith is imputed to him, or placed to his i. for righteousness, or to the purpose of his being accepted and treated by God as righteous. - - dºd [this is] very agreeable to what we read elsewhere; particularly as David (Psal. xxxii. 1, 2.) describeth the blessedness of the man who is accepted of God, whom he speaks Figins to the flesh, hath 5 But to him that worketh pot, but believeth on him that justifieth the , ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous- I}{*SS, 6 6. Even as David also de- scribeth the blessedness of the * w - * º man, unto whom imput- of as “one to whom God, according to the method of proceeding we now maintain, im- ºth iſſiºn Without WOTRS, puteth righteousness, without any supposition of, or regard to, a former series of good works, 7 supposed to have been performed by him.” For he expresses himself thus: “Blessed aré they whose iniquities are pardoned, and whose sins are as it were coveredd by the veil of 8 divine mercy: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not sin.” Which plainly implies that sin had been committed by the best and happiest of men, and that it is matter of mercy, and favour that it is not charged to account, Só that he should finally be con- demned for it. Wow, while We are speaking of this blessedness of the pardoned and accepted sinner, give 9 comeſ, this blessedness me leave to ask, [doth it come] upon the circumcision [only,) or also on the uncircumcision? ... º.º.º. The celebrated instance we have just been mentioning will show how far circumcision is ºn",i}} º º; from being necessary to a share in it: for [when] we say, as above, that faith was imputed Hº: Abra- 10 to Abraham for righteousness;" How and when was it thus imputed and charged to his ac- "Iśhen reck- count, in this view? When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? [Truly the history ...}, ... plainly shows us that it was not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision; for it relates this jº.cision, important circumstance of Abraham as taking place many years before circumcision was at numercumcision. 11 instituted.f .4nd it assures us that he received the sign of circumcision, not as the means of JJ, And he received the sign making him acceptable to God when he was not before so, but as the token of his being jºš º, ºf already accepted; and therefore as the seal of the righteousness of that faith which he had in º.º.º. inº, wncircumcision is that so he might be the father of all those who believe in uncircumcision, §§oºliº: that righteousness may also be imputed unto them, that they may be justified in the same jº.; means, and that it º be written down in the book of God’s remembrance that they are mess might be imputed unto so. £nd he received this rite by divine appointment, that he might also be the father of "###ine father of cir- the circumcision, that is, to those who should afterwards practise it, and were not only par- º to them who * takers of the external ceremony of circumcision, which in itself indeed can have no efficacy, ##########; but shall also walk in the footsteps of that faith of our father.Abraham which he had in un- circumcision, and which rendered him so dear to God while he was in that state. of that faith of our father IMPROVEMENT. 7 Saying, Blessed gre they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is , the man to whoſh, the Lord will not im- pute S10. * 9 12 Abraham, which he had, being vet uncircumcised. Ver. IF there be indeed such a thing as happiness to be enjoyed by mortal man, it is the portion of that man of whom 7, 8 David speaks, even of him whose iniquity is pardoned and whose sin is covered, and who º: the manifestation Well may he endure the greatest afflictions of life with cheerfulness, and look forward to death of that pardon. - - - e * - with comfort, when the sting of all these evils is taken out, and the returning tokens of the divine favour convert them into blessings. Oh let us earnestly pray that this happiness may be ours; that the great and glorious Being whom by our sins we have offended, and in whom alone the right and power of pardon resides, would spread the veil of his mercy over our provocations, and blot them out of the book of his remembranceſ Let us on the one hand fix it in our mind, that it is the character of that man to whom this blessedness belongs, that in his spirit there is no guile; and on the other, let us often reflect that it is in consequence of a righteousness that observe the laug; which is a just and strong thought, (compare, Rom. viii. 3, 4.) but I think, not the proper signification of târopév.–For the justness of this inference, see Christ the Jºſed. p. 90–96. a Hath found..] Some would transpose the words, and render them, “Shall age say that our father Abraham hath ſound, that is, obtaine justification and life according to the flesh, that is, by cirgumcision an observing the carnal rites of the Mosaic economy?” But when the natural order and usual import of the phrase makes so easy and so good a sense, I can see no reason for admitting this construction. Raph.clius shows that Herodotus and other authentic Greek authors use evptakto for obtaining, and that by merit. Annot. & Herod...in loc. - - - b He hath something in which he may glory.] This seems to intimate that the Jews maintained not only §d necessity but, the merit of the Jewish observances; else it might have been replied, that Abraham was indeed justified upon his being circumcised, but that it was by the .* of God in freely annexing the promise of justification and life to Such a Pºte. - & As ºf grace.] Raphelius has shown that ptſ)ov does not only sig- -nify a reward of debt, but also a gift ºf favour; and that the phrase gión 66 pemy occurs in Herodotus: - is a classical as well as theological expression.—Could, we be, sure that Abraham was once an idolater, it would be some illustration of the apostle’s reasoning here; but the validity of it by no means depends Up- on that fact. - - - - 'i ſ㺠iniquity is pardoned, and whose sin is covered.] Archbishop Lighton his so elegantly and beautifully illustrated these wºrds, that j nºt be jeave to refer those of my readers that cannºt use, his Lašin ... º. oº inctiirty-second Psalm, to review, the English transla: ii), ºf it in the secotºl volume of his Expository JDiscourses; printed at .E..i. trāli: , 74S so that a reward of grace or favour. 0 Inputed to him for righteousness.] I, think, nothing can be easier than to understand how this may be said in full consistence with our being justified by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, that is, our being treated by God as , rightequs for the sake of what he has done and suffered: for though filis be the meritorious cause of our acceptance with God, yet faith may be said to be imputed to us, eig Čukatoovvmy, in order to our being justified or becoming righteous ; that is, according to the view in which I have elsewhere more largely stated it, as we are charged, as debtors in the book of God’s account, what Christ has done in fulfilling all righteousness for us is charged as the grand balance of the account; but that it may appear that ye, are, ag- cording to the tenor of the gospel, entitled to the benefit of this, it is also entered in the book of God’s remembrance “that we are believers;” and this appearing, we are graciously discharged; yea and rewarded, as if we ourselves had been perſectly innocent. and obedient. See my Sermons on Salvation by Grace, p. 14–19, which accºunt is perfectly sºuble to what Witsius has remarked, Econ. Fed. lib. iii. chap. viii. f Many years before circumcision, was instituted.] . It is said this imputation was made on Abraham’s believing the promise, Gen. xv. 6. about a year before the birth of Ishmael ; but he did not receive cir- cumcisión, till Ishmael was thirteen years, old, Gen. xvii. 27. conse- quently Abraham was declared justified at least fourteen years before he was circumcised. - • * g Seal of the righteousness of faith...]. This seems an incontestable proof that circumcision was a seal of the covenant of grace, and not merely of temporal promises ;, and consequently, obviates, the most considerable objection that hath ever been urged against infant bap- tl:Sull. THE PROMISE WAS TO ABRAHAM THROUGH FAITH, 569 which God imputes, and which faith receives and embraces. We are saved by a scheme that allows us, not to 88CT. mention any works of our own, as if we had whereof to glory before God, but teaches us to ascribe,our salvation 8. to believing on him who justifieth the ungodly. Nor need we be ashamed of flying to such a method, to which — Abraham the father of the faithful had recourse himself, and on which he built his eternal hope. May We share nº. his disposition of mind, that we may inherit the same promises, walking in the footsteps of our father Abraham' 12" So shall we also be called the friends and children of God, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in his heavenly kingdom. * SECTION IX. In order to recommend the scheme of justification by believing God’s promises, the apostle shows that it, was an illustrious tº ºf ºth which entailed everlasting honours on the great patriarch Abraham; in which he was intended for an example to us. Rom. iv. 13, to the cmd. Rom. iv. 13. - Roy1ANs iv. 13. ºntº, ºft.*.*.*. I HAVE spoken of Abraham as the father of uncircumcised believers as well as those of SECT. "...}, . . ; Alºh. the circumcision, (ver. 11, 12.) and that with evident propriety; for the promise to 4hrſt- 9. £º j #º ham and his seed, that he should be heir of the world,” that is, that he should inherit all the êousness offaii. nations of the earth as a seed that should be blessed in him, was not and could not be by Rosſ. the law of circumcision or of Moses, being, as we have already observed, prior to both ; , . V. but it was by the righteousness of faith. . God gave him that promise on his exerting a re; markable act of faith, on which God in the most gracious and honourable manner declared 14 For if they which are of his acceptance of him as righteous. ...Vow if they who are of the law, and depend upon 14 º; that alone, [are] heirs exclusive of all others, as some so eagerly contend, then that faith oid, and the promise made & ****, L- :: * ~ * ~ * gº of none effect : which in the instance before us was so eminently honoured of God, is made useless, and - treated as a thing of no value; and so the promise made to it is in effect abrogated, the per- formance of it being put, not only on new conditions, but on such as cannot be perfectly 15 Because the law worketh performed in this sinful state.” . Fºr the lang of God, considered in itself alone, and with- 15 $º is, out any regard to that grace which, though it was in fact mingled with it, yet makes no part of the legal dispensation as such, is so extensive and difficult, and we are so weak and sinful, that in fact, instead of securing to us the promised blessings, it only worketh wrath, that is, it becomes to us accidentally an occasion of wrath, and exposes us to punishment as transgressors; for where there is no law, either revealed or intimated, [there is] no trans- gression; but the multiplication of precepts increases the danger of offending, and the 16 Therefore it is of faith, clearer declaration of those precepts aggravates the guilt attending the violation. But 16 tº therefore [it] that is, the promise and the inheritance to which it relates, [is] of faith, or he end the promise might be y * g - & * & * * * * 5 †e tº aii the "seed; hº to annexed to it, that it [might ºl of grace; that God might magnify the riches of his grace tº in proposing justification and life to us in a way that might in multitudes of instances be flººn, who is effectual, that so the blessing exhibited in the promise might be firm and secure to all the e father OI uS all, believing seed, not only to that part of his descendants which was placed under the dispen- sation of the Jewish law, who are not indeed excluded from it if they seek it in a proper manner, but to that which is the seed of that holy patriarch to whom the promise was made by a nobler relation, even by a participation of the faith of .4braham, who is in this view 17 (As it is written, I have the father of us all : .As it is written, (Gen. xvii. 16.) I have made thee a father, not of one 17 ; :::::::: family alone to descend from Isaac or Jacob, but of many nations; so that he is in some believed, evºn"God, wig degree even like God himself,” who is the Father of all good men; like that Almighty quickenéth the dead, and r:- sº he beli ~~ º JI, gº *-------. §"...cºnjicº. Being in whom he believed as re-animating those who are dead, and calling into action and not as though they were enjoyment things that are not now in existence, with the same ease as those that ared 18 who against hope be- And since I have begun to touch upon it, permit me, my brethren, to animate your 18 jº ºf . faith by dilating a little further, upon that of this illustrious patriarch. It was he who º; ; ; against all human and probable hope, believed with an assured and joyful hope, on the sé- tºº.” ‘’” ” curity of the divine word, that, unlikely as it seemed, he should be a father of many na- tions, according to that which was spoken to him (Gen. xv. 5.) when he was called to take a view of the stars of heaven, and God said, “So numerous and glorious shall thy seed be.” 19 And being not weak, in And having received such a promise, not being feeble in faith, how feeble soever he might 19 º,'...'; be in his animal constitution, he considered not his own, body, which, with regard to the was āśitan hundred years probability of begetting children, was now dead, being about an hundred years old; nor the §" “” deadness of Sarah's womb, of whom the sacred historian tells us, “that it ceased to be with 20 He staggered not at the her after the manner of women.” (Gen. xviii. 11.) Amidst all these difficulties and dis- 20 tºº §"...". "... couragements, he objected not to the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened faith, giving glory to God; by the exercise of the most vigorous and triumphant faith, thereby giving a due and be- 21, And being, fully, per- coming glory to the great God, the Lord of universal nature ; And was confidently per-21 .."º."º", suaded, that what he had thus graciously promised, he was, and ever is, able to perform, "ºtherefore it wasim. though that performance should, to sensible view, seem ever so improbable. .4nd therefore 22 pújº º this heroic faith was so acceptable to the Divine Being, that it was, as we have heard again Ilê SS. and again, imputed or accounted to him for righteousness, that is, in order to his justifica- 23 Now it was not written tion. Neither was it written in the sacred records, which are to reach the remotest ages, 23 fººtnºtwº with regard to him only, or chiefly to do a personal honour to that illustrious patriarch, that iº; º it was thus imputed to him ; But also for our sakes, to whom it, that is, the like faith, shall 24 ...Y W. Q. - g º & ,-, * •; gº jºi... also be imputed, if westeadily believe in him who not only brought Isaac as from the dead Jesus our Lord from the dead; womb of Sarah, but, in the most literal sense, raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, when he jº. lay among them slain and mangled by his cruel enemies: Even that great and glorious 25 *a-S Tal Se * * * * ...;;...i.” Redeemer who was delivered up to them by the determinate counsel of God, that by his death and sufferings he might atone for our many offences, and, when he had fully satisfied the divine justice for them,” was raised again for our justification; that putting our trust a Heir of the world. Koapos cannot here signify, as yn sometimes so that these good men who were justified under it, were not justified does, one country or land, how fine, or large soever. It must therefore by it, but by the dispensation of grace under which Abraham was imply his inheriting a seed out of all nations, whom he might be said to which, thqugh not a part of the covenant of God by Moses, was not an possess in such a sense as children are said to be an heritage isaicºvii could not be abrogatºſby it. Compare Gài.iii. 7 3, Compare Gen. iv. 1: Prov. xvii., 6. See also Psal., lxxxii. 8. where c. Like God..] So I think karevavſt may here signify ; and accord- God is said to inherit-the nations that are taken into his family, on the ingly it is rendered, ad instar Dei, by Paraeus. profession of the true religion. * * * * * ă Calling things that are not.) That this is to be understood of sum- b Cannot be perfectly performed.] This is here said with reference moning, them, as it were, to rise into being, and appear before him, to a moral, impossibility It seems evident, from what follows, that the Elsner has well proved on this place. - law is to be considered as insisting on an obedience absolutely perfect; e Fully satisfied the divine justice for them.] By satisfying the divine $10 THE EXCELLENCY OF THE GOSPEL FURTHER ILLUSTRATED. SECT. in him who was thus apparently discharged from all further claim upon him as our 9. Surety, we might obtain, by virtue of our relation to him, plenary pardon and eternal life. ROM. IV. Ver,17 utmost to trace his steps, and have fai lie in the way of the accomplishment of his promises; - IMPROVEMENT. LET us continually bear in our mind the great and venerable example of our father Abraham; labour to the 4- th in God, who at his pleasure quickeneth the dead, and calleth things which gre not as if they were. If sense were to judgé, it would pronounce many of these difficulties invincible which but they shall all be fulfilled in their season. Let us there- © * Nº sº. - - * *9 fore be strong in faith, remembering that thus it becomes us to glorify that God who condescends so far as to engage the honour of his word for the support of our souls, him all things are possible. - He who hath promised is able to perform, for with Already hath he done that for us which we had much less reason to expect than we * How have to hope for any thing that remains. He delivered his Son Jesus for our offences, to redeem us by his 24 considered as a no 22, 23 and mercy. deerner be reckoned as ours, to all the purposes of blood from final and everlasting ruin. joy that he was raised aggin for our justification; and let his resurrection be continually le argument, to establish our faith, ifi him who performed this illustrious work of power So shall it be imputed to us likewise for righteousness; yea, so shall the righteousness of our Re- our justification and acceptance with God. And though, by Let it be our º * - * - - te 14, 3 our transgression of the law, we can never inherit by any claim from that which only worketh wrath and condem. 16 nation in consequence of our breach of it; yet shall we, by believing and obeying the gospel, find the promise sure to us as the spiritual seed of Abraham, and be for ever happy in the enjoyment of that better Canaan, when Cvery earthly inheritance shall be no more found. SECTION X. The excellency of the gospel dispensation is further illustrated, believers being hereby brought into so happy a state as turns even the heaviest * I l. aftiictions of life into an occasion of joy, ſtom. v. 1– RoMANs v. 1. RoM. v. 1. SECT. WE have been reviewing the manner in which Abraham and David, those illustrious THEREFORE being justi- 10. {ROM. W. patriarchs, looked for justification and happiness, and in which we are to seek it if we desire to succeed. . We have been speaking of our adorable Saviour as delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification: let us now therefore reflect a little on those invaluable benefits which we who have embraced this dispensation, whether Jews or Gen- tiles, enjoy in consequence of it. And here it is in the first place evident, that being thus justified by means of faith in Christ, we have peace with God aſ our guilty fears are silenced, and we are taught to look up to him with sweet serenity of soul, while we no longer con- ceive of him as an enemy, but under the endearing character of a Friend and a Father; 2 even through the mediation and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom we have been 3 introduced,5 by means of faith, into that state of grace and acceptance in which we new stand with humble boldness in his presence, and cheerful confidence that nothing shall remove us from his favour. And by a further consequence, we do not only rejoice in some con- siderable present privileges, but boast in a pleasant and assured hope of inheriting at length the glory of God, a state of perpetual splendour and happiness in the house and presence of our heavenly Father, in which he will, as it were, adorn us with the rays of his own glory...flnd not only do we [so] boast in this hope, but we also glory in our tribulation” and affliction, which, far from esteeming, as the Jews are ready to do, any token of repro- bation or displeasure, we look upon as being, in this connexion, the allotment of God’s paternal love to us, that we may thereby be enabled to do him a more singular honour, and be prepared for a more exalted happiness; knowing that tribulation, under the influ- ence of divine grace, worketh a calm, silent, humble patience, a most beautiful and happ 4 disposition of mind, which is daily strengthened by exercise : ...And this patience produceth 5 6 such an experience of God's supporting goodness, and such proof of our own sincere faith," strict integrity, and steady resolution for him, as we are sure will be acceptable to him ; and therefore this experience and proof of our graces, which like pure gold brighten in the furnace, worketh a more lively and triumphant hope of a glorious future reward. ...And this hope, sublime and confident as it is, does not shame and confound [us] with disappoint- mént; yea, we know it cannot, because we have already within ourselves the very beginning of that heaven at which it aspires. For the love of God, in the perfection of which the blessedness of that celestial world consists, is in a plentiful effusion poured into quº hearts by his Holy Spirit, which is given unto us, and enables us to see his ióyº amidst all his co- réctions, and to delight ourselves daily in him, though for the present he appoint us trials which may seem ever so rigorous. • 1 - 4- - Now aſ these invaluable privileges and hopes, which make our lives so joyful amidst justice, I mean, “doing all that was necessary amply &nd perſectly to secure the honour of the divine eoverninent in the pardou anºl accept- ance of penitent and beiieving sinners ;” but I do not mean “thº. pay- ment of the debt, in such a sense as that our cngagements to, lºoliness should be dispensed with or in any degree weakengd, or our obligation to the free grâce of the Father in out sºfºtios ºf red or ºnervºteſt.” Äuä ſciesire it imay be remembered and attended to throughout, that his is the sense in which i woul:l use the pl;rase wher? Yºr, it occurs in any of my writings, and I hope it wiłł not be found that I have ever deviated from it. - a pſ', have peace writh God..] It seems very u:\reasonable to suppose, that when the apostle wrote such passages as tº 15 and Eph. i. 1–3, he should º tº) º hiº . º §§ 'dº In Ot ºfore to be expountled as spoken, Izarticultirly of the Gºni]]CS 3 ſhor - christians. (as we RnOW § he surely 㺠by these grand descriptions and pathetic repre- cution of christians, (as we kno jations to speak only of such external privileges as might Hºye been jº" to Simon Wiigis, or any other hypogritical, and wicked pro; fessor of Christianity. And if he did not intend this, he must sººtk of âjîrue christians as such, and as tº king, it for grant?d that those to joie addressed this and his other Epistles were in the general such, though there might be some few excepted cases which, he loes not think #ºcessary often to touch, upon., And this is, after all, the tº key to such passages in his Epistles, and as such I have used it throºkhout ſpy work ; and as I have more articularly stated and vindicated it in the postscript which I have added to the preface of my Sermons on Re- #ºratiºn, in the second edition, I must beg leave to refer my reader so laboriously attempted to revive. preface to his Paraphrase of this Epistle. dotal phrase, and signifies often discourses on the benefit arising tion. to traCe It. d Proof of our faith..] \ſons. word āoºpm has this signification, and is proved by purifying, fire. Compare 1 Pet. Serm. vol. vii. D. * N- fied by faith; we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and §§§ in hope of the glory Of Uz OCI, 3 And not only so, but, wo £º. in tribulations also : &nowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experi- ence; and experience, hope : 5 And hope maketh not ashamed ; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet thither, and hope I shall be excused from a more particular examination of that very different scheme of interpretation which, Mr. Taylor has - *. main principles of it are, think, well confuted by my pious, and, worthy friend Dr. Guyse, in the b We hare been introduced ; Triv ſporay (oymv coxakapev.], Raphelius has shown from Herodotus, that ſp27ayaoym is often. used as a sacer- “being with great solemnity introduced as into the more immediate presence of a deity in his temple, so as, by a sup- posed interpreter, from thence called Egºgº oyevs, the introducer, to have a kind of cofference with such a deity,” c JPG glory also in tribulation.] The Jews might object, to the persc- - - - they did to that of their Master,) as inconsistent with what they concluded would be the state of the people of the fossiah." It is therefore with great propriety that the apostle so - ising from the sufferings of true be- lievers, by which he lays in the strongest answer, to any such insinua- * And this delicacy of address is so apparent, in Inany passages of the Épíšićs, that f should swell the notes too much if ſ were accurately Saurin, very justly observes that the a metaphor taken from gold i. 7. see Ecclus. ii. 5. Saur. THE [XCELLENCY OF THE GOSPEL FURTHER ILLUSTRATED. 51ſ • \ * without strength, in due time such various tribulations and extreme sufferings, are to be traced up to the death of Christ, SECT- ***** and resolved into his love; for when we were yet in a weak and languishing, infirm and 10. helpless state, destitute of Åll these divine principles and hopes, yea, incapable of deliver. ing ourselves from the depths of guilt and misery into which we were plunged, Christ most “” seasonably died for us, even in the stead of the ungodly,” for Jews and Gentiles, when they 6 were, as we have proved before, all under sin. * eous man will one die: Wowſ this is a most memorable thing, and worthy our frequent, attentiye, and affec- 7 Pºdventure'foº' good man tionate consideration: For scarcely would one be willing to die in the stead of 4 righteous *would even "re to die. man, though we apprehended him in the most immediate danger; [iſ] perhaps, in the stead of a remarkably good and benevolent man,; one would even dare io die; for certainly it is but here and there one in a great multitude who would be willing to redeem the most eminently useful life at the price of his own. But God hath recommended his astonishing love towards us, and set it off as it were with this grand circumstance of high embellish- ment, if I may so speak, that when we were yet sinners, and therefore not only undeserving of his favour, but justly obnoxious to wrath and punishment, Christ died in our stead, that our guilt might be cancelled, and we brought into a state of divine acceptance. Since therefore it hath pleased the blessed God to give us such an unexampled display of his love as this, how high may our expectations rise, and how cheerfully may we conclude, that match more being now justified by the efficacy of his most precious blood, we shall be saved from wrath by him / For we can never imagine that God would provide at so expen- sive a rate for our justification, and then finally leave us under wrath, though we have acquiesced in the scheme of his grace for our deliverance. - For if, as I have already maintained, when we were enemies, through the perverseness of our minds and the rebellion of our lives, we were reconciled to God by the death of his own dear Son; and if, foreseeing we should fall into this state of hostility, he made this won- derful provision for our being admitted to terms of peace, how much more, being thus reconciled, shall we be saved from misery and made completely happy by his recovered life, now he is risen from the dead, and ascended to glory ! IMPROVEMENT. WITH what ecstasies of holy joy may we justly survey these inestimable privileges, the blessed consequences of */ º ºf ºf Justly * S >>2 having embraced the gospel and being justified by faith unfeigned How great a happiness to have peace with g z-> J * > E. J. God, with that Omnipotent Being who can at pleasure arm all nature against us or for us! to have access to him by Jesus Christ, and daily converse with him as our Father in heaven to rejoice in an assured hope of enjoying Y. y p J - glory with Christ in his presence, yea, of enjoying the God of glory ! to see all affliction not only disarmed but turned into matter of triumph, while tribulation worketh experience, patience, and hope . So may all our tribula-3, 4 5 3. p 3 * y tions work: and be they ever so severe, they will be reasons for our joy and praise. The pain of them will soon 2 5 * be over, the happw consequences of them will be as lasting as our immortal souls. *s- 5 * > Let us endeavour to dilate our hearts, that we may receive the largest effusions of the love of God to be shed 5 abroad there. The love of God! that plant of paradise which will spring up unto eternal life. And to excite it, let us be daily meditating upon the rich wonders of redeeming love and grace ; adoring that seasonable interposi– 6 E-> sº > 5 8-> tion of divine mercy, that when we were weak and guilty creatures, when we lay for ever helpless under a sentence of everlasting condemnation, that is, when we appeared thus in the eyes of him who beholdeth things which are 7 not as if they were, Christ died for us, and gave a token of his love even for the worst of sinners, which few among the children of men are willing to give with respect to the most upright and benevolent of their brethren. Since > - *- the love of God comes thus recommended, let us cordially embrace it, and awaken all the powers of our souls to a diligent care to secure the happy fruits, that we may not receive the grace of God in vain. If we do indeed ex- perience in ourselves, not only that there is a foundation laid for our reconciliation, but that we are actually recon- ciled to God by the death of his Son, our hopes may rise high that we shall mach more obtain consummate salva- tion by his life. For surely it is infinitely more astonishing that the Son of God should die to reconcile enemies, than that, having subdued their hearts by his dying love, and received them to friendship as the purchase of his blood, he shouldſ employ his recovered life and extensive authority for their protection and complete salvation. 7 For scarcely for a right- ye 8 But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. . 10 For if, when we were enemies; we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, ., much more, being re- conciled, we siaſi 'be"saved by his life. Ver. I 2 SECTION XI. The apostle shows that the calamitics brought by the first Adam on his seed are repaired, with glorious advantage, to all who, by faith, become interested in the second Adam. Ron). v. 11, to the end. Roy:ANs v. 11. I HAVE been breathing out our hopes and our joys, as we are christians, and are taught by the principles of our divine religion to rejoice, not only in the prospect of glory, but even in tribulation itself. ..?nd now I must add, that it is not only º but that there is another grand consideration which, though not yet mentioned, lies at the root of all our confidence and happiness; which is this, that we boast in God as invariably our covenant God and Father through Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom we have now, in these late times, Roxſ. v. 11. AND not only so, but we also joy in God through our SECT. Lord Jesus Christ, by whom 11. Rom." I 1 e Died in the stead of the wagodly..] By wagodly here Air. Hºcke u:- derstands Gentiles ; as also, by weak sinners, enemies, &c. hey are undoubtedly included; but it seems very inconsistent with the whole .co.nsultin: Grotius’s gloss on 1 Pet. ii. 19. (De Satisf, cap. ix.) and Le Clerg on John i. 29;... . - f Now : yap.] It is very evident that yap cannot have the force of an strain of the apostle’s argument in the preceding chapters, to confine it to them. o; chap. iii, 9–20, 22, 23. iv. 5. v. 2. f therefore all along explain such passages in the most extensive sense ; and, think no- thing in the whole R. Testainent plainer than that the gospel supposes every human creature to whom it is addressed to be in a state of guilt and condemnation, and incapable of being agcepted with God any otherwise than through the grace and mercy which it proclaims, Qom- pare John iii. 16,36. chap. v. 24. 1 John iii. 14: Mark xvi. 15, 16. Luke xxiv. 47, and especially 1 John, i. 10... than which no assºrtion can be IDOIſe Pºiº. and express. Albert (Observ. Sacr. }; 304.) has well proved that kata kalpoy should be rendered, seasonably, and Raphelius (Not. ex: Xen. in ver.'8.) has abundantly demonstrated that iTºp #pov aroſlave signifies, he died in our room and stead; nor can I find that arroflavºw itsp rivos has ever any other signification than that of Tescuing the life of another at the expense of our own ; and the very, next verse shows, independent on any other authority, how evidently, it bears that, sense here; as one can hardly imagine iſny one would die for a good man, unless it were to redeem ii. life by giving up his own. How much higher not only Grotius, but of this great doctrine than some moderns have done, may be seen by Le Clerc, carried their explications illative particle here or in the preceding verse; and it is hardly possible to number all the passages in Paul’s writings to which the like remark may be applied. - g Righteous, good.] It is true that in one sense righteousness must include gºodness, as we 9 we to every man a benevolent affection, and are bound in duty to God to do all the good we can to the whole human species. But he may in common Speech be called a just or rightcous anan who gives to every one what is by law his due, and he a good or benevolent man who voluntarily abounds in kind and generous actions to which no human laws can compel him. Tully has the like distinction, (De Offic. lib. 1. cap. X. edit., Pierc.) and it is admirably illustrated by Yaphelius, (JNºot, ca. Xen. in loc.) by apposite quotations from other am- cient writers. . It may very possibly (as Godwin has shown in his Jewish Antiquitics, lib. 1. tº: ix.) bear some allusion to a distribution of mankind into the three classes, Polan, *. and boytºn, good men, righteous men, and sinners, which some rabbinical writers mention. All the beauty and grace of this passage is lost by reading ačakup in- stead of Čukatov, as the editor of the new version of 1727 does, without, as I can find, any single authority: for a wicked man no one would trill- ingly die, though for a benefactor some have readily offered to die. And 512 THE SIN OF ADAM REPAIRED BY THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST. SECT. received the great and important reconciliatigº" which not only averts the terrors of his we have now received the 11 wrath, but opens upon us all the blessings of his perpetual friendship and love. atonement. - * *. And therefºre...we may from these premises infer that the benefit which we believers 12 wherefore, as by one * receive from Christ.is equal to the detriment we receive from Adam, yea, is on the whole *ś, ź 12 greater than that; for we now obtain righteousness and life from one, as by one man, that ºiºiº. is, Adam, the commºn father of the human species, sin entered into the new-made borid, ***" have sinned: qnd death, before unknown in the creation of God, entered by sin; and so death passed on from one generation to another upon all men, unto which all have sinned in him? that is, they are so far involved in the consequence of his first transgression, as by means of it to 13 become obnoxious to death. And that this was indeed the case, and this offence the 13 (For until the law in Engine ºf mortality in the whole human species, we may infer from one very obvious fact, hº I mean the death of infants from the very beginning; for from the fail of Adam unto the ..."”** time When God gave the law by Moses, as well as after it, sin was and appeared to be in the world, by the continual execution of its punishment, that is, death. But it is a self-evident Pºinciple, that sin is not and cannot be imputed where there is no law, since the very essence of sin is the violation of a law. And consequently, if we see in fact that sin was imputed, We must conclude that the persons to whose account it appears to have been charged were 14 under some law. Nevertheless, it is certain death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 14 Nevertheless death infants as well as others, over those, I say, who had not sinned according to the likeness of .º.º. the transgression of Adam,” that is, who had never in their own persons offended God is sinned, after the similitude of Adam their father did; who, with respect to the extent of his actions to all his seed, was the flºº; Jigure or modelſ of him who was to come,é that is, a kind of type of the Messiah, as being to com: a public person and federal head. S-> - 15 ... Yet I must observe by the way, that with respect to the Jree gift of God in the gospel 15, But not as the gfenge, dispensation, it [is] not exactly as the offence, nor limited in all respects as that is; for if £º.º.º.ºr. ; the offence ºf one many died, if the whole human family, numerous as it is, became many be dºmiºh mo. obnoxious to death and destruction thereby, how much more hath the free grace of God, º and the gift [which is granted] by that grace, as manifested and displayed in that one greater i.; hath i. belier man Jesus Christ, #.5% many, that is, to all the numerous family of be- “"“” unto many. eVerS : . 16 , ſind this in two very important respects. In the first place, the gift [is] not merely, as 16 And not as it cashy one the ruin that came upon us by one that sinned, in respect to the number of offences in #;"; "...º.º.º. question; for the sentence of but one [offence passed] upon us to condemnation, and we cºndemnation, but the free were no further affected by the subsequent sins of Adam than by those of any intermedi- ;..." offences unto ate parent; but º of divine grace exhibited in the gospel [is effectual] to our justift- cation from the guilt of many offences : it not only delivers us from the sentence to which we were from our birth liable on account of Adam's sin, but from that more grievous and dreadful sentence which we had brought upon ourselves in adult life by our innumerable 17 and aggravated personal transgressions. Moreover, there is another important article in 17 For if, by one, man's which the grace of the gospel exceeds the seeming severity which attended the imputation jº,"; of guilt from our first father Adam; namely, that if by one man’s º: death reigned by cºiº abºdance of grace and one, over all his posterity, as we observed above, they who thankfull of the gift of righteousness e e - y and obediently re- haſ reign in life by one, ceiveh the overflowing abundance of free grace, and of the munificent gift of righteousness Jesus Christ.) exhibited in the gospel, shall much more reign in life by the one great Restorer and Re- coverer of his seed, even Jesus Christ; that is, believers shall by him be brought to a much nobler and more excellent life than that from which Adam fell, and which they lost in him. 18 Therefore, on the whole, you see, as I began to observe to you before,i that as [the con- 18 Therefore as by the sequence] of one offence, on the one hand, ſettended to all men, to bring condemnation upon tºº them, so also, on the other side, [the consequence] of one grand act of righteousness [ex- ...}...ºff. tended] to all men who receive and embrace it, securing to them that justification which ...o. pºem unto jus- - w & s ~ sº of tification of life. 19 will be crowned with the enjoyment of eternal life. . For as by the disobedience of one man tºº; one man, many were constituted simmers, that is, became obnoxious to death as if they themselves had disobedience .*.*he’. sinned, so by the complete and persevering obedience of one many shall be constituted #jº; ; ;...". righteous;k that is, they shall be treated as such in the day of God's final account, though made righteous. ayubov does not signify merely a personal benefactor, but in general a §§ from Acts vii. #. º: #. ºil; * ...Thess. i. 7. benevolent man. • * g – e. - 2 Thess...iii. 9. *;', 12. it. ii. 7. ; . V111. O. #. § evidently an a Received the reconciliation.] The word kata)\\aym here has so ap- li Qf º º dº dº hº": § it as referring to the & . - – ellipsis. MOSL Comm 'e ex parent a reference to KarmXXaymaev and Kºra*\ayeures in the pre great person that was to come, or in other, words; the ſuture, [..?dam,) ceding verse, that it is surprising it should have been rendered by so that is, Christ. But Sir Norton Knatchbull would explain it of man- different a word in our version; especially as it is so improper to speak ini tº sºme He thinks that Adam cannot with any propriety be of our receiving an atonement, which God receives as made for our sins. - * ;”. ing is its sh del, o - ºr sº * * - * , called a type of Christ, as the type of a thing is its shape, gºggel, or º- b Therefore.] Ata Tovro certainly does often signify, in this respect; presentation, and therefore if the thing be good, the type of it must, be but there are some instances, even among the texts collected by Mr. §6) too fºr filmer, in vindication of this interpretation, observes that Taylor here, in which it may as well be rendered therefore ; particulaſ- this will best agree with the apostle’s design. For if Adam was to be ly Matt. xiii. 13. John, ix. 23. chap. xii. 18. chap. xiii. 2. I Cor. iv. 17. considered as a public person, the type, figure, or, representation of ; X1. % #: 1. § In all which places our rendering seems pre- mankind, his conduct will, as #. pºle i.” 1t º *f; infants. erable to what he would propose. - - Dr. Milner’s Fading Flowers of Life, p. 14.—But it may be sufficient to We believers.] As ºelab verse is an inference from the answer, that jºi. common interpretation there was plainly a cor- eleyenth, it seems evident that they only are spoken of; for, it is respondence between Christ and Ādam, as each was a public head, plain, from comparing the ninth, tenth, and eleyenth verses with the , though the influence of each, on his respective seed was different; so first º º only º: jº by ſº have ; that the whole reasoning of both these learned and ingenious Writers od, and who joy in him by Christ, as having recent te reconcituation. inconclusive. And this obvious remark clears the following passage of difficulties, sº and obediently receive.) It is so very plain that the which would be exceeding great if it were to be considered without aſ 11ty life by Jesus Christ is appropriated to persons of a * * * * - £. : - - undant reign in life by Jesus 1s approp p a m. regard to this connexion, and which have in fact misled many com d b ring the that it is - g - particular character, expressed here by receiving gift, mentators; who for want of attending to it, have plunged themselves surprising any should have spoken of it as common to the whole and # º: * great łºś. and given a sense to the para- ; º 'A. nothing is more evident than that the word Aquéavo aph of which it is loy no meanS Capable. * . s --...----. • as a 4 s . gr *}}. which all º sinned; sº & Travre; muaprov.] Elsner has often this sense, agd, sigºńes being active in embracing a benefit * * - d erson offering himself under a character of importance. (Observ. vol. ii. p. 26.) would render it, on account of whgn and he 259P9sº 3..." 11, 1: ng ii. 32, v. 43, Xii. 48. xiii. 20. Jam. v. 10 roduces some remarkable authorities for it; (coinpare Éhii. iii. i2. Compare Jo § ; ić. šjśń". s T2 Cºe aº & A tº sº * : * g. om. x. 19. chap. xvi. 19. 1 Thess. iii. 7? but I, think, those produced 1 John v. 9, 2John 10. onn (. . . . y d by Mr. Taylor, (from Gal. v. 13. Eph. ii. 19.1, Thess. iv., 7. 2 Tim. ii. j As I began to observe, &c.] This eighteenth verse seems ºº:: j4.) with the use of the particles in some of the purest Greek classics, with the end of the twelfth, and all the i.e...", verses do § sufficient to support this rendering, which I haye, here followed. See doubtedly come in as a parenthesis; and the reader, py º: his Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, part i. p. 51, &c. note. interwoven text alone, will observe that th. .*h ºf #: à it e fºss ºf Ådamº ºransgression...] Mr. Locke and several more eighteenth, nineteenth; make one continue: Sentº...ºut....Jº i interpret this of the Gentiles, who did not sin against, a positive, lap. necessary, here, and eisewhere, to break the º Into several #ºhéy ºf hiſ certainly have died for their transgression against the sentences, iest the excessive length should ...” #: *f; 7. º, under which they were born, and for which the, apostle obscure, and the passage unwieldy and ; 62. º ; ë. 8 expressly asserts, not only that they were in fact liable to perish, (chan. sentences are, as they stand in the text, obscured by the length. Com- ii ſã, &c.) but that they kitew they were worthy of death. Qhap. i. ultº) pare 2 Cor. xi. 14. xiii. .. - s f Figure or model.] That the word rviros #. this signification, will # Many shall be constituted righteous.] To become liable to death for THE GOSPEL OBLIGES US TO PRACTICAL HOLINESS. -- they have no perfect righteousness of their own to plead, in consequence of which they - should stand before God and claim the reward. * - tº . But as for the lap of Moses, that could not possibly procure this great benefit to them; jºi"Bi"Wºe"; for that made a little entrance, that is, took place among comparatively a very small num- *...* * * ber of mankind for a few ages, that the offence might, instead of being removed, abound • much more than before; as in consequence of it many things became offensive to God which were before indifferent, and the guilt of moral offences was aggravated by so express a declaration of the rule of duty violated by them : so that, on the whole, it seemed in- tended to convince and humblé rather than to justify. Yet, on the whole, God hath taken an occasion to glorify the riches of his mercy by that dispensation, and where sin has abounded under the most aggravating circumstances, grace hath superabounded, so as there- 2] That assin hath reigned by to gain a superior and more illustrious triumph: That as sin had reigned in the wide º º; ຠ.# and universal devastation which death had made on those whom it had brought under that $ºlife by fatal sentence, so grace might reign to such a degree as to bestow eternal life and happiness, S * through the glorious and complete righteousness" which we obtain by Jesus Christ our Lord, when we sincerely believe in him as our Saviour, and give up our souls to the authority of his equitable and auspicious government. IMPROVEMENT. LET us daily remember our relation to God by Christ Jesus, and glory in this relation; saying frequently, “He is indeed our Father. This God, with all his adorable, unfathomable, immutable perfections, is our God. He will be our Guide unto death, and our Portion for ever. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. What relation can be so honourable, what can afford such an unfailing spring of perpetual joy 2” Let us honour him in all his dispensations, even those which may appear the most mysterious. In this number we are undoubtedly to reckon his constituting Adam the covenant-head of his posterity, and involving our life or death in him; yea, adjusting the relation so, that our spiritual state should be greatly affected by his conduct, and we should by his transgression become the heirs not only of death but of moral pollution, and ultimately, by virtue of our descent from him, be shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. It is a consideration which must carry awé and solemnity, grief and lamentation, throughout all ages, that by one man sin entered into the world, and death made such a progress by the entrance of sin, as to pass upon all men in consequence of that act. O God, how terrible are thy judgments! and yet how rich thy compassion in appoint- ing the second Adam to repair the ruin and desolations of the first! Yea, more than to repair them; to deliver us from all our most aggravated transgressions, if we believe in him, and receive the gift of righteousness! to cause us to reign in life by him! to bring us to a more exalted and secure happiness than Adam himself enjoyed in the dº in which he was created, or than Eden, the garden of God, could afford et us adore these superaboundings of divine grace, and its reign unto eternal life. And let all our knowledge of the law of God, our distress under a sense of having broken it, and being thereby exposed to its condemning sentence, be considered as illustrating the riches of that grace whereby we are saved, and so animate us to returns of the humblest gratitude and a persevering obedience. Amen. * SECTION XII. The apostle shows that the gospel, far from dissolving our obligations to practical holiness, does strongly increase them; which is a consideration tending highly to recommend it to the esteem and acceptance of all. Rom. vi. 1–14. Rom. vi. 1 RoMANs vi. 1. §:... .º: THUS we have asserted the doctrine of justification by faith, or, in other words, of salva- ...?" **tion by grace. And now let us consider how it is to be improved. What shall we say, then, concerning the practical inferences to be drawn from it?” Shall we say, Let us con- tinue in the habitual practice of sin, that grace may abound so much the more in pardoning ... º.º.º. and saving us? God forbid that such an unworthy thought should ever arise in our hearts! we, that are dead to sin, live any jonger therein? " We hav claim it again. We who are dead to sin,b we who, by our profession, are under such sacred engagements to mortify it with the greatest care, how shall we yet live in it? Surely it were the grossest contradiction that can be imagined. On the contrary, it is apparent that nothing has so great a tendency to animate us to avoid sin, and to enable us to conquer it, as this doctrine of gospel grace. r 3. Kºgy. ... º. º. 3 What, Sirs, know ye not, and is it possible that any of you should be ignorant of this many of us as were baptized • - - - - #º great and obvious truth, that as many of us as have been baptized into Jesus Christ, that is, tized into his death 2 . into the profession of the christian faith, which is the case of us all, have been baptized into his death, and engaged to conform to the great º of it, which we know were to 4 Thereſore we are buried - in 2 ity 52 . , 5. • * c is - º with him by...baptism into abolish sin (I Pet. iv. 1, 2, 1 John iii. 5.) Therefore, as this is the known obligation of death; hailić"..."cº this solemn initiatory ordinance, it may be said that we are buried with him in that baptismd Yº..”. Pºº.º.º. which we received as bringing us into a kind of fellowship in [his] death; most evidently by the glory of the Father, - s--5 º evensoye alsº should walk for this purpose, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and the in newness of life, operation of his illustrious though mysterious power, so we also should continue, durin the remainder of our days, to walk in newness of life, maintaining a course of conduct an the oftence of another, is indeed, being thereby constituted a sinner, or terms denied and renounced it, but here removes the very foundation treated as a sinner; since death is in its primary view, to be considered of it. - • as the wages of sin, or the 㺠of a righteous God upon it: but b Dead to sin.] Elsner shows how frequently moral jä."...i simply to be raised from the dead is not being made righteous, or treated the heatheus speak of wise and good men as dead to sensualities an as a righteous person ; since it is a very supposable case, and will in fact animal pleasures. Elsner, Obsert. vol. ii. p. 28. be the case of millions, that a simpér may be raised in order, to more c Baptized into Jesus Christ.] As the church at Rome seems to have condign and dreadful punishment. The whole interpretation, therefore, been j about the year % and this Boistle was written in the year which Mr. Taylor has given of this text, in this view appears to me des: 5S, that is, 15 years after, and yet the appstle speaks of the converted titute of a sufficient foundation: * * . Romans in general as §3. it must be supposed, as Dr. Gale we a little entrance.] So Tapsvgn),0s properly signifies, and is argues, that baptism was administered to those whose parents had been well rendered by the Vulgate, subintravit; in which sense Tapeagakrot christians at the time of their birth. Compare Col. ii. 12. See Gale’s is used, Gal. ii. 4. Thus the partial and limited entrance of the law is Sermons, vol. ii. p. 202,203. distinguished from that universal entrance of sin which passed on all, d Buried with him ###!") It seems the part of candour to confess as Mr. Locke, well observes. This ſtilink preferable to N. L'Enfant’s that here is an allusion to the , manner of baptizing by immersion, as rendering it, the law intervened, that is, between Adam and Christ. most usual in these early times; but that will not prove this particular m Grace might reign to eternal life through righteousness, &c.] This circumstance to be essential to the ordinance : and in whatever, manner, it traješion the sense absolutely requires. was administercd, if it were intended as a declaration of ſuith in the º, Pºhat shall we say, ºften ? &c.]" The apostle here sets himself more jºi"ºrrºſion of Christ, as it is well known Christ died for sin, fully to clear and vindicate thé doctrine he taught, from the conse- it wºuji iſ fºr an obligation to die, to it and rise again to a holy life, quence suggested before, chap. iii. 7, 8. He had then only in strong ºf'; i, º, ſoilº tú arosti láñours. - 513 SECT. 11. ROM. V. 20 21 Ver. 11 12 SECT. 12. ROM. WI. e disclaimed the consequence above, (chap. iii. 7, 8.) and we most solemnly dis- 2 4 * 5 514 THE GOSPEL OBLIGES US TO PRACTICAL HOLINEss. SECT. actions entirely different from the former. For surely these two must go together; and º.º.º. we hayº, hºn planted together in the like- 12. we may conclude that if we are thus made to grow together in the likeness of his death,” f his d * — so also shall we be united [in the ...] Qf [...] resurrection, and shall rise up º jš'. §º: RQM. life spiritually new, as he rose to immortal life an - e surrection: vigour: As we know this, that our & Knowing this, that our old man, that is, the whole system of our former, inclinations and dispositions, which flºº"; did by a fatal contagion spread themselves over the whole man, and were incorporated #iº with it, hath now, as it were, been crucified together [with Christ, the remembrance “***** and consideration of his cross cooperating in the most powerful manner with all the other motives which the gospel suggests to destroy, the former habits of sin, and to inspire us with an aversion to it; that so the body of sin, of which this old man did as it were consist, might be enervated, deposed, and destroyed;f that we might no longer be 272 º sin, as we were before we were so happy as to know the gospel and the effi- 7 cacy of this great doctrine of a crucified, Saviour. }. he that is thus dead with Christ is a 7 For he that is dead is set at liberty from sing sin being crucified to him and he to sin, on the principles men: "**** tioned before; just as the death either of the master or the slave, and much more evidently of both, dissolves the relation and destroys the oppressive power which might before 8 be exercised. And let me further remind you, that as we are christians, we believe that if ºğ. Now ºf Yºbe dead with we be thus dead with Christ, we shall also live together with him. We expect ere long to º: §§§ W’6. share with Christ in the complete holiness and glory of the heavenly j ; and you will JT Ill Iſ . easily understand, and I hope easily feel, the obligation which that hope lays upon us, not 9 only to cease from sin, but through his grace to cultivate universal holiness. We should 9 Knºying that his bº ever be under the influence of these views, even to the very end of our course, as we know . d §§ ad dieth * * - º * *** * > - In O In Ore that Christ being raised from the dead, dies no more; death no more reigneth over him, as it dominion over him. 10 seemed for a while to do. And thus your immortal life and happiness, if you pursue it nº ºn that he died, hº according to his direction and intention, is secure: for whereas he died, he died once for all, ; Nº. #ifºliº; as a sacrifice for sin, to atone the injured justice of God and repair the honours of his God. y violated law: and as he liveth, he liveth to God for ever; his immortal life is entirely ap- propriated and devoted to his service, wherein we ought to make it our constant care to 11 imitate his example. Suffer therefore the word of exhortation grounded on this important sº principle, and so do ye also reckon yourselves to be once for all dead unto sin, never to return §ºś º: under its power any more; and being thus made alive, let it be your care, in imitation of ; * * * * your divine Master, to devote your recovered life to the honour and service of God in T(l, Christ Jesus our Lord, whose pattern and authority in such a relation concur to demand 12 it of us. Therefore let not sin reign as an uncontrollable sovereign, now you have another 12, Let not sin therefºre Lord so much greater and better; let not the irregular inclinations of your minds, when #"y"sići, º, ; they may move in your mortal bodies, give law to them. The early conquest of sin over lusts thereof. the human nature hath, alas! reduced them to the sad state of mortality; but do not go on, after such a deliverance hath been wrought out for you, in a servile and wretched 13 manner to obey it in its licentious desires and demands. . .Neither present your members to ... Neitherºi...gº; sin [as] weapons and instruments of unrighteousness; but with all devout affection and ºº:: holy zeal present yourselves to God as those who, by his rich mercy and almighty power, are ...º.o.º. º. now made spiritually alive, and called out from that wretched state in which you lay as among ; **** º: the dead. Conscious therefore of the obligations you lie under to him who hath raised you ...iº ºf to this new and glorious life, present all your members and powers to God as weapons and righteousness unto God. instruments of righteousness to fight his battles, and to be for ever devoted to his service. 14 Do it boldly and resolutely, and not as if you feared that your former master should recover a. ...hº..."; his power and prove a severer tyrant, after you had thus attempted to revolt; for .."...",...; £ia. § you may on the contrary be assured that sin shall not have any more dominion over you, as ** you are not under the law, a dispensation of bondage and terror, but under grace, under the merciful dispensation of the gospel, which affords such consolations, and inspires such hopes, as may animate the soul to a much more successful combat with sin than the law could do, and give a much nobler assurance of a complete victory over it. Rom. viii. 1–4. IMPROVEMENT. LET our hearts rise with indignation at the thoughts of so ungrateful an abuse ºf the divine goodness, as to take Ver, 1 encouragement from the aboundings of grace to continue in sin. Are, not We likewise by profession dead to it? 2 are not we bound by our baptismal vow, as the ancient christians to whom Paul addresses himself were P Or has the use and purposé of baptism been since altered, so as to allow a covenant with sin, an agreement with hell, even tº those who are listed under the banners of a Saviour? Is Christ then become the Minister of sin, or shall his 14 deathiose all its effect, while we profess to honour the solemn memorials of it? Recollecting that we are not under the law, but under grace, let so glorious a dispensation animate us to resolutions proportionably heroic ; and may 4, 5 the remembrance of the death of the Son of God, in concurrence with that of his resurrection, engage us to walk 10, in newness of life, if we desire another day to be planted into the likeness of that resurrection, and to rise victorious and triumphant from the grave! 13 No more let us return inder the power of that spiritual death from which Christ, at the price of his own life; hath delivered us; but let us live to God, solemnly presenting our bodies and our souls to him, to be honoured as the instruments of his service, and employing each of our mémbers, according to its proper office, for his glory. We are alive from the dead, we are raised by a divine power: let us therefore daily set ourselves as in the pre- e Made to grow together.] Dr. Wells observes that this is the most deed an enfeebled, conquered, and deposed tyrant, and the stroke of exact import of Gºvroſ, and that it does not signify merely being death finishes its destruction. - * - . * . .. planted together.—As there is, something harsh in, the construction of g Set at liberty.] Aeówkatoſa, signifies to be justified or vindicated, et and ... here, Beza would for a MAa read gº but Raphelius in his and here it seems to import being delivered from future claims of sub- notes from Herodotus has produced many parallel constructions in which jeſtiº. But this sense is so uncommon), that I am much in doubt aXXa signifies so. As for the future coopicóa, he shows that it signifies whether it might not be rendgººd justified here, to intimate that a sense a necessary consequence from the premises. of justification by the cross of Christ is the #. means of Qur delivery Energated, deposed, and destroyed : º: We render it from the bondage of sin, as it animates an excites us to shake off its ºr * -- - yoke. - e - flºº. .hº...?" * not with exact propriety, Heb., ii. 14. The ºther destruction of the body toº?” and in this sense it has a beautiful propriety. w jºin ºn us is certainly intended in the gospel, but the particular lºgº i Under the law.]. The . Mosaic law may be particularly intended ; $º ...";"º,"ääiº hºate, iisanul, abolish, and the propriety ºf whº when considered in reference to 07” ose. Compare Rom. iii. 31..iv. 14.1 Cor. ii. 6. Yiji: 1. xv. 24, that, is iłºś by that excellent discourse of the apostle in the seventh #ph. ii.13.3 Tim. i. i0. I have joined the significations in the para ºr "but it may very well imply that, wear; not sº undº.ºny, law phrase, and given the version which º to me most exactly to as to be utterly condemned for want of a legal, that.is a perfect, right: ãºf the import of the original. The body of sin in bjieve; is in ousness an apprehension of which woul tend utterky to discourage THE GOSPEL OBLIGES US TO PRACTICAL HOLINESS. 515 sence of the God of our renewed lives, and account that time lost in which we are not acting for him. Without SECT. this, in vain do we know the fatal truths of his gospel, in vain do we plead for them, and amuse ourselves with a 12. sanguine hope of bearing the image of Christin glory, if all these powerful arguments cannot now engage us to bear it in holiness. * SECTION XIII. - The apostle takes this opportunity of urging on the christians at Rºge º hºliness to which they were so strongly obliged by the gospel. - m. Vl. 15, to the end. Rom. vi. 15. RomfANs vi. 15. WHAT then...hall.iº, I HAVE just been reminding you christians of your great privileges; that you are now spot. because we are not under the º * 8-> * - - - jº, but "under"grace?"Gºi under a º of the most glorious grace in the gospel, and not under the restraints 13. forbid. nor under the terrors of the Mosaic law. And what then are we to infer? Shall we take encouragement from thence to offend him to whose distinguishing goodness we are so Rosſ. much obliged, and sin securely and Jºy because we are not under the law, but VI. under the grace of the gospel? God forbid The inference would be so odious and so 15 dangerous, that though I disclaimed it before, (ver. 1.) I cannot too frequently guard you againstit. And should you allow yourselves to argue thus, it would sufficiently prove that you do not belong to Christ, however you may glory in a pretended external relation. jºy jºy: Rnow ye not that to whomsoever ye present yourselves [as] servants, actually to obey his 16 ...tº, ; };}}... commands, his servants you are 2 Not his whose name ye may bear, without practically ..º.º. º.º.º.; acknowledging his authority, but his whom you in factobeſ. Least of all can you divide §§§ience"unto righteous. yourselves between two contrary masters, but must either be entirely the servants of sin, ness 2 which you know by a certain consequence leads to eternal death, or entirely the servants of § by a course of resolute and persevering obedience, which, notwithstanding your * But º be º former failures, will securely lead to righteousness and life. But thanks be to God, that 17 jº..."... whereas you were once the servants of sin, this is to be spoken of as a bondage past and the healthºdºtrine gone; and that ye have now obeyed, not in profession alone, but from the heart, the model of which was delivered you. - g º g---> • 3. * • * ctrine into which ye were delivered as into a mould “ that your whole temper and life 18 Being, then inade, ſº might be formed and fashioned into an amiable and glorious correspondence with it. .4nd 18 from sin, ye became the ser— Tºº - - e - vants of righteousness. therefore being thus made free from sin, ye are become the servants of righteousness, and are at once enabled and obliged to lead a life of true piety and exemplary goodness. ***.*.F.. I speak as a man, and upon the common principle of human equity, and justice, as well 19 Éritº as with a reference to civil customs, with which you Romans are so familiarly acquainted. ...”. And I reason thus with you because of the weakness 'ſ your flesh, because of those infirmi- and to iniquity into iniqui ties and temptations arising from it, against which I would endeavour to fortify you by ; :...'..."; every consideration that may render you victorious over it. As ye haveb in time past, ousness unto holiness. while ignorant of the gospel, and many of you the slaves of heathen vice and idolatry, pre- sented your members servants to uncleanness, and to other kinds of iniquity into which that debauchery too naturally leads; so let it now be your care to present your members servants of righteousness, in order to the practice of universal holiness. - 20 For when ye were the And it is very fit that this should be your entire employment; for whem ye were servants 20 i.º.º.º.” ” of sin, ye were free from righteousness, you never did any single action that was truly good - and on the whole acceptable to God, because none was performed from such principles as could entitle it to his complete approbation. Now surely you should be as ready to obey righteousness as you have been to obey sin, and show as much zeal in the best as you have 21, What fruit had ye then done in the worst of causes. To engage you therefore to this, consider what fruit or ad- 21 in those things whereof ye º - - 5 : 5, • º ...e. a.d.º.º. eſſ vantage did you then derive from those things of the very remembrance of which you are now of those things is death. heartily ashamed, which you would not be if you had indeed obtained any solid advan- e tage by them; whereas this is far from being dº case, for the certain end of those things pººl, nº lºº... [is] death. But remember you have now what is most honourable and most advantageous 22 servais to §oi...ys have in your view; for being set free from sin, and engaged to God as his servants and property, §...ºft.* * Wow have your fruit unto holiness, in which you find a present and most solid a .."; and the end you have in view is nothing less than etermal life; such is the infinite differ- a.º.º.º is ence, and so advantageous the exchange you have made. For eternal death [is] the proper 23 eath; but the gift of God is ---, - S : * * - - - ºal"ife."hº jº, wages and desert of sin, and is all the gain which its wretched slave will have to show from Christ our Lord. the hand of his tyrannical master in the great day of future account; but eternal life [is] not, as in the former instance, the justly-deserved retribution of the action, but the gift of a gracious and bountiful God in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom we are to ascribe it that any of our services are ºted and much more that they are recompensed with a munifi- cence worthy the Lord of all. IMPROVEMENT. BEING set at liberty from the condemning sentence of God’s law, let us charge our souls, by all the ties of grati- tude, that we do not turn his grace into wantonness, or deceive ourselves with vain words in a matter of infinite Ver.15 importance. We cannot be at the same time the servants of God and the servants of sin; and certainly our un- 17 derstandings must be darkened to infatuation if we can long doubt whose services we should prefer. The work of righteousness is peace, the effect of it quietness and assurance for ever, (Isa. xxxii. 17.) but death is the wages of sin, 23 and it shall be repaid to all that go on in it. And oh what and how terrible a death, to be cast into the take which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." How merciful are all the repeated admonitions which warn us to flee from it! Let us all judge that it is already too long that we have yielded ourselves the servants of 18, 19 the soul in all its attempts to free itself for the future from the dominion evidently, an expletive, as in Greek it often is. It is of some moment to Slſ). - observe this ; and I think it had been better if our translators had more a JModel of doctrine, &c. : et; by mage600mre Turov Čučaxms.] That frequently attended to it. Tºšº, ProPºrly be rendered model, see, note, f, on Rom;, Y. 14. P. c. Eternal death—in the great day of future account.] I see no imagin- 312 and add to the instances there given, Elsner’s note on this place; able reason to believe, as §º writers have intimated in their *d see Dr. Sykes, Of Christianity, p. 178.-Mr. Locke thinks, it is an paraphrase on this verse, that death here signifies being cast out of elegant metaphor to represent the delivery of a servant over from one existence. See chap. ii. 12, mote i, p. 502. If this could be inferred ºr tº another, and that, the gospel, expressed by the form of sound with roiation to wicked heathems from the places before us, it might gºords, is the master succeeding to the aw. But it seems more probable also, contrary to the opinion of these authors, he concluded to be the that it may allude to melted metal being formed by the mould into case of wicked christians, from chap. viii. 13. The truth is, that to die which it is poured; and it finely expresses that pliancy of temper with signifies to fail under the capital sentence of the divine law; and it is ..º.º. the gospel, which constitutes so lovely a part of the true ºf known that being cast into the ever-burning lake is in this view christjan’s charactºr.' . * - t - called death, Rev. xxi. 8. * We have..] It is in the original &amep yap, but yap is here most * § 1 : É. THE MOSAIC LAW IS SUPERSEDED BY THE GOSPEL. St. CT. sin; too long that our members, made for the service of their Creator, devoted perhaps with great solemnity to our 13. ROM. Redeemer, have been abused and prostituted as the instruments of unrighteousness. Surely it is too much time that we have already spent, too much vigour that we have already exerted, in so base a servitude. For the future let us act as those who are made free from sin. And to animate us to it, let us often reflect how unfruitful the works of darkness have been found, in what shame they have already ended, in what shame and everlasting contempt they must end if they be finally pursued. 22 And let us daily direct our eye to that everlasting life that crowns the happy prospect of those who have their fruit unto holiness. Blessed effect of serving God now, to serve and enjoy him for ever! to enjoy, through eternal ages, the pleasures of a nature thoroughly sanctified, and the sight and favour of that God whó is the original ource and Pattern of sanctification . It is the glorious mark at which we are aiming. Let us pursue it steadily *- 23 and resolutely; yet always remembering that it is the gift of God, and never presuming to think of so glorious à remuneration as the wages of any duty we can perform. Alas! the imperfections of our best services daily forfeit the blessings of time: how impossible then is it that the sincerity of them, amidst so many frailties and defects, should purchase the glories of eternity! - SECTION XIV. The apostle enters upon his design of taking off the believing Jews from their fond attachment t ii. 1 - o the Mosaic law, now they were, in a spiritual sense, married to Christ by the gospel. Rom. vi 6. y y 3 p - a- RoMANs vii. 1. Romſ. vii. 1. SECT: I HAVE been endeavouring to direct your regards to the gospel, and to Christ as there KNowyenot, brethren, (for 14. * * * - • 3 - - - I speak to them that know the exhibited, in order to your justification and salvation. Now you may perhaps be ready ºf — — to object, that you, who are Jews, will certainly be out of the way of obtaining those pri- dººr a man as lons ROM, . VII. vileges if you should neglect the Mosaic law, the divine authority of which none can ſea- **** Sonably question. But know ye not, brethren, (for I am now speaking to those that are supposed to be familiarly acquainted with the contents of that law for which they are so zealous;) that, on the principles which the law itself lays down, it ruleth over a iman only so long, as it liveth;" its dominion over particular persons can, at the utmost, last no longer than till it is itself abrogated; for that is as it were its death, sincé the divine authority going along with it was the very life and soul of the law. Sup- pose that to cease, and the letter of the precept is but a dead corpse, and, with respect to & its obligation, as if it had never been. Just as it is, according to the law itself, with re- 2 For the woman which hath spect to the power of a husband over his wife, which death entirely dissolves: for the ºl. married woman is indeed bound and confined by the law to [her] husband while he is alive; he liveth; but if the husband but if [her] husband be dead, she is set at liberty from any further subjection to the law of ºilfionths [her] husband, that is, from that law which had given him a peculiar property in her and 3 authority over her. Therefore, if she become the property of another manº whilst her hus-, 3 sº then iſ, while her hus: band liveth, she carries the infamous mame % an a lulteress; but if her husband be dead, she jº."ji". is set at liberty from the ºbligation of the law that bound her to him, so as to be no more fºllº.º.º.º. ºf . subject to the shame and punishment of an adulteress, though she become the property of #. *.*.*. "s."º: another man: for death, having interposed between them, hath dissolved the former rela-jººſe: ; 4 tion; he is dead to her and she to him. Thus ye also, my dear brethren, are in effect dead ºn, to the Mosaic law by the body of Christ,” his death and sufferings having now accomplished y.º.º.º.º.º. its design and abrogated its ºthority; and this with a gracious intent that ye might be, as flºº it were, married to another, [that is,) to him who was in so glorious and triumphant a man- lº "...º.º. ner raised from the dead, no more to die; that in consequence of this new marriage we ...º.º. might bring forth fruit unto God in all the ways of holy obedience. God. g 5 . And ye should do it with the greatest zeal; for when we were in the flesh, that is, under .5. For when we were in the the comparatively carnal dispensation of Moses, a variety of sinful passions, accidentally jº,'...."..."; tº occasioned and irritated by the law, were active in our members, so as to produce visible ºf "ins sinful actions, and in them to bring forth a very different fruit from that which I have just """"“” been mentioning; even, as I observed before, (chap. vi. 21, 23.) such fruit as would ex- pose you to eternal death if God were to be strict to mark your offences, and if his mercy did not interpose to break the fatal connexion; a circumstance which it is of the utmost 6 importance seriously to reflect upon. But now we are set at liberty from our obligation 6 But now we are delivered to the law, that obligation in which we were held being in effect dead or sº (as I ºf º told you above, ver. 1–4.) so as that now you are, in a more liberal manner, and from § 'hº noblér principles, to serve God as your Master and Father in Christ, in the newness of the ºt.” spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter:d that is, you are to live as those that are renewed by the Holy Spirit of God, in a rich abundance poured out upon you under this new and better dispensation, whereby you are brought to observe the spiritual meaning and design of the law, being no longer bound by these literal and ceremonial precepts, Å; were indeed obligatory long since, but now begin to be antiquated and out of date, (Heb. viii. 13.) - IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 4 God hath conferred upon all christians this singular honour, that the whole body of them should be represented as espoused to Christ. , Let us always remember how we are engaged by that sacred relation to bring forth fruit unto God. And may the remembrance of the resurrection of Christ put continual vigour into our obedience, while we regard him as the ever-living Lord, to whom our obligations are indissoluble and everlasting! a So long as it liveth; eq’ 60 v xo~ wov Šg.] . It would be contrary to b If she become the property of another (eav yºunta! avópt crºpºp) while the apostlós design to suppose the sense of this to be, as our translation her husband liveth; &c.] The apostle here, speaks in the general, 'not en- Fºndºrs it, as long as he," that is, the man in question, liveth; for he tering exactly into every excepted gase that might be imagined : to in- professedly ºndeavours to prove that they had outlived their obligations fer therefore, contrary to Qur Lord’s 9xpress decision elsewhere, that tº £isner woujá connect gyópºor, with vojos, and render it, adultery is not a sufficient foundation for divorce, seems very unreason; the law and authority of the husband continues in fºrce as long as he, that able; though Bisho ; Hº }. that jº w; once lai is, the husband, liveth; and produces authorities to prove that xypteva is 9° the argumºnt, ºurn; '#. of i º: ll. D. O/. ifying b often applied to the obliging force of a law, or that ºnqtrigonial custºm; c By the body of Christ, 1 He ... }. fºil. i. aş º § § are sometimes caſſed laws. (Obserr. vol. ii. p. 31.) at this, if it the authority of christian apºlºthº.º.º. hº } º O ſº s avoid, as he pleads, one tautology, certainly º another ; for the §: º: º iºdia; i. #..."; a in Iv a as this 2 : { - squire a trans- - ve been thus, - - * y * * ; º º º ######" iſ remier the Mosaic law followed on the very principles of that ław itself, - ing is more natural, and suits the connexion with the following verses, d .Neueness of the spirit, not [in] #, oldness of the letter.] T his ls thc in which the law is represented as the first husband, whose decease literal version, but new spirit, and old º ar. tantamount express 10ns, leaves them free to be married to Christ. and are more agreeable to the turn of our language. THE IN EFFICACY OF THE LAW TO PRODUCE HOLINESS. 517 Too much have sinful passions reigned in our flesh during our unconverted state. In too many instances have SECT. they wrought effectually to bring forth fruit unto death. And we owe it to the wonderful mercy and forbearance 14. of God, that death, eternal death, hath not long since been the consequence. e 'al \ Being freed from the yoke of the ceremonial law, being freed also from the condemning sentence of that mora hº law under the obligations of which, by the constitution of our intelligent and rational nature, we are all born, let us thankfully acknowledge the favour, and charge it upon our grateful hearts that we serve God in newness of spirit and of life. To engage us to this, may we experience more abundantly the renewings of the Holy Ghost, and the actions of our lives will be easily and delightfully reduced to the obedience of these precepts which his omnipotent and gracious hand hath inscribed on our hearts. SECTION XV. To wean the believing Jews from their undue attachment to the law of Moses, the apostle, represents at large how compºatãºy ºctal its motives were to produce that holiness which, by a lively faith in the gospei, we may so happily obtain. Rom. vii. 7, to the end; viii. RoMANs vii. 7. I HAVE been observing above, to those of my christian brethren who were educated in SECT- the Jewish religion, that irregular passions, while we were under the law of Moses, and 15. were acquainted with no superior dispensation, did in some instances, by means of the law, operate so as to bring forth fruit unto death. And it is necessary that I should not º only further illustrate that important remark, but expressly caution against any mistake 7 '" with relation to it. JWhat shall we say then, or what do we intend by that assertion?...[that] the law itself [is] sin, that there is any moral evil in it, or that it is intended by God, or adapted in its own nature, to lead men into sin 2 God forbid! We revere the high authority by which it was given too humbly to insinuate any thing of that kind. And in: deed there are many particulars in which I should not have known sin but by the law.” I should not, in a mere state of nature, have apprehended the evil of them ; which I now learn from finding them so expressly prohibited. I had not, for instance, known the sin- fulness of lust or irregular desires, unless the law had said, Thou shall not covet ; from whence it was easy to infer that this law takes cognizance of the heart as well as of ex- sé,”; dº..... ternal actions. But as soon as I had understanding enough to perceive that the law forbade §uitiºné"...ºf the indulgence of irregular desires, I found that I had in fact broken it, and thereby incurred tº; d.” the penalty, without any hope of help and deliverance from the law. . And this, while I looked no further, naturally tended to throw my mind into a state of dejection and despair. So that I may say that sin, taking occasion from the awful sanction of the commandment,” the wrath and ruin which it denounced, brought me into so sad a situation of mind, and left me so little strength and spirit to resist future temptation, when I seemed already undone, that it might in a manner be said to have wrought powerfully in me all manner of concupiscence;d such advantage did sin gain against me. And I mention this as the effect of my becoming acquainted with the law, because while I was ignorant of the sentence, and considered myself as without the law of God, sin [was] dead; I was no more aware of * * any danger from it, or any power it had to hurt me, than if it had been a dead enemy. tº . . ."...º. For I once was, as it were, alive without the law;* considering myself as a man unac-9 commandment game, sin re-quainted with it, I may say I was comparatively cheerful and Happy: but when the com- vived, and I died. mandment came, and I became acquainted with it, in its wide extent, unspotted purity, and awful sanctions, then sin immediately came to life again; it sprung up against me as a living enemy armed with instruments of destruction; and I, as incapable of resisting it, ºf fell down and died, finding myself unable to resist my miserable doom. ...And thus the 10 jºujśl. “” “ commandment which [was] in its original constitution ſº for life,' and calculated so to regulate men's temper and conduct, as, if perfectly obeyed, to give them a legal claim to life and happiness, was quite changed in this respect: for I having thus broken it, and by such breach brought its condemning sentence upon me, really found it [to be] writo death. I found it attended with deadly consequences, both as it consigned me over to destruction for past sin, and occasionally, though not intentionally, proved productive of mew guilt and misery. For sin, as I before said, taking occasion by the terror and curse of 11 the violated commandment, and representing the great Lawgiver as now become my irreconcilable enemy, deceived me into a persuasion that I could be no worse than I was, and thereby it stew me; it multiplied my mortal wounds, and rendered my case still more desperate. - - So that you see, upon the whole, the law in the general [is] acknowledged to be holy, 12 and the particular commandment in question is acknowledged to be agreeable to the holy nature of God, just in reference to the reason of things, and, on the whole, in its conse. 13 was then that which is quences good, and subservient to men's happiness, if they continue in a state of rectitude. good made death unto me? Was then that which was good in itself made death to me? Shall I charge my ruin on this 13 Rosſ. vii. 7. WHAT shall we say then,” Is the law sin? forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law : for I had not known lust, except, the law had said, Thou shalt not COWet. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, de- ceived me, and by it slew ºne. 12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. a I show.ld not have known sin, &c.] The apostle here, by a very dex- terous turn, changes the person, and speaks as of himself. . This he elsewhere does, (Rom. iii. 6. 1 Cor. x. 30. chap. iv. 6.) when he is only personating another character. And the character assumed here is that of a man first ignorant, of the land, then under it, and singerely desiring to please Goºl, but finding, to his sorrow, the weakness of the notives it suggested, and the sad discouragement under which it left him; and last of all, with transport, discovering the gospel, and gaining º and strength, peace and joy, by it... But to suppose he speaks all these things of himself, as , the confirmed christian that he really was when he wrote this epistle, is not quly foreign, but contrary, to the whole scope of his discourse, as well as to what is expressly asserted, chap. viii. 2. b Thou shalt not covet.] This, by the way, proves that Paul thought the covetousness forbidden in the tenth commandment related to the heart, and not merely, as some have represented it, to any opert gct, to an attempt to take away what belongs to apother. And this might be a hiat to all thinking men, that the secret powers of their souls were under a divine inspection, and that much iſ: might be coatracted which did not appear to any human eye. c Sin taking occasion from the commandment.], Most commentators have explained this as signifying that sin was º: by, the prohibition, the inclination of human nature in generał being, like that of a roward child, who will do a thing because it was, forbidden, and perhaps is, as it were, reminded of an evil, on hearing it mentioned in a prohibi- tion. , But hot to examing how fºr this is a universal case, it must surely be acknowledged that all Just does not arise from hence, much being previous to any possible knowledge of God’s law, whether revealed or natural. I therefore incling to the interpretation which Mr. Dunlope has given in his excellent Sermon on this passage, the tenor of whose thoughts I have followed in the whole of my paraphrase upon it, be £ging leave to refer my reader to his discourse for the reasons that have determined me to it. Compare Jer. ii. 25. See Dun). Serm. vol. ii. p. ū; + d . d Wrought in me.] The word xarspyačng at in many places signifies to operate in a pangerful and clficacious manner, (compare $2 Cor. iv. 17. v. ... vii. 11: Kii. 12.) and may well here signify a strong irritation of what might, without it, have been in some degree natural. e I was once alive without the lanc..] The apostle cannot, as Mr. Locke supposes here; speak in the person of the whole Jewish people, and in this clause refer to the time between Abraham and Moses; for, not to examine how far this description would suit them then, we must on that principle of interpretation suppºse they are all represented, in the çiose of the chapter, as believing in Christ; §§ alas ! we know to have egn very far from being their case. ..f Intended,/or life.] The law may be said to have been intended for {{ſe, though, by sin made the occasion of death; as inédicines which, not being rightly applied, prove fatal, may neverthéless be said to have been intended for citré, 518 THE IN EFFICACY OF THE LAW TO PRODUCE HOLINESS, SECT. holy and good law of God? By no means. God forbid * * º 15. that! But I must rather charge it upon od for I should ever utter any thing like – undid me. I say it again, sin w de d sin, which by means of so holy an instrument Rºy ºils, ºft.*.*.*.*. "...º.º.º.º. "... working death in me by ths’ ceasion of th | J gan pe said worse than that it is itself) as 18 j. . nument thus nerve of that which is so eminently good; that so sin might, !º commºn * thus Perverted, appearerceeding sinful, and stand forth in all its native and detestable colours, capable of tuffling the law itself into a means of producing the guilt it so solemnly forbade, and the Tuun it was intended to prevent. ------> 14 ls on this º that I lay all the blame; for we well know that the law is spiritual, *.*s it extends to the spirit, was intended to purify and exalt it, and to assert is Supe- riority over the meaner part of our nature. But, alas! may the man fiave been describ- ing and representing above be ready to Say, I am in a great measure carnal, and in so many instances subdued by the remaining infirmities of my nature, that I am ready pas- Sionately to cry out, I am even sold under sin!" which often rises, with an almost irre- re- sistible strength, to assume a tyrannical dominion over me, as if I were its slave and 15 property. For that which I actually do, I allow or approve noti in many instances; for too often, through the strength of passign and surprise of temptation, I practise not that which in the general tenor of my mind I habitually cili; but ific things which I even hate, which I think of with the greatest abhorrence, those things in many respects I am so 16 unhappy to do; which indeed makes me a burden to myself. Wºo if I do that which I 16 If then I do that which §oºd mol, in willing not to do it I do so far, though to my own condemnation, consent to ºidºt ºntº the law, and bear my testimony to it that [it is] good, and do indeed desire to fulfil it; the law that it is good. though, when a pressing hour of temptation comes, contrary to my resolution, I fail in 17 observing it. But now, in these circumstances, it is no more I myself that can properly be said to do it, but rather sin, which dwelleth in me, and which makes, as it were, another Person, having desires and motions and interests entirely contrary to these of the renewed 18 part within, which I would call my better self. For I well know that in me, that is, in my Jlesh, the corrupt and degenerate self, nothing that is good dwelleth. I find my animal powers sadly debased and enslaved: for to will is indeed present with me; I form many present with me; but how to good purposes and resolutions; but when the time comes in which I should bring them flºº. that which is good! into effect, I find not in my heart a sufficient [ability] strenuously to perform that which I e 19 know is good, and which I acknowledge to be most amiable and desirable. It is indeed so grievous a reflection to me, that I cannot forbear repeating it again and again; for it is really so that I do not the good that I often will and resolve to do; but the evil which will not to do, which I form the strongest purposes against, that I dok in repeated in- 20 stances. If therefore, as I said before, I do that which I would not, and am, as it were, overpowered in some cases and circumstances, contrary to the settled and prevailing bent and inclination of my soul, it is no more I that do it, but sin, which, as another person, dwelleth in me, and, like an evil demon when it has taken possession of a man, uses my faculties and powers, over which it usurps an abhorred dominion, to carry on its own con- 21 trary, and destructive interests. I find them, upon the whole, a sort of constraining law, 22 which so influences me, that when I would do good, evil is in fact present with me. For with regard to the immer man, that is, my mind, the better and nobler powers of my intel- lectual nature, I delight in the law of God,” I most heartily approve it, and look upon its whole system with complacency, as what I could rejoice to be conformed to in the com- 23 pletest manner and highest degree. But, alas! I see another and quite opposite law of vicious and irregular inclinations seated in my members, which, taking its rise from a lower and meaner principle, is continually making war against the better law of my mind, and too frequently captivating me to the law ſ sin, which is, as I said, seated in my corporeal 24 members. Wretched man that I am I do I often cry out, in such a circumstance, with no better supports and incitements than the law can give; who shall rescue me, miserable captive as I am, from the body of this death 2 from this continual burden which I carry about with me, and which is cumbersome and odious as a dead carcass tied to a living body, to be dragged along with it wherever it goes 2" Thus I bemoan myself when I think only of the Mosaic law, the discoveries it makes, the motives it suggests, and the circumstances in which it leaves the offender: but in the midst of this gloomy prospect, a sight of the gospel revives my heart, and I cry out as in a kind of rapture, as soon as I turn mine eyes to it, I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord,” in whom he now reveals himself to me, and by whom he delivereth me from this bondage and misery. So then, whereas I myself.P with the nobler powers of my spirit, God forbid. But, sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin, by the con- mandment might icºn: C X- ceeding sinful, 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not : for what I would that do not; but what f hate, that do I. 17 Now then it is no more that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I 18 For I know, that in, me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing : for to will is 19, Tor the good that I would I do not : but the evil which I would not, that I do 20, Now if I do that I would not, it is no more that do it, but sin that dwell- eth in me. 21 I find then, a law; that when I would do good, evi is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man : 23 But I see another law in my members, warrin; against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am who shall, deliver me from the body of this death 2 25 25 I thank God through esus Christ our Lord. O then witn the mind I myself of ver. 17. but it is a graceful and exprossive repetition, and shows how g So that it appeared : ºva pavn.] Elsner contends that @aum is an - near the affair lay to the heart of the person thus complaining, and in expletive here ; but I choose not to allow any word in Scripture to be an expletive that may fairly, and º be expounded into any signifi- cant sense; as it is plain this may here be. See Eſsner, Obsero. Vol. ii. p h Sold under sim..] This is often urged as an argument that the apostle here speaks in the person of a wicked man, and is represented as a phruso parallel to 1 Kings xxi. 20. 2 Kings xvii. 17. where some of the Worst of men are described as having sold themselves to do evil. But the diver- sity of the expression is very obvious ; and yet had this person been rep- resented as lainenting that he had sold himself to sin, it might have been understood as the language of penitent remorse ſor past guilt, and so very consistent with a good inan’s character. And the , many instances in which very excellent persons, in the distress of their hearts for the re- mainder of imperſection in their character, adopt this very phrase, plainly show with what propriety Paul might put it into the mouth of one whom he did not consider as an abandoned sinner, and destitute of every principle of real piety. i I approve not..] Gataker (De Styl...Mov. . Testam. cap. 4. Advers: Jºhjºli. i. cap. 6.) and Raphelius (in loc.) bring apposite instances of such a use of the word ytvojaxto. k The evil which I will not, that I *: If the meaning of such expres- sións as these were, that, upon the whole, the person using them went on in a prevailing course of habitual wickedness against the convictions and dictates of his own conscience, one would imagine Paul would have rebuked such a one with great severity, and answered these vain and jºritical pleas; whereas he represents this person afterwards as with joy embracing the gospel, and so obtaining superior strength, upon the full manifestation of pardoning graco there. tº 2 º' | Sin that dwelleth, &c.] This seems indeed no more than a repetition what sad and frequent successions the complaint was renewed. The beautiful passage in the sixth book of Xenophon’s Cyropa dia, (p. 328. edit. #d. 1738, 8vo.) where Araspas complains of two souls contend- ing yithin him, (a passage, which it is very possible St. Paul might have read,) contains an agreeable illustration of this º; - m T delight in the law aſ God after the inner anam.] This is so sure a trace of real piety, and is represented in Scripture as, in this view, so decisive, that if it be supposed a true representation of the character, we must surely allow it to have been that of a truly good man, what- ever lamented imperfections might attend it.—Plato uses the phrase 6 euros av0poros for the rational part of our nature. n Dead carcass, &c.], It is well known that some ancient writers mention this as a cruelty practised by some tyrants on miserable cap- tives who fell into their hands; and a more, forcible and expressive image of the sad case represented cannot surely enter into the mind of II) 3-in. o I thank God through Jesus Christ.] For evyapugra, Tao 6669, some copies read # Xapts Tov ecov, the grace of God, which to be sure makes a noble sense; but that of the received and much more authentic copies comes very near it, and, in the main, coincides with it. . p Whereas I serve jºr is now no condemnation, &c.] I think theré'ísº in tié whole New Testament a more º division be- tween two chapters than what has been made here, not only in the midst of an argument, but even of a sentence. Apa, ovv and apa vov an- swer so evidently to each other, that I think it plain, the former should be rendered whereas, and then the sense appears plain and strong. I must confess this to be an uncommon use of apa" but if it be, as it often is, an expletive, it will come to much the same. THE IN EFFICACY OF THE LAw TO PRODUCE HOLINESS. 519 serve the law of God; but serve the law of God, though in too many instances I am so oppressed ºith the infirmity SECT. wº *h the lºsiº, of my flesh, that I am subdued by the law % sin, [There is] now, under the #º. 15. flººrºº, º sation, no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus who walk not after the fles but after the ROM Šišić. ºn. Spirit;" that is, to those who, making a profession of the christian faith, do in the main *. sº he he but ºne the course of their lives verify that profession, governing §§or the law of the Spirit maxims, and not by carnal appetites and interests. i of life in Christ Jesus É. made me free from the law of sin and death. themselves by spiritual views and say it again, I thank God for this dispensation with all the powers of my soul; for though, when considering myself as ºnly under the law, I made such melancholy complaints, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that glorious gospel which is attended with an abundant effusion of the vivifying and animating Spirit, has now recovered me, mortally wounded as I seemed to have been, and set me at liberty from that lamented captivity to the law of sin and death. For, God hath now, by a gracious and most wonderful appearance, [done] what it was impossible for the law to do, in that it was º weak through the great infirmity of the flesh.” against which in so corrupt a state it could not, merely by its own principles, sufficiently rovide : [he] I say, the great Father of mercies, by sending his own well-beloved Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh," with all those innocent infirmities which the first apostasy of our nature brought upon human flesh, and by appointing him to be a sacrifice to make ex- iation for sin,” hath condemned sin in the flesh. Instead of being victorious, it is now tº: under a sentence of death and destruction, which we, animated by these glorious motives of the gospel, are enabled to put into execution: That the righteousness ºf the law, in all its fundamental branches, may with greater ardour of holy zeal be|: in us, who answer the engagements of our christian profession, and, in the tenor of our lives, walk not - * the flesh to indulge its desires and demands, but qfter the Spirit; that is, who, under the influences of the Spirit of God, abound in the sentiments and duties of a truly spiritual life. You see therefore, my dear brethren, by the whole series of this discourse, not only how safely you may cease the observation of the Mosaic law, but how absolutely necessary it is that you should look beyond that, and consequently beyond any other law, natural or revealed; as ever you expect justification before God, and desire to be animated to serve him in an acceptable manner. IMPROVEMENT. ADMIRABLE and adorable indeed were the condescensions of the blessed God, in sending his own Son in the Ver. 3 likeness of our sinful flesh, stript of its original glories, that he might become an expiatory sacrifice for sin. Let us remember the grand purpose for which he did it; that he might condemn sin in our flesh, that he might enable us to do execution on sin as a condemned malefactor. In his name therefore letus pursue the victory, and rejectin every overture of accommodation, with determined zeal to do justice upon it. And may what we have been read- ing establish our resolution of walking, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, since we are now delivered from the 1 curse of a broken law, and blessed with a dispensation so properly called the law 3. the Spirit of life in Christ 2 Jesus: a dispensation by attending to the peculiarities of which we may be enabled to extend our conquests over sin in the most effectual manner, and to attain heights of virtue and piety to which no legal considerations and motives alone could raise us. - --" But oh, what reason of humiliation is there that we improve it no better, and that these melancholy strains ROM. should so well become us ! that instead of pressing forward daily to fresh victories, and making new improvements , ,Yº: in the divine life, we should so often complain, and have so much cause to complain, of a law in our members, 23, 24 not only warring against the law of our minds, but even, in many instances, bringing us into captivity to the law of sin and death; so that we christians should cry out, like those under the Mosaic economy, O wretched men that we are, who shall deliver us? Let renewed views of Christ Jesus animate us to renewed vigour in this warfare; 25 lest, when we are delivered from those servile terrors which the legal dispensation under a consciousness of . 8, 11 might have awakened, sin, no longer able to take this occasion from the law, should appear yet more exceeding 13 sinful, by taking occasion, in another view, even from the gospel itself; which in many instances it seems to do. Let us remember that the law of God is holy, just, and good; delighting in it more and more after our inner 12, 22 man, and taking heed that we do not deceive ourselves, by such a passage as this, into a secret but vain and fatal hope, that because we are convinced of our duty, and feel in our conscience a sense of the evil of sin, we might be said to serve the law of God, while, by abandoning ourselves to known acts of wilful transgression, we are, in our flesh, serving the law of sin. Habitually to allow ourselves in neglecting the good we approve and committing the evils we condemn, is the readiest way that hell itself can point out for the ruin of immortal souls. In such a case, all that we know and all that we feel concerning the obligations of duty and the excellence of holiness, aggravate rather than extenuate our failures; and though the sublime views which eminently good men under the gospel have of religion may sometimes incline them to adopt such complaints as these, in reference to the unallowed and lamented deficiencies and infirmities of a truly upright and pious life, it remains an eternal truth, which, instead of being abrogated under the New Testament, is most expressly confirmed, that he who doth righteousness is righteous, and not he that merely wishes to do it; and he who committeth sin is of the devil, even though he should speak against it like an apostle or an angel. It is indeed impossible exactly to lay the line that separates the boundaries of the kingdom of Christ and of Satan; nor is it by any means a desirable thing that we should know the lowest state of weakness and degeneracy into which a christian may fall while he continues in the main a christian. We have great reason to doubt whether 2 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God send- ing his own, Son in the like- ness of sinful flesh, and f 3 Or flºondemned sin in the €S h : 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfille in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 4 21, 24 q To those in Christ Jesus ºpho walk, &c.] It is certain that to be in Christ, though it sometimes imports a true and sanctifying faith . Cor. v. 17.) at other times expresses only an external profession ; (John xv. 2.) and as the article roig is not repeated, I think it is plain the latter flºº limits the former, which justifies our renderins. Compare Psal. XXili. 1. - r Hath set me at liberty, &c.] It is to be observed that the same person who spoke before is here represented as continuing the discourse, . º of himself as delivered from the bondage so bitterly com- pla ll)e(I Of. as - - s What it was impossible for the lay to do, &c.] It is, indeed true, in the general, as the pious Professor Zimmerman justly observes, (in his excélient &mment. i. Emin. Cognit. Christi,F. 6, 7, and 34.) “that the strength of the law is not adequate to that of corrupt nature; and it is by, evangelical considerations that we are most effectually animated to subdue sin.” But that is to be considered as º of what the apostle here asserts, concerning the law of Moses, rather than the asser- t Merely by its own principles, sufficiently provide.]. By this clause I endeavour to lay in an effectual answer to that objection which might lie against the apostle’s argument and our explication of it, from the emiuent heights of goodness attained by some holy men under the law. It was not by the law, though under it, that they obtained them, but by those evangelical promises which mingled with the law, though they id not make a part of it, but sprang from the Abrahamic covenant which, as the sºle elsewhere urges, was unrepealed by the law ; and this, which the Jews were so ready to forget,. (Rom. x. 3.) is the point that he so particularly labours, both in this epistle and that to the alatians, to inculcate. - - u. The likeness of sinful flesh.]. Those writers who imagined that our first parents were in their original state clothed with a visible lustre, which was lost, by their transgression, in reference to which it, is said : they knew they were naked, naturajiy explain this clause by that hy- p0theslS. tion itself. And indeed, whoever considers the awful, mature and same- tions of that law, must acknowledge that it was calculated to be a much inore efficacious restraint from sin than the unassisted light of nature, or than any other dispensation revealing God’s law, prior to the gospel. So that the above-mentioned consequence is very strong, x For sin.] That agapra signifies a sacrifice for sin, is very appar- ent from IIeb. x. 6. 2 Cor. v. ult, and a vast many other passages. The reader will obserye how very easy this little transposition, on, account of what is so plainly a parenthesis, makes this passage, which is gene- rally thought so obscure. 520 THE INEFFICACY OF THE LAW TO PRODUCE HOLINESS. sect. We be really christians ourselves, if for our own sakes we wish to know it. ... Our calling obliges us to aspire after 15, the most eminent attainment in religion; it obliges us never to rest till we find ourselves dead indeed untosinand alive to God through Jesus Christ, so as to abound in all the vital fruits of righteousness unto his praise and glory. SECTION XVI. The obligations which the gospel lays upon us to a holy life are further urged, and especiali & Fº * * * & - ged, and especially those arising from the co sº s God to believers. Ronn. viii. 5–17. 8. mmunication of the Spirit of RoMANs viii. 5. * * * RoM. viii. 5. SECT. I HAVE in the preceding discourse urged it again and again, that we who profess our- FOR they that are after the 16, selves christians should walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, as ever we desire to flºº ºf rejoice in the glorious deliverance which the gospel brings; and with the greatest reason: #e; §§§º..."; ºf fºr this is indeed the most important distinction in the character of men, and not an form the Spirit. 5 of outward profession, or rite of worship and devotion. They who are after the flesh, that * is, who remain under the influence of a corrupt and degenerate nature, do mind the things * #. the flesh, they prefer and pursue carnal and animal gratifications; but they who are after the Spirit, that is, who know anything experimentally of that Spirit of life which I men- tioned above, (ver. 2.) [do mind) and pursue the #: of the Spirit; their minds are formed to a superior relish of spiritual, intellectual, and sacred pleasures, suited to that 6 nobler and immortal part of their nature. Wow as the character of these persons is so 6. For to be carnally minded widely different, their end will be proportionably so; for the minding of the flesh,” the jºi.º.º.” preferring and pursuing its interests, [is] death; it is the greatest misery that can be ima- ed 1S IIIe and peace. gined, and that which leads to everlasting death and ruin; whereas the minding, preferring, and pursuing the interests of the Spirit [is] life and peace; the greatest present good and 7 happiness, which leads to life and glory everlasting. And it must needs be so; because 7 Because the carnal mind the carnal mind, as I have described it above, [is] in the very essence of it an absolute en- ; ºil. jº. #;"; mily to the blessed God, from whom all life and peace and happiness proceed; and con- 3.3% ºf sequently it brings us into a state of hostility against him. For it is impossible his - sº creatures should be in a state of friendship with him unless they are in a state of willing subjection to him, . Now as for the carnal mind, it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it possibly be [so ;] for, however you may suppose any law of God to vary as to ritual and ceremonial institutions, while the mature of God continues pure and holy, as it must eternally and immutably do, he cannot but require the observation of the grand branches of moral virtue, founded on the unaltcrable nature and relation of things: he therefore must require us to be spiritually minded, and to prefer the interest of the soul to 8 that of the body. So that they who are in the flesh, that is, under the government of a 8 so then they that are in fleshly principle, whatever ceremonial precepts they may observe, or, whatever orthodox the flesh cannot please God. principles of faith they may profess and maintain, yet cannot possibly please God: he must either abhor and punish them, or dishonour his own law, and contradict his pure, - 9 holy, and unchangeable nature. But blessed be God, you christians are not in the flesh, in , 9 Butye are not in the flesh, that carnal, enslaved state described above, but in the Špirit, and under his influence; ye, ... 'gººi"; iny brethren, are certainly so if that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you; for wherever he ..º. #jºia; dwells he reigns, and makes the soul thoroughly holy. .4nd if any man have not the Spirit ſºlºit of Christ, he is of Christ thus residing and governing in him, then, whatever he may pretend, he is none - of his ; he is not to be reckoned as a disciple of Christ, and Christ will disown him another day, as having only abused his name while he wore it. 10 And, by the way, to animate your hopes and all your graces, remember that if Christ ºf ºxº [be] thus resident in you by his sanctifying Spirit, though the body [is] indeed dead because #, ºi.º. of the first sin that ever entered into the § which, as I showed above, has brought on cause of righteousness. a sentence of universal death; yet the Spirit [is] life, and shall after death continue living, active, and happy, because of that righteousness of which our great Head, the second Adam, 11 is the Author, as I have inculcated at large. And we have this further joyful hope, that if ..] But if the Spirit ºf him the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus, our great Covenant Head, from the dead, dwell, in jºjº, ſº you, he that so powerfully and gloriously raised up Christ from the dead will also, in due tº - g * g * w shall also quicken your mortal time, quicken your mortal bodies, though corrupted and consumed in the grave, by the ji. "Spirit" that agency of that great and powerful Spirit which now dwelleth in you, and acts to quicken “we” ” you in the divine life. 12 Therefore, my dear brethren, since it is certain the gratifications of the flesh can do no, alº.º.º.º.º. thing for us like that which will be done for us at the resurrection, and since all, present tº nº enjoyments are mean and worthless when compared with that, here is a mºst substantial argument for that mortification and sanctity which the gospel requires., And it necessarily follows that we are debtors to the Spirit, which gives us such exalted hopes, and not unt? * Arº * * 13 the flesh, that we should live after the dictates, desires, and appetites of the flesh. For I a º: jãº. tº: must plainly and faithfully tell you, and must repeat and inculcate it upon you as a matter through the Spirit dº nortify of infinite importance, that if jou, though professing christians, and some of you minent tºº of the body, sº for so high and distinguishing a profession, (compare chap. i. 8.) do live ift: the flesh, and mind nothing superior to its interests, je shall assuredly die, that is, shall perish by the sentence of an holy God, no less than if you were Jews or heathens. But if you, through the influence and assistance of God's Holy Spirit, and the exercise of those graces Whigh he by regeneration has implanted in your souls, do mortify and subdue the ...; of the body, those carnal inclinations from whence all criminal indulgénces of the body arise, ye shall ive; yeshall finally obtain a state ofcomplete felicity, inspite of all that death candº to dis- solvé these animal bodies; not now to insist on that true, rational delight which is only to be found here in such a course, and without which our abodé on earth scarce deserves the name of life. Well may it be expected that in this case you shall live for ever, since hereby yºur A 14 adoption of God, which must entitle you to a blissful immortality, will be approved. For 14 For as many as are led a jvow the minding, &c.] It is plain Yap must here signify now, for with respect to sin, and a life with respect to righteousness, I think the nothing could be moré absurd than to say that some minded the things of Yºº retained much preferable ; and if this be admitted, it will the fiesh, because it is death to do it. cortainly determine the sense of the next Verše quite $º to Mr. 5 ºfte body is dead because of sin, &c.] Some, would, render it, with flocke’s unnatural gloss, which explains quickcming the mortal body by respect to sin, but as there is no seeming opposition between a death Sanctifying the in mortal spirit. THE PARTAKERS OF THE GOSPEL HAVE BECOME SONS OF GO}). 521 ºf Hºod, they are as many as are led by the Spirit of God, and humbly resign themselves to bº guided whither- SECT. Il OCl, soever he will, by his sweet and secrét influence on the soul, they are indeed the sons and 16. daughters of God, and shall inherit eternal life with their heavenly Father; of which, in: — deed, if we are obedient to his holy dictates and motions, we already receive the earnest Rºſ. tº: and foretastes. For ye who are real christians have not received the spirit of bondage again i yº. #.”.”.”...; unto fear," ye are not come under another dispensation, like that of Moses, which was muc §ºere more adapted to strike, the mind with terror, and often produces a servile disposition; ””” but, on the contrary, ye have received the spirit of adoption, the confidence of children in approaching to God; by which spirit, whatever our different nations and languages ma be, we can with equal joy and freedom present our addresses to his throne, and cry, Wi the overflowings of filial affection to him, and fraternal love to each other, Abba, Falher.d wºjº For as the communication of the visible and extraordinary gifts of the Spirit both to Jews !...'...}}}...º" and Gentiles, witnesses that we are without distinction in this respect accepted and owned by God as his people; so also he himself, by his internal and gracious operations, beareth witness with the answer of our spirits, when seriously examined and interrogated, and gives - us an inward and joyful assurance that we are the children of God, and personally inter- h;, "...#, "j"; tº ested in his paternal love. ...And from hence arises a most joyful and triumphant, hope; iº."; cſ:... ii., for if we are his children, then we are undoubtedly heirs of a glorious and immortal inhe- *:::::::, ºff ritance; we are then heirs of God, and shall for ever enjoy him as our gracious Father, together. whose presence and love is the very heaven of heaven. ..And we are also joint-heirs of Christ, we shall enjoy this happiness as with him, in his sight, and shall be formed to a resemblance of him as the great foundation of that enjoyment. But then let it ever be remembered that this is to be taken in connexion; it is provided that we are willing not only to deny ourselves in prohibited carnal gratifications, and to govern our lives by his precepts, but also to suffer with [him, that is, in conformity to him, if called out to it for the honour of God and for the testimony of a good conscience, that so we may also be glorified together with him in that . where he now triumphs, and where all the infamy andſ pain we endure for his sake shall be amply repaid with honours and joys everlasting. - 1 6 1. 7 IMPROVEMENT WELL may werejoice in º like these : well may we be astonished to think that they should be bestowed on any of the children of men! That any of them should be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; the adopted Ver. 17 children of an heavenly Father, and marked out by the communication of his Spirit for an inheritance which he hath prepared . That they should be fitted and enabled to approach him with that endearing compellation, Abba, Father, in their mouths Oh that every one of us may know by experience, which alone can teach us, how sweet 15 it is and if we would obtain and secure this witness, let us see to it that we be obediently led by the Spirit of 14 God; for that Spirit is not where he does not effectually govern; and if any man have not that Spirit of Christ, 9 he is nome of Christ's disciples, nor is he entitled to any of the privileges of his people. Let the matter therefore be seriously examined; and let it be determined by inquiry, whether we do on the I whole walk after the flesh or the Spirit. Let us guard more and more against that carnal mind which is enmity 7 against God and cannot be subject to his law, nor leave room for us to please God while it presides and governs in us. Let us often reflect upon that death which would be the consequence of our living after the flesh: and 6 never conceive of ourselves upon any occasion as persons who, in consequence of something that has already passed, have found out a way to break the connexion here established, and in the nature of things essentially established, between a carnal mind and death. May our spirits be more and more enlivened by that vital union with a Re- deemer which may give us a part in the merits of its righteousness, and in the life it has secured for all true believers' and may the efficacy of his Spirit to raise our souls from a death of sin to a life of holiness, be in us a blessed earnest that he will complete the work, and at length quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit which dwelleth in us! When flesh and sense can administer a consolation like this, let us hearken to them: in the mean time, let us remember, let us always remember, how much we are debtors to the Spirit; and let us endeavour to act accord- ing to these immense obligations. SECTION XVII. The glorious prospects which the gospel sets before us are represented and urged as a further advantage which, it gives us for holiness; even that consummate glory the discovery of which the whole creation, now subject to vanity, seems to wait and call for... The apostle then mentions consolations which are derived from the assistances of the Spirit in prayer, as further illustrating his main design. Rom. viii. 18–27. RoM. viii. 18. Roy[ANs viii. 18. FOR I reckon that the suf IN representing the high privileges of our adoption, I have been observing, that if, in con- SECT. ; :... };... sequence of our fidelity to our Saviour, we should suffer with him, we shaliaiso be glori- 17. with the glory which shall be fied together with him; and in this persecuted state in which, as christians, we now are, — revealed in us. I beseech you attentively to enter into this thought, that your hearts may be duly quickened ROM. and fortified by it. I have for my own part been obliged, amidst the peculiar hazards of , VIII. my apostolic office, frequently to weigh and exactly to examine the matter: and I find, * upon the most deliberate computation, that the sufferings of the present time, how extreme SOGVCI" . be, [are] not worthy [of any account], at all, nor so much as worthy of a mention, when set against that great and unalterable glory that shall in due time be revealea to us, but which at present exceeds even our most elevated conceptions, and can never be fully known till we see each other wear it, and by consciousness feel it in ourselves. 19 For the earnest expecta- These, my dear brethren, are the views with which I would animate your minds; and 19 tion of * * * surely nô object can give them more noble or more delightful employment. For methinks, when I look round upon the blasted and wretched state of this world of ours, it seems that all nature does, as it were, call aloud in pathetic language for that blessed change which the gospel was intended to introduce. The earnest expectation of the whole creation,” so c The spirit of bondage.] Both Mr. Locke, and Mr. Pierge understand d Jáhba, Father.] I suppose few of my readers will need to be in- this of thº fear of death under which the legal dispensation left the Jews; formed that the word abba, signifies father in the Jewish language, that but I rather understand it of that comparatively servile spirit which ran is, the Syro-Chaldaic; and the insertion of it here beautifully repre- through the whole Mosaic economy, and which is finely illustrated by sents the union of Jewish and Gentile believers in those devotions which r. Evans, in his Sermon on this text. Evans’s Christian Temp. vol. i. were dictated by a filial spirit, Serm. 17, 18, - a The earnest expectation ºf the creation, &c.] This and the following 66 522 THE CREATION WAITS FOR THE REVELATION OF THE SONS OF GOD. SECT. far as it now lies open to our view, is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God; for the for the manifestation of the I7. ROM. VIII. 20 2 I 22 23 daughters unto the Most High.b 24 25 concerning 2 2 6 7 happy time when he shall appear more openly to avow them, and that reproach and distress sons of God. shall be rolled away under which they are now disguised and concealed. For the creation 20 For the creature was soon lost its original beauty and felicity, a sad change passed on man and his abode, so ºjº.º.º.º. that all the visible face of nature was made subject to vanity and wretchedness in a variety ºf ºtºi tº of forms; and this not willingly, not by the personal misbéhaviour of those who are now **** moSt º affected with it, but by him who subjected [it] that is, by Adam, when he stood at the head of our race as a public person, and by his transgression brought us into so deplorable a state. Deplorable indeed! but blessed be God not entirely abandoned, since it is still in hope that the salvation so happily begun shall at length be much more widely extended; that the creation shall, at least in ages to come, be set free from the bond- .2 Bºcause, the creature age ºf corruption by which men are now abusing themselves and the inferior creatures; #. 㺠and that they shall even be brought into the glorious liberty of which we christians are ºliberty º in consequence of our being the sons of God: as it is certain the creation would “"“” - e made inconceivably happier than it is if this blessed dispensation, by which we are in- troduced into God's family, and taught to do our utmost to diffuse good to all around us, were universally to prevail. In the mean time, such is the state of the whole world, that 22 For we know that the it seems to call in the most º manner for this great interposition of divine power §§º and mercy in its favour; yea, I may say in reference to it, we know that the whole creation, until now. § ever since the first apostasy of our nature from God, groaneth, together and travaileth to: ether until now ; it laboureth in strong pangs to bring on this important birth of sons and And not only doth the whole creation seem [so] to travail in pangs around us, when we survey those parts of it where the gospel is yet un- known, but even we christians ourselves, who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit, and ºt...we. * ... e. thereby have attained no inconsiderable degrees of liberty and deliverancé, even we groan jº ºf within ourselves under many remaining imperfections and burdens; while we are yet wait- demption of our body. ing with strong desire for the great event which may, by way of eminence, be called our adoption,” as it shall be the public declaration of it, when our heavenly Father shall pro- duce us before the eyes of the whole world, habited and adorned as becomes his children. You will easily perceive I now refer to the redemption of our bodies, their final deliverance from the power of the grave at the general resurrection, which shall introduce us to a happiness incomparably exceeding the freest and most glorious state into which the earth shall ever be brought, even by the greatest triumph and prevalency of the gospel. This, I say, we are longing and breathing after; and we shall still be so while we con- , 24 For we are, saved by tinue here : for we are saved by hope; the firm belief and cheerful view of this complete Hºº.º. º.º. . salvation is our great º amidst so many evils, temptations, and dangers. But hope Seeth, why doth he yet hope which is seen, that hope which relates merely to objects now visible, is not worthy the name of hope .# 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan or 2 : for what a man sees, how doth he yet hope for? the more we know of these things, the less shall we amuse ourselves with any high hopes and expectations em. But since we hope for what we see not, for a happiness far exceeding 25 But if we hope for that any thing we have ever seen or can see, we patiently wait for it, and find something in the ſº we with greatness of the prospect to repay the tediousness of the most afflicted circumstances, an - to excite us to prepare for it by cultivating a suitable temper in all its branches. Such hope doth our holy profession administer to us for our support amidst all the diffi- culties of our christian course; and we have moreover this important privilege, that the Holy Spirit of God graciously lendeth us his helping handº under all our burdens and in-gray ſo as yeºght; but the - - - - • - - spirit itself maketh interges- firmities; so that we are not left to sustain them alone: which is of vast moment in many sº."ºs"ii"gºings respects, and particularly in the conduct of our devotions iſ. we are surrounded with so which cannot be uttered. much ignorance and prejudice, that in many instances we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, because we know not on the whole what may be best for us; but the Spirit itself manages these affairs for us, guiding our minds to suitable petitions, and ex- citing in them correspondent affections, and sometimes inspiring us with that intense ardour of holy desire which no words can express, but must therefore vent themselves in unutterable groanings. But though we are not able to speak, these desires, they are not nº.º.º. concealed from God: he who searcheth the inmost recesses of human hearts, knoweth what §§ ºś, §: [is] the mind of the Spirit; he reads all these secret agitations of our spirits which answer º.º.º.º.º. §: to the emotions of his ; {} he manages affairs for the saints according to [the] O 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should thing increased by rendering KT, a tº creation in one clause, and creature - G. gracious will of God. [will] and appointment [of] God:8 a circumstance which we cannot recollect without verses have been generally, and not without reason, accounted as diffi- cult as any part of this epistle. The difficulty has perhaps been some- object to act upon. And this is the well adjusted but, generally unob- served ſº I referred to above, note a the world seems to wait, and call, and groan, for the spreading of the gospel; and those amon whom it prevails are still travailing, as it were, with the hope j desire of a yet more exalted State after the resurrection. º c The adoption, &c.]. I entirely agree with Mr. Howe, (Works, vol. i. p. 680, 681.) that here is an allusion to the two kinds of adoption among the Romans: the first of which was private, the second public in the in another. . To explain it as chiefly referring to the brutal or inanimate creation, is insufferable ; since, the day of the redemption of our bodies will be attended with the gonflagration which will put an end to them. The interpretation, therefore, . by which Dr. Whitby, and Mr. Grove refer it to the Gentile world, is much preferable to this. But, on the whole, I think it gives a much sublinner and nobler sense to suppose it a bold prosopopaia, by which, on account of the calamity sin brought and continued on the whole unevangelized world, (though few of its inhabitants saw so much of , their misery as actually to desire the remedy,) it is represented as looking out with eager czpectation (as the word āroxapagokua exactly signifies) for such a remedy and relief as the gospel brings, by the prevalency of which human mature would be rescued from vanity and corruption, and inferior creatures from tyranny and abuse. Nothing is more gommon than to represent a land as mourning or rejoicing, as calling for rain, &c. And if this be allowed to be the , meaning of these three verses, the gradation in the twenty-third will be much more intelligible than on any other scheme that I know. Sec the next note. * * - b Bring on this important birth, &c..] It is indeed true, that to be in pangs like a woman in travail sometimes only signifies, being in great distress, where there is no reference to any expected birth; but it seems to me very probable that the apostle in these metaphors here alludes to what he had been saying before, ºver., 14–17, 19, 21. In all which places he describes christians as the children of God, and so here ex- presses the general prevalency of the gospel by the birth of many more with which nature was pregnant, and of §§ it longed, as it were, to be delivered: thereby eautifully representing the sad condition of those who, while they have faculties, fitting then for standing in such, a relation to God as his children, are lost in darkness and vanity, while ignorant of God and, the way of salyution; during which time, they wore even pained by the excellency of their nature, it having no suitable forum, when the adopted person was solemnly declared and avowed to be the son of the adopter... Compare Luke xx. 36. - - s Deliverance, &c.) That redemption sqmetimes signifies deliverance, is very certain. Compare Luke xxi. 28. Eph. i. 14. Heb. xi. e Lendeth its his helping hand.], I know, not how better to render that expressive phrase, guvailrºapſ?qver at figw, which literally expresses the action of one who helps another to raise or lear a burden, by, taking hold of it on one side and liſting it or bearing it ºpith him ; and so, it seems to intimate the obligation on us, to exert our little strength, feeble as it is, in concurrence with this almighty aid. fTſic mind of the Spirit..] The phrase is here povnua 79 rvéugaros, the very same that was used ver. 6. and expresses not merely the meaning, but the temper and disposition of the mind, .# under the in- fluences of the Diving Spirit, pursuing and breathing after such bless- ings as suit its rational and immortal nature. - - * g JManages affairs for the saints, &c..] I. agree with a late ingenious writer, several times mentioned before, in rendering eyrvyxavew itep àytov, manages affairs for the saints, as the office of an intercessor with God is so peculiarly that of Christ, our Advocate with the Father, 1 John ii. J. As for the phrase, kaTa * it 1S º: º many differ- ent significations; but I do not think, it here signifies, the same, with ...) Tº 6¢g, in the presence of God, but rather on the part of God, that is, by his appointment, or perhaps, as, we render it, according to ſhe will of God. "I have therefore retained our version, and included both the senses in the paraphrase. THE ADVANTAGES FOR HOLINESS UNDER THE GOSPEL. der such influence. the greatest pleasure, and the most cheerful expectations of receiving every suitable bless- ing in consequence of it, and in answer to these prayers which are presented to God un- IMPROVEMENT, For ever adored be the divine goodness, in sending down his Spirit on such sinful creatures to help our infir-26 mities; to implant and to excite graces in our hearts, to be a source of present delights and of eternal happiness. May we feel him helping our infirmities and improving our joy in the Lord to such a degree, that all ºur devo- tions may be animated sacrifices ! Let not the want of expression in that case trouble us; these unutterable groan- 27 ings are sometimes the sweetest music in the ear of God. * - - Well may such fervent groanings be excited, when we view that great and glorious object which the gospel pro- poses to out hope, Let us encounter the sufferings of the present time with a fortitude becoming those that see them so short, and so far overbalanced by the immense and boundless prospects which lie beyond them; prospects of unclouded lustre and unmingled felicity. When we consider the state of that part of the world in which christianity is unknown, or of those among whom it is a mere empty form ; when we consider the vani to which that part of God’s creation is subject, let it move our compassion and our prayers, that the state of glorious º into which God has already brought those who y by faith in Christ are his children, may become more universa prevalent, and the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the channel of the seas. Oh that divine and omnipotent grace may give a birth to that grand event, in the expectation of which nature seems in pangs; such a birth that nations might be born in a day; ?? and where the children are born, may it give a more abundant growth and more happy increase! +r We have received what the travailing creation has not, the first-fruits of the Spirit, and they must surely excite us to groan after the redemption of bodies; yet still with humble submission to the will of God, waiting his wisely- appointed hour for the dissolution and for the restoration of them. That God in whose hand these important events aré, best knows how long to exercise our faith, whether in this mortal world or in the intermediate state; nor should any delay be esteemed long by those who have so cheerful a hope of enjoying God for ever. SECTION XVIII. The a piness, in pursuance of which people may be assured that no accusation shall prevail against them, the end. Roxi. viii. 28. AND we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. *- that all things which occur in the course of divine stle represents other advantages for holiness which the gospel gives us, particularly thºse which arise from an assurance that all things shalſ work together for qur good; and from the view we have, as true christians, of an eternally grºcious Pº which God has laid for our hap- * - he hath already done such great things for us, especially in sending, hi5, Son for out redemption; whenge hS and no temptations separate them from his love. Rom. viii. 28, to Rox1ANs viii. 28. rovidence, either in their present and 523 SECT. 17, RO M. VIII. I8 19 20 21 23 I HAVE taken occasion to hint at many privileges which, in consequence of participating SECT. of the gospel, you enjoy: and now I must add this to the rest, that though our afflictions may lie heavy ... us, and though our burdens may continue long, yet we assuredly know 18. ROM, immediate, or future and more remote, consequences, do and shall work together for real syſiſ. and everlasting good to them that sincerely and prevalently love the blessed God,” and are 28 29 For whom he did fore- know, he also did predestimate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. effectual purpose. °oy. We have this confidence, by divine grace called and formed to this º principle according to [his] gracious and say, because God in his eternal counsels 29 designed this, and appointed a proper series of subordinate causes to make way for that blessed event in which all is to terminate; establishing a certain connexion between the one and the other; a connexion which in the greatest distress is our confidence and our For whom he foreknew as the objects of his peculiarly favourable regards, b knowing with everlasting complacency his own thoughts of peace towards them, (compare Jer. xxix. 2. and [be he did also predestinate [to] stand in a peculiar relation to the great Redeemer, made in due time conformable to the image of that glorious and blessed Person, even Jesus his only-begotten and best-beloved Son, who is now exalted high above all heavens. He appointed, I say, such a conformity between him and them, that he might be, and appear to e, the first-born among many brethren; and might at length see many of his brethren by his means sharing with him in that happiness to which he is now re- ceived, and in which he shall for ever shine, distinguished from them all in rays of pecu- 30 Moreover whom he did liar glory. To this felicity did the Father of mercy decree to raise a part of our fallen and 30 predestinate, them, he also called : and whom he calle them he also justified : and whom he justified, them he also glorified. miserable race; and those whom he thus predestinated he in due time hath called, or will hereafter in their succeeding generations call, by the invitations of the gospel and opera- tions of his Spirit, to repent and believe, that so they might claim the promised blessings, in virtue of that everlasting covenant which they cordially embrace; and whom he hath thus called, he hath, on their compliance with that call, justified,” freed them from the con- demning sentence of his law, and given them a pleadable right to a full acquittal at his bar; and those whom he hath thus justified he hath also glorified, d that is, he hath appointed a JAll things which occur in the course of divine, Providence, &c..] It is so plain from the whole context that the apostle only speaks of pro- vidential events, and it is so evident that the universal expression all is sometimes to be taken im a limited sense, that it must argue, I, fear, sounething worse than weakness, to pretend that sin is comprehended in the apostle’s assertion. Plato’s sentence, so nearly parallel to this, is a commentary infinitely preferable to such an explication. “Whether a righteous man be in, poverty, sickness, or any other, calamity, we must conclude that it will turn to his advantage either in life or death.” See lato, De Rep. lib. ix. º * - b Whom he forekncip as the objects of his peculiarly...favourable re- gards.] To know sometimes signifies to favour, Amos iii. §. Exod. xxxiii. 12, 17. Psal. i. €t. X. om. xi. 2. Hos. xiii. 5. and they who interpret these verses, as Mr. Locke and many others do, of God’s intending to bring the Gentiles into the church on a footing of equal privileges with the Jews, must certainly take the word in this sense. But the reader will easily perceive, by my para- phrase, that I consider them as applicable to all true christians, whether originally of Jewish or Gentile descent; as the privileges themselves relate not to communities as such, but to individuals. - . c. Whom he hath called he hath justified.] , Barclay, pleads that this jśg; nigst include hgliness, or it is left out of the chain. Barel. #: ... p. 221. But the apostle had so plainly declared, in the beginning of the chapter, that a freedom from condemnation was the peculiar privi. lege of those tpho calk after the Spirit, that it was the less necessary for him here distinctly to mention sanctification. Whom he justified he glorifica.] It is plain that justification is here considered as distinct from and prior to glorification ; and consequently, that there is a sense in which believers may be said to be justifical now, (as they often are, compare Luke xviii. 14, Acts xiii. 39. Rom. Y. 9. Cor. Yi, 11.) though it is at the great day that their complete justifica- tion will be declared; and there seeins generally to be an ultimate re- ference to that great transaction in the use of this ſorensic term. (Matt. xii. 37. , Rom, ii. 13. iii. 30.) To suppose that christians are said to be glorifical merely jn reference to the Spirit of glory now resting upon them, (1 Pet. iv. 14.) is limiting the phrase to a sense less sublime and ex- tensive than it generally has, particularly ver. 17, 18. 2 Cor, iv. 17. ol. i. 27. iii. 4. ... I Thess. ii. 19. 1 Pet. v. 10, to which a multitude of other texts might be added, where glory refers to the exaltation and blessedness of the future state.—This is a memorable instance, and there are scores, and perhaps hundreds more, in which things that shall certainly and speedily be done are spoken of as done already. Moses gave a remarkable example of this noble language of faith, in his songs (Exod. xv. 15, &c.), on the destruction of Pharaoh in the Red sea; and the prophets, and apostles have continued it in a variety of triumphant pas- sages, which it will be a great pleasure to the pious reader io observe for himself. 524 18. VIII. 33 35 36 sword of our blood-thirsty enemies, ready to be 37 over to it without resistance on our part or mercy on that of our enemies.” Nevertheless, while we appear in so weak and helpless a state, we do in all these things more than con- quer, we triumph in certain and illustrious victory, through him, who hath loved us, and, 38 39 present, difficult as they are, nor things future, extreme as they may possibly prove, Nor Ver. 29, 30 nated, are, in consequence thereof, cal THE ADVANTAGES FOR HOLINESS UNDER THE GOSPEI. SECT. they should ere long attain to complete glory and happiness, to which, by virtue of their union with him, they may be said even now to arrive. (Eph. iii. 4.) On the whole, what shall we therefore say to these things, or conclude upon this review 2 RQM. Surely we may courageously defy all our enemies, and say ower in himself, and all the events of time and etérnity undeſ his direction, ºl aS WG ave heard, for us, who [can] presume to º against us, or be able to do us any 32 the fiercest opposition, while we are guarde only what have we to fear, but what have we not to hope and expect, in connéxion with such views as these ? He that spared not his own, his proper and §: Son, when even his blood and life came into question, but willingly delivered him up to agony and by such a Protector 2 Yea, I may add, not 3! What shali wo then say to these things 2 Iſ God be for us, who can bc against us? If that God who hath all urt by 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things 3 death, that he might be a sacrifice for us all, how shall he not with him freely grant us all other things subservient to our truest happiness, which may now be regardèd as the pur- chase of his blood? We may reasonably conclude that what is now withheld would be detrimental rather than advantageous to us. Upon the whole, then, we may take courage and say, Who shall lodge any accusation against the elect of God,” against those who love him, and have been, as we before ob- served, predestinated and called according to his eternal purpose 2 [Is i. God 2 What! he who himself justifieth?f as the prophet in his own case expresses it ; ( 84 ready to answer all objections, and solemnly to pronounce us absolved. Who [is] he then that condemneth? [Is it] the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we know to be a final Judge? What! oth he condemn, who hath died to expiate our guilt and rescue us 33 Who shall §. any him; to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. sa. l. 8, 9.) he is 34 Who is he that condemn- eth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is , risen again who is even at the right fiºſ pointed as the tercession for us. - - - - - - te • } aketh in- from condemnation; yearather, (which is the most delightful"consideration of all) who is .º."" risen again? Shall he undo the purposes of his death and resurrection? he who is now sitting at the right hand of God, where he appears under a quite contrary character, and is also making intercession for us; undertaking the management of our affairs, and, far from açcusing us, appears ready to answer all accusations brought against us, and to frustrate all the designs of our enemies? Confident therefore in his protection and favour, we defy them all; and say in strains 35 Who sha)} separate , us of yet sublimer triumph, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who or what ſº.º.º. tribulation, or distress, or per- shall dissolve that union to him which is our gréat security, and be able to alienate our secution ºaminºaked- hearts from him who is the source of such invaluable blessings, and hath displayed such ***** incomparable riches of grace? [Shall] the severest affliction,sor the most pressing straits, or the most cruel persecution, to the inconveniences and extremities of which we may in- deed be exposed in our christian warfare; or hunger, if we be starving in desolate places;h or nakedness, if it had not so much as sheep-skins or goat-skins to cover it; or, in a word, any other peril to which in our different situations we may be exposed, or even the drawn may indeed cut short the residue of our mortal i. ; lunged into our defenceless bosoms ? It 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day as it is written, in words which may i.” Wºº"...ºd". }. be applied to us, (Psal. xliv. 22.) “For thy sake we are without remorse killed all sheep to the slaughter. the day long, we are accounted as so many sheep destined to the slaughter, and delivered 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. having redeemed us to God by his own blood, will secure us amidst all these temptations, and finally show that our sufferings and death have been precious in his sight, and have made a part in his merciful scheme for our more exalted happiness. Well may I thus boast of the securest and completest victory, even amidst the combat; or I am persuaded that neither the fear of death, in any imaginable form of terror, nor the 38. For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor hope and desire of life, in the most agreeable circumstances that can be imagined, nor all º, º Present, the efforts of infernal angels, nor of principalities, nor of powers, however various their rank, 3. 3. however subtle their artifices, however fürious and malignant their rage may be, nor things 39 Nor height, not º the height of prosperity, nor the depth of adversity, nor any other creature, above or beneath, "... ."..."; } ji be able to separate us from in heaven, earth, or hell, shall be able to separate any of us, who are christians indeed, from he ſovº of Gºłyńigh is in the love of the almighty and ever-blessed God, which is graciously given us in Christ Jesus Christ Jesus our Lord. our Lord, by a tenure so certain, that it shall never be lost: and being thus secure that nothing shall separate us from that, we assuredly know that nothing can, on the whole, hurt us; and feel a courage which nothing can dismay. IMPROVEMENT. O BLESSED souls indeed, who, º been in the eternal councils of the divine love foreknown and predesti- d and justified, as the earnest of being ere long glorified! Who would not desiré to see his own title to privileges so inestimable as these ? And how shall we know that we have our part in 28 them? how, but by securing an evidence that we love God? Then may we be assured that all things shall work 33 together for our good, and glory in it that we are the elect of God; to whose charge therefore nothing shall be 34 alleged, since God justifieth; whom none shall condemn, since Christ died to expiate our sins, and is ascended into heaven continúally to intercede for us. In cheerful dépendence on his patronage and care, letus bid defiance 35 to all our enemies, and be willing to submit to the greatest extremities, since they shall not be able to separate us God’s invariable love to his people, illustrated already, in, sº glorious a manner, would engage him to support them under all their trials, by vital communications of divine strength. - - h Hunger.j The word Xiaos, is more extensive than famine, and may be applied to personal as well as ublic necessity. * * O i’Angiº, principalitics, and powers. Elsner (Qbserv. Vºl., ii. p. 42.) has sufficiety shown that good angels are sometimes called powers, to express their being used as instruments of the divine power, (compare išjāj. j. iii. ió. Čol. i. 16. ii. 10.) as likewise that apxat may sig- mity magistrates, compare Tit. iii. 1... But as it is gettain hºt epil aniels are called principalitics and powers, (Eph; vi. 12. Col. ii. 15.) and as that interpretation of the words best suits the context, (for it is not to be thought that good angels would attempt to separate men from Christ’s love,) ſ must adhere to it. - - - - k Shi º: is, &c.j Archbishop Tillotson thinks (yol. i. p. 491.) Păul speak; thus confidently in reference to himself, and the experience ſº had passed through of so peculiar a nature; but he seems to me to e PWho shall lodge any accusation, &c.] This eyka)\cost signifies.— By the elect of God, many understand the Gentiles; but as it is certain the phrase, whatever it irn Iorts, is not to be confined to then), and is #jº. after used of belieming Jews, (Rom. xi. 5, 7, 28.) it seems ighly reasonable to consider it herº as including them also ; especially as their unlyelieving brethren miz I, t be ready to lodge the heaviest accu- sations against them, as deserters ind apostates from their own law, if they acted on the principles thc apostles had been laying down in the former chapter f God who justifieth, &c.] I here follow the pointing proposed by the learned and inzénious Dr. Samuel Harris, in his Observations, (p. 54, 55.) which greatly illustrates the spirit of this passage, and, shows how justly that author adds, that it is remarkably in the grand manner of - emosthenes. g Shall affliction, &c.] None can imagine that Christ, would love, a good christian the less for enduring such extremities, for his sake. The text must therefore be intended to express thc apostle’s co: fidence that W THE APOSTLE'S TENDER REGARD TO HIS JEWISH BRETHREN. 535 ſº the #: of Christ, even though for his sake we should be killed all the day long, and accounted as sheep for SECT. the slaughter. 1S. O j souls, whom neither death nor life, nor angels nor any other creature, shall be able to divide and cut off from the love of God! What then can harm us? what evil can we then suffer? what good can we want? º: When God is for us, and when we are sensible of his love in giving us his Son, how can we allow ourselves to 32" suspect his readiness with him to give us all things truly reasonable or desirable 2 All other blessings, when compared with these, will appear unworthy of a mention; and we should have great reason to suspect that they were not ours, if we did not find a heart superlatively to value them above every thing else. SECTION XIX. The apostle now finding it necessary to speak more expressly of the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles, introduces the stibject with very tender expressions of his regard to his Jewish brethren; and then shows that the rejection of a considerable part of the seed of Abrahim: and even of the posterity of Isaac, from the peculiar privileges of God’s chosen people, was an incontestable fact, which the Jews could not but grant to have happened, that is, with regard to the descendants of Ishmael and of Esau. Rom. ix, 1–13 Rom. ix. 1. Rox1ANs is. 1. I say the truth in Christ, I THUS, my brethren, I have endeavoured to animate you by leading your meditations to 5 ECT, jº º 'º'; ... those inestimable privileges which we receive in virtue of the jº, which renders us 19. Holy Ghost, so far superior to all the Tardships we can endure; and I hope the thought of them will be abundantly sufficient to establish your adherence to it. Faithfulness will also oblige me Rºi. to add, that as all who embracé and obey this gospel, whether Jews or Gentiles, are 1 * accepted of God, so all who reject it are rejected by him.” And lest, while I maintain this important truth, any should imagine that I bear hard upon my dear countrymen the Jews, on account of any personal injury which I, or my christian brethren of whose sufferings I have been speaking, (chap. viii. 35–39) have received from them or by their means; I begin this discourse with the most solemn assurance I can give you to the contrary. And herein I say the truth in Christ, I speak with that candour and integrity which becomes a christian, and as in the presence of that blessed Redeemer who searches all hearts. He knows that I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness as to the truth of what I say in r the Holy Ghost, as under his influence who so thoroughly discerns the soul on which he 2 That I have great heavi operates. With all this solemnity, on so great an occasion, do I declare to you, that I have 2 ºdºntinual ** "great grief and incessant anguish in my heart, when I think of what hath happened and § For ſcould wish that my will happen unto them in consequence of their opposition to the gospel. For methinks, 3 §s."; ºn"; if I may be allowed to express myself so, I could even wish, that as Christ subjected him- #ºnen according to the self to the curse, that he might deliver us from it, so I myself likewise were made an ana- su. thema after the example of Christ;b like him exposed to all the execrations of an enraged º and even to the infamous and accursed death of crucifixion itself, for the sake of my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh, that they might thereby be delivered from the guilt they have brought upon their own heads, and become entitled to the forfeited and 4 who are Israelites; to rejected blessings of the Messiah's kingdom. So cordial and disinterested a regard have I 4 Mºjº for my dear nation, who are Israelites,” the seed of Jacob that eminent patriarch, who, as a glory, and the cove - 5 e 3 s s - • **, * ***, nants, and the giving of the prince, had power with God, and prevailed; whose the spiritual adoption [is,jd in con- ...'...'...i." " * sequence of which, as a people, they were called the sons and daughters of the Most High God; and the glory, which in the Shechinah resided visibly among them on the mercy- seat,” and the covenants made successively, first with Abraham and then with Moses, and with the whole Jewish people in him, who were honoured with the giving of the law in such solemn pomp, and received with the precepts of that excellent polity an exact ritual for the service [of God] in their tabernacles, afterward practised in their temple with un- equalled solemnity and magnificence; who were also the heirs of such peculiar and important promises, relating not only to their abode in Canaan, under the administration of an equal and miraculous providence, but likewise including and centring in the spiritual 5, Whose are the fathers, kingdom of the Messiah, who was to arise among them. I cannot but have a respectful 5 tº..."; and tender regard for a nation thus dignified and distinguished; a nation whose privileges wººl, Godblessed for ever, [are] handed down to them from so many illustrious ancestors, in a long descent, who IIlê I). - * • were in their respective ages the great fathers of the world and church; and from whom, to crown the whole, according to the flesh, Christ himself is º who, though found in fashion like a man, and truly partaker of our nature in all its sinless infirmities, is also possessed of a divine nature, by virtue of which he is above all our conceptions and praises, above creatures of the highest order, and indeed God blessed for ever,ſ the worthy Object of our humblest adoration, as well as unreserved dependence, love, and obedience. .Amen. Let his divine glories be ever proclaimed and confessed May all the house of found the argument on considerations common to all christians, yeſ. 38; p.mv) shows very well, as many other commentators have done, how and the connexion is such, that if these latter clauses are limited to St. * - * very absurd it would be to suppose he meant that he could be content aul; I do not see how the preceding can be extended further. to be delivered over to everlasting misery for the good of others. , a. As all who embrace, &c.], This the apostle had intimated all along c PWho are Israelites.]. The apostle, with great address, enumerates in the preceding discourse, which is addressed to christians as christians, these Drivileges of the Jews; both that he might show how honourably without any regard to their having been Jews or Gentiles ; nay, he had he thought of them, and that he might awaken their solicitude not to *NPºsly...deglared in the 2d. and 3d chapters, that their haying been sacrifice that divine'ſ your by which they had been socminently and so º º be no º §§ It lS º the º º: ong distinguished. Sitions and persecutions which the believing Jews met with from their d The spiri or *s - - - ~ -- - * : * r > Al... t . . . . * piritual adoption is...] That is, whom God hath taken into a tºº º would make encouragements and cºlº. like special coºt ºf himself, whereby he stands engaged ever to act º §§§º.º.º., eighth chapterºus necessary ºf thºslº... the part of a God and "Fathé tº them, and to own them as his chilārē. christians in the world. very much, mistaken have sºme learned ijºut it."]... j. j. j. i. º. ii. I commentators been in the peculiar turn they have given to that chapter, Resided t “....…' Hom ht ir w }led the glory - and several passages in those preceding it. Pi fº §§ %. º, icnce | C (27"It §ºpj ‘ī;#3; ory ; §: example qf Christ.] This sense is given Sāl. IXXViii. 6]. 1 Sam. iv. 21, 22. to which some add Psal. lxiii. 3. b JMade an - - a wº - • - by the f...?"####, ºft. (Scrin. vol. i. p. 77, 7S.) who urges the f Above all, God blessed for ever.] How ingenious soever, that conjec- manner in which aſſo is used, 2 Tim. i. 3. aro row ſpoyoyov, after the ture may be thought by which some would read this (ov 0 680's 6 eſt example of my forefathers. Compare 1 John iii. 16. "Next to this I Tºvſtov to answer to Öy of Tatspes, (whose are the fathers, and whose is should incline to the interpretation given by Dr. Clarke (Seventeen Serm. the supreme God.) I think it would be extremely dangerous to follow § 340.) who supposes the apostle means, that he could be content that this reading, unsupported as it is by any gritical authority of manu- hrist should give him up to such calamities as these to which the scripts or ancient quotations.—Nor can I find any authority for rendering ewish people were doomed for rejecting him; so that if they could all Qcos evXoyntos éis Tows atavas, God be blessed for ever. I must º *sº he cºuld be willing they should unite in him, therefore render and paraphrase and improve this memorable text, as a vii. 25. J º *mºns of saving his countrymen. Qompºſe eut. proof of Christ's proper deity, which I think the, opposers of that doc- : *: '9;h: Yº!’. Wii. 12.--Grotius understands it of a separation from trine have never been able nor Wiii over be able to answer: though §: cººl, of ºt, (yhich is sometimes called by the name, Christ, 1 common sense must teach, what christians have always believed, that it * ...'Bºº. ...) ºf ºt ºxcommunication-Elsner (whº agree is not, with respect to the Father, but, to the created world, that this R → • *-***'s interpretation, joins aro tou Xpwarov with muxo- august title is given to him. Compare 1 Cor. xv. 27, &c. 526 PART OF THE POSTERITY OF ABRAHAM WERE ExCLUDED FROM THE PROMISE. SECT. Israel know this sºy, and fall down before him, as in and with the Father of all 19, their Lord and their God : 2 Yet, notwithstanding all these tender prejudices in favour of my own dear countrymen, ...},Nºtº, thºugh.º.º.º.º.d * I cannot defend 3. hei tº * ...} of God hath taken none effect. & ºne end or excuse their conduct; nor must I conceal the ungrateful truth asserted #.'..."."jºi..., 6 above, that by rejecting the gospel they bring upon themselves rejection from God. But which are of Israel: to prevent mistakes, let me in the first place observe, that it is not to be supposed I would by º means insinuate that the word of God hath fallen ineffectual to the ground, even all that glorious system of promises by which he engaged to bestow protection, favour, and happiness upon his people. For in order to provide against any such allegation, I must insist upon it, as a very certain and apparent truth, that all [are] not reckoned to be the Israel of God, so as to be the heirs of the promises made to his people, who are descended 7 § Israel by natural generation : Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, the head of uſ...º.º. the whole family according to the flesh, [are they] all children of the promise; but you ºfº, know it is said, (Gen. xxi. 12.) though Ishmael were the son of Abraham long before, * In "**** Isaac, then unborn, shall thy seed be called; the descendants of Isaac shall be spoken of as thy seed by way of eminence, to the exclusion of those who may spring from thee by thine S other children.” That is, on the whole, not the children of the flesh alone, nor any one of 18 Tºis. Thºy Yichºſe them merely as such, [are] the children of God, but the children of the promise, in one peculiar H.º. tº ...? line, are accounted as the seed of Abraham, and honoured with the adoption: For this [is] ..."; }; 9 the word of the promise, (Gen. xviii. 10, 14.) “..According to this time, that is, reckoning the * * * for the conception of the child from hence, I will come ſº thee] in a way of gracious and #. º § ºf merciful interposition, and Sarah shall have a son:” which was said when Hagar had many §.dºs.inº years been ..., wife, and had long since borne a son to him. -> SOI] . 10 Mor was [this] the only instance of the kind ; but in the case of Rebecca, when she was ...10 And not only this; but 11 with child of twins by one man, that is, our father Isaac ; JPhile [the children] were not yet Whº. º: born, and had done neither good to merit nor evil to forfeit the divine favour, that the sove-fifte: tº ºn tº reign º of God, according to his free election, might stand steadfast, and appear not to nº. º: be formed in respect of the works done by either, but according to the mere good pleasure ...}}}.}}. of him who calleth things that do not yet exist into being, and disposeth of alſ according to ºi 12 his own will: It was said to her, when consulting the divine oracle on the unusual commo- gºs, but of him that tions she felt in her womb, that two different people should proceed from the birth then ... It was said wºº h; approaching, (Gen. xxv.23.) and “that the elder of them, that is, the posterity of Esau, *...* * * * 13 should serve the younger, that is, the descendants of Jacob.” As it is also written, (Mal. i. 13 As it is written: Jacºb 2, 3) “I have loved Jacob and hated Esau, that is, I have greatly preferred the former to the º' """ latter,8 bestowing many peculiar privileges and favours upon the posterity of Jacob which tº I have denied to that of Esau, whose habitation I have laid waste for the dragons of the wilderness, while that of his brother flourished in the richest abundance of all things.” We see then, to close this branch of the argument, that the exclusion of a considerable part of the seed of Abraham, and even of the descendants of Isaac, from the special promises of God, is not only a case which may be supposed possible, but a case which, according to the Jewish Scriptures themselves, hath actually happened. IMPROVEMENT. Ver, 1 LET that affection which the apostle expresses for the Jews, his countrymen and brethren according to the flesh, 2 and the tender and pathetic representation which he makes of the privileges which they once enjoyed, awaken in our hearts an earnest solicitudé that they may, by divine grace, be brought back; that they may again be adopted 4 into the family from which they have been cut off, again § with the glory which is départed from them; that through him who was #. for a covenant to the people they may receive the law of life and grace, be formed to 5 that spiritual service which it introduces instead of their pompous ritual, and embrace the promises on which the faith and hope of their illustrious fathers were fixed. 3 Letit likewise teach us spiritual compassion for our kindred who are strangers to Christ, and let us be willing to submit to the greatest difficulties, and think nothing too much to be done or borne for their recovery. - 3 Let our souls pay an humble homage to him who is in such an incommunicable and sublime, sense the Son 5 of God, as to be himself over all, God blessed for evermore. With prostrate reverence let us adore him as Our Lord and our God, and repose that unbounded confidence in him which such an assemblage of divine perfections will warrant, putting our most hearty amen to every ascription of glory, to every anthem of praise addressed to him. 6, 7 And, to conclude, since we see that many of the children of Abraham and of Isaac failed of any share in the special promises of God, let us learn to depend on no privilege of birth, on no relation, to the greatest and best of 10–13 men. May we seek to be inserted into the family of God, by his adopting love in Christ Jesus, and to maintain the lively exercise of faith; without which no child of Abrahám was ever acceptable to God, and with which none of the children of strangers have ever failed of a share in his mercy and favour. SECTION XX. sovereign choice of some individuals to peculiar privileges, to which none had any claim, and the sovereign appointment, The apostle shows that the * - g - >{ is, of some to peculiar and exemplary punishments, was perfectly consistent both with reason and Scripture. Rom. from among many crimina ix. 14–24. SECT. Romans ix. 14. Rosſ. ix. 14. 20. I HAVE already shown you how#." it is that persons descended from Abraham, WHAT shall, we say then? and even fromisaac, may be cut off from the special promises of God; as the posterity; &#tºusness with sº first of Ishmael and then of Esau, evidently were. Pºhat therefore shall we say to this? g Greatly preferred the former to the latter.] That to love and hate the does not here speak of the eternal state of Jacob and, Esau, (whatever have this sense in Scripture, is evident. º: Gen. xxix. 3i. Luke some may suppose deducible from what he sayi) not does he indeed $9 jº. 25. John xii. 25. and the notes there. These words, in their con- much speak of their ſº as of their postérity; since it is plainly, to ...ion with the preceding and following, do indeed prove that God Agts that posterity that both the prophecies which, he, quotes in support of his with ºréiºn and unaccountable frégdom in the dispensation of his ºrggment réfer, Gen. xxv.23., Mal. i. 2, 3, . His laying waste the favours; and Jo, I think, consequentially prove that it was nºt upºn heritage gf the Édomites for the dragons aſ the wilderness, is so different the fºrešight of the obedience and piety of Jacob on the one hand, or the * thing from his appointing, the person of Esau to etermal misery by a profangness of Esau on the other, that this préfèrence was given; for mere act of sovereignty, withºut º to any thing done or to be dono then the argument taken from their having actually done, neither good by him to deserve it, that, I will rather. submit to any censure from my .."evil’vºid be very weak, since, to an omnisciênt God, that which felloy-seº than deal so freely with my Maker as to conclude the he certainly foreknew would be, is, with regard to his purpose of events, one from the other. tº jºi'it as if it aiready were. Nevertheless it is certain tho apos- THE SOVEREIGN FREEDOM OF GOD'S PROCEEDINGS. [Is there] unrighteousness with God in the proceedings and distributions of his providence, in this or any other instance to be produced 2 God forbid we should insinuate anything of that nature . It is, in the highest consistence with justice, matter of the freest choice to lä For he saith tº Mºses, whom such favours shall be granted. For he saith to Moses, (Exod. xxxiii. 19.) when in- Miłºś.º. timating a gracious purpose toward Israel, though they had broke his covenantso soon after lº.º.º.whom I the first confirmation º: and by an act of flagrant idolatry had justly merited immediate l D * destruction, I will have mercy on whomsoever, I will have mercy, and will compassionate whomsoever I please to compassionate, so as to dispense acts of pardon according to my owni sovereign pleasure. * ºr - s nº Jacob and Esau, of whom I was speaking just above, may be further considered as an Hº!"ºf"d." § illustration of the sovereignty of the divine dispensations in such cases: the latter of them, she weth mercy. after he had foolishly sold his birth-right, was º desirous of obtaining his father's blessing, and ran out eagerly to hunt venison for him ;7Gen. xxvii. 5–30.) nevertheless it was bestowed upon Jacob. [It is] not therefore, you see, to be referred into the forward- ness of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth; but it is of God that showeth mercy to one rather than another, on sovereign reasons which we cannot penetrate, but must always believe to be worthy of himself. nº ºth sºlº sº. And moreover we may add, that such is the conduct of God in other instances, when of .*.*.*.*.*.* various sinnershe appoints one rather than another to be a monument of special yengeance; *...*.* hº, for the scripture says to Pharaoh,” (Exod. ix. 16.) “For this cause have I raised thee up #, ºi'i bé declared to that height of eminence in which thou gloriest,b that I | remarkably show forth my **** power in thee, and that my name, in consequence of distinguished judgments to be right- eously inflicted upon thee, may be celebrated through all the earth, in the most distant nations and remotest ages.” And accordingly he hardened his heart that he should not let Israel go; that is, he took measures which he knew would be attended with that effect, sº.º.º.º. and at last brought the extremity of his wrath upon him. So then we must, after all our gy, and whom he will he har- objections, rest the matter here, that the blessed God, as he is uncontrollable, so he is deneth. also unaccountable, in his dispensations; that in choosing this or that creature to distin- guished favours, or appointing this or that sinner to deserved punishment, he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he hardeneth and destroyeth whom he will. * * ºf But thou wilt perhaps be ready, while thou readest this declaration, to raise an objection §tº Wºhi ::it: against it, and say to me, “If God acts thus, why doth he then find fault and blame his his will P creatures for their obstinacy, when he determines to give what he knows will in fact prove a prevailing occasion to it? Who hath ever, in any instance, resisted, or who can ever be able to resist, his will? If he hath determined by such methods to destroy a nation or a person, who can prevent it, or prevent those evils which shall, according to his high ap- pointments of providence, be in fact the means of bringing on that destruction ?” 20 Nay, but...Q. man...Whº Way but, let me rather reply, who art thou, O vain, weak, and ignorant man, with all tº thy boasted wisdom and penetration, who art thou who thus arrogantly enterest into a de- tº . ." § bate with the all-wise, almighty, and all-gracious God, and chargest his proceedings as y hast thou made me g g :*: , e sº g e * 2 arbitrary and unjust? Surely it becomes us, whenever we treat such a subject, to do it with the humblest reverence, ...} through the whole to remember the infinite ãº. between him and us. Shall the thing formed say, unto him that formed [it] Why hast thou made me thus 3 Let us remember he is our almighty Creator, and not imagine we can ever have any room or right to expostulate with him, or in any circumstance to complain of him. *...*.*, *, *. Hath not the potter power over [his] clay," as God himself represents the case, (Jer. xviii. power over the clay, of the 5 3 same lump to make one yes: 4–6.) out of the same mass to make one vessel to uses of honour, and another to the basest jº...?" * offices of dishonour, and to break and renew it at his pleasure? [What] then is it to thee, 22 PW #ºod...willing to or what right hast thou to find fault, if God, resolving at last to manifest the terrors of [his] shew his wrath, and to make S-> s hººpºe."ºw. Adjei wrath, and to make known his awful and tremendous power in their aggravated destruction, Wººlºº, hath in the mean time endured with much long-suffering those who shall finally appear to vessels of wrath fitted t - - *> * i - es * destruction: be the vessels of wrath which are fitted to destruction?d Is he to account to thee for punish- ing them who justly deserve punishment, at what time and in what manner he pleases, *...º.º. and to ask thy leave to delay or to execute the stroke of his righteous vengeance? And k n the riches of his glory tº * e s ºthº ºr º [what if..] on the other hand, that he may make known in the most affecting and endearing Yº...” “” Pºpº" manner the riches of his glory, and display his compassions in those whom he will make the unto glory, s “”. g vessels of mercy, he graciously waits upon them and [long endures] them,” even [those] whom he hath, by the power of his own grace, previously prepared to glory, that they might ºº: ºº in the most honourable manner be at length called to partake of it? Even us, whom he hath §.'; ...º.º. 9" already called into the happy number of his people, not only of the Jews, but of the Gentiles too? Shall he make an apo . to thee, O man, that he hath appointed some of our sinful race to such mercy; that he hath exercised much long-suffering towards them; that he hath at length wrought upon them, by his effectual grace; or that, determining to deal thus mercifully with some of Jacob's race, he hath added to their number others whom he hath taken from Gentile nations? Know thy place, and acquiesce in humble silence. Al- low the blessed God to do what he will with his own, and let not thine eye be evil because he is good. a Moreover the scripture says, &c.] It is plain that this is no proof of covered from the plague of blains, which was indeed said to have been what immediately goes before ; 1 therefore choose to render yap by upon Pharaoh, Exod. ix. 15, 16. and this may possibly be the true sense, moreover, which is consistent with making it introductory to what proves but I think the other stronger and nobler. Sºmething asserted at some distance, if it come in as a co-ordinate proof. c Potter power over [his] clay.] It is observable that Plutarch uses his is so important a remark in the illustration of Scripture, and clears the Very same similitude with this before us; and Aristophanes, among an attentive reader of so many embarrassments, that I hope I shall be other contemptuous expressions by which he describes the frailty of excused, repeating it on different occasions. ºff. reader will observe human creatures calis them TXaguara Tm28, vessels of clay. See Bos, º # º II)Stance g an innocent hº being in loc. 5 Inage an object Qf divine displeasure out of mere sovereignty, but one • * ~ * - «y g *Y 6 & Sø/ Sº ... & * of the most insolent sinners that the world ever knew. aś º *:::: lº...; ſº º: b I have raised thee up..] Some would render it, I have made thee to though jºi º o º º: CX rº to name them. It is certain ºil, have supported thee during the former plagues, that I j...'...}}}|...}''...'...'...'..."...he ‘ºn. * p g * •y were vessels of crath, and that they were long borne with, under º º º: remarkable example ºf yeageance; but though jºy advantages which they jºii, abused. serve) tº: ord, †: vol. ii. p: $33. and, magy. ºthers, ob- e He waits and endures.] As it is certain there is an ellipsis in these - it agree with 6ternpm0ns, the word used by the Seventy in their words, and that something must be supplied, it seems most natural to version of the text in question, and with the original Tºnipyn, yet it . a word or two #. the preceding verse to complete, the sense. does not answer to the Greek word used by St. Paul, c{mystpa. If, as Every attentive render will, P. not, inſer for himself the great #9me, Wºs suppose, the Pharaoh here spoken, of were an Egyptian difference of phrase in which they who are vessels of wrath, and they king (I think Apophis) who made his way to the throne by treason, who are pºsſi," ºf mercy, are spoken of: it, being said simply of the incest, and murder, the words, had a singular weight in the sense we former, that they were fitted for destruction, but of the latter, that God have here given them. Mr. Taylor explains it of his having been re. prepared them for glory. A distinction of so great importance, that I 527 SECT. 20. RONI, IX. 15 20 24 528 THE ADMISSION OF THE GENTILES WAS FORETOLD BY THE PROPHETS. IMPROVEMENT. SECT. LET us learn from the memorable section which we have now been reading, humbly to adore the righteousness 20. and holiness of God, in all the most amazing displays of his sovereignty, which we are sure are always consistent with it. , Let us own his right to confer on whom he pleaseth those favours which none of us can pretend to have Rosſ, deserved: and adore his wonderful goodness in choosing to exercise mercy and compassion on any of the children * of men, yea, on many who must own themselves in the number of those who had the least claim to it. He hath 15 of his mere goodness given us those privileges, as christians and as protestants, which he hath withheld from mºst nations under heaven. And if we improve them aright, we have undoubtedly reason to look upon ourselves as 23 vessels of mercy whom he is preparing for eternal glory. Let us adore his distinguishing favour to us, and arro- 16 gate nothing to ourselves. It is neither of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that shoºij, mercy and worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. 5 22 Long did his patience wait on us; and let that patience be for ever adored! It shall be glorified even in those that perish: for he is so far from destroying innocent creatures by a mere arbitrary act of power and terror, that he endureth with much º thºse who by their own incorrigible wickedness prove vessels of wrath, and 18 whom the whole assembled world shall confess fitted for the destruction to which they shall finally be consigned. That after long abuse of mercy they are hardened, and perhaps after long hardness are at length destroyed; yea, that some of the vilest of men are exalted by providence to a station that makes their crimes conspicuous as those 17 of Pharaoh, till at length he shows forth his power the more awfully, and maketh his name the more illustrious by their ruin, is certainly consistent with that justice which the Judge of the whole earth will never violate. 20, But if, in tracing subjects of this kind, difficulties arise beyond the stretch of our feeble thought, let us remem- ber that we are men, and let us not dare to reply against God. Retiring into our own ignorance and weakness, as those that are less than nothing and vanity before him, let us dread by any arrogant censure to offend him who 21 has so uncontrollable, a power over us. As clay in the hand of the potter, so are we in the hand of the Lord our God. Let us acquiesce in the form he has given us, in the rank he has assigned us; and instead of perplexing ourselves about those secrets of his counsels which it is impossible for us to penetrate, let us endeavour to purify ourselves from whatever would displease him; that so we may, in our respective stations, be vessels of honour, fit for the use of our Master now, and entitled to the promise of being acknowledged as his in that glorious day when he shall make up his jewels. SECTION XXI. The apostle shows that the admission of the Gentiles to the privileges of God’s peculiar people, when Israel should be rejected, wº so far from € ſl Ol. - * being inconsistent with scripture, that it had been actually foretold both by Hosea and Isaiah. Rom. ix. 25, to the 'em RoMANsix. 25. Romſ. ix. 25. SECT. I HAVE been remonstrating as to the unreasonableness of quarrelling with the divine Ashe saith also in osee, 1 21. dispensations in distinguishing one creature from another by his favours; or one sinner willcº, #. jº — from another, by appointing him to peculiar severities of punishment not exceeding the and her bºioſºi, whº ROM. demerit of his offence: I will now venture, without further reserve, to say, that in what I nºt beloved. 1*, have been writing I had some peculiar reference to God’s calling so many of the Gentiles * by the grace of his gospel, and his appointing the in penitent Jews to be monuments of wrath. And let me now address myself to the latter, and say, Who gave thee, O Jew, an authority to question and º with thy God on this occasion? Yea, is there on the whole any reason for thee, who hast the Scriptures of the Old Testament in thine hands, and professest such a regard for them, so much as to be surprised at this, when there are so many hints of it in these divine oracles? As particularly in Hosea, where he hath spoken of calling Israel, Loammi, as disowning them for their wickedness, and hath also said, (Hos. i. 10.) “I will call them ". ſº who were not my people before, and her beloved 26 which was not for a long time beloved:* And it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where 26 And it shall come to it was most expressly said to them, Ye . not my #. ; there shall º be called not flºº only the people, but the sons and daughters, of the living God, by special adoption and not *... .º. ººj; favour.” As he is the living, God he can easily bring it into execution; and the more you º “"“” reflect on the whole tenor of his word, the more you will be sensible of the propriety with which I apply this passage, whatever its original sense might be, to the purpose in view. 27 I must also §: that Isaiah crieth concerning Israel with great earnestness and affec- e.º.º.º.º.º.º. tion, (Isa. x. 22, 23.) “Though the whole number of the children of Israel be as the sand . .';*ś, ź,"; 28 of the sea, [yet] only a remnant shall be saved, and the bulk of the people cut off. For the Israel be as the sand ºf tº: & º g * 4: sea, a remnant shall ord is finishing and cutting short his account in righteousness; for the Lord will make a gººd; & º º Aº º short account upon the earth: there shall be such a consumption of them, that when ac-wºº...","..."; 29 counts come to be balanced there will be found but a very small overplus.” . As the same º imºs. i Isaiah hath formerly said, in a passage very much resembling º: * just º Te- # dº º 'ºrº d * - - And saias said be- ferred to, (Isa. i. 9.)* Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as ::...”...”.”; ºr Sodom, toe should have been made like to Gomorrah.” There was, then, you see, but a § is..... little remnant which preserved the whole people from being º consumed; so that it º! is no unexampled thing that the main body of the Jewish nation should fall into a rºyolt ºn. & & te 30 What shall we say then? 30 from God, and become the object of his displeasure to the most dreadful degree, hºat Tiº, ...; Y * - º O' 2 rely this: that the Gentiles, lowed not after righteousness shall we then say in the conclusion of the whole argument Sui i. led tº. have itained ºrighteºus: who pursued not g/ter righteousness, who had a little while ago no knowledge or expectation ... º. of it, and no desire after it, have now, to their own unspeakable surprise and that of the which is of faith. whole world, attained to righteousness, that is, to profession of a religion whereby they may be justified and saved; even the righteousness which is by faith in the gospel, and consists" in humbly committing the soul to Christ in the way that he hath appointed. * * - e ºf * - * sº º le in the ºr war w -er keep it in view, to guard us against errors spake, (for it was not to be imagined God would have no peop ºft'...'...'. º Compare Matt. xxv. 34, 41. and the world,) and partly as it was in the nature of things more prºbable that §§ p. 290 he º: call the #º º §§ should jº the lº y H. F = fº - º f : - GSS h acere not my people..] It seems very evi- he had cast them off for such Ingratitude, as rendered them ryy ...&##!; these º: Hosea, that they refer to of his favour than the most idolatrous nations. Compare Jeffery’s Trus * - º • * r * arº * ivile is people aſter Grounds, p. 149. * * God’s purpose of restoring the Jews to the, privileges of his people a # short his account in righteousness.] Mr. Locke would trans- * à whije rejected of him. But it is obvious they night b Cutti s •+ 1, . - ºn 2-, or htra tº: º to the calling of the Gentilés; late it, For the Lord, finishing or Çiğiºg shºt hjä, pork in jºi. Vº º *...*. great event might with some probability be inferred, shall make a short or small Temnant in the earth. This is undoubtedly the ; i., § {e}...porary rejection of the Jews, of which this text sense, but the version is not exact. 529 the law of righteousness, and expecting to obtain righteous-SECT. ness by legal observances, it hath not attained to that which is indeed most properly to be 21. called the law of righteousness, that is, to the blessings of that dispensation by which alone o;...º.º. ºf righteousness and life is to be secured. And wherefore did they miss those blessings 2 ºś Because they never heard of the way to divine favour and acceptance 2 Nay, but because hºled at ſº did] not [pursue it] by ſº whereby alone in this fallen state of our nature it is to -* 3 e obtained; but merely as if it was to be gained by the works of the law. For they in and fell at that stone of offence which lay in their way; .4s it is written in these ever-memorable words, (Isa. viii. 14, xxviii. 16.) “Behold, I lay in Zion, that is, I exhibit in my church, what, though so well fitted to be a foundation of their happiness, shall in fact prove a stone of slumbling and a rock of offence, that is, an occasion of sin and ruin, to many, through their own prejudice and perverseness; and every one who believeth in him shall not be ashamed, shall not be brought under a necessity of séeking his refuge ::::::::: in helpless and hasty confusion, to which all they who slight him shall at last be reduced. THE JEWS HAD, FROM BIGOTRY AND WILFULNESS, REJECTED SALVATION. 31 But Israel, which follow- But while Israel was pursu cd after the law of righteous- ness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore ? Because ROM. IX. 32 33 As it is written, Behold, fact stumbled 1 lay in Sion a stumbling: Stone and rock oſ offence : and whosoever believeth on hing shall not be ashamed, 33 IMPROVEMENT. How can we sinners of the Gentiles ever sufficiently acknowledge the goodness of God to us in calling us tº that full participation of gospel-blessings which we enjoy.” That in our native lands, where the name of the true God was so long unknown, we should have the honour of being called his children'ſ Oh that we may indeed be Ver.26 so, not only by an external profession, but by regenerating grace! May we be of that remnant, that little remnant, 27 which shall be saved, when numbers countless as the sand of the sea, which had only the name of God's Israel, 28 shall perish, even in the day when his work shall be cut short in righteousness | * - - Blessed be God that there is a seed remaining. It is the preservation of the people among which it is found; and had it not been found among us, we had probably long since been made a seat of desolation. May it in- crease in the rising age, that the pledges of our continued peace and prosperity may be more assured, till our peace be like a river, and our salvation like the waves ºf the sea / It will be so if we be awakened seriously to inquire how we may be justified before God, and seek that invalu- able blessing in the way here pointed out; if we seek it not as by the works of the law, but by faith in Christ as the 31, 32 Lord our righteousness. He hath in this respect been to many a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence / May 33 divine grace teach us the necessity of building upon him, of resting upon him the whole stress of our eternal hopes! Then shall they not sink into disappointment and ruin; then shall we not flee away ashamed in that awful day when the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters of that final deluge of divine wrath shall over- flow every hiding-place but that which Gód hath prepared for us in his own Son. 29 SECTION XXI). The apostle shows that God hath offered patdon and salvation on the same equitable, gracious, and easy terms to all ; though Israel, by a bigoted attachment to their own law, rejected it. 1–13 - Rom. x. 1–13. Roxſ. X. l. Rox1ANS X. 1. BRETHREN, my heart’s - * zy. r] is dis sº : -. g - r - #.e., d.º. YOU see, my brethren, to what this discourse of mine tends, in which I have been repre srael is, that they might be senting faith in Christ as the only method to prevent our shame and ruin, without the ex- saved. ception of any, whether Jews or Gentiles, who should reject him. I know how unkind and unjust an interpretation may be put on such an assertion, though thus supported by ROM. the sacred oracles themselves; and therefore I think it proper to renew the assurances I * before gave, that the most affectionate desire of my heart, in the accomplishment of which 1 I should find the greatest complacency, and [jiy] supplication, which I am with daily importunity repeating before God concerning ºl is %. its present and eternal salvation happiness, which I wish as sincerely as my own. For I am ready to testify, from 2 what I well kno 7 of them by my own observation and experience, that they have a very ardent zeal for God; but I lament that it is a zeal not regulated according to knowledge, or directed into a right channel, in consequence of which it leads them into the most fatal 3 For they, being ignorant mistakes and excesses. For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God, of the purity 3 ºś of his nature, the extent of his law, and the method which in consequence thereof he ha own righteºusness have not established for the justification of a sinner; and seeking with great diligence to establish and §ºod" shore up, as it were, by the most insufficient props, the ruinous edifice of their own righteous- mess, by the observation of the precepts or expiations of their law,” have not submitted with due humility, to the righteousness of God exhibited in his Son, nor placed their own attempts of obedience in a due subordination to that. This is the most fatal error that can be imagined; for how insensible soever Israel in 4 general may be of it, it is on the whole most certain that Christ [is] the end of the law ſ: righleousness to every one that believeth, that is, it is the great scope and design of the law to bring men to believe in Christ for righteousness and life, and its ceremonial and moral 5. For Moses describeth the precepts and constitutions most harmoniously centre in this. For Moses most exactly 5 jº describeth the only way of righteousness which is attainable by the law, [when he saith,) again aw, That the man which º - - S - e - t 3 §oëth those things"shai'iive and again, (Lev. xviii. 5. compared with Deut. xxvii. 26.) The man who doth them shall by them. live in and by them;” that is, the man who perfectly observes these precepts in every par- ticular and in every punctilio, he, and he alone, if such a person there be, may claim life and salvation by them. Now this is a way of justification which, when the law has once been broken, becomes absolutely impossible to the transgressor. But the righteousness 6 which is by faith speaketh a very different language, and may be considered as expressing itself thus: (if I may be allowed to borrow the words of the great Jewish legislator, when SECT. 22. - .# 2 For I bear them record all that they have a zeal of God, but not according to know- Hedge. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 6. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on a Observation of the precepts or expiations of their law.] Many Writers, and especially, the late Dr. Sherlock, in his book, Qf the Knowſ- ſedge of Christ, have been much mistaken in the representation they have made of the Pharisaical righteousness, as if it consisted merely in $\bstituting ceremonial observances instead of moral duties. The Yarisees certainly inculcated the external duties of morality, how much soever they might themselves fail in observing them, or rest Jºerely in outward acts; but they trusted in legal expiations to procure the pārdon of those evils which might happen; and the composition of these, if I may be allowed the expression, constituted the righteousness which they went about sºngat, to establish or prop up, decrepit as it was. b The ciid of the law.] The scope of it, as Eisner shows, on this place, that Tºgs signifies ; he paraphrases the words, no one can fulfil the law till he believe in Christ. But that, how true soever, (compare chap. viii 2–4.) seems not the chief view of the apostle here. C, The litan that doth then shall live by them.] The Sinai covenant made no express provision for the pardon of any sin deliberately and Wickedly committed against it, and so was indeed a covenant of works: though the dispensation of Moses contained some further intimation of the covenant of grace which was made with Abraham, and was quite a distinºt thing from the law. And the apostle builds so much, on these thoughts here and elsewhere, that it will be of importance...to render them familiar to the mind, and to trace the evidence and illustration of them in the Mosaic writings, 530 - THE GOSPEL IS FREELY OFFERED TO ALL WHO will, BELIEVE. SECT. representing the #. and perspicuity of his law, (Deut. xxx. 11–14) “Say not in this wise, say not in thine 22. thine heart, shall ascend into heaven, that is, as I º in this view accommodate the jº"; passage, to conduct Christ down with him [from thence, to teach and instruct us, or to Christ down from above; RoM. atone for our offences? Or, Who shall descend into the deep abyss, that is, to bring Christ , 7 or, who shan descend X. É. from his abode among the dead in the bowels of the earth?” No : blessed be God, ; ; ; ; ; ; 7 Christ hath already descended from heaven to bring down the gospel, and he hath in a tº Christ again from triumphant manner arisen from the dead, to set an everlasting seal to its divine authority; so that there is no more room to puzzle ourselves about difficulties, or to wish for a power 8 of doing what to human skill or strength is impossible. But what saith he afterwards? § But what saith it? The even these words, so remarkably applicable to the subject before us: “The word is nigh .º.º.º.º. to thee, º in thy mouth, and in thine heart; easy to be understood, easy to b ... .º.º.º.º. - * e * 5 $º 3. y to be remem- is, the word o alth, which We bered, and, if thiné heart be rightly disposed, easy to be practised too.” And that is emi- "*** 9 mently the case with relation to the word of christian faith which we preach: For God hath 9. That if thoushalt confess given a very plain and intelligible revelation in his gospel; and the substance of it is this: "...º.º.º.º.º. at if thou dost courag lv with th * …º ºr ** is # * g ius, and shalt hºliº in thing if st courageously confess with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and at the hear that God hath raised same time believe in thiſ heart, with a vital and influential faith, that God hath raised him ...**** from the dead in proof of his divine mission, thou shalt assuredly be saved, whoever thou 3.Vé Cl, - 10 art, and how heinous and aggravated soever thy past sins may 㺠been. For it is with 10 For with the heart man the heart that a man believeth to righteousness, or so as to obtain justification, nor can any jº". thing, but a cordial assent secure that: and with the mouth confession is made to salvation, §§§alºušiū. and that public profession of christianity is maintained without which a secret conviction of its truth would only condemn. Let therefore the heart and the tongue do their respect- ive parts on this occasion, and your salvation and happiness will be secure ; though your obedience to the law of God may have been very #. and you could have ño claim 11 to reward or forgiveness from thence. For the scripture, in reference to Christ, as in the ºll For the scripture saith, fore-cited text, (Isa. xxviii. 16.) saith, “Every one that believeth in him shall not be in dan- Wº on him 12 ger of being ashamed and put to confusion in any imaginable circumstance.” Every one is Fortiºn, airetense without distinction, for you see there is no difference between Jew and Greek; for the ºn ºri same Lord of all, the Creator, Governor, Preserver, and Benefactor of the whole human ...iii.iciºuſ."...iº. species, displays his riches and magnifies his bounty to all that call upon him, imparting to call upon him. 13 them all the same blessings of his providence and grace. For whosoever shall invoke the 13 For whosoevershal|cal] name of the Lord shall be saved, as the prophet Joel testifies, (Joel ii. 32.) when he had ºº “f** been speaking of those great events which have in part been so wonderfully accom- sº plished in the effusion of the Spirit, and shall be further fulfilled in those scenes of provi- dence which are shortly to open on the Jewish nation. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. I LET our hearts, after the example of St. Paul here before us, be overflowing with love and compassion to our 2 brethren, and let us be earnestly interceding with God for their salvation. Where we see a zeal for God, let us ay all due regard to it, and compassionate that ignorance, which may sometimes be mingled with it; especially 3 if it effect so important an article as that of our becoming righteous before God by a better righteousness than our own. Let us pray that God would teach us, and would enable us, according to our respective situations, in a 4 proper manner to teach others that Christ is indeed the end of the law, of alſ the laws which God ever gave to fallen man for righteousness; all were intended to convince men of their need of coming to him that righteousness and life may be obtained. Great reason have we to adore the divine goodness, and to congratulate ourselves and one another upon our great happiness in this respect, that God hath given us a revelation so obvious and jº. in all the grand 6, 7 points of it. We have indeed no necessity, no temptation to say, Who shall go up into heaven? or, h’ho shall descend into the deep 2 or, Who, like the industrious but bewildered sages of antiquity, shall cross the seas, to 8 bring that knowledge from distant countries which is wanting in our own 2 The word is nigh to us; it is indeed in our mouth: oh that it may be in our heart too ! We know a descending, a risen Redeemer. He still visits us in his gospel, still preaches in our assemblies, and stretches out a gentle and compassionate hand to lead us in the way to happiness. May our profession of faith in him be cordial, and then it will be opºn and courageous, 9, 10 whatever sacrifices we may be called to make. Believing on him we shall not be ashamed, calling on his name we 5 shall be saved; though we can meet with nothing but despair from a dispensation that saith, The man who per- fectly doth these precepts shall live by them. SECTION XXIII. The apostle pursues the view given in the last section, and shows that, the gospel had been diffused ºidº, ºº, the world; though, according to º: º, which #. here mentions, from Åfoses and Isaiah, the Jews had rejected it, while the Gentiles embräced it. §om. X. i4, to the end. ROMANS X. 14. Roxi. x. 14. sEcT. FROM the promise of salvation to them that shall gall on the name, of the Lord, I have lº. º 23, just been inferring (ver. 12, 13.) that there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles as ºjičedºl joy jail to the possibility of obtaining salvation from God. And from hence, we may further infer § bºyº RoM. what is very sufficient to justify me and my brethren in preaching the gospel to the Gen- iºsihey hear without X. . . tiles, though we are the objects of so much reproach, and persecution on that ºccount. a preacher : 14 ſet us therefore attend to the inference. For how shall they call on him on whom they havº not believed as worthy to be invoked with divine honours and adoration ?, and hotº shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear of him without a preacher to carry these important tidings, which the light of nature could never be able to . 15 discover? And as for the ministers of the gospel, how should they preach except they be sº wº 㺠º: ...} expressly for that purpose 2 For as we were originally Jews, our own prejudices on this ### Wittºn, Hów"bººt. head were so strong, that we should never have thought of carrying the º to the Gen- tiles if God had not particularly charged us to do it. But blessed |be God that the charge has been given and the embassy sent; and most welcome should it be to all that receive it, as it is written and described in that lively prophecy,” (Isa. li. 7, 8.) “ O how beautiful d Invoke the name of the Lord,. &c.] #º. Pearson argues at large a In that lively Płºś. Most commentators think that the fifty- in hºce, that if Christ be nothere called Jehovah, the apostle’s argu- second ghapter o isaiah is to be explained as a prophecy, of the return #. i: "ite inconclusive, Pearson, On the Creed, p. 149. º, jºon, Babylon, and that the text here quoted refers to the THE GOSPEL IS FREELY OFFERED TO ALL WHO WILL BELIEVE. 531 ful are the feet of them that are the feet, the very footsteps, of those who bring the good tidings of peace, who bring the SECT. 23. h th l of is T ºf ºs * g e - rººf jº. àºjīāh; º; good tidings % those various good things which God hath now been pleased to bestow on t things | is church. It is pleasant to see and hear the messengers, pleasant to view the very tract of ground over which they have passed on the mountains which surround Jerusalem.” 16. But they have, not all ... But, alas, all have not obeyed the gospel, glorious as its tidings are, nor given it that cor- #sºft. Lºhorº, dial reception which its happy contents might well have demanded. And they who are believed our report? well acquainted with the ... of the Old Testament, and study them impartially, will not be surprised at it: for Isaiah saith, in that very context which contains so many illus- trious testimonies to the cause in which we are engaged, (Isa. liii. 1.) “Lord, who hath be: nº.º. ºº lieved our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed and made barº" Faith. '...}} }. * * * indeed [cométh] by hearing, and hearing in the case now before us by the word, the express command of God, to make the declaration." It is therefore our duty to deliver the mes: sage wheresoever we come, whether to Jews or Gentiles, in humble hope that some will believe though we have so much reason to fear that many will reject it. 18, But, , §ay, Haye they This is our duty, but a duty which we cannot perform without some discouragements; §§ jº, yet I may confidently say it hath in the main been practised; and I may appeal to what gººds unto the ends you at Rome knew of the matter, in consequence of your correspondence with all parts of - the empire. Have they not heard of the gospel all abroad, so that I may take up the words of David (Psal. xix. 4.) when describing the course of the celestial luminaries, and apply them to the zeal, and in some measure to the success, with which the missionaries of this holy religion have exerted themselves, assisted by the blessed Spirit of God, and animated by the hope of that glorious immortality to which they have taught others to aspire? Of them may I say, that “verily their voice is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world:” many distant nations have already heard these glad tidings, which God will at length render universal. (Col. i. 6, 23.) 19 But I say, Did not Israel But I may further say, Hath not Israel known, or had an opportunity not only of know- §º.; *: jº ing that the gospel should be preached, but that it should be carried to the Gentiles too P ºfºº #ſºft For first Moses saith, in that celebrated song of his which the children in all generations #...” “*” were to learn, (Deut. xxxii. 21.) “I will raise your jealousy by [those who were] not a nation, and] your anger with a foolish people;” which may well be understood as ultimately re- ROM. 16 19 20 But Esaias is very bold # to this great schème. And Isaiah hath the boldness to say, in a context where so 20 *...*; ** º many things evidently refer to the gospel, (Isa. lxv. 1, 2.) “I was found of them that Mºthem sought me not; I was made manifest to them that inquired not for me, nor discovered any - º - 55 - * - - "#":"...iº saith, concern to be informed of my nature or my will:” Whereas, invidious as he knew it would Alºjº be to a nation so impatient of rebuke, with relation to Israel he saith, in the very next verse, §§edient "and gainsaying “..All the day long have I stretched out mine hands in the most importunate and affectionate people. addresses to a disobedient and gainsaying people, who are continually objecting and cavil- ling; whom no persuasion can win to regard their own happiness, so as to be willing to admit the evidence of truth and the counsels of wisdom.” It appears them, on the whole, that since the prophets so plainly foretold that the Gentiles should be called and the Jews rejected, it is no way unbecoming my character as a messenger from God, and a friend to the Jewish nation, to assert the same, and to act upon it. IMPROVEMENT. 21 X. BLEssed be God for the preaching of the gospel, so absolutely necessary to that faith without which we can Ver.14 have no well-grounded hope of salvation. Blessed be God therefore for the mission of his ministers, and for his 15 abundant goodness in sending them to us sinners of the Gentiles. Let us give them a respectful and attentive hearing, and say, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that preach salvation, that publish peace! And let us take great care that we do not only speak respectfully of their doctrine, but that we comply with the purposes of their embassy. It is matter of continual joy to reflect, not only that God hath afforded to all men such means of attaining di- vine knowledge by the intimations of it which he hath given in the constitutions of the heavenly bodies, and in the whole frame of visible nature, but also that he hath sent the express messages of grace to so many millions in the extensive publication of his gospel. Let us rejoice in the spread it hath already had, and let us earnestly and daily pray that the voice of those divine messengers that proclaim it may go forth unto all the earth, and their words reach, in a literal sense, to the remotest ends of our habitable world. Let us pray that wherever the word of God hath a free course, it may be more abundantly glorified, and that its ministers may not have so much rea- son to say, Who hath believed our report? and to complain of stretching out their hands all the day long to a disobe- 16, 21 dient and gainsaying people. Exert, O Lord God, thine almighty arm, make it bare in the sight of all the nations ! Shed abroad thy saving influences on the hearts of multitudes, that they may believe and turn unto the Lord! May the great Saviour of his Israel be found of those that seek him not; and by the surprising condescensions of his grace, may he manifest himself to those that do not inquire after him. And may his ancient people not only be provoked to anger, but awakened to emulation too, and put in their claim for those blessings which God has by his Son vouchsafed to offer to all the Gentiles SECTION XXIV. The apostle shº that though the rejection 9f Israel be for the present,general, according to their own prophecies, and attended with astonishing w blindness and obstimacy, yet it is not total, there being still a number of happy believers among them." Rom. Xi. i-10 Rox1, xi. 1. - RoMANs xi. 1. I SAY then, Hath God gast T hren. how º - ãº'hiº forbid. §º my brethren, how the perverseness of the Jews and the calling of the joyful welcome that should be given to the messengers, who brought the the hands and feet of those who come upon a kind design are represented first tidings of Cyrus’s decree for their dismission, And if it were so, as beautiful to those who received benefit by their arrival. § º: might Yº...!. º §§ lº.º.º. jº', c. Faith indeed [cometh.] Mr. L'Enfant would transpose the 16th and which the messengers of the gospel Sh9uld be 'ed. Bº K 17th verses; and it is certain, as any one may easily is r r * * º - - - * - V -> * * y easily perceive, that the great deal may be jºi. º º ºt º 't. lº º connexion of all from the išth to the 18th would in that view be cleare: las in its original sense a furthe * º p: ºlº e ] , a , but as no copies, warrant it, I, think it is by no means to be presumed alry - aphrase to build upon it as an * º:º; lº. º, er h ºp upon. I have therefore translated apa, which is often a sort of an ex- 5'º'very fºotstºpji. Enfant tilinks the feet are put for the arrival, pletive, by the Word indeed. Whigh throws this Verse, into some kind of Compare ğ. ... 36 in the jºin." But ſthink the turn given in the connexion with the next, and if referred to ax\a there, will, I hope, paraphrase illustrates it much better. Bos observes, that in Sophocles be thought agreeable enough to the Greek idiom. 20 19 SECT. been foretold; but, do I say then, that God hath entirely rejected his whole sº 53? SECT. people, so as to have mercy on none of them? 24. ROM. XI 4 place, that there may not be one wo 5 rites which are established by these iniquitous laws.” .4 as this generation of Israelites is, and sure they were never worse, yet there is a remnant who continue faithful to God, according to the free election */ reserved them to himself, and made thém to differ from othèrs.b 6 flººd by the way, I cannot forbear observing and entreating you to reflect, that if it be, º them [it i. no more, as some have main- tained, of works, whether of the Mosaic or any other law; the glory of our acceptance with God is not on the whole to be ascribed to that. But on the other side, if [it be] of works, then it is no more of grace, else work is no longer work. 8 to which God hath in righteous judgment given them up: .16cording as it is written, (Isa. xxix., 10. Compare Deut. xxix. 4. and isa. vi. 10.) God hath given them a spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear. He threatened, you see, to punish their perverseness when it should come to a certain degree, by abandoming them to increasing stupidity and obstinacy, and he hath dyas it even winto this day; for their blind- ness continues notwithstanding all the extraordinary things which have been done, even 9 in our own age of wonders, for their conviction. ..And this is agreeable to what David hath said, in that prophetical imprecation which is applicable to them as well as to Judas, º: lxix. 22, 23. Compare Acts i. 20.) Let all the blessings of their most plentiful table ecome a snare to them, and that which should, according to its original use and intention, THE GENERAL REJ ECTION OF THE GOSPEL BY THE JEWS. sentence of reprobation upon myself; for I also the tribe of Benjamin. No.: blessed be chosen to faith and salvation. the story of Elijah 2 servants: and they seek my life too, and ºr- as I have said, according to the election of grace, hful prophets, and they have di God forbid! I should then pronounce a For I also am an Israelite, of am an Israelite, as it is well known I am Qf the seed of Abraham, and can trace iny genealogy, and show particularly that I am [of] - his name, God hath not rejected those of his people whom he foreknew; but hath still, as in the most degenerate ages, a seed whom he hath Know you not what the scripture saith to this e (Compare 1 Kings six. 14.) Athen he pleads with God against Israel, 3 saying, “Lord, they have cruelly slain all thy fai very foundatiºns of thine altars;” and I am left alone, after the slaughter of all thine other send murderers in pursuit of me from place to rshipper of Jehovah left in their whole land.” recollect, what says the divine Oracle to him in answer to this doleful complaint? “I have reserved unto myself, by my grace and providence, no less than seven thousand men who have not bowed the knée before the image of Baal, nor complied with any of these idolatrous * > 4\, . J. - f tº ºv the seed of Abraham, aſ the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God bath not cast away his people which he fore- knew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias 2 how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am Bui left alone, and they seek my life. - 4 But what saith the am- swer of God unto him 2 I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not r s > Powed the knee to the inage so also in the present time, bad ºf Båål. 5 Even so then at this pre- sent time also there is a rem- nant according to the election of grace. purpose in gged up the of his grace, whereby God hath 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: other- Wise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace : otherwise work is no more work. else grace is no longer grace,” if There is something so absolutely inconsistent between being saved by grace and by works, that if you lay down either, you do of necessity exclude the other from being the cause of it. 7 But to return from this §: digression: What then do we conclude 2 What but this, that Israel hath not obtained that justification and righteousness which it has sought, nor retained these particular privileges of the church of God which they pretend entirely to engross; but the election, the chosen remnant, hath obtained it, having been by divine grace 7 What then? Israel hath not, obtained, that which he seeketh for ; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. engaged to embrace the gospel; whereas the rest were blinded by their own fatal prejudices, have been for their welfare, a trap. 8 (According as it is writ- ten, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear ;) unto this day. 9. And, David saith, Let their table be made a snare and a trap, and a stumbling- block, and a recompence unto the In Thus the gospel, which should have been the means of their salvation, is now becomé an instrument of ruin and destruction to them, and an occasion of stumbling in the most fatal manner. Jºnd it must be acknowledged to be a 10 just recompence for their wickedness, that the best of blessings should thus be turned into Ver. 6 a curse to them that so ungratefully rejected and despised it. And in them the followin et their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and keep their bac continually bent down under a perpétual weight of sorrows which they may not be able to words are also fulfilled: 10 Let their eyes be dark- ened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. support, and which may be a just punishment upon them for having rejected so easy a yoke. (Compare Lev. xxvi. 13.) IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn from the answer of God to Elijah, when he thought himself left alone, and knew nothing of the 3, 4 seven thousand which God had reserved, to encourage ourselves in a secret hope that there may be much more goodness in the world than we are particularly aware of... The numbers of those that constitute the invisible 2 church are unknown to us, but they are known to God. They are all registered in the book of his remembrance, as they are all reserved unto himself by his grace; nor shall his people whom he hath foreknown be cast away. May we be of that blessed number; and may the degeneracy which we see so prevalent around us, animate us to a holy zeal to hold fast our own integrity; yea, to seize the occasion of approving it in a more acceptable man- ner, from a circumstance, in every other view, greatly to be lamented. . . - Let us often reflect upon this great and important truth so frequently inculcated upon us in the word of God, that it is to his grace, and not to any works of our own, that we are to ascribe our acceptance with him. And let the ministers of Čhrist be ready, after the example of the apostle, sometimes to turn as it were out of the way, to dwell a little on a thought at once so humbling and so reviving. a & * . . 7, 8 We see the miserable circumstances of God's ancient Israel, given up to a spirit of slumber, to blind eyes and to deafears. Ohletus take heed that we do not imitate their obstinacy and folly, lest God make our own wick- 9 edness our destruction, lest he send a curse upon us, and curse our blessings, so that our table should become a smare to us, our temporal enjoyments, or our spiritual privileges | Lord, let us often say, give us any plague rather than,the 10 plague of the heart; and bow down our backs under any load of affliction rather, than that which shall at last crush those who have refused to accept of thy gospel, and to take upon their shoulders the light burden which a -x gracious Saviour would lay upon them. a Digged up thine altars.] It scerns from hence, that though, agcord- ing to the law, there, was only one altar for, sacrifice, and that in the place where God had fixed his peculiar residence; yet, by some special fispensation, pious persons in the ten tribes, built altars elsewhere. It is well known, at Jeast, that Samuel and Elijah had done it; and per- haps hey were either kept up, or others raised on the same spots of {FO III (I. - - - s § b The election of grace.J. Some explain this of their Juaving chosen grg:e, that is, the gospel; but that turn is very unnatural, and neither suits the phrase nor tile cont:2xion with the former clause or with the next versº, in which the apostle comments on his own words r ~! c Clºc grºcº is no 19 ager grace, Śc..] Some interpret this, “The gospel would not deserve the name of grace, if the observation of the Mosaic jay were to be taken in as a part of the terms of our aggeptance with God.” But this would have been a strange position. Who that in any degree knew the terrors of God’s anger, would not most gladly have accepted of the full pardon the gospel offers, on much more rigorous terms than obedience to the Mosaic ritual : The meaning rather seems to be, “What is given to works is the payment of a debt, whereas the notion of grace implies an unmerited, favour; so that the same benefit cannot, at the same time, be derived from both.” This seems to be a reflection on the riches of divine grace which the apostle makes by the way, and which well agrees with the fulness of his heart on this subject. THE REJECTION OF ISRAEL IS NOT FINAL. SECTION XXV. º -w - - - - * ** y s ar º: } The apostle shows in this, and the next section, that the rejection of Israel is not ſina, but that the time shall com? whº, to the unspeakable joy of the christian world, the jewish nation shall be brought into the church of Christ. Rom. xi. 11–24. Rox. xi. 11. RoMANs xi. 11. SAY, then, Haye, they I HAVE asserted above the rejection of the Jewish nation in general; yet I have observed ##"####!"...º. that it is not total, so that none of them should remain objects of mercy. And do I assº iºnºi.atºis it to be final? Do I then say they have so slumbled as that, as a nation, they should fall come unto the Gentiles; for to : * ---- * • ** Kevor Ho ovno al h; f - zº 2 God rbid 1 but ºjºs. “into irrecoverable ruin, and never more be owned by God as his people 2 God forbid. I assert, that by this fall of theirs salvation [is] at the present [come] to the Gentiles; the future éonseqience of which shall be to provoke them to a holy emilation of sharing the blessings and benefits to be expected from their own Messiah, when they shall see so many heathen nations enjoy them. - - w º * But these should be no unwelcome tidings to you Gentiles: for if their fall [be] by accident the riches of the world, and their diminution the riches of the Gentiles, by scatter- ing the preachers of the gospel among them, by proving our verãcity and integrity, and in some measure exciting compassion too; though their rejecting us, in itself considered, might rather appear as an argument against it; how much more shall the bringing in their wholefulness, that is, the whole body of the Jewish nation, be a means of propagating the gospel much further, and recovering multitudes, by whom it hath been rejected, from their scepticism and infidelity, when so great an event appears in accomplishment of its known 13 For I speak to you gen- predictions?" For I note speak to you Gentiles, and I do it with tenderness and respect, 13 i. i*i; ºth; as I am, by a special designation of Providence, the apostle of the Gentiles ; I therein I1 12 Now if the fall of them be the righes of the world, and the diminishing of them, the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness 2 | 2 apostie of the Gentiles, I miºniſy, mine office: extol my office, and esteem it the most signal honour of my life tº be employed in it. And 14 º § while I thus address you, ii, is also with a desire that I may, if possible, excite to emula- iºnic are my flesh, and might tion [them who are] my brethren according to the flesh, and who are dear to me as the save some of them. members of my own body; that if I may not prevail for the recovery of their nation in general, I may at least save some of them, while I speak of those kind purposes which I assuredly know God will accomplish towards the whole Jewish people in his appointed time. And this thought gives new spirit to my address to you, as I hope it may not only tend to your edification and salvation, but also to theirs.b 15 For if the casting away. In like manner, when I wish their recovery, it is not for their sakes alone, but also with 15 **ś respect to those happy consequences which I know it will have upon the spread of the giviº in it, but life gospel among the Gentiles. For, as I hinted above, if their rejection [were] the reconci- from the dead : liation of so great a part of the heathen world to God, as it was the means of sending the gospel of peace among them ; what ſº the reception [of them be] but life from the dead? What joy will it necessarily give, and what a general spread of the gospel will it naturally produce.' 16 For if the first-fruit, be And this blessed event we may assuredly expect; for if the first-fruits [be] holy, so [is] 16 holy, the lump, is also holy : ** and if the root be holy, so are the lump. The consecration of them was looked upon as in effect the consecration of all. the branches. And so would I look upon the conversion of some of the Jewish nation as an earnest of the conversion of all the rest. .ind so much the rather, when I consider how eminently dear to God those pious patriarchs were from whom they have descended : for if the root [be] holy, the branches [are likewise] so, and will surely at length be regarded as such. And I7 !...iº, º; this though some of them beat present in so melancholy a state; for if some of the branches Yºº were broken, off, and thou, O Gentile, being as it were a scion of a wild olive, wert grafted tº Poºt ai'āties of the in among them that remained,” and ſtri with them partaker of, and nourished by, the root olive-tree ; and fatness of the good olive, being not only a graft upon another stock, but a meaner graft 18 Boast pot against the On a stock originally noble and more excellent; Boast not thijself presumptuously and łºś. ungratefully against the natural branches: and if thou boastest, [remember) to thy humilia- the root thee. ’’ tion [that] thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou hast received many benefits from Abraham's seed and the covenant made with him, but they have received none from 19 Thou wilt say then, The thee. Will thou therefore object and say, “The natural branches were broken off that I hº ºś * off might be grafted in, and therefore we may glory over them as they once did over us?” 20 W haſ were broken off for [their] infidelity, 17 And if some of the lief Wºº. * Well, take this thought at least along with thee, t r r ë $v. - * A. - - → • * ** * - j is tiešºaiti, and thou hitherto standest in their place through faith. Therefore be not high-minded and arrogant, bºtt fear,a lest thou by thy sins forfeit the privileges to which thou art so wonder- Be not high-mindcd, but fear : ully raised. For if God spared not the branches which were according to mature, neither lest he also spare not thee. } (SSS SG \" ty of God * - T * - - T * w §º º §: a remarkable display of the intermingled goodness and scuerily of God, and endeavour to improve both well. Towards then that fell thou indeed seest a memorable instance of his rity ; but §y. thee, sº ness, if thou continue in his - s - (* A. • ** - 5 - severity: but to thee a display of gentleness and goodness, if thou wilt be careful to con- tinue in [his] goodness, and endeavour grateft ſº For i. º iº the natural OranchCS, take il Cé - -y .E. : 1. 4-1.- : : ~ * -- a-". Z- - - T Štúšć" will he by any means spare thee, if thine unbelief make thee, after all thy peculiar obliga- 22. Behold therefore, the tions, as bad, and in that respect even worse than they. Behold º ‘e, on the whole, goodness : othery.ise thou - º w also shalt be cut off. - - illy and dutifully to improve it; else thou also shalt be cut off, for the blessed God will not bear always to be insulted with the petulancy 23 And they also, if they of sinners. .3nd I would have you further to consider, as a motive to think of the Jews a Accomplishment of its known predictions. So many of the pro- hecies of the Okl Testament do evidently refer to the re.}uction of the º into their own land as the people of the Messiah, iliat I can by no means doubt of the certainty of that event. Compare Isa. Nxvii. 12, 13. Ezek. xi. 37–21. XX. 34–44. xxxiv. 13, 14. Nxxv. 25—29. Nxxvi. 24– 28. xxxvii. 21—28. Amos is. 14, 15. Obad. ver, 17. Njie. vii. 14, i5. Zech. xiv. Jú, 11. Hos. i. 10, 11. And the wonderful preservation of them as a God knº's for the most part, a very scandalous profession, of its forms.--The 15th verse has so ſatural a connexion with the i3th. that Elsner includes the 13th and 14th in a parenthesis. - b -\lso to theirs...}, Pe: baps we can no where find an instance of a more popular and affectionate turn than this, in which the apostic segms to fi::d a reason for bis zeal to convert the Gentiles in his love to his Y. distinct people thus far, not only leaves a possibility of this great event bat encourages our hope of it. When it shall be accomplished, it wił be so unparalleled as necessarily to excite a general attention, and to fix upon wasn’s minºs such an almost irresistible demonstration both of the Qld and Newſ-Testament revelation, as will probably captivate the minds of many thousands of deists in countrics professedly christian ; (of which, under such corrupt establishments as Şenerally prevail, there wiil of course be increasing, multitudes ;) not will this only captivate their understanding, but will have the greatest tendency to awaken a. sease of truc religion in their hearts; and this will be a means of pro- pagating the gospel with an amazing tan countries; which probably ñad been evangelized Hong ago, had genuine christianity prevailed in those who have made a profession, and yelocity in Pagan and Maholme- own country men the Jews. c i3 iſſl oiice groſted in annong them.] that it is unnatural to suppose an ignolile for it was necessary that the simile taken from inoculation should hold in all its particula and the engagement to humility arises in a con- siderable ties ree from the circumstance objected against. Had the scion been poºr than the stock, its dependence on it for life and nourish. n:ent wºuld render it unfit that it should boast against it: how much more when, the case was the reverse of what in human usage is practised and the wild olive is ingräfled of the good! d Sc ſigt hişi-minded, &c.]. Archbishop Tillotson well observes that this, caution ill suits, the claim to infallibility which the modern church of Rome so aſtogantly makes, amidst all the absurdities with which her doctrine and her ritual are loaded. It is very improper to object branch grafted on a rich stock. * * * * ... º. º. 533 SECT. 25. ROM. 534 THE REJECTION OF ISRAEL IS NOT FINAL. ſº T - wrºt-lº v.A.-, g * * sº * } º rather than contempt, that they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, abide not in unbglief shall # be grafted on again, and restored to their former privileges: for it is certain Gojº º, is able ROM. able again to engraft them; hopeless as their state may seem both with respect to their graſſ them lºn again XI. obstimacy and their misery, his powerful access to their mind can subdue their prejudices §ainst the gospel, as thou mayst easily argue from what thou hast thyself experienced. 24 For if thou werſ, as I may properly enough express it, cut off from the olive-iree, which 24 For if thou wortcut out *aš ſtaturally wild, and, contrary to the course and process of nature, wort grafted on the "...; º; ood olive-tree ; if thou wert ädmitted into covenant with God, though descended from ºntºloº arents that were strangers and enemies, how much more shall they who are the natural ºiºi, hº º,"; brºnches,) to whom the promises do originally belong, be grafted on their own olive? God flºº.º. ºffed will not seem to do so wonderful a thing in réstoring them to what might seem the privi- into their own olive-tree ? g * - *- c s:- lege of their birth-right and descent, and saving the seed of Abraham his friend, as he hath done in calling you sinners of the Gentiles to participate the blessings of which you had . the least notion, and to which you cannot be supposed to have had any imäginable Cld III]. IMPROVEMENT. LET us set ourselves seriously to pause upon the conduct of God towards the Jews and Gentiles in that part of it Which the apostle here describes, and rejoice with trembling in it. Let us reflect on the divine severity to them Ver 22 and the divine goodness to us. What immense goodness! that we should be taken from that wretched condition in which we were utterly ignorant of the great Author and end of our being, of the nature of true happiness, and 24 the way of obtaining it, that we and our offspring might be grafted on the good stock, be called to the most important 17 of those privileges and hopes with which the seed of Abraham were honoured and enriched . We partake of the fatness of the good olive : may our fruit abound to the honour of God, to the benefit of mankind Let us cherish the most benevolent and tender dispositionstowards the house of Israel, to whose spiritual privi- 11 leges we are raised ; and let us earnestly pray that they may be awakened to emulation, especially as their fulness I 5 §§ º the riches of the Gentiles, and the receiving them again as life from the dead to the languishing and decaying CITUITC I). - In the mean time, as the gospel comes to us in so awful a manner vindicated from the contempt of former despisers, let us solemnly charge upon our souls this lesson of holy caution, these salutary words, (oh that they 20 may be continually present to our thoughts!) Be not high-minded, but fear. Whatever our privileges, whatever our experiences are, whatever our confidence may be, let us dwell upon the thought; for there is no christian upon earth that hath not reason to fear in proportion to the degree in which he feels his thoughts towering on high, and grows into any conceit of himself. Daily let us recollect what we were in our natural estate; and what, with all our improvements and attainments, we should immediately be if God should forsake us. 22 Let us pray therefore that we may continue in God’s goodness; and whoever may appear to fall from it, let us not glory but rather mourn over them, and pray for their recovery and salvation to that God who is able to recover 18 from the most obstinate infidelity and impeniténce, and to graft on not only foreign branches, but, what may seem yet more wonderful, those that have appeared more than twice dead. - SECTION XXVI. The apostle further iſlustrates the future conversion of the Jews to the sº and concludes the argument with observing, that in the mean #. tº gº. loverruled to such happy purposes as make the whoſe scene a most glorious display of the uº. wisdom of God. onn. xi. 25, to the Cºnd. RoMANs xi. 25. *. - Roni. xi. 25. SECT. AND now, my brethren, upon the whole I will conclude what I have to say upon this FOR 1 would not, brethren, 26. interesting and affecting subject, which I have indeed enlarged upon pretty copiously; for #;"lºº"; it lies with great weight upon my heart. And therefore I would not have you to be ignorant he wiºſºrºwºcomºis; RQXI. of this material circumstance relating to the great mystery in the dispensation before us, ºpºliº: *… which, on the first views of it, may appear very unaccountable; lest you should have too º, of the Čentiès be high an opinion of yourselves, when you see the Jews rejected for their fatal error. I would COI)] (2 l ; ). not, I say, have you ignorant of this, that the lamentable blindness and infatuation we have been spéâking of is in part happened unto Israel, and has spread itself over by far the greatest part of the Jewish people, not that they may utterly perish and be for ever cut off, but that they may continue in this humbled and rejected state till a certain period arrive, when the fulness of the Gentiles, the appointed harvest of them, shall be brought in,” and 26 incorporated with those already associated to the church of Christ. And so, when this 26 And so all Israel shall happy season marked out in the divine decrees, though to us unknown, shall be come, that ºn".,...; bléssed event shall make way for it, and all the seed of Israel shall, by a general conversion, the Beliver; and shall tº be saved from its dispersion and misery, and fixed in a state of covenant-favour and accept- ...” ungodliness from Ja- ance with God again: as it is written, (Isa. lix. 20.) A Deliverer shall come out of Sion, and he shall turn away the punishment of their former impiety from Jacob, when he hath 27 brought them to true repentance. As it is added, flnd this [is] my covenant which I shall ºf. c -- - - * 1. ---- ~~ 2 * • - - g unto them, when I shall take make with them when I shall take away their sins, that is, when their sins as a nation are ºf sis. 28 remitted, it shall be to bring them again into covenant with myself. And thus, on the 2s As concerning the gos- whole, with respect to the gospel, [they are] indeed regarded as enemies for your sakes; that is, ºft'; *::::::::::. for their obstimate rejecting the gospel, God hath rejected them in favour of you, and that he might receive you into his church as in their stead:" but as for the election, that remnant of a 77, the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in, &c.] It is well Paul’s account is, contrary to the, prophºlº of the old Testament, reinfº iſ: #; º: pious, º º friend, º: lº. lº ºf ºvery of the Gentile nations as Consequent on arris, that as this Epistle was written about the year 57, that is, Qng the redemption of Israel. 1: * > * w g #. the most *::::A; conversion of the Jews by the first preaching b Jīs it § written, (Isa. lix. 20, &c.)] This ºß of the apostles, and after Paul had been about 30 years engaged in his Hebrew, seems different, from the sense in Vyhic it. But if §§ work, it appears that the prophecies relating to, the calling of the Jews deliverer shall come—to those that turn, from º # the apostle’s pur- were not accomplished then, and consequently are not yet accom- here foretold as a Deliperºr to ºff. § }S º *ść, iº, jiàº. jished. Harris’s Practical Discºurses on the Messiah, ... p. 94. Dr. Dose requires. Yet it is º Y G. º ſº #. original reading: ºf very justly observes, that there is a double harvest of the Gentiles words of the quotation, as tºº. º: ºe ant with j spoken of by ºf ºthé first fied their righes, verse i3, and it is Čertain that the generał teno. 9 ...º. ãºodsisting in the preaching the gospel to all natiºns, whereby indeed gave no hope of deliverance, after º 31 [] ſº º º. 3 #5 they were i; º ſº dº, knowledge and :*::::::::: išt of gºnº” and reformation. Oſt) på & ºn g & s ºring in their ſulness, which expresses a more gloſſ ous eut. xxx. 1-LU. * - * :::::::::: .# fº the true faith of christians in the latter age 9ſ the & Enemies for your, sakes.] _T ; mºst º :*::::::: º, § jjić is to be occasioned by the conversion of the Jewis, Whit, were they considered alone, #. ..", * | g Ér. rejected ..". "###"answers Órobio’s objection, (Limb. Collat. p. 94.) that prejudiced the Jews against the gospel; but as they 56 W re] THE REJECTION OF ISRAEL IS NOT FINAL. 535 election, they are beloved for them which God hath graciously chosen to be subdued by the grace of the gospel, they SECT. the fathers’ sakes. are] beloved for their fiſhers' sakes. God's gracious regard to the memory of their pious 26. ancestors engages him to take care that some of their seed shall always continue in Covenant with him, till at length he recover them as a nation, and astonish the world, with their ºn- nº. aſſº, º: equalled glory and felicity. And this shall most assuredly be, for the gifts and calling of God 26* ance. [are] notio be repented of:d he doth not resume the gifts he hath once bestowed, nor retract the calls he hath once given, but will maintain a remembrance of them, and act in perfect harmony with them, in all his dispensations; according to that wise plan which he hath laid in his etermal counsels, and from which no unforeseen contingency can ever cause him to vary. - * we * * * * * nº." #.ſ.º.”: , As then ye Gentiles were once, and for a long time, disobedient to God, and buried in 30 § ºw" jºi".e. ignorance and superstition, but now have obtained mercy º means of their disobedience, God tºº ºliº. having taken you to be his people instead of the Jews? So they also having been disobedient 31 sº tºº to the gospel, and the more prejudiced against it on occasion of your admittance to such jºy they also distinguishing mercy, yet shall not be utterly and finally ruined, but shall also, to the glory §§§ concludea of divine grace, at length themselves obtain the mercy they have envied you. And thus 32 ####". sº the divine goodness is illustrated even by that which might seem most contrary to it: for it appears that God hath for a certain time shut up all under obstinacy and disobedience,” suffering each in their turn to revolt, under different degrees of light, that he might in a more remarkable manner have mercy on all, and glorify the riches of his grace in favours bestowed on those who evidently appeared so undeserving. 33 O the depth of the riches And now to conclude this article: "Who in the view of such a series of events must not 33 jºº cry out, o the awful and unfathomable depths of the riches, and wisdom, and knowledge of ñº.; lºnd God! How rich are the treasures of his mercy, how deep the contriyances of his wisdom, yS p * “” how boundless the stretch of his knowledge How unsearchable, and yet how unquestion- 34 Fºr who hathknown the able, [are] his judgments' and his ways such as cannot be traced out. For who hath com- 34 §º, j,\" pletely known the mind of the Lord in these things, or who hath been his counsellor in 3:...ºr whº hath first given forming the plan of them? Who, whether Jew or Greek, can pretend that he hath first given 35 ºffeom- thing tº hi ferred bligati him 2 Let him make out the claim pensed unto him again 2 any thing to ham, or conferred any obligation upon plm e * 3. 36 For of him, and through and we may answer for it, that it shall be exactly repaid him again. For, on the whole, of 36 ***". ºf..., § him as the original Author, and through him as the gracious Preserver, and for him as the ever, Amen. ultimate End, [are] all things.f. To him therefore [ º 'or ever and ever; and let all the creation join their utmost force to advance it to the highest degrees, and unite their voices in saying, Jimén. IMPROVEMENT, LET our whole souls be engaged to glorify this great and blessed God, from whom and through whom we and Ver:36 all the creatures exist. Oh that it may be our eternal employment to render adoration, and blessing, and glory to him! to him whose counsels none can trace ; to him who hath prevented us all with the blessings of his goodness: 33 so that far from being able to confer any obligation on him for which we should pretend to demand a recompence, 35 on the contrary, we must own, that the more we are enabled and animated to do for him, the more indeed are we obliged to him. We cannot pretend to have known the mind of the Lord in all its extent, or to have been admitted 34 into his secret counsels. He is continually doing marvellous things which we know not; yet surely we know enough to admire and adore : we know enough to cry out in raptures of delightful surprise, O the depths of the 33 riches both of his wisdom and goodness / One instance, though but one of many, we have here before us, in his mysterious conduct towards Jews and Gentiles; in which occurrences that seem the most unaccountable, and indeed the most lamentable, are overruled by God to answer most benevolent purposes. That the sin of the Jews should be the salvation of the Gentiles, and yet the mercy shown to the Gentiles in its consequences the salvation of the Jews, and so both should be 32 concluded under sin, that God might more illustriously have mercy on both ! - Oh that the blessed time were come when all Israel shall be saved; when the Deliverer, who is long since come 26 out of Sion, shall turn away iniquity from Jacob ; and the fulness of the Gentiles come in, so that from the rising to 25 the going down of the sun the Lord shall be one and his name one? Our faith waits the glorious event, and may perhaps wait it even to the end of life. But a generation to be born shall see it; for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Let our assured confidence in the divine promise travel on, as it were, to the accomplish- 29 ment, over mountains of difficulty that may lie in our way; and let our hearts be cheered with this happy pros- pect, under all the grief which they feel when we see how few now believe the report of the gospel, and to how few God hath revealed his arm. - While the glorious expected event is delayed, let us add our fervent intercessions with God to these prayers, by which the church has in every age been endeavouring to hasteniton. They are all written in the book of God’s remembrance, and shall all be reviewed and answered in their season. Let us in the mean time comfort ourselves with this reviving thought, that the covenant which God will make with Israel in that day is in the main the same 27 he has made with us, to take away sin. Eased of such an insupportable burden, that would sink us into final ruin and despair, let us bear up cheerfully against all discouragements, and glory in the gospel, which brings us this j blessing, how long and how generally soever it may be to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. It before the Gentiles were called; 1, on the whole, prefer the sense hamic family as a peculiar seed to himself, and bestowed extraordinary given in the paraphrase. The different sense of Åſa'here supposed, favours, upon them. Afterwards he permitted them, by unbelief and may seem a strong objection against it; but if Öt a be rendered with a #º to fall, and took in the Gentiles on their believing; and regard to, it may be applicable to both. he did even this with an intent to make that very mercy to the Gentiles 㺠to be repented of..] Elsner has produced many passages from ****** of prºvoking the Jews to jealousy, and so bring them to faith approved Greek classics, in which the word, aper apexmTos is used by that which had at first been an offence in the way to it. This was exactly in this sense; and has collected, in his curious note on this trily ºnly stery in the digine conduct, which the apostle mºst rationally Verse, many testimonies of pagan authors º to the divine per “º well as respectfully adores, in the concluding words of the chapter. fections, which might have taught some christian divines to speak more f Qſ hig, through him, for him, &c..]. Antoninus, speaking of Nature, jonourably of them than they join some of their writings. that is, of God, has an expression which one would imagine he had bor. e Shut up all under disobedience, &c.], It is of great importancs to rowed from this of Paul, ex gov Tavra, ev got mayra, gig as navra, observe that this refers to different periods. First, God suffered the Gen- things are of thee, in thee, and to thee, tiles, in the early ages of the world, to revolt, and then took the Abra- 536 SECT, 27. ROAI. XII I 2 3 4 ing share of his bounty which any one may have received. Especially when you remem: ber, that this distribution is made, not only or chiefly for your own sake, but out of regard ody we have many members, but all the members 6 per { 8 teaching : Or if he be an exhorter, whose peculiar business it is to urge Christians to duty, or to comfort them in the discharge of it, let him continue in his exhortation: he that giveth any thing to a charitable use, [let him do it] with true simplicity and unfeigned liberality of heart, neither seeking the applause of men nor any other sinister end, which PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS AND DIR ECTIONS, SECTION XXVH. The apostle enters on a series of most admirable care to glorify him in their respective stations, RoMANs xii. 1. HAVING thus despatched what I proposed in the argumentative part of the Epistle, and § suggested a variety of considerations which may convince you of the great excellency of by a faithful improvement of their various taleſ:ts. * practical exhortations and directions, in which he labours to persuade christians to act in a man- ner worthy of that gospel the excellency of which he had been illustrating. - - > - *. And here pārticularly urges an elite consecration to God, and a Rom. xii. 1–11. Roxi. xii. 1 BESEECH you therefores rethren, by the mercies o God, that ye present your the gospel, and the singular favour which God has shown to those Gentiles whom he hath º a living sacrifice, holy, cceptable unto God, which is called into the christian church, and to that remnant of the Jews who are kept in so º your reasonable service. a relation to them, while the bulk of their nation are fallen into a state of rejection; et me now endeavour to animate you all to behave in a suitable manner. I entreat you therefore," my dear brelhren, partakers with me in this holy calling, by all the tender mer- cies of our most compassionate God, that instead of the animal victims whose slaughtered bodies you have been accustomed to offer, either to the true God or to idols, you would now present, as it were, at his spiritual altar, your own bodies, as a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God. Let all the members of your bodies and all the faculties of your souls,” being sanctified and animated by divine grace, be employed in the service of him to whom you are under such immense obligations. This he requires of you [as] your ra- tional service; and it will be much more acceptable to him than any ceremonial forms, though most exactly prescribed in a ritual of his own appointment. ...ſhtd as you desire to engage his approbation and favour, be mot, in the general course of your temper and ac- tions, conformed to the sentiments and customs of this vain and sinful world, but rather be ye transformed in the renewing of your mind: endeavour to become new creatures, con- 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye trans- formed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and accept— able, and perfect, will of Göd, tracting new habits, and engaging in new pursuits, under the influence of the divine Spirit on your hearts; that you may not only be speculatively acquainted with the doc- trines, precepts, and design of the gospel, but may experimenially know that will of God [which is] in itself so excellently good, and which, as it is most acceptable to him, has the most apparent tendency to puri and perfect our natures. Jºnd f particularly say, and give it in charge,” according to that grace which is given to C 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every me as an inspired apostle, to every one that is among you, as if personally named, to take,...ºft.*.*.*. the greatest heed that he be not exalted into spiritual pride by the º and privileges which God hath conferred upon you. I charge each not to arrogate [to himself] above of himself with modesty, sobriety, and humility; according to the measure of that faith, and in correspondent proportion to those gifts, whic what he ought to think,” but that he think to think of himself more high- ly than he qught to think; but to think soberly, according as od liath dealt to every man the measure of faith. God hath distributed to every man among you. And surely when you consider it is God who hath given all, there will appear little reason to magnify yourselves on any distinguish- to the good of the whole: for as in one 4 For as we have man members in one body, and º members have not the same office : have not the same use, but each its proper function and service appointed by the wise Form- 5 er and gracious Preserver of the whole; So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and 5 so, we, being many, are every one members of each other: we should therefore endeavour each of us to know his one body in Christ, and every One members one of another. own place and condition, and mutually to make our various capacities as serviceable as We C8 11. Having therefore gi , all proceeding from God, the great Fountain of every good thing, and different according to the diversity of the grace that is given unto us ; whether [it be] prophecy, as enabling us to foretell future events, or to make discourses for the edification and direction of the church, [let us be employed in it] according to the degree of our gift, which is in proportion to the degree of faith that is respectively in us:ſ, Qr ſhaping] the office of ministry, as deacons, let a man employ himself actively and faithfully in his jºinistration: or if he be an instructor of catechumens, who are to be fitted for the com- 6 Having then gifts differing according to the , grace that is given to us, whether pro- phecy, let us proplucsy accord- ing to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; munion of the church, let him continue humbly, tenderly, and patiently in the work of 8 Or he that exhorteth, on gxhortation : he that giveth, let him do, it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that she weth mercy, with cheerfulness. he could desire to conceal: he that presideth in the distribution of charities so collected, let him do it with diligence; that lie may know the case proposed, and that he may see that nothing be wanting to make the charity as effectual as possible; and as for him that choiceth mercy, that is, who has the care of those who, on account of peculiarly grievous a Entreat you therefore.] Some apply this to the Gentilès ; and as most of the members of the church at Rome were, originally so, it is ſeasonable to believe the apostle had them principally jn view; but not excluding the converted Jews, who, as he had just before ºxpressed its remained as a remnant according to the election were hardened, and therefore had surely reason to acknowledge the ten- Öor mercies of God to them, and were under strong obligations to devote lºselves to him. I have accordingly in the paraphrase applied it to Oth. b Bodies and souls.] The body is here by a usual figure put for the whole person; nor caä the soul be now presented to God otherwise than as dweiſing iſ the body, or truly consecrated to him, unless the body ise employed in his service; nor, on the other hand, can the body be pre- sented as a living sacrifice, otherwise than as acted and aqimated by the soul.-For the propriety of the word Taggaragat, which properly signifies placing the victim before the qigº, See Elsner, in loc. & Good, accºtable, and perfect.] L’Enfant explains each of these as opposed to the Jewish ritual : this christian sacrifice being more excel- jërit in itself, Ézek. xx. 25, more pleasing to God, Psal. X]. 7, 8, and tending more to make us perfect, Heb. vii. 19. I understand it as re- fºr ring to all the preceptive part of christianity, the excellency of which they will best understand § set themselves most exactly to practise upon it. - - d Say, and give it in charge.] So Aeyetv signifies, Acts xv. 24. See Raphe). Annot. ex: Herodot, in loc. e Aſot to arrogate, &c.] Raphelius (Annot. ex: Herod, in loc.) has shown that §repºpověty has properly this signification. - f.According to the proportion of faith..] Many interpret this, “Do it accºrding to the general scheme of divine revelation, not setting up any of grace, when the rest . novel interpretations of Scripture injurious to it.” But Raphelius (Annot. ex: Xen. in loc.) objects that Aoyos, not avaMoyta, would be the proper word to express that. Dr. Sam. Clarke (Posthum; Serm. vol. i. p. 6.) by faith understands the trust reposed in them, or the nature and use of the gift they had ; which is a very unusual sense of the word rug-ig. The Rhemish Jesuits suppose it was a confession or summary of faith, drawn up by all the apostles in conjunction.: to whigh they re; fer Rom. vi. 17. xvi. 17. 1 Tim. vi. 20. Gal. i. vi. Acts xv. 6. none of which texts seem to imply any thing like it; nor is it pretended that such a creed was ever quoted in antiquity by the name of avaMoyt a rtarzog, or indeed, that I can find, by any other. If we suppose the prophetic gift to be given in proportion to the exercise of faith, that is, §. on Gód when he signified a disposition in general to im– art it, we have, I think, the clearést explication the phrase will admit. §. .263. noteb, on Mark xi. 22. - g #mpiöy himself in ministration.]... It seems the word egro is un- derstood. Compare 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11.--The word ðtakova properly signifies the ministration of a deacon, and so interpreted gives the dis- tinctest sense. - - - - * º h iſ that presideth, with diligence.]. In this and, the fºllowing glause, I folio v the interpretation of Lord Barrington, (JMisc; Sacra, Ayol. i. p. 77.35.) and refer to him for the reasons which I think sufficignt to justify it, only mentioning the application of the wºrd T9007 arts in the same sense to Phoebe, Rom. xvi. 2, who could not be supposed a ruler in the church. Tipota Tapevos, properly signifies one who presides, but in what, the connéxion must determine. For the extrugdinary mergy exercised among the ancient christians, see Lugian, De J197te Peregrin. º Opera, vol. ii. p. 764. Edit. Šimºr. iśīš.” and jūjian fºist. XIl Y, PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS AND DIRECTIONS. calamities are the objects of particular compassion, let him do it with an obliging cheer- SECT. fulness of temper, cautiously guarding against any disgust at what may seem mean and 27. 9 Let love be tº * - without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that as free as possible from base flattery and from vain compliment, ºff T s in every instance, and adhere resolutely to that which is good. , Practise benevolence in all which is good. disagreeable in the offices which must necessarily be performed for such. tº * On the whole, [let] love [be] undissembled, and all your expressions of mutual º * 9 .#bhor that which is ev its branches, and every other virtue, with the greatest determination and perseverance of 10...hindly, ºftectioned mind, whatever discouragements may for the present arise. Do not only abound in the 10 one to another with brotherly i.e.”..."; exercises of common humanity, but in brotherly love, as christians, [be] mutually full of one another; tender affection,i yea cultivate those gentle dispositions of mind with delight; and en- deavour to think so modestly of yourselves, that you may still be in honour preferring one another. Let each in his, turn be ready to think better of his brethren than of himself; and so to prevent them in every office of respect.R and, out of regard to their advantage, to give up with as good a grace as possible any thing in which his own honour or personal ºlººlin busines; interest may be concerned. When you are actually engaged, be not slothful and sluggish 11 in the prosecution of your proper business in life, but endeavour to rouse your spirits, so ſervent in spirit; serving the Lord. that it may be despatched with vigour and alacrity, and without an unnecessary expense of time. For this purpose be M. warm, and active in spirit: and certainly you will see the greatest obligation and encouragement to be so, when you consider that you are serving t Lord Jesus Christ, to whose condescension and love you are infinitely indebted. May you always attend his service with the greatest zeal and delight, and may every action of life be brought into a due subordination to that great end IMPROVEMENT. How rich were a christian in practical directions for the conduct of life, even if this excellent chapter were his only treasure of this kind! Let such scriptures as these be welcome to us; the scriptures that teach us our duty, as well as those that display before our éyes the richest variety of spiritual privileges. Indeed it is one of our greatest privileges to be taught our duty, if at the same time we are inclined by divine grace to perform it; and if we are not, we have no privileges that will prevent, none that will not increase, our ruin. * Wisely does the great apostle lay the foundation of all virtue in a principle of unfeigned piety towards God—in Ver. 1 resenting before him our bodies as living sacrifices. How great an honour and happiness will it be to us to do it! That we may be engaged to this, letus often think of his tender mercies, so many and so great; and especially of that most illustrious of all mercies, his redeeming us by the blood of his Son, and calling us into the christian covenant. Can there be a more reasonable service than this? that we should be consecrated to our Creator, to our Redeemer, to our Sanctifier, to our constant Benefactor, to our supreme End and Happiness?—The world indeed neglects him, yea, even what is called the christian world neglects him to such a degree as, if we did not continually see it, we should not suppose to be possible. But let us not in this instance be conformed to it. Oh 2 that divine grace may so transform and renew our hearts, that we may not! Nothing but experience can teach us how good, and perfect, and acceptable the will of God is, and how happy a thing it is to be governed, in every respect, by its unerring declarations. et us remember, that as our sanctification so also our humility and our usefulness are his will; and therefore let us endeavour to conquer every high conceit of ourselves, and every sordid and selfish sentiment. Let us 3 often reflect that we are all members of each other; and being so happily united in Christ, have all but one 4 537 ROM. XII. interest, which is that of the body and of its glorified Head. Whether our station in the church be more public 7, &c. or private, whether our capacities and endowments be more or less distinguished, let us all be faithful, be affec- tionate, be disinterested, be active, endeavouring to serve Christ, and even the poorest of his people, with sim- F. with diligence, with cheerfulness; preferring others to ourselves; abhorring that love which is spent in hypocritical words and unmeaning forms; cultivating that which gives to the soul tenderness, condescension, and vigour. In one word, let us remember we are serving the Lord, the Lord Christ; and doing all in his name for II his sake, let this add fervour to our spirit, zeal to our diligence, and abasement to our humility; for nothing surely can be so animating, nothin g so melting, nothing so humbling, as to recollect, on the one hand, how much we owe $3.3 S S 5 5 him, and, on the other, how little we are able, how much less we are careful, to do for his service. SECTION XXVIII. The apostle pursues his practical exhortations, and particularly recommends devotion, patience, hospitality, mutual sympathy, humility, a peaceful temper, and a readiness to forgive injuries. Roxſ. xii. 12. Rom. Xii. 12, to the end. Roy1ANs xii. 12. REQºING...ip...hope på I HAVE been exhorting you, my brethren, to many christian duties and graces, and among SECT. tient in tribulation; continu- ing instant in prayer : the rest to the greatest activity and zeal in the service of Christ. Let me exhort you to guard against such a dejection of spirit as would enervate that holy activity and zeal. On 28. * the contrary, [be] you that are the servants of Christ always rejoicing in the hope of those º glorious rewards which your Divine Master, in the riches of his grace, hath set before you, 12. and in that support which he gives you in the way to that eternal glory. And animated by that hope, be patient in all the tribulation which you may bear in his cause, or from his hand ds, in the wise disposals of his gracious providence. And while under these pressures, continuing instant in prayer, draw down those necessary supplies of his Holy Spirit which 13 Distributing to the ne; may carry you honourably through all your trials: Liberally communicating to the necessities 13 of the Saints, and accounting nothing your own which their relief requires you to furnish cessity of the saints; given to hospitality. º & out; particularly pursuing that hospitality which present circumstances so peculiarly i In brotherly love [be] mutually full of tender affection.] Perhaps the extremely expressive words of the original, Tm ºt}\aôéA&t a sus' ax}\m- Xovg bºxoa rooyou, might justly be rendered, delight in the tenderest fra- ternal affection to each other : the word ºxoa Topyot not only signifying a strong affection, like that of parent animals to their offspring, but a delight in it, as the ingenious Dr. Balguy has justly observed in his ex- cellent Sermon on this text. * - k Prevent them in every office º; Archbishop leighton well observes, (Expository Works, vol. ii. p. 429.) that the original words, Tm Tipm a}\\mXous ºpomyoupévot, are very expressive, and might literal- ly be rendered, leading on...each other with respect, or in giving honour going before each other. This I have endeavoured to express in this clause of the paraphrase, but have retained our version, as expressing something of the esteem from which, this respectful behaviour should proceed. L'Enfant renders it, mutually prevent one another with honour. l Serving the Lord.] Several copies for kup, a read kalpa), serving the time, that is, husbanding your opportunities; and Dr. Mill, trusting chiefly to the authority of Jerome and some other Latin translations, admits this as the true reading. But it is by no means supported by an adequate number of Greek manuscripts; and besides that it would be an unnatural and inelegant expression in that sense, it sinks the noble sense of the commonly received reading so much, that I could by no means persuade myself to follow it. It is a lively exhortation to chris- tians to be always serving Christ, and to cultivate the temper which the 6S 538 PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS AND DIRECTIONS. SEC '. demand,” especially towards those strangers that are exiles or travellers in the cause of 28 ghristianity. Stay not till occasions of this kind force themselves upon you, and much ...— – less till importunity extort the favour, as it were, against your will; but, like Abraham, '''. look out for proper objects of such a bounty, and follow after them to bring them back to 4 Yº houses. Qn the other hand, bless them who are pursuing you with evil intentions, and gersécute you with the greatest severity for conscience-sake. "Wish them weii, and pray; sous bless, and cuise for their conversion; yea, if they should go on to revile you for all the expressions of your - love, go on to bless, and curse them not, though provoked by their bitterest imprecations 15 against yol. Make it a constant maxim with yourselves to maintain a constant sympathy with your brethren of mankind, which may lead you to rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep ºith them that weep ; to congratulate others on their felicity, and to bear your part With them in their sorróws, as members of one body, who have alſ, as it were, one common 16 feeling., [Bel entirely united in your regards for each other. Let each condescend to the rest, and agree with them as far as he fairly and honourably can ; and where you must differ, do not by any means quarrel about it, but allow the same liberty of sentiments you WQuld claim. Affect not high things, either to possess exalted stations of life or to converse With thºse that bear them, but rather condescend and accommodate yourselves to men of low, rank; fºr it is chiefly among the poorer part of mankind that the gospel is like to pre- Vail; and all christians ought, in this respect, to bear the image of their great Master, who spent most of his time in conversing with such. Be not so wise in your own conceit as to think yourselves above the divine direction, or that of your fellow-christians, in this respect 17 or in any other, Render to none evil for evil; nor imagine that any man's injurious treat- ment of you will warrant your returning the injury; but act in such a cautious and cir- Cumspect manner, that it may evidently appear you provide against the malignity which Will lead many to put the worst constructions upon your actions. And do only those things.Which may be above the need of excuse, and may appear, at the first view, # and 18 repºtable in the sight of all men. If it be possible, and at least to the utmost of Jour power, as far as it is consistent with duty, honour, and conscience, live peaceably with all men; not, only your own countrymen or fellow-christians, but Jews and Gentilés, Greeks and barbarians.” Upon the whole, my dearly beloved brethren, whatever wrongs you may receive, revenge not yourselves on those that have injured you; but rather yield and give place to the wrath of the enemy;" for God hath forbidden us to indulge any of the vindićtive passions: as it is, writº. Venºs it is ſpritten, (Deut. xxxii. 35.) Wengeance [is] mine, that is, it properly belongs to me, and É I will repay, saith the I will recompense the deserved punishment, saith the Lord. And indeed it requires the 20 wisdom as well as the dignity if majesty of a God to claim and manage it aright. There- Joré, instead of bearing any thoughts of hurting them that have used you most unkindly and unjustly, if thine enemy hunger, feed him, and if he thirst, give him drink; and on the whole, do him all the good in thy power, as Solomon urgeth, (Prov. xxv. 21.) for by doing this thou shall, as it were, heap coals of fire on his head;" thou wilt touch him so sensibly, that he will no more be able to stand against such a conduct than to bear on his head burning coals; but will rather submit to seek thy friendship, and endeavour by future kindness to overbalance the injury. - On all occasions act on this as an inviolable maxim, and if you do not find the imme- diate good effect, persist in such a conduct; be not overcome with evil where it seems most obstinate, but overcome evil with good; for that is the most glorious victory, and a victory which may certainly be obtained, if you will have the courage to adhere to that which, being good, is always in its own nature, on the whole, invincible, to whatever present disadvantage it may seem obnoxious. - 14 Bless them which perse- 15 Rejoice with them that O rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not WISC in your Own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath : for 20 Therefore if thine ene- my hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him. drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. IMPROVEMENT. SURELY if any thing consistent with the burdens and sorrows of mortal life can inspire constant joy, it must be the christian hope, the hope of our calling. , Surely, with a joy thus supported, no tribulation can be too great to be endured with patience, yea, with cheerfulness; since whatever it be, the glorious object of our hope, far from being endangered or diminished by it, shall rather be secured and increased. Let us therefore continue instant in prayer, that our minds may be so fortified and ennobled that we may dwell upon these views. ell may they keep the heart in so serene and pleasant a state as to make us ready to every act of kindness to 13 our fellow-creatures, but especially to those who are heirs with us of this hope, whom we ought to esteem it our great honour and privilege to be able in any measure to assist and accommodate, while they are travelling through this too often inhospitable wilderness in the way to that kingdom they are going to receive. It is no wonder, that as we are not of this world, but are chosen and called out of the world to so glorious a #. the world should hate and persecute us; but let us neither be dismayed nor in any degree exasperated with the ill usage we may meet with. Rather, with unfeigned compassion and good will to the most injurious of our enemies, let us not 17 only refrain from repaying evil with evil, but render them blessing for curses, and benefits for wrongs, since we have ourselves found such mercy, and are called to inherit such a blessing. - Let us cultivate those kind and social affections which this great proficient in them all so forcibly inculcates;– 15 that tender sympathy which may teach us to share in the joys and sorrows of all about us—that candid humility Ver.I2 apostle expresses when he says, guot To my Xpt aros, Phil. i. 21. To me to live is Christ. It also suggests a motive to enforce the former ex- hortation ; as I have hinted in the paraphrase. this must include living peaceably with heretics and schismatics, Bar- row’s PWorks, vol. i. p. 27 owever, the ill treatment which must º expected under these hard names from men of unpeaceable tempers, should never lead, any to deny or slight what they in their consciences a Pursuing hospitality.] It was the more proper ſor the apostles so frequently to enforce this duty, as the want of public inns (much less common than among us, though not quite unknown, Luke x. 34, 35. rendered it difficult for strangers to get accommodations, and as many christians might be banished their native country, for religion, and, per- hºps laid under a kind of bann or excommunication, both among Jews and heathens, which would make it a high crime for any of their former brethren to receiye them into their houses. For the illustration whigh the paraphrase gives of the energy of this text, I am obliged to Mr. Blac º l, Sacred Class. vol. i. p. 232. ' - b Be entirely united in your regards for each otlucrºl, This, on the Xhººl seemed the most proper version of To a 0.70 €ts aXX.m.885 ºppovgyTes' an though Dr. Whitby paraphrases it, “Desire the same things for others that you do for yourseſvés, and would have them desire for you,” I think the gense given above preferable, as it supposes less of an ellipsis, which I would not suppose without apparent necessity. c Greeks and barbarians.] It is remarkable that Dr. Barrow adds, judge the truth of doctrine or purity of worship. d Give place to ſº L'Enfant and others explain this of giving way to thc ºcrath of God, and quote the phrase of giving place to the physician, (Ecclus. XXxviii.12.) and giving place to the layo, (chap. xix. 17.) as authorizing that interpretation: But I think, in both those passages; to give place signifies to yield without opposing; in which ºnse it best suits the interpretation given in the paraphrase, which seems most natural. he ingenious and learned Dr. Balguy determines in favour of the other interpretation, , (Balguy’s Serm. vol. ii. p. 222, 223.) though the force of the reason that follows is not at all impaired by OUITS. e Thou shalt heap, &c.] The sense, cannot be, thou shalt consume him and bring judgments upon him ; for they would be applied to revenge, and building upon it, while it, is most expressly §. It must therefore intimate in how tender a manner human nature is a ſected with ſavours received from one who has been considered as an enetity. PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 539 which shall, with graceful, unaffected freedom, stoop to the lowest and the meanest, and while it stoops, rise in SECT. unsought honours—that distrust of ourselves which shall cause us to cease from our own wisdom, that we may 28. repose ourselves upon the unerring guidance of our heavenly Father—that kindly obstinate attachment to peace, that heroic superiority, which melts down with kindness the heart that but a little before was glowing with rage— RQM. and, on the whole, that resolute perseverance in goodness, which must be finally victorious, and will assuredly rise 2í" with a new accession of sº and of glory from every seeming defect. SECTION XXIX. The apostle urges obedience to magistrates, justice in all its branches, and love as the fulfilling of the law : concluding the chapter with a warm exbortation to that universal sanctity which might become and adorn the excellent dispensation of the gospel. Rom. xiii. 1, to the end. Romans xiii. 1. AMONG the many exhortations I am now giving you, my christian brethren, to a life SECT. worthy of the gospel, that of obedience to magistrates, to which I now proceed, must be 29. acknowledged of distinguished importance. I know the Jews are strongly prejudiced against the thoughts of submitting to heathen governors; but let me strictly charge and ROM. enjoin it upon every soul among you without exception, how holy soever his profession be, , * and however honourable his station in the church, that he be in all regular and orderly subjection to the superior civil authorities which divine Providence hath established in the places where you live. For there is no such legal authority but may, in one sense or - another, be said to be from God. It is his will that there should be magistrates to guard the peace of societies; and the hand of his providence in directing to the persons of par- j. governors, ought to be seriously considered and revered. The authorities that erist under one form or another, are in their different places ranged, disposed, and established by God,” the original and universal Governor. H. therefore, who, by an unjust resistance, 2 endeavours to confound these ranks, and sets himself, as it were, in array against the authority of which magistrates are possessed,” withstands the disposition of God for the public peace and order: and they who withstand so wise and beneficial an appointment shall receive to themselves condemnation, not only from the civil powers they injure, but from the supreme sovereign, whose laws they break, and whose order they endeavour to TeVerSe. RoM. xiii. 1. LET every, soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God : the powers that be are or- dained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore re- sisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of d : and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror And indeed the good purposes to which magistracy is subservient, make it very apparent 3 tºº.º.º.º.º. that God must be displeased when that is despised: for rulers, in their several offices, are of the power; do that which not, on the whole, a terror to good works, but to such as are evil,” being intended to en- º, halt * courage the formér by punishing the latter. Wouldst thow not therefore be afraid of the high authority with which they are invested P. Do that which is good, and thou shalt, ac- cording to the general course of administration, have not only protection but praise and respect from it.” This, I say, may reasonably be expected, and will be the case where the magistrate understands himself and his office: for he is, according to the original appoint- ment, to be considered as elevated above his fellow-men, not for his own indulgence, dominion, and advantage, but that he might be to thee, and to all the rest of his subjects, as the servant and instrument of God for thine and the public good. . But if thou dost that which is evil, and so makest thyself the enemy of that society of which he is the guardian, thou hast indeed reason to be afraid : for he holdeth not the sword of justice, which God hath put into his hand, in vain.f It was given him for this very purpose, that he might smite malefactors, and thereby preserve peace and order in his dominions. And in doing it he is to be regarded, not as acting a severe and oppressive part, but as the servant and substitute of God; an avenger appointed in his name, to ſerecute, not his own personal resentment, but the wrath of a righteous Providence, against him that doeth evil, in in- stances wherein it would be highly improper to leave that avenging power in the hands of private injured persons. Therefore, when this is considered, piety, as well as prudence 5 and human virtue, will teach thee that it is necessary to be in a regular subjection, not only out of regard to the dread thou mayst reasonably have of that wrath and punishment which man can execute, but also {. the sake of conscience, which will be violated and armed with reproaches against you, if you disturb the public peace, and resist the kind purposes of God, by opposing governors, while they act under his commission. This is in effect what all subjects profess to own, as on this account you also pay tribute; which magistrates every where receive, and is levied for this apparent reason, that they are to be considered as the ministers of the good providence of God, who give to the public the whole of their time, care, and labour, and continually applying themselves to this one affair, the execution 4 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But i thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to exccute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience-sake. 6 G For for this cause pay ye tribute also : for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. this argument is not applicablé, it is reasonably to be taken for granted that the apostle did not intend here to pronounce concerning such cases. Nothing can be said for interpreting these passages in favour of un- limited passive obedience, §§ will not prove any resistance of a private injury unlawful, by the authority of our Lord’s decision, Matt. y. 39, 40. And this would subvert the great foundation of magistracy itself, which is appointed by ſorce to ward off and prevent, or avenge, postilence is an argument against seeking º”. means to remove it. such injuries. But it Was Yery, prudent in the apostle not to enter, into b Scts himself. &c.] This secºns the most direct import of avT (Taago- any question relating to the right of resistance in some extraordinary ..! 3 cases, as those cases are comparatively few, and as the just decisions * Hi - r 7-37 ran ared or marshalled - - *'s s - • ** t |. which may allude to the word Tº axlº'º, ºg which could have been given on that subject might possibly have been y God, used above with respect to the magistrate, wer. - l .. - y - w -- 3- J.- ...l- misrepresented to his own detriment and that of the gospel. The gene- c Anthority of which magistrates are possessed:] Bishºp. Hopkins, aſ ºf beneyolence to the whole, so strongly asserted in this con- lays great stress on the word &ragua here used, as signifying a lavrful *. a Disposed and established.]. So I render the word Terayp evat, think- ing the English word ordained rather, too strong. Cºmpºre, Acts, xiii. 33 and the note there. Divine Providence ranges and in fact establishes the various governments of the world; they are, therefore, under the character of governments, in the general, to be revered: but this cannot wnake what is wrong and permicious in any particular forms, sacred, i.e."º immutable, any"more than the hand of God in a famine of - - • - - texts are in particular cases to determine; and all particular precepts, authority, and incapable of being applied to an , usurper; and, in pur- suance of this, has taken some pains to show that the power of the Roman emperors in the apostle's timé was not usurped, the people having given up their original rights to the senate, and the senate to the emperors. But as this is a very abstruse question, and the pretended evidence for it very siender and exceptionable, and, so far as, I can judge, quite unsatisfactory; so it is certain that ēšovata is º: º to i. wsurped authority, being applied to the power qf Satan, Acts. XXyi., 18. Eph. ii. Čolºaré'Ébh. vi. i2. Col. i. 13., ii. 13; Rev. xiii. 2,4, 5, to which several other instances might be added., But the natural and candid interpretation proposed above needs not the support of such a criticism, and frees us from the endless embarrassment of the question of a king de jure and de facto. I should think it unlawful to resist the most unjust power that can be imagined, if there was a probability only of doing mischief by it. e - - d Jºrd not a terror to good works, &c.] If circumstances arise in which in lºver universal terms they are delivered, are always to give way to then). e In the general course of administration, &c.] As it is certain the case often is otherwise, and was particularly so with respect to Nero, under whom this epistle was written, it is necessary to interpret the words with this latitude. And there is great reason to conclude that magistrates in general are in fact much more beneficial than hurtful to society, which is a good argument for a general submission ; and that yyas, as we observed above, all the apostle could, intend to enforce. Compare Prov. xviii. 22. where, if I mistake mot, the sense is similar, and is to be understood thus ; “Generally speaking, a wife is a felicity rather thau a dotriment to her husband, though to be sure there are mº, excepted instances.” - s - - - f Holding not the sucord in vain..] This strongly intimates the lawful- mess of inflicting capital punishment, which to deny, is subverting the chief use of magistracy. 540 SECT . 29. ROM. DXIII. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Ver. 1—5 3, 4 PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS AND DIRECTIONS. of their high office, have a right to be honourably maintained out of the public revenues, on the most obvious principles of equity and justice. On this Fº therefore, be careful that you render to all what is justly their due, even though you may have opportunities of defrauding them of it, to your own immediate and temporal advantage. To whom tribute, [is due] for your persons or estates, [render] such tribute or taxes; and to whom custom is due for any commodity exported or import: ed, render that custom ; and seek not clandestinely to convey such commodities away without paying it. To whom reverence is dueh on account of their worth and character, render reverence ; and to whom any external form of civil honour and respect is due by virtue of their office and rank of life, though it should so happen that they have no peculiar merit to recommend them to your regard, scruple not to pay all proper marks of honour; and guard against that stiffness which, under pretence of christian simplicity, by disputing such common forms, may rather indulge pride and occasion reproach. On the whole, ove nothing to any, but endeavour to manage your affairs with that economy and prudent at- tention, that you may as soon as possible balance accounts with all who have demands upon you, except it be with respect to that debt which while you pay you will be renew- ing; I mean the obligation you will ever be under to love one another. That I would recommend to your constant care ; for he that lovelh another, hath in a compendious man- ner fulfilled every thing that the law requireth with respect to him. For that [precept, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, Thou shalt not covet any thing that is thy neigh- bour's, and any other command respecting our fellow creatures, if such [there be, is summed wp in this one excellent and comprehensive precept, which I wish may be engraven on all our hearts, so as to regulate every affection and action, Thou shall love thy neighbour as ºft Thou shalt learn to put thyself, as it were, in his place, and to act as, in a sup- posed change of circumstances, thou couldst reasonably desire to be treated. Now it is very obvious that love worketh no evil to one's neighbour; nay, wherever that noble princi- ple governs, it will put men upon doing all they can to ward off injury from one another, and to make the life of each as comfortable and happy as possible: therefore it may well be said, as it is asserted above, that love [is] the accomplishment of the whole law. ...And let me urge you to attend to this and to the other precepts I have given, with so much the greater diligence, knowing the circumstances of the present season, which if you consider, you will see that [it is] high time now to awake out of sleep, and vigorously to im- prove every opportunity of doing good and prosecuting the great business of life, which is to secure the divine favour and your final happiness: for our great expected salvation [is] now considerably nearer than when we at first believed. We have complete salvation in view, it is continually advancing upon us, flying forward, as it were, on the swiftest wings of time; and that which remains interposed between the present moment and our entering on the promised reward, is comparatively but a very small span. Act therefore at all times in a holy subordination to such a circumstance. And since the night is far advanced, since the dark state of the present life, in which we often confound good and bad, is almost over, and the day is drawing near, even that day which will show every thing in its proper colours and forms; let us therefore put off the works which suit only a state of darkness, and let us put on the complete armour of light. Let us, be clothed with all the christian graces, which, like burnished and beautiful armour, will be at once an ornament and de- fence, and which will reflect the bright beams that are so gloriously rising upon us. ...And as [being] now in the clear and open day, let us take care to walk décently, honourably, and gracefully, since the lustre already shining about us requires great reformation and exem. lary holiness; not in rioting and drunken debauches, not in chambering, effeminacy, and lasciviousness, the vices in which so many are wasting and polluting the hours which nature has destined to necessary repose; not in the contention and emulation which the in- dulgence of such irregular desires often occasion. . But laying aside all these abominations and enormities, let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” our great Sovereign and Saviour. Endeavour, my brethren, to obtain the greatest conformity to his temper, and to appear as like him as possible in every particular in which he can be the object of our imitation; for that short precept will contain all that is necessary to adorn our profession to its greatest height. And while so many are spending their time, and thoughts and substance in those low pursuits which regard only thé meaner part of their nature, make not a solicitousf'; vision for the ſ. to [fulfil its] irregular desires, nor be intent in pleasing any o he senses, even where their demands may not appear directly criminal; but labºur to preserve the superiority of the immortal spirit, and to keep it continually under the discipline of So holy and so noble a religion. IMPROVEMENT. 7 Render therefore to all their dues : tribute to whoun tribute is dute ; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom ho- In OUII. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt, not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false wit– ness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other com— mandment, it is briefly com- prehended in this , saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 And, that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out, of sleep : for now is our salvation pearer than when we believed. 12 The night, is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, notin chamber- ing and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord esus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof WHILE subjects learn reverence and obedience to their º not only for wrath but for conscience-sake, may magistrates learn a correspondent care to answer that en of their office which the apostle makes the founda: tion of such precepts as these, and to be indeed the ministers of God for good, a terror not to good but to evil works. g Tribute to whom tribute.] It is well known that the Jews had 3. the clock in the morning, for the space.of º years, supposing a man favourite motion amoug them, that they, as the peculiar people of God, to go to bed at the same hour at night, is near - * y equivalent to the addi- were exempted from oblizations to pay tribute tº Čentić, (joseph, tion often years to a man’s life, of which º;''. two hours in Jāntia. lip. xviii., cap. 1. Bell. Jud., lib. ii. Cap.,i. § 3; e - I.) against which this passage is directly lev lled, though without point- study and devotion. ... [...]"; joſſ to be so spent eight hours every day shou be employed in i"##jnimacy and lasciviousness.] I think ageXygua properly signifies Reserence.] This must certainly be the import of qoſov here, as a sºft, luxurious, and ºffeminate, nanº. of life, attended with an affected in; them out in any invidious manner. l also of poſłnzai, Eph. v. ult. and it expresses the inward disposition, as delicagy, very detrimental to that resolution which is so necessary an --> --> • in ºrro di would approve himself a good run, honour, expresses the conduct and external behaviour proceeding in; edient,in th9,ºacter of one who pprº § from it soldier of Jesus Christ. i Let us walk honourably and gracefully..] ... So evoxmpovos exactly nº plºt on the Lord Jesus Christ.] . A strong expression, for endeavour- ing to be clothed with all the Virtue. and graces which composed his signifies. Dr. Milner renders it, let us walk with a grace.—Fading charactºr : «hich reminds me of what Plutarch tells us concerning the Fiowers of Liſe, p. 33. - - - e . - • - i.j Persia, that on their coronation-day they, Pºº a robe which | Chambering, Kocrats.] This Leigh explains of lying long in bed. the first Cyrus wore before he was ki; to remind them of imitating Ul I will not defend that sense of the wordſ; but I will here record the ob: his exemplary. te #. and behaviour. P n) pe ºr - servation, which I have found of gºt inse tº myself, and to which I tom. vi. 5, 1851 dit. Steph. 1572. It is tarch, Artaxerx. apud Opera, observable the apostle does - * + 1 . . ~ * \7 Arf- - p --> r •,•-> 7 : F * sº l benevolence;” jay say that the production of this Work, and most of my other writ: pot say, “Put on purity and sobricty, pcacefulness and *w- ... #. #º: j- if at the difference between rising at 5 and at 7 of but he in effect says aii’at once, in saying, Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. THE APOSTLE RECOMMENDS MUTUAL FOR BEARANCE. 541 GREAT BRITAIN, while I write this,* is happy in a government to which this character may justly be applied. SECT- Its subjects are under the greatest obligations to the divine goodness, in having so remarkably overthrown the attempts of those who would have left us little use of the Scripture, but would themselves have abused it to have rivetted on the heaviest fetters by perverting this passage of St. Paul, as if he had intended to subvert every free con- stitution under heaven, and to put a sword into the hand of merciless tyrants, to kill and take possession of the heritage of the Lord, counting his people but as sheep for the slaughter. While we are thus happy, we shall be doubly inexcusable if we fail in rendering both honour and tribute where they are so justly due. - - May we extend our care to the universal law of love; and may it be so deeply engraven on our hearts, that the practice of every social virtue may become easy and delightful. - And on the whole, being animated by the approach of salvation, may we awake to the vigorous discharge of our duty; and while the light of the gospel scatters about us so bright a ray, may we walk in every respect worthy of it, that we may have no reason to wish for the veil of darkness to cover our shame. May we not only abstain from the vices which are here branded with the infamy they deserve, but distinguish ourselves in cultivating the contrary virtues. And that we may do it effectually, may we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, remembering con- tinually the obligations we are under to consider his life as the model of our own. So shall we make the gospel day yet brighter in the eyes of all around us, and anticipate, while we are here in this world of comparative dark- ness, the lustre with which we hope, through his influence and grace, to shine forth in the celestial kingdom of our Father. * Anno Domini, 1749. SECTION XXX. between those christians who did and, those who did not think themselves obliged in The apostle recommends mutual candour, º - conscience to observe the ceremonies enjoined by Moses; and strenuously attempts to turn their zeal for or against those observances into a concern to prepare for their final appearance before the great tribunal. T&on). xiv. I–12 Roy ANS xiv. 1. Hºh I, KNOW there are different opinions among you christians at Rome with regard to the àjí;"“” obligations of the Mosaic ritual. Now here I would be solicitous to suggest the most peaceful counsels, and to persuade you to mutual forbearance and mutual love. As for him that is so weak in the christian faith as still to retain the prejudices of a Jewish edu- cation on this head, let me prevail on you Gentile believers, in this respect better in- structed in the nature and extent of christian liberty, to receive and converse with him in a friendly and respectful manner; and do not indulge yourselves in the inclination which you may sometimes find, to run into debates and distinctions about matters in doubt be- tween you.” For one, that is, the converted Gentile, believeth very truly and rightly that he may eat all things indifferently that are good for food; but another, who is in this respect weak, eateth nothing but herbs and other vegetables, to express his humility and self-de- nial, and to guard against the pollution that might attend even the use of clean animals for food, if they are not killed and prepared after the Jewish manner. Now in this diversity of opinion and practice, exercise candour and forbearance to each other, and all Roxſ. xiv. 1. 2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth : for God hath received him. him that eateth not these prohibited or suspicious things, as if he were a weak and super- stitious bigot: and let not him that eateth them not, but conscientiously abstains from them, judge and condemn him that eateth them, as a profane, unclean, and intemperate erson: for God hath received him into the number of his children and people, without aying him under such restraints; and surely where God receives we should not presume to reject. 4 Who artthou that judgest another man’s servant to is. Qwn master he standeth or falleth. Yea; he shall be holden on : for God is able to make him stand. holy soever thou mayst think thyself, Who art thow that judgest the servant of another? Wouldst thou think it an indecent, thing to meddle with the domestic servant of thy neighbour or of thy friend, and wilt thou pretend to govern Christ's family, and judge of his administration towards the members of it? Know that not to thee, but to his own master, he standeth or falleth: it is by Christ he is to be finally acquitted or condemned. Yea, if he offends in no greater points than these in debate amongst you, he shall be upheld in his christian profession, and established to eternal salvation; for God is able to establish him,” and his promises assure us that he will do it. 5 One man esteemeth one day above another ; another esteelmeth every day alike. days. One man, that is, the Jewish convert, esteemeth one day above another:d he thinks their Sabbaths, and new-moons, and yearly fasts or feasts, have something inviolably sacred, and that the observation of them is matter of perpetual and universal obligation. Another, educated among the Gentiles, or more thoroughly instructed in the design and genius of christianity, esteemeth every day [alike, without any regard at all to the Jewish institution. Let every man freely enjoy his own sentiment,” and go on in his own way, without impe- et every man be fully per- suaded in his own mind. a Debates and distinctions about matters in doubt..] Dr. Whitby ex- plains étaxptºsis of discriminating persons according to their ºnward thoughts and reasonings on these heads. The force of the apostle’s ad- mirable reasoping in favor of candour and mutual condéscension cannot be eneryated by saying, as some have unhappily done, that here was no separation between Jewish and Gentile christians., Had the things judged indifferent by the latter, and apprehended sinful by the former, been imposed, a separation of communion must have ensued, and the schisun, on the apostlé’s principles, would have been chargeable on the imposers. When it shall please God to awaken in the governors of established pro- testant churches such a spirit of moderation and goodness, jeined with a true zeal for religion, as to leave such things in that natural state of indifference in which almost all sensible men coufess, it is, best they should be left, many separations will cease of course, and the healers of such breaches will do à noble service to their country, be honoured by º º love christianity, and ampiy rewarded by the great Head of the CI] Ulf Cl]. b Eateth herbs.) Dr. Whitby demonstrates by many learned quota- “{ions here, that some of the Jews used to eat no flesh at all, and others 199ked upon it as a very high pitch of virtue to abstain from it in Gen- tile countries, and to subsist entirely og vegetables; because they did 39t, know but any flesh sold in the shambles might have been offered to idols, or at least contracted some other ceremonial pollutions Mr. Baxter thinks here is a reference to such christians as might have been Pythagoreans before their conversion, and might retain their old preju- dices against animal food. Baxter’s £Porks, vol. iv. p. 614. But as that aversion to animal food depended on their doctrine of the transmigration of souls, which no christian could retain, I think that interpretailion is much preferable which refers it to Jewish converts, who were also much more numerous in the church, and possibly might some of them come from the Essenes, a Jewish séct peculiarly strict on this head, so that they abstained not only from-flesh but from fruit. c God is able to establish him.]. Dr. Whitby explains this of God’s gonvincing the Jewish converts in general of the indifference of the Mosaic ritual, by putting a speedy period to the very possibility of abserving it, in tile destruction of the temple at Jerusalem; which would have a peculiar efficacy to wean men’s minds from an attáchment to it, when considered in connexion with Christ’s predictions of that event. But I choose the more extensive interpretation, as more obvious and less liable to objection. d Estecancth one day above ancther.]. Raphelius here produces some apposite passages to show that xptwelvin such a construction signifies to preſer. e Let cwery litan.ſreely enjoy his onch sentinent.] Critics have observed that the word R.Ampodopeta.0at is most properly applied to a ship which is carried on by thé wind and tide, with all its sails spread to for- 29. 2 will be well. Let not him that eateth all kinds of flesh freely, despise and set at nought 3 Let me ask thee seriously on this secasion, whoever thou mayst be, and how wise and 4 ROM. XIII. What I have said with relation to the distinction of meats may also be applied to that of 5 542 THE APOSTLE RECOMMENDS MUTUAL FOR BEARANCE, § E.C.T. diment or censure. For we may reasonably hope that christians are actuated, in the main, 6 He that regardeth the day 30. by the same principles, when their practices differ a in or * tº . . . . iſ regardeth it unto the Lord'; * I. p pſes, p according to the difference of their and he that regardeth not the *- jidgments; so that he that regardeth a day in this peculiar manner, regardeth [it] to the day, º the Lord he doth not Tº Lord, and takes this distinguishing notice of it, because he thinks it is the will of Christ .# , ; , ; ; - y X_i\ . * * * * - * = . s - a ** a that an honour should still be done to these Mosaic institutions: and on the other hand, ºth god thanks; and is that eat eth not, to the Lord he that regards not (I, day, it is to the Lord We hope that he doth not regard [it 3] it is be- he eateth not, and giveth God cause he thinks Christ will be honoured by asserting the liberty of his followers in this thanks, respect. He that eateſh freely of whatever comes before him, eaieth to the Lord, ende. vours to glorify him, for it, as becomes a good christian, and giveih God ſº fºr the various provision of his liberal providence; and he that eateth not the food which the law. forbids, may act on the same pious principles, and we ought charitably to conclude that it is out of a regard to what he apprehends the will of the Lord that he edieſ, it no; he cheerfully denies himself what he supposes Christ would have him forbear aft. iike. wise giveth God thanks that other food is provided on which he may convenient y subsist, and that he is not forced to eat what he thinks unclean out of absolute necessity. Now where is the damage of all this? and while such a religious temper towards God prevails how little does it comparatively signify whether it acts by the use of these things, or by à conscientious abstinence from them 5 °) It may well be supposed that this is a just representation of the case ; for it is certainly 7 For what every christian is obliged to by virtue of our common profession ; as none of us, who ºf understands and answers that engagement, liveth to himself; and none of us, so far sº. himself circumstances of his death are under the direction of his own choice, dieth to himself, nor 8 determines the most important affairs by his own humour to present interest. Bušfrom s For 7 none of us liveth to and no man dieth to whether we live, we the time of our giving up our names to Christ, as our divine Master, to the last day and º, º, *: º hour of our continuance, in life, if we live, it is our concern that we may live to the Lord, the ºrd, whº and strenuously pursue the great purposes of his glory ; or that if we die, we may die unio º' the flord, either by sacrificing our lives to his gospel, if he demands it of us, or if we expire in a natural way, by behaving to the last as those who have his love ruling in our hearts, and his sacred cause still in our eye; so that whether we live or die we are the Lord's in consequence of being thus faithfully devoted to Christ, both in life and death, we have the 9 pleasure to think that, living or dying, we are the objects of his care and favour. For to 9 For e, or die, we are the to this end Christ this purpose Christ both died and rose again from the dead, and still continues alive, that he tºº ºld... ºn tº * * * <--> - - - - - 3 vived, that he might be Lord might be the sovereign Lord both of the dead and of the living. This is the reward bestowed both of the dead and living upon him for all his services as Mediator, that he should be exalted to such a kingdom, and that all Christians should thus own themselves his servants; not only in this present world, but in that unchangeable state into which they pass by death ; yea, that all the in habitants of both worlds should be ever subject to his disposal and command. 10 . But the thought of Christ's exaltation furnishes another argument for the candid temper, 10 But why dost thoujudge I am now recommending, as it implies his future appearance to the universal judgment, tºº.º.º. & 55 - * * * * * * S-2 set at nought thy brother? for where our temper, in this respect, will be strictly reviewed. In this light, then, let mé yé.hāīāistºre the sariously ask, Why dost thou, O Jewish convert, judge thiſ, Gentile brother for the non- observation of those precepts by which thou thinkest thyself bound? Or why dost thou, O Gentile believer, set at nought and deride, as weak or superstitious, thy Jewish brother, who conscientiously observes that burdensome ritual from which thou ärt so happy as to apprehend thyself free ? This censoriousness or contempt is greatly to be blamed, and either must very ill become the state in which we are and must º be : for no prin- ciple of our common faith is more certain than this, that we must all at length appear and be solemnly presented before the tribunal of Christ : and as it is there that we are all to 11 take our finai trial, it must be dangerous presumption to anticipate that judgment. Re- 1 judgment-seat of Christ. li II For º . wº Jºs I * º e ri * Ive, Sall th the Or every member it, my brethren, and ponder seriously upon that awful day; for it will assuredly #. § {...," "...; come, as it is written, (Ísa. xiv. 23.) “[As]. I live, saith the Lord, surely every knee shall gº tongue shall contess to bow unto me, and every tongue shall confess to God;” and it is then only that such a great 12 and extensive prophécy shall render an account of himself to : ~ - ?? & say to his heart, “ ºf his account must be mine.” And we shall then be too intent on re. gulating our own conduct, to have either leisure or inclination to be severe or pragmatical in censuring that of our brethren. IMPROVEMENT. be completely accomplished: So that every one of us shall 13, so then every one of } God, i.et each of us therefore apply it to his own case, and º.º. “”" Ver LET all the different sects and parties of christians study to imbibe more of the equitable and lovely temper 1, &c. which the apostle here expresses in so * s º y imposing sº own sentiments, phrases, and forms, and censuring and harassing those that will thém. Such a temper will only engender strife, and mutual provocations will produce mutual in Inent. * Let us receive our weaker brethren with ten * practise, not judging those who practise what We scruple. God may receive the one and the oth ferent practices of both may proceed from ourselves in his sight. 7 . . In this we may all unite in a & 8, 9 his living care may surely challenge this genuine a manner. The divisions of the church are not to be healed by not acquiesce in creasing resent- derness and respect; not despising those who scruple what we er: yea, the dif- the same general principles, a desire to please him, and to approve concern that we may not live or die to ourselves, but to Christ. His dying love, . Worthy is he who died, and rose again and revived, to be adored and obeyed as the Lord both of the dead and of the living ' And such, in one view or another, he will finally appear. 10 We shall know it in that day when we shall be called before his judgment-seat. Conscious of and, even in our best days, of so many imperfections, how shall, we dare to appear before him ; should then receive judgment without me no merCW. so many crimes, especially if we Ecy? Let us not tempt it, to our own everlasting confusion, by showing Let . not add to all the offences which may justly cause us to tremble before his tribunal, the criminal arrºr gance of usurping the place and prerogative of oil. J º e 12 other, and act in a manner becoming it. Let us diligently judge our for it. Th Lord; so thinking of that grand account, as with an increasing solicitude to prepare for 1 l6 ge. Let us remember our relation to him and to each selves as those who must be judged of the Lord grant that. * . i + . ing is, hi it windicated from the evasions of a very ward it, and notligiº; *...*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*; º;...º.º.º.º. Yiği in his own way without impediment. , How Strou% a ſºft of private judgment, I need take no pains to show ; but the reader celebrated writer, in THE APOSTLE RECOMMENDS MUTUAL FOR BEARANCE. we may find mercy of the Lord in that day! The Lord grant that it º 543 also be imparted to many of our brethren SECT. who have differed most from us; Y. and through the Indulgence of our compassionate Saviour, to many who 30. nave been prone to censure and condemn us for those things which he knows we have done from a desire to please him, or refused to do from a fear of offending him º: SECTION XXXI. The apostle further urges the mutual tenderness and candour, he had recommended above, by representing the love of Christ to all christians, the nature and design of his religion, and the danger of a contrary temper. Rom. xiv. 13, to the end. Rox. xiv. 13. RoMANs xiv. 13. º; ; tº I HAVE just been reminding you of your appearance before the tribunal of Christ, and SECT. #;"; "...”. the account which every man must render of himself there; and now give me leave a 31. ºfºº little further to pursue the consequence which so naturally follows. . Let us not therefore ther’s way. any longer judge one another,” but rather judge ye and determine this as a matter º: ROM. doubted and important duty, not to lay any stumbling-block or scandal before a brother:b to , ;" do nothing, how indifferent soever it may be in itself, which may tend to prejudice, dis-" courage, or mislead any other christian. - suaded by the Lord Jesus I know, for instance, and am at length persuaded, by the powerful teaching of the Lord 14 i.º.º.º.º. Jesus Christ, though it be so contrary to the principles I imbibed in my education, and so §§º ºf strenuously maintained in my º state, that nothing [is] unclean of itself, that there º;" is no moral turpitude in any kind of food by which the human body may be nourished; but that, separate from particular circumstances which may arise, it may lawfully be eaten ; there is nothing, I say, unclean, unless [it be] to him that in his conscience accounteth any thing to be unclean : ñº to him, while he retaineth that opinion, [it is] indeed unclean, how indifferent soever it is in itself; and he will contract guilt before God, by allowing himself in it, whether it be to indulge his own taste or to engage the favour of others, #, *. #. º º, & whilst he hath this inward apprehension of its being unlawful. . But if there should not 15 j. . . . tº be such an ap rehension concerning the thing in itself considered, yet it may be in effect ; ºf prohibited tº thee, as injuriº, to others; for if thy brother be grieved," wounded, and led into sin, by ſº use of meat, how dost thou any longer walk according to that noble prin- ciple of love which I have just now been so earnestly recommending? How innocent soever it may in itself seem, Q do not, if thou hast any bowels for him, or any regard for thy great Master, destroy him by thy rash and unkind use of such particular meat, for whom - Christ not only submitted to smaller instances of self-denial, but died in the agonies of the cross. Is a morsel of meat indeed so great a thing to a christian, that for the sake of it an 16 Let not then your good immortal soul should be endangered, and the blood of a Redeemer injured 2 Let not be evil spoken of: then your liberty, which is in itself good, be slandered and blamed for being the occasion of so much mischief as such an ill use of it may probably produce. And surely none of you can pretend to object any thing from conscience, against abstaining from these things. ...º.º.º. For the kingdom of God, into which we are entered by believing in Christ and becoming i.º.º.º.; his subjects, consists not in meat and drink; it neither prohibits nor enjoins such things as joy in the Holy Ghost. these, nor is taken up with such little matters: but the great design of it is to regulate the temper of its professors, and in the most effectual manner to cultivate and promote righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; that is, a cheerful temper, supported by a consciousness of strict integrity, established on principles of universal love, and in- º: "º spired by the blessed Spirit of God.' ...?nd he that in these things faithfully serveth Christ, ...biºğa, ºpproved and acts upon the great maxims of his religion, [is] acceptable to God, whether he abstain of men. from the liberties in question or allows himself in them: and he will also be in the main #." by men too; for bad as the world is, upright and benevolent men who put on no 3 iTé 14 I know, and any per- 19 Let us therefore, follow after the things which make for peace, and things where- with one may edify another. 20 For meat, destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure ; but it is eyil for that man who eateth with offence. fl * º§§§ º º: and scandal, contrary to the rule of his own conscience, and insnaring to that of others. In 21 ..."; º; this view, I may venture to say, [it is] good neither to eat any kind of flesh, though that º º is offended, would be a much more rigorous self-denial than I am now pleading for; nor even to drink wine, though in the most moderate degree ; nor indeed to indulge in any thing else by which thy brother is scandalized or weakened, that is, by which he may either be insnared of discouraged in his religious course. **.*.*... . . Thou wilt perhaps plead, that thou hast faith in a superior exercise, and beholdest chris- 22 ña; jiaº.m.; tianity in a more extensive and generous view. It is well; and I could not wish thy views ºat thins should be more contracted. But if thou hast such a just persuasion of the indifference of these things which others scruple, yet in circumstances like these which I here suppose, have it to thyself before God; content thyself that he is witness to it, and conceal those apprehensions, just as they may be, in thine own breast, when they cannot be published with advantage or without offence. But permit me to add, upon this occasion, happy [is] he who doth not condemn himself in the thing which he alloweth : it is a happy thing for a man to be quite easy in what he does, and free not only from the reproaches but the suspicions of his conscience, and to use even lawful enjoyments only in a lawful and re- 23 And he that doubteth is gular degree. But he that really in his conscience maketh a difference between one sort of 23 a Lºt us not therefore any longer judg th It is very plai - - judge one another.]. It is very plain that the word Kpºvety is here used in two very different senses; as R phelius on this text shows s-actaſety is used in the same sentence by Herodotus. b A stumbling-block.] cted rigour and severities in religion, are generally esteemed and beloved in it. Thus let us therefore act, and with all possible diligence pursue the things which tend to peace, and may promote our mutual edification in our common faith. And whoever thou art that mayst disrelish the exhortation in this connexion, do not indulge so mean a taste as for the sake of this or that particular kind of meat to destroy thy brother; who, as a man, would †. the noblest work of God in this lower world, if all the peculiar considerations of christianity were out of the question. It is true indeed, as I hinted above, that in them- selves all things [are] pure; yet [that is] morally evil to a man, that he eateth with offence c If thy brother be grieved.] Hence it appears that grieving a person does not signify merely putting him out of humpur, but leading him into sin. The grief therefore is that which arises from a consciousness of having acted amiss, in conſormity to the example of a person considered as superior, whether in rank or genius, knowledge or piety. - Some say that gxavčaxov properly signifies “a piece of wood that su ts à tr which fall its being moved.” lso may with i. pports à trap, which falls on its being Inoved, and : ły With peculiar, propriety signify whatever may be the occasion of trismaring ałother, and draising him into sin and mischief. d A cheerful temper, &c.). This is the interpretation which Dr. Scott has given in his Christian Life, vol. i. p. 285. and I think it, on the whole, preferable to any other. {l- 2 0 544 THE APOSTLE RECOMMENDS MUTUAL FOR BEARANCE. SECT. food and another, is condemned by God as a sinner, if he eat out of unbridled appetite, damned if he est, because he 31. Vain cºmplaisance, or weak shamé. It must in such a case be criminal, because ſhe eatethjºiº." not with faith, that is, with a full satisfaction in his own mind that God allows an - - - - - = approves *º the action. For it may be laid down as a general maxim in all these cases, that whatso- 33 ever [is] not of faith is sin; since the divine authority ought to be so sacred with every man, as to engage him not only to avoid what is º and directly contrary to it, but what he apprehends or even suspects to be so, though that apprehension or suspicion should chance to be founded on his own ignorance or mistake. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.12 STILL let that great and final account which each must render of himself to God be kept in our mind, that we may learn obedience to him, candour to each other, and a tender care to avoid every thing that might give unne- cessary offence to our brethren. And in the views of it, letus learn always to reverence our own consciences, S9 as never to be engaged to do what we suspect to be unlawful: since no consideration can ever balance the infil 14–23 mite evil of offending God and bringing guilt on our own souls. That is to us unclean which we esteem to be so and what is not of faith is sin. ** } 5 Let us also be cautious that we do not incur guilt and condemnation, even by things which we allow as in the main lawful;, solicitously attending, not only to the general nature, but the probable consequences, of our actions. 15 And where there is danger of injuring the souls of others, let us often reflect that Christ died for them; and esti. mate, so far as we can conceive it, the value of souls by the value of that blood by which they were redeemed. 16, Let us also take great heed that we do not give occasion to others, by our imprudent conduct, to speak evil of that which is in itself good. And that we may not do it, let us study those great and generous notions of religion 17 which this excellent passage of Scripture gives us. , Let it be written upon our hearts, that the kingdom of 'God is not meat or drink; that it doth not consist in a zeal for or against any of the little distinctions by which chris- tians have been so often divided, and which have been too frequently the occasion of mutual alienation in their 18 affections. Let us study and practise more righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The approbation of God consequent on this may well support us, though men should censure us as lukewarm, yea, perhaps, as hypocritical and interested too, in the candid regards we show to those which differ from each other and from us. od will remember their rashness and forwardness to these uncharitable censures: but let us rather say, “May he cºre and forgive them " Yet while we cultivate the amiable temper here set before us, bad as the world is, we may hope that we shall be accepted by many : and indeed, in proportion to this knowledge of our real character, by all whose accept- ance and friendship is most to be valued. Let us not therefore be discouraged at any ill usage which, in par- 19 ticular instances, we may meet with ; but still follow the things that make for peace and conduce to mutual edifica- tion; and the God of peace will be with us, and Jesus the great Lord of the church, which is his house, will smile on our attempts to build it up into one united and beauteous edifice, till he calls us to his temple above, where all is order, and harmony, and love, for ever. SECTION XXXII. The apostle further ur es mutual condescension by new motives, particularly the example of Christ, and the goodness of God to us all, and the regard which Christ had shown to Jews and Gentiles, in bringing or sending the gospel to them, according to the tenor of prophecies which ho adds to the list of those produced above. Rom. xv. 1–17. RomfANS xv. 1. Roxſ. xv. 1. SECT. SEEING therefore, my brethren, it is so dangerous for any to do that concerning which §tº...","...; 32. they are not in their consciencessatisfied that it is assuredly lawful, we ought to take great §§§ºj care that we do not, by our uncharitable impositions or irregular examples, lay a tempta- ourselves. RQM, tion in their way to do it. And we who are strong, that is, who perfectly understand the * I liberty which christianity gives to its professors, ought, with all tender sympathy and com- passion, to bear the infirmities of the weak, not only tolerating them, but in some instances restraining our own inclinations out of a regard to their advantage, and not, as too many do, to please ourselves, to gratify our own inclinations and humours, whether others be com- 2 forted or grieved, edified or insnared. On the contrary, let every one of us rather make 2. Let, every, one ºf us * - ſº - - - Jº it his care, so far as he lawfully and conveniently can, to please [his] neighbour where it º, ºr for hi may be for [his] real good, and condescend even to his ignorance and prejudices, where there is reason to hope it may conduce to his edification and that of the church, which is nearly interested in the mutual tenderness of its members for each other. • 3 And surely we must be disposed to act such a part towards our brethren; for we all nº.º. ººlºº well know that the Lord Jesus Christ, our great and divine Master, though so infinitely fitten.”ffié reproaches of exalted above us, pleased not himself; but when he vouchsafed in mercy to visit this low #iºn; **** world of ours, instead of studying his own ease and pleasure, he submitted to an almost continual series of ... mortification, and trouble, for our sakes. He considered the weakness and infirmities of those about him, that he might teach them and train them up for service, as they were able to bear it. (Mark iv. 33.) Yea, he even submitted, with the greatest gentleness, to much reproach and contempt; as it is written, (Psal. lxix. 9.) in words which may well be applied to him; “The reprodches of those who reproached thee are fallen upon me.” I have placed myself in a world where I have been afflicted with the wickedness of mankind, which I have continually seen and heard about me, and which has been, through the whole course of my life, my continual grief and burden.” . . . - 4 Now, by the way, I accommodate this text to the purpose before me, because I think we wº,"; may make the best we can of every scripture, to produce and cherish good dispositions Wieśutiºns, that and pious sentiments in our hearts. For whatever things were formerly written º'er: ..."; fººt. written for our instruction, that we through patience and consolation of the Scriptures, that ºthave hope. is, by the strenuous exercise of that patience which the consolations administered in - - is - - * in the writings or discourses to reproaches of those, &c.) . Some expositors refer this to Christ's the highest piety, and devotion; $2 be.ſº in r - - - hº %. his sufferings to expiate the guilt of sin, every of good men of old, are jº to ºis; ič. Jºãº species of which may be considered as a reproach cºst on the law and maintain that the sº Yº. m *** w inexpressibič a 'grief and government of God. See Cradock, in loc., I, hº given what seemed preted as a prophgcy º ičiºs §t'; § been to s g º and £5 me the more direct and natural sense, but will nºt say this other urden the sight of Sg º Yº. i. ne j. ...; lly t °. ceive. shoulid be excluded, which may well agree both with the words and holy a mind as that of º ord...! is ; SS ! W. ‘.... i. ; enter ...ión. It must, on the principle on which the postle goes in many but were Wººnoº like º: }; might, and We Certainly Should, of his juotations, be very pleasant to observe how all the expressions of more into it than We generally 09. THE APOSTLE RECOMMENDS MUTUAL FORBEARANCE. 545. Scripture so powerfully support, might have an assured and joyful hope in the midst of all SECT. our tribulation. 32. àº, , Now may the God of patience and consolation, from whom all these gracious and season- #;"; ..." ...; able provisions proceed, give you more of this blessed temper, that you may have the same Rºſ. ºr according to Christ mutual affection, according to the example of Jesus Christāb That with one mind | one . *V. *ist we may with one mouth, with united hearts and voices, ye may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 6 §§,"...}}...?. Christ, who hath sent his beloved Son into the world, to unite our hearts in love to each Lord Jesus Christ. other, and to tune them to those devout praises which we address to his blessed self through ...ºne him. Therefore, whether ye were, before your conversion to christianity, Jews or Gen- 7 $ºjºs to jºirºgºj. tiles, considering it now as an endearing bond, which causes every difference to be forgot, receive ye one another, and embrace one another, with mutual love; as Christ, hath, with- out any distinction, received us all to the glory of God. And greatly will that sublime end at which he aimed in all, even the glory of his heavenly Father, be promoted by such s endeared affection in his people towards each other. - ciº, a.m.; ; ; JWow! I say this with peculiar regard to those differences in judgment which I know, are 8 ğircumcision for the truth of so ready to prevail among christians of different educations, as to the obligations of the §§§.” Mosaic law. And I would remind you Gentiles, that you ought not to suffer your hearts to be alienated from your Jewish brethren for their attachment to it; because Jesus Christ was made] a minister of the circumcision ; as he was a Jew by birth, he received circum- cision himself, in token of his obligation to observe the law : and confined his personal ministry, according to what he himself declared concerning the limitation of his embassy, (Matt. xv. 24.) to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And this was for the illustration of the truth and fidelity of God, to confirm and verify the promises so long since [made] to 9 And that the Gentiles Abraham and the other fathers of that nation. .4nd I would remind Jewish believers, that 9 º, º: # he also came that he might gather together all the children of God scattered abroad among #.º.º.º.; the Gentiles, that they might glorify God for [his] mercy in granting them a participation hee among the Gentiles, and :--> sº zo ºf 3 vs of , , , ,- - %astlos zº | º * - sing unto thy name. of the same privileges; and gave it in cilarge to his apostles, that they should raise dis- ciples to him among all nations: (Matt. xxviii. 19.) so that it is a failure of love and duty to Christ, not to receive them. And accordingly the Gentiles are often spoken of in the Old Testament, as called to join with the Jews in worshipping the God of Israel; as it is written, (Psal. xviii. 49.) “For this cause will I confess io thee among the Gentiles, and i.º.º.º.º.º. sing praises unto, thy name.” .4nd again, he, that is, Moses, saith, (Deut. xxxii. 43.) 10 i.e.” ‘’” “” “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people;” which may intimate their being called to partici. ...A. ºiº i pºe the blessings once peculiár to Israel. And again, David saith, (Psal. cxvii. 1.) 11: #if: alſº º * “Praise the Lord, all ye distant nations, and repeat his praise, all ye people.” Now surely . this glorious privilege of an admission into the church, may justly engage the Gentile na- tions to praise God in sublimer strains than any other occasion to which we can suppose tº either Moses or David to refer. ...And again, Isaiah says, expressly in this view, (Isa. xi. 12 here shall be a root of Jesse, 4% ? 5 gº º jºo'º. 10.) “There shall be a root from the stock of Jesse, and one arising to rule over the Gen- ºf ºoºº... " tiles, [and] in him shall the Gentiles hope and trust; not dreading destruction, but cheer- fully expecting protection and salvation from thence.” It is evident, therefore, how unrea- sonable it would be to despise them, and how fit it is affectionately to receive, esteem, and embrace them. - g fliº; º: I am willing, therefore, to persuade myself that this mutually candid temper will prevail 13 #ºliº."º"; among you; and in the confidence of it, I commend you all, without any distinction, to jº," the divine grace and blessing.. .ºnd accordingly, may the God ºf hope, from whose mercy all the hopes both of Jews and Gentiles are dérived, fill you with all sacred joy and peace in believing ! May he give you a well-grounded complacency and comfort, in consequence of the growing strength of your faith, that you may abound in a more cheerful and lively hope of eternal glory, through the power of the Höly Spirit confirming all those habits of sºlº.º. ºº grace which you experience, as planted and rooted in your souls, by his agency. And 14 *:::... . .i.arºuſ"; cheerfully do I expect this, when I reflect on what he has already done; for I am indeed i. i. º.º. ºf myself persuaded concerning you, my brethren, that ye are already fºll of goodness, and of monish one another. uñſeigned benevolence to each othér, being filled, through these illuminating influences which you have received, with all spiritual knowledge, and so well acquainted with the whole nature and genius of the christian religion, as to be both able and inclined to admo- mish and encourage one another as to this meek and peaceable disposition which I have 15 Nevertheless, brethren, been recommending, and every other part of an amiable and valuable character. JVever- 15 Fº ºº:: theless, brethren, I have written the more boldly to you, and enlarged with the greater free- º: iºn; º: dom, in this part of my Epistle, on the privilege to , which God hath called Gentile º º halt lis gl V Cl believers, in some measure as stirring up your grateful and pious remembrance of them, 16. That I should be the because of that great grace and favour ºf: is given to me of God: Even that I should be 16 łºś. the ministering servant of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles, administering to them, in his tºº name, and by his authority, the infinitely valuable gospel of God: that the offering the i.º. j.º.º. Gentiles to him, as a holy sacrifice, by my hands, may be acceptable to God, being sancti- §§ºjyºt. fied and set apart by the Holy Spirit, so plentifully communicated to them in a rich variety 171 have therefore whereof of gifts and of graces." I have therefore, in this respect, considerable matter of boasting {º..."..." ii., in Christ Jesus, with respect to the things of God,” and the office which I bear in his pertain to God. ; which I esteem far more honourable than any services of the Jewish state or priesthood. I 7 b The same mutual affection, accordins to the example.9f Jesus Christ.] prove. ...Compare chap. ii. 24. where the same method of quoting seems Râphélius has evidently shown that avTo boovštv signifies to agree in an evidently to be taken. harmonious and affectionate manner; and that the preposition Kara may d Sanctified by the Holy Spirit, &c.] To explain this of the miracu- is remiered according to the example af. Comparé Gal. iv. 28. 1 Pet. i. loušºlégent of the Holy Spirits supposed to have happened at, Antioch jä. Eph. iv. 24. See Raphel. Annot, ex. Herod. in lºc. • in Pisidia, on converts who might be called the first-fruits of the idola- & fºil confess to thee, &c.] Diodati and many others suppose this to Hous Gentiles, (Acts xiii. 52.) which is the interpretation advanced by be oniº ºffio, to the words of David in the Fº referred to. Mr. the author of JMiscel. Sacra, (vol. i. p. 112.), and his followers, is, not Fierce has taken great pains to prove that the whole eighteenth Psalm only a needless limitation of the more noble and natural sense here is jirect prophecy of Christ, who is, according to his interpretation, to given, but in my judgment, for reasons in part given in my notes, on the be considered as speaking, throughout the whole of it. In which view Acts, an º Which goes upon various principles, precarious, or is wouji render the title.” The song which David, sang when God de- rather, utterly incredible. - li fivered him from the hand of Sheol, (instead of Saul,) that is, the grgve.” e With respect to the things of God, &c. Ta Tpos Tov ecoy.] Raphelius but I cannot think his reasoning conclusive; and the 23rd verse of that very justly observes that this phrase has a peculiar propriety, when, ap: psalm seems an invincible °º against this solution. I have taken plied to sacerdotal affairs, sº especially victims presented to God, of a middle way, which º the attentive reader will see reason to ap! which the apostle is heré speaking. CŞther texts are illustrated by this 6 - PAUL MENTIONS THE EXTENT OF HIS OWN LABOURS. IMPROVEMENT. SECT. MAY the abundant communication of the Spirit that is in Jesus Christ form us more to the amiable temper here recommended! That we may prove the distinguished strength of our minds by the superior fortitude with which we bear the infirmities of our weaker brethren, and may seek the noble pleasure of pleasing our neighbours for their RoM. #. and to their edification. Let the generous self-denial of our great Lord be in this view before our eyes; and et us endeavour to feel the reproaches which are cast upon God much more sensibly than those which immedi- 3 ately fall upon ourselves. 4 º are we in the Scriptures, which, through Divine Providence and grace, have been written for our instruc- tion. May they inspire us with patience and consolation, and establish our souls in humble hopel May our hearts 5 6, 7 be cemented in the bond of mutual love, that with one mind and one mouth we may glorify God; and receive each other with an endearment like that with which, if we are true believers, notwithstanding our smaller differences, we are received by him. 8–12 , Mercy is communicated by Christ to Jews and Gentiles, who therefore are justly required to unite their praises to the root of Jesse. Let us all trust under the shadow of this pleasant plant, and may we be filled with all joy 13 and peace in believing. What can furnish out so calm a peace, so sublime a joy, as the christian hope 2 May we all abound in it by the power of the Holy Ghost. And surely if we are filled with such joy and hope, we must 14 be filled with all goodness too, with a truly benevolent temper towards others, which a sense of our own happiness 16 tends most powerfully to promote. We Gentiles have been presented to God as a holy offering; may we be sanctified more and more by his Spirit, and established in a firm confidence in Christ, that he will transact all our 17 concerns with God under the character of the great Mediator: esteeming that the most happy and glorious cir- cumstance in the station which Providence may have assigned to us, which gives us the greatest opportunity of spreading the honour of so dear a name, and of presenting praises and services to God through him. SECTION XXXIII. The apostle takes occasion from what he had been saying, to mention the extent of his own labours, and his Puº of further Journeys, in which e hoped to visit the Romans; in the mean time earnestly recommending himself to their prayers. Rom. xv. 18, to the end. RoMANs xv. 18. Roxr. xv. 18. *ECT. I HAVE hinted above at the cause I have to rejoice and boast in Christ as to what relates FOR I will not dare to speak 33. to God and the office of my christian ministry. . For I will not dare to boast º nor § §§º even speak any thing of what Christ hath not indeed wrought by me to bring the Gentiles he to make the Geniilºsobé- RQM. into obedience. No: God forbid that I should either exceed thé bounds of truth in making “” by word and deed, "is the report, or arrogate any thing to myself as my own work, when speaking of the con- versions that have indeed been made. I humbly confess that it is Christ who hath wrought whatever is done : yet I boldly declare that his grace and mercy hath in this respect dis- †. me both in word and deed, by the manner in which he hath enabled me to speak, 19 and the things which he hath strengthened me to perform. He hath wrought by the miracu- . 19 Through mighty signs lous *::::::/ of signs and wonders, accomplished in and by the amazing power of the Spirit of . ºf l God, which hath not only been plentifully imparted to me, but bestowed on others by the ºl laying on of my hands; so that, thus supported, I have with the happiest effect fully ºff;...sºj". preached and explained the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem, Antioch, and Arabia, in the Christ. east, round about through all the Lesser Asia and Greece, even as far as the western shores 20 of Illyricwm, which so nearly borders on your own celebrated Italy.” . For it has still been 20 Yea, so have Istrived to the object of my ambition, so far as Providence would permit me to indulge it, to preach Fº º §§ º the gospel, not where Christ was [already named, lest I should seem desirous to build upon ºn another another man's foundation, and so decline the difficulties which attend the settlement of "“” “"“” 21 new churches. Others indeed have done this and little else; but I have chosen a differ- 21 But as it is written, To ent manner of acting, as it is written, in words well applicable to the series of my labours, ºil."º: (Isa. lii. 15.) “ They to whom nothing was declared concerning him shall see, and they who have not heard shalf inder- have not heard shall understand.” Thus have many received from my mouth the first * notices they have ever had of true religion, and of the method of salvation by the great 22 Redeemer. The consequence therefore was, that I have been long hindered of coming to , 22 For which cause also I you ; which, out of my singular affection for you, I was very desirous of doing, though it #. cº, §. hindered e something contrary to the method of proceeding which I generally choose, as you have 23 the christian religion already, by the divine grace, most happily planted among you. But .23. But now having no more now having no longer place, cither at Corinth or elsewhere in these Grecian climates, no #######". more work of this j." remaining to be done here of which Providence seems to open any years to come unto you ; probable º and having also on various accounts a great desire for many years to 24 come to you, I will attempt to put it into execution. If I go into Spain, I will endeavour, 24. Whensoever I take my if possible, to come to you; for I hope quickly to have an opportunity of going thither, ...”. º: and as I pass by, will contrive, if I can, to see you, and shall expect to be brought forward see *"brº journey, and by you in my way thither, by the kind attendance of some of my friends at Rome, and the Šišrºfilº réfreshment which my spirit may receive from others; if I may first not only have a short .jºwhat filſed with your interview in passing, but make such an abode with you as to be in some degree satisfied with your [company:] I say, in some degree, for I know that if I were to indulge my own affec- tion to you, my visit would be much longer than the views of duty elsewhere will permit. * • articularly Heb. ii. 17. See Raphel. JVol. c. Xen. in may signify, that far from , declining dangers and oppositions which flºark, and particularly } p - - might stºaily be expected in first breaking up, as it were, the fallow- a As far as the western shores of Illyricum.] Though it is evident from ground of heathen and unevangelized cºuntries, he rather felt a sublime hence that St. Paul, before the date of this épistle, which was in the ambition, as ºt)\otſpiety signifies, (see Elsner, vol. ii. p. 64.) to make year 58, had preached the gospel in these regions, it is observable that the first proclamation of a Redeemer’s name in places where, it had before Iluke takes no notice of this in the º: Acts, where he also been quite unheard of. And probably, in mentioning this, he may omits to mention the journey he took to abia on his first, conversion, glance upon those false apostles who crept into churches, which he had and several other very remarkable facts, referred to in the eleventh planted, and endeavoured to establish, their own reputation and influ- chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and elsewhere; and it ence there, by alſº the hearts of his own converts from him their is very possible that the visit to Crete, when Titus was left behind to spiritual father; while, like some in our own days, who havg trod most ordain elders, Tit. i. 5. Inight be of this number. - exactly in their footsteps, they built ºn his gº noble foundations ºb Oject of my ambition, so far as . Providence would permit me to an edifice of wood, and hay, and stubble, J Qor...iii. 12. . . . indulgé it, to preach the gospel, not where, Christ was arcady named, &c.] c If I go to Spain, ś, It sº probable, from hence, considering The meaning, to be sure, cannót be that Paul scorned to come after any the principle which St. Paul ghose, to govern himself by, of not build- other christian minister; which would have argued a height of temper ing on another man’s foundation; that no ºpostle had yet planted any very inconsistent with the humility of this blessed apostle, and does not church in Spain; which, as Dr. Geddes justly, observes, very ill agrees agree with what we read in the §, of the Acts; of his going to with the legend of St. James; for, according to, that, he had now been preach the gospel at Pºgº Antioch, and Jerusalem ; to whic # fifteen years in § fin, and had erected several bishoprics there. "Gedd. seems probable Troas, if not Corinth or Ephesus, may be added. It JMisc. vol. ii p. - PAUL PROMIISES TO CONii) TO ROME. 547 ...P.. "...";º. This I speak with relation to my future designs: but I am now going to Jerusalem, SECT. saints; , ministering to the necessities of the saints there by such contributions as I have raised for 33. º, their subsistence, or may further collect as I prosecute my journey. For it hath pleased -- make a certain coºlić, the churches of]...Macedonia and flehaiad to make a certain collection for the poor saints, ºft. §º..." which are their believing brethren, that are in Jerusalem, who are exposed to such peculiar persecu- * và, alº; tion and affliction. I say, it hath pleased them to do this; and though I acknowledge their 27 *:::"Kºś free love and generosity in it, yet I may say that in a sense they are their debtors: for if ºś the Gentiles have been brought into so happy a union with Göd's once peculiar people, tºniº; ; and are made partakers of their spiritual things, the invaluable blessings of the gospel, first carnal things. brought to them from Jerusalem, and by persons of the Jewish nation too; they ought certainly to be ready with all religious gratitude and respect to minister to them in their carnal things, and impart the inferior blessings of Providence, in which they so much more pº º ºf abound. Having therefore despatched this affair, and sealed to them, that is, safely delivered 28 sejº to the "ti"fré. I as under seal, this present, which is the fruit of that love and care which their Gentile will “one by you into Spain. brethren so justly express towards them. I will, if it please God to give me a favourable 1:...º. opportunity, come by jou into Spain. And as I doubt not but you will pray for me, that my 29 in the ſuijºss of the lessing coming may be comfortable and useful for your confirmation in religion; so I have a of the gospel of Christ. ; º, that God will hear your prayers, and may say, that #: º,when come among you I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ, that is, bº ..", Jºrº with a full º: blessing º #, ministerial and § labours. Yet 30 *ś’īke."j"º when I write thus, it is not from any particular revelation to assure me that I shall be º,"...injº,"; ; enabled to fulfil this purpose. I know that in this journey to Jerusalem I have, humanly your prayers to God'forme” speaking, a very dangerous scene before me, having some of my most mortal and implaca; ble enemies to contend with. And therefore, as I cannot but apprehend the interest of the gospel to be, concerned in my life and liberty, I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord - Jesus Christ, and by the love which is the genuine fruit of the Spirit,” that you join your nº utmost strength and fervency with mind, in [your] daily praiſers to God for me, That I 31 iñjuść may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea ;3 who are so full of rancour against me as a .*, *...*.*, deserter from their cause, and will, I am suré, spare no force or fraud to destroy me; and saints; - also that my ministration at Jerusalem, in the charitable affair which I mentioned above, may be acceptable to the saints, for whose use it is intended; so that no prejudices in our christian brethren there, against the believing Gentiles, may prevail so far as to prevent 32 That I may come unto you with joy by the will of Goºl, and may with you be refreshed. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. their receiving it with a becoming candour and gratitude: That so, in consequence of all, 32 I may come to you with joy by the will gf God, and that I may be refreshed [together] with jou in our intended interview. And, in the mean time, may the God of peace, who has 33 graciously given us that peace with himself which we esteem the first and greatest of blessings, and hath cemented our hearts in those christian bonds of peace and love to each other, É with you all, whether I am present or absent. .4men IMPROVEMENT. - LET us behold with pleasure the modesty and humility which is joined with all the zeal of this holy apostle, Ver. while he thus obliquely owns, in a manner which shows how familiar the thought was to his mind, that all he had 18, 19 done in the christian ministry, and for the propagation and advancement of the gospel, was only what Christ had done by him to procure such obedience of the Gentiles, both in word and in deed. Adored be the grace that made his labours so successful, and sowed the blessed seed so wide by his diligent hand, from Jerusalem unto Illyricum. Most divine instructions did he give them in matters of faith, and he taught them to express that faith by their works. While he was dead to all thoughts of enriching himself, and in some instances chose rather to maintain himself by his own labours than to subsist on the bounty of others, his 25, &c. liberal soul devised liberal things for his necessitous brethren. He raised a noble collection, and was much con- 31 cerned, not only that it might be safely but acceptably delivered. Well may our souls be edified by observing the things which lay nearest the heart of this generous apostle, that coming to his christian friends at Rome he might come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ, and that if he was spared through their prayers, it might be for public usefulness. Saint Paul, dead as he was to human applause, was, from much nobler motives, solicitous about his acceptance; and he shows by his manner of speak- ing, what a sense he had of the degree in which it depended upon the turn and disposition which God should be pleased to give to the spirits of men. May this just and pious thought frequently dwell upon the hearts of the ministers of Christ! Some of the prayers which the apostle so affectionately bespeaks were answered, and some seemed to be for- gotten: yet did God glake what seemed the rejection of some the means of answering the rest. He was for a while delivered into the hands of those in Judea who believed not; and this providence, which might have seemed an invincible obstacle to his design, proved the occasion of bringing him to Rome, and promoted the success of his ministry there. Let us adore the God of grace and peace, who works the most important ends by methods to us unthought of; 33 and let us be greatly cautious that we do not rashly judge that he hath rejected our prayers, because we do not see them answered in that particular way which might have been more agreeable to our own wishes. SECTION XXXIV. The apostle, after recommending Phche to the Romans, particularly salutes several of his friends resident annong them. Rom. xvi. 1–16. - RoMANs xvi. 1. Rosſ. xvi. 1. I, COMMEND unto, you HAVING thus despatched the substance of my epistle, I would add, by way of post- Phebe our sister, which * * script, something relating to a few particular christian friends, with us or with you; and ºf SECT 34. - d Churches of JMacedonia, &c.] As we read of no more than Qne col: jection of the Macedonian churches, which was that directed by Paul when he went from Ephesus to Macédonia, (Acts xx. 1.) in the year of Christ 57, this circumstance seems to fix the date of this Epistle pretty early in 58, as was observed in the introduction, and the former mote there referred to. - - º * e By the love of the Spirit..] Some would explain this of the love which the Spirit of God bears to us, or the affection which we owe to that graciºus agent; and were we certain that either of these were the genuine sense, important consequences would follow. f Join your utmost strength with mine.] Elsner (Observ. vol. ii. p. 65.) has a beautiful note on this word avvayajvuqagflat, to show how exactly that is the import of it. - g.That I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea.] How extreme their bigotry and rage was, appears from their behaviour to him at the very time here referred to, Acts xxi.-xxiv. It was from a sense of the great importance of his life to the cause of christianity, that he is thus urgent; else we may be assured he would gladly have given it up. Phil. i. 21, &c. 548 34. 3 5 and privileges I am al I 6 my particular remembrance. Salule .jſary, who has taken a great deal of pains on our - * y companions when we were in her neighbourhood. 7 Salute ſindronicus* and Junias my kinsmen, and dear in the bond of christian fellowship having once been my fºllow-prisoners; who were early in great apostles, and were also happy in being joined to the church of Christ º before me; and therefore, though once the object of my furious persecuting zeal, are now ...” 11 I I 1 I I 2 3 well worthy of yºur regard, and wi love me or have . concern for the cominon cause. d, also salute, the pious Priscilla, and her worthy consort .#quila,” who have both deserved the name of my fellow- tº 5 them, according to their different stations 4 promote the interest of the gospel among SALUTATIONS TO VARIOUS FRIENDS. SECT, first would recommend to you the bearer of this Epistle, partaker with us in the profession of the gospel, but 'i deaconess ºf the church in Cencheap in the neighbourhood of which I write to you. Anā º: I desire that you would entertain her, in reg 2 our common Saviour, with all christian affection, fess themselves saints, separated from the world would assist her in any thing in which she may need it of you ; for I can assure you she has , gºd of myself in particular; on which account she is ! I hope meet with a very kind reception fron all that been, in her office, an elper of man I desive you wou Phebe our sister, who is not only n the office of a stated servant or ard to her relation to the Lord Jesus and in a manner becoming those that pro- to the honour of his name; and that you servant of the church which is in Cench rea: 2 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and , that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you : for she hath been a succourer of many, an of myself also. Christ, A: ñº), jºla aſid labourers in Christ Jesus, as they have each of ſº *** in Christ and characters, been ready to do their utmost to st us. And indeed they are persons who, for the 4 Who have for my life laid reservation of my life, exposed to so many tumultuous dangers, (A&ts xvii. 6, 7, 13, 13) ...'...}º ave, as it were, laid down their own necks, that is, offe dangers; to whom therefore I do not only owe my own personal thanks, but also all the I peculiarly am, and for whose spiritual liberties You will also, I hope, present my that is in their house ; as I know there are Several other christians with them, resident in the family, or meeting them for social wor- Satute also my beioved Epenetus, who is one of the first-fruits of.4chaiad to churches of the Gentiles, whose apostle - m always so strenuous an advocate. Sincere and affectionate salutation to the church. ship there. whom not ºnly I give thanks, but also all the churches of red themselves to the extremest & the Gentiles. 5 Likewise greet the cl: urch that is in their house. Salute § well-beloved Epenetus, who is the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ. Christ in the number of the first christian converts of these regions, and therefore worthy account, to accommodate me and my and united sufferings too, reputation among the honoured and beloved as my elder brethren in the Lord. Lord, for whom I have a most affectionate friendship, cemented in the bonds of mutual faith and love., Salute also Urbanus, my fºllow-labourer in the gospel of Christ, to the service of which he is so faithfully devotéd, and with him my beloved Stachys, of whose friendship I cannot but retain an affectionate remembrance. & experienced worth renders him thoroughly approved in the cause of Salute also those [of the family] of Aristobulus,é of a character undoubtedly honourable, 6 Greet Mary, who be- -stowed much lafjöur on us. 7 Salute . Andronicus and utia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of among the apostles, who were in Christ before II] e. Salute ºffmplias, my beloved in the , 8 Greet Amplias my bo. oved in the Lord. 9 Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys iny beloved. Salute Apelles, whose long- 10, Salate Apelles, approv- * • * ed in Christ. Salute them wrist, as a disciple which are of Aristobulus’s l and assure the christians that hold the lowest station in it, that they are not förgotten by mé. Salute my cousin Herodion, still dearer to me in the ties of grace than in those of nature; and those belonging to [the household of] Varcissus, Christ. Salute those, excellent women, Tryphena and Tryphosa, who, according to their 19 S stations, have laboured with great diligence in the service of the Lord. Salute the beloved Fºg who Persis, who distinguished herself among many who were faithful and diligent; so that it . S may properly be said, she laboured much in the Lord. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, in who are believers in the Lord Jesus whom I esteem as a christian of a most excellent character; and pay the most affectionate º Salute Rufus, chosen in respects in my name to his mother and mine; for so I may call 'hér, on account of that mine. maternal tenderness and care which she has often shown towards me. Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and all the brethren with them, as if every one of them #. had been particularly named. Salute Philologus and Julias, Nereus and his sister, and whicº withºm, Olympas, and all the other sincere saints and christians that are with them ; the rest of the persons that I have mentioned, I most sincerely honour and lové. In a wor whether you be Jews or Ge; tiles, when you meet at your with a holy kiss ;k and take care that the kiss which you give to each other at the conclusion of your worship, be expressive of a pure and undissembled affection, and conducted with the gravest and most decent circumstances. All the churches of Christ in these parts salute you ; as they, with me, have heard of the eminent figure you make in religion, and the many excellent persons who are resident among you. sº household. ll Salute. Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcis- sus, which are in the Lord. alute º Shena and abour in the Lord alute the beloved Persis, which laboured much the Lord. e Lord, and his mother and Salute Jłsyncritus, 14 Salute Asyncritus, ſº Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, and the brethren - 15 Salute Philologus, and whom, with Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and , all the }-\l - 2 saints which are with them. assemblies, Salute one another 16 Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. a J1 stated servant or deaconess.] Compare 1 Tim. v. 9. That there were some grave and pious matrons engaged in such an office in the primitive church, is, I think, very apparent from these places; but it is obvious there were circumstances which rendered such sort of servants much more useful and necessary in the churches at that time, than they would now generally be. - - b. The church in Cench rea.] As Paul mentions the church in Cençhrea as distinct from that at Corinth, though Cench rea, lay in the suburbs of it, I must submit it to the candid reader, whether it be not probable that it had a distinct pastor or bishop of its own. - c. Priscilla and Aquila.] This excellent couple appear, by this passage, to be returned to Rome, on the ceasing of that edict against, the Jews which had driven them from thence, in the reign of Claudius, Acts xviii. 2. Priscilla seems to have been a woman of great note, and pro- bably of distinguished genius and influence; which appears, not quły from the manner, in which she, is here named, but also from the edifica- tion which the eloquent Apollos received from her instructions, in con- currence with those of her husband. d The first-fruits, &c.) It is very probable he might be converted at the same time with Stephanas, Čaft. also the first-fruits of Achaia, (1 Cor. xvi. 15.) for there is no unanner of necessity to understand by that expression, the very first christian convert. , Indeed it is possible Epenetus might be one of that happy family to which this appellation is gl Werl. - - * * * e Andronicus, &c.], Dr. Jenkins very justly observes that this list of names can be no objection at all to the authority of this epistle; for it might be an encouragement to the persons thus particularly mentioned, might conciliate some additional respect to them, whereby their useful- ness might be promoted, and would render each of these persons a kind of witness to the genuineness of the epistle, as we may naturally sup- pose it was shown to each of them. Jenik. Of Christianity, vol. ii. P. 3/ . & r - - - f In reputation, among the apostles.] Diodati, thinks that apostles here signifies evangelists; and that the meaning is, that these persons were noted messeugers of the churches, 2 Cor. viii. 23. Phil. ii. 95. But I rather º with Mr. Cradock, (Apost. Hist. p. 43.) that they were some early converts who had been known,and much esteemed by the apostles before the dispersion §§ºr by the death of Stephen, (Acts viii. 2.) and if so, perhaps Paul might once have been active in persecuting thein, and have learned their names at first, with an hostile intent of hunting them down to destruction: g Those [of the family] aſ Järistobulus.]. The Roman church hath con- secrated days to the honour of many of the saints, mentioned in this chapter, whom they dgglaſe; I know not on what sufficient authority, to have been martyrs. See L’Enf. Prof. to the Romans, p. 6, 7. To these they have added Aristobulus and Narcissus, though there is no certain evidence that they were christians. It seems most probable they were persons of high rank who had each a great family of slaves; and some of them being christian converts, the apostle would not ſorget them, low as their rank in life was, when he was saluting lijs brethren in so particular a manner. We may observe, what a regard the apostle had for foreign churches, when he informed himself of the names, circum- stances, and abodes of so many then in Rome. h. His mother and minc..] Hence some have thought that Rufus was at least half brother to Paul; but, perhaps he might in this expression refer to the maternal care this good woman had taken of hira. i All the saints, &c.] Calvin and others, very justly observe, that had Péter been now at Rome, he would undoubtedly have been, named; since no one in this numerous catalogue was of a dignity and eminence by any means comparable to him ; and yet, if he were not there at this time, thé whole tradition of the Roman bishops, as the Roman church delivers it, ſails in the most fundamental article of all. - k ...A holy kiss...] The custom of thus saluting each other was borrowed from the Jewish synagogue; and as chastely and prudently as it was managed, it seems to have been the occasion of those false and scanda- lous reports which were so industriously propagated among the heathem, of the adulterous and incestuous practices, in christian assemblies; on which account it seems to have been laid aside very early CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. IMPROVEMENT. Though so much of this section be a mere catalogue of names, it is not without its moral and religiºus instruc- tion. We see in it the good heart of the apostle; how full he was of the sentiments of christian friendship; how solicitous he was to express his esteem and love for his brethren in the Lord, And God hºth made him the means of transmitting to posterity the memorials of many excellent... of whom we no where else read or hear any thing: of whom all that we know is, that they were such as eserved the particular affection of St. Paul, and were professors of the gospel at Rome in the reign of a very worthless and wicked prince, under whom it is highly probable that some of them suffered martyrdom for Christ, * w & 4 is His large heart opened to embrace them, all, whether by birth, Jews or Gentiles: and as they shared in his sa; lutations, we cannot doubt but they shared in his prayers too. We find some of these pious, and much-esteemed friends of the apostle were women, of whom he speaks with great regard, as of persons whom divine grâce had made very useful in the church; who had been ſº of many, and particularly of him; who had aboured, ea, had laboured much in the Lord. Let not that sex therefore think that it is ºut off from the service of Christ ecause the ministry is appropriated to men. Eminently useful have many of them been. The mºst valuable ministers have often been assisted by them in the success of their work, while their pious care, under the restraint of the strictest modesty and decorum, has happily and effectually influenced children, servants, and young friends; yea, has been the means of sowing the seeds of religion in tender minds, before they have been capable of coming under ministerial care. Generous was the zeal which Aquila and Priscilla showed in exposing even their own lives in the defence of this holy apostle. Great obligations did they thereby lay upon hiſ the churches of the Gentiles, and on us, who, at this j of time, receive so many blessings from the longer continuance of St. Paul's life, which they were ready so heroically to defend at the hazard of their own. Truly valuable were these mutual friendships, of which zeal for Christ was the common bond; lasting, and indeed everlasting. These excellent persons are doubtless the companions of Paul in glory now, and will many of them be his crown in the day of the Lord. Some of them indeed were in Christ before him, and he speaks of it as peculiarly to their honour. Let those who were early in Christ rejoice in the thought. Let those who came later into his church be exhorted to exert themselves with the greater vigour in his service, that they may recover the time they have lost: and let us all learn to esteem it as the most substantial proof of our love to those who are peculiarly dear to us, to show, upon all occasions, how sincerely we wish that they º early form an º with Christ; that they may constantly walk in him, and grow up in all things in him, as our com- In Oll if €3.Cl. - SECTION XXXV. The apostle concludes with other salutations, and a necessary, caution against those who would divide the church, together with a doxology suited to the general purport of what he had been writing. Rom. Xvi. 17, to the cred. Royſ w I7 Roy ANs xvi. 17. Nº ſº, AND now, having despatched these salutations which christian friendship has largely dic- ... dºns'; 'oft. tated, let me conclude my Epistle to you with a few words of additional advice. And I tºº, ºi would particularly ºrhort you, brethren, to have your eyes upon, and to mark out for the avoid them. j caution of others, those persons, whether in public or private life, which cause divisions and offences [among you,) by false doctrines, factious tempers, and scandalous lives: therein doing contrary to that pure, certain, and uniting doctrine which you have learned of us, the apostles of Jesus Christ who have been commissioned by him as the authentic teachers of his gospel. . .ºnd when you have discovered such pernicious seducers, avoid them, so as to have no intimate converse with them, nor even to permit them to continue in your com- munion, if they will not be reclaimed by the milder methods of brotherly admonition. 18 For they that are such For you may be assured that such, whatever they may pretend, serve not ihe Lord Jesus §t,". º i. Christ, under whose commission we so apparently act, and the nature of whose religion is ..º.º.º.º.º. 9 holy and benevolent: but, on the contrary, it is plain they serve their own belly; they of the simple. “” have only their own secular interest in view, and hope to gain some temporal advantage - by setting themselves up as heads of parties among you ; and by fair speeches and flatter- ing forms of address,” they deceive the hearts of the innocent and well-meaning, and lead them into snares of which they are little aware. c 19 For your obedience is It is very possible, that having done so much mischief here at Corinth and at other sº places, they may also make soule attempts upon you, especially considering the figure you half, but †: º make in the christian world; but I trust their endeavours will be unsuccessful, for the }..."..."...º. report of your exemplary obedience to the dictates of our holy religion is come abroad unto evil. all ; therefore I rejoice on your account, in hope you will overcome this and every other danger, and maintain the good character you have already gained. But I give you this caution out of my abundant tenderness and care; because I am desirous you may be wise and sagacious with respect to every opportunity of practising and maintaining that which is good, and as simple as possible with regard to that which is evil; perfectly free from all ill views and designs of every kind. And I know how much the insinuations of those men tend to destroy those benevolent dispositions which should ever reign in the hearts of christians, and to fill them with such prejudices against each other as may produce mutual injuries. - 20. And the God of peace ºffma I have an agreeable persuasion that you will take care to maintain this happy tº mixture of innocence and prudence, and will succeed in that care. Yes, my brethren, I on Lordjºsus Christic with am well assured that the God of peace, from whom we derive all our peace and happiness you. Amen. and who delights in seeing º temper prevail among his servants, will quickly bruise Satan under your feet; will defeat the artifices by which the great enemy of God and men is endeavouring to insinuate himself into the church, and to infuse his own malignant spirit into its members. God will enable you, animated by the first great pro- mise, (Gen. iii. 15.) which you have seen so illustriously fulfilled, to trample on the sl deceiver, as on a wounded serpent whose head your gréat Leader hath already crushed. And for this purpose, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which hath already been a Flattering forms of address.] EvXoyta, in this connexion; has a force what these weapons are which these false apostles opposed to the mira- which I knew not how to express but by this periphrasis. We see here cles of the true. SECT. 34. 1, 2 12 3 4 7 20 550 CUNCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. SECT. ill sº ºrable a degree imparted to you, [be] still more constantly and abundantly with 35. 3}ou ! .ºlmen. I add by way of postscript, that Timothy my pious and zealous ſellow-labourer, to whose , 21 Timotheus my work- * affection I am so much obliged, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, the messéngers of ſºjº. XY H. in , r - - - - - - son, and Sosipater, and kins- 21 the church at Beroea,b and both of them my kinsmen, Salute you with sincere christian men, salute you.” ** friendship. - - i : , i. w + > º - - s * - 22, . I Tertius, or Silas, who wrote [this] Epistle, while the apostle Paul dictated it to me, as 32 ſtortius,who wroteºis his secretary, do also most affectionately salute you in the Lord. epistle, salute you in the Q º, Ys ; , ; c. , who is an : - } - ord. 23 The generous Gaius, who is my host, gnd indeed I may say, that of the whole church, so º'caſus mine host, and of ready is he to every act of hospitality and goodness, salutes yout, [and] Erastus the steward ...whº...! • rº 7 z- •2. * f * ºr Tº r 4. * º •lsº wº- - rou. ls Une cnam Der- of the city [also] salutes you ; and so doth one Quartus, whö though you may not particu- i.gº.idº". larly know him, is a christian brother, whose name I think worthy of being inserted. and Guartus a brother. 24 Once more receive my repeated good wishes that the best of all blessings may attend .24. The grace of our Lord you; even that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with you all: to which I again }.9" with ***". put my cordial Amen. 5 Yato, let me sum up all with ascribing praise to the great Author of all the blessmgs of 2. Yº..." r-ky; * rº-, + n n . r : - -- * & S- OW er to stablish you accor 1- which I have been W riting ; even to him, who, as he has called you to participate these Fº to my gospel hi the invaluable blessings, is able to strengthen you” in every virtuous disposition and good '... . ."...º. - - - - - g • AIX. + c, -, -, 1- rea 3 * ~. ...' •' 3 CCO FU1 || yelatio, resolution; according to the tenor of my gospel, even the preaching of Jesus Christ, as our ºtºiº only and Almighty Sayiour, whom I proßlaim, wherever I come, to Gentiles as well as to $ººt * * * Jews: a gospel which, however it is opposed as contrary, is indeed most exactly agreeable, to the revelation which God has now been pleased to make of that mystery in ancient times 26 kept in silence, and never before so fully exhibited : But, adored be his goodness, it is 95 But º de manifest at 27, #!, o £ ‘p:)}, offic errºr:#; ºr ..i. ,,, fest, and by the scriptures of 720 tº º tº est according to the tenor of the m ophetic scriptures, according to the cont- i.i.º.º.º.º. mandment of the eternal God. And it is not only discovered to us by the Spirit, but pub-ºmajiment of ºver. licly, made known to all the Gentile nations, as well as the people of Israel, for the jºi...º. obedience of faith; that they, firmly believing it, may yield a correspondent practical sub- offith.) 27 mission to it, and so obtain by it everlasting salvation; subjecting themselves in all things 27. To God, only wise, he to the sacred authority of the only wise Goºl, who has so prudently contrived and so effec- §º.º. esus Christ. tally executed this grand scheme. To him, on the whole, [be] glory by Jesus Christ, in all the churches, and in the general assembly, to endless ages J .4mén. IMPROVEMENT, 2 Ver.25 WoRTHY are these concluding words of being deeply engraven on every heart. The gospel was a mystery long concealed in the breast of the divine wisdom, and opened but by imperfect hints, even to the church itself, in former ages. Let us be humbly thankful that it is now made mânifest, and that we are among the nations who 26 are called to the obedience of the faith. Let us be solicitous to answer that call; and if we have already done it in 25 any measure, let us remember we are still surrounded with many snares and dangers, so that we have continual need of being strengthened and confirmed by him who hath done us the honour to call us into the fºllowship of his 18 gospel. Let us walk worthy of it, and faithfully endeavour to advance its interests in a noble superiority to all those secular and mercenary motives by which bad men, under a christian profession, are often influenced, and in consequence of which they often abuse even the ministry of religion to the most infamous purposes. Let us show how thoroughly we have imbibed the spirit of this divine dispensation, by the generosity of our 17, 18 sentiments; guarding both against scandals and divisions, and aiming in wisdom, integrity, and love, both to unite and to edify the body of Christ. Satan will indeed lay discouragements and stumbling-blocks in our way, and per- haps may sometimes use very subtle arts to promote discord and division among those who ought to be most dear to each other in the bonds of the Lord. But let us use a holy caution, and commit ourselves cheerfully to the divine keeping, and we may hº hope that the God of peace will make us victorious over all the artifice and 20 power of our spiritual enemies, and will shortly bruise Satan under our feet. - a - Let us humbly hope that he will, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in virtue of that great original promise which was given to cheer our first parents when they lay under their deep distress and fieavy load of new-contracted guilt. (Gen. iii. 13.) And as we see how God hath taken the subtle in his own craftiness, and triumphed over Śatan by that event which he laboured to accomplish as his own triumph, even the death of our diviné Redeemer; let us ascribe to him, as the only wise God, everlasting glory. And oh that we may join with all the redeemed world in this ascription, when the accuser of the brethren, the great enemy of God and man, with all his adherents and instruments, shall be cast out for ever ! Amen. - f 27 N. B. A note added to the end of this epistle says that it was critten to the Romans from Corinth, by Phebe, servant of the church at Cench rea. Part of this the first verse of this last chapter justifies; but as the most ancient manuscripts have not these notes, and some of them are plainly contrary to some passages in the epistle to which they are affixed, they are to be esteemed of no authority. b Sosipater.] As it appears from Acts xx. 4. that §osipater was with e Yong to him, &c.] This doxology is ſonald in maqy copigs at the end St. Paul when he tº in Greece, in the year 58, this is one argu- of the fourteenth chapter, and, in the Alexandrian M.S. is inserted both mºnt for fixing the date of this epistle to that year. there and here. Jero:he says that Marcian rejected the tyo last chap- ..I./J ... this pºić, &j 'St. Paul seeins not himself to have been ters, as coatrary to his opinion ; and Sir Norton Knatchbull conjectures, ...º.º. ; Ciaractors, Gal. vi. il. compare I Cor. that in order to prevent any suspicion, as if the epistle ºnded with the Xī Qi, "lie therefore made use of the hand of Silas, or, as the Latin fourteenth chapter, some orthodºx christian transferred this pºliº jíř express his name, fertius, who wrote what the apostle dictated; from thence, which he suppoies to have been its º piace. Dr. * s j i slºto'consideration, whether some of the intricate and some is of the Şăine opinion; and suppoies the º? ast §. º la VG of the unfinished sentences which ye meet with in these epistles, been added }. way ºf pºstscript, ºi, # a Dost jº. º: #. le SCt)t jiຠnºtº, owin; to this method of writing by an amanuensis. They it away. All the other Epistles Of Pau *...; t § ºng !ction: f Whosº variety of business has obliged them to dictate to others, and f JMystery, &c..] Many cºmmºntators §: º º: jºi. {LS Te ‘F use their pens in such a manner, will be very sensible this is no absurd ring to the calling of the Gentiles into º ºf: !'}; }{2 I) º: § jºinºle conjecture. Compare Jer. xxxvi. 17, 18. as an in- them suppose the xpouots atovtoº tºefer to th; 4ºº. of time by stance of a similar nature. - - - - - jubilges; but it is certain the words will make good, and Weighty sense d 2 brother..] Mr. Pierce thinks this expression intimates that he was on the different interpretation. We have. *...i. º as the jº SO a hºistian minister. Compare Phil. iv. 21, 22, but I cannot say it ap- early i. into neglect among the *...* W . - jº. natural to Sup- pears sufficiently evident. pose the periods of time they measured to be designed here. TH: F A M H L Y E X P O S A T O R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES QN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. THE apostle Paul had been the instrument, in the hand of God, of planting a numerous christian church, chiefly of Gen- tile converts, at Corinth; where his ministry was so successful, that he continued there near two years. (Acts xviii. 1–18. Corinth was a city of Achaia, situated on the isthmus which joins Peloponnesus (now called the Morea) to the rest o Greece. From the convenience of its situation for commerce, it abounded in riches, and was furnished with all the ac- commodations, with all the elegances and superfluities, of life. This, % too natural a consequence, led its inhabitants into luxury, lewdness, and all manner of vice; and they were accordingly infamous even to a proverb. About the space of three years after the apostle had left Corinth to preach the gospel in other parts of Greece, he had occasion to write this Epistle to the Corinthians; which he accordingly wrote from Ephesus, about the year 57, the third of the emperor Nero. See note d, on Acts xviii. 23. p. 453. and note a, on Acts xix. 21. p. 456. The reason for which this Epistle was written, was to answer some important queries proposed by the Corinthians, and correct the various criminal irregularities and disorders of which they were guilty. In correcting the abuses with which they were chargeable, The first article on which the apostle thought himself obliged to insist, related to the parties and factions into which they were filen, and the opposition which was made by some of them to his own apostolical mission. On this head he largely discourses in the first four chapters; introducing the Epistle with an affectionate address to the Corinthian converts, in which he congratulates them on the rich variety of gifts and graces God had bestowed upon them, and animates their hopes of his continued favour in the Lord Jesus Čhit even till the day of his final appearance. (Chap. i. 1–9.) And then, expressing his great concern on account of their animosities and factions, he expostulates with them on the unreasonable- ness of setting up christian ministers as heads of parties, when they were under such strong engagements to Christ as their common Saviour and Master. (Ver. 10–16.). And as he well knew that a fond regard to eloquence and philosophy, to which some of the Corinthian teachers made high pretensions, was one great occasion of their divisions, he sets himself to show how little stress was to be laid upon them; which he illustrates by the choice that God had made of gospel preach- ers entirely destitute of these boasted accomplishments. (Ver. 17, to the end.) The apostle further explains the reasons for which he had declined all ostentation of eloquence when he came among the Corinthians, and particularly insists on the extraordinary nature of the facts and doctrines he was to teach, which were of a much higher original than any discoveries which human wit or learning could make, and were to be traced up to the immediate teachings of the Holy Spirit; their nature being so wonderful that it was difficult for the corrupted minds of men to receive them, even when they were taught. (Chap. ii. throughout.) After this the apostle more directly comes to the case of their animosities and divisions, and reproves their carnality in contending about human teachers, and urges many important considerations to cure them of so unbecoming a temper. (Chap. iii. 1––9.) Reminding them, for this purpose, of the great trial which every man’s work must undergo, the guilt of polluting by unhallowed divisions the temple of God, the vanity of human wisdom in his sight, and of glorying in men, since ministers and all things are appointed for the common benefit of believers. (Ver. 10, to the end.) The apostle further discourses, with the same view, of the nature of the ministerial office, reminds them of the final judgment of him who searcheth all hearts, and the obligation they were under to the divine goodness for every advantage by which they were distinguished from others. (Chap. iv. 1–7.) And as a particular opposition had been made in the Corinthian church to himself, he represents the hardships and dangers to wift he and his brethren had been and were exposed in the service of the gospel, and the obligations which he had in an especial manner laid upon them; warn- ing them not to force him upon severities which he was very unwilling to use. (Ver. 8, to the end.), And having thus dis- coursed with admirable wisdom, faithfulness, and zeal, he dismisses, for the present, this part of his subject; which, on account of his personal concern in it, was attended with circumstances of peculiar delicacy. 5 The second topic which the apostle considers, was the case of a notorious offender in the Corinthian church, who was guilty of most scandalous incest with his father's wife. Animated, therefore, with a warm zeal for the honour of Christ, br the purity and credit of the christian church, with a benevolent concern for the conviction of the offender, and that others might be deterred from the like enormous practices, he exhorts them, upon these principles, to beware of all un- necessary connexion with him, and to exclude him from christian communion. (Chap. v. throughout.) The third article, which, in this Epistle, St. Paul exhibits against the Corinthians, is, that by a covetous and litigious temper they were led, contrary to the rules of christian prudence and love, and sometimes contrary even to the principles of justice, to prosecute their brethren in the heathen courts. This he solemnly censures and condemns, and closes what he offers upon this head, by warning them of the sad consequences which would attend the indulgence of those criminal dis- positions in which christianity found them, and from which it was intended to deliver them. (Chap. vi. 1–11.) 552 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE coRINTHIANs In the fourth place, the e- * A n- +! a crº nst tº c. ci * * * their §e º greai. º . Pºiº ". egainst the sin of fornication, to which they had been, in - ax r º A. seem, that having been formerly wont to look is ºs crime as lawful, there were even now some among them who reckoned it th - 2nt to look upon this heinous not in general sufficiently convinced of its enormity He the joneg ... Ing i things indifferent, and that they were with some useful reflections on things really indifférent and jºij, * he proposed to say on this subject, Pºlº, to the christian religion. (Ver, 12, to the end.) 5 I strates the heinous evil of fornication, from views al Or ** Ore IV -: *** is . r T & - nº. With great faithfulness and plainness, corrected some sad disorders with which the Corin- e apostle proceeds to ti • --~~ ; is Fris r - - thºº pr * º, end of his Epistle, namely, to answer certain important questions which it seems e determines, first, Those whi ‘. • co-º- "… • as #4 gº tºº. elievers 2 And, Whether it was good to marry in the present circumstanºhuº. " rs if they continued un- especially such near alliances in those times of persecution, would s: R es o ... º when the contracting new and into the marriage relation, which they might, notwithst inº º we in Pºeuliº difficulties those who should enter shows, at his entrance upon this . in º º º º Now the apostle sº º: º pº at that time; and enjoins wives nº tº iºn i.º º J. º smiss their wives. ap. vii. 1–11.) He then shows that marriages wer be dissolved as some thought they might, on account of a difference in religion; and very mºnºges were not to be dissolved, as with the stations in which they were called, and a .*.*.*.*.*.*. º º º #. #. contentment single, bound or free. (Ver, 12–24.) And with regard to single ºogºn their prºper nºon, whº her married or in the circumsta * * Sp single persons, he asserts the inexpediency of their marrying - - - stances of the church at that juncture, inculcating a serious sense of the shortness of time, as th - Tº agº. *: º to any secular interest. (Ver, 35, to the end ) S O e, as the best remedy A second query which the Corinthians had proposed to the apostle. "he resolv Yr ºn ºn * Tº) Tº * ºi.º hº OU FS º º #. º i. ; *sº º christiaſis might well be supposed to know the vanity of those imaginary deities to which ti ifi º ã it might prove to some an occasion of grief and scandal, that the Sf ~ - . f his so ºn 4-wr a he sacrifices were offered, yet in their temple: which therefore charity would re uire thºut P.i º C º hould partake of these sacrifices in this instance, urged them to a christian ... to º º ºº .." ling, strongly, by his own condescension to the weak in waving to accept of a maintenance from the *.d. h º i. what he had to say upon this head with a short discourse on the right which, as a gospel-minister, ans, i. º . C º supported by those among whom he laboured; which he argues bºth from hº § and sº i ally na # e º ix. 1–14.) He then proceeds to show, that out of tenderness to them, and to prevent except p º º . he had waved this right, and had been cautious upon all occasions to avoid offence º exercising . o i. e ; 5 illustrates by a very expressive simile taken from those who contended in the Grecian games (ver 15, t h tal, } Nº. i to recommend this self-denial and holy caution to the Corinthians, he represents the privileges wº º ...; hi I] joyed, and the displeasure which, notwithstanding this, God manifested against ić, in the ... º O . indulged their irregular and luxurious desires, and in contempt of the manna, insted after quails; an ex º hen tºy put the Corinthians in mind of the danger they ran of incurring the divine displeasure if iº, should be .. sake of gratifying a luxurious appetite, to partake of entertainments upon things offered i. iii., in the namente ; C (Chap. x. 1–13.) That he might therefore caution them against all approaches to idolatry, he particularly arg º €S. that communion which as Christians they had with Christ aſ his table, that they ought to kee º: the . j". O}]] from what might justly be called having communion with devils. (ver. 14–22.) After j'. lays i. º . º º º . * º: in which things sacrificed to idols might or might not lawfully be sº ; S er considerations to engage them willingly to resign their ow ati - sº "A º their brethren. (Ver. 23, to ;, iº. º to resign their own gratification for the glory of God and the e apostle now proceeds to a third query, concerning the manner in which women should deliver * - & when by a divine impulse called to it. %. after having settled this point, he particularly º º men's prophesying with their head uncovered. (Ver. * †) Being thus led to consider circumstances which 㺠the christian worship, he takes the occasion naturally afforded, of introducing a discourse upon several abuses among tiºn of a higher nature, with respect to the public celebration of the Lord's supper : leading back their views to its original institution, and inferring from thence the danger of profaning it in the manner they iii. (Ver. 17, to the end.) #eing thus naturally, and as it were accidentally, brought to take notice again of the corruptions prevailing in the Corinthian church, the apostle makes some remarks upon their abuse of the spiritual gifts; observing that they all proceed from the same Sacred Agent, and are intended for the edification of the same body in which all christians are ºi (Chap. xii i–13.) Inculcaſting humility in the use of those gifts, and that mutual affection which the Corinthians, needed to be taught, he pursues the allegory further, and represents christians as so united in one body as to have entirely the same in. terest; and insists on a tender care of the least member, from its subserviency to the ood of the whole. (Ver. 15, to the end.) And to engage the Corinthians to cultivate love, as more importint than the gifts about which they contended, he gives a lovely description of that excellent grace; concluding it with a reflection, on its perpetual duration, in which it Exceeds even faith and hope. (Chap. xiii. throughout.) After thus inculcating charity and love, a grace which they needed much to adorn their christian profession and direct the exercise of their spiritual gifts, the apostle particularly cautions them against their prevailing vain ostentation of the gift of tongues, and reasons with them cºncerning the absurdity of the manner in which they, some of them at least, abused that gift. (Chap. xiv. I–19.). And adds, upon the whole, proper motives to prevent that abuse. (Ver. 20, to the end.) 5 2 Some among the Corinthians doubted, and others denied, the resiſerºtion of the dead. To prove and establish, there- fore, this greaf and peculiar article of the christian faith, the Apostle Paul makes some remark.9m the certainty and im- portance of the resurrection of Christ. (Chap. xv. 1-11.) And infers, from the resurrection of Christ, the certainty of the resurrection of the dead; urging the importance of this grand fundamental doctrine of Christianity, and mentioning, in the series of his argument, that surrender of the mediatorial kingdom which Christ, at the consumination of all things shall make to the #. (Ver. 12–34.) After which he answers objections to the resurrection, drawn from our not being able to conceive of the particular manner in which it shall be effected ; and concludes with urging this doctrine, as a noble incentive to the greatest Readiness and the warmest zeal in religion. (Ver. 25, to the end.) Ex } This is the connexion of the several parts of this excellent Epistle, and a sketch of the apostle's design, which was to correct the corruptions and abuses, and answer some queries, of the Corinthian church. And though he hath not throughout discussed these two points separately, and with the exactness of systematical method, yet #. hath handled his subject in a more natural manner, and given a masterly specimen of the freedom usual in epistolary writings.-Be- fore he concludes, he gives some advices to the Corinthian church, relating to the collection proposed to be made for the poor saints in Judea. (Chap. xvi. 1–12.) And then closes all with some particular salutations and directions, with general exhortations to courage and love, a solemn benediction to true christians, and an awful anathema against those §hº were destitute of love to our Lord Jésus Christ. (Ver, 13, to the end of the Epistle.) sº - P A R A P H R A S E A N D NOT E S GN THE EIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE INTRODUCES HIS EPISTLE WITH A MOST AFFECTIONATE AND SUITABLE SALUTATION, IN_WHICH - HE CONGRA- TULATES THE CORINTHIANS ON THE RICH variETY OF GIFTS AND GRACEs which GOD HAD BESTOWED UPQN THEM, AND §§§ Th; loº, OF His CONTINUED FAvogR IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, EVEN TILL THE DAY OF HIS FINAL AP- PEARANCE. 1 . i. 1–9. 1 CoRINTHIANs i. VER. 1. 1 Cor. i. VER. 1. - - . PAUL, who was in so peculiar a manner called [to be] an apostle” of Jesus Christ, not sect. PAUL, called to be an apostle of Jesus Ghrist through the §§e."...]" ... undertaking that office of himself, but invested with it by the most express declaration of 1. our brother, the will of God, signified at the time of that miraculous interposition of which you have so — often heard; and Sosthenes,b so well known unto you, whom, I esteem as a dear brother, 1 COR. concur in writing this Epistle to the church of God which is in the rich, populous, and , * learned city of Corinth, whose chief glory it is that they (if they are what their christian profession speaks them to be) are sanctified in vital union with Christ Jesus,” as well as called with an external vocation, by which they are separated from the rest of the world ſºlº saints of God. ...And when we express our affectionate regard to you, and our good wishes for your edification and comfort, we extend them to all that in every placed invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” whom we, and all true christians, join in acknow- ledging and adoring as their [Lord] and ours. May you experimentally know more of the 3 privileges and blessings of his gospel; and for that purpose, [may] grace and peace [be] with you, that abundance of divine influence which may establish your peace and multiply your prosperity; even from God, the original Fountain of all blessings, whom we are now taught to look upon as our reconciled and gracious Father, and [from] Jesus Christ our - Lord, that anointed and exalted Saviour by whom we receive the adoption, and through whose hands all its blessings are communicated to us. I cannot address you, my dear brethren, without assuring you in the first place, that I always give humble thanks to my God on your account, whenever I mention you before him in prayer, as I º do, for the abundant grace of God given winto you in Christ Jesus, by virtue of which you have been received into the christian church, and are made orna- ments to it. For ever adored be his holy name, that in all things ye are enriched in himſ 5 with a variety of gifts and graces, and particularly, that ye are made copious in all utter- ance, and ready lim] all knowledge of spiritual and divine things; .4s the testimony which 6 I bore to the gospel of Christ, when I abode so long at Corinth, was ...'" among you% by such various communications of the Spirit, in consequence of which you became living witnesses of it to all who knew you. So that you are deficient in no gift which can render you useful in his church, while you are waiting for the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in connexion with which, I hope, you will always consider this ex- traordinary furniture for his service, and improve it so as to advance your preparation for that day: Still keeping up an humble dependence on him, who, if you faithfully apply to him for the continued communication of his almighty aid, will confirm you to the end ; [so that] when so many others shall be condemned, ſye may be] presented blameless and irreproachable in the great day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Fear not, my brethren, but this blessed day will come, and bring with it those glories which we have so long been taught 2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and Our S > 3 Grace be unto yon, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ ; 4. 5 That in, every, thing ye are enrichel by him, in all utterance, and in all know- edge ; * 6. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you : - 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 7 8 Who shall also confirm §§ unto the end, that ye may S e blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. a Called [to be] an apostle.] There is great propriety in every clause of the salutation prefixed to, this Epistle, and particularly, in this, as there were those in the church of Corinth Wiś to call the autho- rity of his mission, into question. e .b Sosthènes.]... This was a Corinthian minister who attended Paul in his travels. (Compare Acts xviii. 17.) It was both humility and pru- ence in the apostle thus to join his name with his own, in an Epistle in which it was necessary to deal so plainly with them, and to remonstrate against so many irregularities. - c Sanctifica in Christ Jesus.] I cannot agree with Mr. Locke, in con- cluding that this must signify only an external separation to the profes- sign of the true religion, as the Jews were externally a holy people, | Petº, ii. 8, 9, 10. It seems rather to intimate the persuasion which he had, that notwithstanding some lamented irregularities, anong them, which he was faithfully solicitous to reform, they were, in the general, a body of sincere christians, and the exceptions comparatively few. d With . º, ºy tºº. §c.), Nothing could better juſt the candid and catholig views which Paul was so much concerned to pro- mote in this Epistle, than this declaration of his good wishes for ever, true christian upon *},whether Jew or Gentile, learned or unlearne Greek or Barbarian. To limit it, as Grotius, L’Enſant, and some others would do, to the christians in Achaia, is to spoil all the strength and beauty of the sentiment. - - > ç Invoke the name, &c.) This strongly implies, that it might well be taken for granted that every true christian would often pray to Christ, as wgll as address the Father in his name. That ye are enriched, &c.] These respectful. congratulations and acknowledgments of, the things in which, they did really excel, had a \most happy tendency, to soften their minds, and to dispose thém the better to receive the plain reproofs he was going to give them, and which, in their circumstances, #j lovc extorted from him. g Confirmed qingng, you..] . As they could not but know they had re- ceived these giſts by the hand of Paul, this expression suggests a rational and tender arguinent to reduce them to their former affection to him as their spiritual father. - - - h [That ye may º blamelcss, &c.] I think it would make a very low Sense of this, to explain it, as some haye done, that they would be pre- served if blameless ; the gpostle plainly intends to encourage their ; in that grace which might thiſ. them so to persevere, that they might be found blameless. 554 SECT . 1. 1 COR. I. Ver. I 4, &c. 6 others, but rather rejoicing in them, blessing God for them, and praying that they may be lºy increased ; that so !- - * . . * * * the testimony of Christ may be confirmed by the flourishing state of religion among his fo THE APOSTLE'S CONCERN AT THE DIVISIONS IN THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH. to expect. Fear not but divine grace will still be effectual to bear you º all diffi- culties in your way to it. ; for God [is] ſº by whom you were called into the commu- miom and society of his Son Jesus Christ our * wº ow, refer to that illustrious day of which I have been speaking. Be therefore courageous and cheerful in the assured expectation of it. - - IMPROVEMENT. LET us remember that we also are sanctified in Christ, and saints by our calling. Thou 9 God is faithful, by whom e were called unto the fel- owship of his Son Jesus ord, that you may participate of the blessings Öhrist our Lord. he hath purchased; the grand promises of º º & gh we are not enriched with such extraordinary endowments as those which were bestowed upon this primitive Corinthian church, yet we 2 call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; and let it be considered as a band of love to all those who join with us, to acknowledge him under the character of their Lord and their Saviour. Let it engage us to pray that the 3 same grace and peace may be with them from God our Father, and from Christ Jesus our common Lórd, which we wish for ourselves. Let our hearts be ever open to such noble sentiments of christian love; not envying the gifts or endowments of owers, than which no confirmation will probably carry a stronger and more affecting conviction into the hearts of those who observe it. * ** 4- * ~ * * e • *.* * *r-º * & s s * - 7 . To quicken us to this, let us be continually waiting for the revelation of Jesus Christ; thinking seriously, how certainly and how quickly he will be revealed from heaven, to bring us and all our brethren to an account for the 9 }.} we make of the various favours he hath conferred upon us; of which, surely, to be called into the fellowship of Christ, and the participation of spiritual blessings by him, is to be reckoned among the chief. SECT. I.N.OW hasten to the great things which I have in view in this address to you, and I S2 * * 1 COR. Let us rejoice in the fidelity of those promises which encourage us to hope, that he whose grace hath called us 8 to a participation of the gospel will confirm us blameless, even until the day of Christ: and as we have such prospects of present support and comfort, and of final and complete salvation, from him, let us, like this blessed 1–9 apostle, take a pleasure in sounding forth his name, and in keeping up a most affectionate remembrance of him, even of Jesus Christ our Lord and our Saviour, in our own minds, and in those of our christian brethren. SECTION II. The apostle expresses his great, concern on account of the factions in the church of Corinth, of which he had been informed; and expostulates With them as to the unreasonableness of setting up christian, ministers as heads of parties, when they were under such strong engagements to unite in Čhrist as their common Saviour and Master. I Cor. i. 10–16. I CorINTHIANs i. 10. must first of all beseech as well as exhort you, my brethren, by the venerable and endearing name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as you désiré either to secure his favour or to advance his cause and interest in the world, that ye all endeavour, so far as possible, to speak the same 10 thing, that is, that you do not unnecessarily and unkindly contradict each other, but rather 11 12 13 maintain a peaceful, unanimous temper; [that] there may be no schisms among jou, nor mutual alienation of affection, but [that] ye be all knit together in the same mind and in the same sentiment;b waving unnecessary controversies, debating those which are necessar with temper and candour, and delighting to speak, most concerning those great and excel- lent things in which as christians you cannot but be agreed, and which, if duly considered, will cement your hearts to each other in the strictest and mºst tender bonds. furge this with the greater earnestness, because it hath been certified to me, my brethren, concerning you, by those of Chloe's family," that there age some contentions, alºng ſº, which by nôméańs become the relation wherein you stand to each other, and the regard which you profess to the gospel of Christ. sº . - Now this I say and mean by the preceding charge, that, if my information be right, there are among you various parties which avowedly set themselves up as under different heads, though you are not yet come to an open separatiºn; so that every one of #. lists himself under öne or another of those dividing names which are so unhappily used among you on this occasion. One, for instance, says, I am ſ. Paul, admiring the plainness and urity of his doctrine; and a second, I am for “pollº, charmed with the eloquence and eauty of his address: and a third, I am for Cephas, the apostle of the circumcision, who may be well called a foundation-stone in the church, as he maintains so strict a regard to the Mosaic ceremonies and the peculiar privileges of God's ancient PegPle; while a fourth says, I am for Christ,” whose superior name, and strict observation of the Mosaic law in his own person, unanswerably testify its perpetual obligation, however any of his ministers may regård or neglect it. tº ſº º ſº ſº & . . . . . . &. me leave now to ask, Is Christ divided into as many parties as you are split into, so that each has a distinct saviour? oris he become only the head of one Party of his follow- ers, that his name should thus be appropriated by way of distinction, as if it were to exclude aiº rest of his disciples from any relation to him 2 And on the other hand, (not tº intº duce the name of my j and beloved brethren upon this invidious occasion,), 1948 this Paul, whom some of you so much extol, crucified fºr you? or tº: baptized into 14 the name of Paul, that you should thus affect to wear it as a mark of distinction? Since there have been these unhappy divisions in your society, and my name, amºng others, has been made use of to such a purpose, I thank God that it so happened in the course of his providence that I baptized none of you ercept Crispus, once the ruler of the synagogue, and 1 CoR. i. 10. NOW I beseech you, bre- thren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, an there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it hath been declar- ed unto me of you, my bre- thren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are COntentIOnS among you. 12 Now this I ; that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of ºf and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Paul crucified for were ye baptized in the name of Paul ? 13 Is Christ divided ? was rou ? or 14 I thank God that I bap- tized none of you, but Qris- pus and Gaius ; have been her sons. a. By the venerable and endearing maſte of ºur.ſº ſº.9; e. Those of Chloe's ſº, gº supposes Fortunatus and Achai- 1. This is beautifully and properly gº; to the various human names cus (mentiºned £haps, XY under which they were so ready, to - * - § 7, the same "mind and in the same sentimént.]...It was morally im- for his condescension tº . - bij" They might perhaps, be displeased with...Peter ist themselves: d I am for Christ.] ñe uncircumcised at Antioch, (Gal. ii. 12.) ossible, considering the diversity of their jºcations and capacities, which happened long before the date of this epistle ; and might, also, as łºś should aii agree in opinion; nor could he intend that, because L'Enfant intimates, have valu jogs not urge any argument to reduce them tº such an agreement, nor preagh in his 9Wn, Pº durin A so much as declare what, that one,9pinion was in which he would have sºas fººd crucified for you ?] S I them agree. w & -- * * jºiniº temper which christians of different opinions may and ought * • = T ~ - t; ‘jº ſº ..ch"ºther, which will do a much greater honour as it was least invidious to do it; though ed themselyes on having heard Christ the time of his ministration on earth. f he had said, Are your obliga- r g .." a "ºu"º tions tº me equal or comparable tº thosº.º.ºrg under to our common? ſhe words must therefore express, that peacºſ, JMaster, to . who fied for us, upon the cross 2 He mentions himself, the application was equally to the gospel and to human nature, than the most perfect uniformity just as to every other instance. Compare chap. iii. 6. that can be iſnagined. THE APOSTLE REPREHENDS THEIR PARTIES AND DIVISIONS. 15 Lest any should say that my worthy friend the hospitable Gaius: I had baptized in mine own Ilarſ, e. ever so falsely, that I made the waters of ba tism waters of strife; and had baptized into my own name,f or in a view of particular an personal attachment to myself, to the injury nºgº of my brethren or of the church in general, I remember that I baptized also the family % ; :"...ºft.* jº. the first-fruits of Achaia; and I know not whether I baptized any other." Anº bºg. §: "...it me not indeed it might very naturally happen that I should baptize only these fêw; or Christ to'àºzēºe.hº... sent me not so much to baptize, which was an office that others of a much inferior rank gospel. in the ministry might as well perform, but to preach the gospel, and thereby to bring Per- sons to that faith which j entitle them to this appropriate ordinance of christianity. And I bless God with all my heart, that I have been enabled to do it with such simpſi- city, fidelity, and success. IMPROVEMENT. WHILE we live in the midst of so much darkness, and continue obnoxious to so many prejudices and errors, it 555 Lest any should have a pretence to sail, though SECT. 2. H COR, J7 will be absolutely impossible for us so to speak the same thing, and so perfectly to be joined in the same mind and Wer.10 judgment, as that there should be no diversity of opinion or expression. Butlet us labour to obey the apostle's pathetic exhortation, so far as the imperfection of this mortal state may admit. Let us be entreated in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that venerable, that endeared, that sacred name, that there be no schism among us, no mutual hatred or animosity, no uncharitable contentions, no severe censures of each other. And as we desire that there may not, let us take care that we do not impose upon our brethren indifferent things as necessary, and thereby drive them into a separation for conscience-sake, and tempt them at the same time, by our ill usage, to that bitterness of resentment which would make them what the mere separation would not, transgressors of this precept, and us partakers in their sins. * ... tº 4. On the other hand, let none of us be disposed to dispute merely for the sake of disputing, nor unnecessarily oppose the judgment or taste of our brethren, out of an affectation of singularity, or a spirit of contention. But let us rather labour, so far as with a safe conscience we can, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And while we do this, if our brethren will exact such submissions from us as they are not warranted by God to require, and as we cannot in conscience pay, let us follow conscience whithersoever it leads us, taking all neces: sary care that it be rightly guided; and if in that circumstance our brethren will cast us out and say, Let the Lord be glorified; and if to the rest of their unkindness they will add the further injury of branding us with the odious names of schismatics or of heretics, let it be a light thing to us to be judged of man's judgment. Let us not ren- der railing for railing, nor injury for injury, but rather, by our meekness, endeavour to overcome their severity ; and wait for that happy time, when more of the spirit of knowledge and of charity shall dispose them to throw down those middle º, of partition by which the temple of God is straitened and defaced, and the convenience, the symmetry, and grandeur of its original plan so lamentably spoiled. Above all, let us wait that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, and that world where they who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity shall retain no remembrance of the controversies that once divided them, unless it be to balance the alienations of time with the endearments of eternity. . In the mean while, let us avoid as much as possible a party-spirit, and not be fond of listing ourselves under the name of this or that man, how wise, how good, how great, soever. For surely if the names of Peter and Paul were in this view to be declined, much more are those which, in these latter days, have so unhappily crumbled the christian and protestant interest, and have given such sad occasion to our enemies to reproach us. Christ is not divided: nor were Luther or Calvin, or even Peter or Paul, crucified for us; nor were we baptized into any of their names. - Happy shall that disciple of our compassionate Lord be, whom he shall most eminently own in healing the breaches which the artifices of the tempter, too often abetted by the infirmities of Christ's faithful servants, have already made in the church, and which the great enemy is continually endeavouring to multiply, and to widen! Happy he, who, reverencing and loving his Master's image wherever he sees it, shall teach others to do so too ! And who, being himself an example of yielding, so far as be conscientiously can, and of not taking upon him to censure others, where he cannot yield to them, shall do his part towards cementing, in the bonds of holy love, all the children of God, and the members of Christ! How up successful soever his efforts may be, amidst that angry and contentious, that ignorant and bigoted, crowd who miscall themselves christians; or by whatever suspicious and reproachful names his moderation may be stigmatized; his divine Master will neither fail to consider it in its true view, nor to honour it with proportionable tokens of F is acceptance and favour. Love is the first and greatest of his commands; and after all the clamour that has been made about notions and forms, he who practises and teaches love best, shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. SECTION III. The apostle, knowing that a fond regard to eloquence and philosophy, to which soºne of their teachers made high pretensions, was one great occa- sign of their divisions, sets himself to show how little stress was to be laid upon them; which he illustrates by the choice which God had made of gospel-preachers quite destitute of those accomplishments. 1 Cor. i. 17, to the end. I Cor. i. 17. FOR Christ sent me not to I JUST now told you that Christ did not send ine to baptize, as my principal business, but baptize, but to preach th * * 3. ... ... wºn'º'; rather to preach the gospel;" and now I must add, that in the commission which I had §: º, ... ºf the honour to receive from him, he did not instruct me to preach it with those philosophi- none effect. cal niceties of expression, or laboured rhetoric, which many are so ready to esteem as the wisdom of words ; lest if I had attended to these little things, the cross of Christ should have been deprived of its just honours, and so have been enervated and rendered vain.b 1 Cor. i. 17 f Lest any should say, I baptized into my own name.] If any should object, that others might do it for him, it may be answered, that Paul’s attendants (who seem to have been Timothy and Silas, * * 2 Cor. i. 19.) were persons of an established character, so as to be above such suspicion; that lºſiº was probably administered too openly to allow of this ; and that the apostle herein does, as it were, appeal to the baptized persons themselves, challenging any one of them all to say, that the ordinance was administered to him in Paul’s name. . g I know not ºphether I º any other.] This expression of uncer- tainty as to such a fact, is by no means inconsistent with inspiration in that view and notion of it which I have endeavoured to state 㺠yindicate in my discourse on that subject, annexed to this work. Căill by no means think, with Bishop Burnet, that the reason why I’aul bap- tized so few, was because, baptism was delayed till some considerable time after conversion to christianity, and that the apostle, did not stay 80 long in a place as to do it; (Burnet, On the Articles, Art. xxvii. p. 304. Edit. 1699.) for it does not appear to me that baptism in these Acts xviii. 5. earliest and purest ages was long delayed; and it is certain that this cause could not take place here, as Paul continued at Corinth eightcco months. I rather think the office was generally assigned to inferiors, as requiring no extraordinary abilities, and as being attended with some trouble and inconvenience, especially where innmersion was used, as I suppose it often, though not constantly, was. * a Baptize, bºtt tº preach.) As I knew not how to avoid the repetition of this clause, without prolonging the former section beyond due bounds, or making an improper division, I hope the reader will excuse it, and a few other instances of this kind which will occur. b Should have been ener wated or rendered vain..] If the doctrine of the crucificion of the Sun of God for the sins of men be indeed true, it is un- doubtedly a truth of the highest importance, and it might reasonably be expected, that a person who had been instructed in it by such extraor- dinary methods, should appear to lay the main stress of his preaching upon it. The lesign of this wonderful dispensation might therefore have been in a great measure frustrated, if it had been the care of the o ~5 SECT. 3. 1 COR, I t I. 556 - x • Ps *- | 90ſ. ant facts he averred, as to artificial reasonin representing them to the world. I. IS 19 conceive. (Isa. xxix. 14.) I will destroy the wisdo dent; thus hath God, by this d eloquence and philosophy: 21 knows how to since in the wisdom of God, in the midst of the most stupendous displays of the divine Wisdom with which they were always surrounded, the world, by all the improvements of its boasted wisdom, knew not the living and true God, but ran into the wildest and most absurd sentiments that can be imagined concerning the Deity; (some of them absolutely denying it, and others representing it under the most monstrous notions and forms : when this I say was generally the case, it pleased God, by that which they have impious way to be for ever undone. saved from the conta it is a most illustrious display of the power For it is written, and thé words are remarkably * in of the wise and abolish the sagacity of the prw- ispensation, poured confusion on human wit and learning, * * so that, in allusion to other words of the same prophet, we "*** 20 may say.” (Isa., xxxiii. 18.) Jºhere [is] the celebrated sage, whose wise counsel and pene- 90 where trating genius have been held in greatest esteem 2 ~ * * …” Ostentatious disputer of this world," who has been most admired for the subtilty of his rea- sºning, and accuracy of his distinctions? As God of old delivered his people, in spite of the wisdom of this world? all the proud preparations and insolent boastings of the Assyrians, not by their own coun- sels, or arms, but by his almighty power; so doth he now conduct his grand design for the immortal hºpiº of his chosen. Look upon the dispensation of the gospel as now - - of this world appear to be foolish and vain, when the highest results of it are compared with those great effects which he 21 For after that in the roduce without it, and even in opposition to it all. For it is indeed so: wisdom °º ºvº. administered, and GOD HAS CONFOUNDED THE WISE BY THE PREACHING OF THE-Gospºl, sº CT. For this must have been the natural consequence, when men saw one who pretended to I might well be cautious on this head; for Say, hath not God made the wis.iom. * - the doctrine of the cross is indeed folly, with respect to the judgment of them that are perishing ; to wretched creatures, who are in the - T - - - - - - * * * They, in that fatal madness, which leads them to speedy ruin, think it a ridiculous and mean thing, to expect salvation from one who seemédun. Power of God. able tº save himself; and glory from one that expired in ignominy. But to us who are gion of so wicked an age, and are in the way to everlasting salvation, of God, to the Toblest purposes our minds can JWhere the learned scribe 2 know so much, and to have received such extraordinary discoveries of the gospel, and of Christ crucified as its great foundation, seeming not so much to trust to the grand import- gs, or ornaments of speech, in his manner of 18 For the preaching of the gross is to them that perish foolishness; but unt& us which are gºved it is the applicable to this great event, 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring, to no- thing the understanding of IWh } } } º Nº. - .67" where is the scribe 2 where is ere the the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish wisdom knew not pleased, God by the foolish- ness of preaching to save them that believe. y ridi- culed as the most egregious folly of preaching, by preaching, which is indeed destitute of all the wisdom of which they boast, to save multitudes; and those, not such as are the most artful cavillers, or the most sagacious reasoners, but those that with honest simplicity and plainness of heart, believe what is credibly testified to them, and taught by a superior authority. 22 For whereas the Jews demand a sign” from heaven to introduce a Messiah, who shall establish a temporal kingdom, victorious over all their enemies; .22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek and the Greeks seek a ., jo. depth of wisdom and philosophy, or the ornaments of eloquence and charms of address; 23 Pºe nevertheless, conscious of our high commission, and faithful to our important trust, 23. But we preach Christ without regarding at all the unreasonable and petulant demands of either, go on plainly to preach Christ crucified; to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block,ſ being most directly con- crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block; , and unto the Greeks foolishness ; trary to all their secular expectations; and foolishness in the abstract, to the Greeks, who 24 treat it as a low and idle tale, hardly worth the least degree of notice: But to those who 24 But unto them which are by divine grace effectually called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, amidst all the dis- honours of his cross, is known and acknowledged as the God; to the converted Jews his mission is confirmed #. º!'; º Jews º tº x Tee KS T TIS t t I Gº power O ower of God and the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of God. y miraculous evidence, and the accomplishment of prophecies, far more important than any event which their carnal brethren expect; and the believing Gentile finds it infinitely fuller of divine wisdom and - 25 goodness to a lost world, than any system of philosophy that was ever invented. And 25. Because the foolishness well may they thus judge, because what the world profanely censures as a follſ most un- of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is worthy of God,h is, and in its effects appears to be, incomparably wiser than all the pro- stronger than men. jects which the wit of men can devise; and what it impiously insults, as the weakness of christian teachers, which it charges them with falsely ascribing to God, being really his own work, will be found to be stronger than all the efforts which men can make either to reform the world any other way, or to obstruct the prevalency and success of this: and this is the necessary consequence of its being indeed divine. pf, these words, though with yery different ideas, the apostle prº in the animated clause that follows, to triumph, oyer the oppºsitions of human science in its various forms, when levelled against God’s victo- Flous gospe I. Dr. Fulſer, in his Misce Jºſebroid Antiquities, (lib. ii. cap. words refer to three orders, of learned men among the Jews—the natural their ºff ºf and sagacity, whether, among tl sages of the - disputer of the age may include such of both, as, proud of their, natu- ral sagacity, were fond of engagin could confilte C very adversary. first preachers of it, and particularly of Paul, to study a vain parade of words, and to set off their discourses with those glittoring ornaments which the Grecian orators so often sought, and which the Corinthians were so ready to affect. But amidst all the beautiful simplicity which a deep conviction of the gospel tended to produce, there was room left for the most manly, and noble kind of eloquence ; which therefore, the christian |..}}. should labour to make habitual to hin, and of which this apostle himself is a most illustrious example. . c. In allusion to other words of the same prophet, we may say.] I think it would be a very unnecessary labour to endeavour to prove that these words are an exact translation of the passage referred to; or to show that assage to be a prophecy of the success of the gospel. The context, in sa. xxxiii. refers to the deliverance of Judea from Sennacherib ; and the 18th verse, describes the Jews as reviewing and inteditating on the terror into which they had been thrown; and then crying out...in a noble exultation over all the battled schemes of the enemy : Where is the scribe that mustered the forces & Where the receiver, or paymaster, who distributed money or stores among them f. Where, the engineer, that counted the towers, to determine where the attack might most con- veniently be made 2. In a bold and beautiful allusion to, and imitation - proceeds, d Sage, scribe, disputer.]. Notwithstanding all the learned pains which * - ellanies, (lib. iii. cap. 7.) or Godwin in his 6.) have taken to prove that these three hilosopher, and the literal, and the allegorical interpreter of Scripture; rather think the apostle meant to include persons most eminent, for - Jews or Gentiles. The tter, and scribes of the former, are well known; and the in controversies, and fancied they If, as Mr. Locke supposes, the chief leader of the faction against St. Paul (whom that learned and ingenious writer styles the false apostle) galled himself a scribe, there will be a peculiar propriety in the use of the word here ; but, without that sup- position, it might easily be understood by the Corinthians, who had so considerable a synagogue of Jews among them. e The Jews demand a sign, &c.] When we consider how many mira- cles were continually wrought by and upon the first preachers and con- verts of christianity, this may seem an astonishing demand; but from a memorable passage in Josephus, in which he speaks of an impostor promising his followers to show them a sign of their being set at fiberty from the Roman yoke, compared with their requiring from Christ, amidst the full torreñt of his in iracles, a sign from heavcn. ; I am led to conclude that the sense given in the paraphrase is the genuine inter- pretation of this much controverted passage. See the paraphrase and note on Matt. xii. 3s. p. 119. and Matt. xvi. I. p. 161. f To the Je:cs indged a stumbling-illock.] It is well known, that no- thing exposed christianity more to the contempt of the Jews, than the doctrine of the cross; they therefore called Christ in derision wºn, Tolei, the man that was hanged, that is, on the cross ; and christians wºn Yºny Jābde tolvi, the disciples of the crucified analºfactor; and by a paranoma- sia, or malignant playing on the word, they called evayyeXtov, jºins .áven gélon, a revclation ºf vanity. See Leigh's Critica Sacra, in loc. ... g. To the Greeks foolishness.] It is well known how profanely Lucian insults the christians, on, worshipping a crucified impostor; and many of the fathers speak of the same reproach. , Archbishop Tillotson 3D- pears to have given credit to the charge brought against the Jesuits, who, to avoid the Tike offence of tho Chinese, denied that Christ was crucified, and represented it as an invention of the Jews to asperse christianity. Tilloison’s PWorks, yol. ii. p. 284. . . . h The folly of God, ...} As it is absolutely impossible that there should be either folly or weakness in God, so it is certain that the world did not in general believe that there was ; and consequently these strong phrases must, be used in a very peculiar sense, and must mean that scheme which was really his, though the world, for want of understand- ing it, represented it as weakness and folly unworthy of God GOD HAS CHOSEN THE WEAK AND LOWLY IN THIS WORLD. 557 And for the further illustration of this thought, let me call you to behold, and seriously SECT- to contemplate, your calling, brethren; consider the state of your fellow-christians in ge- 8. neral, and even of those (i. are employed as ministers of the gospel, and you will per- ceive [there are] not many wise according to the flesh, according to those maxims which a 1998. sensual world governs itself by, in its principles of secular policy; there are nºt maſſ 36 mighty heroes renowned for their martial courage, there are not many of noble birth and * illustrious rank among men, to be found on their list. But God hath chosen those that are 27 reputed the foolish things of the world, that he may shame the wise men of whom it is most ready to boast; and the weak things of the world, who pretend to no extraordinary strength or valour, hath God chosen; that he may, by their heroic patience under the severest suffer- ings, shame its mighty things, which have never been able, with all their boasted fierceness, to equal that meek förtitude with which we trace the footsteps of the Lamb of God:..And 28 ignoble things of the world hath God chosen, and things most commonly and scornfully set at noughtk among men; yea, and things which are not in the least regarded, but over- looked as if they had no being, and were below contempt itself, hath God chosen, that he may abolish and annihilate things that are in the highest esteem, and make the most illus- trious figure among the children of men: That his great end of humbling us might be 29 more effectually secured, and that no flesh might boast of any advantages or distinctions in ciº.º.º. ººgº, in his presence. For on the whole, all that we have that is worth mentioning, we receive from 30 lºſſ Christ; and we receive it from him as the gift of God, since it is of him, and his free §ºetifica mercy and grace, that ye are called to share in the blessings given by Christ Jesus his Søn. y te He exhibits this blessed Saviour to us, and disposes our hearts to accept of him, who, amidst our ignorance and folly, is made of God unto us a source of wisdom; and through him, guilty as we are, we receive righteousness; polluted as we are, we obtain sanctification; and enslaved as we naturally are to the power of our lusts, and the dominion of Satan, we obtain by him complete redemption." So that we may now indeed boast of our happy 31 change, in whatever point of light it be considered; but it is a boast not of insolent pre- sumption, but humble gratitude; as it is written, (Jer: ix. 23, 24. Isa. lxv. 16.) “He that boasteth let him boast in the Lord, and in this, that he knoweth me, who exercise loving- kindness, judgment, and righteousness on the earth.” IMPROVEMENT, MAy divine grace form the taste of ministers and their hearers more to this doctrine of Christ crucified! May he every where be preached, and that be accounted the truest wisdom of words by which his cross may become most Ver.17 efficacious. There cannot be surely a more evident demonstration of folly, or a more dreadful token of approach- ing ruin, than despising the wisdom of God and the power of God. If we are ever shaken by that contempt for 18 the gospel which so many are continually ready in our age to express, let us recollect what glorious effects it hath produced; whilst, in the midst of such illustrations of the wisdom of God, the world by all its wisdom knew not 21 its Maker; how many believers have been saved, how many by believing are daily brought into the way of salva- tion! In this view ſet us triumphantly say, Where is the wise, the scribe, the disputer of this world? what has 20 wisdom, learning, disputation done in comparison of what the plain and simple doctrine of a crucified Saviour has wrought, and is continually working 2 Let us earnestly pray that God would, by the power of his grace, disperse the prejudices of men; that the Jews may not so demand a sign, as that Christ crucified should be a stumbling- 23 block to them, nor the most learned of the Gentiles so seek after science, as that the wisdom of God should seem 24 foolishness to them; but that both may join in feeling and owning how divinely wise and how divinely powerful the dispensation of the gospel is. Let us not be offended with our calling, though so few of the wise, the mighty, and the noble, partake of its 26, 27 benefits. If God hath chosen the weak things, they shall confound the mighty; and the foolish, they shall shame the wise. Never shall we find ourselves truly happy till we come to feel that we are naturally foolish and guilty, polluted and enslaved; and that our wisdom and righteousness, our sanctification and redemption, are in Christ, 30 who is made unto us of God, all this, and indeed all in all. Then shall we know, and not till then, what true glor means, even when we can abase ourselves to the dust in his presence, and have learned only to glory in the Lord. 31 26 For }. see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many no- ble, are called: 27. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28, And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God, chosen, yed, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 31 That, according as, it is Written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. SECTION IV. The apostle further illustrates the reasons for which he had declined all ostentation of eloquence when he came among the Coriuthians; and par- ticularly insists on the extraordinary nature of the facts and doctrines, he was, to teach; which were of a much higher original than any disco- veries which human wit, or learning could makes and were to be traced up to the immediate teachings of the Holy Spirit; their nature being so wonderful that it was difficult for the corrupted minds of men to receive them, even when they were taught, l Cor. ii. 1, to the end. l Cor. ii. 1. 1 CoRINTHIANs ii. 1. AND I, brethren, when I I HAVE observed that the design of God in the gospel is of a very humbling nature, ad- SECT. ºfº...?'..."; mirably calculated to stain the pride of human glory, and bring men to boast in him alone. 4. wisdom, declaring unto you And with truth and pleasure I can say to you, my brethren, that in perfect harmony with the testimony of God. this wise and excellent scheme, when I first came among you, I came not with the pomp of 1 coſt. language” or worldly wisdom, with the laboured charms of eloquence or philosophy; for , i. I remembered that I was declaring to you no human invention, which needed or admitted * such ornaments or recommendations, but was exhibiting the testimony of God to a plain fact, for which I produced authentic evidence by visible divine operations. I therefore endeavoured to exhibit it in as intelligible a way as I could, and treated it as one who be- 2 For I determined not to lieved that it really came from God, and so needed not the varnishing of human art. For 2 * * * * * I was previously determined in my mind, that, fond as I knew you were of refined specu- lation and polite address, I would appear to know,” and employ myself to make known, i Your calling.) L'Enfant renders it, those gmong you idio are called; which, with many other passages in this version, retains the sense, but departs from the exactness, of St. Paul’s expression. . * * * # Things set at nought.] Agreeable to this, the , Danish missionaries tell us, that most of the Malabarian converts were the poorest of the peo- iè; the poets and wits, who valued themselves upon, their genius, earning, and politeness, despising the gospel, and doing their utmost to oppose its progress. See Nieuchamp’s excellent History of this impor- tillnt mission. - l Things which are not..] Dr. Whitby shows here how well this repre- sents the supreme contempt in which the Jews held the Gentiles. Com- pare Deuts xxxii. 21. Isa. xl. 17. - m Wisdöm, righteousness, &c.] Bos would render the words, for of him, (in Christ Jesus, who is made of God unto us wisdom,) ye are righteous- mess, Sanctification, and redemption, that is, compietéſ; justified, sancti- fied, and redeemed. * -- - * a The pomp of language.] This certainly alludes to the vain affectation of sublimity and subtilty so common among the Greeks of that age, and very remote from the true eloquence in which (as was observed above) our apostle did so remarkably excel. L'Enfant thinks he refers to his not being perfectly master of the Greek language in all its §º. and ele- gance, with which, the Corinthians spoke it; but I prefer the former sense, as more suitable to the original. se * b Appear to know..]. In that sense the word 3 wooxo is used by Pin- dar, (Olymp. xiii.) and it is most natural to give it that signification here. 558 SECT. mothin 4. 1 COR. II, 4 strong. And you well know, that my speech in private, and my preaching in public, [was not in the persuasive discourses of himſin, wisdom,” eloquence, or philosophy, nor with that PAUL HAD PREACHED WITH SIMPLICITY THE HIDDEN WISDOM OF GOD, g among you” but Jesus as the Christ, the great promised Messiah of even that crucified person”, against whom so many scandals are raised. Yet did the Jews, save Jesus Christ, and him I resolve crucified. - steadily to maintain the doctrine of his cross, and endeavour to exalt its honours wherever I came, not excepting your Opulent and polite city. * º - w .And to this plan you know I resolutely 3 And I was with you. In adhered, though I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in match trembling; for Iknow, 3 I had enemies about me on every side, (Acts, xviii. 6, 9.) and laboured under natural dis- weakness; and in fear, and in much trembling. advantages, (2 Cor. X., 10.) and the force of the prejudiće which I had to encounter was 4 And my speech, and my preaching was motywith entic- ing words of man’s wisdom, pomp and Sophistry of argument which the learned men of the world are so ready to affect gºt in demºnstration of the evidence, arising both from the prophecies of the Ol Ghost, and from the miraculous energy w 5 other ministers of the New. 6 7 9 Messiah, had they been thoroughly apprized of his high character and dignity. 10 II H2 13 Eut far from being contemptible on that account, it had other much nobler recommen da Spirit and of power: tions: for it was in the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, by the most convincing e to value yourselves on any appearance - d Testament inspired by the Holy Which he hath exerted in and by the apostles and And on this I laid the whole stress; that your faith should not 5 end on the wisdom, reason, or address of men, but on the power of Got foundation, which shows how little reason you hav of the former. * .Nevertheless, though we want what is commonly called human Wisdom, yet we speak the 6 truest and most excellent wisdom among those who are pe * completely initiated into these divine mysteries; such well instructed and experienced souls will bear witness to its incomparable excellence. . But we speak not the visdom of That your faith should not stand in the wisdom o §: but in the power of OCl, d, a much surer Howbeit we speak wis- among them that are •#2 of sº ºn tº . • , (IOIIl Žfect, and, if I may so express it, perfect ºf ji the isdºm of this yorld, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought : this world, nor of the rulers of this world: nor that which is admired and sought by the great politicians of the age, whether Jews or Gentiles, who nevertheless shał soon be brought down and abolished, shall find difficult and dreadful scenes arising, in which all their boasted sagacity and penetration will be of no avail.f But we, taught of God to despise the tran- 7. But we speak the wisdom sient vanities which delude them, speak what must be infinitely more worthy your most ºil.ºrg: attentive consideration and regard, for it is the wisdom of God himself in a mystery : that ordained before the en wisdom, which God world mysterious wisdom, which was long hidden and entirely unknown, and now appears to ***. contain wonders which no understanding of man or angel can fully penetrate; even that wisdom which God from eternal ages; predetermined in the secret of his own all-compre- 8 hending mind, for the great purposes of our final salvation and glory.h A wisdom ihis, §§º which mone of t have crucifted e Jewish rulers of this our age, or of the heathen that were concerned in it, knew ; for if they had indeed known [it] they would not by e " * - c. * --> a rº-3- ~ 1 - vºrial- of glory. one so greatly their superior as the Lord of glory: wicked as they were, they of this world knew : for ha * they, known it, they would any meansi have presumed to nºt have crucified the "ford would for their own sakes have been afraid to attack the Son of God, his long-promised But [this 9. But, as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, is] as it is written.” (Isa. lxiv. 4.) when the prophet, speaking of the blessings of the Messiah's .ii.º.º.º.; kingdom, says, Eye hath not seen, neither hath ear heard, of man, what glorious things God hath prepared for them that love him. Nor had the gene- neither hath entered into the heart heart of , man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. rality of mankind, or even the people who enjoyed the benefit of the Jewish Scripture, any just conception of the nature of this sublime plan, and the method by which it was to be accomplished. But God hath revealed [them est mysteries of his counsels, and his gospel, 3, 5, 7.) to us christians, and especially to us his apostles, by the extraordinary inspiration of his Spirit, who intimately and fully knows them: for the Spirit searcheth and penetrates all things, even the deep things of God, the profound- (Compare Rom. xvi. 25. Eph. i. 9. chap. iii. And well may he be acquainted with all these things; for who of mankind 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the knoweth the things of a man, the secret recesses of his mind, on many occasions, and in jºij. many circumstances, unless it be the spirit §ſ a man which is in him, which knows it by ... . . . consciousness, to a degree of certainty which no observation or reasoning can produce in God noweth, no man, but the Spirit of God. another ? So also no one knoweth the things of God, but the Spirit of God himself, who is intimately conscious of all, and can conceal or discover whatever he pleases. .Now this is entirely to the present purpose; for the spirit, which we have received, is not that of the world, nor do we govern ourselves by those carnal views which engross and en- slave so great a part of mankind; but we have received in large and liberal supplies, that Spirit which is from God, and which is the noblest of his gifts to the children of men, by which their minds are both informed and regulated; that so we º both notionally and experimentally know the things which are freely given us our business to speak, and to communicate to others, not in words dictated by human wisdom, I 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to * us of God. by God. Which we also make it to excite men's curiosity, amuse their imäginations, or gain their applause; but in those 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but c JAmong {{*} There seems a peculiar emphasis in this cypression, as if the apostle had said, I did not change. Iny usual method at Corinth, and you know with what glorious success it was attended. - d Even that crucified person : kat row roy estaupopºvov.] The Jews and heathens probably gave Christ this namg by way of contempt ; but St. Paul declares that instead of concealing this as an infamy and scanda!, it was the main thing he insisted upoń : as indeed all, the most important doctrines of the gospel stand in a close and natural goanexion with it. And no doubt but he took them in that connexion ; for he refers in the course of these epistles to several doctrines relating, to the Father and the Holy Spirit as what he had taught thenſ, though riot expressiy in- cluded in the doctrine of the crucifixio:). - - e Persuasive discourses of humgm risdom.] This seems to be the just rendering of the expression reið, is a:00ajºrtiºns goſpigg Aoyots, and so, I think, it is rendered by the celebrated Archbishop of Cambray. f Politicians of the age, &c.] Mr. Locke insists upon it, as an observa- tion of great importance, that atov ovros, generally signifies the Jeip- ish economy.; and supposes that the apostle here also aims a silent stroke at the Jewish teacher that set himseli up in opposition to him, and re; ſers to the approaching destruction of the Jews by the Romans. , And Mr. L'Enfant agrees with this, only explaining it of the learnél rabbies of their synagogues. But as the Jewish magistrates, or scribes, were not the only princes in crucifying Christ, (compare Acts iv.27.), and as the word at adv has sometimes undoubtedly a ſhore extensive signification, (compare Rom. xii. 2. Gal. i. 4. Eph. ii. 2. vi.12. 2 Tim, iv. 10. I'it, ii. 12. and even in this epistle, chap. iii. 18. and the next chapter, jy. 4.) and as St. Paul’s observation here may so wełł be applied to Geijtila as well as Jewish pringes, I saw no reason for limiting the sense, which I never choose to do without soºne apparent necessity. Q: the same principle, I have receded from Mr. I locke’s interpi C fation of the next verse. ascribed to . g. From eternal ages.] To what I have just said of my reasons for not interpreting this of the time of setting up the Jewish économy, I must add, that it signifies little to endeavour to bring such expressions down to any period of time. If it be granted, that they intend any thing lºº to the existence of those to whom they refer, the same º ties will still lie in the way; nor is it possible to avoid then). h Our final salvation and glory..] L'Enfant explains this of the glory of the apostles, in being appointed to publish this revelation; but the sense we have given equally suits the phrase, and is much more sublimo and important. i JVot by any º Ovk av, is an expression which scems to have this force. Compare Luke xxiii. 34. . As it is written,. &c.). The context in Isa. lxiv. may well be ex- plained to express the church’s earnest desire af the manifestation of the glorics of the JİTessiah’s kingdom ; and I think it more probable that this is a quotation of those words, with some little variation, than that it refers to a passage said to haye, been found in an apocryphal book . Elijah, (which probably was a forgery of much later date than this time) where these words are indeed extant, being perhaps transcribed from St. Paul. - l The spirit of a man.] I do not apprehend that the distinction between the soul and spirit, to which some refer these words, is of ſº import- ance in the interpretation of them. They must signify the perfect ac- gº;; with all the divine schemes and purposes which the Holy 'pirit has, and which the apostle’s argument directly Fº: that no creature can have : So that it seems a glorious proof of the deity of the Spirit, and has accordingly been urged as such, by all who have defended that in portant doctrine - PAUL HAD PREACHED WITH SIMPLICITY THE HIDDEN wisDOM OF GOD. which the Holy Ghost teach: eth ; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. he would impart, and tº impress the hearts and consciences of men with a reverent and deep Sense of those holy mysteries; and this we do with all serious care and attention, explaining such spiritual and sublime things by spiritual" ſwords,) suggested by him as best 1 adapted to them. ... But in the mean time, vain and foolish men find a great deal in our fooli - preaching to cavil at, and object against. ...And it is no wonder they do; for the animal oolishness unto him: neither O ~ x, * * e sº. £ is $2. s se & tºº."ºbjman,” who continues under the influence of his appetites and passions, and is a stranger to ** **piritually discern the noble exercises and principles of the divine life, receiveth not, with any inward relish or sense, the things of the Spirit of God, which are too sublime and refined for his low corrupted, and degenerate taste: for in proportion to the degree in which they are full of divine wisdom, they will appear foolishness to him ; neither can he rightly know [them] Whilst he continues in his present state, and under such unhappy prejudices as these ; for they are spiritually discerned, and a man must have a spiritual taste, formed by the influ- * ,, ..., ences of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, before he will thoroughly enter into their excel- jº º lence. But the †† mam, whose heart, illuminated and sanctified by the divine Spirit, imself is judged of ſo man is set on spiritual and noble objects, discerneth all things about him rightly, while he }. self is discerned by no man; by none of those who are most forward and heady in their censures; but remains like a man endowed with sight, among those born blind, who are incapable of apprehending what is clear to him, and amidst their own darkness cannot participate of nor understand those beautiful ideas and pleasing sensations which light pours upon him. *- º: And surely, if you consider matters aright, you cannot much wonder at this: for who 16 ji tº #: ; ; hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath instructed him 2P There must undoubtedly * the mind of Christ be in the divine counsels many secret and hidden things, and a man must have a mind capacious as that of the blessed God himself, to take upon him to judge of his schemes, and arraign his conduct. But we, even I Paul and my brother iºd. have the mind of + Christ," who is the incarnate wisdom of God himself; and therefore we are not to be called to the bar of those who arrogantly pretend, merely on the foot of human reason, to cen- sure us, as some of your presumptuous teachers do, to their own shame, and the détriment of those that hearken to their suggestions. sº - IMPROVEMENT. 14 But the natural man re- geiveth not, the things of the Špirit of God: for they are I 5 559 flictated by the Holy Spirit;" and consequently best adapted to convey such ideas as secT. 4. COR- II. LET it be the resolution of every christian, and especially the determination of every minister, with St. Paul, to Ver, 2 know nothing but Jesus Christ, even him that was crucified: to esteem this the most important of all knowledge, to cultivate it in their own minds, and endeavour to propagate it to others. With this divine science, shall those I ministers of the gospel who know least of the excellency of speech and the enticing words of man's wisdom, do more important things for the reformation of the world, and the salvation of souls, than without it the greatest masters of language, or adepts in philosophy, will ever be able to effect. Let the princes of this world boast of 6 the knowledge and refined policy which is so soon to perish, by which so many of their subjects perish, and some- times themselves before their time. In how many instances does it leave them to imitate the destructive maxims of those who, under pretence of public good, but really under the instigation of the basest private passions, crucified 8 Jesus, the adorable Saviour, the Lord of glory. May God teach us more of that hidden wisdom which they who are truly initiated into real christianity know and which opens upon us views and hopes, beyond what eye hath seen, or ear heard, or it hath particularly and 9 fully entered into the heart of man to conceive. There is no need we should distinctly conceive it. It is enough that we know in the general it is what God hath prepared for them that love him; which consideration may surely teach us to trample under our feet that which he so often bestows on them who hate him, and are abhorred by him; on those with whom he is angry every day. * May that Spirit which searcheth i things, even the hidden things of God, give us more deeply and affectionate- 12 ly to know the things which are freely given us of God, and to adore that free grace from which we receive them : These things we learn with the highest advantage from the Holy Scriptures, where they are delivered in words 13 which the iáoly Ghost taught: in words, therefºre, the most admirably adapted to express those spiritual and sublime ideas they were intended to communicate : in which words, consequently, we learn to speak of the things of God with the exactest propriety and the truest edification. May we be enabled spiritually to discern them, with whatever contempt they may be treated by natural, that is, 14 by animal men; by those who, though conceited of their rational powers, can relish little or nothing but what relates to this low and sensual life. Conscious of that inward discerning which discovers all things to us in their 15 true light; even things of infinite importance, may we pity that undiscerning rashness of blind arrogance and pride, with which some, who think themselves the wisest in proportion to the degree in which they are the most wretched of mankind, may treat us, and not only us, but that gospel which is our glory and our joy. We have the mind 16 of Christ delivered to us by his holy apostles, who were intimately and miraculously instructed in it. Let us humbly receive the oracles they deliver! and whilst others are ſº haughtily to censure them, may we think ourselves happy, if, with meek subjection to their unerring authority, we may sit at the feet of such teachers, and regulate our lives by their instructions. SECTION V. The apostle reproves the carnality of the Corinthians, in contending about human º: and urges many important considerations to cure them of so unbecoming a temper. 1 Cor. iii. 1– SECT. 1 Cor. iii. 1 1 CoRINTHIANs iii. I. 5. T. tº sº. º. º º 3. º AND p brethren, could I HAVE been speaking of that great plainness with which I addressed myself to you Tacos. not speak unto * * * when I came to preach the gospel among you at Corinth: und I hope, my brethren, In, i. m Those dictated by the Holy Spirit..] This expression may certainly convince us of the great regard which we ought always to maintain to the words of Scripture ; and may especially teach ministers how atten- tively they should study its beauties, and how careful they should be to make it the support of their discourses, , - n Explaining spiritual things, &c.] This sense of Guykpt vovtes occurs, Gen. xl. 8. and Numb. xv. 34. in the LXX. o, The animal man.] Without examining all that the learned and judicious, Dr. Owen hath said one way on this text, or Dr. Claget and r. Stebbing another, - - - - - - * * medium, and for the further vindication of this exposition, must refer to have taken, that which seems to me the due Clifford, in the second volume of the Phacniz, p. 544, and to my Third Letter to the Author Christianity not founded on Argument, p. 39, 40. only reminding my render, that this very word puxukos is rendered sensual, James iii. 15. Jude, yer. 19. * p Pºito hath instructed him ..] . Some good interpretgrs, and particularly Mr. Pyle and Dr. Guyse, explain this of the spiritual man ; but it seems more agreeable to the construction and its connexion with what follows, by him to understand God. q_{e have the mind, of Christ.]. This part of the Epistle, is very arti- ficially conducted. He is now aiming at the great point of est: : 'ishing his authority, which had becn suspected, amongst them; yet ué ºwes 560 SECT. 5. 1 COR. III. 2 3 4 5 6 7 as nothing in the comparison. We freely own that, how highly soever you may think of 8 But as for this opposition which you make between us, and this zeal with which you | 9 Ver. I 3 THE APOSTLE REPROVES THE CONTENTIONS OF THE CORINTHIANs. you will not despise me fºr it; for truly, as it became my character as an apostle of Christ, spiritual, but as unto carnal so it suited yours, as being under the power of prejudices, which so far prevailed, that sº as intº babes in Čirist. even when you were converted, to the profession of christianity, I could not speak unio You as unto spiritual persons, who had made any attainments in religion, proportionable to the illuminations and influences of the Spirit, which you had received: but was obliged in many instances, to address you as those who were still, in too great a measure, carnal in your temper and views, and therefore were but as babes in Christ,” and beginners in the divine life. ... I might, have said sublimer things, and in a more elevated manner; but found so much pride and faction among you, that it was necessary to insist much upon the plain and fundamental doctrines of the cross, rather than on things which, if they might have suited yºur inclinations better, would have suited your circumstances less. "I was forced 2 I have fed you with milk, to preach to you, as to persons weak as infants; and so fed you with milk, which I did as tº: jº Were Pour into your mouths with a tenderness like that of a mother, or a nurse, when §º º: feeding her sucking child; and could not conveniently feed you with strong meat. I 'waved able. discoursing on some of those doctrines which left room for the curiosities of sublimer spe- gulation, and admitted of the greatest ornaments of discourse, because ye were not then able [to bear it, nor indeed are ye yet able; as I perceive by the account which our brethren give of your present state. For it evidently appears, by what I hinted above, that ye are Jet carnal, still under the influence of weak and indeed sinful prejudices. I appeal tă your own consciences on this occasion for the proof of this: while É. is] emulation tention, and factions among you, are you not indeed carnal? and do ye mot walk and conduct yourselves as unregenerate men do? So that by this behaviour, a stranger would not know that you were christians, or see any thing in you above uninstructed and unsanctified nature. Fºr when you eagerly contend about the honours of this or that teacher, and set 4 For while one saith, I am him up as the head of a distinguishing party; so that one says, I am for Paul, and another, º.º.º. I am for:pollos,” I admire the sublime sentiments of the one, and the fine language ºf Apolº are reno came address of the other; are ye not carnal? and do ye not talk in the spirit of your hēathen neighbours, who have their favourite philosophers and orators too? And is this language for christians? Who then is Paul 3 and who ſis] Apollos ? For what reason do you regard 5 Who then is Paul, and either the one or the other? Is it for no consideration but that of talents, which they fiave jºjº ministers in common with many who are strangers to the gospel ? Or ought it not rather to be in a # §º º 'º different view P. even because they are the ministers of Christ, by whose means you have been man & instructed in his religion, and under whose teachings ye have believed and embraced it; and because they have humbly attempted to do their part for this great purpose, even as the Lord gave to every man both furniture and success. I have planted a christian church 6 I have planted, Apollos among you; Apollos has since watered it by his affecting and uséful addresses, (Acts xviii.; but God save the 27.) but it was God who gave the increase, and caused the plantation thus watered to grow: In CreaSe. no labourer can make his seed spring up without the influence of heaven, sunshine and rain. When you come, therefore, to compare our part with that of God, it appeareth even 3 For ye are yet carnal. for whereas there is amon you envying, and strife, j and con- divisions, are ye not carnai, and walk as men 2 w * - 7 So then neither is he that us, he that planteth is nothing at all, nor he that watereth; but God, who by his efficacious º jº. Spirit and grace giveth the increase, is all in all. that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one : and every man, shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. contend for one against another, it is altogether unreasonable and absurd.: for he that planteth and he that watereth are one ; we are united in interest, and united in design and affection; so that instead of being pleased, we are rather displeased and grieved, with these invidious comparisons in favour of either. Our great concern is to please our great Lord, to whom we are shortly to give up our account, and from whom we shall receive every one - his own proper reward according to his own labour, and not according to the prejudices of our fellow-servants either for or against us. . For we are not lords and proprietors of the } - e church, nor persons that have independent schemes of our own to carry on ; but we are the É. Yºhº;; ; : fellow-labourers of God, the great Master of the family. Ye are the husbandry of God, God's building. which we are to cultivate, that ye may bring forth fruit for him. [Ye are] the building of God, which we are to endeavour to advance, that he may dwell in you as in his holy tem- ple, and glorify his name among you. 9 For we are labourers to- IMPROVEMENT. WHo that wishes the welfare of the church of Christ, must not lament those sad remainders of carnality which are often to be found among them who have the greatest advantage for becoming spiritual; while the same conten- tious principles, fermented no doubt by the same malignant enemy of the whole body, breathe in so many of its members, and diffuse a kind of poison which at once swells and torments it! What envyings, and strife, and factions among those who ought to join as brethren, and to know but one interest! What a desire, in many in- stances, to increase the burdens of each other, instead of bearing them with friendly sympathy May christians be cured of this dishonourable and fatal attachment to distinguished parties and human names: May ministers feel more of that generous and noble spirit which this great apostle expresses! His reasoning hath the same force still. Ministers are still intended to be only the instruments of producing and establishing faith in 4 5, 6, 7 not directly propose, but obliquely insinuate, arguments against such suspicions ; arguments which might possess their minds before they were aware of what he intentled to effect by them. This important yetmark will often present itself to the attentive reader of St. p.f. Epistles. .. a Babes in Christ.] By explaining this of beginners in the divine life, or such as had made but little proficiency in it, we reconcile this with #3. lºes which speak of the eminence of their gifts. 1 Cor. i. 5. Oſ. VII i. ( , b Fed you with º: The word £mortga exactly signifies, I gave you to drink; but as that rendering would not suit the other word with which it is connected, strong meat, I thought it best to retain our versiºn. Paral- le] instanges to this manner of expression are produced by Mr. Black- wall, in his Sacred Classics, vol. i. p 72. - C. Örnaments of discourse.] If any think that the use of them might have been a proper condescension to their weakness, it is, to be remem- bered that the emulation of eloquence, so ready to prevail annong them, might have rendered such an indulgence dangerous. . d (for floollos.] Mr. Locke fancies (comparing chap. iv. 6.) that by Apollos, Paul means that Jewish teacher who was set up in opposition to him, and came among them, after he had preached the gospel to them ; but jt seems much more probable to Ine, especially from the text just referred to, that he ghose this name, that he might give no offence, and to , show that he should lament and condemn any division among them, though it were in favour of himself, or the dearest friend he had in the world. I cannot think St. Paul would, have described the false apostle, if there were any one person who might be so called, as water- ing, his plantation, which he rather wasted; or have spoken of himself, and that messenger of Satan, as one ; as he does, verse 8. . e, ºffre one..] This is (as Mr. Cradock, well observes in his Apost. Hist. ſ: 156.) another cogent argument against divisions: that, though their labours were different and their rewards proportionable, yet they had in the general one office, and were employed as workers togethcrby God to plant the seeds of grace and holiness, in the souls of men, and to bring them on to perfection. e here introduces an excellent discourse of the happy consequences of the faithfulness in the ministerial work, and the §§ accoupt of it to be given up to God: a subject familiar to his own mind, and so E. for their teachers, that if it render the epistle something less regular, it balances the account by rendering it so much more useful. * - - f The fellow-labourers of God.]. This is the exact import of avyspyou 6es, which our version renders, labourers together with God: an impro- per rendering on every account. ‘s. THE TRIAL WHICH EVERY WIAN'S WORK MUST UNDERGO. their hearers, and still depend as entirely as ever upon the blessing of God to give the increase to their labours. To SECT. that may they daily look, and be sensible that they are nothing without it, and that with it their part is so small that they hardly deserve to be mentioned. May their hands and hearts be more united; and º of the honour which God doth them in employing them in his vineyard and in his building, may th a due sense ey faithfully c 561 5. 1 COR. y - e - - gº }II. labour, not as for themselves, but for the great Proprietor, and till the day come when he will remember them in a full proportion to their fidelity and diligence SECTION VI. As a useful lesson both to teachers and private christians in the present state of the Corinthian church; the apostle reminds, them of that great trial which every man’s work was to undergo, the great guilt of defiling God’s temple, the vanity of human wisdom in the sight of God, and the great happiness of the true believer in that universal grant which God had made to the end. I Cob. iii. 10. im of every thing necessary to his welfare. 1 Cor. iii. 10, I CorINTHIANS iii. 10. ACCORDING, to the grace I HAVE spoken of you as God's building; and in that view have the pleasure to say, SECT- ..º.º.º. that in my first preaching amongst you, when you were entire strangers to the first princi- 6. I..hº...º.º.º.º. ples of the gospel, according to the measure of the grace of God given to me; to which I #º *...*.*.*... àesire to refer the honour of all that fam and of all that i do in this excellênt work; I 1 ºn. how he buildeth thereupon have been enabled to act in the character of a skilful architect or master-builder: for with 10" all due care and application have I laid the great foundation, which hath strength sufficient to bear all the stress even of our eternal hopes. And one and amother, whom God calls to labour among you, buildeth thereon, for the further edification of your church, and of the souls of its particular members: but let every one carefully see to it, how he buildeth thereon, 11 For other foundation and what superstructure he raises. This is all indeed that remains to be done; for other 11 i.º.º.º." solid foundation no one is able to lay beside what is already laid, which is Jesus Christ," the aid, which is Jesus Christ. e º ~ g “º s w * 5 e 2 - great foundation-stone which God hath laid in Zion, elect and precious ; and I take it for 12 Now if any man build granted, no one who calls himself a christian will attempt to lay any other. If any man 12 lº.º.º.º. build, I say, upon this foundation, let him look to the materials and nature of his work; hay, stubble; y whether he raise a stately and magnificent temple upon it, adorned, as it were, like the house of God at Jerusalem, with gold and silver, [a | large, beautiful, and costly stones; [or] a mean hovel, consisting of nothing better than planks of wood roughly put together, and thatched with hay ſº stwhble ; that is, let him look to it, whether he teach the sub- stantial, vital truths which do indeed belong to christianity, and which it was intended to support and illustrate; or set himself to propagate vain subtilties and conceits on the one hand, or legal rites and Jewish traditions on the other; which, though they do not abso- lutely destroy the foundation, disgrace it, as a mean edifice would do a grand and expen- 13 Eyers man's work shall sive foundation, laid with great pomp and solemnity. But to prevent this, let me seriously 13 ..". §:"...a... admonish you, that whatever any man's work may be, and however it may be covered, and, jº. as it were, hid behind the scaffolding, every one's work, shall ere long be made manifest. man's work of what’sort it For the great day which is approaching shall lay it open, because it shall then be, as it were, 1S. discovered by fire; yea, the fire of that great day of general conflagration, when the hea- vens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, shall 14 ºf any manºok abide prove every man's work, of what kind it is.” It shall stand a severe examination, which 14 § !º will as soon expose the vanity of many things which some admired preachers value them- selves upon, and for which they are extolled by their hearers, as the flame of some might burning shows the difference between the stability of a straw roof and a marble wall. And then if any man’s superstructure abide the test, and be approved, he will not only have the comfort of it in his own mind, which is an immediate and permanent satisfaction, but he shall also receive a glorious reward from Christ, the great Head of the church, and Pro- prietor of the building, in comparison of which the applauses of men, or any thing they 15. If any man's wºrk shall can bestow, deserve not to be mentioned by the name of a reward, , But if any man's work 15 }...º.º. be then burnt up, if on that trial it be found like the combustible and mean materials saved; yet so as by fire. which I represented by the wood, the hay, and the stubble, the consequence is, that he will sustain a º loss." He will find he has been spending his time, and strength to little purpose, and has lost a great deal of that reward which he might, through divine grace, have secured, had he applied himself with vigour and zeal to the proper labours of a gospel-minister. Yet, if he be upon the whole a good man, who hath built upon Christ * as the Foundation, and, on the terms of the gospel, committed his soul to him, he shall him- self be saved, and find mercy of the Lord ; though in comparison with that more abundant entrance into his kingdom which others will have, it may be said, that he is saved with ex- treme difficulty, and as a man whose house is in flames while he is in it, and who is therefore forced with great terror to escape through the fire,d sustaining the loss of every thing but his life. e * - - * * * * * 16 knowyenot that ye are Again, before I dismiss this topic of your being the building of God, let me lead you 16 the temple of God, and that into some further reflections, and ask you seriously, Know ye not that you are the temple of God?e that the whole body of christian converts is dedicated to his peculiar service, and a Which is Jesus Christ.] I,’Enfant would render it, ceen this, that Jesus is the Christ, but I think the sense given in our text much nºbleſ. § ºrie day shall proce every nºn’s pork.] ... It is so very unnatural, with Dr. Whitby, to interpret this of the time of the destruction 9 Jerusalem, or of any approaching persecutions of the christian church, that ºne can- not but wonder that critics of character should have adopted such a sº 'sustain a proportionable loss;] , I cannot but fear that an applica- tion to such niceties of unprofitable learning as those in which some who have the charge of souls spend almost, the whole of their time, tº the ject of the vitals of christianity, will be found in this day lost labour. ºff ough such as employ themselves chiefly to inculcate in their preach- ing, doctrings, ceremonies, or forms of hºtºman invention, gone nearer the Čaše immediately referred to here, L'Enfant refers this loss to the re- proach and shame which such shall suffer before the tribunal qf Christ, d’īhrough the fire.] To be as a brand plucked out of the burning, is well known, as a proverbial expression, to signify a narrow escape from extreme datiger. Compare Zee. iii. 2. Amos iv. l l and º Isa. xxxiii. 11, 12, to which some have th99.ht the apostle here ,”) udes. Ata repoš, (Jude 23.) is put for passing through the fire, as &t iča º (1 Pet. iii.25).) signifies to be saved from the cºlºr, by passing through it, as the ark did. The learned Elsmer, who urges and illustrates these in- stances, shows that the most approved heathen writers use the phrase in this sense. (Qbscrp. vol. ii. p. 78.) Many divines have well shown how far this text is from giving any Support to a popish purgatory. And though Mr. Fleming follows, many of the ancient fathers, in explaining it of some terror or pain which christians of very imperfect character may be exposed to, when they rise (as he supposes they will) amidst the flames of the last conflagration, (Flem. First Resur. p. 44.) the text will admit so fair a sense on the interpretation here given, that I cannot F.I.". myself from,hence, without further evidence, that numbers of holy Souls, who have long been glorified in heaven, will be re-united to their bodies, which are to be raised in glory, to be in the first moments of that union terrified and tormented; though it should be but for ever so short a time. That the pagans, as well as some of the Fathers, had a º of some such Durgatory, Elsner has shown in the passage cited Uli) OV e. e You are the temple of God.]. Elsner hath many fine passages here, from Philo, Plato, and other writers, in which they represent a virtuous mind as the temple of God, and in which heathens speak in the highest and strongest terms of the obligations men are under to keep his temple: inviolate and unpolluted. And if, as Mr. Locke supposes, Paul’s chief 562 6. 1 COR. III. 18 I9 20 21 THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD Is FOOLISHNESS witH GOD. thereby appear to be consecrated to himself? Now if any one defile or destroy the temple * if any man defile the of God, it may, well be apprehended that God, ever jealous of his own honour, will tie teipſ of adjºjić; stroy him. And you may assure yourselves from this view, that whatever P. or Šºšº.; whatever conduct, tends to diminish its purity and glory, will be very severely resented by are: him; even much more than the violation of the i. (great as that impiety and provo- cation was,) where he so long caused his name to dwell upon Mount Zion. For the temple, of God, considered as such, is undoubtedly holy and awful. Much more then must that be so, which he hath erected by his grace in the breasts of intelligent creatures, and sanctified to himself, as the everlasting residence of his peculiar complacency. (Com. pare Isa. lvii. 15, lxvi. 1, 2.), Wow We are this [temple;] each of you, if a true christian, is such a sacred shrine, and the whole christian church the complete and magnificent building. . It therefore becomes every member of it to be very careful how he behaves, and what he teaches among you, lest he should commit an evil, of the enormity of which he may not be immediately aware. - I know there are those among you whose pride and self-conceit may lead them to .43 Lºgnoman deceive him: despise this admonition, especially as coming from me; but let no man deceive himself with jºyº;; vain speculations of his own worth and abilities. If any one of you seem to be wise in this vºtiºi, world, if he value himself upon what is commonly called wisdom among Jews or Gentiles, ****** let him, become a fool, that he may be wise indeed. Let him humbly acknowledge his own natural ignorance and folly, and embrace that gospel which the wisdom of the world proudly, and vainly derides as foolishness, if he desire to approve himself really and sub- stantially wise, and to reap at last the honours and rewards of those who are truly so in the sight of God. For all the boasted wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, who with 19 For the wisdom of this one glance sees through all its vanity; as it is written, (Job v. 13.) He entangleth the wise ºff in their own crafty artifice, often ruining them by those designs which they had formed the wise in their own aſſi: with the utmost efforts of human policy, and were most intent upon executing. And again, "º And again, The Lord it is said elsewhere, (Psal. xciv. II.) The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they knºw...º.of the are vain. He sees how they insnare themselves in their own subtilties, and, when they “” that they are vain. think themselves most sagacious, are only amused with their own sophistry and deceit. Therefore, upon the whole, (that I may return to the point from whence I set out,) con- 21 Therefore let mo, man iº. I have said, and especially considering in what view the great God regards ºn. For all things these things which we are so ready to value ourselves upon, let none glory in men, or y divide themselves into parties, out of attachment to this or that teacher. %.” things are yours, and we, in particular, are to be regarded, not as your lords and commanders, SECT. honoured by his most gracious º as the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, and you the Spirit of God dwelleth in 22 that you should list under our banners; but rather as your servants. I except not m self, i.” Whether Paul or Apº 2 3 Wer. 21–23 16, 17 I9 11 or the most honoured among my brethren; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, be in .º.º.º.º. ºf . question, we are all equally yours, to serve you to the utmost of our abilities, in the ſº...hings to come advancement of your best interests. Yea, I may go further, and say, whether we speak of “"“” the world, God will give you so much of it as shall be for your real good; and indeed he supports its whole frame in a great measure for your sakes; or if we survey life, in all its various conditions, or death, and all its solemn harbingers and attendants, God will make the one or the other, in different views, advantageous to you, and will adjust the circumstances of both with the kindest regard to your happiness. Things present, or fu- ture, the comforts and privileges of this life on the one hand, or its afflictions and troubles on the other, and at length, the boundless felicity of the etermal state, where affliction and trouble shall be no more known; all are, through the divine grace, yours. Remember this, and let the thought raise your minds above these little things which now occasion such contention between you; and be united in love, as God hath united you in privileges and hopes. . .4nd bear in mind too, as the counterpart of this happy detail, that ye [are] a cº, Christ” Christ's; his º his subjects, his people; and let that engage you to attend to his " o royal law of charity,f by which you may be peculiarly known to be his. And as Christ [is] God’s, and refers all his services as a Mediator to his Father's glory, it will most effec- tually promote that great end of his appearance, that you should learn such a subjection of ..f. him, and imbibe those .# and generous sentiments which I am labouring to produce and cherish in your minds. IMPROVEMENT. WITH what delight may the christian survey this grand inventory, and, conscious that he is Christ's, call all things his own | #. what pleasure survey the various gifts and graces of ministers, and consider them as given by God for his edification! %. what º look round on things present, and forward on things to come, in this connexion, and call the world his own; and count not only life, but death, amongst his treasures! Both, in their different aspects, are subservient to the happy purpose of ſº God: and surely, when by death we may do it more effectually, death should be more welcome than life. And welcome it must indeed be to every believer, as the appointed means of transmitting him to the sight and enjoyment of God, and the possession of better blessings }. Paul or Apollos could ever describe, or any thing present, or any thing to come in this world, could ever afford. - - - e Let these sublime views elevate the christian above those occasions of contention, which, for want of ascending to such noble contemplations, are often the source of innumerable evils. And let us add to them that other con- sideration, that we are the temples of the Holy Ghost; if christians indeed, we are inhabited by God, even by his spirit. Let this engage us to take the strictest care, neither to defile ourselves, nor to injure our brethren; lestin either view, it should be resented and punished, by the holy God, as a sacrilegious profanation. • Let us not over-value the wisdom of this world, since it is little regarded by God; nor be greatly concerned, if fools account our wisdom folly, and our life madness. So censured they the prophets and apostles, before us; nor did our Master himself escape the calumny and outrage. We shall be happy enough, if we approve our fidelity to him, and if we build a wise superstructure on Christ, as the great, the only Foundation. eneration he would of course have for the than the consideration of those high privileges and hopes which were tººie at jerusalém would add great weight to this argument with gºº, to them all, as it would tend to sweeten their spirits, and respect to him and his followers. - inspire them with honourablo and affectionate sentiments with respect f #j law of charity.j Nothing could have a greater efficacy to put to their brethren. an º'º, the contention so prevalent among the christians at Corinth, opposer was a Jew, the vast V THE NATURE OF THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 563 Let his ministers especially be solicitous that they may not lose the labour of their lives, by choosing unhappily SECT to employ them in that which will turn to no account in the great day of his appearing. Let them carefully 6, examine their materials. Surely if they have senses spiritually exercised, it cannot be hard to distinguish between the substantial and undoubted doctrines of christianity, which are as gold, and silver, and precious stones, and ºk. those fictitious, or at best dubious and intricate, points, which, in comparison with the formér, are but wood, and " hay, and stubble. And if, in urging these, they passionately inveigh against their brethren, and endeavour to bring them into contempt or suspicion, what do they but cement these combustible materials with sulphur P O! let the frequent views of that last searching fire, that grand period of all, be much in our thoughts; that 13 day, when not only the works of ministers, but every private person, must, as it were, pass through the flames. May we then be saved, not with difficulty, but with praise and }. May our works, of what kind soever they are, abide, so as to be found worthy of applause, and through divine grace receive a distinguished reward! SECTION VII. To lay in a further remedy against the pride and faction so ready to preyail among the Corinthians, the apostle leads them into several useful reflections on the nature of the ministerial office, the final judgment of him who searcheth all hearts, and the obligations they were under to the divine goodness for every advantage by which they were distinguished from others. 1 Cor. iv. 1–7. 1 Cor. iv. 1 1 CorINTHIANs iv. 1. LET a man so account of I HAVE told you how rich and happy you are in the divine donation, in consequence of SECT. ğığ, º' Fift, which all things are yours; and particularly, Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas, with their 7. mysteries of God, various gifts and endowments. Léarn, therefore, to form your estimate of us aright; and —— let a man so account of us, not as the masters of the church, but as the servants of Christ, lººk. who are, in obedience to his commands, to wait on his family; esteeming it honour and , ". happiness enough, if we approve ourselves as stewards of the mysteries of God; as per; sons whose business it is, with the sincerest regard to his glory, to dispense that gospel which contains such sublime truths, for so many ages concealed from the knowledge of 2 Moreover. It is required the world. And as for what remains to be done in the discharge of this office, I hope we 2 #º" * * * shall always remember, that it is demanded in stewards, that a man be found faithful; since they also, as well as lower servants in the family, are subject to account. And according- §: is my highest ambition that my great Master may judge me faithful, whether my .#."º"...º. ellow-servants be pleased or displeased with my conduct. And if my fidelity to my 3 ;"|"...'... .º.º. Lord may offend them, which is a very supposable case, I am well contented to abide judgment: gà, I judge not its consequences. For I will freely declare, in this view, it is with me the smallest thing mine own self. e - & that can be imagined, that I should be judged by you, dear as you are to me, or by any man’s judgment; his day will so soon be over, his censures can effect so little, that amidst 4.Fºr I know nothing, by the great prospects I have before me, it seems scarce to deserve a mention. JVor indeed 4 myself; yet am I º; do I so jud el if finall be d ined b - - justified: but he that judgeth o judge myself, as if my case were finally to be determined by my own apprehen me is the Lord. . sions concerning it. For though, I bless God, I am not conscious to myself of any thing criminal, of any designed neglect of my office, or unfaithfulness in my trust, yet I am not hereby jº :* that is not the main thing in question; I know partiality to ourselves may often lead us to overlook many faults, for which God may another day condemn us. But he that judgeth me, the Person by whose judgment I am to stand or fall, is the Lord 5. Therefore judge ngthing Jesus Christ, who searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men. There- 5 hº.º.º. § ºf fore be strictly careful that ye judge nothing before the appointed time, that is, until he, ; , ; # ºf the great }.} of all, shall comé, who shall pluck off the mask of every artful hypocrite, §ºnj how high soever he may bear himself in the christian church; shall bring to light the hid- º;"| den things of darkness, and shall manifest all the secret counsels of the hearts.” And then God. shall every one have in the most public manner that praise from God before the assembled world, which is proportionable to his real character and conduct. 6 And these things, bre- . These things, brethren, I have by a very obvious figure transferred to myself, and [to] 6 tº jºir;". Apollos ;d mentioning our names, and that of Cephas only, instead of many more, sincé Äpolios for your sakes; that you know the entire friendship there is among us, and how far the names of most about #;"|"."º whom you contend are inferior to these. And I have done this not on our own account, as which is Wºº you may easily apprehend, but for your sakes, that you may learn, in attending to what has of you be puffed up for one ; - * --> -- ~~~ : K-- - against another. een said concerning us, distinguished as we are by our office, furniture, and success, not to entertain too high an opinion of yourselves, or others whom you are most ready to admire, above what is here written,” and appears reasonable on the principles which have been laid down: that you may not be puffed up for one teacher, and against another; which surely you cannot allow with respect to other teachers, when you see us renouncing all 7 For who maketh thee to such attachment to ourselves. And indeed this would be very unreasonable, if the dis- 7 differſrom another? and what tinctions were as great as you, or they who have the highest conceit of themselves, can imagine. For allowing all that self-love and prepossession can wish, let me ask the man who carries it to the greatest height, Who maketh thee to differ [from another] in any fur- niture or attainment, whether intellectual or moral?f And what hast thou of any kind a Yet am I not hereby justified.] This scems a gentle, but a very affecting, insinuation, that his opponents, confident as they might seem in their own integrity and safety, would do yell to take greater heed that they were not imposed upon by the deceitfulness of their own hearts: Bring to light the hidden things of darkness.] This is a lively and just insinuation, that under specious forms his emernies concealed very dark designs, which would not bear the discoveries of that awful day. c JManifest all the secret counsels of the heart..] . This passage also sug- gests a very solid argument against magnifying one minister above another, namely, that the secret principles of men’s actions are un- known ; and it is enlarged upon to very good practical purposes; while the apostle at the same time takes an opportunity of §§ a very SO- lemn profession of his own faithfulness, and showing the boldness he had towards God, and his modesty and candour to men; all which were ex- tremely suitable to the general purposes he had in view. d Transferred to myself, &c.] Some, and particularly Mr. Locke, have ... inferred ſrom hence that not St. Paul and Apollos, but some other per- sons, were set up among the Corinthians for heads of parties, for whose names the apostle substituted his own and that of his most intimate friend ; but the learned and judicious Witsius well observes, (JMeleten. p. 104.), that, it is probable their names were used among some others omitted, and the figure was only this, that the names of St. Paul and Apollos were used to signify themselves and any others so extolled; and when the apostle would say how little ministers were in themselves, he chose out of humility and prudence rather to take such freedom with himself and his most particular and intimate friend than with others. e What is here written.) Elsner (Observ. vol. ii. f 5.) confirms this interpretation, and produces many instances in whic §". is used to express having too high an opinion of one’s self. L'Enfant explains it in Something of a different sense, “above what scripture warrants.” hether intellectual or moral.] I include moral attainments, because the apostle had in the preceding, verses been speaking of fidelity in the ministry, alſd he elsewhere in this Epistle speaks of obtaining mercy to be faithful, (chap. vii. 25.) and would be understood as referring not only to his *Y". us out faculties, but exciting us to the right use of them, both by external calls and advantages, and by inward impres- sions of his grace on the heart; though still in a manner suited to our ſree and rational natures, and which, however some may be distin- guished by them, leaves all who choose wrong without excuse, and admits the exercise of justice as well as grace in the final distributions of good and evil. See the paraphrase on chap. iii. 7... which seems yely applicable to this clause. Yet as it is certain the Corinthians, chiefly głóried in their gifts, and in those of their favourite teachers doubt not but it is to these that the apostle chiefly refers in this place, and cannot think that the stress of the controversy relating to the sanctifying influences of divine grace does by any means rest on this passage. 564 THE DANGERS AND HARDSHIPS TO WHICH THE APOSTLES WERE EXPOSED. SECT. which thou didst not receive from God, the ; Parent of universal good? But ſº thou hast thou that thoudids, not 7. hast received [it] all from him, why dost thou boast in the gift of his liberal goodness, as if:::::::’sº jº" （; — thºu hadst not received, [it], from him, but it were originally and essentially thine own? ºasiſ §a"...ist". ** Would you all but seriously reflect upon this, it would teach you humbler sentiments, **** “ – much . rational in themselves, and, on the whole, much more for your credit as weli aS COIſlfCF IMPROVEMENT. NoTHING can be more conducive to the advantage of christianity, and, by consequence, of the world, whose happiness is so much concerned in its º and success, than that its preachers should consider, and their hearers Ver. 1 remember, the nature of their office. They are not lords over God's household and heritage, but ministers of 2 Christ, whose business it is to promote their Master's honour; stewards of his mysteries, who are to endeavour both to keep and to dispense them with all good fidelity. . From their Master therefore may they take all their instructions, and to him let them refer all their administrations, Various judgments will be passed upon them; and they who will oppose the attempts of some of their brethren to introduce corruption and confusion into his family, will have many an unkind reflection thrown upon them, and experience the severity of censure for a con- 3 duct which merits the justest approbation. Butlet them learn by this excellent apostle, to be above the judgment of men, and to keep the judgment of the Lord in view ; that they may not only be supported under that petulance of their fellow-servants, but may learn to guard against what is much more dangerous, the treachery of their own 4 hearts, and the flattery of self-love; lest they fondly mistake the voice of prejudice for that of conscience, or, in other words, the voice of an erroneous conscience, for that of a conscience well informed. Let us often recollect the narrow limits of our own knowledge that we may learn modesty in our censures of 5, &c. 9ach other. He only can judge who knoweth the heart; and there is a day approaching which will manifest all its secrets. While others, with a pitiable mixture of arrogance and ignorance, judge one another, and judge us, let us rather be concerned that we may secure that praise of God, which will be heard and felt by the soul, with the highest rapture, and will silence every echo of human applause or censure. 7 To conclude: if it hath pleased God, in any respect, to distinguish us from others, by the gifts or graces which he hath bestowed upon us, let us humbly trace these distinctions to their true source; and instead of indulging the least degree of pride on their account, let us rather be the more humble. For surely the more we receive from God, the more we are indebted and obliged; and the more we are obliged to the divine goodness, the greater ought our shame and confusion to be, that we have not answered those obligations by more faithful care and more constant gratitude. *- SECTION VIII. The Apostle, in order to gain further upon their affections, represents the many hardships and dangers to which he and his brethren, were exposed, in comparison of that easy state in which the Corinthiais wºi; ; and reminding them at the same time of their particular obligations to him, he warns them not to force him on severities, to the use cf which he was very averse. 1 Cor. iv. 8, to the end. NTHIANS iv. 8 e I CorINTHEANS iv. 8. 1 Cor. iv. 8. sECT. I HAVE suggested some humbling thoughts to your consideration; but I fear you will Nº. - - - º s:- ſº i r * --> -- * {{`--- - rich, ye have reigned as kings 3. have little relish for them, as you seem to indulge yourselves in very different views. , Am iºdºt"; and "jºiâ’i, I not rather to congratulate christians, whose rank and figure in the world is so much su-jºº'.” * - - - also might reign with you. 1 coR. perior to that of many of their brethren, and even of their first apostle too 2 For moto ſou - IV. . are ſº ; now you are rich; you enjoy so great a degree of prosperity and, plenty, that * methinks you have even reigned as kings without us * so lº in a variety of secular en- joyments, that you have hardly missed my company. And indeed I wish you did reign, in the truest and noblest sense, and were altogether as happy as you think yourselves. I wish the most excellent powers of the human nature had, through divine grace, greater rule and sovereignty in your souls, that we, in the midst of all our present distress, might also reign with you, and partake of your happiness, in that high degree, in which, if it were sincere and solid, our affection for you ...; enable us to share it. And surely we suf...? £º ficiently need such consolation as this; for I think God hath echibited tº, the apostles, of jº.; his Son, like those gladiators which are brought out on the stage last of all, as appointed to §§§ § . certain death, b and therefore not furnished with weapons of defence, nor allowed so much j tº men.” & Cº 153 as a chance of escaping; for we are produced, as it were, on a public theatre, and made,g spectacle to the whoſe world of rational creatures, both to angels and men. who are all held 10 in solicitous attention to so strange and tragical a sight. . Imagine not that I have aggra. 10 We are ſools forghrist's wated the representation; the more you attend to our circumstances, the more you will ë, "We’. º. º. discernits justice: for we [are] treated like fools, babblers, and madmen, for the sake of ; º;" Christ, (Acts xvii. 18.xxvi. 31.) as if we were the weakest and most ignorant of mankind, “” p1SeC1. because we preach the plain truths of the gospel, and endeavour to the utmost to exalt our Lord. But ye [are] wise in Christ; ye set up for a kind of christian Pºlº of more refined #: than your brethren, and think you have found out a political way at once of securing the blessings of the gospel, and escaping it; inconveniences and persecutions. }}'e º weak, in presence, in infirmities, and in sufferings; but ye ſare] strong, have great confidence in yourselves, and are got above many of those tender alarms and impressions which hearts like ours are subject to on a variety of occasions: you [are] honourable, adorned with extraordinary gifts, in which you, are ready, to º: and many of you set off with circumstances of external distinction; but we [are] poor despised crea- 9 a you have reigned as Kings, &c.) This is a proverbial expression of part of ſhºº!"...º.º. with wild beasts, who the most splendid and #: 㺠and some think when were appointed to cºntain º and had not that poor chance of es- the apostle adds, I wish je did reign, he means, “I wish, you had the $3D}}} which, thºse brought,forth in the morngº had a Cºmpare Sºn. ăuthority of princes, that ye might jeſter and accommodate us amidst Epist.º.º.º. Reevº's, Apol. Yol. i. p. 237. Such kind of spectagle; ii our fistresses and afflictions.” But one can hardly think he did ii); Weſ? Sº Cº." all the provinces, that it is no wonde, we shºuld find ičej wish each of them a pince, or the civil power in their hands. , ſt such ºn allusion here. The word amočet{su, erhibited, and 6earpov, seems much more probable, that as spiritual objects were so familiar to his gºspectºclé on the theatre, have in this connexion a beautiful propriety: jºjº"... ." . .'; paraphrase expresses; in The whole passage is indeed full of high, eloquºice, and finely adapted which sense it seems that Christians are cºf jºriests and kings, (RGV: to move their compassion in favour of those who were so generously § 3.5's ſº ºt...a..."ºjij"."ºieștină (; Pet. ii. 9.) I exposing and sacrificing themselves fºr the public good. cannot think with Mr. L'Enfant, that this refers peculiarly to the factious c. A spectacle to-angels and men.] This representation is wonderfully pastors of the church at Corinth. athetic and sublime : while they considered evil angels and men as Žast of all.j I cannot think, as Elsner seems to do, that the word §g them with all the malignant, and good angels and men with cayarot refers to the low rank which the apostles held in secular life; all the benevolent, passions, it must have a great tendency to inspire or with Messieurs Calvin, Locke, and L'Enfant, that St. Paul speaks of their, ºniºds with the most heroic sentiments.-Elsner has given, an jºimsejf as the last called apostle; but that there is a reference to the excellent collection of passages from heathen writers, in which such a #... cºstóiríðföringing forth those persons on the theatre in the after- figure is made use of by them. THE SUFFERINGS AND THE AUTHORITY OF THE APOSTLES. 11 Even unto this hour we both hunger, an thiſ.st, and are naked, and are ºuiſed, and have no certain posed to circumstances of the extremest want and misery. * thirst, and amidst our charitable journeys to diffuse the gospel, hardly find entertainment dwelling-place; present tures, treated with contempt wherever we corne. F ſt -- he battles fought, and all the conquests already gained by the gospel, we ºrº often º For even to this present hour, after all Sometimes we both hunger and g - * • * * - *se § - -- hos of the plainest kind, to relieve our necessities, or money to purchase it. ...And our clothes are so worn out with travelling, and we are often almost naked,0 not having decent raiment to wear, e *- ...And in many instances, where our benevolent and important message public assemblies. are so ill-furnished for buying more, that we are though we appear so often in is heard, instead of being received with due respect, we are insulted and perhaps buffeted, by the unruly and barbarous mob; and at best, if we now and then meet with a little more hospitable usage, it is but for a very little while; for, whereas you dwell in a rich and mag- nificent city, we have no certain abode, but are continually removing from one place to an- 12 And labour, working with qur own hands: being reviſed, we bless; being per- secuted, we suffer it ; ; other. And though we are engaged in a work of so greatimportance to the souls of men, which might well engross all our time and care; yet such are the circumstances in which we are often placed, that we are obliged in duty and prudence to labour in some secular calling, working with our own hands, to procure the necessary supports of the most frugal and parsimonious life. Being in the most insolent and provoking manner reviled to our faces, and loaded with every opprobrious name of contempt, we meekly bless, and pray for our enemies; being persecuted, we endure it patiently, unable to right and help ourselves. 13 Being defamed, we en- treat: we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of aſ things unto {his day. * . & in the mean time, Being blasphemed, and spoken of in the most scandalous, and, considering our sacred cha- racter, the most impious, terms; we only entreat that men would more impartially examine our pretensions, that they may entertain more favourable sentiments concerning us; and we freely forgive thern their rash and injurious censures. And on the whole, such is thé usage we meet with, that we are made and treated like the very filth of the world,e like the wretches which, being taken from the dregs of the people, are offered as expiatory sacrifices to the infernal deities among the Gentiles, and loaded with curses, affronts, and injuries, in the way to the altars at which they are to bleed: [or like] the re- fuse of all things to this day, the very sweepings of the streets and stalls, a nuisance to all around us, and fit for nothing but to be trampled upon by the meanest and vilest of man- kind. 14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my b loved sons I warn you. I do not write these things to shame you, or in any degree to stain your credit with other * churches, by such a representation, as if you were unmindful of my sufferings for the gospel; but considering the relation in which we stand to each other, and looking upon you as my beloved sons, I warn [you] of those dangers to which I fear you may be exposed, and of the regard which it is your duty and interest to pay to those who voluntarily sub- ject themselves to so many evils on your account, that you ought surely to be the last to 15 For though ye have ten increase their burdens. thousand instructors Ill fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have ºfotten you through the gospel. 16 Wherefore I beseech and all the you, be ye followers of me. ſº with §eth... ma; you have ten thousand instructors in Qhrist, yet have ſº y tº. have] not many spiritual fathers, for in Christ Jesus I Paul have begotten you by the gospel: I preached it first among you, and was the happy means of your spiritual birth, rivileges of God's children which you receive by it. . sº wº ial piety and duty ye be all imitators of me, keeping strictly to the faith which And I may J.' urge this with respect to myself; for if hrist, be they ever so many or ever so valuable, yet I beseech you, therefore, taught you, and carefully copying my meekness and humility. 17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remem- brance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. se which you w For this reason, that you may be the better able to trace my steps, and may be animated to do it with the greater care, I have sent to jou. Timothy, who is my beloved son, or dear convert, (Acts xix. 22.) and who, though yet but a young man, is remarkably faithful in the Lord, an excellent christian, who will be able more perfectly to bring to your remem- brance my was in Christ, as I am every where teaching in every church where I come; by perceive, that I do not act partially with respect to you, but roceed on general principles of integrity and prudence, from which I no where allow myself to vary. uffed would not 18 Now some are up, as though come to you. 19. But I will come to you opposers. shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. proof they can give o is not in word, but in power. Some, I hear, are puffed up in vain and proud confidence, as if, after all I have said, I would not come to you, and did not dare to appear in a place where I have now so many But they are extremel quickly too, if the Lord, who holds the reins of universal government in his hands, permit; and I will then know and examine, not the confident speech and florid talk of those that are thus gº up, but the power they have to vindicate their pretensions, and what miraculous l * that authority in the church which they presume to oppose to mine, mistaken, for I will certainly come to you, and that *e ... º. 3 ºr U.J. Ö SECT. 8. 1 COR, IV. | 1 I 5 I 6 I 8 ºr the kingdom ºf God For the kingdom § God is not in speech, in confident assertions, or in elegant forms of ad- 20 S dress, but is establi hed in the exertions of a miraculous power, conferred on the true and #". apostles of our Lord by the effusion of his Spirit upon them, by virtue of which his faithful subjects may be fully satisfied they act according to his will, in paying them 2] What will ye 2 shall 1 the regard they come unto you with a rod, or * in love, and in the spirit of meekness 3 require. and in the spirit of meekness and gentleness, comforting and commending, instead of chas- tising 2 You will, I hope, think seriously upon the matter in time, before things are driven to such an extremity as may not any longer leave it in my choice or yours. PWhat, therefore, do jou on the whole desire and choose 2 That I 21 should come to you, as it were, with a rodſ of correction in my hand, using thy apostolic power for your chastisement; or, which for your sakes I should much rather choose, in love, d Are naked, &c.] Surely one cannot imagine any more glorious tri- umph of the truth, than what it gained in these circumstances, when St. Paul, with an impediment in his speech, and a personage rather con- temptible than graceful, appeared in a mean, and periaps sometimes tattered dress, before persons of the highest rank, and yet commanded such attention, and made such impressions. e Filth of the corld..] . The word Kabappara has a force and meaning here which no one word in our language cab express; I have given what I am, persuaded is the true meaning of it in the paraphiase, and must refer tº Dr. Hen. More, (Theol. Works, p. 63.) and Dr. Whitby, in loc, for the illustration of this bold and noble figus. Suidas says that these wretched victims were called Kabappata, as their death was esteemed an ºptºtion ; and he tells us the word reptºpnuara, which we render ºffscouſing, was also applied to them; and Bos' (Etércit. p. 125) illus- {{ate; the sense of the word by a very large and judicious collection of Greek quotations. See also fºr Ridley's Christian Éassover, p. §. Appears from some of these passages, that when the ashes of these un- happy men were thrown into the sea, these very words were used in the ceremony, Yoº Tepuipmua, yºus ka9appa, but the former of these titles wits given them, in reference to that criginal signification of the words, which the paraphrase on the end of the verse expresses. That so wise and ancient a republic as that of Marseilles, originally a Greek colony, should have retained this savage usage, is astonishing; yet Servius ex! Dressly asserts it. Serv. in J}}neid. lib. iii. lin. 75. f PWith q red of correction.] 'That the aposties had often a miraculous power of inflicting death, and other, temporal judgments, in case of ag- gravated. offence, appears from other passages of Scripture, Acts v. 5–10. Xiii. 10, ..] I. i Tim. i. 20. and is referred to more than once or tWY ice. se g 6, S. xiii. 2, 3, 10. And I cannot mention these passages, without lead- ing, my reader to reflect on the wisdom of Providence, in permitting such opposition to arise against St. Paul, particularly at Corinth. It gave him an opportunity of making the strongest appeals to what they are supposed to know of his miraculous power; and had these appeals not been indeed founded on the most certain and evident truth, they must, instead of restoring him to their regards, as we find in fact they did, ave been sufficient of themselves utterly to have ruined all his reputa: tion and interest among them, had it before been ever so great. in these Epistles to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. v. 5. 2 Cor. i. 23. x. 566 THE IRREGULARITIES IN THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH, IMPROVEMENT. SECT. How adorable is the efficacy of divine grace which bore those zealous and faithful servants of Christ through all 8, their labours and fatigues, when they were made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and men . How glorious a spectacle! worthy surely, as any thing, since that wonderful scene on Calvary, of the eye of God himself. 1 COR. How little are we to judge of the divine favour by external circumstances, when those best of men were of all * others the most miserable, further than as their heavenly hope supported and animated them And when that is taken into the account, who would not emulate their lot, though hungry and thirsty, though naked and destitute, 11, 13 without habitation, without protection, without friends?' When we consider their share in the divine friendship, when we consider the blessed effects of their labours, and the glorious crown which awaits them after all their sufferings; surely they must appear happy in proportion to the degree in which they seemed miserable, and glo- rious in proportion to the degree in which the world held them as infamous! . That illustrious person, whose Epistles are now before us, knew not the pleasures of domestic life in many of its most endearing relations. . But God made him a spiritual father to multitudes; and no doubt, as he urges the 15 consideration on his children in Christ, he felt the joy arising from it strong in his own soul, when he said, I have begotten you in Christ Jesus by the gospel. Surely it ought never to have been forgotten by them; and if, through the artifices of ill-designing men, and the remaining infirmities of their own character, it was sometimes and in some degree forgotten now, yet undoubtedly it would be remembered by them in the heavenly world for 14 ever; even by as many as the Lord his God had graciously given him. And if there be any remembrance there that they once grieved him, it will be an engagement to all those offices of an eternal friendship which the exalta- tion of the heavenly state shall allow. In the mean time, his paternal affection for them wrought, not in a foolish fondness of indulgence, which in the language of divine wisdom is hating a son, but in the character of a prudent 21 and faithful parent, who, desirous that his children may be as wise and good as possible, will rather use the rod than suffer them to be undone. Yet when he speaks of using it, he speaks with regret, as one who would rather choose to act in the spirit of gentleness, and without any mixture of severity, how necessary soever. The whole of his subsequent conduct to the Corinthians, as far as it may be learned from this or the following Epistle, bears a perfect consistency with these expressions, and illustrates their sincerity. May God give to his ministers more of this truly apostolical spirit, more of those overflowings of holy love, attempering and attempered by that ardent zeal against sin, and that firm resolution in the discharge of duty, which shone so brightly in the apostle, and in which he so freely and justly recommends himself to the imitation of his sº children and his brethren. SECTION IX. The apostle proceeds to mention the irregularities which prevailed in the Corinthian church; and here handleth * case of the incestuous person, whom he commands them to separate from their communion. I Cor. v. 1, to the end. º I CorINTHIANS v. 1. I Cor. v. 1. sECT. I HAVE spoken of coming to you with a rod of correction; and it is too probable I may IT, is reported commonly g t there is fornication among O' * ~ : e & - - * wº e tha 9. be laid under a necessity of using it, though it be an unwilling necessity. For it is gene- jº";...": rally reported." [that there is] a kind of lewdness among you, and that too such scandalous i. i., §cº". 1 coR. and enormous lewdness as is not heard of even among the heathen, degenerate as they are, šjāś. V. and abandoned as their practices are known to be, even that a certain person should have * & º sº sº. e wº 3 ife. b r * 2 And ye are puffed up 2 used criminal converse with his father's wife.” One would have imagined that a scandal a.º. º.º. #. º: -> e * & s sº ºr T * ^ - - - 31I] like this should have thrown the whole society into distress and humiliation, like the public ... º.º.º.º. * & g & - © deed might be taken away mourning of a Jewish synagogue on the apostasy or ejection of one of its members; and ; ; , . yet it is said that ye are puffed up with this spirit of pride and carnality which I have been mentioning and réproving. Should ye not rather have lamented on this sad occasion? and pursued those strenuous measures for reformation which the genius of the gospel so evi- dently dictates, that he who hath committed this fact should be taken away from you, and be 3 no longer allowed to continue in your communion? But however negligent you have been, ºvº sº and whatever consequence I draw upon myself, by interposing in this affair, I cannot, I jºiºicº"; will not, be silent. I am absent indeed in body, and therefore cannot take those vigorous ºjº. steps which my zeal for the honour of Christ, and my tender concern for your reputation this deed, and happiness, dictate: but I am present in spirit; I have a distinct view of all the cir- cumstances of the case, and therefore in as determinate a manner as if I were actually pre- sent, I have judged and passed sentence on him who I know has indeed committed this 4 enormity. And the sentence I have passed is this: That ye being all solemnly gathered gº º'Cº'ſ...',gº! together in full assembly, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and my Spirit being present tiered ºther, and ji: with you, with the efficacious power of our Lord Jesus Christ, acting according to my de; ſº." " * termination, though I be at such a distance, and being ready to add an awful efficacy and - 5 sanction to your censure, Do, by a public and express act, deliver such an one by name to ..."g.º.º.º.º. sº - & * - g g * unto Satan for the destruc- Satan, to be by him, as the terrible executioner of the divine justice and displeasure, i. §§e "ies. ...". chastised and tormented, in order to the destruction of the flesh, that, for this shameful in: ;Fºr':º, in the dulgence of its lascivious appetites and desires, it may be emaciated and enfeebled, and the offender, alarmed by sufferings of so extraordinary and formidable a nature, if possible, may be brought to true repentance and humiliation, that so the immortal spirit may be zº saved, in the day of the Lord Jesus, from those infinitely more insupportable and everlast- ing agonies to which it might otherwise be doomed. . - -- 6 And give me leave on this occasion further to tell E. that your boasting, whether of 6 Your glorying is not good. such a person as your friend, if he be remarkable for any peculiar distinction in gifts, -- 7 l. 4 1-, - + 1, . * •k, ... I d of discerning clearly and circumstantially what was a Generally reported.] Dr. Whitby thinks that the scandalous stories W. hich St. Paul had of (g clearly in ºrc ºr 96 vi that were §§ told armong the heathen of the incestuous *.*.*.* #; º: mºre Čól. ii. 5. 2 Kings v. 26. vi. 12. See Dr. i ºn it ºr * ~. *~ º irri * IQ ſl O en Sº, VOl. l l . D. J. O. & e of primitive christians, had their original from the º 3LLIO d To deliver such to Satan, &c.] Some think that, as Satan is s * - y R & gº * and others 1, 0}}.62 this fact. Many quotations, broºght º ###"; ào; the considered as the #aš of all who are not under Christ as their head, n this text, show that incest was held - - 3. y - r ;:#". º: of this º iš" (š is ºeji known) called by that is, in the church ºf Christ, ev ey...one \; * cut off from the Čičero. 'Scelis incredibile ct inauditum, an incredible and unheard of church must of course be deliyºrgd oxer to i..'...}i But it F.; Ées.”See aſso êºt. Dºjº"; i. et Érac. iii. ii, cap. v. § 14. more reasonable tº believe that this refers to the infliction of some bodily K. ganess. & pains or diseases, in Whiº, jºisº: §§ as º: of the f • ** . . • - in a lºst •e 1 Tim. i. 20, "And this was for the destruction of al converse.) Probably some father had parted with his vine, justice. Q97 Rºº, ºak... ...; - * wº §b. her #iºio. j his so, to whom she the flesh; not directly of the fleshly º II] º Sen Se § could jºr other-in-law, had married her; for by 2 Cor. vii. 12. it seems pot be opposed to the saving the Spirit in the day of the ; but, pro- robable the person injured was yet alive. - bably, as the paraphrase intimates, for the emaciating and enfeebling p "#jeºtj"Some think this refers to an extraordinary gift the powers of animal nature. IRREGULARITIES IN THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH MENTIONED AND REPROVED. 567 fºx. $.º.º.º. abilities, and circumstances, or against him, as your enemy, if he be of an opposite faction, sect. lº, leaveneth the whole [is] not by any means good.” Do you not know, in a familiar instance, W nich it may be 9. profitable for you to recollect, that a little leaven quickly diffuses itself by a secret fer- mentation, till it leaveneth the whole mass 2 Thus will evil examples tend to spread in the ºn. church; and if a brand of infamy be not quickly set upon the incorrigible offender, - wickedness will grow familiar, and lose its horror; so that many other members of your 7 Burge out therefore the society may be polluted, insnared, and dishonoured. Set yourselves therefore with a 7 º: ; :"... resolution and diligence, like that which the Jews show in all their dwellings, when the leavened. Fºr even, Christ annual feast of the passover is approaching, to purge out the old leaven: search for it, as :: **** it were, with fighted candies, wherever you suspect any of it to lurk unobserved, that ye may indeed be entirely a new mass: as you are by your christian profession unleavened, let there be no mixture of any thing inconsistent with that simplicity and purity which the gospel teaches. - e ºf It is a diligence and resolution that becomes you; for we have not only the divine command to enforce it, but this tender additional obligation, that even Christ our passover was slain for us.ſ He hath made his precious blood the price of our redemption, that he might make it the means of our sanctification, and that we, instead of being smitten by § The ſºletºkºhe the sword of the avenging angel, might sit down to a divine banquet in peace. Let us 8 it º - * - - §º the aº ; then keep the holy feast which he hathat such an expense provided for us, and in which ºlicºnd, ºs; º; he feedeth us even with his own flesh; and let us celebrate it in a manner which may do with the unleavened irºnd ſº 5 - - - cf sincerity and truth. him the greatest honour, and be most pleasing to the adorable Author of our liberty and our happiness; that is, not with the old stale leaven of uncleanness, so common in your Gentilé estate, nor with the leaven of malignity and mischief, which your judaizing teachers would infuse, though it is as inconsistent with the benevolence, as the other with the urity, of the gospel: but avoiding these with the strictest care, keep it with the unleavened Éh of sincerity and truth, with the most simple and sincere desire of knowing and practising every #. of our duty; which if we really have, it will keep us from all these evils, and secure an uniformity of behaviour honourable to our profession, and agree- able to the glorious scheme and design of its illustrious Author. eś *śń. In this connexion it occurs to me, and I conclude you remember, that I wrote to you 9 förnicators: in an Epistle which I sent you before your messengers reached me, that you should not 10 Yet not altogether with conversé with fornicators and lewd persons, 3 or others of ill fame and character. But I 10 º .."; think you must apprehend, that by what I then wrote, I intended not entirely to forbid tortiºners, or with idolaters; all converse with the lewd people of this world, or with covetous men, or extortioners, or for them must ye needs go º • *** * out of the world. idolaters among your heathen neighbours; for then, as these characters so generally pre- &ail among mankind in this degenerate state, you must indeed go out of the world, and Seek some solitary abode in the wilderness, which is what I never intended to require or *.*.*.*.*.*.* encourage. But the intent of what I then, said, and of what I have now written unto 11 unto you not to keep co - - º - * - iny, if nºmantistisc.ii. you, is, that if any who is named a christian brother be evidently a lewd person, or remark- ; & !º § ably covetous, or, in acts of occasional though not stated and customary worship, an idola- ºn ter, or even a railer, who labours to provoke others by foul language and insulting be- 5...', ..." " " haviour, or injures any in their absence by slanderous reports, or a drunkard, and in any other respects an abandoned sensualist or rapacious extortioner, you should not converse familiarly, or so much as eat, with such an one, in common life, and much less in such re- ligious solemnities as are peculiar to the church of Christ, which ought ever to be a pure and holy Society. tº . º.º.º.º. You must understand my caution with such a limitation as this: for what have I to do, 12 judge them also that are - * º e º 5 without "do nºt ye"judge as a christian apostle, to judge those that are without the pale of the church? Of others them that are within : indeed I may speak; for do not even you, in your more private capacity, judge those that are within 3 I have taught you that every private christian should be concerned in his * station to maintain the discipline of the church of Christ, and to bear his testimony against O ºatº; disorderly walkers, which may at present have a place in it. But let it be remembered, 13 º"; "Am...'... that those who are without God judgeth;h and he will find a way, sooner or later, to testify selves that wicked person, his awful displeasure against them for crimes which they have committed against the law of nature, and that acquaintance with it which he knows they actually had or might have attained. Therefore, in consideration of this, both in one view and the other, let it be your immediate care, as you regard the peace of the church and the safety of your own souls, speedily, and with all due solemnity, to take away from among yourselves the wicked personi I have mentioned, and any others whose characters may, jké his, be scandalous and infectious. IMPROVEMENT. - - HAPPY are those churches who have it in their power to exercise godly discipline, and to chase from their com- Ver, 13 munion such members as are its reproach and scandal! Happy they who, having this power, have the courage and fidelity to use it, so as not to be shamed and condemned by it. Let us not be too much surprised that offences come, and if there are, even in christian societies, some enormities beyond what are commonly heard of among 1 the Gentiles. It is nº wonder, if such abandon themselves, yea, if they are in righteous judgment abandoned of God, to the uncontrollable rage of their own lusts and corruptions, and the great enemy of souls be suffered to carry, them captive at his pleasure. Let it however be our concern, that when this is the case, the wicked person be taken away., And though the extraordinary power which the apostles had be long ceased, and we cannot de- liver over offenders for correction to Satan, as they did, let us take such methods as are still open, for purging the 5 old leaven out of our churches; and O, that we may be enabled to purge it out of our hearts! Remembering 7 e Your boasting is not good.] L'Enfant would read it, interrogative- be taken in that ex ; his cy- - y” §§ #!'...' #. # #. § t | "..., ...'. º: ºt SOIIY & Šiºisºrº, º: º t ld. T VerS1 On : DUlt I th In K, I) Inaſ) Iner . Sin - a - - sº * > S r; grº tº Paul, nor does it seem exactly to sºft the original. O 1 > #. #ſornication, detestable as that is. See p. 80. note f. and p. 235 ... f. Christ ºur passover £as slain...] It is well known, that Justin Martyr, h. Those who are without God judgeth.] Dr. Whitby thinks this is an tº: dialogue, with. Tryph9 the *śl dºsº.ºhe Jºš, with having obliqué référence to ºftefjº'of the incestuous person, who ºeg ºf the book ºf Esdras,the follºwing Wºrds: “ The passover is was a heitlºvich, irojaj: giving no directions concern- Qur Saviºr and Qur, refuge.”. L'Enfant thinks these wºrds of St. Paul ii. i.e. is". improbable. §§§ think the Views of St. Fauj in this are an allusion to them.--It is a very inconclusive inference of some cláuse were more extensive, and have paraphrased them accordingly, from this ‘8. º this ºstle was written about the time of the i, Take away, &c.) This seems plainly to imply, that the Corinthians passover. Orn pare Chap. XVI. 8. had a power of ºrcón º: - * { - * Aº. Tº Yº - r - - * tº i º rcommunication in themselves, as has generally been g Lewd persons.] I haº rendered Topvot, lewd persons, in these pleaded by congregational writors from this text.” § verses, as 1 think it very plain the apostle intended the word sliould 568 THEIR LITIGATION IN HEATHEN COURTS REPROVED, SECT. Christ our Passover, who was slain for us, feeding daily upon him by faith, and keeping the sacred festival at once 9. with joy and gladness, and with simplicity and sincerity of heart. Lamentable indeed is it that so many vices should prevail in human nature; that he, who w 1 CoR. with persons of a bad character, must needs go out of the world. But most lamentable of all, that an one who is * called a brother should be a fornicator or covetous, an idolater or railer, a drunkard or aft ğ. May God preserve us from such detestable crimes, and may he purge out all such spots as these from our feasts ºf charity and to that end may he quicken our zeal to bear a testimony against them, in every such method as suits our relation and circumstances of life Above all, let not any ever imagine, that being joined in communion with a christian church can excuse the guilt of such immoral and scandalous ractices, for which the wrath of God 13 comes even upon the children of disobedience among the heathem. God will have his time to judge them that are Without; and not only christians at large, as some may fondly and perhaps profanely be ready to call themselves but Mahometans and pagans too, shali find articles like these sitting upon i. º with a dreadful weight, and if sincere repentance do not make way for pardoe, plunging them into the lowest abyss of misery, into a state of everlasting separation from the blessed God, and all his holy and acceptable servants. ould avoid all society SECTION X. The iſºlº reproves the Corinthiaps for prosecutiº their brethren in beathen courts; and solemnly warns them of the sad consequences which would attend the indulgence of those criminal dispositions and practices in which christianity found them, and from which it was intended tº deliver them. 1 Cor vi. 1–11. I CorixTHIANs vi. 1. 1 Cor. vi. 1 s ºf -º- -y- º * - • Vl. 1. SECT. I HAVE already mentioned one very great irregularity among you; and now I am under DARE any of you, having a 10. an unhappy necessity of animadverting upon another; which is, that you enter into suits ..."...º.º sº; s º -> - :* , - 3. wº ſº law, before the unjust, and of law with each other in heathen courts. And is this possible P Dare any of you indeed not before the saints? * CºR act so shameful a part? Can you really be so imprudent, having any matter [of com- " I plaint] against another, as to refer it to the decision of men, who lié under Sö many temptations to be unjust, and not of the saints,” of your christian brethren, from whose sanctity of character and profession you might reasonably expect the most equitable usage, and the utmost tenderness in accommodating differences, upon the easiest terms that jus- 2 tice will allow P. Do you not yet indeed know, have you never been told it by me, or by 2 Doyenot know that the any other, that the saints shall in the great day judge the world? that they shall be assessors ... tº jºhºrſ; - :: * : e *. w and if the world shall be with Christ in that solemn judgment when he shall condemn all the ungodly 2 (Compare §§§ ºf Matt. xix. 28.) ...And if the world is shortly to be judged by jou, are ye unworthy of deter- ...}**** mining the most inconsiderable matters which daily occur in your secular affairs: 3 I repeat it again, and you will find it a striking argument, if you will allow yourselves ºve, nºt that wº ; :-j--> b * * shall judge angels? how to reflect upon it; know you not that we shall judge even the fallen angelsb themselves, who, ji jºš'that '. notwithstanding all their malignity and pride, shall be brought to that tribunal at which tain to this life? {. having gloriously passed your own trial, shall be seated with Christ your victorious ord, when by his righteous sentence he shall send these rebellious spirits to that flaming prison which divine justice hath prepared for them? And [are ye] not then much more 4 apparently ſworthy to judge] the little trifling affairs which relate to this mortal life? If 4...hen yellºidºmº * S-5 - * * * - • *~. tº of things pertaining to this therefore ye, who have such great honours, and dignities in view, have in the mean time iſºlºid: º, any little controversies with each other, relating to the affairs of this life, do ye set those to jºt *med in the determine them, who are of no esteem at all in the church, but whom ye know to be idola- ters, despisers of the gospel, and enemies to your great Master and his cause, as your hea- 5 then neighbours undoubtedly are 2 I speak [this] to your shame; and hope you blush tº ººlºº, while you read it. Are things indeed come to such a pass in your church, celebrated as Wis ºn"...º. it is, and boasting so much of its wisdom, that this should be necessary 2 HWhat, is there jº, § not one wise intelligent person among you all, who may be able to determine the cause of a - christian brother? But though the civil constitution allows you to decide these things wº.º.º. among yourselves, one brother hath a suit against another, and this before infidels,” who isºbº. cannot but be greatly scandalized at this, and take occasion from your mutual, quarrels and accusations to brand the whole body of you as injurious and avaricious; who, while you pretend to be so far superior to secular views, are yet, so strongly attached to them, that with all your professions of universal benevolence and brotherly love, you cannot for- 7 Now therefore there is - •o £oo-o wºrk, oovy have the right on his side, on this O .*.*.e. bear wronging one another. Therefore, whoever may have g **** Hº,”, ſº º, . or that particular question, even this is altogether a fault among you, that you bring it under º.o.º.” Whº,"; the cognizance of heathens,” on whatever occasion it be, that ye have such law-suits and º . contests with each other. Phy do ye not rather endure .# º º down º sºgº. 3} d t encº &O º tº ſº.) - ?” tº - .* * JNay, ye ClO WTOng, an the loss? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded, than, seek such a remedy dº ſº"; ºl as this? But indeed, to speak plainly, you do wrong, and you defraud even [your] brethren. flºº 6 7 8 hiust—saints.] The heathen judges, as Paul seems here to in- pressly said tº be reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the sº effect to declare, §ºi, unjust: christians great day, shall be condemned: the saints, being raised to the #. 9. vºijº, righteous, and ſoy men." There might be excep- #loy which these Miºked Pirits, hº forfeited apº, lost, shgu } assist tions on each side, buſ, the apostle’s argument turns on what might com: . that sentence which shalſ display the victory,9f º: º jśā.”riº lººs, whº to judge angels, are not merely these his servants, once their captives, and, Will, p? º f, #. §: j łº §sº, suppose that the º of the iº Corin- ºnce itself yet more intolerable, to creatures of such malignity and thian had been carried before a heathen judge, as Mr. Locke Supposes, prld's ~ 1.- : * - - at dor sectns entirely groundless. . A thousand other disputes Inight have oc- c Do ye set them,.# Our º renders §: i. º º: casioned the remonstrance before us. who are least esteemed in the church; as if the apostlerºd sº &lk (? - the meanest christian, rather than, any heathen.” But, I fºllow that b Shall judge angels.]... Had the apostle, as Dr. Whitby supposed, préférred by Beza and Whitby. Limborch would understand Spirmpg referred to the power which many christians had of driving out demons as equivalent to 6akas-mpt a and render it as a piece of advice, “ consti- from those who were possessed by them, he would not, have spoken of Q. foursel OurtS 'of judicature, relating to civil affairs.”— this as a future thing, nor can we suppose it to have been Gommon, to #. to º §§ signifies tº place persons on judicial seats. a}} christians, nor would it hº afforded an §". º º: 3. S º: t{ety sig p with that which the paraphrase suggests. Mr. Reynolds extends the Sé?"?). VO!. II. I.), º]. # a raº, As r interpretation yet further, and seems to infer from it, that the holy angels d One brother hath a suit against §3.h) J ..º.º.º. *: are stilj in a state of probation, and shall be rewarded at the last day, that the Romans (who ... now mas § §§ v} h; capital wi according to the degree of their fidelity and açtivity in, the Serviçºs as- ºn foreign countries to deci tºº here D #. hº signed to them by êis. as the head of angels, who shall take his re- in question, Aſh9pg fºg. . º, º: foº to j.d.º. jemed from among men, to be assessors with him in that final sentenge. the justice of this rebuke º . Hºàll §§ ere t looked Ul foºn. Of Ang. p. 183. But the angelic º º; t º º: jºi º *f; **.*.* #. º .6ther view, namely, as ministering to Christ, adding pomp to his ap- ºs a JęWish - § 3 ... tº it...” * * ** v-y ::::::::::::::: º: his sentence, which flºº, º: ºight certainly by mutual consent have chosen their brethren as - is is an ungrounded interpretation, and that if any Such Judgmen erees. . . . . - #º rogard to them, it must be at some other, time, and in C Even this is altogether a fault ſmºg. tº: That món should be jr., ºr jić. But there seems a, peculiar dignity and propriety in rendered ºpen, Raphelius hath well observed, and proved, Jìnnot. ex: ºis determination of the great God, that when the devils, who are ex- Herod. in loc. THE CONSEQUENCE OF CRIMINAL AND LICENTIOUS INDULGENCES. 569 By such proceedings as these, you do much greater injury to the church of Christ, and the SECT. common cause of religion, than you can sustain from any particular brother against whom 10. you advance a complaint. Nor is this the only thing wherein you are to blame, nor the only, instance in which you injure each other. 1 COR. .9 Know ye not that the un- And permit me to expostulate with you a little on this head. What? can you con- a " #;";# tentedly sacrifice this gréat and glorious hope which the gospel gives you? With all your gºeither ſºigators, boasted knowledge, do ye not indeed know, that the unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of nor idglaters, nor adulterers, ... ſe. ſº * * * º & 2 ºr * * = i. i.iit."ºj God? Be not deceived by a vain imagination, that the christian name and privileges will of themselves with mankind, secure you in the practice of your vices: for I now solemnly assure you, as I have often done, that neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate persons who give themselves up to a soft, indolent way of living, and can endure no hardships in the way 10 Northieves, nor covet- of duty and honour, nor Sodomiles, those infamous degraders of human nature, JVor 10 º,"; ſºil thieves, nor those who are insatiably coveloits, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor rapacious inherit the Kingdom of God. persons, who by extortion, or any other kind of violence, invade the property of their neighbours; shall inherit that pure and peaceful region, the kingdom of God, where holi- . ness and love must for ever reign, under the auspicious government of his Son. ii. And such were some of And while I write this, excuse me, that I think it my duty solemnly, though tenderly, II łºś. ... to call you, my dear brethren, to recollect, that such detésted creatures as these were some jº.g.; of you in your unconverted state; as many of your neighbours know, and as you your- of our àº. *** selves, with deep humility and agony of soul, confessed. But ye are washed, not merely by the baptism of water: but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified; divine grace has made a happy change in your state and temper; and ye are purified and renewed, as well as discharged from the condemnation to which ye were justly obnoxious, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of him whom we are now taught, through that common Saviour, to call with complacency our God. You ought therefore ever to maintain the most grateful sense of this important blessing, to stand at the remotest distance from sin, and to be tender of the peace and honour of a society which God hath founded by his extraordinary interposition, and into which he hath been pleased in so wonderful a man- ner to bring even you, who were once in the most infamous and deplorable state. IMPROVEMIENT. ALAs, how great a reproach do we bring on our christian profession, by so immoderate an attachment to our secular interests! How much does the family of our common Father suffer, while brother goes to law with Ver. 6 brother | What are these little interests of mortal life, that the heirs of salvation, by whom angels are to be judged, 8 should wrangle about them, and for the sake of them do wrong, and that even to their brethren' Men had need, whgre such a temper prevails, to examine themselves, and take heed that they be not deceived; 9 for though good men may fall into some degrees of this evil, through negligence or mistake, yet certainly it looks *— too much like the character of such of whom the apostle testifies, that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 9, 10 Let us observe that in this catalogue are contained, not only the most infamous and enormous offenders, but some, who perhaps may be tempted, because of their freedom from flagitious crimes, to think much better of themselves than they ought. We find here the effeminate, and covetous, and revilers, and extortioners, ranked with adulterers and fornicators, with thieves and drunkards, with idolaters and Sodomites. We can never be secure from danger of falling into the greatest sins, till we learn to guard against the least; or rather till we think no evil small; viewing every sin in its contradiction to the nature of God, and in the sad aspect it wears with regard to an eter- nal state. - But how astonishing is it to reflect, that when the apostle is speaking of persons of such infamous characters, he should be able to add, in his address to his christian brethren at Corinth, And such were some of you! Who 11 must not adore the riches and sovereignty of divine grace? Were such as these the best of the heathen world? Were such as these prepared by their distinguished virtues to receive further assistance 2 Let us rather pay our homage to that grace, which went, as it were, into the suburbs of hell, to gather from thence citizens of heaven. And let the worst of men learn not to despair of salvation, when made sincerely desirous of being washed and sanctified, as well as justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. It is that name, it is that Spirit alone, which accomplishes works like these. And, blessed be God, all the wonders of this kind were not exhausted in those early ages, but some have been reserved for us, on whom the end of the world is come: the gospel hath exerted its triumphs in our own days, and they shall be renewed in those of our children. Only let none from hence presume to turn the grace of God into wantonness; lest instead of being among the few, who are made the trophies of the divine mercy, they should perish with the multitude of the ungodly world, who die in their pollutions, and go down to final and irreversible condemnation. * SECTION XI. Whereas some among the newly-converted Corinthians night not be sufficiently sensibie of the enqrmity, of the sin of formigation, the apostle, after some useful reflections on things really indifferent, expresses himself strojgly on that head, and pleads those views peculiar to christianity, which especially illustrate the heinousness of it. I Cor. vi. 12, to the ead. 1 CorINTHIANS vi. 12. l I ALI, things are lawful unto I KNOW some of you at Corinth allow yourselves to philosophize with great liberty, and spot. tºº, but I will, Nº. 3 at present stand, I think it necessary to give you some cautions upon this head. Suppose persuade yourselves and others they are: I will, for argument's sake, grant that all these is " me to do that which is not absolutely and universally criminal. And though it be allowed 13 years for the belly, and and passion as becomes a man and a christian in these cases. This maxim may parti- 13 of the belly, and the belly is made for receiving and digesting meats. It is true; but then 1 Cor. vi. 12. º: **śi find many excuses for doing things which others conscientiously scruple: but as matters 11. bºt under the power O the things in question to be as indifferent in their own nature as many of you would fain 1 COR. * * l * * * (* 2 things are langful for me, but at the same time you must acknowledge, if you reflect ever so little, that all such things are not convenient : circumstances may make it lº. for that all things in question are lawful for me, nevertheless I will not be brought under the power of any such thing; but am solicitous to maintain such a superiority to appetite tº cularly be applied to the supposed difference, between one kind of food, and another, i. * - : IYl. e º - Jr. * * sº Suroy All meats capable of ministering to our nourishment [are] indifferently made for the use it ought to be remembered that the time will quickly come when God will destroy both it • O d x. 570 SECT. 11. -- *-*. 1 COR. VI. 13 14 1 6 17 18 19 20 Ver. THE ENORMITY OF THE SIN OF FORNICATION. and them; meats and the organs by which they have been received, and this animal frame, Now the body is not for for- which has been nourished by them, shall be mixed together in the grave, and moulder §u...?" into dust. Since therefore they refer only to this mortal body, so soon to be reduced to - - its first mean principles, it is certainly # * the dignity of the christian character to be a slave to this or that kind of meats; or in any instances to indulge this perishing flesh, so as to injure the souls of others or hazard our own. - But if any man extend the maxim I have mentioned above, to patronize any kind of lewdness, it would be a groundless and most unjustifiable inference: for it is most certain that the body is not made for so infamous a purpose as fornication, nor can the commis- sion of it be ever necessary or expedient: but it was, on the contrary, formed for the - * service of the Lord, that while we continue in it we might devote all our animal as well as rational powers to our great Creator and Redeemer; and the Lord is in an important sense for the body, he is the great Saviour of the body as well as of the soul, and will make it at last appear that he hath not forgotten the meaner part of our nature in the gracious scheme he hath formed for our felicity. ..And this scheme shall surely be effectual; 14 And God hath both for God the Father hath both raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead to an immor: º, . Hº! tal life, and will also raise us up in like manner, by his divine and almighty power, and power. \!. transform these bodies of ours into a resemblancé of the glorified body of our Lord; which should certainly raise us above all impure affections and desires, and engage us to live in the body in some conformity to so divine and glorious a hope. *. Enter, I beseech you, into the thought; and let me expostulate freely with those who bº": {..."...”. are ready to forget it. Know ye not, indeed, that as your bodies make an essential part of Šiš: "fai'i ſi..'... i. |. they are to be considered as members of Christ, belonging, as it were, to his º.º.º. ody, and in that view under his care, as to their finál and everlasting happiness with him? ſº Šišić"“” Shall I then take these which I am taught to look upon as in an important sense the members of Christ, and prostitute them to so infamous a purpose as to make them the mem- bers of a harlot by unlawful embraces? God forbid! It is a thing not to be thought of without the utmost abhorrence and indignation. What? know you not that he who is thus 16. What? know Fº joined to a harlot is one body with her? For, say [the divine oracles,) speaking of that i. yº, §§§ conjunction which whoredom prostitutes to the dishonour of matrimony so wisely and he shall be one flesh. graciously ordained by God, (Gen. ii. 24.) They two, that is, the man and his wife, shall e one flesh. But, on the other hand, he that is joined to the Lord by a true faith, is one spirit , 17. But, he, that is joined with him. And as the head and members of the natural body are one, as they are acted "*****P* upon by the same spirit, so the same divine and holy Spirit which lives in Christ as the Head is communicated to us from him ; just as the vital spirits are communicated from the head to the limbs. , Now what thought can be more monstrous than that any one- should think of being, at the same time, one spirit with the Lord, and one flesh with a harlot? Let this therefore be instead of ten thousand arguments to engage you to flee 18, Flee fornication. Every whoredom: concerning which, one may further plead, that every [other] sin which a man .*. º i.". practises is without the body; its effects fall not so directly upon the body, but often more ...', '...'. sin- immediately upon the mind.” But he that committeth whoredom or any kind of lewdness, “*” “"“” sinneth particularly against his own body, not only polluting and debasing it, by making it one with so infamous a creature, but perhaps infecting and enfeebling, wasting and con- suming it, which these vices, when grown habitual and frequent, have an apparent ten- dency to effect. (Compare Prov. v. 11. Job xxxvi. 14.). There is also another view, in 19 What?, know ye nºt which the baseness of this crime must appear to you, Christians, in consequence of your º'"; relation to that blessed Agent, the Spirit of God. Have you not all been baptized in his º.º.º.º. name, and instructed in your relation to him 2. What? know you not that your body is the “” “"“” temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, dedicated to him, and inhabited by him; even that Spirit which you receive of God, as his most valuable gift? .4nd, on the whole, in whatever view you consider yourselves, it will appear that ye are not by any means your own property, nor can be justly at your own disposal, to seek your present gratification without control, or regard to the will of a superior. For the contrary is most apparent; ye are bought with a price, and that infinitely be-, ºxº yond what you can pretend to be worth. Therefore, far from doing any thing to bring §oº in your body, ...?"}. a dishonour on religion, you ought in every action, word, and sentiment, to own yourselves your spirit, which * * his property, and exert yourselves to the utmost, in a course of vigorous and constant obedience, to glorify God both with your body and with your spirit, which are, by the justest title, God’s ; as he hath not only created, preserved, and maintained you, but by the invaluable blood of his Son purchased and redeemed you to himself, and by his Holy Spirit taken possession of you, and marked you for his own. IMPROVEMENT. How peculiar is the excellence of the christian religion With what incomparable advantages doth it enforce all the lessons of moral virtue which it teaches! With what holy disdain should we look on the baits of sense, and the pollutions which are in the world through lust, if we seriously and often reflected on these two things— That our bodies are the members of Christ, and that they are the temples of the Holy Ghost! Let it be our 15, 19 care, that they may not only be nominally, but really so; that we may by a living faith be united to the Lord, iſ so as to become one spirit with him, animated by that Spirit which resides in him, and dwells in all who are 20 truly his. º: us, as often as we are tempted to alienate ourselves from the service of God, reflect upon the price with which we are bought. How great, how important a price, which we should never think of but with segret shame, as well as admiration and lové ! O Lord, hast thou paid such a ransom for me, and shall I act as if I thought even this not enough? as if thou hadst acquired only a partial and imperfect right to me, and I might divide myself between thee and strangers, between thee and thine enemies? O may we be entirely thine! and make it * a Every [other] sin, &c.] It would be unreasonable to insist on the lius here, in which Socrates is represented as ; “that intemperate mºst #3rous interpretation of these words; but the generai sense is men hurt themselves far more than others; wheº.ºther signºrs, āe- jºin aſſi true, and 'ſ suppose that, on the whole, there is no other sin cure some profit to themselves, though they are injurious, to others.”- y which the body receives equal detriment, considering not only its It is evident that Topvcta must here signify any unlawful commerce be- nature, but how much it has prevailed. tnceen persons of different seces, since whoredom with married, women b He that committeth aphoredom, sinneth against his opin body.) This is, as directly contrary both to the honour and health of the body, as is ºveli jjīustrated by a fine passage of Xenophon, produced by Raphe- with single. - ANSWERS TO CERTAIN QUESTIONS PROPOSED BY THE CORINTHIANS. 57 | the ºnes of the latest day and hour of our lives, to glorify God with our bodies and with our spirits, which sECT. à.]"62 HIS. - Under the influence of this thought, may we effectually enter into the wise and pious suggestions of the apostle; and guard not only against things absolutely and universally unlawful, but likewise against those which, in present 1 con. circumstances, may be inconvenient. May we be ever ready to exert a holy freedom of soul, and a superiority to 1," Whatever may ensnare and enslave us! which we shall more easily obtain, if we reflect on the transitory duration of the objects of appetite and sense; how soon the things we enjoy, and those bodies by which we enjoy them, shall 13 be reduced to the dust, out of which they were taken. God destroys all that is present and visible, that we may look more intensely for a kingdom that cannot be moved. He reduces our bodies to putrefaction, that we may learn to cultivate with greater care the interest of a never-dying soul; which if we faithfully and diligently pursué, Gºd, who hath raised up his Son as our Surety and Saviour, will also raise us up by his own power, to enjoyments 14 Sublime, incorruptible, and eternal. O Lordſ we would wait for thy salvation, and in the mean while would do thy commandments; and, animated by so exalted a hope, would purify ourselves even as thou art pure. SECTION XII. The apostle proceeds to answer, certain questions which the Corinthians had thºse introductory verses, he determines that in some circumstances it jºiſ. bids wives to depart from their husbands. 1 Cor. vii. 1–1 i. uţ to him ; and, first, what related to the marriage-state : and in d be entered into and continucd in, but in others ſorborne; and for: 1 Cor. vii. 1. 1 CoRINTHIAN's vii. 1. Yº...º.º.º. I WOW proceed to. † you my opinion concerning those things about which you wrote to SECT H's good for a man"not" to me. And I begin with that concerning the lawfulness or expedience of marriage. And 12. touch a woman. here I must first observe, that as to its expedience, [it is] in present circumstances good – for a man, where he is entirely master of himself, to have nothing to do with a woman ; so I coR. many are the conveniences which recommend a single life to those who are proof against , ". pººl, some of its most obvious temptations, Nevertheless, as the God of nature has for certain 2 iis."º wife, and "ſet" every wise reasons implanted in the sexes a mutual inclination to each other, in order to prevent lº" have her ºwn hº fornication, and every other species of uncleanness, let every man have and retain his own proper wife, and let every woman have and retain her own proper husband : for neither di- WOrCe InCT }. gamy are by any means agreeable to the genius of the gospel. - º, hººd ºf Let the husband, where this relation is commenced, render all due benevolence to the wife, ije:"ºnd likewise jthe and in like manner also the wife to the husband: let them on all occasions be ready mutu- wife unto the husband. ally to oblige and consult the happiness of each other's life. And let them not imagine - that there is any perfection in living separate from each other, as if they were in a state of cºś celibacy. For the wife hath not in this respect power over her own body, but hath by the 4 jani; and likewise also the marriage-covenant transferred it to the husband: and in like manner also the husband hath #º," not poiger over his own body, but it is, as it were, the property of the wife; their engage- ments being mutual, so that on every occasion conscience obliges them to remain appro- priate to each other, and consult their mutual good. oś. }*.*.* ... Withdraw not therefore from the company of each other, unless [it be] by consent for a sºof, time, that §§ may time; that ye may be at leisure to devote yourselves more intensely to fasting and prayer, §º, and that ye may come together again, as usual, lest Satan tempt you on account ºf your in: again, that Satan tempt you continence, and take occasion, from the irregular sallies of animal nature, to fill you with ***** thoughts and passions which marriage was, in its original institution, intended to remedy. º; ... But you will observe that I say this by permission from Christ, but not by any express 6 mission, and not of command- - - • • * - - * * *- - Inent. command” which he gave in person in the days of his flesh, or gives by the inspiration and suggestion of his Spirit now ; by which inspiration you may conclude I am guided, when I lay in no such precautions as these. 7 For I would that all men But as for the main question we are now upon, I could wish that all men were in this 7 .*.**iº"; irº; respect even as myself; that all christians could as easily bear the severities of a single life #º.* * º, in present circumstances, and exercise as resolute a command over their natural desires." * “ But every man has his proper gift of God, one in this kind or mannet, and another in that. So that though I give the best advice and example I can, I would not exalt myself on ac- 8 I say therefore to the un-count of this attainment, nor despise those that have it not. But as to unmarried men, 8 j"...º.º.; º, who, like me, have buried their wives, and to the widows, I. say it is good for them, (if “ºr they cannot con. they conveniently can.) to continue, as I do, in the widowed state. But if they have not 9 tºº. ...'"ºriº's attained to such a degree of temperance as to be easy in it, let them by all means marry. better to marry than to burn. For though it be better to live calmly and soberly in a state of widowhood than to marry, it is undoubtedly much better to marry a second or a third time, than to burn, and to be tormented with those restless passions which some in such circumstances feel. cº º ! . . But as to those that are married, [it is] not I [who] command, but the Lºrd Jesus Christ 10 i.º.º.º himself, who enjoins that the wife should not withdraw herself from [her] husband: But if 11 Rºjasºlº she be withdrawn by her own rash and foolish act, let her not by any means contract, ano- béº ther marriage, but remain unmarried, or rather, if it may be accomplished by any submis- º;','º';...". Sion on her side, let her be reconciled to [her] husband, that they may if possible live in away his wiſe. such an union and harmony as the relation requires. ..And let rºot the husband dismiss [his] wife on any light account, or indeed for any thing short of adultery. For whatever parti- cular reasons Moses might have for permitting divorces on some slighter occasions, Christ, our great Legislator, who may reasonably expect higher degrees of purity and virtue in his followers, as their assistances are so much greater, hath seen fit expressly to prohibit such separation, and we, his apostles, in our decisions upon this matter, must guide ourselves by the authority of his determination. 3 5 ing of this clause is, “I permit marriage, but do not enjoin it;” and cases, to strain the apostle's words to the utmost rigour, as if he per- have elsewhere observed, that this verse, and others in this, context petually used the most critical cyactness; but indeed chap. ix. 22 is so nearly parallel to it, will be so far from affording, on any ºtºe- full an instange to the contrary, that it is not necessary to multiply re- tatioti, an objection against the general inspiration of St. Paul’s P. marks of this kind. - - e that they will rather strengthen the proof of it. See Essay on Inspira- ... c To those that are married.]. The translation published, by the Eng- iºn. - lish Jesuits at Bourdeaux renders it, to those who are united in the Sacra- b Tuat all men were even as mysclf.] Comanon sense requires us to ment of marriage ; which I mention as one instance, selected from a vast limit this expression as in the paraphrase; for it would be a most flû- number, of the great dishonesty of that translation, gruţit absurdity to suppose that St. Paul wished marriage might entirely a By #"jº I cannot, with Mr. Cradock, think that the mean: cease. . It shows, therefore how unfair and improper it is, in various l 5 7 2 SECT. 12. I COR. VII. 5 THE OBLIGATION OF THE MARRIAGE-STATE ON BELIEVERS. IMPROVEMENT. THE decisions of the holy apostle are here given with such gravity, seriousness, and purity, that one would hope, delicate as the subject of them is, they will be received without any of that unbecoming levity which the wantón! ness of some minds may be ready to excite on such an occasion. It becomes us humbly to adoré the divine wisdom and goodness manifested in the formation of the first human 2 pair, and in, keeping up the different sexes through all succeeding ages, in so just a proportion that every man might have his own wife, and every woman her own husband, that the instinct of nature might, so far as it is necessary, be gratified without guilt, and an holy seed be sought, which, being trained up under proper discipline and instruction, might supply the wastes that death is continually making, and be accounted to the Lord for a generation: that so virtue and religion, for the sake of which alone it is desirable that human creatures should subsist, may be transmitted through every age, and earth become a nursery for heaven. - . With these views let marriages be contracted, when it is proper they should be contracted at all. Let none imagine the state itself to be impure, and let it always be preserved undéfiled. , Let all occasion of irregular desire be prudently guarded against by those who have entered into it. And let all christians, in every relation, remem- ber that the obligations of devotion are common to all, and that Christ and his apostles seem to take it for granted that we shall be careful to secure proper seasons for fasting as well as for prayer, so far as may be needful, in order that the superior authority of the mind over the body may be exercised and maintained, and that our petitions to the throne of grace may be offered with greater intenseméss, copiousness, and ardour. * ---_** SECTION XIII. The apostle exhorts christians not to break marriage on account of difference in religion; and uries, in the general, contentment with the stations in which they were called, and a concern to serve God in their proper condition, whether married or single, bound or free. I Cor. vii. 12-34, 1 CorINTHIANs vii. 12. 1 CoR. vii. 12 SECT. I HAVE reminded you of the decision of Christ with respect to the affair of divorce; now BUT to the rest speak I, not 13. 1 COR. not to VII, as to the rest of the persons and cases to which I shall address myself, it is to be observed, ºil. that I º: according to what duty or prudence seems on the whole to require; and it is he bºieşā’īoiºiºi, e considered as if it were immediately spoken by the Lord. If any christian "º" " " Put her brother hath an unbelieving wife, and she consent to dwell with him, notwithständing the 13 diversity of their religious persuasions, let him not dismiss her. .ind on the other hand, if , 13 And the woman which I I I 4 5 6 - any christian wife have an imbelieving husband, and he consent to dwell with her, let her not jºi dismiss him,” nor separate herself from him, though the legal constitution of the country in to dºſſºt'h'...'. which she lives may allow her to do it. For in such a case as this, the unbelieving hus: "ºh, unbelievinsºn. band is so sanctified to the wife, and the unbelieving wife is so sanctified to the husband, ºdiº sanctified by the Wiſe, - - - ~~~~~ * - * (* ALT - and the unbelieving wife is that their matrimonial converse is as lawful as if they were both of the same faith: other- ºnctified"; ºft."jujd: wise your children, in these mixed cases, were unclean, and must be looked upon as unfit tº: §§a:#;";. to be admitted to those peculiar ordinances by which the seed of God's people are dis- 2 y noſy. tinguished; but now they are confessedly holy,” and are as readily admitted to baptism in all our churches, as if both the parents were christians; so that the case, you see, is in effect decided by this prevailing practice. . However, if the unbelieving partij, in such cir- , 15 But if the unbelieving cumstances as these, be absolutely determined, and will depart, let him or her depart, and ; ; ; ,ºniº take the course they think best; and the consequence is, that a brother or a sister, who É.injijºjº hath been united to such a wife or husband in matrimonial bonds, is by such a conduct “” “"“””” of a former partner discharged from future obligation, and is not in bondage in such º: But let it be always remembered, that God hath by his gospel called us to peace; an therefore it ought to be our care to behave in as inoffensive a manner as possible, in all the relations of life; that so, if there must be a breach, the blame may not be chargeable upon the christian. And it is worth your while to be very careful in your behaviour to those who thus make, 2,16 For what knowest thou, as it were, a part of yourselves, that you may adorn the gospel you profess, by the most 9...","...º.º.º. amiable and engaging conduct: for it is possible the unbeliever may be thereby gained ºft.º.º.º. +-----4-- ~~ : *- 4. y -- - - - - - - her thou shalt save thy wife P to christianity. iétéâch therefore reflect on his own concern in this observation. For how knowest thou, O wife, but thou mayst save [thiſ] husband? Or how knowest thou, O husband, but thou mayst save [thy] wife? And surely the everlasting happiness of the per- son now the companion of your life, will be more than an equivalent for all the self-denial 17 to which you may be required at present to submit. But if this should not be the effect, , 17 But, as God hath dis- ** -t: ** * zºº Y " tº e - - - - - tributed to every man, as the it still becomes you to do your duty; and therefore, since the providence of God is con- ; ; ; "...: cerned in all these relations, and in the steps by which they were eontracted, as God hath ; ºften." * distributed to every one, and, as it wore, cast the parts of life, let every one so walk, even as ***** the Lord hath called him. This is the lesson I would inculcate on you Corinthians, and thus I command in all the churches, and charge it upon the consciences of men, as a lesson of the highest importance. 18 ... Is any one, for instance, called, being circumcised, let him not become, So far as in him ...I.ſ.º.ºgº.ºllºdºing - - wº • - - circumcised 3 let him not be- lies, uncircumcised ;% nor act as if he were desirous, as far as possible, to undo what was sºciºcumcised..."is nº done by his Jewish parents or masters in his infancy. Is any one called to the fellowship ºf let of gospel blessings in uncircumcision, let him not be solicitous to be circumcised, as if that rite were necessary to his salvation, as the Jews and some zealots amongst ourselves have a Let her not dismiss him.] . I have elsewhere observed, that in thess that holy signifies legitimate, and unclean, illegitimate, (not to urge that countries, in the apostle’s days, the wives had a power of divorce as this seems an unscriptural sense of the word,) nothing can be more evi- well as the husband. See p. 235, note g. - - - , 4. dent; than that the argument will by no means bear it; for it wonkſ be b Is Sanctifica, §§ Some think the meaping is, “the christian may proving a thing by itself, idem per idem; to argue that the converse of convert the infideſ ;” as appears, in that the children of such marriages the parents was lawful, because the children were not bastards; whereas are brought up christians. But this cannot possibly be the sense ; for all who thought the converse, of the parents unlawful, must of course that they were broaght up so, was not to be sure always fact, and where thin; that the children were illegitimate. it was, there was no nee, º: from thence the conversion of the ...As the Lord hath called, him.]. This is a §. digression, parent, which would in itself be much more apparent than the education as it so directly contradicts the notion which º ed among the Jews of the child. that embracing the true gligion dissolved all the relations which ha c woo are they holy.] On the maturest and most impartial consider- before.bgen contracted. Whereas the apostle here declares, that the fºr ation of this text, I must judge it to refer to infant baptism. Nothing |. leſt them in this respect just as it found them; increasing instead of ... by more apparent than that the word holy signifiés, persons who lessºning the obligations they Wege.pnder to a faithful and affectionate #hº be ºmitted to partake of the distinguishing rites of God’s people. discharge of their correspºndent duties: - º ë; Exod. xix. dº Íñº. Wii. 8. Xiºi. 19. xxxiii. 3. Ezra ix. e Become uncircumcised.] The word erugiragó9 has an evident re- 3, with Isa. xxxv, 8. Tii, I. Acts x. 28, &c., And as for the interpretä- lation to attempts like those referred to, (1 Mac. i. 15.) which it is not tion which so many of our brethren, the Baptists, have contended for, necessary more particularly to illustrate, 'I'HE OBLIGATION OF THE MARRIAGE-STATE ON BELIEVERS. 573 2 • - - e 19 Circumcision is nothing, taught. For to speak the important truth in a few plain words, Circumcision is nothing; SECT. tº'º"; ºr §, and uncircumcision is nothing; the observation or non-observation of the Mosaic lay, will 13. commandments of God. neither secure nor obstruct our salvation; but all depends upon keeping the commandºlfº of God. An obediential faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, produced by the sanctifying § influences of his Spirit on the heart, and bringing forth the genuine fruits of holiness in & our temper and life, is the great concern; and whether we be Jews or Gentiles, circum- - cised or uncircumcised, we shall be happy or miserable for ever as we are careful or neg- *...*:::::::::::::::#; ligent with regard to this. As for other matters, be not excessively concerned about them; 20 !...ºft.* * * but in whatever calling, that is, profession and circumstance, anyone of you was called, in that let him continue; affect not to change without the clear and evident leadings of Pro- vidence, as there is generally greater reason to expect comfort and usefulness in such a *...* hº calling than another. ... And I may apply, this not only to the different employments but 21 #..."; ...º. relations in life, as well as diversity in religious professions. ...Art thou, for instance, called use it rather. into the church of Christ, [being] in the low rank, not only of a hired servant, but a slave? Do not so much regard it as upon that account to make thy life uneasy: but if thou canst, without any sinful method of obtaining it, be made free, choose it rather, as what is no doubt in itself eligible, yet not absolutely necessary to the happiness of a good man. tº...", ii.º.º. For he that is called by the Lord to the christian faith, [being] a servant or slave, is the §I.ºniº Lord's freeman. Christ has made him free indeed, in making him partake of the glorious hºcºl.” liberties of the children of God, (John viii. 36.) and on the other hand, he also that is 3. * called, [being] free from the authority of any human master, is still the servant, the pro- 23 Ye are bought with a É. , of Christ, and owes him a most implicit and universal obedience. . But upon this #.”””* head remember, that as christians you were all bought with a nost invaluable price:f Christ hath redeemed you at the expense of his own blood; and therefore let me caution yori, out of regard to him, and from a desire to be capable of serving him as much as possible, that ye do not, where it may by any lawful means be avoided, become the slaves of men; since so many evils, and dangers, and snares are inseparable from such a situation. 24 Brethren, let everyman, This, brethren, is the particular advice which I thought proper to give upon this head; 24 Mººd: "“” and the general rule I ſaid down above is of such great importance, that I must repeat it: in whatever [condition] a man was called at first by the gospel and grace of Christ, in that let him abide with God,3 taking care to behave in a prudent and religious manner, as under the divine inspection; and not changing his business in life, if it be in the general lawful, because he is a christian; but endeavouring to pursue it with such integrity, diligence, and prudence, as that his great Master and Saviour may be most effectually glorified. IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn, from the exhortations and reasonings of the apostle, a becoming solicitude to contribute as much Ver. 14 as we possibly can to the christian edification of each other; and especially let this be the care of the nearest rela- tives in life. What can be more desirable than that the husband may be sanctified by the wife, and the wife by the husband 1 May all prudent care be taken, in contracting marriages, as to the religious character of the intended partner of life; and in those already contracted, where this precaution has been neglected, or where the judgment formed seems to have been mistaken, let all considerations of prudence, of religion, of affection, concur to ani- mate to a mutual care of each other's soul, that most important effort of love, that most solid expression and demonstration of friendship. Nor let the improbability of success be pleaded in excuse for neglect, even where the attempt must be made by the subordinate sex. A possibility should be sufficient encouragement; and surely there is room to say, How knowest thou, O wife, but thou maySt Save him whose salvation, next to thine own, 16 must be most desirable to thee ? - Let us all study the duties of the relations in which God hath fixed us: and walk with him in our proper callings, 24 not desiring so much to exchange as to improve them. His wise providence hath distributed the part; it is our wisdom, and will be our happiness, to act in humble congruity to that distribution. Surely the apostle could not have expressed in stronger terms his deep conviction of the small importance of human distinctions, than he here does; when speaking of what seems to great and generous minds the most miserable lot, even that of a slave, he 21 says, Care not for it.h. If liberty itself, the first of all temporal blessings, be not of so great importance, as that a man, blessed with the high hopes and glorious consolations of christianity, should make himself very solicitous about it, how much less is there in those comparatively trifling distinctions on which many lay so disproportionate, so extravagant, a stress! Let christian servants (for, blessed be God, amongst us we have no slaves) remember their high privileges, as 22 the Lord's freemen. Letchristian masters remember the restraint, as the Lord's servants. And let the benefits of liberty, especially, when considered in its aspect upon religion, be so far valued, as not to be bartered away for any price which the enemies of mankind may offer in exchange. - But above all, let us remember the infinite importance of maintaining the freedom of the mind from the bondage of corruption; and of keeping, with all humble and cheerful observance, the commandments of God. While 19 many express the warmest zeal for circumcision or uncircumcision, in defence of, or in opposition to, this or that mode or form of external worship, let our hearts be set on what is most vital and essential in religion; and we shall find the happiest equivalent, in the composure and satisfaction of our own spirit now, as well as in those abundant rewards which the Lord hath laid up for them who fear him. 2 2 2. 3 ... f. You were pugiº, with a price, ºc.J., Dr. Whitby would, render, it, redeemed; which plainly as well suited those who had their freedom Järc ye bought with a price, that is, redeemed from servitude 2. Be- given them, and indeed suited all christians who never had been at aij gogue, not servants of me: ; do not sell yourselves for slaves again.” It slaves, and who might more easily have been prevailed upon, by their is indeed probable that the apostle does counsel christians against becom- poverty; to bring themselves into a condition the ovils and inconvenil ing slaves, if it could be prey ented; and with great reason, as it was a ences §f which they did not thoroughly know. circumstance which seemed less suitablo to the dignity of the christian g Abide with God..] L'Enfant explains Tapa Tºp 6 co, in the sight of Profession, and must expose them, to many encumbrances and interrup- God, (compare 2 Cór. xi. 11. Eph. v. 21.) And thinks there hajj, tions in duty, espécially on the Lord’s day, and other seasons.9f pºli- somé disor}ors at Corinth, proceeding from some irregular claim which gious assemblies; besides the danger of being present at domestic idol- d - - - - - - - christian slaves made to liberty, under pretence that, as - †"...º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º. theºlº §§§. that, as christian bre ut. I cannot thoroughly approve of the Doctor’s version, because the h Care not for it.) This fine remark (for such i it is s i advice is unnecessarily festrăined thereby to those slaves who had been Dr. Goodwin's Works, voi. i. p. 56. ( h indeed it is) occurs in DIRECTIONS REGARDING MARRIAGE AND ABSTINENCE THEREFR SECTION XIV. A-. : ſ i\ {} # * The apostle treats on th9.inexpediency of marriage, in the circumstances of the church al that juncture; and inculcates a serious sense of . shortness ef times as the best remedy against immoderate attachment to any secular interest. 1 CortNTHIANs vii, 25. SECT. BUT I have been insensibly led by these general views of our obligations and hopes as 14. christians, to digress from the subject of marriage, which I had first in view, and to which it is time I should return, And here, concerning the case of virgins of either sex, I have 1 ºf received no express commandment from the Lord, as I had in the case handled above; 5 whether by what is transmitted to us in Christ's discourses, or by any immediate and per- W II. ° sonal revelation;" wevertheless I give my opinion as one who hath received grace, and mercy - sº & } * * 4. - > -º of the Lord, to be faithful in the great charge he hath committed to me; and thereforé, considering the many instances in which I have been enabled to approve my fidelity to 26 Christ and his church, may expect to be heard with some peculiar regard. I apprehend this therefore to be right and good in the present crigencyb and extremity of affairs, while the church is in such a state of persecution, that [it is] best for a single man to continue as 27 he is. ..?rt thow indeed bound to a wife aiready ? my advice affects not thee; in that case 28 3 3 33 consequences are taken into the account, so profitable. I 2 bear patiently whatever burdens may occur, and seek not to be loosed from her by an irre- gular and scandalous divorce or separation. But on the other hand, art thou loosed from a wife 2 hath Providence never led thee into those engagements, or has it broken the bond by the death of thy former companion ? If thou canst conveniently and virtuously continue as thou art, seek not a wife at present, till the storm which now hovers over the church be a little blown over, and more peaceful times return. . Yet if thou dost marry, thou hast not thereby sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned: the marriage-state is no doubt both lawful and honourable: yet such will have probably some additional ºffliction in the flesh; they will be encumberéd with the burden of many temporal affairs: and the representation which I make to you of these things, is not out of severity but 1 Cor. vii. 25, to the end. I Cor. vii. 25. NOW concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord : yet I give my judg- ment, as one that hath obtain- gd mercy of the Lord to be faithful, 26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, t say, that it is good for a man so to be. 27 Art thou bound up to a wife 2 seek not to he loosed. Art, thou loosed from a wife : seek not a wife. 2S But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned ; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh : but I spare you. tenderness; as I would fain spare jou, and speak on the whole in this gentle and cautious manner on the subject, to avoid extremes either the one way or the other. But this I say, brethren, with great confidence, and desire you would hear it with due attention, that the whole time of our abode in this world is contracted" within very narrow limits; it remains, therefore, that we guard against too fond an attachment to any relation or possession in life: so that they who have wives, be in a manner as if they had none; And they that weep, as not weeping in streams of inconsolable sorrow, though nature may be allowed to # its moderate tear; and they that rejoice, as not rejoicing in dissolute and confident sallies of mirth, as if secure from any distressful revolution; and they that pur- chase, as not possessing by a certain tenure what they must shortly resign; ſlid they who use this world, as not carrying the enjoyments of it to an unbridled excess; for the whole scheme and fashion of this world passes off d and is gone like a scene in a theatre, that pre- sently shifts; or a pageant in some public procession, which, how gaudily soever it be adorned to strike the eyes of spectators, is still in motion, and presently disappears, to show itself for a few moments to others. So transitory are all our enjoyments and afflic- tions too, and worthy of little regard, when compared with the solid realities which are soon to open upon us, and never to pass away, te But I would have you without anciety, while you continue here amidst all these uncer- tainties; and therefore it is I advise you in present circumstances to decline marriage, if you conveniently can. For an unmarried man careth for the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he may please the Lord, and is in a great degree at leisure to employ his thoughts, and schemes, and labours, for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom among men; and sure there is no other employment so honourable, so delightful, and, when remote PWhereas he who is married careth for the things of the world, how he may maintain his family, and how he may please [his] 34 wife, and so accommodate himself to her temper, as to make her easy and happy. On 35 the other hand, there is just such a difference between the condition of a wife and a virgin.” She who is unmarried is careful about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy bolh in body and spirit. She has leisure to attend to the higher improvement, of religion in her own soul, by the more abundant cxercises of devotion, as well as to do something more for the advancement of religion among others; whereas she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please [her] husband;ſ and the diversity of humours both in men and women, and the imperfection of even the best tempers, make this sometimes on both sides a difficult task; on which account single persons have always some consi- derable advantages, which are º apparent in these times of public danger. . But all this I say for your own benefit, with a sincere desire to promote your happiness; and not that I mºiſ throw a snare upon you; and bind you from that which God for wise reasons instituted" and allows, and which the state of human nature generally requires; but out of regard to what is to be sure very comelyº and decent in the Lord, without any a. Or by immediate and personal revelation.] . To this I think he refers, in the singular number; whereas 29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short : it remain- eth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none ; 30 And they that weep, as though they wept not ; and they that rejoice, as thoggh they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they pos- sessed not; 31, And they that use this world, as not abusing it : for the fashion of this world passeth away. 32 But I would baye you without carefulness. He that is uninarried careth for the things that belong to the ford, how he may please the Lord : 33 But he that is married carctly for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. 34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, l:ow she may please licr husband. 35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is conjcly, and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction. that is married carcs, &c. how he may please his wiſe, and is, divided in his thoughts, or distracted with a variºts of anxieties.” ut this would oc- rather than the former, as, he speaks else he might more properly have said, we have received, none. b Present exigency..] This must certainly refer to the for nothing can be more absurd than to ima- nersecution at that time : revalence of gine, that an inspired apostle would, in the general, discountenange mar- riage; considering that it was expressly agreeal and of great importance to the existence an generations. c Contracted.] The word avves-axſtevos properly imports this, being (as many haye observed) a a sail. Dr. now be fondest of.” Hammond, and - little while, and they that have wives shq - That is, “I see those times of persecution II out of a capacity of enjoying those temporal d } But this does not seem an exa je to a divine institution, d happiness of all future º from furling or gathering up Some Ot j}Enfänt mentions it with considerable rekard. di Fashion of this world passes off.] 2xmpia Trapayet. ii. 17. e There is just such a difference, pepepts at with the close O f the preceding verse, ers, would render this, it is but a hall be as though they, had none. sing, which will elights which º Inay put men ct translation, though Compare 1 John &c.] Some would gonnect the word and render it, “ He casion an unnecessary ellipsis in the beginning of this verse, and destroy the resemblance between the conclusion of the two verses, when it is evident the apost Je meant to say the same of both the husband and wife. f Houc she may plcase her husband.] The apostle in this text and the counterpart to it, seems to declare that single persons of either sex have generally opportunities for devotion beyond those that arg. married, even in the most peaceful times of the church; and that a diversity of hu- mours, both in men and women, makes it difficult for them to please each other so thoroughly as is necessary, in order to make a married life delightful. So that it intimates a counsel to single people to value, and improve their advantages, and to married people to watch, against those things that would inshare them, and injure their mutual peace and comfort. * * g g Not that I may throiſ a snare tºpon you..] This is the most literal version I could give of 8poxov igtv §§. Mr. Lecke thinks the word 8poxov, which signifies cord, alludes to the Jewish phrase of bind- ing what was declared unlawful. e a - h Comely : evgxmpov.] This seems to intimate that they were now in a circumstance in which God did, as it were, exact a poculiar severity * DIRECTIONS REGARDING MARRIAGE AND ABSTINENCE THEREFROM. violent constrainti by which I might seem to drag you into a state of life which should make you continually uneasy: for that would quite spoil its gracefulness as well as ac- ceptance, and might plunge you into much greater inconveniences another way. 36 But if any man think But, on the other hand, if any on mature deliberation apprehend that he acts an unbé- ºf coming part towards his virgin daughter, or sº other maiden that º fall under his she #.",. . .'; guardianship and care, if she pass the flower of [her] age in a single state, which I know ###"...ºft.*.* is an opinion very prevalent among the Jews; and if he think that he ought to be 80; let neth not; let them marry him do what he ºil in this respect; he sinneth not in his intent of letting her change her present condition; and therefore let him seek out a proper partner in life for her, and let ...Nevertheless, he, that them marry. But he that hath hitherto stood steadfast in his heart, having also on her side º heºsº, no apprehension of any necessity, in consequence of what he discerns of her dispositions, º; and no engagement subsisting which might give another a just claim to her, but hath power his hºt ºilfi.ee, over his own will, being at liberty to act as he pleases; and hath in such circumstances his virgin, doeth well. determined in his own heart that he will keep his maiden still single, he does well, and the part he acts is so far from being blamable, that in present circumstances it is much to be com- mended. So that on the whole, the conclusion of the matter is this ; he that in such troublous times as these gives [her] in marriage, doth well; she may find opportunities in that relation both to adorn and to serve christianity; but as things are circumstanced, I must needs declare, that where a man is under no necessity of doing it, he that giveth [her] not in marriage, doeth better; and more effectually consults both his comfort and safety. This however is beyond controversy certain, that the wife is bound by the law to con- #... .º.º.º. tinue with her husband, and submit herself to him, as long as her husband liveth; but if her º, tº husband be dead, she is in that case free, and may marry to whom she will; only let her take "...º.º. 1." * “’ care that she marry in the Lord, and that, retaining a sense of the importance of her chris- tian obligations, she does not choose a partner for life of a different religion from herself. She may, I say, lawfully act thus; but I would not be understood to advise it; for she is happier, according to my sentiment, iſ she continue as she is ; and I may modestly say, that I appear to have the Spirit of God! to guide me, and not merely some degree of experience arising from the many observations which for a course of years I have made on human affairs. I may therefore reasonably suppose my judgment will have its º weight, even where I do not pretend to decide with such an authority as should bind the con- science as by an apostolical dictate. - IMPROVEMENT. - LET us observe the humility of the excellent apostle with pleasure. When he speaks of his fidelity in the ministry, he tells us he obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Edified by such an example, let us ascribe to Christ the praise, not only of our endowments, but our virtues; even to him who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. - - Let us seriously contemplate the affecting lesson which the apostle here gives of the shortness of time; and in- fer how much it is our wisdom to loosen our affections from the things of this vain world, which are ready to en- gross so disproportionate a share in them. Let us look upon the world as a transient pageant, and not set our eyes and our hearts on that which is not. We expect, instead of these transitory vanities and º shows, a kingdom that cannot be moved; in the expectation of which let us be solicitous to please the Lord; making the best of our opportunities, and guarding against all that may unnecessarily divert our minds, and divide our cares, from what will at length appear the one thing needful. Let us attentively reflect upon the advantages and snares of our respective conditions of life; that we may im- prove the one, and escape, as far as possible, all injury from the other. Let those who are single employ their leisure for God; and endeavour to collect a stock of christian experience which may support them when the duties and difficulties, the cares and sorrows, of life may be multiplied. Let those who are married, with mutual tender regard, endeavour to please each other, and make the relation into which Providence hath conducted them as comfortable and agreeable as they can. And whatever cares press upon their minds, or demand their attention, let º ‘. their affairs with such discretion, that they may still secure a due proportion of their time for the things Of the f_Ord. If any in their consciences are persuaded that by continuing single they shall best answer the purposes of reli- gion, and promote the good of their fellow-creatures in conjunction with their own; let them do it. As for those 38. So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doetli better. 39 The wife is bound by the 40. But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that f have the Spirit of God. that marry, whether a first or a second time, let them do it in the Lord ; acting in the choice of their most inti- : mate friend and companion as the servants of Christ; who are desirous that their conduct may be approved by him, and that any avocations and interruptions in his service which may be occasioned, even in those peaceful times, by marriage, may be, in some measure, balanced by the united prayers, prudent counsels, and edifying con- verse of those with whom they unite in this tender and indissoluble bond. from all their thoughts; and that it was a time to think of the trials of martyrdom rather than the endearment of human passions. i Without any violent constraint..] AT&pg|Tag Tºos is rendered in our translation by the addition of several wºrds, that ye may attend on the Lord without distraction. But Sir Norton Knatchbull has convinced me that the version here given is much pºeferable to OU T.S. * Pass the flower of her age, &c.] There is hardly any passage in the Epistle about the sense of which I have been more perplexed than about this ; and I am still far from being satisfied concerning it. I had once translated it, “If any one thinks that he acts an unbecoming part by con- tinuing in his single state till he be past the flower of his age, –let them narry, he that marrieth dues well, &c.” and had paraphrased the words accordingly. And what induced me to , this was, that in verse 37. the apostle puts the issue of the matter on the steadfastness of his own mind, the power he had over his own, will, and his having no necessity; whereas, if a daughter or a ward were in, question, her inclinations tº: and conveniency were certainly to be consulted; and it would be, the same if the virgin spoken of was one to whom the man was him- self, engaged. But it is really doing such violence to the original to render Tmpetv Tmv caurs rapôsvov, keep himself single, or keep his own Virginity ; and to render skyapuścow, he that marries, that after long deli- beration I-chose to abide by our own version, especially since it agrees with, most of those I have had an opportunity of consulting. And if this be admitted, I think it must be taken for granted that when the apostle speaks of this man’s having no necessity, he means to take in what- evºr might urge him to dispose of her in marriage, whether in her temper and inclinations, or in their domestic circumstances.—As for Heinsius’s opinion, that “ao Xnfluvéºw cºſt. Try Tapôsvov signifies, to incur shame by ſeqsan qf his, cirgin º’ meaning if a man apprehend that his daughter will dishonour his family by fornication, he will do prudently to marry her ; I think the above-mentioned objection lies equally against this in- terpretation. But, if the Alexandrine reading of yapt. ov, instead of exyap tº ov, be admitted, it may deserve consideration whether the wholo passage may not refer to the case of a contract between a man and a y Outng maiden the accomplishment or dissolution of which might in SOII) C imaginable circumstances depend very much on the conduct of the man, as he seemed to urge or decline, the bringing it into effect. ! I appear to have the Spirit of God..] It is very unreasonable for any to infer from hence, that St. Paul was uncertain whether he was in. Špired or not. Whereas this is only a modest way of speaking; and 6x60 &etv often signifies the same with exa. Compare fluke viii. S. with Matt. xiii. 12. 1 Cor x. 1, 2. xiv. 37. And the ambiguity in the eXpression, appear to have, seems exactly to correspond to the ambi- guity of this original phrase. 575 SECT. 14. 1 COR. VII. 36 37 3S 39 4() Ver.25 29 30 31 32 33, 34 35–38 39 576 ON EATING THINGS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS. SECTION XV. The apostle proceeds to consider the case of eating things sacrificed to idols; and reminds them, that though all christians might well be supposed to know, the vanity of those imaginary deities to which they were offered, yet it might prove an occasion of grief and scº that the profess- Qr;, of Christianity should partake of these sacrifices in their temple; which therefore charity would require them by all means tººd 1 Cor. viii. throughout. I CorINTHIANs viii. 1. SECT. I VOW proceed to consider the other cases about which you consulted me; particularl 15. that concerning things sacrificed to idols; and here it may be observed, that we know we º — have, as christians, that general knowledge of the vanity of these fictitious deities of which ! ºr some are ready to boast, as if it were an extraordinary matter, and which they sometimes " I are in danger of abusing, by making it the foundation of liberties which may §: very det- rimental. Butlet it be remembered that knowledge often puffeth up,” and is the occasion of great self-conceit and arrogance; whereas it is considerate love, and gentle tenderness, that edifies and has such a happy effect in building up the church of Christ. And indeed, if any one think that he knoweth any thing, if he be conceited of his knowledge, so as to neglect and despise his brethren, and, upon account of his supposed superiority in that respect, set a very high value upon himself, it appears that he as yet knows nothing as he ought to know it, and needs to be taught the very first and most essential principles of that 3 knowledge which is truly ornamental and useful. But if any man love God, and show it by a steady regard for the divine glory and the good o #. he is indeed known of him ;b this man hath attained i. true knowledge of God, and will be sure of his 4 approbation and favour. Therefore, to proceed to the question in debate, concerning I 2 the eating of the things sacrificed to idols, we well know that an idol [is] in itself nothing # in the world, but a mass of senseless matter, and, when regarded in a religious view, so empty a vanity, that it deserves not to be named among the things that exist. And we all know, that [there Fl indeed no other God, but that one glorious and transcendent Being, 5 to which the gospel hath taught us to appropriate our worship. For though there are many which are called gods, whether residing in heaven or on earth, or even under the earth; for the heathens have not only their celestial and terrestrial, but likewise their in- fernal, deities: as there are many gods, and many lords, who are in their various subordina- tion adored by the Gentiles, and have great though very absurd worship paid to them : 6 Nevertheless, to us [there is but] one God, the Fatherd of angels and men, from whom [...] all things in created nature; and we derived our being from him, were made for him, an for his glory: and there is also but one Lord, even Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God, and man, by whom [are] all things created, supported, and guided ; and we by him, thankfully owning ourselves obliged to his agency and care for all we are, and have, or hope to obtain. These are grand principles, in which all intelligent christians are agreed; and it would be happy if they kept them steadily and consistently in view. 7 You are possessed of these apprehensions of things; it is well: but you ought to remem- ber, that [there . not in all men this knowledge. Some christian converts may not suffi- ciently apprehend this; but may imagine there is really some invisible spirit present in the idol, and ācting by and upon it. And in consequence of this, some do, even until, now, with consciousness of some religious regard to the idol, eat the things in question, as what is sacrificed to the idol, intending thereby to pay some homage; and so their conscience, being too weak to withstand a temptation to what, in these circumstances, is really evil, is defiled, and brought under a grievous and terrifying load of guilt. . 8 But why should we occasion this inconvenience P. For we know that meat commends us not, in any degree, to the acceptance and favour of God; for neither are we the better ºf we eat, nor the worse % we eat not. The great God does not so much esteem a man for being, or disapprove him for not being, superior to such little scruples; but the tenderness of his conscience, together with the zeal and charity of his heart, are the grand qualities he reorards. 9 But take heed lest this power and liberty of yours be by any means a stumbling-block and occasion of sin to the weak with whom you converse, or who observe your conduct per- 10 haps with more regard than you pay to it yourselves. For if any one see, thee, who hast this boasted knowledge, sitting down to an entertainment in an idol's temple as freely as thou wouldst in thine own house, and partaking of his sacrifices as cheerfully as if they were the common provisions of thine own table; though this may indeed, arise from that sovereign contempt in which thou holdest that idle fiction of deity, can he know that situa- tion of thy mind?' And will not the conscience of him that is thus weak, and who perhaps feels some scruples in his own mind about it, be encouraged by thy example to eat of the 11 idol-sacrifices with some sentiments of superstitious regard? And so shall the weak brother, for whom the Lord Jesus Christ himself died, be liable to perish by thy knowledge, in this instance mischievous rather than useful, so that when thou makest a vain ostentation Of 12 it, thou dost in effect pride thyself in thy brother's ruin. Imagine not this to be an incon- siderable evil; but on the contrary rather know, that when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak consciences, leading them into guilt and hazarding their salvation, you greatly sin against Christ; who had such a tenderness for souls that he died to redeem º 1 Cok. viii. l. NOW as touching things of. fered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge, puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 2. And, if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him. 4 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto. idols; we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. 5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6 But to us there is but one. God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him ; and one flord Jesus Chris y whom are all things, an we by him. 7 Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge : for some, with conscience o the idol, unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol ; and, their conscience being weak is defiled. 8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; nei- ther, if we eat not, are we the worse. 9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak. 10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in, the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be em- boldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; 11 And through thy know- edge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died ? 12 But when ye sin so against , the brethren, and wound their weakconscience, ye sin against Christ. a Knowledge puffeth up.] Elsner.(Obserp. vol. ii., p. 96.) acknowledges coptext, give in to his interpretation. See Elsner’s learned note here on that, as Boš and Érasmus Schmidius contend, there is a parenthesis ºtóa)}\ov and simulachrºm. : ; but he thinks it begins in the middle of the first verse, and ends d One God, the Father.] In answer to the argument, drawn from §§. tº first cºuse of the 4th, we have all knowledge—we know that an hence against the deity of Christ, see Dr. Guyse 9n, this place; and Dr. idol is nothing, &c. föm. Calamy’s Serm. on the . Trinity, p. ... and 244. he person to º, of him.]. Most understand it, he is approved by God; whom the Son, as Lord or Mediatºr, introduces, us, is undºubtedly the *ś *::::::: # signifies. Mr. Locke woul render Father; nor is the Son to be considered as another God. But it is not it, he is instructed by him. But acquiesce in Mr., Pierce’s reasoning the design of these notes largely to discuss theological controversies. in his sixth Dissertation, to prove the construction followed in the para- e Sitting down to an entertainment in an idol’s temple..] How com- phrase, is a construction like that of the original of Acts x. 36. where monly entertainments among the heathen consisted of what had been &TuS pſaily refers to the immediate antecedent. 7 is . sacrificed to their fictitious deities, and how religiously the christians cºnju, that an idol is nothing in the world.), Dr. W º, shows abstained from them even When most rigorously impºsed, ºne, has this "...a "a common aphorism among the Jewish doctors, to which the shown by many ygy apposite º, (Observ. vol. ii. p. 96.) and, no word 5-5-9s, the name given them, did probably, allude: Mons. Sau- doubt the apostle jº hº 13: #! jº §h º ...; .."...sº, ari to rºconcile this with what the apostle says else: thºse feast Wººtºººººººº...º.º.ºh.jºng, lºº riº turn;3 Þjºg it necessary to u...lerstand this as an of Jegtſon ºritie has abundantly shown it, his fººtes on this glause; and it is strange º le *i. Čolićiºns, with whom he is disputing. Saur. that Chemnitius and Prăşinas should ever have doubted it. º v3. #",“ºil gºt cannot, from an impartial view of the PAUL’S JUST AND SCRIPTURAL RIGHT TO A SUPPORT FROM THE PEOPLE. 577 them, and hath done all that example or precept can do to make his followers enter into SECT. such humane and compassionate views. ºf - º 15. Therefore it is a determined point with me, upon these principles, that if meat of any kind scandalize my brother and lead him into sin, I would not only abstain now and then I gº. from this or that agreeable food, but would never, as long as I live, eat any sort % flesh. I* I would subsist entirely on vegetables that I may not scandalize and insnäre my brother, if there be no other way of avoiding it. Of such importance should I esteem the preser: vation of one endangeréd soul. And herein I wish that God may give you the like self- denial, both for your own sakes and for the peace and honour of the christian church. IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn from this shortbutexcellent chapter, to estimate the true value of knowledge, and to see how worthless Ver. 1 and dangerous it is, when, instead of discovering to us our own ignorance and weakness, it serves only to puff up the . Let us rather labour and pray for that love and charity which edifieth ourselves and others, taking heed that we do not demonstrate our ignorance by a high conceit of our attainments in knowledge ; for nothing can 2 more evidently show how small those attainments are, than not to know their limits, when these limits so soon meet us, on what side soever we attempt to make an excursion. “Give us, O Lord, that love to thee which is the best 3 proof of our knowledge, and the surest way to its highest improvements.” . Let us always remember the grand principle of the unity of God; and with the one God and Father of all, adore 4.5 the one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we exist; setting him in our estimation far above all the powers, dignities, and glories of created nature. - © * - Bélonging to so divine a Master, let us endeavour to learn the most generous principles of true religion. Let 8 us not found our confidence on admitting and contending for, or despising and deriding, this or that particular observance, by which, as it may happen to be circumstanced, God is neither honoured nor dishonoured, pleased nor displeased. But let us ever maintain the tenderest concern for the edification and comfort of our brethren, and guard against whatever might either grieve or insnare them. Let us remember that Christ died for the weak- est as well as the strongest; and let their relation to him, and his tender and compassionate regard for them, melt down our hearts, when seized with that cold insensibility which, alas, is too ready to prevail among christians! It is Christ we wound, in wounding our brethren; and in Smiting them, we Smite him. . . - -, * * * Let us then stay that rash hand which is so ready in mere wantonness to do mischief; and be willing to deny ourselves in any desire, for ever so long a time, rather than by our indulgence to dishonour God and injure others, This is the excellent lesson St. Paul often inculcates, of which he was an eminent and illustrious example. But O, how low are multitudes of christians, multitudes of ministers, fallen, when they cannot deny themselves in what is unnecessary and even unlawful, where either interest or pleasure solicit the gratification! 13. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to , offend, I wil eat no flesh while the world Staudeth, lest I make my bro- ther to offend. II 12 SECTION XVI. The apostle, proposing to illustrate his condescension to the weak, by his waving to accept of a maintenange from the Corinthians, introduces what he had to say on that head with a short discourse on the right which, as a gospel minister, he really had, to be supported by those aſh 0Ing whom he laboured ; which he argues both from natural equity and scripture, principles. 1 Cor. ix. 1–14. 1 CoR. ix. 1. I CorINTHIANS ix. 1. AM I not an apostle? am I WHILE I thus speak of the concern I have to avoid what may prove an occasion of in- SECT. ºilº.º.º. jury to weak brethren, it leads my thoughts to the part I have acted while I resided among 16. not ye my work in the Lord? you, in declining to take that maintenance from you, which I might very justly have ex- – pected and demanded. And here you must give me leave to express my surprise, as well 1 cor. IX. as my concern, to hear that so unkind and unnatural a construction has been put upon my generosity and tenderness, as if I had declined to accept your contributions, from a con- sciousness of not being entitled to them as well as my brethren. But can you really imagine that to be the case ? Am not I, as truly as any man living, an apostle of Jesus Christ? Am not I as free in this instance as any other, and may I not, as justly as they, expect to be maintained by you, while I am serving your best interests? Have not I, though called so much later than my brethren, seen Jesus Christ our Lord,” after his re- surrection, so as to be able to testify the important fact on my own knowledge, as confi- dently as those that were earlier acquainted with him P And, to urge so plain a point no further, are not ye Corinthians, particularly, my work in the Lord, and the evident token of his blessing on my apostolical labours? On this account, if I am not an apostle to some others, yet I doubtless am so to you, who of all people in the world can show the least ex- cuse for questioning my mission : ſº ye are indeed the seal of my apostleship in the Lord; and the extraordinary success I have had among you, if others should doubt of my com- mission, might furnish out a proof of it also to them. This therefore is my apology to those who examine and censure me as to this part of my 3 conduct. Does my waving the use of a privilege prove that I have it not? Have we not, 4 both in natural equity and according to the divine constitution, the same power as others in the same office, to eat and to drink and to subsist ourselves at the expense of those among whom we labour? Yea, have we not power to lead about [with ws] in our apostolical 5 travels, (if we think it necessary,) a sister, whom we might take for a wife,b as some of the the brethren of the Lord, and other apostles and the brethren of the Lord do, and Peter” in particular; and to expect that Cephas she likewise, as well as ourselves, should be provided for by those to whom we have done 6. Or I only and Barnabas, such important services, as nothing of this kind can ever requite 2 Or can it be thought 6 º” there is anything singular in my case, or in that of my present companions, that it should rob me of the liberties others have, so that I only and Barnabasd should not have power to 2 If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to y Obi : §: the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the OTOl. 3 Mine answer to them that do examine me is this, 4 Have we not power to eat and to drink? 5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as c Jānd Peter.] This is an important clause, both as it declares in effect that St. Peter continued to live with his wife after he became an apostle, and also that St. Peter had no rights, as an apostle, which were not common to St. Paul. A remark utterly subversive of popery, if traced to its obvious consequences. d I only, and Barnabas.], From this expression one would indeed think that the judaizing christians, who were the main cause of St. Paul’s uneasiness in this respect, had a peculiar spleen against those two f As long as I live eig Toy a gova.] We render it, as long as the world stands. But the sense plainly limits the expression (which might simply have been rendered, never) to the sense here given. - a Have not I seen the Lord? &c.] That this was necessary in order to his being an apostle, that is, a witness of Christ’s resurrection, has be- för..."bº"Slºved.” See p. 361. note g. Compare Acts xxii. 14, 15. xxxi. 16. 1 Cor. xy. 8, - - - Jä sister, a wife.] The word yuvauka has no force at all here, if it be rendered a woman ; a sister must undoubtedly be a vooman : not to sa h9w improbable it is that the apostle should have carried about with him, in these sacred peregrinations, a woman to whom he was not mar- ried. So that the answer which the papists generally make to the argu- inent often brought from these words, in favour of a marriod clergy, is absolutely inconclusive. apostles, of the uncircumcision, who were so instrumental in procuring and publishing the Jerusalem decree, which determined the controversy so directly in favour of the believing Gentiles.—It seems probable from the 12th verse that Barnabas supported himself by the labour of his hands when at Corinth, as well as St. Paul. 73 578 16. 1 COR. Who, for instance IX. 8 I0 II. 12 I3 14 And it is further to be considered, that so also, that is, on principles like these, the Lord Jesus Christ himself hath expressly commanded and ordained that they who preach the gospel ºach the should live and subsist upon the gospel;i when he declares, as you know more than one of of the gospel. the evangelists assures us he did, “that the labourer i Ver. - gº º g iſ 7 fruits of all their increase! And may they feel those happy effects attending the ministration of the gospel, and 11 PAUL’S JUST AND SCRIPTURAL RIGHT TO A SUPPORT FROM THE PEOPLE. SECT, decline working with our own hands for a maintenance while we areº the gospel ? I might here insist, indeed, on the natural equity of the thing, that ey who devote them- selves to the service of the public should be supported by the public whom they serve. Wijnºrthose who guard it and fight its battles. ever goes to war at his own charge 3 The community furnishes out pro- 7 who goeth a warfare any And if the services of a soldier deserve that maintenance which, while engaged in the defence of their country, men cannot earn, how much more may it be expected by us, who daily hazard our lives, as well as wear time at his own charges” who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thero- of? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk them out for men's everlasting happiness? Who planteth a vineyard, and doth not expect to of the flock? eat % its fruit? Or who feedeth a* and doth not think he hāth a right to eat of the milk of the flock 2 And if it be judged reasonable that men should have an equivalent for their labours about natural things, and the accommodations of the body, is it not more evidently so when the felicity of immortal souls is concerned P But do I speak these things merely as a man, upon principles of human reason alone 9 and doth not the Jewish law speak also the same 2 For there is a passage in the sacre volume on which the like argument may be built, [I mean Deut. xxv. 4.) * ten, even in the law of Moses itself, for which some have so distinguishing a regard, “Thou 8 Say I these things as a man? or saith not the "ſaw h it f th; Fº also 2 . * * * ! Where t07*U- or it is written, in the 's ºrit- le. of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox shall not muzzle the or that treadeth out the corn,” but shalt allow the poor animal to feed º.º.º.º. while it is labouring for thee in the midst of food: a circumstance in which its hunger oth God take care for oxen? would be peculiarly painful. Now is God so solicitous about orem, that he intended this precept merely for their relief? Or doth he say |. with a further view, and, on the whole,f for our sakes 2, Surely we may conclude he intended such precepts as these, relating to compassion to the brutes, in some measure at least for our sakes, 10 Or saith he it altogether or our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that to humanize the heart he that ploweth should plow that he that with generous and compassionate sentiments, and to make men much more tender to each **śī. § hope should be other, where their various interests are concerned. I may therefore apply it to the case Pºker ***. before us, as entirely comprehended in his extensive, universal views; and say, for us in- deed was [it] written, that the necessary offices of life might be more cheerfully performed, in the expectation of such due acknowledgments; that he who ploughelh might plough in hope of success, and that he who thrashelh in such hope should not be disappointed, but should in proper time partake And surely amidst his care #. Ol' his hope, and possess the good for which he has laboured. others who are in meaner offices for life, God could not intend that the ministers of the gospel alone should be sunk under continual discourage- ment, neglect, and ill usage. And indeed when we consider what great benefactors these persons are to the souls amongst whom they labour with success, the reasonableness of the conclusion will appear ll. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap beyond all contradiction. For if we, by our incessant diligence in preaching to you the 39” “” thinés; #. of the blessed God, have sown unto you spiritual things, which may spring up in a arvest of eternal blessings, [is it] any great matter that we should reap your ca, things 2 Is there the least proportion between any thing which your liberality can impart to us, and that which we have been the happy instruments of imparting to you? This is the privilege of ministers in general, and it is a privilege which you well know ºf others be partakers ower over you, are some of them have exerted. And if others are so readily allowed to partake of [this] ºś power over you,' [shall] not we rather claim it, with yet more evident and apparent reason, who have been the means, not only of edifying and instructing you, but likewise of i.; ut we have not made use of this power, thoug you into the profession of christianity? we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest, we should hinder the gospel of Christ. founded in such evident and various principles of equity. But we rather choose to endure all things, the fatigues of labour and inconveniences of frequent necessity, that we may not occasion any hinderance to the gospel of Christ, from the cavils of ill-disposed people, who are always watchful for opportunities to misrepresent and censure our conduct. But though I do not now ask any thing of this kind for myself, yet I will not give up the justice of the demand. And I ſnight further support it, from the provision which Go made for the priests and Levites under the Mosaic law. who are employed about holy things are fed out of the provisions which belong to the temple, 13 Do, ye not know that they which minister about d holy things live of the things of the temple 2 and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar 2 Know ye not, therefore, that they and [that] they who wait upon the service of the altar are partakers with the altar, in a part of the victims offered on it, particularly the vows and the sacrifices of peace offerings? Matt x. 10. Luke x. 7. 14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which gºspel should live s worthy of his hire.” Compare IMPROVEMENT. MAy the disciples of reap such an abundant harvest of spiritual blessings, to those who are the instruments of conveying them, may not be matter of constraint, Christ learn, from these instructions, to honour the Lord with their substance, and the first, that the imparting temporal subsistence and accommodation but of free and affectionate choice! May the ministers of Christ, while they thankfully accept of that subsistence which Providence, by the instrumentality of their brethren, sends them, ever act a moderate and generous part, and maintain such a Visible superiority to all secular views, as may do an honour to the May the secular advantages of the office never invite ba ospel, and command veneration to themselves | men into it, nor its discouragements deter good men from undertaking it. And whatever censures a malignant world, who themselves know not any higher motive e That treadeth out the corn.] It is well known that this was the cus; tom in Judea and other eastern nations. It is still retained by many of them, and particularly in Ceylon;, Raphelius has produced passages from xenophon which something illustrate it. - On the ichole.) It cannot be thought that God had no regard at all to the brute creatures in such precepts as these; and therefore I thought it better to render travros, on the whole, than entirely or altogether, though that sense is more frequent. - - g Partake aſ [this] power, &c.] Mr. Pyle thinks this refers to the other apostles of Christ; but I rāther think St. Paul intended to glance on the fälse teachers who carried their claims of this right to such an exorbitant height, though their services had been by no means comparable to those of the apostſe. . Compare 2 Cor. xi. 20.-Mr. Locke would here read ovarta; whov, of your substance ; but Matt. x. 1. John xvii. 2. and many *. other places, prove that egova was vpav may probably be rendered power over you. h Hinderance to the #º From the conduct of the other apostles, and of St. Paul at other places, particularly among the Macedonian ghurches, we may conclude, that he might see some, circumstances at Corinth, (not necessary for us exactly to know,) which determined him § decline accepting of any subsistence from them while he resided there. i Live upon the gospel.J. Mr. Mede Luderstands ºvayyeXtov here, of the reward given for bringing a good message, (see Diatrib., in loc.) and shows that the word sometimes, has that meaning in heathen authors: but it is a very uncommon gignification in the sacred, and therefore not to be admitted without further proof.--That man º be said to live on the gospel, who was maintained for preaching it; as he might be said to THE APOSTLE'S CONDESCENSION AND TENDERNESS TOWARDS THE CORINTHIANS. 579 than self-interest, shall pass, may the ministers of Jesus ever have a testimony in their consciences, that they seek secT. not the properties but the souls of their hearers. - - 16. Let us attend to the humane genius of the Mosaic law, manifested in the precepts which relate even to the brutes. – And remember, that it is the c aracter, and should be the care, of a merciful man, to extend mercy to his beast. I goń. Much more then let us show compassión to our fellow-men. Let us not desire to enjoy the benefit of their la- s ºf bours, even in the lowest employments of life, without giving them some valuable eiß Let us bear towards all, the hearts of equitable and generous brethren, and constantly wish the prosperity and happiness of the human family. On the whole, may there be between the teachers, and those who are taught by them, a continual inter- course of benevolent affections and friendly actions; as becomes those who stand in such an endearing relation to each other, and have, as christians, the honour of being intimately related to that blessed Redeemer, who sought not his own things, but ours, and hath thereby laid the strongest engagement upon us, if we have any Spark of gratitude and honour, not to seek our own things, but his SECTION XVII. The apostle illustrates the gondescension and tenderness of his cºnduct towards the Corinthians, in declining to accept of their contributions; and speaks of his self-denial under a very ºfessive simile, taken from those who contended in those Grčcian games with which they were familiarly acquainted. 1 Cor. ix. 15, to the cnd. 1 Cor ºx. 15. 1 CoPINTHIANs ix. 15. BUT I have used none of I HAVE thought it my duty, in the foregoing discourse, to plead the natural and the SECT tºº. §§ evangelical rights which the ministers of the gospel have to be maintained by the people, 17. should be so done unto me: to whose spiritual edification they give their time and labours. But you well know that §. ##### §uji I myself, during my abode among you, have used mone of these things; nor have I 1 cok. make my glorying void. written thus, that § according to my purpose and hope, I ever should visit you again, it should hereafter be so done unto me. f think of the generous and self-denying part which 15 I have acted among you, in declining, for some particular reasons, to take a maintenance, with a pleasure so great, that I may even say, [it were] better for me to die for want of the necessary supplies of life, than that any man among you should make this my boasting void, 16 For though I preach the by having it to say, that I have eaten his bread, and been supported at his expense. For 16 º tº if I preach the gospel, after what hath happened in my singular case, I have no [matter of] tº boasting in that; for having recºived such a commission, how could I refuse? I may say, jº" ' " " "** a kind ºf invincible necessity tieth upon me, and woe to me indeed, if I preach not the goš' pel / To decline a work assigned to me by so condescending an appearance of Christ, when with malicious rage I was attempting to destroy his church, would be an instance of ingratitude and obstinacy, deserving the most dreadful and insupportable condemnation. 17. For if I do this thing If indeed I do this voluntarily, and show upon every occasion a cordial willingness to do 17 Nº. &iº; it, I have indeed some room to expect a reward; but if I do it unwillingly, as I said be- ºiºſºsosºdiacom fore, a dispensation is intrusted to me, and I must of necessity fulfil it. What then is that 18 išºv. ... my reward circumstance in my conduct, for which I may expect a reward of praise from the mouth of them 2 Perily that, when I < * ** * * ) fºº - l 1, 2. * - x- º * Éh & º, #"... my divine Master? [Surely) this, that when I preach the gospel of Christ, I may render it make the gospel of Christ º; that so I may be sure not in the least degree to abuse my power in the gospel to y jºjº any ſow and secular purposes, or carry it beyond its due bounds. For in this respect, 19 19 For though I be being free from [all men, and under no obligation, in this manner, to give them my from all men, yet have I made - -* t a ::= - - X-- e. - jº'ai'i labours, I made myself the gerrant of all,” addicting myself to the most fatiguing duties, ſ might gain the more. that I might advance their happiness, and gain the more to true religion and salvation; in 20 And unto the Jews, I which I have found a noble equivalent for all I could do or bear. T.And I not only sub-20 º: mitted to preach the gospel without any reward, but I made it a constant maxim, to ac- * ºf jºi"; commodate my manner of living to the way and relish of those about me, sacrificing my §nºt'...und:#; º' own humour and inclination; and that, in some instances, when I could not do it with- - out considerable inconvenience to myself: accordingly, to the Jews I became as a Jew,” that I might gain over more of the Jews to christianity: to those, I say, who were, or ap- prehended themselves to be, under the tedious ceremonies and disagreeable restraints of the Mosaic law, I became as if I were still in conscience under the Sbligations of the law,” .” ... though I knew it to have been abolished ; and this that I might gain those who appre- 2!, To them...that. §re with- hended themselves to be under the bond of that law. On the other hand, to those who 21 out law, as without law, (be- * - º - * * * 3 iº joi'without ſaw tº 'God, were without the law of Moses, and either unacquainted with it, or apprehended themselves §"?'... .º.º.º.º. under no obligation to conform to its peculiar institutions, I behavéd as if I had myself are without law. also been without the law, neglecting its ceremonial precepts, which I well knew to be superseded and abolished. [Yet] still taking care that it might appear both from my word and actions that I was not without law to God, but apprehended myself under a law of the most affectionate duty and gratitude to Christ, who came by new bonds to engage us to the strictest obedience. But these freedoms I used, and this moderation I mani- fested, not by any means for my own indulgence, but that I might gain those who are - without the law,” and make my ministry more agreeable and useful to such as were edu- 22 To the weak became I cated among the Gentiles. therefore became to the weak as if I had been as weak and 22 *.*.*.*.*.*.*.ii scrupulous is they, in the various articles of food and dress which might come into ques- thin; to all neºtha might tion, that I might gain upon the weak; for the soul of the weakest appeared to me in- by all means save some. :*, S. 1. - finitely valuable; and I have the warrant of my great Master to esteem it more precious than all the treasures of the world. . In a word, I became all things to all [men;] accom- modating myself to them so far as with a safe conscience I could, that by any or all means, if possible, I might save some ; and it is the daily grief of my soul, that after all these 23 And this I do for the efforts the number is so small. And this I do for the sake of the gospel, to promote its 23 e e live on the temple, who was supported out of its income for ministering there, though the word, temple, has the usual signifieation. º a The sercant of all.] This has a stronger sense than can easily be ex- pressed in the Płº Arase; and intimates, that he acted with as self; denying a regard to their interests, and as much caution not to offend them, as if he were absolutely in their power, as a slave is in that of his maStet. º • - b To the Jews, &c.] Compare, for the illustration of this, Acts xvi. 3. xxi. 21, &c., which instances were undoubtedly a specimen of many more of the like kind. , c ºffs if I were still under the obligations of the law.]. This can only signify that he voluntarily complied with it, as an indifferent thing ; but it cannot by any means imply that he declared such observances neces- sary, or refused to converse with any who would not conform to them ; for this was the very dissimulation which, with so generous a freedom, he condemned in St. Peter, Gal. ii. 14, &c. - - d That I might gain those without the layp.]. This seems to-imply, that the Gentiles not yet converted to, christianity are here, referred, to ; ºn- less gaining the person spoken of signifies, rendering them.“better dis- posed to regard his decisions,” which is at most but a subordinate sense. 580 THE APOSTLE'S CONDESCENSION AND TENDERNESS TOWARDS THE CORINTHIANS, SECT. 17. 1 COR. IX, 24 25 26 27 Ver. 16, 18 19 —22 success to the utmost of º: that I also may be a sharer arising from the communication of it.” --- • I may illustrate this by referring to the games so well known in Greece, and particularl to the Isthmian, so often celebrated among you at Corinth. Do you not know, that wit respect to those who run in the stadium, or foot-race,f all indeed run and contend with each other, whereas but one receiveth the prize?& Yet the uncertain hope that each may be that one, animates them all to strain every nerve in the course. You have much greater en- couragement to exert yourselves in the pursuit of celestial blessings. See to it, therefore, that ye so run as that ye may obtain, and that ye lay aside everything that would be an encumbrance to you, or render you incapable of despatching the race with necessary vigour and alacrity. And every one who contendeth in the games, whether in running as above, 25 And every man that or in wrestling, or combating, is temperate in all things;h abstaining from whatever might .º. º.º.º. & - * , ºs º * * mperate in all things. Now enervate his strength, and submitting to a regular course of diet, exercise, and hardship that jºtºdia.com. he may be the more capable of exerting himself with success. [.4nd this] they ºp [do, º, but we an in- that they may obtain a corruptible crown,i a garland of leaves, that will soon wither : perish; but we are animated by the view of an incorruptible crown, the duration and glory of which will be commensurate to the existence of our immortal souls. 8-5 It is no small pleasure to me, while I am exhorting you to this, to reflect that I am, 26 I therefore sg run, not through divine grace, myself an example of the temperance I recommend. I for my part ºff. º run not as one who is to pass undistinguished;k but knowing what eyes are upon mě, an solicitous to gain the approbation of my Judge, and attending with diligence and care to the boundaries which are marked out to us, I exert myself to the utmost. I so fight, not as one that beats the air, who fights, as it were with his own shadow, or practises a feigned combat: but as one who has a real and living enemy to contend with, and who, knowing that his life and his all is in question, would strike sure, and not lose his blows upon empty air. Thus I allow not myself in a habit of indolence and luxury, but imitate on a much nobler occasion, and to a much greater degree, the self-denial of the combatants I jå." ..." tat". . mentioned above ; I bruise and ºffmy body," and bring [it] into such a degree of .º.º. * & º e º --- - o others, I myself should be servitude as the superior interests of my soul require. And this I judge a most necessary a cast away. precaution; lest, after having served as a herald to others, and after having made procla- mation of the glorious rewards to be attained, and endeavoured to animate their zeal in the pursuit, I should myself be disapproved" of the great Judge, and finally declared unworthy of obtaining a share in them. in the generous pleasure gospel’s, sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. which run in a race run, al but one receiveth the prize : So run, that ye may obtain. 24 Know ye not that thiſ 3 27 But, I keep under my body, and bring it into sub- IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn, by the example of the apostle, a generous ambition of excelling in religion. Not of doing more indeed than our duty, for we owe God our best, and our all; but abounding in it to the utmost, carrying our love, our zeal, and our obedience, to the highest degree we can attain, and preserving an honest readiness to know our duty, even in circumstances in which there might be some plausible excuse for overlooking it. In particular, let the ministers of the gospel not think it much to their praise, to perform those services which it would be shameful and almost impossible for them to neglect; but labour to acquit themselves in the very best manner they can ; showing, in the whole of their conduct, that they are not animated only or chiefly by secular motives, in the labours they bestow upon the souls of men. - They are peculiarly concerned to learn and imitate this condescension of the apostle, in becoming all things to all men, if by any means he might gain some. But they are not the only persons who are interested in this. It is the duty of every christian to endeavour to please his neighbours and brethren for their good: and it will be our wisdom and happiness, upon such generous principles, to learn to govern and deny eurselves. - We are all º. to engage in the most important race, in the most noble combat. The children of this world fatigue themselves for trifles, and exert the noble faculties of an immortal spirit to purposes far beneath its dignity. But all is not vanity. Every crown is not withering and corruptible. We have heard of an inheritance incor- ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. And whatever there was in the prospect to awaken these Corin- thians, still remains to awaken and animate us. Let us therefore keep our eyes and our hearts fixed upon it, and 24 26 e Jº sharer in the communication of it.} We render it, that I might be partaker with you ; but as the words, noith you, are not in the original, which is twa gºvykovyovog aurs yewogat, I rather understand the words as referring to the satisfaction he found in, imparting the invaluable and in- exhaustible blessings of the gospel to all around him ; a sentiment most suitable to his character and office. - * The stadium or foot-race.] On comparing the translation I had be- fore made of this passage with that of my learnçd and worthy frieng, Mr. West, (in his excellent Dissertation on the Olympic Games, p., 189, J90.) I had the pleasure to find a remarkable agreement ; but where there was any difference, I have generally altered what I had written, £ither in the version or pāraphrase, to make it conformable to his ; whose judgment in any point of criticism has with me, great, weight, but espe- cially on a subject of which he appears to have been so, gminent a master, that his writings upon it are as distinguished in their kind as the games he so elegantly describes were in theirs. – ? g Onc #:# the prize.] It is true that in some games there were several prizes of 㺠value; yet, in those to which he here refers º was but one for the victor, and the argument is very strong and Striking. * h Temperate in all things.], Whoever considers, on the one hand, to what great self-denial in articles of food, sleep, and every other sensual indulgence, they who were to. contend in their games were obliged; and, on the other, of how great importance it is that the youth of a com- inunity should be formed to a manly taste and resolute self-government, will undoubtedly see the great national prudenge of the Greeks in the institution and support of these games; to which, it is very probable: their remarkable valour and success in war, during, the best days of their several republics, might in some considerable degree be owing. See, for the illustration of the temperance here referred to, Elsner's ex- cellent note on this text, and Ælfan. War. Hist. lib. iii. cap. 30. lib. x. cap. * º - * i Corruptible crown, a garland of leaves, &c.]. It is well known that the crown in the Olympic games, sagred to Jupiter, was of wild olive; in the Pythian, sacred to Apollo, of laurel ; i, the Isthmian or Corin- thian, solemnized in honour of Palaemon, of pine-tree ; and in the Nemiean, of smallage or parsley. Now the most of these were ºver- greens: yet they would soon grow dry, and break to pieces. Elsmer (Observº vol. ii. p. 103.) produces many, passages in which the contend- &rs in these exercises are rallied by the Grecian wits for the extraor- dinary pains they took for such trifling rewards; and Plato has a celebrated passage, which greatly resembles this of St. Paul ; but by no means equals it in heauty and force. k I run not as one that is to pass undistinguished.] Toexely admxays is, to run unnoticed. But as some have explained it of “running without attending to the marks and lines which determined the path,’’. I have hinted at that sense. As for Heinsius’s interpretation, who explains it, “moving so slowly, as that he might seem to stand still,” it is like many others peculiar to , that writer, quite insupportable ; no one, in such a circumstance, could be said to run at all. s' Tº º . . Beats the air, &c.], In order to attain the greater agility and dexte- rity, it was uspá.) for those who intended to box in the games, to exercise their arms with the gauntlet on, when they had no antagonist near them; and this was called aktopaxia, in which a man would of course bcat the air. But Bos has taken a great deal of pains in his note here, to show that it is a proverbial expression for a man’s missing his blow, and spending it, not on his enemy, but on empty air. * * m Bruise and mortify my body.] º; properly signifies, to strike on the face as boxers did, and particularly on (the imajirtov) the part of it under the eyes, at which they especially aimed. Hence it comes to signify a livid tumour on that part; and sometimes it is pro- verbially used for a face terribly, bruised, mortified, and disfigured, like that of a boxer just come from the combat; as Bos has shown at large, Bxercit. p. 138, &c. t n Lest, after having served as a herald, . I should be disapproved.] . . thought it of importance to retain the primitive sense of these gymnastic expressions. It is well known to those who are at all acquainted with the original, that the word know&as expresses the discharging the office of an herald, whose business it was to proclaim the conditions of the games, and display the prizes, to awaken the emulation and resolution of those who were to contend in them. But the apostle intimates, that there was this peculiar circumstance attending the christian contest, that the person who proclaimed its laws and rewards to others, was also to engage himself: and that there would be a peculiar infamy and misely in miscarrying in such a circumstance. Adoxºgog, which we render casi- away, signifies, one who is disapproved b{}. judge of the games, as not having #y deserved the prize. Mr. Fleming, arguing that St. Paul knew his own sincere piety, and consequently might be assured of his future happiness, maintains that to be cast-away; here signifies, being judged unworthy of a part in the first resurrection. (Fleming’s Dis. course on the First Resurrec. p. 89.). But it appears to me much more na- tural to refer it to the whole christian reward; as it is certain God en- gages his people to persevere by awful threatenings against appstasy, as ; as by the promises of eternal life to those who continue faithfuſ and Constant, z THE PRIVILEGES AND PUNISHMENT OF THE ISRAELITES OF OLD. 581 be in good earnest in what we do; often looking to the marks which are drawn in the word of God; realizing to SECT. ourselves the certain existence and formidable characterofour invisible enemies; suspecting especially 2. fearing the treachery of our own corruptions, and using all that mortification which may promote our Spiritua life and usefulness. - - Who would not tremble, how high soever his profession or office may be—who would not tremble to hear St. Paul insinuate a supposed possibility, that after having preached to others, and made such animating proclama- tions of the heavenly prize to them, he might himself be rejected, as unqualified to receive it? Let us learn from it humility and caution; learn to watch against dangers, which will still surround us as long as We dwell in this body; and rejoice in the guardianship of Christ, who will at length deliver his faithful servants from every evil work, and preserve them to his heavenly kingdom. SECTION XVIII. Further to awaken that holy caution which the apostle had suggested in the preceding section, he here represents to the Corinthians, on the one hand, the privileges which Israel of old enjoyed, and on the other, the divine displeasure which they brought upon themselves by behaving in a manner so unworthy of them. 1 Cor. x. 1—13. 1 CoRINTHIANs x. 1. 1 Cor. x. 1. MOREQVER, brethren, I I HAVE been urging you to run your christian race with resolution and diligence; which lº § †hººl. you should the rather do, considering how fatally many of those miscarried who were once father were undi.he floºd, God’s peculiar people, and favoured in a very extraordinary manner. Wow this is so affect- and all passed through the . e - - ;4 • Sea ; ing a thought, that I must desire you, my brethren, to attend while I further illustrate it; for I would by no means have you ignorant” of so instructive a history. ... You have, I doubt not, often heard that all our fathers, whom Moses the great lawgiver of our nation led out of Egypt, were all under the conduct of that miraculous pillar of cloud and of fire, which did their camp so singular an honour; and they all passed through the sea, the power of God opening a way for them, while the mountains enclosed them on either side, and their 2 And were all baptized Egyptian enemies were pressing hard upon their rear. And this was so wonderful and 2 ºlº in the ** solemn an event, that I may say they were all baptized into Moses, that is, initiated into the profession of that religion which he was to teach them from God, in the cloud and in the sea. God did, as it were, solemnly receive them under protection, as his people ; and they, by following his miraculous guidance, declared their dependence upon him, and entire 3 And did all eat the same subjection to him. Ånd as they proceeded in their journey, they did all eat the same spiritual 3 spiritual meat; food, that is, the manna, which for its excellence is called angels' food; (Psal. lxxviii. 25.) and which was indeed an emblem of the bread of life that cometh down from heaven. 4.And did, all drink, the And they did also all drink of what might be called, on the like principles, the same 4 iº i. §§ spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual or mysterious Rock, the wonderful streams gººm; and that of which followed them. through so many of their wanderings and encampments; and that OCK VW SU's rock was a most affecting representation of Christ, the Rock of ages, the sure Foundation * * of his people's hopes, from whom they derive these streams of blessing, which follow them tº: all this wilderness of mortal life, and will end in rivers of pleasure at the right hand of God for ever. c.º.º. º.º. It was the º of Israel as a people to enjoy such typical blessings as these; and 5 ;"... ...tº; yet it is plain that God had no pleasure in the greatest part of them, for they were overthrown the wilderness. in the wilderness : the whole generation that came adult out of Egypt was made to die there, and they sometimes died in such multitudes, that the ground was overspread with carcasses, as a field is in which a battle has been fought. § Nºw.ºese, hiº. Wow these things were types and figures to us, that we might learn wisdom at their ex- 6 our examples, to the intent § -is -> - g ... shººt'inst fie"evil pense, and not trust to external privileges, while we go on in a course of disobedience to things, as they alsº "sted the divine authority; and particularly, that we might not lust after evil things, and indulge ourselves in irregular and luxurious desires; as they also lusted after quails in contempt of the manna, and thereby brought the wrath of God upon them, and were consumed with estilential distempers, while the meat was yet between their teeth. (Psal. lxxviii, 30.31.) }. therefore, by what they suffered, to cultivate that temperance and self-denial which 7 Neither be ye idolaters, I have just been recommending to you. ...Neither be ye idolaters, as some of them [were, 7 *::::::::::::::::::::::::A; even while they yet continued at mount Sinai; as you know it is written, (Exod. xxxii. 6. * written, The people sat down - s sº gºnd drink, and rose up 19.) with relation to the feast of the golden calf. The people sat down to eat and drink of play. the sacrifices which were offered to it, and then they rose up to play and danced in honour 8 Neither let us commit of this vain symbol of deity. And this naturally leads me to add another caution, no less §. ...”iº,"; suitable to your present circumstances than the former; neither let us commit formication,” ãºres and twenty thou or lewdness of any kind, as some of them in their idolatrous revels committed [fornication; sand. and particularly when they ate the sacrifices of Baal-Peor, and offended with the Midian: itish women; the sad consequence of which was, that there fell in one day twenty-three thousand by the plague, besides those that were slain by the sword, who amounted to a 17. 1 COR. lx. 27 SECT. 18. 1 COR. a Would by no means have you ignorant.] Mr. Locke thinks that when the Corinthians inquired about the lawfulness of eating things sacrificed unto idols, they might urge that they could not be mistaken for hea- thens, because they maintained an open profession of christianity, hold: ing communion with the church, by partaking of the sacraments, as well as other acts of worship ; and that they might be exposed to ill will and ill usage, if they did not sometimes comply with their neighbours... And he supposes the apostle had each of these ideas in view in what follows: it is possible he might. b The same spiritual meat—the same spiritual drink.] It is not neces- sary to understand by the same meat and drink, the same by which we ghristians are supported ; for this could not properly be said of any Israelites who were not true believers; but the meaning is, that they all, good and bad, shared the same miraculous supply of food and drink. e That ſollowed them.] It is objected, that “this stream did not con- stantly follow them ; for then they would have had no temptation to have murmured for want of water, as we know they did at Kadesh, in the circumstances so fatal to Moses; nor would they have had any oc- casion to buy water of the Edomites, as they proposed to do, Dent. ii. G.” . Mr. Mede justly answers, that perhaps the streams from the first rock at Rephidim failed, for a further trial of their faith ; and at Ka- 'desh God renewed the like wonder; but that likewise might probabl fail when they eame into the inhabited country of the Edomites, which was not till near the end of their wandering. Mede’s Diatrió, in loc. He there illustrates the similitude between Christ and this rock, in many other particulars; but those Inentioned in the paraphrase seem the most material.--That the word was imports here no more than signified, is ex- tremely obvious ; and instances of the like use of it every where abound in Scripture. * * * d To play and dance..] . Dr. Whitby observes, that though many com- mentators understand, this of fornication, it is without sufficient reason. Formgation, is indeed spoken, of in another, clause, and that the very next, (ver. 8.1, which makes it less probable that it is intended here. As the golden calf was designed as a symbol of Jehovah, there is no reason to imagine they would º such an abomination into worship, how- £ver irregular, which was addressed to him. And Elsner (Obserp. vol. ii. p. 105.) has abundantly vindicated the remark of Grotius, that raiſed, signifies, to dance, a ceremony with which God himself had lately been honoured, (Exod. xv. 20.) and which, it is very probable, might naturally be attended with the shouts and songs which Moses heard on approach- ing the camp, Exod. xxxii. 17, 18. e Commit formication.) . This was common at many idolatrous feasts among the heathen ; and it was the more proper for the apostle to cau. tion these christians, against it, as it was proverbially called the Corin- thian practice, kopºv6taševu being, as many have observed, equivalent to scortari. Sträbo tells us, that in one temple of Venus at Corinth, there were no less than a thousand priestesses, who made prostitution a part of their devotions to the goddess. Strabo, lib. ii. cap. 15. 582 CAUTIONS AGAINST ALL APPROACHES TO IDOLATRy, SBCT. thousand more. (Num. xxv. 1–9.) Wether let its tempt Christ by our unbelief, after the 9 Neither let us tempt * t --- : *. st 18. tokens he hath given us to command our faith and engage our dependence; as some of ...º.º.º.º. ~ + ū ºn 7 r. * * e * ---|-> - tempted, and were destroyed the next generation of them also tempted | while he resided among them, as the angel of nºt. s I gº. of God's presence; and were destroyed by fiéry Serpents, (Numb. xxi. 6.) from the venom of which others were recovered by that brazen serpent which was so illustrious a type of 10 the Messiah. Neither murmur ye under dispensations of Providence which may seem at 10 Neither murmur ye as Present tº hear hºrd upon you, and are contrary to your present inclinations and interest: .*śrºpºl, as some of them alsº mirmired again and again, and were destroyed by the destroyers who iſºtrº: destroyed of the was commissioned by one judgment and another to take them off * But jet me remind you on the whole, as I hinted above, that all these calamitous things , 11 Now all these * 1. I which happened unto them, were intended as types or examples to us, that we might learn ... ºn §: What We are to expect in the like case ; and they are tortfen for our admonition, on whom iº #: * the ends of the world are come :h as we live {... the last dispensatiºn which God Wii ś is ºf the wº º, give to the children of men, and with which the whole economy of their probation &lſe CORD e. shall wind up. Therefore let me, urge, this improvement of the whoſe survey upon you, , 12 wherefore let him that and Pon all into whºse hand this Epistle may come, and say, Let him thai inkei, he ºriandeth take startdeth most securely, and who may be ready most confidently to trust in his own nced Jest he fall. strength, take heed lest he fall so much the lower, in proportion to the degree in which he imagines himself out of all manner of danger. - 13 . It is true, indeed, and it is matter of great comfort and thankfulness to reflect upon it, ...19 There hath no tempta- that no temptation has yet taken you, but such as is common to mani and such as human ºil; reason, properly exercised on the principles of that revelation which you enjoy, may fur- ºil ºf §: mish you with motives to resist. .ind wé have the pleasure further to reflect that God [is] §§§º: faithful who hath promisedk to preserve his people, and he will not leave you to be fºliº.º.º.º. tempted above your ability: but will with the temptation with which he permits you to be tº that ye maybe able assaulted, provide you also with a way of escape, that if you be not wanting to yourselves, 3/Gw º e able to bear [it;] yea, and may acquire new strength and honour by the COI) () at , 1 2 - IAiPROVEMENT. Ver: MAY christians be always sensible how happy they are in having received such useful hints from the New Tes- 6, 11 tament to assist them in the interpretation of the Old, and particularly those which are here given. We see in Israel, according to the flesh, an affecting emblem of the church in general. We see all their external privileges, though many and great, were ineffectual for their security when they behaved as unworthy of them. 1, 2 Alas! how affecting is the thought, that some who were under the miraculous cloud, who passed through the waters of the divided sea, who ate of the bread that came down from heaven, and drank ...P that living stream 3, 4 which omnipotent mercy had opened from the flinty rock, and made it to follow them in the windings of their journey, should yet become, instead of being on the whole the objects of divine favour and complacency, the 5 monuments of wrath. Let us not ourselves therefore be high-mindéd, but fear. Let us mark the rocks on which they suffered this fatal shipwreck, if possible to keep clear of them; and pray that divine grace may direct our 7 course. Let us avoid not only those superstitious and idolatrous rites of worship by "...i. as protestants, we 8 are in little danger of being insnared, but also those lusts of the flesh which must, considering our superior - ºge. be highly displeasing to God, even though they should not rise to a degree of jº, and SC&LI1C18.1. 9 Let us especially take heed that we tempt not Christ, who has graciously been pleased to take us under his 10 conduct, j to honour his church with so many demonstrative toRens of his presence. Nor let us murmur if, while we are in this wilderness state, we sometimes meet with difficulties in our way. Still let us make it fami- 13 liar to our minds, that God adjusts the circumstances of every trial; even that God who stands engaged by the promises of his word, as well as the equity and goodness of his nature, not to permit us to be tempted above what we are able to bear. If we see not an immediate way of escape, let us calmly and attentively look around us, and humbly look up to him, that he may pluck our feet out of the net. SECTION XIX. The apostle further pursues that caution against all approaches to idolatry which, he had been suggesting in the former section: particularly arguing from that communion which christians, had with Christ,at his tabſe, which ought to place them at the remotest distance from what might justly be called having cominanion with devils. 1 Cor. X. 14–22. I Corti NTHIANS X. 14. - 1 CoR. x. 14. SECT. I HAVE just expressed my confidence in the care of God to support you under any ex- §º; ºly 19. traordinary temptation which may hereafter arise to draw you out of the way of your §: e loved, flee from 1dolatry. wherefore, my beloved brethren, being assured of this, let me exhort you carefully to flee 1 coR. from all approaches to idolatry, whatev er circumstances of allurement or danger may seem sº * X., to plead fºr some degrees of compliance. I now speak as wnto gise men; I use a rational nºise men; ° argument which will bear the strictest examinatiºn, and which I am willing should be "" --~. canvassed as accurately as you please; judge you therefore what I say: for I will refer it to your own deliberate and cooler thoughts, whether there be not danger in those idola- trous participations which some of you are so ready to defend; and whether they may not naturally bring some degree of guilt upon your conscience? - - 16 The sacrāmental cup, which is to us bºth the commemoration of past, and the pledge of ...Tº lº, 'it'; future, blessing, which in the name of the Lord we sºlemnly bless,” setting it apart to a $ºioſºftie"biša'; holy and religious use ; is it not the token of our faith and our communion in these in- * - y - r - - - - - - - - - - y 2du tutes; the paraphrase 'empt Christ as some of them tempted [him.] . Though the word hung, strºngllºs, Well as frequent to human crea > hiº, in the original, it seems plainly to be intº ; and this is therefore imports that. - * * * * * .."...opsiójašje text in proof of his residence, with the church in the k Faithful who bath promised.] , Compare Psal. ciii, 13, 14. and ..iii.ºss, as the angel' of God’s presence. Compare Exod. xxiii. 29. numberless passages in which God encourages his people to hope for Isa. ixiii. 9. Heb. xi. 25. Acts vii. 38. - s : --- - - - $ his presence and help in pressing danger. * ºne destroyer.j The Jews generally interprººf this º whom they a Bºhick ace bless.] This text very plainly shows that there is a sense failcº to be the angel ºf death, and whom they cºll ºftºº, in which we may be said to bless the sacrāmental elements. To render ñº’Eliº ofthe ºrid.j TeXà gºvtov properly signifies the ſºciitiiſ; it ºp'ºhigh or for ºhich me blºss Goff, is doing great violence age, or the last dispensatiº of Coºl to mankind on earth; whish, iſ w8 to the original. That is said to be blessed which is set apart to a sacred believe the gospel to be tſuº, we minist assuredly conclude that i "..., , , , ºse, (Gén. ii. 3. Exod. xx. 11.) and on which the blessing of God is so- i Common to man.] Ayſłogoń wo; may signify also proportiviſiº's to lemnly invoked. CAUTIONS AGAINST ALL APPROACHES TO IDOLATRY. * &_r 83 christ: The bread which we estimable privileges which are the purchase of the blood of Christ, shed for the remission of SECT. 19. ;º.;c;" our sins? 'The bread which we break, and which was appointed in, the first institution of the ordinance for this purpose, is it not the communion of the body of Christ in the like sense? That is, the tokénøfour sharing in the privileges which he procured at the expense º” 17 For we being many are of sufferings by which his body was broken, and almost torn in, pieces. For tº chº tº being manj, are yet, as it were, but different parts of one and the same broken bread, hi one bread. which we distribute" [and] receive in token of our being members of one body; ſo.” are all partakers of one kind of holy bread, and one cup, which we eat and drink together at the same table, in testimony of our mutual and inviolable friendship, cemented in Christ our great and common Head. 18 Behold Israel after the consider how it is with Israel according to the flesh, the lineal descendants of those Wh9 * #. sº were the chosen and peculiar people of God: are not they who eat of the sacrifices which the altar 2 have been offered in the court of their temple at Jerusalem, esteemed to be partakers ºf the altar of God, on which part of them have been consumed 2. And is not their eating the flesh of these victims esteemed as an act of communion with the Deity, to whom they were offered? Now you may easily perceive, that the same argument will be conclusive to prove that they who share in the sacrifices p. to idols, knowing what they do, and espe: cially doing it in some apartments belonging to the º of such idols, hold a kind of communion with these fictitious and detestable deities, by no means reconcilable with the sanctity of the christian character, or the tenor of their sacramental engagements. 19 what say I then? that What then do I say, that an idol of wood or stone, of silver or gold, is in itself any thing 19 tºº.º.º. divine? Or do I say, that the thing which is sacrificed to idols is in itself any thing morally to idols is any thing : and universally unclean : You well know that I intend to maintain nothing of this kind. 20 But Isgy, that the things But on the other hand, you must be aware, that what the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice 20 º - - - - - * * -º-, . ~~ +! ~~4→ tº: to evil demons, and not to God; such spirits as those to which they address their devotions, tºº must to be sure be wicked spirits, if they exist at all; and devils may well be supposed to use ship with devils. their utmost efforts to support such worship, it being grateful to them, in proportion to the degree in which it is affronting and injurious to the great Object of christian adoration, and insnaring to the souls of men, Now I would not by any means that you, who have at your baptism solemnly renounced the devil and all his adherents, should in any degree 21, Yé cannot drink the cup have, or seem to have, communion with demons.” And indeed this is most inconsistent with 21 §§: Pº *...*..."; those solemn badges of your holy profession, by which your baptismal covenant is so fre- .# i. jºble quently ratified and renewed. Ye cannot with tolerable decency and consistency at one time drink of the cup of the Lord, in that holy rite in which you commemorate his death, and at another timé of the cup of demons, of libations, poured out in their honour, or cups drank at their feasts. Ye cannot surely think you should be partakers of the table of the Lord, and go from thence to the table of demons, or from theirs to his, to share alternately in such holy and such polluted rites and entertainments. Yet it is certain that by partaking in their feasts, you do, as it were, contract a kind of friendship and familiarity with these infernal spirits. 22 powerrovoke the Lord Do we, by such a conduct as this, deliberately mean to provoke the Lord to jealousy,” 22 tº are we stronger by thus caressing those whom he abhors as his rivals P Must it not incense him exceed- ingly 2 and must it not, in its consequences, be detrimental and even fatal to us? Or are we stronger than he 3 so as to be able to resist or to endure the dreadful effects of his displeasure. IMIPROVEMIENT. X. LET us hear and fear: for it is the tendency of every wilful sin to provoke the Lord to jealousy; it is a chal- Ver. 22 lenge to him, as it were, to let loose the fierceness of his wrath. And alas, how can such feeble creatures as we endure its terrors' Let the consideration urged by the apostle, to deter men from partaking in idolatrous sacri- fices, be weighed by us, as extending to every thing whereby God may be dishonoured and Christ affronted. They who are christians indeed, and partake of that feast which the j Jesus hath instituted in commemora- tion of his dying love, do herein partake of the body and the blood of Christ. Let it be remembered as a pledge 21 of everlasting obedience, since it is a memorial of infinite obligation: it shows that we belong to him, as his will- ing and peculiar people ; that we renounce all his rivals, particularly Satan and his kingdom, and whatever favours and supports his accursed cause. Let us be faithful to our allegiance, and have no more to do with any of these abominations. 5 Let us also remember this as a pledge of everlasting peace and love ; we are all one bread, and one body. Let 17, &c us not envy and provoke, grieve and revile, one another; but study mutual comfort and edification. And when little jealousies arise, and our secular interests seem to interfere, which may often be the case, let us open our minds to those exalted sentiments which our common relation to Christ tends to inspire ; and let the sweetiremembrance of the communion we have had with him, and each other, in that holy ordinance, blot out of our minds the memory of every difference which might tend to promote disgust and alienation. b Of one bread..] Many valuable manuscripts read it, and of otic cup. weak, inference from some mistaken passages of Firmicus and Jamblicus. Elsner has an admirable note upon this text, to prove that eating to- ut this learned and judicious critic has proved at large, from incon- gether in a religious manner hath beens in almost all ancient nations, a testable authorities, that the elemons were considered as present at these token of mutual friendship., See Mr. ilowman's IHebrew, Ritual, p. 54. sacrifices, and as taking their part with the worshippers in the common and Maimonides, quoted by him there. See more especially, Dr. Cud- feast ; by which means, as Mºs expresses it in a very remark- worth’s Discourse concerning the True JNotion gf the Lord’s Supper, able passage, (JMorc JNſcuoch, part ii. cop., 16.) friendship, brotherhood, chap. i. and chap. vi. And it is certain also, as it is intimated below, and familiarity was contracted between them, because “all ate at one that by sacrifices, and the feasts on them, they held communion with the table, and sat down at one board.” The altar was called the table of the real, or supposed deity to which they were presented; as the author of Lord, Mal. i. 12. Compare Deut. xxxii. 17. But then, as Dr. Čud- a Discourse on Sacrifices has shown at large : but that this was the only worth has shown, we are not to conclude from hence, that under the end of all sacrifices, I cannot think that learned writer sufficiently to gospel-dispensation the table of the Lord is properly an altar; for the have proved. - - - Lord's supper is not a §acrific; but a feast upon a sacrifice. Cudworth, c I would not that ye should have communion ºcith domons.] It is a On the Trite JVotion of the Lord’s Supper, chap. v. monstrous notion of Olearius, that the heathens, imagined the very.sub- 1 To jealousy, &c.] . Alluding to the motion of idolatry, as a kind of stance and body of their deities insinuated itself into the victim offered spiritual adultery, which moved the jealousy of God. Yet every de- to them; and so was united to the person eating, the flesh of the sacri- liberate sin is in effect daring his omnipotent vengeance. fices. Elsner (Observ. vol. ii. p. 108.) has sufficiently confuted this his 584 - OF EATING THINGS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS SECTION XX. The apostle gives more particular directiona - - g * 4. - - as to the cases and circumstances in which things sacrifi * * - & º aros f :* - ~ ---.S. *: - l - ced t p * eaten ; and #. further £9psiierations tº engage them willingly to resign their own gratification in jº.; º might not lawfully be good of their brethren. I Cor. x. 23, to the endſ; xi. 1. es, for the glory of God and the 1 CoRINTHIANs x. 23. 1 Cor. x. 23. SECT. I HAVE said a great deal to guard you against all approaches to idolatry. In answer to ALI, thin... ...ful fi 20. this, I know, it may be replied, that there are certain things which may accidentally lead ºf ºniº. . . . 1 COR É 1t, and yet, being in their own nature indifferent, may be so used as to decline the danger. ; º: º § *i; "hº * Granting it, then, that all these things are lawful for me, I am persuaded, nevertheless, you “” 23 will readily acknowledge that all such things are not in every circumstance expedient. Granting, I say, that all these things about which we have been discoursing are lainful for me, yet it is undeniably apparent, that all things edify not ; and I ought certainly to COn- sider what may most effectually conduce to the edification of my neighbour and of the church in genéral, as well as what may suit my own particular inclination or convenience: for I may find good reasons for declining inary things as insmaring to others, which, were 24 I to regard myself alone, might be perfectly indifferent. Let no one therefore seek the 2. Let - I. : gratification of his own humour, or the advancement of what may seem his personal interest; ºut eº, id: : but let every one pursue another’s [welfare.] endeavouring to enrich all that are around him. wealth. in holiness and comfort. 25 , Believe me, my brethren, I am desirous not to lay you under any unnecessary restraints. 25 whatsoever is sold in And, therefore, whatever [flesh] is sold in the shambles,” that I allow you to eat; asking . .”; “j. no questions for conscience sake, that is, not scrupulously inquiring whether it have, ... ºn for conscience 26 not, made a part of any idol-sacrifice. . For, as the Psalmist expresses it, (Psal. xxiv. I.), 26. For the earth, is the the whole earth [is] the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. All these things, therefore, are to #9"s, and the fulness there- be taken as they come to our hands, and used with cheerfulness and t anksgiving, as the " . 27 common bounties of his providence to his human creatures. ...And further, if any of the 27. If any of them that be: unbelievers who live in your neighbourhood invite youb to his house, and you are #º ºilº ºft to go, eat whatever is set before you at the entertainment; not asking any questions for con- Wiś sº science sake, but receiving it, whatever it be, as that supply which diviñe' Providence has ...; sº.” ” 28 then been pleased to send you. But # any one say to you, This food is part of what hath º: º * * been sacrificed to an idol, eat it not ; both out of regard to him that showed thee this circum- tº # * *.h..."; stance, whether he be a heathen, who may hereby be confirmed in his idolatry, or a ; º: º brother, who may otherwise be insnared by thy example, and tempted to violate the dic- º jºi; ; tates of his own mind; and, I may say, out of regard to conscience too; for thou canst not the fulness thereof: r(1’S, an injure thy brother in this respect, without subjecting thyself to some rémorse on a serious reflection. And the scripture I mentioned before may suggest a pertinent consideration here: for as the earth [is] the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,” thou mayst reasonably hope he will provide for thee some other way, and mayst be assured that he cannot want the means 29 of doing it. I say, [for the sake of] conscience; but I mean not thine own immediately, nº. Conscience; I say, not but that of another person; for how indifferentsoever thou mayst esteem the matter, thou #"º; ; ; ; art obliged in duty to be very cautious that thou dost not wound and grieve that &f thy §§ brother. (But you will observe that I here speak only of acts obvious to human observa- tion; for as to what immediately lies between 6. and my own soul, why is my liberty to be judged, arraigned, and condemned at [the bar of] another man's conscience?! I am not, in such cases, to govern myself by the judgment and apprehension of others, nor have they any º to judge or censure me for not concurring with them in their own nar- 30 row notions and declarations. For if I by the divine grace and favour am made a partaker .30. For if [...by gracº be a of the common gifts of Providence, why am I reviled for my free and cheerful use of that Hºršº'orº for which I give God my humble thanks, as tracing it up to the hand of the great supreme ſeive thanks? Benefactor 2) 31 Therefore, on the whole, to conclude this discourse; since no one particular rule can 31 Whether therefore ye be laid down to suit all the diversities of temper and apprehension which may arise, in- tºº § Y.; stead of uncharitable contentions with each other, or anything that looks like mutual con- * tempt, let us take all the pains we can to meet as in the centre of real religion; see to it then, that whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, in the common as well as sacrédactions of life, ye do all to the glory of God, pursuing the credit of the gospel and the edification of the church; that he may be honoured in the happiness of his creatures, and more universally acknowledged as the Author of all good. 32 In this respect and in every other, see to it that ye be inoffensive both to the Jews, wh9, nº ºngº offengº nºi: y 7. - ~~~~ +1-3 - & * ror-shin - ther to the J you know, abhor every thing that looks like the least approach to idol worship ; and to jº .*.*.* &; * #he Greekše and other unconverted Gentiles, who are so much attached to it that they are of 99 willing to catch at all pretences of justifying themselves in the practice; and to the church of Goºl, whether consisting of circumcised or uncircumcised converts tº christianity, who would grieve to see the common edification obstructed in instances wherein thew them- 33 selves might not be endangered. Endeavour to follow, in this respect, my example; act- tº...º.º. - * º - & ll things, not ing as I also do, who study in all things to please all men, so far as I apprehend it for their º real advantage, not seeking my own interest or gratification, but that of many, that they jº that they may be sav- may be saved by being brought to, and confirmed in that religion on which their eternal 1 coſt. happiness º: n this grand and important consideration I lose every inferior View, sº ºn”; ºn xi. 1. as 'our great Lord and Master did; be ye therefore herein imitators of me, as I also ſam] of Christ. 81S l ºl/SO (11/1 a Sold in the shambles.]. Herodotus observes, that the Egyptians, so evident a propriety and beaſt here, in contrast with verse 26. that wie.º.e.'hā cut off the head of their victims, used to carry the car: I was by no means disposed to follºw them. Čašs to the market, and sell it to the Greeks, it they could find any to diphy is my liberty,’ &c.). Some think the meaning is: “Why should purchase it; if not, they threw it into the river, judging it unlawful to I use my fiberty so as to offend the comScienge of any 27” Others think §at it themselves. Rajhel. ex: Herod., in loc., And though the Gregian it is an objection in the mouth of the Corinthians, and to be thus under- priests had no such scruples, yet as they had often more flesh of their stood ºffut why should I suffer myself to be thus imposed upon, and sacrifices than they and their families could consume, it was natural for receive law from any, where Christ has, left me free ??? I rather think jº to take this method of disposing of it to advantage; all at times that this and the 30th verse cºe ſhº. kind of parenthesis, to prevent § º; 1s º the neighbouring Inarkets might their extending the former caution º what he designed by it. be chiefly supplied from their tenºpſes. . . ; s 4 & & e Jews and Čreeks.) As these are both opposed to the church of God #, jº.j That Kaxety often signifies to invite, Raphelius (4t. I conclude he speaks of uncººdºº.o.º.ºks; and refers to th; not, ex Yen.) has shown at large; but to conclude that it must generally danger there might be gf prejudicing them against christianity, by the be so rendered, is very unwarrantable. º - indulgences against which he cautions them. c ſhe earth, &c,.] Some good copies omit these words, yet they have - SOME INDECENCIES IN THE CHURCH AT CORINTH REPROVED. 585 of Christ; and you will be in the way to please him, and to secure infinitely greater SECT. advantage from his favour, than you can ever be called to resign for the good of your 20. brethren. - IMPROVEMENT. - gº. WHAT exalted and generous sentiments are these! Well do they become every minister, yea, every disciple of Christ. What a glorious society would his church soon be, if each of its members was actuated by them not 33 seeking his own things but those of others; not pursuing his own interest but that of many, that they may be 24, 29 saved Yea, how happy would each particular person be in such a wise and tender care of the whole, beyond what the most eager and successful pursuit of a separate interest can render him Let us endeavour to steer in the due medium, between the opposite extremes of an excessive scrupulosity and a presumptuous rashness; and attend to the various distinguishing circumstances which will demand a correspond- 25, 27 ent difference of conduct, in things which may seem to an inattentive eye much the same: not thinking that atten- tion and caution needless, by which the glory of our God and the edification of our brethren may be promoted, 31 We may expose ourselves in consequence of this tenderness of conscience, to inconveniences, straits, and con- * . tempt: but let us commit all our concerns to that divine Providence which extends itself to all its works; and 26, 28 rejoice to think that the earth is the Lord's, and all its fulness: out of which he will not fail to furnish necessary supplies to those who fear him, and are thus solicitous to preserve a conscience void of offence before him. But while we are strictly cautious ourselves, let us not be rash and severe in our censures of others, who stand or fall #. their own Master, and who may in some instances have reasons to us unknown, for a conduct most different I’OIſl OURIS. Oh that divine grace may teach us all to govern our whole lives by this extensive, important maxim: that 31 whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we pursue the glory of God! Let us dignify and sanctify all the common actions of life by performing them from these high and holy motives; and so turning them into sacrifices of devotion and love. Then shall we not only avoid giving offence to others, but shall conduct ourselves in such 32 a manner as shall make us burning and shining lights in the world, and extend our sphere of usefulness far º that of our personal converse, and perhaps beyond the date of our precarious abode in this transitory WOrl O. - Thus glorifying our heavenly Father on earth, and finishing the work he has given us to do, we may hope through I Cor. his grace in Christ to be jºi with him above, and to be brought to a brighter image of that Saviour who has , * set us so perfect an example of the temper and conduct here recommended, which even the blessed apostle Paul followed only with unequal steps. - - SECTION XXI. - The apostle sets himself to reform some indecencies which had crept into the church grºinth: and particularly that of women prophesying with their head uncovered. l Cor. xi. 1 Cox. xi. 2. I CorINTHIANs xi. 2. jº. Pººl I HAVE just now exhorted you, my brethren, to imitate me, as I endeavour to copy the secT. #3: ..."; ...'...} example of our blessed Lord. And while I am giving you such an exhortation, Tought 21. gºes, as I delivered them to to express my satisfaction in seeing many of you so ready to comply with it. I praise you. - such of you, therefore, that in all things you are mindful of me, and strenuously retain the 1 cor. lºhº. charges I gave, as I committed ſº to you. But as to your inquiring concerning the man-, xi. jº."...º. ner in which women should deliver anything in public, when they are by a divine impulse 8 º, Yºkºi...º.º. called to do it; I would have you to know, in order to regulate your judgment and conduct and the head of Christ is God. . * = - º 2 *-- as , - So aright, that Christ is the head of every man; so that every christian should often recollect the relation in which he hath the honour to stand to him, as an engagement to observe the strictest decorum in his whole behaviour. And if the different sexes be compared, the head of the woman [is] the man, to whom therefore she ought to pay a reverent respect as in the Lord. ...And the head of Christ º God: Christ, in his mediatorial character, acts * in subordination to the Father, who rules by him, and hath constituted him Sovereign of all worlds, visible and invisible. And as the Father's glory is interested in the administra- tion of Christ, so is the glory of Christ in some measure interested in the conduct and behaviour, of those men whose more immediate head he is: and I may add, of these - women, whose heads such men are. w ºf. i. Now, upon this principle, I may say, in reference to the usages which prevail at this 4 §"išāśń "ß time in your country; every man praying or prophesying in a public assembly, whether he head. give forth inspired psalms or hymns, or utter predictions, or common instruction; if he o it with [his] head covered, acting therein contrary to the received rules of decency among us, he in a degree dishonours Christ his head,” as behaving unworthy his relation to him. º:...º.º.º.º.º.º. " er head uncovered dishon- 5 - T = - wied, dishonoureth man, who is her head, by behaving in such a *...*.*.*.*... manner as is indecent in an assembly consisting of so many men as are usually present on even all one as if she were - * = - - Sp g shaven. these occasions: for I may say, that it is in this respect the same as if she were shaped : shaving her head is only taking off the natural covering, and exposing it bare; which is so shameful a thing, that you know it has often been inflicted as a proper kind of punishment on women of the most abandoned character; and it is scandalous, that anything like this should be used in your christian assemblies; and this, too, by persons pretending to ex- 6. For iſ the wºman be not traordinary characters and assistances. I may therefore say, if a woman will not be veiled, 6 fºliº *...*.*, let her even be shorn; but if it be apparently shameful for a woman to have her hair shorn lºorshaven, or slaved off, let her keep as far as possible from so disagreeable an appearance; and have * Sas her head covered with a proper veil, at the times and in the circumstances of which we . Fºr a man indeed ºf now speak. For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, as being the immediate 7 not to cover his head, foras– ºr s - - - - - ºciºlis"ie".gººd image and glory of God, and made in his likeness as the first copy of its kind, before a £very man prayin; &c.;ith his head covered, dishonoureth his head..] which therefore the apostle disapproved. The women seem t - - a - - - - i - o have It was .9ertainly (as Dr. Whitby and others have proved) the custom worn their hair disheveiled, when praying by divine inspiration: (which ºº: the Greeks and Romans, as well as,the Jews, to appear in wor- seems to have been the only case in which they ºujśly ºil. jº: º Yº h i. ". º: : and it º º 'º Fº :) this †† jº resemble those pagan priestesses, who pretended S.Y99, a ºnd of, turban, when ministering in the temple. But it to be actuated by their gods; the apostſe therefore with great propriet seems that the Corinthian men wore a veil, out of regard to Pharisaical discourages it. gods ; p Ith great propriety traditions, and in imitation of the custom prevailing in the synagogues; - 586 SOME INDECENCIES IN THE CHURCH AT CORINTH REPROVED. SECT. woman was created. It is decent, therefore, that he should appear with the marks of that glory of God; but the woman 21. superiority which he indeed bears; but the woman should forbear it; and it is enough to say ****** of her, that she is the glory of the man ; to whom God hath done no inconsiderable honour, icon, as well as favour, in making so excellent and amiable a creature for his benefit and com- * fort. Yet still her state of subjection to him should be remembered, and it is very expe- 8 dient she should appear in public with some tacit acknowledgment of it. For the man is ...thºma is nºt ºf th; not, in the first º ôf his nature, taken out of the woman; but, as we read in the 3. * * * * the man. 9 sacred history, Gen. ii. 21—23.) the woman out of the man. Veither [was] the man created 9 Neither, was the man for the sake of the woman, to accommodate and assist her; but the woman for the sake of ..."... .º.º. * the man, that he might have a help meet for him, which before he found not in the whole the woman for the man. 10 creation. (Gen. ii. 20.) On this account, therefore, as well as for the other reasons I have 10 For this cause ought the mentioned above, the woman ought to have upon [her] head a veil, as a token of her being ...'...'...'" under the powerb and subjection of the man; and so much the rather should she wear it in worshipping assemblies, because of the angels who are especially present there, and before whom we bught to be exceeding careful that nothing pass which may be indecent and irregular, and unlike that perfect order and profound humility with which they worship in the divine presence. head because of the angels. zº 11 I have treated the matter with a plainness and freedom becoming my character: never- , 11 Nevertheless, neither is e -los * * the man without the woman, theless, let not any hints which I have dropped of the superior dignity of the man be ..."...". §. abused, to render him haughty and tyrannical; for it is evident that the man [is] not without the man, in the Lord. the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord. You know that the existence and comfort of either sex has a dependence upon the other; which the genius of the chris- .* 2 tian religion requires us to consider, and to behave in a manner corresponding to it. For 12 For as the woman, is as the woman [was] at first taken from the rib of the man, whom he ought therefore to love #º as a part of himself, and she to revere him, as under God the source of her being; so also, all things of God. in the ordinary course of the divine production, the man [is] by the woman, born, nourished, and in the tenderest years of life educated by her; a circumstance that ought to be ever most tenderly remembered, as a spring of grateful affection and regard. But let me add, that whether in the first creation or the successive production of human creatures, all things º of God; whose constitution ought therefore humbly and obediently to be revered, and all the duties of relative life performed, as for his sake and to his glory. , But with respect to the particular circumstance I was speaking of, I may leave you to a .º.º. judge of yourselves whether it be, according to the usages #. prevailing among us, ºi º"'" unto God uncovered 2 Jecente for a woman to pray to God with that masculine and confident air which she must I # revious to any reasonings upon it in our own mind? So that mature its each you, that on the one hand, for a man to have long hair, solicitously adjusted and artfully ** adorned, is such a mark of an effeminate character, as is, on the whole, a disgrace to him. self teach you, that, if a man Thave when her head is uncovered 2 Or rather, doth not the sight lº shock us, 34 Doth not exen nºture it. lf Seems to have long hair, it is a shame 15 Whereas, on the other hand, if a woman hath long hair spread over her shoulders, it is .15 But if a wººl, hº rather a glory to her; for her hair was given her instead of a veil, in the first constitution §§§ #: of our nature, and before the arts of dress were invented or needed. covering. 16 Thus the matter appears to me, when I reflect upon the original and the present state pºlº i. & be contentinus, we have no of things, and what seems from that to be the voice of nature. But if any one appears to such custon, neither be conientious, and will dispute this, upon his own different views of what is naturally **** decent, I shall not controvert it further; but content myself with saying, that we have here no such custom, for women to appear with their head uncovered; neither do I know of its prevailing in any of the other churches of God,” whether planted by me, or any of my brethren. I think therefore it ought to be avoidéd, as a singularity which may appear like affectation, and give offence, even if it be not judged a natural indecorum. And thus I leave the affair to your consideration; and promise myself, you will give me no further cause of complaint on this head. IMPROVEMENT. the LET christians frequently remember the honourable relation in which they stand to Christ as their Head; and ver. 3 as beyond all dispute he is, under his mediatorial character, most willingly and joyfully subject to God, let us | ican to imitate him in that cheerful and entire subjection, out of love and revérence to him, guarding against what- ever is unbecoming, lest he be dishonoured thereby. 14, 16 . By the passage 5éfore us, we see the force of custom for determining in many respects what is decent, and what is otherwise. Let us maintain a proper regard to this: lest even our good should be, through our imprudence, evil spoken of, and all our infirmities magnified into crimes. Let us often recollect the original dignity of our nature, by which we are the image and glory of God: that so far as by in and folly this honour is lost, we may endeavour to regain it; and where it is not, may think and act more sº to so high a relation. 10 When in any act of divine worship we have the honour to approach the ble ssed God, let us reverence his awful presence, and even that of his holy angels who attend the assemblies of the Sºints: We pray the will of God may be dome upon earth, as it is done in heaven : let us be careful to worship God in such a manner, that these celestial spirits, who ever appear before him with sacred awe, may not be offended at the rudeness an d folly of b Power on [her] head.] Mr. Locke acknowledges, with a modesty Dr. Whitby understands. it of evil angels, and thinks it tº tº the which does him much honour, that he did not understand this text; and punishment which lºve incurred, (Gen. iii. º for ... many seem to have darkened it by their attempts to º it.” But suggestions of Satan. A late ingenious writer by ayyeA (ov te the chief difficulty does not lie in the word power; whic must, to be spies; who, he supposes, cºme into christian assemblies to make ill- sure, be understood of a veil, which married women wore on their head, natured remarks, and so joujº be giàd to blaze abroad any indecencies as a token of subjection to their husbands, (see Gen. xxiv. 65.) gºd. Mr. they might observe there. Čšec Mr. Gough’s Diss. in loc.) have not àojº. §§ suppºses the veil was in Hebrew ºn tº sail these; but only add, iſ support ºf the sense which, called ``in, (Radid, ) from 'a root, nin, ( Radad,) which signified sub- as least §ºidable, Í'have foſlowed, that the Bºº, *::::::: * jection ; so that the veil was, as it were, the habit by, which a woman Igligious assemblies is favoured by Eccles. v. 1, 6. and the figures o showed she considered herself in subjection : and Chardin observes, that Cherubim in the tabernacle and templ e. - - rºº - y - the married women in Persia wear a peguliar habit to the Yºgy same c judge ºhether it be decent, &c.) The Grecian women, excepting the & “Tº sº. ** ſº * ** * * * ** * + A* ºr ºs º ºs I ºf ºf appear in their veils, when they came into jpost.” Chará. Fers. voi, ii. p. 187. It is much more difficult to heathen priestesses, used to - * ascertain the meaning of that clause, liccause ºf the angels, . It seems public assemblies; us We find in Homer, and many other ancient neither reasonable nor decent to explaia this of young ministers, as if writers. - - -, -, i. 2 i -> <- rs ºn r, el Av tº - -, 4" - - - - * rches.T Mons. Amyraut understands it in this they were in peculiar danger of being insnared by thº, beauty of Wºmen; d jvor any of the churches...} & vi º j'it is more grossly absurd still to suppose, with Tertuliian, (De Pet, sense: “The churches do not use to º y ith me; but § sºil to jºg. § 7) that there was any room to apprehend it could be a snarº to my decisions;...but the former clause, we have no Such custom, Will not 2 geºstajspirits ºwhich mistake seemed to be grounded on the wild in a ſmit this. The argument on the other interpretation is elear and terpretation of Gen. vi. 2, so generally received aftong the fathers.) strong. PAUL REPROVES THEIR ABUSES OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 587 sinful mortals; whom they may well wonder to see admitted, in their best estate, to this divine privilege, which secT. they have forfeited by repeated provocations. 21. As for what St. Paul observes of the mutual dependence which the sexes have on each other, let it dispose them to mutual candour and respect: avoiding the cruel tyranny, or the vain affectation, which often arms them, on 1 CoR. either side, with ungenerous reflections. And as all things are of God, let it be our concern that all things be to nº him; that all things be faithfully employed for his glory; and whatever comforts we receive in relative life, which ** are indeed many and important, let us adore the wisdom of the divine constitution in the original formation of our .."; and the secret influence and conduct of his providence, in the regulation of our respective circumstances & Il CI aſſàH'S, 2. SECTION XXII. The apostie, in order to reform several scandalous abuses of the Lord’s supper which had crept into the church of Corinth, leads back their views to the original institution of the solemn ordinance, and infers from thence the danger of profaning it, 1 Cor. xi. 17, to the end. -- * * * 1 Cor. xi. 17. 1 CorINTHIANs xi. 17. NOW in this that I declare THUS you have my free sentiments of the manner in which women, even when most sect. *::::::::::::::::::::::"; singularly honoured by God, should appear in your religious assemblies. But while I am 22. better, but for the worse. " giving [you] these instructions, I do not, and cannot, praise [jou, as I would, on several – T accounts; and particularly on this, that when you come together in these assemblies, and 1 cort. on the most solemn occasions, there are such irregularities, and sometimes such indecen- ... xi. cies, among you, that your meeting is not for the better, but for the worse, as you lose 7 ...ºft. more in religion one way than you gain another. For before I mention any other instance 18 jº.º.º.º.º. of this, I must observe, in the first place, that when ye come together in the church,” though tº souí and I partly be it is so evident that nothing but reverence to God, and love to each other, should reign on such occasions; I hear that there are schisms, or uncharitable and angry divisions and dis- putes, among you, and I do, in some respect, and with regard to some of you, believe it ; 19 of there must be alsº For in the course of things, it is to be expected that there must be even heresies among you:b 19 heresies. ..among you, that tions will ari h a heigh - - will ens T * !.”hiº.”. ºrj contentions will arise to such a height, that separations will ensue. The warmth of some tº be made manifest amons tempers evidently leads to this; and Providence may probably permit it, that they who are sy ºf vºe of the most approved characters, may be made manifest among you, by the steadiness and candour of their conduct. 20 When ye come together It is particularly grievous to me, to be forced to complain of your irregular behaviour, 20 #"...º.º.º.; while celebrating that most excellent and endearing ordinance of the eucharist: but I am per. compelled to do it; and therefore I tell you plainly, that when you come together in such a manner as you do, into one place, under pretence of attending this grand solemnity, it is 21 For in eating every one not eating the Lord's supper ; it does not deserve to be called by that name. Instead of 21 ... "...","... regarding it in a holy and religious view, you confound it with a common meal; and do and another is drunken” not indeed behave in the manner that decency would require if it were no more than a common meal: for though you sit down at what, even in that case, ought to be a social and friendly table, yet each has his particular mess, and without offering a share of it in an obliging manner to the rest, every one in eating, #. taketh before ſº other] his own supper, both the food and liquor, which he hath provided; and so while one poor brother, for want of suitable provisions, is hungry, another eats and drinks to excess;e which would in all circumstances be a scandal to a christian, and especially to a religious assembly, as this certainly ought to be. - 22 What? have ye, not PWhat a reproach is this to your common profession Give me leave to ask you, have 22 houses to eat and to drink e tº- - 5 iº dépiº ºbºi, Volt not houses to eat and to drink in on common occasions, that you must come to the * God, apdishame them, that place of public wº thus to entertain yourselves there, which is certainly in all views g : P W * - - - * * º $º .*.*.*, ver ill-judged 2 Or do you despise the church of God, which you must greatly offend by this 2 I praise you not. such a conduct as this ; and at the same time shame those that have not provisions and accommodations of their own, and might hope at your common meals to be relieved 2 What shall I say to you on this occasion ? Shall I praise you in this ſº ?], I wish I could fairly and honourably do it; but at present I praise [you] not ; I must rather blame you, and exhort you to amend what is so grossly amiss. 23 For, I have received of And that my admonitions and exhortations may come with the greater weight, let me tº §§§º lead back your thoughts to the original institution of this profaned and affronted ordinance, which if you reflect upon, I am sure you must be heartily grieved at the indignities you have offered it, and will be engaged to resolve you will never repeat them. Now I am able to º: of this matter with great certainty and exactness: for my knowledge of it did not depend upon any human tradition whatsoever; but I received by special revela- tion from the Lord! Jesus Christ himself that which I also delivered to jou in my former a Qong together in the clºtrºl.$ome, hºwe.ºrgºd this as an instance endeavoured to shame them.out of this low taste, by offering his provi in which church signifies a building for public, worship ; and have urged sions to all the company. Mr. Grove bath with 'great propriety men. also the 22d verse in the same view ; but both may be interpreted of the tioned a passage from Socrates the ecclesiastici historian, (tib. v. cap assembly, as the paraphrase shows. - * 22.) in, which he speaks of some Egyptians living near Alexandria, who There mºst bº creſt beliesićs. It seems exilent from henges that partook of the sacrament in a very peculiar mºnº, as i: sºmº, heresy is spoken of as squiethin; worse than the Schism mentioned above; after the Corinthian fashion) introducing it with a jovial feast, in which but whether it be an evil entirely of a different kind, or only of a higher they regaled themselves with li kinds of ºi.” "Sº" (š.”6.". degree, is not so clear, from this passages I think, for reasons not here Sacrament, p, ióš. y to be chumerated, that the word dipsa is signifies Q. Sect of people scparated d His own supper.] This monstrous and, to us, unaccountable circum- from others, and forming what we call a distinct denomination ; whereas stance, is cleared up by what is said above of the social suppers used there may be schism without separation, if people, assembling together annong the Greeks: to which each brought his own provisions, which have uncharitable coutentions with each other; which was the case of were not always made so common to the whole company as decency these schismatical Corinthians. - * * and friendship might have required, c. It is not egting the Lord's, stºpper.] The Corinthians seem to have © Prinks to excess.] The word Reflevel has this signification in a great been guilty of, two great faults in the matter here refered to, which,St. latitude ; but one would hope, that though the Jews and heathens were Paul, in the following discourse, laboºls to reform :-The ºne, that they often intoxicated in their refigious festivais, these chişliğiºujśnt confounded the Lord's supper with the common meals, they, made to- and irregular as they were, did not carry their excesses soº; and gether; (ſroºm whenge the love-ſcasts were afterwards, derived?) thinking therefore I chose to soften the version. Compare ºf note k. it sufficient (as the Quakers now do) if they mingled some thºughts of f I received by special revelation, &c.j This Epistie seems to have Christ’s death with this common, use of bread and Wine :-The other, been written before any of the Gospels; and it seems to be intimated, that they used such a rapacious behaviour at these feasts, and treated one , is 17, &c. that when he wrote it, he had seen none of the apostles. another so rudely and ºnkindly, as on their own principles, would, have It is very remarkable that the institution of this ºriº should make been very indegent. This, latter circumstance is finely illustrated in a a part of that immediate revelation with which tº honoured him; passage, from Xenophony (JMemor...lib. 3., caps Xiv Ş lº), in which he, ob- and it affords a strong argument for the perpetuity of it in the church. serves that Socrates was much offended with the Athenians, for their For had others of the aposties (as Barclay pºstºes to insinuate) mis: con in; t at their common suppers, as some prepared delicately for them- taken what passed at the last passoºr, and founded the observation of seſses, while others were but slenderly provided for. That worthy man the eucharist on that mistake, surei, Chist would rather have corrected X. 588 PAUL REPROVES THEIR ABUSES OF THE LORD's suppER. $897. Preaghing on this subject, in which, as in all things else, I have been careful most exactly Lord,Jesus, the same night in 22. tº adhere to my ºriginal instructions. And you know the substance of it was this ſºn., ºf: the Lord Jesus Christ, the very º night in which he was betrayed, and amidst all those bread: ºn serious thoughts which his own nearly-approaching sufferings must suggest, after he had 2. ºtºº. .. took º º, º * remainder of those unleavened cakes Inn feast is celebrated : ...And having, in a most reverent ma iven 24 y 1 - ? thanks to God, the great Author of all temporal and º tº: and . ; ºflºº, him for his blessing upon it for the purposes to which it was going to be appropriated, he ########: §ake [it] into several pieces, and distributing it to his disciples who were present, said, do in remembrance of me. Take this bread, and eat it with due reverence and regard; for this is the solemn repre: sentation of my body which is just going to be broken, by the most bitter pains and agonies, Jor you and your sälvation; this therefore do in all the succeeding ages of my church, as a CO7mmemoration %. the # that the memory of my painful death may be kept up in the ... world, and your hearts and those of all my faithful followers be properly affected with the 25 review of it. . In like manner also ſhe took the cup ; which, you well remember, was after 25 Aſtor, the same magner he had supped; so that it was by no means a part of that meal they had been making, but ; ;...}}}.}} something quite distinct from it; and he likewise distributed that to them as he had done the º º º brºad, saying, This cup is the solemn seal and memorial of the new covenmi which is estab. *śń"#####: lished in my blood, by which all its invaluable blessings are derived to you. This like- of me. Wise do, as often, as ye drink [it] in commemoration of me, and in order to maintain the - 26 memory of my bleeding, dying love in the church and the world. You therefore,h as often , 26 For as often as, ye eat as ºſe eat this bread, and drink this cup, do indeed perform a very solemn and important ºf action; for, according to his own interpretation and institution, you show forth, and as it till ºne Lora's were proclaim, the Lord's death in its most affecting circumstances; which the church must throughout all º continue to do until he come, to close the present scene of things, and to receive all his faithful servants to a place where, for ever dwelling with him, 27 they will no more need these memorials of an absent Saviour. So that, you see, by a gº, wherefºre whosoever further consequence, whosoever shall eat this bread or drink [this] cup of the Lord un- hº worthily, that is, in an irreverent manner, without a due regard to him, and to the great this shall, be gilty ºf the original purpose of its appointment, shall be counted guilt, 3, profaning and affronting in ****** Some measure that which is intended to represent the #. y and blood of the Lord; and Consequently the affront does evidently rebound to our Lord himself, who was pleased, with infinite condescension, for our sakes to assume human flesh, and to suffer in it. 28 Let none therefore come to the ordinance in a rash and irreverent manner; but let a man, 28 Butlet a man examing eramine himself as to his knowledge of its intent, and his desire to comply with its great §§."...'..."; design; and so let him eat of the sacramental bread, and drink of the cup which is used with cup. 29 it. Tor he that eateth and drinkein in an irreverent, profane, and unworthy manner," must , 29. For he that eateth and certainly displease and provoke God; so that it may truly be said that he eateth and jºſe; drinketh judgment to himself; he takes the readiest way to bring down the judgments of himself."º"discºning" the God upon him, not distinguishing the Lord's body, nor making that proper difference which * bódź. - he ought to make between that and common food. 80 And accordingly many of you have actually brought such judgments upon yourselves; 30. For this cause many are and I must plainly tell you, it is upon this account, and to manifest the divine displeasure ºº amous you, against you for such shameful irregularities, that God hath sent distempers among you, so "" “” that many of you [are] now weak and sick, and some considerable numbers of your society are fallen asleep in death. Survivors therefore ought to lay the matter seriously to heart, - 31 and set about an immediate reformation. For if we would #. ourselves” with a due 31 For if we would judge severity and impartiality, we should not surely be so severely judged and animadverted upon ºes, we should not be 32 by God. But when we are thus judged, it is not in a displeasure wholly inexorable, but "33"But when we are jugged, with kind designs of paternal goodness; and we are corrected of the Lord, that we may ...:"...?". "...".”. : be condemned with the impenitent world, and consigned over to final and everlasting demned with the world estruction. - 33 . Therefore, my brethren, in one word, when ye come together to eat in those feasts which 33 wherefore, my brethren, frequently precede the administration of this ordinance among, you, wait decently, and .º.º.; " 34 Hºly one for another, till the whole assembly be convened. And if any one be so 34 And Fany mininger, hungry, that he cannot conveniently stay till that time, let him eat at his own house:P or at ..º.º.º. least take a kind of antepast, that may prevent any inconvenience arising from a little necessary delay; that you may not come together to your condemnation, and in such a this error in his new revelation to St. Paul, than have administered such as that excellent French preacher, Mons. Superville, observes, (Serm. an occasion of confirming christians in it. For some notes which might vol. iv. p. 245.) it might as well º that the cup may be received have been inserted here, see 9. 172. - - - - without the bread, as the bread without the cup. So that it is surprising g This do, &c.j Because the word roteau signifies, in some few in- assurance in a late Popish writer to plead from hence that cognmunjon stances, to sacrifice, Dr. Bret would render it, sacrifice this ; whence he 9.9% kind only was the practice of the Corinthian church. See JMod. infers that the cºharist is a sacrifice. And a learned prelate in the Contº. P.109: - - - Council of Trent pleaded, with much the Jike judgment, that when m In an unworthy manner.] To receive to purposes of faction or in- Öhrist uttered these words before the cup, he ordained them. priests; temperance: Wàs e9elºé Very unworthily ; but the sense of that Nºa's ºvé hºm the brºad as ſaics. Sec. Father faul’s Hist. of the phrase must extend tº every manner of receiving contrary to the nature Council of Trent, p. 510. and design of the ordinance; and , consequently, to the case of doing it h Therefore, as often as ye eat, , §c.] It is plain that yap must here merely in *i;..." which I heartily pray that all concerned in it have the force of an illative particle: as it also has, Luke XX. 33. may flºº ºngº, - - - - º i Eat this bread, &c.j It is no wonder a text in which this element is 2,” §º #. º tº: . º º .*. alſ so i.ini, caiſed rºd after consecration, should be urged against the ºur ve; ºn 9 ºz º.º. YoºHºº enºred tº popish doctrine of transubstantiation. And it signifies iittie for them to tion. It has raised ### in tender minds, which has greatly obstructed § tº the Šćripture sometimes caſs things changed by the name the comfºrt and ºf ºtiºn, they, might hay?...ºggivºl, from this ºdi- of the thing out of which they were made, (as JAdam is, called dust, Gen. Tºgº. The apostle afterwards jº, we are judged, (that is, as he after- #. iś, źº serpent à roi, Exod. Vij}) or calls them according to wards explains it, ºre cºrrected) thag ice ºf not be cºndºnnég; which their sensible appearance, (Josh. v. 13. Mark Xvi. 5.) for 1hese instances #º. shows º judgments spoken of might be fatherly chastisements. Éeº."j them, by proving that where the literal interpreta- This in assiºdges indeed, expose us tº gondemnation, should god be - extreme to mark it, as an irreverent behaviour under any other ordinance : ---> -- ~~~~ w w ve recourse to the at iWe. * - - - - - - - tºp #º mºréasonabſe than to refer does; but it is superstition to set this at so vast a distance from all the ... * §ºrs jº"tº the time when Čhrist should come, by his rest, 3s many de; * - * * * * ####, º; on their minds, to take them pff from carnal or: o Judge ourselves.] Atakpuov, ver, 29, signifies, to distinguish ; here #: for, not to insist upon it, that we have at least as much need 6taxpayousy signifies, examining that we may distinguish, and judge of of the £orff's supper as the primitive christians had, (not having so many our own character and fitness for the sacrgment. Mr. Locke justly ob- advantages as they to keep up the º :hrist in our minds, tº serves, that he is little attentive to St. Paul’s writings who has not juicken us to holiness, and tº unite us in ſove,) it is evident the grand observed that he often repeats a word he had used before, though in a êoming of Christ by the Spirit was, when it was poured out on the gay sense something different from the preceding. §§§tegost; an event which had hapuened many years before the date P Let him, cat at, bis own house,], Mr. Amyraut, and Mr. Cradock of this Epistie. a' * - f (Apost. Hist, p. 174.) understand, this as a prohibition of lºve feasts: I or drink.) So it is in the originaj, i) trium; nor could our transla- but I think it evident from antiquity, they were retained in the church tors surely be under any temptation to render it, eat aſid drink to elude long after, though dubious whether they prevailed so soon. the argument drawn from hence for communion in one kind only ; since, ON SPIRITUAL GIFTS, ^*. 589 femnation.And the rest will manner as to provoke the judgment of God against you. It may suffice to have said thus SECT. **** *** much for the present on this subject; and whaft remains further to be adjusted, I will regulate 22. when I come to Corinth; which, if Providence answer my hopes and succeed my schemes, will be in a little time. - - gº. - I. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT just matter of thankfulness to our blessed Redeemer does that account of the institution of the sacred supper afford us, which St. Paul assures us he received immediately from him. Let us often reflect it was in that 23 very night in which he was betrayed, that his thoughts so compassionately wrought for our comfort and happiness; when it might have been imaginéd that his mind would be entirely possessed with his personal concerns, with the doleful scene of his approaching sufferings. We learn from this account, the perpetuity, as well as the great lead- ing design, of the ordinance. §. show forth the Lord's death, and we show it forth till he come. If we do in-26 deed desire to preserve the memory of Christ's dying love in the world, if we desire to maintain it in our own souls, let us attend this blessed institution; endeavouring, by the lively exercise of faith and love, to discern, and, in a spiritual sense, to feed upon, the Lord’s body. , Norlet any humble and upright soul be discouraged by these threatenings of judgment, to the profane sinners who offered such gross affronts to this holy solemnity; affronts, 29 which none of us are in any danger of repeating. These scandalous excesses, when they pretended to be wor- shipping God on this great occasion, might justly provoke the eyes of his holiness, might awaken the arm of his indignation. Yet even these sinners were chastised, that they might not be finally and for ever condemned. Let not any then be terrified, as if every soul that approached the ordinance without due preparation, must by necessary consequence seal its own damnation. Thus to attend the table of the Lord is indeed a sin; but blessed be God, not a sin too great to be forgiven. Let those therefore who, though they feel in their hearts a reverential love to Christ, yet have hitherto refrained from attending this feast of love, be engaged to come; to come with due preparation and self-examination, as to their repentance and faith, their love an obedience; then may they, with 28 the most hearty welcome from the great Lord of the feast, eat of this bread and drink of this cup; receiving it as 24 the memorial of Christ's body broken and of his blood shed for the remission of our sins. Through that blood alone let us seek this invaluable blessing, without which, indeed, nothing can be a solid and lasting blessing to us: and let us on every occasion treat our brethren with a tenderness and respect becoming those who have º ourselves and them as redeemed by that precious blood, and indebted to it for the hopes of everlasting Salvation. - In a word, let us never rest in the external rites or exercises of worship, how decently and regularly soever per- formed; but look to our inward temper, and to the conduct of our minds, if we desire to maintain their peace, and that our coming together should be for the better, and not for the worse. 17 3 2 SECTION XXIII. The apºstle comes to treat on spiritual, gifts; and introduces what he had further to say concerning them, by observing, that various as they are, they all proceed from the same sacred Agent, and are intended for the edification of the same body, in which all christians are united. T Cor. XII. I- I Cor. xii. 1. 1 CoRINTHIANs xii. I ºś IT is now time I should proceed to speak something concerning those spiritual gifts] secT. §;a; " " with which God hath been pleased so abundantly to blessº my Corinthian brethren : 23. and as to the right use and improvement of which, I would not by any means have you geniºriº ãº. Upon this head you in the general know, that during your natural state, before º- these iumčičiš, even as"; the cheering rays of the gospel broke in upon you, ye were heathens, without any know– o “ were led ledge of the true God, and carried by a blind, implicit credulity after dumb idols; which " were so far from being able to bestow on their votaries any supernatural endowments, by which they might be enabled to speak extraordinary truths, or in languages before un- known, that they were themselves destitute of the common powers of speech, or an capacity of perception and action. Yet you were blindly enslaved to the worship of such stupid forms, degrading as it evidently is to the rational nature of man; d just] as you were - led by the artifice of your priests, who found their account in your delusions. And I hope, therefore, you will always remember, that the unmerited goodness of God in be- stowing such gifts on persons who could pretend so little claim to them, ſays you under a º lasting obligation to use them in the most dutiful and grateful manner. nºgiº And therefore. I hope you will not allow yourselves to despise any of your brethren, 3 jº; thºspiñofć on account of their deficiency in them; since there is an important sense in which they ; : *...*.*.*.* may all be said to have been enriched by divine and supernatural influences. For I give is is the Lord, but by the you to know, and desire you to admit and retain it as a principle equally certain and Holy Ghost. weighty, that as no one, speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed;b and conse- ; all pretences made to the Divine Spirit by the Jews are notoriously false and etestable: so, on the other hand, no one can sincerely say [that] Jesus [is the] Lord ;e none can embrace his religion, and support the profession of it in truth, but by the power- ful operation of the Holy Ghost on his heart; and therefore, as you are all in a sense spiritual, it would be highly unreasonable that the greatest should despise the least, on account of any distinction which may have been made in his favour, especially when you 4 Now there are diversities consider who is the great Source of all. Now there are diversities of gifts in different 1 of siſts,” persons, but there is one and the same Divine Spirit, from whom they are all derived. 2 Ye know that ye wer a Therefore.] The force of this particle Öto seems to be this: I am John iv. 1–3; which seems, nearly parallel to this P}.} Dr. Owen careful to give you the following hints congerning spiritual gifts, be- pertinently observes, that the Jews sometimes całł Jesus tº, instead of cause in proportion to the degree in which God hath magnified his grace yitº"; concealing their blasphemy under the three initial letters of the in calling you from, idolatry to such, extraordinary privileges and en- words ºn how Tip", which signify, let his name and memory bc blotted dowments, I am solicitous you may be preserved from abusing them, out , which is equivalent to ºnalisma or, let him b frsed º: and engaged to improve them in the wisest and most faithful mariner. On the Sºir. p. 3. y v i 5 im be accursed. Owen, b. Calleth Jesus accursed.] Mr. Nºthaniel Taylor (0.42eism, p. 69, c Sincerely sail, [that].Jesus [is the] Lord.] Chrysostom well observes 61.) thinks this refers in i.” to the test put ºn shristians by their this phrase of saying that Jesus is the Jifessiah, must be supposed tº Bērsecutors, that they s ould not Qply #. but blaspheme, . Qhrist. proceed from true faith in him; and the expression is used tº Import a his the Géntiles indeed required. (See Plin. Epist. X.97. Euseb. Eccles. man’s being a true christian, because such strong temptations lay against Hist. iv. 15,), But I rather think this refers to the Jeys, who, while rofessing Christ, under this character; that they who maintained this they uttered º assinst Qhrist themselves, (l, Tim, i. 3.) and doctrine were in heart reaſ believers; though here flight"; "flºw ºf extorted them, if possible, from those they apprehended to be his dis- cepted instances." This seems as plain a proof sºoj; he desired, that #ºn 㺠º § º gl * the §§§ which %; ſº is the work of the Spirit of §. upon the heart. See the * - st out qevils; and perhaps they might imitate some ºr eſter to uthor - - - wnd guyſ! f #. ſex9ſcisms which christians under the operation of the Spirit per- 34–36. the Jº of Christiamuty not founded on Argument, formed. Such a caution might therefore be very useful." (Compare l - 5\}{} ON SPIRiTUAL GiBTS. sº #. º there are diversities of ºlºnistrations." there is ºne. and the same common 5 And there are differences º, whº appoints his ministers under their distinct offices, and gives them their powers, ºtrations, but the 1 COR, their ability, and their success. And though there are diversilies of operations and effects §". There are diversities * produced, yet it is one and the same God who worketh all these effects in all the persons ºf concerned; and they can pretend to nothing more than being the subjects, or at most the in ºil. Whil Cll W. Orket]) all instruments, of his almighty and universal agency. -> . But to evºy ºne of his believing servants who are thus honoured, is given, according to 7 But the manifestation of his wise and holy distribution, a manifestation of the Spirit: (for that our portion of gifts jºo ºvery may properly be called :) and this in such a degree as is most agreeable and profitable for O DTO 11t Withal, the interest of the whole, that all may harmoniously carry on the great design of glorifying 8 God, in the edification and happiness of the whole body. For to one, for instance, who 8 For to one is given by the is placed in the highest rank of the christian church, is given by the Spirit the word of ji. |... .º.º. toisdom ; a comprehensive view of that grand scheme in which the wisdom of God is so jºgºw- wonderfully displayed, that even angelic intelligences are continually admiring it: to inpther, by the same Spirit, such lower degrees of it as may be called the word ºf know- ledge;” whether respecting the meaning of the Old Testament, or other things in the christian plan which may render them superior to most of their brethren, though inferior 9 to the glass I mentioned above, To another is given such an extraordinary faith, by the 9 To another faith by the same Spirit, that he can commit himself to the divine protection in the midst of the ex-jºº. tremest dangers; and is thereby qualified courageously to assert the truth of the gospel, in gº neating ºut ºne the very face of its most violent persecutors: to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, in consequence of which, while under its operation, he can by a word or a touch 10 remove the most inveterate diseases: To another, the working of miracless of a different 10 To another the working kind, such as taking up serpents, drinking any deadly draught inhurt, and especially the ºl.º.º.º. ejection of demons: to another, the gift of prophecy; whereby he shall be able exactly to §§§º: företell some contingent future event: to añother, the discerning of spirits, so as authorita- i.º.º.º.º. tively to determine by what impulse any one speaks, who pretends to inspiration; or to - be capable of º; on the sincerity of men's professions, or their fitness for any public work to be assigned to them : to another, the gift of speaking with |...} º, of tongues, which he had never had the natural means of acquiring : and to another, the no less useful, though less splendid endowment, which we distinguish from the former, by calling it the interpretation of tongues ;h in consequence of which, a person shall be able to understand, and render into a known language, that which is spoken by a foreigner, , in a tongue with which neither he himself nor the other hearers have been acquainted. 11 But the one and the same almighty Spirit worketh all these diversities of gifts, dividing unto , 1] But all, these worketh every one severally as he thinketh fit; his wisdom fixes the scheme what this variety should §º.". sº be ; and his sovereign pleasure determines why they should be imparted to such and such severally as he will. 12 particular persons, rather than to . The variety, I say, is wisely appointed: for as 12 For as the body is ‘. the body is one, and yet hath many members, but all the members of that one body, many as º. they are, constitute one body united in one well-regulated system; so also ; Christ, that § bºin, map. are one is, the whole society of which Christ is the head ; and for the whole of which he may, as *** **** Christ. it were, be put, being indeed all and in all. For by and according to the operation of 13 Forby one Spirit are we one Spirit, we christians are all baptized into one bºdy, whether we be originally Jews or 'º','!'}; "...'. Greeks, whether slaves or freemen; the religion we before professed, whether true or false, ºthº.º.º.º.º. the rank which we now hold in life, whether high or low, makes no difference as to the ɺ sº." and point; our union with the body is the same ; and the same happy consequences follow from that union. ..And this in particular, that we are all made to drink into one Spirit;k as we drink of the same sacramental cup, so we do by our communion with ë. whose blood is represented by it, all imbibe the influences of the same Spirit, by # 1 which the divine life was at first produced, and is continually preserved. I say, we have 14 º not one all imbibed it; as the whole body may be said to imbibe thé wine which enters in at the "“”"" mouth, and descends to the stomach; yet it is not intended for the benefit of those mem- bers alone, but of the whole; so, in like manner, the body is not one member, but many; yet so united, that the Spirit, imparted to one, is designed, whether in its miraculous opera- tions or sanctifying influences, for the benefit of the whole. IMPROVEMIENT. LET us thankfully acknowledge the divine goodness, that we have not been led on, after the example of our ver, 2 pagan ancestors, to the vain worship of dumb and stupid idols: but have been taught from our infºney to adore 3 the living Jehovah. May we, in the most solemn and consistent manner, say, that Jesus is the Lord! And while our actiºns speak our regard to him as such, may it appear that our hearts are under the influences of the Spirit of God, by which alone men are brought to that divine temper. e # tº +] Let as often reflect upon those glorious attestations which were given to the truth of our holy religion, by that I 3 d Dicersities aſ administrations.) Calling them administrations or ries; such ºf the appeºpce of Christ to chapeg th: sº º gº services, (Štaxovicº;',) was a gent}e manner of reminding thern of the º º of the Jews, the man of sin, the bºast, YC. Silur. -- . * † 2 : * * * * l 4.” - - & gº *- - º gº - .* -; * r A $. * º e * * ºr * - º - i. tºº, º and so of reproving those w ino perverted # Faith..] Faith, as an extraordinary gift", 1:) this jº. }. l e iſºri ºf risdom—and of knowledge.] There are, perhaps, few texts the general signify, “a firm gº". ; ... *ś going in the New Testainent more tº Hicult than some in this chapter, and in the 805 particular time, to peºgºn jº, in confident dependence on a fourteenth of this Epistle, relating to the extraordinary gifts then in the about it without. any suspigºn, oi, iear, it church, which were at that time so well known as not to need explica- corrºpopdent divine §§"i"; "ifficult to distinguish this from faith, tion; and it is a noble instance of the get:uine º, aed molesty .. 5 H ###". §º es.] ūji it of some very extraordinarſ, of the apostle, that he did not expatiate on so grand a subject with any tº º łaine *.*.* Some sºils, drinking any deadly drauzbt uni- ºnnecessary parade. I think the late Lord Barrington, and after him ººlº such as º: jºi. . assing Over the patient, &c. Compare j}r. Benson, have inade it highly probable that the .769rd of apisdom was kºrt, curing º y * $.”; rather think, with Mons. Amyraut, that extensive plan of christianity, which was revealed to the apostles by Mark xvi. 18. Acts § & ) that evepympata ovarietov may refer to the jº Hº"Spirit. Sée Łarring. Misc. Saºr. Essay, i. p. 39–41. Bens. (in his excellent paraphrase,) Ina er ... over to them. This gift and Jºopſ ºf Christianity, yol. i. p. 40–46. , Bøt that the vºord of knowledge dispossésion of º º; iſã in faith 3 but ne rhaps jº sº was, as they, after Dr. Whitby, assert, (Misc. Sacr. ibiſi. p. 42–45, and that of healing: might le º: one or the other of these &#ects. - ... º.º.º. º.º.º.º..."; "ºf ~ : słalm C an Ci CSD & Chall ly pr *CS, I - " - * : I W = • *. * - * infernre- £º it º: be a lower degree of the word of tongues.] For the i. º: ºglauses, and the interpre yº. See Mr. Chandler, . On Joel, É. 133–137. In confirmation of tation here given, see º † do not so much express arbit §ºf opinion, it may be observed, that when pisdon anº. Kºolgºg i As he thinketh fit..] Bºat º: ise counsel press arbitrars (no-n and Ingº) are mentioned together, wisdon is generally put first, pleasure, as a determination founde GI] ºngº g as most gºeſieſt Compare, Eccles, i., 16. ii. 26, Isa. xxxiii. 6. xlvii. k Drink into one Spirit.] *; ºil. St., º refers to the jö."ºi.ii. 3. And it is well known that he highes; orders, of tºchers sacramental cup rather than the lº º º the i."ºff. ...”. i. Isºl were caiſed anciently ºper, wise men. ... See Deut. i. 13. xvi. spirituous, and in, a Iively manner represents the animating effects o 13. I Cor. i. 30. M. Saurin explains knowledge of a discerning aſ myste ößlood, and the Spirit communicated by it. HUMILITY AND MUTUAL AFFECTION RECOMMENDED. 591 diversity of gifts and operations with which its first teachers were furnished and adorned. Let us thankfully secT. receive their testimony, and thereby set to our seal that God is true. And let a view to that great design in which 23. all these wonderful things centre, engage us to study more a union of heart with all who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. ſn'him Greeks and Barbarians, bond and free, are united. His glory there- 1995. fore let all unanimously seek; and while his name is blasphemed by the ignorant and malignant, who cannot bear a . the purity of that religion which he teaches, may it so be defended by us, as at the same time to be exemplified and adorned. - - SECTION XXIV. The apostle, further to enforce that humility in the use of their spiritual gifts, and that mutual affection which the Corinthians so much needed to be further taught, goes on, in §.'...}} 3f the allegory used above, to représent christians as so united in one body, as po have entirely the same interest; and insists on a tender care of the least member, from its subservience to the good of the whole. 1 Cor. xii. 15, to the end. 1 CoF. xii. 15. 1 CoſtINTHIANS xii. 15. 4, &c. Fºllº. IT is of the highest importance, in your present circumstances, for the honour of God, and SECT. I am not the hand, I, am not º, hº; your comfort and edification in the use of the gifts with which God hath endowed you, 24. not of the body ? that I should further illustrate and enforce the observation I have just been making, that the body is not one member, but made up of the conjunction of many, which have various 1 Cº- offices and purposes. . None can therefore complain of its own situation, as if it were in- * significant; nor should any despise another, as unworthy of regard. As to the first of 15 these, if the foot should say, Because I am not the hand, but am placed in the lowest order, rest upon the ground, and am often covered with dirt, therefore I am not of the body ; is it indeed, for this, not any part of the body; or would it have reason to represent itself as on 16 And if the earshall say, this account an outcast P. And if the ear should say, Because I am not so visible, so beauti– 16 .*.*.*.*.*.*.*, ful, so useful as the eye, therefore I am not of the %ff. is it indeed for this reason not of therefºre motofthe body? the body? Is it not a .# important and useful part? Yea, is not the body far more per- fect, in consequence of the foot and the ear being what they respectively are, than it would 17 If the whole body were be if each of them were another hand, or another eye 2 For if the whole body [were, as it 17 * ºº::...}... were, an eye,” and a man could look at will through every pore; where [were] the hearing, i; wºmeºneſinº; that important sense, which admits so much pleasing entertainment and improvement? And if the whole [were] hearing, where [were] the smelling, a sense which, though less im- 18 But now hath God set portant than the former, is not destitute of its proper delight and its proper use 2 But now 18 flººr.º.º.º. we see that God, the great and wise Creator, hath placed the various members, every one of hem in the body, as it hath - 2 --> “…v. - : “. pleased him. them in the body as he hath seen fit; and his inimitāble contrivance, and overflowing good- 19 And, if they were all mess, is glorified in their variety and in their arrangement. But if they all were one member, 19 pºember where *** * or the members all of one form and use, where [were] the body ? How could it possibly subsist? What a monstrous thing would such a detached member be, if it could be sup- - * posed to exist alone P.Or if each member were to be transformed into that which might in º º itself seem most noble, how ruinous to the whole would such a transformation be 2. But 20 , yet pu * now, as ſº are] many members, there is in the union of them all but one harmonious, regular body, furnished for the various animal functions, and capable of a variety of sensa- 21 And the eye cannot say tions and actions. And no one of them ought to despise any of the rest; for the eye 21 º: cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; since by the hand the body is maintained to the feet, ſhave no need of and fed, and the eye itself preserved and defended. . .And again, the head, elevated as it is, y Ou. and so admirably furnished with all the nerves and organs planted in it, ſcannot say] to the most distant and extreme parts, even the iſ: mean as their form and office seems, I have no need of you; since by means of them, the head, and all the other parts of the body, are supported and removed from place to place. 22 Nay, much mºre those . But it may further be observed here, agreeably to the point which I have now in view, 22 members of the body, which 7 • ..". . . ."ºbſ... that the members of the body which appear to be weaker, than the rest, and perhaps are most necessary. delicate and tender in their structure, are more abundantly necessary, so that without them tº j :"...?. the animal functions can by no means be discharged. And so likewise with respect to 23 i.” "...?' '...."... those which seem to be the more ignoble and dishonourable [parts"] of the body, those we ºf surround with more abundant honour:d and those which seem our uncomely [parts,) have, i..'..."...ºniºt by virtue of the dress we put upon them, more abundant comeliness than most of the rest. ºut comely parts For our camely and graceful [parts] have no need of being so adorned, as they appear to 24 have no pºij. Godºh greater advantage uncovered: but God hath so attempered the several parts of the body jº; º; together, as to give a more abundant honour to that which is so formed as rather to appear hºt to that part which deficient; for by making the meanest part thus necessary, he hath entitled it to the care - § Fiat º ºut. ºÅ; of the nobleſſ, That sº there might be no schism in the body, no division of separate 25 ºś interests; but [that] all the members might have the same care of each other, as being each *śn. *. important part of the whole. So that if one member suffer, all the members suffer with 26 bet sº all the º j º . to º complaint ir. if one member be honoured and adorned, suffer with it ; or one member € 777.07??,067°S 7°C) 0766 ºl 7 I j inc º:fºll the members whole 3) C. t; the ornament of one part being looked upon as that of the rejoice With it. -- • * - - . . 3. Nowye are the body of Now to apply this to the purpose for which I introduced it: you are all the body of 27 gº and **** Christ, and members [each] in particular. And as God hath placed some members in more 23 iº àº. º hº eminent stations in the body; so also some christians, in the church. He hath placed in | in ŁR16. Cil S .*** - * - º * - e. * ...}}..."; the first rank, apostles; who are honoured with an office of the highest distinction, and furnished with endowments peculiar to themselves. In the second place are ranked pro- phets ; whose business it is to foretell future events, or to speak by immediate inspiration for the edification of the church. In the third, teachers, of a more ordinary kind; after! a [f the whole body [were] an eye, &c.] The apostle by this intends so necessary, that if they be obs in fa. in a tri probably to insinuate, that, were there no other gifts in the church but death jº. y be obstructed, intense torment and inevitable thos. Which they so much extolled in some of their teachers, it would be c Qur dishonourable [parts,) &c.]. It seems as if he had said, the face a very great disadvantage to the body. • on which the image of God is particularly stamped, we leave ºeſº b Appear to be weaker.] Some think this refers to the brains and but as for those parts which decency or custom teaches us to concºni, hopeſ ºf ich are very tender, and liable to many disorders. Others Woºntrive not only to cover, but aſso, as far as we conveniently can, understand it of the ièast muscular parts, or veins, arteries, and other 19 qdorn by covering. minute channels in the body, the least, obstruction in which would be d He surround with more abundant honours rovrots ripriv reptagore- *†ai. If more feeble be put for less noble, it º a very, obvious and paw Tºotſt0égºv.] Our version by no means expresses the force of the important sensº, relating to the channels by which nature has provided Greek idiom"here. - for throwing off the dregs; which, dishonourable as they may seem, are e If one member suffer, &c.] Bos, in his Exercitations on this text, 592 A DESCRIPTION OF CHRISTIAN CHARITy. SECT. gards those who are endowed, upon some particular occasion, with [miraculous] powers; teachers, after that miracles, 24. then the gifts of healing diseases by anointi & * ~ * : * - * then gifts of healings, helps gifts qf g y anointing the sick with oil, and praying for their reco. gººn,"äijti.” very. Besides these, he has endowed some with such extraordinary activity and sagacity, tonguês. ** as may fit them to be helpers in the management of charities; others are qualified by their XII. 2 prudence to be governments, by whose advice the affairs of societies may be steered and conducted in the safest and happiest manner: there are also wonderful operations, by which men are taught [differentjkinds of tongues, which they had never learned by any 29 human methods. Now as the offices of the church are different, the gifts by which men 29 Are all apostles 2 are all are fitted to discharge them are proportionably so. [...ſire all the members or ministers of ººlº Y. e i & all k * the ehurch ...; Yea, [are] all who are º to them prophets? Or [are] all are all Workers of miracles 2 that sort of inferior teachers whom I observed to stand in the third cſass? [Have] all those 30 [miraculous] powers which I have again and again mentioned? Or, to instance only in one , 30 Have *...#.º. 3 I Ver.18 of the lowest of them, have all the gifts of healing diseases in that extraordina healing 3 do all speak with which some have ... it? º: º tongues º they have ...; tongues do all interpret 2 9r do all others find themselves able to act in that iower sphere I spoke of before, and to *nterpret into their native language, or any other, what has been uttered in a tongue to them generally unknown? These things are well worthy your consideration; but instead of at 31 but covet earnestly the tending to them, ye contend earnestly about the best Ör most shinin gifts;h envying, and . . **ś it may be, detracting from the superior endowments of others. Yet Tºhoid !you a way of way. y Ou 8. In Ore excellent the highest excellence, to which it will be your greatest wisdom carefully to attend. IMPROVEMENT THE wisdom and goodness of God, as displaved in the formation of the human body, is a subject that well de- serves our attentive reflection and humble acknowledgment. All its several parts are useful to the whole; and the 20 most noble cannot upbraid the meanest as an encumbrance. Each has reason to rejoice in its own situation, as Well, as in the addition of all the rest; and were the lowest placed higher than it is, it would become useless, burthensome, and monstrous. - Let us acknowledge the same hand in the wise subordination appointed in civil societies and in the church of Christ. Let none be discouraged at the low station wherein they are fixed, but rather let all acquiesce in the pru- dent and gracious disposal of the supreme Lord, and apply themselves to their proper functions. Let each member consider all the rest with pleasure, and rejoice with thankfulness in the health and vigour of the other parts, makin the proper use of them, and communicating in return its proper services. If any be weak, let all strengthen it. ff 23 there be any blemish and imperfection in any part, let all the rest tenderly cover it, unless when a regard to the health and happiness of the whole requires that it should be laid open and searchéd in order to its being cured. 25 And upon the whole, so far as we can prevent it, let there be no schism in the body. Alas, that there should be 2 8 SECT. 25. I COR. XIII. 2 the noisy clank made by 1 so many breaches and contentions! Let us lament them; let each in his place endeavour to heal them; and unite in a sympathizing care of one another. So shall we best express our regard to our common Head; so shall we, in the remotest consequences, best consult our own interest and honour. * Blessed be God that he hath in his church given not only apostles and prophets, but also pastors and teachers! Adored be that bounty with which he hath scattered down his gifts, whether ordinary or extraordinary, on the chil- dren of men. Let all be used, not to the purposes of ostentation, but of edification. And let us be desirous of those whereby we may bear most of the image of Christ, and may most promote the great design for which he visited this low world of ours, and was j to unite his church unto himself, and its several members to each other, in such dear and indissoluble bonds. -3 - SECTION XXV. -* To engage the Corinthians to cultivate charity as more excellent and important than any of those gifts about which they were so ready to con- fend, the apostle gives a most lovely description of it; which he concludes with a reflection on its perpetual duration, in which it exceeds even the graces of faith and hope. I Cor. xiii. throughout. 1 CorINTHIANS xiii. 1. 1 Cor. xiii. 1. . - & e ifts THOUGH I speak with the I HAVE been urging you to pursue something more excellent than any of those gifts ºrieſ. *::: alſº about which some among you have been so ready to contend; and I have recommended jºi. it as a more excellent way. That of which I speak is the incomparable and divine grace ºns” of Love, which indeed is not only of the highest excellence, but of absolute necessity. For if I were to speak with all the variety of tongues" which are used amºng all the nations of mén, and were capable of employing them even with the eloquence of angels, and knew their celestial dialect, but have not loveb to God and my fellow-creatures, be my strains of discourse ever so harmonious or ever so sublime, I am become but sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal,” at best but like an instrument of music, and hardly worthy to be com- pared to an instrument of the nobler kind. So little delight would any of my most pomp- ous performances give to God, or to any of his most valuable creatures, who should know that'love was wanting, that I might as well think to recommend myself to acceptance, by 2 brazen instruments, in the worship of Isis or Cybele. And if, 2 And though I have the me them, and to throw them out of their episcopal office. See Clem. º, collected many parallel passages from Seneca and other heathen #. to the Čor. 344. the b ifts, &c.] I doubt not but this $º, F#er —governments, &c.] I think we can only guess at the mean: ...'...", º: º 3. f ...; #oº'º. * #. ºisºjº, principles on which to proceed in fixing is the just rendering of KnAovre Tax ſ: Pl h É had b howi #. §§ §. I'...º.d'ºhai seemed to me most probable in quite gontradictory...to suppºse that after the apostle *h *: OW ; #;". i. ev. Th. Althºjijianea Sacra thinks much light, is them that these ſiſts ¥ere nºt their own option, º; 3. º: º .*. lº jºij with verses 28–38. the order not to, emulate the giſts of each other, nor to * O º y; he to be ºf §eśvii. ja: offie"other; but the order of the should in effººt ºns; all agań, finº, #"y#. º: º º: *ian ºis #. in the two places, demonstrates the Gontrº: I a Sp with the tongues, &c.] Dr hitby shows, Dy, a g y - & irable quotations, both from Josepnus and the Jewish, rabbies, how jº met with no ºnark here which seems more pertinent than that of ; .# of these 'things was regarded by the Jews, which St. Paul * * sºlº # * : * s º' * - I - me persons might, possess many it ºri º º º; j. ºt; ; wº: here #ºf i.º: gº ºil." ####red charity. It --> r, sº 3 or alled helpers, in reference to their •J . * * * & ;º; jº. in ğs. ; and governments, must here, be taken in the noblest sense, for. º 3. º to ; º #. to that genius for business, sagagity, in judgin; the circum- church and the whole world as arises from principles of true pićly, an - ls and resolu- ultimately centres in God. stances of affairs, and natural authority, in the Coung. ccasions inkling climbal.] Mr. Locke very justly remarks, that as a cym- tions of societies, which rendered them fit to preside 90 such o bi º; #: hiº of hollow brass, which being struck together * sf/os ? t this invidious temper was - s * g º - oči ::::::::::::::::::3% &####,'ºn by this just and º§. #. & º, #, jº #. jºi. * ~ * * wº-i t . them many year8 alter, InSta. s 5 º 1 jºy - j;; ;..."...# them to neglect a due monious instrument of music. See Commentar. de Cymbalis, at the end Fº tº jošº presbyters who were, according to divine direction, fized of Fortuita Sacra. A DESCRIPTION OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. &vſt of Drophecy, and under- d all - - - e - #.. jº # the most distant and important future events; and know these mysteries which have ave all faith, so that I cou b - - e º remove mountains, and hay hitherto been concealed from the most penetrating and illuminated eyes; or have all the not charity, I am nothing. - g inquiries; and if, joined with this, I have all the most miraculous faith,d by virtue of which I should be able to produce effects that might amaze the whole world, so as to re- move mountains from their basis, to transport them from one part of the earth to another, and to change the whole face of nature with a word; but with all these wondrous endow- ments, have not love, simple as that principle is, and º mean as it may be esteemed, yet for want of it I am nothing” in the sight of God, and have in reality no true 3 And though I bestow all my, goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me no- thing. will signify any thing, if this inward principle, which should be the life of all, be wanting; for if I distribute all my goods in alms for the sustenance of the poor, and deliver up my body to be burnt in defence of religion itself, and do it from a secret design of human ap- plause, and ostentation of charity or of piety; but have not in the sight of God that love to which I make so high a pretence, I shall receive no advantage by it ; but in the day of final account, my Judge, instead of applauding and rewarding me as a saint and a martyr, will condemn me as a wicked and vain-glorious hypocrite. 4 §§ suffereth long, and is kind; charity, envieth not ; charity vaunteth not it- would imagine the description of them should be enough to charm the whole world to self, is not puffed up, pursue it. Sufficiently must that show how happy it renders the soul which is under its influence, as well as how amiable such must be both to God and man. For love suffereth long injuries [and] provocations, without being transported into rage, or instigated into revenge. On the contrary, under all this ill usage it is gentle and kind. Love envieth not the advantages which others enjoy ; but rather takes pleasure in them, and by friendly participation makes them its own. Love is not insolent and overbearing,f does not act with such precipitancy and rashness as pride and ill-mature often hurry men into ; but engages us with tenderness to look round on those about us, lest we should by any means harm them before we are aware. Love is not presently puffed up with arrogant self-con- ceit, on account of any distinguished station or peculiar endowment, which a man may ossess; nor outwardly boasteth of these things, or inwardly overvalueth itself upon them. 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is , not easily provoked, cumstances. I love seeketh not her own things, but makes all reasonable concessions in thinketh no evil; * any point of self-interest, where any superior interest of others is concerned. Love is not erasperated, and thrown into bitter and implacable resentments, even where the usage it meets with is most apparently unjust; and where the intention is dubious, it imputeth not evil; but puts the kindest construction upon the action itself, or the principle from whence 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, ***** not at iniquity; it takes no pleasure to see an adversary fall into a crime by which his re- putation j be blasted and his interest ruined; but, on the contrary, it rejoiceth with others in the truth, and is pleased when its greatest enemies behave themselves in a manner agreeable to the word of God and the reason of things. Far from delighting to blaze abroad the faults of others, it covereth all things that are amiss, so far as it can lawfully conceal them; all which benevolence to the public, or kindness to an individual, does not require them to make known. It is not apt to suspect the integrity and veracity of others; but rather, knowing itself to be sincere, believeth all things, so far as with the most candid allowances it rationally can ; and where it is constrained to confess that many things are wrong, it is unwilling to treat the worst of mankind as utterly incorrigible; but hopeth all things, and with that hope supports itself in every kind effort it can make for their recovery; and as it is long-suffering with regard to human provocations, so from the hand of God it endureth all things, even the most sharp and heavy afflictions, acquiescing in his will, - trusting in his care, and rejoicing if its own sufferings may be a means of consolation and edification to others, 7 Beareth all things, be- lieveth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth : but whether there be prophecies, they shall ſail; whether there be tongues, º shall cease ; ywhether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. it is a grace which never faileth, but will accompany and adorn us to all eternity, and in- deed makes a very essential part of our preparation for the heavenly world; in which it hath an apparent advantage over many of those gifts which some are so ready to emulate and pursue, to the neglect and injury of love. But whether men admire prophecies, it is fit they should know they shall be abolished, when the faith of God's people shall no longer need to be encouraged, nor their devotion to be assisted, by such exhortations and instruc- tions as are necessary now ; or whether they boast, themselves of the variety of tongues, they shall cease in those celestial regions; one speech and one language shall prevail among all the blessed inhabitants, and the languages of earth be forgotten, as too low and imper. fect. Yea, I may add, that a great deal of that knowledge which we now pursue with the greatest eagerness, and which is very conducive to our present usefulness among mankind shall then be abolished, and superseded, as referring to things altogether antiquated an passed away, or swallowed up in discoveries so much clearer, stronger, and more import- 9 For we know in part, and ant, that it shall appear, in comparison of them, as nothing. For now we know but in we prophesy in part. part, and we prophesy but in part; there is a great deal of obvious imperfection attending d Most miraculous faith..]. As it is here supposed that this faith might in fact be separated from love; it cannot signify the same as in the Épistle to the Romans, where it is such an assent to a divine decla- ration as produces a suitable temper and conduct. - e I am mothing.] person so eminently favoured by God as this description supposes, yet destitute of true piety and benevolence, must be very contemptible, and justly odious. f is not insolent, &c.j The Greek word Tepirepos, from whence the verb here used is derived, signifies, rash and inconsiderate; so that, the word must here import, “one, that acts with such precipitancy, and in- consideration as pride and ill-nature often hurry people into,” which charity would preserve them from, and induce that tenderness and cau; tion which engages us to look about us, that we may do ourselves and others no harm. - g Doth not behave #. I thinking of the venerable Mr. Hales’s º cannot read this passage without story of the lancet concealed in a sponge, in order to open an º part alarm. to the patient, who dreaded the º: ‘there is great reason to believe, that in all this description the apostle had in his mind that contrast to this beautiful character which was so prevalent among the Corinthians, as is evident from many passages in both these Epistles. h Knowledge shall be abolished.]. This cannot refer to all kind of knowledge ; for the noblest shall be much improved., Some think it here signifies that of Old-Testament mysteries, which will be superseded in that world where scripture shall be of no further use; and hence some have further argued for that, interpretation of the word gf knowledge which was spoken of above. (Chap. xii. 8.) But the explication given in the paraphrase seems more natural and unexceptionable. To trace the gradual openings of the Ghristian, scheme through the various dis- pensations of God to the church, may be an important part of the celes- tial happiness. without giving any exactest knowledge of religion, or any other object that can be º the subject of my 1 CoR. worth and excellence. And I may further add, that no external act of charity, or of zeal, 3 Indeed the properties of this love which I am now recommending are such, that one 4 ove doth not behave indecently,3 in a manner unbecoming a person's station, age, or cir- 5 it proceeds, which the nature of circumstances may by any means allow. Love ºfoiceth 6 And further to recommend this excellent principle of love, give me leave to observe, that 8 9 593 besides those gifts of tongues and eloquence, I have that of prophesying, so as to foretell SECT. 25. XIII. 594 SECT, 25. 1 COR. YIII. 11 12 13 Ver. 4, &c. 1, 3 A DESCRIPTION OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. all our knowledge, and all the services we can here perform for God and for his church: But when that which is perfect is come, as in the heavenly state it shall, then that [which is] 10. But when that which is ºnly in part shall, be abºlished; all these slow and unsatisfactory methods of obtaining jº. knowledge, and all the little stock we have here laid up, shall be exchanged for the most º is 1n part Shall be done extensive views of whatever, it can be desirable to knów, opening upon the mind in the most easy, clear, and delightful manner. It shall indeed be like a state of adult age, when compared with that of feeble infancy. 11 when I was a child, I Just as when I was a child, I spake as a child would naturally do, a few imperfect words, ºff hardly at first articulate and intelligible, and often in themselves unmeaning. I was affected Šiššº'hºa. . as a child, thrown into transports of joy or grief on trifling occasions, which manly ſeason #. P' "wº “h” soºn taught me to despise; I reasoned as a child, in a weak, inconclusive, and sometimes - ridiculous manner. But when my faculties ripened and I became a man, I put away the things of the child, and felt sentiments, and engaged in pursuits, correspondent to such advancements of age and reason. Such shall be the improvements of the heavenly state, - in Cºmparison with those which the most eminent christian can attain here. For we now 12 For now we see through see the most noble objects of our intellectual view in an ambiguous and obscure manner, as ... "...º.º. Yediscern distant, objects by means of a glass or mirrori which reflects only their imper- ºt lº...how even fect forms, so that (as when riddles are proposed to us) our understandings are often con- ***** founded with the uncertain and indeterminate appearances of things. But then we shall See, not the faint reflection, but the objects themselves, face to face, in as distinct a manner as We could wish. Now I know, [but] in part, and though the light of an immediate revelation from heaven has been imparted to me in many instances, and in an extraordinary manner, I am sensible how great a part is still kept under the veil. But then it shall be taken off, and I shall know even as also I am known, in an intuitive and comprehensive manner; so that my knowledge shall bear some fair resemblance to that of the divine being, which, while our notices of things hover about their surface, penetrates to the very centre of every object, and sees through my soul, and all things, as at one single glance. And thus upon the whole it appears, and I hope you will remember and consider it, that, 13 And now abideth faith, there now abide these three most excellent graces, faith, hope, and love ; each of them far ;Pºº"; º tº: to be preferred to the most shining gifts about which you can contend. But the greatest charity. of these graces [is] love; which most directly transforms us into the image of God, and wº shall continue to exert all its influence, when faith is superseded by sight, and hope y enjoyment. - IMPROVEMENT. SURELY after having attentively surveyed the beautiful description which the apostle gives us of this divine grace, love, it cannot be necessary that its cause should be further pleaded. It speaks for itself; speaks to our very hearts. But oh, who that enters into the description must not mourn that its angelic form is so much a stranger to multitudes who bear the christian name ! So that in many instances it can hardly pass uncensured; while those extremes which most evidently violate it are often consecrated under honourable names, and men build much of their hopes of heaven on breathing what is indeed the temper of hell. How many that style themselves christians, can endure no provocations, can cover no faults of their brethren, can keep themselves within no bounds, can believe nothing to their advantage, against whom, on party principles, they have entertained preju- dices ! They vaunt themselves, they are puffed up with the conceit of their own wisdom, they behave unseemly, they seek only their own reputation and profit, they believe the worst they can hear of others, and suspect more than they hear; they envy those whose endowments and stations are superior to their own, and instead of labouring themselves to excel, they affect by calumny and slander to bring down their brethren to their own level, or rather, as far as possible, below it. Alas, that the dictates of our divine Master, and the #. of our religion, are so little understood, are no more regarded! and that we so entirely forget the precepts of christianity, as not to remember even those of common humanity - Yet surely if these precepts are wholly forgotten, it is in vain that we remember or contend for any of its doc- trines and principles. As all languages and gifts, so all knowledge and faith, is vain, if it be separate from love, by which true faith always operates. - Let us cultivate love more and more, and so much the rather as it is a plant of the celestial paradise ; which will 8–10 there for ever flourish, when tongues shall cease, and that knowledge on which men value themselves highly shall utterly vanish. The ripeness of adult age, and the knowledge of the most improved sciences, human or divine, is 11 but as the trifling of an infant, when compared with that manly and perfect state after which we are aspiring. The 12 dim mirror of faith shall then be laid aside; and the truth of the objects now so imperfectly discerned, shall in SECT. 26. 1 COR. XIV. full lustre be presented to our eye, purged from every film, and strengthened for a brightness which would now overwhelm it. In the mean time, attending humbly to the narrow limits and necessary obscurity of our present knowledge, let us not be puffed up in ourselves, let us not despise others; but by a modest estimate and a faith- ful improvement of such degrees of light as God shall be pleased to afford us, let us press on towards the regions of eternal day; where in his light we shall see light, and where, amidst the fullest communications of his love, we shall for ever love him and each other, with ardours which the best hearts, in their best moments on earth, can neither attain nor conceive, - SECTION XXVI. The apostle cautions the Corinthians against that yain ostentation,of the giſt.gf tongues which was sg Fºlº among them ; and reasons with them concerning the absurdity of the manner in which that gift was abused by some oft 1—19 em. 1 Cor. xiv. 1–19. I Corr NTHIANS Xiv. 1. I Cor. xiv. l. I HAVE exhorted, and I would still exhort you, my brethren, to pursue love,” to cultivate FOLLOW after charity, and it to the utmost of your power in your own breasts and in all around you, not grudging ; thiſ...y;h. any labour necessary to promote so excellent a cause. Yet I would not lead you to slight any inferior endowment by which the edification of the church may be promoted..., I, per- mit you, therefore, zealously to desire spiritual [gifts, so far as submission tº God, the great Dispenser of them, and love to your brethren, may admit. But I would especially - - * * - - so this war women’s looking-glasses, or mirrors of metal, out i By means of a mirror.] This is the exact rendering of ôt’ coaſt rpg. use this word for the I jº;; y is Weiſknown that the use of dioptrig glasses in telescopes did figt 9 which Moses made T. E. ; VIII. S. . . #. f fin fter the date of § Epistle. And the LXX a Pursue love.) The word 6, okere properly signifies, to “pursue ON THE ABSUR.IDITY OF PRAYING IN UNKNOWN TONGUES 595 urge you to desire and pray that ye may be enabled to prophesy, in that sense of the word SECT. in which we commonly use it, to express the gift whereby we are enabled to explain 26. Scripture, and publicly to discourse of divine things in an instructive and edifying manner; for by this }. may hope to do the greatest good. For he that speaketh in a tongueb un- 1 cof. known to the auditory to whom he addresses †elf speaks in effect not to men, but to 9 °W. God; for no one else present understands [him ;] and as God alone knows the truth and importance of what he says, so it is all lost on the audience, though in the Spirit he speak the most sublime mysteries. Hºhereas he that prophesieth, in the sense in which I now use the 3 word, that is, discourses of divine things in a known language, speaketh to men, and affords them edification, and echortation, and comfort, according to the particular tenor and con- tents of what he says. And thus, on the most favourable concessions that can be made, 4 he that speaketh with a tongue edifies himself” only, if peradventure his own good affections may be awakened by the truth he ferventſy delivers; and the consciousness of that mira- culous power which he feels working in him, may further establish his faith in christianity; but he that prophesies, while he has a share of this advantage, edifies the church also, by taking those methods which are most likely to promote the number of its converts, and to doº to those who are already gathered into it. or my own part, far from envying any of your gifts, I wish them increased, and indeed 5 that ye all spake with tongues, in as great a variety as I myself can, or as God hath imparted the gift to any man living: but on the whole, I had much rather that ye might all pro- phesy; for when we come to consider the different cffects and tendencies of these different gifts, we must own that, with respect to the prospects of usefulness, by which these things are much to be estimated, he that prophesieth [is] greater than he who speaketh with tongues, which the auditory cannot underständ, except he interpret what he says, that the church may receive edification: and even then, his speaking with an unintelligible tongue is but - an unnecessary encumbrance, which it would be much more modest and prudent to omit. Ui § Nº. ºf Vow, as perhaps you will apprehend this better by an example, suppose it were your 6 tºues, whº shii'ſ profit own case, brethren : if I came to you, the next time I make you a visit at Corinth, speak- ::::::::::"...º.º. ing to you with a variety of unknown tongues, what shall. I profit you, who are supposed § hºprophe not to understand me, unless I speak not merely in your hearing, but to you, that is, in a sy ling, or py (iOctrine : language with which you are acquainted? Else all is absolutely lost, whatever my message may be, whether I speak by the revelation of some gospel doctrine and mystery, or by knowledge” in the explication of some controverted text in the Old Testament, or by prophecy in the prediction of some future event, or by doctrine for the regulation of life 8.In Ci IſlanllerS. Hé * *...*ś So also inanimate things which give a sound, whether it be pipe or harp, or any other in- i.e; ºthº strument of music, unless they give a due distinction in the variety of sounds proceeding from 㺠º them, how can it be known what is piped or harped 2 . How should dancers be directed by is piped or harpedº music, unless the proper tone and modulation be duly maintained 2 Moreover, in war, if 8 a. *.*.*.*.*.* ... the trumpet give an uncertain sound, so that there is an undistinguishable mixture of vari- shall prepare himself to the ous kinds of notes, who should prepare himself to battle? Could soldiers know when to battle: . advance or when to retreat, unless the trumpet’s sound be adjusted and constantly adhered º to 2 So likewise in your religious assemblies, unless ye utter by the tongue significant words, 9 tº tº be indºod, how to which the ear of your auditory are accustomed, how shall it be known what you speak 2 §§§ºnſ. For ye shall be in that case as those that speak to the air, or make a mere inarticulate j. noise; and I leave you to judge how absurd it would be to bring such unmeaning sounds into the worship of God, as ye would not endure in the common affairs of life. There may be ever so many sorts of language in the world, perhaps as many as there are 10 persons in your most numerous assemblies; and none of them is without its proper ºft. 2 For he that speaketh in hn waknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but, unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. 3 But, he that prophesieth speaketh, unto men to edifica- tion, and exhortation, and comfort. 4. He that speaketh in an wnknown tongue edifieth him- self; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. 5 I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied : for greater, is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. 7 10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. S cation among those that use it; there are great numbers that inhabit the same region who perfectly understand it. Yet inless I knºw the proper force and import of the particular II language which is used in my haaring, no one can converse with me, and I shall in vain ask an explication in my own ; for I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh [shall be] a barbarian to me: and if the language be ever so copious, harmonious, expressive, and polite, I shall hardly be able to distinguish it from that of the most unpo- lished savage. So that, on the whole, I must urge it upon you also, that seeing ye desire 12 spiritual [gifts, and are ready to vie with each other in the excellence of them, ye seek to abound [in them] for the edification of the church, and not merely for your own honour, ac- cording to those rules of honour which you may too rashly lay down to yourselves. Therefore let him that speaketh in a tongue generally unknown to the congregation to 13 ll. Therefore iſ I know not the meaning of the voices shall be unto him that speak- eth a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto Ine. 12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual giſts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. 13 Wherefore let him that - • } & 4 3. k - e º ** * 4. - ::::::"...a "hº"he"; which he would address himself, pray that he may be able rather to interpret the discourse terpret. of another, than to amuse, or indeed amaze and weary, the audience, by the ostentatious exercise of the gift he has already received, and with which he is fond of making a vain tºº. ºś. parade. For iſ ſpray in a strange and unknown tongue, without making use of any expli- 14 §§§ is cation, my spirit indeed prays, and I may have true devotion of heart towards God, as I unfruitful. understand the language myself; but my understanding is in this respect unfruitful as to others, and I perform an action void of that prudence and good sense which ought al- with an eagerness like that with which hunters follow their game.” And - nigst honourable and favourable to the person reproved ; as Hector as- it may be intended to intimate how hard it is to obtain and preserve such - cribes the rei rest of Paris ſtom the battle to resentment against the a truly benevolent spirit in the main series of life ; considering on the Trojans rather than to cowardice. Hotn. Iliad, lib. vi. ver. 326, and one hand, how many provocations we are like to meet with, and on the Eustath. in loc. * other, the force of self-love, which will in so many instances bo ready d Hº that prophesieth, Šic.] IHow happily does the apostle teach us to break in upon it. - - to estimate the value of gifts and talents, not by their brilliancy, but b He that speaketh in a tongue unknown, &c.], Dr. Whitby thinks that usefulness. , Speaking with tongues, was indeed very serviceablé for the gifts of languages and prophecy were always to be found in the same person; but that the first was permanent, the other transient. Yet it seems to me very conceivable, either might be without the other. The miraculous instamping, as it were, Qu, a man’s mind a new language, would indeed enable him to speak all he kney in it; but his fitness to discourse in public, as well as his capacity of predicting future events, were matters quite of another nature. * * * c Edifies himself.] After all that is said in the º to prove that this might be possible, it was much more probable, that a man might be hurt than edified by the exercise of this º when attended with such, ostentatious circumstances. But the apostle, aggording to that happy address for which he was so remarkable, makes his supposition spreading the gospel abroad; but for those who stail at home, it was much more desirable to be able to discourse well on useful subjects in their own language ; which might serve more for the improvement of the society they belonged to, and the conviction of such of their unbe- lieving neighbours as might out of curiosity happen to step into their assemblies. Compare ver. 23–25. e Revelation, or knowledge, , &c..] ... I am not certain how far different ideas are to be affixed to each of these words; or supposing that how far these are the º ideas intended by each; |. I could think of no more proper explication; and must number this among the many texts which I dare not pretend fully to understand. - f Understanding unfruitful to others.) This I think a more natural in- 596 ON THE ABSURD1TY OF PRAYING IN UNKNOWN TONGUES. SECT. ways to gº in my addresses to God, and act so childish and foolish a part, that the 26. reason of a man may seem at that time to have deserted me. What then is [my # in 15 What is it then? I will the these circumstances 2 Truly it is plai • , - 17 × 2. • * pray with the spirit, and y it is plain enough ; it requires me to say, I will pray wif will pray with the under: £25 spirit, exercising the faculties of my own souſin devotion; but I will ray with the under- standing also: I will sin XIV. standing also.” I will sing the praises of God with the spirit; but I will sing them with § ºf *ś wnderstanding also, and will take great care to mingle no foolish, trifling action, unworthy also. the dignity ºf a rational creature, with my prayers or songs of praise. And it becomes you especially tº consider this, who are so proud of yourTown wisdom, and yet in some respects act so foolish a part. ** 16 Moreover, whoever thou art who actest in this ostentatious manner, consider a little, for .16 Else, when thou shalt the further illustration of this argument, the situation of one of thine own hearers. If º; i.","..cº". thou givest thanks, for instance, in the spirit, in the manner that we now suppose it to be 'º. done, that is, in an unknown tongue, how shall he that filleth up a private place, and should º'º". join with thee in thy devotion, say .4men to thy thanksgiving, seeing he knows not what thow what thousayest Sayest? You know it is customary for the audience to pronounce their Amen: now it seems a very absurd not to say hazardous thing, for people to testify in such a public and 17 solemn manner their consent to, and concurrence with, they know not what. For we will 17, For thqu verily givest grant that thou indeed givest thanks well, and that there is nothing improper either in the jºi..."," the ºther " sentiments or expressions, if they were understood; nevertheless the other is not at all edi- º or improved, in order to which it is absolutely necessary that he should know what is S3.101. * 18 For my own#. I thank my God, and desire to mention it entirely to the glory of that 18, I thank my God...I r blessed Being from whom all . gifts and talents are derived, that I speak with tongues #;"...h.” ” more than you all, even the whoſe society taken together, and am distinguished from m other brethren in this endowment, in proportion to the more extensive commission which I have received to bring a variety of nations to the knowledge of the gospel, and persuade 19 them to embrace it. But in a christian church, when assembled with them for the pur- ...}} ſet in the church I hid Ve: poses of public devotion, I had rather speak five plain words with my understanding in a ". ...”..."; rational manner, that I might teach others also, and promote the edification of those who iſ vºnight teach others were joining with me, than ten thousand of the most pompous and elegant words in an ſun- hº words known] tongue, though uttered with the greatest readiness, and expressing conceptions ever so excellent; yet I had rather be entirely silent in an assembly, than take up their time, and prostitute the extraordinary gifts of God to such vain and foolish purposes. And I heartily wish I may be able to bring you to the same reasonable way of thinking; which *. be much to the credit of your own understanding, as well as of your christian pro- €SSIOIł. f Mi’ROVEMENT, How weak and poor a thing is pride and ostentation, and how wise and honourable charity and humility 2- 2 Who that has a right discernment would not rather have been the obscurest christian, that now, almost unseen, joins our assemblies, and, in heart at least, humbly puts his Amen to the petitions presented there, than the most fluent talker at Corinth; abusing the special gifts of the Spirit, and trifling away, in an unseasonable display of his own then unprofitable endowments, the precious moments which were destined to the highest purposes of religious edification ? Who must not lament to see pride and vain-glory so early insinuating themselves into christian societies 2 Who must not, from so sad an instance, learn to be greatly watchful over their own hearts, on a side where they are subject to such dangerous attacks 2 13-16 Had the most able and zealous protestant divine endeavoured to expose the absurdity of praying in an unknown tongue, as practised in the church at Rome, it is difficult to imagine what he could have written more fully to the purpose than the apostle hath here done. And when it is considered how perversely the papists retain the usage of such prayers, it will seem no wonder they should keep the Scriptures in an unknown tongue too. But they proclaim at the same time their superstition and idolatry in so universal a language, that even a barbarian might perceive and learn it in their assemblies. Let us pity and pray for them, that God may give their prejudiced minds a juster and happier turn. And since we see the unreasonable and pernicious humour of immutably adhering to ancient customs, prevailing to maintain in the church of Rome so flagrant an absurdity as praying in an unknown tongue, let it teach us to guard against every degree of the like disposition; and not so much consider what hath been the practice of any church in which we were educated, or have chosen to worship, as what the reason of things and the authority of Scripture concur to dictate. 18, 19 Of this wise and benevolent apostle let us learn to estimate the value of gifts by their usefulness, and to seek above all things the edification of our brethren; especially if we are providentially called to minister in public. 3, 4 There is perhaps a manner of speaking in an unknown tongue, even when the language of our own country is SECT. 27. Icon, manly way of thinking, with respect to these spiritual gifts which are the occasions of so XIV, 20, used ; a height of composition, an abstruseness of thought, an obscurity of phrase, which common christians can- not understand. Let not the ministers of the humble Jesus seek such high things; but in this important sense of the exhortation condescend to men of low estate. If the ignorant may be instructed, if the careless may be convinced, if the vicious may be reformed, if the devotion of our christian brethren may be excited, their love to each other cherished, and their holy resolutions confirmed, the great ends of divine ordinances are answered; and that plainness of speech which may be most like to promote them, is rather the glory than reproach of the christian Orator. - SECTION XXVII. St. Paul gives proper advices for preventing that abuse of the º of º: which he had been reproving in the preceding section. 1 Cor. xiv. 20, to the end. 1 CorINTHIANs xiv. 20. -- 1 CoR. xiv. 20. :4. * - * - ore noble and BRETHREN, be not chil- MY brethren, permit me to be the happy means of forming you to a more no dren in understanding: §: - ion than that which sopposes the apostle to, suggest a thought words which he did not himself understand; in which, case & man must tº: partists urge to º: the absurdity of prayers in an im- be, in the most extraordinary, sense that can be conceived, the mere or- jº ºngºe, namely, “There may be some general, good affections gan of the Holy Ghost himself. , - working, where the person }*. does, not particularly understand g Pray agith understanding.] Mr. Locke and most other commenta- what is says.” But this would make it almost impossible to conceive tors seem here to have lost, the sense and high spirit of the apostle in joy the gift of tongues could be abused, if the person exercising it was this clause, when they explain ev vot as if it. merely signified a manner ºãer suſ...}, an extraordinary impulse of the Spirit as to utter sensible intelligible to others. "I apprehend it is designed further to intimate PAUL's ADVICES FOR PREVENTING THE ABUSE OF THE GIFT OF TONGUES. 597 many unbecoming emulations among you. Do you desire to be distinguished in the SECT church 2 distinguish yourselves by solid wisdom; and be not, as this ostentation of tongues 27. would show you to be, children in understanding :” but in malice, indeed, be as much as possible like #. infants; have all the gentleness, sweetness, and innocence of their tender i CQR. age; but, as ye have arrived to years of maturity, in understanding be perfect [men :) for 2: ". that religion which the gospel hath now taught you, far from impairing any of the natural faculties, rather exalts and improves them, and directs them to the highest and noblest wº; use. To return to the subject we were upon; you know it is written in the law, that is, 21 ... "...: # "Hijº. in the Old Testament, (Isa. xxviii. 11, 12. where God had been complaining of the .."; ###". #º teachable disposition of the Jews,) “Surely in foreign language, and with ſº eign lips, saith the Lord. will speak unto this people; and even so they will not hear me, saith the Lord:” which may be considered and interpreted as an intimation of the purpose God had of sending one last message to them, by his servants endued with the gift of tongues. So that, according 22 to this intimation, tongues are a sign not to believers, but io infidels. The gift was intended ... º.º.º.º. to propagate the gospel among those who were strangers to it, not to edify those that had not for them that be- - sc c º - º iºno, but for them which already believed. Whereas, on the contrary, prophecy [is] designed, not for infidels, but believe. believers, to edify churches already gatheréd in which respect it is nobler, and more • 23 If therefore the whole worthy your pursuit. But as there is a manner of using this gift of tongues, which would 23 ‘.....jº.''}; even pervert the original end for which it was given, and obstruct rather than promote the tºngue; and herº.com; in conversion of infidels, I must observe, therefore, that if the whole church be come together #:º: § into one place, and all speak with a variety of unknown tongues, and any of the uninstructed, that ye are mad : or in other words, the infidels, come in, when they hear such a confused jargon as this must be, will they not presently say that you are distracted, and adopt the censure which was at first so rashly passed in the day of Pentecost, that these men are full of new wine? 24 But if all prophesy, and (Acts ii. 13.) Jºhereas if all prophesy, and an infidel or ignorant man (for I esteem every #º. ...'... one ignorant who is uninstructed in the great mysteries of the gospel, whatever else he he is onvinced of all, he is may know) comes in, he is convicted by all who thus speak; he is judged by all ; every one ingº; *i. are the secrets says something to which his conscience bears witness: And so the secrets of his heart are #. º; made manifest,” in a manner to him very surprising and unaccountable; insomuch that § he will wºrship Gºd, sometimes a person who comes into your assembly out of mere curiosity, or possibly with § {..} : ****** some ill design, is not able to command himself under the impression which the word of God thus spoken makes upon them; and so, under the power of it, falling down upon [his] face, he will worship that one living and true God whom you adore ; declaring that this ever-blessed God is indeed among you; and perhaps, immediately professing on that ac- count his resolution of joining himself to you; and proclaiming afterwards wherever he comes, in what an extraordinary manner he has met with the divine presence, and what a wonderful impression hath been made upon his mind. Now surely, that degree of honour which is brought to God and his gospel by one such effect of prophesying, should appear far more desirable to you than any applause or admiration w; you can receive from your fellow-christians by the exercise of your most splendid gifts. I might also urge upon this head, the great disorder .. is introduced into your as- semblies by this ostentatious manner of proceeding: for indeed, if you think seriously, what a shocking thing is it, my brethren, that when you come together for the purposes of social worship, in which all hearts should unite, each of you is desirous himself to officiate publicly, in such a manner as best suits his present inclination, without any regard to decency and order? Every one of you hath a psalm to read, hath a doctrine to inculcate, hath a tongue in which to preach or pray, hath a revelation of some mystery to produce, hath an interpretation, which perhaps he immediately begins, while the person from whom he is to interpret hath but begun to speak, and thus five or six, if not more, may be speaking at the same time; in consequence of which no one can be distinctly heard, and the assembly degenerates into a kind of tumultuous riot. , I beseech you, my friends, to rectify this, and to proceed upon the general canon, which I would recommend to you upon all such occasions, Let all things be dome, not for ostentation but for edification,” in such a manner as you do in your consciences believe will be most like to do good to the souls of men, and to build up the church of Christ. one Jnterpret. And in particular, if any should speak with an unknown] tongue, [let it be] by two, or sºlete be pointer at most [by] three, in one meeting, and that by course; and let some one present still inter- proteºiethin keep silence in pret what is said. But if there be not an interpreter, let him be silent in the church,5 where beit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that be- 26 How is if then, brethren? hen ye come together,every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, bath a tongue, hath a reyelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. 26 27 If any man *; Ill iſl unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course ; and let 2 7 what a want of manly sense and right understanding it must betray, to talk in a language the hearers could not take im, how sublime soc vor the discourse might be. This the 20th verse, and especially the use of re)\etot there, strongly suggests. a Children in understanding.] This is an ad;1:irable stroke of true oratory, adapted to strike and bring down the height of their spirits, by representing those things in which they were most ready to pride them- º: as comparatively childish.--The word viſita' ºrc refers to in- fants, and is not sufficiently expressed by the word children, for they are sometimes vain, and sometimes malicious too.—TeXzvot signities full-grown men ; intimating it was a kind of bouisiness, if I may be al- lowed to use that word, to emulate and quarrel yith one another. b In foreign language, &c.] Most critics refer these words, as they stand in Isaiah, to the Babylonians, who should cothe aid speak to the Jews in a language unintelligible to them ; in which sense the phrase is used elsewhere, Deut. xxviii. 49. Jer. v. 15. Dio:ſati thinks the mean- ing is, “Because they would not attend to plain messages, God would speak to them by such, as they could not, understand:” and then the apostle’s argument will be, “Since God threatens this as a curse, do not voluntarily bring it upon the church, nerely to make, ostentation of your own gifts.” But perhaps the apostle in this application intends to give us the true, though not most obvious, interpretation of the words. - - - - c Secrets of his heart arc made manifest.] It is very possible that (as in the known cases of Nathaniel, and the woman of Sainariu, John i. 47. iv. 18.) some secret facts, relating to a strºnger, might in some instances be revealed to the prophet :, perhaps the ill designs which had brought them into the assembly, when they came only as spies : and this was well suited to the purpose of producing strong couvictions of the pre- sence of God with christians. But I chose to paraphrase the words in such a manner as to, include any remarkable correspondence between what was spoken, and the thoughts and state of the mind which such a stranger might be conscious of \lany memorable instances of which wanting not be another tongue; which the distinction between the gift still happen, where ministers preach in an experinicntal manner; and lasting effects have often been produced in consequence of such impres- S 1 Oil S. d Five or six, &c.] Five such cases are mentioned. It seems pro- bable that some of these christians were so full of themselves, and so desirous of exercising their respective gifts, that without waiting for the permission and direction of him who presided in the assembly, (which in the sy.pugogues the apostles thornselves seem to have done ; compare Acts xiii. 15.) Several began speaking or singing in the same minute, and some began while others were speaking. The manner in which discourses were carried on in the schools of the philosophers, where se. veral little kno's of disputants, seem so to have been engaged at the same time, and, what happened in Jewish synagogues after worship was concluded, might possibly have given some occasion to an irregularity which to us seems so shocking. e Pºme for Cºlification.] I ºmust presume to say, that it appears pro- bable to me, that had one oficer been appointed as a representative of the apostle, to whose direction the society would in conscience have been obliged in all indifferent matters to submit, some hint would have becm given of it, amidst the many opportunities which the state of this Corinthian church especially gave both to St. Paul, and afterwards to Clemens Romanus. f Let atte interpret.). In this method it is evident that any discourse thus delivered would take up more than twice the time in which it might have been delivered, had it filst been spoken in a known tongue. g If there be no interpreter, let him be silent.) Dr. Whitby thinks this was only enjoined to avoid the ostentation of a man’s speaking first in an unknown tongue, and then acting as his own interpreter; but I think it evident from this text, compared with verse 13. that a man might have the giſt of speaking with º, who could not interpret: and the great difficulty is to say, how this could happen, and yet the thing 0. tongues and the interpretation of tongues seems to demonstrato that % 5\}S SEC'i'. 27. H CO. R. XIV. * 3 {) 3 2 34 3 t) 36 37 3S 3 9 SILENCE OF WOMEN IN RELIGIOUS ASSEMiBLEijš E.j (; ; , E he can do no manner of service by uttering what none but himself can understand: and let him speak to himself and to God; let him make use of this language in his own private devotions, if he has a mind by exércise to keep up his readiness in it; but let him nºt pruduce it so unreasonably as in the present case. And as for those prophesyings which we chiefly speak of when scriptures are explained; let only two or three of the prophets speak in, one assembly ; and lei the rest judge and compare one doctrine with another, for the further improvement of all. Bºt if, while the discourse continues, [any thing] be revealed 9 gººthº, that, sitteth by, let him not immediately arise and interrupt ifie first, but let him sit still till he have done, speaking.h For by this means ye may all, who are thus furnished for it, prophesy one by one, ihat your instruction and consolation may not be thrown away, which would be the case if many were speaking at once; but all may learn, gid, q} may be comforted. And there is no impossibility of doing this; for the Spirit of God that inspires you is not a wild, irresistible impulse, like that by which the ythian priestess, and others who profess inspiration and prophecy among the Gentiles, pretend to be agitated; but the spirits or inspirations of the christian prophets produce those calm emotions which are subject to the prophets; they leave a man'master of himself, so that he can moderate his passions, and wait the most convenient time and manner of uttering his oracles. , For God is not [the author] of disorder and confusion, but of peace and regula- Tity; and this orderly method of proceeding I the rather urge upon you, as it is practised in all the other churches of the saints; and I should be sorry that you, my Corinthian friends, should be remarkable for the irregularity of your proceedings, when Godhath been pleased so graciously to distinguish you by such a variety of gifts, and the flourishing state of your society. * * * bºy it jour women be silent in your religious assemblies, if they have not some extraordinary Fevelation; for it is not comingnly permitted to them to speak on such public occasions, but it is their duty to be in subjection to the superior authority of the man: as the law also §§3, in recording that early sentence on Eve and her daughters for the first transgression, 5 (Gen; iii. 16.) To him shall be thy desire subjected, and he shall rule over thee. And if thºſ, have a mind to learn the meaning of any thing which they cannot well understand, let them ask their own husbands at home, as they may more conveniently and freely talk with them without any appearance of ostentation, or suspicion of any other ill principles: but let them not break in upon the assembly with questions; for it is evidently an inde- cent thing for women to speak in the church,i and suits very ill with that modesty and re- serve which is so universally esteemed an ornament to the sex. I, know the present custom among you is contrary to some of these regulations, and perhaps some opposition may be made to them: but permit me to ask, Did the word of God indeed come out from you?k Are you the first church in the world, by whose ex- ample all others should be modelled? Or did it reach to you alone? Are you the last and the only christian society, that you should take upon you to act in so singular a manner 2 The gospel came from Jerusalem, it is going all over the world, and therefore I must ad- monish you to behave with such a modest respect to others as becomes those who know yourselves to be but a very small part of that nóble and extensive body. . And if any of you appear to be a prophet, or spiritual [person] endowed with extraor- dinary gifts above his brethren, let him prove that he is indeed under the influence of the Divine Spirit, by his submission and obedience to these determinations; for he must ne- cessarily acknowledge, that the things which I now write unto you are the commandments of the Lord, dictated by inspiration from him, and not the private conception of my own mind. But if any one is, or affects to appear, ignorant or uncertain about it, let him be ignorant: if he pretend not to own these decisions, I shall not enter into any debate with him; let him stand by the consequence of his ignorance, whether real or affected. But I am confident that most of you have received proofs of Iny mission too convincing to be shaken by any petulant opposition which may arise against it. Therefore, my brethren, to conclude this long discourse, and to sum up the point in a few words, desire, chiefly, to prophesy, and yet forbid not those who are willing to do it under such regulations as I hive advanced, to speak with tongites; for it is a noble endow- ment, which I would encourage none to slight or neglect. But especially remember this great comprehensive rule, to be applied to a thousand varieties which may arise, Let all Rhings be done decently,” and according to order: let all be conducted in a régular manner, to prevent such disturbances, disputes, and scandals for the future, as have already arisen in your society, and will proceed to greater evils, if you do not immediately set upon re- forming them. j}. the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. 29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. 30 If any thing be revealed tº anothºr that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. 31, For ye may all prophesy one by, one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prol,hets. 33 For God is not the author 9f confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. ,34 Let your, women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto thern to speak; but they are command- ed to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35 And if they will learn any, thing, let them ask their husbands at home : for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. 36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only 3 37 If any man, think him- self to be a prophet, or spiri- tual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the command- ments of the Lord. 3S But if any man be igno- rant, let him be ignorant. 39 Wherefore, brethren covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. was not. I can only offer a conjecture here, which it becomes me, to do with the greater foodesty, as I this, k it is a pretty singular, one : (as 40 Let all things be done decently and in order. inning diately hold his peace, as soon as another,iptimates that he has a revelation;” it would introduce a confusion which this advice was in- indeed the diſfiguity itself, great as it is, has seldoºn been stated by corn- mentators :) The iniracle which conferred the gifts of tongues seems to have been the instantaneous impressing on the mind the familiar and perfect knowledge of a language with which the person was beſoſe un: acquainted; yet so, that from that time the person receiving it should e able, without any new miracle, to use it as he thought fit; and this, as Dr. Leland well observes, is the only hypothesis on which the abuse of this gift can be accounted for. (See Leland azainst Morgan, vol. i. chap. xiii. p. 375.) . But I apprehend that though every main using this giſt, and understanding what he said, must have been able to have Ten- dered his discourse, sentence by sentence, in o his native language, he might be unable to render it into a third, which might be that of mºlny present. Now in such a circumstance the gift ºf interprelation. Inight take place, if it consisted, as I conjecture it did, in an instantaneous capacity of understanding a strange language just for that time, and reñdering what was spoken in it into the native tongue of the inter- preter. (Compare the paraphrase on chap. xii. ver. föj On this hy- pothesis, and truly I think on this alone, one who had the gift of inter: retation might not be able to speak any foreign language at all 3 and ſº who had the gift of a tongue might not in some cirgumstance be able to interpret to those who were then his hearers. In this case the giſt ºf interpretation, enabling a man, only to act a secondary paſt, would be Jess splendidº; but whenever, it was exercisel, it would alway; argue the person under an immediate agency of the Spirit, and conduce to his usefulness. - - h Let the first have done speaking..] So I think at yardo must here be rendered; for if the direction had been, “Let him that was speaking tended to prevent; and I think such an interpretation equally incon- §§ with reason and the connexion of the place. Compare ver. * Vºx *...)".) • i Women to speals, &c.] There is an apparent difficulty in recoli- citing this with chap. xi. 5, 13. in which §. apostle seems to grant a liberty which he here deuſies. Besides the solution suggested in the paraphrase on verse 34, some have thought he intended in the former assage only to say how women should speak, if they spoke, at all ; but are, absolutely to prohibit their doing it; but I cannot think, he would debate an:l adjust the circumstances of doing an unlawful action. Taking this prohibition to be universal, I should suppose, with Dr. Whitby, that prophesying, in the foregoing place, signified singing psalºns, and praying, not leading the devotions, but joining with others tn prayºr". - k Did the gord, &c.] . That Scoticism, Hºhether did the word of God come forth from you alone 3 would be the exactest version of m aq.” vp. 6);', &c. | Let him be ignorant.] Dr. Whitby would render ayvoetto), let him mot be acknowledged to be a true prophet; but that is changing the inter- pretation of the word in a manner one would not choose to admit with- O Ult greater the cessity. - - m Decently, &c.] It must be by a mere accommodation that this ex- pression can be applied to ceremonics which may be decent or inde- cent, according to different circumstances attending them: In the sense given in the paraphrase, the words are used by the philosopher when he exhorts men to consider the exact order and regular motions of the heavenly bodies, that they may thereby learn to evaxmpov Kat ro ON THE CERTAINTY AND IMPORTANCE OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. IMPROVEMENT. 539 How fondly do men flatter themselves with empty appearances! And often how justly do those deserve the SECT. imputation of childish folly, the height of whose temper will least allow them to bear it! Let us dare to examine ourselves impartially, and be concerned that we may not be children in understanding: but forming our minds on 27. the maxims of Scripture, and our lives on the example of Christ, may we grow up in him to the measure of the 1 cop, stature of a perfect man. Butlet us be children in malice: let us endeavour to be as free from every gloomy, XI.Y. malignant, selfish passion, as new-born infants are. Who can say he has fully attained this happy and amiable 20 character? Yet let us follow after it, remembering that there is a sense in which (proud and interested, envious ºignant as, alas! we too much are) we must become as little children, or we cannot inherit the kingdom Of Uſ O(1. Those extraordinary gifts which suited the first planting of christenity in the world are now ceased; but let us bless God they were ever given, and that we have such an incontestable evidence of the truth of the gospel as this chapter affords. Such endowments must certainly argue a divine power setting its seal to the gospel; and the reality of such endowments can never be qugstioned, when we reflect on the manner in which the apostle here re- proves the abuse of them: and that in a society where so many were alienated from him and his ministry; and consequently, where such º if not founded on the strictest and most apparent truth, must have exposed him to a contempt never to have been removed. These miraculous gifts, having abundantly answered their end, are wisely withdrawn; yet still the divine pre- 24, 25 sence is with the church; of which we have this happy proof, that there are those who find the secrets of their hearts made manifest by the faithful and skilful administration of christian ordinances; so that if they do not pub- licly fall down upon their faces in such extraordinary transports, they inwardly adore the Lord God in their hearts, and acknowledge that he is with his church of a truth. May instances of this kind be more frequent, and may the spirituality and fervour with which divine ordinances shall be administered, be such as may afford more reason to expect them : Let us regard God as the Author, not of confusion, but of peace; making it our concern to behave in his sanç- 33 tuary in a manner agreeable to this view; with such solemn decorum, and with such a tender regard to the edifi- cation and comfort of each other, as he may approve. May the God of peace deliver christians of every sect and rank from that spiritual pride which has thrown many religious societies into great disorder. And to advance a state so happy as that of humility and love must necessarily be, may what the apostles have written be acknow- ledged as the commandments of the Lord, and christian worship and practice be more regulated by their truly 37 authentic canons; which would render many that have been since devised, relating to indifferent matters, as un- necessary as some others are burdensome, superstitious, and absurd. SECTION XXVIII. The apostle enters on his discourse concerning the resurrection of the dead; which he intrºduçes with some remarks on the certainty and im- portance of Christ’s resurrection. I Cor. xv. 1–14. 1 Cor. xv. 1 I CorINTHIANs xv. 1. MOREQVER, brethrenide; THERE is one topic more that remains to be handled, of those concerning which you secT. §h''...}..."..."; write to me; I mean, the great doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; which I perceive which alsoye have received, some among you begin to doubt; whether seduced by any Jewish teachers of Sadducean and wherein ye stand; Jº a > * as a mean and unworthy hope.” But I make known unto you, brethren, and remind you of the gospel which I have preached to you at the very beginning of my ministry among you; which ye have also received with readiness and delight, and in which ye may be said to stand, as much of your establishment in christianity will depend on your retaining it in 2. By...which also we are its genuine simplicity and purity: By which gospel also, whereof the doctrine of the 2 tºº. resurrection makes so considerable a part, ye are happily brought into the way of being tº se have believed it completely and eternally saved, if ye faithfilly retain" those jouful tidings which I delivered - wnto you ; unless indeed” ye have believed in vain: which will certainly be the case, if ye - let go that great anchor of your soul which must support it in the fierce storms and tem- 3 For 1. delivered, unto you pests to which you will here be exposed. For I .. ;:..."; };"éº ciples] which I inculcated when I came to preach the gospel among you what I have also jºins accordins to received," and been taught by divine inspiration, that Christ died for our sins according to he scriptures: the Scriptures of the Old Testament, in which he was foretold and represented as the 4, And, that he was buried, great sin-offering; (Isa. lifi. 6, 12. Dam. ix. 26.) .4nd I also instructed you, that he was 4 and that he rose. again the third day according to the Scriptures; uried in a new tomb, cºnd that his dead body was kept by a guard of his enemies: but kept in vain; for to their confusion, and the perpetual establishment of the faith and hope of his humble followers, he was raised the third day, according to the Scriptures,” which in- 5 And that he was seen of timate that he should not see corruption in the grave. (Psal. xvi. 10.) *** **** mation of this great truth, I told you, that the same day that he rose, he was seen first of Cephas, or Peter, to whom, that he might comfort his wounded heart under its sorrows, for his late fall, he condescended to make his first appearance, excepting that to the wo: men at the sepulchre; and qſterwards he was seen by that company who were called the 6 Aſter that, he was seen of twelveſ apostles, though several of the number were thén absent. .4fterwards he appeared, 6 Whielicot's Scl. Serm. p. 177, gºspel still, and I hope you will retain it; yet I have reason to fear ivered to you among the first [prin-3 Jānd in confir- 5 Teraygºvov, what is decent and orderly. * - *. - some of You entertain notions which tend quite to enervate it. Edin. edit. a Unworthy hope.] It is well known that the primitive christians were often insulted by the heathen philosophers for their hope of a re- surrection; which one of them, ridiculously enough, calls the hope of worms. Compare 2 Tim. xi. 18, and the mote there. Öthers taught virtue to be its own necessary reward, in such a manner as tended to overthrow the strongest of all natural arguments for a future state; I mean, that taken from such an unequal ğio. of rewards and punishments, as could not otherwise take place under the government of a righteous od. If christians were by this tenºpted so to refine on the doctring of the resurrection, as in effect to explain it away, it shows the propriety of the apostle’s setting himself to prove the resurrection of christians, rather than a resurrection in general. etain.]. So Karexere evidently signifies. gests a Yery inadequate sense. . c. Unless i Krog et pn is a very remarkable form of expres- sion. ...Perhaps there may be more in it than most readers are aware. If I mistake not, it suggests the thought expressed ver, 17. So the two first verses may be a transition; as if he É. said, I preſch the same To keep in memory sug- *. d Received.] For the import of this phrase, see Gal. i. i2. 1 Cor. xi. 33. e Rqised the third day, accºrding... to the Scriptures.] It has been queried, where the Scriptures foretell that Christ should rise from the dead on the third day Some think there is a transposition or paren- thesis ; so, that the meaning will be, he rose again, according to the Scrip- turgs; and, this on, the third day. Chand. Of Christianity; p. 3.0. and so Dr. Bullock replies, that he would have risen according to the Scº. tures, had it been on the fifth or tenth day. (Buli. Wººd, p. 48.) But Mr. Jefferies, whom I follow in the paraphrase, gives what appears to me the best solution, as it is intimated, John Xi. 33. corrupt on the fourth day. See Jeff. Rcciew, p. iś f,0ſ the twelve.] It is certain neither Judas nor Thomas were there; and as it is ºbserved below, James might probably be absent; but as the council of twenty-three among the Jews might be said to be assem- bled if the greater part were present, though the number might not be complete ; so the company might be called the ticelve, º we should Suppose the fourth part to have been absent. Compare Mark xvi. 14. J.uke xxiv. 36, John xx. 25. #hat bodies began to 2S. principles, or biased by the vain pretences of heathen philosophers, who would despise it 1 cor. XV. 630 28. sºm-º. BISCOURSE CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. SECT. according to his repeated appointments, to above five hundred brethren at onceé in Galilee, above five hundred brethron where he gave the most glorious and incontestable proof of the reality of his resurrection in the presence of this great concourse, of whom the greater part continue [alive] until now, at once ; of whom the greater [..." remain unto this present, ut some are fallen asleep. gº. and constitute a cloud of witnesses to this important truth; but some are fallén asleep in Jesus, and gone to dwell with him as the great Lord of life. 7 And you may remember I told you also, that after this he was seen of James, and after- 8 wards, just before his ascension, by all the apostles. But last of all he also appeared to mé, as to an embryo, or one born out of due time, a poor, weak, contemptible creature, from whom nothing good was to be expected, not worthy of the least patience; how much less 9 Worthy of being marked out with such distinguishing favours! For I must humbly acknow- 9 For I am the least of the ledge, and I would continually bear it in my mind, that I am the least of all the apostles, §º. who am not indeed worthy to be callel an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God; I persecuted the ëhurch of Qn which account, considering the transports of my savage zeal, I think myself hardly God. deserving to be numbered amongst the meanest followers of my divine Master, and less 10 than the least of all saints. (Eph. iii. 8.) But by the grace of God I am what I am, a christian, an apostle, and not inferior to any of my honoured brēthren in that office; and his grace [manifested] towards me, in raising me to so high a dignity and so happy a state, was not displayed in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all, conscious that I could never do enough to balance the mischief I had formerly committed, or answer the obligations under which such rich and distinguishing mercy laid me. I exerted myself therefore to the utmost in my apostolical work; which should, by the way, shelter me from the contempt which some are ready to throw upon me; yet, to speak more properly, it was not I, but the grace of God that was with me: God furnished me for the work, he excited me to diligence and zeal in it; to him be the glory of all! His grace was the cause of all; and whether therefore I, or they, laboured most, and to whomsoever we de- livered our message, whether among you or elsewhere, so we preach, and so ye believed. All agree in bearing our testimony to the death and resurrection of Christ, and ye, with all other christians, have agreed to receive it as the great foundation of our holy religion. IMPROVEMENT. - LET it be the daily joy of our hearts to think how firm that foundation stands, and what various and convincing 7 After that, he was seen of James ; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me, also, as of one born out of due time. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am : and his grace which was bestonped upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all ; yet not I, but the grace of God which was With \nC. I l 11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. Ver, 3 evidence we have, that as Christ became incarnate, visited this wretched world, and died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; that as he condescended to go down into the caverns of the grave, and lie there in the cold an 4 silent tomb, humbled in the dust of death ; so also, according to the same Scriptures, he was raised again on the third day...Let us be very thankful that such convincing proof was given of his resurrection, demonstrated by such infallible tokens, and repeated appearances to all the apostles; who had every opportunity the most scrupu- 5 lous doubt could demand, of examining at leisure into its certainty. More than five . persons were wit- nesses to it at one time; and witnesses who survived to many future years to attest this important fact, that our faith and hope might be in God: in God, who quickeneth the dead, j who by this resurrection of Jesus his Son, hath begotten us again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. As 1, 2 we have received, so let us stand fast in this doctrine ; and . that our salvation depends on our steadfastly retaining it, and that we believe in vain, and worse than in vain, if we ever, on any considerations, make shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience. It is matter of joy and thankfulness, that St. Paul was added to this cloud of witnesses who attested the resur- rection of Jesus; that great apostle in whom the grace of God was so richly magnified; magnified particularly in 9 that humility which he here expresses in so amiable a manner; calling himself the least of the apostles, and declar- ing that he was unworthy of the name of an apostle; and amidst all the labours and glories of this eminent station in the church, still keeping in his eyes that madness with which, in the days of his infidelity, he had wasted it. 10 Shall we not all learn of him to say, By the grace of God I am what I am?, Let us be solicitous that his grace bestowed upon us be notin vain; and ever bearing in mind the many sins of our unconverted state, and our great 29. 1 COR. XV. 13 14 unprofitableness since we have known God, or rather been known of him, & proportionable zeal; and when we have laboured to the utmost, and exerted ourselves with the let us ascribe it to that divine agency which strengthened us for all, and say again, though some should resolution, let us labour in our Lord's service with eatest º and esteem it a disagreeable tautology, Wot I, inſt the grace of God that was with me. SECTION XXIX. The apostle shows the necessary connexion between the resurregion of Christ, which he had established above, and, the resurrection of the dead; and irges the importance of retaining that great fundamental of ghrištianity ; if aſtorial kingdom which Christ shall make at the consummation of all things. 1 CorINTHIANS XV. 12. spot. YOU have heard, my brethren, something of the convincing evidence. Which attended this reat and important doctrine of Christ's resurrection; but the dead, how do some among you presume to say that s With what face can any who allow of Christ's resurrection the other, whether out of an attachment to Sadducean, or philosophical 13. But iſ there being resur- , it is certain that if there is no resurrection of the dead, if that doctrine be Gº!", " " then neither is Christ raised.* e was assuredly raised from no resurrection of the dead? pretend to * prejudices? Fo * - in the general altogether incredible, ğ. series of his argument mentioning the surrender of the medi- I Cor. xv. 12— l CoR. xv. 12. NºW if º: be t º gº tº a tº - 8t. Inc roSe ITOIn the Cle:3. ºf Christ is thus preached, that § ..."...”..."; there is that there is no resurrection of the dead : hrist not risen: ..And this would be a “iº Ai" if Čfirist be not g above five hundred.) Probably it was in Galilee, where there was such a number of disciples ; º there were no more than ºn liſm- j ină ºnly at jerusalém, when Matthias was chosen. Dr. Pri; deaux, Mr. Ditton, and many others, urge this as a glorious proof of the resurrection of Christ. Had it been an imposture, 99 . faise hearts and tongues could never have acted in concert, nor woº d they aii have kept a secret, which remorse, interfst. and perhaps often tor- ture, might urge them to divulge ; especially as, there, had been one traitor among the twelve, on account of whigh, had they been conscious of fraud, a º of each other’s secrecy must have arisen. id. Lett. to a Deist, p. º - sº the apostles.] º ** change of phrase, from that in the conclu- sión of the fifth verse, is very remarkable; and as a vºy learned, Can- did, and sagacious person has suggested to me, it very probably intimatºs, that they who were there called the twelve, that is, the greater . of the company who used to be so denominated, were not all the apostles. On which circumstance this gentleman grounds a very probable gonjecture, that james might by some accident, perhaps , illness, or affairs indis- pensably necessary, be detained from meeting his brethrén, both on the ày of the resurrection, and that day seventh-night, and likewise at the time when Öhrist appeared to the five hundred; and, that he might, in this respect, be upon a level with them, Our Lord #º to him alone, after all the appearances mentioned before. And this account of the matter appears vastly more credible than that, which, St. Jºſome uotes from the gospel of the Nazarenes, that on the death of Christ, i. made a vow, that he would neither eat nor drink till he saw Clfrist risen from the dead; an event of which the apostles had certainly no expectation. 8 * w * a jºſeiºhº is Christ raised.] This, argument, on which the apostle dwelis in so copious a manner, would, appear to be of great moment, Whatever the principles were by, which the doctrine of the resurrection was assauited. It could not be said that was in its own nature impossible CONNEXION BETWEEN CHRIST'S RESURRECTION AND THAT OF THE DEAD 601 consequence at once the most false and the most melancholy that can be conceived; for SECT- if Christ be not raised, then our preaching, which pretends to take its authority from a com- 29. mission after his resurrection, in a view of declaring the certainty of it, [is] pain, and your -- faith, founded chiefly upon the testimony which God then bore to him, [is] also pain. ' sºn. Yea, and we the apostles, notwithstanding all the miraculous evidences we give of the 15 truth of our mission, are found, what I am sure you cannot believe we are, false witnesses of God, because you know that we bore this as our most important and solemn testimony concerning God, that he raised up Christ, whom nevertheless he indeed did not raise tip, if the notion of a resurrection in the general be, as they teach, an absurdity, and the dead rise not at all. I repeat it again as a point of the highest consequence; for if the dead are not 16 finally to be raised, neither is Christ raised: And what terrible consequences would arise 17 from hence l. Surely such as might be sufficient to strike us with horror: for if Christ be not raised, all your faith in the gospel [is] vain, and ye are without any salvation ; ye are in that case still in jour sins, under the pressure of their unexpiated guilt; for with the doctrine of the resúrrection of Christ, that of the efficacy of his atonement is inseparably connected. And then also there would be this deplorable consequence further attending, 18 that they who sleep in Christ are perished: even all deceased christians, not excepting the most excellent of them, who have died for their religion. They have lost their life and being together on this supposition, in the cause of one who, if still among the dead, must have been an impostor and false prophet. - And this scheme, which would represent those that sleep in Christ as perished, would, 19 I am sure, be a very terrible doctrine to us the apostles of Jesus, in such a circumstance as this: for if it were in this life only that we have hope in Christ, we who are exposed to such a variety of calamities and dangers for his sake, were of all men in the world the most pitiable * since it is evident that amidst such evils as these, nothing could comfort and support us but the hopes of immortality; and we must be at once the vilest and the most wretched of mankind, if, while we make such pretences to them, we were indeed governed by any lower views. Bui we will now dwell no longer on these melancholy suppositions; for we assuredly 20 know that Christ is indeed risen from the dead, [and] we are sure that in this his resur- rection he is become the first-fruits of them that slept ;° so that it is the security of ours. For as death [came] on the whole human race by means of one man, who brought mor- tality on all his posterity as the consequence of that one great offence, so likewise by means of another man [cometh] the resurrection of the dead; and our happy relation to him abundantly repairs the damage we sustained by our fatal relation to the former. For as in Adam all are dead, and a sentence of inevitable death is come upon us all, as descended from him ; so we christians have a joyful persuasion for ourselves and for our brethren, that (though we are neither capable of effecting or meriting such a change) in Christ we all shall also be made alive. But it was fit that every one should be re-animated, raised, and glorified in his own order: it was fit that Christ, after a very short abode in the grave, should rise as the first-fruits, and as such should present himself to God, and use his recovered life in his service; and they who are Christ's property, the whole body of those that belong to him, should be raised up a considerable time afterwards, and appear as a glorious harvest in full maturity, at the important hour of his coming, when his voice shall awaken and his almighty hand restore them. ...Theº.º. º.º. And them. [shall] the end of the world [be, the grand catastrophe of all those wonderful 24 when he shall have delivere - s”. - - tº the kingdom, to Čšā, ºn Scenes that have held in suspense so many succeeding generations; when he shall publicly #."ºº"; i.; and solemnly deliver up the mediatorial kingdom to God, even the Father, by whose coni. iſ authority and power.’” mission he has held it, and to whose glory he has always administered it: when he shall have abolished; and deposed all principality, and all authority and power, that has opposed itself to his government, and shall have triumphed over all the éfforts which either men hiº. . . ." ºr devils could ever make against his ever-growing empire and dominion. For we know §, º' * *" that according to the tenor of that ancient prophecy, (Psal. cx. I.) which carries with it so illustrious a reference to the Messiah and his kingdom, he must reign till he have put all [his] enemies under his feet; so as that they should become his footstool, and subserve that risel, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also Wall Iſle 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; be- cause, we have testified of God, that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: I d iſ Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; yo are yet 1 In your Sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have, hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 21 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 22 23 But every man in, his own order: Christ the first- fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his COIIlling. ... º.º.º.dºt exaltation which they have endeavoured tº prevent. And so universal shall the triumph 26 y be, that the very last enemy, ſeven] death, shall be deposed and destroyed; that enemy which continues in some measure to hold the subjects of Christ under its dominion, even when the temptations of the world, and the malice of Satan, can hold them no longer, and when every remainder of corrupt nature and human infirmity has long since ceased in the perfect holiness of the intermediate state, and its unmingled serenity and joy. º This, I say, must necessarily be employed: for it is elsewhere said, he hadh put all things 27 "*" under his feet, (Psal. viii.6) and it must accordingly be accomplished; but (it is evident tion. which was accomplished in Christ; and it would prove that the hope of § resurrection was not, as the Gentiles represented it; a mean and sordid hope, since it was accomplished in the Son of God. Conspare ver, 1. b Still in your sins.] This plainly shows how necessary it was that there §§ be something more than reformation, which was plainly, in fact, wrought in order to their being delivered from their sins; even that atomiement, the sufficiency of which God attested by raising our great Surety from the grave. . . . - • - c Of all men the most pitiable : excelvo Tepot.] It is quite foreign to the purpose to argue from this text, as some have done, that “if there were no future state, virtue would make men more miserable than they would otherwise be.” It is evident St. Paul here speaks, not of the case of good men in general, if their hopes of future happiness should after all be disappointed, but of the case of the apostles and other preachers of christianity, if amidst all their hºp; and persecutions they were not supported by this hope. Destitute of this, amidst the extremest suf- ferings, they must have been perpetually subjected to the upbraidings of their own minds for sacrificing every view of happiness in this world Qt another, to advance what they knew to be a pernicious falsehood. Perhaps there never were men on earth so criminal and so, wretched as they must, on this supposition, have been. See the thought illustrated at §e in my Sermºpºſanº &race ºf Čhrist, &c. 'Serm. ix. p. —. : . * - º * - d Christ is indeed risen, § It is a great mistake to imagine that the apostle is employed throughout this chapter in proving the resurrec- proved a resurrection to be in fact not i The propf lies in a very little room, chiefly ver. IQ–19. and almost all the rest of the chapter is taken up in illustrating, vindicating, or applying it. The proof is indeed yery short, but most solid and convinc- ins—that which arose from Christ’s resurrection. Now that not only - - #. |but, which was much more, as it, proved him to be a divine Teacher, it proved the doctrine Qf a general resurrection, which he so expressly taught. It was natural ſoſ, so good a man also to insist on the sad consequences which would follow with respect to himself and his brethren from giving up so glori- ous a hope ; and the cordial Inanner in which be speaks of this is a noble internal argument, which I hope many of my readers will feel, though I have been obliged to be less copious in the paraphrase than I could have wished. e First-fruits of them thqt slept.] ...It is without sufficient reason that Mr. Fleming (Christ, vol. i. p. 218.) would render azapxm, ruler, governor, or commander.—Kºkoump evov here is explained by koupinógv- res, ver. 18. and both must refer to christians, of whose resurrection §: and not that of the wicked, he evidently speaks in this whole Chapter. f Abolished and deposed.] The word kaTapyeop at generally signifies, “divesting a thing of some power, whether lawful or usurped, which it formerly had, and reducing it to an incapacity of exerting that energy any more.” . Thus it is used of Satan, Heb. ii. 14. of death here and ver. 26. and 2 Tim, i. 10, of temporal princes, 1 Cor. i. 28. ii. 6. and of the ceremonial law, Eph. ii. 15. 76 602 CONNEXION BETWEEN CHRIST'S RESURRECTION AND THAT OF THE DEAD. SECT. enough, that when he saith that all things were subjected to him, it is with the exception saith, All things are put un: 29. 1 COR. XV. 28 #. 29 3 0 3 I 32 ºf him by whom all things were thus subjected to him. None can surely imagine that the on was ever to reign over the great and glorious Father of all; but on the contrary it may naturally be concluded, that he would still direct his administration to the glory of him from whom he received his kingdom. But when the Father shall have fulfilled this promise in its utmost extent, and all things shall be subjected to him, so that it shall appear to every eye that he is indeed Lord of all; then shall the Son also º glories of that triumph, be, and declare himself to be, subject to him that subjected all things to him,” by a public act in the midst of this most august assembly, giving up, as it were, his commission to preside as universal Lord in the mediatorial kingdom to him; as having answered the end for which it was given him, in the complete salvation of all his people, whom he shall then introduce into a state of the greatest nearness to God, and most inti! mate converse with him ; that God may be, and that he may appear to be, all in all : that they all may enjoy complete and everlasting happiness, in the full communication of the divine favour to them for ever, in a world where they shall no longer need a mediator to introduce them to him. Such are our views and hopes as christians; else, if it were not so, what should they do who are baptized in token of their embracing the christian faith in the room of the dead, who are just fallen in the cause of Christ, but are yet supported by a succession of new converts, who immediately offer themselves to fill up their places, as ranks of soldiers that advance to the combat in the room of their companions, who have just been slain in their sight? If the doctrine I oppose be true, and the dead are not raised at all, why are they inevertheless thus baptized in the room of the dead, as cheerfully ready, at the peril of their lives, to keep up the cause of Jesus in the world 2 And indeed, how could my conduct be accounted for in any other light, but by supposing that we act with a steady and governing view to this great principle and this glorious hope P Why otherwise are we every hour er: posed to so much danger in the service of a Master from whom it is evident we have no secular rewards to expect? Yet, my brethren, I do upon this solemn occasion protest and even swear to you, by the greatest of all asseverations, by our hopes and our joys as chris- tians, by our rejoicing and confidence common to us all, and which I with you have in Christ Jesus our Lord; I protest, I say, by this, that I daily die; that is, that I am every day surrounded, as it were, with death in its most terrible forms, and bear so many evils, that every hour of my life seems a new martyrdom. One great instance of this has so lately happened, that I cannot forbear mentioning it. If, to speak after the manner of men, or to use a common proverbial phrase, I have, like a slave exposed upon a public theatre, fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, having been assaulted with the most savage fury by a tumul- tuous multitude there, what advantage have I gained by such a combat, if my hopes may not be allowed to open into immortality ? On the contrary, if the dead rise not at all, the Epicurean maxim might seem to be justified, “Let us make the best of this short life, which is the whole period of our being: and giving up those sublime sentiments and pursuits which belong not to creatures of so short and low an existence, let used and drink, since we are to die, as it were, to-morrowl or the next day: for so little is the difference between one period of such a life and another, that it is scarce worth while to make the distinction.” ſ Be not deceived, brethren, but be upon your guard against such pernicious maxims and reasonings as these ; and if you value either faith or a good conscience, do not converse familiarly with those that teach them; for, as the poet Menander well expresses it, Good manners are debauched by talk profane.” Awake, therefore, as becomes righteous and good men,” from the intoxications of such wild and delusive dreams as these ; and sin mot in supporting or countenancing doctrines so subversive of the christian faith and hope; for some are still ignorant of God, and with the abused light of christianity know less of him #. him, it is manifest that e is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28, And when, all things hall be subdued unto him, S - then, shall the Son also him: amidst all the self be subject unto him that §. all things under him, that od may be all in all. 29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all 2 why are º then bon- tized for the dead 3 30 Apd why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by your §: ing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. g Then shall the Son also himself be subject, &c.] I hope I shall be forgiven, if after the best attention I could use, I have missed the true and exact sense of this most difficult text. It is surprising to find authors of such different sentiments as Witsius and Crellius, agreeing to speak of Christ as returning, as it were, to a private station, and being “as one of his brethren,” when he has thus given up the kingdom. The Pa 32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what, ad- vantageth it me, if the dead rise not P Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die. 33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good Insif] Ile IS. 34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. interpreted into a very pertinent sense : “I, protest by your joys, which I do so cordially take part in, that I may call them my own.”... k Fought with wild beasts at Ephesus.] The stories which Nicephorus (lib. ii, cap. 25.) and Theodoret give us, of an encounter, which St., Paul had with wild beasts on the theatre at Ephesus, (see . Witsii Mel. ul. cap. viii. § 23, &c.) have been so far regarded by Dr. Whitby, Pit. union of the divine and, human natures in the person of , the great Emanuel, the , incomparable virtues of his character, the glory of his actions, and the relation he bears to his people, with all the texts which assert, the perpetuity of his government, prohibit, our imagin; § that he shall ever cease, to be º distinguished from all others, whether men or angels, in the heavenly world, through eternal ages. To me it appears that thé"kingdom to be given up is rule of this lower world, Wii; is then to be consumed; and that it may not seem as if a province of his empire were destroyed, his administration, under- taken in avowed subservience to the scheme of redemption, (Boh. i.10.) and completed in the resurrection of all his people, shall close in a decent and honourable manner; God will declare the ends of it fully answered, and the whole body of his people shall be introduced by him into a state of more intimate approach to and communion with God, º had been known by the spirits of the blessed in their separate State h Who are baptized in the room of the dead..] It would be almost end- less to enumerate, and much more to canvass, all the interpretations which have been given of this obscure and ambiguous phrase, inep Tov vexpov. I think that of Sir Richard Ellys, which I have given in the paraphrase, much preferable to any other. See Fortuita Sacra, p. 137, &c. As for other interpretations, there is no reason to believe that the superstitious custom mentioned by Epiphanius, of baptizing a living person, as representing one who had died unbaptized, is here referred to ; it is more likely to have risen from a mistake of this passage, than to have been so early prevalent. Mr. Cradock’s supposing it to allude to washing dead bodies, neither suits the ſº nor really makes any significant sense. , Nor is there any need of supposing that vexpov is put for vexps, and refers to their being baptized into the religion of Jesus, who, on the adversary’s hypothesis, is still dead. The senses which Crellius and Bishop Ädeº; maintain, differ so little from each other and that we have given, that it may suffice to say, that each expresses but a part of the sense, and loses something of the spirit which we apprehend in these words. . - • * * - i Our rejoicing...] Our received copies read it, iperspaw, your rejoic: ing ; but the reading which I follow seems so much more natural and easy, that one can scarce forbear believing it authentic. Yet it may be that he contends for the literal interpretation of this passage; in favour of which it is also urged, that had he spoken of brutal men, he would rather have mentioned the assault that was made upon him at Lystra, whére he was stoned, and supposed to be dead. But the danger of being º to pieces might be greater, at Ephesus ; it had º very ately, and as the scene was much nearer Corinth, it might be more natural for him to mention it here. The silence of St. Luke in his his- tory, as to so memorable an eyent as a combat with beasts, would have been, and St. Paul’s omitting it in the large catalogue of his sufferings, (2 Cór. xi. 23.) together with his known privilege as a Roman citizen which would probably, as to be sure it should legally, have protecte s him from such an insult, do all (as Mr. Cradock and others have ob- served) favour the figurative interpretation. And the expression, kara avôporov, after the manner of men, or, humanly speaking, has a pro- priéty on this hypothesis which it cannot have on the other, and seems to be quite decisive. - l Let us eat, &c.] This is the great argument urged to prove that by the resurrection of the dead St. Paul means a future state. But the true solution seems to be, that he writes all along upon a supposition, that if surch proof as he had produced of Christ’s resurrection were not to be depended upon, we could have no certainty at all with respect to any future existence. And I must declare that it seems tº me, that the natural arguments of the immortality of the soul, and future retribu- tions, do appear to carry with them great prºjiš, º: all that Mr. #il. has offered to invalidate them. et the degree o evidence is by no means comparable to that which admitting the truth of the facts alleged, the Corinthians must have had of Christ’s resurrec- tion, with which ours has so necessary a connexion. And consequently, had these proofs been given up, what might have been pleaded in favour of the other, would probably have made, very little impression. m Good manners are debauched.] he original words of Menander are in iambic verse : I chose therefore to translate them thus, and it is very agreeable to the Greek in this connexion, which seems to determin optXiqi kakai to profane discourses. - n Awake, as becomes righteous men.]. As some read for 6tratos, 6tkatoº, which gives rather a more forcible sense, I chose this rendering, which is a kind of medium between the two readings. OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE RESURRECTION ANSWERED. 603 than well-improved reason might teach them. I say º to your shame, considering, how SECT. much you boast of your knowledge, which, in this plain and important branch of it, ap. 29. pears so wretchedly deficient; while you cultivate so many vain subtilties, which tend rather to corrupt than to exalt and perfect your minds. - - 1 COR, XV. IMPROVEMENT. WELL may we rejoice to see the doctrine of our own resurrection so closely connected in the sacred writings, 12–16 and especially in this excellent discourse of St. Paul, with that of our blessed Redeemer, as that they should be 20 declared to stand or to fall together. For Christ is assuredly risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of 21–23 them that slept. He hath repaired, to all his spiritual seed, the damage that Adam brought Nº. his descendants; yea, he is become to them the Author of a far nobler life than the posterity of Adam lost by him. - Let us meditate with unutterable joy on the exaltation of our glorified Head, of our gracious Sovereign, who has 24–26 conquered death himself, and will make uš partakers of his victory. He hath received from his Father glory, hon- our, and dominion; and he shall reign till his conquest be universal, and complete, and till death be not only stripped of its trophies, but j subservient to his triumphs; shall reign, till all his purposes for his Father's glory and his own be finally accomplished. - But oh, who can express the joy and glory of that day when Christ shall give up the kingdom to the Father, and 27 present unto him all its faithful subjects transformed into his own image a beautiful and splendid church indeed, for ever to be the object of the divine complacence, for ever to dwell in the divine presence, in a state of the great- est nearness to God, who shall then be all in all. Well may the expectation of this illustrious period cheer the 28 christian under his greatest extremities, and make him of all men the most happy, when otherwise, on account of his sufferings in the flesh, he might seem of all men the most miserable. Well may this his rejoicing in Christ 29 Jesus, that sacred oath which this persecuted and distressed apostle, with so sublime a spirit, here uses, encourage him to go on, though he be daily dying ; though he were daily to encounter the most savage of mankind, and 31 death itselfin its most dreadful forms. Well may this knowledge of God, of his gracious purposes, and of his ex- 32, 34 alted Son, awaken us to righteousness; well may it deliver us from the bondage of sin. Let us retain these noble principles of doctrine and action, and guard against those evil communications, those 33 sceptical and licentious notions, which would corrupt our spirits, which would enervate every generous spark which the gospel kindles up into a flame, and by bounding our views within the narrow circle of mortal life, would degrade us from the anticipations of angelic felicity to the pursuits of brutal gratification. SECTION XXX. The-apostle answers objections against the resurrection, drawn from our not being able to conceive of the particular manner in which it, shall be effected ; and concludes with urging it as a noble incentive to the greatest steadiness and zeal in religion. 1 Cor. xv. 35, to the end. 1 Cor. xv. 35 A I CorIN THIANs xv. 35. B.T.some ºngº will, say, I HAVE thus endeavoured to confirm your faith and establish your hope in the great and SECT. #º; glorious doctrine of a resurrection; but some [one], will perhaps be ready petulantly to ob- 30. come 2 ject and say, How are the dead raised up, when their bodies are quite dissolved, and the particles of which they consisted scattered abroad, and perhaps become parts of other bo- 1 coR. dies? and, if they are raised, with what [kind of] bodies do they come out of their graves, 2 ×Y. and what alteration is made in their constitution and organization, to fit them for a future life in so many respects different from this? º [Thou] thoughtless creature, who perhaps pridest thyself in the sagacity of this objection, 36 except it die: as if it were some mighty effort of penetration, how easily mightst thou find an answer to it from what passes every day in the works of nature? That seed which thou sowest in thy field is not quickened to new life and verdure, ercept it appear to die;” before it springs up to the future vegetable, whatever it be, it is macerated, decayed, and at length con- ...Aº sumed in the earth. And [as for that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body which 37 §§§º" hajº shall be produced from that seed which is committed to the ground, but bare grain, per- flººhºº haps of wheat, or of any other kind of [grain, in which there is no appearance of root or of some other grain : 2 y e - - 3. But gºiveth it a body of stalk, of blade or of ear. . But God, in the course of his natural operations, by certain jº" laws of vegetation, with which thou art entirely unacquainted, gives it a body as he pleases, - and such a variety of parts as he hath thought fit to determine for that particular species, and to each of the seeds its own proper body;b not only a body of the same sort, but that which, by virtue of some connexion it had with this or that individual grain, may properly be called its own, though in its form much different and much more beautiful. nº There is an immense variety in the works of God, even in those which fall under the 39 fiºsi of ejanºj ºf inspection of our senses, feeble and limited as they are, while we dwell in flesh and blood. ºf **** All flesh, you know, [is] not the same kind of flesh, but the flesh of men, and of cattle," of fishes, and of fowls, is different each from the other, in its form, qualities, and manner of tº being subsisted, [There º also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of 40 §§§ºičiū the celestial and the terrestrial are apparently different, and the brightest lustre the latter ###". ...jºy ºf the can have, is but a faint reflection of what is received from the former. And even in the 41 4fºre is one ſory of the glory of the celestial bodies there is also a wonderful variety: There is one superior and ºf incomparable glory of the sum, which often shines with a lustre scarce to be endured; and the stars; ſº onestà liter- another reflected and milder glory of the moon; and another glory of the stars, which, as ***** they appear to us, are far inferior to either of the two greatiuminańes. And again, ſºng star differeth from [another] Star in glory,d according to their respective magnitudes, in 3 8 & 42 So also is the resutrec- reference to which they are ranged by astronomers under different clásses. tijº'aj.“iſis". So [shall be] also the resurrection of the pious dead; another kind of glory shall appear 42 ... a Except it die.]. To this it hath been objected, “That if the seed die, leading thought is, “That it is absurd to argue against a resurrection, it never bears fruit.” But it is certain that the seed in general does on a principle which is so, palpably false as that must be, which sup- consume away, in the ground, though a little geringn or bud which poses us to understand all the process of the divine works.” makes a part of it springs up into new life, and is fed by the death and c Cattle..] So Krmvov signifies; but it seems to be put for beasts in corruption of the rest. So that these wise philosophers of our own talk general. -- §j foolishly as the Corinthian free-thinkers, whom they vindicate. d :And one, star differeth, &c..] It is in the original yap, that is for; See John xii. 24. but I conclude that particle is here used only as a copulative; else we b. Its onon proper body.) The apostle seems more directly to speak of must suppose the apostle to argue more philosophically than he proba- that as its, proper body, which is peculiar to that species 9f grain ; yet bly intended, and to assert that the sun and moon were stars. He plainly º each ear has a peculiar reference to one indiyidual as its speaks of the Justro which these celestial juminaries exhibit to us, not proper, seed, in such a manner as another of the º has not; and of what they have in themselves, without any regard to their aspects what ſoliows, plainly suits such a view.—God is said, to give it this body on us: as he pleases, because we know not how it is produced; and the apostle’s e The resurrection of the pious dead..] Of them it is evident the apos- 604 THE TRUTH AND GLORY OF THE RESURRECTION ILLUSTRATED. SPCT. than human nature has known in its purest state, in any beauty of form or ornaments of in corruption; it is raised in 30, dress. There shall indeed, as I intimated but now, be some difference in the degree of incorruption: that glory, correspondent to the different excellences in the characters of good men, on I gº. whom it is to pass; but all shall experience a most illustrious and happy change; so that 32 it may be said concerning the body of them all in general, It is sown, or committed, like seed to the ground, in corruption, just ready to putrefy, and through various forms of putrefaction to be reduced to the dust; but it is raised in incorruption, so that no accident or disorder whatsoever shall be able to dissolve it again, or to threaten it in the least de 43 gree. It is solem in dishonour, in a Pogº contemptible state, and under a kind of infamy tº It is own in dishonour; put upon it by the execution of God's first sentence against sin: but it is raised in glory'ſ "...º.º. in weakness; it is raised in every part and trace of the curse being abolished, and itself being formed in such a man- power: ner as to make it appear that the King of heaven delights to honour the happy spirit on which he bestows such a dress. It is sown in weakness, absolutely incapable of any even the lowest degree of action or sensation, and deprived of those limited abilities which it poS- sessed in this its mortal life: but it is raised in power, endowed with almost angelic degrees 44 of strength, vigour, and activity. It is sown an animal body, formed to the purposes of .44 It is sºwn a natural body; animal life in this present world; but it is raised a spiritual body, formed to a nočič supé. #º àº;i riority to the mean gratifications of this imperfect state, and fitted to be the instrument of there is a spiritual body, the soul, in the most exalted services of the spiritual and divine life. For it is certain, that as there is an animal body, with which we are now by daily and frequently by unhappy experience acquainted, so there is also a spiritual body : God can exalt and refine mater to a degree of purity and excellence to us unknown; and there are many bodies now ex- * - tº º isting so pure and āctive, as that in comparison they may be called spirits. ..And so it is ##. ºi. Yººhº Avritten with respect to the former, (Gen. ii. 7.) that theJirst man Adam, when God had iſſh;"jui"..."is". breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, was made a living soul; so that even in the was made a quickening spirit. original state of rectitude and felicity in which man was created, he was made capable of and fitted to an animal life here upon earth: whereas the Lord Jesus Christ, who by virtue of the influence he has upon all his seed, as their spiritual Head and great federal Representative, may well be called the second or latter Adam, [is] for an enlivening spirith to those who are united to him, and will not only purify their souls by the operation of 46 his Spirit communicated to them, but at last spiritualize their very bodies. Nevertheless, flºº, ºi, ºf the spiritual Adam [was] not first, but the animal, and afterward the spiritual; and as the . . ; ; ; : first Adam existed before Christ was sent to become our Saviour, so must we first wear hºard that which is spi- that animal body, which we derive from the one, before we put on that spiritual body s * > 47 which we derive from the other. The first man, [was] from the earth, and so earthy; he cºś was created out of the dust of the earth, and his body was only a mass of animated clay, jºi. in reference to which it was said, Dust thou art: (Gen. iii. 19.) the second man, of whom we speak, [is] the Lord from heaven; he came originally from the heavenly world, to which he is returned; and whatever of earth there was in the composition of the body he condescended to wear, it is now completely purified and refined into the most glorious e 48 form., . And such as the earthy [was, are] ihey also that are earthy; they all descended aß. from him, and have no higher original, are mean, mortal, corruptible creatures: and such ha'ºhijä as the heavenly [is, are] they also that are heavenly; they who are, as it were, born of Christ ºf ºney also that are hea. by the regenerating influences of his Spirit, and therefore are to live with him in heaven, “ 49 shall at last have such glorious bodies as he hath. And it is delightful beyond all expres- tº: sion, to think of it with self-application, that as we in particular have borne and do now jºb."...º.º.; bear the image # the earthy; as assuredly as we are now sinful, afflicted, and mortal men, the heavenly. like the first Adam; so surely shall we also bear the image of the heavenly; so surely shall we be brought to resemble Christ in purity, glory, and immortality. * . 0 Now this I say, bretl 50, But when I spake of bearing the image of the earthly Adam in mortality, I would not tº º;". be understood as asserting that every one of the descendants of Adam shall, in fact, go #."...iº. *...*. 3 through these pangs of death, and that dissolution in the grave, which Adam has expe: ||..}}...” rienced. This I say, brethren, I affirm it as a constant and important truth, that flesh and blood, such weak and crazy systems of it as those in which we now lodge, cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth a body impregnated with the seeds of corruption inherit incorruption; it is utterly unfit for the puré, ethereal regions of the blººd, and indeed 51 incapable of subsisting in them. This is universally true; yet, behold! I tell !ºu º º * † :"...i mystery, that is, a doctrine hitherto unknown, and which you cannot now be able fully to sº, ºut we shall all be compréhend : for we christians shall not all sleep, shall not all submit to the stroke of death, changed, so that our bodies should all lie mouldering in the grave, which is their general doom ; but we shall all, the living as well as the dead, at the appearance of Christ to the º judgment, be changed in a most glorious and happy manner into the image of our º * 52 I t, in the ing Lord. And this change, great and illustrious as it is, the divine power shall effect in tºking"of": "...,'t tº less time than we have been speaking of it: for it shall pass in a moment, in an imper- iºnºſ.'tii, trººpé e s e * arrol-Jº iſe, iust at the instant when the shall sound and the dead shal! ceptible point of time, and even in the twinkling of an eye, j * * * * f sai fjº, ifºple, and last trumpet is blown by the divine command, to awaken all the millions o º W § we shall be changed. are sleeping in the dust: for the trumpet shall then sound, the voice of the archangel, an attending célestial legions, shall fill the whole earth and heaven with an astonishing noise, and the dead shall immediately, as upon its summons, be raised incorruptible, and we, that is, those of us christians who are living, shall be changed, as Enoch and Elijah were in 4 5 2 5 * - . • * . v. 23.) and is also very agreeabſo Q eneral. Comparºver...23,43, as is more clearly expressel, (l. Thes: Yºº }; º ;Pº *ś 54. St. Paul (Phil. iii. 11.5 to the import of nºn wax, the word yº, Moses º tation f and our Íord (Matt. xxii. 30. Luke xx. 35.) mean the same thing by the sº sº., §§ºcº," ii. º §. ion. º grupture, as some hay ght, Du. : ..] Trºy 1. – f – a reº, in glory.] Some think this refers to the garment % light § #. brought above; º il hº sºjº; * º which the body shall ºut on at the resurrection; on which Dr. Whitby sºilijstriots, antitype of the #. º #'º. has a remarkable note here, (compare Matt. xxii. 2., Acts |X: 3. Rev. is self a spirit, with which he quic º: º he words living d T4, 15. Dan. xii. 3. Wisd. iii. 7. Matt. xiii. 43. and Mark is. 3.) and degree he pleases. ºn i. 4. an 㺠o each other, as tºl.11g * which he thinks remarkably to illustrate the matter et adverso. enlivening have such a correspondence to each *::. §oagy and g JMade a living soul.] §: is a quotation, from Moses; and there Coorotay. I therefore preferred the latter of them to quickening, though seems to be a peculiar emphasis in the original, which I know not hºw the sense be entirely the same. . . . sº a , o *** * * * puxn to puxtkov, in the “” - f hristians who are living, shall be changed.] to preserve in the translation, in the reference of *puxm * 2 i We, that is, those of us. C ity I former verse, as distinguished from Tveygatºkov’ and refers to such a As ºpºsé wiłł admit of the looser sense the Palºphrase É. *i. °. difference between lººkn, thº animal soul, and Twenpa, the rational spirit, not allow of the argument drawn from hence, to prove either that the THE TRUTH AND GLORY OF THE RESURRECTION ILLUSTRATED. 605 the day of their translation: that body which but a moment before appeared just as ours SECT. now do, shall, quick as thought, be transformed into an image of that Worm by our tri- 30. umphant Lord, and fitted for all the most active services, and all the purest sensations and 53 For this corruptible must delights, of the celestial state. For in order to that, as I have jus: observed, it is neces- 1 gº. #. º sary that this corruptible put on incorruption, and that this mortal put on immortality, º 54 - *So whenth ibl be no longer subject to diseases or death. But when this º and long-expected 5 shiº". "...”... event shall be accomplished, when this corruptible part of our frame shall have ſ. O7?, ???— #º. corruption, and this mortal shall have put an immortality, then shall he sºlº be brought to ºft'. Sº..."; pass which is written, (Isa. xxv. 8.) Death is swallowed up in victory, and perfectly sub- hat it would not be known that gaying that is written, Death - º is swallowed up in vićtory. dued and destroyed, and so happy a State introduced, §§§ ºth, where is thy death had ever had any place of power among Christ's subjects at all: And in the assured ..)3 §...? Brave, where is thy view of this may the christian, even now, with the greatest leasure, take up h; song of triumph: Where º thy pointed and destructive sting, O. death? Where [is] thiſ pictº/, O grave?k How little hurt canst thou do me! For how little a while shält thou be able ºf jºi...Sº,i, to triumph over me!, The very sting and torture, of death, that which arms it with its 36 is the law." greatest terrors, [is] the consideration of its being the punishment of sin, and consequently its foreboding future misery as the effect of the divine displeasure; and the pºver 9ſ sin, that which constitutes its malignity, and gives it these killing weapons, [tº] that it is a . 57 But thanks he to God, transgression of the divine law. But thanks [be] to God, who in his infinité, mercy hath 57 §º". "+ ... "... taken away the sting and terror of death, and giveth us the prospects and the joys of a to - -> hrist. complete victory over it, by the displays of his pardoning grace, through our Lord Jesus Christ. May' we ever remain under those grateful impressions that suit so important an obligation | - - - 58. Therefore, my beloved Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye fired on this as the great foundation of your souls, 58 brethren, be ye steadfast, un- * * •o ~...~-ºl- 42, *QSSG (H I- rarief ;:::::::::::::::::::::... and immoveable in your regards to it, though strongly horne and P. essed upon by a variety in theºhei. i. of temptations and dangers; be abounding always in the work of the Lord, in every service i.” "...º.º. you are capable of performing, which may be acceptable to this your great and cºmpas. rd. sionate Redeemer; as well knowing that your labour in the service of such a Lord is not, on the whole, in vain, but that whatsoever you may at present suffer for his sake, yoº shall receive a most glorious reward in that happy day of the resurrection concerning which I have been speaking so largely. -- IMPROVEMENT. *. LET us learn from this incomparable discourse of the apostle, to curb that vain curiosity which is sq ready in Ver,35 matters of divine revelation to break out into an unbecoming petulance; and where we are sure that God declares the thing, let us leave it to him to overcome every difficulty that may seem to attend the manner in which it shall be effected. Nothing may be more useful in order to the conquering such a weakness, than to observe the oper- ations of God in the works of nature, where he gives to every seed, whether animal or vegetable, such a body as 38 shall please him. Each is proper for its sphere, and tº in its connexion and order, though the degree of their glory be different. And thus all the diversity of glory which shall at last be apparent among the children of 39, 40 § even the children of the resurrection, shall serve to illustrate the divine wisdom, and goodness, and faith- UHI) 62.SS. The alterations made in every instance will indeed be wonderful, when this mortal puts on immortality, and this 53 corruptible puts on incorruption. Let us for ever adore the divine goodness, that when, by our relation to the first 47, &c. Adam, we were under a sentence of condemnation and death, he was pleased in his infinite mercy to appoint that we should stand related to Christ, as the Second Adam, in so happy a bond, that by him we might recover what we had lost in the former; yea, and far more : so that as we have borne the imagé of the earthy, we might as 49 Surely bear the image of the heavenly. O let us earnestly aspire after this blessedness; and remember that our bearing the image of his holiness is inseparably connected with the hope of so glorious a privilege Let us endeavour, therefore, by cultivating holiness in all its branches, to maintain this hope in all its spirit and energy; longing for that glorious day when, in the utmost extent of the prophetic expression, death shall be swal- lowed up in victory, and millions of voices, after the long silence of the grave, shall burst out at once into that 54 triumphant song, O death, where is thy sting 2 O grave, where is thy victory 2 And when we see death disarmed, 55, 56. and the terrors of the law silenced, let us bless God for Jesus Christ, by whom the precepts of the law were per- 57 fectly fulfilled and its penalty endured; that so we might not only be delivered from the curse, but called to in- herit the blessing. Let it be considered as an engagement to universal obedience; and in the assurance that ar whatever other labours may be frustrated, those in theilord shall never be vain, let gratitude and interest concur 58 to render us steadfast, immovable, and continually active in his service. SECTION XXXI. The apostle gives some advices relating to the proposed collection for the poor saints in Judea. 1 Cor. xvi. 1–12. 1 Cor. xvi. 1. . I CorINTILIANs xvi. 1. Now concerning the collec. BEFORE I conclude this epistle, I must add a word or two concerning the collection SECT. º *...*.*.*.*... which }. propose making for the poor saints which are in Judea, who are in such great 31. *ēlējeºnjº.” straits both on account of the famine and the persecution to which they are exposed. And here I would only say this; as I have given it in charge to the churches of Galatia, so also 1 Cori. do ye proceed: for nothing occurs to my thoughts at present, which can be more subser- XVI. 2 Upon the first day of the vient to that generous and good design. When you hold your christian assemblies on the 2 §"...º.º.º. § first day of the week,” in commemoration of the resurrection of our Lord, which has made häth prospered him, that that day sacred, amongst us, let every one of you lay something by, in proportion to the degree in which, by the divine blessing, he hath been prospered in his affairs; and let him apostle expected he should live till Christ appeared to judgment, or that he should be raised from the dead, and continue upon earth some time before that great event happened; though I confess the argument which Mr. Fleming draws from hence, in favour of the last of these opinions, is very, plausible. Compare l ºf hess. iv. iș. - - Žhere is thy sting 3’ &c.] The original has a kind of poetical turn transposed them to make them, as they stand in our version, the conclu- sion of one of his stanzas ; Q grave, where is thy victory 3 Öicati, hºc is thy sting 3... It is generally thought that these words are borrowed from Hos. Niii. 10, 14. which we render, “O death, I will be thy plague, &c.” and some urge that \ns has been read for Sms; but 1 do not see . which seems in some measure to suit the sublimity of the sentiment; for the first of the clauses is an ionic, and the second a trochaic verse, IIs as, 6avars, To kevrpov ; ts as, ačn, to vukos; and Mr. Pope has only hºre is any certain evidence that the apostle intended any quotation at 3. a on the first day of the week.] So, kara pºtav gaff3arqv signifies. Compare Luke xxiv. l. Johu xx. 1, with Matt. xxviii. 1. Mark xvi 2 606 INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE COLLECTION FOR THE POOR SAINTS IN JUDEA. SECT. bring it with him to the place where you meet for your public worship; then treasuring it there be no gatherings when 31. CO ille, up” in the common stock, that so it may be ready in one sum, and there may be mo neces- sity of making any particular collections when I come. This will save us some trouble, at Isº a time when we shall necessarily have so much important business on our hands; and * 2 when a little is added to the stock weekly, it may rise, by almost imperceptible degrees, to a greater sum than could perhaps be expected if the whole were to be deposited at once. 3 Bºſt when I am arrived at Corinth, whomsoever ye shall appoint and recommend by your letters, signed by the congregation or its proper répresentatives, them will I send to carry your favour to Jerusalem, and shall cheerfully intrust them to deliver it with their own 4 hands to the poor christians there. .4nd if it be thought convenient that I should also go up thither myself on this occasion, they shall go with me; that every thing may be conducted in the most open and honourable manner, and that your messengers may witness for me, that none of the money has been employed to any purposes whatsoever different from those for which it was given. This, I hope, will quickly be despatched; for I will, if Providence permit, come to you, when I have passed through Macedonia; and I am just upon my journey through Mace: 6 domia.. ind then perhaps may continue a while with you, and even spendihe winter among Jou ; that so, when I have made you as long a visit as my affairs will admit, you may bring ºne forward on my journey to Jerusalem, or whithersoever else I shall go,” or through what: ever parts I may pass to it; for that is a circumstance about which f am not yet deter- mined, and in which I refer myself to the future direction of Providence. I speak of my coming as at some distance; for though from these maritime parts I might easily come to you by sea, and so travel northward, when I have despatched my business at Corinth: I will not now see you in this manner, in my way; but hope the little delay which this scheme may occasion will be made up to your satisfaction: for I fully purpose to spend some time with you, if the Lord permit; which the necessities of the churches of Macedonia will not at present give me leave to do. But I shall continue here at Ephesus till about Pentecost,e reserving the remainder of the summer for my tour through Macedonia and the neighbour- ing parts. In the mean time, though I have spent so many months here, I am willing to make my stay as long as with any tolerable convenience I can; for a great and effectual door of usefulness is opened to me under my apostolical character, in this populous and celebrated city, and [there are] many opposers who may perhaps take the advantage of my absence to injure this new-planted church, on which I have bestowed so much labour, and for the interest of which I have the tenderest concern.f - But if, in the mean time, my beloved friend and brother Timothy should come to you, see that he be with you without fear of any unkind usage, or of any attempt to set him up as the head of a party, as in some instances you have been ready to do by others; for as he is a man of a very tender and affectionate, so he is likewise of a very candid and humble, spirit, and he laboureth in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ with great sincerity and zeal, as I also ſao ;] and we are in all respects so much in the same sentiments, that I am well assured the things which would grieve me in your conduct, would be equally disagreeable II to him. And therefore, though he be yet but a young man, (1 Tim. iv. 12.) let no man despise or make light of him; but, on the contrary, bring him forward on his journey in 3 And when I come, whom- soever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. . 4 And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with II, C, 5 5 Now I will come unto you, when shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia. 6 And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. 7 For I will not see you now y the way; but I trust to tärry a while with you, if the Lord permit. 8 But I will tarry at Ephe- sus until Pentecost. 8 9 For a great door and ef- fectual is opened unto me, and thers are many adversa- F1 eS. 9 10 Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with, you without fear; for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. }{0 11 Let, no man therefore despise him : but conduct him forth in peace, that he peace, and do all that you can to make it commodious and agreeable to him: that so he may ºmºhitº, ſº - - * - look for him with the bre- may come to me at Ephesus as soon as possible: for I expect him here with the other ºn. breihren,* who are now the companions of his journey, and who are all dear to me in the bonds of christian love. But as for [our] brother Apollos, who is so well known to you, and for whom many of you have so high a regard, I am sorry to tell you that you are not at present to expect a visit from him. I was indeed very importunate with him to come to you with Timothy and the other brethren; as I have an entire confidence both in his friendship and prudence, and hoped that whatever improper, use has been made of his name in opposition to mine, (compare chap. i. 12. iii. 4–6.) his presence among you might have been useful, just at this crisis. Wevertheless, he was by no means willing to come now, lest any advantage should be taken from that circumstance to inflame those divisions he would gladly do his utmost to allay : but he will come when he shall have a convenient opportunity; and you may assure yourselves that he retains a most cordial affection for you, and tender solicitude for your peace and prosperity. 12. As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren : but his will was not at all to come at this time ; but he wiſi come when he shall have convenient ti Ine. 12 IMPROVEMENT. LET ministers, from the example of the apostle, learn to be ready to promote charitable collections for the relief of poor christians; and let them frequently exhort their hearers to do good and to communicate; reminding them, 2 that their contributions ought to bear a proportion to the degree in which God has been pleased to prosper them.– We see an evident reference to the stated assemblies of the church on the first day of the week in this early age; and it is a proper duty of that day to devise and execute liberal things, according to our respective abilities. Ver. 1 b Treasuring it up graş-9; Tao’ cavro 7406; a 6mgavat{\ov.] We rendor it, let etcry one of you lay by him in store. But the followin; words show that it was to be put into a commoa stock. The , arºuſhºt drawn from hence for the Heliº of the first day of the week in these primitive churches of Corinth and Galatia; is, too obvious to need any #| || iiſastration, and yet too important to be passed by in an entife Sile IIce. - - c I ain just upon my journcy through Macedonia.] Thus I think We may justly render Maxečovlav Žap Štěpxoplat. Macedonia Wºº ºf the direct way from Ephesus to Corinth. It seems by his Second Epistle to the Öorinthians, ºrition a few months after this, that he was either in jacedonia or oº, his way thither, (compare 2 Corz, i. 16.) from whençº jº appears that he had a secret purpose of seeing Corinth in his W33 tº as well as from Macedonia; but he does not express this Pūrpose hère, so that ...i know not jº it was signified to them, as from the text last ntioned it seeins that it was. s - - m; jñither soccer else I go..] In the forecited text, Judea is º ed., but St. Paul does not seem to have fixed his scheme so particularly, nº *ºnal continue at Ephesus till Pentecost.] I look upon this i a very plain intimation, that he was now, at Ephesus; and consequent X. tº tº inscription added at the end of this Epistle, which tells us it was arritten from Philippi, is very far from being authentic ; and I hopg, it will be #6'ſ. that no credit is to be given to any of these addi- tions, which have been very presumptuously made, and I think very imprudently retaincol. * - f.A great and gjectual door is opened, &c.] Some think that here is an a] iusion to the door of the Circus, from whence, chariots were let Qut &jſen the races were to begin ; and that the word aureketpévot, which I render opposers, signifies ibe same with antagoûists, with, whom the apostle was to contend as in a course. (Acts xix. 20, &c.) This opposi- tion rendered his presence more necessary to preservº those that were already converted, and to increase, the nāmber, if Gºd shºuld bless his ministry. Accordingly, a celebrated church, was planted at Ephesus; and so far as we can learn from the tenor of his Epistle to it; there was jess ſo correct and reprove among them, than in most of the other churches to which he wrote. r − 1. * tº g ſerpect him here with the brethren;] The original words are some- thing ambiguous; but I have taken the sense which segmed most na- túraj. Accordingly I think it probable that he came to, Ephesus before St. Paul was driven out of it by the tumult; and that the apºstle being obliged to leave that city in so abrupt a manner, desired Timothy to stay awhile after him, to settle the affairs of that impºrch II].OT 8 corapletely than he hād an opportunity of doing it. 1 Tim- i. 3 - PARTICULAR SALUTATIONS AND DIRECTIONS. 607 The prudent caution of St. Paul as to the management of pecuniary affairs, is worthy the attention of the minis-SECT. ters of the gospel; and may teach them to take care, not only that they satisfy their own consciences in the fidelity 31. of their transactions, but aſso that they provide things honest in the sight of all men. The apostle's courage in making the opposition he met with at Ephesus a reason for his continuance there, may instruct us not to study our gº. own ease in the choice of our abode, but rather to prefer those circumstances, however disagreeable in themselves, 8 XVI. wherein we may be providentially led to do most for the advancement of religion in the world. * His care that his young friend Timothy might be as easy as possible, constitutes likewise a very amiable part of 19, 11 his character, and suggests, in a manner .#worthy of notice, how careful private christians should be that they do not terrify and distress the minds of those who are entering on the ministerial office. A faithful disposition to 12 labour in the work of the Lord ought to command respect; yet sometimes, as in the instance of Apollos, even that diligence may be so liable to misrepresentation, that it may be the wisdom of ministers to absent themselves from places where they have many to caress and admire them. On the whole, the great business of life is to glorify God in doing our best for promoting the happiness of mankind; and no self-denial ought to seem hard to us, while We keep that glorious end in view. SECTION XXXII. The apostle concludes with some particular salutations and directions; with general exhortations, to courage and love; a solemn benediction to true christians, and an awful denunciation against those that were destitute of love to Christ. 1 Cor. xvi. iš, to the end.” 1 CoR. xvi. 13. I CORINTHIANs xvi. 13 WATCH ye, stand fast in NOW, my brethren, to conclude all, suffer a word of the most affectionate exhortation. SECT. i..." "*** Remember the situation in which you are, and with how many formidable enemies you are 32. - surrounded, and be watchful against all their assaults; stand fast, in the profession of the christian faith; acquit yourselves not like children, but as men of knowledge and fortitude; I cº, and be strong,” in a dependence on the best supports while you make that your constant Lº". 14 Let, all your things be care. And that you may not mistake this exhortation as breathing any thing of a conten- done with charity. tious spirit, or fitted only for persons in military life, I would subjoin this necessary caution; let all jour affairs be transacted in mutual love, and under the influence of that noble prin- ciple of unfeigned benevolence which I have been so largely describing and recommend- ing in the former part of this epistle. (See chap. xiii.) lºgº; And I further beseech jou, my brethren, that forasmuch as ye know the household of 15 §º: fi: Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, he and they being among the first that were ſº nº.A:#, "nº converted to christianity in all your country, ye pay a proper regard to them; and so much seives to the ministry of the the rather, as they have set themselves with peculiar resolution and care, according to the saints,) rank in which Providence has placed them, and the abilities which God hath given them, ..}}. Thºſe ºniº, to the labour and charge of ministering to the saints. Now I would by all means inculcate 16 ºve; on "that helpet, with it upon you, that you should in your respective ranks and circumstances of life subject us, and laboureth. yourselves to such, and not only pay them all due personal regard, but act as you have op- portunity, in harmony with them; and that under their influence you should do your utmost for the good of your christian brethren. And thus I would have you behave to every associate in that good work and labour in which they are engaged; especially to those who are honoured with the ministerial office. - cº; #. §: . I could not but rejoice gºaty ºf the arrival and presence o, that worthy person I have 17 ānā Āšiºus for that which just mentioned, that is, Stephanas, and of Fortunatus,” and Achaicus, who accompanied .*.*.*.*.*.*.* him; because they filled up your deficiency with respect to me, and gave me by their con- - verse and friendly offices that consolation which I might justly have expected from you - all, had I enjoyed an opportunity of conversing with you, and about which I could, for lºº your own sakes, wish that some of you had been more solicitous. For they refreshed my 18 #.”..ajejº, ºn spirit greatly by their obliging behaviour and edifying conversation; as I doubt not but that are such. they have often refreshed yours by their ministrations among you. Therefore I must again - urge it upon you, that you pay all proper regards to such, and treat them on every occasion . with such respect and affection as so worthy a character well deserves. sº º, §. I must now tell you, that the churches of the provincial Asia, which lie about Ephesus, 19 jºin the and with whom I have frequent opportunities of corresponding, salute you with all chris: #º church that is tian affection; heartily wishing you peace and prosperity. Your good friends Aquila and ~. Priscilla," who have made so long an abode among you, and are now providentially brought hither, most affectionately salute you in the bowels of our common Lord. And with these tokens of respect receive those of the church in their house, as you know their ... Alſº ºf: family is happy in a large number of christian members. But I will not enter into a 20 § aſſiº kiss. more particular detail of names; for your society is so celebrated, and esteemed of so - great importance to the christian interest, that I may truly say that all the brethren salute you. Entertain therefore that affection for each other, which those that are almost strangers bear to you, and salute, one another with an holy kiss; but let it be as cordially sincere as I doubt not but it will be decent. 21, The salutation of me I have hitherto used the assistance of a friend to write what I dictated to him; but in 21 * * * * * order to assure you that this Epistle is genuine, I here add the salutation of [me] Paul, your well-known minister and father in the gospel, with my own hand; most cordially *Hºº wishing you every blessing, both temporal and spiritual. And let me here add, (that 22 Lord Jesus Christ, let him be • * - - 4. A.ii. Niº. being thus written with my own pen, it may have the greater weight:) If there be any man amongst you, or elsewhere, who under the specious forms of christianity loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, but maintains a secret alienation of heart from him while he calls himself his servant, preferring any interest of his own to that of his divine Master; let him be .Amathema, Maran-atha :* such an one is indeed worthy of the most a Stand fast—acquit yourselves like men; be strong.]. There is no need ($ 59.) that he was the messenger of the church at Corinth t of seeking a different sense of each word. If there be any difference, by whom Clement sent back that invaluable Epistle. o that of Rome, avópºgós may refer to a strength of resolution; kparatsabe, to that d :Aguila and, Priscilla.l., They had formerly made some abode at cheerful and courageous expectation of a happy event, which the consci- Corinth 3... and there St. Paul’s acquaintange with them commenced. ousness of so good a cause would naturally administer. * Açts xviii. 1, 2. It is therefore, no wonder they were particular in their b They have set themselves, &c..] This seems to imply that, it was the salutations.-Some copies add, Tap’ ons ºviçopai, toith whom also ºf generous care of the whole family to assist their fellow christians, so that lodge ; but the authority of those manuscripts is small. there was not a member of it, which did not do its part. - e -ārathem.4-Maran-atha.] Among the many various interpretations c Fortunatus.] This worthy man survived St., Paul, a considerable of these words, none seems to me, so probable and satisfactory as this: time; for it appears from the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, When the Jews lost the power of life and death, they used ºvertheless 608 ^, - PARTICULAR SALUTATIONS AND DIRECTIONS. SECT. dreadful curse, and if he persist in such a wretched temper, it will certainly fall upon him. 32. And let him be assured, that though his crime be of such a nature as not to admit human conviction and censure; yet it is known to him whose eyes are as a flame of fire, so that 1 COR. he searches the hearts and trieth the reins. And ere long, the Lord himself will come in *", awful pomp, tº exºte vengeance upon him, prºnºuncing him, accursed before the assembled world, and devoting him to utter and everlasting destruction. - 23 . But it is my hearty prayer that no such root of bitterness and heir of misery may be , 23 The grace of our Lord found among you; and that it may not, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with **** with you. 3/07t, and, all the blessed tokens and effects of his favour rest upon you, for timé and eternity 24 Be assured that in what I have here said I intend nothing in the least unkind to any 24 My love be with you all single person among you. Far from that, my tenderest and most affectionate love ſº in Christ Jesus. Amen. with you all in Christ Jesus :f depend therefore upon my constant readiness to do all in my power for promoting and establishing the christian interest among you; and may it * more and more, till your happiness be completed in the kingdom of God above. 372,877. IMPROVEMENT. Ver, 13 . However the particular trials of christians may vary in different ages, the same works, in general, demand their diligence: the same enemies, their watchfulness; the same difficulties, their courage and fortitude: nor will they 14 ever be more likely to perform, to resist, and to endure well, than when charity reigns in their hearts, and presides over the whole of their behaviour. 15, 16 We owe our humble thanks to the Author of all good, when he raises up the spirits of his servants to any dis- tinguished activity and zeal in his cause. Christians of standing superior to their brethren, ought to emulate such a character; and when they do so with genuine marks of becoming modesty and upright views, let all proper respect be paid to them; especially to those who are honoured with, and labour faithfully in, the ministerial office. To such let others submit themselves in love; not indeed as to the lords of their faith, which even the apostles pretended not to be ; but as friends, whom they esteem and reverence, ever tenderly solicitous to secure their comfort and increase their usefulness. f 19, 20 We see how much the apostle was concerned to promote mutual friendship among the disciples of our blessed Redeemer; how kindly he delivers the salutations of one and another. It becomes us to remember each other with cordial regard, and, in imitation of this wise example, to do all we can to cultivate a good understanding among our christian brethren, and to abhor that disposition to sow discord, which has been so fatally successful in producing envyings and strife, and every evil work, 22 To conclude all; ſetus lay up in our memory, and often review, this awful sentence, this Anathema, Maran-atha, 21 which, to give it the greater weight, the apostle records with his own hand. Let it ever be remembered, that pro- fessing christians, who do not sincerely love their Master, lie under the heaviest curse which an apostle can pro- nouncé or a God inflict. Let the unhappy creatures take the alarm, and labour to obtain a more ingenuous temper, ere the Lord, whom they neglect, and against whom they entertain a secret enmity, descend from heaven with insupportable terror, and pronounce the anathema with his own lips, in circumstances which shall for ever cut off all hope and all possibility of its being reversed. If his solemn voice pronounce, his almighty hand will immediately execute it. How will they be cast down to destruction, as in a moment! How will they be utterly consumed with terrors . To prevent so dreadful an end of our high profession, of our towering hopes, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us! Amen. 2 3 to pronounce an amathema on persons who, according to the Mosaic law, alienation from Christ, maintained under the forms of christianity §§§ºid have been executed; and such a pérson became an amathema, of (which might perhaps be the case among many of the Corinthians, and cherem, or accursed ; for the expressions are equivalent. They had a much more probably may be so among us.), as this Nyas nºt a grine ea- full persuasion that the curse would not be in vain; and indeed, it ap- pable of being convicted and censured in the christian church, he re- pears they expected some judgment correspondent to that which the law minds them that the Lord Jesus Christ will, come at length and find, it pronouncéd would befall the offender; for instance, that a man to be out, and, punish its in a Prºper...nº. This weighty sentence the stoned, would be killed by the falling of a stone or other heavy body apostle chose to write with his own, hand, and, insert between his ge- jºir. ... imanºe trangled, would be choked; or one whom, the neral salutation and benediction; that it gight be the more attentively jº sentenced to the flames, would be burnt in his house, and the like; regarded. Qompare Grot. On m. v. 13. and Isa. xiv. 20. Bishop Rów is express their faith, that God, would one way of another, and Patrigk; on Deut. xxvii. 15... . - - robably in some remarkablé manner, interpose, to add that effigaçy to fºſy love [be] with you all in Qhrist Jºsus.] When we consider what #: Öº sentence which they could not give it; it is very probable they an alienation of affection some of these Corinthians had expressed with fight use the words jīaran affia, that is, in Syriac, the Lord cometh, or respect to the apostle, this expºsiº of tender regard to them all, with- he will surely and guickly come to put this sentence in execution, and Qut any exception, is so much the more affectionate; but it would not to shºw that 'the person on whom it fails is indeed amathema, qccursed, have been agreeable tº the generous spirit which dictated it, to have fm beautiful ajilision to this, when the apostle was speaking of a secret glanced too plainly on that circumstance in the paraphrase THE - F A M I L Y E X P O S I TO R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. The First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians was written, as hath been before observed, from Ephesus, about the year of our Lord 57, towards the end of his continuance, there and in the neighbouring parts. (See p. 456, note a.) Upon leaving Ephesus the apostle removed to Troas, which was situated on the shore of the AEgean sea, in expectation of meeting Titus, and receiving an account of the success with which he hoped his former Epistle had been attended, and of the present state of the Corinthian church; (2 Cor. ii. 12.) but not meeting him there, (ver. I3.) he proceeded to Mace- donia, where he obtained his desired interview, and received satisfaction concerning the promising state of affairs at Corinth. From this place the apostle wrote his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, intrusting it tº the care of Titus, who was return- ing to Corinth, to forward the collection intended for the poor christians in Judea. From these historical circumstances, the date of this Second Epistle must be fixed within a year after the former. (See p. 459, note b.) In the Introduction to the First Epistle, we observed, that its design was to rectify some sad disorders and abuses which had crept into the church at Corinth; and answer their queries upon some important points in which they had desired his determination. The intention of the present Epistle is, in general, to illustrate some of the same points upon which he had discoursed in the former, according to the light which Titus had given him into the circumstances and temper of the Corinthian church; interspersing and enforcing some occasional reflections and devices upon various subjects, as he thought most conducive to their instruction and edification. But to give a more distinct view of the scheme and contents of this Second Epistle.—The apostle, after a general salu- tation, expresses his grateful sense of the divine goodness in preserving him from the dangers to which he had been exposed in Asia; professing his unshaken confidence in God's continued guardianship, supported by a sense of his own integrity. (Chap. i. 1–12.) Which declaration of his integrity he further illustrates; applying it particularly to those views on which he had declined the visit to Corinth, which in the former Epistle he seems to have promised. (Wer. 13, to the end.) . The case of the unhappy person who had committed incest with his father's wife, and whom, upon account of the scandal he had brought on his christian profession, the apostle directed them to exclude from communion, had made a deep impression on his mind. This, he intimates, was the reason of his having deferred his visit to Corinth, that he might not méet them with grief, nor till he had received advice of the effect of his apostolical admonitions, and their salutary and seasonable discipline. The affection of the apostle to the Corinthians is here manifested, both in his sympathy with the offending member of their church while under censure, whom now, being penitent, he advises them to re-admit to their communion; and also in his solicitude for certain tidings concerning their welfare by Titus, whom not finding at 'Troas, (as before observed,) he went to meet in Macedonia. (Chap. ii. 1–15.) • [n further vindication and support of his apostolical character against the insinuations and objections of the false teachers tit Corinth, the apostle, having just intimated that a large door .#success had been opened to him at Troas and elsewhere makes a transition to this subject; and expresses in the most affectionate terms his thanksgiving to God for having intrusted him with the ministry of the gospel, and for the success attending his services; declaring his lively confidence, in alievents of the divine acceptance, and speaking of the Corinthians as his credentials written by the finger of God. (Ver. 14, to th. end; chap. iii. 1–6.) And as an illustration of the dignity of the ministerial office, he descants, in a very pertinent and judicious manner, on the comparative obscurity of the Mosaic law, and the superior glory and permanence of the gospel. Ver. 7, to the end.) He then disclaims all sinister views and distrust of success, in pursuing the glorious ministry he had described, from a firm persuasion, that such a gospel could not be rejected but in consequence of the most fatal preju- dices. (Chap. iv. 1–6.) And while he acknowledges his own infirmities, he glories in the strength communicated to him from God, as an effectual support under the extremest trials; (yer. 7–15.) describing the glorious hopes which he entertained beyond the grave, as a ground of triumph in the face of danger, and a noble incentive to persevering fidelity and steadfastness. (Ver, 16, to the end; chap. v. I–10.), Touching again upon the ardour with which he prosecuted the ospel ministry, he makes a kind of apology for it, pleading the irresistible constraints of the Redeemer's love, and the infinite importance of the overtures of reconciliation ; which in a most pathetic address he urges the Corinthians to em- brace. (Ver. 11, to the end; chap. vi. 1, 2.) And then expatiates with great copiousness on the temper with which, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions, he and his brethren executed their important embassy. (Ver. 3—10.) It is easy to observe, on the most cursory view of this argument, with what delicacy, as well as energy, it is all alon conducted. As the apostle manages his subject in the tenderest and most affectionaté manner, and intermingles genera reflections for the instruction and consolation of the Corinthians, which, however, had an evident subservience to his main design; he conciliates their regard, and fixes the impressions which his former Epistle had made, in a more insinuating and 77 * 610 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. therefore more effectual way, than if he had exerted his authority, and wrote with more closeness and severity of style. And having been informed by Titus, that the defence of his mission, and apology for his conduct, contained in his former Epis- tle, had not been utterly in vain, he manifests his satisfaction in the present disposition of the Corinthians, by giving his reasonings upon this head a more diffusive and practical turn. tº - - After this, the Epistle affords us a further instance of his affection, in his judicious and pathetic exhortation to the Corin- thians, (additional to what he had formerly said, when they desired his opinion upon the head of marriage,) to avoid those alliances or intermarriages with idolaters, which might tend to insnare them; pleading the gracious promises of God to his people as an engagement to the strictest purity, and as a motive to aspire after the sublimest attainments in religion. (Ver. 11, to the end; chap. vii. 1.) - From this digression he returns to the subject he had before been treating; and to remove any degree of prejudice which might yetlurkin their breasts against his apostolical character, he appeals to them for the integrity and disinterested- ness of his conduct; professing that the freedom i. USeS Was not j."to reproach their diffidence, but sprung from an unfeigned and ardent concern for their welfare; which he illustrates by the pleasure with which he received the assurances of their good state by Titus, and the part he had taken in their sorrows, which his necessary reproofs had occasioned, and by his present joy, in that those sorrows had º issued in their reformation. (Ver. 2, to the end.) The apostle had proposed to the Corinthians, in the close of the former Epistle, their making a contribution for the relief of the poor saints in Judea: resuming the subject, he recommends to them the example of the Macedonians, reminds them of the grace of our blessed Redeemer, and gives some advices as to the manner of §§ and transmitting their bounty: |. viii. 1–13.) expressing his joy for the readiness of Titus to assist in finishing the collection, and making an onourable mention of the worthy character of other christian brethren, whom he had joined with him in the same commis- sion. (Ver 16, to the end.) He then, with admirable address, further urges their liberal contribution, and, in a full as- surance of its success, recommends them to the divine blessing. (Chap. ix. throughout.) Having º: in the former part of the Epistle, and on occasion of this contribution, his confidence in the abundant ace which had been bestowed on the Corinthians, the apostle takes an opportunity of stating and obviating some reflec- tions which some among them had thrown upon him for the mildness of his conduct, as if it proceeded from fear. He therefore asserts his apostolical power and authority; cautioning his opponents that they º not urge him to give too sensible demonstrations of it upon themselves. (Chap. x. throughout.) "And further vindicates himself from the perverse insinuations of such as opposed him at Corinth; particularly on the head of his having declined to receive a contribution from the church for his maintenance: which, though greatly to his honour, was by his opposers ungenerously turned to his º: (Chap. xi. 1–15.) To magnify his office as an apostle, he commemorates his labours and sufferings in the cause of Christ; yet in such a manner as plainly shows it was disagreeable, however necessary it might be, to dwell on a subject that appeared like sounding his own applause. (Ver. 16, to the end.) And with great clearness and plainness, yet at the same time with equal reluctance and modesty, he gives a detail of some extraordinary revelations which he had received from God, and of his experience of those divine aids which taught him to glory in his own infir- mities. (Chap. xii. 1–10.) And upon the whole, vindicates the undisguised openness and sincerity of his conduct, and his visible superiority to secular considerations, in all his carriage towards the church at Corinth. (Ver. II, to the : Closing his #. with the tenderest assurances, how much it would grieve him to be obliged to evince his apostolica power by inflicting any miraculous punishment on those who continued to oppose him ; and then subjoining the most respectful salutations, and his solemn benediction. (Chap. xiii. tº gº - - - - - - - #. is evident from this view of the Epistle, that a jº large part of it is employed in reclaiming the Corinthian church from their undue attachment to judaizing teachers, and from that party-spirit into which they had fallen; and in rekindling proper regards to the unadulterated doctrine of the gospel, and to his own apostolical cºunsels, who had been their spiri- tual father in Christ. That this leading design of the apostle is occasionally interrupted by the introduction of other mat: ters, and particularly the subject of the contribution for the poor saints in Judea, will be no objection, I º if narrowly examined, to the accuracy and beauty of this excellent composition; for the transitions which St. Paul makes, arise from some obvious and important sentiments, which render them natural and just. And there is ºn Admirable Wis- dom in such digressions, as they relieve the minds of the Corinthians from that painful uneasiness which they must have felt from a constant attention to so disagreeable a subject; I mean their unsuitable conduct towards the apostle himself. It is with the same kind of propriety and sagacity that the severe intimations which the dignity of the apostolic character obliged St. Paul to drop against those who might persevere in their, oppositiºn, are reserved to the close of the Epistle; as they would fall with .#. weight, in all probability, after their minds had been softened with the reiterated ex; ressions of his tender affection to the Corinthians in general, and the innocence and amiableness of his character had een represented in such a variety of views. A - * P A R A PHRASE AND NOTES ON THIE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE PAUL, AFTER A GENERAL SALUTATION, EXPRESSES HIS GRATEFUL SENSE OF THE DIVINE GOODNESS, IN PRESERVING HIM FROM THE DANGERS TO WHICH HE HAD BEEN EXPOSED IN ASIA ; PROFESSING HIS UNSHAKEN CONFIDENCE IN GOD'S CON- TINUED GUARDIANSHIP, SUPPORTED BY THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS INTEGRITY BEFORE HIM. 2 COR. i. 1–12. 2 Cor. i. 1 2 CoRINTHIANs i. 1. PAUL, an apostle.9f Jesui YOU receive this Epistle from Paul, who hath the honour to call himself an apostle of spot. §; Jesus Christ by the sovereign will of God; who hath shown by the victory of his grace over ğırch of god which is at me, how able he is to .#the most obdurate and reluctant will to his own purposes, and tº §º...” triumph over the opposition of the most obstinate heart. And Timothy, a beloved brother” in Christ Jesus, joins with me in this second address to the church % God that I. is in Corinth ; whom he hath mercifully called out from the world and united to himself. A society for which I have always the tenderest regard; the respective members of which I now most cordially salute; with all who, by their christian profession, are numbered 2 Grace he to you...and among the Saints that are in the whole region of .4chaia. I greet you, as i do aii my bre- jº..."; "flºº... thren in such addresses: saying from my heart, M% grace and peace [be] in rich abun- hrist. - dance communicated to you all, from God our Father, the compassionate Source of universal goodness, and from the Lord Jesus Christ; through whom alone such invaluable tº gº blessings can be conveyed to such sinful creatures as we are. While I sit down to write Suther of our Lord Jesus - º & e $ ſº Číº, the Fähe of herºies, to you, my dear brethren, in the midst of circumstances which the world might think very *nd the God of all comfort; deplorable, (compare I Cor. iv. 9, &c.) I cannot forbear bursting out into the language of } and praise,b for such a variety of divine favours as is conferred on myself and you. Blessed, for ever blessed, by the united songs of men and angels, [be] the great God and Father of our beloved Lord and gracious Saviour Jesus Christ, through whom we have this free access to him, this secure interest in him : so that we can now, with unutterable delight, view him as the Father of mercies, from whose paternal compassion all our com- forts and hopes are derived; and as the God of all consolation, whose nature it is ever to have mercy, and who knows how to proportion his supports to the exigence of every trial. 4. Whººtorieth us, in all For ever adored be this benevolent and compassionate Being, who comforteth us in all 4 onr tribulation, that we may º * e * ar *… * & - is ºbi.". "Coºrt tiº our pressing tribulation,” by such seasonable appearances in our favour. And this I know *... º.º.º. º. is not merely for our own sakes, but that we, taught by our own experience, may be able the comfort, where with we : º 3 5 sº 3 tº 5 jºrselves are &omforted of in the most tender, suitable, and effectual manner, to comfort those who are in any tribula- Go H. tion, by the communication of that comfort whereby we ourselves are comforted of God;d and methinks every support I feel is much endeared to me by the consideration, that the cºiº. benefit of it may be reflected upon others. Because as the sufferings we endure in the 5 ºisºnº cause of Christ, and in conformity to his example, abound with respect to us, so our conso- Cirist. lation by Christ, the comforts which arise from God in him, does abound much more, and quite overbalance the distress. And much of this satisfaction to us arises from the hope we have with relation to yoh, my dear friends and christian brethren; for whether we be afflicted, [it is, we doubt not, in subservience to the views of your present consolation, and your future and eternal salva- tion; which is so much the more effectually wrought out, by the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also undergo, and which by our example you are taught the less 2 COR. I 2 3 6 And whether we be aſ- flicted, it is for your consola- tion and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we 6 a Timothy a beloved brother.] This shows that Timothy was returned to St. Paul since he wrote the last Epistle ; and his joining the name o Timothy with his own, is an instance of the generous desire, which St. Paul had to establish, as much as possible, the reputation and influence of this excellent young minister. Some have thought this is the reason why the anostle so often speaks in the plural number in this Epistle; but it is certain he often speaks in the singular, and that there are passages here, as well as in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, in which he uses the plural, withºut intending to include Timothy. See, chap. iii. 1–3. vii. 5.xii. 19.2 Thess., ii. 1–9, . He also joins, the name of Sosthenes with his own, in the former Epistle, as also the name of º to the Epistle to the Philippians and Colossians, yet does not use the plural there. - e - b Cannot forbear bursting out, &c.]. It is very obseryable that eleven of St. Paul’s thirteen Epistles begin with, erclamations of joy, praise, and thanksgiving. As soon as he thought of a Christian church planted in one place or another, there seems to have been a, flow of, most lively affection accompanying the idea, in which all sensibility of his temporal afflictions or theirs was all swallowed up, and the fulness of his heart must vent itself in such cheerful, exalted, and devout language. c Comforteth us...] It is certain that the mention of these experiences must have a Powerful tendency to conciliate the regard of the Corin- thians to St. Paul ; and such an introduction to his Epistle as the whole Qf this is, must naturally prejudice them strongly in his favour: yet this does not seem to have been by any means his aim, nor is there any ap- pearance of art in it; but all is the genuine, overflowing of a heart which rejoiced in the consolations of the gospel felt by itself, and com- municated to others. See ver. 12, which is much illustrated by this con- In 62 XIO in . d Comforted of God..] Some think this refers particularly to the com- fort which the repentance of the incestuous person gave St. Paul, after the affliction he had endured on his account; (compare ; y11. % but it seems more natural to understand it of the general consolation arising from the pardon of sin, an interest in God, an assurance that nothing should separate him from Christ, that afflictions should co-operate for his advantage, and that a crown of glory heightened by these trials should 612 SECT. to Wonder at, and to bear with the greater fortitude: or whether toe be comforted, [it is] still with the same view, for your consolation and salvation; that may be promoted by thºse comforts which we are enabled to communicate to you with greater efficacy...ind out, hope concerning you, that this will be the happy end of all, steadfast and cheerful:*, knowing that as jeare partakers 1. k 2 COR. - 7 8 9 11 12 Ver. 1 PAUL’S CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS INTEGRITY BEFORE GOD. the [is ; so you also have already, in some degree, myself that you in the general are. We write thus concerning the trials of the christian life, them in a large measure: fºr we would not have you, our dear breihren, ignºrani concern. ing our qfliction, which within these few months befell us in .4sia, an Ephesus; that we were erceedingly pressed with it, even beyond our power; so that we despaired of being, able, even to live any longer, and were looked upon by others as dead wind not only did others apprehend this concerning us, but ºne ourselves did indeed think that the appointed end of our ministry and life was come; and had, as it were, re- ceived the sentence of death in ourselves, the execution of which we were continually expect- ing; but the event showed that it was wisely appointed by Divine Providence to make our IQ6H. - T - º your share of the consolation which arises from principles and hopes which are not peculiar to us, who are apostles, or inferior ministers of the gospel, but common to all sincere believers also suffer: or whether we bo comforted, it is for your con- your eternal happiness solation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is steadfast; knowing that as ye are partakersofthe sufferings, so Shall ye be also of the con- solation. of the sufferings to which we ; in which number I persuade 8 For we would not, bre- thren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were press- ed out of measure, above strength insomuch that we despaired even of life: having so lately experienced particularly at 9 But we had the sentence death in ourselves, that we should not trust, in our- selves, but in God which raiseth the dead : deliverance the more remarkable: and that we might learn for the future not to trust in ourselves, nor merely to regard human probabilities, but in the greatest extremities to repose a cheerful confidence in the power - and providence of that God who raiseth the dead, at his 10 holy pleasure, by his omnipotent word : H]io rescued us, on this ever-memorable occasion, Jrom so great a death as then threatened us, and doth rescue us from every danger which now surrounds us; and in whom we trust that he will make our deliverancé complete, and 10 Who delivered us from So, great a death, and doth deliver: in whorn. we trust that he will yet deliver us ; still rescue us from every evil, and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom. I say that I have this confidence in God's continual caré; and it is the more cheerful, as I persuade myself you are and will be working together in prayer for us, that so the Javour ſobtained] for us by the importunate prayers of many, may be acknowledged by the thanksgiving of many on our account;é as nothing can be moré reasonable than that mercies % And this confidence which we have both towards God and you, is much imboldened, as we have an inward assurance of our own integrity, however men may suspect or censure us: for this is still our rejoicing, which no external galamities can impair or injuries destroy, even the testimony of our conscience in the ºof sight of God, who searcheth the secrets of all hearts, that in simplicityh and godly sincerity, maintaining perpetually, that sense of the divine presence and inspection which is the obtained by prayer should be owned in praise. 11 You also helping toge- ther by prayer for us, that for the giſt bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf. 12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our con: science, that in simplicity and odly sincerity, not with eshly wisdom, but by the od, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you- Wºl rºt. surest guard upon unfeigned integrity, and not with that carnal wisdom which is so un- generously and unrighteously imputed to us, but by the grace of God, and such sentiments of fidelity and benevolence, as that blessed principle inspires, we have had, and still con- tinue to have, our conversation in the world; and more especially towards you,i with respect to whom, in some circumstances of opposition that have happened among you, we have been pºliº stance give a judices could not be greatly concerne obliged to watch over our conduct; lest inadvertency should in any in- andle to the malice of our enemies, to exert itself in strengthening pre- º us, and .# those fruits of our labours among you, for which we Ult º - IMPROVEATENT. LET the venerable title of Saints, by which the apostle so often describes and addresses christians, be ever retained in our minds; that we may remember the obligations we are under to answer it, as we would avoid the guilt and infamy of lying to God and men, by falsely and hypocritically professing the best religion, very jº y to the worst, undoubtedly to the vainest, purposes. And that we may be excited to a sanctity becoming is title, let us 3 often think of God, as the Father of mercies, and as the God of all consolation; and let us think of him as assum- ing these titles under the character of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: so shall we find our hearts more powerfully engaged to love and trust in him, and enter into a more intimate acquaintance and frequent con- 4 verse with him. From him let us seek consolation in every distress; considering these supports which we so experience, not as iven for ourselves alone, but for others; that we, on the like principles, may comfort them. Let ministers, in par- ficular, regard them in this view, and rejoice in these tribulations which may render them more capable of comfort ing such as are in any trouble, by those consolations with which they themselves have been comforted by God; 11 that so the church may be edified, and God glorified in all, by the thanksgiving of many, for mercies obtained in answer to united prayers. Let us particularly remember the support which St. Paul experienced when he was pressed above measure, and 9 as it seemed, quite beyond his strength, so as to despair of life, and received the sentence of death in himself; as what was wisel was, it admitte appointed to teach him, a firmer confidence in God, who raiseth the dead... Strong as his faith º further degrees; and the improvement of it was a happy equivalent for all the extremities he 10 suffered. He therefore glories, as secure of being rescued from future dangers. Nor was his faith vain, though close the scene. On these topics he frºquently insists in his Epistles, and none can be more important and delightful. - e Our hope concerning jou is steadfast.] These words, in several good manuscripts, are put in connexion with the first clause of the sixth verse; and so the version will run thus: Whether we lie afflicted, it is in sub- servience to your consolation and salvation, 10hich is effectually wrought out by the patient enduring of the sque sufferings which ice also tradergo.; and our hope concerning you, is steadfast: prachctlier toe be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation ; knowin; that as ye. are partakers ºf the sufferings, so also of the consolation. And the repetition of the words, conso º jºi.sº how *::::: the thought was to him ; so that he loved to speak of it again and again. . - sº The afflictions which befell us in Asia.] ... Mr. Gradock,thinks, that here he begins to apologize for not coming to Corinth, and introduces these troubles as an excuse for not seeing them. . I think it is, rather to be connected with the preceding discourse. Yet still, it might incline them to drop their complaints, and judge more favourably of him, when they considered in what painful and dangerous circumstances, he had, on the present openings of duty, been spendin; that time in, which they jad been expecting him at Corintin. As for the afflictions here spoken of some have thought that this may refer to the persecutions at Lystra, Yºhº St. Pauſ's danger had been so extreme, and he had been recover- cd by miracle; (Acts xiv. 19, 20.) but as that happened so long before the visit to Corinth, in which he planted the church there, (Acts xyiii. 1.) it seems more probable that he either refers tº some opposition which bg met with in his journey through Galatia and Phrygia, (Acts xviii. 23.) of which no particular account has reached us;, or to what happened at Ephesus, (Acts xix. 29, 30.) which is Dr. Whitby's opinion. g That so the favour ſobtainca,) &c.). There is something very perplex- ed and ambiguous in the structure of this sentence. I have sometimes thought it might be rendered, that (vrep mpov) on our account thanks may be rendered by many persons for (ro ets, mua; xaptana) the gift, or mira- culous endowment, which is in ws, or deposited with us, (6ta Tox\or,) for the sake qfinany; as if he had said, That many ſº." with us in returning thanks for those miraculous, endowments which were lodgg!! with me, not for my own sake, but for the benefit of many. This would be a sentiment worthy an apostle, but the rendering in the paraphrase seemed, on the whoſe, the most natural and simple; especially as éta, with a genitive, seldom, if ever, signifies for the sake, but rather by the means, of any afterwards mentioned. * - h Simplicity, plain-heartedness.] Not only meaning well on the whole, but declining an over-artful way of prosecuting a good end. - i Especially toucards you..] . His working with his, Qwn hands for his maintenance among the Corinthians, (Acts xviii. 3. 1 Cor. ix. 15.) which lie did not every where do, must be a convincing prooſ of this. PAUL'S CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS INTEGRITY BEFORE GOD. 613 he afterwards fell by the hand of his enemies, and seemed as helpless a prey to their malice and rage as ºy of SECT. the multitudes whose blood Nero, or the instruments of his cruelty, poured out like water. Death is itself the 2. grand rescue to a good man, which bears him to a state of everlasting security; and in this sense every believer * #. adopt the apostle's words, and while he acknowledges past and present, may assuredly boast of future, * ºn. €Il Vera.In CeS. Happy shall we therefore be, if by divine grace we are enabled at all times to maintain the temper and conduct of christians; and may confidently rejoice in the testimony of our consciences, that our conversation in the world 12 is in simplicity and gödly sincerity; that our ends in religion are great and noble; that our conduct is simple and uniform; in a word, that we act as in the sight of a heart-searching God. Then may we look upon the applauses or the censures of men as comparatively avery light matter; and may rest assured if, as with regard to the apostle in the instance before us, ha suffers a malignant breath for a while to obscure the lustre of our character, the day is e near which will reveal it in unclouded glory. - SECTION II. The apostle goes on solemnly to declare his general integrity ; and particularly applies that declaration to tier: views on which he had declined that visit to Corinth which he had intinated an intention of making. 2 Cor. i. 13, to the end. 2 : IN * >> - e 2 Cor. i. 13. 2 CorINTHIANs i. 13 FOR we write, none other I SPEAK of the integrity with which I have conducted myself among you, with great SECT ºś ... freedom; for we write no other things to you on this head, but what ye well know,” and 2. tº'º. acknowledge must be obliged to acknowledge; and I hope that ye will have equal cause to acknowledge Il € 0.81 ; [them, even unto the cnd; for by the divine grace you shall never have just cause to speak 2 CoR. lº' º: tºº, or think dishonourably of us, or to reflect upon any inconsistency in our behaviour. ..?s .." º: indeed ye have already acknoigledged us in part; you have acknowledged that you have had “ #.º.º.º. in the *s ºf no occasion of blaming us; for though some among you are not so ready to do us justice as the rest are, yet most avow it with pleasure and thankfulness, that we are your boasting, and that ye have cause to glory in your relation to us; as ye also in this respect (with humble gratitude to the great Author of all our successes be it ever spoken) [are] ours now, and will, I trust, be so in the great day of the Lord Jesus ; when we hope to present you before Christ as the seals of our ministry, and to lead you on to that heavenly king- dom, in the faithful pursuit of which we have aiready been so happy as to engage you. w; º; º; ...And in this confidence I was long before desirous of coming to you, and enjoying another 15 T] Iſle - - - -, *, - * , . * -- ... ... that “..."mi; interview with friends who have long iain so near my heart: that the expected transports have a second benefit; of that blessed day might in some degree be anticipated, both on my part and on yours; and accordingly would have come to you much sooner, not only on my own account, but likewise that ye might have had a second hengfit; as I doubted not but it would have been much to your advantage, as well as have given you a great deal of joy, to have seen and conversed with your father in Christ, who had once been so dear and so welcome to you. 16 And to pass by you into flnd indeed my scheme was to pass by you into 31acedonia, and make you a short visitb in 16 Macedonia, and to , come ithar co, -: X- + ºr ~3 in n >~ * ... §.'...} i.ejja... my way thither; and then having despatched my business in the chin ches there, to come §§§ fººt to you again from Macedonia, and make a longer stay; that so I might be brought forward - by you in my journey toward Judea, when I shall go thither to deliver the money raised by the contribution of the Gentile christians for their Jewish brethren, when they shall meet at Jerusalem on occasion of some of their great feasts. (See Acts xx. 16.) tº . Now when I intended this, did I use levity in projecting my scheme, or throwing it aside 17 lº"...","...ihº'ſ on any trifling occasion? Or the things which I purpose in general, do I purpose according º !º. to the flesh, according to carnal principles and views; that I should be continually chang- tº signifié sea yea...and ing my measures in the prospect of every little interest that may lead one way or another, play nº y : and breaking my word, so that there should be with me yea yea, and may may: such an un: certainty and inconsistency of counsels and actions, that none should know how to depend 18 But as Go! is true, ou upon me, or what they had to expect from me? No: I solemnly protest that [as] the God 18 Yº sº *" whom I serve [is] faithful, our word to you on other occasions, and on this, hath not been Wavering and uncertain, sometimes yea and sometimes may , but that I have always main- tained a consistency of behaviour, the natural attendant of sincerity and truth, which is 19 For the Son of Gedºle; always uniform and invariable. For our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our great 19 sus Christ, who was preache - - e e anomºy us, ºft. by Redeemer, who was preached by us amongst jou, that is, by me, and Sylvanus, and Timothy, j. º, who joined our labours among you, (Acts xviii. 15.) as we now join in writing to you this is , ,” “ : ... v. A - • - - T - º - - t - - but in him was yea. Epistle, (according to what I observed in the inscription of it.) was not yea and may ; Christ - and his gospel were not inconsistent and contradictory, but in him all was yea: as he is the - same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the declarations of his word and the engagements of g; flºº. º º º his covenant are inviolably the same. For all the many and invaluably precious promises 20 jº, Án."unto thesiºs of of God,which are given us by this covenant, and established in his blood, [are] in him od by us. yea, and in him. Amen.” They are now attended with stipulations and engagements which may be sufficient to confirm the weakest faith, when we consider what an astonishing way God has been pleased to take for the communication of mercy by his Son ; so that the more we attend to them, the more we shall see of their invariable truth and certainty; and all tends to the glory of God by us, which we constantly make the end of our administral tion, and so are animated to maintain one regular series of uniform truth, as in his sight and presence. S a What ye know..] The word avaylvadoxo is ainbiguous, and may º it. The #and objection asajast this is 1 Cor. xvi. 7, which can signify either to acknowledge, to know, or to read ; but I think the sense only be recºnciled by a supposition, that he had altered his purpose be- $ here plainly determines it to knowing. tween the date of that Epistle and his quitting Ephesus:"Aná". given b Make you a short visit..] At” upov čvex3sty et; Makedovlav some tº: º: by some verbal message, some intimation of it. have understood of going into Macedonia without calling on thern in § 4. #% ſº gºd in him #men: Nothing can really render the pro- his way. But as he went from Ephesus to Macedonia, it was not º º §s. Çetain, than, they are 3, but God’s giving them to us his direct way to go by Corinth; especially considering the road wº i.” º º that they are indeed his promises, as in Christ iºnow"ho did take, by Troas; and if he were now in Nîăcedonia, as Î !. .* i. §. evidence of his conversing, with men, and is the think there is great reason to believe he was, there would on that inter- ğ. º, W .." od hath Aºy wrought in the incarnation, life, re. pretation have been no such appearance of change in his purpose as jº: º º of his Son, (facts * themselves much stronger should have needed any apology. I therefore conclude that his first .."...} O Fº º: Cºnsequences to fºllow,) tend greatly to confirm scheme was to have made then two yisis, the oasin his way to \lace ...'...".” ...'...º.º.º.º.º.º.º illusºrious promises donia, (perhaps sailing from Ephesus to Corinth,) and then another and º º, *.d; º *3. º of which might other. longer, in his return. This the word Taxcy, again, seems to intimate ; ~ * * : R A M. v. W. . . P R. W. L & A timent to out faith, and have created a sus- - - * - * - - picion, not whether God would have performed ºf lic had S. and ºf his were his purpose, it was now plain, in fact, that he had ºut wiether such promises wºre really given us. e had promised, 614 SECT 2. 2 COR. H. : PAUL'S CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS INTEGRITY BEFORE GOD. . . But we say not this as arrogating any thing to ourselves; for we must readily acknow- 21 Now he which stablish; ledge that he who also by his - - ... eth us with you in Christ, and it, t *. º º .." strengthening grace confirmeth and establisheth us, together jº ...?'...'..." £ith yok, in the faith and, love of Christ, and he that hath anointed us, as a kind of first- fruits of his creatures, with that Spirit which gives us a capacity for all the services to Which we are cºlled out, and furnishes us with all our credentials in it, [is] the blessed 22 God himself: Who hath also sealed use to mark and secure usf for his peculiar property, 22 who hath also sealed and in further confirmation of his regard for us, given us the earnest of the Spirit in our §§ºst of hearts, those sacred communications both of gifts and graces, which lead us into enjoyments he SD IIlt in Our hearts. that Well?9k upon as the anticipation of heaven, and not only as a pledge, but a 'företaste of it. This is the º state into which we are now brought, for which I desire ever to glºrify, and adore the divine goodness, and to behave as one that is favoured with such in- valuable blessings and with such glorious prospects as these. 23 But with respect to that change in my purpose of coming to you, which some would , 23 Moreover I call God for ~ or ? r * -- ~4. 8. d - represent as an instance of a contrary conduct, I call God for a record on my soul, and ,'... ." ... º: declare to you, even as I hope he will have mercy upon it,s that it was not because I set into Corinth, slighted my friends or feared mine enemies, but out of a real tenderness, and with a desire to spare you that uneasiness which I thought I must in that case have been obliged to give you, that I came not as ſet to Corinth, as I had once intended, and given you some reason 24 tº expect. I mention this, not because we pretend to have any absolute dominion over your , 24 Not for that we have Jaith, so as of my own authority to dictaté what you should believe or do; nor would we º º: exert the power with which Christ has endowed us to any tyrannical or over-bearing pur- by faith tºur oys poses; but we, even I and all the faithful ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ, are joint helpers of your joy; we labour to use all the furniture which God hath given us to the ad- -vancement of your real comfort and happiness, which can only be secured by reducing you to your duty: but this very care will oblige us sometimes to take disagreeable steps with regard to those that act in such a manner as might tend to subvert the faith of their brethren; for by faith ye have stood hitherto; I readily acknowledge you have in the general adhered to it; and it is by retaining the same principles pure and uncorrupted, with a realizing sense of them on our hearts, that we may still continue to stand in the midst of all the opposition we necessarily meet with from men insensible of every bond of duty and gratitude. {M[PROVEMENT. Ver.20 ALL the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ: let us depend upon it that they will be performed; and 2 I 7 I 3 4 make it our great care, that we may be able to say that we are interested through him in the blessings to which they relate. Let there be a proportionable steadiness and consistence in our obedience, and let not our engage- 19 ments to God be yea and nay, since his to us are so invariably faithful. Are we established in Christ? Are we sealed with the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts? Let us acknowledge that it is God who hath imparted it to us; and let christians of the greatest steadiness and experience be propor- tionably humble, rather than by any means elated, on account of their superiority to others. We see the light in which ministers should always consider themselves, and in which they are to be considered by others: not as having dominion over the faith of their people, having a right to dictate by their own authority what they should believe, or, on the same principles, what they should do ; but as helpers of their joy, in conse- quence of being helpers of their piety and obedience. In this view, how amiable does the ministerial office appear ! What a friendly aspect it wears upon the happiness of mankind! And how little true benevolence do they mani- fest who ...} expose it to ridicule and contempt! - Let those who bear that office be careful that they do not give it the most dangerous wound, and abet the evil works of those who despise and deride it; which they will most effectually do, if they appear to form their pur- poses according to the flesh. Let them with a single eye direct all their administrations to the glory of God and the edification of the church; that they may be able to appeal to their hearers, as those that must acknowledge and bear their testimony to their uprightness. In that case they will be able to look on them as those in whom 14 they hope to rejoice in the day of the Lord. And if, while they pursue these ends, they are censured as actuated by any mean and less worthy principle, let them not be much surprised or discouraged: they share in exercises from which the blessed apostlé St. Paul was not exempted; as indeed there is no integrity or caution which can guard any man from the effects of that malice against Christ and his gospel, with which some hearts overflow when they feel themselves condemned by it. SECTION III. The apostle expresses his great affection to the Corinthians, as manifested both in his sympathy with the offending mºmbe.9f their church, who having been under censuré, was now penitent; (in which view he, advises, his re-admission;) and also in his solicitude for tidings concerning them from Titus, whom not finding at Troas, he went to meet in Macedonia. 2 Cor. ii. 1–13. 2 CoRINTHIANS ii. 1. 2 Cor. ii. 1. sECT. I NOW plainly and faithfully tell you the true reason of that delay of my journey which ºf dºmine.ji wº 2 COR. J L. e - - myself, that would not has so much surprised most of you, and at which some appear to be scandalized. It was ººgº to you"; "hea: not that I forgot you, or failed in any friendly regards to you ; but I determined this with * myself, on hearing how things stood among you, that I would not, if it could by any means 1 be prevented, come to you again in grief, in circumstances which must have grieved both & sº sh S. xplain this of furnishing St. Paul with such was sealed by such extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. Compare John yi .######## and more to confirm the Corinthians in 27. But that argument, would be something º: º º as he §hºsian faith, and himself in the character of a faithful ministºr, is, speaks of the earnest of the Spirit in the hºſts of believers, I thought i' think, giving but a small part of the genuine and sublime sense of this the interpretation hgré given much preferable. . t f St. Patil? Čºlent passage. - - - g Ilave mercy on it.] Nº. but the great importance ã. i’ #" ex fº anointed us—sealed us...] . M. Saurin, thinks that the difference vindigating his character to such a church, would have justified the so between the unction, the scal, and the earnest of the Spirit, is this: that lemnity of such an oath. in grief.] It may be objected, W by then tº inction chiefly refers to those extraordinary endowments by which a I would not come to yout tº gri *E - º % C J § 5–7 }.} - th jes were set apart to their work, as priests and kings were £9m. did he speak of º, in his former Epistle, ( ñº º sdience \ }. º i. I to theirs, by being anointed; the sº the sacraments, which the ingestuous, person being yet impen!!ent, and, their obedignge to his . . them out as the ºuliar property of God; and the earnest, he directions, with relation tº that case, being as yet unapproved, the cause º; º §ojjs ºf the Éoly Ghost which were the anticipation of of sorroy, and the negºsº of grieving them, seemed yet §. than explains ºf th9:39) See Saur. Serin. vol. xi. p. 83–$5. ñoº Büt it is very likely that after he had written that Epistle, and celestial happiness. tº be 't'. W. s º - h these, is well shown perhaps while these things were, in suspense, he had received news of % - s.] That sealing refers to bot º it is o wi H ſº tº..."sºunderstand this verse as in other disorders among them; and in lººd it is ºxident that he ; ap- ºthº. ... .s. ašī; it wºuld be to suspect him of levity who prehensive, even on supposition that the incestuous person were happily PAUL’S AFFECTION FOR THE CORINTHIANS. Gij myself and you; but that I would wait for those fruits which I had reason to }ope, from secr. my endeavours, in my former Epistle, to regulate what had been amiss. . For if I should 3. é obliged to grieve you, who should then rejoice me, unless it be he who is now grieved by me?b My affection to you as a church is indeed so great, that I could enjºy very little comfort myself if you were in sorrow, especially in consequence of any act of mine; hºw- ever necessary it were: And therefore f have written thus to you, in order to the further 3 #"...º.º.º.º.º.; promoting of that reformation which is necessary to my own comfort, as well as to your tº honour and peace; that I may not, when I come again, have grief on account of those for whom joice i, having confidence, in - - “. e 5 := --~~ - fºr Tºrº - jail, that myśājāj I ought to rejoice, having this confident persuasion concerning you all in general, that my joy of you all. - is º e joy] ºf you all,” and that you do in the main bear the same affection towards me, as I 4. For out of much affliction feel in º heart towards you. For some time ago, with much affliction and Overbearing an- • 2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maket me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me 3 3 And I wrote this same 4 - º ... guishd of heart, I wrote an Epistle to you,” which was attended with many tears, and I de- ºlº signed by it, not, as you may be suré, that ye might be grieved, but that ye might know, by §§§e"ºhič. I"; one of the most genuine tokens which it was possible for me to give, that overflowing love more abundantly unto you which I bear to you, of the degree and tenderness of which I was never myself so sensible as 5 But if any have caused I have been since this sad occasion of discovering it happened. And if any one of you hath **ś been so unhappy as to have occasioned grief, he hath only grieved me in part; I am but one overcharge you ail. of a much greater number who have felt this affectionate concern. And this Isay, that I may not overburden you all, nor fix any unjust charge upon the whole body of the Corinthian church, as if it had taken part with such an offender in afflicting me: far from that, I , 6 Sufficient to such a map rather believe it has sympathized with me in my grief. And sufficient to such an one, who #as º; *" hath here been the aggressor, ; this rebuke and censure [that he hath] already [suffered by many, and indeed by the whoſe body of your society; which has shown so wise an pious a readiness to pursue the directions I gave for animadverting upon him, and bring- 7 So that contrariwise ye ing him to repentance. So that, on the whole, I am well satisfied in what the church has #, º, ...; done; and instead of urging you to pursue further severities against him, who now, by the iºlº, blessing of God on the discipline you have used, is become a penitent, I, on the contrary, SOrro W. declare it to you as my judgment, that you should rather forgive and comfort [him, lest such a one, if kept under continual rebuke, should be swallowed up with an excess of sorrow, and rendered incapable of those duties of the christian life, to the performance of which 8. Wherefore 1 beseech you I would cheerfully hope that he is now inclined. Therefore I beseech jou to confirm [the §: º, onfirm your assurances] and demonstrations [of your] love to him in the most tender and endearing - manner that you can ; which may convince him that your seeming severity proceeded 9. For to this end also did I from cordial affection. For indeed it was partly to this purpose that I have written, that .*.*.*.*.*.*.*... I might have experience of you, whether ye would be obedient in all things to my apostólical obedient in all things. instructions and decisions; and it gives me unspeakable pleasure to find that ye have been ... 10 To whom ye forgiye any so. And truly I have such confidence in you as a Society, that I may say, not only in ;: ſº i., § this instance, but in any other that may happen, that to whom you forgive any thing which I forgavp it, for your sakes hath been esteemed an offence, so as to be willing to restore the offender to your com- forgave I it in the person of * : - “…'s * /* If Zºº, , ..." S.-- Christ; munion, I also shall be ready to [forgive it;] and if I forgive any thing, to whom- soever it may be, [it is] not out of regard to the offender alone, but in a great measure for %. sakes, that as in the person of Christ, and by the high authority with which he get h 5 6 7 8 9 aſſº, jº, jº, tº hath been pleased to invest me, I join in taking off the censure. For I know the prospe-II are not ignorant ºf his de rity of the church in general is concerned in conducting these affairs aright, and am soli- VICeS. citous, lest, if they be carried to any excess of rigour, Satan should get an advantage over ws, and turn that severity into an occasion of mischief to the offender, to his brethren, and to others. For we are not ignorant of his devices, and of the great variety of strata- - gems which he is continually making use of to injure us, and to turn even discipline itself 12 Furthermore, , when I to the reproach of the church and the destruction of souls. These are the sentiments 12 ēśvº; a`ā ſ”; which prevail in my heart towards you; and my conduct, since the date of my last Yº...ºpened unto me of the Epistle, hath been a genuine demonstration of this my affectionate concern. For when I 3. came unto Troass in the service of the gospel of Christ, and found things there so situated, that there was a large door opened to me in the Lord, many circumstances seeming to in- 13. I had nº rejº º vite my stay, and to give a prospect of success in my ministry; Yet I had no rest in my S *:::::::::: i §º: spirit, because I did not find my ; Titus there, whom I had sent to inquire into your #.º.º.º.º.º.º. affairs, and from whom I expected tidings of you. ... I would not therefore make any abode rom thence into Macedonia. - - * - - º at Troas, though so many considerations concurred to invite me to it; but taking my leave of them, I went out of Asia into Macedonia, where I thought he might be, and where I had the happiness quickly to meet him, and to receive that news of you which has given me so much pleasure, and in consequence of which I have found occasion to write to you in a more comfortable manner, as }. do. And I bless God that the purposes of my christian ministry have not upon the whole been frustrated by this journey, but that the divine blessing hath attended my labours here as well as in the places which I left, that I might come hither. restored, he might yet be under a necessity of exercising an unwilling severity among them. Chap. xii. 20, 21. and xiii. 1–6, 10 ine.] It cannot b Unless it be he who is gricved b reasonably be ob- nearly resembles avvexct, (compare chap. v. 14.) which I render bears Q10 (ly. jected, that the sound, part of the church would rejoice him ; for even they would be grieved by the necessity of such severities; they would sympathize with the afflicted and corrected persons; and on the other band, the recovery of offenders would give bim more sensible joy than any thing else; which considerations taken together will abundantly justify this expression... . c. Jºſy joy is the joy of you all.] Mr. Locke argues from hence, that a distinction is to be made between the Corinthians, to whom this Epistle was written, and the false teachers, who were Jews, and who crêpt in among them, and whom he does not comprehend in the number of those concerning whom he speaks with such tenderness and hope. And thus he would reconcile this passage, and chap. vii. 13–15, with xi. 13–15. x. 6—11. omparé chap. xi. § where it is intimated some of them were Hebrews. But as we are sure some of the Corinthians had been seduced and alienated from St. Paul by them, ! think it most, reason- able to understand this as spoken of what he º conclude to be their general character; and it was both generous and prudent in the apostle to set it in this point of view. ... . - - Overbearing anguish..] This seems the import of Guvoxm, which e PWrote an Epistle, &c.] Probably he here refers to such passages as those in the First Epistle, which speak of scandalous persons among thgn); and direct to the methods to be taken to reduce them to order. ..To such an one..] Mr. Locke yery well observes the great tenderness which the * uses to this offender ; he never once mentions his name, not does he here so much as mention his crime; but speaks of him in the most indefinite manner that was consistent with giving such direc- tions in his case as love required. g Came untg. Tºgas.) Mr. Owen (Qſ Ordin. part i. p. 124.) thinks this happened in St. Paul’s journey from Corinth to Macedonia: and men. tigns it as a ſact omitted by St. Luke, to be collected from the Epistles. Many, such facts there undoubtedly are, and this seems one of them, though not just in that circumstance. It seems to have happened in that passage, from Asia to Macedonia, of which so very short an account is giyen, Acts xx. 1, 2., . He afterwards ordered some christian friends, Who Were attending him to Asia, after he had spent three months in Mlacedonia, to wait for him at Troas, (ib. wer. 4, 5.) probably for this reason among others, that they might have an opportunity of preaching sthe gospel to a people who seemed so ready to receive it. 616 PAUL’S THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR BEING A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. IMPROVEMENT. SECT. LET ministers learn from hence, after the example of this wise and benevolent apostle, to be very tender of the 3. ease and comfort of those committed to their care; doing nothing to grieve or distress them, unless, as in the case before us, love requires it in order to their safety and happiness. Let them learn this candid and endearing method 2 coR. of putting the best interpretation upon everything, and of believing, where there is any reason to hope it, that their * joy is the joy of their people also. When professing christians offend, and cannot be reclaimed by gentler 3 methods, let them, not out of resentment, but affection, have recourse to the discipline which Christ hath instituted in his church; and when that discipline hath answered its end, and the offender is recovered to a sense of his 6 evil, let them with the greatest pleasure concur in re-admitting him to the communion of the church from which he has been excluded, with a tender concern lest he should be swallowed up of over-much sorrow; always consider- ing how watchful the enemy of souls is to get an advantage over us; and remembering that it will be the peculiar 8 wisdom of ministers to acquaint themselves with these artful and malicious devices of Satan, by which he is inces- santly endeavouring to distress and ruin the church, and to lay snares for its members in their hopes and their fears, their joys and their sorrows, so as to take occasion from every incident and from every interest to weaken and to wound them. - 4 The great source of a right conduct on all thºse occasions is unfeigned love; that let us labour to establish in our hearts towards each other; praying that God by his Spirit would establish it. And though the consequence of this will be that our spirits, like the apostle's, will be accessible to many sorrows which we should not otherwise feel; and though it is possible that we, like St. Paul in the instance before us, may sometimes be interrupted in active services of life which we might otherwise have been more ready to pursue; yet we may hope that while we are faithfully influenced by love, under the direction of that christian prudênce which ought ever to attend it, views of usefulness may be opened where we least expect them, may be opened one way while they are obstructed an- other; yea, upon the whole, what has for a while interrupted our success, may in its remoter consequences greatly I 2 advance it. SECTION IV. The apostle expresses in the most affectionate terms iris thankfulness to God for, haviºs intrºsted him) with the ministry of the gospel, and for the gicºs attending his services therein; aj declares his joyful confidence in all events of the divine acceptance; and speaks of the Corinthians as his credentials written fly the finger of God. 2 Cor. ii. 14, to the cud ; iii. 1-3. 2 CoRINTHIANS ii. 14. 2 CoR. ii. 14. SECT. I HAVE informed you that I left a fair opportunity of preaching the gospel at Troas, in NOW thanks be unto God, 4. consequence of that great desire I had to hear from you; for which purpose I went into jº. ...” — Macedonia. But I desire thankfully to own the divine goodness in attending my ministry ºf 3. 2 coR. with very comfortable success there. And indeed I have great reason to break out into tº ense º us in every II., , a transport of praise in the reflection: Yes, my brethren, thanks, everlasting, thanks [be I rendered] % you and me to the God of all power and grace, who always causeth its to tri- wmph in Christ,” carrying us on from one spiritual yictory to another, and manifesteth by us 15 in every place the fragrant and powerful odour of his saving knowledge. Well may I re- sº...","äß"; joice upon this account: for we the apostles, and other ministers of his gospel, are to God ...”...w... . # supee; and acceptable odour of Christ; he is as it were pleased and delighted with the them that perish: incense of his name and gospé as diffused by us, both ºffith respect to then who believe 16 and are saved, and to them who in consequence of their unbelief perish in their sins. To *.*.*.*.*.*. the latter indeed (we are] an odour of death; the fragrangy, so rich in itself, instead of re- ... àe". "...; viving, destroys them, and is efficacious to bring ºn death in its most dreadful forms. But ºft. ** to the other ſide are] an odour of life; the gospel revives their souls, and is effectual to their eternal life and salvation. And when we consider all thºse awful consequences, which one way or other attend our ministry, we may truly. Sº, Who [is] sufficient for these 4 * things? Who is worthy to bear such an important chargé2 Who should undertake it with- “A outfirembling? Nevertheless, though we must acknowledge ourselves unworthy of such a ...o.º.º charge, God is pleased to succeed us in the execution of it, as he knows our sincerity in §§ bººf since it. ; his sight and presence. For we are not as ºngºl who adulterate the word of Godb by º: ºśht of Go their ºn base mixtures, and retail it, when formed according to the corrºp', tàstº of their hearers; but as of unmingled sincerity, but as by the express command of God, in the pre- sence of God we speak in the name of Čhrist; delivering every part of our message à those jšow how awful our account is, and how impossible it is to cºncealso much as a single thought from that all-penetrating Being, to whom we are shortly to give it up. ..., , * * * - r2 - w --, -, - - to insinuate, begin to recommend .%.º.º.º. 2 cor. And when I say this, do we aggºn, as some presume - ne’ſd gºn jº...?'." ourselves 2 iii., ourselves, and one another, [to ſoil 3) Ordo we need.” I perceive some [do, º # º §§§#3 letters to you from other churches, or recommendatory letters] £iº Jow to o ë. hi ; rººf commenda- 2 I may wéil say, you are yourselyes our epistle, the best recommen * i. 94 º "º"...”... epistle writ: his testimonial, as it were, written upon four hearts" in the glorious change by our means tº known and roduced theré; and the effects of it are so apparent in your lives, that I may say ye are « e }. and read by all men, who know what you once Wºº, and you now are; and they º, consider these things must acknowledge, that such success granted by the co-operation * of divine grace, is as evident a proof of God's gracious presence with us as can well be 3 imagined. [Ye, whose characters, were some of them once so enormous, (I ; º 11.) 3 Forasmuch as tſe are mani- but [are] now so amiable and excellent, are indeed manifest and apparent, as the º . % festly declared to be the epis- Christ which is ministered by us; and by you Christ dotſ, as it were, declare that he hath tie of Čhrist ministèred' by been faithfully preached among you by us; an epistle written not, as epistles generally are, * * * with ink, but I 7 a Causeth us to triumph.] Witsius would render 6ptapſ3&vourt, who b º º: word.] º, º a ". ..., º *_j • * * * * - Se Who deai 1ſ) ill UO Vn ICIn they CIe- - w ę- - & oses it expresses the joy and alludes to the Practiº of th9 - L * - vi sy º tºpºiſºrgi 3. §º *ºf and §: grace ;: for their º #. #. à". º º É.';..."; º • 1. . :- - - -: - • r i. solent an enemy to base tempºr and Cºnduct of tºº.º. - s- *::::. left * #ºf as triumphing trated the º, this expression in his learned and elegant note on this r • * * * e d’as in triumphal processions, especially text. Ezer. p. y - º: #;"#, "..."jogº. incense . burned near the con- c. Upon your hearts.] Some copies read our hearts; that is, always re- II? is § he ºne beautifully to allude to that circupiº.” what mººd and thºught of. But I apprehend the apostle.negºs. that hº ; the ogºn, to the odour of the rospel, in the following verses change produced, º # . ". º º.# § #. iº - - cts of strong per- temper, was so great, thºt all Whº $999, Jº 'S And hº º InS jº §§§ºis. accord- ledge, (and it is certain that some judgment may be fºrmed.) . §. n #§ §isjon, they are in to receive, them ; gpd AElian it a great sº gºn ºº:: § *". i - - - -: St. Anim, were once plunged, (Se . Vl, I 3 s tºgves that some kind of animals are killed by them. Hist. .3 argument. 3. * }} ] , ſ , PAUL’S THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR BEING A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. 617 §...º.º.º.; i. withink, but by traces drawn by the Spirit of the one living and true God, moving on your secT. §:"i"iejº dº hearts, and producing that variety of graces which render many of you so conspicuous 4. heart. and lovely. And the inscription is not (as that boasted monument which did so great an honour to the mission and authority of Moses) written in tables of stone, but in the ſº 2 COR. tables of the heart; to which no hand, but that by which the heart was made, could find *. tº dº," ºf access, in such a manner as to inscribe these sacréd characters there. Such confidence have 4 ex “ we towards God by Jesus Christ, that our ministry shall be effectual in other places, and that the world shall by your means be persuaded of our apostleship. - s off Nºvºrºsiº ... We say this, not as insinuating that ice are sufficient of ourselves to reckon upon anything 5 thiºfºrsºve."...tº as from ourselves;d we would not insinuate this, or encourage any others to do it; for we sufficiency is of God; are upon all occasions ready most thankfully to acknowledge that all our sufficiency [is] from God; whatever furniture of any kind we have for our work, we humbly ascribe it to * him, and from him arise all our expectations of success with this furniture, whatever it be : alº,";"| "...". From that great and adorable Author of all good who also hath made us his apostles, and 6 jº others whom he hath sent into the work, able ministers of the new covenant, sufficientl jº"...º.º.º.º. qualified to discharge that important trust of proposing this gracious covenant of God, life. established in Christ, to our fellow-creatures. For we are indeed ministers, not of the letter, but of the Spirit;" for we are enabled to enter into the sense and spirit of the law, and other sacred writings; whereas that divine volume is to the Jews but as a heap of letters and characters, which they know not how to read or understand, and yet pride them- selves so much in them, that in that sense it may be said they receive mischief rather than benefit from their own oracles. Thus the letter killeth : the unbelieving Jews are undone by their obstinate adherence to it, and more prejudiced against the gospel than those that never heard of any divine revelation at all. But when, taught by the Spirit of God speak- ing in us, they enter into the spiritual sense and design of the law, then it giveth life; it establisheth our faith, quickens our obedience, and becomes a source of happiness in this World and in the next. IMPROVEMENT. MAY the infinite importance of the gospel-message be deeply impressed on all who preach and all who hear it. 2 COR. Life or death is in question; either life or everlasting death; and while it is from day to day reviving its thousands, ". is it not to be feared that in some places it is, by the righteous judgment of God on hard and impenitent hearts, 15, 16 aggravating the guilt and misery ºits ten thousands? How awful is the work of dispensing this gospel ! Who can 16 pretend to be sufficient for such things as these ? Who, that considers the nature and importance of the ministerial work, can undertake or pursue it but with fear and trembling 2 Yet, insufficient as they ought humbly to acknowledge themselves to be to reckon upon any thing as from III.5. themselves, there is a sufficiency in {...}imparted to faithful ministers; in consequence of which they are often made to triumph in Christ, and borne on, in a holy superiority to all the difficulties of their work, and see their II. 14. labour not to be in vain in the Lord. Well may that support them under the discouragements which, in other instances, they feel, when the fruit of their labours does not immediately appear; yea, when the present state of many under their care is directly eontrary to what they could desire; for their work is still with the Lord, and they are a sweet savour to God in them that perish, as well as in them that are saved. Let them therefore gird up the 15 loins of their mind, and exert themselves with the utmost vigour; rejoicing in this, that God will on the whole be lorified, and they shall on the whole be accepted, and through his abundant grace be amply rewarded. Yea, 3od will consider, in that day of final recompence, the anguish which they have felt for the souls they have seen perishing under their ministrations, as well as the faithful pains they have bestowed to reclaim them. But as they desire to secure this acceptance, yea, to secure their own salvation, let them never allow themselves, by any foreign mixtures, to adulterate the word of God; but let them speak it in its uncorrupted sincerity, as in 17 the sight and presence of God, and as those who know it is not their business to devise a message out of their own hearts, but to deliver what they have received of the Lord. So may they hope there shall not be wanting those who, according to the views which the apostle gives us of these Corinthians, shall appear as epistles written by the hand III. 2. of Christ himself, in attestation of their commission from him. That ministers may more cheerfully hope for and expect such an honour, let us all pray, that the Spirit of God 6 may lead them into the true sense and meaning of Scripture; that they may not unprofitably amuse themselves and their hearers with vain and cold criticisms on the letter of it, so as to neglect and forget what is most spiritual in its design and meaning ; but that they may, under divine illumination, attain to the mind of the Spirit, and be enabled to make greater proficiency in unfolding and illustrating the important mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, ii. 16. and may be to multitudes a savour of life unto life. SECTION V. The apostle, further to recommend the ministry of which Jie had been speaking, falls into a very pertinent and useful digression concerning the comparative obscurity of the Mosaic law, and the superior glory and permanence of the gospel. 2 Cor. iii. 7, to the end. 2 CoR. iii. 7 2 CoRINTHIANS iii. 7. 22 O OR, lil. ſ . BUT if the ministration of I HAVE just been observing, that the letter of the law, in that sense in which it is main- SECT. flºº". "...º.º. tained by the Jews, killeth in itself; it binds down transgressors under a sentence of death, 5. that the children, of Israel and, by the perverseness of their interpretation, is the occasion of ruin; while the spirit º: quickeneth. And let me now direct your thoughts to the argument arising from hence to 2 COR. §, Hºw º; prove the greatly superior excellence of the gospel: for if the Mosaic law, which was in- III. &l Way : deed the ministration of death, which was contained] in visible letters, [and] the most excellent part of which was engraven in the two tables of stone, hewn indeed and prepared by God himself, which Moses brought down from mount Sinai in his hands, was attended with a signal and undeniable glory, so that the children of Israel could not look directly upon the face of Moses, because of the glory of his countenance, which was so soon to be §. in death: How much more shall that, which may with so much propriety be 8 8 How shall not the minis- d To reckon upon anything as from ourselves.] This seems the most exact xix. 27. Rom. iv. 3, 6, 11. viii. 18, 36. 1 Cor. iv. 1, in all whigh the rendering of Adyta agögt Ti as tº gavrov. Dr. Whitby renders it, to word Xoytſop at has the signification we here assign it, and signifies, to reason, as if the apostle had said, We are unable by any reasoning of reckon or account. * * - our own to bring men to conversion; which gives a fine and just sense, e JNot of the letter, but of the Spirit.] To understand this of an alle— but I think only a part of what the apostle intended. Compare Acts gorical rather than literal explication of the Old Testament, is Very 78 THE SUPERIOR GLORY AND PERMANENCY OF THE GOSPEL. SECT. called the ministration of the Spirit, be glorious ! Since the work of the Spirit of God on tration of the spirit be rather 2 COR. the heart of a rational being, is so much more important than any dead characters which Blorious could be engraven on insensible stones. This may be further apparent when we consider what I hinted before, concerning the * impossibility of obtaining life and salvation by the Mosaic law. For if that which was, ...º.º. in its effects, only the ministration of condemnation, pronouncing a sentence of death, in jigitºusness exceed in many cases without mercy, and which at last certainly ended in leaving persons under * condemnation, as it was incapable of taking away the moral guilt of any one offence, [was attended with] so bright a glory;" how much more shall the gospel, which may well be called the ministration of righteousness, exceed in glory ! as it puts us into so certain a way to obtain justification and life everlästing. 9 For if the ministration of III. 10 1 i or even that which was made glorious at its first dispensation; that is, the law of Moses, hath no glory in this respect, º reason of the glory that excelleth it by unutterable degrees; so that as the sun swalloweth up the light of the moon and the stars, in like manner is 10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. Ver.18 the lustre of former dispensations swallowed up in that of the gospel. For if that which all. For if that which was § to be s abolished, w Iertheles d † = ~~~ * - done away ºcas glorious, was to be so soon abolished, was nevertheless attended, as we have seen, with some con- . . ; wº". siderable degrees of glory, to illustrate its divine original and authority, how much more maineth is glorious. glorious [must] that [be] which remaineth immutable through the remotest ages b 12 This is the glorious ministry in which we are engaged; and it brings along with it the , 12 seeing then that we sublimest sentiments and the noblest views. Having therefore this hope and confidence, łºś use great 13 it is no wonder that we use great liberty of address when we are spea ing to you; And .3, Andnotasºojºs, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished : [are] not herein concealed, as Moses, [who] put a veil upon his face, (compare Exod. xxxiv. 33.)* wherein he was a kind of type and figure of his own dispensation; so that he might seem thereby to intimate that the children of Israel could not directly look to the end of 14 that law which he brought, and which was, as I observed before, to be abolished:d But, ºut their minºs, were on the contrary, their understandings were evidently blinded; for until this day the same #in º,"...º. º veil continues upon the law, or rather upon their own hearts, and is still unremoved during tºº.º.º.º. * s * sº sº. - * * old testament ; , which ihe reading of the Old Testament, which contains such distinct prophecies of Christ, and jail is done away in Čilić. such lively descriptions of him, that one would imagine it impossible that he should not be immediately acknowledged and adored by all that profess to believe its divine autho- rity: which ſveil] is taken away in those that receive Christ, who have in him the true 15 substance of those shadows, and the great end of its most important prophecies. But as to the unbelieving Jews, as I said before, the veil which they wear in t; synagogues too aptly represents that which is upon their heart when Moses is read, even to this day, in their hearing ; in consequence of which they can no more see the mind of Moses than their 16 fathers could see his face. But it shall not always be so; the house of Israel is entitled to a variety of most excellent promises, relating to the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom; and as when Moses went in to the Lord he laid aside his veil, so when it, that is, the people of Israel, shall turn unto the Lord, when the blessed period appointed for their ge- neral conversion shall come, the veil shall be taken away, and the genuine sense of the 17 sacred gracles shall break in upon their minds with an irresistible light. Now the Lord sºlºisº: jesus Christ is that Spirit of the law of which I spake before, to whom the letter of it was āśiº.º. intended to lead the Jews; and it is the office of the Spirit of God, as the great Agent in his kingdom, to direct the minds of men to it. ..And let him be universally sought in this view ; for where the Spirit of the Lord [is] there [is] liberty: a more liberal and filial dis. position, to which, under the influence and operation of the Spirit, the gospel brings those who were subject to bondage, under the imperfect dispensation of Moses. And in conse- quence of the liberty enjoyed by virtue of the gracious economy, we all, who have been so happy as suitably to welcome it, with unveiled face attentively beholding as by a glass” mirror the glory of the Lord reflected from his word, are transformed into something of the same resplendent image of the blessed Redeemer, whose shining face we there see; and the more steadfastly we behold this illustrious and amiable form, the more we do partake of it, proceeding gradually.ſº glory to glory. And all this is as proceeding from the Lord the Spirit; for as the Lord Jesus Christ is the Spirit of the law, so the divine Spirit, under his direction and influences, is the cause of this noble and divine effect. -> IMPROVEMENT. STILL doth this glorious glass of the gospel stand full in our view, from which the lustre of the Redeemer's countenance is reflected. Let us daily behold his image there, and contemplate it with an attentive eye, as those who are solicitous that we may wear some of those rays; yea, that we may wear them with still increasing lustre; that we may be transformed from glory to glory, and reflecting those rays, shine as lights in the world. Let us endeavour to raise our minds to this laudable temper, by frequently reflecting on the excellence of the christian dispensation, as a dispensation of the Spirit and of life; whereas the law was the ministration of death; and while, from the glory attending the law, we infer, with the apostle, the supereminent glory of the gospel, let 15 But even unto this day when Moses is read, the vil is upon their heart. 16, Nevertheless when, it shail turn to the Lord, the waii shall be taken away. 7 18 18 But we all, with open ace beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are Or changed into the same image from glory to glory; even as by the Spirit of the iord. 7, 8 It is taken for granted, as a thing certainly known and quite indisput- able, that the Mosaic dispensation was to be abolished. it is well known they have done.... . - e Beholding as by a glass.] Some would render karot Totòopºvot, re- a Jittended with glory.J. Dr. Whitby has taken a grºat deal of pains flecting as from a glass. But Elsner and Bos have abundantly proved, to prove that there is an intended oppositiºn between the #!ory, that is, what indeed is evident to all versed in the language, that it has the sig: the visible lustre, on the countenance of Aloses, (compare EX94. xxxiv. nification here assigned; and indeed the other interpretation would j. §, 30. where the LXX use the word 6:008 asſi,) with the glory which scure and perplex the sense. s - - eholding—the glory of the Cord.] Here is one of the most beautiful arbitrary and unwarrantable; and I wish no christian commentators had given encouragement to the deists to abuse this text in the Inanner descended on the apostles; (Agts ii. 3, 4.) and consiglers each as an en- ** - bjem of the dispensation to be introduced, but with incomparable adyan: contrasts that can be imagined., Moses saw the Shºghimah, and it, ren- * dered his face resplendent, so, that he govered it with a veil, the Jews e on the side of the gospel. But laboured as this interpretation is, I - tag Sl Ine gospel. I - not being able to bear the reflected light; we behold Christ us in the esce in what is singular in it; and it had been obvious * & - * * §. §to ver, ii. that the cloven tongues of fire left no such glass of his word, and (as the reflection of a yeſy luminous, object from a lasting Justra on the face of the apostles as Qn that of Moses. . &g : mirror gilds the face on which the reyerberated, rays fall) our faces à ºf that which gas to be, &c.] Mr. Ilallet would rendeſ it, “if that shine too; and wº veil º: but diffuse the lustre, which, as wo which was done away, was º, º º º º: doth discoyer more and more of his glories in the gospel, is continually in- at which remaineth, remain in glory ! ut I think this must appear creasung. * * * º: 3. iiºt examines the original; 6: “ 69% as is Hº! by g By the Lord the Spirit..] As the order of the Greek ¥gſås IS Ulſ]- glory, and so may signify, introduced by it, or attended with it,or cºn- usual, not Tucupazos T.& ;"|". º: º Dr. Whitby would jirºncil by it; and in either of these senses may weil be applied to the render it, by the Lord of the Spirit, that is, by Christ, in whom the shining of the ſacc of \loses. *. - & & , Spirit º and by whom it is communicated according to his sove- & ºd are not, &c.] All that follows from hence to the beginning of reign will. ut the paraphrase unites two senses, each I think more the eighteenth verse may be included in a parenthcs.is. - natural, though which of the two was chiefly intended, cannot abso- i jºich rººs to be abolished.] Such an oblique manner of †. on lutely determine. this subject makes the argument from these words peculiarly striking. THE APOSTLE's CourAGE AND CONFIDENCE OF SUCCESS. us learn also the superior obligation it brings us under to regard and obey it, and the proportionably greater dan- SECT. er of despising it. The law of Moses was soon to be abolished; the gospel still remains, and shall remain to É. end of time. Let us pray for its prosperity, and do our utmost to promote it. And let us earnestly Piead with God, that whereas there is now a veil upon the face of the Jews even to this day, when the sacred record; are read among them, may they turn unto the Lord, and find the veil taken away: that so, by the conversion of 6 lorious accession of evidence to christianity; and that the Jews themselves may be happy in the blessing of him whom their fathers crucified, and whom they continue contemptuously Israel as a nation, there may be a to reject. Lêt the ministers of the gospel, while defending so divine a cause, and enforcing S 619 5. 2 COR III o important a message, use 12 all becoming plainness of speech; and may all christians know more of that liberty which the Spirit of the Lord 17 gives, that Göd may in all things be glorified, through Jesus Christ. Amen. w SECTION VI, The apostle declares his courage, and disclaims all sinister views, and all distrust of success, in pursuing the lºſiºus 9 being persuaded that such a gospel could not be rejected, but in consequence of the most fatal prejudices. 2 2 Coft. iv. 1. had described : * ministry he Xor. iv. 2 CoRINTHIANS iv. 1. THEREFORE seeing, we SUCH are the distinguished glories of the gospel dispensation, and its effects on the hearts SECT. have this ministry,as we have received mºrcy, we faint not; of those who sincerely embrace it. And therefore, having been intrusted with such a ministration, as we have obtained mercy [of God] to be thus honoured, we faint not under any of thosé difficulties we are called out to encounter, nor in any degree desist from our * , 2 But have renounced the glorious enterprise.” But we have renounced and set at defiance the hidden things of shame :9 o in which the priests of paganism deal so much, in order to impose on the people over " whom they preside, practising in their mysteries so many impure and so many foolish rites. We need not any of their artifices, not walking in craſtiness, as some would insinuate that we do, nor deceitfully corrupting and disguising the word of God; but, by the manifesta- hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully ; but by manifes- tation of ſhe truth cominend- ing ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of '' God. tion of the genuine and unsophisticated truth, recommending ourselves to every man’s con- science, we steadily and constantly act as in the all-penetrating sight of God; and therefore are willing that all the world should know what the arts and mysteries of our ministry are. 3 But if our gospel be, hid, it is hid to them that are lost: must be very bad men, and in a very dangerous state, who, hearing it preached as it is 4 In whom the jº of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Čirist, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. by us, cannot enter into the main design and spirit of it, and are not inwardly engaged to reverence it. Among whom undoubtedly, that is, in the number of such unhappy wretches, [are] all [they] whose unbelieving minds Satan, who herein acts as the god of this world," whose subjects the children of this world are, hath blinded by its dazzling vanities and allurements, lest the lustre of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God in all his perfections and glories, should beam forth upon them, and should pain or rather awaken those weak minds, darkened by so many gross and unhappy prejudices, and § For, we preach, not our- selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord ; and ourselves servants for Jesus’ sake. slumbering to their everlasting destruction. But such as I have before described is our you conduct, however perversely it may be mistaken or misrepresented. For we preach not ourselves ; we aim not at exalting our own authority, at extending our reputation, or se- curing to ourselves any secular advantage; but renouncing all such views, and claims, and desires, we preach Christ Jesus as the supreme Lord of his church; and instead of setting ourselves up for your masters, we declare ourselves to be your servants for the sake of Jesus ; and are willing, out of regard to you, and above all, out of duty to him, to stoop to the humblest offices of love by which we may be serviceable to you in your most im- 6 For God, who command- ed the light to shine out o darkness, hath shined in our portant interest. łºś first creation of this world, commanded the light instantaneously to shine out of that darkness knowledge of the glory of Go in the face of Jesus Christ. which covered the whole face of the deep, (Gen. i. 5.) hath also shimed into our once pre- i. and benighted hearts, and particularly into mine, by the internal operation of his lessed Spirit, [to iº the lustre of the knowledge of God's glory, discovered, as we before observed, in th e face of our Lord Jesus Christ,5 from thence reflected upon us, and from us to you, for the important purposes of your sanctification and salvation. IMPROVEMENT. - LET all who are honoured with the ministry of the gospel learn from the apostle courage and fidelity; remem- bering they are continually in the º and presence of God. Let them therefore renounce with abhorrence that craft which so many who have calle themselves christian priests have studied; and labour to govern their whole conduct by such apparent principles of integrity and honour, that they may commend themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. - r j-1 t his end will be much promoted if they learn to º applause, or a dominion over men's consciences; an a Desist from our glorious enterprise.} Eckaxely naturally expresses t!;e dra rig back from some strenuous undertaking, in what we often caſl a dastardly manner, on account of some difficulties, atte‘iding it. aside all sinister views of interest and ambition, of human putting on that humble character so amiably illustrated in been intimated, that this malignant spirit was so early called by the Jews ºsop, the god who blinds, I should think it a beautiful illustråtion. b. Renaunced the hidden things of shame.) Dr. Whitby, understands this of icicºl practices; but the opposition between this clause and the following seems much more to favour the paraphrase, though, to be sure, the phrase may extend to all dishonest artifice of false teachºrs. The word airstraitºa, which we render, renºunce, does not imply, they ever had ºy thing to do with these things; but, the words, “Sct then at de- fiance,” seen still more literally to express the original. - c If our gospel be under a veil too.] Et 6e Kitt est. Keka)uppevow 70 svayyeXtoy hutov is most literally rendered thus: and it has so evident a reference to what was said above of the veil Qn the faces of the Jews, that it seems by all means expedient to translate it, thus, rather thaa luid.—This text is justly drº by Dr. Scott, (Christian Life, Vol. v. p. 320) as a proof of the perspicuity of the apostle’s writings in all matters of importance to our salvaticº. . . . . . . . - d }}. god of this world..] That several ancient christian writers should interpret this of God the Father, is one of the most, amazin; things have met with. See Dr. Whitby, in loc. and Dr. Edwards, Erercit, p. §§l. I doubt not but Satan is intended; a 3d could it be proved, as has e Preach not ourselves.] Grotius explains it thus, “we do not preach that ace are lords, but that Christ is so :” and this is certainly compre- hended. But I think the phrase may well be taken in the larger extent, expressed in the paraphrase. To preºch thcºnscices, may signify their making themselves; in any view, the end ºf their preaching ; as preaching Jesus, hººse often used, may signify preaching so as to direct men’s eyes to hin). & f To impart the lustre of the knowledge of God’s glory.) Tvogetos Tim; ôogn; 7s ess, may very well signify the glorious knowledge of God; but the following words determined me to the more literal translation, as it is more proper to speak of the glory than of the knowledge of God, as in or upon the face of Christ. Some would render Tpos (portapov, ac- cording or in proportion to that lustre. g In the face of Jesus Christ.) Some would render Tpogoſo, person ; but it so evidently signifies face in the context, (chap. iii. 13, 18.) that it seemed much better to render it face; though the glory here said to be reflected from his face, is undoubtedly that which is manifested in his person in the union of deity with humanity, and all the wonderful things he has done and suffered in consequence of it. . 6. 2 COR. I W. But if our gospel, after such open and generous conduct on our side, be still under a veil 3 too,” as the law is with respect to so many, it is veiled to those that are perishing; they 4 5 - And it is no wonder that we are thus disposed, considering the view of 6 things which God hath given us by his grace; for God, who, by his powerful word in the Ver. I 5 620 HE IS suppoRTED UNDER HIS INFIRMITIES BY THE GRACE OF GOD, SECT, the apostle Paul’s writings every where, with all loyal affection, preach Christ as the great Lord and Head of the 6. 2 §h. emoluments, and delights hereafter, which will infinitely more than indem SECT. I HAVE spoken to you of the excellence of the gospel, representing it as a most invalu- 7. church, and declare and approve themselves the willing servants of souls * for his sake. * *… they will be exalted in the eyes of God and man; and is sake. So humbling themselves, will reap those heart-felt pleasures now, and those honours, & * * mnify them for all they may resign, and : only the low apprehensions of the servants of mammon in Christ's livery, but their own most elevated conceptions, * Let every reader seriously examine himself as to the knowledge he has of this gospel, and the degree in which he has felt a sense of its glory and excellence upon his heart; solemnly considering that if the lustré and efficacy 3 of the gospel be hidden from him, it is a sad sign that he is himself a lost creature, and is like to be is j 4 and happiness for ever; he is the captive of Satan, blinded by him as the god of this world, and in the probable way to be led on to unseen but irretrievable destruction. Dreadful situation, which might indeed occasion abso. 6 lute despair, were it not for the views, which the gospel gives us of that God who in the beginning of the greatiºn commanded the light to shine out of darkness; who can yet say, Let there be light, and there shall be light in the most benighted soul, and the lustre of the glorious knowledge of God in the person of Christshallbeam forth. Let this divine interposition be earnestly implored; and oh that it may be imparted before the blinded captives be con- signed to eternal ruin, to blackness of darkness for ever * SECTION VII. The apostle freely acknowledges his own infirmities ;, but glories,in the strength communicated to him from God, as an efiectuaj support unider the extremest trials; over which he iriumphs in the language of the strongest faith. 3 Co. i. 7" 15 2 Cof INTHIANs iv. 7. 2 Cor. iv. 7. BUT we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. able treasure ; and indeed it is so rich a blessing, that the highest angel in heaven might think it an honour to be employed in dispensing it. But such is the conduct of Provi- 2 coR. dence in this respect, that we have this invaluable treasure in earthen vessels; feeble FY. 14 creatures who dwell in mortal bodies, and are surrounded with numberless infirmities, are employed in dispensing it to us; that so the excellence of the power, by which its great and important ends are answered, may appear to be of God, and not of us ; who are so far from being able to add efficacy to our own labours, that it is wonderful how we are enabled 8 even to sustain them. [We are] indeed in every respect” greatly afflicted;b but through the divine care over us, we are not utterly overpressed" with the weight and variety of our trials: we are often brought into dubious circumstances, but, blessed be God, we are not in 9 despair : [HWe are] continually persecuted by men, but we are not forsaken of God; we are thrown down by our enemies, jet we are not entirely destroyed by them; but animated from 10 on high, we spring up again, and renew the combat with increasing vigour: We are always bearing about with us in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ; so that the cruelties which were exercised in putting him to death, seem to be acted over again upon us, by the rage of the enemy; yet all this is in effect, not that an immediate period should be put to our life and ministry as they desire, but that the life also of Jesus, now triumphant above all hostile power, may be more evidently manifested in the preservation of this our feeble body, which enemies so many and mighty are continually endeavouring to destroy. For 11 For we which live are we who live, those of us, the apostles and ministers of Christ, who still survive, are con- flºº tinually delivered over to death for the sake of the Lord Jesus, and, as it were, every day led ºffº out to "a new martyrdom in his cause; but so many new and unexpected deliverances “"“” arise, that it seems as if these dangers were permitted on purpose, that, as I said before, the life also and power of the blessed Jesus, our divine Saviour, may be manifested and demonstrated in supporting our mortal and feeble flesh in the midst of all these assaults, and perpetuating our lives from year to year through so many successive dangers which await us wherever we come. So that on the whole I may say, that death worketh continu- ally to glorify his name in us, but life in you ; while you are called to live for his honour, we may be said to serve our Redeemer by bearing for his sake repeated deaths. But we endure it all with resolution and cheerfulness, having the same spirit of faith b which good men of old were animated in their most active labours and most painful suf. ferings; according to what is written, (Psal. cxvi. 10.) I have believed, and therefore have I ºf spoken;d we also cordially believe the certain truth of what we teach, and therefore go on speak. g to speak our important message, whatever may be the consequence, supported by this in- ward consciousness of our integrity, and animated by a powerful sense of duty towards God, and the hope of the most glorious rewards from his bountiful grace. Those hopes rise to complete and everlasting happiness; which we continually pursue, as knowing that if we persevere in that service with which he hath honoured us, he who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead by his almighty power, will also raise us ! by Jesus, whom he will send at the last day, commissioned to accomplish this great work; and that then he will present [us] with you, before the presence of his glory with exceeding great joy, in each other and in him: and will introduce us to that heavénly kingdom, to the prospects of which he hath called us by that gospel which we have preached, and which you have 15 believed. For all these great things [are] prepared, not merely on our account, but for your sakes, that the overflowing grace being complete in all its diffusive extent and exalted .8 We are troubled on every side, yet, not distressed ; we are perplexed, but not in de- Spaiſ : 9 Persecuted, but not for- Saken ; cast down, but not destroyed; g 10 Always, bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made man- ifest in our body. 1 1 . 12 So then death worketſ, in us, but life in you. 12 13. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and I3 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord , Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15 For all things are fºr your sakes, that the abundant a In every respect we are afflicted, &c.] This section may seem a di- gression; but nothing could be more pertinent to the apostle’s grand purpose. He aimed at recovering the affections of these Qorinthians, which were much alienated from him ; for this purpose he freely opens his heart towards them, and tenderly represents the many and grievous pressures and hardships to which love to souls, and ſo theirs amon; the rest, exposed him. This I take to be the true key to this beautiful ani athetic passage, - p b A/e are afficted.] I apprehend the apostle here to speak with some eculiar regard to his own case; yet not so as to exclude that of his rethren, which undoubtedly did very much resemble it. Coin pare l Cor. iv, 9. - - c Jyot utterly overpressed.] The word 5-cwoxopsgevot properly signi- fies, crushed in a strait passage. - ºf ºbelieved, and therefore have J scoken.] As for the quotation here, some think there is an allusion tº the confidence.which Payid ºx: jº. the preceding words, of goalking before the Lord in the land of # Tišriº, as 'if the apostle had intended ig say, Yº ºsº shałł in tº mºbiºse joit. Mr. Pierce supposes the Spirit of ſaith.heſe Spoken 3; is thº' Spirit of jesus, which enabled him through faith in G9ſ tº preach that doctrine which he knew would prºvºke the rage ºf 3 Wigke: ºf ºs ºffin his death; and he undertakºs to prove, in his third jiàº, that the figh Psalm, in its original sense, is to be under: stºia; spºken by the Psalmist in the person of th: Messiah. But I sºo neºjity for urging this. The simpler sense of the passage, as it stands in the Psalm, is, “Though I have been in, very, great affliction, and sometimes almost depressed, yet faith in God hath supported mº, ºi ºut this song of praise into my mouth.”, In, this sense of the words Jothing could be more natural than for St. Paul to adopt them. THE GLORIOUS HOPES WHICH THE APOSTLE HAD BEYOND THE GRAVE. 621 tº cºrº, the degrees, might abound by the thanksgiving of many, even of cºuntless multitudes who shall SECT º: ºry': '..dº share for ever in it, to the glory of God, the great Original and End of all. 7. IMPROVEMENT. a cog. LET us adore the wisdom and goodness of God, in sending us the gospel treasure in earthen yessels, in employ- ing our fellow-mortals, rather than angels, under the character of his messengers to us; by which means we are 7 taught more to depend on God for that efficacy of power that renders them successful, to acknowledge his hand In animating and preserving them, and are kept in such an exercise of faith, as is in this present world most honourable to God and most profitable to us. Let the mortality of ministers be suitably remembered by them- selves and others, and improved to the best purposes; and let us take care that we do not think the less honour- ; of the treasure, on account of the weakness of these vessels in which the great Proprietor has thought fit to Odge it. - #. it encourage them who are struggling with the difficulties of that arduous and important work, to think on those refreshments which the apostles experienced; in consequence of which, though afflicted, they were not de- COR, IV. pressed, and though persecuted, appeared not to be forsaken; but could boast that the support of their lives, 8, 9 amidst so many pressing dangers, was a demonstration of the life of Christ. We may indeed all say this, with 11 respect to the support of the spiritual life, in the midst of so many difficulties. Having obtained help from him, we continue until this day; and it is because he lives that we live also. Confiding therefore in him, let us exert ourselves vigorously in this holy warfare to which we are called; and strenuously endeavour to maintain our ground against all the enemies who press hard to overbear and destroy us. And that we may be thus animated, let us labour to engrave on our hearts a more lively and assured belief of the great and important things of which we speak and hear; and that not only in the general, but in particular 13 instances. Let us labour to feel at once their evidence and their energy; having the same spirit of faith which wrought in the apostles and prophets, and engaged them to discharge their office with such distinguished fidelity, fervour, and zeal. Especially let us maintain such believing apprehensions of this great and comprehensive truth, that God hath raised up Christ Jesus from the dead, and that he will by the same power also raise up his faithful ministers and servants, who firmly retain that glorious gospel; and as those discoveries are made for their sakes, 15 that they may obtain salvation by him, and that God may be glorified in their united and everlasting praises, let us daily set before our eyes this risen and triumphant Redeemer, and look forward to that glorious appearance of º when he shall come to be admired in his saints, and to be further extolled and glorified in all them who believe. IſleIl. SECTION VIII. The º: describes the glorious hopes which he had beyond the grave, as his great support and ground of triumph, under all those trials which he had been mentioning before; and endeavours to animate others to fidelity and zeal by that description. 2 Cor. iv.16, to the end; v. i-10. 2 CoR. iv. 16. 2 CorINTHIANs iv. 16. - FQR, which cause we ſaint WE have been speaking, of the great design of God, in causing his gospel to be revealed SECT not; but though our outward ; ..."...º.º. to the children of men, that the thanksgivings of many may redound to his own glory; 8 C’e man is renewed day by day, and on this account we faint not under any of the present pressures, nor suffer ourselves to be borne down by the assaults of our enemies; but on the contrary, if our outer man 2 cor. perishes, yet the inner man is daily renewed: the soul gathers new strength, as the body ... Y. grows weaker and weaker, and we feel our dissolution approaching; which may well be 16 º, º 'º','!'...iº, the case: , For we have the firmest assurance, that this momentary lightness of our afflic- 17 which is but for a moment, , , º - - • - º §§§ {... . ." § tion, which passes off so fast, and leaves so little impression, that it may justly be spoken :#;"“” of as levity itself, is working out for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory,” 3. the most solid, substantial, and lasting felicity, the exalted degrees of which none of the • boldest figures of speech can paint, nor any stretch of human thought distinctly conceive. dº M.”.”. And we may assuredly promise ourselves that this shall be the blessed end of all, while we is ji "...thiº. Wieś are conscious that we are not aiming” at the things which are visible, are not endéavouring º: º to secure, to ourselves any secular advantages of one kind or another, but at those which the things which are not are invisible. And however vain and visionary such views may seem to the world about seen are eternal. us, and we may be despised for attending to them, we have full satisfaction in our own minds that we are acting the wisest part, in such a choice and preference; for the things which are visible, and in that respect may seem to have the advantage of others, [are] tem- porary and transient; but those which are invisible [are] eternal, and therefore suitable to the duration of that immortal soul which God hath given us, and in the felicity of which ºº: º, ºur true happiness must consist, Nor is this an uncertain or very distant hope; for we 2 coa. that if our earthly house of * T * * * - - * - wº - w § tºaºrºj. Know assuredly, that if our earthly house of [this] tabernacle were dissolved, if this mortal ča". lºt. icº, body, constituted of dust, were mouldered back to dust again; or if our zeal for the ser- hands, stºnii, the heavens, vice of the gospel should bring on martyrdom, which should destrovit before its time ; we have, and should immediately enter on, a building of which God is the great Architect and Donor; a house not made with mortal hands, nor to be compared with the most magnificent structure they ever raised, exceeding them all in its lustre, as much as its du- - ration, though that duration be eternal in the regions of the heavens, far above either vio- . *...], inºe ſº lence or decay, dnd in this view we groan through that intenseness of soul with which 2 earnestly desiring to be º * º - - Šišiši‘ûpon with our hous: we are earnestly and perpetually desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from ‘hich is * RLV" (3 in - e - ... - w - - Włºś. jouled heaven: Since being so clothed upon, we shall not be jound naked and exposed to any evil 3 w; jail not joundik.d. and inconvenience, how entirely soever we may be stripped of every thing we can call our For we that are in this ow here below. And moreover h - 7. : } • sº tabernacje do groan, being OWſ) ſleſ . And moreover, we who are yet in [...] tabernacle do groan, not only 4 burdened; not for that we with those longings after a blessed immortality, but also being burdened with the present * 4 far, mgre ºceeding, &c.] This sentence is Qūe 9f the most emphati- . c Not made pith hands, &c.) Whether we consider this divine build- cal in all St. Paul’s writings; in which (as Dr. Grosvenor, well, ex- ing as particularly signifying the body after the resurrection, in which presses it) he speaks as much like an orator as all apostle. The light- sense Dr. Whitby takes it; or any ºehicle in which the sº may be ness of the trial is expressed by To exaºpov Ins 6\tipsgs, the lightness clothed during the intermediate state, considerabić difficulties wińrise. of our affliction 5, as if he had said, it is gyen legity itself in such u com- I am therefore inclinable rather to take it in a more general view, as parison. On the other hand, the Kºš' vitepéoxmw gig witépéoXmv, is referring to the whole provision God has made for the future happiness (says Mr., Blackwall), infinitely emphatical, and cannot be expressed by of his people, and which Christ represents as his Fathcr’s house, in āş.translation. It sięnifies, that all hyperboles fall short of describing which there are many mansions. To be coºle; upon with a house is 3. that weighty, eternal glory, so solid and lasting, that you may pass from very strong figure ; which yet it is evident tho apostle uses in is ºxº 9ne hº t?, angheſ, and yet Xhen you havg...ained the last, are verse; having in his thoughts the giory which ejojºa; instead infiniſely below it. Blackº Sacr. Class, Yol. i. p. 332. of being clothed, as now, with that mortaſ fissh which he calis 'a º , bºre ºot aiming, Śc..] This axo~evrov exactly signifies; and our Eng- nacic, as it is so mean, inconvenient, ºréºols. Ağd. lish word scope, or mark aimed at, is derived from the same Greek theme. 6:22 SECT. 8. 2 CO tr. \ . 5 6 7 8 9 10 THE GLORIOUS HOPES WHICH THE APOSTLE IIAD BEYOND THE GR AVE weight of many infirmities and many calaunities: -l- * * * * > * * * - not be º g ... Of º i. ºº:: º ..º.º. thless *.*.*, *, *...uºlº...!!! - : G : - z .* * o t consider as in itself clºſed upon, that mortalit desirable; but rather, if it might be referred to our own choice, clothed upon immediately fight be swallowed up # with a glory like that which shall invest the saints after the º so wi ; §: i lò . mortal, corruptible, and obnoxious to these disorders, burdens, and sorrows. 771.0% .# i. so absorbed and sipallowed up by life, as if it were annihilated by that diving ... d energy yº, shail then ºft in and upon us.d ty gour an e'WO? w *2+ * ºn #hºe ºrn. • T so ºr * º #" dº.", º º this º tºº lºse hºle views and sublime de- §§ºe Jºhath wºught , LiS ] **, ºtho, hath also given us the earnest of his Spirit, as the pledge of better, ºr the sºline linºis eyen of eternal, blessings. Therefore, under the inflüences of this Divine Spirit, [we arºj §ºl. §§§ Qiways courageotts in the midst of surrounding danger; and whatever natural aversion we ...; º: º: have to death, are ready to brave its terrors, in the views of that immediate happiness which ºisi'; lieth before us: knowing that while we are sojourning in the body, we are, as it were, in a Hºwe are absention is state of crile from thc Lord Jesus Christ, in the enjoyment of whom our chief hap iness OF(1 . cºnsists: For we now walk and conduct ourselves, in the whole course of life y the 7 (For we walk by faith jaith of objects as yet unseen; and not by the sight of those glories or by a regard to those not by sight:) Val R by 13.1th, things Which We can see. He are courageous therefore, [I say,) in these delightſu] views, s we are confident, I sa, and think with complacency of being rather ºbsent from the body, and banished from all it. º to 'be jº º º º ºgºnºhºl bºsºtill ſh; º' to be 5 .dwelling as those who are at home with him. Therefore ice make it ihe height 9 wherefore we labour, of our ambition," that whether present in the body or abscnt from it, ace may be ceil pleasing that, Wiśrºnt". to him, and receive the tokens of his acceptance and favour. } º ~ s ºff we may be accepted or This is our concern, and it ought to be the concern of all; for we must all, without any 10 For we must all appear exception, whatever our station in life may have been, be manifest before the tribunal of § º juigment seat of Christ ; our inmost soul must there be displayed, and all the most secret springs of our §3 º' actions laid open, that every one may then receive, in that final distribution of Bappiness lºſt and misery, according to what he hith done in the body, whether good or evil; in fill pro- ºr º” YCI it v6 good portion to his actions, and the principles from which the Searcher of hearts knows them to lò V C {l} lS62Ils - IMPROVEMENT. Bełłold the greatlesson which as christians we have to learn, and which is of such efficacy, that if we thoroughly mºtºr it, all the other parts of our duty will become easy and delightful—to look at the things which are unseen, rather than at those which are seen And what can be so reasonable, as that eternal objects should employ the * * {--- Nº - 1. - * - - - • - - thoughts of immortal beings, rather than those which they must soon survive? Let all our souls be directed to them. v. 1 Let us contemplate the feeble structure of this earthly tabernacle, which gives us so many tokens of its nearly ap- 4 proaching dissolution, this tabernacle, in which we groan under such a variety of burdens; and let us confort Iv. 16 ourselves with the prospect of speedy deliverance ; that so, while the outer man perisbeth, the inner may be renewed y- ºre + * r v- • - * - */ ** v. 8 day by day. What though we have death before us in a certain prospect, and know we must soon be absent from I 6 {W. 17 V. 7 9, 5 10 SECT. 9. 2 COR. V. } 1 the body : If we are true christians, we have the most express assurance, not only that the time will come when we shall inhabit a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; but that we shall imme- diately be present with the Lord; with that blessed Redeemer, whom having not seen we love. How much more shall we love him, how much more shall we rejoice in him, when we are blessed with his presence, and behold his glory! -- - While we have this consciousness, let us be always confident and courageous, and rejoice in afflictions and mor- tality; since this light and momentary affliction hath so happy an influence upon a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; and death will be the consummation of our wishes. Let this then be our constant care, to walk by faith and not by sight; having this ever for the glorious object of our ambition, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of the Lord. May God work us up to this self-same thing ; and may the operation of his grace upon our souls for that purpose, be always acknowledged with the humblest gratitude, and its ſurther coin- munications sought with the most earnest importunity.' Then shall we not dread the tribunal of Christ, before which we are so certainly to appear and be made manifest; knowing that our integrity will be approved, and that those works of faith and labours of love which shall then be commemorated, will meet with gracious acceptance and most munificent rewards. - - S}}CTION IX. Touching again upon thic zeal with which be prosecuted the gospel miſſistry, the apostle makes a kind of anokºgy for it, by pleading time irresisſible §gºnºis of a fiedermºr's iove, and the infinite, importance of thºſ ºnessake of conciliation With which he was charged ; and which while jić recogits, he prosecutes in a pathetic address to the Corinthians. 2 Cor. V. 11, to the end ; vi. 1, 2, 2 Corix'ril IANS v. 11. * 2 Co R. v. 11. I HAVE now touched upon a consideration, which animates us to that zeal in our minis- º 'º'; ſº trations with which many are so much surprised, and some not a little displeased. We tº tºº often reflect how near the solemn time is advancing, when we and our hearers shall appear ..."...,'...",...}}.} before the tribunal of Christ; and knowing therefore the terror ºf the Lºrd, the strict #.......” judgment which must then pass on all impenitent sinners, tºº, for their sake and for our own, labour to our utmost to persuade men to take all necessary methods for escaping it. But as we are made manifest to God, and think of it with unutterable pleasure that he knows the integrity of our hearts, in prosecuting the work he hath assigned us, I hope also we are manifest to your consciences, and that I have already given, and shall continue to give, such proofs of the simplicity of my views and uprightness of my conduct, that yout will not be able to harbour any suspicion concerning it. , - * * , d That mortatity may be, &c.) The expressiºn in these and the ſºl- f 4re sojourning in the body..] So evöm, avres here properly signifies; lowing verses is not perfectly distinct ; bºt the meanin; seems to be and it is, as Dr. Clarke observes, wrong to ſender it, while at home in this: “That though it appeared most desirable, of all to pass to glory, the body } since it is the apostle’s design to intimate, that this is not our Without dying, yet a state in which mortality should be swallowed up hopae. * - - - - - - by life, was at all, events, desiraºlº and an aſsence ſron the bºdy to he . g Present with the Jºrd.] From this text Mr. Boyse argues not only jot ºnjy submitted to, but ciſted, in a view of beiº, sº resent with the against the sleep of the soul during the intermediate, state; but that *...; ºven in the intermediate state they expected tº bº: säjuts, when départed from our world, go into the highest heaven; e fiercio haſh orought us to this peru thing is God.]. Alſ: IIowe ob- where they diſcl with Christ, and are noºssgine have supposed, in a serves, that this is a, most gumphatical manner of speaking; not only as- place where they have only G. transiºn; sight of him On Some extraordi- jºiº ºf God is the author,0f it; but ascribinº, ºit tº the author; as Day 399.9′ Boysc', fºur Last Things, pºº. - # he had said, “None but God ºoijähave raised us to such a temper.” h We make it the height ºf ºur ambition;] This ºbt)\otipºpeba plainly #lowe's Works, vol. i. p. 680. - imports : and it is flat to translate it, we labour. 12 For we commend not burselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart. 13 For whether we be be- side ourselves, it is to God: gr whether we be sober, it is for your cause. 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: * 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and r0Se a gall). 16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man aſter the ‘flesh : yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new crea- ture : old things are passed away ; behold, all things are be COIne I) (2 W. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the mi- mistry of reconciliation ; 19. To wit, that God was ºn Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed, unto us the word of reconciliation. 29 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you y us, we , pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye recon- ciled to God. - THE APOSTLE's ZEAL FOR THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. I say these things freely; for we do not, after the modesty and humility with which have behaved hitherto, now begin to applaud ourselves, or recommend ourselves agaši; ºnto you," as some have very unjustly charged us with doing in some former instances;, but tre are giving you occasion of rejoicing and boasting on our account, as you have indeed cans; to do: and are suggesting what may be sufficient, that ye may have something to ſansitºl those who glory inappearance, and not in heart; for that, I am persuaded, is the case with some of your opposing teachers, whose consciences must surely recoil upon them and con- demn them, while they pretend to vie with us in the discharge of the christian ministry, and would challenge your regards in preference to us. For if, as some injuriously insinuate, we be transported beyond ourselves,” and the diſe exercise of sober reason, [it is] to God; a zeal for his glory that animates us: or if we be Sober, as we hope you cannot but acknowledge us to be, º: is] for your sakes that we take so much serious pains in the prosecution of a work in which your highest interest is con- cerned. On the whole, love to God and benevolence to man are the grand principles by which we are actuated; and we cannot be cold and unaffected, while we have such grand and noble subjects before us as those which we handle among you, to awaken our piety and our charity. For the love of Christ, so illustriously displayed in that redemption he hath wrought, constraineth us; it bears us away” like a strong and resistless torrent; while we thus judge, and, in our calmest and most rational moments, draw it as a certain consequence, from the important principles, which we assuredly know to be true, that if one, even Christ, died for the redemption and salvation of all who should sincerely believe in him and obey him, them were all dead; for had not all, even the very best of men, been in a state of condemnation and death, there would have been no néed of his dying for them. And now we know that he died for all, that they who live only in consequence of his dying love, should not henceforth, from this remarkable period, and era of their lives, (whatever they have formerly done,) live to themselves, so as to make their own will their rule, or to seek any interest of their own distinct from his; but that they should all agree that they will live to the honour, glory, and interest of him who died for them ; and, when he rose again from the dead, retained the same affection for them, and is continually im- proving his recovered life for their security and happiness. So that, on the whole, we from this time forward know not any man after the flesh; we have no longer any partial regard for any, on account of their being Jews by birth or religion, or as to the aspect which their friendship for us may have on our secular interest; and if we have known Christ afler the flesh, and governed ourselves by any carnal expectations from the Messiah, as a tem- poral prince, who should render our nation the terror of the whole world, and raise us to universal monarchy, henceforth we know [him] in these views no more, but entertain quite different sentiments concerning him. And thus it will be with others who enter truly into the genius of the gospel; so that if any man [be] really in Christ Jesus, if he have a vital and prevailing faith in him, [there is] a new creation in the heart of that man; so entirely are his principles, apprehensions, and pursuits changed: old things are passed away, and with respect to him, behold, all things are become new ; he is brought as it were into another world, and is himself quite a different creature from what he before was. .4nd as it is the work of God to create, so here it may properly be said that all things [gre] of God, who hath in his infinite condescension conquered our prejudices, and reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ ; having by his grace in him laid a proper and honourable foundation for the exercise of his mercy towards us, and for the subduing of our hearts to love and obedience. .#nd in pursuance of this great and condescending design, he hath committed to its his ministers, and especially to his apostles, the ministry of reconciliation; intrusting us with this important message, to proclaim it to the world, and, so far as in us lies, to transmit it to the remotest ages. And this is an abstract and epitome of it all; namely, that God was in Christ united to him, and manifesting himself by him, thereby reconciling the world both of Jews and Gentiles unto himself; and in consequence of that, not imputing to them, and charging to their account with righteous, inexorable severity, their various and aggravated offences; but setting forth an act of grace and unlimited pardon to all those who should believe in him. This is that great divine truth on which our salvation de- pends; and God hath committed unto us, as a trust of the highest importance, the gracious word or message of reconciliation. Therefore we are to be considered by you as sustaining the office and dignity of ambassadors for Christ, on his account, and in }. stead; so, that God is, as it were, entreating [you] by its, and we bescech [you] in Christ's stead,” with the greatest importunity and tenderness of address, that when so much is done on God’s part to make up the breach which must otherwise have been fatal to his offending creatures, ye would not, by your own obstinacy, reject the benefit of all these condescending overtures; but would be cordially and truly reconciled to God, and thankfully accept of that friend: ship and protection which he vouchsafes to offer you. And that your hearts may, if possible, be melted, we urge you by the mºst affecting of all arguments, even the blood and death of his incarnate Son: for we tell you that he, that is, God, hath made him who knew no sin, but was perfectly innocent and perfectly holy, [a] sin [offering] for us; that, by the sacrifice of himself, he might expiate the guilt of our transgressions, and that so we might be made accepted in him, and furnished with a plea, as prevalent for our justification and admission into the divine favour as if we had retained our innocence untainted, and W 3 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made a We do not recommend ourselves hence, and from the beginning of the third chapter, that the to be taken in such a united view, as to give the sense with which the pa- gain unto you...] It º from raphrase concludes; that it was piety to God, and charity to them, which orinthians were ready to misrepresent the care St. Paul took to vindicate himself, as pride and vain-glory. On the other hand, they would have inter- preted his silence as the effect of guilt and confusion. He therefore plajuly and very properly tells them, that he said this only in his own necessary defence, and to furnish his friends with an answer to those Mººse consciences condemned them, while they endeavoured to asperse \l Ill. b Transported beyond ourselves.] Mr. Locke thinks, from comparing chap. xi. 1, 16–21. xii. 6, 11. that the Corinthians censured St. Paul as a fool or a madman, for yºhat he said in commendation of himself; and then the meaning is, “You say I am distracted for my present conduct; but this is between God and myself. I am sure you Corinthians ought not to say, it; for all my sober, thoughts and most painful labours are for You.” But I apprehend on the whole, that the divided clauses are Wrought up the apostle’s mind to that transport which some were so reatly to censure; and that a lively view of the love of Christ produced such, warm impressions of both. - - - - c Bears us arcay.] This is the beautiful import of guyexes, which sug- jºi a Agble simile, which few translations preserve. See the note on lſ l. l. 2.5. d :Anbassadors fºr Christ.] The apostles were so in a peculiar sense ; but if it be the will of Christ that ministers in all ages should press men to accept the treaty of reconciliation established in him, then it is evi- dent they may be called his ambassadors, even though such a phrase had Inever been used in Scripture. c In Christ’s º So wrep Xptºrs plainly signifies here. When Christ was in the world, he pressed' this treaty of reconciliation, and w8 rise up in his stead to urge it still further. Cºg § 3. (, ‘I’ * - a. A \ . - 9. 2 C.U.; R. I 2 I S l 9 21 Y. 624 SECT. 9. 2 COR. VI. 2 Ver. 2 y • } 4 14, 15 I 7 18 19, 20 SECT. 10. 2 COR. VJ. THE APOSTLE'S FREEDOM AND TEMPER IN THE MINISTRY. in every respect conformed ourselves to the righteousness which the law of Godfrequired the righteousness of God in and demanded. Jºe then [as] the joint-labourers [of God] in this important ... "bor vi. 1 we men, as pare 1 Cor. iii. 9 note f.) beseech [you] with the most earnest importunity, that you re-work; together ºff. ceive not the surprising grace of God in vain; that you do not so slight this merciful ...'. ºśći, proclamation of pardon, righteousness, and life, through the blood of his Son, as to lose vain. 4. the benefit of it. , Again, let me urge immediate compliance with it on all who have 2 º, º, ...? not as yet secured its invaluable blessings; for he says, when represented as addressing ºi"; i.º.º.º. himself to the Messiah; in one of Isaiah's prophecies, (Isa. xlix. '8.) I have heard thee in ºv'i'icº tº an acceptable time, and in a day of salvation have Ihelped and sustained thee. God there, ºft; as you see, speaks of a limited time, in which the Messiah’s petition in favour of his peo- of sa vation.’ - le, Was welcome to him, and in which he was ready to grant salvation; and behold, now is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation; this is the precious season, When, by the wonderful favour and goodness of God, complete forgiveness and eternai felicity is freely offered. Oh that you may all be so wise as to accept it! IMPROVEMENT. How adorable is the divine condescension, that such an embassy of peace should ever be sent to any of the children of fallen Adam . How wonderful the divine patience, that the accepted time and the day of salvation should, after so many slights, be so long protracted O, let us not receive such grace in vain, lest affronted mercy should forsake its seat, and give way to inexorable justice Surely if there be a sentiment that may justly excite the heart to the greatest fervour of affection, and that will vindicate the most ardent transports of zeal to spread it in the world, it must be that of the love of Christ; which may well bear us away, while we seriously consider in how miserable a state he found us, dead in sin, and under a sentence of death by the divine law ; especially when we further reflect at how expensive a rate he redeemed us, even with the price of his own life. §. then, that has any remains of judgment at all, must not judge and determine in his own mind, that it is most fit that our ransomed lives should be sacred to him that redeemed them; that our breasts should be on fire with the most earnest desires to promote his cause and kingdom; that hence- forth, from the time we come to the knowledge of this important truth, we should not live to ourselves, but to him who died for us and rose again, resuming, with his renewed life, the same tender concern for our happiness which engaged him continually to exert it in the most generous efforts for our recovery and salvation. et all secular views, therefore, be given up; and let us labour to improve in that renovation of Soul which is the essential character of the true christian: and as ever we desire to have any satisfactory evidence that we are in Christ, let us see to it that we are new creatures; and if we are indeed so, let us daily acknowledge our obligations to his transforming grace. From him are the first proposals of peace and reconciliation to offending creatures; from him the disposition of soul, humbly to submit ourselves to the terms so kindly proposed, and to sue out our pardon agreeably to the purposes of this grand act of indemnity. How amazing the condescension that grants it, and appoints ambassadors to urge us to have compassion on our own souls, and not reject this counsel of God against ourselves! May the ministers of the gospel often consider themselves in this view, as ambassadors and agents for Christ, by whom Godbeseecheth sinners to be reconciled; and let them prosecute this embassy with all holy importunity and earnest address. Oh that the success of it might be more apparent; that so that friendship might be established between earth and heaven, which may bring down daily anticipations of heaven to earth! Amen. SECTION X. The apostle enlarges with great freedom on the temper with which, in the midst of all their afflictions, and gersecutions, he and his brethren pro- secutód that important embassy of which he had been speaking in the former section. 2 Cor. vi. 0 2 CoRINTHIAN's vi. 3. 2 CoR. vi. 3. THIS is the affair we negociate, this is the message we deliver; and while we are thus §§§.º.º.º. employed, it is our constant care that we may behave in such a manner as º add the Hºº" y greatest efficacy to our address, and give no offence" to any by any part of our [conductº] £hat the ministry of reconciliation be not blamed, and the success of the gospel thereby - ; , , ºr a y obstructed. Bitt on the contrary we would be, and, I hope, we are, in ºvery respect ap- i. º,"; proving ourselves to all that see and know us, such as they ought to be who have the honour Sº, in much patiº, in - - - -w • - - - — afflictions, in necessities, in of being the ministers and ambassadors of God; in this view we govern the inmost emo- #:esses, S 3. tions of our souls, endeavouring to possess them in much patience, in the midst of all the afflictions which his providence calls us to bear, in all the necessities we are compelled to endure, in all the straits to which we are at any time reduced, and all the anguish. Of heart - • * * we may unavoidably feel in them.” This steady patience yº º to maintain, in nº iºdiº, stripes, when we are scourged in synagogues and cities, as if we were the most notorious ɺi. offénders against God and men, and the vilest pests of society; in imprisonments, though - we not only endure so many hardships in our cºnfinement; but are ºut off by it from those public labours for the glory of God and the edification of the church, which are dearer to is than our lives; in tumults,” which are raised against us by Jews and Gentiles, and by which our enemies are often endeavouring to tear us in pieces; in labºurs, which Wein- cessantly pursue, either in our ministerial work, or in those secular callings by which we are often obliged to earn our daily bread; in watchings, when, in prosecution of these various ºntº, the hours of the night are added to those of the day, and we have - .” or J, far, :* - is. divinely righteous. It is a which separates the last verse of the fifth chapter from the first of the r fºlade tle jºi...º. ºf: § Čod as perfectly sixth, seems yet more improper. To render the beginning of the section }.} i.º.º. considered as by faith united to him wh9 was perfectly less a parently abrupt, I, render, that we give no. offence, which had T13 "#. is'. Vijent and beautiful contrast between Christ being made more literally been translated, by the participle giving, &c., as in the º aſſº. being jºighteousness, that is, treated as perfectly righteous. following, clauses ; but sº º ji. they ºft. º º ºjºſº.º. º.º.º. &; º ſº tºo.;;..."; ºjo. tº'Ég éhūich, and 6Atºpis, signifies, ºfficiº, in general—the second, away.km, º: grº: º jºis ... ."jºi." And in this connexion, it is, as ous and unavoidable troubles—and the third, a revoxopla, such pressures #.'...}}.". "...i.si.e. ºf a promise is made; see tº it that as reduce us to the greatest străii.º.oºhºº.º.º. p "..."; and you will find it an acceptable time.” You will come, whole is, we are, as it were, hemmed in with inevitable; and humanly ãºe in .30 iſ hour, as Christ is represented to have done. speaking inextricable, calamities, on *. side. §º {ijñāk a Give no offence, &c.) This clause is, so connected with the forego- c in tumults axarao ragtats.] Beza interprets this, (and ſt É. . º hat it would ſay been highly expedient to have continued, the pre- man, seems bºttº, tº have understood the peculiar propriety of Gree .#... jºhé ; fººt;"jºb"woºlā'āg in words) of such attacks as a man cannot stand against, but, which bear ;º ğ.e. ré' ome other instances in which we have been him hither and thither by violence: he would render it in Latin, exagi- Éed to yield to necessity on such occasions; but the common division, tationibus THE APOSTLE'S FREEDOM AND TEMPER IN THE MINISTRY. - hardly time for our necessary repose; in fastings, to which, besides those which devotion liº º; º: chooses, we are often obliged to submit, for want of proper supplies of food: Yet still, in §es; bº'ào; the midst of all these difficulties, conducting ourselves in unspotted purity, labouring to by love unfeigned, improve daily in the knowledged of those divine truths which it is our great business to teach others, and by the exercise of a constant command over our passions to grow in long-suffering and in gentleness, and every other amiable disposition, which we cultivate in 625 SECT. 10. 2 COR. VI. * humble dependence on the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit; who dwells in our hearts, as a continued principle of that undissembled love which we exercise without limita- uſ º ..º.º. º: by tion, not only to friends and benefactors, but enemies and persecutors. Still we are faith: moºrighteºsºtile ful in asserting and zealous in propagating the sacred gospel, that word of uncorrupted and ** and on the left, infallible truth; and we persist in it, supported by the filmighty power of that God by whom it is revealed, and by whom we know it shall be rendered finally victorious; and in the mean time, while our enemies assault us on every side, it is our care still to be clothed and girded about with the armour of righteousness, both on the right hand and the left;" pºſiº well knowing that armour to be impenetrable. And in this consciousness we pass un- ºri:"as ºceſſºs, j ºr hurt, and in a great measure unmoved, through honour and dishonour, through evil report true ; and good report, neither elated with the one nor depressed and dejected with the other. We are treated by many as if we were a set of artful deceivers, that scruple no fraud and falsehood by which we might carry our cause ; and yet we know in our own conscience, and God can witness for us, that we are true and faithful, and would not deviate from the strictest rules of integrity to carry any point, how important soever it might seem to our- wº ºngº".", i. .# selves, or the religion we propagate. We are treated by men as inconsiderable creatures, beiðūji.e. as ºsteñéâ, in the lowest rank of life, obscure and unknown, as undeserving any public notice and and not killed; regard; and [yet] we are really well known to multitudos by the happiest tokens, as the men by whom they have not only received that bodily healing which they could never have expected from natural means, but by the yet more valuable memorials of having enlightened their eyes with divine knowledge, and brought back their wandering souls to God... We are regarded by others as dying men, and we seem ourselves to be in daily danger of being sacrificed to the rage of our enemies; and yet, behold, hitherto, through the guardian and astonishing care of that Redeemer whom we preach, we continue in life, and live to the most important purposes. Our afflictions are many, and we consider ourselves under them as chastened by our heavenly Father; yet, blessed be his name, we are not killed; and far from intending our destruction, we know that he will overrule these chastisements to the rº; yº. advancement of our salvation. If our external circumstances alone be regarded, we must #"; lieſ.”43°iº; indeed appear as sorrowful, and the world will naturally conclude that we have cause for Mººnd * Pºssessins continual lamentation: and yet, when the inward dispositions of our minds are known, and the views with which we are sécretly supported, it will be found that we are always rejoic- ing, in the present assurances of the divine favour, and the certain expectation of complete felicity and eternal glory. We appear as poor in this world, and indeed we are so; having neither silver, nor gold, nor estate; and yet we are continually enriching, many with trea- sures which they would not part with for all the revenues of princes and kings: as having nothing that we can call our own, and yet indeed possessing all things, which we know to be ours, so far as our heavenly Father shall see fit; and therefore are as easy and happy as if we were actually the proprietors of the whole world.ſ - IMPROVEMENT. WHose soul can remain untouched while he reads this eloquent period, in which the apostle's mouth is (as he afterwards expresses it) thus opened, in consequence of his heart's being enlarged 2 In how lively yet unaffected a manner does this sacred writer paint his own character and circumstances: and how much profound and important sense is there in those paradoxes which he so naturally introduces on this occasion! . Let the ministers of the gospel herein behold, at once, their model and their support. Let them cultivate this inoffensive behaviour, not only out of regard to themselves, but that their office may not be censured; and still approve themselves the ser- vants of God, by patience amidst all their tribulations, their necessities, and their pressures; and, so far as their circumstances require it, by labours, by watchings, and fastings; especially when by an indulgent Providence they are not called to do it in stripes, in imprisonments, and in tumults. Still let them cultivate purity and knowledge, ong-suffering and gentleness, with unfeigned love in the Holy Ghost. Aided by him, let them arm themselves with the word of truth, and, in the strength of God, gird on the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. Thus fortified they may j their way through honour and infamy, through praise and reproach; as we plainly see that infamy and reproach may be the portion of the best of men and the most useful members of society. , Who are we, that we should refuse a cup of which the apostles and our Lord drank so deep P Butlet us be superior to human censures. If any call us deceivers, let us show that we are invariably true to the interests cf God and of goodness. If they affect to overlook us as unknown and beneath their notice, let us endeavour to render ourselves well known, by the benefits which, by divine grace, we are the instruments of conferring on men's souls. So shall we be always rejoicing in the midst of those sorrows of which nature cannot be entirely insensible; 7 8 9 Ver. 3 4 5, 6 7 8 8 9 10 whilst amidst our poverty we are enriching many, yea, then, though we have nothing that we can call our own, we shall possess all things; shall appear in the eyes of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, the richest and the happiest of mankind, even though we were in other respects of all men the most miserable. While we consider this as the character of the first preachers of christianity, which with so noble a plainness and simplicity they profess, let us adore the divine grace, by which such a spirit was raised in the world, and by which it hath in some measure been maintained, even to this day. And let it encourage our most earnest and affec- tionate prayers, that God would raise up in every age (and especially in our own, in which they seem so ready to fail) a generation of evangelical ministers; who, fired with such generous principles of action, and emulating so noble a character, may commend themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, and roll away that re- proach which unworthy men have brought on the most excellent of all offices. Thus armed, may they extend d By knowledge.] Interpreters give many different senses of this e Järmour of rightcousness, on the right hand and the left.] S t * word. Dr. šti says it signifies, prudence, which is a christian virtue, naturally think this ăiţudes to the soldiers, who were § hiºi whereas the mere inderstanding of divine things was a gift. Mr. Pyle their swords with the left hand as well as the right; and of hers, that it thinks it, signifies their improving, the sº of divine mysteries, refers to the christian’s being armed against the temptations of prospe- Mr. Cradock refers it to an acquaintance with the true Sense of Scrip- rity, and adversity. That may well be included; but the armour ture; which brings it to much the same with what has been called the spoken of seems of the defensive kind, on the arms or breast, or both. isord ºf kaoirleilge... I conclude it implies not only a solicitude to grow in f Possessing all º;' This is cºrtainly one of the sublimest pas- the knowledge of the gospel, but to improve that knowledge to the edi- * that was ever written. Compare Phil. iv. 18. 1 Tim. vi. 17. Eph fication of others; which ºrms, is expressed in the paraphrase. i. 3. Rev. xxi. 7. 1 Cor. iii. 21–23. 7. 626 ALLIANCE WITH IDOLATERS TO BE AVOIDED. SECT. their happy conquests; thus animated, may they see of the traval of their soul,to their abundant, their everlasting 10. Satisfaction and delight. * ty SECTION XI. RD. religion 2 Col i; ! I t th B upon t heir guard in this resp - - y S e gracious ) rO 2 CoRINTHIANs vi. 11. 2 CoR. vi. II. SECT. YOU see, O ye Corinthwans, my dear brethren, my beloved children, with how much o FEcorinthians, surmouth 11. freedom of address our mouth is opened to you ; but words flow freely on an occasion on ; ºto you, our heart which our heart is so much enlarged, in a tenderness which neither words nor tears can is enlarged. - 2 º sufficiently express. Sure I am that ye are not straitened in us ; all that we can do for 12 Ye are not straitened in 12 your comfort and happiness you may securely promise yourselves; but I fear ye are ſºº" " straitened in your own bowels, and have not all of you that affection for us, nor readiness to g receive our communications, which the relation between us might challenge, and my ten- 13 derness for you ought to excite. And º jor that very recompence which we most , 13 Now for, a recompence of all desire, which is so just and reasonable, and which indeed, in its consequences, .º.º.º.º.º. would be yet more beneficial to you than delightful to us, I speak to you as to [my] own fºlden be se also en- children, with all the genuine overflowings of paternal love: be ye also thus enlarged” to- wards me, and let this confidence with which I am pouring forth, as it were, all my heart into your bosom, strike strongly on your minds, to raise some correspondent emotion. 14 And how shall that love be expressed ? Truly by no method can it more effectually be 14 Beye, not unequally manifested, than by taking all the care you possibly can for your own security and happi- §, ºftoº, ness. In which view I must particularly urge it, that ye be not wrequally yoked, either in hºnºsº: marriage, or any other intimate friendship, with unbelievers; for what participation hath ...; §: that strict righteousness to the practice of which the gospel calls you, its sincére votaries, **** with that unrighteousness in which they are so generally plunged? Or what communion hath the light, into which you by the divine mercy are ; with that deplorable darkness of 15 ignorance and vice in which they continue to be lost? Or what concord [is there, or can 15 And what gongord hath there be, between Christ, to whom ye are united, and Belial, who reigneth in the children º; *.*.*.*.*. of disobedience 2 Or what part hath a believer with an infidel; or an infidel with a be- ºut believeth liever ? The union is surely, at the first view of it, too unnatural to be either easy, safe, or 16 lasting. And indeed I may . what consistence has the temple of Godb with those de-, 16 And what agreement testable idols, which would s means be, as it were, erected in it; or at least placed ###"...º.º.º.º. so near, that it must be polluted by them 2. It is a proper question, and a just view in jºie º º; which to state the point; for ye are the temple of the living God, as God himself hath said, ..., º: I will, in the most intimate manner, º in them" and walk among [them, and I will be j, and they their God, and they shall be my people. (Lev. xxvi. 12.) Now though this immediately re- shall be my people. - fers to God's extraordinary presence among the Jews, yet, when we consider the constitu- tion of the christian church, we cannot possibly imagine that God is less favourably pre- 17 sent with it than he was with the Jewish. We may therefore consider the exhortation so 17 wherefore come out naturally grounded on such a promise, and may, as it were, hear God calling to us, and º.º.º.º. saying, as to Israel with respect to idolaters of old, (Isa, lii. 11.) Come out from among tº: them, and be ye separate,d saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and if ye behave ***** in a manner thus worthy your professed relation to me, I will then receive you, which till 18 then I cannot do, And will be a father unto you,” and ye shall be to me for sons and for 18 And will be a Father daughters, saith the Lord Almighiy. Now surely if the Almighty God will say thus unto º, . us, we ought to be much affected with it, and neglect nothing that is necessary to insure jº e 2 cor. so great and invaluable a privilege. Having therefore, my beloved brethren, such gracious .. 2 Cor. vii.J. Havins therſ: VII. promises of God’s abode among us, his dwelling in us, and his adoptin • I fore these, promises, dearly {. - * 5 --~5 - g in us, pting us into the num- belovéâ, et”us cieanse our- ! ber of his children, let us act worthy so high a relation; and as God is perfectly holy, let jº from ail filthiness of ws labour to the utmost to Pºſ. ourselves from all pollution, both of the flesh and of the jº's irit, from every impurity of life, and from every sensual affection which might defile our hearts, and render them displeasing to him. Nor let us rest merely in this negative view of religion; but let us endeavour to be perfecting holiness, and lay the foundation of it in the fear of God, in whose presence we always are, and by whom all our actions are ex- amined, and to whom our hearts are open ; well knowing that we cannot secure to our- selves these blessings without such a care ; and that it is what gratitude most powerfully dictates, where we have the highest hopes that we are interested in them. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.11 THUs may cordial love open the mouth of christian ministers when addressing their people; and thus may the 13 love of christians to each other in every station of life express itself, and produce for a recompence a mutual en- iargement. This is one of the sweetest pleasures and richest blessings of friendship, when wisely and happily contracted. Let us therefore cultivate such friendships, and be very careful that we do not form others which may 14, 16 roperly be called, being unequally yoked. We profess to be pursuing righteousness, to be light in the Lord, to É. united to Christ, to be consecrated to God: let us not then have an intimate converse with the slaves of un- righteousness, the children of darkness, the sons of Belial, the votaries of idols. Far from subjecting ourselves to such dangerous snares, let us rather be earnestly seeking every advantage for making the noblest improvements in vii. 1, religion. Let us examine our lives and our hearts, that we may be cleansed from all pollutions of the spirit as a Be ye also enlarged.J Perhaps the apostle’s mºaning may be this : d Be ye separate.] As God’s promise of dwelling in a peculiar man- “Śiś #.," that ſeasure which my paternal tenderness towards you net among the Jews obliged them to separate themselves from the con; wifi find, in having it in my power, to do you abundange of good, verse of their heathen neighbours, that they might not be inshared through your readiness to receive what we are so ready to impart, an with their superstitions; much more are christians obliged by that pe- tº faſſin with my attempts of usefulness among you !”. - - culiar gracious presence of God, which they enjoy; to separate them- bººpie ºf God...] There seems a peculiar strength in this, interºga- selves from all impure and idolatrous worship. £ºod. …i. 45, 46. tion. If God would not endure idols in #. part of the land in which Lev. xxvi. 11, 12 - he dyvelt, how much less would he endºre them under his own roof! . e I will be a father, &c.] It is queried where God says this 2 Some c in the most intimate manner dioell in them.] No words I know º answer, Jer. xxxi. 1. But that does not sufficiently express the pater- our language can equal the force of the original, evolkmaa) ev avTots, nal relation. Qthers refer to 2 Sam, vii. 8, 14., which may be applied soil paſſe ºn my inăuelling in them. This was a promise made to the to Christ, and in him to believers. Compare Heb. i. 4, 5. §: think it Jews on their Éei; convérted, and consequently refers, to their priviz is not expressly £9 pe found any where, and that it, refers to all the jeges as members of the ghristian ghurch;, which shows the propriety of scriptures where God calls his people by the title of children. the application. Jer. xxxi. 33. xxxii. 37, THE APOSTLE'S AFFECTION TOWARDS THE CORINTHIANS. 627 well as of the flesh. Let us labour after sublime ideas of the perfection of holiness, and after a temper of mind SECT. correspondent to those ideas. In order to attain which, let us ºft. be surveying our high and glorious privileges, 11 and those exceeding rich and precious promises which God by his gospel is making to us: separating ourselves * from all evil, that he may receive us, that he may dwell with us and walk among us, that he may consecrate us a 2 cop. holy temple to himself; yea, that the Lord Almighty may become a Father to us, and own us for his sons and his ...V. daughters. To us is the word of his promise sent, this is the hope of our calling: let us make it sure, let us daily 17, 18 survey it, that it may produce and cherish a correspondent sanctity and zeal. Amen. SECTION XII. The apostle further expresses his affection to the Qorinthians, as illustrated by the pleasure with, which he received, gººd tidings from them by Titus, and by the part he took in the sorrows which his necessary reproofs had occasioned, and his present joy in that these sorrows had issued in their reformation. 2 Cor. vii. 2, to the end. © Aſ Nº. zº 2 CoR. vii. 2, 2 CorixTHIANS vii. 2. RECEIVE us; we have BUT to return from this digression to the attempt I was making to remove some preju- SECT. yº, º, ... º. dices which, much to your own detriment, I know that some of you have imbibed against 12 pted no man, we have 2 - - - * defrauded no man. my person and ministry. Give me leave, my brethren, to entreat you that ye receive us — with that affection which is due to the faithful servants of Christ, and to those who have 2 coR. been instruments in your conversion and edification: for whatever may have been in- , VII. sinuated by ill-designing persons to the contrary, we have injured no man in his person, we have corrupted no man in his morals, we have defrauded no man” in his property, by any 31 speak not this to con: of those artifices which covetousness sometimes practises under very solemn forms. I 3 §."ºi, º, ...”. *... speak not [this] to condemn [you] of ingratitude or infidelity, though I have been obliged Before, that ye are in Qur t– s e 4– J 5 c. re S iºts' tº die’ānā’īive with to find some fault with you; for I have told you before, that ye are in our hearts with such */014. tenderness, that, if it were the will of God, we could be glad both to live and to die with [you; to spend the remainder of our lives at Corinth, or to end them there, did not the purposes of our Master's glory call to other, and many of them less grateful and agree- able, scenes. *_º- Great, as you see, [is] my freedom of speech to you upon this subject, and great is also 4 my boasting concerning you, as to the assurance which I have of your regards for me; and, on this account, I am filled with consolation in the remembrance of you; I do ex- ceedingly aboundb in joy, in the midst of all our qffiction, when I think how well you behave, and how happy an alteration is prevailing among you. An instance of this affectionate regard I have lately had an opportunity deeply to feel, 5 and very naturally to manifest: for when we came into JMacedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every ſºlº and circumstance, through the rage and malice of our enemies; yet these alarms could not cause us to forget you ; but while without there [were] continued fightings, with the most furious and cruel opposition, within there were 6 Nevertheless God, that fears and anxieties on your account. But the blessed God, who is pleased to wear it 6 ºº: among his other titles, that he is the Comforter of those who are brought low by affliction coming offitus; and distress, and owns it as his prerogative to bear up the human heart, comforted us by the coming of Titus, who arrived so seasonably at Macedonia, at a time when both our cir- cumstances and frame of spirit needed all the assistance that so pious and delightful a friend could give. And indeed it was not merely by his coming that I was thus comforted, but 7 with the consolation with which he was comforted by you, when he told us particularly of your earnest desire to rectify whatever was amiss, and of your grief for what had been matter of offence to God and sorrow to me, and of your affectionate zeal for me, so that I rejoiced much more than in other circumstances I could have done. Because now I can 8 take the liberty to say, that if I grieved you in the Epistle which I formerly wrote, in which indeed ſwas obliged to treat some subjects with greater severity than I could have wished, I do not repent of it, however anxious I might before have been:" for the regret I at first felt on that account is now swallowed up in that superior pleasure with which I see the happy effects of it; for I now have the satisfaction to find that this Epistle, how- ever for a little while, it might have grieved you, hath by the blessing of God been pro- wº; ductive of great good. And now I rejoice not that ye were grieved, for that will always 9 §§'...hº..."; give me concern when I reflect upon it, but that ye grieved to such happy purpose, ãº!';.* and were by that means brought to true repentance, to a change of mind; for this was jºivº"; us in no indeed the case, as ye were grieved with a penitential and humble regard to the honour of thing. the blessed God, which is so immediately and peculiarly affected by the irregularities of those that profess themselves his people. So thaf, on the whole, ye were not in any degree endamaged by us; but, on the contrary, received, as we intended, great benefit by the severity we were compelled to use. For this is indeed the natural effect of a sorrow like jº; yours; that grief which regards the honour of God, and takes its rise from such tender ºrrow of the world worketh and grateful views of him as we before hinted, worketh a repentance which leads to salva- death. tion and issues in it, and therefore is never afterwards to be repented of: whereas the sor- row that arises merely from a regard to the things of the world, is often a foolish excess, productive of fatal consequences, and sometimes worketh death; either breaking the heart, arming men against their own lives, or otherwise producing that rebellion against God, by which the soul is finally destroyed. But it is pleasant to trace the happy effects of 11 that better principle which hath influenced you: for behold, this same thing, that is, your being grieved for your sins out % a pious respect to God, and the dishonour it brought upon him, what diligence it wrought in you to reform what had been amiss ; yea, [what], a solicitous care to make the best apology you could for what you had done; and of the 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you : alſº filled with comfort, I am ex- ceeding joyful in all our tri- buiation. 5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on eyery side ; without 70ere fightings, within were fears. 7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation where with he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your, mourn; ing, your fervent mind toward mé: so that I rejoiced the IY OTG . 8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did, repent: r. I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a sea- SO in. I () 10 For godly sorrow, work- 11 For behold this self; Still he *i; that ye sorrowe after a godly sort, what care- fulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of your- a Defrauded no man.] The word erxeovex.Thaapév signifies, to in- dulge a covetous temper, and make a prey of others by it; and perhaps intimates that the false teachers, of whom he had so much reason to complain, had done it. ...b Ezceedingly abound. sible energy; and is, i making. c However anxious I might before have been : su kat perspexopmy.] So The word virspreptaggvogat has an inexpres- I mistake not, a word of the apostle’s own I chose to render the word, as pººrapºeia strictly expresses an after: care and anxiety for any thing that has been done; whereas the word Tepent always signifies a wish it had not been done. Now, as what St. àul did, in writing the former Epistle, was proper, and done, under the direction of the divine Spirit, it does not seem reasonable to suppose that he really repented of it. It may also signify a kind of misgiviſts Q heart, natural when the reproof, however necessary, is given to & Pºſ- º gººderly loves, where the event is dubious, as in this instance 11. In 19 nt De. 628 THE APOSTLE'S AFFECTION TOWARDS THE CORINTHIANs. SECT. Sounder part, to make their, innocence appear; yea, [what] indignation did it produce selves, yea, what indignation, 12. against those who had given the offence; jea, [what] fearlest anything of that sort should jºyº; – be encouraged and repeated; yea, [what] earnest desire of seeing me again, and confirm- ºga, ºrevenie; i. 2 COR. ing our friendship in surer bonds; jea, [whatj zeal in every method that could be sub- #. §icº º; vº, servient to these views; yea, indeed, if I may’so express myself, [what] revenged against matter. yourselves for those things which, all circumstances considered, you could not but con- demn; against sin as your great enemy: so that upon the whole, considering you as a society, you have approved yourselves to be pure in this matter, and there is no further stain remaining ºn the church, where I was so much afraid of lasting infamy and reproach. * Let it nºt therefore be the cause of any further distress; but assure yourselves, that if i 12 wherefore, though I have writtºn [any thing] to you, different from what I could wish to write and you to jº: receive, [it was] not so much with any personal views on his account who had done, or his he wºº his cº who had received, the injury,” but for the sake of manifesting our diligence and care jor you, §: o: º ſºi, º, which through the divine goodness hath now been made apparent, though by so severe sight. God might appear 18 and painful a trial, before God, [and] unto you. Therefore vie were greatly comforted in UI !our consolation, and we rejoiced more erceedingly in the joy of good Titus, which gave me .º.º. a pleasure yet greater than he himself could dérive from it; because we find your temperiºdºº. 14 and state so #. that his spirit was refreshed by you all. So that, on the whole, if I had ; : ...ºt was re- boasted anything of you to him, that I was confident my Corinthian friends would approve ... i.e. boasted themselves worthy of the figure they had formerly made in religion, f was not ashºd of ; "..."; "...'. that boasting ; but as we have always spoken in the exactest regard to truth when address- nº YQu. 13 Therefore we were com- not, ashamed ; but as we * tº ºn...hº. ing ourselyes to you, so also our boasting [concerning you] to Titus, that all would be well which fººd; befºre"fitus, is 15 again at Corinth, has been verified greatly to our satisfaction: So that his tenderest affec- **śwara affection tions are nºw engaged towards you exceedingly; which he expresses in the most genuine ºf §§§ manner whenever he mentions or recollectºid obeſience of jou all in general to those jin: "...”..". apostolical injunctions which I sent you by him : [and] how jou received him as my mes- ºn trembline ye senger and the minister of Christ, with fear and trembling, expressing always the most ... solicitous concern that he might see nothing which it might grieve him to observe, or me 16 to hear reported by him. I rejoice, therefore, that in every respect I have confidence in Jow," and am encouraged to renew that honourable testimóny which it has always been my pleasure to bear to your character, and which, I assure myself, you will continue more and more to deserve. 16 I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things. IMPROVEMENT. How great is the boldness of a good conscience and how much does it promote that freedom, that authority, with which the ministers of Christ address themselves to their hearers, when they can thus appeal to them as to the uprightness, integrity, and disinterestedness of their conduct! Frequently do we in some degree share the trials of 5, 6 the apostle; and while we may be surrounded with fightings without, are exercised with fears within ; but we have a God who assumeth it to himself as one of his titles, that he comforteth those that are cast down and brought low. May every sincere lover of Christ and of souls be filled with consolation from him, and amidst all his tribulations, 4 whatever they are, be made to rejoice exceedingly in the joy of his christian friends and converts May he trace 10 in them the marks of that true repentance which is never to be repented of, and which is represented in such genuine language as no heart could have dictated but one that had felt what is here described. And since there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not, and consequently none who needeth not repentance, II may we all know by experience that diligence, that indignation, that fear, that zeal, that desire, that revenge, which 9 the apostle saw in his Corinthian brethrén, and which he rejoiced so much to see . . There is not a surer office of friendship than to endeavour to promote this godly sorrow. And, oh how blessed, how divine, a principle is reli- gion, whose most painful operation is productive of so much inward and substantial happiness! whereas the sorrow 10 of this world, to which they who fondly love the world, and eagerly pursue it, are most exposed, is attended with such fatal consequences, as even to work death. - Let us observe with pleasure the address of St. Paul to make the Corinthians what they ought to be, by repre- 14, 16 senting to them that pleasing confidence he reposed in them, the manner in which he had even boasted of them, and the satisfaction he found in all their first tendencies towards a reformation of remaining defects. And let us 13 earnestly pray for the spirit of wisdom, that our hearts may be happily attempered to such due mixtures of faithful inspection, resolute sincerity, and endearing tenderness with respect to all who are committed to our care, whe- ther in offices of a public or private nature, as may most effectually promote their advancement in the divine life, and our own abundantjoy. Ver. 3 SECTION XIII, The aposile enters on time subject of the contribution lie was setting forward for the relief of the poor christians of Judea, regommends to the Corinthians the example of the Macedonians, reminis them of the great grace of our blessed Redeemer, and gives some advice as to the man- ner of collecting and transmitting their bounty. 2 Cor. viii. 1–15. 2 CoE INTHIAN's viii. 1. 2 Cor. viii. 1 SECT. N'OW we think it proper, brethren, to inform you of the happy and honourable effects of §º 13. that abundant communication of the grace of God,” which has been mercifully bestowed º.º.º. apon the churches planted here in Macedonia, at Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, and other es of Macedonia; 2 coh places in this province: which has engaged them to exert themselyes in a most liberal and VIII., generous contribution for the relief of the poor saints in Judea. And here it would be a 2 How that in a great trial pleasure to me more particularly to tell you, how in a great and extraordinary trial of afflic- cellent and extraordinary in their kind are in Hebrew often said to be things aſ God, or diving ; as trees of Gºd are great and flourishing trees; cities of God, great cities; (compare Psal. lxxx. 10. Acts vii. 20.) some d Kea, [what] revenge.] Mr. Gataker, has yery well observed here, that Calvin and Reynolds, and some other divines of note, have been misled, by taking it for granted that these verses contain seven distinct marks of true repentance, to be found in every singere penitent; where- as indeed these áre not characters of the temper of each, but of different ersons in different circumstances, according to the part they respective- y acted in the affair in question. * e Receiped the injury.] Hence some infer, and it seems reasonable, that the father of º person was still living, which must be a great aggravation of his CT, Ine: * - - §§. in you..] The address of all this part of the Epistle is wonderful. This in particular finely introduces, what he had to say in the foſlowing %. ter, and is strongly illustrated by chap. ix. 2-4. a Grace of God..] As xapus sometimes signifies a gift, and things ex- have explained Xapture Oca, as if it signified the great or liberal gift which has been given in or by the Macedonian churches; and iXr. Whitby very sufficiently proves that xapag sometimes is put for gift. But considering, what is the general sense of the word in St. Paul’s writings, and what his sentiments evidently are as to the doctrine of divine influences on the heart, I. chose to jiàº. the plainest and most obvious and common interpretation, which indeed ſ generally think the best, and take this yerse to be in sense much equivalent to that pious acknowledgment of David, J. Chron. xxix. 14. Who are ope, that ge should be able to offer so wrillingly 3 &c. ON THE CONTRIBUTION FOR THE POOR CHRISTIANS OF JUDEA. 629 aſ hºlictiºn the abundance tion, which they met with from their persecuting enemies, who were always so ready to secT. § {..."..."; harass and plunder them, (compare Acts xvi. and xvii.) their overflowing joy for receiving 13. riches of their liberality. the christian religion, and with it, if I may so s eak, the depth of their poverty amidst ------sº these distresses of their own, hath so abounded and furnished such supplies to the riches of 2 CoR. their liberality, that, indigent as they are, they have done wonders for the relief of their yet Yº". 3 For to their power, I bear poorer brethren. So that I can testify for them, and I do attest it with pleasure, that to 3 ...}}}.} º:#;"; the utmost extent of [their] power, yea, and beyond what could have been expected, or, on themselves; the usual principles of computation, judged to have been in [their] power,” [they have been] willing of themselves, without my solicitation, to do the most generous things for the public 4. Praying us with much service: At the same time entreating us with much importunity, that we would receive the 4 º, i º gift which their bounty had prepared, and ſtake] a part of the ministration of the saints, as tº the fºllowship of the mi- one of their commissioners to convey it to Jerusalem. And [this they did.] not merely as 5 nº; not as we expected and hoped, but even beyond all we could have imagined; for they first glºve ..º.º. ºf themselves and all they had entirely, to the honour and service of the Lord; and having unto us by the will of God.” thus surrendered all they were, and all they possessed, to Christ and his cause, they in effect resigned themselves to us by the will of God, putting themselves in this respect under - my direction, to do what I should in conscience think most advisable in present circum- 6. Insomuch that we desir- stances. Insomuch that, unable to withstand their pres3ing solicitation, we desired Titus, .*.*.*.*.*.*... that as he had begun to do in other places, so he would also complete this instance of grace --- in on the same grâce also." and liberality among you,” and finish what yet remains to be done as to collecting the in- tended contribution. g - * g. 7 Therefore, as ye abound Therefore, my brethren, as ye abound in every other gift.] (1 Cor, i. 4–7, xii. 8–10.) 7 #º.º.º. and particularly [in]ffith, which rises to the fullest persuasion of the truth of the gospel, ãºf'." aſ ājīgeñº.” and in all utheranze and ability to instruct others, and in the clearest knowledge of divine §º. *things, and [in] all active diligence, and [in] your affectionate love to us; so [we exhort] and entreat [you, that ye would take this opportunity of showing that ye abound also in this 8 º not by command grace of christian liberality. And here you will observe that H Speak not by way of com. Hºjº mand, so as to take upon me to determine how much or in what proportion, ye shall give; pºſs the sincerity of your but that I may prove by what I have just been saying of the diligence of others, that is, the ove. Macedonians, the genuine sincerity of your love in its most substantial effects. 9 For ye know the grace of And I may well expect that you should exert yourselves on such an occasion, in conse- 9 §§§."º º quence of your acquaintance with the great and most fundamental principles of the gos- your sakes he became poor, pel, in which you have been so faithfully instructed. For !º know in some measure, º" " * though it is impossible for you fully to know and distinctly to conceive in its utmost extent, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich in the glories of the , heavenly world, and in supreme dominion and authority there, jet for your sakes he became poor, that you, through this his voluntary poverty, might not only be discharged from that dreadful debt you had contracted to the divine justice, by which you were become ob- noxious to everlasting ruin and condemnation; but that you might also become rich in the favour of God, and in the graces of the Holy Spirit now, and at length for ever rich in the a.º.º.º.º.º. treasures and glories of the heavenly world. And as I cannot but desire that the servants of 10 º, º fºliº so excellent a Master may herein imitate his example, and take the most effectual methods §§§ º,” to advance his honour and interest in the world, I give [my] a vice to you in general to despatch this affair vigorously; for this is evidently capédiºit for you, and consistent with what you have already in a manner bound yourselves to, as jou have begun not only to do }lºy pºeº, perfºrm something, but also io exert yourselvesd resolutely and determinately a year ago. now 11 the doing of it; that as there 1. ...- + ºr - 4 - 1. *~~~ * gº . •º. - ".. ... ºf..... . . is "ºffiness". Wiś therefore entreat you not to be offended if I urge you to complete jour underiaking, that ºf ſº th *ºn; according to the readiness which you expressed to determine and resolve upon this good have. . ” scheme, there may also be the accomplishment of that determination in proportion to what you wiłº, º, 'ºei have. The smallest contribution from such a principle will be pleasing to God, and most 12 scºring tº that a manº, assuredly draw its reward after it; for if there be first a readiness of mind according to what ºccordins to that he a man häth, [he is] ſtºcepted of God, [and] not according to chaf he hath mot: a little in proportion to his abilities is pleasing to God; yea, more pleasing than it would be if this i.º. *"...º. proportion were less prudently observed. [I say this.) not by any means that [there should i3 gº be ease and * be] a rest to others &nd affliction to you, that they should be eased and you overburdened ; nº 㺠Bitt that of an equality, on i. and equitable principles, your abundance [may be, at this 14 oyed, as [ºf Supply] to their wint; that at some other time, if 6 8 discº mily ºn supply for time, wisely and happily emp º: º, Prºvidence give the occasion and opportunity, their abundance also may be [so] to your want;e tº that there that there may be such an equality in the distribution of the good things of this life, as our "ºign. He that mutual relation to each other may require. For the bountiful providence of God hath fur- §§º ſº; nished them out in such ºn abundance, and given to some of you such a superfluity, that §ºrºiºdioiºk" there is room for a liberal distribution, without injuring the original possessor; and if such a distribution be made, we shall find that, as it is written, concerning the manna, (Exod. XYi, 18.) He that [had] much did not gbount when all camé to be divided, and he thai [had] little did not lack iſ so he that has the greatest abundance of this world, may find necessi tous objects enqugh, and he that is most destitute, will be competently supplied, if his richer brethren do their duty in this respect. - IMPROVEWIENT'. . How peculiarly amiable does the christian liberality of these Macedonians appear, when considered as abound- Ver, 1 ing in a great trial of affliction, and in the depth of their poverty; yet a poverty mingled with an abundance of joy, 2 on account of that rich and happy state into which the gospel had brought then, and the first fruits of that glori- I 5 ...b To their power, yea, and beyond thqt.] This is a noble hyperbole, Corinthians were rich and prosperous, the Jews poor and oppressed; like that of emosthemes, “I have performed all, even with an indus so that there was no room ºth. tº . pº." But it try beyond my power.” w * ºight be replied, “All human affairs are uncertain ; §h itself, c Complete this grace among gou.] I doubt not that X-19ty here signi- ºpin great prosperity, had been utterly undone in the Roman"war by fies giſt, or present, or liberality.; but I thought that retaining the word Memmius some time before; or particular persons might be distressed, grace here might make the English reader more sensible of the ambiguity ºf the whole body of christians, there reduced by persecutions, though and emphasis of the word usually rendered grace. thgir.city continued to fiourish.” d To crert yourselves.] It is evident that to 08Xety is an advance upon f He that had mugh, &c.] Perhaps notling could more illustrate the - s: e. - * -- ~ * * owerful agency of the divine Provid fo f 'hiel, seeru naust Totmaat. So that it must signify a resolute and vigorous determination. Tº - * : * * e Providence, In, events wireſ, seem mu: Compare 1 Cor. xvi. 2 guily --> *. Fºfº (ttuo contingent, than this; that though such different quantities of manunu - - *- e were gathcred by different € TSODS, y Ú average there should be e That their abundance, &c.] It might seem obvious to object, that the ºn;. p , yet On an av Crag . 630 SECT, 13. 2 cop. VIII. i 92 I 5 SECT . 14. 2 C() {R. Y] [I, I? IS 9 1. 20 2 1 2 2 23 24 PAUL's Joy FOR THE READINESS OF TITUS IN Assist ING HIM. ous inheritance to which they were entitled by the tenor of it. They were willing of themselves to contribute even beyond their power, as persons of common generosity would have estimated it. Nor did they on their dying beds reſent such a use of their property, or wish that it had been spent in gratifying their appetites, or hoarded for those they were to leave behind them. Nor do they now regret these liberalities, nor complain that their expected harvest is perished. . . * Let us remember their example for imitation; nor let any who have a mite to spare, be wholly deficient, how low soever their circumstances may be ; remembering that gracious complacency with which, where there is a willing mind, the smallest tribute to the treasury of God is accepted according to what a man hath, and not ac- cording to what he hath not. To animate us to the most generous efforts of overflowing benevolence, may we ever bear in Qur mind that grace of our Lord Jesus Christ of which we all know something, but which it is im: possible we should ever fully know, because it passeth knowledge: that grace which engaged him, when rich, for our sakes to become poor, that we might be enriched by his poverty. What have we that deserves to be calléd a possession, which we do not hold by an act of divine bounty and grace? Let us consider ourselves as under indispensable engagements, in consequence of it, to consecrate our all to him, conscious that our all is but a low return for the infinite obligations under which he has laid us. He hath con- trived and determined, that the poor in some form or another we should have with us always, that we may do them good, as a token of our gratitude to him. I let us faithfully aim to supply their need, and he who hath most will have no superfluity to throw away upon the lusts or vanities of life; and he who hath least will have no un- supplied lack: but the poor will rejoice in the relief of their necessities; and the rich, in the happiest and most delightful use of their abundance, SECTION XIV. The aposí ſe expresses his joy ſer the readiness of Titus to assist in finishing the collection; and speaks of the lºble character of other christian brethren, whom he had joined with him in the same commission. 2 Cor. viii. 16, to the end. 2 CorixTHIANS viii. 16. 2 CoR. viii. 16. BUT while I speak of this collection, which I am desirous of promoting, [I] would [re- #Tº.º.º. turn] my humble thanks to God, who gave that same diligent care for you in the heart of ...}}}.}. Titus, and formed him to these generous and christian sentiments. For indeed he not a 17 Fºr indeed he accººted i --~. I' * * • 8 º' * e ... the exhortation ; but being Chly cheerfully accepted and complied with the echortation I gave him; but being more ºr ſº."of"his"&# forward than I thought to have found him, he went to you freely of his own accord, though accord he went unto you. he must see that some pressing and peculiar difficulties would attend the undertaking. ..?nd we have also sent together with him that excellent christian brother” and friend, hiº * * * e $ l r &- Luke, whose praise in the gospel [is] in all the churches, on account of the various and ..."...";"; eminent services that he has done for the interests of christianity, wherever his influence all the churches; has extended, both by his writing and exhortations. And not only is he sob much esteemed ... ºdºº ºl, hº ſº - ſº * who was also chosen of the on these accounts, but he was also ordained and appointed by the stretching forth of the ºrchs tº tº with". º * :* * • • * _ with this grace, which is ad- hand, in token of the common consent of the chirches, whom we consulted on this occa-jºº.º.º. #% sion, particularly in Macedonia, to be our fellow-traveller with this grace which is now ad- º,”; Lºlº anº. ministered and undertaken by us, purely for the glory of the same Lord, and for ſº decla. §º w sour renº ration of] your ready mind, in which I was desirous to let you know how heartily I COD Cllr, - * * * in r & ... : onf 20 Avoiding this, that no And we now send him to you, and I have determined to }% a man of his excellent man should blame us in this character with me; carefully avoiding this, that any one should blame or throw any reflec- ºuhi.e. which is adminis: tion upon us, for the part we may take in the management of this abundance of your bounty, * * * which is administered by us; lest any should be so unjust and cruel as to insinuate that I have appropriated any part of it to my own use, or to any purpose whatsoever different from that for which it was originally given: Therein providing º decent, honest, and º.º.º.º. ºf honourable, not only before the Lord, to whom it is our first and chief care to approve our- º; ...'...'..."iſº"; selves, but also before men; that we may guard as much as possible against any suspicion * * * of our character, which might hinder our usefulness, .4nd we have sent with them, that is, dº ſº. rº- e * 3 - - - with Luke and Titus, our other friend, and well-beloved brother, Apollos, whom we have º; . often proved in many other affairs to be in a very extraordinary degree diligent; but who jº jºi. will tou, I doubt not, approve himself much more diligent, and exert himself to the utmost great confidence which ſhare - - . .” g *. g + T \" O ºl. in carrying on this collèction, on account of the great confidence [I have] in ſoil, as to your "' goodnéss and liberality; on which consideration he has changed his resolution against making you a visit; which, while he had any apprehension you might make him an oc- casion of quarrelling and contending, he would by no means be persuaded to do. - * & .And [if there be any question] concerning Titus, ſhe is] my partner and my fellow-labourer ºrg".º.º. * s of Titus, he is my partner with respect to you; one who sincerely shares my care for you, and is always ready to act ha'ºllºw jeljeºngºing in concért with me, in any attempt to correct what is amiss among you, and tº promote ; º, *::: your improvement in reaſ christianity. Or if the question be [concerning] any other of our ºrches, and the irothren whom I have mentioned above, [they are] the messengers of the churches," whom * * * several christian societies have chosen to send about this business; and they are persons of so valuable a character, [and] do so great a credit to their profession, that I may not im; * * properly call them the glory of Christ in the world. Show therefore to them, I, entre; d.º.º.d.º.º. tº º & - w ..;il them,and before the churches you, even in the sight of all the churches, to which they are related, and to whom they will #"...fººl. undoubtedly make their report concerning you, the demonstration of your love, and the a That brother, &c.] Some suppose this anonymous though excellent thesis, and the contipºd sense of verses 18 and 20 will be, we have sent person to have been Mlark, or Silas, or Barnabas; but I rather, with that lººther—to avoid bºn; &c. I hink of nothi imost commentators, suppose it to have been Luke, wh9, certainly at- c The messengers of the chairches.) .. t \inft,9 #º º uprºa- i.ej Št."faul in this journey to Jørusalem. Some object, that the sonable than to translate this word; º !CŞ; º ºp .." apostles brother here spoken of was sent by St. Paul, to Corinth, in company is now by long use, appropriated #. W º us % º,” of the sºjº, with Titus; whereas Luke went with St., Paul, to, Troas, and from tion of the original. As an apostle of 4.i. jtº' One º % by the ice to Čorinth. (Acts xx. 4, 6.) But Dr. Whitby replies, I think him, so gº apostlº gº gº! church jºi. & sº ºpe sº .ſoºth by § some considerable weight, that it is pºssible St. Paul might gº that society...And if I believed t t; the Te . SO º y vì } º time a from Philippi to Corinth, and from thence to Troas, and so persons sent minister in every church, superior to a common º Or, V §: t §§§ isofore to prepare his way might come and brin; word to St. Paul, that able advocates for diocesan Pº. § I) O d". O º ». tº Cojieštion was ready, and go back with him, to receive it. See cºuld not intºine it consistent º Å; º .." ºn: §, heir Whitby, on chap. ii. 13. Many ancient christians thought that expres- office, that they should be P; !. bºr º i. º W }: I.". sion, whose praise in the gºi is in all the churches, refers to the uni- common deacon, might with . Cleſ, §P.º th § §: flºº. t is vºi applause with which St. Luke's iº. was every where received ; indeed true that St. Paul w i: arge 1 on this io UIS Pt º Aj . ãºi'ſ have paraphrased it so as to include that, though I think the apos- to have been after, he had de º Journey to Jerusalem, an jºining more extensive. See Gurdon, 4t Bºyle's Leſt., P. 482. not to have been the occasion o J Y. i, 3...?nij" This nineteenth verse is to be included in a paren- PAUL FURTHER URGES THEM To A LIBERAL CONTRIBUTION. 631 – of ºur boasting on your be-reasonableness of our boasting over you; that it may appear to be as well founded as I SECT. half. assuredly believe that it is. - I-4. IMPROVEMENT, 2 COR. THE tenderness of ministers in all points where the comfort and edification of the church is concerned, is indeed . " matter of the highest moment; and where it is remarkable in its degree, it affords just cause of thanksgivings to 16 God: for it is he who puts into their hearts that earnest care, who excites and maintains every sentiment of bene- volence, when they offer themselves willingly to any generous and charitable service. It is grace that has com- 17 municated whatever good is doſe; and it ought to be ascribed to the glory of the same Lord from whom it comes; and it loses much of its value, if it be not directed to this ultimate, this supreme end. - When the Corinthians desired to deposit their alms in the hands of St. Paul, they certainly acted a very wise art; as no man living could have rendered them more secure as to the fidelity or the discretion of the distribution. Yet we see, that high as the apostle's character stood, and though he had so often given, and was daily renewing, 20 such striking demonstrations both of his wisdom and integrity; yet he would not undertake the trust, alone, but used all proper methods to approve his exactness in the management thereof, even to strangers; providing things 21 honest and laudable, not only in the sight of God, but of all men. May ministers be often thus employed, as the almoners of persons richer than themselves; (as their readiness to help the poor in their temporal affairs may #. romote their usefulness in spirituals :) and may they be found to manage their trust with the like conscious and delicate honour. May they show a disposition, like that of St. Paul, to assist in establishing and advancing the characters of their younger brethren, and introducing them into 23 esteem and confidence. Thus will they indeed most effectually strengthen their own hands, and edify and comfort the churches; will prove the glory of Christ themselves in the present age, and be the means of raising up others who may eminently deserve that illustrious title, in succeeding generations. SECTION XV. The apostle goes on, with admirable address, further to urge their, liberal contribution; and in the full expectation of it, affectionately recommends them to the divine blessing. 2 Cor. ix. 1, throughout. - < 2 Cor. ix. I. 2 CoRINTHIANs ix. I. FOR as touching the minis-V'OW concerning the ministration intended to relieve the necessities of the saints or be-SECT. #.º.º. lieving brethren in Judea, it is superfluous that I should write largely to you, in order to 15. - persuade you to the thing itself; it is sufficient that I give you a transient hint concerning — 2 Fog I know the forward- the time and manner of doing what is necessary or proper on this occasion. For I have 2 coR. *ś"#"..."; known in former instances, and have now again learnt from Titus, your extraordinary , ſº Mºhº readiness on this head , which I indeed boast concerning you to the Macedonians, that all j’ º' tº º the region of .4chaia, and particularly your church in its capital city, has been prepared a many. year ago; and your zeal in this respect hath quickened many others to imitate your example, 3. Yet have I sent the bre- and do more generously than perhaps they might otherwise have done. JVevertheless, I 3 jº have sent unto you the brethren P mentioned before ; lest our boasting of you on this head, lººp as I said, ye may that, as I said, ye were prepared before, having made up your sum, should, by any accident C ready : which might have prevented your accomplishing the whole of your design, in any degree Mºi."º" wº be made vain, and appear ill-grounded : }. if any of the iſ...; happen to come 4 ... .".u°.e.,".. with me, and after all find you unprepared, the money which has been subscribed not being º! actually collected, we may be ashamed, not to say you also, in this confident boasting we have fident boasting. used concerning you, and which may recoil in a very unhappy manner, if it be not an- 5 Therefore thought, it swered. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren I have mentioned, that 5 ſº º bº, they should come to you some time before my arrival, and should first complete your bounty º, *...*. which had been spoken of before” so largely to them; that so, on the wholē, it may be Wheº, entirely ready, and may appear, as what I doubt not but it is, the effect of free and cheer- ..","...º.º.; ful bounty, aid not look like a sort of extortion, wrung from you by mere dint of impor- nº; §ºwhich tunity. ...And as to this, it is an important maxim, which I could wish that christians 6 sº, jiàº's in j. might always keep in mind, That he who soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and §§§ he who soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully: God will bestow rewards propor- also bountifully. tionable to what is given, and to the temper from which it proceeds. With this hint, I leave it to every one to judge for himself what he shall give, and how Inuch seed he shall throw into this grateful and fruitful soil. lº, º,"; Whatever it be, more or less, let it be given with a good will and a good grace; every 7 § ºf ºilº grº man as he chooseth in his own heart, not as proceeding from grief or necessity, as if he were iv.; a'; is: * Sorry to part with his money, and were laid under a kind of constraint to do it; for God loveth a cheerful giver; and nothing that is contributed can possibly be acceptable to him without that truly liberal disposition. ai A. ...* •And lest you should fear that your charity should bring you into wants and straits, I 8 *...*.*.*.*.*.ii entreat you to consider, that God [is] able to make all grace and bounty of every kind to º §§ abound towards #. so that all your liberality shall accrue to your advantage, and you - shall be supplied with abundant matter for future charity; that having always all sufficiency in all things, ye may, go on with new enlargement and vigour of generous resolution, tº aſſ § i; Yºº #. gbourg to every good work, without finding your circumstances straitened. As it is writ- ºu."; tº º ten of the º liberal and charitable man, (Psal. cxii. 9.) He hath dispersed, he hath given eousness remaineth for ever to the poor, and in consequence of this, his righteousness endureth for ever : he shall aſways have something to bestow. 10 Now he that ministereth We observe in the cours * * --~~~ ~~~~ te seed to the sower, both min- rse of Divine Providence, that God blesseth the increase of the 10 º: poºl. earth so largely, as to suffice for the plentiful nourishment of men, with a remainder of t * O J. C. SOWI), sº *g * multiply your seed sown, seed sufficient to furnish the harvests of future years. And na he, who thus supplieth seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply your sowing, and largely increase 9 a Your bounty which had been spoken of before.] We render Tpokarmy- b fill grace to abound, &c.] £Augvny, whereof ye had notice before. But I suppose it refers to St. Bºi. supplics as should furnish out matter of future liberalities: aúl's having spoken of it to the Macedonian christians, ver. 2.--I think but the more extensive sense I have given it, prevent hºt appearance TAgovešta here signifies a kind of extortion, by which money is, as it of a tautology in the following clause, which might ºn ‘ºtºjº were, wrung from covetousness, by such obstimacy as covetous people terpretation be apprehended. * themselves use where their own gain is concerned; and thus it is op- C He ſoluo, supplieth-bread for food, supply and multiply, &c.] This É. to evXoyca, what is readily given, and comes, as it were, with a translation is exactly literal, and give; anºi..." eſs ºf Sir English lessing. version. There should be a comma, as Beza justly observes, after gig Some by Xapts understand such liberal, 6:32 PAUL FURTHER UP. GES Tii EM TO A LIBERAL CONTRIBUTION. SECT. the productions of your righteousness : may he so prosper you in all your affairs, that yOU and increase the fruits of your 15. may have future capacity to exercise that liberal disposition which at present appears in righteousness;) this contribution. And I heartily wish and pray that you may go on in this laudable and ... II. Being spriched in every 2 gon, exemplary course, being in everything enriched to all future bounty, to be distributed in §, ºi, * - the simplicity of your heart with incrl + C) {- I J 5 Which causeth through us - - - - - we * ** -s; ~ **** y - i. * : *. OI WOUI n KSg IV Ing to Goºl. II b ti p º h y i S, WI ising e eye o the glory of God and the good of your thank to God rethren; which, in the instance wherein it has already prevailed, worketh by our means 9. thanksgivings towards God, both in us who are your almoners to distribute it, and in those 12 lºgº º who receive it. For the ministration and management of this service, J2 For the administration r ºrs *** * > || 7- ** A -1- - - - - • *. --- - - r; & W. I [. * wnien we #. undertaken, and in which we do, as it were, officiate for you in the pre-jºº...?'...'. - - gºv * - * * * f - & a tº sº * -- ~ : S&H ! I) LS Sentation O this accºptable offering, dotſ, not only supply the necessities of the saints, but §§§º. gboundeth, through the thanksgivings ºf many which it occasions, to the glory of God: thanksgivings unto God; *q a 7, a P. …~~...~ * * *- : *-*. º - & & - 13 º º Idº who by the experience ºf this ministration, this generous tºº. CI)"e ..º. by the experi- Orlfiſhing God on accottº of thał &;4';;zºfia;; 15 ihe gros 1, … a+ 2 ...}, ... * * * * * > * ment of this ministration they ; . #. * g. . 2 # º of that subjection tº tº: gospel of Christ which you profess,” and jº"Gºś I h mpticity an liberality of your coin ºngºication towards them, and towards. all others §º the º * - - - - * ,- * * * * * * * * * * ... -- , * tº * * * .*.*.*.*.*.*, *. Oltr Il Der; 4 i O . . º and whom you have an opportunity of relieving. And while they º itãº". lūS O'I Orl O (1 OI). WOUI" count. they are constant and ferv ºn ſhoºr ºn >~~ unto all men ; , , g y your account, they are constant and fervent in their prayers for ſpu, "ºff"; their prayer for ..? who long after jou, and wish earnesty to see and know you, on account of the exceeding ºf grace of God thich is in you, and which produces fruits so highly ornamental to chris- ºceedins since of God tlanity. *— When I think of these things, I desire sincerely to bless God on your account, for all nº.º.º. God ºr the grace he hath given you, and for all the useſultiess with which he is pleased to honour his unspeakable gift. you. But I would trace up all to what is indeed the fountain of all his other mercies to us, his having bestowed upon us his dear and only-begotten Son. Thanks, daily and eyerlasting thanks, [be] ascribed to our Father and our God, for that his unulierable gifts of the excellence, importance, and grace of which, neither men nor angels can worthily speak or conceive. & I 5 {M[PROVEMENT. Ver.15. HAPPY shall we be if we learn this pious and evangelical turn of thought; if by all the other gifts of God we are thus led up to the first and greatest gift of his love and mercy. From that surely we may encourage our hopes of whatever else is necessary and desirable; for he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how is it possible that he should not be ready, with him, freely to give us all things that are truly good for us! 5 2 . Let us observe with pleasure the happy address of the apostle; a felicity not the result of craft, but of that ami- able temper that was so natural to him. He pleads the high opinion he had entertained of his Corinthian friends 5 the honourable things he had said of them; expressing his persuasion of their readiness to give as matter of bounty, not of constraint. ... He leads them to the inexhaustible store of the divine liberality, from which they had received their present all, from which he wishes they may receive more and more; and this not that these supplies might 7, 8 be ignobly consimed in self-gratifications, but employed in acts of the noblest beneficence. He represents to them 9–12 the thanksgivings it had already occasioned to God, the refreshment it administered to the saints, the honour it did 13 to their character and profession, and the esteem and friendship for them which it excited in the minds of those who, though unacquainted with them, were well affected towards their happiness, in consequence of this honour- able specimen of their character. Who could withstand the force of such oratory? No doubt it was effectual to cultivate the temper it applauded, and to add a rich abundance to the fruits of their righteousness. Let us apply the thoughts suggested for our own instruction, to excite us to abound in acts of liberality, and to 7 present them to God with that cheerfulness which he loves. To him let us continually look to make all grace 8 abound unto us; and seek a sufficiency in all things relating to the present life, chiefly that we may be ready to 9 every good work; that our liberality may still endure, and that the multiplication of our seed sown may increase 10 the fruits of our righteousness. To God be the praise of all ascribed He ministers, seed to the sºyer; he sup- lies bread for food; he calls up the blessings of harvest; he insures the advantages of commerce. May we praise II him ourselves; and by the ready communication of the good things which he hath given us to those that want, not only supply their necessities, but give them cause to abound in thanksgiving to God as well as in prayer for us, while they see and acknowledge that exceeding grace which is the spring of every generous motion in the human heart, and to which therefore be the glory of all. * SECTION XVI. some reflections having been thrown on the apostle for the mildness of his goaquet, as if it prºceeged from ſeaſ, he here proceeds to assert his apostolical power and authority; cautioning his opponents, that they should not urge him to give too sensible demonstrations of it upon thern- selves. 2 Cor. x. I, throughout. { + » 2 Cortin THIANS X. 1. 2 Cor. X. 1. sect. I HAVE just now been expressing my confidence and joy in your church in general, as Nºw I ºnlºº 13. well as my affection to it; but I am sensible there are some among you to whom I cannot #ºf §ºhº;; speak in such a manner; and with regard to such, I Paul myselſ, the very man whom they presence” 2 cor. have so often spoken of with contempt and defiance, injured as I am, do yet condescend * , to entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, our condescending and com- passionate Saviour, that meekness and gentleness which I have learned from his example, and desire to exercise towards the most unreasonable of my enemies; even I, who, [an] according to your representation, and with respect to my person, when present, humble ſpºrts, agreeably to the rendering of the Syriac and Arabic. See Beza, Irox\ov, and then the sent ºnce might be rendered, this ministration—pro- in loc. and Wolf. who refers to Isa. lv. 10. diºces an abundance of thanksgiving to, God, from many ph9 glorify ſimiſor d This service.j This use of the word Act 7-8pxta intimates, that it was your subjection to the gospel, &c.—and in their prayer, that is, W hile they to be considered, not merely as an act of humanity, but of religion, most fire Praying ſºlº", £ºriestly desire to see you, &c. . But, the paraphrase j."...º.º.d'ditäbie to the nature of the gospel dispensation, hºa; in sºlº pages, hath ºbliged me tº bººk the sººnºº. Conspare Heb. xiii. 16. - * which I the more readily did, as amidst this perplexity of grammar the .."ºhit'sſijectiºn tº the gospel of Christ which you profess.], Eri, rn dºsiº of the sentenge ñº; plain. - - - - sº - . * nutterable giſt. we understand this with Dr. Whitby in the vira Taym 7m; opoxoyt as "ſtov cts. To evayyeXtov, expresses not merely a fift ºft.* alore God for this charitable, temper in you and professed silhjection to the gospel, but a réal subjection to the gºspel which - * istians, by which God is glorified, the gospel adorned, ºfesseå, which sense I thought it necessary to preserve by a change *::::::::::::::::"º. and you fitted for an ºff. great re- in the version. s * & g Variº it will be as remarkable a text as most in the Bible, to show that ‘inā in their prayers, &c.] The construction of the original, is some º good affection in the human heaſt is tº be ºbed tºº.º.º.º. thing perplexed here; and indeed I hardly know * text in, the Gregk #.i.e. "I have therefore included this in the pagaphrase; but am gady *Fººt which is more so. But on the whole, I am ready tº prefer tººk the apostiè's mind, tº which the idea of the ºahº gift of the reading of 60%a;ovrov, instead of 39;a;ovreć, (which Chrysostom Čij"... sº familiar, rather by a strong and natural transition, followed,) and suppose both 608 a ſovrºv an ertºrvégyrºv to agree with glancod on that PAUL ASSERTS HIS APOSTOLICAL POWER AND AUTHORITY. 633 but heinº absent am bold to- among you," and despised for the meanness of my appearance, but, being absent, am bold SECT. ward you. - s §"º"; beseech you, that towards you, and usé so much freedom and authority in my letters; However I may be 16. *... º.º. reflected upon and even insulted on this, account; I heseech you, I say, as you love your- flºº...ºf selves, and tender your own comfort and happiness, that I may not, when I am next #. 2 COR, § ºftº: sent, be obliged by your continued irregularity to be bold, with that conſidence on 10 ich 2 X. according to the flesh. truly I think to presume with respect to some who account of us as persons walking in the flesh, and affect at least to talk, though they have so little excuse for doing it, as if we go- O I, Oi Vºl I in: verned ourselves by low and mercenary views. For we are conscious to ourselves, that 3 . though we do indeed walk in the flesh, though we inhabit mortal bodies, and are obliged in some respects to stoop to the care of them, and to do many things for their subsistence, which take up the time we could much more agreeably spend another way; yet, God - knows, we do not manage that important war in which we are engaged, according to the wº #: Yº...ºf §§ flesh, by carnal methods, or with worldly and interested views.b. This you may easily 4 jº jºu." (š"; i. perceive by the manner in which we are armed; for the weapons of our waſure jº, down of strong É. not carnal: as we depend not on military force, so neither on beauty, sta- jº ture, eloquence, or philosophy, or, in a word, on any thing which might, recommend us to human regard; but though destitute of these, we are furnished with others much more valuable, by that divine power, which would never exert itself for the secular advantage of persons professing, as we do, to despise the world, and seek for something so much above it, if we were not sincere in our profession, and authorized by him to maintain it. Yes, my brethren, God hath armed us for our warfare, by the miraculous powers of his Holy Spirit; and they are mighty through God to the demolishing ſortifications, prejudices and difficulties, that like so many impregnable castles lie in our way, and yet are battered .5 Casting down imagina- down and laid in ruins by these our spiritual weapons. And thus we go on in our con- 5 §º.º.º.º.º.; quest; for we are continually casting down the fillacious and sophistical reasonings by §e knowledge of God, and which vain men are endeavouring to expose our doctrine to contempt, and every high thing *:::::::: §º.;;...} which exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, all the proud imaginations which men Xhrist; ave entertained ºf themselves with regard to their natural or moral excellences, in conse- quence of which they neglect the gospel, and are indeed ready to live without God in the world. And thus we are enabled to bring every thought, every proud, haughty notion which men have entertained, into an humble and willing captivity” to the obedience of 6 And having in a readiness Christ, the great Captain of our salvation. And as God is pleased thus to cause us to 6 tº.". ...;ºj, triumph in Christ, with regard to the opposition made by the professed enemies of the illed. gospel, so let men regard us as persons having it in readiness, by miraculous powers and penalties inflicted by them, to avenge all disobedience, to chastise and punish the obstinacy of those who under a christian profession pretend to oppose us; now your obedience is }} - filled, and the sounder part of your church recovered to its due order and subjection. º sº ºf; This is indeed the case, and I beseech you to consider it as it is. Do you look at the ... ºf that outward appearance º things? Do you judge of a man by his person or address, or by any ºś º, one particular of his life? Surely you ought not to do it. If any man be confident in him- jºist, evºnsoº we self that he is Christ's, let him again bethink himself of this, which he will see evident rea- Christ’s. . son to acknowledge, if he candidly and seriously examine, that as he [is] Christ's, so we also [are] Christ's nor can any one produce more convincing proofs of Christ's calling him to the ministry, and approving his discharge of it, than myself. For if I should boast ãº".”..."... something yet more, abundantly more, than I have ever yet done, concerning our apostoli- º cal authority, which I am sensible the Lord hath given its for the edification of the church, should not be ashamed : and not for your destruction, or the injury of any particular person, I should not have any reason to be ashamed, having already used it in a manner agreeable to its design. . And this I say, that I may not seem as if I would by any means terrify you with my 9 epistles, threatening more than I can perform; on the contrary, I might pretend to much more than I hav done, and to execute, if need should require it, much greater severities in a way of miraculous punishment.d And the hint is necessary; for I know, there are some among you that would represent matters quite in a different light. [His] epistles, say they, ...} indeed weighty and strong, but [his] bodily presence [is] weak, and [his] speech despica 3 For though we walk the flesh, we the flesh : 7 8 8 For though 1 should boast somewhat more of our autho- ...9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. 10 For his letters, say º: 10 are weighty, and powerful ; but his bodily presence is weak,..,and his speech con- temptible. * * s" ſº i & Cº º ºs y {X 1":S d the di le; for which indeed they have some excuse, as to my person, and the dis- advantages attending my utterance. But let such an one, whoever he be, reckon upon this as a certain fact, that such as we are in word by our letters, when absent, such [shall we be also, when present, in action; our deeds will fully correspond to our words, and we sh do something to vindicate these pretences, if their speedy reformation do not prevent. | f tº b For we presume not to number or to compare ourselves with some who recommend them- Oth TSG | VeS O Čr, e * - ºr £3 * * * * * > . . . * ,” * A - : ...s.l...sº selves in very high terms; but they thus measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing tº ºf themselves with themselves, while they proudly overlook the greatly superior characters and }ll I. I.Iley &lSt g then)- º * & - . . * - * * * * §ve."ºy ºes."...a furniture of others, are not wise, nor do they indeed take the most effectual measures to ºśnons raise their own character; but, on the contrary, in consequence of this, fall into many ab- surdities of behaviour fróm which greater impartiality and modesty, and a better know- 11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when wa are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present. 12 For we dare not make themselves, are not wise. e Speech despical:e.] Chrysostom, Nicºphorus, and Lucian, or rather a Whcn present, any humble axiwong you..] Probably they had upbraided t - - 4. - - the author of the Philopatris, relate of St. Paul, that his stature was low, and reflected upon him in some such language as this ; but there was, a sense in which he was indeed lowly among them, his presence probably having nothing majestic. - Though toe walk in the flesh, &c.] Mr. Cradock crpiains this, some- thing differently, “Though we are not free from a mixture of human infirmities, yet I do not exercise my apostolical power in a weak manner, as either fearing or flattering men; but use, such spiritual Weapºns as christian fortitude, zeal, freedom in speaking the truths, of God, and courage in administering the censures of the church, which, through divine concurrence, are very effectual.” . • * - * c Every thought into captivity.] The soul, seeing its fortifications demolished, submits to the conqueror ; and then every thought, every reasoning, takes law from him. Nothing is admitted that gentradicts the Jospel; Christ being acknowledged as absolute Master. The former clause shows how ready men are to fortify themselves against it, and to raise, as it were, one barrier behind another, to obstruct his entrance into the soul. Compare Rom. xv. 18, 19. e d Miraculous punishment.] It is to be remembered it was before this time that the apostle had smitten Elymas with blindness; and it is highly probable from this text, and others of the like nature, that some other miracles of this awful kind had been wrought by him, though they are not recorded in sciegº his body crooked, and his head bald, which seem to be the jnfirmities here referred io. Some think he had also an impedianent in his speech ; but I do not recollect any ancient testimony to that ; though it is not improbable. Compare chap. xii. 7. and the note there. f : Heasuring themselves by themselves ; eveauro is tauTss perpsvres.) Dr. Whitby would render it, incasuring themselves by one another; as if they compared themselves with their false apostles, and grew proud on the degree in which they resembled then in acuteness and eloquence, or other things on which those deceitful teachers valued themselves. But it is more natural to think that the meaning is, “They looked con- tinually on themselves, surveying their own great imaginary furniture, but not considering the vastly superior abilities of many others; and so formed a disproportionate opinion of themselves.” . And this is every where one of the greatest sources of pride. Bos has taken great pains to prove, that to measure oneself by orieself, is a phrase which expresses inodesty, and making a right estimate of ourselves and others; and taking auvºº, not for a verb, but for the dative of a participle, would render it, we measure ourselves by ourselves, and compare ourselves with ourselves, not with the agise, that is, ironically, not with such wise men as, these: But though this sense be ingeniously defended by that great critic, the other seems most natural. 634 PAUL ASSERTS HIS APOSTOLICAL POWER AND AUTHORITY. SECT. ledge of men and things, would secure them. But we are always careful that we º 16. not of a distinguished zeal for the gospel carrying us beyond [our] bounds, but only accor wng to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us under the character of apostle 2 COR. of the Gentiles, a measure to come even unto you ; and accordingly we have regularly and X. gradually advanced towards you, taking intermediate places in our way. For we do not extend ourselves excessively, as not regularly coming to you ; like some who run abruptl from one church to another, leaving their work unfinished behind them, when they thin 14 they have discovered a place where they can meet with a more pleasant and agreeable re- i. ception. For, as I observed before, we are, by a regular progress, come even unto you in the gospel of Christ, having faithfully preached in the other places that lay in our way: 15. Vot like those whom I have had so much reason to complain of boasting unmeasureably, or in thiſigs beyond my proper measure, not intruding into churches planted by the labours of others, where we have no natural and proper call; but having an agreeable hope, [that when your faith is increased, as we trust it will abundantly be, even by the experience o what has lately happened, we shall, according to our rule, and the constant maxim we lay 13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath istributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. 14 For we stretch not our- selves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you : for we are come as far to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ : 15 Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but haying hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, 16 Arcadia and Lacedaemon, or whithersoever else Providence may lead us. 17 then pride themselves in sowing the ground which others have cleared. But after all, he 18 Christ that he owes all his ability for his work, and all his success in it. Wer. 1 down to ourselves, be magnified by you, so as to abound yet more, that is, shall by your countenance and assistance be enabled to keep on our courses beyond your country into For this is greatly in our hearts, if God shall smile upon our purposes, to preach the gospel in the re- gions beyond you; [and] not to boast in another man's provinceh or rule, in things made ready to our hand; as some who are very solicitous about their own ease affect to do, and 16 To preach the gospel in the régions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand. 17 But he that glorieth, let that boasteth, whether it be of planting or watering churches, let him boast not in himself; ***** but in the power and assistance of the Lord alone, let every minister remember it is to For mot he that commendeth himself with the greatest confidence, and in the most florid manner, is truly and justly approved; but he whom the Lord commendeth by the gifts of his Spirit, and by a blessing on his ministry. , Let those therefore who are so ready to applaud themselves and each other, think of this, and learn to be more solicitous than they are about approv- ing their fidelity to their great Master, whether they be more or less regarded by their fel- 18 For not be that com- mendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord com- mendeth. S- low-servants. - IMPROVEMENT. MAy the meekness and gentleness of Christ ever be remembered by all his servants, and especially by his ministers, to whom, both under their public and private characters, it will be of so great importance to imitate it. Their calling is indeed high and holy ; let their behaviour in it be so much the more humble. And let it be their 3 great care, that while they walk in the flesh they do not war after it. Still, though disarmed of that miraculous 4 power with which the apostles were endowed, are the weapons of their warfare mighty. They have the Scripture 5 7–11 12–16 magazine ever at hand, from whence they may be furnished with them; and may humbly hope that the Spirit of God will render them effectual to the pulling down strong holds, and abasing every proud imagination which ex- alteth itself against the obedience of God. May every thought of their own hearts be in the first place thus sub- dued, and brought into a sweet and willing captivity So shall these their captives, thus conquered, prove as so many faithful soldiers to fight for him, against whom they once were foolishly rebelling. And may they succeed in º holy war, till the empire of our divine Master become universal, and the happiness of mankind universal With it ! - To promote this, let us pray that ministers may always remember, that whatever authority they have given them, is for edification and not for destruction; and may learn from that moderation with which the apostle used his miraculous powers, in how gentle and candid a manner they should behave themselves in their far inferior stations, never making their pre-eminence in the church the instrument of their own resentment, or of any other sinful or selfish passion; but ever solicitous to subserve the interest of our great Lord in all, and desirous to keep up their own character and influence chiefly for his sake. May they in no instance boast beyond their proper measure; and while they are ready, like St. Paul, to meet 17 all the most laborious scenes of service, let them glory not in themselves, but in the Lord. This is a lesson we are all to learn. And whatever our stations in life are, let us resolutely and constantly guard against that self-flat- 18 tery by which we may be ready to commend ourselves, in instances in which we may be least approved by him whose favour alone is worthy of our ambition, and by whose judgment, in the day of final account, we must stand or fall. SECTION XVII. The apostle further vindicates himself from the perversg. insinuations of them that opposed him at Corinth ; particularly on the head of his having declined to receive a contribution from this church for his maintenance. 2 Cor. xi. 1–15. 2 CoRINTHIANS xi. 1. 2 CoE. xi. 1 sECT. I WOULD advise every man, as I have hinted, to be sparing in his own commendation, WQUIſ) to God, ye could bear with me a little in {{ f l 17, and to study above all to approve himself to Christ; and yet, in present circumstances, I ji: "...'...i.d", a "wſ: — `` wish you would bear with a little of [my] folly, }.}} would permit a little of that boast-me. 2 coR. ing which I know generally to be foolish; and indeed I must entreat you to bear with me XI. in what may look this way, considering the manner in which I am urged to it, and brought .2 For, I am 3.9%. 2 under an unwilling necessity. For I am jealous over you with what I trust. I may call a jº. In earlo - I sires. # - - husband, that I may present godly jealousy, and feel the warmest and most zealous desires, that I may present [you as ... "a" hastë"iſſ tº a chaste virgin to Christ;" for I have by successfully preaching the gospel to you, and Šiš. g In the regions beyond you..] It would certainly, have been a great in churches thus visited as if he were the founder ºf them, as his opposers pleasure to the apostle to have gone on to Arcadia, and Lacedaemon, º did, pouring contempt, on St. Paul’s labours, as if they were and to have proselyted those to the gospel who had been so long cele- hardly, to be called christian churches which he had left, as they pre- brated in the latter of these places for their valour and magnanjinity and in the former for their wit and poetry in those agreeable and Tura retreats. But we do not read any thing in the New Testament of plant- ing christian churches in these parts of the Peloponnesus. É JAnother man’s province, &c.] The apostle did indeed go to places already converted, to confirm and establish his brethren in the faith ; but this was chiefly where he had himself planted churches, though he might take some others in his way ; which it would have been affectation and disrespect, rather than modesty, to have avoided. But he did not boast tended, in so unformed and unfinished a state. . . a That I may present you, &c.] This is much illustrated by recollect- ing, that there was an officer among the Greeks, whose business it was to educate and form young women, especially those of rank and figure, designed for marriage, and then, to present them to those who were to be their husbands; and if this officer permitted there, through negligence, to be corrupted between the espousals and consummation of the marriage, great blame-would naturally fall upon lin. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent guiled Eve through his sub- tilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the sim- plicity that is in Christ. 4 For preacheth whom we have not preached, or iſ ye receive another Spirit which ye have not received, gr another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 5 For I suppose I was not PAUL WINDICATES HIMSELF FROM THE INSINUATIONS OF THE CORINTHIANS. 635 bringing you into the engagements of the christian covenant, in effect espoused jow to one SECT. husband,5 even to him, under the character of his servant and ambassador, I have led you 17. into a holy contract with him, which hath been mutually sealed. I am therefore exceed; ingly concerned that you may maintain a pure and loyal heart to him who has condescended 2 Cº. to take you into so dear and intimate a relation. * And I am the more solicitous about this, as I know what insinuating enemies are en- 3 deavouring to corrupt you : for I fear lest by any means, as in the first seduction and ruin of mankind, the serpent deceived Eve,” our common mother, by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from that simplicity which should always be in us towards Christ,” and which the adulterous mixtures which some are endeavouring to introduce among you would greatly injure. - For if he that cometh among you with such extraordinary pretences, preach another 4 Jesus as a Saviour, whom we have not preached; if he can point out another Christ who shall equally deserve your attention and regard : or [if ye receive by his preaching another Spirit, which ye have not yet received, which can bestow upon you gifts superior to those which we have imparted; or another gospel which ye have not accepted, the tidings of which shall be equally happy, evident, and important, ye might well bear with [him, and there would be some excuse for your conduct; but how far this is from being, or so much as seeming to be, the case, I need not say at large. Nor will you, I am sure, main- 5 be- iſ he that cometh another Jesus, º” “* tain any such thing; for I reckon upon most certain knowledge, that Í was so far from * - -- t ºr- 6 But though I, be rude in speech, yet not in knowled being inferior in my discourses or miracles to these your favourite teachers, that I did not in any respect fall short qf the greatest of the apostles ; but gave you as evident and con- vincing proofs of a divine mission as any church has ever received from any one of them. in For if [I am) unskilful in speech, using, plain and unpolished language like that of a man 6 i. i.i.e."ºily of the most ordinary education; nevertheless [I am] not so in knowledge of the gospel of made manifest among you in artſ things. 7 Have I committed an of fence in a basin ye might be exalted, because have preached to you the gospel of God freely 3 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of you service, Christ, and the divine dispensations which were introductory to it. But in every respect we have been manifest to jou in all things, every one of you has had a proof of this, as you received the gospel from me, and therefore ought not to question my abilities, nor to pre- fer another in opposition to me. Nothing can #. more ungenerous and unreasonable than to insinuate that I have re- 7 nounced my claim to being an apostle, by declining that maintenance which my brethren generally think it reasonable to take from the people among whom they labour, and which while employed for them they may indeed reasonably expect. Have I then committed an offence, in humbling myself to the daily cares and toils of a tent-maker, that you may more effectually be eralted to the dignity of those who know and believe in Christ? Is this, after all, the crime, that I have preached the gospel of God to you at free cost 2 I may almost, in this sénse, be said to have robbed other churches; so freely have I re-8 ceived from them, at least taking wages, as it were, º, them, for waiting upon you ; for indeed I received a kind of stipend from them while Tabode at Corinth. (Phil. iv. 15.) myself that them, to do 9 And when I was present flnd when I was in want while present with you, I was chargeable to no one manſ of your 9 with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man : for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied : and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto Yoº, and so will I keep my- Ǻ SC:/. - - - 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11 Wherefore ? love you not f God knoweth. 12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut, 9 occasion from them which desire occasion ; that wherein they glory, they may be foun € W C Pl a S W 8. 13 For such arc false apos- society, when incapable of maintaining myself, as before: for what was deficient to me in this respect, the christian brethren who came from Macedonia .#. : (Phil. iv. ...} and in all things I have kept, and, so long as God shall enable me, I will keep, myself from being burdensome to you. . And this in some measure I value myself upon ; so that as the truth 10 of Christ is in me, this boast shall not be violated, nor this rule broke in upon with respect to me, at Corinth, or in all the regions of .4chaia. And why is it that I insist upon this? Is it because I love you not, and therefore am un- 11 willing to be under any obligation to you? God knows the contrary, that you have a large share in my tenderest affections and cares; yea, that it was my desire of serving you more effectually, that subjected me to these mortifications, and self-denials ; for such they un- doubtedly were. But what I do in this respect, I will continue to do, that I may cut off 12 occasion from them who greatly desire an occasion to reflect upon me, that in [the # of] # which they are so ready to boast, they may be found even as tºe.' I would teach them by my example, instead of boasting, that they have such an influence over you, as procures them a plentiful and perhaps splendid maintenance, that they rather emulate my disin- terested conduct, and subsist on their own labours. But I know they have no inward principle to bear them through such hardships. For such, whatever, they pretend, [are] 13 because I tles, deceitful workers, trans- false apostles, destitute of that divine mission which animates our spirits to do, or to bear, forming themselves into the apostles of Christ. whatever we meet in the course of our duty; and indeed they are deceitful workers, what- everi. they may seem to take in their employment; transforming themselves artfully into the appearance of apostles of Christ by counterfeit forms, which they may put on for a 11 And no marvel; for Sa; while, but which they can with no consistency long support. .4nd [it is] no wonder they 14 tan himself is transformed into an angel of light. assume them for a time; for Satan himself, in subordination to whom they act, can put on such deceitful appearances, and wear upon occasion such a mask of sanctity and religion in his attempts, that he is, as it were, transformed into an angel of light, and one would imagine This clause ºppoggiº Xap up as evi that can, Speak no better than the generality of his neighbours, being unformed by the rules ºf eloquence. . And this is consistent with that h For ſhare espoused you.] - * - avópt, may be considered as a parenthesis; and therefore in the para- great natural pathos which we find in the apostle's writings: so that phrase I have transposed it, that the construction may appear; Šm A^) "vaas Tapas-nzal, I am jealous, &c.—that I inay present you, Śc. - c Lost' as the sérpent lcceived £re, &c.] From the instance to which this is applied, viz. that of the false apostles, whose subtily did not coa- sist so much in crafty arguments, as in false appearances, by which they put on the outward forms of the apostles of Christ: Mr. Rymer infeſs, (especially comparing ver. 14.) that the subtilty of Satan, when he de- ceived Eve, consisted in putting on the appearance of an angel ºf light, or pretending to be one of the seraphim that aliended on the Shechinah. (Rymer, On Rep. p. 79.) But I think that if it had been eyer so ex- pressly said by Moses, that the deception lay, as it very probably might, in pretending to have received the faculty of reason and speech, though a brute, by eating the fruit he proposed to her, it might be said in the Feneral, that the false apostles deceived their followers, as Satan deceived Eve, that is, by false pretences and insinuations. - d Simplisitſ; tº Christ arX)+n+ps 7 ms st; 70: Xpwarov.) This implies an entire, undivided devotedness to Christ, as the great husband christians silon ki desire to please, and from whom they are to receive law ; and is with peculiar propriety opposed to that, inixture of Judaisal which sche were endeavouring to bring in among the Corinthians. e Unskilful to speech.) 16:…Fi proºrly signifies a pricate inan, one there is no need of recurring, as Dr. Whitby here does, to the supposed impediment in his speech, which, allowing it ever so certain a fact, could pot properly be expressed by this phrase. The good Archbishop of Cam- bray hati, a very pertinent observation on this expression, in ſº excel- lent Diglosſes gf Eloquence, (p. 136.) viz. that this might well be the case, though St. Paul shared so largely in the gift of tongues; as when he was at Tarsus, he probably learnt a corrupt kind of Greek, spoken by the in- habitants of this place ; for we have reason to believe, that as for any of thg languages which the apostles had learnt in a natural way, the Špirit left them to speak as before. f Chargeable to no man : ov Karen apkmga ovésvog.] Beza would render it, I cas not idle at any man’s crpense. The word vapkn implies a be- ºvumbed, inactive state, a kind of torpor, to which no 'man seems to be less obnoxious than St. Paul. ... g. They may be found, &c.] The Jews had a maxim among them, “that it was better for their wise men to skin dead beasts for a living, than to ask a maintenance from the generosity of those whom they taught.” But it plainly appears, that whatever the false apostles might boast upon ºad. there was no foundation for it. Compare ver, 2J. an Or lx. 13. 636 PAUL's LABOURS AND SUFFERINGS IN THE CAUSE OF CHRIST. SECT. his suggestions to be of a celestial and divine original. Therefore ſit ; mo great thing if , 15 Thereforg it is no, groat 17. his ministers also, under his influence, be transformed as ministers of righteousness; （i.i. tº...º.º.º. end nevertheless shall be, not according to their specious pretences, but according to their jºyº; works; for they will find that God, upon whose judgment their final state depends, is not ºk!” “” “ ” to be imposed upon by any of their artifices. 2 COR. XI. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 2 . . How adorable is the condescension of the blessed Jesus, who, amidst all the exalted glories of his heavenly kingdom, is so graciously uniting souls to himself; espousing them in bonds of everlasting love, that they may be for ever near him, and receive the most endearing communications of his favour. Much should we all be con- cerned that we may have the honour and blessings of such an alliance; that being by profession solemnly espoused to him, we may in the day of the marriage of the Lamb be presented chaste and spotless. How vigilant should they be who are intrusted by him to treat with souls about these espousals. How solicitous that they may succeed, and may so present them to Christ! - 3 Still is that crafty serpent, whose malignant breath so soon tainted our common mother and all our happiness by his subtilty, labouring to corrupt our minds from the simplicity of true christianity. Let us be incessantly watchful against the artful deceiver, remembering that his works and designs of darkness may sometimes be veiled 14, 15 as under the robes of an angel of light, and his ministers transformed as ministers of righteousness. Be therefore sober and vigilant, since your adversary the devil adds the wiliness of the old serpent to the rage and cruelty of the roaring lion, and by both subserves his purposes of betraying or devouring the souls of men. 2 Let us therefore with a godly jealousy be jealous over each other, and especially over ourselves; and after the example of the apostle, be peculiarly so when we are compelled to say anything to our own advantage. Let us 6 endeavour to armourselves against every surrounding danger, by a growing regard to the writings of this excellent 5 man, who, though rude in speech, was so far from being in any degree deficient in christian knowledge, that he was 4 not behind the very chief of the apostles. There are those that preach another gospel: but can they point out another Jesus, another all-sufficient Saviour 2 Can they direct us to another Spirit P Let us hold fast the doctrine 9 we learn from his faithful pen; let us follow the exhortations we receive from his experienced heart; and be ever ready to imitate him in that resolute self-denial which he exercised, and that glorious superiority to every other 12 interest which he always showed, where the interests of Christ and of souls were concerned. So shall we cut off occasion from them that seek occasion against us, and secure a far greater happiness, in the conscious reflection of our own minds, as well as the expectation of a future reward, than the greatest abundance of this world could have given us, or any present advantage to which we could have sacrificed the views of conscience and honour. SECTION XVIII. Further to assert his right as an apostle, St. Paul commemorates his labours and sufferings in the cause of Christ; yet in such a manner as plainly to show how disagreeable it was to him, so much as to seem to applaud himself on the most necessary occasion. 2 Cor. xi. 16, to the end. - 2 CoPINTHIANs xi. 16. 2 Ooſt. xi. 16. SECT. I HAVE said some things which may seem more to the advantage of my character, than I, SAY aggin, Let no man 13. a man would wish any thing which comes from his own lips or pen should appear. But tº: gain. I must say, Let no man think me to be so foolish in this boasting, as to take any iº.iº. 2 coR. pleasure in commending myself. Let the provocation I have received be considered; let XI. _ _ the º of the circumstance, and the importance of my character, be duly weighed; and you will surely excuse it. But if it must be otherwise censured, I will run the risk, and beseech you, if you think me foolish in it, as foolish, however, to receive and bear with 17 me as well as others, that I may in my turn at least boast some small matter. What I - ..º.º. º: d eak on this head, I speak not after the Lord, not by any immediate direction or inspira- tº "º"; tion from Christ; nor is it so evidently in his Spirit as I could wish, or so apparently this confidence of boasting. conformable to that example of modesty and humility which he hath set us: but I º it, as it were, foolishly in this confidence of boasting;” on which account I return to this 18 subject again with some sensible regret, Yet lest my silence should be attended with à. A.޺niº º, still worse consequences, I think myself obliged, though with strong reluctance, to say, i. ST12 g|OY y seeing many boast according to the flesh, in circumcision and Jewish extraction, I also will boast as wéll as they ; and truly were I disposed to do it on these topics, you well know that no man could say more than I. * I 7 - * 19 And by the way, you may well bear with ..foolish people, since you [yourselves] are so lº. yºu; ſº glad; wondrous wise, and in that abundant wisdom can cherish that arrogant temper in others, ºft.* * * * CS ºf G 20 and second it with your high applause. Nay, indeed, you go further than that, and not b. *.*.*. d.º.º. only endure to hear your admired teachers make very indecent encomiums upon them- §§§ {"...º.º. selves, but tamely submit to them while they invade your º and tyrannize over hiº, #ºnº you in a most arbitrary and scandalous manner. ... Fºr by what I can learn of the temper tº: of some among you in that respect, and of your fond infatuation in their favour, it seems that you bear it patiently if a man enslave ſong, and even trample upon your liberty, if he devour [you] by his exhorbitant demands, iſ he take and seize ſon ſºur possessions,] if he erall himself as if he were your supreme and absolute sovereign, iſ his mad passion were to transport him even to blows, and he were to Smite you on the factº your fondness for him would prevent your calling him to a just account, and you would find some way of excusing or accommodating the affair, rather than come to a breach with him. 2] I * 21 Do I speak this by way of dishonour, from an envious desire to derogate from my supe: rjº, jºi riors, and so bring them down to my own level; as if we ourselves gere weak in ºpº º; º; with them, and therefore have not the courage to attempt such freedoms as they take 2 #jºjº There can surely be no reason to suspect that; for be they ever so puffed up with their external privileges, I would have them to know, that in whatever anyone, else ºngº/ be con- fident in §: respects, though I speak it indeed in folly, I also am confident, and on their shli, in this confidence of boasting.] It seems indeed not very that very condescension is,an excellent and mºst useful example of hu- jºi to ãº. this is spoken by immediate suggestion; yet mility to all christians; and esſº; to *ś; * * | # being in present circumstances very proper the apostle should speak b Smite you on the face.] S Oſle CâIn º ºne that the false #... the Hôi, Spirit might, by a general though upperceived influênce, apostles would run all thºse lengths, (though Dr. Whitby well observes, iéââ’ him intº this track of thought and expression; and though such hat the high conceit which the Jews had of their superiority over the apologic's might seem beneath the dignity of an apostic’s character, yet Gentifies might lead them to great insolence of behaviour,) I chose to PAUL's LABOURS AND sufferiNGS IN THE CAUSE OF CHRIST. 22,Are they Hebrews; sº own terms could match or even exceed them. Are they, for instance, Hebrews by lan- º, Iº; guage, capable of consulting the Scriptures in the original, with all the advantage which a of Abraham f so am I. familiar acquaintance with that tongue from their childhood can give then? $o ſam]...I. Are they Israelites by birth, not descended from Esau or any other branch of the family but that on which the blessing was entailed 2 so ſam] I, likewise. .4re they of the sced of Abraham, both by the father's and mother's side, not proselytes or of mingled descent? 8O º I; and can trace up as fair and clear a genealogy, through the tribe of Benjamin, 23 Are,they ministers of to the father of the faithful. Or if they would boast in a manner more Fº referring º: *..."; to the gospel; are they ministers of Christ? I may seem to speak foolishly in this boast. ºlº.º.º ing manner, which is so unnatural to me; I cannot forbear répeated apologies for it; but º I will venture to say here, that I ſam] more so than they : so far more than an ordinary minister, that I am a chosen apostle, dignified and distinguished from many of Iny bre- thren by more eminent services; more abundant in labours now for a long series of years; ecceeding them in the frequent stripes I have received on account of my singular zeal; more abundant in imprisonments, cheerfully resigning my liberty for the sake of Christ and his gospel; and often in deaths, which are continually sūrrounding me in the most horrible forms, but which, by divine grace, I have learnt to meet and to vanquish in all their ter- rors, animated by love to my Divine Leader. 24. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes sav QI) e. * five times received, in their synagogues and before their courts of judgment, forty [stripes] save one, according to the precautions which they use that they may not transgress the pre: 25 Thrice was 1, beaten cept of their law, which limits them to that number. (Deut. xxv. 3.) . * §.º.º.; beaten with rods by the Roman lictors or beadles, at the command of their superior magis- a night and a day I have been trates. I have reason to say I have been in greater danger of death than any of them; for in the deep; once at Lystra I was stoned, and left for dead in the place; nor had I been recovered but by miracle. (Acts xiv. 19.) Thrice I have been shipwrecked,” and escaped with the utmost difficulty from the rage of the waves; at one of which times I was reduced to such extremity, that I passed a day and a night in the deep,g floating on the remainders of the 25. In journeyings often, it wreck, and just on the point of being washed away and sunk every moment. ;º; §§... whole, I have been in journeys often, where I have not only been exposed to fatigues, but §§ ãº.; to great hazard from wild beasts, as well as from unreasonable and wicked men... I have ####"Wiś; also been in frequent dangers from the depths and rapidity of several rivers,” which I have F. º.º.º. Peñº been obliged to pass; I have also been in danger from the assaults of robbers, who have lain in wait for me with a design to plunder and murder me. I have often been in dangers ſº [my own] countrymen the Jews; who, forgetting the mutual ties of relation by blood, irth, and religion, have attempted my life with insatiable rage, cruelly hunting me from place to place, as if I had been some beast of prey : in dangers from the heathem, who have often been stirred up by the Jews, as well as offended by the testimony I have been obliged to bear against their idolatries. Every place through which I have passed has indeed been a scene of perils, and often of great extremities; so that I have been in dan- gers in the city of Jerusalem and other cities; in dangers in the wilderness, while laboriously traversing many dreary and inhospitable deserts in pursuit of my apostolical work: in dangers of the sea, where I have encountered many a storm, besides those in which, as I observed before, I suffered shipwreck, and where I have sometimes been beset by pirates: and though it be shameful to say it, yet it is most certainly true, that I have frequently been in very formidable dangers among false brethren,f who, ämidst all the most specious pretensions of love and affection, have been secretly watching for opportunities to expose, and, if possible, to destroy me; or at least to ruin my usefulness, still dearer to me than my life. - I have been for a long series of years engaged in strenuous labour and fatiguing toil, almost incessant; so that the end of one has presently been the beginning of another: I have been, in watchings, often obliged to add the fatigues of the night to those of the day, either in extraordinary devotion, which hath kept mine eyes waking while others have slept; or in preaching to those who have pressed in upon me to hear the gospel as pri- i. as possible; or by corresponding with christian churches who needed my advice, by which P. lost the rest of many nights in my long journeys, or in other circumstances into which Providence hath called me. I have often known what hunger and thirst mean, have been in fastings often, not having had even the necessaries of life at hand. And at the same time I have frequently been exposed to the severity of rigorous seasons, in cold and even makedness too;h not having convenient clothing to cover me, or comfortable 2S Beside those things that habitation to repose myself in. §§ wº ‘.... does, as it were, make up an assembly, the caré of all the churches abroad, whose concerns of all the churches. are rushing in upon me every dayſ with such impetuosity, that they sometimes are ready 39 yh9,is ºak, ºn not only to confound, but to overbear me. Nº. 9 is offended, nities, but for particular persons too, as soon as their circumstances are known to me; so that I may say, Hºho is weak, and I am not weak too?. Like a tenderly compassionate friend, I feel my own spirits ready to fail, when I see my brethren sink around me. HTo is offended, so as to be led into sin by the rashness and uncharitableness of others, and I ºr wº 27 In weariness and pain- fulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fast- ings often, in cold and naked- IłęSS paraphrase the words in such a latitude as might wave the severity of the most literal interpretation. c Thrice I have been shipwrecked.] The wreck at Malta happened long after, and therefore must at least have been the fourth ; and had the inhabitants known, it to be so, they would have been confirmed in their suspicions of his being a very bad man; but this remarkably shows us that a series of what the world calls misfortunes from the hand of Pro- vidence, may befall the best and worthiest of mankind. Passed a day and a night in the deep.] . Nux0mpgpov (rendered, a day and a hiº signifies a matural day, including the hours of light and darkness. Bu60s, the word here used, and rendered, in the deep, was in- deed the name of a deep dungeon at Cyzicum, in the Propontis; and Dr. Hammond conjectures that St. Paul was cast into it as he passed from f False brethren.] Perhaps he mentions these last, as apprehending peculiar danger from their efforts among the Corinthians. g In labour and toil.] The latter of the words here used, prox0a;, is more expressive than the former, Koſſos. It signifies not only strenuous labour, but such as proceeds to a degree of fatigue. h Cold and nakedness.] What an idea does this give us of the apostle's fidelity and zcal! It is to die warm in a good and noble cause. How hard was it for a man of a genteel and liberal education, as St. Paul was, to bear such rigours, and to wander about like a vagabond, hungry and almost naked, yet coming into the presence of persons in high life, and º: In large and various assemblies, on matters of the utmost im- portance. . . i Rushing in upon me every day.] The original phrase is very empha- .. tº that city; but I think the other interpretation most easy and Ilat Ultai. - e. In dangers from rivers.]. To render troraptov, waters, as we do, is confounding these hazards with those he endured in the sea, in a very Improper manner. tical, n eſtavs-ag is pus m kaff’ nuépav. Eſtavs-aats properly signifies, a tumult or, crowd of people rising up against a man at once; and ready to bear him down. This the version I have given hints at better than our own, which neither expresses number nor ºiolence. But there is still an imperfection which I endeavoured, as well as I could, to supply by o * I certainly have endured more blows than any of them in his cause; for of the Jews I have 24 And thrice was H 25 On the 26 * é All this, beside foreign affairs, that daily combination that 28 Nor am I concerned only for whole commu– 29 638 PAULS LABOURS AND SUFFERINGS IN THE CAUSE OF CHRIST, SECT, (tº not, as it were, fired with grief and indignation to see such a dishonour brought upon 18. religion, and with zeal, if possible, to redress the grievance 2k c If it is necessary to boast, and I am heartily sorry that it is, I will, however, boast of 30 If I must needs glory, I * CºR those things which relate to my infirmilies ; as I know this tendermèss of temper, that so yºhºjiich 30 often weeps and trembles, and glows with such strong emotions, on what some may think COh CeII. In Ille infimities. trivial occasions, will be esteemed by them; yet of these only, and of those sufferings which show the weakness of human nature, and my need of support from Christ; of these alone have I hitherto presumed to speak: nor do I feign or aggravate any thing. Far 3. The God and Father of from that, ihe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, even he the Eternal Majesty of ºhiºh heaven and earth, who is ever blessed, knoweth that I do not lie, or in any degree transgress jojºa is ." the strictest boundaries of truth. J -- ~ o tº And, I cannot forbear adding one circumstance more, to illustrate the early dangers to .32 In pamascus the gover- which I was exposed as soon as I engaged in the christian cause, and the remarkable in- Kºi..."º: terposition of Providence in my favour, which I would never forget. I mean, that when ºith. ºojesir. I was in Damascus about three years after my conversion, the governor, or ethnarch, under ***""“” King flrélas, set a guard at every gate of the city of the Damascenes, being determined, if possible, to seize me; in compliance with the solicitations of the Jews, who endeavoured by any means to make me odious to the government, and to crush my usefulness in the 83 bud, if not immediately to destroy my life itself. ...And I was let down, through a window, 33 And through a window in a basket, from a house which stood by the wall of the city, and happily escaped from his jºi... º.º. hands; and by the continued care of the same Providence remain unto this day, and see inds. " Scal s . many contrivances of my enemies for my destruction turned into disappointment and Sł13.]]? (2, 3 I 3 2 IMPROVEMENT. Ver. SURELY we have reason to be thankful, in some degree, for that providential permission to which it was owing 16, 18 that this blessed apostle was brought under the unwilling necessity of boasting, to which his modesty submits with such genuine and becoming regret: we had otherwise lost some very valuable fragments of sacred history, which it becomes us to gather up with respect. We are indeed elsewhere informed concerning several of his la: bours, stripes, and imprisonments; but how frequent and above measure they were, we had never known, if he had not been urged thus to plead them with the Corinthians, and so to represent them to us. What a life was St. Paul’s amidst so many injuries and hardships' Land and sea, every country, every city, almost every society, 26 of men, seemed to be in a combination against him, to make his life wretched; and, amidst all the rigours and severities of toils and watchings, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, he felt and particularly complained of the treatment he received from false brothren. Yet thus surrounded, and, as we should from the detail be ready to say, thus overwhelmed, with so many and so various miseries, he was yet happy in the favour of God, in the pre- sence of Christ: unspeakably happy in the cheerful views of approaching glory, and in all that abundant useful- ness with which a gracious God was pleased to honour him. Whilst his benevolent heart was pained, it was also comforted; and with the care of all the churches pressing upon him, and with all that he felt from particular per- sons, still was his voice in tune for praise; and he hardly ever begins an Epistle without such a burst of it in some of his first lines, as looks like one of the songs of heaven. O glorious effect of real christianity, which every inferior minister, yea, and every private christian, to this day feels, in proportion to the degree in which his charac- ter resembles that of this holy champion of our divine faith! But O ! how unlike his hath been the character of many who have borne themselves highest on their pretended claims to the most extraordinary powers, by a succession from him and his brethren | What tyrannical insults! 20 What exorbitant oppressions! What base methods to enslave the conscience, the properties, and the persons of men, whom they should have respected and loved as their brethren, whom they should have cherished even as their children : So that one would imagine they had taken the picture which St. Paul here draws of the false apostles, 23 as a model of their own conduct; while they have perhaps denied the title of ministers of Christ to those who have much more resembled the dispositions and circumstances of this his most faithful ambassador. Oh that this might only be the infamy of the Popish clergy, with whose cruel and usurping practices such censures may seem best to suit! Or rather would to God it were no longer even theirs. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 31 Christ, who is blessed for evermore, pour out a better spirit upon all who profess themselves, the servants of his Son . That they whose business it is to call others to Christ, may themselves first come, and learn of him, who is meek and lowly of heart; whose yoke is so easy and his burden so light, that it is astonishing that any who have themselves felt it, should ever think of binding on others burdens heavy and hard to be borne. 2 3 2 S SECTION XIX. The apostle goes on with great plainness and freedom; yet at the same time, with great modesty, to give an account of some extraordinary reve jor sºjiči, he had received from God, and of those experiences which taught him to glory oven in his infirmities. 2 Cor. xii. 1–10. 2 Conistriass Xii. !. 2 Cor. xii. 1. sECT. I HAVE spoken with some freedom in the preceding discourse of my labours and suffer- #. º §º fºr ºf 19. ings in the christian cause; but whatever they have been, I well know that it is not expedient § to visions, and revela- ‘’’ ſºme to boast, nor would I by any means indulge myselfin such a practice; nevertheless,” tions of the Lord. 2 coR. with the precautions I have already advanced, and with those good purpºses, continually xii. . in view, that have led me so far out of my common manner of speaking, I will now come to say something of those visions and revelations of the Lord with which his unworthy 2 servant has, by his astonishing grace and condescension, been favoured. I hardly indeed know how to mention a name so undeserving as my own in this connexion; but I will venture in the general to say, that I well knew a certain man in Christ,” one who esteems 2 I knew a man in Christ t se. M. Saurin would render it, what besieges me daily, which indeed did him the highest honour, could ngt be a proof that he gº. s”. ſºil. §3. Te 3 . . was determined not to boast. It is evident, therefore, that yap cannot k iſhº is offended, and I am uot fired 3] ... So Tupgp at properly signi- have its usual signification, and bp rendered; Jºf Qur translators take fics. It may perhaps, in this connexion, allude to the sudden hurry of it for a mere expletive, and therefore £i. "it lays .."; to gº- 3pirits into which a man is put by the dangerous fall of a person he der it, nevertheless, as it. Is .." it. º # {2 I) Yºº sº 1C:Ltſ O:ls, tenderly loves, especially when occasioned by the carelessness and folly and must have this i.a §§ II I º a ſly Jº; } {2 of another. force of but in this connexion woºd be the j | jigº. *:: slf. "lºgº.º.º.º.º.º.º. tº "tº convertº, but when he had preachgd about three years in Arabia. Com #. ...tº jº had concealed this extraordinary event fourteen x 23–26. with Gal. i. I :- * - - s - 2 - - - - - • , s , ºr ri - *- **ś The apostle's speaking of his visions and revelations, years; and if this fpistle was written about the year 58, as we suppose HIS REASONS FOR GLORYING EVEN IN HIS INFIRMITIES. 639 abºut, fourteen, years ago, it his highest honour to belong to such a Master; who, though he hath hitherto thought SECT. §º proper to conceal it, was remarkably indulged in this respect, above fourteen years ſigo. 19. ºf Hºhether he was then in the body, during that extraordinary ecstasy, I know not; or, for a §º.” time taken out of the body, so that only the principle of animal life remained in it, I know 2 con. not.” God only knows how that was ; nor is it of any importance too curiously to search 2 * into such a circumstance. He had at least no consciousness of any thing that passed about him at that time, and all his sensations were as entirely ceased as if his union with the body had been broken. Such an one, I say, I did most intimately know, who was snatched up even into the third heaven, the seat of the divine glory, and the place where Christ dwelleth at the Father's right hand, having all the celestial principalities and powers In humble subjection to him. Yea, I say, I even knew such a man, whether in the body or, out 3 of the body, I now say not, because I know not; God knoweth; and let him, have the glory of supporting his life in so extraordinary a circumstance, whichever, might be the case. 3. And I knew such a man. (whether in the body, or out 9 the body, I cannot tell: God knowetſ ;) 4 How that he was caught And I know, that having been thus entertained with these visions of the third heavens, on 4 §s.º.º.º. which good men are to enter after the resurrection, lest he should be impatient under the ºf lawful for a man to delay of his part of the glory there, he was also caught up into paradise," that garden of God * which is the seat of happy spirits in the intermediate state, and during their separation from the body; where he had the pleasure of an interview with many of the pious dead, and heard among them unutterable words, expressive of their sublime ideas, which he was taught to understand. But the language was such as it is not lawful or possible” for man to utter; we have no terms of speech fit to express such conceptions, nor would it be con- sistent with the schemes of Providence, which require that we should be conducted by faith, rather than by sight, to suffer such circumstances as these to be revealed to the in- 5 of such an one will I habitants of mortal flesh. In such an one, therefore, whoever he be, I will venture to boast, 5 ãº: º! so far as to say, that he received a peculiar honour from our great Lord, and for the time mities. was made, as it were, another man by it. But in myself I will not boast, unless it be in my infirmities, in those things which carry the marks of weakness, which yet in a certain 6 For though, I would de-connéxion will appear honourable too. For if I should resolve to boast a little on the oc- 6 sire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: - º - e - * but nois I, forbear lest any considering the particular circumstances in which I am : man should think of me above sº that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. casion I have mentioned, I shall not upon the whole be foolish : though it be generally so, or I speak nothing but the strictest truth, how strange spever it may seem. But I forbear to insist largely upon it, lest any one should esteem me above what he sees to be in me, or, having a fair opportunity of learning my true character, hears of me; for instead of arrogating to myself any undeserved regards, I would rather decline them, and should be secretly grieved and ashamed if they were paid to me. - I have indeed had my peculiar privileges: but alas, I have my infirmities, and my 7 temptations too. .4nd lest I should be too much elevated with the abundance of those extra- ordinary revelations of which I have been speaking, there was given me, that is, it pleased God to appoint to me, an affliction, which was so painful, that it was like a pointed thorn in the flesh, continually piercing and wounding me: and this in such circumstances, that one would think it had been intended on purpose that the messenger and apostle of Satan, the false teachers whom I have been describing (chap. xi. 13–15.) under that character, might from thence take occasion to buffet and upbraid me ; that I, being subject to such disorders, though naturally resulting from the manner in which my nerves were impressed by this ecstasy, might not be excessively exalted; but might bear away, like Jacob, when he had been so successfully wrestling with the angel, an infirmity in my animal frame, from which ungenerous and cruel enemies might profanely take an occasion to insult me. (Gen. xxxii. 25.) This was indeed at first so very grievous and mortifying to me, and seemed to have so unhappy an aspect upon my acceptance and usefulness as a preacher of the gospel, that I was very importunate in my petitions that it might be removed, and besought the Lord Jesus Christ thrice on the occasion, entreating him that, if it were his blessed will, it might totally depart from me, or at least be moderated in some considerable degree. And my rayer was not in vain; for though he did not entirely and fully indulge my request, he ºl: º, said to me, in great gondescension, My grace is sºftcient for thee, to support thee under ...iº inities, these trials, though I permit them to continue, which I now choose; for my strength, is ºr of Christ may made pº and illustrated so much the more, in the weakness of the instrument by which g I work; and this general maxim will take place with respect to thee. With the greatest pleasure therefore will I boast in my weaknesses, various as they are, that the strength of 10 Therefore I take pleasure Christ may, as it were, pitch its tent upon me,é and surround me on every side. And there- # *śs". "... fore I feel a secret complacency, rather than anxiety and terror, in these infirmities, in all tions indistressesſor Christs the injuries I sustain, in all the necessities I endure, in all the persecutions with which I jº.' " " am assaulted, and in all the straits which for Christ's sake press me on every part; for when I am weak, them am I strong : never do I feel larger inward communications of 7 And lest I should be ex- alted above measure through the abundance of the revela- tions, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the mes- senger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above *11G a Słł FC, 8 For this thing 1 besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 8 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. I O then am I strong. it was, this vision must have fallen out in the year 44, which was so long after his conversion, as to prove it quite different from the trance men- tioned, Acts iz, 9. with which some have confounded it. . Dr. Benson. thinks this glorious representation was made to him. while he was pray: ing in the temple, in that journey, (Acts xi. 30. xxii. 17.) and intended Fleming’s conjecture, that he was instructed in the doctrine of the first resurrection, and Mr. t Whiston’s, that he was instructed in the grand se– crets contained in the apostolical constitutions revealed to the éteven in the chamber on Sion, and not to be publicly disclosed till many ages after, may serve as specimens of the rest.—Whist. Prim. Christianity, to encourage him against the difficulties he was to encounter in preach- ing the gospel to the Gentiles. Bens. Prop. vol. ii. p. 7. See p. 469. DOté 3. * - c. Whether in the body,. &c.] As St. Paul must know his body, was not actually dead during this trance, but that the animal motion of his heart and lungs continued, it would lead one to imagine that he really appre- hended the principle of animal life to be something, distinct from the ra: tional soul, which he calls himself. It appears at least that he lost all consciousness of any thing about him at that time; and what the pre- sence of an immatcrial soul in a body can be, distinct from the capacity "Pºº by it and acting upon it, I am yet to learn. . * Also caught up into paradise.]. I baye followed Bishop Bull’s, in- terpretation of these words, in the distinction he makes between the third heavens and paradise. See his Works, vol. i. Serm. 3. p. To which Dr. Whitby agrees, who also supposes this not merely, a vision, as think it was, but a reality; which if St. Paul had thought it, he must suº haye concluded that he was not then in the body. e Lawful or possible.] I think, with Witsius, that ešov may compre- hend both.--Different divines have conjectured very differently concern- ing these things; of which I suppose they know nothing. But Mr. vol. iii. p. 32. f.A thorn in the flesh.] How much this thorn in St. Paul’s flesh has per- plexed and disquieted commentators, they who have conversed nuch with them know but too well. Many have understood it of bodily pains; and Mr. Baxter, being himself sºbject to a nephritic disorder, Supposes it might be the stone or gravel. The conjectures of some of the ancients are much grosser. , I rather acquiesce in that interpretation of Dr. Whitby,...(which the author of JMiscel...Sacra has adopted, and taken pains, to illustrate, Essay iii. p. 22–24.) That the view he had of celes- tial glories, affected the system of his nerves in such a manner as to oc- casion some paralytic symptoms, and particularly a staminering in his Speech, and º some ridiculous distortion in his countenance, refer- red to elsewhere; in the phrase of the infirmity in his flesh. See Gaï'i. 2, 14. 1 Cor. ii. 3. Compare Dan. yiii. 27. As this might threaten both his acceptance and usefulness, it is no wonder he was so importu- nate, for its being removed; yet being the attendant and effect of so :* a favour, he might with peculiar propriety speak of glorying Il 1 [. g Pilch its tent, &c.] That segms the strong emphasis of the original word ºn takmuoan. 640 THE SINCERITY AND TENDERNESS OF THE APOSTLE'S CONDUCT. SECT. strength from him, than when I am most conscious of my own weakness. Nor do I esteem 19. any thing a greater honour to me, than that Christ should take occasion to glorify himself by those things whereby I am humbled and abased. *ś. IMPROVEMENT. 10 WELL might the apostle say, that when he was weak, then was he strong; for it is difficult to tell when he expresses a greater strength of genius or of grace, than while thus discoursing of his own infirmities. How glorious were those scars in his body which were the marks of his sufferings for Christ; and those tremblings and distor- 1 tions of his nerves which were the results of those bright visions of the Lord which brought down heaven to earth, 7 #,* for the time equalled a mortal man with the spirits of just men made perfect; yea, almost with the angels Of K_3 O(1 ! . - 3 Transported with the sacred impulse, he could scarcely tell whether he were in the body or out of it; but he 4 testified that the things which he saw and heard were unutterable. Let us not repine that he recollected and re- corded nothing more particular concerning what passed before the eye of his mind, when that of the body was closed. These celestial raptures were intended to confirm his faith, and consequently likewise to confirm ours; but not to amuse our curiosity. If the earth be full of the goodness of the Lord, how much more the third heavens, 2 where he holds his highest court! Nor shall the intermediate state of souls want its proper enjoyments and bless- ings. Assuredly, therefore, believing these things, let us wait God's time for a more particular knowledge of them; and when called of him to go forth and receive this inheritance, like genuine children of Abraham, obey, though we know not particularly whither we go. . (Heb. xi. 8.) 7 We see the danger of spiritual pride, from which even St. Paul himself was not secure. One would have imagined that such a view of the celestial world should in itself have been sufficient to have humbled him, during all the remainder of the longest life; and yet it is evident that God saw there was some danger, lest pride should be cherished by that which seemed so properto destroy it : therefore was there given him a thorn in the flesh. And by how many thorns are the most distinguished christians often pierced | Let them bless God if thereby they are ºed too, even though the messengers and instruments of Satan should from thence take occasion to buffet then). 8 In all our exigencies, extremities, and complaints, let us apply to the throne of grace, and that blessed Redeemer who intercedes before it, for proper assistance and relief. , Nor let us be discouraged though the first or second address should seem to be disregarded: the third or fourth may be successful. And what if we do not succeed to our wish in the immediate answer? Let it content us, that we may be assured by Christ of the sufficiency of his 9 grace. In our weakness he can illustrate his strength. And in that view too may we glory in our infirmities. For surely the honour of our divine Master, in our deepest humiliation, ought to give us much more joy, than to see ourselves ever so much admired and extolled. “But, O blessed Jesus, how much of thy strength must be mani- fested in us, to teach our vain and selfish hearts a lesson which at the very first proposal appears so reasonable, if considered in speculation alone! Lord, increase our faith ! increase our humility! So shalt thou have the glory in all thou givest and in all thou deniest us, and in all the struggles and trials to which thou mayest appoint us; and 10 in which for thy sake we will take pleasure.” - SECTION XX. The apostle vindicates the frankness, sincerity, and tenderness of his gonduct, and his visible superiority to all secular considerations, in all his dealings with the church at Corinth. 2 Cor. xii. 11, to the end. 2 CoRINTHIANS xii. 11. 2 CoR. xii. Il. sect. IT may be indeed, my brethren, that I am become foglish in boasting as I have done above; I AM become ºf lºy: 20. - g - º * ; ye h illed : but if it be so, you will consider where the blamé lies. For you, by the manner in which ##;".,...: * * * -* & mended of you : for in nothing some of you, to whom I am now speaking, have behaved yourselves, may be said to lºve am I behind the very chiefest 2 coſt, compelled me to do it, even against my Will. In which you are peculiarly inexcusable ; aposties, though fºg nothing. xii., fºr I ought indeed to have been commended by you, rather than to have found any neces- sity of pleading with you in the manner I have done; for I have in no respect whatsoever failed to equal the most excellent of the apostles, though I am myself nothing in the account of some; nor indeed am I any thing in reality without the aids of divine grace and as- 12 sistance, nor would I assume to myself any glory from what that hath made me. Yet 12 Truly the signs of an " * s * gº apostle were wrought among truly God has been pleased to communicate of his bounties tº me, in such a degree, that jaji' patience, in signs, the igns of an aposile were produced among you in a variety of most.comºnºg miracles; nº.wonders, and mishly ºirajºs y whiéh I was not puffed up, but which were wrought in all patiençë tº the midst of this unreasonable opposition I met with, notwithstanding thºse *†, and wonders, and powers, which awakened the amazement of all that beheld. Nor did I exert these miraculous powers in chastising the irregular, but chose rather, if it were possible, to con- quer by love and by benefits. 13 And you know that I conferred many benefits: for in what one respect tºere, ºft inferior 13 For what is it wherein * ... a 2. s: you were inferior to other to the rest of the churches planted by the other apostles, unless [it were in this, that I my- ºrjeº, i. ºi ze e gº * r 2 myself was not burdensome self was not burdensome to you, by taking any acknowledgment for my º No, #. tºº. sº much as a subsistence āmong you at your expense. Forgive me, J., beseech Y2", " great injury; for I think I hardly need to ask yºu forgiveness on any other account. * * * & a vri - & º 14 Behold, the third time I 14 Behold, how, this is the third time I am reddy to cºme 2 #9% having been disappointed a 4...?',"...",".. {} . . * -xri º - * •+!, a will not now be, in the and fºil not be burdensomé twice before. (1 Cor. xvi. 5. 2 Cor. i. 15, 16.) JNevertheless, I 3 to you : for I seek not your’s, sense I have mentioned, burdensome to you for, God knows, I seek not your possessions tº ºftiº but yourselves. If I can but be instrumental in Promoting Y9. salvation, and at the same #######, '. timé secure your filial love and affection, I shall think myself happy, though I reap not {{...hiaré. the least personal advantage from your property, where it is most abundant. For it is not fit that the children should lay up tºuré fºr the parents, but the parents for the chil- dren. I therefore, being your spiritual fathe; will communicate to you such treasures as - * * * * 15 And I will ladl 15 I have, and will not desiré to share yours. För I will with the greatest pleasure spend and sºjº. º : * exhaust my strength, and put m self to any expense ºh the more abundantl º: º the .."; ºf j be, that the more doveyou, the less Ibeloved. ...nºmiyilove jou, the less I am loved by you. How linkindsoevery. . be, if you should treat me like those perverse creatures who take a pleasure in º: . thém that love them best, †. shall you still find me a sincere friend to your best interests, (Compare 2 Tim. ii. 10, 1 TheSS. ii. 8.) THE SINCERITY AND TENDERNESS OF THE APOSTLE'S CONDUCT. {341 b º, it *:::: 1. But I know some will be ready to object to all this; as what will not envy and false- SEcºr. #;"cº. 1".."; hood suggest, where there is any interest in fixing an odium ? Let it be so; I did not 20. with guile. indeed myself burden you, nor demand subsistence among you as my right; but perhaps it will be insinuated, that being subtle I took you in º Oſłº, º making others the in- 2 cºR. struments of my mercenary principles, while 1 appeared myself so disinterested. I answer ..." 17.Qid Imake again ºf you by appealing to plain fact: Did I make a prey of you by any one whom I sent to jou with 17 §§§, them whom I sent any message from me, or who came to me aſ: any business while I was resident among . you?, Name the man, if you can, on whom there is reason to fix any such suspicion. . - defy the boldest of mine enemies to allege what must recoil on himself with so much in- *Hººd"...ºft. famy. I know that I entreated Titus to make you a visit, and with [him] I sent g brother; #ſº ſº. . ..."; , ...} to keep him company on the journey. Did Titus then make a gain of you? Did we not .# ºf walk in the same spirit [and] in the same steps ? Did not all his actions resemble mine, same steps? . “ as formed upon the same principles of strict integrity and generous friendship 2 . c. *ś Again, do you think that we make any apology to you, and endeavour to amuse you with 19 Śrīsī". ſº in mere words, mentioning Titus's coming to excuse my own absence? In the is: of God jśi.; $."º"; we speak as those who know he is witness to every action and word; yea, that he knows fying. - the secret springs of affection which actuate our hearts; and we speak as those that are in Christ by a solemn profession of his religion, and should abhor any thing which might bring a reflection upon it. And all things that we say when we are endeavouring to re- eoncile your minds to us are not for our own sake; but [we speak, beloved, for your edifi- cation; that by removing your prejudices against us, we may be capable of being more ...º.º.º.º serviceable to yºu in your most important interests. For I am really distressed on this 20 .." "...}}|...}}}}}"; account, and sadly fear, lest by any means when I come unto you with a heart full of . ... º. º.º. christian tenderness, and with all imaginable readiness, to do my utmost to comfort and º, envying, ºaths, refresh your spirits, I should not find you such as I could wish, and that I showld be found ;ºpº by you such as ye would not wish I should be. I fear I shall have some work before me of - a very ungrateful kind, and which I would by all means desire, if º; by this admo- nition to prevent. For I am very apprehensive lest [there should be] contentions, arising from secret and very unbecoming emulations,” and growing up to transports of wraths strifes, where there is a clashing either of opinions or secular interests; which will tend to produce open reproaches or secret whisperings, to the manifest prejudice of each other's character; the inward swellings of pride and ambition, or perhaps the open confusion of - riots and tumults, by which your cause in general will be exposed to public contempt: alº"; }; ; indeed, on the whole, I am very apprehensive lest my God should humble and 21 ... "...º.º.d";”; mortify me when I come among you again; só that my spirit should be even dejected and dº which hath passed since I left Corinth : and lest I I 8 jº yº. broken on account of the sa Sinned already, and have not * - ºjºn; should find cause to mourn over many who have simmed already, and who, though several §§º others have been wrought upon by my admonitions, have not repented of the uncleanness, ousness which they have com- ºf ºr º * g. 2 sº tº Initted. and formication, and lasciviousness, which they have committed; against whom, therefore, I fear I shall find myself obliged, in virtue of my office, to pass such censures as it pains and pierces my heart so much as to think of ~ w IMPROVEMENT. How amiable was the goodness of the apostle, in adding all patience to those signs of his divine mission which Ver. 12 were with so much splendour given among the Corinthians, when there were so many things to have excused, or rather to have vindicated, his severity. Such meekness had he learned of Christ, such does he teach to succeeding ministers and private christians. . How disinterested was his behaviour in every part of it; not seeking their sub- 14 stance, but their souls' And indeed, what is the greatest gain which avarice, in its most artful and successful forms, can make of the ministry, when compared with winning souls to Christ, and bringing them into the way of salvation? Who that deserves the name of a minister, would not gladly sacrifice the views of worldly interest to 15 this, and rejoice in an opportunity of spending and of being spent for this? Yet we see that even this cannot always command the returns of love; but the love as well as the praise of men is, in comparison, a matter of small importance. It will surely engage the approbation of God; and all the slights and injuries over which this benevolent disposition triumphs, will be remembered by him with proportionable to- kens of his gracious acceptance. . ---. Happy was that prudence which made the proof of integrity so clear, and the appeal to the whole world so con- 16–18 fident, as it here appears. So may we avoid every appearance of any thing which might beget a suspicion of sinister designs, that we may vindicate ourselves from every such insinuation, with the noble freedom of those who are approved to God and the consciences of men. To preserve this, may we always speak and act as before God in Christ, and do all things, not for the gratification of our own humour, or advancement of our secular in- 19 terest, but for the edification of others. The ministers of the gospel cannot but be humbled when any thing contrary to the rules and genius of it is to 20 be found among the people of their care and charge, whether they be pollutions of the flesh or of the spirit: and they may be in someinstances as effectually mortified and distressed by debates, envyings, strifes, backbitings, and 21 whisperings, as by uncleanness, fornication, and lasciviousness. But when any of these things occur, as it is to be feared that in most christian societies, or at least in such as are considerable for their numbers, they sometimes will; let it be remembered that they happen by the permission of Providence. God hath his wise ends in suffering what is indeed so lamentable: thus humbling the shepherd, that the flock may be further edified; that he may approve his fidelity in more vigorous efforts for reformation; and may not be excessively exalted by that better success wherewith, in other instances, God may crown his endeavours. - a Contentions, emulations, &c.] All these were the natural conse- he, in a very artful manner, gives this solemn warning with relation to quences of those debates which had arisen among them; and therefore them. SECT. BUT I will return now from that digression which hath carried me away from what I was THIS coming to you. In the mouth 21. 2 COR. XIII. 2 3 4 5 6 as reprobate silver that will not stand the touchstone? But whatever you, I hope ye shall soon know that we are not disapproved, and have not lost our evidence #: 7 of the divine presence and approbation. 8 testimonials of an extraordinary mission to produce. 9 10 chastise those that rebel against us. II PAUL'S RELUCTANCE TO USE HIS APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY. SECTION XXI. The apostle concludes his epistle with assuring the Corinthians very tenderly how much it would grieve him to be obliged to show power, by inflicting any miraculous solemn benediction. 2 Cor. xiii. 1, throughout. **. 2 CORINTHIANs xiii. 1. entering upon before. [It is] now, as I said, (chap. xii. 14.) the third time that I tell you I am coming to you ;” and as several cases will come beforé me on which it will be neces- sary to give my judgment, I assure you, I shall think myself obliged to proceed on that reasonable maxim in the Jewish constitution, (Num. xxxv. 30. Deut. xvii. 6, and xix. 15.) that every word or thing admitted for evidence in the decision, shall be established by the concurrence of what cometh from the mouth of two or three credible witnesses. And you will remember that I have formerly foretold you, and do foretell it now again, as if I were O S his apostolic §. on those who continued to oppose him; subjoining at the end of all, proper salutations and his r 2 Cor. xiii. 1. is the third time I am f two or three witnesses shall every word be established 2 I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were pre- ent, the second time; and be- present the second time in person; and being absent in body, but not in spirit, I now write is absent, ow.write to to those that have sinned already in any scandalous and aggravated manner, and to all the rest, that they may I will not spare you,” as I have hitherto done; but am determined, by thé divine permis- sion, to animadvert upon notorious offenders, by the exertion of that miraculous power with which God hath endowed me. Since, after all the evidence you have already had, some of you are so strangely unreasonable as to seek a further proof of Christ's speaking by : t hem which heretofore have º * s º * sinned, and to all other, that, take notice of it, and be filled with a sacred awe, that if I come again, ſºme again, I will not 3 Since ye seek a proof of hrist speaking in me, which o you-ward is not weak, but his Spirit in me, even of the authority of that glorious and Almighty Saviour, who is not is mishty in you. weak towards you, but powerful among you by what he has already wrought,” you may at length have such demonstrations of it as may perhaps cost some of you dear. For though a 4. For thºugh he was cruci- he was once crucified as through a state of weakness, submitting to those infirmities of mor- tal flesh which put him into the hands of his enemies, and waving the exertion of that miraculous energy by which he could so soon have rescued himself and destroyed them fied through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in hi but we shall live with him by ; the power of God toward him, nevertheless, he now liveth by the power of God the Father, whereby he obtained a glorious you. resurrection, and is now ascended to a seat of uncontrolled and universal authority. And thus we his apostles, though we are also weak in him, and to them who regard only exter- nal appearances may seem contemptible, nevertheless, shall live with him by the power of God manifested to you in our favour, to give a kind of resurrection to that apostólical au- thority which may have seemed for a while dormant and dead. You examine and try me; but let me admonish you to turn the search inward, and to examine and try yourselves, that ye may certainly know whether ye are in the faith, whether ye be true christians or not. For if you on a strict inquiry find that you are, you will therein find a proof of my being a true apostle; as it is by means of my extraordinary gift that you are become so. Prove yoursclves,” my brethren, whether you can or cannot stand the test. Do you not know yourselves, when the subject of knowledge lies so near you, and is always before your eye 2 Are you not sensible that Jesus Christ is dwelling in you by the sanctifying and transforming influences of his Spirit, unless ye are mere nominal #iº and such as, whatever your gifts be, will finally be º and rejected, e the case of any of But I am far from desiring to produce such evi- dences of it as would be grievous to you; and can truly say, that I wish to God ye may do no evil in any respect, and not that we may be manifested [as] approved by such awful methods as those to which I refer: but on the contrary, that ye may do what is good, beau- § and amiable, that which will adorn your profession in the most effectual manner; though we should be as if we were disapproved, and upon a level with those who have no For we are not able to do any thirg t your own selves. not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates : 5 Examine yourselves, whe- her ye be in the faith; prove Know ye * But I trust that ye shall know that we are not repro- alteS 7 Now I pray to God that ye do not evil; not that we should appear approved, t that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as re- probates but 8 . For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the against the interest of that important system of truth which God hath intrusted us with ; ;. but must strenuously act for the service of the truth and support of the gospel, and not act by personal inclinations and affections, of resentment on the one hand, or tenderness on the other. - I wish the regularity of your behaviour at all events, as I declared above; for we re- joice when we are weak, or seem so by not exerting any miraculous powers to the purposes 9 For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even we have hinted ; and when ye, our dear converts and brethren, are strong in gifts and your perfection. graces, in faith and good works: and this also we wish, ſeven] your being set in perfect good order. & Your entire reformation would give us the greatest pleasure imaginable, a plea- sure far beyond what we could derive from the most astonishing interpositions of God to Therefore, upon the whole, I write these things thus largely, being absent, that when I am present I may not be obliged to act severely, according to #e divine and extraordinary power which the Lord Jesus Christ hall, givenºme for the edification of the several members of his church, and not for the destruction of men's lives t present I should use sharp- ness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to de- 10 Therefore I write these hings being absent, lest being and comforts. And therefore it is that I give you this warning, in order to prevent what * would otherwise be grievous to myself as well as to you. As for what remains, my dear brethren, farewell: and may all joy and happiness ever 11 Finally, brethren, fare- €2. a The third time I tell you I am coming : Tptrºv Tsro ºpyogat.] So the words may be taken, though. I own thern ambiguous. Perhaps this may intimate that this was the third Epistle, he had written to them, in which i.e. had mentioned his purpose of coining, but, we cannot certainly infer it. He seems here to resume the sentence he had begun, chap. xii. jº. Such interruptions are frequent in St. Paul, and in many other writers who have not a regard to an artificial *::::::: do not stand to correct every little inaccuracy, but abound in quickness and varicty of thought, as Yi. Locke justly observes. ly ob s) b I will not spare you..] It is (as Bishop Burnet very justly obseſſes a great §§ of the veracity of the º #sº when factions were raised against them, they used none of the art; of flattery, however Fºssiy they might sgém, but depended on, the fºrce of a miragglouš fºr fö reduce offenders; which it, would have been a most absurd {ijº to have pretended to, if they had not really been consciºus to i;sºlves that it was engaged in their favour. Burnet, On the Art. p. Sce 1 Cor. iv. 21. note f. c Already wrought.) This may, as Mr. Cradock and others observe, y & very probably refer to, some miraculous punishment inflicted lately on the incestuous Corinthian. d. Examine yourselves—prove yourselves.]. Whether you be jokipot, such as can stand the test; or ačokipot, such as cannot; for that is the roper import of the word which we render reprobates. , The difference etween regašere and dokºpa;ere seems to be gradual; examine and thoroughly prove. .. - e Unless ye are disapproved.] Dr. Guyse paraphrases the words, et um 7t adoxtpot care, “unless there be something very disapprovable in you;” and it certainly expresses the sense with great propriety; but as the apostle supposes this to be something which would prove that Christ was not dwelling with and among them, it seems that it must be extended to the sense given in the paraphrase. ..... 4. f Have not lost, &c.] It seems that the possibility of losing extraor- dinary gifts by the abuse of them, is finely, insinuated in this, oblique #. and it might, if rightly understood, have its weight with many Of them. g"Being set in perfect good order.] This I think the import of karap- THE CONCLUDING BENEDICTION. - 643 wen, Be perfect, be of good attend you. And that this may be the case, let it be your great care that ye may be perfect, SECT. fºr ºf :*::::"...# that ye may arrive at the highest degrees of goodness. May you all be comforted with 21. lºvé and peace shall be with those strong consolations which true christianity suggests, and exhorted and animated by — YOUl. the instructions it inculcates. Attend to the same thing; pursue with the greatest una; *. nimity of heart and intenseness of affection, that which ought to be the great end of all 11” our schemes and designs, the care of glorifying God and adorning the gospel. And as you have, in some instances, seemed to have forgotten how essential it is to true chris- tianity that its professors should abstain from mutual injuries and cultivate unfeigned friendship, let me urge it ". you, that ye be peaceful, candid, and affectionate in your sentiments; and the § of love and peace will graciously own you as his children, and 12 Greet one another with be favourably with you, and fix his residence among you. And in token of this entire har- 12 an holy kiss. mony and endeared affection, salute each other, according to the custom of your assem- 18 All the saints salute you, blies, with an holy kiss, as a proper expression of the purest and most ardent love. All 13 the saints, that is, the christians here in the place from whence I now write, salute you with the sincerest affection, and will always rejoice to hear of your peace, prosperity, and edification. - 14 The grace of the Lord. I conclude all with my most affectionate good wishes for you ; even that the perpetual 14 łºś"; #favour of the Lord Jesús Christ; the great Head of the church, in whom all the #. ºf Hºhost be with you of grace dwells; and the constant and peculiar love of God the Father, and the most ali, AII] CIl. abundant communion and fellowship of the Holy Ghost, in the richest anointings of his gifts and graces, may [be] with you, and rest upon you all continually, henceforth and for ever. Amen : may God ratify the important wish, so as to answer and exceed your most exalted hopes. IMPROVEMENT. - ApoRED be the name of that compassionate Redeemer who was once crucified as through weakness; and when Ver. 4 he could have commanded more than twelve legions of angels to his rescue, voluntarily submitted to be seized and bound, like a helpless mortal, subject to superior force, and thus led away to torture and death! He lives for ever by the power of God, by a life derived from him: may we, weak as we are in ourselves, live through him to all the purposes of the christian life And that this life may flourish abundantly, let us be often engaged to examine ourselves; since it will be so great a scandal and so great a snare to be strangers at home. Do we not indeed, after all, know ourselves? Let 5 us search whether Jesus Christ be in us; whether he be formed in our hearts, whether he live and act in us by his Holy Spirit: else shall we be treated as reprobate silver, shall be justly rejected of God, and no #. or privileges 6 will avail us. Having gained the sure evidences of sincere goodness in ourselves, we may with the greater cheer- fulness and confidence pray for our brethren; and let us offer the apostle's petition for them, that they may do no 7 - evil, but every thing that is just and honourable, beautiful and lovely; never desiring to exalt ourselves on the - mistakes and follies of others; but, on the contrary, wishing their perfection, and labouring to the utmost to pro- 9 mote it. - How charming a spirit breathes in those sentences in which the apostle takes his leave of the Corinthians ! So much wisdom and goodness, that one is almost grieved that he who bids farewell in Stich an engaging manner, 11, 12 does it so soon. Let us, however, bear his parting words in mind. When ministers are leaving those among whom they have laboured, when christian friends are separated from each other, let this be their common petition and care, that they may be improved and comforted; that unanimity and peace may prevail and increase; and that the God of peace may be with them all : that he may be with them in those happy effects and blessed opera- #: Ž. will be the result of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of # and the fellowship of the Ho Ost. #. often hath this comprehensive benediction been pronounced | Let us study it more and more, that we 13 may value it proportionably; that we set ourselves to deliver or to receive it with a becoming solemnity, with eyes and hearts lifted up to God, who when out of Zion he commandeth the blessing, bestows in it life for evermore. Amen. - rigtv, that perfect reformation which was not yet wrought, though some- Christ, (which to be sure makes a great part of the idea,) it may be less thing considerable had been done towards it. easy to distinguish it from the communion of the Spirit. "It is with great h Jä to the same thing.] So To avto (ppovetre should undoubtedly reason that, this comprehensive, ang instructive benediction is pro- be rendered, rather than, æ ºf one mind; which in some respects might Hºnºe; just befº.º. assemblies, for public wºrship are dismissed; jº impºssibie. See my Sermon on Čanãour and Ünanimity, n and it is a very indecent thing tº see, so many quitting them; or getting 8. and Phil. ii. 2. and note there. into º 9f remove, before this short sentence can be ended. Com: i Favour of the Lord Jesus Christ. I express xapts by favour here; Pare T umb. vi. 26, 27. for if grace be taken for sanctifying influences communicated from THE F A M I L Y Ex P os I To R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. THE churches of Galatia, which was a province of the Lesser Asia, were first converted to the christian faith by the apostle Paul, about the latter end of the year 50, when, passing through the region of Galatia, he was received with great affection, and made the instrument of planting several churches there; which, when he visited those parts again, in his next progress in the year 54, he had an opportunity of confirming in the doctrine that he before had taught them. (Com- pare Acts xvi. 6. xviii. 23. and Gal. iv. 13–15.) From the contents of this Epistle it appears that, after he had preached the gospel to the Galatians, some judaizing zealots had endeavoured to degrade the character of St. Paul among them, as one not immediately commissioned by Christ, as the other apostles were, and to subvert his doctrine in the grand article of justification, by insisting on the observation of the Jewish ceremonies, and so attempting to incorporate the law with Christianity. And as St. Paul expresses here to the Galatians his concern and wonder that they were so soon perverted from the doctrine he had preached, (chap. i. 6.) he therefore must have written this Epistle not long after he had been among them; and as no hintis given through the whole of it, that he had been with them more than once, it is most reasonable to conclude that it was written before his second journey to Galatia, and consequently not later than the year of our Lord 53, which was the 13th of the emperor Claudian. (See note i, on Acts xvii. II, p. 451.) And though by the subscription, which is commonly placed at the end of it, this Epistle is said to be written from Rome, yet if the latest date which some have given it should be allowed, which fixes it to the year 58, this could not be the place from whence it was written, as St. Paul then had never been at Rome, and none suppose him to have come there till after the year 60 ; which manifestly shows that the subscription ought to be rejected as a spurious addition, though it has been the means of leading many into a palpable mistake. (See Acts xix. 21. p. 456. note a.) But dating it as above, in the year 53, it appears to be written from Corinth, where the apostle had sufficient time to write it (as he did) with his own hand, as he continued in that city nearly two years. (Compare Acts xviii. 3, 11.) The principal design of the apostle Paul in this Epistle, was, “to assert and vindicate his apostolical authority and doc- trine, and to establish and confirm the churches of Galatia in the faith of Christ, especially with respect to the important point of justification; to expose the errors that were introduced among them; and to revive those principles of christianity that he had taught them when he first preached the gospel to them.” And to this purpose, FIRST, He begins with an address adapted to his main design, in which he asserts his own apostleship, and hints at the provision made for our justification by Christ, expressing at the same time his most affectionate regard for the Galatian churches. (Chap. i. 1–5.) And them, …- SEconDLY, He enters upon what he principally had in view, to vindicate the authority of his doctrine and mission, to prove that justification only can be had by faith in Christ, without the works of the law, and to expostulate with the zº §º on their weakness and folly, in hearkening to false teachers, and being persuaded by them to become subject to the law. Where, - I. In vindication of the authority of his doctrine and mission,--after declaring his astonishment that the Galatians had so soon been led aside, under the influence of seducing teachers, from the simplicity of that gospel he had preached among them with the greatest faithfulness, (ver, 6–10.)—he shows them, - 1. That he received his mission and his doctrine not from men, but by immediate revelation from Christ himself, who, when he was a º zealot for the law, had called him by his grace to preach the gospel; in which he had imme- diately engaged, without consulting any man, or making any application to the other apostles for instruction in his work, or for authority to perform it. ... (Ver. 11, to the end.) 2. That in this interview with the apostles at J erusalem, fourteen years after his conversion, he had maintained the liberty. of christians from the yoke of the law; and having communicated to the chief of them an account of his ministry, they were so far from disapproving either his doctrine or his practice, that they acknowledged the authority of his mission; and cordially embracing ; as a brother-apostle, encouraged him to prosecute the work he was engaged in, and to continue preaching to the Gentiles. (Chap. ii. 1–10.) To which he adds, * 3. That however some had represented him as inferior to the other apostles, and as a favourer of the ceremonial law, he had given sufficient proof of the contrary; in that when Peter came to Antioch, the character of that apostle did not prevent his º reproving him, for withdrawing from the conversation of the Gentile converts for fear of displeasin the Jews, and undermining by this means the liberty of the christian church from Jewish impositions; ºf With him, how very inconsistent and absurd it was that when they who were Jews had thought it necessarv from a COI). * A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 645 viction of the insufficiency of the law to justify them, to embrace the gospel, and to believe in Christ for justification, they should endeavour after this to bring the Gentiles into subjection to the law, as if the dispensation introduced by Christ would leave them under sin without it. He was determined, for his own part, that no such inconsistency should be found either in his doctrine or his practice; and, having renounced all expectations from the law, his whole dependence was upon º alone ºrighteousness and life. (Ver. Iſi, to the end.) Having thus entered on the main point he had in view, the apostle proceeds, - - - II. To prove that justification only can be had by faith in Christ, without the works of the law. And this he introduces with reproving the dº. for their instability with regard to this important doctrine; which . been established by the death of Christ, and confirmed by the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, nothing could be more senseless than to turn from it to the carnal ordinances of the law, and so to lose the benefit of all their sufferings for the gospel, unmindful, of the attestations that were given to the truth of it. (Chap. iii. 1–5.) And then, in confirmation of the doctrine he had re- proved them for rejecting, he offers several arguments, and shows, - - I. That as it was by faith Abraham was justified, so it is by faith that we become his children, and are partakers of the blessing with him. (Ver, 6–9.) - - 2. That the law pronounces a curse on every one who is in any instance guilty of transgressing it; and therefore that it is not by the law we can be justified, but by faith. (Ver. 10–12. 3. That Christ hath set us free from the condemning sentence of the law ; and as it is by him that we escape the curse, so we obtain the blessing only through faith in him. (Ver. 13, 14.) - 4. That the stability of the covenant of promise to Abraham and his seed is such, that it could not be vacated by the law, which was given long after the promise was made, under the mediation of Moses, and between different parties; and therefore that it is not by the observance of the law, but only by faith in the promise, the benefit of justification and a title to eternal life can be obtained. (Ver, 15–18.) - - 5. That the design of God in giving the law was, not to justify, but to convince of sin, as well as to restrain from the commission of it; and being intended only for a temporary institution, instead of vacating the promise, it was designed to be subservient to it, by showing the necessity of a better righteousness than that of the law, and so to lead the awakened i. º Christ, that, being justified by faith in him, we might obtain the benefit of the promise. (Ver. 19–24.) And therefore, 6. That such is the º of the gospel-dispensation, that christians are no longer under the discipline of the law; but being united unto Christ by faith, and so become the sons of God, both Jews and Gentiles are all one in him ; and the distinctions which the law had made being done away, all true believers are the seed of Abraham, and heirs of the blessing with him, by virtue of the promise, and not by any title which the law could give. (Ver. 25, to the end.) But as the heir to an estate is in subjection, like a servant, under the government of guardians, during his minority: so were the Jews, before the gospel was revealed, like children under age, kept in subjection to the law; till at the time appointed for their entering on possession of the promised inheritance, as sons that were come to maturity, Christ was sent forth to answer all that the law demanded, and to redeem his people from their bondage to it; that being received by faith in him into the number of the sons of God, both Jews and Gentiles might be brought into a glorious liberty, and, being enabled by the Spirit to approach to God as their Father, they might enjoy the privilege and freedom of heirs of God through Christ, and be no more as servants under subjection to the law. (Chap. iv., 1–7.). And hence the apostle takes occasion, III. To expostulate with the Galatians on their weakness and folly, in being so deluded by false teachers as to give up the liberty of the gospel, and be persuaded to become subject to the law. And, to convince them how unreasonable and absurd their conduct was, 1. He observes, that they were formerly, as Gentiles, in bondage to the Superstitions of the heathen worship, and now that they were brought into a state of liberty, it was a strange infatuation they should be willing to submit again to another servitude, and to come under bondage to the unprofitable rites and ceremonies of the law: which gave him ground to fear his labour would be found in a great measure to have been lost upon them. (Ver. 8–11.) 2. He reminds them of the great affection and regard they had expressed for him and his ministry when he first preached the gospel to them; and argues with them, what occasion he had given for the alteration of their disposition towards him, or how they could account for it, unless he was become their enemy by telling them the truth. (Ver. 12–16.) 3. He cautions them against the base design of their false teachers, who would alienate their hearts from him, to engross them to themselves; and intimates how fit it was they should retain the same #. to him and to the truth, now he was absent, as they had shown when he was present; assuring them that he had still the same affectionate concern for them, and would be glad of coming to them, and finding matters better with them than he feared. (Ver, 17–20.) 4. He illustrates the advantage of believers under the gospel, as to their privilege and freedom, above that of those under the law, by an allegory taken from the two sons of Abraham by Hagar and Sarah, as typical of the difference between the two dispensations of the law and gospel; of which the former was a state of bondage, and all that seek for justifica- tion by it are excluded like Ishmael from inheriting the promise ; whereas the latter is a state of freedom, and those who come into this new and better dispensation, like Isaac, are the children of the promise, and are by faith entitled to the blessings of it. (Ver, 21, to the jº was the freedom they were brought into by Christ; and he exhorts them to be steadfast in it, and to beware of Čoming under a servile yoke by a subjection to the law. (Chap. v. 1.) And to prevent their having any further thought of it, 5. He assures them that, by submitting to be circumcised, they became subject to the whole burden of the law, and could receive no benefit by Christ, but were cut off from all advantage they might have by the grace of the gospel, by seeking to be justified by their obedience to the law; while he and aff true Christians looked for justification only by the righteousness of Christ, with reference to which it made no difference whether they were circumcised or not, if they had such a faith as operates by love. (Ver. 2–6.) And therefore, - 6. He calls them to consider whence it was that, after they had set out well, they were drawn off from that regard which they once had for the truth and liberty of the gospel; and shows them it was owing to the ill impressions made upon them by their false teachers, by whom he was unjustly charged with preaching up circumcision, of which his sufferings for the doctrine of the cross were a plain confutation; expressing at the same time his hope concerning them, that they would come to be of the same mind with him, and wishing those who had endeavoured to corrupt them were cast out of the church, that they might do no further mischief (Ver, 7–12.) And now, as he was drawing to a close of his Epistle, according to his usual method, - ... --> * THIRDLY, He offers several pººl directions to them, and exhorts them to a behaviour answerable to their christian calling, and to the institution of the gospel, as a doctrine according to godliness. Where, 1. He takes occasion, from his mentioning their christian liberty, to caution them against abusing it to an indulgence of the flesh, and to the breach of christian charity; and urges them to mutual love, as what they wer: obliged to both by the law and gospel, and which if they neglected, and gave way to animosities and contentions, º would be exposed to ruin and destruction. (Ver. 13–15.) 2. He exhorts them to a conversation suitable to the dispensation of grace they had received, by a compliance with the influences of the Spirit, in opposition to the workings of the flesh; and, giving a description of the different fruits of each, shows, that as christians, they were obliged to crucify the flesh with its corrupt affections, and to obey the dictates of the 646 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANs. ; º continual exercise of all the graces of it; and warns them, in particular, against pride and vain-glory. (Ver. 16, to the end. - -- 3. He * it to them to deal tenderly with those who are overtaken in a fault, endeavouring to restore them, with a compassionate regard to their infirmitiés, by a meek and gentle treatment, as those who would fulfil the law of Christ; and cautions them, instead of entertaining a conceited notion of their own sufficiency, as if they were not liable to fall as well as others, or being pleased with the high sentments that others have of them, to examine their own work, whe- ther it be such as may afford them ground of rejoicing, since every one must be accountable for his own behaviour, and shall at last be dealt with, not according to the vain imagination he has of himself, or the good opinion of others.concern- ing him, but according to what he really is, and the true character that he is found to bear. (Chap. vi. 1–5.) 4. He presses it upon them as their duty, to be free and liberal in contributing to the support and maintenance of their ministers, assuring them that plausible excuses in a point of duty would fatally deceive those that made use of them, and every one should reap according as he sowed; and therefore urges them not to be weary in well doing, but to lay hold of every opportunity for doing good to all, especially to their fellow-christians. (Ver, 6–10.) And now, the apostle having written this Epistle with his own hand, and given this testimony of his affectionate regard to the Galatians, sums up the main design of it as the close of all, (ver. Ii, to the end) and shows, that as to their false teachers it was fºr selfish ends, and not from any veneration for the law, they pressed them to be circumcised, that by this means they mign keep up their reputation with the Jews, and might not only save themselves from persecution, but glory also in the number of their proselytes; while, for his own part, he had no worldly views, and j not glory but in the cross of Christ, by whom alone it is that justification can be had. This was the doctrine that he ºš nor should the fear of persecution make him to disguise it, for it was only in this way that any could be justified and saved; and, whe- ther they were circumcised or not, if they were made new creatures, and acted by this principle, mercy and peace should be upon them, as the true Israel of God. No one should therefore trouble him any more with urging the necessity of cir- cumcision, or with suggesting he himself was for it, when he had shown his zeal for the #. doctrine of the gospel by his sufferings for it; the marks of which were a plain evidence of his regard to Christ, and such a proof of his sincerity, as might well serve to vindicate his character, and to confirm the truth of what he had taught them.—And, having thus re- minded them of the main view he had in writing this Epistle, he concludes it with a solemn, apostolical benediction. A P A R A P H R A S E AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE PAUL, AFTER A GENERAL AND PROPER SALUTATION, EXPRESSES HIS SURPRISE AND C CHRISTIANS HAD SO FIRST PLANTED AMONGST THEMI. GAL. i. 1–10. GAL. i. VER. 1. men, neither by ma GSURS rist, and G Father, who raised him from the dead;) GALATIANS i. VER. I. PAUL, an apostle, (not of YOU receive this Epistle from Paul, who hath the honour to stan whatever the factious teachers, who are endeavouring to disturb you, may have represented: but I am capable of giving you the most convincing evidence, that I had an immediate call to this honourable charge by Jesus Christ the great Head of the church, who did him- self in person appear to me again and again, (Acts iz. 4. xxii. 18.) and sent me forth to be his witness unto all men, according to the sovereign choice of God the Father, (Acts xxii. 14, 15.) who hath raised him from among the dead,” and therein laid the great foundation of our faith in him for righteousness and life, and our reliance on him as the Son of God 2 And all, the brethren which are with, me, unto the churches of Galatia: and the only Saviour of men. And while I am thus addressing myself to you, all the christian brethren, especially the ministersb who are with me here at Corinth, join with me in the sentiments I am going to propose, and in the most friendly and affectionate saluta- tions unto the churches of Galatia, whom they cordially love, notwithstanding any differ- 3 Grace be to peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus hrist, God the Father, the great Original and Fountain of all good, and [from] our Lord Jesus 4 Who gave himself for our Christ, the Purchaser and Dispenser of it; sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world - according to the will of God deliver. and our Father: himself up to the severest sufferings, as an atoming sacrifice fo us by the efficacy of his death from the destructive snares and condemnation that attend this present evil world,” from the predominant vices of the age, and from the ruin and compassionately gave Who graciousl %r our sins, that he might thus they will bring on all who shall continue in the practice of them, whether Jews or Gen- tiles; which glorious design he generously undertook according to the merciful and saving will of God, even our Father, who chose 5 To whom he glory for to himself: To whom therefore, for this ever and ever. Amen. 6 I marvel, that ye. are, so soon removed from him that called you into the grace, of Christ unto another gospel: is wisest and happiest method of recovering us adorable and matchless grace to sinful creatures, ſº glory and praise for ever and ever. .4men. ince this then is the only way of being justified and saved, it gives me great concern, and I am quite astonished, my beloved brethren, that after ye have been instructed in it, and seemed to have received the truth in the love of it, ye are so soon removed” from a due regard to him that called you into this method of salvation by and through the grace of a Who hath raised him from the dead..] . . Mr. L'Enfant thinks these words are added to obviate an objection which might be raised against Paul’s mission, from his not having received a commission from Christ, iike the other apostles, while he was here on earth. . But the minds of the apostles appear to be always full of the joyful idea of Christ's rg- sºrrºſion, and therefore it is no wonder that put of the fulness of their jºarts they should seize every opportunity of speaking, of it. Compare Rom, i. Thess. i. 10. Heb. i. et. . i. 3. and a multitude of other texts.--To which it may be added, that it is, with great propriety the apostle mentions here, that God hath raised, hip from, the dead, as agreeable to the main point he had in, view, which was to asser; the dóctrine of justification by faitli in Christ, since God deglared, by Žišig him from the dead, that he accepted the atonement Christ had made and gave bim a discharge from any further clairn upgn him for the satisfaction of his justice: and as it is this that is the great foundation of our faith in Christ, so the apostle says elsewhere, that he was raised again for our justification. ... Rom. ix. 25. - b #: #. *:::::::::::::: ministers.] As the titles of brethren and saints are applied to different persons, and utinisters, scem to be distinguished by being called brethren, Phil. iv. 21, 22. they are pro- bably here intended. - * -- • * - c. Notwithstanding any difference in form and opinion, &c.] Though the christians at Corinth were most of them converted Geniles, and these of Gjatia were strongly prejudiced in ſavour of the Jewish ceremonics; yet the apostle expresses their affection towards thesg their brethren, ână that with great propriety, that he might thereby .* them to u - d's them (ver. suitable return of love. n the samo principle ho remir, ~ 4.) of the blessings which as christians they shared in common, that he might endear them the more to those who were joined with them in such happy bands. d From this present ceil world..] The words ex 7s eves-gorog atovog Tovmps are ambiguous, and some would render them, from the evil of this present world; which makes a very good sense; but had it been in- tended by the apostle, I think the article T9 would have been repeated. (Compare John xyii. 15.) - Mr. Locke argues, from 1 Cor. ii. 6, 8, that at Qw ovros signifies, the Jewish nation under the Mosaic constitution; and supposes these words to contain an intimation, that God intended to take the Jews themselves out of it, so far was he from any purpose of bringing the Gentiles under it. But as it is certain that atºv often signifies the same with koggos, that is, the world, (see Matt. xiii. 39, 40. 2 Cor. iv.4, and Tit. ii. 12. which last place seems exactly parallel to this,). I think it would be very unreasonable to limit so noble and ex- pressive a clause by so narrow an interpretation. ,e Thqt year; so soon removed.] It appears ſrom the beginning of the General Introduction to this Epistle, that Pauj had preached the gospel first to the Galatians, and planted several churches in that country, in his pºssing through it, (Acts xvi.6.) about the latter end of the year 50. He visited them §§ (Acts xviii. 23.) in the year 54; and he seems to have written this Epistle before that visit. He had reason therefore to wonder that their sentiments were so quickly changed, and that such warm affections, as they them bore him (chap. iv. I4, i5.) were so soom and so greatly alienated. *- 2 yog, and ence in form and opinion which at present may subsist among them.“ It is our most 3 unfeigned, ardent prayer, that the richest communications of divine grace and favour may [be] imparted to you, with all the blessings of prosperity, and peace of every kind, from 4 5 ONCERN THAT THE GALATLAN SOON SUFFERED THEMSELVES TO BE LED "ASIDE FROM THE SIMPLICITY OF THAT GOSPEL WHICH HE HAD d in the character of an SECT. #;"; apostle of the christian church; an important office, which he did not presumptuously arro- ate to himself, nor receive from the appointment or authority of men as the original, nor y the choice or intervention of any man upon earth as the instrument, of his mission; I. GAL. I. 648 PAUL's CONCERN AT THE ERRORs OF THE GALATIANs. SECT. Christſ and who continues still in the same sentiments as when he was at first the happy 1. Instrument of bringing you to an acquaintance with it; that ye are so soon removed, I GAL ity, wnto what may almost be called another gospel, as being so entirely inconsistent with †- the very fundamentals of that which you were originally taught concerning our free justi- - fication by divine grace on our believing, without the works of the Mosaic law. But , 7 which is not another; indeed, to speak more exactly, that system of doctrines which you have so rashly and un- §º º: happily received, is not in strict propriety another gospel, nor worthy the name of gospel gospel of §º perver the at all; but this in short is the case, that there are some séducing and Pharisaical teachers, - who, for their own unworthy ends, have gone about to trouble you with false insinuations, and are desirous to do their utmost to subvert and overthrow ific gospel of Christ, which * hath been preached to you in so pure and powerful a manner. You know the doctrine 8 Bei though wo, or an that was first delivered to you under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; and whatsoever *..." ºf"; º may have been suggested, as if Peter and the other apostles, and eveni myself, do some- tº, º ºf ººº; times preach up the works of the law, as necessary to be joined with faith in Christ for pºnto you, let him justification, let no such principles be admitted by you :"but though we, or any other apostle, not excepting the most honourable and illustrious names, or even an angel from hegem," if that were possible, should preach any other gospel among you than that it high we have already preached writo you, and confirmed by such apparent and uncontrolled miracles, let him not only be rejected, but pronounced an amathema, and be devoted to a perpetual and most dreadful curse. - Sor is it by any sudden flight of zeal that I express myself thus; but as we have said, 9 As we said before, so say but just before, so say I now again, and solemnly repeat it as my deliberate judgment, If irº § &ng one Whatever, whether man or angel, preach any other gospel to you than thºphich jeº...” hºpe received, already from our lips, and which indeed ye have been taught by us from * , let him be accursed. Christ himself, let him be anathema, and look upon him with as much detestatiºn as you would on the most execrable creature in the universe. 10 I speak with all this freedom, from the sure consciousness of my own integrity: for ... 10 Foº now persuade after all that I have done and suffered for the truth, do I now solicit the favour of men or §§ § 3.9% *** of God? Do I endeavour in my ministry to ingratiate myself with mén, or to approve fºllºid not be myself to God? Or do I, in the general course of my conduct, seek to please men by a the servant of Christ. compliance with their prejudices or designs? I have no party views, as I had formerly before I was converted, (Acts is. 1, 2.) nor any intention to pursue the schemes and serve the purposes of men ; for if indeedk. I yet pleased men, by soothing their humour and flattering their vanity, I should not be the servânt of Christ; I should not deserve the name of a christian, and much less that of a minister and an apostle, and must indeed change the whole system of my doctrine, if I would render it agreeable to human prejudices. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 4 LET us adore the name of that blessed Redeemer who gave himself a Sacrifice for our sins; and may the con- sideration of his gracious purpose in doing it have its efficacy, to deliver us from this present evil world, and to raise 1 our hearts to that to which the Father hath exalted him, by whom he was raised from the dead: to whom, for all 5 the purposes of his grace in the whole scheme of our redemption, be glory for ever and ever. Let the remembrance of this compassionate Saviour, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, engage us 7 to be steadfast in the profession of his religion, and to be upon our guard against all who would pervert the gospel. May his ministers especially be exceeding cautious how they do anything that kooks like corrupting it; since such 8, 9 a dreadful anathema is pronounced against an apostle, or an angel, who should attempt it! Who can be superior to every alarm on this head, that considers the case of the Galatians, who, though they 6 received the gospel from the lips of such an apostle as Paul, could be so soon removed and drawn aside to a quite - different system? But God made a gracious provision for their being recovered, and confirmed in the primitive faith, by this Epistle; which was intended also to be a security to us, that we might learn from hence the purity and simplicity of the christian doctrine, and be established in the truth as it is in Jesus. - 10 : Let the ministers of Christ faithfully preach it, not as seeking to please men, but that God who trieth the hearts; and who can only be pleased by an entire surrender of the ºul to that system of truth and duty which he hath condescended to teach, and by a faithful care to spread its genuine and salutary maxims as widely as they can, without any addition or diminution. To solicit the favour of men, and to endeavour to oblige them, § sacrificing such sacred considerations to any of their º: and follies, is to act in a manner utterly unbecoming a servant of Christ; and so unworthy a conduct in such as bear the character of ministers, may justly provoke the indigna- tion of their divine Master to make them as contemptible as they suffer themselves to become unfaithful. 9 SECTION II. To vindicate his doctrine to the Galatians, and to remove the prejudices that were raised against it, Paul shows them it was not received from men; and as a proof of the diving authority of his mission, gives sºme ººcoºn; of facts which immediately succeeded his conversion from a persecuting zeal against christianity to the profession of it. Gal. i. 11, to the end. GALATIANS i. 11. w GAL. i. 11. SECT. SOME have indeed attempted to reflect upon my doctrine, and to depreciate the autho- #F# certify *...*. * - * .P. f. * º s € goSD6: I *{{S 2. rity of my commission as an apostle; but I certify low, brethren, and declare in the most ; cf. §§'i'."º. determinate language I am capable of using, that whatever my enemieś, who herein are man. GAL. yours likewise, may insinuate to the contrary, the gospel which has every where been preqched I. 11 by me, is not according to the tradition or invention of man, nor in any way adulteråted and * º - - "Ha->> * - - - - - - ven.] S have imagined that th tl - led you by the grace of Christ.] If it be here.com h Or an angel from heaven.]. Some have imagine e apostle ºft#. in #. original is 3, Xapt?i, that is, by or here refers to the pretences which Ceinthus is said to have made to his gº, º zºe of Christ, (as our translation renders it elsewhere; 2 º'º. from, the hand ºf an aftgel; but I see no proof Aroug * * * * y - ſty that this pretension was made so % if indeed it were made at all. * 12. 2 Šss. ii.16) and not into the grace; there is no difficu - - º º ##### º;; º pjjač"oët is...} by hiſ that illed , i. Solicit the favºr of nº or ºf Gºd: Avôpºs Tétéº, m ſoy 9%.] - - w - in in ºr orcs . * * {& f * *- ... likºwºść afterwards, chap. v. 8.jnor is there any, thing. It is by a great Jatitude that the Prussian version renders this, “The #: ####! it § is speaking ºf himself, as he that ninistered 49ctrine wº. I would here persuade, is it that of men or of God?” the Spirit to them. bap. iii. 5. - he connexion seems to demonstrate that reibo, here signifies, seek to "g ºnto another gospel.] Mons. Saqrin observes (Senn: Vºl. xi. p. 46.) uade or to ingratiate himself with the one, or the other, though it be that the Gajatjans were a colony of the pers - - Gauls, that is, of the ancient #ºgged to be a less common sense. Compare Acts xii. 20. xiv. ibitinº of france : who, says he, have been always reproached ; XIX.,2b; , , º - - - - - tºº. impressions Čašijº, and as easily suffering them to be k Indeed.) That Yap is often used to signify indeed, see note q, on efficed. Acts xix. 40. p. 458. - THE DIVINITY OF PAUL’S MISSION. 649 debased to suit the relish, or to favour the prejudices, of those to whom it was to be de-SECT. alº.º.º.º.e. livered. For I neither received my commission to preach it from the authority or interpo- 2. łuśht #"hit". ºla sition of any man whatever, nor was I taught [it] by any written memoirs, or any other tion of Jesus Christ. human method of instruction,” but in a most extraordinary and miraculous way I was en- GAL. lightened in it, and authorized to preach it, by the immediate revelation of Jesus Christ 12 I. himself, who communicated to me by inspiration the knowledge of salvation by faith in him, and sent me forth to publish the glad tidings of the gospel. cºś This you already know, though I touch upon it again as a truth of so great importance; 13 th. Jºliºio."fiolºhº for you undoubtedly have heard of my conversation and character in time past, particularly º! ...”. B.º. in my youthful days, and to the happy time when I became acquainted with the gospel; wasted it; y that I was such a violent bigot in the profession of Judaism,” and so implacable an enemy to the followers of Christ, that I unmeasurably persecuted with the most insatiable rage the church of God, which I now esteem it my greatest honour to edify and serve, though I #! And poſited in the Jews was then intent upon its ruin, and ravage religion, above many ...my §"inº ot.";atiº, such was my regard for all the Jewish rites and customs, that I made proficiency in the being more exceedingly zeal- #' O' +. Iſº -- .. **** * a • * **** ous of the traditions of Iny knowledge and practice of Judaism, beyond many of my own nation, [who were] my equals fathers. in age, and of the same standing with myself in the study of the law; being more abun- dantly and passionately zealous for the hereditary maxims and traditions of my fathers, on 15 But when it pleased God, which the Pharisaic séct lays so much stress. But when at length it pleased God, who in who separated me from ..º.b."ºnjºl; the secret purposes of his mercy had set apart and separated me to this office from my mo- true by his grace, ther's womb, (as he did Jeremiah to that of a prophet, Jer. i. 5.) having determined to employ me as a minister of his gospel; and who afterwards called [me] by such an aston- ishing display and ener that I might preach him gy of his grace, while I was actually engaged in opposition to his 16 To reveal his sonin me, cause and interest: When it pleased him, I say, to reveal by vision and inspiration his 16 ...nºthº.h.º.m. Son Christ Jesus in me, and thus to give me a discovery of the glories of his person, and flººd not with of his righteousness and grace, that I might not only know him for . own salvation, but º It also in due time, when Providence should open a convenient way, mig preach him among the Gentiles" as well as among the Jews, to whom my addresses were at first confined; immediately my heart was overpowered, and all my prejudices so entirely removed, that I conferred not with flesh and blood,d and stood not to consider what would be most sub- servient to . worldly interest, or to consult with any mortal man about engaging in the l 17 Neither went 1 up to work to whic Jerusalem to them which I had so clear a call. JVor did I at that time go up to Jerusalem to t {...l.º.o.º. were apostles before me, to be instructed more particularly in the doctrines I should preach, I went into Arabia, and re- that there might be no inconsistencies between us, or to apply to them for a commission to turned again unto Damascus. perform my office; but having entered on my ministry, and preached the word at Damas- cus, (Acts ix. 20.) I went for a while into Arabia, where I could have no opportunity of being taught by any man, as none of the apostles, had been there before me; and from thence I returned again to Bamascus, where I bold)j. declared the necessity of believing in Christ for salvation, even in the presence of those prejudiced against that important doctrine. Then at length, after three years from the time of my conversion, I went up to Jerusalem, is 18 Them after three years I went up to Jerusalem to ews whom I knew to be most strongly .*.*... ."...º. to visit and converse with Peter, by whom, when he had heard from Barnabas an account him fifteen days. the Lord had called; and of my conversion and my }. ing at Damascus, I was cordially received as one whom abode there with him at his house but fifteen days, to have the leasure of discoursing with him on the mutual success of our ministry, and not with the 19 But other of the apostles least view of receiving any further authority from him. But I saw no one of the apostles 19 saw I none, sav i., §..." "es the then besides, except it were James, the brother or near kinsman of the Lord Jesus;* for all the rest of that sacred society were absent at that time on their respective missions. 20 Now the things, which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. .Now with respect to all these circumstances, [as to] the things which I write unto you, 20 you may give the most entire credit to them, how little soever they may consist with some reports that have been artfully spread abroad concerning me; for behold, I solemnly profess to you before, God, that I do not lie or falsify in the least degree, but with all possible 21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; .Afterwards departing rom Jerusalem, frankness and sincerity º what I assuredly know to be the most certain truth. I came into the regions of Syria, and from thence 21 I passed into my native country of Cilicia, to exercise my ministry there, and to bring, if possible, those among whom I was born to the knowledge of Christ and of the doctrine 22 And was unknown by - - face unto the churches of of salvation by him. ..?nd during all this time, as I had only just passed through their 22 Judea which were in Čhrist'. country in my way, I was unknown by face to the several churches of Christ which were in a JA or tras I, taught, [it] &c.] If it should be objected here, that Ananias would undoubtedly instruct Paul in the principles of the gos- nel before he baptized him, it may be replicd, not only that Amanias was no such considerable person that Paul should be suspecucci by the Xalatians to have been inoſleled by him ; , but that it seenis when Ananias first came to him, Paul was so well acquainted with the prin- ciples of christianity, which he had been instructed in, by revelation during the three days of his blindness, that Ananias could not judge it necessary to instruct him as a catechumen; which is the nore probable, as it appears the Lord had told hjin Paul was before acquainted by a vision with the purpose of his coming to him. See Acts iN. 12. b In Judaism.J. Mir. L'Enfant well observes, that this does not sizjaify the religion, originally taught by Mloses, but, that wilich was practised ..". the Jews at this time, and much of it built upon the traditions of thº ("ltiCºrs. c That I might preach him among the Gentiles.) . This was undoubtedly the scheme of Providence concerning Paul, who was accordingly dis- tinguished by the character of the Apostle of the Gentiles; but if his couversion happened, its we supposes about the year .35, and Peter’s preaching to Cornelius in the year §, then, since it is incontestably evident that the Gentiles first heard the gospel by the mouth of Peter, it will follow that Paul did not, at first understand the full extent of his commission, and therefore when he first began to preach, confined his labours to the synagogues at Damascus; which is indeed intimated, Acts is. 20–22. w T * d Immediately I conferred not neith flesh and blood.] Dr. Wells and some others understand this as if the apostle had said, “Immediately after the recovery of my sight, without conferring with any man in the world, or so much as applying to Ananias himself for advice, I retired by divine direction into the desert of Arabia; where, after some time spent in devotion, I had a full revelation made to me of the most in- portant facts and doctrines of christianity, [which some suppose to be the rapture referred to, 2 Cor. xii. 3..] and then, after my return from thence, preached at Dámascus for the first time.” (Seo Wells’s Geog. Ms K- vol. iii. p. 275.) And Mr. Locke insists that ev0ea); here does not refer to his immediately engaging in the work of the ministry without apply- ing for advice to any man, but to his going into Arabia.-But the same word is used by Luke in his History of the Acts, who, without taking any notice of Paul's departure into Arabia, says, that after he recoyere strength he tarried certain days at Damascus, and (cut)cos) immediately preached Christ in the synagogues. Acts iN. 19, 20. So that it seems inost probable to me, that after his conversion, Paul was so well in- structed in the knowledge of the gospel by the revelation that was then made to hitn, that he immediately began, without consulting any man, to preach the word at Damascus, before he went fronn thence into Arabia; which is most suitable to the natural order of the words, and best agrees with the account of his first entering on his ministry in the Acts. See p. 407. note h. - e James, the brother or near kinsman of the Jord Jesus.] He was the son of Alpheus and Aiury, the sister of the Pirgin ; so that James was cousin-german to Jesus. See p. 304. note e.—This visit to Jerusalem, (which is mentioned, Agts iN. 26, et scq.) as it was three years after his conversion, appears to have been in the year 3S ; and, after Paul had preached so long before, it cannot be supposed he was instructed how to preach the gospel in the short stay he now made at Jerusalem, where he saw only two of the apostles. - - f Before God, I do not lie..] A revelation of the facts and doctrines of christianity immediately, from Jesus Christ himself, without the assist- ance of any human teacher, so wonderfully, agreeing in all its branches with that which Christ had taught on earth both before and after his re- surrection, was so extraordinary an event, and of so, great importance to those whom St. Paul visited, and to whom he wrote, that one cannot wonder he should think proper to assert it in so solemn, a manner. We have great reason, while we read the attestation he has given to the truth of what he says, to acknowledge that it is of a piece with the many signs and wonders attending both his conversion and his ministry; Which Wir. Lyttleton has so admirably illustrated in his Observations on the Conversion, &c. of St. Paul. d it with all the fury of a beast of prey. And Rem that 17 650 PAUL’S JOURNEY FROM ANTIOCH TO JERUSALEM. SECT. Judea, as well as to the greater part of my brethren the apostles; so that I could learn 2. nothing of the contents of the #º. from any of them; But only they had heard this 23 But they had heard only wonderful account in general, which might well spread through all the land, that he j. That...i.d GAL. so cruelly persecuted us in times past to imprisonment and death, was become a convert to jº"; %, * 2s the victorious truth and grace of the gospel, so that he now preacheſh the same divine faii, destroyed. which he formerly ravaged and laid waste to the utmost of his power, and would, if possi- 24 ble, have totally destroyed and extirpated: And they glorified God on º/gccount, as they 24 And they glorified God ; might, beholding in me so illustrious an instance of the power and sovereignty of in me. S grace. - IMPROVEMENT. Ver:24, LET us also, at this distance of time and country, join with them in glorifying God in the a ostle : in * 23 the grace that engaged him to preach the faith ; once have j à. at length to . his º to that of the martyrs of Christ which he had shed. Still has the great Head of the church the same omnipotent efficacy, the same ability to influence the heart, to overcome the strongest prejudices, and to turn bigots into true believers; and, rather than his church shall want its servants and its ornaments, he will find them among its most cruel enemies. ad 17, 18 . Had the gospel been taught St. Paul by Ananias or Peter, or any of the apostles, his readiness to receive it from 19 such teachers, and to preach it at the certain expense of his reputation, his interest, and his life, would no doubt 11, 12 have ranked him among the most illustrious witnesses to the truth of christianity. But this additional fact of an Qriginal revelation of the whole system of it to him independent of human teaching, deserves our admiration and demands our praise. - &=> 15 God herein wrought according to the secret counsel of his divine will, and that purpose by which he had sepa- 13, 14 rated Paul from the womb. In vain was it opposed by the prevailing prejudices of his education, or by the violence of his zeal for Judaism, and that proficiency in it by which he haſ eclipsed so many of his contemporaries and those of his own nation. All his zeal for the traditions of his fathers gave Way to a yet greater zeal for a nobler 21, 22 object; a zeal which carried him through Arabia and Syria, through Jüdea an Cilicia, and prevented him, in one 16 sense as well as another, from consulting with flesh and blood, from being influenced by any selfish, worldly views or giving heed to any man’s opinion. 5 Adored be the grâce that animated and supported him in Overcoming every difficulty; and having so miracu- lously furnished him for the great work that he was called to, made him so gloriously successful in it.” So may we be enabled to surmount every obstacle! and so may we be taught, as to those things which we have most highl €steemed, to count them all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and to grudge no labour, self. denial, or suffering, by which the gospel may be any way promoted or adorned, and a testimony given of our faithful subjection to it! SECTION III. The apostle, in prosecutiºn of that gºsign on which he entered in the preceding section, informs the Galatians of his journey from Antioch 2 Jerusalem, and of his interview with the apostles there, fourteen years after his conversion. Gal. *Poºl, y to GALATIANS ii. 1. • * GAL. ii. 1. SECT. I HAVE just been telling you, that quickly after my journey from Damascus to Jerusa- THEN fourteen years after 3. lem, I traversed the regions of Syria and Cilicia, being them in a great measure unknown **ść †† to the churches in Judea, otherwise than by my general character, and what they had Îitis withºso. GAL heard of the surprising change wrought in me: I am now to add, that about fourteen years * , after my conversion,” when I had preached the word some time at Antioch, I went up I again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, to consult with the church there upon the grand ques- tion of the freedom of the Gentiles from the Mosaic law, (Acts xv. 2.) and I took Titus also with me,b though he was uncircumcised, that I might therein show my christian liberty, and assert that of my Gentile brethren against those who were so zealous in their attempts to invade it. But I then went up, not to receive instructions in my work from any of the , 2 And I went up by reve- apostles there, or to be confirmed in my office by them, but by the appointment of a §the "isº"; special revelation,” and to subserve a very different and important purpose, in which the fºréaºgº. eace and liberty of the church were much concerned. And when I was arrived there, and ºf: |. the pleasure of meeting my brethren, I explained at large, and freely laid before them, § {. I should run, or the contents of that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, not only so far as it relates "“””” to the exemption of the Gentile converts from any obligation to observe the Mosaic law, but likewise with respect to the deliverance of the Jews themselves from the bondage of it; which gave them an opportunity of seeing how fully I was instructed in the mind of Christ, .# how little I needed any further teachings from them. But this account how- ever I gave, not in a public assembly, but privately," to those who were of greatest note and 2 from Antioch to Jerusalem, so he employed him afterwards on several occasions, and appears to have regarded him with great affection and endearment. - - - c Went up by regelation.] Dr. Whitby supposes, in his note upon this lace, that as St. Paul had said before thºd the gospel which e preached by the rev n of Jesus Christ, (chap. i. 12.) he only means, by what he now declares, that he went up according to the re- yelation which he then received, and in this journey acted suitably to that revelation which had constituted him the apostle of the Gentiles, telling the church at Jerusalem, what things he had done among the entiles in pursuance of it. But it seems rather to be here iºd (as I have observed glsewhere, p. 433. note a,), that in their sending Päi and Barnabas to Jerusalem, the church, at Antioch were directed by a a Fourteen years aſter.] As it is certain that Paul, saw both Peter and James in that journey to Jerusalem of which we have an account; Acts xv.4, et seq. it is very natural to suppose he would mention it here, and that this is the journey which he now refers to; (compare p. ... note a ; and ver. 9. of this chapter,) and as we have found reason to believe that the council then held at Jerusalem did not happen later than the year 49, it seems reasonable to reckon the fourteen years here mentioned from his conversion, and not from the conclusion of those travels through, Syria and Cilicia which he had mentioned, ver, 21. of the foregoing chapter; for as we cannot suppose him to have finished his tour, through those countries in much less than four years after his conversion, such a computation will bring back that ever-memorable event to the year 31, which was two years before Christ’s death.-He does not here mention his going up to Jerusalem in the Year 43, with what had been collected at Antioch for the poor brethren in Judea, (of which we read, Acts xi. 29, 30. xii. 25.) because he then saw none of the apostles; and the question here was about the opportunities he might have had of conversing with them... . . - - b Took, Titus also pith ºne.] This is the earliest mention that we meet with of Titus: for he is no where mentioned by St. Luke in the Acts; and What we read of him in the Second Epistle in the Corinthians, (2 Cor. ii. 13. vii. 6, 14. viii. 6.) as well as in that to Timothy, (2 Tim. iv. 10.) was later by some years. He is here said to have been a Greek, (ver. 3.) and being born of Gentile parents, was not circumcised; but where or when he was converted is uncertain; only we may conclude he was converted by St. Paul, from the title he gives him of his ongn son after the common faith, (Tit. i. 4.) and as he now took Titus with him revelation made either immediately to Paul himself, or to some other of the prophets there, relating to the important business they were sent Upoil. 2 d But privately.] I have elsewhere shown at large, that the secret here referred to was not, as has been so confidently, asserted, “his preaching the gospel to the idolatrous Gentiles,” which was a fact it cannot be supposed he should endeavour to conceal from any; but the point which }. communicated thus in private, was “the exemption, not of the Gentile converts only, but of the Jews themselves, from the ob- servance of the Mosaic ceremonies, as what they were no longer bound to, under the gospel, any further than as the peace and edification of others were concerned.” On this (as I have shown) there wero sufficient reasons why he should choose to be on the reserve at present; źj when the purpose of his journey had been answered, and he had leſt Jerusa- HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE APOSTLES THERE. reputation in the church; lest some should have been found who would have cavilled at it, and by abusing some of the particulars, would have represented us as differing from each other; in consequence of which it might be feared I should hereafter run, or hitherto had run, in vain, as the good effects of my future or past labours would have been lessened GAL. or obstructed by the increase of their j. ; and in particular, the intent of my 2 * journey to Jerusalem might have been hindered, had I then opened my thoughts too fully 3 But, neither Titus, who was with me, hº a Greck, was compelled to be circum- cised : in the presence of a large and promiscuous assembly. But though I did not think myself obliged in sincerity to make a all that was in my breast on that subject, yet I did not take any step t s te up the liberty of my Gentile brethren : for neither Titus, who was then with me, being a ublic declaration of #. looked like giving Greek, and still continuing in a state of uncircumcision, was compelled to submit to that rite,” though so many maintained that it was absolutely necessary to be circumcised in order 4 And that because of false to Salvation. brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us in bondage : (Acts xv. 1, 5.) And I was more averse to that, and rather favoured the dis- . inclination of Titus to it, because of the false brethrenſ [that were] artfully introduced, not only into the church but the ministry, upon a general apprehension of their piety, without to being sufficiently informed of their principles and tempers; who had before slipped in among us at Antioch, to spy out and make their ill-natured remarks upon our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus with regard to these things, that by imposing on the church there, which consisted chiefly of Gentile converts, they might find means to bring us into a servile bondage to the law of Moses, by urging the necessity of submitting to the grievous and * painful yoke of its ceremonies: To whom, whatever court some thought proper to make to 5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with y OUI. zº them, or whatever personal condescensions even I myself might sometimes yield to, (1 Cor. ix. 19, 20.) we did not, either at Antioch or at Jerusalem, give place by any compli- ance or subjection to their insolent demandsſ”, so much as an hour open protest against their principles, that t ; but always entered our truth of the gospel might continue with you, and you might rest assured, by all the proofs we could give, that the christian religion was sufficient for justification and salvation, without the superaddition of the Jewish rituals. 6 But of those who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no mat- • ter to me : God accepteth no those who indeed man’s person : for they who seemed to be somewhat in con- This was my conduct at Jerusalem on this grand occasion; nor was it upon the whole disapproved by those of my brethren for whom I had the greatest regard. But even of appeared to be the most considerable and of the greatest note and emi- nence,” however some would set them up above me, as having conversed with Christ here ſerence added nothins to me; on earth, and been apostles long before me, I must needs say, that whatsoever advantage they had, or how great soever they formerly were as to any personal privileges, it makes no #: as to me, nor does at all affect my character, or set me upon this accountbeneath them as to my knowledge in the gospel: (since God, who called me as well as them to the apostleship, accepteth no man’s person, so as out of partial favour to constitute him supreme in-his church and lord of his brethren, but employs whom he will to be apostles, and qualifies them for it in what way he pleases; as it is manifest he hath done with reference to me;) for the with them, # nothing who were of greatest note and reputation when I engaged in conference ſ. to me, nor were capable of informing me of any thing 7 But contraliwise, when which I had before fully learned by immediate revelation from Christ. But, on the con- they saw that the gospel o the uncircumcision was com- mitted unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto eter; trary, far from pretending to powers, they recognised my that I was intrusted fili give me any new instructions, or to invest me with any new title to the apostleship in all its extent; and plainly seeing with the chief management and direction of the gospel of the umcircum- cision, or of the mission to the Gentiles, as Peter was [with that] which was especially 8 (For he that wrought directed to those o effectually in, Peter to the apostleship of the circum- cision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles: 9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas, the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the Clr CUlſ]] ClSIOIn. mission to the Gentiles.) ing the }. wands, in token of receiving us into full fellowship and apostleship with them; that we [might goj and preach, as we had done before, to the Gentiles, wherever it should please the great Head of the church to direct us, and that they for the present would continue their endea- vours to promote christianity among those of the circumcision,h till the whole harvest of the 10 Only they would that we Jews in those should remember, the poor; parts should be forward to do. * - - gathered in. #3"...'...'I'ſ."...ful % the poor christians in J udea, SO as to Only [they proposed] that we should be mind- make collections in their favour, as we pro- ceeded in our progress through the Gentile churches; which very thing I also of my own accord was forward to do with all the diligence I could, from the sincere affection I had for them, and the concern I had for their encouragement and support under the frequent sufferings they endured from their oppressive and rapacious enemies. Jem, he used great freedom afterwards in publicly declaring his opinion. See p. 433. note d. and p. 437. note a. * - e Wiśr Titus—was compellcd, &c.). This conduct of Paul with re- spect to Titus, in not submitting to bis being circumcised, when, it was insisted on as necessary to salvation, is very well consistent with what he afterwards did without constraint, to promote the circumcision of Timothy in different circumstances, (Acts xvi. 3.) as is shown in the note on that text, p. 439. note a. - f Because of the false brethren...]. I know not how far so late a writer as Epiphanius is to be credited in §§ (as he does, Her. xxviii.) that Cerinthus the heretic insisted absolutely on the Jewish observanges, and having raised up several Jews into a most violent opposition against St. Peter, on his first going, to the Gentiles, (Acts xi. 2, 3.) conténded afterwards at Antioch and Jerusalem for the necessity of circumcision. Acts xv. 1, 5. - - ( g But of those who appeared to be considerable.] The apostle had before declared what was his conduct with respect to the false brethren, and now proceeds to those who were of real note and reputation: and there is no such difficulty in the construction here, as that there should be a necessity of supplyin; anything to complete the sense, or of supposing an ellipsis of the article ot at the beginning of the verse, which, instead of removing a difficulty, would only involve the construction, which is obvious enough as it stands, if §e parenthesis be rightly placed, so as only to include God, accepteth no man’s person ; aſſ without any sup- plement or transposition, the sense of the whole verse is ensy.—And as there is no doubt but ot jokovv7ts in this verse, as well as in ver. 2. and 9, is to be understood, of those who really were men of mote and emi- nence, and does indeed refer to the apostles themselves, (who are ex- pressly named in ver. 9.) however it may be a literal translation, it car- ries in it, to an English ear, (as Mr. Locke observes,) too diminishing a sense to render it as if St. Paul had only spoken of them as those who seemed to be somewhat, and who seemed to he pillars... I have therefore rendered it as expressive of the character of those who indeed appeared to be considerable, and were confessedly of the first rank, and pillars of the church. - - - h They for the present would continue, &c.] I express it with this caution, because th: is no reason to believe that the labours of Peter, James, and John were entirely appropriated to those of the circumci; sion; as, on the other hand, we are assured that those of the apostle Paul were pot confined to the uncircumcised Gentiles; for we often find, him preaching to the Jews, and indeed, wherever he came, he proposed the gospel in the first place to them. 651 SECT. 3 1. 5 6 the circumcision. (For indeed it was very, apparent, that he who 8 wrought so effectually in Peter, to qualify him for the apostleship of the circumcision, wrought effectually also, by the same miraculous powers and endowments in me, to fit me for my My worthy associates in this high office seeing this, and know- 9 º that was given to me, and how remarkably I was furnished for the great work in which I was engaged by the extraordinary favour I had received from Christ, James, and Cephas, and John, who appeared to be, and were indeed, the pillars of the church, on which that at Jerusalem especially rested, as the great ornament and support of it under Christ, and on whose pious labours and wise conduct so much of the interest of the in general depended, willingly gave to me and Barnabas, my companion, the right 3. SECT. 3. *-ºs- PAUL'S OPPOSITION TO PETER AT ANTIOCH, IMPROVEMENT. WARM and eager as the temper of St. Paul naturally was, it must certainly give us great pleasure to observe in how prudent and steady a manner, he conducted himself when once engaged in the sacred' work of the Christian ministry and apostleship. With what integrity and resolution did he behave on the one hand, that he would not GAL, give place for an hour to the false brethren, who had slipped in among his converts to spy out and subvert their * 3 liberty! And on the other, with what caution that he might not frustrate the purposes offiis own ministry, by car- rying that which was in general the cause of truth, of liberty and justice, to an excess! Thus also letus ºf holā- ing the truth in love and in prudence, and labouring to do all the good we can with as little offence as possible. While we are contending for the liberty of christians, against the imposition of things which at best are indiffer 6 ent, we may possibly be obliged to dispute the point with some who are persons of worth and eminence; but God accepteth no man's person. We may give them all the honour that is due to their wisdom, their piety, and their station, without yielding up what ought to be dearer to us than any human approbation or fiendship, the dictates of our conscience as in the sight of God. Persºns of true steadiness and candour, such as deserve to be esteemed pillars of the church, will not suffer themselves to be sq borne down by popular prejudices as to disown their brethren, whom God hath honoured with the ministry as well as themselves, because they exercise it in some diversity of forms; but will be willing (so far as they can) to give them the right hand of fellowship, and will perhaps wish to be ablé to do it more º and 10 openly than some human constitutions will admit. */ In this however may we all agree, after the example of this blessed apostle, ever to do what we can to promote mutual charity among different denominations of christians; to be expressed by a readiness to bear one another's burdens, and to afford liberal relief as Providence gives opportunity. And we shall find, that as a disunion of hearts adds weight to the least cause of division, so fervent and unfeigned love will by mutual condescension and indulgence heal the breach, or happily prevent its most fatal consequences, 7–9 SECTION IV. The apostle gives an account of his opposing Peter publicly at Antioch...and standing up in defence of the liberty of the church from Jewish - impositions. Gal. ii. 11, to the end. GALATIANS ii. 11. . . - GAL. ii. 11. SECT. I HAVE been telling you how entirel AL, ll I agreed with the chief apostles of the circumci- BUT when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him 4. Sion, in the interview which I had with them at Jerusalem, when that decree was made tº #. face, because he was in favour of the converted Gentiles, by which they were declared free from any obligation to be blamed. G.P. to observe the rituals of the Mosaic law. But when Peter was come to Antioch,” after *11 Barnabas and I were returned thither, (Acts xv. 30.) I opposed him to the face, because in- deed he was so far left to his own spirit as to behave in such a manner, that he very much 12 deserved to be blamed. . For before some Jewish zealots, who were strict in the observation of those rituals, came from the apostle James, who was then at Jerusalem, he did upon all occasions eat and converse freely with the Gentiles there who had embraced the gospel, and had not submitted to circumcision; but when they were come, he withdrew from that freedom of converse, and separated himself from them, as if he had thought them unclean, though the Lord had so expressly taught him the contrary : (see Acts x. 28.) and this he did, not from any change in his sentiments and apprehension of things, but purely as fearing them of the circumcision, and being unwilling to displease them, thinking their censures of much greater importance than they really were. Jłnd I thought it the more necessary to take public notice of it, as the other converted Jews, who had before used the like freedom, dissembled their true sentiments also, by a jºir.s"; weak conformity with him, in this scrupulous avoiding their brethren; so that even Bar: º, was with their nabas too, though so honest and worthy a man, and one of the messengers who had passed Ullàt OII, with me between Antioch and Jerusalem, and been acknowledged there as an apostle of the Gentiles, was himself in some measure carried away with their dissimulation; which could not but give great grief and offence to the Gentile christians, who had been so par- 14 ticularly committed to his care as well as mine. But when I saw that they did not in this hey ... • affair walk uprightly, according to the truth and design of the gospel, which indeed taught Hºº'. the °. I said to Peter in the presence of [themſall, when a numerous assembly was gººd unto Peter be: met together, x I must speak to thee, Peter, with the freedom of a christian brother and fellow-apostle on a particular of thy conduct which hath given public offence: let me then ask thee, If ºilé. hd" ot", "å" is thou, being a Jew, and having been brought by circumcision under the strongest engagé- ºgº.º.º.º. ments to fulfil the whole law, livest frequently (as we have many of us seen) after the man-Jews? ner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, making no scruple to converse freely with the Gentiles without conforming to the ceremonial customs of the Jews; why dost thou now, by a change in thy conduct, as it were compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Is it not at least as lawful for them to neglect the Jewish observances as it was for thee to do it but a few days ago? We, [who are] by nature, that is, by birth and education, Jews, and so entitled to many peculiar privileges,” and who are not unclean, profligate, and abandoned sinners of the Gentiles, that walk in idolatry and all kinds of wickedness; We, I say, knowing in our own hearts, and having been effectually convinced, that a man is not justi- 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come; he withdrew and separated himself, fear. ing them which were of the CITCUIIIl CIS1Oſl. 13 And the other Jews dis- sembled likewise with him ; 13 14 But when I saw that . —If thou, being a Jew, 2 livest after the manner of 15 We pho are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 15 16 Knowing that a man is I6 held in the Jewish synagogues before the assembly was broke up ; of a Whcn Peter cas come to Antioch.] It is a just remark of Mons. * - which many instances still occur to those excellent persons in Germany Saurin, (Serm. vol. xi. p. 49.) that Father Harduin seems to have been solicitous to increase the number of his chimeras, as much as possible, (and more I never, met with in any, learned author than, in him,) by adopting the pious frauds of some of the ancients, who, to defend them- selves from Porphyry’s objection against Christianity, from this error in the conduct of Peter, denied it to be Peter the apostle who was here spoken of, and interpreted it of another Cephas, whom they, pretended to be one of the Seventy.; an hypothesis as unnecessary as it is impro- bable. See Hard. Diss... in loc. - - b. I said to Peter in the presence of ſº all.] Had this been matter only of private offence, to ić sure Paul would have known, that duty, re; guired him to expostulate with Peter privately upon it beſore he had brought it before such an assembly , but as it was a public affair, in which great numbers were so sensibly affected, this, method was most proper. Probably this happened after public worship; and it, would seem theijess surprising, considering the conferences which used to be and the neighbouring regions, who are engaged in a mission to the Jews, which may divine grace succeed —It is a very just observation of Mr. Jeffery here, that had any imposture been carried on, the contention of these two great managers would probably have been an occasion of dis- covering it.—That, no objection against the authority, of Peter, as an apostle and inspired, writer, can be derived from this dispute, will ſol- low on the principles, laid, down in our Essay on Inspiration, at the close of the volume. See also note f, on Acts xy. 7, p. 434. c. We, wolig are by nature Jews, &c.], Mr. L'Enfant thinks Paul speaks of himself in the plural number, and rests the matter on his own prac- tice: but to me it appears evident he meant to include the Jewish be- hievers in general, and to argue from the virtual confession, they had all made of the insufficiency of their own obedience to the law, if consi- dered as a ground of justification. * PAUL's OPPOSITION TO PETER AT ANTIOCH. * †: ..º.º. § fied by the works of the Mosaic law, but only by the faith of Jesus Christ, and cannot be º,...",".. accepted in the sight of God but by cordially and truly believing in him; even we ourselves bººinjeº have taken refuge here, and giving up all confidence in the lay for justification, have lic- we might be justified by the 7: ge ſº. 2 ** .* !e mº hisłified, as I said before Åiº'ciº..”."º"; lieved in Jesus Christ to this great purpose, that we might thus be justified, as 2 - ºx #y; º; by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; this is the method we that are lº flesh be justificq. have taken, as being thoroughly made sensible that it was absolutely necessary wº should do so; wherefore it must be evident that no flesh living, whether he be Jew or Gentile, shall or can be justified by the works of law, since none is capable of fully answering its le: mands, or can preténd to have paid an universal and unerring obedience to it. Jºdge then how absurd it would be to urge those who never were, like us, under such obliga- tions to the law, to come under them, when we ourselves have been obliged to give tº our expectations from hence, and to have recourse to something so much higher and 17. But if while we seek to nobler. But, after all, if seeking to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sin- be justified by rist, we Śārśisºr.js. ners, if we are still in an unpardoned state under the guilt and power of sin, and notwith-. standing all that Christ has done, his gospel and grace be not sufficient to lºstify is, uh- ners, vs tºgreſoye Christ the minister of sin: God forbid. i.i.e. i.e something superadded to it by the law of Moses, what, [is] Christ then the Minister of sin and not of justification 2 Must it not follow that he is so, if he hath intro- duced an imperfect dispensation which will not sufficiently insure the happiness of those that follow it? Yea, doth he not indeed teach sin, if justification cannot be obtained with- out the law, in teaching men to renounce all dependence upon it, as it is certain by his gospel he doth 2 But God forbid that anything should ever be insinuated so much to the dishonour of God and of our glorious Redeemer! 18 For if I build again the Thus I addressed myself to Peter on this public occasion, and showed that the obsery- ;º,'...' ance of the ceremonial law was not to be imposed on christians. Vow if I build again the things which I then destroyed, and insist (as some would charge me) on the necessity of the works of the law for justification, I in effect condemn what I then did, and, setting up the very principles which I opposed, I acknowledge myself to have been a transgressor in attempting to pull them down:d but I am so far from acting such an inconsistent part: that I declare myself entirely in the same sentiments which I then publicly professed. a.º. ºf For though I was once so zealous a bigot for the rites of the law, yet now, upon the mightive unto God.” whole, Iihrough the law am dead to the law; the more I consider its nature and tenor, the more I am convinced that it is absolutely impossible that I or any man living should be justified by it, and therefore I give up all such expectations: and yet the effect of it is, not my being a lawless, licentious creature, but quite the contrary; it is, that I might live to God in a state of favour and acceptance with him, animated by nobler views and hopes than the law could give, and therefore engaged to a more generous, sublime, and extensive I am, crucified with obedience than it was capable of producing. For I am crucified with Christ, and have 2 20 - § *...*.*i; such a sense of his dying love Nº. my heart, and of the excellency of that method of jº.º. º. hº, justification and salvation which g * * e º, Tºº of it dead to all the allurements of the world, and to all views of obtaining right- §º." and save éousness and life by the law: nevertheless, I live a new and spiritual life, in a conformity to the will of God, and feel the comforts of it in my heart; yet, to speak properly, it is not I that live, not I, my former or my present self, by any strength or power of my own, but it is Christ that by the energy of his word and Spirit liveth in me, and continually in- fluences and quickens my soul to every good action and affection: and the life which I now live in the flesh, while surrounded with the snares and sorrows of mortality, I live in the continual exercise of that faith which [is] established in, and centred upon, the perfect righteousness of the Son of God; on whom alone it is that I depend for justification, and am daily deriving new influences from him, by realizing and affectionate views of that gracious and condescending Saviour, who loved me, and that to such an astonishing degree, that he delivered himself up to torments and death for me, that he might procure my re- demption and salvation. 21. I do, not frustrate the So that you see upon the whole, when you consider all the tenor of my conduct, as well 2 §§§. º: as my conference with Peter at Antioch, that I do not, like many others, frustrate the Christ is dead in vain. grace of God in Christ, and render void that method of salvation which the gospel hath revealed, which a behaviour like that which I reproved, if pursued into all its consequences, must appear to do; for if righteousness [come] by the law, and that made a sufficient pro- vision for our being justified and accepted in the sight of God, then there was no necessity of the grace of God in giving his Son for us, and Christ is dead in vain, since he died to redeem us from the curse of the law, as being utterly hopeless and irrecoverable by that dispensation alone. IMPROVEMENT. IT is a most generous and worthy spirit that was shown by the apostle Paul on this occasion, in his being so ready to stand up for christian liberty, and to reprove even Peter himself, though so honoured and beloved a bro- ther, when he acted a cowardly and inconsistent part, . He did not . censure him to others, and endeavour by private insinuations to lessen his character; but by his openly rebuking him he showed himself a sincere friend, and took the most effectual method to prevent the ill consequences of his dissimulation, and at the same time to recover his brother to a more worthy and consistent conduct. How little there is in all this passage that looks like any peculiar authority assumed on the part of St. Peter, or acknowledged by St. Paul, every unprejudiced reader will easily observe: and perhaps God might suffer this great apostle of the circumcision thus to fall, and to be thus corrected by the apostle of the Gentiles, the more effectually to discountenance those arrogant and groundless claims of the pretended successors of St. Peter to supremacy and infallibility, which have introduced so much confusion and infamy into the church. We may well rejoice in the review of a passage which so strongly asserts christian liberty on the one hand, and .d I acknowledge myself a transgressor.] Mr. L'Enfant seems to con- wise a part of the speech to Peter: which would make them much less sider this verse as a continuation of. Paul’s speech at Antioch. He pertinent and natural than if we suppose thern the overflowings of Paul’s would render and connect it thus: “On the contrary, so far are we devout heart in addressing the Gălătians.—His speech to Peter rather from being made sinners by neglecting justification by the law, that, if seems to have gone no further than the foregoing verse; and yap is We taught the necessity of its works, we should become transgressors in often used with such a latitude, that we may take it in the be inning of building again the things that we have destroyed.” But, if this inter- this verse to signify, now, and so consider Paul as showing ere, that Pietàº...was tº be, admitted, we should not only find it hard to clear whatsoever some insinuated to his prejudice, there was no inconsisterº, up the argument, but must, I think, suppose the following verses like- in his doctrino and practice with Włºśā then so openly declared. Gä3 }{3, 5 S E CT, 4. G.A.T.. ! [. 16 18 9 O e hath accomplished on the cross, that I am in conse- Q { Ver.1 14 12, et seq. 654 SECT. exemplifies the very life of christian grace on the other. Let it ever be retained in 4. GAL. H. 20 THE INSTABILITY OF THE GALATIANS REPROvºp. * s Our memories, that we are iusti- fied by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; and may our conduct be agreeable to the ãº. We profess, giving up all expectations inconsistent with this decisión; yet ever remembering that Christ is not the Minister of fin; Let faith in him engage us, whilst dead to the law as a covenant of wºrks. , bººt of it as a rule of life, and so to live to God as those who are still under a law to Christ; (I Cor’i. 21.) and ani- mated by the influences of his grace, may our souls feel more and more of the efficacy of º death, who loved us and gave himself for us. - y Strongly indeed will the affecting consideration of the death of Christ impress our hearts, when we are conscious of our interest and concern in it. May the impression last through life, and may we remember that we are not merely to make one solemn address to our adorable Redeemer, committing by an act of faith our souls into his hands; but that our faith is daily to be renewing its views of him, that so the life which we now live in the fieśń. in the midst ºf so many vanities and dangers, may be conducted by the continual influence of this principle. May, we therefore daily regard him as our Instructor and Governor, our Atonement and Intercessor, our Example and Strength, our Guardian and Forerunner; and in proportion to the degree in which such views as these prevail, 21 the grage of God, instead of being frustrated, will be the more admired and steemed ; and as it was impossible SECT. THESE are the real sentiments of m 5. GAL. III. – tions I have given you, how little do they prevail in your breasts! May I not even ask 2 But methinks even now the matter might be brought to a short issue: and to this purpose 4 first view appear to be so much beneath it, and to be altogether insufficient for it 2 If you that righteousness should be attainable by the law, it will appear Christ hath not died in vain, but that his death was necessary to procure our justification, and is the only sure foundation of our faith and hope. SECTION V. The apºstle reproves the Galatians,for their instability with regard to the important doctrine of justification by faith , which he further confirms §. ºnce of Abraham, who was thus justified, and in whose blessing we share, through the redemption Christ has wrought out for us. a . l l 1. Ji- f GALATIANS iii. 1. GAL. iii. 1 I heart which I have now laid before you, and you o Foolish Galatians, who ut Oye thoughtless Galatians, after all the instruc-lºº fore whose eyes Jesus Christ you, Hºho hath by some fallacious, fatal charm enchanted you,” and as it were dazzled the lºft forth, eyes of your mind with the vain glitterings of sophistry and delusive arts of evasion, that & Jou should not go on to obey the truth so solemnly inculcated upon you; even you, before whose eyes Jesus, Christ crucified hath been so evidently set forth and strongly delineated among you,” in the most affectionate representations of his word and ordinances? One would have imagined these lively views should for ever have secured your fidelity to him, and have fortified your hearts against every insinuation injurious to the honour of his cross. were formerly taught them at large. 2 This only would I learn of . you, Received ye the Spirit by, the works of the §§ or by the hearing of alth ſ there is this only I would learn of you, Did ye receive the Spirit, in its extraordinary opera- tions in and upon you, by a regard to the works of the Mosaic law, or any other law on which you might depend for justification as a matter of legal claim 2 or were you made partakers of it by the hearing of the gospel, proposing the method of justification by faith in the righteousness and grâce of the Redeemer? Ifany of the new teachers that are come among you can work such miracles in proof of their tenets, and confer such gifts on their followers, you will be more excusable in hearkening to them than in present circumstances you can possibly be. But are you indeed so inconsiderate as to need being reminded in this manner?, Where 3 Are ye so foglish? having is the benefit you can propose by turning to the law P. Having begun in the Spirit, having º!"...º. .*t. known the spirituality, power, and energy of the glorious gospel, are ye now seeking to be flesh? - made perfect by the flesh 3 or have you any expectation of attaining to a superior degree of perfection and excellency, by a submission to those carnal ordinances of the law which at 2 4 Iſaye ye suffered so many things in vain * if it be yet in are tempted to so great a fall as this, let me remind you of the difficulties you have already º borne for christianity ; many of which have been brought upon you by the instigation of the Jews, whose hatred is so violent against it. Say then, my brethren, have ye suffered so many things in vain?d Will you give up the benefit of all these sufferings, and lose, in a great measure at least, the reward of them, by relinquishing what is so material in that scheme of doctrine you have been suffering for? Shall all that you have endured be thus in vain? If indeed [it be] yet in vain, which I am willing to hope it is not entirely, and that however your principles may have been shaken, yet God will not permit them to be quite overthrown. g * . . . . . I know that your favourite teachers have many arts of address with which they endea- vour to soothe you, and to conciliate your regards to themselves, while they would alienate them from me; but when you come to the most solid and authentic proofs of a divine mission, have you not seen them wrought among you, in confirmation of the doctrine I delivered to you? He therefore that ministereth to jou an extraordinary supply of the Spirit by the laying on of his hands, and that workelh other evident and uncontrolled miracles among you,” [doth he it] by the works of the law, and in virtue of any commission he had 5 He therefore that minis- tereth to you the Spirit, and workgth miragles among you, docth he it by the works of the now perverted, to a different system by their new teachers, and that - f/0. 2] I know some would render eſ: aa kave * a Who hath enchanted you ?] g : yījch Paul had preached at first among them, when they received ific IWho hath envied your happincºs ? But as th9 Jewish zealots could not have any sense of the happiness of those christians they endeavoured to disturb, it is not, I think, so natural to refer their attempts to envy and it is well known the word also signifies, to cnchant. It strongly ex; presses the unreqsonable turn their minds had taken, so that one would ; magine they had been deprived of the regular use even of their natural aculties. * - * ſº Before whose eyes Jesus Christ crucified, &c.]. There is no room, to object that this #eſ. an argument, to the passigns; for in Plºº to the affecting sense they had of the love of Christ in submitting to crucifixion for them, would be the rational sense of the obligatiºs º Rºere under to him to preserve his gospel pure and his church free an hº iſe receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing ºf faitſ, j. There is no doubt but that it was on their bºomº. cº ºf they received the Spirit; and therefore that it, could pot be . § §"º ián, which they were strangers to till afterwards, º º; le §ving to that faith in which they were instructed by the gospe º ſh; ºbiacing Christianity, Nor can it justly be objected; that they sti ... ji the Christianity by which the Spirit was recoived ; for they were Spirit, was a christianity of which Judaism made no part. d Have ye suffered so many things in gain 3.J. Should it be said. “ that notwithstanding the Galatians were for adding the observation oſ', lio ſaw to the gospel, it would not necessarily, destroy their hopes, as chris- tians, nor deprive them of the reward of that courage they had hitherto shown in its defence :” yet it must be allowed that sonne degree of their reward might be , lost, as it might derogate from their future glory to have been, through inconsideration, and prejudices rashly admitted, ac- cessary to the corruption and conscquent obstruction of the gospel: and also, that as much persecution might be declined by admitting ſhis mix- ture of Judaism, there was reason to fear, that it was a regard to their own present ease and convenience that led them, to it, (compare chap. v. 11. and vi. 12.) which was in a manner cancelling, the good effect of their former résolution; and, indeed any thing that looked like a sinful temporizing in those who had before been confessors for the truth, might occasion peculiar scandal, and endanger many more. . e Worketh miracles among you..] It is a just and important observa- tion of Mr. Baxter here, that it was a great display of divine wisdom to suffer such contentions to arise thus early in the church as should make THE IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. received from God to inculcate the observation of the Mosaic precepts 2 or is it by the SECT. hearing of faith that he doth it? Is it not evidently by that gospel which yºu hay. º 5. me preach, and which exhorts you to seek justification and salvation by faith? ...And wil gº." you then forsake a doctrine which has been so signally attested, and exchange it for one, #. . ...? the teachers of which have no such attestations to produce 2 tº 6 5. Eyena Abraham believ; And this method which the gospel proposeth is agreeable to the example which you §§ łºśnted have in the great father of the faithful; for even as you read of Abraham, (Gen., xv. 6.) long before he was circumcised, “that he believed God, relying on the promise that he made him, and it was imputed to him for righteousness;” it was set down to his account as that an evidence of his being a righteous person: Know je therefore, and infer from hence, 7 ºf that as faith was the brightest part of the character of this illustrious patriarch, so all they who [are] of faith, all that have the same principle working in their hearts, and engaging them to receive the gospel-dispensation, the same are, and show themselves by a like di. osition to be, the children of Abraham, and may expect to inherit the same blessings with him, as by embracing the gospel they manifest the same principle and temper. * . . . * s & Jłnd again the Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration the Scripture was written, foreseeing that 8 tºº. God would justify the Gentiles, when he should call them by his grace, in the same man- i.achi.eſºthº gº ner as he justified Abraham, only through faith, did in effect, before the revelation of it to § ºi" iſ; ; the world, preach the glad tidings of the gospel unio Abrahim himself, saying] ºnce and tº again, (Gen. xii. 3; xviii. 18; xxii. 18.) “In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed;”f that is to say, By their faith in that glorious Person who is to descend from thee, all per- sons whatsoever shall be blessed, of whatever nation they be, who learn to resemble thee, in their readiness to receive every message from God with an entire submission and obedi- 9 so then they which he ºf ence. So then it appears, that they who are really partakers of the grace of faith, and seek §ºsed with faith- to be justified by it; they who have an unfeigned principle of faith in their hearts, and show it by giving due credit to this great and indubitable testimony which God hath borne to his Son; they are blessed with believing .4braham, and shall inherit the promises made to him, though they are, as he was when he first received these promises, in a state of uncircumcision. ſº Now it is evident that this blessing must be received by the gospel; for as many as are of that covenant, which relates only to the works of the law, and have no higher views and expectations than a legal dispensation could givé, are indeed under a curse,” and by every breach of that law become obnoxious to it. And of this, with respect to the Mosaic law, we have as express a proof as can be imagined; for it is written with regard to all that are under it, (Deut. xxvii. 26.) “Cursed [is] every one who confirmeth not all the words of this law, that is, who continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” It is therefore a perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to every one of its injunctions, which the law requires; and as every mán's conscience must tell him that he hath not performed this, he must see the dreadful denunciation levelled at himself, and dooming him to death and misery. Jłnd that no man is justi law, or by the hearing of faith? 7 Know ye therefore, they which, are of faith, same are the children braham. 8 And the Scripture fore- 9 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are un- der the curse : for it is writ- ten, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. justified in the sight of God by the performance of the law, or by his own obedience to it, [is] further evident from God's appointment of another way of justi- fication; for (as the prophet saith, Habak. ii. 4.) “The just or righteous man, that is, he who shall finally be treated by God as such, shall live by faith.”h he shall be justified and saved by trusting in the mercy of an Almighty God through Christ, and resting on the promise he hath graciously made of pardon and salvation even to sinful creatures, who shall by faith apply to him for righteousness and life. Now it is manifest that the law is not of faith, nor doth it allow of such a way of justification; but puts it on another and most rigorous footing, insisting on exact obedience to all its commands, and declaring, (Lev. xviii. 5) “that the manihat doeth them shall live in or by them:” he who perfectly conforms himself to these precepts, shall have a right to happiness in consequence of them; but he that breaks them must bear the penalty, without any further assistance from a law which, being in one instance violated, must for ever condemn the transgressor. .. tº sº º But ever adored be the riches of divine grace, Christ hath redeemed us who believe in his name from the terrible curse of the law, and bought us off from that servitude and misery to which it inexorably doomed us, by being himself made a curse for us, and enduring the penalty which our sins had deserved: for such was the death which he bore in our stead; not only when considered as a capital punishment, which universally implies something of this, but as thus stigmatized by the express declaration of the law against every one in such a particular circumstance; for it is written, (Deut. xxi. 23.) “Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree.”. Now Christ, as you well know, was hung upon a tree; he expired on 14 That the blessing of the cross, and his dead body hung for some time upon it. And this, in his adorable con- descension, he submitted to for us and our salvation; that the curse having been borne by him in our room, the blessing of Abraham, in all its extent of spiritual benefits, and , 11 But that no man is jus- tified by the law in the sight gf God, it is evident : for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith : but, e man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us : for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree : it necessary for the apostles to appeal to the miracles wrought before, and upon those who were afterwards in some degree alienated from them ; that future ages might be convinced of the certainty of these miracles as matters of fact beyond all possibility of contradiction. See Baxter’s Practical Works, vol. ii. p. 118. f In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed.] It may perhaps be asked, “what evidence there is that this promise meant the converting . Jews and Gentiles to christianity, rather than converting the Gentiles to Judaism, and so blessing them with a participation of the privileges originally granted to the natural seed of Abraham f°. But besides what the apostle afterwards says for clearing up this point, it may be an- swered, that the Mosaic economy was so constituted that it could never be an universal thing; and that when it, was considered what sort of a Person Christ in fact was, there would appear reason to believe that this promise referred to him, even separate from the authority of the apostle in asserting it, and how dubious soever the sense of the oracle might appear till it was illustrated by the event; . g Are under a curse.] Dr. Whitby proves (in his note on ver. 13.) that the law of Adam was attended with a curse as well as that of Moses; and that it is the more general curse which is here intended, as illustrated by what Moses expressed as the sanction of his institutions. h The just shall live by faith...]. As the apostle shows, in the next verse, that there was no obtaining life, by the law without a perfect personal ohedience, faith, which stands here in opposition to it, must signify a firm, belief of the promise of God, and acting, according to it, in a de- pendence upon Christ for righteousness, which is the way of justifica- tiºn that the gospel has revealed. Compare note d, on Rom. i. 17. p. i Qhrist hath, redeemed us from the curse of the law.] The curse of the land frºm which Qhrist has redeemed us, was that which doomed us to etermal misery; from whence, it hath been very plausibly inferred, that the law gſ-Mgscs was established on the sanction of future punishments. But perhaps it may be solidly answered, that the apostle, arguing con- cerning the law ºf God in general, the breach of which did certainly render ºbnoxious to future punishments, may mention the circumstancé of the Mosaic law leaving every presumptuous offender to die under a cursc, as an intimation of those !...i. prospects with respect to Juturity which we must grant it certainly gave, even though we should nºt suppºse that it contained an express threatening of such punishments: Whigh. I do not see that it any where does, and which I think the learned Mr. Warburton has fully proved that it doth not. And it is evident that the course of the apostle’s argument here implies that all true be- lievers are redeemed from the curse, and, consequently, that he speaks of a curse to which all, as sinners, were liable; whereas the Gentiles, bein; under ng obligation, to the JMosaic law at ali, could not possibly be directly affected by its curse, not could indeed be at ºil affected by it, otherwise than in the latitude in which wo have explained this bassage. 656 SECT. 5. Ver. 1 3, 4 6, T 0 13 14 11 SECT . 6. GAL. III. 5 THE STABILITY OF THE COVENANT MADE witH ABRAHAM. that adoption which was given in him, might come, not only on believing Jews, but on the Abraham, might come on Gentiles also, through Christ Jesus the great anointed Saviour; and particularly that we, tºº. º. even the whole church of christian converts, might, through the exercise of a living and give the prºmise *# is sincere faith in him, receive the promise of the Spirit as the seal of our adoption, both in Spirit through faith. the effusion of its miraculous gifts, so far as they may conduce to the edification of the t church, and in the rich abundance of its saving graces. IMPROVEMENT. THROUGH the amazing goodness of God to us, we share with the Galatians in this great privilege, that Jesus Christ crucified is evidently set forth among us. Let us make the object familiar to our view, to our hearts; and oh that we may all feel its powerful influence to engage us to obey the truth, and to comply with the practical design of the gospel ! Oh that none of the enchantments of this vain world may be able to draw us aside from a becoming regard to it! May those especially who have begun in the Spirit, and perhaps have suffered many diffi- culties already in the cause of religion, be concerned that they may not suffer so many things in vain, and after all their pretensions and hopes, make an end in the flesh, by forsaking that excellent cause ! That we may be deemed the children of Abraham, let us have the same faith with him; that believing in God as he did, and trusting in the promised Messiah, we may attain that righteousness which it is impossible to obtain by the deeds of the law, which insists upon perfect obedience, and passes sentence upon every one that has trans- gressed it. . Nothing can be more important than to endeavour to impress our souls with this great and funda- mental truth, that if we are of the works of the law, and trust in these for justification, we are under a curse. Oh that God may graciously thunder that curse in the ears of sleeping sinners, and make them sensible of their guilt and danger; that as prisoners of justice, yet in some measure prisoners of hope, (Zech. ix.12.) they may flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them in the gospel ! (Heb. vi. 18.) We need not go far for help. No sooner are we wounded (as it were) in one verse, than we find provision for our healing in another. For Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, and this in a method never sufficiently to be admired, even by making himself a ransom, yea, and becoming a curse, for us; submitting not only to great infamy and wretchedness in his life, but to an ignominious and accursed death, being slain and ñº. upon a tree. (Acts v. 30 ; x. 39.) - - To him let us apply, that the curse may be removed; and with humble confidence in him, let us lift up our eyes in cheerful expectation, that though by birth we are Gentiles, the blessing of Abraham will come upon us, and that through faith we shall receive the promise of the Spirit. And what promise can be more valuable than this? what blessing more desirable than to be enlightened, to be quickened, to be sanctified, to be comforted by the Spirit? As the just, may we live by faith; and make it our daily request at the throne of grace, that God will implant and increase that divine principle in our hearts, even such a faith as shall work by love, and prove a genuine principle of sincere and universal obedience SECTION VI. I'he apostle further illustrates the stability and importance of the covenant made with Abraham as the Father gf believers, which the Mosaic Covenant could not infringe, and to an application to which its greatest severities were intended to lead. Gal. iii. 15, to the end. GALATIANS iii. 15. GAL. iii. 15. I HAVE been speaking, brethren, of the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, and have ; ºft. shown that, according to the original tenor of it, all his believing seed, whether they be or it ‘.... ."...º.º. be not circumcised, must be entitled to º very valuable privileges. And herein Iłºś. speak after the manner of men, and reason on the principles of common equity, according ió. > to what is the allowed rule of all human compacts; for though it be but the covenant of a man with his fellow-creature, yet if it be once legally confirmed by mutual promise, and seal, no honest man concernéâ afterwards cancelleth what was agreed to by it, or addeth anything to it which should alter the terms of it, without the consent of the other stipu- lating party. 16 Völä, to apply this to the case before us: the promises relating, to the justification of nº"...º.º. g g * his seed were the promises believers were spoken by God at first to Abraham and to his seed, who are expressly men- ºde "He saith"not. And tº tioned as making a party with him in the covenant. And here by the Way You will ob- ...º.º. §§§ serve, that he saith not, “..And to seeds,” in the plural number, as speaking of many; but is Christ. in the singular number, as of one, “..And to thy seed;” not extending it to a Variety 9 seeds which might descend from him, but limiting what he says to 9ne. which is all to centre in Christ; out of regard to whom, that branch of Abraham's family from which he was to spring was in so remarkable a manner separated from the rest: tº 7 And this I say, that ti ºf this I say further, on the principles laid down above, [that] the covenant which was ...; , ; long before confirmed by the promise of God with respect to Christ, as the illustrious Seed j; referred to, and the gréat universal Blessing exhibited in the promise, the lap which was .º.º. ; , , g-e ‘º - , , , ſ: , , , -- P. 2 .…, zło- Aº ºf "...#2 . - itb cammot disammul, [so] disannul, that it should make given at Mount Singifou, hundred and thirty years after the date º t ãone if the ob º the promise of none effect. à i sãould make the promise void and ineffectual; which it mus; have dº ODSéI- - vation of that law had been for the future the necessary means of justification and happi- * 2° g : * * * ~~3 * * if the inkeri 13 ness. For iſ the inheritance of Abraham's blessing [be] suspended on such a condition as 18 For if the inkeritance be * < * he law, * R f not to be obtained but by the observation of the law, it must then follow that [it is] no of the law, it is no more O s ºr - * s * > . * * c = } .ith good sense and reason, that the promises made to . Tryf * @ Prº & Fº eico the promise of the Spirit..] . It is justly, 39: J. Conſess ºf with goo º ºº:: tº $ as Sºx § ...º. i."º: '... ſh; the pººl º gº ſº º tºº,”, “jºi & - * * * -* -> - r • * * * sº OSę y ; * *: * - - - - * Hoiy Spirit of God had been so frequently promised by the prophets is ; 9 } made partakers of the great blessing exhibited in , a re-º ssi * atter day, that it is here used as synonymous to $9 whom the rest are mº p * ~ * - * * * ºn I. §: º tº: ºf "Hºe"ºrišargues from the Abrahamic corºdºt; *i. º;...". .#% }*ś. i.e."jºat iſ portance of the Spirit, since the impº § '#'. º who º; º w §ºj, will no more ºntº sºle"...at biassing by which the curse, is reſnoyed; toº ºr º, º - ºx' .. ing. § { …, § * ji: §º. j. withdrawing and withholding it is afford an argument from these W ords than the preçeding. And if we the great calamity which falls upon men by their apostasy from g ; ::::::::::::::: lustration, I think no sense so Šee jowe’s PP'orks, vol. i. p. 237. !...i hiº, wears after.] To make out this, computa- a ſºft, sºfth it,t, “...And to seeds,” as qſ, mºſ, &c.] One would not b. Four hatndred and thirty T iſ ajj tº the postie founds his argument, 9.3 pº tion, Dr. Whitby and sever, º: ..º.º. º (*:AS I jºi ...nº sijf a piirality of persons; singe (pot tº ſº. first celebrated prºmise was º this ii. of it to the birth offsääc that j ...” āş y "that "very covenant :#j. Abraham to which he years old, (Gen. xii; 3, 4.) and from '. ic xxi. 5.) was 25 Years: thgusa; other lº. "... 5.) So shall thy seed be ; that is, It shall be when Abraham, was a lº. §: * §§ jacob went into refers, God sal, t ºrs of jićaven. Nor Čan any instance bé produced Isaac was 60 when Jacob Yº: º tº ºte: séjourned there, ac- ; :#;"..."...jºußbº ºf. §.gº.cº.i.aºlets * :... º.o. is - fith Bisho urnet, - -- rii. 6. D. * ... § º, the ...si:; saying, in bad Greek, the numbor. Compare note f on Acts vii 6. p. 391 THE promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. STABILITY OF THE COVENANT MADE WITH ABRAHAM. more the effect of the promise, which is indeed quite abrogated by such a clog: but it is SECT. evident that God freely gave [it] to Abraham by promise; and therefore it must be left in such a state as that the honour of the promise may be secure, which otherwise would be 19 Wherefore then servcth the law It was added be: cause of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels ir the hand of a mediator. abolished and disgraced. (Rom. iv. 13, 14.) § But it may be objected: If justification and eternal life cannot be obtained by this means, to what purpose then [serveth] the law, or what significancy hath it? I answer, That it was added after the promise was made, because of transgressions;” that the Jews might either be preserved from idolatry and other crimes, or that they might be convicted of their guilt in committing them, and so be taught to seek after a more effectual method of obtaining pardon, with an earnestness proportionable to the discovery it made of the malignity of their guilt: and with this view it was to continue till the illustrious Seed should come, even the Messiah, to whom the promise was made; into whom both Jews and Gentiles being ingrafted by faith, when the gospel dispensation took place, should become without distinction the spiritual seed of Abraham, and be entitled to the blessings of the promise. Accordingly the law was given in a way agreeable to this design of it; [and it was] ordained and promulgated by the ministration of angels at mount Sinai,d and put in the hand of Moses, who was then appointed by God to act the part of a mediator between him and the people of Israel,” and was authorized to attest (as it were) their mutual and reciprocal obligations to each other; whereas the promise needed no mediator, but was 20 Now a mediator is not immediately deposited by God in the hand of Abraham, to whom it was made. JWow we a mediator of one, but God On 6, * know that a mediator is not merely [the mediator] of one party, but at least of two, between which he must pass, and by the nature of his office is to transact for both: but God is only one party in that covenant made with Abraham, of which we have been speaking,f and Abraham and his seed, including all that believe, both Jews and Gentiles, are the other. As Moses therefore, when the law was given, stood at that time beween the Lord and Israel, (Deut. v. 5.) and did not pass between the whole collective body of Abraham's seed and the blessed God; so nothing was transacted by him with relation to those for whom he did not appear; and consequently ºf in that covenant wherein he did me- *t * diate could disannul the promise, or affect the rig accruing to any from a prior engage- ment, in which the Gentiles were concerned as well as the Israelites: for no covenant can be altered but by the mutual consent of both parties; and in what was done at mount Sinai by the mediation of Moses, there was none to appear for the Gentiles; so that this transaction between God and the Israelites could have no force to abrogate the promise, which extended likewise to the Gentiles, or to vacate a covenant that was made between parties of which one only was there. 21 Is the law then, against the promises of God? & forbid: for if there had a law given which could have given life, verily righteous- ness should have been by the {LW. 4- CG brought into subjection And shall it now be said, [Is] the law than against the promises of God? And so far as tº the law takes place with regard to those who are under it, doth it not seem at least to im- plead in some measure, and to infringe upon that better state in which they who are it, would otherwise have been 2 God forbid that we should in- sinuate any thing of that kind! On the contrary, it was intended to be subservient to the promise; and the design of it in its remoter consequences, if rightly attended to and applied, was to lead the thoughts and hearts of those who are under it to a higher and better dis- ensation. For if indeed there had been a law given which could have given life; if any aw, considered in itself alone, could have been to sinful creatures a sufficient means of justification and eternal happine But the Scripture concluded all under sin; that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ, might be them that believe. SJ * * - - --3 * a hall, Mosaic laws than which there is not any law moré holy, excellent, and good. But so far 22 - is the law from introducing any justifying righteousness, that the Scripture in revealing it given to hath plainly shut up all, both Jews and Gentiles, under sin, as so many condemned male- then assuredly righteousness should have been by the factors; for it hath stated the rule of duty in such a manner, that every man's conscience must, on considering and understanding that rule, certainly charge himself with sin. And it is wisely ordered in this manner, that they who are so convinced of guilt and misery might look beyond it to be delivered from their lost condition, and that the promise of righteousness and life by faith in Jesus Christ, as the only means of justification, might be given and appropriated io them that truly believe in him for pardon and salvation; and thus the seeming severity of the sentence was intended so much the more to illustrate the grace of the promise. 23 But before faith came, The law, them, which condemns every transgression, was designed to be preparatory for we were kept * * **, the discovery which the gospel makes of the way of being justified by faith; but before this faith came to be exhibited as the method of acceptance with God, we that were under the law stood on the foot of our own obedience before him ; and having become obnox- jous to divine justice, and liable to death the punishment of sin, were kept under the bond c It reas added because of transgressions.] As the laid that was given by Moses neither did nor could distingud the covenant made with Abra- na:n, to which the Jews undoubtedly had a claim, the design of that lair must therefore have been to engage those of his descendants that came under it to see their need of that covenant, and more effectually to re; commend the promise to them. And as the writing of the book of Genesis gave tiº a ſurther account of it than tradition had preserved, the law might be said to be added to that account because of transgres- sions; as their transgressions, not only of the ceremonial but of the moral precepts, would appear more exceedingly sinful and dangerous, in proportion to the perspicuity of these precepts, and the awful so- lettinity with which they were delivered. - ºr - - d Aſ the ministration of angels at mount Sinai.] That the land was given by the ministration of angels, is apparent, from many.passages of Scripture, (compare Psal; Ixviii. 17. Acts vii.33. and Heb. ii. 3.) though the Logos did undoubtedly preside among them, and it was in his Jiamic that the proclamation was made by angels, as his heralds and attendants. e. In the hand of a mediator.] It is a singular notion of, Mr. Pierge, on Heb. vii.22, that the mediator here spoken of is phe order, aſ Jewish higi, priests, who, succeeding one another, were by virtue of their office mediators between God and the people. He pleads, “...that the 'gap is here represented as left in the hands of a mediator till the prºmised seed should come.” But the clause, axpts s eX9m to a Teppa, till the seed should come, will make very good sense if it be taken in connexion with the preceding word, troogerøðm, and referred to what is said imme-- diately before, of the law beinz added; as appears in the º: And the apostle's argument will be much better supported by referring this to Moses, who was particularly authorized by the Jewish people, as well as constituted by God, to incºliate in the affair of receiving the law, v. hich he transacted once, for all.—It is so unusual and , unnatural a manner of speaking, to call, a succession of Inen a mcdiator, that one would not willingly be forced on such an inconvenient interpretation. f fl. mediator is not [the mediator] ºf one, but God is omc.] I have fol- lowed Mr. Locke’s interpretation of this difficult ; not without attentively comparing a variety of others. The learned Dr. Jenkins (in his Remarks on Four Bogks, p. 136.) interprets it, “This mediator is not a Inediator of one and the same covenant with the former; but God is Šišii oil and the same, an unchangeabic. Being, who will therefore ad. here faithfully to his prior, engagements.” But this changing the sense of the word onc, and putting, so unusual an interpretation upon it, is a difficulty one would choose, if possible, to avoid.—Nor can it be under- stood as if it were said, “ Ryhºo a mediator is appointed to interpose his office, it is a sign the parties are at variance :” but God is now recom- ciled; for neither ãoes it'appear that there was any controversy between God and Israel when Moses was appointed a mediator ; nor does God’s being one properly signify being at peace.—I shall mention but one other explication, which, makes the sense of it as if it had been said, “Moses is not a mediator, Švos, of the seed, to whom the promise was made ; and therefore could not act so as to give up his right, or, that of the persons whose guardian and representative he was.”. But this would suppose a very unwarrantable change in the signification of one when applied to §, and takes it for granted, I think very unreasonably, that Christ was not concerned in giving the laid from mount Sinai. - g Righteousness should have been by the Mosaic law. This was the lap, by way of eminence, to which therefore God would have done that honour, if he would have done it to any. 657 6. GAL. 19 III. 83 658 SEC T. 6. GAL. HI. 24 25 THE STABILITY OF THE COVENANT MADE WITH ABRAHAM. of the law, as condemned malefactors are guarded in close custody, under sentence, unto the faith, which in due time should qfterwards # ing no possibility of escape till the Messiah came and brought the º tidings of a way to be justified and accepted, though we were before most justly condemned. So that the law, while it continued its authority over us, and held us under the rigour of its discipline, was as it were our schoolmaster, or the instructor of our childhood, to teach us our own sinfulness and the necessity of a better righteousness than our own; and so |. lead us] wnto Christ, and to engage us, as condemned by the law, to have recourse to him who is the End of the law for righteousness, (Rom. x. 4.) that we might thus be justified by faith in him, and so obtain the benefit of the promise. - But when this faith once came to be fully revealed by the gospel dispensation, we then passed over to a more liberal and happy state; and being instructed in the knowledge of Christ, we are no longer under the discipline of a schoolmaster, as children in a state o shut up as prisoners #ºliº - - SłłOUl{Gi äIte IWarGS 09 reveal - revealed; there be- . - 24 Wherefore the law was our school-master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is ome, we are no longer under C a school-master. 26 minority, and have no such need of the law as we had formerly to direct us to him. For , 26 For ye, are all the chil- 27 28 having believed in Christ as he is discovered in the gospel, ye are all, without distinction, Gentiles as well as Jews, the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and are now, as it were, brought into an adult state, in which you have a claim to higher privileges and to greater freedom than you had before. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, and so have taken upon you the solemn profession of his religion, may thus be said to have put on Christ, and to be clothed with his character and covered with his righteousness; and by the interest you have in him by faith, are so united to him as to appear one with him in his state of liberty and felicity. So that now the distinctions which were before so much regarded are in a manner done away, and have an end put to them by this happy union; and there is neither Jew nor Greek, but the latter has the same privileges with the former, and the former may, without offending God, use the same free- dom in approaching to him with the latter: there is neither bond nor free, but slaves are now the Lord's freemen, and freemen the Lord's servants; and this consideration makes the free humble and the slave cheerful, and swallows up in a great measure the sense of his servitude: there is neither male nor female, but all are now admitted to that initiatory ordinance of baptism which comes in the place of circumcision, that was appropriated to the males; and this happy state of equality into which, with respect to spiritual privileges, both sexes are brought, may justly prevent that tyranny over the weaker which in some places hath so shamefully prevailed; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus, and are all equally accepted in him ; and being made one body in him, believers, of whatever nation, or sex, or condition they be, are all cemented in the bonds of holy friendship, and animated with 29 the views of the same happiness. And if ye [be] Christ's, and are by faith united to him, who is the promised Seed in whom all nations shall be blessed, then are ye the true seed of Abraham, and equally are so whether ye are circumcised or not; and in consequence of this, ye are heirs in virtue of the promise, and may look upon the best blessings pro- mised to that holy patriarch as your own, though you have no inheritance in the land of Canaan, and pretend to claim nothing by virtue of a natural descent. IMPROVEMENT. dren of God by faith in Christ Jesus r as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the DTOmniSe. Ver.26 LET us rejoice in those spiritual privileges to which all true christians are now equally entitled, and charge our 29 souls with those obligations which necessarily attend them. . Let us look upon ourselves as the children of Abra- ham, as entitled to the noblest of those promises which God made to that excellent Saint; even to that great and comprehensive promise, (which is all the salvation and all the desire of every true child of Abraham,) namely, that God will be a God to us. (Gen. xvii. 7, 8.) Let us approve ourselves his genuine offspring by imitating his faith; 27 and always remember, that having been baptized into Christ, we have so put on Christ as to be obliged to resemble 28 2I 20 17 16 24 22, 23 him in his temper and character. If we desire to share the blessings and glories of that one body of which Christ is the great and glorious Head, let us not lay a disproportionate stress upon anything by which one christian may be distinguished from another; but endeavour, as one in Christ Jesus, to be one in affection and friendship to each other; and let those who seem to have the greatest advantages condescend to them that seem most their inferiors. Giving up all expectations of life from any law, since that of Moses could not give it, let us look for glory, honour, and immortality by the #º. and be very thankful for the knowledge we have of the Mediator of a bet- O ter covenant than that in which Moses was appointed to mediate. covenant of €OUISI162SS ii And as the law was given not to disannul the romise, but with a view to be subservient to it, and to point out Christ, let us apply to him for right- life ; and in him, as that one Seed of Abraham in whom all the families, all the nations, of believers, were to be blessed, let us centre our hopes, and be very solicitous that we by faith may be united to him, and so may have a claim to all the privileges of the promise under him. Thus let us continue to make use of the law, not as the foundation of our hope towards God, but as our school- master to bring us to Christ, by the discovery it has given of our need of him; and being sensible that it hath shut up all under sin, from which we cannot be delivered but by the faith the #º hath revealed, may we be led to . C seek the benefit of the promise, that being the sons of God by faith in life and blessedness. rist Jesus, we may be heirs of eternal h Shut up as prisoners under sentence.] The apostle having shown, in the pregeding verse that all were shut we under sin, what he now, adds of the Jews being shut up does not so much refer to the fatigue of cere- monies, (though some have explained it so,) as to the condemnation under which the violation of the law brought the transgressors of it; according to the grand argument so largely insisted upon by St. Paul in his Épistlé to the Romans, chap. iii. 9–23, ... . * e • { The sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.] It may perhaps be objected “We might have been the children or the sons of God, though we had still cqntinued under a schoolmaster;” but we should not then have ap- peared, under the character of such, as the apostle argues in the begin- ning of the next chapter. But perhaps the particle yan may here signify, mou, ; and so it may introduce the following application of the premises laid down before in more general terms.--It seems that Taíðayoyos here signifies such a master or governor as hath a power of restraining and correcting children in a manner that suits only an infant state, or that of early childhood. - - Pſape put on Christ.J., Mr. Locke here observes, that by their putting on Christ it is implied, “that to God, now looking on them, there ap- gars nothing but Christ. hey are, as it were, govered all over with im, as a man is with the clothes he has put on. And hence in the next verse it is said, they are all one in Christ Jesus, as if there were but that one person.” THE SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE AND FREEDOM OF THE GOSPEL. SECTION VII. The apostle illustrates the superior excellency and freedom of the state into which believers as the sons of God are brought by the gospel, aboye the state which, they were in before under the law, when they were only as minors under a rigorous tutor: and at the same time he reproves, the Galatians, that they were no more resolute in adhering to that better dispensation, the first tidings of which they had received from him with so much affection. Gal. iv. 1–20. GAL. iv. 1. \ NOW I say, that the heir, as I OBSERVED to long as he is a child, differ- eth nothing from a servant, ihough he be lord of all ; GALATIANS iv. 1. you, my friends, a little before, that while we were under the law, we were as in a state of minority: (chap. iii. 24, 25.) JWow, for the further illustration of that thought, by what is known to be the usual method of dealing with children, I say, [that] so long as the heir of the most plentiful estate is a child in his nonage, he, with respect to the possession and free use of it, and to the right of managing it in his own person, dif- jº. nothing from a servant or bondman, though he be in title and by right of inheritance 2. But is under, tutors and lord of all: But during his minority he is under the authority and restraint of governors governors until the time ap- pointed of the father. and guardians, to whose tutorage and management he is committed till the time appointed by the father, when he shall be deemed of age, and be at liberty to manage his affairs him- 3 Even so we, when we self. So likewise we, who having been Jews before have now embraced the faith of the were children, were in bond- age under the elements of the world : gospel, when we were but as children in minority, though we had the promise and hope of the Messiah, were held in bondage under the discipline of the law; in which we were employed in a way suited to the imperfect circumstances of an infant state, about worldly elements,” or about those inferior things which are but like the letters of the alphabet when compared with that sublime sense which they may be the means of teaching, when their 4 But when the fulness of power is duly understood, and the use of them become familiar to the mind: But when the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a wo– man, made under the law, the fulness of the time which had been marked out by the prophets for the accomplishment of this great event was come, and we were arrived at the age appointed by our ather for entering upon our adult state, God sent forth his own Son to give us the inheritance of the promise he had made of pardon and salvation, and bring us to a state of liberty and happi- 1162.SS. For to this end it was that the Messiah came; and that he might effect this grand design, he was pleased indeed to appear in a most humble form, taking upon him 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. * tion to obey the ceremonia mortal flesh, made of the substance (Gen. iii. 15.) and was thus made under the discipline of the Mosaic low in all its rigour; That so by his submitting, not only to the precepts of the law, but likewise to the penalty 5 and curse of it, he might redeem them who were under the yoke and curse of the law, and bring us into a happy liberty, both from the sentence of it, and from any future obliga- art of it; that, instead of that servile spirit which the law % a woman, according to the great original promise, breathed, we might all, as believers in Christ, receive the adoption of sons, and see and God ... hath sent forth Spirit of his Son into you hearts, crying, Aiba, Father, cause ye are thus admitted by the gospel to the full c haracter and dignity of his sons, God hath graciously sent forth an abundant effusion of the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, O ye believing Galatians, as well as into the hearts of the Jewish converts, crying, Abba, Father;b giving us all, both Jews and Gentiles, in our different languages, an equal free- dom in addressing ourselves to him with the overflowings of filial confidence and love. 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. mitted to the liberty and freedom of a son at age : and if thou art indeed a son in such circumstances, then it follows by a happy consequence, that thou art an heir of all the Fº of God through Christ, and hast a claim to God himself, as to thy Father and thy ortion. * 8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But if this was the case with the Jewish converts, that they were in a state of servitude while they continued under the law, the bondage of the Gentiles in their unregenerate state must have been greatly worse ; and it is still more absurd and unreasonable as to you Gentile converts, that when you have been called into a glorious liberty by the gospel, you should not entertain such liberal sentiments as are suited to it, but should be willing to submit to another servitude: way of being accepted with ſº then indeed, when ye knew not the only true God and the him, ye were in bondage to those stupid idols which by nature are no gods;" and greatly were your rational natures debased by so ignoble and absurd a service. happy the º 9 But now, after that ye have known 'God, or rather are known of God, how turn R. again to the weak and Jeggarly elements, whereun- to ye desire again to be in bondage 2 are called P But now, after that ye have known the mind and will of God, or rather are so as to be known of God, and he has shown his favour to you, and brought you to nowledge of himself by the instruction of his word and by the influence of his Spirit, how turn ye again into another kind of servitude to the weak and poor elements of the Mosaic ceremonies,” which are so far beneath that glorious and happy state into which ye Elements to which ye unaccountably desire again to be in bondage anew,” changing indeed the form and object of your ceremonies, but retaining many of the same low, perplexing, and unprofitable observances. For as under heathenism you had your a HWorldly clements.] The Jewish rituals might be so called, not only on account of the relation which they had to apprldly things, by which they were adapted to the low conceptions of children, who are most af- fected with sensible objects, and have no taste for spiritual and heavenly things; but also because the same kind of things had before obtained in the world, and were in use among the heathens, though under the Mosaic law they were directed to a better object and end.--Some wºuld consider it as referring to the unfitness of the Israelites, in the infancy of their commonwealth, for receiving a more rational and sublime plan of reli- gion, having been used in Egypt to so º pompous cºremonies. i, Crying, Abba, Father.] 'The learned Mr. Seſden (De Succ: in Boma Def, cap. iv.) hath brought a very pertinent quotation from the , Baby- lonian Gemara, to prove that it was not allowed to slaves to use the title of Jabba in addressing the master of the family to which they belonged, or the fºrespondent title of Imma, or mother, when speaking to the mis- treSS Of it. c Ye were in bondage to those which by nature, are no gods.] It is evi- dent here, that though these christians had before their conversion been idolatrous Gentiles, the judaizing teachers were desirous of subjecting them to the Mosaic ceremonies; from whence it appears how much those learned writers are mistaken who think the Jews only imposed these ceremonies on those who were already, as they affect to call them, Pro- selytes of the gate, Qr worshippers of the true God; and how vain is the attempt to prove from hence, that the injunction of abstaining from blood is to be considered as peculiar to them. d Jºeak and poor clements.] The ceremonies of the law were peak, as they had no sufficient power to cleanse the soul from sin, and justify the sinner in the sight of God ; and poor, as they could not confer the spiritual riches of the gospel, pardon and peace, and the assurance of cnjoying life, and happiness. , Besides, which it is to be remembered, that those who were most zealous for imposing the observance of the Mosaic ceremonies on the Gentile converts, were of the sect of the Pharisees, (Acts xv. 5.) who therefore would not fail, to impose a great many additional observances, taught only by the tradition of the elders; which may .* account for the low terms which the apostle uses upon this occasion. Compare Rom. viii. 3. and Heb. vii. 18. e Ye desire again to be in bondage anew.] It is certain they could not be said to be in bondage to the Jewish ceremonies anew who had never been acquainted with them ; but it was a bondage in some measure of the same kind; and, that is all that can be intended here.—I cannot think ava,0sv should be rendered, from above; as if the meaning were, they had received such notice or demands from Jerusalem. 859 SECT. 7. 2 3 4 6 And because ye are sons, know the happy privilege to which we are advanced in consequence of it. For unto all 6 ... who are partakers of it, it is attended with the most º and beneficial effects, and be- So that now, Ochristian, whatever be thy rank or station, or whether thou be Jew or 7 Gentile, thou art no longer to look upon thyself as a servant or bondman, or as standing on a level with such an one in point of present enjoyment; but, on the contrary, as ad- 8 9 GAL. IV. 666 THE INSTABILITY OF THE GALATIANS REPROVED, SECT. frequent feasts in honour of imaginary deities, so now ye observe the Jewish solemnities 10 Ye observe days, and 7, with as scrupulous an exactness; even your sabbath days, and the beginning of your mºnths, and times, and years. months or new moons, and your times of grand festivals, and your sabbatical years, and GAL. those of jubilee. Indeed, my brethren, when I think of these things, I am afraid of you, . 11 I am afraid of you, lest *Y., a lest it should be found that I have bestowed upon you so much affectionate labour in vain, ºwed upon you while, after all the pains that I have taken to instruct you in the faith and liberty of the " Ul I liſh W 3 lin. gospel, you appear to act as if you had forgotten what I taught you, and would be seeking justification from the law. - 12 Give me leave, brethren, while I am thus expostulating with you and reproving you, , 12 Brethren, I beseech you, most earnestly to beseech jou with all tenderness, that ye be as I [an;] that ye maintain º.º. §§ {{...}. the same affectionate regard for me as I bear towards you ; and that ye candidly receive at all. DJ those sentiments which I, to whose authority in the church ye can be no strangers, have been inculcating upon you. And this I may the rather expect, from what I have expe- rienced in myself; for it is well known there was a time whén I [was] as ye [are] as much bigoted to the Mosaic rituals and Pharisaic traditions as any of you all can be:; but God hath now taught me better; and that your hearts may also feel the power of his grace, and every prejudice may be subdued and rooted out, I am solicitous that the purity of that truth which I have learntin so extraordinary a manner, and which I have faithfully preached among you, may continue with you. Remember too, that I am Paul your apostle and your friend, for whom you have formerly expressed the highest affection; and as, whatever instability you may have shown as to some important doctrines which I taught you, ye have not personally injured me at all, I can have no ill-will to you, nor any inclination to find fault with you on my own account. 13 . But whatever change may be in you, I still retain the same affectionate regard I mani- . 13 Ye know how through fested for you at my first coming to you, when I was treated by you with the greatest; i.e. "...sº respect, and you esteemed yourselves happy under my ministry, notwithstanding all the you at the first. disadvantages that attended it: for ye well know that I preached the gospel among you at first, when ye were entire strangers to the happy contents of it, in the infirmity of the flesh, and indeed with a great mixture of weakness in my manner of expressing myself; which was the consequence of that disorder in the whole system of my nerves, that was occasioned -14 by the revelations I had the honour to receive some time before I came among you : ...And 14, And my temptation yet with respect to this my temptation that was seated in my flesh, (for a temptation indeed 㺠it was, and sometimes threw me into greater anxiety thanitought to have occasioned,) I had gº angel however the consolation to see that jou did not despise it, or reject [me] with scorn ºn ac * ***** count of it; but, on the contrary, struck with the importancé of my message and those evident proofs of ā‘divine co-operation that attended it, ye received me as if I had been an angel of God come down from heaven to you, [yea, with as much affection and submis- sidn as it can be supposed you would have shown to our divine Master Christ Jesus him- self, if, instead of sending me as his messenger and ambassador, he had visited you in 15 person. What was then your felicity,i and how great was the sense you had of your hap- . 15. Where is then the bless; piness, upon your first receiving the glad tidings of the gospel from me, when such a change jºirº was made in your state, and your hearts were under the impulse of such holy affections, ºssibiº wºuld hº as that you could not but congratulate yourselves and me upon it! You cannot surely §.º.º.º. have forgot it; for I bear you witness, that if [it had º possible you could have done it, and I could have received any benefit by it, you would even have plucked oul your own 16 eyes, and have given them to me, as a convincing proof of your affection for me. And why 16 Am I therefore become § there now be such a change in your disposition towards me? Am I therefore bé. ºecause * * come your enemy, or have you any reason to account me such, unless, it be because I tell - you the truth, and bear a faithful testimony, to the uncorrupted gospel, which I desire to maintain among you in all the purity in which I planted it. 17 I do not indeed impute this alienation of affection wholly to yourselves; for I know 17 They zealºusly affect -- that a great many dishonest artifices have been used to prejudice your minds against me, tºº". and there are those among you who would endeavonr to persuade you that they zealously might affect them. affect you, and have an extraordinary concern for your welfare, [but] are not upright and sincere, and what they aim at is not well, as they are seeking to subvert the truth, and to seduce and draw you off to their own sentiments; yeſt, they would quite exclude and shut ws out from any share in your regards, that ye may zealously affect and be attached to them, and, having engrossed you to themselves, they may thus have an opportunity of pro- 18 moting their own secular views at your expense. But it is fit you should remember that 'iº ſº; fit is good for you to be zealously affected always in that which is good: for as the beauty “” “*” f I am afraid of you, &c.] Some have observed there, was the greater , senting this temptation as in his ſlºsh, and what he sºys of ºthºi” reason for this apprehension, as the fixing, the time of the Jewish feasts the flesh, that was given to humble him after the abundance of his repela: depended upon the grand sanhedrin; so that their observing them wouli tions, (2 Cor. xii; 7.) that I can see no room to scruple why we may not bring them" into such an intercourse with and dependence upon that take it for an effect of that, nenorable circumstance,yhigh must have court as might be greatly to the hazard of their christianity. ºl." º º before his preaching flº ğı º: #; º - - K. - 8. s 2 ºn f : #A ſ \ A* & W i ſ” ºn f° tº it & ; r. (-62s a S in 12 ht St I || Be Gil SCéſ Ill Ol C i Il Ill II] - S 71 ºr tº: "C. words kayao & º S attended with such consequences as might sº - - 9. g I [was] as ye [are, &c.] The words kgyo tos picts are ambiguou: 2 gince it was not removed on his desire to be delivered from it. See note and may either signify, I was, or I am, as ye are. Our, translation takes f, on 2 Cor. xii. 7. p. 639 ºn iº, lattº...ense; and thº, it gºu; º; ſº, tºº,with ";"iºd tº relicity'ſ some, think that St. Paul here refers them, which he urges as an argument for their unanimily with him an:l frzi, is ;..... ... i. i., is i, º, … cºal: 4 J, >, > of f' i to their blessing hi * ... * - - - - - to the high things which they spake of himself, and to their blºssling ſtim affection to him. And as this suits the connexion with the latter, pºrt fºr what he taught them; and \ir. Locke would have it, that the sense of the verse, I have expressed that sense in the pāraphrase ; though the .# ºlis. jºi'i.” Wilatiºnedictions did you thé pour out upon former seems, preferable, as more weighty, copious, and striking, and * i & J R tº 12 N - I is • 2 & * ... - º indeed I think more natural tº: for it is certain many of thein were * * & a * - y $º •-tyi * * * ** -- - n i * * r *) ºr * - - #. ºß *ºjº hifn, (chap. i. 6. iv. 16.) while he was most gospºi by him, that upon this they wºuld, be caping blºsings on hill, in tel) eſſ: affected tow ards them. - testimony of the high regard which they bad fºr him.5, it does not suit sq h Jºſu temptation that was, in my flesh.],...What the apostle here refers wººij with the original, which rather is expressive ºf the sense º had to must have been sº well known tº the Gºlºs, that it was needless ºf their ºf jºiºs in being enlightened by him in the knowledge #. .*. al flºº of it iſ º ..". : jºi of the gospel; for such appears to be th9 proper meaning of the words |Iammong and otbers explain it of the persecutions which he suffere ºakº, tººk ºv. Compare Rom. iv. 6, 9. for preaching the gospel; but these ...] be no cause why the Galātians Fº k %. $ j hut us }: } Though most copies read it, ekk}\eta at should despise him, and were so far from making him gontemptible, < Wey woua sm ... natiºnſ easyif we readius, rather than that they must rather"be an inducement to their receiving him witH gas, the sense appearsºnº hº ; : f $th d jerºspect, when he could bear such sufferings in vindication of the you; and as there is no doubt, but theºſºle | *... ers to the endea- doctrine he delivergil.-The apostle speaks of it, as an infirmity and voºrs used by their false teachers to alienate }; h *::::::: from him- Fººtion seated in his flesh, which by the effect it had upon him might self; it may induce is to prefer this reading, W *: aS the tº: render both his ...; º his º º .# º §: of some copies, and upon this account is put by our translators in the a tendency to make him despigable 11, the eyes, 9F others ; agreeable to Intrºln. - • * * * + - Whiºi, he elsewhere inentions it as objegººd to him, that,his bodily pre- jº be zealously affected always in that which is good.], Evka)\ºp either gence acts ºceak and his speech cºutemptible, (2 Cor. x. 10.) and, on the may refer to a good persgn ºr a good thing, and may be understood of Yºhole, there seems to be so manifest a resemblance between his repre- their continuing zealous in their affection, either to himself, or to the me .33. But ho’ºsoever this be the consequence of their accounting the ſº- ºices happy in iraving him for their apostlé, aftil bein;, instructed in the THE APOSTLE's DISTRUST OF THE GALATIANS. w 661 e good thing, and not only and the excellence of zeal is to be estimated, not by the degree of it considered in itself, SECT. *** ****** but by the object to which it is directed; so too the warmth of your affection towards an 7. object truly worthy of it should be at all times equally maintained; and the same fervent – zeal which you have formerly expressed, ought to be manifested by you, not only when I º am present with you, but in my absence too, if you really think me to déserve your regards, 1s” and have indeed received the truth in the love of it. - Jº What shall I say to you, my dear little children, of whom I hoped I had begotten you in 19 iſſibiºtº'º. Christ Jesus through the gospel? (1 Cor. iv. 15.) I am in great anxiety of heart concerning 'ou, and am so earnestly solicitous you may be found to have received the grace of God in truth, that I declare, with all the undissembled tenderness of a most affectionate parent, I travail as it were in birth again, and am in pangs about you, till Christ be fully fºrmed in you, and I have the happiness to see clear evidences of the prevalence of true christi. * anity in all its branches in you, by which it may appear you are renewed after the image of wº º, º; Christ, and are really brought to a life of faith in him. But since I find you have lost so 20 º föri stand in doubt much by my absence, and have unhappily been set upon by those who have taken the opportunity of it to practise upon you, I could heartily wish to be present with you even now, and to see cause to change my voice towards you, so as to speak to you in terms of greater confidence, assurance, and complacency than I now can ; for indeed I am in great doubt and in much perplexity about you ; and though I do not absolutely despair of your re- covery and establishment, yet I am not without very discouraging apprehensions, lest, after all the pains that I have taken with you, the good effects of my labours among you should in a great measure be lost. IMPROVEMENT. As the church in general was in its minority till the full revelation of the gospel came, so is every true member Ver. of it a minor while he continues in this world, and is in many instances inferior to some who have no part in the 1, 2 inheritance; but the time will come when, as an heir who is deemed of age, he shall be admitted into full posses- sion, and it will amply and immediately repay all the abasements and mortifications of that state in which the wisdom and love of our heavenly Father hath at present placed us. The grand foundation of this hope is that infinite love which we can never sufficiently acknowledge and admire, 4, 5 even the love of God our Father, in sending forth his Son at the appointed time, made of a woman, and made un- der the law, subject at once both to its precepts and its penalty, to redeem us when we were under its condemning sentence, and to introduce us to all the privileges of that divine adoption which we receive from him. May each of us, in consequence of it, receive more and more of that spirit of adoption whereby we may be enabled to raise our souls to God, with all the holy overflowings of genuine filial affection, while we daily cry, Abba, Father! “Send forth, O God, this Spirit of thy Son in our hearts, whatever worldly benefits and delights thou mayst deny 6 us; that we may thus rejoice in the assurance that we are heirs of God through Christ, and may be able to glory 7 in this, that the Lord is our inheritance.” If we thus know God, being delivered from the bondage of corruption, and from those idolatrous regards to the 9 creature to which our hearts are naturally so inclined, let us acknowledge that it is because we rather have been known of him, and being apprehended by his grace, he hath received us into the number of his sons, and given us the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. Let us act suitably to such a character, and be solicitous to maintain the purity of that religion by which we are brought to such exalted dignities and hopes. And let our hearts be always open to receive the truth in the love of it; not despising the infirmities of those that preach the gospel to us 14 in faithfulness, nor allowing ourselves at any time to look upon them as our enemies, for the plainness with which they may tell us the truth; which is sometimes the case with regard to those who might once have been ready, in 16 the forwardness of their zeal and affection, almost to have plucked out their own eyes for Ininisters whom they 15 afterwards slight and forsake. Let us labour after a steadiness in our temper and conduct, and take heed that our zeal be so guided as that it 18 may centre, upon objects truly good, and may continue to act in proportion to their excellency, always suspecting those principles and those persons who would alienate our hearts from any of the faithful sérvants of Christ, be- 17 cause they do not agree with our sentiments about the circumstantials of religion. Such as the apostle Paul expresses here with so much tenderness, will be the desires of every faithful minister for 19, 20 the spiritual children which God hath given him; and where he sees reason to stand in doubt of any of whom he had once good hopes through grace, lest perhaps he should have bestowed upon them labour in vain, it will give II him a deep and a tender distress, and he will, as it were, travail in birth again till Christ be formed in them. Iſis very heart will be in pain for this: and what can be a greater or more worthy object of desire? Oh that it might appear that Christ is formed in the very souls of all that are called by his name ! So would ministers have a firm foundation of joy in them, and they of hope towards God for that eternal happiness which can only be built upon Christ; upon Christ formed in them, as the only well-grounded hope of glory. (Col. i. 27.) SECTION VIII. The apostle illustrates the subject cf his foregoing discourse by an allegory borrowed from what is written of Sarah and IIagar, and their re- - spective seeki. Gal. iv. 2 i, to the end; v. 1. GAL. iv. 21. GALATIANS iv. 21. TELL me, ye, that desire to I HAVE been saying a great deal to take you off from any further thoughts of becoming SECT, jº,” “ ” subject to the Mosaic law; but if you still have any inclination to it, tell me now, ye whº S are desirous of being under the law, do ye not hear and call to mind what is said in the book º of the law itself, which is so often read in your assemblies? There is a passage even in the GAL. first book of that sacred volume which is very capable of being improved to your instruc- IV. 3 For it is written, that tion, if you rightly enter into it. For it is written there, (Gen. xvi. 15. and xxi. 2, 3.) 22 §º that,3braham, the great patriarch, in a descent from whom so many are ready to glory, had by a freewoman. two sons, who, thºugh equally related to him, were by no means equal with regard to the blessings which they were to inherit: the one of these he had by Hagar a bondwoman, and the other by Sarah a freewoman, whose name signifies a Lady or Princess, and so may be 23 But he who was of the understood as importing not only liberty but authority. But there was a great differénce 23 truth that he had preached. But as the apostle had been speaking of though he expresses it in a graceful way, with such a latitude as may himself in the foregoing verses, he likewise seems to have still in view include their zeal for his doctrine, as well as for his person, and I hº the warmth of their affection to him when he was present with them ; chosen therefore not to limit it to cither in the translation Gö3 SECT. 8. GAI,. 23 promise, when his parents were in the course of mature absolutely incapa 24 AN ILLUSTRATION FROM THE HISTORY OF SARAH AND HAGAR. between them; for he [who was bor ºnly according to the flesh, and produced in the common order of nature, without any par- ticular promise of God, or any unusual interposition of his power and providence; where- as he [who was born) of Sarah, the free-woman, that is, Isaac, [was º, by virtue of the ~ : - º * le of producing a child; and upon him the peculiar blessings of the divine promise were entailed. C Now I would lead you to an .# improvement of this remarkable and mystical fact, which contains many concurrent circumstances so nearly resembling what we now observe with regard to the Jewish and christian religion, and the professors of both, that I cannot but propose them to you as things that may be profitably allegorized. For these A two persons (Hagar and Sarah) are, that is, Inay well be, considered as representing the two celebrated covenants, or the two dispensations of the law and gospel, the tenor of yh;his sº different; the one that was delivered from mount Singi is that j, bringeth forth her children to bondage, which is Hagar, whose servile disposition and state may be 23 considered as an emblem of that less ingenuous dispensation. This Hagar, I say, whose 2 6 27 name signifies a Rock, is a representation of those who are under the law given from mount Sinai in Järabia,” in the j of which the Hagarenes who descended from Ish- mael were settled; and it answers in the allegory to the present state of the earthly Jeru- salem, which with her children is in a state of bondage, as being in subjection to so many ritual observances, and under a sentence of wrath on the commission of the least wilfi ºffence, which hath the greatest tendency to produce a mean and disingenuous fear. Bill the Jerusalem above, or that celestial sociéty to which all that believe, both Jews and Gen. tiles, are come, and are united under the new and better dispensation of the gospel-cove- nant, is the free-woman, answering to Sarah in the superior character and state to which it introduces us, and is indeed the mother of us all;b to whom we as christians do all belong, §nd by virtue of our relation to whom we not only are at present in a more liberal and happy condition, but become heirs, as Isaac was, of the promises which God was pleased to make to our father Abraham. And there is a passage in the prophecy of Isaiah, which may naturally suggest such a thought: ſ". it is written there," with reference to the greater freedom and enfängement of the church in the times of the Messiah, (Isa. liv., i.), “Réjoice, and be exceeding glad, thou] bºren, who for a long time, didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud for joy, thou who, didst not travail in birth : for such is now thy happy state, that many nore are the children of the desolate than of her who had a husband.” ‘’The children of the Christian church, the spiritual seed of the true Sarah, shall (as the prophet there suggests) be abundantly more numerous than those of the Jewish ever were; and what we see at present of its enlargement and prosperity may encourage our faith in the promises relating to its yet more universal spread and brighter glory in the latter day. 28 . Now, to apply, what I have been saying to ourselves: we, brethren, like Isaac, are the 29 3() children of Abraham, not according to the flesh, but as born of the Spirit in virtue of the promise; and so are heirs of the blessings of the covenant, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, in consequence of our believing in Christ, and being united to him, as the Seed in which it was declared that all the families of the earth shall be blessed. But indeed the parallel holds further still, in this respect; that as then he who was born after the flesh, that is, Ishmael, in whose production there was nothing beyond the common course of nature, mocked and derided, and so persecuted, him [who was born) after the Spirit, that is, Isaac, who was produced as the spiritual seed by the special energy of God's miraculous power, even so [.. is] now; the carnal Jews, who are the seed of Abraham after the flesh, abuse and per- secute us christians, who are Abraham's seed after the Spirit. But what saith the Scrip- ture in regard to this? The oracle is correspondent to the case before us; for it there fol- lows, (Gen. xxi., 10.) “Cast out the bondwoman and her insolent son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not inherit with Isaac, the son of the frce-woman;” which, howsoever grievous it might seem to Abraham, when it was said by Sarah, yet God himself confirmed the sentence, and directed that it should be done : and in like manner also shall the rebel- lious Jews be treated, who, notwithstanding their boasted descent from Abraham, shall be cast out of the church and family of God, and shall be visibly expelled and (as it "...] turned out of doors by him, as the mocking Ishmael was, for insulting those whom God hath chosen for his covenant-children, and shall not be permitted to be heirs of the pro- mise with them. s º - So then, upon the whole, my brethren, we that believe in Christ are not children aſ the bondwoman, under subjection to the servile dispensation of the law; but we are children of the free-woman, and have the privilege of being called into a state of liberty under the a This IIagar, I say, $ºl The particle yap cannot here have its in the fifty-third. . And having observed illalive ſorce, since it would be very injurious to the apostle to suppose 1.1 - - he meant to argue thus; Aſount Sinai is 1ſugar—for this Iſagar is mount Sarah, who in respect of children might *] ºf Hagar the bondwoman, that is, Ishmael, was born bondwoman was born after the flesh ; but he of the free- woman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gen- dereth to bondage, which is gā T. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answer- ºth to Jerusalem which, now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 97 For it is written, Re- joice, thou barren that bear- est not ; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not : for the desolate hath many more children than slie which hath an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then ho that was born after the ſlºsh persecut- ed him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what saith the Scripture ?, Cast out the bond woman and her son : for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the sou of the free-woman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not ghildren of the bond- woman, but of the ſree. that no person mentioned in the Old Testament can so properly be addressed in such language as be called desolate, whereas Sinai. It must therefore here signify the snine with I say, and only Hagar was the married wife and motler, he thinks it reasonablº fo introduce the repetition of a thought which the upostlo was desirous to conclude from hence that she was referred to by Isaiah, as St. Paul, inculcate ; as it often does clise where. Compare Rom. iii. 2, and xv. 27, according to him, Isserts in this text.—But not to insist on the impro- b Jerusalem above is the ſee-woman, which is the mother af us all.] priety of giving, Hagar, who was only a slave, and a conſuline, the Some have thought the apostle here suggests an argument to prove, the character and title of the marrical wiſe, in opposition to Sarah, the prºp- liberty of the citristian church, from the great number of its converts, which gipal wiſe and undoubted mistress of the fainily, l think the context in woujčí have rendered the observation of many of the Mosaic precepts Isaiqh plainly shows that the prophet refers to the future conversion of impossible; but that intination, if intended, must, have been very ob- the Jews, and the increase and prosperity of that happy pation after its sºuro. It is more reasonable to conclude that he refers to the free geni is long rejęction, as, far excceding what it had known before in its most of Christianity, which, when compared with Judaisin, is extremely ob- favoured, state. (Isa. liv. "p. scq.) And therefore I would choose to vious, and made it evidently ſit, in the illustration of this allegory, to explain this iliussuge in St. aul as an allusion rather than an urgument; §§jºin, that is, Šárah, as represerting the church under which frees"it from many objections and gmbarrassments to which it F - - - - * this nobler form. would otherwise have appeared liable.--Iſ any should urge, thut such Tor it is or riffen . Pierce has a lonrmed and ingenious disserta- glosses are of little importance, it may be sufficient to reply, that they tº: §§ &###, }|...} the Philippians) to prove that the yere muſh in the Jewish taste, and that we may assure lºº. that apostle here asserts that isaiah, in the passage he quotes from his pro- the apostles were preserved from any thing in them which was not per- phecy, points out the allegorical, correspondence betweep the ghristian ſectly agreeable to the mind of the Spirit—Qn, the whole, I, entirely churcſ, and Sarah, on, which, he had been insisting in this s?ction :, und agree with Mr. Chandler, that this part of the Epistle was not intended accordingly this critic renders those words in ver, 24. &rºvº, cºtti, to propa Christianity, but to iiii tº the different genius of that and aXXmyopºpeva, which things are allegorized, that is, are actually turned Judaism, and to show that not all tho carnal descen; #. of Abraham, to this 'sense by the prophet, who (as he says) calls out in this fifty- but, the spiritual offspring only, were heirs, ºven upcording to the prin: fourth chapter to some woman celebrated for having children after long ciples which the Jews themselvgs readily admitted. See Chandler, Qf barrenness, to show that sººn; like this should #P. after the Miracles, p. 345, 346. And lor. Sykes's ºgrees with this. ! sufferings and resurrection of the Messiah, which had een foretold Comparé Sykes, On the Truth of Christianity, p. 198, 19 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE URGED. Gal. v. I., Stand fast there: spiritual covenant of the gospel. See to it, therefore, that you strenuously maintain º: 3. §§ privilege and freedom you are called to, and, without yielding in the least to those who be nºt entingled again with are endeavouring to seduce you to a subjection to the law, let me exhort you to stand fast the yoke of bondage. in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free :d contend earnestly for the purity and honour of that religion which he hath established, and be not persuaded to be entangleſ! again with the yoke of bondage; of which you appear to be in danger, from what I hear of your circumstances, and am informed of the temper of some among you. IMPROVEMENT. Let us not allow ourselves to cavil at a passage like this that we have now been reading, but submit to the authority of this divinely-inspired interpretér, who we are sure was enabled to explain and improve Scripture in such a manner, as he by whose Spirit it was dictated knew to be most agreeable to its spiritual design. Let us bless God that we are children of the free-woman; that we are so happy as to be called to so liberal and ingenuous a dispensation, and are not fettered with that yoké of bondage, or doomed to those servile terrors, which would have been so grievous, had we been left to them unsupported by the grace of the gospel, and which would so much have abated our comforts, had they been incorporated with the christian dispensation. Well may we rejoice to hearin prophecy of the glorious increase here promised to the church: letus be thankful that it hath in part been accomplished; and let it invigorate our prayers for the hastening that happy time when the desolate shall enlarge the place of her tents, and stretch forth the curtains of her habitations; when she shall lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes; and though long afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, she shall see her pavement of fair colours, and her foundations of sapphires; her windows shall be made of agates, and her gates of carbuncles. (Isa. liv. 1, 2, 11, 12.) -- - In the mean time, let us guard against the disingenuous temper of the son of the bondwoman, against every thing that may look like persecuting our brethren. It is much better, if such be the will of God, that we should suffer ill-usage from them ; staying our souls upon the promises of God, which shall all be assuredly accomplished in their season. Yet may all this meekness and gentleness be exercised in full consistency with that generous 663 SECT. 8. GAI. G.A.I. . 21, et seq. 31 27 2 9 care to stand fast in the fiberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, which we owe to ourselves, our brethren, and v. 1 our children; and indeed owe to the honour of our common christianity, and to the regard we should express to him who hath broken the yoke from our shoulders; who cannot be pleased to see us voluntarily entangling our: selves with it anew, or méºnly lying down under the oppressive hands of those who, in the abuse of his sacred name, would presume again to bind it upon us. SECTION IX. The apostle urges them more resolutely to retain the doctrine of justification by divine grace ; and renºw's his caution against the efforts of those seducing teachers who had done so much to alienate their minds from it. Gal. v. 2–15. GAL. v. 2. -GALATIANS v. 2. BEHQL.P., Paul say, unto I HAVE exhorted you, as children of the promise, and born not of the bondwoman but §§"º"..."; the free, to maintain your christian liberty, and guard against the encroachments of those nothing. who would break in upon it. And I now plainly tell you, that I particularly mean those ‘udaizing teachers with whom the church is at present so much infested; in reference to whose tenets, behold, I Paul, whatever may have falsely been suggested of my favouring their sentiments, and sometimes preaching circumcision, expressly | unto you, That if ge, who are by birth and education Gentiles, submit to be circumcised, with a dependence on the observation of those Jewish rites to which ye are thereby obliged for your justifica- tion before God,” Christ shall profit you nothing, and all that he hath done and suffered will be of no advantage to you: for if the whole confidence of the soul do not rest upon him for salvation, he will reject those divided regards which are offered to him, and inter- pret them as an affront rather than an acceptable homage. - 3. For, I testify again, to , wind I repeat it as a point of the highest importance, which is agreeable to what I have §§§'"; ºr, always preached, and do now testify again to ºvery particular man among you who is cir. the whole law. cumcised, in the view I have just been mentioning, with a dependence on that rite for jus- tification, that he is thereby become a debtor to do the whole law: for as circumcision binds a man fully to observe all the other rituals of the Mosaic dispensation, so will the tenet which I now oppose leave you under the rigour of that covenant which required perfect and sinless obedience, and left every wilful transgressor under a curse, from which by the eñº"..."...º.º.º. law he could never be delivered. It is therefore evident that Christ is become of none ºu"; }ºlifi..."tº effect to such of you, but must have appeared and died in vain as to any benefit you ... * * * * would have by him, whosoever of you are seeking to be justified by the works of the law; e yea, by this means, whatever your profession may have been of a regard to Christ, ye are indeed fallem from the grace of the gospel, and have in effect renounced your expectations SECT. 9. GAL. W. 2 3 4 *Fºllºwshººt from it. For we who are true christians, and have been savingly enlightened in the know- 5 it f th | - f r t - - * * * * tº sº. §eº” “"“” ledge of the truth, do, through the influences of the Spirit, whose gifts and graces are so glorious a seal of the gospel, wait for the hope of righteousness and life, not on account of any, claim or title we have to it by our obedience to the law, but by a sincere and operative Jailh, casting our souls on Christ as condemned creatures who have no hope in themselves, and trusting in the grace of God for justification through the redemption he has wrought. Rºjºſº.ºhiºhi, And herein.we act according to the true tenor of the gospel; for in the dispensation of 6 ther circumcision availeth ... •S * r - - e * • * * j (i."."ºncºſ' grace by Christ Jesus to those who would obtain salvation by him, neither circumcision jºi" which wºrk availeth any thing, nor wmcircumcision, and no man will either be saved or condemned for º being or not being circumcised; but our interest in the blessings of the gospel depends upon a sincere faith in Christ, which operates by an unfeigned love to God and man, and d.Therºſºrº stand ſºstin, the liberty,’ &c.), This exhortation is so evi- which he elsewhere speaks of circumcision as availing nothing. See dently grounded on what the apostlé had been saying just before, that chap. v. 6. vi. 15. and l Cor. vii. 19. - it seems best to be connected with it, and I have therefore placed it at b. Faitº phigh operates by, lºve.] There is some degree of ambiguity the end of this section, It is made the close of the fourth chapter in in the Qriginal expression, 6t’ ayarms eyepysperm, which is capable of three of Stephens's copies; which seems to be more proper than to make being differently rendered, and may signify either which operates and It, AS We generally do, the beginning of another chapter. * works by love, or which is acrought, inspired, and perfected by lose; sº. If we be circumcised, with a dependence on the observation, &c.] which latter sense some have preferred, and have taº.siºn ºf Qºmon sºse plainly requires to tºke, the assertion with such limits; hence to show how much charity tends tº establish and effº. "tº which is also negºssary to reqoncilº, it with the hopes of all Jewish prefer the more, usual senses which I think to be authorized by the use helievers, and with, this, conduct of St. Paul himself in circumcising of the same word, Éph. iii., §, and Cºl." Timothy. (Acts xvi. 3.) And this accounts for the indifference with 1. º. 664 CAUTIONS AGAINST THE SEEDUCING TEACHERS. SECT. so engages us, from a principle of holy gratitude, to yield a sincere obedience to all the 7 Yedid run well, who did 9, known will of God, renouncing any dependence on that obedience, how complete soever - it may seem, as the meritorious cause of our acceptance with him. - r gy. This is true, genuine christianity, and you once received it as such, and appeared to be bjnder you that ye should not Ver, 2 the whole Christ might profit them nothing! under the influence cf it; in regård to which I may say, Ye did once run well at your first setting out in the christian race, and seemed to exert yourselves in a very happy manner; who then of late has hindered jow” from obeying the truth, with that readiness and perse- verange which might reasonably have been expected from so hopeful a beginning, and has 8 turned you out of the way in which you were making so fair, a progress 2 Of this I am sure, that the persuasion you now seem to have entertained of the necessity of mixing Judaism with christianity, and seeking justification, in part at least, by Mosaical observº ances, [comes] not from him that called you into the profession of the gospel; nor did I teach you any such lesson when I was made the happy instrument of bringing you to the 9 christian faith, but have largely and earnestly inculcated the contrary, There were, indeed, Some secret workings of this pernicioits principle which I now oppose, that early became * .x. .* : *. {{ visible among you; and I find they lı • * * - we spread in stich a manner as to show that a little leaven, if it be suffered to continue, operates unseen till it diffuses itself on every side, and + 10 leaveneth the whole mass. But having laid the matter thus before you, and warned you of the danger of this leaven with that fidelity and zeal which love to your souls and a re- gard to the honour of Christ requires, I have this confidence in you through the grace of the rd Jesus, on whom I humbly depend for the influences of his Spirit, and to whose blessing I commit all my endeavours, that ye will be no otherwise minded, and entertain no other sentiments as to what is necessary to your justification, than ye have been taught by me: but he that troubleth you, and would pervert your minds from the purity of the faith, shall certainly bear [his] judgment of deserved censure here, and, if he persist in his evil, of weighty condemnation hereafter, whosoever he be je God will judge him at last for a conduct like this, and in the mean time he has reason to apprehend my animadverting upon him with that apostolical authority which some of my adversaries have found to their cost they were unable to resist. (Compare Acts xiii. 10, 11. I Cor. v. 4, 5. 2 Cor. x. 6, 8. xiii. 10. and 1 Tim. i. 20.) I know there are some who have insinuated as if I myself favoured the very principles elsewhere which I so much oppose among you ; but I leave it to you, my brethren, when you consider the treatment I have met with from these zealots, to judge if the contrary do not evidently appear. For if I yet preach the necessity of circumcision, and insist upon submitting to it in order to salvation, why do I still suffer such grievous persecution as it is evident to the whole world I endure by the malice of the Jews, who are every where en- deavouring to raise not only prejudices but tumults against me? Then surely, if it be true that I agree with them on this head, the offence taken at the doctrine of salvation by the cross of Christ is ceased; and in effect I give up that which I have been so long contending 12 for, and they have as eagerly been struggling against. But I am so far from agreeing with them, that I could wish ihey were even cut off entirely from the communion of the christian church, and cast out of it as unworthy members, wiio thus unsettle your minds, and disturb youf by so many false suggestions and irregular methods as do indeed well deserve such 3. CeſlS{IFC. This might be a means of restoring to the church that peace which is so agreeable to the principles of our common religion and calling; for it is manifest, my brethren, ye have been called by the gospel to liberty and freedom from the bondage of the Mosaic ceremo- nies; only see to it, that ye [abuse] not this liberly for an occasion of unwarrantable indul. gence to any irregular appetites of the flesh, as if we were set free from the observance of the moral precepts of the law; and remember that it is not only consistent with that liberty, but greatly subservient to it, that ye should look upon yourselves as bound by the exercise of the most cordial mutual love to serve one another. For all the law with which we hristians have any concern, so far as it relates to our fellow-creatures, is ſulfilled in the ob: servation of one word or precept, [even] in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, and treat him as in a change of circumstances thou wouldst reasonably expect and desire 5 to be treated by him. But iſ, instead of cultivating these christian, and humane senti. ments, ye indulge a fierce and savage disposition, so as to bite and devour ºne another, it will be necessary to take heed that je be not destroyed by one another, as wild beasts some, times worry one another till both are slain: at least, it is certain that, by these mutual contentions you take the readiest way to disgrace, and, so far as in you lies, to overthrow, the religion to which you profess a regard. 11 13 14 IMPROVEMENT. obey the truth 2 8 This persuasion coneth not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leavencth the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that yG will be none otherwise mind- ed: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judginent, whosoever he be. 11 And I, brethren, if I yet Pººl circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution ? then is the offence of the cross ceased. 12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you. 13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty ; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14 For all the law is ful- lled in, one word, even in this; , Thou shalt, love thy neighbour as thyself. 15 But if ye bite and de- vour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. How awful is the supposition which the apostle makes, even with regard to those who had distinguished them. selves by so zealous a profession; to those before, whose (chap. iii. 1.) eyes Christ had been evidently set forth * - and who would oncé have been ready to havé plucked out their own eyes for the minister that as crucified, preached him to them; (chap. iv. 15.) that he should speak of it with regard to such as a possible case, that on whom he shall be thus unprofitable, c 17Ho has hindered you.} : t has been obscrved that avºxolº is an Olympic expression, º to crpszers' and it properly º coming across the coitrse while a person is running in it, in Such a man- ^{ t- w - Her as to jostle, and throw him out,gſ the way. . y • #º iº s: God, and to the d ºn him that called you..] . This expression of iºn that. called or tainly receive, if he persisted in the endeav calleth you, agrees, with what he had used before, (chap. i. 6.) and in the º 3. Þoth places it would seem he ineans himself. See note f on that passage, - º at v-2 punishment he should suffer when $t. +$. - - - y - Ž that troubleth you shall bear [his] judgment, 30hosoeper he be.] Sºme think the apostlé here refers to one garticular maſk who was mºre forward than the rest, and had been chiefly instrumental in corrupting them; but by his quiding at the close, whosoever he be, he seems to inten # a general declaration; which bást ºrgſ; with what follows in ver. iº and what he elsewhere says in this £pistle, where he speaks always j their seducing teachers in the plural number. (See chap. i. 7. iv. 17. vi. ares that whosoever he be that troubleth \, he thus dec #º"; } is judgment, though some would understand P. G (who upderstood were inflicted upon them which are drawn from this be very inconclusive. - stances in which these seducing teachers cording to the paraphrase, Let our souls dread the thought of being in the number of those to this only of the censure which the church should pass upon him, or of the - - St. Paul came to exert his apostolical Authority, of which we have several instances elsewhere, (see note f, on - - T * - - it is reasonable to extend it to the sole inn ac- condemnation he should cer– ours he was using to subvert f I could wish they were even cut ºff, who disturb you..] It by no means agrees with the gentle genius of christianity to suppose that the apostle it so well, and cultivated it so much - this to intimate that he wished them deqd, or wished that any badily evil - by human, violence. All arguments therefore fext, in favour of persecuting principles must But when we consider the should mean by º circum- opposed the apostle, it will appear that they very well deserved that ecclésiastical censure which, ac- he here wishes to be pronounced against them 12 AUL EXHORTS THEM TO wALK SUITABLY TO THEIR PROFESSION. 665 How heavy will our account be, and how dearly shall we pay for the amusements of the sublimest knowledge SECT. or the most sanguine hopes we entertain, if this be the end of all! That we may none of us be so unhappy, let us be very careful that we do not think of seeking justification by the law in such a manner as to fall from grace; but 9. as no right or title to it can be obtained but by an interest in Christ, let us through the Spirit wait for the hope of GAL. righteousness and life, by faith in him. May the blessed Spirit of God form and support in our minds such a hope; which, if it be this formed, will never make us ashanied. (Rom. v. 5.) Let us be therefore animated by it: and if at first we have run well, let us always consider the despatch we may have made already in our christian race, as an excitement to further vigour rather than an encouragement to indolence and sloth. - Let the spirit which these and so many other parts of the New Testament breathe, teach us to moderate our 6 zeal about circumcision and uncircumcision, about the rituals and externals of religion, and to cultivate more and more that faith which operates by love, and therefore will express itself by keeping the commandments of God. This will engage us, by the best and most generous principles, to serve one another in our truest interests, and to 13 fulfil that royal law which is comprehended in this one important word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 14 Surely we have not as yet attained to perfection in this excellent grace; sure there is room for new attainments even in the best. But oh how lamentably deficient are the generality of christians! yea, rather, how scandalously and how fatally hath the opposite principle prevailed! So that, instead of that mutual love of which our gracious Redeemer was the great Teacher and Example, the contrary principle of hatred and malignity hath triumphed to 15 such a degree, as to turn the church into a camp of warriors, or rather (as it may be called) into a theatre of wild beasts, where they have been worrying one another almost to death, yea, in many instances biting and devouring one another, till they have actually been destroyed one by another. Let us take heed, after all the christian an the protestant interest hath suffered by these fatal divisions, that we do not catch the contagion, and bear our part in so common, yet so pernicious, a mischief. It is a spreading evil, and a little of this leaven often diffuses itself 9 over the whole mass; but nothing is more manifest i. that it is a persuasion which is so far from coming of 8 him that called us, that it is indeed the most direct violation of his distinguishing precept. Let us remember that the time will come when he that troubleth the church, either in one way, by unscriptural 10 impositions, to which the apostle here refers, or in another, by an unreasonable stiffness about things indifferent, will certainly bear his judgment, whosoever he be. Let us therefore rather choose to suffer persecution than to II share in . guilt; and be continually praying for that divine wisdom which may teach us so to bear afflictions as not to increase the offence of the cross, and so to stand fastin our liberty as not to abuse it for an occasion to gra- 13 tify those irregular passions, which, to whatever high original they may pretend, are indeed to be traced no higher than a carnal principle, and to be numbered among the works of the flesh. SECTION X. He exhorts the Galatians to a çonversation suitable to the dispensation of grace which they had received, and, warning them against the several vices of the flesh, recominends to them the habitual practice of the graces of the Spirit, and presses them in particular to purity, spirituality, and mutual love. Gal. v. 16, to the end. GAL. v. 16. GALATIANS v. 16. V. THIS I say then, Walk in I HAVE been cautioning you against that contentious temper which is so great a reproach sECT. §§º.º.” to the professors of christianity, and tends so much to the detriment of our common faith. But, that I may effectually guard you against this and every other evil, I have a charge to 10. i. you, and in one word I say, Palk in the Spirit, and at all times endeavour to con- gap. uct yourselves as under the influences of that blessed Agent, and in a way agreeable to ..., v. the new nature he hath given you, and then ye will not fulfil the lust of the flesh; but not-i6 withstanding the remainders of corruption in you, yet by his powerful suggestions, and by the gracious aids that you receive from him, you will be happily preserved from the predominancy of carnal and irregular appetites, so that the work of mortification, and all the exercises of true godliness, will daily become more and more easy and familiar to WOu. 17 For , the flesh Justeth Å. this precaution is absolutely necessary in present circumstances, by reason of the 17 §º. jº º continual contest that there is between the flesh and Spirit in the renewed soul: for while ifies are ºntºº you are here in the body, the fiesh is lusting on the one hand, and hath desires contrary to §º the motions and dictates of ille Spirit," or of that gracious principle which is communi. cated by the Holy Spirit in his regenerating operations on the heart; and, on the other hand, the Spirit [hath desires] contrary to the appetites and inclinations of the flesh, or of that principle of corruption which is introduced by sin, and the remains of which are ready to exert their influence in the regenerate; and these two principles are directly opposite to each other both in their nature and their tendency; so that, upon the whole, je do not the things that ye would, and are indeed incapable of doing them without your overbearing, either the desires of animal nature, or the nobler dictates of an enlightened and sanctified Spirit. Now surely you may easily judge, since one of these must be opposed, and one 18 But if ye be led by the only can be pleased and pursued, to which of them the preference is to be given. But 18 jº", * * * * * for your encouragement to a wise and happy choice, you will, I hope, always remember, e that if ye be led by the Spirit of God in the paths of evangelical holiness and obedience, and act according to that new and spiritual nature, he has formed in you, in the prevailing bent and tenor of your lives, ye are not then under the condemning sentence of the law, but are in consequence of this entitled to every benefit and privilege of the gospel. 19 Now the works of the And a further argument will arise from considering the different tendency of these prin- 19 fles: " " " * ciples, and the effects or fruits of which they are productive, on the oné hand and the other. JWow, as to the former part of the view, the works of the flesh are very obvious and manifest,” which are such as [these :] Adultery, a crime to be considered as in the first rank a The flesh hath desires contrary to the Spirit..] As it is, plain that by venly principle being communicated to us by the Holy Spirit, has fre: the flesh, which is the same with what the apostle elsewhere, calls the quently the title of the Spirit, given to it, as it is plainly the effect and body of sin, and the old man, (Rom. vi. 6.) we are to understand that fruit of it; for that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. (John iii. 6.) natural corruption and depravity, which is, the ruling principle in a state And there is such a contrariety in these two principles, that they are of nature, and has so far infected all the façulties of man, that, even the continually opposing one another in their desires and tendency, so that regenerate are troubled still with the remainders of it, and find it work- (as the apostle adds) ye do not the things that ye would, (for so it is ex- ing in the motions of indwelling sin within them : so by the Spirit, which pressed in the original, and not, ye cannot do, &c.) ye do them not with- is here set in opposition to it, and is elsewhere expressed by the nep out doing violence to the opposite principle that would be drawing you man that is put on by such as are renewed in the spirit of their. fift another way; which is agreeable to what the apostle elsewhere #s (Eph. iv.23, 24.) we are to understand that supernatural principle (Rom. vii. ig.) For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil whic } grace which is imparted from above to the renewed soul, to overcome the would not, that I do. * - g assions of the carnal mind, to set us free from the dominion of our b The works of the flesh are manifest.] As some of the fruits which usts, and to inspire us with a love to holiness; which divine and hea- are here specified seem to consist in errors of the mind, and others are 666 10. 2 2 2 24 l 2 3 PURITY, SPIRITUALITY, AND MUTUAL LOVE RECOMMENDED. SECT. of enormities, as tending so directly to imbitter conjugal life, and to introduce confusion and ruin into families; fornication, which, how light soever heathens may make of it, is in the sight of God a very grievous offence; as all uncleanness and immodesty of behaviour, and all lasciviousness in every kind and act of it, must also be, though fools who make a mock at sin mention these things in sport rather than with detestation. Idolatry likewise proceeds from this corrupt principle, as it inclines men to choose some sensible object for their devotions, and often such a one as may patronize their most irregular passions. From hence is also witchcraft, whereby desperate wretches are led to attempt an express asso- ciation with infernal spirits, in order to gratify that malignant disposition of mind which excites and arms them against those who are regarded by them with an evil eye : and to the same original are owing implacable and bitter enmities, outrageous strifes and quarrels, inordinate transports of ill-placed and ill-proportioned zeal, deep resentments treasured up in the mind, clamorous contentioms vented with eagerness, and obstinately carried on, to- gether with the keen divisions of a party-spirit, among those who ought to be united in one interest and affection: yea, sometimes these ill principles proceed so far as to produce seditions in the state, and heresies also in religious communities,” by which professing christians are induced to separate from each other, and to form sects, who, instead of maintaining true candour and benevolence, renounce and condemn each other. To this corrupt source we are also to trace the many envyings which are so commonly to be seen against the prosperity and success of others; and sometimes murders too, contrived and perpetrated by those whose passions and interests clash to such a degree, that nothing less than the destruction of the antagonist can appease the rage; and, to complete the cata- logue, all kinds of irregular self-indulgence, and particularly drunkenness, that sinks a man into a beast, and those disorderly and gluttonous revellings, by which the rational powers are in a great measure extinguished, or at least rendered incapable of performing their offices in a proper manner. These, and such like, are the werks of the flesh; concerning which I now solemnly forewarm you, as I have also formerly declared for your security when I was present with you, that they who practise such things, whatever zeal they may pretend for the externals of religion in any of the forms of it, shall not inherit the kingdom of God, or be admitted to the possession of it; and are indeed so far from having any title to be numbered among christians, that they shall soon be disowned, and turned out of that place which they have no right to hold in the church, with just infamy and detestation. | Such, I say, are the fruits and tendencies of the flesh: but the blessed fruit of the Spirit, in those who are governed by that gracious principle which is derived from him, is some- thing quite of a different nature; for this, wherever it hath impregnated the mind, produces the amiable dispositions of undissembled love and holy joy, of universal benevolence of heart, and of that cheerful temper which is naturally connected with it: it engages us to cultivate peace with all men; and where we meet with injuries and provocations from any, to bear them with much long-suffering, before we enter into any contentions about them: it forms us to gentleness in the whole of our conduct, and inspires a tender care that we may not, by any thing rough and overbearing, grieve and injure before we are aware : it excites us to such acts of generous goodness as our own circumstances may afford and those of our neighbour require: it is also the Spirit of truth as well as of love, and leads us most strictly to observe fidelity,” or good faith and uprightness, in all our dealings, neither in any instance imposing upon others, nor failing in any of those engagements which it is in our power to fulfil: It teaches us meekness, even when we are obliged to reprove others, or otherwise to animadvert upon them for their faults: and, with regard to the government of our corporeal appetites, it dictates the strictest temperance, that we may neither exceed in the quantity nor the kind of our food, or in any other indulgence of animal nature. These, as you plainly see, are most excellent dispositions, and against such [things] as these there is no law they have so manifest and evident a goodness in them, that they never were forbidden by any human institutions; and those who in the general course of their lives practise them, under the influence of this Spirit, shall by the grace of the gospel be delivered from the condemning sentence of the divine law. * : * - ...And this is now, upon the whole, the character of all true christians; for they who in- deed are Christ's, they who have received his Spirit, and whom he will finally own as belonging to him, have crucified the flesh, with all º irregular passions and desires, and doomed it to a slow and painful, but to a certain death; as if like one that is crucified, the body of sin were fastened to the cross, and left to expire upon it: and this they do out these ; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, atred, variance; emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, here- Sles, 21 Envyiggs, ... murders drunkenness, revellings, an such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things jº not inherit the kingdom O 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. 24. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the ; with the affections and UlSU.S. the product of an evil disposition of spirit, it hºs, been, th90;ht, nºt Rºss dispositions leading to them, I introduce the mention of them into easy to perceive with what propriety, they are called works of the flesh; the paraphrase; 'Whitby offers several considerations to account, for it. But if e Heresies.]. The proper signification of heresies here seems to be #; !. º (as it appears from hence it should be) for that maturql what I have briefly expressed in the paraphrase, and I must beg leave Cºrºmºtion which in the note, before is said to haye infected all the facul- to refer to what Mr. Hallet has written upon this subject, as, containing ties ºf man, and so extends to all the powers of the mind, as well as to the reasons which have determined me to prefer it: for this is by no the ºppºſités of the body, there is no difficulty in ascribing eigh of the means *:: ); to discuss a subject so much controverted. Yet particulars here enumerated to the flesh, as it is evident they all proceed I doubt not but lcresies, in the ecclesiastical sense, as distinguished from #."º"jeans of which even the mind and conscience is yhat I take to be the scriptºral; ºay gºº!'; be said to be works of the defiled, Tit. i. 15 flesh ; as bad inclinations of mind naturally lead to bad opinions, and C. ñtchcraft.j I know some would render the word (pappaketa, poi- to a haughty and factious manner of obtruding them upon others. soning; but I think it is with justice Mr. Leigh has observed, that this is f Revellings.) Kopot, or revellings, among the Greeks, (as Mr. Locke compréhended under the word, murders; nor is there any reason to be- observes,) were “a disorderly spending of the night in ſeasºns,with jiéºé the fiesh so particularly inclined to this one kind of murdeſ, as to a ligentious indulging to wine, good gheer, music, dancing, §: and give reason for specifying it rather than any other. It is certain that, on in this sense the word is explained by Hesychius and Şuidas. We meet 㺠of the drugs made use of in some supposed magical, composi- with it but twice elsewhere, (Rom. xiii. 13. and 1 Pet. iv., 3.) and in ions, this word is often used to express those práctices in which combing: both places it isjoined, as heré, with other riotous excesses., But though }}.”; ºil, malignant powers were believed and intended, to the heathgns were notºriously addicted to them, it is a sad evidence of which (whether they had or had not that real foundation which has gene- the prevailing power of corruption, and it were well the consequences of -> is vºii known the Gentiſes, even in the most it were more Taid to heart, that among those wh9, bear the name of fººd; much addicted; as Mr. Weston has shown at Christians, any should make it a diversión to, resemble them in such in- Íñº in the seventh chapter of his late learned Treatise on the Rejection dulgences, and not be ashamed of running to the same excess of riot. of Christian JMiracles. - - - - g Fidelity.] It is observed in note as on Matt. xxiii. 23. p. 276. that d"pājjī ºf a party-spirit..] We render ötyos-aquat, seditions; but the word #1; has undoubtedly this, significatign in many places. So as that rather expresses a state crime, and the original word seems more we may understand it of the faithfulness of God, or his fidelity to his general, ſchoose to express it by a periphrasis, sufficiently distinguish promises, Rom. iii.3. and where it is applied to servants, ye expressly jºin the ºther evil; here mentioned, and tending naturally towards render it, fidelity, Tit. ii. 10. And though it generally signifies, the grace those heres is nºtioned in the next article, as fºunderstand it: yet as of faith, of the confidence reposed, in another. Yet where we find it jºined, .#iº'ñ'the state are great evils, and the word ārzog-agiai may ex- as in the place before us, with other moral virtues, it may be rather taken PRACTICAL ExhortATIONS. 667 of love to the memory of their crucified Lord, by a continual regard to whom they are secT. animated strenuously to persevere in so self-denying a resolution. ?...If we liº in the Spirit, ... If, therefore, we profess to live in the Spirit,h if we profess to be members of the chris- ſet us also walk in the Spirit. ti Spirit, and continually subsists on communications from him, let us also make it our con- 10. an church, and to have that inward principle of divine life which is produced by the GAL. V. stant care, in consistency with such a profession, to walk in the Spirit in a regular and 5 26. Let us not be desirous orderly manner, takin º step according to rule and under his influence. And after 26 of vain-glo k - - - - & º icº. jū. all our care, as it is on y by his grace that we are what we are, let us not be vain-glorious or conceited of our own endowments or performances; provoking one another to mutual .# by a contemptuous carriage towards any whom we consider as beneath us, or secretly envying one another for any imagined or real advantage which our brother may ossess and we desire ; but rather, with an unaffected humility..and true benevolence of eart, let us rejoice in the happiness of others, and endeavour to promote it to the utmost of our power. IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn to consider this our mortal life as a state of warfare in which we are to be always struggling with Ver. 17 enemies, with whom we are never to make either peace or truce; and since while we dwell in the body we shall still find the fresh lusting against the Spirit, let it be our constant concern that the desires of the flesh may be opposed and mortified, and that the interests of the Spirit may be more and more advanced. And though the contrariety is such between them that we cannot completely and continually do the things which we would, let 18 us in the main be led by the Spirit, and give up our rational and governing powers more and more to its holy dictates, that we may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh; and though it still continues to solicit and disturb us, sin 16 shall be kept from reigning in us. We see what the works of the flesh are, which, if we really belong to Christ, we shall resolutely bind and 24 crucify, with its affections and lusts. Let us endeavour more and more to subdue them, and learn (as it were) to use the instruments of his death most effectually to accomplish the death of sin; bringing the old man to be crucified with him, (Rom. vi. 6.) and nailing it to that cross to which he hath nailed that decree of death which in consequence of sin lay against us. (Col. ii. 14.) In opposition to that cursed train of irregular and malignant affections which are here described as the works 19, 20 of the º º: continued indulgence of which is absolutely inconsistent with our hope of inheriting the king- 21 dom of God,) let us cultivate those amiable dispositions of mind against which there is no law : and may the 22, 23 spirit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, the spirit of faith, meekness, and temperance, work them more and more in our souls - - How vain are the cares of the generality of men to adorn their bodies, to improve their estates, to advance their rank, while their minds remain neglected Yea, how vain are all cares to cultivate the mind with science, when compared with the infinitely more important care of improving it in such habits of goodness whereby we shall be brought to resemble God, and be fitted for ever to enjoy him. Let this be all our emulation, and in this 26 let us place our glory; nor let us go about to provoke one another to any thing but this. - We profess .#. in the Spirit of God, whose gracious influences are indeed the very life of our souls: let 25 us make it our care also to walk in the Spirit, to regulate every action of our lives, every sentiment of our hearts, by a becoming regard to him ; guarding solicitously against any thing that would grieve him, and en- couraging those friendly offices of his, whereby we may be trained up in a growing meetness for the society of the blessed spirits above, and for that world º the flesh shall be ſaid aside till all the seeds of corruption are worn out of its composition, and it be raised as pure as it shall be glorious in the image of that Saviour whose discipline has taught us to seek the victory over it, and whose grace enables us to obtain it. SECTION XI. The apostle pursues his practical exhortations, especially enforcing mutual love, and a care of each other, with a zºº. in doing good ; and cautions the Galatians against thinking too favourably of their own spiritual state. Gal. vi. 1– GAL. vi. I GALATIANS vi. 1. - ºf I HAVE cautioned you against envy and mutual provocation: but, my brethren, rest SECT. º º'. not merely in a freedom from such unkind affections towards each other, but labour to 11. §§§'; be mutually useful, and that in your best interests; and if a man be overtaken in any — §§º.” fault through his own frailty, or the surprise of a temptation, do ye who are spiritual,” G§: and, having received the Spirit of God yourselves, are best fitted for such an office, en- deavour to restore such an one, and to reduce (as it were) that disjointed member, not with a rigorous severity, but in the spirit of meekness, gentleness, and love; considering thyself;b whosoever thou art, lest thou also being still, in the body, and liable to the like assaults, shouldst be tempted, and fall as thy brother hath done, so as on this account to stand in need of the same kind office from him which thou art now called to render to 2 Bear ye one another's him. Be ready then in this and all other respects to bear one amother's burdens : and let º, sº "" " it be your care with mutual tenderness to comfort and support the weak; (compare Rom. xv. 1. and 1 Thess. v. 14.) accommodating yourselves to each other in the most engaging and obliging manner, that you may thus make all about you as easy and happy as you can; and so, instead of seeking to impose the heavy burden of the Mosaic law on others, you will fulfil that which is especially the law of Christ, even that law of love which was enjoined by him as his command, and will esteem it as your highest honour to wear that badge of mutual love by which he requires his disciples to be known. (John xiii. I 2 to denote fidelity. See, Mlatt. xxiii. 23. 1 Tim. iv. 12. vi. 11. 2 Tim. ii. to signify such as were endowed with some supernatural gifts, it would 3. iii. 10, and Rév. ii. 19. - - not support the limitation proposed, since the apostle speaks of the Ga- fi 'Āio iſſue in the Spirit.] Mr. Howe insists largely on the energy of latians in general, as, having received the Spirits, (chap. iii. 2.) I must this phrase, living in the Spirit, as expressing in terms nearly resembling therefore think, with Mr. Locke, that the expression here signifies such those in Acts xvii. 28. our continual dependence on its influences; and as were eminent for gifts or graces. also illustrates the significancy of the word S-01xopiev; in the latter clause b Considering º It is justly observed by Mr. Blackwall, (Sacr of the verse, as explained in the paraphrase. See Howe, On the Spirit, Class. vol. i. p. 133, 134.), that this sudden transition from the plur vol. i. p. 237. number to the singular adds a great deal of beauty, and force to the cau- Ye who arc §: Dr. Whitby, and, some others, understand tion ; for it is as if the apostle should have, said, “Let every, particular this as a charge addressed to ministers, who, by the extraordinary gifts person among you remember that he may, also be in danger thrºugh, his they had received, were best fitted for this work. But we know that the own frailty.; and by thus looking to º he will be induced, to word spiritual is in the writings of St. Paul sometimes opposed to car- carry it with greater tenderness to others, and will be more disposed to (Rom. vii. 14. viii. 6. 1 Cor. iii. i.) and if it should be allowed here pity and assist them.” 668 PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS. SECT. 34, 35. xv. 12.) And surely we may willingly receive that law from one who was him- 11. GAL. WI. self such an unequalled example of love, and who with so gracious a sympathy bore our burdens of sorrow, and carried away the load of our guilt. Remember, too, the caution I have given you against vain-glory, º v. 26.) and 3. For if a man, think him: take heed of an overweening opinion of yourselves: for if any one think himself to be ...","...","...i. something considerable, when indeed he is nothing like what he apprehends; and in par- himself. 3. ticular, if he be so conceited of his own sufficiency as to imagine he is wise and good enough to resist any temptation that may arise, and please himself that he may glory in the applause of others as secure from danger, he deceiveth himself, and the worst part of the fraud falls on his own head: so that instead of gaining from others, or securing to himself, that honour which he expects and aims at, he only makes himself so much the more contemptible, and his danger is proportionable to the high conceit which he hath 4 of himself. But to prevent so great an evil, let every one try and examine his own work , 4 But let every nian prov; by the word of God, the great rule to which all our actions and thoughts should be ad- hº Yº! justed, and take care that it be such as God and his own conscience may approve; and alone, and not in another. then he shall have matter of rejoicing in what he finds in himself alone, and not in the applause he receives from another tº he shall then have a solid foundation of delight in reflecting upon the state of his own soul, and what the grace of God has wrought in him 5 satisfaction to a mind that thinks justly and seriously. For every one shall finally bear and by him, instead of subsisting precariously and meanly on the good opinion or ap- plause of others, who so frequently know not what it is that they commend, and are imposed upon by false appearances, so that their testimony can give but very little solid 5 For every man shall bear his own burden, and shall be accountable to God, in the great day when he appears his own” before him, for his own behaviour; so that there is but little room to be solicitous about the sentiments of others, in comparison of that care which we ought to take of our own temper and conduct. 6 . A further advice which I would give you is, Let him that is taught and instructed in ,6 Let him that is taught in the word and doctrine of christianity, libérally communicate in all good things, according #5, ºil. to the ability that God hath given him, to the support and maintenance of him that teach- things. eth him; that so the mind of the teacher may not be kept in an anxious state about his own subsistence, but may with greater composure and cheerfulness attend to the cares of his sacred office. 7 It is indeed an easy thing for interested men to find excuses for the neglect of this and 7. Be not degeived; God. other liberalities which are required by the gospel of Christ; but be not deceived, in this º; or any other respect, by the treachery of your own hearts, which may more fatally impose also reap. upon yourselves than upon any others; for though men know not what to answer to some artful pleas which may be invented as an excuse from duty, the blessed God, who pene- trates all hearts, as well as sees all external circumstances, is not to be mocked by these vain pretences: for whatsoever a mari 33:ceſh, whether it be good or bad, whether he be liberal or sparing in it, that shall he also reap, and the return shall be answerable to it, 8 both with respect to the kind and degree of it. So that on the one hand, he that Soweth a 8. For hē º,” his to his flesh, he that employs his substance, time, and thoughts, merely or chiefly in grati- flºº *::::: flºp fying and indulging the flesh, or for the satisfaction of his own bodily necessities, con- #. #...; !he veniences, or pleasures, shall of the flesh reap nothing better than corruption; and as the * p flesh itself shall soon corrupt in the grave, so will he utterly lose all the fruits of his labour and expense in its service ; but, on the other hand, he that soweth to the Spirit, he that under the influences of the Spirit of God employs his capacities, abilities, and pos- sessions, to promote the interests of religion in his own mind and in the world about him, shall, as the fruit of what is thus sown, by the continued assistance and grace of the Spi- rit, rea #. everlasting ; when he shall leave the world, his immortal spirit shall inherit eternal glory, and whatsoever be his portion now, he shall be fully recompensed at the resurrection of the just, (Luke xiv. 14.) when all the hope of the sinner is perished. 9 And having such a prospect then before us, let us not be weary or discouraged in all 9 º' ... nºbºwº, - * - - * g in well-doing : for in d the labour and fatigue, in all the expense and difficulty, of well-doing ; for in due season, a. *fin"ºak"if". or in that proper time which the wisdom and goodness of God hath appointed, (even ſaint * when the harvest is come, for which it is best that we should now wait,) we shall reap an abundant and ample reward, if we do not faint, and suffer our hands to hang down either 10 through sloth or fear. As long therefore as we have opportunity, as long as life continues, ...10.A. hºvº, tº Ver. 1 2 and Providence puts power in our hands, let us éndeavour to do good to all men, tº º, strangers and enemies as well as brethren and friends, but cºff to them who are of fººd." " the house- the household of faith, to them who are united to us in the bonds of christian faith and - love, and who, on that account, as belonging to one family, and heirs of the same hope, have a peculiar claim to our regard. IMPROVEMENT. THESE exhortations of the apostle cannot be expressed in more lively terms, and it is scarce possible to repre- sent them in clearer and plainer language. The great difficulty here, and in other such instances, is to bring our hearts to submit to what our understanding must so readily apprehend and approve. Let us earnestly pray that God would diffuse more of his Spirit on all professing christians, that beholding each other with undissembled and fervent love, every one may affectionately endeavour to advance the happiness of all; and instead of severely censuring one another, let us endeavour mutual reformation, by such exhortations and advices as different circum- stances may require; doing all in the spirit of christian meekness, and in an humble sense of our own infirmities. Let us pray that the law of Christ, the new commandment he has given us to love one another, may, in all its e shall have matter of rejoicing in himself alone, and not in gn- Phil. i. 25. ii. 16. Heb. iii.6. Which seems sufficiently, to express thc off: Mr. Locke thinks that the apostle hints here at the same thing sense of it as I have explained it in the paraphrase, and evidently suits which he expresses afterwards more fully, concerning the false teachers, the apostle’s way of writing: * - (ver, 13.), that what they had in view was to glory in others, whom they d Be not deceived, &c..] The apostle, here, with great propriety and prevaiſed with to be circumcised; and so would have kaiznua to be force, exposes the evasions some would, make use of to excuse them: rendered, glorying, (which is indeed the common, meaning, of the word,) selves from acts 9ſ liberality; by :*::::::::::: they might impose on and wou f consider it as a caution to them to be careful of their own others, they would egregiously deceive themselves, as every circumstance particular actions, that they were such as, would afford them, matter gº lies open to an all-seeing God, and they assuredly should reap according - * -- glorying in themselves, and not vainly in others. But the word also sig- as they soped: a metaphor which he employs elsewhere to excite to libe- #ifies rejoicing, as our translators often render it clsewhere, 2 Cor. i. 14. rality, (2 Cor. ix. 6.) the thought of which must silence every vain pre- - CAUTIONS AGAINST JUDAIZANG TEACHERS. 660 extent, be ever sacred to us; and that in consequence of the regard we owe to so benevolent a master, #. SECT. may be a constant readiness in us to assist each other under every burden, to relieve according,” }. I 1. every want, and to do good to all as we have opportunity, but especially to those of the household of faith, whº — as belonging to that household, whatever their station or circumstance in life may be, ought to be dear to every º member offhe family. - - Let us remember that there is as certain a connexion between our conduct here and our state hereafter, as thºſe is between the kind of grain sown and the harvest to be reaped from it. The generality, alas! are joyº. º.º.º. flesh, and the harvest to such will be shame and corruption: but for our parts, let us sºw tº the Spirit liberally and largely, and have our fruit unto holiness, that we may thus inherit everlasting life. (Rºm. yì, 22.) And when we are ready to faint, let us encourage ourselves and each other with the prospect of that blessed dº when, though the seed-time may be attended with tears, we shall come again rejoicing, bringing oºr sheayes of hºnºr and joy with us. (Psal. cxxvi. 5, 6.) It is in due season, it is at the time God has wisely appointed, that we shall receive this reward of grace; let us wait for it, as we well may, with patience and humility. - * - a 7- - 4. The day is coming when every one shall bear his own burden, and each of us shall answer for himself; that awful day, when every one shall reap the fruit of his own way, and shall receive according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Cor. v. 10.) Let us see to it, therefore; not to deceive ourselves with a vain imagin- ation that we are something when we aré nothing; and not be satisfied to rest in the good opinion which others have of us, so as to have our rejoicing in them. And whatsoever duty be required ofus, let us not amuse our- selves with trifling excuses, which never can deceive that God who is not to be mocked; but let us set ourselves in earnest ever to cultivate true inward religion, even that of the heart, in the sight of him who searcheth it; then will the testimony of our conscience be a source of joy, and we shall find that joy solid and permanent. And if God bless the ministers of his gospel as the instruments of bringing this joy to the soul, it will be at- tended with that readiness which the apostle requires to communicate to them in all good things; while, if they understand their character and office, there will be in them that moderation of desire on the one hand, and that zeal and love for souls on the other, which will make it a thousand times more pleasant to communicate spirituals than to receive temporals, even from those who give with the most willing mind, and so double the gift, whether It be greater or less. : 9 SECTION XII. The apostle concludes his Epistle with cautioning them against the attacks, of judaizing teachers, declaring the indifferençº of circumcision or incircumcision, and pressing them strictly to adhere to that gospel for which he had himself suffered so much. Gal. vi. 11, to the end. GALATIANS vi. 11. my brethren, with what large letters” I have written this epistle to you with my own hand, not being willing to omit this opportunity of testifying the affection and concern which I have for you, not choosing, as I mostly do on such occasions, to employ the pen of another who might be more used to the Greek character than myself. 12 As many as, desire to it. sum of all is this; that as many as desire to make a fair appearance in the flesh, and 5.º.º.º.º. to set themselves off by standing up for the observance of the # ewish rites and ceremo- y constrain you to be cir º º - - s - - - cumcised. only lest they nies, these would constrain you Gentile converts to be circumcised, and to be subject with tº."” them to the carnal ordinanées of the law, only lest they should suffer persecution,” which the profession of the christian faith would otherwise bring upon them, for owning their dependence for salvation, not on the law, but on the cross of Christ ;d as it is plainly a regard to this which so much incenses the unbelieving Jews, and engages them to raise so many tumults against us, wherever they have an opportunity of doing it; and these half christians aim at appeasing them by a zeal to spread the Mosaic institutions among 13 For neither they them; the Gentiles. This is the point they have in view, and whatsoever they pretend, it is not º §§§ any real veneration for the law that prompts them to be zealous for it; for neither they łºś. themselves who are circumcised, and so are solemnly obliged to observe the whole of it, * "**** * * * show a concern to keep the law, or manifest a true esteem for it as a spiritual and diviné institution; nor is it from any truly religious principle that they labour to proselyte you to it; but they desire to have you circumcised, to make their boast of you among the Jews; that they may glory in this mark fixed in your flesh, and may avail themselves of the many converts to Judaism which they have the interest and address to make. But, for my part, I have no such selfish, worldly views, and God forbid that I should glory, either in my descent or circumcision, in my abilities or interest in making converts, indeed in any thing else, unless it be in the regard I have been brought to pay to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the reliance which I have for justification on his death and sufferings ; by the believing views of which I am made indifferent to all things here, and the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world ; so that I view the world as little GAL. vi. 11. YE see how large a letter I YOU See, have written unto you wit mine own hand. SEC T. 12. G4 L. Yi. 14 But God forbid that I should glory, save , in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world OT is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. tence that may be brought against so plain a duty, and is most admira- bly suited to regulate and heighten the proportion as well as to enforce the practice of it. - - - * * * a You see with chat large letters.] Dr. Whitby remarks in his note on this place, “that St. Paul never uses the word ) pappa-1 when he speaks of his Epistles ; and that Tnxtsots, ypaupgal may therefore refer not to the largeness or the length of this Epistle, but to the largencss of inelegancy of the characters in which it was written.” So too Theo- phylact and some others understand it of the apostle’s urging it as a proof of his affection for them, as, it must show , he was no ready writer, to see in phat kind of letters he had written, to them. He might not be well versed in the Greek characters; or this inaccuracy of his writing migilt perhaps be owing to the infirmity or weakness of his nerves, which he had hinted at , before. See note h, on Gal. iv. 14. p. 660. I have therefore altered the translation here, and given what appears to be the literal sense. - - b I have meritten to you eith my own hand..] This might be well con- sidered as an argument of his more than, ordinary concern for them; for it was usual with St. Paul, as we have observed elsewhere, to dictate his Epistles, and to employ a person as an amanuensis, to write them from his mouth. (See note c, on Rom. xvi. 22. p. 550.). Ånd perhaps his own inaccuracy in forming the Grcek characters, which he refers to in the words, before, may suggest one reason among several others for his doing it. Comparé l Cor. xvi. 21. Col. iv. 18. 2 Thess. iii. 17. and see the note on this last text. the influence of which extended to remote synagogues, had induced many who scºretly bclicted in Christ, to decline an open acknowledg- inent of him, (John ix. 22. xii. 42. xix. 38.) which yet our ri him- self had so expressly required, that their consciences, during the state of dissimulation, must be in great anxiety. (See Mark viii. 38.) Ibut after- wards, when a scheme arose of blending Judaism with christianity, it may be supposed that this would abate the edge of persecution against those who ſell in with it, and especially against those who urged the Gentile converts to such connplete proselytisin, though it might sharpen it against Qther, christians: and this inight perhaps weigh more with some than they thernselves were aware, in concurrence with the desire of making disciples, arid the prejudices of education, which must natu- rally be supposed to have their share. Compare chap. v. li. d For the cross of Christ.] It is observed by Jerom on this text, “That Tiberius and Caius Caesar made laws to authorize the Jews who were qispersed throughout the Roman empire, to follow the rites of their re- ligion, and the ceremonies which had been transmitted to them from their fathers:” to which he adds, “that circumcised christians were by the pagans looked upon as Jews, while those who made profession of the jº and were uncircumciscal were violently persecuted both by the eys and pagans; on which account some early teachers of the church, to be delivered from the fear of persecution, submitted to be circumciscº themselves, and also recommended, it to their disciples.” Both Arch- bishop Tillotson (vol. ii. p. 367.) and Mons. Saurin (Serm. vol. xi. p. # c. Only lest they should suffer perscoution.] . This seems to open the main secret spring of that zeal for the Jewish ceremonies in some that professed themselves christians, which occasioned so much uneasiness in the apostolic churches. The persecuting edicts of the Jewish sanhedrim, 50,) agree in expounding this text with a reſerence to these edicts; but think it best illustrated by the observation in the preceding note, as the apostle seems to speak of an attempt to escape persecution, not by receiv- ing circumcision, but by imposing or wirging it. CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. SECT. impressed by all its charms as a spectator would be by any thing which had been grace- 12. ful in the countenance of a crucified person when he beholds it blackened in the agonies of death; and am no more affected by the objects round me than one that is expiring GAL would be struck with any of those prospects which his dying eyes might view from the **, a cross on which he was suspended. And well indeed it may be expected that it should be , 15 For in Christ Jesus nei- so ; for as to those who have truly believed in Christ Jesus, all things are counted loss ... º.º.º.º.º. and dung for him, the whole dependence of the soul for righteousness and life is built on º,iº'ñ'nº'cº. him, and the whole heart centres in him: and where this is the case, neither circumcision quaileth anything, nor uncircumcision, neither can the one profit not the other hurt, but [there is] actually a new creation; old things are passed away, and new views and dispo- sitions are introduced under the regenerating influences of the Spirit of God, in con- sequence of which believers are (as it were) brought into a new world, and being created in Christ Jesus unto good works, are formed to a life of holiness, and quickened to the exercise of that faith which operates by love. (Compare 1 Cor. vii. 19. 2 Cor. v. 17. 16 Gal. v. 6. Eph. ii. 10, and Phil. iii. 8.) . And as many as shall walk according to this 16 And as many as walk rule, and govern themselves by such maxims, [may] peace and mercy [be] upon them! .º.º. ºf .º. May that peace which arises from a sense of the pardoning mercy and free grace of God upon thºferae of God.” ever rest upon them, even upon the whole Israel of God every where; for persons of such a character, and not the natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are the true Israelites. - Now therefore, for the future, let no man trouble me with reflections on my character, or with disputes concerning the necessity of circumcision, and grieve my heart with addi- tional sorrows, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus;* marks of far more importance than circumcision, and on which, whatever your judaizing teachers may think, I value myself much more ; even the scars which I have received, by stripes and chains and other means, in the service of Christ, amidst the various hardships which I have borne for him, and which ought to render me venerable in the eyes of all who have a due regard to him. - And thus, brethren, I conclude with my sincere and earnest prayer for you, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in all its sanctifying and comforting influences, may [be] º your spirit, to direct you into the ways of truth and peace, of holiness and comfort. aſ 17.67?. 17 17 From henceforth let no man trouble, ne: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. - 18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Annen, 18 IMPROVEMENT, Ver, WHAT meanness is there in those views and objects in which the generality of mankind are so apt to glory! 12, 13 How little satisfaction can there be in making prosélytes to a party, and spreading forms and notions, when com- pared with the joy of promoting true religion in the hearts of men, and thereby advancing the glory of God and the salvation of immortal souls' And of what service will it be to make a fair appearance, and to be zealous for the externals of religion, so as to gain the applause of men and to have many #. if at the same time we have so little veneration for the cross of Christ, as to be afraid or ashamed of owning the necessity of relying on his righteousness alone for justification, lest we should suffer persecution upon that account, or be exposed to the reproaches of the world about us! - - May divine grace teach us to esteem the cross of Christ more highly, and to glory in nothing but our knowledge of it, and our hopes and expectations from it! May we all feel its vital efficacy, to crucify us to the world, and the world to us; that we may look upon the world but as a dead and worthless thing, which neither can afford us any advantage nor yield us any pleasure, to engage our hearts to choose it for our portion; and being crucified and dead to all things in it, may we be so entirely weaned from all affection to it, as not to make it any more our principal design and study to pursue it; but being indifferent both to its smiles and frowns, as to the influence which once they had upon us, may we be neither moved by any prospect of self-interest on the one hand, nor ter- rified by the fear of persecution on the other! - Let us not lay the stress of our religion on the name we bear, or ground the hope of our acceptance on being of this or that denomination of christians: but let it be our chief concern to have experience of a thorough change of heart and life, and to obtain that renovation of soul, that new creation, without which neither circumcision nor uncircumcision can avail any thing, and with which the one as well as the other will be accepted of God. . . It is the written word of God that is the rule we are to go by, both in the doctrines and the precepts of it; let us be careful that we walk according to it, and regulate our Pºp!. and conduct by it: then will God own us as his true Israel, and then shall peace and mercybe upon us. And surely, how diligently soever we observe this rule, how exactly soever we conform to it, and how much soever we may suffer for our adherence to it, we depend upon mercy for the communication of peace, and must ascribe all our hopes of happiness to pardoning clemency and free grace. May that grace ever be with our spirit, to sanctify, to quicken, and to cheer us! and may we always be ready to maintain the honour of that which is indeed our very life! Amen. H-4 K6 } 7 H 8 o I brar in try body the marks of the Jord Jesus. Dr. Potter thinks (Gr. Antiq, voi. ii. p. 7.) that the apostle here alludes to the 27typºata, or brands, with which the Greeks used to mark those that were appoint- ed to scºrve in the acars, lest they should attempt to make their ºscape. (See Lipsius, De Milit. Rom. lib. i. dial. 9.) . Büt perhaps the reference may be to those marks by which the rotarics of particular deities were distinguished. See my Serizons to Young Persons, No. iv. at the be- ginning.—Mr. Blackwall (in his Sacr. Class. vol. ii. p. 66, 67.) con- siders it as an allusion to an Egyptian custom, according to which any man’s servant who fled to the temple of Hercules, and had the sacred brands or marks of that deity impressed upon him, was supposed to be under his immediate care and protection, and by that to be priyileged from all violence and harsh treatment. And in this view he forms a large and beautiful paraphrase on this verse. THE FAM I L Y EXP O S I TO R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. THE apostle Paul is universally allowed to be the author of this excellent Epistle; but Dr. Mill and others have con- tended that it was written, not to the church of Ephesus, but to that of Laodicea. This they would argue from some passages of this Epistle, (chap. i. 15. iii. 2. and iv. 21.) which seem more suitable to persons whom he had never seen, which was the case of them at Laodicea, (Col. ii. 1.) than to the Ephesians, with whom he had been conversant about three years; Acts xx. 31. See note m, on that text, p. 462. But what is principally urged for this opinionis, the direction iven by the apostle at the close of his Epistle to the Colossians, (Col. iv. 16.) “that they should cause the Epistle which #. wrote to them to be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and they should likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea,” from whence it is inferred, that the Epistle now before us must be that which is intended there, and was originally written to the Laodiceans. & These several objections will be obviated in the notes upon those places on which they are grounded, and can be no sufficient warrant in opposition to the first verse of this Epistle, in which it is addressed expressly to the saints at Ephesus, to introduce an alteration in the text which hath not the authority of any single manuscript in being, or any ancient version, to support it. º --- * * We are told, indeed, it was affirmed by Marcion, an early heretic of the second century, that what is called the Epistle to the Ephesians was inscribed to the Laodiceans: but he is censured on this account by Tertullian,” (who wrote against him in the beginning of the third º as setting, up an interpolation of his own in opposition to the true testimony of the church. And though Basili and Jerom, in the latter part of the fourth century, speak of some copies in which the words, ºr Eſsoe, were omitted, yet they allow at the same time that this Epistle was written to the saints at Ephesus, whom, by a strange interpretation, in allusion to the name by, which the Lord revealed himself, Exod. iii. 14. some would suppose, “the apostle calls in a J. sense the saints who are, as being united unto Him who is.” . But this omission evidently makes but a yery odd reading, unless we admit of the conjecture of Archbishop Usher, that a void space was left after the saints who are—, and this might be intended for a circular epistle to any of the churches of the Lesser Asia, whose name might be occasionally inserted to fill up the blank. e * * * *. There is, however, no sufficient reason for departing from the common and established reading, which inscribes this Epistle to the saints at Ephesus ; especially when we find in the most early times that Ignatius, one of the apostolic fathers, (who lived at the time when this º was written,) in the smaller jº. of his own Epistle to the Ephesians, sect. xii. speaks to them of St. Paul, “as making mention of them in a whole Epistle,” which Cotelerius says it is in vain to under- stand of any other epistle than this, and Dr. Lardner observes, must plainly mean the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. § And in the larger copy of the same Epistle; sect, vi. he declares to the Ephesians, “Ye are, as Paul wrote to you, one body and one spirit;” where it is manifest there is a reference to the very words of St. Paul in this Epistle, chap. iv. 4. So that the testimony of Ignatius is express in both the copies, whichever be received as genuine, to which indeed the smaller has apparently the better title, "The same is also stimore clear with respect to Irenaus, and Clement of Alex- andria, who were both Fathers of the second century, and have both quoted this Epistle in express terms under the title of the Epistle to the Ephesians. No further testimony therefore can !. needful to make it manifest that this Epistle was received in the first ages of the church, as written by St. Paul to the Ephesians. - It is well known that Ephesus was the chief city of the proconsular Asia, which was a part of what was called the Lesser Asia. It was particularly famous for the temple of Diana, a most magnificent and stately structure, which was re- puted one of the seven wonders of the world; and its inhabitants were noted in their Gentile state for their idolatry and skill in magic, and for their luxury and lasciviousness. The apostle Paul, at his first coming to them in the year of our Lord 54, according to his usual custom, preached to the Jews there in their synagogue, many of whom were settled in that city and the neighbouring parts; but as he then was hastening to the passover at Jerusalem, he only spent one sab- bath there, and left them with a promise to return to them again. (Acts xviii. 19–21. Accordingly he came again to Ephesus the following year, (Acts xix. 1, et seq.) and preached the word with such success, and wrought such extraordi- nary miracles among them, that a numerous church was formed there, chiefly made u e p of Gentile converts, whose piety and zeal were so remarkable, that many of them, in abhorrence of the curious arts which they had used, burnt their magi- * Tertull, Contra Marcion, lib. v. cap. 11, 17. | Usher, Annal. ad A. C. LXIV. p. * i Basil, Ady. Eunom, lib. ii. p.733. y § ii. čā‘īs; ii. vol. Y. 686 $ * * * . I 57. i Hieron. Coutinent, in Ephes, init. \l Iren. Lib. v. cap. 2, § 3. et Clém. Alex, Strom, lib. iv. p. 409. 672 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESLANs. Căl books to a great value. (Acts xix. 19.) And such was the concern of the apostle for their spiritual advantage.th did not leave them till the year 57, when he had been about three years sº them. (Acts 3. 31.) After #. # º: $9me time in Macedonia, and Achaia, and in his return to Jerusalem in the year 58, he sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus to Miletus, and most affectionately took his leave of them, as one that should see them no more: appealing to them with what faithfulness he had discharged his ministry among them, and solemnly exhorting them to lookºeli to the flock committed to their care, lest they should be corrupted by seducing teachers who would arise among themselves and artfully endeavour to pervert them. {A. XX. 17, to the end.) And we see afterwards, from the coolness and declension they are charged with in the epistle to the angel of the church of Ephesus, (Rev. ii. 4, 5.) how just and seasonable was this caution that he gave them at his parting from them. - From what the appstle says of himself in this Epistle, it appears that it was written by him while he was a prisoner (chap. iii. 1. iv. 1. vi. 20.) as he was likewise when he wrote to the Colossians. (Col. iv. 18.) And there is such à manifest correspondence between these two Epistles, both in their subject-matter and in the very form of the expres- sions, that it may justly be concluded they were written at the same time, and sent together by Tychicus; who was in- trusted with the carg of both, (Eph. vi. 21, 22. and Col. iv. 7, 8.) but was attended by Onesimus when he delivered that to the Colossians; (Col. iv. 9. Now, as it is not to be thought the apostle Paul would have employed Onesimus in such a service till after he had been with his master Philemon, it appears highly probable from hence that the apostle sent him first With his Epistle to Philemon, by whom he was received (agreeably to his request) not as a servant, but as a brºther, (Philem...ver. 16.) and had his freedom given him; and from i. confidence the apostle had in the obedience of Philemon, and in his readiness to do even more than he said, (ver. .*. might well take this opportunity of his going with Tychicus to recommend Onesimus to the Colossians, by joining him in his message to that church. Since, then, the apostle was in expectation of being soon released from his confinement when he wrote to Philemon, and, trust. ing he should shortly visit him, desires him to prepare a lodging for him, (ver. 22.) this may induce us to conclude that he wrote that Epistle towards the close of his first imprisonment at Rome; and as the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians appear to have been sent at the same time with that to Philemon, it may be inferred that he wrote these not º: º sº sent them all together in the year of our Lord 63, which was the ninth of the Emperor Nero. (See Iłote g, p. 492. The *i; of the apostle Paul in this Epistle (the former part of which is doctrinal, and the latter practical) was, “to establish the Ephesians in the faith; and to this end to give them more exalted views of the eternal love of Gód, and of the glorious excellence and dignity of Christ; to show them they were saved by grace, and howsoever wretched they were once, the Gentiles now have equal privileges with the Jews ; to encourage them, by declaring with what steadfast- ness, he suffered for the truth, and with what earnestness he prayed for their establishment and perseverance in it; and º in gonsequence of their profession, to engage them to the practice of those duties that became their character as C}]]"ISU18 Ils. The doctrinal part of this Epistle is contained in the three first chapters: in which the apostle introduces several im- portant truths for the instruction of the Ephesians in the great doctrines of the gospel, that they might be well grounded in the faith; and for the encouragement of the Gentile converts, acquaints them with the christian privileges to which they were entitled. And here, - I. After saluting the Ephesians with an acknowledgment of their faith, (chap. i. 1, 2.) the apostle testifies his thank- fulness to God for his distinguishing love and favour to them, in calling them to be partakers of the blessings of the gospel, in consequence of his eternal purpose to glorify his grace in their sanctification and salvation, through the blood of his Son and the communication of his Spirit. (Ver, 3–14.) II. He assures them of the fervency of his prayers for them, that they might have a clearer knowledge of the great objects of their hope and expectation ; and, #. an experimental sense of the exceeding greatness of the power of God, might have a fixed regard to the supreme authority and dignity of Christ, who by that power is raised from the dead, and exalted to be Head over all things to the church. (Ver. 15, to the end.) III. To magnify the riches of divine grace, and to affect them with a more grateful sense of their obligations to it, the apostle leads them to reflect upon that wretched state of moral death in which the gospel found them; and shows them it was owing to the rich mercy and the great love of God that they were raised in Christ from death to life, and in the whole of their salvation it was evident that they were saved by grace, and not by works, or any righteousness of their own. (chap. ii. 1–10. IV. º, represents le happy change that was thus made in their condition; that they who once were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and afar off from God, were now received into his church, and had an equal right to all the privileges of it with the Jewish converts; the middle wall of partition having been broken down by Christ in favour of the believing Gentiles, who, being reconciled to God, were no more strangers as they had been formerly, but were united in one body under Christ the common Head of all believers, and, being animated by one Spirit, and built upon the same foundation, were made an holy temple in the Lord. (Ver. 11, to the end.) V. To encourage and confirm the Gentile converts in their adherence to the gospel, and recommend it more to their regard, the apostle in the strongest terms expresses the sense he had of the divine goodness in appointing him to be the apostle of the Gentiles, and authorizing him to preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ; and declares how great an honour he esteemed it to be employed in making known the calling of the Gentiles to be joint-heirs, with the Jews in all the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom, though he had suffered greatly for it, and was now in bonds on this account. (Chap. iii. 1–12.) And then, g 's VI. He entréats them nót to be discouraged at the sufferings he underwent for his regard to the Gentiles, but rather to consider it as an honour to them, that in the steadfastness with which he suffered, they had such a confirmation of the truth of his doctrine, and of the sincerity of his concern for their spiritual advantage; in proof of which he closes this part of his Epistle with a most affectionate and earnest prayer for their establishment in the christian faith, and their advance- ment in the knowledge and experience of the love of Christ, of which he speaks in the most lºfty and exalted terms, as far º conception, concluding in the warmth of his devotion with a grand and suitable doxology. (Ver. 13, to the end.) And now - tº * - g #he other part of this Epistle, which is practical, is contained in the three remaining chapters; in which the apostle gives them several weighty exhortations and advices, for the direction of their lives and manners, that they might be regular in their practice; and tells them of the christian duties that were . of thern, to which the consideration of their privi- leges should engage them, pointing out to them the means and motives that Werº Pºpº.º. promote the observance of them, and urging the great care and caution they should use to behave suitably to the profession which they made, and to the character they bore. And here, e & & tº I. The apostle, from the consideration of his own sufferings, as well as of the many important respects in which all true christians are united, after a general exhortation to them to walkworthy of the excellency of their calling, particularly urges them to mutual forbearance and unity of spirit, as being joined together in one church, and called to partake of the same privileges in Christ, without distinction either of Jew 9: Gºntile; and, as a powerful inducement to their cultivating such à disposition, he represents the glorious foundation which Christ as the great Head of the church has laid for it in the variety of gifts and graces he has bestowed, and in the sacred offices he has appointed; which being all derived from the same A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 673 Spirit, and designed for the same end, were all to be employed for the advancement of his interest and kingdom, and for the better edification of the whole church, till in the unity of the faith they should grow up into one perfect body under Christ their Head; and so must have a tendency to promote their present union, and to inspire them with the most en- dºing affection to each other. (Chap. iv. 1–16.) tº II. He presses them, as having learned Christ and been enlightened by the gospel, to show the difference there, was between them and the unconverted Gentiles, by an unspotted purity and holiness of behaviour, and not to walk like those from whom they were so happily distinguished § knowledge and grace; and cautions them in particular against § excess of anger, and stealing, and that corrupt communication to which the heathens were notoriously addicted, but whic were inconsistent with the character of christians, and grievous to the Holy Spirit. (Ver. 17–30.) * III. He further cautions them against all malice, and urges them to mutual love and readiness to forgive, in consider- ation of the divine compassions manifested in the gospel; and then pursues his exhortations to abstain from all inordinate desires, and from all manner of uncleanness and immodesty, as well in words as actions; in which however they had shamefully indulged themselves in the darkness of heathenism, the light of christianity displayed them in such odious colours as plainly showed them to be unbecoming their profession, and no way reconcilable with the obligation they were under to walk as children of the light. (Ver. 31, to the end; and chap. v. 1–14.) * IV. He recommends it to them, in consideration of their character and circumstances, to be prudent and circumspect in their whole conversation, as those who were instructed in the will of God; and not to seek for pleasure in a dissolute excess, but guarding against all intemperance, to make it the delightful business of their lives to express their gratitude to God, under the influences of his Spirit, by praising him for all his mercies in pious and devout thanksgivings; and while they were thus careful of their duty to É. he also urges them not to be negligent of the duties which they owed to One * i. members of society, but to behave with due submission to each other in their several stations. (Ver. 15–21.) And then, -- V. Having hinted at the relative duties of society in general, he descends to particulars, and beginning with the duties of husbands and wives, he recommends it to husbands to love their wives, in imitation of the love which Christ bears to the church, and presses upon wives the correspondent duty of conjugal subjection, in imitation of the subjection which the church pays to Christ the Head of it. (Ver, 22, to the end.) From whence he passes on to the mutual duties of chil- dren and parents, and of servants and masters, giving suitable admonitions to each, and adding proper arguments to enforce them. (Chap. vi. 1–9.) And after this, #. a conclusion of the whole, - - VI. He gives a general exhortation to them all, of whatever condition or relation in life, to prepare for a strenuous combat with their spiritual enemies, by putting on the whole armour of God, and living in the exercise of those christian graces that were necessary for their defence and safety: and having among other things exhorted them to fervency in prayer, he particularly recommends himself to their remembrance at the throne of grace, that he might carry on the im- portant work in which he was engaged with freedom and fidelity, whatever he might suffer for it; and leaving it to Tychi- cus (by whom he sent this Epistle) more fully to inform them of every circumstance relating to him, he closes his Epistle with an apostolical benediction, not only to themselves, but to all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. (Ver, 10, to the end.) 85 A P A R A P H R A S E AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE PAUL REGINS THE EPISTLE WITH TESTIFYING_1N THE STRONGEST TERMS HIS JOY THAT THE BELIEVING EPHESIANs WERE CALLED TO THE PARTICIPATION_QF CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGES, IN CONSEQUENCE OF GOD's ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GEGRI. ##### º is, Their SANCTIFICATION AND SALVATION, THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS SON AND THE COMMUNICATION OF º ... 1, \-14. - EPHESIANs i. VER. 1. EPH. i. VER. I. SECT. P.AUL, who hath the honour to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, sent forth with PAUL, an apostle of Jesus 1. a special commission from him to publish his gospel and attest his resurrection to the ººgº world, and set apart to this important office by the sovereign and gracious will of God, ss, and to the fifthſ. "in EPH. who hath interposed in so extraordinary a manner to form him for it and to employ him **** I. , in it, addresseth this º: to the saints who are at Ephesus, even to the faithful in Christ Jesus,” who believe in him as the only Saviour, and in consequence of their persuasion of 2 the truth of his gospel, are solemnly and truly devoted to the service of God. This is the 2 Grace be to you, and character in which he looks upon you, and with the most affectionate concern and value ;”;" i.” "...”. for you, it is his ardent wish and most sincere and hearty prayer, that the richest abun- Christ. - dance of divine grace and favour º communicated to you, with all the happiness and peace ſºft it, from God our Father, who is the great Original of all desirable blessings, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom they flow down to us sinful Creatures. 3. At the first turning of my thoughts towards you as converts to the gospel, when I set rºles; ſº the God, and myself to think of the happy state into which you are brought, as true biº in the Son ë. sº§:". of God, by this glorious dispensation of diviné grace, with whatever personal sorrows and jºin afflictions I may be pressed, I cannot forbear bursting out into songs of praise. Join with me, therefore, my dear christian brethren, and let us all say from our hearts, Blessed º the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,b who is now through him become our Go and Father, and hath blessed us,” even all that are partakers of his grace, whether Jews or Gentiles, with every spiritual blessing in heavenly [things] in Christ,3 having graciously be- stowed upon us, in him, and for his sake, by the operation of his Holy Spirit, whatever may conduce to the happiness of our souls now, whatever may prepare them for eternal glory, and may seal to us the joyful hope and expectation of it. --~~ R. this is all to be considered, not as what we can pretend to have deserved, but as # àº, as, he hath the result of his free grace, and the accomplishment of his eternal purpose of love concern- * * * * * * ing us, according as he hath chosen us in him,” even in his well-beloved Son, before the 4 a To the faithful in Christ Jesus.J. Some have understood this, as an fication by grace, the adoption of children, the illumination of the intº the christians at Ephesus were remarkably faithful to #: and ai the graces º: christian life, which are common unto Christin relying on him alone for salyation, without that attachment to all believers, and are communicated, to them, in all their several the Jäosaic law, which was to be found in some other churches, and par- branches. And these are blessings in the heavenlies, ev Tots eitspavious, ticularly among the Galatians. But as he uses the same title when ad- or in heavenly things (as I would choose, to render it, rather than dressing the Côlossians, (Col. i. 2.) whom yet he teproves on this very ; as they are things that have a manifest relation, and respect to account, (Col. ii. 16, 20.) I can lay no stress upon that critigism. eaven, and have a º to fit us for it, and to lead us not to seek b Blessed be the . God and Father. &c.] he length, of periods fre- after the enjoyments of this present world, but to be conversant about, quently occurring in the writings of St. Paul is 9né thing in his style and to be waiting for, those of the heavenly state. that contributes much to the obscurity of it; of which this sentence, e Hath chosen us in him.] I think the apostle here cannot be under- which runs on through twelve verses to the end of this section, is a re- stood to intimate that every one of the persons who belonged to the markablo instance. But in the paraphrase it is absolutely necessary to church of the Ephesians (or aſse where to other christian societies) in tho break it into many, or otherwise the period would be draywn out to a bonds of external communion, was by a particular decree of God per- much more inconvenient length, and the words added to illustrate par; sonally chosen to eternal life, and to perseyering holiness as the way to ticular clauses would encumber, deform, and obscure, the whole.—ſ it. For he could have no evidence that this was the case with regard to have been obliged to take the same method in, many other places, and each, without such a revelation as I think none have pretended, and as hope I need make no further apology for doing it. - would very ill agree with other passages relating to the, apostasy of c Hath blessed us...] It is evident that the apostle means in the word some who once made a very forward profession, and with the many ex- [us] to include the Ephesians to whom he wrote, the greatest part of hortations and cautions which every where occur in his writings, or whom were Gentile converts, as sharing with him and the Jewish with the declarations Christ had made concerning the final ruin that christians in their evangelical privileges; and . by thus beginning his would in fact attend many who called themselves christians, and some Epistle with ascribing thanks to God for his mercies to them; he at once who bore the highest offices in the church, and wrought the most extra- declares his firm persuasion of the calling of the Gentiles, and his hearty ordinary works. (Compare Mat. vii. 23. and Luke xiii. 26, 27.) I joy in it. • - - - - * ... -- conclude therefore that he speaks of whole societies in, general, as con- d With every spiritual blessing, in heavenly [things]., in Christ.], The sisting of saints and believers, because this was the predominant charac- apostle every where represents the graces of the Spirit as sq. mugh, pre- ter, and he had reason in the judgment Qf charity to believe the greater fºrable to its gifts, that it appears very, surprising that, Dr. Whitby part were such. (Compare Phil. i. 7.) Nor did he always judge it ne- should cºnfthe blessings here intended as referring entirely to those cessary to make exceptions in reference, to a few hypocrites who crept gifts. They º; take in every spiritual blessing, (for so it is ex- in among them, any more than, Christ judged it so to speak of Judas, as pressed in the original, ev Taan evXoyia Tvévpartkm), and principally j when he mentions the twelve thrones 9f judgment on which must refer, not to extraordinary and miraculous # , but tº the sang the apostles should sit. (Mat. Yix. 28.) In his view he says of them in tifying and saving graces of the Spirit; such as effectual calling, justi- general, that whether they woro Jows or Gentiles they were indiscri- PAUL’S JOY IN THE CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGES OF THE EPHESIANS. 675 foundation of the world was laid; always intending that we should be in all respects holy SECT. foundation of the world, that .*.*.*.*.*, and unblamable before him, and especially that we should walk in love,f that, by the exercise 1. love : of this sacred affection to God and each other, we might be preserved from the evils which abound in the world, and animated to the most worthy, honourable, and useful behaviour. EPH. É.i.º.º. To this we know God hath appointed us; let us therefore, in proportion to the degree in 5 I. §º; ; which we find this temper prevailing in us, look back with delight to those gracious pur- according tº the good plea poses which the blesséd God formed in his own all-comprehending mind concerning us sure of his will, ong before we had a being; and let us contemplate and rejoice in him, as having predes- timated us to the adoption %. children, and fore-ordained us to be received into his family by Jesus Christ, in whom he has chosen us for a peculiar people unto himself, and thereby entitled us, not only to the most valuable privileges by which his church on earth is dis- tinguished, but to an inheritance of eternal glory. And surely when we compare so happy a state and hope with our own temper, character, and deserts, we must acknowledge our appointment to it to have been according to the good pleasure of his will, and ascribe it entirely to the overflowings of his mercy. 6. To the praise of the §§ of his grace, wherein he hat made us accepted in the be- loved. favour, and complacency, in the Lord Jesús Christ, as his first, and best-beloved Son; through whom, though in ourselves we are so unworthy of it, we have received the adop- 7 In whom we have redemp-tion: And in whom we have redemption from the power of sin, the tyranny of Satan, and 7 tion, through his blood, the ſº: of sins, according to the riches of his grace; the final wrath and displeasure of God, through the pouring forth of his blood upon the cross, when he undertook the great and awful work of making an atonement for us by the sacrifice of himself: for by this precious stream it is, as flowing from his wounded side, the full and free remission of all our most numerous and aggravated sins is happily con- veyed unto us on our believing in him, according to the inexhaustible riches of his grace, which riches even beyond the extent of all our most heinous transgressions, and where our s wherein he hath abound- guilt had risen to the most fearful height, hath its superior triumphs. In the displays of 8 ed toward us in all wisdom and prudence ; which grace we must also acknowledge that he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence;8 having with infinite wisdom contrived a way to glorify all his attributes in the salvation of men, even those which seemed to have the most different claims, dispensing mercy in a way of judgment, and awakening an humble awe and reverence in the soul by the ve 9 Having made known un- to us the mystery of his will, according, to his good plea: sure which he it; in himself: method which is used for granting pardon and peace. All these admirable and gracious purposes hath God been pleased to unite and to dis- cover in the way of our salvation; having made known unto us, by the revelation of that purposed gospel of which I have the honour and happiness of being an apostle, the long-concealed mystery of his will,h according to his own sovereign good pleasure and free ace which he had before purposed in himself, even the important design of gathering to himself out of all 10.That in the dispensation nations, Jews and Gentiles, one hol which all his other dispensations o of the fulness of times he might gather together im, one and glorious church. This was his grand design, rovidence and grace in former ages were intended iſ things in hist, bºth more properly to introduce; that in the economy of the fulness ºf the times, or when that which are in heaven, an ywhich are on earth ; even in him : time was fully come which he in his wise appointment and distribution of things had judged most suitable and eligible, he might reunite wrider one, head, all things in Christ, whom he hath constituted Sovereign of angels and men, and of all his dominions and subjects, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, that for his glory and the good of the whole society he should with supreme authority preside over all. And thus in 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, be- ing predestinated, according to the Pºpº of him who been worketh all things after the counsel of his own will : thoug g sel o his Christ hath he united all things, * * * have obtained an inheritance, and the hope of complete and everlasting felicity ; having raciously predestinated to it according to the purpose of him who, by an efficacious, entle and often imperceptible, influence, worketh all things agreeably to the coun- own will ;l and having formed all his schemes with infinite wisdom, takes the º in him who is the Head of all ; In whom also we most sure and suitable means to execute them, and to subdue in the minds of men, as he 12 That we should be to the has subdued in mine, the strongest who of Jews are become believers in praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. E. against them. And not I alone, but all hrist, must acknowledge this to have been the case, and must consider it as laying us under the highest obligations, that we should be entirely devoted to the praise of his glory, and to the purposes of his service for ever: even we who first trusted in the power and promise of Christ" for salvation, and many of us ventured ður souls upon him when his name was unknown to the Gentile nations, and to most of our own countrymen was the object of contempt and abhorrence. The powerful efficacy of the same grace hath likewise been displayed in you, and hath 13 In whom ye also trusted, minately chosen, not only to those present privileges which they all as professing christians enjoyed, but tº real holiness and everlasting glory. And as we are sure there were ut Ephesus many Jewish converts who were in full communion with the church, I. can see no reason at all, with some commentators of great name, to limit What. the apostle says here to the Gomtiles. An address to them alone in this, Epistle would . ºry fittie suit that candour and love so, preyalent, in the heart of St. paul, and so essential to every true Christian. The pious Professor Franckius thinks the apostle speaks only of the Jews, till he comes to the i3th verse; but from note h, below, on ver, 9...it will appear that he must be mistaken in this singularity of interpretation. * - e. f /n love.) This is often insisted upon; and perhaps the rather to inti- mate that now the middle wall of partition cas broken dozen, it was of the highest importance to cultivate mutual affection without any regard to the singularity of the Jewish or Gentile character, . g In all wisdom and prudence.] To understand this, as a very cole- bråted commentator does, of their oncri prudent returns to be made to the divine goodness, seems a sense much below the apostle’s meaning. h The mystery of his will.] It is so called, as having long been kept a secret, of which neither Jews nor Gentiles had any conception till it was revealed by the Holy Spirit to the apostles... I think this jºin. proves that Professor Franckius is mistaken in referring the word ws to the Jews; for the mystery of calling the Gentiles was not for a con- siderable time inade known to the converted Jeys; and when it was de- clared by the apostles, it was difficult for thern fully to submit to it. i Both in heaven and on earth.] This is cqūsidered by some as a Jewish phrase to express, the whole world; and Mr. Locke thinks it, may be equivalent to Jews and Gentiles. . (Compare Dan. viii. 10.) But it seems more reasonable to understand it of º gºgg's as Well as men undertho government of Christ. (Compare Col. i. 16, 20. Eph. iii. 10. Phil. ii. 10.) The word avakcija}\atoaffat must, in its most literal significa- tion, express uniting again under one head. Both angels and men were at first in Sweet and harmonious subjection to the Son of God, the great Creator of hoth ; but man, haying broken himself off from the society, the Son of man by his humiliation and sufferings, recovers all who believe in him, and in his human nature presides, over, the kingdom to which, in the world of giory, they, and his angels belong. This interpretation presents so noble, a view, that no other will bear a comparison. § We, have obtained an inheritance.], Mr. Locke would render ck)\mpa,0mpsv, are become his inheritance, (alluding to Deut. xxxii. 9. Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance,) and inter- prets as referring to the admission of the Gentiles into the church, which is God’s heritage : but as we in this and the next verse seems opposed to vow in the thirteenth, it must signify the Jews who first trusted in Christ, or the body of the christian church, who were incorporated long before the Ephesians were brought into it. 1 Who worketh all things agrecably to the counsel of his own, will.] This does indeed express God’s taking such methods, to answer his purposes as he knows will in fact be successful. But it does not prove anything like an overbearing impulse on men’s minds to determine them in such a manner as to destroy the natural, freedom of their volitions, and so to prevent their being justly aggountable to God for such actions, m Who first trusted in Christ.] I think it strange that Mr. Locke should urge this as an argument to prove that the apostle speaks of the Gentiles ; since it is, so evident that the grand harvest of believing Jews yyas gathered into the church before Christ was preached to any of the Gentiles. To interpret the word IſponXTux07 as as signifying that they Jirst began to hope in Christ, or had first entertained hope through him, whereas before they had no hope, (Eph. ii.,12.) loses the force of the ex- pression, and sinks the sense of the Greek language. May we therefore ever acknowledge it to the praise of his glorious grace, which we can 6 never sufficiently admire, and which the whole world should concur to magnify and adore; even that grace wherein he hath made us accepted, and hath regarded us as the object of his 9 0 l 676 EPH. your heathen º [trusted] and believed as we had done, when ye heard the ºord; I. PAUL’S PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS FOR THE EPHESIANS. SECT. given #. a title to the same inheritance in Christ; in whom ye also, who were once sin- sº lºw. I. * * - * - g of truth, th ospel of your ners of the Gentiles, even ye Ephesians, who were particularly devoted to idolatry and su- *Nº ºaſiº: perstition, (compare Acts xix. 19, 35.) to a degree which distinguished you from many of . àº'àº'à: s: Ol promise, , of truth, the gospel of your salvation, which brings the good tidings of salvation to you as wełł as others, and gives the most convincing demonstration of your being called to share in all the blessings that are bestowed in Christ; in whom also, łº, believed and made profession of your faith, ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, descending upon you not only in miraculous gifts, but in its sanctifying graces, to attest that you belong to 14 the family of God, and are heirs of the promises made to Abraham and his seed. I speak 14, which is the earnest of of that blessed and gracious Spirit who is the Earnest of our inheritance," in whom you §."ºº"...i have a certain pledge and token of your being by special adoption entitled to it, to en- º, unto the praise courage and animate you under all the difficulties of your way, while you continue waiting “"“” till you receive the complete redemption of the people he hath so dearly purchased for his £º ;° to them he hath promised everlasting life and happiness, ºfhe will certainly estow it upon them in the day of his final appearance, which will at length open with a lustre that shall fully repay so long an expectation, and will abundantly conduce to the praise of his glory, or to the illustration of that wisdom and love which hath wrought in every previous dispensation, to lead on by the properest degrees towards that most illus- trious one which was to close the whole. IMPROVEMENT. ARE we not by divine grace and mercy partakers of those blessings which Paul here celebrates with so much delight, and in the review of which, familiar as they were to his thoughts and discourses, he breaks forth as it were Ver. 3 into a rapturous anthem in the very beginning of this Epistle, as he likewise does in so many others? Ought not our hearts to be as warm in such devout acknowledgments? Are spiritual blessings in heavenly things or places in Christ Jesus less valuable now than they were seventeen hundred years ago? Are not the necessities of our souls the same? Is not their immortality the same? Let us then join with the most grateful sentiments in the ac- clamation; and, in proportion to the degree in which we feel the importance of what God hath already done and is doing for our souls, let us go back with unutterable pleasure to the gracious purpose which he was pleased to 4 form in his own compassionate breast, when he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, when he 5 predestinated us through him to the adoption of children. Let us acknowledge the freedom of his grace in it, that 11 we are thus predestinated according to the purpose of him who, with proper regard to the nature of his intelligent 6 and free creatures, worketh all things agreeably to the good pleasure of his will, and maketh us accepted in the Beloved, that we may be to the praise of the glory of his grace. Let these united displays of wisdom and love affect our hearts; for he hath indeed abounded towards us in all 8 wisdom and prudence. And let that holiness which mingles its glories in the whole scheme, be also remembered. 4 Let it never be forgotten, that we are predestinated to be holy and without blame before him in love, that we might attain to that blameless temper which love alone can inspire and support. 9 For this purpose the mystery of his will is made known to us, and that grand, illustrious plan is displayed which is so well worthy of all the perfections of a God; even his design to gather together in one all things in Christ, to 10 unite all good and happy spirits under him as the common Head, and to make him the bond of their eternal union to God and to each other. What are we sinful creatures, that we should be received into such an associa- tion ? Let us never forget it on earth, as we shall for ever commemorate it in heaven, that it is through his blood 7 that we have redemption, eternal redemption, which he who has begun the happy work will certainly complete in 14 favour of those whom he hath purchased to be an everlasting possession unto himself. * 3 In the mean time, may his Spirit be given us as the Seaſ of the promises, and the Earnest of our inheritance! And by more abundant communications of his sanctifying influences, may he raise our souls to a blessed anticipa- tion of those enjoyments which will endure for ever, and will be for ever new and delightful. SECTION II. The apostle assures the Ephesians of the ſervºics with whi:h he wº offering his prayers to God on their account, that they might have still igher and worthier conceptions of the gospel, and of its glorious Author as raised from the dead, and exalted to supreme dominion in the * heavenly world. Eph. i. 15, to the end. EPH ESTAN3 i. 15. A PHEST_A N 3 EPH. i. 15. SECT. I HAVE mentioned the invaluable blessings of which as christians we have the privilege WHEREFORE I also, after 2. to be partakers, whether Jews or Gentiles; and for this cause, knowing the extensive views Hºjº * * * - - 4- - rd Jesus, and love unto ail on which the christian church is formed, in the affectionate remembrance which I have of the saints,” EPH. all the faithful, I also bear you on my heart, both in the praises and, the prayers which I * * ... . º º A- § & 15 offer up to God ; having in this my confinement heard of your º }. #. faith on, hºpe in the Lord Jesus,” whom we adore as our common Saviour, and of the love [you 16 bear] to all the saints, whether circumcised or uncircumcised: On which agcount I cease *...*. º §§ & * * - --. * ; c. r &l Ri In A not daily to give thanks for you, that you are brought by divine ſº into this happy state, º, ention o and am miſſing mention of you always in my prayers, which I am continually presenting to heaven for my brethren in every place. * f *, 17 And it is my constant request for you, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, & * §§ #. i. who is also the Father of glory, of which he is eternally and immutably possessed, from ; Lhé l'ather 2st of our inheritance.] It seems very unnatural to explain peculia, prºperty; Which is Yery agrégable to the signification of the this Tºſº.g. "àº. º àing God’s iºiº. for the earnest word tºº. $º, gºtº 17. §§§ (where it answers to Histºriº injy refer to fittire blessings, and be intended as a pledge and n°2D, Segúllaº.) Acts xx. §. im, iii. 13. and 1 Pef. ii. 9. e token of our right and title to them. * * a Having heard of the faith you have, &c., akegas ſmy ka0° ſpas *hji º żºłºmption ºf the pºrchased possession.] Dr.Whitby would triarty.) Some have argued from hence, that this Epistle, if directed to render this clause, &ts aſſo), UT) ºvaty Tms repºroumaeos, till the redemption the Ephesians, must have been written before Paul’s long abode at of life; and brings many texts ou'. of the Septuagint, where Trept Tº tead Ephesus, singe he would not have spoken of their faith as only known signifies, to save alive... To illustrøtø this, he observe; theſe are twº re- by report, if he had for tyo years and a half been conversant with them, zlémptions or grand deliverancº; ; (for that is plainly his idea of redeslip- and seen the effects of it. To this some have answered, by pleading tion ;) the one, that of justíſigation, consequent Dºº believing ; the that akgo signifies not only to hear but to understand, y whatever other, that by which we are difivered fron (leaph and all the other penal means the knowledge,be attained; and others have said that this Epistlé gonsequences of sin, in the redeſpition of th? body from, corruption, º was intended, not only for the church of Ephesus, but for other Asian it ºaſiake ºf &fºrmal fiſä, Öºmpare Rom; viii.33), "hij, ſºy churches in the neighbourhood. But perhaps the easiest, and, most solid goincidº ºith Éezā’s interpretation, who would translatº it, till the ſº answer is, that as it was now fiye or six years since Paul quitted Epiº demption of vindicatiºn, that is, till we are sº entirely at . and sus, he might judge it proper, thus to, express his compjacency on hear- receive complete deliverance and salvation. But I rather conglu ºt ing that they continued, in the midst of so many circumstances gf rspirwanats here signifies the people whom Christ lias purchased to be his temptation, to behave in a manner so worthy what he had personańy PAUL's PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGs FOR THE EPHESIANS. 677 pf glory, may give unto you whom all glory proceeds, and to whom it returns, would give you more abundant supplies SECT §ºr of the spirit of twisdom and revelation, to fill you with a more enlarged knowledge of his 2. im: will, and animate you to the further exercise of every grace in the acknowledgment of him: And in particular, that by his influence and teaching he [would give you] to have the eyes of your understanding enlightened still more and more;b that, being tº: illumi: nated, je may know, in a more comprehensive manner than you now do, whºſt, is the great and important hope of his calling, what are the high conceptions you should have of that excellent Object which the gospel proposes to your pursuit, and with what certainty and delight you should look forward to it, and may discern more fully what are the inexpres: sible advantages and what the glorious riches and inestimable treasures ºf his inheritanº: in the saints, which he distributes with so liberal a hand, among them in the blessings Of his grace at present, in consequence of having adopted them to himself, and which hºre- after they shall possess in perfect happiness and glory, and shall for ever enjoy with him and with each other: And that you may be thus more thoroughly sensible whºſt [is] the exceeding greatness of his poºper which he hath manifested in the operations of his grace. towardsºns who cordially believe his gospel, according to the energy of the power of his might, influencing our hearts in such a manner as effectually to conquer all our prejudices against christianity, and against true religion in every form. * • , , This is indeed a power, like that which is the confirmation of our faith, as being the authentic seai of the gospel, set to it by that energy which he exerted in his Son Jesus Christ, when he lay a cold and mangled corpse in the sepulchre, in raising him from the dead, and thus declaring him to be the Son of God with power, (Rom. i. 4.) and by which too he seated [him] at his oign right hand in heavenly º in the possession of the highest dignity and glory; Having exalted him fºr above all the ranks in the angelic world, even above every principality, and power, and might, and dominion, however they are dis. tinguished in the celestial hierarchy, and above every name, how honourable soever, that is named or had in any account, not only in this world, but also in that which is to coine; so that there never has been, and never shall be, among all the inhabitants of heaven or ^- earth, any one so dear and excellent, so high, and honourable, in the sight of God as he 22 Apá hath put all things is. And it is delightful to pursue the meditation; reflecting further that the divine power 22 º; º; hath not only invested our ascended Saviour with supreme dignity, but likewise with to the church, universal authority ; and hath subjected all things whatsoever under his feet, that he may overrule and manage them as he will, and given him [to *lº Head over all things to the church, for its protection, benefit, and advantage: Even that church which is his 23 body, and which as such is ever dear and precious to him, and, being made complete in him, is regarded as the fulness of him who filleth all persons in all placesd with all kind of good things which they possess, and yet delights in this as his chosen dwelling, even as a holy temple which he hath consecrated to himself. * IMPROVEMENT. FAITH in Christ, and love to all the saints, are here with great propriety put by the apostle for the whole of a christian temper. May they be more apparent and operative in all who call themselves by the christian name ! Even a firm and active faith, a warm º unbounded love, which shall forget every thing that would alienate our * hearts from our brethren; and only remember that they are saints, consecrated to God, and sanctified by him ; that they are believers in Christ Jesus, and therefore one with him, who is our Head and our All; whose love hath given to us, and to them, whatever is lovely in either; who will save the whole body, and make it so happy to- gether, that the very thought of that happiness should cause our hearts to overflow with every benevolent affec- tion, as well as with perpetual gratitude to our Divine Deliverer, who is the Source of it. Let us learn by this excellent and pathetic prayer of the apostle what are the most important petitions we can offer for ourselves and our christian friends. Surely this must be numbered among them, that the eyes of our understandings may be onlightened more and more, that so we may more clearly and affectionately know what is the great and glorious hope which our christian calling sets before us. Alas, as yet we know but little of it!, but little of that great and glorious inheritance which God will divide among his saints, and in the enjoyment of which he will for ever unite them all. But adored be his grace, if we so know it as deliberately to make choice of it, as to give up every interest and hope inconsistent with it, and determinately to say, This is our rest, we have de- sired it. (Psal. cxxxii. 14.) He who hath wrought us to the Self-same thing is God, (2 Cor. v. 5.) It is indeed an exertion of a divine power, that quickened these dead souls of ours; the same that quickened the dead body of our Redeemer quick- ened, exalted, and glorified him. Let our souls, like that of the apostle, presently take the hint, and soar upward, - 3 * - = ~5 - - - - - as with an eagle’s, or ra an angel’s, wing ; soar to those glorious abodes, where he sits at the right hand of God, EPH. S 18 The eyes of your under- standing º enlightened ; that ye may, know...what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the SaiſitS, I I 19 And what is the czceed- 9 ing greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, accord- ing to the working of his mighty power, 20. Whigh he wrought in 23 Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly placcs, 21 Fay above all lity, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come : rincipa- 23 Which is his body, the # is of him that filleth all lſ, 3.11. Ver. I5 2. 2 19, 20 her far above all principality, and power, and right, and dominion, and every name that is named. There he reigns, 21 not only as the Sovereign Guardian of the universe, but in the more endearing character of the Head of the church, bearing the same tender affection to it, exerting the same care over it; as the head over the members; 22, 23 calling the chârch, narrow as its boandaries seem, his fülness, though he fills all in all. “Blessed Lord! fill our souls more and more with all the graces of thy Spirit, and extend the boundaries of the church all abroad Unite us in these dearest bonds; and give us always to act worthy of that honour which thou conferrest upon us, when thou callest us thy body, thy flesh, and thy bones ſ” (Eph. v. 30.) In this sense Mr. Locke understands thes observed among them. 27. and 1 Thess. i. g the original, are so well set, forth by Bishoi, Pearson (On the Creed, p. 51%.) as scarce is to be paralleled in any author, and superior to what our words; and it is illustrated by comparing Phil. i. 3, 5, 6. iii. 6. - - ~ f = lassics, vol. i. p. b The eyes of your understanding enlightened.] Our translation here, though it express the sense, departs from the construction of the origi- mal, in which these words are in the accusative case, ºpto-tapº'ows, &c. and appear to be governed by the verb Öon in the preceding verse. And therefore, to preserve the same construction, I have repeated here the words, wroidd gire you, which are inserted as a º: c The ercreding greatness of his power, &c.]. The admirable beauty of this passage, and the strong emphasis and force of the expressions in §uage cań reach. See also Blackwall’s Sacred *Ri d The fulness of him tºho fi!!cth all in gll.] Mr. Locke understands this as, if it, were said, which is coinpleted, or completely filled by him; Śc. and I think the texts he refers to in confirmation of this sense are of great weight, and have paraphrased the text accordingly ; though it is certain that the word 7X&pg.jſa has sometimes another sense ; as when We are said to receive from &ºr;, John i. 16, and Christ is de- clared to have g!! the fulness of Dcity dwelling in him. Col. ii. 9. 6 7 8 3. EPH. II. THE DEPRAVED STATE IN WHICH THE GOSPEL FOUND THE EPHESIANs. SECTION III. Further to excite the gratitude of the Ephesians, the apostle leads them back, to that state of moral death in which the gospel found them, and ii. 1–10, reminds them how entirely they were saved by divine grace. Éi. ii. EPHESIANs ii. 1. SECT. UNSPEAKABLE, my brethren, is the º of the body of Christ, which I have l just been mentioning, the happiness of all who are related to him as their glorious Head: and through, diyine grace, this happiness is yours; for you, though once sinners of the Gentiles, ſhath he] who raised up {j from the dead [quickened] and raised to life.” by the effectual working of that mighty power which I havé shown you to have wrought in Christ: even you, who will (as I persuade myself) most readily acknowledge that you lºng were dead tº trespasses and sins, incapable of any sensations and actions arising fºom that spiritual and divine life to which his grace has now awakened you, and liable, as the *just desert and consequence of your sins, to a sentence of eternal’ death. Such, it is 3 4 manifest, was your wretched state while you continued in the paths of Vanity and guilt, in which ye formerly walked with pleasure, according to the course and manner of this present world, in a conformity to the common usage of the age in which you live, and tº the fashionable enormities of your heathen neighbours; a course so destestably evil that I may properly say of it, that it was just according to the desire, instigation, and will of the prince of the poiger of the air," that wicked spirit who commands the legions of fallen angels, that by diviné permission range in the air, and fly from place to place in pursuit of their pernicious purpose of corrupting and destroying mankind. say it again, Your course was formerly according to the dictates and suggestions of that cursed and malignant spirit, who by his influence on the hearts of men has in effect the manage- ment, however unseen and unapprehended, of the spirit that now operates powerfully in the children ºf disobedienced and prejudices their darkened minds against admitting the evidence and authority of the gospel. ...” * •7mongst whom also we all had formerly, at least in some degree, our course of life and Conversation,” whatever, our education or religious profession might have been; walking in many instances in the unbridled lusts of our flesh, to the base appetites of which we were enslaved, so as to forget the true dignity and happiness of a rational and immortal spirit. Thus we went on, fulfilling the dictates of the flesh, and of the inordinate pas- sions' of the carnal mind, as if we had been altogether destitute of any superior power to control them ; and howsoever we might pride ourselves in any distinction of birth, or separation, by peculiar privileges from the rest of the world, we were indeed by nature, and according to the bias we were naturally under, the children of wrath,; and heirs of the curse denounced on sin, even as others round us are : we too, as well as they, were born in sin, and in consequence of that innate corruption, were early plunged in actual transgressions, and so brought under a sentence of death and destruction by that law which every Soul of us had in various instances violated. EpH. ii. 1, AND you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, accord- ing to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: - 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of thq esh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. This was the common calamity in which we were all involved; but the blessed God 4 But God, who is rich in being rich in mercy, and finding the motives of it in himself, when there was nothing in us but misery to move him to it, according to his great and free love wherewith he hath loved us, hath been pleased to look upon us with pity, and to contrive a most astonishing 5 and effectual way for our recovery from this deplorable state: And in prosecution of it. even when we were, as I had before observed, dead in trespasses and sins,h he hath quickened and enlivened us together with Christ, having constituted by his grace such a near rela- tion between us, that his renewed life should be the source of ours; for it is by that grace which is bestowed in him that ye are saved, and made partakers of these invaluable priyi- 6 leges. And in consequence of this, I may further say, that he hath raised [us] up together in him as our Head and Representative; and by admitting him into heaven as a Fore- runner, to take possession of those glorious mansions for us, he hath made [us] sit together mgrey, for his great Jove where with he loved us, . 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath Quickened us to- gether with Christ, (by grace ye are saved ;) 6, And hath raised us up to- gether, and made ws sit toge- a You hath he quickened.] Som; have observed, that the connexion herº is harsh, the words [hath Jacquickencºl] not being in the original, and would therefore suppose the accusative case juas (as the graninarians call it) to be governed by the verb reſt Ampºoks understood, answering to the close of the preceding chapter; and thus, would take the sense to be, “He who filleth all his muciubcrs with all gifts and virtues, hath also filled gou among the rest.” Ibut the words up as ovras vskpovs in this first verse so directly answer to #pas ov-as vexpovs in the fifth, that I think it very plain both must refer to avve.o.orotnag, he hath, quickened together with Christ.—This is one instance, among others, of Paul’s beginning a sen- tence and then throwing-in a very long parenthesis, and taking up again at-a considerable distange the words with which he began: or nearly the im. j. 3. with same. Compare Eph. iii. 1, 14. with chap. iv. J. and yer. J S. - * b. In which ye formerly lºalked.] Dr. Goodwin very pertinently, ob- serves here, that the Ephesians were remarkºhle, in the midst of all their learning, for a most abandoned character. They, banished Hermodorus merely for his virtue, thereby in effect making a law that every modest and teamperate man should leave them. See Dr. Goodwin’s PWorks, vol. º ‘ſhe prince of the power of the air.]. This reſers to a Jewish radition that the air was inhabited by evil spirits; a notion which, as Mr. Alede observes, (Diat. on 2 Pet. ii., 4.) the apostle Paul seems to approve. - d Öf the spirit that nonc operates, pourerſully in the children of disobedi- edge.j i reſider it, of the spirit, as this agrees better with the construction of the original, kara Tov apxovra-row. Twevpazos, &c., which leads us to refer this latter clause to the prevailing influence, of Satan over the vicious spirit or corrupt disposition that is so powerful in sinners, which - i as subject to his management, and actuated by him: is tivus represented - . —The phrase evepygv795 cw Tºts *:: ) (; 7ms aſſet}ct as is very strong and tical, both in the denomination it gives to the heathen as children: º}}}}}} obstimacy, who would yield to no persuasion that would ūrge them to a better course of life, as the etymology of aſſet{\eta im: ports, and in the forcible manner in which it gxpresses the influenge of štº over them, as if they were inspired and, possessed by him.; for, it isºeli known the word ºvepyspevoi" among the ancients signified the g * | * ºf CŞ. - eam it. % ####rly our conversation.] The apostle, changing, the expression from [ye] Ephesians to ſigé,) seems plainly to declare that he Jºan to include himself and all other christians in What #;" Say f º j it is so professedly the design of the beginning of hi. Epistle to º fºrmińs to prove that the Jews had not, in point of justification, any ad- f • vantage above the Gentiles, (Rom. iii. 9.) that it is spurprising to me that some yery learned and ingénious writers, and Mr. Locke in particular, should contend so strongly for the contrary. As to the argument from £gh. iv. 17–20. See the paraphrase and notes there, in the beginning of f The dictates of the flesh and of the passions.] The word 6eXmpara, here made use of, expresses a kind of dictatorial power; and the plural 6tavotay, which we render mind, as it cannot here signify its intellectual powers, must, I think, denote the yarious passions according to the preva- #. of which our minds take as it were different colours and forms, and become strangely different from themselves. g Were by mature the children af wrath..] Some think, the meaning of this phrase is only that we were so truly and indeed. Compare Gal. iv. 8. (See Limborch. Theol. lib. iii. cap. 4. § 17.). But on the whole, I think it much more reasonable to refer it to the original apostasy and corrup- tion in consequence of which men do, according to the course of nature, fall early into personal guilt, and so become obnoxious to the divine dis- pleasure. And [ype all,) in the beginning of this verse; is so, plainly j posed to [yc] in the verse before, that it is astonishing Dr. Whitby should maintain that [we] and [uſe] are used promiscuously throughout this whole discourse. Monsieur Le Clerc (Järs Crit. p. 104.) brings inany instances from ancient writers to prove that ºvatt signifies genius or disposition ; but I think I may yenture to say that every one of them signifies a matt- 7:al disposition, and not merely an acquired habit. h PWhcn vºc were dead in trespasses and sins.] What is said in Col. ii. 13. does indeed show that this was eminently the case of the Gentiles; but I have given my reasons above why I think it here, to be spoken of what all in general were till the grace of God wrought for their recovery. i Hath quickened us together with Christ.] This does not merely signify our being raised to the hope of pardon and glory by the resur- rection and ascension of Christ; but seems to refer to that union which there is between him and all true believers, by virtue of which they may look on his resurrection, ascension, and glory, as a #. and security of something quite of a similar nature to be accomplished in due time in and upon them. Thus we are taught to consider &# 8|S a Fº per- son, the elder Brother of the family, and the Guardian of the younger branches of it, who may, by a very easy and beautiful figure, be said to have received their inheritance in him.—It is justly observed, by Mr. Locke, that chap. i. 20. and ii. 5, 6. answer to each other; out the apos- tle’s mind being filled with these grand ideas, and transported with łº, to Christ, lets his pen run, loose to enlarge upon them, though with some interruption to the natural construction. THEY were SAVED BY FREE GRACE. 679 ther in heavenly places in ºn those heavenly [places] to which he is exalted, and into which we also may be said to SECT. Christ Jesus : be admitted in dź. esus : for by means of that relation between him and us which 3. divine grace hath established, we may look upon his resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of God as the certain pledge and security of ours: and regarding him under #. the character of a public Person who is thus raised and exalted in our name, we may be 6 said to share in those felicities and dignities which are conferred on him. - - hº º *ś And this God hath done, that he might show in the ages to come under the dispensation 7 §ºjić of the gospel, and might display to all succeeding generations, the exceeding richés of his §...º is us through free and unmerited grace, as manifested both to Jews and Gentiles in [his] kindness to: * wards us in Christ Jésus; for we have received it all by him, and are partakers of it as connected with him, whom God hath appointed a Head and Saviour to us, and taught º us to regard him as ºur great Representative. I repeat it again and again, that I may 8 ...s.. .",".. ... properly inculcate a doctrine of so great importance; for I would never have any of you of God: örget, that it is by this free grace which I have so frequently celebrated, and would for ever celebrate, that ye are brought into the happy number of the saved ones, and are de- livered from that ruń into which sin had plunged you, and raised to these glorious hopes of eternal felicity; which inestimable privileges we receive through such a cordial faith in Christ as is productive of unfeigned love and obedience: and the grace of God appears, not only in constituting this method of salvation through faith, but also in producing this great and divine principle in our souls; for this very faith is not of yourselves," it is not of your own production, there being such a natural averseness to it in the heart, as that we neither can be said to have wrought it, nor is any praise resulting from it, or any ex- cellence in it, to be ultimately ascribed to us; but [it is] really the gift of God, who by the gracious influence of his Spirit fixes our attention to the great objects of it, subdues our prejudices against it, awakens holy affections in our souls, and, on the whole, enables us to believe, and to persevere in believing, till we receive the great end of our faith in the complete salvation of our souls. 9. Not of works, lest any And God hath appointed that salvation should be thus obtained by that faith which he man should boast. produces in the heart, and not by works of the Mosaic law, or any other obedience of our own, lest any one should boast as if he had by his own righteousness obtained salvation, I0 For we are his work; and so should ascribe the glory of it to himself rather than to God. But it cannot be so 10 }.”.”..." § now ; for as all acts of acceptable obedience proceed from faith, and this faith is wrought - goO • - * * - - - - - & s which God hath, befºre...º. in our hearts by the gracious influence of the Divine Spirit, it is most evident, that we are dained that we should walk - in them. to acknowledge ourselves to be his workmanship, so far as there is any thing in us agree- able to the nature and will of God; being created in Christ Jesus winto good works, and made able, not only to perform them, but to delight in them; even those works of evan- gelical obedience, to the performance of which (though we obtain the forgiveness of our sins previous to our performing them, on our accepting Christ and believing the grace of the gospel) God hath before prepared [us] by the influences of his Spirit; having fore- ordained and appointed in his eternal counsels, and in the declarations of his word, that we should diligently and constantly walk in them, as ever we would approve ourselves his people, and stand entitled to the promised blessings of the future state, which indeed we can no otherwise in the nature of things be prepared to receive. IMPROVEMENT. LET us behold with a becoming attention, and with all those emotions of heart which an attentive review of it is capable of exciting, the amazing diversity of these states as represented by the apostle; and remember that they are states in the one or the other of which we all are. We see what nature and the first Adam have made us, and we see what grace and an interest in the second would make us. Daily observation, and, in too many instances, our own experience, may have convinced us that it is not the Ver. 1 character of the Gentiles alone to be dead in trespasses and sins. It shows us, that to walk according to the general course of this apostate world, is to walk according to the prince of the power of the air; who, when he is 2 most set on our ruin, is most importunate in persuading us to fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Still, alas! till the gospel reaches and renews the heart, doth the same evil spirit, by means of the corrupt and 3 vicious spirit dwelling in them, work in the children of disobedience and wrath, in which number we must ac- knowledge ourselves by nature to have been. But blessed be God that grace has its superior triumph over depraved nature; and where sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound. (Rom. v. 20.) he mercy of God is rich, and his love is great; and his powerful grace, to which we must ascribe all our hope 4 of salvation, hath quickened us when we were dead in sins, and hath enlivened us with Christ, to whom by faith 5, 6 we are united, and so incorporated with him, that in consequence of it we may not only consider his resurrection and ascension to glory as an emblem, but in some degree as an anticipation, of our own, and may think and speak of ourselves as raised, and exalted, and glorified, with him. O how blessed and joyful a view is this! and how powerfully ought it to operate upon us, to elevate our minds above this low world, and to animate us to every great and generous sentiment and pursuit! Surely this must illustrate, if any thing can do it, the riches and freedom of that grace by which we are saved, and must engage 7 the generations to come to celebrate his exceeding kindness towards us. Let all boasting in ourselves therefore 8, 9 be entirely given up: let salvation º faith be acknowledged to be of grace; and that faith itself be acknowledged as the gift of God, whose workmanship we are, and by whom we are created to that noble and only acceptable 10 principle of good works. , Let not this grace be received in vain; but let us answer the purposes of this new nature and new life which God hath graciously given us, and show forth the praises of him from whom it is de- rived, and in whom, in a spiritual as well as a natural sense, we live, and move, and exist. *} k. By grace ye are saved, through faith, and this not of yourscºes.] It signify faith, the thing he had just before been speaking of there are so is observable that the apostle speaks of these, christians, not only as in many similar instances to be found in Scripture, that one would wonder the way to salvation, but as already saved, (acq (oguévot,) by a strong how, it were possible for any judicious critics to have laid so much stress and lively figure expressing their ...}. security—Some explain the on this as they do, in rejecting what seems beyond all comparison the following clause, [and this not of yourselves,) as if it were only, a rene- Yêightiest and mºst natural interpretation. Compare the original of the tition of what was said before, that the constitution that made faith the following texts: Phil. i. 28, Eph. vi. 18. Gal. iii. 17. iv. iș." And for way to salyation was not of their own appointment, but God’s. . But the like çonstruction in other Greek authors of undoubted credit, seo this is making the apostle guilty of a flat tautology, for which there is no Elsner, Observ. vol. i. p. 128. and Raphel. Annot, ex Herod, p. iś6. occasions Tāking the clause as we explain it, that is, as asserting the ! To which God hath before prepared us...] This is plainly the sense of agency of divine grace in the º of faith; as well as in the con- the original, of: 7ponrothagev, which shows that as we are chosen to be stitution of the method of salvation by it, the thought rises with great holy, (c) i. 4.) and callººd f ºl-s /*T* : * : : - spirit. As for the apostle? ing the word in th ter gender !, (chap. i. 4.), and gallººl, to perform, good works, (Tit. iii. 8.) so also - - Postle’s using the word rero in the neuter gender to God prepares us for and cnables us to it by his grace. 680 SECT. 4. EPH. II. THE HAPPY STATE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. SECTION IV. Tººgºº, Fº tº begun in the last, section, representing the happy state into which they ii. 11, to the end. ~ . - EPHESIANs i. 11. YOU have heard of the glorious privileges to which, as christians, you are exalted out of that wretched state of mºral death in which the gospel found you': wherefore let me seri- ously urge it upon you, that you would always remember and bear it in mind how happy a change God hath been pleased by his sovereign grace to make in your state, and would * * - - * , - were now brought, as united to - and partakers of all its privileges; the midāle waſ of partition being now removed in favour of §eºšić. ICph. EPH. ii. 11. WHEREFORE remember, that ń. being in time past Geatiles in the flesh, who are called . Uncircumcision by that which is called the Cir- cumcision in the flesh made "11 consider what you now are in comparison with what you formerly were. Ohletit never by hands; 12 be forgotten, that ye, [were] formerly, ignorant, vicious, and idolatrous Gentiles, and in a state wherein the flesh was continually ięading you captive, and drawing you to gratify and fulfil its lusts ; who being thus abandoñed to your own ways, without any sign or token of an interest in God, [were] called, by way of contempt, the thicircumcision, uncircumcised abominable sinners, by that body of then vºich is called the Circumcision,” on account of their having received that rite which is perfºrmed with hands, and imprints a mark in the jlesh, of which as you were destitute, they who had received and gloried in it avoided you as unclean. But I am sensible your chief misery did not consistin the want of that cere- mony, which can by no means avail to the salvation of the soul, or render it, while the heart continues uncircumcised, in any degree acceptable to God: Your wretchedness was, (and see that you remember it with the greatest humility, and with the most affecting sensé of the acknowledgments you owe to that free grace which has delivered you from that de- plorable condition,) that ye were at that time, while you were unregenerate Gentiles, with- out any knowledge of Christ or any interest in him, and thus were destitute of all those blessings which he brings to his believing and obedient people: and indeed were without any expectations of the Messiah, and had not those advantages for inquiring after him and embracing him which the Jews had by virtue of their prophecies, and of the various means ordained to point him out; ye were then aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and had no part in any of the favours granted to them, no claim to their peculiar privileges, nor any right of citizenship with them; not so much as knowing that polity which God’had established among his own chosen people, in order to direct their views to the gospel, and to prepare them for the reception of it: and having no communion with the church, ye were then unacquainted with the divine engagements to it, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having any knowledge of the covenant made with #. by Moses, or of those better promises on which the covenant with Abraham was established, and assurance given of the Messiah’s coming, and of eternal life through him: so that, in consequence of this, ye were them wholly taken up in the pursuit of earthly things, without any prospect of good things to come, having no well-grounded hope with regard to a future state,” no hope of spiritual and eternal blessings, about which, immersed as you were in the cares and pleasures of this lower world, you had indeed but very little thought: and though you had such an infamous herd of imaginary deities, and were so eager in the worship of them, and particularly of your great goddess Diana, and of Jupiter, whose daughter she was supposed to be, (Acts xix. 35.) yet in reality ye were athéists in the world;d for ye lived and conversed in the world, ignorant of the one living and true God, its great Original and Support, and worshipping only such as by nature are no gods, (Gal. iv. 8.) ye had no conception of any being that was truly worthy to be spoken of by any divine title. 13 ... But let your hearts reflect with joy and thankfulness on that blessed change which the divine goodness hath now made in your condition, by bringing you to faith in Christ .Jesus; for having cordially embraced him as exhibited in the gospel, ye who were formerly qfar off from God, and from all the hopes and privileges of his people, are now brought fiedr to God and to each other by the atóning blood of Christ,” whereby he hath expiated your guilt, and made a free and honourable way for your approach to God, and partaking 14 in all the benefits of his church. For he is the Procurer of our peace,f who hath reconcile us, whether Jews or Gentiles, to God and to each other, and hath so incorporated us into orſe church, that it may properly be said he hath made both one, as to an interest in the favour of God and in the privileges of his people; and that no difference might remain between us, he hath thrown down the middle wall of separation which divided us from each other, as the wall which runs between the court of the Gentiles and that of Israel in 12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the common- wealth of Israel, and stran- gers from the covenants of romise, having no hopes, and without God in the world : 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye, who sometimes, were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. - 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition be- t?De67, 71.3 : a Called the Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision.] Whitby well observes here, called each other atheists, though both wor- ry at I'he terms of circumcision aid uncircumcision in the abstract. are, here shipped some deity, real or, imaginary; begause each supposed the other ; inly ºf cirºcised and uncircumcised; as they are likewise, Roºm, to feject that which, was the lºwe object of ador&tion. But I cannot con; #. 2:5. #. 30. and iv. 9. Thus also to be inade the righteousness of od ceive that the apostle would have given to the heathems the character of is put for being made rightgº & Gºod, 2 Cor. v. 21. atheists, if the worship of the one living and true God had really prevaiſ- y - - - * - f The covenants of promise.] º the covenant for substance was ed among them to that degrg; which some christian divines have incau- one and ºfte same, the apostiè here speaks of it in the glºral number, (as tiously maintained that it did., The truth of the matter seems to have }º does aſso, fºr. ix. 4.) as it was given out at several times, with variº been, that though several of thena speak of their Jupiter in terms pro- £is §tiºs and º nºt only to. Åārāśām saag, and perly º to the one self-existent and eternal Deity only, yet .jacob, (Gen. xii. 2, 3. xvii. they taug ,-8. xxii. 17, 18. xxxi. § 4. xxviii. º: but affºrwards to the whole ghurch of Israel. (Exod. Xxiv. 7,8: Pe 4.) t and believed other things of him quite inconsistent with such ut, perfections: and those who had some knowledge of one supreme, etermal Kvii. Tà, is 3.xix. i2, Í3, and xxx. 5, 6). And as the promises it contain- Causº, yet practically disregarded him ; and, however they might re- &á'cºntréj in the great promise of the Åfossiah, and ºf salvation by him, congile it with the gigtates of their consciences, worshipped inferior he ºr. speaks of them in the singular number, but as one promise, ...i and many of them such as were represented under the most ºiº is agreeable to the Scripture style in other places. 9ompare Acts scanda ii. 39. §. 32. ºi. 6, 7, #3:... iv. 74, ió. Gal. iii. 17, 22. Eph. iii. 6. struction of all true religion, Compare and fieb. vi. 17. the notes on those verse ous characters, to the neglect of the Supreme Being, and the dé- Rom. i. 20–26; and consult S; P. 500s.. . T = ſing no icoe.] That the heathems had among them the doctrine e Are brought near by thé blººd of Christ.J. There seems to be an eyi- of º #. ha # tº ºily taugjit and generally be- dent allusion here to the privilege.9f thºse Israelites who were not under lieve - - any who are at all acquainted with antiquity. ** fi * w #k, appear icºntestable to any ceremonial pollution, or who were gleansed from their guilt by the by the coinnon people, must,. I thin Bº: is as ãº. that §§§ of º, and so had free jiberty of entering the templé and they reasoned very weakly, upon the subject, that they had no wº conversing with God; upon which account they are *: 1960ple fled?" ºftnägi hºpe of future happiness, and that they were buºyery fittie im ºnto him. Psal. cxlviii. 14. Compare Exod. xix. 4, pressed with it; so that tº. e had no deity to which they ſº. Psal. lxv. 4 *ternal Łife, as the fathers of ne ev. x. 3. and greater ºf Hè is our peace.) This Mr. Loºke would have to be the same with m remonstrate. And by far t part of their most learned, philosophers either expressly denied, in pri- § Peace, and to be meant of the Gentile converts, of whom the apostle wate lectures to their º the doctrine of future rewards and pºisk- anel;ts, or taught princip ad been speaking just before; but it is evident the reconciliatign as well as quite inconsistent with it; as must. I think, as the enmity was mutual, and the Jews were at least as strºngly pre- jºhºjij"jºiáñy perus; what Mr. War. judiced against the Gentiles as the Gentiles against the Jews; the apostle Fº ñº *::::::::"...o. the ºbjš. so jūdiciously defended in the therefore, with consummate propriº goes ºn 8 speak in terms which 9:#;"; "we world.] Both the christians and heathens, as Dr. to the one or the other. -* were intended to include all true believers, whether originally belonging THE HAPPY STATE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. 681 15. Having abolished, in his the temple at Jerusalem divided the Gentile worshippers from the Jewish." This happy SECT. flºº.º.º. union between us the Lord Jesus Christ hath accomplished, having abolished, by those 4. ñºejº, tº sufferings which he endured in his flesh, what was the grand occasion of the enmity and himself of , twain one new > . s • 5 - *- - * - man, so making peace ; mutual alienation which had so long prevailed; ſeven] the law of positive commandments #. and ceremonies [contained] in the Mosaic ordinances, to which the Jews were so much 15" attached, and to the bondage of which the Gentiles were so irreconcilably averse: but this Christ hath now abrogated and taken out of the way, that so he might form the two op- posite parties, by virtue of their union with each other in himself, into one new man. uniting them together as new creatures in one church, under a dispensation very different from the former, in which they both should equally partake of the same privileges; [so] making an entire peace between them, and laying a foundation not only for peace but for mutual love, by removing the ground of those prejudices they had entertained against each other, and joining them in bonds of such tenderness as became the members of one living body : ...And that he might complete this blessed work of making peace, and recon- 16 cile them both, as thus united in one body and animated by one spirit, not merely unto one another, but unto God, he hath taken away the guilt of sin, and made atonement for it by the blood of his cross, removing by this means what was the cause of enmity be- tween God and them, as they were all transgressors of his holy law; so that he may be properly considered, on account of what he suffered on the cross, as having slain the enmity by it, as he hath thus made up the breach which sin had made between God and his offending creatures, by means of the atoning sacrifice of himself. (Compare Col. i. 17 And came and preached 20.) And having procured this reconciliation by his death, he came to both after his resur- 17 §.” {*.*.*... rection and ascension, in the person of his authorized ambassadors, to whom he hath - nigh. committed the important trust of speaking in his name and stead, (2 Cor. v. 19, 20.) and preached the glad tidings of peace and reconciliation to you that [were] as Gentiles afar off from God, and to them also of the Jewish nation, that [were] of old regarded as a people near unto him;h declaring the foundation he has laid, not only for a sincere tº ºthº, iſ ... reciprocal affection, but for all other most important, benefits and blessings. For, as the 18 oth have access by one - - º -- sº - * Spirit unto the Father. happy fruit and consequence of the peace procured by him as well for the believing Gen- tiles as the Jews, we both are introduced into the divine presence, and have an equal title to the liberty of a free access to God, as the common Father of the whole family,i and may draw near to him with acceptance in the aids of one Spirit, under whose gracious influ- ences we are fitted for the sacred pleasure of conversing with God, and filled with all filial confidence towards him, and brotherly affection to each other. (Rom. viii. 15.) JVow therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, like those who came from 19 §:... ."...º... distant nations to make a short abode among the Jews without a share in any of their with the siſts, and of the privileges, but fellow-citizens with the saints, entitled to all their glorious immunities, and household of God; even the domestics of God, admitted to dwell in his house, and to partake of the honours 20 And are built upon the and blessings of his family; Being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” 20 .."; e.g. śi who in their respective places, by their miraculous works and *. ictions, as well as by himself being the chief cor their several ministrations, have testified the kind regard of God to his people, and made º for the establishment of the church; Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner 16 And that he might re- 'Concile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby : 19 Now therefore ye are neI Stone ; stone, who holds the several parts together, and supports the whole stress of the edifice: 21 In whom all the build- In whom the whole building, harmoniously cemented in such a manner as to add beauty, 21 ºlº. strength, and unity to the whole, groweth by the continual accession of new converts, and groweth unto an holy temple s: “” “: */ 5 3 - * 3. in the Lord : the advancing graces of those already converted, into an holy temple in the Lord, fitly 22, In whom ye also are consecrated to him, as being raised and supported by him : In whom you also, my dear 22 *.*.*.*.*... brethren, believing in him as the great Lord of the church, are built up together with all Spirit. o true believers for an habitation of God, who by the Spirit of his grace takes up his resi- dence among you, and publicly owns his relation to you in consequence of your union with his beloved Son. IMPROVEMENT. LET the apostle's remonstrance to these Ephesians remind us of our obligations to the divine goodness, that we are not left in the sad state of our heathen ancestors; that we are not without the knowledge of Christ, in all the darkness of the Gentile world; that we are not aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise ; that we are not destitute of any well-grounded foundation of future hope, and without God Wer.12 in the world. But how unhappy is the case of many, who, though they are called christians, yet have no saving interest in that Redeemer whose name they bear, in consequence of their being strangers to the obedience of faith, and a vital subjection of heart to his gospel ! Let all that name the name of Christ, all that profess to know him, acknowledge, with a view to his atoning sacrifice, that if they are brought near to God, it is by his blood. . To this we owe the external privilege of a people nigh unto God; and to the effectual application of it we owe the bless- ings of that nearness which the heart feels as the earnest of jts eternal happiness. g Divided the Gentile worshippers from the Jewish.) This is that ºpall which was called the chel, which separated the court of the Gen- tiles from that into which the Jews only were allowed to enter; of which we have the most authentic account in Josephus. (Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 5. [al. vi. 6..] § 2.) Compare note l, on Acts xxi. 28. p. 466. h l'o you that ocerc a ſax off, and to theia that ºcere near.) It, is so na- tural to refer this to what had been said of the different states of Jews and Gentiles, that one would wond W any should have thought of explaining both these characters of the Jews as signifying those who lived in distant countries, as well as those who dwelt in or near Jerusalem, where our Lord suffered. i Access to God the Father.] The word ſpoo ayaoym, which we render access, does properly refer to the custom of introducing persons into the presence of some prince, or of any other greatly their superior; in which case it is necessary they should be ushered in by one appointed for that purpose, to preserve a becoming decorum. s - k Strangers, and foreigners.] I know not how far there is room to dis; tinguish micely between the signification of these two words, £vot and trapotkov. If there be, the latter signifies something more than the former; and I doubt not but it alludes to the case of sojourning strangers among the Jews, who were not incorporated by complete proselytism into the body of the Jewish people, and made, as such prosélytes were, avproxitat, fellow-citizens, with equal privileges. And perhaps when olketot 78,929, domestics of God, is added, it may have some relation to that peculiar nearness to God in which the Jewish priests were, and refer to that great intimacy of gºamed converse with God, to which we as christians are admitted ; in which respect our privileges seem to resemble not only those of the people prayi;13 in the counumou court of Israel, but of the priests worshippi.); in lite house itself. Nay, it is elsewhere added, by a figure which seems beautifuliy to rise even on this, that we have confidence to cntcrinto lic hºliest ºf all by Lºve blood of Jesus. Heb. x. 19. l Being built on the foundation.] It is observed by Lord Shaſtesbury, that the apostle accommodates himself to the truste of the Ephesians, who were extremely fond of architecturc, by freque; it illusions to building and to the majesty, order, and beauty, of which their temple consecrated to Diana was so celebrated a master-piece. (Compare chap. iii. 17, 18. and iv., 16, 29.). But it is certain many illusions of this kind are to be met with in other Epistles, particularly 1 Cor. iii. 9–17. vi. 19. 3 Cor. v. 1. vi. 16. Compare 1 Pet. ii. 4.—S. m Of the apostles and prophets.] I have often wondered that such sensible writers as the late Lord Barrington, and Mr. Jeffery should con- clude that the prophets here spoken of are those of the New Testament. Compare Eph. iii. 5. iv. 11. with Matt. xvi. 18. . See. JMiscell. Sacra, Essay ii. p. 44. and Jeffery’s Recicio, p. 88. Their chief argument is, that the Gentile church here spoken of was not built upon the foundation of the Old-Testament prophets. But not to insist upon it, that when the converted Gentiles came to consult the Jewish writings, they might de; rive from them great encouragement in their faith, it is to be considered that the apostle is now speaking, not of the Ephesian or Gentile church in particular, but of the whole christian church, consistin; ot the aggre; gate body of converted Gentiles and Jews, as appears further from what 682 SECT. 4. EPH. II. 19 20 21 22 SECT. £Pii. HI. PAUL’S THANKFULNESS THAT THE GOSPEL was COMMITTED TO HIS TRUST. If Christ, according to the principles of the apostle's reasoning, hath made peace by the blood of his cross be- tween Jews and Gentiles, whose manner of living was so widely different from each other; if he hath broken down the middle wall of partition between them, and of two made one able is it that smaller differences should give way to the engagements of so endearing a bandſ new man,—how much more *Pººl; TeaSOIl- ave we not all one Father. And have we not all access to him through one Saviour, by one Spirit? Let us then consider our. selves as fellow-citizens with the saints, and maintain that most cordial affection to all of this household, which becomes those that are of one family, and are named from one Lord. And as a great security of this union, let us be concerned to maintain a due regard to the apostles and prophets on whom we are built, whose of christian edification. with whom we are united building is fitly framed together; and it is by his operati Lord. Let us consider ourselves as designed for Writing; if perused with diligence and attention, subserve so much to the purposes But above all, let us fix our regards upon Christ as the chief corner to each other, and the whole stress of our - stone ; by a union eternal hopes is supported. In him the whole e ve, influence that it groweth up to a holy temple in the this use, to be an habitation of God through the Spirit; and be ºncerned to cultivate that purity and sanctity which suits so excellent a relation and so high a dignity, fletus lift up the everlasting gates of our souls to a consecrate us more and more unto himself. it that blessed Inhabitant, that he may come and dwell in us, and SECTION V. .* Further to recommend the gospel to the regard of these Gentile converts, the apostle strongly expresses the sense he had of the divine goodness -- 12 - in committing it to his trust, though he was called to sacrifice his liberty in its defence. Eph. iii. 1–12. EPHESIANS iii. 1. • EPH. iii. 1. FOR this cause, and for my faithful testimony to this glorious gospel, the plan of which FQR this cºnse LPaul, the is so extensive, so wise, and so benevolent, how little soever it may suit the narrow minds risoner of Jesus Christ;" being brought of my bigoted countrymen, I Paul [am] the Drisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, under this calamity, the loss of my liberty, for the sake of you Gentiles, and in consequence of that firm attachment which I am known to have to your cause and interest. For this 2 If ye have heard of the I am persuaded you will consider as the occasion of my bonds, since I well know you º'º.º. º. have heard and are acquainted with the dispensation of the adorable grace of God,” which, º' " " by his special favour to myself and those to whom I am the herald of it, hath been given to me in your behalf: my zeal for which has been the means of stirring up the malice of the Jews against me: and I am confident you cannot forget what you have often heard, that to prepare and furnish me for this important work to which the Lord hath called me, he made known to me by immediate revelation, and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony, the great mystery which had so long been concealed: as I have briefly wrote before, and hinted morè than once in this Epistle, (chap. i. 9, 10. ii. 11, et seq.) in passages which, though they contain not a full illustration of the matter, yet suggest some material 3 How that by revelation e made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 3 4 hints with regard to it: By which when you read” what I have laid before you, and atten- tively consider and review [it] you may observe and form some notion of my understanding in the mystery of Christ,” which so many still remain ignorant of, and so many others are 5 6 of wisdom and of knowledge given to them. in view as one very material part of it, is this, that the Genliles should be joint-heirs with the Jews in spiritual privileges, and should be members of the same body with them, and partakers together of his promise in Christ; particularly of the communication of #; Spirit, in token of their sharing in all the other blessings of the Messiah's king- 7 unwilling to acknowledge and admit. This ſ with great propriety call a mystery, it being a most astonishing and glorious system of divine truth, which in other preceding generations was not made known to the sons of men :e having neither been discovered to the Gentiles, who were wholly strangers to it, nor manifested under any former dispensation, to those whom God had taken for 4. Whereby, whom ye read, re may understand my know- edge in the mystery of Christ) - 5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now re- vealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; his people, with any such perspicuity as that with which it is now revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets of the New-Testament dispensation, who have the word the (1 Cor. xii. 8.) 6 That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the sºme body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: And what I chiefly have dom, which the Jews have fondly imagined to be peculiar to themselves, but which are now freely proposed to the Géntile nations by the gospel, which we are commissioned every where to preach. This is the gospel of which I was inade a minister, not of my own motion or seeking, nor at all on account of any worthiness in me, but according to the free gift of the grace 7 Whereof I, was made a minister, according to the gift is said in the close of this verse, of Christ’s being time chief corner Stoſie. - a I Paul [an] the prisoner, &c.] This is often alleged as an instance of an extraordiñary length of seitence in the original, supposing that what begins the first verse of this chapter is resumed again at ver. 14. anj not enºel till the close of chap. iv. 3. so that the sense runs, “ For this cause I Paul, the prisoner ºf Christ fºr ſong Geutiles, Eſgr this, cause, [ſsay,) ( bor my knées, &c.—[eren] I the prisoner of the Lord, bestºck iſolºiſierefore that ye icalk ſcorthy,” &c. Yet as the easy supposition that £it is uſiderstooſ, would make the construction raûch more obvious and plain, I have therefore inserted the word am. Hut if I were sure the sentence in the original was of the utmiost length that a py have maintainºd, I should think the division of it in any translation very pardonable, especially in a paraphrase. I have oftºn broken one period into many, as being much more concerned to give the true sense as in- tejligibly is possible, than to, preserve the grammatical construction of every word in the version where this might occasion, obscurity; and it will not be easy, for any who have not been exercised in works of this kind, to imaginé the diffigulty which this precaution has often brought upon me. Compare note b, 9n chilp. i. 3 . p. 674, b Since I well know you have heard, &c.] So I translate the , words, stye mºggars, for . I think it cannot be imagined that they had never heard, during his long abode at Ephesus, from him and from . others, an account of the extraordinary revelation of the gospel which he had received. As for the inference that some would draw, from hence, that this Epistle (if it was not written to some other ghurch where he had never preached) was written before Paul came to live, at Ephesus, I think it absolutely inconclusive ; pot only considering that the particle etyº has often the signification of forasmuch as, or since, or seeing that ; but because it is gertain he was now, a prisonºr at Romº, which he never was till long after tilat abolesat Ephesus. (Acts xix. 10, ii.) I may add, that the words, ºrgaard Inv ovkovoſtºv are not so propefly rendered, Ye have heard [ºf] the dispensation, &c. which de- termines, the sense to what they might have learned by report from others; they may as well express their having heard this dispensation Prom his own mouth. c By which when you read.) Dr. Whitby, would render the phrase, Tpos 6 avaytvoa &ov7&s, by attending to which ; but as avaytvogro sig- nifies, to read and review, or (as we vulgarly speak) to con a thing over in the mind, to root it there, which must suppose frequent reading, I choose to retain the common translation. d You may obserce my understanding in the mystery ºf Christ.] This Dr. Goodwin thinks to be the highest encomium made by the apostle on any of his own writings ; whence he concludes that this is the richest and noblest of all the Epistles, and thinks, it was peculiarly intended to be so, to reward the generous zeal of the Ephesians in burning their curious books, by a book of divine knomoledge, incomparably more valu- able than any or all of them. (See Acts, xix. 19.), . I pretend not abso- Jutely to decide on the coinparative excellency of luis Epistles, but could inot förbear mentioning so remarkable and ingenious a thought. See Goodwin’s JWorks, vol. i. p. 2. r e Which in other generations ºras not made known, &c.] The following verse so plainly determines this passage to the calling of the Gentiles into the cº; that I think there can be no controversy as to the gene- raj sease of it; though it seemed to me, that the apostle’s explaining it in the manner he presently does, rendered it improper to anticipate that cxplication in the paraphrase: It was indeed Known long before that the Čentiles should be added to the church; but it was not known that they should be heirs of the same inheritance, and partakers of the promise of the Špirit. The Jews rather thought of their being slaves to them; and jeast of all did they imagine that the middle wall of their ceremonies should be broken doºn, and the Gentiles admitted to the full privileges of God’s people, without circumcision and obedience to the JMosaic land, which the christian converts, among them heard of at first with great amazement. Acts x. 45. xi. 18. - PAUL’S THANKFULNESS THAT THE GOSPEL WAS CO, AIMITTED TO HIS TRUST. 683 of he stage of Goºgiven of God, which in so extraordinary and remarkable a manner was given to me, calling me SECT. Włiºri, .." forth to the apostleship by the energy of his power, which wrought so great a change in 5. me as to prepare and qualify me for that hiſ and holy office, to the purposes of which ** tº ºi no mail living can be more averse than I once was, And when I think of this, I am #. #'s."...º.º. covered with confusion, and know not how to speak of myself in any terms of sufficient $ Hºlº abasement: for such was the astonishing condescension of the great God, and such his Šhrist; ” ” favour to a worthless creature, that unto me, who am so unworthy of the honour of being called an apostle, that I am less than the least of all saints,f and look upon myself, on ac- count of what I formerly was, as below the very meanest among them, this grace tººts given, that I should be employed to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; which while I am endeavouring to trace out in their particular contents, I am quite lost in rapturous amazement, and all my most elevated conceptions are swallowed whº'dº.''}}|...}; Pin that unfathomable fulness which can never be exhausted, Yet to this honourable 9 ...'....”...". . and important office am I graciously appointed to enlighten and instruct as well the Gen- jºº ºllº tiles as the Jews, (Acts xxvi. 18.) and to make all men see, in some affecting measure and 99en hid in God, who created e º * * * ~ 2-1: ... ii §thiºstº" degree, what [is] the happiness arising from the communication of the mystery of the call- ing of the Gentiles to be joint-heirs with the Jews, which from elernal ages was hid, be- ing concealed in the secret counsels of the ever-blessed and incomprehensible God, wºo, as he at first created all things by Jesus Christ, his divine Son, (John i. 3.), hath now- created also all that are in him by a lively faith, and by him raised them to the prospect 10 To the intent, that now of complete holiness and happiness.h And this is now revealed and set in a new light, 10 lºº after the more imperfect intimations of it that were given before, that the manifold wisdom Šiši, i. ºilº of God, discovering itself in such a beautiful and well-ordered variety of dispensations, of God. * L i + 1 . W.; t i- " might now more fully be made known, and be displayed in all its brightness to the princi- - palities and powers in heavenly [places, even to all the various orders of angelic beings, by means of what is done for the church,i which is the happy object of a love that hath pro- duced effects beyond what the spirits of heaven could otherwise have conceived or ap- prehended; and in the contemplation of it they are furnished with new motives to adore that grace, which by the manifestations of it to the church displays new glories unparal- leled in all the history of heaven, in the surprising methods taken to complete the number 11 According to the eternal of its blessed inhabitants. All which gracious operations proceed in perfect harmony 11 §§.º.º. P.” with the original plan adjusted in the divine mind, according to the eternal purpose which he formed before all ages in Christ Jesus our Lord, k both to be executed by him, and to terminate in him; which as his well-beloved Son he was appointed to effect, and all the 12 In whom we have bold- benefits of which he has secured to be communicated to the church: Even that blessed 12 §."jºi." Mediator through whom we have freedom of speech in our approaches to the throne of - grace, and have access with confidence of being heard, as being assured of audience and acceptance by the faith of him ; in a reliance upon whom we may address ourselves to God with the humble, cheerful liberty of children whom he hath adopted into his family, and united to himself in the dearest and most indissoluble bonds. X- IMPROVEMENT. St. PAUL's understanding in the mystery of Christ is just matter of perpetual joy to the whole christian world, Ver. 4 and especially to the Gentiſe churches, which have derived from thence so much ºtheir knowledge and of their hope. Let us congratulate ourselyes and each other on the propagation of so glorious a system of divine truth, $) which had so long been concealed from ages and generations. The apostles and prophets were raised up by God to receive and reveal it, and we are entered on the blessed fruit of their labours. (; iv. 38.) Let us learn from them to set a due value on our participation in that inheritance, on our union to that body to which by the gospel 6 we are called. - May it particularly teach us that humility which was so conspicuous, so apmiable, so admirable, in St. Paul. 8 This excellent man, this distinguished favourite of heaven, who stood in the foremost rank of christians, of minis- ters, of apostles, yet labours for words to express the sense he had of his own meanness and unworthiness, and commits a kind of solecism in language, that he may lay himself as low as possible; using the most diminutive term that could be, to describe himself as one who in his own esteem was less than the least of all saints : And shall we then exalt ourselves, and be proud of the trifling distinctions that raise our obscure heads a little above some of our brethren P - Let those in particular who have the honour of being called to the sacred office of the ministry, consider how reasonable it is, that instead of being puffed up with it they should rather be humbled, when they reflect how un- worthy the best of men are of it, and in how defective a männer the most faithful discharge it; while yet the grace is given them to preach the riches of Christ, his unsearchable riches. Let these be made the frequent subject of 8 their preaching; and let all the course of it be directed, in a proper manner, to the illustration of that subject. Let the well-chosen phrase which the apostle uses here, teach them and all christians to search more and more into ſ Iess than the least of all saints.] . [t has oſten boen observed here that the apostle makes a new word, (which, as grammarians wºuld speak, is the comparative degree of the superiative,) eXay to Torepºe, which I think no translation can fully equal, or very happily express. ~ No do th; he refers to what he had been formerly, when he persecuted the church of God. (Compare 1 Cor. xv. 9... and 1 Tim. i. 13.) Ult whº ther there be, as Dr. Goodwin thinks, (vol. i. p. 3.) i. reference to his name Paulus, which in the Roman language signified, littles, and at the same time to the lowness of his stature, which occasioned Chrysos- tom’s calling him ſpurnxms as:006,70s, a mººn three cubits high, I do not retend to say ; and only hint at what Sigonius says, that Æmilius }. obtained his additional name from his love stature. g What is the communication of the mystery, &c.) Some would trans- late the following clause, (Ts aſſokékpºtºvs aro Tov at (ovºv,) which h is been hid from the ages, that is, from the ſermer ages of the world; but as in ver, 11. it is calléd, ſpođeat v 769, at (ovov, an cternal purpose, and is here said to be hid in God, I apprehend no need of varying the translation where the phrase is the same, though to be sure this interpre- tation includes the sense of the other.—It is evident that here is au allusion to the burying a treasure in some secret place, (compare Josh. vii. 21. and Matt. xiii. 44. where the same word is used,) as there may also be in the word ave&txytag-ou, ver. 8, which properly signifies, what cannot be traced out ; and it is certain that though something is now known concerning this glorious anystery, yet there is an incomparably, greater part, concerning which we only know in the general that it is a rich treasure, without particularly knowing either wºugt, how much, or where it is. - h Created all things by Jesus Christ.] Mr. Locke pleads, as Diodate had done before, that this refers, not to the creation of the world, but to the renovation of its and . So may be considered as an intimation that God always, intended Christ should have the honour of farming aii thºs ament, and therefore congealed the in listery in himself till atter he was come. . But the words, if taken in the most extensive sense, contain both a certaiu and a pertinent truth. i Be, ºade known to the principalitics and poºrers in hearchly [places.] §c.] The prophecies of the Old Testament gave strong intimations, at least, of the intended calling of the Gcutiles into the church; and tº angels seem expressly to refer to it in what they said to the shepherds, and in their anthem at the nativity, of Christ. (Luke, ii. 10, 13.) I am? prehend, therefore; that the apostle here would lead the thoughts of his readers to the series of divine dispensations as gradually opening this great discovery, and not merely to what he prºached concerning it; though to be sure that greatly illustrated the scheme.—It is strangely unnatural to explain this clause, as Alr, Locke would do, of the Jeigish principalities and powers; by which he is driven to the hard shift of con- necting &v Tots eſtspavious with the wisdom of God, which the first read- ing of the words in the original will show how little they will bear. k ...According to the cternal purpose, &c.] Mr. Locke would render kara Tpo6éal v Tov attevgºv, &c, according to that predisposition of the ages, or several dispensations which he made in Christ Jesus, which by the preor- dination of God’s purpose were all regulated and constituted in him ; and 1)r. Whitby, taking it in the same sense, explains it of his being promised in the first are to Adam, typified in the second to the Jews, and in the last age preached to all the icorld. But perhaps this interpre- tation may coincide more with a sense they are so solicitous to avoi than eithcroſſ these learned authors was aware. 684 SECT. 5. EPH. III. II 12 SECT. 6. EPH. III. 14 HIS EARNEST PRAYERS FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN CHRISTIANITY. this unfathomable abyss; as still sure to discover new wonders in the variety and fulness of its inexhaustible con- tents beyond what they have known before, and to find new pleasures in tracing again those already known. This glorious theme is worthy of the contemplation of angels; and we are elsewhere told that these celestial spirits desire to look into it, (1 Pet. i. 12.) and to learn new displays of the divine attributes from the church. Let us then hear and worship as under their inspection; and let not our hearts be cold to these sacred truths, which are our own salvation, while they rejoice in them only on the general principles of piety and benevolence. All that is done in the prosecution of the glorious design of our redemption now, is the result of those counsels of peace which God from eternal ages formed in his own compassionate mind. T6 that source, after the example of the apostle, let us frequently trace all with the most exalted gratitude; recollecting that we réceive this adoption in Christ, who is the great Mediator of our access unto God. Let us therefore, on the one hand, take aſ our encouragements in prayer from views to him; and on the other, having such a foundation for it, let us come with a holy boldness to the divine throne, that so we may obtain the mercy and grace which we daily and hourly need. SECTION VI. The apostle represents the earnestness with which he prayed fºr their establishment in christianity, as the best wish the most ſervent affection could dictate for them. Eph. iii, 13, to the cnd. g N's 11+ T & EPHESIANs iii. 13. EPH. iii. 13. SUCH and so great are the privileges to which the gospel raises us; wherefore, as I have wherEFORE I desire that been the happy instrument of bringing it among you, though (as I said before, ver, 1.) I }..º.'..." am now a prisoner for you Gentiſes, yet I desire, my dear brethren, that ye faint not, or be in any degree discouraged at my affliction #: you, which, when it is thoroughly con- sidered upon what account I endure these sufferings, must be acknowledged to be so far from any reason to dishearten you, that it may rather serve for the encouragement and con- firmation of your faith, and is indeed your glory : for it is really an honour that God does you, in employing his faithful servant to lay out his time and strength, and even to sacri- fice his liberty, in your cause ; and that courage and cheerfulness in which God is pleased to support me in the midst of all these hardships, shows his further regard for you, and may justly be esteemed as intended by him, not for my comfort only, but for an additional honour to you. For this cause, that the great work in which I am engaged may more successfully be 14 For this cagº, boºnly -: - º - • * * knees unto the Father of our carried on, and that the purposes of these my sufferings may be answered in your conso-j. Šiš. lation and the divine glory, while I am here in the retirements of my prison, I am daily pouring out my soul to God on your account, and, with the most affectionate concern for 15 your establishment, I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; Even of 15 gf whom the whole ſh: 16 17 IS 19 that great and glorious Redeemer, of whom the whole family both in heaven and on earth ſº heaven and cau, i. is named,” by whom angels and men are incorporated into one society, and as well those who are gone before to the possession of the heavenly inheritance, as those who are here on earth, receive a more excellent name than that of children of Abraham, and are united in one happy family, of which he is the Head. And the great petition I am addressing 16 That, he would grant to his Father and ours, is this: that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, jºi. out of those redundant stores of goodness in his gracious heart which can never be ex- ed with might by his Spirit hausted, to be mightily ºff by the effectual operation of his Spirit, invigorating" the inner man ; and increasing every grace, and carrying on his work with abundant success in the inner man, that is, in all the various powers of your souls; so as thereby to fortify you under every trial, and animate you more and more to every good work: And as it is from Christ in"...º.º. #, dº as our common Head that all these blessings of the Holy Spirit are imparted, I am daily ºdºrº importunate with God, that Christ may dwell in your hearts, that he may take up his stated **** residence in your souls, by the continual exercise of a lively faith, by means of which a constant intercourse with him will be maintained, and an assurance given you of your interest in him; being also rooted and grounded in love, steadfastly fixed and settled, not only in the knowledge of his love to you, but in the exercise of a ſervent love to him and to each other, which will so greatly tend both to nourish and establish the soul: That, 18, May be able to compre: under the influence of these united principles of faith and love, ye may be enabled with !."º", "ºf all saints in every place, to whom, whether known or unknown, I wish this as the most depth, and height; invaluable blessing, to apprehend with greater clearness what [is] the breadth, and tº: - and depth, and heightb of the great mystery of redeeming, love, and to survey with a be- coming astonishment and with some suitable conceptions, the vast dimensions of that glori; ous plan; that in some measure you may see how wide it extends, even to all nations and ages; how far it reaches, even from everlasting to everlasting; from what an abyss of misery it delivers us, and to what a summit of felicity and glory it exalts us. . . . This is my earnest and importunate prayer for you, and for all the rest of my christian cºść" brethren; that ye may thus be enabled with greater admiration to contemplate and more “” passeth know- abundantly to know the love of Christ, which, after all we can say or think of it, surpasses by infinite degrees the most advanced knowledge,” even of the angels themselves, and how much more of mortal men in this imperfect state : but I wish you more enlarged appre- jewish writers call heaven the upper and earth the Jower family of God. greatly enh a Of whom the ichole family in heaven and on earth is named.] ... As very justly been observed, that this, text is gonderfully emphatical. Christ is the Person last mentioned immediately before the words egoš, Bodies are, well known tº have ºnly, thee iºniº length, and of whom, it seems most reasonable to interpret this clause as referring to bre%th, and thickness; but the apostle Paul divides º º '...} Its Äm though others rathº tº 'ºstănă ît ºf the Father, who is depth downwards and its...hº...ºpy. i. º: from #. º dle indeed the principal Subject of the foregoing sentence, nor would I in- Point; and so makes use of it to exº º %; ht § ..". º: sist upon the sense here given. Both Mr. Locke and Diodate, explain it the love of ghriš. j, *g as Well &S * ºft," glory to Which it of God the Father, the Lord of the whoſe family, including all believers exalts us. See Blackwall’s Sacr. ( • VOl. i. p. ywho are jointly with Christ, who is already in heaven, the sons of God; c To know the love of Christ, 1olich surpasses knowledge.] I can con- in confirmation of which sense ºff. L'Énfant observes, that we aré said ceive no imaginable reason, with Mr. Locke, to, Çonfine the interpreta. to be ek re 629, and Öla Ts Xplºrg, and it is certain christians are said tion of this text merely to the love ſ Christ in calling the Gentiles. Well to belong to the family of God.' (Chap. ii. 19.)→Mr. Boyse also goes into may we recollect on this Qºº.” I that love which Christ has displayed the same interpretations, his fºr "idst "things, p. 538.) and argues in redeeming his church out of eyeſy, nation and Éingdºm under hº from hence, that departed saints are in heaven beforé the resurrection, or Genfiles as well as Jews, from final º: *. exalting it to eterna jºrºs., according to this distributiºn, is they are not on earth, they glory. And this is so remarkable...and #y. º; that the most exten- would not belong to God’s family. But heaven may here be taken in a sive explication of this text, must certainly the most proper.—Nor great latitude for all the regions of happiness in the invisible world, can the phrase of tºº. #; º signify its exceeding though the place in § º º | *: be º º hº J º; º IS ; *}; º º - l- > t - W YH ri + S ion. T KCGeOil in 2 0 U.7" C0/7.0, :* - - fºrest S that which they are to inhabit wit rist atter the resurrection, he 11S CXC icº the beauty of the expression on this explication, whereas b. ??, a breadth, and length, and depth, and height.] It has often and otherwise it must appear Very dry and jejune. HIS EARNEST PRAYER FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN CHRISTIANITY. 685 lººſe, that yºnighthºfiled hensions of it, that so ye may be filled with all the fulness { Godd that your ex anded SECT. ****** hearts, being iiated mºre aná more, may be renderéd capable of admitting larger degrees 6. than ever of divine love, and more ample indwellings of divine consolation, till at length ye arrive at that happy state in which ye shall attain to a full perfection in the knowledge and enjoyment of God, where that which is perfect shall come, and ye shall know even 19 as also ye are known. - g & 30 Noy unto him that is With these prayers am I softening the sorrows of my own imprisonment, and ended: §:..º.º. vouring to do what I can towards supplying to you and other christians the deficiency of ºśhe those public services which my present confinement forbids; and I doubt not but these - humble petitions will come up in remembrance before God. Methinks I, see them even now descending in blessings on my head and on yours, from the adorable, Source of all good; and therefore I cannot forbear adding, To him that is able to do all things for us, not only to the utmost extent of our petitions, but abundantly exceeding all that we ſº. ask or conceive, according to the power which is already so illustriously displayed, and worketh 21. Unto him, he glory in so efficaciously in us; To him [be] gloriſ in the whole church both of Jews and Gentiles, Hº: 'i º: '... the happy society which he hath so wonderfully redeemed and so bountifully enriched by *—, "" Withºut end.” Amen. Christ %. its glorious Head, through whom all his blessings descend to us, and our praises ascend to him; and may they ascend throughout all the most distant ages and pe- riods, while earth with its successive generations continues; and may they resound from all his redeemed in the mansions of glory, far beyond the limits of time, even for ever and ever.” Amen. Let your hearts with mine consent to it; and in that consent anticipate something of that pleasure with which we hope for ever to render these praises. IMPROVEMENT. LET our eyes be frequently directed to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our knees be frequently bowed before him, invoking him under this amiable and delightful character as the great Father of that one family which he hath been pleased in infinite mercy to form to himself; a family consisting not only of those who were originally the inhabitants of heaven, who were born in his house and have never offended him, but of many who have been and many who are the inhabitants of earth, once the children of the curse, and the heirs of death and destruction. Let us all remember it is now the family of Christ, our great elder Brother, who, though the Lord of heaven, disdains not to own that humble relation, while the angels are adoring him as standing at the head of the society, and esteem it their honour to be related to him. Let us be more affected with the grâce extended to us, and con- sider our relation to him as a bond of union among ourselves. While we are of this family, let not the different garbs we wear, or the different apartments in which we are lodged, alienate our affections from each other; but let us often be thinking of that blessed day when the whole family shall meet above, and let us in the mean time en- deavour to behave as worthy members of it, and have its common interests at heart. And from that eminently faithful and honourable branch of the family, the blessed apostle whose words we have been reading, let us learn what to wish for ourselves and our brethren; even that God, according to the riches of his grace, would strengthen us with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that we may attain great degrees of 16 vigour and confirmation in religion, by the vital and powerful operations of the Holy Spirit of God upon our hearts; that we may be strong to discharge every duty, to resist temptations, to conquer our enemies, to assist our brethren, and to glorify our Father and our Saviour. I.et us earnestly desire that Christ may not only now and then visit our hearts, but by the habitual and lively exercises of faith may even dwell in them: that we may thus be con- tinually conversant with him as our most honoured and beloved Guest, and that love may take deep root in our hearts, and be solidly grounded there. Let us earnestly pray that, under divine illuminations, we may be enabled to form more exalted and suitable conceptions than we have ever yet attained, of the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of this unfathomable, this inconceivable love of Christ, which surpasses the perfect knowledge even of saints in glory. And oh that by these contemplations we may find ourselves daily filled with all the ful- ness of God, so that our hearts may even overflow with the abundant communication of his gifts and graces ! What shall we say in return for the knowledge he hath already given us, for the love which he hath ahready wrought in our hearts, if we are so happy as to know the grace of God in truth? What!, but that believing his power to outdo all it hath already wrought for us, yea, to do for us exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, we will still confide in him and call upon him; and will humbly endeavour to bear our part with the whole church in ascribing to our Redeemer, our Sanctifier, and our Father, glory throughout all ages, and even world without end. Amen. - We, 44 I5 I7 18 2 () 2 H SECTION VII. From the consideration of his own sufferings, as well as of the many important respects in which all true christians are united, the apostle pathe: tically exhorts them to mutual love and to steadiness in religion, by representing to them the glorious foundation which Christ as the great Head of the church hath laid for it. Eph. iv. 1–16 EPH. iv. 1. - EPHESIANs iv. 1. - 1 THEREFORE, the pri: I HAVE mentioned my bonds but a little while ago, and I shall mention them now again; soner of the Lord, besee” for nothing can tend so much to soften them as to find them the occasion of honour to Christ and good to his church ; and nothing surely can more powerfully move you to regard the exhortations, I would offer to you. I therefore call upon you to consider me Epii. while you read this as in confinement, not for any crime that hath deserved such treat- Iv. ment, §: as the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ,” in bonds for my fidelity to that gospel SECT . 7. l d That ye may be filled with all the fulness of God..] It is rightly ob- a, The prisoner of the Lord.] Some have observed of this Epistle, and served by the learned and pious Professor Franckius, (JManud; ad Sac. Ścript. iggend. p. igl.) that there is in these two verses an allusion to the temple, expressing his wish that the foundation might be so exten- sively and deeply laid, that a superstructure may be raised extending it; self'io such a magnificent length, and breadth, and height, as to be fitted to reeeive and lodge the sacred &iest, that he might ducell as it were un- crowded in their hearts. And in this view it will indeed appear a noble train of thought. * * e Throughout all generations for ever and ever.] This is one of St. Paul’s self-invented and most expressive phrases, £is Tugas tas yevtas rg at Govos Tov atovov, which a learned critic justly defies any ºersion whatsoever fully to express. (See Blackwall’s Sacr. Class. vol. i. p. .) Through all the successions of an endless etermity may come some- thing near it; but even this, emphatical as it may seem, falls vastly short of the sublimity and spirit of the original. 9f the others which were written by the apostle Paul in his imprisonment, (namely, those to the Colossians and the Philippians, as well as that to Philemon, and the Second, to Timothy,) that they are more especially remarkable for their excellence, and discover a peculiar savour of the things of God; by , which it may be seen that while his sufferings did abound, his consolations also did abound much more. It is however manifest that this Epistle, as it sets forth in the preceding part of it tho gracious design of God in the gospel dispensation, and represents the benefits and privileges that belong to all the faithful in Christ Jesus, as well to Gentiles as to Jews, is cast into a strain of thanksgivings and prayers, and written (as it were) ałł in a rapture, in a sublime and ele- vaſed style, as flowing from a mind transported with the consideration of the unsearchable wisdom and goodness of God in the work of redem tion; and , of the amazing love displayed in Christ towards the §s world. And the remaining part of it is no less admirable ſor the en- G86 * f . *- EPII. 1 Y. 2 3 4. 5 6 7 8 HE EXHORTS THEM TO MUTUAL LOVE AND STEADINESS IN RELIGION. + so 4% - - a hot- - SECT. he hath committed to my charge. And I beseech you by the memory of my chains, that you that ye walk worthy of r $fe, make it your great care and daily labour to walk worthy of the high, and holy calling wherewith ye gre called: let there be nothing in your temper and conduct beneath the dignity to which you are raised, and the illustrious hopes which arc set before you; but show that the crown of glory is ever in your eye, and that your hearts are duly impressed with it: And particularly as you have received the pardon of your sins, and are adopted into the family of God, let the remembrance of it engage you to behave with all humility and lowliness of heart, under a sense of your former guilt and misery, and your unworthi. ness of that mercy which God hath magnified towards you; and thus to carry it with meck- mess towards those who may have troubled you by their frowardness, tenderly passing over their infirmities and indiscretions, as sensible what great offences have been forgiven to yourselves. And should you meet with injuries from any of your brethren, as it is to be feared that even among professing christians this will sometimes happen, do not think much to bear with them; but let me entreat you, that ye endure them with long-suffering and patience, without seeking revenge, and forbear one another in such circumstances, in the unfeigned exercise of mutual love; And not on this occasion only, but with respect to your whole carriage to each other, how differentsoever your sentiments and practices may be in matters of an indifferent nature, be still endeavouring, so far as in you lies, to keep the tº itſ of the Spirit, that unity of heart and affection which becomes those who are regene- rated by one Spirit acting on them all, and forming them into one body; joining them thus together in the bond of peace,” and sweetly engaging them, not only to the most pacific, but to the most affectionate, conduct to each other. *- - For this is indeed the case with regard to all that have truly and cordially embraced the gospel, and nothing can be stronger than the motives to this union, when it is considered, that with respect to the whole church [there is] only one body, of which ye all are members, and should as such have the same care for one another, (i Cor. xii. 25.) and in this body there is one Spirit that enlivens, actuates, and fills it, under whose influence it should be your concern to act in such a way as to resemble him who is the Spirit of love and peace; and there is one inheritance that ye are waiting for, as ye are also called in one blessed hope of your calling, and should live therefore as inspired with the same joyful expectation of being all brought to the same blessed end, to one glorious abode in the heavenly world: There is also one Lord and Head of all, even Jesus Christ, who hath come down from heaven and died for our salvation ; that he might incorporate us all into one society; that he might instruct us all in one faith, and might unite us all in one baptism,” in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: And thus he introduces us all into the know- ledge and favour of the one God and Father of all true believers, who, in the infinite erfections of his essence, [is] above all, governing all without exception as the supreme Ruler of universal nature; who animates and operates through all, by the diffusive influence of his vital presence; and who is particularly in you all, by that special residence which he holds in those that are the temples of his grace. Such are the great engagements we are under to the strictest and most affectionate union ; : and howsoever we may be distinguished from each other by the variety of our gifts or by the difference of our stations, these several distinctions ought to be regarded by us, not as matter of emulation and contention, but rather as an additional obligation to love, when we consider the great source and design of all: for grace is given and dispensed in differ- ent degrees to every one of us in particular, not for the merit of one above another, but ac- cording to the measure of the free gift % Christ,e in such a measure as seems best to him, the great Sovereign of the church, to bestowit; whose distributions we always know to be guided by consummate wisdom and goodness, so that we all have the highest reason entirely to acquiesce in them. For we receive whatever gifts we have from Christ, and they are all bestowed by him; wherefore the words of David may be considered as appli- cable to this, where he says, (Psal. lxviii. IS.) “Hºhen he ascended on high, he led captivity captive,” and gave gifts writo men;” for naturally may our devout meditations rise from that glorious pomp with which God went up from mount Sinai, when he had triumphed over the Egyptians, and poured down blessings on his people, to that illustrious ascension of our blossed Redeemer, when he had vanquished our enemies on the cross, and returning to his Father, poured down his royal donatives like a triumphant conqueror" upon his -*. meekness, with In 1 tº the vocation where with ye are called, 2. With all lowliness and - - long-suffer- g, forbearing one another Tovº; 3 Endeavouring to keen the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; 5 Qne Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, an through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Wherefore he saith, When, he ascended up on high, he , led captivity cap- tive, and gave gifts unto ITl{ {}. 4- - into which many who had been once most rehellious were admitted, and gaging manner in which he improves what he had before delivered, ūrking the duties which became their character with the greatest ten.ier- tº ess, in expressions full of love and ent!eartment, adji: ; the stroit; est arºuinents to cº force them, and making inefition of his ionds to recogn- nicºt; the exist;ruations that he offered to thcin. - b Pſ", th #1, 4-suffering, forbear one another in lovc.] As there is , no captilatire between incakness and long-suffering, it seems most natural to connect the latter with the following clºtus;3 and if ſhe exhortation be thus rendered, it wiłł prevent th: sołecisin which would arise from Cºn- necting tºgx pizzat with virts in the verse before, to which we should bo Jed by oxir translation. Sée Blackwali's Stor. Ciass. vol. i. p. 93. c 'ſo keep the unity of the Spurit in the hand aſ peace.]. See alsº cºscellent discourse of these words, in Al F. Baxter’s Pritstical # ork, vol. iv. p. }:25, rt sººt. - d’ One baptisin.] It is mere triling to object from hence against tratºr baptisºn, since there can ba no roomſ to oppose that to the baºtism tº the Spirit and it is very plain that the apostle, while he declared that there was but one baptisin, practised that of water. * - - - - e Grace is given to cºery onc of us, &c.] That their differing in some respects, though united in so many, might not be urged as any plea for self-esteem, or neglect of others who wanted such distinguishing advan- tages, the apostle properly insists upon it... that all is commiunicated to us by way of free giſt and sovereign liberality. • * s f ¥h. words of ſavid may be considered as applicable to this.) I cap- not undertake to prove that the passage here referrºd to 1s. strictly speaking, a productiºn aſ Christºſ.scºsiºn, and of his shedding dough the gîis and graces of the Spirit. The Psalmist, celebrating a laº Yiğtory, gº's back in rapturous meditation to God’s victory ºver the Egyptians and the spoils with which he enrichctl the Israelitcs, , upgrate ul an rebellious as they had been, and by...which he prepare!! the course of his providence a dwelling, among them ; for the tºgrºñ. cle was built principally with those spoils. And the apostle, beautifully accommodates the words, to the triumph of an ascending Saviour, and tº the royal donative of the Spirit; which he shed down on his cliurch, (I for himselſ in whereby it was ſitted to be his hapitation. We render the clause quoted, Thou hºist received gifts fºr inch : but the Hebrew word signifies, Thunt hast taken, and may either express Laking from the enemy, or taking out of his own royal treasuries. . . - - - g Holcd capticity captire.] This is a phrase that signifies the leading oil a train ºf capticós, but hiay with greater cmphasis be applied {{) tiose who of conquerors and oppressors are made captiºcº, , (Con" part: Jú. Ig. v. 12.) And thus it may be properly understood of the [riti ºf 't of Christ over sin, Satan, the trurid, aid deqt', by whom such multiiu les were co: Guered ind enslaved. Mr. Pierce indeed hits taken great ſilijs, o prove that these words are to be interpreted of the goºd aºzels as if the meaning weig, “that Christ led in triumph the angºls who yolunºrthy subjected themselves to him, aſier initvinº been before his ſettoº-guard, wiis in presiding over other confi:ries, as he was God’s Kiçekºent, in Israel. Äſſäto estáblish this, he largely pleads, that neither, the devils, hor the souls of departed saints, ascended with Christ into heaven, and conjº- Jaentis that iness words must refer to the train of attendilnt angels. But Christ might poetically be said to lead caplicity ºut tºº, when lie triumphed over those that had subdued his people, and acquired such a ºf over tº infºrmali spirits, as a conqueror lists over a captive that, he drags at his chariot-wheels. in this view it may also be observed, that the Egyptians, over whom God, is represented ºs triumphing in the Sassage quoted from the sixty-eighth Psalm, though,thgy pight seen to o taken prisoners in the Red sea, (Exod, xiv. 23–28, were not, in strictness of speech, led in triumphal procession, but immediately destroy cal by the divine vengeance. h His royal donatives like a triumphant conqueror.] Many have ob- served that hero is an allusion to the custom of gonquerors, who used to give largesses to their soldiers after a triumph. (See Limborch. Theolog. ii). iii, cap. 25.3 2.) And though the Roman instances of this custom are perhaps most familiar to our minds, yet all who arº, acquainted, with gifty know that it was not peculiar to them. Compure Judg. v. 28–30. HE EXHORTS THEM TO MUTUAL LOVE AND STEADINESS HN RELIGION. 687 faithful subjects, yea, gifts, in which those who had long been rebellious, and had but lately SECT. 9 (Now that he ascended, laid down §. weapons, were to share. Vow this [expression,] that he ascended, what, is jºi... it, or what does it imply, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth; parts of the earth 2 having come down from heaven and dwelt in this earth of ours, yea, and submitted even to lie in the caverns of it for a while under the power of death? For to this low humiliation & our thoughts may naturally be conducted, the subject being so familiar to our mind, and sºjº, the phrase so capable of suggesting these ideas to us. And on the other hand, it leads us ñº, alºa.j: to reflect, that he who descended to such forms of humble debasement is also the very same might fill all things.) glorious and triumphant Person who ascended far above all heavens, beyond the regions of the air, into the heaven of heavens; going up, as the Psalmist elsewhere speaks, with 4 shout and with the sound of a trumpet, (Psal. xlvii. 5.) received with the acclamations of all the hierarchy of heaven, and seated on a throne of glory, that he might fill all things with his influence, and direct and overrule all by his wisdom and power. u! And he *...sº Accordingly he hath shed down a rich variety of gifts and graces from his triumphal j’so. ...ejº"...i seat at the right hand of the Father, to qualify and endow his servants for those various some pastors and teachers; offices in the church which he hath wisely and graciously instituted for the advancement of his interest and kingdom: and thus, among the gifts which he bestowed to be employcd for the advantage of his people in their respective situations, he gave some to be apostles, whose office should be personal, but should extend in its effects to the remotest genera- tions, sending them forth to preach the gospel unto every creature as his special witnesses, and forming them, under the plenary and most abundant influences of his Spirit, to the fullest knowledge of that scheme they were to publish to the world; (compare Mark Xvi. 15. and 1 Cor. xii. 28.) and some he gave to be prophets, who were to explain the mysteries of faith, and to foretell future events, by virtue of the extraordinary revelations made to them ; and some to be evangelists, who were to travel from place to place, and to fulfil such particular commissions as the apostles should give, in settling and establishing the churches they had planted, (Acts xix. 22.) being furnished with such miraculous powers as were necessary for that purpose: and, besides these extraordinary officers, he also gave some to be settled pastors and teachers, who were to be of standing use, to preside in the several congregations of the saints, taking the stated oversight of them in the Lord, and to instruct them both in public and private, as their respective circumstances should require; nor were these left destitute of proper assistances, though not distinguished by such eminent ...º.º. tº: endowments as the former. Now the intent of all these institutions, offices, and gifts, was jºr."ºhºg'; for the perfecting of saints, or finishing the character of holy men who should be destined the body of Christ: to the ſtork of ihe ministry, in subordination to the great view that is still to be main- tained, of building up and edifying of the church, which is the body of Christ, that its num- nº bºrs may be increased, and each member advanced in knowledge and in grace; Till we lºsiºi, all arrive at the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge or acknowledgment of the Son of ...º.º.º.º. God, in such entire harmony and agreement as will cement us together in still dearer fulness of Christ : bonds; and getting above that infant state in which so many of us now are, we shall grow up to the maturity of a perfect man, even to the full measure of the spiritual stature, so as to reach what may be called the standard of the fulness of Christ," attaining to those emi- nent degrees of grace and goodness which will fit us to become his stated, everlasting - residence, and to be filled with the most glorious tokens of his presence and favour. 14 That we henceſart, be In the mean time, it is the design of God by these means to give us greater firmness º º and establishment in religion, that we may be no longer like little children, tossed to and ºffº as waves of the sea, gnd borne about as a vapour in the air, with every wind of doc- §njºines, ºf trine, and every vain puff of breath uttered with violence and eagerness, and as it were * * * * * *ive; mechanically managed by the cheating sleight of designing and interested men, [and] by their various subtilly in every method of deceit," which some insinuating teachers will not º º fail to exercise upon you, though I hope you will be able to discern and defeat it: Hut in in 'ai hiº, which "; maintaining the truth in love,” or steadfastly adhering to the doctrines of the gospel with the head, even Christ : that candii and charitable temper which it inculcates, and without which our clearest and most extensive knowledge will do us but little good, may we grow up in all things, * from an infant to an adult state, into him who is the Head, [even] the Lord Jesus Christ, º #!'...'...'. the great Centre of union, as well as the original Source of life and motion: And by the gº"; i."º constant exercise of mutual affection may be more and more united to him, from whom, ...'." §,§: as from the head, conveying influence and nourishment to every member, the whole in the measure of ºver part, body of christians being harmoniously joined, and strongly cemented together in the closest makeu, increase of the body unión, by the supply of crery joint through proper channels of communication, (as by the veins and arteries, the nerves and sinews, in the natural body,) according to the energy which is proportionable to the necessity of cuery part, and properly adapted to its respect. ive place and function, makes an uniform and happy increase of the whole body, by the i, ſīto the lººr pºrts of the egºi;]. Bishop Pehrson, On the Crºcd, P. p. 174;) For the ſitting ºf hwiy inen to the work of the insistry, which 22). his show; how very precariously this is urged as a proof of Christ’s strongly implies, by the way, that no unholy nań śīouiſbº dºpiº ei disgent into hel; the phrase being such, as other scriptures 'º. lead κ it. And thus, thºre can be no necessity to suppose a transposition of us to teſtſ, either to his itſeºngtigº, (Psal-ºxxxix. 153) or his desceat the words, with Grotius, as if the meaning were, For tº ºff. Qſ tº 6 into the grave. Compare Psal. lxiii. 9. and Matt. xii. 40. munisºv, which is to Ptºlect the Saints, and to £dify the body ºf Christ - f - - - * * * * - - - --> *-*. k ...ind sore, pastors and teachers.] I shall not take upon me to de- sº To the incasure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.] The sease tº risine whether two different offices are intended here, of which, the i. in the paraphrase is sº obvious, and suits, and iſjustrates the peºul. further were intrusted with the cºre and oversight of particular churches, ºrity of the phrase so well, that I cannot but wonder at the impºrti- whereas the latter only were employed in instructing the people by way ºce ºf thºse who (us Dr. Lightfoot tells us in his Renains, p."3Sg.) of exhortation, without being called to the pastoral office; though, if this § e inferred from this text, that the saiº should be raised at the last were the case, it seems most probable they would have been expressed . exactly of the age gſ, Christ when be died, and that their stature distinctly is the others are, and some, pastors, and some, teachers.--But I Š jould be just the same With his ; referring to the ambiguity of the word, cannot forbear saying it has been §.º. that if diocesan bishops i\t sta, as signifying both stature and age. were the very remedy by which the Holy Ghost designed to prevent or m, By the cºating sleight, of men, [and] by their subtilty in Crery ºncthod to heal those schisms, of yhigh the Ephesian church was in such appa- of deceit.]. The word kugeia, as many critics have o served, properly ºut, ſlº (Acts, N.Y., *, 30.) it, is very strºnke there should be no signifies the artifice of those infamous gamesters who know how to cos "...'...} § these ecclesiastics which are here enumerated, the dice. "Some would render the last words, ev Tavèpy tu Tpo; jº lhough Soune r, tº S * is i v Ali ºr , , ; ; ºr * ,-- ----- * º ºne O them interior to the supposed bishop in dignity. - ſuc006ctav Tns TXayms, by craft and doubling, according to the subtle ! fºr tºe, perſecting of Saints to, the cork ºf the ministry.] , Bishop method ºf inºsiſ...ºtithin; tı leri .----> - Burnet understands the former claus thei ing initiated into th telligd ºf unpºsture, but I think the rºndering above is more literal, and ºt,\lnierstands the former clause, of their being initiated into the ºn "jū Şart offixed’ to \fr. "Blackºali for ti - 3 hurch by the holy ordinance •x #5 s Sc bo 2.5-12's part, 901. ke Mr. Black Wall tº the version and paraphrase *::::: Pyºngly ordinance of barºtism. (See Burnet. On the drţicles, fºre." Šće his Sºd Ciassics, oil i. p. 305 | 2.)...Qthers would render Foos. Tov Katap-tapov, for the compacting, & Muintaining the truth in logº.j ſt is to be hoped that no reade §: if i. jº. their being brought tośćlºgº and uniºd, into ºe and especially none of the sacred order, will faii to obsºve" whº ič () CJ (2 ty, \\" In tº ther * iº." a n tºrns a -l., y - $ 1.--> - - * - ºn 1 ºr oss . . - ". * * * * § C k y’; § §. º had beº formerly Jews Or Gentiles, * But I ºther tº here so plainly asserts, namely, that,it was the design of the think, with Dr. Murshall, the clauses, are to be Connºted, and mily ministry to preserye peace and charity, as well as orthodoxy, regularit, more properly be rendered, (as in Blackwall’s Sucred Classics, vol. ii. and digipiº, in the church. y f U.S. Riſiſ, 7. EPH, 10 R 6 IV. 688, HOLINESS OF LIFE URGED UPON THE EPHESIANS. SECT. regular growth and nourishment of each member, to the ediffing of itself in love: or, in unto the edifying of itself in 7, plainer terms, the whole church, by the exercise of faith in Christ as its glorious Head, love. is edified and supported, and each part of it grows in mutual love in proportion to the º degree of its regard to him. IMPROVEMENT. 1 IF divine grace have taught us to know the hope of our calling, it will surely add great weight to these pathetic exhortations of this faithful servant and prisoner of Jesus Christ, to walk worthy of it; to walk as it becomes those to do who have been favoured with a call from God, who have received the honour of a call to the blessings of 2 his gospel, to the privileges and hopes of his children. It will teach us that humility, meekness, and long-suffer- ing, of which our Divine Saviour was so glorious an example, which will engage us to the exercise of mutual forbearance, and which so well suits those whom he hath brought into so happy a state. 3 May we all experimentally know the sweetness which attends a constant care to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; that we may labour earnestly to maintain it, and with the utmost diligence may guard against those things which might lead us in any degree to violate it! 4. To engage us to this, let those arguments which the apostle suggests be familiar to our mind. Do we not all indeed belong to one body, however called by different denominations? Have we not all, so far as we are truly christians, received one Spirit? Is there not one hope of our common calling, even that of dwelling together in 5 one and the same blissful world, with God and with each other? Have we not one Lord, even jesus Christ, to whom we all equally *: subjection ? who hath taught us one faith, who hath instituted one baptism, and 6 who hath introduced and consecrated us to one God and Father of all. And what are the considerations which should prevail so far as to divide us, when compared with such bonds of union as these ? Let us all therefore, in the name of this God who is over all, who operates through all and in us all, in the name of this one Saviour and one Spirit, (awful and endearing names, into which we were all baptized,) charge it upon our own souls, that we not only do nothing by a factious and uncharitable temper to divide his church, but that 16 we study what we can do to heal its breaches, and to promote its growth and edification. And let us pray that God would guide and succeed our endeavours for that purpose, and preserve our hearts in such a situation and temper, that we may stand continually willing to give up every temporal interest that may interfere with such a design; yea, and even to make our own blood, if such were the will of God, the cement of those wounds, at which a body so intimately united to Christ has so long been bleeding almost to death. Wére we actually to give such a proof of our regard to it, we could but very imperfectly repay the condesceº- 9 sion and love of that Saviour, who for us descended to these low regions of the earth, and dwelt for a While 8 among the dead; and then triumphantly rising and ascending on high, ; those enemies that had before held us in captivity themselves captive, as at his chariot-wheels, and º received gifts for men, scattered them down 10 with such royal munificence, that he might fill all things, and fit his ministers for the offices to which he had destined them. 4. 11 These his ministers we are taught by this passage to regard as the special gift of his loye to the church, and as such let us adore him for them; not only for apostles, º, and evangelists, but also for º and teachers. 12 And let us earnestly pray, that through the continued influences of that Spirit which he hath sent down from on high, holy men may in every succeeding age be so perfectly and completely fitted for the work of the ministry, that 13 the body of Christ may be edified; that by this means we may all come to that union, to that strength, to that full maturity, to which, by calling us into the fellowship of the gospel, he intended to raise is: * 14 "in the mean time, while we are advancing towards it, may we rise above that childish weakness which would make us the sport of every wind of doctrine, and a prey to every artifice of designing men. Let us ever maintain a 15 due regard to the united interests of truth and love, that our union with Christ may be secured, and our growth in him more happily and abundantly advanced. SECTION VIII. he apostle urges the converted Ephesians to distinguish themselves from the Gentileå, by the holiºs; 9% tº behaviour, as they were so much "...º.º. them by knowledge and grace; and particu arly presses upon them the duties of veracity, meekness and purity. Eph. iv. 17–30. * - EPHESIANS iv. 17. EPH. iv. 17. spor. THIS I say, therefore, forń. further instruction how to walk worthy of your calling, .# , º, º,"; and most earnestly and affectionately testify it to you in the name of the Lord, that now º Yºlº º º: _* ye are so happily brought into the christian éhurch, and made partakers of such privileges º' "*** Epº and advantages, ye no longer walk, as,alas!, ye have jo long done, and as the rest of the ſº ºjºs who remain unconverted still continue to walk, in such a course as Plainly shºws 7 the vanity of their mind, amused with the poor empty trifles of this world, and enslaved to ing the understand is low and inéan pursuits, utterly unworthy of their rational nature: Having the understanding mº #...i darkened with respect to pº things, by the influence of the prince of darkness upºn ſº #. º §§ §§ them, and being alienated in affection as well, as in their practice from the life of God,” ºr ñom that noble principle of true religion which is indeed the divine life in the soul, form- their heart: i..."it tº the service and imitation of him by whom it is implanted; to which they are wholly strangers, and have indeed an utter aversion to it, by reason of the j of truth and goodness that is in. them ; yea, because of the absolute blindness and obstinacy of their heart; the evil passions of which turn it into a kind of chaos, which will not admit the rays of divine truth shining around them in the works of creation and providence, by the observation of which they would be formed to much better, notions, even on natural 19 Who being past feeling 19 principles, if they would but do |. to themselves. But, alas! what can ...: hºise ºf #ºn wretches who have debauched their consciences with such a C9urse of profligate im- moralities as to have lost all sense of shame 2 who being grown quite callous (as it Y. and insensible to all goodness, have abandoned themselves to every kind of enormity, an - - - * s - - blindness of men in their unre- fe ſ. - is does not merely signify a life too just a representatiº of the natural - ...; § %.?: hi; i. e. § Locke understands f but that générate state. How the words wes, 6tavota, and kapāta, which all frºß ". #;"cºjišiº in a righteous and holy imitation of his come intº this desºriº.º.e.'” be distinguished, is imatter of, much It #. adº. c."ºleºhis service; and perhaps it debate. It is certain they are used in different senses, not only by dif- #; ...”inºate its being originally derived from him. Compare reſent writers, but by the same writers in different places: but on the ver. 24. lind of their heart.) This is explained by Chry; whole, it seems most probable to }. § º: º º *:: lſº b †: *ś .*.*.*.*.jtor ºf nº ancient and general, comprehending *: º ‘. : aft: º É sº: ...}...". §§ {#tile" tatº, but though there is nº º ſº. and **śd *...*.*.*... .". modern, as ::::::: § that yet I see no reason to limit such a description tº wºnderstanding is •gº § º: tº Ge v: 23 he laisest and mos º 'h. # and ignorant heathens: it is, as Dr. Owen observes, irrational judgments. See below, note n, on Ver, 23. HOLINESS OF LIFE URGED UPON THE EPHESIANS, 689 it. º,Yºrk especially to the grossest lewdness, sº as to work gll uncleanness with insatiable greediness ; secT. transgressing the bounds, not only of virtue and decency, but even of natural appetite, and 8. shamefully soliciting their own lusts, under a sad incapacity of nobler and more rational enjoyments. EPH. nto such profligate and brutal sensualities as these the heathen world are sunk; but ye 2 ov. have not so learned Christ,” as if his religion were a mere system of speculation, that might hº "...hº... . leave you practically attached to such abominable vices. Its precepts inculcate upon you 21 tº it;" i. ºujś lessons of the strictest purity, and I am persuaded that you feel the genuine tendency and in Jesus: design of it in your hearts, powerfully inclining you to act upon them; seeing ye have in effect heard him,” even the Lord Jesus Christ himself, speaking to you in his word by us his authorized ambassadors, and have been instructed in him and his religion, as the uncor- rupted truth, is in Jesus, and not in that imperfect and adulterated form in which some f : * presume to deliver what they call his gospel. - nº. . Give me leave therefore to urge .# entreat you, according to the º good instruc- 22 the oijman, which isºft tions you have already received, to put ‘. and entirely to lay aside, with respect to the ...” “ ” “*” former conversation, or to those sinful habits and practices which were the scandal and dishonour of your Gentile days, the old man,f which is depraved and corrupt in every part of it, and whose actions are directed, not by the rules of reason and a regard to the will of God, but, according to those deceitful lists& which generally prevail in the world, and once prevailed in you likewise, and sunk you into so degenerate a state; lusts which could lead you to no rational and solid happiness, but deluded you by vain appearances ...º.º.ºyed in the and fallacious hopes, which always ended in your disappointment and shame. And labour 23 p y 2 more and more, by cultivating every motion of the good Spirit of God upon your hearts, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind,h that your rational powers, being duly directed by his illumination, may maintain a proper command over all the inferior faculties of your nature, and unite them in the prosecution of that great end which you ought con- 24 And that ye put ºn the tinually to be proposing to yourselves. And thus let it be your care to put on the new 24 ..º.º.º man, to clothe yourselves with every habit of virtue and goodness, with every pious prin- true holiness. ciple and disposition belonging to the character of such as are renewed; even that new man which is created by divine grace, according to [the image of] God, the great Standard of perfection, and is so formed as to resemble him in universal righteousness and true evangelical holiness, which, so far as it prevails in the human soul, is indeed the likeness of God drawn upon it in the most amiable lineaments. (Compare Col. iii. 10.) ač, ºševº, Wherefºre, on these great principles, beware of ...}, ice to which you have been for-25 tºutā Yāîhimèighbº"; merly addicted; and, in particular, putting away every lic, k whatever any of the heathems ...ſº members one of * may have taught or practised, speak every one of you, with the greatest simplicity, and strictness, the exact truth to his neighbour; for we are all, (as I observed above,) by virtue of our union to Christ our common Head, members one of another, and therefore it would be very indecent and improper, for the sake of any little separate advantage of our own, to injure or deceive a fellow-member, which indeed the common bond of humanity might lead us to detest, if the peculiar engagements of our holy profession were not considered. If any occasion arises which obliges you to be angry, which indeed may and often will 26 be the case, let not your anger discompose your spirits, and sin not in the excessive indul- gence of that turbulent and dangerous passion; but see that there be a justifiable cause for the resentment you express, and that your anger do not then rise beyond its proper degree, nor err in its continuance: and in this view, let not the sum, however, go down 27 Neither give place to the upon your wrath," lest it grow into inveterate malice and habitual spleem : JVeither in this 27 evil. respect give place to the devil, who labours as much as possible to possess and inflame the spirits of men with mutual enmity, and to induce them to give ear to slanderous re- orts and accusations, that he may make their characters deformed and their state misera- -- |. like his own. Let him that, while he was in his heathen condition of ignorance and vice, stole from 28 others what was their just property, or in any other method defrauded his neighbour, stead and defraud no more," knowing that God is the Avenger of all such injuries: (com- 20 But ye have not so learned Christ; 26 Be ye angry, and sin not : let not the sun go down upon your wrath : 28 Let him that stole steal no more : but rather let him c Ye have not so learned Christ.] This may perhaps intimate that there was a manner of learning Christ, which might secºn more consistent with such irregularities, and may glance on some teachers who called themselves christians, and yet took very little care to inculcate practi- cal religion. Many passages in the apostle’s writings show this to have been actually the case, though it. seems these teachers had not much footing at Ephesus. Compare 2 Tim; iv. 3, - d Séeing ye have heard him.] That the particle et c_may be thus rendered, has been observed before in note b, on Eph. iii. 2. p. 682. So i haſ no conclusion can be drawn from hence that this Epistle was not written to the Ephesians, with whom he had long been conversalit, but to some other church that he had never seen, and with whose circum- stances he was not so well acquainted. sive of some influence on the inferior powers. See l Thess. v. 23. and compare note b, above, Qn ver, 18. - * i True holiness.] As batorm; Tn5 a Xnflet as stands in a beautiful oppo- sition to £rt Jup waſ rms aſſarns, deceitful lusts, I have chosen, therefore, with our translation, to render it in a similar manner. . But Archbishop Tillotsen would translate this clause, the holiness of truth, (vol. ii. p. 349.) and Dr. Qwen also prefers this rendering ; by truth, understanding the gospel, and so explaining it of evangelical holiness, in opposition to such mére moral virtues as might be found in a heathen. See Dr. Owen, On the Spirit, p. 335. . - * k Ecery lie..] This to pºvč0; seems to express: and lying is so op- posite to that sincerity which becomes u christian, that what is, said against it may be best taken in the most extensive sense.--Dr. Whitby e’ſo put off, &c.j As the verbs arodegóat, q'awegaffat, and eudugagóg, are all in the infinitive mood, it shows hoy they are ºgºnected with the ºcceding words, and that the sense of them is, “Yº hape, be?n in- structººl--to pict off the old man, and to be renewed in the Spirit Qſ, yºur º, and to put on the neup mai, º accordingly I have preserved this ºnexion in the version; but to avoid such, an excessive length in the ºhrase as would have made it both disagreeable and obscure, I ºve here, as in many other places, broken one sentence into several. f The old man.) As particular dispositions of an ind are sometimes ex- pressed by particular, garments when a man appears in them, so the whole of a good or bad character may be represented, by a complete dress, yea, by the body in which he appears; and cice, alas!, being too natural, and getting the first possession, whéreas Kgodness; if it ever succeeds at ali, is adventitious, the former may well be called the old and the latter the new man - - g According to deceitful lusts.] Some have explained, this of the lusts into which they were led by the artifices of the heathen priests, who represented them as not disagreeable to their established dgities; or by the sophistry of their philosophers, who found out $o many fallacious excuses for the grossest vices. But the sense given in the paraphrase seems most certain, and of the most general importance, consideratiºns Wigh I have always endeavoured to keep in view in the whole of this W OF K. h In the spirit of your mind.] The word v8's seems here to be put for the whole soul, and Tysupg, the spirit, for its intellectual and leading faculty, on which the Spirit'of God might chiefly operate, yet not exclu- has well shown, in his note Qn this passage, that several of the best of the heathen moralists thought lying might in many cases bê jus F and I wish that none but heathens had ever taught so loose .# danger- Gus a doctrine. * - - - ł BC angry, and sin nct.] . It is evident that this is not a command to be angry, but a concessign ºnly, with a .gaution, to beware of sinning in it. (Compare Isa. viii. 9, 10. and Nah. iii. 14, 15.) It must however imply the thing to be possible: for to imagine, as a celebrated divine does, that it is as if it were said, Do if you can be, angry without sin, seems beneath the dignity which the apostle always preserves” in his Writings. m Let not the sun go down upon your wrath..] Many have observed that this was ºffic to the Pythagorean practice, who used always, if the members of their particular society had any difference with each other, to give tokens of reconciliation before the Sun went down: . (See Dr. Scott's Christian Life, vol. i. p. 326. and Dr.Whitby's note on this place.) Were ſainily prayer always practised in the evening, it º have an happy tendency to promote the observation of this excellent precept, intended (no doubt) to prevent persons going to sleep in anger, or being kept wakeful by such thoughts as continued quarrels, especially between near relations and friends, will be apt to occasion. Gloomy meditations in the silence of the night inflame the sense of the supposed injury, and chorish fiercer resentments, till perhaps at length purposes and counsels of revenge succeed. See Limborch. Theol.lib. y. tº: *...* Nº. n Let him that stole steal mo more.]. Stealing (as Dr. Whitby has well shown here) was a very common vice among the heathens; but how 87 - 690 SECT. pare 1 Thess. iv. 6.) but rather let him labour diligently, working with [his] hands in 8. EPH, that he may have [something], to impart to the necessitous, and may HOLINESS OF LIFE URGED UPON THE EPHESIANS. labour, working Y. h"; some honest employment that which is good and creditable; that he may not only sup- ... tº "...,"... . port himself, without trespassing upon society, or being in any º a burden to it, but give to him that needeth. e capable of sparin IV. somewhat out of what he gains by industry in his calling, for the relief of such as stan in need of it. 29 Let me exhort you also to take heed that no corrupt discourse, no putrid, filthy, and ºf offensive speech, proceed out of your mouth,” to debauch the minds of those that are ...hº...” §§ about you, and to irritate those irregular dispositions of the heart which it may, in many ºf instances, even without such incentives, be so difficult to restrain : but embrace every op- hearers. portunity that may conveniently be taken of introducing any thing that is good,P and which may tend to useful edification, that you may thus by your discourse promote the spiritual benefit of those that you converse with, and it may rather serve to minister grace to the hearers, than to check any good, or encourage any evil and irregular, thoughts. 30 flnd on the whole, be very careful that you do not, by any such immoralities as I have sºlº cautioned you against, grieve that Holy Spirit of God, and provoke him to withdraw his ãº"...a...o.º.º. § gracious and comfortable influences from your minds; seeing it is the Spirit by whom ye redemption. are sealed unto the day of redemption." His operations are the mark of God set upon you, by which you may be known to be his property, and may be assured that he will remember you as such in that great day when he makes up his jewels; even then, when he completely redeems and delivers all his people: till which blessed time you are pre- served in your adherence to religion by this Spirit, in the midst of all the dangers and difficulties which surround you; and consequently are obliged always to conduct your- selves towards him with the greatest respect and veneration. * - IMPROVEMENT. Ver.18 THAT we are all naturally so much alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in us, that our SEC 9. EPH. minds are maturally so dark, and our hearts so hard, is indeed matter of the justest lamentation. But since we 20 have learned Christ, since the light of his blessed gospel hath been imparted to us, and we are no longer num- bered among the heathen nations, let us not abandon ourselves to those irregularities of temper and life, for which even their ignorance will not be a sufficient excuse ; since even natural light might teach them to condemn and to abhor such courses. - - There are deceitful lusts, according to which the old man is corrupt: let us be always on our guard against them, and labour after such a renovation as becomes our profession; and in order to its being effectual, iet UlS 23 be earnestly solicitous to obtain it in the spirit of our mind; that we may show its influence upon us, not merely 24 by ceasing to do evil, but by learning to the utmost of our power to do good. Thus let it be our care to put on the new man, to be partakers of a new and holy nature, and to be $º to the whole of that temper, in all its branches, by which we shall resemble the blessed God, the bright Original of universal righteousness and holi- ness, and the great Model of perfection. In consequence of this, remembering our relation to each other, let us speak the truth from our hearts, and upon all occasions let us treat others with the same candour and integrity with which we would ourselves desire 26 to be treated.—If anger rise, let it be on just occasions, and in due proportion; and let us take care that it rest not 27 in our bosoms, lest by indulging it we give place to the devil, and become like that malignant spirit.—Let us be 28 upright in our dealings, and conscientiously avoiding the iniquitous practice Uf defrauding others, let generous and charitable sentiments always possess us; nor let those whose circumstances in life may constrain them to maintain themselves by their own labour, think they may violate the strictest rules of honesty, or are dispensed 29 with from all obligations to relieve others more necessitous than themselves.—In short, whenever we engage in conversation, let us avoid every thing that may have the remotest tendency to corrupt discourse, and let us study what may improve and edify the minds of our hearers; embracing every opportunity of suggesting any thing that is good, and that may tend to minister grace, or to promote the more abundant exercise of it in the minds of those in whom it is already implanted. Thus will the Spirit of God, that sacred Agent by whom we are sealed to the day of redemption, be delighted instead of being grieved, as he so frequently is by the vain and foolish discourses of those who would be thought his temples, of those who indeed are so. For his influences let us look, to dispose us to every good word and work, and seasonably to remind us of these plain but weighty admonitions, which, alas! are so little remembered by the generality of christians, that one would imagine they had scarce ever read them. 22 25 30 - SECTION IX. The apostle pursues the practical exhortations given in the two former sections, and especially insists on those to mutual love, which he enforces by the consideration º the divine compassions as displayed in the gospel, and strongly cuutions them against the gross impurities of the heathen. Eph. iv. 3], to the end ; v. 1–14. EPHESIANS iv. 31. AS I have been exhorting you to take heed that you do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, I cannot but particularly caution you against those malignant passions which do most directly oppose his benign influences. And therefore let all bitterness, and indig- nation, and wrath, and clamour, and evil-speaking, and all contentious and ungovernable EPH. iv. 31. LET all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and cla- mour, and evil speaking, be T. 31 justifiable soever the Lacedæmonian law relating to it might be in a political view, (of which see Rollin, JMan. de Etudier, vol. iii. p. 341. et seq.) I fear it tended to abate the horror persons should have of in- vading, in any respect, the property, of each other, and to corrupt the minds of young people, by forming, them to a subtle and knavish turn, which, however it might fit them for plundering their enemies, in war, (to which the genius of that commonwealth was too much directed,) would certainly tend to make them bad ghildren, servants, and citizens. o Lct no, corrupt discourse, &c.] This undoubtedly refers to obscené talk, which is with great propriety called, corrupt or putrid, as, the word garoo; signifies, in direct opposition to that which is seasoned with salt, and is recommended (Col. iy. , 6.) as tending to preserve from such, pu- trefaction and rottenness. It is strange, that such indecencies as are here censured should ever prevail, especially, among persons whose rank in life requires a politeness of behaviour which would engage them to guard *::::::: this, much more than against any thing offensive in their person Or Gress. & * p Any thing that is good.]. This seems the proper import of £1 Tis ayabog, which is literally, if any thing be goodſ intimating that if any wseful thought arise, or an occasion may be fitly taken to graft an edify- ing remark on any thing that passes in conversation, there should be a readiness to improve it; that so every, one may furnish out his quota, without unprofitable and disagreeable chasms of silence, or the necessity of having recourse to any thing that is ill to prevent them ; which, alas, is too often the case. q. By whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.] . This term of sealing seems to be a metaphor taken from merchants’ putting some seal or mark upon their commodities by which they may be known to be theirs. Qne of the ancients somewhere says, “ }}}#} res est Spiritus Dei.” . There is, if we may so express it, a certain delicacy in the Spirit of God, which should engage those who desire his influences solicitously to guard against every approach, to what might be grossly offensive to him.—The day gſ redemption in this connexion must signify the resurrec- tion, (compare, Rom. viii. 23.) which is here mentioned with the greatest ºf'; as the time when they who, in consequence of this sealing, shall be finally owned as the property of God, shall be gathered into his treasury.—To IIvevua to Öytov re 6es is so emphatical, that it seemed best to render it, that Holy Spirit of God. HOLINESS OF LIFE URGED UPON THE EPHESIANS. put away from you, with all malice : 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, for- bitterly inveigh with all the licen- §"#,”éhº.º.º. other in your daily deportment, and tenderly compassionate towards those that are in any d for Christ’ forgiven you. * * * affliction and distress; freely forgiving one another whatever imagined or real injury may be in question, even as God in Christ, and for his sake, hath freely forgiven youb such inexcusable and heinous injuries and affronts, as are infinitely greater than any which it Eph. v. 1. Be ye therefor followers of §§ 8 S e children; is possible for you to receive from your fellow-creatures. tº º d Be ye therefore, in the exercise of kindness and forgiveness towards one another, imi- * tators of that God” to whom ye are under such unspeakable obligations, as his beloved children, whom he hath not only forgiven after so many and great offences, but adopted 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loyed us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling sa- W’O Ulſ. to us at so expensive a rate, that he hath even given himself up for us, voluntarily surren- dering himself to those cruel enemies whom he could with infinite ease have destroyed; (compare John xviii. 6.) and having submitted to become their Captive, he yielded up his life upon the cross, and was there made an Offerin and Sacrifice to God;d for it is evi- dent that in this view his death was intended by himself, and was regarded also by the Father, who was well pleased, not only with the variety of virtues and graces which he exercised in it, but with the atonement that was made by it, and gratefully accepted it for a sweet-smelling savour, or as a fragrant odour that was far more delightful than any of the victims or any of the perfumes which had been offered of old, whether on the brazen or the golden altar: and through film also will your acts of liberality, beneficence, and goodness come up, before God as a grateful memorial, and draw down upon you the most valuable blessings. 3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness let it not be once name among you, as becometh Sălnts ; named or heard of among you; but abstain from these evils, and whatever might lead to them, as it becometh saints who are conscious of the sanctity of their name and profession, * Neither filthiness, nor and dread the thoughts of debasing it. And in this view let there be neither filthiness or 4 foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: any shameful indecency in conversation found among you, nor foolishness of speech, nor but rather giving of thanks, those lewd turns and ambiguities of expression,8 which though they are practised by the heathens, and may not seem so evidently criminal, yet are by no means convenient for christian converts: but rather abound in the language of thanksgiving and devotion, to which we have so many obligations in every circumstance, and which would give a plea- sure so much more sublime than any animal indulgences and delights. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, See then that you be cautiously and resolutely on your guard againstall such enormities; º'coºtous"...for ye well know, and have been taught this, as ye have learned Christ, that no fornicator §2.É..º. ºnor unclean person, who habitually gives himself up to any kind of pollution, nor any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. covetous man, who is greedy of those things which minister to his sensual appetite, and who is therefore an idolaterb of the worst kind, deifying as it were the vilest idols, hath or 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of. dren of disobedience. can have any inheritance in the holy and happy kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one then, in this respect, amuse and deceive you with vain words and sophistical arguments, 9.9 º' the chil- by which it is well known that many, and especially some that call themselves philoso- phers, attempt to vindicate some of these things, or at least to extenuate the evil of them; for I am divinely commissioned to assure you, that on account of these thin gs, and such as these, the wrath of God cometh even on the Gentiles, the children of disºbedience and infidelity; now if heathens are punished for them, much less can we suppose that pro- fessing christians, who have so much greater advantages for purity and virtue in all its branches, and are under such peculiar engagements to cultivate it, shall escape with impu- a Let all bitterness, and indignation, and wrath, &c.] If cach different word that is here made use of is to have a different idea annexed to it, I suppose the explication given in the paraphrase may illustrate its sig- nification. But perhaps, after all, it might only be the apostle’s design, in amassing so many almost synonymous expressions together, to show that he would have them be upon their guard against all the malevolcnt passions, and those outrages of speech and expression which they tend to produce. The like remark may be applied to many other passages 9f Scripture, and particularly to those §. all kinds of lewdness are forbidden in such a variety of phrase and language. - - Even as God in Christ hath ſteely forgiven you..] ... This plainly teaches us that the great doctrine of the atonement or satisfaction of our blessed Redeemer is always to be explained in such a manner as may leave room for the honour of God’s free grace and mercy, in the pardon of our offences consequent upon it. - * Aº c Be ye therefore imitators of God..] This, as it is an inference from the last verse of the preceding chapter, ought by no means to have been separated from it ; and as the apostle is pursuing here the exhortation, ywhich he there began, to mutual love and forgiveness, and does not finish it till the end of the next verse, it had been much more proper that the two first verses of this chapter should have been connected with what ſoes before, and that this chapter should have begun with ver, 31. of the Orſºn er. d :An offering and sacrifice to God..] Dr. Bates (in his Harmony of the Divine Attributes, p. 954.) thinks that the different words, Tposiopa and 007ta, are used in reference to the peace-offering and the sin-offer- ºš, as the truth of both is in the sacrifice of Christ, which appeased od, and obtains the blessings consequent upon his favour. But I cannot lay much stress on this distinction, as Tpogqêpa) is used in a multitude of places in the Septuagint for Pºlº any victim before 9qd, as it is likewise in the New Testament, (Matt. v. 23, 24.) for bringing a iſ: and othering it on the altar; and when distinguished from 6vata, (Psaſ. xl. 6. Septuag.) it answers to fireh, the mincia, or offering people. of fine flour, with a proper quantity of acine, oil, and frankincense, with which the sacrifices of animals were to be attended, and thus to be pre- sented as an offering made by ſire of a succet savour unto the Lord. (See Lev. ii. 1–9. and Num. xv. 3—14.)—It may here be used in conjunc- tion with the former, to signify the campleteness of the sacrifice. .N. or any kind of uncleanness.] his is beyond all controversy the meaning of kat raga akaffapata and had I been more literal, and ren- dered it, let not all sorts of uncleanness be mentioned, the sense had not been given so, exactly, and occasion might be taken for grounding an evasion on it, for which the different genius of the Greek language lays no just ºlution. See the original of Acts xx. 25. and note f on that text, p. 461. - f. Or insatiable desire, &c.] This is certainly a very literal rendering of the Greek word TAgovešta, which plainly signifies, the desire of having more of any thing, whatsoever it be. , And as there was nothing indecent in the mention of covetousness, in the usual sense of it, as expressing a greedy desire of riches and gain, many good commentators suppose it re- fers to that inordinate desire of unnatural lust for which the Gentiles were so infamous, and to which the Ephesians, were so much addicted as being in consequence of their righes a very luxurious and debauched Compare Ezek. xvi. 28, 29. - --- g JW or those leuca turns, &c.] This seems the natural import of the word evrpargxia, on which many might value themselves as what they ap- prehended a delicate turn given, to some ambiguous expression ; and Aristotle, in his Ethics, using this very word, recommends it as what renders conversation agreeable.—Dr. Lucas, thinks it included wanton- ness, profaneness, and keenness of satire. See his Inquiry after Happi- mess, vol. iii. p. 207. h JW or covetous man, who is an idolater.] In whatever sense covetous- ness is used, (see note f. sº may be called idolatry; as it is setting up something else, and (be it what it will). Something ::::::::::::. very base and contemptible, and pursuing it as if it were something that could be to us, as in the place of God, a supreme happiness. into his family, and raised to such glorious privileges. And, as a demonstration of your 2 readiness to please and honour so gracious a Father, see that ye walk in love, and steadily pursue the paths of benevolence and goodness, which ye are under additional engagements to do, as Christ also hath loved us in so wonderful a degree, and hath manifested his love But as you expect this, you must make it your care to maintain a due consistency of 3 character, avoiding not only all malignant passions, but every kind and degree of impurity and licentiousness; and therefore let not fornication, nor any kind of uncleanness,” or insatiable desire of sensual gratifications, or of the means of procuring them,ſ be so much as 5 6 69 passions, be put away from you, and removed to the greatest distance, together with all SECT. malice:* do not passionately resent every trifle, nor tiousness and keenness of satire against those who have greatly injured you; nor let your anger be noisy in its language, venting itself in clamorous reproaches and abusive rail. Era. 9. ings, or be deeply treasured up in the mind to wait for opportunities of revenge; for all sn'". these things are most contrary to the nature of God, the genius of christianity, and the character of its great Founder. But, on the contrary, be courteous and obliging to each 32 EPH. W. 69? - HOLINESS OF LIFE URGED UPON THE EPHESLANs. SECT, nity in these shameful practices. Be ye not therefore partakers with them in these abomi-. 7 Be not ye therefore par- 9. nations now, if ye would not finally partake in that dreadful condemnation and misery “” with ** which they are bringing on themselves by them. EPH. For ye were once indeed in a state of gross and heathenish darkness, in which it is no 8 For ye were sometimes V. ... wonder you were abandoned to such practices, as you had no just discernment of the ##".º.º.º.º. sinfulness and danger of them; but now | are] light in the Lord, and are brought into children of light. a clear evangelical day, as being instructed by the word of God, and savingly illuminated - by his Spirit: see therefore that you walk in such a manner as becomes those who are children of light, and desire to do an honour to that light of which they are born, and to 9 that celestial family to which they now belong. For ye cannot pretend to be ignorant of 9 (For the fruit of the the duties becoming such a birth and relation, as the fruit of the Holy Spirit; by which jºyºnd you are regenerated ſis] most evidently manifested in the practice of all goodness, and " “”. righteousness, and truth; the operations of it on the soul being attended with such light and influence, as to teach men of all ranks, orders, and conditions in life, invariably to observe the strictest rules of benevolence in their tempers, integrity in their dealings, and 10 sincerity and veracity in their words. Be careful thereforé to cultivate these dispositions, 10 Proving what is accept- proving thereby what is well-pleasing to the Lord, and making the experiment hºw happy "*" "“” they are who in all things govern themselves according to his injunctions, 11 . Walk then, as I have said, in such a manner as becomes children of light, and be not 11 And have no fellowship. joint partakers with any about you in the unfruitful works of darkness;k works which, Yº! far from being in any respect profitable or advantageous, are in their consequences most them. ernicious, tending to involve the soul in the gloom of guilt, and to lead it down to ever- asting darkness: and therefore how excusable soever these things might be accounted in your heathen state, they are apparently most unbecoming in the midst of christian knowledge and privileges; and as you would not practise them yourselves, see to it that you do not countenance or encourage others in them, or by any means make yourselves accessary to the evil they occasion, but rather reprove them with plainness, though at the same time with all meekness and humility, and more especially express your detestation 12 of them by your good conversation in Christ. Thére is indeed a great deal you will 12 For it is a shame even meet with to reprove, and in some instances the reproof is better given by actions than by hijº. 3...";ºn."; words: for it is really a shame even to speak particularly of those things which are done by secret. them in secret, and sometimes in what they call their religious mysteries too, many o them being of such a nature, that the very mention of them has a tendency to taint the mind, as well as to shock all chaste and modest ears. 13 But to you that are light in the Lord, the vileness of these works of darkness is abun- 13 But all things that are dantly discovered, as all things are such as ought to be reproved, have their iniquity laid tº ºf open, and are made manifest by the light ; since where the light of the gospel comes, even äoth make manifest is light. though they are not particularly mentioned and described, yet they are exposed and con- demned, and the soul which receives it is inspired with an abhorrence for what might any way lead to them; for whatsoever doth make objects manifest in their proper forms and colours, is light; and therefore the gospel well deserves that name, as teaching those who are instructed in it to judge rightly concerning the moral nature of actions, and in- culcating, such general principles as will be of use to them in every particular case that can possibly arise. Wherefore, when God is speaking in the H.P. of the Old Testa- . 14 wherefore he saith, ment of the calling of the Gentiles, and of the light which they should have by Christ, he jº.º.º.º.º. says in effect to those who are yet in darkness, though not exactly in these words, fluake, Christ shall give thee light. thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light;" and this par- - ticularly is #. most natural import of those well-known words in Isaiah, (chap. lx. 1.) “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee;” that is to say, The Messiah, represented by the glory of the Lord, shines in his church, shines upon the souls of particular persons, and then they arise as from the dead, and shake off their deep sleep; they rejoice in the light, they walk in it, and reflect it all around, so that many others are awakened and transformed by it. IMPROVEMENT. THE obligations which as christians we lie under, to cultivate benevolence and purity, are common to all coun- tries and to all ages. Let us therefore frequently read over these plain exhortations, and solemnly charge our souls with their divine authority and importance. T.P.H. Let it not be enough to us that we carefully avoid all bitterness and wrath, clamour and evil-speaking ; but let rv. us cherish all the kind affections of mutual %. and tenderness, and practise even the most difficult duties of 31, 32 charity, freely forgiving those that have injured us, as sensible how much greater offences God has forgiven us; IV. 1 always remembering whose children we are, and what engagements we are under to imitate our heavenly Father; 2 and always setting before our eyes the love of Christ, who gave himself for us, and thereby offered a most pleas- ing sacrifice to God. Through him shall our sacrifices, proceeding from the same principle, be acceptable also to him, even the sacrifices of alms, of prayer, and of praise. , - * Let us not only abstain from the grossest sensual indulgences, but from every thing indecent in our words and actions; and that we may do so, let us make a covenant, not only with our eyes, Tjob xxxi. 1.) but with our l 4 8. 3 i The fruit of the Spirit..] It may be sufficient briefly to obsºlve, that long, before the apostle’s time greatly corrupted and degraded to the for Twevpato; some copies read poros, the fruit of the light. The sense most detestable purposes; so that some persons in public characters, by is the same, but the number of varying manuscripts seems not sufficient no means remarkable for, the purity of their own migrals, thought it ab- to confirm that reading. Yet I have had, some regard to it in the solutely necessary, in order to prevent the most scandalous and profligate paraphrase, as in some other instances of a like nature. ... disorders, to prohibit the celebration of them.—Monsieur Saurin has ob- k %. unfruitful works of darkness.] It is well known that aka970s, in sº...? ºrgaśī, in this clause seldom attºnded to, as if it were in- *Greek, and initiis, iſ "itin, are sometimes used to express, not only sinuated hºrº, They are called aroffmra, things not to be spoken of; gunprofitable but mischievous things; and this is undoubtedly, the mean- Tue.Sº the sº. they are properly so; things not, too sacred, but ing of the original word here." Öompare Rom. i. 28. and vi. 21. too infoingus, to be mentioned. See his ..";"; viii. p. 198, f} shame to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.] See nn Awake, thou that sleepest º Some think, this passage is taken Dr. Whitby's note on this text, concerning the impure and abominable from an apocry ſhal book ascribed to Jeremiah, which, says the learned nature of some religious nocturmaï in stºries of the heathem. The quo- and eloquent Mons. Saurin, might really cºntaig, some prophecies de- tations there brought, with many othºrs which might be added to them, livered by him, and so by the way be quoted by Matthew, (chap. xxvii. plainly prove, that if (as the learned Mir. Warburton supposes), the lower 9.) who might know that the prophecy recorded by Zec Mariah, (chap sort of mysteries among them were first intended b {{: magistrates to xi. 12.) was originally, spoken or written by the elder prophet. Saurin, impress the minds of the people with the belief and sense of future re- $cºmi...yol. X. p. 386. But the sense of the passage before us is so fairly wººds and punishments, and the higher sort of them to instruct persons deducible from the words of Isaiah quoted in the paraphrase, that I do of more reflection and penetration than the rest in the knowledgé of the not see any necessity of having recourse to this supposition. true God, and the other great principles of natural religion, they were - - HOLINESS OF LIFE URGED UPON THE EPHESIANS. {{#3 nearts; remembering that it is idolatry in the sight of God to set our hearts upon the gross delights of animal Ś . . . . . . . nature, to the neglect, and forgetfulness of his blessed Majesty; remembering also, that the kingdom of Christ 9. and of God is intended only for those who by purity of heart are qualified to see and enjoy him. . . Many false and sophistical reasons men have invented to palliate and excuse their vices; but if the wrath of God fall upon the heathen for these things, let us not imagine that we can practise them with impunity : and re- upon no account let us presume to be partakers with them in their sins, that so we may not share with them in their punishment. - We are called from darkness into light, from the darkness of sin into the light of grace; let us remember then the happy state into which we are brought, and walk as children of light, having our conversation such as may. be suitable to the character we bear, and to the obligations we are under by the advantages we enjoy ; and searching diligently what is acceptable to the Lord, let us discover and make known to all that we approve it upon trial, by our conforming to it, and bringing forth the fruits of goodness, righteousness, and truth, under the light and influence of the Holy Spirit, as those who have been savingly enlightened by him. Let us avoid the works of darkness, not as unfruitful only, but as mischievous and destructive; and be careful 11 that we do in no degree partake of them, not even so much as by a sinful silence, when Providence calls us to reprove them: but let us earnestly pray for wisdom and grace to order these reproofs in the wisest and happiest 13 manner; that so we may, like that light of which we are the children, not only continue ourselves unsullied in the midst of pollution, but make things manifest in their proper colours, and discountenance those indecencies, the shame of which will make the very mention of them odious to the renewed soul, while those that practise them are so far conscious of their vileness, as to endeavour to conceal them from the light, and draw a veil of dark- ness over them. - - And oh that the almighty voice of God may rouse up and awaken sinners from their sleep, and engage them to arise from the dead, that Christ may give them light! He is the great and only Source of light to sinful crea- tures, by whom it is sprung up on those who deserved to be consigned over to chains of everlasting darkness. Let us hail the rays of this Sun of righteousness: let us reflect them to his glory: and let it be our concern, that being raised by him from the sleep of sin, we may spring up to his service with vigour, and prosecute it through all the remainder of our days with becoming gratitude and zeal. EP; ; , * ſ S 10 9 ECTION X. The apostle further pursues his exhortations to a life of circumsº and useful; ess, and to the constant excrcise of teroperance and devotion. £ph. v. 15–21. EPH. v. 15. - EphesiAss v. 15. * SEE then that ye walk gir; I HAVE been urging you to consider yourselves as children of light, and upon this ac- SEC I º” “*” count to have your conversation such as becomes those who have been happily awakeped 10. from the sleep of sin by Christ: and to pursue the exhortation, as ye thus are brought from darkness into light, see to it therefore that ye walk as accurately and circumspectly as pos- EPH. sible, taking the most attentive heed to every step, and conducting yourselves, not as fools, 15 who consider not what they are doing, but as wise men, who know that they have pressing dangers to avoid, and most important ends to secure. And in particular, let your wisdom be discovered in redeeming the time,” endeavouring to recover and buy back as far as pos- sible what has been lost, by diligently making use of what remains, and studying to im- prove it to the best and most valuable purposes; for which you should be careful to embrace the present opportunity, because the days we live in are evil, in which we are on every side surrounded with persecutions and perils, and God only knows how soon our liberty or our life may be taken away. Jºherefore while these precarious blessings are continued, employ them for the honour of God and the good of mankind: and be not in- considerate and thoughtless, as you formerly were, but be concerned to have a right dis- cernment of your duty, and to be understanding what [is] the will of the great Lord to whom you are devoted: endeavour to know your duty in all its extent, and, knowing it, to act agreeably to the obligations of it; declining those unnecessary dangers to which it is not his will that you should expose yourselves, (Matt. x. 22.) and diligently laying hold on every opportunity of service. - - ..And that you may neither be insensible of the calls of duty, nor negligent of a due com- pliance with them, be continually careful that ye be not, even before you are aware, drunk with wine, in which there is so much danger of a dissolute excess,” considering how grossly many abuse it, and abuse themselves by it, so as to run into all manner of extrava- gance and outrage, and into all that wild disorder and debauchery for which the heathens are notorious at their idelatrous festivals; but be ye filled, as becomes your character, with the Spirit of God, and make it your concern to invite the quickening and the cheering influences of his grace, which are of so great moment in your christian course; but which ou will, by an excess of liquor, or any other gross sensualities, drive away from you, as }. may be justly displeased with what is so directly opposite to his own pure and holy nature. ~- Iet it beyour endeavour therefore to engage the gracious visits of the Holy Spirit by the exercise of social devotion, in which he will delight to find you employed, and for which he will render you more and more fit, while in your cheerful moments you are speaking to yourselves and to each other in the psalms with which David and other inspired writers 16 Redeeming the time, be- I6 cause the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not un- wise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine; wherein is excess; but be filled with the Špirit; l 8 19 Speaking to, yourselves in psalms and hymns and a Redcening the time.] Grotius and many other commentators ex- plain this of the caution to be used in avoiding persecutiºn, that so they might drano out their time as iong as possibly they could, and, not pro- voke their cnemies to cut them off. Compare Dan. ii. 8.-This to be sure was their duty, and it had been well if the zeal of some primitive christians had regarded the precept in this seuse. But I am persuaded this interpretation expresses only a small part of that christian diligence and prudênce to which the apostle meant to direct and exhort us.--Mons. Saurin observes, with his usual accuracy, that the word &ayopačopºvot has a peculiar force, and implies (as the French word Tachcter and the Eaglish redecm also does) the recovering tokat has been lost. . (Coimpare Gal. iii. 13. iv. 4, 5.) And he apprehends there is an allusion to the chorinities of their hea then life, in which so much former time had *; unhappily been lost and thröwn away. See his Sermons, vol. viii. |). I Us", 3 ºf / . b Be not drunk piłł, nine.] it is highly probable that here may be a particuluſ Teference to those dissolute ceremonies called the Bacchana- lia, that were celebrated by the heathens in honour of him whom they called, the gºd of tripe. While these rites continued, men and women made it a pºint of religion to intoxicate themselves, and ran about the streets, fields, and vineyards, singing and shouting in a wild and tumultuous manner; in opposition to which extravagant vociferations the use of devout º is with great propriety recommended. Plato somewhere tells us, that there was hardly a sóber person to be fºund in the whole . Atticah territories during the continuatico of these detestable solemnities. c. In which there is excess.] The word agotta implies not only ex- géédiºs, the bºunds ºf temperance, which is the direct, import of the English word, but that madness of licentious riot which is often the at- tendant of drunkenness. Wine is so ſrequently the cause of this, by the ungrateful abuse of the , bounty of Providence in giving it, that the enormity is represented by a very strong and beautiful figure, as con- tained in the very liquor. 694 SECT. tº 4 1. \}. EPH. T A. 20 21 Weſ. 15 16 I7 1S I 9 20 21 HOLINESS OF LIFE URGED UPON THE EPHESIANS. have furnished us, and in those new-composed hymns of praise, and other spiritual songs, spiritual sºngs, singing, and that is, songs on spiritual subjects, which the Spirit of Göd dictates and animates, with a fººdy in you he" variety adapted to the several occasions of the Christian life: and let it be your great care, 3. that while you are thus tuning your voices, you be also singing and chanting in your hearts to the Lord, without which no external melody, be it ever so exact and harmónious, can be pleasing to his ear, Yea, let there be a constant disposition for this duty, not only when you engage in 630. Fixing thanks, alway: social worship, but through the whole course of your lives; and ſet the mental songs ifí É. #!º unto God and º = ~ * * 2 3. er in the name of our may so express it, that issue from the grateful sentiments of your hearts, be perpetual and Lord Jesus Christ; Uninterrupted; maintain a most affecting sense of the abundant matter which you have. for praise, that as new mercies are every hour descending upon you, ye may be always giving thanks for all things,” for all the favours of God imparted to yourselves and others; and make it your employment at all times, not excepting your most afflicted moments, but filling even these with praise, and taking occasion from the tribulations and distresses with, which a wise and gracious Providence may exercise you, to acknowledge the divine goodness, which directs all these painful dispensations by views to your truest advantage: and, on the whole, let all your praises, in order to their being acceptable, be offered in the º: mſtmé of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father; who hath appointed him to sustain the character of the great Mediator, and is ready to receive the services we perform only in and through him. And while you are thus careful in the duties of devotion to God, be not negligent in 21, Submitting yourselye, those which you owe to your fellow-creatures; but in all the various relations in which 3..." "****** you stand, and the respective stations in which you are placed, be subject to each other in the fear of God:* let every one of you, whether he be a superior or an inferior, endea- vour to accommodate himself to the infirmities of those that are about him in a kind and a respectful manner, so that if he be a superior, he may not oppress, or if an inferior, he may not rebel. This I shall further illustrate by descending more particularly to the duties of husbands and wives, of parents and children, of masters and servants; upon a regular attention to which, so much of the order and comfort of society, and so much of the credit of christianity with respect to its professors, apparently depends. IMPROVEMENT. WHO can read the exhortation which we first meet with in this short but important section, without seeing cause for the deepest humiliation on account of his own careless and inconsiderate behaviour 2 Alas, the wisest have their intervals of folly; and they who walk the most accurately are not without their heedless steps. In how many instances are our thoughts dissipated, and how frequently are we quite forgetful of ourselves and our God! neither watching for opportunities of doing good, nor guarding against temptations to sin; but suffering the one to pass by us unimproved, and the other to seize us unprovided for resistance. - That precious time, on the right management of which eternity depends, and in the improvement of every day and hour of which, it is manifest, that at least the degree of our everlasting happiness is interested; that time which thousands on a dying bed, or in the invisible state, would gladly redeem at the price of the whole world; how little do we think of the value of it, and to what trifles are we daily sacrificing it! Yea, to what trifles do we not sacrifice it! In the several divisions of it, when we come seriously to reflect on the morning, the forenoon,_ the afternoon,_and the evening, how remiss are we in the proper business of each | So that if the great business for which we were sent into the world, to understand what is the will of the Lord, and to act according to it, be not, as there is reason to conclude in many instances it is, entirely neglected, it is performed in a manner shame- fully remiss and indifferent. . If we are not drunk with wine, in which there is an excess, (from which, to the shame of christianity, the fol- lowers of Mahomet totally abstain with resolute self-denial, far more easily than christians keep themselves within the limits of sober temperance,) yet how frequently are we quite intoxicated with pleasure, in which we forget the dignity of our nature, and the rules of our profession And how seldom are we breathing after that quickening spirit which alone can effectually remedy these disorders! * * º If our voices are employed in singing the praises of God in our public assemblies, (where, nevertheless, so many are constantly silent,) or if we practise it in our families, how little are our hearts engaged —How seldom doth God receive any cheerful sacrifice of praise from us, even in our most prosperous circumstances ! And how much less in every thing —Where is the person that can say, “In the night is my song unto thee: amidst the darkness and distress of affliction I still praise thee, though thou correctest me, yea, because thou correctest me with such paternal wisdom and love?” e . . . . . e * And to Čonclude these melancholy reflections: How little subjection is there to each other in the various re- lations of human life! and where there is any of it, how much more frequently doth it proceed from other con- siderations than from the fear of God, and a religious regard to his injunctions! Yet these that have been men- tioned are commands established by a divine authority; and there is not a christian in any age, country, or station, who is not by his profession solemnly obliged to observe them. * whit shall we say then on the whole, but this: We lie down in our shame, and confusion cover's 13, because we have sinned against the Lord our God. (Jer, iii. 25.) And what counsel can be given to remedy these things, but this: If any man lack wisdom, of which these are some of the most important precepts, let him ask it of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth none with those instances of former folly which they sincerely lament, pe and which they labour to amend. (James i. 5.) d Gjeºng thanks for all things.] Dr. Barrow has given another, im- Somº Wºre ready to imagine that christian converts were released from ...tº sºls to these words, rendering them, for all persons; as if the any further obligation to those who still º in a º of heathen- łºń. were, “Consider yourselves as appointed to return to º #: 1S In, pººlººd; th: flºº %. ºi"hº !: tº...". - . . . * º f - Y - - - - - - - - - - C, ºl. ddress your daily pare I Cor. V’ll. , 10−3 Ilſ • , y i. 1 », «. ºt. A v_j & Y tribute of praise due from the whole human racq, and a S y aſ Iy in whatever station they were placed, to show a - 3-4 º' ºf 8 º' gº º * - cy” sses it upon them thanksgivings to him for those blessings he is continually, scattering H.". relatiº duties, and to remember that christian privileges - * ., × 2 -4 ºs- * * łł, ºr—rh ris * ~f S 1 () & 6. In 62 Tall, See his & * down on your fellong-christians and fellow-greatures in º: #e3 at this did by no means excuse them from the duties resulting from natural and Works. vol. i. p. 257. have therefore in a few word • ‘s - * - on f : * * * * * * £º º ht, which is strongly expressed in that excel- ; º ºf. buº. §º: :::::::::::A; C.; tº t? : it: i. ‘. g ſº in the fºſſsh fi • under to observe them. (1,1] S W S- jeºt form of general thanksgiving in the English, liturgy tians towards relations of all kinds, even though they boro the character •, I, , Ch } }, the rear of God...] The apostle offers here * t- & Y 2 d :::::#####. ić #. #&#. #. of relative duties, from of Hºlº, § º: ..º. º, º, º, º º º 2 * * * * * in lº ~ : * :h as were related to the II); * S #.U Ult tº C.1 V *If h . It fre afterwards proceeds to the particular consideration of the Sugº.º. - ..º.º. of husbands and wives, of parents and children, and institution, but by the more endearing bonds of grace. of nºsters and servants; which he might rather choose to insist on, as - THE MUTUAL DUTIES of HUSBANDS AND WIVES: 695 SECTION XI. z e & * * s º e -? -- ,” The apostle recommends it to husbands to love their wives, in imitation of Christ’s love to the church, and presses upon wives the correspondent - - uty of conjugal subjection. Eph. v. 22, to the end. E i EPHESIANs v. 22. 2PH. v. 22. e WIVES, submit yourselves I HAVE been recommending to you a mutual subjection to each other in the several SECT. §§§ {..." "** relations of life, as a general precept of that holy religion in which you are instructed by 11. the gospel; and I shall now proceed to illustrate it by descending to some particulars. And to begin with the relation between husbands and wives, I would first exhort you º that are wives,” that ye be subject with all humility and gentleness of submission unto ſort. 22 own husbands, not only from a principle of love and respect to them, but as a proof of your fidelity and regard unto the Lord, who has seen fit to place you in a state of subor. 23 For the husband is the dination, and commanded you to be under obedience. (I Cor. xiv. 34.) For the higsband 23 Fºot.º.wºmeº is by divine constitution the head of the wiſe, and so is invested with the superior charaç- Christ is the head of the y * * * * $/ > y * * * - - clºth; and hºis the sº ter, even as the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church, which is committed to his viour of the body. care and government: and, standing in this near relation to it, he has shown the greatest concern and affection for it, and is become the Saviour of the body, employing his autho- rity for the most important and benevolent purposes, not only to deliver us from evil, but to supply us with all good in such a manner as to make it manifest that our salvº- . . , 24 Therefore as the church tion and happiness depend upon our union with him and subjection to him. And this 24 ãº; ;".9; º; may hint at the kind purposes to which the superiority of the husband over the wife should husbands in every thing. be improved, in manifesting a concern for the defence and safety, and for the benefit and comfort, of the wife: but I now mention it in the former view, and therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, and with a cheerful willingness submits to his authority, so also [let] wives [be] subject to their own husbands in everything in which their commands are •. not inconsistent with those of Christ, who is the Head of both. 25 Husbands, love, your Yet far be it from me to insinuate any thing that should encourage tyranny and usur- 23 Yºhº; º *: pation in the husband; that equitably kind and generous Lord, who ought to be con: himself for it ; sidered as a perfect Model, hath by his own example taught a very different lesson. And therefore, on the other hand, I would exhort you that are husbands, that ye be sure to love your wives with constant tenderness and fidelity, even as Christ also hath loved the church. And oh how astonishing is that love, and how delightful is it to reflect upon it! For such is the affectionate regard that he hath manifested to the church, that he hath been pleased, when it was in a state of slavery and misery, to purchase it to himself at the most expen- 26 That he might, sanctify sive price, and hath even given himself as a ransom for it; That, having paid the price 26 º of its redemption by his blood, he might Sanctify it by his Spirit, and cleanse it with the washing of water in baptism, and so having purged it from the guilt and pollution of sin, might form it for himself, and train it up in the exercise of every grace by the dis- 27.That he might presentit cipline of his word:b That being thus purified, educated, and adorned, as a bride pre-27 tº: º pared and adorned for her husband, (Rev. xxi. 2.) he might in due time receive it up to sº glory, and place it in his own immediate presence, a glorious church, arrayed in perfect §h” ” “” righteousness, and free from all remains of sin, not having spot or wrinkle, or any thing - of that mature,” which could be called a blemish ; but that, in every part and member of it, it should be holy, and without blame, and he might thus survey it completely pure, beautiful, and resplendent, in that great day when the whole number of his elect'shai be gathered together, and the marriage of the Lamb shall be celebrated amidst the ac- clamations of the heavenly legions, to whose blissful world his bride shall be conducted in triumph. - - a.s.º.º.º. º. But to return to the subject from which this pleasing digression hath led me: such is 28 §.s”; tıt"...thº, the nearness of the relation I am speaking of that husbands ought to love their wives as wife loveth himself. ; love their own bodies : and when we consider that the bond of marriage makes them both one, and remember what an inseparable community of interests it establishes, we may truly say, That he that loveth his wife loveth himself, and he that permits his affec- i.º.º.º.º. ºf tions to be alienated from her, knows little of his own true happiness. And this must 29 ºisºthº ghºſſetſ. Surely have its weight with every considerate person: for no man in his senses ever yet even as the Lord the church; hated his own flesh, whatever its infirmities or imperfections were, but mourisheth and che- risheth it, providing not only for the sustenance of it, but for its comfortable accommoda- tion ; even as the ford nourisheth and cherisheth the church, supplying it with all things that may conduce to its welfare and happiness, with a tender concern for its infirmities, 30. For we are members of looking upon it as one with himself; For it is a most certain as well as delightful truth, 30 # ...” “*** that he regards it in this view, and that we are esteemed by him as members ºf his body, united to him by one-spirit, and therefore considered like Eve, when just taken out of Adam's side, (Gen. ii. 23.) as making a part of his flesh and of his homes ; whom therefore he would no more permit to be separated from him, than a man would be willing to lose 31 For this cause shall a a vital part of himself. Now answerably to this,d it is undoubtedly fit, that (as Adam was 31 ºf divinely inspired to declare on the first view of that delightful relation of which I now intº his wife, and they two speak) all other ties, should yield to this ; so that, according as it follows there, (Gen. shall be one flesh. } * *> 3. * ii. 24.) “.4 man shall leave his father and mother, and be inseparably joined to his wife, and they, though originally and naturally two persons, shall for the future be one flesh; shall be considered as one person, and, as it were, one soul in two bodies.” a I would first exhort you that are wives.] It is observable that in the the, more necessary, as some of those who appeared as candidates on several exhortations, given here to the practice, of relative duties, (as such occasions were of low birth and education. likewise in Col. iii. 18, to the end ; and iv: 1.) the apostle first begins c. Not having, spot or wrinkle, or any thing gf that nature.] How bright with the lower relations of wives, and children, and servants, before he an idea does this, give us of the gränd plafi and design of christianity proceeds in each of these instances to those of husbands, and parents, and to bring all the millions of which the church consists to such a state of masters ; which it is probable, he might do, because the duties of inferiors perfect virtue and glory, that, when the penetrating eye of Christ, its great args commonly most apt to be objected to; as what are thought, most and holy Bridegroom, shall, survey it, there shalſ not be one spºt or difficult to be complied with ; and where these are well and faithfully crinkle, or any thing like it, in the least to impair its beauty or offend performed, the correspondent, duties of superiors will be more readily his sight ! Where is such a scheme or thought to be found in the world, attended to, and more effectually secured. but in, the New Testament, and those who have been taught by it b Hith the washing of water by the word.] I apprehend here is an d answerably to this...] This is the exact import of the phrase, avri allusion to the methods taken in eastern countries to purify the virgins 78rs, which might also be rendered, on the other hand, that is, taking the thº, wº #9 be presented to the royal embrace. (Compare Esth. ii. 3, matter in a different but correspondént view. y 12, and Ezek. xvi. 7–14.) And no doubt proper care was also taken e Adam was divinely inspired to declare.) See mote d, on Matt. Xix. to º: their minds, and form them to such knowledge as might ren- 5. p. 337 as to the reason º: is to conclude that Adam spake this in der them more fit to become the dignity intended for them; which was consequence of some extraordinary dicine illumination. 696 SECT. 11. º 32 33 mired, ...Vevertheless, you will not, I hope, forget the occasion which led me to touch Ver.23 that infinite condescension adored 25 rable bonds. He is the Saviour of THE MUTUAL DUTIES OF CHILDREN AND PARENTs. . This w Indeed a great mystery,; which was long unknown, and now it is in some measure discovered, is a matter of much admiration; but you will easily perceive, that in saying this I speak not of the union between a mań and his wife, but of that between Christ amºl *.* the chifrch : for that the Son of God should unite himself to a society of mortal men, and regard them as making a part of himself, on account of the intimacy with which they are joined to him in Community of spirit and of interest, can indeed never be sufficiently ad- Upon this pleasing subject: I therefore renew the exhortation, and say, Let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, with such a cordial and sincere ãºn 8|S e bears to himself; and let the wife [see] that'she reverence [her] husband, and be subject to him, nºt only as a necessary duty, but as lad to it by affectionaté choice, regarding him with inward respect and esteem, as well as paying him the honour of external obedience. [*IPROVEMENT. LET the love of our blessed Red £ {2 l .* | W i * a- 32 This is a great mystery: ut I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every 9ne of you in partigular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she re- verence her husband. iner to his church be daily celebrated with the most cordial gratitude, and which he hath been pleased to unite us to himself in such dear and insepa- e body; and oh in how wonderful a manner is he become so! He hath given 26 himself for us, hath bought us from servitude and misery, at the expense of his own life, and hath washed us from qur sins in his own blood, as well as cleansed us in the layer of baptismal water; and intending us for the etermal displays of his love as well as for the participation of his glory, he hath sanctified us by his Spirit, and formed us 29 proofs that he gives of his constant love. for it by his word; and thus is preparing us for that blessed day when the whole body of his elect shall be brought forth, as the bride, the Lamb's wife, to those public espousals which shall have their consummation in complete and everlasting happiness. O what a noble and illustrious day, when the eye of Christ shall survey all the millions 27 of his people, and placing them in his presence as one with himself, shali look with full complacency and delight on all the various members of that glorious church, and behold neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, but all comely, fair, and lovely, all answering that perfect idea which he had formed, and that scheme which he had laid, for raising them by perfect holiness to perfect felicity —In the mean time, let us think with delight on the He nourishes and cherishes his church; and, with the most affectionate 30 regard, is tender of it, as we are of the members of our own body, of our flesh, and of our bones. Oh that we 3 I 2S SECT. 12. }:PEI. WI. 2 3 may have a more sensible communion with him as our great Head, and may derive more continual influences from him For his sake let us love one another; and let those who are joined in the conjugal relation often consider it in 25 the view in which it is here represented. Let husbands see to it, that their love to their wives bear some resem- 33 blance to that which Christ avows to the church: let wives pay a reverence to their husbands like that which the 24 church is to pay to Christ; and let both take care to maintain that wisdom and sanctity in the whole of their beha- viour, which may suit the relation which they bear to each other in their common Head, as well as render their intimate alliance happy, which it can never be but by an union of hearts as well as of hands.-Vain will it be to think of dividing their interests when their persons are thus joined in such a manner as to become one flesh. And can there be a stronger argument to the most tender love? He that loveth his wife loveth himself: she that loveth her husband, and from love obeys him, loveth herself too: and every instance of unkindness on the one hand or the other, is but arming the members with weapons against the head, or employing the head the members. SECTION XII. in contrivances against The apostle urges the mutual duties of children and parents, º ºn; and masters, enforcing each of them with proper arguments. 1. - EPHESIANS vi. 1. HAVING spoken of the relative duties of husbands and wives, I now proceed to mention other relations arising from them, and particularly that between parents and children. And here I would exhort you that aré children, that with becoming duty and respect ye obey your parents, attending to the instructions of your father, and not forsaking the lay of ºur mother, (Prov. i. 3.) out of regard to the subjection that you owe them in the Lord, and in compliance with the authority of Christ: for this is right and reasonable in, itself. as a just debt to those who are the instruments of your being; and to whose care and kind- ness you are so much obliged; and will be also beneficial in its ºpiequences, as it is certain that parents in general are more capable of directing their children than they are of governing themselves. And as it is proper and expedient in itself, so it was also ex- pressly commanded by God in that short summary of moral precepts which he uttered on mount Sinai, and engraved with his own finger on the tables of stone, where you know it was said, Honour thy father and [thy] mother, enjoining yºu tº regard them as your superiors, with all duty and obedience, and cheerfully to afford them relief and maintenance if they should stand in need of it; which, by the way; you may observe, is the first commandment that is attended with a special promise: For t i. added there, That it may be well with thee, and thou ſhayººt be long-lived upon the earth;b which w 9. express thépeculiar care of the divine Providence for the continuance and comfort of the jiyºs of those who should observe this precept, the benefit of which those children might 7 f This is a great mystery.] Dr. Whi. *" W - - * - - - - - 2nages, cy se added - ----- + i = r + - ºr, r," - - - f : [? e was a type of the worship of images, having a promise amoa; the jºws, that the marriagº of Adam with Eve was a ty; vº, I :- ?” lo jóº between the Messiah and the churgh . .aid severall remarkable to fºousands of them that passages of that kigº, hºwe been produced. Bijhº Burnet interprets this expression as if it were designed to si3 arzudient of the ſº the union of the Jew. - - zam v. (Sc - s: C/R.G.P."(l. ja, espoused to each, might Ségºirº of polygamy. (See, Burnet, a ge EPH. vi. I. CHILDREN, obey your pa- ; in the iord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; , which is the first commandment with promise; 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. hitby thinks this refers to a tradition would from hence ºſsile; that the second ºftºº, ve him and keep his commandments, can be no longer obligatory under the gospel, since this. which relates to honouring ižnify that this was a mystical parents, is said tº be the first §§ ºcith promise. º It is eas à aín point the apostle was intent upon POYiğ. that is, to discern the fallacy and weakness º t º º: º §º. º ‘. .';.jj, one church, since otherwise Christ, to the second Commandingºt appare.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º.º. s and Gentiſ: S ). i declaration of the mercy God would show to those who ; fir-fetched; and the in not only that, but all his commandments; while this of which the apostle : ... I a..." *). ... S inceit is so On the Articles, p. ãº. º, jºoji wondºr speaks is really the first and only precept of the decalogue that has a - t ! --- “. - r - - ºłºś. !" utd. b3 fiſhy difficult le: $110 b3 Fil r or tº t + ºx º' * ºij, was, that the gternal Søn of God, recçivin; the degenerate race b That of men into an union, gith himself, should have tiqu £cceedi; • Jºlitions. This, subli now be perfectly Gom low mayest be long-lived upon the prehended; and therefoge, may, with the greatest ºised on so obvious a point. The myslery rººftº: annexed to it, peculiar to itself. earth.]- It is observed by Dr. * - ºr W. "Yº - X7 k, ; ; ; , , , & - 2s not say,+\ty on the land which joyed them with an affec- Whitby, and others, that the apostle does no 2 - : ~ * : ----, i. º hee, that he might not encourage a vain hope - , - . ~ \, is - * most intimate human the Lord thy Gºgd gigoth, thee, * - ; : * ~ ing that which ; to be fº.º.º.i. ână cannot in the Jews, of continuing iſ the land, of Canaan. But when it is con- in 2 doctrine ind jº Lº "... *. - * sidered that those to whom he was writing were chiefly Gentile converts, the Siause would vory properly be omitted in, this view, as it must better ;ºfteå ºsterºnarch of Rome .º.º.ºciºpress the promise in a generai way. a ‘fºliº is the first commandmeat with promise.] THE MUTUAL IDUTIES OF MASTERS AND SERVANT'S. 697 generally expect who were dutiful to their parents: and though under the gospel the SECT. promise of temporal blessings be not so express and peremptory, yet even now it may be cheerfully expected that God will bless such children in a very visible manner; and he assuredly jº do it, so far as temporal prosperity may on the whole be subservient to their truest and highest interest. n: º; jº ..And, on the other hand, ye parents, and more especially ye fathers, let me beseech you tº ś that ye provoke not your children by a rigorous ... and be ". careful not F., and admonition of the to exasperate their angry passions by an overbearing and tyrannical behaviour, lest by this e means you should excite them to such a secret indignation as may make it difficult for them to restrain those expressions of wrath which in such a relation would be very in- decent; and, among other ill consequences of such a conduct, there is great reason also to conclude that it would naturally prejudice them against christianity, and thus would bring upon yourselves a share in the guilt of their disobedience and their ruin; but, on the contrary, let me exhort you to educate them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” under such discipline and unstruction as may lead them to the knowledge of the religion of Christ, and most effectually dispose them to profess and practise it; which it is certainly of great importance that you should attend to in their earliest years, and before ill habits render them stubborn and intractable. 12. 4 5 Servants, be obedient to There is yet another relation between masters and servants, concerning which I shall 5 º lº"; proceed to advise you:, and as I would not neglect those of the lowest character in life, fear and rembling, in singſ; on whose conduct much of the credit of religion may depend; I would exhort you there- §.” ” * * * fore who are servants, whether of the meanest rank, such as bondmen and slaves, or in the station only of hired servants, that ye be subject and obedient to those who are º masters, and proprietors, though they be only so according to the flesh; while there is stil a superior Lord of your spirits, whose authority is to set bounds to theirs, and never must in any case be violated to please them, or even to preserve your own lives, when most in their power: but in all lawful things whatever, see that you maintain a becoming subjec- tion to them, performing what they order you with fear and trembling, as those who would be cautious of giving offence, or of bringing a reproach on your profession by any unfaithfulness or negligence in their affairs; discharging your duty to them in the simplicity and uprightness of your heart, as unto Christ, with that sincerity and uniformity of con- 6 Not with eye-service, as duct which a regard to Christ will require and produce : Acting in all things, not with eye- *...*.*ś'; ... service only, without attending to their business any further than while their eye is upon will of God from the heart; you, as if it were your only aim to be men-pleasers,d and to secure the favour of your masters; but as those who are the servants of Christ by your christian profession, and re- quired by him to serve your masters with fidelity, doing the will of God from the soul, with 6 7. With good will doing ser; a sincere desire above all things of approving yourselves to his all-seeing eye. And thus 7 !...***** let it appear that you make conscience of your duty, and apply to it with a willing mind; performing all the business of your station with a cheerful readiness and good will, and doing service with a benevolent alacrity, in such a manner as to show that you respect and love your masters, and have their interest at heart, as being ultimately influenced by a view to the approbation and honour of the Lord, and not by a regard to those tokens of 3 knºwing that whatsoever favour you may receive from men : Knowing assuredly, and making it the governing 8 d thi - - - - fºal."...º.º.º maxim of your lives, that whatsoever good any man doth, in one station of life of another, he ºrd, whether he be bond he shall receive a proportionable though infinitely gracious reward for the same, from the or free. - e - 3- hand of the Lord as his final Judge; and this whether ſhe be] a slave or a freeman, whe- ther he be the meanest servant or the greatest prince : for he is the universal Guardian and Protector of his people, and esteems men, not according to their stations in the world, but according to their behaviour in those stations, whether high or low. 9 And, ye masters, do the And, on the other hand, ye that are lords and masters, let me exhort you that ye do the 9 i.e."...º.º. same to them, and always act on the same equitable principles, not only with respect to ºº: those who are your hired servants, but even to them that are your slaves, and belong to #sºp. with';... you as your absolute property, so that according to human laws you may dispose of their persons and their lives as you please : but howsoever mean and low their station be, re- member the common bond of humanity, by which you are united to them ; remember the peculiar obligations of christians to distinguished benevolence and goodness, to all with whom you have to do; and therefore govern them with moderation and gentleness of temper, forbearing, not only cruel and dangerous blows, but all severe and rigorous threatening,” and every thing of an over-hasty and tyrannical conduct; and treat them in the same generous and upright manner as you would have them act towards you, as Ánowing that ye yourselves also have a superior Lord and Master in the heavens, whose authority overyoti is much greater and more absolute than yours over any of your fellow- creatures; and whatsoever difference there may be in your stations, there is no respect of persons with him ; but he will administer the most strict and impartial justice, and show that he remembers the cry of the oppressed, though men may consider them, on account of the inferiority of their circumstances, as below their regards. IMPROVEMENT. IT is matter of thankful acknowledgument that God condescends in his word to give us particular instructions suited to the circumstances in which we are respectively placed. Children and servants are not forgotten. Let c In the nurture and cdmonition of the Lord.] By the word Tatótta, op3a) poés), clav os quêpoſtapgasot,) which our translators have endea— which we render nurture, as distinguished from u80sota Kypts, the ad voured to imitate, But as the Greek abounds,mºſº in §ºgº.º.º.d monition of the Lord, somé think may be intended such a kho-pledge of ¥93; than any other lºguage, sº the apostle I º has ſº º: books, men, and things, as may fit, them to appear, in life with honour duced them in his Writings w ith, a Pºculiar elegance ºng & eauty 'i and usefulness. But as they stand connected, and the word Kupt.8 may which it IS º: the hºshº; º *śl, refer to both, it seems more reasonable to explain these terms of jugh a §§ sh; - ºis º: 'ind see Écºal; Sacr. Class, vol. i course of º: #4 ºº:: º; §: º alſº º; p. 239 ll Il. I. U. li. 10. • - 4- * - e. ucation, which ought to be employed in formitig them iOT tile L97 * º - • * - - - - - § #. ºo: the ñºcº, %. yicious passion, i.e. Forbearing threatening.]. T Qºxplain º * |. * as if and nourishing them up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, (1 Tim. it 9nly signified, remitting the evil threatened, falls far short ºf ; ºil iv. 6.) in which respect I cannot but take this occasion to say, cate- tie’s. lºº, I at all understand, it; as a chargº Kiyº to for šić Shijäg has been följ to be of ºxceſſent use, though it be now so much passionate and menacing crpressions towards serºë.9. ‘. €X *. neglected. - sive nature, and calls, for greater generosity and mildness, than no # ºith eye-service, as men-pleasers.] ...Grotius takes notice of the punish them so severely as they before had threatened them. elegance of the compound words made use of here in the original, (ºn kat’ EPH. WI. 88 698 THE CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. SECT. them attend to those gracious lessons which are here given by the Supreme Parent and Master, who, while he 12. EPH. WI 5 6 their masters accordin 7 conduct of every rational creature, in whatsoever rank. 8 4 9 SECT. 13. EPH. I II O 12 13 rounded with so many examples of evil, and with such powerful temptations to it. On teaches them, pleads their cause, and interposes his high authority to vindicate them from oppression and abuse. Much of the happiness of society evidently depends on the temper and conduct of those who are placed in these lower relations. Let children therefore learn to be subject to their parents with all dutiful and humble respect, from a sense of the reasonableness of the command, and of the goodness which has annexed such a pºse to it; a promise which shall still be efficacious, so far as long life would be indeed a blessing to a pious CIll 10. - Let servants, with all godly º and uprightness of heart, revere the authority of Christ in them that are ge to the flesh, and exercise a good conscience towards them upon all occasions, not only when under their eye, but in their absence; well knowing that God is always present, and always attentive to the & et them cherish that inward good-will and benevolence of heart, which renders every act of service uniform and steady, and makes it in a degree obliging, even when performed by those from whom authority might have extorted it. And let the certain and important reward that will assuredly follow every good action, whether great or small, and whether performed by persons in more ele- vated or inferior stations of life, animate us all to a zealous diligence in well-doing, whatever discouragement may at present attend us. e *> And as to those who bear the superior relations in life, let them remember that the command of a much higher Parent and Lord requires also of them a tender regard to their inferiors. Let parents therefore govern their own passions, that they may not terrify and oppress the tender spirits of their children; or if they are otherwise than tender, may not teach them an evil lesson against themselves, and by their own example strengthen them in those excesses which º be a disgrace and detriment to the family, and may, when age has broken all the vigour of the parents, bring down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. A conscientious care to educate and train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, if duly attended to, will teach a better conduct, and the meekness and gentleness of Christ will have a happy influence on both. - And finally, let the thoughts of that great impartial Master in heaven, awe masters on earth; and the expecta- tion, the certain expectation of giving an account to him, engage them to make the yoke of servitude, which God has been pleased to lay on those who are nevertheless their j. as light and easy as they can ; choosing, even when they might command with authority, rather with love to entreat; not doing or saying any thing unneces- sarily rigorous or severe, not threatening, reviling, or reproaching, but treating their servants as those whom they consider as partakers with them in the same hope, or whom they earnestly j by all prudent condescension and tenderness to lead into the way of salvation. SECTION XIII. wº The apostle concludes the Epistle with urging them to prepare for a strenuous combat with their spiritual enemies, by putting on the whole #." ºfoºd and earnestly exhorting them to fervency in prayer, he recommends himself to their remembrance at the throne of grace. ph. v1. E0, to the end. EPHESIANs vi. 10. EPH. vi. 10. I HAVE been exhorting you to a faithful performance of relative duties; and as to what FINALLY. py. Brethren, he remains, my brethren, sincé every relation in life brings along with it correspondent duties, º'" and will require vigour and resolution in the discharge of them, whatever therefore be the circumstances or situation you are in, let me beseech you not to rely on your own strength, but be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might; confide in his omnipotent protec- tion, and fix your dependence on the grace he is so ready to communicate to us, to support us in every service and struggle to which we are called. And since it is a strenuous war- fare in which you are engaged, put on the complete armour of God,” that gº dress so necessary }. you, and so conducive to your ornament and safety: that ye may, in consequence of it, be able to stand against all the subtle methods and artifices of the devil, º all the ambushes he may lay for you, and all the rage and fury with which he may attack WOu. . For }. the warfare we are carrying on, our struggle and contention is not with flesh and blood alone; not merely with human adversaries, however powerful, subtle, and cruel; not only with the remaining corruptions of animal nature, which often give us such pain- ful exercise; but we are called to wrestle and contend with sagacious and mighty Spirits, once ranked among celestial principalities, though now degraded by their apostasy to be chiefs in hell; and with powers that employ their utmost strength to ruin us, and that still keep their regular subordination, that their efforts of mischief may be more effectual: we contend with those who are the rulers of the darkness of this age and world,” who have long usurped a dominion over it, and who in the present age hold men in the chains of hereditary superstition and destructive errors, which have been delivered down to them through many succeeding generations; and with spirits, who became authors and abettors of wickedness even while they abode in heavenly [places," where they rebelled against the God of heaven, and drew in multitudes, who were before holy and happy spirits, to take part with them in their ungrateful and impious revolt. With these are we struggling for that great celestial prize which they had for ever lost: and their nature, experience, and situation give them most formidable advantages against the weak children of men, sur- 11 Put on the whole ar- mour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil 12 For we wrestle, not against flesh, and blood, but against pringipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unfo you the whole armour of God, that, ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand this account, then, let me pursue my exhortation that ye would take unto you the complete armour of God, that so ye may be able to withstand all these strong and malicious enemies in the evil day of extremest danger; and having done all, having exerted yourselves to the utmost, which indeed it will be absolutely necessary for you to do, ye may be found at last, when your warfare is accomplished, to stand victorious and triumphant. rule in the heathen nations whigh are. Yºt in. darkness,” and “ of those a The complete armour of God..] The word in the original is Travor) (a p f J o 3 2 that hayºtions in the regions of the air.’’, But I do not see any which includes all sorts of armour, whether offensive or defensive ; con- sisting in the exercises of all those christian graces which we are fur- nished with by God, to be inade use of in his strength, as well to annoy the enemy as to defend ourselves ; and it appears by the particular de- scription which the apostle here proceeds to giye of it, to be a suit of armour every way complete, and properly adapted to the defence of every part; though, as some observe, none is provided for the back; as we must always face the enemy, or we shall presently lie open and have no de- fence from danger. b The rulers of the darkness of this world..] This and the ſollowin; clauso Dr. Whitby explains in his paraphrase, “of those evil spirits that fjätiön ºf such a distinction, and therefore I have not intimated it e. SČ. rº * - ""Sºaness in heavenly [places.] There is somewhat pecu- lińr the foºm" of the expression in the original, Ta Tvºup at Ka Tims Toympt as ev rous engpavtots, which Mr. Locke has paraphased, “the spirituaj managers of the opposition to the kinglom.9f God.”. There is nºt bºt’ī’refers to those revolted wicked spirits who ºre continº; ally º: in propagating wickedness. ut oodwin would fººd..."tº last words, ey roi; erupavious, about heavenly things, as sig; nifying that we wrestle with then to secure to ourselves those spiritual THE CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. (399 * * Stand, therefore, in a constant readiness for the encounter, as good soldiers of Jesus SECT, #i, lº †". "... Christ, having your loins girded about with the strictest truth. º and sincerity 13. breastplate of righteousness; of heart, which will give a steadiness and uniformity to your conduct, and serve, as a girdle does, to brace on the other parts of your armour, and keep them all in their proper EIH, places; and putting on the breastplate of universal righteousness, or a constant reg * º I4 WJ, Ole O 14 Stand therefore, having the practice of holiness in the sight of God, and of justice and integrity in the w your dealings with your fellow-creatures, which, like a breastplate, will defend your vitals 15. Andyºg ſeºlod with against many a dangerous thrust of the enemy; and having your feet shod with the pre- 15 | ſº º * * - paration of the gospel of peace,” with that peaceful and benevolent temper which is so the preparation of the gospe of peace ; much recommended by thé gospel as an essential part of the christian character, and which like the boots worn by soldiers, will bear you unhurt through the many difficulties and trials which, like sharp-pointed thorns, may lie in your way, and dangerously obstruct 10, Above all, taking , the #d of faith, where with ye S in 81 the fiery darts of the wicked lively exercise, ye shall be able effectually to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one,” those furious suggestions which he may sometimes discharge into the mind, like so many 17 And take the helmet of envenomed arrows or darts, which kindle by the swiftness of their passage: ...And take also 17 salvation, and the sword of º which is the word of Go which will cover the helmet of Salvation, that cheerful hope of complete deliverance and eternal happiness, our head in the day of battle, and give you a well-grounded boldness and confidence, which will greatly conduce to your success: and brandish in your hands the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, those declarations of his word and gos- pel which his Spirit has inspired, and by a firm confidence in which you will be able, not only to defend yourselves, but to repel your adversaries. 18 Praying always with all prayer, and supplication . in the Spirit, and watching º; your heart to God in holy ejaculations, the fervency of your own spirits, under the influences of that Divine Spirit which resides ance and supplication for al Bălnts ; And finally, to add efficacy to all these, be continually P; part of your daily work, and be frequently amidst all your labours and cares lifting up make it a constant oined with all kind of prayer and º: in in you, to quicken your hearts, and which will engage you never to rest contented in out- ward forms of unmeaning and *P. devotion; and as you desire it may be effectual, be still watching thereunto with a perseveranceh, and importunate ardour of mind, joining to these petitions such earnest intercession and affectionate supplication for all the saints, as the spectively stand. 19 And for me, that utter- ance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of the gospel, by steadfastly maintaining what I be 20 For which I am an ann- bassador in bonds: that there: in I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. - rinciples of our religion dictate, and as may suit the relations in which we re- fered so much for my zeal for the truth, I may have further opportunity to speak boldly therein, as I ought to speak, in order to approve my fidelity to God, and my sincere affec- tion to the souls of mén. (Compare Col. iv. 3, 4.) 21 But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved bro- ther and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things : 22 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose; that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts. brother, and faithful minister and steadfastness in the gospel. But I will not insist largely on my own personal concerns; for thatT. also º the things that relate to me, [and] 'ychicus, a what I am doing here at Rome, eloved fellow-servant in the work of the Lord,” shall by m I conclude with my most affectionate and ardent prayers, that peace and all prosperity in §: with all the brethren that are with you; and that the love of God your progress: And upon all [these] taking to yourselves the impenetrable shield of a 16 § j.”.."."ji steady faith in the great promises and principles of the gospel, whereby, if it be kept in I8 And particularly let me entreat your prayers for me, your faithful minister and apostle, 19 that, being loosed from my bonds, a door of utterance may be opened, and free liberty of expression given to me, that I may open my mouth with all confidence and boldness in that important cause wherein I am engaged, so as to make known in the most effectual manner oing on to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and # fºre have taught, of the Gentiles being called to all the privileges of the gospel-covenant: For which, through the resentment of the Jewish 20 zealots, I am now a prisoner at Rome, where I discharge my embassy in a chain; that, howsoever I may seem to be entirely in the power of my enemies, and have already suf. know 21 direction fully inform you: Whom indeed I have sent with this Epistle to you for this 22 very purpose, that ye might more particularly know from him what relates to us, and that, by the report which through the divine goodness he will be able to make, he may comfort your hearts as to the grief and trouble you are under for me, and may encourage you to 23 23 Peace be to the §§ and love with faith, from Go soul and body may and eternal blessings of which they would endeavour to deprive us. See his Works, vol. 1. p. have hinted at this, but cannot think it a pro- per translation ; the connexion and version 1 have fºllowed seems much more natural and easy : They were “wicked in heaven, and by that wickedness fell from thence.” - d Having your loins girded about with truth.] It has often been ob- served that the military girdle was not only an ornament but a defence; as it hid the gaping joints of the armour, and kept them close and steady, as well as fortified the loins of thºse that wore it, and rendered them more vigorous and fit for action. The chief difficulty here is to know whether truth refers to the true principles of religion, or to integrity in our conduct; and how, on the latter interpretation, to keep it distinct from the breastplate of righteousness, or, on the former, from the shield of faith. But it seems, probable to me, that it may rather signify some virtue of the mind, as all the other parts of the armour enumerated, do; and then it must refer to that uprightness and sincerity of intention which ºtes righteousness, or a holy and equitable conduct, as its proper Tuit. e The preparation of the gospel of pcace.] Mr. Locke understands by this, “an habitual readiness to waik in the way of the gospel of peace,” as if it were intended as a general injunction to obey all, its precepts. But to me it evidently appears to be designel in a particular manner to boint out the preparation which the gospel makes for our defence, by that peaceful temper which it so often teaches and inculcates; of which, as I take it to be the sense of the place, I have explained in the paraphrase: though others choose to understand it of that conſidence which is inspired by the gospel, in consequence of the peace it establishes between God und the soul. f Upon all [these] taking the shield of faith..] Our translators render it, above all; but as upon answers best to the particle ent, here used, so it best expresses the allusion to the situation of the Shield, as covering the other pieces of armour; which, has here a beautiful, propriety, as truth, righteousness, and peace are sheltered (as it were) by faith, from the assaults which otherwise might overbear them. g To quench all the fiery darts of the wicked onc.] Dr. Goodwin, and many others, suppose that the apostle here refers, to an ancient custom still prevailing among the Indians, and other barbarous nations, to dip their arrows in the blood or gall of asps and vipers, or other poisonous preparations, which fire the blood of those who are wounded with them, occasion exquisite pain, and make the least wound mortal: and some Greek writers tell us, that it was usual, for soldiers to have shields made of raw hides, which immediately quenched them. (See Goodwin's Child of Light, p. 101.)—It is also certain that some arrows were discharged with so great a velocity, that they fired in their passage : but though in common cases this could seldom happen, nºr would there thus be much probability of their reaching the mark, yet I have hinted at it in the para- phrase, in allusion to the sudden and surprising violence of Satanical suggestions.—Missile weapons, with burning flax wrapped about them, were likewise sometimes used, (see Raphel. Ez Hered. in loc.) but this was chiefly to fire places, and not in the attack of persons alone. h Watching therewnto with all perseverance.] Bishop Wilkins explains this (in his Treatise on Praycr; p. 39.) of improving, the gift, qf prayer by continual exercise, and gathering up fit materials for addresses to § by gading, conversation, meditation, &c.—Compare note d, on Y | | | | \’. Ú). i And particularly for me..] Mr. Blackwall observes, that the particle kat sometimes significs, particularly or cspecially , and he produces pº to this purpose from proper authorities. Sacred Classics, vol. 1. D. l 4 J. k That witerance may be given to me.] This may perhaps refer to some impediment in his speech; or other imperfection, in the manner of his address, which might be a discouragement to Paul in his preaching, and seem to have an ill aspect on the success of it. Compare note f on 2 Cor. xii. 7, p. 639, and note h, on Gal. iv., 14. p. 660. discharge my embassy in a chain.) Some would render Tosaffeva, ev a Nwaet, I grow old in a chain : (compare Philem... ver, 9. where IIau- Xos Tpsagurns signifies Paul the aged :) but it is certain that the common version of this passage may be justified.—Few need to be told that it was usual among the Romans to chain the prisoner's right arm to the left arm of the soldier that guarded him : but as the persons of ambassadors were always sacred, the apostle seems to refer to the out- rage that was done to bis Divine Master in this violation of his liberty. m Tſchicus, a beloved brother, &c.] He was one of Paul's, friends and fellow-labourers, and had been his companion in the last inter WłęW he had with the elders of Ephesus, when he sent for them tº come to him at Miletus. See Acts xx. 4, 17, and note d, on ver, 4. p. g 700 THE CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. SECT. in Christ, attended with a fervent love to one another, may be shed abroad in your hearts, the Father, and the flord 13. together with a plentiful increase and confirmation of faith and every other grace from **** God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And may this grace, with aft the bless- .24 Grace be with all them EPH. ed fruits of it, not only [be] with you, but may it richly abound to all in every place that §ºi...i."A." "..., love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and incorruption of heart,” that are inspired with º a true affection to him and from that love desire faithfully to serve him. Amen. TMPROVEMENT. LET the heart of every christian soldier be at once awakened and animated by the important charge which the apostle here, is (as it were) still sounding in our ears. He knew the weakness of the christian, and the dangers Ver. 10 of his way; how insufficient for the spiritual welfare we are in ourselves, and that our only strength is in the Lord, and in the P. of his might, by whom alone we can be kept in safety, and may be made even more than conquerors in all things; and therefore pointing us to this, at the same time that he sets forth the difficulty of the combat, and sounds a charge to the battle, he shows us the provision made for our defence, and calls us to 11, 13 put on the complete armour of God; an armour that will serve for every part, that will supply us both with of. fensive and defensive weapons, and help us to withstand and even to surmount the greatest opposition. Let us see to it then that we put on, and that we use it all. And have we not enough to engage us to it, when we consider that our enemies are great and many, that they are restless and unwearied in their malice, and that their subtilty is inconceivable 2 Flesh and blood have too fre- 12 quently worsted us: how then shall we stand against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spirits of wickedness, who make it still their business to draw others into that spiritual wickedness which they were first so daring as to show in heavenly places 2 It will be impossible we should at any time be safe from danger, if every direction here given be not diligently attended to ; and having such a nit- 14 merous and mighty host of enemies combined against us, we never shall be able to withstand and overcome thon), if the girdle of truth be loosened, if the breastplate of righteousness be not put on, if the preparation of the gospel 17 of peace do not secure our steps, if the helmet of salvation do not guard our head, if the shield of faith be not our shelter, and the sword of the Spirit our weapon. And vainly shall we labour to obtain this armour by any other [8 º if fervent prayer and supplication in the Spirit, under the aids and influences of his grace, be not ad- dressed to the God of heaven, .#. work and whose gift this celestial armour is: so that if ever we would have it, and would use it right, let us persist in seeking it with holy importunity and perseverance, and the desired answer shall not always be iº 20 To conclude: Let us often think of the apostle Paul as discharging his embassy in a chain, that we may learn to submit to whatever affronts and injuries, whatever hardships and sufferings, we may be called to endure on the 23, 24 account of religion; concerned about nothing so much as that we may approve our fidelity in the sight of God, and loving the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, may be partakers of the blessings of his grace, with all that have a true affection to him. All that appear to be of such a character let us ever most affectionately love, whatever their particular sentiments or forms of worship may be; and a share of this mercy and favour, with all the blessed fruits of peace and prosperity, of love and faith, shall be infallibly our own, and be communicated in a rich abun- dance to us from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. n That love our Lord Jesus Christ in singerity.] Mr. Locke explains may with great propriety be understood, as a general description of a the word aq,0apata, of such a love as would prevent men’s mizing any true christian. And it is manifest indeed, that wheresoever this unfeigned thing with the gospel which was not genuine, and might, render it inef love to Christ prevails, there will of course be all the other essential parts feetual. (Compare Gal. v. 2, 4. ut it seems rather to express that of the christian character. wp:rightness of heart which is opposed to putting on false pretences; and THE F A M I L y Ex P O S I TO R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. THE christian religion was first planted at Philippi by the apostle Paul, about the year of our Lord 51; who having (as the history of the Acts informs us, chap. xvi.) made a progress through Galatia and Phrygia, and intending to pursug his tour through Bithynia, was admonished in a vision to go over to Macedonia. And being arrived at Philippi, which was a city in the first part of that province, and a Roman º (see notes g and h, p. 440.) he, with his companions Timothy, Luke, and Silas, spent some days there in preaching the gospel. During his stay here he converted Lydia, an cast out a spirit of divination from a damsel; which so enraged her masters, who made a considerable advantage of it, that they stirred up the inhabitants, and threw Paul and Silas into prison; from whence, however, they were miraculously delivered, and the jailer, with all his house, converted to the christian faith. Though the apostle soon after left the city, Luke and Timothy continued there some time longer, to carry on the work he had so successfully begun; and this, no doubt, was one reason that induced him to fix upon the latter as the most proper person to visit the Philippians in his absence; of whose affection for them, and concern for their interests, he takes particular notice. (Chap. ii. 19–22.) , . That the apostle himself made these christians a second visit is plain from Acts xx. 6. though we are not informed of any particulars relating to it; and it is at least highly probable (for reasons to be given below) that he saw them again after this Epistle was sent: indeed the peculiar affection and respect they seem to have discovered for the apostle, as well as the sufferings to which they had been exposed by their faithful adherence to the gospel,(chap. i. 28-30.) entitled them to some distinguished regard; for besides the present he acknowledges to have received from them by the hands of Epaphroditus, (chap. iv. 18.) they had more than once before generously contributed to his support, even during his residence amongst larger and richér societies. (Ib. v. 15, 16.). And from some hints that are dropped in this Epistle, we may gather that they had taken an opportunity of expressing, in the strongest and most affectionate terms, their sympathy with the apostle under his confinement, and #. concern lest it should affect the interest of religion, and prevent the spread of the gospel. It is no wonder if such proofs of the sincerest friendship, and the discovery of so excellent a tem- per, should deeply affect so pious and benevolent a heart as St. Paul's; and accordingly, his Epistle breathes throughout the warmest gratitude and most disinterested affection. g As to the date of this Epistle, it appears from the apostle's own words, (chap. i. 7, 13. iv. 22.) that it was written while he was a prisoner at Rome; and from the expectation he discovers (chap. ii. 24.) of being shortly released and re- stored to them again, compared with Philem. ver, 22; and Heb. xiii. 23. where he expresses a like expectation in yet stronger terms, it is extremely probable that this Epistle was written towards the close of his first imprisonment, and sent about the same time with the #. to the Colossians, the Ephesians, and Philemon, which (as has been already shown º the Introduction to the Ephesians, p. 672.) was in the year of our Lord 63, and the ninth of the Emperor Nero. (See also note g, p. 492. - The º e’s #. n in this Epistle (which is quite of the practical kind) seems to be, “to comfort the Philippians under the concern they had expressed at the news of his imprisonment; to check a party-spirit that appears to have broken out among them, and to promote, on the contrary, an entire union and harmony of affection; to guard them against being seduced from the purity of the christian faith by judaizing teachers ; to support them under the trials with which they º; and, above all, to inspire them with a concern to adorn their profession by the most eminent attainments in the divine life.” The apostle, after his usual salutation, (in which he joins Timothy's name with his own,) begins with assuring the Phi- lippians, in the most expressive language, of his affectionate regard for them, and solicitous concern for their religious interests; acknowledging, with the utmostgratitude, the goodness of God in calling them to partake with him in the bless- ings of the gospel, and praying for their further improvement in knowledge and holiness. (Chap. i. 1–11.) And to remove the apprehensions they were under from the news of his imprisonment at Rome, which seemed to wear so fatalan aspect on the interest of religion, he informs them, that even this event had, under the direction of Providence, been over- ruled for the service of the gospel; while the honest zeal of some, and the envious, contentious spirit of others, both concurred in advancing the same cause: and, notwithstanding all the opposition that was made to him, he declares his cheerful hope and j that in every situation of life, and even in death itself, he should still be honoured as the instrument of promoting this great object of his wishes. (Ver. 12—20.) In this connexion it was natural for him, to express the strong desire he felt of being with Christ in that better world, where he should receive the blessed fruits of his labours: and after describing the struggle he found within himself, between his earnest longing after that felicity, and 702 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS, º º for their further establishment in religion, he declares his readiness to continue here for the service of his i. aster, and their spiritual advantage; and entreats them, that while he did so, he might have the joy to hear that, though eT. absent, they maintained the honour of their christian character, both for piety and courage. (Ver, 21–30.) he apostle, hºg ºn the Philippians these general admonitions to maintain a conduct worthy of the gospel, pro- . º: º in the most solemn and pathetic manner, to the particular exercises of º and candour, and Rº er care or the interests of each other; which he enforces by the generous and condescending love of our blessed Redeemer; on, whose humiliation and exalted state he expatiates with great warmth and energy, urging them to a due improvement of these sublime discoveries by a holy caution and circumspection in their whole de ortment, and a life of the most exemplary virtue; which, as it would most evidently conduce to their own happiness and the honour of their ro- ligion, would also make a glorious addition to his joy and triumph at the great day, by affording so convincing a proof of the success of his labours. (Chap. ii. 1–16.), And, as a further instance of the strength of his affection and concern for their hºppiness, he assures them that he should even rejoice in the view of sacrificing his life for their advantage : and since for the present his circumstances would not allow him to gratify the earnest desire he felt of administering personal consolation and instruction to them, he promises to send Timothy very soon to supply his place; who, on account of the Particular affection he had discovered for that church, and the assiduity with which he assisted the apostle in his first Preaching the gºspel there, was of all others the most properto be employed in such an office. Yet he intimates astrong persuasion that he should himself be soon released from his imprisonment, and have the pleasure of seeing them once àgain; hºwever, as they stood in need of present support, and Timothy could not immediately undertake the journey, he tells them he had commissioned Epaphroditus, by whom he sent this letter, to assure them of his kind remembrancé, and to induce them to pay the greater regard to his messenger, he gives an affecting account of his late sickness, and ardent love to the brethren. (Ver, 17, to the end.) . Having thus sufficiently testified the sincerity of his regards for them, the apostle goes on to guard them against the influence of some factious, turbulent persons, who had disturbed the peace of the church by their furious zeal for the observance of the Jewish ritual; and exhorts them, in opposition to aft such pretences, to fix their whole dependence on Christ and his gospel; which he assures them he himself had done, though he had more to glory in Wi respect to Jewish privileges and advantages than most of those who valued themselves so highly upon them; animating them, from his own example, continually to aspire after higher attainments in piety and virtue, as !. only means of securing that complete felicity which the gospel promises to all its sincere votaries. (Chap. iii. 1–14.) And as they had not yet at- tained to the perfection of the christian character, he urges upon them, from the glorious hope of the resurrection, a holy and blameless temper and heavenly conversation; cautioning them against the ºad example even of some professing christians, who brought destruction on themselves, and reproach on religion, by the unsuitable manner in which they acted. (Ver, 15, to the end; chap. iv. 1.) - - The apostle, having in the former part of the Epistle recommended mutual forbearance, peace, and concord, now de- scends to some particular charges relating to the same subject; and then proceeds to give more general exhortations to christian cheerfulness, moderation, prayer, a behaviour universally amiable and praiseworthy, and an imitation of the good example he had endeavoured to set before them. (Wer. 2–9.) - Towards the close of the Epistle, he makes his acknowledgments to the Philippians for the seasonable and liberal sup- ply they had sent him; which he declares he rejoiced in principally on their account, as it was so convincing a proof of their affection for him, and their concern for the support of the gospel, which he preferred far above any private, secular interest of his own; expressly disclaiming all j. mercenary views, and assuring them, with a noble simplicity, that he was able upon all occasions to accommodate his temper to his circumstances, and had learnt under the teachings of divine grace, in whatever station Providence might see fit to place him, there with to be content. After which, the apostle, having encouraged them to expect a rich supply of all their wants from their God and Father, to whom he devoutly ascribes the honour of all, concludes with salutations from himself and his friends at Rome to the whole church, and a solemn benediction. (Ver. 10, to the end.) A P A R A PHR As E AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. SECTION I. THE INTRODUCTION, witH THE GENERAL SALUTATION, suited TO THE VIEws witH WHICH THE APOSTLE WROTE. - PHIL. i. 1–11. PHILIPPIANs i. VER. 1. - PAUL and Timothy,” being now providentially together at Rome, both through divine SECT. grace the faithful servants of Jesus Christ,b and desirous to promote his interest by their 1. writings, where their other labours cannot reach, do hereby send their most affectionate christian salutations to all the saints, their holy brethren in Christ Jesus which are at Pºſt. Philippi, whom God hath united to them in the bonds of one common faith. And they " greet with particular respect the bishops and deacons of the society,” to whom the oversight of it in the Lord is so peculiarly committed; wishing abundant success to their labours 2 Grâce be unto yºu...and in their respective and important offices: And wishing to every private christian under 2 Fº their care, whether personally known or unknown, grace even to you all, and perpetual Christ. peace, with every attendant blessing from God, who is now become our coyenant God and reconciled Father, and from the ral Jesus Christ, through whose blood, righteousness, and intercession, we are brought into so happy a relation to him. When I Paul am addressing a church §: to me by so many bonds, and to whom I 3 am under so many distinguished obligations, it is fit I should assure you that I give thanks unto my God, for such he is, and I recollect it with unspeakable delight in every mention of you; whether before the throne of grace, or when conversing with my fellow-christians. 4 Always in every prayer And the former occasion of mentioning you often occurs; for I am always in every prayer #º ..., ** of mine making humble supplication for you all, and mingling those intercessions with joy and praise, when I reflect on that honourable profession which you make, and that steady and exemplary conduct by which you support and adorn it. - Yes, my brethren, though several years are since passed, I think myself obliged to bless God, with all the united powers of my soul, for your participation in the blessings of the gospel,” from the first day of my préaching it among you, though soon attended with menaces, and insults, scourging and imprisonment: and to praise him for that establish- ment and increase which he hath been pleased to give to the seed that was sown, and 6 Being confident of this which his grace maintains even until now. And he will still maintain it; for [I aml com- ; : "..."...# fident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in and upon you, and which you wilfºrſoºn it until the I have now the pleasure of seeing so far advanced, will not finally forsake the production day of Jesus Christ: of his own grace, but will finish [it] in your souls, until he raise it to full perfection in the day of Jesus Christ, when he shall appear in all his glory. Such are the sentiments of my heart with respect to you, and such the concern I have account; as it is indeed just in me to be thus affected towards you all, because I . . . tº know you have me in your hearts, both in these my bonds for the sake of Christ, and in my ãº," "::"...º defence and confirmation of the gospel, while I am pleading its cause in the midst of so much all are partakers of my grace opposition and danger; as you are all partakers with me in the grace of that gospel,” which establishes a community of interests {. us; and as you so tenderly and faithfully PHIL. i. VER. l. PAUL and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus. Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which , are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons : 3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 5 For your fellowship, in the gospel from the first day until In OW ; 6 7 Fº as it f meet ſº i. to think this of you all, be- - cause I have you in my heart; upon your inasmuch as both in my bonds, 7 a Paul and Timothy.] Paul might here choose to join Timothy with troversy, imports. Dr. Whitby (in his note on this place) solidly asserts him, as he not only had attended the apostle in his general travels into these parts, but had assisted in preaching the gospel at Philippi. Com- pare Acts xvi. 1, 3, 12. - e - The servants of Jesus Christ.] . Some have inquired why Paul does not style himself an apostle here, and in his two Epistles to the Thessa- lonians, and that to Philemon, as he does in all the other Epistles that bear his name; and have accounted for it, by observing that no objection had been made to his character, at Thessalonica or j and that, having received a present from them, he might not seem to be burdensame as an apostle gf Christ. Perhaps it rather was because Timothy or Silas, who were meither of them apostles, are joined with him here and in the Epistles to the Thessalonians. But I think the question seems to have its foundation in curiosity rather than use. See Pierce, in loc. c The bishops and deacons.]. As this proves there must have been more than one bishop at Chilippi, it has been apprehended, by many pious and learned men, to H e a n intimation that there was then no difference be- tween bishops ar.d p' esbyters; all the presbyters of this church having (as they suppose) the title given them here of bishops, overseers, or superintendant'; ; for this is what the word eſtigkomou, beyond all con- this interpretation, and conſutes that which would give the words a con- trary and, I think, a very unnatural turn. Some think the deacons are mentioned as having been particularly concerned in the liberal supply that was sent from this church to the apostle, which had been probably collected by them. . d Participation in the gospel.] Some by Kouvovia et; to evayyeXtov understand their communicating something for the support of the gospel, and particularly to the supply of the apostle’s necessities, referred to chap. iv., 16; and 2 Cor. xi. 9.. but to partake, and to communicate, are words of different signification, and it is evident that the original word §§§ signifies the former, rather than the latter. Compare 1 Cor. i. . 2 Cor. viii. 4. xiii. 13. Phil. iii. 10. Philem. ver. 6. 1 Johu i. 3,6,7. e Jás you are all partakers with me..] Perhaps the grammar of this sen- tence would have been better expressed if I had rendered it, pretty agreeably to what, Dr. Whitby would propose: “You, who are all par- takers gſ grace with me in my bonds, ſºr the defence and confirmation qf the gospel.” But the sense, is nearly the same, and the order in which the words lie in the original is much more convenient for paraphrasing than that to which they would be reduced by such a transposition. 704 PAUL's IMPRISONMENT HAD PROMOTED THE Gospel. *97. show your sense of it, I cannot but return it. Thus I say it ought to be, and thus it is; , s For god is my record, 1. for God, who discerns all the secret recesses of my heart, is my witness, how earnestly fº I long after yº. lon - all in the bowel J. ri 2 - - all in the bowels of Jesus gjor you owels of Jesus Christ. He knows that I long to see you, with that Christ. PHIL. peculiar tenderness of affection which nothing but these bonds of mutual faith and love, * g centring in him, can be capable of producing, and which greatly resembles the compas- sion which Christ himself feels for those whom his grace has made the members of his 9 body. And, in the mean time, this I continue to pray for in your behalf, as the best 9 And this I B."; blessing I can ask of God for you, that your love to one another, and to all the saints, may ... ..."; }; gbound yet more and more; and that it may be a rational and truly christian affection, and in hijudgment. founded in a thorough knowledge of the principles which tend so much to endear us to each other, and in all that inward feeling and perception of these sacred ties which nothing 10 but true ex tºº. religion can give:f So dis to prove by experience things which differ; .40. That ye may º and know by trial, how incomparably excellent the christian character is beyond any tº, º ſºlºi ºther:, that ye, may be found not only sincere and cordial, but altogether inoffensive yºffence till the day 11 through the whole of your christian course, even until the great day ºf Christ: Being "ii"; filled with the Jilled with all the genuine fruits and effects of righteousnessh which are produced by virtue ...º.º.º. of a vital faith in Jesus Christ, and by strength and influence #º from him, to the idºl. § and praise of God; for that great end of the gospel-revelation is never moré effec- tually answered, than when the temper and conduct of those who profess it is agreeable to its sacred dictates. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. I AMIDST the numberless mercies with which, through the indulgence of our heavenly Father, we are daily sur- 5 rounded, what can demand our humble and grateful º more than our participation in the gospel ? To whatever afflictions it may expose us, or whatever we may be called to sacrifice to its interests, every day in 3 which we share its comforts and supports, calls aloud for our praises, both in the enjoyment and in the recollec- tion. And whilst we look back with these sentiments of gratitude, let us look forwards with cheerful confidence. It is to God's having begun a good work in us that we are to ascribe it, that the glorious gospel of his Son is our 6 joy and our wonder, rather than our aversion and our scorn. We may therefore be j confident that he will #. * tºok of his own hands, but will finish it, so that it shall appear worthy of himself in the great a y Of the LOrd. No wonder that, where this blessed work is begun, there is a great affection between those who were the in- 4, 9 struments of producing it, and those in whom it is produced. o wonder if Paul made mention of these his christian converts at Philippi in every prayer of his, offering up requests for them, and praying for the increase of their hope and love. No wonder, on the other side, if their hearts were tenderly set upon him, and that, distant 7 as he was, he seemed to lodge there, and their tender care followed him through every circumstance of his bonds 8 and apology; so that his sufferings and dangers were even more painful to them than their own, while he on his part longed for them all in the bowels of the Lord, and could conceive of no greater charm in liberty itself, than that it might give him an opportunity of cultivating so endearing a friendship by personal converse. The increase of love founded on knowledge, and attended with other sentiments of experimental religion, is to 9, 10 be numbered among the best of apostolic blessings. Every experience of these things will confirm our resolu- tion of maintaining that godly sincerity which will render our conversation unblamable, and our account in the 11 day of the Lord comfortable. To glorify God by the fruits of righteousness, is the great end for which these rational natures were given us; and it is by the exercise of lively faith in Christ that these dispositions are culti- wated, and these fruits rendered most abundant. SECTION II. The apostle inſorms the Philippians how his imprisonment at Rome had been providentially overruled for the service of the gospel;, and strongly flººr; his º hope and confidence that this great object of his wishes should stiſl be promoted, whatever events might be allotted to liim. Phil. i. 12– PHILIPPIANS i. 12. PHIL. i. 12. secT. MY dear friends, I am fully convinced of the tenderness of your affection for me; and as BūT...I *...*hº 2. ſhave declared above, I do you the justice to believe that you have me in your heart while ..."; º; – I continue under this confinement for the testimony of Jesus. But I would have you to º, ...hº... º.º. Paſſ, know, my much-beloved brethren, that the things relating to me, some of which have given of the ºei, 12 you $3 much concern, on the most friendly and generous principles, have been so over- ruled by the divine wisdom and goodness, that indeed they have fallen out rather to the 13 advancément than hinderance of the gospel, which ye were ready to fear. So that "#, bonds cº in Christ are manifested" and taken notice of in all the palace of Caesar, and all other ..."...".”. “...i. [places] in and about the city, and have seemed sº remarkable that many have been excited places; to inquire, much to their own satisfaction and º what there was in this new and unknown religion that could animate me so cheerfully to endure so much hardship and - persecution in its defence; for they soon traced up my sufferings to this as their only cause. 14 And this had so happy an effect, that many of the brethren in the Lord, instead of being tº: Alſº º the bre. discouraged, were imboldened by my bonds, when they saw my firmness and constancy in jää. . i."ºn.”. O der them, so as to venture with "mich more undaunted courage to preach the word of the "...º.º. speak the tenanced WOrd Without fear. 2 4 gospel, which our enemies thought, by their persecution of me, to have discoun and silenced. 15 Indeed I cannot say that all who have engaged in this work have acted upon the noblest ~15. Some indeed preach • - º - * :-....:... ;- Christ even of envy and principles: for some preach Christ even from envy and contention, desirous to maintain in “” Cſ. Vy an 7Il knowledge and perception.] We render it knowledge and judgment h Fruits gſ righteousness.]... If this have, as sºme jºinº lºore aft: former is §. of speculative, and the latter º: peculiar reference to ºff; I see no º, § ſº it to jºwiedźe, but ithink the distinction between the idea suggested by that interpretation; not do I, thinl *i; }}. y º ‘...tha º, ...iº is nich better preserved by rendering the word alºngsi, liberal and generºus manisſiºd ºft h le fru. § j * º: perception, or inward sensation. He wishes they might not only know herº be a prevailing uniformity of character, W Way S LO De … ipies which recommend candour and benevolence, but feel their 19709: s & - --> - - ###". their hearts; which a daily experience . observation it".º # § §§§º: }}}}}; show º S; º great prétenders to this kind of knowledge, is a very gºor Christ, i. e. that I suffer º for the sake of christianity, and not diº; t 'ºffic. differ.] Mr. Hoye justly asserts this translation, as for any reai crime; and he argues from the order of º words, *::::::: wéil ##. preferred in the preceding note, and introduces this text to ** Xplorg ytv.ca9aº; but I think this interpretation . . {. (It §ºhº, need the light of the Spirit to help us to apprehend, to con- tº be read, twice which would be a º #: • º § #sº '. ...”. jº, tº judge, and determine our actions agreeably to that judgment, truction than the latter translation he woul . º e V6ItheleşS Iſl #.6. Oññ3 Spirit, vol. i. p. 271. the clogº of the paraphrase I have included this thought. THE APOSTLE'S PROFIT IN LIFE OR DEATH. sºft ; and some also of good the church a Willl . 705 * party that shall oppose me, and willing to add as many abettors to it as they SECT. possibly can, while others do it out of [sincere] qffection, faithfully intending the honour of 2. God, the interest of the Redeemer, and the advancement of human happiness, which is - ...ºf so inseparably connected with the success of christianity in the world. The ſº indeed rift. jºid #; preach Christ out of strife, and not with purity and simplicity of intention, but, ºn the 16 onds : contrary, from the unkindest and unworthiest motive, as desirous to add yet more affliction to my bonds, by strengthening the cause of those who, while they call themselves christians, seem to place a point of honour and conscience in hº my reputation, and abettin unreasonable prejudices, which have been so eagerly raised and propagated, to the disad- vantage of my character. Whereas others "...] him out of cordial love, and amidst the 17 many other noble and benevolent views on which they act, have some regard to that comfort which they are sure it will administer to me, as they know that I am raised up and Seth in the place in which I appear for the defence of the gospel; and that nothing can make my sorrows and distressés sit so light upon me as to see that this blessed cause is in * -- ~ - - - - --- some measure promoted by them. What then is the result of these attempts, proceeding 18 º º; from such different principles 2 It is, that I am, in one view or another, pleased with them is ºached; ºff herºo both : for though I could indeed wish that all engaged in so honourable a work were pur- rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. ... º º is :4- * . suing it from the most worthy and generous motives, yet every way, whether it be only in pretence of pious zeal, or in the truth of it, Christ is however preached, and the great doc- trine of salvation by him has something of a wider spread. And in this I heartily rejoice, yea, and I will continue to rejoice; for I had much rather that some, who are converted to christianity by my enemies, should think as ill of me as they themselves do, than that they should remain ignorant of those fundamental truths on the knowledge of which their eternal happiness depends. Nor do I much regard the opposition which may arise against me from the ill-designing teachers, or their misguided followers: for I well know that, dis- agreeable as its present effects are, even this shall issue in promoting my salvation,” by your continued prayer to God for me, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which shall be liberally dealt out in answer to it: According to my earnest expectation and cheerful 20 iºd, hope, that I shall in nothing be ashamed, whatever injurious reflections may be made upon º!"; my conduct; but [that, by all the freedom of speech which I am still, determined to use, shall be magnified in my body, as it hath always been hitherto, [so] now glgo Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether whºler it be by life, or by by its liberty or confinement, whether in life or in death. When I consider all possible contingencies that can arise in this view, I find my heart most cheerfully reconciled to them all, and, instead of trembling at the thought of martyrdom itself, I rather rejoice in it. IMPROVEMENT. How admirable is the conduct of divine Providence and in how beautiful a manner does it often work the purposes it wisely and graciously determines, by events which seem to have the most contrary tendency! Who could have imagined that the imprisonment of St. Paul should have been effectual to the advancement of chris-Ver. 12 tianity ? Thus can God animate and encourage his servants by the extremity which their brethren suffer in his causé; so that they shall wax confident by their bonds and their martyrdom. Let this then reconcile us to all the 14 allotments of Providence, and establish us in an earnest expectation and hope that Christ will be glorified in all 20 things by us, whether by our life or death: and who that knows the grace of God in truth, would not rejoice even in death itself, if the gracious Redeemer, who gave his own life for us, may thereby be magnified ? How execrable the temper of those who preached Christ out of envy and contention, and managed a ministry which should have breathed nothing but love, in a view of adding affliction to those bonds that oppressed this best of men' But how generous and amiable the disposition which the apostle expresses when he rejoices in this, that Christ was preached, though the purposes with regard to him were so unkind'ſ These are the wonders which the love of Jesus produces in the ...i. thus doth it empty us of every malignant passion, and reconcile us to the most disagreeable events that may advance his interests. Where such principles inspire the breast, the faithful servants of Jesus will find their own account, while they are wholly intent on his honour. All these events shall turn to their salvation; but let it be remembered, that it is through the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which sanctifies to us every circumstance through which we pass. That these supplies may be imparted, let us unite our prayers in favour of all who love our common Lord in sincerity. (Eph. vi. 24.) 17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. 1S What then P not withi- 19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that 15 18 SECTION III. Pººl fºllº ºn tº the Philippians the sentinents of his heart as to life and deaths deglºº, his dº tº be...ith Shri in a better wºrld, but his readiness to continue here, for his Lord’s service; and entreats them that while he did so, he might have the joy to hear that, though he were absent, they maintained the honour of their christian character, both for piety and courage. Phil. i. 21—30. PHIL. i. 21. PHILIPPIANS i. 21. F}}...tºº ºlive is Christ, I HAVE expressed my expectation and my hope that Christ will be glorified in me and to die is gain. p p * , a & 8–5 3 whether by life or by death, and it is a hope which I am encouraged to form by a con- sciousness of the temper I feel in my heart. For to me to live [is] Christ;” he is the supreme End of my life, and I value it only as it is capable of being referred to the pur- poses of his honour. And in consequence of this, to die [is] gain : for as this temper argues my interest in the friendship of that Redeemer who is the Lord of the invisible as well as the visible world, I am well satisfied that he will make ample provision for my happiness when I quit this transitory life, and surround me with far more important bless- **ś; ings than any which I must then resign. And if he determines that I live longer in the º jśi infirmities and sorrows of mortal flesh, I desire to acquiesce; for this [is] what I esteem DOt, the great fruit of my life and labour, and an ample equivalent for all its fatigues, that I - may be capable in some measure of promoting the great end which Jºã him for a while to make his abode here in this humble form of human nature. Jind thus, on the SECT, 3. PHIL, 1 2 22 But if I live in the flesh, 22 b I am set.] Some would render kelpat, I lie, i. e. in bonds for the ospel, in order to make anapology for it. • a rº • - g C. jºy salvation.] Mr. Pierce explains agornpta as signifying deliver- ance from prison, and thinks, that as they that preached Christ, out of ióve made more friends for the apostle, so they that preached him out - º of envy gave his friends an opportunity of representing his persecutors as proceeding upon principles of malice. But to wave other remarks, 89 *><. I cannot think that such an event could be said to proceed from the sup- ply of the Spirit of Christ. a To me to live is Christ, &c.] Mr. Pierce would translate this clause: Christ is gain to me, living or dying. But the paraphrase shows how it stands connected on admitting our version... Nor can I think the other version natural, as it quite destroys the antithesis in those members of the sentence which are opposed to each other. 706 3. HE EXHORTS THEM TO HOLINESS AND CONSTANCY, SECT, whole, which I should choose if it were entirely referred to myself, I know not : For I am, , 23 For I am in a strait be- twixt two, having a desire to PHIL. and quitting these mortal shores, Ver.21 as it were, borne two different ways;" having, on the one hand, a more earnest desire, out of regard to my own immediate happiness, to be unbound; to weigh anchor, as it were, - - * * * * set sail for that happy world where I shall be immediately with Christ,” which is better, beyond all comparison and expression, than a longer abode here 24 would be, were I to regard only my own immediate comfort and happiness. But to abide in the flesh [is] I know, more expedient and necessary for you and my fellow-christians, 25 who need, my further, assistance. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide, and I am heartily willing, though my own personal glory be delayed, to continue with 3/0ll abide and continue with you gll, in order to the advancement of your faith, and of that joy which is supported by it:e . ºrgº furtherance and 26 That your boasting and rejoicing in me may in and through Christ Jesus be more abundant, ºur rejoicing may and your christian consolation greatly increased by my coming among you again to make §º in Jesus you another visit when I am enlarged from my present confineménē, as when it has tº. * * *" answered the schemes of Providence with respect to it, I hope I shall be. - Only let me always urge this upon you, that your conversationſ may be such as becomes the gospel of Christ, and may do an honour to your profession of his religion; that SO, whether I come to visit you, or be long absent from you, I may see and hear concerning Jou, that yº stgua fast in one spirit, striving together as with one soul, and in the most vigorous united efforts, for the faith of the gospel; which it will be your interest to contend for how violently soever your mightiest º may attempt to wrest it out of your hands. 28 And indeed I hope it will appear that you are not in any degree terrifiedº by áll the rage and fury of your enemies, which, when duly considered, is to them an evident token ºf is to them an evident tok surely and quickly approaching destruction;h as nothing can be a more certain sign that §§§oºl. they are ripe for it, than the prevalency of such a persecuting spirit among them; but to ***** jow it is a sure evidence of complete salvation, quickly to be revealed, and that from God himself, who will reward your pious fortitude with blessings proportionably distinguished. 29 And in this view I would have you to look upon these trials, and, instead of dreading them, to be thankful for them. For it is granted to you as a ſº on the part of Christ, ...","...'..."; }; Qur'great Lord, not only to believe in him, but also that you should have thé distinguished §§sººris's honour to suffer for his sake;i in consequence of which you will be entitled to the pecu- liar rewards of those who have been martyrs and confessors in the cause of his truth. 80 (Compare Acts v. 41.) Having in a great measure the same struggle with the adversaries .30 Having the same con; of the gospel, who labour to overbear it by brutal violence, as ye saw to be in mek when I flºº...” was among you at Philippi, and was stripped and scourged, and laid in a dungeon and in º the stocks, and which you now hear [to # in me at Rome; whither you know I was sent in bonds as an evil-doer, having been obliged to appeal to Caesar for the preservation of my life, when attempted by enemies who would be contented with nothing less than my blood, which they had solemnly bound themselves to shed. - IMPROVEMENT. How happy must that man be who can truly say, that to him to live is Christ, and to die gain! What a blessed alternative is before him, and how cheerfully may he leave it to Providence to decide which of the two shall be %. for him And yet how vain must life be, and how miserable death, to that man who cannot say it! e that gathereth not with Christ, scattereth abroad : (Matt. xii. 30.) and when death comes to such an one, it is the loss of all, attended with the final, and, alas ! the eternal, loss of himself. While the good man pronounces 23 it better beyond all comparison to depart, that he may be with Christ, and submits only to continue in life, as the depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for y Oll. . 25 And having this confi- ence, I know that I shall 27 27 Only let your conversa- tion be as, it becometh the gospel of Christ: that wheth- er I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with, one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which 29 For unto you it is given : 24, 25 part in which self-denying duty requires him to acquiesce. But, O! how unworthy the christian character, to be 22 averse to so advantageous a remove . To be unwilling, and that even on such terms, to depart and to be with Christ! As if any converse, any friendship, any enjoyment, any hope here, were comparable, yea, as if it were preferable, to serving him in his immediate presence, under the everlasting tokens of his acceptance and delight. But if that Master whom we have the honour to serve, determine to us an abode here for months and years to 25 come, and his church may receive advantage by it, ill shall we requite his love who quitted heaven for this sinful and wretched earth of ours, if we are unwilling for a while to wait till he shall call us up to himself. Very defi- cient shall we be in that gratitude and zeal which we owe him, if we find not something of a heaven begun even below, in doing what may be pleasing to him, in managing his interest, with such degrees of ability as he shall be pleased to honour us with, º so training up others to a meetness for those enjoyments which he hath taught us by his grace to expect and pursue. - 27 Whatever our stations may be, whether in public or private life, let it be our care, in every circumstance and Christ. vol. iii. p. 530 b Borne two different ways : ovvexoplat ek Tov čvo.]. The original is very emphatical; and it seems (according to the turn I have given it in the paraphrase) to be an allusion to a ship stationed at a particular place, and riding at anchor, and at the same time likely to be forced to sea by the violence of the winds; which presents.us with a lively repre- sentation of the apostle’s attachment to his situation in, the christian church, and the vehemence of his desire to be unbound, as I have rendered avºwza, that is, to weigh anchor and set sail for the heavenly country. c Be immediately with Christ.] This plainly proves that the separate spirits of good men are with Christ in such a manner as that, their state is far better than while they continue in this presgut World; which, a state of insensibility, cannot possibly be. But Mr. Fleming very justly observes, that it will not at all º: that large accession of happi- ness after the resurrection, which other scriptures plainly declare. Flem. - - - Compare 2 Cor. v. 5—10. he original phrase, TroXXo pa)\ov kostagov, which we render, far better, is so very em- phatical, that I cannot translate it literally, and I know, not how better to imitate the sense than by rendering it, better beyond all expression ; for indeed the apostle seems to labour for expression here as much as in any part of his writings: - I ſnow I shall abide..] Probably, as Mr. Howe º; (vol. ii. p. 89.) he had some particular revelation to ground this confidence upon. I can by no means think he refers to any intimation from the palace how it was likely to go with him. He must have, known little of princes and courtiers, (especially in Nero's reign,) to build so con- fidently on such a ſoundation. . m - - e }}. advancement of your ſaith and joy.j Your furtherance and joy of faith is a more literal translation; but as it expresses nothing more than that here given, which is rather plainer and easier to be understood, I #. I need make no apology for such a liberty here and in several other alC6S. - - - p ffet your conversation.] The learned. Professor Franckius, thinks 2 parenthésis begins with these words, which is continued to the end of the 16th verse of the next chapter ; but it appears to me neither neces- sary nor natural to allow it. The word Toxtreveaffe signifies most lite- rally to behave as denizens of some city or corporation. ; but to render it, as Dr. Scott proposes, (Christian Liſe, vol., i., p. .). citizen it as bécomes, &c. is making a great deal too free, with the English language. g, JYot in any degree terrified, &c. It evidently º from.. hence, and from several other passages in this Epistle, that the Philippians were now in a suffering state, which is a circumstance, to be borne in mind as we go on, as it illustrates several masterly strokes in the apos- tle’s address to them. - - - h Evident token of destruction.] Mr. Pierce, by interpreting it, “they think it a proof of your being obstinately bººt on your own ruin,” loses the true sense and spirit of the passage. - i Suffer for his sake.] From this text and some parallel pºssages, such as 1 Thess. xi. Tim. iii. 2. Heb. x. 32. 1 Pet. i. 6. Some may object to what Dr. Lardner has asserted when he says, that most of the first persecutions which the christians suffered came from, the Jews. It is no wonder if that obstinate and cruel people were peculiarly enraged against the disciples of Jesus, who so, expressly contradicted many of their favourite maxims and tenets. And though, to be sure, their greatest influence was in Judea, yet it is well known that in other places, they had a power of imprisoning and scourging in the synagogues, and it is highly probable that many of the severities inflicted by Gentile magis- trates on the first preachers of the º were at the instigation of the Jews who dwelt in the cities over which these magistºtes presided. ompare Acts xii. 3. ...iii. 50.Xiv., 19. xvii. 5, 13. xviii. 12. xix. 9. Dr. Lardner’s Cred. vol. i. p. 417, &c. . . - k Said to be in me..] I see not why this should be explained as refer- ring only or chiefly to his, conflicts with judaizing teachers, concerning which at Philippi we read nothing. This, seems one of the many texts which may be expounded in a greater latitude than that in which some late jearned commentators and critics, have taken it. It would be todi- ous to mark all instances of a like kind. See A N. : : A Nij \{U'i UAL LOVE. 707 relation, that our conversation may be as becometh the gospel; that we may adorn so holy a profession, and answer SECT. so glorious a hope. If opposition arise, let it not terrify us. It will, if well supported, be a token of salvation, and 3. that of God. Let us account it an honour, and the gift of the divine favour to us, to be called and strengthened to suffer for his sake. So were the prophets, so were the apostles, dignified. We have heard of their noble COn- PHIL. tentions, that we might emulate them; and well may we do it, since we have the same Author, Finisher, and 29.30 Support of our faith, and hooe to partake of the same exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (2 Cor. iv. 17.) 5 EXIHORTATIONS TO UNA. i \ii'i'Y SECTION IV. The apostle exhorts the Philippians to unanimity and candour, and a tender care for the interest of each other; which he enforces by the generous and condescending love of our blessed Redeemer; of whose humiliation and exalted estate he discourses in a very affectionate manner: press- ing them to a due improvement of it, as what would most highly conduce to their own happiness and his cornfort. Phil. ii. 1–16. , PHILIPPIAN's ii. 1. I HAVE been expressing my concern, that your conversation might be worthy of the gos-SECT. pel; and as nothing can conduce more to it than the exercise of mutual love, permit me, 4. my dear brethren, to enforce it further upon you, by every pathetic consideration which our common faith and most holy religion can suggest: and particularly by the affectionate PHIL. remembrance of my sufferings and your own. (Compare chap. i. 30.) }. therefore [there 1 be] any consolation in Christ himself, the great Source of all our enjoyments and hopes, for whose sake we have endured so many extremities; if there be any comfort and de- light in the exercise of the most tender and endeared love; if there be any communion of hearts, founded upon the communication of one and the same Spirit, working in all our souls; if there be on the whole any bowels in human nature, and any compassions either manifested by God to us, or wrought into the constitution of our being by the great Author of it: In a word, if there be any affectionate bond by which you are united to me, who 2 have been by divine grace made your spiritual father, and by whose ministry you have been made acquainted with these engaging views; complete ye my joy, and endeavour to fill my heart with the most exalted pleasure, while I lie in these bonds for my fidelity to God and to you. Now in this view I am desirous beyond expression, that ye may all be wnanimous,” maintaining the same love, however your sentiments, and in some instances your practice, may be divided, still having your souls joined together, and all their ardour combined in attending to the one great thing, which ought to be the leading concern of every christian, the iº of vital, practical holiness; by attending º to which, you will be diverted from those undue attachments to smaller matters which so º divide the affection of christians, and take them off from the pursuit of the noblest ObjectS. %. in this view especially guard against pride, and ſº nothing [be done] or said out 3 of a spirit of contradiction .# contention, or from vain-glory, to draw the eyes of others upon you, and make yourselves the subjects of discourse and admiration; but in unaffected simplicity and lowliness of mind, esteeming others as more excellent than yourselves : which, on one account or another, you may know almost every one to be. Do not every one aim at his own separate interests, profits, and conveniences, but aim each of you also at pro- moting the interests of others : be always ready to deny yourselves for the general good, and to condescend to one another, as .. happiness of every particular brother and friend mº require. Il PHIL. ii. 1. 1F there be therefore any con- solation in Christ, if any com- fort of love, if any fellowshi of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2 Fulfil ye my joy, that }. be like-minded, having the same love, being of one ac- cord, of one Inind. 3 Let nothing be dome through strife or vain-glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not gºvery man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 4 5 Let this mind be in you as in ox-ovr - g ºn ev t whi wiličíºs º iſ ºft this respect, and in every other, let the same mind be in every one of you which was Jesus: also in so eminent and amiable a degree in Christ Jesus, whom we call our Master and gº ºr Lord: Even in that illustrious and adorable Person, who being, long before his ap- §§§ {:};" pearance in human flesh, in the form of God,” and having been from eternal ages #. • of divine perfections and glories, when manifesting himself to the patriarchs and prophets of old, thought it not robbery and usurpation to be and appear as God,” assuming the highest divine names, titles, and attributes, by which the Supreme Being has made him- reputation, and took upon self known, and receiving from his servants divine honours and adorations: Yevertheless, jºr."ºf "...r.º. in his infinite condescension and compassion to us miserable sinners, emptied himself of sº made in theikeness all this glory, taking [upon ºlº of the splendours which he had been used to wear g as the Sovereign of angels, the humble form not only of a common man, but even of a servant, when made in the likeness of men, which itself had been a most astonishing stoop, 8 And being found, in fash; even though he had appeared in the pomp of the greatest monarch. ...And yet even this 8 #jº...; condescension to the rank of low life among sinful mortals, wonderful as it was, did not into death, even the death of content him: for being found in fashion and appearance as a man, and having put on all the cross. . the innocent infirmities of our nature, he humbled himself still further, becoming obedient even unto death ; and indeed to no common and gentle form of dissolution, But to the ignominious as well as painful death of the cross, on which he expired, as you well know, like one of the vilest and most accursed of mankind. 7 But made himself of no 7 a Unanimous, &c.] It is difficult to translate or - words so as to avoid some appearance of tautology. In my Third Let; ter to the author of Christianity not founded on flrgument, p. 43. I had araphrase these ſº which is especially to the present purpose, it is sometimes thus rendered when preceded by the particle 90s. See Rom. v. 13, 14.2 Cor. given a translation in the main the same with this; but on further ex- amination, whereas I had there united the second and third clause as an explication of the first, let your souls be joined together in the same love, I here (as in my Sermon on Christian Candour, p. 8.) join the two former and two latter clauses, TO & JT 0 ©povnTC, Tmu avrmv ayatny exovies, be unanimous, maintaining the same love ; a vºluxot 70 & ©povovites, having your souls joined together in allending to the one thing. . An im- provement for which I am obliged to my learned, accurate, and worthy iriend, Dr. Daniel Scott. * - b Who being in the form of God..] . Few of É readers can be igno- rant of the pains learned men have taken to establish two very different translations and senses of this important text, and, of the contrary uses which have been made of it in the controversy relating to the deity of our ever-blessed Redeemer. The critics who would render ovk apıray- pov ſyngaro, &c. did not eagerly catch at a likeness to, or equality with, God, built a great deal of their argument on the opposition of the two clauses, and the force of the particle ax\a. He did not affect this equal- ity, but humbled himself. I have often wondered at the stress laid on this, since every one must know that a \\a often signifies, nevertheless, and accordingly it is, frequently rendered so in our versions particu- larly Mark xiv. 36. John xi. 15. } Cor. ix. 12. Gal. iv. 30. 2 Tim. i. 12. xii. 16. I have given such an interpretation of the passage as appeared to me, on mature deliberation, most agreeable to the text itself, in com- |...}}| other scriptures; and the learned reader cannot be at a 9ss to find the opinion of the most celebrated writers on each side of the question relating to it. I hardly recollect any that have discussed it with Inore accuracy than Bos, in his Ercreit. 2nd Edit. p. 196—203. and Sir Richard Ellys, in his Fortuita Sacra, p. 178—228. §isiºn Bur- met well observes, that the Socinian interpretation is extremely cold and insipid, as if it were a mighty argument of humility that, though Christ wrought miracles, which they strangely think signified by the Fº of being in the form of God, yet he did not set up for Supreme eity. See Burnet, on the Art, p. 46. - c To be and appear as God..] So to a €ea) is most exactly rendered, agreeable to the force of iga in many places in the Septuagint, which Dr. Whitby has collected in his note on this place. The proper Greek phrase for equal to God, is toov to €eq), which is used, John v. 18. Mr. Pierce thus paraphrases the clause before us, “He was not eager in re; taining that likeness, to God,” of which he was before Pºiº and he observes, that, had it referred to what was considered as future, the expression would have been ºcéal, not gºal, and further pleads, that the apostle’s design here is not to caution the Phi §." against coveting what they had no claim to, but to engage them, after the 708 SECT. 4. r − - ii's HE EXHORTS THEM TO BE MEEK AND BLANIELESS Therefore God his Father, to whom such a course of filial obedience, proceeding from such noble principles of piety and charity, could not but be most acceptable, hath exalted him to the most eminent dignity,” and granted him a name, the honours of which are supe- * rior to those of every other name that can come in comparison with it. So that in the II. Ver, 6 portant meaning ! 10 11 12 13 14 I5 16 name of Jesus, in humble sº to his authority and command, every knee should bow, and every spirit submit, of celestial [beings,) in their various orders of dignity and glory, as well as of those upon and under the earth:e angels and men, the living and the dead, yea, devils themselves, shall do him homage; and he be ever adored, as the Saviour of his redeemed,people, as the Head of all holy and happy spirits, and the sovereign and un- controllable Lord of all those whose rebellion against him and his heavenly Father hath made them the worthy objects of perpetual displeasure and punishment. And thus hath God taken effectual measures, that every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ, his anointed Son, [is] indeed Lord of all, to the glory of God the Father, in whose name he administers his mediatorial kingdom, and to whose honour he professedly refers it. . Therefore, my beloved christian brethren, as §f hath, in the person of his Son, so glo- riously rewarded that bright assemblage of virtue for which he was so incomparably illus- trious, and particularly that condescension, humility, and benevolence, which I have so earnestly been recommending to you; let it be considered by you as an engagement to tread in his steps with diligence and resolution, so far as the feeble powers of human nature may admit. And as justice requires me to acknowledge that ye have always been obedient to my instructions and exhortations, while I have had the pleasure of being with you, be solicitous, that not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence,f (which, though it deprives you of some advantages, yet, as it is owing to my bonds in your cause, ought to increase the tenderness of your concern for my comfort,) you may work out your own salvations with great earnestness and assiduity, yea, considéring its infinite import- ance, with holy fear and trembling. ... I say your own salvation, for that will be most effectually secured and promoted by the temper I have now been recommending. Seize that happy opportunity of doing it which divine grace affords; for God is he who worketh in you, both to will and to perform of [his º, good pleasure. You ought therefore to consider every good affection and purpose which arises in your heart, as suggested by his race, which waits upon you, to enable you to bring it into perfection. And remember at he operates with such sovereign freedom, that if these condescending favours be slighted, they may in righteous displeasure be withdrawn; and I leave you, my dear bre- thren, to reflect how fatal the consequence would then be. - Go on therefore resolutely in your whole christian course, and let all things, be done without those murmurings and disputings which so ill become the relation in which you A DEGENERA, E AGE. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every maine : 10 That at the name of ºsus every knee should bow of things in heaven, an things in earth, and things under the earth ; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my ab- sence, work out your own sal- yation with fear and trem- bling. 13. For , it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 14 Do, all things without murmurings and disputings: stand to each other, and that community of interest in which, as the servants of this com- passionate Saviour, you are united. On the whole, let me, by every most affecting consideration, urge it upon you again and again, that ye may be blameless and inoffensive, and act up to the dignity of your relation as the children of God, maintaining an unexceptionable character, in the midst of all the ma- lignity which you must expect to encountér from a perverse and crooked generation, with which you aré surrounded: amongst whom be concerned that ye may shine as elevate lightsi in the dark world about you ; that you may direct those that sail on this dangerous sea, and secure them from suffering shipwreck on those fatal rocks which every where lie in their way. Thus must you, as you ténder the lives and the souls of your fellow-crea: tures, be continually holding out to them, for their guidance and instruction, the word of life, by which you have been directed to steer safely for the blessed haven of glory and immortality, and whereby they may receive the same benefit. A variety of important con; siderations concur to inspire you with so happy a resolution, and I doubt not but you will allow some weight to this among the rest, that it will greatly tend to promote my rejoicing in the day of Christ, that it may appear I have not run through the course of my apostolic office in vain, nor laboured in the ăuties of it in vain; but that the great end of it has been at least in part answered, in the glory of God, by your salvation and usefulness. HMPROVEMENT. 15 That ye may be blame- less and liarmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and per- verse nation, among whornye shine as lights in the world; 16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that, I hayo not run in vain, neither la- boured in vain. We know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Few christians are unacquainted with the remarkable phrases in which it is here expressed. But how few seriously pause upon it, and labour to affect their hearts with its im- Who can conceive the dignity and glory of Christ, when in the form of God, and accounting it no robbery or usurpation to be as God? Who can conceive of that mysterious act; of that (if we may be allowed example of Christ, to give up their own right for the advantage of others. - - - d God hath ezalted him to, the most eminent dignity.) This seems a more natural translation of the word úreprºoq ... than what Mr. Pierce proposes, who would render it, exalted him higher than before... I think Hoſhing can be more evident than that he who was exalted was hum- 5ied, and consequently, that there was a proper §ange made in the state and condition of Christ, by that emptying himself spoken of, ver, 7. e Those upon and under the earth.] There can be no doubt but the former clause relates to Christ’s being made Sovereign Qyer the angelic spirits. ph. i. 1 But whether this latter phrase, Things upon and under the earth, may not relate to the living and the dead, rather, thºſ, men and devils, some have queried; compare Rev. i. 18. Rom. xix. 9. and it is certain that the word xarax6.jvuot sometimes in the Greek classics signifies the dead... But on the whole, as the expression is am- º I have, as I usually do in such cases, included both in the para- phrase fjºſuch more in my absence.] Though there be an ambiguity, in the connexion of this clause, if the grammar only be considered, I think the sense obliges us to join it with the following rather than with the pre- ceding words. The paraphrase suggests the reasons why, his absence should make them more eagerly solicitous in working out their salva- tion but I know no reason to apprehend that they were less obedient to Paul when he was with them, than to any messages they might have received in his absence; and the word now, in this view, seems deci- 81 Ve. Work out your own salpation.] Mr. Pierce, has advanced a Very Pº. ciº interpretation of this text: for he would render it... prºmote the Žefºre ºf each other,” urging that Šavrov sometimes signifies the same with ax}\,Xov. Compare ICph. iv. 32. But not to insist on the ex- pression, with ſcar ar:d trembling, as greatly favouring the common inter- pretation, it is obvious that Šavrov is three times in this chapter put for our own things, ver. 3, 4, 21, And whereas it is, pleaded on the other side, that the sense given above is most agreeable, to the connexion, it seems to me that this turn in the expression further suggests, that by following those generous maxims the apostle had been recommending, they would also most effectually secure their own salvation; which, in- stead of detracting any thing from the force of the argument as the words are usually understood, greatly increases it. * h He ºcão isorkºth in you..] The original is very, emphatigal, as Mr. Howe beautifully observes; (Howe’s Works, vol. ii. p. 21.) for it asserts, on the one hand, that God is actually or contipually operating, and, on the other, that thus to work in the heart for Šugh noble purposes is the prerogative of God, and an effect worthy his divine attributes and perſections. I can by no moans think with Dr. Clarke, that this rºſely signifies, that God hath given us a power to choose and to act, (Post. Serm. vol. vi. p. . ut that it refers to the Gperation of divine grºce, as is strongly intimated by the concluding clause, aſ his 9ten good pleg- sure ; which Mr. Howe finely explains, not so much of his goodness in general, as of his sovereign freedom in these operations; he works iſ sp *m; evdºztag, freely. Compare Matt. xi. 26. which suggests the caution expressed in the paraphrase: - - i Shing as elevated lights, &c.] I am indebted to the earned and elo; quent ſons. Saurin for this version and paraphrase. He has justly and beautifully observed that the word paſs-iip has this energy, and alludes to the buildings which we call light-houses; the most illustrious of which was raised in the island of Pharos, when Ptolemy,Philadelphus built that celebrated tower on which a bright flame was always kept burning in the night, that mariners might perfectly see their way, and be in no danger §h. shipwreck upon the rocks which they were to pass in their entrance into the haven at Alexandria. Saur. Serm. vol. ix. p. 4 THE APOSTLE's READINESS TO DIE FOR THE PHILIPPIANS. to say it) more than mysterious love, by which he emptied himself of this glory, bedient form of a servant, being found in fashion like a man, and then might stoop yet lower, so ai to becomeº e en to death, even the death of the cross? Often let us contemplate this amazing object; often let us represent to our - = - * - 4. - e * - - # C * i iſ,. admiring, to our dissolving hearts, the Man Christ Jesus extended there, and pouring forth his soul in agony and PH blood. As often let us remember his high original, his divine glories, the bosom of the Father, the thropº of God. With pleasure let us reflect that he is returned to it, and that, having ennobled this low nature of ours by so in- timate an union with the divine, God his Father hath in that nature exalted him, and given him a name above every name, human or angelic, in the visible, or in all the distant and different regions of the invisible, wºld. Let our knees gladly bow to so amiable a Sovereign, and let us with pleasure view the approaching day, when every knee shall submissively own his authority, and every tongue confess him Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ,-- In the mean time, let us never forget the purposes for which the apostle hath here called our meditations tº these wonderful and instructive truths. # is to inculcate upon us, (O may we ever inculcate it upon ourselves!) that the same mind may always be in us that was also in him. any comfort in such love as he teaches, any bowels of tenderness - - thé one Spirit which we derive from him, we may with united hearts and hands be carrying on the one great busi, 7 09 that he might assume the humble SECT. 4. 9 10 1 I That, if there be any consolation in such a Saviour, 5 in human natüre, any endearing fellowship in 1, 2 ness of his servants, working out our salvation with fear and trembling; avoiding every thing that may grieve and 12 injure others, everything that may discredit our holy profession. And being now made by him the children of God, may we shine with a bright, steady flame, as lights in the world, and hold out, for the benefit 8. all around 15 us, the word of life, as the gospel which redeems us from the second death, and raises us to eternal life, may pro- 16 perly be called. May we spread its lustre through as wide a circle as possible, and with it that happiness which nothing but a cordial belief of it and subjection to it can bring to the human heart. * - - To conclude: let us learn, from these wise and pious exhortations of the apostle, at once our duty and ºur de- endence; our duty, to work out our own salvation ; our dependence on the grace of him, who worketh in us oth to will and to do, of his own good pleasure. And therefore let us so seek divine grâce, and rest upon it, as 33 - - * - e - - -: * 4- ,- 7 º’ ºw f - - --- <> to exert with vigour and resolution the faculties which are to co-operate with it; and let us so endeavour to exert 12 the faculties which God hath given us, as to confide in divine grace, and rest continually upon it;, without which we shall neither will nor do any thing pleasing to God, or available to our own salvation: for in this sense salva- tion is of the Lord, and through his blessing, which is upon his people. (Psal. iii. 8.) SECTION V. The apostle assures the Philippians of his readiness even to die for their adyantage, but expresses his hope of being set at liberty, and restored to them in person; in the mean time he promises them very soon a visit from Timothy, and, sends Epaphroditus for their immediate satisfic- tion; of whose late sickness and ardent love for them he speaks in very affectionate terms. Phil. ii. 17, to the end. Phil. ii. It PHILIPPIANs ii. 17. . YEA, and if I be, offered I HAVE be upon the sacrifige and sery ice of your . faith, I, joy, and re- prove my labours among you not to have been in vain, and afford me matter of rejoicing joice with you ail. in the day of the Lord. But it is impossible for me fully to express the earnestness with II. en expressing my hope that your temper and behaviour will be such as would SECT 5. which I desire that it may be so. For if I should even be, if I may use such language, PHIL. poured forth, and my blood be shed, as a kind of libation or drink-offering,” on the sacrifice and ministration of your faith, while you are presented by my means as an acceptable offering to God, far from lamenting that I should meet with death in such a cause, I rather rejoice and congratulate you all on that happy circumstance, into which you are brought by 18 For the same cause also ºye joy, and rejoice with you also rejoice and congratulate with me;9 for while suffering the last extremities in a cause like this, I am happy, and ought to be regarded as an object of congratulation rather - than of condolence. 19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus jºiy intôºu, tº in martyrdom, but, as I intimated above, (chap. i. 23.) I do not imme iately expect it; ºrb when and, in the mean time, would omit nothing which may show my endeared affection to my christian brethren, and particularly to you. In pursuance of which, I hope in the Lord Jesus, to whose direction and control I desire to submit all my schemes, and in whose hand the life and the ways of his servants are, that I shall quickly be able to send Timothy to you ; that by him, not only you, but I also, may be refreshed, knowing from him [the 20, For I have no man like- minded, who will naturally care for your state. you inclines me to make choice of him on this occasion, though I can ill spare him; for I have none here with me in all respects of a like disposition, who will so naturally, with such 3. #. tenderness and concern, take the care of your affairs. - ºi, º, . Indeed a temper like this is too uncommon; for, great as our engagements and obliga- not the things which are Jesus 1: - : *- : º :-i -- ~~#~~~ + -v 7 Christ’s. tions to a contrary disposition are, I may say it, with very few exceptions, that almost all seek their own things, none the things of Christ Jesus. It is hard to find, even_among those that call themselves his disciples, any who have their Master's interest so affection- ately at heart as not to neglect it, in some dégree at least, out of regard to their own secular 22. But ye know the º: interest and of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me as well as Silas, in that memorable visit which I first made you, (Acts xvi. 1, 12.) and me in the gospel. you had an opportunity of seeing, that as a son with a father he served with me in the work of the gospel, and neglected no occasion of doing, in the most affectionate manner, whatever ºlº might lighten either my labours or my sufferings. SQ: i) { } {} tes r SO S * ... J. */ - *~ - • * * * * §§§º;i. i* ſº to .*.*.* I # how my affairs will be determined. IIl 6”. *O. ** r § But I trust in the Lord useful to me, 1. Shall be Willing to spare him upon more certain crisis, I conclude it will be most agreea And though he be so §." account. Till they come to a le to you that he should defer his {l ſ I shºuld be poured forth, &c.; This is the proper import of the word argvöopat. Almost every reader must know, that as oil and wine made a part of the provisions of the table God had ordained in the Jewish ritual, that a proportionable quantity of each should attend £Yery, bullock, goat, ram, lamb, or kid, which was presented at his altar. * The heathens also used such libations, and, sometimes they used blood apostle without reflecting on the behaviour of the brave Athenian men- tioned by Plutarch, (Glor. .3then. an: Op. p. 347.) who returned to Athens from the victorious battle of Alarathon, bleeding to death with the wounds he had received in the action, and coming directly to the house where the magistrates, were assembled, uttered only these two Words, Xalpers & aſpottev, Take your share of our joy, and immediately I hope therefore to send him very 2 mingled with wine, in honour of their idol deities. Compare Psal. xvi. The apostle considers the faith of the Philippians as an acceptable sacrifice presented to God; and if he, incurred, martyrdom for his zeal to promote it, he might speak of his blood as a libation poured out upon 9ccasion of it, with greater beauty and propriety than most commentators have observed. - - - - b Congratu'ate with me..] I cannot read this heroic discourse of the dropped down dead at their ſeet. - - C. seek their own things.) Perhaps the apostle may speak this in reference to the part which some christians, and possibly some ministers, at, Røme had acted, to whom he might have proposed this journey; which they might decline through too great a régard to their own ease and gºeuleney, which laid him under the necessity of parting with imothy. Aºr f that gospel which I have at so great an expense delivered to you. .4nd on this account do 13 it will indeed be no surprise to me if my work and testimony as an apostle should end 19 state of| your affairs more particularly than I can otherwise hope to do. My respect for 20 21 pleasure, ease and safety. But you know the experience of him, who was with 22 II. 710 SECT, PHIL. } {. 25 6 2 2 7 2 S 7 * n º t ? - - 3. •3 sé- º -: - * * ºright be the less sorrowful, while I in spirit partake with you in the satisfaction which Ver. 17, 18 21 2 2 3 0 : ? SECT. 6. PIHIL. III. I. PAUL'S REASONS FOR SENDING TO THEM EPAPHRODITUS. - Journey. But I trust in the Prºvidence and care, of the Lord. Jesus Christ, to whose that I also myself shallcome guardianship I commit the life I have devoted to his service, that I shall soon be set at shortly. liberty, and come to you myself. Fºt, in the mean time, or at least till Timothy can be 25 Yeti supposed it neces. Inore conveniently spared, I thought it necessary and expedient to send to you Epaphrodi- jº Fºl. - sy • * 3 ſy -” - ints, my dear brother and diligent fellow-labourer in the work, and fellow-soldier in the panion in labour, and fellow- arduous combat and painful sufferings of Christ; but who was your most welcome mes. ºf §§ senger to Fº and the ready minister to the relief of my necessities,” by whose faithful hand wants. nistered to my | ... "...º. . e. Biºs friendship SO cheerfully advanced. Had aft º }}.} aſle.* ** - ~i is: * - 114 y U , plence and pleasure, I should have been glad to have de- ºgº. tained him longer; but I now give him his despatches, because he was erceedingly desirous that he nº near Q/ Fººting to joit all, for whom he has a most endeared affection, and was much dejected and troubled because he knew you had heard that he was sick, and he fearediest the tidings shoºld grieve you too much, as he could not but know how affectionately you love him. ºn lindeed it is very true that he was sick, and in all human appearance mear to death :f 27 For indeed jie was sick butt God had mercifu On him, a * O. * ; , , , . ** g * - 5 nigh unto death: but God had 'cy up º, and recovered him; and I must say, in this instance, he mercy on, him ; and not on had not compassion upon him alone, but also on me, that I might not have sorrow wpom him only, but on me also, lest sºgie; as I certainly should have had, if the loss of such a beloved friend, and of so ...º have sorrow upon useful a person, had been added to all the other afflictions I sustain in this imprisonment, j - - Y º ºs ºr * ~ ; ; ; , , g- ana amidst sº much perverse and ung, ateful opposition. I have therefore sent him away 9s I sent him therefore the to you ºth the greater diligence, that, seeing him again in that comfortable state of health º: ..º. r ~~~~ + º * * * . . . . * 4- - e gº ºr I dºllſ); V y re.) Oic &nd spirit to which, by the divine goodness, he is now restored, ye might rejoice; and that and º, I may be the less it. «. g SO TI O W, Ul I. * **. J.know this interview will give on both sides. Receive him therefore as in the Lord Jesus 29 Receive him therefore in Christ, as mindful, of your mutual relation to him, with all joy in the bowels of christian º #'s...hº... love, as well as the demonstrations of natural friendship:” and hold persons of such a - 4. character, whatever their station of life may be, in high estimation. For it was in a great 30 Because for the work of measure on account of that zeal and fervour which he exercised in carrying on the work of jºiº. the Lºrd Jesus Christ, both in preaching the gospel and attending my necessities, that he jºr. was nigh unto death, having disregarded even his [own] life, that he might fill up the deft- ***. ciency of your service to me,” and might, if it were possible, perform to me in his own erson all the kind offices which your whole society could have rendered me had you been with me as he was, - IMPROVEMENT. To what sublime heights of piety and virtue does the immortal hope of the gospel elevate the mind of mortal man Behold this holy apostle not only presenting himself as a resolute victim at the altar of God, but speaking of that stroke by which his blood was to be poured out, as an occasion of joy, and calling for the congratulation of his friends upon it! Behold him with pleasure resigning the society of those who were dearest and most useful to him, at a time when he seemed most of all to need their assistance; even of that friend who would most naturally care for their estate, when he knew none that were like-minded ! And oh that this might be the charac- ter of aſ the ministers of Christ, naturally, and with genuine affection, to care for the state of those committed to them, taking thought for them and the oversight of them, not by constraint, but from a principle of love, which shall make all necessary labours natural and easy! But, alas! how rare a character is it, and how much reason is there to lament the prevalency of a contrary disposition among all ranks of men, the sacred order itself not ex- cepted; while all seek their own things, none the things of Jesus Christ! What ingratitude does this argue 1 yea, what stupid insensibility, that any thing, that every thing, should be dearer to us than the interest of that Saviour who purchased us to himself with his blood | Happy they who are distinguished by their fidelity and their zeal in a time of prevailing, apostasy! which we are not to wonder if we discover in these latter ages, when the apostles found cause to speak thus in their own. . How beautiful a descrip- tion does he here give of the piety and humility of young Timothy, while serving with him as a son with a father in the gospell Thus let young and aged ministers behave to each other as fathers and sons; the young paying the cláer such reverent regårds, the aged affording to the younger such kind and tender patronage, and showing a solicitous concern to prepare them for filling up their place in the church with increasing advantage. . . * - 3 Some obvious instruction arises from what is here said of good Epaphroditus, whose affection to his christian friends was so ardent, and whose zeal for the work of Christ had even endangered his life. Great reason is there to hold such, wherever they are found, in high esteem; tenderly to sympathize with them; earnestly to entreat God for them, if at any time diseases threaten their useful lives; and to own the mercy of God not to them only, but to us, when he is pleased to raise them up and restore them to a capacity of ministering in his church. Let us go back in our memories to the days and weeks of dangerous sickness which any of us have known, and humble ourselves before God, that we have no better improved, for his glory and for the good of his church, his mercy to us in bringing us up from the gates of the grave. SECTION VI. e dependence on Christ and his gospel, as he assures them he himself did, though. he had more to ages and advantages than most who valued themselves so highly upon them. Phil. iii. 1–14. PHILIPPIANs iii. 1. PHIL. iii. 1. .4S for what remains, my dear brethren, that I may proceed to what I further design in º this Epistle, let me exhort you, whatever may become of me or of yourselves, so far as any worldly interest and prospéct is concerned, that ye rejoice in the protection and care of the aul crimerts the Pinilippians to ſix their whol głory in with respect to Jewish privil his absence, and whom therefore he styles aſſos-oxos. But the word worapostle, and they havé stooped, so low as to draw an argument from Xpéta is in other parts of this Epistle, as well as elsewhere, º I Il such Jience to prove that he was their bishop in the modern sease of the word, a manner as to favour the interpretation given in our version, Orl) Järe àº; that agi, Bishops are the immediate successors of the apostles in chap. iv. Jó, 19. & ºv * their extraordinary rank and power. . But the ablest patrons of diocesan f Wigh unto death.] The journey, and change of air might contribute ºpiscopacy have had the modesty and prudence, to Pāte º to his disjºir, as well as the assiduity of his attendange on Paul, and as it is so º t O iº. º: sº º §§ ‘. iai despatching his affairs in all weathers, and perhaps at all hours. > - gº tº ºr arry the Churcli’S alſh S IQ iſ & • { * & f 5- * Fº a sº- * ºś ſºme ; nor does what follows lº. It C {l}}S g Deficiency of your service: To ; } (pnº, ! |...} #. * % ãºree ºth such a supposition. See Mr. Pierce’s Wind. p. 338, &c. M Mr. Pierce, would render º jº lſ: º &#. "...si.; §: o He that ministered to my necessities . º Tms º !") ! º #. ". ...'...hiº ...i.ºrvić in." could in person ; but Pierce follows Castellio in rendering it, “he who is ngº (9 ºf Jºhtº as disſº". - ... if x, do it in themselves, the good Epaphro- - 25 sity ºr stiºs intention was to appoint Epaphroditus not having an opportunity tº 99 | , sº º ºre #. 8. #######". #º ºrch, who was to supply his place during ditus was in this respect their proxy and representative. d Your messenger.] As the word is arºs-oxov, some would render it, * PAUL RECKONED ALL THINGS LOSS THAT HE MIGHT GAIN CHRIST. 711 jº *:::::::::::::::A; Lord Jesus Christ,” our blessed Redeemer, and in the promises and hopes given us by SECT. yºnevous, him. I have already insisted upon them with pleasure, (chap. i. 5, 6, 19, 11, 20, &c. ii. 6. 5, 11.) and to write the same things to you, on such a topic, [is] not grievous to me, and [it is] not only safe but necessary for you; as nothing can tend inore to fortify you against º the many temptations and enemies with which you are surrounded. * is... • 2 Bºwars of dogs, beware And, in further prosecution of my great design for your spiritual security and edifica- ? gºrkers, beware ofthe tion, let me urge you to beware of those invidious, malignant, contentious persons, whorn I cannot forbear calling dogs;* so much have they of a brutal and canine disposition, e the Y CrV Snarling and malicious, greedy and fierce. Beware of evil-workers, who, while - up the law, act in direct contradiction to its most important precepts and grand #. of the concision, for such I must call that body of men which proudly userps the name of the circumcision, whereas the Czternal rite they so much contend for is but an unprofitable cutting and mangling of tile flesh, when performed from such principles and imposed with such a temper; so that the bloody work of it may seem an emblem of the 3. For, we are the circum- cruel manner in which they cut and mangle the church. Be on your guard against them, i.”: "...ºft.;"; I say it again and again; for how unwilling soever they may be to allow it, we christians ºriºsºsºl have no are indeed the circumcision, who worship God, not with the ritual observance of the Mosaic confidence in the flesh. law, but in spirit and in truth; who boast not in Jewish privileges, but in Christ Jesus, through whom we obtain divine favour and acceptance, and have no confidence in the flesh, though we do in fact wear the mark of circumcision in it, or however else we may be dis: 4 Though. Inight also have tinguished by birth, education, or any external forms. ..?nd indeed I say this, not as if I 4 confidence in thºſlºsh. If afty ... • * . * . . . . #2 •oin º, Yº ſºn 1 asf, for it is evid I have also what §ºnºkéâ"jū’ī; were deficient in any thing wherein another can boast, for it is evident I have also w! łºśs" "st might be an [occasion of] confidence in the flesh; for if any other thinks he hath whereof to à"Giºiº iſ eighth trust in the flesh, I fear not to say I [have] probably more than he. I was not only cir- §§§ſ cumcised, but that, according to the exactest institution of Moses, on the eighth dayd, after I brººf, the Hebºws; as was born; of the stock of Israel, God's chosen people, not, as some circumcised families ******* are, descended fromisſimaei or Édom; and of tº tribe ºf Benjamin, whose lot lay so near the temple of God, and which joined not with the ten tribes in their general revolt, but still adhered to Judah, and to the true worship of God at Jerusalem. Not only by my father's but my mother's side have I been from generation to generation an Hebrew, descended from a long line of Hebrews,” so that I reckon no proselyte of foreign nations in my genealogy; with respect to the law I was a Pharisee, of a sect which most strictly and vigorously adheres to it, and has adopted that guard which tradition has set around it to 6.Concerning zeal, pºſse- secure it from the least degree of violation. JWith respect to zeal for these rituals which 6 §§§ they so eagerly enjoin, I myself was once employed with the greatest fury in persecuting the law, blameless. the church of Christ, and endeavouring, if possible, to root it up from the face of the earth: as to that righteousness which is placed in an exact observation of the law in its external preeepts, I have been quite blameless and unexceptionable, so that those who knew me most intimately could not have accused me of any wilful transgression, or of neglecting any expiatory rites and sacrifices appointed in case of involuntary errors. This was my character and state; and there was a time when I was proud of being able to say all this, ºf ſºlº and thought myself exceedingly happy. But now my views of things are altered, and a for Christ. very different scene hath opened itself upon me, so that the things which were once gain to me, and which I most valued myself upon, I have now accounted but as loss for Christ,f I look upon them as things most despicable when compared with him, yea, as things which would be extremely mischievous to me if they should in any degree prevent my ap- ciºnº, i. º: plication to him, or my sharing the benefits of those that believe in him. Yea, doubtless, jºkºjijºjie"fºo" and I count all things, how valuable soever, to be [but] loss and damage, with respect to the #; ; ; I'. ... most excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, which so much exceeds every other ſered the loss of all things, knowledge or interest that can come in competition with it; for the sake of which I have tº: * suffered the loss of all things,s having been expelled with infamy from among the Jews, and deprived of all the towering hopes to which my ambition might once have aspired: And, far from repining at it, I count them not worth mentioning, for they seem to be [but] vile refuse and dung, that I may gain that inestimable prize and treasure, Christ Jesús, in nº lºng whºm alone I shall be safe, and rich, and happy for ever. Though not only reputation 9 jºiºhá'íº and power, ease and plenty, but even life itself, should be sacrificed to this view, I am happy #, Yºhº;;... enough, if I may but be found in him, vitally inited to him by a true faith and love, and mess which is of Šoštº so taken under his protection and favour; not having mine own righteousness, which [is] of the law; such a righteousness as only consists in observing the precepts or expiations of the Jewish religion, which I was once sº solicitous to establis ; nor any confidence in any legal righteousness whatever, as my plea before God, but that I may be interested in that which § by the faith of Christ, the righteousness which ; of God through faith ; that which he as appointed we should obtain and secure, by believing in his Son, and making our ap- plication to him as creatures condemned and undone, whose only refuge is in his righte- 19. That...mºnº, hiº, ousness and, grace. (Compare Rom. i. 16. iii. 22. x. 3.) This is my great concern, 10 ***** experimentally to know him, and feel the efficacious power of his resurrection continually . - 3 5 7 S ... à. Rºgies in the Lord..] Some have apprehended a contrast with chap. d Circumcised the eighth day.] It evidently appears that the Jews did ii.25, 28. where he tells them... he had sent Epaphroditus, that he might not only lay a great deal of stress on the rité"of circumciſion, but ºn rejoice at his gomingº as, if he had said, And now I, add, that while the time of performing it, i.e. exactly on the cigºth day. The Sºtu. you are. rejoicing. in him, I would have you rejoice in the Lord, discern- gint have an addition to Gen. xvii. TA. Kºhich is also found in the Šâh. ing the inter position of Christ, in his being preserved and restored to ritan Pentateugh: * The male child chich is not circºnciscº jºie you. In this connexion it might have been made the conclusion of the eighth day, shall be cut off from among his people.}} second, chapter; but, it may, so naturally, as in the paraphrase, intro- e Hebrew of Hebrews.] If, as some have conjectured, the turbulent duce what follows, that I did not choose to alter the usual division. erson to whom Paul especially refers, were only the son of a prose- b. To write the same things.] Diodati thinks this an intimation that he lyte, and not of a native Jew, there was a peculiar propriety in dwelling had written a former Epistle to them, which is now lost. Compare I Cor. on these circumstances. iłłºt" on every interpretation it will appear v. 9. Col. iv. 16. Mr. Fleming thinks it refers to what he had said to Proper; and I am always cautious of clogging the paraphrase with the them ſº and that he only gives some hints at these larger con- supposition of any thing of which there is not some considerable proof. versations in the following.verses, which he thinks make them something f / counted loss for Christ :] i. e. I thread them ancay, as mariners do obscure. Flem. On the First Resur. p. 4. • their ſº on which they before set a value, lest they should endanger I c Bºwgre qf dogs.] This may yely possibly be an allusion, to Isa, lyi. their lives; in which sense Smita is used, Acts xxvii. 21. l?. Compare ver, 19. Tit. i. 11, 12. Rom. xvi. 18. Gal. vi. 13, I:3 g, Have suffered the loss of all things.) . It is nº - - sº - * -> • - - - - - - - - - *** * * * •.><> v. 'Sº S. s not by any means im- The Jews used.º.º.all hºmºlºš dogs, and perhaps St. Paul may use probable thºse tºo “of”ejºicii, might be pronounced this language, when speaking of !heig proud, bigots, by way of retalia- ngainst Paul, or at Jeast that his goods might be confiscated, as we know tº: ãº; oft; ...”.” º at . º .."...". though º no one of them so obº - - - 2 Bil Pºlº tºº, InSCIlption to their Jewish brethren as himself, w r ated. eb. x. over them, Beware of this dog, to which he seems to think those words 33,3}. IC Il Q. elf, were actually tre may retør. - dº 713 PAUL RECKONED ALL THINGS LOSS THAT HE MIGHT GAIN CHRIST . SECT. working upon my mind, gºd.bearing me forward, with the most cheerful resolution, to share tion, and the fellowship of his 6 in the fºllowship of his sufferings too, being made conformable to his death, in all the tortures jś."on- PHIL of crucifixion itself, should his providence call me to it. If, having doné and suffered any jiāy . ºight thing which God lays in my way, I may but by any possible means at length attainio is ºther surrection ºf 11 resurrection” from the dead,i and that consummate holiness and blessedness which he will g then, bestow upon all his people, when the dead in Christ shall rise first, and be distin. guished with glories proportionable to the vigour with which they have exerted themselves in his service. - * . This I say, not as if I had already attained to all that I wish to be, or were already per- 12 Not...as though I had Jºcł; for I am truly sensible how far I am from that perfection of character, as welfas of § §º. §tate, which the gospel teaches me to aspire after; but I pursue it, if by any means I may hºnºray ºpprehend but reach and apprehend that height of exéellence fºr which also I am apprehended by Christ º: Jesus, whose cohdescending hand graciously laid hold on me in my mad career, in so ex- - traordinary a manner as you have often heard, and has introduced me into thatbiessed race in which I am now engaged., - -- 13 Brethren, I repeat it again, with alianſeigned humility of heart, that I count not myself 13 Brethren, I count, not #o hage qūgined already, I have much nobler heights of holiness in view, and am sensibié #;º; hgy far I fall short of them. But one thing [f can say, that herein finitate the conduct jºiºsº ºf the racers in your celebrated Grecian games; my thºughts and cares are alifixed upon ...";#."º: this great object, and, forgetting the things which are behind, not looking back with im before, w moderate self-complacency on the steps already taken, and the way already despatched, I -. am concerned intensely, with all the vigour and agility I can possibly exert, to stretch 14 Jorward toward those things which are before: And so I pursue the goºd for the glorious el4I press toward the maſk prize which strikes my sight there; even that which is the ultimate end ºf the high call- §fºlk tºg” ºf God, with which he hath honoured me, by the dispensation of his grace in Christ Jesus;" and surely no calling can be more noble, or better deserve the most constant at- tention and most ardent pursuit. - - - IMPROVEMENT. Ver. I ... As it was not grievous to the apostle to repeat the same useful exhortations, when he judged it conducive to the safety, and happiness of those to whom he wrote, so neither should it be grievous to us to hear or to speak truths with which in the general we may be well acquainted, but which we may be too ready to forget, in pursuit of things, more amusing indeed, but less advantageous. Such are the truths here inculcated; familiarly known, 2 but not therefore to be disregarded. Let us avoid all approaches to these detestable characters here branded with 3 so just an infamy ; and consider what it is that will constitute us the circumcision, the people whom God will avow for his own ; and charge it upon our souls, that we worship God in the spirit, that we rejoice in Christ Jesus and repose not in any sense confidence in the flesh. 4, 5 We see an example of this excellent temper in the apostle here, who makes his boast in Christ, and for him renounces those advantages on which he was once ready to set the highest value. He accounted those things but loss and damage which once he esteemed his gain and his treasure, especially that eager but blind zeal with which 7 he had once persecuted the church. May it be deeply and constantly impressed upon our minds, that the know- ledge of Christ is of all things the most excellent, as the object of it is most sublime and interesting, and the fruits 8 of it most happy and important! . This therefore let us pursue, and be truly solicitous that we may gain Christ as 9 our own inalienable property, and that we may be found in him, interested in a better righteousness than we can claim by virtue of our own personal obedience to any law; even that which is by the faith of Christ, the righteous- ness which is of God, prepared, exhibited, and appointed by him, and which is received by faith in his Son. 10 Who would not yish to know him in the power of his resurrection, to feel the views of that great event power- fully operating on his mind, yea, in this connexion to know the fellowship of his sufferings too? Who would not be willing to be made, in the most painful sense, conformable to his death, to feel the scourges, the insults, the nails, the cross, and, what was more dreadful than all, even the desertion of the Father himself, might he thereby attain to a resemblance to Christ in a glorious resurrection from the dead? It shall be the portion of all who die to sin and live to God, and persist in a resolution of sacrificing all to that Redeemer who for us died and rose again. In the mean time, while we are surrounded with the infirmities of mortality, may we ever keep up an humble 12, 13 sense of the imperfection of our present attainments in religion. May we with holy Paul, so incomparably our superior, forget the progress already made, and strain every nerve in reaching on to what yet remains before us. How far are we from apprehending that for which we were apprehended by jesus Christſ How far from answer- ing the plan our Lord has drawn, and being completely what he intended his servants should be! “Enkindle in l I h attºn to the resurrection.] Mr. Pierce would render the words et seizing him while he fled from him; and 30 engaging him to aspire to Traj; Karavrmºzgo, that any way I may arrive at the resurrection, &c. sup- this crown of life. Compare 1 Tim, i. 15, 6. • ... ºosin, it aſides to the ships arriving at the port it is bound for. But 13ut this one thing I do...]. Mº, Pierºë.ºhiº.º. º.º.º.º.º. łºńºja, an ambiguity, which, eqūajly answering the origi- matical gonstruction of these words is this: “I press after that one tling j, ſº tº suit the tº erse, in which the apostle certainſy for which I have been apprehended by Jesús Christ, that I may appre- means something more than that he had not yet arrived at the resur- hend or attain it, neglecting the thipgs behind, and stretching forward Żºłiºn of the dead." The particle iſ, in this connexion, implies no un- #9 those before: after this one thing, §§º I press, according to the alſº Certaixty of the resurrection, nor any doubt as to Paul’s attaining it. I have fixed to myself, that I may obtain the prize of the high calling, {*#.,...}º ºjº ºff. Fieming understands St. Paul &c. But I think the gºnsºletiºn, may bº.º. enough by supplying as speaking here of a first resurrection of martyrs and the most eminent the words, “I can say,” without the transposition he would attempt aii tº many good men might fall short of, and of which he thinks herº- * $4 * sº * ãº. ; §: §: have an absojuts assurance. And he lays m I pursue the §. of the high tºº. º IS *::::::::: 8. º great stress upon the peculiarity of the phrase, Tnv &uvas'gaw Tºyºk allusiºn to the ; º #. *::::::: à: e looººges, yºg Žºy wekpov, for so he would read it, according to the Álexandrian MSS. Fº º: i º,#####. #.di º #º:'a...? tº:Toºrºº: # 5. tg .* ſ# by having it still in their sight. Mr. Dunlope considers the word 8pa- ####: tliat reading and version too precarious to be adopted here, 8stov as expressing the principal Fº yº. º: * to the especially as it appears to me that efavis.nut is sometimes used without goal, and receive lower rewards: *; if he t b i. an . º: §º any such emphasis; (compare Mark Xii. 19. Luke xx. 28.) and that the So j to sº the greatest; # y."; p elº aſ it'ſ cannot recoil móre emphatical phrase, rns quasgaºs, Tišek "jºgº, (Luke xx. 35) §p #, º; # biºe. on the Olympic foot-race, (though simply #if: that º;;..."; % .*.*.*.*.*; in funeral games it was common,) nor can I suppose the apostle to º - § º: a.º. iºd" in these expressions. The tºº pentathletic º ºft § ‘..."; "...i who º: º: §: of the Prussian Testament think the Jewish teachers who op- all º º; jº. & L º; gºa #. See #. §e; Dissert. posed Paul with so much eagerness were of the sect of the Sadducees, .. - 3. s fºſſi. àº; that he takes the more frequent notice of the resurrection, in oppo- *. ympic É. iſ L'Enfant thinks the apostle compares our ition to their permicious tenets in relation to it: . . & n Of God in Christ Jesus. i.". the end of th º sº #.h. ºoj, Žej Čandidates in the Grecian games, especially Lord to.{hose whº stood on an elevated place at the en § he course, when they first presented themselves, were often introduced by some calling the racers by- º: º # § ; - ºn of established reputation, whº, at the same time that he spoke as the crown, tº exert themselves Wi }*...t UIU. Il Q º IIS i to i i. §: - }. … * & to acquit himself with certainty of this, it wºuld seem at all exºts.ºre ºftional tºpºpº onourably as might }*jº *:::::::: that this clause the high galling, as alluding to the proclamation made by... which men the utmost vigour and e led b th ning of the course to contend for such and * * ! #ut Í conclude that, even on this were called before the opening, > --~~~~ （. e * #ºr ; ###: tº: sense the aposte’ had 6f his ob. such a prize, which answers to the general declaration made in the gos- #. tº the conjescension and grace of Christ, in pursuing and pel of the heavenly prize. × -— -------->-ºf-- a. * * * * * - - --- º: PAUL URGES THEM TO A HOLY TEMPER, AND A HEAVENLY CONVERSATION. 713 our breasts, O thou great Author and Finisher of our faith ! a more ardent desire of answering it; and for that SECT. É. may it please thee so to display before our believing eyes the glorious prize of the high calling with which 6. God has honoured us through thee, that we may feel all the ardour of our souls awakened to obtain it, and never —— slacken our pace till we win that immortal crown, but daily increase our speed as we approach it.” rº- SECTION VII. The apostle urges upon the Philippians a holy and blameless temper and à heavenly conversation, cautioning them against the bad example even of some professing christians, who brought great detriment on themselves and reproach upon religion by the unsuitable manner in which they acted. Phil. iii. iš, to the end; iv. 1. PHIL. iii. 15. PHILIPPIANS iii. 15. º: . º º: SUCH is the situation of my own mind, and the ardour of desire with which I am press- SECT. ...”.”.”.”.”; ing after further attainments in the divine life. Let as many of us, therefore, as are perfect 7. §º.º.º.hall in any degree, that is, all who are sincere christians, and initiated, if I may so express it, :al even this unto you. * * 5 >, & as ge s * into the holy mysteries of our religion, attend to this” as our great business and aim ; and PHIL. #. any of you are otherwise affected, if any be unhappily fallen into a remiss and indolent is " ramé, God shall reveal even this writo you.b I hope that he will, and I pray that he may, give you such views of the crown of glory, the prize of our high calling, as may animate 16. Nevertheless, whereto your most vigorous pursuit of it. Wevertheless,” (whereunto [I hope] we have at least at-16 jºi:; tained) let us act as those who are habitually persuaded of the divine authority of the us mind the same thing. gospel, and accordingly all walk agreeably to what we profess to revere as the same great authentic rule of our conduct; and let us especially be taught by it to attend to the same thing, to be one in our affections to each other, concerning which our duty is so plainly declared, that the weakest honest inquirer cannot be mistaken. tº: Thus I exhort you, and I hope I may appeal to all that know me, that my behaviour 17 §:"...hº...hº..”.”: speaks the same language. So that I may confidently say, Be ye, my brethren, imitators have us for an ensample. of me, and observe and endeavour to follow those that walk as ye have us for an erample; wi.º.º. º.º.º jºin this company, and learn to speak and act like them. For there are many who call 18 and now tell you e: ; themselves christians, and yet walk [in a very º: manner, of whom I have often told #. ºnemies you, and now tell you even weeping ; for well indeed may I weep on so sad an occasion, s of Christ : = . & & * s as it is certain [that, whatever they may profess, [they are] enemies of the cross of Christ;d and as º are unwilling to suffer any thing for it, so its cause and honour suffers much - by them, for they continually act contrary to the very end and design of their Master's Jºjº death. Such a set of men there is, whose behaviour is scandalous, and their end [is] utter 19 Yºjºa; destruction. Whatever they may talk of knowing and serving the true God, they are per- whº mind earthly things.) sons whose chief god [is their] own belly, (compare Rom. xvi. 18.) which they continually seek to honour with the most luxurious sacrifices: persons whose taste is so mean and preposterous, that they glory in those things which are indeed their shame, having outgrown all the remainders .# common modesty, and all sense of decency. In a word, they are persons who mind only earthly, things; all their thoughts and pursuits are taken up with it..."...º. visible and corporeal objects, the concerns of time and this transitory world. But we con: 20 §e".”:''...'..."... verse as citizens of heaven, considering ourselves as denizens of the New Jerusalem, and Lord Jesus Christ: only strangers and pilgrims upon earth. We therefore endeavour to promote the interests of that glorious society, to learn its manners, and to behave worthy of our relation to it; from whence also we expect the blessed appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ as a Saviour: ... º. º. º. º. Hºho shall transform our vile body," that it may be made conformable to his glorious body; 21 fishigºdlike unto his loi that all the abasement and dishonour of the grave may be shaken off for ever, and we, ‘...º.º. º. having borne his image in holiness on earth, may bear it in beauty, glory, and immortality even to subdue all things un- in heaven. It is indeed a vastly surprising, and to sense an incredible, change; but we to himself. ought to remember that nothing is too hard for Omnipotence: he will therefore effect it, according to the energy whereby he is able to subject even all things unto himself, and which will render him completely victorious over all his enemies, even over death and the grave, ºf the last of them. Therefore, let me entreat and charge you all, my beloved and most aniable paſt. i.º.º.o.º. brethren, my joy now, and my crown of rejoicing in that expected day of the Lord, that as , iv. ºś the “”, ye have so great and important a hope, ye improve it to animate you in a vigorous adhe- I *** * **** rence to that religion which inspires it; and so stand fast in the Lord, as becomes those who are so dear to him as well as so tenderly beloved by me, and who expect by his grace so glorious a change. IMPROVEMENT. AND do not we also look for Christ as a Saviour P Do we not hope that this vile body shall, by his all-victo– PHIL. rious power, be transformed into the likeness of his own glorious body ? Is it not with this hope that we commit 21" a Jās many of us as are perfect, &c.] The use of this phrase, in refer- however, at least, remember to agree in honouring the gospel as your ence to those initiated into the mysteries, is so well known, and the allusion here seems so suitable to the connexion, that I presume, I nee not largely vindicate the interpretation given. I shall only add, that when this expression is used to intimate that the greatest adepts in christianity should be labouring after higher in provements, it must strongly imply the obligation on those in a lower class to press forwards. b God shall reveal, &c.] Mr. Fleming, in pursuance of his peculiar Interpretation of ver, 11. paraphrases this verse as if he had said, “If any of you are not persuaded of that doctrine of a first resurrection which is not indeed of the utmost necessity, God may hereafter reveal it more fully ; and in the mean time, let us aim, at that common glory which we all profess to expect at the general resurrection.” But think if Paul had declared it as a part of the revelation he had received from Christ, (and he could surely know it no otherwise than by special revelation,) it could not have been left to them as a matter of indifference to judge one way or another of it. , 1)r. Whitby labours, to prove that the apostle here glances on those christians who might be ready to lay too great a stress on circumcision and Jewish ceremonies, with relation to which he hoped they would be better informed, which at least §. would probably be after the destruction of Jerusalem. Compare Gal. v. 10. vi. 15, 16. c. Wevertheless, &c,.] The construction here has some perplexity; but on the whole, I think &ei is to be understood as if he had said, “I could Wish to animate you to the greatest ardour in pursuing the prize ;” conimon rule, and bearing a proper affection to each other. And if we suppose the words evs 6 £4,000 dip ev, to come in as a parenthesis, and to be rendered, to which I hope we hace attained, a proper distinction will be preserved between this and the preceding verse, which have often been confounded. For the sense of the phrase ºpoiety 1970, see Phil. ii. 2, and Rom. xii. 16. * d Enemies aſ the cross of Christ.) . The end and design of that being to attract our hearts from earth to beaven, such an expression may be proper in that sense, though some think it refers to their accrsion to per- secution, understanding by the cross of Christ, the cross to be borne for Christ, I think much, less properly. Nor does it seem to refer so much to their contending for Jewish çeremonies, as in general to their immoral temper, afterwards described. It is to be feared many converts from the Gentiles, as well as from the Jews, answered this character: and if they did so, it was entirely to the apostle’s purpose to reprove them. e Transform our tile body..] . To gopa Tng Taſſeuvøaegs jugov, might literally be rendered the body of our huniliation, &c. that is, this body in the form of sinful flesh, humbled and degraded as it at present is, and so different from what the body of Adam originally was. f So stand fast, &c.] There is no more reason for making this the be- ginning of a new chapter, than there would be for disjoining the last verse of 1 Cor., xv. in sense exactly parallel to this, from the preceding discourse on the resurrection, with which it is so beautifully and pro- perly connected. 90 * 714 SECT. 7. PHIL. III. INDIVIDUAL CHARGES AND GENERAL EXHORTATIONS. the dust of our friends to the and with cheerfulness? Solemn, Son too often to wee grave 2 And is it not in this confidence that we think of our own death with hope - Why then is not our conversation more in heaven? Why have we not more frequent, and affectionate views of that better world to which we profess to be tending 2 Alas! have we not rea: for ourselves as well as others, that we mind earthly, things so much, and heavenly no more ?' But Wretched indeed, are we if we fully answer the sad character which, in professing christians, wherever it is seen, and much more wherever it is experienced, is so justly deplorable! º divine grace ever preserve thºse on whom the name of Christ is named, those by whom it is known, from making their belly their god, (how infamous a deity') and from that wretched degeneracy of taste and perverseness of mind which would ſéad them to glory in their shame! Surely the cross of Christ was intended to teach us lessons so contrary to this, that there 18 can be no greater enmity to it than to indulge such a temper, especially while we profess to plead for that cross, and to glory in it. May we not only abhor such a temper, but bewail it! Yea, may rivers of tears run down our eyes when, we see God's law violated and his gospel profaned. 17 Blessed be God for other and better examples in the apostolic age, and that some are likewise to be traced in Our Own, corrupt as it is ; though they are in number less frequent, and in lustre less radiant, than of old ! Let us, however, mark those that walk as we have Paul for an examplé. How different soever our apprehensions in 16 some things may be, may we all unite in a care of practical religion; and whereunto we have already attained, Walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing. And oh that our rule may be more and more attended to in eyery step of Qur way ! and that if in any instance we mistake it, or if we fail in those notions we ought to have of any principles of christianity which are to add a sanction to it, God may reveal even this unto us, and teach us IV. , to act in a more suitable manner! In every sense, what we see not may he teach us; and wherein we have done 1 iniquity, may we do no more, (Job xxxiv. 32.) but stand fast in the Lord, and press forward with greater ardour towards every religious improvement, towards every thing which may increase the beauty of our character, and reflect a brighter honour upon our profession. *- SECTION VIII. SECT. I HAVE been exhorting 8. {- PHIL. IV 6 can suffer from your enemies. After some particular charges relating to a prayer, a behaviour universally amia PHILIPPIAN's iv. 2. - S-> * you all to stand fast in the Lord, being supported by those glo- I BESEECH Euodias, rious hopes he has given you. And I must now particularly beseech Euodia, and beseech fººt Syntyche, that, whatever cause of difference may have arisén between them, they would àcific temper, the apostle gives more general exhortations to christian cheerfulness, moderation, le, and an imitation of the good example he had endeavoured to give them. Phil. iv. 3 * PHIL. iv. 2. and hey e of the same mind in the Lord. sacrifice all to the common engagements of their christian profession, and would attend to the same thing in the Lord: that they would turn all their thoughts into that one channel, and only consider how they may most effectually promote the great purposes of their com- 3 mon calling. And I also beseech thee, [my] genuine associate,” whose intimate friendship supersedes the necessity of naming thee particularly, that thou wouldst assist those pious women who laboured with me in the gospel,b in such services as suited their sex and station, and assisted with Clemens also, and my other fellow-labourers, whose names, as I have rea- son in charity to hope, [are] in the book of life,” and will there appear to their everlasting 3 And I intreat thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Cle- ment also, and with other my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book offif. honour and joy, though I do not stay to enumerate them here. I am now drawing toward a close, and let this be my farewell. Whatever difficulties and persecutions may attend you, rejoice always in the Lord; endeavour to maintain an jºiće. habitual joy in Christ, and in the hopes and privileges you derive from him. - 4 Rejoice in the Lord al- way : and again I say, Re- And again I say, Rejoice. I renew the exhortation, as the honour of our Divine Master and your own comfort so much depends on attending to it. Let your moderation and gentleness, both in the pursuit of the various enjoyments of life, and in supporting the injuries and indignities you y meet with, be known unto all men, as visible in the whole of your behaviour; for the Lord [. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. is] at hand. He will quickly come to close the scene, and to put an end to all your temporal enjoyments, and all you to be still mingled with thanksgivin .And if you exercise such a temper, the n the mean time, whatever necessities or whatever op- ressions may arise, be anxious about nothing, so as to disquiet or distress your minds; ut in every thing that occurs, in every condition, and on every occasion, let your petitions be made known, and breathed out before God, in humble prayer and fervent supplication,” 6 Be careful for, nothing ; ut in every thing. by prayer and supplieation with thanks- glving let your requests made known unto God. g, as there is always room for praise, and always oc- casion for it, even in circumstances of the greatest affliction and distress. . - peace which the blessed Spirit of God diffuses over the souls of his people, that peace which far surpasses all understanding,” which none can conceive but he who feels it, and which none can feel but by divine communication, shall guard and defend your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, so that nothing shall 8 be able to break in upon that sweet aid sacred tranquillity. As for what remains, my brethren, let me despatch it in a few words. Be always intent on raising your characters 7. And the peace of God, which passeth all under- standing, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, what- Soc ver things are true, what- to the greatest height you possibly can: whatever things are true and sincere, whatever a JMy genuine associate : grèvy; yunqué.] Some understand and ren- der avčvyos, as a proper name, the true Syzygus ; but as I do not re- member any instance in which yymatos is used merely to signify true or honest, it must, even on that, interpretation, refer to the signification of the name. . As if he had said, Thou that art Syzygus indeed, the literal import of which is undoubtedly, according to our version, yoke-fellow ; but as that word in Jºnglish is generally appropriated to conjugal life, and yet, as it stands in the original, is masculing, and ºl. (waving all other arguments) cannot be taken in that sense; I thought it better to render it, associate. I think it probable this might be an officer of considerable authority and dignity in the church at Philippi, perhaps husband to one of the pious women here mentioned. b Women—who laboured.] As women’s preaching was, so expressly forbidden by Paul, we must conclude it was in some other way that these good women were helpful to him in the gospel; not so much by ministering to his person, though that no doubt they were ready to do as they had opportunity, but by such kind of services as I have, intimated in the Improvement, and by the intelligence they might give him of the state of religion annong their female acquaintance, their children, or of her branches of their respective families. c Whose names are in the hook of life.] The namgs of good men are often represented as registered in heaven. Compare Maj. iii. 16. Where any thisig of such a character appeared, it was reasonable, in the judg- ment of charity, to hope this with respect to the persons in whom it was found; but we have no reason to conclude from this expression that Paul had any particular revelation with regard to these friends he here mentions as certainly destined tº salvation. * -- d Prayer and supplication.] . The particular difference between ſpo- ceuxn and Óenact cannot I think be ascertained, though some under- stand by the former, petition for good, and by the latter, deprecation of evil. Perhaps the latter may be rather more expressive than the former, as implying more earnest importunity; and this sense the word supplication seems to carry with it. - - e The peace of God, &c.] By this expression some understand that pacific disposition which the gº requires, interpreting the following phrase either of its grcelling all merely intellectual endowments, (as if it were parallel to 1 Cor. xiii. 2.) or of its ruling the other powers of the soul, as ūrepexa) is said to signify having dominion. Dan; vii. 23. ix. 10. I Pet. ii. 13. Compare Rom. xiii. 1. But this is only a branch of that temper which we are to cultivate, if we desire that sense of peace and reconciliation with God, of which it is most natural to interpret this clause, as that excellent preacher, Mr. Du Mont, has shown at large in his valuable discourse on this text. See his Serm. p. 307, &c. Thus the peace of Christ (John xiv. 27.) significs the peage, which he gives, or of which he is the Author. For the emphasis of the word @pºpmast, see the note on I Pet. i. 5. * HIS ACKNOWLEDGAIENTS OF THEIR LIBERALITY. soever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, things º grave and venerable,f whatever things [are] righteous and equitable, whatever 3 tº whatsoever things are pure, things [are] chaste and pure, whatever things [are] friendly and kind,” whatever things [are] 8. §:::::::::::::: § reputable and truly ornamental, if [there be] any real virtue in them, and if ſº be] any — Pºiº. just praise resulting from them, think frequently of these things, consider what they are, tºº.º.º. praise, how highly you are obliged to regard them, and endeavour more and more to abound in gS. e--. - c tº & e & & g Those things, which ye the practice of them. And for a further illustration and confirmation of this advice, I will 9 º "...º. add, whatever things ye have learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, whatever good in ºne, doi and the God of lessons I have given you, whatever worthy of imitation you may have observed in my ***** conduct while ſabodé among you, or may since have been credibly informed of these -- things be ye ever careful to practise; and the God of peace shall always be with you : for I have the testimony of my conscience that my conduct has always been pleasing in his sight, and that your imitation of it will be the way to engage the divine presence an blessing, which I most heartily wish you. IMPROVEMENT. How condescending is this great apostle in the kind notice he takes, not only of his fellow-labourers in the work of the christian ministry, but even of the women who, according to the opportunity which God gave them, lent their assistance for the service of the gospel, whatever that assistance were ; whether by their prayers, or their familiar addresses to their friends, or their kind offices to the bodies of those in distress, or that uniform example by which the several virtues of christianity were recommended, and the christian profession adorned! Let none then object the privacy of their stations, as if that must necessarily cut them off from usefulness, but let them endeavour diligently and humbly to do their utmost, and pray for increasing wisdom and grace to guide them in their deliberations and resolves. - It will be very subservient to this happy design, that christians, in whatever stations they are, should be of one 2 mind in the Lord; that they should endeavour to lay aside mutual prejudices, and unite in love, if they cannot perfectly agree in all their sentiments. Then may they rejoice in the Lord; and it is to be urged upon them 4 gain and again, that they do so. It is to be urged not only as a privilege but a duty. And surely if we consider *i. a Saviour he is, and how perfectly accommodated to what our necessities require, and what our hearts could wish, we shall easily enter into the reasonableness of the exhortation. Let us often represent it to ourselves as a truth equally important and certain, that the Lord is at hand. By 5 his spiritual presence he is ever near us, and the day of his final and visible appearance is continually approach- ing. Let our hearts be duly influenced by it, and particularly be taught that holy moderation which becomes those who see the season so nearly advancing when all these things shall be dissolved. And let this abate our anxiety about them. Why should we be solicitous about things which shall so soon be as if they had never been? Let us seek the repose of our minds in prayer. In every thing by humble supplication let us make known our 6 requests unto God. And let us mingle thankful acknowledgments for past favours, with our addresses to the throne of grace for what we further need. This will establish the serenity of our souls, so that the peace of God, 7 more sweet and delightful than any who have not experienced it can conceive, will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and make our state secure as well as pleasant. Let us study the beautiful and the venerable, as well as what is true and just, in actions, and pursue every 8 thing which shall, as such, approve itself to our consciences, every thing in which there shall be virtue and praisé. Let us always in this view endeavour to keep the moral sense uncorrupted, and pray that God would, if I may be allowed the expression, preserve the delicacy of our mind in this respect, that a holy sensibility of soul may warn and alarm us to guard against every distant appearance of evil. That so, cautious of venturing to the utmost boundaries of what may be innocent, we may be more secure than we could otherwise be, from the danger of passing over to the confines of guilt, and of wandering from one degree of it to another. And while we exhort 9 others to such a care, let us Qurselves endeavour to be, like this holy apostle, among the brighter examples of it. Ver. 3 SECTION IX. The apostle concludes with his acknowledgments to the Hºpi. for the liberal supply they had sent him; at the same timé speaking of the #º º ºper to which divine grace had brought him; and transmits christian salutations from himself and his friends at Rome. hil. iv. 10, to the end. - * PHILIPPIAN's iv. 10. PHIL. iv. 10. BUT, I rejoiced in the Lord BUT to return to my own affairs, and your conduct to me: I have rejoiced greatly in the 5.º.º. º.º. Lord Jesus Christ,” to whose providence and grace I ultimately ascribe it, that %. affec- fished again; wherein ye tionate care of me has now sprung up again and flourished, like vegetables which, after ...i.d.o.º.º. * * having seeméd during the winter to be dead in the earth, sprout up at the returning spring with new beauty and pleasure. With respect to which, you were indeed careful before, as I, assuredly believe, but ye wanted that convenient opportunity which the coming of & º: Epaphroditus gave you, of transmitting to me the fruit of your liberality and bounty. Tut i.º.º.º. I would not have you think that I speak with respect to want, as if I was impatient of I am, therewith to be content that, or meant to extort any thing from you, if future necessities should arise, as by dint of importunity. For I bless God, I havé no need of betaking myself to such low expe- 12 I, know both how to be dients, as I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be contented. I know both 12 §.º.º. ; ſhow] to be abased, when it pleases God to humble me, and I know º to abound, when tº his providence º for my supply. In every [place] and in all º I am §tº tº instructed, and find myself, as it were, initiated into this great mystery, so needful to the need. christian, and especially the apostolic life, both to be fed plentifully without transgressing the rules of temperance, and to suffer hunger without murmuring or discontent. I know how both to abound, without too fond an attachment to the world, when my circumstances in it are most easy, and to fall short of the agreeable accommodations of life, yea, and to SECT. 9. PHIL. IV. 10 11 Not that I sºft in re- f Grave and venerable.] The word agpivos is rendered grave, and than lovely; though there is certainly a lovely charm in such friendly aeuvorming gravity, 1 Tim. iii. 4, 8, 11. Tit. ii. 1, 2,7. Dr. Lardner has yery well expressed the design of the exhortation, when he says, “That it is to recommend to christians a concern for their character, a care so to behave as to secure to themselves some degree of respect and esteem : that they should avoid unbecoming levity in word, action, habit, and outward behaviour, which tends to render men despicable; and makes them appear weak, mean, and of no consequence in the eyes of others.” Lardner’s Serm. p. 319. And I hope it will be remembered how par- jºy this gravity is recommended to ministers in the places cited 8. DOVC. g Friendly and kind.] This seems the more exact import of Tpogów)m things. a Rejoiced greatly in the Lord.) This shows the deep sense the apostle entertained of the providential interposition of Christ, in the seasonable supply he had received from the Philippians; and many other traces of this kind appear in the writings of St. º b Initiated, &c.] This is well known to be the peculiar, sense qf Heuvmpat, and it has a spirit here which I could not persuade myself to suppress, as the apostle, by the choice of this word, seems to intimatº to every Greek reader how much he esteemed these good dispositions of mind here spoken of, beyond all their boasted initiations, whatever mys- teries they might be supposed to contain. 7I6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND SALUTATIONS. **CT. be in necessity, without being greatly disturbed at such a change, or feeling any painful 9. anxiety on account of it. In one word, whatever is to be done, whatever is to be borne, J.J. can do... all things I am sigficient for 4! things; have vigour enough for the one, have patience and fortitude jens; * º enough for the other: but then I would not be understood to arrogate any thing of this 13% myself, but wºuld most humbly and affectionately acknowledge that it is all through § º enables me, and furnishes my spirit with a strength of which it is naturally 6St.It. Ulte. 14 You see by this, that the happiness of my life doth not depend upon any external cir-, 14 Notwithstanding so cumstancé, or any supply I can receive from my most generous friends. ..Wevertheless, ..º. sº !e did gell in communicating so liberally to my relief, in that affliction under which I am ii. h Iny afflic noy suffering; as it is certain the servants of Christ are not less worthy of being regarded and assisted by you, for those attainments which by his grace they have been enabled to - 15 make in the temper which their profession demands. *And in his respect, I am under, 15 Now, ye Philippians, }. obligations to you, my dear brethren; for je, O Philippians, well know, that in the ºf egunning qf OUIr mission, when we came an preached the gospel among you, as I was departed from Macedoniang departing from Macedonia,” (which is now about twelve years ago,”) no church communi- i.º.º.º.º. cated with me in the affair of giving and receiving, that is, nochristian society, as such, receiviº dº. 6 made any collection for my personal support and assistance, but Jow only : For, not con- , 16 For even in Thessa- ºted with ministering tº my necessities while I was with you’ve ºften fresided . lºad again Thessalonica, though it was so considerable a city, and the metropolis of your country, and though the gospel was so affectionately received by some there, yet Jow sent thither once and again to the relief of my necessity.é * - 17 . I mention this in so particular a manner, not because I desire a gift, or would extort any 17 Not because I desire a future favour from you, by the recollection of the past; but this f sire, that in such ways ;....'...! as may be most for the honour of God, and the credit of your profession, fruit may may abound to your account, 18 abound to your comfortable account in the day of the Lord. At present you need not be .18 But, I have, all, and solicitous about me, for I have all I can wish to make my bonds sit easy upon me, and do sº; #.;º. indeed abound, more than usual in the convenient accommodations of life: fº, full, things, chiº.º.e. sent from º - - * 'ou, an odour of a sweet having received by Epaphroditus your present, which I cannot but esteem as a fragrant #1. sºciº gºod; ºn acceptgºlesacrifice, well pleasing to God, to whose glory it is, I know, uſiniately weißleasing tºgoi. 19 devoted, while for his sake you are so ready to relieve his ministers. "And I have the 19 but my God shall, sup- pleasure,to think you will not on the whole be losers by such liberalities, but that my God, ########: graciously smiling upon your tribute of grateful love, will supply all your wants, according Jesus. to his inexhaustible riches, which he cannot but possess º seated in supreme glory and majesty above, and scatters down not merely the blessings of providence, but of gracé, by Christ Jesus, which I hope he will largely impart to you. 20 Yow to our God and Father, to him whom we are encouraged to regard under that Fº º,"; and . endearing character, and in whom, through the great Redeemer, we are daily rejoicing, jºº" " "** [be] glory for ever and ever. .4men. 21 I will not syell my postscript by a long catalogue of names, but desire you to salute #jº.º. §§ every Saint in Christ Jesus; and to assure them al , known or unknown, that they are dear §ºn º tº, nº, and that, in general or particular petitions, I bear them always upon my heart. The brethren who are with me, my dear fellow-labourers, with whom I most frequently 22 Conyerse, salute you, singerely wishing your prosperity and peace. And not only these 2 All the saints salute brethren who sojourn with me, and bear a part in the ministerial work, but all the other łºśhat are of saints here at Rome, salute you, but especially they of Caesar's household, who, sensible of the goodness of God to them, in causing his grace to visit them and dwell with them in such a situation, have a particular regard for their brethren every where, and desire to be particularly remembered to you. - 23 To conclude all with the best wishes my most endeared love can form for you, may the Jºãº". Hºff grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the sanctifying and comfortable influences of his Spirit, [be] . yOUl all, with you all, now and at all times, to support you under all your trials, and to animaté you to persevere even unto the end Amen. IMPROVEMENT. Ver., WHAT 3. noble spirit of generosity and gratitude appears in the apostle! How handsomely does he acknow- 10, 14 ledge the favour of his friends, still maintaining the dignity of his character, rejoicing in the tokens of their affec- 15, 16 tion to him, chiefly as fruits abounding to their account, and as it would be a sweet savour acceptable to God. 17, 18 And surely the incense which they were presenting at the divine altar, would also by its fragrancy delight them, surely they enjoyed what they had of their own, whether it were more or less, with greater satisfaction, when they were imparting something with filial gratitude to their Father in Christ, to make his bonds and imprisonment the less grievous. The apostle freely professes that he received these tokens of their affection with pleasure; but much happier was he in that noble superiority of mind to external circumstances which he so amiably describes. Truly rich and truly great, in knowing how to be content in every circumstance; possessed of the noblest kind of º; 11, 12 in having learned how to be exalted and to be abased, to abound or to suffer need. This all-sufficiency of whic he boasts, is it haughty arrogance? Far from it; he is never humbler than when he speaks of himself in this 13 exalted language. It is in the strength of another that he glories. I am sufficient for all things through Christ, who strengthens me. And here the feeblest christian may join issue with him, and say, “If Christ will strengthen me, I also am sufficient for all.” His grace, therefore, let us constantly seek, and endeavour to maintain a continual dependence upon it, praying for ourselves and for each other, that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 23 may be with us. This grace produced and maintained saints, where of all places upon earth we should least have 22 expected to find them, even in the palace of Caesar, of Nero. Let it encourage us to look to God to supply our 19 spiritual necessities out of the riches of his glory in Christ. And in a cheerful hope that he will do it, ſet us 20 through him ascribe glory to our God and Father for ever and ever. Amen. . . c As I was departing, &c.) So I think it best to render énx90, e To my º It appears by 1 Thess. ii. 9.2 Thess. iii. 7–9. - * * * - * r in A. * that it was not to the liberality of the inhabitants of that city, but chiefly º ºlonica (w er. 16.) lay in Macedonia; and § º: labour * his own hands, that Paui owed his subsistence during his bout twelve years ago.] This epistle (as we have observed in the abode among them. * w * * * * * * * 1:#; º to flº been written towards the end of Paul’s first f The brethren-and all the saints sglute you..] From this distinction I imprisonment at Rome, which was about A. D. 63; and he first preached conclude, with Mr. Pierce, that it is highly pigbable, the ministers at at # about the year 51. Rome were called by the name of brethren. Pierce’s Vindic. p. 3 F A M I L Y E X P O S I TO R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS, . . 4- COLOSSE was a large populous city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, and stood not far from Laodicea: but though it ap- pears from this Epistle i. a christian church was established in it, we have no account by whom, or at what time, it was founded. Some have concluded, from chap. ii. 1. that St. Paul had never been there himself; but though perhaps nothing can be certainly inferred from that passage in relation to it, yet there is great reason to believe, that if the apostle had been personally concerned in the first preaching of the gospel there, so important a fact would not have been entirely omitted in the history of the Acts. It is not however at all improbable but they might be converted while Paul resided at Ephesus, especially considering that he spent no less than three years in that city, and preached with so much success, that St. Luke tells us, (Acts xix. 20.) that all they who dwelt in .4sia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. - -- As to the date of this Epistle, little need be added here, after what has been already observed in the Introduction to the Ephesians, p. 672. It appears highly probable, for reasons there given, that it was written at the same time with that to the Ephesians, and they were #. sent together by Tychicus and Onesimus, towards the close of Paul's first impri- sonment at Rome, which was about the year of our Lord 63, or the ninth of the emperor Nero. (Compare chap. iv. 3, 7, 9. See also note g, p. 492.) The Colossians appear, from several passages in this Epistle, to have borne an honourable character for their piety, and the zeal they discovered for the gospel; but we find, from the cautions the apostle gives them in the second chap- ter, that they were in some danger .#being drawn aside by the subtilties of the heathen philosophers, and the insinua- tions of some Jewish zealots, who insisted upon the necessity of conforming to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law. Ac- cordingly the grand design of this Epistle is to excite the Colossians by the most persuasive arguments to a temper and behaviour worthy their sacred character, and to secure them from the influence of those pagan sophists, or Jewish bigots, who would seduce them from the purity of the christian faith. In pursuance of this general º the apostle, having joined Timothy's name with his own in the inscription of the Epistle, begins with expressing his thankfulness to God for calling them into his church, and giving them a share in the important Blessings of the gospel; at the same time declaring the great satisfaction with which he heard of their faith and love, and assuring them of his constant prayers, that they might receive larger supplies of divine wisdom and grace, to enable them to walk worthy of their high character and hopes as christians. § . i. 1–14.)—And to make them more sensible of the excellence of this new dispensation into which they were admitted, he represents to them, in very sublime terms, the dignity of our Saviour's person, as the image of God, the Creator of all things, and the Head of the church; whose death God was #: to appoint as the means of abolishing the obligation of the Mosaic law, which separated between the Jews and Gentiles, and of reconciling sinners to himself. (Ver, 15–23.)—From this view of the excellency of Christ's person, and the riches of redeeming grace, the apostle takes occasion to express the cheerfulness with which he suffered in the cause of the gospel, and his earnest solicitude to fulfil his ministry among them in the most successful manner; assuring them that he felt the most tender concern both for them and the other christians in the neighbourhood, that they might be established in their adherence to the christian faith. (Ver. 24, to the end; chap. ii. 1–7. Hºw given these general exhortations, the apostle proceeds to caution the Colossians against suffering their minds to be corrupted from the simplicity of the gospel, either by pagan philosophy or Jewish tradition, reminding them of the obligation their baptism laid them under of submitting to Christ as the only Lawgiver and Head of his church, who had totally abolished the ceremonial law, and discharged them from any further regard to it. (Ver. 8—19.)—And since, upon embracing christianity, they were to consider themselves as dead with respect to any other religious profession, he shows the absurdity of being still subject to the appointments of the Mosaic law; and cautions them against those corrupt additions to christianity which some were attempting to introduce, especially by rigours and superstitions of their own devising. And as the most effectual means for their own security, he exhorts them, as they were with Christ, to keep their thoughts fixed on him as their Lord and Life, and on that better world whither he was ascended, and to which they had the prospect of being admitted. (Ver. 20, to the end; chap. iii. 1–4.)—From this glorious hope, the apostle presses them to guard against every degree of uncleanness, malice, covetousness, falsehood, and whatever was inconsistent with the purity of that new dispensation into which they were entered: and exhorts them to abound in the practice of meek- # Fiš A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANs. ness, forbearance, humility, and love, and to accustom themselves to those devout exercises and evangelical views which would have the most direct tendency to improve the christian temper. (Ver, 5–17.) After these general precepts, the apostle proceeds to recommend to the Colossians such a care in discharging the duties correspondent to the several relations of life as would be most honourable to their christian profession, and particularly enumérates those of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants. And to assist them in th. perform- ance of these duties, he exhorts them to be constant in prayer; and, for the credit of their religion, advises them to main- tain a prudent, obliging behaviour to their Gentile brethren. (Ver, 18, to the end ; chap. iv. 1–6.) The apostle closes his Epistle with recommending to them Tychicus and Onesimus, of whom he speaks in very honour- able terms, and to whom he refers them for a more particular account of the state of the church at Rome: and having inserted salutations from Aristarchus, Epaphras their minister, (who was then with º and others, he gives directions for reading his Epistle at Laodicea, addresses a solemn admonition to Archippus, and concludes with his salutation, written with his own hand. (Ver. 7, to the end.) - A P A R A P H R A S E A N D NOT E S ON THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANs. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE BEGINS HIS EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANs witH DECLARING HIs THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR CALLING THEM IN AND HIS DESIRE IN GENERAL, THAT THEY MIGHT RECEIVE AN ABUNDANCE OF DIVINE GRACE, TO ENABLE THEM TO WALK GREAT A PRIVILEGE. COL. i. 1–14. Col. i. VER. l. PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse : Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 Since, we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5. For the hope which is laid, which up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6.Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and r bringeth forth ſº *:: doth º also in you, since the day ye Že I) heard of it, and knew th: 18.W G grace of God in truth: CoLoss LANs i. VER. I. I PAUL,” who have the honour to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, not having intruded SECT. myself into the office, but being called to it by the will of God, who was pleased to dis- play the sovereignty of his grace in choosing me, one of the greatest of sinners, to so º and holy an office, do now join with Timothy, a faithful brother and fellow-labourer in t gospel-ministry, in sending this Epistle, To the holy and faithful brethrenb in Christ, who are resident at Colosse and the adjacent places; heartily wishing grace unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord tion to us, and sends down upon us the blessings of providence and grace. I may say it in my own name, and that of my dear brother Timothy, though not per- sonally acquainted with you, that we do unfeignedly give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" upon your account, and very frequently making express mention of you before the throne of divine grace, and habitually wishing your advancement in religion, and your eternal salvation. Having heard, with unspeakable pleasure, of your sincere faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, and active, generous love towards all the saints who are partakers with you in that holy calling od hath given us by him, whether they be Jews or Gentiles: On this account we offer our prayers to God, and we are blessing him for the better hoped which is laid up for § in the heavens, and which will in due time be accomplished, of which ye have efore to such happy purpose, in the true and infallible word of the gospel, which was preached among you in all its genuine purity and integrity; Of that gospel which hath through the singular goodness of God to the Gentiles, whom he seemed so long to glected, appeared unto you, even as in all the world,” being intended for a universal religion. And accordingly it proceeds in its progress, and bringeth forth substantial fruit Ye esus Christ, through whom he owns that rela- at we are always praying for you ; eard 7 As ye also learned of elsewhere, as also [it hath dome] among you, from the day in which ye have heard and known Epaphras, ºur deat fellow the grace of God, in that saving word of solid truthf and everlasting life which hath been servant, who is for you faithful minister of Christ; Who also declared us your love in the Spirit. .9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and * sent unto you. As ye have also learnt it from E ºut to work of the Lord, who is the faithful minister q pointed to labour among you, and to preside over you; } jour christian love in the bonds of that one Spirit who unites all our hearts. Therefore tº desire that yº night i, we also, from the day that we first heard [of it, cease not to praq our most earnest and affectionate requests, that ye may be §§ ledge of his will, in all gisdom and spiritual understanding,é in the right apprehension of aphras our beloved fellow-servant in the hrist for ſº." sakes, whom he has ap- Tho hath also manifested to us for you, and to offer up antly filled with the know- filled with the knowledge of his will in , all wisdom and spiritual understanding; a Paul.] It may be as proper here as clsewhere to observe, that many critics have thought this Greek name was taken by the apostle instead of that of Saul, though it had been the name of the first Jewish king, who Yaş also a Benjamite, (which might be a further recommendation of it in this instance) out of special regard to the Gentiles, to whose service he was so peculiarly devoted. b. Holy and faithful brethren.] I cannot think they are called, holy and faithful here, only or chiefly on account of their adhering to the purity of the christian faith, in opposition to those that urged the necessity of obserying the Jewish law. This was indeed one instance of their fide- lity; but I think it greatly impoverishes and debases the sense of such an extensive phrase to reduce it, within such marrow bounds. Many scores of criticisms in some modern commentators of reputation are liable to the same exception ; but I rather choose to leave it to the reader’s observation, than stay to Iyoint out every example of it. As the Epistle is inscribed to a society by profession separated from the world, and consecrated to God, it was reasonably to be hoped, in the judgment of charity, that most of them answered that profession, which sufficiently justifies such an address. - c To the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.] Some would render it, to God even the Father, which would be much more tolerable than our translation, to God and the Father, as , iſ they were different persons. But it may seem that the prefixing the article only to God, To 6so kat Harpt, not merely warrants but demands this rendering. Franckius has a good observation here; which illustrates the beauty of many scriptures The order that would seem most artificial is trans- posed to make the sense plaincy. It is not, having heard of your faith, I §ºj God, but vice versa. The same observation may be applied to ver. d For the hope, &c.] There is an ambiguity in the connexion of this clause ; it may either signify that the apostle gives thanks for this their hope, supposing the 4th verse to come in as a parenthesis; or it may more directly reſer to the immediately preceding words, and intimate that a partnership in this blessed hope cemented the hearts of these good men. In either sense the connexion is instructive, but I prefer the for- met as more natural. e In all the world.) In all the provinces of the Roman empire, as the Fº often signifies ; and it may no doubt bo put for many or most of | CIll. - f The grace of God in truth.) . Some understand truth as expressive º substance, in opposition to the comparative shadows of the Mosaic ai W. & Wisdom and spiritual understanding.] It is exceedingly difficult to affix any exactly distinct ideas to the words wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Some explain wisdom as expressing an acquaintancé with gospel-ºn/stcries, and, understanding as implying, prudence in conduct, while others invert this interpretation. It is evident to me, that the Same idea is not invariably annexed to them in all places; for knowledge is sometimes used to express something in degree at least inferior to cis- digº, (1 Cor. xii; S.) whereas here it evidently includes wisdom; and the £l tise, Spiritugl understanding, seems to be explicatory of the wisdom ł.ere spoken of, and not expressive of anything different from it. *- 4 5 6 7 ; WTO HIS CHURCH worth of Sö 1. COL. I. 7:20 PAUL'S GRATITUDE FOR THE BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL. *** spiritual objects, wrought and increased in you by the influence of the Divine Spirit upon - 1. I. Wer. 1, 2 same views which he had opened upon other churches, the same kind sentiments which he had expressed to- 3, Your minds: That so you may be animated to walk in a manner worthy of that connexion 10 That ye ºft in which, you stand with the Lord Jesus Christ,h and the obligations you are under to ...” jº º CQL him, conducting yourselves in all respects so as may be well pleasing in his sight, fruit- every good work, and in: Jul and increasing still more and more abundantly in every good work, to the práctical ac- ºins in the knowledge of 11 knowledgment of God, in all his attributes º j to you.’ #. inºis “...s. gthened with all strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, that you may be formed to might, jºo ; glo- all the most exemplary degrees of patience, under the persecution you meet with in the . º: World, and lorig-sigſferingi under all provocations; which I wish yóu may be enabled to fulness; § Joy bear, not only with composure and dignity of s irit, but with joy too, while you expect 12 that blessed and exalted hope which the gospel sets before you. Yes, my $º I _12 Giving thanks unto the desire that instead of lamenting the calamities to which so holy a professiºn exposes us, ºniº Yoº may be, continually giving thanks to the Father of all grace and mercy, who hai: ;... º."; called, us all, whether originally Jews or Gentiles, into the communion of his church, ishti and who hath, by the renewing and sanctifying influences of his Spirit upon our hearts. ngde iſs, though naturally so much indisposed for it, now to become fit for a part in i. inheritancek which he hath prepared and assigned as the final reward and felicity of the Sºnts : Who, when they have passed through the dark scenes which Providence has 13 allotted them here, shall remain in immortal light and glory. Yea, we reckon it our per- . 13 who hath delivered us petual duty tº render these acknowledgments to him who hath, by the declarations of his fºº; gospel, and the influences of his grace, rescued us from the poſſeſ of darknessiºni iranº ºffs: #: [its] from the territories of Satan, the prºce of it, into ihe glorious and happ 14 kingdom ºf his beloved Son . In whom we have ample rºdemption from the tyranny of º 14 In whom we have re- our enemies, and from the destruction with which the divisa justice threatened us, by the lººk...f." pouring forth of his blood, ſeven] the remission of sins, for which we were ourselves inca- coen the IOrg & º of making any satisfaction, and which, if they had not been thus expiated, would ave sunk us down to final condemnation and despair. IMPROVEMENT. WE see in this Epistle, as in all the rest, the most genuine discoveries of the real temper of the apostle. The wards them, does he here discover and express; still glorying in his office, as an apostle of Christ; still wishing 4 to his christian brethren grace and peace, as beyond all comparison the best of blessings; still congratulating them on their faith in Christ and love to each other; still making continual mention of them in his prayers, and recommending them to the grace of God, in which we, as they, continue to stand. 5 For ever adored be the divine goodness, that the word of God, which sets before us a hope laid up in the 6 heavens, hath been manifested unto us and to all the world! Let us often examine ourselves as to the fruit it hath brought forth in our own hearts and lives. Let us be solicitous for ourselves and others, that we may in a more spiritual and intelligent manner be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all its compass and extent, so far as he has been pleased to reveal it; and that this knowledge may produce in us the most substantial effects, 10 so as to engage us to walk worthy of the Lord, whose name we bear, and in a manner which he may behold with approbation and pleasure; being fruitful and increasing more and more in every good work, that our bar- renness may not reproach our profession, and that the great vital truths of christianity may not seem to be dead or dormant in our hearts. - II To give them their full energy on our souls, we need the operation of God’s glorious and mighty power, by 12 which they may not only be established in all patient long-suffering, but inspired with holy joy. Then shall, we breathe forth lively acknowledgments to the F. who hath revealed unto us that glorious inheritance which he distributes amongst the saints in light, even that kingdom where they all reign in everlasting purity, friend- 13 ship, and joy. May he prepare us to receive our lot, . take up our abode there ! For this end did fié rescue us from the power of darkness, and call us to the external privileges of those who constitute the kingdom of his 14 dear Son: for this did he set before us that redemption which we have in his blood, even the remission of our sins. And oh how inexcusable shall we be if we make ourselves the slaves of sin, while we have our abode in the visible kingdom of Christ; and, trampling upon his blood and the act of grace which is established in it; seal ourselves up under a guilt never to be removed; a guilt heightened to infinite degrees of provocation and malignity by the very methods which have been taken to expiate it! - - SECTION II. To promote theirthankfulness for their part in the gospel, and engage their adherence to it in its greatest. purity, the apostle represents to them the methods he hath taken to make reconciliation for sinners. Col. i. 15–23. the dignity of our blessed Redeemer’s person, and CoLossIANS i. 15. CoL. i. 15. sEcT. I HAVE just been speaking to you of that redemption which we have in the blood of Włºń, he imaº ºf 2. - * : - & risible God, Christ, even the remission of our sins; and I must now lead you more º to reflect yº firstborn of 1. who hé is to whom we are under such immense obligations. And you will find his dignity col. and glory to be such, that you can never conceive of anything adequate to them. For he º 2 y y g Q is indeed the brightest and most express Image of the invisible and eternal God,” whom no * man hath seen at any time, nor can see : [and] the First-born of the whole creation :" ex 5 h That ye may walk worthy of the Lord.) The apostle seems here most had been in his Pharisaica] state, while a blºsphemeſ. Pºgsºº, and patheticaſiy to propose, the great subject and design of this Epistle, {º. he saw himself to have been under the power 9ſ darkness, as º'chiefly intended to excite them to a temper and behaviour Christ represents those of the Jews to have been Xh9, influenced by the worthy their christian character. And this, indeed, is the leading view spirits of darkness, Were combined against him. (Luke .xxii. 53.). Yet in iſ the Épisties of this exceſſent apostle, and the want of regard to so none can doubt but that the ignºngé and sin, confusion and misery, joja Kºy jºisied many into subtities of interpretation, which have which, reigned in the Gentile world, was also in the apostle’s thoughts had no foundation but in their own ingenious reveries. when he used this expression. s * * i Long-suffering..] See note c, on Rom. ii. 4. p. 50k. * a The Image of the invisible God..] It is surprising to observe how ex- k Part in the inheritance, &c. Mapúa k\mps is the proportion of an pressly Philo the Jew, in more places than ºf; calls the Jºgºs, or Wººd inheritance Wººl by lot to each #. those among §º iii. º: g $ººl, he speaks, the Image ºf God. See Dr. Scott’s Christian Life, Iluding, as 1)r. Whitby supposes, to the manner in Which the land O "Ol. Ili, p. 999. * - *...jºs cantoned Šut tº: tribes fºr Šcott endeavours to show b The First-born of the *ś ####, Mr. ; would render iſ... the phrase, saints in light, particularly refers to the lustre of the glo- "Pºoroºkoºſººg Tºº the first r, or Producer, of every crea- rified body of the saints, who shall be §e. after the resurrection with tire. Mr. Pierce observes; Tpoſoſokos sometimes signifies the dam that a’īsīšijucid glory resembling that of the Shechinah. Scott’s Christian produces its first º: then the sense would be, He, who, as it were Eiſe, vol. iii. p. 198, 199. at the first birth, by the exertion 9f his §§ brought forth aï j frescued us from the power of darkness;] Many have thought the apos- things. It is certain that Christ is often called God’s first-horm, his first- tlé speaks of himself as one of the Gentile converts; but Me have great Öggotten, and his, ºnly-begottég $gn, (Psal. lxxxix. 27. Ro m; V11: 3, easºn to believe, that when divine grace made jim sensible of what he Héb, i. 6. John i. 14, 18. iii. 16, 18. 1 John iv. 9.) and therefore I did THE DIGNITY AND OPERATIONS OF THE REDEEMER. 721 16 For by him, were, all isting before it, and begotten to inherit it as the great Heir of all. And his nature has a SECT. things created, that are in hea- ven; and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: transcendent excellency, infinitely superior to any thing that is made ; for by him were all things created, things in heaven an l things on earth. From him were derived the visible splendour of the celestial luminaries, the sun, the moon, and the stars, even all the hosts of these lower heavens, and from him the yet brighter glories of invisible and angelic beings who dwell and reign above, by whatever names and honours distinguished; whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all the various orders of hea- venly spirits, which may be designed by such or the like titles, the import of which is not exactly known to us mortals. Yet these, with all other things in the celestial as well as terrestrial regions, were created by him and for him; they are the productions of his almighty 17 And he is before, all power, and were made that he might be exalted and glorified in them. ..And he is before things, and by him all things Consist. all, both in the duration and the dignity of his nature, and in him all things which constitute this universal system do continually subsist in that harmonious order of being which renders it one beautiful whole; whereas, unsupported by him, it would immediately run into confusion, or fall back into its original nothing. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church : who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. b Jłnd it is worthy of our particular consideration, that he who is thus the Head and Lord of all, is in a peculiar sense the Head of the church, [which] he [is] graciously pleased to own as the body, and which he with amazing condescension has united in the strictest onds to himself, taking it under his peculiar guardianship, government, and care ; [even he] who is, as we before declared, the Beginning of the creation of God, and having stooped to assume our nature and to die in it, was also appointed to be the First-born from the dead, the first who ever rose to an endless life; that so in all things he might have the pre- eminence suitable to the infinitely superior dignity of his nature above all created beings. 19 For it pleased the ºther For in him his Father is ever well pleased, as he declared by a voice from heaven; and it that in him should all fulness dwell; was his sovereign pleasure, as dwelling in him, to inhabit the whole fulness of the church: and to qualify him for the high office which he sustains, he hath appointed that all fulness of gifts and graces should ever reside in him,” even all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. .And it hath pleased the Father likewise by him to reconcile all things to himself;f that is, to the purposes of his own glory, having made peace by the blood of his cross : by which the design of the ceremonial law having been answered, the obligations of it were abolished, and the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles broken down. Yea, by him [God hath reconciled all things] to each other, whether things on earth, that is, Jews or Gentiles, or things in heaven, that is, celestial spirits, who are now reconciled to fallen men, and incorporated with them into one holy and happy society. 21 And you, that were some- time alienated and enemies in gour mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight : - n - §3 ºff ye continue in the accusation in his faith, grounded and settled, o. and be not moved away from Š the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under whereof [ Paul am made a In 1n 1ster; And the species of mankind: by which he commandeth all men every where to repent, and promises salvation to all who believe and obey. Of which gospel I Paul am appointed a minister, and esteem it my peculiar honour and happiness that IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn by this sublime discourse of our holy apostle, how we are to conceive of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whose glory he so wisely and happily consecrated the labours of his pen and of his life; and while we commemo- rate that blood of his in which we have redemption, even the remission of our sins, let us bow to him as the Image of the invisible God, and the First-born of the whole creation. And whatever discoveries we may at any time receive as to the display of divine power, wisdom, and goodness, in the formation of the visible or invisible world, let us remember that by Christ all things in both were created, not excepting thrones and dominions, prin- cipalities and powers. The angels of God worship him, as with and by the Father their hº Original and Sup- port, acknowledging with Paul, and with the whole catholic church as taught by him, that in Christ all things subsist. Let us then, with the whole host of heaven, bow down before him, and worship him that sits upon the throne, and the Lamb. , Let us with all humility adore his condescension, in uniting us to himself in such dear and intimate bonds, and avowing himself the Head of the church, which he disdains not to call his body, though he be the Beginning of the creation of God, as well as the First-born from the dead, and beyond comparison alſT) SO. pre-eminent in all. Important indeed are the consequences of this his condescension. It is by him that God is reconciled to us, not think it warrantable to change our translation of that word; though T, is ng Krigeto; so naturally signifies the whole creation, and that version secºns to give so much nobler and more determinate a sense than every creature, that I could have no doubt as to the reasonableness of pre- ferring it. - - * * C By him were all things created.] To interpret this, as the Socinians do, of the neio creation in a spiritual sense, is so unnatural, that one could hardly believe, if the evidence were not so undeniably strong, that any set of learned commentators could fall into it. - d First-born from the dead..] Mr. Fleming would render it, the Eiji- cient, (or Prince, who is) the first Raiser qf the dead. (Christol. vol. i. p. 215.) But I have given here, as every where else; what appeared to me the ºst and most natural sense, and the best commenta- tors are agreed in 16. - - e That all fulness should reside in him.] There is undoubtedly an ambiguity in the original phrase, ev auto Tav To TAmpgopa karoºkmaat. Mr. Pierce would render it, in or by him to inhabit all fulness, that is, the whole church or body of Christ; and that rendering would include the sense of ours, referring to God’s dwelling in Christ, and so with us. (Compare Rom. xi. 5.) But I was cautious of altering our version of so important a text, without certain and evident necessity. But some critics have observed, that when what grammarians call an infinitive verb is in the New Testament joined with the word evöokea), it signifies, the action of him who is pleased, which would indeed make the passage ** parallel to Eph. ii. 21, 22. (Compare Eph. i. 23. where the church is called T.Anpop q, that is, God’s fulness. See Pierce in loc.) As the word Father is not in the original, Mr. Reynolds would render it, he, that iš, Christ, was ulcascal that in him (i. e. in himself) all fulness should dicell. (Reyn. Of Angels, p. 76.) But not to insist on the harshness of the interpretation in other respects, it seems most evident that the whole connexion determines the sense quite another way. f By him to reconcile all things, &c.) . Dr. Whitby would render it, “by him to make all things friendly in him, making peace between them by the blood of his cross;” ..} : apprehend that to be the true sense; and the only sense in which things in heaven can be said to be re- çonciled; for if it were to be granted, according to the assertion of Mr. eynolds in the fore-cited place, that the angels received confirming grace in Christ, they could not upon that account be said to be recon- ciled ; but when a breach commenced between man and the blessed God, the angels, as faithful subjects, must join with him against the rebellious creature, and be ready to act as enemies to him while he continued the enemy of God. g. In the body of his flesh through death.] Some have understood this as if it had been said, He hath now by his death, reconciled you or in- corporated you into the body of his church, which is to him as his QWI) flesh. (Compare Ephes. ii. 16. v. 29, 30.) But surely the body of his ſº most literally and naturally signifies that body of mortal flesh which e was pleased to assume, that he might be capable of suffering. 2. COL. I. 16 I 7 2 0. Jłnd the calling of the Gentile nations into the church is one important part of this plan; 21 so that you who were once alienated, and enemies in [your] mind to the blessed God by wicked works, he hath now reconciled to himself and to the society of his people. this he hath done in the body of his flesh,é which he hath assumed, and by that death which he hath suffered therein, that so he might present you holy and blameless, and free from all sight. You will certainly be so presented, if ye continue established and 23 rounded in the faith in which you have been instructed, and [be] not by any floods of affliction or tempests of temptation removed and carried away from the important hope of a happy immortality, brought to us by the glorious gospel ; which ye have heard, [and] heayen; which hath not only been published among the Jews, but, by a special commission from God, been preached to the whole creation under heaven, as a message which extends to all 22 Ver.14 15 16 91 722 2. COL I. 23 21 effect, it must subdue our hearts to holiness. 23 PAUL’S SOLICITUDE CONCERNING HIS MINISTRY AMONG THEM. SECT. and dwells in us. It is the blood of his cross that hath made peace between Jews and Gentilés, between heaven and earth. . Justly might the angels have forsaken this earth of ours, and have ascended to heaven, to enter their protest against sinful man, yea, to seek a commission for executing vengeance upon the apostate creature. But now, through Christ, they are become our friends and our brethren. At his command they minister unto the heirs of salvation, and will continue their kind offices, till heaven gives the interview which earth denies, and lays a foundation for the endearments of an everlasting friendship. Oh that this reconciling gospel might be effectually preached to every creature under heaven But to obtain its To be still under the power of sin, to go on in a course of evil works, is to continue the enmity, with God, and all his holy and happy creatures. Let us see to it, that we thankfully acº 22 cept the reconciliation which the gospel proposes. Then shall we at length be presented blameless, irreproach- able, and holy in his sight. As we hope for this end, let nothing remove us from our steadfastness, nor from that glorious hope of the gospel for which it is certain nothing can be an equivalent. May divine grace establish and confirm usin it, and make us victorious over every thing that might attempt to supplant our feet and take away our crown SECTION III. The apostle takes occasion, from what he had before said of the excellency of Christ’s person, and the riches of his redeeming grace, to express his own solicitude to fulfil his ministry among them in the most successful manner; and lays open his tender concern for the Colossians and other christians in their neighbourhood, that they might be established in their adherence to the gospel. Col. i. 24, to the end; chap. ii. 1–7. CoLossIANS i. 24. . .\"O}}, my brethren, give ma leave to tell you, that I am so far from repenting of the 5 6. 27 28 COL. II. 2 ministry in which I am engaged, on account of any difficulties it brings along with it, that on the contrary I rejoice even in my sufferings for you, and with great pleasure fill up whatever is wanting of the afflictions of Christ” in his members, by taking part of them in my own ºiſ. the sake of his body, which, as I said before, is the church, so dear to him the common Head, and to every member vitally united to him: Of which church I was made a minister, to wait upon it, and serve it in every office of humble love, according to the dispensation of God, which was given me in respect of you, that I might thoroughly and faithfully preach the whole word of God in the gospel. º ven] that great mystery, which was hid from so many preceding ages and generations, but is now manifested to his saints, of the Gentile nations as well as of Jewish extraction: To whom God was graciously de- termined to make known what is the rich glory of this mystery; to discover it, I say, even among the Gentiles ; which rich display of divine grace is all summed up in [this] one word, [that] Christ [is] in you, the hope of eternal glory; being formed by divine grace in your hearts, he brings to you, who were once without hope and without God in the world, (Eph. ii. 12.) the bright beamings of this blessed prospect, even a glorious and holy im- mortality. And this is the illustrious Saviour whom we, in the midst of all opposition, still continue to preach, admonishing every man, and instructing every man, as the respective circumstances of particular persons require. And, in the management of this important ministry, we conduct ourselves with all the wisdom and discretion we can obtain, that no single Soul may be lost by our means; but that we may, if possible, present every man, in due time, perfect in Christ Jesus, when he shall appear to make up his final account.b. To which important [purpose]. I also labour in the sphere allotted me, with diligence and resolution, exerting myself to the utmost, and striving with an intenseness like that of one who con- tends for a crown in your well-known Grecian games. Yet I arrogate nothing to myself herein; for all is carried on according to his energy, which operates with power in me, and supports me in the glorious contest, whereas otherwise I should sink, and become the de- rision of mine enemies. Nor is it without attending carefully to their full import, that I have made use of those strong terms which you have now been reading, to express the manner in which I exert my- self in the great trust committed to me. For I earnestly wish you to know what a vigorous contention? I have with a variety of antagonists, for you, ...} those of Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.d. For indeed my struggle for the gospel, while undér this painful confinement, is animated, not merely by considerations of personal friendship for those whom I particularly know and love, but by a most benevolent regard to the good of mankind in general, known or unknown, that they may receive and retain this glorious revelation, and have it delivered to them with all possible advantage: That their hearts may be comforted by the consolation of the Holy Spirit, and animated to every ood resolution,e being knit together and compacted in mutual christian love to the whole ody, and to Christ the great Head of it: and that, being thus cemented, they may attain the richest and most assured understandingſ of the gospel, and being enlightened in the clear and heart-affecting knowledge of it, they may be awakened to the most courageous and grateful acknowledgment of the sublime and adorable mystery of God, even of the Father and of Christ. Most heartily do I wish that, however it may be despised as foolishness CoL. i. 24. WHO now rejoice in my suf- erings, for you, and, fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body’s sake, which is the church : 25. Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dis- pensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfi the word of God; 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory : 23 Whom we preach, warn- ing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom ; that we may present every * - f {-, -, - e man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to , his working, which worketh in me mightily. Col. ii. 1. For I would that ye knew what great conflict have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the fiesh; 2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of under- standing, to the acknowledg- ment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; a Fill up thałeizer is ºranting, &c.] Nothin 4 could be further from the apostle’s intentio:1, (as we inay learn from the whole tenor of his writings,) that, to intinate that the sufferings of Christ were imperfect, as to that fulness of aton emitrit which wºis nacessary in order to the jutji- cation of believers. But he deeply retained in his mind the impression of that first lesson which he had floin his Sayigar’s mouth, viz. that he was persecuted in his members; (Acts is. 4.) he therg fore considers, it as the plan of Providence, thºut a gºriaia Inêasure.9f sufferings should be endured by this body, of which Christ was the Head; and he rejoices to think that what he endured in it is ourº person was congruous to that wise and gracious sche fine. - b Whom we preach, &c.) All this discourse centres in the great view of engaging the C - to observe how c very versa, and almost every clause, suggests, Inore directly or obliquely, some stro; argument to that purpose., c What a vigorous contention.] The original words, jºtkov a yovg, deadte a kind of agony into which he was thrown. It grieved the apostle to think how iší. he was rendered of serving thern otherwise than by his letters and his prayers. Oh that such language might inspire every Cołossians to acihere to christianity ; and it is pleasant minister who reads it, with a desire to use his liberty to the best of pur- F. º t? oxert himself as, under such confinement, he would wish e had done : m . ºf d'Iſſage not seen my face in the flesh.] Or, as it might be ſºlº, rºle in person. Hence some have inferred, that he had never seen Colosse or Laodicea; but Theodoret thinks he means, he had not only a conflict for than 5ut for others, whom he had not so much as seen. Possibly he may intend to intimate, that he was not Qnly concerned for those mem- eſs of these churches whom he personally knew, but likewise for others to whom he was a perfect stranger, and who might have been converted after he left then). Yet I think this Epistle contains no argument from whence it can cºrtainly be inferred that he was personally acquainted with these christians. * s * * ë"fºnſºrteñj" The original word, Tapak) 0990 ºv, signifies not only to have consolation administered under affliction, but to be exhorted and gañejad, ºtºi and animated, and so recovered from indolence and irresolution, as well as dejection. - - fºr Pichest and most assured understanding.] Ets Tavra TAgrov Tns 7\mpodopwas 70s guve5895. This is an extremely emphatical phrase, HE EXHORTS 'H' Hijº Ai i"O Ai Ai NTAIN 'I'HE SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 7:23 by a vain world, they may steadily profess it, and live upon the blessings derived from it: SECT. tº whº atºll. Even from the gospel of the blessed Jesus, in whom are hil all the noblºst and inost de- 3. knowledge. sirable treasures of wisdom and knowledge, himself being the incarnate Wisdom of God.* ...º.º.º.º. ºffnd this I say of the perfection of Christ and his gospel, that no man may deceive you by cº ºutes the enticing discourses of human philosophy, and draw you off from a becoming attach- º ºf sº... ment to him. For though I be absent from you in the flesh, yet in spirit I, an idith you; 5 # **ś and as my heart interests itself most tenderly in all your concerns, God is pleased, by the º: *:::::::::::::: revelation of his Spirit, to give me a very particular view of your circumstances, so that the Čhºist. very sight of it could hardly be more distinct and affecting. (1 Cor. v. 3.) [And] indeed, in your present situation, it gives me a great deal of Fº and I am continually re- joicing, while I thus behold jour regular and beautiful order, and the steadiness of your ... iś. faith, in Christ, which your enemies are in vain endeavouring to shake. Be concerned 6 §§§§.”” therefore, as you desire to retain this faith, to act in a manner answerable to it: and as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, to whom you have vowed a most faithful obe- dience, an obedience indeed to which he has the justest claim, [so] let it be your care to nº.º.º. walk in all holy, conformity and subjection to him; That it may appear you are deeply 7 §, ...ejº tºugh, rooted and solidly edified in him, building all your hopes of pardon and salvation on him tºia. * * and his religion alone; and confirmed in the purity of his faith, as ye have been taught it, s: a • * , s 5 abounding more and more in the lively exercise of it, with the most cordial and cheerful thanksgiving to God, who has been pleased to call you to the participation of all the bless- ings which are inseparably connected with it. IMPROVEMENT. To bear sufferings with patience has justly been reckoned an high attainment; and it was the boasted strength col. and glory of the pagan philosophy to teach Inen to do it: a glory in which it was often deficient, a strength which - often failed them who had the firest opportunities of being proficients in their schools. But Paul had learnt by the philosophy of Jesus to rejoice in them, when considered as subservient to the honour of Christ and to the 24 good of his church, even of those members of it whom he had never seen in the flesh; rejoicing thereby to fulfil II. 1. his embassy, and to confirm that important word of God, which taught the mystery concealed from so many ages I. 23. and generations. And what was that mystery, but the same that is so clearly revealed to us, even that Christ in 27 us is the hope of glory? To Gentile sinners that were without hope, is hope now preached; the hope not only of felicity, but glory. And this by Christ, not only as proclaimed amongst us, (for to many that hear of his name, and of the scheme of salvation by him, he is a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence,) but by Christ as in us. Highly are they honoured, who have it in charge to preach hiºn. May they learn from the apostle how it is to be done. It is to be attended with practical instructions and admonitions, to be conducted with the greatest prudence and care, and 28 to be addressed to every man, according to his respective character and circumstances in life; that so, if it be by any means possible to prevent it, none of those that are committed to their care and charge may be lost, but every man may at length be presented perfect in Christ in that day when, among all that truly belong to him, theré shall be no remaining imperfections. Surely this is a cause in which it is worth their while to strive. May the strength of God work powerfully in 29 them for that purpose ! Then will all our hearts be comforted, when we have attained to the full assurance of the II. 2. truth of our religion, when we courageously acknowledge and maintain it, when we improve it to the great end for which it was preached to us, and, having professed to receive Christ Jesus as our Lord, make it our care in a suitable manner to walk in him. For this purpose let us endeavour to be deeply rooted and grounded in him, 6 confirmed in the faith, as the apostles taught it; giving thanks to God for the instructions we receive in it, and 7 numbering it, as we have great reason to do, among the choicest mercies we could receive, even from an Omni- otent hand, not only that we hear the sound of the gospel, but that we have felt its vital influence upon our hearts. SECTION IV. The apostle largely cautions the Colossians against suffering their minds to be corrupted from the simplicity of christianity; either by Bisan phi- iosophy or Jewish tradition, representing to them how complete they were in Christ without the addition of either. Col. ii. 8–19. CoL. ii. 8. CoLoss IANS ii. 8. pºwARElest any man spoil SEE to it therefore, my dear brethren, that, as you are under such strong engagements SECT. sº. to abound in all the fruits of that gospel which you have been taught with so much ad- 4. ºf nº lºººº Yantage, ſº man nake a prey of you, by pretended philosophy and vain deceit,” according tº " " " " to the tradition of men, of which both Jews and Gentiles are so fond; and according tº ºr the elements of that literature which are so much regarded in the world,” by persons of 8 “ different religious persuasions in it, but which are not by any means according to Christ, 9 For in him º ...' nor agreeable to the genius and simplicity of his gospel. For in him digelleth all the ful- 9 ºne's * * * mess of Godheal bo lily and substantially, so that his human nature is the temple of the ij And ye are complete in Deity.d .3md ye are complete in him; happy enough in such a Master and in such a 10 Saviour, who is able to fill you with all knowledge, grace, and glory, without any such additions to his religion as human philosophy or superstition would make ; even in him, more agreeable to the Hebrew than the Greek idion), and it, is one 9f the as opposed, to substance. (Compare Gal. iv. 3, 9; Eph. iv. 14–16.) mºny instºnces of that, strong manner of speaking with wi:ich the Such, the Jewish ceremonigs, undoubtedly... were ; but there may be a writings of our apostle abound. * , , , T peculiar spirit in speaking of the boasted dictates of pagan philosophy ºf feasures of wisdom and knowledge.] Mr. IIowe thinks that the word but as eleinents or lessons for children, when compared with th. sublime y jogsos here has some oblique reference to the gnostics, or sect of the instruction to be received in the school of Christ. knowing men, as we might express it in English ; (vol. ii. p. 323.) but I d Duce!; rth all the ful acss, &c.] I was unwilling to vary any thing from see no evidence of their having |..." so early. the coin: on version of so in portant a text, without more certain reason a Pain deceit..] This may include any thias, that would ºncourage a than I could discern hero; eſseſ might perhaps have rendered it, in trust it was not able to support ; and particu tºly mily refer to super writom the choſe ful:uess of Deity substantially dicells. It is plain that the stitious rites and ceremonies, as well as unprofitable speculations. Dif- Godhead is an .#aglicism equivalent to Deity. (Compare Acts xvii. 29.) ferent tempers, lead to different excesses and errors on Whes; heads, , , And I cannot think that these wonderful words are intended merely to b Of which both Jews and Gentiles are so fond.] \{T., ièree thinks signify, that God hath lodged in the hands of Christ a fulness of gifts to it is improbable that the Gentile philosophers should trouble themselves be conferred upon men ; as if the passage were merely parallel to Einh. to dispute with christians, or that they should admit any of their motions, iii. 19. and John i. 13, 17, as \lr. Pierce éxplains it; §i). Socinus sinks to adulterate christianity with them : and therefore, that all the corrup- it yet lower, as if it 6nly referred to his complete knowledge of the divine tions here referred to were brought in by Jewish leaders. But it, appears wili. I assuredly believe, that as it contains an evident allusion to the from Philo and Josephus, that there was such an intercourse bitween Shechinah in which Go!! dwelt, so it ultimately refers to the adorable, tº jºijsołºers and the Jews, to give some tincture to their religious mystery of the union of the dicine and human natures, in the person of jºiºs; so that think it, much pºore natural to suppose the apostle the glorious Emanuel, which makes him such an Object of our hope, and intº is to guard them against bºth. * * * * confidence, as the most exalted creature with the most glorious endow- & ... entents ºf the world..] Mr. Pierce thiaks Stotzºt a signifies, Shadows, ments could never of himself be, 724 SB9T. who is the Head of all principality and power, from whom the angelic world, and creatures of the most exalted rànk and dignity in it, to whom some would direct your devotions, 4. COI 1. II. 13 . And you Gentiles, who were once dead in a course of motorious trespasses, and in the un- º }, Jour flesh, abandoned to all its sensual and irregular inclinations, hath also quickened together with him, making his death and resurrection the means of spiritual life to you ; having freely forgiven all jour offences, and condescended graciously to take 14 you into covenant with himself: And this upon a more easy and agreeable footing than 1 5 16 18 \ HE COUNSELS THEM TO RETAIN THE SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL, derive their light and holiness, their honour and felicity. him, which is the head of all principality and power : Let me therefore exhort you most steadily to adhere to this glorious Redeemer, in whom, 11 in whom also yearsei. 11 I may say, ye also are circumcised, with the circumcision not performed with hands, accord- ing to Jewish rites, but with another kind of circumcision, far more noble and excellent, which that was intended symbolically to express, even sins of the flesh, renouncing all the deeds of it. pressed by cumcised , with, the , circum- cision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the cir- cumcision of Christ : by the putting off the body of the - - Your engagements to this you have ex- that ordinance, which I may call the circumcision of Christ; it being that by which he hath appointed that we should be initiated into his church, as the members of it 12 formerly were by circumcision. And to this new and more gentle rite you have conformed .12 Buried with hintin bap- yourselves, being buried with him in baptism,” to express your desire of dying to sin, as he phich ordinance also ye were represented as raised with him, and in conse- quence thereof animated to all newness of life, by the belief you then professed in [that] died for it; in tism where in also ye are risén with him through the faith of the operation of God, who º raised him from the (133 (t. wonderful display of the energy of God, who raised him from the dead, and thereby cont firmed his doctrine in general, and in particular confirmed our hopes of a glorious resur- rection and immortality, if we continue in a faithful adherence to him. circumcision srael before stood; having blotted out, with respect to us, the hand-writing of Jewish ordi- mances and institutions,é which was contrary to us, (Acts xv. 10.) efficacy either to load us with a heavy burden, or to alienate the hearts of our Jewish 13 And you, being dead itſ your sius and the uncircum- cision of your ſlesh, bath ho quickened together with him, having for given you all tres- DaşSeS ; 14, Blotting out the hand- writing of ordinances that - was against us, which was and had an evident contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; brethren from us...And therefore he hath taken it away from between us, as I may so express it, nailing it to [his] cross, and thereby has cancelled it, as bonds are cancelled by being struck through with a nail; while he has accomplished the purposes of the cere- monial law by that sacrifice of himself, and thereby caused the obligation of it to cease. By that important transaction he bath also made us victorious over all our spiritual ene- . mies, and especially the formidable spirit of darkness; having spoiled these principalities º 15. Ayud having spoiled prin- palities and powers,he made show of them openly, tri- and powersh of the trophies which they had gained by drawing us into the grand original umping over them in it. º and subjecting to themselves this part of God’s rational creation; he hath made them an open spectacle to the whole world, triumphing over them by it, even by that cross whereby they hoped to have triumphed over him. But God turned their counsels against themselves, and ruined their empire by that death of his Son which they had been so eager to accomplish. Since therefore the ceremonial law is now abolished, let not any who is in a bigoted e and condemn any of you, Gentile christians, in regard to th use of meat or drink forbidden by it, or in respect to a feast which it appointed, or to a mew-moon or sabbaths;i ordained as times of sacred rest and solemn worship, according to 17 that ritual, but not therefore by any consequence holy to us. their original design and constitution, only a shadow of good things to come, intended to manner attached to it, ju 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon or of the sabbath days : 17 Which are a shadow of things to come ; but the body is of Christ. }}/hich things are indeed, in lead the mind to spiritual and evangelical blessings; but the body and substance of them [is] given us in the gospel of Christ, in whom they all centre ; and having the latter, we need not be solicitous about the former. Let no one, therefore, who may ever so eagerly desire it, or ever so artfully attempt it, deprive you of your great prize,; for which as christians you contend, by [an affected] humility, and the worship of angels, (which some Jewish zealots, as well as heathen philo- sophers, so eagerly, inculcate,') intruding officiously and presumptuously into that which he hath not seen; while they pretend to tell us wonderful secrets relating to their various 18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a volun- tary humility and worship- ping of angels, intruding into those things which, he hath not seen; vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ranks, subordinations, and offices. This may render a man the admiration of the ignorant and inconsiderate, but it is indeed the result of his being vainly puffed up by his corrupt and fleshly mind, with the conceit of things which it is impossible he should understand, e, Buried with him in baptism.] validity of some arguinents often drawn fro:\) it, see Dr. Gale pleads, that as this church at Colosse was planted For the import of this phrase, and the Rom. vi. 4. p. 513. In Ote earlier than that at Rome, and this Epistle was written later than that to the Romans, it more abundantly confirins the perpetuity of baptism, as it supposes all to whom it was addressed to have been partakers of that ordinance, whether they were or were not descended from christian parents. Gale’s Serm. vol. ii. No. 7. p. 202,203. f_Belief in [that] energy of God, &c.] Whatever, evidence there may be from other scriptures to prove that faith is the effect of a digine opera- tion on the mind, of which I am fully, persuaded, (compare Eph. ii. and note there,) I think the genius of the Greek language affords an argu- ment which they who understand it must feel on reading this passage, to prove that it is not the sense of this text, Öt a Tus-soo's Tris &vea; staş. Thus trus-ts axm?eta;, is, belief of truth, (2 Thess. ii. 13, 15.) and Tris-ts Tg Kwpts, the faith of our Lord Jesús Christ, or believing on him, James ii. 1. Compare Phil. i. 27. where T15-is 7s two yyeX18 is, believing the gospel. g Iſaying blotted out, &c.] I have given what appeared the most easy, natural,and comprehensive sense. Mr. Pierce says the word x<100 ypagyov, rendered, hand-priting, signifies a sort of a note under a man’s hand, ywhereby he Qbliges himself to the payment of any debt. The Jews bound themselves to God, by their profession of Judaism, not to worship any other deity, not to º apy divine institution, in consequence of which they rejected all gommunion with the Gentiles; and thus it was against them. The word 62 yaa has been found to signify a royal man- date or decree, which shows it refers to the Mosaic law. h Having spoiled principalities and poigers.) . It is generally known that Mr. Pierce, in his interpretation of this text, gives it a very singular turn, as if the sense, were, “That Gqol hath diyested the good angels of that authority which they had in the world before the incarnation of Christ, and caused them to attend his triumph when he ascended into beaven, and publicly proposed them as an example (cóetypat taev) of cheerful and acceptable obedience to him.” And it is pleaded with considerable plausibility, that 6ptap/8evº is used in that sense, 2 Cor. ii. 14. This he thinks suits the connexion, as this spoiling principalities and powers is ascribed to God; and as it is introduced as an argument against worshipping angels. But it is gertain that principalities, and powers may indifferently signify, good or, bad angels. (Compare, Ephes. vi. 12.) God hath undoubtedly triumphed in the triumph of his Son, and the sense in which Mr. Pierce takes the word £&tyuur: Gey is a very unusual one. Dr. Whitby observes, that Cerinthus and Simon Magus, whose doctrines he imagines the apostle is opposing in this part of his Epistle, pretended to deliver men from the power of evil spirits, by §: they said the yorld was made and governed. - i Sabbaths.] Mr. Baxter observes with his usual spirit, that we may well wonder at those good men that can find the prohibition of a form of prayer, or a written sermon, in the Second commandment, and yet cannot find the abrogation of the Jewish law relating to the sabbath, in these plain words of the apostle. For it is certainly most arbitrary to pretend that these words do not include a weekly sabbath, when there was no other, solemnity so generally signified by that, name, though the use of the plural º shows that all days of sacred rest appointed by Moses were to be taken in. k Let no man deprive you, &c.] The original is Mméets àpas Kara- 6paffevera, beXav čv Tarevodºpoavvm, &c. I suppose 6°) cov to signify a desire of any to impose upon them ; but Sir Norton Knatchbulſ coº- nects it with the words immediately following, and renders the whole, “Jet no man deceive you with ſallacious arguments, who is delightcq with humility and the worship of angels.” . The word Tairéivoq'poo vun undoubt- edly signifies humility in general; but as the connexion determines it to signify what was affected, and at best fantastic, if not counterfeit, I have added a word in the version. - Worship of angels.] It evidently appears from several passages in Philo, to have been the opinion of that learned Jew, that angels were messengers who presented our prayers to G90, as well as brought down his favours to us. He represents this yiew of the matter as most humble and reverential, and there is no doubt but it prevailed among other Jews; (compare Tob. xi. 14. xii. 12, 15.) and that the apostle, refers to this, seems much more probable than the interpretation of Tertullian, who would explain it of worship taught by angels, or persons pretending to receive revelations from them, Whether the heathen began so early as this to call those celestial spirits, angels, whom they had formerly called good demons, I do not certainly know; but, it is , evident that very soon after the apostle’s days they speak of angels and archangels, and recoin- mend the worship of them under those names. See Jamblic. De JMyst. sect. ii. Cap. 2, . It is justly remarked by Bishop Burnet, that had it been the apostle’s intention .#". the least encouragement to any re- ligious addresses to saints and angels, this would have been a very natural occasion of introducing the subject, and adjusting its propei boundaries. Burnet, On the Art p. 225. - THE SIMPLIC1TY OF THE GOSPEL TO BE MAINTAINED. 19 And not, holding the and a desire of introducing novelties into religion. And so men wander themselves and §º mislead others in consequence of their not holding and properly adhering to him whºm I iºnishment ministerº, mentioned above as the Head, even the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the chole, body §§§.” of the church being supplied, and compacted by the union of various joints and bands, in- creases in grace and hôliness continually, and at length attaineth to the increase of God; to whom therefore I most earnestly exhort you, my brethren, continually and steadfastly to adhere. IMPROVEMENT. LET us contemplate, with daily pleasure, the glorious effects of the death of our blessed Redeemer, by which the Mosaic law was abolished, the hand-writing of ordinances blotted out; that death by which so glorious a victory over our spiritual enemies was obtained, by which the infernal principalities and powers were stripped of their trophies, and themselves exposed as an open spectacle. Let us improve this victory to all the glorious pur- poses for which it was intended. Let us above all consider it as an engagement to a life of exemplary holiness, especially as we are ourselves circumcised with the circumcision of Christ; as by baptism we are solemnly en- gaged to mortify all irregular affections, and, being buried with Christ in that solemn rite, to rise to all newness of life, having received the forgiveness of our sins, and being raised with Christ to the hope of eternal glory. Let us be solicitous ever to maintain the strictest, union with Christ as our Head, remembering how great an honour it is to be thus related to him, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of godhead bodily. Let us be careful, in virtue of this union, to live in the communion of christian love, with all the members of the body, and ourselves to grow with all the increase of God. - nd let us guard against all those human traditions, or refinements of philosophical speculation, which are dis- agreeable to these elements of Christ into which we have been initiated; and against every thing which could be an infringement of that liberty which Christ hath granted to his church, and which it is our duty to endeavour to maintain against all encroachments; even though they should be made by any in his name, and under the pre- tence of authority from him. It may be urged upon us as humility, to submit to such impositions; but it is the truest humility to maintain an exact obedience to the authority of our Divine Master, and to limit even our sub- mission to those of our brethren whom we may most honour and love, by a regard to his command and institu- tion. And if a due care is not taken in this respect, we may be deprived, at least in some degree, of our prize, by the methods whereby some may endeavour to persuade us that we shall most effectually secure it. May divine wisdom preserve us from all those vain deceits whereby our faith might be corrupted, or our conformity to the plan of Christian institutions be rendered, in any respect, less beautiful, pure, and complete. SECTION V. The apostle further cautions the Colossians against those corrupt additions to christianity which some were attempting to introduce, especially by rigours and superstitions of their own devising ; and exhorts, them, as the properest méthod for their security, to be endeavouring to raise the fr hearts more to Christ, as their ascended Lord and Life. Col. ii. §§, to the end; iii. 1–4 CoLoss LANs ii. 20. relation in which you stand to Christ as your Head, and I must from hence take occasion further to plead the obligations you are under to labour after a growing conformity to him in all things. If therefore ye are indeed (as by baptism ye profess to be) dead with Christ" from the eléments and rudiments of the world, from those things which among the Gentiles or the Jews mea are apt to build so much upon, why, as if ye were still living as before in the world, and stood in that respect on an equal foot- ing with others, do ye meddle with these appointments, subjecting yourselves to them; yea, 1. II] ITQ- Col. ii. 20, WHEREFORE if ye be dead I HAVE mentioned the with Christ from the rudi- ments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, and are ready yourselves to insist on the observation of them, and even to posing them upon others: And particularly those which the Mosaic law inculcates, such as, Touch, not any thing ceremonially unclean, taste not any food which that prohibits, handle not any thing by which such pollution might be contracted.b All which things tend to the corruption of that excellent religion into which you have the honour to be initiated; by the abuse of them according to the commandmenis and doctrines of mistaken and ill-designing men, who insist so eagerly upon them, as if they were essential to salva- tion; though, as I observed before, they have answered their great end, so far as they were of divine institution, and are now laid aside by the same authority that introduced them, so that all obligation upon the conscience is ceased. Concerning which things we may in the general observe, that they have indeed a pretence of wisdom, and are in that view grayely insisted upon, especially by the more rigorous sécts; but many of them are of such a nature, that even while that Jewish economy continued in forée, they made no genuine º of it, but rather taught men to pervert religion, by making it to consist in will-worship which they themselves devised, and in an affected humility of address, and in a severity to the body, which, rigorous as it seemed, was far from being true mortification, or disposing the mind to it. On the contrary, while it puffed men up with a vain conſ ceit of their own sanctity, it might be said rather to tend to the dishonourable satisfying of the flesh,” while it seemed most to afflict it: for that self-complacency, ostentation, and contempt of others, with which these severities are often attended, is indeed a carnal prin- ciple; nor could, the grossest sensualities be more contrary to the will of God and the genius of true religion. And let me further improve the 21 (Touch not ; taste not; handle not ; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men ; - 23. Which things have in- deed a shew of wisdom. in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the sa- tisfying of the flesh. Col. iii. 1. Iſ ye then be great principle I have laid down, and urge, that since ye a If thergfore ye he dead with Christ, &c.] Some have considered this as the beginning of a new paragraph, addressed to Jewish zealots among them ; and plead, in support of this opinion, that the subjection to ordi- nances which the apostle here reproves, is inconsistent with the ap- lººr; which I take to be a meiosis to express what is dishonourable : whereas the highest h9) our of Qur bodies is to be the instruments of our souls in the service of God. Mr. Howe observes, that ºn signifies plauses he had before bestowed on the Colossians. But it seems most natural to suppose that he addresses the society in general, and leaves it to their own consciences to determine which of them deserved the CCI, SUlrø. b Touch not, taste not, handle not..] It has been observed, that the quick succession of these precepts, without any copulatives between, happiſy ex- presses the eq;erness with which the seducing teachers inculcated these º: Dr. Whitby shows that Cerinthus’ doctrine and precepts had much of this cast; and some of his quotations are remarkable in this view. c Dishonourable satisfying of the figsh. Our syrum Five, ºpos Xyg. tovny gapkoš.]. I suppose the two clauses may be transposed, as if it d been said, It is to such a satisfying of the flesh as does it no real Provision as well as honour, and thinks the sense to be, that though there Was no appearance of providing for the flesh, yet there was a carnal kind of satisfaction in these affected severities, when proceeding from the principles of vain-glory and ill-nature, which were as contrary tº jº genius of true religion as any of the grossest sensualities that could be itnagined. Howe's Works, vol. i. p. 375. And this is certainly the true sense in the general, though this explication of Tipºn should be dis- puted. The Prussian Testament renders it, “Which things have indeed $9tne appearance of Wisdom, in that they are a voluntary worship, that they have an air of humility, that they spare not the body and that they have no regard to the satiating the flesh:” which reads roundly, but gives a most unauthorized sense to oux sy Tipm rive, and exchanges the spirit of the concluding words for a flat tautólogy. 725 SECT . 4. COIL. II. 19 Ver.14 15 11 I2 13 º S 16, 17 8 SECT. 5. COL. 2 COL. III. I 726 CAUTIONS AGAINST UNCLEANNESS, MALICE, AND FALSEHGC) iº, • **93 º'e ºn eith Christ, ye should therefore seek things that are aboved the sphere of this rise, with ºria.sc.], pass 9. CO I, III, Y. - *** * - l s e • ! *s -7 fº gº Aſſ #...." º - - - - - - e. i li) &S -- I, , , , cº º- ºn : t , ): ) - (* tºtal an; º; life; even there where Christ is sitting in dignity and felicity, al the tº Cºsiº, ...". right tang of God. Yes, my brethren, charge it continually on vour consciences, that ye right bandº go. ** */ 3 Set your afiection on * 7): nº mºre fºr £º-, * :- (** .. 2,... - - - - - tº prefer, affect, and pursue the things that are above, and not those [that are] here on thinjº.o.º.º.sº his loy earth. And this attachment to the great and glorious views of the invisible and the earth. eternal world will moderate your regards to many other things about which you are ready to be so much engaged. . And surely this may reasonably be expected; for ye are by solemn .. 3 For ye are dead, and our º as I pleaded before, deſtà with Christ, and jour new and better life fiºs. f... life is bid with Christin God. im, and is, as it were, hidden with Christ in God.e. A regard to an unseon Saviour is the great principle that animates it, and it centres on that blessed world where he reigns, and - 4. where god displays the brightest tokens of his majestic and gracious presence. And you e; Whº Christ, ºo is you! have this further transporting assurance, that wher. Christ, [who is] the great Spring of our *iº calestial lſº, and highest Object of our desire, shall appear in ali'the pomp and splendour joy. ºf his final triumph, then you shall also appear with him in glory, making a part of that one bright and illustrious assémbly, which he shall then redeem frºm the power of the grave, and form to a perfection of soul and lustre of body suitable to the relation in which they gll stand to him, as the great Conqueror of death and hell, and Sovereign of universal nature. Let us therefore contertedly wait for oar supreme felicity tiil that glorious day shall come. I\{PROVEMENT. ºt. us charge it on our hearts, by all our great and solemn obligations to Jesus, our beloved Saviour and glo- rified Head, that we study the nature of true religion with greater care, and practise it with greater constancy. l - : * Let us not place it in a zeal for ceremonial observances, according to the doctrines and commandments of men. Let lſ. 20" 22 is ever remember that Christ alone is the Lawgiver of his church, and let us solicitously guard against the abuses }} religion which would be the consequence of introducing, and much more of imposing, human ordinances. Too sensibly has the church in all ages seen and felt the unhappy effects of such a temper. Its divisions and its 23 formality may in a great measure be traced up to this source. Will-worship and a voluntary humility have proved III. its disgrace, and in some countries almost its ruin. Let us labour after sublimer views, and considering ourselves 1. as risen with Christ, let us seek the things that are above. Let us cultivate greater spirituality of mind, and en- deavour to have our hearts there where our Lord is. Surely the reflection upon that relation in which we stand to him, in concurrence with that glory in which he is now enthroned, the kind designs he still bears to us, and the prospect we have of sitting down with him ere long 2 in that kingdom, may well raise our thoughts thither, and bear us above all immoderate attachment to these low scenes of mortal life. 3 Let us therefore study more and more the hidden life of the christian ; and, considering Christ as our life, be 4 often anticipating in our thoughts the great day of his appearance, and dwelling on the blessed hope of appearing with him in glory. But O how dark are our views of these things How little do we feel of the sanctifying and elevating influence of this hope | Let us earnestly pray for a more abundant communication of divine grace, that, deriving more and more of this spiritual life from Christ, we may have more suitable and affectionate apprehen- sions of that angelic life to which his love has designed us, and to which such a temper tends directly to lead us. SECTION VI. The apostle prºsses the Colossians to guard against every degree of uncleanness, Inalice, and falsehood, and tº aboupd in the practice ºf the opposite virtues, and in those devout exercises and evangelical views by which they might be animated to cultivate them. Col. iii. I7. - Coloss IANS iii. 5. Col. iii. 5. spot. YOU have heard of the glorious hope which we entertain as christians; let me therefore jºir.ºerefore yºur 6. * - º - - • • * *-*. members which are unost the urge it upon you that you be inſluenced in a suitable manner by it, and particularly that §."ß ... - **) or - - •4. 2- s wºrk, in jº • All ,-\ } f ** * } , \ } } fºr p" } •e ricss, incretinate affection,evil o” O r r O * (> M. * / t-i- 6}}\{O&? "a r S, 11: It engage you to 7?? O} tify thſ Se lusts W hich al"G SO apt to dw ełł I}] joy!) 7)? be S that C#)'é concupisconcé, and &et. T ~ * º - e * £ 2. ... . - - col, on carth; such as for:ligation, uncleanness, and every other kind and degree of inordinate bishess, whicſ is iſolatº. iſ. ºff:ction, evil concupiscence, and an insatiable desiré of any carnal gratification, an objec ° inhich is indeed nothing less than idolatry, or paying that regard to the most unworthy 6 things which is due to God alone. On account ºf which the wrath of God is coming, not iſ º.º.º. only on those who profess themselves his people, but even on the children of disobedience, tº dº.” on heathens themselves, who bid the most open defiance to what we well know to be the - 7 first principles of true religion, , .4mong ºthºm ye also once walked and had your conversa- 7 ºn, the which ye also - * * , ; : ... l. -- Ss ..i. • * : *- …~ 3 -> 3, 1, 2^* {, , ,-, -" - - - ‘, 2./ 2, 2, as, ºr walked sºme tiltic, when ye tion, partaking with your neighbours in all their enormities, when formerly je liveſ among lºſiº, ºne when sº 8 them, and made a part of their number. But now, being converted to the pure, peaceful, aj jº."º", i. and devout religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, see to it that ye also put awqif all these tº it."... cºormities, and particularly the transports of open rage, the secret grudgings of concealed jºtiºn ºut of your resentinent, the malignant working of malice, the injuries of evil speaking,” the scandals cf. " fºre / conversition ;9 and let thern all be resolutely banished out of your mouth and out of I Dº?lrú : . Y. & t????" Lºg As * - - - -, ..] - ** **, *, *** * ~ * r * * * > - - ...' - heart: Yeither lie one to another, either in trade or common conversation; having 9 Lie not on to another, ºth his iniquitous deed nd entirely renounced ºf th::f ye have jºut ºf i an with his iniquitous deeds, and entirely renounced j'., ºft. ...” - , 2 Y * I . .. '. t a 3 * { ... v. - * * * * •e naturally so prevalent in you : : ind having de- is A. º Jºut of) (), e - - . . ſº. 2 . . . * * ** Y 1 11 º * ty, a # lie w jump, vºl: ich is renºwº J clared it as vour design and resolution to pi: the nºw [gian.] all the branchº 97 ºil 30 in knowłódge after tāo image a." * -, - - - - - 4-- I ºf . ~ * S. *** ** * *Y. Tº ... - - : i , ; h a t c. ** r *.x ; , , , - - contrary teiper and disposition which constitute the christian character, and which is re- ºfiºn that created him: º y - + -- Cº. f* s? . ,- -: I - : newed in knowledge of our true duty and interest, and an universal hgliness as the genuing - - " . . - * * - ; * 1. ". - - r - - * - - cº fruit of it; according to the image of him that created him, even ºf God, who is himself * * * * IT -: - * , , ; } * > WS * f * • *, *, * : - \ \, c ; : , , , ºn ; ; 4 \ 11 the great standard of all moral perfection. This you will indeed become gºuine j} Where there is nºther members of that blessed society where there is no distinction between men of different d 7%;,&s that are abore.] Calvin understands this of the subſiºner with the Fatºr, or as the fidelity and it::p:utab; iity of the T'ather l;im- rqºs ººzijiaxing, as opposed to Jewish ceremoniºs añº i.i.diutºut ºf self goºd ſpºke it; 4 * -- ~ ; , . . . ; ſº * #% irºl, mentioned cháñ. ii. 29. But it cannot iropºly be said that a £ºil speaking.] The griginal word properly stºliºs blaspheºn: ; jºrſ, ºth Ciris, in lºazºn. I think, therefore, tº a postle proceeds, but it includes not only in pious speeches with ſºard to God, which is gº the piºs he had laid down, to graft a nºst important practiºl h; highest degree 9. majignant language, but all railing and reproach: ..}ortºtion, different from any he had advanced be ſorc, (as he certai:ly ſºil, speeches against our brethren, proceeding from the transports of º, ºr 5.) yet potiling couſiſ more effectually tºld, to take theº off furions passions. . So I understand 00X f / h : form those higoted attachingnts of which he was $glieitºus, to cure thºrn. b Devd concersation.) So I understand ataxpo º, of abscºte or ‘Ā’i....a5 instance of that happy address which we, havº, so often impure cords, which are so scandalously common (if I may credit re- jaj jºinity of observing, and which an attentive reader will observe ſº which I cannot suspect) among many, whoſn goo; breeding, at jº many other places where we have not had room (9 pºiſºt it out. gast, should teach better, if they had no regard to any l;igher considera- e your life is hid, &c.] The life of the christian is here represented tion. But Dr. Whitby, explains it of reproachful speeches that expose as an ºvajuable jetzel, and under a double security, reserved in Jºgreſſ, others to contempt; which to Ine seems a very undatural interpretation and iaiju; with Öhrist in God; secure, therefore, as the abode of Christ 9 y ot: & - * * * * soleºniy professed to put off the old m l * - C, G}} w {}^2 + , , , , , ~ r-1, a lo - 10 ali those corrupt affections which w y * 4. t ...A t O p ! { C ;I. -ºr EXHORTATIONS TO HOLINESS AND LOVE. Greek nor Jew, circumºision nations, education, or ranks in life; where neither is any man rejected for being a Greek, #h, §.º. nor accepted merely for being a Jew; a society where he can claim nothing by virtue of but 6hrist is all, and in all circumcision, nor lose anything by uncircumcision; where no Barbarian, or even Scythian, is treated with contempt for that want of learning and politeness which is to be found in the most remote nation; or any slave trampled upon as unworthy notice, since he shares with others in the possession of that inestimable treasure, an immortal soul, and may have a part in the great Redeemer of souls: [nor] is a freeman chiefly esteemed or regarded upon account of his boasted liberty, but rather in proportion to his subjection to our divine Master: for this is the great band of union among them all, the matter of their boasting and their joy, that they are related to Christ, who is acknowledged to be all that is amiable and excellent, and who dwells in all true believers, without any difference on any of these accounts. 12 Put on therefore, as the Consider this, my brethren, whatever your external circumstances may be, and put on elect of God, holy and be- boweſs O loved, ... therefore, as the chosen people of God, holy to him, and beloved by him, set apart to his kinºes, ſºmijeness of service, and blessed with the tokens of his peculiar favour, bowels of tender mercy to all nº meekness, lous suffer the afficted and distressed, gentleness to all men, lowliness of mind, eigaging you to con: descend even to those in the humblest stations, meekness under whatever injuries and provocations ye may receive, and long-suffering, when your trials may be in their conti- 13 Forbearing one another, nuance tedious, as well as violent in their degree : Forbearing to break out into any **.*.*.*.*.*... revengeful actions or reproachful speeches againstone another, and not only so, but cordially jº.º.ºrist forgiving one another, if any have a quarrel against another; even as Christ hath freely ***** f.; you, though you have in so many instances injured and provoked him, so also do 14 And above all these ye, in imitation of an example so amiable and so divine. .ind above all these things | pºſt #º..." on] love, which is indeed the very bond of all perfection, and which will keep your minds S steadfast, and establish that consistency of sentiments and behaviour which is so honour- . . . . . . able in the christian character, and tends so much to its security. . .4nd let the peace of º,'º'; ...”iº God always preside as the great umpire in your hearts,” even that placid and benign temper in one body; and be se thank- which so naturally results from a sense of your reconciliation to God. This is the blessed ful. state and disposition into which you also are called by the gospel, being happily united in one body; and be ye thankful for those privileges which result from it, whatever affliction 16, Let the word of Christ may for the present be allotted to you... And let the word of Christ, the gospel which you º àº'ຠºf have received, dwell in you richly in all wisdom; lay it up in your hearts, meditate monishing, ºne another in upon it continually, and endeavour wisely to improve it to the best purpose. And in łºść; this view be often teaching one another the doctrines of christianity, and admonishing one in your ficarts to the Lord another concerning the duties of it; and let these seasons, whether of public worship or private conference, be in a proper manner diversified with the use of David's psalms, and other evangelical hymns and spiritual songs,” which under the influences of the Spirit ye may be enabled to compose. For it will be both pleasant and profitable to be frequently employed in singing such pieces of sacred poetry and music, provided it be not merely the language of the lip or the exercise of the voice, but be likewise attended with the exercise of grace in your heart; which surely it will be, if we rightly consider that they are addressed to the Łord, to whom every sentiment of the heart is known, and to whom 17 And whatsoever ye do nothing can be acceptable which is not attended with cordial devotion. ..And upon this jº'jº great º you may take it as a general rule, that whatsoever ye do in word or in deed, gº God and the in all your discourses and in all your actions, you [do] all things in the name of the Lord y Jesus Christ; all to the purposes of his glory, and all in humble dependence upon him, both for the communication of spiritual strength, and for your acceptance with God. And while you have so dear and acceptable a name to use in your approaches to the divine Majesty, rejoice in this inestimable privilege; perform the duties incumbent upon you with pleasure, and be continually giving thanks to God, even the Father, through him, who will graciously recommend, by his prevailing intercession, your prayers and praises, as well as your services, to the divine regard. IMPROVENIENT. LET christians solemnly charge upon themselves an abstinence from those vices which bring the wrath of God upon heathens; and, though it should be like wounding or cutting off our members, let us put on a holy 5 resolution to mortify them; and, not content with refraining from all degrees of pollution, falsehood, and malignity of heart, let us be more solicitous to put on the new man, which is the creation of God in the soul, and which bears his amiable image. Whatever our nation or rank, our education or our circumstances in life may be, let this be our concern, that we may be in Christ, and Christ in us, for on that depends our everlasting all. Happy the most untaught savage and the most oppressed slave, who is thus related to the incarnate wisdom of Gód, and the great Lord of all, infinitely beyond the politest Greek, the most ceremonious Jew, the freest subject, of the most despotic prince, who is a stranger to such a blessing ! If we have any reason to hope that we are the elect of God, holy and beloved by him, let this charm us to entertain the most beneficent sentiments and views with regard to our fellow-creatures, and teach us to put on bowels of mercy, gentleness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering. Let the grace of Christ in freely forgiving us, teach us to rejoice in opportunities of imitating it. Do we desire to feel the peace of God presiding in us let us exercise charity, the bond of perfectness, and let us study to be more and more thankful, in whateve stations we are placed; observing attentively its advantageous circumstances, reflecting especially how much e Piſtºn, ſº thºsº Qſ ºff. ... is lºssºt with what Tehillin, which he thinks were prayers, generally sung, and others was said above, (ver. 10.) of their having already put on the new man, as the apostle intended here to exhort them to advance more and more in those benevolent dispositions which did in some considerable degree already prevail in their kcarts. - - d Let the peace of God preside in your hearts.] The original word which we render preside, is 6pagevera). Let it fill your hearts, says Pasor, with such a joy as victors have when they receive To £pašetov, the prize, in the Olympic games. I rather think it signifies, Let it preside in your minds, as the master of the gaines does in those solemnities. And as this was the sense in which I long ago apprehended the word was to be taken, it is a great satisfaction to me to find this interpretation confirmed by the authority of so great a critic as Beza. . . e Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.] Calvin thinks all these w ords refer to David’s poetical pieces, as some of them are called Cynoro, Jºſizinºrin, psalms, attended with instruments, some cºnn, PYº, Shuriin, songs containing not only proper and immediate acts 9ſ devotion addressed to God, but also moral and religious instructions. But I see not the authority of this interpretation, and think it much more reasonable to believe, that by hymns and spiritual songs, he means such poetical composures as, under the influence of the Spirit, were written or uttered. lºor it would be very absurd to suppose that when there Was such a gift in the church as we are sure there was, (compare 1 Cor. xiv. iś,26) they should be confined to the words of irºid"; "iſ tij; devotions of this kind. And it would certainly be as reasonable for us, in these, latter ages, to explode all kind of prayers in public but liturgies collected from the words of scripture, as āli sacredi songs in divine, worship but literal translations from what is called the Éook of l’s lms. Numberless passages of the Old and New Testament are cánaily capable of furnishing us with sacred anthems. SECT. 728 SECT. worse things might have been, and how unworthy we ourselves ar 6. COL. III. 7. THEIR DUTIES IN VARIOUS RELATIONS OF LIFE. to make in our favour. We have especially great reason most thankfully to acknowledge the divine many religious advantages, and particularly with those that relate to in our minds, and let us be ever more solicitous to e of any distinction which God may be pleased tl t . º º us with so . º - e he most decent and edifying f of the duty of psalmody. To furnish us for a right discharge of it, let us carefully treasure up #. ...; .. : - !-- ~-- * * w preserve the melody of the heart than that of the voice. 17 this, and in every other service, let all be done in the name of Christ, and then we may humbly hope that all shall In be, agcepted through him. And if that prevailing name do not recommend us to acceptance, the divine purity will find something in every one of them which will justify demning us. - SECTION VII. The apostle recommends to the Colossians a care in performing the duties that answered to the several relations of lif God, not only in rejecting them, but in con- e in which they stood, whether they were wives or husbands, children or parents, servants or masters. "Col. iii. iś, to the end; iv. 1–6 CoLossIANs iii. 18. SECT. LET me now remind you, as I frequently do my other christian friends, both in my sermons and epistles, of how great importance it is to endeavour after such a temper and behaviour, in respect to the relative duties of life, as may adorn a christian profession. °º. And be particularly exhorted, ye wives, that ye be subject to your own husbands, though *... they should be J heath - ~ * w ºr ..f. 2 **** --> 2y should be Jews or heathens, as it is becoming in the Lord: for a modest, respectful, obedient behaviour in this most endearing relation, will make your characters appear º; and so far gain upon those of them who are strangers to christianity, as to give 19 them a - COL. IV. #. opinion of it upon that account. And, on the other hand, ye husbands, be exhorted tenderly to love [your] wives, and be not severe and bitter against them, as too many in the world are, who become domestic tyrants, and quarrel with their wives upon every trifling occasion: thus overbearing those whom they should rather guard and com- fort, breaking their tender spirits, and perhaps shortening their days. Children, see to it that ye be obedient to [your own] parents in all lawful things; for this is well pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who, when he condescended to dwell in human flesh, was a constant example of filial piety, not only to his real mother, but to him 21 who was only his supposed father. (Luke xi. 51:) And, ye fathers, see to it that you do not so abuse the superiority of the relation, as by a perverse and excessively severe conduct to provoke your children [to wrath, lest they be discouraged from attempting to please you, when it shall seem to be an impossible task; and be rendered unfit to pass through the world with advantage, when their spirits had been so unreasonably broken under an oppressive yoke in the earliest years of life. - Ye servants, be subject in all things, so far as duty will permit, to [them that º respect to the flesh, [your] masters, and whose property Divine Providence has suffered you to become : obey their commands, and take care of their interest, not merely with eye- 20 22 service, as those who are solicitous only to be men-pleasers, but as in the simplicity of your God heart, fearing God, and therefore for his sake attending to the offices of that humble station he has been pleased to assign you; as those who remember that his authority enforces that of your º masters. And whatsoever work ye are employed in, pursue [it] heartily and diligently, as therein paying a tribute of love and duty to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and not to men alone: º that, in this case, your diligence in your secular callin shall be accepted with regard to the principle from whence it proceeds, and that you shall receive from the Lord Jesus Christ the gracious recompence; not indeed an estate in this world, like that which your masters may value themselves upon, but, what is infinitely more important, the possession of an eternal inheritance above. For ye herein serve the Lord Christ, whose rewards are according to his own majesty, grace, and power, and not according to the meanness of our deserts. And, on the other hand, he that is injurious to any, in one relation of life or another, shall receive according to the injury that he hath done, and there is no respect of persons with God. , Nor shall a christian servant be excused because it is an heathen måster he hath injured. On the same principles, ye masters are to be exhorted and charged that ye render unto [your] servants justice and equity; even to those who are most entirely in your power, ind who have nô human appeal left, whatever wrongs they may receive; knowing that Me also have a Master in the heavens, to whom you must give an account, whose power is irresistible, and who, seeing as he does the whole of your conduct, will another day bring 2 3 24 5 CoL. iii. 18. WIVES, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19 Husbands, wives, and be against them. love, your not bitter 20 Children, obey your pa- rents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. 22 Servants, obey in , all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye- service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing OCl 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men ; 24, Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the re- ward of the inheritance : for ye serve the Lord Christ. 25. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wron which he hath done : an there is no respect of persons Col. iv. l. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal ; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. you unto jūdgment for every relation you have sustained, and Will not forget your treat- 2 ment of your very slaves. And that, on the whole, all these different duties may be well dischargéd, and all these relations in life properly filled up, persevere in ſervent and earnest prayer to God, watching against negligence and indolence in it. and endeavouring to keep up your hearts and your hopes with a mixture of º those mercies which you have already received in answer to former petitions, or in which God has prevented you with the blessings of his goodness. And these are so various and so importºt, that in 3 whatever circumstances you are, you will necessarily have cause for praise. At the sam: time also, in a particular manner be praying for us,” that God may, Open to tº 4 door of iſiterance, (compare I Cor. xvi. 9.) that I may have an ºpportunity to speak of the gospel in generál, and the right of the believing Géntiles to all its privileges, even the mystery of Cºist, for which also I am in bonds; bonds then most grievous to me, when they prove an obstruction to that great business, and joy of my life, the, Propºgation of that sacred scheme and system of truths in which the glory of God and the happiness of men is so 4 highly concerned. And pray that, when these restraig's shall be taken off. I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak, and may never be so terrified by the most formidable enemies or dangers, as in any degree to suppress it. 5 As for yourselves, walk in wisdom towards them that are without the pale of the church, 2 Continue, in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving ; 3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: 4 That I may make it mani- fest, as I ought to speak. Whitby justly observes, that it is very re- entreats the inter- Of tho interceSSIOn a Praying for us...] Dr. markable that Paul, who so often and 59 º; cºjon" of his christian friends, should never spea duty to seek it. 5 Walk in wisdom toward of the Virgin Mary, or of departed saints or angels, if he believed it a THE CONCLUSION, WITH SALUTATIONS. 720 them that are without, re- your heathen neighbours, and particularly your magistrates, doing nothing to disgrace SECT. deeming the time. religion in their eyes, or unnecessarily to exasperate them against you; redeeming the time; endeavouring to employ it as usefully as you can, and to protractyour period of service as long as maybe, by prudently declining any dangers to which duty does not require you to expose yourselves. #º Let your speech ...] always with grace,b conducted in the most mild and courteous, the with grace, seasoned wit - - - - * salt, thºse may knºw hº most proper and graceful, männer; so that it may appear influenced by a governing principle .* * *wer every of diviné grace and unfeigned piety in your hearts. Let it in this respect be so seasoned - with the salt of heavenly wisdom, as may render it savoury and edifying. In this view reflect upon things and circumstances before you speak, that you may not utter any thing which would be rash and foolish, but may know how you ought to answer every one who may question you about your religion and your conduct, in a manner that may most effec- tually tend to your own security, and to the edification of others. Compare 1 Pet. iii. 15. IMPROVEMENT. How happy will particular persons, families, and larger societies be, if these apostolic maxims be carefully pursued ' While wives are submissive to their husbands, and husbands affectionate to their wives; children obedient to their parents, and parents tenderly careful of their children; servants revering the commands of their masters, and conscientiously and constantly attending to their interests; and masters concerned to maintain all equity in their behaviour to those of their servants who are most entirely in their power; remembering on all º: the account to be given to the supreme Master in heaven, and humbly looking for the reward of the in- eritance. To engage a steady and uniform care in all these various duties, and to make us truly good in every relation of life, let us be daily drawing down grace from God, by continuing instant in prayer; and as our spirits are so ready to grow cold and indifferent in it, let us watch thereunto, lest by insensible degrees we grow remiss in the performance, and from that remissness come entirely or frequently to neglect it. Let every mercy we receive from God awaken our thankfulness and animate our devotion, and letus not forget in our prayers the ministers of Christ; but ask for them those assistances from on high which may enable them to open their mouth boldly, in declaring that mysterious and important doctrine with which they are charged, and on which the salvation of immortal souls depends. To enforce their labours as much as possible, let us add the Influence of a regular and amiable behaviour, con- ducting ourselves with wisdom towards all, and particularly those who are strangers to religion; and redeeming time, as those that know its infinite importance, because they see eternity connected with it. And that we may not, as is so frequent, lose the time we spend in conversation, let us seek more of the salt of divine grace in our hearts, to correct their innate corruption, and learn the happy art of improving discourse well, and of answering others in such a manner, that, without dictating to them, we may gently lead them to the most useful reflections, and make our lips, like those of the righteous, a fountain of life unto them. (Prov, x. 11.) SECTION VIII. The apostle concludes his Epistle to the Colossians with recommending Tychicus and Onesimus to them; and inserts various salutations, and a solemn admonition to Archippus. Col. iv. 7, to the end. Col. iv. 7. CoLoss LANs iv. 7. - Alºgº IT is now time that I should draw towards the close of this Epistle, which, I will not en- i.';...","ää large by insisting particularly on the things which relate to myself; for Tychicus,” a be- fººdfellow servant in loved brother, and a faithful deacon of your church, and fellow-servant with me in the he Lord : I _ * 5 - 5 - delightful work of our common Lord, will make them known to you by word of mouth, 8 Whom I have sent unto in a more particular manner than I can now conveniently write of them. To him I in- {... º. º trust this Epistle, and to him I refer you for an account of my present situation, whom I fº, and comfort sour have now sent to you for this very purpose, that he may know lºſiº, and when he y returns to me again, (as I hope he quickly will,) I may know them also ; and that he in the mean time may comfort your hearts by his christian counsels and exhortations, as well as by the information he may bring you of what has passed here, and of the state of the 7. COL. IV. 6 I 5 6 S 9 With Onesimus, a faith- churches around, so far as I have been made acquainted with it. And with him comes 9 ſºlº º: § Onesimus,b a faithful and beloved brother, who is [one] of you, and has resided at Rome make known unto you all some time. ori - i o inform you of the state of things here. things which aſ 'indºre Ome time hey will be able more particularly to inform you of yf • COL. 8–24 IV. I. III. 24. IV. 2. ECT. 8. COL. IV. jºjºs". Élèv. .iristarchus, once my companion and fellow-labourer at Ephesus, (Acts xix. 29.) and now 10 Ríºsiº." º fºllow-captive fºr the sake of the gospel, salutes you in the Lord: and John Mark, jouching. ... who is sister’s son to that great and excellent apostle Barnabas, concerning whom ye have jºji; formerly received instructions; he will quickly leave these parts: I desire therefore that if he come to you, ye would receive him with all respect and affection, as he is one who, whatever misunderstanding there might once have been between us, is entitled to my sin- 11 And Jesus, which is call- cerest esteem." (Compare Acts xv. 38.) .And I am also to send you the salutation of 11 §."#...*.*. Jesus, who is called Justus," and well deserves the name, on account of his strict and ap- iſ fºllow wºrkers, gºtá, the proved integrity. These whom I have named last, are the only persons who, being of t kingdom of God, which have * : :---- = ve bee. lab ‘s with …, 41, a ~ * - t been a comfort unto me. circumcision, [have been] fellow-labourers with me in the service of the kingdom of God, and who have been a comfort to me under my sufferings in the defence of its interests, and been ready to concur with me in any endeavours for its advancement. 12 Epaphras, Yº! ... Epaphºgs, tho is [one] of your own society, and whom I judge to be a most faithful * g f: , Sa- - • tº º - - - i.º.º.º. servant of Christ, salutes you, and is always striving and wrestling with God for you in ſervently for you in prayers, [his] prayers, that ye may attain to the greatestimprovements and establishment in chris- b Alucays with grace.] Dr. Scott thinks that the phrase, ev xapurt, admirable letter to him produced its desired effect. See the Introduc- signifies cheerful and agreeable, not whining and, melancholy. (Scott’s tion to the Ephesians, p. 672. - t- łºś. Life, vol. i. p. 285.) . I have included this in the paraphrase, . c. My sincerest esteem.] That, notwithstanding the breach mentioned but cannot apprehend it was chiefly designed. . * in the text referred to, there had been an entire reconciliarion between 8. #;" From comparing this verse with Eph. vi. 21, 22. where Paul and Mark, further º from 2 Tim. iv. 11; and Philem. ver. 24. Tychicus is mentioned as sent by Paul from Rome to, Ephesus, a city d Jesus, who is called Justus.] Mr. Fleming thinks that good man not very far from Colosse, it may, I think, as has been already ob- changed his name from a principle of conscience, as questioning at least served in the Introduction to this Episº, and in that to the Ephesians,) whether it was lawful to wear that which had been divinely appropri- be very probably inferred, that these two Epistles, which contain many ated to the great Saviour; which seems to have been his own opinion. passages very nearly resembling one another, were written about the (Flem. Christol. vol. iii. }: 4.) But 1 can scarce think he would have same time, and might be sent together. * - • * * exchanged it for that of Justus, which rather seems to be an additional b One simus.] This verse makes it probable that this Epistle, if it was name which the respect of his friends had bestowed upon him. not written, was at least delivered, §§ that to Philemon, and that the I 2 730 THE CONCLUSION, WITH SALUTATIONS. SECT. tianity, and so stand amidst all temptations and dangers, perfect and complete in the whole that ye may stand º and 8. will of God, and may retain the purity of the gospel, unadulterated with those debasing ºlete in all the will of mixtures which some are so eager to introduce. I am fully persuaded that he is thus is For I bear him record, ºr mindful of you at the throne of grace; for I can bear witness to him that he has great tºº,” ſº * zeal for you, and for all those christians that are in your parts, and particularly in the fºliº, ºthº iſ "Hº: 13 neighbouring cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis. rapolis. 14 uke, the jeloved hysician,” who is deservedly dear to you and to me, and to all our 14 Luke, the beloved phy- fellow-christians, salutes you: and Demas likewise, who hitherto continues with me. sician, and Demas, greet you. 15 Salute, in my name, the christian brethren in Laodicea, and Mymphas, and the church that 15, Salute the brethren is in his house; for I know there are several christians who either reside in it, or meet for ś º social worship there. §§§iniº'hºs. 16 flnd as I am desirous that my writings during my confinement may be as useful as Jº And when this episºle is possible to my christian friends, I desire that when this epistle is read publicly to you in i.º.º.º.º.; our religious assembly, as (having inscribed it to the whole society) I am assured it will #: tºº. e, you cause it also to be read to the church of the Laodiceans, ...} for that purpose take º' the Cpl.stle from proper methods for conveying it immediately to them; that so you may also the more easily have an opportunity to read that which I have written to them, and which I doubt not but you may procure from Laodicea ; as, on your imparting this to them, they will see it is my request that it may be communicated to you.f 17 Before I conclude, I must add one word by way of particular caution and exhortation a 17 And say to, Archippus, to one person among you, whose character is of great and public importance. Say there- ..., #. ..."...ºft'ſ, fore to Archippus,é in my name and in your own, Take heed to the ministry which thou the Lord, that thou fulfil it. hast received in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, that thou fulfil it with diligence and care; for the consequence of neglecting this high and holy office, after having so solemnly undertaken it, will be infinitely dangerous and fatal. 18 Thus far have I used the pen of a friend; but now I add the salutation of [me] Paul, 18, The salutation, by the written with mine own hand, as a token of the genuineness of the Epistlé. Remember º.º.º.º. - tº . * - er my bonds. Grace be with my bonds, and bear me upon your heart with that affection which you owe to an apostle, you.”Amen. and to one who is now a confessor for the truth he hath preached. Grace [be] with you from Christ, the Fountain of it., Amen. You have my repeated and most affectionate prayers for it, and may the God of grace and peace confirm it by his most efficacious Amen. IMPROVEMENT. THE friendly disposition of St. Paul fails not to show itself in the close as well as entrance of every Epistle, and indeed runs through all the parts of each. It cannot but give some pleasure to the pious reader, to whom Ver.11 the memory of such a servant of Christ will always be precious, to find that there were some even of the 10 circumcision that were comforts to him in his affliction; as well as that John Mark, the º of Barnabas, was so thoroughly reconciled, and made one of his most agreeable and useful friends; though there was a time when Paul thought it inconsistent with prudence and duty to admit him as a companion. He that reproveth a man shall qfierwards § more favour than he who flattereth with the tongue. (Prov. xxviii. 23.) And if the faith- fulness of plain rebukes may be the means of recovering our brethren to a sense of their duty, they will no doubt be sensible of the obligation, and it will add firmness and endearment to future friendship. 12 When Epaphras was at a distance from his brethren at Colosse, he was not only praying for them, but, as the word signifies, wrestling with God in his prayers on their account; an important evidence of his christian affec- tion for them. And how well were his petitions chosen. That they might not only be sincerely good, as they already were, but perfect and complete in all the will of God; that there might be in their hearts and actions a more entire conformity to it. May that be our character and happiness, to have respect to all God's command- ments, and to carry our regards to them as far as we possibly can 16 Commendable, and º consistent with the strictest modesty, was the concern which the apostle expresses, that his Epistles might be diffused as far as possible, and that christians in different societies might receive the benefit of them. And indeed they turn so much upon matters of universal importance, that they are admirably calculated for the edification of those who may live in the most distant countries and ages. Surely there cannot be a more sacrilegious attempt upon christian liberty and piety than to take them away from the common people, to whom Paul expressly ordered they should be publicly read: nor can there be greater madness than to pretend to guard men from error and heresy, by concealing from them writings which the Holy Spirit himself suggested, to lead them to truth and holiness. 17 . We know not what there might be so particular in the character or circumstances of Archippus as to require the solemn admonition with which the *: closes. But, whatever the occasion of it were, it certainly suggests a most useful and important thought to all the ministers of the gospel. It is of the Lord Jesus Christ that they receive their ministry; to him they are quickly to render a strict account of it. May they all therefore take heed to it! May they be sensible of the importance of the trust, and have grace to be faithful in it; that they may give up their account with the joy of that steward, who, having approved his fidelity on earth, shall receive his reward in heaven. Amen - e Luke the beloved physician.] From comparing this with ver, 11. Spirit and flame of the , apostle Paul, or any thing, worthy of him but where Paul says he had no fellow-labourer of the circumcision but those what is borrowed from his other Epistles, though it be even shorter, than whom he had named, the late Lord Barrington concludes that Luke was that to Philemon. We may rather conclude it to be now lost, for all the a proselyte of the gate before he was converted to christianity. An I #ſº which the apostles ever wrote are not preserved, any more thau think it may be fairly concluded that he was not a Jew. - - all the Acords and actions of our blessed Lord. (Compare John XX. 30. f Read that from Laodicea.j Commentators are much divided as to and xxi. 25.)—If this be not allowed, we must refer it (as above) to the the interpretation of these words. The ancients generally thought the Epistle to the Ephesians, which might be intended, as some think, to be Fpistle here referred to was that to the Ephesians, which, being inscribed communicated as a zircular Epistle, and a copy of it ordered to be sent to the chief church in these parts, (and as Archbishop Wake, in his Pre- to Laodicea, frºm whence, as it lay nearer to them, the Colossians jace to the Jäpostolic Fathers, p. 94, by a much more modern, name, might more easily q9tain it, than from, Ephesus. This has the ratheſ j might be communicated to the Laodiceans, been supposed, as the Epistle to the Ephesians is the , only, one of all and so to the Čofossians. 5ut there is no direction of this kind in that Paul’s epistles that has nothing in it peculiarly adapted to the state of Épistic, and it would have been much more natural for Paul, to have that church to which it is directed, but has much of common concerninent directed these Colossians to have sent to Éphesus for an Epistle inscribed to all christians, especially to the Gentile converts. And in this case to that church.--There is no ground however to imagine that it refers (as there is no wonder the apostle should have glade,such a reſººnce, as some have thought) to an Épistle written by the appstle Paul from Liao; there, is so great a resemblance between this Hºl. to the Colossians dicea, where it is réasonable to conclude, from Col. ii. 1. that he had and that to the Ephesians, and, as so many of the sentiments, only sug never been ; nor can f think it likely that it means an Epistle written to gested here are more largely illustrated there. ºr: Col. i. 26. with him from Žhurch of £ºdicº, which the apostle would not have or- Eph. iii. 9. Col. ii. 13, with Eph. ii. 1;,&c. Col. iii, Il. with Eph. i. 10, #ed tº be read publićy in the church in the same manner with his own &c. Col. iii. 18, 19, with Eph. v. 22–33. and the like. - |Epistle.—Others have much more probably supposed that it was an g Say to Archippus.] This seems an intimation that Archippus, who- Fpistle written to the Laodiceans by St. Paul, though the Epistle extant ever he were, was not, so diligent and active in the prosecution of his d at name (which may be seen in Faëricius, Cod. Apocr. vol. ii. ministry as could have been wished. But that his fault was entangling Ul Il #;"; ###. SO ºil. in its contents as to make it at all re. #.ſi'j. Jewish disputations, as some have supposed, is so far from #ift fö; this "chârch to send for it; and indeed has not any of the being evident, that I see nothing to make it at all probable. ºf H. E. F. A. M I L Y E X P O S I TO R . A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N T H E FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. THIS Epistle is addressed to the inhabitants of Thessalonica, a large populous city, the metropolis of Macedonia. It º upon the Thermaian bay, which was part of the AEgean sea, and was so called from Thermae, the ancient name of the city. - * It appears from the history of the Acts, (chap. xvii. 1.) that the christian religion was planted here by Paul and Silas, soon after they left Philippi, where they had met with such unworthy treatment. (Compare Acts xvi. 24. with 1 Thess. ii. 2.) At their first entrance, they preached with so much success, that great numbers of the Gentiles, and some of the Jews, who were settled in that city, embraced the gospel with the utmost readiness. (Compare I Thess. i. 5, 9.) But the unbelieving Jews, animated by the same inveterate spirit with their brethren in Judea, stirred up the idolatrous inhabit- ants against the apostle and his christian friends, and in a riotous manner assaulted the house where some of them were assembled; but not finding Paul and Silas, as they expected, they carried Jason and some others of the brethren before the magistrate, who took security for their good behaviour, and then dismissed them. In the mean while, the apostle and his companion, having been concealed by their friends till the storm was a little abated, were obliged to leave them abruptly, and go in the night to Berasa ; where for some time they met with a very favourable reception, but were soon disturbed by #. malice of these restless enemies, who pursued them thither; and the apostle had once more the morti- fication to leave a place that seemed to promise so rich a harvest. (Acts xvii. 1–14. But the opposition which these bigots made to the gospel, and which they continued after the apostle's departure, (1 Thess. ii. 14.) was not sufficient to shake the faith of the new converts; who, as appears from this Epistle, (chap. i. 3—10. ii. 13, 14.) distinguished themselves above all the other churches for the zeal and constancy with which they ad- hered to the christian cause, and the honourable character they maintained. No wonder therefore the apostle should º º such strong terms his esteem and affection for them, and the satisfaction it gave him to see such happy fruits Of IllS 18.0 OUll’S. *... It cannot be certainly determined from the history, what stay the apostle made at Thessalonica. Some have imagined, from Acts xvii. 3. that he was there only three weeks; but as it appears that, during his abode in that city, he not only wrought with his own hands to procure a subsistence, (1 Thess. ii. 9. 2. Thess. iii, S.) but also received supplies more than once from Philippi; (compare Phil. iv. 16.) it is much more probable that, after the Jews had discovered such an in- vincible prejudice against the gospel, he desisted from disputing or teaching in their synagogues after the third sabbath, and then preached for some time among the Gentiles, before he was driven out of the city. #. note a, p. 444.) However, as it is certain his stay was not very considerable, and as he had left his christian friends there in so much distress, on his as well as their own account, he sent Timothy to them from Athens, (for which place he had sailed immediately upon his leaving Berāºa,) to confirm them in their attachment to the gospel, and comfort them under their concern for his sufferings. (Chap. iii. 1–5.) Timothy, at his return, found the apostle at Corinth, (Acts xviii. 5.) where he continued near two years; (Acts xviii. 11.) from whence it has generally been concluded, and with great reason, that this Epistle, in which he takes such particular notice of the agreeable account he had received of their character from #. (chap. iii. 6.) was written from thence not long after his arrival; (compare chap. ii. 17.) which will fix the date of it about the year of our Lord 52, or the twelfth of the emperor Claudius. (See notes i and k, p. 451.) The apostle's design in this Epistle is, in general, to confirm the Thessalonians in their adherence to the christian faith, and to engage them, from the sufferings they had already endured in that cause, and the extraordinary character they had hitherto maintained, to make still greater advances in religion, and become yet more eminent in every branch of the christian temper. In pursuance of this design, having in the inscription of the Epistle joined Timothy and Sylvanus (or Silas, who had assisted him in establishing the church at Thessalonica) with himself, the apostle expresses his great satisfaction in the sincerity with which the Thessalonians embraced the gospel when it was first preached to them, and in the exemplary character they had since maintained; to which he assures them all the churches bore an honourable testimony, and by which they had greatly advanced the credit of their christian profession. (Chap. i. throughout.) And in order to preserve his influence with them, and consequently to add the greater weight to his admonitions, he reminds them of the courage and fidelity with which he had preached the gospel at his first entrance among them, in spite of all the danger to j zeal exposed him; and appeals to them for the unexceptionable and disinterested manner 732 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. in which he had behaved towards them while he continued there, and the tender, affectionate concern he had always shown for their religious interests. (Chap. ii. 1-12.)—The reflection upon the pains he had taken with them, naturally led him to acknowledge, with the utmost thankfulness, the happy success that had attended his labours, in their conversion to the christian faith, which they openly and courageously professed, notwithstanding all the difficulties and dangers they were obliged to encounter. He observes to them, that he himself, and his fellow-christians in Judea, had met with the same ill-treatment from the perverseness of their own countrymen, who opposed his preaching the gospel to the Gentiles; and assures them that though he had, by the malice of his enemies, been unwillingly detained from them longer than he jº he felt the same warmth of affection for them, and rejoiced in them as his glory and his crown. (ver. 13, to the end. As a further proof of his regard, the apostle informs them, that when he came to Athens he was so much concerned lest being discouraged by his sufferings, they should be tempted to cast off their profession, that he could not forbear sending Timothy to comfort and strengthen them; and expresses in very strong terms the sensible pleasure he felt, in the midst of all his afflictions, from the agreeable account he received of their faith and love; to which he adds, that he was con- tinually praying for their further establishment in religion, and for an opportunity of making them another visit, in order to promote their edification, which lay so near his heart. (Chap. iii. throughout.) * > he apostle having thus given the Thessalonians a sufficient testimony of his sincere regard, proceeds to renew the practical exhortations he had given them in the name of Christ, while he continued with them; recommending, in parti- cular, chastity, in opposition to all kinds of uncleanness, for which the idolatrous Gentiles were so notorious justice, in opposition to all manner of fraud and dishonesty; charity, in which he acknowledges they already excelled; and a dili- gent application to their proper business, joined with a prudent behaviour towards their heathen neighbours. (Chap. iv. i–12.)—In order to comfort them under the loss of some of their christian friends, of whose death it is probable the apostlé might have heard by Timothy, he assures them that those who were fallen asleep in Jesus should be raised again at the last day, and, together with those that remained alive, should be caught up to meet their Lord, and share his tri- umph. (Ver. 13, to the end.)—And having thus laid a solid foundation on which to build their hope, he takes occasion to press upon them the necessity of preparing for so awful an event, that it might not overtake them unawares; and re- presents the peculiar obligations they were under to sobriety and watchfulness, from the superior light and knowledge they enjoyed, and the hopes they were taught to entertain from the death and resurrection of Christ. (Chap. v. 1–1 i.) #. apostle, in the conclusion of his Epistle, recommends to them a respectful behaviour to their ministers, and lays down some directions for their conduct towards persons of different tempers and characters in the church, adding other practical precepts of a more general nature; ić having offered up a solemn petition for their further advancement and steadfastness in religion, he closes with his usual benediction. (Ver. 12, to the end of the Epistle.) - From this analysis of the Epistle, the reader cannot but have observed whata paternal affection and concern the apostle discovers for these new converts: and it is remarkable with how much address he improves all that influence which his zeal and fidelity in their service must naturally give him, to inculcate upon them the precepts of the gospel, and persuade them to act agreeably to their sacred charactér. This was the grand point he kept always in view, and to which every thing else was made subservient. Nothing appears, in any part of his writings, like a design to establish his own reputa- tion, or to make use of his ascendancy over his christian friends, to answer any secular purposes ºf his own; on the con- trary, in this and in his other Epistles, he discovers, a most generous, disinterested regard for their welfare, expressly disclaiming all authority over their consciences, and appealing, to them that he had chosen to maintain himself by the labour of his own hands, rather than prove burdensome to the churches, or give the least colour for a suspicion that, under pretence of zeal for the gospel and concern for their improvement, he was carrying on any private sinister views. The discovery of so ji. a temper, as it tends greatly to raise our idea of the apostle, so it must be allowed to carry with it a strong presumptive argument in favour of the doctrines he taught, and consequently of the truth of christianity itself: for he evidently appears to have been governed by the very same principles he recommends to others, and, by their influence, to have been raised above all : to his temporal interests, and every motive that could come in competitiºn with the honour of God, and the advancément of religion in the world...And indeed whoever reads over St. Paul’s Epistles with attention, and enters into the spirit with which they were written, Will discern such intrinsic characters of their genuineness, and the divine authority of the doctrines they contain, as will perhaps produce in him a stronger con- viction than all the external evidence with which they are attended. To which we may add, that the exact coincidence observable between the many allusions to particular facts, in this as well as in other Epistles, and the aggount of the facts themselves, ; they are recorded in the history of the Acts, is a remarkable confirmation of the truth of each. (Compare note a, p. 444. - .. • A P A R A P H R A S E A N D NOT E S ~. - O N THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE PAUL, AFTER THE USUAL SALUTATIONS, EXPRESSES HIS_JOY IN THE CHARACTER QF THE THESSALONIANS WHOM HE WROTE, AND IN THE CREDIT THEY DID TO THEIR CHRISTIAN PROFESSION, BY A BEHAVIOUR SO WORTHY IT. 1 THESS. i. 1, THROUGHOUT. 1 THEss. i. VER. I. 1 THEssALONIANS i. VER. 1. ###, "...'."jū; PAUL and Sylvanus, otherwise called Silas, and Timothy, all well known as the servants ºjº, and ministers of Christ, join in this address to the beloved and happy church which he by in God the Fathe, and iº his grace hath lately founded among you of the Thessalonians, who have now the honour Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be * ºn. - St x ~ T. ićr of all true beiievers d §foś to stand in an intimate and dear relation to God, the Father of all true believers, and to ºr and the Pº the Lord Jesus Christ, our common and adorable Saviour. And we all most sincerely wish grace and peace unto you, in the richest abundance, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We give thanks to God We think ourselves obliged to give thanks to God always with one accord for you all, always for you all, making t a ...ºn'; ... iś making continual mention of you in our daily prayers. Incessantly remembering, in every ers; - - . address to the divine throné, your work of faith, the readiness with which you embraced 3. Remembering without - - - ich w * + . cºs."ºk of it; the gospel of Christ; the vigour with which you declared your dependence upon it; and, tºº.º.º. in consequence of that dependence, your labour of love, the charitable and affectionate zeal ſº sight of with which you embarked in the interests of his persecuted servants; and your paticince God and our Father; in the result of that blessed hope which was brought unto you by the gospel and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and solemnly º efore God, even our Father, who will not suffer the graces which he hath wrought in you by his blessed Spirit to fail of their proper rewards.” TO OF SECT. 1. 1 THES. I 2 3 4. Kº And this we write with all freedom and endearment, knowing, beloved brethren, your 4 éction of God. S 5 loved, your e participation in the election of God, and fully persuaded that you are in the number of those whom he will finally own as his chosen people, for whom before the foundation of wººl ºf the world he had prepared a kingdom. Of which, blessed be his name, we have the jià power, and in the Holy most important and satisfactory evidence; because our gospel, that is, the gospel which we ... .º.º. preach, and which was solemnly committed to our charge, came not to you in word only, nºr of men we were among so as to be a mere empty sound, or to convey only amusing ideas to your mind, but also you for your sake. in power, so as to make very deep and powerful impressions on your hearts; and indeed such impressions as could only be the result of its coming to you in the power of the Holy Ghost, whose miraculous and gracious influence concurred to add force to it. . .4nd then it is no wonder that it came in much assurance, so that you could not possibly doubt of its truth, when you thus saw its evidence and felt its efficacy. And its success was further promoted by the good example which we who preached it were enabled to give; as you well know, and I am confident will never forget, what manner of persons we were among you, what vigour and zeal we exerted for your conversion, and how we conducted ourselves in the whole of our behaviour, with respect to you and all around us, as well as with what fortitude we faced all the persecutions we were called to encounter for your oº::... sakes, ind the happy consequence of all was, that you became imitators of us, and I less ºf the word in musi, God I may add therein of the Lord Jesus Christ too, both in the holiness of your lives, tº with ºr " * and in the courage and patience with which you endured those sufferings which lay in the way of your duty; having received the word in much affliction from the rage and fury of your unreasonable enemies, and yet with joy of the Holy Ghost; rejoicing under his powerful influences, in the reception of that holy religion to which you were so early called ..s.º. Sº, to make such great and important sacrifices. So that indeed Sye soon became eminent in Kºeëni'aºch. the churches of Christ, and examples to all the believers in J}ſacedonia, and in the more distant province of Achaïa,b where the Corinthian converts, famous as they soon were, ujº. (I Cor. i. 7) heard of your religious character with pleasure and emulation. For from in Macedonia and Āchaia, but you the word of the Lord sounded forth, and you were eager by your messengers to spread the joyful tidings of the gospel, not only in your own borders of Macedonia and in Achaïa, a, Work, of faith, lgbour of love, and patience of º All these are had just been travelling through them before he came to Corinth, from plainly Hebraisms for active faith, labºrious love, and patient hope, and whence (as we have shown in the introduction, p. 731) he wrote this might very properly have been so translated. 2pistle. Compare Acts xvii. 14, 15. xviii. b In JMacedonia and Jächaia.] The apostle mentions these parts as he 5 6 7 S 734 S E CT. with which SO 1. i THIES. I {} Ver. 9 10 the living and true God, under a real sense of his infinite perfections and glories. It is turnin 6 by the happiest tokens to know our election of him. THE BEHAVIOUR OF PAUL AND HIS BRETHREN AMONG THEM. * gº º ºx ºf a you had an easy correspondence, but also wherever Providence gave you any º ; , so that in every remoter place the fame and effect of your faith toward God and the Lord Jesus Christ.ºgme in such a degree as made it almost unnecessary for us particu- larly to recount any thing of your conversion or progress in the truth. "For they them- selves among whom we came, declare it to us concerning you, and make it the subject of their pleasing conversation with us and with one another, what a wonderful kind of en- trance we had among you in our first visit, and what a reception you gave us, that is, how Sye turned to God from those contemptible idols i fºsi iſ ºf ºn > - º p idols in the worship of which ye had been educated, with a firm resolution at all events to serve the living and true God with that diligence and zeal which his service so justly demands. .4nd You found yourselves dis- posed, by-your growing knowledge of him, to lay aside all immoderate attachments to the interests and concerns of this present life, that with fixed faith and cheerful expectation ye might wait for the triumphant coming of his Son from heaven; of that illustrious Son jºhºm, as a proof of his divine mission and designation to the office of universal Judge he hath raised from the dead, and now exalted to his own right hand, ſeven] Jesus iñé long-expected and ever to be adored Saviour who rescues its from the 'urai which is as: §uredly to come upon all impenitent sinners, and makes us, in consequence of our faith in him, not only safe from that flaming ruin, but secure of possessing a happiness complete and eternal. 5 * * * **** - HMPROVEMENT. WE see here a compendious view also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we hº not to speak any thing. 9 For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; , 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from , the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. ſº t \. -> * * * º s of the christian character. It is to turn from idols, from every thing which We have loved and esteemed, from everything which we have pursued and trusted in an irregular degree, to serve g also to Jesus his Son, as saying us from the wrath to come; from a deep conviction of our being justly exposed to wrath by our transgressions against God, to seek rescue and refuge in Christ, as delivering us from it by his atonement and grace, and completing that deliverance by almighty power in the day of his final triumph. with unshaken faith and with holy joy for Jesus the Son of God from heaven; keeping the t is to look and wait eye of our soul habitu- ally directed towards him, the loins of our mind continually girded up, and ourselves as servants who look for 3 their Lord's coming. In the mean time may we maintain the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God, even our Father. . . If this be the effect of our receiving the gospel, it will evidently prove that it is come to us, not only in word, 4, 5 but in power and in the Holy Ghost; and it may give us abundant assurance of our interest in God, and cause us Whatever afflictions may in that case be allotted to us, while we hereby become followers of the apostles and of Christ, we may rejoice in the Lord. The ministers of Christ portance, by this silent but powerful eloquence. May this character be every where more be with all in whom it is found ! SECTION II. 3 will rejoice in such an entrance among their people as shall produce these blessed consequences, and the word of 8 God will be sounded forth with the greatest advantage by those who are pleading for its truth, efficacy, and im- prevalent among those I that call themselves christians, and may grace and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, The apostle leads the Thessalonians to reflect upon the magner in which he and his brethren in the christian ministry behaved among them when they visited them at first, and laid the foundation of a church in their city. I THESSALONIANS ii. 1. SECT. I HAVE been mentioning the encouragement our ministry among you first met with, and Q Aºt ſº the blessed effects that attended it. But I need not insist more largely upon them, for ye tourselves know, my brethren, and I am persuaded you can never forget, the entrance that y 5 *> 3 lºs. we had unto you ; with what demonstration of divine agency in and by us it was attended, 2 sequences and effects, which will be everlasting. 3 (Acts xvii. 1–9.) and what a powerful effect it had upon your minds, so that it was not in vain. It was not 1 Thess. ii. 1– 1 THEss. ii. 1. FOR yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain : a transient and trifling amusement, but solemn in itself, and attended with important,Con- 13ut the recollection is so delightful to my mind, that you must permit me, known as it is, to lead back my ºwn thoughts to the review, and to remind you how, even when we had just before suffered the greatest indigº nities, and had been so inj stocks, (Acts xvi. 22–24.) º * humble dependence on the powerful support of our God, to speak tºrto, Joº, in the neigh- bouring city the gospel of God, and this though we were foréed to do it with so much con- tention, because of the opposition excited against us by the perverse and unbelieving Jews. And'we were supported in these courageous efforts from a secret con- sciousness of that integrity with which our ministry was conducted; for our exhortation to persuade you to embrace the gospel [was] not calculated to corrupt your morals, as .# founded on any principles of deceit or of wreleanness; We had no mercenary or sensua purposes to serve, as your idolatrous priests often have, nor was there in our management anything of guilá and craftiness which could fear the detection of the strictest scrutiny. 4 ºf alſº as fir and open, simple and artless; and as we have been approved by God, so fºr asſio 2 intrusted with the invaluable treasure of his gospel, so we did then address you, and so we continue to speak, not as pleasing men, and accommodating our doctrine to their tastes and prejudices, but as endeavouring always to secure the approbation of that God jo freſh our hearts with as great care and exactness as gold is proved in the furnace, 5 that it may be separated from dross, or the mixture of any baser metals. . .Neither did we at any time deal in flattering words, to insinuate ourselves into your affections, and soothe you in your sins, as ye well knojº no. had we recourse to a pretence of piety to promote the schemes of covetousness, often artfully conducted under the covert of religious zeal. God [is] our witness, that we were far above everything of this kind, and made all such 6 views our first sacrifice to the glory of his name and the propagation of his gospel. Wor did we seek glory and jº of men, neither of you nor of any others among whom we laboured and conversed ; nor diá we press you with regard to any maintenance, though we uriously treated, as ye know, at Philippi, where we were stripped and scourged by the common beadle, and thrust into prison, with our feet set fast in the we no sooner arrived among you, but we were bold, in our 2. But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as yo know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. 3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of unclean- ness, nor in guile : 4. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. 5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covet- ousness; God is witness: 6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet ofothers, when we might have THE BEHAVIOUR OF PAUL AND HIS BRETHREN AMONG THEM. 735 been burdensemo, as the apos- might have been in some degree burdensome, as the apostles of Christ,” who had authorized SECT. sº * --- g . . YY: -ºn tles of Christ. us to take a necessary subsistence from our hearers, as we certainly brºught you what was * 4. º - j £º 7 But we were ;º far more valuable than any thing which we could in return have receiçed from you. But Żºłºś.” ”" we were still mild, gentle, and condescending in the midst of you, even as a nitrºë, ºr mother cherishes her own children while hanging on her breast, and feels an inexpressible pleasure in imparting that nourishment to them with which God in his gracious providence §.º.º.º.º. has been pleased to furnish her. So we, being most tenderly affectionate towards you, took } si -- * * * s - * + - x * * ; : aw #;"...º.º.º. pleasure to impart to you, not only the gospel of God, which was lodged with us for the §,'... . ;...". food and life of our fellow-creatures, but even our own souls too, because ye were dear unto §§ºãº us; so dear, that our heart was in every word while we addressed you, and we could with pleasure even have laid down our lives among you, if that might have promoted the suc- cess of our ministry, and have conduced to the increase and edification of the church. 9 For se, remember, biº- You had many instances of this, which I need not largely rehearse; for ye remember, §º.º.º.º. brethren, both our labour in the ministerial work, and our ioil in our secular profession º, º, ... likewise; for night and day working at it, taking often from the rºst of the night the hours ‘....d.º.o. i.e., which during the day we had spent in our ministry among you, that we might be able to pel of God. maintain ourselves, and might not be burdensome and expensive to any of you, we preached tº Ye are witnesses, and to you the gospel of God. And there was a consistency in the whole of our conduct, ‘...!!!";a º, "... which abundantly showed the pºſity of those motives from which we acted in this instance. bººselves amongyou So that ye [are] witnesses, and God [also, who sees our most secret actions, and all the that beil G. We : recesses of our hearts, how holily, and righteously, and how unblamably we behaved our- selves, not only to the heathens around, but in our most intimate converses with you who believe; still preserving the same integrity, caution, and care, to avoid every occasion of offence which we maintained among those who were strangers or enemies to our religion, ſºnºe; and so might have been most ready to seek for pretences of objecting against it. As ye §ed ºry ºf you, as also know how, and with what repeated importunity, we were exhorting and comforting a father doth his children, every one of you in particular, as God gave us access to you; just as a father encourages and instructs his children, labouring, by every kind and endearing art of address, to form them to a wise and worthy behaviour. Thus were we animating you, and º in 12 That, ye would walk the most solemn manner, That ye should walk worthy of God, and of the relation in jº. which you have the honour to stand to him, who hath called you by his gospel into his and glory. kingdom, even to the views and hopes of that glory which he hath promised to all the faithful subjects of it. - IMPROVEMENT. SURELY it is not possible to conceive from any thing but the example of the great Shepherd of the sheep, a more amiable idea of the character of a gospel-minister than that which is here exhibited. With what a frank- ness and openness of soul does the apostle appeal to their consciences, as to the integrity and benevolence of his behaviour among them, whilst, unterrified by all the indignities and inhumanities he had met with at Philippi, he immediately renewed the same combat at Thessalonica, and contended boldly with all the enemies of the gospel, not esteeming his liberty or his life, on an occasion of so great importance With such courage let the ministers of Christ face all danger and oppositions; with such simplicity of heart let them deliver their important message; not with deceit, uncieariness, or guile, but as those who remember that they have been put in trust with the gospel by God himself, and therefore must be solicitous not to please men, but God, who trieth the heart. And may they ever be superior to those views of avarice, ambition, or popular applause, which should lead them to sacrifice truth to the affection or favour of men, or even to the fear of being thought to do it. And let them with all this intrepidity and firmness of soul, put on a gentleness and sweetness of disposition ; a gentleness like that with which a nurse cherishes her children. While their people, like new- born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. (1 Pet. ii. 2.) Let ministers, with a natural tenderness, draw forth that precious nourishment to them, as imparting even their own souls unto them, and willing to wear out, or, if such should be the will of God, to sacrifice their lives in such a service. Let them particularly endeavour by all prudent care, suitable to the circumstances in which God has fixed them, not to make themselves burdensome to the people in temporal things, nor, under the pretence of a divine mission, to tyrannize over their consciences; but behave with such integrity and such sanctity, that they may be able cheerfully to appeal to God as a Witness of it, and may also have a testimony in the breast of each of their flock. And oh that the entrance of such ministers among their people, and their labours with them, may not be in vain; but that the blessed consequence of all the charges, entréaties, and consolations they are addressing to them ma be this, that they may . worthy of God, worthy of that kingdom and glory to the views and blessings of º, he hath condescended to call them! Then will all the fatigues of their office sit light upon them, while they see the blessed purposes of it answered. Then will they finish their course with joy, and bless God with their dying breath that he hath chosen them to an office the most laborious, and perhaps in secular views the least advanta- geous, of any in which persons of liberal education use to engage. SECTION III. The apostle goes on to bless God for the readiness with which the Thessalonians received the #º. notwithstanding the persecution raised against them by their own countrymen, as well as the pºrverse, opposition of the Jews ; and assures them of his continued affection, though he had been hindered from visiting them so soon as he intended. 1 Thess. ii. 13, to the end. 1 THEss. ii. 13. - 1 THESSALONIANs ii. 13. FOR this cause also thank W b y we God without ceasing, be- THUS we laboured and thus we behaved ourselves among you, and we are thankful that Čºl is we were enabled in so conscientious a manner to discharge our duty. , Andº this cause Yºº º .."; also we give thanks to God incessantly, that when ye received the word of God, which ye the Word of men, but sit is heard from us, ye received [it] not with indifference and neglect, not with doubt and un- §hº" ºf certainty, [as] if it had been merely the precarious word of men, an artful invention or also in you that believe. uncertain scheme of human philosophy, but (as it is in truth) the very word of God him- self, the veracity of which is beyond all dispute or suspicion; of which there is this further proof, that it worketh so ºfficaciously in you who believe, and produces such a happy change a "ſº avé Bºen, burdensome, &c.], The apostle evidently refers to on the same maxims at Corinth (from whence he wrote this Epistle) by the right he had of being maintained at their charge, Compare ver, 9. which he had governed himself at Thessalonica. Šee Acts xviii. 3. 2 Cor. xi. 9. 1 Tim. v. 18. 1 Cor. ix. throughout. But he was acting now * > { 9 2. I ~, tº . Ver. 2 f 5 7 S 6 I I SECT. 3. 1 THES. 1 3 36 SECT. - ; PAUL’S THANKFULNESS FOR THE THESSALONIANs, FAITH. in your character, as may abundantly attest its divine original. For Jolt, brethren, tlS SOOIn , 14 For ye, lyretº, Fr. n. *, *, *nºo *** ences of the same Špirit with them, though Ver. 13 SECT. . º it, immediately became imitators of the heroic behaviour and con. £º U.C. , tirº "Fr. - - - … ~ - - - O(| Which in Judea aro i: of the churches of God which are in Judea, in º º as being under the influ- §"; hº - OUI had not €6. In eye-witnesses of their Ul II ere 1 Re things of your - "... ." - sl- > * : • º OWn countrymen, even as 14 º, For lau also, with the like º of resolution, suffered the same things they have of the Jews: !] 15 #" *% your º tribe and country, (Acts xvii. 5.) as they [did] of their countrymen 9 Iſle ºf th:S ; }} #29 treate - - - ~ +k's ºil as -- * † Trºy 'iº jº. them So rigorously and cruelly as the vilest of apostates. hey , 15 Who both killed the Lord i. j II] º the Peculiar people of God, but act in a manner most unworthy łºś. 4. & I"3 Cº.6 F : - . 11. • • - We persecuted us ; an : ; º: ſº they both killed the Lord Jesus Christ and their own prophets, who fore- they pleasºi, ië'. ºld his PPearanºe, and whom God in many distant ages of their commónwealth raised “ontrary to diſmen. up unto tiºn, ºln: on the same principles also they have persecuted us, when we came ..". º as divine messengers; and, on the whole, please not God, though they pre- gº - * {x : y : * & Y 4. ** - * * * * 4. . e • *. º } to know him so well, and boast so loudly of their interest in him; but in consequence } m 1. wrong notions they form of him, greatly offend him, and are contrary to all men, , full of contempt º malignity against all other nations, and behave towards them in the IłłOSU G "We "S e io -- • - ºl * * - \, , ! * ~ *- - * † ºn -: - - - lº. º in àIl C unfriendly manner.". Of...which mºrose and odious behaviour this is a , 16 Forbidding us to speak f {. ° instance, that they are continually forbidding us, the apostles and messengers º ..º. ãº. z- * - * * * ey & - - º * § ‘’’ might be saved, to Ul º ºg : to º and preach the gospel to the Gentiles, ihat they might be saved; and by ºilº,"; this setting themselves against the darling scheme of divine Providence, and opposing the ºupon them to the utter- ºst important even the eternal interests of mankind, they seem to act as if they'desirãd to tº Jill up the measure of their sins continatally. But divine wrath is speedily coming upon them, and will be carried to the greatest extremity, not at Jerusalem only, but every where else In their various settlements in heathen countries.b • zº * At 4. J. : 1 -- - - - - ... But toe, brethren, though necessarily separated from you for a j, little season, and as , 17 But we, brethren, being it. Were for a few hours,” in person, but not in heart, being ecceedingly desirous to see your 5.º.º.º.º. § i. i. 18 ſºce again, endeavottred it to the utmost. Therefore we iſſould have &ome unto you, even I endeavoured the more abun: Paul in particular, once and a second time, but Satan, the great enemy of our”uséfulness º your face with 19 and comfort, hath hitherto hindered us by the many diº he laid in our way. But 18 Wherefore we would we will be sure to take the first Qpportunity of doing it; for what [is] our hope of appear- ºi,'. unto you, even I ing another day with comfort before the tribunal of Christ, or what our joy, or what the Sºjº U.S. 17 Paul, once and again; but crown of rejoicing which we expect then to wear? [...Are] not ye also among many others ig; .*.*.*.*.* º; whom divine grâce has given us as the fruits of our ministry; whom we hope for the 3...”.”.” ..."º. honour of presenting before our Lord Jesus Christ at the day of his final appearance? For Čist a his omiº - Jye are now one of the most considerable churches which I have been the happy instru- jo. For ye are our glory and ment of planting; and I trust ye will then appear as our glory and our joy, as the seals God hath been pleased to set to my labours, and as amiable friends in whose converse and love I hope to be for ever happy. 2 0 IMPROVEMENT. MAY divine grace teach our souls ever to distinguish between the authority of the word of men and the word of God, that we may always set them at a due distance from each other, and may feel that peculiar energy of the divine word with which it operates in all them that believe! May we experience this, whatever be the conse- quences, yea, though we should be exposed to sufferings severe as those which Jews or heathens at first inflicted 14 on the professors, or even on the preachers, of the gospel ! Adored be that power of divine grace that went along 15 with it, so that when the envious disciples of Moses, after having slain the Lord Jesus Christ as well as their own prophets, forbade his messengers to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, these faithful ambassa- dors of health and life feared none of their threatenings or cruelties, but courageously declared the matter as it was, testifying both to Jews and Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts XX. 21. º ews in the mean time filled up the measure of their sins, till wrath came upon them to the uttermost. And so will all the opposition that is made to the gospel end to those who are implacable and obstinate in it. They who believe not that Christ is he, shall die in their sins. Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder. (John viii. 24. Matt. xxi. 44.) Let the ministers of Christ, however Satan may attempt to hinder them, go on faithfully and courageously in their work, and watch over the souls which they have gained. When absent from them in body, let them not be absent in heart; but let them be thinking of their state, and often caring and praying for them: for what is their hope, and joy, and crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord, but the souls which God shall graciously give them as spiritual children, or to whom he shall render them useful, for training them up in those ways of holiness in which, by the blessing of God upon the labours of others, they might be so happy as to find them 2 May God give many such to all who serve him with their spirit in the gospel of his Son; and in the views of their increas- ing piety, may they daily anticipate the glory and the joy with which they hope at last to deliver them to their divine Master *- - - I6 18 17 I 9 2 () SECTION IV. As a further illustration of his love, the apostle informs the Thessalonians of his care,to send Timothy, to them from Athens, and of the great pleasure with which he received the tidings which that Evangelist brought him ; he also assure; them that he was contiqually praying for them, and for an opportunity of making them another visit, in order to promote their edification, which lay so near his heart. 1 Thess. iii. throughout. 4. • * * I THESSALONIANS iii. 1. 1 THEss. iii. 1. WHEREFORE when we SUCH is the affection we feel for you; and therefore, as we were by persecution separated from you, while as yet your church was in a very tender and unsettled state, (Acts xvii. 10.) 1 THES. XII. I. a Contrary to all men.] It is well known what invincible prejudices the Jews in general entertained against all other nations;, and Elsner has produced several passages from Tacitus and other heathen writers, in §§ they are represented as bearing an inveterate hatred against the rest of mankind. (Elsner, Obserp. vol. ii. p. 274.) And nothing cer- tainly could afford a stronger proof of this malignant temper, than that perverse opposition to so benevolent a scheme as the gospel, for which the apostle passes this severe censure upon thern. b. Not only at Jerusalem, &c.] Though the remarkable gircumstances which attended the destruction of Jerusalem, so particularly represented by Josephus, who was an eye-witness of them, and so exactly corres; ponding to our Lord’s prediction, (see $161. p. 281., et seq.), have fixed the attention of Christians chiefly on that catastrophe; yet it is well could no longer forbear, we known that vast numbers of the Jewish nation were soon after des#9Yed in other provinces of the Roman Empire, particularly under Trajai; and Adrián: under the former 460,000 men in Egypt and Cyprus, and under the latter above 580,000, as Xiphilinus informs us from Die; and the learned Mr. Lowman supposes these events to be referred to in § second apocalyptic seal, #. vi. 4. Compare $ 16.1. note m, p. c. For a very little season, or for a few hours..] The original is ºpos kalpov Ópas, for an hour's time ; which is, so figurative an expression, that I chose rather to express the sense in the paraphrase, than to follow the Greek literally, especially as épa has a signification rather more extensive than hour. It was several years before the apostle returned to them, but his mind was full of the ideas of etermity, which did, as it →ºs, PAUL’S PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS FOR THE THESSALONIANS. thought it good to be left at Athens alone; 2 And sent Timotheus; our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow-labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you con- cerning your faith : . 3 That no man should be moved by , these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. 4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribula- tion ; G Ven as it Cairne to DaSS, and ye know. 5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain. ū But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remem– brance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to Scº y Ou ; 7 Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith : 8 For now, we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy where with we joy for your sakes before our O(| 3 10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might per- fect that which is lacking in your faith ? 11 Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unt O y Oil. 12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you : 13 To the end he may stab- lish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with a li his saints. we could not but be solicitous to be more * w And being able no longer to endure the uncertainty in which we were with relation to you, we acquiesced in the uncomfortable circumstances of being left alone” at Athens, where we had some peculiar need of the countenance and comfort of an approved companion and friend: And sent Timothy, our dear brother, and a faithful servant of God, and whom we highly esteem, as our diligent and affectionate fellow-labourer in the gospel of Christ, whom you had formerly known under that character;b we parted with him, inconvenient as it was, for your sakes, that, by making you a visit at a time when we concluded you so much needed it, he might strengthen and comfort you, exhort and advise you, as occasion re: quired, concerning the evidences of your faith in general, and any particular branches of it in which you might need further instruction: That no man might be shaken and discour: aged from his adherence to the christian profession and hope, 'y the greatest severity of these afflictions with which we are surrounded; for ye yourselves know that we are appointed to these, and that one part of the scheme of God in establishing the christian church was, to raise a society of men who should glorify his name, and illustrate the force of true reli- ion, by enduring the greatest extremities in its defence with fortitude and cheerfulness. or even when we were with you, we did not flatter you with any vain hopes of an easy 4 and pleasurable life, but plainly and candidly told you before you engaged with us, that we should certainly be gifflicted, as it came to pass in fact; and ye well know, from the very nature of things, and from comparing the religion you have embraced with the tempers, prejudices, and interests of men, that there was the greatest reason to expect it. For this 5 cause also, being (as I was just saying) no longer able to endure the uncertainty I was in with regard to persons that in sº circumstances lay so near my heart, I sent to know the state of your faith under such violent assaults, lest by any means the tempter, taking the advantage of the weakness of human nature, might have tempted ſow to suppress the con- viction of your minds, or at least the public profession of your faith, so as to return to idolatry again; and so our labour should, with respect to you, have been in vain, as in such a case it certainly would have been, whatever secret persuasion of the truth of religion might have remained. But now Timothy, having returned to us from you, and having 6 brought to us the good tidings of your continued faith and fervent abounding love, and assured us that ye have always a good and affectionate remembrance of us, as your spiritual father in Christ, greatly desiring, if Providence might permit it, speedily to see us again, as we also assuredly do [to see] you : We were hereby comforted, brethren, concerning you, 7 and found the happy effects of these heart-reviving consolations in all our tribulation and necessity, which grew more supportable to us than it would otherwise have been, by means of this happy assurance of your faith, which God hath blessed us as the instrument of producing. For now we do indeed live," we relish and enjoy life, if ye stand fast in the 8 gospel and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, retaining strenuously that holy profession and precious faith which ye have embraced: whereas, were ye to be drawn aside to renounce it, our very heart would be wounded, and it would be bitter as death unto us. For what 9 sufficient thanks can we ever render to God concerning you, d'. all the flow of holy joy with which we rejoice on your account, for your conversion and progress in religion, when we have been presenting ourselves before our God, and breathing out our hearts at his footstool? Wight and day enlarging upon this, as a petition which lay nearest to our very 10 souls, and, if I may be allowed such an expression, superabundantly making it our request to see your face, and to complete the deficiencies of your %. by instructing you in any article of religion, which, being so suddenly torn away from you by the storm that was raised, we had not an opportúnity of opening to you so clearly as your edification might have required. And we still continue to urge the humble supplication that God himself, even our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom the supreme government of the kingdom of providence is committed, may, by a secret but powerful interposition, so dispose and overrule all things, as to clear and smooth our way to you, by removing these obstructions which at present remain : ..?nd in the mean time, yea, above all, that the Lord Jesus Christ, by the powerful operation of his Spirit on your hearts, may cause you to be enlarged, and to abound in love toward each other, and to all christians, yea, towards the whole race, even as we do indeed abound in affection towards you, and shall always rejoice in any opportunity of manifesting it, by whatever we may be able to do, or may be called to suffer, for your sakes. May you feel this noble principle of universal goodness more and more active in your 13 minds, that, by the experience of its efficacy, your hearts may be strengthened in every virtue, [and jou] may at length [be] found blameless in holiness before God, even our Father, at the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints around him, in that illustrious day when their sanctity and glory shall be completed, and all their labours and sufferings in his cause abundantly recompensed. IMPROVEMENT. - 2 3 Not further to insist on the tender affection of Paul to the Thessalonians, which has already afforded matter for so many profitable remarks, let us recollect that, as christians, we also are appointed to afflictions, by the experience of which our fitness for heaven, and our relish for our everlasting rest, are to be improved. It was faithful and kind in the apostles, after the example of their great Master, to give us such admonitions; but let us not be moved by the apprehension of any sufferings that may await us, for he who hath undertaken to support and defend us can make us more than conquerors; he can, even while we continue in this state of warfare, establish our hearts unblamable in holiness: and how blessed a connexion will that have with our being pre- sented faultless and blameless before the presence of his glory, when Christ shall appear with all his saints, and particularly informed how it fared with you. SECT. 1 THES. III. Ver. 3 were, annihilate any period of mortal life. Dr. Whitby infers from this a different opinion. Compare Acts xviii. 5. which seems further to con- expression that this Epistle was writ quickly after Paul’s leaving Thes- Salonica, and consequently at Corinth, the first place where he made any long stay. The word aſſop pavia0svres, in this connexion, strongly ex- presses the apostle’s affection for them, (compare John Xv. 18. Gr. p. §: not fº and concern to leave them in an unsettled state. Conipate &llap. iii. 1. a Dęſt º It seems from this circumstance that Silas was absent ſh om Paul while that postle was at Athens, though some have been of 3 - * firm that fact. b Fellow-labourer..] It appears from Acts xvii. 14. that Timothy had been in those parts before, as Paul’s fellow-labourer, and so no doubt but he was known to the Théssalonians, and his coming on this occasion would be the more agreeable to them. - . * - ºr - * * c Indeed live..] It is well known that in the sacred writings lºſe is often put for happiness, and Dr. Whitby has produced many instances * * - of it in his note here. 738 PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS. SECT. When the sanctity of each shall be a glory to their common Master, 4. ontº... spotless º et the ministers of the gospel nobly rise above all attachment to secular views, and make it their t busi- ºs. mess to advance in their hearers such a temper. Let it be their life to see those christian fiends ... i. committed to their care, standing fast in the Lord. And if they have reason to joy for their sakes before God let them render their thanks to God for it, and night and day be urgent in their prayers for them, that whatever comfort they have may be continued, and that whatever is ti n their faith a - by the divine blessing on ministeriai'labours. r is wanting In their faith and their love, may be perfected as well as an everlasting blessing to every III. 1 SECTION V. The apostle addresses several practical exhortations to the Thessalonians suitable to their circumstances, and particularly recommends chastity, 2. justice, charity, and prudence. I Thess. iv. i-j 1 THESSALONIANs iv. I. SECT. 4S for what remains, therefore, my brethren, in subserviency to this important view of 5. being thus presented with all the saints before the great tribunal, in the perfection of holi- ness and happiness, we now beseech you, and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have ºs. ºceived repeated instructions from vis, while we were among you, how you ought to walk,” if you desire to adorm P. profession, and to please and honour God, who hath bestowed upon you, the favºur of being called into it, so ye would abound more and more, labouring 2 continually to advance in every amiable quality and every christian grace. I will not 2 For ye know what com- largely insist on these things now ; for ye know what commandments we gave you, in the º save you by name and on the part of the Lord Jesus, whose servants we all profess ourselves to be, an & 3 whose authority we ought always to account sacred. Bearthém constantly in your mind, and often charge on your souls the observance of them; for this is the will of God con: cerning you, ſeven] your sanctification, that as he hath chosen us from the rest of the world to be a people separate to his honour and service, we should not pollute ourselves with those abominations which are so common among the heathen, and particularly that we should abstain from fornication, and all other kinds of lewdness, so commonly practised 4 among those who are ignorant of the true religion. Whereas it is now the declared plea- - sure of the great Former of our souls and bodies, that every one of you should know how to #9 "...º.º. ossess his vessel, this animal frame, in which this immortal soul is lodged, as a rich and and honour; invaluable jewel in sanctification and honour; using his body as an instrument of service to God, to whom it has been solemnly consecrated; not as if it were intended as an organ to debase the mind by sensuality, which would surely be the most dishonourable view in 5 which it can be considered. Walk not therefore any longer in the lust of concupiscence, contriving to indulge yourselves in gross and lascivious gratifications, even as the heathens do, who know not God, and are therefore ignorant of that pure and sublime happiness which arises from contemplating, adoring, and imitating him. 6 We have also told you, and we now repeat it, as an injunction of the greatest import- ance, that it is the will of God that no man should, in these or any other matters, overreach or defraud his brother in [any] affair.” . For though the fraud may be conducted in so artful a manner as to evade human conviction and punishment, yet it is most certain that the Lord himself, the final and universal Judge, to whom we are all ere long to render up an account, [is] the Avenger of all such, as we also told you before, and testified with all pos- sible solemnity. For God hath not called us, in so extraordinary a manner, from the rest 7 For God hath not calledus of the world, merely to a new name or some different rites of external worship, while we Hººleanness, but unto are at liberty to indulge ourselves in uncleanness, as if we were patronized in the practice of it, merely by being numbered among christians; but, as he is in himself perfectly holy, he hath called us to the love and practice of universal holiness, and would raise from among the degenerate children of men a society who, º the purity of their morals, should do an honour to the true religion, and approve themselves to be indeed the offspring of the Most High. 8 In all these things we have faithfully delivered unto you the charge and message which we received upon the highest authority: he º who despiseth our testimony and ad- monitions, despiseth not man alone, but God, who hath also given us his Holy Spirit, and caused it to dwell within us, and to guide us in our discourses and writings into the cer- tain and infallible knowledge of his will.d I have been large on some of the preceding articles, knowing how much you were ad- dicted, in your heathen state, to some of the vices I have exhorted you to avoid. But concerning brotherly love, or that peculiar charity and affection which one christian owes to another, ye need not that I should largely write to you now, for ye yourselves are divinel, taught to love one another. , God, dwelling in our nature, hath given you the example an the precept with all possible advantage, and his Holy Spirit, descending on your hearts, forms and fashions them to this great law of love. And indeed I must do you the justice ºf to say, by what I can learn of you, that ye actually do it to all the christian brethren which ºlivºj: "Nº!". are in all Macedonia, whether at Philippi, Apollonia, Amphipolis, Berea, ºr elsewhere. ...º.º.º." But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound in this benevolent and amiable disposition yet 3. 1 THEss. iv. 1. FURTHERMORE them we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you 5 Not in the lust of concu- piscence, even as the Gen- tiles which know not God : 6. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter : because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have fore- warned you and testified. 7 8 He therefore that de- spiseth, despiseth not man, but God; who hath also given untous his holy Spirit. 9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you : for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one an Other. 10 #. x. § *; ; catalogue not to be read without a mixture of commiseration and Ol'IOT. ç Go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.] Many interpret a Hong you, Qight to walk, &c.] The French Testament ronders, the words thus: “We entreat and conjure you by the Lord Jesus to follow our instructions as to the manner in which you ought to live, in 3rdgº, to pleasing God, and that you would make continual progress in it.” This is one specimen, among many, of the paraphrastic strain of this version, which changes the metaphorical expressions for phrases of a plainer nature equivalent to them; but as the version I here give makes a part of a paraphrase, I thought it more convenient to keep nearer the origi- mal, though I have not made a point of giving what should be exactly a verbäſtrånslation. There is a medium between, both, which I have at least attempted, and if I have not hit upon it, I hope it is not for want of diligence and care. e b The heathems acho know not God..] Many haye proved, by a variety oſ learned quotations, how much the politest nations among the ancients, and particularly the Greeks, were addicted to the most infamous kinds of uncleanness; and Dr. Whitby's note on this place may furnish out this of injuring their neighbour's bed, taking the word Tºpayga in an ill sense, as Jacinus is used in Latin. This, no doubt, is included, but I see no reason for limiting the clause to such a sense, n hands in the d Testament signifies those unpolluted with bribes, and therefore no certain argument against the more extensive signification I have prefer- red can be drawn from the next clause. . d He ther&fore who despiseth, &c.]. I will not here argue at large, how strongly this verse speaks the inspiration of Paul in what he wroté, and consequently that of the sacred writers in general; but I wish what I have said on this subject, in the Essay on Inspiration aſ the JWelo Testament, subjoined to this work, may be seriously considered, and that the important truth established in it may be perpetually borne in mind by all my readers, PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS. 739 more and more, not only to those that are your own countrymen, but to all the children of SECT. 11...And that ye study to be our heavenly Father, however they may be dispersed in one part or another. And while §ºf *:::::::: many indulge to an enterprising temper, and are always undertaking some new design, to #. ºnds, as we come make themselves talked of, and to draw the eyes and observation of the world upon them, y we advise you, that you make it your ambition to live quietly in the practice of those peaceful and humble virtues which suit the genius of christianity, and particularly that you do your proper business.” .4nd as Providence hath placed most of you in such low circum- stances of life, that you are obliged to maintain yourselves by your daily labour, we hope you will go on diligently aud cheerfully to work with your own hands for that purpose, that you may not as idle drones become the burden of society, but rather may be able to do something for the support of your poorer brethren, as ye know we gave it you in charge, nº!", &a"ºnº during the little time we resided amongst you. Attend to it therefore, that so ye may .."ºº"; }; walk decently towards those that are without the enclosure of the church, and silence, the have lack of nothing. clamours which the enemies of the gospel would be glad to raise against it, as making men idle and irregular; and [that] you may have need of nothing, but without being under a necessity of asking relief from them or any others, may be preserved from such degrees of extreme poverty as might expose you to their contempt, and into which frugal and in: dustrious persons seldom fall, without some extraordinary providence, which audibly and effectually bespeaks the compassion of their neighbours. --- HMPROVEMENT. ./ WHo would not wish to be instructed in every thing which might conduce to our walking so as to please God? 5. 1 THES, 11 IV, who would not delight in frequent exhortations to abound in such a conduct more and more, that every day may We t improve upon the last, till we perfect holiness in his fear? Blessed be God, the rules are plain, and our own con- 2 science must bear witness to the reasonableness and goodness of them. This is the will of God, even our sanctifi- cation, that we should be honoured with his amiable image, and, by sharing something of his moral character, may share something of that happiness which in the perfection of holiness he enjoys. He hath indeed given us a compounded nature, and hath appointed us for a time to struggle with its animal powers, that by a victory over them we may approve our duty and obedience, and be fitted for a purer happiness above, than this low state of being will admit. 3 Let christians therefore learn to possess their vessels in sanctification and honour, and not 4 be captives to the mean lusts of concupiscence and uncleanness, as the heathens, who, not having the knowledge 5 of God, were more excusable than we in those indulgences for which the knowledge of themselves and of their own nature would nevertheless, in some degree, condemn them. - Let us, as we dread the displeasure and vengeance of God, the supreme Guardian of the rights of his creatures, take heed that we do not allow ourselves, when it is most in our Pºwer, to go beyond or defraud our brethren in any matter, but endeavour to show that we have indeed been taught of God to love one another, and that we have received into our very hearts that maxim which our gracious Redeemer has given us, That we should do unto others as we would they should do unto us. On this principle likewise, let us diligently employ ourselves in our own proper affairs, that, instead of being the burdens of society, we may in our respective spheres be its supports; and quietly attending to what lies within our own province, let us leave ambitious schemes and projects to others, thinking ourselves happy enough, if we may be approved by him who hath allotted to the inhabitants of earth their several parts, and will another day accept and reward them, not according to the distinction and elevation of their stations, but according to the integrity with which they have behaved themselves in them. So shall we secure a testimony even in the consciences of those that are without, who would perhaps ungenerously and un- Hºly rejoice in an occasion of charging upon the gospel of Christ the follies and irregularities of its pro- €SSO]’S. - hey will never be able to charge anything on the gospel itself, if they take their ideas of it from the writings of these its authentic teachers. with which they taught, that he who despiseth them despiseth not man but God, from whom they derived the Spirit by which they preached and wrote. His voice let us hear with reverence, his dictates let us humbly obey. The hour is near in which he will assert the honour of his word, and demonstrate to all the world the wisdom of submitting to its dictates. SECTION VI. The apostle particularly sets himself to comfort his christian friends with relation to those that were tallen asleep in Jesus, by an animating view of that giory and happiness on which, at the general resurrection, they should enter in their complete persons. I Thess. iv. 13, to the end, 1 THEss. iv. 13. 1 THESSALONIANs iv. 13. B.T. I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, con- certing them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. to remove some dear and valuable members of your society, and I wonder not that you are tenderly affected with such a stroke. But I would not have you ignorant,” my dear brethren, concerning the true state of them that are thus that ye may not lament with such unbounded transports and excessive forms of mourning as are practised by others, even by your heathen neighbours, who are ignorant of God, and have mo, well-grounded hopel of a happy immortality, like that which in the gospel is 14. Fºr if we believe that imparted to you. For surely, if we do indeed believe those great and important i. * * * * *** which that divine dispensation teaches us, that Jesus, the Sön of God, died to expiate our sins, and that he rose again from the dead, that he might secure our final salvation, we may easily believe that a scheme thus undertaken and prosecuted shall not fail of its effect; Coming of ºur Lºrd. . He acknowledges that the apostle did not urge that, because he did not then exactly know whether Christ’s appearance e Do your proper business.] This exhortation was peculiarly proper to the Thessalóniáns, as there seems to have been a meddling, pragmatical temper prevailing among some of them; (2 Thess. iii.; 11.) which tended much to the reproach of their profession.—As to the emphasis of the word $1}\oſtpetoffat, compare 2 Cor. v. 9, and the note, p. 622. a I icould not have you ignorant, &c.] Mons. Saurin, in his long and learned criticism on this text, which he thinks one of the hardest in the New Testament, º: erin, vol. vi. No. 1.) gives it as his §3. that the desire which prevailed in christians to see Christ, when he should appear to judgment, made them lament those of their brethren who died, as cut off from that hope. In reference to which, he assures them that they should be in that respect entirely on a iévéſ with those of their brethren who should then be found alipc. But it may be queried, even on this hypothesis, why he does not directly tell them that there was no, particular room for such lanet:tations on this account, as they themselves, and ſually succeeding generations, were to die before the would be in that age, or at some much more remote distance of time. And this ignorance was certainly consistent with the knowledge of all that §ºs necessary to the preaching of the gospel. Compare \lark Xlll, J.2. b -ás others who have no hope.], Tully says (Tusc. Disp. i. 13.) “Who would lament the death, of a friend, unless he supposed him deprived of all the enjoyments of life, and sensible of the loss of them?” How forcible a remark in the present connexion . I see uo reason at all to imagine, as some have done, that there is a reference to the motion of Some Jewish...calots, that uneircumcised persons had no part in the re- surrection. The apostle’s argument is by no means levelled at such an apprehension, nor do I find any evidence that the church at Thessalonica was yet pestered with such corrupters of christianity. And let it be remembered that they gave such abundant evidence of the authority 8 I HEAR, it with concern, that, since I have been separated from you, it hath pleased God SECT. 6. fallen asleep in the faith of Jesus, 1 THEs IV, 14 740 HE CONSOLES THEM FOR THE LOSS OF SOME WHO HAD DIED IN JESUS. SPC?'- but that, in like manner also, God shall, by the exertion of that mighty power with which even so them also which 1 THES. the IV. Ver. 18 O who can be sufficiently thankful for the 6. he hath clothed this triumphant Saviour, bring with him, in the train of his magnificent ºil.Jesus will God bring retinue, at his final appearance, all those of his faithful servants who sleep in Jesus.* As with him. died under the direction of his providence, and committing themselves to his care, it 15 shall in due time appear that they are not lost, though they may have waited long for the £) jººn of their glºry. . For this we now sº to !ow, by the express word of the Lord, on the authority of ºn, immediate revelation from Christ himself, and not mérey on ºur own conjecture 9; Wish, that we, that is, those of us christians who remain alives at the conting of the Lord to judgment, shall nºt so prevent those who are asleep, as to be tº 16 glorified before them. For the Lord himsel w - : * * *** which are asleep. iſ his own glory and that of his ſº imself,9qr great and blessed Redeemer, arrayed in "j". ."...rd himself all his º In g º ºn that ºf his, Father, shall in that great day descend from heave, with sº - ... }*H S * * * * ** * - • ?' • * With a shout, wit - * ... lant shout, raised by pillions of happy attendant spirits. His appearance shall of the tº; a`ā e Proclaimed with the voice of the great archangeiferº tº ſº. of God, which jºiºſhº: shall them sound louder th: it did * 5.x: , “. •ºr mpet. ‘5 dead in Christ shall rise first : dead in Christ shall . lan it .. i. º: jº. when the law was given. And the 7, UR)781 Shall all In a moment be awakened by * * ir nºro tº in the first place, springing forth in fºrms Of h; .." º rise out º their grayes surviving world. And # º, 'ds we, t of glory, to the infinite, astonishment of the 17 h his º: ń. qf €rlººds we, that is, those of us ºtho are lºft alive at the time 17 Then we which are alive when this most awful and Hºportant day opens, shall together with them, by a mighty and ºld lºsiº * > ** * > -: *—- * * § s - r instantaneou; operation of the divine power, be snatched up into the clouds,h in order to §ºo'...'..."..."; our meeting the Lord in the region of the air, where his throne shall then be erected ; and ºal weeve, .*.*.* been openly acknowledged and acquitted by him, shall be assessors with him “"“” º º: #. to which wicked men and angels are thére to be brought forth, and, len the final sentence is passed upon them, shall return to heaven with ot, re-ascending Saviour, and so shall we be with the Lord for ever, and all share ablissful eternity in the 18 ; º: participation of his glory. Therefore when your hearts are distressed with grief # the loss of your pious friends, or on any other occasion which can arise in this mortal e, comfort yourselves and one another with these words; the tenor of which is so impor- tant, and the truth contained in them so certain, as being taught by the infallible dictates of the Spirit of God, and revealed to us by him, from whose fidèlity, power, and grace, we expect this complete salvation.i # i5 For this we may say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are live ºf remain up to the coming of thc ord shall not prevent them 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. IMPROVEMENT. e strong consolations which these divine words administer . How many drooping hearts have been cheered by them in every age, while successively mourning over the pious dead! How often have we ourselves been driven to then, as to a sacred anchor, when our hearts have been over- 13 whelmed within us; and if God continue us a few years longer, what repeated occasions may arise of flying to them again! Let us charge it upon our hearts that we do honour to our holy profession in every circumstance, and particularly in our sorrows as well as our joys. When Providence is pleased to make such breaches upon us, let is not sorrow as those who have no hope for our deceased friends or for ourselves. Surely we cannot 14 doubt the very first and most fundamental articles of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God; and if we do indeed assuredly believe these, what a blessed train of consequences will they draw after them! and this consequence most apparently, that they who sleep in Jesus shall not finally perish, but shall be brought with him to grace his triumph. ...And O what a triumph shall that be | Let us now anticipate the joy with which, if true believers, we shall then lift up our heads, and see our complete salvation drawing migh. What though we die and moulder in the grave? I5 the saints then alive shall not prevent us: though the last memorial of our names may long have perished from I6 the earth, it shall appear that they are written in heaven. And when the Lord himself descends from heaven with that earth-rending shout, when the trump of God shall sound, his dead shall live, like his dead body shall they revive: they that dwell in the dust shall arise and sing, for his dew is as that falling upon herbs, and the earth shall cast forth its dead. Isa. xxvi. 19. But who can now conceive the rapture with which so many millions shall start up at once from their beds of 16 dust, all arrayed in robes of glory, and, spurning the earth in which they have been so long entombed, and all that is mortal and corruptible, shall soar aloft in one joyful company with those who shall then be found alive, I7 to meet the Lord in the air, forming a mighty host, bright as the sun, clear as the moon, and awful as an army with banners ; (Cant. vi. 10.) they shall soar to meet their Lord, attracted by divine love, and borne on in their flight by an almighty power. We shall ascend to him, we shall be owned by him, we shall be seated near him; for Christ, who is our life, shall appear, therefore shall we appear with him in glory. (Col. iii. 4.) represent this as an artifice of the apostle to invite people to christianity, by the expectation of being, taken, up alive...to, heaven in a very little time. (Lim. Col. p. 75.) His explication of this matter, in the next c Who sleep in Jesus.] The words, Čua 7 & Infs, which we connect with koupinógvras, and render, sleep in Jesus, may be considered as making a separate clause, and may imply, that it is by the pourer and agency of Christ that God will bring with him those of his people that ſire departed out of this life. The phrase to express, sleeping in Christ, is kotpimõevres év Xpus-co. (Compare ver. 16. 1 Cor. xv. 18.) Archbishop Tillotson explains the expression here used as ºpiº to the martyrs, and renders 6, a 78 Ings, for Jesus' sake but it cannot be proved that the grief to which the apostle refers related only to such, and the force of the argument plainly reaches further. Tillotson’s JWorks, vol. ii. p. 184. - - d By the iºd of the Lord.] I think no words can more plainly assert that, in what follows, he speaks by an erpress revelation from Christ, and consequently there can be no rºom for any interpretation that can suppose him at all mistaken in any circumstance of the ensuing account. e ſº that is, those of ns pho remiuin alive.] This hath been inter; preted by many, as an intimation that the apostle CŞpected to be fount! alive at the day of judginent; and on that interpretation, some have urged it as an instance of his entertaining, at least for a while, mistaken notions on that head, as if the day aſ the Lord were nearly approaching... But this is directly contrary to his own explication of the matter, (2 Thess. ii. 1, &c.) as well as to other passages in which he expresses his expec- tation of death. (Compare ſhiſ. i. 20. and 1 Cor; vi. 14.2 C9ſ. iv., 14. 9 Tim. iv. G.) thers have pleaded this passage in favour of that doc- ;ine which teaches the resnºrrection of some most eminent Saints befºre *he main body of believers, and this, as most of the patrons of this scheme have explained it, in order to share with Christ in the glories and felicities of his personal reign upon earth. But to me it seems mºst natural to suppose that Paul here speaks as one of the christian body, though he was not one of that particular number concerning whom he directſy asserts what is here sºlid. Thus Hosea says, (Hos. Xii. 4.) God spake with Us in 13ethel; and the Psalmist, lxyi. 6; we rejoice, that, is, at the Red sea when divided ; and lxxxi. 5. I ſugard a languageſ under- stood not, that is, in Egypt, though neither wºre in existence at the times when the facts reſerred to happened. It is very unjust in Orobio to Epistle, is abundantly sufficient to absolve him of all such suspicious ; and indeed the sincerity that appeared in his whole conduct, evidently shows him to have been incapable of any such design. Compare Lä- mothe, Qſ Insp. p. 133–14 I. f iſith the voice of the archangcl.] I gaúnot think, with Mr. Pierce, that the archangel is Christ himself, so called as the great Ruler of angels: There seems an evident improprigty in thus varying the Qxpression, if it be only intended to say, that Christ shall shout as he descends; nor are the scriptures to, which this learned, writer refers, (viz. I. Sam, iii. # iſ Cor, i. 7, 8.) by any means parallel examples. See Pierce, on hil. ii. 9. g The dead in Christ shall rise first...] It has generally ºw from hence, that good men shall rise before the wigkeil, an Çor. xv. 23. seams to favour it. But this text only asserts their rising before the saints who are found alive shall be changed. * * h Caught up.] Not, says Dr. John Scott, by the ministry qf angels, (Christian Life, vol., iii. p. 1204.) but by the vigorous activity of our glorified body, which Mr. Piggot (Sernt. ii. ſ. 67.) supposes shall be refined to such a degree of spirituality as to be able to tregal air; and Mr. Whiston has a motion analogous to it. (App. to., Bogle’s Lect.) I pretend not to determing on the nicety of questions, like these. Only I cannot think the expression of being caught or Snatched up suits the ex- ertion of what Šišil then be a matural power; nor can I suppose that we shaiſ have anything to do with air iſ, the state which is to succeed the great day in which the elements sligll, melt...witſ, ſervent heat, and the heavens being on fire shall be dissoluºgº.2 Pet; iii. 3. * i. As being taught, &c,.] The MSS. of New College in Oxford, and the Barbarine Library, (No. 1. of each,) to Aoyot; Tarots, the words Ty Tyguaros, comfort one another with these words of the Spirit. And though 'I see no reason to believe that addition authentic, yet, as the sense is just and right, I have expressed it in the paraphrase, as I often do in such cases; that if peradventure any thing that belonged to the been inferred * HE URGES THEM TO PREPARE FOR CHRIST'S APPEARANCE. 74.1 Nor shall it be merely the triumph of one day, or of any limited period, how long soever. It is the promise of SPOT. his faithfulness, and of his love, #: so we shall ever be with the Lord. It is a glory that never shall decay, a 6. meeting secure from all danger, from all possibility of future separation. In what circumstance of affliction shall I. not these consolations be felt 2 What torrent of tears shall they not be able to stop? What groans of distressed lºs. nature shall they not be sufficient to turn into songs of joy 2 Thanks, everlasting, ever new, ever growing thanks, 18" be to God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, in the views of such a felicity And let the whole choir of Saints, the living and the dead, unite in one joyful Amen. SECTION VII. The apostle strenuously exhorts the Thessalonians to a diligent preparation, for that iſ portant day of Christ’s appearance, of which he had been discoursing above. I T'i.ess. v. 1–1 |. 1 THESSALONIANS v. 1. 1 THEss. v. I. BUT of the times and the I HAVE told you that the solemn day of universal judgment will certainly come, and SECT- ..º.º.” have been endeavouring to lead your minds to those views of it which must be most 7. reviving to every true believer: buf concerning the particular times and seasons of this grand event, with which the economy of providence in this world is to close, and some very 1 Tºš. wonderful occurrences which are to precede it, I am satisfied, my brethren, that ye have " 2. For yourselves knowner; no need ºf my writing to you accurately and largely. For je yourselves do already ſº assuredly knoit, as, wherevet we come, wé make it one of our first doctrines, that the great night. day of the Lord, to which our eyes and hearts are so much directed, comes just like a thief." in the night, and will surprise the inhabitants of the world in general by a dreadful 3 For when they shall say, alarm, when they are sleeping in the deepest security. For when they shall be most #.....'...'..., ready to say, All things about us are in perfect peace and safety, and no evil of any kind them, as travail upp. a threatens us, then sudden destruction shall come upon them, and seize them as inevitably rounan with child; and the te & - * º jº..."? “"“” and painfully as travail comes upon a woman with child, whose days are accomplished, 2 3 Cl , 4 But ye, brethreu, are not and they shall not be able by any means to escape it. But I am persuaded that you, my 4 ... "...a...' ...",".. brethren, are not sleeping in darkness; but that, as you have the fight of the gospel shin- thief. ing around you, it is your desire to act so agreeably to its dictates, and to maintain such a sense of the great and important prospect it opens upon you, as to have no reason to apprehend that the day of which I speak, or the day of death, which shall consign you to its unalterable doom, should come upon you as a thief, or surprise you in an unpre- 5 Ye are all the children of pared state. For ye are all, by profession, the children of the light and the children of the day, 5 jº.º. as ye call yourselves christians, and I trust are so, not in name only, but in truth. nor of darkness. Since we are not of the night nor of darkness, if we really answer our profession, by which we are so indispensably obliged to endeavour to resemble the Divine Being in holiness, and to maintain a temper and conduct which should not fear examination and discovery. 6. Therefore, let is, nºt Since this therefore is the case, let us answer the engagement, and not sleep as the rest of tº ſº..." * mankind ſºlo ;] but let us watch and be sober, that we may not be obnoxious to any 7. For they that sleep sleep unreasonable and unwelcome surprise. For they who sleep, generally choose to sleep in the 7 §§§ night, and they who are drunken, if they have not quite outgrown all common sénse of . night. ecency, are drunken in the night; whereas the day is the season of wakefulness, sobriety, - and labour. Let us not therefore, by our negligent and dissolute behaviour, seem as it 8 Butlet us, who are of the were to turn the day into night. But let us christians, who, as I said before, are the chil- ;º. dren of the day, be sober, and keep on our guard against our spiritual enemies, putling on and for an helmet, the hope the breastplate of faith and love, which will defend us against their mortal attacks; and of salvation. [for] an helmet, the lively hope of that eternal salvation which God hath promised, and which, if rightly understood, may be abundantly sufficient to bear us through all the dangers which may lie in our way to it. 9 For God hath not appoint- . And, blessed be God, there is room for arming ourselves with such a hope; for God sº...". hath not, as he justly might have done, destined us to bear for ever the final consequence Christ, of his wrath, to which our disobedience to him had rendered us obnoxious ; but he hath been pleased to appoint us to the obtaining of that great salvation set before us in the - gospel by our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath procured it for all true believers, and will 10 W no died for us, that, assuredly at length bestow it upon them. He therefore continually mindful of that 10 §º compassionate Redeemer, who not only subjected himself to the many burdens and incon- him. veniences of mortal life for our sakes, but even died in all the ignominy and agony of the cross for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him;b that while we live, or when we die, the life and happiness of our immortal souls should be secure, in H.Wherefºre comfºrtyº; a union to him, which death itself shall never be able to dissolve. Therefore comfort selves together, and edify > -> * l - * , - - -- * : * * * iºnothº, alsº yourselves and one another with the thoughts of this great salvation, and edify each to those do. • continued improvements in the life of holiness, which may correspond to so glorious a hope. This is most apparently your duty, and as I know many good and valuable things of you, I am also persuaded that you do indeed make conscience of it. IMPROVEMENT. SINCE we continually see so many around us suddenly surprised into the eternal world, and fixed in that state Ver, 2 In which judgment will find them, let us be very careful that the day of the Lord may not overtake us as a thief. 4 but that we maintain a continual watch. How many are at this hour speaking peace and safety to themselves, over whose heads instantaneous destruction is hovering, such a destruction that they shall never be able to escape, never able to recover from it! - * Let us endeavour to awaken ourselves and each other. Are we not indeed all children of the day ? Let us 6 S 9 I } 3 5 original has been omitted in the received copies, (which I hardly sus- rally than I have done, as if he had said, “Whether Christ comes in the pecul) the reader may one way or another meet with it. night, when we are sleeping on our beds, or in the day, when we are a Cones like a thieſ.] Mr. Blackwall justly observes the remarkable awake, and busy in the pursuit of our common affairs.” But as sleeping emphasis of this passage. A thiºf comes upon people when they are had just before been put for death, it seems more natural to interpret boutlil in sleep, and, they awake in amazement and confusion, being this, clause as speaking of the state of believers, whether afice or dead. fognd unºrined and in a helpless posture; pºſtgs coºle ul;on it wouman And then I think it must contain a direct proof of the life of the sºul y, hen perhaps she is eating, drinking, or laughing, and thinks of nothing while the body is sleeping in the grave. God forbii that any should leš than that Hour, And here it is said, not that the day of the Lord understand these words as intimating that Christ’s death is intended to will could thus, but that it is actually cºming, which increases the awful— secure our salvation, whether we take any watchful care of it or not. ness 9; the representation. Blackwall’s Sacr. Class. Vol. i. p. 209. .. Yet, alas, the generality of Christians live as if that were the genuine b 1%ttlier ice cake or sleep, &c.] Some interpret this still more ſite- and only interpretation iſ 3, 742 PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS. SECT. rouse ourselyes, and use the light, that by it we may despatch our labours, and, favoured by it, be guarded against 7. the most sudden attacks of our spiritual enemies. Let us be sober and vigilant, lest our adversary the devil break in upon us by a surprise, which the unexpected weapons by which he attacks us may render yet more dangerous. 1 THES. Our own armour is described and provided, if we seek it from the magazine of God. Let faith and love ever Y. a defend our breast. Let the hope of salvation cover our head. Let us adore the divine clemency and mercy, that we are not appointed unto wrath, but enjoy the views of such a salvation, to be obtained by Jesus Christ. As he hath done his part to procure it for us, having died for this important purpose, let us exert ourselves to the utmost 10 in our proper sphere for securing it, that we may lay hold on eternal life. . Then may we be happily indifferent to life or death: while we continue in the body, when that is sleeping in the grave, and our souls remain in the invisible world; and when our sleeping dust shall be roused, and both soul and body live in unremitting vigour and energy, beyond the need of that repose which is now so necessary, still in each of these different states we shall live with him ; and he will make the progression of the soul from one state of being to another, its progression 11 to stages of increasing holiness and joy. In the persuasion of this, let us comfort, exhort, and edify each other, and we shall feel the energy of the exhortations we give, and the sweetness of the consolations we administer SECTION VIII. The apostle concludes his Epistle with a variety of short practical exhortations and advices. 1 Thess. v. 12, to the end. Tryp scº a NY AN r 2 1 'i'HESSALONIANS v. 12, 1 THEss. v. 12. SECT. I HAVE exhorted you to endeavour to comfort and edify one another; but I would not AND we beseech you, brº- S. by this be understood as intimating either that the proper work of your ministers is to be #:"...","..."...". taken out of their hands, or that any slight is to be put upon them in the execution of it. Sºon in the ford, and adº 1 Tues. On the contrary, we beseech you, brethren, to know, to reverence and respect, those that "* V-1, labour among you in that important office, and preside over you in the name of the Lord;” * whose business it is publicly to instruct you and personally to admonish you, as occasion 13 shall require. It is in love to his church that Christ hath appointed such officers, and you , 13 And to esteem them very will find the benefit of their assistance in the whole of your christian course.’ I would ..." iyºeſºthº wº therefore advise and charge you to esteem them exceedingly in love, on the account of their among yourselves. work, in which they are the representatives of him who is the great Shepherd of the sheep. [...And; for their sakes as well as your own, let me further press you to be at peace with one another, and to guard against the first risings of any thing which might alienate your affec- tions; as it is impossible for you to conceive how much mischief might spring up in the society from causes of this kind, which may seem in their beginnings too inconsiderable 14 to be regarded. And we also exhort you, brethren, that you would all in a proper manner 14, Now...we, exhort you, concur with your pious ministers, overseers, and elders, in all proper acts of Christian dis- §º "...ii. cipline; and likewise that ye endeavour by private addresses, as Providence gives you an ºak bº opportunity, to promote the interests of true religion in the hearts of each other. Ånd in ***** this view admonish them that are disorderlyb and unruly, neglecting and proudly refusing . to keep the rank which God hath assigned them; comfort the feeble-minded, whose courage and resolution is ready to fail them under the many difficulties with which in present cir cumstances you are surrounded; succour the weak and infirm, whether in body or mind, and be long-suffering toward all, not ready to drive the justest censure to an excess, till 5 every softer and more gentle method has been tried. And whatever injury any of you lº see that none render may have received, whether from professed friends or from avowed enemies, see that no ºft one render to any evil for evil, but always pursue that which is good; endeavouring to the sºns * utmost to promote the happiness of all about you. Maintain this temper both towards each “"“” other, that is, towards all your fellow-christians, and towards all men, not excepting your enemies and perscoutors; sure by this means either to mollify their hearts, or at least to approve your own conduct, in the sight of God, and to make whatever evil you suffer the 16 occasion of obtaining from him blessings which will infinitely counterbalance it. And in 16 Rejoice evermore. expectation of this; be always rejoicing" in the midst of your trials and afflictions, knowing that your complete reden.ption is approaching, and that in the mean time you have always the presence of your God and your Saviour, from which you may derive unutterable satis- - 17 faction and delight, sufficient to support you under all your sufferings. And in order to 17 Pray without ceasing: maintain and improve this holy joy, pray incessantly." Be constant in your stated devo- tions at their returning seasons, and º to keep your minds habitually prepared for those pious ejaculations which have so happy a tendency to promote the christian tºmper, or for any sudden call you may have to address yourselves more solemnly to the Divine - - 18 Majesty. And whatever your circumstances may be, remember not only your dependence tº gº. "ii., § on God, but your obligation to him, and in every thing give thanks ; since it is certain you gºd in Christ Jesus coil. can never be encompassed with such afflictions as not to have much greater cause of **** thankfulness than complaint. And this cheerful, grateful spirit you should be concerned to maintain, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus with regard to you christians; as by giving you his Son, and with him all the invaluable blessings of his covenant, he has laid a foundation for perpetual thankſulness that may justly support the demand. * - 19 Moreover, that this temper may be preservéd in your iminds, take heed that ye quench 19 °h ""Bº" not the sacred flame of the Holy Spirite in any of his influences, as you know it is his great office to excite and maintain every pious and devout affection in the soul. Espe- Čially be careful that ye do not damp it by indulging in any degree to a sensual or malevolent *- 1. 9 a Preside over you, &c.j IIpots:ap.svgs may signify those who preside c Be aligays rejoicing.] ...The words, Tavtors xapºre may express oper your assemblies and moderate in them. There were certainly many the form of a salutuºſo), as if he had said, JHay .# †† be. ºlºus f.'. º § º gifts in º º º # ##### but as º so many other Short Cxhortations, have been danger of great irregularities, such as prevalled in the Chu IC link this version, much preferable. * * *-** - flºº. v. 19—21.) #some had not been appointed to preside d Pray incessantly.] #}. is, at all proper. iº, So the burnt- over the rest during the time of public exercises. Such officers, there offering presented £vºy ºniº, and §º. #. 'gº. i; also were iº º S lºgº Yellº; ºłºś. *#5 VI. 2 30 $ompare îuke xxiv. 53. with Acts ii. 46, 47. See also John r. 17. See Bar. JMisc. voj. i. p. 8 ;4, and the note on Heb, Y11 I. 17.) Xvill; 20. - * - EY I g = - # it is evident that lºst; by virtue of their general office, may e Quench mot the Spirit...] . This has §h;% expounded as fe said to preside over christian assemblies, even though there were no referrin; to the gifts of the Spirit, the jº w. Mich 1 In themselye. OT such º: need of their interposition to moderate or direct the exer- ºthers, should not be hiº. (Compare §: i. #'i. º xiv. 39.) cise of their gifts who were officiating in publig. * The phrase here used, º to sº particular à º -- º: § #, "isºlºrij 'So draxrot is properly rendered. It is well gºel. Sacº, Yºlºſſº: l i. has soft º LO º º O §: known to be a military term, expressing the gharacter of soldiers who Špirit as in Jiaº, gſ fire, tº 8 P. G. jº es there may also be lin the WO * , or ? r. 17 - - * S I e. keep not their ranks, and will not know their colours. uya $607 up&ty. Tim, i. 6. See the note there THE EPISTLE CONCLUDES WITH EXHORTATIONS AND A BENEDICTION. disposition, which must so naturally provoke him to withdraw both his gifts and his º: 20 Despise not prophesy. And as a regular attendance on divine ordinances will greatly tend to cherish his in- IngS. fluences, and a neglect of public worship proportionably obstruct them, despise not the holy exercises of prophesyings, in which the ministers of Christ interpret scriptire by a singular laspiration, or speak to mén by way of exhortation or comfort; but listem to them Wit 21 Prove, all things; hold reverence, and own the authority of God as speaking in his appointed messengers. Yet fast that which is good. be upon your guard that ye are not imposed upon in an affair of so much importance, and take not every forward assertion for an oracle from God; but try all things With at- tention, examine the validity of the pretensions which are made to extraordinary inspirã. tion; and when you have discussed them with impartiality and diligence, then resolutely hold fast that which is good, and be not prevailed upon to deny or reject it on any con- siderations. - 22 Abstain from all ap- Remember also, that, in order to preserve your innocence, it will be necessary to guard penance of evil. against circumstances of strong temptation, and things concerning the lawfulness of which you may have just suspicion, though you cannot absolutely º them to be cri- minal. I exhort you therefore, as you value your safety, to abstain from all that has so º as the appearance of evil, and from whatever may be likely to prove the occasion Of S]]]. 23 And the very God, of And while I thus urge you to proper diligence and caution on your part, I join to my 2 Rºº? j%’º counsels my most ardent and affectionate prayers for you : May the God of peace himself, łºś. º; that God who hath now reconciled us, and is become the Source of all prosperity and jºº". "fºº"jº happiness, sanctify you entirely in all the parts of your nature; and [I pray God that] Christ. your whole constitution or frame, your rational spirits, your animal soul, and your body; animated by it, may be so kept blameless by divine grace now, as to be presented with the greatest honour and acceptance at the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, whensoever it 24 Faithful is he that calleth shall be. This I desire, and cheerfully hope it; for faithful ſº he who hath called yout you, who also will do it. to the christian faith, who also will do this; since ſº is what he has graciously promised to all true believers whom he hath committed to the care of Christ, as their Shepherd, who will give them eternal life, and will raise them up in the last day. - * * 25 Brethren, pray for us. This is the glorious gospel we preach; and, that we may be successful in preaching it, I entreat yº. to pray for us; for we greatly need and greatly value the prayers 23 Greet, all the brethren of our fellow-christians. And when ye assemble together, in token of your mutual affec- 2 with an holy kiss. tion, and agreeably to the custom which hath long prevailed, salute all the brethren present with an holy kiss; and let the sisters in like manner salute each other, taking care to con- 27 I charge you by the Lord duct this action with the strictest modesty and propriety. As I write these things not jºjº ;: ad unto merely for the perusal of this or that particular friend into whose hands they may first fall, but for general use, and as the importance of them is very great, I adjure you, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ committed to me, that this Epistle be read to all the holy breihren of your church, at some time when you are all gathered together for divine 2s The grace of our Lord worship. And that you may be sure it is genuine, I add with my own hand my general %.9hººt * with you benediction, May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] always with you, to support that rinciple of true christianity which he hath implanted in your souls, till the purposes of his love be completed in your everlasting salvation! sºmen. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT a variety of excellent instructions does this short section contain yea, how much is expressed in some - * - *. * T - * * * * of its shortest sentences ! But how hard is it for our degenerate hearts to learn these lessons, which so few words 1 THES. 21 22 2 4 9 6 2 7 Y. are sufficient to express This habitual joy in God, this constant disposition to prayer, this thankful temper, that Ver. 16 upon every call may overflow in thanksgiving, this abstinence from every appearance of evil. “Blessed Lord! We 17, 18 need a better spirit than our own to teach us these things. May thy grace be with us, and may none of us quench the Spirit, nor despise those ordinances which by his heavenly communications he so often owns !” Let us en- deavour, by the daily importunity of prayer, to engage more of his efficacious and purifying influences, to sanctify the whole frame of our nature, our spirits, our souls, and our bodies; that we may so understand and choose, so love and delight in, divine things, and maintain so regular and constant a command over our appetites of flesh and blood, and all the irregular propensities of animal nature, that we may be continually fit for the appearance of Christ, and be more like what we hope we shall be when presented before the presence of his glory. To promote this, let us watch over one another in the Lord. I let christian societies preserve a regular disci- pline, with a due mixture of zeal and tenderness. Let the friendship of private persons be rendered mutually subservient to religious improvement, and let a due regard be ever paid to those who labour among them and preside over them in the Lord. They will not require a blind submission to their dictates, if they rightly under- stand the gospel they are to teach. They will allow, they will encourage, they will urge their hearers to prove all things, which even the apostles themselves, with all their plenitude of inspiration, did not think it beneath them to do. But they who, thus candidly inquire, and are determined to hold fast what is truly good, knowing how 2 excellent an office the ministry is, knowing how much the edification of the church depends upon it, will esteem those who bear it very highly in love for their work's sake; and in whatever instances they may be constrained, by what they judge to be the evidence of truth, to differ from their brethren, or even from their teachers, will be solicitous to maintain harmony and love in the societies to which they belong, as it becomes them to do who are the disciples of that wisdom from above which hath taught them inseparably to connect their regards to purity and peace. f Despise not prophesyings.] This caution, as explained in the para- as the learned, Vitringa has very accurately shown, (Vitr, Obs. lib. iii. phrase, may perhaps intimate that the neglect of a due regard to pro- cap. 4.) prevailed anyong the rabbies as well as the philosophers, that the § which some were too ready to despise, might be a means, of person of a man was constituted of three distinct substances, the rational lasting even those more splendid gifts which they might be tempted to spirit, the animal soul, and the visible body. IIe seems to suppose, from prefer to them. ^. Heb. iv. 12. the two former may be separated ; and some have thought g Your whole constitution, &c.] ... I wish I had known better, how to that he intimates, (1 Cor. xiv. 14, 15.) i. one may know what the other render 6AokAmpov tiptov, which being followed by To Tverpa, i \!/uxn, does not. This is not a place to state or examine this notion at large; &c. ought not, as in our version, to be rendered as an adjective to the it certainly derives great weight from this, text. My curious readers first, It signifies the whole frame of nature allotted to you. ... It is very may consult, besides the commentators, Hallet, On Script, vol. i. p. 39, eviſept that the apostle, in the following words, refers to a notion which, &e. 22 19, 14 I3 28 20 THE F A M H L Y E X P O S I TO R . A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N T H F. SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANs. 2IT has been already observed, that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians was written from Corinth about the year of our Lord 52; and as Timothy and Silas appear, from the inscription of this Second Epistle, to have been still with the apostle, it has generally been concluded that he wrote it while he continued in the same city, and not long after the for- mer. (See note i, p. 451.) - - The general design of it is to confirm the Thessalonians in their christian profession, and to comfort them under the sufferings to which they were exposed. Besides which, the apostle sets himself to rectify some mistaken apprehensions they seem to have entertained about the coming of Christ; and to direct them in the exercise of christian discipline to- wards some irregular members of the society. - - This Epistle (which, like the former, bears St. Paul's name, with those of Timothy and Silas, in the inscription) begins with a devout acknowledgment to God for the eminent attainments which the Thessalonians had made in religion, and particularly for the zeal and fidelity with which they adhered to the christian cause in the midst of persecution. To sup- port and animate them under their trials, the apostle reminds them of the distinguished honour that would be conferred on all the saints at the coming of Christ, and the vengeance that would at the same time overtake all the enemies of the gospel, assuring them of his constant prayers for their further improvement in the christian character, in order to their at- taining the felicity that was promised. (Chap. i. throughout.)—But lest, by mistaking the meaning of what he had said or wrote to them at any time upon that subject, or by any other means, they should be deceived into an opinion that the judgment-day was near at hand, he informs them that before this awful period there would be a grand apostasy in the church, and an antichristian power, which he calls the man of sin, would arise, and greatly obstruct the progress of the gospel, arrogantly assuming to itself the divine authority, and by pretended miracles leading multitudes into the grossest and most fatal delusions. Some beginnings of this spirit, he observes, were already discoverable, and as soon as those restraints which then lay upon it were removed, it would break out in all its force, and continue to speak its malignant influence, till it should be finally destroyed by the coming of Christ. (Chap. ii. 1–12.)—These views lead him to express his thankfulness to God, that the Thessalonians had escaped this corruption which began so early to prevail in the church, and had given such proofs of their entering into the true spirit and genius of christianity, by the happy effect their belief had prodăced upon their lives and characters. But lest they should think themselves secure, he exhorts them to steadfast, ness and constancy in their profession of the truth, and adds his earnest supplications for their increasing comfort and establishment. At the same time he desires their prayers that his labours might be attended with the same success amongst others as they had been amongst them, and that he might be delivered from the opposition that was made to him by unreasonable men, expressing withal his cheerful confidence in their continued regards to the instructions he had given them. (Ver. 13. chap. iii. 1–5.) * * * * * - The apostle, having borne so honourable a testimony to the character of the Thessalonians in general, proceeds to give them dirãctions for their conduct towards some irregular members of the society, and charges them to withdraw themselves from those that behaved disorderly, and, neglecting the proper business of their calling, busied themselves impertinently in the concerns of others. He exhorts such to attend to their own affairs, and carefully to provide for their own subsistence, that they might not be a burden to others. And, to add greater weight to his admgnitions, he reminds them of the example he had set them while at Thessalonica, in maintaining himself by the labor of his own hands, though, considering his character as an apostle, he had certainly a right to have been supported at their expense. If any one, notwithstanding, should refuse to comply with this exhortation, or with those he had given them in his former Epistle, he directs his christian friends to exclude him from their familiarity and friendship, that he might be made sensible of his fºult; yet he advises them to treat him not as an enemy, but to admonish him as a brother. The apostle, having thus sufficiently instructed the Thessalonians in their duty on this important article, concludes with his usual salutation, Written with his own hand, (Ver. 6, to the end.) - wº - The attentive réader will easily perceive that this, though -* the shortest of all St. Paul's Epistles to the churches, is not inferior to any of them in the sublimity of the sentiments, and in that excellent Spirit by which all the writings of the apostle are distinguished. Besides those marks of its génuineness and divine authority, which it bears in common with the rest of these Epistles, it has one peculiar to itself, from the exact representation it contains of the papal power, under the characters of the manofsin, and the mystery of iniquity. For, considering how directly opposite the principles here ãescribed were to the genius of christianity, it must have appeared, at the tim? when this Epistle was written, highly im- je to all human apprehension that they should ever have prevailed in the christian church; and consequently a y in every particular to the event, must be allowed tº carry its own evidence iction like this, which answers so exactly. - - - - --, +; - #. it, and to prove that the author of it wrote under a divine influence. For a further illustration of this argu- ment, see Dr. Benson's Dissertation on the Man of Sin A P A R A PHRASE AND NOTES ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE EXPRESSES HIS JOY IN THE CONSTANCY WITH WHICH THE THESSALONIANS ATHERED TO THE CHRISTIAN CAUSE AND ANIMATES THEM AGAINST THE PERSECUTIONS TO WHICH THEY WERE STILL EXPOSED, BY THE PROSPECT OF THAT GLORY THAT WOULD BE CONFERRED UPON THEM AT THE COMING OF CHRIST. 2 THESS. i. THROUGHOUT. 2 THEss. i. VER. I. 2 THESSALONIANs i. VER. I. PAUL, and Silvanus, and P.AUL, and Sylvanus or Silas, and Timothy, being still continued together, renew the ad– SECT. ºß dress we formerly made to the church of the Thessalonians; which is now by divine good- 1. * Fºund the Lord Je-ness in a state of union, and friendship with God, our great and ever-blessed Father, and * the Lord Jesus Christ; having been so happy as some time since to receive the gospel, 2 THES. 2 Grace unto you; and and still to retain the profession of it. And we must now, as before, express that sincere 2 ” ºś* benevolence which reigns in all our hearts towards you, by wishing, as we then did, the communication of grace to you, and abundance of peace, tranquiliity, and happiness, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. cº, º º: We sincerely sympathize with you in all your trials, yet we are sensible that we ought 3 ... ašče...bºsº always to give thanks to God on your account, brethren, as it is fit and reasonable, because 3. *hº §§§ your faith, notwithstanding all that is done to blast it and trample it down, groweth ex- Sºčfºou ail toward each ceedingly, and the love of every one of you all towards one another aboundeth more and other aboundeth ; more ; your faith drawing new confirmation from your sufferings, and your sense of them engaging you tenderly to pity, and to do your utmost for the refief of those who share in them, and at the same time endearing to you that one body which the world so cruelly ºf hates, and so maliciously endeavours to destroy. And these good dispositions are through 4 Go?"fºº"yºu?"º"ani the divine grace so remarkable in you, that we do ourselves indeed boast of you in all the #º nº churches of God to whom we come, on account of your unwearied patience, and lively, un- endure : , shaken faith in the midst of all your persecutions, and the various tribulations of one kind ofºº and another which you endure : [Which shall,) on the whole, appear to [be] so far from 5 ěość i proving inconsistent with the honour of the divine government, that, on the contrary, they §º., ºf shall terminate in g glorious and advancing display of the righteous judgment of God,” that fº - §ſe may be approved in some degree worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer; that ye may appear by these trials to be possessed of such integrity and patience, of such meekness and superiority to this transitory world, as to be fit for those seats of superior ºfoº dignity and blessedness on which you are to enter. It shall also be the means of dis- 6 tº playing the divine justice, in the punishment to be inflicted on your implacable enemies; t) ié y CU ; for [it º @ most righteous and honourable thing with God to repay tribulation to them, who ring tribulation on you, accounting with them in the great day for all the evils they have inflicted on you unprovoked, and while you were engaged in the most equitable and bene- sºlº whº volent cause. And, on the other hand, it will appear equally suitable to the honour of the 7 iºnºus shallie ºaki divine government to repay unto you who suffer this tribulation, rest with us, if not in the ºven with his mish's present world, where we do not ourselves, expect it, yet at last in the revelation of the S \, , Sy Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, with his mighty angels, who shall be the ministers of his sº lºin, º º: power in the execution of his great and awful judgment, And nothing can be more corn 8 **ść...anitiatºs."ºt fortable to the persecuted saint than to think of this illustrious appearance, when Jesus Hºpe of **** shall descend in his Father's glory and his own, surrounded with flaming fire, to erecute vengeance on those who know not God, but presumptuously neglect and despise the inti mations, yea, and the express declarations, of his will with which he has favoured them; , , , (ºnd especially to inflict deserved punishment upon those who obey not the gospel of our wº: Lord Jesus Christ, though they have received it in all its evidence. They who add the 9 fºr sºfthºd, rejection of that to all their crimes, can expect neither remedy nor mercy, but shall assuredly i..." "* * * * be punished [with] eternal destruction, which shall, as it were, break forth like lightning y upon them, from the face of the Lord, and drive them from his presence, as it will be utterly impossible for them to stand against his glorious power, which will be armed for & 4 display, &c.] Perhaps evöetyla may further imply, that the suf- (Hopkins's Works, p. 370.) that this phrase expresses not only that they ferings of good men, and the triumphant prosperity of their persecuting shall be expelled from that joy and glory which reigns in the presence of enemies, should not only terminate in such a display of divine ven: Christ, but that his presence shall appear active in the infliction of their geance, but that these seeming irregularities do even now declare that punishment, so that they shall, as it were, be blasted by the lightning there shall be such a day of retribution. e * of his eye. From the face * Lord.] Bishop Hopkins has justly observed, 746 SECT. their ruin, and shine forth with irresistible brightness and majesty, When he shall come to 1. THE DAY OF JUDGMENT TO BE PRECEDED BY THE APPEARANCE OF ANTICHRIST, 10. When he shall come to be glorified in the full assembly of his saints, and to be admired" in the efforts of his alº º mighty power and love, for the complete salvation of all them who believe. They shall believe (because our tº stimº * Ties, be accomplished in that glorious dai, to which our faith and hope have been so iong º" " "**** * To directed, and in which the promises of his covenant do so remarkably centre. It is the n that day. hope and joy of all his people, and it is yours in particular; because our testimony among you was credited, and you have given substantial evidences that your faith was cordial 11 and sincere. In which regard, as we rejoice in what is already done, and have the ten- 11 wherefore also we pray derest concern that the precious seed we have sown may answer the hope with which we ºg see it springing up, and at length advance to full maturity, we continue to pray always for Ş. ii...ºf º fi. Jou, that our God would, by the working, of his grace, render you more and more iſ orthy "Bººjº, of [this] high and holy calling, and would fulfil in you all the good pleasure of [his] good power. 1 LIl VW 11 11 ness,” all that amiable and happy tempêr which his paternal regard to our happiness engages him to recommend and require. And to speak all in one word, that he would accomplish, and perfect the work of faith with power, that is, would powerfully impress upon your hearts the great principles of that religion which he hath revealed to you, and which you have embraced; since nothing can tend more effectually to produce and nourish I2 every good disposition in your mind: That so the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be . 12 That the name of our glorified in you, while you act in a manner so suitable to the relation you bear to him: and ###"...hº". that you may also be glorified in him, may now have the honour of approving yourselves §dºſ"; his faithful servants, the excellent of the earth, and may for ever share in the glóry he hath 3;s." "* * * º for such, according to the grace of our merciful God, and of the Lord Jesús Christ, y whom it is so plentifully bestowed upon us. IMPROVEMENT. Ver.12 . How wisely has the apostle chosen the representation we have now been reading, to promote the glory of our 6 8 9 10 1 : SECT. 2. 2 TLIES. II. 2 3 Saviour's name, by strengthening the Saints who are already established, and awakening any who might be careless and irregular, by the very same considerations which may so justly awe and intimidate the enemies of the church! How forcible in all these views is the description we here read, of the glorious and triumphant appearance of our Lord! Let it be ever placed before our eyes, . He shall surely come in flaming fire, to take vengeance on all his enemies. The troublers and persecutors of his people shall have their peculiar share in it, and it is most righteous with God that they should. , Yet it is not intended for them alone, but for all who know not God, and who obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ. How diligently should we examine what our knowledge of God is, and what our obedience to his gospel ! whether the one be merely speculative, and the other verbal, or our knowledge practical, and our obedience sincere and universall Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power, is a vengeance dreadful enough, one would imagine, to awaken, even by its distant sound, all who are not sunk into the last and lowest degrees of insensibility. Who can stand in his presence when once he is angry P Who can resist his power 2 But there are a º ºr who shall be glorified by him, and, which should give us peculiar joy, in whom he also shall be admired and glorified in that day and for ever. The holy and blessed creation of God shall see to all eternity from what ruin Jesus could raise, and to what felicity he could exalt, those who were once the captives of Satan, the slaves of sin, and the heirs of death and hell. May the expecta- tion of it influence our hearts in a suitable manner! May all the good pleasure of God’s goodness be fulfilled in us, and the work of faith with power! Then while our faith groweth exceedingly, our mutual love will abound, our patience will be adequate to every trial, and we shall be approved as in some measure, through divine grace, worthy of that kingdom to which God hath called us. SECTION II. Paul cautions the Thessalonians against expecting the day of judgment immediatº and foretells the appearance of antichrist that was first to CO 2. - me. 2 Thess. ii. 1–1 2 THESSALONIANS ii. 1. 2 THEss. ii. 1 I SPOKE in my former letter of the coming of Christ, and I have just been mentioning Now we beseech you, bre- it to you again; but I am afraid you should misunderstand what I have written upon that łºś. },...; subject, and therefore I must beseech you, brethren, with respect to the intended and much gathering together unto him, desired appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and our gathering together unto him, of which I then spoke, That ye be not soon moved from [the steadiness of your] mind, nºr ..º.º.º. - * * - º - - * - Yet l 2 3. troubled, either by the suggestion of an pretended spirit of prophecy and revelation in ºr';";#, ºi, others, or by the report of any word which we may be said to have dropped, or by the §"...". Féº"; . sense which any may put upon what we have written in the former Epistle, which you i.a. have really received, or any other which may be brought to you as from tis, as if the great day of Christ were just at hand, and to be continually looked for. Let no man deceive bº... };"; }; you by any means which he may use so as to persuade you of this, lest, finding yourselves jail". "... e.e.:"fié #: in that expectation, you should be brought to doubt of the faith you have re-come a falling away first, and ceived, or, in apprehension of so speedy a dissolution of the world, you should be less attentive to some of its concerns than duty or prudence will require. For you may be assured, with respect to this great and important day, that [it shall not come] till there come first an amazing and shameful apostasy” in the christian church itself; and the man admired.] This strongly implies, not only that the saints them- tringa (Observ. lib. is cap. vi. 9 6.) has said sº much tº Yindicatº it, hât ..fººt what he §. łºń, so far above all their expec- I could not but prefer this repòering, Mr. Howe takes, it as we do in titions and conceptions, but that it shall reflect an admirable glory upon Qur, translation, and speaks of it as the most sºlemn º in the our fedeemer, in the judgment of all wh9 shall be spectators of it. Bible; (Howe, On the Spirit; vol. ii. p. 70.) and then *::::::: .." Der– Good pleasure of his goodness.] Mr. Blackwall would, render it, the nici th C. C. luences of that error might have been, which the apos- benevolence of his goodness, and says, it is the shortest and most chärm- the endeavours so solicitously to guard against. - - - 4 ing representation any where to be found, of that inſinite goodness which b The day of Christ were at hand.] Yet it was what the primitive surpºses aii expression, but was never so, happily and, properly ex- christians confidently expected; and some tell us they were the more de- pressed as here." (Blackwall’s Sacr. Class. vol. i. p. 242.) We may add sirous of martyrdom, that they º not be spectators of so dreadful, a #º seems at once to express, that it is sovereign pleasure, and scene as they supposed it would be. (See Reeye's Apol. Vºl. i. p.39) jiຠfeels, as it were, a sacred complacency in the display of it. But if it reaſſy were so, it was an instance of a double mistake in these And for that reason I chose rather to retain, with our received Version, good men. w - good pleasure, than to substitute, the word benevoleſce in its stead. c.An apostasy..] Dr. Whitby understands this, either of the revolt a fºie appearance of our Lord.j Cradock would render virtp ºn; Tap from the Romańs, or the faijing away of many christian cºpy eſts, 9 Jº. gatag, concerning the appearancés, as if he had said, with relation to daism, through prejudiºs in favour of the º, 3. the º: what? I wrote in the former Epistle of Christ’s coming, and our being law, or expectations ºf the temporal jº Of t |. I º 9. º: . caught up into the air to meet him, (compare 1 Thess. iv.17) supposing of persecutioqi, on º: wº tº: !. tº: ºśā firsp to bo used for trept hero, as it certainly is, 1 Cor. viii. 23. and Vi. priety. And Vitringa is large in showing, that great apostasy previ THE APOSTLE FORETELLS THE COMING OF ANTICHRIST. that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; chiefs; yet it is so surely doomed to destruction by the just though long delayed vengeance of God, that I cannot §: calling him that assumes it, the son of perdition, as our 4 Who opposeth and exalt- Lord himself called Judas the traitor. (John xvii. 12.) I now speak of one who opposes §§§.".”...","...# himself to the interest of true religion, by arts and enterprises in former generations un- shipped ; so that he as God #!"; ºº: is called God, or the Object of religious worship,q taking upon him to control divine in- God. stitutions, and to model every thing according to his own arrogant pleasure. So that he himself, as God, sets himself in the church, which is the temple of God, showing himself with such pompous parade, and such despotic authority assumed over the consciences of men, that, so far as actions can speak, he in effect asserts that he is God, nothing human, and indeed nothing created, having a right so to dictate. This is an event of so great importance, that I have formerly mentioned it. Remember ; not that being yet with you, though I spent so very little time among you, I neverthe- ess told you these things, and gave you such warnings concerning them as I imagined 5 Remember ye not, that ywhen I was yet with youj told you these things f 6 And, now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7. For the mystery of ini- restrains him from being revealed in (what might otherwise seem) his own time. For the quity, doth already work: only he who now letteth will mystery of iniquity, the hidden design of corrupting and overthrowing Christ's kingdom, it, until he be taken out of which has so many artful ways of insinuating itself into the minds of sinful men, and of the way. introducing its own tyrannical, avaricious, and ambitious schemes into the church, does al- ready in Some measure work,” amidst all the peculiar engagements to the most humble, dis- interested, and upright conduct which an age and ecclesiastical state like ours brings along with it. Only there is one that hindereth, till he be taken out of the way,f secular powers at present are a restraint, but when that is taken away, and different scenes in providence open, these iniquitous principles that are secretly fermenting will break out in all their 8 And then shall that Wick-force. gd be , revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the - - - spirit of his mouth, and shall on the christian world. destroy with the brightness of his coming : evitable ruin, as one whom the Lord will certainly at length destroy; and how firmly soever he may seem established by human policy and power, he shall find himself unable to withstand the breath of his mouth, which shall kindle all around him a consuming flame, in which all his pomp and pride shall vanish. ...And indeed he will not only in some measure humble and abase, but utterly eradicate and abolish him, by the resplendent brightness of his coming, when truth shall beam in upon men's minds with all its energy, and its most formidable enemies shall fall before it. 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, In the mean time, the monster of iniquity shall prevail, ſeven he] whose coming is ac- cording to the energy of Satan, whose interest he shall re-establish where it seems to be overthrown. That malignant and deceitful spirit shall therefore endeavour to promote this antichristian kingdom to the utmost, by all lying ſº and signs, and wonders,é by a variety of fictitious miracles, so artfully contrived an dance of false testimonies, that many shall be entangled, deceived, and undone by them. .And in the conduct of this most iniquitous design, recourse will be had to all manner of whrighteous deceit, which shall be managed with the utmost art and address, 10 And with all deceivable- noss of unrighteousness in them that perish ; because they received not the love of so strongly supported by an abun- among - those wretches, who shall many of them finally perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. the truth, that they might be saved by it, but preferred those secular views, which such dis- honest practices promoted, to the great prospects of their everlasting happiness in an in- 11 And for this cause God visible world. shall send them strong delu- º that they should believe 3. HIG = ..And for this cause, when they have for a limited time been permitted to trifle with the message of his mercy and the strivings of his Spirit, God will in righteous judgment give them up to a reprobate and insensible mind, and will send upon them the energy of deceit ;h he will suffer them to deceive others, till they are deceived themselves 12 That they all might be too; so that they shall believe the lie which they have so long taught: That they may all damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un- righteousness. be condemned at last, who believed not the truth, though offered to them with sufficient evidence, but, on the contrary, had pleasure in unrighteousnessi and imposture, when it might serve their present interest, to which all considerations of conscience and honour, religion and future º were sacrificed. not entirely incorrigib And this I leave upon record, that such as āre e may be alarmed by this dreadful representation, and that others may be warned to stand at the remotest distance from the tents of these wicked men, and, though it should be at the greatest hazard, to maintain the cause of God and of truth against them. ” in the christian church between the days of Nero and Trajan. (Qbscrg. lib. 4. cap. 7.) Yet I have thought it my duty to explain, this difficult but important context as referring to what Mr. Joseph Alede, with so great propriety, calls thc apostasy of the latter times ; and I must refer to his learned and judicious writings on this head, and to IJr. Benson’s Dissertation on the JMan of Sin, to vindicate the reasonable- ness of an interpretation which I have by no means room to discuss at large. - - d' Above all that is called God, &c.], The usurpation of the papacy in divine things is so unequalled, that if these words are not applicable to it, it is difficult to say who there ever has been or can be to whom they should belong. The manner in which the Pope has exalted himself above magistrates, is equally remarkable and detestable ; but I do not apprehend it so immediately referred to here, as his taking upon him to control every thing in religion. X'sſłaapa has exactly the signification here given it. See Acts xvii. 23. - e The mystery of iniquity dotli already work.] As Dr. Whitby ex- plains the man of sin of the rebellious and unbelieving Jews, he, must of course explain this of the turbulênt, and seditious principles which evi- dently prevailed among them ; and it is agreeable to his scheme to inter- pret the impediment spoken of in the next clause, of Claudius Cæsar, whose favours obliged them so, that they could not immediately break out, but who was soon taken away by a violent death, which gave them the opportunity they seemed so much to wish for. (See Whitby, in loc.) But it appears much more reasonable to, understand the passage before us of the antichristian spirit which began to work in the christian church then, in the pride and ambition of Soune ministers, the factious temper of many christians, the corruption of many ghristian doctrines, the imposing unauthorized sevcrities, the worship of angels, &c. of all which things the papacy availed itself for acquiring and exor- cising its iniquitous dominion ; and so lic that hindercth will refer to the in perial power, of which we shall presently speak, but of which pru- dence §§ St. Paul to write with a caution which unavoidably occa- sioned some obscurity. There is one that hinderculi, &c.] ]]r. Geddes, very oroperly explains this of the Roman emperor, who would not suffer ãº...i power to grow to an exorbitant height while he held his seat at Rome. See Geddes’s Tracts, vol. ii. p. 10. , Aud as many good modern commentators give it the same turn, so it is observable that Tertullian, Augustine, and Chrysostom, all agree in saying that antichrist was not to appear till aſler the fall of the Roman empire. Sec Archbishop Tillotson, vol. ii. p. 193. .g. Lying power, Signs, and wrondºrs.] It is certain that the construc- tion will very well allow us to refer psvös; to all the preceding words, as well as the last ; and nothing seems so natural as to refer the whole to the fictitious miracles of the church of Rome, which have grown up to such a degree of extravagance and effrontery, as even to make their own popes ashamed. - - - - h Encrgy gſ deceit.] Those most ridiculous popish legends, which have yet gained such credit as to be admitted into their public offices, furnish out a most affecting comment upon these words. i Had plcasure in unrightgousness.] I cannot but think this refers to many of the priests and others in the Romish church, who impose on the people known delusions, merely out of regard to secular interest : and it wears so dreadful an aspect on such, and on those who, ,on, the like principles, act the same part in the protestant world, iſ such there e, that I cannot but hope it may be the Ineans of producing in tijne Some great reformation, when it, shall please God powerfully to impress on the professed teachers of others a serious sense of the importance of their * . . . f £º. f 2. 47 aſ sin be revealed, that antichristian power which is to raise itself by such enormous mis-SECT . 2 THES- known, and as pride often goes before destruction, insolently eralts himself above all that 4 5 you could not so soon have forgot? And now, though it is a tender subject, which it is 6 not convenient to speak of in too explicit a manner, I persuade myself that ye know what 7 .And then the ungodly one shall be revealed, and appear as it were unveiled in all 8 his native deformity; even he who shall bring the greatest infamy and the greatest misery Nevertheless, though his reign may be of some considerable dura- tion, it shall not be perpetual; for the Spirit teaches us to regard him as sentenced to in- 12 II. 748 PAUL’S THANKFULNESS FOR THE STABILITY OF THE THESSALONIANS. IMPROVEMENT. SECT. LET us behold with humble reverence the depths of the divine counsels and judgments: God hath been pleased 2. to suffer the craft of Satan to display itself, in reducing from his allegiance a great part of the christian world, yet has he taken the wise in his own craftiness, so far as to make that very apostasy from christianity an additional 2 THES. proof of its divine original. Who that had only examined the genius of that holy religion, could have imagined * ... that such a mystery of iniquity should have arisen in it, and that man of sin have been revealed? Surely, when the particulars of the description come to be comparéd with the accomplishment, it may seem owing to some judicial infatuation that men of deep policy and great penetration, with ; very passage of Scripture in their ands, should have suffered the marks of antichrist to be so very apparent, even in many instances beyond what might have seemed absolutely necessary for establishing that secular kingdom which they sought; particularly, 4 that the Pope on high days should set himself on a high throne in the temple of God, to be there solemnly adored, and should have permitted his parasites so expressly to boast that he is God, and to give him, in some of their licensed and authorized works, divine titles.k . The scandalous and extravagant pretences which the followers of the papacy have made to miracles, exceeding in number, and some of them in marvellous circumstances, those of Christ and his apostles, plainly display the 9 energy of Satan, the father of frauds, pious and impious. ' And the most incredible lies, which they have, by 11 solemn and irrevocable acts, made essential to their faith, show the strength of delusion beyond what could have been imagined, had not fact led us into the theory. How dreadful is it to think of some of the expressions which the Spirit itself uses when speaking of these artifices in deceit!—that they should be abandoned by God to believe 12 a lie, that they may all be damned who have pleasure in unrighteousness-that they might bring upon themselves eternal aggravated damnation. Who would not tremble, who would not grieve, for so many of our fellow-men, yea, of those who, degenerate as their form of christianity is, we must yet call our fellow-christians, who are thus dishonoured, enslaved, and endangered 2 The Lord grant that they may not be utterly undone | Let them despise us, let them, by most solemn execrations annually repeated, devote us to destruction, and prepare against us all the instruments of it in their power, yet will we still pray for them. The Lord grant that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are led captive by him at his pleasure (2 Tim, ii. 26.) Let us recommend to di- vine compassion, the souls drawn after artful and wicked leaders, in the simplicity of their hearts, and take comfort in this º that the time will come when the Lord shall destroy this son of perdition with the breath of his mouth and the brightness of his coming. May the remnant of God's people among them take the alarm, and come out from them in time, and be separate, that they may not be partakers with them in their plagues 1 (Rev. xviii. 4.) 8 * * : ; SECTION III. . . . y Paul returns thanks to God ſor his mercy to the Thessalonians in supporting thern hitherto, and addresses such, exhortations to them, and prayer; for them, as might most effectually conduce to their continued establishment, desiring also their prayers for him amidst his various labours and dangers. 2 Thess. ii. 13, to the end ; iii. 1–5. 2 THEss ALONIANS ii. 13. 2 THEss. ii. 13. SECT. SUCH corruptions as these will at length arise in the church, and we have hinted that BUT we are bound, to give 3. something of this spirit is already beginning to work. But blessed be God that so little §.º.º.º.; — of it appears among you; on the contrary, we are sensible that we ought always to give tºº.º.º. ºf 2 THES. thanks to God for jou, brethren, whom we have great reason to address as beloved of the ºß II., Lord, because that cordial zeal with which you have embraced the gospel, and that résolus ººspirit and belief ºf" 18 tion with which you retain it in the midst of afflictions and persecutions, give us ground "' cheerfully to conclude that God hath, of his wise counsels and abundant grace, from the beginning of his work and plan for the redemption of men, chosen you to eternal salvation; for a participation of which you are prepared by that sanctification which is the work of the Holy Spirit on your hearts, and that belief of the truth which hath so effectual a tendency to promote ht. ------- 14 his is God’s appointed way of obtaining an interest in this salvation, to which he hath 14Whereunto he callelºg called you by our gospel, even to the obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; that º: glory which his mercy hath prepared, and to which his faithful care shall at length conduct sus Christ. all his obedient followers, in which they shall fully enjoy the rich provisions of his love, 15 and be made like him in holiness and happiness. Tºſº. brethren, let me exhort you ...15, Therefore, brethren, to stand fast, and strongly to retain the instructions which you have learned of us, whether º ..º.º.º. by word or by our former letter, as you may be assured you have there a genuine repre-º whether by word, or 16 sentation of the contents of those important doctrines with which we are intrusted. And oº:: our Lord Jesus may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God even our Father, who hath loved us, in so sur- ºl prising a manner, and given º by his gospel, such a fund of everlasting consolation, and us, and bath ºn is ever, such good hope through his overflowing grace, when without it we could not have had any jºi." “ 17 glimmering of hope, or prospect of comfort for ever: May he, I say, by the rich commu-ºº: nication of his love and mercy, comfort your hearts, and may he strengthen and confirm tº ever, sº you, making you ready for every good word and work, that his name may be glorified, and - 2 THEs. your present satisfaction and fütüre reward may abound. As for what remains, I shall not tº #, i.º. III, , enlarge, but must beseech you, brethren, that ye would pray for us, that the word of the §."... .ºh.”tº º ford may run a free and nobstructed course every where, and be greatly glorified, as lºſ...º.º. 2 through his grace [it is] among you: And that we, whom he hath honoured with the office ...A. §§ of dispensing it, may be delivered from unreasonable, and wicked men, who are endeavour- lº, º: ing as much as possible to prevent the propagation of the gospel, by destroying or confining not faith: us. We cannot wonder at it, for all men have not faith,” and there are so many corruptions opposing its progress, and they are so powerfully abetted by the great enemy of souls, that * * * 3 we havé rather reason to admire the divine agency, in making it so successful as itis. But 8 Put the *** whatever difficulties we meet with, this is our comfort, that the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom own salvation, and to make them feel how contemptible all worldly b Unreasonable.] Bishop Wilkins observes that aroTot may signify emoluments are when compared with truth of doctrine and purity of ºº:: persons, who are not to be fixed by any principlºš, worship and discipline. and whom no topics can work upon. . Wilkins, Q/ JWat. l. p. 34. k Divine titles.) See Mr. Barker's Sermon at Salters' Hall, in the Many such remain among us even to this day: .. * Electure against Popery; and Mr. Chandler’s Account of the Conſcrence c faith.j Éy faith some understand a principle gf honesty, which in JVicholas Lane. may ºf: a confidence to be reposed-in them. Howe, Of the Sri- a jºin and be glorified.] Some think these words allude to the rit, vol. ii. p. 192, But IFather understand it of th; tº and candid applause given to those that made a speedy progress in the races which disposition which would engage men to receive the testimony of the constituted so important a part of the Grecian games. apostles. f HE URGES THE EXERCISE OF DISCIPLINE IN THE CHURCH, 7.43 who shall stablish you, and we devote our labours and have committed our souls, is invariably failhful 3...itho tail. SPCT. keep you from evil. strengthen and keep both us and you from the evil one and all his works. He will indeed 3. preserve us from évery thing that would on the whole be hurtful to us, and overrule to ‘. . Tº i.4. And wººd confidence truest good what has the appearance of evil. And we have a cheerful conſidence, in the ſº. ' ºff”; tº: fidelity and grace of our blessed Lord, with respect to you, that by his powerful influence 4 tºss which we command you are and will be established in every good resolution, so that in every instance ye both *And the Lord direct you do and will do the things which in his name we give you in charge. ...And may, we hºve, the 5 ###!'... ...; pleasure of seeing this our confidence happily answered more and more! May, the Lora for Christ. * direct your hearts into the more vigorous and constant exercise of the love of God, and into ..” the exercises of that patience under all your trials and afflictions which becomes the dis- ciples of Christ,” and is agreeable to his example. IMPROVEMENT. How wisely and happily does the apostle unite the views of the grace of God and the duties of men, while he Ver.13 represents our choice to salvation in a light so worthy of God, since this salvation is still to be obtained through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, Our spirits must be sanctified by the operation of the divine Spirit: the truth must be not only speculatively, but powerfully and practically believed, or all our hopes will be vain. But surely, were it possible that salvation could any other way be obtained, it would be much less desir- able, or rather that which did not imply a sanctified spirit, and a heart open to receive and obey the truth, would not deserve the name of salvation. Blessed be God, who in this view hath called us to obtain salvation and glory 14 by Jesus Christ, even God our Father who hath loved us. From him do these everlasting consolations floº. ... It 16 is by his blessed and gracious operation we are strengthened and established in every good word and work. His 17 fidelity stands engaged to do it, if we humbly commit ourselves to him, and wait upon him. The prayers of the 2 º apostles, dictated no doubt from above, concur with the promises to encourage our hopes that he will direct our 5 “” hearts into the love of God and the patience of Jesus Christ. Qn the exercise of that love and that patience doth the happiness of life chiefly depend. Too ready are our weak hearts to wander from it, and to faint under the difficulties that lie in our way. Let us call on him to preserve and maintain the graces he hath implanted, that they may be exerted with growing vigour and constancy, even unto the end. - nreasonable and wicked men will oppose the progress of the gospel, which has so powerful a tendency to 2 promote holiness and comfort; and as #. are those that have not faith, they will be ready to labour its destruc- tion. But when the prayers of christians are frequently engaged, that the word of God may run and be glorified, 1 there is great reason to hope that much of their perverse opposition may be overruled to most contrary purposes, so that the wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder of that wrath be restrained. (Psal. lxxvi. 10.) SECTION IV. The apostle concludes his Epistle with, giving some directions as to the strenuous exercise of discipline with respect to some disorderly persons, and with renewed prayers for the prosperity of the church at Thessalonica. 3. Thess. iii. 6, to the end. 2 THEss. iii. 6. 2 THESSALONIANs ili. 6. ºß A ZEALOUS regard for the honour of our Divine Master º me to inculcate on SECT, º'êº the churches under my inspection, a strict care in the exercise of iscipline; and I heartily 4. §º, i. wish there were nothing in your circumstances which particularly demanded my further derly, and not after the tradi- admonitions on that head. But as many good men aré ready to be too remiss here, from 2 THEs. ****** a fear of displeasing others, and making themselves enemies, we solemnly charge you, bre. , i. thren, in the awful and beloved name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the credit and progress of whose religion is so nearly concerned in the matter, that ye withdraw yourselves from any brother, whatever his rank, circumstances, or profession may be, who in the conduct of his life walks irregularly, and not agreeably to ihe instruction which he hath received from , For yourselves know how us, with regard to the grand rules of christian morality. I speak freely on this head, for 7 łºś.” ye yourselves know how it becomes you in this respect to imitate us ; for we were not in any derly among you ; instance irregular among you, but endeavoured to behave so as to recommend and enforce 8 Neither did we eat any Ollſ doctrine by our example. Neither did we eat any man's bread at frce cost, when we 8 man’s bread for nought; but - ~3 ~4- & * x- * - 4%, v ºś had an opportunity of subsisting gratis, at the expense of any particular persons or fami- lº"; "...º.º. lies, but with diligent labour, and frequently with very tedious and wearisome toil, we an; of you: 8. wrought with our own hands, in that profession which we had learned, and this night and day," that we might not be burdensome to any of you, and give you the least room to sus- pect that we had any secular views in the doctrine we brought you, or that indolence led ºuseye hºgt is to engage in preaching it. ...Not that we are destitute of and hority, from the reason of 9 º things, and the express commission of Christ himself, to take a moderate subsistence from low us. - the persons in whose instruction we employ our time and strength; for the Lord himself hath ordained, that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel; but we declined using that liberty, that we might exhibit ourselves to you [as] an example, that ye might imi- #.º. tate usin a frugal and industrious life. .#nd ye know, that even when we were yet, with 10 Ş.º.º.º..."... you, we were so fearful of any irregularity in this respect, that we expressly gave this in work, neithershould be eat chargé to you, that if any one would not work, neither should he eat; that no idle drone should consume the common stock, and quarter himself freely on the diligent and labo- rious, but rather be brought under a necessity of working to relieve his own want, if he would not do it from a sense of social duty and good order. º; We now insist upon this the more largely, for we hear that there are some among jou Il are some which walk among * **s 5 * * & X you disorieſ. Yºi who walk irregularly, not prudently working at all for their own honest subsistence, but *"Nº...ºuch impertinently busy in attending to the concerns of others. They who are of such a chal 12 we comina d'amºhort by racter, therefore, we solemnly charge and tenderly entreat, by the dear and venerable name §hººl. of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, tworking with quietness, and silently pursuing their proper eat their own bread. business, they eat what may with justice be called their own bread, not supporting them- selves with what has been purchased by the labours of others, while they continue unpro- 13 But ye, brethren, be not fitable to Society. - weary in wéi doi." •ánd as for you, my brethren, the wiser and sounder part of the church, I would fain ani- 13 § {*** { Christºl. We renderit; the patient waiting for Christ, a Wight and day.]. This expression seems to intimate, that the apostle but ijtopovnu tº Xots-g may rather signify, christian patience, or that was sometimes obliged to sit up a part of the night at his business as a Pºtiºn?? With which Christ himself suffered the many injuries and atäic- tent-naker, that he might have the day at leisure to preach to those that tions through which he passed came to him for religious instruction. 750 S.E.C.T. 4. 2 THES. III. CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. mate and exhort you that ye faint not, nor be discouraged [while] you are engaged in a course of well-doing sº prosecuting those actions which are fair, beautiful and honour. able, however men may censure you, or whatever difficulties may lie in your way ; yea - though some should ungratefully abuse your goodness. But if any one is not obedient to 14 And if any man obey Qºr ºrd, whether spoken to you during our short abode, or signified by this or my former ºf ºisºtº Epistle, set a mark upon that inan, whoever he be, and have no familiar converse initi, him, º Nº. ºf . that sº seeing himself shunned by his brethren, whose esteem it is natural for everyone has beishamed. to wish, he may be ashamed, and by that shame may be recoverede from those irregulari- ties which have engaged you to avoid his company, and made his friendship for the pre- - { * r - * - - - - 15 sent infamous... Yet, account [him] not as an enemy, nor do any thing in the least to hurt 15 Yet count him not as an 16 17 18 Ver: 18 11 6 14 } J. ; in his secular affairs, or to exasperate his irregülar passions, but admonish [him] as a lºt admonish him as rother, and with faithful love to his soul, as well as a tender concern for the edification of * tº the church and credit of religion, labour for his recovery. º . º à Jay Jesus, the great Lord of peace, who hath established con- hiº Lord of º COTO1 pCtWeen heavy Tº ſº S : a's 4- Fi - e. º - ) l insel I glve you locate tº a 1– in ti - - . €In * - earth, and so e ectually prov ided for uniting the hearts of men ways by all means. The Lord º the nºt pacific and friendly bonds, himself give you peace at all times by every means be with sºil. May all the dispensations of his providence, in every place and circumstance of life, con- ºur to advance the serenity and happiness of your minds; and for this purpose, may the Lord continually [be] with you all! t Thus far I have dictated to the person whose assistance I use in writing this; but now 17 The salutation of Paul I will take the pen myself, and add the salutation by the hand of me Paul, which is the token ºś in every Epistle;d for so, to prevent counterfeits, I write, that the several churches may so write. - be secºre that what is thus signed is genuine. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ . Is The grace of our Lord [he] gith you all, and may you enjoy all the happy consequences that flow from the most ºhrist "º with *** º communication of it! To which I am sure you will put your hearty amen, as I O IQRIlê. ºw IMPROVEMENT. MAX the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, given in a richer abundance to his churches, animate and engage thern to maintain that discipline which is so necessary to his honour and to their own comfort and edification. Scarcely Can we say which is more to be lamented, the neglect of the thing, or the abuse of the name. It never could be the design of the wise Legislator of the church, that secular terrors should be pressed into his service, that fines, imprisonments, and civil incapacities should be the result of censures passed in his peaceful and benevolent name. Irregularities, in those that call themselves his followers, are indeed to be observed and discountenanced. Offenders are to be admonished, and, if lighter admonitions succeed not, they are to be avoided ; but still in a view of recovering them, by an ingenuous shame, (if any remainder of it be left in their hearts,) from those prac- tices which, if connived at, would soon become the shame of the society. Thus far, therefore, let us resolutely carry our censures, separating scandalous persons from our sacramental communion, and declining that familiar converse with those who are so separated, which might lead them to think we privately disregarded these censures, which had in public so awful a form; yet at the same time let us not treat them as enemies, or as those of whose 5 recovery we have no hope, but remember the tenderness of brotherly love, amidst all the severest acts of brotherly reproof, and the common tie of humanity, to those whom we are commanded to regard only as heathens or publicans. - - May there be in the professed disciples of Jesus, a care to avoid and discourage that sloth and petulance which would make men busy in other people's matters, while they are quite negligent of their own. Let us remember the example of the apostle, and be solicitous to eat our own bread. So shall we be most likely to enjoy inward peace and satisfaction of mind, and find that relish in the possession of a little which the largest supplies would not give to them who are conscious to themselves of sloth or dishonesty. - . Sºme worthless people there have always been in every station of life, and under all religious professions, and some idie drones, who are ready to abuse the bounty of others better than themselves. But let us not from hence seek a mean excuse for refusing to such as really stand in need acts of liberality and charity. Let us not be weary in well-doing; the time of rest and reward will come. While we are waiting for it, the presence of the Lord of peace may be expected, if we take care to adorn his religion by the usefulness, as well as the meekness, of our behaviour in this world of misery and provocation, through which he hath appointed us to pass, and through which he has himself condescended to pass before us, to make our way safe and our exit happy. # I 8, 9 12 b Fajat not irhiſc well-doing.]...J)íodate gives it, this excellent turn ; sometimes while his hands were cºpployed in the labours of his trade. though some may abuse your liberality, be not deterred the reby from And this may account for some small inaccuracics, of style at which liſ- works of charity. tle minds have been offended, and which some, who seein to carry their c By that shänie be recovered.]. Soºne would render º º sº º ºth º ** g - * r 1, , , , , 2-5 a.m. o . - - it better to inse To addi- Whº!) Ih CŞ. W 13 O I • Fly Li) it) 3 he term per. the Writºſ, . !...º.º.º.º."". "..." ...º.º.º.º.º.º.º. dºe ºn in overy Epistle.] I think it very evident,...ſroºm this and (chºp. ii. 2.) may be an lºgºn that some fictitions º Şā'i gary seveſ ºf ºther passages that Paul, not being very familiarly used to Wiltºn his . by which St. Paul might be induced to add this to- Greek characters, and perhaps to save time, every moment of which he ken with his own hand. §new how to estimate, used to dictate to some ready scribe, perhaps . . -- - - £11 E F. A M H L Y E X P O S I TO R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. TIMOTHY, to whom this Epistle is addressed, was a native of Lystra, a city of Lycaonia, in the lesser Asia. His father was a Greek, but his mother (whose name was Eunice) a Jewess, (Acts xvi. I.) and, as well as his grandmother Lois, a person of an excellentcharacter. (2 Tim. i. 5.) The pious care they took in his education soon appeared to have its desired success, since we are assured by the apostle, that from a child he was well acquainted with the Holy Scrip- tures. It is not certain when he was converted to the christian faith, though it is not improbable but it. might be in the first visit that Paul and Barnabas made to Lystra, mentioned, Acts xiv. when the apostle was stoned by the malice of the Jews, and left for dead, to which he refers, 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11. However this be, when St. Paul came into thºse parts again, he had the satisfaction to find not only that Timothy continued steadfast in the profession of christianity, but was in great esteem with the churches at Lystra and Iconium for his distinguished piety and zeal. The discovery of sº excellent a temper promised fair for eminent usefulness, and could not fail of recommending him to the peculiar regard of the apostle, who from that time seems to have fixed upon him as his companion and assistant in his labours. But, as he was a Jew on the mother's side, he judged it prudent that he should be circumcised before he entered upon his ministerial office; after which he did not scruple to ordain him in a solemn manner by the imposition of hands, (1 Tim. iv. 14. 2 Tim, i. 6) though he was at that time probably not Inuch more than twenty years old. (Compare 1 Tim. iv. 12.) From this time we often hear of him as attending the apostle in his travels, and assisting him in preaching the gospel; and from Heb. xiii. 23. we may gather that he shared with him in his sufferings as well as his labours; to which we may add, that St. Paul has thought fit to join his name with his own in the inscription to several of the Epistles, viz. 2 Cor. Philip. Coloss. I and 2 Thess. and Philem. He appears in every respect to have been eminently qualified for the important office with which he was invested; and iºnºid terms in which the apostle always mentions him to the churches, and the confidence which, notwithstanding his youth, he reposed in him upon all occasions, are suffi- cient to give us a very high idea of his character. And perhaps there was no one of all his companions and fellow- labourers whose sentiments and views of things so exactly corresponded with his own. He appears, from their first ac- quaintance with each other, to have been particularly concerned to form him for usefulness; and no doubt his principal view, in taking him at first as the companion of his travels, was, that he might be more immediately under his inspec- tion, and enjoy the advantage of his more free and familiar instructions. No wonder, then, if the apostle looked upon his pupil with peculiar complacency, and even parental affection, when he saw him answer his fondest expectations, and fill up with so much honour the station he had assigned him. No wonder, on the other hand, that Timothy should discover a filial reverence for a person of St. Paul’s venerable character, with whom he had been so intimately connected, and from whom he had received so many and such important favours. It is well known that the date of this Epistle hath been greatly disputed: to enter largely into the controversy would far exceed the limits allotted to these Introductions. However, as in a work of this kind the reader may expect some notice should be taken of a question which is of some importance, and as he may not be furnished with those authors who have treated it more fully, I shall here give some account of the principal hypotheses relating to it and state the evidence with which they are respectively ãº. . . The hypothesis which seems to have prevailed most generally is, That it was written about the year of our Lord, 58, when Paul had lately quitted Ephesus on account of the tumult raised there by Demetrius, and was gone into Mace- donia, Acts XX. 1. And this is the opinion of many learned critics, ancient and modern ; particularly of Athanasius, Theodoret, Baronius, Ludovic Capellus, Blondel, Hammond, Grotius, Salmasius, Lightfoot, and Benson.—On the other hand, Bishop Pearson endeavours to prove that it could not be written till the year 65, between the first and second im- prisonment of Paul at Rome ; and L'Enfant, without any hesitation, goes into i. hypothesis. It is universally allowed, that St. Paul must have written this First Epistle to Timothy at some journey which he made from Ephesus to Macedonia, having, in the mean time, left Timothy behind him at Ephesus; for he expressly saith to Timothy, 1 Tim. i. 3. I besought thee still to abide at Ephesus, when I went into . Macedonia. Bishop Pearson accord- ingly, in order to prove that º date of this Epistle was ās late as he supposes, having observed that we read only of three journeys of Paul through Macedonia, (viz. Acts xvi. 9, 10. xx. 1. and ibid. ver. 3.) endeavours to show that it could not be written in any of these, and must consequently have been written in some fourth journey, not mentioned in the his- tory, which he supposes was about the year 65, after Paul was released from his first imprisonment at Rome.—That * See Pearson, Op. * * * Post. Diss. 1. c. ix. § 5. p. 75, &c. Benson’s Propag, of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 167–170. Witsii Meletem. c. 1x. § 3–5. Boyse's PWorks, vol. ii. p. 292–397. 752 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHy. it was not written at the first or third of th iournevs, is readi - * - • º . "; places; but º the ºtº...". and it appears from the whole series of the Now the Bishop supposes that the Epistle was ... . . : tº * t º º did º *º then º: j." jº º º i. **.:º à. º: him at Corinth. See I Cor. ix. 17. xvi. 10-To this it is answered that though piºia; pointed him to mee Ephesus, yet as we are told that Paul made some stay thereaft reº, º, ough Paul did indeed send Timothy from fore the timult, and so the apostle might, º O’ º º (: º i. 22.) Timothy might be returned be- oil rinox; for \ſ: wns. Tº º, K iſ [lº 3 it: C A. hesus, when he himself se * journey for Macedonia. (För it should be observed, that he ...i ..". at Ep d. be mself set out on his he had appointed Timothy to meet him, spent some time in Miaº his º eme, i. , before he went to Corinth, where the Corinthians in company with Timºthy, who nº him. *. º whence, he wrote his Second Epistle to he remained in these parts.) Now that Timothy returned º #. re i. rom Corinth, and continued with him while very probable, if (as Mr. Boyse argues from Acts xx. 3i, co *P. º efore the apostle depºrted, will indeed appear H'nhos is * § - - --> 4. XX. 31, compared with chap. xix. 8, 10.) St. Paul’spent thr Ephesus, and in the neighbouring parts, and sent Timothy away nine months before th spent three years at tline enough to perform his commission, and return to E jº. sº º tumult; which would leave him. To W hich it may be added, that it appears from 1 Cor. º 10, 11. which #. Wà.S º . É. s: p ºp ul expected Timothy, after his journey to Macedonia and Corinth, would return to him at that city phesus, that Pa The Bishop further objects to the Epistle's being written at this second journey, mentioned. A * º apostle set out he proposed to go into Macedonia, and visit the churches !. §: * .ne º 1. that when the take up a considerable time; whereas in his Epistie to Timothy he speaks of his intº ºº must *i. li. 14. iv. 13.)—But it is natural to suppose that some unforeseen accident might detain him ionger i. º * * º,º º of some assistance he expected from Macedonia, he might afterwards senå for Timothy . º,i. § dº d £º ë.#.” despatched in a few days, might arrive at Macedon before the apostle The Bishop further argues, that it appears from the Epistle to Titus, as we º * * * S- the Philippians and to Philemon, that Paul actually jº, jºy iº lº, #. Ep . to Rome, in which journey he left Titus behind him at Crete, which lay in his way from Rome. (Tit. i. 5) R. º i. allowed the Bishop, that the supposition which Salmasius makes is not at all likely, that Paul touched at Crete j . was going from Achaia to Macedonia, for then he carried a collection with him (i Cor. xvi. 1–5. Acts xxiv. 17.) hi therefore it was not probable he would go so much out of his way; and when he was about to sail into Švia, and heard that snares were laid for him, (Acts xx. 3.) it is not to be supposed that he would go into the mouth of º OY that he would take up his time in preaching at Crete when he was in laste to be at J erusalem. (Acts xx. 16.) or that he would winter at Nicopolis, (Tit. iii. 12.) when winter was past, and he desired to be at J erusalem before the passover •=mºs But then it hath been observed, that perhaps the Epistle to Titus might be among the first Paul wrote, and his voyage to Crete one of the many events before his going up to the council at Jerusalem, which in the history of the Acts, Lüké not being in company with him when they occurred, hath entirely passed over; and of which there aré, notwithstanding some traces in St. Paul’s Epistles, particularly 2 Cor. xi, and Rom. xv. 19. Or if it be allowed that the Épistle to Titus was written by Paul after his first imprisonment, it will not follow from thence that the First Epistle to Timothy must have been written at the same time. This is a brief account of the arguments for Bishop Pearson's hypothesis, that this Epis- tle was written about the year 65, with their respective answers. - * 2 On the other hand, it is pleaded in favor of the first-mentioned hypothesis, namely, its being written in the year 58 J. That when Paul wrote his First Epistle to him, Timothy was a young man ; (1 Tim. iv. 12. Let no man despise thy youth;) which is also referred to, I Cor. xvi. 10, 11. Now supposing he were only sixteen years old when he was con- verted to christianity, which was in the year 46, he would in ; year 58 be about twenty-eight years of age ; but in 65 the time when Bishop Pearson supposes the Epistle was written, he would be thirty-five, and past a youtfi, thirty bein 5 the age at which the Levites were, according to the law, to enter upon their office. And whereas it hath been 3. to this observation, that even in his Second Epistle, which is supposed to be written some years after his First, he is cau- tioned to flee youthful lusts; it may be replied, that though he were indeed at that time in the meridian of life, yet he was not out of the reach of such temptations, though the season of youth be more peculiarly liable to them. Besides, the sº might be intended to suggest this thought, that having outgrown youth, he ought to be so much the more superior to them. 2. It is observed, that the state of things in the church of Ephesus in 58 better suits the contents of the First Epistle than it does in 65. For instance, it appears from chap. i. 3, 4,6,7, and other passages, that those corruptions which the apostle speaks of as greatly increased and risen to a considerable height, when he met the elder; of Ephesus at Miletus, and when he wrote his Second Epistle, were just beginning to creep into the church at the time of his writing the First—To which it may be added, that from the particular instructions Paul in his First Epistle gives Timothy about ordination, it seems as if the church of Ephesus, and those in the neighbourhood, had few or no bishops at the time, it was written; from whence it appears extremely probable that the meeting between Paul and the elders or bishops of Ephesus, at Miletus, must have been after the writing of this Epistle. Mr. Drury, on the other hand, hath pleaded, that when Paul addressed the elders at Miletis, he speaks of these things as future; (Acts xx. 29.) which, when he wrote his First Epistle to Timothy, were actually accomplished ; such as the trouble they met with from judaizing teachers, &c. which are the persons he ... º. *- supposes we are to understand by grievous or ravening wolves, in the forecited passage of the Acts; , and therefore the Epistle must be written after that interview. But to this it is replied, that the ravening wolves of which the apostle there *peaks, were heathem persecutors, and not such seducers as should arise among themselves.—Some have further object- ed, that even in his Epistle to the Ephesians, the apostle does not speak of those evils as having risen to such a height in thé church as he does in his First Epistle to Timothy, though the Epistle to the Ephesians was undoubtedly written after the interview at Miletus; therefore the First Epistle to Timothy must be written some length of time after that interview. To this it may be justly replied, that, without supposing the apostle to intimate, in his First Epistle, that the evils referred to had actually prevailed so far, it is certain, from that part of Luke's history which precedes Acts xx. that there was such a bi goted Žeal for the Mosaic law among some professing christians, as would justify the caution sº to Timothy; especially considering that a great, many Jews were always resident in Ephesus. And though, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, Paul says nothing of judaizing teachers, (nor of the wolves and perverse men who should arise, against whom it is certain he had, before the date of it, cautioned the elders at Miletus,) yet many of the advices he gives in that Epis- tle, as well as in this to Timothy, would be of great use in preserving christians from such dangers. But, 3. The argument on which the principal stress hath been laid, in order to prove the date of this Epistle to be about the year 53, is taken from the solemn prophetic. declaration which Paul made when he took his leave of the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, that they would never see his face any more; (Acts xx. 25.) from whence it is inferred that he must have written his Epistle to Timothy before that interview, since in that he not only expresses a full expectation of re- turning, but speaks of his having jº left Ephesus when he set out upon his journey for Macedonia. The chief objec- tion to this seems to arise from 2 Tim. iv. 20. Where St. Paul acquaints Timothy that he had left Trophimus sick at Miletum, plainly intimating that he had lately been visiting those parts; which, admitting that Epistle to have been written but a short time before his death, will indeed prove that he took another journey into Asia after his first imprison- A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EP; STLE TO TIMOTHY. 753 ment: but we cannot certainly infer from thence that he must have been at Ephesus. Dr. Whitby and other critics have observed that the Miletum here mentioned was in Crete, and, consequently, not the same with Miletus near Ephe- sus, where the apostle had that interview with the elders so often referred to. If it should appear to any most probable, on the whole, that St. Paul did take such a journey after his first imprisonment, and make a visit to Ephesus; in order to reconcile it with Acts xx. 25. he must make this supposition, that most of the ministers or elders of Ephesus, and of the neighbouring parts, were by that time either dead or removed.——From this detail of the arguments in favour of both these hypotheses, the reader may determine for himself which bids the fairest for truth. See notes b, c, p. 459. Compare notee, p. 455. and note r, p. 463. - Upon examining the contents of this Epistle, it appears that it was principally intended to direct Timothy in managing the affairs of the church while he abode at Ephesus: and particularly to instruct him in choosing proper persons to be set apart for the ministry and other offices in the church, as well as in the exercise of a regular discipline. Another part of the apostle's design was to caution this young Evangelist against the influence of those judaizing teachers who, by their subtle distinctions and endless controversies, had corrupted the purity and simplicity of the gospel; to press upon him a constant regard, in all his preaching, to the interests of practical religion, and to animate him to the greatest diligence, fidelity, and zeal, in the discharge of his office. In pursuance of this design, the apostle, after having saluted his beloved pupil with his usual affection, and reminded him of the reasons for which he left him behind at Ephesus, takes occasion, from the idle speculations and Jewish con- troversies that had been unhappily introduced into the church, to assert the practical mature and tendency of the christian doctrine, and from thence to remonstrate against the absurdity of opposing the gospel, out of a pretended Zeal for the law; when in reality the great end of the law was much more effectually answered by the gospel, as it not only restrained men from the more open and notorious acts of vice, against which the lay was more immediately levelled, but was calculated to raise its votaries to the most sublime heights of virtue. (Chap, i. 1–11.)—The apostle, having mentioned the gospel, cannot forbear digressing, in the fulness of his heart, to express the affectionate sense he had of the divine goodness in calling him, who had been a persecutor, to the christian faith and ministerial office, and observes that this favour was ex- tended to him, though so unworthy, as an encouragement to those that should believe in every future age. (Ver. 12–17.) He them goes on to recommend to Timothy a conscientious care in discharging the duties of that sacred office he had committed to him, and reminds him of the fatal miscarriage of some who had apostatized from the faith. In pursuance of this general exhortation, he directs that prayer should be offered up for all men, and especially for princes and magistrates; as it was the great design of christianity to promote the peace and welfare of communities, and the happiness of the whole human race. And as the prudent behaviour of all the members of the society was of great importance to the credit of re- ligion, he advises the women to maintain the strictest decency in their dress, as well as modesty and reserve in their whole deportment, walking as persons professing godliness; and forbids their teaching in public assemblies, as inconsistent with that due subjection to the other sex which he enforces from the scripture account of the fall. (Ver. 18, to the end; chap. ii. throughout.)—As one very important part of Timothy’s office was to ordain ministers and officers in the church, the apostle proceeds to instruct him in the qualifications necessary both for bishops and deacons. A bishop, or pastor, he de- scribes as a person of a blameless and exemplary character, distinguished for his temperance, moderation, and charity, the husband of one wife, prudent in the management of his own family, not lately converted to the christian faith, but well furnished with knowledge, and in good repute with his heathen neighbours. His directions for the choice of dea- cons are nearly the same, which he concludes with representing the advantages that would attend the faithful discharge of that office. (Chap. iii. 1–13.)—And that Timothy might be the more concerned to follow his instructions, he spea in very high terms of the importance of the charge committed to him, and the sublime and excellent nature of the chris- tian dispensation. Yet he assures him the Spirit had expressly foretold that apostates should arise in the church, who would corrupt the purity and simplicity of the gospel, requiring abstinence from marriage, and from various kinds of meats, which God had left indifferent, and teaching other doctrines equally false and pernicious. (Ver. 14, to the end; chap. iv. 1–5.)—As many of the precepts he had given him were of universal concern, he exhorts him to inculcate them upon the society committed to his care, leaving those idle tales, of which the Jewish rabbies were so fond, and confining his discourses to the great truths of practical religion: these, he observes, were the foundation of all their hopes as chris- tians, and the advancement of these was the great end of all his labours and sufferings. And, to render his ministry among them successful, he recommends it to him to maintain such a purity and sanctity of manners as might not only secure him from that contempt to which his youth would otherwise expose him, but render him a worthy example to the flock. With the same view, he exhorts him to use the utmost diligence in exercising and improving the gifts with which God had honoured him, for the edification of the church and the salvation of Souls. (Ver. 6, to the end.) The apostle then roceeds to lay down some directions for Timothy's conduct towards persons in different circumstances of life, advising him to suit his manner of address to their respective ages and standing in the church. This leads him to give some rules in relation to those widows who were intrusted by the society with some peculiar office, and maintained in the discharge of it out of the public stock. None were to be admitted into this number but those who, being advanced in life, were destitute of any other support, and had maintained an exemplary character for piety, charity, and every good work; for, he observes, the many irregularities into which persons in younger life were often betrayed, was a sufficient reason for excluding them from such a trust. (Chap. v. 1–16.) St. Paul further directs that a peculiar honour should be paid to faithful ministers, and no accusation received against them, but on the credit of two or three witnesses. And, as a due care in the exercise of christian discipline was of so much importance to the credit of religion, he gives him a most solemn charge to observe the strictest impartiality in the execution of this difficult part of his office. On the same P. he admonishes him not to engage too hastily in setting apart any to the ministry, lest he should make himself partaker of their guilt; and from the variety of men's characters, intimates the necessity of prudence and caution in his manner of treating them. . To all which he adds some advices relating to the behaviour of servants towards their masters, whether they were heathens or christians. (Ver. 17, to the end ; and chap. vi. 1, 2.)—The apostle, having finished his instructions to º in relation to the pastoral office, exhorts him to avoid those false teachers, who, instead of insisting upon the great truths of practical religion, amused their hearers with trifling controversies, which only served to raise a spirit of envy and contention in the church, while at the same time, under a pretended zeal for the truth, they were really carry- ing on their own mercenary views. This leads him to caution Timothy against all approaches towards a covetous tem; per, which he represents as the root of all evil, and to press upon him a constant and growing regard to vital, practical godliness, as of the utmost consequence to his own and his people's happiness. (Chap. vi. 3–12.)—To give yet greater force to his admonitions, the apostle concludes with a most solemn charge to Timothy, as in the presence of od and Christ, to maintain the purity of the christian faith as he had received it from him, that it might be preserved uncorrupt till the glorious appearance of Christ at the great day.—After which he inserts, by way of postscript, an exhortation to the rich not to be puffed up with their wealth, but to employ it in acts of charity and beneficence, that they might secure to themselves eternal life; and closes all with remewing his earnest request to Timothy to keep that gospel 'he had in- trusted with him, and carefully to avoid those empty speculations and vain sophistries by which some had been insnar- ed. (Ver, 13, to the end of the Epistle.) 95 * A P A R A P H R A S E A N D NOT E O N THE FIRST EPISTLE To TIMOTHy. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE PAUL, AFTER HAVING SALUTED TIMOTHY WITH MUCH AFFECTION, AND MENTIONED HIMATTEPHESUS, REMONSTRATES AGAINST THE ABSüRDify of opposiné fáš Šošší, ójt of “REºf OF GOD. I TIM. i. 1-11. 1 TIMOTHY i. VER. I. SECT. I PAUL, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, tº: he gracious a 1. command of God our Saviour, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, [who isl the all our hope of true happiness in this world and the next, Send this Epistle to Timothy, fºr {} genuine son” in ; faith; in whom I see those unfeigned graces of true piety which 2 \ro ointment and hath wrought in his heart by my means, and which I have myself, by his grâce, ex- May grace, mercy, º peace ever be upon thee, from God, our 7 perienced in mine own. g *ist Jesus our Lord, through whom he almighty and ever-gracious Father, and from communicates these blessings to sinful men. & ge x^3 ...As I entreated thee to continue at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, (Acts xx. 1.) that thou mightest charge some who seemed inclinable to introduce their own corrupt notions into the church, that they should not teach other doctrine contrary to the certain : truth I had delivered to them, [so] I hope thou wilt still be mindful of the exhortations I #4 gave thee, and [act] strenuously upon them. In pursuance of these yiews, I depend upon ty $5 . * * standing, that Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God, though originally possessed of divine glory with the Father, came with infinite condescension into the world in which we dwell, that he might save from final condemnation and ruin, miserable sinners ; of whom it becomes me ever with all humility to confess that I am chief. For surely there never was nor ever will be a display of richer and more sovereign grace than that which recovered 16 Howbeit for this cause I and transformed me. But it was in a great measure for this cause that I obtained the 16 §§§º mercy of which I was so unworthy, that in me, as the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might forth all long-suffering for a display, and, as it were, crhibit to the view of the whole world, an example of all long- ſº º as a pattern for the encouragement of those who should afterwards believe on him, life everlasting. even to the remotest ages of time, in order to the obtaining eternal life. And now, 17 7 N to the Kin - a º * - ** - e e J7 Now un * when I consider it in this view, I cannot forbear bursting out into a song of praise, and s -:-- : 1. 5 to determine or confine it to the Jewish) is chiefly intended to restrain a .3 blasphemer.] He had the greater reason to acknowledge this guilt, men from actions injurious to the public. , What it says therefore chiefly as he had not only spoken evil of Christ himself, but encouraged and even relates to crimes and their punishments; but the genius of christianity compelled others to do so., Acts xxvi. 11. - * is so sublime, and the character of christians in the general (at that time) b Did it ignoramily.] If Paul, had an º of knowing more so good, that there is no need of insisting on legal sentences denounced than some others, (compare Luke xxiii., 34.) yet perhaps, being then a against such enormitics, in order to keep them in the course of their duty... scholar at Gamaliel’s feet. he might not have been present on the spot I can hardly think, with Diodate and *}. that by the mention of when any of Christ’s miracles were performed, as Christ spent but little these crimes he intimates that their Jewish teachers were such wretches time at Jerusalem. The popular cry was so strongly against him, and as those here spoken of, as if he had said, one of the chief uses of the law the Pharisees and rulers treated him with so much, contempt, and were is to condemn such as themselves. Such monsters could never have so full of malignity against him, and so ready to advance the most slan- maintained a party in religion; but he might choose these instances, as derous reports to the prejudice of his character, that it is the less to be precepts of the law in particular lay against each of them, and as the wondered at that this rash, hot youth was borne down by the torrent: discourses of these teachers might be a sort of common-place, almost Yet we see how far Paul was from tº: all this, and whateyer could entirely levelled against the worst of crimes, and so less suited to the be added to it, a sufficient excuse. Instead of insinuating, with some edification of believers. To inculcate it so much upon them, and espe- that the miracle wrought for his conversion to christianity was a rewar cially to pretend to condemn them out of it, was tºº. an irregular for his extraordinary integrity and virtue, while a Jewish zealot, he and improper use of the law. speaks of himself as one of the greatest sinners upon earth; and thereby A CONSCIENTIOUS REGARD TO HIS CONDUCT URGED. **C.T. saying, To the supreme King of universal nature, who reigns through all the unknown eternal, immortal, invisible, * extent of boundless ages and immeasurable space; who is pºssessed of eternal glory and º.º.º.º. immortal life, though invisible to mortal eyes; even to the only wise, living, and true God, *ºry or ever and ever. I M. [be] honour and glory for ever and ever, for this and every other display of a wisdom 17 unsearchable and a goodness inexhaustible. Amen. IMPROVEMENT. . ... WHO. can, Wonder that a person of Paul's experience and piety should thus, on the mention of the gospel, Ver. I2 digress to indulge his reflections on that singular and astonishing interposition of divine grace, by which he had been brought to embrace it, and honoured with the charge of it! Who can wonder that such 5 asphemies and 13 such outrages as he had uttered and committed, such a zeal for persecution as he had exerted, should leave a deep impression on his heart, and engage him, notwithstanding all his care in the externals of the law, and 14 blameless as he was touching all its righteousness, to call himself the first, the chief of sinners, and to celebrate that as superabundant grace, which had been extended to him! Well was he who had received it thereby fitted to proclaim it to all the world. Let us gladly receive it from 756 the º of this once malignant and blasphemous persecutor, but now holy and happy apostle, as a most certain 15 truth, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus, the Son of God, hath, in unuttérable and inconceivable compassion, come into this world of ours to save sinnérs, even the chief of them. Let us thankfully accept this abridgment of the whole gospel, and apply to the Saviour thus triumphant in mercy, with whatever aggravated guilt our consciences may chargé us. Let us also remember, that Paul obtained mercy not on his own account 16 alone, but that the compassions extended to him might be considered as an example of what this gracious Redeemer is ready to extend to all those who, like him, shall believe. Let us pause upon it, till our hearts glow Within us in all thankful acknowledgment of his mercy, and then let our lips burst forth in praise to the King 17 eternal, immortal, and invisible, to the only wise God, who hath found out such an admirable way at once to glorify his justice and his grace, in pardoning and accepting the chief of sinners in his Son. May our hearts be * - more and more disposed to celebrate his power, wisdom, and goodness, and to begin those songs of praise upon earth which we hope will be our everlasting employment in heaven! SECTION III. The apostle, after recommending to Timothy a conscientious care in the whole of his ºłayiqgr, gives and enforces several directions relating to prayer, and to the conduct of women professing godliness. 1 Tim. i. 18, to the ond; ii. throughout. 1 TIMOTHY i. 18. 1 TIM. i. 18. SECT. THIS, charge, which I am now going to give, I solemnly commit unio thee, my son THIs chaºi omit unto 3. Timothy, as a matter of the highest importance to thy usefulness and success in the tº º,"; ministerial office. As indeed there is nothing which I more earnestly desire, than that ºn: joſ. '..."; 1 TIM, thou mayst, according to former prophecies concerning thee, with which holy men of God, # tºnightest \\ {i} \, * is who knew thee in younger life, were inspired, (being animated by a cheerful and believ. ing remembrance .# them,) maintain with a holy alacrity and resolution a good warfare, even that noble and glorious struggle in which thou art engaged, under thy christian, and especially thy ministerial, character, against those enemies that oppose the gospel and 19 the salvation of men. Go on, therefore, resolutely, retaining the great principles of the christian faith,” and with it the exercise of a good conscience; which last some having thrust away, and obstinately opposed its just dictates and remonstrances, concerning faith have made shipwreck upon the rocks of surrounding temptations, and so have lost all that pre- cious treasure by which, had it been wisely guarded and improved, they might have been 20 for ever rich and happy. Of which [number, among others, is Humeneus and Alexander,b with whom thou Timothy art not unacquainted, and who once professed a great regard to the gospel; but they are now turned apostates, and have behaved in so outrageous a manner, that I have, according to that extraordinary apostolic power with which God hath invested me for such purposes, solemnly delivered them both over into Satan, that they may learn, by what they now suffer in their afflicted and diseased bodies, not to blaspheme the truths of Christ, or to revile his faithful servants, in such profane and wicked language as they have sometimes used when speaking of them. 1 TIM. But I will proceed in the charge which I proposed to address to thee, that, by a diligent tº Jºãº ºf * , and vigorous performance of thy duty, thou mayst be secure from falling into that §o.º.º. miserable state in which thou seest others, who once seemed to set out well. I exhort fººthaaks, thee therefore, first, as it is a duty of great importance in itself, and highly subservient to * thy success in every other branch of this office, that earnest supplications,” repeated prayers, affectionate intercessions, ſº cheerful thanksgivings he made by thee, and those whose devotions may in any degree fall under thy direction, for all men, for the whole 2 human race, whether Jew or Gentile, christian or pagan, friends or enemies: And parti- cularly for kings, and all who are in any evalted stations of life; that their hearts may be so influenced as at least to tolerate the gospel, that we, who by the principles of our religion taught to abhor everything which would be injurious to them, may not be injured by them, but may be permitted to pass a peaceful and quict life, while, we are desirous to conduct ourselves not only without offence, but in a useful and exemplary manner, in all piety and gravity, attentive to the several duties which we owe both to God and our 3 fellow-creatures. For this [is] good and acceptable in the sight of our Saviour God, who is 19, Holding faith, and a good , conscience; which Some having put away con- Cerning faith have inade shipwreck : 29 Qf whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, th;t they may learn not to blas- pheme. 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peace- able life in all godliness and 1OneSty. sº tº ºx Cºre 3 For this is good and ac- ceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; names of apostates, and censure them, with slith freedom and severity, it affords a plain argument, that º, knew themserves to be entirely Qut of their power:... for if they had been conscious of any thing to be feared from their discovery, t É. would have endeavoured to manage them more art fully, that they might not provoke them to the uttermost. c Supplications be made.] That any man should ever have understood shows, by the way, how much guilt a man may confract without acting directly contrary to the convictions of his mind, if he has neglected an impartial care in forming his principles of action. s * , ºr - a Faith.J. As it is here distinguished from a gºod conscignee, it is plain that faith here signifies an assent to the truth of christlanity, and conse- quently all arguments drawn from hence against the doctrinc of the perseverance of the saints must be very inconclusive. - Aymcaeus and £º Probably this Alexander is the person mentioned, Acts ...xix.,33, who might become worse and worse after Paul’s departure from Ephesus, jmboldened by his absenge; so that the apostle might now be determined to deliver him up to Satan, to inflict upon him certain pains and evils, which might possibly rºlaim him. ompare 2 Tim. iv. 14. and note there. Mr. Rey fiolds justly and finely observes, (Letter to a Deist, p, 256.) that when the apostles mention the this phrase as a charge given to Timothy to compose a liturgy for the use of the clergy and people of Ephesus, appeared very surprising to me, when I saw it, quoted from one Erasmus Warren, by Mr. Pierce : tº."pºi. 'bººt ºr... sº Bºsiº"Bui jali". iven so unnatural a turn to the phrase, as I find he has done in his osthumous Sermons, vol. ii. No. 13. p. 3 C. was such an instanco of weak attachment to party prejudices, as is almost ready to make mo Weep. A CONSCIENTIOUS REGAR the great Guardian of the rights of society, and never meant to encourage his TO HIS CONDUCT URGED. 757 ministers or SECT. 4 Who will have all men to people to violate or disturb it out of any pretences of a religious natº: Pho, indeed 3. §§§ jºº wills that all men should be saved, and cone to the acknowledgment of the truth of his —- - gospel, which they will be most likely to do, if they see the professors of it behaving in ºt. the manner I now recommend, and avoiding all occasions either of public or private * 5. Fºllº is ºne Gºd'Anſ offence. Let us therefore accustom ourselyes to take proper views, both of God and of 5 ... ."...”.”; mankind; for it is the grand fundamental principle of our religion, that [there is] on: esus ; God, the Čreator of all, the gracious Father of all his creatures, who is no Respecter of persons, and one Mediator between God and men, even the man Christ Jesus,” who hath not undertaken to plead for this or that nation or party of men alone, but whose kind offices in the court of heaven, where he now dwells, extend in some degree to the whole human race, and who refuses not the blessings he has procured to any that with sincerity ...Whºe lºan, and humility cast themselves upon him. Let us make his extensive graice familiar to our 6 º!, to be testified in mind, and live and act as those who remember our relation to that Savour who gave him. self a Ransom for all, so that no nation, no rank, no condition of men are excluded from the benefit of his death; to be difested iſ due time to the most distant regions of the world, that they may be called to put in their claim for that pardon and salvation which he hath purchased by his blood for all those who should believe in him. • 7.Whereunto I am ordained . This is the declaration of that glorious gospel of which I was appointed an herald to pro- 7 }rº.º.º. claim the grace of it all abroad, and was sent forth as an apostlé to attest that great and (I speak the truth in Christ, - *—, - - 3 • * “f” T - 4 tº * I - hiº, essential doctrine of it, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. (H speak the truth in ***** Christſ as thou Timothy well knowest fire not in pretending to such an extraordinary mission.) And I was not only in general ordained to this ministry, but by peculiar des- tination was appointed to be a teacher of the Gentiles in this holy faith, and in the whole *I will ſhºe hºmº system of truth which it comprehends. I therefore give it in charge to them and, to thee, 8 R; i."º"...ºf with that authority which it becomes one who is so expressly called to this high office; and doubting. and I will in particular, that, as prayer is so important a duty, men prºg in every place, that over all the world, and not only in the temple or synagogues of the Jews, it be per- formed—in public assemblies, in families, and in secret retirements. And let them not only be taught in the general to perform it, but instructed as to the particular manner of doing it, that they may still be holding up holy hands,” undefiled with any pollution of cruelty, sensuality, or unrighteous gain. Let it also be performed without wrath, with the most placid and composed mind, the most mild and benevolent affection, and without doublingh too; with a lively faith in the power and wisdom, the goodness and faithfulness, of God, and a cheerful dependence on all those gracious promises by which he encourages our addresses. - * ºlºise mannel also, that In like manneri [I would charge] the tegmen also, who are to be, considered as com-9 ... .º.º. prehended in the former precepts, that they be particularly careful to adorn themselves; only fºlnºść...nºt with decent apparel, with modesty and sobriety, neither exceeding in the article of unneces: ..º.º.º.º.º.” “sary and inconvenient expense, nor in the least intrenching on the strictest decorum. I have many reasons, both relating to themselves and others, to wish that they may not place their ornament so much in plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or rich and costly garments; ..º.ºhiºh ºth But in what is itself infinitely more valuable, and much better becomes women prºfessing 10 whº soliness) godliness, and the gospel of Christ as the great rule of it, in good works ; which will ren- der them amiable in the eyes of God himself, and of all wise and virtuous persons with - whom they converse. ^, - i.e.º.º. in . They will no doubt be diligent in frequenting the public worship of God in your assem- 11 - • _& 3 - 7 ~~~ 12- c *A - 4- & ºn R v - ******tion blies. 'Anâ i. i., jºi..., , silence, with all becoming submission to those who tº associate, and with the regard due to such a congregation. But I permit not a poman to 12 rity ºver the man, but to be teach publicly, nor to usurp authority over the man, which she might seem to do by offici- in silence. ating under the character of a preacher. But, on the contrary, I charge her to be in silence at such a time. And indeed this is agreeable to what was intimated at the beginning of |...º.º. was first the world, and which passed in the earliest scenes of it. For .ºlan, was formed the first 13 formed, then Eve. of the human species, from the dust of the earth, being, under God, its acknowledged lord and proprietor, and then no suitable companion being found for hiºn among all the crea- tures which came to pay him their homage, Eve was produced from a rib taken out of his side, and presented as one whom God intended for a partner and helper to him. ii. 18–22.) .And it is further to be recollected, that at the fatal entrance World, .3dam was not immediately deceived,” by the fraud of the serpent, but that artful se– 14 And Adam was not de- ceived, but the woman being d Will have all men to be saved.] It is far from bei-yg my design, in any of these notes, to enter deep into controversy, but I must confess I have never been satisfied with that interpret stion which exp;ains ał ºpen here, merely, as signifying some of all sorts ar, i ranks of mºn; since I feat it might also be Šuid, on the principles of those who are fondest of this gloss, that he also icills all men to be condemned. On the other hand, if many are not saved, it is certain the words must be taken with Sotne limitation, which the following clause, he wills their consing to the knºwleſlºe vſ. the truth, must also prove. . The mean:55, therefore, seems to be, that God has made sufficient provision, for the salvation of q{i, and that it is to be considered as the general declaration of his wil:, that all who know the truth themselves should publish it to ałł around thean, so ſar as their influence can extend. - e The man Christ Jesus.] Though the union of the dicine nature with the hºlinail qualified Christ for the office of Mediator, yet I think this plainly shows that it is in his human nature we are to consider him as discharging it. f I Speak the truth in Christ, &c.] Paul uses such solemnity in asse; t- ing this doctrine, as the Jews were so much averse to it, and were reafy to charge his preaching the gospel among the Gentiles either upon the wilat of a due regard to his own nation, or some view of avārice or any'ition : looking on the Gentiles as most detestable creatures, and pro- bably growing more inveterate against them in proportion to the degree in which they were compelled to permit them to dwell in their own holy liltid, an often to associate themselves with them. g L'ſhing up holy hands.) The expression of holy hands may allude to the custom of toashing their hands before solemn prayer, which has pre- Yailed not oftly alsong the Jews, but among heathers afti Mahoºctahs, that they might hereby express their desiré of inward purity. And th: Caution against wrath might be more suitable, as the many injuries which the christians received from their persecutors might tempt them to soº imprecations against them not agreeable to the gentle and benign genius in S S : ; ; (Gen. of their religion. Anil would to God this nºirl:t always be considered, that they, who are to lead the devotions of others in free prayer may not mingle, their own angry and irregular passions with their addresses; thai) which, I assuredly belieye, scarce any thing can be more displeas'. ing to God, more reproach ſul to christian assºlubies, or more scándal- oùsly offensive to persons of a right te; per and disposition. h jf7th gift º Some would render x<\pi's 64 axey ways, without debºns or disputing; but I think the piore corriñion it:terpretation pre- ferable, as it suggests another very important thought, that is, the neces- sity of faith in prayer, according to the account giveſ of it in the para- phrase. -* i In, like inſt; nºr.] Some explain this as referring to what was to be attended to in their assemblies; but I think it evident that it rººfers to the charge the apostle had giveſ to Timothy with such solemnity, in tº begiºning of the preceding sette, ce. R 4tlarn themselves, &c.) Estius very justly observes, that this discourse concludes with yet strenger force against fößpery in them. Ham was formed the first.] It is plain the apostle does not mean to Put the whole of his argument upon the priority of the man’s crºtion łº point of time, for oil that princip!: the birds and beasts would have the pre-ºnlineace even to Adºrn. But he refers only to the human S; re- cies, and to the regard which God expressed for the case and comfort of man, by making the woman to be his companion and assistant. Sotirºt it is the same, thought in fewer words, which is expressed novo inrºy, | Cor. xi. S., 9, . The man was not créated for the Rceman, but the troman Jor the man ; and this I have endeavoured to express in the paraphrase. in Atlant tº as net, immediately deceived.] Diodate observés herº, that the sacred history does not say that the man was lºcºiºd at aji. thºrºby Perhaps inlimating his apprehension, as Milton long afterwards repre- Sented it...that Adam, out of an excessive tenderness for his wife, offended ašiūnst his better knowledge, at her persuasion, without expecting such effects from the forbidden Jruit as she did. But certainly this is making of sin into the 1 T 4 º 58 THE NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS OF A PASTOR. & sºr. . ehose to begin his attack on the woman, who, being deceived by him, was first in the deceived was in the trans- *...* a ºnsºression, and prevailed upon Adam, by her solicitations, to offend. Now it should gression. 1 TIM be 8.I] humbling consideration to all her daughters, that their sex was so greatly interested i.” in the introduction of guilt and misery, and make them less forward in attempting to be guides to others after such a miscarriage. Yet let them not be despised or upbraided on , 15.Notwithstanding, she this, accºunt, considering, on the other side, that she was also happily instrumental in pro- .*.*.*.*.*.*, ducing the great promised Seed, (Gen. iii. 15) who was derived from a woman without ºil; any human father; and so they shall be saved, as I may say, by child-birth,” if there be a *. suitable readiness, not only to profess but to obey the gospel; and if they continue con- stant tº the exercise of faith and love and holiness, with that sobriety of temper and conduct which I have now been recommending, and which both religion and prudence concur to recommend to all, and to that sex in particular. *- IAIPROVEMENT. TIM. May every christian learn by these apostolical dictates to retain faith and a good conscience, and be very soli- I is citous that no exactness in the former be thought sufficient to compensate for a defect in the latter. Soon will that faith itself suffer shipwreck, where a good conscience sits not at the helm; or rather, soon will it serve only as a talent of gold to a man sinking in the sea, to plunge him so much the deeper. It will be a part of the charac. ter of one who desires to preserve a good conscience, to maintain a benevolence of heart towards the whole human * race, and to breathe out that benevolence in prayer, which at the same time expresses and increases it. And while all men have a share in it, kings and princes, in whose behaviour and temper the happiness of so many thousands are concerned, have a peculiar claim to our devoutremembrance. Above all let us pray for our own, that they may continue, as blessed be God his present Majesty hath long been,” and we have reason to hope his successors will be, the ministers of God for good. May our life, under such a government, be in one sense as well as another uiet and peaceable, and may it be conducted in all godliness and honesty. Thus shall we do our part to subserve that gracious will of God, to effect which he hath done all that it was proper for him to do that all men may be saved, as our walking in the truth may bring many to the knowledge of it. May thatknowledge prevail more and 5 more in the world, that the one God may be universally adored through the one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, in whom deity dwells, and whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, we worship, as ex- alted above all adoration and praise. 6 This only-begotten Son of God became a man, that he might give himself a Ransom for us, a Ransom for all 7 who should believe in him. Blessed be God, that we have received this important testimony, received it from Paul the apostle, received it from that faithful herald of such astonishing grace, who was divinely appointed to be a teacher of the Gentiles, and who to this day is teaching us by his writings, and in every section of them giving us lessons of infinite importance. 8 May we learn, from what he teaches here, not only the object to whom our prayers are to be directed, and the persons for whom they are to be offered, but likewise the temper from which they are to proceed. May our hands be hoiy, and our hearts overflowing with love, and firmly established in faith unfeigned, resting on the promises we plead, and rejoicing in an assured hope, that the eternal JEHow AH, who so long since styled himself the hearer of prayer, (Psal. lxv. 2.) will not now say to any humble and upright souls, Seek ye me in vain. In all our con- duct let us remember we are in his presence, and let a concern to please him and to adorn our profession run 9 through every action of our lives. Let it direct our expenses and our dress: let it engage us to maintain a con- 15 stant decorum in every circumstance, sacred or civil; to be in due subjection to our superiors, and to continue in faith and love, in holiness and sobriety. -- e 13 Let the sex, to whom the concluding instructions of this section are peculiarly addressed, while, they are hum- bled in the remembrance of that original offence in which Eve, our first mother, so unhappily led the way, rejoice 15 in the great victory of the seed of the woman over the serpent. And let the other sex, on which this was bestowed 81S 8. ºft of so great value, that God judged it necessary to complete the felicity of paradise in its untainted bloom, never manifest the odious effects of the fall, by ungenerously upbraiding the daughters for the mother's fault, at 14 the distance of so many generations; but rather rejoice, that as by woman came transgression, so by her came re- demption too. And let us all join in improving so invaluable a favour, and endeavouring to express our gratitude for it, by acting aright, according to the several relations which we sustain in life. * The author had the happiness to write this in the twenty-foºrth year of King George II. that father of his People...!!! #%.3% ºnjoy great quictiness, and by wohose mrºiſience ºvery worthy deeds are done unto this nation, which we should accept always, and in all places, with all thankfulness. I 5 II. l. SECTION IV. attended to in those who were to be set apart to the office of a pastor and deacon in the The apostle instructs Timothy in the qualifications to be Prº - church. 1 Tim. iii. 1– 1 TIMOTHY iii. 1. 1 TIM. iii. 1. * * g : ~ : - ; y fººt being always acknowledged THIS is a true saying, If a SECT. IT [is] a faithful saying, most certain in itself, and worthy º g tor * ... j. jesire.º.º. 4. and attended to, that if any one earnestly desireth the episcopal or pastoral ºffice, he desire! bishop, he desireth a good a good work. To feed the church of Christ, and to take the oversight of it, is indeed, a work. 1 TIM. very laborious employment; but it is also very honourable, and greatly tends to advance the * glory of God, and to promote the good of mankind, if it be º º Il)8]]- ... • ~ 1.2. * º º Aº Aº zers nrist, must be blameless in every 2 A bishop then must be fier. A bishop therefore, or an overseer of the flock of $º h b iss in hi ... biºaſſºo: respect with regard to his moral character, since, any thing which may be amis in hiº will tend to bring a reproach upon his office, and greatly to obstruct his usefulness. It is particularly requisite that, if he be a married man, he should be the husband of only one wife; for if he have more than one at a time, or have divorced a former without - (see the note there,) which sense Dr. Whitby endeavours to illustrate at large ; not indeed as an absolute promise, which fact shows, it is not; but as a general intimation that pious women, might cheerfully commit 2 the matter much worse on the nam’s side than on the lºoman’s. I rather think the apostle hereby intimates º º: *ś º §: #. #º; #!"; i.º. #. tº: ºf. lead in im- themselves to God in the hour of nature’s distress, if they trusted in II) º #. irs R. # jºins in the general reasonable to suppose that Gºd, maintaining charity withal, persevering in chastity, and strictly {..."iſſºie fºopºrtiºn"of understanding may be observed in there; adherinº the laws, of temperance, in every, other respect. Mr. Pyle, "...i.jajº the may be some excepted cases, yet that from lºº.º. 10–14. concludes that the apostle refers to some iſ." it so many as to affect the main force of the argument. of those false tºº. that condemned marriage as unlawful, or at least they §§ **h.”t."ºat". "attentive délibération seemed comparatively uncleans. But I can by h9 means agguieśćg.in either of th. ;: §able s.se ºf this ºuch controverted and very obscure these senses; nor SºPP9sº, º some others have done, that Tekvuyova ...ipº; and it is that in which the learned, and judicious 2. Wm. signifies, the education of children ; though I am very sensible a due jº"...cajesces. (Har. On jíºss. p. 54.) Mr. Loghº (on Rom; º; care in thºt, espº.º.º.º.º. the most important gutiºs and services #y"ºnderstands it of being carried safely through child-bºdºš, ; the which can be imagined to come within the verge of female life. #e expression, go0mgetat 6ta rvpos, seems tº signify, i Cor. iii. 15, a The husband of one wife.] Mr. Hallet and Mr. Whiston both infor ywife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospita- lity, apt to teach ; 3. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy ucre ; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; 4 One that ruleth well his Qwn house, having his chil dren in subjection with ail gravity; 5 (For if a., man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) 6 Not a novice, lest º lifted up with pride he fal into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover he must have good report of them which are without; lest he fall into re- Hººh and the snare of the €VI.1. - 8 Likewise must the dea— cons be grave; not double- tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre ; - 9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10 And let these also first be proved ; then let them use the office of a deacon, being jound blameless. - - 11 Even so must thcir wives be graye, not slanderers, so- ber, faithful in all things. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A PASTOR AND OF A DEACON. sufficient excuse, and taken another during her life, it is an irregularity by no mºins tº be countenanced in a person from whom it is natural to expect such exemplary purity of manners. It is also necessary that he be watchful, and not one of a slothful and indolept temper, who would sleep over so high and sacréd a charge; that he be prudent and steady in his behaviour, regular and decent, guarding against those little indecorums which expºse . men to contempt, even where there is nothing grossly vicious in their conduct. And it is particularly ãº. that he be given to hospitality;b as christians, who travel from one place to another, will naturally go to the minister's house, if they are strangers in the place, and expect, on account of their common profession, to be received there. He must also be a person of such natural abilities, and so instructed in the doctrines of chris- tianity, as that he should be fit to teach” publicly, as well as to preside in other respects. .Not one that sitteth long over vine, or any other kind of strong liquor, or that has so little government of himself as to be ready to strike those that displease him. He Inust not be attached to any method of sordid and dishonourable gain,” but must be moderate in all his desires and passions; not given to contention, not a lover of money, so as to take a plea- sure in hoarding it up, even if it be justly and properly his own. . It is also evidently desirable that he should be one who presides well over his own house, having his children, if } he be a father, in º with all gravity, that their follies may not bring a reproach upon the family, and by consequence in some measure upon himself: For if any one cannot preside over his own house, in such a manner as to preserve a due decorum in the family, where he has such a natural authority, how shall he be able to take care of the church of God,” where there will be such a diversity of persons and tempers, over which it will be impossible for him to maintain an equal inspection, and influence P. A bishop also should not be one newly converted to christianity, lest, not having had a sufficient acquaint- ance with its principles, nor establishment in the duties it teaches, he should be lifted up with pride, in consequence of his distinguished character, and arrogate to himself an authority and dominion which God never intended for him. [..And] should this be the case, he might easily fall into the condemnation of the devil, who was intoxicated with self- conceit, and so rose up into mad rebellion against God, that he might obtain that greater exaltation to which he imagined his own excellency gave him a claim.f . It is necessary also, 7 in order to a pastor's filling up this important office with a becoming dignity, that he have a good report of those that are without, lest he should otherwise fall into reproach, and in consequence of that be taken in the snare of the devil,” who will easily know how to graft temptations upon that circumstance, to draw him aside, one way or another, from that strictness and correctness of behaviour which suits his distinguished station. - This may suffice concerning the principal order of ministers in the church of Christ, bishops, pastors, or elders. In like manner [let] me now say something relating to the other order, I mean that of deacons, who are moré immediately appointed to serve tables, and especially to take care of the poor. (Acts vi. 2.) Concerning these I would observe, that it is of importance that they likewise, [be] grave in their deportment, that they may avoid that contempt which the excesses of ſevity are ready to produce. They should not by any means be double-tongued, deceitful, or inconstant in their words, as they may º to come into different companies; mor addicted to much wine, which will render them utterly unfit for their office; nor greedy of dishonourable gain, which may tempt them to violate their engagements to the church, and appropriate its stock lodged in their hands to private uses, rather than those charitable purposes for which it was collected. In one word, let them be persons well instructed in the doctrines of christianity, and retaining the sublime and long concealed mystery of our holy faith, not merely as a point of specula- tion, but practice; and let it ever be held in a pure and undefiled conscience, and those only chosen into this office who seem conscientious men in the judgment of charity. 3 5 6 f 9 1 T | \i. llſ. ºffnd let even these be first proved and tried for a while, and then, if they be upon trial 10 [found] to be blameless, let them use the º: of a deacon. In like manner [let] the wives of the deacons, and therefore much more of the bishops, 11 [be] grape and sober in their deportment, not according to the example of the great enemy, that malignant spirit, who has his very name from thence, false accusers of the brethren and others. Let them also be watchful for occasions of doing good, and guard against every from hence longer than his wife lives. pce, that second marriages are unlawful to the clergy ; and the Muscovites, suppose that one wife is so necessary, that no man can be- come a bishop till he be º: ( may be so adjusted, that there §. marriage as for the first, and as little s or never used in the New Testament to express any gain but that, which is made or procured by the covetousness of christian ministers; and never surely does an eagerness or greediness in pursuit of money appear more dishonourable and sordid that in persons of that noble, but, alas ! too often prostituted, profession. - e PWho presides well over his own house, &c.] Exactly parallel to this nor continue to exercise that office s Russig, p. 230.) But circumstances be as much reason for a second inconvenience of any kind may $ erry attend it. Upon the whole, therefore, it seems to me most reasonable to believe; that (as there is no express precept in the Bible, requiring a man who had several wives at the time of his embracing christianity, to divorce or dismiss all but one) the divine wisdom might judge that it was a proper, medium between jºi pºlygamy, and too great a rigour in condemning it, to fix such a brand of infamy on this irregular practice, by, prohibiting any man, let his character be ever so extraordi- mary, to undertake the ministry, while he had more than one wife, and to discourage it in those already converted, by such passages as Matt. xix. 9... and 1 Cor. vii. 2. - b Given to hospitality.] Let it be observed once for all, that as there were them in the eastern countries few houses of public entertainment, hospitality was a virtue, more peculiarly seasonable and necessary than among us; 1 mean so far as it related to the accommodation of entire strangers on their trayels... - ‘. c -7pt to teach.) The Bishop of Winchester lays some stress on our not meeting with any directions relating to ordination in this enumer- ation of the offices of a bishop or presbyter: (for so candid and judicious a writer could not but acknowledge they are here words of the same signification,) but it is strange he should not have observed, that noth- in; is here said of administering the sacraments, which concur with many ºther circumstances to show how far the apostle was from intending a full representation of all the pastoral duties. And it may be added, that the directions he afterwards gives to Timothy, on the headioford;’ nation, may suggest instruction in this respect to all ministers. And it must be submitted to consideration, whether the omission of any charge tº Presbytes, enjoining them to obey their bishop as a person of supe- rior authºrity, does not weigh much more one way, than the omission pleaded above can avail the other. See Hoadly, of £piscop. p. 39). d 4ttached to sordid gain.] It is remarkable that this phrase is seldom reveale is a wise saying of Confucius, when |ſº princes to take care of their families: “It is impossible that, he who knows not how to govern and reform his own family, should rightly govern and reform a people.” Con. JHor. p. 38. f Condemnation of the devil..] Many have imagined that the first in- stance of Satan’s pride was an affectation of equality with God; but others have thought that improbable, and nave §§§ it was the breach of some positive law, either relating to the manner in which God required to be worshipped, or the order and station of the angelic squa- drons, or refusing some appointed ministry to some lower world, or rejecting the dominion of God’s incarnate Son; who might in général be as the future Head of angels as \ºil as men. This last is the Sgheme which Milton prefers, and it is insisted upon at large in Reyn. wer. Qf the Jìng. World, Q. xvi. p. 13— But though it is certain the crime was pride, our conjectures may, meyer be able to determine what was the particular instance ; nor is the inquiry by any means ne– CeSS3. Ty. - g Snare of the devil..] Some have explained the word, Ataffoxs, of some human slanderer, but it seems to me much more natural to under- stand it in the sense it has just above, where I think it must signify our great in ſermal enemy. And it is eqsy to see that Satan might graft many dangerous temptations on the evil report which a man might have in- çurred by any scandal, before he entered on the ministry; either attempt— ing to draw him to the repetition of former, evils, from an apprehension that he had very little reputation to lose by a new fall, or weakening his hands in efforts of usefulness, by a fear that the remembrance of those past irregularities would render his attempts less, effectual. Thoughts worthy the consideration of all who design themselves for the ministry, and especially to be recollected, when persons who have been remarkably profligate are desirous of undertaking it, or returning to it. **-* e W60 PAUL RECOMMENDS TO TIMOTHY THE CARE OF THE CHURCH. S*CT. temptation to evil, and let them be faithful in all things which are committed to their care, 4- lest their imprudent and unfaithful conduct should bring the character of their husbands under suspicion. ** Let the deacons, as well as the bishops, be the husbands of only one wife, and let them be , 12 Lot the deacons be the men of prudence and resolution, governing their children and other members of their own łºś. Gife Yº; 13 houses well; that no irregularity at home may disgrace the society they belong to. It is flººn and their own necessary to be thus cautious, though their ministry be but of an inferior rank. for they dº..."; º; ºf 10ho have dischgrged the office of a deacon well, procure to themselves not only a fair report Hickºłoś. 2. II] the general, but very o ten a gºod degree of further advancement in a higher office; ; #ºgº #d they lay a foundation for great boldness in professing the faith which is in Öhrist Jesus. Jesus. Their acquaintance with the affairs of the church will render them more capable of defend- ing it than many others can. And the honourable testimony borne to their character, by ad- Vancing them to this trust, and coiſtinuing them in it, will also imbolden them to plead more freely, and engage the more respectful attention. - * IMPROVEMENT. THE teachers of others, and those who presile in the highest offices which Christ has founded in his church, may •r learn from this passage their duty as well as their dignity and honour. Let them remember, the work they have Ver. I desired and engaged in, is a gºod work: , Het them think and speak, not arrogantly and tyrannically, but respect- fully and solemnly, of their office, and let them cultivate all these excellent qualities which may fit them to dis- 2, 3 charge it aright; sobriety and vigilance, gravity and hospitality, the strictest temperance, the most diffusive bene- volence. Let them TISC far above those lºw views which are to worldly-minded ministers the occasion of so many scandalous contentions, which so often establish a separate interest, and produce a secret and mutual aversion be. - tween them and their people. - - Let the churches of Christ attend to this charge, to direct them in the choice of their pastors; and let ministers of standing and reputation, under whose guidance the matter may in part fall, be very careful that they do not en- courage any to undertake the work who are deficient in these things: things of such importance, that it is certain 12, 13 no genius and learning can make up for the want of them. If deacons, in their inferior station, aré to be free from such stains, and to be remarkable for such virtues as are here described, how much more should the pastors them- selves be so, to whom the inspection of the deacons is also committed! Let the ministers of Christ therefore study to excel in them more and more. And let such as are but lately 6 entered on their work, though not novices in the language of the apostle, yet be on their guard, lest they be lifted up with pride, and so fall into the condemnation of the devil. But from this lurking and insinuating evil who is secure? Let all ministers learn to draw an occasion of exercising humility from what might in another view seem a temptation to vanity, a survey of the dignity and excellency of their office. For how justly may this humble them, when they reflect on the many imperfections which attend their discharge of it. - To conclude: let all who are in any degree distinguished in the church, be excited to a care of presiding in a 5, 12 proper manner over their own families: and since it is evident that the apostolic rule allows of marriage, and supposes that, by whatever doctrine of devils it might be forbidden, it would generally be practised by the minis- ters of Christ, let them, however, take care to make choice of companions in conjugal life, who may adorn and bless the houses to which they belong, and lessen, rather than increase, the #. inseparable from their own - station and office. - SECTION V. Thgugh he hoped quickly to have an interview with Timothy, the apostle recommends the care of the church to him; in, which view he raises * his ſiea of the charge he received, apd represepts the difficulties attending the faithful execution of it, in consequence of those pernicious doc- trimes which fºlse teachers would endeavour to introduce. 1 Tim. iii. 14, to the end; iv. 1–5. y rº'ſ *s e = - I 'TIMOTHY iii. 14. I T1 M. iii. 14. SECT. THESE things which thou hast now been reading concerning the character of persons THESE things write I unto 3. who are to be intrusted with the office of bishops and deacons, I write to thee, hoping to #:s; * * * come to thee shortly.” But if I delay, I give thee these instructions, that thout maySt know jã But #'ſ tº . 1 TIM. how it becomes the to converse in the house of God, in which thou hast the honour to bear ºl III, , , so high an office; even in that house which is the church of the living God. But I will not 3. hºg. #: 5 IV. WHAT the Spirit of God expressly spake has been so expressly accomplished, as plainly to prove the divine Ver. 1 original of this oracle, and of all that are connected with it. The grand apostasy of the latter days is made ma- nifest, the seducing spirits have effectually done their part, the world has given heed to them and wandered after Jhem; so that doctrines of devils have almost cast out from his own church the doctrine of Christ. No testimony of hypocritical liars hath been wanting to confirm the fraud to the utmost of their power, and the whole conduct 2 of it seems to declare to how dreadfuſa degree it is possible for conscience to be seared. Marriage has been 3 forbidden, while the pardon of fornication, adultery, and incest, has been rated at a certain price by that grand merchant of the souls of men, who hath ventured to call himself the vicar of Christ upon earth. By him men have been taught to place the greater part of religion in abstaining from meats, in attending unintelligible jargon, instead of the service of God’s sanctuary, and in transforming the high solemnities of the simplest and most ra– tional worship that ever was instituted, into a ceremonious farce. Adored be divine providence and grace, that any parts of the once dark domains of this man of sin have been awakened to assert the purity of the christian faith and worship, and to seek to purge away the reproach and infamy which such adulterations had brought upon the name ! Blessed be God that our attention is diverted from these trifies and monsters, these mysteries of folly and mysteries of iniquity, to the great mystery of godliness | Let it be familiar to our thoughts. . The mani- festation of God in the flesh! A sight which the angels beheld with wonder, while the blessed Spirit sealed the authority of God’s incarnate Son, and attested his gospel among the Gentiles, till the world was brought to be- lieve in him ; so that he looked down from the throne of glory, to which he was received, and saw his own oracle fulfilled, If I am lifted up, I will draw all men winto me. (John xii. 32.) May this mysterious yet resplendent truth be strenuously maintained, and practically preached, by all the ministers of the gospel: may they show, in every other respect, that they know how to behave themselves aright in the house of the living God; and may 15 III. 16. many by these means be brought to believe and to know the truth in its vital energy. Then will the common Iv. 3. enjoyments of life have an additional relish, being received with thanksgiving, and sanctified by the word of God 4, 5 and prayer. ... c. In the scriptures of truth, &c.], I have paraphrased this clause in its greatest extent; because as there , are some passages in the Old Testament, which have been supposed, though I think not very ex- pressly, to look this way, it is i. probable that others who had the giil of prophecy (as we are sure many at that time had) might predict so memorable and important an event, as Paul certainly had done be- fore. .(See 2 Thess. ii. 1, &c.) But the inspiration of the New Testa- #! º general rests on much stronger evidence than what arises from I is {: I . , • ? - Sanxi all men.] This seems a title parallel to that in Job vii. 20. (Compare chap. i. 4, 6. Tit. i. 14.) If they were such as those with e Saviour of & tº ºil. tº “:----- - ºw & - which the rabbinical 'writers, so far as I havé had an opportunity of judg- Preserver §§ º IS º;', the º 3. believers, as he ex iº hºnj, ºthiº; ºr better deserved the name, they being tegº; to them the noblºs, and most important lºſive.º.º.º. not only the most incredible, but the most insipid und senseless, tales, any where to be met with. These are things of the greatest iº pression of , giving them in charge, shows that t The following ex- hese words refer not c Bodily exercise is profitable to little : $.". It seems much merely to what was mentioned in the former clause, but to the wholo more reasonable, with Dr. Whitby and Dr. Edwards, (On Script. Vol. preceding discourse. ii. p. 167, 158.) to refer this to the celebrated exercises at the Grecian .g. In spirit..] Some explain this of º industrious º º gaſſes."(of ºffici ºvº his given soºtertaining and useful an ac gifts of the ſolº/Spirit, and have.º.º.º. º ki . as raised him count in the Dissertation prefixed to his Pindar,) than to those severities possessed of such extraordinary endow ments 9|| º | º ad jºukº of the jewish Éjhigh some other commºntators mention. These far above the rank of an º: Fºr #º. these words strenuous exercises night promote strength and courage; they would gifts is Cºrtº (compare ver: 4.) UI |] ne º ly, must be very pre- jºiºri. ſſ, jitſ.'...iii., §ićtors rºceived"great ſonours, which admit another sense so naturally and fairly, and sometimes valuable immunities and privilexes. Perhaps, indeed, Cºlº: - - * - - * r * w "- some of these might hardly balance personal injuries they might incet h Giſt—by the inposition of the hands of the oresbytery.] The presby - - - f ºn tº fl ºr º, I., ar with vº intº a ſºlºred much who received no reward at ters seemed to have laid on their hands Yi ** - - etn; l:1:ly tº I C { - solemnly set apart to the ministerial work; and, as the Spirit Wää, often all. But the apostle stan is not on this ; he plainly intimates, that where aul, when Timothy was men succeede'ſ hºst, thº, greatest a.ſvantaxes they received by their vic- given by the impºsition of the apostles’ hands alº 2 Tim. tory all fell infinitely short of those which true religion secures. 6. Acts viii. 17, 18.) we cannot su pose those of aul would be less * - - ,- . . . . . . ." w ... • * - * * * T & SC. ... vol. ii. Ess. ii. p. 70.) Promise of the projeni and future life.] Godliness, under the New- efficacious in this circumstºce: ( eº JMisc Saer WO - Testament disſº. hºusnö particular promise Öſ' health, or reputa: It is strange that a man of Mr. §º. #.” Fºl. ; tº: tion, or ºcealth, or any other individual blessing, though in its natural of interpreting presbytery here of the whole co º: §. º: that any of consequences it wears a most friendly aspect upon all ; but, it has the is no reason.at *|| to believe that they were nº §. her, no hint of its promise of comfort and happiness in general; and that leclaration of them was with Paul at Timothy’s ordination ; for theſe , is no h Christ, that the good man shall, receive an hundred ſold, eye;) in the being performed at Jerusalem, wheſg a ſºlº, though but a few, of them midst of persecution, if that should be his lot, (Mark X. 30.), might algae night perhaps reside at this time. (See Orig. Draught, p. 184.) As this §s sufficient to windicate the apostle in this assertion. I have oftºn tºxt stroºgly implies that Tººhy was alº Y. jº! woudered that so great a man as the present º of London should gifts, so it also proves that the degree ſºlº sº ºft 3. suppose a reference here to the covenant with Noa ty ºf ich he up timus'ſ did very much, depend on the diligence and fidelity with which poses the original grility of the earth was restoºl after the delūyā; they were cultivated by the person who had received them. PłłACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THAIOTHY, heed to [thy] doctrine, both with respect to the matter and manner of thy teaching, and Hºjić jº continue in them, making this the whole of thy business and care. The fatigue, indeed, self, and them that hearthée. may be great, and many of the restraints to which thou mayst be subjected for the present disagreeable; but the happy consequence will counterbalance all; for in doing this ſhow shali both save thyself and thy hearers. It will be the means not only of delivering thine own soul in the great day ºaccount, but of improving thy happiness to unknown degrees; and though it is not in thy power to command success, yet thou hast great encouragement to hope that God will so bléss thy labours as to make thee instrumental in delivering many Souls from death, and raising them to complete and everlasting felicity. IMPROVEMENT. It is doubtless a very great advantage to christians, and especially to the ministers of Christ, to have been nourished and educated in the words of faith and of good doctrine ; and they who are honoured with the great trust of training them up should be particularly careful on this head, remembering that no other branches of learn- ing are of comparable importance to any christian, and much less to those whose business it must be to maintain the faith of Christ in the world, and to instruct others in his doctrine both publicly and privately. But to do this with success, and to command that reverence which it is desirable for the public good they should command, whether they be younger or elder, it is necessary that they endeavour to be examples to other believers in their whole conversation and deportment, in word and in spirit patterns of charity, faith, and purity. To qualify them more abundantly for such a work, whatever their gifts may be, whether of nature or of grace, it will be necessary to stir them up by frequent exercise, and to cultivate them by reading and meditation, as well as prayer; that their stock may be increasing; that their profiting may appear unto all; and that they may lose no advantage they can secure, of rendering their exhortations and instructions worthy the regard of the wisest and best, as well as the least and weakest, of those committed to their care. But surely, whatever difficulties may lie in their way, and whatever fatigues, or censures, or sufferings they may encounter, while thus employed, the prospect of success may sweeten all. If they may save themselves and those that hear them; if they may give up an account with joy; if they may see souls recovered from the tyranny of sin and the kingdom of Satan, now, and at length, after having anticipated the pleasures of heaven upon earth, raised to the full enjoyment of those pleasures above, they will bless the remembrance of their labours. Yea, the very consciousness of spending life in such pursuits, must, to a generous and pious mind, afford unspeakably more delight than the acquisition and enjoyment of any thing which the children of this world pursue, and per- haps some of them with equal fatigue. * unto the dogtrine ; con- tinue in them : for in doing 763 SECT 6. 1 TIM. IV. 16 Ver. 6 I 2 14 13 15 10 16 Let christians in other stations also be quickened to exert themselves in the same blessed cause, remembering 8 that while other things, for which men labour as in the fire, can profit but little, godliness is profitable to all. It hath so far the promise of this life, that the godly man shall not want any thing that his Father and his God knows to be truly good for him; and he will probably be abundantly happier in this world, amidst all the cala- mities to which he may be exposed, than in like circumstances he could possibly have been without such a prin- ciple of piety in his heart: and it has absolutely the promise of the life w; is to come, and that such a life, so glorious and so lasting, that the very mention of it may well swallow up the thoughts of this life and its interests, any further than as they are connected with that. Let us then receive the word with all readiness, and pursue these glorious objects, trusting in the living God, who, while he scatters the bounties of his common providence on all, is, in a peculiar and most important sense, the Saviour, the Guardian, the Father of those who believe. SECTION VII. Directions for, Timothy’s conduct towards persons in different circumstances, and particularly elders and widows ; which leads the apostle to give some advices concerning those matrons who were intrusted by the church with some peculiar office, and supported out of the public stock in the discharge of it. 1 Tim. v. 1–16. 1 TIM. v. 1. 1 TIMOTHY v. 1. REBUKE not an elder, but THY office, O Timothy, will often oblige thee to censure the conduct of others, and :*...*.*.*, * sometimes of those who are more advanced in age than thyself. But remember to do it Feſl with a becoming modesty and tenderness. Rebuke not an aged man” severely, but rather exhort [him] as a father to perform whatever duty he neglects, or to avoid those tempta- tions which may be dangerous to him : [and] as to the jounger, though thou mayst use more freedom with them, yet remember still to treat them with kindness and affection as brethren, and not with a lordly and supercilious contempt. Address thyself to the aged women as mothers, [and] to the younger as sisters, with all chastity, and the strictest decorum in thy converse with them; remembering how many eyes are upon thee, and how fatal any thing which might in that respect bring the least blemish upon thy character would be to the honour and success of thy ministry, and to the credit of the gospel and its pro- 3, Honour widows that are fessors. Honour, and endeavour honourably to support, those widows who are truly widows indeed. widows,b and whose destitute circumstances recommend them as the certain objects of 4. But if any widow, have charity. But if º widow hath children or grand-children, who are capable of supporting 2 The elder women as mo- thers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. jºº her, let them learn first to exercise grateful piety at home, and to repay the benefits they have bºne, and tº requi.e. heir received from their parents, or remoter progenitors, in their necessities, before they talk of parents: for that is good an * * wº - * g. * : Å.1 : acceptable before God. extending their generosity to others; for this is good and decent, fair and beautiful in the eyes of men, and it is likewise acceptable before God, who requires us, out of regard to his honour and favour, to attend carefully to the duties of those relations in which we stand to each other. JWow, that you may understand the character to which I advise you to confine your charitable exhibitions, I must add, that she who is truly a widow, and thus left alone, and destitute of the assistance of human friends, is one that hopeth in the good providence of God, reposing herself with humble confidence on his faithful care, and continues constantly , 5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God and continueth in i Save thyself and thy hearers..] ... I cºnnot, forbear observing here, though it be not a critical remark, that the salvation of others may ac- cidentally have some influence upon a man’s own salvation ; as the ministry, in order to being entitled to the divine promise of salvation, in which persons who betray so important a trust can have no part. {l better those about him are, the more advantage he has for religious jum- provement, the fewer hinderances from duty and temptations to sin. And the argument for imitation is much strengthened, when it comes from a person placed in an inferior station, from whom, therefore, less might be expected in that view than from ourselves. But certainly the thought chiefly referred to here is the necessity of acting faithfully in the J?m aged inan. The opposition between elder and younger plainly shows that ſpea9.uTepos here signifies, an aged person, which may fur- ther be argued from the opposition between elder and younger in the next verse. b Truly such..] Here is, as Calvin justly observos, an allusion to the Greek word xmpa, which signifies a person in distressed and indigent circumstances. º SECT, 7. 1 TIM. 2 3 4 764 I r * g * & - s & **9°. day and might in supplications and prayers, makes devotion her business, in the proper supplications return of its daily seasons, and endeavours to be as much at leisure for it as her circum- night and day. 7. I º the great shame and scandal of their profession, do, is indeed dead while she liveth,d as to 7 the noblest ends and purposes of life. And as this is a very important article, and these : 8 PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR TIMOTHY. stances in life will permit. But she that liveth lururiously, as some christian widows, to things, in some degree, affect christians of all circumstances and relations in life, who are too ready to lose themselves in the pursuit of sensual pleasure, I desire thou wouldst give them in charge to all thy hearers, that so they may in this respect be blameless,e and that by maintaining a due government of themselves, and strenuously attending to the duties of life, they may answer the obligations under which they lie. . . But º insist upon it, that a due care be taken of the poor by those of their re- lations who are capable of supporting them; for if any do not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath, whatever he may prétend, in effect and prac- tically denied the faith, and on the whole, is worse than an infidel:5 bringing a greater dishonour upon the gospel than one who openly professes to reject it, while he is thus de- ficient in those duties which common humanity teaches even many of the heathens to 9 practise themselves, and to inculcate upon others. , Let not a widow be taken upon the listh 1 1. 1 1 0 I 2 3 14 of those to be maintained by the church, and to minister in the office of deaconesses in it, who is under sirty years old, and then only such a person who hath been the wife of one man, and avoided all scandalous commercé with others. And as some peculiar trust is reposed in such, let care be taken that she be [one] who hath a reputation for good works in general; and she will especially be worthy of such an encouragement and honour, if she have educated her own children with care, or any other children who have been com- mitted to her; if in her more prosperous days she have expressed an hospitable temper, and lodged strangers who have been at a loss for necessary accommodations on their journeys; especially if she have washed the saints’ feet, and in other respects relieved in a proper manner christians in such circumstances; if she have, in other instances, accordin to her abilities, assisted the afflicted, and, in short, if she have followed every good work, . endeavoured to adorn her profession by a benevolent and useful life. But refuse to admit into such an office the younger widows; for when they grow wanton, as (though such a dis- position be directly against the laws of Christ) many in such a circumstance of life do, they will marry, and perhaps to husbands who are strangers to christianity: Thereby exposing themselves to just blame of men and condemnation from God, because they have disannulled ºff. faith, and violated their engagement to the church, when it assigned them such an office, to which it would be very inconvenient to admit persons that have any views of entering again into the conjugal state; not to say that some men have been enticed, by very improper alliances, to throw off even the general profession of christianity. ...And in- deed, with relation to several of such, (as I have observed in societies less careful in this respect than were to be wished,) these women also, while they pretend to continue in their office, being idle and slothful in the province they have undertaken, instead of staying at home and attending the proper duty of their charge, learn [a habit of] gadding abroad, and going from house to house; and [they are] not only idle, but trifiers also, and busy- bodies: there is a levity and impertinence in their behaviour, which is the natural result of neglecting to keep themselves well employed; and they are often speaking things that are very unbecoming, which do loudly proclaim the irregularity of their disposition, and show how much their minds are vitiated and disordered. I would therefore have the younger [widows,) instead of thinking of a trust and situation for which they are generally so unfit, to marry again, if they are so inclined, as it is gene- rally best that they should; and employ themselves in such cares as suit the mistress of a family, that they may breed children, [and] govern their domestic affairs so as to give no occasion to the adversary, who is glad to find any excuse for it, to speak reproachfully of 15 religion, on account of the unsuitable behaviour of its professors. And I give the caution 16 with the greater solicitude, because it is too evident that as for some from whom the churches expected better things, they have already turned aside after Satan, so as to follow his leading and impulse, in direct opposition to the law of Christ, and much to the det- riment of his interest. -- But if any believer of either sea have near relations who are widows, let them, as I ad- vised before, take care of them at home, that the church may not be burdened with more and prayers 6 But she that liveth in easure is dead while she veth. * 7 Aud these things give in charge, that they may be blameless, .8 But if any provide not for his own, , and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infide). , 9 Let not a yidow be taken into the number under three- score years old, having been the wife of one man, 10, Well reported of good works; it she hayc brought up, children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the af. flicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. II. But the younger widows refuse : for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry ; 12 Having damnation, be- cause they have cast off their first faith. 13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house ; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busy bodies, speaking things which they ought not. 14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the ad- versary to speak reproach- fully. 15 For some are already turned aside after Satan. 16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve then), and let Inot the church be charged; c Day and night.] . That is, continually, morning and evening, and 90 every proper, occasion, by night or by day. 1 *I fºss. "ii. 3." iii. 10 haps of educating some poor c 2 Thess. iii. S. 2 Tinn. i. 3 alms of the church. An of entertaining christian ...; whether ministers or others, and per- mildren, who might be maintained by the it might, on many accounts, and for yery, ob- Dead chile she liveth..] Some philosophers, even among the bar- barous nations, are noted for haying spoken of those, as dead, who de; serted what their sects esteemed the doctrines of truth, and abandoned themselves to sensual passions. The word anaraXoga, which we may render, living in pleasure, properly signifies, ſaring deliciously ; and #. Whitby observes, it especially refers to drinking strong and costly 1G. UlOfS. - r º That they may he blameless.] Some would refer this to the widows; but the #: of the word avert)\n:r 7-9 a rather favours onr referring it, either to the deacons, or to Timothy’s hearers in general; singe it is cer- tain that widows were not the only persons who, in so luxurious, a city. as Ephesus, were in danger of ſalling into such sensualities as he had been warning them against. * * - f Those of his own house.J. Taoy ouxetov seems to signify domestics, or those who dwelt with the indolent person here spoken of; and it would certainly be an aggravation of his neglect, if these relations, whom he was unwilling according to his ability to maintain, were in his family, and consequently under his eye ; so that there does not seem to be reason, with Mr. Hallet, (JVotes on Script. vol. i. p. 31.) to conclude it signifies those of the household of faith, as the apostle speaks elsewhere, (Gal. vi. 10.) that is, believing relatives. - - s g Worse than an infilcl.] Dr. Whitby proves, by very apposite cita- tions, that the heathens were sensible of the reasonableness and necessity of taking care of near relations, and especially of parents, when they fell into poverty. - e * = a h Taken upon the list, &c.] KaraXcycaffo) has precisely this signifi- cation. Surely none can imagine that the apostle meant to confine the charity of the church to widows of such an age, and who had, all these characters: we must therefore conclude that he speaks of those who bore the office of deaconesses, who were probably intrusted with the care vious reasons, be proper that this office should be committed only to persons of an advanced age, and such as had laid aside all, thoughts of marrying again. It is evident that they who had practised, hospitality themselves in their more prosperous days, would be peculiarly ſit for one part of this office, and peculiarly worthy of the countenance which this office gave, and of the trust which it implied. - - i The wiſe of one man.] . It is very certain that second marriages in general are not condemned by %. and it would be a great ob- jection against it if they were. The apostlé expressly advises the youngo' igidows to marry again, (ver. 14.) and it would seem very hard to exclude them afterwards from this office, how fit soever they might be for it on other accounts, merely because they had done it. I therefore am in- clinable to think the meaning of the expression may be, 9ne who has chastely confined herself to one husband, while, in the married, relation; for it is certain that it never was usual among the Jews of the Greeks to admit women to have more than one husband at once. It may deserve consideration, whether this may not reflect some light on the corre- spondent phrase, when applied to a bishop. Cháp. iii. 2. - * k Grow, wanton, &c.] Karas onvigorajat is a strong expression, which cannot be exactly rendered into English. ...When these widows grew neg- ligent of their proper duty, sensual affections might prevail upon them; and their credit among ëhristians being hurt, by such, an unbecoming jº it is very probable they might often be forced to take up with Ł heathen husbands, and so might at length be led to apostatize from chris tlälli ty. `- i Trifiers.] The word (b)\vapot seems to be derived from p}\vely, which I think properly signifies the noise which water makes when, it is ready to boil over. (Šee Raph. in loc.) And therefore it very well ex- presses the inward fermentation (if I may so speak) in the minds of these trifting people, which they vented by unprofitable discourses. PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR TIMOTHY. that it may relieve them that charitable cases than it can properly support, but may take cºre % [those who are, as are widows indeed. have said, truly widows, and must otherwise be left altogether desolate. IMPROVEMENT. MINISTERs are instructed by this apostolical advice, in the difficult duty of managing reproof aright. Churches may learn how their poor are to be treated, and children may be reminded of that grateful tribute which they owé especially to their aged and necessitous parents. No recompence can be fully, adequate, but surely tº a jº temper nothing can be more delightful than to soothe the declining years of those by whom our infant ays were sustained, our feeble childhood supported, and our giddy youth moderated and directed. . . - Let St. Paul's sentiments of a luxurious life be particularly attended to in this age of ours, in which so many 6 are entirely devoted to these pleasures. They call it living, but the wiser apostle pronounces, it a kind of moral death. And many of the heathens themselves have been instructed º nature to speak in a lºgº like his. Nay, some of them acted on this principle, in a manner which might shame most that call themselves christians, Let us learn to form our taste to nobler pleasures than those on which thoughtless multitudes are so intent. Let us cultivate those that are suited to our rational and immortal spirits, and that will not only follow us into the in- visible world, but will there be exalted and improved. - * Butlet us be particularly careful, that while religion raises us above a sensual life, we do not make use of it 8 as a pretence to excuse ourselves from attending to social duty. To neglect a due care of those whom Provi- dence has committed to us, would, in the apostle's language, be a denial of the faith, and would even argue us worse than infidels, who, deficient as they were in the knowledge of God, or in such regards to him as were even roportionable to what they knew, discoursed largely and excellently on the obligations of justice and benevo- ence to our fellow-creatures, and were themselves examples of what they taught in relation to them. Among other virtues here spoken of with due honour, a proper care in the education of children is none of the least. , Let christians of both sexes be diligent in it, and ſet women, to whom the chief care of children is con- signed in those tender years, when the deepest and surest impressions are often made, be sensible how great advantage the public may receive by their wise and pious conduct towards them. While many are triflers and 13 busy-bodies, running from house to house, and speaking things which they ought not, let women professing godliness remember they are to adorn it by the exercise of domestic virtues so as to cut off occasion of speaking reproachfully, even from the ingenious malice of adversaries: occasion too often given by those who, while they follow the gay desires of their hearts, and the fashions of this vain world, seem to have forgotten what the apostle intended by the awful and lively phrase of being turned aside after Satan; and make themselves his 15 more secure and certain prey by every step they take in these flattering paths through which he would lead them to final destruction. I SECT. 7. 1 T \ſ. W. 4, 16 es SECTION VIII. The apostle adds directions concerning the regard to be shown by the people to their faithful ministers; cqncerning the method of, proceeding against those who were accused of any fault; and the most prudent and regular manner of treating, candidates for the ministry. The section concludes with some other necessary advices and particulars for the instruction of christian slaves. Tim. v. 17, to the end; vi. 1, 2. I TIM. v. 17. 1 TIMOTHY v. 17. LET the elders that gle well I HAVE already been giving you some directions with relation to those who are elders SECT be counted worthy of double : ex + * * * - jºi; thº, in age, and now let me add a word or two concerning those who are distinguished by the 8. labour in the word and doc- trille office they bear in the christian church, and have that title of respect and reverence given them on that account. And here let the elders who preside wellº be esteemed worthy of 1 TIM. double honour,b and, as circumstances may require and admit, let them be respectfully ...Y. maintained by the society; especially those who, to all their other kind cares of a more 47 private nature, add an exemplary attendance to that of public instruction, and labour with diligence and zeal in administering the word, and stating and vindicating the doctrine of T.º.º. i*i; the gospel in your religious assemblies." For you well remember, I doubt not, that the 18 hou shalt not muzzle the ox - - sº - - - §"º". Scripture has said again and again, Thou shalt not muzzle the or that treadeth out the ##!...!?” is worthy corri, but shalt allow him, while labouring upon it, to eat of it as his hunger requires, - (Deut. xxv. 24. 1 Cor. ix. 9. and note,) and the Old Testament, as well as the words of our Lord and the reason of mankind, teaches us that the workman [is] worthy of his hire :d on which account the law requires that, instead of being entirely withheld from him, it should not be delayed for a day. (Deut. xxiv. 14. Lev. xix. 13.) Persons, therefore, who labour in so honourable and important a work, are by no means to be neglected, nor suf- 19 Against an elder receive fered to want necessary support and encouragement. Great care should also be taken 19 §§º.” that their reputation, on which their usefulness will so much depend, may not be lightly impeached. Accordingly, do not receive an accusation against an elder, unless on the tes- timony of two or three credible witnesses; for the single report of any one person is not material enough to set against the word of an elder, maintaining his own innocence. . nº ºf §º: You will, I doubt not, use your utmost endeavours to preserve the purity of the church; 20 may fear.” yet as offences will certainly come, let me advise you to keep up a due solemnity in church- censures; and as for those that sin” in any scandalous and remarkable manner, rebuke them before all, that even the rest of the congregation may fear, and stand upon their guard against those temptations which have brought upon others such public admonition and 2] 1 chargethee before God, reproof. I know how contrary these faithful proceedings may sometimes be to flesh and 21 * * * * * blood, and therefore solemnly charge [thee] before the blessed God and the Lord Jesus a The clalers who preside well.] Mr. Reeves (Apol. vol. i. p. 115. note p.) must surely be driven to very great extremities, when, to ward off some consequences which were to him disagreeable, he concludes that these elders were bishops, in the English sense of the word, or persons of an order superior to common ministers; which interpretation would suppose that some such officers in the church might preside well, though they did not labour in the word while able to do it, which the following words evidently suppose the elders, here spoken of to be : for else their being disabled by age, or any other infirmities, would be a strong reason. for their being honourably maintained, on account of the Services of their better years. Compare note on 1 ‘ſhess. v. 12. - b. Double honour.] It is a scrupulous nicety of interpretation to ex- plain this as a decision that they were to have twigg, as much as the dea- conesses. Different circumstances might require different exhibitions to persons in the same office. It seems only to express a plentiful main- tenance, (according to what they needed, and the society could afford,) given in a liberal and respectful manner. c Especially they who lubour.] This seems to intimate that there were some who, though they presided in the church, were not employed in preaching. Limborch indeed is of opinion that Kort (ov'ſ at signifies those who did even fatigue themselves with their crtraordinary labours, which some might not do, who yet in the general presided well, supposing º be a part of their work. (Limb. Theot. lib. vii. cap. iv. 0.) But it seems to me much more matural to follow the former inter- pretation. Compare 1 Cor. xvi. 16 d The aggrkºnam, &c.) As the very words of this passage only occur, Luke x. 7. it is the opinion,9f the ingenious Mr. Seed, that St. Paul here. notes these words of the Evangelist as of equal authority with those of Moses, Deut. xxy. 4. . Seed’s Serm. vol. ii. p. 292. e Those that sin..] I see no reason for understanding this of offending elders; though, were it to be so taken, it would, by a strong consequence, be applicable to others. A humour of seeking a stricter connexion than is any way necessary, has led many commentators into very limited, and sometimes into whimsical, interpretations. 2 o 24 25 * TINI, Y I. I 2 of God, which t PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR TIMOTH Y. Christ, and the elect angels, (who, having kept their stations, when so many of their fel- and the electanggis, that thou lows were seduced by Satan, are now confirmed in a state of Immutable felicity, and shall jº attend our common Lord to the awful judgment of the great day,) that thout keep these §§§" things without any prejudice against any part of them; doing nothing by partiality, in favour - of one person more than another, according to the inducement of private friendship or affection. And as it is a matter of so great importance to the christian church what per- 22 Lay hands suddenly on sons are admitted to minister in it, I must also charge thee, that thou lay hands suddenly ºf and rashly on no man,” to set him apart for that sacred trust, before his character and self puré. S Slas . Keep t lay qualifications have been fully examined and thoroughly approved. Veither make thyself partaker in the sins of others, as thou wilt certainly do if thou art the means of bringing those that thou mightest have discovered to be unworthy men, into the ministry; whoma have much greater opportunities of doing mischief, in consequence of their bearing such 3 an office, and may give great scandai, and lead many others astray. Therefore keep thyself, 33 Drink, no longer water, y Ye * • 4-5 * * * ...] : º * * : * * t Sö 8. * t * • pure from such pollutions, as well as all others, by guarding against the first occasion of º 'º, “..."º. them. A recollection of the difficulty of thy work, and what I know of the tenderness of oſten infirmities, thy constitution and thy great abstinence, engage me to caution thee that thou do not con- fine thyself any longer to drink water alone, but use a little wine mingled with it, for the sake qf thy stomach, which needs to be strengthened by that more generous liquorin a moderate quantity; and out of regard to thy frequent infirmities, which otherwise may grow upon thee, so as to render thee incapable of that public service for which thou art so well quali- fied.h º In judging of characters, and passing sentence according to the advice given above, you 24 some, men's sins are will find it necessary in different cases to use different precautions. The sins of some men ºf"...”. are manifest, leading on to pass judginent on them without any difficulty; whereas some they follow after. follow (ſter, and are so artfully disguised, that it will require great diligence and strict examination to detect thern. So also the good works [of some] are manifest to all, and .25. Likewise also the good spread a kind of glory around those that perform them, which renders them lovely and .º.º.º. venerable in all eyes; and those which are otherwise, though for a while concealed under otherwise cannot be hid, the thickest veils that humility can spread over them, cannot long be entirely hid. They will appear on accurate observation; and as they will at the last day be laid open to their public honour, they will in the mean time recommend such silent and reserved christians to the esteem and respect of those who are intimately conversant with them; and may cven prove the means of advancing them to some important trusts, which they are not the less fit for, because they have so low an opinion of their own merit. I shall only here add a word or two concerning servants, whom, inferior as their station 1 Tim. vi. 1. Let as many in life is, I would not have you overlook; singe, their souls are equally valuable before jº God with those of their superiors, and much of the credit of christianity is concerned in thy of aſ honour, that the their conduct and behaviour. Let therefore as many servants as are under the yoke of tº doctrinº bondage, account their own masters worthy of all that civil honour and respect which suits the station in which they respectively are ; not taking occasion, from their own religious knowledge and privileges, to despise and rebel against them; that the name and doctrine i. profess, may not be blasphemed by their insolence and pride. .ind as nº.''}; fl. . for those servants who are so happy as to have believing masters, let them not presume upon jeºsºthº that account to despise [them] because they are brethren, and with respect to sacred privil lºgº; leges equal in Christ their common Lord ; but let them rather serve ſºn Wltil SO Inu Ch fºliº, ºl; parta- the greater care, tenderness, and respect, because they are faithful and beloved, [and] par- “” of the De ſle fit. takers with them of the great and glorious bengfiti which the gospel brings to all, its, faith- ful professors, of whatsoever rank or profession in life. And let the thought of the degree in which they share the favour of God, the tender bond in which as fellow-christians they are joined, and the hope of partaking with them in all the final blessings of a happy immortality, while it engages their servants to behave towards them in a becoming man- ner, teach the masters duly to condescend to them, and treat them, not only with justice, but with kindness. * - IMPROVEMENT. The regards here required to the elders who preside well, and who labour in the word and doctrine, are in Ver. If themselves so reasonable, that where the other duties of christianity are attended to, and the º bless. 19 ings of it duly apprehended and esteemed, there will be no need of insisting largely upon them. To be cautious f The electangels.] Mr. Joseph Mede interprets this of the seren arch- temperate Timothy must hº been, to jº * sº hiº: onzalºosen by Go to use greatest tearness to him, and highest isotº-u ş W High ſºunts to º, tº than miºlinº Itt % "...it. the inºliº jº º court of heaven. But all his arguments to prove that there, is sºck And Whºt is said of his migny infirmitics, ºmpºſed.) à. may º, ity ~~! aw - * > . . . . . . ; ; ; ; ; ; , , ; , ; , ; , , , o ºf -. ; ºf . , , ; ; , , , , , , , reti .* : X | : (); tºi i I ( o jiim to be irºsła/ºt in Pºcºtching tº € W Orºl, hit M ge tº 15 ly a nºr of cºieştial spirits, in such posts of distinctival, appeared to intº ºxlº tº ign (9 9 pe tº Šliºn lion is not to be a cºtti’s cººl in so fºrecarious, thitt I rathcſ close 19 exp}: in the wor:is in a more gencral teach us, that every weakness of º ls §§ to tº sire great njiūnāner, on principles which I think much more certºlin. s aiºdºse for º: º §:"...i º ãºi'iº jºy g Lay hands suddenly and Fash;y..] That this is, the signification of §.'"; h ...hiº'ºpºs of public labour. Sir X: +axº, ſtºphet; as has stifficiently shown. Though some have referred jº.cº.il. º: i.e. colºnexion is so broken between the ºi this to the laying on of bands in the absolution of notorions ºffenders, it and 24th verses, by tºe insertion of this advice in this place, cotijºº ºliº sºns ºf Faminor mºtºral to explain it of ordinatiºn to the initistri i ...tº jºie'ſ in the margin by way of pºstscript. ººl, ºt in reference to which this rite is often alºuded to in these Eºisties. |t it was introduced into the text by the mistake of Soune early fi : ºn- has been said by one of the most rational and cºntijd patrons of ſiloºsº scriber. f ºpiscopacy, “What need was there that, after the settlement of a clºſiº. "i" ºr takers with them of the benefit..] Some would render ºf 70s tiºn chºrºſ, at Eºhºsus, 'i'imothy should be sent to ordain ºlders, if it * , 1 tº fº y, k" fºr 7tt)\apſ3ayouevot, &c. because they who partake &f the herefº, right º;"| lay in º: .." R}. º º º i.º. §§ j service, are faithful and belarcó. Bº t} is pastoral office º Especif:liy, how should he, O in th IS Supposillo"); } - “. . . . - • * * * * * * * : * , * s xhorted to was a ready . ſo ºfform it him ºff,' and not mºrejy to advise and assist others sº take it for sº Yº...!!!. Others, jà ſhe pººrajance? Bishop of Winchester, (Dr. Hoadly,) Q/ EPä. actually done ; that '. that such altºruſ; §i) would translate i ºf 1','º','º','... tºº." . . . . . * * is ; , , ºr a ** r * r * * * * * as jr. Cradock has observcd, (Apost. Hist. p. 223;). Yºu!!!º'" p. 392. But f must beg leave to answer, that, this does not ºppº '9 bº *.*., ;-c ful t āpºnso ific well-doing of their scrgan's 5, but time º rºom f º: being sent tºº. º; #(ºft#iff cºnferred, and the reſore is hardly there, whº n, Paul went into \laceion 13. hap. 1-3:le. Yaºs º- ºśss even the cheerful and exact obedience of slaves. If this sºcºs ºf this church might rºuire that a person of Tiſpothy's extraor, fit to expres; º t i. Yeerº, is, and the whole be rendered, bitt rather dinary gifts and character should be left to superintend their àffairs; and glause be º º }} j that is wię have a share in the same it ºpt reasonaji. The taken for granted, that, as, he was theſ? by the let then pho partake aſ the beingſ, do Sy rvice to them, because thcy grº jºs's jºiºirection, so much regard would be paid to him, that blessed hope with their mastº Sg 3. A rºt & wil i. "...i H. º i."pºsiºn ºil sacred solemnities, in the faithful and beloved, the sensº V, ill be so º º 㺠sºme manner as Patil had done when among them. But that no elder signify that great and glºrious benefit sº y .* ãº. * § could at any time be ordained without the présence and cºenº. profession, superiors and inferiors equa #; j 'ld i. aii #on provº. sºft an extraordinary person, and that such an extraordiº. Pººr what a band of union the º § it. S º \necessary, so that and influence should afterwards be transferred to others not in like man. But this supposes, a transposition wnſ: º: º: &ámºſ &l Her qualified for the manºmº of it, are things neither egsy to be this is on the whole one of the §ºf § S \º #: in §r own, which proved, nor rashly to be taken for granted, on a question of so great yariety of versions, we have been O * to B.C. §e ; s tº true sense anonment. s in the main a very #;"; and generally, give le y I - f i. ſ. a little wine, &c.) One cannot forbear reflecting here, bow very though the elegance and spirit of it may often be improved. THE NECESSITY OF PRACTICAL GODLINESS. 7(7 is what we owe to ourselves as well as them, since our SECT- how we lightly believe any report to the injury of such, S own improvement, by their ministration, will be greatly obstructed by any prejudices taken against their .. Let the ministers of the gospel remember how much it is their duty to appear strenuously in defence º le, Master's precepts, and to reprove bold and insolent offenders, in whatsoever. rank they may stand. An *: riches and power, and greatness of station, should obstruct their faithful execution of this office, let them thin . fº. the solemn charge they have received before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, and of t º appearance which they and their people must make before the awful tribunal of Christ, when he shall come in his own glory and that of his Father, and attended by all his holy angels. The frequent consideration of that impor- tant day would have a uniform influence on the whole of their conduct; it would particularly make them careful 22 that they do not contract pollutions, and make themselves partakers in other men's sins, by laying hands suddenly 2-d on any; but use a proper care in examining, that in the great business of ordination they may act ºn the con. viction of their consciences in the sight of God, and maintain an unbiassed regard to the honour of the great , Redeemer and the salvation of souls.” Yet let them still be severer towards themselves than others, and maintain * that strict temperance and self-government in every respect, which may become the dignity of their characters, and command the reverence of all about them. - - Let us all endeavour to be shining examples of good works; and while so many declare their sins openly, and ** send them, as it were, before them to judgment, let us never be ashamed of religion. Yet where a modest reserve may be conveniently maintained, let us study it, and always avoid an unnecessary ostentation, as remembering ... the time will come when those good works which have been most solicitously concealed from the eyes of men, 2%. will be publicly honoured and rewarded by God. In expectation of that day, letus all attend to our proper offices, 1, ..." whether in superior or inferior stations of life, studying so to behave as that the name and doctrine of God may ‘’ never be blasphemed upon our account, and always feeling the force of that endearing engagement to all social duties, yº arises from our sharing with all true christians in the favour of God, and in the blessings and hopes of his gospel. 1 THM. 21 SECTION IX. The apostle presses Timothy to urge on his hearers the great things which relate to practical godliness, as what will be attended with the happicst consequences; and cautions against covetousness, as the root of all evil. 2–12 1 Tim. vi. 2–12. 1 TIMOTHY vi. 2. THESE things which I have been mentioning, take care, O Timothy, to teach and echort SECT. thine hearers always to maintain a due regard to them. And if any one teach otherwise, 9. if he attempt to broach principles contrary to these great maxims, and attend not” to such sound and wholesome words, ſeven] to those of our Lord Jesus Christ,b as these may with 1 TIM. strict propriety be called, and which express the doctrine [that is] agreeable and subservient s \". to the great cause of practical godliness, which it is the declared design of the gospel to promote in the world: Whatever fair shows of simplicity and humility he may affect, he is 4 certainly proud, and, whatever conceit he may have of his superior knowledge, he is one who knows nothing to any good purpose; but, like a man raving and delirious in a fever, he runs on, declaiming on idle questions,” and useless debates about words; from whence no good can be expected to arise, but, on the contrary, a great variety of mischief, cnvy- ing of those more regarded than themselves, contention with others who will not submis- sively yield to what such self-sufficient teachers dictate, abusive language, which their intemperate zeal deals round to all who offend them, and evil suspicions, and obnoxious representations of the worthiest and most amiable characters: Angry debates of men whose 5 minds are corrupted and averse from the truth, for which they pretend so eagerly to plead; while they seem to suppose that which promises the largest quantity of gain to be most worthy of their pursuit; and would, if possible, warnish it over with the venerable name of godliness. Turn away therefore from such, and have no intimacy with them. Whereas, on 6 the contrary, if any man will but have the integrity and resolution to follow true religion, wherever it leads him, he will certainly find that godliness, which is so naturally accorn- panied with inward contentmentd and peace of mind, in every circumstance of life which providence may appoint, is indeed great gain ; and does much more to promote real hap- piness than any accession of wealth could possibly do. And it is the truest wisdom to 7 accustom our minds to such reflections as these ; for we brought nothing into the world along with us, but were thrown naked upon the indulgent provision which our gracious Creator has been pleased to make for us; [and it is] evident that, whatever treasures the most insatiable avarice could amass, we cannot carry any thing out of it, but must in a little time return to the dust, stripped of all. Having therefore, while we continue in this S transitory and uncertain life, food and raiment, and having the other necessaries of it, let us be content with these, and not seek, with restless earnestness and solicitude, the great things of it, which are often of so short a continuance, and of so precarious as well as so unsatisfying a nature. With these sentiments we may enjoy what happiness is to be 9 expected in a world like this; but they who are determined that at all adventures they will be rich, fall headlong into many a dańgerous temptation and many a fatal snare, and [into] many foolish and mischievous desires, which not only sink men beneath the dignity of their nature, but prove the occasion of much further mischief; insomuch that they frequently plunge men into an irrecoverable abyss of ruin and destruction, in which they lose their lº.º.º.º.º. ºey worldly possessions, and what is infinitely more valuable, their souls too. For the excessive 10 is the root of all evil : which * º -> wº e * - While "sº coºl ºf love of money is the root of all moral evil, which some having greedily desired, have so 1 TIM. vi. 2. THESE things teach and exhort. 3 If any man teach other- wise, and consent not to wholesome words, cren the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godli- In CSS ; 4 He is proud, knowing no- thing, but doting about ques- tions and strifes of words, whereof cometh enyy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, sup- posing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. 6 But godliness with con- tentment is great gain. . 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is cer- tain We can carry nothing Ollt. 8 And having food and rai- ment let us be there with COntent. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a Suare, and into many foolish and hurtful , lusts, which dro yn men in destruction and perdition. a Altend not..] I think it is with great reason that the learned Dr. Bentley supposes that the original reading was notºpogspxcrat, which is seldom used in this sense, but Tpog.sys Tat, or rathér Tøgºszct, which bas, been thus used in this Epistle, chap. i. 4. See Phil. Lips. Against Cell. p. 72, 73. - b. Words of our Lord Jesus Christ.] I neither suppose, with Mr. Pyle, that this refers to Matt. xxi. 27. and the many parallel places, nor with others, to any sayings of our Lord’s W.; tradition had as yet continued, but which are now lost. It seems much more natural to con- clude it goes on this important principle, that what the apostle wrote, as § divine direction, was in effect the words and commandments of Christ. ompare I Cor. xiv. 37. - - c Raving on questions, &c.] It is so well known that vocov signifies a person in a distelºpered state, that it hardly required the pains which Dr. Abraham Taylor has taken to prove it, by a large collection of authorities. , Bishop Wilkins would render it, he is sick of questigms, or of the idrangling disease, with which it is much to be lamented that the christian, clerky, as well as laity, have so generally been infected, in almost all ages and nations. Wilk. Serm. p. 73. The word here seems to express the effect of a disease upon the mind, in which view, raving appeared a more proper word than doting. d With contentment.] Diodati thinks avrapkºta here signifies a com- petency but it gives a much nobler sense to suppose the apostle to inti- mute, that contentinent will attend godliness, as its inseparable compa- nion ; and consequently that the godly man will be happy, whatever his Girº unstances in life may be, and eyen much more so than any accumu- lation of worldly wealth can make him. 768 A SOLEMN CHARGE TO FIDELITY-IN THE MINISTRY. SECT. debauched their minds with corrupt prejudices, that they have wandered from the faith, so they have erred from the 9. as to abandon, the very profession of the gospel; and while they were dreaming only of flºº. the pleasurable consequences that would attend their more exalted circumstances in irough with many sorrows. 1 TAT. human life, have pierced themselves through with many sorrows, and felt long and incurable "to pains, by the numerous wounds they have given to their own consciences, as it were on every side.* 11 But thou, O man of God, whom he hath honoured as he did the prophets of old, making , 11 But thou, o man of God, thee his messenger to thy fellow-creatures, shun these things; these insatiable desires of flº"...º.º. º.º. worldly possessions and enjoyments, which will render thee most unfit for so sacred an ness, faith, love, ºatãº, office; and pursue, as the richest prize and the noblest gain, the practice of universal right- meekness. eousness towards men, and piety towards God, fidelity in every branch of trust committed to thee, love to all mankind, patience under every affliction, and meekness under every provo- 12 cation. Maintain, in the most strenuous manner, and with all the force thy soul can exert, , 12 Fight the good fight of the good, noble, and glorious combat of faith;f lay hold on the prize of eternal life: and let º none, how violently soever they may assault thee, wrest it out of thine hands: even that §.ºś life, to the hope of which thou hast been solemnly called, and in pursuance of it hast confessed ...”.” ” " a good, fair, and worthy confession before many witnesses, who were present on that solemn day when thou wert given up to the full exercise of the ministry. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 10 IF we do indeed believe the love of money to be the root of all evil, let us set ourselves seriously to extirpate it 6 out of our bosoms, and to imbibe this true philosophy of the apostle, to seek our gain in that godliness on which 8 contentment waits, and which makes its disciples happy on the easiest terms, by moderating their desires. Food and raiment of one kind or another few want. But where there is real necessity, and has been a care to behave well, if a man’s own stock be deficient, he is generally supplied from the charity of others; and true piety and greatness of mind can enjoy the gift of Providence on these terms without repining, being truly sensible how little, even the best, amidst so many imperfections and miscarriages, can deserve to receive any thing from God by the instrumentality of any creature. To this day do we see such facts as taught the apostle these useful remarks, independent on those miraculous 7 influences by which he was guided, in things spiritual and evangelical, . As we see the new-born race of human creatures rising naked into life, we see death stripping the rich, the noble, and the powerful, and returning them naked to the dust. In the mean time, while we may observe many in lower circumstances cheerful and thankful, we see those who are determined on being rich, falling into temptations and snares. We see them piercing themselves through with many sorrows, and plunging themselves into irrecoverable ruin and destruction, while they pursue to the utmost verge of the fatal precipice, those shadowy phantoms which owe all their semblance of reality to the magic of those passions which riches or the desires of them have excited. Happy would it be for the church of Christ, if these important doctrines of practical religion were more incul- cated, and less of the zeal of its teachers spent in discussing vain questions and intricate strifes about words, which have been productive of so much envy and contention, obloquy and suspicion. Let the men of God, therefore, inculcate righteousness and faith, piety and charity, patience and meekness, and let them endeavour to render their lessons successful, by a care themselves to pursue these graces; to exercise themselves more strenuously in that noble and generous conflict to which they are called, so as to lay hold on the crown of eternal life, and to retain it against the most powerful antagonist. These are the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, even these doctrines according to godliness; and the minister who will be wise enough to preach and act upon these principles, will raise the most lasting character, and secure the most valuable reward. ; : SECTION X. . The apostle concludes with a solemn º to fidelity in the ministry, and particularly urges Timothy to inculcate º those that were rich such exhortations and cautions as their peculiar circumstances required. 1 Tim. vi. 13, to the end. I TIMOTHY vi. 13. 1 TUM. vi. 13. sEcT. AND now to conclude: I solemnly charge thee, as in the presence of God, who, by his I. Gºłº i., § 10, continual energy, animates and quickens all things” in the whole compass of the creation, i #.”..."...}. §: _* and at his sovereign pleasure revives the dead; and in the presence of Christ Jesus, who, #; ...º...". | Tºt, when he was examined before Pontius Pilate, witnessed, at the apparent hazard of his life, ſººn. b. vi... a good confession, in declaring himself to be indeed a king, though he, knew how liable - - 14 that declaration was to a most unjust and pernicious interpretation; In this august presence cºnjºid;'s; do I charge thee, O Timothy, to keep [this] commandment which I have now given thee, º, until the 'ap. in all its branches, and to deliver it down to those who may succeed thee, unspotted and gº of our Lord Jesus iiameless, that it may shine with uncorrupted lustre through all future ages, evºn till the 71, ol, in la is ti appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which, in his own appointed times, he shall manifest sººi iſ ºne most wºul and conspicuous manner, [who is] the blessed and indeed the only Potel ºil. tale, before whom no other name or power is Worthy of being mentioned. He . with of kings, and Lord of lords; the strictest propriety be spoken of by that title, by which other princes have vainly and blasphemously affected to be called, the King ºf kings and Lord of lords, who hath the fates and'ſſives of all the monarchs on earth entirely in his hands, and can dispose of them all 16 according to his sovereign pleasure: Even he, who alone hath immortality in himself; so 16 who only hath immorta- I 5 o Pierced themselves through..] I have endº º º § º often º º º 㺠ºº. º, 8.º -v ºf ww.” -- : , ; S. . . . . . . . . ~~; i ºr in , * a- ºr hich vot is ū Ul It Of It, Ot - .* .1 clit- ..o.º.ot jº, it in the version) to give something of the empha- which yet, is not tº º 2 º' * -> -- §º iº ind other critics have observed in the word Tep teſs pav, uſages, which want words exactly correspondent to the ancient original. *...* * * t-3 - - * * ºn Ser7 270. e rhich. W G : yerly signifies, they have stabbed themselves, as arººn: P. in or Thi y • ar }. º ſº. §, as "to be aii covered with wº unds. And hº º; Tº .."; hº this indeed happily expresses the innumerable outrages done to Con- - 2. Lºs - God, who raised up - r w . c. 4 x t . - *. no ri is "ife to the honour of his profession, - jºnº by thºadmen who have taken up this fata resolution, that º; tº dºd, was equally able to, raise him. And this is most jºº will, at all adventures, be rich. - * tºº, #. jºb ii., §c.) These and the following words are fully expressed and urged, 2. º 8, ; to John xviii. 37. Christ's ilāīāīºritical, and refer to the eagerness, with which they who con- b Witnessed a good confessiºn.] l his re º O : . º teå upon oath §§ jºian games struggled for and laid hold upon the §§ §ſº Pº º * #}}''..."...".”. but º: e to which the presence of many spectators, or (as the (Matt. xxvi; 63, 64. Alºkº.º.º.º. - , nin or hi ‘....”... . :*::::::::: speaks) the dº of .."; *::: sº }. their º Pilate was º: §, §. !; s." º #: nº § - .r’i. it might perhaps more literally be rendºred, ſº erº; the Qply pretension thº º :*, * >> §º that f àºcism which the Énglish language will the Roman governor, who i †: º, power º .* *śr t” onveniently allow ; nor does the word exercise by any means express John xix. 10. It is perhaps 93 le ". º ; In O º as in itse !. §. of ayāyā, ºhich aiways supposes an opponent to be resisted, noble and generoº as a]] our hopes of salvation and happiness are as combat also does. The learned ir, Lardner very justly observes, built upon the truth of it. A SOLEMN CHARGE TO FIDELITY IN THE MINISTRY. 769 tº ºf that all kinds and degrees of life in others are derived from him, and continually depend-SECT. Jº Whº."moºn."had ent upon him, according to the orders issued from that throne on which he sits supreme, 10. ;"|..*.*.*.*.* inhabiting inaccessible light; whom no man hath ever seen in the full display of his glory, be honour, and power ever - g º,”“s”,” . - - - 82 lasting. Amen. nor indeed can see, without being immediately overwhelmed with the first glance of it : to 1 TIM. whom ſº honour and everlasting dominion ascribed by us, and by all his creatures through 1 g". eternal ages. Amen. 17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; One further instruction I have to give thee, which I shall here add by way of º; 17 here are indeed few of those who are rich in this present world” that embrace the gospel, or will have any regard for the instructions of its ministers. But as it is probable that some such may be found in so opulent a city as that of Ephesus, in which thou now residest, and as my own labours there have succeeded with some few in this rank of men, remember that their character and behaviour is of peculiar moment. Do not therefore flatter them, but faithfully charge them to behave in a manner suitable to their distinguished station, and to guard against the snares to which it exposes them; particularly urge it upon them, that they be not high-minded, so as to despise their inferiors, who often are in the sight of God much wiser and better than themselves: and that they do not trust in uncertain riches, of which a thousand accidents may immediately deprive them, but in the living God, whose favour will be a sure and eternal portion to all that are possessed of it; even in that gracious Being, who imparts to us all thing 3 richly for our enjoyment, and who has 18 That they do good, that so liberally distinguished them by the communications of his bounty. Charge it upon 18 ::...'. iº; them, that, in proportion to the abundance God has given them, they do good, that they be ; vy- sº - - - º ſº e e - º - communicate ; - rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute what Providence hath lodged in their ..º.º.º.º.º. hands, and willing to communicated what they have so freely received: Thereby treasuring 19 º up to themselves a good foundation against the future; that they may, through the riches of #y may lay hold on eternal divine grace, lay hold on eternal life, when they relinquish all their possessions here, and e find every temporal enjoyment deserting them for ever. 29 O Timothy, keep that To conclude all: O my beloved Timothy, as thou valuest thine own soul, and desirest 20 wº Joãº"; % to give up thine account with joy, keep that gospel which is lodged with thee, as a sacred ... º.º.º.o. trust, and never suffer it to be wrested out of thy hands. Let thy very soul dwell upon it, ions of science falsely so • e - * = ºr w º called: avoiding pº [and] empty babblings, and the opposition of that which is falsely called n.Whº ºil: knowledge, but is indeed ignorange, pride, and folly: Which some '. professed to pur– 21 ave erred concerning , the * - g a. ~~ 1-> - É."&cº"th. Sue, have fatally wandered from the christian faith, some entirely forsaking it, and others Amen. corrupting it with such adulterations, that it is hardly to be known for that religion which came immediately out of the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that thou mayst ever *: such false teachers with integrity, courage, and success, may the grace of Christ [be] ever with thee in all things, to guide thy judgment and thy conduct. Amen. IMPROVEMENT. OH that we might often be setting ourselves as in the presence of God, the great and blessed God, whose Ver. 13 almighty power quickeneth all things, and is the life of universal nature, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead! Let the thoughts of so august a presence awaken our souls to diligence in the discharge of our duty, and let it animate us with courage to witness a good confession, to whatever inconvenience and danger it may expose us. Never let us forget that appearance which he shall manifest, to whom all these sublime titles belong, even that blessed and only Potentate, before whom all the lustre of all the princes upon 15 earth vanishes in a moment, like that of the smallest stars before the rising sun: the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone hath immortality, and dwelleth in unapproachable light. How astonishing his goodness in veil– 16 ing his glory, so that we may approach him, in bowing down his ear to receive our requests, yea, in coming to dwell with that man who is humble and of a contrite spirit, and who trembleth at his word ' (Isa. lxvi. 2.) To him be honour and power everlasting. And let his infinite majesty be deeply and affectionately remembered amidst all the condescensions of his love. Let the rich in this world, since the riches which here distinguish them cannot attend them into another, be 17 engaged to receive with all reverence the charge of our holy apostle. Too many of them walk in pride; but they see by the sepulchres of many once as opulent and as haughty as themselves, and by a thousand other marks of the divine power and human weakness, how soon God is able to abase them. (Dan. iv. 37.) Forsaking, there- fore, what they think their strong tower, and the high wall, which, instead of sheltering, may soon crush them into ruins, let them transfer their confidence to the living God. Alarmed in a state which renders their salvation almost as difficult as it is for a camel to go through a needle's eye, let them learn from hence how to improve what is another's in such a manner, that they may in due time receive what shall be for ever their own. (Luke xvi. 12.) Let them learn to be rich in good works, and, by a readiness to distribute and communicate, let them lay up a 18 celestial treasure, and drop with joy every gilded trifle which would hinder their laying hold on eternal life. É. 19 the ministers of that great Lord who is so much higher than all the kings of the earth, at least show their fidelity to him, in giving such plain and faithful charges, even to those who, by their outward circumstances, are placed in the highest ranks of life; being infinitely more solicitous about securing their Master's approbation than gain- ing the favour of mortal worms, who lift up their heads on high, because they have a few grains of shining dust at their disposal. And may the men of God manifest the like wise and pious magnanimity, in avoiding the vain 20, glitter of a falsely pretended science, when it would either lead them to err from tfie faith, or to neglect those im- portant articles of it which lie most plain and obvious in the word of God; and for that very reason are too often disregarded by those whom an empty ostentation of subtilty and learning has taught to treat the divine wisdom of God as º, - 21 c Rich in this world.], "l'his clause seems to be added to extenuate the value of riches, which extend only to this transitory and precarious *Corld, and can neither attend us into the other, nor at all inſiuence our hºpº, - - - - - - - Rich in gaod works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.] If these phrases have anything of a different signification, perhaps it may be, as Archbishop Sharpe explains it: Let them endeavour in the gene- ral to do good, not only now and then, in some scanty proportion, but frequently, constantly, and abundantly not only with their time, labour, and interest, but by distributing of their substance too; and this as freely as if it were a common stock to which all had a right. , Archbishop Sharpe’s Serm. vol. i. p. 136. Yet these expressions clearly show, that there was not a community of goods among christians in general, for in that case there could have been no room for the exhortation, and the distinction on which it is founded. - - - - e Falsely called knowledge.] Though it is not certain that the name of gnostics, or the knowing men, was so º used to denominate a dis- tinct sect, yet, it is highly probable that they wh9 opposed the apostle made extraordinary pretences to knowledge; and this text seems sufficient to prove it, THE F A M I L Y E x P os I To R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES , ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. IT is uncertain where Timothy was when he received this Epistle. Some have supposed he must have been at Ephesus; but their arguments in support of that opinion seem inconclusive, as Mr. Boyse has well observed. And indeed it does not seem very easy to reconcile this supposition with the apostle's charge, (chap. iv. 13.) to bring with him the books and parchments he had left at Troas, that city lying so far out of his way from Ephesus to Rome, especially as he had ex- pressed a desire of seeing him as soon as possible. And if it should be pleaded that the things he sent for might not then be at Troas but at some other place that might lie in his way, it is sufficient to answer, that it would, in that case, have been more to Paul's purpose to have directed Timothy where to have found them, than to inform him where they were first left.—To which may be added, that if Timothy had been at Ephesus when this Epistle was written, the apostle, would hardly have said, “Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus,” (chap. iv. 12.) but rather, “Tychicus have I sent to 1/Ou. #. this Epistle was written while Paul was under confinement at Rome, is universally agreed; but whether it was during his first or second imprisonment, has been matter of debate. ... Several learned writers, among whom are Ham- mond, Lightfoot, and Cave, have maintained the former opinion; while others have argued in favour of the latter, from chap. i. 18, where Paul, speaking of Onesiphorus, says, he sought him diligently at Rome; which they apprehend im- plies, that the apostle was kept under so close a confinement at this time, that few knew where he was to be found; whereas in that imprisonment of which Luke gives an account in the conclusion of his history, we are told, He dwelt in a hired house, receiving all that came to him. (Acts xxviii. 30.) But the strongest argument in support of this opinion is drawn from chap. iv.; 6... I am now just ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. From whence it has been inferred, that Paul, when he wrote this, was in immediate expectation of death, in consequence of Nero's menaces, or of some express revelation from Christ: (which some have thought Peter also had a little before his martyrdom, 2 Pet. i. 14.). Yet the directions he afterwards gives, plainly show he had some expectations of living a while longer. Else it is difficult to say why he should so much urge #. to give diligence to come to him, (ver. 21.) or press His care of the cloak, books, and parchments, mentioned ver. 13. Though, after all, these words must, I think, express an apprehension that his life and ministry were drawing towards a close: which is yet further confirmed by observing, that whereas in his former imprisonment the apostle had often expressed his persuasion of being released and seeing his christian friends again, he gives no hint in this Epistle of any such expectation, but seems to intimate the contrary, (ver. 18.) by expressing his confidence, not that he should be again rescued from his enemy, as he had been upon making his first "...; but that God would deliver him from every evil work, and preserve him to his heavenly kingdom.—Upon the whole, therefore, Icon- clude that this Epistle was written some time towards the close of Paul's second imprisonment, and consequently about the year of our Lord 66 or 67, and in the 13th of the Emperor Nero. (See note g, p. 492.) * w The apostle seems to have intended in this Epistle to prepare Timothy for those sufferings to which he foresaw he would be exposed; to forewarn him of the fatal apostasy and declension that was beginning to appear in the church; and at the same time to animate him, from his own example and the great motives of christianity, to the most vigorous and resolute discharge of every part of the ministerial office. g & s s & In pursuance of this general design, the apostle, after his usual salutation, begins with assuring Timothy of his most affectionate remembrance, and his earnest desire to see him, expressing his satisfaction in those marks of sincere faith which appeared in him, as well as in his pious ancestors. He then takes occasion, from his own snffering, to excite him to a becoming fortitude and resolution in the christian cause ; and represents in a strong light the excellence of that gospel which he was appointed to preach, and on which he placed an entire dependence... (Chap. i. 1–12.) The apostle, bein firmly persuaded of the truth and importance of those doctrines which he had so often inculcated upon his beloved pupil, exhorts him strenuously to retain them in the midst of all discouragements and opposition, and to go through the duties of his ministerial work with the utmost diligence and constancy, in dependence on the grace of God; mentioning at the same time the treachery of several Asiatics, and acknowledging with the warmest gratitude the extraordinary fidelity and zeal of Onesiphorus. (Ver. 13. ii. 1–7.) And in order yet more effectually to fortif Timothy against the difficulties he might be called to encounter, he lays open the motives and hopes by which he himself was supported under the sufferings he bore in defence of the gospel; assuring him, that those who suffered with Christ should also be glorified with him. To this he adds some directions in relation to his ministry; advising him, in particular, to avoid and discourage all those empty harangues and idle controversies which only served to confound the mind, and by which some had been seduced A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 771 from the purity of the christian faith. (Ver. 8–18.) The apostle then takes occasion, from a general view of the great design and tendency of the gospel, to urge the necessity of j in all christians, and especially in ministers; and re- commends to the latter the utmost gentleness and meekness, in their attempts to recover sinners from the miserable con- dition into which they were fallen. (Ver. 19, to the º: to make him more sensible of the importance of exerting himself in order to maintain the purity and honour of religion, he assures him that a great declension and apostasy was to prevail in the christian world, and that false teachers were rising up in it, by whose wicked artifices many weak per- sons were deceived and led astray; reminding him at the same time of that patience and fortitude which he had seen him discover amidst the severest persecutions. (Chap. iii. 1–13.) To guard Timothy against these seducers, and to preserve the church from their fatal influence, Paul recommends to him the study of the Scriptures as of the utmost in- portance to all the purposes of christian edification; and charges him in a solemn manner to use the utmost diligence in all the parts of his ministerial work; declaring at the same time, for his encouragement, the satisfaction with which he reflected on his own fidelity in the nearest views of martyrdom for the truth. (Ver. 14. iv. 1–8.) The apostle concludes this Epistle with requesting Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, in order to assist and comfort him under, the unworthy treatment he had met with from some of his christian brethren; giving him an account of the manner in which he had, in his late appearance before the heathen magistrate at Rome, been deserted by men, but supported by Christ; and having º his cheerful confidence that he should be safely conducted to the presence of his Lord, he adds some particular salutations, and closes with his usual benediction. (Ver. 9, to the end of the Epistle.) Whoever reads over this Epistle with that attention it deserves, and considers the circumstance in which it was written, will be sensible that it affords a very strong argument in favour of christianity.—The apostle had been for some time under close confinement at Rome, at the mercy of a cruel and capricious tyrant. He had seen himself deserted by his friends in his greatest extremity; and had nothing before him but the certain prospect of being called to suffer death in the same cause to which he had devoted his life.—In this situation how does he behave 2 Does he seem to look back with concern on his past conduct, or to regret the sacrifice he had made of all his worldly interests? Can we discover any thing that betrays a secret consciousness of guilt, or even a suspicion of the weakness of his cause P Nay, does he drop a single expression that can be interpreted as a mark of fear, or discomposure of mind, in the apprehension of those gloomy scenes that lay before him 2 Surély if he had been an impostor, or had entertained the least doubt of the doc- trines he taught, something of this kind must have escaped him when writing to so intimate a friend, with whom he could intrust all the secrets of his breast.—On the contrary, upon the most calm and deliberate survey, he expresses an entire satisfaction in reflecting on the part he had acted; and earnestly recommends it to his beloved pupil, to follow his ex- ample in maintaining the glorious cause, even at the hazard of his life. He appears throughout his Epistle to have felt a strong inward conviction of the truth of those principles he had embraced, and glories in the sufferings he endured in sup- port of them; triumphing in the full assurance of being approved by his great Master, and of receiving at his hands a crown of distinguished lustre. A behaviour like this, in one who had so considerable a share in establishing the christian religion, and expected in a short time to seal his testimony to it with his blood, must be allowed a strong confirmation of the truth of those facts on which our faith depends. It is at least a convincing proof that the apostle was himself sincere in what he professed to believe: and when the several circumstances of his history are considered and impartially weighed, it will appear as evident that he could not possibly be deceived, and consequently that his testimony is to be admitted in its full force. THE APOSTLE BEGINS HIS SECT. I PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, ( 1. — the service of the gospel, 2 TJM. Christ Jesus, and b 1. A * P A R A PHRASE AND NOTES ON THE SECOND EPHSTLE TO TIMOTHY. SECTION I. GENERAf, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS of His joy in Aït Djºsëf tºpóS. # ºp” tºº. . . . " 2 ºve, UPON, 2 TIMOTHY i, WER. 1. whose eternal counsels, with reference to me, were manifested in that wonderful manner in which I was set apart for wº º the promise of eternal life, which is given us in which I am animated in all my labours and sufferings,) Send this imothy [my] beloved son ; whose humble and faithful services in the ospel I have so long proved, and whom I love with the affection of a father. Nor can express this affection better than by wishing, as I most sincerely do, that grace, mercy, and peace may attend thee, from God, the gracious and merciful Father of aii true be: lievers, and from Christ Jesus, his Son and our Lord, who is also our Peace. - I give thanks unto this blessed God, whom I serve, after the example of [my] pious togenitors, with a pure conscience, that, through his goodness, laying the case upon my eart, I am incessantly mindful of thee in my prayers might and day, so that I scarce ever rise up in the morning, or lie down in the evening, without allowing thee a share in m 4 devout remembrance; Desiring earnestly to see thee, as I am mindful of thy tears, whic flowed so plentifully at our last separation, that I might be filled with joy in an interview 5 with so dear and amiable a friend. And indeed thou hast, as it were, an hereditary title to my regard, as I also keep in remembrance the undissembled faith which is in thee, and which first dwelt in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, who believed in Christ before thee, and have been happily instrumental in communicating to thy heart, those good impressions which they felt on their own ; and I am persuaded that [it is] in thee 6 too, and that thou still retainest it in the midst of all opposition: For which cause, I am the more encouraged to remind thee of stirring up the gift of God” which is in thee by the imposition of my hands; whereby those miraculous communications of the Spirit were imparted to thee, which it will be thy duty to cherish, by frequently engaging in those devotional exercises and active services for which they are intended to qualify thee. 7 Exert thyself therefore with cheerfulness and boldness, without dreading any opposition that may arise; for God hath not given us the spirit of cowardice and fear, but of courage, and of love, and of wisdom;" and if we conduct ourselves prudently, under the influences of a spirit of universal love, we may hope that his Spirit will work mightily in us, to fit 8 us for those services which his providence may point out. Be not therefore ashamed of that sacred truth, which is the testimony of our Lord, taught by his mouth, confirmed by his death and resurrection, and the déscent of his Spirit; nor of me, who am now his prisoner; but resolutely own thy regard to me, and take thy share in the gifflictions which may lie in thy way while bearing a courageous testimony to the truth of the gospel, acº 9 cording to the evidence derived to it from the miraculous power of God; Who hath saged ws from that ruin into which the world hath fallen by its fatal apostasy, and hath called [us] out from the rest of mankind by a holy calling, not according to any distinguished merit of our own works, but according to his own purpose, and those rich overflowings of grace given to us in Christ Jesus from eternal ages," as he was appointed, in the everlast- 10 ing and immutable counsels of God, to be a Redeemer and Saviour unto us. But this long-concealed grace is now made manifest by the illustrious appearance of our Saviouſ Jesús Christ, who, by what he has done and suffered in human flesh for the salvation of his faithful servants, hath in effect abolished death, has deposed it from its tyrannical em- 2 Second, Epistle to 3 EPISTLE, AFTER PROPER SALUTATIONS, WITH EXPRESSIONS of HIS AFFECTION TO TIMOTHY, AND THE GRACE OF THAT GOSPEL WHICH WAS HE 2 TIM. i. VER. l. PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, ag- cording to the promise of fife which is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my dearly beloved son : Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Fa- ther and Christ Jesus our ; Or 9 3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing, I have re- membrance of thee in my prayers night and day; a Stºrring up the gift : Avajor upcºv.], The metºphor is plainly, bor- | rowed from stirring up fire when it is, almost extinct; and some have imagined it might refer to that part of the priest’s office, which coinsisted in trimming the laiaps in the temple, anti supplying, them with oil, in order to keep them continually burning, (see Râphºl. E Polyb. in log.) while others have thought it alludes to the form of flames in which the Špirit desgended. Acts i. 3. See 1 Thess. v. 19. and note there. Compare Gen. xlv. 27. Septuag. ..., - - bTinºsition ºf my hunds.) See the notc on 1 Tim. iv. 14. terrified by the prospect of persecution. hand, as well as for his sake, recel VG. reatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of º, tears, that ſmay be filled wit JOy ; ; When I call to remem- brance the unſeigned faith that is in thee, which dweſt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice; an º persuaded that in thee &l ISO. 6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the #ſº of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his pri- soner: but be thou, partakeſ of the afflictions of the gospel §dins to the power of OCl ; 9 Who hath saved us, and called ws with an holy &ailing, not according to our works, but according to his own pur- pose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus be- fore the world began ; 10 But is now made mani- fest, by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath c God lath not given us, &c.). Perhaps Paul added this under ap, ap: prohension that the tender spirit of Timothy might have been something d 6iven to us in Christ Jesus from, eternal ages.] I see no reasºn, for rendering it, as Dr. Whitby would do; according to his purposé bcſore all ages, and the grace given us in Christ Jésus. s" º ºx gº to be given usin Christ, as the Father stipulated with him, through his - to give us that grâce which we do actually The grace might be said - PAUL EXHORTS TIMOTHY TO FIRMNESS UNDER DISCOURAGEMENT. 773 brought life and immortality pire, and thrown a light on the important doctrine of life and immortality by the gospel,” SECT. *** *** which gives us a more express assurance and more lively view of it than any former dis; 1. 11.Whereunto, I am, ap: pensation had ever done, or could possibly do. This is that important message of God E. ãº..."; t; to men, for the proclamation and confirmation of which I was appointed an herald and sº entiles. apostle, and particularly had it in my charge, while others were more immediately sent to º the circumcision, to be myself a teacher of the Gentiles. For which cause also I suffer these hard things which press me in this state of confinement: but though my condition may seem infamous, I am not ashamed of these bonds, or any of the reproaches and in- sults with which they are attended; for I know to whom I have trusted all my most irr- portant concerns, and am fully persuaded that he is well able to keep that precious immortal soul, which I have depositéd with him, even unto that great and important day when the promised salvation shall be completed.ſ IMPROVEMENT. WHO that attentively considers the holy calling with which we are called, according to the grace given us in Ver. Christ Jesus, can endure the thought of being ashamed of Christ's gospel, or any of his servants, to whatever diffi- 8, 9 culties they may be exposed, with whatever infamy they may be loaded ? For ever adored be that Prince of life, who hath deposed death from his throne; who hath enlightened, by rays reflected from his own beautiful and 10 resplendent countenance, the regions of the invisible world, over which so dark a veil had before been spread! Let our eyes be fixed more and more on this illustrious Object, and, confiding in the power and grace of Christ, let us all immediately and daily commit to him that invaluable jewel of an immortal soil which God hath given us. We may surely survey it with a mixture of delight and terror, till we have thus provided for its safety; and then ſnay that terror be allowed to disappear, and give place to a rational delight, and we may justly congratulate ourselves . while we adore our Saviour. - Let the proclamation of this gospel be most welcome to us, and let us call up all the strength and vigoºr of our souls to assert and advance it; for God hath given us the spirit, not of fear, but of courage, sobriety, and charity. 7 Whatever gifts we have received, let us stir them up to their proper use, and let one generation of christians deliver 6 down to another a sense of the excellency of their holy religion. Pious women may take encouragement from the success of Lois and Eunice on Timothy, who proved so excellent and useful a minister; as perhaps some of 5 the worthiest and most valuable ministers the church of Christ has ever been able to boast of, have had reason to bless God for those early impressions which were made upon their mind by the religious instructions of persons in the same relations. To conclude: let us learn by the repeated example of the apostle, to be earnestin prayer for our christian friends; I2 12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: never- theless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have be- lieved, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. and if we find our hearts excited to remember them in our prayers day and night, let us, with him, return our thanks 3 to God, that he put such benevolent affections into our hearts; for every good disposition that springs up there is implanted and cherished by him. SECTION II. The apostle exhorts Timothy strenuously to retain the gospel in the midst of all discouragements and oppositions, and to go through the duties of his ministerial office in dependence upon the grace of God; mentioning the treachery of several Asiatics, and the extraordinary fidelity and zeal of Onesiphorus. 2 Tim i. 13, to the end ; ii. 7. 2 TIM. i. 13. 2 TIMOTHY i. 13. HQID is thºſº of sºund ENCOURAGED by that confidence which I have been expressing in the power and SECT words, which thou hast heard *-* of;3 in faith and love which fidelity of my Lord, to whom I have intrusted the care of º immortal interests and con- 2 is in Christ Jesus. cerns, be thou, O Timothy, engaged resolutely to retain and exactly to adhere to the form of sound words,” that system of divine and everlasting truths which thou hast heard of me; keep it, not merely in thy memory, but in thy heart, with cordial faith, and that sincere, 13 “ fervent love, which is the great badge of our being in Christ Jesus, and which will finally -- 14 That good, thing which secure our being owned by him as his true disciples. And as thou desirest to have the Y., “...".”h."g.: same cheerful confidence, let it be thy care to keep that good thing which is deposited with dwelleth in us. thee,b even the gospel of Christ lodged in thine hands: assert its honours, by the aids of the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us, and which will, I trust, enable thee to act with that integrity and zeal which so arduous and important a service requires. º: Thou knowest this, that all those of Asia" who are at Rome, and were known to me by ºil ºf a profession of christianity, are turned from me, and have proved treacherous friends, after }...* * all their forward pretences; of which number are Phygellus and Hermogenes, whom it is <> with great concern that I-am obliged particularly to point out on such an occasion. Bu it is with proportionable pleasure that I mention another person of a very different charac- 16 The Lord give mercy ter, whose affection and zeal were illustrated by their baseness and disingenuity. Jºſay * * * * * the Lord grant his mercy to his family. I mean to the household of Onesiphorus; for Hé kee which e Thronch a light upon life and immortality.] Life and in:morf:lity is put by a usual Hebraism for immortal life, as Archbishop Tiilotson well observes (vol. iii. p. 112.) in his discourse on these words ; in which he has shown hº uncertain the heathens were is to the do-trises of a future state of retribution, and the comparative obscurity of that figh in which it was placed under the Old Testament. The ºther article is much illustrated by Dr. Whitby’s learned and exceilegt öte, But what Mr. Warburton has written upon this subject, in his #3, wing Jegatio::, vol. i. and what is said upon it in the last edition of the Critical Jº- quiry into the Opinions, of the Ancient Philosophers, has dºne abundantly more than any thing else to vindicate the propriety of this expression; and I must refer to these learned and ingenious writers for the most satisfactory commentary on these words of the apostle.—But the learned and pious Br. Hodges (who, so far as [ can judge, has given us a greater variety of new and plausible interpretations of Stripture than auy other divine in the Hutchinsorian scheme) contends, that the word aſp3 apatav Otight to be rendered, incorruption, and that Christ himself is to be under- stood both by life and incorruption ; so that the text must refer to his throwing light on Psal. xvi. IQ, 11. and on other Scriptures, where it \was foretold that the Messiah should be the light of the world, and bestow incorruptible life upon others, by raising himself from the grave before he, was corrupted there. But if any should still think this expression refers, to the future state, to which Dr. Hodges appreisends it has no reſurd, he would have him consider it as applicable to the Gentiles only.; Qn which account he supposes the apostle lºresently after speaks of his being, appointed as their teacher, ver, 11. This violent interpreta- tion (for such on the whole it appears to me) is intended to obviate the objection which arises from this text, against several new criticisms, by which this ingenious writer world find references to a future state and the resurrection, in passages of the Old Testament in which they were never before thought of. See Dr. Hodges’s Elihu, p. 251, 252. f 7'hat ºcłich I have deposited cith him.] inilo and Josephus have many passages, (severºl of them collected by Dr. Whitby, in his note on this tej in high both the soº! and, the laic are in different views called Tºgsflºxn, the depºsitum of God. The soul, as it is said, is to be returned into the hands of Goºl, and committed to his care at death; and this, they tell us, may be done more cheerfully, in proportion to the degree in, which ºre has been taken to maintain the honour of his law with due fidelity. There is, to be sure, a similarity of sentiment with regard to the $ospºl, but Paul might have used this expression without borrowing the hint from any Jewish writer whatever. a Form ºf sºund ſcords.] Archbishop Tillotson explains this of that P:9fession ºf faith which was made by christians at their baptism, (JFººs, vol. ii. p. 38.), and, the author of fiscellanca Sacra observes, that it is not said that Timothy received this form by immediate inspira: tion, but heard it of Paul, as, according to him, the word of wisdom was given only to the apostles. Čhan. ii. 2. iii. 14. 1 Tim. iii. 15. Tºgt & god thing ºchich is deposited.] See the note on ver, 12. Thgse in Asia, &c.]. The Asiaties were infamous for their cowardico and effeminacy. Paul probably alludes to their behaviour at Rome, (chap., iv: 18.) ºf which Timothy might have been informed by travej. lºrs. But Dr. Whitby refers this to those of Ephesus who had desºrted the º giying ear, as he supposes, to the seduction of Cerinthus and the Ebiqnites, by whom he liad been represented as a despiser of thg Mosaic law. Nevertheless, I prefer the former interpretation, as evidently more natural. d Physellies and Iſermogencs.) Probably he mentions these two per- sons as known to Timothy, or as having distinguished themselves by tº: { * 74 SECT. 2. PAUL EXHORTS TIMOTHY TO FIRMNESS UNDER DISCOURAGEMENT. hath often 7"ef)" * * * º * - ºr - eshed me, both by his v * ex chain, (E ºi. 20,) b ti . visits and liberalities, and hath not been gshgmed of my rus; for he of refreshed mo, : "P.V.2%) bit has rather esteemed it his honour to own me, while I was inds: gºas not ashamed of my CID 3 IT, . *--—- disor º g & * * * º e - g * lsgrace and persecution in so good a cause. But being here in Rome, he sought me out º'But, when he was in 2 TIM. * tº º 1, 7 - - . º the º diligently on that very account, and, when he had found [me] took every ºf RP9 ºnity ºf expressing his unfeigned love and veneration for a servant"anā apostle of me.' gently, - 1S Christ in such a circumstance. Tº for: grant ºnto him that, after having enjoyed all 18 The Lord grant unto 2 TIM. . 11. * * : - 1 ºd cºurage, be strong, in humble and continual dependence upon the grace which is in ſº, sº be ºn 2 3 4 5 6 - 7 2 TIM. II. l I. 13. i 4 4 SECT. º º of a long and useful life, he inay find mercy of the Lord in that great day, to jº *}... º.º.º. ** * *g * >+. ęs 3. sº - * . O :l W = { } { Si º ... and hopes, as christians, are continually directed. .4nd on hou, ºnany occa- in i. º,'!'}; ...i. *** * *istered [to me] in Ephesus, thou very well knowest, as thou wert an eye-ºitness #º.º. ºesus, CO lt, while WG Were together there. - Gº . nowest very well. pr } -- - - - * n * * * * * ºn - e - e - g Thou, therefore, my dearly-beloved son Timothy, animated by such an example of fidelity .. 2 Tim. ii. 1. Thou thore- e . ~! * -. * & $, s t * is -- ; :- º:# and º never to be ashamed of any of his faithful servants under disgrace ºut." " " " ‘’” me . . ties, While adhering to his cause. . .4nd ihe things which thou has heard from 2 And the things that thou **, and Which I have solemnly testified again and again, before man, ºft s hast heard of me among many lace and anoth hes ºf . . . . Sº, , , , , . S-> 3 many witnesses, In Olle jºb."s."...i. }. bleni ºne; thºse commit that with all diligence and care to faithful men,” who may jºi"...º. e.g. º dºo, tº teach others, that so there may be, throughout all ages, a succession of such tº be able to teach others * * *-* wº *- * 3. deliver them down from one to another, even till the end of time, according ; also * so - . * y º - * * o | O º Purposes in revealing them to us. And especially do thou see to it thyself, 3 Thou therefore ºdºrº tº thine own temper and conduct be such as may engage thém to fidelity in bearing ºi" sº sºle of their testimony. Therefore, as thy lot is cast in a time when we are called to suffer sº ...'.º; e things : the truth, prepare thyself sºftly and resolutely to endure afflictions ld hardships, as it becomes a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and one whom he hath honoured - . 3. º rank in his army, that thou mayst marshal and lead on others. And, tº Nº. º º: * - * • , ºf th se tly tho afº- 2 Pºe º i. remember that ſo one thogoes, out to war entangles himself with flºº". secular qffairs, but relinquishes every other calling and employment, that he may please Fººth chosen him under whom he is enlisted, and be ready to receive and execute his commands. A "**** cordingly, keep thyself as much as possible disengaged from worldly business, and from ºvery thing which might tend to take off thy thoughts from thy great work, and render + 1 rº r, * - &. tºr & thee less active in thy sacred warfare. ...?nd thou also knowest, that if any one wrestles or 8 And if a man also strive contends in any other of those games for which Greece is so celebrated, if he do gain an ...”... .". advantage over his antagonist, he is not crowned unless he wrestle, or perform any other iº. * * athletic exercise, according to the law of the respective contention. So let us take care to learn the rules which Christ has laid down to direct us in our attempts, and act according to them. And be not impatient, though the expected and promised reward should be , 6 The husbandman that la- long delayed; for thou well knowest that the husbandman must first labour, and wait ºbe first partaker while the harvest is growing, through succeeding weeks and months, [and then] partake of the fruits produced by his toils.f. - Consider the things which I say as matters of high importance, in which thou art inti- 7 Gonsider what I say; and mately concerned; and may the Lord give thee a good understanding in all things, and *ś. under- enable thee to act in a manner suitable to the instructions thou hast received IMPROVEMENT. LET us all be exhorted to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and, in humble dependence upon it, let us go forth cheerfully to our work and warfare as christians. This is a strength so great, and communicated with so rich a freedom, that the christian minister, under his peculiar difficulties, will # it adequate to them all. Let such particularly apply to themselves the exhortations and consolations which are here given or suggested. Let them strenuously retain the form of sound words, which the inspired apostles have delivered, with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. To this orthodoxy of principle which a due regard to this great and only standard will teach them, let them add orthodoxy of temper. And as they desire that Christ may keep what they profess to have deposited with him, let them faithfully keep what he has lodged in their hands. And may the Holy Spirit dwell in them, to make them faithful in all, and direct them in their efforts to defend the gospel, to spread its influence on the hearts of men, and transmit it from one generation to another; lodging it with faithful men, who may teach others, when their teachers and fathers in Christ shall rest from their labours. Such a succession may God continue in his churches; and may he prosper the work of those who are employed in humble and faithful attempts to promote so good a cause, by forming for this important charge those who, like Timothy, have early known the Scripture, and felt its power on their hearts. Let such as are setting out in this holy warfare, remember the caution which the apostle gives. May they not unnecessarily encumber themselves with secular cares, which would render them less fit to please the great General under whose banner they are enlisted. Let them strive lawfully, if they hope for the crown, and, cultivating the ground with diligence, let them wait with patience, if they desire at length to reap that blessed harvest. Nor let that general apostasy from the power of religion, which is the shame of the present day, deter them; but rather let it whet their pious zeal to own, with more strenuous attachment, the cause of Christ and of his faithful servants. And when they have done all, may they ever retain an humble sense of their dependence on the divine mercy: and the Lord grant to us all, ministers and people, that we may find it in that great day. - SECTION III. Paul further animates Timothy to fidelity, by laying open the motives and hopes which supported him under the difficulties he bore in the defence of the gospel; interspersing several addresses relating to that purity, prudence, and meekness, with which he should endeavour to conduct him- self in the ministry. 2 Tim. ii. 8–18. - 2 TIMOTHY ii. 8. 2 TL.M. ii. 8. TO animate thee, O Timothy, to all the labours and all the sufferings of the christian and ɺse ºf flº miſſistºrialiſe, remember Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah of #. ... of fami, the "** seed of David great Apostle and High-Priest of our profession, who, after having spent and laid down 2 TIM. II. 8. $ ssion; so that there was a particular reason to expect a dif- propriate office to admit them tº the ministry, and solemnly to commit jºi. from them. p the jº) to them. Compare the note on Tit. i. 5. 2's e Commit to faithful men.] This is quoted by many, as an arãºment f JMust first labour;] It was entirely to the apostle’s purpose to re- that the people were not left to choose their own, ministers. But if they mind Timothy that the labour of the husbandman must precede the har- jīchoose them, or propose them to Timothy, it might yet be his aſ ºf , but whether he was to receive these fruits first was not the point ENCOURAGEMENT UNDER SUFFERINGS FOR THE GOSPEL. was raised from the dead ac- - * his life in the prosecution of his cording to my gospel: 9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil-doer, even is not bound. eat work, was raised from the dead,” and at length ºx- alted to the right hand of God, there to receive the reward of all his labours and suffer. ings, according to the tenor of my gospel, which, as thou well knowest, I every where ... preach and attest. In the service of which,' I suffer evil ſeven] to bonds; the chief magis. $ºwćfºr't; trates of my country sentencing me to confinement, after the many insults which have been offered me by the dregs of the people, as if I were a malefactor worthy of some heavy punishment; but my great comfort is, that the word of God is not bound, I rejoice that many of my brethren are at liberty to preach it publicly, and am thankful for every opportunity of bearing my testimony to so good a cause, in such a private manner as my present circumstances may admit; well knowing that God can bless even these limited 10 Therefore I endure, all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: attempts, to what degree he shall in his infinite wisdom see fit. (Compare Phil. i. 12.) On this account, I cheerfully endure all these things, and whatever else s appoint, for the sake of the elect; that the gracious purposes of God for their happiness may be effected, and they may obtain that complete salvation which º in Christ Jesus, and which shall be attended with eternal as well as illustrious and exalted g [It is] a faithful word" which I have often insisted upon, and it shall undoubtedly be verified; that if we have the resolution to die with [him] even that blessed Saviour, ac- rovidence may glory. cording to the obligation of our baptismal vow, we shall also live with [him, in that ever- 12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him :, if we deny him, he also will deny Uls : lasting happiness which he hath prepared for all his people. If we patiently enditre our . in his afflictions, we shall also share his triumph, and reign with [him] in his celestial ingdom. But on the other hand, if we are intimidated with these transitory evils, so as to desert his cause and deny [him] before men, he will also, as he hath expressly threatened, 13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful : he cannot deny himself. and false to our en deny us in the great day, beforé his Father and his holy angels. If we are unfaithful" gements, he abideth faithful, and will steadily adhere to those rules of judgment and distribution which he hath so solemnly laid down in his word; (com- pare Matt. x. 33.) for we may be sure he cannot deny himself, by frustrating his own public declaration. It becomes us, therefore, to weigh the tenor of them with all seriousness, and humbly to acquiesce in his terms, since it is impossible he should be brought to change them in favour of ours. Remind ſº great prospect o 14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the sub- verting of the hearers. of these things, as thou art engaged to sacrifice every other view to the approving thy fidelity to such a Master. And for this purpose, testify, as before the Lord, and as in his presence,” to those over whom thou art called to pre- side, that men do not contend and quarrel about words, an evil to [which] they are so ob- noxious; for such a contention [is] altogether unprofitable, [and even tends] to the subver- sion of the hearers, taking off their attention to trüe religion, and filling their minds with pride and passion, and numberless other disorders and vices. 15 Study to she w thyself approved unto God, a work- man that needeth. not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and But avoid, and yain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodli- Ile SS - :* Diligently endeavour, whenever thou comest to present thyself before God in any of the duties of thine office, that, whatever men may judge of thee and thy services, thou may st be approved by him as a workman who hath no cause to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, distributing with prudence as well as fidelity, to each his proper Share. stand at a distance from, those profane and empty declamations with which some who affect to be thought of importance in the christian church are ready to amuse themselves: for though the evil of some of them may not immediately appear, and they may seem trifling rather than mischievous, they will at length advance unto more impiety; and when Satan has prevailed upon men once to quit the right way, he will be continually 17 And their word will eat as doth a canker:, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18. Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past al- ready ; , and overthrow the faith of some. mark. gaining greater advantages over them. ..?nd their discourse will eat like a gangrene, spreading itself further and further, till the whole body is infected and even destroyed by it. Such teachers there are now in the church; of which [number, in particular, are Hymeneus and Philetus, PWho have erred with respect to the truth, so as to be wide of the For they have, by their allegorical interpretations, explained away one of the most fundamental doctrines of our religion, asserting that the resurrection, of which it so largely speaks, consists only in a conversion from vice to virtue, and consequently is already oast,“ with regard to all true christians; and so they subvert the faith of some who are less established in the doctrines of the gospel, and endanger their salvation. It will therefore become thee, amidst all the candour which I have so often inculcated, to guard against such tenets, and the authors of them, - IMIPROVEMIENT. THERE is not, perhaps, a single precept in the whole sacred volume which would be more extensively useful to ministers or to private christians, than this of the apostle, taken in all its extent, Remember Jesus Christ. Many a sweet memorial hath he left us of himself. Often, very often, have we been called solemnly to survey them, and yet how ready are we to forget him, and by a natural consequence to forget ourselves, our duty and 775 SECT. 3. 2 TIM. I 0 I I 16 7 I8 in question. We must therefore acquiesce in this transposition, and the like is necessary in several other places. See Heb. viii. 4. in the original. a Remember Christ, who was raised from the dead..] Our translators render it, Remember that he was raised; as if he had said, Adhere to this as the great foundation of the gospel. But though this be undoubt- edly true, the apostle’s thought seems rather more lively; remenber Him who was thus raised from the dead, and that will be instead of a thousand arguments to bear thee through all thy difficulties. b In the service of which.) Dr. Whitby has shown, in his note on this clause, that £v Q sometimes signifies, in which cause, or for the sake of which. c It is a Jaithful ?cord.] Some refer this to the concluding clause of the ſormer verse; but it seems much more reasonable to connect it with what follows, as, generally speaking, this phrase is introductory to the weighty sentence it is intended to confirm. (See 1 Tim, i. 15, iv. 8, 9. though Tit. iii. 8. seems an exception.) Dr. Tillotson thinks this was a celebrated Saying among christians, which was either derived by tradi- tion from Christ or some of the apostles ; and it had so powerful a ten- dency to keep then steady to their religion, that it is no wonder it was in frequent use. Tillot. Vol. ii. p. 175, 176. d If we are unfaithful..] So I think et amis-susy should be rendered, as it stands opposed to rus-os. and so the words will further imply, that whatever we lose by our unfaithfulness, in whatever degree it appears, it is no argument of any unfaithfulness in him; as his promises are made to faithful servants, and fair warning is given to persons of a differ- ent character. . . - - e Testify as bºſore the Lord, and as in his presence.] Thero is a most a'ºſul solemnity in this charge, which plainly shows the great folly and mischief of Striviñg about little controversies; and I pray God to aſſect the hearts of his ministers with a deeper sense of this, before the interests of vital religion among us be utterly undone by our severe contentions; or, as the excellent Archbishop Leighton expresses it in his lively man. mer, “What we profess to hold so sacred, be itself torn in pieces, while we are struggling about its fringes.” f Rightly dividing the word of truth : Opºoropsyra Tov Xoyoy Tris a\;6&tas.}. Some think here is an allusion to what the Jewish priest or Levite did in dissecting the victim, and separating the parts in a pro- per manner; as Some were to be laid on God’s altar, and others to be given to those who were to share in the sacrifice. Others think it re- fers to guiding a plough aright, in order to divide the clods in the most proper and effectual manner, and to make straight furrows. But, perhaps, the metaphor may be taken from the distribution made by a steward, in delivering out to each person under his care such things as his office and their necessities required. g -āşşerting that the resurrection is—past.] Vice, as my learned friend Mr. Warburton with great propriety observes in reference to the text, was in the philosophical schools called death. And, upon the same prin. ciple, a recovery to a virtuous course and temper might be called a kind of resurrection from the dead. But nothing can be more evident than, that this was by no means the resurrection which christianity taught. Yet, as , there is nothing too absurd for some who pride them- selyes in their philosophy to believe, this foolish refinement found its followers among some pretended christians of this stamp. Warb. Div. Lex. Vol. i. p. 435. Ver. 8 776 S}. HOLINESS AND MEEKNESS ENJOINED. ** interest on the one hand, and our danger on the other. “Blessed Jesus! may we daily and hourly remember 3. thee ! that thou hast died, that thou art raised from the dead, and that thou art ever nea; thy people, to protect, 2 TIM. tº. comfort, and to bless them. If for thy cause we should be called to suffer evil as evil-doers, whéther in our iſ.” persons of reputations, may we not be discouraged, but, rather rejoice in the honour thou doest us in appointing g for us such a conformity to thyself! The enemies of thy gospel may indeed oppose it, they may bind its most faithful preachers, but their opposition, their persecution, is vain.” The word of God is not bound; and divine 10 grace, operating by it, Will sooner or later give it the inténded, the promised triumph ; that his elect may obtain salvation, by Jésus Christ, and may not only escape the condemnation and ruin of the impenitent world, but may finally be crowned with eternal glory. - 5 11, 12 May we ever be mindful of this faithful word, That if we suffer with Christ, we shall reign with him too; and may We endure the greatest hardships to which we can be called out, as considering that our sufferings are mol 18 mentary, but our reign will be eternal. Never may we, for any allurement or terror, deny him, as we would not finally be denied by him, when no other honour will remain but that which he comfors, no other happiness but that which he bestows. - - } 14 In the mean time, as we desire the prosperity of his kingdom, let us earnestly pray that he will raise up to his church a multitude of faithful ministers, who may govern themselves by these truly apostolical canons; ministers who may not contend about words in a manner unprofitable and vain, who may not amuse their hearers with empty harangues about insignificant curiosities or perplexing subtilties; but may in the integrity of their hearts 15 endeavour to approve themselves to God, as workmen who need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word 17, 18 of truth. And may divine grace preserve the church from those seducing teachers, whose doctrine like a secret gangrene might spread itself to the destruction of the body, so that the faith of many might be overthrownſ SECTION IV. The apostle urges the necessity 9thºliness in hiſ christians, but especially in ministers; add, of meekness in their endeavours to recover sinners rom the miserable condition into which they were fallen. 2 Tim. ii. 19, to the end. - 2 TIMOTHY ii. 19. 2 TIM. ii. 19 SECT. IN order to excite thee, O Timothy, to contend earnestly for the great doctrines of the .NEvgºrºiºss the 4. gospel, I have taken notice of the manner in which some have revolted from them. And it ºft is matter of mournful reflection, that there should be such instances of apostasy in this iºd º 11S.. An 2 ºf early age of the church. Wevertheless, we recollect with pleasure, that whatever défections jeń"hº"...º.º.; II. 19 there may be in particular persons, the great foundation Stone, which the mercy and faith- depart frominiquity. fulness of God has laid for the support and comfort of his people, standeth firm and stead- fast, having, as it were, this double seal or inscription :* on the one hand, The Lord knoweth them that are his own, and as he surely distinguishes them in every circumstance, so he bears a steady and constant favour to them, nor can any alienate them from his gracious regards; and, on the other side, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, every one that professes his religion, and pretends the least regard to him, depart from iniquity; let him stand off and keep at the greatest distance from every kind and degree - of immorality, from every appearance and occasion of sin. But though our obligations to .20 But in, a great house such a conduct be so many and so great, we cannot flatter ourselves that all professing .*. ºf: § christians will be sensible of them. For in a great house there are vessels, not only of gold §º.º.º.º. and silver, but also of wood and clay, the former being intended for honourable, the other jº" for meaner and dishonourable, wses ; and accordingly, there will be, in the church of God, 21 persons of different characters, who will meet with very different treatment. If therefore 2. If a man therefore purgº a led hi lf”; hese, if he b •eful ſoid th - f •-v who ha himself from these, he shall any one cleanse numsetſ from these, if he be careful to avoid the Society of persons who have bºssé ºntºſhºotº, said: te - *. º >]? - l 3 vs.-- - º inir in itv7 tified, and meet for the mas- revolted from true religion, and made themselves instruments of impurity and iniquity, he tº shall be a vessel of honour, sanctified and useful to the immediate and personal service of ºvery good work. his great Lord and Master; and such an one will be constantly ready, as the nobler vessels 22 of a house, to every good work, which will be the surest test of our real goodness. But tº jºi. ſº all occasions of exciting or gratifying the passions of youth ; whether, on the one šith, ºhārity,"pääge, with * 4 * •. - that call on the Lord and, the love of sensual pleasure, or, on the other, rashness, contention, pride, and vain- ºl." 2 0 glory,b to which young persons are peculiarly obnoxious: for these will render thee unfit for the honour º being used by thy Lord for the purposes of his glory and the edification of his church. And, thereforé, instead of making provision for these, pursue, with the greatest ardour and intenseness of mind, righteousness and fidelity, love and peace; culti- vate an upright, benevolent, candid temper towards all, and especially towards those that avoke thé namé of the Lord Jesus Christ out of a pure heart, so far as the conduct can 23 discover the inward temper. But avoid foolish and imlearned questions, knowing that, how ...?? But ſºlish and ºleºn: - a Y 7 ºn tº r + ºn Y - ~~ d'contentions in the church; ºnk carious soever they appear, they only tend to beget strifes and cont - - 3 that they do gender strifes, and I reckon it a most important part of the learning of a christian minister to guard against such occasions of offence and mischief. - s = - - 24 TLet the bigoted Jews and the vain-glorious heathens on each side split into ever, so many tº different sects and parties, and dispute as eagerly about such things as they will; but the gºlé"untº all men, as to servant of the Lord, the christian, and especially the minister, must not stripe in an angry “” and hostile manner, but be mild and gentle towards all, ready to teach the ignorant; and, instead of hurting [and] injuring any, be willing to endure evil from those wh9, instead of 25 receiving his doctrine, repay his kindness with outrage: In meekness instructing oppºsers, d.º.º.º. if by any means God maj, perhaps, in his own due time, gonquer their savage prejudices, ºil; ānāgive them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth; ºf which, through the riches ºś.” of divine grace, we see some instances, even where there had been a long and inveterate 26 And that th » 26 struggle against it. And surely it will be worth while to try every method on such un- e. §i.º.º. happy souls, that they may awaken and recover themselves out of the Snare of the devil, who snard of the devil, who are a seriotics...] Many critics have justly observed, that the word that are his own, has a peculiar reference tº the apostles, in oppositiºn to ...ſº § łºś a. #ºrº,” tºo mark made by a seal, as heretical teachers, and that it alludes to Numb. xvi. 5. Septuag. That ...if yº sea; itself. (see Rev. ix.4.) And the expression is here 3 limow often signifies to º ºr. as well as to distinguish, ... "...ijºjiàºopiº, in aiiagioſ tº the custom of engraying hºtº shown . *...'. woulful passi f the d jpon some stones laid in the foundation of building: the name of the b Rashness, contention, &c.] ese are you ſº the dan- jºons by whom, and the purposes, for which, the strºui.; raised. ger of which some heady . men, who may value themselves for Ájīn; ... have a greater tendency to encourage the hope, and at their ſeedºm from other, scandals, seem to think but little ; yet it is th.'s. ting to engage the obedience, of christians, than, this dºlº, in: plain from the opposition bººeen. this and the latter part of the verse, ...ipiº.”ijr. Whitby supposes that clause, The Žºrž #noweth them they were particularly in Paul’s mind when he gave this caution, PAUL PREDICTS GREAT DECLENSION AND APOSTASY. 777 tº captive by him at his have lain sleeping, and, as it were, intoxicated in it, having been taken by that subtle fowler, SECT. Yº I He and, like a living prey, detained captive by him at his cruel pleasure, while perhaps they have been dreaming of liberty and happiness in the midst of the most shameful bondage and the extremest danger.” IMPROVEMENT. 4. 2 TIM. II. Płow affecting a representation is here made of the wretched state of sinners! they are described as sleeping Ver.26 in Satan's snare, like birds in a net, taken alive, and at the fowler's mercy; while they imagine they can spring up whenever they please, and range at full liberty. Alas! they will soon perceive their fatal captivity: but they will perceive it too late, if divine grace do not quickly awaken them. Who would not wish to do something for their recovery P Let the ministers of the gospel pity them. Let us pray that God, whose work it is, would give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth. Let us try every gentle method which the sincerest com-25 passion can dictate, towards effecting so happy a design, and not suffer ourselves to be transported to undue seve- 24 rities of language or sentiments, even though we should receive the greatest injuries where we intend the most important kindness. et those that have the honour to bear the most holy character which any office can devolve on mortal man, avoid with the greatest care everything that would bring a stain, or even a suspicion, upon it. Let them revere the voice of the great apostle, while it animates them to pursue righteousness and faith, love and peace, with all 22 their fellow-christians of every denomination, with all that invoke Christ, and that trust in him. So shall they be 21 vessels of honour, so may they humbly hope that their Lord will condescend to make some special use of them, for the purposes of his own glory, and the salvation of their fellow-creatures. To conclude: let ministers and people be daily reading, with all possible care, this double inscription on the foundation of God; and while we rejoice in the one, let us be admonished by the other. For what is it to us, that the Lord knows, distinguishes, and favours his own, that his almighty power protects them, and that his infi- nite mercy will for ever save them, if we are ourselves found among the wicked, with whom he is angry every day, among the workers of iniquity, whom he will publicly disown, and to whom he will say, I know not whence you are...To name the name of Christ with dispositions like these, will be to injure and profane it; and our profession itself will be interpreted as an act of hostility against him, whom we have presumed so vainly to call the Founda- tion of our hopes, and the Sovereign of our souls. SECTION V. Paul cautions Timothy against that great deglension and apostasy, which was to prevail in the christian world, and against those false teachers. #. were nºgº up in it; reminding him of the example he had seen in him, in the midst of such persecutions as were still to be expected. IIIle Ill., l- 2 TIM. iii. 1 - 2 TIMOTHY iii. 1. THIS know also, that in the IT is the more necessary thus to urge thee to every precaution and every effort which may .*P*** preserve the purity and honour of the christian church, as, after all we can do for this pur. pose, such sad scenes are to open in it. We are indeed acquainted with our duty, and we shall find our own highest account in attending to it. But this know, O Timothy, that in the last days, under the evangelical dispensation which is to wind up the economy of Providence, and is to remain in full force even to the end of the world, difficult times and circumstances shall arise, in which it will be hard to discharge our consciences, and at the 19 SECT, 5. 2 TIM. 2 For men shall be layers same time maintain our safety. . For men shall be lovers of ihemselves. in the most absurd 2 ir own sel ret o & º §§§ and excessive degree; lovers of money, so as to be impelled to the basest practices by the flºº,” ". hopes of obtaining it; boasters of what they have, and proud pretenders to what they have y ' not; blasphemers of God and revilers of their fellow-creatures; disobedient to parenis, not- withstanding all the obligations they are under to their care and tenderness; umthankful and ungrateful to other benefactors; unholy, though they profess themselves devoted to 3 Without natural affection, § - sº - wº ri 2. trucebreakers, false accusers, God, and consecrated to his service by the most solemn rites: They will be destitute of incontinent, fierce, despisers natural affection even to their own children, as well as of piety towards their parents; in- of those that are good, placable where enmities have been commenced, and treacherous in their mutual engage- ments, when there has been a pretence of making them up ;b false accusers, in which they will initate that diabolical malignity which renders the great enemy of mankind so justly odious; intemperate in their pleasures, fierce in their resentments, cruel in their revenge; destitute of all love to goodness, though it so naturally extorts a tribute of veneration and jºiº.hº...hº... affection from every human heart which is not sunk into the last degeneracy. They will be g p f S , = - º º “” traitors to those that place the greatest confidence in them, such base traitors, as even to give up their brethren into the hands of persecutors; heady and rash in enterprising things, which can only issue in the disturbance of society, or the ruin of those that under- take them. In the mean time, they will be puffed up with such insolence and self-suffi- ciency, as to despise any remonstrance which can be made to bring them to a wiser and more decent conduct; and, upon the whole, will prove lovers of pleasures rather than - lovers of God; who will therefore sacrifice all considérations of religión to the gratification 5 Having a form of godli- of their appetites. And yet, in the midst of all these enormities, they will still profess themselves christians, having a form of godliness, and observing with exactness the rituals * That they may recover, &c.]. In order to understand this beautiful who not only professed christianity, but pretended to teach it. And I image, it is proper to observe that the word avavnipogly properly sig- must beg leave, to refer my readers to that very learned and ingénious nifies to alpake from a deep sleep, or from a fit of intoxication, (see Elsm. dissertation of Vitringa, (Observ. Sac. lib. iv., cap. 7.) in which he at- Ös. Sac.in log.) and refers to an artifice of fowlers to scatter seeds im- tempts to prºve that there was a seat alterºſion in the face of the chris: pregnated with some drugs intended to lay birds asleep, that they might tian church between the time of Nero and Trajan, within which period draw the met over them with the greater security. The interpretation he apprehends great numbers of professors to have departed from the which a late writer has given of these words, who would j. them, strictness of christian morals, as well as the Pºiº the faith. I can- “being taken alive by him, that is, the christian minister, for the purſ not be satisfied that the supposed, predictions of this remarkable event, poses of the divine will,” is so unnatural, that merely to compare it with which he produces from the Old Testament, in his eighth ghapter, are so the former is to confute it. (Taylor, On Orig. Sin, p. 152.) Nor can cºnvinging as he thinks them, viz. Isa., xi. 4. xli., 10–12. xliii. 1–3. º, ºr ºil, tº sarily implies a purpose of preserving, whereas it only imports taking, a $. • º, is V. i.rº F. Weight, viz. º, Without"determining whether it"be for servitude or for death. Matº; sº, ºllº... g.º.º. ºf liº: lººt; iv.; Compare 2 Chron. xxv. 12. Septuag. 16, 17, with the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Second of Peter, and that 8. }. shall be lovers of themselves, &c.] Dr. Whitby takes great of Jude ; and I wonder he hath not added this remarkable text to the Fº to show that these characters were applicable to àe jews in the catalogue. r * ast days of their commonwealth; and supposes the apostle refers to the b Implacable and treacherous.] . The word actovãot certainly takes difficulty of retaining the christian profession, or acting so as to pre- in , both ideas, and may be applied, to men, who, when once offended, serve a safe gonscience in it. Many of the lineaments here drawn were, will come into no treaty of reconciliation, and isoto'such as will not no doubt, to be found in the unbelieving Jews; but, especially, consider- think themselves bound by such treaties, when they may answer any ing ver. §º.' I *how to interpret the words as describing some purposes of their own by the violation of them. 3 4 5 III. 778 PAUL PREDICTS GREAT DECLENSION AND APOSTASy. SECT. and externals of religion, but at the same time denying and opposing the power of it in ness, but denying the power 5. their lives, and demonstrating that it has no real influence upon them. From such ºthere- thereof; from such turn away. fore, even from all in whom thou discernest a temper like that which I have here described, 2 TIM. ~~; * - º & * ſº turn away; avoid all intimacy with them, lest they should avail themselves of the friend. 3 ship to which thou mightst admit them, as an advantage for doing further mischief; let it therefore evidently appear that thou givest them no countenance. - - *. ſº º 6 This temper, as I have intimated before, has begun to appear in many of our contempo- 6. For of this sort are they raries, of which º are those artful deceivers, who insinuate themselves into houses, §hºnºus...} -- ~£º. 1 . º º t- - y * W. and are especially, successful in their attempts to captivate inconsiderate women, of low ſain §"sin.", rank, and mean understandings, yet easily inflamed with passionate zeal; being indeed, with divers lusts, whatever pretences they may make to sanctity, laden with sins, and led aside by various lusts, which these seducers know how to flatter in such a manner as to make them their own, Property. These foºlish creatures are always learning, they pretend to hear with 7 Eye, learning, and move, - fºx .* 5 y • * *. great eagerness, and are charmed with every appearance of novelty and fervour; but they aplatººne to the knowledge are tossed about with every gale of doctrine, and never able to come to the acknowledgment of the truth. of the truth, or to attain any fixed and steady Principles. And these designing wretches, of , s Now as Jannes and Jam- whom I have been speaking, seize on such as their i. prey, and just as Jannes and ..."...º.º.º.º.º. T º - - • . . . - Y & Se Sºl ISO } C ; Jambres,” the Egyptian magicians, withstood Moses, when he came to Pharaoh with a mes- men of corrupt minds, reproº sage from God, so do these men also withstand the truth of the gospel. I speak of persons bate concernius the * whose minds are utterly corrupted, who with respect to the faith are disapproved, and wº of being rejected as enemies to it, and unworthy to know it, though they pretend so much d away 7 8 9 zeal in its defence. But I foresee, that they shall not proceed much further” in these arti- 9 But, they shall proceed fices, for their folly shall be manifested to all, as theirs also was, whén God sent upon the ºfts.”.” Egyptians plagues, which, far from being able to remove, or mitigate, they could not, as in ºathºliº wº. former instances, so much as imitate. 10 But thou hast eractly traced, and been accurately acquainted with, my doctrine, and my 10 But thou hast fully Conversation, the steadiness of my aim, purpose, and resolution in the cause of God; that kºay doctrilºm㺠of life, purpose, faith, long- firm and uniform fidelity, which I have always strenuously maintained, without yielding up ºn. any the least article of it; my long-suffering, when I had been treated in the most in- jurious manner; my love to all, however #. in opinion, not excepting even mine enemies and persecutors; and my patience under such pressing trials. Particularly under in Persecutions, afflictions, the persecutions ſº sufferings which befell me in the Pisidian Antioch, (Acts xiii. 45.) in jº.º.º. - - - y lm, at Lystra; Iconium, (xiv. 2.) in Lystra, (xiv. 19.) where thou hast not only heard, but seen, what per- what persections. Tendured: secutions I endured ; but the Lord Jesus, whom I serve, was still with me, and rescued me .hº...”*** 12 out of them all. Yea, and all who are resolutely determined upon it, that they will live tº ... ãº". § in Christ Jesus, that they will conduct themselves by the strict rules of piety which ºn; ...rsºn.” e has prescribed, not turning aside to the right hand or the left, shall suffer persecution or opposition of one kind or another: for Christ has decreed to lead all his people to glory, 13 through a variety of difficulties and hardships. . But wicked men and impostors, by what. , 13 But evil men and sedu: ever artifices they may decline persecution, are in a yet more wretched state; for they pro- tºº. ‘....",". voke God to give them up to the lusts of their own heart, and so will grow continually deceived. y worse and worse, more obstinate in their opposition to the gospel and its faithful ministers; deceiving others indeed by false and treacherous pretences, but being themselves much more fatally deceived by their own corruptions ºft delude them with the visionary hope of some temporal advantage, while they are plunging into irrecoverable and everlasting ruin. IMPROVEMENT. 1 1 Ver. 1 MUST we mot, on the survey of this scripture, in comparison with what we every § behold in life, cry out, Self. 2, 3 “Verily, these are the last days * They are assuredly times of difficulty and peril. love, pride, ingratitude, treachery, intemperance, insolence, the contempt of all authority, human and divine, each, all º these characters 4 may too plainly declare it. But none with more striking evidence than the excessive love of pleasure, on which so many are doting to destruction, while every consideration, both of religion and of prudence, falls at the shrine of this favourite idol. Men are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, more than lovers of their families, yea, though self-interest be in many instances so scandalously pursued, yet more than lovers of themselves; and when they have sacrificed every thing else to their gain, they sacrifice even that gain to luxury. And would to God 5 there was none such, even among those that retain the form of godliness, which so many indeed have scornfully cast off! But O, how vain the form, where the power of it is thus denied And how peculiarly scandalous are these characters in those who call themselves teachers of religion' Yet to such they are here originally applied; and their race is not yet extinct. -- 10 Blessed be God, there are those yet remaining who are the happy reverse of these ; ministers, who can appeal to the consciences of men as to their doctrine, their conversation, their resolution, their fidelity, their gentleness, 11 their charity, and their patience. Happy are they, how ill soever they may be treated in the world! Happy would they be, though exposed to all the terrors of persecution which the apostles and their first followers endured! But 12 we are all warned to prepare for some degree of it; and indeed, who can wonder if, amidst so many evils, they who will not go on with the multitude, should sometimes be rudely pressed by them; and it may be, in some instances, cast down and trampled under foot? But be it so; though cast down, they shall not be destroyed. (2 Cor. iv. 9.) A little time will balance all. An hour of eternity will more than balance it. Let us guard 13 against the deceits by which so many suffer. Let us guard, above all, against those deceits which men practise upon themselves, and whereby they hurt themselves infinitely more than all their fraud or violence can hurt any who are not accessary to their own undoing. c Insinuate themselves, &c.] This charagter, as we hinted above, concilo this with what is afterwards said of their grouging, worse and seems rather to suit disaffected and seducing christian teachers, than worse, ver, 13. and of their word eating as a gangrene. Diodate indeed infidel Jews, who no doubt carried, it with a high hand,...and would explains this and the 13th verse of different persons: this, of some who scori, to think of croughing to the leaders of so contemptible a set as had already appeared; that, of others who were soon to arise. But they called that of the Nazarenes. - - there seems not the least need of haviàg recourse to such a solution. d".Jannes and Jambres.] It is remarkable, that the former of these is f Live godly in Christ Jesus,. &c.] This, as Dr. Evans justly observes, mentioned together with Moses by Pliny, and , both of them by Nume- may import something peculiar in the godliness to be exercised by nius the philosopher, quoted in Eusebius, as celebrated magicians. See christians, as being agreeable to the revelation of Christ, animated by Plin. Nºtt. Hist. lib. 3U. cap. i. and Euseb, lib. 9. cap. 8. It is of no im- his example, dependent on his Spirit for assistance, and his atonement portance to inquire by what tradition their names came down to so dis- for acceptance with Gºd. Important topics, which all who desire to 1unt all age. * - - As obtain, and promote godliness ought to dwell much upon. See Evans’s e Shall not proceed much further.] Translating it thug will easily re- Christian Temper, vol. i. p. 192. PAUL ENJOINS THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES. SECTION VI. To guard Timothy against those seducing teachers, and to preserve the church from their evil influence, Paul recommends, to him the study of the scriptures, and great diligence in all the parts of his ministerial work; reflecting with pleasure on his own fidelity in the nearest views of martyrdom for the truth. 2 Tim. iii. 14, to the end; iv. 1–8. 2 TIM. iii. 14. BUT continue thou in the things which thou hast learn- : gå and has been assured of, ing others and themselves most of all. knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 2 TIMOTHY iii. 14. But that thou, O Timothy, maysteffectually avoid I HAVE mentioned the case of these wretched men, who grow worse and worse, deceiv- SECT. 6. them, continue thou steadfast in the things which thou hast learnt from me, and hast believed — upon the authority of God speaking in and by me; knowing from whom thow hast learnt 2 TIM. [them, and what convincing proofs that extraordinary inspiration by which 15 And that from a child of thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make, thee, wise, unte salva- thou must be ver tion through faith which is in Christ Jcsus, have #. thee, both of my general integrity, and of our Jewish nation consists, and which are indeed most worthy of being studied by all, as they are able to make thee, and all that faithfully admit and follow their guidance, wise unto eternal salvation; a science infinitely nobler - and more important than human literature in its greatest refinements can pretend to teach, 16 All scripture is given by and which is to be learned only through that faith which is in Christ Jesus. For the 16 inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for re- proof, for correction, for in- struction in righteousness : whole Scripture, received by the Jewish church, [is] divinely inspired,b and therefore, as may well be imagined, is profitable to the highest purposes." It is fitted for doctrine, as it lays down the most fundamental principles of religion in the view it gives us of the divine nature and perfections, and for conviction of those opposite errors, which the licentious and perverse wit of man has invented in so great abundance, and set off with so many º arguments. It is also useful for the reproof of irregularities in practice, which, ow speciously soever they may be defended by the sophistry of those that think it their - interest to plead for them, quickly fall before the authority of the divine word. And when - men have submitted to it, they will also find it effectual for instruction in righteousness, and will be led on from one degree of virtue and piety to another, with a progress which may be , perfect, º 3. 1. That the man, 2.93. will continually advance in proportion to the regard they Fº t furnished unto works. that the furniture of the man #. 2 Tim. iv. 1. I charge thce for ever, whi therefore before God, and #f every ood work hich ... therefore, I hope thou, O Timothy, and every minister o to that divine book. e gospel, will diligently apply, od may be complete, and that he may be thoroughly fitted holy calling may require. I charge [thee] therefore, con- jjis."º"ji sidering what I have urged in the former part of this Epistle, in the most awful manner, jº.º.º. before the great, and blessed God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, who at his appearing and his king- dom ; shall judge the livi and the dead, and pronounce on them all their final and everlasting doom, at his last public glorious appearance, when the extent and majesty of his kingdom #...?:#. in-thee with the strictest fide stant in SeaSOU), Out Of SCaSOſ) ; * == ... "...# seriousness and earnestness alſ long-suffering and doc- shall º in full disp º I charge thee to execute the important trust committed to ity. For this purpose, preach the word of God with all possible 2 ; be instant in the prosecution of that good work, in the stated season of religious assemblies, [and] out of that season, when occasional providences may trine. give thee an opportunity; yea, carry it into thy private conversation, in the intervals of thy public labours. Endeavour to convince the consciences of men, and to reclaim them from their erroneous principles ; rebuke them for their irregularities and vices, without * fearing the face of any ; and erhort them to diligence and zeal in the performance of their and enforce these e when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; duty, with all ºff. though thou mayst not immediately see the desired success; Ortations with all those well-known and important motives which the 3 For, the time will come doctrine of the gospel may suggest. Seize the present opportunity with all eagerness I see that the time will quickly come, when they will not endure good and who trine, but, thinking themselves above the shall wantonly heap up to themselves seducing teachers,” whose harāngues shall be just according to the prejudices of their own lusts, havi €SOIIle # * lainness of moral and practical instruction, unless it be Fº: a glare of false and affected eloquence, which may gratify the vain 4 And they shall turn away curiosity 8.I] their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. itching ears of their hearers. which nothing less than their salvation depends, and shall be turned aside to idle fables, which they eagerly drink in, under a fon semblance of mystery and obscure science, which they pretend to be veiled in these abstruse and enigmatical forms. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions: do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy minis- * For I am now ready to the rather, considering how soon the world will lose whatever advantage it may now re- be offered, and º time of ceive from my my departure is at hand. stances, tha personal labours; for I may well conclude, from my age and circum- am now, as it were, just ready to be offered, to be poured out as a libation upon God's altar, and the time of my departure is near at hand; the time when I shall be dismissed from this state of confinement, when I shall weigh anchor from these mortal 7...hº...” shores, and launch into the ocean of eternity. And, while Istand on the borders of that 7 have finished my course, have kept the faith : awful state, it is with unspeakable pleasure I reflect, that I have maintained the good com- bat against the sharpest opposition, that I have finished [my] race, though it has been so nothing else to recommend them, a From thine infancy..] ... Hence it appears, that little children may learn some useful ſessons from Scripture, and that they ought to be early initiated into the study of the sacred letters; directly contrary to what the church of Rome teaches. * sº wº - - b The whole Scripture [is] divinely, inspired.] Grotius translates the words, the whole divinely-inspired Scripture is profitable, &c. which they will undoubtedly bear; and as we may be sure, that, by scripture, the apostle means the books which the Jews received as canonical, that ver- #. gives a true sense; but I take this, which is our own, to be more iteral. - c They shall heap up to themselves teachers.] Mr. Slater, in his Origi- ital Draught, &c., p. 126. urges this text as an argument against allow- ing to the people the choice of their own ministers; but that right is by no means in question here. The danger there was of men’s hearkening to erroneous and seducing teachers, wºul , upon every imaginable hypo- thesis, be a solid argument for Timothy’s exerting himself to the utmost, in preaching, the word, and endeavouring to guard the churches against errors which might otherwise soon have become fatally prevalent. I must add, that the expression, heaping wºo to themselves, implies, that they should be desirous of such, and that they should meet § many of such a character. * d Accomplish thy ministry.] strong prepossession in favour of diocesan episcopacy, that the worthy person I mentioned above could imagine these words contained an argument for it. He explains the words, TX.npoqogna.ov 7mv čvakovlav gg as an exhortation to take upon him the complete office of a bishop, because Paul himself was ready to quit it; not considering how ill this interpretation agrees with his own supposition, of Timothy’s being in the episcopal office when Paul wrote his first Epistle to him. Whatever Timothy’s office were, the argument which Paul. suggests; of the satis- º he found in the siegion of hisºn fidèlity would be very con- C Uls R Ye. It must surely have been owing to a III. teach. ...And knowing also, that the oracles 15 of the Old Testament confirm the system of doctrines which I have taught; of which sensible, because from thine infancy” thou hast known the sacred Scrip- tures, in which the grand learnin To this, 17 2 TIM. IV. , for 3 Jłnd so unhappily will their minds be disposed, 4 that they shall turn away [their] attention from simple truth, of the greatest certainty, on ... But be thou, O Timothy, diligent and watchful in all things that may tend to the secu- 5 rity of thy charge, and prepare thyself resolutely to endure adversity, and to perform the full work of an evangelist, and fully to accomplish all the branches of thy ministry.d And 6 780 THE CONCLUSION, WITH DIRECTIONS AND SALUTATIONs. SECT. arduous, that I have kept the holy faith committed to my trust, and with the strictest 8 Henceford, there is ſaid 6. fidelity endeavoured to preserve it free from human additions and Corruptions. It remain- ºne...º.º. of jº. th. [that C}^O?07?, of righteo d gl is laid - - - eousness, which the Lord, the €UR, [ l | O. C.?"O usness and glory is id up in sure reserve for me, which the righteous judge, shaîivémé 2 TIM. Lord, the ºº:: Judge, whº presides in this great exercise, shall, with distinguished º.º.º. IV. Ver. III, º - * only, but unto all them also honour, before the assembled world, render an award to 7me, wh that illustrious daye that love his appearing. upon which our hopes and hearts are set; and it is the joy of my soul to think, that he shall not assign it to me alone, but to all them also who love the thoughts of his final ap- ſº º the universal judgment, and are or shall be making a wise and pious prepara- tion for 1 IMPROVEMENT. 6 BEHOLD this blessed man, this prisoner, this martyr of Christ, appearing in his chains, and, in the near views of a violent death, more truly majestic and happy, thān Caesar on his imperial throne! Blessed man indeed; who could look upon the pouring forth of his blood, as the libation of a sacrifice of thanksgiving, on which he could call for the cºngratulations of his friends, rather than their condolence ; who could loosen from these mortal shores, 7 and set sail for eternity with a shout! O may we all be excited by his example to fight the good fight, to finish our 8 course, to keep the faith, in the view of that crown of righteousness which is not reserved only for Paul, or for ministers and christians of the first rank, who have been eminent for the most distinguished services, but for all who love Christ's appearance, and whose hearts are thoroughly reconciled to his government! 5 May we therefore be watchful in all things. May we endure every affliction which God shall lay in our way, 1 and fill up with proper services every station in which we are fixed." Let the ministers of Christ attend to this solemn charge, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge both the quick and the dead, at his ap- pearance and in his kingdom. They are as much concerned in d judgment as Timothy or Paul; their own eternal, state is in questiºn, and noné can have greater reason than themselves to be impressed with it. Let as 2 many therefore as are called to it by divine providence and grace, preach the word with Zealand fervency, as well as fidelity; let them be instant in season, ić out of season, with a resolution tempered with gentleness, and sup- 8 ported by firm faith in him, who intrusts them with the message. And let the petulancy of men, which indis- poses them to endure sound doctrine, yet makes them need it so much the more, be considered by them as an engagement to greater Zeal, rather than an excuse for remissness. hat they may be animated to it, and furnished for it, thoroughly furnished for every good work incumbent 16, 17 upon them, as men of God, a becoming reverence is to be maintained for the divinely-inspired Scriptures, appa- rently profitable for doctrine and reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness. Let us all esteem it 15 Qur, great happiness, if from children we have been acquainted with them; lettus study them diligently, and take faithful care to deliver them down to those that arise after us, as the oraclés of that eternal wisdom by which we and they may be made wise to salvation. - SECTION VII. - The apostle, concludes with requesting Timothy to come to him, giving him an account of the manner in which he had, in his late appearance before the §º ºstrate at Rome, been deserted by men, but supported by Christ; and adding some particular salutations and directions. im. iv. 9, to the end, - 2 TIMOTHY iv. 9. 2 TIM. iv. 9. SECT. I MIGHT add much more on this occasion, but the hope I have of seeing thee ere long, DO thy diligence to come 7. makes me the easier in omitting it. I cannot but be very desirous of such an interview. Shortly unto me . . .* * * * wº ssible. 10 For Demas hath for- Endeavour therefore by all means to come to me here at Rome, as quickly as possible. For saken e,'º, ºh is a Tyſ. I need the assistance and company of such a faithful friend, as I have met with very un- ;..."...#.º.º. IV worthy treatment from seme who ought to have acted in a very different manner. And I ed unto Thessaloisa; Cies: s to Galatia, Titus unto 10 must particularly inform thee, that Demas hath forsaken me,” having loved the present iºnºi. world, and followed another way, as his secular views invited him. In pursuit of these, he is gone to Thessalonica, as Crescens is to Galatia, and Titus, for whom thou knowest I have 11 a very high regard, is gone to Dalmatia. Luke alone, whose faithful friendship I have #.9%;"...dº long experienced, is still with me. I desire thou wouldst take the first opportunity of en- ºk.."...#. gaging the company of Mark, [and] bring him along with thee, for he is useful to the ads ble to me for the ministry. vancement of my ministry among the Gentiles, having often attended both Barnabas and - 12 me in our progress amongst them. Thou wilt perceive, by what I have just been saying, ... ºcus have I what reason iſ have to wish for the society of an approved christian friend and brother, at a Dile:SuS. time when I am left thus destitute: yet, preferring the edification of the church of Christ to any personal consideration of my own, I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus, where I some years ago left thee, to take care of the flourishing church which I planted there, and with some 13 of whose members I have had so long and intimate an acquaintance. When thou comest Tººhºº! º: hither, as I hope thou quickly wilt, I desire thou wouldst remember to bring [with º thou comest, bring ºth thº, that cloak” which I left at the house of our, friend Carpus, in Troas, when I pºssed ºut especially through it the last time. ..And bring also the books which I left there, [but] especially the the parchment parchments." - & * - - -c. 14. When I speak of these parts, I cannot forbear telling, thee, that Alérander, the brazier",...º.º.º. has brought many evils and mischiefs upon me. And I doubt not but the Lord, who exer- i. ºf him according cises a guardian care over me as his faithful servant, will sooner or later reward him ac- to his works: In that day.] This text will certainly prove, that the great and had occasion to send so far for such a garment, which probably was not mºst lorious #&# of faithful christians is referred to the day of gene- quite a new one. But some understand by it, º i. ;"| "...; rail judgment. lºt it }} be ...' precarious º #. from hence, or º º: * º the contents of which might be more that there shall be no prelibation and anticipation of this happiness in a important than the thi * . . - :- º state. And when the many texts, which have been so often g ºffi, Troas...] See the º º; § #. ight be a urged in proof of that intermédiqte happings, are considered, it is sur- d. The parchments.]. Bishop Bul ºn S the Se Fº . º e d »rising that any stress can be laid on the objection which has been drawn kind of common-place book, in # b; º ### r º S an om such passages as this. - - - extracts of what seemed most remarkable in the authors he read. a Demna's hath forsaken me..] I think we can neither be certain that e JAlexander the brazier.] The name, 9f Alexander was so common, Demas was ever a gºod man, from Paul’s speaking of him, as one, whom that we cannot certainly say whether this were the person mentioned, , in the judgment of charity he hoped to be so, nor can we certainly infer (Acts xix. 33 or i i"im. i. 20.) but what is here said of this Brazier ‘ from his dishonourable conduct on this occasion, that he totally apos- agrees so well with this last º that I think it probable it refers to tatized from christianity, and, much less, that he never returned to a the same man." What we know of Paul’s character must lead us to con- sense of it any more. §h. Mark had once acted a part yery like this, Ciude, that if he meant not the following words as a mere prediction, he yet was evidently restored to the esteem of our apostle. Conspare Acts did not however wish evil to him, as evil, but only that he might be so xv. 38. with the next verse of this chapter. - - 7 animadverted upon, as to prevent the contagion of bis bad example from b Bring with thee that cloak..] If p3Xovn here signifies, cloak or man- tºº. in the church, and bring him to repentance and reformation, tle, it is, as Grotius justly observes, a proof of Paul’s poverty, that he that so he might be preserved from final destruction. THE CONCLUSION, WITH DIRECTIONS AND SALUTATIONS. 781 cording to his works. May it be an instructive and merciful discipline, to reform rather SECT. than to destroy him. Against whom, in the mean time, be thou also particularly upon thy 7. guard, or thou mayst receive much detriment from him; for he hath not only done me a — great deal of personal .."; but hath greatly withstood our words, and taken every measure * º in his power to prevent the progress and advancement of the gospel, which is indeed 15 wounding me in the most tender and sensible part. * - 4. d wi In my first apology before the prefect of the city, no man, of all the Christians here at 16 §§º..."; };}} Rome, appeared with me, for my countenance and support, but all, either through treachery # jº not be laid to or cowardice, forsook me. Mºſ it not be charged to their account, as an instance of unfaith- e Ir C Yet I was not left entirely destitute, but can say it with 15 Of whom be thou ware also ; , for he hath greatly withstood our words. 16 At my first answer no harge. - # *śithstanding the fulness to our common Master'ſ 17 #... Yºº great pleasure, that the Lord Jesus Christ stood by me and strengthened me with that #º "...##". #. #.”. of soul which no human support *... have inspired; that by me the tºº, preaching [of his gospel] might be carried on with confidence,” and [that] all the nations ºut of the mouth might hear; for I made iny defence in a manner that will, I doubt not be taken notice of of the lion. and reported abroad, much to the advantage of that sacred cause, which is dearer to me than my life. And though this plain and faithful testimony did indeed expose me to great danger, yet I was for the present rescued, like Daniel, out of the mouth of the lion ; so that, fierce as he was, God did not suffer him to devour me, when he seemed to have me at his li f #!!... mercy. And I am confident that the Lord, whose power and faithfulness are always the ºil. same, will rescue me from what I º much more 5. any thing this º . .*.*.*.*.*.*, 3 from every evil work ; will strengthen me against the most pressing and violent temptations, wºn ºf for ever and {. that fº. do nothing unbecoming my Christian faith, or ministerial office, and thus will preserve and conduct [me] to his heavenly kingdom with peace and triumph; to him there- fore [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen. & ~ • - I must conclude with desiring thee to salute Priscilla and Aquila,h those dear friends with 19 whom I have had so agreeable an acquaintance and intercourse these many years; and also the family of good Onesiphorus. In my last journey through Asia and Greece I had the affliction to part with some of our common friends, whose conversation and corn- pany would have been very desirable, had Providence permitted it. Erastus in particular 20 abode at Corinth, and Trophinus I left sick at Miletus;k nor did the Lord, who hath made me an instrument of miraculous healing to so many strangers, permit me at that time 31 Dothy diligence to come to be so to him. Endeavour, therefore, as I am deprived of these agreeable friends, and 21 befºre... Winter..., Eubulus ded with d and enemies which threaten my life, to come to me greeteth thee, and Pudens, Surrounded WIth SO many dangers & y life, - ; Claudia and before winter. Several christians here at Rome desire I would send their commendations €th ſell a to thee: and in particular Eubulus salutes thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and * º; indeed all the brethren, in general. My heart is, as at all times, full of the tenderest 22 §º"Å. “” affection for thee; which I cannot express better than by praying, as I most sincerely do, that the Lord Jesus Christ himself may [be] ever present with thy spirit, and shed abroad those sanctifying, quickening, and comforting influences of divine grace, which my fit thee for all thou hast to do and bear under thy christian and ministerial character. And, wherever this finds thee, I desire thou wouldst assure my fellow-christians that I wish them well. May grace [be] with you all, as 3. circumstances require, to render you more eminently useful in the present state, and prepare you for complete and everlasting happiness in the next. Amen. IMPROVEMENT. - BE this our prayer for ourselves and our friends, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with their Ver, 2× spirits and ours; that, though we have not seen him here, neither can see him, we may ever feel his vital presence, and may live and act as ever near him, and as conscious that he is ever with us. Then may we promise ourselves that, while he stands by us, we shall be strengthened, how weak soever we are in ourselves; that we shall be comforted, whoever may desert us; that we shall be rescued from the extremest dangers, delivered out of the mouth of the infernal lion, and safely preserved to his heavenly kingdom. That such a confessor as the holy apostle St. Paul should have been deserted, at the time of his apology, when there must have been so large a number of christians at Rome, may justly appear one of the most surprising circumstances recorded in the sacred history. It teaches us to cease from man, and to repose ourselves wit some caution upon the friendship of the very best. It teaches us to watch over ourselves, lest the fear of man should 18 And the Lord shall de- I 3 19 Salute Prisca and Aqui- la, and the householdſ of Onesiphorus. .20 Erastus abode at Co- rinth : but, Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. f All men forsook, me..] Many circumstances make it astonishing that Paul, should, have been deserted by the christians at Rome in this ex- tremity. When he wrote his, Epistle to the church there, which must have been ten years, before this, he speaks of their faith as celebrated through the world; (Rom. i. 8.) he salutes a vast number of illustrious persons by name, and mentions many of them as his particular friends ; (xvi. 3—15.) and we may assure ourselves that, during the two years he spent there in his hired house, when access was granted to all that de- sired it, the number, and probably the zeal, of christian converts would e greatly increased ; as indeed he expressly assures, the Philippians that it was, and that some of Caesar’s palace were added to them. (Phil. i. 4. iv. 22.) We are ready to say, How then was it possible he should be thus forsaken & But there is a material circumstance, seldom honour of christianity, that the apostle could thus courageously main- tain it, when all his friends forsook him, and his encºnies were so fiercely rº against him. . ~. - Priscilla and Aquila...]. This has often been urged, as a conclusive argument, to prove that Timothy was now at Ephesus, because it was there that Apollos met with them, (Acts xyiii. 26.) but they might have removed from thence, as they did from Corinth, to which place they came when first banished from Rome. Ib. ver. - - - i Frastus abode at Corinth, ‘. It is probable this was his native city, or at least a place, where he had a stated charge. (See Rom. xvi. 23.) It seems, by this clause, that he was in Paul’s company when he parted with Timothy, as it is likely Trophimus also was. And as none can suppose Paul would have mentioned these things to Timothy in this taken notice of in this connexion, which accounts in a great neasure for what might otherwise appear so strange. Clement, the companion of Paul, informs us, that he suffered martyrdom under the governors, (as Bishop Pearson and L'Enfant explain gapſypngas eſti, Tov ây guevov,) that is, as they understand it, when Nero was gone into Greece, and had left the government of the city to Tigellinus and Sabinus, prefects of the praetorian guard, and that monster ſlelius. If this be allowed, it fixes d. death of Paul to A. D. 66 or 67. But the cruel persecution which Nero had raised against the christians,at Rome, (in which they were worried in the skins of wild beasts, and burnt alive for a kind of public illumination,) was, according to Tacitus, at least two years before this. It is possible, therefore, that many of the excellent persons men- tioned above, might have suffered death for their religion, or, according to our Lord’s advice, (Matt. x. 23,) have retired to a distance from Qme: The Asiatic christians, who came with Paul, as it seems, to rally the broken remains of this once, celebrated church, acted a mean part in deserting Paul, as the other christians of the place did. . But it is less surprising upon the jº. above, than it would otherwise ave appeared; and it might be among the first-fruits of that sad apos- tasy, which Vitriuga, (as was elsewhere observed), supposes to have begun in the time of Nero, and continued to that of Trajan. See note a, On im. iii. 1. p. 777. * - g Qarried on with confidence.] . So the original, r^mpođopmón, here signifies. Calvin truly observes, that it was a glorious testimony to the çonnexion, if they had happened many years before, (Acts xix. 22.) I look upon this as a very material argument to prove that he returned into these eastern parts, between his first and second imprisonment at 9me; though probably, if he ever saw Ephesus again, most of the ininisters of that and the neighbouring places, with whom he had the celebrated interview at Miletus, mentionéd Acts xx. were either dead or removed. See ver, 25. note f. and ver. 38. note r, p. 461. and 463. Compare the Introduction to the First Epistle to 'inº, p. 753. k Leſt sick.] . It has been yery justly argued from this text, that a power of working miracles did not always reside in the apostles, and indeed if it had, one can hardly imagine lit any good and useful man would have been sick, and have died under their notice, which would have been quite inconsistent with the scheme of Providence. Timothy’s frequent infirmities afford a further argument to the same purpose. º Act; viii. 21. note d, p. 401.) But such good men as these id, not need the miraculous cure of their own distempers, to confirm their faith in the gospel. ! Comé!g ºne before winter.] . Bishop Lloyd, in his Funeral Sermon for Bishop Wilkins, p. 6. comparing with this text Heb. xiii.33. concludes that Timothy did come, and was seized than Paul himself; but it seems much more probable that the Épistle to the Hebrews was written during Paul’s first imprisonment, aft COIn SC- quently several years before this. at Rome, and confined longer 782 CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. SECT. bring a snare upon us, (Prov. xxix. 25.) and lead us to be ashamed of Christ in his members. It concurs with 7. the apostasy of Demas, to warn us that we beware of loving this present world, and keep our eyes more steadily fixed on a better, in which our highest interest lies, and by regarding which, our souls will acquire a certain 2 TIM. uniform tenour, that will prove their honour and their º - 10.1 2 The readiness of Paul, amidst such a dearth of true and faithful friends, to part with those that yet remained, 2 when he thought the service of christianity required it, is an amiable and instructive part of his character. They know not the heart of a man, and the duty of a christian aright, who know not that even the tender and friendl passions are to be guarded against, and admitted no further than reason and religion will warrant; and that such society as is far dearer to us than any animal delight, or secular accommodation, is often to be given up, that our fidelity to God may be approved. - 13 . Once more, it is obvious to remark, that Paul, though favoured with such extraordinary degrees of divine inspiration, sets a proper value upon books, and expresses a great concern about their being safely conveyed to him. , Let us therefore pity the ignorance, rather than imitate the enthusiasm and madness, of those that set learning at defiance, especially in the ministers of the gospel. Let us thankfully acknowledge the divine good- ness, in having furnished us with so many excellent writings of wise and pious men in all ages; and let us endeavour, by ãº. converse with them, to improve our furniture, that our profiting may appear unto all men. Yet let us all remember that, how large and well-chosen soever our library may be, the sacred volume is of infi- nitely greater importance than all that Greece, or Rome, or Britain has produced, or the united labours of all the best .# men who have written since it was concluded. And let the christian minister remember, that the two Epistles, through which we have now passed, and that which we are next to survey, are to be esteemed by him amongst the most edifying and important parts even of that incomparable and divine book. THE F A M I L Y EXPO s I TO R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. *. TITUS, to whom this Epistle is addressed, was a Greek, (Gal. ii. 3.) and was probably converted to christianity by St. Paul, as we may conclude from the title he gives him of his own son after the common faith, (Tit. i. 4.) though the par- ticular time of his conversion cannot be ascertained.—The earliest account of him we meet with (for Luke does not once mention his name in the Acts) is in Gal. ii. 1. where the apostle says, he took him with him from Antioch to Jerusalem, fourteen years after his conversion, to attend the grand council that was held there, in the year 49; and, as Titus was of Gentile parents, and consequently uncircumcised, St. Paul would not suffer him to submit to that rite, that he might not seem to abridge the liberty of the christian Gentiles. (Ver. 3.) - Some years after this, we find the apostle had sent him to Corinth, (2 Cor. xii. 18.) to inquire into the state of things in that church, and particularly to learn what effect his former letter had produced. The intelligence Titus brought St. Paul at his return gave him the highest satisfaction, as it far exceeded all his expectations; (chap. vii. 6, 13.) and, as Titus had sº a particular regard for the Corinthians, he thought proper to send him back again, with some others, to hasten the collection for the poor christians in Judea. (Chap. viii. 6.) After this, we hear no more mention of him, till he is spoken of in this Fº as having been with St. Paul in Crete.—It appears that the apostle had a very great regard for him, not only from his appointing him to take care of the church he had planted in Crete, but from the manner in which he speaks of his discharging the commission he gave him to the Corinthians, and the honourable terms in which he recommends him to them as his partner and fellow-helper. (Chap. viii. 23.) This Epistle was most probably written in some part of St. Paul's last progress through the Asiatic churches, between his first and second imprisonment at Rome; and consequently the last of ; Epistles, except the Second to Timothy : but nothing can be certainly determined, either as to its date, or the place from which it was sent, for though the spurious postscript supposes it to have been written from Nicopolis, yet the contrary seems to be plainly intimated, chap. iii. 12. as the apostle says not, I propose to winter here, (which would have been most natural, if he had resided there when he was writing,) but there; which shows he was at that time in some other place.—However, it is plain Titus was at Crete when he received it, where St. Paul had left him to settle the church he had established there, and carry on the work he had begun. Accordingly the greatest part of the Epistle is taken up in giving him directions for the more successful discharge of his ministry amongst them; and particularly for his behaviour towards those corrupt judaizing teachers who en- deavoured to pervert the faith and disturb the peace of the christian church. The apostle, after a short introduction, in which (agreeably to the design of the Epistle) he intimates that he was com- missioned }. Christ to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, reminds Titus of the special reasons for which he left him at Crete, and directs him on what principles he was to actin the ordination of those christian ministers who were to take the oversight of particular churches; representing them as persons not only of a blameless but exemplary character, who should be eminent for their º and for every social and personal virtue, as well as thoroughly established in the christian faith. (Chap. i. 1–9.) And, to make Titus more sensible of the necessity of using this precaution, he puts him in mind of those seducing judaizing teachers with which that church was infested; who, under the mask ..? greater zeal and knowledge than others, concealed the grossest corruption of morals, and whose mischievous attempts were the more likely to succeed, considering the general character of the Cretans. . Such therefore he directs him to reprove with great seve- rity, and, in opposition to their false and dangerous tenets, advises him to accommodate his exhortations to the different sorts of persons with whom he conversed, according to their respective sexes, ages, and circumstances. And to give the reater weight to his instructions, he admonishes him to be himself an example of what he taught, and by the purity of is doctrine, as well as the innocence of his conduct, to silence his opponents. (Ver. 10, to the end. Chap. ii. 1–8.) St. Paul then proceeds to urge on Titus a care to instruct servants in the §: of their station, that they might, according to their sphere, do an honour to the religion they professed; and represents the obligation they were under to such a con- duct from the great design of the gospel institution, and our Saviour's sufferings andſdeath, which was to deliver mankind from sin, and form them to universal holiness in heart and life. (Ver. 9, to the end.)—Agreeably to this view of religion, the apostle exhorts Titus to enforce subjection to the civil magistrate, and a readiness to al good works; to caution against censoriousness and contention, and recommend a meek, peaceable, and forgiving temper: which he intimates might the more reasonably be expected from christian Gentiles, as before their conversion their character had been so corrupt. . This leads him to acknowledge the grace of God in Christ, to which all christians were indebted for the change produced in them, and for the hopes of salvation they were taught to entertain ; from whence he takes occasion to remind 84 7 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. Titus of the importance of insisting upon the great doctrines of practical religion, in opposition to those empty speculations and useless controversies to which some were attached, in the close of the Epistle, i. directs him how to proceed with *Pºet, to heretical teachers; and having expressed his desire to see him at Nicopolis, where he proposed to winter, he coacludes with a general salutation. . (Chap. iii. I, to the end of the Epistle.) pon a review of this, and the two Epistles to Timothy, it is natural to reflect how much they tend to illustrate and ºnfirm the internal evidence of christianity.—It has been often observed, and very justly, that nothing sets the characters ºf great men in so true a light as their letters to their particular friends: 'while they are acting in the eye of the world they frequently appear in disguise, and the real motives of their conduct lie out of sight; but in their familiar correspondence they open their minds with freedom, and throw off all reserve. If therefore any should object to the argument drawn from St. Paul's Epistles to the churches, that, as they were designed for the public view, he would be upon his guard, not to let any expression esca |. him that might give the world an unfavourable idea of himself, or the cause in which he was engaged; yet certainly, when he is writing, as in this and the two former Epistles, to his most intimate friends, who were embarked With him in the same design, and with whom therefore he could use the utmost confidence, we may reasonably expect to find him disclosing his real sentiments, stripped of all artifice and disguise.—And now, upon the most accurate and im: Fº examination of these Epistles, what do we discover ? Can we trace any marks of insincerity and imposture ? loes the apostle wear any other character than that in which he had appeared to the whole world? Does he drop the least hint that can lead one so much as to suspect that he had been only acting a part, and imposing upon mankind?... Can we perceive the least shadow of inconsistency between the views he gives of religion in these and his other writings? Is there any thing like that double doctrine which some have charged upon the ancient philosophers?—On the ‘. is it not most, evident, that he founded his own hopes, and formed his own conduct, upon the very same principles which he recom- mended to others; that he had no views of secular interest or ambition to gratify, and was influenced by no other motives than those which he openly avowed in the face of the world; in a word, that his character, as well as his doctrine, was consistent and uniform, and his inward sentiments the same with his outward profession ? The instructions he gives his friends for the exercise of their office had nothing of art or subtilty, but were all plain and simple, and centred in that grand design of advancing the interests of religion and the happiness of mankind, which ever lay near his heart: and so far is he from flattering them with the prospect of any worldly advantage, that he exhorts them to be ready, after his ex- ample, to sacrifice every temporal interest, and even life itself, in the cause they had undertaken to support. Now, if this be allowed a just representation of the case, it will certainly follow, that the apostle was himself thoroughly persuaded of the truth and importance of those doctrines he had taught: and since it may be easily proved, that the evi- dence on which he built his faith was of such a nature as to exclude all possibility of mistake, we may safely conclude, upon the credit of his testimony alone, (had we no other arguments to produce,) that the christian religion is not a cun- ningly devised fable, formed to answer the ambitious or interested views of its authors, but that it is indeed the 00wer of God, and the wisdom of God. A. P A R A P H R A S E AND NOTES O N THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. SECTION I. FAUL, AFTER A PROPER INTRODUCTION, REMINDS TITUs OF THE SPECIAL REASONS FOR WHICH HE LEFT HIM AT CRETE : A DIRECTS HIM ON WHAT PRINCIPí,ES HE SHOULD ACT IN THE ORDINATION OF THOSE CHRISTIAN MINISTERS WHO WERE TO TAKE THE OVERSIGHT OF PARTICULAR CHURCHES. TITUs i. 1–9. TITUs i. VER. 1. TITUS i. VER. I. PAUL, a servant of God, and THIS Epistle is written by Paul, a servant of the one living and true God, and an º: SECT. *::::::::::::icº; of his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for the advancement of the faith” of God’s chosen 1. jº"...º. people, and to promote the acknowledgment of the truth of the gospel; that divine doctrine ...:" " " " which [is] according to godliness, and has the greatest tendency to promote the interest of TITUs .# dº."º the true religion in all its branches; whilst it exhibits, in so clear a manner, the hope of eter- , i. Fººd Šeš: i:"...did nal life, which God, who cannot lie, nor deceive any of his creatures, hath, not only, as egåIn . under the former dispensation, intimated to us, but expressly promised to all believers, in consequence of those great engagements into which he entered with his Son, under the character of our Surety and Redeemer, before the world began,b or time was divided into 3 But, hath in due times those revolving periods which measure out its succeeding ages. The plan was distinctly 3 ; º; drawn in his all-comprehensive mind; but he hath now manifested it, in his own due and ..º.º.º. well-chosen time, by his word; which administers to us that glorious hope, by the public Saviour; preaching and declaration of it, with which I was intrusted, according to the commandment 4. To Titus, mine owgiºn and sovereign pleasure of God our Saviour. And I address this Epistle to Titus, º 4 §:...º.e.'; genuine son, according to the tenor of the common faith, even that christian faith to which º, §:...'...}. Ford ad the happiness of converting thee: to whom, with an affection becoming a father in Christ, I unfeignedly wish every desirable blessing, even grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour; by whom we obtain an interest in him, and hope for that eternal salvation from him, with which no inheritance on earth is by any means worthy to be compared. 5 For this cause left I thee For this cause I left thee in Crete, though I could have been so heartily glad of thy ;:hº: company in my travels, that thou mightest set in order the things which were deficient theré, *::: *, *::::::: as I could not stay long enough myself to reduce them into so regular a state as I could pointed thee." have wished; and particularly, that thou mightest ordain elders in every city” in which christian churches are planted, to whom the stated oversight of them may be committed in the Lord, as I gave thee in charge when I parted with thee. 6 If any be blameless, the . The office is so very important, that I hope thou wilt be proportionably careful as to the źi character of the persons who are to be invested with it; and if any one is thought of in of riot, or unruly. that view, let it be one who is known to be blameless in his conduct, the husband of only one wife, to whom he entirely confines himself, neither allowing of polygamy, or divorcé, or an irregular commerce with any other women; and let him be one who hath believing children, d if he have any that are grown up, not accused of any kind of debauchery, or un- governable in their temper and disposition, which would render them a reproach rather than 7 For a bishop must, bg an honour to the christian name. I must insist on a care in this respect, for it is evident, *** *** that the disorders of children often reflect a dishonour on their parents, and indeed arisé from something amiss in them: but a bishop, or overseer of a christian congregation, which the elder we speak of, by virtue of his offiée, is, must necessarily be blameless,” as he is, in 5 6 7 a For the faith, &c.] This is the proper signification of Kara Tus-w, in the belief of it himself, and, under a governing sense of its truth and im- this connexion, which expresses the end to which his labours tended. portance ; and if a man had only unbclievins, children in his house; that Compare 1 Tim. vi. 3. See Raph. Er Xen. in loc. is, such as were so obstinate that they could not be brought, to. embrace §"ºore the porid began.j ſt seems more natural to refer this to the ghristianity, by any of the arguments which could be laid before them promise made by the Father to Christ, in the covenant of redemption, in that age of miracles, it would be a great discouragement, and in some than, with Mr. Rymer, to explain it of the promise made quickly after circumstances a great hinderance, to him, from pursuing the duties of the ºrganion to our fallen parents, Gen. iii. 15. See Rymer, Of Rev. a christian elder of bishop. And, those evils, into which such obstinate Rel. p. 49. - - - infidel children might fall, would, very probably, bring a reproach upon C &ān elders in every city.] There were a hundred cities in the the family, which might in a degree hurt the character of him who pre- island of Crete, though its dimensions were not very large; but it is sided in it. * * well known that every considerable town was called a city }. the an– e For a bishop must be blameless.] . It has been often observed, that if cients. It is most likely, that some congregations were settled under the bishop of whom Paul speaks had been invested with an office distinct proper ministers while Pâul was among them; but there were others from, and superior to, the elder mentioned above, there, could have been not so provided, and the interposition of so wise and good a man as no room to conclude, that an elder must be blameless, because a bishop Titus, probably honoured with such extraordinary gifts, would, no must be so, though the argument would have held strongly in an inverted doubt, have great weight on such an occasion. ... . - ... order. By what degrees, and on what reasons, the distinction was after. d Believing º This is mentioned with great propriety; for if wards introduced, (as a distinction to be sure there early was,) it is not a man were not careful to instruct his children in the principles of chris- my business here to inquire. tianity, there would § great reason to doubt whether he were hearty in 9 r - 786 - TITUS CAUTIONED AGAINST SEDUCING TEACHERS. SECT. that society over which he presides, the steward of God, who is appointed in his name to God; notself willed, not soon 1. take care of his family. He must not therefore bé fierce and self-willed, obstinate, morose, tºº.º.º."# and arrogant, not soon provoked to be angry, not one who sits long over his cups, and loves incre;’ TTUs to drink large quantities of wine, not a striker of others, by which, whatsoever his provo- * cation may be, he always degrades himself in the eyes of those that are witnesses of the 8 §. nor greedy of sordid and infamous gain : But he ought to maintain a character 3 But a lover of hospitality, irectly the opposite of all these, and to be hospitable, benign, sober, and grave in his de- ºft.* * 9 portment, righteous, holy, devout, and temperate in all things; Holding f resolute manner, the ſº word which É. hath been taught by those who were commis. ...º.º.º. sioned * I hli e * - .." o instruc ~ 2. - doctrine both to exhort and to to publish it to the world, that so he may be able both io instruct others in sound convince the gainsayers. * just, holy, temperate; . . ast, in the most .9 ſolding fast, the faithful doctrine, and to convince and silence those that contradict it. IMPROVEMENT. Ver, 1 NEVER let it be forgotten by any that call themselves christians, that the faith of God's elect is the acknowledg- ment of the truth which is according to godliness. Never let the great design of christianity be lost in an eager contention for any of its appendages, or any of its parts. Yet alas, how often has it, in particular instances, been lººd almost to death, in a furious attempt to rescue it, and that, sometimes perhaps, from only an imaginary anger, 2 That we may be more sensible of its vital influence, let us ever retain the hope of that eternal life which it pro- poses as the great end of all our pursuits; even of that life which God that cannot lie hath promised. , Let us rejoice to think that so immense a superstructure has so firm, so divine a foundation; and let us never give it up for any thing that a flattering world, always ready to engage, and slow to perform, can promise. Let us ever be very thankful for the provision God hath made for the manifestation of his word through preach- 3 Ing, and for his goodness in raising up faithful pastors to his church, overseers in every age, who have been blame- 7, 8 less, sober, just, holy, and temperate. Such may all be that appear under that sacred character; able, by their doctrine to instruct, by their reasoning to convince, by their practice to edify; ever solicitous, that they may not 9 neglect their pastoral services, that they may not lord it proudly over their brethren, that they may not be trans- ported by furious passions, or misguided by rash conclusions, or perverted by low interests, and the greediness of 7 filthy lucre; but th. they may approve themselves the faithful stewards of God, and promote the good order of his house; and, so far as their influence can reach, the happiness of every member-of his ñº In order to this, let them look well to their own houses, that nothing may be wanting on their part, to make 6 their children tractable, faithful, and sober. And let the children of ministers consider the obligations they are under, to cultivate a teachable spirit, and to maintain the strictest decency in their whole º: as remem- bering the superior advantages they may be supposed to enjoy for religious improvement, and how much a minis- ter's reputation and usefulness depend upon the regularity of his family. --- SECTION II. Paul cautions Titus against seducing teachers, and the native vices of the Cretans; and advises him to accommodate his exhortations to the differ- ent sorts of persons with whom he conversed, according to their respective sexes, ages, and circumstances. Titus i. 10. to the end; ii. 1–8. TITUs i. 10. TITU's i. 10. SECT. I HAVE particularly insisted upon it, that a bishop should be able to convince gainsayers, FOR there are º 2, as well as to instruct candid and obedient hearers. And indeed the precaution is very :::::::::::::::::::::::::: – necessary at present, and particularly in the place where you now preside; for there are cumcision: TITUs many disorderly [persons] and vain talkers who are deceived in their own minds, in conse- 10 quenge of which it is no wonder if they are active in deceiving others. And this is especially the case with those of the circumcision, who are so eager to impose on their Gen- tile brethren the ceremonies of the Mosaic law, as if christianity itself were insufficient to y 11 save us without them. Whose mouth must therefore be stopped by solid arguments, and sº...hº...; their unreasonable clamours silenced by the strenuous exercise of discipline: for they are iºs ºf persons who are so active in º: these mischievous notions, that they overturn whole #:...ºft.” for filthy jamilies, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of infamous gain ; hoping by their doctrines to secure the favour of some rich men,who never think they can do enough for those preachers that support their own factious and dividing notions. & I know that there are many such at present in your island; and I remember that Epime- . 12 ºº:: nides, one of their [countrymen,) and º in such high renown, that I may call him a Hºi..., kind of prophet of their own,” has said, The Cretans are always liars, pernicious savage beasts, evil beasts, slow belies. and yet slow bellies, a wretched compound of luxury and idleness, fierceness and false- hood, which make it exceedingly difficult to reform them, or even to live safely and quietly 13 among them. This witness concerning them is, in the general, true, though some particux ºff This, witness, is true: lar pers be found of a different character. For which cause rebuke them severely,” ºrºm,”. persons may be found or, * * * — sº º - 3/5 sharply, that they may be whén they begin to show a disposition to corrupt christianity; that they may be sound in sound in the faith; the faith, and that the simpler part of them may be preserved from the dishonest artifices. 0 T 2 W f Self-villed, obstinate, morose, and arrogant.] Raphelius has taken bauched life, see Erasm. Prov, p. 642 643), and, it is remarkable, that a great deal of pains to show that this is the proper signification of Polybius scarce ever mentions this nation without some severe censure. avôaôn, the word here used. See Raph. Er Herod. in loc. - See Raphei. E Polyb. in loc. & g & a A prophet.) Epimenides, whose words Paul here quotes, is said, by c Rebuke them severely.] Amoropos, with a cutting severity. From Diogeºgs' Laertius, to have been a great favourite ºf the gºds is but whence Mr. Blackwall infers, that it is a vain pretence that only gentle Aristotle says he never foretold any future event; y high, as, Dr. Scott and soft expressions are to be applied to people that renounge.g.99g pºin- justly observes, (Scott’s Christian Life, vol. iii. p. 650.) is a plain argu- ciples, and corrupt the gospel. (Black. Wind, vol. i. p. 308, 309.) . But inent, that the word prophet is sometimes used in a large sensº, for one Paul speaks of réproving vice, not error; and if any consequence is to who is supposed, by the person applying the title to him, to be an in- be drawn from one to the othér, the remark is to be admitted with much sºcierº"men in diving things, from whom the will of the Deity inay ºut.cº.jëing toº bat a degree pride and passion often transport be learnt. * - * - mon, even in the management of theological controversies, beyond all b Cretans are always liars, &c., Perhaps it might have been in some jounds of prudence, charity, and decency. Timothy is exhorted to re- views more, proper to have translated this Greek wºrse in sºich a manner; bºrii, all iong suffering, (2 Tim. iv. 2.) and some account for the that it might have been read as a verse in English, “False Cretans! difference, by the différent tempers, of the reprovers; supposing that of Šâjago heasts, with bellies stoic ſ”. It is evident, the poet here suggests 'i'in othy might be warmer than that of Titus;, others, by the different a remarkable contrast, to show what a mixture there was of fiercenº's character of the persons to be reproved ; as the Ephesians seem to have and luxury in the characters of the Cretans. Sava!;e beasts are generally been more gentſe, obliging, and complaisant, the Cretans more obstinate, active and nimble; but these men, while they had the fury of lions and rough, and headstrong. But the best reply seems to be this; that therg tigers, indulged themselves so much in the most sordiq igſencss and in- is . degree of long-suffering and gentleness, Yery consistent with all thal tempérance, that they grew (as it were) all belly; and, like a breed ºf severiff' which faithfulness requires; which, is not that of boisterous swine common in the eastern countries, were often so burdened with fat passioi, iii-nature, and scurrility, but of meck, though resolute, zeal for that they could hardly move. As for their proneness to ſalsehgod, it is 3od, and friendship to the offender, which yet will not be silenced by well known that kport;eiv, to talk like a Cretan, was a proverb for lying, trifling excuses, nor fail seriously to represent the fatal consequences (as Koptv6tašću', to live like a Corinthian, was for a luxurious and de- that may attend the evil reproved. sº TITUS CAUTIONED AGAINST SEDUCING TEACHERS. 787 14 Nº giving heed to Jew- and attempts of others. And particularly, that they may not fall into the folly of giving SECT. 2. bles, and d- wº * , 8 --- - #nºś"; heed to Jewish fables, and to the commandments and traditions of men, who pervert the truth the truth. of the gospel with those human mixtures by which they have in a great measure spoiled and enervated the law of Moses, for which they pretend so great a zeal. 15 Unto the pure all things I know they value themselves highly upon the distinctions of food, which they inculcate ####"º"; as of so great importance to purity. But they are much mistaken. To the pure indeed all i.º.º.º.º.º. things [are] pure. A man that habitually exercises a good conscience towards God, ag- defiled. cording to the best of his knowledge, is accepted of him, whether he do, or do not, abstain from such particular kinds of food as they scruple; whereas to the polluted and unbelieving, which, alas, is too generally their character, nothing [is] pure, but their very mind and con- science is defiled, and they pollute, as it were, every thing they touch; they sin in all their . actions, and even in those very meals in which they are most careful to abstain from what 16. They profess that they they have been taught to esteem common and unclean. I speak not now of all who prac- jºy; §:"...i. tise Jewish ceremonies, but of those [who, while] they profess to know God, and glory in #;"; *...” their relation to him, as his peculiar people, in works' deny [him, and act as if they disbe- lieved his .. existence; being abominable to all that can judge of true worth, and disobe- dient to the plainest dictates of duty, and with respect to every good work reprobate, dis- approved and condemned, when brought to the standard of God's word, though they are among the first to judge and condemn others. tº "dā; *ś. Such is the temper and character of many. But do thou, O Titus, not only guard against sound doctrine: the infection thyself, but endeavour to fortify others against it, and speak the things which become wholesome doctrine, doctrine which may tend to promote the health and happiness 3 That the aged men be of those minds by which it is imbibed. And endeavour to suit thy instructions to the ; in jºinº; different characters of persons whom thou addressest. When, for instance, thou art ap- patience. plying thyself to aged men, [admonish] them to be watchful against temptations, which might dishonour their advanced years, by drawing them into any unseemly behaviour; to be grave in their whole deportment, avoiding such levities as are, even in youth itself, rather pardonable than commendable, but in those who are quitting the stage of life, highly indecent. Press it upon them, that they be sober and temperate in the use of ani- mal pleasures, as their highest relish for them may well be supposed, by this time, to be abated. In a word, that they be sound, healthful, and vigorous in the several graces of the christian temper, and particularly in faith, in love, and in patience; that the principles of christianity may be retained, and have a suitable effect upon their hearts, to produce un- bounded charity, and a calm composure under the calamities they may suffer from the hand of God, or the persecutions they may meet with in the cause of the gospel. 3 The aged women, like- The aged women, in like manner, ſerhort] to that steadiness which becometh saints, and Y; ; ; ; ; ;... suits the holy profession º make; that they be not false accusers of others, a character º; º; rather to be expected from the great enemy of mankind, who has his name from thence, ...'..." “” “ than from the disciples of the benevolent Jesus. Urge them also that they be not given to much wine, for some of the Cretan women, as well as men, are infected with that luxurious evil. And, as it may be reasonably expected, that persons so advanced in life should have laid up a treasure of prudence and religious wisdom in their minds, press them, in 4 That they may teach the such a manner as becomes their private station, to be teachers of that which is good: And i.º.º.º.º.º. particularly, that they wisely admonish the younger women; for whom they ought to main- their children, tain a maternal affection, and form them, on discreet maxims, to a prudent care in future life; teaching them to love and honour their husbands ; to love their children with such a true affection as shall engage them to use the most pious and tender care in forming their minds by all the offices of a good education, so many of which will naturally depend upon ** #. º jº, ...: the mother. Let them inculcate it upon these young mistresses of rising families, [that ii. 3 ºhiº, they be] discreet and chaste, attentive to domestic affairs, and in that view keeping at tº...?" of God be not home, to look after them with prudence and care; that they be good, kind, and benevo- *. e lent in their behaviour to all, and, particularly, obedient to their own husbands, that so the word of God, which they profess to have received into their hearts, and to reverence as their oracles, may not be blasphemed by their foolish or perverse, rebellious or licentious, - conduct. . h 6 Yº. º ex- In like manner, also, erhort the young men, the hope of rising families, upon whom so *** *** much of the credit and support of the gospel will depend, that they accustom themselves betimes to be sober and steady in their behaviour, superior to sensual temptations, and con- * • " - stant in the exercise of every part of self-government. & tº ſº sjº, º: , And that this address to them and others may be more successful in all things, be still in"doğ"jº, nº showing thyself a pattern of good works, by which others may model their conduct with ** sºvº, sinceri's advantage; while employed in teaching, be constantly ſerercising] uncorruptness, that nothing may be spoken but the genuine truth ; and let it be attended with a gravity in tº declaring it, proportionable to its importance, and proceed from sincerity of heart; Still isºfºrº uttering wholesome speech that cannot be confuted, that he who is on the contrary side, and rººms” *** will obstinately persist in his infidelity, may be ashamed of his opposition, having no evil to * say of you, or those committed to your caré ; but may be obliged, with all his prejudices, to acknowledge that you are a worthy president over a worthy and valuable society of men. IMPROVEMENT. WHILE we are reading the word of God, let us attentively observe what characters are adorned with honour, and what are branded with infamy. It is melancholy to think that any nation, though ever so small, ever so re- mote, ever so destitute of cultivation and instruction, should deserve the characters which Epimenides gave of the Cretans, and which Paul found reason to confirm: that luxury and fraud, idleness and fury, dissonant as they may seem, should be their governing inclinations. Sad distempers in the mind of men' But how peculiarly lamentable when they ºf among professing christians ! for among those that are christians indeed they cannot possibly prevail. Yet surely there are not a #. even in Britain, with all its advantages, who, while professing to know God, and Christ Jesus his Son, in works deny them. Such are abominable, in proportion to the degree d, Keeping at home, to look after, &c.) Elsner has shown, in a learned note on this place, that the word outspos is used by several of the best authors to express both these ideas. - - TITUS 15 TITUS II. 3. 4 5 7 8 TITUS 12 I. 788 THE DUTIES OF SERVANTS. SECT. in which they are disobedient; and, as they are reprobate to every good work now, must expect to be rejected 2. With abhorrence at last, by that God, whose name they have blasphemed, and whose Son they have dishonoured. T. To remedy, and if it be possible to prevent, such evils, let the ministers of Christ be still applying themselves, * With suitable exhortations and charges, to all with whom they are concerned. Let them apply to the aged and * the young; and let the aged of both sexes use that authority which their more advanced progress in life may give, to enforce upon the rising generation lessons of wisdom and piety, according to their respective sexes and circum- 4, 5 stances in life: that prudence and chastity, economy and sweetness of temper, a subjection to their husbands, formed on love, and on religion, may be the character of young wives; and that they may join to it that very im: pºrtant duty of a pious care in the education of those children which God may give them.” “And may the sobriet 6 of young men encourage a hope, that they will preside over their families in the fear of God, and repay the . ngs; of such amiable consorts! And may the teachers, whether in public or private life, be themselves examples of the virtues they inculcate; that they who study to asperse christianity, may find themselves silenced, till their shame turns into a worthier affection; till their silence breaks out into praise, and they, imbibing the like princi- ples, feel them productive of the like virtues! SECTION III. Paul urges on Titus a care to instruct servânts in ſhe duties of their station; and represents their great obligations to discharge them, from a general view of the design of the gospel, and the love of our Redeemer in it. Titus ii. 9, to the end. TITUS ii. 9. Tires ii. 9. SECT. WHILST thou art, according to the direction I have given thee above, instructing the ExHort servants to be 3. superior ranks of mankind, I would not have thee neglect the lowest; but [exhort] their gº §§ºi slaves and other servants, who are honoured with a call into the christian church, to be sub-iñºs".:*:::::... Tºus ject to their own masters, with reverence and obedience; pleasing [them] in all things, so again; * a far as they lawfully may, and not answering again, in a pert and insolent manner, if they are reproved by them, even though it should be unjustly, or with an excess of severity. 10 Yot privately defrauding them” of anything that is committed to their trust, but showing 10 Not purloining, but gll goodſidelity upºn every, occasion; that so, instead of bringing any reproach upon ré: ; ; ; ; ; ligion, they may adorm the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, and recommend it to ºf God our saviour in the esteem of their masters and others, when they shall observe its influence on all its pro- *** fessors, to make them careful in the discharge of every social and relative duty. 11 For the saving grace of God, in the gospel dispensation, hath appeared unto all men, to tº ######## men of all nations, and of all ranks and orders of life, for this great purpose, that it may .; i.” " train them up for eternal salvation, by a holy temper, and a useful, exemplary behaviour. 12 This it effects under divine influence, by instructing us all, wherever it comes, that denying . 12 Teaching us that, §: the sºlicitations of ungodliness and worldly lusts, to which men of this world so naturally lºº. §§ . abandon themselves, we should live soberly in the government of our appetites and passions; ºn godly, in this righteously in our conduct towards our fellow-creatures; and piously in our behaviour * º towards God, and converse with him, while we are by his providence continued in this resent vain and transitory world; through which we trust he is leading us to a blissful 18 immortality. And this is the great object which he requires us still to keep in view; and 13 Pºiº that we should all, in our different situations, be waiting, with ardent expectation and ºn: tiºš. ää desire, for the blessed hope which he hath set before us, and for the full consummation of our Saviour Jesus Christ; it, in the glorious appearance of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ;b who shall be manifested with divine pomp and majesty, in the last day, to redeem all his servants from the power of the grave, and to conduct them, in their complete persons, to the full and everlasting enjoyment of his heavenly kingdom. 14. Such are our sublime hopes from this glorious Lord, to whom we have all vowed sub- 14, who #, i. i. jection, whether we be bond or free; even to him who gave himself up to ignominy, tor- #;"j"; jºr; ment, and death for us, that he might thereby redeem us, not only from final vengeance º and destruction, but from the power of all iniquity; and might purify to himself a peculiar * * so $º tº people, who should thankfully own themselves his property, and express their gratitude for such inestimable favours, by being not only careful to avoid the practice of evil, but zealous of good works, active in all the duties of life, and in every office of righteousness and goodness to each other. The highest of mankind are not above owning the obligation, 15 and it is his will that the lowest should remember it. These things therefore speak boldly, e...";”;"| and earnestly exhort all thine hearers to attend to them. And if they fail of regarding authority. Let no man de them in a proper manner, rebuke them with all authority, as one that knows he has a spise thee. divine commission to support him: and, upon the wholē, let to man despise thee; but endeavour to give these exhortations with that solemnity and dignity, and to enforce them by that wisdom and sanctity of behaviour, which may set thee above all danger of con- tempt. IMPROVEMENT. HARDIY does the word of God afford a more instructive and comprehensive summary of the gospel, than that Ver.11 which is here before us. It gives us a yiew of the nature of the dispensation, as a doctrine of grace; and, at the same time, a doctrine according to godliness. It hath appeared to all men, and it bringeth them salvation, by in- 12 culcating the most salutary lessons that man can receive. It teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, how pressing soever their solicitations may be. It instructs us in all the branches of our duty to God, to ourselves, and to our fellow-christians. . It guides us to uniform and complete goodness; not extolling any one part, to the neglect or injury of the rest, but tending to produce this beautiful birth, entire in all its members, and then to nourish it to its full maturity. As we are slow of heart to attend to such instructions, it enforces them with motives 13 the most generous and the most animating. It represents to us, as it were in prophetic vision, that blessed hope, even the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; when he shall come with everlasting a Privately defrauding.] The word voo ºt;ety properly signifies, to b The great God and our Saviour.] The words. Tº pſeya) & 6eg kat keep back part of the ºcorth of any thing, and is used in the gase of Ana- 3.27mpos huoy, might with propriety be rendered, our great God and mias’s secreting g, part, where the whole was pretended to be returned. Saviour, though they are also susceptible of the other yersion. But it is (Acts v. 2, 3.) This serpants, at least among the heathens, might proba; certain, that if Christ be here called oſtrºreat God, it is not in any view b}y do when employed by their masters to vend commodities; and of *}}. between Him and the Father. (Compare I Cor. xy. 27. other fraudulent practices, among persons of their rank, were so com- Mr. F lºgº in support of this interpretation, observes, ( º; Christol. mon, that the same word in the Latin language (ſur] is used for a servant vol. i. p. 203.) that we never read in Scripture of the Father’s appear- and a thief. Bn CE. CONCLUSION, WITH PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS. blessin upon all that have rejected the authority of his gospel. And that the most powerful considerations of gratitude may join with those of the highest interest, it directs our given himself to torture and death for us, that he might re . to this divine triumphant Saviour, as having once peculiar people, devoted to God, and zealous of good works. And surely, if this view cannot prevail upon us to consecrate ourselves to God, and to engage with vigour in his service, we must be utterly insensible, and worthy the severest punishment. Let these lessons, therefore, every where be taught with all authority. Let them be addressed at once to the meanest and the greatest of mankind; and to secure their share in such a salvation. that they may join in a pious care to adorn the doctrine of such a Saviour, SECTION IV. The apostle concludes his Epistle with exhorting Titus to recommend obedience to magistrates, and readiness to all good works; to caution against censoriousness and contention; acknowledging the grace of God as that to which all christians owe their hopes of salvation, and strongly pressing him to insist upon the great doctrines of practical religion, in opposition to those idle controversies to which many were attached. He also in- structs him how to proceed with respect to heretical teachºrs; and closes with giving him some directions about meeting him at Nicopolis, and a general salutation to all his friends. Titus ifi. 1, to the end. Trrus iii. 1. PUT them in mind to be sub- ject to principalities and pow- ers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work; TITUs iii. 1. AMONG other useful lessons which it will be thy duty to give the Cretans, while thou continuest with them, remind them of being subject to those principalities and powers which God hath set in supreme authority over them, by no means excepting those who stand at the greatest distance from christianity: exhort them also to obey subordinate governors; and, upon the whole, to be ready to every good work, in every relation which they sustain 2 To speak evil of no man, i * to be no 5. but genié, in life. Charge them to calumniate no man,” not to be contentious, | gentle in their §§§igiºnášūji whole demeanour, showing all meekness to all men, even those from whom they may re- In eI). 3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, dis- obedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, ###, in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one an– other. ceive the greatest provocation. Let us not bear ourselves too highly on the superiority of our own characters, be they now ever so blameless, or ever so exemplary; for we our- selvesb also were formerly foolish, as well as others, disobedient to the divine authority, and º: to those whom God had invested with power over us; wandering from the paths oth of truth and virtue, and enslaved to various lusts and pleasures; in the pursuit and gratification of which we degraded the nobler powers of our souls. We were living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves, while under the tyranny of such fierce and detestable passions, [and] hating one another, on account of little clashings and oppositions in our temporal interests, while we forgot the great ties and bonds which ought to have endeared us to each other. 4 But after that the kind- ness and love of God our iſiour toward man appear- €01, 5 Not by works, of ri ousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of, regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; its But when the admirable kindness and love of God our Saviour" towards man, so signally . displayed in the gospel, appeared to us, we were delivered from this miserable condition: the remembrance therefore of this deliverance ought to make us compassionate, rather than severe, towards others in the same unhappy circumstance in which we once were ; hte- especially when we consider the manner in º ich it was accomplished. For it was not by any works of righteousness which we ourselves had done; for any acts of obedience, whether to ceremonial or moral precepts, by which we had made ourselves worthy of his favourable regard; but according to his own mercy, that he saved us from condemnation and ruin, by the washing of regeneration,” and the renewing of the Holy Spirit; which by urifying influence operates at first to turn us to God, and bring us into the number of his children, and afterwards advances the happy work, by improving us more and more 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; . 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be mad in the divine life and image: Even by that Spirit which he poured out upon us richlye and abundantly, in his various gifts and graces, by Jesus Christ our Saviour, in virtue of whose intercession it has been imparted to the children of men: That being justified by his grace, 7 #ºf we might become heirs of the most valuable blessings, according to the hope of eternal life, eternal life. 8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. things are good and profitable Ulſ) to In C n. noble object of our pursuit. which, as the gift of that grace, he hath exhibited to our believing views, as the great and ſº which I have here been attesting, [is] a faithful say- ing, most credible in itself, as well as of great weight and importance; and concerning these things, these distinguishing principles of the gospel, I will and charge, that thout †he steadily affirm and constantly inculcate them; that so they who have believed in God, and by baptism professed to embrace this gospel, may not imagine, that by the dispensation of grace, they are excused from the observation of duty; but, on the contrary, that, being thus engaged, and encouraged by such grace and hope, they may be so much the more careful, thoughtful, and diligent to signalize themselves as examples of the greatest zeal in good works. These things are good and profitable to men : theré is a beauty and advantage in them which nothing can equal. Let these therefore be the darling topics of thy preach- as thou desirest the edification and salvation of thy hearers. - ling, #. avoid, and endeavour to guard others against, foolish questions, which the judaizing i. teachers are ready to start, that tend only to amuse an idle curiosity; and those perplexed for they are genealogies, about which they so eagerly debate, and other striſës and contentions about the law of Moses; for they are unprofitable and vain, not only consuming to no purpose 9 But avoid foolish ques: tions, and genealogies, contentions, and about the law * unprofitable and vain. strivings a Calumniate, no man.] Not even your pagan or Jewish neighbour, says good Dr. Barrow, (Vol. i. p. 162.) however enormous in their lives, or cruel in their behaviour to you. b We ourselves.] Dr. Whitby pleads, this cannot be applicable to Paul himself, and argues from Acts xxiii. im. i. °hil. iii. 5. But I am persuaded that when the apostle wrote this, he had such sub- Jime views of the purity of God’s law, and the imperſection of his own best obedience, how capable soover of being justified to new, thau, not- withstanding all he says in the text quoted, he could apply what he here wrote to much of his own character, while an enemy §§§rºit. Compare note e, below. c God our Sapiour.] It is observable, that God the Father is here called pur Saviour, to intimate that it was his paternal love to us that engaged him to appoint his Son to redeem us, and to perform all those inportant offices for us, by which he accomplishes our salvation. - d By the washing of regeneration.] This hath often been explained of baptism, and Mr. Joseph Mede insists upon it, that it alludes to cleans- ing the new-born, infant from the pollutions which necessarily attend it. (Ezek. xvi. .). But I cannot think this interpretation at all favourable to the doctrine of baptismaal regeneration ; since it is not by & ºf tºashing the inſant that the birth is produced; and, therefore, it can surely signify, no more, than that they who are regencrated are to be thus trashed. I have observed elsewhere, that \sipov, the word here used, is by no means entirely synonymous to Agrºp, a liver. The sense here given of this much controverted passage is what I verily believe to be the justest and safest; though I am well aware, that the Christian church soon began to lay a disproportionable stress on ſorins, and to ascribe too great efficacy to the ritual of baptisin. See the Preface and Postscript to my Scrºons on Regeneration, second edition. - e. Pºhich he poured out upon us richly.) . These words have been ex- plained as referring to Paul alone, and thg effusion of the Spirit upon him, to qualify him for his cktraordinary office. But, to say nothing of the harshness of this interpretation, and the violence it must do to seve- ral phrases here used, it is evident, that it would make the text quite foreign to the purpose, for which it is introduced, viz. of dissuading from Seyere and uncharitable censures. erplexed genealogies.] It is well known that the Jews carried their fondness for these to a great excess: and Jerome tells us, they were as well acquainted with those from Adam to Zerubbabel, as with their own In a ſne S, 789 in his hands, to reward all his faithful people; and with the terrors of divine vengeance, to be poured forth SEGT. 3. 15 10 eem us from all iniquity, and purify us to himself a "lºs SECT, 4. TITUS 2 3 5 6 8 Iiſ. 790 SECT, 4. TITUS III. CONCLUSION, WITH PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS. that time which is capable ºf much better improvement, but also tending to discompose the mind, to alienate the affections of christians from each other, and to render them indif. ferent to the proper duties of life. And a man that, on this occasion, grº her.", - factious d obstinate heretic,8 that i } - 5 • * 3. . 10 A man that is an here- actious and obstinate heretic, that introduces such controversies as these into the church, it after the first, and second and perversely maintains and propagates them, in a manner injurious to the peace of admonition reject; society, g/ter the first and second admonition frºm thee and the church, given with proper 11 12 I3 14 solemnity, reject, and declare him unfit to be any longer looked upon as a member of it. Knowing that such a one, who is so fond of his own darling notions, that he will ruin the 11 knowing that that i peace of the church for them, and will not submit to thy remonstrances, and those of the sui'i ..º.º.º. wiser and better part of the society, is perverted by some very ill principles, whatever zeal jºins condemned of he may pretend for what he maintains as truth; and that he not only errs, but sins too, in such obstinate efforts to diffuse his errors, being indeed self-condemned, and judged out of his own mouth, as his own words furnish sufficient matter of conviction ; and while he makºs such a breach in the church, he in effect passes on himself that sentence of separa- tion from it which he well deserves to lie under till he returns to a better temper. Jºhen I shall send to thee Artemas or Tºlicits, to supply thy place in Crete, as I hope 12 when Islausand Arts. quickly tº do, endeavour to come to me at Vicopolis; for there I have determinei to pass the jº. Tºic. winter, if Providence gives me an opportunity. - º, Nº.º.º.º. º. º As Zenas, the Worthy lawyer, who, though well versed in those studies, on which some tº ãº, of his Jewish brethren value themselves so highly, is now a sincere and active Christian, aſſº; and my eloquent and pious friend. Apollos, will be with thee when this comes to thy hand. ...º.e.'”* * or quickly afterwards, I desire thou wouldst bring them forward on their journey to me, with readiness and diligence; and take all the care thou canst, that nothing convenient may be wanting to them which thou canst supply them with. I hope these good men will 14 And let outs also learn meet with that hospitable treatment among the christians in your parts, which their charac- to º, ſº ter deserves; and let all those that belong to us, and call themselves christian brethren, sº * * * whether they were before Jews or Gentiles, learn to distinguish themselves in good works, Jor necessary purposes of aid and service to others; that they may not be unfruitful, and act 15 Ver. 2 3 4, 5 7 6 14 8 9 10 as if they had learned nothing but barren speculations from that religion which is so well calculated to inspire and animate every sentiment of benevolence and generosity. •All the christians that are here with me salute thee, in an affectionate and respectful man- 15 All that are with me per. , Salute them, who love us in the bonds of our common faith; and assure my christian iºns; º; friends, that I feel an equal affection for them. Grace and peace, and every other blessing, withºi. "Athen. tº from our Father and Saviour, [be] with you all. ..?men. IMPROVEMENT. LET, the remembrance of the irregularities with which we ourselves were once chargeable, of that sinful and miserable condition in which we once were, make us candid to others, and silence our too severe censures against them. And let us rather, with the apostle, humbly adore that grace which has now made a difference between us and those that are still foolish and disobedient, wandering in the paths of vice, and enslaved to divers lusts and pas- sions. Let the kindness, the philanthropy of God, be daily celebrated and adored by us; of God who hath saved us, not by the righteousness of our works, but by his own rich and overflowing mercy; hath justified us by his free grace in Christ, and thereby made us heirs, according to the hope of eternal life. Norlet us ever forget how much we are indebted to the regenerating and renewing influences of the Holy Ghost shed abroad upon us richly by Jesus Christ our Saviour. May it wash and purify our souls more and more from every stain of sin, and may it inspire us with a pious ardour to honour our profession, by distinguishing ourselves in all good works for neces- sary uses, and according to the calls which Providence gives us in life. Having professed our belief in God, let us carefully practise all the virtues of the christian character; for these things are indeed good and profitable to men. Butlet us guard against those airy curiosities and abstruse speculations, which, on the contrary, are unpro- fitnble and vain. May all the churches of Christ be delivered from such factious members and teachers as would depart from the infallible rule of truth which is laid down in the word of God, and would subvert the faith once delivered to the saints; introducing, instead of it, the doctrines of men, and teaching things which tend to alienate the minds of christians from the gospel, and from each other, that they may set up their own authority, and promote their own secular interest. We ought undoubtedly to be cautious how we pass such a censure on particular persons, without clear and evident proofs; but when such proofs arise, and the persons in question appear to be the turbulent and pernicious heretics that St. Paul describes, it were to be wished they might always meet with the treatment which he recommends. They ought first to be plainly and seriously admonished; and, if repeated admonitions are re- jected, it is the duty of the wiser and sounder parts of christian societies to expel them; that they may be less capable of doing Inischief, and that the gangrene of such pernicious principles and dispositions may not spread, to thé disgrace and ruin of the churches to which they belong. Butlet it ever be remembered, that this is all the remedy which scripture furnishes us with ; and they who, to the solemn censure of disturbed and injured churches, add any corporal severities or civil penalties whatsoever, are taking up weapons which Christ has never put into their hands, and may very probably do more mischief in the church and the world, than the most erroneous of those against whom they would arm their terrors. g ſcretic.]. After all the tedious controversies which have arisen about socyer received and maintained, a man, Qught to be separatºd ſº * this sense of this text, I have been obliged to acquicsce in that given in christian society, the dispute between this learned Egnºleman ºn º tijº, paraphrase, being well assured, that a person may be said to be antagonist was brought to this 9 uestion, What St. Paul º 3 and sciſ-Cºlºmned iſ ſº füritish platter of conviction against himself. Com- the hints laid down above convince mº, that what Dr. Whitby his suid pare {{rb. Xi. 7, Maſt; xii.,4], ...}}., Acts xiii. 43, Job xv. 6. Luke, xix. on this head cannot be defended, even by this infiegº revivºr 9 # his 23. And, indeed, if Dr. Whitby’s interpretation, borrowed and de- h There I have determined to pass the iſinter.] Several cities º fended by Dr. Foster, is to be admitted, viz. that he is a lie retic who name are mentioned in lº ; one, not far from lº º *::: teaches directly .* ºffſ to what he in war Jºy, believes, the truth or false- (lonia; another in Epirus, which took its rise and name º º; }. ory hood of his notions will be a matter quite indifferent as to fixi;); this of Augustus over Antony and Cleopatra at Actiºn. fººl" i. º RS censure upon him ; and a man, who was really, an a heist, might be of opinion this last is referred to here, supposing ..", #" º 8. subject to condemnation, as a heretic, ſo teaching the most orthodºº system visit to those in or near, Illyricºm, amon. whºm he } 3.3 P. # ne of Christianity that can be conceived, if his secret al.ºrgisin should by º gospel: Rom. Xy. 19. But Mr. Cradock, and maps others, ''. | lº. means be discovered. And so the word heresy will be made jo signify the former. After all; it seems, to ſhe sº wº i. ye; *S ... kij of solemn lying; which is such an abuse of speech, as Usuppose the particular time when this Epistle was w §§'É. d | 6 Piggº ſ() Ill fe. Wijſbe capable of admitting. I shall only add, that, as Dr. Foster whence it was sent. (See the Introduction to this Epistle, p. 783. is ºbjšed to allow there are fundamental errors for which, how sincerely THE * F A M I L Y E X P O S I TO R. . . A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. PHILEMON was an inhabitant of Colosse, as we may conclude from St. Paul's mentioning Onesimus, in his Epistle to the Colossians, as one of them, (chap. iv. 9.) as well as from his sº Archippus in this Epistle, (ver. 2.) who º from Col. iv. 17. to have been a pastor of that church. The title of fellow-labourer, given Philemon, (ver. I.) makes it probable that he was his colleague in the ministry: and though we cannot certainly determine when he first embraced christianity, it is evident from the oblique insinuation in the 19th verse, that he was one of the apostle's converts; and it is not at all unlikely, (as some have conjectured,) that he might have had an opportunity of attending upon him during his Hong residence at #ºn. where we are told St. Paul preached with so much success, that all they that dwell un Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts xix. 10.)—He seems, from several hints given in the Epistle, to have been a person of distinction; particularly from the mention made of the church in his house, (ver. 2.) and his liberal contribu- tlón to the relief of the saints; (ver. 5, 7.) and the general strain of the letter shows, that the apostle held him in very high esteem, and looked upon him as one of the great supports of religion in that Society. It appears from the first verse of this Epistle, that St. Paul was under confinement when he wrote it; and, as he expresses (ver. 22.) his expectation of being shortly released, it is probable that it was written towards the close of his first imprison- ment at Rome, and sent, together with the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, by Tychicus and Onesimus, about the year of our Lord 63, or #. ninth of the Emperor Nero. (Compare Introduction to Ephesians, p. 672. and note g, . 492. - p fºccasion of the letter was this:—Onesimus, Philemon's slave, had robbed his master, and fled to Rome; where, happily for him, he met with the apostle, who was at that time a prisoner at large, and by his instructions and admonitions was converted to christianity, and reclaimed to a sense of his duty. St. Paul seems to have kept him for some consider- able time under his eye, that he might be satisfied of the reality of the change; and, when he had made a sufficient trial of him, and found that his behaviour was entirely agreeable to his profession, he would not detain him any longer for his own private convenience, though in a situation that rendered such an assistant peculiarly desirable, (compare ver. 13, -14.) but sent him back to his master; and, as a mark of his esteem, intrusted him, together with Tychicus, with the charge of delivering his Epistle to the church at Colosse, and giving them a particular account of the state of things at Rome, recommending him to them, at the same time, as a faithful and beloved brother. (Col. iv. 9.)—And, as Philémon might well be supposed to be strongly prejudiced against one who had left his service in so infamous a manner, he sends him this letter, in which he employs all his influence to remove his suspicions, and reconcile him to the thoughts of taking Onesimus into his family again. And whereas St. Paul might have exerted that authority which his character as an apostle, and the relation in which he stood to Philemon as a spiritual father, would naturally give him, he chooses to entreat him as a friend, and with the softest and most insinuating address, urges his suit, conjuring him, by all the ties of christian friendship, that he would not deny him his request. And the more effectually to prevail upon him, he repre- sents his own peace and happiness as deeply interested in the event: and speaks of Onesimus in such terms, as were best adapted to soften his prejudices, and dispose him to receive one who was so dear to himself, not merely as a servant, but as a fellow-christian and a friend. But though the apostle's subject did not lead him to treat so directly of the doctrines or precepts of christianity in this as in other Epistles, yet a person whose mind like his was so deeply and habitually impressed with a sense of divine truths, could not fail, even when writing upon the most common . familiar occurrences, to introduce some hints that might tend to cherish pious and virtuous sentiments in the breast of his friend; and accordingly, in this short Epistle, we meet with several allusions to different parts of the christian plan, interwoven in so easy and natural a manner with the rest of the letter, as must convince us how near those subjects lay to his heart. It is impossible to read over this admirable Epistle, without being touched with the delicacy of sentiment, and the masterly address, that . in every part of it. We see here, in a most striking light, how perfectly consistent true politeness is, not only with all the warmth and sincerity of the friend, but even with the dignity of i. christian and the apos- tle. And if this letter were to be considered in no other view than as a mere human composition, it must be allowed a masterpiece in its kind. As an illustration of this remark, it may not be improper to compare it with an Epistle of Pliny that seems to have been written upon a similar occasion; (lib, ix. let. 21.) which, though penned by one that was recº 792 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. 9* 9 excel,in the epistolary style, and though it has undoubtedly many beauties, yet must be acknowledged, by ever impº reader, vastly inferio- to this º composition of . ji. 5 y tº ged, Dy y ; * Cºnnot but be solicitºs to know what effect such an Epistle produced. One would willingly hope it was attended with all the success which St. Paul seemed to expect, when he tells Philemon that he wrote to him in full “confidence of his obedience, knowing that - e e he would do even more than he said.” And though nothing indeed is expressly asserted in relation to it, yet there is great reason to believe, sº * s: from the nature of the thing, that Onesimus had already waited upon his master, and been received into favour, when he discharged the commission with which (as we have observed) he was honoured to the Col’ssians. For it is hardly to be imagined, that the apostle would direct him to join with Tychicus, in delivering such a ruessage to a church, that was in part under the care of Philemon, before he had made his submission to him, and o' tºined his pardon. (Compare the Introduction to the Ephesians, p. 672) º A P A R A PHR As E AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. * SECTION I. +r- PAUT, INTENDING TO INTERCEDE WITH PHILEMON, IN FAVOUR OF HIS FUGITIVE SERVANT ONESIMUs, INTRODUCES HIS DESIGN WITH A MOST AFFECTIONATE AND PROPER SALUTATION. PHILEM. VER. 1–7. PHILEM. l. PHILEMON 1. £º Hº; PáUL, a well known prisoner in the cause of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, a brother, not SECT. iñer, into Éhilemon, our unknown, join their salutations to Philemon our beloved friend, and pious fellow-labourer 1. *...* * * in the work and gospel of our blessed Redeemer, and one of the pastors of the Colossian — *Anº. "...; ; church: And we also address them to the beloved .4pphia,” his pious consort, and to his gº }., jieffº”. . associate in the ministry, Archippus, (Col. iv. 17.) our fellow-soldier in that holy warfare church in thy house ; in which we are engaged; and to the little church of christians § is] in thine house, as we know thou art so happy as to have several of thy numerous family united to thee, and to 3 Grace to you, and peace us, in the bonds of the Lord. May grace and peace, that abundance of spiritual blessings, 3 fºr and the and that happiness resulting from i. which we so often wish to our christian friends, when we are addressing them by letter, [be] unto you from God our gracious and bounti- ful Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, to whose intercession we owe our interest in the divine favour. 4 I thank my God, making You may be sure, my dear Philemon, that though absent from you, and surrounded 4 gº of the ***** with many cares and sorrows, yet far from being unmindful of you in my addresses to the - throne of grace, I always hº my God on your account, when I am making mention of tº th;º in my prayers: Hearing, with greater pleasure than I can º: of the steady faith 5 j."...”... ." §§ which thou hast, and always maintainest, towards the Lord Jesus Christ, as the great Object all saints ; . . to which our faith as christians is directed, and of thy ardent love to all the saints,” who aſº are the excellent of the earth, and the most deserviñg our esteem and affection. It is 6 Hºgtººthéºknowledging therefore matter of my most fervent prayer, that these promising openings may be abund- ; gº * antly answered; and that thy communion with us in the faith of our blessed Redeemer, the advantages of which thou dost now so happily share, may be more and more apparently efficacious in extorting from all that behold it, the due acknowledgment of every good and valuable thing which is in you all towards Christ Jesus, and all those, whom he is pleased a. *...*.*.*.*... º.owº and favour. Permit me to say this, in my own name, and that of my companion 7 i.º.º. Timothy; for we are ourselves greatly rejoiced and comforted by thy love, which thou art fºre refreshed by thee, in so many generous ways expressing to our fellºw-christians; and particularly, that the bowels of the poor saints are refreshed by thee our dear brother, while thou feedest and re- lievest the poor, and makest those possessions which Providence hath given thee, a general good. None of the hungry that are fed at thy table can find a supply of their ne- cessities more sensible and delightful, than the joy we feel from the report of so beneficent a conduct, in one whom we so tenderly regard. IMPROVEMENT. - IF any could be so weak as to think the character of the christian and the minister at all inconsistent with that of the well-bred man, they must see a remarkable demonstration to the contrary in this familiar Epistle of St. Paul to his friend Philemon; which is conducted with the happiest address, and which, in true politeness, may yie with that of the greatest masters of the epistolary style in antiquity. The introduction (the length of which obliges us to separate it from the remainder to which it is so happily connected) leads us naturally to a variety of useful remarks, and conveys important instruction in the vehicle of well deserved praise. How elevated soever the station of Philemon might be, and how plentiful soever his circumstances, it was his chief glory and felicity to be so distinguished for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and loye to all the saints. And indeed, it is most un-Ver., 5 worthy the profession we make of faith in Christ, as the great Head of the church, not to love all his members: unworthy our character of saints, not to feel a sympathetic affection for all that are sanctified. If others are de- ficient hére, as alas ! many are too sadly deficient, let us exert ourselves so much the more, and labour to give a To the beloved Apphia.] It has been observed, that this lady, and to all the Saints.] The words in the 9riginal stand as they are placed in Archippus are probably named in a view of engaging their good offices our. Veršign; and many instances of such a transposition *H.j with 3. i., §our of Öncsimus; and no doubt Paul would wish by Dr. Whitby, in his learned note on this place; but Mr. Blackwall they might be engaged , but, separate from that view, it would have jūstly observes, that our language does not admit,9ſ the like, and there- been natural and décent to mention them both. fore proposes the rendering we have followed. Blackwall’s Sac. Class. b Of the faith ; thou hast towards the Lord Jesus, and of thy loce vol. i. p. 87. 100 794 PAUL ENDEAVOURS TO RECONCILE PHILEMON TO ONESIMUS. SECT. the most substantial demonstrations of our love. It will be an honour to us and to the christian name, that our I. communion in this precious faith should extort an acknowledgment of good things in us, from all who are inti- mately acquainted and conversant with us. Thus shall we diffuse happiness in a wide circlé; for it is a sincerejo PhIP to all good men, to behold the graces and the usefulness of others. Especially are the hearts of faithful and . 7 ous ministers comforted, when the bowels of poor saints are refreshed by the liberality of the rich. They share alternately the pleasure which is felt on the side of the pious benefactors and their grateful beneficiaries; and were they, with Paul, in the confinement and necessities of a prison, the report would delight and enlarge their souls. *. - - - SECTION II. The apostle proceeds tº the mºin business, of this short epistle : apd labours, by the happiest, address that can be imagined, to engage Philemon kindly to regeive and forgive Onesimus, his fugitive slave, who, after having greatly injured his master, had happijy been convertéâ by St. Paul at Rome. He concludes with some particular salutations and messages. Philem. ver. 8, to the end. PHILEMON 8. .* PHILEyſ. 8. SECT. I, HAVE been expressing, my dear Philemon, the confidence I have in your excellent wiper Efogi, though, I 2. character, and the great pleasure with which both I, and Timothy, my brother, have heard jº ..º. ºf — of your many generous and beneficent actions; and therefore, in reference to the particular Sonºiºn. *s occasion of this letter, which to so good a heart cannot be disagreeable, though I might take great freedom, in virtue of my relation to Christ, and the authority he has given me, to prescribe and enjoin that which it [is] proper and reasonable for thee to do, I rather 9 yet fºr Joye's sake I ra. choose by love to entreat [thee,) being such a one as Paul the aged;" whose superior stand- ...º ing in life and in religion I know thou wouldst revere, though in a private station, and Pºlso a prisoner of Jesus especially as I am now also the prisoner of Jesus Christ, whom thou wouldst, I am sure, SL, honour, as a confessor in his cause, if I were not distinguished by so immediate a com- 10 mission from him, or so long a train of services in his church. I entreat thee, I say, con- 10 I beseech thee for my cerning a certain son of mine whom I have begotten to Christ in my bonds ;b and whom I i. º, have hope thou wilt, upon that account, be inclined to favour, knowing how dear he must be to - - me, considered as a soul which God hath given me at such a season as this. And it is 11 no other than thy servant Onesimus ; Jºho indeed, if I may so allude to his name, did not 11 which in time past was formerly answer it, for he was once unprofitable to thee, negligent of thy business, and so ...º.º.º.º.º. conscious of having deserved thy displeasure, that he fled from it. But he now is, and trust will be, profitable both to thee and to me,” so as daily to give increasing satisfaction 12 to us both : om, how agreeable and useful soever he might, have been to me here, I a ...Whº. have sent back to thee again : do thou therefore receive him with readiness and affection. §ij'...is.” Receive him, did I say? may rather receive, as it were, my own bowels : a person whom I so tenderly love, that he may seem, as it were, to carry the heart of Paul along with him 13 whithersoever he goes. Whom indeed I was desirous to have kept near me, that he might 13. º have officiated for thee, and in thiſ stead have attended upon me in the bonds I suffer for the ſº sake of the gospel: for I do thee, O Philemon, the justice to believe, thou wouldsthave found § me in the bonds of 14 a pious pleasure in every ministration of this kind, if thou wert near me. But I would do "iſº" without thy mind nothing in this affair without thy express consent, that thy benefit might not seem to be ex- ºftº flºº torted by necessity, but appear a voluntary act. I therefore return him to thee by the first Mºſt of necessity, but will- opportunity; for perhaps he was separated from thee for a while, by the permission of Pro- "##orperhaps he therefore vidence to this very end, that thou mightest receive and enjoy him for ever; that he might tº # tº #: not only be dear and useful to thee, during all the remainder of his life, as a servant, whose É'....” “* * ear is as it were bored to the door of thine house, (to allude to the Hebrew custom, Exod. xxi. 6.) but that he might indeed be a source of eternal delight to thee, in that infinitely better world, where all distinctions between masters and their slaves shall cease, even that world of complete liberty and everlasting friendship. 16 . In the mean time, receive him, not now as a fugitive slave, to be long frowned upon, and sº nºw...sºrº, kept at a distance, for his former faults; nor treat him merely as a common servant, but tºi, º, toº, as above a servant, as standing in another, a much more dear and honourable relation, a *...º. #an."; beloved brother, especially to me, as having been for some time a very useful attendant upon jºiâ’; SH1 alph Cl III me in my afflictions; but how much more so to thee, to whom he belongs both in the flesh and in the Lord, as thou hast so long known him, and wilt have the pleasure of discerning more particularly how happy a change christianity hath made in his temper and character? 17 If therefore thou esteemest ºne, as a friend and a companiond in Christ, I beseech thee to . 17 If thou count me there. receive him, even as thou wouldst receive myself, if I could have the satisfaction of making ºpartner, receive him as 18 thee a visit in person. ... If he have injured thee in any pecuniary matter, or is indebted [to "is ſhe hath wronged thee, thee] in consequence of any former extravagances and follies, (of which divine grace hath º "“” now, I hope, made him truly sensible,) so far as it has been the case, charge it to my ac- . 19 count. I Paul have written [it] with my own hand, and do hereby, as it were, give thee ...'...','º';ºft legal security for it; I will ſº it again upon demand, as far as my little substance will go. ...,'...'"jś'ſ". "... . .Not to say to thee that, as I was the happy instrument of thy conversion to Christ, thou º: º owest even thine own self unto me. We will put that quite out of the question, and if thou ješ. pleasest to require it, I will really charge myself as thy debtor, and take the first opportu- 20 nity of making thee a remittance. Yes, [my] dear brother, let me prevail upon thee in this 20 Yea, brother, let me I 5 a Paul the aged.] It is generally agreed, that this Fº was written c Was unprofitable, but now is profitable.]. It has been justly obseryed, about the year of Christ 63; and, if we suppose Paul to have been 24 that, it was strange Onesimus, who had been so wicked in the pious years old when Stephen was stoned, (which is consistent with his being family of Philemon amidst alſº the religious opportunities he enjoyed called a young man,) that being about the year 34, (for we have not data there, should meet with conversion in his rambles at Rome. . Instances sufficient, absolutely to determine the exact time,) he would now be 53; have often happened somewhat of a similar nature; but it is very un- and, considering how much his constitution would probably be impaired justifiable, and may probably be fatal, for any to presume on the like by his fatigues and sufferings, before that time, he, might properly extraordinary interpositions of Providence, and grace, in their favour; enough call himself, Tpeagurns, one advanced in age, though not an old —The wordſ. Onesimus is pretty generally knºwn to signify profit, and nuan. Dr. Whitby indeed says, we are young till 40, and not properly. Onesiphorus is much of the same import, They were names which aged tiſſ after 60, and concludes he might be about 34 at the death of might perhaps be given tº slaves % way.9f §º ºnºpressing an Šiºhen, and 63 at the date of this Epistle. If the reader be not satisfied expectation that they would bring a Vºlta i.e. tº º: ºrs : and it is with either of these conjectures, he may take any medium between them very evident, that Paul refers to the ºno Ogy O t e word. * that shall appear to him more plausible. -- - r d Estectnest me a companion.] L'Enfant translates it; “I coºr? A son of mine, whom I have begotten, in my bonds—Oneşinus.] Thus thee therefore; by all that is 39mmon between Mºreºye him as myself, the words stand in the original; and I thought it incumbent upon me in imitation of Theodoret, who was ſo floubt an º: çommentator. to preserve that order, *: § º: the º .# 3.11 º j. ; º º º ##########. ct, which every reader of taste wi Ull CKly ave been the participation - - . S - y ; and has a fine effect, ry Q which was the dearest bond of their friendship. CONCLUSION OF THF. EPISTLE. 795 bºxeigy of thee in the Lord; request, let me have joy of thee in the Lord; and while thou art so ready to do good to SECT. jºb my bowels in the others, and to communicate for their comfort, out of those stores which Providence has so 2. graciously given thee, let me beseech thee to refresh my bowelse in the Lord; for the christian consolation which it will afford me to see thee and Onesimus happy in each other, PHIL. will be better, and more delightful, than food to the hungry. 20 But I will not urge the matter further; I have written to thee, in full confidence of ". 2} ready obedience and deference to my request, and indeed, as knowing that thou wilt do even more than I say; thou wilt not think of insisting upon the exact balance of former accounts, but wilt readily embrace this thy returning servant in the arms of paternal love. * But Yithal prepare me At the same time I must also desire thée, to prepare a lodging for me,f for, though I am 22 also a lodging: for I trust c. - * * * *** sº º that thrº"#6uſºry ºf as yet a prisoner, I hope that I shall, ere long, through your prayers be granted to you ; shall be given unto you. ind, if Providence set me at liberty again, I intend to visit your parts, and shall, if it be 23 There salute thee Epa- convenient, cast myself on the known hospitality of your family. In the mean while, 23 Fºllow-prisoner " accept the greeting of our christian brethren here at Rome, and let me particularly tell pº, ;"; thee, that Epaphras, my fellow-captive in Christ Jesus, salutes thee; As [also] Marcus, 24 i.ºrs.” ” “” Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow-labourers, who are cordially engaged with me in the service of the gospel, and take a peculiar pleasure in lending that assistance to the 25. The grace of our Lord churches in Rome which my confinement will not conveniently admit me to impart. I 25 ; %.” " " conclude with the best wish which the most endearing christian friendship can form: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ever [be] with your spirit, and shed abroad on thee, and all thy companions in him, that peace and happiness which nothing but the communica- tions of his favour can give. Amen. IMPROVEMENT. How amiable is the condescension of the holy apostle how charming and delicate his address in this whole section, which makes the immediate occasion of this letter, minute as it may seem, matter of congratulation to the christian world. , St. Paul lays aside the authority which his office, his age, his sufferings gave him, to address Ver. Philemon, as on a foot of equal friendship, choosing rather by love to entreat. Let the example be imitated by 8, 9 those in superior stations and relations of life; and let them learn likewise, from the tenderness which such a man expresses about this poor slave, in whom he traced the appearance of a truly christian temper, to interest them- Selves in the happiness of those whose rank is far beneath their own; and learn to make the situation of their servants easy, by a kind and friendly treatment. Well may such a care be expected, especially when we can look on such as brethren beloved in the Lord, and partakers with us in the same Saviour and hope. Let those, to whom God hath blessed the labours of his faithful ministers, as the means of their conversion, remember it with pleasure, and ascribe it to the riches of divine grace, to which all is originally to be traced' remembering also, that there is a sense in which they owe even themselves to those who have been honoured as the instruments of bringing them to Christ, without an acquaintance with whom they had lost themselves, and been ruined for ever. Let the kindness which Paul expresses for Onesimus, in being willing that his debt to Philemon should be charged to his account, lead us to reflect on our infinite obligations to a gracious Redeemer. He has suffered our ten thousand talents to be imputed to him, that his righteousness might be so imputed to us, that for the sake of it we should finally be re-admitted to the fºil, of God. With an ingratitude not to be paralleled by anything which can pass between mortal men, we had perfidiously deserted it; but the divine , , goodness leaves us room humbly to hope, we may have departed from it for a while, to be received into it for 43 21 Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. 19 18 18, 19 ever, May the #. of our Lord Jesus Christ be with our spirit, to produce those strong impressions of wonder, * thankfulness, and love, which ought to fill it, in every remembrance of such overflowing and triumphant mercy! Jimen. e Refresh my bowels.] The word avaſſavaov is wonderfully emphati- ver, 7. where the same word is used, and seems to be referred to here cal. It literally signifies, to appease, or quiet; which strongly intimates the commotion he felt, through the ardour of his concern for Onesimus; and seems to represent the eagerness of his desire for his re-establishment in Philemon’s #. by the appetite of hunger. Incapable, as in many other, places, of expressing this, in the version, I have attempted it, though by no means with equal spirit, in the paraphrase. Comparé with peculiar beauty and propriety. f Prepare a lodging for me.] Theodoret justly observes, that Paul’s mentioning his purpose of coming to lodge with Philemon, quickly §§ naturally add greater weight to his interposition in favour o The S] II. UlS. THE \ F A M I L Y E X P O S I TO R. # A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N T H E EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. LEARNED men have been divided in their opinions concerning the author of this celebrated Epistle. It hath been ascribed to St. Luke, to Barnabas, and to Clement of Rome. But though some considerable persons have given the sanc- tion of their authority to the several opinions I have mentioned, yet the most prevailing one among the ancients was, and among the moderns still is, that this Epistle is a genuine work of St. Paul. Among those who believe that St. Pani was its i. there are some indeed who imagine it was written by him in the Hebrew or Syriac language, and translated into Greek either by St. Luke or Clement. And it is certain there was such an ancient tradition, mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus, Eusebius, and Jerom. And there are arguments in support of all the particular hypotheses concerning the author of the Epistle, the language in which it was originally written, and the person who translated it into Greek; I say, there are various arguments in favour of all these different opinions, taken from similarity of style, the use of par- ticular words, and the manner of composition. But I apprehend, whoever carefully considers the observations that have been made by very learned men, upon the language of St. Paul, of Luke, or Clement, in defence of their respective hypotheses, will conclude, that such arguments are very little to be depended upon, as they frequently are much indebted to a strong imagination, and, in the present case, appear to be urged with equal plausibility on all sides. I have already given my opinion, that St. Paul was the author of this Epistle, (note g, p. 492.) and that because the current of antiquity, though not the authority of every individual father, runs strongly this way; Jerom expressly asserts, that the Epistle to the Hebrews had been received as St. Paul's by all the Greek writers. And though this Epistle wants one characteristic of St. Paul’s other Epistles, the º, his name, and his usual form of inscription; (for a very obvious reason, that he might not too early awaken the prejudices the Jewish converts had conceived against him;) yet it might be easy to collect from the Epistle itself some strong indications that St. Paul was its author. It is of less importance in what language it was originally written, if the translation were made (as the tradition says) by some companion and fellow-labourer of St. Paul. Though it should be considered, that the presumption lies on the side of our present Greek copy, that it is an original, and not a translation; and therefore the arguments which induce any to be of a contrary opinion, should be very strong and convincing. If the reader should be inclined to examine this matter more accurately, he may consult Spanheim's Dissertation concerning the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, particularly part ii., chap. 2. concerning the language; and the learned Mr. Hallet’s Introduction to his Supplement to Mr. Pierce’s Paraphrase ; which Mr. Wolfius hath translated into Latin, and published at the close of the 4th volume of his Cura Philologica, with some of his own remarks and strictures in the margin. As for the date of this Epistle, I am of opinion it was about the year 63, while St. Paul was imprisoned at Rome, or quickly after it. See note g, p. 492. and compare Heb. xiii. 23. This Epistle was written to the Hebrews, or converts from Judaism to christianity, who inhabited at least some one articular country, (as may be inferred from the apostle's saying, chap. xiii. 19. “I beseech you the rather to do this, that *. be restored to you the sooner;” and ver. 23. “Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty, with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.”) And this country most probably was Judea, where the converts to christianity from Judaism were almost incessantly persecuted by their unbelieving brethren, who tenaciously adhered to the constitution and ceremonies of the Mosaic law, which christianity superseded. Now the manifest design of St. Paul in this Epistle is, “to confirm the Jewish christians in the faith and practice of the gospel of Christ, which they might be in danger of deserting, either through the insinuations or ill treatment of their persecutors.” * , - It was natural for the zealous defenders of the Mosaic law to insist upon the divine authority of Moses, the distinguish- ing glory and majesty which attended its first promulgation by the ministry of angels, and the special privileges with which it invested those who adhered to it. In answer to all arguments and insinuations of this kind, the apostle shows, I. That in all these several articles, christianity had an infinite superiority to the law. Which topic he pursues from chap. i. to xi. Reminding the believing Hebrews, that it was a most extraordinary favour, that God had sent them a reve- lation by his own Son, whose glory was far superior to that of angels, (chap. i. throughout,) very naturally inferring from hence the danger of despising Christ on account of his humiliation, which, in perfect consistence with his dominion over the world to come, was voluntarily submitted to by him for wise and important reasons; particularly to deliver us from the fear of death, and encourage the freedom of our access to God. (Chap. ii. throughout.) With the same view he further * Fred. Spanimeim. Op. tom. ii. p. 245, &c. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 797 magnifies Christ as superior to Moses their great legislator; and from the sentence passed on those who rebelled against the authority of Moses, infers the danger of despising the promises of the gospel. (Chap. iii. 1–13.) And as it was natural from hence, to call to mind that rest in Canaan to which the authority where with Moses was invested was intended to lead them, the apostle cautions them against the sin of unbelief, as what would prevent their entering into rest: an ex- pression which ; shows to refer to a nobler state of rest than what the Jews enjoyed in Canaan, even on their most sacred days, and in their most prosperous ages. (Chap. iii. 14.—iv. II.) Further enforcing this caution by awful Yiews of the omniscience of God, .# animating representations of the character of Christ as our High Priest, of whose diving appointment, gracious administration, and previous suffering, he goes on to discourse, and promises further illustrations of so important a topic. (Chap. iv. 12, to the end; v. throughout.j Declaring that hé would advance to sublime truths without dwelling upon the first principles, for the sake of those who might have apostatized from christianity; &nd whose case he represents as very hopeless, (chap. vi. 1–9.) and then, for the establishment and comfort of sincere believers, hº sets before them the consideration of the goodness of God, and his fidelity to his sacred engagements, the erformance of which is sealed by the entrance of Christ into heaven as our Forerunner. (Chap. vi. 9, to the end.) Further to illustrate the character of our blessed Lord, the Author and Finisher of our faith, he enters into a parallel between Mełchisedec and Christ, as agreeing in title and descent; and from instances in which the priesthood of Melchisedec excelled the Leº vitical priesthood, he infers the surpassing glory of the priesthood of Christ to the priesthood under the law. (Chap. vii. 1–17.) From these premises, which plainly manifestéd the defects of the Aaronical priesthood, he argues, that it was not only excelled, but windicated and consummated, by that of Christ, to which it was introductory and subservient ; and, by consequence, that the obligation of the law was thenceforth dissolved. (Chap. vii. 1S, to the end.) He then re- capitulates what he had before demonstrated of the superior dignity of Christ as the High Priest of christians; and further illustrates the distinguished excellence of that new covenant which was foretold by Jeremiah as established in him, and plainly enriched with much better promises than the old. (Chap. viii. throughout.) Illustrating further the doctrine of the priesthood and intercession of ð. by comparing it to what the J ewish high priest did on the great day of atone- ment. (Chap. ix. 1–14.) And having enlarged on the necessity of shedding Christ's blood, and the sufficiency of the atonement made by it, (chap. ix. 15, to the end.) and proved that legal ceremonies could not by any means purify the con- science, and from thence argued the insufficiency of the Mosaic law, and the necessity of looking beyond it, (chap. X. 1—15.) the apostle urges the Hebrews to improve the privileges which such a High Priest and covenant conferred on them, to the purpose of a fiducial approach to God, a constant attendance on his worship, and most benevolent regards to each other. (Chap. x. 15–25.) - e The apostle having thus at large obviated the insinuations and objections of the Jews to the gospel of Christ, as inferior to the Mosaic dispensation, by showing its transcendent excellence in a clear and convincing light, for the satisfaction and establishment of the believing Hebrews, proceeds, II. To awaken their attention, and fortify their minds against the storm of persecution which had come, and was further likely to come, upon them, for the sake of the christian faith. To this end, he reminds them of the extremities they had already endured in defence of the gospel, and of the fatal consequences which would attend their apostasy. (Chap. x. 26, to the end.) Calling to their remembrance the renowned examples of faith and fortitude which had been exhibited by holy men mentioned in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and particularly by Abel, Engch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah, (chap. xi. 1–16.) by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. (Chap. xi. 17–29.) Concluding his discourse with glancing on many other illustrious worthies; and beside those recorded in Scripture, referring also to the case of several who suffered under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. (Chap. xi. 30.-xii. 2.) And having thus executed his design in the argumentative part of the Epistle, he applies the whole, by exhorting the Hebrew christians to sustain and improve the afflictions to which they were exposed, and to exert themselves vigorously to promote the united interests of peace and holiness. (Chap. xii. 3–14.) Cautioning them against disparaging the blessings of the gospel, and making them a sacrifice either to any secular views or sensual gratifications; representing the incomparable excellence of these blessings, and the wº in which they were introduced, which even the introduction of the Jewish economy, glorious and magnificent as it was, did by no means equal. (Chap. xii. 13–29.) Exhorting them to brotherly affection, purity, compassion, dependence on the divine care, steadfastness in the profession of the truth, and to a life of thankfulness to God, and benevolence to man, from the consideration of the inestimable privileges derived to us from Christ; which ought always to encourage us resolutely to endure any infamy and suffering which we may meet with in his cause. (Chap. xiii. 1–16.) Concluding the whole, with recommending to them some articular regards to their pious ministers, and entreating their prayers; adding some salutations, and a solemn bene- iction. (Chap. xiii. 17, to the end.) - TH I * HEXI. A REVELATION BY • * } - TENDING BY THIS REPRESENTATION TO ENGAGE THEM TO EMIBRACE AND RETAIN THE GOSPEL. A P A R A PHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. SECTION I. HIS OWN SON; ON WHOSE GLORY HE EXPATIATES AS HEBREws i. VER. 1. SECT. THE great and wise God”, who in his wonderful condescension hath at many times, and 1. H.328. I. 2 3 4 5 in various manners,b of old, spoken to the fathers of the Jewish nation, by the prophets, whom he hath in successive ages raised up and employed as the messengers of his will to them, In, these last days hath magnified his mercy in a yet more amazing manner: for he hath spoken unto us by the Son,” his only-begotten and best-beloved Son, whom he hath sent into our world as the Ambassador of his mercy to us, even that illustrious person, whom he hath appointed the Heir and Possessor of all things.d . He hath adjusted all things in such a manner as to advance the purposes of his glory, and committed the administra- tion of his providential kingdom into his hands, by whom, and in reference to whose honour, he also created all things, and constituted the ages” and dispensations of the church and world. I speak of that great Immanuel, whom we have so long been taught to know and adore; who being the effulgent Ray of [his] glory, and the express Delineation of his person,ſ on whom his likeness is enstamped in # characters, in a manner which no created nature can admit, and upholding the universe which he hath made by the efficacious word of his Father's power,” which is ever resident in him as his own, by virtue of that intimate though incomprehensible union which renders them one, (John X. 30.) was nevertheless set forth in the feeble dress and humble form of human flesh, that he might be our atoning Sacrifice. And accordingly, having by himself performed that great trans- action, which is the cleansing away of our sins, he is now returned to the celestial world, from which he descended for this gracious purpose, and is sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, of that glorious and excellent Being, who reigns supreme in the heaven of heavens. To this exalted Redeemer would I now call your thoughts, of whom I have some very important and sublime truths to deliver. , Consider, therefore, my brethren, what rever- ence, what fidelity, what zeal you owe to him who was made in exaltation and celestial glory as much superior to angels, as the name he has inherited, and by which through many succeeding ages he hath been spoken of in the sacred oracles, [is] more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels hath he ever said, as we know he hath said to the Messiah in that celebrated prophecy, (Psal. ii. 7.) Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?k .4nd again, (2 Sam. vii. 14.) I will be a Father to him, and he shall be my Sºn ?! For if a God who, &c.] Though St. Paul was the author of this Epistle, as we of the Shechinal, in the most honourable E.APOSTLE REMINDS. THE HEBREWS TQ WHQM HE WRITES, OF THE GREAT FAVOUR GOD HAD DONE THEM, IN SENDING FAR SUPERIOR TO THAT OF ANGELS, IN. HEB. i. 1, TO THE END. HEB. i. VER. I. GOD, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his. Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3.Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and up- holding all things by the word of his }*. when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high ; 4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than ) €y. 5. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, hou art my Son, this day have I begotten theg 2 And again, I will be to him a fa- ther, and he shall be to me a Son 2 place among men or angels; have already observed, yet he does not begin it, as he dges most of his other Épistlés, by prefixing his name to it; the reason of which proba- bjy was, that ‘those to whom he was now writing. were under strong projudices against his name;, and he was not willing to alarm those prejudices at the beginning of his letter. b. Many times, and various manners.] The first word; as somg appre- hend, refers to the parcels by which God’s will was ğiivered, in oppo- sition to a complete revelation: and the last, to the manner, in which it was made known, namely by dreams, visions, urim, prophets, voices, SI 3: Il S. - • c. By the Son.] This is no argument that God did not speak by Christ before; but only that it was not in so clear and, express a manner; d Heir and Possessor. these interpretations. - - & Constituted the ages.] The sentinent, as thus expressed, is a very important one; but if any insist upon rendering atovás, the world itself, I shall not oppose it; for it is certain that St. Paul asserts this doctrine, Col. i. 15–17. if not here. • • - - f Defºeation of his person.] That is, saith Leigh, answering to the divine perfections, as the impressiou 9ſ the wax does to the engraving of the seaſ...ft is observable, that Philo calls the Logos, XapakTnp kat zºo, e.g. See Scott’s Christian Life, vol. iii. p. 559. * g Word of his power.] Many explain this of the Father’s power, which is the sense f have given in the paraphrase. Some copies read a v79, which would fully justify our version: . But if the power of the Father be the power of Christ, to be used by him at flºº for the security of jis peopje, it seems to be all that the establishment of our faith in him **śāown on the right hand.] Some understand this of the right hand Mr. Pierce learnedly vindicates the latter of apd quote 1 Pet. iii. 22. Eph. i. 20, 21. supposing there may be some glorious appearance of the Father’s presence in heaven, as there was upon earth, which hath, properly speaking, a right or a left hand. But this I esteem no article of faith. Compare chap. viii. 1. i Superior to angels.] Some have, I think very precariously, imagin- ed, that the apostle, in this, and the next chapter, insists so much, on Christ’s superiority to angels, in order to take off the Jews from that angel-worship to which they were greatly inclined. But it is evident the apostle does not speak expressly on that subject. It is more Cºrtain therefore, that his intention was to exalt their ideas of Qur blessed Redeemer; as indeed their entertaining high and honqurable, concep- tions of him would be of great importance to their holding fast their christian profession. It is plain, the Jews considered, the angels, as concerned in the promulgation of their law, on which account they might be the more zealously attached to it, and in this view there was a peculiar propriety in the apostle’s labouring the argument he is here - §. namely the superiority of our blessed Lord to all the angelic OrCi G IS. k Thou art my Son.] These words are taken from Psal. ii. 7. And I think it is evident (as others have observed) that this, and the rest of tho passages here quoted, must refer to Christ in their original sense, and in the strictest propriety of interpretation ; otherwise, the argument would be entirely inconclusive; for it might be replied, that, supposing these passages to be applicable to Christ, they will not prove him to be superior to the angels, since they originally refer to David and others confessedly inferior to those celestial spirits. It might be easily proved that this second Psalm does originally belong to the Messiah. Compare Acts iv. 25. xiii. 33. - - 1 He shall be my Son.] Mr. Pierce hath laboured largely to prove, THE EXCELLING GLORY OF THE SON OF GOD. 799 these words were immediately spoken of Solomon, it was chiefly as a type of Christ, the SECT. great Son of David, and Prince of peace. But sofar is he from speaking of the angels in 1. terms expressing equal dignity, that when he again introduces hisºs. into the -- world, and speaks of him as coming with royal pomp to take possession of his kingdom, º he saith, (Psal. xcvii. 7.).And let all the angels of God worship him. And accordingly he 6 " did actually demand their homage to him, as constituted their Lord and Sovereign, not only in regard to his originally superior glories, but in consideration of that fidelity and ... And of the angels he zeal with which he had discharged his important errand to our world. . .And concerning the 7 ;..."."º", angels he saith, (Psal. civ. 4.) he maketh his angels winds" and his ministers a flame of fire. flame of fire. Ié who rules the winds and the lightnings, has his angels under equal command, and em- ploys them with the strength of winds and the rapidity of lightnings in his service. T But to the Son [he] speaks in a very different manner, and [saith] in those memorable 3. • * x - e * - -->4. º •w *: y re: - &; iº, ...'; words, which have an ultimate reference to Christ, (Psal. xlv. 6, 7.) Thy throne, O Gºd." ºº::... the sceptre [is] for ever and ever; the sceptre of thy kingdom [is] a sceptre of righteousness. Thou gºloved rights- hast, in the most eminent degrée, through the whole of thine administration, loved righte- F.º.º. tº ousness and hated iniquity,” and hast taken the Inost effectual method to suppress it; there- jati moiſt ºf the with the fore God, thy God and Father, hath anointed thee plentifully with the oil of gladness above #1.** * * 'thy associates ºf thou art oxalted to superior honour and happiness; so that none of thy brethren, none of the angels whom thou Inayst in any instance or degree have condescend- ed to join with thyself, and lead in thy train, can pretend to compare with thee in glory or in joy. Yea, as divine, thou art fixed in thine eternal throne, that the whole created 10 And, Thou, Lord, in the world may unite its prostrate homage before thee. And it is to him who presided, as is #.º.º.º. well known, over the Jewish nation, and received the tribute of praise which they paid hºs the works of to Jehovah their God, that those words are addressed, (Psal. cii. 26.) Thou, Lord, from 'iº shall perish, but the beginning hast founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands, They, º, permanent as they seem, shall at length perish and wear out; but thou endurest in unde. ment; caying glory; yea, all of them shall grow old like a garment, And as a mantle thou shalt uššū; wº º; fold them up," and they shall be changed; shalt remove them out of their place, and intro- shall be change...but ſhot duce a new scene of things, with as much ease as a prince lays aside one robe and puts ºf and thy years on another; but thou art ever the same, and thy years shall not fail through everlasting ages, nor can thy perfections admit any possible diminution. 13 Bºº tº which of the ºf But not to insist on the manner in which men have addressed their homage and their º praises to him, even under the inspiration of an unerring Spirit, let me refer you to another ºf thine enemies tº look passage, in which the Father himself speaks to him under the character of his Son, exalted to his mediatorial kingdom, that you may take an idea of his grandeur from thence. For to which of the angels hath he ever said, Sit thou enthroned in glory at my right hand till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet, and give thee to trample upon the last and the proudest of them all 2 The spirits of heaven expect no such honour as this ; the noblest of them all esteems himself happy in an opportunity of worshipping this triumphant Lord, 14 Are they not all minis- and ministering even to the least of his servants. Is it not a known and delightful truth? tºº. Pºthº are they not indeed all ministering spirits, who officiate before the throne of God, and are minister for them who shall *. *> º; - - - - - - - be heirs of salvation ? sent out to attend on those who shall inherit salvation ? and always willing to undertake the offices he shall assign them, for the safety and good of his people 2 And therefore, far from thinking of them in any view of comparison with him, let us humbly adore him, for the benefits which by his alº, and favour we daily receive from these benevolent CrCatureS. g IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn from this wonderful and delightful portion of Scripture, how we are to conceive of our blessed Redeemer. Admirable contrast of characters! which might appear to our feeble reason inconsistent, if faith did not teach us to reconcile them. Strange, that the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, by whom he made the worlds, should condescend by himself to purge our sins ! That he, to whom God saith, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; that he, whom the angels are commanded to worship ; that he, whose divine throne is for ever and ever; that he, whom the church hath for successive ages adored as having founded the earth and formed the heavens, is in his original perfections and glories far more immutable than they, changing them as a vesture at his sovereign pleasure ; that this great, this illustrious, this divine Person, º have laid aside these robes of celestial light to array himself in mortal flesh; not only that he might reveal his Father's will, and speak to us in his name, but that he might redeem us to God by his blood What shall we say? We will receive the message he brings us with all humble thankfulness; we will seek his favour with more earnest solicitude ; we will congratulate his exaltation with loyal joy. O triumphant, transporting thought, that Jesus is enthroned above all heavens, that he is anointed with an unequalled effusion of the oil of gladness! with angels we will fall down and worship him as our Lord and our God. Our hosannahs shall proclaim it, that he is sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and that God hath engaged to make his enemies his footstool. Angels minister before him with unwearied vigour, with inconceivable speed do they fly like flames of lightning from one end of the heaven to the other, from world to world, to execute his sacred commands. With delight 7 do they minister to those whom he hath appointed heirs of salvation, nor do they neglect the youngest or meanest. 14 Let us thankfully acknowledge the great Redeemer's goodness and care, in every kind office we receive from them. And as our obligations to him are infinitely superior to theirs, let us emulate their fidelity, vigour, and zeal, in the steadiness and cheerfulness of our obedience ; till we join them in services like their own, in that world where they dwell, and to which, if we approve ourselves his faithful servants, he will ere long give them a charge safely and joyfully to convey us. 6 And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God wor- ship him. 8 But unto the Son he saith, }od, is for 98 Ver. 3 10 I 1 3 that these words can, in their original and primary sense, refer only to * I - — ; IlSt. m He maketh his angels winds.) That is, saith Mr. Cradock, (Apost, Hist. p. 363.) He, the Son, makes use of the angels as his ministers, in producing storms and lightning according to his pleasure. But would not change the signification of the pronoun He, which returns here, without absolute necessity.—The rendering Tveupwara winds, is very agreeable to the original and the context. n Thy throne, O God, &c.] To render this, as some would do, God is thy throme, ſor ever and ever, that is, God will establish thy throne, (ac- º to 2 Sam. vii. 13, 14. Psal. lxxxix. 4.) appears to me very un- [] all II Oll. o Lovel righteousness, hated iniquity.] It may be objected, that as all the angels have maintained this character, consequently this can be no just reason, for preferring Christ to them. But I think the true answer is, not so much that the angels are chargeable with mistakes, though not with moral evil, (Job iv. 18. xv. 15.) as Mr. Pierce suggests, but rather that it refers to that unparalleled instance of the love of inoral rectitude which Christ hath given in becoming a Sacrifice for sin by his atono- ment ; doing more than hath been ever done by any rational agent, to- wards displaying his love of righteousness, and hatreil of iniquity. P...?bove thy associates : fºtoxot..] . It seems to be intimated here, that as Christ took the special charge of Judea, angels were charged with the government of other countries; in reference to which it is that they are called his fellows or companions; for (as others have observed) if fellows do not signify angels, the quotation is nothing to the apostle’s purpose. q Fold them up.] For s\t&st; Mr. Pierce Wºli read a MXašets, hange them, agreeable to the Hebrews ; and imagines that heaven and 800 SECT. SOMETHING we have said in the former section con 2. —— which w HEB. Il. I 2 4 The blessed God himsel 5 6 its interests. But a certain [writer,le 7 8 works of thine hands. 0 memberest him, or the son of man, that thou r THE PURPOSES OF CHRIST'S HUMILIATION. SECTION IT. From what has been before sai - . . & : * > efore said, the apostle infers the danger of d §.' his dgminion over the world toº voluntai: suº the fear of death, and encourage the freedom of our access to God. HEBREws ii. 1. our blessed Redeemer. said: If he be so far superior tion to the things which we have Tosaic law, which was the word that every instance of wilful transgression and disobedience received, as its reward, a corres. 3 pondent and severe vengeance; How shat! we have a lºg $2.37 at and glºrious a safegion as that which the gospel sets before us? r & • ºrº. 3. - **** -- ~~ - • . sºlvation, which having at its beginning been spoken by the Lord of angels himself, was con- firmed to us by the certain report of then th enabling them to miracles, to his own sovereign will and pleasure. And by these wonderful operations the superiority of Christ to angels is further illus- of them, he, that is, God, hath not subjected reside in the latest and best dis- trated ; for to angels, even the most exalte the world to comed nor ever intended that they should º Ǻ §: ºlº. humiliation ited, to, by him, for wise and important reasons; particularly to digliº - - - t eliver us from Heb. ii. ºl, to the end. x y us fr - And now give me leave, before I proceed to other arguments ill naturally occur, to draw this obvious consequence from what I have already to angels, tºe orght therefore to yield extraordinary atteri- - heard" by his afthority; 910 out of our minds, and lose the impression they once made upon us. For if the spoken by angels,” proclaiming it in the name and pre- sence of Jehovah from mount Sinai, was stea fºsi, and confirmed by such awful sanctions, by room to hope that we shall escape, * * * that heard [him] preach it with his own lips: fjoining his own divine and sacred testimony with theirs, both by "º T perform the most amazing signs and wonders,” and iarious incontestablé • and endowing them in a rich abundance, with distributions of the Holy Spirit in its extraordinary operations, imparted in different degrees to different persons, according ; which, in perfect consistence * - HEB. ii. 1. cerning the supreme dignity of THEREFORE we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. last by any means we let [them] 2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and eve- ry transgression and disobedi- ence received a just recom- pence of reward; 3 Iſoy shall we escape, if we neglect so great silvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him ; - also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will 2 A 5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. pensation, the kingdom of the Messiah, which extends not only to earth, but to heaven, Concerning which we now speak, as it is the great business of the author's fife to promote somewhere bears his testimony, saying, z well known, I am (Psal. viii. 4.) O Lord, what is man, that thou re- egardest him 2 After which he goes on in ersuaded, to you Hebrews, 6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him 2 or the son of man, that thou visitest him P Words that have a most remarkable correspondence to the character and circumstances of "; Th the Lord Jesus Christ, both in his humbled and in his exalted state ; for he adds, speak- ing,9f the Son of man, Thou hast made him but a little lower than the angels; with glory and honour hast thou crowned him, and hast constituted him [Lord] over all the visible Thou hast put all things under his feet. * * * ~ * in putting all things winder him, nothing was left out, [which tº in subjection under his feet. not represented as reduced to subjection to him. Bitt now we do not as yel see that al things are put under him, to whom we refer these words; but on the contrary, a great part 9 of the world is as yet unacquainted with him and his authority. Nevertheless, we see what we may well look upon as an earnest and security of it; for we see Jesus, who, for the few years he dwelt upon earth, was made in human form and state a little lower than the angels of God, over whom he had an original right, as their Maker, to preside, exalted to the most conspicuous dignity in the celestial world: we see him, who was thus humbled .ſor the Suffering of death,ſ that he might be capable of it, and that by the grace the widest extent; for 7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thout crownedst him with glory and houour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands. his may be interpreted in . 8 Thou hast put all things For in that he put all in sub- jegtion under him, he left no- thing that is not put under him. ... But now we see, not yet all things put under him. ut we see Jesus, who was made a little lower. than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and lionour; that he , by the race of God should taste eath for every man. % God to sinful creatures, he might taste the bitterness of death for every man, who would obediently accept of life through him, now crowned with had in the day in which he was created. - a glory and honour far superior to what Adam Such hath been the conduct of God in this great affair of our redemption. And the 10 For it became him, for beauty and harmony of it will be apparent, in proportion to the degree in which it is ex- amined. For though the Jews dream of a temporal Messiah, as a scheme conducive to ing º the divine glory, it well became hims for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are l last End of all, in pursuit of the ſerings. things, the glorious Being who is the first Cause an great and important design he had formed, of conducting many whom he is whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bring- sons unto glory, to mäke the captain of their salyation perfect through suf all leased to adopt as his sons to the possession of that inheritance of glory he has intended for them, to make and constitute Jesus his first-begotten and best-beloved Son, the Leader and Prince of their salvation ; and to make him perfect or completely fit for the full execution £arth here signifies, governments, as i:1.leed the phrase sometimes may ; but I think not in this place: - a Jºe have heard.] §§§ing can be more evidently weak than the argument drawn from hence, to prove that St. Paul was not the author of this Epistie, because it was not by hearing only that he reggived, the gospel. It is to be considered, that he speaks in the name of all to whom he was writing, as well as his own, to render the instruction the Imore unexceptionable and the more forcible. Besides that to hear any thing signifies in 2&neral to be instructed in it. Angels.} . See. Dr. V’llit by’s admirable note on this text. - c Signs and wonders.] I think it is very needless to inquire curiously into the difference of each of these words, when it is usual by a He- bra is ºn to express a great degree and variety of things of any kind, by heaping together a great many synonymous words. ... . . - d To ange's he hath not subjected, &c.] Archbishop Tillotson thinks the tº caning of this scripture is, that God did not ein power the angels who le.Iivered the law, to enforge it with clear and express promises of a future state, as Christ had gn forged the gospel. , (See, his PWorks, vol. iii. p. 13:5.) {}r. Barrow explains it of the Messiah making 39 great an aſtoration in the coustitution of things, that it is represented by a meto } cºrn and a neic carth, (isa. lxv. 17. et sim.) on Yyhich açcount it was called by the Jews, the ſcorld to coiae : a phrase which, it is observable, §, Pali) only uses in this Eilist le to the Hebrews, as being familiar, to them. (Barrow’s Works, vol. ii. p. 232.). Others have argued from this iºxt, thāt angels were possessed of certain authority and power, in the Nºorid before Christ cime, of which they were divested upon, his ap- pearance; and of those who have agreed in , this geugral explication, §onia (as ŠIF. Pierce) havo referred the presidence of angels to their having the guardianship of particular countries, and others, to some jºrticºlar influenges of their counsels, in projecting the scheme; which ;receded the display of the gospel. But it seems to ºne: ...that !he, sim; jøst, plainest, and most unexceptionable sense is this, “That Ggd had #ppointed ſiis Son to preside in the last great dispensation ; which he elsewhere expresses, by saying, He has united all things under him, as their common Jíead, Eph. i. 10.”—and this certainly is an h9nour to which no angel can pretend. Dr. Burnet’s explication of this, as re; ferring to the new heavens and carth, which be supposes shall, succeed the conflagration in which Christ is to reign, (which he, also thinks re- ferred to, Isa. ix. 6.) is so very precarious and imprºbable, a) Anterpre- tation, that I think it is hardly worth mentioning. Burnet’s Theory of the Earth, vol. ii. p. 392. - - 6 A certain ſucriterſ bears his testimony.] . It has been maſter of much debate among critics, whether these words are to be considered tºs,in their original intent, a prophecy of the Messiah, or a º of the dignity and glory of human nature, to which the apostle alludes; mak- ing use of David’s language to clothe his own ideas, though-by an ap: plication very different from his design. It seems evident to me, that there is nothing in the eighth Psalm by which, independent up9m the apostlé’s authority, it could be known to belong to the Messiah. On the whole, therefore, I prefer the latter opinion, though I readily confess, that it the former could be proved, it would establish a direct argument in words, which must otherwise be only understood as an allusion ; but the grand truth to which they refer, the exaltation of Christ to §§preme dignity, was so expressly asserted by himself, (Matt. xxviii. 18.) and was so findamental a doctrine, and so universally, received in the christian church, that it did not seem to stand in need of such an addi- tional proof. - s f For the suffering of death.] . These words may seem gmbiguous, and capable of Ščing referred either to the preçeding or following clause. it is indeed true, that Christ was crowned as a reward for suffering death, as the apostle ºś. (Phil. ii. 8, 9.). But the cou- cluding words of the verse, which have plainly a connexion with these, determine them to the former sense. . g # 5ccame jiim.j This seems to signiſy, not only that the gqurse he took was welj worthy of God, but that in order to act worthy of himself, it was expedient he should take this method. THE PURPOSES OF CHRIST'S HUAIILIATION. 801 f his office, by a long train of various and extreme sufferings, whereby he was, as it were, SECT. - . . . Solemnly consecrated to it. - 2. a.º.º. º.º.º. .Now, in consequence of this appointment, Jesus, the great Sanctifier, who engages and ##". "ii". "... *; consecrates men to the scrvice of God, and they who are sanctified, that is, consecrated and HEB. Mºham- introduced to God with such acceptance, |. all of one family; all the descendants of 11" * v v1: 1 v. 11; Adam, and in a sense the seed of Abraham; for which cause he is not ashamed to call dº...". .."...º. them whom he thus redeems and presents to divine f Yoliſ, his. brethren; Safing, (Psal. 12 i..."...iº, "º"..., xxii. 22, 26.) in the person of David, when representing the Messiah in his sufferings and will I sing Praise auto thee, exaltation, I will declare thy name to my brethren ; in the midst of the assembly of thy --"--- people, the great assembly, which, by way of eminence, shali be called the church, will I 13 And again, I will put praise thee, for thy gracious interpositiºn in my favour....?nd again, speaking as a mortal 13 fººt ſ", "tº man, exposed to such exercises of faith in trials and difficulties as others were, he says in which God'hath given me.” a psalm which represents his triumph over his enemies, I will trast in him, as other good men have in all ages done; and again, elsewhere in the person of Isaiah, (Isa. viii. 18.) Behold, I and the children which my God hath given me, are for signs and for wonders. l; Forasmuch then as the Seeing then those whom he represents in one place and another as the children of the same 14 §";"| "..."; family with himself, are partakers of human flesh and blood, he himself in like manner par- ºisi.º.º.º.º. ticipated of them, and assumed all their sinless infirmities, that thereby becoming capable same ; that through dentlı he - - - - s --- * * * iº ºff."hi of those sufferings to which, without such a union with flesh, he could not have been ob- #: Rººſ of death, that is noxious, he might by his own voluntary and meritorious death, abolish and depose him, y who by divine permission had the empire of deathi and led it in his train, when it made its first invasion on mankind, that is, the devil, the great artificer of mischief and destruc- tion: at the beginning the murderer of the human race, who still seems to triumph in the spread of mortality which is his work, and who may, often by God’s righteous permission 15. And deliver them who be the executioner of it. But Christ, the great Prince of mercy and life, graciously in- º, #.";..."; terposed, that he might deliver those his miserable captives, who through fear of death bondage were, or justly might have been, all their life-time obnoxious to bondage; having nothing to expect in consequence of it, if they rightly understood their state, but future misery; whereas now changing their Lord, they have happily changed their condition, and are, as many as have believed in him, the heirs of eternal life. ... • 16. For, verily he pook not e the sinful children of Adam, though the heirs of death, are thus delivered by him; 16 i."..."ºj but not the infernal powers, who were the first authors of their seduction; for truly i. took of Abraham. not hold of the angels to save them from plunging into the abyss of misery; but he iook hold of the seed of Abraham, and hath made a gracious provision for the salvation of all who ... 17 wherefore in all things shall by true faith approve themselves the genuine children of that holy patriarch. From 17 # *;"| "...}}...". whence, and in consequence of which design, it behoved him to be made in all things like #####"; º: unto those whom he condescends to call [his] bºthrº, that so, he might be a merciful and ;º,";; ; faithful High Priest, in things [relating] to God, that he might in the most effectual man- tº on for the sins of ner make atonement for the sins of the people; which he could not have done if he had "is"Föß that he himself not assumed our nature. But now, in consequence of that, he has not only provided him- 18 Hºjº.º.º.; self with something to offer, but has, by the experience of our infirmities, contracted that that are tempted. peculiar kind of compassion, which nothing else can teach; and in that he hath himself suffered, being tempted and tried with such a variety of assaults and sorrows, he can, in the most ready and endearing, as well as effectual manner, help those that are tempted, and are making their way through those scenes of difficulty which he passed through with such fortitude and honour. IMPROVEMIENT. ETERNAL praise to our compassionate High-Priest, who put on our infirmities that he might know how to pity Ver.18 and relieve them!, Eternal praise to him, by whom are all things, and for whom are all things, that he has con- certed the merciful scheme of bringing many sons unto glory, in a manner so well worthy of his divine perfections, 10 and so full of instruction and comfort to us; appointing his own Son the Captain of our salvation, and makin him perfect through sufferings! Let us daily reflect upon it with pleasure and gratitude, that he is not ashamed II to call us his brethren, though so highly exalted above the angels of God; and that he took not hold of the supe- 16 rior nature of angels which was sunk into apostasy, guilt, and ruin, but took hold on the seed of Abraham. How venerable, as well as amiable, is that condéscension with which he made himself a little lower than the angels, that by the grace of God, which was to owe its highest honours to his cross, he might taste death for every man 9 Lie hath effected his merciful purpose: by death he hath deposed and abolished the tyrannical prince of death, that is, the devil, and delivered from the fears of death those who, had they known and considered their real cir- cumstances, might have been continually in bondage to it. - - We see our great enemy deposed; we see life and immortality brought to light by his gospel: let us see it with gratitude and pleasure. And ſet us learn from all, if we would not charge ourselves with the most inexcusable guilt, and the basest ingratitude, if we would not plunge ourselves into the lowest gulf of perdition, not to neglect so great a salvation. Let the doom which the law of Moses passed upon the presumptuous transgressor, deter 3, 2 us; and let the grace of the gospel allure and invite us to attend to the salvation spoken by the Lord, and to take 1 the most earnest heed to it, lest we let slip that golden opportunity, which, if neglected, will néver return. 1 5 SECTION III. The apostle further takes, occasion tº manifest Christ, as superiºr to Moses, the great lºsislator of the Jews; and begins to caution them, from the sentence passed on the rebels against the authority of Moses, of the danger of despising the gospel-promises. Heb. iii. i- "Iś. HES. iii. 1. HEBREws iii. 1, SECT. WHEREFORE, holy bre- I HAVE just pointed out to you the Son of God, under the endearing character of a com- 3. thren, partakers of the hea- ; , , , , , º faithful High Pries d * * S-> passionate and faithful High Priest. And therefore suffer me to address you, my dear and holy brethren, whom he hath brought near to God, and graciously made partakers of HEB. III. I. h Depose him.] The original word, katapyngm, properly signifies to , i. The empire of deglk.] Some have inferred from hence, that the devil deprive of all power, Rom. vi. 6. When applied to the law; it signifies ºft the ºptioner of the sentence of death both on good and bād men. abolition. To suppose, with Archbishop Tiſlotson, that it chiefly means, But I think thºsense in the paraphrase less obnoxious and precarious. that Christ might give mankind the hoºk of immortality, when they k Fattāful High Pricst.] Mr. Fleming thinks ris-og signifies the same actually saw one risen from the dead, and ascending to heaven, is, I as ağtoſ; stag, one ºortly of our trust and confidence; but the former think, sinking the *iºn a great deal too low. implies the latter. Fleming's Christology, vol. ii. p. 266. 802 CHRIST'S SUPERIORITY TO MOSES. SECT. the heavenly calling,” by which he animates his people to aspire to the noblest views and 3. Pursuits; and let me entreat you frequently to direct your eyes and hearts to him: atten- venly , calling,...consider the Apostle, and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; tively regard this gracious Saviour, who hath condescénded to become the Apostle of God *...* to us, that he might bring us the messages of his will, and who is also constituted the High Priest of our profession,b by whom our guilt is expiated, and our happiness secured, 2 even Christ Jesus, so well known to us under this great and honourable character. Let that illustrious Person be daily familiar to your minds, even he who was faithful to him that appointed him to his office, as Moses [was] also faithful for all his house; according to that testimony with which God himself was pleased to honour him. (Numb. xii. 7.) 3 But I design not by applying these words, to insinuate, that there is room for a completé comparison between them. On the contrary, it is very apparent, that as for him of whom I now speak, he was esteemed worthy of far more honour than JMoses,” in proportion to the de- gree in which the builder of a housed hath more honour than the house itsélf." For Christ laid the plan of the Mosaic dispensation, and Moses, who was himself his creature, evidently acted as his delegate in the revelation which he made to the people of Israel; so that whatever excellences that dispensation can boast, they reflect an honour ultimately on the Divine 4 Person from whom he received it. For every house hath some builder,e by whom its seve- ral parts were modelled, raised, and disposéd, and every thing well adjusted in it displays the skill of its Architect and Disposer; now he who built and adjusted all things [is God, whose works of creation and providence are worthy their great Author, and proclaim that power, wisdom, and goodness, which set him infinitely above the most excellent of CreatureS. ...And that Christ is incomparably more to be honoured than Moses, appears even from this consideration, though inferior to the former, that Moses [was] indeed faithful in all his house, as a servant, who was appointed to act in an inferior economy, for a testimony of things afterwards to be mentioned; the evangelical design of which we shall in some inea- sure discuss in the following parts of this Epistle, according to their relation and connexion. 6 But Christ was faithful in a #. superior character, even as a Son in his own house,ſ that is, over the church, in which as Heir of all things, he hath not only a trust and office, but also a property, and which is appointed for him to inhabit and preside over; whose house, his chosen and delightful habitation, we christians now are, if we strenuously maintain [our] free- dom of profession,” and boasting of hope, steadfast unto the end; if having so glorious a hope set before us, in which we may justly boast as our greatest honour and happiness, we resolutely adhere to it, and permit nothing to wrest it out of our hands. And to this I am labouring to animate you, by the representation I have given of the dignity and glory of our blessed Saviour. Therefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, in a psalm which he dictated to David, (Psal. xcv. 7.) To-day if ye will ever hear his voice at all, 8 Harden not your hearts any longer; lest you bring destruction upon yourselves, as your predecessors did, in the bitter provocation which they presumed to offer me in the day of 9 temptation in the wilderness; When your unbelieving fathers tempted me, and proved me, as if they would have made an experiment how much it was possible for me to bear; and this, though they saw my works in such a variety of wonders, as passed in the wilderness 10 in the course of forly succeeding years. #j. I was angry with that perverse genera- tion, and said, They always do and will err in [their] hearts, through their own obstinacy and folly, and they have not known my ways, nor paid any regard to the clearest discoveries 11 of my will and design; So that after repeated abuses of my patience and long-suffering, I sware in my wrath, and solemnly declared by my own holy and majestic name, that they should never enter into my rest; but that the carcasses of all that came adult out of 12 Egypt, shall fall in the wilderness, and that generation of men be totally consumed. How awful a determination, after all the hopes which such signal deliverances had concurred to inspire! See to it therefore, brethren, lest there ever be in any of you a wicked heart of un- belief, in apostatizing from him who still wears the same omnipotent terrors, and continues, and will ever continue, the living and true God, to whom you profess so great a regard, and from whom you will indeed revolt, if you give up the religion of Christ Jesus his Son. You are surrounded with many temptations to do this; but exhort one another daily, while you are under this dispensation of grace, whilst it is called to-day,i and the deserved judg: ments of God are suspended, that no one of you may, by insensible degrees and artful insinuations, be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and its fallacious advances on the mind; whereby if you are not resolutely on your guard, you may be seduced finally to forfeit the invaluable blessings which aré so freely offered, and which have so long been set before you. 5 7 I 3 2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 3 For this man was count- ed worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more lionour than the house. 4. For every house is build- ©d by sonne man; but he that built all things is God. 5, And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant; for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after ; 6 But Christ as a son over is own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the € In Cl, 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, 8. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wil- derness : - 9 When your fathers tempt— ed me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. a' 10 Wherefore I was griev- ed with that generation, and said, They do always err in their hearts ; and they have not known my ways. ll. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in de- parting from the living God. a Holy brethren, partakers af the heavcilly calling.] Mr. Pierge thinks, when #. are called holy brethren by the apostle, it is in allusion to what was said of their being sanctifica, chap. ii. 11. that when he speaks of their calling, he means their being called his brethren : and that when he styles them partakers of his calling, it is to intimate that they do not engross it. But all these interpretations seein, to me more refined than solid. The calling generally significs the call that is given us by the gospel ..". immortality and iš' , - b’Apostle and High Priest.] Both are properly mentioned, as the author was to show that, as an Apostle, Christ was superior to Moses; and as a High Priest, to Aaron. He is called an ...?postle as sent from God with full commission for the important affair he came to transact. That apostle signifies messenger, see many places in the New Testament, cited, § 162. note e, p. 283. - - - c \fore honour than . Moscs.] As it was their attachment to the Mosaic jaw, and the writings of the Old Testament, that hindered so many Jews from embracing christianity, it is with the utmost propriety of ad- dress that the apostle here undertakes to show that Christ was superior to Moses; and, by a necessary consequence, to the rest of the prophets and #; authors, whom they acknowledged to be inferior to this 7-eat Prophet. * * - & d #ºf a house..] ... Both Mr. Pyle and Dr. Whitby would render karagºevago not, to build, but, to order, or govern, as the word house signifies not a building, but a family. e Hath some builder.] So I think the words Karaaktvašerat vºo Tivos may be rendered, the word man not being in the original, nor here being properly inserted. Dr. Calamy has argued from hence the supreme (Calamy,. On Trin. p. 44;) as the vulgar Latin does, founder of the family, has related to him. So In his own house.] - should be, in his house, that is, Ieb. x. 21. the confidence, even the rº ing it to refer to that confe solemnity and joy. the labours of a long war, as WC pear as a kind of sabbath-keeping. i Whilst it is called to-day.] L'Enfant with his judgments. 13 But exhort one, another daily, while it is called To- day 5 lest any of you be hardened through the deceit- fulness of sin. deity of Christ, in consequence of his being the Creator of all things. * ut Mr. Pierce ple - the intent of the apostle here to assert that Christ was the Crcator of all things, it would have been sufficient to have stopped here, and that what follows would sink the argument, lower: therefore he would translate it The builder of the house, that is, the head and greatest honour of any person in the house; and by consequence they must have the next honour, who are most nearly Christ, who is his Son, must have greater honour than Moses, who was no more than a servant. f - Mr. Pierce, brings many arguments to prove it leads, that if it had been od’s, in, which sense the very words are used and translated before; but as Christ is appointed the Heir of all things, the paraphrase cannot, I think, be contested. Compare g Our freedom of profession.] Some would render it, if we hold fast oicing of our hope, firm untº the end, suppos- ssion which they made at their baptism with h JMy rest.] Canaan is so called, as they there reposed themselves after as the fatigues of a tedious march; and perhaps as entering upon a course of stated worship, it might ap- thinks this refers to that pa– tience which God still exercises towards a nation soon to be overwhelmed -- - UAUTIONS AGAINST UN BELIEF'. IMPROVEMENT. S03 WE are partakers of this heavenly calling, and to us are the messages of mercy addressed: let us therefore hear SECT. with reverence and obedience the admonitions of the word of God. Let us behold with veneration and delight the Son of God becoming the Messenger of his Father's love, and the High Priest of our christian profession. He is the great Prophet too, whom God hath raised up unto us like Moses, in many respects; but of how far superior to him More completely faithful to him who hath appointed him; faithful as a son in his own house. The world is an edifice raised by Christ: the church is the house in which he delights to reside. Let both be considered in this important view. The divine perfections of the great Architect are indeed illustriously displayed in the construction and constitution of this visible world. Does the meanest house or cottage declare itself to be the work of some intelligent agent? And does it not much more evidently appear, that this commodious and magnificent structure must have been planned and reared by proportionable wisdom, grandeur, and power? It is the work of Christ; and let it often be devoutly surveyed and contemplated in this view ; and from thence let us infer his divine glories, and read in them his matchless condescension. Let us learn with how much security and delight we may commit our immortal souls to him who stretched out the heavens, and laid the found- ations of the earth, and shall endure, the same when they shall be dissolved and perish. Let us view him also as the Lord of the church; and consider the fabric of grâce as raised to his honour; that in that as his temple, every one might speak of his glory; and let all the churches, and every member of each, make it their faithful care to honour him more and more. In this view may we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of our hope steadfast unto the end, and never suffer any one to take our crown, or terrify or allure us from that #. subjection of soul to Christ, which his perfec- tions and our obligations to him concur to demand. Who of us can say he is beyond all danger of being insnared by an evil heart of unbelief, of being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin P. Let us then, in compliance with so salutary and necessary an exhortation, redouble our guard ; let us watch over ourselves and each other; ex- horting one another daily, while it is called To-day, and charging our souls by the awful authority of the living God, that after having approached so near him, that after having so solemnly professed to devote ourselves to him, nothing may ever prevail upon us deliberately and wickedly to depart from him. * SECTION IV. The apostle goes on to repeat the caution, he had given against, unbelief, as what would prevent their entering into rest :, an expression which he shows to refer to something much nobler than that rest which the Jews enjoyed in Canaan, even on their most sacred days and in their most prosperous ages. Heb. iii. 14, to the end; iv. l—ll. . HEB. iii. 14. HEBREws iii. 14. FOR we are made partakers I GIVE you such cautions to guard against the deceitfulness of sin, and an evil heart of §ºf ...hº...º.º. unbelief, i. I know your highest interests are concerned ; for we are made partakers steadfast unto the end; of the grace and mercy of Christ, and admitted by him into the family of God, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence in him, as our great Saviour, steadfast unto the end of our lives, whatever difficulties and oppositions may arise. Let us therefore be strenuous and incessant in this care; forasmuch as it is said,” in the passage I have quoted above, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as they did in the provocation which was offered to God in the wilderness. For some of them who heard so many divine messages solemnly declared, and the law spoken by the very mouth of God himself from mount Sinai, provoked [him] to indignation; but not all they who came out of Egypt by JMoses :b, theré was a remnant then,” as there now is, of believing and obedient souls, to whom the promise of God shall be accomplished. And by whom was he ſº by a long succession of infidelity and folly for forty years 2 [was it] not with those who well deserved that displeasure ? with those who sinned against him by suspecting his presence with them, after so many amazing and unparalleled demonstrations of it; whose carcasses, according to his awful prediction, fell in the wilderness during those years of wandering to which they were justly doomed 2 And was there any thing in this that looks like a breach of promise on the part of the blessed God? Far from it.—To whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest, but unto those who were so obstinate and disobedi- ent, as entirely to forfeit all claim to his promise and favour? .4nd when we come to con- sider the cause of that disobedience, we see that it was owing to a secret infidelity with regard to the divine power and goodness, either to preserve them in the wilderness, or conduct them into Canaan, So that I may say they could not possibly enter into the promised rest, because of unbelief: that was upon the whole the evil that destroyed them. Let us therefore improve so awful a dispensation of Providence to Qur own instruction, and fear,a lest a promise being now left [unto us] of entering into his most happy, and glorious rest, any of use should even, at any time, so much as seem like to come short [of it..] For we are made partakers of the good tidings of the promised rest, as they also were. But the word of promise thich they heard, did not profit them, as it might other- wise have done, in matters of the highest importance, not being duly mixed and attempered with faith in them that heard [it] For we cordially believings the gospel, and faithfully 15 While it is said, To-day, if ºre will hear his voice, har- den not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16, For some, when they had heard, did provoke : how- beit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years was i not with them that had sin– ned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness f 18 And to whom sware he that , they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not 2 19 So we see , that they could not cnter in because of unbelief. IHeb. iv. 1. Let us there- fore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. . . 2 For unto us was the gos- pel preached, as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. . . 3 For we which have be- a Firasmuch as it is said.] The words Cy To At; £30at are something c There it as a remnant..]. Joshua, Caleb, the women and children, and ambiguous, and may either signify, forasmuch as it is said, or, \chite it is said; and if the latter version be preferred, perhaps this fifteenth verse may be connected with the thirteenth. Exhort one another daily while it is called to-day, while it is said, To-day, if ye will hear his coice : as if he had said, The matter is of so much importance, that it is nºt to be geglected so much as for a single day, lest the proper season should be slipt. But as axpay 8, a different phrase, was used for while in the thir: teenth verse, I judge the repaering I have given most probable, and ventured it, in order to avoid an inconvenient length, by dividing the section as I have here done. c. * - b But not all they icho came out of Egypt.] Mr. Pyle gives it a differ- ent and remarkable interpretation, making the former part of the verse an interrogation, Who were they that, when ###rº; is, heard the report of the spies, (Numb. xiv.) did provoke him 3 Were not they all that came out of ## And this he supposes is a distinct argument for perseverance, taken from the infectious nature, as well as pernicious consequences, of infidelity and apostasy. But had this been the sense, I think gyº would have been used instead of axX’, 8, especially as by this means the correspondence with the seventeenth verse would have been more evident. some think, some of the Levites, were not included in this sentence. Bishop Fell mentions this as an intimation, that all shall not apostatize in the worst times. d Let us therefore fear.] The example, as has often been observed, is most suitable, being taken from their own ancestors, the evil being the same, namely, unbelief, the time, resembling it just after the establish- ment of a new constitution, and the consequence the same, the exclusion from rest. The superior dignity of Christ above Moses, and the superior excellence of heaven above. Canaan, greatly confirm the force of the argument. Pierce, on Heb. iii. 12. note n. e Any of us...] Some copies read Îuary, us, instead of jugov, you ; and º, authority is evidently confirmed by the connexion. See Dr. Mills, ljº 1.00. f Partakcrs of the good tidings.] So I choose to render the word sunkyext guevat. For, that we have tue gospel (taking it for the message by § at least, as well as these people had in the wilderness, and indeed a great deal more plainly, is so evident, that it may seem but a. very low sense of the words, and not worthy the wisdom and gravity of the apostle to insert it. g We believing have entered, &c.] Mr. Pierce would render it, We 3. HEB, 4 6 12, III. 13 SECT. 4. 2 III. IV. 804 CAUTIONS AGAINST UNBELIEF. SECT. retaining it, are so secure of final happiness, that it may with some propriety be said, we fieved do, cºter into rest, as 4. have already entered into rest; as he said, in the fore-cited text, So I sware in my wrath §º they should not enter into my rest. ...And this may lead us further to reflect on what is #..."...:"...i.". #. elsewhere said concerning his works, as they were finished from the foundation of the §º the a world.h For after Moses had given us an account of the creation, he somewhere saith con- 4 For he spake in a certain cerning the seventh [day] thus, (Gen. ii. 2. Exod. xxxi. 17.).And God rested the seventh ºff".º. 5 day from all his works. And in this [place] which we have quoted again he saith, [I §§.º."ºn"; have sworn) they shall not enter into my rest. Now this certainly implies that when these **u in aſ ºn words were written, there was a rest of God, from which these sinners should be excluded. If its shall º; though they actually dwelt in the land of Canaan, secure under the protection of i)avid. " - their victorious monarch, and enjoyed the repose of God's sabbath there. 3 6 Seeing then it remaineth that some invist enter into it, which is spoken of in this scrip- 6, seeing therefore it re- ture as a certain thing, and they to whom the good tidings of rest were at first declared did ...jº.º.º. not enter because of their unbelief, which you know was thre - ... ºr thesiº, and hºtº - - f, which you know was threatened with such punishment; it was first preached entergº 7 He again determineth a certain day, marked out within certain limits and boundaries, in "% §...i º: reference to which he urges their immediate attention and obedience to the manifestation tain'."º"."ºil, of the divine will, saying, in that well known composition of David, of which we have º: just been speaking, This day, and that after so long a time as had passed ºth...ej will hººden God at the creation mentioned above, as it is said, This day, if ye will hear his voice at all not your hearts. 8 harden not your hearts. .Now it is certain, as I hinted abºve, the resthere referred to is 8 For if Jesus had given not, and cannot be, interpreted of the land of Canaan; for if Joshua, who introduced tº tºilihº. them thither, and settled them there, had given them the great and peaceful rest referred ºhave spoken of an- to, he would not so long qfter that settlement have spoken, as you see in the days of David he does, concerning another day of trial, and another day of rest into which it was a sup: 9 posable case that they might not enter. Therefore it is very evident, that there remaineth 9 There remaineth there: a rest, for the people of God; which, when we consider it in reference to that sabbatical gº a rest to the people of rest of which we have been speaking, may properly be called the celebration of a sab- - - 10 bath, which, blessed be God, will be eternal. It may be thus called with happy pro- ºr lºº priety, for he who hai, entered into this, his final and complete resi, of which we now ºi speak, hath also himself entirely ceased from all the labours and fatigues of his works, as ***) God rested from his own on that first seventh day, which, in commemoration of it, was 11 appointed sacred to future ages. Let us therefore labour with all possible diligence and loºk: ...". º constancy, to enter into that important and eternal rest, that no one may finally fall into ...” ... ºf aft. *::::: • 3 - - ruin by the same example of disobedience, which hath undone so many thousands already, **** and proved so fatal to fsrael in the instance I have been handling at large. IMPROVEMENT. HEB. WHAT can be so desirable as to partake of Christ, and all the saving benefits which believers receive in and by *, him, by virtue of that relation to which he condescends to admit them? Let us seek this happiness by perse- vering faith, and holding fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; bearing still in our minds 16 the melancholy example of the children of israel, who, though by such wonderful interpositions led out of Egypt, were doomed by the divine vengeance to die in the wilderness for their unbelief. That obstructed their entrance 19 into Canaan: nor can we ever hope to partake of the land of promise above, if we resign that faith which is the spring of every other grace that is necessary to prepare us for it. Iv. 1. Let us take the alarm, and exercise that pious fear which so well consists with a cheerful hope in God, and committing our souls to his fatherly care. We hear the word of salvation; let us pray that it may profit us; and for that purpose, let us be often realizing to our minds its divine authority, and those invisible objects which it 9 opens upon us, ‘It speaks of a rest remaining for the people of God; and oh, how much nobler a rest than that of Canaan. Our true Joshua leads us on, as the Captain of our salvation. He conquers all our spiritual enemies 8 by his invincible word, and will divide us an inheritance, an everlasting inheritance there, if we are faithful to 7 the death. To-day, after so long a time, are we still called to pursue it: let us therefore give diligence, that We 10 may enter: and let those sabbaths, which are instituted in kind commemoration of God's having rested on the seventh day from his labours, and which are intended in some degree to anticipate the heavenly rest, be im- roved for this valuable purpose. So shall we ere long rest from our works, as É. did from his, and after the abours of these few mortal days, shall enjoy immortal tranquillity and repose: we shall pass a perpetual sab- bath in those elevations of pure devotion, which the sublimest moments of our most sacred and happy days here can teach us but imperfectly to conceive. SECTION V. The apostle enforcás the caution he had before given, by awful views of the omniscience of God, and animating, representation; of the character of Čhrist, as our High Priest, ºf whº livine jºintinºt, ºraciºus administration, and previous suffering, he goes on to discourse, and pro- mises further illustrations of so important a topic. Heb. iv. 12, to the end ; v. 1–14. HEBREws iv. 12. HEB. iv. 12. sECT. HAVING warned you against the fatal example of unbelief, which we see in God's Is Fºº wº - - - & - Werful, & 5. rael of old, let me entreat you to dwell upon it, in your most serious and attentive reflec- ºn 'ºd. tions. For the word of God,” which gives you this account, as well as that glorious Per; Éjº. º is +3 | W d b 'h h if - d hi * ild - a Sunder OTSO uſ and Sp! Tlt, diſh HEB son his essential Word, by whom he manifested himself to Israel in the wilderness, [is] "..., still living and efficacious, and sharper than any two-edged sword, f. in the acutest manner that can be imagined, even to the separating between the soul and spirit, the respec- tive principles of animal and rational life, and to the dividing the remotest and most believing entered into rest, that is, Taith is the way by which men must k Remaineth a rest.] He here changes the word karatavats for expect to enter into whatéver rest God promises in one age or another; Gaff/3arvajos, to signify its being entirº and perfect, and like a sabbath. and so it appears necessary that the cord should be rpixed with it. This, à The ºrđof Goñi it is greatydebated among commentators, whether it must be acknowledged, is a very probable and weighty sense. this sººood of Christ, or of thagospel and scripture ºvela. h Aſis corks finished from the foundation, $g.] Mr. Pierce thinks the tion. I have endéayoured to give a hintº th senses in the paraphrase ; arogtie intends to ſay in ºn answer, to an objection, which might aris; but steeming the latter preferable, hay? ºff. pointed that out, and against the cautiº given from their being entered into ºst already, that fiejeº any one versed in the energy of scripture will think it a very iſ into the kind of Canaan, where º celebrated the sabbath. He there; suitable and natural sense: jºr foºs that the words could neither extend to the one or the other of $ºinº ºfficaciºus.j Mr. Pierce thinks, there is an allusion here thºsſ. ests. z-w - to the ‘ī;hing” by which they fell in the wilderness, whom he had so i. if Jos' ſta.) So this proper name should be rendored ; for Ima'gs, oſten ań sojong been speaking of. J. , , is , , , ; ; ; fie Greek mander of expressing Joshua. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST AS OUR HIGH PRIEST. * is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. row,” contained in the bones. 13 Neither is there any human eye can penetrate. creature that is not manifest are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. of the joints and marrow, and closely connected parts of the body. ; ...Ahid, to speak in less figurat - Discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart, his word meets with the mos urpose, and exerts a divine authority in controlling irregularities and disorders w & And it may well be supposed that it should be sº; for the: #";" i. º. is no creature, which is not apparent and º in his presence; but all things [are] naked, and laid bared before the eyes of him to whom we are to give an account. them as the inwards of sacrificed animals are discerned, when their bodies are completely laid open, and therefore it will be altogether in vain to attempt a disguise before him. h l4 §º, #;" that . have a great high priest, that - is passed into the heavens, Judge, has displayed Jesus, the Son of God, let us we are to hold fast our profession. Now, on this consideration, and because the all-seeing God, who is to be our final his mercy in directing our eyes to a Saviour, by whose mediation be delivered from the fierceness of his deserved vengeance; let us, I say, by such powerful considerations, be awakened to have recourse to him, and encouraged to confide in him, and to adhere to his cause amidst all opposition. great High Priest, who hath passed through the vail, and entered into the heavens, that he might there intercede with God for us, even Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession of faith in him, and never suffer the most violent attack to wrest it from us. have not an high priest incapable of sympathizing with our infirmilies, but on the contrary, [one who] has a most tender feeling of them, haying been himself tried in every degree of sin, or any approach toward it, 15 For we have not an high For we priest which cannot be touch- ed., with the , feeling of our infirmities ; , but...was points tempted like as vet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. & our respective necessities. Heb. v. 1. For every high- priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sac- rifices for sins : in all respect, in like manner [with us, yet], without any *** from which, amidst his severest trials, he remained perfectly free. Let us, therefore, hum- bly confiding in his intercession, approach with freedom of speech to the throne of grace, to present our petitions, that we may receive that mercy which he hath been appointed to purchase, and may find grace from that throne for our seasonable assistance, according to I speak of Christ under the character of the great High Priest with evident propriety, to which I hope you will attend; for every high priest” taken from among men, as those of the Mosaic ritual are, is constituted or chosen for the benefit of men, and set over things which relate to the service and honour of God, that he may offer both gifts and Sacrifice. Whººpi, for sins in an acceptable manner. Being able to proportion his compassionſ to those that are sion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity, And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for 07? 81 ſ) S. by the presentation of his own. 4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. º * 5 So also, Christ glorified not himself; to be made an high priest; but he that sai unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in an- other place, Thou art a priest for ever atter the order of Melchisedec. - Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong, crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared ; ignorant, and wandering from the exact paths of God's commandments, for whom alone, you know, sin-offerings are provided; because he himself also is incident to infirmity. .3 for this reason, it is necessary that he should offer an appointed expiatory sacrifice fºr sins his own account, as well as for the people, and should make way for their sin-offering .#nd lorify himself to be made a High Priest, he did .# office without a proper call; but he raised him to .4s also in another [place] which it will be and his supplications were not in vain; for though his heavenly Father did not think fit to exert that power in his total deliverance; yet he was 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered ; heard in being delivered from that which he particularly feared, and which threw him into such an agony in the garden, that he sweat drops of blood. . It is indeed a wonderful, but S at the same time a very instructive, dispensation, and therefore worthy of our deep con- sideration and reflection: that though he were a Son, yet he learned obediencek by the things which he suffered, and was trained up for more eminent services, by a series of painful ..?nd being thus consecrated to God! by his own blood, in virtue of which he riestly office, he became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him ; to all that practically own his authority, as well as profess a dependence on his grace; being, as we observed before, Called and denominated of God a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec; Concerning whom, by the way, it is necessary that, before we dismiss this argument, we speak, having much discourse, and some of it perhaps hard to be understood; not so much from the difficulty of the thing itself, as because you are slow and sluggish of hearing, and your minds are not awakened to that attention to so that it reaches to the joints and even to the mar: ive terms, as he [is] an eract t Secret hich no “e T He discerns Having therefore a 80 * } SEC T. 5. HEB, ... * | Y. HEB. 2 3 And this is so awful an office, that no man who has any regard to duty or safety, taketh 4 it to himself; but he only wears it who is called of God for that purpose, as .3aron [was] So Christ also, we well know, did not not aspire to, or seize upon, this exalte - d this conspicuous dignity, who said unto him, in the place quoted and pleaded above, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.h s proper to take very particular notice of, (Psal. cx. 4.) He sailh to him whom he had called to sit on his right hand, Thou [art] a priest for ever according to the order of .91&lchiseſłec. Such a priest shall we presently see our great Redeemer to have been, even that corn- passionate Saviour, who in the days of his flesh, and while he sojourned here amidst the infirmities and calamities to which hüman nature is obnoxious, being assaulted with the utmost violence by the powers of darkness, offered repeated prayers and supplications, which were attended with humble prostrations, a strong cry and flowing tears, to him who was able to save him from death : 7 9. And being made perfect, he became the author of eter- mal salvation unto all them that obey him ; 10 Called of God an high priest, after the order of Mel- chisedec. 11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. discipline. was installed in his c Soul and spirit, joints and marrowe.] There seems in this text an evident reference to the doctrine of two principles, called soul and Spirit, as the seats of rational and sensitive liſe ; to distinguish these seems to be spoken of as an instance of the greatest, penetration. Some have ex- plained it as if he had said, He is able at pleasare to give a mortal wound; as when the marrow is separated from the joints, or the soul from the spirit, death ensues. But I rather think the ſneaning of the latter clause is, He can divide the joints and divide the marrow, that is, enter, irre- sistibly into the soul, and produce perhaps some sentiments which it would not willingly have received ; and sometimes discover and punish secret as well as open wickedness. d JNaked, and laid º It has been well observed, that these two words contain a graceful allusion to the custom in sacrificinæ, of ſlaying off the skin from the victim, and cutting it open, whereby all the vitals and inwards are exposed to full view: as yup vos signifies, what had no cover, and Terpaxn}\topºvos, what had no concealinent within. See Blackwall’s Sacr. Class. Vol. i. p. 231: . - - - e Every high priest.). All the following discourse is intended to moderate their regards for the Levitical priesthood, and to give them more exalted notions of Christ, that they might be more resolute in ad- hering to him. . . * Proportion his compassion.] So the word perplomaffety properly signifies. The ignorant and erroneous is here put, by a usual figure, for those who wander or sin through ignorance ; the case in which priests, appointed by men, were to offer sacrifice, to them. * g Did not glorify himself, &c.) He did not assume the mediatorial office without a divine authority, not affect to appear before his time in the pomp and splendour of it. h This day have I begotº cn thee..] This will by no means prove he was not a High Pricst before his resurrection from the dead : and indeed it’ it signifies that his priesthood is to be dated only from the day of his resurrection, not to thention the other absurdities of that supposition, it would, contrary to the judgment, of those who bring it in this view, prove that Christ was a Priëst while he was upon earth, that is, during the period between his resurrection and ascension. “. . i From that chich he particularly feared.]. So I chose to render and explain the words; though Bishop Fell and some others, taking evXa- {3sia for a religious reverence of God, (compare chap. xii.2S.) interpret it, as if it had been said, that his piety rendered his prayer acceptable. Dr. Whitby has said so much to confute this sense, and establish the rendering in the paraphrase, that I need not add more, but refer to the note on Luke xxii. 42. (p. 317. note h;) for a further iſſustration of the general interpretation here given to this text. k Learncal obedience.]. He ſound he must suffey, and by one degree of suffering was better fitted for another. As Christ’s human soul ad- vanced gradually in knowledge, so also in the perfection of virtue, though always free from any defilement of sin; and his patient and cheerful submission was improved by every trial. But Dr. Whitby would render it, he taught obedicnce to others by it. * | Being made perfect.] Archbishop Tillotson would translate it, hav- ing attained the end of his race through sufferings, that is, passed through sufferings in his way to consummate glory. (Comparo John xix. 9 IO I i W, * SEC T. 13 | 4 FIEB. 12, 13 14 16 15 7 8 9 il, 12 14 S E. C.T. THE APOSTLE PROCEEDS FROM THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE Gospp. * * - º º - these things, which might reasonably be expected from you; and especially as you are much prejudiced against every thing which may seem to lessen the glory of the Levitical Priesthood: For indeed, whereas join ought for the time that you have been under the in. structions of the gospel, to have been qualified to be teachers of others, you are so attached y d th t - * * - ~ • , • vº 3.V. th: *Y G tº: - to J ewish º forms, that ye hgºe need again that one should lead you back as º.º.º.º.º. jº ºne ºf the first principles of religion, relating to the ends and purposes of . ºjº isf’s ~ - w # -- * * * * * - all (1 & Te i) & CO II) e SU Ch Q S IX:A V6 Christ's death, and teach you whgt [are] the first initial elements of the divine oracles; so ...:"º". . .". that you seem tº be in a state of infancy as to these things, and are become persons idio strońs meat. have need of milk, and not of strong food, such as suits a mainly age and robust constitution, * ** a ºw * - ~ * ... I - º * - - * . - - * For every one who partakeſh of milk, and subsists on that, without being able to digest 13 For everyone that used strong food, ſº to be considered as unskilful in the word of righteousness ºn that is, in the # †† tºº > * r r º ºx ~ * - * º • * - : {} te $2SS : S gºspel, Włºch, directs us in the true way of justification by the blood and righteousness of iahé. the great Redeemer; for he is yet but an infant, and a compassionate regard must be paid -Q him under this view, in hope that he may hereafter attain to a Superior stature and more Yºgorºus age. But sºongfood belongs to full-grown. men, who, by long use and habit, have 14 But strong moat belong; [their] sºnses erercised, so as to be able readily to distinguish between both good anieri; sº.º. • l- > - e - age, even those who by reason which if they cannot, there may indeed be danger of being imposed upon by that which of use have thºsºsºsº. Would be unwholesome to their souls; though administered under the pretence of being tºo discºm both zool fit to nourish them, and adapted to persons of most eminent attainments. - IMPROVEMENT, MAX we all experience more of the efficacy of the divine word upon our hearts. May we all be more and more thoughtful of the account we are to give up of ourselves to God; and of that perfect discerning which he has, not only of our actions, but the secrets of our hearts; that we may never go about to conceal any thing from him, before whom all things are maked and open. - When we consider how many evils this all-penetrating eye hath discerned there, let it teach us to rejoice in that compassionate High Priest, who hath undertaken our cause; which could never succeed in any other hand. And let it imboiden our petitions, in humble expectation that we shall not only receive that mercy, without which we perish, but grace to strengthen and help us in proportion to all our necessities. . And when pressed with temp- tations, let it revive us to recollect, that he was in all points tempted as we are, so far as it was consistent with the perfect innocence which his office required, and which always gained new lustre by every attempt of the enemy to obscure and pollute it. ºw Let inferior ministers in God’s sanctuary learn to imitate him; and being themselves compassed with so many infirmities, have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way. And under a sense of our common weakness, let us all be earnest in our applications to the throne of grace for help. If Christ himself, in the days of his flesh, poured out supplications with strong crying and tears, let none of us imagine we can be safe in the neglect of prayer, or that we are ever to despond in any circumstances which leave room for devout ejacu- lations to God. Still he lives, who is able to save }. death, and who can also hear us in that which we fear. Let us wisely prepare for afflictions. If Christ, though a Son, learned obedience by sufferings, how much more do we need the salutary lessons they teach. But let no sufferings prevent our adhering to him, who being con- secrated by them to so high an office, is become the Author of salvation, of eternal salvation, to his faithful follow- ers. Let it ever be remembered, that it is to them that obey him that this salvation is promised: may we be found in their number; and being entered as obedient disciples into his school, may we become proficients there; not such dull and forgetful scholars as need to be led .. daily to the first elements and first principles of the divine oracles, not babes in Christ, and unskilful in the word of righteousness; but such as having our senses spiritually exercised to discern good and evil, may be capable of receiving and digesting strong meat, and may thereby grow stronger and stronger. 12 For wheu for the time e ought to be teachers, ye SECTION VI. The apostle declares his resolution of advancing to sublimer truths, without dwelling further upon the ºpºgº fºr the sake of those who might have apostatized from christianity; and whose case he represents as very hopeless. Hieb. vi. 1–9. HEBREW’s vi. 1. PIE.B. vi. 1. WE have had reason to complain that too many of you are but in an infant state ; yet I º, '..."; know that, as I intimated before, there are some, among you who can bear stronger food ºf. ...'...'. A. * ~ vºr: 34 - + -> < * 1 a l ~ y-\ ,-\, f iſ v- ºr smissinor -o- fection : not laying again the than the state of babes will admit: to such I would show some regard. Dismissing there founiation of reſentance HEB. fore any further discourse on the first principles [of the doctrine] of Christ.” let us be carried from dead works, and of Y}. on to jerſection, and pursue more eminent degrees ºf imprºvement in ſº and more ad- faith toward Goºl, * - º } 3 --> ºn 2 . "is i: it ºr I ºnceſ ºff elevated 'knowledge; not laying again the first foundatiºn of christianity, by 2 inculcating the well known necessity of repentance.ſº deal works, from the practices of those whº are dead in sin, and whereby thé soul is defiled, as the Priest; of God were by the touch of a dead body; nor insisting on the importance of faith in the one living and O ine of bi true God, as the universal Lord of all ; Nor leading you back to the doctrine of baptisms, 2 of the doctriae of bap- thºse instituted under the Mosaic dispensation to inculgate moral Purity on all who would jºy mºar to God with acceptance; or that appointed by Christ, as the rite by which we - -, -, . . ; ** -- ckson would render it, being of particular persons under the Old Testament in confirmation ºf the Luke jº. Hº: º: º º: be said to be co:)- jº. mission of the . foghºls, (which might in º: thiº. consecrateſ f and is tº #. ..". § ºšiot. Compare chap. vii. 33, ii. Femier the dºctrine ºf Čhrist’s resurrection more credible!9 t $. who secrated tº his priestly o %. § S I § tºok is."p. 943, stc. and Dr. believed thesº) or the resurrection of the Jewis), people from Žsypt, 3r §: S&G, º s PWorks, to m. 11. • * * delive rance º º: ń..."; it º, º; 㺠º wen; on chap: 1... 19. - t - ains by refer- Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 12.) . And the latter, that is, ºper Røl aſ tº Killent, he m J/ord of iº. *ś, thinks may be explained of dreadful, judgments juſliºted of ºld;" upon ring to the passages 9 the 9 } 6. ... "...m.; and Čºlatiºns; which the sinners of the old world, the inhabitants of Sodoin, &c. I thought by faith, quoted in the Epistle to k” ºrant explains them much it not improper tº Pºº. §9 remarkable an interpretation, but not this Hebrews might seem to overloo seeing any reason ſº confining º of tº: lauses to so contracted a 1;] the S3 tº C SG In Se. - ºs as refer- scase, I have taken them in a much larger extent. irst n -in cin1 r s 1 \ aderstands all that, follows as refer- Scase: ; hº - º - & .. º,"; be considered as the elements b of baptisms.]... Lord Barrington understands, this of the baptis” of Vl; - > y - • - - - - - --> * - V, as a QC and the usion of the fioly Spirit, by which the first disciples of the christian, fººtſºº::::::::::::::::::::: solemn # . jº the # cº among the devout and idolatrous Jewish flºº § *...*. r º: Faith towards God, he Čšities, were initiated. He also explains, the laying ºn ºf hands, as and public º, ... a. º to i."... fjäptisms he takes referring to the immediate cºmmunication of sºłºal ºftº means ºf considers º . §§ that 3 ºrig, o, in the plural number, the aposties. These he thinks were first principles, as, baptism was the for the Jewish was º S nse. Lating on | hands, he takes for the first entrºng? ºnto the church, and laying 30. of hands, the great evidence is never used in ºy.9% ã. º and #: Éhºt tº rection of the of it, as faith and Tºgº. the substance of christianity, and a rite that ãº; ś ... eithéº" tº be understood as principles (esurrºcłłº. and ºrgºhº great motives leading men to em- - dead, *::::::::::::::::: ºftistianity, or rather peculiar to the former; in braco it. Bar. JMisc. Ess. II. p. 116. º: w, the resurrection offic dead refers either to the resurrection THE APOSTLE PROCEEDS FROM THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL. 807 tisms, and of laying on of enter into his church. And we will not now treat of the imposition of hands,” by which SECT. ## 3.a.º.º."; the Spirit hath been communicated to those that have embracéd the gospel, and of º §: 6. judgment. surrection of the dead, which, though not so clearly and fully revealed, was assuredly be: jieved by the Jewish church before our Lord's appearance; and of eternal judgment, when º the whole world shall be convened before Christ, and each of its inhabitants fixed by his 2 ” final sentence in an unalterable eternity. - 3 And this will we do, if "These are indeed important doctrines, and it will become you constantly to bear them 3 God permit. in mind. But while I am addressing you at present, it may be more profitable for mº, tº lead you into some higher improvements in christian knowledge, and to build some fºrther divine instruction upon these sure and solid foundations. 3nd this tee will do, if God permit; if God may assist us in attempting it, and this letter reach you, as I trust it will, while you continue your adherence to the christian faith. . - As for those who seem to have forgot these sacred principles, and put the greatest slight 4 upon them, by renouncing our holy religion, I give them up as persons from whom I have no further expectations; for [it is] in a manner *#. to succeed in any charitable endeavour with regard to those who have once been enlightened with the knowledge of such glorious truths as are essential to christianity, and have tºsted of the heavenly gift which our exalted Redeemer hath shed down upon us, and have been made partakers of the Holy Ghostein his miraculous and amazing communications. And hape fasted, by sºme affec- tionate impressions on their minds, the efficacy of the good word ºf God, and felt some- - thing of the powers of the world to comeſ awakening in them a convictiºn of sin, and some 6 If they shall fall away, to desires after holiness, and resolutions in favour of it; I say, that as for such persons, if, jº.º.º.º. after all this, they totally fall aways from christianity, their case is in a manner desperate, iłºś and it is impossible again tº renew the good impressions made on them, so as to bring º and put him to an open them back tº repentance, and to recover them, to a sense of duty; since they reject the strongest evidence that can be conceived, and do, as it were, by this apostasy and blas- phemy of theirs, so far as in them lies, crucify to themselves the Son of God again." and make an open example º, him;] by renouncing that divine doctrine, which hath been so gloriously demonstrated to them, they do in effect declare they look on Jesus as an inn- postor, who deserved what he met with ; and they seem to ascribe the miraculous energy 6f the Spirit to some diabolical agency: which Christ himself represented as the sin that should never be forgiven. (Compare Matt, Xii. 30, 31.) jº We will therefore, without any further efforts fºr the régovery of such, leavi, tº to the upon it, and j.“... awful sentence which he hath pronounced upon them. For whereas the earth that drink- Hº eth in the rain, which often cometh, upon it, and produceth herbage fit for them by whom it ing from God : is cultivated, partaketh of the divine blessing, and wears a pleasant and delightful face ; so shall those souls, who improve gospel ordinances and christian knowledge so as to produce the fruits of holiness, be favourably accepted of God, and feel a divine joy in themselves. But as that ground which bringeth forth only thorns and briers, under the same cultivation, and the same refreshing showers, [is] rejected as utterly useless; so likewise shall the un- fruitful soul be deserted by God in righteous displeasure, and is near to that dreadful hour, when a curse shall come upon it never to be revoked. And as such a barren soil, whose case we have been describing, is at last burnt up by the violent heat of the sun, and be- comes dry heath; so the end of such an unhappy creature [shall be] everlasting burning, in that miserable world, where all the means of grace and influences of the Spirit of God shall be for ever withdrawn, and the soul shall be given up to incurable wickedness and 9 But, beloved, we are per- eternal anguish. Such is the case of these wretched apostates; but I will enlarge no further ;";"| "... on this awful subject; for we are persuaded there is room to hope much better things of you, jºion, though we thus my beloved brethren, even things that accompany salvation, and do, as it were, bring it along y with them: we have this cheerful expectation concerning you, though we think ourselves obliged thus to speak; that nothing in our power may be wanting to guard you against the greatest danger. 4 For, it is impossible for those who were once enlight- ened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 5 6 7 8 But that whigh beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto, cursing ; whose end is to be burned. 8 9 IMPROVEMENT. IN every respect, both with regard to knowledge and practice, let us go on to perfection: and if we cannot at- tain to it, let us rise as near as we can For this purpose, as christians, let us remember what ſoundation has been already laid, of repentance and faith, of baptism, of a resurrection, and a future judgment; a judgment, eternal in its consequences, and therefore infinitely important. And let us remember that, as the building, in its highest advances, rests upon the foundation, and owes its stability to its union with it, so in like manner does Ver. 1, 2 c The imposition of hands.]. This answered such great purposes in the christian church, as the appointed method of communicating important gifts, that it might well be mentioned among first principles.—But it is by a very precarious consequence, that any can infer from hence the universal obligation of this rite, in admitting persons into full church- membership, or even to the ministry. See Pierce’s k'indicat. p. 43. d. For it is impossible.] This text has been the subject of great debate, which I must not by any means enter into here. Compare Limb. Theol. 5. lxxxiv. 10–19. Baxter’s ſºorks, vol. ii. p. 305. As to the phrase enlightened, it is certain the ancient fathers early used it to express baptism. But in this view ſ much question the propriety of the phrase, and think that illumination as well as regencration, in the most import- ant and scriptural sense of the words, were regularly to precede the administration of that ordinance. And I think that what the papists, and some too ready to follow them, have taught of an extraordinary illumination following the administration of the ordinance of baptism, is very enthusiastical, and absolutely destitute of proof. e Heavenly gift-partakers of the Holy Ghost.] Though by heavenly gift, Archbishop Tillotson (vol. ii. p. 485.) understands, remission of sin, urging Rom. v. 15–18. in proof of it; and distinguishes it from the communication of the Holy Ghost, and this too, as he ventures to assert, in its stinctifying power and influence; I see no necessity for making such a distinction, or extending, in this, place the energy of the Spirit beyond his extraordinary gifts. Bishop Hopkins quotes Acts viii. 15. (which he thinks must include Simon Magus,) as a prºg': that unre- generate men might receive the Holy Ghost. Hopkins’ Works, p. 520. The powers of the world to came.] This phrase is ambiguous. Some understand it of those miraculous powers with which the gospel-age (called the corld to come elsewhere, and particularly chap. ii. 5.) shou be attended.— But if the preceding clause be explained as above, it will diversify the sense more, to understand this of impressions made relat- ing to the importance of a future state. And as we so often read of this world and the present world : the invisible state into which we pass by death, may certainly, with great propriety, be expressed by the phrase the corld to coine : as indeed that is its common signification. But if any on the whole think it is more reasonable to interpret this clause in the former sense, and so will understand the other clauses as explained in the former part of note e, it must be observed, that the apostle, in thus giving judgment upon the case if it should happen, does not declare that it actually does. g. If they totally fall away.] It is certain the words fall acay must be understood thus : or it would prove, contrary to the plainest fact, that § | impossible to recover christians who have fallen into great and wil- Ul I Sj Il S. h Crucify to themselves, &c.) Some would interpret it, so far as in thern lies they do it; that is, they pour all the contempt upon Christ in their power, and offer all the injury to him they can ; and were he upon earth, and subject to the violence fe once suffered, they would treat him as his worst enemies did. –It seems to me that the apostle here gives up apostates, as hopeless in the general, in order to fortify christians against, the great danger to which they were exposed. But I think it cannot be inferred from hence, that, in ages where the evidence of chris- tianity, might be less plainly demonstrative, those who had fallen into this crime with circumstances less aggravated, and professed repentance, Yere never to be received to the peace of the church any more; as the Donatists supposed, and on this text founded their inexorably rigorous diº; • - iI2ny heath.] Heath is the emblem of the cursed man, Jer. xvii. 5, 6. See Dr. Whitby, in loc. 808 THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD IN FULFILLING HIS PROMISEs. SECT. our progress and advance in christian piety stand in a near connexion with our retaining these truths, though we 6. *------ HEB. WI. 6 7 8 9 SECT. 7. HEB. W . 10 I I I 2 13 1-4 I { 18 by no means confine ourselves to them. It is by a continual care to improve in them, that we shall most happily escape the danger, the dreadful danger of apostasy, to which we may otherwise be exposed. And O' let the awful passage before us be duly attended to in this view , Huet us not rest in any enlightening we may have received, in any taste we may have had of the heavenly gift, of the good word of God, or the powers of the world to come, nor in any operation of the Spirit of God upon our minds, to form them to the most splendid talents, and qualify us for the most pompous external services. Men may have all these, and yet fall away, and their guilt become more aggravated: they may injure the Redeemer so much the more in proportion to all they have known of him: and indeed will be capable of wound- ing him the deeper by their apostasy, and of exposing him to greater infamy. Let us daily pray to be delivered from so great an evil We are not left to be like a barren wilderness; the rain from on high comes often upon us, and we enjoy the choicest cultivation: may we bring forth fruits meet for him by whom we are dressed, the genuine fruits of practical, vital religion. So shall we receive a blessing from God, and flourish more and more, till we are transplanted to the paradise above. But as for those unhappy creatures who still continue to bring forth briers and thorns, let them dread that final rejection which will be the portion of those who persist in abusing the divine goodness; let them dread the curse, the awful, the irrevocable curse, to be pronounced on such ; let them dread the everlasting dearth with which their Souls shall be parched, when ordinances, when the workings of the Spirit of God, when the common comforts and supports of this mortal, animal life, shall be no more. Gladly do the ministers of Christ entertain better hopes, concerning those committed to their care, while yet there is room for hope, though faithfulness to God, and to the souls of men, obliges them to speak in the language of such cautions as these. May divine grace apply it to those who are particularly concerned in it, and plant what hath hitherto been a barren and abandoned desert with such fruits of holiness, as may transform it into the garden of the Lord. SECTION VII. Addressing himself to sincere believers, the apostle comforts them with a view of the goodness of God, and his fidelity to those sacred engagements into which he hath condescended to enter; the performance of which is further sealed by the entrance of Christ into heaven as our Förérunner Heb. vi. 10, to the end. …” HEBREws vi. 10. HEB. vi. 10. I JUST now mentioned my hopes of your complete salvation; and I have reason to enter- #9.9%.º.º. tain such hopes, as well knowing the benevolent and pious dispositions which many of tº "... you have expressed. For God º not unrighteous, or unmindful of his gracious promises, tº ºf . so as to forget your diligent work and labour in his service, animated by a principle % un- the saints, and dominister. feigned love, which you have manifested, not only to your brethren, but to his name also, in having ministered, and in still ministering, as his providence gives you opportunity, to the necessities of the saints. And we heartily wish that this temper were as universal as it is Il And ye desire that commendable where it prevails; so that every one of you, into whose hands this Epistle ...; º § may come, might show ine same diligence, and exert the same studious care, in order to lºance of hope unto the establish the full assurance of your hope, even unto the end of...your christian course; by “” which hope you must still be supported, while in this world: That so, on the whole, you b 2 §. ye be ſ". jº. may not be sluggish and indolent, but imitators of those who, through the exercise of faith §oºś ind"; i. anº long-suffering, do now reap the blessed fruit of these graces, and inherit the prºmises inherit the promises. which God'hath made to support and cherish them in the hearts of his peoplé through every age., . - e •e º b h t 13 For when God made And a glorious confirmation you will find these promises to be, when you come ‘.... prºtºh.ie. pare one spiritual object with another, and are better skilled in the method of interpreting ; tº greater, the sacred oracles, on º which I am going to lay down. For I may, in the first he sware by himself place, lead you to observe, that when God made the great and comprehensive promise to Abraham, (Gen. xii. 2, 3, and xvii. 1–6.) on which, so much of our hope as christians doth also depend, the promise that he would be a God to him; and that all, nations should be blessed in his seed; seeing he had no greater [a person] to sweqr by, he sigore by. himself, even by the honours of his own sacred and divine name; §§ by an audible voice from rºl; heaven, when he repeated the promise, while Abraham stoo with Isaac before that altar §: "...in'...iº." on which with humble submission to the divine º he had just before laid him, (Gen. xxii. 16, 17.) “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast hot withheld thy son, thine only son, that lºsing I will assuredly biºs; ther, and multiplying I will assuredly multiply thee sº I will bless and multiply thee romarkably, so as to make thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon 5 the sea shore.” And thus having waited long in humble faith, and patience, hº obtained 15 And so, after he had - - - * - patiently endured, he ob- in due time the accomplishment of the promise, first in the birth of Isaac, and then after tºined the promise. a much longer attendance, the consummation of a bette, hope. And we "º". * • * * * * - * CD stances so happily resemble his in this respect, may well follow the example of his faith, 16 For men verily swear 6 when we survey the foundation of it. For men truly swear ºld [being] greater than them- by the greater; and an oath • * - ic * iro for confirmation is to them selves, to whom they ascribe that knowledge and powel which is supposed to render him ; end of all striſe. the object of their veneration and worship; and ºt oath, when thus taken for confirmation, 17.Wherein.ºod, willing - wº - more abundantly to she w 7 [is] to them an end of all further strife and contention; On which account the blessed God, ... thºrºis.". - - e - - - * s ºf Y - - • immutability of his counsel in humble condescension to our infirmities, being willing, in the most abundant manner, to coſ fiß jºb; afloath." " 8 rºw. manifest to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, and his determinate re- things º gºlº t *— tº i: 42 - - - - * r aS - solution of bestowing upon them the blessings he º, interposed with the 㺠pºssible" for "God to lie, we of an oath, That by two immutable things, in each of which [it is] impossible for God to lie, might have astrºng.congla: - - tion, who have fled for refuge even his word aná his oath, we might have strong consºlation, eyeſ. Yº who, in humble ºf w | obedience to the gracious designs of his gospel, have ſledſor refuge to lay hold on the hope beſoio us: a Tºroſºft.º.º.º.º.º.º.º."; Nº Piłłº ºf *::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ºf sleep during the Avº v 43.7% f * ** **** -. * : - ; or, it wº in term GCI lºllé. - - * - - explains this of the Gentiles who were converted to christianity. it. b Jīſultiplying, I will, multiply, thee..] That part of the promise to G. H. - r - he supposes, - º *~ ; I #2"intended as a hint to stir up the Jews to emulation, º in Abral hich immediately follows the clause here quoted, in - . * * * N-- • * * : * * * Sen SC; Iſl Abraham VVI) * - . . . . it is indiged a very ºbscure ofte; ſo, cºmparatiº ºs...},'º' i.e. xxii. 17, most certainly relates to the Gentiles; and therefore had the which christians in ºp; º; †"; a postle intended ver, 12, of this chapter in the sense in which Mr. Pierce I rather think it refers to all y - ºpiains it, of the Gentiles converted to ghºstianity, I cannot think, he - * y : - * tion - - - - - wº º º *ś º: º º would have stopped short at multiplying I will multiply thee, and omitted Jęy •- 1 - * - ſ - A COMPARISON OF MELCHISEDEC AND CHRIST. 809 laid before us, the noble prize which that gospel proposes as the #. object of our ambi-SECT. 19. Which hope we have as tion and pursuit: I speak of eternal life, ă. jº. of which through the divine goodness we 7. łºś. ...'...}} have, and I trust we shall resolutely rétain it, as an anchor of the soul, both secure and ºffſeth into that within the steadfast, and as entering into the place within the veil, the holy ofholies, where God dwells, º §'whither the Forerunner and where we hope to dwell for éver with him. This anchor will indeed be sufficient to 20" ; : ºº enable us to outſide all the storms of temptation, being fixed in that glorious though in- made an high priest for ever ***'. º - ſº 2 F-3 º ºft. ºo'ºù visible world, whither Jesus as the Forerunner is entered for us, to take possession of glory dec. - in our name, and prepare all things necessary for our admittance into it: even he, [who is] made an High Priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedec; as we are going more largely to show. - IMPROVEMENT. WITH what amazing condescension doth God, by his apostles, speak of those works and labours of love, which Ver.10 the persons who have performed them with the greatest simplicity of heart, know to be most undeserving of his regård! How kindly hath he made himself a Debtor to us, or rather to his own promise and oath, so that it would indeed be unrighteous in him to fail those expectations which nothing in ourselves could possibly raise ! Let us then be animated to the greatest diligence by a full assurance of hope. There are those who inherit the 11 promises of which we are the heirs, and they have passed to that glorious inheritance by the exercise of faith and 12 patience. Let us chide our sluggish souls into a more resolute imitation of them. And when they are ready to sink into indolence again, letus again awaken them by viewing those promises, and the fidelity of that God who hath made them, and who hath added, by a condescension that can never be sufficiently acknowledged and adored, the sanction of his oath to that of his word. Behold the strong consolation which he hath given. And 13 given to whom? To those who fly for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them in the gospel. Thither let 16–18 us fly for our lives; fly as if we heard the footsteps of the avenger of blood just behind us, and our lives depended º the speed of the present moment. Happy the souls that have found this refuge ' Whose faith and hope, 19 like a strong and steady anchor, hath entered into heaven, hath fixed on that blessed Redeemer who lives and reigns there, who appears as an Intercessor for his people, and intercedes with such efficacy and success, that he is also to be regarded as their Forerunner, as gone to prepare a place for them. Let us constantly retain that view of 20 him; and while we continue exposed to ... labours and sorrows of mortality, let us seek our safety and our comfort by fixing our regards upon him, waiting continually the aids of his grace, till he shall see fit to call us to fill the place he hath provided, and receive the inheritance he hath secured, for us. SECTION VIII. The apostle enters into a parallel between Melghise dec and Christ, as agreeing, in title and descent; and frºm various respects, in which tho priesthood of Melchisedee was superior to the Levitical priesthood, infers also the superior glory of the priesthood of Christ. Heb. vii. 1–17. HEB. vii. 1 HEBREws vii. 1. FQR this Melchisºdec, king I HAVE again and again mentigned that scripture in which the Messiah is spoken of SECT. §: §§§ in prophecy, as made a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Now I think it 8. ºneſ; ººliº may be worth our while to dwell a little more intently on the contemplation of this sub- im” “” “ ”ject; and then we shall find that, without straining the allegory, it holds in a variety of - - instructive particulars; for this Melchisedec, of whom Moses speaks in that celebrated history, (Gen. xiv. 18, &c.) to which David refers, [was] king of Salem, and priest of the most High God; in both which offices he was a remarkable type of our blessed Lord. And it is well known, he was the celebrated and holy person who met that illustrious patriarch, our father .4braham, when returning from the slaughter of the kings, who had taken Lot prisoner, with the king of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the neighbouring cities of the plain. .4nd we are expressly told, that he blessed him on this occasion, that is, he pro- nounced on Abraham himself a blessing in the name of God to whom he ministered. To whom also Abraham divided the tenth" qf all the spoils he had brought back, in token of his reverence to the office he bore. And indeed when we come to consider his name and title according to the signification of it in the Hebrew language, we shall find it bear a remarkable analogy to that of our Lord Jesus Christ: for first, his name Melchisedec, being interpreted, signifies that he [is] king of righteousness, or a most righteous sovereign; and then, his title taken from the place where he resided and ruled, is King of Salem, that is, King of Peace; for it is well known, that Salem in the Hebrew tongue is Peace, as Melech is King, and Tsedec Righteousness. Now if we come to compare this Melchisedec, this king of righteousness and peace, 3 with the Mosaic priests, we shall find a remarkable difference in many respects, in alſ which there is a resemblance between him and our Lord. For instance, whereas it is ne- cessary the Jewish priests should all be of the family of Aaron, and there are several laws concerning the descent and qualities of their mothers, which must be observed and re- corded, in order to make out their legitimacy, and their consequent right to serve at the altar, Melchisedec is, as it were, without father, and without mother, neither his father nor his mother are mentioned in Scripture; and he is without pedigree,” or any written account of his genealogy, by which it may be traced up to more distant progenitors of the priestly what follows of making his seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand gººd shore, and—in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 8. Abraham divided the tenth.]. The objection which Mr. Chubb has VII. 2 To whom also Abraham gaye a tenth part of all ; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that , also King of Salem, which is, King of peace ; 2 3 Without father, without mother, without descent, hav- ral ançient writers ºf character among the heathens speak of persons being born of no father, Qr trithout a father, when they mean only to ex. press by it that their father was unknown. (See Harris, Ön the jiaº- siah, Serm. ix. p. 2152.) - * * - brought against this from Gen. xiv. 23. as if it were Melchisedec who paid tithes to Abraham, and not Abraham to Melchisedec, is really trifling; a change of person, without express notice given of it, being usual in the sacred scriptures, and in all writers and languages; not to observe, that the version of the Seventy, in the common editions, and in that copy which is printed in the polyglot, instead of he, expressly reads Abraham. But Mr. Chubb’s particular exceptions have been so abundantly answered by the author of, The case of Abraham and JMel- chizedec, Jacob and Esau, &c. considered, published ammo 1746, against Chubb’s Four Dissertations, that I need not particularly cnlarge. This may however be a proper place to observe, that, the relative must evi- dently, refer to the remote antecedent in the following passages, Luke xvii. 16. Acts xxiii. 23. 2 Kings xviii. 29. Psal. cw. 37. Acts vii. 5. Deut. xxxi. 22, 23. Gen. xiv. 20, &c. b. Without father, without mother.] It has been observed by many, and it is not unfit the reader should be reminded of it here; that seve: sner likewise (Observ. Sacr. vol. ii. p. 347.) hath some remarkable quotations to show that it was usual among the Greeks to say of a person that he was amatºp, apºnroop, without father, arithout mother, when his parents were unknown. And accordingly, several of the fathers imagine, that this is here asserted of Melchisedee, because, there is no mention made of his parents in the sacred Scrip: tures. But the reason, in Elsner’s opinion, is, that there was no trace of his parentage in the Sacerdotal genealogies, he being without priestly descent, a) evea)\oyntos, as it immediately follows, not §º. the priests. - e c. Pithout pedigree.]. As the genealogy of our Lord is so distinctly delivered both by the Evangelists Matthew and Luke, there may seem ere, to be a failure in, the resemblance; I therefore added the words which determine it to the idea of some priestly ancestors, which will render the propriety very conspicuous, and is agreeable to Elsner’s interpretation mentioned in the note above. 2 810 A COMPARISON OF MELCHISEDEC AND CHRIST. SECT. order; and herein he answers to Christ, who, with respect to his human nature, had no ing neither beginning of days, 8. father, nor any mother with regard to his divine. Again, as there was a certain age at which the Jewish priests entered upon their ministry in the tabernacle or temple, and at HEB, which they quitted it, Melchisedec having neither beginning of days nor end of life, men- V It. tioned in Scripture, but being in that respect as if he were immortal, and therein made like to the Son 3. God, who existed before all worlds, he remaineth a priest for ever.d 4 JVow, I doubt not, my brethren, but that as I proceed in this argument, you see and reflect, how great a man” this Melchisedec ºl. whom, as I hinted above, even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of all the spoils he had recovered from the king of Shinar 5 and his allies. , And this will be further illustrated, by considering that truly they of the descendants of Levi who receive the Aaronical priesthood, have, according to the law by which they are constituted, a commandment; # in consequence of that, a right only to tithe the people, that is, their brethren, though indeed coming as well as themselves out of 6 the loins of Abraham : But he of whom we have now been speaking, whose pedigree is not reckoned from them, nor had any relation at all to the Abrahamic family, took titles of •Abraham himself, and even blessed him who had received the promises, so much celebrated 7 in your history through every generation. But without all contradiction, the inferior is blessed of the superior, rather than the superior of the inferior; so that, while pronouncing this blessing upon Abraham, Melchisedec evidently acted in a higher character than the 8 patriarch himself sustained at that time, and in that circumstance. . .And again, it may further be observed for the illustration of this argument, that here, under the institution of Moses, men who die receive tithes; the priests of that dispensation are mortal men, like their brethren; but there, in the case of Melchisedec, he [receiveth] them of whom it is only testified in Scripture, that he liveth, but of whose death we have no account; and in that respect, he may be said to bear some resemblance to the ever-living and ever-blessed Je- 9 sus. And indeed, as one may say,f by Abraham and in his person, even Levi, who in his 10 posterity received the tithes of the other descendants of Israel, was himself tithed. For he was yet in the loins of [his] father Abraham,8 when Melchisedec met him upon the occasion I have just been mentioning. 11 JWow Tintroduce all these reflections, to lead you to consider the aspect this wears as to the gospel, and the view it gives of its º excellence in comparison of the law. And I may reason thus upon the premises, If perfection had been by the Levitical priesthood, h and no more excellent atonement and intercession than theirs could be expected, (for you know that it was under it that the people received the law, that is, it was a part of the legal appointment to which a multitude of the other precepts in the ritual referred, and on which the possibility of performing them depended,) whal further need [was there] that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchisedec, and that he should not be reckoned according to the order of Aaron 3 - 12 This will draw after it a long train of extensive and important consequences; for the priesthood being changed, there must 3. necessity also be a change of the law; for as I hinted above, all the ceremonial law depended upon it; and if our regards be directed to another priest, who is not of the family of Aaron, there is an end of the obligation to the ritual, which confined all its precepts to priests of that line, and supposed that as long as it was 13 binding, they would always subsist and bear office. And that is now evidently the case, for the person of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, of whom no one 14 appertained to the Jewish altar, or had any right to minister at it. For [it is] plain that our Lord Jesus Christ, the only true Messiah, foretold by David in the passage I have been discoursing upon, sprung from Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing at all relating to the priesthood he ordained, so as to reserve any right of sacerdotal ministry to 15 them, more than to any other tribe in Israel. ..And independent on all genealogical con- troversy, which the most ingenious malice could urge concerning Mary's family, it is yet 771Ore §º manifest, from the least attention to that single scripture, alone, which I have so frequently méntioned, that there arisesk another priest according to the similitude of 16 Melchisedec; Who, therefore, we may assure ourselves, is made and constituted not accord- ing or in regard to the law of the carnal commandment, that system of ceremonial precepts which contained so many things of an external and comparatively of a carnal nature, and which considered men as dwelling in mortal flesh, and so to succeed each other; but ac- 17 cording to the undecaying power of an indissolvable and endless life.' For you will be careföf to remember what he testifieth, Thou [art] a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec; which implieth all that I have asserted concerning Christ. Let us reflect upon it with pleasure, that he retains his priesthood for ever; and therefore is able to give everlasting efficacy to his administration, and everlasting blessings to those who cast them- selves upon its protection, animated by the glorious promises which it exhibits. d Remaineth a priest for ever.] Bishop Burmët would transpose this vol. ii. p.351.) that this is not tº be conside nor end of life; but, made like untô the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. 4 Now consider how great his man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. 5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who re- ceive the office of the priest- hood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people açcording to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham : But he whose descent is not counted from them re- ceived tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. . 7. And without all contras diction, the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. 9 And, as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, 10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Mel- chisedec met him. 11 If thergfore perfection were by the Levitigal priest- hood, (for under it the people received the law,) what fur- ther need was there that an- other priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron 2 12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. . 13 For he oſ whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the al tar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang Qut of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake no- thing concerning priesthood. 15 And it is yet, far more evident: ſor that after the si- militude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, 16 Who is made, mot after the law of a carnal command- ment, but after the power of an endless life. 17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. red as a consequence flowing --> %r gº, made like unto the Son of God, directly from the verses immediately preceding, as might be concluded flºº.º.º.º.º. aſ jºin his interpretation and illus from the rendering of the Vulgate and Erasmus Schmidius, and our tra."ºf 'jºcriºle."(3' jºšć. p. 65–7f.) the best I remember to common, translation; but that it is the be ginning of a new paragraph, have Seen or branch of discourse; and that et gev by should be rendered, but if, e jºgreat a man.]. This is a severe stroke upon the Jews, not only or, which is much the same, now if, in support of which he produces as it proves the superior dignity of Christ, above the Aaronical priest- several authorities. j,”; shows also that "God had of old a people among the Gen- i Sprung from Judah..] It may be worth tijes, and that there was a person among them superior to Abraham tin Martyr, Tertullian, and Chrysostom, re himself. e * * - S f /1s one may say: a); €70s-etT&t v. Elsner is of opinion, (Observ. does not insinuate the same reference. (S Sacr. vol. ii. ; § that this should be translated, to say the truth. . . ii. p. 188), Undoubtedly he §º §. ājīāging, that £1s not agreeable to the respect we owe to the apostle's "depoºl, if it had nºt been **** O \\ e (1. character, to suppose that he inserted those words as an apology for an k That there arises.] T. remembering here, that Jus- fer to the table made at the taxation, in proof of this ; and it may be considered, whether the apostle ee Dr. Barrow’s Works, vol. ave spoken with such confi- hitby proves by many convincing, au- assertion in itself not strictly just and exact; and he produces some thorities, that the particle et sometimes signifies that, as it is plain it passages out of the classics to vindicate this vérsion. But the justness here does. of it is largely controverted by Raphelius. , Annºt, e.g Herod. in loc. l Of an endless §: Archbishop Tillotson thinks the gospel is called gº the ions of Abraham.j Christ could not be said to be so begauşe the power of an em. ess life, to intimate the powerful influence which the of his extraordinary descent: otherwise the argument would, iſ think, views of immortality proposed by it, will have, upon, the mind. Vol. iii. #ave been inconjūsive, as it would have been proved that Christ, as p. 497. I have therefore kept that thought *well as Levi, paid tithes in Abraham. far from imagining it to be the chief design ji Now, if perfection, &c.) Elsner justly observes, (Observ. Sacr a little in view, though I am of the cxpression. Q I SUPERIORITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. ~f IMPROVEMENT. LET our souls adore the King of righteousness, and the King of peace; submitting to him under the former SECT. title, that we may experience the peace which he gives, and which none can take away. Let us repose Qur con- 8. fidence in the Son of God, who without beginning of days, or end of life, abideth a Priest for ever; a priest on a throne to confirm the counsels of eternal peace transacted between the Father and himself. (Zech. vi. 13.) To Hº, him do all the prophets bear witness, to him did all the patriarchs render humble homage, and his blessing was that . ." which rendered Abraham, the father of the faithful, blessed indeed. He sprang from the tribe of Judah, and was 14 the Shiloh that was to come before it ceased to be a tribe, according to the ancient oracle of dying Jacob. (Gen. xix. 10.) But the honours of the priesthood are now transferred to and centred in him, not according tº, the 15, 16 law of a carnal commandment, but the superior power of an endless life. ... Let us rejoice that his life is endless, and that by him we may likewise attain to an endless life, to an immortality of glory. The priests of the Old 8 Testament, the ministers of the New, as well as private believers under both dispensations, die; but the eternally prevailing priesthood of Jesus gives us life in death, and entitles us to the hope of that glorious world, where he will put his own likeness and splendour upon us, and make us in our inferior degrees of dignity, immortal kings 5 and priests to God, even the Father: to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Rev. i. 6.) SECTION IX. From what had been said above, the apostle argues, that the Aaronical priesthood was not only excelled, bat Yindicated and consummated, by that of Christ; and by consequence that the obligation of the law was dissolved. Heb. vii. 18, to the end. HEB. vii. 18 HEBREws vii. 18. Il F.B. Vll. e For thºſe is verily a dis- I HAVE been discoursing largely on the resemblance between Melchisedec and Christ; SECT ºf lº.º.º. and I may fairly argue from hence, not only the superior dignity and excellence of Christ, 9. ºkness" and unprofitable- but the freedom of Jews as well as christians, from the obligations of the ceremonial law. ness thereof. Let me urge it therefore plainly, that there is an abolition of the former commandment in all HEB. its extent of ritual observances, because of its weakness and unprofitableness : for weak and ºil. unprofitable it appears to be, in comparison of that everlasting priesthood which I have * 19 For the law, made no- just now mentioned. For the law of Moses made nothing perfect,” but left in its most 19 #º essential institutions, as we shall presently show, the manifest traces and evidences of its §e which we draw high into own imperfection; whereas full provision for our pardon and sanctification must be as- God, cribed to the introduction of a better hope, by a dispensation of a far superior nature, by which we now under the gospel draw mear to God in cheerful dependence upon the effica- 20 And inasmuch as not cious intercession of our ever-living and glorious High Priest: A High Priest, evidently 20 withºut an oath he was made superior to any of the Aaronical line, on many other accounts, and we may add on this priest : likewise, inasmuch as [he was] not [constituted] without the solemnity of an oathb on the part of God; intended no doubt to show the great importance of what he was to transact. 21 (For those priests were For they indeed are become priests by a general, divine ordination, without the interposition 21 ºf of an oath at their investiture; but he, of whom we have been speaking, was set apart to this with an oath by him that P* w - .* , 3. * S. 5 * jã "unto him. The Lord his office with an oath, by him who said unto him, The Lord hath sworm, and he will not 㺠º',"...º.º. repent, Thou [art] a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec. Now by so much 22 after the order of Melchise- dignity as such an introduction to his office by the oath of God adds to him, does it ap- %, so much was Jesus pear that Jesus our Lord is preferable to Aaron and his sons: from whence it is natural to lºsurely ofa be” “ infer, that he is the Surety of a better covenant;” or that the covenant of which he is the reat Guarantee between God and man, is more excellent than that, of which Aaron and his sons might be said to be sureties in reference to certain acts which they were to per- form on the part of the people to God, and in the name of God to the people, with which promises of temporal pardon and blessings are connected; for to them alone did that - covenant extend. 23 And thº, tº. Y. ...And again, I may further observe, that there were many priests, because they were him- 23 "...º.º.o.º. dered by death from continuing in the perpetual executions of their office. But he, because 24 **ś, because e abideth for ever, and is risen to a life of immortal glory in the heavens, where he shall hºjnº, º.º.º. reign as long as any can need the benefit of his ministrations, hath a priesthood that never ungº'º passeth over to another as his successor. From whence also it appears, that he is able to 25 alsº tº them to thºutº save to the uttermost, that is, always and completely to save, those who humbly approach to #;"...º.º.º. God by him as their appointed High Priest, always living to intercede for them in every inăke intercêssion for them. circumstance of their respective lives, through all successive ages and generations. ..º.º.º. Let us pause, therefore, and enjoy the comfort of so glorious a truth; for the more we 26 tº reflect upon it, the more consolation shall we derive from it. Exactly such an High Priest inners, ānāmāde higher than as this indeed suited us ; his character most perfectly corresponded to our circumstances the heavens; and necessities, [who was] solemnly set apart to his office by the highest authority, and in the execution of it, entirely holy, harmless in himself, unpolluted by others, separate from _º all defiling society of sinners, though mercifully conversant among them ; and to complete all, a person of such dignity of nature, and so eminently dear to God, as to be made higher than the heavens, d and all their inhabitants, far more superior to the noblest of them, than Aaron himself to the meanest Levite who ministered in the tabernacle. 97 who needeth not daily, Glorious High Priest indeed! who had not daily necessity, as those high priests appointed 27 i.º.º.º. º, by Moses, first to present sacrifices for his own sins, and then for those of the people of the jº"the pºol former of these he never had any need, nor could there be any room for it; and this last §. . º he did once for all in offering himself as a spotless and acceptable sacrifice to God. For 28 º the law, as is well known, constitutes men high priests, who have infirmities of their own, ºpiºiº. which need expiation; but the word of the oath, which [reaches] beyond the law,” and of outfi,which was since the law, which I have so largely been speaking, [constitutes] to that office the only-begotten Son of S a The law made nothing perfect.] Mr. Pierce includes these words in d Higher than the heavens.) Mr. Blackwall (Sacred Classics, vol. i. a parenthesis; as if the apostlé had said, “Since the law made nothing £i 241,242;) takes notice of this expression as yery sublime, superior to perfect, it could not make the priesthood so; it could not remove the omer’s, description of Jupiter upon mount Ida; and perhaps taken guilt of sin, or give strength to obey its commands.” from Psal. cxiii. 4, 6. & b An oath..]. Which argues the solemnity and importance, and also e Beyond the law.] Our translators render uéra row vouay, since the the immutability, of the action. law. But puera often signifies beyond. Compare chap. ix. 3. and many c Better covenant.) So I render ötaônkm, and as this is the most other places. common use of the word, so here it best suits the connexion. 812 THE SUPERIOR DIGNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. SECT. God, who is consecrated for ever to the execution of it, and is the great substance of what maketh the Son, who is con- 9. they were only dim and imperfect shadows. - secrated for evermore. HEB *- IMPROVEMENT. "19 LET the introduction of this better hope which we receive by Jesus Christ, and which bringeth the greatest per- fection of happiness to those that embrace it, fill our hearts with thankfulness to God, and with a solicitous zeal to secure an interest in it. Let us draw near to God under its supporting influence, and be quickened thereby to purify ourselves from all pollutions of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God; in firm de- 20, 21 pendence upon that great High Priest, whom he hath constituted with the solemnity of an oath, as the great Surety and Guarantee of the better covenant. God helps the frailty of our nature, by transmitting his promises to us through the hands of his Son, and by 22 giving us such a proof of his gracious regards, as his incarnation and sufferings afford: in which it is certain, that od hath already done what is far more astonishing than any thing which he hath promised further to do. And Jesus takes his covenant people under his care, and graciously engages to watch over them for their good, and to communicate to them all such assistancés of his grace as may be sufficient to induce them to answer their part of the engagement. - 24 . He is possessed of an unchangeable priesthood: let us daily look to him, as knowing, that in consequence of 25 the intercession, which he ever lives to make, he is ever able completely to save all that come unto God by him. Let us every day, and every hour, have recourse to him as the Mediator of our approaches to God. And let us make the thoughts of him familiar to our minds, the thought of his sanctity, his dignity, and his love: confiding in that sacrifice he hath once for all offered for his people, being above all need of Sãcrificing for himself. To 27 conclude, while we cheer and strengthen our hearts with such contemplations as these, let us always consider the obligation which the character of our High Priest and our Saviour lays upon us, to be ourselves holy, harmless, and undefiled, and to maintain a separation from sinners, so far as the duties of life, in the present circumstances of the world, may admit. SECTION X. The apostle briefly recapitulates what he had before demonstratºd ºf the superior dignity of Christ as the High Priest of christians, and further iñustrates the distinguished excellence of that new covenant which was foretold by Jeremiah as established in him, and plainly enriched with much better promises than the old. Heb. viii. 1, to the end. -: , ; 1 HEBREws viii. 1. HEB. viii. 1. sECT. NOW the chief article of the things which have been spoken, in the preceding, parts of this N9Y ºf the hiº whº º - - - > 1 > e - º we have spoken this is the 10. discourse, [is this ;) that we have such a great and illustrious High Priest as hath been de jºjº, scribed, made after the order of Melchisedec, and by the oath of God himself invested Fº the right - º and of the throne of the HEB, with immortal honours: who having on earth performéd all that was necessary, by Way of Wijesi, in the lºans; V III. 1 preparation, hath now set doign, at the right hand of the majestic throne in the heavens, (com- pare chap. i. 3. note h,) exalted by the divine authority to rule oyer all things, for the glory - 2 of God, and the good of his people... And we are ºver to regard him under his priestly, as tº dº well as his royal, character, as a Minister of holy things, and ºf the true tabernacle, which jºi... . . ; no man, but the Lord himself, hath pitched; a sanctuary infinitely supérior tº any which ed, and not man. human hands could be concerned in rearing, and proportionable to the boundless wisdom, power, and magnificence of God. . * * f - ...! . . f : - *~ e r a t-n rv hio.h nrie at i 3 For every high priest, who ministers there, is constituted to offer gifts and sacrifices : ość" º therefore [ii was] necessary that this Man also, even the glorious Person of whom I i. ;iºšić. e - X #27°/2 ſhe CzeSSl 3. 1S II) 2.Il Ilú.W. G. 4 should have sométhing to present. But we may observe by the way, that if he were always §.º.º. to continue on earth, he could not, in any consistence with the J ewish institutions, have 4"foº"; he were on earth, e º - * w º ... he should not be a priest been a Priest,” to officiate at the temple of God, in Jerusalem: as there are already a cer- jº, ºr "... ; tain order of priests there, who offer the gifts, of the people, ºccº to the law, and it is #º siſts according to expressly settled, that none of any other family should have access to these services; nor wºuld it have been agreeable to the divine schemes, that Jesus should, by º 5 W] to th • º -- --> * , ; : * ~ * , , , , or f - - o VV Ro serve unto the ex- 5 dispensation, have interfered with their peculiar functiºns: These he left º º . ample and shadow of heaven- priests, who perform divine service to an economy; which contains only the example an §ºrº. ". shadow of célestial things : 43 Moses it is charged by the oracle, § he º * f fºil. Å. § 'gº, I. * y -2 at 11 ??, ? ºrf f. '01, SHOUD}l, nacle : for, See, Sã1th Jh Cº, thº ihe tabernacle : for, See, saith he, [that] thout make all thing: º .# . § b sº hºlºgiº ºft - *A º f : : lost 3 in Gry Or. YY in 1Ch Đì3.V SC6 FI} !...I. V. K2 5 * Sº ing to the pattern she wed to thee upon the movintain ; lest an error, whic y seem to thee small, should be nº i.i. h he wed material than thou art aware. (Exod. xxv. 40.) Now this exactness Was required in special thee in the mount. regard to the typical representations couched under these ordinances, the particulars of c - - - - .#. - * ~ * : > zo ... t . .. "... ºr ºf L." uch 6 But now hath he obtain- 6 which Moses himself did not perfectly understand. But hº that is, Chi º º º }. ... ed a more excellent ministry, jº, gºes ºfficited to him in that heavenly sanctuary, ingsmuch as ſte § ſhe ºº is hºmºsº.º. * ~ *- : - x, isly hiryh neia st io 4 or " * mediator of a better covenant, even of a better covenant than that in which the Jewish high priest mediated; which tºgs which was established upon established upon better promises than those of the Mosaic law ; for they only referred º: better promises. - - * - ºr ^ ~ y ~. 4- - le blessings of a temporal Canaan, to be enjoyed by the people, while they º; i. to its precepts, which placed them under such a special Pºiº * O]. Üil& diº º required, and made them a spectacle tº the whole world. 7 © - * ... I wº wº- * $ 2.1-4 , …” ave 7 For if that first covenant his superior excellence of that economy which ou; Lord introduces, might indeed hav ad been faultless, then been concluded from its being exhibited after the, Mosaic: for, as we know God º shºe been alters but for the better; if that first [covenant] had been esteemed so fº as to '. º: : no remaining deficiency, ihere would have been no plage jºgº # Cî, ;"; > 3. ..". 8 For finding ſault with 8 see this intimation of an exception taken to it; Forſinº fault with them," that is, w - - ! 2 : 1 - 134. Pierce, in loc. I rather take , it in the, Šense generally given, - j-jest.] From hen c hath the great arżil- P. & → • ‘7 - 2 - * (x • * r blessings. Dr. Barrow g {ſº ###! any sacerdotal acts u:00 for the ºftºº, º: º; tje sibidiºtion. .#. ind consequently against th. reasonableſſess of considering his (vol. 11, p. 205.) renders .# This i lated by Grotius and others §as a sºñº, though the Scripture expressly declaris it...W.5%: c Finding fault with thºn.] his §. jºi irith tº: #. it is viſient tº sense of the words, given in the tºº yº. # fault. º: §§ wise and good, aftā ...…." -: ,-, * ~ * * jono po rºyalintained as the true former coveilant. lº y & if a. :* - inted.”f undermines all ºh ºf...; - b ted to th sel for which it was designed and appointed. . It sir. ..., it is nia i * f. 1111: ; 3 Jewish economy, though none but adapted to the Purpºse * w a 2- º - - Sº since it is plain, that untier the Jewish - • * > - 2 rººk ºr tº *** -- t oper to understand it, finding fuult to ith a priest ever º aji in the tabernacle, yet sacrifices were seems therefore, much...º. Pºº ! - ~ "O ſals in ºr - 3ffered by special divine appointinent by soing º by prº; the º,"..."...º.º. º - ** * * - w - in ºr 3 3 ºr, re- * ºn T” ºr ; ; ; , f : . i.) * i. ... XXX.1. e - 4- • * * * * _ſ - - s". 1. who :* not of that order; and being so offered, were uccorºlº *::::: jºuch displeasure in Ezek. Kviii. 2; Åndſ in the wºrds then- accepleCI. b }; example, &c. Točtypia 76” Tøftavtº.] Dr. Sykes would se]…'s he also finds *: . º §..;;...","...fºº # explain it, the ãº, of what º: i. in ºf *...*. iſ he had º: #..." #.hº...". t;"...a...i.e."º"wº is ..". º - ſ: r y copy of the latter, a 110 no Inore to bº. CC3:P3 zºº...” im. ult with then he saith, agree- §n'; dºi, {{# sistance. Šeć Sykes, Ón Christianity, (; [-90s X ºp duº 2% Xeyet,) finding fault 2 *o THE SUPERIOR DIGNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. 813 ºi...ºf the Jews, to whom he was addressing, he saith by the prophet J eremiah, in that º SECT, ..., ºf ... "..."; text which undoubtedly refers to the gospel dispensation, (Jer, xxxi. 31.) Behol º ºff. 10. }.},...}}}''...'... ; £ome, sqith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house 'ſ Israel, O!?! (. i. l Iſle Jºlº : - house of Judah. And he expressly mentions the superior excellence of the covenant . re- yº.º. ferred to, when compared with that which was transacted on mount Sing; For he adds t e; Hº"; "...”..."; The transaction shall not be according to the covenant which I made with their fathers ºn tº jºiº | day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt: (as yºu well know º jº º ºs while the great work of conducting them to Canaan was yet imperſect. that the lº º, .." ...”.”; Moses was given;) because they continued not in my coyºngnt, and I diºrºgººd them, :* 10 "#####, the co, the Lord. For this [is] the copénant that I will make with the house of Israel qfter those ºff that "...º.º.º.º. that is, in the times of the Messiah, saith the Lord ; I will give my laws to their soul, and I jº will inscribe them upon their hearts, in more lasting characters tha; those in Whigh I wrote ºf mºtºiºnº, the commandments on the tables of stone; and I will be unto them.ſor, a God, and they i...º.º. shall be to me for a people; I will answer all the import of that high relation to them, an: 11 jºy shall be to they shall persist in their obedience to me ...And they shall noºnoſe have need to teach ji"Ajº shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, sº ſing, Kng!!! the Lord : for they shall all º, know me, from the legst of them even to the greatest of them. They shall have a much more o jºin.ºh."lº"; certain and effectual teaching than they can derive one from another. For I will be mer- H2 tº ºom the ciſal to tº,º deeds,e jº and º ted as they º § tº: º: º For I will be merciful iniquities, of what kind soever, I will remember no more, so as to bring them into Jüdg- §º;; #. but will pardon the most heinous oftences, which were incapable of expiation under will I remember no more. the former covenant. &T, 13. In that he saith, A new Now I wo:#d observe in the close of this argument, that when he saith, ºff new [cove- 13 #;"; "ºf mant] shall be made, he hath in effect made the first oliſ, he bath, as it were, spoken of 1£ ºf old is as antiquated: now that which is antiquated and fallen into old age, cannot be expected to eady to vanism away. live long. And so in like manner [is] that old covenant of Moses just ready tº disap- pear. Divine Providence will put such a period to it ere long, as shall be remarkable in the eyes of the whole world; so that the grand apparatus which now preserves its visible form and lustre shall be known no more. IMPROVEMENT. - ADoRED be that grace which hath constituted and revealed this everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things, Ver. 6 and sure; established on such promises as are, of all that can be conceived, most valuable to sinful creatures; and especially on that, without which no other declaration could impart any comfort to such, I will be merciful to their 12 unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember, no more. . With this is connected that other , promise, so comprehensive of every thing that is truly valuable, I will be a God unto them, and they shall be unto 40 me a people. , Happy indeed the people that are in such a case; yea, happy the people whose God is the Lord, who are taught by him to know him under that character, taught by that energy of his Spirit, which gives his law to their mind, and inscribes it on their heart. There may we ever retain it engraven in living and durable charac- ters, as a law of love, which may make obedience to every precept easy. - In this connexion let us look with pleasure to that High Priest who is set down on the throne of the * I in the heavens, and presides over all for the good of his people, that Minister of the true tabernacle, which the 2 Lord, not man, hath pitched; ever maintaining an humble dependence on the sacrifice he hath offered : a sacri. fice better than any of the Aaronical priests could present, in proportion to the degree in which the covenant, of 7 which he is the Médiator, is nobler than theirs. The first covenant, wisely allayed with such a mixture of im- 13 perfection as was suitable to its being introductory to the second, is now vanished to make way for this second and better dispensation: to this let us therefore adhere, and, so doing, cheerfully expect all the invaluable bless- ings it imparts. HEB. W (H, SECTION XI. The apostle illustrates the doctrine of the priesthood and intercession of Christ, by toºrins it to what the Jewish high priest did on the great day of atonement. Heb. ix. HEBREws ix. I. HEB. ix. 1. º, ºr HOW reasonable it is to expect, that the former covenant of which I have been speaking, SECT. ###"... ."...iº should give way to another and a nobler, you may easily apprehend from surveying it, 11. Sanctuary. and considering, in comparison with it, the great things which the gospel teaches us con- -— cerning Christ, and to which I would now call your contemplations. The first taber- HEB. - IX. macle,“ you will therefore recollect, had certain ceremonial ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary: a sanctuary made of such materials as this earth of ours could fur- nish out, and the centre of a ritual which contained many institutions comparatively low 2 For there was a taber- and carnal. For the ſº part of the tabernacle was prepared of boards and curtains, pillars 2 #".º.º.º. and coverings, which constituted a little apartment as a kind of antechamber to the ora- the table, and the shewbread; cle; in which there [was] the candleslick of pure gold, with its seven lamps, and the table .* * * * * of show-bread as it was called, and the setting on the twelve loaves upon it, which were always to stand before the Lord; and this apartment is called the Holy Place, in which 3. And after the second also the golden altar of incense stood. And beyond the second veil was that apartment of 3 YººHº" is the tabernacle which was called the Holy of Holies, or the most holy of all, where God was pleased to keep his special residence, and which was as his presence-chamber. Having ably to our common translation ; and justifies this version by the au- thority of Chrysostom, a Greek father, and by two passages from IIero- dotus, where ſtºp pºſtºvo; is used with a dative case after it. d'ſ disregarded them.j. The quotation here is according to the LXX, and by po means agreeable to the Hebrew, which reads it as we do, though I was a husband to them, saith the Lord. Mr. Pierce thinks the seventy interpreters, in their copy, either read ºnby, or nºns, in- stead of Snºyin, in either of which there is only the variation of a single Jetter, and this will justify the translation here given, Dr. Pocock maintains that the word is capable of such a translation, as it now that because God, had proposed to extend his pardoning mercy to #y he thus taught them by his Spirit; and therefore I have rendered lt, J Gr. a The first tabernacle.] Mr. Pierce thinks this is to be considered as connected with chap. viii. 6. and that all which intervenes, is a digres- sign, though a very pertinent and useful one, relating to the meliority of the covenant §§§ under that better Priest. But I can see no necessity for this, since it may well be connected with the words in- mediately preceding: as if he had said, And because that coventint was stands in the original. So that they seen to agree that our English version of the text in question should be altered. e For I will be merciful..] Some would render ort, and thereupon, that is, upon their being thus taught by me; or so that, which signifi- cation it is certain that ort sometimes bath; but here it may signify, intended but for a little while, therefore there was a great deal of exter- nal ceremony in it, fit for the puerie disposition of the persons to whom it was given. Qur translators strangely supply the word core- nant instead of tabernacle, whereas nost copies read Gºmum, tabernacle, and that undoubtedly suits the connexion best. The word we, render ordinances, is 6tratoftara, justifications, or ways of becoming righteous 814 11. HEB. 1N * 5 A COMPARISON OF CHRIST WITH THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST. SECT. the golden censer,” in which the high priest used to burn incense on the great day of atone- ment, and the ark of the covenant so covered over on every side with gold, that it appeared as if it had been one mass of that precious metal: in which apartment, in or very near the ark,' [was] the golden pot, containing the manna that remained incorruptible through so many ages, and the rod of .4aron that blossomed, and the two tables of the covenant on which the ten commandments were inscribed by the finger of God. .4nd over it were the cherubs of glory, shadowing with their wings that golden cover of the ark which was called the melº-seat, or propitiatory, as to it propitiations were referred, and where God was Pleased to appear in a visible symbol of his propitious and gracious presence. These were all important things in the Mosaic tabernacle, concerning which there is not now [room] 6 to speak particularly, ind these things being thus prepared and adjusted, both in the holy 1. l l I 7 S 9 t () I 2 4 and most holy place, the ordinary priests went continually into the first apartment of the tabernacle, performing , their] daily services, by trimming the lamps, and burning incense upon the fioly altar, changing the loaves on the sacreditable every sabbath, and sprinkling the blood of the victims before the veil. But into the second apartment only the high priest ſº onfé a jigſ, and that not without the blood of the sin-offering, which he offered, first ..for himself, and then [for] the sins of ignorance committed by the people, to which sort of offences alobe, and not to those presimptuously committed, the effiéacy of the atonements extended. * * Such was the ritual of Moses, the Holy Spirit by whom it was prescribed, signifying, by this difficulty of entrance, and the necessity of the incense cloud, and the atoning blood, that the way into the holiest place, that is, into God’s immediate presence, was not Jet made manifest, tehile the first tabernacle had its continuance, and retained its station and use, or, in other words, while the Jewish economy lasted. Which, far from being the grand and ultimate scheme, [is] only a kind of allegorical figure and parable referring to the glorious displays of the present time;e in which, nevertheless, there is hitherto a con- tinuance of the temple-service; so that gifts and sacrifices are still offered, which yet, in the nature of things, are not able to make the person who performs the service perfect with re- spect to the conscience; as they refer not to the real expiation of guilt, but only to averting some temporal evilsſ which the law denounced on transgressors. For this the Mosaic dispensation was insufficient, which in the peculiarities of it related, not to the views of another life, nor the sublimest means of preparing the soul for it; [but consisted] only $ in the distinction between different kinds of meats, clean or unclean; and drinks, some of which were allowed, and others denied, to priests in some circumstances, and to Nazarites in others; and in different baptisms, or washings, either of the whole body or a part of it in water, as different occasions demanded; and in a variety of other ordinances relating to the purification of the flesh, which were to continue in force only till the time of refor- mation, when things should be put into a better situation by the appearance of the Messiah himself in his church. But Christ having now appeared, and being become a High Priest of those good things which were then future, and which the church through pre- ceding ages expected as to come, the obligation of these things would of course soon be superseded. Accordingly he performed his ministry in a greater and more perfect taber- macle above, not made with human hands, that is, not making any part of this lower cred- tion. Neither doth he expiate the guilt of his people by presenting before God the blood of goats, and of calves, and of young bullocks, which were the noblest sacrifices the high riëst presented in the day of atonement; but it is by the efficacy of his own blood, which 4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, whercin iras the golden pot that had man- na, and Aaron’s rod that bud- ded, and the tables of the Covenant ; , 5 And over it the cheru- bims of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we Cannot liow speak particu- arly. 6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the Driests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplish- ing the service of God. 7 But into the second aperit the high priest alone once every year, not without blood which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the pe Opſ e : .8 The Holy Ghost this sig- nifying, That the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet stand- Ing: 9 Which pas a figure for the tinie then present, in which were offered both gifts sund sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the CODSCI Gº Il C62 · 10 Which, stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordin- ances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. ll. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building ; 12 Neither by the blood, of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption e continually pleads before the Father, that he hath entered once for all into the holy place for us. above,h having obtained [for us] by his perfect sacrifice, that etermal redemption and salya- tion, of which all the remissions and all the benefits procured by the ministration of the Aaronical priesthood, were but very imperfect figures. & º And certainly a little reflection may convince us of this; for if the blood of bulls and of goals, of which I have just been speaking, when presented to God with the appointed Čircumstances on the day of general expiation; and in cases of persºnal pollution, the ashes of the red heifer, burnt with hyssop, scarlet wool, and other ingredients, being min- gled with water, and sprinkled on the persons who were ceremonially unclean, sanctified #o the cleansing of the flesh, and hath so much efficacy in consequence of the divine insti- tution, as to recóncile God to the whole Jewish people in the former instance, and in the other, to introduce persons to the liberty of approaching him in his sançtary, which would otherwise have been denied them. How much more efficacious shall the blood of Christi be, even of that Divine Saviour, who, by the aids of the eternal Spiritk supporting 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the asbes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh : 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit b The golden censer.) It hath been queriºd, why the golden altar Waś lemnities of his temple-worship. And, I must dºi: º º: to not nºtij; aſſi soºne are of opinion that it may be comprehended examine and digest this explication, that I may not bà, under the neces- in the word Dºp tarmp tº - * c In chich "ev n.j I say, in or near chich, as many good commen- - it tº of re. Inc, a ti • * ~ * * * 'what is to ſolio w. v, which we render, censer. sity of repeating it for the illustration of W * - * > - * ~ - 3 -- g [Consisted] only..] The º of the º º Rºlº I - - - - -- y - ~~ : - * , º have given the version that seemed to me most naţūrā) , but " tators think the words & n may be taken in that latitulº, to º: would connect the two yerses thus, ſle wrh ji with Kings viii. Q. where it is sail, that there ſeas nothing tº tºº ºd śrī; and reads Öukatop a rainstead • ºr; Pierce o acorshipped—with meats of Ötzatopaat, in conformity ºnce the tico tables of stone. Or perhaps ºv, m, in º, may º with the Alexandrian and other manuscripts; supplying 67twº m', cºnvn, the tabernacle, rather than , to ktſ?orog, the ark, as probably achich were corporeal ordinances, iſsed till the time of reformation, Aaroº's rol, which is here said to be in the same place, could not lie (i. is, the appearance of the Messiah. i:) the ark. * . - ~ : h fººed once..] Hence Bishop Pearson infºrs, that Chºist Astºn led ;: º: §º ºf Cherubs that waited upon the She- only once ſolº into ſº §: º º and again, as the Sociniums chinah, or sensible, 410r. ; : *-* '4" --, -, . - - ,, , , , pretended. Pearson, On the Cºccº, P: º, . f - Ä" ºring to the present time.] We render it, for the time then pre- 1 i IIond much more jail the blood of Christ.], The arºunent in these - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *, * *-* * 1A" & 8 - ; certainly bear sent. But the words ct; rov Katpov 709 evºSºnº Tſº, may 0° * words seems to consist in this; it was merely by an arbitrary appoint- - -1, 2. -> riv & would understand it ... which in themselves are rather ºf fiºs the rendering which I have given them i, and I Would uſ. *** { }º blood and ashes, which in theºsº.º.º. * * * * ... mºi, as if he had said that this similitude of comparisºmº jà tº hºtho is of purification; but a death like that of our blessed e & * ‘hich ºrºtised in this present time, as to the temple at Jerusalem, whicſ }.}; holy of holies, as the JHosaic tabernacle had ; but that the consti- Lord, has in its clf a proper and mighty energy to promiote the purifica- - * * sti tion of the soul. - - - - tution before described was a figuratiº representation of the Christian k Eternal Spirit.] Muny have understood this of the deity, in general tºº,” at the time when the apostle wrote, was displayed or the digine nature º Christ. But since ºff. some temporal evils.] ... This in a few words.º and consistent Sense, what iſ take to be of the greatest importance for understanding the jºsaic sacrifices; which is, that they Yere. Reyeſ intended to £2 pigte and pertinently men for working miracles, and at the words may, in a very goo, pe referred to the § I º º º * - Kºtation. Bishop Fell considers them tº the same liklit any other interp tiºs Christ's being conceived, proclaimed, unointet last voluntarily laying down, and taking offences to such a degree, as to, deliver the sinner from the final judº- ºf his jifº by this Spirit. And ſ have the pleasure to find Dr. Owen - * * *g 'ith the !...f6 63 in anothºr world; but merely, to make his pºº." ºil under which he then was, and to furnish him with a pardon, jášić against ºpºlº which might be commenced, against #. in their courts 9 himself to the same purpoš t by this Spirit; ustice, or any exclusion from the privilege of phrase, tha º drawing near to God, & Oſlo. éxternaily at peace with him, in the so- that admirable #". 1.f3, see also his Exposition on the place) expressing (On the Spirit, p. 14 j'ſſentíðing also, agreeable to the para: brist was strengthened in the exercise of faith, submission, charity, and zeal, which he showed in THE NECESSITY OF SHEDDING CHRIST’S BLOOD. 815 offered himself without spot the infirmities of his human nature, and animating him to the exercise of all those virtues SEC c. ºo::"...adº, and graces which shed such a lustre around all the infamy of his cross, offered himself as II. serve the living God 8 a most spotless and acceptable Sacrifice to God? How much more, I say, shall that blood T- of his avail to cleanse your conscience from the pollutions ye have contracted by your gegº, unprofitable, and sinful works, that ye may freely approach and serve the living God with acceptance 3 How surely shall it appease that consciousness of guilt, which might other- - wise be so painful to us, and introduce us to present our homage in the divine presence, with the hope of the most favourable regard - IMPROVEMENT. THE whole progress of the apostle's argument will lead us to reflect on the reason we have for thankfulness, Ver whose eyes are directed, not to an earthly sanctuary and its furniture, splendid indeed, yet comparatively dark, 1, 2 mutable, and perishing; but to the holiest of all, the way to which is now clearly manifested. What matter of solid and everlasting joy! that whereas those gifts and sacrifices were incapable of making those perfect who pre- sented them, or attended upon them, and the ordinances of that sanctuary consisted only in meats and drinks, and º purifications and ceremonies; we by faith behold a High Priest of a better and more perfect tabernacle, a High Priest who hath wrought out eternal redemption, and entered once for all into heaven for us! Eternal re- 11 demption who hath duly considered its glorious import? To him, and only to him, who hath attentively con- 12 sidered it, is the name of the Redeemer sufficiently dear. Bat O, what short of the possession of it, can teach us the true value ! What, but to view that temple of God above, where through his intercession we hope to be made pillars, and from thence to look down upon that abyss of misery and destruction from which nothing but his blood was sufficient to ransom us! - Let that blood, which is our redemption, be our confidence. We know there was no real efficacy in that of 13 bulls or of goats, or in the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean. All that these things could do was to purify the flesh, and to restore men to an external communion with God in the Jewish sanctuary. But the blood of Christ can purify the conscience, and restore its peace when troubled, when tortured with a sense of a guilt con- 14 tracted by dead works, which render us unfit for and incapable of divine converse. To that blood, therefore, let us look: let the death of Christ be remembered as the great spotless sacrifice by which we draw nigh unto God; and let those virtues and grace which were displayed in it, under the influences of that eternal Spirit, which was given unto him without measure, concur with that benevolence which subjected him to it for our sakes, to recom- mend him to our humblest veneration and our warmest affection. To conclude, since it is so expressly said, that the Holy Ghost signified in some degree the great and important doctrines of the gospel by the constitution of the Jewish ritual; let us think of that ritual, whatever obscurity may 8 attend it in part, with a becoming esteem; and peruse it with a view to that great Antitype, who is in every sense the End of the law for righteousness to every one who believeth; to him who, by fulfilling it, hath given it a lory much brighter than that which was reflected u pon it from the face of Moses, or the most splendid magni- ficence of Solomon's temple. - \, HEB. IX. 4 I º SECTION XII. The apostle discourses, by way of digression, on the necessity of shºº's blood, and the sufficiency of the atonement made by it. Heb. lx. 10, to the end. HEB. ix. 15. HEBREws is. I5. ſºſ. º.º.º.º. I HAVE just mentioned the offering which Christ made of himself to God by the eternal SECT ... ". . . .”. Spirit; and it is a subject so delightful and so important, that I must dilate upon it a little 12. tºº.º.º.º. more largely. Attend to it, therefore, that he is in this respect, and for this purpose, the under the first j."; Mediator of a new and better covenant, far preferable to that of Moses; that death being HEB. º; ...ºf"; undergone, for the redemption and expiation of transgressions against the former covenant, 1sº mal inheritance. and which could not be removed by it, they who are called to the engagements and benefits of . ºreceive the promise of an etermal inheritance, to which that of Sinai had no immediate reference; its promises only relating to an inheritance in Canaan, and to those tº - *—e sº 3. & S temporal enjoyments which were there conferred upon those who were obedient to the sº divine, law. I say, it is in consequence of his undergoing death, that he effectually secures y *. SS I - s: º is * * e ty be the death of the testator. these blessings to us by his covenant; for where a covenant [is] answerable to that which E.P. ºº i.i. typified this of what I now speak, it necessarily imports the death of that by which the cove- §§§ nant is confirmed * For you know that sacrificial rites have ever attended the most cele- 17 à. r * * 7 * . . - * alig §.;; brated covenants which God hath made with men; so that I may say, a covenant [is] §§§ was dedicated Cºfirmed over the dead, so that it does not avail, nor has any force at all, while he by whom ***.*.m. Moses had it is confirmed liveth. From whence and on which principle we may observe, neither was #"...º.º. the first ſcovenant] of which we have been speaking, I mean that of Moses, originally ºº: º transacted without the blood of an appointed sacrifice. For when every command was §§ º'séticºi ſº and deliyered according to the law by Moses to all the people, it is expressly said }}.}}|... .º.º. t º º º blood ºf calves and goats mingled with water, and dipping into it a piece - * 999k, and * * People of Scarlet wool, and a bunch of hussop,d ~ - - - - 5 6. of hyssop,” he sprinkled the book itself, which contained the I 5 I 6 I 8 I 9 his dying moments.-But when the Spirit is called eternal, I can never by whom it is confir - - w - & - - -- ~ l- • -- - º ſºon it is confirm cd, the argument will be clearer. Qºm I & S & think with Dr. Patrick, (on Numb, xix. 4.) that it refers to the durable considerable difficulties attend both these lº *ś". nature of §§ ashes u; for purification under the law ; nor with Mr. connexion with what foliºs appears easier upon that which I have Hallet, (JN otes and ſº Vol. i., p. 36.) that it is, opposed to the given. The reader Wilſº well, if he consult Dr. Whitby upon"...his Špirit of brutés, or relates to the eternal redemption purchased by Christ, passage, who assigns and vindicates an interpretation much º: S3. In 6 #;"; gºstimony to the etermity, and consequently the deity, with that which is proposed in this version and paraphrase.—The phrase ne y S & * * avaykm běpecóat, which I have rende - ...}...”. sº tº a .7: , , § a. - ** - Y; º; w * 2 ave rendered, necessarily imports, is very Tº:". #. Q. º This ls hº only place in, th9 New strong; the death must be produced, it must not º, º ğiºn } . estament, where diagnºn can be supposed to signify a testament, or also had. apparent. Elsmer hath shown. (Oisº, ºl. ii. 35. $’t. will, rather than a covenant. But the mediator of a testament is a very the word $ºpea 0at is used in a forensic sense for what is %iºgá . Improper º and one, cannot suppose, the apostle would play proved, or made apparent i of judici s p 3 an on. º ambiguity oft ne. Yº I º think, with Mr. Pierce, that ( cariet acool § h; f *"...hº..."isses in his isk jºiº-Redemption in the #.ºrgio, (Lev. X\}.) does not mention all tº: • * * : 12 icº. 1, •, s , e, , , a rººs . is §1 ºf ºu. * Probably St. P: >iv- * , ºr - * *-- * ‘S’ s • tº ſº. º "º. this: I must º § º §§','º','!'};"| ºn §§"; 'aº, %). {. & 2nd, Ur. rton , has written ! ſh K II Te- ... A.; ; ; ;....'..... ', i... ', ‘Tº º eansºng t/l. º, º his elaborate and ingenious volumes")n". #. sº i.” º: º: *Hºº!" º:;fi tººl. ºr fºr ſº • 'A O.S&S. ... + gº . e * º ºr (I WV c By ºść, the łoś. is confirmed.] Mr. Pierce would ler i Xàter, to preserve it from coagulating; and perhaps to this the mixture that sacrifice which is appointed by "God to jºi i. º: ºf ;º wine. With water, . which pretty soon prevailed in the markable instance:from Appian, where Öia0sºvo; signifies, pacifier. Pºlitige church, might have some intended reference it is the opinion * - - & of Dr. Owen, that the ceremon - y & sº - He saith, the scºpe of the writer requires that it should be so translated formed on the day of ...hº. iº, here, and accordingly in the next verse, he renders it, The pacifier can do prescribed in th: ºr * $4. * r vothing, as long as ic liveth. But I think ifātāściń. be rendered, he I) the account given us of the ritual of that day, 816 THE NECESSITY OF SHEDDING CHRIST'S BLOOD, SECT. COVena H cell #7, - - **** + --- : 34 - C-,-,-, • * * nt, and all the people who were to enter into it; Sºftng, at the same time, This [is] gº saying, This is the blood I2. the bloºd of the covenant which God hath commanded with respect to you, appointing you º God - - e- • * - - > lºlt.il (?!) . Ol nG O Ul. BEB to declare your consent to the terms of it, as you desire divine favour and acceptance. §§§". .inkled * And the abernacle and all the vessels of divine service with which it was finished,'...i., with ºth the tº SC. rinkled with the same blood f tº - - º ** *** ***9 cle, and all the vessels of the 22 * * *-fºr-4, ºr - - - - - - - 993, of the sacrifices. ...And indeed almost all things were under ministry. 22 And almost all things º law ſº hiſ blood in their first consecration; and it was by blood that they were n^ r S ^ - zº a ry. º - - */ * * cleansed | º pollution, whether general or special. .3nd if any transgression had been º through {gnºrance Qr surprise, yet so solicitous was the blessed God to main- .#. as lº h; lºw, and the decorim of his administration, that in case of such offences, to thout 3hedding of blood, where an animal sacrifice could be procured, there was no forgiveness of sin.e - 23 alſº *:::::: º º to the divine appointment, that the tabernacle, those instrtiments and utensils belono-inor to it. which wº y - inniţa #i things in the heavens, shoºij tº º tº it, W high,w ere the copies or imitations of tialihings them in. noſta be pum ifieſ }} the blood of these animal victims; but the celes- W.ſ A.J. ‘I º - - t * • * * * **, * > *-*. -, *s-, G 7 - gº themselves, with more ºcłlºit 8:tcrifices than they,f even with the sacred blood 24 ºf Christ himself, which these offerings were designed to tºify. And the expedience of - - - * - - 1 TT . - 4. this appears from the method which God fire by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23 It was therefore neces- Saſy that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these ; but the heavenly things them- selves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ is not en- • * l * .* - tº e - º - 7\ot entered inf | 13 fact taken; for it is plain, that Christ is tered into the , holy places of entered into an earthly tabernacle, or holy places made with hands, though adorned with *"...; º §: eyer so much art and expense; [which] at best [were] but the figures, or imperfect copies, into hiºn itself.º * of the true : but he is entered inio heaten itself, now to appear in the presence of God for #." the presence of God 23 *, *s our great High Priest, and ever glorious and powerful Intercessor. Not that it was as Nor yet that he should ºcessary, he should offer himself frequently, as the high priest entered into the most holy ºil. $. place yearly on the day of atonement, with the blood of others, that is, of bullocks and goats: j. 'i. ºº: 26 For them, as the Jewish sacrifice was often repeated, so it would have been necessary for *śjust he often him often to have suffered in many successive periods, from the foundation of the world, in º. º. order to the salvation of good mén in their several ages and generations, which we know ºw ºf H. Yº he did not. But now once for gll, at the conclusion of the ages,she hath been made manifest º ºsº Jor the abolishing of sin, and wiping out its dreadfi score, by the sacrifice of himself, that ºf" "" he might purchase the pardon of it, and effectually teach men to subdué it,h when they see 27 such a ºnio, paid for their forfeited lives. And just as with respect to the common lot .27 And as it is appointed Of mankind, it is appointed to all men once to die, and gfter that the judgment is ordained, H. º.º.º. * Which fixes them in an unalterable state, without any further revolution of life and death: 2 28 So Christ passed through one death, no more to be subject to the possibility of it, and .º.Sº Christ was ongº offer: having once been offered, as the scape-goat on the great day of expiation, to bear the punish- §*...*.*.*.* "; ment due to the sins of many, even of all his believing people, and to carry away, as it...º.º.º. Were, the guilt of them into the land of oblivion, he shall the second time appear to preside ºe without sin unto in that judgment which men are to undergo. And then he shall come like the high priest, in his richest dress, when the grand act of expiation was over, without any thing that wears the marks of humiliation or abasement, or resembles the form in which he came to make an atonement for sin.k And while he brings with him everlasting terror to all that despise and reject him, he shall manifest himself to those who have waited for him, to complete their eternal salvation, and conduct them, in their entire persons, to those regións of glory which he hath prepared for them. - - IMPROVEMIENT. - Ver.15 W E are heirs of an eternal inheritance, and we owe all our expectations of it to the Mediator of that better Covenant, who at the expense of his own blood procured redemption from the guilt and condemnation of those 16 transgressions which have been committed under the first covenant: what praise do we owe to that volunta Victim who made his blood the seal of that better covenant! O, that as all the vessels of the sanctuary, and a 19, 22 the people, were sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifices, on that day when Moses entered them into solemn 23 covenant with God; so our souls and all our services might be under the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus! By the efficacy of that were the heavenly places sanctified and prepared for us; by that our way into them is opened; 24, 25 let us be daily looking up to the Lord Jesus Christ, as gone to appear in the presence of God for us, and entered into heaven with his own blood. May his death be as efficacious to subdue the power of sin in our hearts, as it 27, 23 is to expiate our guilt before God. #. may we look forward with pleasure to the great solemnities of death and judgment, and expect that faithful Redeemer, who, though he is to come no more as a Sacrifice for sin, will then appear for the complete salvation of all who have obediently received him under that character, and waited for him according to his word. 27 In the mean time, that we may be engaged thus to apply to him, and improve our knowledge of him to the great purposes intended, may we live in the continual views of death, as what is indispensably appointed to men; and remember that it is our certain, inevitable doom. May we also consider it as standing in a most certain connexion with judgment; assuring ourselves, that whatever the period of time between the one and the other people who were waiting for him in the temple when the great day of e Jºo forgiveness.] I look upon [his as a certain proof, that the sin: offerings were not merely tokens of friendship restored between God and the offenier, but that the blood was looked upon as the consideration on which the pardon, was granted, being an acknowledgment on the part of the offerer that he had described death, if God had been strict to mark O if t l] CéeS. f The celestial things themselves with more excellent sacrifices.] It may perhaps seem strange, that celestial things should be spoken of as need- ing to be purified and cleansed. But it is to be considered, that as the sacred dwelling and the vessels were esteemed to be polluted by the Israelites, wh9, in various degrees, had access to them; so heaven would have been, as it were, polluted by the entrance of such sinners as went i;to it, had not the blood of Christ intervened. This ſ think much more natural than, with Bishop Fell, to explain it of some pollutions con- tracted by the sin of the angels. • g Conclusion of the ages.) So a wire)sta Tſov at ovov is most exactly rendered; meaning the last of the dispensations God ever intended to give mankinſ. "See note j. p. 279. • - h Purchase the pardon of it, and teach men to subdue it..] ..]Dr. Harris (in his IXiscourses on the Principal Representations of the Messiah, p. 252.) explains £ts affirm riv gyapras, for the abolishing of sin, of wiping out a score, so that it should be fio longer actionable. But I think it ex- tends to every method of abolishing sin or putting it away, and may include, besides the satisfaction made to the divine justice, the subduing it also in our own hearts. - - * i Like the high priest.] I doubt not but there is indeed, as Limborgh gupposes, an allusion here to the high priest coming out to bless the atonement was over. And as he then appeared in his golden garments, whereas before he had officiated in the plain dress of a common priest; and as the trumpet of the jubilee on that year sounded to proclaim the commencement of that happy period, there is not perhaps an image that can enter into the mind of man more suitable to convey the grand idea which the apostle intended to conyey by it, than this would be to a Jew, who weil knew the grand. Solemnity to which it referred... . * k . Without sin.] Mr. Fleming supposes this refers to Christ’s having, in that great day, the glory of the Shechimah upon him, of which, the jº of the richest habits, Aaron and his sons wore was but a faint shadow ; and that it, ſurther, alludes to the štº: Adam of that glory which he contracted from his first interview with the Shechinah, as soon as he had sinned.... In conscquence of which Christ appearing in the days of his flesh like one of us, without this glory, might be said to come as with sin, or, as it is expressed, Rom. viii. 3. in the likeness of sinful flesh. Flem. Christol. vol. ii. p. 301. - - To salvation ; et; ga)7mptav.] Wolfius is of opinion that these words should be connected, with those immediately preceding, as expressing the view with which they waited for the returning Saviour, namely, that they might obtain complete salvation. But, with Grotius, I think it preferable to connect them in this manner, 0.40mgerat—ets adormptav he shall appear—to salvation. And certainly this is much more naturai than, with Beza and Erasmus Schmidius, to refer it to so remote a clause as gis To Taxxov avºveykºv, aftapras, to begſ the sins of many, in order to their salvation, See Wolfii, Curae Philológica, in loc. w THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE MOSAIC LAY". 817 may be, there is no room for a change in our character of state. Let thcreſore the thoughts of judgment, and its SECT. awful, eternal consequences, stir us up to a diligent preparation for death. Let it engage us to make an imme- 12. diate application to Christ as the great Saviour, with entire submission to his princely authority; for if that be — disregarded, how shall we meet him as our Judge For when he appears the second time for the salvation of his º. people, he will execute righteous vengeance on his enemies; and that vengeance can never appear so terrible, as *: ºnsidered as coming from the mouth of him who was once manifested to take away sin by the sacrifice of imself. SECTION XIII. The apostle returns from his digression, ſo prove that the legal ceremonics could not by any means purify the conscience; and from thence 62 argues the insufficiency of the Mosaic law, and the necessity of lookin; beyond if. HEB. x. 1. FOR the law having a sha- YOU see that it is the dow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year con- tinually make the there unto perfect. more earnestly I must pursue. IIeb. x. 1–15 HEBREws x. 1. so as to remove the moral guilt of their offences, and ring them into a state of reconciliation with God, and to that settled peace of conscience, 2 For then would they not which results from a sense of his favour. have ceased to be offered 2 ..º. ºn because that the worshippers year once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. ad no more consciousness of siris; but have enjoyed the efficacy of that atonement to the last moment of their lives, on applying to it on any future occasion ; as we christians do, by renewed acts of faith on our great Sacrifice, if through the frailty of human nature we 3. But, in those, sacrifices are so unhappy as to fall into sin. But in them [there is] of course, as it were, a yearly com- 3 there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. memoration of sins, by a yearly presentation of the atoning blood of new sacrifices in the most holy place; which shows that their efficacy is so far from extending, as that of the true expiation does, to all nations, times, and places, that it only looks back upon the year completed, d and hath no influence, even with regard to those persons who are actually present in the temple, on any thing future. 4 For it is not possible that the blood , of bulls and of the blood goats should take away sins. And indeed the reason of this is plain; for [it i. of bulls and of goats should, on the who * ment to God, as the great Governor of the world, for the moral guilt of any transgression: e, take away sins, or make a real atone- though it may by divine appointment, put a stop to any further prosecution which might proceed in Jewish courts, or any such extraordinary judgment, as the peculiar state of 5. Wherefore when he com-things among that people might otherwise require. gth into the world, he saith Sacrifice and offering wouldst not, but a bod thou hº ared me : 6 In design of all this discourse, to raise your minds from the Mosaic SECT. law to the gospel; and it is an important design, which, the dearer you are to me, the For the law having, as it were, only a shadow, or imper- fect sketch, of future good things, and not the complete delineation or the very image of HEB. * the things [themselves,” could by no means, even by those sacrifices of atonement which they always ºffer yearly,” and are the most solemn which belong to the whole Hebrew ritual, ſº those who come unto [them, - 13. And indeed the very circumstance of their 2 ly repetition is a proof of this; for otherwise, that is, could they have made such a complete reconciliation, they would have ceased to be offeredº any more, at least by the same }. because they who had performed that service, being once purified by it, would have l in the nature of things, impossible that 4 Therefore when the Messiah is de- 5 ...; scribed in David, as making his entrance into the world, he saith, in those well-known y hast words, (Psal. xl. 7.) “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not [accept, but a body thou hast ... 'ºrings and provided me,” in which I may render thee a more acceptable service : In whole burnt-6 jºi...º. in thou hast offerings and sin-offerings thou hadst no complacency, when considered in this view, and in had no pleasure. .7 Then said I, I, o, - (in the volume of the book, it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. I come reference to this great event. Then I said, with the most cheerful consent, Behold, I come; 7 in the volume of the book,ſ which contains the ancient prophecies, it is written of me, that I should accomplish this service, and I delight to do thy will, O my God; for thy law in 8. Above when he said, all its branches is within my heart.” Having in effect said above, -ás for sacrifice and 8 Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure there- in ; which are offered by the à-VW 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, Č od. He taketh away the first, that he mº establish the second. offering, whether they were burnt-offerings, or sacrifices for sin, thost didst not desire [them.] or lake pleasure [in them, which comprehends the most material and considerable of those things which were offered to God under the law: ; Then he sai!!, Behold, I come to do thy will, O God. So that you see, he laketh away the first, that is, burnt-offerings and sacri- fices, that he may establish the second, that is, doing God’s will ; pointing therein to that great act of obedience, by which the pardon of sin was to be secured, and the divine ºhºl ºf honour ºngst effectually promoted. In the execution of which will we are sanctified, 10 ğri.º. b."j"jeº... cleansed from our sins, and recommended to the divine acceptance, even by the offering Christ once for all. up the body of our Lord Jesus Christ once for all, as an atoning sacrifice. - 11 And every priest stand; ...And this agrees with what I observed above, to be the property of a true and effectual II ºnºs. atonement. For indeed every priest of the Mosaic law standeth daily ministering, and offer- sacrifices, which can never ing the same sacrifices often, which, as appears from that very circumstance of the repetition ta; #ºan, after he of them, can never avail to take away the guilt of sins; Bul he, that is, Our Lord Jesus 12 a Shadow and image : Greay gukova.} Here is an allusion, I apprehend, to the different state of a painting, when the first sketch only is drawn, and when the piece is finished; or to the first sketch of a painting, when compared with what is yet more expressive than eyen the completest painting, an exact image. I cannot be of opinion, with, Mr. Pierce, that fixov, inage, here signifies the original from whence the delineation or draught is made. It is a very unusual sense of the work: ; nor can I think Rom. i. 23. sufficient to justify and support it. Besides, even under the gospel, we have not the heavenly, blessings themselves, but only a clearer representation or revelation of thçm. * * b Sacrifices which thcy always ºffer yearly.) The sacrifices offered on the day of atonement, being by far the most solemºn of any of the ex- piatory kind among the Jews, are mentioned here with the utmost pro- priety. And this interpretation seems to supersede the necessity of following AIr. Pierce’s translation, who would, by transposing the points, render it, The lang, having only a shado º qf good things to come— ycarly, can never, ºrith the same sacrifices, which they continually ºffer, make the conners therewnto perfect. - - - c. They arould have ceased to be offered.] This reading is more easy and natural than that which our translators have followed ; while they have placed this in the margin. It is supported by many copies, and adopted by the Vulgate and Syriac version. * Looks back upon the year completed.] I am surprised that Diodate should ifinagine this must have been expressly revealed to the apostle : I think it sufficiently appears from the tenor of the Mosaic law; for if the expiation was to be offered yearly for the whole people, it must in- clude the expiation of sins reinäining unafooed to the time of its offer- ing ; and if it were to be repeated the next year, it could reach no further-But still it must bo"remembºred, that this only referred to those ternooral punishments which God, as the King of Israel, might have inflicted upon the whole people, if by a neglect of this annual at onement, they had in effect broke their covenant, and thrown a con- tein pt upon his institution. * º e J3 body hast thou provided me..] After having deliberately considered the variotis interpretations which liave been given of this text, I find none so probable as that of Alr. Pierce, who, supposes that the original reading of the Hebrew which the LXX follow, instead of Dººrs was BY) is, and that nine sometimes signifies, to procure, as well as to dig ; and, then their yersion will be justified, ,and the apostle’s following it easily accounted for. Next to this is the solution of the ingenious and learned Mr. Saurii), who supposes the (X, chose to explain the 5hrase of boring the ear, by th;it of preparing the body for service, as etter known to those for whom the version was it tended ; and therefore referred also by the apostle, who though he directs this Epistle to the Iebrews to whom the other custom inight be known, intended it for general use, Saurin’s Sermº. vol. xi. p. 17—23. The interpretation given by Elsper (Observ. vel. ii. p. 3, 2.) is much to the sanie purpose with this of Sir. Saturin. - - f Volume ºf the book.] This is, in the Peºtatºuch, the only bºok con- taining prophecies of Christ writic:) before Daviſ’s time. As iſ lie had said, I rejoice. that I am registered in thy book as thy servant. This is the sense of Bishop Fell. On the whole, I think the apostle so plainly argues from this text, that it proves the psalm to which he refers to be a literal prophecy of the Alessiah; and consequently the twelfth verse of it, which affords, the only material argument against this interpreta: tion, must, either be explained, of those iniquities which, though, not properly Christ’s own, were laid, upon him ; or rather those calamities which he bore for the expiation of sin. - *--> 103 SIS THE APOSTLE URGES AN IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR PRIVILEGES. SECT. Christ, having offered one ever-efficacious sacrifice for the sins of all who shall believe in had offered one sacrifice for 13. him, and obey him, hath for ever sat down at the right hand of God; never more to stand jº""" and minister in such a manner as he has done, but answering the great character drawn in j HEB, the prophet, (Zech. vi. 13.) of a priest on a throne, where royal dignity and certain con- X. 13 quest are added to his other glories; For the rest, waiting . till the appointed time ºº:::::hº; come, in which, according to the promise we have been contemplating, all his enemies shall #...i.” ”” 14 be made the footstool of his feet. For by that one !". up of himself, concerning which nº.º.º.º. we have been speaking, he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified by it, and on tºº.” " whom its blood is, as it were, sprinkled, ſ hath rendered all believers perfectly accept- able to God, and made effectual provision for raising them to a state of complete holiness, felicity, and glory. -- IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 1 SINCE the shadows are now fled away, and the substance is come ; since the most substantial blessings are be- stowed by the gospel; let us celebrate the praises of him by whom we have received them; of him, who so cheer- 5 fully presented himself a spotless Sacrifice to God for us. In the body which God hath prepared for him, he fulfilled all righteousness, and made a most perfect atonement; in that he, once for all, made full expiation for the sins of his people, having no sin of his own to expiate ; and oh, with what grateful emotions of heart should we commemorate his love; reflecting that when all other sacrifices would have been vain, he should so readily cry 7 out, Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will, O God; when that will of his heavenly Father was, that his body should be offered in so painfuſ and so tragical a manner With such readiness let us too concur in every intimation of the divine good pleasure : let us, like the blessed man whom David described, not only fear the Lord, but delight greatly in his commandments, (Psal. cxii. 1.) and labour that the law of God may be inscribed on our hearts, and the characters grow larger and deeper there. This shall please God better than the most costly sacrifices, even of 8 his own ritual; better than any whole burnt-offering, and sin-offering, though it were an ox or a bullock, which hath horns and hoofs. (Psal. lxix. 31.) 10 May we be so sanctified through the sacrifice of Christ, according to the will of God, that we may approach the Divine Being with acceptance. And may we daily be looking to Jesus as sat down at his Father's right hand, 12, 13 where he waits till his enemies are made his footstool. Let us likewise expect that great event in full assurance of faith. Let our affections be there where Jesus sits; and let us live in cheerful confidence, that the Saviour, in whose cause we are engaged, will finally appear triumphant over all his enemies and ours. Amen. SECTION XIV. The apostle urges christians to improve the privileges which such a High Priest and covenant gave thern, to the purposes of a fiducial approach to God, a constant attendance on his worship, and a benevolent love to each other. Heb. x. 15–25. WS X. 15. HEBREws x. 15 HEB. x. 15. SECT. I HAVE spoken of Christ, as having by one offering of himself for ever perfected those WHEREOF the Holy Ghost 14. that are sanctified; and this is a representation very agreeable to the word of God: for º, ... .º.º.º. — even the Holy Ghost testifieth to us" in that, passage (Jer. xxxi. 33, &c.) which I have 5 HEB, quoted above, after having before said. This [is] the covenant which I will make with them. , 16 This is the covenant after those days, saith the Lord; I will give my laws to be written on their hearts; I will ºil. "...ºh. - w º - * * e s 4. - - iter those days, saith the also inscribe them upon their minds : my Hol Špirit shall work in them cordial dispositions ford, fºil ºut my jºs i. 17 humbly to practise and obey them; He adds, in consequence of this, their sins and their ###"ºn.” transgressions, how many and aggravated soever they may have been, I will never remem- ºiá"ii",...."; 18 ber any more. But where [there is] such an entire remission of these, as this great amnesty, * 18 Now where remission this universal pardon, implies, which wipes out the very remembrance of all offences, [there of these is, there is no more is] no more room for any sacrifice for sin, which implies that they are remembered, and offering försin. remain to be expiated. 19 This therefore, my dear brethren, is now our happy case; and let us endeavour to enjoy h; º: sº bre- and imprové it aright. Having such liberty to enter into the holy places by the efficacy of jº"; ...";..."; 20 this atóning blood of Jesus : [Having that] help-discovered and ever:living way,” which he Jºi, anºw analºgy, ... hath consecrated for us through the veil,” that is, by means of his flesh, or of that human wº’.”. §§§ nature in which he hath veiled his divine glories, and to which it ever becomes us to pay #"...,º veil, that 21 a regard in our access to God. ...And [having] also such a great and glorious Priest over 2ſ Anāhāting º priest the jouse of God, who most faithfully manages his Father's concerns, and bears a most “º the house of God; 22 tender regård to ours; Let us not ständ at a distance as if God were inaccessible; but, on t; fºº"...; the contrary, let us draw near with a sincere and affectionate heart, in the full assurance of § ... º.º.º.º. - -- * - a Finns a » wºrkhi r - - ~~ : sprinkled from an evil con- faith, supported by such considerations as these, which may well imbolden us, (conscious science, and our bodies wash- As we are of our own unworthiness,) to make our approach unto him in the most cheerful ed with pure water. expectation of his blessing. Only let us take care that this approach be made in a regular and proper manner, as ever we desire to meet with divine favour and acceptance; parti- cularly, as the water of purification was to be sprinkled on the Israelites, to cleanse them from any pollutions they might. have contracted, so let us see to it that we come, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, free from all allowed guilt and indulged sin. ..And this is indeed our case, if we are true christians: our hearts are thus sprinkled by the purifying and cleansing blood of Jesus, as well as our bodies in baptism washed with pure - 23 water,d intended to represent our being cleansed from sin. And since we have received 23 Let us hold fast the pro- such benefits by the gospel which we have embraced, let us hold fast the profession of [our] a Testifieth to us...] Or, as it might be rendered, bears witness with us, beaven as, our High Priest, till he had taken human flesh, in his "A.; that º to, ind confirms § isis testimony, what I have said ; in and till it had been, as it were, put aside, by death. º: I .*.*. which sense the original word is used, as Rajhelius hath shown, by bear thinking, that it may further refer to the Shechinah Deing pelled by several Greek classics. - . this curtain, which bord so remarkable an analogy to the divine glory bºw, and living way.] Dr. Owen illustrates this, by observing that of Christ, as veiled by assuming huſhan,Pºthº. - the blood of other sacrifices was to be used immediately upon its effu- d #ºiesiºdshed ºith pure water..] Mr. Pierce would make this the sion: for if it were cold and congealed, it was of no use to be offered, or beginning of another Septence ; and having washed our bodies with pure . sprinkled"; but the blood of Christ is, as it were, always warm, having water, that is, “having been solemnly devoted tº God in baptism, let us the same'spirit of life and sanctification moving in it. So that the way answer the engagements of that holy, ordinange by holding fast the pro- of approach by it is said to be ºoga kai ºpogſparog, living, yet (putting ſession of our faith, &c.; considering that he iſłºść º: it fºr Christ, who is the Iſay) always, as it were, newly slain. See he was pleasóg to, seal, unº. º by * º º t e j. ‘.... Owen, On the Spirit, p. 386. - - very easy and intelligible, if it be conneg e; . A º º: Y. foré & The peii,j ſt is well known; that the veil was a curtain separating as referring to the custom of washing their § I Ges ºf gan } ºre , he hºis, from the most holy place. The priest could not pass to the they went to worship at the temple, especially upon their Solemn days. sºn inary, unless he passed through it so Christ could not pass in 19 - vºt rſy }\ } TÉHE APOSTLE EXHORT O STEADINESS IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. fession of our faith without §§ 5 * * * in a case where we have such certain and indubitable evidence; for we know that what. ever storms and tempests may arise, he [is] assuredly faithful who hath promised; he will stand by to defend us, and to make us more than conquerors over all. And let us con- sider each other, and reflect seriously on the circumstances in which we and our brethren are situated, that we may judge what influence we can have over them for their advantage, and may endeavour º y to provoke and stimulate them on to the exercise of sin- cere love, and to a readiness to all good works, by our exhortations, and especially by our example, and by such a conduct towards them as may engage the return of their affection, and the exertion of their zeal for the general good: Not deserting the assembling ourselves 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25, Not forsaking the as- sembling of ourselves toge- à."º"nº ... together, for the solemn purposes, of public worship, as the manner of some now #. jºº ºligºlotle, order to decline that reproach and persecution which the attendance on such assemblies and so much the more, as ye may draw after it; but exhorting and comforting ſome another] as much as we can ; and this so much the rather, as ye see the day approaching;é that awful day, in which we must appear before the tribunal of God, and that day of vengeance upon the Jewish nation, which Christ hath described as so terrible an emblem of it. And let none, who would not share with the enemies of Christ in the destruction which shall be poured out upon them, abandon his people now, and basely betray that cause and interest, by which none shall on the whole §. losers, whatever they may for the present suffer on its account. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT can be more desirable than to approach to God! what more effectually encourage that approach, than the consideration which the apostle here urges: the new and living way which this great High Priest hath conse- crated See the day approaching. 819 hope,” without ever giving way to the pressure and agitation of any temptation, or wavering SECT. 14. HEB, X. 24 2 Ver.22 ance, let us attend to the strength of our faith, and the purity of our consciences; that inward purity, without 22 which our baptismal washing will stand us in little stead. To establish us in a resolution of retaining the pro- fession of our faith and hope, amidst all the attempts that may be made to wrest it out of our hands, let us often reflect on the importance of those promises we have received, and the infallible * of that God, who hath 23 condescended to enter himself into such engagements. Let the community of that blessed hope which these sacred engagements afford, unite us in the bonds of the most affectionate love. Instead of watching over each other for éviſ, let us consider one another's circumstances with the most friendly and compassionate eye. whatever we behold of necessity or distress, let us immediately be instigated and quickened kindly to attempt relief and assistance; that every one may be, as it were, in a confederacy against the evil by which any one may be attacked. Much will this benevolent disposition be promoted, by a dilig worship ; and much is it to be lamented, that it is the manner of so many to forsake them, even the assemblies which are honoured with the promise of the divine presence; a promise, to the accomplishment of which thousands can bear testimony. Let us guard against so ungrateful and pernicious a neglect; and set ourselves to promote, as far as possible, mutual edification; and so much the rather as we see the day approaching ; that solemn day, when all our opportunities in this world being come to a period, we must render up an account of all. It is a day in which God will bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good or evil; let us therefore give all diligence to prepare ourselves for it; and remember how happily the ordinances of public wor- ship are calculated to promote that preparation. SECTION XV. The apostle enforces his exhortation steadily to adhere to their christian faith, by reminding thern of the extremities they had endured in its de- fence, and of the fatal consequences of apostasy. Heb. x. 26, to the end. * HEBREws x. 26. HEB. x. 26. FOR if we sin wilfully after I HAVE urged you to a steadiness and courage in the profession of the christian faith, #...º.º.º. and have cautioned you against neglecting those acts of public worship by which it is pro- remaineth do more sacrifice fessed, on any consideration whatsoever. And I must continue to inculcate the caution for sins, with the greatest seriousness: for if we sin wilfully”, and presumptuously by apostatizing, qfter having received the knowledge of the truth with such incontestable evidence and power, there remaineth yet no more sacrifice for sin;b nor is it possible to find any atone- ment that shall be efficacious, after having thus ungratefully and wickedly disowned that 27. But a certain fearful which God had appointed. But, on the contrary, all that remaineth is a certain fearful łºś expectation of the judgment of God, and of his fiery indignation, which is just ready to de- devoir tie adversaries. vour the adversaries of his gospel, and shall, in a very little time, be poured out upon them in all its terrors. . This we might easily infer from the nature of things, even though we had not been so expressly warned of it in the word of God. For if any one, of whatever order and dignity, who set at nought the law of Moses,” by any presumptuous transgression of it, though that transgression might in itself seem ever so small, died without mercy on [the evidence of two or three witnesses, and was excluded any benefit from those sin-offerings which were 29 ºf how much sºre, appointed for offences of ignorance and inconsideration: Of how much severer judgment ..","...º.º.º., doye suppose he shall be counted worthy, who hath not merely insulted a j." servant, 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy un- der two or ubree witnesses: É e be thought worthy, who e Profession of [our] hope.) Instead of eXT160s, hope, our translators read rus-soeg, faith, upon the authority only of a single manuscript. See Dr. Mills, in loc. - - - * * f Assembling ourselves together..] Mr. Pierce is of opinion, that when that that was now near, though they should not have been able to trace It up into 1(S causes, Or to calculaté the exact time. a If we sin wilfully..] The emphasis of the apostle’s argument must lead us to interpret this of apostasy from christianity. But as Diodate the apostle adds, as the manner of some is, he intends to blame the con- duct of the Jews, who, on account of their old prejudices against, the €ertile converts, absented themselves from the assemblies, into which they were admitted : and perhaps also to censure a similar behaviour in the Gentile converts arising from prejudices they had newly contracted against the Jews. And he imagines this, in some measure, is intimated by the use of the word eſtauvøyayn. (Öompare 2 Thess. ii. 1.) But I think the account given of the ground of this caution in the paraphrase is on the whole much more certain. & * * * g Day approaching.] 'Phey knew that the day oſ Christ’s final judg- ment, being certainly future, came nearer and nearer. And from what Christ had said concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, as to happen in the lives of some who had been present with him about thirty years before the date of this Epistle, (compare Matt. xvi. 28.) they might infer well observes, it might perhaps be expressed in this more general man- ner, to intimate, how carefully we ought to guard against every degree of wilful sin, lest it should lead to that dreadful conclusion. b JVſo more sacrifice for sin.] This plainly intimates, as Dr. Bates (Harm. p. 293.) well observes, that God will not pardon, sin without some sacrifice or satisfaction ; else the argument would be inconclusive. c Set at nought the law of º This evidently alludes to that very important precept, Numb. xv. 30, 31. which doomed to certain death every one wh9 offended with an high hand; that is, who was guilty of any wilful, deliberate, and presumptuous sin, whether in matters great or small; though, a plea of ignorance or inconsideration was allowed, where the rebellion and presumption was not made apparent by any overt act. And this was the foundation of the sin-offering, which was in some degree analogous to the smaller punishment inflicted among us, And 24 ent attendance on the ordinances of religious 25 Let us then see to it that we thus approach in the way of his own appointment. But if we desire accept- 19, 20 SEC T. 15. HEB. 26 27 2 29 X. 820 SECT. but even trampled upond the Son of God, and who hath not only slighted the method of 15. * to the service of God, a common or an unclean thing, like the blood of a malefactor justly THE APOSTLE EXHORTS TO STEADINESS IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. reconciliation and purification which God hath appointed for lower purposes, but hath ac- counted the sacred blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified,” and solemnly set apart hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, where with he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit executed for his crimes? Now this he certainly does who rejects the gospel; which cannot of grace’ possibly be done without the greatest imaginable outrage to the memory of its Divine Au- thor, who, had he not indeed been the extraordinary Person he professed himself to be, would deservedly have been reckoned among the most detestable of impostors. And such an offence is in present circumstances the more aggravated, as it is plain, that he who com- mits it has offered the most contemptuous injury to the Spirit of grace, by whose miraculous and saving operations the truth of the gospel is demonstrated to such a degree, that the highest blasphemy against him must virtually be expressed by such a conduct as we here suppose. Ayoid therefore all approaches to this with the most solicitous care, for the divine justice is not to be trified with, as we know him that hath said, (Deut. xxxii. 35, 36.) wº- ºr \- 1 3. 30 Lord will judge his people;f and if he vindicate and avenge the injury done to them, he will much more severely animadvert upon those which are offered to his Spirit and his 31 Son. . Now surely you must immediately be sensible that [it is] dreadful indeed to fall into the hands of the living God; who, living for ever, can for ever punish, in what degree º pleases, the wretched creatures who have made themselves the objects of his final dis- pleasure. But I humbly hope you will be delivered from so terrible a ruin; and that you may, I will lead back your thoughts to former events, which, if duly considered, may be very instructive, and may prove the means of establishing you in your resolution of adhering to the gospel. And I must particularly urge you to }} to remembrance the former days, in which, having been enlighteneds with the knowledge of christianity, and solemnly engaged in the profession of it by baptism, you endured a great contest of sufferings, struggling and contending as for your lives, or what indeed was much more valuable: Partly as ye were made a public spectacle both by reproaches and afflictions, like men exposed on a theatre as infamous; and partly as ye were made partakers with those who were so treated, and most affectionately appeared in the defence of the divine cause, at the greatest hazard as well as expense. And indeed I have reason to speak this upon my own knowledge, for ye sympathized with me in my bonds; and ye took the plunder of your goods, not only with patience, but with joy, knowing in yourselves that you have, upon the security of the gospel promises, a far better and an enduring substance in the heavens, where éternal riches and felicity await you, when all the possessions of earth are lost, and all its sorrows come to a perpe- tual period. Lét the remembrance of these things, therefore, animate you to persist in such heroic resolutions, and cast not away that confidence of yours, and that free and courageous pro- fession of it, which hath so great and glorious a recompence entailed upon it; even that of eternal life and happiness, which the divine goodness will bestow as a gracious reward on 36 all who thus maintain it. It will indeed be necessary that, in order to secure it, you should take up a firm and vigorous resolution: for ye have still need of continued patience, that having done the will of God, during this short state of probation here, ye may receive and inherit the promise of life and salvation, to which ye have already expressed such a 37 firm regard. , Ánd I hope you will still go on to maintain the glorious cause ; for it is but i. a very little time,i and as God declared by the prophet Habakkuk, though he supposes e might for a while tarry, (Hab. ii. 3.) he that cometh, he that is known by that illustrious title of the Comer, even the Lord Jesus Christ himself, on whom our eyes and our hopes are fixed, will come to the rescue of his people, and he will not delay beyond the period which his wisdom and faithfulness have i. out. He will come and open those im- portant scenes, which shall not only conclude our labours and sufferings, but, abundantly repay them all. But in the mean time, as it is there added, the just shall live by hisſ. so we are assured by the repeated testimony of the word of God, that the truly good man shall, by firm faith in the divine perfections, promises, and grace, obtain justification and comfort, life and happiness. Yet if he draw back,k my soul, saith the same divine oracle, shall have no complacency in him; a total apostasy would expose even the best of men to the divine displeasure and abhorrence; as former experiences of religion would render 39 the guilt of such apostasy more aggravated. But blessed be God, we have a cheerful hope of being preserved from so terrible a state; for we are not of them that draw back to such dreadful destruction, but of them that go on, amidst all opposition, still to. believe ; and, sustained by divine grace, will persevere in that happy way, to the preservation and com- plete salvation of the soul. 32 33 34 35 38 3.) For, we know him that hath said, Vengeance belong- 7. - • º eth unto me, engeance [belongeth] to me; I will render recompense, saith the Lord : and again, The lºº, jºhº * . . S i. The Lord shall judge 11S people. will recom; . And 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into , the hands of the living God. 32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye, endured a great fight of afflictions; 33 Partly, whilst ye were made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. 34 For ye had compassion of me, in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring sub- Stance. 35 Cast not away, therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of pa- tience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. 38. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any may draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdi- tion ; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. for a crime, in othgr circumstances, capital, where benefit of clergy is sought and admitted. d Trainpled upon.] As it appears to me, that this is a description of A case that could only occur, where what was properly the sin against he Holy Ghost was committed, that is, ascribing the miracles wrought É. his power to magic, and the operation, of demons, I have para- phrased these words agreeable to that principle. e By which he jogs sanctifica.) As it could not on any principles be certainly inferred, that,eyery one who thus apostatized from christianity had been truly renewed, I think it very apparent, that this sanctification must only refer to his being erternally set apart, or consecrated to God; though I will not certainly say how far it inay, as Bishop Hoadly has thought, refºr to the sacramental win c representing the blood of the cope- 7tatt. (Hoadly, On Episc. p. 453.) Some have interpreted it of the blood whereby Christ was sanctified; or dedicated by God as a High Priest. (Compare John x. 35. xvii. 19.) But the foriner sense scèms to me more natural. ... . - f The Lord will judge his people, &c.] The connexion seems plainly to require this interpretation ; and it, agrees very well with the purpose for which it is here introduced. Very few commentators have con- sidered it in this view: ; yet since I wrote this, I find Mr. Cradock (Apost. Hist. p. 387.) gives it the sama sense. And Raphalius (Annot. in loc.) hath produced n passage from Xenophon, in which the original word, kotys, will judge, is used to signify, vindicating, or pronouncing tence in favour of. • & - º Having been enlightened.] By some this is understood of baptism : and it is certain the fathers use the phrase in that sense. But I see Q9 reason from Scripture, for Jimiting it to that interpretatiºn.º.º. as Diºdate himself does, there was any efficacy in baptism,to enlighten, any more than to regenerate. , Though; as, it Yaş, in eed the ordinance by which persons were solemnly cºred into the list of those who were # the maſſ, and in the judgment of charity, enlightened and .."; jºgspºt' for the opinion of so many, eminent Pºisoni, ºngº.º modern, has º me to hint at the sense they have generally y; vº it i e Dalràſ)}ly 8.86. 4. • * - - sº ºft is the emphatical signification of the word affº, which gives a view of their courage ". ; . proper ;is Jose, while he was thus commending ºng, an Imātīn;.ºem. ſº #.''}}; Šome would render ižº little, a pery little time _It has been observed, that epxoplevos, the Comer, is a title given to the -, * M - g xi. e - • **śack. We render the phrase in º lifted wp. And it is observable, that the alteration of a single letter.c anºes the reading into this sense, in WBC the have taken, it:-The original word, virgs-et Amtat, properly signifies to smeak or to slink away, Act3 xx. 20. Gal. ii. 12. scripTURAL EXAMPLES OF FAITH. 821 IMPROVEMENT. WE see the dreadful consequences of sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth: how SECT, diligently should we guard against every, even the least, appearance of it. Should we fall into so great an evil, 15. there would remain no more sacrifice for sin; and O how dreadful, to lose our part in that great Sacrifice, and —— be consigned over to a certain fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation but blessed be God, it is not IFB. yet our case. It is not every wilful sin which thus seals up the wretched soul to condemnation; for who then 32°." could hope for heaven? or who, in the utter despair of heaven, could enjoy this world? may we not say, who could §: it? - If we would avoid this dreadful doom, let us guard against every approach toward any thing which might be 29 Interpreted treading under foot the Son of God, or doing despite unto the Spirit of grace. On the contrary, let us ever retain the most reverent affection for the Son of God, and ever cherish the influences of the Spirit. So 31 º we avoid the threatened vengeance, and escape that infinitely dreadful thing, the falling into the hands of the living God. - To . experienced in any degree the power and efficacy of religion, is the great preservative against apostasy. 32 They who have already, like those believing Hebrews, made great sacrifices to their conscience, oright to feel the force of the obligation. The struggles through which they have º passed, the combats they have already maintained, should have a j influence on their future resolution, that they may not stain the lustre of their former victories. If such trials be appointed for us, may our faith be proportionably strengthened; that we may take joyfully, 34 not only the spoiling of our goods, but the torture of our bodies; knowing that we have in heaven a better and a more enduring substance than worldly wealth, and a far more glorious abode than these tabernacles of clay. Let the recompence of reward be kept continually in our view; that thereby that patience may be supported, of 36 which we ever stand in such evident need, that after we have done the will of God, we may go to inherit the promises. Let the certain and speedy approach of him that is to come, daily comfort us, and confirm the faith by which 37 we live; and let us still pour out our fervent supplications before God, that we may not draw back, which if we do, it will be infinitely fatal. Then, instead of beholding us with complacency, God's soul will abhor us; and 38 that abhorrence will be proportionable to our violated engagements, and dishonoured profession. Perdition pur- sues our retreat. Let every consideration, therefore, of honour, of gratitude, of interest, and of safety, concur to urge us on, and to support the steadiness of our faith, till we receive the glorious crown of it, in the complete 39 Salvation of our souls. SECTION XVI. The apostle enters on a discourse, in which he proposes to the Hebrews illustrious examples of faith; which had appeared in holy men mentioned in their scriptures, and particularly in Abel, Enoch, Noah ; and Abraham and Sarah. Heb. xi. 1–16 HEB. xi. 1. HEBREws xi. 1. NOW faith is the substance I HAVE spoken of the faith by which the just shall live; and that I may excite you to spoºr 3.º.º.º.º. * cultivate that blessed principle more and moré, let me now enter into a more distinct con- o dence of things not seen. Cºl - - p p 2 *- : *: * I II) more distinct con- 16 sideration of it, and set before your eyes, O ye believing Hebrews, some glorious examples & of it, with which your sacred history abounds. To consider it, then, in its nature; faith HEB. is the confident expectation” of things hoped for, upon the security of the divine promise, . xi. and the powerful conviction of things which are not seen ; but of whose certainty and I importance there is such a full persuasion, that they act upon the mind, in a great mea- sure, as if they were present. *...*.*.*...ºlders ob- To this I would excite you, by considerations peculiarly suited to your own case, as the 2 tained a good report. children of the patriarchs iſ. by it the illustrious elders obtained an [honourable] testi- mony to their character, and it lay at the root of many of the most glorious things they have ever done. - 3.Thºugh, ſaith. Wºunder. By faith we understand that the worlds were adjusted by the word of God,” and the 3 stand that the worlds w * - - * - - - #.d". . ."...r.º. several revolutions of them directed by the operations of his sécret providence, as the whole *...*.*.*... universe was at first created by his power, wisdom, and goodness, and the things which were not made of things • * * ... • - - e. which do appear. are seen, were not made of things which do appear :d it is certain mo visible cause could produce these things, which would be in effect to suppose them to have produced them- selves; we therefore by faith refer them to a divine, invisible Original. uño”, “ºn.”..ºft. And this happy and sublime principle hath wrought even from the beginning of the world, 4 O O - - - - - - *— jºhn'... and animated good men to actions most pleasing to God, and honourable to themselves. lºº. It was, for instance, by faith that Abel offered to God a greater and more acceptable sacri- was righteous, God testifying in :e bu m ..}, . º - ~ 1. , “; Šiš ºd ś'hé fice than Cain;" by means of which he obtained a testimony that he was righteous; God, by being dead yet speaketh. the visible tokens of his favour, bearing witness to his gifts, which he presented on the altar; and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh, and recommends to us in all ages that regard to the a Conſident expectation...]. Compare 2 Cor: ix. 4. Heb, iii. 14. Where latter clause as an inſerence from the former; but rather to establish the the word jiros-aat; is used in this sense ; and Raphelius hath conſirmed pººn in the first part of the verse, by the principle laid down in th: it by some pertinent quotations from Polybius. atter. . Accordingly I have given it this turn in the Iºaſaphrase, and b The powerful conviction of things not seen ; eXejºyos s 3Astropertov...] have taken the liberty to translate cºg ro, &c. as, which clearly ex- EXeyxos, it hath been observed by many learned men, and particularly presses, I apprehend, the apostle's intention. The construction of Rem. by Raphelius, in loc. is a strict proof or demonstration, that is, saith Mr. Y. 16. is somewhat similar to this; Therefore it is of faith, that it might #Aji. such a kind of reason and argument, as both convinces the under- be of grace, 64 rsto ex Tris-gos iva kaTaxapuſ, that is, & that it jäft standing, and engages a man, to act according to that conviction...Agr flºpeº to be of ºracº as we have already proved it is.” The apostiè's cordingly I have rendered it by the word, conviction, which I think intention was, by the latter, clause, as an uncontested principle, to properly expresses the apostle’s meaning. - - establish what be pow wanted to prove, namely, that justificº was c That the worlds were adjusted by the word of God..] As the original by faith; and this he does from the consideration of its being bºr. word is aioves, I was once inclined to have rendered it, the variousages It may be proper to consult Mr. Hallet on Heb. xi. 3. not q, who jº of the world were adjusted; and I have included this sense in the para- fers to Eph. i. 12. and 1 Cor. X. 6. where the apostle’s words, eig ro, &c. phrase. But it does not so evidently appear, that the consequence, cannot signify any thing but, to the intent that. relating to things not being made by those that appear, could be deduce -e āgrégtºr gnd more ºcellent sacrifice.] A late ingenious writer, Mr rop that principle: I therefore conglude, upon the whole, that this is Kennić9tts (in his Tºo Dissertations on the Tºeg of fjº. öölä. an instance where atov signifies world; as it is often translated in the New tions of Cain and Abel, p. 197.) has inferred from the ºr "...Y., º, ,”; Pºiº wº º !, were {..., of things 6voltav, which . be rendered, a greater or fuller sacrifice, that Cain ºpſºwc 0 not appear, that is, made, out of R0thing, Without any pre- contented himself with presentif * * † - sºut matter, beforé God créated the worlds. Pearson. On the Creed, ; d § fi ...'...}*...}}...? §º", "...; *: - ºf a - - - mb, showed his faith in t sacri - .# A fi d As—the things which are seen, were not made of things which do ap- aii that has been § º § º ſº # § .9; 㺠Pºri, is Togºl, is ºvopºvov, K. T., A.] Our translators have rendered original of sacrifices is strongly insinuatéâ in"; i. this clause, $2 that the things, which are seen, &c. But this, does not ºf Dead, yet $peakgth.]. Sºme would render it, And for this they say he sºem to be sufficiently agreeable either to the original, or to the design died, that is, there is a tradition that hº’ºei". Cain, in a of the apostle; which was not to deduce the sentiment contained in the dispute about the recompence of a future life, which faith proposes. 8.32 S.E.C.T. 16. HEB, XI. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 SCRIPTURAL EXAMPLES OF FAITH. - great atonement, which he expressed by bringing an animal sacrifice, while Cain content- ed himself with the vegetable products of the ground. And though Abel became the early victim of Cain's rage, yet that circumstance, in conjunction with the declaration he re- çeived of the divine acceptance and favour, is very instructive, in that it affords so power- ful an evidence of a future state. * By faith the celebrated patriarch Enoch was, in a miraculous manner, translated from among men; so that he should not see death ; and he was not foundé any longer among the inhabitants of this lower world, because God had translated him to the celestial regions, in a manner before altogether unexampled, nor ever since equalled among mortals, but in the single instance of Elijah. And God thus translated him, not only because he had a re- gard for his character, but because he would, by such an interposition, give a visible and Very important, lesson to others, to seek and sécure his favour by the exercise of such a disposition. For before his translation, he obtained witness that he pleased God ; preceding tokens were given of God's favourable regards to him ; and that character is expressed by the sacred historian, when it is said (Gen. v. 24.) that Enoch walked with God; that is, he maintained a constant regard to him, and received the indication of his favour ; so that there subsisted a holy intercourse and friendship between God and Enoch. Builditiºn a sincere faith, as the great principle of action, [it is] absolutely impossible to please [him ; ſor he who approacheth to God, and pretends to walk with him, mºst, as the foundation of that intercourse, firmly believe that he erists, and [that he is the Rewarder of them that {{ligently seek him, and will bestow some peculiar and important blessings upon them. For where there are no such expectations as these, the soul cannot be animated to the labours and struggles of a truly religious life. By ſaith the patriarch ...Yoah, the second common ancestor of mankind, being admonished by a divine oracle, concerning things which were not seen, and things of such a nature, that no one had ever seen or heard of anything parallel to them, the dissolution of the world by a flood, and the destruction of all its inhabitants, believed and revered the awful threatening. And being impressed with a pious and, in that connexion, most rational fear of the divine judgments, with immense labour and cost, amidst all the insults of profane and wicked men, prepared an ark, which God taught him to build, for the salvation of his hoºse and, family; by means of which he condemned the unbelieving world, by bearing a public and convincing testimony against them: .4nd thus he became heir of the righteous- ness which is obtained by faith;k he was pronounced by God a righteous person, though his character was not absolutely free from imperfections, and became by divine grace en- titled to the promises of eternal life, of which his temporal deliverance, though so amazing, was only an emblem. - By faith that illustrious patriarch Abraham, from whom you justly esteem it a peculiar honour and happiness to be descended, being called by the God of glory, who appeared to him, to go out from his father's house and native land, to a distant place, which God promised that he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, obeyed without disputing or murmuring, and went out, though he knew not at all whither, he was going, or to which part of the world he was to steer his course, humbly resigning himself to divine Providence to mark out his journey and his abode. By faith he sojourned all the remainder of his days in the land of promise, when he knew it to be so, as [in] a strange country, without having any property there, unless it was that of a sepulchre towards the close of his life; dwelling in tents, easily moved from one place to another, some part of the time with Isaac and Jacob ; who, in their succession, were heirs with him of the same promise, and depositories of it, yet led the same kind of wandering life. But he passed from place to place with sºciº ; for he erpected at length to be led on to a city, and that not such a one as he had left in his native land, or such as he saw in Canaan, or even in Egypt, grand and populous as some of their buildings were ; the object of his joyful and con- fident expectation, was that city which alone hath firm and immovable foundations, in comparison with which they were but like a frail tabernacle; a city, of which God [is] the Builder and Former, who drew and executed the grand plan, and laid out upon it all the richest ornaments, which might raise it to a magnificence worthy of his own abode, and the inheritance of his beloved children. By faith Sarai herself, notwithstanding some mixture of suspicion, at length, as the worthy, consort of such a husband, and worthy mother of such an offspring, received strength for the conception of seed, and brought forth a child beyond the due time ſº. for such a purpose, when she was ninety years old, and in the course of nature absolutely incapable of being a mother; because she accounted him who had promised to be the faith- ful and Almighty God, who could, with infinite ease, accomplish an event, which then seemed to be, and indeed was, unparalleled. Therefore by this mighty principle of faith in her, and in Abraham, there sprang even from one father, and he in this respect, as it were, dead, [a posterity] in multitude as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand upon the sea-shore innumerable,” according to that divine promise, which carried its efficacy into so many remoter ages, and retains it even to this day. 5 By faith Enoch was trans- lated that he should not see death ; and was not found, because God had translated him : for before his transla- tion he had this testimony, that he pleased God, 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him : for | he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is, a rewarder of theni that diligently seek him. 7 By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house ; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteous- aness which is by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and acob, the heirs with him of the same promise : .10 For, he looked, for a city which, hath foundations, §e builder and maker is OCl. 11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was de- livered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so in any as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. Saurin’s Scrºmans, vol. ix. p. 54. I rather think it refers to the testimony of accusation; in which view Titus iii. 11... may be understood. See the pleasing God, or *:::::::: borne, as it wer”, to a future state, by his story, as he was so excellent a person, and visibly approved by God, yet left to suffer by the cruelty of his wicked brother. Some would render XaXstral, he is spoken of to this day, as a perso:]..of most eminent piety and goodness. g Płas, not found..] The circumstances of his translation are not men: tioned ; but sorne have thought this intimates he was privutely translated and sought for, as Elijah afterwards was, 2 Rings ii. 17. . - h Approach eth to Cºcq, and pretends to walk with him.]... Raphelius hath spown, that the §af word Tpoospxopévov is applied, in the Greek classigs, to conning to God by prayer.; and it is used in chap. x. 1, 22. and xii. 22, 23: for approaching to Göd in any act of divine worship. He therefore justly observes, that it may here be taken in a larger sense, and refer to that steady course of piety and virtue, which is implied in ing with him, as in the former verse Enoch is said to ſhave done; and which, in the preceding clause, it is declared to he impossible for any one to do without faith. * i"Condemned the world..] It is plain, that here, as in many other places, a person is said to condemn those against whom he furnishes out matter note there. - r k Heir of the righteousness.] Bishop Cumberland observes, that Noab is the first to whom the name of righteous man is applied in Scripture. Cumh. Orig. Gent. p. 418. - - º ł Włºth Isaac and Jacob.] It is Fº from the agcount of the lives of these patriarchs, that Jacob was born, fifteen-yegºs before Abraham, died : and the oracle given to Isaac before the birth of his children, would suf. ficiently intimate to Abraham, that he was the heir of the promise. m In multitude as the stars aſ heaven, &c.] Mr. Hallet observes here a great propriety in the apostle’s saying that they should be in ºn ultitude as the stars of heaven, and gs the sand on the Sea-shore innumerable : there being an impossibility of numbering the latter, whereas the former since they have been reduced into constellations, have been numbered with a considerable degree of exactness. See Hallet, in loc. where he endeavours to account, consistently, with this observation, for Psal. cxlvii. 4. He telleth the number.9f the stars, and galleth them all by their names, as if this were the peculiar prerogative of God. SCRIPTURAL EXAMPLES OF FAITH. , in or red the pro- - - - - * e * . . . . " e & © . * * * g g §º; in faith, not having received the blessings exhibited in the promises; but having seen them jº. . . º: - of them, and embraced them -- g s ge * §§jºyº; cordial affection, and greatest ardour of mind, and having, through the whole course, of ºrs and pilgrimson the their lives, confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on earth; as we know...that these holy patriarchs, and some of their most eminent descendants, did. (Gen. xxiii. 4. dº.”..."... ." xlvii. 9. i Chron. xxix. 15. Psal. xxxix. 12. cxix. 19, 54.) For they who say such things §:...º.” ” as these, and speak of themselves as strangers and pilgrims, plainly express that they seek ..º.º.º.º. a country" different from that in which they dwell, when they use suéh language: , ºnd been mindful of that country - A º ºr & * tº º }. . .hº..."... as for these excellent men, if indeed they had been mindful of that country from which they HºpPo' came out, they might sure have had an opportunity of reifrning to it; for they were a con- y to have returned. - 5 º & º: 4. - * ~ * - siderable body, and they might have marched back without the probability of meeting with any resistance, and might have expected a subsistence among the relations of their family, who were themselves in a prosperous state, and often expressed, on proper occa- 16 But now they desire a sions, their regard to these their illustrious kinsmen. Wow therefore it appears, that they }...”.º.º. §nº were desirous of a better, that is, a heavenly [country;]” for there was no earthly country, ..º.º.º.º. which they seem to have been pursuing. And indeed this is the great excellenge of their ...'...i.e. "it."” character, to be governed by such views; therefore God determined to bestow this happy land upon them, and he is not ashamed to be called their God, in such a peculiar manner, as he has assumed the title, because he hath prepared them such a city as they sought; whereas if he had done nothing more for them than he did here upon earth, it would have been beneath his dignity to have professed that relation; as the title naturally im- ports something great and excellent, far beyond what these patriarchs received, and indeed what any can possibly receive in this mortal and transitory life. IMPROVEMENT. Let the many glorious examples of faith, which are here set before us, animate our souls to imitation, and ex- 823 13,These all died in faith, Now all these worthy and excellent persons, of whom I have here been speaking, died SECT. 16. HEB. XI. 13 14 15 I 6 qfar off, and having been fully persuaded [of | and embraced [them] with the most — cite in us a generous desire of acting upon that noble and sublime principle, without which it is impossible to Ver. 6 please God. And O, may what we call our faith be not merely a speculative and ineffectual assent to the truth, 1 even of the most weighty propositions; but a firm persuasion of their certainty, and a deep conviction of their im- 2 portance, that we also may obtain a good report. - May, we believe in God, as the Former and Support of universal nature, as most assuredly existing, and as most Dountifully rewarding all that seek him with sincerity and diligence. So shall our sacrifices be acceptable to him, as those of Abel were, while with him we look to that great Sacrifice and Atonement, of which his victim was the appointed representation. Like Enoch we shall then be animated to walk with God, and favoured with divine in- tèrcourse and communications. And though we cannot expect a translation like his, which should exempt us from the common lot of mortality, we shall be secure of admission into the paradise of God above, and in due time shall ascend to it in our complete persons. We shall then, like Noah, find our safety in the midst of a dissolving world, and while sinners are condemned, be found the heirs of righteousness. -> While we wait for this happiness, let us endeavour to approve ourselves the genuine children of Abraham, the father of the faithful. Ever attentive to the divine call, may we, in obedience to it, be willing to go forth, though we do not particularly know whither; and with an intrepidity like his, may we even be ready to exchange worlds, at the command of God, ignorant as we are of what lies beyond the grave; thinking it enough, that we know it is a land which God hath promised as the inheritance of his children. It is indeed a city that hath foundations, in comparison of which all the most magnificent and established buildings of the children of men are but mean and movable tents. *- God boasts in the title of its Builder and Maker, having formed and fashioned it for the highest displays of his glory and his love; and in reference to it, he is not ashamed to be called our God; for by bestowing it upon us, he answers all which that high and glorious title might import. May we ever desire this as our better country, and live as its citizens ought; confessing ourselves, in reference to it, to be pilgrims and strangers upon the earth. And though we here receive not the accomplishment of the promises, may we keep our eyes on the objects they exhibit, how distant soever they may seem; and being persuaded of them, may we embrace them; embrace them even with our dying arms, and breathe out our prepared and willing spirits, in full assurance that we are going to receive and possess them. > * * * *s-> SECTION XVII. The apostle further dilates upon examples and instances of faith in Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. Heb. xi. 17—29. HEB. xi. 17. HEBREws xi. I7. EX.º I HAVE already mentioned some glorious instances of the faith of Abraham, our illustri- was tried, OTſeret S8.3.C. . * 34-2, - . es * -- ſº- ` . & * * - jºi; ous progenitor; but I should be far from doing justice to my subject, if I were not to add É. sºred up his only another, the most celebrated of all. You will remember, thereforé, that it was by faith that 3. Jłbraham was supported, when he was tried, in that most severe instance, and at the divine command ºered his son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved; yea, he who had received the promises, which terminated not only in his seed, but in Isaac by name, offered his only- begotten, [son] in whom they so centred, that they must necessarily have failed, if he hād perished without any offspring. So that nothing seemed more difficult, on principles of t; ºf Whº | iº, tº common reason, than the reconciliation of the promise with the command." Even when ºia saac shall tº see" he was destined to the altar, concerning whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called, (Gen. . 12.) . his triumphant faith surmounted even such an obstaclé, and it was as 19 Accounting that God Wise and rational as it was pious and heroic : Reasoning within hims ** * acas able to raise him up, God was able even to raise [him from the dead:* d b mself as he did, that even from the dead; from & * * h n the dead;" and consequently that he could have Wºlso he received him brought Isaac to life again, if he had really expired under the sacrificial knife, and been 1 in a ligure. * * * * * * g : -; reduced to ashes: from whence he received him even in a figure.b For as his production ... ", Seek a country; Tarpiða.]. The original word is very emphatical; a Regsoning, that God cas, able even to raise him.] Archbishop Til- it signifies, as it, were, a native country, or a country in which their lotson justly observes, that his faith was in this respect the more admi- father dwelt, and is opposed to that in which they were strangers and rºble, as, so far as we can learn, there never had been one single instance pilgrims. of a resurrection from the dead, in, or before, the days of Åbº ham. o Better, coºtntry, that is, a heavenly..] The argument, according to b In a figure : ev Tapaſ}9Xm.] Some think this implies, that his birth the turn. I have given it, is much the same with that which our Lord was a kind of resurrection from the dead. But the learned Dr. War- urges, Matt. xxii. 32. burton contends earnestly for it, that Tº rapagoxintimates, that the 3 6 4, 5 16 13 19 824 SECT. 17. HEB. XI. 20 2 I 22 23 25 26 27 28 SCRIPTURAL EXAMPLES OF FAITH. Was a miracle, raising him, as it were, from the dead bodies of those who in a course of nature had no hope of children; so he was in another sense raised from the dead, when God gave him back to Abraham in the mount, in that awful transaction, in which was so significant a representation of Christ's day, (John viii. 56.) and of the method which God took for ºr redemption, in the sacrifice of his only-begotten son. - - º º revºlation, which he then received from God, under that superior direc- .20 By faith Isaac blessed tion, Isaac, When advanced in age, blessed his two children, Jacob and Esau, and uttered ºu concerning a g :- & -g gº g r * things to come. some remarkable oracles concerning things long to come, and of such a nature, that no g H ſ * * * o:ht ld ~ : * 4. c 5 y human foresight could possibly reach them. * † In !, a rsh or , 1, ... º ~ * di Hyſalth ſº when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, in full dependence on the .21 By faith Jacob, when he I ly *P.on sº of an inheritance in Canaan; appointing these his grandchildren tribes in ...". º Sršel; fºrêtelling the superiority of Ephraim the younger, to Manasseh the elder; and, shippeºgaming upon the top * * l * * - ** º 1I] º ul acknowledgment of that divine goodness which he had so long experienced, of his staff. at the same time gorshippedº bowing down upon the top of his staff, with which he sup: ported himself as he sat on the side of his bede Again, it was by faith that Joseph, when dying, mentioned the departure of the children nº ſaiº, ſº ºn % Israel out of Egypt, as a fact which should certainly come to pass, though at a long hº istance of time ; and then, in token of his entire dependence upon it, and expectation of .º.º.º.º.º.d- the inheritance º Would then possess, he gave a charge concerning the carrying his ment concerning his bones. bones with them, to be interred in the sepulchre of his fathers in Canaan. The case of our illustrious lawgiver will also furnish us with further glorious examples lºy, alth, Moš, when S he was born, was hid three gf that which was in him a kind of hereditary virtue; for it was by faith that Moses, when º'ºts."; he was just born, was hidden three months by his pious parents in their own house; because ;: §ºa'iº they saw [he º a graceſul child, who seemed by his aspect to promise something un- hot affaii of the king's com: common. And they therefore determined, if possible, to preserve his life, and feared not * the commandment of the king, requiring all Israelitish parents, on pain of death, to give up their male children, that they might be thrown into the river. By faith, this Moses, when he was grown upf to maturity of age, and become great in 24 Bºith Mºses; wº the dignities and preferments of the Egyptian court, on fulf consideration of all that could "...º.º. be º in favour of secular views, déliberately refused to be any longer called, as he had raoh's daughter; before been, the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, but boldly professed himself an Israelite, and interposed to vindicate his brethren from their oppression: Choosing much rather to par- 25 Choosing rather to suffer take with the people of God in their qfliction, than to enjoy the temporary and transient §º. peºple ºf & e **. e * y - joy the plea pleasures of sin, which he might have expected had he continued in that magnificent but sures of sin for a season; corrupt court: Esteeming the reproach º Christ,é the infamy that he might meet with in 26 Esteeming the reprºach acknowledging himself one of the Israélites whom Christ had been pleased to take under .9;"; };"; his special protection, and whom God had acknowledged for his anointed people, greater he had respect unto the re. riches than all the treasures in Egypt, though so opulent a kingdom for he firected his re. ****** gards to the recompence of reward,h which he expected to receive in the invisible and eternal world, and to possess, when princes should have quitted their thrones, and all the pride of monarchs be laid low. It was also by faith, that he left º in that resolute and heroic tº: manner; not fearing the wrath of the king,i when he charged him on pain of death to see #: .*.*.*. his face no more; but before he went, boldly predicted the destruction of the first-born, as seeing him who is invº which was to follow all the dreadful judgments already executed; for he was inwardly sible. strengthened to this dignity and steadiness of conduct, as seeing him who is the great invi- sible Being, ever present to the eye of the believing mind, and whose presence and friend- ship is of such infinite importance, that he who fixes his regards on him, will never by any consideration be influenced to offend him, nor much impressed with the fear of any thing that would tempt him to do this. - By faith that God'would assuredly send his angel on the vindictive design foretold, dº."...º the passover, and the Sprin and spare the houses properly distinguished, he celebrated the passover, and the pouring ing of blºodlest he "...i forth the blood of the lamb, which he sprinkled on the lintels and the posts of the doors, as tº first born show the mark of committing those who dwelt under such roofs to the divine protection; that he who destroyed the first-born might not touch them, under the security of that peaceful sign, an emblém of the safety we expect by means of the blood of Jesus, the true and 5 * great Passover, who is sacrificed for us. whole transaction was parabolical or typical of the method God would wh9, in support of it, cites a remarkable passage from Homer, (Ezercit. take for the salvation of men. The j Wolfius is of the same Philolog. p. 252.) and it appears by the acgount of Stephen, Acts, xii opiniog, (Cara Philolog. vol. iv. p. 762.) and observes, in support of it, 23. that Moses was now forty year? old. I have given, a hint of both that the Greek word Fapagº answers to the Hebrew Swo, and is so ºprºtºiº paraphrase.—Some are of opinion ºpiº: sed by the Seventy : : d that the Hebrews are wont to say ºwns, in ſº tº the story which Josephus tell us, of his trampliº, ºn the used by the seventy : and that the tiebrews o say 5 tº ºther a boy; and that it is as if the apostle, had sºid, “He did or by a parable or figure, when they would express a typical,”eprésenta- not do it as a puerile action, and when he understood not the Yalue of tion. f imagines this interpretation to be the more probable, begause thin; but when he knew all the worth it could be supposed tº bayº.” the apostle bath put a mark of emphasis upon ev Tapaſ}oxm, by prefixing Šēē "fillotson’s Works, vol. ii. p. 29-If Josephus’s ºn: be right, kat to it, cvett in a figure. | Pharaoh’s flºº In O SOIl 3. hº ºf: *"º. Eiessed Jacobi. He was persuaded that God would one way Qr $omº Yiewſ tº nº.º.º.º.º.º., ... p : pu st 1, e- alo㺠; :"..." hi. jºie. to them, though he could not certainly hend the laws of Égypt would have permitted that, as he was of foreign i.e., home, and was mistaken in the person. * * * 1 ſt.I). & y is tº sº is d jñºshi pºd.j iíe thought it so great a privilege to be buried in the g Reproach of Ghristº There gº .. W º º". º º land of Čáñaan, that he boºed his head, in token of thankfulness for it; reproach of Israel, G90 s anointed people, * jº W. ºri; the sºn £ ºici, ºr demonstration of faith in God's promise. Gen. reprºach ºf the anointed; but I, rather appre * t;". stieſth ºf se xlvii. 30, 31. j ñº e ‘On the top of his staff, as he sat on the side of his bed.] In the pass- fers to the Tºº!99 ºn Yº ~ - - '... ...";;... Y. g ºe 9: *: Gen. º, 31, it is said, according to our English people; so that reproach borne on thºr #: W º,"; §§ version, is rael toured himself upon his bed's head. The appstº says, he pare I Cor. x.9.) and, Mr. Flemiº; §§ ***.*. º: of §§ #. moorshipped upon the top of his staff; and this agrees with the Greek and as an argument, for Çhrist's existence .*.* le Nº. by tiº Messiah §§§ {Tanslation; and Wölfius adās, that the LXX, always, render Monº supºº, that the Israelites expected deliverance by, tºº ; : * > - Fo-wrot is nº nt : and it is certain the Hebrew word ºnton, a staff. Mr. Hallet, therefore, in a learned and that the Egyptians insulted them on that º i. Šajići, the ſº * * - a º g a wº - the account of Christ may je jºhijace, is of opinion, that the Hebrew word signifies repºłº,92.7" { - * * * t 's Serm. D. I 5 1– §.º.d'; . staff, and tº". Eish" rajators toº implicity ºach, of Chris: iſiºn #jº; ºx. folio we l’ the modern Jews, º sº | hº to jºi: bed, in ;inº § rº l{}: y C) sition to fle authority of the L and of the apostle. I he pass- 3. . IX X X I X.. JUT"s Jºe ׺ ºr ºrº & - *(; f. te jº. possibly b. Fºlei, if there be any occasion for it, by the Recompence of reward.] º: º º; £ircumstance mentioned in the paraphrase, is it is not likely, thºt which he *i; }. had Wºº.; he never" saw fi #: Jacob was º in #. #. G#. º 29. but | tº: §º. jºi. ºffich was discovered to him by the sitting on the side of it. His leaning on the top 0. St.G. y - - . - #...". was very old and feeble ; and this circumstance, says Mr. Hal- principle here so largely deseriºd ingº; sly said, (Exod ié, is very pertinently mentioned by, the apostle, to intim㺠that, ... i Fearing the wrath of the king.] º'E' ...” º ; (10 xOd. fºbjë as he was, he would worship God in the best manner he was ii. 14, i5) that when he first quitte gypt, an fº. O SOJOurn in §ſé 3. jiājān, he loºs afraid; I apprehend the assertion.9 the apostle, that he a'ſ Grown up.] Some would more, literally render, it grgº flºº; did not fear the wrath of the king, refers to the instance mentioned in the that is, a great man, in power and diggity. Bºt, the Yeº have paraphrase. preferréd is justified by Erasmus Schmidius, and by the learned Bos, SCRIPTURAL, EXAMPLES OF FAITH. 825 29. By faith, they passed , Again, by faith operating in Moses, and in its degree in them likewise, they passed over SECT. }}º the Red Sedk sedately, as if they had marched on dry land, while its waters by, the divine 17. assaying to do were drowned, command divided, and left the channel bare to them, so that they completed, their march — through it, and arrived safely on the opposite shore; which the #: making an inso- º lent and rash attempt to do were all drowned, and sunk like lead in the mighty waters, which & returned upon them with irresistible violence. 29 IMPROVEMENT. LET these glorious instances of faith be preserved in our memory, and have their due influence upon our hearts. When God calls us to resign our dearest comforts, let us think ºf that heroic act of faith by which Abraham offered Ver. 17 up Isaac, and seemed in him to sacrifice all the promises, as well as his son. Yet he therein acted a part the most strictly rational; as rightly concluding, that God could with infinite ease call him back to life again, and make a 19 person, who had poured forth all his blood on the altar, and been reduced to ashes there, the father of many nations. Let dying parents commit their children to the care of the ever-living God, like Jacob ; and worship him 20 who hath fed them 㺠their lives long, and who will never forsake those that put their trust in him. Let those 21 who are called to glorify God, by opposing the unjust commands of great and powerful men, remember the parents of Moses, and remember their illustrious child. Does he now repent that wonderful choice that he made at an 23 adult age? does he now wish that he had been called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, rather than the servant of 24 God, faithful in all his house 2 does he wish that he had secured the treasures of Egypt, and the temporary plea-25 sures of sin, and declined that reproach of Christ, which has ended in eternal glory? Our hearts, our consciences, 26 will soon answer: Let us, then, like him, have respect unto the recompence of reward. Let us endeavour more frequently to direct our regards to God, and live as seeing him who is invisible. 27 And while our faith is thus viewing him, let us look with pleasure to the blood of sprinkling, which places us 28 under his protection; which introduces us to his favour; which secures us from the destroying angel. He will lead us on safely to his heavenly Canaan, if we fall not by unbelief. He will open our passage through seas of 29 difficulty ; he will send down upon us, every suitable supply, and would much sooner command the skies to rain down bread, or the flinty rock to melt into streams of water, than desert his people in the wilderness. Let all his wonders of power and of love, to Israel of old, animate our faith; and let them all quicken our obedience; and under a sense of our own weakness, and the importance of this leading, this princely grace, let us daily pray, Lord, increase our faith ! * SECTION XVIII. The apostle concludes, his discourse on faith, by hinting at many other glorious instances of it, and besides several recorded in Scripture, refers also to the case of those who suffered under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. Heb. xi. 30, to the end; xii. 2. HEB. xi. 30. HEBREws xi. 30. BY faith the walls of Jericho I HAVE mentioned the faith which our forefathers exercised on the miraculous power of SECT. *ś, ... God to lead them out of Egypt, and through the Red sea; and I must further observe, 18. that they continued under the influence of the same principle when they came into the promised land: for it was by faith in those who marched round the strongly fortified walls HEB. of Jericho, following the § and who at the appointed signal blew the trumpets of rams’ on 4. horns and shouted, that, contrary to all sensible appearances of possibility, they fell down, 30 smitten by the hand of God, without any human force, having been only surrounded seven days in solemn silence, according to the divine command; how absurd a spectacle soever 31 By faith the hailot Ra- their procession might appear to the besieged. It was by faith, and in consequence of it, 31 #. º.º.º. that Rahab the harlot did not perish with the infidels of that city among whom she dwelt; ind received the spies with having received the spies hospitably and dismissed them in peace, when an alarm was taken DeaC8. by her fellow-citizens, and they searched for them to destroy them. She therefore hazarded her own life to preserve theirs, believing them to be the servants of the Almighty Jehovah, and assuring herself that he could protect her in her efforts for their security, and could make them the means of delivering her and her family; which was accordingly the case... .. 32 And whº shall ºngº And what shall I say further upon this copious, this inexhaustible sibject? for the time 32 ... ."..."; %. would fail me if I should attempt to discourse at large concerning Gideon, who, with so }º g§º. # small a band of men, cut off so many thousands of the Midianites; and Barak, who freed šº Israel from the oppression of Jabin, and routed Sisera his general ; and Samson, who slew so many thousands of the Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass, and *ś so many other astonishing achievements: I might also speak of the victory o Jephthah over the Ammonites, and the heroic acts of David, in his combat with Goliath, and his other fre- uent encounters with the enemies of God and his Israel; and even of Samuel, who, though his character seemed more pacific, as a prophet and a judge, yet led on the armies of the Lord, on a remarkable occasion, to an illustrious victory. I might also enlarge on the celebrated histories of Elijah, Elisha, and others of the prophets, particularly Daniel, and the three young worthies, whose magnanimous history he hath º recorded. 33.Who through faith sub- I will not dwell on the history of those heroes who have transmitted their names to our 33 #.o.º.º. age, and shall transmit them to all who are to come, with such distinguished honour; but * * s — ? º * * - * * -> ises, stopped the mouths of shall content myself with observing, that it was by the exercise of this great principle, that lions, they were raised to those sublime degrees of reputation and glory. It was by faith that some of them, after many a painful struggle, subdued the kingdoms of those princes which had oppressed God's Israel; others of them wrought righteousness,” and carried their obedience to God and their zeal for his law to the most extraordinary degrees; others of them obtained promises of the most unexpected events in their favour, which were exactly and circumstantially performed ; others stopped the mouths of lions, which came roaring against them, as if they would have devoured them in a moment, or into whose dens they were thrown. . * * 34 Quenched the violence Nay, as to some of them we are expressly told, that they quenched the violence of the 34 *seaped the easeofthe fire, when they were actually thrown into the furnace ; others of them escaped the edge of k By faith thcy passed.]. M. Saurin obseryes, with his usual delicacy, ceptance, with him as to be entitled to his coerlasting favour. Saur. that since it very evidently appears, that of those who passed through Serm. vol. ix. p. 47. w s the sea, there were some with whom God toas not º: (1 Cor. a Wrought righteousness.] Some, have interpreted this, not only of x. 5.) we cannot infer, that aii the persons afterwards mentioned by their leading lives exemplary, for holiness, but administering givistice name, as instances of faith, were, on the whole, in such a state of ac- to others. But I do not know that the phrase has ever that signification - 104 826 18. HEB. XII. 35 36 lasting kingdom in the heavens. And others, in the same glorious cause, received the irial of cruel mockings and scourgings; but neither the derision nor the pain could prevail upon Yea, they proved also the utmost force of bonds and im- 37 the ill usage which commonly attends such confinements. And others were brought out from their bonds to the most infamous and painful executions; and they were some of them stomed, and others sawn asunder,h they were tempted by unheard-of cruelties, on the one 38 of their enemies, and at other times by the rigour of the seasons. persons of the most amiable and venerable characters, of whom the world was not worthy that they should inhabit it; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and holes of the earth, that they might hide themselves, if possible, from the rage of their per- 39 And all these heroes, in different ages, were supported under their respective trials, se- were and extreme as they were, by the exercise of a firm and lively faith in the fidelity of God, and the invisible rewards and glories of a future state; and it was by this, that hav- 40 and complete enjoyment of that glory which faith taught them to expect: God having, according to the counsels of his infinite wisdom, provided something still better for us, in the gospel revelation ; that so the beauty of his conduct and administration might be so the more apparent; and that they without us might not be made SCRIPTURAL EXAMPLES OF FAETH. SECT, the, Sword,” when it was just lifted up to destroy them; they were strengthened in the sword, out of weakness were midst of weakness,” and many of them became so valiant in battle, that they repelled the armies of the aliens, or foreign enemies, when they encamped against them. made strong, waxed, valiant in fight, turned to flight the here are armies of the aliens. & * sº º ge * * tº g W eceiv º also, recorded in the prophetic writings other instances, in which women received their dead d.º.º.; º children] by a resurrection from the dead; which, till these examples, had never nºwn or heard of (Compare I Kings xvii. 22, 23.2 Kings iv. 36, 37. others were tortured, not ac- been cepting. deliverance; that .ánd the cre- they might obtain a better dible records ºf succeeding ages inform us of the triumphs of faith in a stillmore glorious *tion: degree ; in which several others, and particularly seven children and one pious and hol mother were torturedd in the most inhuman manner, to compel them to renounce their religion, and commit idolatry; but endured all with invincible fortitude, not accepting de- liverance” when it was offered them, nor even riches and preferments added to the propo- sal, that they might obtain a better resurrectionſ than their persecutors could offer them when they seemed more than half dead: even a resurrection to the enjoyment of an ever: them to desert their profession. 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourg- ings, yea; moreover of bonds and imprisonment: prisonment, in which many of them languished for tedious months and years, under all 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, , were tempted, were slain with the sword : they wandered about hand, as well as the offers of immediate deliverance, on the other, and at length slain with ...hº...? the sword; they wandered about clothed in the meanest manner, and sometimes, when being destitute, afflicted, tor- mented; their former habits were worn out, only in sheepskinsk and in goatskins, being destitute of the common accommodations of life, afflicted, and even tormented, sometimes by the fury 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy :) they wan- dered in deserts, and in moun- tains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And though these were secutors, who often, like dogs hunting for their prey, followed them even into these last retreats, solitary and inhospitable as they were. 39 And these all, having ob- tained a good report through faith, received not the pro- In 1862 : ing obtained a good report, they persevered to the end. But they did not receive the full accomplishment of the promise made to their fathers, nor have they yet arrived to the full IQUIC 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that might end with the greatest dignity and propriety, in bringing all his children together, to the full consummation of their hopes in Christ Jesus his Son, at the time of his final and triumphant appearance. In the mean time, we may consider this glorious and triumphant assembly, down from the peaceful and blessed state at which many of them are already arrived, and observing the manner in which we endeavour to follow them. mate us in a becoming manner. Being therefore, as we are, encompassed" they without us should not be made perfect. erfect; but all as lookino Heb. xii. 1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, And let the thought ani- ith so great a cloud of witnesses," who surround us on every side in a vast, innumerable assembly, the spectators of our trial, let us lay aside every encumbering weight, and especially the sin which in present circumstances has the greatest advantage [against us,” I mean, a disposi- b Edge of the sword.). Probably this may refer to the deliverance of º from the sword of Saul, and of Elijah and Micaiah from that of in all). -- c Strengthened in we caknes”.] Some refer this to their being re- govered from sickness, by faith and prayer, as Hezekiah, Job, and David were. * * d Were tortured.] The original, woºd signifies a peculiar sort of tor- ture, which was called that of the tyrapānum, or drum, when they wº the º º then beaten with clubs, which must give exquisite pain, When all the parts w such stretch. See Wolfiqs, Curac Philolgg. in loc. lya ItS were On Such (l e JV'ot accepting deliverance.] robably the apostle here refers to 2 Mac. viii. 11, 14, 23, 29., where there is an evident reference to a re- surrection, which plainly shows it, then to have been assuredly believed among the Jews. Dr. Scott thinks it was revealed to them by Daniel and Ezekiel, in order to prepare them for those severe trials which they were afterwards to undergo for the sake of their religion. (Scott’s Christian Life, yol. v. p. 203.) . But it ſnay be justly debated, how far the passages referred to could afford certain, proof of a resurrection. It is observable, that Josephus, being probably ashamed to avow a hope which the heathens had so much derided, suppressed this circumstance, and only hints at some expectation of a future state. - etter resurrection.] Dr. Owen understands this, as if the apostle had meant, The better resurrection; that is, the resurrection which is better than the resurrection of the wicked. But it is observed by Jacobus Capellus, that most probably, in that case, the article, yould have been prefixed, rms kpstrzovos avaş-ageog. The opinion of Crellius and Dr. Hammond is, that the word better is to be understood as opposed to a present remission of their torments; and this sense I have adopted in the paraphrase ; supposing it bears a respect to the deliverance which they would not accept, mentioned in the words iº. preceding. Mr. Hallet is exceedingly clear, that the opposition lies, between the resurrection to eternal life, which these martyrs expected, and the re- surrection of the dead children"to life in this world, ineptioned in the first clause of the yerse. & g Scourgings.] Jeremiah was buffeted, (Jer. xx. 2.) and some think scourged too. hap. xxxvii. 15.) But scourging was so frequent a unishment, both alone and before a capital execution, (º 2ſ. arinºs"Črºſſibility ºf the Čapel History, vol. i. book j. ghap. viii. § 13. and Dr. Scott, on Matt. xxvii. 26.) that it is probable it was in- flicted on many other pious persons on account of their religion. h Savon asunder.] r., Prideaux, (Connect. vol. i. p. 29.) and many others, suppose the apostle might here refer to the tradition among the Jews, that the prophet Isaiah was, sawn asunder at the command of Manasseh. Calmet, understands by this expression, being . torn , in pieces, as it were under a thrashing in strument, consisting of wooden rollers, full of sharp iron teeth like, a harrow. Compare Isa. xli. 15. xxviii. 27. 2 Sam. xii. 31. Calmet's Diss. vol. ii. No. 5. p. 134, 135. i Tempted.] Some suppose a mistake in the reading, and that it should be eſºpo6maav, they were scared with a red hot iron, or burnt alive, which undoubtedly would give a still stronger sense. The earned Albert (Observ. Philolog. p. 436.) supposes, that instead of first pagónray, the apostle wrote gazetpaaffnaav, which expressed their being squeezed to death by ropes or cords twisted, and drawn tight about the body; or at least their * strangled. * a k Sheepskins's pinxórats.] The LXX, in the case of Elijah, trans- late the word which we render mantle, by pm}\coſm, al sheepskin. That sheepskins and goatskins, or at least the skins of some animals, were freqüently worn by the ancient prophets, seems to be intimated, Zech. XI il. *k. g - ! That they without its might not be made perfect.] It is debated, whether this refers to the most perfect state of the church on earth, and so ex- presses a decorum in the conduct of Providence, in gradašily 1Hmproving the church of God; or to the glory of the future state. I have given in the paraphrase what seemed to me the most noble and, important sensé. *#ſ. learned Wolfius (Cura, Philolog. vol. iv. p. 774.) mentions with approbation the exposition of Alexander More, to this effects that the promise which these worthies did not receive related to the first per- sonal appearance of the Messiah: that the better thing which God hath provided for us is, the promise of Christ’s second appearance, that they might then be made perfect, but not without us, though we have received the accomplishment of the first promise without them. m Being therefore encompassed, &c., let us.) Our translators, have rendered this, Wherefore seeing we also j connecting Kat with fipets, whereas it should be joined with Tolyapey, and considered as a kind of expletive. * * * e n Cloud of witnesses.] Capellus thinks, this expression is an allusion to vast numbers of birds flying together like a cloud, Isa. lx. 8. The word witnesses certainly alludes to the Olympic race, where persons were appointed to stand at the mark, to observe who first came thither, and give evidence in favour of the conqueror; upon, whom therefore a crown was bestowed according to their testimony. The allusion in lay- ing aside every encumbrance, is too evident to need further illustration. See the next note. o In present circumstances has the greatest advantage; aligp7tav currepts arov.] This (as some imagine) may signify a sin ºchi h sits easily about us ; which is explained of the vanity of the world, that seems to be matter of comparatively little danger, yet may be a fatal entangle- ment to us; as ſight garments may to those wh9 run, a race...when, they are blown about by the wind. Others would render it. The well cir- cumstanced sin, in opposition to what is arepts aros, without any re- commending circumstance, or bqº of ºrnament. Thus it is illustrated y Dunlop, vol. i. Serm. xiii. p. 309–316. HE EXHORTS THE HEBREWS TO PERSEVERANCE UNDER AFFLICTION. 827 *...*.*.*.*.*.* tion to relinquish or dissemble the gospel, for fear of sufferings; [and] let us run with SECT. ******* patience and 'perseverance the race which is set before us, resolutely persisting in it, how 2 Looking unto Jesus mºſ. d 1 p or , & º: * . ...” * ~ 2-4- y tº Aºa i I8. a;”; º; ; long and painful soever it may be. Looking off from every object which would interrupt §iº; # ºf . In ºr career, and firing our eyes upon Jesus, the Leader and Finisher of [our] faith,” Hºº. tº ... *illºut: who called us out to this strenuous, yet glorious enterprise ; who animates us by his ex- 9 °". §º ºn... ample, and supports us by his grace, till the season comes in which he shall bestow upon right hand of the throne ** * ~, 2 -- º sº jºjº us the promised crown. He indeed is the most illustrious Example of all, who for the joy and glory that was set before him,” in the view of honouring his heavenly Father, and procuring the salvation of men, and so passing to such exalted honour and felicity, en- dured all the agonies of the cross, despising the shame of so ignominious an execution. ...And accordingly, now the infamy, the pain, and the humiliation are ceased for ever, he is ascended to that world, where alone such consummate goodness could receive its proper reward. And there he is set down, in conspicuous and peerless majesty, at the right hand of the glorious and exalted throne of God, there to live and reign in immortal felicity and dignity. And among all the illustrious examples of faith, by whom you may be animated and edified, there is none comparable to him. * Aſ PROVEMENT. - Is it possible we should read these animated periods, without feeling our hearts glow with a sacred ambition of acting as becomes those who have heard such tidings and beheld such examples? If the triumphs of faith in Ver. Rahab, and Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, cannot move us, nor even those of David, and of 31, 32 Samuel; if we are insensible of the martial prowess which they exerted in firm dependence on the Lord God of hosts; let us behold other combats, in which they who seemed weaker, became yet more gloriously victorious. Let us remember, not only the mouths of lions stopped, but the violence of fire quenched, when the faithful ser- 33 vants of God were thrown into it; yea, let us behold those who endured its unquenched violence, and turned all 34 those painful and terrible sensations into an heroic occasion of expressing the superior ardour of their love to God, and the steadfastness of their faith in him. Let us remember those youths, and children, and women, among the 35 rest of these worthies, and indeed among the worthiest of them, who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. In vain were all the terrors of persecuting rage and cruelty opposed to these triumphs. They submitted to im- 36 prisonment, and banishment, how dear soever liberty and their native country might be; they quitted their com= 37 modious habitations for rocks and caves, and their comfortable apparel for sheepskins and goatskins. And 33 when deserts and dens could no longer shelter their wretchedness, bat they were seized by their blood-thirsty enemies, they beheld and endured, undismayed, the most horrid instruments of death. When the piercing sword entered their vitals, when overwhelming stónes dashed them in pieces, when the torturing saw was tearing out 37 their very entrails, there was a principle within superior to all these, which nothing could pierce, which nothing could rend away, which nothing could overwhelm. God hath done an honour to our nature in raising up suc illustrious persons, of whom the world was not worthy, and whose distinguished worth could never have been 38 manifested in the eyes of their fellow-creatures, had it not been called out to such rigorous trials. Weli might they rejoice on any terms in their dismission from a state of existence, so far beneath the elevation of their views. And though their names may be perished from among men, and the distinct history of each lost in the crowds of countless multitudes, yet are they all in remembrancă before God; and the death of each of his saints, in such circumstances, peculiarly precious in his sight. They are now bathing in those rivers of delight which flow through the celestial paradise, and waiting the full consummation of their hope in that better resurrection, in the views of 40 which they suffered so bravely. In the mean time, they look down, as it were, from the battlements of heaven, HEB. upon our combats, upon our race. O, let them not see us basely shrinking back, or loitering ! Let us lay aside , xii. every weight; let us especially guard against the sin which most easily besets us. And to establish all our forti- tude, and to awaken all our ardour, let us look to an Object brighter and nobler than all these, even to the Son of God, the Sun of righteousness, shining in high pre-eminence above all this cloud, and as it were gilding it by 2 the reflection of his effulgent rays. Let us look to Jesus, who leads us on ; to Jesus, who will complete the tri- umph of our faith, and set the crown on the head of every one who overcometh Let us daily think what agony, what ignominy, he endured for us; and let every consideration of noble ambition, of duty, and of gratitude, fire our souls and add wings to our zeal: so shall we at length share in his joy, and sit down victorious with him on his throne, as he hath also overcome, and is set down with the Father on his throne. amº IT \ 2- sy- SECTION XIX. The apostle animates the believing Hebrews to bear and improve the afflictions to which they were exposed, and to exert themselves vigorously to promote the united interest of peace and holiness. Heb. xii. 3–14. HE B. xii. 3 HEBREws xii. 3. ... ."...hº...? IN order to encourage you, my dear brethren, in your christian course, I have directed SECT. j'...";..."... you, and I must again direct you, to the Lord Jesus Christ; for what can be more im- T9. ye be wearied and faint in portant than to consider him,” who, with patient fortitude, endured such obstinate and per- your minds. * alº gº tº tradictio ºrateful sinner inst hi Think *** *** * verse contradiction of ungrateful sinners against himself. Think how great and illustrious HEB. T * & a Person he was, and what severe things he suffered, that you may not grow weary in your , XII. christian course, nor faint in your minds, when called to share in some degree of his trials. p The Author and Finisher of our faith..] . It must be conſessed the of the # that lay before him, meaning the honour and happiness he word º is not in the origina] ; but the faith of which Christ is the might have enjoyed in the present world. But Tpokct picvms has so evi- Jauthor and Finisher must be the faith ºf christians; and yhen he is dent a reference to ver. I. that I cannot by any means acquiesce in that ū. º be the jº; % º: º'. sº º: interpretation. Besides, the word a vri may well signify, set against º 7:LS S ** { } {, t)" S Ot 4 & K. Y - - - - - * tºº." * it, and carries ####, the exercise of it, thiwe º 'the that jog, and then the meaning will be that he despised the shame of the compiete félicity to which it was intended to introduce us.--The word, cross in compºſińon of the joy sº before him. Ner can we imagine looking, adopov Fes, properly signifies, our taking of our regard from ºly love more disinterested than that which should make his recover- other things, that we may fix them upon Christ.—Mr. Dunlop thinks isº to Gº! and, º * geºt 39.9f his heart, and, in Čhrist is "Sailed the airio; and Finisher of faith, in allusion to the sº lency to the divine glory, the grand motive of his actions and judges of the games, who set laws before the contenders, whereby they *šš: & - - º were to govern themselves, and then adjudged the crowns to the con– a Consider him : ava\oy to aq98.] The original word is very empha- querors. Thus, says that excellent writer, he eases us of our burdens, tical; and, as Erasmus Schmidius observes, is a metaphor taken from animates, our faintness, retards the progress of our, Cnemies, and at arithinetical and geometrical proportions. So that it signifies the great length will with his own hands set upon our heads that beautiful dia- accuracy and exactness with which they should consider the Author and dem which he hath purchased with his own blood. - Finisher of their faith, and especially the analogy*between his case and q For the joy that was set before him.] Solne would render it, Instead their own. 828 19. HE EXHORTS THE HEBREWS TO PERSEVERANCE UNDER AFFLICTION. SECT. And indeed you will be inexcusable if you should desert his cause, on account of any such 4 Yeſhaye not yet resisted trials as you have yet endured; for you have not as yet undergone the severest proofs of – your integrity, nor resisted unto blood, striving against sin,” as he did, who made his life a HEB. XII. sacrifice to duty. And ye seem to have forgotten the exhortation” of the word of God, which speaketh to you, as to his sons, (Prov. iii. 11, 12.) saying, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, as if it were a small matter; nor faini and sink, when thou art rebuked by him; 6 but avoid the extremes of proud insensibility and entire dejection. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, and scourgeth, with seeming severity, every son whom he receiveth” to 7 peculiar favour. It is evident, therefore, that if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you 8 9 I2 14 as wise and affectionate parents deal with their beloved sons; for what son is there whom the father chasteneth not, more or less?, There are scarce any children who do not some- times need correction, and no wise and good parent who will always forbear it. But if ye are without chastisement, of which all the genuine children are partakers, them are ye treated as men often treat bastards,” about whose education they are often careless, as being ashamed of them, and looking upon them as a scandal to their families; and not as they treat their legitimate sons, whom they intend to make their heirs, and concerning whom they are solicitous that they may be happy themselves, and a credit and comfort to the family they stand related to ; which a child left to himself, without correction, is by no means like to prove. . .Now if when we had fathers of our flesh, who corrected [us] we gave [them] reverence,8 and submitted patiently and quietly to their discipline, shall we not much rather, on the justest principles of filial duty, be in subjection to the great Father of our spirits, by whom that noble part of our nature was produced, in the production of which our earthly parents had no share 2 .4nd indeed we know this to be necessary, if we desire to live,h since rebellion against him will be infinitely fatal, and expose us to a dreadful and capital punishment. • 10 But not to insist on considerations of terror, let us attend to those of a more ingenuous nature, and particularly those which arise from the reason of things, and a view of what will on the whole be most conducive to our own truest advantage. As for our earthl parents, they indeed, for a few days, while we were in a state of infancy and childhood, corrected [us] as they thought º, and there might sometimes be a mixture of weakness and arbitrary passion in their chastisements; but we are sure this can never be the case with respect to our heavenly Father. O, far from that: if he take the rod into his hand, it is for our advantage, and that we may be partakers of his holiness : which is indeed the greatest dignity, beauty, and glory of the rational nature, and what most immediately tends 11 to the happiness of time and eternity. Now it is true, that all chastening for the present seemeth not to be [matter] of joy, but of jº, : it is painful to the flesh, and human nature would rather desire to be excused from it: but afterwards it yieldeth, the peaceful fruit of righteousness, to those that are in a suitable manner exercised therewith. It produces and improves those virtues which afford º and joy to the mind, and like a nobler crown than that which many endure so much to obtain, richly rewards the most strenuous labour, and most afflictive struggle. Therefore rally your languid spirits, lift up the hands that hang down,” that they may ex- ert themselves in this glorious combat, and strengthen the feeble, tottering knees, that they 13 may hold out to the end of this important race. And by the proper exercise of discipline in your christian Societies, and by all the other offices of true and faithful friendship, make straight paths for your feet. Regulate matters so, that the way of duty may be as obvi- ous and "easy as possible, that the infirm, the lame, and the decrepit may not, by discou- ragements and temptations, be turned out of the . or thrown down, but that every such feeble traveller in the way to Sion may rather be healed; recovered from falls or weakness, and strengthened to a course of more strenuous and persevering piety. And while the jarring interests of this world so often occasion scandalous contentions between men, and even between christians, let it be your faithful and zealous care to pursue peace with all men, even when it may seem to flee from you. And at the same time re- member, whatever the consequence inay be, to cultivate universal holiness in all its branches; without which, how ready soever men may be to flatter themselves with vain expectations, unto blood, striving against SIE) , 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speak- eth .*. as unto jiàº, My son, despise not thon the ghastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him : 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the fathe; chasteneth not ? .8 But if ye be without chas- tisement, whereof aii are par- takers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which cor- rected us, and we gave them. reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live P 10 For they verily for a few ays chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be par- takers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous : never- the less afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righte- ousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12. Wherefore fift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; . 13 And make straight path, for your feet, lest, that which is lane be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 14 Follow peace with all men, and hopiness, without jº no man" haſ see the QIC! . * b Resisted unto blood.] It has been justly observed by several com- mentators, that there are many agonistical terms in this context. in the phrase before us, there seems to be an allusion to the pugiles, or boxers, who fought erect, with their hands, stretched out, and were often besmeared with blood. M. Saurin justly observes, in his beauti- füjij}ustration of this text, (Serm. ix. p. 90;) that, sometimes men Were Riiſed by the blows of the cestus. See also Dr. Whitby, in loc. § ye hare forgotten the exhortation.] Beza, and some others, choose to read this clause with an interrogation, Hare ye forgotten the each orta- tion ? d Whom the he receiveth.] Lord loceth, he correcteth, and scourgeth ºvery son whºm There seems to be a beautiful gradation, in these words. To receive, signifies here, to have a particular regard for. Compare is..jāj, in the £X X. Thé passage is quoted from Prov; iii. 11, 12. j the last clause of the apostle’s citation, which is, And Šegºrgetſ; ºrj"son pion he receiveth, is, by our English, version, and thº, gºl Íatin, there rendered, Epen as a father the solº, in whom he delighteth. Xīā'this is agreeable to the modern pointing. But without any change in the Hebrew letters, the clause may be translated as it is by the apostle, agreeably to the reqqering of the LXX, and some other ancient versions. See Mr. Haflet, in loc. e #sºrdj in those dissoluté ages there were among the heathgn many base-born children. And it is, highly probable, that as for such, their education (iike that of Jephthah, whose fatal error might perhaps be º to it) was much neglected, so as to come almost into a rC) WerD. p fººd if..] Instead of erra, the Syriac version seems to have read & 6e, but if. This reading is followed by Curcelleus; Beza expresses some approbation of it.—The learned Albert, and RApheliºs: consider §ºlaise as a smart and animated interrogation, and produce various passages to show that this is the force of the Greek particle, et Ta. p:/hen we had fathers of our flesh—iſ e gave then reverence.] It had ináed §§e, ſºor; iiterally remiered, JWe had fathers of our flesh who ...tº, and ice gave thºn recerciſcº - which some consiger s.. #ºn, as ificial said, PWho corrected us that we might #ive theºl ...’ But it seems more natural to understand the particle, Kat, as connecting the two clauses. We had fathers of our flesh, and we gave them reverence. In which view the version I have given fully expresses the apostle’s design. - - * h Jānd live.) This awful yet tender insinuation of the terrible conse- quences of rebellion against the Father of spirits, (in which there is an tºlusion to the capital punishment to inflicted on a disobedient child, Deut. xxi. 18, &c.) is very remarkable, and an instance, of the apostle’s forcible manner of suggesting the Ingst weighty thought, sometimes in an oblique manner, and in very, few Yords... Cºmparé Roº. Xii, uit. 1 Tim. iv., 16. Tit. ii. 15. Phil. i. 29. Heb. xii. 28. and many passages to be found in all his writings. i For a few days.] This is to be applied both to our earthly parents, and our heavenly Tather, and it contains a beautiful and comfortable intimation that this whole life, when compared with, our future, being, is but as a few days : indeed infinitely less, than the days of childhood to those of the longest life of man upon earth. . - k Peaceful fruit of righteousness.) Possibly alluding to the crowns of olive given to the victor in the Olympig, games, which was also an cm- isiºn of peace. The learned Bos would translate the word, etpmºko', pleasantºjºſº, it being usual to express plcasure and happiness by jºice. Woffius is of opinion, that the expressiºn, refers tº that peace jī Goj chich ise obtain by faith. See Curſe Philolog. Vºl. Y. P. 783. i"pºisºtherº.j Not only corrected, but instrºłęted and £gifted ; setting themselves to search out the proper lessons which afflictive dis- pensations are intended to teach. - * m Lift up the hands that hang º, The connexion of these words in"fsº ºv. 3. from whence they are borrowed, leads us to understand them of assistance given to others. But this must by necessary conse- quence suppose a care to €rcrt ourselves with vigour and resºlution. It is ºf these are likewise agonistic phrases, by the following, ex- pression, make straight paths ſor yourſeº which some, understand, or- łºńº their "lives sº that others might be directed apg. encouraged b their example. Diodate gives it a singular sense, as if it had been said, išy your voluntary and cheerful obedience, make the rules of the gos- pèl seem easy... I have in the paraphrase endeavoured to unite both the ºws tº ourselves and others, as it is certain one could not be intended as exclusive of the other, - THE ExCELLENCE OF THE BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL. no man shall see the Lord. For it is his unalterable decree, for ever to exclude those souls in which sin reigns, from that sight of him in the celestial world, for which their tempers and dispositions render them altogether unfit, even to a degree of utter incapacity. fMPROVEMENT. 1N what clearer words can those exhortations of the apostle be expressed 2 by what more powerful motives can they be enforced 2 Behold the whole of our duty comprehended in one word: to follow after peace and holiness! Behold the most awful engagements suggested, that no man, whatever his profession, or hope, or confidence may be, can possibly see the ford without it! What a solicitude should it awaken to cultivate holiness in ourselves, to promote it in others, and to remove every obstruction as much as possible ! “Awaken our spirits, O Lord, by thy good Spirit, that the most languid hands and feeble knees may be strengthened and confirmed.” And that they may be strengthened, let us look to our great Leader, to him who passed through so many years, in the midst of the most violent opposition, the most perverse contradiction. Surely we might see enough to animate us to maintain the combat, even till we left the last drop of our blood in the place, when we strive against sin, against his enemies and ours, to deliver us from the power of which, he assumed flesh and blood and died. He, the best beloved Son, was distinguished by his Father's chastisement, though there was not the least degree of failing in him to deserve it. But the chastisement of our peace was upon him. And shall we who have merited to be chastised with scorpions, mourn at the rod? Let this scripture be attentively reviewed, and laid up in our mind, to dispose us, to the most exemplary patience under affliction; and to guard against the opposite and dan- gerous extremes of despising divine corrections, or fainting under them. Would we wish to be excused from the tokens of God’s paternal love? Would we wish to be neglected, as if we were bastards, rather than cultivated with the discipline of beloved children 2 Were we submissive to our earthly parents, and shall we rebel against our Father in heaven? Shall we not be in subjection to the Father of our spirits and live? May our souls remember the unanswerable argument and the awful motive to this subjection. In what would opposition end, but in death 2 and how unreasonable would that opposition be 2 Is God in these later ages of the world become an arbitrary and tyrannical Being, that his proceedings should now be suspected and censured? Is he no longer concerned for the profit and advantage of his children? or is it no longer desirable to be partakers of his holiness? of that holiness, which is to fit us to see and enjoy him for ever? Lord, should each of us say, I bless thee, that thou hast made me partaker of thy providential bounties, of thy gospel, of thy grace, in any degree: but oh, my soul longs to be artaker of thine holiness, to bear thine image more completely, as the great glory and blessedness of my nature. or this therefore would I submit to thy corrections, though for the present ever so grievous, and wait those peace- able fruits of righteousness which will be so rich an equivalent for all. SECTION XX. The apostle solemnly cautions them against despising the blessings of the gospel, and sacrificing them to any secular views, or animal gratifica- tions; and enforces the caution by, represerting the incomparable excellence of thcse blessings, and the wonderful manner in which they were introduced; which even the introduction of the Jewish economy, glorious as that was, did by no means equal. Heb. xii. ld, to the end. & º ** * W xii. 5. HE B. xii. 15. HEBREws 15 LOOKING, diligently lest I HAVE been earnestly exhorting you to cultivate holiness in your own hearts and ë".”.”; ; lives; and I must further press it upon you, that you endeavour to maintain a friendly od; lest any root of bitter- ... jºb!"...."; and brotherly inspection over each other. Look to it, therefore, with the greatest attention §le." "*** * * and care, for yourselves and one another, lest any one, by apostasy from the christian reli- ion, fall short of the grace of God, under the day of glace and dispensation of the gospel; est any root of bitterness” and poison, springing up unheeded, occasion trouble to the society in general, and by it, before you are aware, many be disturbed and defiled, through the 16 Lest there be any forni-contagion of so bad an example: Lest there [be, for instance, any fornicator, who should ſº ºf abuse the liberty of the gospel into an occasion of gratifying his fleshly lusts; or any other meat’sold his birthright. yoluptuous and profane person,” who should put an open contempt upon spiritual bless- ings, sacrificing them to the hope of some present indulgence; as Esau, who, for so mean a thing as one meal, gave away his birth-right,” even all the peculiar and religious honours, 17 For, ye know, how that as well as revenues, of his primogeniture. For ye know, that when qflerwards he would jºb."º. gladly have inherited the blessing, which was its most valuable attendant, he was rejected;a he was rejected; for he found for when he would have persuaded Isaac his father to have revoked and transferred that tºi, which he had just before pronounced upon his brother Jacob, he §: no room for repent- with tears. ance,” no possibility of changing his father's mind by all his submissions and entreaties; though he sought it earnestly, and even with tears, yet still Isaac persisted in what he had done, and said, “I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed.” Gen. xxvii. 33. ls For ye are not come The inestimable privileges and prerogatives, which the gospel brings along with it, so tº superior to the Mosaic law, add great weight to these exhortations and cautions; for Jé, fire, nor"untº biackness, and who are proselyted to christianity, are not come to Sinai again, to the awful mountain which jarkness, and tempesi, was the object of touch, though the touch of it were prohibited on so high a penalty; and to the burning fire that surrounded it, and the thick cloud and darkness, and dreadful tem- pest, which were the tremendous signals of God's descent upon it; And to the sound of a trumpet, which at length waxed exceeding loud, (Exod. xix. 18, 19.) and the voice of dis- tinct words, spoken with a sound which reached all the thousands of Israel, and with which 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them they who heard were so powerfully affected, that they entreated the word might not be con- any more : a Root of bitterness and poison.] The word vsn which is used, Deut. xxix. lts, properly signifies an infectious kind of plant, which by its in- fluence taints other vegetables which grow near it. Profane person.] ISsau is caſſed a profane person, because as a pro- phetic blessing went along with the birth-right, there was a profane con- tempt of it in the infamous bargain here referred to. And as an immoderate eagerness in the , gratification of appetite would naturally imply a contempt of spiritual and divine blessings to be sacrificed to such gratifications, it was properly expressed by profaneness. . c. For one Ancal gave a scay his birth-right.] º Seems the just render- ing of av7t 8pogeos pºtas axedorº Ta Tpa) To Tokta aurs. Dr. Barrow, I think, would render it, for one little cating bout ; but that seemed not sufficiently grave. - d He was rejected.] From comparing the blessing of Jacob and Esau, (Gen. xxvii. 28, 29, 39, 40.) it will åppear that there must be somethin spiritual in the blessing of Jacob ; º: Esau would not have been sai to * rejected, considering what he obtained. See Dr. Goodwin’s H/orks, yo g l, D. e e Mo room for repentance..] We render it, no place for repentance. he meaning of this undoubtedly is not, that he would have repent cº, and could not ; but that there was no room for his repentance, it would § be ºgarded, or, in other words, that his father’s mind could not be CI) alſ) g (2 (#. f Mountain which was the object of touch opst ibn Aabºopswo.] Dr. Wall, in his note upon this place, declares himself inclined, if he had the authority of any manuscript or version to support him, to read g \ln\agºpsyco, which might not be touched, referring to the prohibition in Exod. xix. 13. and which the apostle mentions in the very next verse. But there is no necessity at all for this alteration. For it is not inti. mated by the expression; that the mountain might lawfully be touched but that, as I have translated it, it was the object of touch, which indeed is implied in the very prohibition itself. nel in thus characterizing mount Sinai, it was his intention to intimate that it was an earthly mountain, not like mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalein. 829 SECT, 19. HEB. XII. Ver. 14 I2 - 3 4 6 7 5 8 9 10 11 ſº tº Cº THE EXCELLENCE OF THE BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL. ECT. fºed, or carried on any further to them, but that the remainder of what the Lord had to 20, say to them, might be delivered by the mediation of Moses: For they were not able to .20 (For they could not on- ei: ºre that charge which was proñoinced; so that there seemed little room for the caution §"A."#"..."...", º given, and that with so much severity, that it was added, if so much as a beast touch the #. i., § º º * lºttin, {{ sº he stºneſ, or strick through with a dart, if it escape immediate death from it. §§'." " 21 tº ºest ºd the lightning. (Exod. xix., 12, 13.) And the appearance was so dreadful ºilº, ºg [ſº] }loses himself, who was happy in such imparalleled degrées of the divine favour, ºjº jº d accustomed to converse with God in so intimate a manner, when urged by the people act as their mediator in this awful transaction, said, Though I consent to undertake the harge, fºlo, neverthelessºrceedingly fear and irembles But ye, my dear brethren, are so 22 But ye are come unio : t t * t 3 ppg as to be come to º dispensation, the reverse of all these terrors, even to the mild and º."ºf jº, § {: gentle lºveries which God makes of his presence on mount Sion; and to the holy and º;"|..." º jºyous solemnities which grace the city of the living God situated there, even the heavenly ..." * * Jerusalem, his sacred and everlasting abode; and to myriads of surrounding angels whom 23 it is impossible to number: Ye are come to the great general assemblyi and church of the , 23 To the general, assen- tº the priests of God, who are written in heaven, whose names are registered among ..."º", *.*.*. is of the place, the denizens of that city, and ministers of God’s temple there. hºen, and to God the judge 3 to be remembered, that ye are come to God the supreme Judge of all, from ####" *::::::::::::" of Whose sentence there can be no appeal; and to the spirits of the righteous, whose guilt y expiated, they are made perfect and complete both in holiness and happi- y 2 2 i. } g º being entirel º ness, so far as may consist with the separate state, in which they are joyfully waiting the 24 appearance of their Lord. To this society you are related, and ye jº shortly arrive at 24 And to Jesus the Medi- that world where it holds its supreme residence; since you have happily drawn near to . . . .” Nº. 9. § Jesus the "fediator of the new and better covenant, far exceeding that established with it," hit sºke, letter Israel of old by the mediation of Moses; and to the blood of sprinking, which speakeri, "º "*** * better things than [the blood of] ºbeſ;" crying for pardon, whéreas his cried aloud for - vengeance. 25 And since this is the nature of the dispensation under which ye are now brought, let me , 25 see that ye refuse not solemnly charge it upon you to see to it that ye reject not him that speaketh to you with .º.º.o.º.º. these, circumstances of endearment as well as solemnity: for if they escaped not capital in thºjalººsaº punishment who rejected him that, by divine inspiration, gave forth oracles on earth,” how º;'''...º.º. initch more [shall] ice [not be able to escape] if we turn datay from him [that speaketh to us] speaketh from heaven: Jrom his throne in the heavens 2 If all indignities done to Moses, a mortal man, when speaking by divine authority, were so screrely avenged; how much more those offered to the Lord, Jesus, who condescended to come down from heaven, and lay aside the glories in which he there dwelt, to undertake the office of our Lawgiver and our Mediator? And indeed the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom God has now spoken to us, is the Person 26 Whose voice then shook that presided in that great solemniy Y the earth: but now he hath ) (2 C . & l 3} S s 2 3 e I e of giving the law, to which we have been referring. Bºije!, saying, Yet once It was he, ghose voice then shook the earth, and whose Spirit inspired the prophets; but lººk he earth º #} mised iſing b f th H * - eł - - ** ak only, but also heaven. now he hath promised, saying by one of them, (Hag. ii. 6.) Behold, yet once more I make so thorough a reformation, that I may be said to shake not the earth only, but also the heaven.” For it is in such language that he hath chosen to represent the change of the 27 Mosaic economy for that of the gospel. And it is evident that this [expression,] Yet once ...And this lººd. Yet ºnce *** * : * > • the last +, 4. * #2 o #}, 2 2-o-- ~~~7 o •e of the things th id more, signifieth the removing more, or for the last time, not only signifies the removal and change of the things there said Fº. §§§ tº be shaken, that is, of the ordinances of Moses, as of things which were made and con- ; º; stituted only for a time; but also strongly intimates, that he would introduce thereby a cannot be "shaken"may re. *-> II] all I?. tº t ispensation to be changed no more, that the things not to be shaken any more might be set up, and remain fixed on a perpetual basis; even that eternal kingdom of righteousness 23 and peace, which God hath established by Christ Jesus his Son. As therefore we have . . Wherefore we receiving receißed such an unshaken kingdom, which shall never be removed to make way for any “ kingdom which cannot be º g ...}{oses said.] This circumstance is not recordad in the Blossaic his– n, Hin that gave forth oracles on earth.] . This is generally expounded tory. Some itnagipe that the apostle received it by divine recciation ; of Moses. Mr. Pierce refers it to God; since it is said, his voice there a tij others resolve it into a tradition, 1 he truth of which his inspiration shook the earth, which he saith njust be the voice of God. And the enabled him to distinguish. Alr. Calvin supposes Moses spoke these argument of the apostle, according to him, is taken from the different words in the nafne of the people. manner of speaking: his speaking om Carth being accompanic; with h .31ount Sion.) There seems to be throughout this whole perigl a £grthly signs, &c. whereas, his speaking frºm leggen migºs speaking #4 reference to the imanifestation Go iſ made of Himself upon mount Šion, Christ goñjpg, lgwn ſrqip heaven, and declariº; heaven!!!, things.(J9Hil as beinz milder than that upo, mount Šjºai. And the 'lºavenly society iii. 12:31, 32. I Pet. i. 12.) noſe glorious than the law. (2, Cor. iii. 6– with which christians are incorporated, is considered as resernäling tº 11.) But it may be objected, that Cod spoke, to them from heaven, when former, (ffat is, mount Sion, in those circumstances in which it was he gaye the law at mount. Sinai, and that,the Yoſds, chose.9%ice, may morº añjiàpie than the failer." §ion was the city of Čod. In the temple, refer to the latter clause, Him that speaketh Jºº lºgºcſ'. Yet even on wiligh stood there, cherubin were the ornaments of the waiis, bºth in this supposition; he that speaketh front lift tº mºjº I think, be God, the holy and most holy place, to signify the presence of angels. There since, it is said, that his Yoicº shook the egº; v (; rse 26,... . * was a general assembly and congregation of the priests, wiich were sub- 9 Shakes not the earth only, but also the hºaten;J. This shafting n] U.St stituted instead of the first-born, of whose nºnes catalogues were kept. rºſeſ tº the altºratiºns Inadé in the constitution of religion, and be con- .There was God, as the supreme Judge of controversies, giving forth ſº sidered not, as introdºctory to, but consequent upon, the coming of the oracies. The high ºriegłºś the ºdiator bei ºccº, Goºi and Israel, Messiah. , Many think this refers, to the geºlºgue is gººd £artſ, or the (compare Lºke i. 8–40.) and the blood of sprinkiing was daily used. tº: sº to be at lººk º º º !"; à. i 7'ſ e are; cº, ssembly; ; ray my poet.] The learned Albert shows (O5- tº dºdºn&TY PiłºſłOhlºha Iłł. Jºe Bºa Velºs, tºº ipº eaſily: j (: Liſt h, } *::::::" º ºff. '...} H'h º º .. º death, and resurrectiºn of Christ, and in ission of the jº as in part $ºrº, lºgºs: pº). ilia is ºr prºperty st; ū º t it is an accomplishment of this prophecy. But there would be great room Yéſſion upgº some joyful and fºsſiy aſ occasion; particular 3. ***.*.*.* to dºate, how fºr these were more extraordinary than the commotions applied to the concourse at the Oly in pic games. In which view it ex- zit-ir, ºr 1 ho Mosaic fºr w I t is cºre fi * adlie he otlier, as *- : * ~ * *** - - - - - - * - : * : - - & rº, o i ! on giving the Mosaic law. I thcreſore chose to ad]; cre to the Ollier, as presses a very lively and elegant opposition to the case of the Israelites, the most probable is terpretation. Yºgºuck with a general terror, when they were convened before p Of the things shaken ; º: º; º wº 1S .# - •y ar * n - º .* * * 4 ye ºri tº . - QS S * (*S. - .0 [. ºn...saints are cºlled the fisºprºpºsºnºbelºw ºf łºś. ...ſº appropriated to God, and heirs of a they are secured from being driven, away, yet ºre in a fluctuating gº {2 #1.Ol) O il ſ & Il{ tance. - - - ..., , , ... dition, and tossed up and down, within a certain compass, by the ſo-ce | Just men, made perſect.] Justified befºre,God, sanctified in their ºf .''.i.d.; ºc. 1:::ſures, and holy in their lives. Dr. Watts thinks the apostle here uses 'g ºs } iñºsº ade and constituted only for a time.] Bos inaging's the expression just, or, righteous, to intimate that he included the ºutri- that there is i. the original a mistake of the trađscribers, and for Ös arºs, or jºyish sºmts; ºff at the rººms a pecujjar propriety in doing º 'º'º, º 'º "...º. ºnań, it would read ºniewo, ji, as hig is writing to the Ébrews. Watts’s Death and Heagen, p. 73, 7:Toºl!'two', as ºf things which were inade, he wou º: àº. d '', . l’; —Air. Baxter urges this as a proof of the distinct existence of the soul, as ºf things shatteréd and 160rºl out, namely, by ºs ºf ū. iſlaº, in a separate state. and therefore wanting to be changed and º išº # i. m (Blood of abel.) By this some understand the blood of sacrifices Fºº is; 9% º of the º by the º: i:) ;" the lºgº of # ºº:: º is º of whose º, i. Without ... animal sacrifices we read: but there is a harshness in that QXpression º: #1 º’ [. *ś, - : is V - nºt easily parājlūlūq; i should therefore rather understand it of the pºsity. Mr. Pierce justly º: that *ś. º blood of Jºbel himself, as reſerring to the gentle and gracious character appoint.jpg or Coºlitutiº ºs.” .9 {...}. | irticinic of the preſſ. nº º of Čhrist, and "the ijéssings, instead of vºngeance, drawn down by his other places: and that T:Tº tºº” Pºé. Pºſ º!, º preterperfec bloof ºre is certainly some transposition of what one would haye tense, ought not to have bººn translated, Things, which are ngde, as ! Il thought the most natur:l order Here ; but it must be ascribed to the our English version, but;. Things which togre, 9: had been angde, 9, con- jºurous manºer in which St. Paul conceived of these things, and his stituted and appointed for a time; and I have rendered and explained fulness of matter when he touched upon them. it according!y. XHORTATIONS TO PRACTICAL HOLINE3S. 831 moved, let us have grace, different establishment, and which gives us the assurance of a reign in eternal glory, let us SECT. jº ‘.... see to it, that we have grace whereby we may serve God, from whom we receive it, in an 20. and godly fear: acceptable manner. As that grace is so freely offered to us," let us not be so wanting to our- — selves as to fail short of it. And while wé feel our hearts inspired with all that gratitude HEB. and confidence which suits the genius of so merciful a dispensation, let them be attem- 2š" pered with a becoming mixture of reverence and pious fear; that we may not, by an un: worthy abuse of the gospel, deprive ourselves of its invaluable blessings, and sin beyond 29 For our God is a con- all possibility of further remedy. For though our God manifests himself in the beams ºf 29 suming fire. such mild majesty, he [is] still possessed of that tremendous power, which was so awfully displayed at mount Sinai, and will break forth as a consuming fire against all those that presumptuously violate his laws, and despise his gospel. Deut. iv. 23, 24. I\{PROVEMENT. THE glories of the eternal Jehovah are indeed inconceivable and immutable. Still he is possessed of all that awful majesty which he displayed on mount Sinai, and able in a moment, as a devouring fire, to consume the transgressors of his law. But though he kindly reminds us of this dreadful scene, he does not limit and confine Ver.29 our views to it; he appears to us not on that mountain, which was involved in blackness and darkness, in tem- 18 pest and fire; but calls us to the milder glories of mount Sion. Yet even there might our consciousness of guilt cause us to fear. How should we appear in the city of the living God, or presume to mingle ourselves with the 22 general assembly and church of the first-born ? How should we hope for a place among myriads of angels, and the perfected spirits of the just, in the presence of God, the Judge of all, if it were not for the refuge and support 23 which we find in Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and in the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better 24 things than the blood of Abel ? But being thus encouraged, let us draw near with humble boldness, though with reverence and godly fear; while we hear the voice that once shook the earth, speaking to us in accents of love, 26 and promising a kingdom that cannot be moved. . That kingdom do we in some degree receive now, and we hope 28 for the full possession hereafter. It shall indeed be obtained, if we learn so to value it, as, in the expectation of it, to serve God acceptably, in the improvement of that grace, which awaits us, to make us equal to his service: only let us see to it, that we do not, by our own criminal negligence, fail of that grace: that we do not profanely 15 and foolishly follow the example of that wretched Esau, who stands recorded with so much infamy, as having for one sorry meal sold his birth-right, with all his sacred privileges. How many sons of Abraham, having followed 16 him, have found, as he did, the impossibility of retrieving so fatal a bargain; found as he did, that there was no 17 place for repentance, though they may have sought it carefully with tears; with an anguish of heart, which none gan conceive, but they who know what final and everlasting despair means ! May God preserve all his churches 15 from such roots of bitterness, as, alas; have too often sprung up among them! And since there is so much danger that many may be defiled by them, let those that have a réal concern for their honour and safety, be look- ing round, with a proper solicitude, to guard against the first appearance of what may be so fatal to their honour, their purity, and their peace. SECTION XXI. The apostle exhorts Christians to brotherly lovç, purity, compassion, dependence on the divine care, steadfastness in the profession of the truth, and to a life of thankfulness to G93, and benevolence to man; from a consideration of the inestimable privileges derived to us from Čhrist, which ought always to encourage us boldly to endure any infamy and suffering which we may meet in his cause. "Heb. xiii. ili ſã, HEB. xiii. 1. HEBREws xiii. 1. LET brotherly love continue. I SHALL conclude my present address to you with some practical exhortations. And SECT. one of the most comprehensive and important I can give you, is this: Let brotherly love 21. always continue” among you. And remember not only the common obligations of bene- volence, by which all human creatures are connected with each other, but those peculiar II.E.B. engagements which the christian profession lays you under to study the good of those who , xiii. by faith in the gospel are all the children of one Father, and heirs of one glorious in- 2 Be not forgetful to enter- heritance. This should certainly engage you to relieve and accommodate such as are º in necessity, and especially your christian brethren, in their travels from place to place, Ulſha WyżlreS. often undertaken for the service of their great Master. Be not, therefore, Jorgetful of hos- pitality; for some have, by the practice of it, entertained angels as common strangers, with- out knowing it, and have found the hospitalities of many former years abundantly rewarded by one such favourable visit. And thus you know not but they who come to you under a very mean appearance, may be as messengers from God to you, and the instruments of 3 Remember, them that bestowing some extraordinary favours from him. You see many of your brethren suffer- 3 tº ing for conscience sake, and some thrown into prison; remember then therefore especially iºs yourselves who are in such bonds, as if you were yourselves bound with them, [and] them that suffer vº. any kind of ill treatment in such a case, as being yourselves also in the same body with them, and so obliged to a tender sympathy; not now to insist on your sharing the same common infirmities of human nature with them all, which should engage you to carry 2 your compassion to strangers, and even to enemies. * # ºriº hºnºn . I know that some, who pretend to more than ordinary chastity, say many reproachful all, and the bed undefiled: 41,3 - ; £-, . sº I Y ~ * * - a. * - - things of a conjugal life; but I assure you they are much to blame; for marriage [is] to be held honourable in all,” and the proper use of the marriage-bed is to be esteemed as ºn. defiled ; since none can imagine that God would make an action in itself morally evil, absolutely necessary for the support of the human race in future generations. Buſ as for 4 r AS grace is, so freely offered.] This is strongly intimated in the of those angels, that them the apostle would have urged the 3 rºſt] ment in Wºrds of the exhortation; else there could be no room for it. And this a stroºger view, by observing that they had entertained Šâj, himself oblique intimation, in which it is, as it were, taken for granted, that we (See his notes on chap.ſi. wer. 2. and Mr. Haijót on ini ~ ***, * * may certainly have...grace, if we take proper methods ſor obtaining it, the apostles were under no obligation, - appears to me peculiarly affecting. - - strongest argument that could possibly a Let łºś. love continºte, Diodate, thinks this exhortation, was might perhaps be some room to debat; this matter, it'was gºat pru- peculiarly suitable to converted Jews, as the prejudices against their defice to build an argument upon a principle, in which all that believe 9eptile brethren were in many of them so strong, that they were ready the authority of Scripture must agree. to disown them with abhorreñce. m * ºrºgº is hotourable.] Some critics (and, especially the popish b Entertained angels unawares.] It is possible that from the story Writers, to avoid the argument which naturaily aris...sº ſº. hence ºf Abraham and Lot, who had the honour of entertaining angels, under against forbidding marriage to the cièrgy) Woºlā’īnāśſ. marriage the form of ordinary travellers, some tradition might reach the 'ſndian be honourable in all, and lºt the jºi be widºfiled. But the connºxiºn offié Brahmins, who teſ; their people, that the gods sometimes descend in latter clause, introduced by the partičić, º is sºjº". vindicate the form.of poor indigent persons, and that when any of the children of our version, unlºšs Wig should be disposed, with the Vulgate, to prefet In 20 rºligye them, they repay the charity with yast advºntage. See the authority of the Alexandrian and Clermont copies, which instead of Millar’s Propagation of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 217. I can lay no stress Ös, read Yap, For whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. upon Mr. Pierce’s reasoning against our supposing that Christ was one - is verse.) For on all occasions, to use the be thought of; and as there 832 SECT, whorémongers and adulterers, who either despise or 21. HEB. “s may see fit to withhold. EXHORTATIONS TO PRACTICAL HOLINESS. - pollute it, God will undoubtedly judge them, however they may escape human punishment. |Let your] conversation [be] free from every degree of covetousness, and [be] contented with such things as ye have, without eagerly or impatiently desiring what divine Providence And though, being so slenderly provided for, as most of you are, it may seem very probable you should soon come to win; even the necessaries of life, especially after the late ravages you have suffered from your enemies, who have plundered your goods, (chap. x, 34.) be not anxiously solicitous about that; for he who hath all the stores of nature at his command, and who owns the relation of a Father to us, hath gra- giously said, (Josh. i. 5.) I will not, I will not leave thee, I will never, never, never forsake 6 thee. And though these emphatical words were at first spoken to Joshua, yet it was not under a personal character only, but cºnsidering him in his relation to the Israel of God, and as acting for its support; so that all God's people, as his love to them is in all ages the same, may take a just enºragement from it, and we in particular may take courage to say,” The Lord [is] my Helper, and I telli ºf fear what man shall do unto me: thus comforting ourselves, not only' in the seeming uncertainty of future supplies, but in the º the greatest dangers, and when threatened by our enemies with the severest Sufferings. 7 And let me now urge yºu to remember, those dear and venerable persons who, having formerly presided over jouf in holy things, have spoken to you the word of God, whose course h is now finished. Though all your intercourse with them is for the present cut off, do not however forget their instructions and their examples; but be mindful of that faith which they taught, and which they exercised. And let it be your great care to imitate them, considering the end of their conversation. Reflect on the happy manner in which they quitted life, on that support which they found, in their latest moments, from the truths they had taught you, and on that heroic resolution with which some of them were ani- mated to meet even martyrdom itself in that sacred cause; and let the remembrance of these things engage you steadfastly to retain their faith, and courageously to follow their 8 steps. And remember for your further encouragement, that though the most faithful ministers of the gospel die, yet as that sacred dispensation still continues immutable, so Jesus Christ, the great Guardian of those who faithfully adhere to it, in the tenor of his declarations, as well as in the glories of his divine nature, [is] the sameº yesterday, to-day, gºld for ever; and therefore can well support you, by whomsöever you may be forsaken. And let this be a powerful engagement to adheré to his gospel, and to preserve it uncor- 9 rupted. ... In this view, see to it that ye be not carried about by various and foreign doc- trines, disagreeing with each other, and with the great standard of truth in the divine # revelation. Many are zealous ſ” such, and particularly judaizing teachers; but remem- ber, [it is] a good thing that the heart be established in an adherence to the grace of the gospel, and not zealous in those distinctions between various kinds of meats, and reposing its confidence in those ritual observances which some are ready to lay so much stress -upon; but by which they who have been most conversant [in them, and regarded them with the greatest exactness, have not profited, so as to make any real attainment in reli- 10 gion, by all that scrupulosity and mortification. They boast indeed of many of their privileges, in which they think themselves superior to us; but it is infinitely more than a balance to all, that we have an altar of a spiritual nature, even that dignified by the sacri- fice of the Son of God, of which they have no authority to eat, who attend divine service w II the tabernacle. For it is well known, that the bodies of those animals, whose blood, [being offered] for sin, is carriedh by the high priest into the º place, are, according to the appointment of the law as instituted in the wilderness, to be burnt without the camp, and afterwards without the city of Jerusalem; no part of them being eaten by the priests. 12 Now methinks there is something in this circumstance which may suggest to us matter of pious and comfortable meditation, when we compare it with what we know of the great High Priest of our profession. We may therefore, methinks, say that Jesus also, that under his grand sacerdotal character he might sanctify the º 'e, not by animal victims, but by his own blood, which he offered up as a sin-offering for us, to atone our guilt, and consecrate us to God, suffered not within the walls of the temple, or the city, 13 but upon mount Calvary, which you well know lies without the gate of Jerusalem. And this consideration, as it suggests, our leaving the Jewish sacrifices, so it should undoubt- edly engage us willingly to suffer all extremities in his cause. Let us therefore brea through every attachment, and go out, as it were, unto him without the camp, bearing our part in his reproach. If our fidelity to him require, as it very possibly may, that we should submit to excommunication, infamy, and persecution, let us acquiesce, and find an equivalent in this thought, that we are hereby rendered more conformable. to Christ. 14 And let us submit to this so much the more cheerfully, considering how trivial the in- terests of this mortal life are, when compared with those which relate to etermity ; for it is most certain, that we have here no abiding city; in which view, I spoke of our sojourning here, as an encampment in movable tabernacles or tents. But, blessed be God, we are animated with the cheerful hope and expectation of better blessings, and seek one to come; a splendid and secure abode, where it will be our everlasting business to admire and adore but whoremongers, and adul- terers God will judge. 5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be Content with such things as ye, have : for he hath said, Will never leave thoe, nor forsake thee. 6 $g that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and, I will not fear what man shall do unto me. . 7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who ave spoken unto you the word of God : whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation: 8. Jesus Christ the same Yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. 9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. for it is a good thing that . the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein James, commonly called the first Bish had been put to is: there before this d Content ºrith such things as ye º Phocylides makes use of the t lish version here is very far from being very words of the apostle in a precept of this kind, Apketadat Tapego tv. 10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the taber- nacle ll. For, the bodies of those beasts,whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. 12 Wherefore Jesus, also, that , he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. 14. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek One to COnhe. of Jerusalem ; both of which Epistle was written.—Our Eng- justifiable, Remember then - of that writer was, I fear it is impossible to ascertain. #. º: *:::::::::: however iſ his excellent mºral poeſinS, Yº: makes it probable he was acquainted with the New Fº: aS We as the Öld, from whence he has taken so many pious and humane pre- cºji, nay take †† to say, &c.) This application º Pºlicular promise to such, zºneral purposes, opens a noble hint, for the #;". i jºent of the Old Testament, upon this great and solid #jºi }. God, who is no Respecter of persons, intends that º § 1S [al- Yoº to this or that emingntly, good, man, should be used for #. encou- rāzement of all others of the like character. The emphasis of the origi- j is so well known, that I shall nºt insist upon it. Bish # prºšićied over you.] Bishop Lloyd . (Funeral Sermon fºr Bishop pſiikii. p. 7, 8.5 thinks this may refer to James the Apostle, and to Qohich have the rule over you ; whereas they were now dead. It should have been, Who have presided, or had the rule oper you ; or, as I have rendered the two clauses in, connexion, Who having presided over you, have spoken to you the word of God. • ** g. Christ the same.] I think, this, makes a much nobler, sense, if ex- plained of the immutability of Christ's power and grace, than if merely understood of his doctrine ; though I have given a hunt of the latter sense; out 9f regard to some great expositors, who have urged .Acts v. * or. iv. 5. l. Cor. i. 24. as instances in which Christ signifies not his person, but his word. h Whose blood—is carried, &c.) An argument has been drawn from these words, as from some other, passages that occur, to provo that the temple was standing when this Epistle was written, REGARD FOR PIOUS MINISTERS RECOMMENDED. 833 15 By him therefore let us its great Founder and Sovereign, and to worship in his celestial temple. In the mean SECT. §:::::::::::::::::::::: time, Jesus is there under the character of our great High Priest, who ever lives to perform 21. § 9. jps giving thanks that important office for us to which he is every way equal; by him therefore let us alwa s O All S ſ] ºln) (2. ºff. the sacrifice of praisei to God, that is, the fruit of [our] lips, ; thanks to his ; a.º.º.º.º.º is glorious name. But while we present this yerbal tribute, let us remember that another yet lå" §"jºš."Čiča"; more substantial is required. Be not therefore forgetful of doing all the good you possibly well pleased. can, in your respective stations, and of communicating liberally and cheerfully of your sub- stance, to those that are in necessity; for God is well pleased with such sacrifices; which were always more pleasing to him than any victim, which, in the neglect of these, could be brought to his altar. IMPROVEMENT. THoSE other expensive sacrifices which the Mosaic law required, are now entirely abrogated. Let us consider Wer.16 this as an additional engagement upon us, to abound more and more in those of unfeigned benevolence and real charity ; rejoicing that the God of our lives, who gives us all, will condescend to have any regard to them. And let our brethren in Christ be remembered with that distinguishing affection which suits the relation in which we 1, 2 stand to them; and in whatever bonds of affliction they may be bound, let us endeavour to make their fetters sit 3 lighter upon them, by every thing which our compassionate assistance can do for that purpose ; considering our- selves as in the body. - That we may be ready to all such kind offices, let us endeavour to overcome the love of money, which is the root 5 of all evil. Let us learn (and O that divine grace may effectually teach us!) to moderate our desires, to be con- tented with what Providence allots us, whether more or less, and to trust in God, as to the supply of our future wants. Well may we not only trust, but even boast, in him, when we consider in how endearing a manner he hath declared, with such reiterated assurances, that he will never, never, never leave us; that he will not, yea, he 5 will not forsake us. Surely the language of the most cheerful and courageous faith well corresponds to that of so 6 gracious and soul-reviving a promisé. Let faith then put a reality into it, or rather glory in that certain reality which there cannot but be in every promise ; especially as Jesus Christ, in whom this and all the promises are 8 confirmed to us, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. - \ And let this thought support us under those breaches which may be made on the church by death. Christ ever 7 lives to guard and protect it, and to maintain those great truths which in every age have been the joy and confi- dence of his people. Let our attachment to him, therefore, be preserved inviolable, and the purity of our souls 9 unspotted. And let us never fear to share in his reproach, in whose glory we have such a security of sharing; but cheerfully go, as it were, out of the camp to him, who suffered crucifixion for us without the gates of the city. 12 Were we called to endure martyrdom for his sake, he would only lead us out of a mean and precarious tabernacle; for we have here no continuing city; but then he will conduct us, if we are faithful to him, to a city so durable 14 that its foundations are represented by rocks of solid gems, so glorious, that its pavements are described as gold, and its gates as pearl. May our faith be daily beholding it as near ; and may we feel every day more of its attrac- tive influence, to render us superior to all that earth can promise, and to all it can threaten, while we are passing thither. Under his guardianship, let us daily be offering the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks 15 to his name, as well knowing, that while we are on our journey to the new Jerusalem, no mountain can be so steep and rugged, no valley so deep and gloomy, as not to admit of the songs of Sion. SECTION XXII. The apostle concludes with recommending to them some particular regards to their pious ministers, and entreats their prayers ; adding some salutations, and a solemu benediction. Heb. xiii. 17, to the clid. HEB. xiii. 17. HEBREws xiii. 17. - OREY them that have the I HAVE been urging you to an affectionate remembrance of those who were once your SECT. ...s.º.º. **, *... teachers, but are now disinissed from their labours, and received to their reward. And 22. for your souls, as they that I must, on the same principles, press upon you a due regard to those faithful ministers must give account, that they * - - - º ~~~~ ~~ 2:... a w may do it with joy, and not who still survive. Obey them, therefore, who preside over you," in those rules and direc- º: hiº.º. that is unpro tions which they are authorized by Christ to give you, and submit yourselves [to them] with 17° º *... & a becoming respect; even though their office should sometimes oblige them to make such addresses to you as may for the present be disagreeable. . For they are solemnly º: to watch for your souls,b for their everlasting safety and happiness. And well knowing that the trust is of infinite importance, they would execute it as those that must render an awful and strict account of their office, and of the fidelity with which they have discharged it. Behave towards them, therefore, while they are pursuing the several duties of it, in such a manner, that they may do it with joy, and not with inward groaning, under dis- couragements arising from your unkind treatment, or from such other irregularities of your conduct as may require them to interpose by any methods of severity; for that [is] most unprofitable and dangerous for you, and will on the whole be much more for your own detriment than it can possibly be for theirs. . - ls Pray for us: for we Among the rest of your christian ministers, We persuade ourselves that you will not for- 18 tº get us. And we entreat, that while absence may render many other instances of affection to five homestiy.” impracticable, you would not fail however to pray for us. And indeed we may very cheer § ask, and very reasonably expect this ; for though our enemies may meanly insinuate the contrary, we are confident that we have a good conscience, and have conducted ourselves, so as to have a testimony to our integrity in yours, that we are determined, whatever it may cost us, in all things to behave honourably, to converse in the most fair and reputable manner, according to the obligations of our sacred profession and office, though we should sacrifice i Sacrifice of praise.] To suppose that this refers to the eucharist, and words without trembling, though he often preached several times in the fºlio wing’verse to charitable collections made at the celebration of a day. * * * ~ *g, * * w - that ordinance, seems very fanciful. - * ** * c That they may do it with joy, and not with groaning.] This must a Bºšide over you...] Lord Barrington imagines, that he refers to he necessarily refer to the present discharge of their office; for it is not apostics of the circumcision, to show that he would not in any respect possible for any perverseness of the *N. to prevent a faithful minis: dérogate from their authority ; (Essay, I. T. S7.) but I cannot think the ter’s giving up his account with joy, Nor can any groans be º: word myspevot should bo thus limited. ... I rather apprehend, with Mr. with those triumphant songs which 'God will put into the mouths 9 all Boyse, (Serm. vol. i. p. 415.). that it refers to those who immediately his people. But their Master will remember what they suffered by their presided over them in their relišious affairs, that is, the ministers of the people’s means; and the account may sit heavy on them, when the śi §§ve aſ particular churches. The application of it to diocesan bishops rows of their faithful pastors are all over... Not to say, that great Pesº is merely arbitrary. damage to the people yould proceed from thºse things wº griev * Watch for your sº Chrysostom says, he never read these to their faithful and affectionato spiritual guides. See Dr. Owon, in '06. 105 834 SALUTATIONS, AND A SOLEMN BENEDICTION. SECT. every thing to that resolution. And I especially beseech you to do this, that is, to pray 19 But I beseech you the 22. earnestly and affectionately for me, both in your private retirements, and in your public ºil.º.º.º.º. assemblies, that I may quickly be restored to you from this confinement, and may have an y * *:::: opportunity of rendering you those services which were prevented by this unjustimprison- ** ment, occasioned by the füry of the populace when I was last at Jerusalem. -- 20 And now, to draw towards a close, may that great and blessed Being, who condescends .20 Now the God of peace, in his gospel to reveal himself to us under the endearing character of the God of peace, * "...º.º.º. who, reconciling us unto himself by his Son, becomes the Author of eternal blessings, cause ºphºrio; ºneº, his choicest favours to descend upon you. May he who, to confirm these gracious pur- ºf the ev- poses, hath brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, who is constituted that great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, d and by his blood sealed the everlasting and unchangeable covenant which appoints him to stand in that 21 amiable relation to his people ; May he, I say, make you *:::: in every good work, that 21 Make, you, perfect in gou may cheerfully and constantly do his will, exerting an holy readiness and alacrity in ºilº ºn.”. %: °º the discharge of every duty ; himself producing in you that temper and disposition of soul whichiºpiasing in his which is most pleasing and acceptable in his ji. through the powerful influences of his tº...º.º.º. Spirit, given you by Jesus Christ, who hath procured this invaluable favour for his people; ever. Amen. to whom [be] glory in all the churches, for ever and ever. .Amen. - & 22 I have discovered my mind to you in the course of this Epistle with great freedom, but 22 And I beseech you, bre- as it all proceeds from the most sincere affection, I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word ºil. § exhortation: for I have written to you, above in a few words; but if I were to open all ºr unto you in few at is in my heart, the letter would swell far beyond the bounds I have here assigned it. ” - 23 In concluding it, I give you the pleasure to know that [our] dear brother Timothy, whose a 33 Knowye that our brother zeal for me had for a while made him a partner in my confinement, is now set at liberty, ºf; Šºšić with whom, if he come soon, I hope, by the divine permission, I shall be able to see you, ly, I will see you. which I cannot but greatly desire. 24 In the mean time, salute in the most respectful and affectionate manner, in my name, 24 Salute, all them that all that preside over you, as the officers of your respective churches, and all the other saints, iº. *...}} # who are private members of them. They who are natives of Italy, joined in the bonds of salute you. 25 the same christian profession, and now with me at Rome, most §. salute you. May .25 Grace be with you all. the blessing of God, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom I am so often com- *n. mending you and all my christian brethren, [be] with you all. I put my hearty .4men to it; and you assuredly know, that I can wish you nothing better. I hope, therefore, that you will with all your hearts put your own Amen to it. IMPROVEMENT. LET those whom God, in the course of his providence, hath called to preside over the souls of others, remem- ber to watch over them with a becoming diligence, considering that an impartial account will shortly be required ; Ver.17 considering that if they do not j conduct themselves in this important office, their blood who perish by their neglect must be required at their hands. . And let the people committed to their care be ºf that the faithful servants of Christ may discharge their office with joy, and not with grief; that they may not from time to time be sent with groanings, and with tears, to the presence of their great Master, to lament the obstinacy, perverseness, and rebellion of those over whom God hath made them watchmen and shepherds. The grief would now sensibly affect the minister; yet on the whole, as he would be to God a sweet savour in Christ, in them that perish, as well as in them that believe, the greatest detriment would fall on those who have made such un- grateful returns to the divine goodness, and to their fidelity. That all other duties may be more regularly and properly discharged, let private christians be engaged to pray earnestly for their ministers; for those especially who make it apparent, that they desire to maintain always a good eonscience; and that whatever sacrifices they may be called to make to it, they are determined in all things to live reputably and honourably, so that the ministry may not be blamed, but the christian profession in general adorned. And God grant, that none but persons of such a character may be introduced into the ministry, or supported and countenanced in it! * Let pastors and people be often looking to him, who is the great Shepherd of the sheep, and whose relation to the flock is established on the blood of the everlasting covenant. Ever may the thoughts of that blood engage us to regard him with all due veneration and love ; ever may we be looking to him who, through this blessed Saviour, appears as the God of peace, for every blessing we respectively need. We all need his gracious influence, to implant the first principles of the divine life; and we need them, to make us perfect to do his will, and to work in us those things which may render us more completely pleasing in 21 his sight. And therefore let an humble dependence on his grace be daily maintained and expressed; consider- ing of how great importance it is to be acceptable in the sight of God, and to approve ourselves at all times to him. * That it may be so, may grace be with us all, and continue with us, from the first entrance on the christian life, through the whole course of it, till it present us blameless in the presence of his glory, with exceeding joy. Amen. & . d By the blood of the everlasting covenant. There is an ambiguity, in the clause with the words immediately preceding, namely; that great the connexion of these words. . Some think they refer to God's bringing Shepherd of the sheep, which our Lord was constituted by thé blood of again from the dead our Lord Jesus, Christ, according to that engagement the everlasting covenant, And this sense seems to be far preferable. or covenant which was sealed by his blood. Beza and others connect Compare Acts xx. 28. and John x. 11. THE F A M I L Y E X P O S I T O R. . A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES. THE Epistle of St. James, and the six following Epistles, have been commonly distinguished by the appellation of catholic or general, because most of them are inscribed, not to particular churches or persons, but to the body either of Jewish or Gentile converts over the whole world, or at least dispersed in several countries. The first of these, I mean that of St. James, was from the earliest times received by the christian church, though not so universally as most of the Epistles of St. Paul. But a precise detail and examination of the several arguments relating to this question, would bear too large a proportion in the space allotted to these Introductions. It may however be right to observe, in support of the authenticity and authority of this Epistle, that considerable stress hath deservedly been laid upon its antiquity, which appears both from internal and external evidence; and also upon the correspondence of the senti- ments it contains, with the tenor of the christian doctrine; and though this hath been called in question by some, through an attachment to particular hypotheses, yet it is evident, I apprehend beyond all controversy, to those who read the Epistle with suitable candour and attention. And it appears to me, that the authority of this, and some other parts of the New Testament, having been early questioned by some primitive churches, affords an argument of their particular caution, that no other writings should be admitted into the sacred canon, however excellent, besides those which had an undoubted claim to that distinction; and justly challenges our deference to their judgment, who doubtless were most capable of deciding, and gave sufficient evidence of their care as well as their capacity. The Epistle before us having passed through a severe and accurate scrutiny, appears to have been at length universally received, and accordingly hath been transmitted down to the present age, as an authentic part of those oracles of God, which are able to make us wise to salvation. If any particular argument were to be suggested to second the force of these observations, it might be this, that this Epistle is found in the Syriac version, and was received by the churches in Syria. This version is undoubtedly ancient, and is apprehended by most learned men to have been made as early as the beginning of the second century. . And besides the authority conciliated to the Epistle of St. James by the antiquity of the version, it should be observed, that the version was made for the particular service of the converted Jews, to whom the Epistle itself was originally written ; and it should therefore seem, that its authenticity and authority were from the beginning acknowledged by those for whom it was intended: and I think it can hardly be doubted, that they were better judges of the question than the Gentiles, to whom it was not written, among whom therefore it was not likely to be propagated so early, and who at first might be prejudiced against it, because it was inscribed to the Jews. If any are disposed to examine the several testimonies of the christian fathers, as to the authority of this Epistle, they may find them collected with great fidelity and accuracy, by the learned Dr. Lardner, in the second part of his valuable work, the Credibility of the Gospel History. - As to the author of this Epistle, some have imagined it to be James the elder, the son of Zebedee, and brother of John. But in this they are evidently mistaken. James the elder was beheaded by Herod, in the year of our Lord 44; whereas this Epistle was not written till a very considerable time afterwards. So early as the year 44, the gospel does not seem to have been propagated far beyond the bounds of Palestine; and it cannot be supposed there was any very large number of the Jews of the dispersion who were then converted to the christian faith: and though the Epistle seems to have been intended in some measure for the general benefit of the twelve tribes, yet more especially for those among them who were converts to the Christian religion. Besides, it is intimated in the Epistle itself, that the Jewish christians were at this time sunk into very remarkable degeneracy, both in doctrine and practice, which is not likely to have been the case while they were under i. first impressions of their conversion. And indeed in this Epistle there are some plain intimations that the destruction of Jerusalem was near at hand, (chap. v. 1–8.) which event was accomplished about the year 70; and from this circumstance we may reasonably conclude the date of this Epistle to be about the year 60, or 61. It therefore appears, that this Epistle was not written by James the elder, but must have been the composition of an- other James, called James the less, who was the son of Alpheus or Cleophas, and is said to be the brother, that is, accord- ing to the latitude in which the Jews were accustomed to understand this expression, the kinsman, of our Lord, see Matt. xiii. 55. Mark vi. 3. and who is expressly numbered among the twelve apostles. See Matt. x. 2, 3. Mark iii. 17, 18. Luke vi. 14, 15. Acts i. 13. And though the time of this James being put to death is not absolutely certain, it is supposed by * It js well known, that at the beginning of the Reformation, Luther, apprehending the doctrine delivered by St. James concerning justification to be inconsistent with that of St. Paul, opposed the authority of this Epistle, in the Preface to his German Translation of the New Testament, published in the rear 1522; though he is not followed in this É. by those who at this day are distinguished by his name; and indeed he himself, as we are informed by Wolfius, (Caraº Philolog. vol. v. p. 6.) and by Fabricius, (Biblioth. Graec. lib. iv. Cap. v. § 9.) afterwards changed his opinion. 836 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES. many learned men to have happened in the year 62, before St. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Hebrews, which was in the year 63. And if this account be right, the date of this Epistle cannot be later than I have already assigned it. James the less statedly resided at Jerusalem; whence he hath been styled by some ancient fathers, bishop of that city, though without sufficient foundation, as we observed, note c, p. 435. Now James being one of the apostles of the circum- cision, while he confined his personal labours to the inhabitants of Judea, it was very natural for him to endeavour by his writings to extend his services to the Jewish christians who were dispersed abroad in more distant regions. For this pur- pose there are two points which the apostle seems to have principally aimed at, though he hath not pursued them in an orderly and logical method, but in the free epistolary manner, handling them jointly or distinctly, as occasions naturally offered. And these were—“To correct those errors, both in doctrine and practice, into which the Jewish christians had fallen, which might otherwise have produced fatal consequences; and then to establish the faith, and animate the hope, of sincere believers, both under their present and their approaching sufferings.” And in prosecution of this double view, after inscribing the Epistle to the twelve tribes in their dispersion, the apostle enters on his subject, by endeavouring to fortify their minds under those trials where with they would be exercised, by suitable representations of the benefit of those trials, of the readiness of God to communicate all necessary supplies of wis- dom and grace in answer to the fervent prayer of faith, and by exposing the vanity of all worldly enjoyments, which often prove the means of insmaring and ruining their possessors. (Chap. i. 1–16.) And then, as a means of their steadfastness, notwithstanding the most powerful temptations to apestasy, he exhorts them to remember and acknowledge the manifold goodness of God in the various blessings bestowed upon them; more especially in that of his regenerating grace, which should constrain them to the exercise of every virtue, especially to an ingenuous and candid reception of his word, and a concern resolutely and constantly to adhere to its directions; particularly by bridling their tongues, and succouring such as were afflicted. (Ver. 17, to the end.) And then the apostle, by an easy transition, having glanced at some of their par- ticular failings, takes the occasion of introducing cautions on sundry other articles in which they needed reprehension; par- ticularly against showing an undue respect to men's external circumstances, and resting satisfied in a partial observation of the divine precepts, especially where the royal law of charity, or universal benevolence, was in question. (Chap. ii. 1–13.) After this, as several of the Jewish christians discovered a disposition to restin an external and empty profession of religion, probably from an abuse of the doctrine of justification by faith, he largely descants on the inefficacy of a mere historical faith, and evinces, by most striking instances and illustrations, the utter insufficiency of it for our justification and eternal salvation. (Ver. 14, to the º And as such a barren profession is apt to inspire men with conceited and vain-glorious sentiments of themselves, while they are destitute of every divine habit and attainment, he deems it expedient to subjoin a caution to these Jewish christians, against their being too forward in assuming the office and character of teachers; and as spiritual pride tends to inflame men's unbridled passions, and to set on fire their licentious tongues, he resumes and expatiates on a subject which he had before only slightly touched upon, recommending a strict government of the tongue as a matter, though of great difficulty, yet of the highest importance. (Chap. iii. 1–12.) And in close connexion with such a topic, it was very natural to inculcate, as the apostle does, a candid, benevolent disposition, guarding them against cen- soriousness and animosities, and that love of the world which tends to excite them; to restrain which, he recommends a humble application to God for divine influences. (Yer. 13–chap. iv., 10.) Suggesting particular cautions against evil- speaking, and vain confidence in the events of futurity, or, in any worldly possessions, which often prove a temptation to luxury, and an occasion of ruin. And then, as to afflicted and oppressed christians, he encourages and exhorts them to wait patiently for the coming of the Lord. (Ver, 11–chap. y. 8.) And concludes the Epistle with condemning profane and vain swearing, with recommending moderation, fortitude, and prayer, a ready acknowledgment of our faults, and a solicitous concern for the common salvation. (Ver. 9, to the end.) ~. A P A R A PHRASE AND NOTES ON THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE JAMES, ENDEAVOURS TO FORTIFY THE CHRISTIANS TO who M HE writes, UNDER THOSE TRIALs whPREWITH THEY WOULD BE EXERCISED, BY SUITABLE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE BENEFIT OF THOSE TRIALs, AND OF THE READINESS OF GOD TO CQMMUNICATE ALL YºCESSARY SUPPLIES OF WISDOM AND GRACE, IN ANSWER TO THE FERVENT PRAYER QF, FAITH ; AND BY Ejº, Šiš' i § ALI, WORLDLY ENJOYMENTs, WHICH OF TEN PROVE THE MEANS OF INSNARING AND RUINING THEIR SESSORS. JAMES i. 1–16. - JAMES i. VER. 1. JAMES 1. VER. 1. JAMES, a servant of, God THIS Epistle is written by James,” who esteems it his honour to be a faithful servant SECT. *::::::::::"; º; and constant worshipper of the true and living God, and of his Son the Lord Jesus Christ; "I. are scattered abroad.greeting and is addressed with the sincerest affection to the twelve tribesb of Israel in this their state of dispersion; so that he would have every son of Abraham according to the flesh con- JAMEs sider it as addressed to him, and would himself be considered as greeting them all with , i. the most cordial wishes of grace and peace; though especially as addressing himself to those whom the bond of the same christian profession unites yet more strictly to the author. i. ſ.l.º.º.º. JMy dear brethren, count it matter of all joy when you fall into a variety of trials, for jºº " " "º the sake of the true religion, which so many, instead of embracing with a becoming º, tº thankfulness and zeal, are by all possible methods endeavouring to extirpate. Far from 3 pätience. m. being discouraged by such trials, in such a cause, rejoice in them, as knowing that the little and short proof of your faith to which it is now brought, in its natural consequences, under the influences of divine grace, worketh patience, which will grow by such exer- ºpiº. cise. And let patience have [its] perfect work, that it may rise to its highest improvements, 4 ::::::::::::::::::"...; during this little space of time, in which alone you will have an opportunity of glorifying 2 nothing. God, and adorning christianity, that so ye may be perfect and complete, deficient in nothing; for the other graces of christianity will generally shine brightest where patience is most conspicuous. ačº º: But if any one of you be deficient in wisdom, and incapable of certainly discerning his 5 ºth tº"...ii. i*i; duty in such critical conjunctures as these in which you are called out to act; let him ask tº *** further supplies of [it] from God, its eternal Fountain, who gives to all every necessary communication of that, and all other blessings, liberally, and upbraideth not any with the importunity or frequency of their addresses; and it shall be given him, so far as is needful nº lººk jºiº for his safety, and the discharge of his duty. But then let him take care that he ask in 6 tº avºisiike's was steady faith, nothing wavering, not divided by the desires of obtaining, and the fears of §º...” with the not obtaining, the grace he asks, or doubting of God's readiness to bestow it; for he that wavers, and has not a firm confidence in the divine goodness and faithfulness, can have no other solid and substantial support; but is like a billow of the sea,e driven on and tossed by the wind, in a restless and unsettled condition, (Isa. lvii. 20.) easily discomposed and 1.Fºleº agitated by every adverse blast, and in the greatest danger of being dashed in pièces. Let 7 #. Fºrd.” “” not that man therefore think that he shall receive anything of the ford, while he continues in such a situation, and darés not trust in him for those supplies of grace which he pro- fesses to seek. These unworthy suspicions, as they wrong the divine goodness, may in many instances prevent the communication of those favours which might otherwise be wi. tºº. ºn is obtained. Such a double-minded man, whose schemes are divided between God and the 8 world, and wh9 cannot cheerfully and resolutely commit himself, in confidence of divine support, to be led whithersoever Providence shall please, [is] unsettled in all his ways; he a James.]. That is, as we have already observed, the apostle James See Credib. of the Gospel History, P * k I. r) the less ; whom antiquity (I know not on what pretence) calls, Bishop Acts i. *1f. p ory, Part I. Book I. chap. 3. Compare of Jerusalem ; perhaps because he resided there more than most of the d If any one ºf you be deficient in wisdom.] Several interpret this of wis- ãpostles. He was the brother of Christ: and it is said he was exalted dom to bear afiićtions well, and suppose, that when God is said not to tº this office, on the death of James the great, beheaded by Herod, upbraid, it is upon supposition of ºngº impatience ºut this, though Acts,xii. 2, 17. . * * * * * * * © gºthorized by so great a name as Mr. Howe, (see his Works, vol. i. D. . b. Twelve tribes.] Dr. Lardner (Credibility, , i. p. 223, &c.) very 690) is one of those limited interpretations which I cannot fully justly observes, that Josephus concludes the tidelve tribes to be still in approve. eing, when he says, that six persons were sent out of every tribe, to e Like a wave of the sea.] AI. Saurin paraphrases it thus; “He ºśt lººſanslating the Scriptºres into Greek. It is Véry evident, that ought not to resemble the waves of the sea, which sºm"to ºr to º #ºn in Zorobabel’s time, ten tribes staid behind. Sce Dr. s º is upon the shore, the treasure with which they are alloy, ºn loc. * - - s Charged ; but soon plunge it in the ab • * * ~ l- > i ..Y (3 ſ (* - c In this their state of dispersion.] Dr. Whitby, in loc. hath some j, Šaj. gº. vol. ix. º #. i. º iºn Very pºrtinºt guotations from Josephus, Philo, and even Cicero, to in the paraphrase appears to me much more simple and natural. He show that.the Jews were dispersed abroad, and were to be found in eisewhéré paraphrases it, “Like a wave which moves on, and seems to ; multitudes in almost all parts of the world. And Dr. Lardner, come to the shore, but immediately returns with impetuosity into the esides the citations in Dr. Whitby, produces another remarkable pass guiffrom whence it cameº" fºl.". p. 56, 57. age to the same purpose, from a letter of Ágrippa to the Emperor. 838 FORTITUDE RECOMMENDED TO CHRISTIANS UNDER TRIALS. SECT. will perpetually be running into inconsistencies of conduct; and those imperfect and un- 1. determined impressions of religion which he feels, will serve rather to perplex and torment, than guide and secure him. *** In nothing are the generality of men more apt to mistake, than in estimating the value , 9 Let the brother of low I. of external circumstances; but let the principles of christianity instruct you, my brethren, jºioice in that he is to correct that mistake; and in this respect, let the brother of low degree, of a poor an 3 exalted : obscure condition, rejoice in his eraltation ; let him think of his dignity as a christian, and entirely acquiesce in his low sphere of life, for his circumstances do really give him such advantages for religion, by placing him under a shelter from many temptations, that he has a much fairer probability than others of rising to some eminence in the heavenly world. 19 But let the rich man be greatly cautious, and if he allow himself to rejoice, let it not be , 10 But the rich, in that he in the height of his circumstances, but in the humiliationſ of his mind; for all other occa- i.e.º. "...ºf signs of rejoicing are very precarious. And as for his distinction in this world, as the flower pass away. e grass he shall 11 ºf the grass he shall quickly pass aggy. . For [no sooner] is the sun risen with a scorching 11 For the sun is no soone, heat, | immediately the grass, which in spring looks sº fair and flourishing, is dried up; º; and the flower thereof, that adorned it, loses its painted glories yet much sooner; it fallêth tiºği to the ground, and all the beauty of its lovely form is perished; so shall the rich man also §§ gº! fade away in his paths, and though he may byprudent managementor remarkable success, Hºfſie"º º grow richer and richer, he dies in the midst of all his wealth, and it can no longer either “” delight or adorn him. 12 You will be exercised with trials while you continue in the present world; but repine 12 Blessed is the man that Wer. 14, not at them; happy [is] the man who with a proper steadiness and fortitude of mind, jºisºn ºf endures temptation : for being approved by such a course of them as the infinite wisdom of ºivºie Sºiſºn God shall appoint, he shall receive the crown of eternal life, which the Lord Jesus Christ ś" " has graciously promised to all them that love him, and express their love by such fidelity & 13 and zeal, Let no man who is tempted say, I am tempted of God;é for God is himself, by , 13 Let no, man say waen virtue of his boundless knowledge and almighty power, incapable of being tempted by evils; ; ;...º.º...?"; and such is the perfect rectitude and benevolence of his ñature, that he tempteth not gy; §º. man; but, on the contrary, abhors all sin, and lays no man, in any imaginable circumstances, "***** 14 under any necessity of committing it: But every man is tempted by the innate weakness 14 Buteyery man is tempt: of his own nature, in concurrence with the circumstances of life in which he is placed, ºniº being allured by his own lusts, and for want of wisely and resolutely opposing the first risin y º 15 of them, being insmaredb to the actual commission of sin: For the gradation is much lä. Then when Just bath more swift and fatal than the generality of mankind are aware; and indeed lust having ºn; conceived brings forth actual sin, by a speedy birth, where perhaps the full indulgence of it ed, bringeth forth death. was not intended ; and sin, when it is finished, or perpetrated,i is impregnated with death, and tends in its consequences to the final ruin both of soul and body, as naturally as the 16 conception of an animal does to the birth. Therefore be not deceived, my beloved brethren, 1.90 hot err, my beloved by its flattering form, nor venture to trifle with temptations, under a fond conceit that you “” shall be able to break the connexion, by stopping yourselves at pleasure in the advance of the danger, or recovering yourselves again when sin has been committed. IMPROVEMENT. 16 LET us learn this holy caution, and guard against those baits of lust under which death is concealed; remem- 15 bering that God has made us with a power of determining our own actions, that he tempts none to evil, nor ap- 13 points to any such temptations as he knows to be in their own nature irresistible. Be our spiritual enemies ever so powerful, or ever so artful, they cannot do us any hurt, till we betray ourselves into their hands. Yet certain it is, that their artifice and their power, in conjunction with the advantage which the corruption of our own hearts 3 gives them, make it requisite that, conscious to ourselves of our deficiency in wisdom, we should ask it of God. et the libérality with which he gives it, and the royal freedom with which he has promised it, encourage us to ask it with such constancy, that we may receive daily supplies; and with firm confidence in his goodness, that we 6, 7 may not waver, and be like a wave of the sea tossed with the wind. 3, 4 they tend to improve our patience, and 9, 2 Trusting in that supply of grace we receive from him, let us go forth calmly and cheerfully to meet such trials as the infinite wisdom of God shall appoint for us, how various and pressing soever they may be; remembering R. patience to perfect every other grace; and that if we be not overcome, 12 we shall be approved, and made more méet to receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Andoh that the love of this blessed Lord, who has procured as well as promised it, º always ren- der us superior to every trial, and more than conquerors through him that hath loved us, and thereby hath acquired to himself so just a claim to our supreme affection. With hearts faithfully engaged to him, and established in the 10 firmest resolutions for his service, ſet us look with indifference upon those worldly circumstances, about which they who have no sense of a higher interest are exceedingly solicitous; and let us regulate our value of all the good things of life, by a regard to their aspect upon our religious characters and hopes—If low circumstances may improve these, †: us' look upon them as true exaltation; and if wealth, and dignity, and applause, may endanger thése, let us rather fear them, than aspire to them. Whatever we have obtained of those things which the men of the world are most ready to covet and admire, is transitory and fading as the grass, or even as the flower of the field; and sometimes, like those beautiful but tender productions of vegetable nature, is consumed by the excess of those causes to which it owes its existence and its beauty. “Give us, O Lord, durable riches, and righteous- ness, and that honour which cometh from thee, and is immortal, as its great Original.” Mr. Pyle explains hi. º: . and tºº 8. . in Whiº ..º.º.º.º.º.º. 2- Hz, his possess ; persecution, and so reduced is so much more, Q9 VIQtlSº, th 2 } gnt pl &l (IV) Se º,"; º jś but this seems not pro- should be avoided for the future. cº ſº word might have altered perly opposed to the ºn mentioned above. Indeed in any yiew its significatiºn, as it is gertºn yº, X. S (IO. ÖeX T it must É. allowed a very difficult passage. But I have preferred the h Being allured and insnared: e{e\kouevos Kat Óexca'opewos.) The intº eation which seemed to be "feast entangled,—and indeed to be original words.baye gºingulºſ ººty and elegance, containing an allu- most agreeable to the original, if we may rely on an observation made sion to the method of †: out of the water with a hook, con- §§eża, ajº fºr him by Raphelius, (and they are both very critical cealed under the bait which,they greedily devour. f The rich man in his humiliation.] judges of the Greek language,) that Tatre, vajo CS, the word here used by i finished, or perpetrated: aro TeXétotletoa.) The word is used in St. James, expresses rather the disposition of a man’s mind, than his this sense by Polybius, in a passagºguoted by Ranhelius, in loc. sº tº and condition, which is properly Taireworms ; though it must be K ºfficrºfore be not deceived.] This is agreeable to the reading of the confessed, this distinction is not always observed: Alexandrian manuscript, which after um inserts &v, therefore; by which g Tempted of God.] The phrase, it seems, had ſormerly been in use ; the connexion is rendered more apparent. CHRISTIANS EXHORTED TO REMEMBER THE GOODNESS OF GOD. SECTION II. The apostle exhorts them to remember and acknowledge the manifold goodness of God, in the various blessings bestowed upon them; more espe- cially in that of his regenerating grace, which should constrain them to the exercise of every virtue; especially to an ingenuous and candid recep- tion of his word, and a concern resolutely and constantly to adhere to its directions; particularly by bridling their tongues, and succouring such as were afflicted. James i. 17, to the º JAMEs i. 17. JAMES i. 17. *YººHººd . THAT ; may be fortified against every temptation, and may be animated to behave in a SECT. ºmº; ºoº; manner becoming your christian profession, rémember, that every good gift and every per- 2. £"; º; fect gift which the children of men can receive, is from above; and the more completely -- shadow of turning.” "excellent the benefit is, the more reason have they to acknowledge it as descending from JAMES the great and eternal Father of lights,” the blessed God, from whom reason and light and 17." joy are derived. The sun itself is but a feeble image of his glory, with whom there is no variableness, nor so much as any shadow of turning;b whereas the sun is continually vary- ing, and has no sooner arrived to its meridian, but it begins to descend to the west, or to its summer height, but it verges towards the winter again; causing the direction of the 18 of his own will begat shadows it occasions proportionably to vary. But the immutable and everlasting God 18 !...º.º.º.º has condescended to multiply those favours upon us as christians, which should bind our first-fruits of his creatures. Souls to him in the bonds of unchangeable lové ; for of his own sovereign will he impreg- ‘A nated us with the jº, word of his divine and evangelical truth, that we might be a kind - of first-fruits" of his creatures, more excellent than others, and in a peculiar manner sepa- 19 wherefore, my beloved rated and consecrated to him from among the rest of mankind. et us be conscious of 19 brethren, let every, man be the honour he has hereby done us, and take heed that we do not sacrilegiously alienate sywift to hear, slow to speak, - 5 8-> - - slow to wrath : ourselves from his service. Therefore, my beloved brethren, that we may be thus reli- giously sacred to him, and ever employed to the purposes he has directed, let every man Še Swift to hear the instructions of his word, and if the good advices which may be given him agreeable to the tenor of it; but be slow to speak, guarding solicitously against every rash and especially every proud and dictatorial expression; and slow to wrath,d not easily yielding to provocations, how injuriously soever he may be treated; For the wrath of man, 20 even where it may be most ready to assume the title of religious zeal, worketh not, but on the contrary greatly obstructs, the righteousness of God;" instead of promoting the cause of true religion in the world, it is a reproach to it, and a means of exciting the prejudices of mankind against it. Endeavour therefore to regulate your passions by these great 21 maxims; and laying aside all inward or outward filthiness on the one hand, and all over- jlowing of malignity on the other, compose yourselves, with all meekness and gentleness of mind, to receive the ingrafted word;f that word, which, when implanted in your minds by the influence of divine grace, is able to save your souls, and will effectually form them to a meetness for a happy immortality. But then you must remember to be doers of the word, and not hearers only, jº dº. and imposing upon yourselves* with an unprofitable attendance, while it has no inward efficacy upon your hearts. . For if any 23 one be merely a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man carelessly beholding his natural face in a mirror or glass, who sees some accidental spot upon it, which it would be convenient to wipe off. For his looking into the glass, and taking notice of it for the 24 ;..."; i.º.º. present, will signify nothing, if he beholds himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets manner of man he was. what manner of person he was ; forgets what rendered him disagreeable, and required to 25 But whoso looketh into be corrected. # he is the wise and happy man, who bends down as it were his whole §§ º: attention to this important matter, and is so set upon his own reformation and improve- ºf ment, that he looketh into the gospel, that perfect law of liberty, by regarding which the ji tº blºssed in his deed." truest and noblest liberty is obtained, whatever confinement it may seem to lay us under; he, I say, who not only takes a transient view of its contents and designs, but continues [therein, deeply reflecting upon it, and charging his own soul with its important doctrines and precepts: this man not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work it enjoins—this man, I say, shall be happy in his deed, and shall find an advantage which mere speculative knowledge, though the most perfect and excellent in its kind, could not possibly secure. ...ifºnº, ; : But then remember, that when I speak of his deeds, I mean not on any account to excuse jeti"nº hijº, º him from paying proper regard to his words; for it is necessary I should inculcate, that, ºf any man among you seem to be religious, not resolutely bridling his tongue, and reining 20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteous- ness of God. 21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of ..º. and receive with megkness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, eceiying your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man behold- ing his natural face in a glass : 24 For he beholdeth him: self, and goeth his way, and 2 2 25 2 6 them and other christians. I think it therefore much better to explain it as referring to their christian, privileges in general. d Slovo to wrath.] It is well known that the Jewish doctors were apt to contend very fiercely about their different opinions; but it is indeed so much the general infirmity of human nature, as unhappy experience teaches us, that the caution is of universal concern. . - e Workcth not the righteousness of God..] Some think the meaning is, a Father of lights.] It is the opinion of Glassius that this phrase only expresses the majesty and glory of God, as if the apostle º said, The most illustrious and glorious Father. Büº the accurate Bos most justly imagings, that, the allusion to the sun which there is in the following words; begins, here; and, that the phrase refers to the heathens calling that gioričus luminary, the father of light and the author of light; some instances of which he produces. See Exercitat. Philolog. in loc. The learned Albert cites a passage from Macrobius, in which the same title is applied to Jupiter. Observ. Philolog. in loc. b Every good gift, &c.] It is observable that the apostle makes use of two different words to express gift ; the one of which is more poetical and sounding than the other; and he has Fº the words in such an order that they make an heroic verse. So that were they to be rendered, “Every good gift, and every boom complete,” it might perhaps give the English, reader a more... exact idea of the original; but as there is all imaginable reason to believe this was quite an accidental thing, I thought it might have the appearance of affectation to have endeavoured to re- tain it. As neither boon nor present would have been proper. in this connexion, I know not how to render Öoats and 69pmud by different words; such is the poverty of our language, or the defect of my acquaint- ance with it. But the words, a completely excellent benefit, are inserted in the paraphrase, to preserve some little imitation of the original. As some learned men have observed that 7porms attoaxiaopa is something of an astronomical phrase, and refers to the different aspects of the sun, as it approaches one or the other tropic, (see Dr. Bates’s Works, p. 747.) I have been careful to express that sentiment. It hath been the opinion of some persons that this is intended to oppose some heretical notion of the influence of the stars in the affairs of human life; but I know not º * such ridiculous conceit had so early a footing in the CI). Ul IC I) . c Kind of first-fruits.] It has often been observed, that this was ad- dressed to the Jews who were first called to christianity, before the gos- pel was preached to the Gentiles ; but it will not follow that all, the dis- persed of the twelve tribes, to whom he addresses, were so called; and God did not intend there should afterwards be any distinction between simply, A man, who is often a prey to angry passions, is incapable of performing that, obedience, which God requires; but promoting the inte- rest of the kingdom of God, may be included in the meaning of acorking his right cousness ; and this false zeal is so often defended under that no- tion, that I was willing in the paraphrase to point out that idea plainly. f Ingrafted word: epºpuzov Aoyov.] Some have translated this phrase, the natural, the innate, or internal word, referring to what hath been sometimes called the light within ; and it must be acknowledged that £pºpuros hath frequently, this signification. But the version here given is undeniably, justified by Bos and Elsner, in loc. who illustrate this whole clause g some apposite and elegant quotations from the classics. The word of God is frequently compared to seed, or to a plant; parti- cularly, l. Pet. i. John iii. 9. in which, sense it is here said to be epu%utos, ingrafted or implanted in their minds. g Hearers only, deceiving, &c.] The Jews did indeed place much of their religion in going up at proper times to the synagogue to hear the lºo read ; and there may possibly be an allusion to that disposition. The exact signification of Tapa)\oyi', opeyot is, imposing upon any by a sophistical show of argument; and here it is used with great propriety as Mr. Superville has observed, Serm. vol. iv. p. 124. et Dr. Edwards tells us the Jewish writers have a proverb among them, that “he who hears the law, and does not practise it, is like a man who ploughs and sows, but never reaps.” Bends down his whole attention, and looketh, &c..] I have endea- voured in the paraphrase to express the emphasis of the original, o, øe rapakurpas. Compare 1 Pet. i. 12. where there is an evident allusion to the bending posture of the cherubim, who overshadowed the mercy- seat in the holy of holies. 840 SEC 2. CAUTION AGAINST AN UNDUE RESPECT OF PERSONS. T. it in, to prevent those sallies tº which it may sometimes incline, but deceiving his heart, deceived his own heart, this with an imagination that a freedom from other acts of iniquity, or from gross profaneness man's religion is vain. and wickedness of speech, or that some good intention, notwithstanding his exorbitances **s of this kind, will excuse him before God, even though he indulge himself in venting irre- 26 gular passions under sacred names; this man's religion [is] but vain, and will stand him in no real stead, whatever complacency he may at present find in his religious pretensions. 27 Pure and undefiled religion, that which is clear and without any flawk or blemish, before 27, Pure religion and unde- the penetrating eyes of God, even the Father, consists not merely in speculations or forms, #je.*.*.ii.9%, § {}. or in the warmth of affection during the exercise of worship ; but it is this, to take the ## tº ºk.' oversight of orphans and widows in their affliction,” with a tender regard to their calamitous #...";ić"...º. circumstances, #. endeavouring to oversee them, in such a manner as to provide for world. their relief, performing to others in distress suitable offices of kindness and charity; at the same time, taking a prudent care to keep himself unspotted from those bad practices, and irregular indulgences, which so generally prevail in the world about us, where so little either of religion or morality is to be found. {AIPROVEMENT. Ver.17 WITH all gratitude letus direct our eyes and our hearts to the unchangeable Father of lights, and acknowledge Is every good and every perfect gift as descending from him; but above all, the invaluable gift of his regenerating grace, to which, if we are the first-fruits of his creatures, we are certainly indebted, and are thereby laid under the strongest engagements to consecrate ourselves continually to his service. Let us therefore listen with a most obe- 19 dient regard to every intimation of his will, and set a guard upon all our passions, that they may move in sweet and harmonious subjection to it. Especially, let us be slow to wrath, and not imagine that we can be justified 20 in the exorbitances of our angry transports, because they may possibly arise in the cause of religion. The right- eousness of God is not to be promoted, but, on the contrary, will be disgraced and obstructed, by such outrageous, 21 ungovernable sallies. Let every impure and malignant affection be therefore banished from our minds, and let us pray that the word of God may be so ingrafted into our souls, as to become the effectual means of our salva- 22 tion. Let us not rest in a mere forgetful hearing, or indeed in an ineffectual remembrance; but having looked into the gospel, that perfect law, which, by binding the soul, gives it the truest liberty, let us by divine assistance 25 continue therein, and improve to the immediate purposes of reformation, whatever knowledge we thereby gain; correcting whatever we observe amiss in ourselves. Particularly, let us study a proper command over our 26 tongues, and cultivate those charitable dispositions and offices, in which true and undefiled religion is here said to consist; that widows and orphans may give us their blessing, as their guardians and friends; and that an un- 27 spotted life, untainted with the vices of a degenerate age, may bear witness, that though in the world we are not of it, and that we act in consistency with those sublime and holy ends to which we profess as christians to aspire. SECTION III. He cautions them against showing an undue respect to men’s external circumstances; and resting satisfied in a partial observation of the divine precepts; especially where the royal law of charity or universal benevolence was in question. James ii. 1–13. JAMES ii. 1. JAMES ii. 1. sECT. MY brethren, let me now caution you, that you hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus ºf bºhº; hºno!, the 3. •Tº º g & faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the great Lord] of glory,” in a partial respect of persons, so as to give undue ſº Čist. "th."ºozººr i. l ference to any upon acéoùnt of their external circumstances; whereas the relation in which with **** Persons: JAMEs the meanest of your fellow-christians may stand to him, who is so glorious a Personage as Il. the Son of God, should certainly recommend them to your regard and esteem. For I sº"; have observed something of this kind among many, which seems to require such an ad-šū mºod;"aºei, - - - - - - -vº º * à d th O w ls - monition as this; and have seen, that iſ a man ſome into your º: when you are ſºlº poor met for religious worship, with a gold ring” [and] other parts of a splendid dress, and at the same time there come in also a poor main in mean and Sordid raiment ; you are apt to show an undue regard to the former, and to put a visible slight on the latter, at his first appearance, without considering what may be the real character of the one or the ºther 3 And ye have respect to .# whatever may be said in excuse for this, it is often blame-worthy; for if ſº have a º"... i. respect, as ye naturally have for him who wears a splendid dress, and 3ay to him, i; there i. thod'here jºi. g; º - º * - * * * * Z. '# *f, - -, - ./f(-)" and Say to the poor, Stan in an honourable place; and say to the poor man; Stand ſhow there, or sit '..."; º ºf juiºr. 6." it"; i. 4 fºotstool; And distinguish not in yourselves" according to the different characters of these m; tºº. tl tial i o: - * * 2. • º * - *Are ye not then partial in two men, but only regard their outward appearance, you even become judges, who reasºn yourselves, and are become ii!;e you seem by such a conduct to determine, that external circumstances are chiefly judges of evil thoughts 2 & i. 3 i lºot º but deceiving, &c.] That excellent person º wº faith of our Lord Jesus Christ : but I cannot think that by any means {} e’fate Bishop of Durham, justly obseryes, that this is the necessºry. y Xyly , - - P; B. º of i.e. word; as if the pºſé"had sid, it is impossi- b Hito your synagogue.] Mr. Cradock and Dr. Whitby explain this 5j. º: alº should so much as seem to be religious, iſ he 996s h9t of their jūdiciaſ assemblies, which th9 Jews held in their synagogues. ... i., §§athé bridies his tongue; but if he deceive himselfin, this Matt. x 17. Acts ºil, 19. And they imagine it is probable, that Whº .nºamé, of réigion, he is déceived in the chole of it. Butler’s they were converted to, christianity, they preserved the same §.”. S. ºi. i. p. 53. And indeed so many sins of the tongue are ºgm- and that the partiality here blamed, related. to two persons, who haſ mºtº' without any apprehension of their being evil, that this caution, ºuses to tº when the visible superiority ſº to .* º seilla: ... iii. Fºrk för tº explication of i; is *...*.* #pº. #"; #. 9. º; Wiś. #: }. Jºãº : > * * *. 4. - s * s S {i VO U T : Il * 4. ** * * X 4 - 4:3 jºriº, how little many zealots seem to be aware 9ſ, the great ey!!,9} Jºº, ſº fºrbid. ' 5ut the representing both the parties as seated ; : t c. , ! .. - ń..."...iſ brºthren upon account of their religious dif- particularly, forbid. ut, the represe r * ivil distinctions }: º; (as Mr. #º observes, see his Works, º not suit º ...}}. º: º jº º, ºf S -- ** * * * c \, . - ‘lv in his view. {{It reasonably, DC nºtide, d. • * - Yeol . - - j i U - vol. iv. p. 447.) the apostle seems to bayº had particularly in his view palºº it rising too high; and in times of persecution, whem invor - V - * : an."jaj Archijshop Tillotson has justly observed, that bably saw it risin; 39.5%; - isfia nitv s ºf: ; ; ; ; * tºº. * ū’an .. 3. the excellence of a precious stone, people ventured their lies.” half of christianity, they had so tile which consists much in its being º A GI t §"º. with- wegº ºxes. Perhaps this compound word - *** -º-º- 2c his Works, vol. ii. p. 581. nd surely no gem. * * & " - : ~ &. ºf h or ; : , , , tºº. Hºº:: - - - led religion—consists not merely in the Wºrmth O he ſearne Oerl I.] * eº, “. y - ... º. aß exercise of worship.] The §§ word, "... #. jºi i.º.º.º.º.º.º. º: * , k, i §rmity with our translators I have rendered. religion, nger. With. sº inger. Ösers. Philolog. in log." §, º, ºrship, and intimates here, that no kind of e- quently w ºring jº. sº ; §§ * ºrms. jº; sºices paid to the Tjeity can be of any availi iſ wººleº d And distinguish not tº 9 dering of this clause, as the verb is oftić Žiliano of charity, and to visit the fatherlºss and widows in their afflic- This I take to be the exactiºn ãº. ºld not be read, as in our Engli *:: # : “... ſ.l..." which i ilâve endéavoured to preserve in the para- middle º: and º: It Sh Oll y $ i ! Sil '- - * version, with an Interrogation; : ~ 1. -- ~~~ ; ~~ :- 4 1-3 * -- Y - *aking the oversight of, &c.) So eſtigkerreabat properly signifies, , e. Judges, who reasº.º.º. Eºſi. }..." #: Fº º and may import, entering into measures for their ºº:: º §: 3.S º:"; i. º; #...” : …, n > orain or • * - - ...A StreSS6S. HS - - - > - . *~ gº." º: º; ºwth the In in their distre sº ſenſºred by him, Judices malé ratiocinantes, Judges who *%. Żółºgiãº.jºr. Whitby would render it, The glorious reason ill. º: É'; iniquitous and unjustifiable scătănents and practices. By such a conduct as this, you 3. § - {! (. * In º - - & * 4 × 2- & iº ; gº court the favour of the rich, and strongly intimate your contempt of the poor, as poor; — tuith, and heirs of the king- * A £3.º.º º : Ir, 1. •of 1,3-2 arº irl c, if is nºr ºlin rhy re-º-º- lºs ry JAMES don"which he hath ºrºd but hearken, my beloved brethren, and consider, for it is peculiarly worthy of your most II. to them that love him 2 6 But ye have despised the poor. O not rich inen op- press, you, and draw you be- fore the judgment seats * 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called 2 8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neigh- bour as thyself, ye do well: 9 But iſ ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced, of the law as transgressors. 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Il For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, JDo not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shaji be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For he shall have judg- ment without mercy, that bath shewed no mercy: an mercy rejoiceth against judg- In ent CAUTION AGAINST AN UNDUE RESPECT G F PERSONS. 841 to be considered; which certainly is wrong, and if it were to be pursued, would produce very SECT. attentive regard; Hath not God apparently chosen many who are among the poor of this world [to be] rich in faith iſ and does it nºt a ppear that they are so 2 Are they not heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him ; and just upon the point of being carried to a glory that will eclipse that of the greatest monarchs on earth? And does it become you, believing this, to º those who, for any thing you know, may in a few days be carried by angels into Abraham's bosoin, and placed in the most distinguished rank among the guests at the celestial banquet? But this indeed is the case; you have often dishonoured the poor man, though God may have condescended to visit him with such a gracious regard, and have enriched him with such inestimable mercies. On the other hand, do not the rich, whom you court with so much respect and assiduity, tyran- nize over you, and drag you to their tribunals 2 Are not most of the rich your persecutors rather than your friends? Jesus Christ, by which you are called ž and do they not often compel you to blaspheme it, and inflict the severest penalties upon you if you refuse 2 So that, on the whole, they often prove themselves the vilest of men. And can you think, that when this is the case, and you see so many poor saints courageously enduring these extremities, that you ought to fix your eyes so much on a glaring outside, and overlook that heroic worth which so often appears under a veil of poverty 2 I beseech you, learn to think more reasonably at all times, and especially to bring better sentiments into your assemblies for public worship. And not only in such instânces, but in all others, endeavour to act equitably; for if you fulfil the noble and royal law, which, according to that expression of the Scrip- ture, ought with a kind of imperial authority to goverii all our sentiments; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; lie do well: that would be in every thing a rule to you, and particularly here; for none of you, if you were reduced to poverty, would wish to be treated with marks of slight and contempt on that account, without any regard to your character in other respects. But if ye do in this partial manner accept the persons of men, ye work iniquity therein, being convicted by the law I have just now mentioned, as trans- gressors of it. And give me leave to say, that whatever zeal you may show for any other precepts, if convicted here, you become guilty before God, and forfeit your acceptance with him. For whoever shall keep the whole law in every other instance, but allow him- self to offend in one [particular, he is in effect guilty of all; as he that committed but one capital crime would as surely suffer death as if he had committed all that ever were pro- hibited in that light. For it is certain, that he disregards the authority of the Lawgiver, which has established every precept equally ; as it is evident, he that says, Thou shalt not commit adultery, hath also said, Thou shalt, do no murder. If therefore thou art not an adulterer, but committest murder, thou art evidently a transgressor of the law. Hence it appears, that it is not by a regard to the divine authority that thou abstainest from the former crime, since that would equally have preserved thee from the latter. Letit there- fore be your care, that ye so speak and so act as those that shall be judged by the law of liberty, by the glorious gospel, which is a dispensation that sets us at liberty from the bondage of the Jewish ritual, and directs us to all the branches of that virtue and holiness, which is the truest liberty of the mind, and which, being so excellent, must subject us to severer punishment if we presume to contemn it. And especially remember to maintain # a regard to it, where the rules of charity are concerned. For you know a particular stress is laid upon this branch, as of the highest moment in the sight of God; as we are warned by our compassionate Lord himself, that on the one hand, he shall have judgment without mercy, who hath not excrcised mercy; and on the other hand, mercy rejoices against judg- ment and imboldens our hopes, when we stand before that merciſul Being, whom we have resembled in that amiable part of his character. IAIPROVEMENT. 8 9 I Bo they not blaspheme iſſue honourable name of our Lord 7 J/ 3 THE apostle could not intend to condemn those civil distinctions which are founded upon the different relations Ver. I and circumstances of mankind in the present world; but surely God intended to teach us how little esteem he sets 4 upon riches, by bestowing them on many of the most undeserving of mankind, while he withholds them from his dearest children: and to admire them, and others, on account of their riches, while we pour contempt on the poor, as poor, though so many of them are distinguished by the riches of the divine favour, must be highly unreasonable, and to God highly offensive. As for those who are poor in this world, but rich in faith, let them adore the divine munificence to them, and think with pleasure of those durable riches, and of that everlasting kingdom, which God has prepared for them as their inheritance. Whatever our stations be, let us pray that the royal law may be inscribed upon our hearts, and that we may love our neighbours as ourselves; guarding against that mean and prohibited respect of persons, which would ex- 6 5 8 9 pose us to conviction, as transgressers of the law. Let us also learn to guard against that partiality in our obe- dience to it, which is utterly inconsistent with sincerity. Let us remember, that the divine authority equally establishes every precept of it, and that the generous nature of the gospel dispensation, as a law of liberty, will be a sad aggravation of our presumptuous violation of it. A consciousness of those many defects and imperfections, which the best of men may see reason to charge themselves with, should certainly engage our most earnest appli- cations to God for mercy; and as we desire to obtain it, let it be our care to exercise mercy to others, both in the candour of our censures on the one hand, and the readiness of our liberality on the other. - 10, II 12 13 f [To be] rich in faith..] The ellipsis in these words of eus to clvat, or yws affat, is common : as Bos, and after him, Albert, hath observed. Accordingly I have rendered it, to be rich in faith. 106 842 SECT, IT is with real grief that I perceive many of you seem highly to value yourselves upon the profession you make of the christian religión, without being suitably impressed with a practical sense of its important principles, and influenced to a life agreeable to them. But 4. FAITH INSUFFICIENT WITHOUT WORKS. SECTION IV. The apostle largely descauts on the inefficacy of a mere historical faith; and evinces, by most striking ciency of it for our justification and eternal salvation. si, * - JAMES ii. 14. instances and illustrations, the utter insuff- James ii. 14, to the end. JAMEs ii. 14. WHAT doth it profit, my bre- thren, though a man say he ath faith, and have not works 3 can faith save him? JAMEs what advantage [is there, my brethren, if any one say he has faith, but has not suitable II. 17 does it not rather seem a cruel mockery, than a real kindness 2 soever it may be professed, and how orthodox soever those articles are to which an assent is given, if it have not suitable works to attend it, being b 18 no substantial fruit, is altogether insignificant. But one ºnay perhaps say to One of these forward professors, in order to bring matters to a short issue, Thou sayest that thou hast faith, and I make it appear in my life and conversation, that I have works, which naturally spring from that principle; give me then the evidence 19 and lives. Thow assuredly believest that there is one only true and living God, and therein thou doest well; it is the grand fundamental principle of all true religion. But remember, it is a principle common to those who are entirely destitute of religion; for the devils also firmly believe it, and cannot withhold their assent; they are º ence of his existence, and of the terrors of his wrath, so as even to tre 20 tion of that full display of it, to which they know they are inevitably doomed. But wilt thow know, O vain, empty man, who restest in that which might be found in equal, or in 2 22 by raising him from the dead? Thou seest then in this instance, that faith co-operated with his works, and animated him to zeal and self-denial in them; and faith was perfected - º: to himself, to angels, and to God. f (Gen. xv. 6.) referring to what passed long before this, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness;d and in consequence of this he was treated by God with such peculiar endearment, that he was even called the Friend of God; as it is said, (Isa. xli. 8.) 24 of the divine friendship. 25 fluence on the heart and life. 26 And on such principles must all others expect justification and salvation; for as the body I works,” to support the justice of that pretension ? Can such a faith, as may be separate 15 from good works, save him 3 Consider the case, when men make professions of charity, without producing the proper fruits of it, and you will easily see how vain such a preten: ; sion is. If, for instance, a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food for the sub- 16 sistence of life, And one of you, who calls himself a christian, say to them. We heartily pity your case, and feel the tender emotions of that love which our relation to each other re- }. depart therefore in peace, whithersoever the providence of God may lead you, and sincerely wish that you may meet with suitable accommodations: may and sheltered, warmed, and fed to the full; but, with all these soft addressés, if ye give not 15 If a brother or sister be ºd, and destitute of daily OOCl, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; jºić standing ye give them riot those things which are need- ful to the body; what doth it profit? ye be clothed to them either food, or railment, or any money to purchase the things necessary for the body; what [does it] profit them to be addressed with such hypocritical professions flove? Yéa, T º: instructed in christianity, o also faith, how zealously .17 Even so faith, if it, hath not works, is dead, being - - * alone. itself, is dead,b and producing 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works : she w me thy faith without thy works, and 1 will shew thee my faith by my works. offer thee; show me thy faith by thy works," and I will also in return show thee my faith by my works; let us, without quarrelling about different explications of faith, make it manifest to each other, that our profession is truly solid, by its substantial effects upon our tempers 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. - ed by dreadful experi- le in the expecta- 20 But wilt thou know, O Vain man, that faith without works is deaft higher degrees, in the infernal spirits, that faith without works, a persuasion of the truths of christianity, if it produces no solid fruits of holiness, is really dead as to any valuable purpose that can be expected from it? Take an instance of this in the most celebrated of all the patriarchs ; I mean the instance of Abraham, our he not plainly justified by works, when, in consequence of that full persuasion 21 Was not Abraham our ather justified by works, When he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar 2 reat and illustrious ſ". 100.S e had of a divine commission and command to do it, he º his son Isaac upon the altar, intending, l in obedience to what he apprehended the wi of God, actually to have slain him, and to have trusted in God to accomplish the promise of a numerous seed to descend from him, by works; the integrity of it was made fully .#nd thus the scripture was fulfilled, which says, 22 Seest, thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made per- G. Ct. : 23. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abra- ham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for right- eousness : and he was called he seed of Abraham my friend. §§.a. "G. This proved the sincerity of his faith, and that he was in some degree worthy the honour father, that a man is justified by works and not You see then, by this instance of the great father of the faithful, if the characters of the children are to be estimated in the same manner as those of the |ſº only ; it is º that the great principles of religion be credited, if they have not als In like manner, also, I might illustrate the matter by the further instance of Rahab, who had been the harlot, though afterwards reclaimed by divine grace; was she not justified by works, when, in consequence of that faith which she pro- fessed in the God of Israel, she received, entertained, and sheltered the spies, who came to 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. no means enough, o their practical in- 25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had receiv- ed the messengers, and had sent them out another way 2 observe the state of Jericho, and, at the apparent hazard of her life, concealed them from those that came to search after them; till at length, knowin which way the pursuers would go, she sent them out another way, and so made effectual provision for their escape. 26 For as the body without without the spirit is but a dead carcass, how fair and entire soever it may appear, and will a If any one say he has faith, but has not suitable works.] I am surprised at the iminense pains commentators have taken to reconcile St. Paul and St. James; and the many hypotheses they have formed for that purpose. Whereas to me nothing is more evident, than that the ideas they affix to the words faith, and works, are º different: St. James, by the word faith, means simply an assent to the truth of religious principles, without determining whether it be or be not effectual; and then declares that in case this assent, does not produce good works, that is, the soid virtues of the heart and life, it cannot be accepted by God. Whereas St. Paul, by the word faith, means a cordial and vital assent to divine truth, which influences the heart to a holy temper, and according to the gracious terms of the gospel, entitles a man to divine acceptance, with- out any regard at all to the, Mosaic law, and previous to the produc- tion of any of those good works which will naturally be the fruit of it. Had Luther calmly considered this, he would not have denied the in- spiration of St. James, out of regard to his supposed heterodoxy, in the business of justification ; nor would one of his followers have presumed to charge him expressly with lying, as Limborch tells us he did, JMen- titus, est Jacobus in caput situm. Limborch, Theol. 1. iii. 16. b Faith, if it have not works, &c.) From this passage it appears that we should not confine the idea of the word faith, as used by St. James, to a mere assent; for it would be an absurd, supposition; that a mere assent should have any works. By this word therefore St. James (as we observed in the former note) means simply an assent, whether it be or be not effectual. Nor is it indeed the assent that saves when accom- panied with works. So that the apostle’s assertion is more critically and correctly true, than many of his commentators have apprehended. c Show me thy faith, &c.) . This version, is so very different from our own, that many of my Engish readers will be much surprised at it.— But I have followed the most and best copies which read it, as in the margin of our Bibles, ex rayv ºpyov og-and-ek Tov ºpygov ps, though some copies read the first clause x00ts rajv ºpyov Gº' which our trans- lators have followed. - The scripture was fulfilled, &c.] This very text St. Paul quotes, Rom. iv. 3. to prove that Jābraham §§§ by faith ; which º shows, that the faith by which St. Paul says he was justified, was suc a faith as includes good works in it, as a certain principle of them ; and consequently, cstablished what was said above, for reconciling these two apostles in the easiest manner. FO1&WARDNESS IN ASSUMING THE OFFICE OF TEACHERS TO BE AWO]])}}D. the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. 843 at length fall into putrefaction and dissolution; so such a faith as remains without the sub-SECT. stantial fruits of good works, which ought ever to attend it, is also dead; it now appears as 8, carcass in the sight of God, and as such will ere long perish. IMPROVEMENT. 4. JAMES II. LET this great and importantlesson, which the apostle here teaches so plainly, and inculcates so largely, be never Ver, forgotten. the works of the law. t is true indeed, (as St. Paul elsewhere fully º that we are justified by faith in Christ, without The works of the Mosaic law are by no means necessary; and it is not by our obedience to any law, but by embracing and resting upon the mercy of God in Christ, for our salvation, that we obtain it. Nevertheless, it is vain to pretend to such a faith, if good works are not produced by it; and we might as soon ex- 26 pect the guardianship and counsel, the offices and consolations, of friendship, from a dead corpse, as happiness from a mere assent, even to the most important doctrines. Let us therefore endeavour to show our faith by our works, 14, &c. I8 Let us be ready with Abraham, to offer up our dearest comforts to God. Let us, with Rahab, be willing even to 21 expose our lives in the defence of God's people and his cause ; otherwise our faith being of no better a kind than that of the devils, will leave us the companions of their misery and despair; even though the conviction should 19 now be so powerful as strangers, should give Let faith then be active an to make us tremble; or a false persuasion of our enjoying privileges to which we are utter 8.S º; an emotion to any of the softer passions. influential. Let love be without dissimulation. Let us not love merely in word, but in deed, and charge it upon our consciences to be ready to authenticate by the most substantial offices of hu- manity, the profession we at any time make of friendly wishes, or kind intentions. Otherwise, such professions will be worse than unprofitable, as by encouraging only a false dependence and expectation, they will make the disappointment proportionably compassionate or succour. The apostle cautions them against being too ſorward in assuming the office and character of teachers : and recommends tongue, as a matter, though of great difficulty, yet of the highest importance. JAMEs iii. 1. MY brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater con- demnation. 2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is S. § man, and able also to ridle the whole body. 3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. grievous and afflictive, to those whom we hypocritically or lightly pretended to **- SECTION V. - a strict government of the James iii. 1–12. g JAMES iii. 1. - AND now, my brethren, give me leave to caution you against another evil which I have seen some reason to apprehend, and to press you that ye be not many teachers;” that none of you rashly undertake the office of teachers, which many are ready to intrude themselves into, without due qualifications, or a regular call: but I would urge you to be cautious against such an assuming disposition, as knowing that we who bear that office, must ex- pect that we shall undergo greater and stricter judgment than others in a more private station of life, - us to think with awe of that exact trial we are then to undergo ; ſ". in many things we all offend;b we are too ready to trip and stumble in our walk. And it is peculiarly worthy Öur attention here, that if any one offend not in word, he [is] a perfect man,” arrived at so high a pitch and improvement in virtue, that it may be concluded, that he is able also to bridle in the whole body; as it is frequently much more difficult to .#. our tongues in a becoming manner, than to avoid enormities in our actions. Behol the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, according to their direction; and strong and sometimes furious as those creatures are, we turn them hither and thither, so as to influ- 15, 16 SECT. 5. JAMES III. The many infirmities to which the best of us are subject, may indeed teach 2 ld, we put bridles into 3 4 Behold also the ships, ence the motion of their whole body. Behold also how the ships, though they be many of 4 which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whither- soever the governor listeth. 5 Even so fle tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire indleth ! - And the tougue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell. . . 7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the Sea, is tamed, and hath been tame of mankind : them so large, and sometimes agitated by violent winds, are turned by a very small helm, whithersoever the steersman pleaseth,” and the waving of his hand determines their direc-, tion. So also the tongue, though it is but a little member, yet boasteth great things, pre- tends, and that not unjustly, to have a great deal of influence upon the world. Beñold, and observe, how great a quantity of materials a little fire kindleth into a blaze. And thus the tongue [is] a fire, which often produces a great conflagration: it is a little world of iniquity” of itself. The *... is so set among our members, holds such a rank and place, [that] indeed it defiles the whole body, and inflames the whole course, and circle of nature; and is itself also set on fire by hell; the infernal spirit influences the heart, and its wicked- ness overflows by the tongue, and tends indeed, by its fatal consequences, to produce a 5 6 very hell upon earth. It is observable, that every species of wild beasts and birds, of reptiles 7 and fishes, though some of them take shelter in inaccessible deserts, and others bury them- selves in the earth; though some mount the air, and others have their abode deep in the watery element; yet still every sort is subdued,5 and has in some instances or other been subdued, by men ; and many, whose natures are fiercest, are so tamed as to do the human species no harm. . But the tongue no man can entirely subdue, neither the tongues of others, nor his own, so that it shall not in some instances be hurtful; for [it is] an insuperable evil, and like a serpent or an adder, full of mortal venom, by which sometimes death, and S But the tongue can no map talme 3 it is an unruly cvil, full of deadly poison. a Not many teachers.] Our translators render it, masters, as Ötö16xa- Xo, is frequently rendered; and it is generally explained of imperious and sensorious dictators, as many of the Jewish, zealots were. But When he forbids marty to be such, he seems to allow, that some may : and consequently I think teachers ought to be explained in an in- nocent and indifferent sense, as in the paraphrase. And though the word ºpina, in the following clause, may usually signify condemnation, yet sothetimes it means judgment in the general ; particularly. Matt...vii. | Acts ºxiv. 25. Rom. v. Jö. (where it is evidently distinguished, from karakpupa.) I Cor. vi., 7. Heb. vi. 2. Rev. xx. 4. as, on the other hand, kotatº, which generally signifies judgment alone, sometimes includes Condemnation in it. Matt. xxiii.33. Alark iii. 29. Heb. x. 27... . b All offend.] The word Tatoucy, properly speaking, signifies, we trip ; and Dr. Barrow (see his Works, Vol. i. p. 129.) has justly observed, that as the general course of life is called a pay, and particular actions, steps ; so going on in : * - A- rightly; and acting aniss, tripping or stumbling. - - & Perfect man. It is certain, a man whose words are inoffensive, may possibly have some imperfections; it shows therefore in, how limited a sense the word perfect is to be taken; and the observation may be ap- plied to many other passages. - - d Whithersoever the steersman pleaseth..] As the word is, ev{}vvovros, which signifies, any person that sits at the helm, and not necessarily, the pilot, who is called by way of eminence, o KućepvnTns, I thought it best to render it steersman : though I confess the remark and distinction to in a regular course of right action, is ºpalking' tip- be a mattér of small importance. I know not how well to express in English the force of opus 7s tuſ)uvovros, which admirably represents the impetuosity with which, in a storm, a man at the helm on a critical occa- sion turns his hand. See Dr. Owen, On the Spirit, p. 57. e JA world of iniquity : o koggos 7 ms agºrtaç.] Elsner, (Observ. Sacr. in loc.) gives a very singular translation of this clause. . The tongue is the adorning { wnrighteousness ; referring to those specious colonrings by which wicked men endeavour to excuse or conceal their criminal conduct. - - - f Circle of nature.) So I thought ſpoxov inight be rendered, which most exactly signifies a pheel, from the revolutions formed. And per- haps it may intimate how the mischief done by the tongue often comes round about. A consideration which, were it not intimated by the ex- pression, is well worthy the attention of every wise man. Elsner, Albert, and Bos, by this, phrase, understand successive gencrations of men ; as if the apostle had said, The tongue inflamed our forefathers, it math the same bad-influence on us, and is likely to have on our postcrity. g Is º So I choose to render §aua's rat, rather than tamed, that it may include the conquering great and mighty fish.cs of the Sea, such as sharks and whales; of which it seems less proper to say, they are tamed, as that generally in ports a kind of harmless familiarity to which some savage beasts are indeed brought; but of which large fishes are in their nature incapable; aid it may be questioned whether sºng other animals are not so likewise ; and such it was most to the apostle’s ., purpose to Inentlon. 8 844 CAUTION AGAINST CENSOR1OUSNESS AND ANIMOSITIES. SECT. even damnation itself, is occasioned. By it we some times bless God, even the Father; 9 Therewiſh bless We God, 3. and it is our glory, when we make use of it in that sacred and honourable employment; §§§ and yet sometimes this noble instrument is degraded to the yilest purposes, and by it we ºle atter the similitude of JAMEs curse and revile men, our brethren, who are made after the likeness of God, and honoured III. Ver. SEC 6. with his image. Out of the same mouth proceedeth the blessing and the curse, and the same 10 out of the same mouth 10 tongue is the instrument of expressing both: and too frequently, when the act of devotion ...”.”"...". is over, the act of slander, or outragé and insult, commences. Alas! my brethren, these things ought not so to be. things ought not so to be : it is a shame to human nature, and it is surely a much fouler II reproach to a christian profession. Does a fountain from the same opening send forth alter tº: nately, and at different times, sweet [water] and bitter? It is not known in the natural, ºplacesweet 12 and it ought not to be known in the moral, world. Can a fig-tree, my brethren, produce tº..." iº, olives, or a vine figs 2 No, but every tree has its own proper productions. So no fountain jihº, a ying, fiºsºn no produces brackish water and sweet. In like manner there ought to be a great deal of care, ºoth yieldsall watc. that we maintain a consistency in our discourses, and that if we profess religion and devo- tion, we speak at all times as those who are often employing our speech to these noble purposes. So shall we honour God, and promote the peace of society, and of our own minds; whereas, otherwise, we shall injure both ; yea, and injure others and ourselves the more, in consequence of the profession which we make of religion. IMPROVEMENT. LET this pathetic discourse of the apostle concerning the difficulty and importance of governing our tongues aright, engage us to the strictest care on this great article of practical religion, of which so many are careless, in 2 which the most are so far deficient, as to entitle those to the character of perfect men, who do not here offend. Let us entreat the assistance of divine grace, that we may keep our mouths as with a bridle; (Psal. xxxix., 1.) that 4 we may steer this important helm aright, lest, by the mismanagement of it, we shipwreck even our eternal hopes. 6 Let us be cautious of every spark, where there are so many combustible materials; and take heed, lest we and others be defiled, and infernal flames kindled and propagated. It is indeed a difficult, but, in consequence of this, 7 a glorious toil, far more glorious than to subdue the fiercest animals, or the haughtiest enemies: let us therefore 9 resolutely make the attempt, and learn to employ our tongues, as indeed the glory of our frame, to bless God even the Father. And let the remembrance of that similitude of God, in which men are formed, make us tender of all their interests; and especially careful that we do not injure them by unkind reproaches, or detracting speeches; and so much the rather, that we may maintain a consistency between the words of devotion addressed 11 to God, and those of converse with our fellow-creatures. So shall the well-spring of wisdom, rising up in our hearts, and streaming forth from our lips, be as a flowing brook. Let those who are by Providence called to be teachers of others, set a double guard upon their words, not only in public but in private too, as peculiar notice will be taken of them; and the honour of religion, one way or another, be greatly affected by the tenor of their 1 discourses. And let the awful account which such are to give, the greater judgment they are to expect, prevent any from intruding themselves into such an office, without suitable qualifications, and a regular call. May God 2 enable them to judge rightly concerning that call; and where it is indeed given, may his grace furnish them for their work, and his mercy cover those many imperfections, which the best will see room to acknowledge and lament. SECTION VI. The apostle urges a candid benevolent . guarding, them against censoriousness and animosities, and that loye of the world which tends to excite them; to restrain which he recommends an humble application to God for divine influences. James iii. 13, to the end ; iv. 1– T * * * © AMES Ill. 13. * * * J AME JAMES iii. 13. T. MANKIND are naturally desirous of the reputation of an understanding superior to WHO, is a wise, man, and others: consider what is the best display of it. Who [is] wise, and a man of sense among ...' …?"e, ºil. you, let him show himself to be possessed of the most valuable kind of knowledge, by out ºf a £994 conversation his * * * * ~~~~~~~#~~~~ 1: . -a, -lo - ~ : ... works with meeknes ºtes éxhibiting out of a good, holy, and useful conversation, his honourable and beneficent ºn." "“” of III. & - - - º wisdom. agorks. Ånd let him do this, not with vain Ostentation, or rigorous zeal, but with the 14 meekness and gentleness of true wisdom. But if je have bitter zeal against each other, and 14 But ifye have bitter en- uncharitable contention in your hearts, boast Tiot of your improvements in christianity, and j and strife in your gº & * * es earts glory not, and lie not 15 lie not against the truth by such groundless pretensions. This is not the wisdom that agaijing triº. g- cometh down from above, and which that religion that our Divine Master brought from nºś. heaven teachés us; but it [is, on the contrary, earthly, sensual, and even diabolical." It sensual devilish. takes its rise from consideratiºns relating to the present world, objects which gratify only our senses, the inferior part of our nature, and which are the baits of the devil's tempta- 16 tions, by which he endeavours to dishonour our profession, and ruin our souls. For it is sº. Y. g.º.º. «p g :* . s a.º.º. - * - is, there is confusion evidént, in fact, that where uncharitable zeal and contention [is] there [is] wild confusion ºvºyº. and disorder, and every other evil and pernicious work; all the turbulent passions are in g * 17 exercise, and a thousand irregular and fatal effects are prºduced. But the wisdom, [which nº Jºº. is] iſ. above, of celestial original, is first pure, from all unclean and corrupt mixtures, Pºlº, ami’ easy and agreeable to the tenor of divine and evångelical truth; then, in consequence of that, . *:::::::: º peaceable and pacific, desirous to make, and maintain peace; moderate and gentle, easily jºy, and without hypoc- ło be entreated, persuaded, and reconciled, where any matters of disgust may have arisen; " full of mercy and good fruits, compassionate tº the afflicted, beneficent to all; without partiality to those of our own sentiments and denomination, to the injury of others; and without hypocrisy, meaning all the kindness it expresses, and glad to extend its good offices - . 18 as universally as possible. .4nd thus the good man recommends and adorns religion, and ejº..."; § in this he finds his own truest account; for whereas the wrath of man, as I observed, üºminatiniº worketh not the righteousness of God, the blessed fruit of righteousness, is sown tºpºgº for those that make peace;b persons of such a spirit pº the spread of the gospel, that great root of righteousness; and while a harves of goodness by this means springs up in 2 thly, sensual, diabolical. Dr. Bates supposes this refers to the As if it had been said, They who shºw.º.º.º.º. PPºiné à sºftºff of the world, avarice, a * of pleasure and ant- to proceed from right Princi les,) §. assure !. that Fº shall #ion the first of which is earthly, the secºnd sensual, the third diaboli- reap a harvest, in a world where ºg º: º, eS II) §"; cºli, being the sin by whici (i.e devils fell. , Bates’s 4/orks, p. 339. A seed is sown, and it, will spring up, and make them angle amends É' ºit of righteousness, &c.) Possibly it might have been render- for ăiſ the injuries they have sustained in a contentious world ed., The fruit ºf righteºusness in peace is solon for them that Minake peace. CAUTION AGAINST CENSORIOUSNESS AND ANIMOSITIES. the minds of others, they shall themselves in due time reap joy and blessing in the coin- forts of the present life, and in the fruits of a glorious immortality. James iv. J. From whence come wars and fightings among you ? come they not hence, even of your Justs that war in your inembers 2 On the other hand, when we come to consider the effects of a contrary disposition, how melancholy and how dreadful are they 2 HWhence º wars and fightings among you ?” Whence all the shocking scenes, which private quarreſs and public wars occasion ; CVen all the carnage of the field of slaughter, and the barbarous attempts which human creature; and brethren make to destroy one another 2 [Is it] not hence, from your sensual lusts and appetites, which first war in your members ; that is, do first, as it were, give battle tº your rational powers, and then turn the several members of your bodies into weapons of mis- 2 Ye lust, and have , not: chief and destruction ? ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain : ye hº and war, yet ye have not, be- cause ye ask not. Ye covet this and that pleasure and gratification, and in your pre- sent circumstances ye find that ye have notá the means of procuring it; and therefore je are ready to kille one another, because you stand in each other's way, and one possesses what another would be glad to possess, even though it were at the expense of t he owner's life. Because ye thus earnestly desire for yourselves, and envy each other the possession of what ye cannot obtain, ye quarrel and fight, make one injury beget another, till ye come to wage a confirmed war with each other. Yet after all, ye miss the surest way of obtain- ing the most desirable blessings, which would be earnestly to seek them of God in prayer; but this is omitted, and so ye have not the blessings you might otherwise easily obtain, be- 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. seek these things only, that ye may squander cause you ask not. Or if you do pray, it is with little devotion, and so to little purpose : ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, without a becoming faith and fervency, or with- out that regard to the glory of God, which ou ght to animate all your desires. Whereas ye them away upon your lusts, and indulge your- selves in the height of luxurious pleasure, while your poor brethren are in the last neces- sity; and surely the dearer any man is to God, the less likely will he be to succeed in 4 Ye adulterers and adul- teresses, know F: not that the º the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of § world is the enemy of OCl. such petitions as these. name, while guilt God? of this spiritual whoredom, while affections upon objects so far beneath him to whom you have vowed them,) kn º: that the friendship of the world, which you so much court and caress, is enmity against Whoever therefore will be a friend to the world, and resolves to pursue it as his Ye adulterers and adulteresses, (for I cannot give you a milder you are lavishing away your best know je not chief good, is by a necessary consequence, declared and adjudged to be an enemyſ of God, as he will be led into that rebellion against his law which makes up the grand character of 5. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy 3 that enmity. Do you think the Scripture speaks in vain in all the passages in which it guards us against such a temper as this, and leads the mind directly to God, as the supreme Good; teaching us to abandon every thing for him 2 Or does the Holy Spirit that dwells in us christians, lust to envy 23 does it encourage these worldly affections, this strife and envying, which we have réproved 2 or can it be imagined that we, who appear to have so much of the Spirit, have any interested views in the cautions we give, and would persuade you from the pursuit of the world, because we should envy you the enjoyment of it? No: 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God re- sisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves there- forg to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Put we rather pity such fond and wretched attachments; for he gives us greater degrees of grace, than to leave us the slaves of so wretched a º: as it is said in those ever memorable words, (Prov. iii. 34.) God sets himself in battle-array against the proud, but to the lowly he giveth grace and favour. Subject yourselves theräfore to God; and being listed in his army, keep the rankh which he has assigned you; resist the devil steadily and courageously, as the great enemy of your eternal salvation; and though he may for a while combat you with his varied temptations, he will at length flee from you, and your progress in religion, and your victory over your spiritual adversaries, will grow daily more easy. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sin- ners ; tınd purify your £a, ge double #. you with mercy. Draw near to God with humble submission and earnest prayer, and he will draw mear to Cleanse [your] hands, O ye sinners, from all the pollutions with which they are stained; and rest not merely in a freedom from evil actions, but labour to purify [your] hearts as much as possible from all irregularities of affection. O ye double-minded, who continue thus wavering between God and the world, and have as yet learned to exert so little resolution in religion, that it is matter of doubt whether you have any principles 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, of it at all. and weep : let your laughter be turned to mourning, and gour joy to heaviness. And when you reflect upon the former part of life, so unprofitably and so un- worthily spent, lament the guilt of such a conduct; and mourn and weep for the miseries to which you have exposed yourselves by it. And instead of these vain indulgences, let your laughter be turned into mourning, and [your] ill-timed joy into expressions of the 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. deepest sorrow. On the whole, humble yourselves in the very dust before the Lord, whom by your sins you have offended; and you may hope he will return to you in the methods of his mercy, and raise you up again from that prostrate condition. IMPROVEMENT. IF we desire the character of wisdom, let us learn from the oracles of eternal truth how it is to be obtained—by meekness and a good conversation. Letus avoid that infernal wisdom, here so severely and justly branded, which consists in knowing the most effectual methods to distress others. On the contrary, let us pray and study and labour for that which is from above, and of which so amiable a character is here given. And so far as it can be obtained without injuring conscience, let us cultivate universal peace ; and let a gentle and placable temper, and impartial and sincere disposition, be ever inviolably preserved, even when we are obliged to contend with others about matters of the highest importance ; remembering, that the more sacred the cause is, the more solicitous we should be that we do not injure it by a passionate or imiquitous management of it. Thus let us sow the fruits of c PWars and fightings.] The contentious spirit of the Jews was very apparent, and drew on them speedy destruction ; as many writers have justly observed on this text. Plato says, “Nothing but the body, and its lusts and appetites, kindle sedition, quarrels, and wars in the world.” But Mr. Blackwall observes, that the sentiment is here expressed with greater vivacity ; and another beautiful metaphor is added, Your lusts which war in your members ; intimating, that there is a state of civil war in the soul, either between sensual inclinations and consciêuce, or ºween one lust and another. Blackwall’s Sacr. Class. vol. i. p. d Ye covet and have not..] Dr. Whitby explains this particularly of the Jews. They, lusted after two things, freedom from tribute, and do- minion over neighbouring nations; and they continually prayed for these, without gonsidering whether they were indeed agreeable to the will of i; and aiming at nothing more than the gratification of their sensual desires in thems. But the apostle seems to imply, they would have had the desirable things here referred to, if they had asked aright ; and I think that a good reason for the more crtexsire sense which, according to my usual manner, I have given to the words. e Ye kill.] Beza, and Erasmus Schmidius would read it, d0ovgºre, 1/9 enpy, though without the authority of a single manuscript. But slaughter is agreeable enough to what was said above of trars and fight- ings, and to the contentious and sanguinary temper of the Jews. f ſs adjudged to be an emein u.] So Dr. Barrow (see his J.Works, vol. i. p. 228.) justly observes, that the word kaðta Taraw signifies; and there is a considerable emphasis in the expression: it is now declared and ad- judged beyond controversy that he is an enemy of God. g Does the Spirit—lust, &c.) This rendering (with Dr. Whitby.) I Nefer to our own, which intinates the latter clause to be a quotation. Bishop, Patrigk supposes it is borrowed from Num. xi. 29, Bút I think it would be doing great violence to that text, to suppose this an intended quotation from thence. h Koep the rank.] So the expression wrotay mre oroperly and exactly signifies. 84 5 S E CT. * 6. J A \{F.S 2 4 6 7 8 9 IY. CAUTIONS AGAINST EVIL-SPEAKſ NG. SECT. righteousness in peace, and wait the promised harvest; leaving wars and contentions to others, lamenting them, - try and praying, that God would cause them entirely to cease. And that we may be less obnoxious to those tempta. tions, whereby others are betrayed into them, let us endeavour to guard against those lusts and passions which give *A*s a disproportionate value to the objects about which those contentions arise. Does God brand them with this 1W. character of adultery P Let us preserve our souls pure from such affections, as ever we desire that our prayers 3 should be acceptable to God. May his grace subdue all the workings of pride, of luxury, and of envy; and pro- 6 duce in our hearts more and more of that humility, to which he will give more grace; engaging us, when thus 8 invited, to draw near to him, to ask aright what we need from him, trusting his promise that he will draw nigh to us, and that when we humble ourselves before him, he will raise us up. Cleansing our hands, let us endeavour to purify our hearts too. So may those who have hitherto been double-minded, hope to attain an establishment in religion, in conjunction with that established peace, which no carnal affection, even when most fully gratified, can either afford or admit, •, - - - ~ 5 * SECTION VII. # * * -- * - - - - * * - - - Tºlº suggests particular cautions against evil-speaking, and vain confidence in the events of futurity, or in any worldly possessions C º h º, temptation to luxury, and an occasion of ruin; and concludes the section with encouraging and exhorting afflicted an oppressed christians to wait patiently for the coming of their Lord. James iv. 11, to the end; v. 1–S. JAMES iv, 11. - - JAMEs iv. 11. SECT. LET me now charge you, my brethren, that ye speak not evil of one another, for he that SPEAK, not evil one of an 7. 60.1 enº i. er, and hido' •. • vari ror, - other, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth [his] brother with a rash severity, therein speaketh .º.º.º.º. evil of the lang, and judgeth the law ; condemning it as if it were an erroneous rule, in so and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law, and ***BS expressly forbidding such a conduct.” But if thout thus judgest the law, and passest, as it jºi. IV. 11 were, a condemning sentence upon it, thou art then not a doer of the law, but a judge. And º.º.º.º.º. how the arrogance of setting up such a superiority to the great Governor of the universe T Of the law, but a Judge. will pass, when it comes under his final review, it well becomes you seriously to consider. 12 For it is certain, there is one great Almighty Lawgiver, who is able abundantly to assert , 12 There, is one lawgiveſ, the honour of his own government; and as he can save his faithful and obedient subjects ... "...º.º. from the greatest extremity of danger and calamity, so he is also able to destroy the most judgest another? obstinate and audacious rebel, and to smite him with irrecoverable ruin in the full career of his crimes. Pho art thou, therefore, that judgest another? and darest to invade the office of this supreme and universal Lawgiver, and thereby exposest thyself to his con- demnation ? 13 But to insist no further upon this; let me now turn myself to those who are quite im- . 13, Go to now, ye that say mersed in their worldly schemes, and promise themselves assuredly an opportunity to ac-ºs, º .* § { complish them. Come now, ye that say, To-day, or to-morrow, we will go to such a city, ãº.'" ...'. and spend a year there, and traffic and get gain by our merchandise, and then return and and sell, and set gain. 14 enjoy the fruits of our labours, Alas! upon what an uncertainty do you proceed in such 14 whereas ye, know not a supposition as this whereas, instead of being able to count on a year to come, ye know ..."...","...!'}}"ſº not even what [shall be] on the morrow, and much less what the days and months of a year ºvena ºf may bring forth. For what [is] your life, upon the continuance of which all your worldly tºº, and then projects depend ? For it is only like a vapour that appeareth for a little while, and then - vanishes away, and is seen no more; how gay soever its form might be, and how wide so: 15 ever it might have extended itself. Hºhereas ye ſought] to say, in consideration of this, If tºo ºf ºff isºto j the great Lord of our lives will please to lengthen them, we shall live, and do this or that, #...Jº', i.” intimating, even by your manner of speaking, the sense that you have of his being able at 16 pleasure to cut you short in all your purposes and appointments. But now you rejoice in 16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings; you take pleasure in this arrogant and confident manner, of talking: ºf all such re- whereas, all such rejoicing is evil, and ought to be corrected: and so much the rather, as º you have becn better instructed than many others, and therefore ought to show the good effect of these instructions. For to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is , 17 Therefore to him that aggravated sin; and it would have been much better for him, that he had wanted that ºº:: * degree of knowledge he had, than that he should thus abuse it. } 7 IAMEs ſ direct these things especially to those who have the advantage of the christian revela- ºl...º.º. V. tion and institutions; but I confine not myself wholly to them. . Let others pay, them ſº regard in proportion to the degree in which they have opportunities of attaining divine know- " ". ledge. Let them take the greatest care that they do not abuse it. And let. those especi- ally be careful, whom Providence has distinguished by the fulness of their circumstances; which often proves a temptation to vice, though it should in all reason and gratitude be an engagement to virtue and piety. Experience will soon, teach many such the vanity of those things in which they pride themselves, and which imbolden then in their transgres- sions of the divine law. Come now, therefore, ye rich men,” weep, and even howl over the a Your riches are corrupt- miseries that are speedily coming upon [you,) in those days which are nearly approaching, eſſ..." ºr gºnents º you have been solicitous to layup abundant stores for your futurº subsistence and Secu- "3". "ºld and silver is rity; but your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and jºin tº hºl, ºf out silver, which should have been brightened, by a generous circulation, have been . .''... hºoº; jºi up, till they are cankered, and their rust shall be a witness agains...}/9% ſº the sight flºilº.º.º.º. of God, and so bring upon you such awful rebukes from him, that it shall, as it were, eſtt º “” into your flesh, with an anguish as piercing and corroding as fire itself. Ye have laid up liº."º ...i treasures for the last days; for the last days are now coming, and the enemy shall seize i. *...*.*.*.*. and dissipate them all to your infinite vexation and distress. Behold, the ſoages of the ºº'." '}}..."..., labourers who have reaped your fields, who have been defrauded by you of their due reward, wº ..","...". crieth for vengeance against you ; and the outcries % those who have gathered in your har- jºi... ." ." A 5 gest have come into the ears ºf the Lord of hosts. Ye have lived delicately and lupuriously 5 Ye have lived in Pleasure : 4 - - * • -- I -, - - . - - * - i I think it more agreeable to the a Speaketh ecil of [his] brother, &c.] Dr. Whitby explains this of the Tº johich are coming, gnong ſº, and - - * * ußing Jews reproaching their christian brethren, for their non- . original than our English version, cirépxofievats being a participle of the §§§ervation of the Mosaic law; and thinks the apostle intimates, that, as present tense: the ceremonial law was not gºg intended for the Gentiles, this & The last days.] This phrase does not, merely signify, for the time to . conduct was a reflection upon the wisdom of God in giving it. ut come, but for that period when the whole Jewish economy was to close chose the more extensive explicatiºn. - ... . ºn those ºftiijudgments threatened in the propłets to be poure; tº jºich men, &c.] Josephus (Bell. Jud. v. 20, 3}. iv. 19.) particu- out upon wicked men in the lºst days, are Jºãº.ºom!º. Acts ii. 17, lañy observes, how much the rich ºnen suffered by the Romans in iñe #1, #. §§. iii. 3. aftā the ike. Compare Matt. xxiv. 33, 34.1 Cor jewish war.’ I have rendered Taxatiroptats Tats eſſep}(opewats, misc- x. 11. MODERATION AND FORTITUDE INCULCATED. on the earth, and been wan- ton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaugh- ter. straint. Ye have pampered your hearts, as beasts are fed for a day of slaughter;d and truly to you it is much nearer than you are aware. And well has the vengeance been deserved by you; for ye have condemned [and] at last murdered the righteous One, * himself; [and] he doth not yet resist joue with that display of power which he can easily exert to your utter destruction; but the day will speedily come, when God will avenge his cause, and pour out the judgment he has threatened, on those who have treated him in SO base and unworthy a manner. . . . - • s • Since this is the case, since our Divine Master has met with such injurious treatment; and borne it with such steady patience; be ye therefore, my brethren, ong-suffering and patient, even till the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ: beholl the husbandman ºptileth for the precious fruit of the earth; [and] though it does not immediately appººr, when sovº, ripen when it appears, yet he ererciseth patience with respect to it, till he receive. the - former rain, to produce it, and the latter, to bring it on to perfection. Bºſe,ſtlso patient, li ; Beye alºng stab, and strengthen your hearts in every good resolution; for the appearance of the Lord is near; ...iº.; tº jºyº; he will quickly come, and reward aſ your long-suffering, and take vengeance on your im- nigh. placable enemies, for all the outrages they have committed against you. IMPROVEMENT. LET the law of that one great Legislator, who is able both to save and to destroy, be always seriously remem- bered and considered; that we may not affront his authority in pretending to judge others, nor set up for judges, and in effect condemners, of the law, by the severity of those censures which we pass upon our brethren. We are happy in knowing that sacred rule of life, if we obey it; otherwise, that knowledge of it which adds an ag- gravation even to sins of omission, will much more aggravate every presumptuous opposition to it. . . e Let us look on this world as a scene of great uncertainty; and on life as a flattering vapour which Vanishes while we are beholding it; and let a sense of its shortness and uncertainty, and of our own ignorance what shall be on the morrow, engage us to be very careful that we do not presume upon the future, as if it were in Qur own power; but set ourselves with all possible diligence to improve present time, referring the disposal of all future events to the wisdom of that God on whom it depends to determine whether we shall live, and do this or that: Let rich men read the address of the apostle to persons in their circumstances, with holy awe, and with a i. over themselves, lest their present prosperity be succeeded with misery, and their joy with weeping and howling ; as it undoubtedly will be, if wealth be unjustly gotten, or sordidly hoarded up, or luxuriously employed “to pamper their appetites, while the truest and noblèst use of it, the relief of the poor, and the benefit of mankind, is forgotten. Especially have they reason to tremble, who abuse wealth and power as the instruments of oppres- sion; soon will all their stores be wasted, soon will they become naked and indigent, and find a terrible account remaining, when all the gaieties and pleasures of life are utterly vanished. In the mean time, the saints of God may be among the poor and the oppressed; but let them wait patiently for the day of the Lord, for his coming is near. They sow in tears, but let them comfort their hearts with the view of the harvest; in like manner as the husbandmän demands not immediately the fruit of that seed he has committed to the furrows. Adored be that kind Providence which gives the former and the latter rain in its season. To him, from whom we have re- ceived the bounties of nature, let us humbly look for the blessings of grace, and trust him to fulfil all his promises, who without a promise to bind him, in particular instances, gives us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Acts xiv. 17. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist y Qu. 7 Be patient, therefore, bre- thren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband- n:in waiteth ſor the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he Or receive the early and latter Tºll il. SECTION VIII. He concludos the Epistle with inculcating moderation and fortitude, cautioning them against profane and vain swearing, and recommend.ng prayer, a ready acknowledgment of our faults, and a solicitous concern for the common salvation. James v. 9, to the end. JAMES v. 9. AND now, to draw to a conclusion, be not inwardly incensed against each other, brethren, so as to grudge or envy one another any superior advantages inife, or to harbour even that malignity of disposition which should groan in secret,” while it wants opportunities of mischief ; that you yourselves be not condemned, for behold, the Judge is standing before the door; he is now present, and sees all the irregularities of your tempers, as well as actions; in consequence of which, he will quickly bring these inward disorders of mind into judg- ment, as well as the enormities of the life. And that you may be fortified against such trying circumstances, my brethren, take for an example % enduring adversity, and of long- suffering under the greatest provocations, the holy prophets of old, who spake to our fathers in the name of the Lord, and gave such convincing evidences of their divine inspiration. (Heb. xi. 36, 37.) Behold, in this respect we esteem them happyb who endure steadily and - patiently the trials which God appoints for them. In this view, ye have heard of the §:*...*.*.*.* celebrated patience of Job, with how much honour it is proclaimed from generation to º pitiful, and of tender generation; and ye have also seen the end of the Lord, how much to his honour, and how CI Cy. much to his comfort, his various and heavy afflictions concluded: that the Lord is full of compassion, and of tender mercy; and it is with the bowels of an affectionate Father that he corrects his beloved children, not for his own gratification, but from a view to their advantage. - Among other effects of that impatience against which I am cautioning you, may be reckoned the irreverent use of the name of God, and profane oaths and execrations, into which, in the transport of their criminal passions, some unhappy wretches are ready to fall; but be you above all things, my brethren, careful that ye swear not, upon such occa- JAMEs v. 9. GRUDGE not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering af- fliction, and Gf patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. ſe € have heard of the patienc 12, But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither d For a day of slaughter: 60s ev muspa gºayns...] There are some who Fender this, as in a festical, when many sacrifices are slain. But Wol- fius observes, that the word is always used in the LXX to signify not a day of feasting, but of slaughter. is well known that the original, Stevagers, º: Beza observes,) has this sigmification. Justin Martyr represents the Jewish converts as the worst sort of christians, who were apt to be impatient of the Gentile yoke, and to retain their attachment to the views of a temporal kingdom. * Wot resist you..] Instead of ovk, Dr. Bentley would read oks, for 9 Kuptas, the Lord; and would rendér it, and the Lord resists you; that is, you have brought the vengeance of his almighty arm upon you. Me- ſtoirs 9/...I.itérat, Vol. vi. p. 173.--Others interpret it of the meek suffer- §: the disciples of Christ, in conformity to the example of their a Groan in secret.] Thus I have paraphrased the words, because it |b We esteem them happy, &c.], The apostle speaks of this, not only as his own judgment, but that of all christians, who judged right, and un- derstood the nature of things. And it is indeed a judgment in which all christians should be agreed. c Seen the end of the Lord.]. lt is observable, that in Job xlii. 7, &c. God decides the cause in his favour, and calls him his servant Job four times in the compass of a few verses. 8 JA 6 8 7 847 upon the earth, indulging yourselves in every desire that rose in your minds, without re- SECT. 7. the Son of God JAMES MES SECT. S. JA 9 MtFS Y. 848 SECT. 8. JAMIES V. H 2 14 I 17 } I 6 t 8 9 PRAYER RECOMMENDED. ions, ºr on any other, lightly and profanely, neither by heaven, the throne of God, nor by heaven, neither by the by eqrth, his footstool, nºr by any other oath; but remember the command of our blessed ºf º: Lord, (Matt v. 37.) and let your yea be yea, and [your] may, nay; content yourselves ºvoir ºnjest with a simple affirmation or negation, and take care to maint in such constant integrity “****ation. in all your words, that nothing more may be needful to gain them credit; that ye may not full under condemnation for profaning the name of God, and lessening the regard due to an oath, when used on the most solemn and necessary occasions. Sc - Accüstom yourselves to the frequent exercises of devotion, as what will have the surest .13 is, any quong you aſ: tendency to promºte the comfort and happiness of your lives in every circumstance. Is ..."...tº; ; ; i. ai/ tº:ong jaw gifficted? let him pray, and cast the burden of his cares and sorrows upon Psalms, the compassionate God, always ready to sustain his people. Is any cheerful, in easy and agreeable circumstances? let him rejoice in God, and sing psalms of praise to him in a thankful acknowledgment of his mercies. , Hs (in'ſ origginºg you sick? let him, under his confinement, call for the elders of the , 14 Is any sick among you? church; ſºld let them pray over him for his recovery, anointing him with oil in the name of #. º lº, the £ord Jesus Christ, if they feel themselves so instigated to do it by the secret workings ºft. anºinting in § of the Spirit of grace upon their minds, as may encourage them to hope for an e. oil in the name of the Lord: nary cºre : . iºd the prayer of faith,” in such a circumstance as this, shall save and recover 15, And the prayer of faith the sick; and the Lord shalſ, in answer to prayer, raise him up; and if he hath committed i. i. º.º. ºf sing, which have brought this sickness upon him by way of extraordinary punishment, they he ººgºniſted sins, shall be forgiven him; and the Lord shall have mercy upon him, and recover him according "***** to the words of his servant. - - When you are conscious of having been really to blame, do not perversely vindicate a .16 Gonfess yºur faults one conduct which your own hearts condemn, but be frank in acknowledging it. Confess º! §§".. [yoºr] faults one to another, for we are all too ready to stumble in the way of our duty; ...T º º fervent and pray for one another, especially when your brethren are under God's afflicting hand, Rºshteous man or have been under any visible declension in religion, that you may be healed, and re- covered. The earnest prayer of a righteous man, the effect of good affections wrought in - - his heart by the .# of the Holy Spirit,” is of great ºfficacy. Many instances of this . 17. Elias was a man subject you know are recorded in Scripture; and among others, that of Elijah, who was a man ..."; º, iſ: subject to the like infirmities with us, (compare Acts xiv. 15.) and had himself no greater ºf jº, ºil. command over the clouds and the rain than any of us; yet he prayed with a prayer, that {:"...? * sº is, with great faith and fervency, that it might not rain : which was not the effect of any six months. resentment he had against his country for the ill usage he met with, but in obedience to a secret intimation that it was the will of God to glorify himself by sending upon them such a punishment for their idolatry; and the event, though so improbable, was corre- spondent to his prayer; for it rained not upon the land for three years and six months ;h computing the time from the beginning of the famine to the end of it. And he prayed ºf àº.º.º.º. again, at the end of that time, that God would be pleased to remove the heavy .#. #ii. ºrjãº, which the drought occasioned; and the small cloud which appeared at first, soon spread her fruit. itself over the whole horizon, so that the heaven gave rain in abundance, and the land put forth the green blade again, and yielded its fruit in great quantity, to repay the barrenness of former years. - And now, brethren, let me conclude with one exhortation of the greatest importance dº #... .º.º. both to yourselves and others; which is, that you labour to the utmost to promote the .º."""" spiritual good of your fellow-creatures; for if any one of you wander from the truth, and one turn him back to it, and lead him to tread its forsaken paths, he performs the most 20 important charity that can be imagined: For let him know, that he who thus turneth back .30 Let him know, that he Wer.20 I () º - wº- : - ... which convertet • a sinner from the error and fatal wanderings of his way, shall produce a much happier ..."::"::"..."; ". effect thân any miraculous cure of the body; for he shall save a precious soul from ever- ...'...ºf lasting death,i ruin, and condemnation, and so veil or cover a multitude of sins: not only jº"““"“” procuring the pardon of those committed by the convert, but also engaging God to look with greater indulgence on his own character, and to be less ready severely to mark all - he shall have done amiss. - IMPROVEMENT. MAY it ever be remembered by all, and especially by the ministers of the gospel, of how great importance it is to be instrumental in saving a soul from death, an immortal soul from everlasting death; that so they may be animated to the most zealous and laborious efforts for that blessed purpose ; and think themselves richly rewarded, though it were for the otherwise unsuccessful labours of a whole life, by succeeding even in a single instance. 19 In this view, may there bé a care to bring them to the truth, that so they may be converted from their wandering ways, that their understandings being convinced of the truth and importance of the gospel, their conduct may be practically influenced by it; and that upon such steady principles, as may effectually prevent their return to their wanderings again. Thus may a multitude of sins be hidden, and the glory of God, and the salvation of men, be effectually promoted. • * - Whatever trials we may meet with in these charitable efforts, or in ºny other path of duty, may we take the prophets of old, and the apostles of our Lord, for examples of suffering adversity and patience; especially remem- is • gº w tº 7 "Cry : ifling occa- given to the words, and which is a very important one, seems to me ut- ...seer not..] This the Jews were very apt to do upon trifling | §§ § supersede all § º from º §§'º. ---, 7 with. can by no means think that this is advised Qr to the requiring confession in the mºnºr Wºº lººs wººdle','º'; I understand such a faith does. For the confession here meationed, is Pºiº sº o as mutual. as is founded on somé more than ordinary impression, by which God .8 Wrought—by the energy of the Spirit..] . le word espºns, as iºtinº intention of working a miracle; and I look upon it as a Bishop Hopkins (in his Works, p. 749.) obsgrºs; seems ſº imply this very considerable proof, that as the power of working miracles was not sense... I have not confined it to the 3ray ºf 9. º Å; 1, & absolutely confinel to the apostles, so it might in some instances con- h Three years, and siz months.] Elijah is sº i. * § 3. :g. iſſue something longer in the church than their days. , Lord, Barrington to have showed himself, to Ahab in thº third {*. that º !'...}. go- jñjeed thinks that the expression, If he hath committed sin, &c. refers to ing to live at Zarephath, 1 Kings XVII: º, . º ...'...'; the commission of such a sim as haſ engaged the apostle to deliver thºrn to the end of the famine was three years º: $1X mont is, according to the tº Sátán, in order to corporeal punishment. But I hardly think an elder account given by St. James, as #sº Luke ºf 2. ssion inti , c | of the ciurch would, then have been mentioned; and one cannot imagine, i Save a soul from death, &c.) f pis way.9 º intºmates, in jat when the apostles were so fey, and two of them comparatively sº the strongest jº.; the infinite #."#. } sugh º § Cºnt; es to join together, the expression, “Send for the elders of the church,” save a soul from leath is, Yºt º: t #. *gº “s.; Of the ..". ghoufi mean, Send for some of the. apostles. How vastly different this As to the latter clause, Bishop ºf . alſº #. *gº ºs is from the extreme unction, #4 by the § not for Cuº'e, # gº º, an º '...º. }}|..., §§ A.''}}. r : £ 3 - 272 ºr a l - T * . . s. A s -º º *~ * *** y vs " - a ... • Hº: - - § When life is despaired of, I think every reasonable man may easily fiºſº, on the most attentive inquiry, to disallow the force of f ºnfess [your] faults, &c.) The general candid sense which I have their arguments. Comparol Pet, iv. 8. and the note there. REFLECTIONS, AND CLOSE OF THE EPISTLE. 849 bering their Lord, and ours; remembering how abundantly the patience of good men has been rewarded, the end SECT. of the Lord with respect to holy Job, and many others, who have trod in his steps in succeeding ages; and re- 8. membering especially, that the Judge stands at the door, that in a very little time he will appear, not only to put an end to the trial of his servants, but to crown their virtues and grâces. In the mean time, the bowels of his JAMEs compassion are abundant, and he will not be wanting in communicating all necessary consolations and supports. V. May we be so happy, as to be acquainted with those of devotion, that in our affliction we may pray, and in our 13 cheerfulness sing psalms; that we may know by blessed experience the efficacy of such a temper to soften the sorrows of life, and to sweeten its enjoyments. And as we desire to be visited of God in our afflictions, pay We with christian sympathy be ready to visit and relieve others in their sickness, or other kinds of distress. It is in- deed the special office of the élders of the church, who should be sent for upon such occasions with readiness, 14 and who, if they be worthy of their office, will attend with pleasure. But it is not their office alone. Let us all 15 be ready to pray for each other in faith and charity, and where offences have been committed, let there be a frank and candid acknowledgment of them on the one side, and as hearty a forgiveness on the other. In a word, let 16 the efficacy of the fervent prayer of the righteous be often reflected on, to excite, fervour, and to engage tº righteousness, and to lead us to honour those who maintain such a character, and who offer such petitions and supplications; that God may, in answer to their requests, shower down his bléssing upon us, that our land may 17, 18 Ayield its increase, that righteousness may spring up out of the earth, and that in every sense God, as our own God, may bless wº. (Psal. lxvii. 9. lxxxv. II.) 107 THE F A M H L Y E X P O S I T O R . A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE FIRST CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. PETER. THE apostle. Peter makes a very eminent and illustrious figure on the theatre of the evangelical history, and was, on several occasions, favoured by Our Lord with peculiar and distinguishing marks of honour. One instancé which I shall alone recite, among the many which might be recited, if it was needful, and which happened very soon after our Lord's ascension, is, that he was deemed worthy, under the impulse and inspiration of the #. Ghost, to open the gospel dis- Fº and first to preach salvation through a crucified Redeemer to the Jews (Acts ii.) and Gentiles. (Acts x.) And the rather suggest this instance, because it affords some colour to my own opinion that this Epistle was written both to the Jewish and Gentile converts, who were dispersed in various regions of the world. . The sentiments of learned men upon this question—To whom was this Epistle written?—are very various. The prin- cipal and most remarkable are these–That it was to the converted Jews of the dispersion—Or to #. converted Gentiles –Or lastly, (which is the opinion of Lord Barrington, embraced and defended by Dr. Benson,) to the converted prose- lytes of the gate. It is not necessary in this place* to enter into a particular confutation of the last mentioned hypothesis; especially as I apprehend what is suggested in my notes on several passages of the Acts, may convince an attentive reader, that there is no sufficient ground to suppose there were ever any such persons as proselytes of the gate. And as to the two former opinions, when the several arguments by which they are supported are duly considered and examined, we shall perhaps be inclined to imagine that the apostle rather designed his Epistle for the Jewish and Gentile converts both, than for either of them distinctly and separately. Without discussing the reasons for the opinion I have adopted, I shall leave the reader to form his own judgment, after he hath perused my paraphrase and notes on those passages of this Epistle on which it is founded. It is not very easy to assign the date of this Epistle with exactness. The most commonly received opinion is, that it was written in the year 61, the seventh of the Emperor Nero; and this seems to be a medium between the sentiments of those who place it some years higher, and those who place it lower, which bids fairest for the truth. It is evidently the design of this Epistle, “To induce the christian converts, in various parts of the world, to maintain a conversation, not merely inoffensive to all men, but in all respects worthy of the gospel; and to support them under the severe persecutions and fiery trials they already endured, or were likely to endure, by the noblest considerations which their religion could suggest.” The first branch of this design the apostle seems to keep particularly in view from chap. i-iii. 7. And in pursuance of it, after having congratulated his brethren, who were dispersed abroad through various countries, on their happiness in being called to i. lòrious privileges and hopes of the gospel, which was introduced into the world in so sublime a manner by the º and apostles, (chap. i. 1–12.) he exhorts them to watchfulness, to sobriety, to love, and to uni- versal obédience, by an affecting representation of their relation to God, their redemption by Christ's invaluable blood; and the excellence and perpetuity of the christian dispensation, and of its glorious fruits and consequences, compared with the vanity of all worldly enjoyments. (Ver. 13, to the end.) º them, by the like considerations, to receive the word of Göd with meeknèss, to continue in the exercise of faith in Christ as the great Foundation of their eternal hopes, and to maintain such a behaviour as would adorn his gospel among the unconverted Gentiles., (Chap. ii. 1–12.) For the same end, he exhorts them to the exercise of a due caré as to relative duties; and particularly a subjectiºn to civil governors, and to masters, even when their dispositions and injunctions might be harsh and severe; enforcing all by the consideration of that patience with which our Lord Jesus Christ endured his most grievous sufferings. (Ver: 13; io the end.) He likewise exhorts christian wives to submit themselves to their husbands, and to study the ornaments of their minds rather than of their persons; and husbands to treat their wives in a becoming and honourable manner, from a tender sense of those infirmities to which the sex is peculiarly liable. (Chap. iii. 1–7.), * In the ensuing part of the Epistle, the apostle's arguments and exhortations more º and directly refer to those dreadful sufferings and persecutions to which the christian converts were exposed, or which they actually endured, from the malevolence and rage of their implacable enemies. And here, well knowing that such treatment, unmerited, and unprovoked, is apt to imbitter and narrow men's spirits, and inflame their resentments; in which case the religion of the meek and lowly Jesus would be greatly dishonoured, and its spread and influence in the world retarded, by the indiscreet behaviour of its friends and advocates; therefore St. Peter urges many arguments on the Christian converts, in order to 3k thor intended, had Providence prolonged his valuable life, to have published a distinct dissert?tiºn this subject. But this, and many oº:: i. ‘...; projected, for the benefit of the church and the world, were prevented by his justly lamented death. * ...~~~ A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER. 851 engage them to an inoffensive, benevolent, and useful life and conversation; and to a steady, courageous adherence to their religion aniidst all opposition. (Ver. 8–17.) And then animating them to endure their sufferings with patience and resignation, from the endearing consideration of what their Divine Saviour had suffered for them, 'he expatiates on his atonement, resurrection, and exaltation; on the obligation of their baptismal covenant, and on the awful solemnity of the last judgment, as powerful arguments to a life of mortification and holiness, whatever discouragement and opposition they might be called to encounter. (Ver. 18–iv. 6.) And as eminent vigilance, fidelity, and courage, would be requisite for rightly improving their talents, and for discharging the duties of their respective stations in the church, at all times, but especially in times of imminent danger and persecution, he distinctly inculcates these several virtues; and by way of in- ference from the trials to which good men were exposed, he observes, that a tremendous, inevitable destruction will over- whelm the impenitent and unbelieving. (Ver. 7–19.) And at the close, he addresses some particular cautions both to ministers and § christians; urging on the former, humility, diligence, and watchfulness; and exhorting the latter to a steadfast and faithful discharge of their several duties, animated by this sublime consideration, that the God of all grace had called them to his eternal glory, and would, after they had suffered a while, make them perfect, according to the apostle's earnest prayer for them. (Chap. v. throughout.) . From this imperfect delineation of this admirable Epistle, the production of another eminent apostle, it is no unnatural or improper remark, that all the principles of our holy religion, as here represented, are perfectly consistent with the ana- logy of faith, and with the whole tenor of the New Testament; that they are directly levelled against all manner of cor-- rupt affections and immoral practices, as well as urged in the light of motives to all those virtues and graces, in which our conformity to God and the true glory of our nature consists. And (which, if it were the only circumstance that could be pleaded, would exalt our religion to an infinite superiority to the institutions of the most renowned heathen phi- losophers and lawgivers, and in connexion with its amazing progress, is a demonstration of its divine original) christians are here iº to encounter outrageous violence and persecution only with the hallowed weapons of patience, meek- ness, and charity, and to silence the cavils, and blast the machinations, of their own and their Master's bitterest enemies, with the lustre of a pure and holy life, and the fervour of a generous and invincible benevolence. How amiable, how elevated, how divine, how worthy of all acceptation is the religion of Jesus!—In delineating, as we have seen, the grand and essential branches of which, even Peter and Paul, notwithstanding all their contentions about things of inferior moment, or of a personal and private nature, are perfectly consistent and harmonious. SECT. PETER, who has the honour to be invested with 1. inscribes and addresses this Epistle to the elect strangers who are scattered abroad;" to HAPPI NFSS IN BEING CALLED UPON THE SUBLIME MANNER A P A R A PHRASE AND NOTE's * ON THE FIRST GATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. PETER. SECTION 1. THE, APQSTLE PETER BEGINS HIS ADDRESS TO HIS BRETHREN WHO were DISPERSED ABROAD, witH CONGRATULATING THEIR 1 PETER i. VER. 1. those christians whom Providence has dispersed throug IN WHICH IT WAS INTRODUCED BOTH BY THE PROPHETS AND THE APOSTLES, Or TQ THE GLORIOUS PRIVILEGES AND HOPES OF THE GOSFEER AND TARES OCCASION TO EXPATLATE 1 PET. i. 1–12. 1 PETER i. VER. I. 1 the office of an apostle of Jesus Christ, PETER, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scat- tered throughout Pontus, Ga- h various countries, and whom latia, Čappadocia, Asia. ...i I PET. divine grace has taught to consider themselves, wherever they dwell, as strangers and so- *nia, I. 3 stances in life may be. 5 for you, journers on earth; and particularly to those who inhabit the regions of Pontus, Galatia, 2 Cappadocia, and those in the provinces of Asia and Bithynia. you are indeed, chosen according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, who has pro- jected all his schemes with the most consummate wisdom, 2 Elect according to the oreknowledze of God the Father, through sanctifica- tion of the Spirit, unto obedi- e, and sprinkling of the call you [elect] because and perfect discerning of every future event. He has been pleased, according to the steady purposes of his grace, to §. §jeś,"är. bring you, by means of the sanctification of the Spirit, b Holy Ghost operating upon your souls, to evangelica your prejudices against the you are interested in the pa. } the sanctifying influence of the Hºu, and peace, be mul- obedience. He has subdued all & 5.P. and effectually engaged you to submit to it; and thus rdon of sin, and in all the other blessings which proceed from the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, whereby forgiveness is obtained for us christians as it was for the Jews under the law, upon sprinkling the blood of the sacrifices; and may this and every other instance and degree of grace, and all the peace consequent upon it, be multiplied unto you all, wherever you are, and whatever your condition and circum- Whatever your afflictions are in world, I hope you never will forget how indispensably you are obliged to thankfulness on account of your christian privileges; and to such thankfulness let me now excite you and myself: blessed therefore [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ac- s variable and troublesome _3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath be- gotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of cording to his abundant mercy hath regenerated its to a great, important, and lively hope Jesus Christ from the dead, of future happiness, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; upon whom indeed, 4 and upon whose resurrection, all our hopes depend. the cheerful and confident expectation of an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled,” and wn- fading, which nothing can spoil, which nothing can pollute, and which is incapable of any This inheritance is reserved in the heavens and for all true believers: Who, though now surrounded with many apparent 5 who are kept by the da warded as in a strong and impregnable garrison,” º almighty power of God, through the continued exercise of that faith, which this our hearts; and he will still maintain it unto that blessed internal decay, as well as external violence. gers, are not left defenceless, but are almighty power wrought in And by whom we are brought to 4 To an inheritance incor- ruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, re- served in heaven for you, power of God through ſaith unto salvation ready to be re- vealed in the last time. hour when you shall receive the complete and eternal salvation which is already prepared, and though now kept as under a veil, is to be revealed in its full radiance of glory, in the last time, the grand period, in which all the mysteries of divine Providence shall beauti- a Scattered abroad.] . Lord Barrington (Miscel. Sacº. Essay II. p. 84 —&S.) strénuously maintains, that St. Peter wrote only to the converted proselytes of the gate ; and in ſayour of this opinion he, urgeth their being called strangers, which he thinks is the style peculiar to those yhø, iºving renouncéd idolatry, and receiving the seven precepts of Nºah, were yet strangers to the commonwealth of Israel. e supposes they must have been Gentiles, beeause they are said, once not to hºpe been a people, chap. ii. 9, 10, and to. have been ignorant, Ver. 14. and to have ºrºught the will of the Gentiles, chap. iv. 3. . and he also, pleads; from chap. i. 22, where they are said to have purified theiº, souls by obcying #2 ruth, that it is likely , they were prosclytes gſ the gate, because a parallel expression is used by St.Peter concerning Cornelius and his friends, §§ Xv, 6. See note J, p. 434.) whom he suppºses to have been such. Ile likewise argues from their being addressed in these words, If ye call on the Futhcr; cho without respect ºf persºs judgeth according to every man’s work, ; i. I?), by St. Peter who had higself ad- §§§ºf Cornelids in almost the same terms. (Acts x. 34.33. . See nºte c, p. 41. #e pleads in support of the same opinion, their being called &#stians, (chap. iv. 16.) a title which he sº was first given to the gººd proselytes of the gate, of which the church at Antioch, where ii. ºr first called christians, in his apprehension, consisted. (Acts 3. i. 23. Šee note f. p. 418.) . But all this appears to me to be utterly in- conclusive; it is in part obviated already in my notes on the Acts; and as for the force which rany seem to remain in his lordship’s arguments, arising from the plurases in, which St. Peter addresses those to whom he writes, it is, I think, entirely annihilated, by supposing that the Epistie was written both to the converted Jews and Gentiles; of which the reader will be able to form a judgment by observing whether my para- phrase of the Seyeral passages in question be natural and easy. b Undefiled.]. That is, into which nothing, that polluteth can enter. The land of Canaan, was said to be defiled by sinners; to which per- haps there may here be an allusion. Compare Rev. xxi. 27. & Are guarded, &c.] The original word, ppgospevss, is very empha- tical, and properly signifies, being kept as in an impregnable garrison, secure from harm, under the observation of an all-seeing eye, and pro- tection of an almighty hand. Blackwall’s Sacred Classics, vol. i. p. 196. Compare 2 Cor. xi. 32..in the Greek. d In the last time.] This plainly refers to , the second appearance of Christ, called the last time, begause it will be the concluding scene of all the diving dispensations relating to this world. , For, the same reason it is called the last day, John yi. 39. and xi. 24. . And the design of the passage before us confirms this interpretation, since the apostle is here speaking of the full manifestation of the future happiness reserved in heaven for them. Some would connect, in the last time, with their being kept by the ponder of God; and understand it, as if the apostle had said, Though our lot is cast in the last time, when the temptations to THE SUBLIME MANNER IN which THE GOSPEL WAS INTRODUCED. 853 5 wherein ye greatly re-fully terminate. This is the blessed state and condition to which by the gospel you are SECT. ; :"...: '...' ..."; brought, in which, and in the glorious hopes which it inspires, you cannot but rejoice, 1. #.º.ºrough manifold though now for a little while, if it be necessary, you are grieved and distressed amidst va- — p - rious trials. You know they are all under the direction of the infinite wisdom of your I PET heavenly Father, who would not subject you to them, did he not see them to be subser- a vient to your truest happiness; and they will ere long be brought to an everlasting period. His intention in all is most kind and gracious, º that the little trial of your faith, 7 which is far more precious and valuable than that of gold which perishes, and wears out in h it be tried with fire, and purified to the highest degree; may be found to praise, and honour, and glory, in the great day of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the divine Author and Finisher of our faith, who having himself endured yet sorer trials, will rejoice to applaud and reward the fidelity of his servants in his cause: I say, in the revelation of 8 Jesus Christ, that glorious Redeemer, whom not having seen” with your bodily eyes, nor 7. That the trial of your faith, being much more pre ºn hº of º that }. rišheth; though it be tried fi with fire, jºht be found time, tho unto praise and honour and j. at the appearing of esus Christ: . 8 Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet be- jºſei; ; ; personally conversed with him, ye nevertheless love, and in whom, though now you see unspeakable and full of {} : *...*. tº - e - #. glory: - him) not, yet assuredly believing, ye rejoice, as your Almighty Saviour, Friend, and Pro- tector, with unutlerable and even glorified joy, with such a joy as seems to anticipate that 9 Receiving the end of of the Saints in glory: Receiving with unspeakable delight, as a full equivalent of all your 9 §: "*" trials, the great end of your faith, ſeven] the complete salvation of [your] souls; a prize of ..º.º.º. . . infinitely greater importance than all you can be called to sacrifice for its sake! Concern- 10 § {...". . ing which salvation, the prophets, who predicted the grace of the gospel, [which was ap- phesiºd, of the grace that pointed] to you, sought and diligently inquired; Searching, with the deepest and most 11 should comme unto you : - g - jº ºt Tiš. * * - - 11 Searching Wºls. what attentive reflection, to what period, or to what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which §º'º was in them did referſ when he testified long before they came to pass the various suffer- ; º;"; tº which were to come upon Christ, and the exalted and permanent glory which was to §: "..."..."; º; succeed them, and render him and his kingdom so perpetually illustriotis, and his servants "ß"ºom it w so completely happy. To the memorable testimony of these prophets it becomes us to veiei";a.”.”uº’i.e. pay a sincere and profound regard, to whom such extraordinary discoveries were made, as Selº, but ºntº they did no attentive reader can view without conviction and astonishment; and it was revealedá minister the things, which sº ‘p - - - jºinow poºjºuntô'you to them among other things, that [it was] not to themselves, but to ws that they ministered lº.º.º.º. these things; they knew that we, when the events arose, should have a more complete the gospel unto you with the * > t 5 5 - Hººhºº flºº, ſº understanding of these oracles, than any who declared them had. Consider, then, how jºi...hº...” happy you are in that dispensation under which you now live, when those divine mys- teries, which were only in a more obscure manner hinted at by the prophets, are most clearly and expressly declared to you, by those who have published the glad tidings of the gospel among you, by the evident authority and attestation, as well as by the assistances, of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven with such visible glory, and testifying his con- tinued residence amongst us by such wonderful effects. And indeed the doctrines which they preach are things of so great excellence and importance, as to be well worthy the regard of angels, as well as men; and, accordingly, (as the images of the cherubim on the mercy-seat seemed to bow down, to look upon the tables of the law laid up in the ark, so those celestial spirits do, from their heavenly abode, desire to bend down, h to [contem- plate] such glorious displays of divine wisdom and goodness, and attentively to survey those important scenes that are opening upon us here on earth; which is become so much more considerable than it would otherwise be, as it is honoured with being the theatre of such glorious events. IMPROVEMENT. ARE we desirous of rendering it apparent to ourselves, and all around us, that we are indeed the elect of God : Let it be by an humble application to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, on the one hand, and by the eviden. fruits of the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, on the other. The abundant mercy of God hath begotten real christians to the lively hope of an incorruptible, undefiled, and 3 unfading inheritance, reserved in heaven for them; let us keep it steadily in view, and earnestly pray that God 4 would preserve us by his mighty power through faith unto salvation. Whilst we are waiting for this salvation, it 5 is very possible, yea probable, affliction may be our portion; but let us remember, it is, if need be, that we are 6 in heaviness through manifold temptations. Our faith, and our other graces, are as it were thrown into the fur- nace, not to be consumed, but refined; that they may be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appear- 7 ance of Jesus Christ. Even at present, may this divine faith produce that love to an unseen jesus, which is here 8 so naturally expressed by the apostle; and though now we see him not, yet may that love be eminently productive of joy, even that joy which is unspeakable and fulf of glory; and in the lively and vigorous exercise of these graces, may we all receive the end of our faith, even the everlasting salvation of our souls et what we are here told of the prophetic writers be improved as it ought, to confirm our faith in that glorious 10 gospel, of which these holy men have given in their writings such wonderful intimations and predictions; writings which we have such excellent advantages for more distinctly and clearly understanding, than even they themselves 11 did. What exalted ideas should we entertain of a dispensation introduced by such a series of wonders, preached 12 by the inspired prophets, and by the Holy Ghost in his miraculous gifts and salutary influence sent down from heaven: a dispensation into the glories of which the angels desire to pry; how much more worthy then, the atten- tion of the children of men, who are so nearly concerned in it, who were redeemed from everlasting destruction by the blood of the Son of God! O let us review it with the closest application, and improve it to the infinitely gracious and important purposes for which it was intended. Then will grace and peace be multiplied to us; and 2 Wer 2 apostasy are so great and powerful, we are, notwithstanding, preserved from all the dangers to which we are exposed: - e JNot having scen.) It is very possible that among these dispersed christians, there might be some who had visited Jerusalem whilst Christ was there, and might have seen or even conversed with him ; but as the discoursing so largely concerning the prophets, seems to have a special reference to the converted Jews, who would enter more thoroughly into this part of his reasoning than the converted Gentiles. . & To whom it was recealed, §§ I think this text plainly proves, that the prophets had some general intimation that their prophecies referred greater part had not, St. Peter speaks, according to the usual apostolic manner, as if they all had not. Thus he speaks of them all as loying Christ, though there might be some among them who were destitute both of this divine principle and of that joy which he speaks of, as Čečošaq- péym, torought up cuen to glory, * - f Spirit of Christ, which was in them, &c.] It is well º our notice, that the Spirit which dictated to the prophets, is called the Spirit of Christ;, which, (as Mr. Fleming observes, Christol. vol. i. p. 1853) both roves his existence before his incarnation, and illustrates the full view he himself had of all he was to do and suffer under the character of our Redeemer ; the particulars of which therefore must have been compre- hended in the stipulations between him and the Father. The apostle, in to the Misssiah ; but that they did not understand every clause of them in their fuli force, nor so well as we understand them, who are capable of comparing them with the event. - * * * h Jāngels desire to bend down, &c.] Thus it is in the original, emu00- 1180 ty Tapakviput, desire to stoop down to ; in allusion, no doubt, (as M. Saurim, Diss. vol. ii. p. 266. has beautifully illustrated it, and many others have remarked,) to the bending postwre in which they were repre- sented on the mercy-seat. And Mr. Blackwall observes, (Sacred Classics, vol. i. p. 431.) that it may denote, not only the attentive curiosity with which they may inquire into the gospel, but the humility, of their adara- tion, whereas it is very probable that their apostate brethren refused to stoop to sugh a scheme. 854 EXHORTATIONS TO WATCHFULNESS, SOBRIETY, LOVE AND OBEDIENCE. SECT, however we may now be dispersed and afflicted, pilgrims and strangers, we shall ere long be brought to our ever- 1. lasting home, and meet together in the presence of our dear and condescending Saviour; where, having a more lively sense of our obligations to him, and beholding his glory, we shall love him infinitely better than at this dis- tance we have been capable of, and feel our joy in him increased in a proportionable degree. SECTION II. The apostle enforces his e - * . . A - to 6. our redemption by the invaluable blood of Christ, the vanity of all worldly enjoyments, dispensation. 1 Pet i. 13, to the end. 1 PETER i. 13. sECT. I HAVE been endeavouring to give you some general ideas of the excellence and im- 2. portance of the gospel dispensation; reminding you of the wonderful manner in which it — was introduced by the united labours of the prophets and apostles, and of the regard paid 1 PET. to it by the native inhabitants of the heavenly world. Regard it therefore as worthy the * is closest attention; and let the blessings of it be most vigorously pursued; and girding up the loins #. your mind, that you ma The capable of the most strenuous action, and bein continually sober and temperate, and watchful against everything that would insnare an pollute you, hope unto the end for the grace and mercy which shall be brought unto you, in the great and glorious day of the revelation of Jesus Christ., Live in the view of his second appearance, and think every labour, and every self-denial, happily bestowed, which may 14 subserve your prospect of felicity in that important day. You have now the honour to be adopted into the family of God; conduct yourselves therefore as his obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts which you indulged in the time of your ignorance, when you knew not this gospel, and were many of you in heathen darkness, 15 and others under the imperfect dispensation of Moses: But as he that has called you to this glorious light, and participation of such invaluable blessings, is holy, be ye yourselves also ; in the whole of [your] conversation, in everything you say and do, aspiring after this as your greatest honour, to bear the image of God in the moral perfections of his 16 nature; For it is written in several *:::::: of the Mosaic scriptures, (Lev. xi. 44. xix. 2. xx. 7.) Be ye holy, for I am holy. There is the same force in the argument now, respecting us Christians, which there was with regard to the Jews; yea, greater force, in proportion to the degree in which the sanctity of the Divine Being is now more illustri- 17 . displayed: And accordingly let me exhort you, if ye call upon the God and Father of all, who, without respect of persons, or any kind of partiality, whether to Jews or Gen- tiles, judges every one according to [his] work, to converse during the time of your sojourni 18 here, with all becoming reverence and humility, in the religious fear of God: And so much the rather, knowing the price of your redemption to have been so rich and invaluable. This is an important article of divine knowledge, of which no christian can be ignorant, that you were not redeemed with corruptible º as with silver and gold,” which, however regarded by men, have no value in the sight of God; this, I say, was not the price which bought you from your vain, trifling, and unprofitable conversation received tradition from your fathers,b from those hereditary superstitions, follies, and vices, which had in succeeding generations assumed the name and the garb of religion, and from the guilt which they had brought upon your souls. Ineffectual had all the treasures of the earth 19 been to purchase help for us under so sad and deplorable a circumstance. But God was leased to find out the only ransom, and has redeemed us with the precious blood of Christ, ; Son, as of a lamb unblemished and unspotted, free from the least degree of moral pol- lution, and therefore properly represented by those lambs, free from all corporeal spots 20 and blemishes, which the Jews were required to offer as an expiation for their souls. And as the paschal lamb was chosen, and set apart some time before it was sacrificed, so the Lord Jesus Christ, who was indeed typified by it, was known, approved, and fore-appointed from the foundation of the world, but made manifest in these latter times, by the clear * reaching of the gospel, for your sakes, that ye might obtain redemption and salvation by 21 #. Even ye alſ who by him, and the manifestations of the divine grace and mercy in him, are brought to repose your trust and confidence in God,” who raised him from the dead, and gave him such exalted glory and majesty in the celestial world; that so your faith and hope might be in God, and ye might be encouraged to commit all your concerns to him with cheerful confidence, when he has º you such a Saviour; and to expect all blessings from that friendship with him which is founded upon the incarnation, atone- 22 ment, and blood of his own Son. Let it be your care, therefore, that having purified your souls by an application to this fountain which God has opened, and by that obedience to the truth ... will, through the assistance of the Spirit, be the result of such an applica- tion; and since the whoſe genius and design of this religion, which you have im ibed and professed, leads to an undissembled brotherly love; let it be your care, I say, to enter affectionately into its design and tendency; and to love one another out of a pure heart, operating fervently and º and not to restmerely in those deceitful forms and profes- sions of affection, with which the men of the world amuse themselves and each other; or in those trifling instances of friendship which can do little to approve its reality and sin- 23 cerity. The temper, and conduct which I recommend, may justly be expected from you, considering your relation to God, and to each other; as having been regenerated, not by corruptible seed, not by virtue of any descent from human parents, but by incorruptible; º exhºrtition; to, watghfulness, to sobriety, to love, and to obedience, by an affecting representation of our relation and the excellence and perpetuity of the gospel 1 PETER i. 13. a Redeemed with corruptible things, with silver and gold, &c.] Some thirik bere is an allusion to the lamb, which, made an atonement, and was bought at the common expense furnished by the contribution of the -S , as an atonement for their souls. Compare Exod. xxx. 11, &c. As for those that think here is a reference to the stamp of a lamb on the * Jewish coin, I am neither sure of the truth of the fact, nor can I perceive the elegance of the supposed allusion. Compare Weisis Geog. of the Old Test. vol. i. p. 27: dren in the Gentile world. with Mr. H In ean IIlg IS; of the true God, ascension into heave eceived by tradition, &c.] Some think this refers to the Jevoish d Intensely..] So b R. - - - - - it may express those vain rites worship which - traditions, but perhaps y exp qf p Râphelius, Jānnot. in loc. ing to the sense in which it is used by Polybius and WHEREFORE gird up the loins, of your mind, be sober, and hº to the end for the grace that, is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves ac- gording . to the former lusts In your 19. In Orance : 15 But as he which hath çalled you, is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of con- Versation ; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear : 18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were, not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; J9 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without bíčmish and without Spot : 20 Who . was foreor- dained before the foundation of the world, but was mani- fest in these last times for you, . 21.Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him lory; that, your faith and #: might be in God. 22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in , obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned i. of the bre- thren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being, born again, not of corruptible seed, but of for successive ages had been delivered down from parents to their chil- PV/ him trust in God..] This phrase is remarkable, and I think C to b §, see his JVotes and Discourses, vol., 53 - that &####, who before their conyersion were ignorant d, jearnt his being and providence from the great fact of i. D. 58.) that the Chris?s resurrection, and the power with which God invested him on his i"think the word ekteva’s properly *. ; accord- e rodotus. See CHRISTIANS URGED TO RECEIVE THE worD OF GOD WITH MEEKNESS. 855 incorruptible, by the word of not laying the stress of your confidence on your pedigree from Abraham, if you had the SECT. gº."”* honour to descend from that illustrious patriarch; for that descent could not entitle you 2. to the important blessings of the gospel. It is by means of the efficacy of the word of - God upon your hearts, even that powerful word which lives and endures for ever, that you i ºr. ... º. º.º. are become entitled to these glorious evangelical privileges. For as the prophet Isaiah 24" §ºrº.º.º. testifies, (Isaiah xl. 6.) all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower ºf the §hº, flower grass, which is yet frailer than that; the grass £iºuſ and the flower thereof falleth ; quickly deprived of its blooming honours, it drops, blasted and dying, to the ground. And thus precarious and uncertain are all the dependences which we can have on perish: 2. But the word of the Lord ing creatures; But the word of the Lord abideth for ever in undiminished force and 25 *"...º. º; vigour, nor can ten thousand succeeding ages prevent or abate its efficacy. Now this, gospel is preached unto you, which the prophet refers to in the oracle Thave just been quoting, is the word which is §: to you in the gospel: show, therefore, your regard to it by such a temper and ehaviour, both towards God and man, as it was intended to inculcaté and produce. IMPROVEMENT. LET it be matter of our daily, delightful meditation, that while we clearly discern the uncertainty of all human Ver. dependences, which wither like the grass, and fall like the flower of the field, the word of God is permanent and 24, 25 immutable. Let us cheerfully repose our souls on this stable, unfailing security; gratefully acknowledging the goodness of God, that he hath condescended to lay a foundation for our hope, so firm and durable .#. OWI). infallible word, and to make that word the incorruptible seed of our regeneration. If we have indeed experi- 23 mentally known its efficacy and power, so that our souls are purified by obeying the truth, let us carefully express 22 our obedience to it, by un jºi fervent, brotherly love; and animated by our glorious and exalted hopes as christians, even that divine and illustrious hope of the grace to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus 13 Christ, let us set ourselves to the vigorous discharge of every duty, as knowing that we should be children of 14 obedience, having the excuse of ignorance no longer to plead for the indulgence of our lusts, but by a holy God }; called with a holy calling, and instructed to invoke him, at once, as our gracious Father and impartial UIC!Cre. It is worthy of our special remark, that the blessed apostle urges us to pass the transitory and limited time of 17 our sojourning here in fear, from the consideration of our being redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, which 18, 19 is a price of infinitely more value than all the treasures of the universe. And certainly there is a mighty energy in the argument; for as it is a very amiable, so it is also a very awful, consideration. What heart so hardened, as not to tremble at trampling on the blood of the Son of God, and frustrating, as far as in him lies, the important design of his death? Frustrating the design of a scheme, projected from eternity in the counsels of heaven, and at 20 length made manifest with every circumstance to convince our judgments, and engage our affections. And while we are reflecting on the resurrection and exaltation of our Redeemer, as the great Foundation of our eternal hopes, 21 let us dread to be found opposing him, whom God hath established on his own exalted throne ; and with the utmost reverence let us kiss the Son, in token of our grateful acceptance of his mercy, and cheerful and humble submission to his authority. (Psal. ii. 12.) SECTION III. The apostle urges them, by a representation of their christian privileges, to receive, the word of God with meekness, to continue in the exercise of § ń. §hiº 3.S hºstis: Foundation of their eternal hopes, and to maintain such a behaviour as might adorn his gospel, among the unconverted e Intl ICS. et. 11. 1– 1 PETER ii. 1. - 1 PETER ii. 1. wherEFORE, laying aside I HAVE been reminding you of the everlasting permanency and invariable certainty of the SECT. ;...";: word of God; let this, #. engage you to pay it a becoming regard; and 'º'; 3. jºs, aside all malignity, and all deceit, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings, whic 2 As new-born babes, desire are so contrary to its benevolent, design, with all simplicity, as new-born infants,” who are 1 PET. tºº...º.º. regenerated by divine grace, desire that spiritual nourishment, that rational and unmingled a ". 3 ºf sº have tasted milk, if I may so call it; that so ye may grow thereby to a state of adult christianity. And that the Por" # * this may reasonably be expected of you, since you have so experimentally felt and tasted that the Lord [is] gracious,b since you have known the sweetness there is in Christ, and 4.To whom coming, as unto how suitable he is to the necessities and desires of an awakened sinner: To whom coming 4 iº § [as to] a living stone, who is capable of diffusing spiritual life into those who are united to God, and precious, im, though disallowed indeed and rejected of men, yet chosen of God, [and] inexpressibly 5 Ye, also, as lively stones, precious and valuable ; Ye also as living stones, united to him, and deriving life #. him, 5 º; are built up as a spiritual house, consecrated to his service; and in another view, ye may ...;,&# be considered as a holy priesthood, destined to offer p the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, ******* praise, and obedience, which all are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, who is the great - #. Priest over the house of God, whose intercession alone can recommend to the Father 6 wherefore also it is cqu- such imperfect services as ours. Therefore it is contained in a well-known passage of the 6 tº º, ºr scripture, (Isaiah xxviii. 16.) Behold, I lay in Sion a stone, even a . corner-stone, hold, I lay in Sion a chief º; chºsen, precious, and he that confideth in it shall not be ashamed: which words undoubtedly e I le V & Ull Ot - • j...'..." refer to the Messiah, as the great Hope and Confidence of his church. To you therefore 7 nto you therefore which * ºf . x-aa- :c - - - believe he is precious : but who believe, [it is] precious “ you who rest your salvation on this corner-stone, know by Ul * - - t’ - jºig. Whº disoº blessed experience its value, as infinitely beyond all that can be compared with it. But §º...º.º. as for those who are disobedient, these words of the Psalmist are accomplished with regard isºde"the head of the to them, and may well be recollected in the present connexion, (Psal. cxviii. 22.) The COrner, stone which the builders rejected, is become the head of the corner: all their opposition to it is in vain: they can never pretend to prevent the honour to which it is destined in the di- 8. And a stone of stumbling, vine purpose: And to themselves, it is also, as Isaiah expresses it in the preceding context, 8 and a rock of offence, even tº a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; they who would attempt, as it were, to remove e The word of God, which lives and endures ſgr ever.]. This is rendered vol. v. p. 105.) that the Jewish rabbies were wont to style new prose- #. some, Who lives and endures for ever, referring it to God himself lytes to their religion, little children and new-born babes. ut it is more agreeable to the design of the apostle, (and, as Wolfius b Since you have tasted, &c.) . This is the proper rendering of £17&p. ; à...ºf §§§..." this clause to the and not, º to our translation, iſ so be. See Blackwall’s Sacred a JVew-born infants.] This expression very emphatically denotes those Class, vol. ii. p. 203. * - who are newly converted or regenerated.—Wolfius observes, (Curae Philol. c It is precious.] Tupam, preciousness itself. 856 SECT. it out of the way, find it an over-match for their strength, and are dashed in pieces by 3. 1 PET. II. - 10 II. H2 CHRISTIANS URGED TO RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD witH MEEKNESS. They b disobedient to the divi } bl he dd of th l it. º, whº tuº ºy being disobedient to the divine revelation, stumble at the wordd of the gospel, which ºu." is,*.*. 㺠this awful testimony, and bring inevitable ruin upon themselves; to ; also they *::::::::: also they were were appointed by the righteous sentence of God long before, even as early as in his first purposé and decree he ordained his Son to be the great Foundation of his church. But 9. But ye are a chosen gene- jou, ºn the contrary, who unfeignedly believe in him, [are] a chosen generation,” a royal jº priesthood, who bear at once the dignity of kings, and sanctity of priests: a holy nation, set ºlei that ye should shºw apart in a special manner for the service of §. and a peculiar people. When these titles § Śiś. were given to Israel of old, it was in an inferior sense; and it is in a much nobler signifi- ſº, into his marvellous cation that these words may be applied to you. Consider it therefore as the wise intention * of Divine Providence, that you should declare and proclaim all abroad, the viricasſ of him who has called you out of that darkness in which you originally were, into his marjºllows and glorious light;" that clear light of the gospel, which opens so many illustrious scenes of divine wonders. To this are }."; my brethren, called, who once [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God;h who had not obtained mercy; who, many of you, lay in the ruins of the Gentile world; but have now obtained mercy, and are gathèred into the church of God, and by his favour entitled to all its privileges. My j. brethren, let it be your special care to walk worthy of these privileges; and that you may, I beseech [you] as strangers in this world, and sojourners in the body, who are to be here but for a very little . of time, and must soon quit this state of mortality to dwell in another world, that ye stain from carnal lusts, in the gratification of which only a very mean and transient plea- sure is to be found: for these are appetites which are suited only to that part of our na- ture, which so, soon is to be laid down, and which do indeed make war against the nobler owers of the immortal soul, and have a tendency, not only to injure, but for ever to ruin it, if they are suffered to prevail and govern ; Having your conversation homest, fair, and honourable among the Gentiles, particularly in an exemplary discharge of all social and re- lative duties; that whereas they speak against you, as evil-doers, in separating from the wor- ship of their gods, and joining yourselves with what they presumptuously call the impious sect of christians, they being eye-witnesses continually of [your] good works, may not only lay aside these blasphemous º but exchange them for commendations and praises; and so may glorify God in the day of |. visitation, during the season in which º gospel is preached among them, whereby they are visited with the offers of pardon and Salvation. 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now ave obtained mercy. ll Dearly beloved, I be- seech you as strangers and ſº from fleshly usts which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversa- tion honest among the Gen- tiles ; that, whereas the speak against you as evil- doers, they may by your good works, which they shall be: hold, glorify God in the day of Visitation. IMPROVEMENT. LET us examine our own hearts seriously and impartially, with respect to those branches of the christian tem- per, and those views of the christian life, which are exhibited in this excellent portion of holy writ. Let us espe- Ver. 2 cially inquire, in what manner and to what purposes, we receive the word of God. Is it with the simplicity of 3 and gro 1 babes, or children? do we desire it, as they desire the breast? do we lay aside those evil affections of mind, which would incapacitate us from receiving it in a becoming manner?, and does it conduce to our spiritual nourishment, in grace 2 Have we indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious? do we experimentally know, that to 4 the true believer the Redeemer is inestimably precious? have we indeed come to him, as to a living stone; and 6, 9, 10 1 notwithstanding all the neglect and contempt with which he may be treated by many infatuated and miserable men, by wretches who are bent on their own destruction, do we regard and build on him as 'our great and only Foundation ? and do we feel that spiritual life diffused through our souls which is the genuine consequence of a- real and vital union with him 2–If these be our happy circumstances, we shall never be ashamed or confounded; 8 for this is that foundation which God hath laid in %. ; and the united efforts of earth and hell to raze or over- turn it, will be scattered as chaff and stubble, and by the breath of God be rendered utterly vain and ineffectual. Are we conscious of our high dignity, as we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a pecu- liar people? Are our hearts suitably affected with a sense of the divine goodness, in callingus to be a people, who once were not a people; and us beloved, who were not beloved; in leading us from the deplorable darkness of ignorance and vice, in which our ancestors were involved, into the marvellous light of his gospel; yea, in dissipat- ing those thick clouds of prejudice and error, which once veiled this sacred light from our eyes, that its enlivening beams might break in upon our souls” And are we now º his praises 2 are we now offering to him 5 spiritual sacrifices, in humble dependence on Christ, our great High Priest, who continually intercedes for our acceptance with God? Then shall we indeed make our calling and our election sure, and shall ere long appear in his heavenly temple, both as kings and priests unto God, to participate of our Redeemer's glory, to reign with him, and minister to him for ever. - a' Let us be careful, in the mean time, to remember, that we are strangers and sojourners on earth, as all our fathers were; and that our days in this transitory life are but as a shadow that declineth; and let us learn to re- ard the appétites of our animal nature, and the interests of this mortal life, with a noble superiority, reflecting for ow little a space of time they will solicit our attention. And as for fleshly lusts, let us consider them as making war against the soul; arming ourselves with that resolution and fortitude which is necessary to prevent their gain- ing a victory over us; which would be at once our disgrace and our ruin. There is an additional argument to be derived, for a strenuous opposition to them, from our circumstances and situation in the present world; where I 12 there are so many enemies to our holy religion, who cannot be more effectually silenced than by our good conver- sation. Let it be, therefore, our principal care to cut off from them the occasion of speaking against us as evil- doers; and by exhibiting a clear and unexceptionable pattern of good works in our daily conversation, let us in- vite and allure them to improve the day of their visitation, and glorify their Father who is in heaven. d T. being disobedient, stumble, &c.] A learned writer; I think, very well observes, that it is doing violence to the text, to read it as one continued i.; as it is in our translation. The truth is, the apostle runs a double anti between believers and unbelievers: jpºuv 8v– f The virtues.] We render it praises; but the word aperas is well known commonly to have the signification here assigned it. . g JMarvellous and glorious A most beautiful expression of the wonders the gospel opens on the enlightened eye. But perhaps no inter- rts-evgauv, saith he, To you who believe, it is precious : ame affeot 6e, but to them who are disobedient, and unbelievers, a stome of stumbling ; ot TrpookoTreat, they stumble: jutts Ge, but you are a chosen people, &c. See Taylor’s Key to the Romans, $ 71. - e Ye are a chosen generation.] Dr. Whitby shows at large that the phrase of God’s chosen, is applied to the whole nation of the Jews, good and bad, and not to those among them who might be supposed elected to €t e. But it, seems very unreasonable, to limit such, phrases as these, when #. to christians,just to the idea which the like phrases had when applied to the Jews pretation was ever more unnatural and servile to an hypothesis than that which the author of JMiscellanea Sacra gives to these words, when he explains their being called out of darkness, by their being first made pro- selytes of the gate, from their state of heathen idolatry, and then being º ig the marvellous light of the christian religion. JMiscell. Sacra, WOl. 11. D. & ). - * * #º not a people..] I think it, plain that Hosea ii. 23. (to which there seems here to be a reference) relates to the Israelites after their rejec- ion. But it may with so much propriety be accommodated to the Gentiles, that I thought it much better to give it such a turn, than to suppose it here spoken only of Jewish converts. , EXHORTATION TO PRACTICAL HOLINESS. SECTION IV. In order to adorn the gospel, the º: urges upon them the exercise of a due care as to relative duties; and particularly a subjection to civil governors, and to masters, even w - patience with which our flord Jesus Christ endured his most 1 PETER ii. 13. grievous Suijerløgs. ere their dispositions or injunctions might be barsh and severe ; enforcing all by the consideration of that ar. 1 Pet. ii. 13, to the end. I PETER ii. 13. Sºiſſ yourselves to every HAVING been already urging you to set a good example before those that are without; ordinance of man Lord’s, sake : to the king, as supreme ; or . videntially placed, for the 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent him for the punishment of evil-doers ānī for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, honour of their office. that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men : º: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of wants of God. 17 Honour all muen. the brotherhood. Fear Honour the king. whether it'; for the further illustration of that general precept, let me exhort you to be particularly careful to be subject to every human constitution” of government, under which you are pro- rd’s sake, and that ye may not bring any reflection upon the religion of Jesus; whether it be to the king, or emperor, as supreme: Or whether it be to # governors, and presidents, as sent and commissioned by him from Rome, in order to the punishment of evil-doers, but to the praise of them who do well ; for this is indeed the true intent of magistracy, and this will be the care of them who rightly understand the nature and For so, is the will of God, in this respect, that by doing good ye should bridle in the ignorance of foolish men,” which might be ready to cast reflections upon you ; fls those who are indeed in the noblest sense free, in consequence of your relation to Christ, and your share in the purchase of his blood, yet not wsing tºº, but as the ser- and covering for the practice of wickedness, as the Jews too often tinually as becomes the servants of God, as those who are now more than ever his pro- Love perty, in consequence of your having been bought with such a price. * maintain an esteem for human nature in general, and observe with truly honourable in the meanest and most undeserving of mankind. º liberty as a veil o; but behaving con- Honour all men; leasure whatever is Love the christian - brotherhood with a peculiar and distinguishing affection, suitable to that fraternal relation into which you are brought by your joint adoption into the family of God, and insertion into the body of Christ. Reverence Godd at all times with the sincerest and profoundest humility; and let a sense of the honour and favour he has conferred upon you increase, rather than diminish, that reverence. Honour the king whom God hath set over you, and all the subordinate governors who derive their authority from him; paying obedience to all their just commands, and taking heed that there be nothing rebellious or factious in your behaviour, which would turn to the hurt of society, and bring a reflection upon your 18 Servants, be subject to holy profession. Ye who are domestic servants and slaves, be in subjection to º wr own] #.º.º. . . . masters in all things lawful, with all reverence and submission; and remember to pay not only to the good and gen tle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man, for conscience to- yard God endure grief, suf- fering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it pil- tiently 3 but, if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. this regard not only to the good and the gentle, whose moderation, clemency, and benevo- lence make your yoke easy; but also to the froward and perverse. For this [is] graceful indeed, and deserves applause, if any one for the sake of conscience towards God, an desire of performing his duty to him, unjustly. For after all, what glory [is it], or what can you possibly value yourselves upon, if, when ye have committed an offence, and are buffeted and corrected for it, ye endure [it?] How can you indeed do otherwise? or if you could, how shameful were it in such a case to rise against the hand of your injured masters ? and yet suffer through their tyranny and perverseness, ye endure [it] meekly and patiently, 3. atiently endures grief and sorrow, though he suffer But if, when you have done good, this is] acceptable and graceful before God; his eye, which always judges of the trüé beauty of characters aright, is even delighted with such a spectacle, though exhibited 21 For even hereunto were ye called : because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: in the lowest rank of human life. temper upon you; for to this you were called, when you were brought into the profession of the Christian faith; because Christ himself.ſ pure and spotless as he was, suffered not only buffetings and stripes, but deep and mortal wounds, for you, leaving ſows an example and And I would particularly urge this meek and patient copy, that you might with certainty trace, and with constancy and diligence follow, his º: and by observing them aſ his, be charmed to an imitation, even where it was ifficult and painful. 22 Who did no sin, neither In OSt We cannot expect indeed to arrive at a perfect resemblance of was guile ſound in his mouth; it; but let us endeavour to approach as near as possible, even to the amiable character of 23 who, when he was re- him who did no sin, neither was any degree of deceit found in his mouth ; Who, being re- viled, reviſed not again; when he suffered, he threatened viled, reviled not again, and suffering the most grievous insults and injuries, threatened not hot; but committed insii the vengeance which he had it in his power to have executed; but committed [himself] to to him that judgeth right- eously : our sins in his own, body on the tree, that we, being dead s to sins, should live unto of his character. righteousness : by whos stripes ye were healed. him who judgeth righteously, and who in his own most proper time will make the righteous 24 who his own self bare and innocent triumphant over all their enemies. Yet we know this spotless and Holy Person was as much distinguished by the grievousness of his sufferings, as by the integrity For it is He, who himself bore the punishment of our sins in his own * body, when he hung in the agonies of crucifixion on the accursed tree; that we being freed from the guilt of our sins,h and the misery to which they exposed us, might live unto right- eousness : by whose stripes and bruises ye are healedi of evils infinitely greater than the cruelty of the severest masters can bring upon you; according to the well-known phrase 25 For ye were as sheep of the prophet, (Isaiah liii. 4, 5, 6.) For ye were like sheep going astray, exposed to want going astras; but are now re- and danger, and wandering in the way to destruction; but now ye are, by divine grace, a. Every human constitution.] The whole course of the apostle’s rea- soning in this place so plainly shows how Yery impertinent it is to apply . this to the injunctions of inen in matters of religion, that one cannot but wonder that any rational writer should ever have mentioned the argument which has been drawn from it. . . b. In order to the punishment of evil-doers.] The Roman governors had the power of life and death in such conquered provinces, as those men- tioned, chap. i. 1. There is, therefore, the exactest propriety in the style, as Dr. Lardner hath observed, Credib. vol. i. p. 167. sº c The ignorance of foolish men.] By the ſoglish men here spoken of, Dr. Whitby understands the heathens, who might be ready foolishly to judge of christians by the behaviour of the turbulent, Jews, and so might répre- sent them as a people naturally averse from subjection to kings; as Jose- phus says of his own nation. * f Reverence God, &c..] Perhaps no finer and stronger instances of the Laconic style are to be found any where than in this place. It is remark- able that they are required to honour the emperor, though so great a per- secutor, and of so abandoned a character, as Nero himself. ... * gºr & e If when ye have done good, and yet suffer, ye endure [it] this, [is] graceful before God..] The emperor Antoniºus quotes it as an excellent l saying of Antisthenes, That it is truly royal to do good, and to be reproached. Amt. Mcd. L: yii. § 33. - f 8ccause Christ himself, &c.] . It is observable, that upon the mention of the name of Christ, the apostle falls into a noble and animated digres- sion of several verses, to the end of the chapter ; afterwards he continues to pursue his exhortation to relative duties. g Suffered for you, leaping you, &c.] I here prefer the reading of the Alexandrian and other MSS. as most agreeable to the sense and con- H C XIO (i. h That being freed from sin : Tats apap+tats aſſº) evopévor.] That our common translation is agreeable to the frequent signification of the ori- ginal word, is certain. But so is the yorsion I have chosen, which is ap- proved by iłęza, and is preferred and adopted by that judicious and learned critic, Erasmus Schmidius. - - - j By whose stripes, &c.] Mr. Cradock supposes the meaning of this is, as if he had said, The blood of Christ, by which your souls are saved, may be a sufficient balm for those wounds and bruises which your cruel mas- tors may inflict º you ; that is, it may so delight your minds as to raise you above an undue regard to, and concern about, such corporeal suffer- ings. Apost. Iłist. p. 497. 857 SECT . 4. l 4 I I 9 PET. 858 EXHORTATION TO PRACTICAL HOLINESS. SECT. recovered and turned again to him who bears the important and tender character of the turned unto the shepherd 4. great Shepherd and Bishop ºf your souls, who has gráciously received you under his pas- ***** -> s: - y 4- - - - *- - - toral care, and will maintain that inspection over you which shall be your continued ºt. security from returning to those fatal wanderings; and the sense of this may cheer and comfort you under any oppression or injuries to which you may be exposed. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. As the honour of God is eminently concerned in the regard shown by his people to their relative duties, let us, t3— 13, IS out of a due respect to that, pay a very careful and diligent attention to them; that the ignorance of foolish men, 15 of those who reproach our good conversation in Christ, may be utterly silenced. Let magistrates especially be 14 reverenced, and in all things lawful, obeyed. And if they desire to secure reverence to their persons an authority, let them remember the end and design of their office, namely, to be a terror to evil-doers, and a praise and en: couragement to the regular and virtuous. And let us, who rejoice in our liberty, that libérty where with Christ 16 hath made us free, be very careful that it be not abused as a cloak of licentiousness; but as we would manifest 17 our fear and reverence of God, let us remember to honour the king; yea, to render to every man, and every sta- tion and character, the esteem and respect which he justly claims; feeling, at the same time, the constraints of a peculiº affection to all those who are united to us by the endearing character of our brethren in the Lord.— Should then who fill superior stations and relations in life, not be so regular, and without exception, in their 18 private and public deportment as they ought, let us perform our duty, not only to the gentle and obliging, but to 21 the perverse and froward; remembering our Lord's example which was set before us, that we might follow his 24 steps. And let his marvellous love in bearing our sins in his own sacred body on the tree, endear both his ex- âmpie and his precepts to our souls, and constrain us to a holy conformity to him. 25 Since he who is the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, came on the most gracious and condescending errand of seeking and saving that which was lost, of gathering us into his fold who were wandering in the way to perdi- tion; let is shºw so much gratitude and wisdom, as not to wander any more; but as we regard our security and Qur very life, let us keep our Shepherd in our eye, submit ourselves to his pastoral inspection, and cheerfully follow him in whatsoever path he shall condescend to conduct us. SECTION V. was aſ 23 lorºd to submit themselves to their husbands, and to study, the ornaments of their minds, rather than of their persons; and bugds, a yº exºgº ſe: their wives in a becoming and honourable manner, from a tender sense of those infirmities to which tho ; ; {{ {}i Q. tº t. iii. i-7. P Fºx - - - 1 PRSTER lil. 1. 1 PETER iii. 1. SECT. I HAVE been discoursing of the duty of a servant; let me now likewise consider those LIKEWISE, ye wives, he in of some other relations; and particularly urge it upon you, O ye christian wives, that ye iº; º,"; bej in ºbjection to your ottº husbands, in all things just and lawful; that if any of them hºl, wºrd, they, alsº may - s ~ – “. A/ without the word be won by 1 PET. !. disobedient to the word of the gospel, and have refused to yield to all the other mighty is"...nºn” º'd. arguments by which christianity is supported, they may without attending upon the word, "*** begained over to the love and practice of it, by the amiable and edifying deportment of [their] wives : Particularly beholding your chgsie and spotless conversation, in the fear of 2 while they behold your God, and with a due reverence to your husbands, for his sake, and not merely on con- ºnversation coupled straint. Be careful to boilave iſ every respect as becomes those whose happiness it is to 3 Whose adorning let it not g - -- ~ :-- - - . . . . . - * * ~ *-* ~ --> - - , be that outward adorning of be *† with the great principles of christianity ; and particularly consider, how i,j}: jº. i 2 3 {} C j} - they should influence yoºr conduct in the adorning of your persons.” . And as to this, #. tº or or putting on let it not be merely créernai,” nor consist in the plaiting and braiding the hair, or in putting > ſix 7 -i. #, or ear-rings, or bracelets of gold on ti 4 ing of Sumptuous and sp? ripparel : £ut let your ornament be of ous nature ; let it consist in a well-regulated temper of mind, in havin, the heart rightly formed: let it be seated in what is more incorruptibl Ta. e arms, or in wear- much iſ ore glori- 4 Bº 'jºiº #}, o 7, 5/3rſ, man of the heart, in that CfR & lidden 7?? (???. of which is not corruptible, even by far than] gold, the ornament of a rºyeek and … & quiet spirit, which is in the on chains of gold abºut the he f 8. C;" 2 or gems, which, stable as they are, may in time wear away, and are liable to a variety of jößl ºat pºeë. accidents; H mean, in the beautiful and harmonious disposition of a meek and quiet spirit, silently submitting to the conduct of your husbands, and gently accºmmodating yourselves to them as far as reasonably you can': which argues an in ward wisdom and goodness, that is highly precious in the sight of God himself; who looks with comparative contempt on 5 those little artifices by which the notice of vain rºom is often attracted. This has long , 5 For after this ſpanner in been the prevailing fashion in Gºd's family; for 39 the holy women also, who hoped in God, i.”.."º"; and served him in the integrity of their hearts, long since, gºorised themselves, being, agree- adagned themselves, being in - l a sºon to their own husbands. .4s i. " "** *** ou may particularly recollect in the instance of who, you know, obeyed 4braham A. º.º. er husband, calling him constantly, when she spoke of him, her lord, though she was not ºnºs lº as only of the same finily with him, but was herselfin so peculiar a manner dignified by God, tº ºl, º and had her name chänged in token of her being a mother of many nations, and of the ment. veneration in which she was to be held in all succeeding ages. Remember therefore the character of this excellent woman, whom those of you who are of Jewish extraction are so fond of calling your mother; and whose daughters you indeed are, so long as ºſé do well, and preserving, by such a conduct, your inward tranquillity and fortitude, are not meanly terrified, so as to act out of character, with any amazement,” or danger, which may meet you in the way of your duty. The want of a becoming and necessary fortitude in thi k. Bishop of your souls.) This is nº instance ºf that duplicity of desizn biting the 9rnańents, of dress, but only the making these things our chief which is ofteſ, to be found in the Epist}^3. Tiye apostle urges these concern. Coºp:re John vi. 27. with J Tim. v. S. things peculiarly upon servanis: yet (logº, it in general language, as c \ºt terrified with any area.cºm eat.] Many have, apprehended this well knowing that many of thern were the concerns of all christian lºst clause is suggested as an arguinent to persuaſiº them to do well, readers. that they would be preserved from those alarms and terrors, which a a Whose adorning, &c.) Piutarch quotes a passage from. Crates, in perverse and rebellious contest with superior power might bring along which he observes, in words greatly resembling these, “That neither with it, and which would indeed prove its injurious to their peace as to gold, nor emeralds, nor pearls, give grace and , oriamgnt to a woman ; their character. But the structure of the Greek sentence makes it evi- §ut all those things which clearly express and set off her gravity, re- dent, that he speaks of the contištiv”, on which they were to Preserve the gujarity, and modesty.” Precept. Con?... p. 83. But St. Peter’s preçept characters of daughters of Sarah. Possibly the apostle might have in his is enričfied with a variety of inugh more jobío and agreeable thoughts; ſnijd the instance in which Sarah acted beneath her usual, character, especially, when recommending cirtue as the ornament of the hidden win", yhººl, through fear and suddei) alpazement, she ſienied her having in corruºtſible, and precio its in lºc sight ºf God, the truest judge of beauty I-15's hºt!, Gen. xviii. 15., And if he had, it is the design ºf this sen- and perfection. •- - - - * - teacº to intinate, that though in that instance she failed, she gºnerall b Zºº it not be, &c.] This is not to be interpreted as absolutely prohi- acted in a very different Inanno: ; but as the hint is very oblique, EXHORTA'PION TO PRACTICAL HGj.INESS. Căse would indeed be attended with fatal consequences, and , the duty of the wife may be rende And that 7 pikewise, ye instands, honourable a title. dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour uſ:- to he wife, as unto the weak- er vessel, and as being heirs ;the of the grace of life; + thſt your pruyers be not A 113-1 snc.! ~ £ -: ºr prº duty, the gospel of Christ. may not be º woman :l for this is a piece of respect which is du sex, as being upon the whole the weaker vessel, less and subject to various indispositions wh 2 therefore that this duty be properly and caref ed to each other; and, upon t eirs of the grace of eternal life, and are solicitous that your behaviour may be corre- and may be so ordered in every respect, that your joint T 3, dent to so exalted a hop heart, but rather be incr * t LET us observe with a pleasing doctrines of christianity, but to incu The comprehensive argument by enforcing all the rest; I mean endency of our exe word, or are disobedi {l t ean t fient to it. In this manner this winning ejoquence will, by the divi ail, and an humble caution, and fear of the weaker sex are commanded to aim at and vanity of dress, it in ith gre T and larger experienc should ba raised abov {i, * :- 4 tº º *… G an end; as if glittering in sake of it, to expose ourselves to and when that is rightly governed, th Let us labour to walk according of the gospel, in comparison of whi ance for the natural infirmi an encouragement to oppre ++ r. * > * ~~ -- - - S.SiO able, and ye husbands may have more reason to expect it to be your care likewise that ye dwell with [your tº: - a Inanner as becomes those who have been instructed in that great And particularly be careful so to orde prevented from allotting an honourable and comfort prayers may not be hindered,” nor the pleasures of dev - - eased by the strictest union and sincerest affection. ttention, how greatly solicito: te its precepts; particularly those which refer to the relative duties of life. St. Peter enforces those of one peculiar relation, may be considered also as ul; worthy of so * - -- . easy and agree- b e C - such ~ *-* - f i : nowledge, and in € ſil according 5* affa * affairs, that you able sº sistence to the bd infirinity of her £º 4- *** fatigue of labour, nd accommodation. four hearts may be those who are] joint e to the tende: able to endºre t liarly require succour ! ! -- - 4. lily performed, that her, as :^ - i. 3 ich pecu C. f he whole, converse toget otion impaired by any secret aliena- */ -- F -a ºr T) + T-T * * Tº --, - # ºf PROVEYIENT. * all the apostles are, not only to establish the mplary behaviour to win over those who are without the - let us all piead th divine blessing, be powerful and effect fending. are to be considered as duties of universal obligati But if offending, are to be considered as duties of universal obligation. But if noble superiority to the concerns of this animal life, and to the parade ason, be expected from men, who boast of their superior understanding he cause of our Lord and Ríaster. And this silent, The veil of modesty is decent in inal.—H. es of our fellow-worms were so desirable a thing, that it were worth while, for the ondemnation from God! e proper conduct of our external behaviour will be natural and easy. to knowledge, to behave as those who have been well instructed in the science C other sciences are ignorance and vanity. - s of those about us. Especially, let husbands consider those of their wives (not as n, than which nothing could be more ungenerous, but) as an engagement in all honour and conscience, to a tender and respectful behaviour. Let the hidden man of the heart be more our care; Let us be ready to make allow- How becoming and amiable is such conduct in those who through divine grace are heirs of eternal life And if a due care be not maintained on this head, there will be an indisposition for social and for secret prayer; and when the pleasures of devotion are destroyed or imbittered, it is not to be expected any other kind of pleasure, worth the regard of a rational creature, can long continue. SECTION VI. The apostle urges various arguments on tile christian converts, to engage, them to an inoffensive, benevºlent, and useful life & and to a steady, courageous adherence to their religion amidst all opposition. S—l 1 PETER iii. 8. FINALLY, he ye a!! of one mind, having coin passion one of another, love as brethrea, be pitiful, be courteous: 9. Not Ten Hering evil. for evil, or railing for raijiā) ºr ; but contrariwisc bies Sting ; knowing that ye are the re- unto caſ.pii, that ye stoºls! inherit a bl to those that curse *.*.*.* r * * i tig. Çt * T 10 Fo, he that will love your fellow-men. life, and see good days: je him refrain his to figue from evil, and his, lips that they speak no gºile : - - 11 I let hi;i, esch & Yº evil, and do good; let f:iºn seek peace, and custº it. J2 For the eyes of the lord are over the righteous, in his ears are cºca unto their prayers: but the face of the º is against theni that do C : { }. C t refrain his tongue from evil, a pra of: a o 1 = cº-º-, -, A.C. §2 neglecting religion. :*- Jºnd now reflect with yourse clination to hurt you, if ye imitat 7 rid coaversation, 1 Pet. iii. 8–17. 1 PETER iii. 8. TO conclude this head; my brethren, [be] all unanimous, guarding against all unnecessary occasion of contention ; be sympathizing, full of brotherly love to all christians, compassion- at; to those that are in distress, and friendly to all those that need your assistancé. returning evil for coil, nor reproach for reproach ; but, on the contrary, rather blessing, even you, according to our Lord’s precept ; knowing that to this purpose ye weere called to the profession of christianity, that ye might inherit a blessing immense and ernal; the expectation of which (considering its infinite importance) may we spirits calm and composed, whatever be the injury and ill usage you may meet with from - For this you know is the language of the - • to be forgotten, (Psal. xxxiv. 12, 13.) What man is he sense of loving and enjoying it, and would see good, prosp nd his lips from spea of all that is ecil, and do good to the utmost extent peace, gº! resolutely pursue it, even though it may appear favourable eyes % the Lord [are] continually set upon the ri tect them ; and his ears [are] ever - the face of the Lord, his countenance full of wrath, and res that do evil; insomuch that he will even blot out their names from the and cause their remembrance to perish from the earth. one hand may be hoped for, and on the othe JVof * i keep your Psalmist, and it ought never .* r * ld / /, /2 2 fi, a t would love lºſe,” in the truest rous, and happy days 2 let him. (`s © Cl ## ##&# !... ." {- - 3. decei: ; , Łcć him turn away from the of his power; let him seek after + ºf ºr -av f hi For the to fly away from him. G]" iflé ghteous, to watch over and pro- ice of their supplicalions; but entment, [is] set against them. *...* § - !. | ?? O’ * { } C *. Cº. his p ſ” l [open] to listen to the vö zy book of the living, se are the things which on the conscquence of practising or º The r dreaded, as the }, , * #7 A x ſ f f : 6 o' . . . C. º. o shall hurt jou? who shall have the ability or in- im who is suprêmely good, if you copy after the bene- s, wh h 13 And who is he that will harm you, it ye be followers of that which is good f chose not to express it very strongly in the paraphrase, though I have indeed gianced upon it. rº º d Jillotting an honourable sitbsistence to the canº.] . The reader may see a very different, and truly, l think, a yery, unjustifiable interpretation of those words in {}r. Whitby ; which I shall not so much as transcribe. — it is to be remembered, that many of the christians were persons of lovo 7-ank in life ; which might make such a precept of inſt; it ſaining their cites decently, and not subjecting them to harder labour than they could bear, (which they might be tempted to do from their indigent circum- stances.) exceeding proper. The sense of the word Tipi (as signifying ; V & sº V./ g subsistence of ºna interance) is so much confirited by l Tim. v. 17, that I think I need say no more to vindicate it. e That your prºſers tº ay not be hindered.] These words seem strongly to intimate the great in portance of social praycr; as when we shºrtly expect to unite in a cus of domestic devotion, a concert, not to the not cri- ously unfit for it, will be a guard upon our generii! behaviour. * a He that sculd love life, Sºc.) 'i'he apostle here urges in favou, o the virtues he recommºnds, that by these the conforts of life will be secured, (ver. 10, 11.) the favour of Geº engaged, (ver. 12) and he nalice of men in a great measure disarmed, ver, 13, &c. ** eerfully performed, let it – f : * CT. 5. l PET. of wisdom and - iII. Ver. I 2 3, 4 S.E.C.T. 6. 1 PET. III. S60 EXHORTATION TO PRACTICAL HOLINESS. SECT. volence of the Divine Being, and of your great Master, whose whole life was so illustrious 6. 1 PET. III. 15 16 17 Ver. 10 14, 11 12 13 15 9 an example of the most diffusive generosity and goodness to his followers?.. But if you ... 14. But and if ye suffer for should suffer on account of righteousness, [je are] still happy, in spite of all the malicious ºji, º, and outrageous efforts of your enemies to rendér you misérable : therefore fear not their their terror, neither"betroit. terror,” neither be troubled as they are, under the various calamities of life, who are, alas! bled; utterly destitute of your support. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts ; behave towards, 15 But sanctify the Lord him continually with that reverence, with that dutiful and obedient regard, which his un- §,"º. *:::: * rivalled perfections and glories demand; and [be] always prepared, by a ready and familiar systºn in that asketſ acquaintance with the contents and evidences of your §ſ. religion, and by that cheerful- }*"...º.º. º ness and presence of mind which arises from a consciousness of your practical regard to it, fear: to offer] an apology to every one that demands of you an account of the exalted hope which is in you, and which enabled you to maintain such serenity and composure, under those troubles and persecutions to which the profession of christianity may expose you. And that this noble defence may be rendered the more effectual, let it be made with meekness and reverence; the good fruit of your religious principles appearing in the piety and gen- * tleness of your minds. Let it be your constant endeavour, that having a good conscience, 16 Having a good con- you be always bold and courageous in the defence of that system of religion which gives ºf to such a conscience so mighty and stable a support; that wherein they, who bitterly dºers, they may be ashamed oppose your religion, speak against you as evil-doers, and lay to your charge crimes of the ºr sood most detestable nature, they may be ashamed ;", they, I say, who revile your good, inoffensive, and useful conversation in the profession of that religion which brings you into such an intimate relation to Christ. For [it is] certainly belier to suffer (if it be the will of God ... 1. For, it is, better, if the that you should suffer) for doing good than for doing evil; the testimony of a good con- §."fºllºioſº, §§ science, and the sense of the divine favour, affording the noblest supports in the former evil-doing. case; whereas in the latter, the severest torments that can be endured are those which the guilty mind inflicts upon itself: to which we may add, that while we suffer for the truth, we have the pleasure of reflecting that we follow our blessed Redeemer; and this is an: other most powerful source of consolation, of which I shall presently have occasion to discourse more particularly and largely. - IMPROVEMENT. How very astonishing and lamentable is it, that when the way to happiness is so plainly delineated, so few should find it! What man is there who does not desire life, and love many days, in which he may see good? Yet how few tongues are kept from evil, how few lips from speaking guile!, How few decline from evil, and do ood! . How few seek peace, and pursue it!. On the contrary, how much low cunning and artifice, and what iscords and contentions, reign among mankind! And they often issue in those bloody wars and fightings, which arise from those lusts that war in our members. How detestable, and how miserable, do these perverse and un- overnable passions render us! . How sadly do they prevent the ascent of our prayers to God, and the descent of his mercies upon us! Mercies, which he is ever ready to impart to those who are meet and disposed to receive them. There is, notwithstanding, a little remnant, who are righteous before him; and to them his gracious eye is continually directed for their good; to their cry, yea, to the soft whispers of their supplications, his ears are ever open. Honoured and happy above all the children of men are they who have the favour and the attention of the great Sovereign of the universe. Who will be able to hurt or injure them, should they have malignity enough to wish and attempt it?–And as this loving-kindness of the Lord is thus productive of security and happiness to his people, let it engage us to be followers and imitators of him who is supremely good. We may then face all the menaces of a frowning world with a holy intrepidity; and sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts, making him our Fear and our Dread, we need not have any terrible apprehensions of what men or devils can do unto us. Yea, we shall in that case not only have nothing to fear, but every thing to hope which can conduce to our real and everlasting felicity. Encouraged by these important considerations, let it be our care, in the fear of God, to study and endeavour clearly to understand the foundations of our religion, and of our glorious hopes, that we may be able to defend it against every attack, however formidable, and to give account of our hope to all who shall demand it, in sweet harmony and complacency of soul, undisturbed with the disquietude, and untainted with the example, of those who render evil for evil, and railing for railing. On the contrary, let us greatly triumph over all ill usage, by repaying it with good; and may a sense of that important blessing, which by the gospel we are called to inherit, diffuse that pleasure and happiness through our whole souls, which may carry them above the resentment of the little injuries we receive from the unkindness of men, and dispose us to every genuine ex- * 8 pression of that unlimited benevolence, which should fill and expand the hearts of those who are thus feasted with the divinest hopes and consolations. SECTION VII. The apostle Peter urges on the christian converts the atongment, resurrection, and exaltation of their divine Saviour, the obligation of their baptismal covenant, and the awful solemnity of the last judgment, to engage them to a life of christian mortification and holiness, whatever opposition they might be called to encounter, 1 Pet. iii. 18, to the end. iv. 1–6. I PETER iii. 18. 1 PETER ifi. I&. SECT. I HAVE already observed, that if it be the will of God you should suffer, it is better it FQR Christ also hath onge 7. 1 PET. 18 * º - * .. 8 - suffered for sins, the just for should be for doing well than for doing evil; and it is very evidently so, because hereby ºc"ift: we are made conformable to Christ our Head and Leader, whom it cannot but be our ; ; ; º; lºº e e 3. & :Sºl, Qul CK- glory and happiness to resemble; for he also once suffered for sins;" he, who was so ened by the Spirit. éminently and perfectly the just, suffered for the unjust, for our benefit and in our stead, that he might introduce us to God, and fix us in a state of acceptance and favourable in: tercourse with him, being indeed put to death in the flesh, by those enemies whom God permitted for a while to triumph over him; but quickened by the Spirit of God,” which these three arguments are indeed of very great weight and import- tians ; by which it plainly appears that he was ashamed of what the laws 3 Il Cº. required, when he considered how inoffensive their behaviour was. b Fear not their terror.] Mr. Joseph Mede understands it as if he had a Because Christ also once suffered, &c.] The following section, though said, Fear not the Jew, nor the Gentiſe; but sanctify, reverence, and it seems a kind of digression occasioned by the apostlé’s mentioning the worship the one living, God. Diatr. on Luke xi. 3. But I think the in- name of his blessed Master, yet is; in the main, properly connected with terpretation given in the paraphrase is much more natural. his purpose of animating thern under their sufferings. . . a s c That ſpherein they speak against vow, they may be ashamed.] I think b Quickened by the Spirit.) Dr. More renders it, remaining alive in the this remarkably illustrated % the strain of that epistle of Pliny, ja spirit, and urges it as an argument against the sleep of the soul, More’s which he gives an account of his own conduct in persecuting the chris- Theol. Works, p. 17. - ExHORTATIONS TO PRACTICAL HOLINESS. 861 19 By which also,he went soon re-animated his body, and raised it to an immortal life: Even that Spirit, by the in- SECT. and preached unto the spirits In priSOn , 1 Peter iv., 1. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm your- selves likewise with the same mind : for he that hath suf. fered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; . 2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 2 spiration of which, granted to his faithful servant Noah, going forth as it were in that progress in which he employed him, he preached to those notorious sinners, who for their disobedience have since experienced the just severity of the divine vengeance, and are i now in the condition of separate spirits, reserved as it were in prison, to the severer judg- 20, which sometime were ment at the great day. I speak of those, who were long since disobedient, when once, the ;...}}}...tº abused and insulted long-suffering of a compassionate God waited upon them, in the ſlays #.ºhiº.ºf Nº. of the patriarch Moah, during the succession of one hundred and twenty years, while the §ºr; ſº tº”; ark was preparing ; in which few, that is, eight souls, of Noah and his wife, his three son; souls were saved by water, and their wives, were carried safely through the water,d in which the residue of mankind 2. The like figure where- perished. The antitype to which,” (or that which corresponds to, and was figured by it, §§§º.º.º. that is, by the preservation of Noah's family in the ark.) }. now save us, or is the instru- ºlº ment of our safety and preservation, as the ark was of theirs; [I mean] baptism, whereby jeº we are received into the christian church, and numbered amongst the heirs of salvation : resurrection of Jesus Christ; but then it is to be remembered, that it is not merely the putting away the pollution o the flesh by the Úse of material water, for that would be very insignificant; but the answer of a good conscience,f the reply that it makes when interrogated in the presence of God, and spoken in such a language as he only is capable of hearing and understanding: and when this likewise is found, then we attain salvation, by that great event in which at baptism we declare ourselves believers; I mean the resurrection of our Lord Jesus 22 Who is gone into hea; Christ from the dead; PWho is now set down at the right hand of God, being gone into §§§ º' heaven, there to take possession of the glory prepared for him, where he reigns supreme º, being made over all worlds; all th. angels, and authorities, and powers, which are there enthroned, Subject unto him. being made subject to him, and humbly bowing before his superior dignity and authority. .4s Christ therefore has suffered for us in the flesh such extrême and amazing sufferings as are not to be described, and even when their weight lay heaviest upon him, even in the agony of death, persisted in his generous design to accomplish all that was needful for our redemption and salvation; I beseech you, arm yourselves likewise with the same forti- tude and resolution of mind in his cause, whatever extremities you may be called out to endure. And let this engage you, on the like principles, to mortify all your irregular de- sires, and to die to sin; for he who hath, in conformity to our Lord Jesus Christ, suffered this crucifixion in the flesh of which I now speak; he has ceased from the habitual practice of all sin whatsoever,h and considers himself as absolutely and finally dead to it, so as never to return to it any more: And no longer to live [his] remaining time in the flesh, whether it be shorter or longer, according to the lusts of men, those lusts by which they are too frequently and generally governed; but according to the will of God, in a holy conformity and obedience to the divine precepts, how contrary soever they are to his own carnal and sensual inclinations, or to his worldly interests. For surely the time of life 3 For the time past of our 3 §§ jºi; ; ;... that is past *: appear to º sufficient, and more than sufficient, for us, to have forgot- tiles, when we walked in las; ten the great end for which life was given, and to have wrought the will of the Gentiles; civiousness, lusts, excess of S-> following those pleasures and pursuits to which the heathens, that know not God, are addicted; when ye walked in all the variety of lasciviousness, inordinate desires, excess of wine, banqueting, drunkenness, and unlawful detestable idolatries: In respect to which 4 abominable course of life, they who were once your partners in such enormities, now think it strangel; that you run not with them, as you once did, into the same profusion of the most profligate riot;1 speaking evil [of you, wretched creatures as they are: Who, though forgetful of the true honour and happiness of the human nature, shall nevertheless give an account of all this disorder and abuse to him who is ready in a little time to appear, that - he may judge the living and the dead: For it was to this purpose that the gospel was fº.º.º.º.º. preached also to the dissolute Gentiles, who might truly be said to be dead in trespasses ejudged according to men in and sins, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh;" that they might be brought to such a state of life, as their carnal neighbours will look upon as a kind of con- wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: 4. Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you : 5. Wh9 shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 5 6 6 For for this cause was the c The Spirits in prison...] Hardly any text has been more differently h. He who hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin, &c.] It is interpreted than this. Some understand it of souls who were in some lower place in paradise, ev pu)\akm, or in a watch-tower, where they were waiting the Redeemer’s coming ; others of those in hell, whom he de- livered, to grace his triumph. See Dr. More’s Theol. Works, p. 18. Bishop Pearson, on the Creed, p. 228. Iord Barrington understands it of oah’s preaching to his own family, shut up with him in the ark: while Drs. Whitby and Burnet understand it of those who were in the dark- ness of heathen ignorance. Burnet’s. Four Discourses, p. 68, 69. Coun- pare Limborch’s Theol. 3. xiii. 27, 28. Upon the whole, I, think the sense given in the paraphrase is most easy ; and next to that, know none more probable than that of Mr. Cradock, who explains it of Christ’s preaching, while he was on earth, to those who were now Spirits in prº- son; who might engage them to a holy caution, lest they also should trifle with the means of salvation which they enjoyed, and perish as the for- mer did. Compare, Mat. y, 25. Rev. XX. 7. - d Carried safely through the water; &’ iðaros.) Raphelius abundantly justifies this sense of the particle 6ta, when used with a genitive case. See Jānnot. ex: Xenoph. in loc. - - - e The antitype to which.] That is, the thing which corresponds, not with the water, but with the ark. - f Baptism, not the putting acay the pollution of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience.] It is well known the Jews laid a great stress upon their lustrations. The apostle therefore very properly, cau- tions them against such foolish dependences. A courageous readiness in the performance of their whole duty, and even in suffering persecu- tion for the sake of truth, was absolutely necessary; in order to maintain that good conscience, to which in their baptism they professed such a regard, and to the exercise of which they so solemnly engaged them- selves.—Archbishop Leighton has observed on this place, that the word erepornºa, here used, is a judicial word, and signifies interrogations used in the law for a trial, or executing a process, which is much pre- ferable to the translation Dr. Barrow gives us, namely, the free...and sin- cere stipulation. Barrow’s Works, vol. i. p. 355.--It is a credible fact supported by Cyprian, and other ancient writers, that the catechnuncin, had certain interrogations put to him at baptism, concerning his faith in Christ, and his renunciation of Satan, and all the works of darkness, and the vanity of the world and it is very probable the apostle may refer to that custom. g Being gone into heaven, &c.] When the apostle speaks of the resur- rection and glory of Christ, he means not oº:: represent him as the Object of our confidence; but to intimate, that if we imitate him in hiſ/ courageous fidelity, we may hope to partake with him in his glory. plain that suffering in the flesh cannot signify suffering death ; because the apostle, in the very next verse, mentions the remaining part of life as not to be spent in the lusts of the flesh. The señse, to be sure, is some- thing obscure, and I have sometimes doubted whether it may not intimate, that the consciousness of having endured suffering for Christ greatly con- firms our motives to obedience. i Unlawful idolatries.] Considering how yery averse the Jews were, in the apostle’s times, to idolatry, I cannot think in this passage he hath a respect to them, and therefore I look upon this as one argument annong many, which might be urged, to prove that this Epistle was written to Gentile as well as Jewish christians. Think it strange : {Evt. ov7at..] Raphelius, (Annot. ex: Polyb. in loc.) and others, have observed, that the original word is very emphatical, and eXpresses a perfect amazement and consternation of mind. The same word is used below at the 12th verse. Lºsion of riot.] This is a very literal translation of Archbishop Lelghton. m That they might be judged, &c.] This interpretation, which is pre- ferred by Brennius and Dr. Whitby, appeared to me, on a full examina- tion, Imost probable,; though the text must be confessed to be extreme- ly difficult. Some haye thought the apostle refers to those who then stiffered martyrdom for christianity ; as if he had said, “It was gospel indeed, good tidings, even to those who died for it; ſor though men con- demned their bodies, yet the salvation of their souls, which is of infi- nitely, greater importance, has been secured by it.” r. Whitby Ten- ders the latter.clause, “That they might condemn their former life, and live a better.” But this does not preserve the force of &piðogt, nor the opposition between kat’ avópoſts; and kara esov. Sir Norton ſnatch- bull supposes ot to be understood before kara, and renders it, “That they who are according to men in the flesh (that is, live a sensual life) may be condemned ; and they who live according to God in the sºil (that is, a luo'y life) may live.” No interpretation seems mere sº than that of M. Saurin; who seems to consider it as referring to chap. iii.jö. and understands it of the sinners gſ the old world ; and founds upon this text some hopes of the salpation of some of them; as if the meaning wore, God sent his message to them with a kind design, that though their bodies perished, their souls might be saved; and he ſancies that for this reason the flood came, gradually upon them. Saur. Diss. vol. i. p. 112. If that interpretation be preferred, which refers it to those Žilali, dead, it will & Nº. 3 Mſ. Baxter observes) a proof of the cristence of spirits in a scparate stes N. The chief objection against the sense I have chosen is, that it chan:SR 5 the signification of the word, dead, so soon. - 7. PET, }} | . 2 () PET, IV. I PET. III. I S 20 21 22 IV. H. ... 2 wº º 4. 5 6 § } {} workſ to eygry p iftiºn EXHORTATIOX ºf O WATCH FUi, N ESS AND FIDELITY, - - tiernation and death; but night live gecording to God in the Spirit, might be brought to thºſlºsh, but live according a truly spiritual and divine life: and if when men hear of the gospel, they will not receive ******* and improve it for this important purpose, they must expect to render to God an impartial and severe account for their abuse of it, and must stand by all the terrible conseqüences . of their folly. - - TA}}PROVEMENT. -- LET our devoutest meditations frequently dwell on the benefits we receive by the death of Christ, and the wonderful manner in which they are conveyed. The important end for which he suffered, the just for the unjust, was to introduce us into the presence and favour of God: let us rejoice that we are brought tigh to the Infinité Majesty of heaven, the indefectible Source of perfection and blessedness; and always live as in a state of near- 'ness and intimacy with him; dreading the most distant approach to that disobedience to the heavenly message, which even after the patience of God waited on them, proved fatal to the sinful inhabitants of the old world. That patience indeed waits upon us; but as their time was limited, so is ours. For ever blessed be the Father of mercies, that by Christ he hath made provision for our salvation, as he did of old for Noah and his family, by commanding him to prepare an ark. But then let us remember, the baptism that saves is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God. If we have this inward witness, let the resurrection of Christ, and his exaltation to supreme glory at the right hand of the Father, encourage our sublimest hopes; and let us triumph in him as our all-sufficient Saviour, who, though he were once crucified, now sits on the throne of his glory, principalities and powers being made subject to him. - Let the recollection of his bitter sufferings excite our zeal and courage in his sacred cause, and arm us with a conformity of sentiments and resolutions to his own; that we may cease from sin; that we may spend the residue of our lives, not in following the lusts of the flesh, but in fulfilling, in all respects, the will of our God. , Let us often reflect, that, perhaps, we were long insensible of his sacred authority, and in many instances were the sport of irregular appetites and passions: let the past part of our lives suffice, and be deemed more than sufficient, to be spent in this inglorious and detestable slavery. By mortification let us assert Qur liberty. , And though others wonder at onr abstinence, severity, and self-denial, let us not envy that excess of riot into which, with unbridled eagerness, they allow themselves to run. But seriously considering the awful account they must render (though, alas! so ill prepared for it) to the great Judge of quick and dead, ſet us readily choose, and cheerfully submit to the severest mortification which God may require of us. Let us rather embrace a life which infidels would esteem death, than expose our immortal souls to the judgment of God, to his condemnation, from which there lies no appeal, and which will consign over impenitent sinners to an execution infinitely dreadful, beyond their utmost fears and apprehensions. - - - " - --- N. SECTION VIII. The apostle exhorts the christian converts to watchfulness and to fidelity; that they might, rightly improve their several talents, and discharge the #iºs of their respective stations in the church : and to courage and fortitude amidst their disgouragements and pārsecutiºns ; and by way - jºinºne."fom the trials to which good men were exposed, he observes that a tremendous, inevitable destruction will overwhelm the impeni- tent and unbelieving. 1 Pet. iv. 7–19. . - - - 1 PETER iv. 7. I PETER iv. 7 - - - ETF ER IV". ſ. * - - -- * +7- *r • - HOW strongly are vain and sinful men attached to the amusements and interests of this BUT the end of all things is + 1 - - - - “. - ion re - at hand : he ye theref - mortal life, and to the gratification of their lusts | But the important end of all things is at jºu..” .i.am is whén this earthy globe, and all things which are therein, shall be burnt up, when the eternal state of all its inhabitants shall be determined, and immutable happiness or miscº, shall be their final portion. Be Sober, therefore, and watch against all occasions of * - - -- * •r -: * * 3 :--> ** + sº tº intemperance and of impurity, and endeavour to preserve your souls in so divine a posture, - tyou may be habitually qualified for joining in prayer and those other exercises of ãº, which have such an influence on our whole conduct. , And above all things be fºllºº C to remember the distinguishing badge of your religion, having and maintaining ºf Ki-4 S-af. :3] G.; ; ; } - - - * - - - fºrce;it love towards one another; which, as it will be very comfortable and her; ūrable to the miultitude of sins. T COW (2I ſes, will be very pleasing and acceptable to God; for on the whole, as the wise **J- thºſ, lil imºn assures us, love taill cover a multitude of sins sº it, will cause us to excuse lſº others, and it will entitle us through divine mercy to the expectation of º iO3: - - - * * * , ...] * - -x Tºx *- * g. - } w ~7 f; r;-, . vi # - f . . . lºgº 4. 13 X; S se }} s::it: i: }; numberless slips and failings. He hospitable to each other, without grudging th expense ºf " which may attºnd the exercise of a virtue which in present, circumstanges is so important ani peºgsary. As every one has received the free gift of God, eterºise it toºls tº ...º.º.º.º. º.º. - > -->~~~~... • 2s--~ *-* r - T ~3i: Asºonriº-ars 4- --al-- ~ 4...] A. Geived the gift, &ccur So inibis- other, as becomes those who know they are not themselves propr leºs, but merely stewards tºº, of what they possess, and who desire to approve themselves good stewards gſ the manifold ºf the nami- g i’ “ * . : * , . Tº . . x * foi: ºrace c1 Gort. grace of goſ, with which they have the honour to be intrusted. If anyone spºk in pub- “iii º, ". . ; > * ~~~ :- º * 4.--,-,-- ~£ -- İcł ż, , --~ 21/2 + ; th;eefl kill speak as the oraçies of lic assemblies, discoursing on the greaf topics of the gº ſº º º: subject] § ºft. º.º.º. zr:#; so riniisnæss fi reverence, and as becomes Grie Yilo knows that Subliſhe GISpěi)Sãºlºl let him go it as ºf the ºility Yiği i seriousness and reverenc 5 al d {{ * . . r i º . tº 4- ºr Y--> indeed #i8 oracles º if hiº Go;i give th: that God contains no discoveries of doctrine or, duty but what i iſſ: ti i m • t 1. f ; all †inº #}}{j. º ºr- -- - *- - - * • * * * r - - w - may be said fo be at }.} in the sense in which our ord, long after,th: from God, in our final account with him, w º those wi Q ë. ºuie ...'...}}.j cºloiſ, fºcome quickly.” of this divine principle; in...hiº much.9f the image 9...9%, consists, gº jerusalem, says to use cºttº - -. n; Ulst the V3 I ºppº. faith or sanctity they may pretcad to. Com- tº V. XX {{... ſ > *J- * - - - Åſatt. vii. 1, 2 is ii. 13. - - ~ : * ~ - -- saier-- pare &Latt. vii. 1, 2. Jarl, CS 11, 12- . • - b Love will cover ºft { i. T i.; agº tº: § I .*#. ji; #iºpºlº. This is a metaphº, borrowed from -> *o ti : tra, - 3 ; text; J 8 IIHÉS V, 1tſ L. * Lººse - is- - Szarv- s: - l - wº pretation, #. ..º. j. j. xvii. 95. Frov... i2. Tjan. iv. chemical operations, angyº º º; i. º: #. gº º jº. ºstrous to imagine, that acts of liberality to the podr trials, in the furnace of affliction, which were intent O re?::\{3 til C.I.Y - * - - * * - Sº ss and allay from the pure gold. ºn pºſion of sin, while men continue in a course o' importi- graces, and separate all the dross and allay tr pure g f w” EXHORTATION TO waſ CHFULNESS AND FIDELITY. 863 13 But rejoice,inasmuch as fallen you: But rather rejoice in these trials, as being therein partakers of the sufferings of SECT. jº"; *...*;"Christ, the memory of which should ever be dear and precious to you: that phen, his final 8. gºal, believejº, sº glory shall be revealed, ye, in the participation of it, may be even transported with joy far § :* * * * Seyðnd what can now be described or conceived. If the mean time, while you are in this lººr. gº ºft. present world, and obnoxious to persecutions and injuries, if you are reproached for the tº ãºf"; name of Christ, ſye are] happy, and ought to reckon yourselves so, because the Spirit of ‘’ §§§ glory and of God resteth upon jou; which will support you under it, and spread a lustre gº ºn your part he is around you; and º he, in whose cause ye suffer so unjustly, is blasphemed on their g|QTIllê0. part, yet on yours he is glorified: it shows the excellence and sublime spirit of true religion, that it can sūpport you under the opprobrious and cruel treatment which you endure, for 1. But let none of you adhering to it and defending it. But let not any one of you, who have the honour to bear 15 #... ." §§, the christian name, by any means suffer (ts, a murderer, or a iftieſ. or a maleſtictor of any lºody in other men's other kind, or even as over-busy and assuming in the giffairs g otherº. aspiring to direct, - overrule, and determine them in a manner Rot suiting your station in life; in consequence 13, Yet if any man suffer as of which you may bring any degree of ill-will upon yourselves. But if it please Provi- 16 *...*ś, .# dence to appoint that [any ºf you] should [suffer] as a christian, let him not be ashamed, Gói on this beftſ.” " though the punishment, like that inflicted upon his Divine Master himself, should be ever so infamous; but rather let him gloriſ; God in this respect, despising the shame, as well as 17 For the time is come that resolutely enduring the agony, that may attend it; Because the time [is coming] and just 17 §§§ at hand, when judgment is to begin at the House of God; for he hath determined to exer. üegin at us, what shall the cise his own people with very severe trials, giving them up for a while to the malice of jºš' " " their enemies; that by this means their characters may be approved, and those who are hypocrites may be separated from those who are sincere in their christian profession ; and - if [it begin] first with us, what [shall be] the end of those who are obstinately and presump- tuously disobedient to the gospel of God, and who not only reject it, but persecute its pro- 18 And if the righteous fessors, and endeavourtórdot it out of the world? .4nd if the righteous himself be saved 18 §º, with #. sow miserable must the ºngodly and the sinner be Where shall he appear appear : in the day of divine vengeance, when all nature shall be, as it were, armed with terror, by the God of nature, for his destruction; and when all impious transgressors shall be brought - forth in his awful presence, that his just though dreadful sentence of condemnation may 19 wherefore...let , them be executed in its rigour? . Therefore let them also, who now suffer this temporary punish- 19 §ii.;;... ment, which, according to the will of God so permitting, their enemies have at present a iº.º. tº power of inflicting, acknowledge the providence of God, in this mysterious event, and §§ºº untº a faithful ºommiſſhei, so is [to him] as to a faithful Creator, in well doing ; assured that while they continue to act as under a sense of his presence, and endeavour to approve themselves to him, he will regard them as his creatures, and even his children, and will render their im- mortal interests secure, whatever injuries of a temporal Hature he may suffer them to SUlStåII. - -- --> IMPROVEMENT. LET us continually bear in mind the approaching end of all things; and then we shall neither omit the exercises Ver. 7 of devotion, nor grow supine and careless in the discharge of them. Then shall we be engaged, through a sense of our need of the divine clemency and indulgence, to exercise forbearance and candour, and maintain the most fervent charity to all without distinction; and we shall then be more disposed to consider ourselves as stewards, 8 and as such, be concerned to behave with all good fidelity, both in the use and employment of our possessions, 10 and in the exercise of those gifts and endowments with which God hath been pleased to intrust us. To this they should especially attend, who are called to speak in God’s name; they should consider that his oracles-are com- 11 mitted to them; and though they cannot pretend that the instructions they deliver from thence are revealed to and impressed upon their minds by immediate inspiration, yet a reflection on the general nature of the glorious gospel, and on its important and everlasting consequences, may well dispose and form them to an humble awe and rever. ence in their manner of handling and dispensing it; and may remind them, that on the whole, in every ministra- tion of the word of life, in every distribution of charity and office of kindness, the main end to be pursued is, That God may be glorified. if, in the cause of Christ Providence should call us out to encounter the severest persecutions, and even fiery 12 trials, let us not be astonished, as if some strange thing had happened to us; let us not be discouraged, nor think ourselves hardly dealt with in such divine appointments; remembering that, in this case, we are only partakers 13 in the sufferings of Christ, that we only tread in the same rough and thorny path in which he walked before us; and that in due time, if we continue faithful to him, we shall also be made partakers of his glory. In the mean 14 while, the Spirit of God and of glory will rest upon us; only let us be jealous of his honour with a godly jealousy, 15, 16 and be greatly concerned that our sins and indiscretions may not throw a blemish on a profession which derivésº r d When his glory shall be revealed.] There is no occasion with Mr. Fleming to interpret this of the glory of the Shechinah appearing at the millennium, to excite the exceeding joy of the saints aſtēf the first re- surrection. Flem. Christal. vol. iii. p. S6S. It probably refers to the great and glorious day of Christ’s second appearance, which is so often spoken of as the grand jubilee of christiaas, though hot inconsistent with great soy Lo be received by tii.2 spirit of every good mail, initiatiiately on its eutrance into the is termediate state. - e Spirit ºf glory aid of. God..] The Velesian reading is, “ The Spiri: of honour, and of giory, and divine-power, ccen the Spirit of Ged, rests zipon you.” But take the meaning to be it general, you shall have the Spirit of God in a very, klorious manner to support you, in proportion to the trials you are called out to ; and this wiłł spread a glory around you, even Liough you may be treated in the most infamous manner, as the vilest of malefactors, which we know many of the primitive chris– tl3 ºn S W Grè. - f As over-busy in the affairs of others.] AXX07ptoettgx573s, says the learned Dr. Lardner, cannot here signify merely, a prying into the con- cerºs of private faintifics : which could not be ranked with such crimes as are here meatio:yed; Þof expose a team to the punishment of the civil Ingáistrate : but it Inay signify a maq that affects to inspect of direct the affairs of others; perhaps that aspires to public authority, a tºnper Xhich appeared mugh amongst the Jews, pañticularly at Alexandria and Caesarea, an which would naturally give great offence to the Romans, and make them very dangerous enemies. lf therefore anything of this kind might appear among christians, it would be of particular bad conse- quence in those times. Lard. Credib, vol. i. p. 426. I have paraphrased the words so as to suggest this, yet so as to take in the most that could be imagined to be intendād. # Time is coining when judgment is to begin at the house of God..] As ** **. if he had said, “Do not think this a matter of winconcerning speculation. J\ſo, the time foretold by Christ (John xvi. 2. &c.), is genuing.” doubt not there is an allusion to that passage in Ezek. ix. 6. whére it is said the sixtughter to be made was to begin at the sanctuary ; but this cannot be interreted as of the teelple ºf Jerusalein, because it answers to begin. xias if it; us, that is, christians, immediately after. So that Grotius’s criticism upon the word 7&Ags, in the latter clause of this verse, as an swering to nº, Dan. ix. 27. and to TeX9s, in Matt. xxix. G. seems quite foreign to the purpose. h If the righteoris, he sgved with diffculty.]. The apostle seems to quote . Proy. xi. 31... aceording to the LXX, which in seese, though not cºactiy in the words, agrees with the Hebrew. He cannot intent; deliverance from the Roa, an invasion, in which so very few of those christians were concerned ; not merely deliverance from any of their persecutors, be- cause he takes it for granted, that in this sense the rightcous icºid be saved, though 3Dith difficuli: ; whereas multitudes fell by persecution, even of these christians in Bithynia, as appears by Pliny’s letter, it is secessary, therefore, to understand, it more, generally of the difficulty with which good men get to heaven, through this dangerous and insnar. ing world. Compare Acts xiv. 18. xxvii. 7, 8, 16. where proxis signifies, with difficulty, in which sense it... is also used by Philo. (Sea Wolfii Šiša"Hijº. vol. v. p. 151.)—The turn of the latter clause of the verse in the original; which iſ have endeavoured to preserve, is very licely; it seems as if the apostle were sołupitous to lead the sinner to consider where he should hide his head; since, wherever he was, he would find God immediately appearing against him, as an irresistible enemy. This he unizht say º, yºy of warning to persécutors, and to encourage chris- tja:;s to hope that God would vindicate their €ause, and preserve them fron; turning aside to crooked paths. And this the councision with the foliowing verse favours. zº SECT. I WOULD now in the most affectionate manner address myself to those who are the 9. 1 PET V. CAUTIONS TO MINISTERS AND TO PRIVATE CHRISTIANS. its appellation from him. Glorious are the privileges indeed which belong to the disciples of Christ; but they, notwithstanding, draw very awful consequences after them. For judgment begins at the house of God, and even his dearest children are exercised with trials of their fidelity and patience. . Let us prepare for them before they come, that when they do come, we may bear them honourably, committing the keeping of our souls to him, as to a faithful Creator, in well doing. Butlet the wicked and the ungodly meditate terror; for the vengeance of God will find them out; the great day of wrath will come; and who can §e able to stand? May divine grace reclaim those who are now exposed to so terrible a condemnation; lest they know by experience, what no words can describe, no thought conceive, the end of those who obey not the gospel of God! SECTION IX. The apºstle concludes, this Epistle with particular cautions to ministers and private christians; urging on the former humility, diligence, and watchfulness ; and exhorting the latter to a steadfast and faithful discharge of their several duties, animated by this consideration, that the God Qf all grace had called them to his eternal glory, and would, after they had suffered awhile, make them perfect, according to his earnest prayer for them. I l’et. v. 1, to the end. 1 PETER V. I. 1 PPTER v. 1. THE elders which are among elders among you, or any other christian societies into whose hands this Epistle may come; §º Whº º and I would exhort them with the greater warmth and freedom, [as I also am] an elder sufferings of ghrist, and alsº with them, and an eye-witness of the sufferings of Christ, and as I also hope, through divine ºlº elors that 1 grace, that I shall be a partaker of the glory which shall hereafter be revealed, when he shall 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 appear the second time, in circumstances so different from those in which we have seen and conversed with him on earth. By all the engagements of love and duty to him, and by all the regard you owe to your own honour and happiness in that important day, let me beseech you to feed the flock of God that is among you, the churches of Christ which you are called to preside over ; discharge the episcopal office” with that due inspection which its very name imports: not by constraint,b as if it were an ungrateful burden, but willingly, and cheerfully; not for the sake of dishonourable gain,” but of a ready mind, and because 2. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight, thereof, not by çonstraint, but jº not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; you love the flock, and really desire its edification and welfare. Not assuming to your- .3 º ºxo~ * - - - -- º ** º . e OVer t t --- selves dominion over those who fall to your lot;d but being humble, and behaving towards ; them with such gentle, tender solicitude for their souls, and such an entire freedom from the very appearance either of avarice or ambition, that your examples may be rendered worthy the imitation of the flock, and your conduct as instructive as any of your cautions and precepts can be : And if this be indeed your character and behaviour, you will render up your account hereafter with joy; for when he, who does you the honour to acknowledge himself the chief Shepherd of the flock, shall appear, to take the final survey of it, and ex- amine into the conduct of those to whom he had partly committed it, you shall be most magnificently and nobly rewarded, and receive an ºs crown of glory: a crown which shall bloom in immortal beauty and vigour, when all the transitory glories of this world are withered like a fading flower. But it is proper that I should likewise address some exhortations to others besides minis- ters; and particularly to you, O ye younger persons; and that I should urge you to be in subjection to those º are] more advanced in age, and to pay a decent respect to their hoary hairs. Yea, let all [of you] be subject to one another, endeavouring, by mutual con- descension, to make each other as easy and happy as possible; and for this purpose be clothed with unfeigned humility; for God opposeth himself to the proud; and draws up all his terrors, as it were, in battle array against him; but giveth grace and favour to the humble soul. Humble yourselves therefore with that just reverence under the mighty hand of God,” (under all the dispensations of divine providence, even though wicked men should be made the instruments of effecting its purposes,) that so he may exalt you in due time; for in his own most proper and well-chosen season, he will certainly raise you up, though for the present you may seem to be depressed to the lowest condition. In the mean while, whatever uncertainties and dangers may attend you, endeavour to live as easy as possible; casting all your anxious care, and all those burdens that might otherwise occasion it, upon him; leaving it to his all-wise and all-gracious providence to determine every event of your lives; ſ”. he careth for you, in a manner the most effectual; and his tender care will accomplish infinitely more than your utmost anxiety can possibly effect. Turn your solicitude therefore into the right channel; be sober in the government of your appetites and passions; be watchfuls against every occasion of mischief from your spiritual enemies; for jour great and inveterate adversary the devil is continually walking about,h 4 And when the chief Shep- herd shall appear, ye shall Tegeiye a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. ea, all aſ you be subject one to another, and he clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, § giveth grace to the hum- €. 6 Humble yourselves there- ore under the mighty hand 9f God, that he may exalt you in due time : 7 Casting all your care upon him ; for he careth for yOu. 8 Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the d Those who fall to your lot..] The word, God’s, is not in the original, a Discharge the episcopal office.] This idea is so plainly suggested by the word grºxorgyres, that I thought it matter of duty to translate it as I have done; that every reader might observe, what all, candid people seem to confess, that those who are styled bishops, from their having the oversight of others, and also presbyters or elders, are spoken of as the same persons. Compare ver. I. And I hope the time will come, when good men will join their efforts to remove that very hard imposition by which the ministers of some churches are obliged, in order to their enter- ing into the ministry, to declare, uot only that they are different orders, but that it is evident unto all men diligently reading the holy Scripture that they are so. - r b JYot by constraint..] It is true, that in the primitive, church..somg were almost against their will forced into the episcopal office by dint of importunity. And one would hope it was not an affected modesty, with wiich they declined the office, especially as it was then attended with no temporai emoluments, but exposed them to distinguished labours and sufferings. It is difficult to see how any could in the strictest sense.be constrained ; but perhaps the apostle saw some good men too, unwilling to accept the office, when the churches chose them to it, and when in- spired teachers urged it upon them. And though little gain could have been made of it, and the temptation to lord it over God’s heritage, was not so great as when ecclésiastical persons were invested with civil power, (in which most of the honour and influence of their ecclesiastical charac- ter, as such, has been generally lost,) yet foreseeing what would happen in the church, and observing perhaps some discoveries of such a temper jeginning to prevail, the caution was exceedingly just, proper, and im- jortant.” Compare Luke x. 2, and the note there. c Dishonourable gain.] See the note on 1 Tim. iii. 3. I think, therefore, it is with abundant reason that the learned Mr. Boysé refers this to their not domineering over the particular congregations, or bishoprics, which were by Providence committed to their care; alluding to the division of Canaan by , lots., BQyse’s Serm. , vol. ii. p. 413. , An interpretation much preferable to Dr. Whitby's, who explains it of the possessions of the church. (Compare Col. i. 12. note *} And yet after proposing this interpretation at large, he admits, at the close of his note that what is here styled KAmpos, being in the same sentence expressed by rotuvtov, the flock of God, it seems to establish the common interpre- tation. What the learned Mr. Dodwell had offered in support of the sense Dr. Whitby mentions is particularly considered and refuted by Wolfius, Curaº Philolog, vol. v. p. 163. , . - e JMighty hand of God..] Perhaps by this expression, the apostle may intend to remind them, that the hand of a righteous. Providence was con- cerned in those events which were owing to the wickedness of men; so far concerned, as to overrule them, and render them, instrumental and subservient to the accomplishment of his own wise designs; as is strongly intimated, Isa. x. 5. Psal, xyii. 14. and in many parallel places. - f Your'anzious care.] So I have rendered uépºp vav, because that is the proper signification of it; what does, as it wºrg, rend and tear the mind to pieces. See Tillotson’s Works, vol. ii. p. 629. . * gº Be abatchful..] St. Peter might well give such a caution as this, hav- ing himself received sugh particular and express, warning from Čhrist his Master, (Luke xxii. 31, &c.) and, so shamefully fallen immediately after, for want of the watchfulness he here recommends. . - h Walking about..] I chose to express the Treptºrate, with this exact- ness, that the force of its signification in this similitude might be observed. CAUTIONS TO MINISTERS AND TO PRIVATE CHRISTIANS. devil, as a roaring lion, like a roaring lion, or evening wolf, prowling round the fold, seeking whom he may jault lººk” whºm with the greatest likelihood of success, and may suddenly devour and swallow up: Hºhom, * §jºin therefore, as you º your safety and life, be careful stoutly to resist, being steadfast in ºn "idiº".e".e.: your adherence to t christian faith, and armed with the most heroic courage and resolu- Flºrethren that tion in its defence. And to this you should the rather attend, as knowing that the trials, |- with which you are exercised, are not peculiar to you; but that the same afflictions, which ou are called to encounter, are accomplished in others of your christian brethren, who are in the world; and you may reasonably hope, the same grace which is their support will be 10 But, the God of, an also yours. But may the God who is the great Fountain of all #. from whom descend- jº º eth every good and every perfect gift, and who hath displayed his goºdness in innumer- ºff.: "º able important instances, even He who has called us to the hope and enjoyment of his !º eternal sº in Christ Jesus: may he grant you his perpetual presence and enlivening en, settle you. favour; and when you have suffered for a litile while such trials as his infinite wisdom shall see fit to appoint, may he make you perfecti in every good disposition; in whatever improvements you are enabled to make, may he confirm, strengthen, and establish, [you] 11. To him be glory and upon a firm and unshaken foundation. To him, therefore, who of all beings is infinitely ºn " " " ºr most worthy of it, [be] glory and dominion ascribed for ever and ever. Amen. I have jºy silvanus, a faithful written brigfly unto you by the bearer Silvanus, in whom I place great confidence, as I º; º Kºś, suppose and conclude him to be a sincere christian and faithful brother;k one who hath tºº."; }; the interest of Christ at heart, and on whose fidelity we may rely, and I send it, echorling, Wherºin'ye stand. and testifying with the greater solemnity, that this is the true grace of God wherein ye have hitherto stood; and urging it therefore upon you, that you steadily adhere to it in the 3. The chººl, that...at midst of all your difficulties and º: The [church which is] here in Babylon, §". § ... chosen with º to partake of the privileges of the gospel, saluteth you; and [so º so doth Marcus my son. JMarcus, whom I may call my som,” as being my convert, and behaving to me with al 14 Greet ge. one another filial tenderness and respect. Salute one another with a kiss of pure and unfeigned love in §§º ..."; your christian assemblies; and may grace and peace, and the truest happiness, ever [be] Christ Jesus. Amen. with you all who are in Christ Jesus, who is the Corner-stone which God hath laid in Sion, and the great Foundation of all our eternal hopes. Amen. - -> IMPROVEMENT. THIS apostolic charge should be received with the profoundest regard and submission, by all those who profess to reverence the authority of Christ, who thus, by the mouth of his servants, bespeaks their attention; and it should both regulate their conduct, and animate and exalt their hopes. Let us therefore attend to this venerable elder, this witness of the sufferings of Christ, who, on the mount of transfiguration, had been favoured with an illustrious representation of that glory, wherein our Lord shall be hereafter revealed, and with which he will then invest all those who, in this cause, have approved themselves faithful unto death. Let ministers, especially, ever maintain a most affectionate and respectful regard for the flock of God, and take the oversight thereof with a ready and ge- nerous mind, and be examples to it in the mild and condescending temper of their common Master, as well as in all other graces and virtues. It is indeed possible they may pursue such a conduct as this, and meet with very little esteem or recompence, yea, with injurious and unworthy treatment, from their fellow-men. But a crown of glory, a royal diadem, incorruptible and immortal, will be hereafter conferred on them by their exalted Saviour, in the day of his triumphant appearance; and this crown, in itself so illustrious, will be a mark of still more distin- guished honour, as it will be placed on their victorious heads in a season of such solemnity, in the view of the whole assembled world, and of the innumerable company of angels. But in the mean time, while we are con- tinued in so lowly a condition in the present world, let us all cultivate humility of mind, being clothed with that amiable virtue, which is certainly the most graceful ornament of our nature; an ornament of singular value in the eye of that God, whose approbation is the surest mark and criterion of excellence and honour. And that we may accordingly entertain the more humble and lowly conceptions of ourselves, and the more grand and venerable ideas of the Almighty Creator, Preserver, and Disposer of all things, let us often and seriously reflect upon his mighty hand; how gloriously it hath been displayed in the infinite variety of the works of nature, in the continual agency and operation of providence, and in the wonderful scheme of redemption and salvation; how powerful and resistless it is in the execution of all its works; and yet how graciously its awful power is tempered and mo- derated, and to what kind and merciful purposes it hath been already exerted, and still is, in behalf of such de- enerate and unworthy creatures as ourselves. By these considerations, let us be disposed to bow to every divine ispensation with all resignation and submission; fixing our dependence upon a power so wisely and grâciously exerted; rejoicing that we are permitted to cast our cares on God, and abhorring both the ingratitude and folly of fainting and sinking under our burdens, when we are favoured with the permission of relying on him, indeed with a paternal command as well as permission; which accordingly requires our obedience in point of duty, as well as of gratitude and honour. Our great adversary the devil is still continually prowling round the fold of Christ; and therefore it behoves us to be constantly on our guard. And if we would escape both his wiles and his power, let us be especially careful, that neither our security nor intemperance give him an advantage over us; but on the contrary, as it is nothing less than our utter and eternal destruction he aims at, let us strenuously resist him in the exercise of a steady faith, and with a firm resolution. Let us also remember, that trials and afflictions have been the lot of all the people of God in all generations; and that the God of all grace is able, if it seem good to his infinite wisdom, to shorten and contract the time of our sufferings, and by means of them, whilst they last, to strengthen and perfect our immortal souls. Let us, therefore, as the close of all, continue to stand fast in what is so authentically testified to be the true grace of God; and real substantial peace will be with us, will be our everlasting portion, in Christ Jesus. Amen. The word karatrum expresses more than devouring, even swallowing up ; seem to imply any doubt. Compare Rom. iii. 28. and viii. 18. in the and so represents the insatiable rage of the enemy of our salvation with º; bylon.] H reat advantage. - - - t Baballon. ence Bishop Cumberland and Mr. Cradock sº jMake you perfect.] If any one please to peruse Archbishop Leigh- that j. St. Peter wrote º the neighbourhood of #. ton’s excellent Discourse on these wº he will have a fine specimen ſound many Jews remaining there ever since the i3abylonish captivity of his commentary on this, Epistle; which I esteem, to be among the among whom he had preached the gospel with considerajj ‘‘’’ most instructive and useful books our language affords, and cannot but m JMarcus, my son.] That is, my convert, or at least my assistant in consider it as a great honour conferred upon me, by Providence, to have the ministerial work. I have observed, note b p. 422. that John Mark been an instrument of presenting it to the world in S9 ºorrect a form; as who was the companion of Barnabas and Pauſ, was a liftº: person well as of rescuing many other instructive piece; of that excellent, and from Mark the evangelist, who was the intimate companion of th. amiable author from the oblivion in which they had so long been apostle Peter, And as he was so, it is likely that the ºt is jº buried, - * - Mark of which the apostle here speaks. Under St. Peterºs instruction k Silvanus, as I suppose, a faithful brother.] Whether, this was the he is said to have written his gospel, probably receiving at different Silas, Qt Silvanus, ngiitioned several flºes in the Agts as the çoğıſönion times historical façts from him, which he records without very exactor. of St. Paul, and by St. Paul himself,(2 Cor; i. 19. 1 Thess. i. 1. 2 Thess. der, and which St. Luke afterwards greatly illustrated, without changing i. 1.) we cannot “Hºly say ºf he phrase, as fºsurpose, does not tº, by adding many more important circumstances. 865 SECT. 9. I PET. V. II I2 I 4 Ver. 1 : 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 THE F A M I L y Ex P os I To R. …” A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE SECOND CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. PETER. THERE Were some in the primitive church who called in question the genuineness and authority of this Epistle, though it expressly claims St. Peter for its author, and contains very strong internal characters of its authenticity. But this being no proper ºr convenient, place, to enter largely into the argument, if any are desirous of seeing it truly and accurately represented, asſº, as it depends upon the testimonies of the christian fathers, they may consult the second part of Dr. Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History. As to the internal evidence, there are some general observations, which having made already in the Introduction to the Epistle of James, I think it unnecessary to repeat, though they are very applicable to the present occasion. But it is fit to observe, in particular, that the author of this Épistlé hath some allu. sions or appeals to facts and circumstances as relative to himself, which évidently refer to St. Peter; and that, besides, there is a remarkable coincidence between the sentiments of this and of the former Epistle; insomuch that it is extremely probable it was the production of the same author, intending to confirm the doctrines he had already advanced in oppo- sition to the scruples of honest men, and the objections of designing ones. St. Jerom, acquainting us with the dispute which had been raised concerning the author and authority of this Epistle, informs us, at the same time, that it was owing to a remarkable difference of style in this and the former unquestionably genuine Epistle of St. Petér. But the truthis, there is, properly speaking, no difference of style between the two Epistles, but only between the former Epistle, and a part of this, namely, the second chapter; which, indeed, is as different from the style of the remainder of this, as it is from that of the whole former Epistle. The fact, therefore, seems to be, (as the learned Bishop of London, Dr. Sherlock, supposes, in his first Pissertation, at the elid of his Discourses on Prophecy, which is well worth the reader's perusal,) I say, the fact seems to be, that the apostle, in the second chapter of this Epistlé, describing the character of such seducers and false teachers as endangered the faith of the christian converts, adopts the language and sentiments of some Jewish author, containing a very strong description, in the eastern manner, of the character and conduct of some false prophets of that, or earlier ages. And as St. Jude hath likewise described these false teachers, as well as St. Peter, and there is a remarkable similitäde in some respects, and variation in others, between the account of these two apostles, it appears extremely probable, that they both took the principal features of their descriptions from the same author. And if this be a justaccount, the foundation of all the doubts concerning the genuineness of this Epistle is exceeding feeble; and no other reasonable conclusion can be drawn from them, except the singular caution of the primitive christians, what writings they honoured with the veneration due to the Gracles of God. - This Epistle was very probably written about the year 67 ; which was six years after the date of the former. For the apostle speaks of his death as very near at hand; I think it meet, saith he, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath. ºff...; me; (chap. i. 13, 14.) and ecclesiastical history informs us, that the apostle-finished his race by martyrdom in the year 68, the 14th of the emperor Nero. - - The general design of this Epistle is, to confirm the doctrines and instructions delivered in the former; “to excite the christian converts to adorn and steadfastly adhere to their holy religion, as a religion proceeding from God, notwithstanding the artifices of false teachers, whose character is at large described; or the persecution of their bitter and inveterate enemies.” - The apostle, with this view, having first congratulated the christian converts on the happy condition into which they were brought by the gospel, exhorts them, in order to secure the blessings connected with their profession, to endeavour to Improve in the most substantial graces and virtues. (Chap. i. 1–11.) And that their attention might be the more effec- tually engaged, he reminds them, both that he spoke to them in the near view of etermity, it being revealed to him that he .# jºi; put off his earthly tabernacle; and that the º on which he discoursed were not cunningly devised fables, but attested by a miraculous voice from heaven, and by divinely inspired prophecies. (Ver, 12, to the end.) And that this exhortation might not fail of producing the most kindly and genuine effects, he cautions them against the false teachers, whose character he describes; ſºil. them of the judgments executed on the apostate *:::: the old world, and on Sodom; and at the same time, of the deliverance of Noah and of Lot; as suggesting considerºtions, which, on the one hand, should terrify such ungodly wretches, and, on the other, comfort and establish the heart; of upright and pious christians... (Chap. ii. 1–9). He then further describes the character of these seducers; .# all true christians $f the danger of being perverted by them, and them of the dreadful destruction to which they exposed themselves. (Ver. 10, to the end.) And that the persons to whom he was writing might more effectually escape the artifices of those who lay in wait to deceive, they are directed to adhere steadily and closely to the sacred Scriptures, and to consider the abso: jute certainty and awful manner of the final destruction of this world: and then the whole is concluded with several weighty and pertinent exhortations. Chap. iii. throughout. - A P A R A P H R A S E AND NOTES O'N THE SECOND CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. PETER. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE PETER, AFTER HIs SALUTATION, BEGINS HIS EPISTLE BY CONGRATULATING THE CHRISTIANS ON THE IIAPPY STATE INTQ WHICH THEY WERE BROUGHT BY THE GOSPEL ; AND URGES THEM, JN ORDER TO SECURE THE BLESSINGS CONNECTED WITH THEIR PROFESSION, TO ENDEAVOUR TO IMPROVE IN ITS MOST SUBSTANTJAL GRACES AND VIRTUES. 2 PET. i. 1–11. 2 - -- i. * & º A 2 PETER i. VER. l. PETER i. VER. 1 sIMON Peter, a servant and SIMO.N' Peter, who has the honour to style himself a servant, and even an apostle, of SECT- tº Jesus Christ, being selected º his heavenly Master to that exalted and important office, 1. pºioiºaith with jirough sends his most affectionate salutation, with this his Epistle, to all those to whom it may ... g.º.º.º." come, who have obtained like precious faith with us, in that glorious gospel, which is a declaration of life and salvation by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ;” in which, sinful as we are, we obtain acceptance with the Father, through that atonement which our Divine Redeemer has made, and the perfect righteousness he has introduced, for the justification of all his believing people. 2 ºrace and peace hºmºl. For this purpose, that this invaluable blessing may be insured to you, may grace and 2 jº" º º peace in all your concerns, temporal and spiritual, be multiplied unto you by the acknow- Jesus our Lord, ledgment of the great God and of Jesus Christ our Lord ; by a faithful and courageous - profession of whose name we put ourselves into the way of receiving the most important 3. According as his diving blessings. This we may cheerfully expect, as his divine power has given unto us all things Hº ;"º, in such rich abundance, which [relate] both to life and godliness; whereby the present *...ºf life is rendered much more comfortable to us, and the future and eternal life of our souls º, º: ! is secured. And this we obtain, by the knowledge of him who has, by his gospel, called us by that glory with which he has now invested us, and that strengthening virtue" and 4 whereby are given, unto energy of his Spirit: By means of whichd illustrious seal set to the declaration of the §oº º: gospel, are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, relating, to blessings infi- §º.º.º. §§ nitely more valuable than any present enjoyments or expectations. And the design of ºß God in bestowing this inestimable favour is, that by these you may be made partakers of a world through lust. divine nature;” transformed into the image of Göd's moral perfections; having escaped the corruption º is] so generally prevalent in the world, through the lust which men 5 And beside this, giving are ready to indulge, to the reproach, and destruction of their immortal. souls. 2 PET. 4 - - - ...And for 5 #!"º º' tº this purpose, applying with all possible diligence, as you have believed the º knowledge ; careful to accompany that belief with all the lovely train of attendant graces; associate,8 as it were, to your faith, virtue, h true fortitude, and resolution of mind, which may enable you to break through that variety of dangers with which your faith may be attended; and to this heroic virtue and bravery, that knowledge which may direct your resolution aright; 6 And to knowledge tempe-.5nd to knowledge, temperance; that if you should be in the most plentiful circumstances, 6 a Of our God and Saviour, &c.] The order of the original words rather Dr. Whitby would read it, 6t’ 69, by whom, that is, by Christ; for which favours this translation, though I confess it is not absolutely necessary, and it may be rendered, as in our version, of God grid our Saviour. It is observable, that the order in the next verse is different, and determines it to the translation there used. - b Life and godliness.] Some imagine, this to be an Hebraism for a godly life; but the meaning is so much enriched by understantling, it more lite- rally, that I chose to retain our version, and to paraphrase the words ac- cording to it. w - tº ºr c Bj glory and virtue : éta Šošns kat aperms.] This is the proper ren- dering of Šia with a genitive case, as several critics have rightly observed. Dr. Whitby supposes these words to be an hem dyades, and understands them of the glorious and popcrºll Cffusion of the Spirit. It- is remarkable that the word aperm, used so frequently in heathen writ- ers, seldom occurs in the New Testament ; and when it does, it docs not always signify the whole aſ a right principle, but generally courage. (See note h; below.) And therefore, as the learned Albert observes, (Obscrp. Philolog. p. 450.) some interpreters, apprehending the word aper: to be in no sense applicable to God, but only to men, have ren- dered this clause contrary to the Greek, i.iion, to glory and virtue. But it may very properly be understood of that strengthening energy, which God exerts on {}. human mind, which appeared in so extraordinary a manner in the apostolic age. t By means of which.) Some would render öv’ dov, for the sake of which ; that is, as they understand the clause, that we might attain to this glory and virtue, God has made such precious promises, of the par- don of sin, the assistances of his Spirit, and at last, eternal happiness. he hath the authority of some manuscripts. e Partakers gf a divine mature.] I cannot think the passages, which are produced from Philo and Josephus, as parallel to this, are sufficient to justify. Dr. Whitby’s interpreting this phrase of miraculous and pro- phºtic endongments. f For this purpose ; auto 75.70.] . The learned Albert supposes the particle cus to be understood, and I have translated it accordingly. g dssociate.] The word £7: xopmyna are properly signifies to lead up, as in a dance, one of these virtues after another in a beautiful and majos. tic order. See Goodman’s Parable of the Prod. p. 296. and Sir Norton Išpatchbull, in lºc. h, h irtuc.] Vittº.cannot here signify a universal regularity of mind and lºanners, (Sec Titus iii. 8.) because every particular, afterwards mentioned, is a virtue in that set:se ; and the apostle speaks of each as additional to what went before. It must therefore here signify courage, as the original word apsin often does. (Compare note c, above.) And it is properly added to faith, in reference to the necd faith has of a cou- rageous defençe, and of the advantage it gives us for that purpose. The knowledge to be added, signifies not that general knowledge on which füith and virtue must be founded, but an acquaintance with the impor- tance of the several . and duties comprehended in that general knowledge; and by this courage would properly be directed, which might otherwise act at randoin. Nor can we imaging that one of these good qualities can cntirely subsist without another; but eyery, one is to make up, as it were, a part of the chorus appearing together in a lovely and venerable train. 86S SECT. 1. 2 PET. I. 7 8 9 10 l l Ver. I 3 4 5 — II SECT. 2. 2 PET. I. 12. IMPROVEMENT IN CHRISTIAN GRACES AND VIRTUES URGED. they may not be a snare to you, and the bounties of Providence may not be abused to the rance, and to temperance dishonour of Gºd, and yºur own detriment; and to this temperancé add patience, as you º, and to patience are not apprized what afflictions may possibly succeed your prosperity, nor how severet ey godliness; may be: and to patience add godliness, that devout temper of mind, which will be so powerful a support to your patience, both by the views it gives you of the wisdom and goodness of all the divine dispensations, and by the pleasure which it will mingle with the mºst Painful exercises and trials. And to godliness add brotherly-kindness, that pecu. , 7 And to godliness brother. liar affection which you owe to your fellow-christians, as your brethren in the Lord; and §º to brotherly add to this brotherly-kindness universal love to all your fellow-creatures, extending your s charity. kind, affectionate regards to those who are entirely strangers to that religion which you are so happy as to embrace, and even to those who most unrighteously oppose it, and injure you for your profession of it: For if these excellent things which I have now de- 8 For if these things be in ޺ibe; eºist and abound in you, they will permit [you] to be neither inactive nor unfruit- º żºłº, ful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; but as they must put you upon exerting ... .º.º.º. Yourselves in consequence of that knowledge, they will make these your endeavours dé à...” of our Lord Jesus lightful and effectual for that purpose. But he that is deficient in these things, is blind as , 9 But he that lacketh these to the most important objects of knowledge; at best he is very short-sighted, his views are º'º. limited to a narrow circle of low and mean objects, which lie immediately before him, and it is was pureéa'āom his cannot take in that enlarged and noble prospect which christianity sets before him. He “” shows that he hath contracted a sad forgetfulness of º baptismal engagements, and of that purification from the sins of his former life, which he professed to be in search of, and hoped to find by that solemn ordinance, which initiated him into the christian church. And as it would be very fatal to fall from these bright views and expectations into a , 10. Wherefore the rather, state of such aggravated condemnation, therefore, my brethren, endeavour so much the more ºil: "...º.º. diligently to make yºur calling, and your election, sirei and firm; that having been called flººse into the church of Christ, and chosen to such exalted external privileges, and such glorious "****** hopes, you may not finally lose them; but may be assured, upon the best grounds, that you are indeed effectually called by divine grace, and chosen to the possession of life everlasting. And this important end will be secured, if you resolutely persist in your duty, according to the directions I have now given; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall; God will support you with communications of grace, suitable to any extraor- dinary trial to which you may be called, till the whole is brought to a happy issue and - conclusion. For so an entrance shall be richly and abundantly administered unto you in 11 For so an entrance shall the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; you shall not only be ºº: secure of obtaining happiness there, but shall be received into it with circumstances of §º.ºrd an solemn pomp and distinguished honour; and those graces which adorned your profession **** here on earth, shall, as it were, attend you in a radiant train to those mansions of ever- lasting felicity and glory, which the divine mercy shall, then assign you, through Jesus Christ, to whom the praise of all is to be ascribed, and with whom you shall reign through the endless ages of eternity. IMPROVEMENT. WITH all humility let us adore the divine goodness, in making us partakers of the like precious faith with that which he bestowed on the primitive believers. And let it often be considered in this comprehensive and edifying view, as terminating on the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, on that method of justification by him and his gospel which divine grace hath found out and proposed. With thankfulness let us own the abundant provision made for us, of all things pertaining to life and godliness; and above all, let the exceeding rich and invaluable promises contained in the gospel be reviewed with sincere delight, and be esteemed as our securest and most important treasure. May they actually have all that efficacy they are suited and intended to have, to procure, and secure our escape from the pollutions which are in the world through lust, and to advance the divine resemblance in our souls. Hi, various and how lovely are the graces which are here recommended, as what we are with all diligence to add to our faith; courage and temperance, patience and godliness, brotherly- kindness and universal charity: these are the genuine fruits of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; these, while they honour him and adorn our profession, will be no less honourable and beneficial to ourselves. Short- sighted indeed we are, if we perceive not, on the one hand, the happy and delightful consequences which they will finally produce; and, on the other, how utterly vain our baptismal honours and engagements, and all external privileges of church-communion, will be, if these vitals of christianity are wanting. In order to excite our indolent minds to pursue these divine graces, with a spirit in some measure proportionable to their excellence, let us fre- uently reflect on our speedy removal from this world and all its vanities; how soon we must enter upon eternity. how desirable then to enter on the kingdom of Christ, to be honoured with an abundant entrance into ever- lasting mansions, to be received as with a cordial welcome, to sail, as it were, into that blessed harbour with a full gale of consolation and joy! Be not deceived; God is not mocked; it is the invariable design of the gospel to produce and advance our holiness; it is the immutable constitution of the kingdom of Christ, that without it no man shall be permitted to see the Lord. (Heb. xii. 14.) SECTION II. * st]... in the view of his own approaching dissolution, reminds his christian brethren that their religion was firmly founded, as it was attested T |...}}}.". voice from heaven, which declared Jesus to be the Son of God, and by the divinely inspired prophecies, which also bore testimony to him unler that character. 2 Pet. i. 12, to the end. * * - © 2 PETER i. 12. 2 PETER i. 12. I HAVE been exhorting you to cultivate the several graces of Christianity, and urging Yº...will, nºt this as necessary for the security of your eternal salvation; therefore I will not neglect " " " " " ". - . • 1 oz-f: iWł T. sell, the ingenious author of the tration of it, as he well urges. . But I cannot think, that by this we are to c.; ######"º º: prove that calling, and Élection determine our notion of the christian calling and election; and whoever .1jºić to the manner in which armies were raised; first, by calling to- should *:::::P} to apply this idea to sugh phrases in the multitude of iºles ji of a proper age to bear arms; and then choosing out such as places, would find it utterly unsuitable. have therefore so taken in the kºlºr &l lººd" most proper for that purpose. And he supposes that idea, which this agreeable writer suggests, as not entirely to drop others, #in ſº. ºiling and election 3e3atav, steadfast, was acting in such a which I think it extremely probable the apostle might have in his view. maki g i t thes might not be cashiered and disbandcd, as unworthy a And it will certainly be a good sense, if we understand the exhortation, ..". tº: %, iº, which they had been listed. He has indeed Make it an assured thing to yourselves that you are called and chosen of Éd"b; a great number of learned quotations, that this was the case in God. łºśń armies and Rev. xvii. 14. may perhaps be a further illus- THE DIVINE TESTIMONIES TO THE GOSPEL. §§) ways in remembrance of always to put you in mind of these things; though I am aware that you already know SECT. §: ºß"... them, and are well established by the instruction you have received in the present truth, thrº... relating to the practice of these virtues. But I account it right and expedient, yea, what lo. º.º." ii., §§ by my office in the church of Christ I owe to you and my other brethren, as long as I º, tº ºil yºup by putting am in this tabernacle, and inhabit this frail mortal body, from which God only knows how gow in remembrance; - 2 - 5 - - soon I may be dislodged, to stir you up by way of remembrance, and to endeavour to keep 14. Knowing that shortly I your hearts under as lively a sense of divine things as I can : Knowing that all these ..º.º.º.º. opportunities of service are confined within very narrow limits; and that I must quickly 2. 2 PET. 13 14 Čhrist hatfishewed me, put off this my tabernacle by death, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me, by an express prophecy, and that memorable action of his, when, just after his resurrection, he commanded me to follow him in token of my readiness to die for him, by the same kind 15 Moreover I will endea- of death which he suffered. (John xxi. 18, 19, 20.) But I will endeavour, to the utmost . º }... . .'; of my ability, while it pleases God to continue mé among you, that you may have these lºss always in re- things so familiar to your minds now, that ye may also every one of you have them in re- - membrance ºfter my departure, when I shall have made my exit from the stage of mor- 16 For we have not fºllow- tality. For we have not been pursuing after a series of artfully devised fables, while we ‘....". "...º..."; made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesús Christ; they were not fal: ..?'. "Łºś laciously invented nor rashly credited by us; but we were eye-witnesses of his majesty, and ‘...." ....."; }; of the solemn pomp and grandeur with which he appeared at his transfiguration. For he mº, nº lºca ºn then received from God the Father illustrious honour and glory; sublime honour was Géâ tº Fähºur'aº; done him, and a refulgent glory was shed round about him, when such a voice was sent fº.º.º.º. forth to him from the magnificent glory of the Shechinah, which then appeared so conspicu- §ºlorºijisis ºbeſoyed ous and glorious, and made that ever-memorable proclamation, This is my well-beloved Son, ;... * * * *" in whom I acquiesce, (Matt... xvii. 5.) and in whom my soul, is perfectly well pleased. Is And this voice which And this voice, which came down from heaven, we, his three distinguished friends, James tºº; and John, as well as myself, actually heard, when we were with him in the holy mount, the holy mount. which was, for the time, consecrated by the visible appearance of the divine glory upon 19 We have also a more it. And we have a surer and firmer prophetical word,” the evidence of which, on the §:...'...wº whole, is far more extensive and important than that of any single miracle, how conspi- tº cuous soever; to which, therefore, ye do very well to adhere, and to take heed to its con: §."."ºff"; tents, as to a lamp shining in a dark, obscure, and gloomy place.b Observe it, therefore, and star arise in your hearts : º to º till the | º and the º : arise in your hearts, with resplendent - eams, as the sure herald of an eternal day, whose sun shall no more go down, nor its 20 Knowing this first, that moon withdraw itself: Knowing this first, as a matter of chief inº, that no pro- ºś phecy of scripture is of private impulse," or original: For prophecy was not brought .# old gi"Fºº to the minds of those that uttered it by the will of man; they could not work themselves ſº tºº .."; up to the attainment of this extraordinary gift, nor divinely foretell what they themselves ####!ºre moved by desired, and whenever they pleased; but holy men of God, whom he honoured with that e fioly Ghost. important work, spake [as they were] borne on by the Holy Spirit; and they were only his organs, in declaring to the people what he was disposed to suggest to them. IMPROVEMENT. MAy that uncertainty, that frailty and brevity of human life, which the ministers of Christ are frequently incul- I 8 19 20 21 II. cating upon others, be seriously considered by themselves. Let them remember, that they must quickly put off Ver, 14 this tabernacle, and be dismissed from their present state of service ; and while they have opportunity, therefore, let them stir up the minds of the people committed to their charge, by way of remembrance, and give diligence to make such impressions upon their hearts, that when they themselves are laid down in the silence of the grave, and sleeping among the clods of the valley, by the recollection and improvement of the lessons they taught, survivors may be quickened in their preparation to quit their dissolving tabernacles likewise, and to follow their pious lead- ers into the joy of their Lord. It must undoubtedly yield us an inconceivable satisfaction as christians, that we have not followed cunningly devised fables; that the persons on whose testimony we rely, as an authentic evidence to the truth of our holy religion, were eye-witnesses of the illustrious facts on which it is founded; and particularly, that important oracle, 13 I5 16 the voice from heaven, by which the true and living God declared Jesus of Nazareth to be his well-beloved Son, 17, 18 and recommended him to the obedient regard of all who reverence his own authority, was on the mount of transfiguration distinctly heard by Peter, James, and John; who at the same time were eye-witnesses of his glory. Yet are we bound to acknowledge the divine oracles of the Old Testament, and the numerous and various prophecies they contain, to be to us a superior, a more sure and incontestable, evidence : let us therefore take . to it, as a glorious light to our feet, and lamp to our paths. And let what is particularly said of the ancient prophets re- commend to our regard the whole sacred volume ; namely, that it was not written by private impulse, but by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Let us receive it with the profoundest humility, not as the word of man, but as it 20 is in deed and in truth, the word of God, which is able to make us wise unto salvation ; and letus follow its sacred illumination, till at length it conduct us to the dawning of an eternal day, and to the rising of that bright and morning star, which will shine out hereafter with the full glory of the Sun of righteousness. a Surer prophetical word.] Some are of opinion that the apostle in- c JNo prophecy of scripture is of private impulse..] So I render grºxv- tended no comparison in this place, but that the compaºye, is us?d for "geos; and take it to signify, that men did not work themselves up into the positive; so that it only signifies a pery sure prophetical word. As s ; : , , t , ~ * ~ * s 2 ; , ; ; or, R. - in Heb. xiii. 23. Taxtov is ºã for quickly. Acts xxxv. 10. ka AXtov for º ãº; º º º 'º'; well. Compare 1 Tim: iii. 14. 2 Tim. i. 17, 18. And tº Kootepos for the justify. To interpret it in opposition to the right of private judgment in least, Matt. xi. 1]. Luke yii.28, 9thºrs, assert, that the series of prº- the interpretation ºf scripture, is quite foreign to the apostlé’s purpose, phecies, when explained in the light, of the New Testament, is a much as well as extremely injurious to common sense. See Flem. Christói, 3/3 Clearer proof of Christ’s being the Messiah, than any single miraculous vol. i. p. 147. Dr. Clark and Mr. Baxter have understood this, as if the fact, as this, was. It is also debated, whether prophegy, signifies the gift, apostle had said, Scripture, is not to be interpreted merely as speaking of so called among christians, or the pritten prºphecies ºf the Old Testament, this particular person of whom it literally speaks; but as having a further išut I think it cannot be doubted, that it, refers to the latter, and is the sense, to which the expressions of the prophets were overruleå under the same with what is called below, in the 20th verãº, th9 prophecy of scrip- influence of the Spirit, in reference to the gospel dispensation; in respect ture, and is said to have come in old time by the God. - to which they sometimes were carried further than they themselves were b Lamp shining in a dark place.], Bishop Chandler, supposes prophecy aware... Mr. Jefferies (after Dr. Hammond) observes, that grºuggo; is so j. because it grows gradually brighter and brighter,as it, ap- originally signifies, a sign or watch-word given to the racers when they proaches nearer and nearer to its accomplishment. Bishop Chandler’s were to start. See his Review of the Controversy between the Author Péfence of Christianity, p 23 - of The Grounds, &c, and his Adversaries, p. 149, 21 29 870 SECT. 3. 2 PET. II. CAUTIONS AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS. SECTION III. The apostle cautions christians against false teachers: mentionin on Sodom, and the deliverance of Noah and of Lot, comfort and establish the hearts of good men. - g the judgments which God executed on the fallen as considerations which should, 2 Pet. ii. 1–9. 2 PETER ii. 1. I HAVE observed to you that it was by a divine impulse that the prophets delivered and wrote their predictions in former times; but they were not always régarded in a becoming manner; for there were also false prophets among the people” of the Jews, as there shall also be among you,b the disciples of a greater Master than Moses; false teachers, who will make parties among you, and privately introduce pernicious and destructive herºsies, even * denying the Lord who bought and redeemed them ; as those false prophets denied the God 2 3 4 5 6 7 who had redeemed Israel from its bondage and misery; but they will at last be found in the same dreadful circumstances, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And yet many will persist to follow their permicious courses, by means of ºhom the way of truth, the cause of genuine and uncorrupted christianity, will by many others be blasphèmed as if the errors and madness of those members who are corrupted, were to be charged on those who are not infected with their disorders, or the vices of a few were to be imputed to all. “ind as for the false teachers I mention, they will order both their teaching and their con- duct by views and maxims of covetousness, and with deceitful words will make merchandise qf you, trafficking as it were for your immortal souls. These are wretches, whose judgment or a long time delays not, but advances apace; and their destruction does not slumber; how fondly soever they may dream of escaping it. But if they consider the numerous examples God has already given of his righteous indignation, they must certainly take the alarm: For if God did not spare the angels that sinned, but having cast [them] down from heaven and sunk them to the abyss ...? hell,” delivered [them] to be reserved in chains of darkness,f to the judgment of the great and terrible day of account; we may from hence reasonably conclude, that he will find out a proper season to punish wicked men, the confederates and instruments of those rebellious spirits. . .4nd indeed the history of mankind furnishes us with many awful instances of this kind: and one, in which almost the whole human species was made the monument of divine displeasure; for when God had been long in- sulted and provoked by their continued wickedness, we know that he spared not the inha- bitants of the old antediluvian world. JVevertheless, it is worth our while at the same time to observe the favourable manner in which God interposed amidst the general ruin, for the preservation of the only good man that remained; for he kept Noah, the eighth ſº who was a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, who were with him in the ark, when he brought the irresistible destruction of the universal deluge upon the whole world of the ungodly, and destroyed all the impious wretches who had derided the admonitions of that faithful patriarch. .And in a succeeding age, when the inhabitants of those places were sunk into the lowest degeneracy, he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, with the most dreadful de- struction, reducing them to ashes, by raining down fire and brimstone from heaven upon them; setting [them] as an example, and pattern of that final vengeance he will bring on those sinners who should afterwards be ungodly, that they might learn their own condemna- tion and misery from the memorials of the flourishing cities of the plain. .4nd by the miraculous interposition of his providence, he rescued righteous Lot, who was so long grieved and afflicted by the lascivious conversation of angels, on the old world, and on the one hand, terrify the ungodly, and on the other 2 PETER ii. 1. BUT there were false pro- phets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who pri- yately shall bring in damna- ble heresles, even denying the 3rd that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their permicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3.And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you : whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and ºir damnation slumbereth Il Ot, 4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and deli Vered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of tho uſlgodly ; 6 And turning the cities of odom and Gomorrha into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making thcrº an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; destruction of those once noble, pleasant, and 7 And delivered. Just Lot, vexed with the filthy conver. sation of the wicked: or that righteous man 8 these lawless mem. For that righteous man, while he dwelt among them, seeing and hearing ači; among them, in see- 9 from day to day the instances of their profligate and abandoned wickedness, tormented [his] wpright soul, by [those] wanlawful and scandalous works, whose cry came up at length to heaven, and brought down upon them this flaming destruction. And thus, on the whole, we discern in this memorable example, that, on the one hand, The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptalion and danger, and, on the other, to reserve the unrighteous to the day of judgment, to be punished with a severity becoming their guilt and wickedness. ing and hearing, vexed his righteous, soul from day to ay with their unlawful : eC (IS ; 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the º out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: a There were also false, prophets among thic people..] Dr. Sherlock (the late Bishop of London) has observed, in his first dissertation at the end of his Discourses on Prophecif, that there is a sensible difference, not so much between the First and Second Epistles of Peter, as between this second chapter, when compared with the first and third. This chapter abounds in pompous words and expressions. It is a description of false teachers, and seems to be extracted from some Jewish yriter, who had given a description of the false prophets, either, those of his own time, or those who had lived before him. This remark accounts for the great resemblance between this chapter and the Epistie of Jude ; as was ob- served in the Introduction. }. supposes it, might be transcribed or translated by them, from some Jewish or Hebrew book that remained among them. See the Epistle of Jude, note c. - b As thcre shall also be among you..] Hence \{r. Mede, I think some- what precariously, infers a similitude between the errors propagated by the false prophets among the Jews, and those which were to overrun the christian chiurch; and instances in image-worship, and the worship of departed saints and heroes, customary in the church of Rome. , \{ede; in loc. Dr. Whitby applies all these things to the Nicolaitans and Gnos- tics, who were a branch of them. - - c Does not slumber.] Mr. Blackwalſ observes, that, this is a most beautiful figure, representing, the vengeance that shall destroy, such in- corrigible sinners, ās an angel of judginent pursuing them upon the wing, continually approaching nearer and nearer, and in the mean time keep- ing a watchful eye upon them, that he may at length discharge an un- erring blow. See his Sacred Člassics, vol. i. p. 297. . - d Did not spare the angels, &c.) Sqme have imagined this to be an imperfect sentence: I think it complete in the 9th verse. But as the length of the sentence is so necessarily increased, by such a method of araphrasing as I have chosen, (though brought into the narroyvest inits, which were judged consistent with answering the end,) I have thought it ſ”. here, and in many other instances, to divide what, in the original, makes one sentence, into several ; else I must have leſſ many passages of the sacred writings far more intricate than I found them. e Cast [them] down to hell.] Mr. Mede would translate the words, HZhen God had condemned the angels that sinncil to the punishment of heli, he delivered their into chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment. I cannot but think that the word Taprapada as is illustrated by the de- scription given of Tartarus in Homer, (Iliad, 6, Lin. 13–15.) as a d-cy, gulf under the earth, where there are iron gates, and a brazen entrance. It is derived from a word expressive of terror, and signifies, the doleſal prison in which wicked spirits are reserved, till they shall be brought out to public condemnation and execution. . f In chains of darkness.]... It has been querjed, how the confim cn ent of these ut; happy spirits in chains of darkness, is consistent with their van- dering up and down in the air, and upon earth. I think we are to answer, not by saying that the darkness is moral, or that the light is disagreeit?: #e to them, as some have suggested, (compare Reynolds's Inquiry concern- ing the Jingclic, PWorld, Query xxx. p. J.91.) but rather, that a general.cgi)- ſinement may be £º. with some degree of liberty, yet still liabie to restraint, as God shall, see fit. Comparé, Luke viii. 31. Rev. xx. 1, 3. And this air over which they seem indeed to have some power songtit; s granted them, (Eph. ii. 2.) is to, be sure darkness, when compared with the light in which they originally dwelt. . - -* * g The eighth [person,) a preacher of righteousness.h" Bishºp Pearsch would reinder !; cfaluse, JYoah the eighth pregghar, qf righteousn.css.: supposing that Enos was the first, (Gen. iv. 26.) from whom Nga h ºthºëigitā, that all the intermediate persons bore the same office, and that Christ preached by them all: 1. Pet. iii. 19. Pears. Oil ſhe Creed, p. 113. o which Bishop Cumberland assents, supposing God had a continued succession of extraordinary persons in the 134 triarch church. Cumb. On Gen. p. 49. But I think it certain, that Enos gºtiki not be the first preacher of righteousness; Adam was in g wonder ſtºl manner fitted to perform that office in the first World; as Noah was in the second; and what excellent instructions both might giye, Dr. Win- der has finely represented, Winder's History.gf Knowledge; vol. i. p. j7, &c., p. Š1–92. Bishop Pearson adds, that if we are, not disposed fo réfer oyāony to xmpyka, and translate it, the eighth preacher of righteous- ness, it may be understood as denoting, not the order in which, Noah was ranked, but merely the number of persons that were with him, oaſi agith seven others, or Noah one of eight, and accordingly I have determined it to this sense in the paraphrase. The º produced several passages in the Greek. Classics, in support of this sense of the word; and others may be scen in Rapbelius. Compare also 1 Pet. iii. 20. CAUTIONS AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS. IMPROVEMENT. THERE is no church so pure, but some false members, and even false teachers, may insinuate themselves into it; SECT. yet it is our duty to watch and pray, that the churches to which we respectively belong may be guarded against 3. their pernicious insinuations, and especially against the destructive heresiès of those who deny the Lord who bought them. As we regard the edification of the church, and the salvation of our own precious and immortal souls, let 2 PET. us guard against whatever may justly deserve such an imputation as this. Woe be to those teachers who are 3 * actuated with a covetous spirit, who teach things which they ought not for the sake of filthy lucre, and make mer- chandise of the souls of their hearers! How swiftly does their damnation approach, though they perceive not the gradations by which it advances; and with what irresistible terror will it at length overwhelm them That our hearts may be preserved under an awful impression of the divine judgments, let us often meditate on 4 those displays of them of which the Scripture informs us. And let us, in particular, reflect on the fall of the apºstate angels, who were for their first offence precipitated from heaven, and reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day; and while we contemplate this awful dispensation, let us adore that distinguishing grace and compassion which laid hold on apostate man, and provided an all-sufficient Saviour for him. Let us 5, 6 call to remembrance the dissolution of the old world by a deluge of water, and the tremendous destruction of the cities of the plain by fire from heaven; and let us fear that God, who can at pleasure break open the fountains of the great deep, and open the windows of heaven, and emit from these his various magazines, deluges of water, or torrents of burning sulphur, to execute his vengeance. Who can flee from his pursuing hand?" or who can be secure and happy but under his almighty protection ? Yet awful as the terrors of his indignation are, his eyes are 7, 8 upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. What a noble support and encouragement may it therefore be to the small remnant, who from day to day are vexing their righteous souls at the ungodly deeds of the wicked among whom they dwell, to reflect on the deliverance of Noah and of Lot, from that general destruction with which they were surrounded. A more perfect and complete deliverance will be at length accomplished for all the faithful servants of God, and there will be no possibility of doubting any more his ability or his willingness to rescue them from every evil; for he will make the day of his vengeance on his enemies a day of complete and ºng salvation to his saints. And the Lord grant that we may all find mercy of the Lord in that impor- tant day. e” SECTION IV. The apostle describes, in very emphatical terms, the infamous character of some ungodly and seducing teachers, who were crept into the chris– tian church ; and warns the christian converts of the danger of their being perverted by them, and thein of the dreadful destruction to which they cxposed themselves. 2 Pet. ii. 10—22. 2 PETER ii. 10. BUT chiefly them that walk I HAVE been just º; the divine vengeance which will be poured out on auda-SECT. §º dºs. cious and impenitent sinners; but I would especially be understood to intend those who go 4. government, resumptuous after strange flesh, in the lust of uncleanness; for they are particularly detestable in the eye §: ºº:: of God, and the crimes they commit so much resemble that of Sodom, that it is the less 2 PET, dignities. to be wondered if they share in its punishment: and with them I also comprehend those to" who despise dominion, of which there are many among the licentious wretches before de- I0 scribed, daring and self-willed, uncontrollable in their own ways, and ready to face and withstand any opposition in the prosecution of them; they fear not to speak evil of those who possess the highest dignities : HWhereas the angels, even those who are greater in 11 strength and power than the rest of those glorious beings, bear not a reviling testimony against them before the Lord; but abhorring all scurrility and violence of language, the with all calmness and decency declare matters as they are, as revering the presence of God, 12. But these, as, natural how much soever they may abhor the characters of ungodly men. (Jude 9.) But these 12 *:::::::::::::::::"º men behave as if they were irrational animals, made by nature to be taken, and destroyed, the things that the ºde and consumed : the fiercest savage beasts, whom men for their own security and preserva- stand not; and shall utterly .. wº sº ~s ji". 'tº dº º tion hunt down and destroy, can hardly be more violent and outrageous than they ; blas- t] On ; pheming things which they do not understand; and the consequence will be, that they shall be utterly destroyed in their corruption;b and many of them, by their own intemperance, 2 PETER ii. 10. ll. Whereas angels, which are greater in power an might, bring not railing, accu- sation against them before the LOrd. rashness, and folly, will hasten upon themselves that irretrievable ruin; Receiving indeed 13 the just reward of their unrighteousness and irregularities; while they account it a pleasure to riot in the day; they are spots and reproaches to the society to which they belong, living luxuriously in other places º 777,6677S. j". deceits,” which they conceal under the mask of christianity, banqueting with you at the holy table.d Many of them are as lewd as they 14 are gluttonous, having eyes full of adultery;" and that cannot cease iſ". sin, even when the powers of animal nature are exhausted; but by their words and gestures they endeavour to fan the flame; insmaring unstable souls by their artful addresses, and having their heart continually crercised in avaricious schemes; on all which accounts they are the children of a curse, and they shall find that in the end it will indeed fall heavy upon them. For, deserting the straight and upright way of truth and integrity, they have wandered in 15 dangerous and destructive paths, following in the way of that infamous person Balaam, [the son] of Bosor, who so loved the wages of unrighteousness, that he was willing to sacri- fice every other interest to obtain them. But he received, in a very extraordinary manner, 16 the reproof of his transgression; for the dumb beast on which he rode, speaking with the voice of a man, restrained the madness of the propheſ, when he would have pressed on to 13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that, count it pleasure to riot in the day-time. Spots they are and blemishes, sport- ing themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling un- stable souls : an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children : 15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighte- O Uls;] &SS ; - 16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speak- ing with man’s voice forba the madness of the prophet. a Irrational animals.) Dr. Whitby would render this, But these are as luxury might soon come, when persons of such a character, were con- natural, brute beasts; referring it to their promiscuous e-cercise of Just. # indeed it is evident, it must be explained as a general assertion, relat- ing to some violence of temper; as no sin of the tongue, which is imme- diately afterwards spoken of, could be the resemblance of a brute. . It may refer to their running headlong, into extreme danger; which this icentious manner of speech, especially when attacking the characters of governors, might very naturally expose them to. . b }}ºff in their corruption.] The original phrase is £v Fr. 600pa autov Karaj00pmaovtat, and some would render it, are destroyed by destruction, that is, certainly or utterly destroyed. Compare Cradock’s JApostolical History, p. 117. They boasted of being beyond the power of corruption and punishment, but are lost in both together. c Living luxuriously, &c.], This is so good, and proper a sense, that one is not tempted to wish the establishing of the réading of ayaſtát; for arraraus, which some have proposed, and so explain it of the riot of those pretended love-fcasts, into which indeed it is not impossible that cerned in them ; and probably that was the occasion of laying them aside. d Banqueting with you...] It is not to be thought that luxury could be introduced into those feasts which they celebrated with the church, with- out detecting their own characters; and therefore I think it most reason- able to consider their luxury as practised elsewhere ; and to refer this banqueting, of which the apostle speaks, to their attending the sacred banquet of the Lord's supper, as a cover for their licentiousness. e Having eyes full of adultcry : Oq9a)\lºss—pes-es plotya Atôos.] There is a prodigious strength in this expression; it properly signifies their having an adultercss continually before their eyes. f Balaam [the son] of Bosor.] There is one manuscript, which reads Beor, and this reading is confirmed by the Syriac version. Mr. Ainsworth and Dr. Lightfoot suppose, that the apostle, in writing Bosor, for, Beor, used the Chaldee dialect, as he writ in the neighbourhood, of Babylon. See Ainsworth on Numb. xxii. 5. and Dr. Lightfoot's fladenda to his Horte Hebraica, on 1 Cor. xiv. cop. 4. 872 SECT . 4. 2 PET, I8 19 2 0 2 I 22 Ver, 13 12 14 15, 16 17 18 19 20 2I 2 2 SECT. 5. CAUTIONS AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS. his own destruction. These, notwithstanding all their boasted pretensions, are fountains 17 These arewells without without water; they are clouds º by a whirlwind, easily yielding to every wind of Włºś. persecution or temptation, and themselves big with storms and tempests: but after all mist of dºness is ºrvéâ their turbulence and mischief, they will be found in the number of those to whom is re- *** served blackness of º: ever, even the judgment of eternal darkness and despair. • They sometimes indeed affect sublime strains of language, which are often void of any 18 For when they speak real meaning, and speaking swelling [words] of vanity,3 ihey insnare in the lusts of the j.";º: Jiesh, which they práctise and promote in all variety of lasciviousness, those who were, so ºsº.º. far as we can judge by their external behaviour, quite escapedh from them that have their ...";”;" i. conversation in error, and they draw back into apostasy some, who appeared to have set who live in error. their faces in good earnest towards the kingdom of heaven; by which means they become partakers in the guilt of that aggravated condemnation and ruin, which these deſuded and unhappy persons bring upon themselves. For promising them liberty, they are so far from 19 while they promise performing their engagements, that they are themselves the despicable slaves #. corruption, ºxº and have not power and spirit enough to extricate themselves out of that infamous tº "foº"a jºs bondage; for by whomsoever any one is defeated and conquered, by him he is of course also ºf ºne is he º: ; :", is too evident to admit of dispute, that these wrétched men are continu- *3 ally conquere Sl]]. ...And they ought certainly to be reckoned among the most miserable of mankind; for 20 For if afig they have iſ, having escaped the pollutions of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour ...}.}}|...}. Jesus Christ, they are entangled and subdued by them again, caught, as it were, in their ºf...thºlºrd, and Saviour nets, and so lying at their mercy to be .." and destroyed by them, their last state is ;..."; jº certainly much worse than the first : §º: For it had been better for them, not to have known, the way of righteousness at all, than, wº having known . and professed a desire and resolution of walking in it, to have turned ..."..."; tº aside from the holy commandmenti delivered to them; for by this means their guilt is so than, after they hº much the more aggravated; their conduct is the more pernicious to others, and conse- jº º, quently to themselves. But Indeed, when the matter comes thoroughly to be considered, thºn. . . it will appear that, under all the external appearances of reformation, there was still an evil º º nature.and principle remaining, which at length prevailed; so that it is happened to them, º.º.º.º. according to the true proverb, The dog [is] returned to gorge up his own vomit again; and ºil: the sow that was washed from the filthiness she had before contracted, having still the same Wºlºwins in the *. unclean nature prevailing, is returned to wallow in the mire, and so makes herself as filthy as she had ever been before. (Compare Prov. xxvi. 11.) IMPROVEMENT. IT is indeed matter of grievous lamentation, that such wretches as those who are here described, should be any where found in the christian church. Let us be the less surprised, if any such spots and blemishes are discovered among us, on whom the ends of the world are come; but let the licentious character here drawn be noted with a just abhorrence, that if any such persons are found, they may with becoming indignation be put away. Many there are, who seem to be as irrational and ravenous as brute beasts, and are far more pernicious to society, than the race of savage or poisonous animals. They are indeed children of a curse, and they will inherit the curse, who thus contrive to make their lives one scene of iniquity; whose eyes and lips declare more wickedness in their hearts than they have power to execute. But it should be remembered, they are accountable to God, not only for all they do, but for all they desire and wish to do; and they are incessantly aggravating that terrible account. These disciples of Balaam will surely receive his reward; those dark clouds will quickly, if they continue thus to obscure with their crimes the horizon in which they ought to shine as stars, be doomed to blackness of darkness for ever. May persons of such a character, how specious soever the form which they wear, be universally detected and disgraced; may none of their swelling words of vanity entice and insnare those who appear just escaping from the delusions of error and the fetters of vice; and may none permit themselves to be seduced by promises of i. from such mean and miserable slaves of corruption. Finally, let us learn, by the awful conclusion of this chapter, to guard against all temptations to apostasy; may we never, after having long escaped the pollutions of the world, be entangleſ again, and overcome by them. Better, far better, would it have been for us, not to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment; our last end, in this case, would be worse than the beginning: and those expressive similes, taken from such loathsome and detestable animals, would not be sufficient to point out the degree in which we should ourselves be loathsome and odious in the sight of that God who is of i. eyes than to *...* iniquity, and cannot look upon evil. (Habak, i. 13.) May we, therefore, with the righteous, hold on our way; and taking care to preserve the cleanness of our hands and hearts, º we daily wax stronger and stronger, (Job xvii. 9.) and shine with an increasing lustre; for the path of the just should be as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (Prov. iv. 18.) SECTION V. That they might be effectually guarded against the artifices of those who scoff at religion, or lie in wait to deceive, the apostle directs them, to adhere closely and steadily fothe Holy Scriptures; and represents to them the absolute certainty, and awful manner, of the destruction of this world; concluding with several weighty and pertinent exhortations. 2 Pet. iii. throughout. - 2 PETER iii. 1. 2 PETER iii. 1. THIS second Epistle” I now write to you, my dearly beloved brethren, with the same ºffs º: purpose with which I wrote the former; in [both] which I stir up your sincere and upright ºt,Yºhº; ºf ininds, for such I hope they indeed are, in the remembrance of those glorious principles of ...b. * * * * 2 PET, III, 1. Sucelling [words] of vanity.] It is observed, that here, and in many with regard to these seducing teachers they are here cautioned against. other places, these heretical teachers are represented as seducing their See his Discourses on Prophecy, Diss. 1. p. 124. It is; however, certain fojio wers, not by the power of miracles, but by the arts of address. . that it is capable of a larger interpretation, as many holy cornmandments h Quite escaped, &c. J The words ovrays aroquyovraç, which is the remain upon record in the New Testament, which might guard them received reading, certainly signify, those who were thoroughly or entirely against the evils referred to in the preceding discourse. - * escaped. But the Alexandrian reading oxygog, which some other copies a This second #} Archbishop Tillotson seems to think this last in some degree imitate, where they do not entirely follow, leaves a strong chapter to be a distinct Epistle by itself. See his Works, vol. ii. p. 718. suspicion on my mind, that the apostle might intend those who had almost Grotius imaginés, that it was written after the, destruction of Jerusalem, zºned. I have theréfore taken a medium, and retaining the usual read; and expresses the triumph of profane men, when . saw that Christ ing in the version, have paraphrased the words in what I apprehend did not come to judgment, as it was expected he would then do. He in- the most natural sense, with some regard to the other copies. fers from hence, that this Epistle was written, not by Simon Peter the apos- j ñrom the holy commandment.] The learned Dr. Sherlock, the late tie, but some other Simon. But I confess I see no reason at all for any Bishop of fondon, interprets this of some directions drawn up by the such conclusion; nor do, I perceive these scoffers were then actually apostſes, relating to the conduct which christians should maintain come, but only predicted. 2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spo- ken before by the holy pro- phets, and of the command- ment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming 2 for since, the fathers feſſ asleep, all things continue as they toere from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished : 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdi- tion of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ig- norant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou- sand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us- ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in, the might; in the which the hea- vens shall pass away with a great noise, and the ele- ments shall melt with ſervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversa- tion and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SCOFFERS AND DECEIVERS. 873 our holy religion, which may be of the greatest importance to your spiritual improvement. SECT- For it is my ardént desire, that in order to your advancement in true religion, you may be mindful of the words which were spoken long before our own time, by the holy ſº who lived in remote ages; and also of the commandment of us the apostles of the Saviour,b who hath condescended, by our instrumentality, to send you messages upon which your salvation evidently depends; a method which divine wisdom and love hath pitched upon to accomplish that important and desirable end; Knowing this first, as what is most necessary to be remembered and considered, that in the last days, which are now approaching apače, there shall come profane mockers,” walking in a most scandalous and licentious manner, according to the impulse of their own ungoverned lusts and appe- tites: And they shall deride the hope of the faithful followers of Christ, saying, “Where is the boasted promise and declaration of his coming, in which these silly deluded creatures reposed so great a confidence? For since the fathers of former ages are fallen asleep,” gll things remain just in the same state and situation as [they º from the beginning of the creation; the times and seasons revolve as they did before, and there is no such marvel- lous interposition of this Jesus, as to turn the sun into darkness, and the moon into blood, to cause the stars to fall from heaven, to bring down vengeance and destruction on all his enemies, and to confer an ample reward on his servants.” But this they willingly are ignorant of, and they continue ignorant of it through affectation, plain and obvious as it is from the word of God, that all nature is in his hand, and at his disposal, and that he can, in whatsoever time and manner he pleases, change and overthrow its universal system; they know and consider not, that by the almighty and ever efficacious word of God, the heavens, with all their host, were produced of old, and the earth subsisting from the water, with which the mass of it was at first covered; till, by the divine command, it emerged from it, and the liquid element flowed to its appointed channel; and God Qrdained that the earth should be nourished and supported by water, which is the life of the vegetable 3 5 creation. Yet that very element from which it had its original and support, became at 6 length, by divine appointment, the means of its destruction; whereby, that is, in con- sequence of which constitution of things, under a different direction and agency of God, the world that then was, being deluged with an irresistible, inundation of water, perished, and every thing upon the face of it was destroyed; none of the human race, or rather ter; restrial animals, surviving, but those who, by God's special providence, were preserved in the ark. It appears from hence credible in reason, as well as certain from divine re- 7 velation, that the earth may be dissolved, and its inhabitants removed. But we know that God has determined to effect this great revolution by a method far different from that of the former; for the heavens and the earth which now [exist] are treasured up, as it were, by the same word, and guarded from all danger of a second deluge of water, being kept to be dissolved by a deluge of fire, on the day which God has appointed for the display of his righteousness at the universal judgment, and for the destruction of ungodly men, who, alas! so generally abound, and towards whom his patience has been so long exercised. This is indeed in the course of divine providence long delayed; but let not this one thing be hid from you, my dearly beloved, that one day [...] with the Lord as a thousand years,f and a thousand years as one day; all the divisions of our time are so absolutely dispropor- tionable to his eternity, that the difference between one and another of them seems to be lost in his presence; and a vengeance certainly to be inflicted after a thousand years, is nearer in his estimation than that which is to be executed to-morrow is in ours. And in- deed as to the delay of this awful season, The Lord is not slow concerning the accom- plishment of his promise to his people, who look for this complete deliverance, as some, under the infirmities of their impatience, may be ready to count [it] slowness : but good reasons are to be assigned for it, most consistent with the perfections of the divine nature, especially this, That he is '..."; towards us, and endures in great compassion, as mot willing that any should perish, but that all should come over to repentance, and thereby to salvation; to which, by the exercise of this patience, he seems tenderly and graciously to invite the worst, and most unworthy of mankind. But will have its period, and this day of retribution will come suddenly and irresistibly; yes, sirs, the day of the Lords will come as a thief in the night, (Matt. xxiv. 43.) will break in upon men, when they least expect it, with a terrible alarm ; even that day, in which the heavens shall pass qugalſ with a great noise, and the elements, of which this goodly frame of nature is composed, being set on fire, shall be dissolved, and the earth and all its works shall be burnt up, so that none of the ornaments of nature or of art shall any longer continue but the whole shall be one undistinguished heap of smoking desolation. persuaded to lay this to heart, and seriously and daily reflect with yourselves, since all these things, which are now so ready to engross your thoughts and your affection, shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in the exercise of holy conversation and piety. We christians, I say, who have the express revelation of these things, how should 12 we be affected with them, looking for, and, as it were, hastening on with our ardent K–3 wishes, the coming of the day of God, though it be attended with so much terror, though b The commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour.] Some translate this clause, The commandment aſ us the apostles aſ vur Lord and Saviour, and would from hence infer that Simon, who wrote this Epis- tle, was not an apostle himself; but the version I have given is most agreeable to the order of the original words. The learned author, whom I mentioned above, (note g, p. 872.) observes, that the apostolic consti- tutions affirm, there was a council of the apostles called on Qccasion of these teachers, whom St. Peter guards against, and that all in common lºſed this advice, which he has admonished the christian converts to regar(i. - - c J.Mockcrs.] Archbishop Tillotson explains this of the Carpocratians; a large sect of the Gnostics, who denied the resurrection of the dead, and the future judgment, and appeared quickly after the writing this Epistle. See Tillotson’s Works, vol. ii. p. 711. * d Since the fathers are fallen asleep.] Mr. Grove would render it, for except that the fathers are fallen asleep; that is, that the inhabitants of the world are continually changing, and new generations rising instead of the old, all other things continue as they were. See Grove’s Addit. Posthum. Serm. vol. i. p. 200. t e Whereby..] Very possibly 6,” &v refers to spavou, the heavens, men- tioned above, and may relate to the cindows of hearen being opened, and pouring forth upon the earth a destructive deluge of water. f One day as a thousand years..] This was, as many have observed, a lº expression amon; the Jews, to signify; that no finite duration ears any proportion to the eternity of God. Plutarch has a passage exactly parallel to it in his discourse on the slowness of the divine ven- geance. g The day of the Lord.] It has always appeared surprising to me, that Dr. Hammond should refer this context to the coming of Christ to the destruction of Jerusalem. Mlr. Ray has most solidly coufuted him at large, in his Thrce Discourses, p. 244, 245. urging the opposition between the deluge, and the day here spoken of in the preceding verses, and that a long delay was intimated in the word, thousand years; whereas the destruction of Jerusalem happened, at furthest, about twenty years after the writing of this Epistle. The day of judgment of ungodly men, mentioned, ver. 7: does also, I think, afford a sufficient answer to this hypothesis ; as well as the mention of a new heaven and earth, as what was immediately to succeed this important scene. - * * e h Hastening on, &c.] This is the emphasis of the original expression according to the version of Erasmus Schmidius, supported by severa 8 9 at length the day of patience 10 O, therefore, be 11 5. ord and 2 PET. III. 11 874 SECT. it be the day in which the heavens being on fire, as I said, shall be dissolved, and the ele- 5. 2 PET. unfailing promise, look for Ilſ. Ver. 5 15, PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SCOFFERS AND DECEIVERS. God, wherein the heavens be- ing on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall me..t with fervent heat 2 .13 Nevertheless we, accor- ding to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- The SS. 14 Wherefore, beloved, see- in; that ye...look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. ments shall melt with ſervent heat? Yet still, through the divine grace, it is a day that we have reason, not only to wish but even to long for, as we, according to the tenor of his a glorious and transporting change, which will then commence, for new heavens and a new earth, new and everlasting abodes, which divine mercy will then open to our raptured view, into which it will conduct us, and in which righteousness, 14 perfect holiness and felicity, digelleth. Therefore, my beloved, bearing these great truths in your minds, give up your whole souls to their influence, and ex ecting these things, these most awſui and important scenes, endeavour with the utmost diligence, that ye may be found by him, by your great Lord, who will preside over even this dissolving world, 15 in peace, and may be presented spotless and blameless before him. And while this triº umphant season is delayed, account the long-suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ to pro- ceed, as it really does, not from the least defect of power, or forgetfulness of his promise but from his gracious desire to promote the salvation of his people, and to afford to ali who are willing to embrace it, an opportunity of securing this final and everlasting deliver- ance; as also, our beloved brother Paul, whom I am far from honouring the less on account ºf his being sent to the Gentiles, according to the wisdom given to him by the inspi- ration of the Holy Spirit, has written. The passage to which I refer, is in a letter imme- diately directed to the Romans, but it may be considered as designed for you, and for the general use of all, christians: I mean that in which he expressly testifies, that the 16 goodness of God leadeth to repentance: (Rom. ii. 4.) .4s also in all [his] other Epistles ; speaking in them of such persons as I have now described; for #; the words are peculiarly applicable to them; in which writings of his, and particularly in that from whence these words are taken, there are some things hard to be understood, which the un- teachablé, and unstable torture and wrest, as they also do other scriptures, whether belonging to the Old Testament or the New, to their own destruction; putting such perverse inter: pretations upon them, with some show or colour of reason, as no candid man would on 17 the whole have thought of, or will admit. You therefore, dearly beloved, knowing [these 17 ye therefore, beloved, things] before, knowing especially in how awful a manner the scene will close, and what i. ...".º,"; dreadful vengeance will be executed on all wicked men, and especially on those that pol- ºil, led ºil ſhe erº lute the church, of Christ, into which they have professed to enter; guard [yourselves, º!ºom your that ye may not, being entangled with the error of the ungodly, fall from your où steadfast: 18 mess, which by God’s assistance you have hitherto retained." But grow in grace more and more; advancing from one stage of practical religion to another, j increasing daily in the knowledge of our divine Lord and almighty and all-gracious Saviour Jesus Christ : to him [be] glory throughout all the churches, and all the creation of God, both now and for ever. Amen. IMPROVEMENT. WHO is there, that can be so sluggish and lethargic, as not to be in some measure awakened and alarmed by the awful views here given of the dissolution, as well as the creation, of the world, by the word of God? Who must not even tremble, when he turns his eye back to the dreadful ruin brought on it by the universal deluge; 6 when that element, which had been, and is, the means and instrument of life to the whole animal creation, at the divine signal became the means and instrument of death 2 Who can be unaffected, when he seriously reflects 10 on the heavens passing away with a great noise?, on the elements melting with fervent heat? on the burning up 3 the earth and all things therein 2 Let scoffers, who walk after their own lusts, madly deride the promise of his coming; let them deliver over their taunts and insults to each other, through the succession of a thousand years: were his coming at the distance of ten thousand generations, or a yet remoter distance, they who have any just 8 impression on their minds of the eternity of God, or the immortality of the human soul, would discern the im- portant day of final retribution as immediate and present to their view. While they scoff and deride the tre- mendous reality, let us hear the declaration of its approach with the profoundest attention ; and let our souls 11 enter deeply into the alarming and important reflection. If indeed we look for such great things as these, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness, that we may be found of him in peace, 14 without spot or blemish 2 And if we desire this blessedness, (as who can fail earnestly to desire it, who hath a firm and steady persuasion of its reality?) can we possibly live in tolerable composure, if we have little or no 18 reason to . we shall obtain an interest and share in it? Let us be all concerned that we may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour; by the knowledge of whom every grace will be greatly revived and strengthened. On these lively and important subjects of meditation let our thoughts frequently dwell, and let us endeavour that the sentiments which result from them may be wrought into our hearts, and 16 control our lives. And as for those hard sayings which occur either in St. Peter or St. Paul, or any other sacred and inspired writer, let us neither wrest and torture them to our own mischief and destruction, nor be so curiously and sedulously diving into their meaning, as to neglect these and the like plain and serious admonitions, this sincere milk of the word, that we may grow thereby. May all the powers of our souls be exerted in securing their deliverance from wrath to come, that so the patience of God, and his long-suffering toward us, may indeed prove salvation. And if that be indeed the case, the light of heaven will mightily illustrate those mysteries both of the divine word and providence, which our weak and defective organs of vision have not enabled us clearly to discern and unfold, while by the comparatively fainter, though in itself glorious, light of revelation, we are guided through this dark and gloomy valley. 15 Aud account that the ong-suffering of our Lord is salvation ; even as our be- loved brother Paul also ac- cording to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto y Ou ; 16 As also in all his epis- tles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be under- stood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. plainly mentioned as spoken of in the Scriptures; this interpretation will still leave us under a necessity of viadicating the º of some part of Scripture. Not to mention that there are several manuscripts of considerable authority, which read ev ais, which expressly refers to St. Paul’s Epistles.—It is remarkable, that Barclay explains this of the ninth chapter of the Romans, in which there are some things which seem to be contrary to God’s long-suffering to all, and which are very liable to be perniciously acrested. See Barcl. Apol. p. 155. It is by many writers pertinent quotations from the classics, by Raphelius, (Jānnot... ex: Polyb. and ex Herod, in loc.) and by Mr. Blackwall, (Sacr. Cia'ss. vol. ii. p. 1S).) i Our brother Paul.) It is very evident from hence, not only that St. Peter maintained a reverent regard for Paul, and looked upon him as a brother, but also that he had seen his Epistles before he wrote this. k Has Mcritten to you..] Lord Harrington is of opinion that this refers to some Epistle not now extant, which St. Paul wrote to the ſº of the gate ; imagining the converting and ediſying the Hm to have been a mixed §º. partly managed by the apostles of the circumcision, and justly remarked, that the difficulty is said to affect chiefly apá0s is and artly by those of the ungircumcision. Hiscell. Sacra, Ess. ii. p. 110, arrnpikrot, unteachable and unsteady men, whose prejudices indispose ut as ſ think the whole foundation of this distinction groundless, I look upon this passage as a very instructive ildmonition to all christians, to consider St. Paul, and the other apostles, as writing to them in their Epistles, so far as a similarity of circumstances would admit. In this them for admitting the truth, or whose levity prevents their due solici- tude to retain it; but not persons of humble, teachable minds, resolute in pursuing and maintaining the truth. And the remedy, prescribed, is not laying aside the Scriptures on account of their obscurity, as some view it is of infinite importance that we shot:1:1 consider them as written to us, in like manner as St. Peter tells us, even the ancient prophets con- sidered the great subjects of which these Epistles treat as relating to thern. 1 Pet. i. 12. 1 Soine things hard to be understood.] Some by ev, ot; understand, not the Epistles of St. Paul, but the things spoken of. But as these are would persuade us to do; but a concern to groto in grace, &c.,(ver. 18.) The expression a 7peſ8Aggiv, wrest, or torture, as on the rack, plainly im- plies, that violence is done, by these bad men, to some passages of Scrip- iure, to make them speak an unnatural sense, which may answer their own purposes. And truly he must know little of the history of theologi- cal controversies, who hath not observed many deplorable instances of this. THE F A M H L Y E X P O S ; T O R. . A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES O N THE FIRST CATHOLIC EPHSTLE OF ST. JOHN. THE apostle John, to whom the unanimous suffrage of the ancients hath ascribed this Epistle, is the same with John the Evangélist, who is said to have written his gospel in extreme old age; and, as Eusebius informs us, with a view to record some particulars concerning our blessed Lord, which had been omitted by the other Evangelists, though he explicitly ac- knowledged the truth of their history, as far as it went, and confirmed it by his own testimony. (See Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. iii. cap. xxiv.). According to the title of this Epistle in the old Italic version, and the account which is given us by St. Austin and others, it was written to the christian converts in Parthia, which was a part of the Upper Asia. But in the opinion of the learned Dr. Mill, (see his Prolegom, p. 18. § 150. Edit. Kuster.) this notion had its sole original from a tradition, that the apostle John had preached the gospel in that country; whereas, if we may credit the report mentioned by Eusebius, it was St. Thomas who exercised his apostolical office among the Parthians. Others have conjectured, from some passages in this Epistle, in which the persons, whom St. John addresses, are represented as having known Christ from the beginning, (see chap. ii. 13, 14.) and other places, that he writes only to the Jewish christians, who inhabited Judea and Galilee. But I very much question whether these expressions will support the stress which hath been laid upon them ; and accordingly, in my paraphrase, I have assigned them a more general interpretation. - And as we find nothing but conjecture and uncertainty concerning the persons to whom this Epistle was addressed, so there is very little precision to be expected, in our inquiries concerning the time when it was written. From the apostle's saying, chap. ii. 18, it is now the last time; and chap. iv. 1. that many false prophets are gone out into the world, com- pared with Matt. xxiv. 24. where this is mentioned as a sign of the approaching dissolution of the Jewish common- wealth; some have indeed inferred this Epistle was written a very short time before the destruction of Jerusalem; whereas several others (and in particular Dr. Mill) are of opinion its date should be assigned to the year 91 or 92.—It was probably written before the Apocalypse, as I shall have occasion to observe hereafter, in sect, iv. note b. In the style of this apostle there is a remarkable peculiarity; and especially in this Epistle. His sentences, considered eparately, are exceeding clear and intelligible; but when we search for their connexion, we frequently meet with greater difficulties than we do even in the Epistles of St. Paul. The principal signature and characteristic of his manner is an artless and amiable simplicity, and a singular modesty and candour, in conjunction with a wonderful sublimity of senti- ment. His conceptions are apparently delivered to us in the order in which they arose to his own mind, and are not the product of artificial reasoning, or laboured investigation. His leading design is, “To demonstrate the vanity of faith separate from morality, to soothe and refine the warm and over-zealous tempers of the christians to whom he writes, into that amiable charity and love for which he himself was so eminent and illustrious, and to guard and arm them against the snares and efforts of antichrist, the grand apostate and seducer of the christian church; and of all who were endued with his spirit.” In pursuance of which pious and benevolent intention, he first testifies the divine purity and holiness, and the grace and mercy which is exhibited in Jesus Christ, to all who lament and confess their sins with sincere desires of reformation and amendment. (Chap. i. 1, to the end.) And then he urges the propitiation and intercession of Christ, as arguments to that obedience, that brotherly love, and that victory over the world, which are the genuine fruits of divine love. (Chap. ii. 1–17.) And that they might not be perverted from their course of fidelity and holy obedience, he forewarns them of the many antichrists who were springing up in the world; directing them to the best preservatives against their seducing and insmaring doctrines. (Ver, 18–28.) With the same intention of awaking a generous ambition in their breasts to attain the divine resemblance, he discourses of those exalted privileges to which christians, as the children of God, are entitled, and urges the necessity of holiness, both in heart and life, to prove that we are in that blessed number. (Ver. 29–chap. iii. 10.) In this view, namely, as the grand characteristic of the children of God, he further enforces brotherly love. (Ver. 11, to the end.) Cautioning them more particularly against being deceived by seducing spirits, and directing them in what manner they might distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (Chap., iv. 1-12.) Drawing to a conclusion, with declaring his general design to be the confirmation of their faith; reminding them, of the ground they had to hope their prayers should be heard fºr themselves and others, who had not sinned unpardonably ; and at the close, adding a reflection on the happy difference which their knowing God in Jesus Christ had made between them and an ignorant and ungodly world. (Wer. 13, to the end.) A P A R A P H R A S E A N D NOTES ON THE FIRST CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN. SECTION I. THE APOSTLE JOHN QPENS THE PIO US AND CHARITABLE DESIGN WIHICH HE HAD IN WRITING THIS EPISTLE, AND TION OF WHAT HE HAS FURTHER TO SAY, IN BEARING HIS THESTIMONY TO THE HOLINEss HE EXHIBITS IN JESUS CHRIST TO ALL WHO ARE TRULY REFORMATION AND AMENDMENT. OF GOD 1 JOHN i. 1, TO THE EN 1 John i. VER. I. SECT: MY christian brethren, I am now going to address you on a very important subject; to speak of that which was from the beginning of the gospel-declaration, and indeed from the beginning of the world, and previous to its existence ; of that which we have heard most 1 JOHN credibly attested by authentic witnesses, and that which we have not taken merely on their | credit, but have seen with our own eyes ; we are going to treat of that which we have atten- tively looked upon,” and viewed so near and so ſong. that it is impossible we should mis- take in it; and which, in allusion to the condescension of our blessed Redeemer in submitting himself to be examined by our touch and feeling, I may venture to say that 2 even our hands have handled of the word of eternal life. And well may it be styléd the word of life; for even Jesus, who himself is the living Word, and eternal Life, was graci- ously manifested in human flesh for the redemption of sinful men; and we saw [it] in its full evidence, and we cheerfully bear our renewed testimony, and declare unto you that eternal Life, which from the foundation of the world was with the Father, most intimately conversant with him, and united to him ; but in due time, by assuming the human nature into a union with the divine, was manifested to us with all the genuine characters of the 3 promised Messiah. And in consequence of this, what we have seen and intimately con- versed with, and have not only heard of, but have ourselves heard speaking to us, we de- clare unto you; that ye also may have communion with us in that dignity and felicity to which we are by divine grace exalted; and truly it is a glorious privilege, well worthy your most ready acceptance and earnest pursuit; for our communion [is] with God the Father, and with his only-begotten San Jesus Christ, as we are happy in an intimate and 4 inseparable union with each. , .4nd these things we write to you, that the divine life may be so improved in your souls, and your meetness for the heavenly inheritance may be so ap- parent, and so advanced, that your } may, as far as possible, be fulfilled, and no circum- stance, which this mortal state will admit, may be wanting to complete it. . . s ...And this is the great declaration which we have heard from him, upon which our faith most cheerfully centres, and which we again declare unto you, that God is perfect Light,” consummate knowledge and holiness; and in him there is no darkness at all, not the feast 6 mixture of ignorance or of sin. And if we pretend to say that we have communion with him, and walk in darkness, that is, go on in the practice of sin, which is as contrary to his holy nature as darkness is to that of light, whatever professions we may make of our ac- quaintance with christianity, and of being zealous for its interest, we lie, and do not the 7 truth, but act in direct opposition to it. . But if, on the other hand, we walk in the light of holiness, as he himself is ever in the light of it, and surrounded with it as his brightest glory, we have then communion with him, and with one another in him; and though we are in- deed conscious to ourselves of many past offences, for which so holy a God might for ever banish us from his presence, and of many remaining imperfections, which might discou- rage our approaches to him, we have this grand consolation, that the blood % Jésus Christ 8 his Son cleanses us from all our sins, be they ever so numerous, or ever so heinous. And indeed it is a consolation which we absolutely need; for if we say that we have no sin, it is too evident that we grossly deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ;...we must be desti- tute of every good principle, if we are utterly insensible of our own guilt and imperfection. 9 But if we confess our sinsd to God, with a becoming lowliness and contrition of spirit, he 5 LAYS THE FOUND 3. , AND TO THE MERCY WHICH §ssible OF THEIR SINS, AND CONFESS THEM WITH STRCERE DESIREs of 1 Johs i. VER. I. THAT which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have ooked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was mani- fested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto, you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we untó you, that ye also may have fellowship with us ; and truly Qur, fellowship is with the Father... and with his Son jesus óhrist. 4 And these things write We unto You, that your joy may be full. 5.This then is the message which we have heard of him, and deglare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him,and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth : a That which we have attentively looked upon : 8 effeazap!60a.], Mr. Blackwall observes, (in his Sacr. Class. vol. ii. . 152.) that it is by no means synonymous with the former clause, but hath a more emphatical -signification, namely, that of beholding attentively, with a kind of delight and admiration. * 2 * b. Our hands, have handled.]. This, probably refers to Thomas’s hay in insisted upon handling Christ’s body, in proof of his resurrection; which being perinitted, was a confirmation of this important fact to aii after. ages. Dr. Berriman supposes these words were particularly levelled against the Menandrians, who denied the real existence of the flesh of for light discovers all things ble of any pollution ; and orks, D. & See Dr. Bates's Christ, and asserted that it was only a visible appearance : therefore caſſed 60km)7al, and pavraataa Tat. d If we conſess our sins.] This so evidently refers to º sins to God, and not to the priest, that one could hardly forbear 7. But if we walk in the fight, as he is in the light, we have lºſſ one with an- other, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he - they were See his Hist. of the Trin. . 77. D c, God is Light.] This expresses his most clear and perſect knowledge, ings; his unspotted holiness, for light is incapa! his sovereign goodness, and happiness, for light joined with vital heat, inspires pleasure into universal nature. Qur elng THE PROPITIATION OF CHRIST AN ARGUMENT TO HOLINESS. iſºlºiº is not only merciful and gracious, but gº! and just, to forgive us our sins, in considera- 5 ECT. - t #########" * tion of his engagements to our great Surety, and to us by him, and effectually to cleanse its from all unrighteousness, by his atoning blood, and the influence of that sanctifying Spiri . which it has purchased for us. 10 If we say that we have This is our ground of confidence, and our refuge as sinners; and let us often renew our #.; ...º.º. applications to it: for as on this foundation we are indeed secure, so, on the other hand, if we are so rash and presumptuous as to say that we have not sinned, we not only, lie Qur- selves, which in every instance must be displeasing to the God of truth ; but we, in effect, make him a Liar, e who in the constitution of the gospel which he hath sent to all, goes on a supposition, that every soul to whom it is addressed is under guilt and condemnation. ...}consequently, if we assert and maintain our own personal innocence, we shall show that his word is not in us, that this humbling message of his grace has never been cordially received by us, nor hath produced its genuine effects on our hearts. IMPROVEMENT. How seriously should we attend to the word of life, when addressed to us by those who were so intimately acquainted with it, and with him who brought it and revealed it to the world ! In like manner may all concerned In dispensing it be able to say, that it is what they have heard, and, as it were, seen and handled; yea, tasted and felt in all its sweetness and energy. Jesus Christ is indeed that Life which was with the Father, and is now mani- fested unto us: may we ever regard him as such, and have communion with John, and the other sacred writers, in their communion with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Surely they who by experience know the delight and benefit of that communion, will desire that others may be partakers of it with themselves. Their own joy, instead of being diminished, will be rather rendered more complete and intense, by being in this manner in- parted to others. Nothing can be of more importance than to form right and worthy conceptions of God; and that we may do so, let us reflect on him as the purest and even unmingled Light, without any the least shade of darkness; as Truth in erfection, without any mixture of falsehood or evil. And let us be particularly concerned, that as we desire to ave fellowship with him, we allow not ourselves to walk in darkness of any kind, but put off all its works, that we may put on the whole armour of light, and walk in the light, as he is of the light. Let every action of our lives, every thought of our hearts, be brought to the light of the gospel, and tried and proved according to it. And as it would be very vain and criminal in us to deny our having any sin, as it would be self-deceit to imagine it, and self-confusion to affirm it, let us, with humble thankfulness, apply to that blood which is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Most freely confessing our sins, in all their aggravations, so far as our weak and limited thoughts can attain to the view of them, let us humbly plead his promise and his covenant; and then fidelity and justice will join with mercy, to insure our deliverance from the punishment they merit: so that instead of being, as we have deserved, companions in condemnation and ruin, we shall share together in that complete freedom from all the penal consequences of sin, which will be the portion of all those who truly repent and obey the gospel. SECTION II. Further to Pºgº that holiness of temper which it is the great design of this Fº tº recommend, the apostle urges the propitiation and inter- sº O §: and º necessity of showing our love to God, by obedience, by brotherly iove, and by overcoming the immoderate joyo of the world. l John ii. 1–17. 1 Joh N ii. 1. 1 John ii. 1. *...*, fº. PERMIT me now to address myself to you, with all tenderness and endearment, as my º Yie Aºi. ; ... little children, and to assure you, that I write these things concerning the readiness of ºlygºwº God to forgive sin, not to encourage you to offend, but with a contrary purpose, that you ; : *** may not sin. And ſhope you wiſconsider it as your highest interest, ſo guard against that greatest and most formidable of all evils. But if any man, through the surprisé of a violent temptation, and remaining infirmity of human nature, do fall into sin, let him not absolutely despair, as if his case were hopeless; for we have still this great and important consolation; that if we are true believers, we have an Advocate with the Father, to plead for our pardon and renew our peace, even Jesus Christ, the righteous One; that great ex- alted Saviour, who was himself, by way of eminence, and in such a degree as no other erson dwelling in human flesh ever was, so perfectly righteous, that his obedience abso- 2 Andhe is the pronitiation lutely answered the demands of the divine law in all its extent and purity. ..ſind he is the §ºi...ºf great Propitiation for our sins, to whom, under that character, we have fied with cheerfil the whole world. confidence; and it is a joy to us to reflect, that he is not only the Propitiation for ours, but also [for the º of the whole world;b no nation under heaven is excluded from a share in the blessings he hath purchased, nor shall any person whatsoever be excluded, let his ini- quities have been ever, so great and aggravated, if he be disposed to make a proper applica- 3 And hereby we do know tion to him. And by this certain mark and evidence, we know that we are acquainted with fºr "keep him to the most happy, and effectual purposes, even if we faithfully and uprightly keep all his 4 He , that saith, l know commandments. For he that Saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar; º, jº, he falsely pretends to a knowledge of him, of which he is quite destitute ; and therefore in "º":swed hi this respect the truth is not [in him.]. But whosoever uprightly and impartially keepeth his r S Kee ! Lil º , º * s * g $ * * & - - *'. wº...","...” º is §: word, in him. certainly is the love of God perfected: It is plain he has It truly in his heart, love of God §fº. astonished that it should ever have been urged in behalf of auricular the ancients. Ilarris’s Obscrp. p. 49—61. confession ; if it were not for the many examples we have of such shame- illustrates the matter more, than the reside ful and preposterous reasoning in the arguments which are pleaded in from distant provinces in the courts of great princes of "stºs' whose favour of popery, * w e s - - - - business, it was constantly to negociate with them the affairs of thºs. e We make him a Liar..] This text plainly implies, that christianity whom they represented, to vindicate them from any unjust aspersions does in effect assert, that we are all in a degenerate state, and conse- and to advance their interest to the utmost of their poºr. sy 3 quently is a clear proof of the corrupti b For the sins i * r * is os }}. word advocate, in our language, ints of the ghole corld.]. Mr. Reyner has urged this as a Perhaps there is nothing that nce of some eminent persons Jān Jād ith the Father.] ion of human nature. a Jān Advocate wi we Father. - - * - roof, that the g ’s death sh; * At 6: ex- or--> gºjº. ... .º.º.º.º.º. cature; but Dr. Samuel Harris hath taken great pains to show, that § any prejudice by our acknowledging, that if there are thºse wi. properly signifies the same with patron amongst the Romans, or niny in ºilº tºmºrºi."j". , accepted of God, in consil the Hebrew, a great person, who, used to patronize the cause of some deration of the atonement which Śrī. 'hath made. But this wiil'bºno Qf inferior, rank, and who was also a sponsor for their, good behaviour. means prove the doctrine of ºligºsi redemption, in the sense in which y this, he imagines several scriptures may be illustrated, and particularly some persons have stated it. But it sééns tºº... that."h. apostle is to Isa. l. 7–9. Job xxix., 12. Psal. lxxii. 12. Job xxxiii, 23, &c. And in gon- be understood as speaking only of all those who believe, whether Jews firmation of this sentiment he brings some remarkable quotations from or Gentiles, over the whole world. hereby and does not, like those who are regardless of the divine authority, make a vain and hypo- 877 !. 1 I J ſh; IN $. () Wor; 1 2 3. 4 6 7 10 SECT. © * * 1 JOHNW l 2 3 4 5 ll. 878 # * * 1 * SEC 2. 1 Jūi IN .- Ił. 7 8 9 H() } } º 2 13 } { I6 PERSUASIONS TO MUTUAL LOVE. critical pretence to it. And by this we know that we are interested in the son of lºited to him by this influence of our faith upon our practice. He that saiti, he abiliſ, i. him, and pretends a claim to his saving benefits, ought himself so to walk as he, whom he calls his divine Master, walked when he was here on earth. He ought in every thing to rage ºnd endeavour to imitate his example. - 8-> And this is so obvious and natural a truth, that I persuade myself, brethren, ye already know it; for herein I write no new commaminent to you, but the old commandment, founded in natºre, recommended by the Mosaic law, and that which ye had especially inculcated ..from the beginning of your acquaintance with the gospel, the great practical intent of which Was, doubtless, presently madé known to you, by whomsoever it" was preached. I may therefore well say, it is ile old commandment; for it is the ºri phich you heard from the beginning of your acquaintance with christianity. yet considering its peculiar obligations, and the new motives with which it is enfºrced upon us continº ly, I may say again, a ºte cºmmandment I write to you, which expression is true in him, and in you, for he has laid is under new engagements to observe it, by his admirable love declared and exhibited to us; because the darkness of heathenism, and twilight of the Jewish state, is now passed a gay, and the true light moto shineth, and in proportion to our knowledge, he may reason- ably expect, that our care to act suitably should be awakened. He that saith he is in the light, that he enjoyeth, that he understands and receives the gospel, and hateth his brother, and dºes him any designed injury, is in the darkness even till noiſ. And his ineffectual acquaintance with some principles of religion, which do not influence his heart to charity and beneficence, will, as to his real and final happiness, stand him in no stead. But he that lºveth his brother abideth in the light, he improves the advantages which he enjoys by the christian religion, and as he answers its end, he will continually share the pleasure and the security which it gives; for there is no occasion of stumbling in him ; this will secure him from giving any just cause of offence; whereas thé malevolent passions turn a thousand circumstances into temptations, which prove fatal to a man's credit and repose in this World, ºnd his salvation in the next, Bit, on the contrary, as I said before, he who hatch his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness; and the consequence of that is, that as one who walketh in the night, without any light to guide him, knows not whither he goeth; so such an one, while he flattereth himself with hopes of salvation on account of his knowl. edge and profession, is really ignorant of his own state, because darkness hath blinded his ciſes; and so he is in the utmost danger of falling, before he is aware, into the bottomless pit, from whence there is no redemption. …” These things I say unto you, and they are of universal concern; I hope therefore you Will all attend to them, and improve them for your own advantage. } write unto you, little children, amongst the rest, to guard the least and weakest of you against sin: becausé by his name, even the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has made an atonement for them, fºur sins are forgiven you, and I am very solicitous that you may make all due rºtºn fºr so inestimable a favour, as a pardon purchased at the expensé of such sacred blood. * * * because ye have heard of his divine dignity and glory, who was in the beginning, who was with God, and himself God; that ye may behave aright towards that Divine Saviour, Who submitted to such abasement for us, though originally he was so exalted and glorious. I write to you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one, have bravely bid defiance to his allurements and terrors, in taking upon you, in so solemn a manner, the christian profession; and I would by no means have you disgrace the victory you have already gained. I write to you, little children,*] because even the youngest of you have known God as the Father of his people, have been taught to call upon him as your Father in heaven; and I desire you may with all filial reverence and love approve your- selves dutiful and grateful to him under that relation. And (as I have before said) I have God, and written to you, fathers, because ye have known him who is from the beginning ; so also I have weritten to you, young men, because ye are strong, you are in the full vigour of nature; and may God preserve your hearts in a right frame, and lengthen out your lives to do him much service in future and distant years. ..And this may the rather be expected, as the word of God abideth in you, as you have been instructed in the principles of divine truth by your pions parents and other teachers, and many of you have given noble specimens of the good effects of their instructions, in that ye have already overcome the wicked one in many of his attacks; for otherwise ye could not have assumed the profession of the christian faith in these circumstances, nor have retained it for such a length of time. ** And now, whatever your age, station, and circumstances may be, suffer me to address to you one further word of exhortation; which is this, Love not the world, nor the things [which are] in the world, in an irregular and excessive degree ; for if any one love the world with too great an attachment, and have his heart chiefly set on its interests or its pleasures, it may justly be concluded, that the love of the Father is not in lº, ; for there is a real inconsistêncy between the love of the world in this sense, and that of God; Yºhl Cí) will easily appear, when we consider what we may justly understand by the world ; For all that is in the world, when it comes to make up the largest catalogue of good things which it can promise to those who eagerly and idolatrously pursue it, [is] to be compre- bended under these three well known particulars, the lust of the fiesh, that is, the pleasur- [f write to you, fathers, because je have known him that is from the beginning ; , know we that we are in | | Iłl. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 7 Brethren, I write no new cominand ment unto you, but an ºld, contmandment which §§ hal, from the beginning. he old commandment is the Word which ye have hearl from the beginning. S Age is a new command- mºnt I write unto you, which thing is -true in him and in you : because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 9. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his bro- ther abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11, But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in , darkness, apd knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 12, I write unto you, little children, because your sius are forgiven you for his name’s sake 13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. Write u into you, young Inon, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14 f have written unto you, fathers, because ye have tnoyvn him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the worl of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wick- ed one. 1.5 Love not thc world, nei- ther the things that are in the worl:!. If any man love the worki, the love of the Father is not in hiºn. 16. For all that is in the world, the Just of the flesh and the Just of the cyes, and able indulgence of - • A 4 -, +! our carnal appetites; and the lust of the eyes, that is, the acquisition of c To arou, little children, &c.] There is such an apparent tautology in these three verses, as cabºot, that I know of, be eggalled in any ºther part of Scripture. Some have imagined, that the signification of little children here, (in the original Trutówá,) is different fiom that in the 12th verse, (where the word is rexvia, which Wolfius says is used to signify christians in general; whereas ratówa refers either to those who are young in years, or Jately converted to christianity. See Cura. Philolog. vol. v. p. 259.) And they have supposed the meaning of the apostle’s exhortation, here is, that as one of the first persons children become ac- quainted with is their father, so they should know God, and improve more and more in a practical acquaintance with him; and each of these congratulations contains a tacit exhortation to go on in that which he commends them for, or congratulates them upon But on the whole, forgiven—because ye have known the Father: comparing the beginning of the J3th with the 14th verse, where the same words are repeated, I am ready to conjecture, that if they were written in the original, they were left out again, and were written more ſº afterwards in the 14th : and consequently, that, all that should be re- tained, is the last clause of it, in connexion with the 12th., Your sins are - . ther. Thus all tautology is avoided, and overy sentiment and expression in either of the verses is preservéd. I have therefore englosed in a parenthesis all that part, both of the text and paraphrase, which may be left out without taking away any thing from the sense, or burdening it with an unnecessary repetition. § #. an irregular and excessive, degree.] . It is plainly necessary to attend to such a limitation ; for otherwise there is a degree of love to worldly enjoyments which is rational, and which we must have for them, or we cannot in a proper manner attend to the duties of life. CAUTIONS AGAINST THE ANTICHRIST THAT SHOULD ARISE. 879 is not of the money, which, if not expended for other purposes for which it is designed, only serves us SECT. ** to behold and count over; and the pride of life,” some ambitious pursuits, in consequence 2. of which we may make a parade in the eyes of our fellow-creatures for a little while, in our way to the grave, which is to strip us of it all. Now it is evident that [these things.] considéred as the food of luxury, avārice, and ambition, are not of the Father, but of the world. It plainly appears that God, considered as the Author of all good, cannot be pleased º such affections and pursuits; and it would be profane to stippose that they are produced or excited by him, or that the prevalence of them can be acknowledged by him, as consistent with his love in the heart. Endeavour, therefore, my brethren, to get more and more above such snares and entanglements as these ; and so much the rather, as the world, and all the lurury of it, and whatever belongs to it, which can serve to the gra- tification of our desires, passes away like a glaring pageant, which only amuses the eye for a few transient moments, and then disappears. But he that doth the will of God faith- fully and steadily, abideth for ever; he hath built his happiness upon a basis which nothing can remove, and accordingly finds it secure, even when he quits this momentary world, and enters on an eternal and unalterable state, IMPROVEMENT. OFTEN let us be lifting up our eyes and our hearts to him who is our great Advocate with the Father: too fre- quently do the infirmities of our lives demand our application to him under that character. I.et us rejoice that he is Jesus Christ the righteous, that he is the Lord our Righteousness. While we joy in him as the Propitiation for our sins, let it comfort our heart to think how wide the efficacy of his atonement extends. O that all the world might be engaged to apply to him under this important consideration Q that all those who profess so to apply to him, might remember how necessary it is, that if they would show they indeed know him, they should keep his commandments: this, rather than any of those passionate transports of mind, on which some are ready to lay so great a stress, is the perfection of love to God. May the Spirit of Christ impress upon us more of our Master's image, and teach us with greater care and exactness to order our walk and conversation by his example. Since we have an illustrious light to direct our path, let us make use of it to this purpose, lest eternal darkness come upon us. Let us learn the divine lesson we are here taught, to love our brethren, and gradually to rise higher above that love of the world, that attachment to temporal and present interests, which is inconsistent with the love of the Father! When we are tempted too fondly to admire, or too eagerly to pursue, this gaudy pageant, let us survey the inventory here given of its boasted treasures. Let us compute the most it can even pretend to cºnſºr upon us, and impartially weigh all that can gratify the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, against those solid pleasures which arise from the love of God, against those infinite benefits, which will finally result from it. They who do his will abide for ever, nor is their removal from this º and transitory world any objection against it. Yea, rather, how would it be possible, or how desirable, they should abide for ever, were not a removal from such a mitable, such an unsatisfying, and in many respects afflicting world, to make a part of the plan formed by Divine Providence and grace in their favour. the pride of life, Father, but is of 1 JOHN I [. I6 I 17 And the world passeth 7 i.". and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Ver. I 2 3, SECTION III. The apostle discourses of the antichrists which then besan to arise in the world, and directs christians to the best preservalives against their seducing doctrines. º º e 8–28 1 John ii. I Joiſ N ii. 18. AND now, my beloved, dear to me as little children to the most affectionate parents,” attend to my cautions against those many seducers, with which not only the world, but even the church, abounds. It is indeed the last time; b the last dispensation God will ever give to the world is now promulgated; and it is no wonder if Satan endeavour to the utmost to adulterate a system from which his kingdom has so much to fear. . .4nd as you have heard, that one great seducer, from his opposition to Christ called antichrist, is com- ing, so I must assure you, that even now there are many aspiring and interested men, who act in such opposition to the Redeemer's cause, and the whole purpose of his appearance, that though they profess his name, they may not improperly be called antichrists," by which indeed we may know that this is the last time; for whén we compare this event with the predictions of our Lord, it is so far from contradicting them, that indeed it is a great ac- complishment and illustration of them. Once indeed they pretended to join themselves to us; but that it was only a hypocritical pretence to christianity which they made, ap- pears from the issue of it; they went out from among us, and yet they were riot, upon the Whole, Qf its, nor did truly belong to our number, while they seemed to adhere to us. For if they had ever been sincerely of us, so as to feel the inward power of our gospel on their hearts, they would doubtless have continued with us; upright men would never have seen any cause to leave is, and divine grace would have preserved such from the temptations by which thºse artful deceivers have been inshared. But [this hath happened, that they might be made apparent, and that we might also reap an advantage from the detection of their hypocrisy, because it would thereby appear, that all who join with us in external forms are not indeed of us;4 but that even in the purest churches, there may be a mixture of tºres among the wheat, which it will be prudence to remember, and to guard against. •And, as for you, I hope and trust you will not be seduced by them; for je have an in- ward anointing of the Holy One, even the Spirit of purity and joy, which Christ, the 1 Jo HN ii. 18. LITTLE children, it is the last time : and as ye have heard that antichrist shall conne, cven now are the ce many antichrists ; whereby we know that it is the last time. SECT . sº *C. 1 JOHN | I. IS 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have con- tinued with us : but they acetit out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 2) But ye have an unction e The pride of life : a) ačºvsta Ts 318.] Erasmus Schmidius under- stands this of that vain and empty boasting of the continuance of life, and of projects to be executed in some future part of it, which St. James condemns. (James iv. 16.) Raphelius seems to have been at first of the Sume opinion; (see Jºnnot. ex: Xenºph. in loc.) but afterwards from the use of the word a Mašovsta, in Polybius, (see Jānnot. ex: Polyb. in loc.) he and therefore he imaginess that in this place there is a peculiar propriety in this appellation. See Crad. Apost. Hist. p. 489. The last time.] Some explain this of the last age of the Jewish church and commonwealth, because it was the period in which our Sã. yiour had foretold the rise of many false Christs; and this observation, to be sure, is material ; but the expréssion of the last time, from compar’ *. was disposed to understand it in general of the splendour and lurury which vain persons affect in their whole manner of living. But more strictly,the phrase axa.oveva rg 8ts refers to that ambitious turn of mind, which prompts men to engage in all those pursuits, which will supply materials for their vanity, and enabis them to make a figure in the Wörii See Wolfii Citra, Philolog. in loc. - - a Little children.] Mr. Cradock has observed that little children are not, so apt to love the wºrld; but seem, by reason of the weakness of their understandings, more likely to be seduced by artful and designing men; ing other Scriptures, seems to be more extensive. c Many antichrists.] Dr. Whitby explains these antichrists of unbe- lieving Jews opposing christianity. I rather understand them to be apostates, who had once professed themselves christians, and brought in pernicious, heretical motions. * d That they might be made apparent, because all are not of us : 67 t ovk tº at navrºs & hºov.] Thus, I think, these words may be rendered ; and the meaning is, that as there are some who only pretend to be christians, when they are not, and for some secular end mingle themselves with us, 880 CAUTIONS AGAINST THE ANTICHRIST THAT SHOULD ARISE. SE : T. Holy One of God, hath poured forth upon us; and ye know all things relating to chris- from the Holy one, and yo 3. 1 JOHN II. 2 I 2 2: 2 3 24 2 5 6 27 tianity in such an experimental manner, as will effectually preserve you against those know all things snares of this vain world which have been ruinous to those unhappy apostates I have just mentioned. And as to what I have now said, I have not written to you, because ye know 21 I have not writt t not the truth, nor have I entered so largely into the discussion of this matter as would ſº tº: then have been necessary; but, on the contrary, have contented myself with these short Hº ºff. hints, because you know it, and I am desirous to confirm you in it, and to awaken your zeal * to join with me in testifying it to others, and opposing the many false doctrines which are taught in opposition to it: for every lie is not of the truth; there is an irreconcilable in- consistency between truth and falsehood, and the more you are confirmed in the one, the ... º will you guard against and oppose the other. And who is a liar and a .22 Whº jºt he tº se . in º: mºst dangerous sense that can be imagined, but he that denieth that Jesus # "#. *"...ºhiº. is the Christ?e This is the most pernicious of all errors, and tends most directly to over- ºftenieth the Father and throw all virtue and religion in the world, and utterly to subvert and destroy men's souls; "“” and he who maintains this detestable doctrine, is in a sense antichrist, who in effect denies both the Father and the Son: For however some may pretend a zeal for the honour of sº Whosoever denieth the God, while they are crying down that of our Lord Jesús Christ, yet so it is, that every one ºf tº who denieth the Son, hath not any real regard to the Father, nor any interest in him: for ºth the Son ####. God hath declared, with an evidence which all who sincerely love and honour him will also. not fail to receive, that no man cometh to the Father but by Christ; that he is well pleased in him as his beloved Son, and maintains a favourable intercourse with sinful men only by him. . [But he who acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also,ſ] and taketh the most effectual method to secure the continuance of his favour. .4s for you, therefore, to whom I now address myself, let what I here say be improved nºtºriº ºil: by way of caution to yourselves; be on your guard against the numerous artifices of those }...º.º. who would insnare and seduce you, and let that word, which you have heard from me, at Nº. heard from the the beginning of the gospel, abide in you so steadily, that no man may ever wrest it from º isºlº you, And if it be indeed so, and that word which ye have heard from the beginning thus ******** abide in you, you also will abide in that state of blessed union, in which you are, with the Son and the Father; you will dwell under their united protection, and find a source of de- light springing up in your souls from communion with them, to which there is nothing comparable in any of the enjoyments of the present world. And this will readily be ac- 25 And, this is the prºmise knowledged, if you only consider with what "exalted hopes you will then be supported: ;...ºf." " for this is the promise which he hath promised to us, (which w; I mention, I cannot but & exceedingly rejoice in the consideration of my own interest in it,) even the possession of that invaluable treasure, etermal life, in comparison of which, whether we consider its ex- cellence or its duration, all the glories of the world, and even the world itself, are lighter than vanity, and unworthy the reflection of a single moment. - These things therefore I have written unto you concerning those who would deceive you,” ºi, º, and rob you of that inestimable treasure, §: you may guard against them with the jº. §§" utmost vigilance. ...And I trust this will indeed be the case, for as for you in general, I º' ºth. sºlºinº; esteem you sincere in the profession of your religion, and therefore may reasonably say, ădºin'... . ... that the unction of the Holy Spirit which you have received from him, who hath given you #":"; "..."; the promise of eternal life, abideth in you perpetually and powerfully; and in consequence teacheth you of all things, an thereof, you have no such necessity as others, that any one should teach you the first prin- ...","ä"... º.º. ciples of true religion. But let it be your care uprightly and humbly to yield up your yeshall abide in him. souls to the superior instructions of this divine Spirit; and as this same unction from him teachelh you concerning all things, and it is true, and has no mixture, of falsehood in it, even as that has taught you, abide in him to whom by that Spirit ye are thus vitally united. abide in him ; that, when he 28 Yea, let me now repeat it again, as a matter of the highest importance, º: in Aldº, Ver. I 22, 2 2 2 8 3 5 sº t one word the whole of our duty and happiness; my dear christian friends, dear to me as hajjarº. We may have iſſile children to their affectionate parents, abide in him, that when he shall appear, as he jº - * * * - 3 5 ed before hirn at his coming. assuredly will, in all his pomp and glory, we may have humble boldness, and nº ºf be put to shame and confusion before him at his coming; but may welcome him with cheer- fulness, as those who have approved their fidelity to him, and expect by his grace an abundant reward. IMPROVEMENT. Let us not be surprised, if there are some who revolt from christianity in our days; evincing thereby the in- 19 sincerity of their former professions: since even the apostolic age produced some instances of this kind. But nºtwithstanding this, the foundation of God standeth firm, and the ord knoweth them that are his. ... (2 Tim. ii. 19.) They will continue united with his church in faith and love, and no temptation will be able entirely to se- parate them from it. * - vain are all pretences to adhere to the Father, if we desert the Son. To his gospel therefore let us steadfastly cleave, animated by the infinitely important promise of eternal life. Can we go to another Saviour 2 Can we expect from any other hand a nobler, or even an equal, reward? May we all, who profess a relation to him, re- ceive an anointing from above, which may teach us all those things it is of importance for us to know, and God has suffered these to be discovered, to awe and alarm others who profane authors, in which a person is said to do a thing which he may yet be concealed. a - - - âttempts. See Mr. Blackwall’s Sacr: Clgs: vol. i. p. 121. - - º' fººh ºf jesus is the Christ.] Some are of opinion this Waj, Wºº- h ific unction which you have received frºgſ; hint: &c.] The §§ ten against Cerinthus, who in his doctrine separated Jesus from Christ, Gad is compared to an angiºtº because of his precious and §j maintaining them to be two distinct persons, and denied him to be the gifts which rendered christians more fit to encounter with their spiritua §."j"º.” Sºe Dr. Berriman's. Hist; of the Trin. p. 38. Compºſe enemieś, Wrestlers were anointed with oil to make them fitter for f." Vºhijs Bºaº, to this Epistle. Mr. Baxter also takes in the Si- their various exercises, and to prey ºnt the ºlyanº which might jºonials, Wiemandrians, and Carpocratians, with other heretics in those otherwise be taken against them. Whether this passage will be ſess Qarīyazás. Baxter’s Wºrks, vol. iii. p. 38. * capable of yielding support to the popjsh doctrine of £hrism, or that of ##ji, a ſºciełgeth the Son, hath the Father also..], These words, he Čuakers, which assºrts such an inspiratiºn of all christians as ren- whi:; five included in crotchets, are generally printed in our Version ders the office of a stated ministry unpegºsº, t , hard to *; Qom- i."ºlic characters; but they, are to be found in sº ſºy good manu- pare Limborgh's Theol. V. 77. 4. and Barclay’s Apology, p. 52, With scripts, that I cannot but believe, they made a part of the original, by relation to the latter, it may be of some moment, to observe, that the * nºt t, ident they were omitted in some early cº to which, as christian ministry was in the highest repute, in the church, when the gifts Whatever accide y - - § * - * -* * * - t in t test abund it seems, too much regard has been paid. See Mills and Wetstein, in loc. of the Spirit were poured down º It l In LI) e . a pundance. g Those who jould deceive you..] It is, in the original, they who do de- i Unction teacheth you all things.]...it seems º; from hence, that ceive you; but it is plain, as has often been observed, from the com- ºvery christian is supposed to have been anointe by the Holy Ghost. jeºdāīoss given them elsewhere, that it signifies no more than an But as it would be mºst absurd i. pronounge. it impossible that a man ºr to seduce; and there are many passages, both in sacred and in any degree of error should be a true christian, it plainly shows in .* THE EXALTED PRIVILEGES OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 881 which may engage us to abide in him with inseparable fidelity. Yet a little while, and he will again come, will SECT. appear with a glory which will warrant and will reward the firm attachment we have manifested to his interests. May, we not, at that important period, have reason to be ashamed before him; may he not be ashamed of us; but having confessed him before men, may we be confessed by him before (Luke xii. 8.) SECTION IV. The apostle discourses concerning the exalted privileges of the children of God, to which all true christians are entitled, and urges of a holy temper, and of a holy life, in order to demonstrate that we are of that happy number. 1 Joh N ii. 29. IF ye know that he is right- cous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. 1 John ii. 29. iii. 1–10 I Jo HN ii. 29. I HAVE before been discoursing of the divine holiness and purity; now the consideration of this may enable you to judge whether you are, or are not, in the happy number of the children of God. For since ye know that he is perfectly righteous, ye may know that every one that practiseth righteousness is born of him ; as the production of righteousness in the mind argues a divine agency upon it, therefore he in whom it is produced is by regenera- tion the son of God. 1 John iii. J. Behold, what manner of love the Father h:1th bestowed upon us, that Now on this view I would entreat you attentively to dwell; as indeed no subject can be more worthy of your serious regard. Behold, my brethren, behold with delight and we should be caiſed the sons holy admiration, what manner of love, what immense, unutterable, inconceivable conde- of God: therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. scensions of love, the Father of universal nature, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hath bestowed upon us sinful mortals, that we should be honoured with so sublime an appellation, should be called the children of God;” as he hath himself expressed it, I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor. vi. 18.) . It is true, indeed, this is a dignity which only attracts the observation of very few, and in this respect the world knows us mot, and doth not acknowledge us for what we really are, because it knoweth not him who is God’s eternal and first-born Son, the Head of the family, through whom we have received the adoption. Such are the unhappy prejudices of apostate men against the divine will and the divine image, that Christ himself was un- known while he dwelt in human flesh ; and therefore it is no wonder that we are so, in 2 Beloyed, now are we the that respect in which we resemble him. sons of God, and it doth not §§ appear what we shall be : e ut, we know that, when...be after it a lon shall appear, we shall be like he is. - Nevertheless, my beloved, it is a most certain and a most joyful truth, that now we are the children of God, and a truth which draws train of glorious consequences; for it doth not yet perfectly appear what i... .".'s ji". §§ we shall be;b the inheritance we expected is far beyond what we can at 3. resent COncel VG. But this we know in the general, that if he, by whom we have received the adoption, be revealed,” as he will certainly at length be, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is ;d we shall have so clear and distinct a view and discernment of him, as shall transform us into his image, even the image of his holiness, the brightest and most illustrious of the various glories with which he is invested. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. & - wicked life. from every pollution, with a sincere desire to advance daily in every branch of moral per- fection and excellence, till at length he becomes pure, even as he is pure, so far as the di- 4 Whosoever, committeth vine holiness can be resembled by any creature in this mortal and imperfect state. sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgres- sion of the law. manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. On the other hand, every one who practiseth sin, practiseth also the violation of the divine law, for this is the very nature and essence of sin, and what is common to every kind and every 5 And ye know that he was act of it, that sin is the violation of the law,” either natural or revealed. ...And ye know, that he who is so familiar to our thoughts and our discourses, even our Divine Master and Saviour, was manifested, that he might take away the guilt and power of our sins, by his atonement, and by the sanctifying influences of his Spirit; and there is no kind or degree 6 Whosoever, abideth in of sin in him, nothing but what is of the most opposite nature. It is plain, therefore, that him sinneth not : whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. every one who abideth in him, sinneth not, cannot make a trade and practice of it; and that every one who thus habitually and allowedly sinneth,ſ hath not seen him, nor known him : his views and knowledge of him have been so superficial, as that they deserve not to be mentioned, since they have not conquered the love and prevalence of sin, and brought the - man to a holy temper and life. 7 Little children, let no man, deceive you : .he that doeth righteousness is righte- My dear little children, let no one deceive with whatever pomp, or solemnity, or plausib ity they may be attended. A being, himself ous, even as he is righteous. immutably holy, can never dispense with the want of holiness in his reasonable creatures. He who practiseth righteousness is righteous,” even as he himself is righteous : it is his own image, and he must invariably love and delight in it, and must as invariably abhor sin, as how restrained a sense many general expressions occurring in Scripture may be taken, and in that view is well worth Qūr attentive regard. a fºe should be called the children of God...] The original word is 78kva, not viot, and therefore should be rendered children, rather than sons. It is worth observing upon this text, that when the Danish missionaries ap- pointed some of their Malabarian converts to translate, a catechism, in which it was mentioned as the privilege of christians to become the sons of God, one of the translators was startled at so bold a saying ss, he thought it, and said, It is too much ; let ºne ruther render it, They shall ićpcºmitted to kiss his ſect. Let. of Dan. Mission, No.7, p. 56. § it doth not yet appear, &c.] It is observable that these are the Yords of John, of him who had not only so familiarly conversed with Christ on this sublime and delightful subject, but hail seen his transfiguration, when Moses and Elias appeared in such refulgent glory. . He also, as Mr. Baxter observes in this connexion, (see his Works, vol. iii. p. 16.) saw a most glorious vision of the JYezo Jerusalem. . But it may be doubt- ed, whether this Epistle, were not of an earlier date than the apocalypse, and it seems most probable that it was, both, considering, the great age of the apostle, when banished to Patmos, and how naturally some things on which he touches in this Epistle, especially relating to antichrist, might have been illustrated by what he saw there: • c if he be revealed.). This is one of the many places wherein the par- ticle cay, or ct, which is nearly equivalent to it, does not imply any wncertainty of the event, but is put for when. - d. We shall see him as he is...] . Archbishop Tillotson well observes and proves at large, that the Fº of God is put to express the know- 11 ledge and enjoyment of him, because of its excellence and dignity, its largeness and comprehension, its spirituality and quickness, its evidence and certainty. (See his Marks, vol. iii. p. 194.) Seneca has some most sublime passages in his 1024 epistle, relating to that divine light which good men shall behold in a future state ; the very thought of which, he says, will prohibit any thing sordid, base, or malevolent, from settling in the mind that entertains it. e Sin is the violation of the lang.] I chose violation as rather a more expressive word than transgression, and so answering more exactly to avopºta, which implies not only Tupayouta, a passing the bounds of God’s latc., but an attempt, if possible, to annihilate and destroy it. f Every one who habitually and allowedly sinneth..] It seems abso- lutely necessary to interpret the expression thus, not only to prevent some of the best of christians from falling into despair, on account of those remainders of sinful imperfection, which their very eminetice in religion causes them to discern and to lament: while, others, evidently their inferiors, are vain and ignorant enough to conclude themselves per- fect, and lacking nothing ; but likewise to make one scripture consistent with another, (compare Jarnes iii. 2.) and even to reconcile this assertion to other passages in the Epistle before us. See chap. i. 8 g IIc that practiseth righteousness is righteous.] It is very necessary to interpret the phrase thus, to avoid an indulgence as extravagant as the severity we have opposed above. For certainly it is not every one who performs some one just or righteous action that can be denominated righteous; nor can any man be entitled to that character, who doth not, in the main course of #. life, practise universal righteousness. his Father and his holy angels! the necessity 3. SECT. 4. 1 JOHN 29 I JOHN 2 But let not any imagine this is an expectation indiscriminately to be entertained by all 3 who style themselves christians, or in any measure consistent with an unprofitable and No, it is of the most generous tendency, and produces the most happy effects; for every one who hath this hope in him on a solid foundation, purifieth himself 4 5 6 { #. on this important matter by vain words, 7 II. III. 882 SECT. utterly contrary to his nature. For indeed he who practiseth sin is of the devil; he imitates his character, and complies with his instigations; for the devil sinneth from the beginning: he introduced sin into the creation of God, and hé continues still to promote it ever since, - :h whereas the appearance of the Son of God was to a quite different and contrary purpose; for he was manifested in human flesh, that he 4. I JOHN III. 9 thereby to the favour and enjoyment of God. Every one who is born of God, who is re- generated by divine grace, and adopted into the number of his children, doth not practise sin, because his seed abideth in him; there is an immortal principle implanted by God in the heart, which will not suffer a man,who hath received it, entirely to overbear it; and he Ver, 1 2 says, it doth not yet appear what we shall be. 3 from glory to glory. THE NECESSITY AND IMPORTANCE OF BROTHERLY LOVE. to the utmost of his power and influence 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; , for the devil Sinneth from the beginning: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. might dissolve and destroy the works of the devil,i that he might recover mankind from the apostasy into which, they were seduced by the temptations of Satan: and delivering them from the bondage of sin, might restore them to the practice of universal righteousness, and 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. cannot sin, in such a manner, and to such a degree, as others, because he is thus born of - 10 God. In this, therefore, and by this, as the grand characteristic, are the children of God ... 10 In this the children of manifested on the one hand, and the children of the devil on the other. Every one who doth not practise righteousness, is not of God; and I may add, as a matter of great consequence, that he who loveth not his brother, as he cannot practise righteousness, a great part of which consists in brotherly love, is not of God, neither can he, without great presumption, pre- tend to claim a place amongst his children. . God, are manifests, and the children of the devil: whoso- ever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. IMPROVEMENT. How inestimable a privilege is it to be born of God and be exceeding glad us to such an endearing relation What infinite reason have those that possess it, to rejoice With what astonishment should we reflect upon the divine condescension, in admitting Let us behold, with admiration and joy, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we sinful, wretched mortals should be called the sons of God! Let us behold how high it rises, how wide it diffuses its effects How glorious the inheritance to which, in consequence of this, we are entitled ! The world indeed knows it not: nor do we ourselves completely know it. Even John, the beloved disciple, who lay in the bosom of our Lord, and drank so dee out of the fountain-head of knowledge and holiness, even he ut let us, in sweet tranquillity of soul, depend on our heavenly Father, that he will do whatever is becoming his F. wisdom and goodness, in respect to the advancement and felicity of his own children. During our state o minority, let us be contented to be at his allowance, and rejoice, that we are in the general told, that when Christ, the #. irst-born of the family, shall make his second triumphant appearance, we shall also appear with him in glory, new-dressed from the gravé, to adorn his train, and transformed into his illustrious image, not only with respect to the glories of the body, but the brighter glories of the immortal spirit. With him we shall have an abundant entrance into his everlasting kingdom, and for ever experience the efficacy of that near and intimate vision of him, which we shall there enjoy, to transform us into the same likeness, O that, in the mean time, we may all feel the *& of this blessed hope to puri 5 that our hearts and dispositions may correspond to our expectations! our souls, When Christ came in human flesh, it was 8 with this important purpose, that he might take away sin, that he might destroy the works of the devil, and reduce to order and harmony that confusion and ruin, which Satan by his malicious insinuations had introduced into the world. Blessed Jesús may this thy benevolent design be more and more effectual. May the empire of sin and corruption, which is the empire of hell, be entirely subdued, and thy celestial kingdom of grace and holiness ad- 7 vanced. And may none deceive themselves, nor forget, that he alone is righteous who practiseth righteousness. 9, 10 By this let us judge of ourselves, whether we are the children of God, or of the devil. And instead of flattering ourselves that though we do commit sin with allowance, yet there may be some secret seed of God still conceale in our hearts; let us judge of our having received this régenerating seed, by its tendency to preserve us from sin, and the victories it enables us to gain over its destructive wiles and insufferable tyranny. sECT. IMENTIONED the want of brotherly love as an argument of not belonging to God; and a little consideration may persuade you that it is indeed so. is the message which you heard of us the apostles and ministers of Christ, from the begin- 5. SECTION W. . The apostle discourses of the necessity and importance of brotherly love, as a distinguishing Inark and characteristic of the children of God. - 1 John iii. 11, to the end. 1 JoHN iii. 11. 1 Joh N iii. 11. FOR this is the message that - ye heard from the beginning, For this, as you know, §: we should love one an- Other. 1 JOHN ning of our appearance among you, as Our Lord had frequently in person inculcated it, III. 13 14 and almost with his dying breath, that we should love one another: And that we should not be as Cain, [who] was most apparently of the wicked one, and barbarously slew his own ...And for what cause did he slay him 2 Truly for this, because his own deeds were evil, and those of his brother righteous; in consequence of which he was innocent and pious brother. 12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him : Hecause his own works were evil, and his bro- ther’s righteous. disapproved, and his brother approved, by God; and this excited not his repentance, but his énvy and hatred, which at length settled into the most rancorous malice, and produced that horrible effect. in the world, and there are many, in that sense, though not by natural descent, of the see of Cain, wonder not, my brethren, if, under this influence, ihe world hate you. . But we, on And as there is a great deal of the same malignant temper remaining ... 13 Marvel pot, my brethren, d if the world hate you. 14 We know that we have assed from death unto life, the other hand, know that we are passed over from the boundaries and territories of death bºlº. to those of life,” because we unfeignedly love lhe brethren ; as they are the children of God h Sinneth from the beginning, &c.] Mr. Limborch innakings this phrase refers to repeated acts of sin, and a continued course ºf, it, which pre- ceded Satan’s expulsion from heaven. See Limb. Theºl. lib. ii. Cap. XX. Ö4. But it seems, that the use of the present tense implies a continuance in a course of sim: which is indeed the case with respect to this, malig, nant and unhappy spirit, who continues incorrigible notwithstanding all iſe has already suffered, and all which he certainly knows he has further to endure. - - - i pestroy the works of the devils Xuan.) This expressive word leads us to look on sin and misery as a fabric, of which the devil. is the great architect, and which Christ is come to 6ccrt/trove and demolish. Accord: ingly jig has already broken, as it were, the compages and strength of it; and we may hope it will gradually be levelled, and its very ruins removed. He has certainly done what has a most powerful tendency to produce such an effect. ut it seems driving Inatters to a very unjusti- fiable extremity, to argue from hence, as soºnc have done, the utter ex- tirpation of all moral and penal evil from th’ universe. And were not the judgment so palpably biassed by the affections, as we see it to be in many instances, it is not to be conceived that men of penetration should lave laid any stress on so precarious an argument. k IIe cannot sin.] It is certain these words must be taken in some- thing of a qualified sense, or they would prove not only the sinless per- ſection of every child of God, but also the jº of every such person, or the impossibility of his sinning, which, none have been wild and enthusiastical enough to assert. It must therefore, I think, be understood only as expressing a strong disinclination, to sin, in the kind and degree referred to before. , And it is certain, there are many pas- sages of Scripture, in which the word, cannot, must be taken in sugh a latitude. Compare Luke xiii.33. Heb. ix. 5. Neh. vi. 3. Numb. xxii. 18. And this phraseology Raphelius well illustrates by similar passages from the classics. Sec Jºnnot. ec Polyb. in loc. a Passed ocer from death to life.] his is said even of the best of men : which implies, by a strong consequence, that they are, as it were, born in the lar: ; hiſ territories of death; or that the goepel finds them in such '1'HE NECESSITY AND AIPORTANCE OF BRÖTii ś LY L') V1. ###!º his brother as yell as ourselves, and the members of one body with 45. H. All) l (; C Lil in Cle: {..}}. brother, can have no good principle, but necessarily abideth in spirituál death, and must for ever continue in that miserable state, if the frame and temper of his mind be not en- tirely changed. º And this you may easily apprehend, if you consider, that every one who hateth his brother, is a murderer; and were it not for the restraint of human laws, that private malice which is harboured in his thoughts would produce, as it did in the instance of Cain, actual murder. And ye assuredſy know, that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him, nor can any person of that detestable character enter into the celestial kingdom, the region lº, ſº ſº... .º. of perfect love. Jesus Christ, who reigns in that blessed world, has given us, various and .."º"...": ...; numberless proofs of an unparalleled charity; and it is in this, above all the other instances §ºwn our lives of it, that we know by experience the greatness of his love, as he hath laid flown his life for … . . . . *- : * * us :b and we, in imitation of such an example, ought to be ready to lay down [our] lives for the brethren,” when the good of his church, or of any number of our fellow-christians, 17, But whoso, bath, this requires it. And if we ought to be willing to die for the good of others, how much more j ...º. to relieve them in any of those necessities, which require us only to impart to them a little §: ; of 1%ft. of our substance 2 - Whosoever therefore hath the good things of the present world, and when £iºſ. i. º. §" he secth his brother in necessity, shutieth up his bowels from him ; so that he will not impart any thing out of his own abundance for his relief; how dwelleth the love of God in him, or with what face can he presume to call himself a christian 2 My little children, let mé speak freely to you on this head, and let us not love merely in word or in tongue, not content ourselves with any external and complimental expressions of regard; but let our actions approve the sincerity of our professions, and show that we love in deed and in truth, And in this we know that we are of the truth, and that we are real christians; and in the consciousness of this shall assure our hearts before him, when "; For; we draw nigh in the exercises of devotion. For if our own heart condemn us of any evil *or if our heart condemn - c - ~ * ‘i -- - - - ps. Gº" i.e.:*::... which we sécretly indulge, while we preserve our characters in the sight of men unsullied, heart, and knoweth all things. we may well be thrown into terror and anxiety; knowing that God is infinitely greater than our heart, and knoweth all things, without exception; so as continually to view num- berless follies, which we never observed, or have entirely forgotten, and numberless aggra vations attending each, which it was impossible for us fully and distinctly to conceive. But, beloved, if our heart condemn us moi, but we have the testimony of our consciences before him, as to the sincerity of our repentance and faith, and the integrity of Qur general walk and conversation, i. have we that confidence and freedom of speech before God, in our addresses to him, which nothing else could give us, and which it is impossible we should have, while we know that we deal i.i. in any instance, either with him or our fellow-creatures. And we know that whatever we ask, we shall receive of him; if sub- servient to our truest good, because we are conscious of a prevailing care to keep his com- mandments, and to do the things which we have reason to apprehend are pleasing in his sight; which he, as the righteous God, will be pleased with, when proceeding from a sin- cere principle of faith in Christ, and attended with those humble regards to him, which the imperfections of our own obedience, in its best estate, will require. …?nd this is his great command, That we should believe in the name of his dear Son Jesus Christ, and endeavour to grow more in that blessed principle of faith in him; and that we should unfeignedly and cordially love one another, as he hath so strongly and affectionately charged us to do. .3nd 24 ſº this is the true way to have that communion with God, to which I expressed, in the be- i."...inºi. "Aşi ginning of my Epistle, such a desire to introduce you; for he that keepeth his command- º, . ºp; ments abideth in him, and he, that is, God, abideth in that man; and in this ice, further know which he hati, given us. that he abideth in us, by such an intimate union, even from the Spirit which he hath given us, and which is the token and effect of his habitation in us; producing in our souls, by his º operation, the image of God, and forming us to an intimacy with and nearness to him. 1 J * 15 Whosoever hateth his G brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 18, My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue ; but in deed and in truth. 19 And hereby we know that, we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before 21 Beloved, if our heart 2} condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 23 And this is his com- pmandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that kee commandments dwe IMPROVEMENT. 883 He that loveth mol [his] sect. 5. OHN II. O THAT the Divine Spirit, which God hath given to dwell in believers, and by which he himself resides in Ver. 11 them, may teach us more effectually this great lesson of love, which is so agreeable to the purposes for which he 24 was conferred Let us abhor the temper of Cain, as much as we abhor the actions it produced, and dread the 12 doom they incurred. As for that hatred of the world, which in a steady adherence to our duty may probably fall 13 to our lot, let it by no means surprise or discourage us. . It is surely enough to support our spirits under the malice and outrage of a wicked world, that if we are steady and consistent christians, we may know that we are passed from death to life. O blessed transition; O the adorable riches of divine grace to which it is owing ! 14 May the ardour of our love to our brethren render this happy change more and more apparent; and may this christian benevolence be so ardent in our hearts, as to make us willing, when certain duty requires it, even to lay 16 down our lives for them: having been ourselves distinguished with the like token of the love of our Divine Mas- ter, who spared not his own life for us; and O, what are even thousands of our lives in comparison of his ' And shall we then, while our brethren in the Lord are in necessity, be tenacious of our substance P. When we are sur– 17 rounded with plenty, shall we be unwilling to impart a little of our abundance for their relief, or content ourselves 18 with the charity of words, which cost us nothing, while we withhold the things that are needful for them? How will such shameful, detestable hypocrisy disgrace all our pretensions to the love of God: but let us treat all hypocrisy cither towards God or man, with detestation and abhorrence. Let us love, not only in word and in profession, but in deed and in truth; and rather choose that our actions should exceed our engagements, than dis- appoint in any instance the expectations we have raised. - Of what infinite importance is it to have confidence towards God in all our addresses to his heavenly Majesty | 19 And if we desire this to be the case, let us reverence our own consciences, avoiding every thing which would a condition, as to be liable to condemnation and destruction, to the exe- cution of a capital sentence. And it seems to me, that such oblique ex- pressions speak such truths as these, in a manner peculiarly convincing and affecting. . - ... b. We know his love, as he hath laid dolpm his life for us...] This text, as it stands in our version, has generally been mentioned as equivalent to Acts XX. 28. in which as he who laid down his life for us is God, as well as JHan, God is said to have done that which the Alan united to him did. But it is not to be denied, that many copies, which I here ſollow, read only avtov instead of 0°ov : hereby ice perceive IIIs love. And there are many places, where the relative evidently refers to a remote antecedent. Compare IIeb. vii. 2. note a. c Lay down [our] lives for the brethren..] That is, when the life and happiness of in any are concerned, we ought to be willing to sacrifice our oncºn. If one only were to be rescued on such terms, the argument would in a great measure fail, unless that one were of so great importance, that in dying for him we died for many; and the heathens themselves saw the obligatiou to submit to death in such a case, though they were un- acquainted... with that noble motive to which the "apostlé here refers. Compare Cicero, De Officiis, lib. 1. cap. iii p 34 884 CAUTIONS AGAINST SEDUCING SPIRITS. SPCT. Cause Qur hearts to condemn us, in the presence of him who is 5. And while we rejoice in this, that they do not condemn US, ly, that we be not imposed on by a false III. 22 summary of christian duty, ments, and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things. - let us be very careful that we examine s answer, as it is to be feared many, through a superficial inquiry, are *** whose expectations are the most sanguine, and whose pretensions are the ioudest, i.e. us quiry, are, them thorough- remember this great that we believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we keep his command. An obedience, springing from such a faith, a faith verified by such an obedience, will give us a comfortable hope, that our prayers shall be accepted of God now, and our persons accepted hereafter to eternal life. Amen. SECTION VI. The apostle cautions the christian converts against being deceived by seducing spirit of truth and the spirit of error. John iv. l—12. 1 John iv. 1. SECT. IT is necessary, my beloved, that in the circumstances in which we are placed, I should 6. Gautiºn, You against gredulously submitting to every one who pretends a divine inspiration for what he says; believe not therefore every pretended spirit ś but make trial of the spi- 2 lºs rits, whether, they be indeed of God or not, for it is certain, that many false prophets are " I gone forth into the world, boasting a divine mission, and thereby laying snares for the souls of men, with such artifice, that might, as our Lord expresses it, (Matt. xxiv. 24.) 2 deceive the very elect, if it were possible. Now in this ye know and ma distinguish the }. 9ſ. God, which is the spirit of truth, from that of error: every Spirit that confesseth esus. Christ who is come in the flesh,” that pays a becoming deference to his authority and the divine discoveries which he hath made, is of God: there cannot, in the general, be any better attestation of any spirit than this, that it tends, in its agency and operations, to 3 Promote the honour of the great Redeemer. .4nd you may, on the other hand, be sure of this, that every pretended spirit of revelation, that doth not confess and do houmage to !esus Christ, who is come in the flesh, is not of God; and indeed this is, on the contrary, the very [spirit] of antichrist, of whom you have heard in the divine oracles and predić. tions which our blessed Lord delivered concerning this last time that he is coming, and is 4 ſolo in some measure already in the world. But, my dear children, ye are of God, and have overcome them, in all their snares and delusions, because greater and more powerful by far is he that is in you, than he that is in the world; the Son of God, who stands at the head of that interest in which you are embarked, and who aids you by the mighty com- munications of his, Spirit, is infinitely too strong for Satan, the great head of the apostasy, 5 and for all his confederates. They of whom I have now been speaking, are of the world, and they know how to manage their affairs in a manner which will be pleasing to it: there: Jore they speak as ºf the world, as taking their instructions from it, they give their followers Worldly hopes and expectations, and the world greedily hears them, and drinks in their 6 fallacious maxims, to the unspeakable detriment of the interests of true religion. Whereas, on the contrary, we are of God, and have approved ourselves to be so, by such irresistible evidence, that I may now venture to say, that he who knoweth God, and experiences the governing influence of divine fear and love, heareth and regardeth ws ;% but he who is not of God, doth not attentively and obediently hear ws ; and by rejecting our testimony, at- tended with such evidence, proves himself destitute of all true religion. After such a series of miracles, as have been wrought in confirmation of the gospel, and other proofs attending it in their days, it may be laid down as a test : so that by this we may sufficiently know, and discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, as the one receives, and the other rejects, this divine system. - But think it not enough speculatively to admit its authority. Let it be your great care practically to acknowledge it; and especially to the purposes of mutual benevolence. Yes, my beloved, let us love one another; for love is as really from God, as truth itself; and every one who loveth, every one in whose heart this divine principle reigns and tri- umphs over the selfish and contrary passions, shows by it that he is born of God, by his regenerating and transforming grâce, and that he truly knoweth God; he makes it appear, that he judges rightly of God’s nature and will; and that his acquaintance with him has 8 made deep and powerful impressions on his heart. Whereas he who loveth not, whatever he may pretend, hath not truly known God; for God is Love, its great Fountain and Exemplar; he recommends it by his law, and produces and cherishes it by his influences: and the due contemplation of him will naturally inflame our hearts with love to his Divine 9 Majesty, and to our fellow-creatures for his sake, whose creatures they are. And in this reat instance is the love of God, of which I now speak, when I say that God is himself ove, in the most illustrious manner manifested, and displayed in and towards us, that God sent Jesus, his only-begotten and well-beloved Son, into the world, that we, condemned 7 *P. and, directs them how they may distinguish between the 1 Johs iv. 1. BELOVED, believe not every spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of Sod; because many false prophets are gone out into the world, .2 Hereby know ye the Spi- rit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God : 3 And every spirit that con- ſesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God : and this is that spirit of antichrist, , whereof ye have heard that it should çome ; and even now already is it in the world. 4 Ye are of God, little chil- dren, and have overcome them : because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world : therefore speak they of the i. and the world heareth e II. 6 We are of God :, he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. . Hereby, know, we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is º of God, and knoweth O(1. 8 He that loveth not know. eth not God; for God is iove. 9. In this was manifested the love, of God toward us, because that God sent his on] begotten Son into the §§ a Believe not every spirit.] Many pretended to the character of the §h, and others, in an extraordinary manner to be sent and inspired O their faith and hope. The apostle here, by a short turn of argument, demonstrates that they were indeed impostors from this very attempt. That conſesseth Jesus Christ, who is come in the flesh.] So the words 6 opoxoyet Ima'gy Xp15-ov čv aapkt exn}\v30Ta may very well be ren- dered : and indeed they must be so in this connexion, for the bare con- fession of Christ’s incarnation would not have been sufficient to have cleared them from the jº of being impostors. . To confess Jesus ist, seems to mean, not barely professing some kind of º to him, but yielding a regular, gonsistent homage, and, as it were, harmonizing and falling in with his design. - is is the Spirit of antichrist.] From hence some haye argued, that the pope cannot be antichrist, because he confesses Christ: and that it must necessarily be some entirely opposing person or sect, and which does not bear the christian name: but the interpretation above obviates this objectign ; for it is certain popery is an usurpation entirely inconsist- ent with a due homage to Christ, and founded upon principles most op- posite to these of his goverpment and religion. It is said to have been ałready in the world, as the ambitious, imposing, persecuting spirit, which is the very essence of antichristianism, did then greatly prevail. Ye—have overcome them.] hat is, your doctrines have prevailed God; and this they did with a view of turning away christians from . against some who deserve the name of antichrist, as undoubtedly all who opposed the christian interest in some measure did ; and as you have the true miraculous gifts of the Spirit, to which they falsely pretend, it is soon seen that the advantage is clearly on your side. . . e He who knoweth God, heareth us.) Bishop Bull thinks the meaning of this is, “Regard our temper and, conduct, and, compare it with that of those who oppose us, and you will find a carnal prínciple continually prevailing in them, and a spiritual pººl; govertling US : 1 n Consequence of which you may know assuredly that we are of God, and thcy of the tgorld.” Compare Bull’s Serm. i. p. 11... I rather think; as Archbishop Tillotson has stated it, (vol. iii. p. 50l.) he considers the christian religion as now so abundantly demonstrated, that it inight be made a test by which other doctrines and pretences might be tried;, and to those who have received it upon full evidence, it must be so. Thus the Jews were directed to judge, and obliged to condemn; a pretended prophet, as ipso facto proved aſ impostor, if he attempted to turn them aside from the revelation which God had given by Moses. Deut. xiii. 1–3. f Let us love one another.] It is reported, that when, the apostle John was grown old, and past preaching, he used to be led to the church at Ephesus, and only, say iſ: words to the people, Little children, love one another. And the importance of the argument by which he enforces Love, justifies the repetition of it so frequently. CAUTION AGAINST SEDUCING SPIRITS, that we might live through and miserable sinners, might live through him ; that the sentence of death, to which we him. were obnoxious, might be reversed, that we might be quickened, to a principle of spiritual 10 Herein is love, not that life, and so conducted to the possession of life everlasting. Yes, sirs, I mºst repºº." }...?... ."... ºº's; again, that your hearts and my own may be the more deeply affected with it, herein is love, tº be the propitiation for our not indeed ihat we loved God, for we were, on the contrary, in a state of enmity to him, in SIIIS, which, unsolicited and untouched by his love and grace, We should have persisted and perished; but that he loved us, and in boundless compassion to our necessities and our miseries, sent his Son [to be] a Propitiation for our sins; to make atonement to his injured 11 Beloved, if God so loved justice for our offences, and so to introduce us on honourable terms to, his, favºur. And sºught also to love one }. me make this important inference from it, my beloved; if God so loſed tº how ought we to love one another, in imitation of his divine example, from a sense of the happy state 12 Noman hath seen God into which we are brought, and in gratitude to him for so inestimable a favour ! And the time. If w º - º - * * - tº śinference has the greater weight, as no man hath ever seen God, organ see him, since he is tº his love is perfected in in his own nature invisible, and possessed of such essential perfections, that it is impos, • sible that any expressions of love and duty from any of his creatures shºuld in the least degree increase his happiness. But as he is the great Fountain of benevolence, if pelºte on another, it appears that God dwelleth in us, and that his love is perfected in us; for this is the best proof we can give of our love to him, and of the prevalence of his grace in our hearts, transforming us into his image. IMPROVEMENT. THE spirit of error has been working, in some measure, in all ages of the church : nor are We to wonder, if, having infested that of the apostles, it be transmitted to our own. It is necessary, therefore, to try the spirits whether they be of God; and we may safely try them by the homage they pay to Christ; and this not merely to his name, but to the genius of his religion, and to the great standard of it, which he hath left upon record in his word, that it might not be that uncertain thing which the fancies or traditions of fallible men might have rendered it. Antichristian principles and powers have arisen, but God has enabled, and he will enable, the remnant of his people to conquer them'; for the Spirit in them is greater than that which is in the world. That may hearken to seducers as they accommodate their doctrine to its prevailing lusts and passions; but let us remember that the º is now established as a test, and may we admit or reject all human teachings, as they agree or disagree With It. If we read and hear it to any valuable purpose, it will teach us to love one another; that great lesson of our divine Master, with relation to which we have line upon line, and precept upon precept. If we value ourselves in any degree upon knowing God, let us give this proof of it, without which all our most subtle speculations or de- bates concerning his nature and perfections will be utterly vain. And that we may attain to this, let us frequentl contemplate that incomparable display of his love towards us, in sending his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Let us daily consider our lives as derived from that great act ºf mercy and grace; and that it is through Christ alone, as thus given us of God, that we can obtain and secure life eternal, since in him we receive the only appointed propitiation for those sins, which would otherwise have obstructed the passage of all good to us, even from the great eternal Fountain of felicity. He hath prevented us with the blessings of his goodness; we did not love him, but he first loved us. O that this love on his part may produce the warmest re- turn on ours! and let us testify the sincerity of this affection, by remembering how it ought to influence our hearts to benevolence as well as devotion. And as we cannot see God at any time, nor extendſ any act of beneficence to him, let us see his image with due regard in every christian, and in some degree in every human creature, that we may express our love to him, by doing good to them for his sake. SECTION VII. The apostle further urges the excellence of love, as a substantial proof of our knowing God, and dwelling in him ; and as bringing the greatest honour to God, and affording the truest composure and confidence to the soul. 1 John iv. 13, to the end. 1 Joh N iv. 13. - 1 John iv. 13. HEREBY know we that we I HAVE been mentioning love as an argument of our union to God; and I must now dwell in him, and he in us - §.s.º."#" iſ.'s; add, that in this also we know that we abide in him, and that he dwelleth in us, because he his Spirit. hath given to us the communication of his Spirit, which, operating in us by its gracious influences, sets, as it were, the mark of God upon us, and thereby assures us that he owes 14 And we have seen and us as his, and is become our God: .4nd animated and sealed by this Spirit, as we fice *sjº,"; };"; seen and known by undoubted evidence ourselves, so we courageously testify to others, viour of the world. how hazardous soever the bearing that testimony may be, that the great Almighty Father of all hath sent Jesus the Son, under the high character of the Saviour of the world, and that it is in and by him alone, how proudly soever the infidel world may reject and disdain 1; Whosgeyºshall §§. him, that eternal salvation can be obtained. Whosoever, in a steady and uniform manner, §3.jºi... shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,” maintaining this profession of faith with reso- in God. lution and zeal, and acting in conformity to it, gives the happiest proof that God dwelleth in him, and that he dwelleth in God: there is a blessed union between God and his soul. so that it is, in the language of Scripture, (Isa. lvii. 15.) the habitation of God, and he º be said to be, as to his affections and hopes, with God in heaven, and shall ére long, 16 And we have knowngº in his complete person, reside there. And we have known, and firmly believed, the love ieved the love that Got tº- - - & tºº. lj which God hath unto us; for as we have again and again taught you, and know not how he that dwellº.jºs.º. to cease inculcating it, God is himself Love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God dwelleth in God, and God in º ºrm -b hi - e 5 - ; : N 3 * Herein is our love mad and God in him; this is the bond of union, and the pledge of its perpetuity. (Compare ..º.º. ...'... yer. 8, and 12.) And herein is love perfected in us, that notwithstanding all our acknow- Éiºs"."ºday ºf ſº ledged and lamented imperfections, we may have boldness and confidence in the great day t: b se as he is, so - º - - *- - .."... ...id" “ ” of universal judgment,” in that as he our Father and our God is, so are we in some prevail- a Whosoever shall confess, &c.], Bishop Hopkins accounts for this, and ç. In the day of judgment.] Some by this phrase understand the day in such passages, by observing, that in the prinitive times there were no which christians were judged: as if it had been said, The perfection of temporal inducements to embrace christianity ; and consequently most love is, when it induces us to maintain the cause of Christ {...}. judges of the professors of it acted upon conscience, and, it might be charitably and persecutors, that we may be conformed to him, whose life was in a hoped they were indeed regenerate: . See his PWorks, p. 520. - manner a continued series of sufferings: whereas the violent fear of Dwelleth in God, and God in º Perhaps when John wrote this death, which, where it prevails, is a torinenting passion, is inconsistent §§ he might refer to that excellent prayer of our blessed Lord, with the perfect love of Christ. This is the sense which Dr. Bates gives which he has récorded in his gospel, and to such passages of it as John to this, passage. Bates’s Forks, p. 924. But the day of judgment has XVI 1. 22, 23. generally a different signification from what this explication gives it , 8S5 S F. CT, 6. 1 JOHN IV, 1() Wer. 1 2 3 4 9 I 1. 12 SECT, 7. 1 JOHN IV. 4 I 886 SECT . 7. i JOHN I W. 18 19 20 2 1 Wer. 14 16 }S) 15 20 H JOHN y 2 CAUTION AGAINST SEDUCING SPIRITs. łºg degree, even while we reside in this world, so far as the imperfections of that mortal life, to which we are here confined, will admit. And happy are they, who are arrived to such a temper and character as this; for there is no is There is no fear in love; servile and abject fear in love, but perſect love casteth out such fear from the soul in which º Pº.º.º. º. it resides. And this is a very desirable effect; because fear hath forment, it throws the nºi. "ii.ºrºs. mind into a most uneasy situation: but he that feareth is not made perfect in love. Study ***** therefore to increase more and more in that noble affection of love to God, and you will find your self-enjoyment rising in proporion to it. And reflect upon this with all humility, 10 we love him, because that if we do indeed experience anything of that divine principle in our hearts, we must he first loved us. freely acknow edge that we love him, b cause he first loved us. He hath not only given us imatures capable of these sublime actings, and poured in upon us, from their first original, numberless providential bounties, but hath also appointed" is Son to lay a foundation for our happiness in his own blood, and his Spirit to diffuse th t grace in our hearts, by which they are formed to every sentiment of pious gratitude. And let this also be remembered, as of the last importance, that if any one say, I love cłº ºf God, and hateth his brother, how high soever his pretences to devotion may be, and to jº, i.","...iſ whatever fervours he may carry his zeal, he is a liar; for it is impossible that the love of ºliº God should be sincere in the soul which is destitute of this brotherly affection; as will "...'...",. . . .” appear if you consider what peculiar advantages we have for engaging our hearts towards those with whom we are conversant; for how can he who lovetſ, not his brother, whom he hath seen, love God whom he hath not seen 2d The invisible nature of the Divine Being is, in this respect, an obstacle which our weak and carnal minds cannot be expected easily to conquer; .3nd it is certain, that the neglect of this benevolent disposition would be a , 21 And this commandment high instance of disobedience to him, since we have this express commandment from him, . ...ſº i. that he who loveth God, and professeth himself religious, should also love his brother. And brother also. God hath hereby in effect declared, that he will treat those as his enemies who pretend to devout zeal, while they are destitute of brotherly love. IMPROVEMENT. THAT all these repeated exhortations may not be entirely in vain, let us now call our hearts to a deep and affec- tionate contemplation of the astonishingiove of God, that he hath sent even his Son to be the Saviour of the world, according to the testimony of this divine herald, who beheld his glory, and witnessed it to be such a glory as became the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John i. 14.) Let us think of the world as lost, of the whole race of rational creatures in it as perishing, as going down to eternal perdition. But a Saviour is provided: and O what a Saviour ! the Son of God, that Almighty Deliverer, to whom our salvation was dearer than his own life . So dear, that he was willing to be invested with mortal flesh, in order that he might be capable of enduring pain and death for our redemption. Have we not herein seen and known the love of God to us? That love, where with he has so graciously prevented us; for surely nothing can be more apparent than this, that if we do indeed love him sincerely and faithfully, it is because he hath first loved us. And therefore, instead of boasting of our love to him, as if we could make him our Debtor, let us humbly acknow- ledge that he is the great Original and Support of that beatifying affection of the human mind; and that our obli- ations to him are great, in proportion to the degree in which we feel it working in us. Let us be encouraged #. to confess Christ as the Son of God. Let us seek after more perfect love to him, and to the Father, as that which tends to make the mind happy by casting out every tormenting passion, and to establish it in an humble boldness amidst the most awful prospects. It is matter of deep lamentation, that our spirits should be so degene- rate, as that while we are strongly impressed by sensible objects, we should be the less inclined to love the blessed God, because he is an invisible Being. Let us adore his goodness, that in condescension to our weakness, he hath made himself visible in the person of his Son; and as Christ has constituted our brethren, in some degree, his representatives, to receive, as in his name, the tokens of our kindness and affection, let us be studious by our love to them, and particularly to the poor among them, who have peculiarly this honour; let us, I say, be studious to approve the sincerity of that love to him, which we so universally profess, and the absence of which were so inex- cusably criminal. SECTION VIII. The apostle further discourses of the character of those who are born of God, |...}} describing them as lovers of Christ, as conquerors of tº worlì, and as courageously maintaining the gospel, on the witnesses to which, both in heaven and on earth, he more especially enlarges. - \ J. Jolul W’, 1–12. 1 Jo HN v. 1. 1 Josh N v. 1. IAVING been discoursing of the privileges of the children of God, let me a little further W.HQSQEVER, ºligyeth f H instrate and remind you of the gréat essentials of their character, that you may judge the ; :º ºf 'º', ; better of your own concern in what is said. And here nothing is of more importance than º º to observé, that every one who truly believeth that Jesus is the Christ, so as to have his heart tº. duly affected with the belief, without which faith does not deserve its name, is born of Gºt a he is brought to that divine temper by the influences of the Spirit of God upon his heart, and in consequence of this he may be assured of his adoption. Tºd every ºne who Ioneth him that begat, loveth him also that is begatten by him : we naturally lºve the chil- dren of our commºn friends; and much more will the children of our heavenly Father be - dear to us, if we bear a becoming, affection to him. And we may take the same truth lºw §". likewise the other way, and say, that in this we know that we love the children of God, if ºn W. lºi, aji kº age love God, and keep his commandments.” For certainly if our love to the children of his commandments. ! ** l, a -r, fºx-n in chose raphrase the words after the manner in vain boasts which the Jews made of being the childſen of Gºd, while §.º.º.º. s they set Christ at defiance, and poured the ºjº. ſº on his Dºl:Yi & jºr hø, ºnio lºccih nºt his brother, whom he hath seen, love God, and cause: Mr. Locke quotes this place § º at º the gº &c.j Mr. Howe observes, that the apostle seems to take it ſor granted, fundamental of the gospel; but it. IS j'. ent, ti) IS lººp may tº that we arC Iſlgré disposed to the love of our fellow-creatures than to the understood in very different senses; an ..". uently h ere is no room jº of God. Mr. Séed has charmingly illustrated this, text, (Sérin. vo), to lay all the stress that he su º; º 'y *}”g º º: i. p. 330.) and observes, that wº rise tº th; long qf God from the love of b. In this, ice know that wºe tº t à Cflº #; Q it § #! ad ##. Jºº-creatures; as to the knowledge of God, by the knowledge of the supposes this clause to be ºp; ki. hi fit. lt S . e º ... *ſ cºatures. Hardly any text was, ever more fully illustrated than this, this lºg knojº tha, we love God, al | .eep 'iº ££(17& Sé º iºposºnous Šermons of the great Mr. Howe, which were pub- love his children.” Posth; Seºn. Vol. ii. P. . I o the common read- IIT LI1 O - it has been objected, that the medium, is ingre obscure than the thing - ** * * 10 lift; º; "it is probable the apostle may here refer to the §§ learnt from it. Dr Bates answers, that the apostle speaks concern- THE WITNESSES TO THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL. God arise from truly religious motives, it will be a uniform thing, and all the other pre- cepts of God will have a suitable influence upon our hearts and lives; whereas any pre- tended benevolence of temper, which leaves us rebels to the authority of the common Father of the family, is a mere natural impulse, and deserves not the noble name of 3 For this is the love of brotherly love. Wonder not that I insist so much on the influence of religious principles .. §.”;"|| “... on the life and conversation. For this is the love of God, this is the great evidence, we ? mandments are not grievous. are to give of it, that we impartially keep all his commandme ts, without allowing ourselves in the violation of any one of them. ...And to a mind influe1 :ed by true love, his command- ments are not grievous; as they are all most equitable, reas nable, and gracious in them- selves, all adapted to promote the true happiness of our lives, so we shall find, that fervent 4.For whatsoever is born of love will make them all pleasant and delightful to us. Because, whereas the great 4 º §ººl; obstruction to keeping God's commandments is the influence of worldly motives and gºth the world, even considerations on the mind, whatever is born of God, every son, and daughter of his, not excepting even the feeblest, conquers the world, and would despise and trample upon all the glories of universal empire, if opposed to the favour of his heavenly Father. ...?nd this is the great victory that conquers the world, the grand triumphant principle which accorn- plishes things which appear so incredible, [even] our firm faith in the great articles of the christian religion; particularly, that Christ is the Son of God, that he came into the world to redeem us from its lusts and vanities, and that he will assuredly conduct all his people # Who is he that overcom: to seats of infinitely greater and nobler felicity. And indeed, as this is the happiness of #sº jº". '... true christians, so only of them; for who is he that conquers the world, eccept it be he that Agn of God 2 believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? The great º peculiar to our divine religion, a sense of redeeming love, and the prospect of such a sublime and perpetual happiness as the gospel opens upon us, can alone be sufficient to teach us to triumph over these transi- tory vanities, and to establish a uniform character, superior to the variety of temptations with which we can be assaulted : while the boasted triumphs of others, upon meaner prin- ciples, have been very partial and imperfect, and they have evidently been subdued by one vanity, while they have gloried in despising another. This Jesus, of whom we have now been speaking, is he who came by water and by - blood;’ even Jesus the Christ, whose great design it was both to cleanse and purify his ºf people, and to make an atonement to God for their sins. He came not by water only, did witness, because the Špirit is not only instruct men in the purest morals, or set them the most perfect and complete ex- truth. ample ; but by water and blood. He shed his most precious blood to expiate our offences, and God gave, as it were, a sensible intimation of these united purposes, when there came out of his wounded side a stream of blood and water, which descended in such a manner, as that each might evidently be distinguished from the other. ...And the Spirit is that which witnesseth, the extraordinary communication of the Spirit to his servants is the most glori- ous attestation of all ; for we well know that the Spirit is truth; and when we consider the wonderful manner of its interposition, we can no longer doubt of the truth of whatever shall be attested by such an authority. And indeed, when I consider this, I may say, that whereas the law admitted the con- current testimony of two witnesses as valid, we have, as it were, a double trinity of wit- For SECT. 8. 1 JO [N V. 5 6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, 6 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the - - T Holy Ghost: and these three nesses, one in heaven, and the other on earth, to support this most momentous truth. 81 Fe One. there are three, who bear witness to it.d ſº heaven, the Father, by whom the scheme of our salvation was originally projected, and who revealed it so early to the church by the pro- phets; the divine Pford, whose great business it was, by such humiliations, labours, and sufferings, to bring it into execution, and the Holy Spirit,” who seals and applies it to be- lievers; and these Three are One, as in the agreement of their testimony, so likewise in the perfections of their nature, and each worthy of those divine honours, which cannot be com- municated to any creature. ..And there are three on earth who bear witness, the Spirit, sent 8 §iº. "...a tº down from heaven in its sanctifying and miraculous operations, which still continue to jºiº produce the noblest effect; and the water of baptism, and the representation made of I Il Oſle. Christ's blood in the sacramental wine, which are intended, throughout all ages, to keep up the remembrance of these wonderful facts, and to bear, as it were, their testimony to this mysterious Person, who united in himself humanity and deity, and came by water and by blood; and these three agree in one ; , they join to advance the same end, by 9 If we receive the witness establishing the gospel in the world. And if we receive the testimony of men, which in ...'...}º many cases we cannot without the most palpable absurdity reject, surely the testimony of #ºgº.he hath test- God is worthy of infinitely greater credit; for this is the testimony of God, which he haih fied of his Son. witnessed concerning his Son, recommending him thereby to our most dutiful and obedient regard; that by a firm faith in him, and adherence to him, we may conquer the world, and all the enemies of our salvation. He who, upon this testimony, believeih in the Son of God, hath not only an external evidence to produce, which may suffice for the conviction and condemnation of the unbelieving world, but from the time in which he experiences the efficacy of his faith, hath also the witness within himself; the happy change it makes in the whole state of his soul, manifests the excellence, and reality of its object. But he that believeth not God, offers him the grossest and most insufferable affront, for he in effect 8 And there are three that 9 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himselſ: he that believeth ing our knowing that our love to the brethren is of the true christian stamp : now a strong internal principle of love to God may be more self- evident to the mind, as less in |. of being confounded with a merely human affection, or benevolent instinct. Bates’s H/orks, p. 695. Some have queried, whether it might not be translated, Herclºiſ, ccen in that we love the children of God, do we know that we love God, and keep his commandments. c. Came by water and blood.] I think it a great mistake of Mr. Cradock and Sqnne others to imagine that this relates to extermal washing and Jewish sacrifices. . There are three ºcho bear witness, &c.] As it would be altogether unfit to introduce into such short notes as these are intended to be, a critical dissertation upon the authority of this celebrated text, I shall content, myself with referring to what so many learned persons as have engaged in the controversy iše written on each side; but I thought myself obliged to intimate such a remaining doubt at least, concerning its authenticity, as I have done by enclosing it in crotchets. I am per- suuded, the words contain an important truth; but whether they have been added by some, or omitted by others, contrary to the original copy, I will not pretend to determine. e The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit..] The Father, Matt. iii. 16, 17. xvii. 5. John Nii. 3s. The PWord himself, Acts vii. 55, 53. ix. 3, 4. Rev. i. 10, &c. The Holy Ghost, John i. 32, 33. f The water and the blood.]. By the water, Mr. Jeffries understands the baptism of Christ, and , the miracies which were wrought on that occasion, as the descent of the Spirit, and the voice from heaven; and by the blood, the death of Christ, §§ he willingly suffered, and demon. strated thereby, that he was no impostor, especially as he predicted so many extraordinary çircumstances attending it. See his Reciew of the Controgersy with Collins. Others interpret the blood here spoken of, of the blood of the marty's shed in confirmation of christianity, and the cater, of the purity of the lives of christians. . I confess it is a difficult text; but on the whole, prefer the sense given in the paraphrase. g. IIath the witness within ...; Some have considered and ex- plained this, as if the meaning were, that every christian did in those days receive some miraculous proofs of his religion, by some communi- cation of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit; in consequence of which he injght, by looking within himself, know, the certainty of the gospel. But I think this assertion incapable of being proved, either from this passage or any other; and can prefer no sense of this celebrated text to 888 SECT. 8. I JOHN I 2 Ver. 12 I a I I 8 6 7 SECT. 9. 1 JOHN y 13 14 1 9 16 THE EFFICACY OF HUMBLE PRAYER. makes him a Liar; charges him with attesting the most notorious falsehood in the most not God hath made am, a solemn manner; because he hath not believed in the testimony which God hath testified con- ſilº.º.º.º. * g - te & * * * * * the record, that God gave cerning his Son by so many prophecies, and other miraculous interpositions, to demonstrate of his son. the truth of his mission. . So that if this may be rejected, it cannot be conceived how he should ever be able to give any convincing proof that he testifies anything at all. And this , 11 And this is the record, is, in one word, the substance and abridgment of this testimony, that the blessed God hath, º, . in his infinite condescension and bounty, given unto us the promises of eternal life; and his Šon.” this life is in his Son; purchased by him, and laid up in him, to be bestowed according to his pleasure ; and therefore only to be obtained through him. So that he who hath an inter- . 12 He that hath the son est in the Son by a lively and operative faith, hath this eternal life, in the sure pledges and jºg.º.d';*. beginnings of it in his own heart, and shall shortly enter on the complete enjoyment, though life. - in himself acknowledged to be ever so unworthy of it; and he who hath not an interest in the Son of God hath not life, whatever proud conceit he may entertain of his own merits and excellences; but, on the contrary, remains exposed to the righteous displeasure of God, and under a sentence of eternal death. IMPROVEMENT. LET us regard the grand question, on which our life, our eternal life, is suspended ! I mean, whether we hav or have not the Son of God! Let us then examine into this important matter with the greatest attention. Let us hearken to, and receive the testimony of God, as comprehended in this one word, that God hath given even to us, dying, perishing men, eternal life; and this life is in his Son. Let us receive this transcendent gift with all humility and thankfulness; and so much the rather, as it is given us in him. By firmly believing this, we shall conquér the world, and gain a victory of an infinitely different and more exalted nature, than they who are strangers to Christ, or who reject him, ever have done, or can possibly do. -- May our steadfast faith in him furnish us with a substantial attestation that we are born of God; and may we prove it to be sincere, by loving the children of God, and by keeping all his commandments. We must surely acknowledge that his commandments are reasonable ; and if we have a genuine love to God existing in our hearts, it will render the observance of them pleasant and delightful. And if we are not possessed of that evi- dence of love, which arises from a disposition to obedience, let us remember, he hath fairly and frequently warned us, that no other expressions of love, how fervent and pathetic soever, will be accepted or allowed by him. That our faith may be confirmed, and our love awakened, let us often look to Christ, as coming by water and by blood. Let us meditate on that mysterious stream of blood and water which came forth from his wounded side. Let us solemnly remind ourselves of the baptismal water, in which we were washed, and of the sacred cup, the com- munion of the blood of Christ, referring to this great important event. And while we are contemplating the memorial of his humility, let us also consider him as one with the Father and the Holy Spirit; and as each of the sacred Three join their testimony to the truth of the gospel, and join their kind offices for supplying to us the invaluable blessings of it, let us joyfully ascribe glory to each, world without end. Amen. SECTION IX. * oncludes his Epistle: declaring its general design to be the confirmation of their faith; and reminding them of the encouragement Thºs º: that th; prayers should be heard, for themselves, and for others, who had not sinned unpardonably., And he then adds a ..º.º." tº happy difference which the knowledge of God in Christ made between them and an ignorant and wicked world. 1 John v. 13, to the e 1 JoBN v. 13. 1 Johs v. 13. AND now, to draw towards a conclusion, these things have I written to jou, who believe .#; ºr, in the name of the Son of God, to confirm your faith, and establish your joy, that ye º the name of the Son of God; know that, if your attachment to him, is of the right kind, you have, in consequençº tº . . tº: an interest in eternal life; and that, this hope operating to produce the substantial fruits, of jig. Gºia. § genuine and universal obedience, ye may yet more fully and steadfastly believe on the mighty the Son of God. and divine name of the Son of God.” Then you may be assured of the certain truth of his religion, in proportion to the degree in which you inwardly experience its noble effects; and may, in consequence of this, keep your hearts continually fixed upon him, in the many tº a important views in which faith exhibits him. And this is the con idence which we have adº". *; towards him, as our prevalent Intercessor and mighty Saviour at God's º hand : that if § Yºk #º. i. we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” graciously: that he observes and takes ºrding to his will, he heareth & © sº * • & uS * 5 notice of all our petitions. And we are sure his is not an ineffectual notice; for i. 106 15 And if we know that he º is hear us, whatsoever we ask know, that he heareſh us, whatsoever we ask, we know, as a further consequence; since he is ºh. ...; - - 3. * s g inly petitions that we desired of ever able to carry all his gracious purposes into immediate execution, that we shall certainly #. have an accomplishment of those petitions which we have asked of him; supposing, as Isaid " before, they are agreeable to his will; and it is always his will that his people should be truly happy, and be supplied with every necessary good. * & * 1 * sº – 16 If any man see his bro- And jet me now add one precaution, with regard to the cases in which it may be pro ther sin a sin chich is not unto per to remember offenders in our prayers; % any one see his brother commit a sin [which ath, he hāfi'īs;...". e º - g - shall give him life for them is] not unto death, that is, any sin but that which is marked out in the awful words of our i. º. . .”...; iðrd Jesus Christ as unpardonable; he shall ask, and may hope that, through the divine º #, "...ºft.*. is: goodness, he shall give him º ; he may cheerfully expect, that God will return in mercy . .' * g •o . ~ * - - I mean such j, i.e. nº, sin mofumio death. There is indeed a sin, [that is] unto death, e e i. jº, from christianity, as is attended with blaspheming i. operations of the ; of God, and ascribing them to Satan; and I say not that he, whose aid may be requeste that which Dr. Watts has so largely established and illustrated in his hiº Tillotson sº º ºlºg; the §, §º. Sormons upon it; to which, º: g; my reader with the utmost !º. º advice of St. John, and there are so s ſº, r * : Watts’s Serm yO i. 1. NCrH), L-J. g - - - - * ; n ..º.º.º.º. ºffº & Cs s not in this Epistle, to establish the 1r falth, progluº - ***** *º " 2 e - ation. º ; º upon them. But the good disposi- that I would by ºft ºšions.) Plearing j.ºhiºh his whoſe discourse has a tendency to promote, would, ge. c If we know t lie re: ignify merely, knowing what we say: º have a strong iº to % firm ſº º a.S jº. §§ #sº §it the assertion to our asking # y the effect of the gospel; and as an ardent Zé s * c or ; 11 . - r & sº ke it for am- would ºci to promote them, was a strong confirmation of thing according to his, will; and it º :*: ..". it for º the teachers.gººgºº, "º". great facts which . before been re- Supéring #. pº |. IS ti º, §jº jº. # re-c. **** & - - C i. 3. i sciſt. , 1 look upon this as a strong text to prove, in interpret the former claus * - y - * ::::::::, . ... "...i. Whitby has advanced, that christians are urged consequence of that ººººº. '...}º !. §§ to #. all º, Testament to believe in Jesus Christ. his grâcious purposes in favour of his people, seems € the Ine (il Uln Ori 1I] tº ºff anything according to his will, he heareth its 1 Arch- which the inference is grounded. - &xt. CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE, on such a sad occasion, should pray concerning that ;d for Christ has told us it shall never be forgiven in this world, or the next. And as nothing but a miracle of divine grace, never to be expected, can recover a person in such circumstances, it is better to wave the petition, how much soever we may be disposed to lament the misery of the jºy Cred- ture who has fallen into it. Every instance of unrighteousness is indeed sin, and every iust censure and here are indeed 17 All, uprighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. breach of his law must be displeasing to God, and be esteemed matter of lamentation ; but there is a sin not unto death in the sense just assigned. 889 SECT. 9. 1 JOHN W. 17 many, from which it evidently appears that persons may be recovered; and in all such 18 We know that whoso- ever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 19 JAnd we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, cases, christian charity will require you to pray for your brethren. And from this dreadful evil divine grace will preserve every good man; for we know that whoever is born of God, does not sin, in this terrible and ruinous manner; but he who is born of God diligentl keepeth himself from it, and Satan, the wicked one, who is the great abettor of all evil, dot not touch, or come near him, but is immediately repelled in his first assaults. JP'e chris- tians do indeed know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness;* it is in subjection to the wicked one, and lies wounded and slain under him. But we know - that, when the whole human race was in this helpless and miserable condition, the Son #...º.º.º. of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true; is true, ºn in his sºj and we are in him that is true, even in the Father and in his Son Jesus Christ: he is the §º."*** true God and eternal life; he partakes with the Father in proper deity; and our immor- tal life is supported by union with him. See to it, therefore, my dear little children, that you adhere to the worship of this true God alone, and keep yourselves from idolsº of every kind; whom the jealous God will not 21 Little children, , keep yourselves from idols. Amen. I 8 21 suffer to share with him, either in the offices of religious worship, or in the supreme affec- tion of the mind. .4men : may you be so kept and preserved to eternal life - IMPROVEMENT. LET us thankfully own the divine goodness, in giving us so many helps for the confirmation of our faith; and learn the importance of its being thus confirmed, from that variety of provision made for its establishment. The declared end of the apostle in writing this Epistle was, that they who believed in the name of the Son of God might more firmly believe in it. Lord, increase our faith, and with it our zeal for him in whose name we believe, and our love to each other, for his sake: then shall we have eternal life, the gift of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord; and in the mean time may address the throne with cheerfulness, and present our petitions in a pleading and con- fident hope, that asking what is agreeable to his will, (and all that he knows to be subservient to our truest interest is so,) he will hear us, and we shall receive the things that we ask. Encouraged by this promise, with what bold- mess may we come to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and grace to help in cºery time of need ' (Heb. iv. 16.) Let his compassion to us teach us to have compassion on our brethren, on our afflicted brethren : yea, on those whose miscarriages have evidently brought their afflictions upon them. Let us not too soon pronounce the case of a sinner hopeless; but rather subject ourselves to the trouble of some fruitless attempts to reclaim him, than omit any thing where there may be a possibility of succeeding. May divine grace awaken all to stand at the remotest distance, not only from the unpardonable sin, but from whatever might dishonour God and endanger our own souls: for every sin is deadly and malignant, though every one be not the sin unto death. May we keep Ourselves, and be kept by divine grace, in such a manner, that the wicked one may not touch us; but all his at- tempts be turned into his own shame and confusion And O may God excite our pity to a world which lies in wickedness; and animate us to use our utmost en- deavours, to recover those out of ihe snare of the devil, who are led captive by him at his pleasure. (2 Tim. ii. 26.) May we be made sensible of the rich and distinguishing grace of God, if we can say that we are, not only by an external profession, but an inward union, in him that is true, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Him let us adore, as with Ver.I3 14, 15 17 18 the Father, and the Holy Spirit, the true God. Him let us seek, as eternal life; and let us keep ourselves from 20 all those idols, which would alienate our regard from God, and by the pursuit of which our eternal life might in any degree be endangered. - d I say not that he should pray concerning that..] It seeins to be intended as a brand set on a person who, had been guilty of the sin, here specified, that he was not to be prayed for by his converted fellow-christians. Some indeed would interpret this sin of the more heinous kind of offences Truth Pºindic. p. 17.4. Mr. Reynolds, who supposes that hell is situated in the air, observes, that the earth, on that hypothesis, lies, as it were, in the suburbs and frontiers of it. See his Inquiries concerning the 2ngelic JWorld, p. 191. But I rather think the word kett at alludes to the cir- punishable with death by human laws: but I can see no sort of reason fºr, refusing, the charity of our prayers to persons in such circumstances. Qthers, think it refers to the case of illness; but there is no express men- tion of it here ; and it seems to have been taken for granted, without reason, that this text is parallel to James v. 14, 15. It is certain, that ill- ness, in case of a capital crime, would not delay the crecution.—The Yopish distinction between mortal and venial sins will however appear to have no foundation in this text upon the interpretation we have given, or indeed upon any we have mentioned. The chief difficulty remaining is, how it could be known, that the apostasy in question was attended with such circumstances, as made it the unpardonable sin Where it was most difficult to distinguish, the giſt of discerning spirits might infallibly decide it: where it was dubious, charity would incline to the milder ex- treme ; and conditional prayer might however be offered. e The world tieth in wickedness : 6 koapuos 5Xog cu Tao Tovmago ksitat.) The whole, teorld here, as the whole creation, Rom. viii. 22. signifies that part of the world in which christianity was not received. Some inagine, that by the world’s lying in wickedness, ev Tao Tovmpo, the apos- tle refers to the abandoned wickedness of the Roman emperors, by whose means, the most enormous impiety and immorality was propagated through the whole empire by prefects, officers, and soldiers. Gosp. 112 cumstance of a body which lics slain : in which sense it is often used by ormer; and on this interpretation it gives us a most compassionable idea of the great misery and helpless state of mankind, tallen by the stroke of this formidable enemy, the wicked one, (6 Tovmpas,) and insulted over by him as his prey. * * * f This is the true. God.) To paraphrase this of the trigg religion, as a very celebrated divine does, is quite enervating the force of Scripture, and taking a liberty with plain words by no ſneans to be allowed. It is an argument of the deity of Christ, which almost all those who have wrote in its defence have urged : and which, I think, none who have opposed it have so much as appeared to answer. . . . - -- & sº g Kecy, yourselces from idols.] Archbishop Tillotson, (vol. ii. p. 488. who interprets the sin unto death, as signifying total apostasy from the christian religion to the heathen idolatry, urges this clause, the connexion of which with the context he thinks not else to be accounted for, as prooſ of it. But a man might commit the sin unto death by falling back into Judaism, though guilty of no idolatry; and the caution here sug- gested, may be very well accounted for, from the general circumstances of the church near that time, even though there should be no such imme- diate, connexion between this clause and the preceding context, as the Archbishop supposes. 21 THE F A M I L Y EXP O S I TO R. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN. THESE Epistles have been both very improperly ranked under the denomination, general or catholic; since each is in- scribed to a single person: one to a woman of distinction, styled here the elect lady; and the other to Gaius, probably the same person with Gaius of Corinth, who is styled by St. Paul his host, and is celebrated for his hospitality to the brethren ; a character . agreeable to that which is here given of Gaius by the apostle John. There is no fixing the date of these two Epistles with any certainty. It in a greatmeasure depends on the date of the #; Epistle: soon after which, it is generally agreed, both these were written. And this indeed appears exceeding pro- able, from that coincidence both of sentiment and expression, which occurs in all these Epistles; and from hence it is inferred, that the state of things in the christian church, referred to in these smaller Epistles, was very much the same as it was at the time of writing the first Epistle, and that the apostle having lately written it, had it now particularly in his view, and the sentiments and expressions of it present to his mind. And ; about the same time that he sent his first Epistle to christians in general, he might send his second to this honoured lady, and his third to his friend Gaius in articular, as a mark of peculiar regard. I shall not here enter into the debate concerning the authenticity of these two pistles, especially as I have already suggested, on some former occasions, such general sentiments as are very applicable on this. The brevity of these Epistles renders it needless to give any other analysis of them than I have done in the contents prefixed to each respectively; to which I refer the reader. - a deceiver and an antichrist. P A R A P H R A S E A N D NOT E S ON THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN. THE APOSTLE JOHN, ADORESSING HIMSELF TO A WORTHY CHRISTIAN LADY, EXPRESSES HIS JOY IN HER GQQD CHARACTER, AND THAT of HER CHILDREN ; EXHQRTS TO CONTINUED LOVE, AND TO GUARD AGAINST DECEIVERS, WHQMJT YOULD BE DANGERQºS.T.9 §§§ AND ENCOURAGE, REFERRING WHAT HE HAD FURTHER TO SAY TILL HE SHOULD MAKE HER A VISIT. 2 JOHN,. R * - 2 John VER. l. 2 JoBN VER. I. THE elder unto, the elect THIS letter is addressed by John, well known in these parts by the name of the Elder,” 2 JOHN #.º.º. called under that character to preside in the churches, to the elect lady,” whom I need 1 §§§º the not namº, as her excellent christian graces render her so gloriously distinguished; and to 3. her children, whom I love in the truth, on those principles which the gospel, the great system of truth, requires with respect to those who so remarkably support, and adorn it. JVor indeed do I only love her and them, but they are beloved also by all those who know the truth, and who have had any opportunity of forming any intimate acquaintance with 2. For the truth’s sake; them. These amiable persons are justly dear to us all, because of the truth which dwelleth 2 .*.*.*.*.*.* in us, and I doubt not, shall be in us for ever. And particularly so deeply is it grounded - in your mind and heart, that I am persuaded the relish of it will never be lost, be the 3 Grace be with you, mer- remaining years of life ever so many, or the events of them ever so trying. May, a rich 3 §§º..”..."; assemblage of every desirable blessing, grace, mercy, [and] peace, be, with you all from jśćhºst,' 'son of the God the Father of all, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father; and may *** *** it animate you to walk in truth, and in universal love, according to the tenor of that glo- rious gospel with which he hath favoured you. - ####.'...}} I rejoiced greatly, when in some of those excursions which I made for the service of 4 #"...º.º.º.; the gospel, I found some of thy children walking in a manner agreeable to the system of ºmmandmention thers. divine truth, and according to the commandment which we have received from God the §"And now I beseech thee, Father. ...And now I beseech thee, my dear and honoured lady, not as writing to thee a 5 º; new and unknown commandment, but that which we had from the beginning of our tº that "ij" we had ſºon acquaintance with our divine Master, and the religion he came to introduce, that we may ... º. " " " all love one another, And this is that love which alone can prove acceptable to him, that 6 wºnº ºf we should constantly walk, according to his commandments; and this is the commandment, ...is."jºis", "... as ye have heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it; this was the great end of i..."; }; bayº the gospel, to give us proper directions för our conduct, and motives to engage us to act heard from the beginning, ye * • * s º x- - should walk in it. accordingly. And these rules and principles have been so plainly and hji. delivered to Y. that I need not now say anything more in relation to them. 7. For many, deceivers are refer you to those sacred lessons into which at your first conversion to christianity you 7 §: º jś were initiated; because many deceivers are gone out into the world, who confess not that Jesus is gone in the fiesh. This is Christ is come in the flesh.” And this is a most certain mark of a deceiver and an anti- christ; and if any would go about to refine upon the doctrine of the incarnation and passion of our blessed Redeemer, as if they were allegorical, and expressed mere appear- ances, and not realities, whatever sublime notions he may pretend, he is to be rejected 3 ºf ºoººº. with abhorrence. Let me therefore beseech you, and all my christian friends to whom Yº...º.º.; this letter may come, that ye look to yourselves, and let us all attend to the caution, that \at we receive a full reward, we may not lose the things we have already wrought in the service of Christ, but persevering owhosoever transgresseth, and abounding in it, may receive the ample reward which I trust through divine grace is a; d. abſºth not in tº gº laid up for us. For it is certain, that every one who in this respect transgresseth, and re- triue of Christ, hath not God. g * * e e s g #."º", ºr maineth not in the dyctrine of Christ, hath not an interest in God; but he that remaineth S 9 a The Elder.] The concealment of the name of the author can be no than may be, derived from that yery remarkable, similarity of sentiment objection against ascribing it to St. John ; since, his name, is also con- and ºich appears in them all, on the slightest attention. cealed in the First Epistle, which is universally allowed to be his. Nor b }}. elect 'y.] Lord Barrington is of opinion , the lady...here yvas it customary with this "a ostle, in any of his writings, to be free spoken of is the church at Jerusalem, sister to that at Ephesus, (Bºr. in mentioning his own name. His styling himself the elder in this and Jºſiscel. Sacr; p. 51.) and the notion, seems to, have been taken from Dr. the following Epistle, is probably the reason why they were ascribed by Whitby. Compare Isa. liv. 1. Gal. iv. 34, &Q. But, the arguº some of the ancients not to the apostle John, universally acknowledged are , by no means cºnvincing: and ver, 10, seems a strong objection tº the authºrišje, but to"John, an eſſer of pºsijer against it. It is probable that this lady (styled here ex\exrm kvpta, from of Éphesus." He who would see the 'testimonies of the fathers, that the whence some have fancied her, proper name was Eclecta, and others, apostle John was the author of these two Epistles, "#. consult, the Cyrig) was a person of considerable distinction. e second part of Dr. Lardner’s Credibility of the Gospel History. There c Come in the flesh.]. The apostle here alludes to the rise of those can hardly be stronger internal arguments, that the three Epistles, now heretics who affirme t that Christ only came in appearancº, commonly ascribed to St. John, were the production of the same author, *. Ver. I 2 truth, are said to have had towards this elect and excellent lady, for the truth's sake which dwelt in her. Adored reserved her in so high a rank of life from temptations which could not fail to surround rendered her an example of wisdom and piety, great and eminent in proportion to her 2- o, JOHN'S EPISTLE TO THE ELECT LADY. in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son, whose cause and whose tripe of christ, he bºth leth 10 favour are inseparable, ºnd if any one come unto you, under the character of a religious thiº.º.º.º. teacher, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into [your] house, to give him counte- 1 nance and support, neither wish him good success.d. For he that thus supports and main- tains him, and, wishéth him good success, in a case like this, though he . If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc- trine, receive him not, into § house, neither bid him oes not actually od speed : - engage himself to labour in it, is partaker of his evil deeds, and in the sight of God and c; Fººthat biddeth him od speed is partaker of his man, accessary to the damage which such a seducer may, in consequence of such evil deeds. ncouragement, bring upon the church. Having many other things to write winto you, which might have º my pen in a much longer epistle, I would not [do it] with paper and ink; but break ere long to open my mind much more largely when I come to you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be fulfill-d; and we may have mutual have received much greater satisfaction than this imperfect method of converse can afford. £ In the mean time, I shall only add, that the children of thine elect sister salute thee, and I join, with them in the kindest wishes which the sincerest friendship can form. And may God accomplish them. .Amen. 12 Having lºy º to Write unto you WOujd hot Off here, &S I hope jºrite with paper and ink. but I trust to come unto you, and speak face {i, face, that reason to acknowledge, that we ouijº, may be fail. .13 The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen. {M[PROVEMENT. -- LET us observe this delineation of a love truly christian ; the love which the apostle, and all who knew the be that grace, which her that grace, whic exalted situation | Nor can we forbear reflecting, how happy, in consequence of this, she herself was, possessed of grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord, in truth and love What were all the secular hon- ours by which she was distinguished! What the possession of riches, which in their own nature, and unimproved to the pious and charitable purposes to which she improved them, are very empty and unsatisfactory; what are these, when compared with such important blessings! We cannot but º at this distance of time, and ignorant 4 as we are of the name, situation, and history of this worthy lady, that her children walked in the truth. It was a singular joy to John, and may be so in a degree to all ; and may teach us to lift up our hearts to God in prayer, that all christian parents, especially pious mothers, and more articularly those whose character in life is so emi- nently distinguished, may enjoy this happiness, and see the seed they are with such commendable industry sowing in the minds of their tender offspring, growing up, and bringing forth much fruit. We have, in the beloved apostle, an excellent pattern of a becoming care, to make a correspondence with our christian friends useful; which we shall do, if, like him, we are exhorting them to the cultivation of mutual love, and to a constant uniform care in keeping the cornumandments of 8 prevailing sins and errors of the day, and urging them to a holy solicitude that they may not lose what they have God: if we continue warning them against the already attained; but may receive full reward for every work of faith, and labour of love, in consequence of a course of resolute and persevering piety. Persons of the most distinguished goodness have need to be cautioned against that excess of generosity and hos- 10, 11 pitality, which might sometimes make them partakers with seducers in their evil deeds, by giving them their au- dience, and wishing them good success, while by their fair speeches they impose upon the simplicity of Open and upright hearts, who, because themselves are void of fraud, are often void of suspicion too. But there is a prudent 7 caution to be observed upon this head; and it is the part of faithful friendship to suggest it; for many deceivers are come out into the world. For our security against them, let us be always upon our guard, and take care to favour, we shall stand in need of nothing, and shall have 9 continue in the doctrine of Christ; that so we may have the Father, and the Son; and if we are interested in their nothing of which to be afraid. .Amen. d Wish him good success.) . Thus the Jews, as Dr. Lightſoot and Dr. Whitby observe; were forbid to say, Tºx, or God speed, to an excommu- nicated person, or to come within, four cubits of an heretic. But the apostle must not be here understood as excl:1.jing, the coinmon offices aſ humanity to such persons; for that is contréry to a li the general precepts of benevolence to be found in the gospe). 1: Ut, to have ref:eived a sedu- cing teacher into their houses, and have given biºn sºitable accommoda- tions, would have been showing him such regard, and affording him such support, as indeed, in some measure, would have made them answer- able for the mischief he might do in the church ; such favours, being, not merely offices of common humanity, but of patronage and friendship; i. in the general, at least a testimony of their approbation, as well as \ } {}{l Il 6 SS, A P A R A PHRASE AND NOTES ON THE THIRD EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN. THE APOSTLE JOHN, IN THIS SHORT EPISTLE TO GAIUs, EXPRESSES His CONCERN FOR HIS PROSPERITY, AND Ijſs JOY IN THE HONOURA- BLE CHARACTER HE MAINTAINED FOR CHRISTIAN CANDOUR, HOSPITALITY, AND ZEAL: CAUTIONs HIM AGAINST THE AMBITIOUS AND TURBULENT PRACTICES OF DIOTREPILES; AND RECOMMENDING DEMETRIUS TO BIs FRIENDSHIP, REFERS WHAT II.E 13 AD FURTHER TO SAY TO A PERSONAL INTERVIEW. 3 JOHN, THROUGHOUT. 3 John WER. I. addresses this Epistle to the beloved and hospitable Gaius,” whom I love in the 3 JOHN **** truth, and hold as dear in the bowels of Christ, from a regard to the advancement and 1 honour of his gospel. Beloved, I pray that, in every respect, thou mayst prosper; and particularly that thou 2 tº mayst be in health; as I have reason to believe that thy soul prospereth ; for I doubt not thy soul prospereth. but that religion flourishes in thy heart, and abundantly justifies my wishing thee as 3. For I rejoiced greatly; healthful and prosperous as thou art good. For I rejoiced greatly when the christian bre- Yº'; thren came from that part of the world in your neighbourhood, and testified concerning thy #. #. ºn as thou walkest truth,” as thou walkest in the truth, and adornest the gospel by an exemplary behaviour. "4 iſºmo greater joy than For indeed I have no greater joy than this thing gives me, that I may heard my christian ºhatmy children ** friends, whether converted by me or others, whom I look upon as my dear children, are * tº walking in the truth, and according to those directions which our Lord Jesus Christ bim- àBeloved, thou doest faith; self, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, has given us. And, beloved, I must declare 5 §.º.º. º my entire approbation of thy conduct, and can openly bear my testimony to it, that thou gerS ; dost faithfully whatsoever thou performest towards the brethren and towards strangers; thy behaviour to thy fellow-christians known to thee, and to those with whom thou hast little acquaintance, yea, to all who have occasion to cast themselves upon thy hospitality, is much to the credit of the gospel, and I doubt not but it proceeds from a principle of true 6.Which have borneyit faith, and overflowing love to our common Redeemer. And indeed many of the christian §."...}} sº strangers, who have been thus generously entertained by thee, have testified very honourably flººr.º.º.º. concerning thy love before the church; whom thou dost well in bringing forward in their ºf gay sorº journey,” in a manner worthy of God, proceeding from a principle of divine love, and 7. Because that...fºr his correspondent to the relation in which you and they stand to him. And whatever thou tºº .*.*. gº dost for them, our great Lord will take as done to himself; for it was on his account, and tiles. out of zeal for his honour and interest, that they went out, abandoned their habitations, possessions, and callings, that they might spread his gospel; receiving nothing of the Gen. tiles, among whom they laboured; that they might take off all suspicion of those merce- 8 we therefore ought to nary views, above which divine grace had so far raised them. He ought therefore, all of º: “..."; us, who have any habitation of our own, hospitably and respectfully to receive such that, truth. if divine Providence do not give us an opportunity of laying ourselves out, as they do, in the ministerial office, we may become, as it were, fellow-labourers with thern in the service of the truth, and through divine grace may be entitled to a part in their reward. 3 John VER. l. THE elder unto the well be- THE Elder Joved Gaius, wi the truth. 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou may est pros- 3 4 6 7 8 a Gaius.) We read of one Gaius of Corinth, Roºm, xvi. 23. who hos- pitably received the apostle, Paul, when he went out to preach the gospel gratis; and if this were, as he seems to have been, the Sanje, he was St. Paul’s convert; nor is St. John’s calling him his child air argument to the contrary : since in the general he addresses all christians in the same tender and affectionate style, agreeably to the sweetness of his temper, and suitably to his advanced years. , Counpare Dr. Whitby, in loc, b In every respect : T.spt Tavroy.] Our English translation is, above all things. Mr. Hallet would render it, abore all persºns; as if ſhe had said, you aré the person, for whose temporal and spiritual advantage I am concerned more than any other. Hallet’s JVotes and Discourses, vol. i. p. 61, 62. But the words may so, justly bear the translation I have given them, by which ali manner of difficulty is removed, that I think it much preferable to either of the former. And it hath the sanction of so good an authority as Erasmus Schmidius, who translates it, de omnibus. c Testified concerning thy truth as 7: a)\njetº..] Some have suppos- ed the apostle here means, that they bore witness to Gaius’s sincerity, and that this is the idea we should affix to a Xmbeta in this place, in ordèr to avoid that tautology which there would be in the next clause, if we understood him here to speak of his faith in the gospel. Dut though it is allowed that axméeta may signify sincerity, yet if we suppose that to be tho gase here, it will be necessary to understand it in two different senses in the same sentence ; and I think the latter clause, calking in the truth, may have a further idea than merely his faith, which I have ex- pressed in the paraphrase. d That I may hear.) Dr. Whitby takes notice of it here, as an ob- servation which many have made, that the use of the particle tra for 6 re and 67 gy is a peculiarity in St. John’s style. e Bringing them ſorºard in their journey..] This may possibly be un- derstood in a spiritual sense, of assisting them in their travels through this wilderness to the heavenly world. Or it may have a literal signifi. £ation, and then, one kind of hospitality and chaiity is put for theºst. But I rather prefer the former señse. f "key cent out, receiving nothing of the Gentiles.] Eón)09, prºv Nagóauðires aſſo toy c09:35. Beza refers airn For £9,000 to ºxº and understands it, that the persons here spoken of cent out frº "espectice countries and native places, (ſtºp row cºway,) leaving gll their *gorldly possessions, (ſimóev \apſ3avoºres,) to go and preach the gospel. And in support of this construction, he observes, that rapa should have been used after Aqušavov'ss, and iot gº. But Matt. xvii. 25,26. and I, John ii. 27. are evident confutations of this remark. And whéreas fig thinks it absurd to imagine the unbelieving Gentiles would contribute to the support of the predellers of the gospel, it is an obvious reply, that ..., eduov may mean the believing Gentites, as it is certain the word fre: Quently does., Wolfius, who agrees with Beza, in referring aro rºy eflvøy to ºnX99v, understands it of their being driven and forced out by the Gentiles, having been stript of their possessions; which would render the ºn the mºre proper objects of kindness and hospitality. But there is nothing of this in the idea suggested by the word ºn X0Sw, and the more Cºmmon signification of it is to go out coluntarily. See Wolfi Cure - & Philolog. vol. v. p. 334. 894 JOHN'S EPISTLE TO GAIUS. ** , I have lately written to the church, about which I know you are so much concerned; , 9 I wrote unto the church: 9 but I sometimes fear, lest it should not be with so good success as I could wish; for Dio- ºrº trephes, who affects the pre-eminence among them, even above the apostles of Christ them- *uº, ºn: selves, hath not received us with becoming regard; and his interest with some of the * 10 members is much greater than it ought to be. Therefore if I come, as I hope I quickly 10 wherefore, if I come, I shall, I tºll be mindful of the works which he does; many of which are very irregular, while wire.his. he is continuºlly pratingh against us with idle, petuſant, and malicion; ºoris ; and not ... ', º coſteſt with this, goes yet further in his opposition; for he receives not the retireſ him. jiu "...i.d.; º; lf, though he knows the fr - - w * #...}. ºther doth he §elſ, th9ugh he knows they come from us, and hinders those who would receive them from iś. doing it and casts [them] out of the church, forbidding them either to officiate, or com- "...º.º.º. municate where his influênce extends; than which nothing can be more tyrannical or of the church. OUl intolerable. As for thee, my beloved brother, imitate not that hich is evil, but that which 11 Beloved, follow not that tº £934, behold such a conduct as his with a just abhorrence; and act according to that §. º. model of humility and condescension which you have seen in others, who may justly claim iºd: §§'."...: an authority much superior to his. He that doeth good is of God; he knows him, and he evil hath not seen God. imitates his most amiable and spotless pattern; #. he that does evil, that harbours such malignant passions, and behaves in so injurious a manner, whatever high notions he may pretend to, has not seen God, but is º ignorant of his perfections and of his will. 12 Demetrius, on the contrary, is a most excellent person, who has a good testimony from all ...!?...Demetrius hath good neº, and even from the truth itself; and we have also, upon all occasions, bórne, and #####! *...*.*.*. do bºar, [the same] testimony; and iſe know that this our testimony is true. tº gº.º. Know 13 ... I have many other things, i,j} should be glad to write to you; but I will not write º 'ſſiºns, to them tº gº by ink and pen, as it would take up too much time, and I should not be able ºf ink 14 after all fully to express myself. But I hope quickly to see thee, and to speak face to Jace, *śāort- with all the freedom we could desire; till that time, therefore, I refer what f'...; now Écº º further say 3 and only add, Peace [be] to thee, and every desirable blessing from God our ºthee... our friends jute Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord. The christian friends, who are here with me, salute hº. Greet the fiends by thee; and I desire, that thou wouldst salute the friends that are with thee by name, and assure - them of my most cordial and entire respect. 1 I IMPROVEMENT. Ver. 1 How º was Gaius in the friendship of that apostle, whom Jesus had honoured with such a distinguishing 2 degree of his friendship ! . How much happier still was he, in a soul so thriving and prosperous, that even such a friend, who could not but hold flattery in detestation, should be able to make the .# state of his soul a standard by which to adjust his wishes in relation to his temporal affairs! O what a curse would this be upon many, that they might prosper even as their souls prospered And yet what is all other prosperity without this, but like that of fools, which destroys them (Prov. i. 32.) How agreeable is it to a true christian, to hear well of the behaviour 3, 4 of those who are dear to him in the bonds of peculiar friendship; to hear of their walking in the truth; and especially when these are our own children, or those whom God has made us the means of converting, or those whom we have been concerned in training up for him! O that those especially, to whom the education of #. has been committed, may have this great happiness! “Visit each of our children, and young friends, O Lord, with thy mercy; animate them to walk in thy truth; and entail thy blessing upon them, when nothing remains of all the offices of love we have bestowed, but the memory of our exhortations and examples!” 5 May sentiments of true generosity fill and expand our hearts more and more 1 May we act towards strangers, and especially our brethren, in all the instances in which they need our assistance, in a manner worthy of God, worthy of the relation in which we and they have the honour to stand to our heavenly Father; and especially, let 6 our love abound to those who have a desire to spread the gospel. And O that it were more universal! O that divine grace would excite more to quit the indulgence of their homes, or their countries, if there be no bond of 7 duty to detain them there, that they may go and preach to the Gentiles! And though there be no prospect of any requital from them, God will open to them the inexhaustible stores of his celestial treasure, and º shall be re- compensed in the resurrection of the just. Let them but see to it, that their intentions are pure, that they do it for his sake; and their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. - - 9 But alas! how much more common even to this day, and that among the ministers of the #. is the character of Diotrephes, who loved to have the pre-eminenceſ. How has the spirit of opposition and ambition prevailed in 10 the church, as well as in the world ! How does it still prevail! and, in this view, how many malicious words have been uttered against those who have with the greatest simplicity desired to follow the apostles! With what con- tempt have they often been cast out of the church Yea, in a thousand instances, with what savage cruelty hunted out of the world! How long, O Lord, holy and true! Let us not, however, be impatient, but sº in the 11 most humble or painful station he shall allot, by doing or suffering all his will ; still imitating that which is good, as becomes those who are of God, who hope to see him, and enjoy him for ever. - 12 Let us endeavour, like Demetrius, to secure to ourselves a good report of all men; but, especially, let us see to it that we reverence our own consciences, and that we secure their testimony, which will be agreeable to that of the truth itself. So will our honour and our happiness be secured; and if any vapour should now rise to ob- scure it, the day is near, when the Sun of Righteousness shall undoubtedly chase it away. - g Diotrephes.] It is uncertain who he was. Grotius, thinks he was a Gentiles, and set himself up as the head of a party, in opposition to the Géntile convert, who would not admit the Jews ; but it seems rather apostles. . - more probable that he was a jew, who opposed' the admission of the h Prating ; (b)\vapov.] Compare 1 Tim, v, 13. note l THE F. A. M I L Y E X P O S I TO R. . A. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE. JUDE, or Judas, the author of this Epistle, is often mentioned as one of the apostles of our Lord, and the brother of .ſames the less. The canonical authority of this Epistle hath been disputed; but it is not the business of these commen- taries to enter largely into such questions. Probably its authenticity would never have been doubted, had it not been, for an imagination, ill grounded indeed, that the author hath quoted a spurious book, called the Prophecy of Enoch. The reader may consult what learned men have written upon this argumént; particularly, Dr. Lardner, in his Credibility of the Gospel History, Dr. Whitby, and Dr. Twells, in the second part of his Critical Examination of the JVew Text and Ver- sion of the :º Testament. The latter hath collected the principal materials with accuracy, and set them in a clear and convincing light. * There ; a. ºnariable similarity between this Epistle and part of the Second Epistle of St. Peter, which (as we observed in the Introduction to that Epistle) was probably owing to this, that both the apostles drew their character of the false teachers, against whom they cautioned their readers, from the character given of the false prophets in some ancient Jewish *::: ; º it is very possible too, (as Bishop Sherlock observes,) that § Jude might have #. Second Epistle of St. Pe- ter before him. Dr. Mill fixes the date of this Epistle about the year 90; (see his Prolegomena, p. 17. sect. 145. edit. Kuster.) and his rincipal argument is, that the false teachers, which St. Peter describes as yet to come, St. Jude mentions as already come. }. on a comparison, there does not appear that remarkable difference in their phraseology, which will be sufficient to prove that St. Jude wrote his Epistle so long after St. Peter's Second Epistle as is here supposed, though I acknowledge it will prove that it was written after it. - The º of the apostle is plainly, “by describing the character of the false teachers, and pointing out the divine judg- ments which persons of such a character had reason to expect, to caution christians against listening to their suggestions, and being thereby perverted from the faith and purity of the gospel.” For the analysis of the Epistle, I refer my reader to the contents prefixed to the two sections, into which I have divided it. P A R A P H R A S E A N D NOT E S O N THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE. SECTION i. THE APQSTLE JUDE, AFTERA GENERAT, SALUTATION, EXHORTS THE CHRISTIANS TO WHOM HE WROTE STRENUOUSLY TO ASSERT THE PQRITY QF THEIR Q9MAIQN FAITH ; REMINDING THEM OF THE DESTRUCTION wiłICH CAME ON Göt)'s proß PEOPLE, YEA, ON THE APQSTATE ANGELS, FQR THEIR SINS; As WELL. As ON THE INHABITANTS of Šoljoyſ ND GOMORRAH; AND THEN HE BEGINS THE ºlos OF SOME SEDITIOUS AND ABANDONED PERsoss, FROM who Mſ HETMAGINED THENI TV' pºtyfi.i. DANGER. JUDE JUDE VER. 1. JUDr. VER. J. SECT. YOU receive this Epistle, from Jude, who, like his brethren the other apostles, cannot JUDE, the servant of Jesus 1, but rejoice and glory in the title of a servant of Jesus Christ, and who is the brother of §º: James, so well known by his distinguished services and sufferings in the cause of our Šºštjº JUDE divine Master; and he inscribes it to those who are sanctified in God the Father, devoted ed in Jesus Christ, and called: 1 to his service through the influence of his grace ; who are also the called and preserved in Jesus Christ, brought into the fellowship of his religion, and guarded by his grace, in the midst of a thousand snares, which might have tempted them to have made shipwreck of 2 their faith. May mercy, and peace, and love, from our heavenly Father, and our compas- 2 Mercy unto you, and sionate Saviour, be multiplied to you; and may you increase in all the happy fruits of Riº, "" love be multi- divine favour and mercy; and especially in that spirit of candour and charity which is to 3 be numbered among the most precious of them. My beloved, giving all diligence to write .3 Beloved, when I gave an to you, concerning the common salvation,” to the hope of which we are brought by the §§"...º.º. profession ºf the gospel, Ijudged it necessary to direct my pen, particularly with respect ºil. º to those unhappy attempts that have been made to adulterate christianity, by some who ºf continue to profess a regard to it. I now therefore write to you, echorting and beseech- ºnce * 1--" º - : - - * o the saints. ing [you] to stripe earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, for - the instruction of every future age; and not to suffer any by violence or by fraud to rob 4 you of so inestimable a treasure. For some crafty and pernicious men have, as it were, * Fºr there are certain men with a serpentine art, glided in among us, who were of old, as it were, described and flºº registered to this condemnation,” by God's righteous sentence denounced against crimes ;...º.º.º. like theirs, long before they appeared in the world. Impious and ungrateful men, who ...}}}..." presume to turn even the grace of our God itself, which ought to be an eyerlasting source ºft Hººgºod and of love, and engagement to sanctity and obedience, into an occasion of lasciviousness; as if they thought they might with impunity go on to sin, that grace might abound: and denying God the only original Sovereign,” and our Lord Jesus Christ, whom he has invésted with universal dominion, to be acknowledged by all who would not be found 5 rebels against himself! But I would remind you, as jou once knew this, that having been 5 I will therefore put you taught it, you may never forget it, even that the Lord having saved the people of Israel ...tº; d. C-3 8-3 - - * , - - - from out of the land of Egypt, and rescued them by so glorious an interposition of his ;ſº..."...##!. almighty power, afterwards destroyed those that did not believe, though they had once afterward destroyed them experienced so wonderful a deliverance. And thus should we have reason to fear, that that believed not. notwithstanding our christian profession, he would destroy us, if we adulterate and per- 6 vert his religion, after a manner contrary to its original design. The angels also who kept kºi iº not their first state,d but suffering their minds to be transported with ambitious and irre-jºº'. ;...". ular passions, were discontented in that high rank of being which Providence assigned them, and left their proper abode in the region of glory, instead of permitting them to in: 1; or to write to you concerninz the common salvation, so pregnant, with gloomy, and, as I sh9uld fear, with ſatal conse- sº,”;.4%; the iº, is, That whereas he intended to quences, that I iſi. it a part of the duty I owe to the word of Ggº, to Write them a practical letter, he was compelled to go into some contro- resºué it from the imputation of containing such a tenet. Bishop Sher- jaj subjects. If rather think he intends to declaré by this expression, lock thinks the word refers to the description given of sugh kind of per: that the exhortation he now gives them, to contend earnestly for the faith, sons by an ancient writer of the Jewish #ºggiº *#; jºi. | I]. was indeed subservient to promote that common salvation hò designed to this Epistle, and in the spºond. chapter of the §º pistle of Peter. ji them to the pursuit off-Bishop. Sherlock thinks, the faith delivered Sher). On Proph. p. 181. 5th edit, Compare ver. 14, 5, 7, 8. - % the saints is the same with the holy commandmeat, delivered, 2. Pet. ii. c God the $gvºreign; gnd own, Lord, &c.;]. Some would render it, gur 51. that is, with the directions and instructions which the council of the gmly JMaster, God, and, Lord. See Dr. Watts, On the #: D. *śs 3ut ºposiès had sent them, with regard to these pestilent teachers. Sherlock it seems most agreeable, to tho general doctrine and phraseology of Scrip- #. Proph. p. 200. 5th edit. ture, to retain our translation. Compare John xvii. 3. h P were registered to this condemnation.] The word Tpoyaypap- d Their first state : Tay apxmy savrov.] Some translatethese words, evot may well signify, described and put upon record: that is, whose the government of themselves. But Dr. Scott interprets it of that place in Éh teſ and condemnation may be considered as described in the heaven which was assigned them, and which they were not content with ; C. #n. of other notorious sinners, who were a kind of representa- and their leaving this first itation he takes, to have been a vºluntary #. § ºf them. Which interpretation I prefer to any other, as it tends to thing, and that they chose to come.down to the *ś of this º Čoi ºf that heavy imputation which it must bring upon his moral garth, that they might seduce mankind to join with them in their revolt. C §: to suppose that he appoints men to sin against him, and then But this does not seem to suit the phrase of their being cast out, 2 Pet. §: § º #.”. oing what they could not but do, and what they 4:... Mr. Boyse would translate #;" opp head, that §: Christ. Boyse's ‘...."jeśń. on their own freedom of choice, falº ſº. A joctrinº Šerº. voſ. iii. p. 4ó3, "Comparé Hos. i. ii. in the LXX. EXHORTATIONS TO MAINTAIN THE PURITY OF THEIR FAITH. 8:17 ºfeº jºining advance themselves by their rebellion, he has by his righteous vengeance precipitated into SECT. §"id. “ºfº” ... the pit of destruction, and reserved in perpetual bonds under darkness, in the infernal prison, 1. day. to be brought forth at the judgment of the great day, and then to receive their final sen- —— 7. Even as Sodom, and Go: tence. And earth has produced many awful scenes, in which the divine vengeance has JUDF ;";*.*.*... had its triumph over sinful mortals; as particularly Sodom and Gomorrah,” and the cities 7 #º: about them, in like manner with them, committing fornication, and by yet grosser and more #,"..cº. # **"... unnatural licentiousness, going after strange and detestable gratifications of their pam- ...fºº Ven pered and, indulged flesh, are set forth for an erample to other presumptuous sinners; suffering that which really appears a most lively emblem of the vengeance of eternal fire,f a.º.º. having their lovely and fruitful country turned into a kind of hell upon earth. So these 8 §§o.,... .'; dreamers also,é in their luxurious indulgences, suffer their thoughts to be amused with jº. vain and polluted imaginations, whereby they defile the flesh, which ought to be sacred, together with the spirit, to the service of God. They make light of dominion and autho- rity derived from the Supreme Sovereign, and speak evil of dignities, of persons in the ...Y.: Miº # º most honourable stations;. Whereas we have heard in tradition, that Michael the archan-9 § dºi"hº"; a... gel, when contending in dispute with the devil concerning the body of Moses,h which the e tº body ºld; durstºº angel was to bury privately, and he would have revealed, did not presume to bring against bring against him a railing tº ºisation," but "said, “Fä him a railing accusation,i but had so much reverence for the divine presence, as to speak Lord rebuke thee. with moderation and gentleness, even to that great enemy of God and men; and said, The Lord rebuke theek for this outrage, and teach thee to restrain such shocking expres- 10. But these speak evil of sions. (Compare Zech. iii. 2.) But these daring and impious men blaspheme what in- 10 fºx deed they know not ; and what they maturally, as the irrational animals, know, the things # ºut.cº, which tend to the gratification of their inferior part, the low circle to which their know- §sº.” ” “” ledge and care is confined, in these they are corrupted, by the gross and scandalous abuse * Yº...!?, ºn...ſº of them, to the dishonour of God, and to their own infamy and destruction. Woe be 11 hey have gone in the way of 5 e - 2 te g * $."... º.º.º. unto them, and woe will attend them; for they have gone in the way of Cain, that perse- ..".”; ; ; cutor and murderer, while, like him, they havé despised the appointed method of God's gainsaying of Core. mercy; and they have run on with prodigious eagerness in the description of Balaam’s re- ward; enslaved, like him, to mean, secular views, they have abandoned themselves to sin and ruin, till at length they have perished” in the contradiction of Korah ; like him, they have opposed God's appointed messengers, and his Son, to whom he has devolved the conduct of his church; and methinks, like him and his company, I see them already struck by the lightning of God's wrath, and overwhelmed with remediless destruction. IMPROVEMENT. How happy are the people of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in him are called, sanctified, and kept by the divine Ver. omnipotence through faith unto salvation For mercy and peace shall be multiplied upon them, till mercy hath, * as it were, finished his commission and conducted them to eternal peace. We learn from the example of the apostle before us, of how great necessity it is in some circumstances, if ministers would promote the common sal- vation of their hearers, to guard them against the prevailing errors of the day, and to excite them earnestly to strive for the faith once delivered to the Saints, as for a prize of the highest importance. May we rightly discern its nature, and be very careful, that while we are attempting to exert a christian zeal, we do not mingle with it our own mistakes, and our own irregular passions, in such a manner as to tear in pieces what we are so eager to pre- serve. In short, let us learn from Scripture what that faith is, and the importance of its respective articles; and let us always be endeavouring to maintain it in the spirit of love. - May all who would disturb the church by pernicious doctrines, or scandalous practices, and especially they who would ungratefully turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and thereby deny the only true God, and our Saviour, reflect upon the awful judgment of God on the rebel angels, and on sinful men, not on the cities of Sodom 9: and Gomorrah only, but even on his own people, whom he had delivered from Egypt, when they proved obsti- nate and unbelieving: and as we dread an exclusion from the heavenly Canaan; yea, as we dread the chains of darkness, and the vengeance of eternal fire; let us avoid and abhor the character described in the following verses: $. &c. the dream of lewdness, the brutal indulgence of sensuality, the contradiction of Korah, the covetousness of Balaam, * and the malignity of Cain. God has written down their condemnation and destruction in the eternal records of his lº that they might be for a sign, and that others may hear and fear, and take heed that they do not so wicked ſy. . e Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like inanmer with Mr. Baxter suggests it as a doubt, whether, it were about the dead body them : Tov oud tav T&Tots Tpoſtov..] Some have pleaded, that this seems of Moses, of Moses exposed on the cater, that there was this contention. to imply, that the sin of the angels was fornication, and consequently that Baxter’s Works, vol. ii. p. 341. this Epistle is not authentic, But there seems up mecessity for interpret- i Jä railing accusation.]. Archbishop 'Tillotson suggests, that the arch- ing the expression with such extreme rigour, as if it must mean that their angel was afraid the devil would have been too hard for him at railing. sin was of the same kind; it is, sufficient that, the comparison, holds in The words seem to me to intimate, that the angeſ thought it a part of this, that they were both guilty of very great wickedness.--There are the reverence due to God, not to mention his name and judgment in a some who refer Tov optotov, Tsrat's Tpoſtov, in like manner with them, to furious, passionate manner, but mildly and gently. Witsius thinks the the cities about then, who sinned in the same manner with Sodom and devil biasphemed, apu that the angel did not accuse him, but referred Gomorrah; nor is it any objection to this, as some have supposed it is, the matter to the judgment of the great, day. Witsii Miscel. vol., ii. iv. 6. that Tstot; cannot agrée with 2060pa sat Topeppa; for in reality, these W*i. See alsº the Commentary of this learned authºrs in loc, whose re- towns are of the neuter gender, (sée Luke xvii. 29. Mark vi. 11. Gen. Naſks on all the verses are framed with great erudition and accuracy. xiii. 19.) in the Seventy. And if they were not, nothing is more com- Perhaps ovk croAgrige kotgau eſtereyketv 3Xaadnut as may signify, that mon than an enallage of gender, in such a case as this, where t grows he did not pass judgment upon his blasphemy, but referred him to God. nust refer to the men who inhabited these cities. - k The Lord rebuke thce.]. It is highly probable the apostle refers to f Vengeance of eternal fire.] Dr. Whitby has brought many arguments some ancient book, in which this fact was thus mentioned, and speaks to prove, that the vengeance here spoken of must be the loss of their citics, upon the supposition of its truth, which the persons he reasoned against rather than their souls, and produces instances to show, that aucovios is did not dispute;. And the argument does not lie in any regard shown to used in a sense consistent with this interpretation. the devil as a dignitary, and one who exercises dominion over, subordi- g Dreamers: evorvuašopºvot..] Our translators render this, filthy dream- . f: #. i. for tº be a º º a band 3. such #.º. j ers. The context shows they deserve the epithet; but as the Greek does ºf lº .*.*.*. It iº. sº 6 not express it, I judged it most faithful to the original to omit it. character of the devil; as it lºad jºid, the Angel ºil eyen fi Södy of Moses. Archbishop Tillotson, (see his ºorks, vol. ii. p. º. the devil, how much less ought we agains méºn authority, eyen - - * * - -- * s sº * -*. 158.) and many other good writers, think this illustrated by Deut. xxxiv. sº in º º º º: j: º º it therefore 6. He supposes, that had the devil been able to discover to the Jews the Y {j they behave \Well, must be a wickedness yet much more aggra- place where Moses was interred, they would afterwards have paid an "*"; - idolatrous honour to his remains; and it would have gratified his malice ... I Naturally know..] Compare the notes on the parallel texts in 2 Pet. exceedingly, to have made him an occasion of idolatry after his death, ii. for the illustration of this and other passages which occur here , , who had been so great an enemy to it in his life. To prevent this, he m IIave perished.] . This is a genuine trace of a prophetic spirit, which thinks that Michael buried the body secretly. This proves, by the way, i. of things certainly future, as if they were past. And as such l that good angels are sometimes concerned in limiting the power of devils, thought proper to illustrate it in the paraphrase. which must no doubt be a great vexation to those malignant spirits. But 113 SECT, IMUST further 2. A DESCRIPTION OF SOME SCANDALOUS PROFESSORs. SECTION II. The apostle pursues the character of the scandalous professors he had mentioned before ; and concludes with ...; the christians to whom he wrote, to endeavour to secure their own edification in faith and love, and to do their utmost for the preservation an ver. 12, to the end. JUDE 12. men, who are so j of insinuatin attempts to corrupt it are so unwearied, and, in many instances, so fatal. recovery of others. Jude, JUDE 12. roceed to caution you, my brethren, against those wicked and seducing THESE are spots in your themselves into the christian church, and whose ºf chaiºhen they feast with you, feeding them- These are spots selves without fear; clouds they are without water, car- - - 3. * - y y & rh is e .* r * JUDE in your love-feasts,” which tend to expose them to the reproach of the adversary; ſicho) #: ..."?"º". 14 mess, to which they shall never return. 18 purity and energy. 12 when they banquet with you, feed themselves without fear, and will run into excesses, which, whose fruit wither tº with: out fruit, twice dead, plucked if they be not resolutely suppressed, will be imputed to the whole body. They make in- ...º. deed a great profession of their designs of usefulness in the church, but they are clouds without water, from which no refreshment or fruitfulness is to be expected: borne about by the winds of temptation hither and thither, without any command of themselves; and sif, when they first took upon them the christian profession, they gave some better hopes, as many of them perhaps did, they are like trees whose early buddings are withered,b and so now remain without fruit; yea, not only so, but are twice dead:* successive summers and winters have passed over them, and they have been continually growing more fit for fuel, and so are now good for nothing but to be utterly rooted up, to be taken away from the plantation, which they only cumber, dishonour, and deform, and cast into the fire. 13 Their passions are violent and impetuous, like so many fierce waves of the sea, furiously 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own foaming out the irregular tumults of their hearts; and in them their own shame : wander-jºº.º - -- w w v. 3. ing stars,” which, though for a while they may glitter, will soon have ended their course, whº is reserved the will be found, notwithstanding all their blaze, destitute of any real and permanent light * black- mess of darkness for ever. of their own, and in the number of those to whom blackness of darkness is reserved for ever, and will soon be driven to an eternal distance from the great Original of light and happi- ...And indeed, when I consider their characters and 14, And Engch also, the se- venth from Adam, prophesi- their actions, I may say, that according to the ancient tradition, Enoch also, the seventh in j"; i.e.''}}. lineal descent from 4dam, prophesied against them,f and described their crimes and their #. condemnation, when he said, Behold, the Lord comes with myriads of his holy ones, attended with legions of angels in his descent for this important purpose: For he comes to execute ord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all judgment upon all according to their respective works; and by witnesses that cannot be iºta...'...d.º.º. * - } confronted, particularly to convict all the ungodly among them, of all their impious works ºl their ungodly deeds they have ungodly which they have impiously committed; and he will then be mindful, not only of their cruel committed, and of, aſ their hard speeches which ungodly and oppressive acts, but of all the hard and irreligious things which impious sinners have jº: ...,'...}. spoken against him and his people: and certain it is, that these words are as suitable to him. 16 their case as if it had been particularly intended. These are murmurers, that can never be contented with the allotments of Providence, or with the conduct of any about them ; ; 16 Thºse are murmurers, con) plaiñers; walking after heir own lusts; and their that find fault continually with their lot, walking according to their own unbridled lusts; nº peakehººl swell: ing words, having men’s per- and their mouth speaks extravagant things;* some, by way of exclamation against, those jºidišić becº, they disapprove, and others in the height of encomiums and panegyrics, on those who are ºf **** their favourites and the leaders of their party; having [such] persons in admiration, not so much for the sake of their real excellences, as of some present gain which they meanly 17 propose to themselves as the reward of their servile flattery. But you, my beloved, instead 17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spo- of following these wandering guides, remember the words which were formerly spoken by ºstics ºf the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have preached his gospel to you in all its out Lord Jesus Christ; come, walking according to their own ungo 19 who do not run with them to the same excesses of riot. For they have told #. that in the last time profane mockers shall :lly and wanton lusts, and making a jest of those jºi...wj.aji. 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in 3 CAF'É [. Q - nv after their own ungodly lusts. These a they who, in many iš'These to they who sepa. places, separate themselves from the church, as of a purer stamp, and more refined attain: rate thºsei.e. sensual, hav- ments than others; sensual, and entirely addicted to the low gratifications of their animal ins not the Spirit. life; by which they make it too apparent that they have not the Spirit, whatever high 20 pretences they may make to its extraordinary communications. But I persuasion, that you, my beloved brethren, will not only guard against being seduced by ºst But I have the pleasing .29 But ye, beloved, build: ... ing up yourselves on your hoi. faith, praying in them, but, according to the exhortations so often given you, will still be effiſſing yourselves the Holy Ghost, and one another, in your most holy faith; that understanding its articles more clearly, and *- feeling their happy efficacy to promote the work of holiness in your souls, you may be more and more established against the attacks of these deceivers; especially praying in the Holy Spirit, and under his influence, vouchsafed in answer to your prayers, making 21 swifter advances in the divine life. And be careful thus to keep yourselves in the exercise a Loce-feasts.] So I chose to render ayatais, as it is well known the primitive christians had such feasts, though it seems that, from the abuse of them by persons of a character like those here described, they were soon jaid aside. See Mr. Hallet on the subject. ...Yotes and Disc. vol. iii. Disc. 6. Dr. Lightfoot, and Dr. Whitby, who follows him, are not for referring the ayarat here mentioned to the christians’ feasts of charity ; in opposition to Yººn, the learned reader may consult Witsius’s Com- inentary on the place. - * b #%. § buddings are withered.] We render this, whose fruit withereth, but it seems to me, that pólvoiroptya is much more exactly rendered as in this version, and the appearance of a tautology avoided. - -** w c Twice dead..] Some explain this of natural corruption and apostasy; but the gloss in the paraphrase seems much more easy and genuine. There is an admirable strength and spirit in the description given in the following verses. - - d Wandering stars..] The Jews are said to have called their teachers stars; and they are represented under that emblem, Rev. i. 16. ii. And as the planets seen to have a very irregular motion, bein; some: times stationary, and sometimes retrograde, they are proper emblems of persons so unsettled in their principles, and so irregular in their beha- viour, as these men were: - - - - - e Enoch prophesied.]. A precious fragment of antediluvian, history, is here preserved to us, as it seems, by the special providence of God, whº taught the apostle Jude to distinguish between what was genuine and spurious in the tradition. ... It can by no means be proved, that this is a uotation from that foolish book, called Enoch’s Prophecy, as Bishop 3. has very rightly urged; nor would it prove, the inspiration of the book ſron whence it was taken, but only the truth of this particular 21 Keep yourselves in the passage. Sherlock, O: Proph. p. 1SS, 189. 5th Edit. Compare 2 Tim. | 1 i. 8. and the note there. - f Prophesied against them.] Mr. Blackwall (Sacr. Class. vol. i. p. 164.) has shown by adequate authorities, that Toosºnyeva e T&Tot; may be ren: dered, prophésical against these. Perhaps this may explain what was, said before, of their being rc.gistered to this condemnation; yer. 4. . Some have thought the coming of the Lord here mentioned, was his coming attended with angels to bring on the deluge. If it refers to his coming to the uni- persal judgment, it is a most remarkable testimony to a future State, 0.9t indéºf in the Mosaic economy, but previous to it. And perhaps Moses’s onnitting this, (as I think it §§ certain he knew it,) is to be resolved into the restriction under which he wrote, agreeable to the pringinles which the learned Dr. Warburton has so largely stated in his Divine Legation, &c. - * gººd sagant things.] So I think virepoyka may very probably be rendered ; and if we may judge of extravagant things, by those which Trépºus in particular has recorded in his account of some €arly, heretics, the expression was applied with the utmost propriety. See the same phrase, Dan. xi. 35. in the Seventy. Witsigs, in loc. - - h Apostles of our Lord, &c.) The resemblance between this text and 2 Pét. #3 is ‘ey remarkašić. Bishop Šišerloºk observes it to be such as would incline one to think that St. Jude had the text in Peter before him, and omitted what hath a peculiar reference to the former part of Št."pººr's Epistle, and to Which there was nothing in his own to answer. See his Discourses on Proph, p. 193. 5th Edit. i Üngodly lusts.] For gºeffitou, ungodly, some would read age}},etov, lascicious, or waſton. See Phil. Lips, against Collins, p. 73. But as this reading is not absolutely necessary to the sense, I cannot persuade myself to alter the word merely on conjecture. «» A DESCRIPTION OF SOME SCANDALOUS PROFESSORS. 899 ºf ޺i º of that sacred affection, the love of God, which ought always to rule in your hearts; logk-sect. Čirist unto etermailife.” ing for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life, to which this compassionate Sa- 2. viour will assuredly conduct all those who confide in him. * *-*. 32.4md of some have com: And while you are yourselves animated with this cheerful hope, do your utmost for the JUDE ***** preservation of others, and, in this respect, on some have tender compássion, and apply to 22 them with the softest and most endearing offices of christian friendship; making a great G ... difference between them and the case of others, who have drunk deeper of the poison, and tºº, º are become active in the mischief. It may seem to have an unkind appearance, but it is 43 fire; hiting evº, the ºatinº most certain, there are some, whom if you would save at all, you must attempt it with fear Spotted by the flesh. and trembling, by severe methods; as alarmed yourselves, and terrifying them with the apprehensions of God's judgments; as if you were snatching º with eagerness out of the fire, into which they are fallen, or just ready to fall. And if you desire that your efforts, in either of these cases, should be successful, you must take great care to preserve - your own purity, hating even the garment that is spotted with the flesh, lest by the touch ai. Nº. of it you yourselves be polluted. I am sensible this will require strenuous vigilance and 24 anjº prºseiºa.j resolution; but I hope the grace of God will animate you to it. . To this therefore now I ;ºjº,” solemnly commit you; even to him who is able to keep you from falling : rugged and dan- gerous as the ways of life are, and feeble as you know yourselves to be, he is able at lengt - - to present [you] blameless, and in the full perfection of holiness, before the presence of his o; g.º.º. ii., § glory, in his final appearance, with ecceeding great and unutterable joy. To him, as the 25 jeśni., §o... only wise God, who is now become our Saviour, our Guardian, our Friend, and our Father, both now and ever, Amen. [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, ascribed; and obedience, reverence, and love rendered, through Christ Jesus, both now and through all ages, world without end. .Amen. IMPROVEMENT. LET those who have the honour of being numbered among the disciples of Christ, stand at the remotest distance from the evil with which these unhappy creatures are branded by the apostle in this Epistle. And may divine #. preserve all his churches from such spots in their feasts of charity May our horizon be secured from those Ver. ark and gloomy clouds without water; the plantations of God among us be free from the encumbrance and dis- 12, 13 grace of those withered and fruitless trees, twice dead, and plucked up by the roots! How illustrious was the pro- 14 hecy with which Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was inspired; and how precious is that fragment of antediluvian 15 history which is here preserved, and which shall surely be accomplished in its season The day is now much nearer, when the Lord will come with ten thousands of his saints: may the ungodly remember it, and suppress in time the speeches which will then assuredly be reproved, and repent of the deeds which, if unrepented y º ever forgotten now, will be brought into open view, and draw down upon their heads the destruction which at present seems to linger. That we may have confidence before him at his coming, let us remember the words of 17 the apostle, and implore the influences of the divine Spirit, which sensualists, who walk after their own lusts, 18, 19 quench and stifle, and which they mock and deride. Let us, however, be concerned to edify ourselves in our 20 most holy faith, and to pray in the Holy Ghost, under his influence, direction, and assistance. The security of the heart amidst so many temptations, and its richest cordial in all its afflictions, is the love of God: but how 21 soon does the celestial flame languish and die, if it be not constantly fed with new fuel! Let it then be our care, in humble dependence upon divine grace, to keep ourselves in the love of God; which will be cherished in pro- Fº to that degree of faith and hope, with which we look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal ife: for what can so powerfully excite our love to God as such a consideration ? If we do expect it, let us express our regard to the salvation of others, as well as to our own; and apply our- 22 selves to those who seem to be in danger, with such different addresses of awe or tenderness as their #. circumstances and tempers may require. But some way or another, let us exert ourselves to pluck them out of 23 the fire, who are in danger of falling into it, and perishing for ever. A care to preserve our own characters and consciences unspotted, will be necessary to our º and hope of success, in such efforts as these. Let us therefore be more frequently looking up to him, who is able to keep us 24 from falling, and to improve as well as maintain the work he has wrought in us, till we shall be presented blame- less before the presence of his glory. Then shall our hearts know a joy beyond what earth can afford, beyond what heaven itself shall have given us in the separate state; then shall God also rejoice over us, and the #: our compassionate Saviour be completed, in seeing the full accomplishment of the travail of his soul. . To hi who has so wisely formed the scheme, and will faithfully and perfectly accomplish it, be glory and majesty, do- 25 minion and power, both now and for ever. Amen. k Garment spotted with the flesh.] Mr. Cradock interprets this of the the place, who well defends this sense against Erasmus;, whose opinion caution with which, a man would avoid a garment which had been worn it was, that the apostle alludes to the ichite garment, which those who by one who had *::: gue—sore j but perhaps there §º, be a reference to were newly baptized put on in token of innocence. Such passages in the Mosaic law, as Îlev. xv. 4, 16, iv. See Witsius on THE F A M I L y Ex P os I To R. f A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES. - O N THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. THOUGH the authority of this book was called in question in the beginning of the third century, yet this is no reason- able objection against receiving it into the sacred canon; for perhaps no part of the New Testament, though of unques- tionablé authenticity and credit, was more universally acknowledged, or mentioned with higher respect, during the two preceding centuries. Dr. Mill observes, that in a few years after it was written, it was numbered among the apostolical writings, by the churches of Asia, the neighbouring churches of Syria and Samaria, the more distantones of Africa, Egypt, and Rome, and the other churches of Europe. Accordingly, Mr. Lowman, citing this remark of Dr. Mill, makes the folſ lowing additional observation, “that hardly any one book hath received more early, more authentic, or more satisfactory attestations.” Its canonical authority being debated so late as the third century, when it had been universally admitted before, appears to have arisen from the ; made to those absurd opinions, which it is well known were entertained by several fathers, concerning the millennium ; these being entirely grounded upon an injudicious and mistaken interprétation of some prophecies contained in this sacred book, Caius, with some others, to end the controyersy as speedily and effectually as possible, weakly and indiscreetly ventured to deny the authority of the book, which had given occasion to it. If the reader would see this *}. handled at large, and the sentiments of the ancients represented fully and distinctly, he may consult Dr. Mill's Prolegomena, Sir, Isaac Newton's Observations on the .4pocalipse, Dr. Twells's third part of his 4- Critical Eramination of the New Tert and Version, and Dr. Lardner's second part of the Credibility of the Gospel His- , passºn. • . * * * "hº prophetic book is entitled, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which he sent and signified by his angel to his servant John. There is, in my opinion, very little reason to doubt that the John here mentioned was the evangelist of that name, and the author of the three Epistles. For concerning this John, antiquity agrees, that he was banished to Patmos in the reign of Domitian, for his adherence to the christian faith. And the author of this book informs the churches of Asia, (chap. i. ver. 9.) that he, their brother and %. in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, re. ceived these revélations, when he was in the isle called Patmos, for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ. And if, with some learned men, we apprehend that the tradition of the evangelist John being banished to the isle of Patmos was occasioned by this passage of the Revelation, it shows at least, that it was the most early, as well as most generally, received opinion of the ancients, that the author of this book was the same with St. John the evangelist. This book is commonly called, The Revelation of St. John the Divine. But this appellation of its author is not of canonical authority: it was first given to St. John by Eusebius, not to distinguish him from any other person of the same name, but on account of those mysterious and sublime points of divinity, with the knowledge of which he seems to have been favoured above his fellow-apostles. . If the account of Eusebius is to be credited, that St. John was banished into Patmos, and there received his Revelation in the last year of the reign of Domitian, we may fix the date of this book, with great probability, about the year 96. f am aware, that some authors of very distinguished character, and particularly the great Sir Isaac Newton, place it earlier, and even before the destruction of Jerusalem. The learned Wolfius (in his Prolegomena to the Revelation, in the fifth volume of his Curaº Philologica) hath examined and refuted this opinion: I shall here only observe, that perhaps the seven churches of Asia were not founded so early as this opinion supposes, or at least they were not then become so consider- able, much less had undergone such changes and revolutions, as the respective Epistles to them recorded in this book represent them to have done. At the close of the magnificent description of our blessed Lord's appearance to St. John, contained in the first chapter, he is ordered to write the things which he saw, (that is, the glorious vision he then beheld,) and the things which are, or the state of the churches at that time, and the things which shall be hereafter, or the future state and condition of the church, to the end of the world. . Accordingly, this book may properly be divided into three parts. The first, containing the introduction, or a preface and dedication to the seven churches in Asia, and an account of the lorious vision of our Lord, with which St. John was favoured during his banishmentin Patmos, where he also received a ivine Revelation concerning the state of the church. (Chap. i. throughout.) The second part, containing the Epistles which Christ commanded film to write to the seven churches of Asia, relating to their present circumstances, and to the duties resulting from them. (Chap. ii. and iii.) c The third part, which describes the condition of the church in after-times, from the third chapter to the end of the book, A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. 901 begins with a sublime description of the Deity enthroned in glory, surrounded with angels, and with the heavenly church; and then proceeds to represent a sealed book, or the volume of God's decrees, given to the Lamb, who only was worthy to open it, and who, on that account, receives the acclamation of the whole choir of Saints and angels. (Chap. iv. 5.) After this sublime apparatus, the Lamb is represented as opening the seals of the book, one after another; and with this the scene of prophécy begins; which may very properly be divided (as it is by the ſearned Mr. Lowman, who is undoubtedly the best commentator extant on this part of the New Testament) into seven periods. The FIRST PERIOD is that of the seals. e $. * The first seal represents a white horse, his rider having a bow in his hand, and a crown of gold on his head, going forth to conquer. es T The second represents a red horse; and to his rider is given a great sword, and power to take peace from the earth. The third represents a black horse, whose rider hath a pair of scales in his hand, to weigh corn and provision, The fourth represents a pale horse, whose name is Death, to whom is given power to slay the fourth part of the earth with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and with wild beasts of the field. - The fifth represents, under the altar, the souls of those who were slaughtered on account of the word of God; and the final reward of their constancy. º h The sixth represents an earthquake, the darkening of the sun, the moon becoming as blood, and the stars falling from 68 Ven. . After the description of the opening of these six seals, and of the consequent visions, an angel is represented as sealing one hundred forty and four thousand with the seal of the living God, after which is introduced the choir of the heavenly church, blessing the Almighty; and one of the elders shows St. John the happiness of those who had patiently endured tribulation. à. vii. throughout.) tº - The Lamb is then represented as opening the seventh seal, which is succeeded by a silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; introductory to the . g jºose PERIoD, which is that of the trumpets, given to the seven angels already mentioned. And upon the sounding of the First trumpet, there is hail and fire mingled with blood cast down upon the earth, representing bloody and destructive wars. On the sounding of the - Second trumpet, a great mountain, as it were burning with fire, is cast into the sea; by which a third part of it be- º lºod and a third part of the creatures in the .#. and a third part of the ships are destroyed. On the sound- Ing of the - - Third trumpet, a great burning star falls from heaven upon a third part of the rivers, and of the fountains of waters, and a third part of the waters become bitter. On the sounding of the Fourth trumpet, a third part of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars, is darkened. And a woe is denounced by OIle º the º els against th: that dwell on the earth, for the trumpets of the three angels who are yet to sound. On the SOUIIl Cºll) Q OT the Fifth trumpet, the bottomless pit is opened, and from thence issue forth locusts in great multitudes, not to destroy the fruits of the earth, but to torment its inhabitants. These locusts are described like horses prepared for battle, with crowns on their heads like gold, and their faces like the faces of men, their hair like the hair of women, their teeth like lions', their breast-plates like iron, the noise of their wings like that of chariots and horses, their tails iike Scorpions, and armed with stings; having the angel of the bottomless pit for their leader. On the sounding of the * Sixth trumpet, the four angels which were bound by the great river Euphrates are loosed, and lead up mighty armies of horsemen for the destruction of mankind. (Chap. viii. ix.) After the sixth trumpet had sounded, St. John relates the marvellous vision of an angel who appeared to him in great glory, and brought him a little book, which he is commanded to eat; and then he is ordered again to prophesy to many people, and nations, and tongues, and kings. (Chap. x, throughout.) And thus the HIRD PERIOD is introduced, which is pointed out by various representations; 1. By the measuring of the Temple ; part of which is given to, and trodden under foot by, the Gentiles; and two Witnesses, are represented as prophesying in sackcloth 1260 days, and then, having been put to death, are raised again from the dead; and upon the sounding of the trumpet of the seventh angel, their triumphs over their enemies are cele- brated by the heavenly hosts º . xi. 1–18.) And the temple of God being opened in heaven, and the ark of the covenant displayed, the state of the church in this period is described, - 2. As a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and while she was in travail, assaulted by a fiery dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns; and when she is delivered, her child is caught up to God: and she flies into the wilderness to avoid the dragon, where she is supported 1260 days; and the dragon is vanquished by the angels. (Chap. xi. 19.—xii. throughout.) The de. plorable condition of the church in this period is described further, 3. By the faithful being exposed to the ravages of a wild beast, whom St. John saw in a vision rising out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, that is, ten diadems, and on his heads names of blasphemy, to whom the dragon gave his power and authority; so that the inhabitants of the earth worshipped the beast, as well as the dragon; and the beast had power to make war with the saints 42 months, or 1260 days; (which is the same space of time during which the woman, in the preceding vision, is said to have been supported in the wilderness, and during which, in the first vision, the two witnesses are said to prophesy in sackcloth: a circumstance which plainly demonstrates these visions to be deſ scriptive of the state of things in the same period, and not in successive periods.) And the power and authority of this beast is supported by another beast, which arose after it, and which is also particularly described. And the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name, which is also said to be the number of a man, is six hundred and sirty-sir. —After which follows a sublime description of the Lamb standing on mount Zion, surrounded with the one hundred and ſº. thousand, who have the name of his Father written in their foreheads, while the heavenly church celebrates the happiness of those who had continued faithful, and persevered to the end.—The next vision is of an angel flying through the midst of heaven, with the everlasting gospel in his hand, denouncing the judgment of God to be approaching on the beast, and on them who worship him: which is likewise set forth by some succeeding representations:–And particu- larly, By an order given to the Sévén angels to pour out their vials, full of the seven last plagues, in which the wrath of God is completed on the beast and his votaries. - - The first vial is poured out upon the earth, and produces a grievous ulcer on them who had the mark of the beast. The second vial is poured out upon the sea, which ... and every living thing in the sea dies. The third vial is poured out on the rivers, and on the fountains of water, which also become blood. The fourth vial is poured forth on the sun, which hath power given to it to scorch men with fire. The fifth vial is poured out on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom is darkened, and his votaries gnaw their tongues, and blaspheme the God of heaven for their pains and their ulcers. The sixth vial is poured out on the river Euphrates, and the water of it is dried up, so that a way is prepared for the 902 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION To THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. kings of ge East; against whom the worshippers of the beast are drawn up in order of battle. And then upon the pour- ling Out O he seventh vial, a voice is heard from heaven accompanied with thunder and lightning, saying, “It is completed;’ that is, Babylon the Great hath drank of the cup of the wine of God's fiercest indignation. -ā- After the pouring out of these vials, one of the angels who had executed that commission, further explains what had been represented, by describing the character of the great harlot who sitteth on many waters, and with whom the kings of the earth committed fornicatiºn. And then follows an account of another angel descending from heaven, declaring with a loud voice that, Babylon the Great is fallen, and pointing out the lamentation of her friends and merchants ove: her. Upºn which is described the triumph of the heavenly host on account of the fall of Babylon; which is further illustrated by the representation of an attack made by Christ and his army on the beast, ending in an éntire victory over him. (Chap. xiii-xix.) w The FQERTH, PERIOD represents an angel descending from heaven to confine the great dragon, or Satan, in the bot- º pit, for º space of a thousand years; during which the church is in a very peaceful and flourishing condition. Chap. xx. 1–6. - The FIFTII PERIOD represents Satan loosed again for a little season, and making a fresh attempt for the establishment of his kingdom, which shall issue in its utter destruction. (Ver. 7–10. h i. { The SIXTH PERIOD represents the general resurrection, the last judgment, and the utter destruction of the wicked. (Ver, 11, to the end.) rT i he SEVENTH PERIOD represents the vision of new heavens and a new earth, or the happiness of the Jerusalem above, described by the sublimest figures which can enter into the human imagination. (Chap. xxi. xxii. 1–5.) in the conclusion of this truly marvellous series of prophecy, with which the canon of Scripture closes, our blessed Lord, in the most awful manner, charges his faithful servant and apostle John, to reveal to the churches what had thus been revealed to him, and declares his own speedy approach to the final judgment; denouncing a very dreadful sentence of condemnation on those who should add to or diminish the words of the prophecy of this book. And then the sacred writer concludes the whole with a solemn benediction. (Chap. xxii. 6, to the cnd.) - After all the labour and pains which learned men have been at, to explain and illustrate this book, so many articles are contained in it which are dark and mysterious, that I remained some time undetermined whether I should publish any commentary upon it at all. But on a more devout and attentive review, I resolved to offer to the reader what assistance I could, to enable him to comprehend its general design, and lead him to those practical and important in- structions which it suggests, with great plainness and energy; without entering very deeply into critical inquiries con- cerning those particular events to which the several prophecies maybe supposed to refer. It is an excellent observation of Mons. Saurin, that “this is a very º book to a mind greedy of knowledge and science, but a very satisfying and agreeable one to a heart solicitous about maxims and precepts,” for regulating our tempers and lives; or, in his own expressive and elegant words, L’Apocalypse, qui est un des plus mortificans ouvrages, pour un esprit avide de connois- sance ei de lumière, est un des plus satisfaisans pour un crewr divide de marimes et de precepts. Saúrin's Serm. Vol. XII. p. 234. - sº A P A R A P H R A S E AND NOTES ON THE - - REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. - SECTION I. THE PREFACE, AND DEDICATION TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES IN ASIA ; INCLUDING AN AFFECTING DISPLAY QF THE DIVINE GLORY OF . LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND SUBLIME SONGS OF PRAISE TO HIM FOR REDEEMING LOWE. REV. i. 1–8. z REv. 1 ver l REVELATION I. VER. I. THE Revelation of Jesus THIS is the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ; even that revelation which God his SECT. i.º.º.º...? Father gave to him for wise and holy purposes, to show to his servants the things which 1. things which must shortly must shortly be ; many of which are to be very quickly accomplished, and the rest within §§i'i, *... a period of time, which, when compared with his reign in the heaven of heavens, with all REY. unto his servant John : his saints and people, is only a short and very inconsiderable duration. And sending the 1 discovery of these things by his angel, whose office it was to raise extraordinary signs and representations in his imagination, he signified them to his servant John, who had indeed been distinguished by his Master's affection in the days of his flesh; insomuch that he even lay in his bosom, and was styled, by way of eminence, the disciple whom Jesus 2 who bare record of the loved: And who, being honoured with so important a message, failed not faithfully to 2 yºf declare it; but testified the word of God, which in those prophetic visions came unto him, all things that he saw. and the testimony of Jesus Christ, (whose messenger the angel was,) exactly reporting 3 Blessed is he that rcadeth, whatever he saw. Happy [is] he that attentively readeth, and they that obediently hear, 3 sº"; º; the words of this prophécy, and who keep the things that are written in it, fixing their mind those things which are writ upon them, and duly regarding them; for the time of their accomplishment [is] at hand. ºº: * * * * And considering the particular manner in which they were addressed by our blessed 4 at hand. - - - * - - 4 JOHN, to the seven Lord, in some of the first of these revelations, JOH.V" dedicates and inscribes this account §º. of the whole to the seven churches, which are in the proconsular. Asia, at Ephesus, Smyrna, º wº. Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea; wishing that grace, in the richest j’ ºn thºseven $pirits abundance, and peace, in all the variety of its blessings, may [be] with you all from the which are before * * great God, the Fountain of all blessings, even from him who is, and whô was, and who is to come,” possessed of invariable divine attributes and perfections; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne,b and appear as emblems of the various operations and 5 And, from Jesus Christ, endowments of that one blessed Spirit by whom they are setuated : .3nd from Jesus Christ, 5 º; i.º.º.º.; the true and faithful Hitness, whose testimony, is ever to be received with the most reli. jºid, and the pringe of the gious regard, as being the First-born from the dead, the first who rose to die no more, and #...ºf jº who, as the eldest Son of the family of God, is gone to take possession of the inheritance ion, our sins in his own for himself, and in the name of his brethren; even from him, who is the supreme Ruler of bloo all the kings of the eqrth, and who knows how to humble them in their proudest career, and defeat their mightiest opposition to his kingdom, by deposing one, or exalting another, at his sovereign pleasure; and even removing them by a single act of his will, not only from the thrones they fill, but from the world they inhabit. This glorious Person let us w all adore, conscious of our infinite obligations to him ; and say, To him who hath loved its with the most unparalleled affection, and hath condescended so low, that he hath it ashed ws from the otherwise indelible stains of our sins in his own most precious blood, having 6 And hath made us kings shed it to make satisfaction and atonement for them; ..]nd in consequence of this, hail 6 #º. §§"..."; made us kings and priests to his God and Father, that we should reign with him in eternal dºminión for ever and ever, life, and enjoy the perpetual pleasure of worshipping before him in his heavenly temple, Amen. and in the mean time be trained up for it by offering spiritual sacrifices: to him [be] glory and dominion for ever and ever, throughout the endless ages of eternity. ..]men. Sö let it be for the honour of our Lord, as well as the comfort of his people, to whom he is more 7 Bohold, he cometh with dear, than it is possible any separate interest of their own can be : And so it shall be : for 7 behold and observe with suitable regård, he is, as it were, even now coming in that pomp and majesty in which he himself described his appearance, with the clouds of heaven, in power and great glory; the day is so near at hand, that it may be said to be already come; a From him icho is, and who legs, &c.] The learned Grotius is of opinion, that the nominative case not being varied into what the grammarians call a genitive, as the common rules of grammaſ require, is designed to represent the everlasting veraeity and invariableness of God, and the unchangeable majesty of Christ in the testimony of his gospel, and the glory of his kingdom. - - b The seven Spirits before his throne..] Some haye explained this of the seven archangels, and urged it as an instance of invocation to them; but we may rather suppose the Spirit of God to be symbºlically represented by the seven Spirits bºſore the firone; as it is a view very agreeable to the genius of this emblematical book. This, as Bishop Burnet observes, in support of this, opinion, (see Burnet, On the ſlrticles, p. 3]) is most consistent with the prohibition of prayer to the angals. And if we do not suppose this to be the case, it ºiſ be a great dificulty to account for the omission of the Spirit, whose dignity must, on almost every hypo- thesis, be allowed far superior to that of the highest created angels. See Air. J.ownst), in loc. *- 904 SECT. and however men may I. i. Ver. sECT. I JOHN, who was formerly distinguished by the name of the disciple whom Jesus IJOHN, who also am your 2. Rºy. with all, I say, who are called to the hope of his kingdom, and in the patient éxpectation RBV. him shall be arraigned at his tribunal; *... THE CIRCUMISTANCES OF CHRIST'S APPEARANCE TO JOHN. wº affect tº overlook and neglect him and his interest now, every eye clouds; and every eye shall shall then see him, and eyery other object which at present invites their regard, shall uttery ... ºffº Vanish ; even all they who have pierced him shall behold him, and they that condemned º º: gº & º and all the tribes of the earth, who have rejected . * * * * 7 his #º and Qpposed his interest, shall mourn because of him,” shall lament that & fatal opposition, by which, instead of prevailing in the least against him, they have only effected their own destruction. “Yea, Lord, we repeat our joyful assent: amen; comé, Lord Jesus, in the clouds of heaven; take to thyself thy great power and reign; thy peo- ple shall lift up their heads with joy and triumph, being infallibly assured that their com- 8 º redemption is approaching.” And to confirm their faith and hope, let them hear in speaking, as it were, by his own majestic voice from heaven, and saying, I am the ºfflpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; I was before all worlds, and shall con- tinue the same when all the revolutions of this world are over, and the final scenes relating to, it shall be concluded. I am the First and the Last; I am he, saith the Lord Jehovah, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the eternal, the unchangeable, the Almightye - Author, Supporter, and Disposer of all things. so Sº, IMPROVEMENT. WITH what sublimity doth this wonderful book open which, though pregnant with inexplicable mysteries, is at the same time pregnant with instruction, which the weakést of Christ's humble dº may peruse with sacred complacency and delight. For surely we are not to imagine that divine book to be unfit for our perusa), 8 and undeserving our regard, concerning which its divine Author expressly declares, Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this § Thanks be to our heavenly Father, that he gave it to his Son Jesus . Thanks to the Son of God, that he gave it to his servant John, to be transmitted down to future generations. - Let us attentively view the divine jº of the Father, and of his only-begotten Son, who is the Brightness of that glory, and the express image of his person, and of the Holy Ghost, who is here represented by the seven spirits before the throne. From us, and from all created nature, let there be glory to him that is, and that was, and that is to come, and to the First-born from the dead, who is superior to all the kings of the earth, and to all the angels of heaven, who is so intimately united with the Father in divine perfections and glories, that he also is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End; that he also is Almighty; able by his mighty power to sub- due all things to himself; and is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Never let us be unmindful of the con- descension of the Son of God, in becoming for our redemption and salvation the Son of man. Let the great things he has done for us, the great things he has taught us to expect from him, be ever familiar to our minds. How astonishing was that love, which engaged him to wash us from our sins in his own blood! . How glorious is that exaltation to which he is raising us: rendering us, even in the present world, kings and priests to God, and inspiring us with the ardent hope of an immutable kingdom, and an everlasting priesthood in the temple of our . God above. This is the sublime and transcendent happiness of all who with lively faith look for that blessed 7 hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. #. illustrious Personage is coming in the clouds, and our eyes shall see him: too often already have we pierced him; let us now look up to him with an humble and lively faith; let us mourn over our sins at present, that we may not pour forth floods of unprofitable tears in that awful day; as all the tribes of the earth shall do, who have dared to set themselves against the kingdom of Christ; a kingdom which shall then be triumphant over all opposition, the last of its enemies being vanquished and destroyed. 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and , which is to come, the Ålmighty. 1. : 5 SECTION II. St. John gives an account of the circumstances and manner °. gººd appearance to him, when he received the revelation in Patmos. * @ k". . . .3— 1 O. - REVELATION i. 9. Rev. i. 9. loved," who am also your brother, O ye christians, and who have the honour to be a par- ºniº taker with you all in the tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ; ºn and patience of Jesús hrist, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of that, endüre with cheerfulness the afflictions which his infinite wisdom is pleased to gº the testimony appoint us; I was in the desert and disconsolate island of the AEgean sea called Patmos,b of Jesus Christ. tó which I was banished by Domitian the emperor, for the sake of the word of God, manifested in the gospel, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ which I had endeavoured 10 faithfully to maintain. I was on a sudden in the Spirit, under his miraculous energy, on 10 I was in the Spirit on the that blessed day which we christians are accustoméd to call the Lord's day,” the first day - - - of these titles afterwards to himself, plainly proves his partaking with the Father in the glºg. peculiar to the divine imature, and incommunicable, to any creature.—See Bishop Pearson Oa the Creed, p. 175. Dr. Clarke contends that the word TavTokpa Top is c He is coming in the clouds, and every eye shall see him. J . It is sur- prising that Dr. Whitby should interpret these words as relating to the temporai calamities to befali the Jews, whº nthe destruction of Jerusalem was Jong since past, And whatever slaughter was made of the Jews in our Lord’s applying so §§ T Lybia, Smyrna, Alexandria, and other places afterwards, it could by no means be called the conting of Christ in the clouds by way of emi- mence: even though that phrase might be allowed applicable to remark- gºoral vengeance, inflicted by the providence, and in the cause, of Christ. d'All the tribes of the earth shall nourn because of him.] In this worse is prefixed the great moral, which the whole book is designed to illustrate ; namely, that though there should be great opposition made against the cause and kingdom of Christ, yet it should be utterly in vain; and his kingdom should triumph in the most illustrious manner; so that all who had opposed it, should have the greatest reason to mourn. And as this series of divine prophecy begins, so it ends, with this sentiment, and with the joyful consent of his faithful servants to this glorious. truth, which should fill the enemies of Christ with such terror and dismay. Compare chap. xxii. 20. e I am the Jälpha, &c.] ...This has been interpreted } many as spoken by the Father; but it will be very difficult to give sufficient, proof of it. Most of the phrases which are here used concerning this florious Person, are afterwards used concerning our Lord Jesus Christ ; and Tavrokpa Top, though in ecclesiastical writers of the earliest ages, jº, so far as I can find, appropriated to the Father, may, according to the Syriac version, be rº, He who holds, that is, superintends, supports, and governs all; and then, it is applied to Christ, Col. i. 17. Hebli, º, But if, after alſ, the words should be understood as spoken by the Father, peculiar to the Father, (compare, Clarke, On the Trinity, No. 44, and osth. Serm. vol. i. p. 70.) yet he intimates that Christ may have the title of Alpha and Omega, as Author, and Finisher of our Faith, Beginner an:l Completer of our salvation. Heb. xii. 2. Cl }''}}. the disciple whom Jesus loved.] So I boldly, paraphrase these words, trusting to the general tradition of the church upºn this head, of which I, have taken notice, in the Introductiºn ; and I think there is some similarity in the phraseology here, and in the gospel of St. John, though I am sensible, at the same time, there is a greater cleya- tion of style in some parts of this book than is to be found in the other writings of this apostle, which is not to be wondered at, considering the &ztraordinary nature of the scenes be records: which had a very natural tendency to raise the style, and perhaps might have elevated it in any fºre writings, in conseqūence of the wonderful and sublime ideas which now passed through his mind. . t b Island called Patmos.] Ecclesiastical history, tells, us, that St. Jºhn was here employed in digging in a mine, being banished hither by Do- mijan the emperor, after he had come unhurt out of a caldron of boiling oil. TBut the historical evidence produced for this great event is very Ulſ) Certà i n. - c. In the Spirit on the Lord's day.] It is so very unnatural, and con- trary to the use of the word in all other authors, to interpret this of the Jewish Sabbath, as Mr. Baxter justly, argues at large, (see his Płońkº, vol. iii. p. 73S.) that I cannot but conclude with him, and the generality THE CIRCUMISTANCES OF CHRIST'S APPEARANCE TO JOHN. Lord's day, and heard behind of the week, which our dear Redeemer has rendered sacred and venerable by his resur- tº feat voice, as * * rection from the dead on the morning of it; and though I was then incapable of º; in any worshipping assembly, the want of that privilege was amply made up, manifestation with which the Lord of the day was pleased to favour me; for I heard a great voice behind me, as loud as the sound of a trumpet, Which said, in distinct and arti- culate accents, I, who am going to appear to thee, O John, am the Alpha and the Omega, d the First and the Last ; I boast divine perfections and glories, and assume without rob- bery and usurpation the peculiar titles and prerogatives of the one eternal, infinite, and unchangeable Jehovah; and I am now descended from heaven, to give thee a revelation of the most astonishing and important events. And, as even the remotest ages are con- cerned in what thou seest, write an exact account of it in a book, and send copies of [it] to the seven churches in Asia,” to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea, that each may receive its own lesson, and at the same time enjoy the benefit of those which are intended for all the rest. ..And I turned to see the Person who uttered that wonderful voice which spake unto me; and being thus turned, I saw an astonishing scene, the particulars of which I shall now relate: There were seven golden lamps on their stands, which gave a bright and beautiful flame: JAnd in the midst of the seven golden lamps, there was [One] in a human form, a glorious and 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last : and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia ; unto Ephesus, and un- to Sinyrna, and unto Perga- mos, and unto Tinyatira, and Quito Sardis, and unto Phila- delphia, and unto Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw sc ven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and kirt about the paps with a golden girdle. in whom I traced the lineaments of that blessed Redeemer, whom I had so long known under that endearing name and character; he appeared clothed in a long robe, not unlike the priestly vestment, and like persons of that holy order, girded, not about the middle, but something higher, about the breasts with a golden girdle,f which, being properly fast- ened there, hung down to his feet. And his head, even [his] hairs which adorned it, and flowed round his shoulders, [were] white as wool, or, to speak more properly, as white as snow; (Dan. vii. 9.) and his eyes [were] vivid and piercing as a flame of fire; .4nd his feet were resplendent like fine brass, when purified in a furnace from all its dross, and polished by the hands of some skilful artificer; and his voice was loud as the voice of many waters, so that I imagined it might have been heard as far as the sounding noise of the billows of the sea, when they beat against the rocky shores. ...And he had in his right hand seven lumi- nous and very beautiful stars, the motions of which he seemed to direct and govern, at the same time that he supported them : and out of his mouth there went a sharp two-edged sword, or dagger, capable of piercing and wounding every way; and his countenance ſº 14 His head and, his hairs were white like wool,as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; . 15 And his feet like unto £ne brass, as if º: in a furnace ; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16, And he had in his right band seven stars : and out of his mouth went a sharp two- edged sword: and his coun- tenance was as the sun shin- eth in his strength : c radiant and glorious as the sun [when he] shineth in all his meridian power and lustre, an beams forth his rays vigorous and unclouded. IMPROVEMENT. WHAT unspeakable happiness can our blessed Redeemer confer on his faithful servants, while suffering in his cause ! . How wretched was Caesar on his imperial throne, compared with this despised and persecuted disciple of Christ, in his old age banished to the desolate island of Patmos! . There his Lord condescended to visit him, opened his eyes to prophetic visions, and diffused around him celestial glories. May we in no case be ashamed of the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, a zeal for which was so graciously acknowledged, so glo- riously rewarded. -- It was on the Lord's day that the apostle was in the Spirit: how often has the Spirit of God visited his people at that sacred season, visited them as well in their secret retirements as in the public assembly ; when the hand of Providence, as in the instance before us, and not their own negligence and indifference to divine ordinances, occasioned their absence from them : otherwise we might fear that those raptures of mind, which in the contempt of ordinances some make their boast and glory, arise from the artifices of the great enemy of souls, and are to be numbered among the most dangerous engines by which he attempts our ruin. Let our souls again bend, in humble veneration, to him who is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega. As if we heard his awful voice proclaiming himself by these illustrious and divine titles, let us turn, as it were, to behold him; and by these marvellous visions in which he manifested himself to St. John, let us endeavour to form some imperfect ideas of our blessed Lord, and the magnificence and glory with which he appears to the in- habitants of the heavenly regions. Every circumstance, not excepting the minutest and most inconsiderable, attending this appearance of Christ to his beloved apostle, seems designed to convey some divine truth, somé important lesson, for the contemplation and instruction of future ages. It was in general, beyond all question, intended to impress us with the lowliest reverence of our glorified Redeemer, that we may pay him our humble and devout adoration, and thus in some degree anticipate the pleasure with which we hope to appear in his imme- diate presence above. .* SECTION III. Our Lord Jesus Christ addresses himself to the apostle John, and, charges him wºn an Existie to each of the seven...Asiatic churches already - mentioned; and, in the first place, with the Epistle to the church ). Eºuesis. Rev. i. 17, to the end ; ii. 1–7. REVELATION i. 1 W. º, I HAVE just been describing the appearance of Jesus, Christ to me, with which I was *** favoured on the Lord's day, in the island of Patmos, while I was engaged in such devout sentiments as were suitable to the time and occasion ; and I now add, that when I saw him in this awful, this glorious and resplendent, form, I was perfectly overwhelmed with REv. i. 17. AND when I saw him, at his feet as dead. 905 SECT. 2. y that — 12 majestic Person, like him who appeared to Daniel under the title of the Son of Man, and Ver. 9 11 12 I3—16 SECT . 3. concern; and as there is plainly an intention tº represent the regard of of christian writers on this subject, that this text strongly infers the ex- traordinary regard paid to the first day of the week in the apostle’s time, as a day solemnly consecrated to Christ in memory of his resurrection from the dead. - d'I am Alpha and Omega.] That these titles should be repeated so soon, in a connexion which demonstrates they are given, to Christ, will appear very remarkable, Whatever sense be given to the , eighth versc. The argument drawn in the preceding note, upon it, would have been strong, wherever such a passage as this had been found; but its imme- diate connexion with this greatly strengthens it. And I cannot forbear recording it, that this text has done more than any other in the Bible, toward preventing me from giving in to that scheme, which would make our Lord Jesus Christ no more than a deified creature. . e Seven churches in Asia.] I presume not to inquire, whether these were the only Asiatic churches. To be sure, they were the principal. Nor will I inquire, why the Epistles were appropriated to the churches of that province. It is certain they contain many things of universal Christ to ministers and churches, by his walking among golden candle- sticks, and holding stars in his right hand, the number seccn may be men- tioned as it seems best to harmonize with some other º of this book, namely, with the seven seals, seven trumpets, Seven vials, Seven thunders, and scven spirits beſore the throne. º - f Jä golden girdle.) The girdles were a kind of sash, which first went over the neck like a tippet, were crossed on the breast, and then went round the lower part of the breast two or three times, iikº a mºrnºiſ. cingle, and then they fell down almost to the feet. And as they were sometimes embroi and sometimes fringed with gold, they must make a very ornamental part of dress. The priests were required, for cool- ness and decency, to wear linen garments, and gird, themselves higher than others. Compare Ezek. xliv, 17, 18. And this is, one of the man ajlusions to the temple, and its forms and customs, with which we shall find this book so greatly to abound. Compare Exod. xxxix. 5. - REV. I. 17. - 114 906 SECT. the majesty of his appearance, so that I fell down at his feet as dead; and he immediately 3. REV. I. 18 THE EPISTLE OF THE ANGEL TO THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. • * - * laid his i. lºng upon * çondescended to raise me up with great indulgence; for he laid his right hand upon me, .º.º.º...?” º: said to me, Fear not, John, for I appear to thee for purposes of mercy; I am, in- eed, as I have proclaimed myself, the First and the Last, possessed of divine perfections and glories: and yet I still wear the human form, which I assumed for the redemption 18 I am he that liveth, and of human and fallen creatures like thyself; I [am] he who lives, and have life immortal º.º.º.º. and glory immutable in myself, though I was once dead, as thou knowest; and now be- and have the keys of heli and hold it both with joy and wonder, I am living for ever and ever: (.imen; be it so then, “"“” O Lord ; mayst thou for ever live and reign :) And he added, I have the keys of the un: seen world,” and of death; I have a supreme dominion over it, and remove the souls of men from world to world, calling them out of the body, and fixing them in the invisible state, according to my pleasure, till at length I shall exert my power of raising the dead. 19 hºrite therefore the things which thou now seest, and those which will be opened to thy .19 write the things which 20 further reference to the things which shall hereafter be. REV. II. ! signify that he is the great support of his ministering servants, and directs their several 3 their pretensions with a becoming disdain. 4 fainted under thy toils or tribulations. Nevertheless, I have [something] to allege against 5 6 7 as having brought so great a reproach upon the christian name. view, in which there will be, in part, a reference to the things which aiready are, and , ºº:: - - - And, as a general key to what I which snail be hereafter, am now going to dictate, observe, that as to the mystery of the seven stars, which thou here v. §§§§º: seest as in º right hand, and of the seven lamps which are of gold; the seven stars are an in my is...hº...the emblematical representation of the angels, or presiding ministers of the seven churches; † "...º.º.º.º. and the seven lamps which thou seest, are are resentation of the seven churches themselves, ºf "...º.º. to which I have directed thee to inscribe and transmit the important epistles I am now Wiel"hºw"; º: about to dictate, according to what I observe of their respective circumstances and neces- ***** Sities.” - And in the first place, address to the angel, or presiding officer, d of the church at Ephe- Rey, ii.1. Unto the Angel sus, and write thus, These things saith he who holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, to ºsº. º Y - • ar * * §: º sº situations and motions in the churches; and who walks in the midst of the seven golden º'º. § lamps, to intimate thereby his presence among christian societies, and his particular in- solden candlesticks; spection over them. My eyes have been carefully fixed upon thee, and I have observed 2 I know thy works, and many things in thy conduct with pleasure. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy ... .º.º.º.º.º. patience, with which thou hast endured the trials and sufferings to which thou hast been them which are evil; and called out; and I know thou hast such a zeal for the honour of my gospel, and the !º establishment of my kingdom, that thou canst not bear those who are evil.” And as false ſº aid has found them pretensions to a divine mission and inspiration are so common, I know thou hast tried "' those who say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them [to be] liars, and rejected .And I know thow hast sustained, with exem- 3.And hast borne, and hast plary fortitude, the trouble they have given thee; and hast exercised invincible patience º'...'"; under all thy sufferings and trials, in my cause; and thou hast laboured constantly and not fainted. tenaciously for my name’s sake, and to establish the faith of my people; and hast not - - 4 Nevertheless I have some- thee, exemplary as thou art, in many respects, and it is this, That thou hast lost the zeal ; º; º and fervour of thy first loveſ to me and my cause ; and this cannot but be very displeas- ing to me. Remember º from what thou art fallen ; recall those better days to thy 5 Remember therefore from memory, and in the view of them set thyself seriously to repent of the decay which hath .º.º. º. so much prevailed; and do the first lº, or rather endeavour to exceed them. Other- ºfiºntº wise thou must expect that I will come unto thee quickly, in some awful dispensations of §'."º. providence, and take away thy lamp out of its place, unless thou repent;# no longer shalt except thou repent. thou continue to be a church, if thou dost not endeavour to recover thy lost ground, and to shine at least with thy former lustre. JVevertheless, thou hast this honour and praise ,6 But this, thou hast, that remaining, that thou hatest the impure works of the lewd Nicolaitans,h which I also hate, Rºjº". deeds of the **) Nicolaitanes, which I also To conclude: Let him hafé. y a- that hath an ear hear what the Spirit sqith to all the churches for their encouragement; lſº §§ and to that of Ephesus in particular: To him who conquers the enemies which lie in the unto the churches; To him a flinen..] As this wººd appears to have additional force, if understood as expressing the joyful assent of Johji to what was delivered, I have em- closed it and the paraphrase upon it in a parenthesis. - • A lº- b Unseen tº it must be allowed, that àón; sometimes signifies, the grave, when, the body only is spoken of. But, as Mr. Howe has largely proved in his excellent discourse on this text, the interpretation I have here given is most reasonable. That which would refer it to hell as the seat of the damned, limits the sense in a manner very derogatory from the honour of our biessed Redeemer, as he there shows unanswer- ably. Howe’s PWorks, vol. ii. p. 61, &c. According to Grotius, (see his note on Matt. xvi. 18.) the word hailes always denotes either death, or the state aſter death, and they who are of Qºlqo: that Luke xvi. 33. is an exceptions may consult this learned author’s judicious notes on this place. Our English, or rather Saxon, word hell, in its original signification, (though it is now understood in a more limited sense,) exactly answers to the Greek word hades, and de;otes a coºccaled or unseen place ; and this sense of the word is still retained in the eastern, and especially in the yestern counties of England ; to hºle over a thing, is to cover it. See Lord King’s History of the Creed, chap. iv. . c. Itespective circumstances and necessities.] How exactly the address in each #. suits the state of the church to which it was sent, and what condescension is implied in our Saviour’s giving them these dis- tinct notices and admonitions, is in seine measure, though very imper- fectly, illustrated in my Ten Sermons on the Power and Grace aſ Christ. See Sern. vii. p. 18. $4. d To the angel, or presiding officer.] That there was one pastor, who presided in each of these churches, is indeed, evident from the expres– sion here used :, but that he was a diocesan bishop, or had several con- §§§ of, christians under his care, can by no means be proved. ior is there the least hint of it, that I know of, in any of these Epistles. Many have shown, from ancient Jewish writings, that there was an officer of the Synagogue who had the name of angel. See Vitring... de Synag. Pºet. lib. 3. p. ii. c. And Dr. Lightfoot adds, that from his office of overlooking the reader of the law, he was called jin, or cpisco- pus. Compare Mal. ii. 7. e Canst not bear thosc who are evil.) This has been pleaded by Lord Barrington, as an argument that the church of Ephesus, in the early days of christianity, regovered itself from those corruptions which some endeavoured to bring into it, (2 Tim. i. 15. ii. 17–35. iii. 6—10.) and which St. Paul in his First Épistle to Tinyothy, endeavoured, it seems, with some happy success, to prevent. .3/isc. Sacr. vol. i. p. 42. Lim. S3—lºs gºº! can be drawn from thence. borch has sufficiently shown (see his Theol. lib. v. cap. 37. § 19.) the absurdity of opposing such a text as this to the great christian doctrine of toleration, which some have madly cndeavoured to prejudice by trifling inferences from such detached and perverted clauses, in opposi- tion to the tenor of the whole New Testament. But the pretending to enforce such ecclesiastical censures as the laws of Christ do indeed in some cases require, with those secular terrors which the magistrate, by yirtue of his office, is to inflict on immoralities prejudicial to society, has been the destruction of christian discipline in popish countries uni- versally, and generally in all protestant establishments toq. - f Lost thy first love..] It is very plain that these Epistles, though in- scribed to the angels or pastors of the churches, are directed to the churches themselves, as represented by them. Just as the Jewish church ywas represented by Joshua, their high ºriest, Zech. iii. 1. , But it is not improbable, that where some of the churches are blamed, there might be in their ministers some faults correspondent to those charged, upon the society; and particularly, that the zeal of this minister of Ephesus might be declining. here is, I think, no reason to be anxious with regard to Timothy’s character on this account; for it can never be proved that he was a stated pastor of thc church of Ephesus, though such confident things have been said concerning it on very slender foundations. - - e. g Take ancay thy lamp out qf its place..] As this threatening is ad- dressed to the church of Ephesus, though much better than some other churches, it is reasonable to believe, that it, like other denunciations, was intended to awaken the rest. lt intinates how terrible a thing it would be to have the gospel taken away from them. And indeed it has been executed upon them all in a very awful manner. For though there be a little congregation, iſ I remember right, at Smyrna, yet most of. these churches are quite ruined, and with then the cities in which they stood, though they were once very celebrated. And it is hardly, pgs- sible, even for one who is not a christian, to view the account which Sir Paul ſticaut, and the learned and ingenious Mr. Smith, have given, of then), without being tenderly affected with so lamentabie a catastrophe. h JVºcolaitans.j Šome have thought these he retics del rved their name from Nicolas, one of the seven deacons; and some ancient writers have asserted it. But the name was so common among the Jews, that little See Eus. Eccl. IIist. lib. iii. cap. . The substance of what ancient writers say, concerning them is, that they taught the lawfulness of lewdness and idolatrous sacrifices, csteem- ing them things indifferent in their own mature; and their practices wóre suitable to such principles. Conipare ver, 14, 15 THE ADDRESS TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF SMY RNA. that yºgomºlº sigé tº way of his duty and happiness, and manfully breaks through all opposition, I will give to § iºiº. eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God; the fruit of which gives of God. immortality; and it is situated in the paradise above; so that he who resides within its reach, is possessed of such felicities and delights, as are far superior to those which Adam enjoyed in an earthly paradise, though in a state of uncorrupted and perfect inno- CeI) Ce. IMPROVEMENT. WITH whatever humble and holy reverence this awful representation of our blessed Redeemer may strike us, let us be encouraged to look up to him by a lively faith, and to hear with joy, and with purposes of the most grateful obedience, the gracious declaration he makes of that amazing contrast of divine perfections and charac- ters, and of human weakness and infirmities, which met in him. The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, is he who lives and yet was dead, but is now alive for evermore : for us he became liable to death, but is now risen to a divine and immortal life; in which consideration let us continually rejoice on his account and on our own. . It is exceedingly reviving to the heart of a sincere christian, that Jesus has the keys of the unseen world, and of death: so that whenever we are removed by the stroke of this our last enemy, it is only to be considered as his turning the key, which will let us out of this world into another of happiness and glory ever- lasting. How delightful to reflect, that heaven is under the command of our Redeemer, and hell is under his control! What have his faithful servants to fear from the one P what have they not to hope from the other ? How does this cheering sentiment disarm both life and death of their respective terrors' - Let us attend to each of these excellent epistles, which Christ condescended himself to dictate, and to address by the hand of his servant John, to these Asiatic churches. Let us attend to his titles, his admonitions, his pro- mises, that we may be awed with holy reverence, that we may be animated to humble hope, and steady courage, in every encounter with the enemies of our salvation. Let the ministers of Christ rejoice, that they are as stars in the right hand of their Redeemer. “Support them, O Lord, by thy almighty power, and guide all their motions by thine, infinite wisdom.” Let all the churches of Christ remember, that he walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks: may they be pure gold; may their lamps shine with unsullied lustre, that their Father may be glorified, and their Saviour delighted with the survey. 907 SECT. 3. REV. II. REV. I. 17, 18 REV. II. He sees our labour, our patience, our fidelity, and our zeal. May he see that we cannot bear those who would 2, 3 corrupt our religion, without exerting ourselves to silence their false pretensions, and to guard the churches, to 6 which we are related especially, from the venom they might diffuse over them . In all these respects, may we daily approve ourselves to him in a more perfect manner. But alas ! does he not perceive in many of us, what he complained so early of in the church of Ephesus; that we have lost our first love, and that much of that zeal with 4 which we set out in religion is declined 2 If so, let us take the alarm: for dreadful indeed would it be to have our candlestick removed out of its place; to have the gospel and all its privileges taken away from us. To prevent this awful judgment, let us recollect from whence we are fallen, if we are indeed in a backsliding and declining state; and humbly and heartily repent, and vigorously exert ourselves against the enemies of our salvation: that overcoming the #: of this howling wilderness, we may be received to the enjoyments of the heavenl country: and when we can no longer share in the bounties of Providence in this inferior state, be feasted wi the fruit of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. SECTION IV. The epistles which Christ orders St. John to write to the churches of Smyrna and Pergamos. Rev. ii. S-17. Rev. ii. 8. REVELATION ii. 8. AND, unto the angel of the .4.YD to the angel, or minister, of the church of Smyrna, write, These things saith the First §§ººd."; and the Last; that glorious and divine Person, who, having assumed the human nature * and the last, which was dead, into a union with deity, is able to say, he was dead and is alive; who therefore demands, and is alive ; by all considerations of reverence, gratitude, and love, thy most attentive audience, and tº ºn... ... most obedient regard; I know thy works to have been in many respects very extraordinary; {{...}...tº; and I am well acquainted with thy tribulation and poverty,” with the humble opinion thou blasphemy, ºf rººm, Whiº hast of thyself; but I know also that thou art rich in faith and in all its genuine effects, tº, tº: º; and art daily laying up for thyself an increasing treasure in heaven, .4nd [I also know] the Sutan. blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but while they boast their relation to the synagogue of Moses, [are] indeed the synagogue ofº wº . tº º: in their opposition to my gospel and to my people, while they blasphemously pretend a 10 Fear none of those things zeal for ; name, even .#. impieties. #: º: all my faithful servants be encouraged jº. ... boldly to face their opposition; and I say to each of them, in addressing to thee, Fear ..º.º.º. none of the things which thou shall suffer; for, behold, I infºrm you, that ihe devil, acting i., §§n". §§§§ in and by these instruments, the men of his synagogue, will indeed have a permission to jº cast [some] of you into prison, that you may be trień, and by these trials more remarkably iif..." " ' " approved; and ye shall have tribulation ten days ;d for a certain limited time he shall be permitted to afflict you; but bear up courageously against his assaults, as becomes my valiant soldiers: be thout faithful unto death,” persevere in thy attachment to me, and thy zeal for my interest, even to the last, though death in its most terrible form should assault thee; for thou fightest under a General, who, though thou fall by the stroke of this last enemy, can raise thee again; and, instead of losing by thy fidelity to me, thou shalt be - richly rewarded: for I will give thee a crown of eternal life, and advance thee to such glory n Jand pºverty.) Archbishop Wake supposes this refers to the extra- extended so far as to imprison, I do not certainly know ; to scourging it ordinary character of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who had, as ecclesi- undoubtedly extended. - - astical history tells us, reduced .# to a voluntary poperty, as many d Tribulation ten days.), Mr. Fleming (Of the Resurrection, p. 129.) of the primitive bishops did, by selling his estate, and distributing it to with many others, thinks this refers to the persecution under Dómitian, the poor. But I much question whether the personal character of the which continued about ten years, and was begun when John, was ba- bishop, or pastor, of these churches, be referred to in this address: and nished into Patmos, and saw these revelations. But it may only *ś. the very next verse seems to demonstrate it is not. Compare also ver, 5. a short find limited time. Compare Gen. xxxi. 7. 1 Sam. i. 8. Eccl. Saj they are Jencs, and are nut.] There were great numbers of Jews vii. 19. Dan. i. 12. Zech. viii. 23. in the prosonsular Asia ; and their inveteracy against the gospel there e Be that faithful unto death, &c.] I have endeavoured at large, to and elsewhere is well known. This is an instance in which iſºe word illustrate the great force of this noble text in my Funeral Sering” for that Jew siznifies one of God’s peculiar people; and it is not improbable, that ifiustrious christian hero, Colonel Gardiner, whose name I, could not fºr- many prophetic phrases, in which }. rites are mentioned, are to be bear recording here; and the Memoirs of whose Life, which from tho §§ with's gºt a titje "tīt is, for those its of worship tºost intº knowieś of him ſhºve written, wiil, I hope, promote which Go i's rºuliar peºple should use. the admiration, lov (; , and imitation of all who peruse them. e Cast soºte ºf gott into prison.] Whether the power of the synagogue - * 5 7 SECT. 4. REY. II. 10 THE ADDRESS TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF PERGAMOs. SECT. and felicity, as shall be infinitely more than an equivalent for the utmost thou canst REV. Wer. 8 He that hath an ear to hear, let him be all attention to hear , 11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spiritsaith º unto the churches; He that In this world overconneth shall not be hurt of the second death. possibly suffer in my cause. what the Spirit saith unto the churches : The valiant conqueror shall be secured from evils, which are beyond all comparison greater than any he can endure on earth. he may indeed encounter the first death for mysake; but he shall not be injured hereafter by the second ; he shall rest in everlasting security and peace, while those who desert and renounce their duty for the preservation of this transitory life, shall be consigned to that state of misery, where they shall seek death, but it shall for over flee from them. #nd to the angel, or minister, of the church which [is] in Pergamos, write, These things 12 And to the auge of the saith he who, in tºken of the penetrating and efficacious nature of his word, is represented flºº *...*. Wiś as one who has the sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth; even that word, which #iº"iº 13 is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword: ‘I know thy works, and ". §". thy works, and thy circumstances, in every respect; and, particularly, where thou dwellest ; ſeven] > * (ii i < 11 12 1 5 16 where where thou , dwellºst, 6 tº G iſ the throne of Satan [is] fixed, in the midst of superstition, and in the midst of persecu. ..."...º.º.º. tion, by the union of which the kingdom of darkness is supported; and thou holdest fast sº the honour of my name, and hast not denied and renounced my faith, even in th9se days of ºãº extreme difficulty and danger in which º my faithful martyr, and sealed his º.º.º.º.º.” - ... * * **- * • * . e. - you, where Satan dwelleth. fidelity to me with his blood; even that dear and resóluté christian, who was slain among Jow, where Satan dwelleth, and seems to take up his residence, as might be inferred from 14 the enormities which are continually practising there. ...Vevertheless, I have a few things to 14 But I have a few things allege against thee, that thou hast there them who remained uncensured in your societies, º.º.º.º.º. who hold what is, in effect, the detestable doctrine of that infamous Balaam, who taught doctºrs ºf Hajj wild Balak, king of Moab, to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, by which they lºt...º.º. fell into sin and ruin; encouraging and seducing them to eat things sacrificed unto idols, drea gºſsrael, tº eat things and to commit formication. These practices are tolerated by some among you; whom ..º.º.º. and to therefore it becomes you to search out, and to treat with due severity; for thout in like h;iº.º.º.º. manner hast those that hold the doctrine of the accursed Balaamites, or wicked Nicolaitans,8 §§... º.º..."; which I hate. Repent therefore of these irregularities; or otherwise, thou mayst depend "º Regent, or else I will upon it, that I will come unto thee quickly in a way of chastisement, and I will fight come unto thee quickly, and against them with the sharp sword [that cometh º of my mouth; I will pronounce terrible iº º, with 17 calamities against you, and execute upon you what I have threatened in my word. He 17. He that hathan ear, let that hath an ear at all, capable of hearing, let him hear with the greatest attention what the ºpiº Spirit saith to the churches : To the conqueror I will give the privilege of being, as it were, ºrcºil will ſºvº, admitted into the most holy place; and there he shall have liberty to eat of the hidden º'º". manna ; and shall be entertained with those sacred pleasures, which God's sanctuary above and in the sºme a new name affords, and of which the manna that fell in the wilderness, and was laid up in a golden ...'...}..".”.”º vessel before the Lord, was only an imperfect type. ..And I will give him a white stone,h it. in token of full absolution from all his crimes; and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, except he who receiveth [it ;]i I will admit him to that intimacy of sacred friendship, from whence results a joy which the stranger intermeddles not with, and which can be only conceived by those who happily experience it. IMPROVEMENT. AGAIN let us direct our eyes to that glorious Person, who is the First and the Last; and who, though it may appear incompatible with that divine title, was once dead, and is alive again; and since he is here awfully repre- 12 sented as with a sharp sword going out of his mouth, let us be greatly concerned, that we do not incur his dis- pleasure by our irregular conduct, lest he smite or even destroy us. Letus observe and imitate what he commends 9 in the churches whom he here addresses; their humility in being sensible of their poverty, when enriched by his 13 grace; their patience, their diligence, and the resolution with which they retained the honour of his name, not- withstanding the throne of Satan was in the midst of them, and the rage of persecution had destroyed Antipas before their eyes; that blessed, that triumphant hero, whose fidelity and constancy his divine Saviour commemo- rates with approbation, and even with satisfaction and pleasure. Who would not be ambitious of dying in the same manner, were it ever so severe and terrible, to be thus honoured and celebrated by our Lord Jesus Christ, or 10 any of his faithful apostles P Let us not be terrified at the apprehension of what we may suffer from the malice of Satan, and by his instruments, even though not merely imprisonment, but death itself was to await us. It is only for a limited time that he can occasion tribulation to any of the people of God; and our blessed Lord will never be unmindful of that gracious promise, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. O let us by faith survey that innumerable company, who, though they have fallen by the stroke of the first death, have II been, and shall for ever be, unhurt by the second: that blessed society who are encircled with immortal crowns, favour of his opinion, ver. 20. iii. 9. viii. II. ix, 11. xi. 8. in all which places proper names are used in such a figurative manner, to express characters resembling theirs whose names are thus used. h Jā white stone..] It is well known that among the Greeks a chiſe Stone, was a token of absolution, as a black stone was of condemnation ; but the writing a new name upon this stone is not, that I know of, illus- trated by any ancient practice. And the connexion between the two ideas seems to be this, That in the great day on which thc absolu- tion of Christ’s people was to be declared publicly, they were to be aq- mitted into that intinate converse, and high state of favour, yhich is f /īntipas my faithful martpr.] Ecclesiastical history has not informed us who this Antipas was. #&#a »s he was some zealous minister who died for the faith he had preached; or some private christian of obscure birth, rank, and circumstances, em nobled by enduring martyrdom in the §hristianº. But we may be "sure that such condescending notice taken of him by his Divine Master, who inentions his name with affec- tion and regard, would be instead of a thousand arguinçnts, to animate the courage and fidelity of other christians, who might be called out to the like extremities. ... g. Balaamites, or y icºlaitans.]. As Bhalam, has, the same signification in Hebrew which Nicolaus has in Greek, and both signify, conquerors of the people, (which name might probably be given to the celebrated, Ba- aarn, on account of the great influence which he had in the place, where he lived,) it seems not improbable, that the doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans might be the same : (or the latter might bg more strenuous in justifying and propagating their doctrine, and acting, upon it.) As if he had said, Balaam taught Balak to lay a stumbling-block before the children of Israel; and thou hast also then that hold the doctrine of the Balaamites. Probably this doctrine might be like that of some modern §educers, that it was lawful to dissemble the christian faith, and to con- form to established superstition, to prevent persecution ; a fatal error; which tends most effectually to overthrow christianity; the existence of Which, in these later ages, is owing to the contrary doctrine and practice. And I greatly fear, that millions of souls are continually sacrificed to it, especially in France, and other countries, in which protestant churches were onge planted, but are now overthrown. Nor can it be hoped, that the reformed interest will ever revive, till a few of its professors at least have the courage to die for the truth, and scatter their blood as the seed of the church. . An anonymous writer (in the JMemoirs of J_iter. vol. v. p. 258.) thinks that by Balaamites, or Nicolaitans, (which he also supposes the same,), we are, in generai, * who aim at nothing but their own secular advantage, and pleads in to understand leuca and profligate persons, signified by the new name; which last circumstance plainly alludes to the custom of princes, who give new names to those whom they have raised to very extraordinary dignity; of which we haye many instances in the Old Testament; particularly, Gen. xli. 45. 2 Sam. xii. 25. Dan. i.7. Dr. Goodinan thinks, this is an allusion to the token, or tickët given to the conqueror in the Olympic games, expressing his name, an signifying the reward he was to receive for his achievements. See his Par. of the Prod. p. 307. * - - i Jyo man knowctſ, except he who receiveth. [it.] I have sometimes thought 6 Xapſ3avov may signify, one that hath received it, as it seems a name given to any person must be known to others; or it would be given in vain; and then it intimates, that honour shall be conferred on such an one, which shall only be known to the inhabitants of that world to which he shall be admitted, and who have already received it. , Other- wise, it must refer to a custom which has sometimes prevailed among princes, of giving, particular, names, expressing familiarity and delight, . to distinguished favourites, by which to call them in the greatest inti- macy of converse, whether by discourse or by letter; and which have not §eºn communicated to others, or used by them at other times, [ have hinted at both in the paraphrase, not being able in my own mind eertainly to determine which is the peculiar and more exact sense. THE ADDRESS TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF THYATIRA. which their triumphant Leader, whom they followed with such undaunted fortitude, hath bestowed upon them ; SECT. who, though they partake no longer of the bread that perisheth, nor are feasted with earthly viands, are yet eating of the hidden männa; who have received the white stone, in token of their absolution; and while the names and memory of many of them have sunk into oblivion, and the honours attending others are of little consequenge, they are known in the heavenly regions by a new name conferred as a mark of favour and distinction by the King of kings, and Lord of lords. We are drawing on themselves the people of God, while they are in if we are and that we may not be disappointed, may we, by divine grace, be preserved from the artifices of those W. eed of the synagogue of Satan, and from whatever, like the doc- true christians, to the completion of that blessed hop; trine of Balaam, would insnare our consciences and defile our souls. SECTION V. The epistles which Christ charges St. John to write to the churcles cf Thyatira and Sardis. Rev. ii. 18, to the end; iii. 1–6. Rev. ii. 18. church in Thyatira write ; º - - These things saith the Son of saith the Son of AND unto the angel of the A.VD to the angel, or christian minister, of the church in Thyatira, write, These things secr. God, who hath his eyes bright and penetrating as a flame affire, and his REVELATION ii. 18. §§§"ß feet shining like fine brass : I know and approve thy works of piety, which are many, an:! unto a flame of fire, and his foet are like fine brass; which, I am well apprized, are the effects of ardent love to me; and I am acquainted with i.º.º. tº the service thou art performing for my cause and interest, and with thy faith and thy charity, , and service, an §ºd"; i.i., § patience; and that, with respect to thiſ works, the last [are] thy works; and the last to be more than the first. the first. - § Nºtwithstanding I have reason elsewhere to complain. a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which call- that infamous an eth herself a prophetess, to ..Wevertheless, I have a more, greater, and better, than Very far art thou from that declining state of religion, of which I have had ſ". things against thee; and par- 20 ticularly, that thou permittest that woman Jezebel,” (for she deserves no better name than of ſ’ idolatrous harlot,) who audaciously and falsely says that she is a pro- i..."to sº...”.e. pheless, to teach and to seduce my servants, in order to avoid persecution, to commit forni- vants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrifice • unto idols. ‘Vl)é71. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. . - 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they rºº; of their deeds. - 3 And I will kill her chil- dren with death ; and all the churches shalſ know that I death ; am he which searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will upon her. according to your Works. And let the process o are bright and piercing, and that I am he who searcheth the reins and the hearts;” and I will at length ap; prove the justice of my proceedings with respect to this society, as well as all others, and 24 But unto you, I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many- as have not this trine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; . I will, put unto you none other burden. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. will give to every one of you according to your works, and according to those principles from which I know they have proceeded. But I say to you who are faithful, even to the 24 oc rest of those that are in Thyatira, as many as do not hold this pernicious doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they proverbially speak, nor make themselves the instruments of accomplishing the designs of his infernal policy: I will lay upon yout no other burden, l will not severely * * *. is to be discerned every where. ...Vevertheless, what you have received as of divine revela-25 reprove you for that mixture of human infirmity, which tion and command, hold fast till I come, and let nothing prevail upon you to make a 26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unt sacrifice of your regard for me and my cause, for neither my ability, nor inclination, to reward those who are faithful, will ever be diminished. .4nd as for him that conquers, and 26 O - - - * ...”..."; "...iii. Keeps my works unto the end, notwithstanding the vigorous efforts of the enemies of my power over the nations : gospel to wrest it from him, or induce him to deny it, though he should be ever so much exposed and overborne now, I will, at length, give him complete power and victory over #,Andºlºhº all the nations that have combined against my people.” And I will raise him to the dignity 27 with a rod of iron; aS - - - - §eſ. Sºtºshi they and glory of sharing with me in my final º: iron, and they shall be at once dashed in pieces wit be broken to shivers :, even as I received of my Father. ; and he shall rule them with a rod of it, like a potter’s vessels : in like manner, - as I have also received the º of my Father in that ancient oracle, (Psal. ii. 9.) the accomplishment of which a 28 And I will give him the morning Star. 29. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spiritsaith unto the churches. - my faithful subjects shall see; for they shall behold all their enemies, however numerous and mighty, laid prostrate at their feetin the dust, and covered with everlasting confusion. ...And I will give him, even every one who approveth his fidelity 28 to me, such lustre and glory, that he shall - * its sprightly and cheerful beams break through the shades of night, and proclaim the ap- proaching sun. He, therefore, that hath an ear, let him attentively hear what the Spirit 29 saith unto the churches; for all the churches are concerned in the message I send to each; Shine in my presence like the morning star, when Rey. iii. i. And unto the and the importance of the contents makes them worthy of universal regard. angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of hath the seven spirits of God; he who presides over and orders the dispensations of the 909 4. H. P.V. 1 [. ose who call 14, 15 2. to & REV- II, cation, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.b And she is the more inexcusable, as I have 21 her sufficient time to repent of her fornication, and she repented not; but continued àer enormities with increasing aggravation. But behold, at length I will execute judgment 22 frny righteous vengeance be observed: I am just pre- paring to cast her into a bed; and will bring those who commit fornication with her, who suffer their consciences to be debauched by such licentious and detestable principles, into great tribulation, unless they speedily repent of their wicked works. :4nd I will slay her 23 children, those that presume to follow her in her wickedness, with sudden and inevitable and all the churches shall know, that though I am very long-suffering with respect to many sinners, and am unwilling immediately to come to extremities, yet I am not to give into every one of you be mocked and trifled with: that my eyes are indeed as observant as they ..And to the angel, or minister, of the church in Sardis, write, These things saith he that Rev. a That woman Jezebel.] When the description of the followers of Jezebel, in this verse, is compared, with what was before said of the Nicolaitans, º: ji, isj the resemblance appears so great, that I am induced to believe it is the same heresy which is represented under both these views ; namely, the doctrine of those who taught it was lawful to dissemble our religious principles, and occasionally to conform to super- stition and idolatry, in order to avoid persecution. ... And as Jezebel was so iu famous an idolatress, and so great a mistress of Seducing arts; there was an evident propriety, in such a representation, 1 Kings Nvi. 31. xxi. 25. Some have fancied this was some female heretic, Dr. Scott thinks it to have been Helena, the harlot of Sinea Magus, the great ring leader of the unclean sect of the Gnostics. (See Scott’s Christian Life, vol. i. p. 23 Whether these words refer to any woman who was in the plot, or * mean to describe a person of such seducing and dishonest prac- tices, I cannot determine, though I rather incline to the latter. Com- pare ver. 15, note g. • - - b Commit fornication, and eat things sacrificed to idols.) Perhaps both of these might, be the same; as it is well known idolatry, is in many places in the Old Testament, and in several passages in this book, repre- sented as adultery and formication w c I am he who searcheth—the 'hearts.] This manner of speaking is much more remarkable, than if it had only been said, that I search the heart; which remark answers the train of Mr. Emlyn’s reasoning against the argument brought from this text, to prove Christ’s proper deity. Wo other, burden.] Lord. Barrington imagines this refers to the gos- pel-decree addressed to Gentile prosclytes, now abolished with the Jewish polity. As if it had been said, Though things strangled, and blood, were formerly forbidden, as well as idolatry and fornication, yet I will not subject you to this injumction, Bar. Ess. iv. p. 20. e Power over the mations.) This power occr the nations, of breaking them to pieces like a potter’s vessels, &c. cannot, I think, be understood of temporal dominion : for as the promise is made to every conqueror, and many christians fell by the oppressive power of the enemy, and would, considering their present circumstances, be degraded rather thau exalted, if raised to the possession of any earthly dominion and triumph, it appears to be much more properly, explained of that final triumph of Christ over, his enemies in the last day, when he shall crush them all to utter and irrecoverable ruin, and all his saints, raised from the dead. and clothed with robes of glory, shall sit down with him on his throne and constitute, that illustrious body, which, in and with their exaited head, shall subdue every opposing power, III. L. -º-º: 910 THE ADDRESS TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF SARDIS. sect. Spirit. With respect to his various gifts and graces, and produces thereby such wonderful God, and the seven stars: 1 5. events as shall astonish all future ages; and that hath in his hand the sºver, stars, which Šº tºy works, thºod }^{2}}}''{2S3 , he ministers of - -& • ?:, …~ 4 : y - v-v- y ast a name that thou livest, *Present the ministers of the churches, all whose motions he continues to govern and and art dead. direct, accºrding tº his all-wise and gracious pleasure; I know thy works ; that thou dost got ºr that character which thou generally maintainest in neighbouring churches, for religion and piety. I know that thou has a nºmic that iſſºu iº ; thou makest a splendid Rºsień, arid many of thy brethren are deceived by thy apparent zeal; but thou © art indeed dead; there is little real religion lying at thy heart, nor do the uniform fruits of 2 it prevail in thy life and conversation. De watchful, therefore, that the whole may not be 2 Be watchful, and lost; ºf ºl, he thiºs iphich remain, and which are ready to die; for t are not tº found th | works filled tºp in the sight of God, with that care and fidelity with which they ºf ‘. ºghi tº been discharged; and he, therefore, cannot behold thee with the same approba works perſectºrs God. tiºn ind delight, as he does more active, more diligent, and more resolute christians. And *...thy declension in religion is the more aggravated, as thou hasthad so many advantages 3 for improvement. Remember, therefore, hold thou hast received and heard ; for though thou 3 Fº how *Yst forget thºse advantages, they are all distinctly in my view; and let it therefore be thºſe eigel and hºrſ, thy care to hold fast what yet remains; and to repent of that negligence by which thou tººl ºt. º: hºst lºst so many cºportunities: therefore, unless they art waitiji, i do now solemnly "###". "...º. Würm thee, that I will come upon ihee by some alarming and a fui interposition of my knºw &##" ºi's. º on a sudden, as a thief, on those who are buried in sleep; and thou shall nºt "*** tnote at what hour I will come upon iñº, and the surprise will throw thee into the greatest 4 consternation and distress. But I will do thee the honour, and the justice, to say, that tº hºst a few names and people, even in Sardis, corrupt and indolent as the general'state of it is, who have not pointed their garments with the abominations by which so many have contracted gross defilements. And, as they have been distinguished by their fidelity and their zeal, I will distinguish them by my special favour, and Faise them, ere long, to those seats of complete purity and glory, where they shall walk with me in whitef rºbes, find attend my joyful and triumphant train: for they are worthy of such distinguished honour, as they have been especially careful to keep themselves from those evils which © have been generally prevailing around them. ºffs for the conqueror, he shall be clothed in 5 He that overcometh, the tehile rqiment; every victor, shall wear the habit of festivity and triumph; and I will not same shºotiºiº. blot out his name from the book of º ;é but as he is enrolled among my faithful people, jº". º ğı. he shall ever, continue in their number; and when the register shall be read over in the ºil.jº Présence ºf God in the great day, I will confess his name before my Father, and before the tº ºf Father, and full assembly of his glorious angels, and not be ashamed to acknowledge him as my friend 6 and my favourite. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to all the 6 He that hath an ear, let churches; and let every one that hears, be animated by so glorious a hope, to exert his ºn jº.j" utmost efforts in this holy and honourable warfare. - IMPROVEMENT. REv. J.E.T the disciples of Christ always remember, that his eye penetrates the most hidden recesses; that he search- * eth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men; accordingly, let them take heed to cherish nothing, 18 even in their hearts, which their great Master will behold with displeasure. There may faith, and patience, and 19 charity erect their throne; and may their dominion so prevail, that our last works, like those of the church of Thyatira, may be more than the first. And surely it is most reasonable, as we approach the end of our course, as we experience more of the vanity of life, and the substantial and solid pleasures of religion, that they should III. be so. But, alas ! how much more common is the character of the church of Sardis, and of those who have only 1, 2 a naume to live while they are dead! Censorious and uncharitable, as too great a part of the world is, are there not some who are ashaſhed and humbled in the view of the esteem which they are held in by their brethren, scious of so many inward though unaliowed infirmities, of so much deadness and coldness in religion, ºcre they would be most zealous and lively 2 Alas! how far are our works from being filled up before God Let us often lament these our imperfections and declensions; let us deeply humble ourselves before God 2 on account of them; and let us be as vigilant as possible, that we may strengthen those things which, if they do indeed remain, seem ready to die. The more general the prevalence of such an indolent temper is, the more let 4 us emulate the distinguished honour of those few names in Sardis, which had not defiled their garments; that we may walk with them, and with Christ, in white rainent; that we may arrive at that happy state of everlasting - burity, of everlasting festivity, of everlasting triumph, which our Divine Master has encouraged us to expect. We 3 know not how unexpectedly he may come upon tis: let us be always ready, always strenuous in maintaining a 5 holy war against the enemies of our salvation; and then we shall conquer, we shall triumph; our names shall re- main in the book of life; it shall be confessed by Christ before his Father and his holy angels: we shall share II, with him in his triumph over all the rebellious nations, in that day when he shall dash them in pieces like a pot- ter's vessel; we shalſ for ever wear the lustre of the morning star; yea, we shall shine forth as the sun in the 28 kingdom of our Father. .4men. REV. }Iſ 4 Thou hºst a few names even in Sarjis which have not defiled their gurinºis ; an: they shall walk with rºle in white : for they are worth, 5. SECTION VI. The epis; 135 which Christ orders to be written to the two remai:iing churches, the Philadeiplian and Laodicean. Rev iii. 7—22. 6. - REVELATION iii. 7. - JVD now, io, the angel, or minister, of the church in Philadelphia, write, These things ãº,"ſº sailh the holy One, and the true One,” he who claims perfect holiness and invariable truth, jºi; Rev. iii. 7. f Pſalk with me in white.] It is well known that chite robes were as nothing can occasion an alteration in the decrees of God, I think it worn on occasion of great joy, and soine times in triºſiphant processions; to both which here is, probably, a 7 ºf crence, as indget; it seems that Žiumph and feasting would naturally go together. Friests, also were clothºd in whic, and the addition of that dignity may also be implied, as certainly coming within the scheme of Christ with regard to his peo: Jºſe. (Compare Rev. i. 6.) Some think here is gº allusion to the custom of the sauhédrigº, whet, they examined the candidates for the high priest; }ºo... if they judged him worthy, they gave him a lohite garººn: ; if ºuajified, he was sent out from among them in mourning. L'Enfant, provcs, that the book cf life does not signify the catalogue of those whom God has absolutcly purposed to Saye 3 but rather the catalogue of those who were to be considered as heirs of the kingdom of heaven, in couse- quence of their christian profession, till, by apostasy from it they throw themselves out of that society to , which they before belonged; and it seems to intimate, that though the in perfection.even of these conquerors might, in strict justice, have deserved it; yet Christ would spare them, and suffer them to continue in the number of those who should finaliy be found registered, as free of the heavenly city; and who, in the great jº-off. p. 86. See Ainsworth’s Préſ. to Gen. - - s o A fict, not blºt, out, his nauté, égl I think this plainly implies that softig ºnes shall he blotted out from the book of life; and consequently, day, should be called up to possess it: , , • a 7%e holy One, the truc One.] This is so peculiarly the prero ;4, 4 «, five of God, that I have sometimes wondered no greator stress shot {{{1 I have AD DRESS TO THE ANGELS of THE CHURCHES OF PHILADELPHIA AND LAODICEA. holy, he that is true, he that as necessary and essential to his nature, in a manner which no creature can pretend to ; S.E.C.T. 'º';"; he whose authority in the church of God is souncontrollable, that it may rºly bº said, he 6. tº and hutieth, and no has the key of the house of David; he who openeth, and no man shutieth, b and shutteth, man openeth ; * iakim, who is spol f i h terms of honour, REW and no man openeth; insomuch that Eliakim, who is spoken of in such terms ! III 8 I know §§ York; be. (Isa. xxii. 22.) was only a type of him: I well know thy works, how exemplary they are ; s hold, I have set before thee an and behold, I have used the power of the key which is in my hand, in such a manner, that Gin'in door, and no man can e g • Al I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: I give thee a pºwer, an shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept in word, and hast not denied Op II) y Lld II) e. Ci ortunity of spreading my gospel, which none shall take from thee; because thou has', at least, a little strength; and thou hast used it well, and hast courageously kept my word, and hast not denied my name, though many attempts have been made to drivé thee to do 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie ; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and #. know that I have loved thee. indeed of the synagogue of Satan, and, under all the solemn guise of religious worship, are carrying on his cause and interest; they say they are Jews, and pretend to be my peº- ple, and are not, but lie. Behold, I say, I will give them into thy power; and I will make them to come and worship before thy feet;" and they shall know ihat I have loved thee, find- ing I have evidently supported thy cause and interest against all that have opposed it. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, that gospel which I have myself by such patient suffering in my human nature established in the world, and by which I at once exercise and support the faith and patience of my people; I also will keep thee frºm the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try all the inhabitants of these arts of the earth: my hand shall remarkably appear in sheltering thee from the dangers y which others fall, and in strengthening thee in proportion to the trial. Behold, I cºme quickly, to put an end to those exercises which are for the present so painful; keep that which thout hast with resolute fidelity, that no man take thy crown from thee, even that crown of everlasting glory which will be the gracious reward of thy continued fidelity. 10 Because thou hast kept the word, of my patience, also will keep thee from the Hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. l ll. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12 Hºnº, .4s#. the conqueror, I will make him a pillar of distinguished ornament and beauty : ...'...}*...* {..."; and I will not only fix him near but in the temple of my God above, and he shall stand º no more out: and [ will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which com- eth down out of heaven from Iny God : and I will write upon hiin my new name. there upon an unshaken and everlasting basis, so that he shall go out no more: and he shall bear the marks of immortal honour; for I will inscribe upon him the name of my God, under whose auspicious influence the grand victory has been gained, and under whose protection this sacred monument of it shall for ever remain. And I will also in- scribe the name of the city of my God, even the New Jerusalem, as it is that to which he belongs, and of which he is free, even that New Jerusalem, which is come down from hea- ven from my God, and shall soon be represented to thee, O John, in a most glorious vision; and he shall bear my new name, the name which I have acquired by that great expedition which brought me into the world, and carried me through so many labours and sufferings; even that of the Redeemer of sinners; under which character I will own him for one of my redeemed, who fought under my banner, and overcame his enemies by my influence and my blood.d. He that hath an ear, let him attentively hear what the Spi- rit saith to the churches ; for addresses of this kina are made not to a particular person, or to one christian society alone, but are indeed of more extensive, and even universal, COil Cer]]. .And to the angel of the church which is in Laodicea, write, These things saith he who is the Amen, the faithful and true Witness; attesting those truths which are of the utmost importance, on the most perfect knowledge of them, and with most unerring exactness; yea, he who is the Beginning of the creation of God,” by whom it was produced, and who is the Head and Governor of all that he has made : I know thy works, and ail the par- ticulars of thy conduct; that thou art neither cold nor hot; that thou art growing very indifferent in religion, though thou canst not allow thyself entirely to cast it off; now this is so disagreeable to me, that I wish thou wouldst determine one way or another ; and that it might be said, thou wert either cold or hot;f if thou really thinkest it not worth thy regard, reject it entirely ; but if indeed thou art convinced of its truth and importance, act with a steady conformity to that conviction. Therefore, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, this indifference of thine is as disagreeable to me as liquor, in this condition, is to the stomach; and therefore, to pursue the similitude, odious as it may seem, I must tell thee, that if thou persistest in such a disposition, I will cast thee out of - - tº my mouth with loathing. Because thow sayest, I am wealthy, and have enriched myself by ...”...","...iº. my own wisdom and virtue, and have need of nothing ; imagining thy state in religion to łºś. be so very prosperous and happy; and in this spiritual lunacy into which thou art fallen, #:º: .." iii, like a miserable beggar, who fancies himself a prince, knowest not that thou art wretched, and pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked,5 in a most deplorable condition, destitute of 13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. 14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Atmen, the faithful and true witness, the lºſinains of the creation of God; lă I know, thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So them because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. I7 Because thou sayest, I and naked: been laid upon it, in proof of the deity of our blessed Redeemer, by many writers who have pressed other texts, of a much more dubious nature, to serve in the cause. (Compare chap. vi. 10.) 'hg openeth, and no man shutteth..] . The office of lord stencard of the household, who hath the power of opening and shutting w liat apartments in the palace he pleaseth, is (lessºribed by these terrns. - c Hºorship before thy feet.] Were we more particularly acquainted with the history of these seven, churches, in the times immediately suc- ceeding the date of these epistles, we might perhaps find many remark- able illustrations jº passages in thes), and , of this among the rest : supposing, for instance, persons of considerable rank and dignity in Philadelphia were converted to christianity, and the interest of the, synagogue here spoken of was so weakened, or, the heathen populage of the place so prejudiced against them, as that the chief members of the synagogue shouid find it necessary to court, the protection of the chris- tians for the security of their |... or effects; it will throw consider- able light upon the place. The like observation may be applied to the following clause: I igill kech) thcc from the hour of temptation, &c. T. Smith has observed (in his learned and, accurate, account of these parts, j. 134–141.) that the city of Philadelphia was the last of all the seven, here spoken of, which fell into the hands of the Turks; for whereas the rest were subdued by Urchan and Amurath, Philadelphia held out till the time of Bajazet. So that the remains of this society were preserved, when those of the rest were ruined. But how far that event might im- mediately be referred to in the words before us, I cannot certainly say. d I will make in yself a pillar, &c.], Few texts in the whole New Tes- tament are more illustrated by antiquity than this." Great numbers of inscriptions are yet remaining, brought from the Grecian cities of Eu- rope, and Asia, and some from islands in the neighbourhood of Patmos, in which the victorics of eminent persons are commemorated. And as sonie of tinese were placed near the temples of their deities, others were in those termiºłes, to signify their being put under the particular protec- tion of those deities ; whose names therefore were inscribed upon them, and the names of the conquerors, and ºf the cities to which they be: onged; as also the names of the generals, by whose conduct the victory was gained. As all these circumstances suit such kind of martial victo- Ties, much more than those obtained in the Olympic games, so cele- brated, in antiquity, and so largely and elegantly described by Mr. West in his late Dissertation on that subject, I t!;ink this text seems to justify the turn I have generally, given in my paraphrase to those weighty §. on which so much of our strength and comfort as christians e pent 1s. ... e. The beginning of the creation of God..] Mr. Fieming would render it, the cificient cause of God’s creation. But as it is certain that apkn has not always that signification, I judged it safe to give what is inoré commonly the sense of it. f So disagreeable to me, that I wish thou wouldst determine one way or another.] Mr. Lowman observes, that the clause, I woould thou accre cold or hot, may be understood as expressing great dislike, not as a pro- per wish, or expression of what men really desire. g Wretched and pitialle, &c.] . The sad account which is here given of the Laodicean church, which is placed last, when compared with what is said of the glorious state of christianity in the last ages of the world, may, I think, convince § attentive reader, that these epistles are not to be understood in a prophetic sense, as expressive of the state and cha- racter of the christian church in different periods of time. It may also, I I H it. Behold, I will give, as it were, into thy power, those hypocritical wretches [who grel 9 I 2 7 942 ADDRESS TO THE ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES OF PHILADELPHIA AND LAODICEA. SECT. 6. REV. III. every desirable blessing; I counsel thee, that with an humble sense of thy condition, so 18 I counsel thes to buy of extremely unhappy, thou apply to him who alone is capable of helping thee. And as I j9. §ºhº, ºf require no price or equivalent for my treasures, but only a conviction of such an incapacity ite *śaſāhān; tº make ºn adequate return for them, I advise thee, in that way, to buy of me a full sup. ...º.º.º.; ply for all thy necessities; blessings as desirable as gold tried in the fire, that thow majst ºf a.º. * indeed be rich; and white raiment, that how mayst be clothed, and that the shame of thy Mºssalve that thou may- aakedness may not appear. Apply to me for an interest in my righteousness and sanctify- ing grace; that thou mayst be absolved before God, and adorned with every virtue which cap, render thee lovely in his sight. And whereas thou art blinded with such umhappy Self-conceit, come, and anoint thine eyes with my sovereign eye-salve, that thou mayst see; for I can bring thee to right sentimeñts of thyself, and of thy state ; and can teach thee to 19 judge of objects according to their real worth. In the mean time, imagine not, that what 19 As many as I love, I re- 20 21 2 2 ºy seem severe in this address, proceeds from any unkindness to thee: for whomsoever ..º.º. Zealous I}ove, [reprove and correct. Instead, therefore, of ungratefully quarrelling at so kind an therefore, and repent. admonition, set thyself immediately and diligently to improve it: be more zealous for the - future, than thou hast ever been in time past, ...} deeply repent of thy prevailing indolence and degeneracy. Behold, I have stood for a long time, and I still stand at the door and 20 Behold, I stand at the £nock; waiting for admittance into your hearts. If any man hear my voice, with a due tº regard, and open the door; if he welcome me with the affection due to such a friend, and doºr, }.}}''...","..."; such a Saviour, how mean soever his circumstances in life may be, and how faulty soever ºup with him, and he his character may formerly have been, I will enter into his house, and, like some princely guest, will bring my own rich and delightful entertainment along with me; I will sup with him, and he shall sup with me; I . treat him with the most endearing and familiar friendship, accept the tokens of his affection, and give him the most solid evidences of mine; Let this variety of motives then engage you, O ye Laodiceans, to shake off that 2. To him that overcometh dull, lethargic temper which has so long given me cause of complaint; and for your fur- yº; ther encouragement, hear the last promise which I make to all who exert themselves in §§§aft * ºt déº. that holy warfare, to which I am calling you, with becoming vigour and resolution; as for *******throne. the valiant conqueror, I will give him to sit down with me upon my glorious and exalted throme in the heavenly worldſ ; as I also myself have conquered the enemies which violently assaulted me in the days of my flesh, and am set down with my Father upon his throne : my faithful servants si partake with me of this honour in the great day of my appear- ing, and shall live and reign with me for ever. He, therefore, that hath an ear to hear, let 22. He that hath an ear, let him be all, attention on this occasion, and hear what the Spirit saith to the churches; re- ºw" garding what has been addressed to each as intended to afford matter of general instruc- * tion. IMPROVEMENT. IN what age, or in what place, will the church be entirely free from this Laodicean temper, which is so Justly Wer. I5 complained of by our Lord, and represented as so loathsome to him; I mean, an indolence in religion, often 16, 17 18 20 oined with arrogance and spiritual pride too, as if great attainments were made, where it is almost matter of oubt, whether the very essentials be remaining ! Let us not indulge to a vain conceit of our own wisdom, and riches, and sufficiency; but let us thankfully hearken to that kind invitation which he here gives us, to come and purchase that of him, without money and without price, by which we may be truly and substantially enriched; that by which we may attain to real knowledge and true discernment; and may be clothed with ornaments and glories, which shall render us amiable in the eyes of God. How long has our compassionate Saviour been wait- ing upon us! How long has he stood knocking at the door! And Oh! for what guests hath he been excluded ! 19 7 8 Y0, 11 } } I2 2 I who have filled our hearts and taken the throne in them, while the entrance has been denied to the Lord of glory and of grace | Let us humble ourselves in the dust before him, and entreat that he would now enter as into his own habitation; that he would do us the honour to sup with us; that he would cause us to sup with him; opening to us the stores of his love and bounty, and causing our souls to rejoice in his salvation. “Awaken us, O blessed Jesus, to give thee a most cheerful admittance; and rather show thy love to us by chastisement and rebuke, than suffer us entirely to forfeit it, by continued insensibility and negligence. Holy and true, who hast the key of David, exert thy power, irresistible in heaven and on earth, in opening our hearts: and O set before us an open door of service; and give us to use it to the utmost, for thy glory. Strengthen us to keep the word of thy patience, and make us jº in our attachment to thee, in every hour of temptation which may come upon the earth, that none may take away our crown.” - - Whatever our trials may be, let us rejoice in this, that they will be only for a short duration; for our Lord is coming quickly: whatever our combat may be, let us arm ourselves with faith in those glorious promises, which our Lord makes to them that persevere and overcome. - • - Have we not experienced the pleasure of filling a place in the house of God on earth? But this sacred satis- faction, and the holy season which affords it, is quickly over: let us long for the blessed time, when we shall be fixed as immovable pillars in the temple of God above. And O may we now wear, engraven on our hearts, the name of our God, and of his heavenly city, and the new name of our triumphant Redeemer, as a token for good, that we shall bear the inscription in bright and everlasting characters above . But even this most expressive pro- mise was not equal to all the purposes of a Saviour's love: that nothing, therefore, might be wanting to enkindle the most generous ambition, he has been pleased to speak of our sitting down with him upon his throne, as he is set down on his Father's throne. And who then will ever scruple to suffer with him, when thus assured of reign- ing with him in everlasting glory ! O who would grudge to resign, not, merely the accommodations of life, º even an earthly throne, in the hope of one so much more radiant, exalted, and permanent ! Fear not, little flock! it is your Father's and your Saviour's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, (Luke xii. 32.) and he animates you to pursue it with such compassionate earnestness, as if he could hardly enjoy it himself, unless it were com municated to you. 5 be observed, that at that rate the middle ages of the church, which were which are described in these Epistles as in the most flourishing and in fact most corrupt, must have answered to Pergamos and Thyatira, happy state. GO:D REPRESENTE}} AS ENTHIRONED IN CEſ, ESTIAL GLORY. ECTION VII. Another scene now opens on the apostle John, in which God is represºntºd as enthroned in celestial glory, surrounded with the hieroglyphical representation of angels and thc glorified church. Rev. iv. 1, to the er: i. R2 v. iv. 1. - REYELATION iv. 1. 913 AFTER his Llºoked, find, .4FTER these things, and after Jesus had dictated to me these seven epistles, I saw, SECT. behold, a door tras of ened it - - - - i... . . ; "...i... and, behold, it segmed as if a door were opened in heaven, near to which I was brought; Whiº.[hººl ºf its it wºre so that I was able to look in, and see what passed and was transacted there. .4nd the of a trump-t talking wit!; tıme; 5 } Whiºid ºup'ijºr, first voice which I heard before [was] as loud as the sound of a trumpet; and while speak- ºn.” ing to me, it seemed to issue out from thence; and it said, Come up hither; and having given thee this charge relating to present things, I will show thee what shall be afterwards. nº ..?nt immediately I was in the Spirit,” and an extraordinary vision presented itself to my §. .''...}...m.; intellectual view ; for behold, and observe diligently a circrimstance of so great importancé, one sat on the throne. ſt throne was set in heaven, to represent that of the blessed God; and there was [one] sitting - upon it, of a majestic form and appearance, and arrayed in robes of glory, suited to the 3.And he that sat was tº situation in which he was, .3nd he who sat [on it] teas, in the form and Histº of his ap- 3 "...º.º.º. pearance, like a jasper and sardine stone; and a rainbow, in which the bright green, in tº ſº.º. ºppºſe like the vivid, though soft and agreeable, colour of an emerald [was] especially ...!" ****" prevalent, appeared round about the throne; expressive of that propitiousness and kindness, and of that covenant-relation to his people, which the blessed God is pleased to acknow- 2 7. RE. W. IV. 4 And round about the ledge in the Inidst of his transcendent glory. (Compare Gen. ix. 16.) And, in an exten- 4 thro:\e were four and twenty c.; :-- - J.3-2, - a rao Y-23 … + ! - s .* ****, *, *...*.*.* sive circle, round about the throne of God [there were] tweniy-four other thrones; and on saw four and twenty gºlers the thrones I saw twenty-four elders” sitting, as an emblem of the Old-Testament church, ..º.º. ºº:: and also of the New ; and they were clothed in a habit somewhat resembling that of the heads crowns of gold. Leyites, or priests, with white rainent; and, in token of their royal dignity, they had upon 5 And out of the throne their heads golden crowns. .4nd out of the throne there came flashes of vivid lightnings and ; :"... ; thunders, and sometimes articulate voices; and seven lamps of ſ: [were] burning con- #ſº ºpº.º. tinually, before the throne; which are the seven Spirits of God; that is, they represent a ...hiº, arêtêsevååspirits of great variety of the Spirit's operations, and those of good angels who act in subserviency *And before the throne to him. ...?id before the throne [there was, correspondent to the brazen sea in Solomon's there was a sea of glass like temple, (1 Kings vii. 23.) a great laver, or sea, which was all of pure pellucid glass, which §§.: §§§ was cléar like crystal itself. ..?nd in the middle of the space between the throne and the §§§: circle about the throne, [there were] four living creatures;” and to signify their intelligence of eyes before and behind. * * *-* * *. rºl *Aniº"; and quickness of observance, they appeared full of eyes, both before, and behind. These #.º.º.º.º four animals, of a very extraordinary form, seem to have been intended as hieroglyphical bºastiãì façºn, and representations of the angelic nature:f and the head of the first animal, in this marvellous #º"***** composition, [was] like a lion, to signify the courage and vigour with which these celestial - beings execute the commands of God, and the irresistible strength with which they en- counter and vanquish all opposition. ..ſind the head of the second animal was like a calf, or young bullock, to signify the firmness, patience, and pcrseverance with which they go through the labours which God has appointed them. ..?nd the third animal had a face like a man, to express, by the image of the only rational creature on this earth, the clearness of intelligence, and the strength of reason, with which, in a vastly superior degree, they are endowed. And the fourth animal was like a swift flying eagle, with its wings displayed, and with quickness in its eye and motion, to signify the sprightliness and activity, and in- comparable velocity, with which these celestial spirits fly from world to world, to execute 8 And the four beasts, had the commands they receive from their Sovereign. ..?nd though the heads of these four º º wonderful living creatures were different, yet they had in the rest of their body one form ; exes, within; and they, rest and they had each of them sir wings round about ; so that their body seemed covered with not day and night, saying, - Ns , , ‘’..., , . - * * ---> - - jëi."fioſ."hº"foºd the rich plumage of them. .3m l within [they were] all full of eyes, to signify their quick ºn was and is discernment of every object around them...?nd they rest not day nor night; but they stand in the divine presence, saying with united voices, (as the seraphim represented in the vision which Isaiah saw, Isa. vi. 2, 3.) “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God .4lmighty," who 5 6 7 S a I was in the Spirit..] This phrase signifies, to be under a strong and “the spirits stantling tº fore the throne might be distinct appearances of supernatural impulse, caused by the miracia's its operation of the Spirit grizelic for:ris ; as it is certain some of them were, from the actions they of God acting on the imaginatio: in stich a manaer as to open extraor- afterwards performed : sounding seven trumpets, &c. dinary scenes, which had ibot any exact external archetype. And it is e Foºtr liring creatures.] It was a most unliappy mistake in our much illustrated by the view presented to, Ezekiel, when he sat in his translators, to render the word, Nºa, beasts : it certainly signifies any house armong the elders aſ the fº!. (Ezek. viii. 1.) who probably saw other kind of animals, that is, of créatures which have animal life, as nothin; but the prophet himself, as one in a trance, or ecstasiſ, or whose well as bcasts. The word bººst not only degrades the signification, but toughts were so attentively fixed, as to be. insensible of what passed the animals here mentioned have parts and appearances which beasts around him. We are not therefore to imagine, that the person sitting have not, and are represented as in the highest sense rational. on the throne, or the four animals, or the four and treaty, elders, were f Iſieroglyphical represeritations, &c.] It is well known the ancients real beings existing in nature ; though they represented, in a ſi; itrative (borrowing them I suppose from the Egyptians) dealt much in hierogly- manner, things that did really exist. And though, it is, possible, that phics, by which naturij and moral truths were expressed. Dr. Middle- aerial scenes might, by divine or angelic power, have been formed, I toa, in łºść”.; antiquities, I resents us . with one so think it much more probable, that, all that Passed, was purely in the remarkable, that I cannot forbear mentioning it here. It is a copy of a in agination of St. John. This wiil keep us, in our inter; retation: “lear gem, in which a man’s face, an elephant’s head, a peacock, and a sceptre, of a thousanºl difficulties, In Ot to Słly absurdities, which would follow &lre joined together. He thinks it V","äS intended as a hieroglyphic, Ot from a contrary supposition; namely; that there is iſ heaven an aſſiſtal, emblematical representation of Socrates; as the face bears a strong re- in the form of a latub, to represent Christ ; and that uhr re are such living semblance to the pictures usually given of him. He Supposes the human creatures as are here described; and that God himself appears in a hu- false to represent that of Socrates, and the othor figures, those beautiful man form, &c. And this observation I make once for all, desiring that it and diving images which were in his mind. The peacocks being the most may be remembered, and applied as occasions present. beautiful bird, may denote the beauty of his virtues ; the sceptre, his b. Like jasper, &c.] I do not suppose this refers so inuch to the colour majesty and authority; the elephant, the strength , and fortitude of his of tº stoºs, as to their insº."ºi is rºînº of the light as re- iºd. As for the ºthereasºn."he observes, it might be used to express flected from them, when perfectly polished. The rainbow of enerald the character of a philosopher in general; but especially, the stoic’s was, no doubt, to express a cogenant iſ peg-e : of which the rainbow was, wise main, who was furnished with all kinds qf virtues and perfections, with Noah, an appointed token. And that lively and cheering colonſ being the only beautiful and valiant, prºn, and a king, Yºhatever his cir- seems to have been particularly mentioned, not to imply there were no cumstances might happen to be. Middleton’s Antiq. Tab. xxi. 9 10..p. other, but that the proportion of green was greater than ordinary. Com- 943–245. There can, thi:15, be, no doubt, but these, tire the cherubin pare Ézek. i. 33. described by Ezekiel, (chap. i.) which therefore should be carefuſly coin- c Tigenty-four cºders.] The number seems to allude to that of the pas pared with this representation. To consider this appearançë as ºn em- triarchs and apostles; and they are called elders, as the presidency of |. of Deity, which is the scheme of Alf. Hutchinson and his followers, elders was common among the Jews. And these might W. considered appears to mé a very great absurdity; Nor gan, I think, with Mr. Jºck; as representatives of the church, paying homage at the throne in the name son, that they are merely intended to signify the homage paid to God of the rest. by all terrestrial creatures. Another peculiar and extraordinary hy- d Seccm lamps of fire, &c.] Some think these are the seven spirits of pothesis, with regard to them, has been propºsed to me, and may per; God, that is, angels spoken of afterwards, chap. v. 6. but I at present haps be jaï before the votid, and therefore"I think it most respectful doubt whether they may not be 㺠laiips of fire, or lambent to the reverend all ingenious author, not to anticipate his own design: flames, like those that, feil upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, Some have thought these animals represent spirits 3| an order šupº §. (Acts ii. 3.) º º be emblems of º sº º to angels, taken up wholly in contemplation. Seo Reynolds, Q/ .713 cle, its various and powerful operations; especially those by yllich the p. 6. - - - - minds of id:ligº. created beings are illumiaated and purified. And g Holy, holy, holy, &c.] This anthem is that which Isaiah tells us he II 5 914 'THE VISION OF THE SEALED BOOK AND OF THE LAMB. SECT. wast, and art, and art to come :" thus giving to God, in continual acts of adoration, the - 7. glory of his natural and moral perfections, and acknowledging their immutability from - .*. everlasting and to everlasting. ...And while the living creatures are thus giving glory, and 9 And when, those beasts REY. honour, and thanks to him that sits upon the throne, and addressing their sublimé and º.º. IV. thanks to him that sat on the harmonious anthems of praise to him who liveth for ever and ever, with unwearied vigour tºº"Hºhº. 10 and activity of mind; The four and twenty elders, whom I described before as themselves "tº four and twenty el- sitting on majestic thrones, fall down in the divine presence, even before him that sitteth dºrs ºligº before him that 1. the throne, and rship him that liveth ... sat on the, throne, and wor- wpon oné, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever; and they cast down their si Pºhºeº, i. crowns before the throne, in token of their homage to that transcendently glorious Being, ...*.*.*.*. from whose sovereign grace and unparalleled munificence they received them; saying, at saying, y 11 the same time, Horthy art thou, O Lord, to receive the ascription of glory, and honour, , 11 3.º.º.º. : e . g e - * I Cº. * * to receive g|OTy a O and power; for thou hast, by thine almighty energy, created all things, and for thy sovereign ºft.*.*.*.*. will they are and were created; their first production, and continued existence, is owing to jº. the riches of thy free goodness; and, therefore, they are all under the strictest obligations, ... * * * * according to their respective natures, to subserve the purposes of thy glory. IMPROVEMENT. AND should not we likewise fall down with the angels and glorified spirits, and pay some homage to the Sove- reign Majesty of heaven, though it be impossible for us to equal theirs? For ever adored be the divine grace, that Ver. I a door is opened in heaven; in consequence of which, even before we enter, we are allowed to look in ; and thus to confirm our faith, and to animate our devotion; which, alas ! after all, is too ready to decline and languish. 2, 3 That it may be greatly invigorated, let us look up to the throne, and to him that sitteth thereupon; and rejoice to see that peaceful emblem with which the seat of his glory is surrounded, the rainbow of vivid and pleasant green: signifying that the majestic Being who fills it, is the covenant God of all his believing and obedient people, and that mercy and love reign triumphant in the whole constitution of that perpetual covenant. Let us contemplate 6, 7 with veneration the blessed angels, the ministers of God, who do his pleasure, represented here under hieroglyphi- cal characters, as possessed of amazing strength and courage, resolution and patience, of the sublimest reason, of the most deep and penetrating sagacity, active and pure as flames of fire; .." with these lofty ideas in our minds, let us ardently pray that the will of God may be so done on earth as it is done in heaven. Let us also remember the 4 elders here mentioned, the representatives of the church of the redeemed, seated on glorious thrones, clothed in that white raiment which is the righteousness of the saints, and adorned with crowns of glory. And let us espe- 8 cially consider, how the angels and the saints are employed: they rest not day nor night from breathing out the most ardent devotions; they feel nothing of that weariness and languor with which we are too frequently invaded in this state of mortality, even in our best moments and divinest frames; but they cry continually, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; who art, and wast, and art to come; they give glory, and honour, and thanksgiving to him º that sitteth on the throne. And infinitely worthy he is to receive it: He who is the Almighty Creator, He who is 11 the ever-present and ever-gracious Supporter of all! Thou art worthy, O Lord, thou alone artworthy; and though thou withholdest from us the face of thy throne, while we dwell in these tabernacles of clay, yet as we are thy creatures, thy rational creatures, we partake of thy protection and bounty; and, feeble as our faculties are, and dark as the world is in which we dwell, we are able to discover thee as our almighty Creator, our constant Pre- server, our never-failing Benefactor. And, as such, may we daily worship and adore thee, with our feeble voices in this state of mortality; that when we aré duly prepared, we may begin a nobler song, and join in the sublimer anthems and hallelujahs above. Amen. SECTION VIII. The vision of the sealed book, and of the Lamb that was slain, who was found worthy to open it, and on that account received the acclamation of the whole choir of angels and saints. Rev. v. throughout. REVELATION v. 1. RE v. v. 1. sEcT. AND, having observed the particulars mentioned above, I saw in the right hand of him ºiº iº. e 3 g * 3. 3-y * of him that sat on the throne 8. who sat on the glorious throne already described, the volume of a book, or scroll, written 'bºttº within and on on both sides, within and without ; for though I saw only the outside, perceiving it in; ºne sealed "* Rev. scribed with characters, I naturally concluded the inside was full; and, as it was rolled ‘. . v. up, it was sealed with seven strong seals, each of which belonged to a distinct leaf, And I pº º 2 saw a mighty angel, who wore, in his appearance, the evident marks of dignity and power, jºho is worthy to open proclaiming with a great voice, and saying, Who is worthy to open the mysterious book which hººpſ to loose the 3 is in the hand of God, and to loose its seals, and so to disclose its wonderful contents? And 3 Aid nº *ś upon this I saw an universal blank confusion upon every countenance; so that it plainly pººl, º: appeared that no one among all the creatures of God, in heaven, or upon earth, or under the boºk; neither to lookººn. earth, was able to open the book, or to look into it: And, as I had an earnest desire to know cº"... ." ...”. the contents, and had pleased myself with a secret expectation that some extraordinary worthy tº ope, and to rea; discovery was to be made to me and to the church from thence, it grieved me exceedingly, º, ...” ” “ ” insomuch that I wept abundantly, because no one was found worthy, to open, and read t - book; mor, indeed, so much as to look into it. ..ſind as the grand act of adoration, in 5 And one W. the ºlº which the elders had joined with the living creatures, to him that sat on the throne, Was i. ..º. Šºš. §f over, one of the elders said to me, Weep noi; behold, the Lion, who is of the tribe ºf Judah; lºº, gº (that exceſſent Person to whom that Öracle relating to Judah, in which he was described śoº; the evºnºis under the token of a lion, to represent his invincible strength by which he shall triumph * over all his enemies, (Gen. xix. 9, 10.) principally referred) he hath conquered this great difficulty: He who is the Root that was to spring from the stock of David, when it seemed to be withered in the earth, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose its seven seals; so that thou shalt soon hear its contents; for he is appointed by God to penetrate and discover those secret decrees, which are concealed from every creature in heaven, and on earth, and º # I hºlº # * * he midst of the throne and of under the earth. And I beheld, and lo, to my great astonishment, in the middle space, be- tº heasts, and in the tween the throne and the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, who made a * * * * * * 4 5 6 heard, the seraphim, sing; and it is observable, that many other hymns defended the sense given in the paraphrase; observing, that it appears recorded in this book are borrowed from the Öld Testament. in the process, that the opening of every, single seal brings forth some a Written on both sides, within and without.j \ir. Lowman, after new representation; which could not be the case, if all the seals were 9n Grotius, hath observed, that there ought to be a stop after the word the back side; for then they must all be opened, before any part of the within, (e.ga,0sv,) and that it should be rendered, written within, and book could be discovered, &c., And therefore it must be concluded, that sealed on the back side. But the learned Dr. Hammond hath very well each seal belonged to a distinct leaf. • Lamb as it had been slain, having scven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. 8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell THE VISION OF THE SEALED BOOK AND OF THE LAMIB. kind of semicircle about them, there stood this illustrious Person, whose title I had just been hearing; and, though he was spoken of by the name of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, to express the terrors of his wrath against his implacable enemies, the symbol of his person, in this mysterious vision, was very different; for he appeared as a Lamb, who had been slain for sacrifice, and wore the recent marks of slaughter, in the blood on his throat and breast; and this Lamb was of a very uncommon form, having seven horns and seven eyes, instead of two of each; and this I understood as a mysterious representation of extraor- dinary power and knowledge, and of the wonderful degree in which the ; of God was poured out upon the Person whom this visionary Lamb represented: for these are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth; they represent that divine energy, which operates every where ; and of exerting which, the most illustrious angels have often the honour to be the ministers. .4nd he came near to the seat of Majesty, and took the book out of the right hand of him who sat upon the throne; which I understood as a symbol, to intimate that the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I knew to be represented by this slaughtered ‘Lamb, was appointed to reveal the secret decrees of God, and to give me those discoveries which I so much desired to receive. ..And when he received the book in the manner I have described, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, in º Hº token of humble reverence and adoration; and these elders appeared as a choir of humble ing every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of SällſhtS. 9 And they, sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to }. the seals thereof: for , thou wast slain, and hast redeem- eq us to God, by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests : and we shall reign on the earth. 11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many an- gels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was tem thousand times ten thou- Sand, and thousands of thou- sands; 12 Saying with, a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receiye power, and riches, and wis- dom, and strength, and hon- our, and glory, and blessing. 13 . And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 14 And the fºur beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty eliters fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever. worshippers in the temple of God, having every one harps of gold, with which they played in Sweet harmony, to aid the music of their voices; and they had also golden vials, or censers," full of perfumes, which are the prayers of the saints; for, as I understood these elders to be the representatives of the church, I apprehended that, in allusion to the incense offered in the temple while the people were praying, this circumstance had a reference to i. and was intended to show how acceptable it is to God, when it proceeds from an oly and an upright heart. ..?nd they sang a new song, excellentin its kind, and composed on a much greater occasion, and in much sublimer strains of divine harmony, than those which the priests and Levites sang in the temple at Jerusalem; saying, JForthy art thou to take the book from the hand of God, and to open the seals º, : for thow, O blessed Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, thou wast slain to expiate our guilt, 915 SECT. 8. REW. 7 8 9 and thou hast redeemed us to God by thy precious blood, from the dominion of sin, the . tyranny of Satan, the curse of the law, and the wrath of a justly incensed Deity; whose servants and favourites we are now become, in consequence of thy kind and gracious inter- position. And we are now assembled round his throne, out of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation, near and afar off, sacred and profane, learned and barbarous; wherever we were dispersed, thou hast found us, and into whatever bondage and misery we were sunk, thy power and thy mercy have rescued us; And thou hast made us to our God kings and priests; we are robed in purity and majesty, we are crowned with gold; and here we appear in these priestly offices, which we perform with the splendour of princes; and we shall reign on earth: the christian cause shall prevail through all ages; while the happy souls who have passed courageously through their trials upon earth, come hither in their appointed seasons, and share the honours of thy triumphant kingdom. ...And I beheld this glorious scene with inexpressible pleasure; and while my soul was all attention, I also heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and of the living creatures,d which betokened in general #: angelic nature, and of the elders which represented the church. ..And a multitude appeared joining the choir, so exceeding great, that the number of them was myriads of º thousands of thousands; I was ready to apprehend that neither thousands nor millions were sufficient to express them. And there was not so much as a jarring voice, or a cold and languid heart in the whole assembly ; but, with united ardour and harmony, they were saying, with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered, to receive power over universal nature, and all the riches it can boast. Worthy is he, to whom we should ascribe consummate and unsearchable wisdom, and resistless might, and peerless honour, and resplendent glory, and immortal blessing ; even he, who once appeared under a cloud of weakness and pověrty, and under the imputation of folly, loaded with dishonour and infamy, with reproaches and curses: worthy is he of all the dignity and glory, the benediction and homage, of the heavenly world, throughout the endless ages of eternity . .4nd while the multitude of the heavenly hosts were singing this sublime anthem, every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea,” even all things that are in them, in every various form of nature, seemed to echo back the voice; and fheard them saying, To him who sits upon the throme, and to his Son the Lamb, the worthy Partaker of his throne and kingdom, [be] perpetual blessing, and the profoundest honour, and consummate glory, and almighty strength, ascribed for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen, to this hymn, to testi their hearty concurrence; and, at the same time, the twenty-four elders fell down before the throne, and § worshipped him who liveth for ever and ever; acknowledging him to be infinitely superior to all those services which the most exalted powers of created nature are capable of rendering. S. IMPROVEMENT. IT should fill us with unutterable joy, when we lift up our eyes to the throne of God, that we there discern the Lamb wearing the marks of slaughter. We should then gratefully remember his dying love; for it is his precious b Seven spirits of God.] Comparing this text with, chap. viii. 2., I must acknowledges that this is indeed to be understood of seven angels. Mr. Mede infers from hence, that there are, in fact, seven archangels, bottles, such as are now called vials; but cups on a º: like a tea-cup and saucer, in allusion to the censcrs of gold in which the priests offered in cense in the temple. who preside over all the rest; but I cannot allow the consequence to be certain. We sometimes read of four spirits, sent forth as these are said to be, (Zech. vi. 5.) and, I think, the whole it amounts to is, that there are many celestial spirits, who are the instruments of that providence which Christ exercises over the earth, who bring to him an account of what passes, and receive and execute his commands. . But by the way, this will no more prove that he is under a necessity of receiving intelli- genge from them, or of using their assistance, than the parallel passage of Zechariah will prove it of God the Father. Zech. iv. 2, 10. #. Dr. Scott very justky argues, that as they are called the scven eyes of the Lord in that text, and here of the Lamb, it is an argument for the exalta- tion of the JMan Christ Jesus above the highest angel in heaven. c Pials, or censers.) These (as Mr. Lowman observes) were not small d Of many angels, and of the living creatures.] This plainly shows that there was an appearance of angels, as well as of these animals which represented their natures; a circumstance, which l do not remember in the vision of Ezekiel... . - e. In the sea..] As the inhabitants of the watery elements are neces: sarily inute, I suppose we are not to understand by this, that they seemed to grow cocal in the praises of Christ upon this occasion ; but rather, that heaven, carth, and sea, is used to signify, that all nature, in its differ- ent ways, concurred in the praise ; that is, that the whole constitution of it contributed to furnish out matter of praise ; just as inanimate as well as rational creatures are called upon ti, praise God in several of the salms, especially Psalm cylviii. 12 1. 3 I 4 Ver. 6 Q16 THE OPENING OF THE SIX FIRST SEALs. SECT. blood which cleanses us from all sin, and imboldens our addresses to God, conscious as we are that our guilt is attended with great aggravations. Surely had it been queried, with respect to the great atonement to be made for 8. 11 stand together upon the heavenly mountain, they shall appear ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of - - - - - • / and all the harmony of their voices, and all the ardour of their souls, inconceivably improved, as all 6 9 our transgressions, as it was with respect to the opening these seals, Who is worthy to complete this gracious under- ** taking 2 we should have seen with unspeakable anguish, that none in heaven, or on earth, would have been found equal to the task. But here likewise, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. How divinely is he furnished for the high station he sustains, and for all the glorious services assigned to him : What amazing power, what adorable wisdom is implied in the seven horns and seven eyes, with which he is here delineated and O whatlove, in submitting to be slain, that he might redeem us to God by his blood! With the prayers of the saints, which come up before God as incense, may they ever mingle their most ardent praises for this divine condescension. And out of gratitude to their Redeemér, let them rejoice to see the glorious change in his condition, from his humiliation and sufferings, on earth, to his exaltation and reward in heaven: and let them ardently long for the happy season, when the full choir of the redeemed, from every nation, and people, and tongue, shall unite in this joyful acclamation, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.—In this world the disciples of Christ are only a little ds; thousan flock; but when they their powers will be, shall be united on this happy occasion. Form us, O Lord, we entreat thee, for this divine employment, and teach us in some measure to anticipate its pleasure in these regions below. Even now, in spirit and intention, we prostrate ourselves before thee, and lay down the crowns which faith, as it were, hath already received, at thy feet; giving glory to him who sitteth upon the throne, and celebrating the victories and honours of the Lamb. SECTION IX. An account of the opening the six first seais, and of the awful events which accompanied the opening of each. REVELATION vi. 1. SECT. 1 COULD not but be all attention to this wonderful scene; and I saw when the Lamb ened one of the seven seals of the book, which he had taken out of the right hand of him 9. º — that sat upon the throne; and I heard one of the four living creatures, which said, as with a REV. WI. 3 4. 5 voice of thunder, Come and see the wonders which are now presenting themselves. And I saw, and behold, a white horse appeared ; and he who sat thereon had a bow in his hand, and a quiver of arrows hanging at his back; and to express his royal dignity as the King both of the church and of the world, there was given to him a crown of gold, and he went ..forth conquering and to conquer: I understood that he was to gain signal victories, and that the series of them was immediately to begin. (Compare Psal. xlv. 3. Rev. xvii. 14. xix. 11.)” - ...And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature,” saying, as the former had done when the first was opened, Come and see. And another horse came out,d [which] seemed to betoken some great slaughter and desolation to be made by approach- ing wars; for he [was] red; and it was given to him who sat upon it, to take peace from the earth; and that they should slay each other. And, as a further token of this, there was given to him a great sword or falchion in his hand, by which he might make terrible devas- £ation. ..And twhen he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, as the two former had done, Come and see. .4nd I saw, and behold, there appeared a black horse, which might betoken an approaching famine, by the emblematical and memorable circum- stances which attended his entrance on the scène; for he that sat upon him had a pair of scales in his hand, to imply that men should eat their bread by weight, and drink their water by measure. And I heard a great voice in the midst of the four living creatures, . ing, .4 measure of wheat, which shall only be daily food for one man, shall now be sold for a denarius, or Roman º which is the price of his daily labour; and three meat- sures of barley only shall be sold for a denarius, or Roman penny.” And yet, that there may not be a total scarcity, [see that thou, who appearest as the executioner of this judg- ment, injure not the oil nor the wine," let the olive-trees and the vines remain unblasted, to show that God in judgment remembers mercy. Rev. vi. throughout.d. REv. vi. 1. AND I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four easts saying, Come and see. 2. And I saw, and behold a white horse ; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him : and he went forth conquer- ing, and to conquer. 3 And when he had operted the second seal, heard the second beast say, Come and See . 4 And there went out an- other horse that was red : and porcCr was given to him that sat thereon to take peaco from the earth, and that they should kill one another : and there was given unto him a great Sword. - 6 a The vision of the scals.] I am yastly more obliged to that ingenious and excellent commentator, Mr. Low than, for what I understand of this book, than to any other writer whatsoever. , Ánd as I think his celebrated arid º telty. - - - scheme of interpretation the most satisfactory, and which indeed throws considerable light upon the series of prophecy; 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse ; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny 5, and see thqu hurt not the oil and the wine. supposes the ſour living creatures, taken together, to be an emblem of the d another horse came out.] Mr. Lowman thinks, that the leńves of the book were so adjusted, that on opening the first scal the first, leaf un- folded ; and on it there was draicn, in a vivi and beautiful picture, a shall present my readers with a short view of his plan, under the several visions; referring the more curiotis, to the commentary itself. But I would first observé, with, regard to this celebrated performatice, that there is, in many particulars, a beautiful resemblance betweeti the prophetic representations and the events supposed to be correspondent to them, and that the historical facts are represented with great learning and judgment; yet the correspondence between the prophecies and the cvents is not, in all respects, so clear and evident, as might have beca expected; nor can we always say, why the events in question are repre- sented by one of the embleins used, rather than by another. However, he has finely illustrated many passages, especially by similar phrases from the prophetic books of the Old Testament, in which he is quite un- cquailed; and bath made out so much, particularly with respect to the first, and beginning of the third period, as evidently proves iſi. book to be a glorious confinnation of christianity, and worthy our Inost attentive and diligent examination.—This learned and accurate writer, then, divides the prophetic parts of this book into seven periods. The first re- presented by the seals, shows the state of the church under the heathen oman Emperors, from A. D. 95, to A. D. 323. II. Period, of the trumpets, in its state from Constantine, A. D. 3:37, to A. D. 75'). Iil. Period, of the vials, its state in the tinyes of the last head of Roman government, represented by the beast, for 1200 years, from about the year 755, to A. D. 2016. IV. Period, the millenniºn, from A. 2030, to A. 005. V., Period, Satan loosed for a ſittle season, and then destroyed. VI. Period, the resurrection and final judgment. VII. Period, the heavenly state. b First seal, &c.] This refers to the triumph aſ christianity over Jew- ish and heathen opposition, by the labours of its first preachers. c The second living creature.]. As each of these living creatures is re- presented as speaking successively, I think it confirms what was ad- vanced in § 7. note f. relating to the scherne of Mr. Hutchinson, who man mounted on a white horse ; and that what is described on opening these that follow, is an account of the various pictures which John say delineated on the several leaves. But as we have an account, not only of the appearance of these things, but of their motign, and their voice; and, especially, of a change of the state of several of them, particularly of the Souls wridg; the altar, (ver, 9.) I conclude, that the scene did not Jie in the leaf of the book, but arose in vision as the rest: and that the events described, seemed successively to pass before the cyes of John. And, indeed, I think it apparent that the state of the vision he at first saw, was something altered, upon the opening of some of the scals, espe- cially the seventh.-The ingenious author above mentioned, interprets this seal of the judgments of God upon the Jewish persecutors, under Trajan and Hadrian, A. D. 103, to A. D. 138, when the Jews had 1000 cities and fortresses taken and destroyed, and 580,000 men slain. *r e 4 neasure of wheat for a penny..] . This may seem, to an English reader, a description of great plenty ; but it certainly intends the con- trary, as I have intimated in the paraphrase. The penny, was about seven-pence halfpenny of our money ; and it appgars from Tacitus, as well as from AJatt. xx. 2. (See Fam. Expos. in loc.) to have been the daily wages of a labourer. It also appears from other ancient writers, »articularly Herodotus, (see Raphelius, in log.) and, from Hippºcrates, }. Laertius, and Athenaeus, (see Grotius, in loº.) that this meg- sure, or chanix, was no more than was allowed to a slave for his daily food. "What would become of families, when a man cºuld gain by his labour no more, and that only of bread, than . Inight suffice for his own subsistence – Mr. Lowman interprets this third seal of the scarcity in the time of the Antonines, from A. D. 138, to 4 !. 193, and produces passages from Tertullian, and the Roman, historians, concerning the calamity the empire endured by scarcity in this period. f Seeihai thou injure not, &c.] The introduction of so many allego- ricaj persons as famine and death, and the state of separate spirits in this THE OPENING OF THE SIX FIRST SEALS. 7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse : and his name that sat on, him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power, was given unto them over the ſourth part of Jłnd when he opened the fourth to me, Come, and see a further discovery of the divine will. 7 orse appeared; and as for him that sat on him, his name was called Death. He ºppº like a person entirely emaciated, and Hell followed him; he seened to be attended person who was a proper emblematical representation of the state of separate, I there was given unio him power to slay a great number, as it were, the fourth pºſt 8ſ tº: Jºnd I saw, and behold, a pale with a spirits; and * - º - º - * * ri Al ** #... º.º.º. earth, with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence. that most dreadful kind of and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of th; %;"| he had d y And When he had opene - 77.ſt 67° (à 9 the fifth seal, I saw under the then I saw under th altar the souls of thein that were slaim for the word of (l which they held : - And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O ſlord, holy and true, dost death; and with the wild beasts of the field.* :* - Al 4' And when he opened the fifth seal, a very Hemorable scene presented itself altar, which made a part of the view before me, a visible representa- tion of the souls of those who were 3 * ra. 4- - cº rº) an i , §."º"thºre...o. ºomy to the truth of the gospel w 4. to me; for slaughtered on account of the word of {}od, and the testi- hich they courageously retained, in the midst of all oppo. sition. And they cried with a loud voice, as making an appeal to the injured justice of the Divine Being, and said, How long, G thou supreme and sovereign Lord of the uni- - d verse, who art ever armed with almighty power and terror against all thine implacabie thou not judge and aveng G - /~ - - :4. *...a f : , , , - * ar.” §1.i...ºfiaºli enemies; how long, O thou holy and true God, shall it be, ere thout dost judge and avenge on the earth 2 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for little season, until their fel- ow-servants also and , their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be ful- filled. ontrblood upon those who dwell "pon the earth, who have, without remärse, poºred it out as water? And upon this, they appeared to be called up from the place where they lay as so many bleeding victims; and there were given unto cach of them, while r T of the triumph they had gained over death and all its terrors; and it was said to them, that they should rest yet a little while, though their blood remained unayenged, till the niºber of their fellow-servants and brethren, who should be killed as they [had bººn, for the testi- mony of a good conscience, and the defence of the gospel, should be fulfilled," according to robes,i in token the intention of Divine Providence, in letting their persecutors go on a while, till they had filled up the measure of their iniquity. - 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, 㺠lo, º Ş. 3. *::: b Carthquake ; and the Sun be- 371. '77) 6. came black as sackcloth of sun €CCIJm 6 ...And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was immediately a great cariº- quake; and not earth alone, but heaven, was affected with great consternation: for the black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became red as blood: ſind it seemed bºnd the moon became as ºf if the stars fell from heaven upon the earth; numbers of them at once, as fast as when ſt #"And the stars of heaven fig-tree droppeth its untimely figs, being shaken by the force.of a mighty Acing. 7 - eavens passed away, the clouds rolling one upon another, like a volume of a book, when it is rolled up ; and every mountain on earth, and every island in the sea, were moved out of their placés; so great and general was the shock, to represent the calamities approaching in those terrible wars, which were to precede the revolutions to which this seal referred.” And all the inhabitants of the world were thrown into a universal terror; so that the kings of the earth, and the grandees about their courts, and the rich men, and the chief officers of armies, who commanded their thousands, and the powerful men, who bore the greatest sway in the public counsels, or were armed with the most warlike prowess; and ... every slave, and every freeman, fled as in surprise, and hid themselves as fast {\S they could, gloomy caves, and among the rocks of the mountains, horrid as this retreat appeared. And not thinking themselves sufficiently secure there, they said, in wild asto- I nishment and affright, to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from face of him who sitteth, upon the throne, the almighty and terrible God, and from the wrath of the Lamb; For the great day of his wrath is come; and mild and gentle as he once appeared, we find it insupportably dreadful; and who can be able to stand against it? Thus it appeared that they would have thought the crush of a mountain iess terrible than the vengeance they expected; and had more hope of moving inanimate nature by their fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 Ån. the heaven depart- ed as a scroll when it is roll- ed together; and every moun- tain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men and every bondman, º every free, man, hid, them- even ºn the most selves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains ; 16 And said to the moun- tains, and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of the him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 3. In O : 17 For the great day of his wrath is, coine ; and who shall be able to stand f ...And the outcries, than of prevailing upon their righteous and inexorable Judge.” IMPROVEMENT. To whatever event these seals may refer, it is certain that the representations here made are very awful, and very instructive. Let us consider ourselves as invited to come up and see, and let us observe the memorable spectacle with attention. Let the view of the white horse and his rider, who went forth conquering and to con- quer, lead us to reflect on the peaceful purposes of our blessed Saviour's appearance, and the rapidity of his con- quests; and engage us frequently to pray for the further prosperity of his kingdom, that kingdom of righteousness, love, and happiness. the three following horses and their riders, here mentioned, let it excite our thankfulness, that not one of this dreadful triumvirate is sent forth against us, though our national crimes have indeed deserved that they should invade us with united terrors; that peace should be taken from our land, that our bread and water should be re- ceived by weight and measure, and that the dead should lic unburied in our streets, the food of the fowls of hea- ven and the beasts of the earth: nor can any tiling more justly excite our gratitude and thankfulness, than that the terrors and the guilt of sanguinary persecution are not to be found in the midst of us. The history of its hor- rors and ravages in other nations and ages, may sometimes be an exercise of our faith ; and we may be ready to cry out, with the souls under the altar, How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt thou not avenge the blood of thy When we think of the terrible effects of war, of famine, and of pestilence, represented by : vision, confirms what was said above in note d, as to the nature of the things that appeared. - - - g Fourth seal.] Mr. Lowman interprets this of the seal of the pesti- lence, and other calamities, in the reigns of Maximin and Y ałęrian, from A. D. 193, to A. D. 27 his he supports by proper authorities from several christian and heathen writers in that period, who particu- larly mention one pestilence, that lasted fifleen years. h Ere thou dost arenke our blood.] We are not to understand this as the language of personal revenge, but of zeal for the honour of God, which was so intimately concerned in the punishment to be inflicted upon those bloodthirsty persecutors. - . . . . * i White robes.] Mr. Fleming understands this as an intimation of their preferment to some new post of honour and service. But I sup- pose this was only a representation, that though their blood did cry for vengeance in the ears of God, yet that vengeance should be dé'ayed; nevertheless, that, in the mean time, they should be cralted to a glorious state. The argument he draws from this passage, in proof of a first re- ºftion, scends too precarious to be repeated. Flexn. First Res. p. 4. º # The number of their brethren who should be killed, &c.] . Nothing could tend more to encourage christians to-endure their sufferings with steady patience, than this, that it was appointed of God, that a certain number of martyrs should be put to death, and that the season of their triumph was to succe - G Cl. ~r 1 Fifth seal.] Mr. Lowman interprets this seal of the severe persecution under Dioclesian, from A. D. 27), to A. D. 304, which was the most extensive and furious of all ; and so many christians suffered death that the heathens boasted in an ancient inscription, that they had effacet the name and superstition of the christians. In Earthquake—sun becoming black—stars falling, &c.] Awful judg- ments and calamities are often described by such commotions and a iter- ations in the natural world. Compare Isa. xiii. 10. xxxiv. 4. Jºzek. xxxii. 7. Joel ii. 10. and the like. n Day ºf his irrath is come.] As it appears, by comparing one part of this book with another, that the last scal made way for, and intro- duced, the triumpets; an:! the last trumpet the rials ; it is justly argued, that there is a reference to a series of events, successively following each other ; , and consequently, this passage cannot refer to the final judg- mºnt; but to , some great, and spreading calamity, in which the hand of Christ should appear. And this interpretation is illustrated and con- firmed, by the manner in which the destruction of Jerusalem is foretold. Matt. xxiv. Compare Isa. ii. 19. xiii. 6. Hos. x. 8. Zeph. i. 14. Luke xxiii. 30. Mr. Lowman interprets the sixth seal, of the great commo- tions in the empire, from Maximinian to Constantine the Great, who put an end to the persécution of heathen Rome ; from A. D. 304, to A. D. 323, during º time there were many bioody battles between the contending emperors, till Constantine abolished paganism, and esta- blished the christian religion. This interpretation }. confirms by appo- site passages from Lactantius and the heathcm historians ; an it a p- pears the most probable. 917 seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature, saying SECT. 9. Wer. A 2 918 SF. 9. REV. Yt. CT. 13, 14 15, 1 6 I7 SECT. 10. *= -= <===== REV. Y . . . 2 3 4 5 THE SEALING OF THE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND. Saints upon the earth? But let us wait with patience; let us not form a hasty and inconsiderate judgment. The dead, who die in the Lord, and those who had been persecuted to death for his sake, and in his cause, are in. comparably more happy than those who are the happiest among the living. The white robes, and golden'crowns With which they are adorned, are an abundant compensation, not only for every lighter suffering, but even for the slow fire and the rack, those most dreadful instruments of torturé. And though their malicious and impla- cable enemies may bitterly insult over them for a while, yet the triumphing of the wicked is for a short time their guilty spirits will soon be summoned before the great Avenger of blood; and the day is coming when they shall be pāblicly brought forth, to suffer the utmost demands of his justice; even that day, when aſ the figura. tive descriptions here used shall be fully answered in their literal meaning ; when the sun shall indeed be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood; when the volume of heaven shall be rolled up as a scroll, and its stars shall fall from their orbs. It is no wonder that ungodly sinners fly from this alarming and tremendous scene, with wild consternation and confusion; no wonder, that they rend the very heavens with their cries, and call upon the mountains to fall upon them, and the rocks to cover them: for O, what were the sudden and irresistible crush of a rock or a mountain, when compared with the weight of the wrath of the Lamb, and with the fire and brimstone of this second death ! O that by the expectation of this awful day, men of all ranks and conditions may be influenced to make their application to him, while he yet appears in the displays of his grace and mercy! to kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and they perish from the way, even when his wrath is only beginning to be kindled. (Psalm ii. 12.) SECTION X. The increase of the christian church which was to succeed the opening of the seals, is represented by the vision of twelve thousand sealed out of each tribe of Israel; and then foilow's a view of the glory and happiness of those who should courageously endure persecution while it con- tinued. Rev. vii. throughout. REvELATION vii. 1. .4.VD after these things, it pleased God to give me a representation of the increase which his church should receive after the commotions which had been shadowed out by those visions which were introduced by the opening the seals. Accordingly, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth ; that is, the north, the south, the east, and the west; and they appeared as holding the four cardinal winds of the earth in their hands, that the wind might not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree; but that there might be the most entire and complete calm, to represent the peaceful state of things which should succeed the tumultuous and distressing revolutions which had been intimated to me above. (Compare Jer. xlix. 36, 37.) And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, to intimate the progress the gospel should make from the east to the west; having in his hand the seal of the living God, in order to impress a mark upon those whom he was graciously determined to distinguish as his own property, and who should be in- clined to dedicate themselves to his service. ...And he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom power was given over the winds at present to restrain them, but afterwards to loose them with great violence, and by them to injure, in a terrible manner, the earlh, and the sea ; Saying, Injure, not, by the missive vengeance committed to you, the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads ; that distinguishing them by that seal, you may know how to moderate the force of the storm where their safety and comfort is concerned. And I then heard the number of those that were sealed, in all one hundred and forty-four thousand, who were sealed in an equal number, out of every tribe of the children of Israel. And I heard them mentioned in the following order: of the tribe of Judah,” as the most noble and glorious, distinguished by its regal dignity, and its peculiar relation to Christ according to the flesh, [were] sealed twelve thousand. And of the tribe of Reuben, though that were so much degraded by Jacob, and comparatively so small, when the people were numbered in the wilderness, [were] sealed twelve thousand too. Of the tribe of Gad, whose territories in Canaan lay contiguous to those of Reuben on the other side Jordan, [were] also sealed twelve thousand. 6 And from thence the angel appeared to pass over to the north-west boundary of the land, 7 8 9 and to the shore of the Méditerranean sea, which was the lot of the tribe of Asher, of which there [were] also sealed twelve thousand. And of the neighbouring tribe of Vaphtali, whose inheritancé lay east of the former, [were] scaled twelve thousand. . And of the tribe of Manasseh, whose land lay next to the east of Naphtali, ſº sealed the same number, that is, twelve thousand. And of the tribe of Simeon, though it had its inheritance taken out of that of Judah, and so might seem less considerable, there [were] sealed as many, as of the former, even twelve thousand. And, of the tribe of his brother Levi, though, his posterity were scattered among the other tribes, and had no land that was properly their inheritance, [were] sealed twelve thousand likewise. And of the tribe ºf Issachar, to which the angel then passed, [were] sealed twelve thousand. And of the tribe of Zebulur, which lay contiguous to that of Iscăchar to the north, [were] also sealed twelve thousand. And of the trile of Ephraim, the other son of Joseph, and by far the most considerable of his Íescendants, [were] sealed twelve thousand too, he not being in that respect at all dis- tinguished from Manasseh his brother. And, to conclude, of the tribe of Benjamin, Jacob's youngest son, ſupere] sealed twelve thousand. And thus, upon the whole, the number of âne iſſundred and forty-four thousand was completed. Nor did I presume to inquire why Dan was not introduced among his brethren on this occasion. Thus did God represent to me the extraordinary growth of the christian church, which seemed to be matter of in- expressible joy to the inhabitants of the heavenly world. For after this, I saw, and beheld a great muliitude, who made a thronged assembly, which no one could number;b and ap- Rev. vii. 1. AND after these things I saw bur angels standing on the four, corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should 1) Ot blow oth the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, hay- ing the seal of the living God; and he eried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have scaled the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed : and Uucre were sealed an hun- dred and forty and four thou- sand of aji the tribes of the children of Israel. 5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben accre seal- ed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad accre sealed twelve thousand. 6. Of the tribe of Aser were. sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousaad. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 7 Of the tribe of Simeon were scaled twelve thousand. Oſ the tribe of Levi accre seal- ed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar acere sealed twelve thousand. 8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph wrerº sealed twelve thousand. Ot the tribe of Benjainin were sealed twelve thousand. 9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all Jews; and indeed it is not numbered among bhe rest of the tribes, k Chron. ii. and the following ...}. See Ham. in loc, a of the tribe of Judah, &c.] I freely acknowledge, that it is very difficult to me to assign the reason of that order in, which the tribes, are jºiced, or the reason wby one of the tribes is omitted; the later of which jpears much more important than the former However, this is plain, tºt when Tovi was mentioned for one tribe; it was necessary that, since gºelve only were to be mentioned, one should be omitted Some indeed ñº imagined, that Dan was omitted, to express how detestable iſºlatry i. in the sight of God; as the tribe, of Dań was the first, that fell into idolatry after their settlement in Canaan Compare Judges xviii. 30, #. Hammond assigns unother reason, namely, that long before that time, the tribe of Dan was destroyed, or brought very low, say the I, Multitude which no one could number, the Gentile church. those who had weathered the difficulties first centuries of #º against it; and when I thin that the handred and forty-four thousand were But it appears to me, t ~ g §ºnds expresses the progress of the gospel under Constantine; and, that the innumerable multitude here spoken of were the Spirits gſ good mºn Žeparted out of this world, and now with God in glors : . and especially &c.] Some have supposed e ws, and that these were hat the sealing these thou- and persecutions during the when the civil power was generally active it highly probable that many persecutions THE SEALING OF THE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND. tº . j.",...; peared to have come out of every nation, and tribe, and people, and language; the blessed y eS, * sº - §ºlºr...'... fruit of preaching the gospel over all the world; and they then appeared to me as standing 919 SECT. I0. tº anºflºwiłł Włº before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in long white robes, and having branches of — ºil, and palms in their palms in their hands, to signify the victory they should gain over all their enemies, and the state of holiness and joy to which they º be finally conducted, notwithstanding all 10 And cried with a loud the formidable opposition through which they should be called to pass. And I heard therſ, .*&od”; iii, §º.; crying with a loud voice, in token of the intenseness of their devotion, and saying, Let all the throne, and unto the the º of this great salvation which we have obtained, be ascribed to our God who sits Lamb. wpon the throne, and from thence has graciously regarded us, and exalted us to such dig- nity and happiness, mean and miserable as we once were ; and let it be also ascribed to 11 Andall the angels stood the grace and blood of the Lamb, who gave himself to be slain for our redemption. 3;4 º; all the angels, stood round about the throne, and encompassed also, at the same time, the §"."ºff"... "... twenty-four elders, and the four living creatures, and, in token of the humblest reverence, Wººd'é, faces, and they fell down on their faces before the throne, and worshipped God: Saying, Amen: thus inº. let it be, let the blessing, and the glory, and the wisdom, and the thanksgiving, and the § “ºi... .". honour, and the power, and the strength, [be] ascribed to our God, for ever and ever, .4men : ºpiºi may all creatures for ever bless and give thanks to him, as originally and essentially pos- ever. Amen. sessed of supreme glory, complete wisdom, of irresistible and almighty power, and there- fore worthy of all honour, though exalted above º praise. Wºº him to be so, we rejoice that he is so, and wish that universal nature may join with us in so reason- 13 And one of the elders able j'. delightful a homage, and pronounce the solemn amen. And one of the clers §§§ ºf . answered, saying to me, .4s for those who are clothed with while raimºnt, and make such a āj in white gºes? and splendid appearance, who are they, and whence do they come 2 .4nd I, supposing by his whººººººº..., him, question that he asked in order to quicken my attention to what he had to tell me cºn- Sir, thou knºest. And he cerning them, said to him, Sir, I conclude thou knowest, though I do not. And he said to said t Thes e the - & §e.”.e.”. “... me, It is true; and I would have thee observe, for thine own encouragement, and that of tº thy brethren and those who may arise, after thee, that these are they who are come out of White'íºhè"blöö."of"the much tribulation, which they have endured in the cause of true religion; and º have Lamb. washed their robes, and made them so white as you see them in the blood of the Lamb “ they owe all their exaltation and glory, not to the blood they have themselves offered, but gº ºff.º.º. i to that most precious blood of his, which he permitted to be shed for their sakes. There- .."...i."...”.'...hº...fore, being thus redeemed to God by him, and having been enabled to approve their hiºi...hº...i fidelity to their divine Master, in the midst of the greatest extremities, they now, receive a among them. rich equivalent for all they have suffered; for they are before the throne of God, and they perform divine service to him day and night in his temple; and he who sitteth, upon the throne pitches his tabernacle, as it were, upon them, and displays the tokens of his presence all 16 They shall hunger no around them. They shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more, for ever; nor º, ºi, º, shall the scorching rays of the sun fall upon them; nor any other inconvenient and disa- iºn'tiºnºy heat." greeable heat: For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall himself, as it were, inº ºff.”; own the relation of a Shepherd to them, and take care to feed them, and he shall lead them shalſ fººd them...and shall to fountains of living water; and that God whom they have faithfully served, and whose §, tºº, ſº interest has been so dear to them, shall act, as it were, the part of an indulgent Father, and jºine, ºay all tears tenderly wipe away every tear from their eyes; comforting them with the most reviving rom their eyes. consolations, after all the calamities and distresses he has permitted them to endure below. IMPROVEMENT. How inexpressibly happy are the thousands of those who are sealed, those whom God has marked out for his own, and in that character has taken them under his special protection. Whatever storms and tempests may arise, they are in no danger of being forsaken: they shall be preserved inviolably safe, and their happiness is secure. They shall be brought at length to join with the innumerable multitude who surround the throne, and ascribe, as all Israel must do, salvation to God who sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb. And O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion, that their praises might sound sweeter here on earth, and that myriads of new voices might unite in the harmonious concert! Those songs of heaven let us begin below, and say, Amen; blessing, and lory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be to our God for ever and ever; Amen! # through his grace we can call him our God, how cordially should we join in this sublime ascription In the mean time, we may see the church in affliction; we may feel a large share of personal or public tribula- tion; but, when it presses hardest upon us, let us lift up our eyes to that glorious scene which the apostle beheld, and which was so excellent and sublime, that it might well transport him, even under the tribulations through which he was then making his way to it. Let us persevere steadily and faithfully, as they did; and the day will come, when our robes shall be as white, and our crowns as radiant, and our palms as verdant as theirs. Let us them bear with patience, hunger and thirst, heat and weariness, while we travel through this vale of tears; rejoicing in hope of the everlasting refreshment and pleasure to which the Lamb will lead us; eventhose fountains of living water of which he will give us to drink, when God has wiped away all tears from our eyes, and placed us before his throne, where we shall serve him day and night in his temple, and see his face, and dwell with him, and have him for ever dwell with us and in us. .Amen. - *. * SECTION XI. On the opening the seventh seal, the seven angels appear with their trumpets, and the four first of them sound. Rev. viii. throughout. Rev. viii. 1. . REVELATION viii. 1. AND when he had opened ori * , lo * - the seventh seal, there was THUS I have given an account of the manner in which the Lamb proceeded in opening štěncºjī, hºà'about the six of the seals, and of the effects produced by them; and I am now to add, that when he space of half an hour. had opened the seventh seal, there was a profound silence in heaven” for about the space of REV. W}I. 10 I 3 Ver. 4–8 9 2 I 10 14 13 16 I? 15 SECT. 11. might have raged in various parts of the world, whose histories are not to God by thy blood. The texts produced to palliate the other forced and conne down to us. And perhaps the holding the weinds, which is men- unnatural interpretation, when consulted, will appear little to the pur- tioned, (ver, 1.) may denote the peace in Constantine’s time. w pose ºffiey are chiefly Col. i. 9; and Heb. xi. 26. c Made them white in the blood of the Lamb.], It looks too much like a Silence in heacem.] Some are of opinion here is an allusion to the an obstinate resolution by no means to acknowledge the efficacy of Christ's silence which used sometimes to be kept in the worship of God in the blood to pur salvation, for any to maintain, that the blood of the Lamb temple, while the people were praying, Luke i. 10.-I think, with Mr. here ; blood shed for his sake, when it is said in words so much Lowman, that the seventh seal was only introductory to the trumpets, resembling these, (chap. i. 5.) who locca ts, and washed us from our sins and the seventh trumpet to the vials. in his own blood. And chap. v. 9. thow weast slain, and hast redeemed us REV". VIII. I. 920 SF CT. I 1. REV. VIII. i. THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL. .* y tº de sº y * * s lº'ſ an hour; to awaken, by that means, a more earnest attention to the extraordinary things that were to appear in consequence of the opening of that seal. And I saw the 2 And I saw the seven Sepen angels” which I had before mentioned, and which then stood before the throne of §ºciº...”. g e & God; and to them were given God, and seven trumpets were given to then, that they might each of them successively seventrumpets. ex - 2 Sound an alarm ; which I understood to be the symbol of some very important and awaken- Ting events, which were in order of time to succeed those which had been expressed by the 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | 1 seals. ...?nd while they were preparing to execute the orders they had received, another 3, And another angel came angel, whom I understood as a typical representation of the great High Priest of the church, sº ºlº; came and stood lºfore the altar which I saw in this celestial temple, having a golden censer, wº §º hiº in- gn:l there was given to him much fragrant incense, consisting of a variety of excellent per- tº..."; hº fumes, mingled together, that he might present [it] with the prayers of all the saints tipon tº which the golden altar which was before the thrône;e just as the Jewish high priest used to burn “” “"“” incense on the golden altar in the temple, while the people were praying in the courts of ** it at the hour of morning and evening sacrifice. And the smoke of the perfumes went up 4 And the smoke of the in- in a thick and odoriferous cloud, together with the praiſers of the saints' from the hand of:::::::::..º.º.º. 3 * ~'s pray \f f yf prayers of the saints, ascend the angel as he stood before God; and seemed thereby emblematically to signify, how ºf God out of the grateful to the Divine Béing those prayers were which proceeded from holy hearts, being “"“” recommended by the intercession of that great High Priest, whom this glorious angel ha the honour, upon this occasion, to represent; as Aaron and his sons did in the Jewish tabernacle of old. . .4nd when the angel had performed this office, in order to show the 5 And the angel took the awful manner in which God would avenge the injury which his praying people upon earth º: º, i. received from its tyrannical and oppressive powers, he took the censer, and advancing the earth; and there wer; towards the brazen altar of burnt-offerings, he filled it with fire of the altar,” and threw it iº. wpon the earth ; and as soon as ever this action was performed, there were long and terrible voices, and thunders,” and lightnings, which seemed to break out from the Shechinah, the glorious token of the divine presence; and there was also the sudden and violent shock of an earthquake, which seemed to shake the foundation of the world: And the seven angels, .. 6. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets, stood out in order, and prepared themselves, that they might *ś% sound as every one should receive the appointed signal; which hereupon was given to jd. each in his order. .ind the first angel sounded his trumpet; and there was a violent storm of hail and fire, 7, The first angel iº and the shower was also mingled with blood,ſ and it was cast down upon the earth, greatly and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and to the detriment of its productions; and particularly, it seemed to me, that a third part of they were casſºon the º P & e ...” g d hed earth : aud the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all the green grass of the field was also burnt and scorched up. thºse "abuji,jafi (Compare Exod. ix. ...) green grass was burnt up. .4nd the second angel sounded : and it was º a great mountain burning with fireé was 8. And the second, angel t & & * & sº ded, and as it were a cast into the sea; and it produced so great an alteration in the colour of the waters, that it ...ºu.i. bºni.it. seamed as if a third ; of the sea became blood, which I easily apprehended to signify iſ lººse; - gº - and the third part of the sea the slaughter which should come upon many people by means of some victorious prince, Šºćame blood: and those who fought under his banner. And, as a further token of it, a third part of the cº. §§: & - * * y = wº * s a.itl res W In IC h Were 1 T) G creatures which had animal life in the sea died, and a third part of the ships were destroyed . . ſº lºº ...i thereby, and the persons sailing in them all perished. (Compare Jer. li. 25.) the third part of the ships & - were destroyed. ...And the third angel sounded; and to represent some great destroyer that was to appear, "jū’īnā’īº third angel and become very conspicuous, both for the mischief he should occasion, and the ruin in iº: which he should be involved, there fell from heaven a great star," burning like a torch ; it Yeº * hº '..."; }; * e e * * * tº gº º * sº U DOIn le I I It 31ſt. O } G. and it fell upon a third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; to signify the Hºsºft'Étºia. influence which the person represented by it should have upon human affairs, and upon of waters; 2" those things that were the springs of comfort and support to mankind. And, in reference iſ...}}}... º: - 4- - * º -- Orm WOO(; an (I th € to the effect it was to produce, the name of the star is called hormwood, and a third part ºf of the waters became impregnated with wormwood; but with this additional circumstance, ºneºjº - 4, - s - •º men died of the waters, be- that it was poisonous as well as distasteful; and many men died in consequence of drink- ...,'... n.º. ing the waters, because they were become bitter. (Compare Exod. vii. 20, 21.) hird ...º.º.º. And the fourth angel sounded; ond the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third sounded, and the third part of 1. 2 * • * * - - * - º *** * * * intended to explain the b The screw angels which stood, &c.] The manner in which, this is ex: e Voices and thunders.J., If he laſter W º: But à different pressed in the Greek, 78s a 7-yeXgs—ot esºn&gat, is very emphatical. It º It ºilº he ... "...ºft.*...is ºus confess that iſ know not • * - - s I (19 as are to 1)e an he Xeº 2 -> y -> * > * : * * > . s : gº gº ºn Y S i º) is . . ; ) l I \" , seven angels, who had before been mentioned, as * • * - § { } f : (* T. * r * ºn º gº s sº a jºis fºrm of speaking so jainly refers What #. ...; . . º º ñº.º.º.º.º. to what had been said jefore, that it does a great deal towards proving: º º: er, to 30"ić. ºlſ Gº 'Isà. xxix. 6.) This represen- that the eccm ºrts ºf God, mentioned, (chap. v. G.) aft, thº tués amd §ºle.” intimate, #. general, the confusion and cala- Jºrms of the //; nºb, are the same with these angels mentioned in the pote on jtjes"...ith which the period, expressed, by the successive trumpcº, jæc. iv. 5, though, as I have there intimated, it is not absolutely certain. § ń be fifted d th ſºard' God would show to his praying people a jºyºrs of all the saints.). Some have thºught, thºt this is i. #. Y iñº c reg a plain intination of the doctrine Qf the intercession ºf the angels, which uring its con jºid with blood.) Grotius explains this ºf the hard- ...'...', ºneous jewish noticº; and those who imagine ºf Hºjlººdſº "#. with ; tº Jews. Mr. Mede, of the invasion jt tº be taught here, have made it an argument against º: iſ ºf .#. g ..º.º.º. fºr Ams, and Afr. Clark, of the Arian : ; :--- fe...' fºr ~~~~~ vit sº infe * I's. Vº ho ( Oiys 1:16. T ºft-S Of Li'l & O is ºl; Joi i u : 1 tº 5 * : * : ****** ...;... . . this book. Tºut I rather agrec with those interpreters, Whº Coºle. sv and ti ºftergåy many professors of christiality were ... • *, *, *, r* lº - ... • we were indeed to consider Christ as heresy and persecution, tº “f* - in le I}ut M: ongol as an emblem of Christ. If we - *-*- - - ńfººted, and many destroyed. See his Annotations, tº £6; ºut Aiſ. ..o., Pinºr in t is a sh: f : iºni, this would be a difficulty ; but it does infected, and ºdºy ºf C.S.-- * the bloody wars in Constan- appearing in tºº, shape of y - ſi, ca …, , , , f' ( "ho-j ºf 7 º' flownaſ, more probably, interprets, it of the b199: Wºls.º.º.º.” *:: * * * * * * * * * * : * jºrd to me, th;t while the ºfficacy of Christ’s atone- 149Wºº º - §'i, º, ºvajo º iglibouring nations, al- jº...!!... i..', ºil."fis interºsiºn consequent upon tine’s family; which, with º *::::::: jº o; its ſt jºi. je represented by an angel offering the fººt; with iº º | .#'ſ."...i. of Čºtatºe, which during this ..., i.' ...".,...i.afi.At hierogliºphical declaration of this truth, that the great Friº, º, P : it all 12 2 gº & A. D. 379 * rºyalical Or literoglyphlº. * | * : * six º' - : from A. D. 337, to A. D. 37.*. º .#'ſ."...intº jºi."º remiered acceptable to God by the in- periº Wiggiº º: º, of the soldiers’ rapine tº joi of one in heaven, who appears as a priest before God ; just as g JMangitain º: ** i. and firing the towers; Mr. Mede, of the th. cisiºn of the lamb represents to us, that a person of º; !...i. #. ºf H. Sº, §.” tiº spirit of ambition and pride among º, * . host gentle :Lnd armiable disposition eminently aſ ormed an ! 3 *. * * *** ".....". 2 : † - ºr a si r by the northern na- *}... §§§rii of God, has been offered as a sagrifice , and is, the gº Ali. º: Of tºº...}} tº. Goths, Wic plun- i."ºrience of that, highly honoured on the throº o º º who i. *}.}}| §§e tº: this §aſſaſſity was followed by the spoil of ; : ". . . . . "... ...;... ..., , , , , t , is ssor. is... we are to learn else Wh (; re 5 Cler & : ; i. * *** *Tº ſº º this it: ; portant V ictim, and t is intergessor, is, we are | th * * x A- f Italy; from A. D. 379, to A. D. & sº m & - * s * - /* * ** - 2, ºth.) that this illus- the greatest part of 1:0 ly •,• , ** to D * 10. Gro- ºf ºdioicºrn, that both these offices Inet, ſº § { h; ºcii ºn jeºpen a great star.] Compare Pèº Wºł: *% ºf 9 - ~ ... • , ; - 7 a... . . -- w -- —As the golden altar made a part h There fell from heaven ----. :xi. 38. Mr. Mede of tº Person is jºins the Son of God.-As the gºlded tºtal. is iſºpºts it of the Égyptian impastor, Agºs. X., & "ºº"9.9 * 1 l) r. scº, nº... tilterº, Va.; rºpriety in its appearing to be used, and the tius inter Rººt; •5 S s: and Mr. Clark, (see !...Fº"...º.º.” of incense. “ºis vision may probably be the fall of the tºº. º; º º, ºrctici ić. ji...ſtjäinätº that, considering the scenes of confusion ſºprºeºted his dºg';.” lvc.) of t j"...alie"ºute, whom he supposes, to be i. i. tºº, he saints should be exceeding earnest with Gºd, to gº of grº parts i. iºmet, whºse name signifies, illustri- àn; ºut a pirit of wisdom, piety, and zeal, upon the church, and pre- Pelagius. Some ºxplain ... ." §." But Afr. flowman, with greater §e it safe amidst these confusions. - ous, JMem. ºf ſº; th ºeding ravages in Italy, founding the "jºire ºf the altar.] There was no fire upon the golden altar, but probability, interprets, it id it. an end to the Romaii empire; from that which was in the censer, in which the incense was burnt ; so that Gothic º º A. reeably to this, historians inform us, that vº must necessarily, by this fire of the altar understand that of the A. D. 412, to. A. of the #. were dismembered, the city, of Rome jºzº altar, though it is not expressly declared to be so; and this may several rovinces i. i.e. º Italy became a prey to the barbarous #: that in some other places, the same words º, by comparing again taken and plundered, - §ent circumstances, have different ideas annexed to them. In alt10ſ, S. THE SOUNDING OF THE FIFTH AND SIXTH ANGELS. 921 - art of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so that the third part of them, even of their SECT. §º; *: #. was darkened;i and the day did not appear [with respect to] a third part of its lustre, 11. #º and the night also ; but there was as great a deficiency in the usual light of both, as when §§§ {...};"... either the sun by day, or the moon by night, is so eclipsed, that a third part of the tº body of each is shaded ; which I understood to imply, that God would, in the course of an º'º his providence, draw a veil over the whole face of things, and obscure the glory of the j."...º.S. state to which this vision referred. . .4nd [heheld, and heard one of the angels flying in the §º inſºrs of the earth midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, The things which have already happened are ter- .# º: §."; rible; but what is yet to come is much more so; woe, woe, woe to those that dwell upon are yet to the earth, for the remaining sounds of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound ! Prepare therefore for the manifestation of these awful scenes, ::::::: which IMPROVEMENT. & O UlDQ WHILE we prepare ourselves, with silent admiration, to attend the discoveries here opening upon us, let us re- joice in the symbolical representation of the intercession of Jesus, our great High Priest, shadowed forth, in so eautiful and expressive a manner, by the angel standing at the altar with the golden censer and much incense. Behold, how the prayers of all the Saints ascend before God with acceptance 1 See the method we are to take, if we desire that ours should be acceptable to him ; and, encouraged by such a view, let us offer them up, not only with humility, but with cheerful confidence, though we are conscious of their great unworthiness. To what wretchedness are they exposed, who oppress and injure those that, through their great Representative, have such an interest in the court of heaven The hail and the fire shall, at the divine command, powerfully plead their cause ; the mountains shall be torn from their basis, and cast into the midst of the sea ; the Sun, the moon, and the stars shall be darkened in their orbs, and all nature be thrown into convulsive agonies, ere God will suffer them finally to be overborne, or fail to punish, with becoming severity, those who continue to persecute or evil- entreat them. T - - Let such awful representations as these remind us of the sovereign, almighty power of God, whom all the hosts of heaven worship with reverence; and at whose awful word, when He gives forth his voice, hailstones and coals of fire descend; (Psal. xviii. 13.) at whose rebuke the pillars of heaven tremble, and the foundations of the earth are shaken; who speaks to the sun, and it shineth not; who darkeneth the moon, and sealeth up the stars. Who would not fear thee, O thou King of nations, so terrible in the judgments which thou executest on the earth 2 De- liver us, we entreat thee, from the multiplied and accumulated miseries of those who continue obstinately to oppose thee; and conduct us at length to thy heavenly presence, though it should be through days of darkness, and wa- ters of bitterness, and seas of blood, ºffmen. the sun was smitten, and the REV. VIII. I2 3 I Ver. I 3, 4 : SECTION XII. -* The effect of the ſifth and sixth angels sounding their trumpets. Rev. ix. throughout REVELATION ix. 1. .4.VD the fifth angel sounded; and I sate an angel of distinguished lustre descending with such amazing velocity, that he seemed like a shooting star, (compare Job xxxviii. 7.) and when he was fallen, as it were from heaven to the earth, and appeared standing upon it, there was given to him the key of the bottomless pit : And he went to the door of that in- fermal dungeon, and he opened the bottomless pit, and a thick smoke ascended from the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and it diffused itself all abroad; so that the sun, and the whole body of the air, were darkened by the smoke and gloomy exhalations of the pit; which I understood as intimating some terrible calamity approaching. And I saw a very shocking appearance; for out of the smoke there came locusts upon the earth,” and a de- structive power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power, that they should e as pernicious to the inhabitants of the earth as those terrible animals, and should injure men by their stings as well as by their teeth. ..?ind there was this further remarkable cir- cumstance, that whereas locusts bring along with them such general destruction to all vegetables, it was said to them, whom I saw on this occasion, that they should not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only' somé human creatures; and this under a particular limitation to the men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads ; from whence I inferred that this destructive visitation should especially affect those who, whatever they might profess, were destitute of true vital religion. ...And to sig- nify the lingering vexation which these destroyers should occasion to the inhabitants of tº º, ... the countries they were to ravage, I was further informed, that it was given to them, that lºt ºf sºrtion, when he they should not kill them outright, but that they should be formented five months ; which striketh a maſ). might be intended to express a calamity that should endure about an hundred and fifty years. .ind their torment, that is, that which they occasioned by their attack, [was], ex- tremely violent, like that of a scorpion when it strikes a man, ºrid in these dreadful days, to which this vision refers, men shall seek death, in a wild kind of despair,” and shall not find it ; and they shall desire to die, and death shall flee away from them, and leave them to mourn over a life of wretchedness, all the comforts and enjoyments of which shall be 7 And the shapes of the io- utterly swallowed up in their sufferings. ..?nd these creatures were not exactly of the form 7 of locusts; but though they bore some resemblance to them in many instances, they dif. RE v. ix. I. AND the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth ; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bot- tomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great ſurnace; and the sun and the air were dark- ened by reason of the smoke of the pit. * 3 And there canic out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have I Over. 4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. SECT. 12. REW. IX * 3 4 5 And to thqm it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tor: 5 6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall, desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 6 1 Darkened.] Compare Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8. Grotius interprets this of taking the south Galilean towns; Mr. Mlede, of the destruction of the iight of Rome, when deprived of regal and consular majesty ; and Mr. Clark, (see his Annot. in loc.) of eclipsing the light of the clºck by tra- dition and human inventions. Mr. Low Ioan interprets it of the wars in Italy between the Goths and Justinian’s generals, whereby the exar- chäfe of Ravenna was erected, all remaining power and authority at Rome suppressed, and the imperial, city became subject to Ravenna, where the oxarch, or lieutenant of the eastern emperor, resided ; from A. D. 493, to A. D. 568. * w w a Locusts upon the earth.] §Iany protestant writers imagine these locuses to signify the religious orders, of mionks and friars, &c. .T jearned Grotius understands by them the sect of the Zealots, which ap- peared among the Jews during the siege, and at the time of the destruc- tion of Jerusalem: Mr. Mede, the inundation of the Saraçens.; and in- decd with considerable circumstances of resemblance... The ingenious Mr. Lowman confirms this interpretation; and shows, that the rise and §§. of the Mahometan religion and empire, till checked by internal ivisions, is a remarkable accomplishment of this part of the prophecy; which is further illustrated by the ignorance and error the Mahometans every where spread, their great number and hardiness, their habits, cus- toms, and manners; namely, twisting their hair, wearing beards, their care of their horses, invading their neighbours in summer like locusts, sparing not the trees and fruits of the countries they invaded, &c. The captivity of the men, and the miserable condition of the women, exposed to persons who gave an almost unbounded liberty to their lusts, which was enough to make them even to desire death, verse 6. All these cir- cumstances are suitable to the character of the Arabians, the history of this period, and to the particulars of the prophecy.—The period extends from A. D. 56S, to A. 13. 675. * - b Only the men who had not..] The use of the particles £1 pm here is very remarkable ; and it is apparently necessary it should be rendered only, rather than except. - - c Shall seek death, &c.] As such great numbers were, in fact, slain by these locusts, (if they signify, as is generally supposed; the Sara- cens,) this expression must only be understood of many survivors, who, § the calamities they inflicted, should be made weary of their lives. e6 note 8. } 16 THE SOUNDING OF THE FIFTH AND SIXTH ANGELs. SECT. fered from them in others, and were to be considered as ad kind of hieroglyphical repre- custs were like unto horses * prepared unto battle ; and on 922 12. sentation of creatures which are yery mischievous and terrible; and I particularly ob- º served, that the likeness ºf the locusts [was] like horses prepared for war, (compare Joel ii. ºilº ºil,"aniº *... 4) especially the form of their heads; and whereas common locusts have some brilliant ******** 7 ornaments on their, heads and various parts of their bodies, I observed, with regard to these, that on their heads [were] as it were crowns like gold; and their faces were like the Jaces of men ; which two circumstances gave me to understand, that they were intended as an emblem of mighty and powerful men, who were to reign over various provinces and 8 kingdoms. .ind they had on their heads long tresses of hair, like the tresses of women; , 8 And they had hail as the whereas common locusts have only a down upon their breasts...And whereas other ani- ºfteeth mals of that name, have large strong teeth, their teeth were like [the teeth] of lions, sharp € 3 S LIlê teet/! Of Il OnS. 9 and pointed, as well as large and strong. And instead of the fine down on the breasts of common locusts, º had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and whereas common ºft.*.*.*.*. Jocusts make a terrible noise with their wings, the noise which these strange and symbolical ºpºsities ºf §: locusts made by the motion of their wings [was] like the noise of chariots [and] many ſº * * horses rishing to war; so that they seemed to tear the ground with their rage and fury, 10 and to shake the air with their neighings. And instead of being formed at the lower end of their bodies, as other locusts aré, which have no stings, but are quite inoffensive and ... .º.º. º. º. innocent animals, these creatures had tails like scorpions, and their stings were in their and their power as to hurt tails; and their power, as I observed above, [was] given them to hurt the earth, and men, "**** 11 its inhabitants, for about five months, or about an hundred and fifty years. And they had 11 And they had a king a king over them, wherein they further differed from the locust kind, (Prov, xxx. 27.) who º is the angel of the bottomless pit, and the great head of those apostate spirits who dwell ºf there; whose name [is] in the Hebrew language, Abaddon;e and in the Greek, he has the i..."º"; "...º. name of Apollyon : both the one and the other expressing his destructive nature, and the jyon. 12 dreadful havoc he makes, wherever his attempts are successful. And thus one woé is g"One : , 12 Qne woe is past; and, #!ºld. Jet other two woes besides it coming, threatening yet more terrible calamities ºne two woes aI) LI16Sé. And upon this the sixth angel sounded; and I did not see any immediate appearance 13 And the, sixth angel in consequence of it; but I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden aliar which tº hº was before God, (which seemed therefore to come from the most holy place, which was ºlden altar which is before 14 directly behind it.) Saiſing to the sixth angel, who still had the trumpet which he had *ssin, to the sixth angel sºunded in his hand, Loosen now the four angels, which are bound by the great river ... º.º.º. Euphrates; who were intended to représent some potentates arising from that part of the ºf world, who, in the period referred to, should become very famous throughout the earth, PuPhrates. 15 for their exploits and achievements. ...And the four angels were loosened, who were prepared jor a certain period of time, signified, according to the prophetic reckoning, by an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year;é that they might make a great slaughter among the inhabitants of the earth; or, as it was expressed to me in the vision, according to the lan- guage used before, might kill a third part of the men, who after the preceding plagues 16 continued upon it. They accordingly appeared, as leading on a mighty army; and the number of the horsemen i. led on was immensely great, represented to me by two myri- ads of myriads, that is, no less than two hundred millions. .4nd I heard the number Q 17 them thus mentioned to me, as it was impossible for me to count them. 9 And they had breast- 10 And they had tails like there 13 15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men 16 And the number of the army of the horsen) on ºcérc two hundred thousand thou- d : and I heard the nuIn– er of them. 17 And, thus. I saw the horses in the vision, and then horses, and those that sat wgon them thus, in º appearance; that is, having breast- ºr tº: them, having breastplates of fire, and of ja- plates of fire, and hyacinth, and brimstone, which seemed to send forth blue, burning flames, which went devouring before them: and the heads of the horses [were] like the heads of jº lions ; and out of their mouths went fire, and smoke, and brimstone, to représent the courage tº heads."of ions, and gºt and fierceness of these armies, and the irresistible destruction they should make wherever º.º.º.” 18 they marched., And with the united force of these three things, that is, by the fire, and by lºgº; the smoke, and by the brimstome, that went out of their mouths, they slew a third part of §ºf .”hº". 19 men, as was declared above. And as the destroyers, represented by the locusts, appeared ºn as having devouring teeth, and stings like scorpions in their tails, these had likewise a 'ºeiº", in double provision of mischievous furniture; for their powers are partly in their mouth, from #. §, º, ..."; whence, as I have already said, the fire appeared to issue, and in their tails; and their unto serpents, and haſ heads, tails also [are] like serpents, having heads, and with them, as well as with their mouths, ****** they injure men. Thus they were represented as bringing a most fearful destruction on 20 the human species. Yet it was not productive of such a reformation as might have been expected; the remainder of men who died not by these plagues, did not repent of the wicked works of their hands, nor reform those abominations which had brought down destruction on their brethren: and particularly did not forsake those detestable superstitions which had been so offensive to God, that they might not worship demons,h and senseless idols of it." and the authority of councils in the east and west. This period reaches from A. D. 675, to A. * b ...And I saw the J{J. .g. Of an hour, and a day, &c.] Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of Worcester, on his interpretation of this, passage, ſoretold, many years before it ſlap- 20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship de- d A kind of hieroglyphical representation.] As there are no animals in nature answerable to those which are here described, I take it for granted, that as the four animals mentioned abovg. are hieroglyphics of angels, so are these of mischievous creatures. Compare chap. iv. 7. note f. e Jäbaddon.] When the etymology is so evident, and so particularly explained by the author, I cannot but wonder at Dr. More’s endeavour to explain it another way, as referring to the profession which the Ma- hometans should make of maintaining the doctrine of the Unity. See More’s Theol. PWorks, p. 130. - - f The four angels which are bound.]. Grotius refers this to the Roman army under four commanders, which came from the borders of this - Mr, Mede, to the four beglerbegs of the Turks; and he interprets ver.'iz. of guns invented about that time, and used by then in their successful war upon the Éuropeans. See the passage at large in More’s Theol. Works, p. 130, 131. hey who refer this passage to the rise of the Turkish Ottoman empire, suppose that the four angels mean either four provinces, or four cities near Euphrates, from whence considerable leaders arose, who pushed on and advanced the Turkish conquests; and jºyie, and others, have endeavoured to confirm this interpretation. But, as the Turkish empire did not commence till the 13th century this event seems to be too late in the successive order of periods an correspondent events. Mr. Lowman’s interpretation seems to me much more probable, which refers it to the re-union of the divided Saracen power, their ºf and rayaging Europe, till they were defeated by Charles Martel; and agreeable, to ver. 20, 21. the sufferers were so far from repenting, that image-worship was confirmed by order of the Pope, pened, that peace would be concluded with the Turks in the year 1698, which accordingly came to pass; and that they should no more, renew their wars against, the popish, christians. His argument was, that the @ngels loosed, were the commanders of the many Turkish squadrons who had been before subject to the sultan of Babylon. And as for the time here mentioned, he endeavours to show it to be, in the prophetig style, 6.years; and º from their conquest at Prousse in 1302, by adding 396, the number will be 1698. See Bishop Burnet’s History of his Times, vol. i. p. 204. But how lucky soever the conjecture was, it docs not convince me that it is the true interpretation; and so much the less, as it seems evident to me the year spoken of in this book consists only of 360 days.-Besides, the Turks have renewed their war, on the opish christians, particularly on the emperor and the republic of enice, in 1716, and since.—As for the phrases, an hour, a day, &c. I do not understand them; they may perhaps only signify a determined, limited time, as such expressions in Scripture frequently do; though they would seem most naturally, and agreeable to the prophetic reckon- inft to denote about 391 years, - JVot worship demons.] This demon-worship Mr. Mede has taken great pains to prove to be the worship of dead men, which is so common in the church of Rome. As for their worshipping idols gf gold, silver, brass, wood, and stone, the fact is as evident, as that the heathens themselves ever practised such idolatrous worship. THE VISION OF THE MIGHTY ANGEL IN GREAT GLORY. --- 923 vils, and idols of gold, and gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which, instead of having any divine pro- SECT. ; º; perties, are destitute of the senses common to men, and even to brutes, as they can neither 12. cº, *ś. º hy see, nor hear, nor walk. And they repented not of other crimes, more immediatel affect- of hºle... ... ing their fellow-creatures; such, for instance, as their murders, and their sorceries; nor REy. iºnica- their fornication, nor their thefts and robberies, by which they had so notoriously injured sº y - all about them, and bid defiance to every law, but that of their own unruly appetites and passions, to which they were held in the basest subjection. IMPROVEMENT. IT is exceeding natural to reflect, while reading this representation, how exactly the mightiest princes, and most savage destroyers of mankind, execute the plan of divine Providence, and fulfil the decrees of God; even while Ver. 4 they are intending nothing but the gratification of their own ambition, and avarice, and cruelty. The angel of God 1 holds the key of the bottomless pit; and it is by divine permission that these voracious locusts issue forth and 3 infest the earth. The ministers of God’s pleasure bind the messengers of destruction, and loosen them at the divine 15 command. And the season, wherein they shall ravage the world, is here limited to a year, to a day, to an hour; 5, 11 ABADDON, APOLLYON, the great and mighty destroyer, cannot effect the least of his mischievous and ruinous 15 purposes, without the permission of the Preserver and Redeemer of mankind; and cannot go beyond his limits. And even the mischief which he does, is intended and overruled to subserve the wisest and kindest designs. But O how grievous is it to think of that degree of obstinacy and perverseness which so generally prevails in the world, and which renders men so incorrigible, under the most painful chastisements Satan is permitted to inflict! Send 20, 21 forth, O Lord, the gentle influences of thy Spirit, and melt those hearts, which will not be broken by the weighti- est strokes of thy vengeance; and deliver us from a temper so much resembling that of hell, and so evidently leading down to those dreadful abodes; the temper of those, who are hardened by correction, and in the time of their affliction and misery increase and multiply their transgressions against thee. SECTION XIII. The vision of a mighty angel appearing in great glory, who had in his hand a little book, which St. John was commanded to eat. Rev. x, throughout. REVELATION x. 1. REv. x. 1. AND I saw another mighty A MOST beautiful and wonderful scene now opened itself to my view; for I saw another SECT. *::::::::::.."º, º mighty angel, who carried in his appearance the marks of unusual strength and vigour, 13. ; :"º"." descending from heaven, clothed with a cloud,” so that I could not discern the full lustre of !...","...hº"; , his whole body; though variegated with the rays it either reflected or transmitted, it ap- REy. pillars of fire : peared very glorious; and the complete circle of a rainbow [was] about his head, and his 1 ° face Fº bright as the meridian sum : so that I could not bear to gaze directly upon it. And I had reason to think there was an extraordinary lustre emitted from all the other 2 And he had in his hand a parts of his body; for even his feet were like pillars of lucid fire. ..And he had in his hand 2 #'º'; a little book open, which I afterwards understood to be the volume of the divine decrees, and his left foot on the earth, to be communicated to me. .4nd he put his right foot upon the sea, and the left foot upon the earth, to signify the divine dominion over both, and the concern of both in what was º further to be transacted. And he cried with a loud, solemn, and awful voice, as a lion 3 jº.º.º.º.º. roars,b and when he had cried, the seven thunders, which I had heard before, uttered their thynº. ºthº. v., voices again, responsive to his, and to increase the terror of so tremendous a scene. And 4 thaná. Mºttººd tº when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to have written the contents of Yº...”..."; what they had uttered; for loud as their voices were, there was something articulate and *ś"&; sº º; e in the sound #" just in tº: º, I º: Ol º, .. º º: § jºujśºut... ài me, Seal up in Secrecy what the seven thumders have spoken, and write them not ; for they "#"Rººse º rare. indeed intended for thy information, but not # *. of the public. .4nd the angel 5 sawººd' pºie ºni which I saw with so many ensigns of distinction, standing with one foot on the sea, and ºlined up his the other on the º ſº up his !g. º {l §. of º º 6 6 And sware by him that reverence, as appealing to the great Sovereign of the universe ; .4nd sware by the eterna ...?'..."º Jehovah, even by him who liveth for ever and ever, who created the heaven, ãº. things #º !º which are in it, and the earth, and the things which are in it, and the sea, and the things tiºn are, and the §, ... which are in it, that time should be no longer tº that the time of the judgments, to be signi- #º fied by the pouring out of the seven vials, should not be much longer delayed; and that tº: { when it came, the whole economy of the world should soon draw to a conclusion, and all the periods of time be consummated, that the more important scenes of eternity might 7. But in the dayſ of the open: He sware, I say, that the delay should not be much longer, but that it should 7 voice of the seventh angel, - - º - §§§ jijº, j, hasten to its end, in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, who was about quickly to ºjºsº sound, and was to introduce the period of the seven vials; and that, consequent on the finished, as he hath declared -> * --> 3 - * * * * to his servants the prophets, pouring out of the last vial, the mystery of God,” as he had revealed its glad tidings to his servants the prophets, should be fulfilled, in the utter ruin and destruction of all the enemies 8 And the voice which I of the church, and in its happy and glorious exaltation.” And the voice which I before 8 i Sorceries.] By pappaketov, Dr. Clarke understands all the super- vial, and the consummation of all things, must, at least; be more than a stitious methods of making men fancy themselves to be religious by what hºusand years; and Perhaps, a much moſº, gonsiderable, periºd. , Dr. others can do for or to them, or what tiey can do ſo; the jºes, ºil. More is of opinion, that the only meaning of this clause is, that the time ºut the practice of true righteousness and virtue. Čajkº's seventeenth Was elapsgºl which had been marked out by the period of thrºº years and Serm. p. 168. But others understand by it the arts of poisoning. an half. See his Theolog. Works, p. 122. Grotius refers the accom- gºingpi ciąthºd initi, a cloudj 'file beautics of this je"description plishment of it to the yengeance to be taken upon the Jews, by Adrian are finely illustrated by that most efégant and pious" ºriter, the "Rev. and his successors. Compare Saurin’s Sºrm. vol. i. p. 1; 2... Mr. Low- Mr. James Hervey, in his Meditations, vol. ii. p. 21, 22. iman renders the clause, the time shall not be yet ; that is, the time of the b Lion roars..] The original word, juvkarat, rather signifies bellowes; glorious state of the church shall nºt be yet; but it shall not be long to but that English word has an idea annexed to it, which appeared to me }: º r %;"; ###! º, §º of the secenth angcl., as it follows, the not to suit the dignity of this description. mystery of God shall be fulfilled, &c. * c That time should be no longer.] The word xpovo; sometimes sig- d, JMystery of God..], Dr. Butler, the late worthy bishop of Durham, nifies delay, as well as time. , Ánd, according to the former version, the understands by this, the great mystery of Pºlºneg in suffering vice rºaning is that there should be no delay of the destruction of the church’s and confusion to prevail so much in the world. See Butler’s Anal. enemies, and of its prosperous and glorious condition. In the latter P. 40 view, it signifies that the end of time, and the consummation of all things, e Should be fulfilled.] As it is here said, that the mystery of God should soon come. Though the former sense, seems to be principally should be fulfilled, it seems plainly to intimate, that the things yet to be intended, yet. I, own myself not to be so certain as absolutely to deter: revealed should extend to tſ. end of time ; and when it is declared, that mine it... I think it is evident that some of the concluding prophecies of this should be fulfilled in the days of the voice of the serenth anzel, who this book refer to the eternal state, and therefore I have taken that senti– acas about to sound, it intimates that the remainder of time, even to the ment into the paraphrase, though not to the exclusion of the former end of the world, should be comprehended in that, period of prophecy to sense ; which, as I said, seems to be principally intended, considering which the seventh trumpet, i. to the vials, relates the connexion, and that the interval between the pouring out the screnth 924 JOHN IS COMMANDED TO MEASURE THE TEMPLE. SPCT heard from heaven, now spake to me again, and said, Go, and take the little book which, as heard from heaven spºke un- 13. thou perceivest, is open, out of the hand of the angel, which standeth upon the sea, and upon tº: the earth; for it is intended for thy use and information. (Compare Jer. xv. 16.) And jºi Rºy, accordingly I went to the angel, and, awful as his appearance was, I said to him boldly, ºn the sea * , in consequence of the divine command, Give me the litile book which thou holdest in "º Anºt ent into the an- thine hand; and he said unto me, Take [it] as Ezekiel did that which was shown to him, ś"º: (Ezek, iii. 1, 2.) and eat it up ; to signify thy receiving it into thy mind, and digesting ºdºº. Tº there the events to which it relates: and it shall imbitter thy icily, but in thymouſ, it sigil ºf be sweet as honey; to signify that how pleasant soever it may be to be honoured with such ...ths mouth sweet as revelations, the contents of these, in thine after-reflections, shall be very bitter and grievous. | On G 7. 10:4nd, accordingly, I took the little book out of the hand of the angel, and seemed to myself 10. And I took the little to eat it up ; and the event exactly answered what he had said to me; for in my mouth it º: º; 11 was sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it my belly was bitter. .4nd he said to ºne, Thou nº monºe; as honey. hº not yet despatched the whºle of thy work, in what thou hast already registered of ...” §§§ eaten it, r ** * B. 4. * f * * * - ..º.* 4 *Y., * - -\ |\ . & - iº...; i. º ºd 2 º ...”.” prophesy º º - •ople. ºld nations, and tº: 3 -->~ 3 fangs e Oracles thou hast yet to deliver shall be propagated through befºre many" peoples, and many countries, translated into a variety of languages, and perused by persons of various tº * * * ranks and conditions, and some of them the most eminent and conspicuous; but fear not "' to deliver them, being assured that He, by whom they are inspired, will take care they shall be punctually fulfilled. */ * - - IMPROVEMENT. IF other parts of this chapter should seem to be less pregnant with important practical instructions, perhaps the design was that we might be engaged to fix our entire and undivided attention on the awful words of this illustrious angel, whose appearance is described in colours so exceeding beautiful and striking; with the radiance of the sun Ver. I streaming from his countenance; the variegated colours of the rainbow encircling his head; of a stature so vast 2 and majestic, that he at once bestrode the earth and the sea, with his hand solemnly lifted up to heaven; with a 3 voice awful as thunder, appealing to the venerable name of God, the Creator of the heavens, of the earth, of the 5, 6 sea, and of all their various inhabitants, in order to add the sanction of an inviolable oath to a declaration, which, in itself, from such a divine messenger, was worthy of absolute and entire credit; a declaration that time should be no longer: which is a certain truth, in the most sublime and interesting sense of which the words are capable. Time, as distinguished into days, and weeks, and months, and years, by the revolution of the heavenly luminaries, when the most resplendent of these are extinguished in their orbs, as they quickly will; when the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood; time shall then, I say, be absorbed in an immeasurable eternity. And O what an eternity An eternity, either of perfect and inconceivable felicity, or hopeless and remediless misery.—But besides this general construction, there is an important sense in which the proclamation of this celes- tial herald shall be fulfilled, with regard to indivilials; that time shall be no longer; the time of divine patience in waiting upon us; the time in which we shall be continued under the sound of the gospel, and the offers of mercy and the means of salvation; the time in which we shall be conversant with these scenes of mortality, and with the persons who are here most familiar to us, at least in the present circumstances of their being. The period, during which we are to inhabit this earth, and enjoy our spiritual advantages, or our worldly possessions and pleasures, is confined within very narrow limits. The oath of this mighty angelis, perhaps, just ready to be accom- plished, and time is closing, and eternity is opening upon us. O that we may consider time and all its concerns as very shortly to vanish, that our thoughts and our cares may be directed more and more to our own eternal interest and to that of our fellow-creatures. The Judge is even at the door: letus endeavourtherefore to be ready; let us improve every transient moment to the purposes for which it was given us; and in these views of the brevity of time, and the importance of preparing for eternity, let us detest all the pleasures and allurements of sin; for 8, 11 they will soon appear like the mysterious morsel of the apostle, bitter as wormwood in the belly, though with de- ceitful and fatal indulgence, we may, for a few moments, have rolled them, like a sweet morsel, under our tongues; vainly desiring to prolong those pléasures, which can serve only to add more keen and exquisite sensibility to our future pain. SECTION XIV. The vision of the auge) commanding Št. John to measure the temple; and declaring that the Gentiigs should Iregd dº the outcr court, and that the two witnesses should be slain, and raised from the dead, and recoived into heaven ; after which, the triumphs of divine vengeance over their enemies are celebrated. Rev. xi. 1–18. - - REVELATION Xi. H. RE v. xi. J. SECT. A.W.D when I had eaten the book, according to the divine command, there was given to ANP there was given me, a 14. me, as there was shown to Ezekiel, whose vision bore so great a resemblance to mine, ..."...º.º.º. (Ezek. xl. 43.) a reed, like a [measuring] rod; and the angel, which had spºken to, me ºf i. º: Rºy before, stood by me, saying, Arise, and measure the temple of God,” and the altar, and the tº then the * , space filled by those who worship at it in the inner court: ºffnd the outer court of the tem- ...; But he coºl which is pie throw out of the account, and measure it not; fºr there shall be such great disorders º' introduced, that it shall be given to the Gentiles, and they shall trample, not only upon that, ºi, ſº but upon the holy city, for the space of forty-two months ; such corruptions shall prevai º"'º ºn"tº in the christian éhurch, though by profession the holy city and the temple of God, that "9" they who pretend to be its inhabitants, and to worship in it, shall be no better, in the 3 divine account, than Gentiles. And in the mean time, I will raise up some to bear an 3 And l, will, give polº, - unto my two withesses, and - * united testimony against these growing corruptions; and I will give to my two witnesses” f Again prophesy..] Mr. Mode infers from hence, that the apostle is amination, especially in the face of so, many notorious errors and ºbsurd about to gº,'oºr the sang period of time he had befºre been discoursing superstitions, as were eyjdently introduced into the church long before of, giving an account of the state of the church, as he had just done of the time in question. How. Grotius should imagine it to signify, that the state of the cºnſpire. But the me; descriptions, and new events to the temple should not be rebuilt by Adrian, though Jerusalem should, which they refer, ºfich are introduced here, and constitute the follow- is to me very surprising: I doubt not but it signifies the prºgnatiºn ºf ing chapters, may be sufficient, without any peculiarity of interpreta- the church by growing idolatry and superstition, though some few should tion, to justify the expression. See the preceding note. presgr ve their purity. a JMeasure the temple of God..] From the proportion between the area. 5. Tºro witnesses.j. Some have strangely supposed these are Enoch, and of the tempie, and the outer court, supposed to be as one to three and Elijah, who are ſo coine to fight, against antighrist. Soº Limb....Thegl; one-half, Mr. Mede, understandia% by the temple, the pure, uncorrupted 7. xi. 31. Dr. More upderstands it of unpolluted priests and faithful state of the church ; and, by the outór court, its corrupted state, Gadea- aagistrates, appearing, for reſºmation, Others of the Old and New vºs to roºtiºt tº littér did not entirely commence till the bºgin- Testament, filt the learned. Bishop Lloyd, of thº. Wallenses and A!. ning of the fifth century.; infºring also from hence the authority of the bigenses. Perhaps it may signify any ºitnesses for reformation, who fºr first generg Cºmmigils. The argument may be seen at large in his should be raised up during this period; illustrated by two, is that, con- JWorks, p. 533, 589. But it does not scem to require a particular ex- curring number was necessary, according to the law, to make the testi- they shall prophesy a thou- sand two hundred and three- score days, clothed in sack- cloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two, candle- sticks standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if any Inan will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies : and if any man will hurt thern, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These baye power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn the in to blood, and to Sinite the earth with a iſ plagues, as often as they will. 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. - º 8 . And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the §reat city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half and shall not suffer their deat bodies to be F. In grave S. 10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophetstormented them that dwelt on the earth. 11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon, their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and i.e. enemies beheld them. 13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand : and the remnant were aſ- frighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woº is past; and, behold, the third woe coneth quickly. 15 And the seventh angel sounded ; and there were Inohy valid; or to intimate, that their numba Mir. Lowman, in loc. who proves there has been a succession of ſāithful witnesses. c. Cluthed in sackcloth.] This was the habit of mourners, and suited to their prophètic churacier, Isa. xx. 9. - after discribeſ as the time of the coman’s abode in the igilderness, chºp. xii. 6. Dan. vii. 25. xii. 7 d lºré shall cºnc gºtt ºf their moºth.] ... I think it highly probable expression may be figurative, and intended to express the awful venge- i I ance which Christ will take on their enemies in that day ºchen he is re- vealed in ſtainin: jirº, and when the injury recºy. * * vants, and especially his faithful triticsses, 'THE VISION OF THE TWO WITNESSES. 925 an authoritative [commission,] and they shall prophesy all this while, that is, during the SECT. forty-two months, or a thousand two hundred [and] sixty days, clothed in sackcloth 3° to denote their afflicted condition. These are d and precious to me, as Joshua and Zerubbabel among the Jews of old: and in reference to the emblems under which I re- presented those my faithful servants, (Zech. iv. 3, 11, 14.) I may call these the two olive- trees, and the two burning and shining lamps, who stand béfère the God of the whole earlh; high in his esteem, and continually in his presence, planted like olive-trees in his house, or kindled like the sacred lamps in the candlestick of the sanctuary. .4nd if any one will obstinately injure them, encouraged by the gentleness of their appearance, and the seeming weakness of their present state, he shall find to his cost that they are under an Almighty protection. Their cries to God shall be heard, and such sudden and irresistible vengeance shall follow, that fire shall seem to come out of their mouthd and devour their enemies at once; it shall not merely scorch and terrify, but utterly destroy them: and I pronounce it again, if any one will injure them, so mºst he be put to death. These, despised as they are, have power with God, like my servant Elijah of old, (I Kings xvii. 1.) by their prayers to shut heaven,” so that no rain shall be showered down in the days of their prophecy; and like Moses and Aaron, (Fºxod. vii. 29.) #ey have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to smile the carth, as often as they will, with every plague; such is the preva- jence of their prayers with Gºd, that they may be said, as it were, to be armed with his omnipotence. ..?nd when they shºdl have finished their testimony, according to the plan of Divine Providence, the fierce and savage beast which ascends out of the abyss, and is afterwards to be described, shall make war against them, and shall conquer and triumph over them for a while, and carry his success so far as to kill them. ..?nd their dead corpses [shall lie] unburied in the open street of the great city,” which is spiritually called, on ac, Čount of its lewdness and persecutions, SOD.O.W. and EGYPT': where also our Lord was crucified; that is, in the place where he has suffered so much in his spiritual mem- bers that he may be said to have been crucified over again. .464 [persons ſº and tribes, and tongues, and nations, shall look on their deal bºlics three days and an alſ, and maliciously insult over them; and they shall not permit their corpgés to be laid in the graves which should be prepared for them. .4nd they who dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and be glad, and with mutual congratulation shall send gifts io each other, to testify their great exultation, because these two prophets, who tormented th gº ºn Y- S. Ci-l. ©rce * those who dwelt upon the earth, by their plain and faithful remonstrances, shall be entirely silenced; and, as they suppose, for ever removed out of any capacity of molesting them. All these things I distinctly saw, just as the angel had represented them to me in his description; and while I was looking, with the greatest concern, upon the venerable remains of these two excellent persons, denied the common rites of burial, and exposed to all the insults of their enemies, I saw, that after three days and an half; the Spirit of life, communicated from God, who quickeneth all things, entered into them, and they stood upon their feet again, to renew their testimony; and great fear immediately fell upon those who looked upon them, when they saw so wonderful a resurrection. Aid they, that is, the witnesses, heard a great voice, saying unto them from heaven, in loud accents, which I likewise dis- tinctly heard, Come ye up hither; and they accordingly ascended up to heavenk in a cloud; as Our Lord had done in the sight of his apostles: and their enemies, with infinite surprise and fruitless rage, looked on them, without being able to hinder or oppose the marvellous event. ..And in that hour, as an earthquake attended the resurrection of our Lord, so iike- wise, at the ascension of these witnesses, there was a great earthquake; and a tenth part of the buildings of the city fell down to the ground, magnificent and sumptuous as they were; and seven thousand Hien, some of them of great name and figure, ºpére killed by the earthquake; and the rest were terrified, and their alarm wrought more kindly upon them, than judgments had dope upon some others; for they gave glory io the God of heaven, as the Author of these awful events. The second icoe is past, [and] a terrible one it is ; but let none imagine all ground of alarm is over, for behold the third woe cometh quickly, to succeed it. ..?nd the seventh angel sounded; and immediately ihere were great voices of thunder in ** * SS3 t should be but Smiqſ. See of men, calling themselves a church.) is most justly, as well as severely, - & . * expressed by these appellations. V& #em one sees their places of worship y where adorned with images of a crucified Saviour, ore would think, (as our Loïd says with respect to the garniture which the perse- cutin: Pharisees bestowed upon the sepuichrºs cf. the ancient prophets, that they inoant to perpetuate the ne:nors of the dead with honour,) that these persecutors, intended to erucify Jesus in effigy : - perhaps, not disagreeable to the original design. - .i Tºrcé (lºſs angl ºn half.] Very different interpretations have been given of this periol of time. Mr. Flemièg thi:ks it to his purpose to observe, that from tile death of Andrew Pallicka, the last Bohemian In triy T. to the appearance of Carols ::::ius and Zuinglius, at the begin- ning of the reſortination, was just three years and an half. See Flein. Cºf th; Rºswr. p. 144. . The above-tºonſigned Rishop J.loyd innagined it was fulfilted in the slaughter of the Albizeuses and \\ aidenses, in the year 1889; and they arose in 169). Ile supposes Archbishop U. This period is the same with that this & l their wrongs fully aye!, red. c Sălțt heavcıl, &c.) Lord Chief Justice Hale secºns to think it is inti- mated here, that the spirit of having called do frn firc frºm hearºa, and in haying turric: it'atter into blood It in:lecți seems to intimate, that Go! sy as he pleaded the cause of his peº!e and ºnesses of oil, in the awfii manner here described. f Qilt ºf the abyss.) . By the abyss Dr. More understands the sea, and . (See: fiałe’s Cox/cmp. vol. ii. p. ed by any of his ser– !::ii! be remembered, and & *º- Ajoses and Ełias should be in them, Pºlijah iſ: {ere,i the rºl, and Mºses 75.)— bººkſ intº pose for their déſence, ; Sher’s celebrated prophecy a mistake ºf this place; he thought the treading (lºcal lite court was the affiiction of external professors; (whereas it was, iºteed, the general prevalence of idolatry if the church ;) and that the with; esses were slain by the king of France, not by the Pope ; and that the earthquake, (Yeº. 3.) sistified, tire destruction of the kingdom of thinks this passiuse is to be explaisied by what ſo Heys, chap. xiii. 1. a in rather of opinion, it alludes to what had been said before, (chap. ix. 11.) where a king of the locusts is mentioned as a most destructive crea- ture, called Aiso the gigel of the abyss and it is certain the word Üngiºv is used with this latitude... (Compare Acts xxviii. 4, 5.) g The great city.]. Air. Fleming untierstands this of the German, that is, the fºomsºn einfºire, of which Bohemia was a part, indeed, it is pro- bable the whole Roiman empire may be here represented its one idolatrous and ºrd city; as clºse where the church ºf Christ it represented by one pure, hºly, and glorious city. It may intimate the extreme persecution mainy of God’s witnesses should stuffer; and that their enemies should º over them so much, that his cause should seem to be quite rull thus (i. h Sudon and Egypt.] The ſciedacss of Sodom, and the cruelty of Egypt, are so celebrated in Scripture, as to make them proper cinbieńs of these evils in general. And the abominable wickedness of the church of Rogue, in both these respects, (I suppose not to be equalled in any other society France. Some think here is an ailision to the time of our Saviour’s ying in the grave ; and that it intinates, that the time of the witnesses” suffering, wiil be in proportion to the time of their prophecy, which is described as a time of persecution ; and so it comports with three tunes Gird qit half, 12.9 days, or 42 months. It may, in general, signify a certain limited title ; and, perhaps, three days and an half may be men- tionetſ, in reference to the state ºf a dead body, which will seldom keep longer without corruption. See Air. lownian, in tec. k ..?scended up to fearen.]. This was no doubt to signify, that the cause of true and genuine christianity should not only be revived, but crafted; and that it should have so illustrious a triumph over all opposition, as no cartkly elevation was sufficient adequately to repre- Sci;t. - | Seven thousand men were killed.] This seems to represent some greqt ca'ºpiºiºs which were to befall the enemies of the reformations during the tellowing period, and which would be a great means of pro- 1ſhot; 114 lt- 5 6 7 8 of [various] 9 10 11 I R 4 t! Sentline nt, Tº { -º- ºr e * : * : * > iſſºt} THE OPENING OF THE TEMPLE OF GOD. SECT, heaven, º At length the happy, the triumphant period is approaching, and seems to great goices in heaven, say. 14. º ever and ever, .3md, the twenty-four elders, that sat before the throne of God on their "Ver 9, ll, SEC 15. be even already come; when it may be said rºo, n-, }~. * * * * * * * o, o ing, The kingdoms of this y come : y that the kingdoms of the world are become tºº, ºf sº [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ,” his anointed Son; and he shall reign for gains of our Lori, and of his - º shall reign for splendid thrones, as already described, fell prostrate upon their faces, and worshipped God is And the four and twenty 7 with profound, rºverence, on hearing these glad tidings; Sajjing, "We give thanks unto º thee, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and who wast, and who art to come; we adore the iºnºiº ë. triumphs of thine omnipotence, and of thy wisdom; because, though for a while thou tº . . tº didst suffer the interest of thy kingdom to be in part overborne, as if the adversary were jºiº. stronger than thou art, thow hast at length taken to thyself thy great power, and hast tº sº..."; jº 18 reigned with an uncontrolled dominion. .ºnd the nations were ºroth, and were trans. sº º: ported with rage and pride, that their vain schemes were thus powerfully opposed; and º.º. wºc. having suffered them for a season to exert their impotent efforts, thy wrath came in its hº º º awful turn; thou didst display the terrors of thy supérior vengeance; and the time of the ººlºº. dead came, when they should be judged, and the blood of thy people avenged, and when a º reward should be given to thy faithful servants," the inspired prophets, and to the saints, and, jºi: on the whole, to them that fear thy name, both small and great; for, such is thy jº ºniº". ness, that thou wilt not forget any one of them ; and the period is at length comé, É. stroy the earth. - thou] shouldst interpose in an awful and irresistible manner, to destroy those that destroy and corrupt the earth by their many vices; and particularly by their cruel ravages, in persecuting those who were, with the greatest integrity of heart, solicitous to have reformed it. 1 { IMPROVEMENT. . 2 . LoNG hath the court of God’s temple been trodden under foot by the Gentiles, and a party of very corrupt and degenerate christians (if they at all deserve the name, though they proudly arrogate to themselves the title of the catholic º been introducing and countenancing all the fopperies and absurdities of pagan supersti- tion, as well as more than the horrors of pagan cruelty, so as indeed to have disgraced not the gospel alone, but 3 human nature itself. A wise and gracious Providence hath raised up witnesses for the truth in all ages; and it is a signal honour to bear a faithful and courageous testimony against these enormous corruptions, though it were unto bonds and imprisonment, and even at the expense of life. Those noble and heroic confessors God hath remarkably supported; and even when they had been in a state of mourning and oppression, they have 6 borne their testimony and prophesied; their prayers have been remembered before God, and many have been 7 smitten, who injured and oppressed them. But notwithstanding this, the beast hath continued his war upon the saints, and their oppressions have increased, until, in many places, they have been cast down and trodden in the dust, and their blood hath been poured out like water on the earth. Thus hath that great city, the metropolis of 8 the world, once faithful and celebrated, become even as Sodom and Egypt, or even as Jerusalem, where Christ himself, our divine Master, was crucified. Thus have the enemies of #. truth triumphed over the servants of 10 the Lord, and have erected trophies of their victory. But, thanks be to God, their triumph shall not be per- 12 petual; Christ our Redeemer will revive his expiring cause in a manner as glorious and wonderful as a resurrec- 13 tion from the dead: he will glorify the remnant of his people; he will cause the earth to tremble, and shake 14 down the towers of the enemy: and when the first and the second woe is past, will bring upon them a third and more terrible woe. In the faith of this triumphant event let us rejoice; and though in our day we see not this glorious scene, let us consider it as approaching, when the seventh angel shall sound, and when all the king- 15 doms of the earth shall become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ. Let our prayers do all that the 17 most earnest prayers can do, towards promoting this great event, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and wast, and art to cone, we beseech thee to take to thyself thy great power and reign; for the proudest of the enemies who oppose thy kingdom reign, and even live, only by thy permission. Overbear, by thy superior rebuke, the 18 rage of the angry nations; and give patience to thy afflicted servants, that if they should wait even till the dead be judged, they may never resign the hope of the reward which thou wilt at length confer upon them: not only on the prophets, and most eminent and distinguished of the saints, but on all them, that fear thy glorious and tremendous name; on the small, as well as on the great; when the destroyers of the church and of the earth shall be destroyed together. Amen. * SECTION XV. On a view of the temple of God, as opened in consequence of the seventh trumpet, a vision appgars representing thº multiplicatiºn ºf the church, and the attempt to be made by the devil upon it, under the emblem of a woman bringing forth a son, attacked and persecuted by a great dragon. Rev. xi. 19. xii. throughout. REVELATION xi. 19. RE v. xi. 19. T. A.W.D when these acts of adoration passed, upon the sounding of the seventh angel, the AND º º: g - s .* 2 : l T F. glū - temple of God was opened in, heaven; and the veil, which seemed to separate the most ...r.º.º.º. § 21 * ºr ºr w * º ** * * . * o f cro. * ioni of his testament: and there holy place, being drawn aside, the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple; to signify were lightnings, and voices, Rev. further manifestations of the divine presence, which were now to be made. ...?nd as, when and tânăţines," and aſ XI., the law was given from mount Sinai, the whole atmosphere seemed in a violent commo- carthquake, and great hail. 19 tion, which was communicated to the most solid parts of nature, so there were now light; nings, and loud and awful voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and a great storm of hail, which had been described as a circumstance attending the divine appearancº, under Rey former dispensations. (Compare Psal. cxiv. 4. et sim.), ſind, thus ushered in, there ap- Rev. xii. 1. And there ap- peared a great wonder in xii. peared a greal sign in heaven, a goman of a beautiful and majestic form, clothed, as it ... "a"...ma.”. 1 were, with the radiance of the meridian sun, streaming forth on aſ sides; which I under- with the sun, and the moon stood as an emblem of the church of Christ, most gloriously arrayed through the comeli- '. Kingdoms of the world, &c.] The learned Grotius, than whom Posth. Serm, vol. iii. p. 293. But itseº probable, that this may be nº". &#####, was ever * mistaken in his explication of this designed to intimate, that in the period of time signified by the seventh joi.jánºſ, sinks the importance of the event here referred to, by truſingt, and the vials followin; tº there, shºuld be a triumph, of the §ºunding it of the liberty given to the christians tº prºs; their reli- christian cause in its power and purity, notwithstanding all the attempts gión in Judea, when the Jews werg.bggished. Víř. Mede and Mr. made to pervert, and corrupt it; which has been, in fact, the case. £jäik"refºr it to the reformation. Dr; Samuel Clarke says; Pºhether Compare chap. vi. ver, 17, note 1): 4 gº. Th w * ji, and the like passages shall have 4 literal, accomplishment, by the uni- n ºff reuſard should be given to thy servants.] I he reward to be given jºgi precalency of the gospel of peace upon earth, 9.9ſily in the new to all that fear God, both small and great, seems tº be the final reward jº, ºherein dicelletſ, righteousness, is a segret in th; breast of Proxi- at the judgment-day. This therefore represents that judgment-day as dence, which we ought not to be over-confident in explaining. See his now nearly approaching, THE WOMAN ATTACKED BY THE GREAT DRAGON. hºhº ness and lustre which he puts upon her: and the moon was under her feet, to signify the SECT. head a crown”** conquest which the church should gain over all sublunary enjoyments and terrors; gnd upon her head there was a crown of twelve stars, to represent the twelve apostles, who had 2 And she being with child been so illustrious an ornament to that honoured society. And to signify the ingre * the christian church, this woman, by which she was represented, being appº preg- criéd, travailing in birth, pained to be delivered. gººd tºod an nant, cried out in travail, and seemed as in violent pangs to be delivered. ...?nd while she other wonder in beaven; behold a great red dragon ; was in these circumstances of extremity, there appeared another sign in heaven; and having seven heads and tº behold! for it was a very memorable phenomenon, there was a great red fiery dragon, horns, and seven crow his heads. *** having seven heads and ten horns ;” and upon his heads seven crowns, on each of them one; which represented Satan, the great enemy of the church, as animating a people, who * * Y - * were to answer, in a remarkable manner, to these mysterious and symbolical characters. 4 And his tail drew , the third part of the stars of hea- .And he appeared as having a long tail; and with it he took an horrible sweep over the §§§º compass of a considerable part of the heaven, on which he seemed to stand; and as it earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to he delivered, for to ed, his tail drew down a third part of the stars of hea which signifies, that many, whose business it was to enlighten and preserve others, should devour her child as soon as it was born. then appeared as decked with stars, whereby christian ministers were especially represent- len, and cast them to the earth ; themselves be corrupted by the attempts of this great and subtle deceiver, whose artifice and rage were so aptly represented by the seducing nature of this vast and voracious dragon. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron : unto God, and to his throne. .4nd the dragon stood directly that when she was delivered he might imme he seemed eagerly to wait. ...And to signify the certain success of the church, and the care God would take to preserve it, she whom I saw in the vision as the representative of it, %. the woman, who was about to bring forth, iately devour her child, for whose appearance ãº.ºhiº.º.up brought forth a masculine son, a male child, who appeared of a vigorous constitution, and l ikely soon to advance to manhood; who, as I then learned, was destined by God to a most glorious triumph over all opposition; so as to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, which they should be unable successfully to resist. .4nd as the strength of this dragon seemed vastly superior to that of the woman, or the new-born infant, her child was, on a sudden, caught up to God, even to his throne, there to be guarded as the charge and fa- vourite of heaven, in full security from all the rage of his furious and destructive enemies. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she i.h...pºij. G. circumstance was represented to me the obscure condition in which true christianity should that they should feed her there a thousand two dred and threescore days. that she might there be nourishe long remain, while antichristian principles and practices every where prevailed. There UIſh– > 5 - - - she dwelt, where she had a place prepared for her by the ever-watchful providence of God, one thousand two hundred [and] sixty days,d for God took care that she should be nourished, though in a wilderness, raising up friends and sup- 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his an- gels fought against the dra- gon; and the dragon fought and his angels, Emmanuel, and his angels, were marshalled on the one side : and they made war against the dragon ; and on the other side, the dragon made war with him; and his angels likewise, consisting of many legions of infernal spirits, in confederacy with the great head of the 8 And prevailed not; nei- ther was t; place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that gld serpent, call- ed the Devil, , and Śatan, which deceiveth the whole world : he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were from his malice, Satan, or the general adversary: he, who deceives the whole world by his cast out with him. saying in heaven, Now is coine salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our Čod, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day an night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, subtle temptations, was cast out of heaven, and sunk down to the earth ; and his confede- rate angels were cast out with him, following him in his ruin, as they had done in his guilt, 10 And I heard a loud voice And I heard a great voice saying in heaven, JVow is come the long expected Salvation: and 10 the power and the kingdom of our God is now exerted and established; and the authority of his Christ shall now prevail against all opposition; because the malignant and perfidious accuser of our brethren is now cast out, who carried his malice to such a height, that he accused them before our God day and ſight: unrestrained by a sense of the divine presence, he was ready, as in the instance of Job, (Job i. 9. ii. 5.) continually to charge them with the greatest evils before him who was indeed the Witness of their integrity. .4nd now 11 .d.º.º.ºr.iof'...i. they have overcome him, formidable as he appeared, with all his confederate angels; and it -- is by the blood of the Lamb they have gained this glorious victory: its sacred efficacy has procured them divine strength and grace ; and the remembrance of it has wrought power- * fully on their souls. .ind their victory has been, under this, in a great measure, occasioned by the word of their testimony; by that word of the gospel to which they had borne their a Dragon having seven heads and ten horns.] I suppose most of my readers will know, that a dragon is a vast serpent of enormous buik ; there is one of them about 23 feet long, preserved in the repository of the Royal Society. And Job, the Célébrated African, assured me, that one of them carried away a live cow in its mouth, before his face: No- thing could be a more proper emblem of the persecuting pºpcr; that by the instigation of Satan attacked christians; or rather, of Satan, as in- stigating these persecuting powers, and those especially of Rome, under its different states, as heathen and christian : for the directing agent was still the same. I apprehend, therefore, that the church is here represent- ed, first as pregnant, to signify its state while the empire was heathen ; the more vigorous state it afterwards arrived to, when such large acces- sions were made to the number of christians, is described by the birth of the child; and its state, when an almost universal corruption was intro- duced, by its abode in the wilderness. The dragon, in the mean time, in all these various successions, labours, if possible, to destroy it; at least to prevent the propagation of its interests. b Masculine son.]. As it was impossible that viov a son should be any other than affeva a male, I conclude, that the conjunction of these two words was intended to express the vigorous constitution of the child, and what we properly call a masculine form, which may, or may not, be joined wit §: male sca. Such was Esau, who from thence had the name of a child fully made. , Gen. xxv. 25. * - * c Into the wilderness.] I think I never met with a wilder interpreta- tion than that which Grotius gives of this place; referring it to the banishment of christianity out of Rome, into little neighbouring towns and villages, (which, in comparison of that § city, might seem a apilderness,) during the time of the seduction of Simon Magus; an event neither certain in itself, nor, if ever so certain, by any means answering to the description here given, and the great and important idea suggested, and so much insisted upon in this prophecy. It is on the same precal. rious principles that he explains the triumph of heaven on casting out tº C dragon, of Simon’s being vanquished in his contest with St. Peter at Rome. d Qne thousand two hundred and sirty days.] These days are years of apal usurpation. Mr. Fleming (who hath the honour herein to be foll owed by Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Lowman, though not as I remem- ber named by the former, whom the latter professes to follow) supposes them to begin in the year 736, when Pepin of France made a grant to the Pope of the temporal dominion of Rome, on the destruction of the gxarchate of Ravenna, to which that imperial city for a while belonged. Upon this the Pope began the eighth head gf Rome; and the period of his continuing so will end about the year 2016 : or if (which seems most ſeasonable) prophetical years be used in the computation, consisting of 360 days, about 2000, which he supposes will be the beginning of the millennium. Flem. Of Res. p. 120. e JVeither pas place found for them any more in heaven.] I once thought this referred to a representation made to the apostle, in the vision, of the first expulsion of Satan from heaven; but upon considering that he, who is represented as cast out of the divine presence, is described as the accuser_gſ the brethren, who had before been accusing them day and night before God; I, was induced to change my mind. On the whole, I am extremely, dubious about this, and refer it to further consideration, whether this may not signify the conquest of Satan by Christ, by the first publication of the j. Mr. Lowman interprets it of the victory over, Satan and his power, when christianity had fully prevailed over heathenism in the empire, and when an effectual stop was put to the Mahometan imposture in these western parts. 927 3 4 5 (Compare 2 Kings xi. 23.) And the woman, his mother, fled into the wilderness,” by which 6 porters for her during that desolate and melancholy time. And there was the appearance 7 of a very formidable war in heaven, and several mighty battles seemed to be fought before my sight; JMichael, the great leader of God's host, and therein an emblem of the great apostasy, made war under him. Nevertheless they did not prevail against the armies of 8 God, neither was place found for them any more in heaven ;* but being unable to stand their ground, they seemed to be expelled, and fall down to the earth. ..And thus the great, 9 furious, and voracious dragon was cast out; ſeven] the old serpent, so long experienced in the arts of mischief; who, from his falsehood, is called the devil, or the false accuser; and ase of REV. XII, 928 THE VISION OF THE Two BEASTs. > pense, for they loved not their live. wnto the death; they exposed thémselves to the greatest dangers, ...'. of º met their death in this glorious conflict; but they fell to rise, and triumph, and reign. And therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye who inhabit them, and, as it were, pitch your tents there; let ail the celestial armies proclaim the victory with joy. But woe to those that in- habit the terraqueous globe, consisting of the earth ºad the eſſ. for the devil is come down to joiſ, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hat, but a short time; and therefore is maliciously bent to make the most he can of it, exerting one powerful' effºrt more to - - \J 1. establish and confirm his cause. .4nd when the dragon saw that he was cast out on the earth, I perceived him to be greatly enraged; and saw that, mindful of the original of the late, War, he persecuted ihe wºman inho had brought forth a male child. T.4nd to signify.the extraordinary provision that should be made for her deliverance, there were immediately given to the woman two wings, like those of a great and strong eagle, that she ºight fly into the wilderness, unto her pittee, which, as I observed before, was appointed fºr her; where, as I said, she is nourisis'', for one thousand two hundred and sixty days; that is, for a time, or one year, gºd tisses, or two years, and half a time, or year, that is, SECT. testimony with so much fidelity, and at so great an ex 15. 14 mony: and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12 Therefore heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, be- cause he knoweth that he ath but a short time. 13 Aud, when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the Woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagles that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the ser- rejoice, ye for three years and a half, which is the sine period. And thus she was hid from the face Qf the serpent, and preserved from his destructive efforts. .4nd the serpent threw out of 15, And the serpent east out his mouth a flood of water, like a rivers after the woman, as she was winging her flight º tºº. ºffº 16 from him, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. And the earth assisted ºntºusºba"...rift the woman; and the earth opened its mouth, and drank up the flood which the dragon threw º helped the gºt of his mouth, so that it sunk as fast as it fell, and cºuld not swell into such a formida- lºº 17 ble current as he seemed to have intended it should. her mouth, and swallowed up the woman, to see all his efforts against her defeated by a superior power; and he went *i; ºf .mºh. Deſht. } 5 3md the dragon was enraged against the fiºiºi iº, 17 And the dragon was away to excite new troubles, and to make war against the woman, and against the remain- wrotſ with the wºn, ...i der of her seed, even as many as might by any means be brought within his reach; nor did ... º; º; he spare any of those who keep the commandments of God inviolable, and have the courage §.P. º.º. to retain, at the greatest expense or hazard, Oſł, diſh w - - - * nave the testi the testimony of Jesus Christ, in his pure, um- ºd;" “” corrupted gospel. IMPROVEMENT. WHATEVER concealed and unknown wonders may be intimated, in some parts of this grand and awful vision, ſer. I in others it contains very obvious and important instructions.—While we are beholding this emblematical repre: 2 sentation of the christian church, let us adore the great original Sun of Righteousness, who has decked her with his glorious beams, and will at length cause every faithful member of this blessed society to shine forth as the sun in his Father's kingdom. And let us be desirous of treading this changeable and uncertain world under our feet. Let us thankfully own the hand which has crowned the church with the apostles, as with a diadem; and, taught 7 by their precepts, and inspired by their example, let us prepare ourselves for that sacred war to which we are called, the war against the devil and his confederate hosts. It is indeed under a very formidable type that he is here represented:—His cruelty, his subtilty, his experience in all the arts of destruction, are painted out with 3 dreadful propriety, in the old serpent, the great dragon; but, formidable as his violence, or artful and potent as the confederacy of infernal spirits may be, here is a victory gained over him, which calls for the congratulation of 9, 10 all the armies of the Lord: the dragon and his angels are cast out; the saints are enabled to triumph over him, feeble and impotent as they are. But in what way are they to overcome him 2 It is by the blood of the Lamb, 11 and by the word of their testimony. Instructive and edifying admonition | Let this be our confidence, even the banner of the cross, the blood of the Saviour, who died upon it; and, in this signal, we shall come off conquerors too; faith in him shall be our shield; the word of God shall be our sword, the sword of the Spirit; and Satan, 15, 16 thus resisted, shall flee before us, (James iv. 7.) In vain are the floods of temptation, which he may, attempt to throw out of his mouth, to debauch our principles or practices; they shall be entirely swallowed up.. And though the church be for a while in the wilderness, it shall be happily sheltered, and tenderly nourished; there its mem- bers shall be in safety, as if they were taken up to God, even unto his throne, till the time which he has appointed for its triumph. in the meanwhile, however the sons of malice, under the instruction and influence of the great accuser of the brethren, may defame them; however persecution . attack and harass them; let them be cºurageºis and undaunted, not loving their lives even to the death, in the cause of Christ; for, though they fall, they shall rise again to certain victory and glory; nor shall death bring down their heads so low, as to render them unworthy of wearing a crown of eternal life. H : I () II. SECTION XVI. The vision of the two beasts, and the outrages committed by them. Rev. xiii. throughout. * REVELATION xiii. 1. .A.V.D I stood upon the sand of the sea, as I apprehended, in the vision, and saw a fierce and savage beast ascending out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horris; to intimate the city ºf Rome standing upon seven hills, and the ten kingdoms into which its domin- ions were to be divided; and upon his horns [were] ten diadems; to signify the royal power that was to be found in each; and on his heads [there were] names of blasphemy," such names as it was most profane and blasphemous to assume. - * 2 And the beast which 1 saw .4nd the beast which I saw was, as to the form of the greater part of its body, like a was like into a º *: eopard, and its feel [were] like those of a bear, to signify its exceeding great fierceness; ;..."; *...*.*.*. and its mouth was like the mouth of a roaring and furious lion; and the dragon, who still mouth of a lion; and the dra- RE v. xiii. 1. AND I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon , his horms, tem crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. SECT. 16. IREV. XIII. 2 a Savage begst.] This I understand of the papal power, as exercised by the Bishop of Rome, supported by his regular clergy, and by those ser cular princes, who havé given up their name and power to him. And when the dragon is said to give him his power and throne, &c. (vgr. 2.), it intimates, that he should have his seat or residence there, where the dragon had reigned, even at Rome; which had been the seat of idolatry and persecution during its pagan state. - - b $º. of biasphºny.) They must have very little acquaintance with the arrogant titles which have been assumed or, admitted by the popes, who discern not in them a very remarkable, illustration of this circumstance of the prophecy.—Instead of ovoua, the common reading, I think ovopara, names, in the plural, which is supported by the autho- rity of the Alexăndrian and other manuscripts, to be preferable. f ſºy into the wilderness.] This is the same event that was represerted var. (5. - - - • * g A ſlood of icater, like a river.] Perhaps this is one of the artifices which these enormous creatures make use of to beat doign their prey, when flying #. them ; though I cannot, at present, remember any assage that illustrates it. - * - * : - - -- P; The carth assisted the poinan, &c.] This may, intimate that, not- withstanding all the violent and crieſ attemppis, of Satan, and of those persecuting powers whom he instigates, God will raise up some persons (and perhaps, as Mr. Lowman observes, it may mean, some persons of power and authority in the world) to protect his loitnesses, and secure many of those who faithfully retain the testimony of Jesus; and to pre- vent pure religion from being entirely overborne, and lºst. And this has been, in fact, the case in many nations ; and particularly in this. ſº gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death ; and his deadly wound was healed : and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power un- to the beast : and they wor- Shipped the beast, saying, V fio is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him 3 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies ; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. . 7 And it, was given, unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them : and power was , given him over all , kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leadeth into cap- tivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth, with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12 Ånd he exerciseth all the ower of the first beast before }. and causeth the , earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great won- ders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by, the incans of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast ; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, an did live. 15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the THE VISION OF THE TWO BEASTs. appeared on the visionary scene, that is, the devil, gave him, by solemn delegation, his over, and his throme, and great authority in his kingdom ; so that this beast seemed to e constituted his vicegerent; however he might pretend to represent a very different person. - .#nd I saw one ſ his heads wounded, as it were, to death; that is, in such a manner, that a recovery seemed impossible; to signify those early efforts which should be Inade, to put a stop to the usurpation, cruelties, and blasphemy, represented by these heads, and the names written on them. ..And yet its mortal wound, as one would have thought it must have proved, was unaccountably healed. ...And the whole earth wondered at so strange an event, [and] they [followed] after the wild beast, thinking a greater argument of its extraor. dinary power arose from its cure, than could have taken place, had he never been wounded at all.” And they, that is, the inhabitants of the earth, worshipped the dragon who gave his authority to the wild beast; and they worshipped the wild beſist, even as with God-like adoration, saying, Who, that pretends to deity in heaven, or earth, [is] like unto the beast 3 or who can ever presume to make war against him, since his power is so well established, without hazard of immediate or certain destruction ? ..ſind there was given to it, that is, to this monster, a mouth, speaking great things, and blasphemies, as with a human voice ; to signify that it was influenced by that being, who, assuming the form and organs of a brute, had used the power of speech for the most mischievous purposes. ..?nd there was also given unto it power to make ward with the saints with some apparent advantage, for the term above mentioned, of forty-two months; that is, one thousand twelve hundred and sixty prophetic days or years. And he opened his infernal mouth to utter blasphemy against God, even to blaspheme his holy and venerable name, and his tabernacle pitched among men; and, not only did he speak malignant things against the inhabitants of the earth, but even against those that dwell in heaven.” (Compare Dan. xi. 36.) .4nd it was, by divine permission, given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them for a time; and so universal was the success of his pernicious undertakings, that it seemed 929 SECT. 16. REV XIII. 3 5 6 7 as if there was given to him power over every tribe, and tongue, and nation. And all the 8 inhabitants of the earth shall be so deluded with his artifices, or intimidated by his terrors, that they shall worship him,ſ that is, all whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, who was slain ; for some were registered in that book even from the foundalion of the world:5 and they shall, by a secret energy, be preserved in the midst of so general and ruinous a defection. If any one has an ear to hear, let him attentively hear this; for it is a matter of a most important nature, and the most surprising phenomenon which can be imagined, that such an idolatrous and persecuting power should arise in the christian church, and that God should suffer it so far to prevail. Nevertheless, God will not forget the injuries his people sustain; but if any one lead [them] into captivity, he shall be led into captivity himself by a superior power, which he shall not be able to resist; and if any one slaj others with the sword of injustice and cruelty, he shall himself be slain with the sword of divine vengeance, when God comes to make inquisition for blood. In the mean time, while they are waiting for his appearance, here is a sufficient exercise for the patience and the faith of the saints : it is the greatest trial to which they were ever brought; let them therefore consider themselves as called out by God to it, and be assured that he will limit it both as to its duration and degree, in a manner answerable to the purposes of his infinite wisdom, and of his peculiar love to them. And, to represent a very crafty and insidions power, which should join with the former, and greatly abet its sanguinary persecutions, I saw another beasth ascending out of the earth;i and it had two horns like a lamb; but, whatever gentleness there might be in that circumstance of its appearance, it spake like a dragon. And such is the nature of their alliance, that it exercises all the power of the first beast, in its presence; and it makes the earth, and those that dwell in it, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed, whose interest, which seemed so much endangered, was greatly revived, being thus powerfully abetted and supported. ..?nd he, in order to confirm his subtle pretences to lord it over the consciences of men, does great miracles, so as even to make fire come down from heaven to earth before men ; strange artifices he has, to persuade them of his being endowed with more than natural powers, and that the vengeance of heaven will be armed against all that oppose him! ..?nd he decciveth the inhabitants of the carth, by the signs which it is given him to do before. the beast; commanding the inhabitants of the earth to make an image of the beast that had the wound of the sword and yet lived; that is, he teaches men to extol, and almost adore, that which in itself is most contemptible and detestable. ..?nd it was given to him, by a divine permission, to give spirit and breath, as it were, to the image of the beast, that the c Never been wounded at all.]. It is certain that ineffectual efforts to foundation of the cººrld, Matt. xxv. 34. And, laying these things to: recover the liberty and purity of the church, have sometimes been in- proved into occasions of further usurpations; and many have been inti- iiiidated by thern from making any further attempts. et they are not o:\tirely destitute of their good effects, as they at least deliver the souls of those who have exerted their utmost ability in making thern and fuay afterwards be productive of better fruits and consequences. Power to make war : 70\suoy Rouma at..]- Our translators have fol- lowed those copies which omit the word 7c)-pop, and have rendered rot m3 at, continue : a sense which, it must be owned, it sounetimes bears, particularly, Acts. xv. 33. Nx. 3, but I havo chosen to rely on those copies which retain the word FoxSpov. See ver, 7. e ‘I’īuose that dicell in heavcn.] It is very injurious to the saints and angels, whºm they are represented as desirous of attracting to themselves that forship which ought to be appropriated to God ; and nothing worse can be imagined of them, than that they should be delighted with such services as are paid them in the Romish ritual. - - ſ. The inhabitants ºf the earth shall purship him.] The extravagant idolatry here mentioned, is very suitable to the temper and practice of those who, in order to avoid persecution, comply with the claims and demands of the papal power, contrary to their conscience ; for it is the language of sº a compliance, that the acrath of men is more to be dreaded than that of God himself. . g. Registered from the foundation of the world..] I am well aware of what has been said to justify the sense which these words must have, if taken in connexion with those which immediately precede them; but, after all, it is very harsh to say, Christ icus slain from_the foundation of the ºld He is in another place called simply, the Lamb slain, (Rey. v. 12.) and a * is said to be prepared for good men from the 7 gether, ſ think it abundantly sufficient to justify the interpretation I have here given; especially when compared with another passage in this book, (chap. xvii. 8.) whose names uſcre not written in the book of life, from thc foundation ºf the icorld. Mr. Pierce thinks it is an allusion to the custom of registering the actions of worthy persous, as Mal. iii. 17. un- doubtedly is ; and that this book of life is, as it were, the catalogue of good men that have lived in all ages. Pierce, on Phil. iv. ut I cannot be of opinion, that this exhausts the full mueaning of the expression. h .Another beast.] As I look upon the former to be the papal powcrº I am ready, with the best crities I know, to interpret this of the reſi- girits orders of the church ºf Rome, (particularly that of the Jesuits,) who have many of then temporal estates and jurisdictions added to their spiritual, and thus have greatly supported the papacy. i Out of the earth.) This beast is said to ascend from the earth, whereas the other ascended from the sca, to make the distinction between them the more remarkable; but what other mystery may be suggested, Cânlı Ot. COn JeClure. k Great miracles.) The artful impostures, which the regular clergy, that is, the several orders of monks, and especially the Jesuits, have used to persuade the people of the truth of their pretended rhiracles and revelations, seem to be finely delineated by this otherwise amazing de- SCTI ptloſ). l Image of the heast.] What the image of the beast is, distinct from the beast itself, [confess I know not ; and therefore interpret the expressions, making an image, and giving it breath, &c. of idolizing ille, power of the pope, and compelling persons to pay homage to it, and Qºy the gºiºts it published. "And all the enormous füry of the inquisition, which is maſſaged by one of the regular orders included in this reprosentation, 9 I 4 930 THE VISION OF THE LAMB UPON MOUNT SION. SECT. image of the beast might speak with an audible voice. And, so zealous and powerful is he heast, that the image ºf the - 5 east should both speak, and 16. in abetting this cause, that by this its oracle he should cause as many as will not worship ...º.º.º.º.º. ii the image of the beast to be put to death. ..And he causeth all, of every rank and condition, §§§ º of the *. both small and great, rich and poor, freemen and slaves, to receive the mark of this detestable is Aſſºus: º both 17 power on their right hand, or their foreheads, in token of becoming, its subjects and pro- #;": ;º: perty. And so rigorously is this enforced, that no one should be able to buy or sell, but one who has some such trace of the mark,” or the name of the heast, or the number, which is equivalent to the numeral letters of his name, and which I thought, in the vision, I saw §§ the 18 impressed on the hands and foreheads of many. Herein is a great effort of wisdom; let ...º.” him therefore, whoever he be, who hath an enlarged and penetrating understanding, beyond hi. . . .ºn; what is, common, compute the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man,” or the ºbº j numeral letters in the name of a man, and his number is, and amounts, on the whole, to ...";..."; ; ; six hundred and sixty-six; which I leave to the intelligent reader to decipher. . his number is Six hun- IMPROVEMENT. red threescore and six. *Ver. WHQ EVER is the beast intended, and whatever be meant by his image, his character, beyond all controversy, is 6, 7 very odious and detestable; for he is represented as blasphéming the name of God, and his tabernacle, and as making war with the Saints. There have arisen such impious monsters in the christian church, and none among them Rave been more openly and enormously wicked and profane, than those who have made the loudest preten- sions to be the vicegerents of Christ, and invested with his whole authority. Many of the saints of God have 10 seemed to have been overcome by this antichristian tyranny; many have been led into captivity; many have been slain with the sword: but those who took them captive, continuing impenitent, shall be taken, and the slay- 8 ers slain. O may our names be written in the Lamb's book of life! then shall we be secure in the midst of all these formidable evils; and, from every trial of our faith and patience, shall come out as gold seven times puri- fied.—Let us not be troubled and offended, to discern these usurpations in the course of divine providence pre- 17 Vailing, and the time actually come in many parts of the world, in which men can neither buy nor sell, nor are º to enjoy any other natural or civil privilege, if they will not give up their names to the beast, receive is mark, and implicitly submit to his authority. The prophecy justly removes all offence which might be taken at the event; and discerning its accomplishment, we may ñºliº our hopes, that the triumphs of divine jus- 11 tice over these ministers of the dragon, as they are also foretold, will be fulfilled with the like punctuality. And 13, 14 Q may the church of God be secured from their artifices, and fortified against their terrors; and in his own due 12 time, may he break the jaw-bone of the wicked 1 May he utterly disarm all the power and policy of those who take counsel together against the Lord and his Anointed; and though their confederacies may seem to mock all human opposition, yet at his appearance, they shall melt away as snow before the sun, when the time to remem- ber Sion, yea, the set time, is come. (Psalm cii. 13.) mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: s 17 And that no man might SECTION XVII. The vision of the Lamb standing upon mount Sion, surrounded with those whom he had redeemed; and of several mighty angels, proclaiming his vengeance upon the beast, and upon those that worship him. Rev. xiv. throughout. - REVELATION xiv. 1. - . . - : REv. xiv. 1. SECT. A.VD while these terrible objects were before me, I looked, and beheld another object, AND I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount 17. which animated my heart under the alarm and distress they gave me: for, behold, the ſº. with him, an hun- - Lamb was standing upon mount Sion, which was represented to me also in my vision, as flººrºº: sº the place on which the temple that had been opened in heaven stood; and with him weae º 'ºhº.i.a.” 1 one hundred forty-four thousand, who, in opposition to the name of the beast, which was SO º imposed, and by many received with so base a submission, had the name of God his Father written on their foreheads, in token of their inviolable submission and 2 entire dedication to him. And I heard a vowee out of heaven, which was loud as the sound of many waters, when tossing themselves in the ocean, and like the sound of great thunder: and loud and awful as it was, it was accompanied with a most delightful harmony; for heard the voice of harpers playing upon their harps, aiding their instruments with the 3 melody of their voices. And they sung, as it were, a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders, who, in this vision, still appeared to be present; and none could learn the song, wriless the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who were redeemed from the earth, and are as representatives of the whole body of the re- 4 deemed. These are pure and unspotted souls, free from the idolatries and other abomi- nations which have been so prevalent in the age in which they live ; or, to speak in the prophetic language, these are they who have not been #. with women ; for they are chaste virgins:* these are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth; and having humbly traced his footsteps upon earth, shall be led by him to the possession of various - and ever new delights in the celestial world. These are they, who were redeemed from #."º"Gº"...",". among men, [as] the first-fruits, consecrated to God and to the Lamb ; most excellent in Lamb. their kind, and separate from every unclean or profane use, to the immediate honour of 5 And in their mouth was 5 God, and of their Redeemer.b And no deceit, or evil of any kind, was found in their found no *... º.º. º. mouth, for they are entirely blameless before the throne of God, and exalted to that world, i.f{... " " 2 And l heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder : and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: - 3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne àojībefore the four bºasts, and the elders : and no man could learn that song but the hun- dred and forty and four thou- sand, which were redeemed from the earth. - 4 These are they which were not defiled with women ; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever , he goeth. These were redeemed from namely, the Dominigan, is a remarkable verification of the following part xii. 6, note q,) was to happen about 666 years after, the date of the, Reve- of the prophecy, of its causing all that would not ºcorship it to be put to 5. lations, * And this P take to be the grand key by which the era of the ſall of Babylon is to be calculated, as it fixes the rise of the beast to l. m Receive the mark.] I have elsewhere observed, (Serm. to Young People, Serm. iv. p. 79.) that it was customary to mark soldiers and slaves with some impressions, either on their hands or foreheads, by which they might be known to belong to their respective masters or commanders; and idolaters, with the signature of the god they worshipped. Perhaps this may particularly refer to the sacraments which the people are obliged, on the highest penalties, to receive from the popish priests, and which none can receive without such superstitious id idolatrous rites as are, in effect, worshipping the image of beast. - - n. The number,0ſ a man, &c.) Of all the various interpretations given to this text{which it would be endless to enumerate, and much more to can- vass, I find none that pleases me so well, as that of Sir Isaac Newton; that the words, Xareavos, and non-Y, the man ºf Latium, or of Rome, whose numeral letters, taken together, make 666, are here reſerred to. And I suppose this number is mentioned to signify, that the appearance of that powder, whose efforts were to continue 1230 vears. (compare chap. the year 756, or thereabouts, when, upon the destruction of the exar- chate of Ravenna, the pope became a temporal monarch : that is, in prophetic language, a beast. See many other conjectures in Limborch’s Theol. 7. xi. i. Mr. Potter thinks the number referred to is the cube root of 666, namely, 25; (which has led Dr. More to fix upon number 12, relating to the church of Christ, and number 25, relating to antichrist;) and concludes further, that the exact cube is not mentioned, to prevent too sudden a discovery. Compare More’s Theol. p. 134. Grotius’s re- ferring it to Trajan, is very ungrounded in every view. • a They are virgins.] ... This probably signifies their freedom from idol atry, which i. in a spiritual sense, fornication; nor can it, with any rea- son, be urged against marriage. . - - - º b '#'...}. excellent in their kind, &c.). That the Jewish first- Jruits had this property, Yºg. from comparing the following 9xts rejating to them: jeút.xviii. 4. Exod. xxii. 29. Numb. xviii. 12. Micah vii. 1 !ompare James i. 18. 'i'HE VISION OF THE LAMIB UPON MOUNT SION. 93} where he reigns in perfect purity, as well as divine glory, nor can any thing unclean be SECT. admitted in his presence. 17. 5 And I saw another angel And I saw another gº angel, flying with strength and rapidity through the midst — - th lst f - -- y tº- * * * * º É.i. |. *ś of heaven,” having in his hand the volume of a book, which he displayed, as with an air REY. to preach unto them that * º -> r - hi. XIV. º; ºf complacency and triumph, even the everlasting gospel, to preach to the inhabitants & tººdred,and the earth, even to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, aſid people, dispersed over the world. tongue, an eople, - - - "- ºr - in º *:::...ºud voice, And as he passed I heard him making proclamation of its important contents, and saying 7 Feargº aid givºlory to with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him with becoming reverence and submis- him ; for the hour of his judg- * *. º ji'. ...'...'...; Sion, for the hour of his judgments is come, when he shall execute vengeance on his ene- ºhºle havº º mies, and worship him who made heaven and earth and sea, and the limpid fountains of earth, and the sea, and the - º - • s ºr -- d fountains of waters. waters, which are derived from it, and flow back into it. And another great angel followed 8 oiº him crying out, as with the voice of exultation and triumph, saying, It is fallen, it is is fillen, is faileº, that great fallen, ſeven] Babylon, the great city, a city famous as Babylon of old, when it was at the ; :"...'...} height of its power and glory: God in his righteous vengeance hath brought it down, be- the wrath of her fornication. cause it made all the nations drink of the wine of its raging fornication, till they were stimu- **º third anºfol; lated thereby to the most scandalous and furious excessés. And the third angel followed 9 lowed them, saying with a . - º - - joi."ºriº"...a..."...o.º them both, saying with a loud voice, If any one, how strong soever the temptation may have ..P. ºº'."; been, worship the beast, and his image, and receive the mark on his forehead, or on his hand;d forchead, or in his hand, if he subject himself to this wicked and idolatrous form of religion, and obstinately persist - in it, notwithstanding the light which God is giving to discover its errors and supersti- 10.The same shall drink of tions; He also shall himself drink of the wine of the indignation of God, which is tempered 10 - x - e. - - - - * • 8–5 • 5 - §§§. º; with various ingredients of wrath, without any mixture of mercy, in the cup of his wrath; #.º.º.º."##"; and he shall be formented with fire and brimstone, in the day of God's future vengeance, in tº with anii.fi. the presence of the holy angels,” and in the presence of the Lamb;f whose religion has so §º. º: º been perverted and dishonoured, even by those who pretend entirely to have sence of the Lamb : engrossed it: ...And the smoke of their forment ascendeth for ever and ever, without any 11 !- - c. e º - “… . . toº period; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship ille beast and his image, and who- *::::::::...º.º.º. 9 ever, in contempt of the authority and testimony of God, receive the mark of his name,é as & § * "I) - - - * t - - §§§ jś, the badge of their devotedness to him. In the mean time, these deceivers shall have their ;º.”th the day, when all the terrors of secular power shall enforce their impious and iniquitous de- lº, i.º.º.º.º. ºes. And here is the patience of the saints; here [are] the triumphs of those who keep 12 #.º ####". the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, and are determined to maintain the Gºgºlf ºf esſ. purity of the gospel amidst these formidable efforts to corrupt it. ...And I heard a voice 13 fr;, i.e. j. jr. from heaven, saying to me, Write this for the instruction of mankind in the most distant- Wººle; effºrt tº lººd ages, Henceforthh blessed [are] the dead, that die in the Lord: so numerous, and so va- which die in the Lord from . * , e. : ~ 1. • - - Hºrčić"yº, ºth": rious, are the calamities which persecuting powers shall bring upon the saints, that there §º... º. is abundant reason to congratulate those who are taken out of this vexatious, oppressive from their labours; and their * - - - 7. * - - 5 works do follow them. and afflictive world, whether by a natural or by a violent death; Yea, saith the Spirit, by whose inspiration and command I record it, they are assuredly blessed; for they are re- moved, that they may for ever rest from their labours and their sorrows; and their works of piety and goodness, though so ill requited here, shall not be forgotten, but shall follow them into the presence of God, shall be acknowledged there in the most condescending manner, and through the riches of divine mercy, recompensed with eternal §º Ac- cordingly, let this remembrance of their faith and patience, in connexion with this tran- 14 And I lºoked, and be scendent reward, encourage and animate their surviving brethren to imitate their examples. , - . l - - º hº ". . And I saw, and behold, another remarkable appearance offered itself to my view; a white 14 §§§º cloud, shining with wonderful lustre and beauty; and on the cloud one sitting, who seemed head a golden crown, and in : * ~~ - - - 8.2 º 5 his hand a sharpsickie. by the majesty of his form, to be like the Son of man, as represented in Daniel; having on olden crown, and in his hand, instead of a sceptre, a sharp sickle ; so that he 15 And another angel came his head a g- out of the temple, crying with § - - ..º.º.º.º. i. seemed to be going forth, as to some wonderful harvest. And as soon as I had viewed 15 on the cloud, hrust. In thy sickle, and reap: for the time him, another angel came out of the temple of God, crying with a loud voice, to him that sat is come for the to reapi fºr upon the cloud, †ut Jorth thy sickle, and reap, for the season of thy reaping is come, because the harvest of the earth is the harvest h º * - :* - 7 s Tº 8.5 e "º And he that sat on t . arvest ºf the earth is now fully ripe. (Compare Joel iii. 13.) Execute therefore this In Ci in C tº) at Salt Oil the rºl (n L- cº,"; judgment, O thou mighty Messenger of God, which the wickedness of the world hath ºth; and the earth was righteously deserved. And, accordingly, he that sat upon the cloud, put forth his sickle on 16 Ieape *Adanotherangel came the earth, with strength and rapidity; and the harvest of the earth was presently reg ed; but of the temple which is in signifying, that the execution of the threatened vengeance should be very speedy. But it #sº *** * * seemed that the vintage yet remained to be gathered in. ...And, in reference to this, another 17 €. - * lºº.º.º. angel came out of the temple that was in heaven ; and he also was armed as the other, like out from the altar, which had hè £ - * : * > , , = e §. . §§§ º the Son of man, and a sharp sickle in his hand. ..?nd another angel, just at that in- 18 Wºrth a loud VOICe t O illnī Lha - • .*** - • - * - q .*.*.*.*.*... stant, ame from the altar, having, as it seemed, power over the fire ºf it; and he, called º: out with a great cry to him, who had the sharp sickle, saying, Put forth thy sharp sickle, and **ś º "...?"; lop off the clusters of the vine, which grows upon, and extends itself almost over, the earth, sºns in Jo, its grapes are ripe; and the persons represented by it have so abused the divine long- A Ti ( tll S * - - - - - hijºi suffering, that it is proper the season of their destruction should commence. ...And accord- 19 gathered the vine of the earth, º the angel, with celerity and vigour, thrust out his sickle upon the earth, and lopped and cast it into the great wine- • - - pºss of the ºth of Sod" off the grapes from the vine of the earth; and he threw [them] into the great wine-press of c. Angel flying, &c.] The flight ºf an angel admirably represents the of protestant churches, which they, in their consciences, think to be sin- swiftness of that progress by which the gospel, dispersed itself over the ful remains of popish superstition and corruption, would seriously at- whole world, as Archbishop Tillotson well observes. See his Works, tend to this passage, which is one of the most dreadful in the whole flook vol. ii. p. 144. of God, and weigh its awful contents, that they may keep at the great- d On his hand.] Compare $ 16, note m. est possible distance from this horrible curse, which is sufficient to make e Presence of the holy angels.] From hence Mr. Reynolds conjec- the eqrs of £vºy, one that hears it tº tingle. Comparé Jer, xxv. 15, 16 tures, that possibly the torments of the damned may, at certain seasons, h Henceforth;) .The learned Witsius understands this to mean, from through eternal ages, become a spectacle to the inhabitants of the blessed the time of their death ; as if it had been said, (airaptis) immedi- world above. See his Qucries concerning Angels, p. 305. gtely after their dissolution they are blessed. Wits., CEcon. Ford. 3. xiv. f Presence of the Lamb.) This signifies (as Dr. Clarke well observes) 21. And Mr. Baxter observes, their works are said to follow with them, that it shall not only be appointed by the infinite Majesty, of God, the per’ avrov, not to come many thousand years after them. - righteous Judge of all, but approved moreover by men, and angels, and i JDie in the Lord.] Archbishop Tillotsou interprets this chiefly of by him also, who loved us, into death, even Christ, that ºnerciful and those who die martyrs in the cause of Christ; who, no doubt, are in- compassionate High Priest. Clarke’s Posth. Serm. vol. i. p. 341. cluded. But I §. the phrase more extensive. There is, perhaps g. The Smoke of their torment—who worship the beast, §§ When I an allusion, to the words of Solomon, Eccl. iv. 2. I praised the de #. reflect on this text, and how directly the force of it lies against already dead, rather than the living yet alive, in time of extrège dégène- those who, contrary to the light of their consciences, continue in the racy and bitter persecution. See his Works, vol. ii. p. 183-Bishop communion of the church of Rome, for secular advantage, or to avoid the Burnet, (On the Articles, p. 200.) and many other, protestant writers, terror ºf persecution ; it almost makes, me tremble ; and I heartily wish, have justly urged this text, as demonstrative against the popish doctrina that all others, who connive at those things in the discipline and worship of purgatory. - - - * *- ~ -- 93.2 SECT. the wrath of God, which seemed to stand ready to receive them. ...And the wine-press, [which stood] out of the city, was trodden with great violence; and the blood of the grape, which I knew betokened the blood of those who were enemies to God and his 17. REV. 20 Ver. THE SEVEN VIALS, WITH THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES. came out of the wine-press in such abundance, that it made a kind of inundation, 20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and l blood came out of §: }. eOpie, press, even unto the horse P. 5 És. by the space of a 1R6 a thousand and six hundred vast river or sea, and reached up even to the bridles of the horses, which attempted to pass furiongs. the channel through which it flowed, at the distance of one thousand six hundred furlongs.l. In such an amazing extent and quantity was the effusion of blood represented to me in vision. (Compare Isa. lxiii. 3.) IMPROVEMENT. IN what awful characters is the righteous vengeance of God here described! How quickly do his haughtiest 15–20 enemies fall before him, like corn before the sickle, or clusters of grapes before the knife! His wine-press shall indeed be trodden, and the blood of his enemies shall overflow; but blessed are all they that put their trust in him, and look to him, who trod the wine-press alone, and who distinguishes himself by the title of him, who is mighty to save, and who travels in the greatness of his strength. (Isa. lxiii. 1–3.) quish all the enemies of his people; but, to his faithful followers, 1 of the Lamb their Redeemer, to whose honour their voices and their harps shall resound. - Arrayed in terror, he will van- will appear with the gentleness of the Lamb, O how happy are 3, 4 those souls, who by his special love, being redeemed from among men, and having humbly traced the steps of his purity and goodness on earth, shall in the heavenly world follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes! Let us be accordingly engaged to preserve ourselves unspotted from the world, and to walk worthy of so exalted a hope 5 and expectation; to keep our mouths from every deceit, that we may be found blameless in the presence of God 6, 7 and of the Lamb. God hath granted us the everlasting gospel, on purpose that we might be taught to fear him, and to give glory to his name; to worship him as the great Creator and righteous Governor of the Universe: and while we are under the conduct of his providence, and devoted to his service, let nothing discourage or disma 8–10 us. Though for the present we see that Babylon is triumphant, though its patrons are making themselves drunk with the blood of his saints, a very different cup is prepared for her, and will assuredly be given her to drink; even the cup of the wrath of God, poured forth without mixture; while blessings, inconceivable and eternal, are 12 reserved for those that suffer for righteousness' sake. Let the patience, therefore, of those who keep the command- ments of God, and the faith of Christ, be invincible; for their fiercest and most formidable enemies can only kill 13 the body; and, having done that, can neither prevent nor delay the blessedness of the dead that die in the Lord. SECT. A.VD I saw another great and wonderful st 18. XV, 3 ful presence and assistance which had rendered them victorious. And they sung the song of Moses, the faithful and beloved servant of God, and the song of Jesus the Lºmb, who had bought them with his blood.” They celebrated the triumph they had gained over the proud enemy, with a joy like that with which Israel of old, at the Red Sea, celebrated the destruction of the haughty and cruel Egyptians, by the immediate and glorious inter- 4 The infallible Spirit has said it, the blessed apostle hath, by divine command, recorded it, for the instruction and triumph of his people in all ages, that they rest from their labours, and that their works follow them; while those 11 that persecuted and hated them, rest not day nor night; but the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and 9 ever, And O ! that numbers of those who worship the beast, and who receive its image, may be awakened, while the day of their visitation continues; lest they also, after having dealt damnation, in their arrogant censures 10 upon men of much purer faith and holier lives than themselves, be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the pre- sence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. - SECTION XVIII. The appearance of seven angels, with seven vials, full of the seven last plagues; and the pouring out of the three first vials, with their conse- - quent effects. Rev. xv. 1, to the end; xvi. 1–7. REVELATION xv. 1. will demand that of the reader: seven angels, orm in heaveſ who had the seven last plagues; so called, because in them the wrath of God was to be completed; and because they refer to some of REv. the last judgments, which he shall pour forth on the enemies of the church, before the time of its most illustrious triumph. And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass;”, a great crystal ves- sel, like the sea in Solomon's temple; and it was so irradiated with the reflection of that light which fell upon it from the throne of God, that its waves seemed mingled with fire. ..And those who overcame the beast,b and his image, and steadfastly refused, though at the expense of their possessions and lives, amidst so many, who were devoted to him, to re- ceive his mark, [and] the number of his name, I saw standing by the sea of glass, having the REy. xv. 1. l, which fixed my attention, and AND I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, sc ven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. 2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire : and them that had got- ten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the num- er of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harp3 of God. harps of God in their hands; with which they were celebrating his praises, for that power- 3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvel- lous are thy works, Lord God AJmighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. position of the divine power, saying, “Great and wonderful [are] thy works, both of judg- ment and of mercy, O Lord 6.3% .Almighty; nor dost thou use thine Almighty power to oppress any, the meanest of thy creatures; on the contrary, perfectly righteous and, true [are] all thiſ ways and administrations, Q King of saints, who art thyself supremely holy, as well as able name pººl. come and worship before thee, in token of the humblest Who should not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thiſ great and ador-o because [thou] only [art] holy; and, in thy presence, the holiness of all other beings disappears, as unworthy to be mentioned or remémbered. Surely all nations shall 4 Who shall not fear thee, ord, and glorify thy name 2 for thou only art holy: for all nations shall coine and s - worship before thee; for thy adoration, because thy righteous k One thousand siz hundred furlongs.) As a furlong is one eighth of a mile, this would amount to 200 miles. This representation, like the dimension of that temple which Ezekiel sayſ, may seem, extravagaptly jarge, and such as the eye, in vision, could not possibly judge of...I look upon it, therefore, as only an hyperbolical expression, to signify its exceeding greatness ; unless possibly it may Fº out the dimension of that country over which the judgment should extend, which is here prophetically referred to. Though perhaps it, may only intimate in general, that after the antichristian powers had long oppressed and per- secuted the saints, the power of §: should humble and destroy them; and therefore they are represented as a harvest ripe and fit for reaping, &c. the measure of their iniquities being full. Af a Sea of glass.] Some explain this in a different manner, as if there were properly a sea, seeming to lie before the ground which appeared in the vision, through which they had passed who now stood upon the shore of it: and they suppose the glass to represent the frail nature of this world; and the fire, the mixture of calamity and misery to which they had been exposed, beſore they arrived at the state of security and happiness in which they then were. Many other interpretations have also been given. But the consideration of what I bave said elsewhere, of the reference to the scenery of the temple, determined me to the inter- pretation I have preferred. . . . - - º Overcame the beast.] It is, in the original, ek tº 6mpts, which Dr Clarke would translate, gut of the midst of the beast; that is, adhering steadfastly to the true religion, in the midst of an idolatrous and corrupt nation. See his Post. Serm. vol. iii. p. 86. - - c Song of jíoses—and gf the Lamb.]. That is, saith Mr. Mede, upon the conversion of all nations from idolatry, they sang a song of congra- tulation to Moses and Jesus, whose doctrine had so directly opposed it. Medeon Luke xi. 2. But I think this a very low tºº Wł: G- ever diligently observes the contents of the song of JMoses, Exod. xv. will find many expressions finely adapted to the occasion here supposed. And if it were true, as Maimonides tells us, that the song of JMoses was sung daily in the temple-service, it may be considered as a beautiful illustration of this circumstance, agreeable to the general plan pursued in these visions. THE POURING OUT OF THE THREE FIRST VIALS. judgments are made mani- eSt. 5. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: 6 And the seven angels game out of the temple, hav- ing the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and in a yet more illustrious degree.” the testimony, was opened again in heaven: the most holy place, which, since, the vision I before described, had been veiled again, being now subjected to my view. .1nd the sever, angels, who had the seven plagues already mentioned, came out of the inner apartment of the temple, as from the immediate presence of God; and like the high-priest on the day having their bºast" ºrij of his most sacred ministration, they were clothed with pure and shining tººk ;] only with golden girdles. with this difference, that whereas he had on this day only his linen girdle on, and con- ! tinued in that dress till the time of the evening sacrifice, they were girded about the breasis 7 Andone of the four beasts with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures, which I have so often mentioned, fº.º.º.º. gave to the seven angels seven golden vials, or censers, full of the wrath of the great and Yºgº, who liveth for lessed God, who liveth for ever and ever; and therefore is to be regarded as the most §'Aºûmple was filled formidable Enemy, as well as the most desirable Friend, to immortal beings. And agree- 㺠º ably to that wonderful event, which happened when God first took possession of the taber- and nº man was alie to enter nacle and of the temple, (Exod. xl. 34. 1 Kings viii. 10. 2 Chron. v. 14. Isa. vi. 4.) the §§§"... temple was full of smoked which came from the glory of God, and from the symbol of his were fulfilled. ower. And no one could enter into the temple, till the seven plagues, which were significă y the vials of the seven angels, were finished; and, till they had emptied them by the divine Rev. xvi. 1...And I heard command. And I then heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, ºś, whom I have described above, Go, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God, with which 3o your ways, and |...}é. the vials of the wrath o upon the earth. they are intended to punish. 2 And the first went, and * .And the first angel, in obedience to this divine injunction, went forth, and poured out E.; º;"; his vial º the earth; and there was a malignant and grievous ulcer, which broke out in 3. * -- * &. y jºine and jºyºus, sº upº large and dreadful scars, wºon the men who had the mark of the beast, and them, who wor- the *hich had the * -, - * * * T ºf $ * , ºr §º shipped his image, and they were extremely tormented with it, and found it incurable. which worshipped his image. (Compare Exod. ix. 8–10.)” 3 Apd the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead anan; and every living soul died in the Seal. 4 And the third angel pour- ed out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, 'be- cause thou hast judged thus. putrefaction, like that of a dead [man ;] and every living soul [that was] in the sea died; the fish were immediately destroyed, and the sea appeared a most gloomy and terrible spectacle.f. (Compare Exod. vii. 20.) ...And the third angel bore a commission to spread the same terrible calarnity over all the fresh waters; and, accordingly, he poured forth his vial on the rivers, and on the fountains % water, and they also became blood; as the sea had done on pouring out the vial of the ormer angel. And I heard the angel of the waters,é who seemed to be appointed to have the care of them, instead of repining at what was done, adoring the hand of God in it, and saying, Most righteous art thou, O Lord, who art, and who wast, the same immutable and everlasting Jehovah; and [thou art] holy,h because thou hast judged these, and exe- cuted such awful vengeance upon them. Justly dost thou make these persecuting and wicked countries the scene of such desolating judgments, because they have poured forth the blood of thy Saints, and even of thy prophets, like water; and it hath flowed in a crim- son stream, till their rivers have been dyed with it. ...And, accordingly, thou madest them read their crime in their punishment, and hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy of it, worthy to find such horrors as these, whenever they look for refreshment and com: 7And heard anºther out fort. And I heard another angel, whose voice seemed to come from the altar, saying, Yea, *...* gº'Aº"; O Lord God .4lmighty, it is indeed thus; true and righteous [are] all thy judgments. sºlºishteous are thy judg-Heaven addres the equity of thy proceeding; and the most impious inhabitants of earth, se or hell, shall not be able to find any thing to object against them, even when they have the appearance of the greatest severity.i IMPROVEMENT. LET us now raise our eyes, and our hearts above the low and sordid scenes of mortality, to those happy and exalted spirits who are described as standing before the crystal sea, with golden harps in their hands. £et us attentively hearken to those broken and imperfect echoes of the song of Moses and of the Lamb, which a gracious God causes to descend, as it were, to this world of ours, and which sometimes sweetly mingle themselves with the clamour of strife, with the din of folly, with the groans of misery. Happy and glorious is their condition now who are freed from all these evils, and who triumph over all their enemies; whom, as it was said to Israel of thé Egyptians, having beheld, they shall see them no more for ever. (Exod. xiv. 13.) They are now acknowledging their great Deliverer, singing everlasting praises to his name, and celebrating the wonders of his works, and the 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are Worthy. d And agreeably to that wonderful event, &c.] Indeed it appears most surprising, and worthy of greater notice than has generally been taken of it, that the blessed God should thus, on the consecration of the temple sued by the emperor, the king of France, our king Richard, and other princes, and many prelates; and about two millions lost their lives in the several expeditions, from A. D. 1040, to A. D. 1190. And jºis & D- Yossess it alone, and drive out, as it were, even the favourable tokens o 11S Inajestic presence. - - - e First vial.] Mr. Lowman supposes that , this third period of the vials reveals the state of the church and providence in the times of the last head of the Roman government, represented by the beast, for 12:30 years, from about A. D. 755, to its final overthrow, about A. D. 2016 and he interprets each vial of some signal, judgment upon the paſſi kingdom; supposing the five first already to be poured out, and the two others to be future. But I must own, myself not to be entirely satisfied, ywhether this supposition be just, (though I am rather inclined to think it is,) or whether all the following representations do not refer to events yet future, and describe the supernatural, plagues to be inflicted on the papal kingdom, in its last days. Mr. Pyle interprets the first vial of the abandoned degeneracy of the popish clergy, Mr. Lowman, with greater probability, refers it to the great commotions in the whole em- ire, under, the family of Çharles the Great 3 by which that family ecame extinct, and the empire and the grown of France were transferred to other families, A. D. 830, to A. D. 988. And he shows by what intrigues the popes endeavoured to weaken and diminish the imperial power, and serve their own ambitious designs; which proved a painful sore, and were the Čause of innumerable mischiefs to Europe, and especially to Italy. During this period, the Normans invaded and plundered Frange, the Saracens ravaged Italy, and the Hungarians the western parts of Germany and Italy. - f Second vial.] Mr. Pyle and Mr. Lowman agree in referring this to the great effusign of blood in the holy wars, to recover Jerusalem from the Saracens. This roñastic project was set on foot by the pope, pur- pears to me a very probable interpretation. g Jāngel Qf the acaters.) From this text, compared with chap. xiv. 18. Some have inferred, that there are certain intellectual beings which pro- side, over the scveral elements of water and fire; and, by Consequence, of earlh and air. h Thou art holy.] I follow those copies which read it, cat 6 07 tos, whereas others have it, 6 cºopewos, as in other places of this book. i, Third tigl.) , Some interpret this of the persecution of the church of Bohemia. (See Mr. Pyle, in loc.) But this by no means suits the act ºf adoration, ver, 5, 6, it seems to refer to calamities to be brought on $ome parts of the papal kingdom..., Acçording to the order of tinº, Mil. ownian supposes this to refer to the bloody wars between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, or the papal and imperial factions, whereby the popes were driven out of º into France; from A. 1200, to A. D. 13; i. uſing this period, both these parties had joined in many persecutions, and a violent, one raged against the Albigenses; the inquisition º begun about A. D. 1216, and the council of Lateran established"thºse Severe, and crpel methods of supporting the papacy. And Gºd gº them also blood to drink, (ver, 6.) for a violent contest arose between the papal and imperial parties, about the right of presenting to ecclesiasti- cal preferments, so that almost all the cities in Italy were engaged in çivil Wars, and great multitudes destroyed. In A. D. i2S3, aji the French in Sicily were massacred. Thus were they, who shed the bloom Qf the sqints, . punished by civil contentions and bloodshed. And, on tºº, this seems to be the most probable and satisfactory inter- DIetall O:). 7 you are charged, upon the earth; for his patience will no longer endure the provocations ! 2 Jłnd the second angel poured out his vial wpon the sea; and it became a mass of blood and 3 5 6 7 5. 933 judgments, are already in many instances made manifest, and are about to be manifested SECT. }S. ..And after this I saw, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle, in which was the ark of — R}XV. XV. REY. XIV J , XW - §34 THE POURING OUT OF THE FOUR LAST WIALS. $8 CT. righteousness and truth of all his ways. O Lord God Almighty, O thou King of saints, who would not fear thee, ls, and glorify thy holy name 2 Let the nations come and worship in thy presence; let them pay thee their humble – reverence and homage, before the vials of thy wrath are pouréd out; those vials which, terrible as their contents sº are, the benevolent spirits of heaven prepare themselves, at thy command, to pour forth with pleasure; applaud- ing, in their responsive hymns, thy righteous judgments, even when the sorest and most dreadful plagues forment 3, 4 the worshippers of the beast and his image; even when their seas and their rivers are turned into blood. What- ever be the calamities, whether past or future, to which any of these particulars may refer, surely they are big with terror to those wretches who, on any preténce, are pouring forth ſº blood of thy prophets, and thy saints. They are worthy of having blood given them to drink, and accordingly thou hast a dreadful draught in reserve for them. And though some of them may have laid down their hoary heads in peace, which, we might rather have expected, would have been brought to the grave with blood, the day of thy vengeance will surely come: a ven- geance so terrible, that nothing but a zeal for thy violated law, and thine injured gospel, would make the very sight of it supportable to those whose cause shall then be pleaded, and whose blood shall be visited on their tor- mentors and murderers. - - 6 SECTION XIX. The pouring forth of the four iast vials, and the awful events they produce ; with the incorrigible obstimacy of the sinners on whom this vengeance is executed. Rev. xvi. 8, to the end. - - REvelATION xvi. 8, Rev. xvi. 8, SECT, .4.VD the three former angels having thus poured forth their vials on the earth, and sea, ANP the fourth Angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and 19. and the rivers of water, the fourth angel poured forth his vial on the sun;”, and, in con- ºf Wiś sequence of that, an extraordinary power was given to it, to scorch men with intolerable scorch men with fire. REY. heat, so that they seemed, as it were, to live in the very fire itself. And men were scorched 9 And men were scorched * º +. * - * - * with great heat, and blas- with sudden calentures, and with great and insufferable fierceness of heat; and yet, jºid"..."; }; instead of giving glory to the great Author of these awful chastisements, which afforded which hath power over thºse them so lively an idea of everlasting burnings, as if they had already been inhabitants of ºpened the world of despair, they blasphemed the name of God, who had power over these plagues. And the continuance of their torments did not subdue their hearts, but they still persisted, as with a diabolical obstinacy, and repented not, to give glory to him, by a confession of their sins, by seeking his mercy, and returning to his obedience. (Compare Isa. xxiv. 6.) 10 .And as these vials had greatly affected the kingdom of the beast, the next came still 10 And the fifth angel pour: nearer to him; for the fifth angel poured forth his vial upon the throne of the beast itself; º;; § and his kingdom was darkened, so that his unhappy subjects, from whom he had so long wººl of liness. veiled the light of God's word, and of his favour, had not the benefit of the solar rays, ºwed theirtonguesſor either to guide or cheer them. (Compare Ezek. xxxii. ...] And yet, at the same time, the secret fire kindled in their veins by the former scorching heat continued: and they - - 11 gnawed their tongues for the extremity of the pain and anguish which they felt: And they 11 And blasphemed the still blasphemed the great God, the tremendous Majesty of heaven, as well as earth, for their ºr .tº jº"...ºf pains and their ulcers, which the scorching heat had excited ; and they repented not of their ºf ºrº, wicked works, whereby they had awakened his just indignation, deeds. 12 And the sirth angel poured forth his vial upon the great river Euphrates :* and its water, 12 And, the sixth angel wide and rapid as the stream had been, was dried up immediately, that a way might be º *i prepared for the march of the kings from the rising of the sun, who appeared in vision as lºº, corning to the borders of it, with aiftéir armies, to pour forth destruction upon the beast ºil. i. i.i. 13 and his kingdom. And, as I saw the dragon standing in my presence, with the beast and º.º.º.º. the false prophet near him, as the great abettors of his kingdom, which was threatened by tº gºal. this invasion, I had an intimation given me of the various efforts they should make for the 'º';**i; preservation of it: [and] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, false prophet. and out of the mouth of the false prophet, [there came] evidently thrée animals, which ex- 14 pressed unclean spirits, being represented by creatures like frogs: For these are the spirits !...º.º.º. of demons, whose design it is to impose upon mankind by the most artful stratagems, and ºś §§§ pretences of working miracles, by which they attempted to support the kingdom they had ºº::::: raised; and, indeed, it seemed they did even enchant whole nations; for they were, per jºi...º."ºf mitted by God to go forth to the kings of that part of the earth where the seat of the beast Go" Alºis". was; and, indeed, his territory was so extensive, that it might be said, they went through the ghole world; and they opérated so powerfully, as to bring, them together to the battle of that great day of God the Almighty, in which he was secretly determined to pour forth. .. 15 his vengeance upon them. And, as this last effort of this infernal agent would be a signal tº "... ." trial of the faith and constancy of the saints, in order the better to fortify them against it, " * I heard a voice which I understood to be that of our Lord Jesus Christ, º Bjölä, I come suddenly and unexpectedly, as a thief, that surprises a sleeping family: blessed [is? furth anx 'orth his rial on the sun.] Some interpret this abridged and, restrained. This event gave great vexation to the Popes cºlºſ. #. and º in the fourteenth, fif- and their adherents; occasioned invasiqps, assassinations, Rºssierº, tººth, and sixteenth centuries. See, Mr. Pyle, in loc., AIſ. Lowmān, and bloody wars; as the civil wars in France, the wºrs {} º with greater probabišity, refers it to the long aid bloody wars in Italy, about the Reformation, the yar between Spain and !". ºn tº ro- jºrâncº, Germany, and Spain, occasioned by, a schism in the papacy, Yºges. the Spanish invasion of England, and the pow der-p 9t; ſº º: tº X. D. iśīš, to Å. D. 1536,) there being three popes, in three lines șaºre of Fº &c... Yet, all }." unsuccessful to preyº tºº. of succession, at the same time. During this period the Turks took lishment of the reformed religion. And that they ºº:: gº. Čonstantinopſe, and put an end to the eastern cinpire. And sqing ...ſi deeds,(ver, 11.) is evident, from the instances ºf their º sº ..º. poss thºrº is a further reference to hot and burnin'ſ sensºn; which shou d already mentioned, and which they take care tº tºº. w .."...ºr º {{... the fiſts of the arti, and occasion pestilential disorders; apd have iowériºd, especially ſigº the edicts of , t #d.h. º jistorians inform us, that this was the case 3: the time supposed to be (from A. D. 1542, to A. D. 15:52,) which, instead O *ś "...?. i. iºre referred to; particularly by means of the sureating. Sickness, which laxing, increased and cºnfirmed: the corruptions of popery, and cod;" išegan in England, and spread wide, into 9:hºr $9 intº, particularly demned all doctines tending to º: this implies the invasion Č...a..., Xī’ājjīāī7; and again, A. D. 1529, But that tify repeated c. River Euphrates.]... It appears 19 i. * º º: vision ºf 710ſ. (ver. $9.) is evident from the war commenced against the Bohemians; of the papal kingdom from the “sº but, as I !. º e those §§ ând tº infamous conduct of the council of Constance, in burning Johá accomplished, I freely confess, that it is º 'í, 1"ex lains it of º: jīss, and Jerome of Prague, in violation of the }}} }%; jº #º §§ § the Ottoman * ***. - - - 2- - º - - r S sº - ck º: that scandalous doctrine, that faith is not to be kept will £t2CS, i. th. ºf º ; º. of º #| §§ tº a Q. C. e. - - g * - - - * - * - dl (2 T S 311) Clº l l KC y -: Mr. Pyle interprets this of the perplexity occasioned part of the prophecy seems to refºr £9.4 °Yº, "º..."; 5 wº º º. seat of it ſº. and the schism the rest, to denote, soºne # º ºnal kingdom, to happen, between the popes. But this prophecy seems tº Reſeſ ſo a later º: probably, between A. D. jº onfict is here joined with the beast i.º.º.º.º.º.º.º. nº ſº;','º';*::iº "jºbj - & - the COInf] TIn ºlt iOn Of lt. U e principal States. 3. IS e tº ºvº ºn **: - * : : - * #;...&#####. all the attempts of §§ e. #. opposition beast, he seems to be the same nº; ;P; #!' * but ºf to . papal authority; from A, D, 1569, to A. }}. jöö. During this described as another beast, and said to do great miracles in the sis period, several, nations renounced subjection to the pope, and have con: the beast. See § 16, notes h; i. {inted'free to this day; and, in other nations, his power has been greatly THE POURING OUT OF THE SEVEN VIALS EXPLAINED. * 935 ::::::::::::::...º. he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments,” that they may not º; be snatched from SECT. sºaked him, and he may not be forced to walk naked, so that men should see his shame. Let my 19. ..º.º.º.º servants, therefore, guard against the sudden surprises, which during this time of danger ###elº'º. K. and alarm may frequently happen. ...And the army appearing against the saints, as . sº **And the seventh angel observed above, he, that is, God, by the secret conduct of his providence, sº dispose 16 º; ...º. things, that he gathered them togetherſ into a certain place, [which is] called in the Hebrew alr; and there carne a great 4. • * - , * - §ºjº language, Armageddon, or the mountain of Megiddo, because it was to be a place more hºſºhe throne, say: remarkable for slaughter than Megiddo had ever been. I Il: ; 1S (iOthe, iš'A'.";e were voices, ...And when they were there assembled, the seventh angel poured forth his vial into the 17 and thunders, and lightnings; air : - - ** } h 672, eVél] / )"O777, the ve throne ...}}...","...ii.; º; and there came forth a great voice from the temple of heaven, f ry j. §§"... of God himself, saying, “It is now done, the great work is just completing.” And there 18 jºº "ºº"; were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was also together with them a great sº º earthquake, to add new horror to the scene, such as there had not been from the time that dº..”... men were upon the earth; even such, and so great an º; quite unequalled in the cities of the nations fell: history or observation. ...And the great city was immediately divided into three parts; 19 fº.º. § and the cities of the Gentiles fell down. ..And thus it appeared, that Babylon the Great give unto her the cup of the c - * º - - ºns O' he wine o his ..º.º.º.º. came into remembrance before God, to give her the long threatened cup of the v Af wrath. e fiercest wrath, in which all the most dreadful ingredients of vengeance were, as it were, a. *, *, *...tº mingled together, like poignant poison in the strongest wine, to give it the greater power were not found. and efficacy. And the whole face of nature was thrown into such a consternation by means 20 J º * º - - a *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*... of this grand event, that every island fled away, and the mountains were found no more. ºnd 21 efery stºne about the weight a great and violent storm of hail, the stones of which were as of the weight of a talent, of a talent : and men blas- - him."j ...', 'i. descended from heaven upon men, so as to dash in pieces the stoutest heroes, how well tº ºf the hail; for the soever they might be armed and defended. ..And men, instead of being reformed by it, plague thereof was exceed- 8-> S-> 1ng great. blasphemed God so much the more for the plague of the hail; for the plague of it was very great, and brought along with it a very extensive ruin and desolation.8 IMPROVEMENT. - WHATEveR particular events these vials might be respectively intended to represent, they all agree in giving Ver. us most awful views of the divine power and agency over the whole universe. He is able to scorch and blast the 8–10 earth with insufferable heat, to veil it in midnight darkness, to dry up its rivers, or even shake its foundations, so 12 as to throw down in a moment the strongest and the proudest cities. From the air he can cause even rivers of 18 ice to descend, sufficient not only to destroy our frail and tender bodies, but those regular fortifications which 12 are deemed impregnable; turning them into the graves of those who seek and expect protection from them. How worthy is this tremendous Being of our homage and reverence And yet men hear of his awful judgments, 9 and sometimes see and feel them too, and continue unreformed. Even while they are gnawing their tongues through the extremity of pain and anguish, it is possible, that, as well as their wounded tongues will give them 10, 11 leave, they may blaspheme the God of heaven, and utter their impotent rage and malice against him. The in- fernal regions resound with diabolical language; and O that so many parts of this earth bore no resemblance to them | Butlet the outrage of the wicked be what it may, God, when he enters into judgment, will overcome. 14 And, though the rage of his enemies engages them to gather themselves together, the event will prove, that it is 16 only as sheep for the slaughter. And, while they are acting in this with the utmost freedom, they are indeed assembled by him, their own angry passions subserving the purposes of his righteous Providence. Let us confide in his word, let us attend to his voice; and, in spite of all our difficulties and dangers, let us do our endeavour to secure the blessedness of that man who watcheth and keepeth his garments; who is always 15 on his guard against every surprise, which might expose him to shame in the presence of his Master, though he should come in ever so unexpected a manner, even like a thief in the night. SECTION XX. In order to let the author into the meaning of the seven vials, he sees a representation of the great harlot sitting upon a mysterious beast, and hears - her doomed to destruction by the divine judgments. Rev. xvii. throughout. 2 Rev. xvii. 1 REvel ATION xvii. 1. AND there came one of the .4.VD, when all this was done, one of the seven angels, who had been honoured with sECT. §§§º bearing the seven vials, the pouring forth of which I have just described, came and spake tº saying ºne ºne...Sºme with me, saying to me, Come, [and] I will show thee to what this prophetic scene, which §."º", ºi has passed before thy view, principally refers, even the judgment of the great harlot, REv. whore that sitteth upon many that sitteth º: many waters, whom thou shalt now see; and observe the terrible ven- , *Y". l *...º.º.ºf though she has tyrannized over them in so insolent and imperious a manner: Even of the earth have committed for: the earth, have been mºde Isa. xxiii. 17.) and their subjects have been debauched with them; so that, in a manner drunk with the wine of her 2 they had taken some powerful provocative, to make them dote upon her, and sacrifice every dictate of religion, and reason, and even common sense, to those alluring arts with time sp. into the wilderness: a scariet-coloured beast, fuji ance, sitting upon a Scarlet beast, fierce and savage; and the beast had gaud in ors of names of blasphemy, hav- y g up 3 5 - 5 g y trappings horns. it, properties and glories which belong to God alone ; and having also, like the beast which I saw before, (chap. xiii. 1.) seven heads and ten horns; referring to the hills on seven angels which, had the 20. hither; I will show unto thee Wate IS . - • geance to which she is reserved, though so many people have been corrupted by her, and *...*.*.*śr her with whom the kings of the earth have so long committed formicalion, (compare fornication. all the inhabitants of the earth have been drunk with the wine of her whoredom, as if 3 so he carried me away in which she has been tempting them. And he brought me in the spirit into the wilder-3 ºf...º.º. ness; and I saw a woman, of an impudent front, and a most imperious and cruel appear- | "..." ...”. "... of embroidery upon it, full of blasphemous names, ascribing to itself, and the harlot upon which the city, designed by this harlot, stood, and the number of kingdoms subject to its e Keepeth his garments.] ...Dr. Lightfoot thinks here is an allusion to mations of the interposition of Providence are wonderfully ins i v-,- what that Jewish officer, called the man of the mountain, that is, of the and they are scattered up and down in many places of º s...". house of the Lord, used, to do, when taking his round in the temple to ings.--That Megiddo had been a place remarkable for slaughter, see examine the watch; if he met with, any asleep, he had a liberty to set Judges v. 19.2 Kings is. 27. 2 Chron. xxxv. Compare Zech. xii. 11. fire to his garments. Perhaps; in this case, the person might be obliged To express the certain destruction that should come upon these anti! to º in the Jºagments of his buºt garments, the next day, which christian powers, they are described as brought together to this mountain. would be a great disgraces, See his Horks, vol. i. p. 919. According to g, Seventh vial.] This is introductory to the fall of the papal kingdom; Ainsworth, (on Numb. xviii. 4, 5.) they were beaten by the provost, and the expressions, wer. 19. may only signify that great numbers should and their garments were taken away and burnt. - fall by these awful judgments, which were only introductory to the full He gathered them.] This seems a memorable circumstance; they and complete ruin afterwards described. -- were the dragon’s army, yet God assembled them. Such oblique inti- v REV". IXVII, THE POURING OUT OF THE SEVEN VIALS EXPLAINED. *...*. government. And the charms of her person, such as they were, were set off with all the gorgeous ornaments of the most splendid dress; for the woman was clothed with purple andſScarlet, and glºrmed with gold and precious stones, and pearls; having also a '...}}. gated to, all the ghominations and pollution of her dissolute and abandoned whoredom; 4 that is, those idolatrous practices, which the society of men represented by this infamous 5 woman, had carried to so shameful a height. (Compare Jer. li. 7.) But, that she might appear in my eyes as a criminal marked out by God for speedy and dreadful execution, [she hº] lſº her forehead [her] name, her titles, and crimes, written: and the first word wº º * great ... : lº, º by º the fraud and artifice Žº be.cººlyed, is represented by this woman; after which followed these words {{...}} I.Q.N THE GRE,4T, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND AB Ojii. .V.4TIOVS QF THE EARTH; the most impudent strumpet that ever appeared upon earth, and the greatest procuress of lewdness that ever polluted the face of it. And I sque the woman drunk; and was informed that it was with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus ; of which she had gorged vast quantities, and for which she still thirsted impatiently, and seemed to cast her greedy eyes around, as long- ing for renewed draughts of it. And I wondered when I saw her, with great amazement,” as I knew she represented a society that would call itself christian, and pretend a regard for Jesus and his saints, in the midst of all this cruel persecution of them; and also, for 7 the honour of God amidst all these unequalled idolatriès and immoralities. ...And the angel said unto me, Phy dost thou wonder 2 #. thou not thyself had intimation of this anti- christian sect, and this great apostasy 2 I will tell thee the secret of the whole matter; the mystery of the woman, and of the beast which carries her, which hath, as thou seest, the 8 seven heads and the ten horns. The beast which thou formerly sawest, was, and is not ;b that is, God will cut short its reign, and he will indeed ascend, as has been represented, out of the bottomless pit, and go suddenly into destruction; and the inhabitants of the earth, (whose names, as I said, are not written in the book of life, from theſº of the world,) shall wonder, seeing the beast, who for a little while was, and is not; that is, he shall quickly be overthrown, though he is to appear for a while, and perform such 9 great wonders. Here [is] a proof of the understanding that hath wisdom; for the ut- most sagacity may here be put to the trial. But this I will observe, to guide the inquir- ing mind, and I am commissioned by God to give this key to the mystery, that the seven heads of the beast are seven mountains, on which that celebrated city is built, on which the 10 infamous woman I have been describing sitteth. And there are seven kings, or forms of 6 we comes, he must endurerº a little time, but will soon be destroyed and swallowed up. 11 .4nd the beast, of whom I said that he was, and is not, he is the eighth, and he is of the seven;d he ariseth out of the remainders of this people, but at length goes into destruction, 12 as the rest, though his reign shall be so much longer than any of his predecessors. And the ten horns which thou sawest, are ten kings, or kingdoms, which shall arise out of the ruin of the former state, and shall all, for a while, be dependent upon, and subject to, the beast; they have not, indeed, yet received their kingdom, but they shall receive authority from the beast as kings, † greatly under his limitation and control, to reign, for one 13 hour, for a certain limited time. And however these princes, may be disunited in their political interests, which may, in some respects, contradict each other, yet, with respect to their unhappy prejudices in religion, and idolatrous inclinations, there shall be a surprising agreement between them; and they have one mind and sentiment in that respect, and s consent to deliver over their own power and authority to the beast, to be employed by him for the advancement of his interest; so that they shall act but as his viceroys, even in their own territories. These also shall presume to make war with the Lamb; and the conse: quence may easily be conjectured; for the Lamb, who bears such magnificent titles, and who hath already triumphed over all the powers of hell, shall undoubtedly overcome them, and triumph over them; for he is indeed (what some vain mortals have impiously and ar. rogantly called themselves) Lord of lords, and King of kings, the supreme Ruler of all governors and magistrates upon the face of the earth, to whom dominion ºver them, be: ſongs, by the strictest and most unalienable right; and those that are with him, and have the honour to fight under his banner, [are] not only called to arm themselves in this glori- ous cause, but chosen,” to act in the service, and they are fººl to the engagements into which they enter. All these were the words of that angel who was commissioned to in- struct me in the meaning of an appearance which had thrown me into such amažement. ...And he proceeded, and said further unto me, The waters, which thou sawest, on which the specious but abandoned harlot sat, are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, a vast multitude of different nations and languages, who shall consent for a long time tº 16 those degenerate forms of religion which she shall introduce. And the teſ, horns which thou sawest on the savage beast, these are the kingdoms subject to her. But the princes of them shall at length turn against her, so that she shall, as it were, be, thrown down, an gored by the creature that has so long tamely and patiently carried her; for they shall hate the I 4 5 a Janazeinent.] This seems a plain argument; that the society referred to was christian; for it liad been no great wonder, that a heathen power shoul. persecute. - - - b Thé 5cast-īgas, and is not..] This seems to intimate, that the cutiº power of pagan Rome should for a while revive in papal and ere long be utterly destroyed. c Šećenºforms of government..] Some reckon these to be the Roman kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes, cºmpero?', and popes. #ºt ſimuch question whether this be a right solution. Mr. Lowman supposes here is an intimation that the seventh form of goyègnºnent Wºº not to begin till the imperial power was destroyed. And this last Inży. on some account, be called the seceith, and for other reasons, the eighth head of government, as the exarchate of Ravenna was in some Segse a may form of government, and yet hardly so distinct and proper a fºrm, as to be reckoned for a different head. Compare chap. xii.6., noted. d'He is the eighth, &c.]. Mr. Fleming understands this of the govern- ment of the Östrogoths in Rome; who, though they were the segeſ: head in number, yet were not of the seven, that is, such as the siz first and Flem. On the First Resur. p. 106, erS6— ome, See the preceding note e Called, chosen, and and beautiful remarks on this text, a ré intended, who swore ſidelity to their i.)"#ºf can by no means suppose - nexed to the word chosen in Scripture, ahy term called, always to º invited ingenious writer has en pare Isà. xxxiv. 2, 6, 7. cup in her hand full of that inflaming mixture, by which those who drank of it were insti- $º five of them are fallen, and one is, [and] the other is not yet come; and when eavoured to lead his readers to affix to it. 4 And the woman was ar- rayed in purple and Scarlet colour, and decked with gold and , precious stones and earls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abomina- tions and filthiness of her for- nication : 5 And upon her forehead tras a name written, MYS- BABYLON 3 T,”ffff;"| F HARLOTS AND ABO MINATIONS OF THE EARTH. t; And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel ? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was; and is not; and shall as- cend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition: an they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life.from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. - - And here is , the mind which hath wisdom. he seyen heads are seven moun- tains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short SpäCC. 1] And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. - 12 And the ten horns which thou, sawest are ten kings, which have received no king- dom as yet; but receive pow- er as kings one hour with the beast. - 13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war with the Lanb, and the Lamb shall overcome them : for he. is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and |...}. that are with him are galled, and chosen, and faithful. 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou saw- est, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the Whore,and the eighth, because they were foreigners, Whereas the others were matices. 106, 107. This exact a great confirmation of the divine authority of this b - derstands it of the German emperor. who was only titular king of Rome. º, he says, is ºhe • ook. I_imborch un- jaithful.] Here may very possibly be, as, the in; genious author of the Christian Warfare has represented, in his learned - - ference to the military custom of the Greeks; who used to call the people together when any expedition was designed, out of which there were SQine leader. - - that this is the uniform idea to be an- selected to serve in the action (Compare 2 Pet. i. 10 note more than I can suppose the to a feast; which is an idea another The truthis, both signify something much more general, though both may be applied, in particular cases, in the limited sense contended for. Com- THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON. 937 shall make her, desolate, and harlot, and make her desolate and maked: they shall strip her of all those ornaments which SECT. º; º: flesh, they have p. lavished away upon her; and they shall be ready, as it were, in the transport of their indignation and zeal, to eat her very flesh, and shall burn her with fire. They shall be bent upon destroying their stupid idolatry, and all the monuments of it, and turn their keenest resentment upon the abettors and instruments of such cruel persecution tº ºft. ...'..."; }; impression, to erecute his counsel and sentence, and they shall agrée in it, even to perform Fºil one purpose. And he hath left them under a fatal infatuation, in opposition to true policy, # ºrds of God shall be ful as ji'...irt. religion, so as to give their kingdoms to the . till the words of God be fulfilled; and then their minds shall be turned, and their eyes opened, and they 20. REY’. XVII. as they have exercised: For God hath given it into their hearts, by a strong and powerful 17 18. And the woman which shall ruin this oppressive society more eagerly than they ever established it. And the 18 thou sawest is that great city, §§§ woman which thou sawest, is the great imperial city, that ruleth over the kings of the earth, of the earth. and now disposes of their crowns at her pleasure, none daring to make war against her. IMPROVEMENT. EASILY might we have apprehended, that Rome had been here designed, though it had not been so particu- Ver, 9 larly described by its situation on seven hills, or by the empire . .hen possessed over all the kingdoms of the 18 world. The harlot might be sufficiently distinguished by her tº ºnes of blasphemy, by her cup of enchantment, 3 by her titles, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF ##### AND ABOMI-4, NATIONS OF THE EARTH. Yea, she might be known by this single character, of having made herself 6 drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And is it heathen Rome, to whom these characters are most remarkably applicable 2 The apostle would not then have wondered with so great admiration, that idolatry and persecution should prevail, where the former had raged for so many ages, and the latter almost from the very beginning of christianity, and to such a degree, in the days of Nero, who, as their own historian tells us, had, thirty years before this, added mockeries and insults to torment, that christians were dressed up in the skins of wild beasts, and so exposed to be worried on the theatre: a method which hath, indeed, figur- atively speaking, been every where practised, and must be practised, if christianity is to be made ridiculous or odious. But the true occasion of the apostle's astonishment was, that Rome professing christianity, Rome setting up for the head of the christian world, should have emulated and exceeded any pagan city, and even itself in its pagan state, in its idolatries and in its cruelties. And this is a fact indeed wonderful, but these are the secret counsels of God, even those counsels which are to us unsearchable. Nevertheless, the beauty and glory of them 5 shall at length be apparent. The kings of the earth, though, like Nebuchadnezzar, (Isa. x. 7.) they meant it not, 17 are now fulfilling the plan of Divine Providence; a plan that shall at length appear wise and harmonious, though the permission of all tº: absurdities and horrors make a part of it. And when the words of God are fulfilled, they who with one mind have #. their power and strength to the beast, in order to support the harlot, shall be as unanimous in hating her, an making her desolate and naked, shall be ready to devour her flesh, and consume 16 her in her own fires. Fierce and savage as the beast may at present appear, its war with the Lamb shall be 14 utterly in vain; for the Lamb is always victorious, and will assert his grand and imperial titles, LORD OF ºbs. AND KING OF KINGS. May we all list under his banner! May we not only be called, but chosen and faithful, faithful even to death; since all the rage of men, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, if it 15 were united against us, could not prevent his giving us a crown of victory and a part in his everlasting triumphs SECTION XXI. A sublime description of the fall of Babylon, and an account of the lamentation of her friends and merchants over her. Rev. xviii. throughout. & a tº 8 REVELATION xviii. 1. Rev. xviii. i. AND after these things I saw A.W.D after this, I saw an angel descending from heaven, who had in his countenance and SECT. #."... . .'; appearance the signatures of great power; and the earth was enlightened with his glory, }.º.º. ** which spread a vivid lustre all around him, reflected from every neighbouring object. And iºd with his glory. . he * p 2 And he cried mightily Crºle 21. with great might [and] a loud voice of triumphant joy, in the words of Isaiah, REy. łºstºe, sº (chap. xxi. 9.) saying, It is fallen, it is fallen,” [even], Babylon the Great; and what was jºin. Babylon th t is fallen, † & º . º: º: #: prophesied concerning the celebrated seat of the Chaldean empire, shall presently be veri- habitation of devils, and the & e & * = & - * * * * • º fied in this detested city; so that we may already say, it is become the habitation of demons a cage of every unclean and (as desolate places were reputed to be) and the hold of every unclean spirit, and a cage o hat É bird wº * * * * 5 §...ations have drunk every unclean and hateful bird; (Isa. xiii. 21. Jer. l. 39. li. 37.). Because she hath caused 3 tº all the nations tº drink of the intoxicating and inflaming wine of her raging and insatiable iº '...'...iit... whoredom; and all the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her, and the mer- º jº º chants of the earth have traded with her, and been enriched by the abundance of her luru- Wiśh thrºnºbº ries.b And I then heard another voice from heaven, saying to the remainder of faithful 4 *...º.º.o.e, souls which were yet in Babylon, Come ye out from the midst of her, O my ſº Sepal- º; rate yourselves from this accursed society, that ye may not be partakers with her in her º, sins, which are so polluting and insnaring; and that ye may not, by a fatal consequence, lººse receive not of her partake of her plagues too, which those who share her sins must expect to share, whatever &l S. g & e * "ßher sins have reached their former profession may have been. g Because her sins have followed up to heaven with 5 Mºth their clamours, and her unrighteous actions are come up in remembrance before that God, 6"Rºard her even as he who will not fail severely to visit her for them. And now, O my people, give her, as she 6 rewarded you, and double in o. * $º - {º * jº jº, also has given to you, and recompense to her double, according to her works; for God will fºr works: in the gup which plead your cause for you: in the cup of terror, which she has mingled for those whom she ºth * * * * was not able to seduce and debaud , mingle her a double quantity of those poisonous in- º, º gredients; In full proportion to the degree in which she .# for so many ages made osten- iij ºh"ºnºt tation of her glory, and lived in luxury, inflict upon her torment, and grief, and vengeance; and sorrow give her; for she because she has audaciously said in her heart, while the divine threatenings have been f Execute his sentence.] We render it, to fulfil his will. Hence some shall certainly and speedily come to pass; for, the fourth verse shows, have inferred, that it is the will of God that heretics should be cut off, that in strictness of speech, Babylon was yet to be considered as standing. But it is sufficiently known to what extremities people are driven to find b Luxuries.) The word spnvas seems to signify such lurury of diet as althy hº that looks like an argument for persecution in the New Testa- cherishes wantonness, and disposes to acts of unchastity ; and mgy, well nept, when they are forced to have recourse to a text for this º ose, represent the manner in which the Roman clergy have pampered them- which only Proyes, that God had, in his wise and holy counsel, deter: #elºs, and the effects it has produced, to the scandal of the christian mined that the idolatrous and persecuting antichristian power should be rofession, in the eyes of all the world, as well as the idolatries which destroyed. * * * * ave been established and maintained to support that luxury. Compare a Is fallen.] This hº the language of prophecy, expressing what I Tim. v. 11. and the note there. 940 S.E.C.T. 22. REY. CHRIST'S VICTORY OVER THE ARMY OF THE BEAST. 'mighly thunderings, saying, Hallelujah,jor the Lord God Almighty, the omnipotent Jehovah, of mighty thunderings, j Who is the Author and Support of universal nature, reigneth, and is about to exalt his ; §§. kingdom among men to more visible splendour than it has ever yet worn. And we will ºf . º”."j"...re- nºy, in an especial manner, rejoice and écult in the greatest transport of holy joy, and we #;º, Will give glory to him, because the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has prepared i. ºf "tº herself to meet him, being adorned with all those ornaments, which are most graceful in **** themselves, and most agreeable to him. And he is going to espouse his church with cir- 8 cumstances of the highest festivity and solemnity. And it was given to her, that, in token , 8 Apd to her was granted of her virgin innocence and sanctity, she should be clothed in fine linen, pure and resplendent; ## hº and the fine linen that I speak of is intended to signify the righteous acts of the saints,” ſº the fieliñº, the ºit: whereby they are adorned in the sight of God, and an evidence given of the sincerity of eousness oriaints. that faith, which interests them in the merit of what their Lord has performed, to which 9 they ultimately owe their acceptance before him. And he said unto me, Write this down, 9 And he saith unto me, 10 11 as an impºrtant truth, in which all that read this book in future ages will be greatly con: Wi: #.º.º.º. cerned, º [are] they who are invited to be guests at the splendid marriage supper of j'; ...?..."; i. the Lamb, which is now prepared, and shall accept the invitation, so as to partake" of its i. jºjº are the blessings. And he said unto me, These are the true words of God, and are to be regarded & by thee and all that read them as an oracle which he hath inspired. (Compare 2 Corixi. 2.) ‘flºd while he was speaking to me in this manner, overawed by his majestic appearance, 10 And I fell at his feet to Iſºll befºre his feet to pay homage to him. And he immediately interposed to prevent it, Mºgº.º.º. and said unto me, See [thou do it] not : for I am not worthy of such regard from thee, jºiºi of being a fellow-servant with thee, and with the rest of thy brethren,b who resolutely and §.'...} jº. "...#. faithfully keep the testimony of Jesus. Pay thine homage, in such expressions of it, to God ºf the ºrimony ºf alone. I am now sent for the service of that religion to which you and your brethren are ******* making such considerable sacrifices; for the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus, and serves, in a glorious manner, to confirm his divine mission to all that know and duly observe the circumstances of it; and that which I now reveal to thee, makes a consider. able article of the proof. .#nd a glorious vision immediately followed this; for I saw heaven opened, and behold, 11 And I saw heaven open- and ºbserve it with due attention, a white horse appeared, and he that sat upon it [was] : "...º.º.º.; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, being indeed no more than the Person speaking of him else: fºllº where, as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness; and he judges and makes war in jagº.i.ar. righteousness, and not like the unjust conquerors of the earth, who are so ready to use their 12 Superior power to oppress all that fall under it. This was the glorious Prince, whose eyes 12 His eyes were as a flame * & & ºr. * - - $ * of fire, and on his head were [are] piercing as a flame of fire; and many diadems were wpon his head, having also a many crowns, and "hº had a mysterious name written upon thern, which no man knows but º to signify, that there game written...hat po man are mysteries in his nature, and in the administration of his kingdom, which it is impos- ***** 13 sible for men to find out. And to express the irresistible power with which he triumphs 13 And he ;º & - sº - & p - & a vesture dipped in blood: oyer his enemies, and brings destruction upon them according to his pleasure, he [was nºia.’”; “cieś clothed in a garment dipt in blood; and his name is called, The Word of God, the glorious Worá'ofé. and divine Person, whom I have elsewhere spoken of, as in the beginning with God, and 14 himself God, and the great Medium of divine revelation in all ages. And the armies which 14 And the armies whº g w & & * * * * * * sº * _ cere in heaven followed him are in heaten followed him, in token of being most willingly and entirely under his com-º: mand, and they appeared [riding] on white horses, and themselves clothed in fine linen, ähºliné, white and cièan. white and perfectly clean and pure, to denote their perfect innocence and righteousness. 15 And he still retains this circumstance in the vision I at first saw of him, that there went 15, And out of his mouth e * * * * wº g B tº goeth a sharp sword,that with out of his mouth a jº. sword, that with it he might smite the heathem; to signify the power flºº. & - * Af `-- * Aºf. ge arrine-ºn- and he shall rule them with a of his word; and he shall govern them with a rod 3. iron; and he treadeth the wine-press of ºf the indignation and wrath of Almighty God, which was signified by the blood staining his the ºińepress ºftieńercºness garments, to intimate that he shall subdue the proudest enemies with as much ease as "wrath of * * 16 men burst grapes by treading them under their feet. (Compare Isa. lxiii. 2, #) .And he 16 And he hath on his ves- 17 18 19 hath upon his garment and his thigh, that is, upon the sword which hangs upon his thigh, tº #####"Kºš. a magnificent and exalted name written, even KLVG OF KIN’GS, A.W.D. LORD OF AND "LöRD of LöRijs. LORDS ; to signify his universal empire over all the princes and potentates on earth and in heaven. Jłnd I saw a single angel, but one of great majesty and strength, detaching himself, as it ºi were, from the army in heaven, who ki. the great Leader of the Lord's host on their º','...'..."..."; white horses: and he was seen by me standing in the sun; and, to intimate the approach- ºl.º.º. ing slaughter and desolation which was so soon to come upon the enemies of the church, ºr "yôjºes tº he cried with a loud voice, saying to the eagles and vultures, and all the other birds of prey ºne supper of the great which were#; in the midst of heaven, Come and assemble yourselves to the supper of the “” is ake a splendid entertainment for you : That we many eat the 18 That ye may eat the flesh great God, for he is about to make a spl t you ; y 3/ oftº: jlesh of mighty kings, and the flesh of famous commanders, who have led on their thousands captains, and ... ." § e ~~~~1.4 - ir mighty men, and the flesh of to battle; and the flesh of the mighty soldiers, who have fought so º under . #jöß banners; and the flesh of warlike horses, that were advancing with so much intrepidity jºi...f.ii. and rage to the battle; and the flesh of those who sat thereon, and were so ready to trust # ſººnd bond, both smal to their strength or their speed; and the flesh of all the promiscuous multitude, freemen and slaves, both small and great, who shall fall down together in the dust, and º out their souls in blood, leaving their mangled carcasses for your prey. (Compare Ezek. xxxix. 17, 18.) And, to fulfil this awful decree of the great God, whose influence over all human 19 And I saw the beast, and affairs is supreme, and who knows how to work his own purposes, even by the greatest #º ###! malice and rage of his enemies, I saw the beast appearing again, as at the head of the anti- to make war against him that christian interest; and the kings of the earth, who supported him, and gave their power unto him; and I saw all their armies gathered together to make war with him who sitteth a The righteous acts of the saints.] So ðukat (opata evidently signifies ; §: º; with some who profess, nevertheless, to make Scripture and, therefore, though I make no doubt but it is with regard to the obe: their standard. * * - * Žišence and ri hiºs. of the Son of God, that all #####. acts , b PWith thy brethren.] The expression in the Greek obliges me to give are accepted before God, and have accordingly referred to this doctrine the word this turn: avvö8Xos gº kat Tøv ačex409 ge. But Mr. Flem- in the paraphrase ; yet I cannot suppose that these words have that re- ing understands it, I am one of thy brethren, which he thinks intimates, ference which some have imagined, to the imputation of his righteousness that this was the departed spirit of an apostle; perhaps of St. Peter of to us. And I hope christian divines will have the courage to speak with St. Paul, or his own brother James, though not in a form to be known. the Scripture, even though it should be at the expense of their reputation And, on the same mistaken principle, he thinks the person speaking, THE BINDING OF SATAN FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. 941 sat on the horse, and against upon the white horse, and with all his army, even the host of heaven, which I mentioned SECT, his army. as with him: insensible of his superior power, and madly borne on to their own destrº- 22. 20 And the beast was taken, tion, they marched their feeble forces against him and all his celestial legions. ;And the — º; issue was such as might be expected; for the beast was taken captive,” and with him ºlsº º $ºr. him, with which he de the false prophet who had wrought so many fallacious signs before him, by which he had 20 IX. §§§... deceived those who received the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image i and #.º.º.º. they were bound fast in chains of divine vengeance, and both of them were cast alive” into #º the lake ofſ. which burnt so fiercely, enraged with stores of brimstone, to make the flames I injº. ... more durable, and more tormenting. ...And the rest, who had so, insolently and foolishly * slän withº'of hiº, followed the banners of these accursed leaders, were slain with the sword that came out of º; the mouth of the great leader of the heavenly army, even him who sat on the white horse, mouth; and all, the fowls described before, robed with light, and crowned with glory. And their carcasses were ****** left unburied on the field of battle; and all the birds of the air, according to the invita- tion which the angel had given them, were satiated with their flesh. IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn by what we have here been reading, to adore the Lord God omnipotent, who reigneth over all, Ver. 1 and who displays the truth and righteousness of his judgments, in his vengeance on the enemies of his church, 2, 3 even when he inflicts on them a torment, the smoke of which rises up for ever and ever. In the certain assur- ance, that in due time he will plead his own cause, and rescue and exalt his people, let all his servants and people 5, 6 praise him, even all that fear him, both small and great, and labour to live that divine life of gratitude, and joy- ful thanksgiving on earth, which may anticipate the pleasures and employments of the heavenly world. The time will at length come, when all ºsuch a character shall celebrate the marriage-supper of the Lamb : yea, when the whole society shall appear in his presence as one chaste virgin, whom he has espoused to himself; 7 and whom, with unutterable delight, he places in his more immediate view, not only as arrayed in robes of pure and shining linen, which is the righteousness of the saints, but as perfectly free from spot, or blemish, or any such thing. He will admit them all to feast in his own presence; yea, to dwell for ever with him ; so shall we ever be with the Lord. These are the true sayings of God. . And though a consciousness of our own utter un- worthiness of such honours, might be ready to detract from the credibility of these divine assurances, or at least Pºnt us from giving so clear an assent to them as we might otherwise do, yet let God be true, and every man 8, 118. I’. - And, in the mean time, in the mingled scenes of adversity and prosperity, which attend the Israel of God, let us direct our believing eyes to him who is faithful and true; to him, who both administers justice, and wages 11 war in righteousness. Let us reverence his penetrating eyes, which are like a flame of fire. Let us rejoice in the diadems placed upon his head, to signify the extent of his dominion; and read with awe the inscription upon his 12 yesture, and his thigh, The Word of God, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. As such, let us pay our 13–16 homage to him; and let the favour of lords and kings be as nothing to us, where his favour or his honour is con- cerned. The proudest of earthly potentates oppose his dominion in vain; in vain do they marshal their captains 17–21 and their mighty men; vain is the strength of horses, and of them that sit thereon, and the combinations of bond and free, though Satan himself abet their rebellion, and inspire them with subtilty, and arm them with rage; their subtilty shall be defeated, their rage shall be repelled. The sword of the Lord shall devour them. The birds of prey shall at his pleasure be feasted with their carcasses; and the sad catastrophe of their bodies shall be only an imperfect emblem of the anguish and misery of their spirits, when, plunged with the evil spirit that deceived them, they sink deep into the lake that burns for ever, and feel the terrors of the second death. Be wise now, therefore, Q ye kings, and be instructed, ye judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear; and, sensible of his uncontrollable dominion, and your own weakness and imperfection, even while ye rejoice before him, rejoice with trembling. (Psal. ii. 10, 1].) 9. S 9 3 SECTION XXIII. The binding of Satan for a thousand years, during which the gospel is greatly to prevail; with a view of the destruction of the enemies of Christ, upon their making their inst st tempt against his church ; and of the universal judgment. Rev. xx, throughout. Rev. xx. 1. REvel,ATION xx. 1. §§ {..."º. THUS the beast was conquered and taken; but the dragon yet remained at liberty. SECT. §§ey'ºhºl. And that I might also be informed as to his doom, I saw an angel descending from heaven, 23. **ś who had the key of the bottomless pit, and he had also a great chain in his hand. And hé “ diago. Thai oil" serpeº, advanced with the intrepidity of one who feared no resistance; and laid hold on the dra- Rev. .*.*.*.*, "...gon, dreadful as he was; even that old serpent who is called the devil, from being the xx. a dººrs,” “. great false accuser; and Satan, as being the great adversary both of God and man; and 2 bāśā'i ºf he bound him jor the space of a thousand years." And having opened the door with the tº jº,"; key that he bore, he cast him into the abyss, and shut him down, and set a seal upon him, hiojnº, jºhji to signify that none should break º the door; that he might not deceive the nations any º: º: .*; more, for the time above mentioned, that is, till a thousand years were accomplished, and loosed a little season. then he must be loosed again for a little time, and make his last effort against the cause of 4 And I saw thrones, and God, and the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ. ..And after this, I saw thrones placed, 4 (chan. xxii. 9.) might be the spirit of one of the prophets, perhaps Isaiah, a 4 thousand years...] I think we must despair of being able to inter- or Ezekiel, or Daniel. , Elem. Christol.,yol. i. p. 81. - - pret any passage of Scripture upon the plainest principle of reason, if & Bºlºgdsºn What Brandt tells us of the interpretation, given this does not signify that there shall be such a pººl as this, jºich by a divine of Hºlº to this, text, as promising Frederic, king of Satan.shall be remarkably restrained, and the "christian interest shall Bºhemia, that he should take the emperor prisoner, and that all the prevail. But whether the thousani ſcars are here to be "taken literally, other potentates of Europe should be subjected to his soyereign will, as is most probable, or whether here, or elsewhere, each day is put for appears, too ridiculous to be canvassed; but I mention it to engage a year, and, consequently the whole period be 360,000 years, I will not men to be cautious how they apply any of these prophecies to events pretend to determine. ºf his thought has been, very lately started by which may happen to themselves, or those for whom they are immedi- an ingenious and worthy person, who hath, I doubt not, intended tº ately oncerned., Brandt’s Hist, aſ the Reform. vol. iv. p. 202.-Com- service of christianity; though I am very apprehensive he hºs"ied’; pare chap. xvi. 13, and $ 16. notes h, and i. ... song of the mediums by which he has endeavoured to prove this point. ...d. Gºst alike..] §ee the note on chap. xx. 14. Dr. Clarke observes, it See Dr. Whitby's fºrcătise on the jiiiicºn, where 'e's hºs". 81ſ5C, is only said.of other sinners, they were cast into the lake; and this he that this wingle passage is figuratiº, agrºbic tº the prophetic style, ºPłºś intimates a ſistinction of punishment, severe in proportion to especially in this book, Andºver 4. 'may only intimºre that "the spirits the faults of the punished; and he thinks it illustrated by the words of of the martyrs seemed to iive again in thºse wººd. should then Mºose: ;oncerning Korah, and his company, Numb, xvi. §§. If these raise up." Compare zei. xxxvii. i. 14. Rºº. §. 11, 12. Rom. xi. 15. ºften die the common death of all men, or if they be grisited after the visita- This interpretation is illustrated and confirmed also by Mr. flowman. tion ºf all men, then the Lord hath not sent me : intimating, that there So that the seventh chiliad, or 1000 years, from the creation of the would be as much difference in their punishment, as between being exe- world, is to be a kind of sabbath. Compare Ainsworth, On Gen. i. 31. 99ted in the common way, and swallowed up with an earthquake. and W. - - —9 *- Clarke’s Post. Serm, vol. i. i. 400, 401. p Q. nil Worthington, On Redemption, p. 21.1—213. 942 SECT. 23. ** = <==== REV. > 2, X. 5 6 7 8 9 10 il I 2 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMIEs of CHRIST. gºld they sat upon them, and a power of judgment was given to them; and the souls of them who had been beheadedb for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who hall not worshipped the beast nor his image, when his cause was so triumphant, and who bravely opposed the torrent of Prevailing degeneracy, so that they had not received his ººk in their foreheads, and upon their hands, when it was so figusi, urged upon all; these appeared to rise in triumph, and they lived and reigned with Christ,” whose cause, during this time, was prosperous and flourishing, even for a whole thousand years; But this was peculiar to this holy remnant: for as to he rest of the dead, they revived not till the thousand years were accomplished; so that is [was] the first resurrection. Emi- nently happy and holy [is] he who has & part in the first resurrection I have been describ- Fºg: It is a singular felicity and high token of the degree in which God, the supreme Standard and Judge of moral rectitude and holiness, approves his character: on such the second death we before described, with so many dreadful circumstances, as the portion of the wicked, shall have no degree of powere nor shali any of its terrible forerunners, in the execution of divine wrath upon his enemies; but they shall be the priests of God and of Christ; and they shall not only be afterwards admitted to a kingdom of eternal #. but shal! reign oith him a thousand years, partaking in the triumph of his kingdom upon earth. And when the thousand Jears, before described, shall be accomplished, then Satan shall, for a certain time, be loosed from his confinement, to give the last proof of his malice . against Christ and his saints. ºlid he shall go forth to deceive the nations, who are in the Jour distant corners of the earth,ſ and shall prevail against them, so that they shall engage in a Vain and fatal enterprise, for the overthrow of what God has determined for everto establish; even Gog and 3iagog, as the prophecy of Ezekiel (chap. xxxviii. ; styles the enemies of God's people; and Satan shall, succeed in his attempts to gather them to- gether in war; even an army, whose number [is] like the sand of the sea. Accordingly, I behºld them in vision, as drawn forth in order of battle, and saw that they went up over the ºadth of the earth; so that they seemed to cover the face of it from north to south, gnd then surrounded the camp of the saints, and Jerusalem, the beloved city, in which they dwelt; and it seemed at first in imminent danger, but it was not long before it was re- markably delivered; for fire came down from God out of heaven at once, and devoured them ; so that there were no more remainders of them to be seen; but they, and all their dreadful artillery, perished and disappeared, as if they had never existed. (Compare Ezek. xxxviii. 22.) ind then the devil, who had deceived them, came in for his share of that punishment, which had long before been inflicted upon many of his accomplices, and was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where, as I before said, the beast and the Jaise prophet [were;] and there they shall be tormented together day and night, for ages of ages, for ever and ever,” without any hope of release or respite. * .ind, after this, I saw a great while and resplendent throne,h which shone with a glory scarce to be supported, and yet mine eye, being divinely strengthened for that purpose, I beheld him who sat thereon, from whose majestic face, when he came on this solemn and tremendous occasion, earth and heaven fled away,i and there was found noſº for them, in which they might continue.' And I saw the dead, of all ranks and orders, small and great, rich and poor, princes and people, in one grand assembly, which knew no more of ; those distinctions once so much regarded, standing before God, to receive their final doom from him; to intimate that the last judgment should quickly follow the wonderful events which had been represented to me before. .4nd the books were opened, which contained the records of the divine omniscience on the one hand, and, on the other, the law and the gospel, which were the rule whereby those who stood before him were to be judged. And another book was opened, distinct from these, which is [the book] of life, in which were re- gistered the names of all those happy persons, who, according to the tenor of the divine de- clarations to men, should be the inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem, and live with God for ever in the enjoyment of felicity and glory. And the dead were all impartially judged out of the things written in the books, and in a manner agreeable to the tenor of them, ac- cording to their works, as they had been agreeable or disagreeable to the discoveries which God had made to them of his will for the rule of their actions. And, that none might be exempt from coming into judgment, I perceived that the resurrection extended also to the sea, which gave up the dead that were in it; and death, and the unseen world, and separate state, in all their extensive domains, gave up the dead that were in them, all that death had swallowed up, and hades received; and they were judged, as I said before, every one ac- they sat upon them, and judg- ment, was given upto them : and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not , worshipped the beast neither his image, neither ha received his mark upon their oreheads, or in their hands; and, they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. . 5 But, the rest of the dead lived not again until the thou- §and years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first re. Surrection : On such the se- cond death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall e logsed out of his prison, § And shall go out to de- ceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle : the number of whom is as the Sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and com- passed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured then). 10 And the devil that de- çeived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tor- mented day and night for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. - 12, And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before Bod; and the books were opened : and another book was opened, which is the book 9f, life; and the dead were judged out of those things which wore written in the books, according to their works. 13, And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them : and they were judged every man according to their works. b The souls of thern acho had been beheaded.] Dr. Whitby, not unjustly, thinks this a strange expression, to signify the resilrtection of their bodies. (See his Treatise on the Jºſillennium, chap. iii.) Mr. Fleming observes, it is said elsewhere, that their souls were actually lying be- fore ; and lizing, . He thinks, njust be put , for rising ſrom the dead, because it is said, thc rest of the dead 'ircd not till a thousand jears. 'lenn. Christol. vol. ii. p. 57. * † = s - * P º iiced and Fºl with Crist.]. This is the chief text on which Mr. Fleming builds his doctrine of the first resurrection; when, he sup- poses, those who have died fºr the testiniany, of Jesúš, and other ºngst tº cellent saints, shall be raised from the dead; not (he imagines) to live upqu carth, but to live a thousand years with Christ in heaven: º: a blessed:1:35 in early approaching, if not altogether cºlº that w ich goºd then are to enjoy after h; general résurrectiºn. while the rest have only the consinon blessing of the separate, state during this period; and ever, after the resurrectiou, shall have only inferior degrees of glor , to what these first-fruits of the resurrection shall for ºver possess. Flem. Christol. vol. ii. p. 42. s d The rest ºf the dead, $ºc.J. This has been, urged, to prove, that a proper resurrection is here spoken of; but I much doubt the justness of the con- clusion. Such expressions niny, sometimés, be thrown in to promote that obscurity, g; º; upon º whole, convenient in such a series rophecy. Compare chap. xxi. 17. of Pºp º, second death, shall have no º: siders this as an intimation, that the scCond deatſ, wi | hav terrify, though only for a little while, those gogg #. who shall |gt 'É. their share in the first resurrection. See hiſ Christol. ygl, * P.; tjº notion appears to me very airãurd, and ill to agree with the reprisºn- tation which Scripture gives ºf the universal judgment, as a day of un- ningled joy and triumph to all the righteous. e f The joir corners of the earth.] As, it is most certainly known, ſº the most convincing arguments, and from repeated experience, that the Mr. Flerning con- I have some power to rth is spherical form, it is certain that by the four corners of the *} i.º. dºğ the nations which lay at the greatest ºº:: from the city of the saints : which, I ºl, does here especially sig- nify Jerusalem. And we may †. that those who live ! ſ] tº: situ; ation, shall be last instructed in the gospel, and so capable. º ºf in Ost casily engaged to rise up against it. Compare º: Yº... §§ §: phrase. By Gog and Magog, many understand the Scythians, an }. '. northern nations, whom the devil will stir up to assault the people o God 3. For ages of ages : st; Toms at Govas 7 (ov § This is º - 3…. of -o-, }c • if is in that no argument can literal rendcring of these words : but it is certain - . be drawn from hence against the eternity of º ºnent, for no brase can more strongly express a proper eterinty than this. p jº great ºchite thrºj It has been observed, that this judgment-seat has been represented by a throne, to show that thºſe can be no appºal from it; a vehite throne, to jº. the bright glory, the unspotted purity, and inſſexible justice of him who sits upon it. - - - - - i From º Jace egrih and heaven fical, away, $g.], , Mr. º compares this description with a celebrated passage in Homer, in which Jupiter is described as sitting on his throne, and assºrts its great Supe- riority, though its plainness reſiders the majesty, less observable to com- mon readers. “It is so plain, (says hex) that it dºes ng; negd. sº ; and grand, that it exceeds, commentary and paraphrase. See his Sacre Class. vol. i. p. 329. rl = & k There * found no place ſor them.] Hence Mr. Whiston infe; º at the consummation of all things, and the final judgment, the carth Yu. desert its present station, and be no more found among the planetary Chorus. Whist. Theor. p. 282. But I cannot think this description intended to teach us any astronomical niceties; it seems only §§ that ºil nature was thrown into strong commotion, as if it were incapable of sustaining the majestic presence that appeared. ... -- THE VISION OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH. 14 And death and he]] cast into the lake of fire. T sist he second death. were cording to their works. And I saw, in the vision, * preside over the regions of death and hades, or the separate sta - mansouls should be no more separate from the bodies to which they were now united, these as a \ 3 and to signify that hu- persons, as it appeared, were cast into the lake of fire, which I have before described, and 15 And whosoever was not of which I said, that this is the second death. And as the register, which God, in Pur 1 found written in the book of #. was cast into the lake of lre suance of his counsels of everlasting love, had kept of those whom it was his gracious Pur- pose, agreeably to the tenor of his gospel, to save, was complete, I saw, that iſ gº one were not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake affire: so that this was the awful end of the whole human rače, to be plunged into that flaming and eternal ruin, or to be received into those abodes of glory, w ichi am next to describe, under the figure of a new heaven and a new earth. (Compare Rev. xxi. 1, note a.) IMPROVEMENT, We have here a most affecting view before us, of that important event, in which we are all so intimately con- cerned. Whatever the resurrection may import, or that glorious reign of a thousand years, (which probably inti- mates a signal revival of the christian cause in the world, and a display of its influence beyond what hath yet been known,) I say, whatever these events may particularly intend, the illustrious day, in which heaven and earth is to pass away, demands the attention of all mankind. For the dead, both small, and great, whether buried in the earth or the sea, must then stand before God: therefore, let all the living, both small and great, seriously weigh the solemnity and the importance of that appearance. Let them often look forward to the awful period, when the glorious throne shall be set, the important volumes opened, which contain the records of our lives, and actions, and of God's gracious and merciful transactions with us. We must be judged according to our works; that God before whom all our ways are, and who searches all our hearts, will bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Let us judge ourselves lº that we be not con- demned of the Lord ; and conscious how unable we should be to stand in that judgment, if God were rigorous to lay justice to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, let us humbly apply to the throne of mercy, to the j of his Son, to the grace of his gospel-covenant. So shall we find mercy of the Lord in that day, and be the priests of God and of Christ, and reign with him, not a thousand years alone, but for everlasting ages. In the mean time, let those who have no reverence for his majesty, who have no esteem for his gospel, who have never taken this awful alarm, who have never fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them, tremble at these awakening views. Let them all, of every condition, both small and great, say in their hearts, Who shall dwell with devouring flames, and lie down in everlasting burnings, even in this lake of fire, into which every one who is not found written in the book of life shall be cast, and where the wretched victims of divine justice shall be tormented for ever and ever ? How melancholy does the face of our earth appear, when we reflect on the reign of Satan on it, on the influence of the dragon, and the beast, and the false prophet ! O Lord, cut short their power; send down the angel that has the key of the bottomless pit, to bind this destroyer; yea, when he shall be loosed for a season, moderate his - #. ; support thy saints under the terror of every assault, till thou appear to the last confusion of their enemies, til - 943 emblematical persons, who seemed to SECT. 23. Ver. 5 4 11 11, 12 1 3 15 1–3 7, 8 thou appear to close this perplexing scene, by the wise and glorious catastrophe of all things; when it shali 4, 5 be seen, that the souls of them who were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus were not lost, and that it was wis- dom strenuously to refuse the mark of the beast, and the homage so generally paid to his image, though men might neither buy nor sell, nor enjoy their liberty, nor their lives, without making an entire submissión to it. SECTION XXIV. The solemn introduction to the glorious vision ºf the new heaven and the new earth, with a declaration of the blessing to attend the faithful and courageous conqueror, and the misery to be inflicted on impious and wicked offenders. Rev. xxi. REVELATION Xxi. 1. WD when this scene of things was passed away, another most glorious and delightful one opened upon me ; for I saw a new heaven and a new earth, wherein I knew right- * eousness was ever to dwell, for the former heaven and the former earth was passed awaj, as I said before; and the sea was no more;” the whole terraqueous globe was changed for another kind of world, wherein every thing was incomparably more beautiful and excel- lent than the face of nature had ever been, and room was made for a vastly greater mum- ciº..."; ber of inhabitants. And as an emblem of the eminent holiness and felicity which should §"º ºf there reign, I John saw the holy city, that is, the new Jerusalem, descending from God out jºbºd" ºf heaven;” and it was prepared with all imaginable ornaments and decorations, like a ..., bride adorned for her husband, and preparing to meet him with all her charms set out to the greatest advantage. .ind. I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying aloud, Behold the tabernacle of the living God º now with men; and he shall pitch his tent among them, in token of his favour and - friendship, and they shall be owned by him as his people, and Rev. xxi. 1. AND I saw a new heaven . and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; W8 S ſl O In OIG Séal. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell wit. them, and they shall be his 1 Deatly and hades were cast into the lake of fire.]. It is no wonder a man of Mr. Hobbes's disposition and principles should be ready to catch at any argument to prove the annihilation of the wicked. But that which he insinuates from this passage (see his Leviathan, p. 335.) seems to be Yery_precarious. For; as Archbishop Dayves observes, (see his Serm, No. 7. p. 100.) to täik of hell being cast into a part of itself, is downright nonsense. The plain meaning is, there shall be no more sépa- rate state. ...And this I think clearly overthrows that hypothesis which supposes this last fire will kill those that are thrown into it, and that their separate spirits will for ever remain in that misery, which must be the consequence of having lost happiness and hope, while they retain their thinking powers; a doctrine which Dr. Whitby has strangely taught in his Append. to 2 Thess. chap. i. - a. The sca ºpas no more.] The consequence which Dr. Thomas Burnet hath drawn from hence, in his Titcory, to prove there was no sea in the Paradisiacal state, is so manifestly absurd, that I need urge nothing against it. For it is certaig, were God to gover the whole sea with dry land, the earth must quickly perish, as well as much of its commerce be destroyed. But a world more populous than this can be, while the sea takes up so large a part of its surface, might well be expressed by such AJiguratiº e vision. As for this account of the new heaven and neio earth in general, commentators have been divided. Some have thought it re- Presents the happy state of the church upon earth during the Milſennium. A very ingenious writer, I mean Mr. Worthington, in his Treatise Qf the nt, and Progress of Redemption, endeavours to prove that it is in tended to represent a yet more perfect and durable period of prosperity yhich shall be enjoyed upon this earth; after the Millennium; and when the parad siacal state shall bo yet more fully restored, by the more abuſ. dant progressive influence of the gospel. But, on weighing the whole matteſ, I must declare myself of the opinion of those divings who undºr. stand it as an enblematical description of the happiness which the saints are to enjoy, in heaven after the resurrection, and to enjoy for ever . when, according to the preceding descriptions, the dead ºn 3. judged according, to their works, when this heaven and earth shali jiaº passed ºway with a great noise, and the elements shall have melted iciº ferrent heat, as St. John and St. Peter concur to describe it; and when death qua, hell shqll be cast into the lake of fire, with all that are not irritº the book of life; phrases which, I think, cannot be explained properly of *Y, eyent but those of the day of universal judgment. And it is certain, that if we do not go into this interpretation of them, there is no view given us of the final catastrophe of things on this earth of ours, in this cºmprehensive prophecy, though intended to represent the triumph of christianity; which seems in theory a very improbable supposition. .b. Descending from God out aſ heaven.] I apprehend he saw in the VISIOn air appearance qf a city, which seemed, #. the Sãect which Peter Sqw, to be let down from heaven, and appeared pendent, as it were, in the gir, in, such a view, that the foundations were visibly distinguishable from the superstructure; and this he considered, not as actually the abode of the blessed, but as a figurative representation of the holiness and feli- city,in which they were to dwell, so that it was a type of what the church itself should be. To interpret it, therefore, as if there were now such a city made in heaven, and by angelic power to be brought down to earth, and settled upon some spot of it, is so wild and romantic a thought, that one would wonder any one person of learning and understanding should evghavg embraced it. Compare Hallet’s Notcs and Discourses, vol. i. p. 800. See Isa. liv. I l, 12 S ECT. 24. 2 REV. XXI. 944 THE VISION OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH, *9T. God himself shall be with and among them [as] their God, their Protector and Friend, their ºf lºſ. 2 with them, and be 24. Guardian and Father, their suprême Good and final Portion. ...And God shall, with God their REV parental tenderness, wipe º their tears from their eyes; though here their tears have º: §3. º wipe º § plentifully flowed, not one shall now be left on any of their faces. .ºnd dº, jj; ;..., tº...º. 4 more ; he shall be for ever banished those blissful regions, and with him all his melan- neither sorrºw, nor crying, - - v- * neither shall there be choly, train, nor shall there be grief, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain or labour; ºpai."foº" is 'ºr. for all the ſºrmer things are passed away, all the mournful scenes ſhich were on eith sº things are passed away. 5 familiar to their eyes. And he that 8ſt "pon the throne" then spake himself, and said with .5 And he that sat upon the his own awful and gracious voice, which through the whole vision I had not before heard, º' *:::::: **ś Behold, I make all things new. I exert my power in producing a new creation, whence unto, me, Write: for these every trace of seeming imperfection and irregularity shall be banished. .hº...hº... Wººls are true and faithful descended to take notice of me; and singling me out by his eye, and directing his voice to me, he said unto me, while all my soul was awed into reverence and attention, JWrite what thºu hearest, for these are true and faithful words; and as their contents are import- 6 ant, so they are beyond all controversy certain. ..?nd he said unto me, Wonderful as the 6 And he said unto me, It in 45 or 3- ++- ... - - - - done. I am Alpha prediction is, doubt not of its accomplishment; It is done, it is, as it were, already pre- 3m. i. "#. º: * sent with me; I am the .4lpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End; too great and ºnto him that is athirst of the foun- excellent to need to use any artifice with my creatures; and far above the temptation of ###j}. freely. raising in them any false hopes and expectations, I will give to him that is athirst, of the Jolºtain of the water of life freely; I open the springs, and they shall flow in abundance; 7 and let every humble soil that desires it, freely come and quench his thirst. I have , 7. He that byercometh shall * - - - inherit all things; and I will already made many gracious promises to him who overcometh; and I will now comprise ..."; áº; them all in one ; the conqueror shall inherit all things; the whole new creation shaft be my son. his, he shall possess its blessings to the utmost of his most enlarged desires. And I will be to him a God, a Source of complete and everlasting blessedness; and he shall be my son, and as my son inherit my º and dwell, with me in it through eternal ages. 8 But as for the fearful and unbelieving, who dare not face the difficulties which a courage. . s. But the fearful, and un- ous profession of my religion requires; and the abominable, who have devoted themselves tº: and the abomina- alſº murderers, and to sensual affections and pursuits; and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, idolaters, and all liars,” all who allow themselves, in their words, or in their actions, to .h".”;"...",". violate the eternal and invariable law of truth by which I have governed myself, and by lºſiºneºji h fire and brimstone : which is the which I have required all my rational creatures to be governed; their part [shall be] in º. the lake which burns for ever with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Let this therefore be recorded by thy pen, that every future generation of men may carefully peruse, and seriously consider it; that every sincere believer, however weak, may be encouraged, and that every obstinate sinner may be terrified, and, if possible, awakened; and that none, in the day of my final judgment, may complain that they have not been warned and cautioned with the greatest plainness, and with the greatest solemnity. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. LET us pause a little, before we proceed to the more particular description of this glorious scene; and let Ollr 1, 2 hearts rejoice in this general view of the new heaven and the new earth, and of the holy city descending out of heaven from God. Will God in very deed dwell with men? Will he dwell with them for ever ? Will he fix his taber- 3 nacle with them, and condescend to avow them for his people, and to make himself known unto them as their God? Let our souls then be awakened, to pay a due attention to such glorious and important promises. Letus hearken to the voice of him who sitteth upon the throne, whose words are º true and faithful. Lord, dost thou 5 make all things new P. Verify the word first, we implore thee, in our hearts, t at it may be verified at length in our state and condition. Othou Alpha and Omega, who art the Beginning and the End, thou who hast done so much 6 to introduce this divine scheme of salvation, perfect it, we entreat thee, with respect to us; exciting our thirst after the water of life; and may we come and take it as freely as it is offered in the gospel. In what part of the holy Scripture is life and death, the blessing and the curse, set before us, if not in these awful passages?, Let those who are too timorous resolutely to adhere to their duty be recovered, and as it were driven back to it by the fear of divine vengeance. And let all habitual and obstinate sinners, and especially all 8 liars, who bring up the rear of a catalogue, in which murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters make a part, be awakened by this awful threatening. O desperate and inexcusable folly, to be afraid of the dis- leasure of men, and the inconveniences which may possibly attend an adherence to the truth, and not to fear the i. which burns for ever with fire and brimstone º • " g But let us courageously encounter and then we shall conquer all our enemies, animated by these glorious pro- mises in which all the encouragements contained in the sacred volume are comprised, that he who overcomes 7 shall inherit all things, while God owns himself his God, and acknowledges him as his son; and if a son, then an heir, an heir of God, and joint heir with Christ; and if so, all things are indeed ours. Let those tears, that will now sometimes silently steal down our cheeks, be shed as tears which we expect quickly to have wiped away, 4 even by the soft and compassionate hand of our heavenly Father. Let us bear our sorrows and, our pains, as those that know we shall, through divine grace, soon be out of the reach of them; and let us meet death itself, if ... we are sincere believers in Christ, as those that know its reign will soon come to a period; and that when once we are recovered from it, by the almighty power of our great General, we shall never more be subject to its in- vasion, or any of its terrors; even then, when all former things shall have passed away. - SECTION XXV. - SECT A sublimo and particular description of the splendour, glory, purity, and happiness, of the heavenly Jerusalem. Rev. xxi. 9, to the end. 35. REVELATION Xxi. 9. - REv. xxi. 9. -—— A.VD after he who sat on the throne had condescended to speak to me in the words I ºf º of the seven angels whic REV, have just now mentioned, there came to me one of the seven angels, who had the seven vials tº "sºº"Viš"ºil", XXI. 9. h had f the c He that sat upon the throme.] As the Lamb, and He, that, sat, upon; d All liars.] Some think this refers to the general notion, which is so - - - - - te r thor of the Religion of JNature * * * * * * oned as distinct, through the whole book, and largely inculgated by the well known alº s - #.*::::: #; ...'...";...'...}}}. #º."f mºeady jºinéalei, that there is a language in actions, as well as words; and that ; ºdërstand tie Father as the Person here spoken of, But I will not the malignity of every vicious and immoral Action consists in its Con- absolutely insis * ... - ºr - it hend the case of express lying, against which, in the most obvious s - sented as sitting upon the throne ; since we know it is ITCI lil - ... º § §º; jºijädge, under which charactor the Per: the terrors of this clause are most directly lovelled. soa who sat upon the throma is there spoken of t upon this, because in chap. xx. II, 12. it seems to be tradiction to the great rule of truth. But in this view it must compre- 6m86, beven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Corne hither, ! will shew.you the bride, the ºng, Lamb’s wife. . ... 10, And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, iná me that great city, the holy erusalem, descending heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light 7cas like unto a Stoll G most precious, even like a Jasper stone, cleur as crys- 12 And had a wall great and high, and had 5:1tes, and at the gates twelve unzels, and names - tire reon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel : 13. On the east three gates; of the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in then the names of the twelve apostles of the Laimb. 15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to mea- sure the city, and the gates the reot, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city Hieth four- 5quare, and the length is as large as the breadth; and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand fur- longs. . The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, accord- ing to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. A DESCRIPTION OF THE HEAVENLY JAERUSALEM. full of 945 the seven last plagues which had lately been poured out; and he spake with me, say-SECT. ing, Come, and I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb, and thou shalt observe 25. how beautiful and glorious she is. ...And he brought me, in a vision of the spirit, to a great and high mountain, and he showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out Rºy *... of heaven from God; which I understood to be an emblem of the church of Christ, in its _* out of most happy and glorious state. And it was indeed a most delightful object to behold, 11 having the glory of God shining round about it: and its lustre [was] like to that of a most precious gem, bright as a jasper stone, and clear as crystal; for the whole city, as it was represented to me pendent in the air, shone with an elegant and amazing lustre. ...And it 12 appeared having a great and high wall, for ever to secure it from all the attacks of its ene- twelve mies; having also twelve gates, and over the gates there appeared twelve angels, as a celestial º guard posted there; and there were names written upon them, which were [the names] of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel;” to signify that it was the dwelling of the Israel of God. And the city made a complete square, fiaving on the east side, which I first viewed, three 13 gales; on the north three gates; on the south three gales; and on the west three gates. Jnd 14 as I saw the city suspended, as it were, in the air, I had an opportunity of observing, that the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the lwelve apostles of the Lamb were engraven; to signify how great a dependence the church had on their testi- mony, and what an influence the gospel, which they preached, had upon raising this noble and divine structure. And he that spake with me had, as the angel who appeared in vision 15 to Ezekiel, (chap. xl. 3.) a measuring rod, but with this circumstance of illustrious dis- tinction, that it was a golden reed ; and it was given him, that he º measure the city, and its gates, and its wall. And the city was a complete square; and its length was exactly equal to its breadth ; and he measured the city with the reed, and each side was twelve thousand stadia, or furlongs. And, which was most extraordinary of all, it appeared to me, in this vision, as a perfect cube, so that its length, and its breadth, and its height, were equal;b which was an intimation how impossible it was for any of its enemies to scale the bulwarks that defended it. And he measured the thickness of its wall, and found it one hundred forty-four cubits, the square of twelve; and this was according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel who had the measuring rod in his hand, and accurately took the dimensions of it. And the building of its wall was like a complete rock of jasper, and the city [was] pure gold, and it was bright and clear, like refined glass. .4nd to signify how I6 18 19 #3.jºundations of firm the foundations of the walls of the city, which were the emblems of the apostles and the wall of the city were gar- nished with all manner of precious stones. . The first foundation was jasper; the second, Sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an enerald ; .20. The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, Sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte ; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tent h, u chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a Jacinth ; the twelfth, an annethyst. w 21 And thc twelve gates arere twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl : and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22. And, I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. * 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, tº. Shine, in , it : for the glory 9f God, did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walkin the light of it : and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day : for there shall be no night there. 25 And they sha!! bring the glory and honour of the na- t! O!)S. In to it. their doctrine, [were, they appeared adorned with every precious stone, like so many vast and solid rocks of gems, lying under the gates and appearing radiant and glorious, while the city hung, as I said before, suspended in my sight. The first foundation [was] jasper; the second Sapphire ; the third chalcedony; these were on the eastside:* the fourth emerald; The fifth sardonyr; the sixth sardius ; these were on the north: the seventh chrysolite, or a 20 stone of the colour of pure gold; the eighth beryl; the ninth topaz; these were on the South: and to complete the square, the tenth was chrysoprasus, or a beautiful mixture of gold and green; the eleventh hyacinth ; and the twelfth a methyst ; which appeared on the west side : thus were they agreeably variegated and decorated, with all the elegance and magnificence that can be imagined. And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls; each of the gates was of one entire undivided pearl, with all the beautiful pillars and arches, mouldings and cornices. .ind the streat of the city, instead of being paved with common stones, [was] pure gold, the substance being transparent as glass, and reflecting the light that shone upon it, with a lustre equal to that of polished gold. ...And whereas the temple made so considerable a part of the view of Jerusalem, the holy city, which I had been used to visit; as for this heavenly Jerusalem, I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God .álmighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it: God was present in Christ his Son, by a more intimate presence than had ever been known upon earth, and by that presence he made even the whole of the city most holy. ..?nd the city had no need of the sum, neither of the moon, to shine therein ; for the glory of the Lord enlightened ild on all sides, and the Lamb ſº the Light thereof, and the illustrious manifestation of this presence rendered not only artificial, but all natural light unnecessary. And the nations of the saved shall 24 walk continually in its light; happy nations, consisting of myriads and millions, shall ex- patiate in and enjoy the delightful scene; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and their honour into it.* If you were to conceive all the monarchs upon earth, uniting all their treasures to adorn one single place, they could produce nothing comparable to what I then saw... .ſind the gates of it shall not be shut by day: and that is equivalent to 25 saying, they shall never be shut at all; for there shall be no night there. And they shall 26 bring the glory, and honour of the nations into it: whatever is most desirable among all nations, seemed to meet together, to adorn that place, where good men of all nations shall 2 1 2 2 a. The tidelve tribes of the sons of Israel.] Such a regard continually maintained to the Jews, and their manners, and their temple-corship, might have a great, tenºlency to conciliate their regards ; and may also afioril some hints, for the interpretations of many passages of the Old Testament, in which expressions, taken fºom the Jewish church, are used in describing that of the Messiah. - b Its lºº its breadth, and its height were equal.] As this is quite inconceiyable, with regard to any cubical structure, which can be sup- posed of this bigness, I look upon it as a toise and well judged intima- tion, that all these descriptions are figuratire. The like intimation is given in the vision of §§ according to which, if it were able to be taken literally, the building described must be a mile high. c On the east side.]. As the temple of Jerusalem was beheld in its greatest, glory, when viewed, from the east, towards which the beautiful gate looked, I think it is probable that the like was observable in this visionary city, which, was all as one temple in which God dwelt. - - y aſ the Lord, &c.] Some have thought this was an extraordinary ºutstre, which seemed always to hover over it, like a sun never going down...I ruther think, that the whole city appeared to him like a lumi- mous object, sending out rays on every side, . he apprehended to be in consequence of God’s dwelling there; and that these rays might have much of the lustre of the Shechimah. Mr. Fleming argues from this text, that the Lamb is the Shechinah in the heavenly world. e The kings of the earth.) This is the clause upon which Mr. Worth- ington insists very, much, to prove, that we are to understand this de- scription, not of #;" world, but of some glorious state of the christian church, which is to pass upon earth ; and it must be acknow- ledged a plantsible argument. The reader must consider, whether it is sufficient to outweigh those on the other side; and if it be not, I suppose he will find no solution préſerable to that which I have here given ; for 1 cannot suppose that the kings of the carth are those who are to reign in this acid earth, whose glory, shall be reſlected fruin, and so adorn the bºº city which they shall then inhabit. (Coin pare Isa. lx. 3, 11, 20. XVI - 12. f There shall be no might there.] Mr. Whiston supposes, that a comet, meeting the earth at the conflagration, (for to such a concurrence he as- cribes that awful phenomenon,) shall give it such a blow, as to destroy its diurnal motion, leaving only such a degree of it, that like the moon with respect to us, it shall Inove round its axis, while it performs its periodical revolution round the central body. ; and so as to turn always the same face towards it ; so that one hemisphere shall be always ens lightened by the sun, and the want of it in the other, shall be supplied by a supernatural light. But the four dark corners (which where they are it is difficult to say) shall be the habitation of Gog and Magog. It is hard to determine whether this agrees less with the description here given, or the principles of good philosophy. Sec. Whist. Theory, p. 447 Ult this is not a place to canvass, such an hypothesis, mor, is it necessary, after what his antagonist Keil has said concerning it. ... This, gentleman also thinks a comet shall remove the moon from its orbit, so, that it shall be converted into a primary planct, as he thinks it would have been at the flood, had it not been prevented by a peculiar providence * *ºf 946 SECT. dwell and reign with God for ever. ...And nothing unclean shall enter into it, nor 25. REV. XX]. Ver. 18–21 º can give us an idea 24, 26 t THE RIVER AND THE TREE OF LIFE. |any thi ‘. practises abomination and falsehood of any kind, but only those who are wri in #. Lamb's book of life,” in which none of such a detestable character can possiblv have any place. 27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing written that defiletà, neither whatso: evcr worketh abomination, or 7naketh a lie; but they which amb’s are , written in the book of life. IMPROVEMENT.” GLoRIOUs things are indeed spoken of thee, O thou city of God. (Psal. lxxxvii. 3.) Thus does the Divine Being condescend to aid our feeble faith, by such sensible representations. But none of these things which are - º and magnificent enough. The pearls and the gems, the gold and the crystal, he honours of kings, and all the nations they govern, aſifall inconceivably short of that glory; for eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor, active and boundless as the human imagination may seem, has it entered into the heart of 23 man to conceive, what God has prepared for them that love him, in these regions of perpetual day, of everlasting 27 SECT. 26. REY. XXiſ. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 º ** grand temple, the whole of which shall be replenished with the most sensible tokens of his presence. 1 COr. I. 9. - And who shall abide in this thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in this thy holy hill? They who are written in the Lamb's book of life, they whom God has, from the beginning, chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, being predestinated to the adoption of children, through Jesus Christ unto himself. And who are these ? None that are unclean and profane; none that work abomination and a lie; but the pure and pious, the humble and the holy. Form us, O Lord, to this character by thy i. ; and never let the gaudy glare p of sensual enjoyments and worldly possessions turn our eyes from contem ating this glorious sight, or alienate our hearts from the pursuit of this blessedness; till, having heard of it ...” hearing of the ear, and believed the faithful report, our eyes shall behold those divine substantial lories, w are, can but imperfectly represent. ch these emblems, resplendent as they In the mean time, O Lord, lead us onward through what dark and #. path thou pleasest, to these abodes of light and glory; determine for us in what cottages we shall lodge, thoug ever so mean and obscure, while we are pursuing our journey to this royal, this imperial palace. * There are many beautiful ideas in the description, which I have not collected together in this Improvement, as some of them have been take's notice of before, and some occur in the next chapter. SECTION XXVI. The apostle hath a further vision of the river of life, and of the tree of life; describes the happiness of the inhabitants of the new Jerusalem, and receives a further mossago from God by an angel, before whom he is about to renew his prostration; but is forbidden. Rev. xxii. 1– REVELATION xxii. 1. .A.N.D having, given me this view of the holy city, he, that is, the angel who condescended to be my guide on this occasion, showed me the pure river of the water of life, which was clear as crystal, issuing out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb; an emblem of that perpetual life and overflowing joy, which shall be the portion of all the blissful inhabitants of the new Jerusalem. And in the midst of the street of it, and on the one side and the other of the river, [was] the tree of life, (Gen. iii. 3, 22.) producing twelve different [kinds of] fruits; every month producing one [kind of] fruit; to signify the permanency and variety of those delights which º up there. ..And the leaves of the tree are %. the healing of the nations; beneath their salutary shade no disease shall ever invade the nations of the saved, but perpetual health shall flourish among them : (Zech. xiv. 11.) And whereas in the earthly paradise Satan insinuated himself into the minds of the first parents of the human race, and the new-born glories of the creation were blasted by the curse which he introduced; in the heavenly paradise every fatal effect of the former curse shal cease;” and no new evil shall ever arise; and the throne of God and the Lamb, upon which the Father and the Son sit together, shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him, in the sacred offices of his temple, with far greater advantage than they have ever before done; Jind they shall see his {* shining with unclouded lustre; and, in token of their perpetual devotedness to him, his name [shall be borne) upon their foreheads,” as the name of God was on that golden plate which the Jewish high priest wore on his. And, to com- lete their happiness, there shall be no night there; and so they can have no need Qf the ; nor indeed of the light of the Sun itself, that glorious fountain of lustre to this lower world, because the Lord God shall enlighten them with the light of his own holiness and lory; and they shall reign as kings for ever and ever, and . an immortal life, far more #. htful, spléndid, and magnificent, than any monarch on earth has ever known. hd when he had said this to me, he added, Though these words which I have spoken betoken such glorious things, that they may seem in a manner incredible, yet is not the divine bounty and munificence to be estimated by any human standard; they [are] there- fore to be received, and depended upon, as faithful and true. And these things, O. John, are intended, not merely for thy own instruction and consolation, and much less for, the gratification of thy curiosity; but the Lord God of the holy prophets has sent his angel,” to show to his servants what must quickly be done, and to represent scenes, which it shall not belong ere they begin to open, though it may be long, before they close. .# may in his name déclare, Behold, I come quickly, to call my servants to an º- Yet, on the b Rev. xxii. 1. AND he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear aS º; proceeding out of the throne of God and of the alſT1D, 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve nam- ner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall l serve him. 4 And, they shall see his face ; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 5 And there shall be no- night there ; and they no candle, neither light of the sum : for the Lor giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever 6 And he said unto , me These sayings are faithful and true : and the Lord God, of the holy prophets sent his angel to she w unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. 7 Behold, I come quickly: lessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. count; and blessed [is] he who keeps and strictly observes the words of the book; for they will in such a manner dº rocks, on which multitudes shall md direct his course, as that he sha - suffer shipwreck, to their eternal ruin. I John, who wrote this book, am the person who saw, and heard, thºse things; gº when I heard and saw [them, I was so powerfully affected, that I fell down to worship ſ". of this l escape many d # And 㺠i. tº: - thingS, 3 nCi heard (/leſſl. Il Cſ)?, whºm i had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before g But only those, &c.) As it is certain that nothing, prºſane, ahºmºg- ble, and false, can here be considered as written tº book of life, this is another text to be added to the large catalogue I have, given ºn John xvii. 12. where et pin is to be considered, not as an exceptite, but adver- sative particle. See note f. p. 313. - a £very curse shall cease.) So the late learned Bishop º I think very justly, renders these words, which are plainly limited to the inhabitants of the neup Jerusalem; arid must º therefore, refer to the final state of happiness after the resurrection; till which time all the gaints of preceding ages will remain under the power gf $oij, and the effect of the first curse, be written, in their dust. 5*Wºme tºpon their foreheads.) It hath elsewhere been observed, (§ 16. note j.) that there was a custom prevailing among many of the heathem, as to their to inscribe on the foreheads the names or symbolical, marks of the, deity they worshipped; but the near connºxion between this clause, and that which related to their serving God in the offices ºf devotion, (for that Xarpeva, signifies,) makes me think it more natural to refer this to the inscription of Holiness to Jehovah, written on the mitre of the high, priest; and so it naturally leads us to reflect upon that intimate afproach to the biessed God with which all these happy souls shall be honoured. c figs sent his angel.] Perhaps the apostle might think this angel to be Christ, and that he speaks of his own coming in the following verse. But Dr. Čajamy argues the deity of Christ from these words, which he thinks the context proves to be applicable to him. Compare ver, 16. w - Cal. On Trim. Serm. ii. p. 41. CHRIST ANNOUNCES HIS SPEEDY APPROACH. a17 the fººt ºf hººl which before the feet of the angel who showed these things to me, forgetting the manner in which SECT. shewed me these things. ºf..."º"; me, the same kind of homage had lately been refused upon a like occasion. ...And he also said 26. See thow do it not: for I am & * . - ; :::::::...'...}.}; ſo me, as the angel had before done, (chap. xix. 10.) See [thou do it] not, for I am a fel brétire, the propºni'ſ low-servant with thee, I am subject to the same Lord, and share in the duty and service REY. §§§º of thy brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book, which thou art o” of this book: worship God. e * tº wº • tº now commanded to write: worship God alone, and divide not thy religious homage be- tween him and any creature, how exalted and excellent soever. IMPROVEMENT. WE will not now º our time in reviewing the infirmity of this holy apostle who seems again to have fallen Ver. into the same danger of idolatry from which he had so lately been recovered. For will we stay to examine, 8, 9 whether he took this angel for our Lord Jesus Christ, as some have imagined, or to determine what homage it was he attempted to pay. Let us content ourselves, for the present, with reflecting how necessary it is we should be on our guard against exceeding in our esteem and affection for creatures who have been the means of con- veying to us signal advantages, and especially assisting our views of the new Jerusalem ; to the contemplation of which, may we now return with new and growing delight. Let us raise our eyes to the water of life, which issues from the throne of God and the Lamb; to the tree of 1, 2 life, which grows on its banks, and produces such a variety of fruit both for food and refreshment, and for the healing of the nations; to that more excellent paradise, in which there shall be no curse, where, from the throne of God and of the Lamb, shall be scattered ten thousand blessings on all his servants ; who shall there serve him, with everlasting, with increasing delight, being admitted to see his face, and exulting in their having the name of God written upon their foreheads; which they reckon a brighter and nobler ornament, than the most glorious crown or diadem, without such an inscription, could be. These are the words of truth and faithfulness: and as such may our faith embrace them, and our souls ever rest upon them. - O that we may feel our thirst after this water of life, our hunger after this fruit of the tree of life, more pow- erfully excited, We shall, in both respects, be satisfied in the proper season; and, in the mean time, God will send us some refreshments, during our continuance in the wilderness. Already are we, if we are true believers, delivered from the curse; and those things, which were the original effects and consequences of it, shall be over- ruled by our gracious God, and converted into a blessing. X; O may divine love, and every genuine regard to God and to the Lamb, prevail and govern in our hearts; and may our lives be devoted to that service in which we hope our eternity will be employed. Have we not already, as it were, received the mark of God in our foreheads P. Have we not solemnly enlisted ourselves to fight under the banner of Christ? Have we not, in repeated and most affecting solemnities and ordinances of his own institution, declared our desire of being for ever devoted to him? O let us ever remember the sacred engagement. , Let holiness to the Lord be written on our hearts, as well as on our foreheads. Let all our affections and all our faculties, all our possessions and all our pursuits, be consecrated to God. To bear this name and inscription will now, even in this dark and benighted world, shed a glory around us. It will be as a sacred guide to our ways, it will cheer and animate our hearts, it will bring down to us many a delightful foretaste of that world, where in his light we shall see light, and where we shall reign with him for ever and ever, Amen. - .*-*- SECTION XXVII. Our Lord Jesus Christ admonishes the apostle to discover to the churches what had been revealed to him; and solemnly declares his speedy approach, to fix the eternal state of men according to their characters and works. Rev. xxii. 10–15, REv. xxii. 10 REVELATION xxii. 10. ANPhe ºntº. 4MP ht, that is,our Lºrd Jesus Christ, frºm whom Ireceived this revelation, said unto ;..."...º.º.º. *... me, Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book, so that they should not be imme- time is at hand. diately perused; for the time is near, in which the accomplishment of these things shall # *, *, *... . begin. Yea, the time is just approaching, when the last seal shall be set upon the charac- §§.i.º. # ters of men, and when it shall be said, on the one hand, Let him that is unjust, be unjust thystiſ: and he that is right still ; and let him that is polluted, be polluted still ; for no more opportunities shall ever †: ; jºi"; be granted for reforming what hath been amiss, and recovering the unrighteous and pol- him be holy still. luted soul to rectitude and purity. , And, on the other hand, it shall be said, Let him that is righteous, be righteous still; and let him that is holy, be holy still ; nothing shall ever happen to bring the virtues and graces of good men into any future danger, or under any cloud; but their righteousness and their holiness shall for ever shine; yea, shine with an ºld, hºnº increasing lustre. And, to confirm this, Behold I come quickly; I shall be, manifest ere §é, ºil; eº; it be long; and my reward, both of grace and vengeance, [is] with me; and I will recom- flºordins as his work shall pense to every man according as his works shall be, whether it shall appear, on an impartial 3 4 6 3 SECT. 27. REV. XXIL 11 I 2 "is I am Alpha and Omega, examination, to have been good or evil. And, to confirm it further, I º it again, I 13 §: ;...”.” ** am the Alpha, and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last; and what I say may be depended upon as the words of invariable fidelity. Hear them, there- fore, with attention and º And, since my nature and perfections are immutable, see that the necessary change be made in yourselves, in order to your obtaining that hap- 14 Blessed are they that do piness of which your sins may now render you incapable. Happy [are] they, and they º; alone, who do his commandments, and so prepare for his important appearanée, that they Hºhrough may have the privilege [to eat) of the tree of life; and they shall, freely enter by the gates ##: º”; dogs, intº the fº city: I have described, and have their perpetual abode there. But with- ..º.º.º.º.º. out [are] the unclean, who merit no better name than that of dogs, as they debase their mongers, and murderers, and 4. * * * e * #iºs, aiºsoever is: rational faculties to the service of detestable lusts; and sorcerers, and formicators, and mur- eth and maketh a lie. derers, and idolaters, who may justly be ranked together as the most abominable of sin- ners, and with them must be ranked too, every one who loveth and maketh a lie,” who forges falsehood, and practises it, or acts in any allowed contradiction to the great eternal rule of truth and rectitude. - $º - d Reep the words is book.] There are indeed a multitude of things b Who do his commandments, &c.] This promise to all that do his cont- cºi in this § #, of such a nature, that whoever pays a mandments, that they shall cater into the gate of the city here jºbº die regard to them, must necessarily be a true christian, and entitled to evidently proyes it to refer to that state of ſtitute happiness which al all the blessings and promises of the #3; * good men shall j."...º. Compare ver. 19. e a Jºnd he, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ.] Many following words, . c Every one .22ho lověth and maketh a lie.] Though idols are called and especially versé ſº prove that our ford is here meant. But it is a lies, yet, as idolaters had been mentioned before as excluded out of this remarkable instance of the reference of a relative to a remoter antece: new Jerusalem, I think it most natural to understand this clause in th nt : a figure of#; which I have taken notice of upon many for- sense given in the paraphrase. mer occasions. Heb. vii. 2, note a I I 4 - 948 CHRIST'S GRACIOUS AND GENERAL INVITATION. IMPROVEMENT. SECT. , LET us be very thankful, that the words of this prophecy are not sealed from us; but that truths, in which we 27. have so important a concern, are so º published and proclaimed. The time is near, when a seal will be set on the characters of men: blessed be God, he who is now unrighteous and polluted, may be purified and reform- º, ed, justified and saved. ... Adored be that grace, that waits so long upon sinners! But the divine long-suffering **, towards them will have its period; yet a little while, and Jesus comes to render to every man according to his 12 - - - - S-> works. May we then be fixed in a world of immutable holiness and happiness. 13 . The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, has discovered to us many evangelical truths in this mys- terious book. He hath directed our eyes to the Lamb that was slain to redeem us to God by his blood; and hath showed us the Saints in glory, laying down their crowns in his presence, and ascribing the praise of all their sal- Vation to him ; but he has shown us nothing that is inconsistent with the necessity of real and universal holiness. 14 Yea, he himself proclaims them alone to be entitled to enter the gates of the New Jerusalem, and to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, who do God’s commandments. Let us not, therefore, deceive ourselves with vain words, nor attend to any who would sophisticate the word of God, and fixing their view only on some detached passages of it, enervate, by their unguarded interpretations, its general scope and meaning. Let us, in reviewing Scripture, observe what God commands and requires, and compare it with what he forbids, that we may thereby impartially judge and try ourselves. And how free soever we may be from any of the grosser crimes here enumerated, such as fornication, murder, and idolatry, let us not allow ourselves in the love and practice of any thing inconsistent 15 with the immutable rule of righteousness and truth; as well knowing every allowed and continued indulgence of that kind to be utterly irreconcilable with a well-grounded hope of inheriting eternal life. May it please thee, O Lord, to inscribe º these laws upon our hearts; that our joy, in the hope and prospect of the promised bless- edness, may rise in proportion to our acquaintance with thy unerring word, and the impartiality and diligence with which we trace the actions of our lives, and the affections of our hearts, in comparison with it, and reduce them to a holy conformity to its precepts. SECTION XXVIII. Our Lord Jesus Christ repeats his august titles and gracious invitation; warns us of the dreadful doom of him who shall add to, or take from, his §: and gº º purpose of coming quickly; to which St. John adds his hearty assent, and concludes with his apostolical benediction. eV. XX11. It), to the end. REVELATION xxii. 16. SECT. AND now to conclude the whole; be it known to every one who reads these words, and 28. let it be seriously considered by him, that IJesus the Sön of God, the Alpha and Omega, ś, *: the First and the Last, have sent my beloved disciple and apostle John, as, my messenger, ºf the ºf REy, to testify these things to you, in the several churches into whose hands this may come. ...ºft.* * * *** And let it also be remembered, in order to add a due weight to the testimony, that I am the Root and the Offspring of David, by whose divine power David himself was made, though as to my human nature I have condescended to ally myself to him, and be born from his house: I am the bright and the morning Star, who wear a glory exceeding that of the most brilliant celestiãi luminary, and usher in a glorious and eternal day. And the great substance and design of the message is to awaken in the minds of all to whom it comes, an earnest desire of those blessings which from this throne of º, glory I am to 17 dispense. ..And accordingly I do now anew publish the invitation: the ji, with which I inspire my servants, and the bride, the church to whom I am espoused, concur to say, Come; and let him, even every one that heareth, say, Come. Let every one echo the in- And let *...*.* vitation, and let my people, in all ages, consider it as their duty to do it. .4nd let him that i. in §: ..."...# is thirsty come ; and whosoever will, let him apply to me in my appointed way, and re-freely. ceive of the waters of life freely;” behold it flows in a full current from my throne; and if any man do not receive a part or share of it, without money and without price, the fault is only chargeable upon himself. w - This important testimony I commission my servant to bear: and I also testify to, every ºf th the words of one that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man add unto these things, ...}}}.}} God shall add unto him, and bring upon him the most terrible of those plagues which are º written in this book :b he will, by any designed addition to them, or corruption of them, iijhe plagues that are wit: 19 make himself highly criminal, and eternally miserable. ...And à any one take away from **ś; man shan the words of the book of this prophecy, with a design thereby to diminish in any degree, by take ºy fºr thººds ºf the omission of what is disagreeablé to him, or others whom he may desire to please and 8. º, º; RE v. xxii. 16. I JESUS have sent mine an- 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him, that heareth say, Corne. 18 For I testify unto every 18 favour, God will severely punish such a sacrilege, and take away his part out of the book ºf §). of life, and out of the holy City, and the glorious illings, even the invaluable blessings, which ºft are written and described in the preceding passages of this book.” "ºtestifieththese 20 He who testifies these important things, says, and leaves it as his parting warning with ºlº.º.º. all that read them, Surely, I come quickly. My soul, while I write it, replies, and let §. Wen SO, every reader reply with me from his heart, Amén, even so, come, Lord Jesus, come surely and quickly, as thou hast said; for all our highest and sublimest hopes depend upon the blessed and glorious day of thy appearance, In the mean time, let the churches to whom these messages are especially directed and 21 The grace of our Lord 21 a PWhosoever ºpill, let him receive, &c.] Such a declaration of free grace seems to have been wisely inserted just in the close of the sacred canon, to encourage the hope, of every humble soul that is truly desirous of the blessings of the gospel; and to guard against those suspicions ºf divine goodness which some have so unhappily abetted. The word Aap 3a– vero, which we render take, does often signify receive; and the word Čajpgav is as much as gratis, which implies the freedom of the gift; and I think it may probably refer to that celebrated invitation; fa. Iv. 1. Ho, every one that thirs come ye to the paters, and ke that hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat, buy upine and milk without money,'ºnd without ... b. If any man add to, ‘. It is true, this particularly refers to the Book of the Revelation : but the parity of reason extending, to other books, I doubt not the terror of the threatening does so too. God forbid we should imagine every honestly mistaken criticism, where there is a question of receiving or excluding any particular yerse, should affect a man’s salvation; in consequence of what is here said #ūtīthink such a passage should make men very cautious, that they may not rashly in- cur any censure on this account; though, undoubtedly the terrºr of the threatening is planted against any designed, erasement or addition. shall conclude t; note with declaring, that I have endeavoured to carry On º commentary on the sacred books with this thought in my view, and that I have neither designedly attempted to establish any thing, w ich did not appear to me to be a doctrine of Scripture, nor drop any thing which did appear so. And wherein soever, through human infirmity and the want of a closer and more accurate attention, I have failed either way, I commit myself to the mercy of that Redeemer, whose word it is, and whose interest I have faithfully endeavoured to serve. c. God will take away his part, &c.) Since God, threatens the plagues written in this book, and the loss of a part in the holy city, as what might be the portion of those who should presume to corrupt, it, and such cor- ruption might happen in any age of the church; I think it very evident, that the holy city, spoken of in the preceding chapter, is a representation of the heavenly state to be enjoyed by all good men, how applicable so- ever it may seem to any glorious scene preceding the final judgment: and that Rev. xx. 11, &c. refers to the universal judgment. CONCLUSION. Jesus Christ be with you all. inscribed, receive my most affectionate wishes, my most solemn benediction, which I ex- Amen. press in this one ardent prayer: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, even all the in- valuable effects of his favour, and above all, the abundant communications of his Spirit, [be] with you all, and with all christians, to whom these words may come, unto the end of the world. Amen. IMPROVEMENT. How sweetly and delightfully does the canon of §. conclude, leaving, as it were, the music of heaven upon the attentive ear. “O thou blessed Root and Offspring of David, O thou bright and morning Star, impress on all our hearts these thy gracious words, which thou hast condescended to speak from the throne of thy glory; thereby, as it were, to aid the weakness of our faith in those which thou didst deliver, while dwelling in mortal flesh.” Then did the compassionate Saviour proclaim, from an eminence in the temple, to a crowded assembly on a day of peculiar solemnity, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. (John vii. 37.) And now be- hold he makes the same proclamation from his celestial temple ; he points, as it were, to the fountain-head of happiness, to the springs of the water of life, near the throne of God, and says, Whoever will, let him come, let him take, let him freely take, of this living water: yea, and not content with speaking this language by his Spi- rit only, he calls on his bride to lift up her melodious voice, to publish this kind invitation; he calls on every one that hears it to echo it back, as if the excess of his goodness overcame him, as if it were necessary to his own hap- piness, that men should accept of their own salvation. With what sacred observance should these books be guarded, which contain a message of such infinite impor- tance! Of what dreadful curses are they worthy, who presume to add to what is already perfect, or to take away from that which is in every part divine. I trust none of us will ever presumptuously attempt to do it: and may we be preserved from those mistaken interpretations, in consequence of which, we should teach the world, as by his authority, any thing which he has not dictated, or deny anything which carries along with it the stamp of such an authority. “ #. pity, O Lord, upon our weakness; impute not prejudices which thou knowest we do not allow; and give us a greater penetration of mind, to understand the true sense of thy word; a simpli- city of heart, to receive it; an integrity, so far as the duty of our places requires, to declare it; and a zeal to in- culcate and defend it.” - And while we are thus employed, or employed in any other services which Providence has assigned us, in ou- respective stations and circumstances of life; whatever labours may exercise us, whatever difficulties may sur round us, whatever sorrows may depress us, let us with pleasure hear our Lord proclaiming, Behold, I come quickly; I come to put a period to the labour and suffering of my servants; I come, and my reward of grace is with me, to recompense, with royal bounty, every work of faith, and labour of love; I come, to receive my faith- ful persevering people to myself, to dwell for ever in that blissful world, where the sacred volume, which contains the important discoveries of my will, shall be no more necessary; but knowledge, and holiness, and joy, shall be poured in upon their souls in a more immediate, in a nobler and more effectual manner. Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus. Hasten the blessed hour to us, and to all thy churches, as far as it may consist with thy wise and holy counsels. And, in the mean time, may thy grace be with us, to keep alive the remembrance of thy love, and the expectation of thy coming, in our hearts, and to animate us to a temper and conduct which may suit the blessings we have already received, and the nobler felicity after which thou hast taught us to aspiré. Jłmen and Amen. - END OF THE PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. S C {: T. 23. REV. XXI J. Wer. 16 2 0 21 A P P E N D I X. NO. I. A DISSERTATION ON SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S SCHEME FOR REDUCING THE SEVERAL HISTORIES CONTAINED IN THE EVANGELISTS TO THEIR PROPER ORDER. THE name of Sir Isaac Newton is so justly celebrated through the learned world, that they who know he has endeavoured to establish a method of settling a chronology of our Lord's life (for I think one can hardly call it an harmony of the Evan- gelists) quite different from what has hitherto been advanced, may be curious to know what it is, and why we presume to depart from it, since it is so natural to imagine that such a genius must demonstrate whatever it attempts to prove. I therefore think it incumbent upon me to lay the scheme before my reader, as I promised long since to do. . (Note m, on Matt. iv. 25. p. 75.) After which I shall briefly present, in one view, those reasons (many of which have been already hinted) which compelled me to tread a different road, after having most attentively considered all that this illustrious writer has urged for the support of his plan. I cannot set myself to this task without feeling the fatigue of it sensibly allayed by the pleasure with which I reflect on the firm persuasion which a person of his unequalled sagacity must have entertained of the truth of christianity in order to his being engaged to take such pains in illustrating the sacred oracles: a pleasure which, I doubt not every good reader will share with me ; ... as (according to the best information, whether public or private, I could ever get) his firm faith in the divine revelation discovered itselfin the most genuine fruits of substantial virtue and piety; and consequently gives us the justest reason to conclude that he is now rejoicing in the happy effects of it, infinitely more than in all the applause which his philosophical works have procured him, though they have commanded a fame lasting as the world, the true theory of which he had discovered, and (inspite of all the vain efforts of ignorance, pride, and their offspring, bigotry) have arrayed him as it were in the beams of the sun, and inscribed his name among the constellations of heaven. - , Sir Isaac Newton has given us his sentiments on the chronology of our Lord's history, in his Observations on Prophecy, Book I. chap. xi. p. 144–168, and, according to his usual method, he has done it concisely, only marking out some of the outlines; and after having endeavoured to establish some of the chief principles by arguments which he judged to be conclusive, he leaves it to his readers to apply those principles to several other particulars, which, being deducible from them, he did not think it necessary to enter into. Such is the method he has also taken in his Chronology of .4ncient Kingdoms; and it was most suitable to that great genius which bore him with such amazing velocity through so vast a circle of various literature. Yet it must render him less sensible of the difficulty attending some of his schemes than he would otherwise have been, and may leave room to those who are justly sensible how much they are his inferiors, to show, by their remarks upon him, how possible it is for the greatest of mankind to be misled by some plausible appearances of º in general view of them, against which invincible objections may arise when they come to be applied to unthought- of particulars. cy There are many facts recorded in the Evangelists, the order of which is so plain that all harmonies agree in them; and such especially are most of those with which the history begins, and most ..Pthose with which it ends, though there be some disputes about a few circumstances relating to the resurrection: but Sir Isaac enters not at all into that part of the history, nor into any thing that precedes the appearance of John the Baptist. He lays it down as the foundation of all his other reasonings and *tions here, (on the authority of Luke iii. 1.) that John began to baptize in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, reckoning his reign to have commenced from the death of Augustus, which happened, he says, August 28,” in the year of our Lord (according to the common reckoning) 99. This is said (Newt. p. 147.) to have been in the year of the Julian period 4727, which must surely be an error of the press for 4742, the Year of that period which is universally known to have answered to the 29th of the received christian éra. He supposes the Baptist's ministry opened in the spring, when the weather was warm ; and allowing the remainder of the year to the spreading of his reputation, he concludes that our Lord was baptized before the endſ of it, when Tiberius's 16th year was begun. (Matt. iii. 1–17. Mark i. 1–11. Luke iii. 1–18, 21–23. John i. 6—ls. sect. xv. ºviii.) After this the temptation ensued, (Matt. iv. 1-11. Mark i. 12, 13. Luke iv. 1–13, sect. xix.) and all those testimónies of John to Jesus, and the interviews between Jesus and his first disciples, (which are mentioned, John i. 19, to the end sect. xxi-xxii.) as likewise our Lord's journey to Galilee, and his first miracle there: (John ii. ill-ii sect. xxiii.) Ther followed our Lord's first Passover, which, according to Sir Isaac, (and I would be understood through all this pºſt of the Dissertation to be only reporting his opinion,) happened, A. D. 30, at which he drove the traders out of th. temple (John ii. 12, to the end, sect. xxiv.) had that celebrated conference with Nicodemus, (John iii. 1–21. sect. xxv, xxvi ) ând continued for some time to abide in Judea, baptizing by his disciples, while John baptized in Enon, and bore his j recorded testimony to him. (John iii.22, to the end, sect. 27.) 3 Thus the summer was spent, till John was thrown into prison about November, (Matt. xiv. 3–5. Luke iii. 19 20 Mark vi. 17–20. sect. xxviii.) and our Lord passed through Samaria in his way to Galilee about the winter solstice that is, four months before harvest. (John iv. 1–42. Sect. xxix. xxx. See note ç, on John iv. 35.) After which he went first, to Cana in Galilee, (John iv. 43–54. sect. xxxi.) and then, after a circuit [or rather journey] in Galilee (Matt. iv. 12 Mark i. 14, 15. Luke iv. 14, 15. Sect. xxxi. xxxii.) he came and preached at Nazareth, (Luke iv. 16-30. Sect. xxxi.) * This is a small mistake; for Suetonius (Ang. 100.) fixes it to xiv. Kal. Septemb. ; that is, Aug. 19. §52 A DISSERTATION ON SIR is AAC NEWTON's schEME and being rejected there, went and settled for a while at Capernaum, where he called Peter, Andrew, James, and John. (Matt. iv. 13–22. Mark i. 16–20. Luke iv. 31, 32. v. 1–11. sect. xxxiii. xxxiv.) This our author thinks must have taken up all the spring, and must bring us to our Lord's Second Passover, A. D. 31. It is after this passºver that Sir Isaac places another circuit through Galilee, which also carried his fame throughout all Syria, and added multitudes from thence, and from Decapolis, to those that followed him from Judea and Jerusalem. (Matt. iv. 23, to the end. Mark i. 28. Luke iv. 44. sect. xxxvi.) To these he preached the celebrated sermon on the mount. (Matt v. vi. vii. sect. xxxvii.-xliii.) Immediately after which he cured the leper, (Matt. viii. 1–4. Mark i. 40, to the end, Luke v. 12–16. sect. sº the centurion's servant, (Matt. viii. 5–13. Luke vii. 1–10. sect. lv.) and Peter's mother-in-law, with many others. (Matt. viii. 14–17. Mark i. 29–38. Luke iv. 38–44. sect. xxxv. xxxvi. By this time Sir Isaac supposes the feast of Tabernacles approached, when our Lord passing through Samaria was refused a lodging, (Luke ix. 51–56. sect. ...} to which he strangely supposes a reference, Matt. viii. 19, 20. (sect. lxix.) After which, when the feast was over, and Christ returned from Jerusalem, toward winter, he stilled a tempest as he crossed the sea, (Matt. viii. 23–27. Mark iv. 35, to the end, Luke vii. 22–25. sect. lxix.) and when he had landed dispossessed the legion: (Matt. viii. 28, to the end, Mark v. 1–21. Luke viii. 26–40, sect. lxx.) And then returnin again to the western side of the sea, cured the paralytic, (Matt. ix. I–8. Mark ii. 1–12. Luke v. 18–26. sect. xlv. called Matthew, (Matt. ix. 9. Mark ii. 14. Luke v. 27, 28. sect. xlv.) and having been entertained at his house, (Matt. ix. 10–17. Mark ii. 15–22. Luke v. 29, to the end, sect. lxxi.) went out to raise Jairus's daughter, curing the woman who had a bloody flux by the way. (Matt. ix. 18–26. Mark v. 22, to the end, Luke viii. 41, to the end, sect. lxxii.) And after performing other cures, (Matt. ix. 27–34. sect. lxxii.) he took another circuit in Galilee, (Matt. ix. 35, to the €n l, sect. lxxiiii.) gave a charge to his apostles, and sent them out. (Matt. x. 1, to the end, xi. 1. Mark vi. 7–13. Luke ix. 1–6. sect. lxxiv.–lxxxi.) After which having answered the messengers which John had sent, he discourses with the eople concerning him, (Matt. xi.2–19. Luke vii. 18–35. sect. lyii. lviii.) and upbraids the impenitent cities of Gali- ee. (Matt. xi. 20, to the end, sect. lix.) And as these events would employ the winter and the spring, our author places the Third Passover here, A. D. 32. He does not indeed expressly assert that this was the feast at which our Lord cured the lame man at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, and made that defence before the sanhedrim related in the fifth chapter of John ; (sect. xlvi.- xlviii.) but according to this general plan, this must be its proper place. . And that there was a passover about this time, he argues from the story of the disciples rubbing out the ears of corn, which is related as in this place: (Matt. xii. 1–8. Mark ii. 23, to the end, Luke vi. 1–5. sect. ...] Soon after which happened the cure of the withered hand, (Matt. xii. 9–15. Mark iii. 1–7. Luke vi. 6–11. sect.l.) and a variety of other miracles, (Matt. xii. 15–21. Mark, iii. 7–12. sect. li.) with that of the dispossession imputed to a confederacy with Beelzebub. (Matt. xii. 22, to the end, Mark iii. 22, to the end, Luke xi. 14–36. sect. lxi.-lxiv.) Here Sir Isaac places the parables delivered at the sea-side, as he supposes about seed-time, or the feast of Tabérnacles, (Matt. xiii. 1–52. Mark iv. 1–34. Luke viii. 4–18, sect. lxy.— lxviii.) his renewed visit to Nazareth, (Matt. xiii. 53, to the end, Mark vi. 1–6. sect. lxxiii.) and the return of the twelve, after having spent, as he supposes, a year in their embassy. (Mark vi. 30, 31. Luke ix. 10. Sect. lxxviii.) About this time our author places the beheading of John the Baptist, after he had been in prison two years and a quarter: (Matt. xiv. 1–12. Mark vi. 14–29. Luke ix. 7–9. Sect. lxxvii.) After which those multitudes resorted to Christ whom he fed with the five loaves, (Matt. xiv. 13–23. Mark vi. 30–46. Luke, ix. 10–17. John vi. 1–15.. sect. lxxviii.) and to whom, after having crossed the lake, (Matt. Xiv. 24, to the end, Mark vi. 47, to the end, John vi. 16–21. Sect. lxxix.) he discourses concerning the bread of life, (John vi. 21, to the end, sect. lxxx.-lxxxii). As we are expressly told, John vi. 4. that when this miracle was wrought the passover was near, Sir Isaac concludes this to be the Fourth Passover after our Lord's baptism, A. D. 33, and argues from John vii. 1. that Christ did not celebrate it at Jerusalem. * - Quickly after this followed the dispute with the scribes, who came from Jerusalem; (Matt. xv. 1-20; Mark vii. 1– 23. sect. lxxxiii. lxxxiv.) After which our Lord departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon; and after having dispos: sessed the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman, (Matt. xv. 21–28. Mark. vii. 24, to the end, sect. lxxxv.) he returned to the sea of Galilee, where he fed the four thousand, (Matt. xv. 29, to the end, Mark viii. 1–10. Sect., lxxxvi.), and after having replied to the unreasonable demand the Pharisees made of a sign from heaven, and cautioned his disciples against the leaven of their false doctrine, (Matt. xvi. 1–12. Mark viii. 11–26. sect. lxxxvii.) he came to Caesarea Phi- lippi, and having by the way acknowledged himself to be the Messiah, he was afterwards transfigured, and ejected an obstinate demon. (Matt. xvi. 13, to the end, xvii. 1–21. Mark viii. 27, to the end, ix. I-29. Luke ix. 18–43, sect. lxxxviii.-xci.) He then came to Capernaum, and made provision by a miracle to pay the tribute; (Matt, ºvii. 24, to the enºl, sect. kci.) and there, or in the neighbourhood of it, discoursed of humility, forgiveness, &c. (Matt. xviii. 1, to the end, Markix. 33, to the end, Luke ix. 46–48. Sect. Xciii-xcv.) . * - & Öur author takes no motice of the mission of the seventy and their return, (Luke X. I-24. sect, Xevii, ºyi) but he would probably have placed it here previous to that which he supposes tº be Christ's last departure, from Galilee, (Matt. ... i. 3. Afarſ. X. 1. §ect. cxxxv.) when he went up to the feast of Tabernacles. (John.vii. viii, sect. xcviii. Tcv.) N ºther does he take notice of the visit to Bethany, (Luke x. 38, to the end, sect. cviii.) nor of the date of any of those discourses which are recorded by Luke, (from chap. xi. 1. to xviii. 14. sect, cis-cxxix.) except where any passages hap- pen to be parallel to those in Matthew, to which he hints they are to be reduced. - - - wº He then introduces our Lord's visit to Jerusalem, and the cure of the blind man at the feast of Dedication, (John ix. 10 sect. cxxx. Coxxxiv.) after which Christ retired beyond Jordan, (John X, 40.) where he treats of divorce, (Matt Xix: 3’ 13. Siark x. 2–12. 'sect. cxxxv.) blesses the little children, (Matt. Xix. 13–15. Mark x. 13–16. Luke XV111. 15 | 17, sect. cxxxvi.) answers and remarks upon the young ruler. (Matt. xix. 16, to the end, xx. 1–16. Mark X. 17– 31. ... ºvii is 30 sect. cxxxvii. cxxxviii.) After which, on the death of Lazarus, he returns to Bethºny and raises iſiºn from the dead, (John xi. 1–46. sect. cxxxix. cxl.) and then withdraw; to Ephraim, till the approach of the Fifth Passover after his baptism, which was the last of his life: the particulars of which are related at large by the Evange- lists, and, with the subsequent circumstances of his death, resurrection, appearances, and ascension, make up the rest of this important history: but the contents need not be inserted here, as (for any thing that appears) there is no material difference between a harmony formed on Sir Isaac's principles or on ours. .. - -> I have taken the trouble of quoting the particular passages in each Evangelist, as well as of every correspondent section in the Family Expositor, that it may be easy for any, one who desires it, to read over the whole º according to this new schéme; and also to see how it transposes the passages in Question, and how it differs from what I judge to be the most exact method of disposition. And the attentive reader will easily see that there is a difference in the order of several of the stories, and a much greater in the dates we have respectively assigned to several which are placed in the 7 both. - - - *::::: of all the particulars would perhaps be º: ; I shall therefore content #. §.. observing in ...emºral that Sir Isaac constantly follows the order of Matthew, whateyer transpositions of Mark and Luke it may re- In general, d and he also concludes there were five passovers from the baptism to the death of Christ, whereas quire, which we do not; an - - but f I have i otes hinted at Some considerations we, with the generality of harmonizers, suppose there were but four. ave in my n least touch th s Nichºtºmined me to the method I have taken: but it will be expected I should here at least touch upon them again, and give a view of them together; which I the rather do, as they strongly illustrate each other. FOR SETTLING THE CHRONOLOGY OF OUR LORD'S MINISTRY. 953 The grand reason why I do not every where follow the order of Matthew, is in one word this, That both Mark and Luke do not only in several instânces agree to place the stories otherwise, though we have not the least reason to think that one wrote from the other; but also that they do, one or another of them, expressly assert “that the events, in question actu- ally happened in a different order from that in which Matthew relates them.” Whereas it is observable, that in all such CàSGS †. does not so expressly assert his order as to contradict theirs. A few instances of this may be expedient, and a few shall suffice. - Thus, though Matthew relates the cure of Peter's mother-in-law, (sect. i. in his viiith chapter, ver. 14, 15. after the sermon on the mount, and, according to Sir Isaac, some months after the call of Peter, Andrew, James, and John, which he had related, chap. iv. 18–22. Mark says this cure was immediately after they came out of the synagogue, into which they entered straightway after the call of those disciples, Mark i. 20, 21, 29. º - º Again, though Matthew gives us the story of Christ's caſming the sea, dispossessing Legion, and curing the paralytic, in the latter part of his viiith and beginning of his ixth chapter, and does not relate the parables of the Sower, tares, &c. delivered from the ship, till the xiiith, and places so many facts between, that Sir Isaac concludes the miracles to have been wrought in winter, some time before ift Passover, A. D. 32, and the parables not to have been delivered till about the feast of Tabernacles, almost a year after; Mark is very punctual in assuring us, (chap. iv. 35, et seq.) that in the evening of the same day in which the parables were delivered from the ship, Jesus calmed the sea and dispossessed Le- ion: for which reason I have followed him, and placed these miracles immediately after the parables; (sect. lxix. lxx.) but iave set that of the paralytic much higher, (sect. xlv.) as both Luke and Mark connect it strongly with the cure of the leper, which Sir Isaac allows to have happened immediately after the sermon on the mount. Matthew relates the message of John, and those subsequent discourses of our Lord which are contained in his xith chap- ter, after having given us an account of the mission of the apostles in his xth. But Luke (who more accurately distin- guishes between their call, Luke vi. 13–16. and mission, Luke ix. 2–6. as Mark also does, Mark iii. 13–19. and vi.,7– 13.) places this message, together with the account of several miracles on which it is founded, as well as the circuit which our Lord made with the twelve before he sent them out, and the forementioned miracles of calming the sea, dispossess- ing Legion, &c. between those two events, that is, the call and actual mission of the twelve: the one of which must in all reason be supposed considerably to precede the other: in which he also agrees with Mark, as was observed above. Matthew also relates the story of the disciples rubbing out the ears of corn, and the cure of the withered hand, (chap. xii. 1–13.) after the mission of the twelve; whereas both Luke and Mark place whichever of those events they mention, before the choice of them; (see Mark iii. 1–6. Luke vi. I–II.) and Luke expressly says that the choice was in those days, (Luke vi. 12, 13.) that is, at the time which followed the forementioned events. hese, and the discourse on the unpardonable sin, (sect. lxi.) which we readily allow might have happened twice, are all the most material transpositions we have made; and I must submit it to the judgment of the reader, whether it be not more for the honour of the New Testamentin general, to suppose that Matthew might not intend exactly to preserve the order of the history where he asserts nothing directly concerning it, than to suppose both Mark and Luke to have mistaken it, when they so expressly declare their regard to it, as in some of these instances they do. Sir Isaac indeed urges that Matthew (as well as John, in whom I have made scarce any transposition) was an eye- witness; but this can have no weight, unless it be certain that he every where intended to observe an exact order, which, for variety of reasons or causes, many of which may be to us unknown, he might not be solicitous about.” And I can- not forbear observing, that, on this greatman's own principles, there cannot be a great deal in the argument; for as Mat- thew was not called till chap. ix. 9, he could not, according to his hypothesis, have been an eye and ear-witness to all the events from chap. iv. to that place: and if (as Sir Isaac also urges) he was sent out as one of the twelve, chap. x. init, and continued a year on his embassy, he could not be such a witness to what passed from the beginning of chap. xi. to the end of chap. xiii. where he places their return after a year's absence: and these are the chapters where we have made the greatest and most material transpositions, the others hardly deserving a mention. If this branch of Sir Isaac's argument falls to the ground, and it be not allowed that Matthew observed a strict chrono- logical order, that part of his reasoning by which he would fix the date of each event, must fall with it; for if it were to be granted that Matthew hinted at the different seasons of the year, when they passed, we could not fix the chronology by that, unless we were sure that each was such a season of a different year, and not of the same, which on this supposition we cannot assert: but I think it very easy (ew abºndanti) to show, that passages which Sir Isaac produces as indications of the seasons are not so, or at least do not point them out so punctually as they ought to do, in order to justify the uses he would make of them. One cannot but wonder that some of the arguments which I have now in my eye should ever have been urged by a writer of such extraordinary discernment; as, for instance, that he should conclude the sermon on the mount must be preached later than the Passover, because multitudes followed Christ in the open fields, which he says (p. 151.) was an argument of the summer season; though it is so apparent, that when there were those five thousand men besides women and children assembled around him whom he fed with the five loaves, the Passover was only at hand; (John vi. 4.) or that he should say (p. 153.) the storm mentioned, Matt, viii. 23. “shows the winter was now come on,” as if there were no storms in the summer; or once more, that it must be seed-time when the parables in Matt. xiii. were delivered, “because sowing seed is mentioned in theim,” (p. 154.) when it is so evident (as I have observed elsewhere, note d, on * iv. 3. p. 122.) the very same principle would prove it to be harvest, as another parable delivered the same day refers to that Season. I am not willing to swell this Dissertation ; and therefore omitting many remarks which might easily be made on other passages, I will conclude with the mention of two or three particulars which might contribute to lead this illustrious writer into Some error. - - One thing that has occasioned this was, his taking it for granted (as I observed before) that the fifteenth year of Tibe- rius, in which John the Baptist opened his ministry, must needs be reckoned from the death of Augustus: whereas it ought to be computed from the time when Augustus made him his colleague in the empire. (See note b, on Luke iii. 1. p. 41.) Another is, his admitting the rabbinical rules for the translation of the Jewish feasts, of which we have not one word, either in the Scriptures, or in Josephus or Philo. Yet it is on this principle that he rejects some years from the possibility of being the year of Christ's suffering, because (as he ..º.º. Passover, two years before each, would not fall late enough to have the corn ripe on the sabbath that succeeded the aschali (See notes b, and c, on Luke vi. 1. p. 98, 99.) And, to mention no more, a third principle (which is also very precarious, and yet has much stress laid upon it in Sir Isaac's scheme) is, his taking it for granted that whenever Matthew speaks of Christ's going about Galilee and preaching in the synagogues there, he intended to tell, is that our Iord made a circuit over all the country; which, if it were ad- mitted, ; indeed make it necessary (if Matthew’s order were to be the standard) to suppose a longer space of time than we or most others allow to have passed between his entrance on his public work and the Passover just preceding the rubbing out the ears of corn, which we own on both sides to have been two years before his death; for four circuits * Mr. Jer. Jones has hinted at some conjectural reasons, in his P'indication of the former part of St. Matthew’s Gospel. See chap. iii. º f I, shall content myself with observing here, that, on these, principles Sir Isaac, places the Passover, A. D. 31 on Wednesday, March 28.-A. D. 32, or Monday, April 14.—A. 1). 33, on Friday, April 3.−and A. :). 34, on Friday, April 23. 12 Ax 954 A DISSERTATION ON SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S SCHEME. of this kind are mentioned before we come to the twelfth chapter of Matthew, where the story last referred to is recorded. the first, John, iv. 43. and Luke iv. 14, 15. the second, Matt. iv. 23. the third, Matt. ix. 35. and the fourth, Matt. xi. 1. But if we should grant that his #; about all Galilee in the second of these instances, and his going about all the cities and villages in the third, |...} that might only be those on the shore of the sea of Tiberias,) were to be taken ever so literally, yet his passing through Galilee in his way from Sichar to Nazareth in the first instance, and his departing, that is, setting out to teach and to preach in their cities in the fourth, can inferno such conclusion. *> . This might be suggested even if Matthew's order were to be admitted, and would invalidate the argument for protract- ing the years of our Lord's ministry on that supposition; but it is to be remembered we have produced arguments to prove that order must sºmetimes be inverted, and particularly, that Christ's going about all the cities and villages, (Matt. i:33 sectºxiii) and his departing to teach and to preach in their cities, (Matt. Ki. i. sect. lxxvi.) was some consider. able time after the Passover after which the ears of corn were rubbed out. (Matt. ii. i. sect. xlix.) On the whole, I think that if our order be admitted, there is no part of Christ's ministry which seems so crowded with business as that between his last Passover but one, and the following feast of Dedication. But here our harmony allows more tune for the workin Galilee than Sir Isaac, who supposes “Christ never returned thither after the feast of Taber. nacle; " (p. 137) and I leave the reader to judge whether, if such a variety of journeys and events must be allowed to have happened in these nine months, or according to him in six, we may not by a parity of reason, or rather with greater, gomprehend all the preceding within the compass of about sixteen: éspeci y when it is considered that, according to Sir Isaac, that progress of our Lord for which the apostles were intended to make way, and that after the embassy of the seventy, must be thrown into the first six months of this year, and is an extreme and, I think, insurmountable diffi- culty into which we shall not be driven.” I shall conclude this Dissertation with one reflection, which may perhaps be of some use to those who have but little relish for the niceties of this inquiry: I mean, that when we find this great master, and I had almost said, (so far as the title can be applied to a mortal, man,) this great father of reason, failing into such obvious mistakes as I have been obliged here to point ºut, it tends to give us an humbling idea of the imperfections of the human mind in its present state; and consequently, we may learn from it two of the most important ijº that can be imagined in social life—a caution lest we assert Qur own opinions with too dogmatical an air; and a care to avoid such petulancy in censuring the mistakes of others, as if we thought none but the weakest and most contemptible of mankind were capable of being misled by the Specious appearances of some inconclusive arguments. * I will venture to say, that if Sir Isaac Newtºn's error in the order of the harmony teach us this candour, it will be a much greater benefit to us than if he had placed every circumstance relating to it beyond all possibility of further dispute. - POSTSCRIPT TO THE PRECEDING DISSERTATION. I NEVER had nor never took an opportunity of looking into Dupin's Life of Christ, till about a year ago, long after the publication of the second edition of my Paraphrase on the Evangelists: but then I found, to my agreeable surprise, a more perfect agreement between his scheme of the Harmony and mine, than I expected any where to have met with, and particularly in the story of the resurrection, Of the 203 sections into which I have divided the Evangelists, we differ only in the order of twenty-nine; and as several of these are inseparably connected, there are only, on the whole, nine stories or discourses in which there is a variety in our order. The first, sect. xii. The wise men's visit to Christ, which he places before the presentation, sect xi. The second, sect. xxxvii.-xliii. Matthew’s account of the sermon on the mount, which he supposes to have been coin- cident with that in Luke, sect, liii. liv. which I consider as a repetition of it. The third, sect lxix. lxx. The stilling the tempest, and dispossessing Legion, which he places before the calling of Matthew, and immediately after sect. xxxvi. The fourth, sect. xcvi. Christ's reproving John for an instance of the narrowness of his spirit, which, as a similar and undetermined fact, he subjoins to sect. xciti. Christ's checking the ambition of his disciples. The º; sect. cvi. The return of the seventy, which he connects with the story of their mission, sect. xcvii. The sirth, sect. cxviii. Christ's urging the necessity of striving for heaven, &c. which he strangely introduces between sect. cliv. and clviii. The seventh. The discourses and facts, sect. cxxvi.-cxxxv. which he scatters promiscuously after sect. cv. and else- where. * To make the reader more sensible of this, I shall add a brief survey of the compass of time within which I suppose the principal events between the several passovers of our Lord’s ministry to have happened, referring him to the following Chronological Table for a more exact view of them Events which we suppose between the first and second of our Lord’s Passovers. - Our Lord spends the summer and beginning of the winter in Judº about the Winter solstice passes thrºugh Samaria into Galilee; (325–30.) spends the remainder of the winter and the spring in a circuit through Galilee, in which are included his visit to Nazareth and short stay at Capernaum; an toward the close of the circuit, having preached his celebrated sermon on the mount, returns to Capernaum. (§ 31—45.) ICvents between the second and third Passover. fter vindicating what passed upon rubbing out the ears of corn, and curing the withered, hand, he travels to the sea of Galilee, chooses his apostles, and mº a; §§d. at dº. ;.yisits §§, and dismisses John’s messengers—all which might pass before the end of May: ($46–60.) §. travels, with the twelve in his train, (Luke viii. 1. Matt. ix. 35.) through the place5 near the sea of Tiberias, perhaps .# the months of June, July, and August, (36ſ. 73.) and intending a much more extensive circuit, despatches the tyelve to make way for him, and probably setting out quickly after them, might employ six months in this part of it, (374–77.) and leave sufficient time for his interyley, with the five thousand whom he miraculously fed, and his con- ference with the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem before the next Passover. (97 4.) - Events between Christ’s third Passover and the feast of Dedication, which preceded his fourth. ing the time between the Passover and the end of May for his journey to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and other places in Galilee, he might return toº, and feed the four thousand by that time ; ($85 and if subsequent events and discourses recorded, § 87—96.) employed him till, the end of June, he might then send out the seventy, and they inight easily mget him at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles in September; between which j ñé fººt of Íñédication, near the end of Degémber, we must place his last gircuit in Galilee, ($97—127.) unless (which is pºssible), we suppose it to have been begun quickly after the mission of the seventy, and so some part of July, and September to have been employed in it : and indeed one cannot imagine any .###a: all the seventy, or all the apostles, should have finished their progress before Qur, Lord, began to follow those who were sent to the nearest places; or if we should suppose it, and follow Sir fsīāºs scheme, we must of necessity place the two circuits which followed these two embas- sies, within this space of time, as was hinted above ; whereas, if we consider the journey to the coast of Tyre and Sidon as an appendix to the former, we may (according to our sº assign near eight months to that grand tour of our Lord in which he followed, the twºlve, which might make it convenient to despatch that in which he followed the seventy in proportionably less time. And I believe, that if we consider Galilee, not to have been larger than three 3 ſº of our western counties, we shall more easily acquiesce in the competency of the time assigned to these visits to it. A DISSERTATION ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 955 The eighth, sect. clzx. The intimation of Judas's treachery, which he introduces after the Eucharist, sect. clzxii. And the last, sect. clzxxi. The warning Christ gave of º denying him, which he joins with sect clxxi. though I take them to be two different predictions of the same event. The reader may see my reasons for the order in which I have placed most of these sections, in the notes upon them: but I cannot forbear thinking that such a coincidence in all the rest, where the one could not write from the other, is a strong presumption in favour of both. No. II. A DISSERTATION ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, as PROVED FROM THE FACTS RECORDED IN THE HISTORICAL BOOKS OF IT. NOTHING can be more evident than that a firm and cordial belief of the inspiration of the sacred Scripture is of the highest moment, not only to the edification and peace of the church, but in a great measure to its very existence; for if this be given up, the authority of the revelation is enervated, and its use destroyed; the star which is to direct our course is clouded, our compass is broke to pieces, and we are left to make the voyage of life in sad uncertainty, amidst a thou- sand rocks, and shelves, and quicksands. I hope therefore I may perform a service acceptable to God and my christian brethren, while I endeavour, as plainly and as briefly as I can, to º some leading proofs of it in a convincing view ; and I undertake the task the more willingly, as in the prefacé to the first volume of this work, I laid myself under an obligation . years ago) to attempt something of this kind, and have often been reminded of it by persons for whom I have the highest regard. I then proposed to handle the subject in a few sermons, to be added to those, long since published, on the Evidences of the Gospel. But on a review of that particular connexion which the argument I am here to pursue has with the his- tory of the New Testament, I apprehended it could no where appear better than at the end of my Exposition on the books which contain it. The reader will, I hope, recollect that in the sermons just now mentioned I have endeavoured to demonstrate the truth of that history; and every year convinces me more and more of the unanswerable force of the evidence there displayed. It is with great pleasure that I reflect on the divine blessing which hath seemed to attend those discourses; and it is a great encouragement to me to hope that what I am now to offer may be a means of esta- blishing some of my readers in that regard to the sacred oracles which will be their best preservative against the errors and the vices of that licentious age in which Providence hath cast our lot, whereby our fidelity and our zeal are brought to a trial which few ages but those of martyrdom could have afforded. It will be my business, First, to state the nature of inspiration in general, and of that kind of it which (as I appre- hend) we are to ascribe to the New Testament:—I shall then prove that it was undoubtedly written by such inspiration: —and after this, I shall briefly hint at the influence which this important truth ought always to have upon our temper and conduct; by enforcing which, I apprehend, I shall take the best method to promote a growing persuasion of the truth I am labouring to establish. - I will only premise, that I do not intend this as a full discussion of the subject, but only as such a compendious view of the chief proofs as may suit the place in which it stands, and as may, from the easiest and plainest principles, give rational satisfaction to the minds of common christians, who have not leisure, nor perhaps ability, to enter into all the niceties of theological and scholastical controversy. - I. I shall state the nature of inspiration, and of that kind of it which we are to ascribe to the New Testament. In this I shall be more particular, as I apprehend the want of a sufficient accuracy here has occasioned some confu- sion in the reasoning of several worthy persons who have treated this important subject more largely than I must here allow myself to do. I shall not, however, criticise on their account of the matter, but plainly lay down what seems to me intelligible, right, and safe. - By inspiration in general, I would be understood to mean, “Any supernatural influence of God upon the mind of a rational creature, whereby, it is formed to any degree of intellectual improvement beyond what it would, at that time and in those circumstances, have attained in a natural way, that is, by the usual exercise of its faculties, unassisted by any special divine interposition.” Thus, if a man were instantaneously enabled to speak a language which he had never learned, how possible soever it might have been for him to have obtained an equal readiness in it by degrees, I believe few would scruple to say that he owed his acquaintance with it to a divine inspiration ; or, if he gave a true and exact account of what was doing at a distance, and published a particular relation of what he neither saw nor heard, as some of the prophets did, all the world would own §§ the affair were too complex, and the account too circumstantial, to be the result of a lucky guess) that he must be inspired with a knowledge of it, though another account equally exact, given by a person on the spot, would be ascribed to no inspiration at all. - But of this supernatural influence on the minds of men, forming them to such extraordinary intellectual improvements º there are various sorts and degrees, which it will be of importance for us accurately to distinguish from each Other. If a person be discoursing either in word or writing, and God do miraculously watch over his mind, and, however se- cretly, direct it in such a manner as to keep him more secure from error in what he speaks or writes than he could have been merely by the natural exercise of his faculties, I should say he was inspired, even though there should be no ex- traordinary marks of high genius in the work, or even though another person, with a stronger memory, or relating a fact more immediately after it happened, might naturally have recounted it with equal exactness. . Yet still, if there was in this case any thing miraculous, we must, on the principles above, allow an inspiration; and I would call this, to distin- guish it from other and higher degrees, an inspiration of superintendency. - - If this influence should act in such a degree as absolutely to exclude all mixture of error in a declaration of doctrines or facts so superintended, we might then call it a plenary superintending inspiration, or, as I would choose for popular use to express myself in this discourse, a full inspiration. - - Now it will from hence follow, (and f desire that it may be seriously attended to,) that a book, the contents of which are entirely true, may be said to be written by a full inspiration, even though it contain many things which the author might nave known and recorded merely by the use of his natural faculties, if there be others which he did not so well know, or 956 A DISSERTATION ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, could not without miraculous assistance have so exactly recollected; or if, on the whole, a freedom from all error would riot in fact have been found unless God had thus superintended or watched over his mind and pen. And in regard to such a production, it would be altogether impertinent and insignificant to inquire how far did natural memory or natural reason operate, and in what particular facts or doctrines did supernatural agency prevail; it is enough if I know that what the author says or writes is true, though l know not particularly how he camé by this or that truth ; for my obli- gation to receive it arises from its being known truth, and not merely from its being made known this or that way.— And should God miraculously assure me that any particular writing contained nothing but the truth, and should he at the same time tell me it had been drawn up without any miraculous assistance at all, though I could not then call it inspir- ed, I should be as much obliged to recéive and submit to it, on its being thus attested by God, as if every single word had been immediately dictated by him. It will further follow from what is said above, that a book may be written by such full inspiration as I have described, though, the author being left to the choice of his own words, phrases, and mānner,” there may be some imperfection in the style and method, provided the whole contents of it are true; if the subject be so important as to make it consistent with the divine wisdom miraculously to interpose, to preserve an entire credibility as to the exact truth of facts recorded and doctrines delivered as divine. If indeed God were represented as declaring such a book to be intended by him as an exact standard for logic, oratory, or poetry, every apparent defect in either would be an internal objection against it, But if it be represented only as intended to teach us truth in order to its having a proper influence on our temper and actions, such defects would no more warrant or excuse our rejecting its authority, than the want of a ready utterance or a musical voice would excuse our disregard to a person who should bring us competent evidence of his being a messen- ger from God to us. - - I have been more particular in stating this kind of inspiration, because it is that which I shall endeavour to assert to the sacred books of the New Testainent, and this without any exception or limitation, as they came out of the hands of the apostles; though I allow it is possible they may, in this of that particular copy, and in some minuter instances which now perhaps affect all our remainſng copies, have suffered something by the injuries of time, or the negligence of tran- scribers as well as printers: which, that they have in some particulars suffered, is as notorious a fact as that there is a written or a printed copy of them in the world; yet is at the same time a fact which no man of common sense or honesty can seriously urge against their authority. Though it be the main point in my view to prove that the New Testament is written under that kind of inspiration which #. been explaining, I must nevertheless beg leave to mention two other kinds, of which divines often speak, and which do also in a considerable degree belong to many parts of Scripture, though I think it neither expedient, mate- rial, nor safe, to assert that they run through the whole of it: I mean, an inspiration of elevation and of suggestion. The former (as its name plainly intimates) prevails where the faculties, though they act in a regular and, as it seems, a common manner, are nevertheless elevated or raised to sºme extraordinary degree, so that the performance is more truly sublime, noble, and pathetic, than what would have been produced merely by the force of a man's natural genius. As for the particular degree of the divine agency, where there is indeed something of this inspiration, perhaps neither the erson that is under it, nor any other creaturé, may be able confidently to pronounce concerning it. Perhaps nothing ess penetrating than the eye of God himself may be able universally to distinguish that narrow line which divides what is natural from what is supernatural, in all the productions and powers of imagination, reasoning, and language, or in the effects and powers of memory under the former head. It is a curiosity in the minute particulars of which we are not at all concerned, as it is the same God which, whether naturally or miraculously, worketh ail and in all. (I Cor. xii. 9.) But if any excellency in the performance itself can speak it to be more than human, productions of this sort are to be found in Scripture, and the rank and education of some of the sacred penmen render the hand of God peculiarly con- spicuous in the sublimity and lustre of their writings. What the gifts of the Spirit may in every age of the church have done by operations of this kind, we know not. And I think it would be presumptuous absolutely to deny that God might actin some extraordinary degree on some of the heathen writers, to produce those glorious works of antiquity which have been, under the direction of his providence, so efficacious on the one hand to transmit the evidences of divine revelation, and on the other to illustrate the necessity of it: in consequence of which, I cannot forbear saying by the way, that I think hº who are intimately acquainted with them, are of all men upon earth the most inexcusable in rejecting christianity. But our inability to mark out the exact boundaries between nature and an extraordinary divine agency, is not much to be regretted; since it does not appear to be the design of Providence, by such elevations of sentiment, style, and manner, by any means to bear testimony to the person, adorned with them as a messenger sent to speak in his name, which may as effectually be done in the plainest and simplest forms of expression, without anything which looks like the heightenings of art, or the sparklings of an extraordinary genius. g * - , & The other, which divines have called immediate suggestion, is the highest and most extraordinary kind of inspiration, and takes place when the use of our faculties is superseded, and God does as it were speak directly to the mind; making such discoveries to it as it could not otherwise have obtained, and dictating the very words in Yº these discoveries are to be communicated to others: so that a person in what he writes from hence, is no other than, first, the auditor, and then (if I may be allowed the expression) the secretary of God; as John was of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he wrote from his sacréd lips the seven epistles to the Asiatic churches. And it is, no doubt, to an inspiration of this kind, that the book of the Revelation owes its original. e It is evident from the definitions above, that there may be a full superintendency where neither of the latter kinds of inspiration (of elevation or suggestion) take place: but I think we must necessarily allow, that an inspiration of sugges- tion, so far as it goes, must also imply a full superintendency in recording the histºry of what has been seen or heard in any prophetic vision, when it is necessary to make a report of it. For as it would, on the one hand, be impious to imº. ine that the blessed God would dictate a falsehood to any of his creatures, so neither can we suppose it consistent with the divine wisdom to suffer the prophet, through infirmity, to err in delivering a message with which he had expressly charged him, and which would be given in vain, so far as there was a failure in the exact delivery of it. . . . . . . Bésides the last book of the New Testament, I mean the Revelation, which I have already mentioned in this view, it seems evident to me that some other parts of it were given by a suggestion; seeing there are so many predictions inter- spersed, and so many mysteries revealed, which lay entirely beyond the ken of any human or Fº angelic mind. But that this is applicable to all the history of it, or to all things contained in its epistolary parts, I choose not to assert. For as it cannot º necessary to its entire credibility, (which nothing can more effectually secure than a full superinten- dency,) it would subject us to many difficulties which have been so forcibly urged, by others, that it is not necessary for me here to repeat them. But I am well assured that the apparent insufficiency of the answers which have been returned to those objections by some very sincere, but I think, in this instance, less judicious defenders of Seripture, has led some people to conclude that the Scripture was not inspired at all; as if it had been on both sides agreed that a universal sug- estion was the only kind of inspiration worth contending about. The consequence of this hath been, that such as are issatisfied with the arguments which these defenders of the divine authority of the Scripture insist upon, read the - aw * It is very evident that the learned Maimonides thought this to be the case with regard to the prophets, though I think it least of all to be apsrehended in such oracles. See AJaimon. ..}ſor. JYeº. 1:b. ii. cap. 29. . As PROVED FROM THE FACTS RECORDED IN ITS HISTORY. 557 Scriptures, (if they read them at all,) not to learn their authentic dictates, but to try the sentiments contained in them by the touchstone of their own reason, and to separate what that shall allow to be right from what it presumptuously con- cludes to be wrong. And this boasted standard has been so very defective, that on this mistaken notion they have not only rejected many of the most vital truths of christianity, but even some essential principles of natural religion; and thus they have in effect annihilated the christian revelation, at the very same time that they have acknowledged the historicaſ truth of the facts on which it is built. This is the body of men that have affected to call themselves cautious believers; but their character is so admirably well described under that of Agrippa, by my honoured friend Dr. Watts, in his little treatise called the Redeemer and Sanctifier, that it may be sufficient here to have hinted it thus briefly, as the reason why, out of regard to them as well as others, I have resumed the subject of inspiration, and endeavoured to place it in what I do in my conscience apprehend to be both a safe and a rational light. * g $º º That I may remedy, so far as God shall enable me to do it, the great and destructive evil I have just been mentioning, and may establish in the minds of christians a due regard to the sacred oracles of eternal truth, I shall now proceed to the second part of this discourse: in which, II. I am to show how evidently the full inspiration of the New Testament, in the sense stated above, follows from the acknowledged truth of the history which it contains, in all its leading and most important facts. But before I proceed to the discussion of the Inatter, I must beg leave to observe, that though this is what I º to be the grand argument, and that which may most properly be connected with an exposition of the historical ooks, I am very far from slighting those other arguments which fall fiot so directly in my way here. ge I greatly revere the testimony of the primitive christian writers, not only to the real existence of the sacred books in those early ages, but also to their divine original. Their persuasion of which most evidently appears from the veneration with which they speak of them, even while miraculous gifts remained in the church; and consequently an exact attend- ance to a written rule might seem less absolutely necessary, and the authority of inferioſ' teachers raight approach nearer to that of the apostles. elieve every candid reader will acknowledge that nothing can be objected to many strong assages in Clémens Romanus, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Theophilus, Antiochentis, Clemens Äiºxandrinus, H.i. Origen, Eusebius, and some other ancient writers he has mentioned that are now lºst. It is needless to pro- duce them here after those valuable specimens of them which Dr. Whitby and Afons. Dupin have given; and especially considering what my learned friend ; . Lardner has with so much industry and accuracy of judgment collected on this head in the second part of his Credibility of the Gospel History. I shall therefore content mysélf with observing here, that several of the most learned and considerable of these ancients speak of this veneration for the sacred writings of the New Tºument not as the result of their own private judgment, but as that in which all the churches were unanimously agreed.” The internal characters of divine inspiration with which every page of the New Testament abounds, do also deserve our attentive notice, and render the book itself, if considered as detached from all external evidence whatsoever, a compendious demonstration of its own sacred original, and consequently of the certainty of that religion which it teaches. The excel- lency of its doctrines, the spirituality and elevation of its design, the majesty and simplicity of its style, the agreement of its parts in the most unsuspicious manner, with its more than human efficacy on the hearts and consciences of men, do all concur to give us a very high idea of the New Testament: and I am persuaded that the wiser and better any man is, and the more familiarly he converses with these unequalled books, the more will he be struck with this evidence. But these things in the general are better felt than j. and several of the arguments arise not from particular passages, but from the general tenor of the books; and consequently they cannot be judged of but by a serious and attentive perusal. Dismissing therefore these topics, not with neglect, but with the sincerest expressions of just and high veneration, I now proceed to that grandproof of the inspiration of the New Testament which is derived from the credibility of its lead- ing facts; which having so fully illustrated in the sermons referred to above, I think I have a just title to assume as the foundation of what further reasonings may occur. Admitting this great principle, it is undeniably certain, - That Jesus of Nazareth was a most extraordinary person: That after having been foretold by many prophets in distant periods of time, he was at length, agreeably to the repeated } declaration of an angel, first to a priest ministering at the golden altar in the temple, and then to his mother, conceived by a virgin of David’s family:—That his birth was proclaimed by a choir of angels, who celebrated it in celestial an- thems as the foundation of peace on earth and the most glorious display of divine benevolence to men: That before his public appearance, a person greater than any of the prophets, and whose birth had also been foretold by an angel, was sent to prepare his way:-That on his being baptized, he was anointed with a wonderful effusion of the Spirit, poured down upon him by a visible symbol; and that the efficacy of this sacred Agent continually residing in hiºn, was apparent throughout the whole course of his ministry, not only in the unspotted sanctity of his life an aidst a thousand most violent temptations, and in the bright assemblage of virtues and graces which shone in it with a lustre before un- known, and since absolutely unparalleled; but also in a multitude of various works of wonder and Inerey which he miraculously wrought on those whose diseases were of the most desperate and incurable natire, and even on the dead, whom that almighty voice of his, which had driven out the fiercest infernal spirits, and calined the rage of tempests, did with serene majesty awaken into life as from a slumber.—It is also on the same foundation certain, That this illustrious person having by the malice of his enemies been most unjustly and cruelly put to death, did on the third day arise from the dead:—And that, after having given to his disciples the most abundant proofs of that important fact, he at length ascended to heaven gradually in their sight; angels appearing to assure them he should as visibly descend from thence to the universal judgment, the administration of which he had declared to be committed to him. I must freely declare, that had I been an entire stranger to the sacred story, and proceeded no further in it than this, (supposing me firmly to have believed all these wonderful things, though delivered in the shortest abstract that could have been made of them,) I should readily have concluded that this extraordinary person, being sent (as it plainly appears from the history that he yº) with a divine revelation for the benefit of all nations and of all ages, had taken care to leave some authentic records of the doctrine which he taught: and if I had further found that he had left no such records written by himself, I should naturally have concluded that he took effectual care that some of his followers should be enabled to deliver down to posterity the system of religion which he taught, in the most accurate manner, with all such extraordinary assistance from God as the nature of the subject required, in order to rendering their accounts exact. And I believe every reasonable man would draw this inference: because it is very apparent that the great end of this vast and * Thus Origen says, (Philocal. cap. xii. p. 41.) At ar, &s Tºros, Tapačekaa3at, ºr, Geory.svarot tº cu'. “That if a man would not confess himself to be an infidel, he must admit the inspiration of the Seriatures :'' and he elsewhere places the Gospels in the number of writings “ which were received as divine by all the churches of God, and were the clements or first principles of the church’s faith : Ev Tagut's exn}\ma tats (35s Tºto 7tepcrow & "at 6:l Gov— XT91Xeta Tng Tua T ca's Tris skx\matas.--Tertullian also lays it down as a fundamental principle in disputing with heretics, “That the truth of doctrines is tº be determined by Scripture :” for the question, has evidently the force of a stroñº, negation ; Aliunde sci/tect forui possunt de rebus fidei, nisi er literis filei ? (JDe Prescript. Harct. cap. xv.), And Eusebius quotes a much more angient witer than himself, (Eusch. Eccles. His. {{h. v. Cap. 2S.) who calls the Scripture, 7to recos apxa (as kan'ova, “ The rule of ancient faith ;” and who afterwards, speaking of heretics, declares, “That if they {eſſ the Scriptures to , divinely inspired, they were infidels.” The expression is remarkable: but having tra ascribed it in note i, p. 19. I shall not insert it here. 953 A DISSERTATION ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, astonishing apparatus (for vast and astonishing it would appear, if what relates to Jesus alone were taken into the survey) must, in the nature of things, be frustrated, if no such records were provided; it being morally impossible that unwritten tradition should convey * system of religion º and uncorrupted even to the next generation, and much more that it should so convey, it to the end of ºne, And it would seem, so far as we can judge, by no means worthy the divine wisdom to suffer the good effects of such a great and noble plan to be lost for want of so easy an expedient; especially since men of the age and country in which these things happened, were not only blessed with the use of letters, but were remarkable for their application to them, and for great proficiency in various branches of learning. And if 1 should not only have an abstract of this history of Jesus, which I judged credible, but should also be so happy as to have the Four Gospels in my hand, with convincing evidences of their being genuine, (which we here suppose,) º should on these prin- ciples assuredly argue, That not only the leading facts, but likewise the system of doctrines and discourses delivered in them, might entirely be depended upon: nor could I conceive the truth of such doctrines and discourses to be separable from the general truth of the leading facts referred to above, having (as I here suppose) proper evidences to convince me that the penmen of these books were the persons by whom the memory of these events was to be delivered down to pos- terity; which is a further principle that none of common sense and modesty can pretend to contest, none appearing as their competitors whose pretensions are worthy to be named. - 5 But my apprehension of the full authenticity and credibility of these writers would, on the supposition I am here making, greatly increase, as I, proceeded to that excellent and useful book which the good providence of God has now given me an opportunity of illustrating, the Acts of the holy Apostles; since I learn from thence, that in a yery few days after the ascension of Jesus into heaven, the Spirit of God was, according to his promise, poured out upon his apostles in an abundant manner, attended with the visible appearance of a lambent jº. ; and that, in consequence of this amazing unction, the poor fishermen of Galilee and their companions were in a momentenabled to speak, with the greatest readiness and propriety, Latin, Greek, Arabic, Coptic, Persic, and a variety of other languages, the first rudiments of which they had never learnt, and also to perform all kinds of miracles, equal to those of their Master, and in some cir- cumstancés superior to them. My veneration for the writings of these men (and I here suppose I know those of the New Testament to be so) must be unparalleled when I . who and what they were; and I am so struck with this plain, but divinely powerful argument, that I must entreat my reader to review with me, a little more particularly, some of the actions and circumstances of these holy men, to whosé writings I am labouring to conciliate his unreserved regard. Let them all be considered as preaching the gospel in that extraordinary manner on the day of Pentecost; and a few days after, when some of their companions had been seized and threatened by the Sanhedrim, as anointed again with such an effusion of the Spirit as shook the very house in which they were, and inspired them all at once with the same sublime hymn of praise, Let them be considered as afterwards led out of prison by an angel, and commanded by him to go and preach the gospel in the temple, under the remarkable phraseology of the words of this life, as if the whole life and hap- piness of the human race depended on their knowing and receiving it. Nor let us here forget that extraordinary power; common to all the apostles, of communicating the miraculous gifts of the Spirit by the imposition of their . Had we nothing particularly to say of any one, more than these grand things which we hear of them all, it must surely com- mand our reverence to their writings, and set them at a vast distance from any of merely human original. But through the º providence of God, it hath so happened that we have the most particular history of the lives of those apostles to whose writings we are generally most indebted; I mean John, Peter, and Paul. With respect to John, we know that besides the concern he had in the cure of the lamé man, he was favoured with the visions of God in the isle of Patmos, where our Lord, after an abode of more than half a century on the throne of his lory at his Father's right hand, did him the unequalled honour to use him as his amanuensis or secretary, expressly iºns to him the letters he was pleased to send to the seven churches in Asia. How easily, then, may we suppose him so to have presided over his other writings, as to have secured him from mistakes in them' Čonsider Peter as striking Ananias and Sapphira dead with a word; as curing, by the like powerful word, one cripple at jerusalem and another at Lydda, and calling back Dorcas even from the dead. Let us view him in that grand ci. cumstance of being marked out so particularly by an angel to Cornelius, and sent to him as the oracle of God himself. from whom that worthy and honourable person was to hear words by which he and all his house should be saved; and after this, let us view him as once more delivered out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews, by an angel, who struck off his chains and opened the doors of his prison, the very night before he was to have been executed. And let any one, with these particulars in his eye, added to the foregoing in which he shared with all his brethren, say, what more could be necessary to prove the divine inspiration of what he taught, so far as inspiration was requisite to rénder it entirely authentic; of let any one further say upon what imaginable pretence the authority of his writings can be denied, if that of his preaching be granted. - And to mention no more, let Paul, that great scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, to whose pen We 9W sº many invaluable Epistles, be considered in the same view ; and let us endeavour to impress our minds with the various scenes through which we know he passed, and the distinguished favours with which his Master honoured him, that we may judge how we are to receive the instructions of his pen. Let us therefore think of him as so miraculously called by the voice of Christ to the profession of his gospel, when he was persecuting it even to the death; as receiving a full ańd distinct revelation of that glorious, but to him quite unknown, gospel, by the immediate inspiration of its divine Author, which is a fact he expressly witnesses, and in which he could not póssibly be mistaken. Think of the lustre of those astonishing works which shone round him wherever he went, and of those wrought in his favour, which showed him so eminently the care of Heaven: demons ejected; distempers cured, sometimes with a touch, and sometimes, with- out, by a garment sent from him to the patient; his motions guided from place to place by a divine oracle; Elymas struck blind for opposing him; his bands loosed by an earthquake; his strength and vigour instantaneously restored, ... the rage of the mutable and barbarous populace at Lystra had stoned him and left him, for dead; and to add no more, his safety in a shipwreck, with that of near three hundred more in the same vessel for his sake, promised by an angel, and accomplished without the loss of a single º when they had expected nothing but a universal ruin. Let us, I say, think of Paul in these circumstances; and with these facts full in our view, let us judge whether it is at all probable, yea; whether it be morally possible, that a man sent out and attended with such credentials as these, should be so left of God, amidst all these tokens of his constant care, as tº mingle error with sound doctrine, and his own fancies with the diviné revelations which we are sure he received; or whether, if he were not left to such effects of human frailty in his preaching, but might have been regarded by his hearers with entire credit, he would be left to them. º: writings by which he was (as it were) to J. to all future generations of men from one end of the world to the other, and by which, being dead, he yet speaketh, in all languages and to all christian assemblies, , , & , ſº I cannot forbear thinking this plain argument, SO well adapted to º: use, abundantly sufficient to carry conviction to every candid mind, in proportion to the degree of its attention and penetration. And I am almost afraid º i. jºid think I have bestowed an unnecessary labour, thus particularly to state a tº which hath such a floºd of light poured in upon it from almost every page of the sacred story. But I have been obliged, in the course of this º to meditate much on these facts; and under the deep impression I could not but speak, as out of the fulness of my hº after all I have already said, I should be very unjust to this argument, if I did not endeavour to represent to my AS PROVED FROM FACTS RECORDED IN ITS HISTORY. 959 reader how much it is strengthened on the one hand by the express and comprehensive promises which our Redeemer made to his apostles, and on the other by the peculiar language in which the apostles themselves speak of their preaching and writings, and the high regard they challenge to each; a regard which nothing could justify them in demanding but a consciousness that they were indeed under a full inspiration. The promises of our Lord Jesus Christ must undoubtedly have a very great weight with all that have reflected on that indisputable testimony which God himself bore to him in numberless instances. . And therefore, though they are so very well known, I must beg leave not only to refer to them, but to recite the chief of them at large ; and I entreat the reader to consider how he can reconcile them with an apprehension that our Lord Jesus Christ did at the same time intend tº leave the persons to whom he made such promises, liable to mistake both in facts and doctrines, and being deceived º to mislead such as should depend upon their testimony, where they professed themselves to be thoroughly 1I] TOTIO6 (1. In that copious and excellent discourse which our Lord addressed to the apostles, just before he quitted the guest- chamber to go to the garden of Gethsemane, (that is, but a few hours before his death,) the grand consolation he urges to his sorrowful disciples is this, that he would send his Spirit upon them. The donation of which Spirit is represented as the first-fruits of ë. intercession, when, after so long an absence and such terrible sufferings, he should be restored to his Father's embraces. This is spoken of as the first petition preferred by him and the first fayour granted to his church for his sake: (John xiv. 16.) I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Yea, Christ declares ; he could not be mistaken in it) that the agency of this Spirit should so abundantly counterbalance all the advantages they received from his bodily presence, that, strong as their affection to him was, they would in that view have reason to rejoice in his leaving them. (John xvi. 7.) I tell you the truth, that is, I say what may be depended upon as a most important certainty;8. very important indeed such a representation was ;) it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. Now from these expressions, were they alone, I think we might probably infer that the apostles, after having received the Spirit, would be in no more danger of erring in their writings than they would have been if Jesus himse ºad been always near them, to inform them concerning any fact or doctrine of which they might have occasion to speak. This is further confirmed by the title which is given him no less than thrice in this discourse, the Spirit of truth, almost in a breath with these great and weighty circumstances, that he should abide with them for ever; (John xiv. 16, 17.) that he should guide them into all truth; that he should teach them all things, yea, and show them things to come; (John xvi. 13.) which must surely secure them from any danger of erring in relating things that were past. But lest any should be perverse enough to dispute the consequence, our Lord particularly mentions this effect of the Spirit's operation, that they should thereby be fitted to bear a testimony to him as those who had long been conversant with him, and whose memories were miraculously assisted in recollecting those discourses which they had heard from him. (John xv. 26, 27.). When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me; and ye also (being so º shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. And again, (John xiv. 26.) The Holy Ghost shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remem- brance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Soon after this our Lord on the very day in which he rose from the dead, in a dependence on the aids of this promised Spirit, gives them a commission wº, nothing but its plenary inspiration could have answered, or have qualified them to fulfil ; for coming to them, he declares, (John xx. º As my #. hath sent me, even so send I you; and upon this he breathed upon them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted; and whose soever ye retain, they are retained: which, whether it signifies a power of inflicting and removing miraculous punishments, or of authoritatively declaring that sins were in particular instances forgiven or retained, must either way suppose such a constant presence of Christ with them as it is hard, or rather impossible, to reconcile with supposing them to err in what they wrote for the instruction of the church in succeeding ages. r - These are the grand passages on which Irest this part of the argument; yet I think I ought not to omit those in which Christ promises them such extraordinary assistance of the Spirit while defending his cause in the presence of magistrates; and it is the more proper to mention them, as the language in which they are made is so remarkable. On this occasion then he tells them, (Matt. x. 19, 20.) When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak; for it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. May we not therefore on the same principles conclude, that when they were to write for the use of future generations of christians, it was not so much they who wrote as the Spirit of the ſº who in effect wrote by them, and as it were dictated to them? For the occasion will surely appear as importantin one instance as in the other, or rather much more important in the latter than in the former, as an error in their writings would have a much more exten- sive and lasting influence than a slip of their tongues in a transient pleading before a magistrate. Nay, to give this argument the greatest possible weight, we find that the same promise was made, almost in the very same words, (Luke xii. 11, 12.) to persons in the dignity of their office inferior to the apostles; I mean, to the seventy; which might have entitled their writings to such a regard as I am now labouring to engage to those of their superiors. I shall only further remind the reader, that our Lord, when just ascending to heaven, refers to that effusion of the Spirit which was quickly after to happen, even before they departed from Jerusalem, as the era from whence the grand accom- plishment of the promises relating to the aids of the Spirit was to be dated. (See Luke xxiv. 49. Acts i. 4, 5.) And as all the apostolical writings which now remain were written several years after that event, it plainly proves they lie within the period in which they were to expect all the assistance which these promises import. The most plausible objection which can be urged against the application of these promises to the matter now before us, is this: “That these promises only refer to the supernatural assistance granted to the apostles on great and pressing occa: sions; but that they might easily, without such assistance, have written a true account of the life and preaching of Christ, and of such other facts as they record; and consequently, that their historical writings at least, how credible soever wé suppose them, might be drawn up without any inspiration at all.” #. this I might reply, that if it be allowed that the apostles, in the books which we have been endeavouring to explain, wrote the exact truth, and that in their Epistles they have made a right and unerring representation of the revelation with which they were charged, so that we may safely make their writings a rule both of faith and practice, the remaining ques- tion would only be about the propriety of using the word inspiration when speaking of them, and therefore would, on the principles I have laid down above, be comparatively of small importance. Yet I think it easy, in that view of the ques- tion, to prove that these writings could not have been thus entirely credible if they had not been written under such a full inº of superintendency as is stated in the first part of this discourse. do indeed º and no candid man can dispute it, that the penmen of the New Testament, supposing them able to write at all, might merely, by the natural exercise of their memory, under the direction of the common sense and reason of men, have given us a plain, faithful, and very useful account of many extraordinary scenes to which they had been witnesses during the time they conversed with Jesus on earth, and in which they were active after his ascension. And I 960 A DISSERTATION ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. cannot forbear saying, that supposing the truth of the grand leading facts, (as, that Jesus of Nazareth taught a doctrine confirmed by miracles, and was himself raised from the dead,) I should have esteemed such writings, supposing them merely an honest account of what such men must have known, to be beyond all comparison the most valuable records of antiquity. . But when these writings came to be perused, it is evident to me, from the particular contents of them, that honest and worthy men would never have pretended to have written in such a manner, if they had not been conscious of superior direction and extraordinary divine influence. For the historians of whom we speak do not merely give us a very circumstantial account of actions, as what journeys Christ made, what miracles he performed, in what manner he was received, where and how he died and rose again and ascended into heaven; but they do also, as we may reasonably expect they should, give us an account of the doctrine he taught; and indeed if they had not done this, the knowledge of his story, amazing as it is, would have been but an unprofit- able amusement to us. Nor do they content themselves with giving us a short summary of his doctrine; or a view of the religion he intended to introduce, as the general result of their having attended so long on his instructions, but they pre- sume to tell us his very words. . And here, they do not merely relate some short sayings, the remarkable poignancy of which, or their propriety to the circumstances in which they were spoken, might havé struck the memory with a peculiar force; but they insert ſong discourses which he made on public occasions, though they do not º: he left any copies of them, or that they themselves took them from any written memoirs whatsoever; and it is worth our notice, that (besides the many shorter sayings and replies with which the history is interspersed) near one half of the four gospels is taken up with the insertion of these discourses.” Now it was highly necessary, that if these speeches of our Lord were recorded at all, they should be recorded with eat exactness; for many of them relate to the system of doctrines which he came to teach, and others of them are pre- ictions of future events, referring to a great variety of curious circumstances, where a small mistake might greatly have affected the credit of the prediction, and with it the cause of christianity in general; so that common prudence would have taught the apostles to wave them, rather than pretend to deliver them to posterity, if they had not been sure they could have done it exactly. But how could they have expected to have done this merely by the natural strength of their own memories, unless we imagine each of them to be a prodigy in that respect, to j, no one of them makes the least shadow of a pretence? It is well known that several of those speeches of Christ which Matthew and John give us, (not now to mention the other Evangelists,) contain several pages, and some of them cannot be deliberately and decently read over inless than a quarter of an hour. "Now I believe, if my reader would make the experiment on any thing of that length which he read or heard yesterday, or even on one of those discourses of Christ, though perhaps he has reaſon heard it anhundred times, he would find, on a careful examination, many things would probably be omitted; many transposed; many expressed in a different manner; and were he to write a copy of such a discourse from his memory, and then critically to compare it with the original, he would find the sense, in many particulars where there was some general resemblance, more different than he could perhaps have imagined; and variations which at first seemed but inconsiderable, would appear greatly to affect the sense when they came to be more nicely reviewed. If this would so probably be the case with ninety-nine out of a hun- dred of mankind, (and I certainly speak within compass,) when a discourse to be repeated had been delivered but a day or an hour beforé, what could be expected from the apostles with an interval of so many years, and especially from John, who has, in proportion to the length of his gospel, recorded more speeches than any of the rest, and wrote them (if we may credit the most authentic tradition) more than half a century after our Lord's ascension? • s - This argument would have great weight with relation to a man, whose life was ever so #. and his affairs con- tracted in the narrowest sphere; but it will be greatly strengthened when we come to consider the multitude and variety of scenes, and those too the most interesting that can be imagined, through which the apostles Fº When we con- sider all their labours and their cares; the journeys they were continually taking; the novelty of objects perpetually sur- rounding them; and, above all, the persecutions and dangers to which they were daily exposed ; and the strong manner in which the mind is struck, and the memory of past circumstances erased, by such occurrences, I cannot conceive that any reader will be so unreasonable as to imagine these things could have been written with any exactnes; by the apos- tles, if they had not been miraculously assisted in recording them. And what is particularly mentioned by the last of these writérs, of the promised agency of the Spirit to bring to their remembrance all things they had heard from Christ himself (John xiv. 26.) must, I think, incontestably prove that this was one purpose for which the Spirit was given, and therefore we may be sure that it was a purpose for which it was needed. 5 I hope I have by this time convinced my reader that it is agreeable to the other circumstances of the apostles' story, and to the promises which our Lord so largely and so frequently made to them, (and the º: repetition of the pro- mise strongly intimates the importance of it,) to suppose that they were, indeed, favoured with a full inspiration in their writings. - - But to complete the argument, it must be observed, that these, holy men (for such the histºry plainly shows them to have been) assume to themselves such an authority, and speak of their own discourses and writings in such peculiar lan- guage, as flothing but a consciousness of such inspiration could warrant ºr even, excuse. -- - Tô make us dily sensible of the force of this argument, let us hear Paul, Peter, and John, and we shall find the re- mark applicable to them all; though as ; Paul wrote much more than either of the latter, we may naturally expect to d the nost frequent instances of it in his writings. w - * ñº. the º fami had taken notice to the Corinthians, that the subject of his preaching was the wisdom of God in a mystery, and related to things which transcended the sense and imagination of men, he adds, (1 Cor. ii. 10.) But God'hāh revealed them to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God. And again, (ver. 12.) We have received not the spirit of the world, so as to act in that artful way which a regard to secular advantage ðictates, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely given us of God. Nºw it is natural tº conclude from hence, that this knowledge being given them, not merely or chiefly for themselves, but for the º (in which view they speak of themselves and their office as the gift of God to the church; compare Eph. iv, II, 12. º i Cor. iii. 21–23.) they should be assisted to communicate it in a proper magneſſ; since otherwise the end of God in giving it to them would be frustrated. ... But the apostle does not content imself with barely suggesting this, but he º it in the most express terms: (1 Cor. ii. 13.) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teac i eth, that is, not with a vain ostentation of human eloquence, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; ...P. prº things with spiritual, or, as some would render and paraphrase it, adapting spiritual expression; to spiritua tººl Il in the close ºf the chapter, when with a noble freedom, in a consciousness of the distinguished character he . e º the question to the whole world besides, Who hath known the mind of the Lord? be adds, But we have º . o Christ. Which last clause plainly determines the sense in which we are to take thºs: words at . à Cnap. VII. X. I think is, that I have the spirit of God; that is, “I certainly appear to have it; or, “it is º.º. º: that my pretences to it are nºt a vain boast.” For after having so expressly asserted it just above, none can º: 6. meant hére to insinuate that he was uncertain whether he had it or not. He appeals, therefore, to those whose gifts were - - - - ^ - T - * - sections too: and the number of verses x: * does not deceive me. 93 of our 203 sections are tºken, up, thus: and some 9ſ them tº long sº º; to that of the whole, is as about 1700 to 3779, which is the number of veries in the four gospels. f IIvčup at tºo tº Trvevp a Tika avyxpt vovres. t Aoxº) & kaya, IIvévp, a €3 c5! £X&tv, AS PROVED FROM THE FACTS RECORDED IN IT'S HISTORY. - {}{5} rºost eminent to dispute it if they could : (1 Cor. xiv. 37.) If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, that is, if he have ever so good evidence that he really is so, (for it cannot be thought he meant to appeal only to those who falsely pretended to these endowments,) let him acknowledge that the things which I write unto you are the command- Intents of the Lord.—In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, (chap. ii. 10.) he speaks of forgiving offenders in the per- son of Christ; and, amidst the humblest acknowledgments of his own insufficiency, boasts a sufficiency of God, who had made him an able minister of the New Testament. (2 Cor. iii. 5, 6.) Of which he was so thoroughly sensible, that in the first epistle which he ever wrote (so far as Scripture informs us) to any of the churches, I mean his First Epistle to the Thessalonians, he ventures to say, (chap. iv. 8.) he that despiseth, that is, (as the context plainly implies,) he that despiseth or rejecteth what I now write, º not man only, or chiefly, but God, who hath given us his Holy Spirit. Which manifestly intimates that what he wrote was under supernatural divine guidance and influence; as in the second verse of that chapter he had spoken of commandments which he had given them by the Lord Jesus Christ, just as he afterwards declared to the Corinthians, (2 Cor. xiii. 3.) how well he was able to give proofs of Christ's speaking in him.–In his Epistle to the Galatians, the apostle solemnly assures them, (Gal. i. 11, 12.) that the gospel which he had preached among them was not after man, that is, not of any human original; and he gives this substantial proof of it, that he was himself tanght it no otherwise than by the immediate revelation of Jesus Christ. Agreeably to which assertion, when he gives the Corinthians an account of the institution and design of the Lord's supper, he says in so many words, (1 Cor. xi. 23. that be had received of the Lord what he delivered unto them ; that is, that he had his notion of that sacrament, and O the actions and words of Christ on which it was founded, by an immediate inspiration from him, or, in the language we have used above, by suggestion. And he speaks of his brethren, as well as of himself, in these terms, (Eph. iii. 3, ăl that the mystery of Christ which was before unknown, that is, the right of the Gentiles, on believing the gospel, to ful cornmunion with the christian church, was made known to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, and not merely by the natural recollection of what they had heard Christ say, or by their own reasonings upon it. Most agreeable to this is the strain of Peter, who in one Epistle joins the commandment of the apostles with the words of the holy prophets, (2 Pet. iii. 2.) and mentions the Epistles of Paul with other scriptures, (ver. 15, 16.) no doubt in allusion to the sacred oracles of the Old Testament, which so generally went by that name. And in his other Epistle he insists strenuously upon it, that the gospel was preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, in exact conform- ity to the prophetic oracles of former ages, not understood by those who uttered them ; a circumstance, in this connexion, highly worthy of our remark. And he seems strongly to intimate that the angels themselves did by these apostolical preachings learn some things which, with all their superior faculties, they did not before so fully know : Which things, says he, the angels desire to look into. (1 Pet. i. 12.) As Paul had also said, that to the principalities and powers in heavenly places was made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. (Eph. iii. 10.) To conclude this argument, St. John, remarkable as he was for his singular modesty and ingenuity of temper, does not only tell us that Jesus Christ showed him the revelation, (Rev. i. 1.) but speaks in his Epistle of an unction poured out from the Holy One, by which they knew all things. (1 John ii. 20.) And in another passage he in effect asserts that he had, in concurrence with his brethren, given such abundant proof of his being under a divine influence and direction in his teaching, whether by word or letter, that an agreement or disagreement with his doctrine was to be made the standard by which they might judge of truth or error, and obedience or disobedience to his injunctions the test of a good or a bad man; which is considerably more than merely asserting the fullest inspiration. (1 John iv. 6.) We are of God: he that knoweth God, heareth us; he that is not of God, heareth Inot us: hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. I might here add, if it were necessary, the several passages of the New Testament in which the gospel preached by the apostles is called the gospel of God: (such as 2 Cor. xi. 7. 1 Tim. i. 11. and the like.) But I onit them, as the stress of the controversy does undoubtedly rest on these I have mentioned; and the importance of the question must be my de- fence for so large an enumeration of texts which are so well known. I shall only remind my reader, in a few words, of those many passages in which the gospe ties, is so evidently equalled with, yea, and preferred to, the law given by Moses, and the messages brought to the Jews by the succeeding prophets. These afford a further illustration of this argument, which will appear with very consider- able weight when we reflect on the high opinion they had of the Old Testament, and the honourable terms in which they speak of it as the word and oracles of God, (Rom. iii. 2.) as given by his inspiratiºn, (2 Tim. iii. 16.) and as that which holy men spake as they were moved or borne on [gsgoueror] by the Holy Ghost. (2 Pet. i. 21.) None can fail of observing that they quote its authority on all occasions as decisive : yea, our Lord himself strongly intimates, not only the strict truth of the whole, but (which is much º that it were intolerable to suppose it chargéable with any impropriety of º for this must be the sense of those remarkable words, (John x. 35.) that the scripture cannot be broken; nd t l, as preached by the apos- he whole force of Our Lord's argument depends upon interpreting them thus. I might argue at large the improba- bility, and indeed the great absurdity, of supposing that such assistances were given to Moses and the prophets as to make their writings an infallible rule of fº and practice, and that the subjects of God’s only-begotten Son, and the grand minister in his kingdom, should be left destitute of equal assistance in their work and writings. I think the argu- inent would be unanswerable if considered apart: but I now mention it in another view, as illustrating the persuasion the apostles had of their own inspiration when they speak of their teachings and decisions as equally authentic with those of the illustrious prophets for whom they had so great and so just a regard. I am fully satisfied that this last argument, from the Iºanner in which the apostles speak of themselves in their writings, will strike the reader in proportion to the degree in which he refiects upon the true character of these excellent men, and especially upon that modesty and humility in which they bore so bright and so lovely a rescrimblance of their Divine Master. Lêt him ask himself what he would think of any minister of Christ now, supposing him ever so eminent for isarming, wisdom, and piety, that should assume to himself such an authority ? Suppose such a man, under the influence of no miraculous guidance, to say, not with reference to what he might quote from others, but with regard to his own dictates, “The things wich I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord: he that despiseth, despiseth not man but God: we have the mind of Christ; and he that heareth not us, that receiveth not our dictates in religion, is not of God.” Sup- pose, I say, such language as this to be used publicly by any christian minister now on earth, and you must necessarily suppose his character from that very liour overthrown. The whole world would immediately join in loudly demanding miraculous proofs to verify such assertions, or in condemning with just indignation such a claim, unsupported by them, as an unpardonable lording it over men's faith and conscience, and thrusting themselves into their Master's throne. Let us not them charge the holy apostles with a conduct of which we should not suspect any wise and good man now upon the face of the earth; and which if we saw in any of our friends, our charity and respect for them would incline us to inquire after some marks of lunacy in them as its best excuse. | have now given an easy and popular view of the principal arguments for the inspiration of the New Testament,” on which my own faith in that important doctrine rests; and such an one as I hope by the divine blessing may be useful to others. I shall not enter into a particular consideration of the several objections against it, which chiefly arise from C: S-> .* I was desired by a friend for whose pitty and good sense I have yery great regård, to ºdd q, nºte here on the inspiration of the Qld Testament, but as it would require a large one, and light jerlaps interrupt the roader, I choose to throw it into a Postscript at the end of this Dissertation. 121 v 962 A DissERTATION ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEw TESTAMENT. texts of Scripture in which some pretend to find that the apostles were actually mistaken. I have considered most of these objections already, in my notes on the texts from whence they are taken; for almost all of them relate to passages in the historical books, and I do not know that I have omitted any of them, but have every where given (though as briefly as I could) such solutions as appeared to me in conscience satisfactory, though I have not stood formally to discuss them as objections against the inspiration of those books. The reader will observe, that very few instances have occurred in which I have judged it necessary to allow an errorin Qur present copies: but as in those few instances the supposed change of a word or two makes the matter perfectly easy, I think it most respectful to the sacred writings to account for the seeming difficulty thus, and to impute it to the tran: scribers; (though it is certain some of these mistakes, supposing them such, did happen very early;) because, as Mr. Seed very properly expresses it in his excellent sermon on this subject,” (which, since P. the former part of this disserta- tion, fell into my hands,) a partial inspiration is to all intents and purposes no inspiration at all: for,” as he justly argues against the supposition of any mixture of error in these sacred writings, “mankind would be as much embarrassed to know what was inspired and what was not, as they could be to collect a religion for themselves; the consequence of which would be, that we are left just where we were, and that God put himself to a great expense of miracles to effect nothing at all : a consequence highly derogatory and injurious to his honour.” The arguments brought from a few passages in the Epistles to prove that the apostles did not think themselves inspired, weak as they are, will be considered, if God permit, in their proper places. At present, I shall content myself with re- ferring the reader to Dr. Whitby, who I think has given a satisfactory solution to them all. & There are other objections of a quite different class with which I have no concern, because they affect only such a degree of inspiration as I think it not prudent, and am sure it is not necessary, to assert. I leave them therefore to be answered by thoses if any such there be, who imagine that Paul would need an immediate revelation from heaven, and a miraculous dictate of the Holy Ghost, to remind Timothy of the cloak and writings which he left at Troas, or to advise him to mingle a little wine with his water. Waving therefore the further discussion of these topics, on which it would be more easy than profitable to enlarge, I shall conclude this dissertation with a reflection or two of a practical nature, into which I earnestly entreat the reader to enter with a becoming attention. Let me engage him seriously to pause and consider what sort of an impression it ought to make upon us, to think that we have such a book; a book written by a full divine inspiration: that amidst all the uncertain variety of human reason- ings and conjectures, we have a celestial guide through the labyrinth: that God hath condescended to take care that we should have a most authentic and unerring account of certain important though very distant facts, many of which were wrought with his own hand; and, with these facts, should have a system of most weighty and interesting doctrines, to the truth of which he makes himself a Witness. Such a book must, to every considerate person, appear an inestimable trea- sure; and it certainly calls for our most affectionate acknowledgment, that God should confer such a favour on any of his creatures, and much more on those who, by abusing in too many instances their natural light, had made themselves so utterly unworthy of supernatural. From this view of the inspiration of Scripture we may also infer our obligation to study it with the greatest attention and care ; to read it in our closets and our families; and to search in the most diligent and impartial manner into its genuine sense, design, and tendency; which is in the main so evident, that no upright heart can fail of understanding it, and every truly good heart must delight to comply with it. This is indeed a most important inference, and that without which all our convictions of its divine authority will only condemn us before God and our own consciences. Let us therefore always remember, that in consequence of all these important premises we are indispensably obliged to receive, with calm and reverent submission, all the dictates of Scripture; to º it our oracle ; and, in this respect, to set it at a due distance from all other writings whatsoever: as it is certain there is no other book in the world that can pretend to equal authority, and produce equal or comparable proofs to support such a pretension. Let us measure the truth of our own sentiments, or those of others, in the great things which Scripture teaches, by their conformity to it. And oh that the powerful charm of this blessed book might prevail to draw all that do sincerely regard it into this centre of unity That dropping those unscriptural forms which have so lamentably divided the church, we might more generally content ourselves with the simplicity of divine truths as they are here taught, and agree to put the mildest and kindest interpreta- tion we can upon the language and sentiments of each other. This is what I cannot forbear inculcating again and again, from a firm persuasion that it is agreeable to the spirit of the gospel, and pleasing to its great Author. And I inculcate it in this place and at this time with peculiar affection, as the providence of Go around us calls us loudly to do all we can with a safe conscience to promote a union among Protestants. And I heartily pray that our mutual jealousies and prejudices, which some are so unseasonably labouring to exasperate, may not provoke God to drive, us together by a storm of persecution; if peradyenture the bond of suffering together may be strong enough to bind those whom the endearments of the same christian profession, the same rule of faith, of manners, and of hope, have not yet been able to Unlte. On the whole, let me most affectionately invite and entreat every reader, whatsoever his rank in life or his proficiency in learning may be, seriously to consider the practical design of these sacred oracles, the sense and authority of which I have been endeavouring to explain and assert. It is indeed a mystery in Divine Providence, that there should still remain so much §y in them, as that, in many points of doctrine, thoughtful, serious, and, I trust, upright men, should form such different opinions concerning the interpretation of so many passages, and the t; of consequences drawn from them on the one side and on the other. But of this there can be no controversy, “That the great design of the New Testament (in delightful harmony with the Old) is to call of our minds from the present world, to establish us in the belief of a future state, and to form us to a serious Pº. for it by bringing us to a lively faith in Christ, and, as the genuine effect of that, to a filial love to God, and a fraternal affection for each other "...or in one word, (and a weightier and more comprehensive sentence was never written,) to teach us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking fºr that ilessed hope, even the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour J esus Christ. (Tit. ii. 12, 13.) To his almighty hand may our souls be committed by a faith productive of these glorious fruits; and under the sanctifying, *:::::::::: and supporting influences of his Spirit, may we wait for his mercy unto eternal life Then shall no terror Q suffering, no allurement of pleasure, no º of error, be able to seduce us; but, guided by that light and truth which shines forth in the sacred pages, we shall march on to that holy hill; where, having happily escaped all the dangers of that dark path which we now tread, we shall greet the dawning of an everlasting day, the ārising of a day-star which shall go down no more. Amen! * See Mr. Sced’s Sermons, vol. ii. p. 323 P O S T S C R. I. P. T. A SKETCH OF THE ARGUMENTS BY WHICH THE INSPIRATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT MAY BE PROVED IN THE EASIEST METHOD, AND BY THE MOST SOLID AND > CONWINCING EVIDENCE. IF the proof of the inspiration of the Old Testament be deduced in its full compass from its first principles, we must have recourse to a method very nearly resembling that which is taken in the three sermons referred to above, for proving the authority of the New ; that is, we must first prove, That the books are genuine, and then, That the history which they contain is credible: from which premises the inspiration of the Old Testament may easily be inferred by a train of arguments similar to that which we have pursued in the Dissertation above. ºr or proving the ſº of the books, I should think it proper briefly to show (what I think hardly any will be so ignorant and confident as to deny) that the jewish religion is of considerable antiquity, and was founded by Moses about fifteen hundred years before Christ's time; and further, That the Jews, before and at the time of Christ, had books among them bearing the titles of those which make up what we Protestants call the canonical books of the Old Testa- ment; and that these books, then received in the Jewish church, were the genuine works of the persons to whom they were respectively ascribed. From hence it is easy further to show that they have not suffered, and (considering what a ºuard the Jews and christians were upon each other) could not suffer, any material alteration since; and consequently, that the Old Testament, as now extant in the Hebrew and Chaldee languages, is genuine, and in the main such as it originally was. - In order to prove its credibility from this established medium, we may prepare the way by showing, That many material facts which are there recorded, are also mentioned by very ancient heathen writers.—And it is yet more important to show, as we very easily may, that there is room to go over the same leading thoughts with those insisted upon in the second of the three sermons mentioned above, and to argue the credibility of the story from the certain opportunities which the writers had of informing themselves as to the certain truth of the grand facts which they assert, as having them- selves been personally concerned in them, and from those many marks of integrity and piety to be found in their writings, which may i. as much as any thing of that kind can do, to obviate any suspicion of an intention to deceive.—We may here also advance further, and demonstrate, beyond all contradiction, that the facts asserted were of such a nature as could not possibly have gained credit had they been false; yet that they did gain most assured credit, of which the persons receiving these books gave the most substantial evidence that can be imagined, by receiving, on the authority of these facts, a system of laws which, though considered as to be divinely supported, they were admirably wise, yet were of such a nature, that without such an extraordinary providence as nothing but an assurance of such an original could have wº them to expect, they must necessarily have proved ruinous to the state they were intended to regulate and establish.* A further and very noble evidence of the truth of the grand facts attested in the Old Testament, and of the inspiration of a considerable part of it, may be drawn from the consideration of those numerous and various predictions to be found in it which refer to a multitude of events, several of them before utterly unexampled, which no human sagacity could possibly have foreseen, and which nevertheless happened exactly according to those predictions.# Having advanced thus far, we may take . a set of arguments correspondent to those insisted on above, to prove from its genuineness and credibility, now supposed to be evinced, that the Old Testament was written by a superintendent in. spiration : and this we may argue, not merely or chiefly from the tradition to this purpose so generally and so early pre- vailing in the Jewish church, though that is considerable, nor even from those very signal and glorious internal evidences of various kinds which every competent judge may easily see and feel, but from surveying the character and circum- stances of the persons by whom the several books were written, in comparison with the genius of that dispensation under which they lived and wrote. . This may, in all the branches of the argument, be proved, in this way, with the flºº ease and strength, concerning Moses and his writings: and when the authority of the Pentateuch is established, that of the most material succeeding books stands in so easy and natural a connexion with it, that I think few have been found, at least since the controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans, who have in good earnest allowed Moses to have been a messenger from heaven, and denied the inspiration of the prophets, and of the books which we receive as written by them. - But it is obvious that the illustration of all these propositions would be the work of a ſarge volume, rather than of such a Postscript to a Dissertation itself of so moderate a length. I have discussed them all, with the most material objec- tions which have been advanced against them, in that course of Theological Lectures which I mentioned in the preface to the first volume, and which it is my continual care to render worthy the acceptance of the public in due time, by such alterations and additions as frequent reviews, in conjunction with what occurs to me in reading, conversation, o, meditation, may suggest. fshall conclude these hints with the mention of one argument for the inspiration of the Old Testament, entirely inde- pendent on all the former, which a few words may set in a convincing light, and which must be satisfactory to all who see the reasonableness of acquiescing in what I have urged above; I mean,—That the inspiration, and consequently the genuineness and credibility, of the Old Testament, may be certainly inferred from that of the New,i because our Lord and * The reader will easily imagine I here reſer, especially to the laws relating to letting all the land lie fallow together once in seven years, and two year, together at every Jubilee; the desertion of their borders at the three great feasts, when all the males went up to the tabernacle or temple; and the disuse of cavalry ; to omit some others. ee Dr. Sykes’s Connexiom. * • - - - a - wº . . It may be objected to this, that the authority of the New Testament, as stated in the sermons, referred to, and in most other defences of christianity, is in, part proved from the prophecies of the Old; so that the argument here urged would be circular. Tô ºhiº. I would answer, 1. That if we were to take this medium, alone, we must indeed subtract from the proof of christianity all that branch of its evidence which grows from prophecies in the Old Testament; and them ºil that arises from miracles, internal arguments, and the wonderful, events which have followed its first promulgation, would stand in their full forge, first to demonstrate (I think, to high satisfaction) the divine original of the New Testament, and then to prove the º of the Old. hat most of the enemies of the Mosaic and christian revelations do nevertheless own those which we call the prophetical books of the Old Testament to be more ancient than the New ; and on this foundation, alone, without first taking for granted that they are either iº. or genuine, we derive an argument for christianity from their mere existence, and then may argue backward, that they were divinely inspired, and therefore genuine; and sº, by a further, consequence, may infer from them the divine, authority of the Mosaic religion, which they so eyidently attest , which is an argument something distinct from the testimony of the authors of the New Testament, but important enough to deserve a mention. 964 - A 1) ISSERTATION ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. his apostles were so far from charging the scribes and Pharisees (who on all proper occasions are censured so freely) with having introduced into the sacred volume any merely human compositions, that, on the contrary, they not only recomi- mend a diligent and constant º of these Scriptures as of the greatest importance to men's eternal happiness, but speak of them as divine oracles, and as written by the extraordinary influence of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of the authors. I desire that the following list of scriptures may be attentively consulted and reflected on in this view. I might have added a great many more, indeed several hundreds, in which the sacred writers of the New Testament argue from those of the Qld, in such a manner as nothing could have justified but a firm persuasion that they were divinely inspired. Now as the Jews always allowed “that the testimony of an approved prophét was sufficient to confirm the mission of one who was supported by it,” so I think every º man will readily conclude that no inspired person can erroneously attest another to be inspired; and indeed the very definition of plenary inspiration, as stated above, absolutely .. any room for cayilling on so plain a head. I throw the particular passages which I choose to mention, into the margin below ;” and he must be a very indolent inquirer into a question of so much importance, who does not think it worth his while to turn carefully, to them, unless he has already such a conviction of the argument that it should need no further to be illus- trated or confirmed. NO. III. ADVERTISEMENT RELATING TO THE FOLLOWING TABLE. AS I thought it would be acceptable to my readers to have the contents of the several sections of this work (which must contain an abridgment of the evangelical history) exhibited in one connected view as concisely as possible, I chose, for many obvious reasons, to dispose it into a Chronological Table. - So far as the harmony of the four Evangelists, and the order of the facts mentioned in them, is in question, I have iven my reason for the present disposition, in my notes on the several sections whose connexion is liable to the greatest isputes. But it would be a work of great additional labour to enter into a discussion of the correspondence between the sacred chronology, in this part of it, and the profane. Had Ileisure and ability to canvass all that learned men have said in support of the different schemes they have advanced upon this head, I should think this Appendix to a Family Ex- positor a very . lace to attempt it, as such an inquiry must take up a great deal of room, and as it is an affair in which it is impossible that common readers should judge, and in which, after all, I think they have very little concern. And indeed, to say the truth, I much question whether, on the most accurate inquiry, it is possible absolutely to fix it; since if the very day of Herod’s death could be determined, (which, after all, I § it cannot be,) there would still be room to debate how long before that time Jesus was born, as also what distance of time there was between the first ap- pearance of John the Baptist and Christ's entering on his public ministry. One conjecture may seem more probable than another; but beyond conjecture, I think, none has attained; and the chronology must vary with the diversity of that conjecture on these particulars. - The learned reader will immediately perceive, that amidst the various hypotheses which would offer themselves here, I have taken the middle way, not only as in obscure cases I think that generally the safest, nor merely that this Table might in the main agree with those of our illustrious chronologers. Bp. Pearson and Dr. Prideaux, to whose judgment on such questions I pay a very great deference; but chiefly as, on the most exact and impartial examination I could form of the reasons and foundations on which other critics proceed in placing the chief events a few years higher or lower, (and it is well known that but very few years can be in sº them by no means satisfactory, and the former class much less so than I imagined when I began the first volume of this work, and before I had so carefully searched into some of the authorities. I once thought of adding a few notes to this Table; but I found that if I attempted anything important, they must be so large as greatly to swell the bulk, and therefore I have waved it; and content myself with saying, that though I am not without my doubts as to several articles, I know not any scheme which has, on the whole, stronger supports, and is liable to fewer objections. There might have been several columns added to the Table, expressing the years of other celebrated eras correspond- ing with those here mentioned; but any one may easily supply these to himself, when he recollects that the first year of the common era of Christ's birth, from which we reckon this the 1760th, was (according to the computation here re- ceived) the 4004th from the creation of the world, the 753d from the building of Rome, and the 4714th of the Julian eriod. p It may not be improper to repeat what I have observed elsewhere, that according to Sir Isaac Newton's computation, the Jewish passover happened, A. D. 30, on sº March 25.--A. D. 31, on Wednesday, March 28.-A. D. 32, on Monday, April 14–A.D. 33, on Friday, April 3.−and A. D. 34, on Friday, April 23, , To this I shall only add, that Augustus, in whose days Christ was born, reigned after the defeat of Mark Antony at Actium 44 years.--—Tiberius, after he had been colleague with Augustus in the Empire about three years, became sole imperor on the death of Augustus, August 19, A. D. 14.—Caligula succeeded on the death of Tiberius, March 16, A. }. 37–Claudius succeeded on the death of Caligula, Jan. 24, A. D. 41–And Nero on the death of Claudius, October 13, A. D. 54, whose reign continued to June 9, A. D. 68, beyond the limits of this history. + John v. 39. Matt. iv. 4, 7, 10. Mark xii. 24. Luke x. 26, 27. Matt..Y. 17, 18. xxi. 42.xxii. 29, 31, 43.xxiv. 15.2.xxvi. 54,56, Luke i. 37; 68; 7% XYi; 31. iv. 25, 27. John x. 35. tsii, ië, 35. iii.33, 34. iv.35. 3 vii. II. xviii. 21, 28. xxviii.25. Rom; iii. 2, 10. ix. 25, 27, 29. x, 5.11,16. Ny. 4.xy. 23, 1 Cor. :º lºgºsºl.i."####"#########".ºiš:#. A. C H R O N O L O GIC A. L T A B L E OF THE SEVERAL EVENTS RECORDED IN THE HISTORY OF THE EVANGELISTS AND ACTS OF THE º à º 2 5 h 2:- 6 27 : : 1 5 I6 5 2 4 2 9 3 0 APOSTLES: CONTAINING ALSO THE CONTENTS OF THE SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THIS WORK. After Luke's Preface, sect. i. and, John's account of the divinity of our blessed Redeemer, sect. ii. The historical facts follow in the order here represented, The angel Gabriel appears to Zacharias, to give him notice of the approaching conception and birth of his son John the Baptist, sect. iii. Six months after, he informs the Virgin Mary of the conception of Christ to be born of her, sect. iv. Mary visits Elizabeth, and breaks out into a song of praise, sect, v. John the Baptist is born and circumcised, sect. vi.; and Zacharias utters an inspired song of praise, sect. vii. - - The suspicion of Joseph, occasioned by Mary’s pregnancy, removed by the appearance of an angel, sect. viii. he genealogy of Jesus Christ, sect. ix. - Jesus is born at Bethlehem, and his birth revealed to the shepherds: He is circumcised the eighth day, sect. X. The purification of Mary, the Song of Simeon, and testimony of Anna, sect. xi. The inquiry, worship, and return of the Magi, sect. xii.; after which Jesus is carried into Egypt, and the infants at Bethlehem are massacred, sect. xiii. Herod dying, the holy family returns and settles at Nazareth, sect. xiii. Jesus at twelve years old goes up with his parents to the Passover at Jerusalem, discourses with doctors in the temple, and returns to Nazareth, sect. xiv. John the Baptist opens his ministry, and multitudes come to receive his baptism, sect. xv.; to whom he addresses suitable admonitions, proclaims the approach of the Messiah, sect. xvi.; and gives a public testimony to the dignity of his person, sect. xvii. Jesus comes from Nazareth, and is baptized by John; the Spirit descends upon him, and a voice from heaven declares him to be the Son of God, sect. xviii. Jesus is led into the wilderness, where he fasts forty days, and is tempted by the devil, sect. xix. John is examined by the Jews, and declares he is not the Messiah, referring them to one in- comparably superior to himself, sect. xx.; sees Jesus coming towards him, and bears a repeated testimony to him as the Lamb of God; upon which two of his disciples follow Jesus, and Andrew brings Peter to him, sect. xxi. Jesus goes into Galilee, where he calls Philip and Nathanael, sect. xxii. Attends a marriage there at Cana, where he performs the miracle of turning water into wine, Sect. XXIll. Makes a short visit to Capernaum, and from thence goes up to Jerusalem to the first Passover after his entrance on his ministry, and drives the traders there out of the temple, sect. xxiv. - His conference with Nicodemus, sect. xxv. xxvi. Goes from Jerusalem into the land of Judea, and there baptizes by his disciples: John hears of it, and rejoicing in it, gives his last public testimony to Jesus, sect. xxvii. John is castinto prison for his faithfulness in reproving Herod, sect. xxviii. Jesus, near the winter solstice, returns into §. through Samaria, confers with a woman of Sichar, and spends two days there, sect. xxix. xxx. - Comes into Galilee, and preaches there ; and while at Cana, cures a nobleman's son who was dying at Capernaum, sect. xxxi. Preaches at Nazareth; but being rejected there, goes to settle for a while at Capernaum, sect. Preaches with great acceptance at Capernaum, and calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John, to a more stated attendance upon him, sect. xxxiii. xxxiv. Casts out a devil in the synagogue at Capernaum, and cures Peter's mother-in-law, sect. xxxv. 47 08. 4709. 47 I 0, 47II. 472}. 4739. 4742. 4743. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. The next morning, after retirement, he sets out on a circuit to the other cities of Galilee, and is followed by multitudes from various parts, sect. xxxvi. Preaches his celebrated sermon on the mount, sect. xxxvii.-xliii. ..ºding from the mount, he cleanses a leper, and then withdraws into the wilderness to pray, Returns to Capernaum, where he cures a man disabled by the palsy, and calls Matthew, sect. xlv. Goes up to his Second Passover at Jerusalem, where he cures the lame man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, and vindicates that action before the Sanhedrim, sect. xlvi.-xlviii. Returning into Galilee, he vindicates his disciples for rubbing out the ears of corn on the sabbath- day, sect. xlix, ; and on another sabbath cures a man with a withered hand, and justifies his heal- ing on that day, sect. 1. - Multitudes follow him to the shore on his withdrawing to the sea of Galilee, whom he heals of all their diseases, and charges those that were possessed not to discover who he was, sect. li. Having spent the night in prayer on a mountain, he chooses the twelve apostles, and then comes down into the plain, where he works many miracles before the multitude, sect, lii.; and repeats Several passages which he had delivered in his sermon on the mount, sect. liii. liv. Rºns to Capernaum, and cures at a distance the centurion's servant who was sick of a palsy, SeCt. 1 W. Going the next day to Naim, he raises the widow’s son from the dead, sect. lvi. Answers the disciples of John, who came to ask him whether he was the Messiah, sect. lvii.; dis- courses to the multitude concerning John, sect. lviii.; and laments over the impenitent cities of Galilee, sect. lix. - Dines at a Pharisee's house, and vindicates the woman who anointed his feet there, sect. lx. Makes a progress through every city in those parts, attended by the twelve, and certain pious women ; answers the blasphemous Pharisees who charged his miracles on a compact with Satan, º * against the unpardonable sin, and warns them of the danger of their sinful words, sect. lxi. lxii. Upbraids the perverseness of the Pharisees in demanding a sign from heaven, and delivers the parable of the relapsing demoniac, sect. lxiii. - Declares his resolution of persisting in his work, and his endeared affection to his obedient dis- ciples, sect. lxiv. Goes to the sea-side, and there delivers to the multitude the parable of the sower, sect. lxv. ; which he explains to his disciples, sect. lxvi.; delivers and explains the parable of the tares, sect. lxvii.; and then adds those of the springing seed, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hid treasure, the pearl, and the net, sect. lxviii. Having answered some that seemed disposed to follow him, he crosses the sea and stills a tempest, sect. lxix. Arriving at the country of the Gadarenes, he dispossesses two demoniacs; and permitting the demons to enter into a herd of swine, he is desired by the Gadarenes to depart, and crosses over to Capernaum, sect. lxx. Being entertained at Matthew's house, he justifies his conversing with publicans and sinners, and vindicates his disciples in omitting some austerities that were practised by others, sect. lxxi. Having cured a woman of a flux of blood, he raises from the dead the daughter of Jairus, and performs some other miracles, sect. lxxii. -- - Goes from Capernaum to Nazareth, and being again rejected there, begins another circuit, sect. ; *- - : 4744. 3 I lxxiii. Sends out his twelve apostles with proper instructions to prepare his way; and after this they go and preach in different parts, sect. lxxiv.–lxxvi. Herod hears of his fame, and suspects him to be John the Baptist risen from the dead, whom he had lately beheaded in prison, sect. lxxvii. º º The apostles meet him again a little before another passover, and he retires with them to the de- sert of Bethsaida by sea. Multitudes flock to hear him, and he miraculously feeds five thousand, They would have made him king, but he obliges his disciples to take ship ; and having dismissed the multitude, retires to pray, sect. lxxviii. - e The disciples crossing the sea, are overtaken by a storm. Jesus comes to them walking on the sea, and stills the tempest ; and landing near Capernaum many are brought that were diseased, and he cures all that touch him, sect. lxxix. - - g - Being followed by the multitude to Capernaum, he tells them of their worldly yiews.in seeking him, declares himself to be the Bread of life, and urges the necessity and benefit of feeding on him, sect. lxxx. lxxxi. - - The people murmur at his doctrine, and many of his hearers leave him. The apostles assure him of their continued fidelity, but he foretells the treachery of Judas, sect. lxxxii. . . & •w The Pharisees blaming his disciples for eating with unwashed hands, he vindicates their neglect of human traditions, condemns the Pharisees for preferring them to the law of God, and inculcates the necessity of inward purity, sect. lxxxiii. lxxxiv, , - About the time of this Third Passover, Jesus withdraws to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, where he casts out a demon from the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman ; and returning through the coasts of Decapolis to the sea of Galilee, cures a man deaf and dumb, sect. lxxxv. * s • * * After many other amazing miracles, he feeds four thousand, and then takes ship with his dis- ciples, and goes to Dalmanutha, in the coasts of Magdala, sect. lxxxvi, - a - e sº - Upbraids the Pharisees again for asking a sign from heaven, and cautions his disciples against their leaven and that of the Sadducees, sect. lxxxvii. a * * * -* Heais a blind man at Bethsaida; and going from thence to Cesarea. Philippi, acknºwledges to his disciples that he is the Messiah, and commends Peter's confession of him under that charac- ter, sect. lxxxviii. º - - Éoretells his approaching sufferings, rebukes Peter for being offended at the mention of them, and exhorts his followers to self-denial, and a readiness for martyrdom, sect. lxxxix. -- Christ is transfigured, and discourses with his disciples concerning the expectation the Jews had of Elijah, sect. Xc. - - º - Descending from the mountain where he was transfigured, he casts out an obstinate demon, that had withstood the attempts of his disciples, sect, Xci. 3 2 47.45. 18 19 ; 33 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. Continuing his progress through Galilee, he again warns his disciples of his approaching suffer- ings; at which they are offended, sect. xcii. • ** * * Comes to Capernaum, and makes provision by a miracle to pay the tribute, ibid. * * * * Perceiving his disciples were º; who should be gréatest, he recommends humility and mortification to them, sect. xciii.; advises how to deal with an offending brother, sect. Xciv.; and urges forgiveness by the parable of the unmerciful servant, sect. xcv. sº eproves John for rebuking one who cast out demons in his name, because not of their com- pany, sect. xcvi. º & g * Chooses the seventy, and sends them out to preach, with large instructions, like those he had given to the twelve apostles, sect, Xcvii. e - Discourses with his brethren about his going up to the Feast of Tabernacles, and tarries some days after them in Galilee, sect. xcviii. Then goes up to Jerusalem about the middle of the feast, (which was in September,) and preaches in the temple, vindicating his own conduct, and asserting his divine mission, sect. xcix. e The Sanhedrim, alarmed at the regard the people showed him, send officers to seize him ; but he declares they should not execute their purposes as yet, sect. c. The officers admire his preach- ing, and return without him; which occasions a debate in the Sanhedrim between Nicodemus and his brethren, sect. ci. * Having spent the night in retirement, he returns in the morning to the temple, where he declines giving judgment in the case of the adulteress, sect.cii. Speaking of himself as the Light of the world, he warns his hearers of the danger of infidelity, sect. ciii.; shows the vanity of depending on a descent from Abraham, sect. civ.; and declares his own existence to be prior to that of Abraham; at which the Jews are so offended as to go about to stone him, but he miraculously escapes out of their hands, sect. cv. - Béfore he sets out on his last circuit through Galilee, the seventy return with joy, and report the success of their embassy, sect. cvi. Jesus answers the scribe who inquired the way to life, and delivers the parable of the good Sa- maritan, sect. cvii. Leaving Jerusalem he comes to Bethany, where he commends Mary’s attention to his word as better than Martha’s care to entertain him, sect. cviii. Being returned to Galilee, he gives his disciples several instructions relating to prayer, sect. cik. Dining with a Pharisee he admonishes him and his brethren of their guilt and danger, sect. cx.; and afterwards cautions his disciples against hypocrisy, and the fear of man ; sect. cxi.; declines to decide a case of property, and delivers thesº. of the rich fool, sect. cxii. ; re- peating the cautions against covetousness which he had formerly given in his sermon on the mount, sect. cxiii.; and urging them to watchfulness, in expectation of his second coming and of their last account, sect. cxiv. Declares his desire of accomplishing his work, and warns his hearers of the danger of neglect- ing his message, sect. cxv.; urges the necessity of repentance, and delivers the parable of the bar- ren fig-tree, sect. cxvi. ; then cures a crooked woman on the sabbath-day, sect. cxvii.; and conti- Ilú62S his journey toward Jerusalem, not intimidated by the fear of Herod from pursuing his plan, Sect. CXVIIl. Being invited to dine with a Pharisee, ne cures a man who had a dropsy, and vindicates his healing on the sabbath-day, sect. cxix.; foretells, in the parable of the great supper, the rejection of the Jews and calling of the Gentiles, sect. cxx. ; and urges the necessity of deliberate resolution in religion, sect. cxxi. The publicans and sinners flocking to hear him, he delivers the parables of the lost sheep and piece of money, sect. cxxii.; that of the prodigal son, sect. cxxiii.; the unjust steward, sect. cxxiv.; the rich glutton and Lazarus, sect. cxxvi; and concludes with exhorting º disciples to simplicity, tºº and humility, sect. cxxvi. assing through Samaria, as he was going up to the feast of Dedication, he rebukes the intem- | perate zeal of James and John, and heals ten lepers, sect. cxxvii. As he was near Jerusalem, he warns the Jews against expecting a pompous appearance of the Messiah's kingdom, and foretells their approaching destruction, sect. cxxviii.; presses his disciples to perseverance in prayer by the parable of the importunate widow, and recommends humility by that of the Pharisee and publican, sect. cxxix. Being come to Jerusalem at the feast of Dedication in December, he opens the eyes of a man born blind, sect. cxxx.; the man is examined by the Sanhedrim, and excommunicated; Jesus meets him, and declares himself to be the Son of God, sect. cxxxi. Having admonished the Pharisees of their danger, he represents himself, first as the Door of the sheep-fold, sect. cxxxii., then as the good Shepherd of the flock, sect. cxxxiii.; and discourses of his union with the Father; upon which the Jews attempt to seize him, and he retires beyond Jor- dan, sect. cxxxiv. sº Jesus declares against divorces, sect. cxxxv.; blesses the little children, sect. cxxxvi.; answers the young ruler who º so respectfully to him;, discourses of the danger of riches, sect. cxxxvii.; and warns the Jews not to envy the Gentiles' being called to equal privileges with them- selves, by the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, sect. cxxxviii. Hearing of the sickness of Lazarus, he determines to return into Judea, sect. cxxxix. ; where he raises Lazarus from the dead, sect. cxl. The Sanhedrim agreeing Jesus should be put to death, and publishing a proclamation against him, he retires to Ephraim, sect. cxli. s Setting out on his last journey to Jerusalem, he tells his disciples what he should suffer there rebukes the ambition of Zebedee's sons, and exhorts to humility, sect. cxlii. 3 Passing through Jericho, he cures the two blind men, and converts Zaccheus the publican, sect. cxliii. After which he delivers the parable of the ten pounds, and represents the vengeance he would take on his enemies, sect. cxliv. --e He is entertained at Bethany, and his feet anointed by Mary. Many flock thither to see Laza- rus, whom also the chief priests conspire to kill, sect. cxlv. Christ rides in triumph to Jerusalem on the first day of the week, sect. cxlvi. When he came near the city, he weeps over it, and at his entrance goes into the temple, which he vindicates a second time from the profanation of the traders, and performs several miracles there, sect. cxlvii. 9. 6 7 47.46 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. Discourses with some Greeks who came up to the passover, and retires in the evening to Beth- any, sect. cxlviii. r *-* Christ returns to Jerusalem the next morning, (that is, on Monday in the Passion week.) and by the way curses the barren fig-tree, sect. cxlix.; visits the temple, and again reforms the abuses of the traders; the priests are exasperated, and he retires in the evening, sect, cl. Returning to Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, the fig-tree is found withered away. Coming again into the temple, he confounds the members of the Sanhedrim who questioned his authority; utters the parable ºf the complaisant but disobedient son, sect cli; and then that of the vineyard let out to husbandmen, sect. clii.; and of the wedding-feast and garment, sect. cliii. Confounds the attempt to ensnare him in the question about paying tribute, sect. cliv.; proves the resurrection against the Sadducees, sect. clv.; answers the question as to the first command- º º the law, sect. clvi.; and repeats his charges and denunciations against the Pharisees, sect. CHVil. CIVIII. - - Going out of the temple, he applauds the liberality of a poor widow, sect. clix, ; foretells the destruction of Jerusalem, acquainting his disciples with the signs of its approach, and of his second coming, sect. clz.—clzii.; j urges the suddenness of his appearance as an engagement to watch- fulness, sect, clxiii.; which he enforces by the parable of the ten virgins, sect. clxiv.; and of the talents, sect. clºv. ; concluding his discourse with a most affecting description of the last judg- ment, sect, clxvi. The rulers contrive how they may seize Jesus: Judas makes an infamous contract to betray him: he retires at night to the mount of Olives, sect. clzvii. Christ returns again on Wednesday to teach in the temple as before ; but the particulars are not recorded, ibid. note a, . On Thursday morning he directs two of his disciples to go and prepare the passover, which was his Fourth and Last Passover. He comes in the evening, and sits down with his apostles to that feast, sect. clxviii. At the antepast he rebukes their ambition and washes their feet, sect. elkix. At supper he inti- mates who should betray him, and Judas upon this retires, sect. clºx. He exhorts them to mutual love, foretells Peter's fall, sect clºxi, and then institutes the eucharist, sect. clzxii. After this he addresses his disciples with a large consolatory discourse, sect. clzxiii.-clxxviii. which he closes with a solemn prayer, sect. clxxix.clxxx. Then retires from the guest-chamber to the garden of Gethsemane, renewing his caution to Peter and his brethren, sect. clxxxi. Christ falls into an agony. His disciples sleep, sect. clºxxii. Judas betrays him. He yields himself up, and they forsake him, sect. clz.xxiii. He is conducted to the palace of Caiaphas, where Peter denies him, sect. clxxxiv. He is examined and condemned on Friday morning by the Sanhedrim, sect. clxxxv.; then is brought before Pilate and examined by him, sect. clzxxvi, ; is sent to Herod, who returns him to Pilate, sect. clxxxvii.; who having in vain attempted his release, declaring to the Jews he found no fault in him, at length yields to their importunity, and gives judgment against him, sect, clºxxviii. Being delivered up by Pilate, after various abuses he is led forth to Calvary, and nailed to the cross, sect. clxxxix. His garments are divided; and while he is himself outrageously insulted, he shows mercy to the penitent robber, sect. cxc.; and having commended his mother to the care of John, expires. Amazing prodigies attend his death, and alarm the spectators, sect. cxci. Christ's body is º on the cross; then begged and buried by Joseph of Arimathea, sect. CXCI1. - Judas confesses his guilt on Christ's being condemned, and hangs himselfin despair, sect. cxciii. On the morrow after the crucifixion, (which was the Jewish sabbath, or Saturday,) the Jews de- sire to have the sepulchre secured, and procure a guard to watch it, ibid. g Christ rises from the dead early on the Lord's day morning. Mary Magdalene, finding the sepulchre open, calls Peter and John, who enter into it and return, while Christ makes his first appearance to her, sect. cxciv. º - - - e The other women coming to the sepulchre, are informed of his resurrection by angels, who bid them go and tell his disciples. He appears to them as they return, and they report it to his incre- dulous disciples, sect. cxcv. The guards who had fled away make their report of what had passed to the chief priests, and are hired tº disguise the truth. Christ appears to Peter, sect. cxcvi. and then to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, sect. cxcvii. who return and report it; and while they are together, Christ appears to all the company the same evening, sect. CXCViii. g tº On that day seven-night he appears again to the eleven, Thomas being with them, and offers to be examined by his touch, sect. cxcix. & & - ſº He discovers himself to Peter and other disciples at the sea of Tiberias while they were fishing, sect. cc.; and after a remarkable discourse with that apostle, foretells his martyrdom, sect. cci. Christ appears to the whole body of the disciples in Galilee, and afterwards meets the apostles several times at Jerusalem, discoursing with them of the affairs of his kingdom, sect. cc.ii. He leads them out of the city, and having blessed them, ascends to heaven in their sight. They return joyful to Jerusalem, sect.'cciii.; with which the history of the Evangelists concludes. CoNTENTs of THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. Christ (as was said before) ascends to heaven from the mount of Olives in the view of his apos- orty days after his resurrection, sect.i. . * & º º: return to J erusalem, and being assembled with the rest of the disciples, Matthias is chosen in the room of Judas, sect. ii. e The Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and people of all nations hear them speak in their own language. Peter declares that this was what the prophet Joel had foretold, sect. iii. and shows that Jesus whom they crucified was risen from the dead, and was the true Méssiah, sect. iv. Great numbers are converted and baptized, and converts are daily added to the church, sect. v. * * * * Peter and John cure a man who had been lame from his birth at the gate of the temple, sect. vi. Peter makes an affectionate discourse to the people assembled on that occasiºn, sect. vii. The two apostles are seized by order of the Sanhedrim, and being examined by that court, cou- 20 21 i 5 38 40 42 43 44 4 5 46 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. |rageously declare their resolution of persisting to preach in the name of Jesus: they are severely threatened and dismissed, sect. viii. - - - , - Returning to their company, they all unite in an inspired prayer, which is attended with a new effusion of the Spirit. The number and zeal of the converts increase: many estates are sold, and the price distributed, sect. ix. * Ananias and Sapphira are struck dead for their fraudulent dealing ; the church increases, and extraordinary miracles are wrought, sect. x. - The twelve are apprehended and imprisoned, and after a miraculous deliverance are brought before the Sanhedrim and scourged; but, by Gamaliel's prudent advice, are discharged without further severities, sect. xi. The seven deacons are chosen: the number of disciples multiplies, and many of the priests be- lieve, sect. xii. Stephen disputing strenuously with the Jews, is seized and brought before the Sanhedrim, ibid. Being ...”of blasphemy, he makes a long defence, but is interrupted in it, and tumultuously stoned to death, Saul heartily concurring in the execution, sect. xiii.-xv. A great º is raised at Jerusalem, where Saul makes havoc of the church, who being all dispersed but the apostles, go into other parts and preach the word, sect. xvi. Philip the deacon preaches Christ at Samaria, and many believe ; which also Simon Magus professes to do, and is baptized, ibid. Peter and John being sent by the apostles, communicate the Spirit by the imposition of their hands; and Simon offering money for the like power, Peter detects and censures his hypocrisy. The two apostles return to Jerusalem, preaching the word in many villages of the Samaritans, sect. xxvii. Philip is ordered by an angel into the desert in the way to Gaza, where he instructs an Ethio- pian eunuch in the faith of Christ; and having baptized him, the Spirit takes him to Azotus, from whence, when he had preached in all the cities of the neighbouring coast, he comes to Cae- sarea, sect. xviii. - Saul setting out for Damascus with an intent to persecute the church there, is miraculously converted by Christ's appearing to him on the way, who bids him go to Damascus, where he should hear what he must do. The light that shone around him strikes him blind; and being led to Damascus, he continues three days fasting, sect. xix. Ananias by divine direction comes and restores his sight, declaring that the Lord had chosen him to be his witness unto all of what he had seen and heard; and having baptized him, he re- ceives the Holy Spirit, sect. xx. Immediately he preaches Christ at Damascus, and confounds the Jews, proving that Jesus is the true Messiah, ibid. Then goes into Arabia, and preaches there ; from whence he returns to Damascus, where the Jews seek to kill him, but he makes his escape in the night, ibid. Three Y. after his conversion, Saul returns to Jerusalem, and is introduced by Barnabas to Peter and James; but preaching boldly there, he is again in danger from the Jews: on which the brethren conduct him to Caesarea, and send him away to Tarsus, ibid. The persecution ceases, and the churches are multiplied, ibid. - Peter, making a progress through the neighbouring parts, cures AEneas of a palsy at Lydda, and raises Dorcas from the dead at Joppa, sect. xxi. Cornelius, a devout centurion, is divinely admonished to send to Joppa for Peter, who, in obe- dience to the divine command, comes with his messengers to Caesarea, preaches the gospel to him and his friends though Gentiles, and receives them into #. church by baptism, sect. xxii. xxiii. Peter returning to Jerusalem, is questioned by the brethren of the circumcision for his conversing with such as were uncircumcised; but on his giving an account of the matter, they acquiesce, and bless God for his grace to the Gentiles, sect. xxiv. - The gospel is preached at Antioch, and a great number of the Greeks believe. Barnabas is sent from the church at Jerusalem to confirm the disciples at Antioch, who are first called christians there, sect. xxv. º goes to Tarsus for Saul, and bringing him to Antioch, they spend a year together there, v Agabus comes thither from Jerusalem, and foretells an approaching famine. A collection is resolved upon for the poor brethren in Judea, which is sent to Jerusalem by the hands of Barna- bas and Saul, ibid. e Herod Agrippa puts James to death at Jerusalem, and imprisons Peter, who is delivered by an angel, sect. xxvi. s ºp Herod extravagantly applauded at Caesarea, dies miserably by the stroke of an angel, sect. xxvii. Barnabas and Saul having executed their commission, and carried to Jerusalem what was collected for the poor brethren, return to Antioch, and bring with them John surnamed Mark, sect. Xxviii. The Holy Spirit orders Barnabas and Saul to be set apart to preach to the Gentiles. They go to Seleucia attended by John, and from thence sail to Cyprus. aving preached at Salamis, they go through the island to Paphos, where Elymas opposing them is struck blind by Saul, (hereafter called Paul,) and Sergius Paulus the proconsul is converted, ibid. From hence they sail to Perga in Pamphylia, where John departing from them returns to Jeru- salem, sect. xxix. e - -º ºr * * Paul and Barnabas go on to Antioch in Pisidia, where Paul makes a long discourse in the syna- ogue, and the Gentiles desire to hear him again, ibid. The Jews rejecting the word, they turn to É. Géntiles, and as many as are determined for eternal life believe, sect. xxx. - A persecution being raised against them by the Jews, º are driven away, and go to Iconium, ibid. Many converts are made there both of the Jews and Greeks. The unbelieving Jews stir up the multitude against them, and they depart to Lystra, where they cure a lame man ; on which the eople take them to be gods, and are hardly restrained from sacrificing to them, sect. xxxi. , But ; followed thither by the Jews, the F. are persuaded to stone Paul, who, being left for dead, recovers and goes with Barnabas to Derbe, from whence they return to Pisidia and Pamphylia, constituting presbyters in every church; and sailing from Attalia, come back to Antioch in Syria, where, having called the church together, they report the wonderful success of their ministry among the Gentiles, sect. xxxii. 122 970 f I ſ 10 11 12 13 14 ; 51 52 53 54 57 58 | CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. Paul and Barnabas continue a long time with the disciples at Antioch, ibid. The Jewish converts urge the necessity of circumcision. Debates arise at Antioch; and Paul and Barnabas are sent, with some others, to consult the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, sect. xxxiii. ... Having passed through Phoenicia and Samaria in their way, declaring the conversion of the Gen. tiles, to the fº º; all the brethren, they come to Jerusalem, where the matter is debated in a full assembly: in which, after Peter and James had spoken for their liberty, the celebrated decree is made in favour of the Gentile converts, ibid. and xxxiv. They send back messengers with Paul and Barnabas, who arrive at Antioch with the decree ; and having made some stay there, Judas returns to the apostles, but Silas chooses to continue longer there, sect. xxxv. w Peter comes down to Antioch, and is publicly reproved by Paul for dissimulation in his conduct, ibid. note a. Paul with Silas, and Barnabas with John, surnamed Mark, set out different ways to visit the churches they had lately planted, sect. xxxv. - -- Paul and Silas travel through Syria and Cilicia and several provinces of the Lesser Asia, and come to Derbe and Lystra, where having associated Timothy with them, they go on to Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia, and from thence come to Troas, where they are called to Macédonia, sect…vi. Being joine by Luke at Troas, they sail from thence and cross the sea to Europe, passing by Samothracia to Neapolis, where they land and go to Philippi, ibid. Having preached at. Philippi, Lydia is converted, and receives them into her house: but a tumult arising on Paul's dispossessing the Pythoness, he and Silas are scourged and thrown into }. The jailer is miraculously awakened and converted, sect. xxxvii, Qn pleading they were omans, the magistrates come and dismiss them ; and having visited the brethren, they depart from Philippi, sect. xxxviii. - Passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they come to Thessalonica, where Paul having preached in the synagogue and planted a christian church, the unbelieving Jews stir up the mob against them, and oblige them to depart, sect. xxxix. Being come to Beroea, they are received more candidly by the Jews there, many of whom, and of the Greeks, believe; but being followed thither by the Jews of Thessalonica, Paul goes away to Athens, appointing Silas and Timothy to follow him, ibid. - Paul, greatly moved at the idolatry which prevailed at Athens, makes an excellent discourse to the philosophers there ; who most of them make light of what he says, but some believe, sect. xl. Paul departs from Athens to Corinth, where he finds Aquila and Priscilla, and lodging at their house, works as a tent-maker, but preaches every sabbath-day to the Jews and Greeks, sect. xli. Silas and Timothy come to him here : jº. rejected by the Jews, turns to the Gentiles, many of whom believe and are baptized, ibid. Being encouraged in his work by a vision of Christ, Paul continues at Corinth a year and six months, and is rescued by Gallio from the rage of the Jews, ibid. - From hence he writes his First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, and that to the Galatians, ibid. note i. Paul departs from Corinth to Cenchrea, where, in performance of a vow which he had made, he shaves his head. From thence he sails to Ephesus, where he leaves Aquila and Priscilla, whom he had brought with him from Corinth; and spending but one sabbath there as he was, hastening to the Passover, pursues his voyage to Caesarea, where he lands and goes up to Jerusalem. There he salutes the church, and having kept the feast, returns to Antioch in Syria, sect. xlii. Having continued there some time, Paul sets out on another progress, (which was the third that began from thence since his conversion,) in which he visits the Asian churches, and particularly those of Galatia and Phrygia, ibid. - - - - Apollos, in the mean time, preaches at Ephesus; and being further instructed in the christian doctrine by Aquila and Priscilla, goes over to Achaia, and preaches at Corinth and other places in that province, ibid. - - - wº. Apollos was watering what Paul had planted at Corinth, Paul comes to Ephesus, where some of John's disciples, being instructed by him, are baptized and receive the Spirit, sect. xliii. Having taught there in the synagogue three months, meeting with opposition from the Jews, he separates the disciples, and discourses daily for two years in tfie school of Tyrannus; performing extraordinary miracles, while the exorcist Jews are beaten by a demoniac they would have dispos- sessed; and preaching the word with such success that many believe and burn their magical books, ibid "About this time he writes his First Epistle to the Corinthians, sect. xliv, note a. Paul thinks of setting out for Macedonia and Achaia, from whence he would go to Jerusalem, and afterwards to Rome; but sending Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, he alters his design, and tarries some time longer in that part of Asia, sect. xliv. Demetrius, the silversmith raising a tumult against him, the mob is enraged, and cries out for Diana. Paul is advised not to venture among them. The chancellor comes and appeases the tumult, ibid. - - Paul leaving, Timothy, who was now returned to him, at Ephesus, departs from thence; and having passed through Troas in his way, crosses the sea to Macedonia, where he visits the several churches, gathering a contribution, as he *; for the poor brethren in Judea, sect. xlv. In this journey he writes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians: as also, probably, his First to Timothy, ibid. notes b, c. s • From Macedonia he goes on to Greece, where he visits the churches at Corinth and in the neighbouring parts of Achaia; and having finished his collection, after three months’ abode there, being now ready to embark for Syria, to avoid the Jews he chooses to return by Macedonia, sect. xlv. #. Corinth, in this J.º. the apostle writes his Epistle to the Romans, ibid. note c. Timothy being returned from Ephesus, accompanies Paul in his journey, with Luke and several others, who sail from Philippi after the passover week to Troas, where, on the first day of the week, Paul celebrates the eucharist, and having preached till midnight, raises Eutychus to life, who was killed by a fall as he slept; after which he proceeds on his voyage, and comes to Miletus, design- ing, if possible, to be at Jerusalem by Pentecost, sect. xlv. º - - At Miletus he sends for the elders of the Ephesian church, and takes his leave of them in an affectionate discourse, sect. xlvi. i A6 i 59 60 61 63 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. Paul and his company pursue their voyage, and having sailed by divers places come to Casarea, where they are entertained at Philip's house; and notwithstanding the repeated warnings that were given him by inspired persons of what the Jews would do to him, he resolutely goes up to Jeru- Salem, sect. xlvii. - . Upon his coming to Jerusalem, after an interview with James and the elders of the church there, Paul being advised to join with some that had a vow, to obviate the prejudices of the Jews, begins his purification; but is assaulted in the temple by some Jews from Asia, who so incense the people, that they would have killed him if Lysias the Roman tribune had not come and prevented it, who orders his soldiers to bind him and take him into the castle, sect. xlviii. As they were carrying him away, Paul obtains leave to speak to the people, and gives them an account of his conversion, and of the call he had to preach the gospel, sect. xlix. But upon men- |tioning his being sent unto the Gentiles, the Jews are enraged, and will hear him no further. The tribune orders that he should be scourged; which Paul escapes by pleading he is a Roman, sect. 1. Paul, being brought before the Sanhedrim, occasions a division in the council; and a tumult arising, the tribune takes him away. Christ appears in a vision to Paul, and tells him he should testify concerning him at Rome. The Jews conspire to assassinate him, which being made known to Paul, the tribune is informed of their design, sect. li. - Lysias sends away Paul under a guard, who bring him by night to Antipatris, and conduct him from thence to Felix the Roman governor at Caesarea, who orders him into custody till his accusers came, sect, lii. He is soon followed thither by the high priest and elders of the Jews; and Tertullus accusing him, the Jews affirm that what he said was true, ibid. But Paul having made his defence, Felix adjourns the cause till Lysias should come down, and only orders him to be kept under a gentle confinement, with liberty for his friends to come to him, sect, liii. - On hearing Paul discourse before him and his wife frusia, Felix trembles, and puts him off to another opportunity; but though he frequently sent for him afterwards, it was only with a view of getting money from him to release him, sect liv. - When §. had been in custody two years, Felix, on quitting his government, to gratify the Jews, leaves Paul a prisoner, ibid. - Festus, succeeding Felix, is applied to by the Jews, who renew their complaints against Paul. ; makes his defence before Festus; and to avoid his sending him to Jerusalem, appeals to Cesar, ibid. King Agrippa and Berenice coming to visit the new governor, Festus acquaints them with the case of Paul; and, at the king’s º Paul is produced before him in a large assembly, sect. lv. Being permitted to speak for himself, Paul makes an excellent defence, and gives such an account of himself and his doctrine, that Agrippa is almost persuaded to be a christian; and the assembly rising, he declares Paul might be set at liberty if he had not appealed to Caesar, sect. lvi. Paul is shipped for Italy with some other prisoners in custody of a centurion, and is attended in his voyage by Luke and Aristarchus. Having suffered great extremity in a storm, Paul is assured by an angel that none of them should perish; which he declares, for their encouragement, to those that sailed with him, sect. lvi. The storm continues many days, and they at length are shipwrecked on the coast-of Malta, but all get safe to land, sect. lviii. The inhabitants of Malta treat them with great kindness. A viper fastens upon Paul, and he receives no harm : Publius's father and others are miraculously cured: and after three months’ stay there, they depart for Rome, sect. lix. Having touched at Syracuse in Sicily, they sailed to Rhegium in Italy, and from thence to º,i. from whence they go by land to Rome, being met by several christian brethren on the way, 70va. - When they were come to Rome, Paul is allowed to dwell in his own hired house, while the rest of the prisoners are delivered to the captain of the guard, ibid. Soon after his arrival, Paul has an audience ºthe Jews, and gives them an account of the christian faith ; but most of them being hardened in their unbelief, he declares the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, sect. lx. - He spends, two years confined to his own hired house there, preaching the things concerning Christ to all that came to him, ibid. - During this time of his abode at Rome he writes several Epistles; particularly, those to the Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians; as also that to Philemon; and not long after, that to the Hebrews.-His Epistle to Titus, and the Second to Timothy, seem to be of a later date, ibid, note g. 971 No. IV. AN ADDITIONAL NOTE, RELATING TO THE PARTICULAR TIME IN WHICH THE SEVERAL HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT WERE WRITTEN. SINCE, the Preceding parts of this work were finished, it has been suggested to me by a much esteemed friend, that it might be P. to say something concerning the time of writing each of these Sacred Books on which I have com. mented. I confess it might justly be expected I should touch on this article; and I heartily wish I were capable of doing it in a more satisfactory manner. In general, it must be allowed, their being so universally received among those who were most capable of judging, and who were certainly obliged by the highest interest to be accurate in their inquiries, as written by holy men, who were contemporary with Christ himself, and personally concerned in the grand facts they record, plainly shows they §º been of very early date, and secures the point which is most important to our faith and édification as C[l]ºlSūlāIlS. But as to the particular year in which either of the four Gospels or the Acts were published, I am of opinion, on the i. careful inquiry I have had a capacity and opportunity of making, that we have no certain foundation to go upon in etermining it. . . It is but very little we can learn from the books themselves with regard to this circumstance. Matthew does not con- tinue his histºry quite so low as the ascension of Christ. Mark, indeed, goes much further, and speaks of the apostles' going out and preaching every where; which implies, that the gospel had made a considerable progress before his history was concluded. Luke carries down the Acts, which book was written after his Gospel, to the end of the second year of Paul's imprisonment; which shows it could not be written till about thirty years after Christ's ascension, but does not certainly prove it was written, quite so soon : and as for the argument from 2 Cor. viii. 18. to prove that his Gospel was dispersed throughout all the churches with applause, before Paul wrote his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, (that is, before the year 57,) I think it very precarious. John plainly appears to have intended his gospel as a supplement to the other three, and consequently it must have been the last ºf the four : but as he mentions nothing which happened after the ascension, though he so certainly wrote after christianity had been widely propagated, (as appears from what has been said of Mark's conc ...) it will show that no conjecture can be formed as to the date of one of these books merely from the last article recorded in it. - Tradition does indeed say something on this subject, bºt not in so determinate, or always in so consistent, a manner, as we might have been ready to expect. Irenäus, Eusebius, Jerom, and Augustine, are mentioned by almost all critics and commentators that write upon this head. They all agree in telling us, what is extremely probable, that Matthew’s Gospel was first written: (Compare Iren. Adv. Hair. lib. iii. cap. 1. Euseb. Eccl. Hist, lib. vi., cap. I. Hieron. Catal. Script. Eccles. and Aug. De Consen. Evan. lib. i. cap. 1.) But in the account of the year of publication they differ. Eusebius (in his Chronicon) and Theophylact, whom most of the moderns follow, place it but eight or nine years after the ascension; and Calmet tells us, that almost all the old Greek manuscripts have it thus at the end of his Gospel. The Alexandrian Chronicle brings it seven years lower; and Irenaus, in the fore-cited place, on the authority of a tradition from Papias, (which in itself seems not very probable,) sets it as late as the preaching of Peter and Paul at Rome; which must have been (if they ever preached together there) more than fifteen years after that. The same author-says, that Mark wrote two years after Matthew : and hardly any other accounts (so far as I can recollect) say any thing determi- nate about it; though several of them speak of Mark's writing his Gospel at the request of St. Peter. (See §. Alex. apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 15. et lib. vi. cap. 14. Hieron. Catal. Pºir, illustr. in JMarc. and Epiphan. Haer. 51.) I cannot certainly affirm, that Luke had seen both these, though Mr. L'Enfant thinks he strongly intimates it: and I find little in the Fathers about the time of his writing, more than what Irenaeus says, that he digested into writing what Paul preached among the Gentiles; thereby seeming to intimate, that it was after that apostle had despatched some considerable part of his ministry. (See Iren. lib. iii. cap. i.)—Eusebius, (Eccl. Hist, lib. iii. cap. 24. et lib. vi. cap. : Jerome, (Catal. in Joan.) and Irenaeus (lib. iii. cap. 11.) say, that John wrote his Gospel in an extreme old age, and very near the conclusion of the first century. And this is the substance of what I can learn concerning the light that antiquity throws on this question. t On the whole, it will appear certain concerning two of the Gospels, those of Mark and John, and probable concerning the third, I mean that of Luke, º: we may conjecture concerning Matthew’s,) that they were not written till some considerable time after our Lord’s resurrection. Perhaps this may afford a probable argument, that Matthew’s was writ- ten sooner; since we can hardly suppose, (as M. Le Clerc observes, Eccl. Hist. p. 414.) that the church should be left so long without any authentic account in writing of facts so highly important to its edification and its very being.” As for the later Evangelists, it might perhaps be urged, that they, who wrote not altogether from their own knowledge, but from the testimony of others, would have opportunity of making fuller inquiries from a greater variety of persons, in consequence of the deliberation they used before the publication of their works. Yet, on the other hand, it would, on the part of the original witnesses, so much increase the probability of some slip of memory, that on the whole it might some- thing derogate from the full credibility of what they have written, were it not for what hath been proved above of the divine superintendency and inspiration with which they were favoured. But when this is allowed, the objection immedi- ately falls to the ground; for, in regard to this, we may as entirely credit Moses, when relating facts which happened two thousand years before he was born, as Luke, when giving an account of the shipwreck he himself suffered at Malta. I shall close this note with observing, that the longer christianity had been settled in the world before these books were written, the stronger is the argument which we may deduce from the universal reception they met with, to prove their credibility: because it plainly shows they were perfectly agreeable to what the churches in one place and another had been taught by the lips of the apostles; otherwise their inconsistency with those originally received accounts would, no doubt, have been esteemed an invincible reason for rejecting them. And when a due weight is allowed to this thought, it will perhaps appear, that if we should bring the date of each book as low as any of the ecclesiastical writers do, (for which } can see no sufficient reason,) yet the cause of christianity would not, on the whole, lose any thing material by such a concession. - . * Soe M. Le Clerc's JDissertation, on the Four Evangelists, prefixed to his Harmony; in which he says as good things as I have any where met with, in favour of the earliest dates which any have assigned to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. GENERAL INDEX. A Aaron, importance of his family, to...the Jews, ź. pºsthood in it a proof of the divine legis- tit iOI), ºb. Abba, the meaning of the word, 521, d. a title which slaves might not use, 659, b. . . - Abel, Dr. Kennicott's opinion about his sacrifice, 21, e. what is meant by his blood, 830, m. . Abgarus and Christ, 37, their letters spurious, , C. t - Abiathar, how called the high priest,99, e. Abilene, 41. - - Abraham, how Stephen speaks of him, 391, d. of his seed,392, f. of his sepulchre, 393, a desired to see Čhrist's day, 190, d, reason why, ib. e. before ºffbraham was, meaning of it, ih. h. vain bóast of the Jeys concerning him, 43, d. 188, his children, the children of Satan, 189, their portion, 2}9. rich man in the parable applies to him, ib. his bosom opened to many, ib. the promise made to him 130 years, before the law, 656, b, how he knew, that Jacob was an heir of it, S22, l. was justified by, faith, 508. which was imputed to him for righteousness, ib. e., before he was cir- cumcised, ib. f. in one sense he was justified by works, 842, and note d. in another he , was not; 50S, and note a. in what sense he was the heir of the world, 509, a. how the gospel was preached to him, 655, and note f_all nations blessed in his seed; ib., not his seed, 656, a. received Isaac from the dead in a figure, S23, b. his faith on this oc- casion remarkable, ib. a. Abraham, Isaac, ând Jacob, where to be seen, &c. 308, a banquet with them, what, 219, c. * Th: gº, of Abraham, &c. its meaning, 271, f. its Orce, 10. g. - - Abstinence necessary to cure epileptic disorders, , Il. Abyss, 131. - cceptable year, argument drawn from it, 69, i. Acceptance of persons, what, 502, g. Access to God, what, the expression alludes to, 681, i. by faith, 5.10; b. . Accursei who caſt Christ accursed, 589, b. Aceldama, 344, 369, g. Achaia, 451, k. . . Achaicus visits Paul, 456, n. Acosta scourged by the Jews, 141, c. 470, c. ctions discover the man, 88, l. beauty in doing good actions, 159. the best possible to TC- proached, 101. cts of the Apostles, when written, 366, a. make a second, part of Luke's gospel, ib. universally received by the first christians as sacred, ib. Caution, relating to them, 468, e, 482, g. part of the beginning introduced in this work, 366, c. allusion in the ºlº to facts not mentioned there, 546, a. 615. g. to facts that are, proves A. º of both; ſ: ing his f AEneas cured by Peter, 409. sº - Afflictions, their use, 365, c. the most painful tº be submitted to, ib, no g3 ºuse for peeyishness, 317, all seen by God; 362. the friendly offices we meet with gilder them an inducement to thank him, and take courage, 491. their lightness and benefit strongly expressed, 621, a. Agabus the prophet comes to Antioch, 418, g. to asarea;,464. º - A gainst Christ, when, 117, n. not against him, what, 176, c. - ge, at Gov 8705, what, 558, f, g, Aged persons, their duty, 35. - Agony of Christ, 316, b. an angel strengthens him. in it,317, i. his sweat as it were great drops of blood, ib. k. . *ś with God, when to be sought for, 79, 7 º Agrippa made king, 480, a... his acquaintance with the Jewish customs, 482, b. pays a visit to Festus, 480, desires to hear Paul, 4SI. his audience be- fore him, 481–4S4. nsworth, Mr., his account of the Passover, 293, e. r, the Jews thought it inhabited by evil spirits, 2 i ö, C. - bertus on Simon’s gall of bitterness, 401, f. coran, what it assigns to hypocrites, 286, h. Alexander and Rufus become christians, 334, Alexander, who was present when Peter and John were examined, probably a labarch at Alexan- dria, 380, e. argument drawn from his presence there, ib. f. Alexander urged by the Jews to speak to the people at Ephesus, 457. uncertain whether the same with Alexander the coppersinith, i5: 1. . Alexander, the apostle's imprecation on him win- dicated, 780, e. - - Aºaul embarks for Rome in a ship of, • ‘i CR5; Il- A]], how to be understood, 75, i. 109, a. 141, f. 2S9, .307, b. to be parted with for treasure in heaven, 238, g. reward of forsaking it for Christ, 239. All things work together for good, in what extent the phrase is to be taken, 523, a. Allegory of Sarah and Hagar, 662. Alms, how to be given, 82, 105, 196, c. 278, the way to have treasuº in heavºn, 202. and tº makº all things clean, 196. See Charity. Notion of the Jews concerning them, 290, e. a memorial before God, 411. not to be rested in, 412. Aºnd mega, who calls himself so, 904, e. o, - º Aºi. who, 103, seems to be the same with leopas, 53, b. 304, e. 33S, b. See Cleopas. Altar at Athens, how erected, 44S, l. ltars, more than one under the law, 532, a. Ambition among the disciples, 247, who are warned ;" it by Christ, ib. vain dreams attending It, 295. Amen, its meaning, 52, g., S4, p. 96, h. 352, o. Amphipolis, a city of Ajacedonia, 440, g. Paul passes through it,444. Ananias and Sapphira, their crime and punish- ment, 383-4. fitness of the latter, 384, f, g. A nanias the pious, 406. supposed by some to be one of the seventy, Ś'c. ib. a. left Jerusalem on the persecution, 399, a. and became an officer of the church at Damascus, 40ſ, a. visits Saul, i5., 469. and restores his sight, 407, g. Ananias the high priest, a person of an infamous character, I, c. 472, d. orders Paul to be Smittens. 47 l. is smitten hirinseif by God, ib. c. follows Paul to Caesarea, 475. Anathema. The apostle's meaning when he wishes to be made an amathema, 525. Anathema ma– ranatha, what, 607, c. Jin athema. Inaranatha, the high sentence of ex- gomºnumigation, 309, a. propriety of it as used by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xvi. 22. ib. - -ſiºd, sºmetimes, put for Or, I 19, c. may be changed for .Now, 149, b. - *- ºlrew of Bethsaida, 51. ono of John's disciples, ib. e. follows Jesus,.5l.. brings his brother lºote to him, ib. h. is called by Christ to a staic d at- tendance upon him, 71, i., time of his cali, ii., #2, a. present at the miraculous draught of fishes, £5. C., leaves all for Christ, 71, 72. is chosen an a postle, 51, sent forth with them, 139. other par- ticulars concerning him, 258. 278. §lºppears to Moses, 394, this angel Christ, $30, }. : ann, of a man's leaving his father and his mother, &c. 234, d. formed first, 757, I., the duty of wives to submit, to their husbands argued thence, ib., his sin subjected the creation to vanity, 522. and brought death on all mem, 512. he was the figure of him that was to come, ib, g. Aggiº Mr. his remarks and criticisms, 83, l. y e y Y]. Adherence to Christ, 148. . - - Admonition, how to be given, 174, e. this rule little minded, 175. - - Adoption, what, 525, d. allusion to different forms of it among the Romans, 522, c. Aºi embarks there for Italy, 485. Adriatic sea, 487, a. Adultery, prevailed much among the Jews, 185, f. in what case punished by the law, with stoning, 84, b. the exceeding sinfulness of it, 185, g. may be committed by look,80, b. . Adulteress and Christ, 184. his judgment concern- ing her asked, ib., how dismissed by him, 185. §º of this story in many copies accounted Of 5 fl. Aïuſteress, she that is married to another while her first husband lives, 516. yet divorce for adul- tery not forbid, ib. b. - - - - Adulterous generation, what it signifies, 119, b. applied to the Pharisées, 119, 157. Advocate; what the name signifies,877, and moto a. *liams of the wonderful production of a sorpont, • I. - Angel, the name on an officer in the Jewish syna- gogue, 906, d. quickly after christianity ñºs spoke of angels, 724, l. Angel; the 㺠Gabriel appears to Zacharias, 20. is sent to the Virgin Mary, 22. a 'pears to Joseph when scrupulous about Mary, 27, c. informs the shepherds of the birth of Christ, 32, k. his glorification of God, ill. I. order; Joseph to flee with Christ, 37. and afterwards bids l; in return, 38. Angel stirs the water in the pool of Bet hesda, 93, g. See Béthesda. Is thcu;ht to have spoken to Christ, 259. appears to strengthen hiſm in his agony, 317, i.rojis a way the stone from tho sepulchre, 346, the end of his appearing, 348. sets, free the imprisoned a postles, 385. orders hilip into the wilderness, 452, a, b. appears to Cornelius, 41 l, c. assures him. of thc acceptance of his prayers, 41 1. delivers Peter, when im- prisoned, 419, 420, h. sinites Herod, 4:22, c, d. appears to Paul in his voyage to Rome, 486. Angels used as instruments in delivering the laws, 397, m. appeared often in human fortn, 48, q. their existence denied by the Sadducces, 472. wait upon Christ in the wilderness, 48. the nun- ber of them do hirn honour, 53. seen ascending and descending on the Son of Inau, ib. i. begions would attend him iſ desired, 320, m. Two angeſs seen at the sepulchre, .349. confer with tho women, ib. e. 5 ppear when Christ ascended to heavº 304,367, sha]] wait on him at the last day, 126.9, 165, 2S$, a. and cast the wicked into l, . 126...how well fitted for that awful so- lemnity, ib, attend on Christ's ſittle ones, 173. the goodness of God, in appointing their services to be invisible, 22. Argument drawn from their gondescension, ii. rejoice over a penitent sinner, 214, c. departed spirits conducted by them to the regions of glory, 219, c. 2:20, the saints to ſee incorporated with them, 27 J, c. know not the time of the last judgment, 284, i. often applied ºft" aid rendercé, in cssengers, &c. 2S3, e. 20; }l. Angels of the churches, not diocesan bishops, 90ſ, d. What is said to them is intended of the churches under their caro, ib. f. 907, a. Angels, (good,) are charged with the government of particular countries, 799, p. concerned in limiting the power of devils, 897, h., christians forbid to worship them, 724, l. who that angel that offers incense with the prayers of saints, $39, c. what the angels desired to look into, 96, d. are reserved in clains of darkness, $76, f cºst doy; to hel], ió. e. shall he judged by ciris- tians, 568, b. Wide J) cril and Satan. nºr of Christ agai:ist the Pharisces. 100. happy when only awakened by sie, 101. Anger with- out cause forbidden, 78. Angºr, it is impossible to be angry without sin, GS9, 1... why we must not let the sun go dowº uţºn. it, ió. Ag., variety of phrases used in pro- hibiting it, 69], and note a. wºrketh mºt' the rightgousness of God, 839, and note c. to be es: pecially avoided in prayer, 757, g. Añº, the four mentioned in Revelation, what, *gº, (evil,) liow they kept not their first state; j i = Animal man, who, 559, and note o. Anna, a devout widow, 34, k. sees Jesus in the temple, ib. and note m. speaks of him to all that wit it for redemption, 23. Annas and Caiaphas, high priests, 41, f. Christ !ºd to Annas, 321. and from him to Caiaphas, ! {}. A. Annas called, Ananus by Josephus, 321, n. both present in the Sanhedrim when Peter and John were examined, 379. Anointing the head with oil, a usual custom at feasts, &c. S4, r. 115, g, i., Christ anointed by the Wºnkan Şinner, l 14., and, again by Alary, 252. this in Matthey and Mark the samo story" with that in John, ib. a, c. 253, i. anointing the sick with oil, why used by the apostles, 143. -ánszccred and said, mily be sometimes otherwise reſidered, J 13, g. 264. what it intimates, 958. c. Antichrist, in whilt sense he was come in the apos- tles' days, 88.1, c. Antioch in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas preach there, 421, 3, 432. revisit it, 437, Antioch, the church there directed by revolation to 974 send out Paul, 650, c. Paul's contest with Peter there, 652. . . . Antioch, in Syria, who first planted, the gospel there, 417, a. its success there, ib., the disciples first called christians at Antioch, 418, f. Antipas, who, and the notice taken of him,908, f. Antipater, concerned in seeking the death of Christ, Antivatris, Paul brought there by night, 474, b. Antisthemes, an expression of his about being re- . . proached for doing good, 857, e. ntonia, a castle near the temple, 466, n. Paul carried there by Lysias, ib. . - Antoninus, remarkable expression of his about God, 535, f. - - - Anxious care forbidden, 83, d, e., this not intended as a caution to the apostles only, ib. e. such care highly unreasonable, ib. 86, e Apocryphal gospels, not referred to by Luke, 17, a. Apollo, whence called Pythius, 441, c. fled at the name of Jesus, 444. - - * - Apollonia, Éluſ passes through there in his way to Thessalonica, 444. º • * - Apollonius Tyanaeus, many things said of him É. from the history of Christ, 2 C. Apollos comes to Ephesus, 453. Preaches at Co- rinth, ib, returns to Ephesus, ib. f. pollos,. Locke thinks him, the false prophet at Corinth, 560, d. why unwilling to go to Corinth, ,” Apologies that Paul makes, consistent with his in- spiration, 636, a. . . . . - postasy from christianity fatal in the first age, though perhaps not so in thºse that follow, 807, h. mealit by sinning wilfully, &c. 819, a. why expressed, in such general terms, ib.b. among the christians from Nero to Trajan, 777, a. be- fore the second coming of Christ, 746, and note c. Apostates, the apostles’ reproving them with great freedom shows they feared no discovery they could make, 756, b. - - Apostle, a witness of Christ's resurrection, 577, a. Apostles, their names, 103, account of their number, 103, c. filled up on Judas's death;,369, h. how called after his decease, and when Thomas was absent, 355, a, most of them }. WV neth they first followed Christ, 284, g. chosen before their mission, 102, a. 138, a. the twelve attend him in Galilee, 116. are invested with the power of working miracles, 138, 139. and sent by two and two to preach the gospel, 139, d. with large instructions how to perform their mission, 138. i40. preach the gospel, 143. work miracles, ib. ive Christ an account of § preaching, &c. jºš and retire with him to the desert, ib. assist in the distribution of the loaves and fishes, .147. cross the sea to Capernaum, 1481,.a. are vindi- cated from the censure of the Pharisees, 155. assist in feeding the 4000, 160. . are asked by ing he gave them of his sufferings, 164, 179, 34 #. sense the foundation of the church, 163 c. dispute who should be greatest, 171. are pressed to mutual forgiveness, 175. and warned of perse; cution, 198. attend Čáſist to Judea, 241. and Jerusalem s. For many things relating to them, see the Chronological Table. Their bold; ness in declaiming to the heathen the vanity o their idol worship, 431, J. . their modesty and peaceabſeness, 458, o, their contempt of the world, 461, d. advantages attending the opposi- tion they met with,431. are permitted to fall, by their enemies, 433, the several parts in which they preached, 280, m. had been peculiarly criminal gºd wretched if their testimony had been false, 601, C. preached not themselves, 621. were ambassa- jors for Christ, 623, d. how , proved to be the ministers of Christ, 624. . had power to punish disobedience, 633. Feared, no discoveries that a postates could make, 756, b. or factious persºns, §§, b. ſad not power, to work miracles when they pleased, 781, k, what meant by their being sent forth läst, 564, b. galled the twelve When some were absent, 599, f. 600, h, their writings perspicuous in all matters of importance, 5 §. christians in general concerned in them, Aºtic rod, 565, f. 633. Paul's threatenin; tº ise it, proves it was well known he had it, 642, Aşºian, of an army which took neither food nor sleep for twenty days, : 3. :400 ii Forum, Paul met there, 499. ####. of men no exemptión from woe, 105.09t tº eigerſ; pursued,83. uncertainty ºf it,339; Alºns worn by the Greeks, 455,5; hº sick cured • *śrons brought from the body.ºf £ºulº. Aquila and Priscilla come to Corinth, 450. go with É.i tº Čench rea, 452, a. seem to have gong with #.'t, i.phesus, ië, a, b. Apollos instructed by them, 453. , his submissign, to their instructions, # were with Paul at Ephesus when he wºote iſis First Epistle to the Corinthians; 45%.º. Pris- jià sometimes named before Aquila, 452, a. Arabia, Saul goes thither, 497, and nºte hº Araspus, his $º laining of two souls illustrates Rom. vii. 19. * 5 s Aratus quoted by Paul, 448 Archangel that shal' shout Christ himself, 740, ... y r A}ºheiàº, the heir of Herod's cruelty and gºwº, ... m. his banishmººt, ib. supposed by some to ñé'meant by the nobleman that went to receive a ingdom, 250, b. - Aś us at Athens, whence so called, 447. Paul brought thither, ib. g., where he makes an excel- jºjiscourse, 448, 449. but meets, with little success, 449. one of the members of the court be- ieves, ib. t. . Aºi. anciently called Ramoth, 342. - Aristarchus seized at Fº 457, i., accompanies Hºjº jerusalem. 459, d. attends him in his (1. * w at Christ's coming, not Jesus who he was thought to be, 162. , the Warn- | - GENERAL INDEX. voyage to Rome, 485, c. other particulars con- cerning him, 459; d. - - 4; of the 'Lºrd, &c. to what it may allude, a- 3. º - º righteousness on the right hand and on e left, ºzo, e, , , - Armour of the christian described, 698, and note a. Article often omitted, 18, b. 65, a. 93, a. Asaph's Psalms, dark sayings in them, 127, e. Ascension of Christ intiinated by him to the Jews, 154, b. argument concerning it, 347, p. 358, h was not from the town of Bethany, but, its boun- daries, 363, a from whence he fiscénded in sight of his q99stles; 364, 367. arguments drawn from hence, 360, b. 367. . . Ashamed of Christ, their portion, 165., thought of it may strengthen us against temptation, ill. Ashes, lying in them a sign of humiliation, 113, g. ia the Less visited by Paul, 429 who is forbid to preach the word in Asia, which must signify the Proconsular Asia, 439, c. re- marks Qn this, ib., 440. Paul comes to £phesus in the Proconsular Asia, 454. where he preaches two years, 455, e. Asiarchs sent to Paul, not to venture into the theatre at Ephesus, 457, k. Aº catechism on the words, Thy kingdom, COTR 6, Ö3, K. Asses used among the Jews by the most honour- able persons, 254, h. Christ's entry into Jerusa- lem on an ass, ib. f. , injustice of the ridicule it has been treated with, ib. h; $39s, Paul goes thither on foot, and embarks for Mitylene, 460. Atheists, the heathens called so by St. Paul, y - Athenian, remarkable account given by one of the victory at Marathon, 709, b, . Athens, Paul is conducted thither from Bergea, 46, h, is moved on seeing it enslaved to idola- try, 447, b. this city noted for its love of novelty, 448, h. Paul’s , address, to the Athenians, 448-9. some of them believe, 449. - Atonement for, sin the design of Christ's death, 50, a referred to by him, 151, f. the life of our souls depending on it, 151–153. reference of the eucharist to it, 153, 298, a. - tonement, as well as reformation, necessary to deliverance from sin, 601, b. of Christ, shows that God is just when he justifies sinners, 507, g. for what sins the sacrifices of the day of atone- ment availed, 817, and note d. those sacrifices alluded to with great propriety; ib, b. Attalia, Paul and Barnabas sail from thence to Syria, 432, . º - - - - - Atterbūry, (Bishop,) his remarks and criticisms, 7, g. 110, h; 220, g. 479, Augustus orders an enrolment of the Jews, 31. makes Tiberius his colleague in the empire, 41, b. º time of his death, ib., remarks on his name, CUy 8. - Aven gelon, a term of contempt by which, the Jews called the gospel, instead of evayyektov, 556, f. Authorities: Bishop Hopkins thinks sågøtal means only such as are lawful, 539, c... disposed. by God, ib. a, yet not so as to establish unlimited passive obedience, ib. d. Jude's argument against speaking evil of them, 897, and note kºs, ... Azotus or Ashdod, the place, where Philip was found after he is taken from the eunuch, 403. T B Babeg, God's revelation to them, 113, 191. - Babylon, probably Peter near it when he wrote his First Epistle, 865, l., mystical, what, 936. its all, 937, what is meant by the several articles of it, t y º acchamalia, what, 693, b. - alaam, why called the son of Bogor, 871, f. alaamites, who, - - aptism, whether that of proselytes was in use among the Jews when John baptized, 49, e. why called the baptism of repentance, 469, k how said to wash away sins, ib. may he admi. mistered to those who are not capable of all the urposes of it, 46, c., Infant baptism referred to E. Christ, 236, c. his receiving little children an encouragement to it, ib., no argument against it in the form of its institution, 362, I. See also 374, c. Was generally administered by immer- sion, 403, J. but seems to have been sometimes done by pouring water impom them,..., 415, 1. naming the child no essential part of its 25, a. John baptizes in the wilderness. 4 , #6 the eople baptized by him, 42. the Pharisees and §c. come to his baptism, 43. as do the ublicans and soldiers, ib., who all justify God, #: baptized by John, 112, h... but the Phari- sees and lawyers are not baptized by him, ib. John ūnēš with water, but Jesus with the Holy Spirit, &c. 44, 49,363, 366. , illustration of this, 370, c. 371. Jésus baptized by John, 45, b. the Spirit descends upon him, ib. John's testi- mony" to his superiority, 49; and note d. Ješus baptizes in Judea by the ministry of his disciples, ë, 63, b, while John baptizes at, Enous 60., a. dispute about baptism between John's disciples ...] a jew, 66. 'John's joy on being told that jesus baptized, ib., the Pharisees alarmed, on hearing that he baptized more than John, 63, a. jesus commissions his apostles to go º, jyte ali nations, baptizing them, &c. 362, 1. a ištinct regard to be had to each of the Sagred *free in administering it, ib.m. baptism of the awakened Jews on the day of Pentecost, .# fl. 375.2 of the Samaritans and Simon Magus, 400, i. of the eunuch, 403, k, l. 9ſ. Saul, , g. of Čornelius and his friends, 415, apq, note - 9 iºdia and her family, 440., of the jailer and his family, 433 of the Corinthians, 451. of John's ; et seq., 438-9. disciples at Ephesus, 454, b. such as had been baptized by John might afterwards receive chris- tian baptism, ib. its perpetuity, 724, e. no objec- tion against water-baptism, when it is said there is one baptism, 686, d. jºiº b immersion, 555, g., allusion to that mode, 5]3, d. of infants referred to when children are said to be holy, 572, g, a considerable objection against it removed, , g. administered to children wh9se parents were christians, at the time of their birth, 513, c. the answer of a good con- science in it, 861, and note f. obliges us to die to sin, 514 persons baptized not meant by enlight- ened, 807, d. no extraordinary illumination to be expected on its administration, 820, g. Baptized for the dead, 602, h. Barabbas preferred tº Jesus by the Jews, 330. re- leased by Pilate, 333. observations on it, 377, b. Barbarians, all other nations so reckoned by the Greeks and Romans, 489, b. 490. Barchochebas, where referred to, 97, g. Barclay, Wiſ., his remarks, 295, i. 459, g. Barnabas, [see Joses,) introduces Saul to Peter and ames, .408, p. is sent to Antioch, 417. fetches Saul thither from Tarsus, 418, e. is sent with him to Jerusalem, ib. k. from whence they bring John Mark, 422, b. is set apart and sent with Saúl on a mission to the Gentiles, 423, e. travels with him, - . at their return, to Antioch in Syria, ac- quaint the church with their success, 432. is sent with Paul to Jerusalem, 433. returns, 437, sepa- rates from Paul on a dispute, and goes to Cyprus, 438. remarks thereon, ib., their reconciliation, ib. c. Barrenness a reproach among the Jews, 22, 1. some illustrious persons born of such as had been long barren, 21, h. the days coming when the barreñ would be counted happy, 334. • Barrington, (Lord,) his remarks and criticisms, 2 #. 5, 45. i. Ac,d.,418, k.,432; a. 2 a. 483, i. 424, 1.429, j. 433, d. 433.h. 433, b. 455. Barrow, Dr., on: the lawyer's asking the way to eternal life, 192, a. Barsabas ; see Joseph called Barsabas. Bartholomew chosen an apostle, 103. sent forth s with the twelve, 139, thought by some to be the same with Nathaniel, 53, i. 3. Bartimeus; see Blind. - Hasnage, Mr. on the procurators of Asia 458, p. Baxter, Mr., his remarks, 76, e., 176, c. 462, i. eadles, sent with orders, at Philippi, that Paul and Silas should be let out of prison, , b, d. tell the magistrates that Paul insists on their coming themselves to do it, ib. Beast (vide Animals) with seven heads, &c. what 928, a. what meant by its seven heads, 936, and notes c, d. its mark, , m. its number, ib. n. the punishment of its worshippers, 931, and note g. approved by angels and Christ, ib. , e, f. the other beast that ascended out of the earth, 929, h, i. is the false prophet, 934,d. - Beating of the rebels, a cruel practice of the Jews, * O. Beatitudes on the mount, adapted to the characters they are connected with, 76, a... rather to be expressed by happy than blessed, b, d. chiefly, to be understood of future happiness, ib. g. repeated in the plain, 104. Beautiful gate of the temple, 376, c. Bedford, Mr., on the wise men coming to Bethle- hem, 36, n. - - - Beelzebub the same with Satan, 116, g. its meaning, th. f. Christ accused of acting by his help, ib. 137, p. shows that he is no associate with him, # h, remarks on the master’s being so called, 14 Beginning to do a thing, comment on it; 366, b. Bekker, Dr., his opinion of demoniacs, 73, g; Believers have thé witness in themselves; 887, g Believing that Christ is the Son of God; thought b Mr. Locke the only fundamental of the gospel, p; {l. º exhorted to believe ; 8. elieving in his name, a Hebräism; 56, 1. is e Believing in Christ, what, 150, 442, 9; the jailer and his house saved by it, ib. p. all that believe jºstified, 437, good effects of it, 59, 61.96, 151, T53, iá3, 183,243, e... 259,303, n., remark on, hjm that believes in Čhrist,363, believe ºn, God, &c. reflection on it, 302, g. if thºu canst believe, con- jecture on its meaning, 169, e. why,...those arg ºre happy who have not seen and believe, 357, f. signification of the power ºf working miracles, as pºornised to them that believe, 362, p., the Jews #6id, if they believed him not; they should die in }}º sins,187, he that believeth, &c. shall be saved, 353. Christ knew from the first who they were that believed not, 154. A- Béjarmine on Christ's lambs and sheep, 359, b. išeijyoften put for the mind or heart, 183, c. g #ºn fits, the most engaging way of conferring them, whence to be learnt, 105. . - Benevolent temper and carriage, its fruits, 859, and note a . . . . . Benson, Dr., his history of the first º religion, º *ā h;sº CiSinS, 10. , 30}, 1, K. y v I y §.” y 393, º the 382, d. 383, d. * R-V 53 , b. 391, c. 393, a §§ 399, b, g. 400, b. 402, b. 404, a.405, i.406,9. 407, g. 418, f. 3}, ..."4.5"; 4.3." 4; i.d.;33, h. 34.5 Å44 #ſº h 457, k. 459, a, b. 469, i, a. 7 º sº 7; y º v.25 a - Bentley, Dr., his remarks, 448, m. 486, g. Bernice visits Festus, 480, b. hears Paul, 481. #érêa, Paul and Silās cºme there, 445. their ex- pulsion from thence; 446. * B; §§ allºsive expression when ap- lied to Christ, * * * * B.º. john baptizes there, 46, 50,233. Jesus Oes thither y 3_*.* “A Bëº, the 'toº of Mary and Martha, 241...its distance from Jerusalem, 242, its boundaries, a no reason to suppose there were two i.e. of hºleºsiº" is visited by Christ. - s and criti- 194, 242, 252, 254, a. 260, 363; a. who there as- cends to heaven, 364. - . Bethesda, its signification, 93. its form, ib. d. heal: ing virtue of its water, what occasioned by ib. f. how to be accounted for, and why not mentioned by Josephus, ib. g. served to illustrate the power of Christ, 94, h., • Bethlehem §§ for the place of Christ's Birth, 36, 183. providence of God in bringing, his parents thither, 31, e. Jesus , born there, ib. f. probable return of his parents there from the pu- rification, 34,...o. or their providential call thither efore the visit of the wise men, ill, 35, p. the male children at Bethlehem slain by Herod, 38, f. ar- gument thereon, ib. s ethphage, its extent, 254, a., Jesus makes his en- try from thence into Jerusalem, 254, et seq. thsaida, its site, 148, a two places of this name, §§, h. the city of Philip, Andrew; and Peter, 52, many miracles wrought in it ii.3, a. 178. Je- sus retires to the desert there, i 6, and note c. the people follow him, 146., where he feeds above §§§. 147. miracle wrought there on the blind man, 162 3. Béza.”his remarks and criticisms, 32, 1.82, a.89, É3,'...' ..."is:... iºd. 3 #3, #.’33i, a 3%, d. 371, k. §§, £373, p. 334, ii.’ášš, . w.) y - §§';.393/.39;... . ; fl. 4:..."...i. 407, c. 403, o, r.,420, k, 423, i, K. 423, e,f 439, c. 434, e. 435 fl. 454, à, b. 456, d. 466, h. 470, C. ãi, i. 37%. , 48%, c. 433, i. 485, d. 489, d. Bigotry spoils a good disposition, 142, c. began early in the church, 434. proof? the detestable effects of it, 381. & Binding and loosing, on the power of it, 163, h, was not given to Peter alone, ib. e. to whom con- firmed, 174. - Birth-day kept by Herod, remark on it. 144. some- times meant by the anointing day, O. Biscoe, Mr., his arguments and remarks, 326, c §§§.”a. 36%,". 358, #3%, d. f. §§, i.” 35i, i. #3, ... ºil, a ſić, g. £5, hi. 443, c. 33ſ.5. Žiš, .. 455.’i. d.º.º.m. º. 438, p. 477, § 474, ... 4 .#5, #5, d. ishops, a title given to the elders of the church of Ephesus, 461, a.462, how constituted by the Spirit ib. i., date of the distinction between them and presbyters, 461; a. the Asian bishops not all pre- šnjºº'nor'ſ mothy considered as bishop of Pº when Paul took his leave of the elders of that church, ib. e., speech of James no in- stance of his acting with the authority of a bishop, º C. Å; any one styled Bishop of Jerusalem so early, 3 *** Bishop, his character and duty, 758, 759, and notes; yet not fully enumerated, ib. c. how he was in danger of undertaking his office by con- straint, 864, b, of falling into condemnation and the snare of the devil,759, f, g. the husband of one wife, 758, a, explained a deaconess’s be: ing the wife of one man, 764, i. bishops an presbyters the ...same, 785, e. 864, a, several bishops at Philippi, , 703, c. no direction given to fº. to obey bishops, 759, c. no reason to believe the messengers of the churches were dio- cesans, 630, c. 710, d. nor the angels of the seven churches in Asia, 906, d. not mentioned in the Epistle to the Corinthians, though so natural an occasion offered, 597, e. nor in Paul's list of ec- B GENERAL INDEX. 975 clesiastics, 687, Bithynia; 439. . . - - - - Blac waii, Mr., his remarks and criticisms, 53, d. 3, e. 145, n. 242, 5, g. Blair, Mr., his observations, 76, a, g, h. 78, m. 80, g. 81, p. Aft 4, p, a. 85, e. ió , al. . Blasphemy, all forgiven but that against the Holy Ghost, 117, 199. Christ charged with it by the jºs, $2,333,335. who speak many things blast phemously against him, , n. Stephen charged with §§ 390, and note a. the Jews guilty of it, 428, b. 430. Paul and his companions blas- ;. of Diana, 458, o. christians urged to laspheme, 482, h. . Bless, how we are said to bless the sacramental elements, 582, a. Blessed, sometimes to be translated happy, 24, d. 3. º - Blessed is he, &c. 209, how to be understood, ib., i. gannot refer to Christ's triumphant entry, ib. , h. the cry of the multitude, 254. a cry we should echo, back,256. Blind restored by Čhrist, 160, b. 227, d. one blind and dumb dispossessed by him, 116. blindness and deafness, observations on it, ib. d. two blind men at Capernaum receive, their sight, 136. charged not to speak of it, ib. blind, man at Beth- saida healed, 162, at first can hardly distinguish men from trees, ib.b. but afterwards sees clearly, 162, man & born blind cured by Christ, 226, 227. questioned about it by the Sanhedrim, ib, affirms Christ to be a º: bis parents examined, ib., the man called again, 228. believes and wor: ghips Christ, 229. Bārtimeus and another blind man cry to Jesus to have mercy on them, 248. who touches their eyes and they see, §§. the blind, and lame healed by Jesus in the temple, 257, f. Saul struck blind, 405. inference drawn from it, ib. l. Ananias sent to cure him, 407, f. Elymas struck blind, 423. - • Blind have no sin, meaning of it, 230, a. internal blindness, by whom to be feared, 424. blind teachers dangerous, 106, 157.424. Biºi, the afting of it fºrbidden to. the Gentile converts, 436, i, r, S. remarks upon it, ib. Blood of Čhºrihi; indeed, i53, fºg. how repre- sented in the sacrament: 300... wish of the Jews concerning his blood, 333. this wish dreadfully answered, ib. n, o. Blood of Abel what, 830, m, of the Lamb, not the blood shed in his cause,919, c. * * ood and water came out, when his side was pierced, 341. a proof this of the certainty of his }; ib. f. g. his blood the blood of God, Boanerºes, whence applied to James and John, ; 8. Bochart, his remarks, 393, a. -- ody, unreasonable anxiety about it, 85, 201. put for the whole man, 536, and note b. spoken OI 8 S a tabernacle, 621. Qur care of it an emblem of Christ's regard to his church, 695. dead because of sin, 520, b., christians represented under the image of a body, 590. Body hrist meant of the temple, 56,99, f. the in the sacrament spoken of it, 366, & the regard shown by Providence to the body of Jesus, 343, sealing the sepulchre done to prevent any attempt either to remove or embalm it, 344, i, ab- surdity of the soldiers in saying that the disciples stole the body while they slept,.351, d; this story propagated by the Jews, 351. why his body might retain marks of the wounds after his resurrection, €. s Bonds, prisoners sometimes brought to plead in them, 2 T-, . - Bonnel, Mr., his Liſe and Harmony commended, 324, b. remark of his, ib. Books anciently made of scrolls of parchment rolled on sticks, 68, d. - Book of life, what, 714, c.910, g. 929, g. in the hand of him that sat on the throne, 914, a, Mr. Low- man's notion of the opening its seals, 916, d; Born again, how to be understood, 57, c. children of God born, not of blood, &c. but of God, 19; 1. Bos, his observations and remarks, 196, c. 333, D. 370, c. 383, d. 387, h., . e - Boxers, allusion to their manner of exercising, ; 1; II). * - - - Boysé, Mlrº, his remarks, 328, i. 435, e.. - Brägge, Mr., his explanation of Čhrist's COIn 1 mg in his own glory, 165, h. - Bramins, a notion of theirs, and a conjecture about the occasion of it, 831, b. gº ºr Bread, put for the provisions of a royal table, 155, e. for a sumptuous feast, 210, a. P egs . blessing on it, 488. See Eat Bread. Bread from heaven boasted of by the Jews, 1 1. the true bread what the Father gives; ib. d, e. cry thereupon, ib. Christ the Bread of life, ib. f. those that eat of it shall not die, 153, he that does not eat of it has no life, ib. this bréââ his flesh, ib. d, why more excellent than manna, 153. reflec- tion on it, 154. ... Bread-offering. Wide Jİſincha. Breaking bread, where said of the first converts, may not refer to the eucharist, 375, g. true inter- pretation of it, 459, g reaking the bruised recd, &c. a proverbial ex- pression, 102, g. Brekell, Mr., his remarks, *ś, 486, g. 487, c. Brennius, his observations, 203, p. 208, e. biº, f. ; 8. O. - Brethren often applied to near kinsmen, 137, d. the apostles all brethren, 274, g. brethren, or pri- vate christians,3. with the apostles in the Jeru- salem decree, 436, n. receive Paul when he came to Jerusalem, 465, a. and -meet when going to ome, 490,_k... . - - Bréthrén gf Christ his near relations, 137, d. Christ’s declaration on being told of their desire to speak with him, influenced, by carnal views, 179, e. did not believe in Christ, ib. d charge him with ostentation, ib. c. would have him go to the feast of Tabernacles, 179. he refuses till after they are gone, ib. f. their prejudices re- moved, 305. . - - - w Bridegroom, his delight in the bride, 60, e. Christ the Bridegroom of his church, 133, b. Bringing forward on their way, a märk of respect, $33, C. . . Britain visited by Paul, 492, g. Brother betray brother to death, 141,280. offending brother, how to be dealt with, ií4, § ... how often to be forgiven, 175,221. these directions how little *ś 175, 176. - Browne, §: Thomas,) remark of his, 420, h. Bullock. Dr., his answers, 112, g. remarks and ob- Servations, b. 378, i. 395, a. 403, i. Burnet (Éishop.) his remarks, 18. b. 79, r. 163, .#3, #35:...'4íš.a. “ Burnet, (Dr. Thomas') his arguments about the re- novation of the earth, &c. 238, i. 378, g. Burden used for ceremonial impositions, 113, In, burdens imposed on others by the scribes, but will not touch themselves, 197, g. 274. Burden and heat of the day, how applicable to the Jews, 240, c... Burden of Christ light, 113, m. burdens of sin and sorrow lead to Christ, 114. ... - $63, f discouraged, 739, and In Ote e. Buyers and Sellers driven by Christ out of the tem- ple, 7, d. 262, a.. not probable they were ever allowed to bring their wares into the inner court, 262, a... buying and selling sacred things infamous, 401. C CAESAR, his rights asserted by Christ, 269, c, argu- ment from the Jews not daring to refuse his coin, ibs, own to Pilate they haye, no king but Caesar, 333. Christ accused as forbidding to pay tribute to Caesar, &c. 327, if Pilate, let him go, insist he is not Cesar's friend, 332. Christ's followers charged, with acting contrary to the decrees of Besar, 445, d. nothing however in his character contrary to Caesar's rights, 446. Paul appeals to Caesar, 479, and note h. might, have reason for it, 484, s. is told by an angel that he should be brought before. Caesar, 486. tells the Jews how he had been obliged to appeal to Caesar, 49]. Caesarea; a city on the Mediterranean, far distant from Qaesarea. Philippi, 404,9. 439, c. near 70 miles from Jerusalem, 474, b. the usual residence Busy-bodies, who, 411, a. 464, the Plºt of the Roman governor 404. Peter sent for, 4 where Philip settled, goes and preaches there, 413, , et seq., Herod Agrippa dies there, 422, c., Paul lands there in his return to Jerusalem, 453. comes thither from Ptolemais, 464. where he is warned by Agabus against the Jews, ib. some of the disgiples there attend him to Jerusalem, ib. is sent from thence to Félix at Čapsarea;474. where his accusers fol- jow him, 475, d. Festus succeeding Felix there, 478. the Jews come again, to Caesarea, and are heard before him, 479. Agrippa and Bernice come to Časarea, 480. where they hear, Paul, 431, et seq. Paul sent from thence to Rome, 4 Čuarrel of the Jews and Gentiles during his im- prisonment at Caesarea, and the consequences thereof, 478.e. . e Cæsarea Philippi, reason of its name, &c. 162, c. a different place from the Caesarea nientioned in the Acts, ib., 404, o. Jesus :*: thither from Bethsaida, Í62, seems to be the place to which Saul was conducted when the Jews were con- triving to kill him,.408, q. Caiaphas the high priest, probably deputy to Annas when John began his ministry, 41, f. how men: tioned as high gies. Yº the Sanhedrim met about Jesus, 245, a. his prophecy, ib. b. the Jewish rulers meet at his palace to consult against Jesus, 291, where they are joined by Judas, ib. Jesús led to Caiaphas, 32]. is ex- amined by him, 324. Jesus brought from thence before the Sanhedrim, ib., Caiaphas, when the £eil was rent, probably § incense before it,339 m. present in the Sanhedrim when Peter and John were examined, 380, d. seems to have been high priest when Saul was commissioned to go to Damascus, 404, c. See High priest. Cainan, how inserted in Christ’s genealogy, 30, q. Calamy, Dr., observation of his; 461, e. - Calendars of the Roman and Greek church, with respect to their feasts, C. Cºndé by the jews, 3%. . . Called the children of God, signifies really so,77, k. to be called sometimes expresses more than to be, 23, e. c; the name of the Lord, what often put QT, J. (2, Q. - - Calling and election. Mr. Baekel's potion what the phrase alludes to, 868, i. called and faithful, 936, e. Calmet, his observations, 149, d. 336, a. . . . Cºry, the usual place for executing criminals, Calvi; his illustrations and remarks, 93, e. 216, Im. 20RS, I. y 8. * {{. g - Cambray, (Archbishop º his Dialogues on Elo- quence, 303, p. his remarks, ib., 49, d. . * - C#. & § spurious additions in it, 3 tl. 3. - - Camél gé through the eye of a needle, a proverbial expression, * 1: - . assº Camero, his observations, 155, d. 225, e. Cana, Christ attends a marriage-feast there, 53, a. where he turns the water into wine, 54, comes thither again, 67. - * Canaan, why entrance into it called rest, 802, h. Cºgº. a common name of the Ethiopian queens, • * Candle or lamp., See Lamp. Candour and forbearance, 555. - Canticles, alluded to in what Christ says of the bridegroom, 133, b. q Capellus, Lud., his observations and remarks, 155, d. 156, g. 277, g. 376, c. - Capernaum, where it lay, 55.67, e. 148, l. at least a day's journey from Cana, 67, e...often visited by Christ,55, 70, 75,91, 107, 108,133, 170. who dwelt there for a while when, he left, Nazareth, 70. though after he began, his ministry, he never seems to have continued long in one place, ib.f. miracles wrought there, 91, 108, 135, 136, 137, 171, f. Matthew called , there, 92. makes an en’ tertainment for Christ in his house, 133, a. who had preached in the synagogue there; 150, et seq. many in this city offended and forsake him, iš. denunciation against it for its impenitence, 113, 178, sermon on the mount preached at some dis- tance, from it,762, b, the leper not cured in its neighbourhood, 90, b. Captain, of the praetorian band at Rome invested with the charge of the state prisoners, 490, m. who held this office when Paul was brought here, ib. Cº.; of the temple, who, 320, o. present with the chieſ priests when they tº: against Jesus, 292, employed in seizing him in the gar- gen, 320. Peter and John apprehended by them, 379. as were also the twelve apostles, 386, c. Carcass, sometimes tied to captives as a punish- ment, 518, n. . - Carpenter, Christ despised as a carpenter's son, 137, called a carpenter himself, ib. might proba’ bly work at the trade in his younger years, ib. c. his condescension therein, 138. Casaubon, his remarks, 94; , 172, g. 368, f. 389, h. Castgr and Polluz, sign of the ship Pauſ sailed in to Italy, 489. the figure used to represent them, 10. Il. Cattle watered or lifted out of a pit on the sab- §-jià, 3}.}}}.}. ** sab Caution for Qur conduct, 53. cautions expressed with great force and emphasis, 161, c. edron : see Kedron. Qelibacy of the clergy, 577, b, c. Cench rea, Paul shaves his head there under a vow, 452, 8, sails from thence to Emhesus, 453, the church there distinct from Corinth, though in its suburbs, 548, b. Censures, ought to be impartial in them, 86, 105. attendanton, a public character, isi, the ºil st §: to be fixed on the most worthy men, 90, rash censures ought not to disquiet us, Aï. Centurion, account of his office, 107, c. applies to Jesus to heal his servant, 107 confesses him to 976 be the Son qf God, 340, satisfies Pilate that Jesus Was dead, 342. centurion at Caesarea, his piety, 2. See Cornelius. Ordered to keep Pâul a $3risoner at large, 477, g. conducts him to Rome, 485. See Julius. 9ephas, the name given to Peter, 51. Ceremonial law, necessity of observing it, 20, a. abolition of it under the gospel declared to Peter, 12, is 413. a conformity however to the ſcueish fitual judged most orderly in these of the cir- cumcision who believed, 466, f. Paul himself complies with it, ib. K. Ceremonial observances to be sometimes dispensed with, 99, h. 109. exactness in thern found it: those who violate the most essential duties, 328. should neither, be shaves to them nor zealots against them, 467. Cerinthus, said to have contended with Paul for circumcision, 551, f. what li is doctrine, SS3, e. Chaff burnt with unquench a ble fire, 44, k. Chain ; the way in which the Romans chaine their prisoners, 699, Chaldee paraphrase on Eccles. ix. 7. an imitation of a saying of Christ, 290, e. Chambering interpreted by some of lying long in }e • R. Chancellor at Ephesus, encomium on him, 457, m. his address to the people, ib. n. 458, o, p, r, s. re- tiections on him, 438. Chandler, (Bishºp,) his observations and remarks, 37, d. 14, jj; ;...&#s. 433. Qhapman, Mr., his observation, 227, g. hapters sometimes liot rightly divided, 345, e. 518, p. 713, f. - Charious, the use of them in their armies forbid- den to the Jews, 254, h. form of the eunitch's chariot, 402, e. - Charity to be ièarnt from the Samaritan, 193. dif- ference of party should not restrain us in it, ib. É. upon the Pharisces, 21 1, b, frugality to e used to supply it, 211. iii-gotten gøgtis fiot to be laid out it! ity 217, e. all our religious hopes vain without it, 294. Christ’s eye upon us when we exert it, 278. the inducements to it, 291, 462, q. labour to be used to assist the infirm, ib. p. suit- a bleness of it when we cinguge in devotion, 37.6, 377. duty of those who are intrusted ºth the distribution of it, 390. should learn of Christ to make excuses for the faults of others, 321, 336. an act of religion, and not merely of º 632, d. no kisſ of religious service acceptable without it, 840, . peop}e upt to make evasive excuses for neglecting it, GöS, d... urgeºi, Š39. especially from the example ºf Christ, ib. and the peculiar blessing of Goti which may be ex- pected upon it, 632. - Chel, or wall of separation, $31, 5. Cherubin of glory, why called so, Siš, d. the living, creatures meationed in Revelation were cherubim, 913, f. . * -- *** * * Chief priests, who intended by theº, 39, f,254, e. Jesus foretells his being rejecte; and delivered by them to the Gentiles, it is 346. colisult with the Pharisees how to deal with Jesus, 345. tº gree to put him to death, ib. bitt knoy, nºt how to #9 jt, 257, 267. cºnsult how to kill Lazarus; 253. Judas comes to then; and a 3 rees to tetray Jesús, 292, some of them so intent upon it as to $o with the guard, 319. aii of then, prese: ; when Jesus is brought before Caiaphas, 321, seek for false tº it- messes to put him to death, 323. 9a his ºwnip3 himself to be the Son ºf Gºd, deciare him skilty of death, 3.23. take him to Pilate to confirm their sentence, 326. and accuse him as one that set up for a king, 327. Pilate's remºrk to them, 328. gends Jesus to Herod, where they again accuse him,329. tells them that he wºuld order him to be scourged and let him go, ib. the people per- §uaded by them to choose Barabbas, 339, the voices of them and the chief priests prevail, ih. see Jesus with the crourn of thorns º his head, and again cry out, Cruffy him, 331. say they Änce no king but Cºcsqr, 333. would haye Pilate alter the inscription of the cross, 336. deride jesus as he bung there, 337, f. Judas brinº's back the money he had received gf them,343. With GENERAL INDEX. * in the wilderness, 582, f. an objection to this an- s wered, 7SS. e. 831, b, his Spirit in the Old Testa- prent prophets, 853, f, called the Comer, 820, i. his emptying himself refers to a proper change in his state, 708, d. his love to the church a mystery 696, f. he was manifested to destroy he works §§ 802; and potes; and was present with the church the devil, 882, i. was a minister of the circum- çision, 545. the reproach of those that reproached God fell on him, 544. was an example of that affect ign christians should maintain, §, b. dis- tinguished by his loving righteºusness, 799, o. he witnessed & good, confession, 768, b. discharged the office of a Mediatgr, in his human nature, 757, e, he was a High Priest before his resurrec- tion, 805, h. 812, a. is our Passover, 567, f. the End of the law for righteousness, $39, and nº b. gave him:self an Offering and a Sacrifice, 69], ... by the eternal Spirit, $ii,j. was mºś. çffering, 623., died in the stead of the ungodly, 511, e. the value of his sacrifice cempared with the Levitical, 844, i. 8]3. what the joy set before him, S27, º learnt obedience by the things he suffered, 865, k. abolished sin, by the sacrifice of himself, 816, h; we are healed by his stripes 857, and note i-, a living way is consecrated through the veil, 818, b, c. by his obedience many are constituted righteous, 512, and note k. things in heaven qud earth arg reconciled by him, 72}, ſ. He is the First-Born frºm the dead, ib, d. speiled principalities, and powers, 724, h, led captivity captive, 686, § 6ntered into the holy Piâce but once, 814, h., the world to come made subject to him, 800, d. he is the Head of the ciurch, 687. the Author and Finisher of our faith $37, p. his life was manifested in the sufferings of his apostles, 620, the promises are yea, and amen In him, 613, c. He is an Advocate, 877, a. for whom, ib. b. His intercession emphatically I e- presented, 920, c. his message to the seven churches proves his condescension and exact knowledge, 906, c., his second appearance called the last time and last day, 932, some understand his coming in the clouds of the destruction of Jerusalem, 904, c., the manner of his descent to judgment, 740. reflections on, it, ill. the sudden- ness of it, 471, a. allusion to the office of the high priest in the account given of his final appear- ance, 816, i. his giving up the kingdom to the Father, 602, g. what it is to confess him, 884, b. ywho are the enemies of his cross, 713, d...what it iS to ºiſ, him afresh, 807, h. what it is to put on Christ, 540, m. Mr. Locke's notion of it, 658, k. what is, meant by, being in him, 519, q. Chris tians quickened with him, 678, i. his love bears them away, 623, C. - Çlirist the JMediator, excellent treatise on it, 50, a. Christianity, the proofs of it, 110, 184, a. reflection on the despisers of it, 118; 427; mean arts of its enemies in aspersing it. 175, f. 491, a. dreadful gase of those who reject it, 267,429, reason why it may occasion more discord than other religions, 142, b. the progress of it the Lord's doing, 376, in effect asserts that all, are in a degenerate_state, 877, e. the plan and design of it grand, 695, c., a test by which other doctrines may be tried, 884, e. the last dispensation, 879, b. . . Christians, how they preserved their lives, 381, a. reflection thereon, 283, their capacity and readi- ness to declare the gospel to strangers, 389, i. cortainty of the first settlement of christian churches, whence to be had, 417, a. are dead to the law, 516, and note c. quickened with Christ, 678, i. delivered into the mould of the gospel. 5iš, a. made the righteousness of God, 624, f. airéady justified and glorified, 523, d. their lives hid with Christ, 726, e. they are one body, 536, 59], and note c knit together in the same mind, 554, and note b. shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, 740, h. - Christians first so mained at Antioch, 418, f. other names to be avoided, 418. - Chronology of the gospel-history, the difficulty of fixing it. A. Table of the pringipal events re- cordőd therein, 965—971, era of Christ's birth, what year of other eras, 964. - Chrysostom, his remarks and Qbscrvations, 39, o, 45, c. 169, h. 190, h. 366, b. 430, g. 460, 1.492, g. a remark of his on watching for souls, 833, b. Church, safe under the proteçtion of Öhrist, 130. the care of God over it,39. the gates of kell shall nct prevail against it, £63, and note f. Christ the foundation of it, ib., e. ić réâûction on this honour being ascribed to Peter, 164. God has redeemed it cith his own blood, 462, k. this word used in various senses, 174, e. the, church to be informed of an offending brother, ib. ought to be impartial in their judgment, ib., f little, of a. Christian spirit in its censures, 175. the right of Choosing church-officers, 369, ..m. controversigs about church-order to be meddled with as little as possible, 389, e. a due attention to the three grand canons would render many others needless, ii. happy for the church when the spils of false- hood are deterred from intruding into it, 385. thought by some to be a building for religious worship, in 1 Cor. xi. 18, 587, a. how the church is jºiness of Čhrist, 677, d. the manifol wisdom of God made known by it, &c. 683, i. why whole churches are spokºn of as chosen, gºints, believers, &c. 674, c. 719, b. churches in Asia, vide Scwen. Chuza, his wife attends Christ in his progress, iſ 6 is thought to be the nobleman of Capermaun whose son was cured, 67, - Cicéro, a remarkable expression of his concerning the death of friends, 73 * Ciliº Saul jºrough it in his way to Tar- Rºbich they buy the Potter's Ficlă, 343; a poly tº fijate to have the scpulchre secured till tho third day, ib., who grants their request, ib. Jesus being Fišeh, the guard tell them what had happened, 35i ºo bribe them tº say that his disciples stole #e baſiſ chile they, stept, ib., b, d...ºffeºiºs º their infidelity, and obstinić, 352. Peter and jº, teji ific disciples all the chief priests, had said to them, 3ST. the chieſ' priests amazed to hºar that the gºtre were escaped qut of prison, 333. commission Saul to imprison the saints, 482, 403. §rºi tºo conspiracy against Paul, 473, R., ap- ply to Festus to have him brought to Jerusalem, 4:3, 4S), with a view of killing him by the way, 478, f. - • * * * * child taken by Christ, and set before his discipjes, i.7i. See Little Child. } Children, when they came under the yoke gf the jävº, 39, a... their encouragement tº coiſie to Christ, §36 should love the house, and ordinanges of Čoj, 45. and learn of Christ, to bº submissiye to their parents, ib., and careful of them in their de- climing days, 156. the goodness of God in watch- j."gºeſ them, 35. not to be loved like, Christ, 143,212, b. a regard to him a comfort to us in their removal, 109, 137. th9se of religious parents, jºen bad, worse than others, 121. Some; out of enmity to the gospºl, cause their parents to be º, death, 131, 28%. ought to be taught the §§riptures, 779, a. their irregularities reflect a dishonour on their parents, 785. all men by na- ture children of torqth, 678, g. C##iºn casting out demons, how to be understood, cłiºn sitting in the market-place, meaning of it, I p i. Children of God, the glory of making us so, whom to be ascribed to, 19, hºw to prove ourseives so, #89; good meg, why cajied so, 271, d. Childréu of this world, reflectián on their wisdom, 247, d. 218, their derision not to be regarded, 218, Cliº, Paul passes i.ear it in his voyage to Miletus, {{X_j. Qāīup ; see Rºmpha;. . - Chłºſe, some cf her family visit Paul at Ephesus, * * * * Çivking, how applied, i95, b. Çhoraziº, #enunciation against it, 112, 178. Chosen yºu twelce, remark on it, 155, e. many called ºut fee cºgsen, l:ew to be patierstgou, 268, the gpostics did liot first clºggse Christ, but he cl:ose thei:3, 397. were nºt chosen on account of any Is; evious virut:e, 33:2, d. Saul, how said to be a Chose:: cessel, 307, c. Cºen get.eratium, how applied to christians, ... iśno, e. 'ºrist; his tº a lºtre Gºd titles, 18, b, c. 19, i, m, 22, 27, f. 34, u). #3, h. 45, 5è, i. 54, 53, k. 59, 66, h. jiàº. 35 ºff,' #3, i. iść 'tºo, isãº, g. 327, 231, 377, b. 413; d. place of his birth, 31. tiº of it, iè, i. 33, h. his cºming ešººl, 34, n. 3G, 3. . is circuit::cision and name, 32, o. is car- Fied 19 Jerusaiens, 3.3, c, was probably brought pick from the:ce to Bethlellem, 35, p, where he is visited by the icise men, 36, ju, reflections on the preseals they rºade hilli, 37, q. is carried into Esypt, 37, bºtt afterwards brought back, and seilles at Nazareth, 3S, whetice He is called a .*"azaré, e, 39, o. goes up with his parents to the Passover at Jerusalem, 39. where he is found in the terºpte, 40. conversing with the doctors, ib. remark on it, ib., d. his mother's expostulation with him, and his reply, b. f. returns to Naza: reth, 40. and grows in favour with God and man, ib. and note_h. referred to by John the Baptist, 44, 45. 8, 50, and note b. is in the bosom of the Father, and has made him known, 35 is baptized by John, 46, c., the Spirit descends upon him, 46, a voice from lieuven proclaims him to be ihe Son ºf God, ib. his age then, ib. i. is led into the wilderness, 47, a. where he is tempted by the devil, ib. 48, his condescension in submitting to this, ib. is pointed out by John as the Messiah, 50. how he came to take away sin, ib, as end of his being sent, 59, all shall perish that believe not in hiº, ib.f. the excellence of his dcctrine, {}, .. 6]. importance of believing ºr rejecting it, 61. his word with power, 7.1, 73, 89. did not bear witness of himself alone, 97. the gentleness of his conduct, &c. foretold by Isaiah, 102. offends the g'ws by calling God his Father, 95, c. asserts the dignity of his person and connºission, 95, h. texts of Scripture relating to him, 151, g. 152, h. 204, - a, b. 209, f, g. 222, b. 230, d, e. 231, 8, c, d. 232, q. 339, l. the Jews charge him with blasphemy, 233. his works a proof of his union with the Father, ib. declarestinat the Father is greater than he, 303. can do nothing of himself, 95, d. JS7. and has no separate trill of his own, 96, k, 152. is the Resurrection and Life, 2-13. He that believes in him shall live, ib. e. has power lo quicken ichom he will, 95. and even the dead shall hear his voice, 96, and note i. is the PVay, the Truth, and the Life, 302. if we know him we know the Father, ib. k. reason why, ib. na..is the true vine, 306, b. none fruitful but by abiding in him, 306, his fore- knowlcdge offortuitous eyents, 254, b. 292; b. 319. his knowledge and power in providing for the pay- ment of the tribute, 171, f. observation on his teſ]- ing his disciples what he heard of the Father,307, b.his going away their advantage; 310,311. Would see then again, ub. wisely ordered by Providence that Pilate should declare him innocent,336. an Judas be obliged to own it,343.9bservations on his rising from the dead, 344, i. the dress he had nothing splendid,347, q. order of his gppearanges after his resurrection, 358, h. reflection on, his appearing in public, 350. converses forty days with the apostles, 364., commissionis, them to preach and É. tize, 362. his promise to be always acith thern to § end of the world, ib. n. ascends to heavcn in their sight, 364, b. wherever two or three assemble in his taine, is lºith them, 114. whatever is asked in his name will be given, 303, reflection on those who reject him; 372, gº 3. iven up by the determinate counsel of čod, 372. ut not to be held under the power of death, 373, g. raised up by God, 373, and exalted, to be à" ºnce and Saviour, ib. 386. was the Ggd, of Israel, 395, b. and is more eminently a Ruler and Deliverer than Moses, 396, appears tº Saul, 465,455, h. 468, 469, a. .472, i. 482, 483. goes about doing good, 414, e. being raised Płº IS sº to chºsen witnesses, ib. f. cnd of his being SO SIt OWIl. 250. - Christ, sometimes signifies his word, 832, g. but not when it is said he is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever, ib. He is the beginning of the crea- tion, 911, and note e. the First-Born of the whole creation, 720, b. created, all things, 721, g. the \ºjo family in earth and heaven gamed of him. 684, a. all fulness resided in him, 72i, 9.how the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him, 723, d. was in the form of God, 707, b. thought it no robbery to be as God, ib. c. called the Lord the Spirit, - $48, and note g. Alpha and Omēga, 904, e. 905, d. He that searches the heart, 999, Q the #. Öne, 910, a. the true God, §§§, f. jehovah, 53. y j. God over all, blessed for ever, 525, f why his superiority to angels is so particularly insisted on 735, i. the apostle takes, it for granted that Čhristians would pray to him, 553, e. he is the unutterable gift of God, 632; g. Adam a figure of him, 512, f, g. how the salvation by lim ex- ceeds the joss by Ádan), 512, how he preached to the spirits in prison, 861, and note c. how M19ses esteemed the reproach of 9hrist, &c. 824, g. Öhrist jaid the pian of the Mosaic dispensation, sis. A68, a visits it again, 438. degree from Jeru- jém Šiše: to the ãºtile brethren, there,436. mentioned by Paul, in his voyage to Rºme, 485, Circumcision, not originally of Moses, 181, g, was - performed on the sabbath;ic y, i5. &te; hen of it? institution, 392, those of the circu in cision astºn- ished at the Spirit's falling on the Gentiles, 4} }, k. Inake no Gbjection to heir being baptized, 415, 4iff, d. Jewish converts targe it as necessary to the Gentile christians, 433. the matter referred to the apostles, &c. ib. soºne of the Pha risees in- sist upon it, 434, e. but a decree is made against it, 436. Paul circumncises Timothy, 439, a. the Jews prejudiced against Piul, as teaching not to circumcise, .465, c. resolution therºon, 466, f. a seal of the righteousness of faith, 508, obviates a considerable objection against infant baptism, ib. :... those that are circumcised become debtors to fº the whole law, 653. and Christ profitet them nothink, ii. and note a. circumcised chris- tjans were sometimes spared when others were Jersecuted, 669, d. * Circus, allusion to the races there, 606, f. - - - City set on a hill, remark on it, 77, o. rich cities frequently licentious, 113, b. alreadful case of such as are impenitent, Ilº, 113, 140, 178. Civil unconveniences attending ecclesiastical cen- sures, 906, e... . - - Claget, Dr., his observations and remarks, 57, e. 154, d. 188, d. & Clarius, his criticisms and coºjectures, 115, k. 171, c. 395, d. 373; i. 449; b. 423, e. . . Clarks (ºr, Samuel,) of St. Alban's, his Sermons on Paul's reply to Agrippa, 484, t. Clarke, Dr., his remarks, 51, i. 59, e. 59, m.85, G. 192, c. 127, b. 129, a. 151, d. t. 152, b. 154, d. J63, a. 173, i. 183, d. 217, c. 224, g. 237, g. 261, d. i. 298, b. 322, m. . * , º, Citalia Island, Paul driven near it in his veyage to Rome, 486. - - - Claudius Caesar, famines during his reign, 4}S, g. which of them was foretold by Agabus, ib. orders all the Jews to depart from Romic, 459, b. when he began his reign, 964. & º who of the apostles so, 295, by what means, J.) Eleanthes, his hymn to Jupiter, 448, q, referred to by Paul, ib. e *- Clemens Alexandrinus on Mark's gospel, 167, i. y (t. Clemens Romanus mentions Gaul among the disciples of Paul, 492, g. Cleopas, husband to Mary, 333, b. seems to be the same with Alpheus, 304, e. 333, b. marriage at Cana thought to have been at his house, 53, b. was one of the two disciples to whom Christ ap- peared in the way to Emmaus, 351, f. Cloak to be parted with, why, 81. better rendered mantle, ib. n. Closet to be chosen for prayer, 83, g. & Clothing, no need to be anxious about it, 85, 201. high-priest rends his clothes, 325, this allowable in some cases to express horror, ib. i. Barnabas s:nd Paul rend their clothes, 431. tearing off the clothes of those that were scourg ca, a custernary practice, 441, g. . e - e º 'º' Cºlºs, Paul passes by it in his voyage to Rome, & §.). - Coat, better rendered vest, 8i, n., tºpo coats not to be taken by the apostles in their journey, 139. Cock-crowing, the common time of it referred to, 299, g. Peter told that before the cock crenc thrice he would deny Christ thrice, 316, c. cock crows on his first denial, 322, k. and again, on his third, 323. opinion of some concerning this, ib. n. Cohort, of how many soldiers it consisted, 4; 1, n. the Italian cohort at Caesarea not a part of the Italian legion; ib. Paul conveyed to Rome by a centurion of the Augustan cohºrt, 485. Collection of the churches in Judea, 605. Colliber, Mr., his scheme, 297, k. Cºlli ins, Mr., his remarks, 353, ſ. 354, g. 403, i. 427, t. and Britain Čej, i). * , º, Colosse, why the christians there callel holy and aithful, brethrea, , 719, b. the design of the Epistle to them briefly proposed, 720, h, written #;"| the same time as that to the Ephesians, (29, A. e - Colossians, the Epistle to them when written, Sº * ciºius and others on the sitth hour, 332, m. Connet, Mr. Whiston thinks the conflag ration will be occasioned by one, 945, f... . . Comforter promised to the disciples, 304, b. end of his coming, ib. 310. g Ooining of the Son of man, its application, 141, g. its suddenness, 223, 285. coming in his kingdom, meant of his ascension, 165, i. the sigms of his coming, 279, d., described in terms suiting the day of judgment, 283. the first a kind of emblein of the fast, 289, a., his conting in the clouds of hea- ven, bow applicable to the former, 253, d, e. the day and hour when he shall, come unknown, 284, i. argument drawn from the suddenness oſ it, 285, 286. key to his discourse on the signs of his coming, 279, d. 2S5, b. what his coming may relate to, 202, f. 302, g. angels assure the apºstles of the manner of his second coming, 354, § his coining to judgment described;2:9, a. Commandinent of God, eternal life, 232, command- ments wherefore to be kept, 237. breaking the least makes us unworthy of the kingdom of bea- ven, 78. the sixth, how explained by Christ, ib. how may ba rendered, ib. g. oxtent of the seventh, 80, b. extent of the tenth, 937, d. the siz last re- counſmended to the young ruler, 237. scribe in- quires aphich is the first commandment, 272. dis– pute of the Jewish doctors thereon, ib, a. to love od the first, ib. scribe's acknowledgment re- lating to it, ill, to love one another a new com- mandment, 298, b, keeping his commandments a FQof of our love to him, 304. what it shows, Communion with idols maintained by sacrifice, (; ENERAL IN DEX, y • . . --> - * = Community of goods among the first convefts, 375, N. 123 i. C޺, e. How fºr we are to follow their example, 3S3. not general among christians, 769, d. Comparative sense, where scimetimes intended,99,h. Comparative degree, sometimes used for the posi- tive, 869, a. - Cººl tſtein to come in, reflection on it, 212, g. *$3+, ) i. Complacency in others’ vices the last degeneracy, 500, u. - Cºgºreheaded it no?, rather did not appre?ter, d it, :egree of Condernnaſion, hºw any may be said to be regis- tered to it, 896, h. 398, f. - “s Condescension to the learnt from Christ, 134. his condescension, 33, l ; S, 149, k. 2:36,294, condescen- sion of Peter, ###, b. 4 iſ... of Apolios, 453, e. 454. of St. Paul to his hearers, 579,585. - Condition of his future good behaviour implied in ... the forgiveness of the unmerciful servant, 175, c. Confessing Christ, why so much stress laid on it in Scripture, &4, b. 885, a. our faults one to an- other, ſo foundation for auricular, confession, S$º, f Głin i. 7. absurdly produced to prove it, ºf 'Jº (; . Cºssºs of Christ befºre ºxen conſessed by him, +2, i99. . Confir tration, what aijeged as a foundation for it, 493, b. confirmation of the souls of the disciples alf. Łystra. lconium, and Antioch, 432, of the brethren at Antioch, 437. of the churches in Syria and Cilicia, 438. and of all the disciples through Galatia and Pinrygia, 453. Couflagration, Mr. Whist on thinks it will be occa- sioned by a connet, 945, f. Mr. Flerning thinks some saints will rise while it continues, 561, d. Confucius, a remarkable saying of his about princes governing their families, 759, e. Conquerors, an allusion to their giving largesses to the soldiers, 686, h. in the christian warfare shall have power over the nation, 909, e...shall walk in white, 910. f. and be reade pillars in the house of God, 911, d. Conscience; what the force of it should teach us, i85. a ºil. cºscience dreadful, 145. enough to drive the most hardened sinner to despair, 345. wretched case of a scared conscience, ib., reflec- tion on Paul’s saying that he had liced in all gogd conscience, &c. 471, a. his care to keep a com- science void of offence, what it refers to, 476, e. Consolation of Israel, applied to the Messiah, 33, e. Contentions &ccasioned by the gospel, 142, 205. no argument against its authority, 14:2, b. 143, shows the corruption of human nature, 205. imperſec- tion in the best of men, 438. a contentious temper the occasion of sin and scandal, 221, a. that rose early in the church were wisely permitted, 654, e. Contentment, the attendant and fruit of godiness, O iſ , (i. Controversies about little things, the danger of them, 775, e. Conversation, rules for conducting it; 690, p. Çonversion of the Jews, expectation from it, 378, e. Converts to the gospel, 3000 rºade in one day, 375. remarks thereon, ib. c., f. 376. their number in- creased to 5000, 379, c. who were all of one heart and soul, 3S2, e. 375, i.amiable character of the primitive converts, 3S3. are dispersed by a great persecution, 399, a justification of their preach- ing the word, ib. d. converts made in Samaria, #90. at Lyºlºla and Saron, 409. at Joppa, 410, at Caesarea; 414, i. at Antioch in Syria, 417, in Cy- rus; 424, 1... at Antioch, in Pisidia, 428, f. at conjun), 429, at Derbe, 432. in Galatia, #39. at Philippi, 442, at Thessalonica, 445. at Bergea, ib. at ºthº, 449, at Corinth, 451. at Ephesus, 455, at Rome, 492. and probably at A:alta, 491. reflection on the methods taken in converting us, J 3S s - Conviction of sia by the law, 536, c. of sin and duty insufficient without reformation, 519, Convictions, when to be submitted to, 4S5. danger of stifling them, 479. how to guard against those things which would tend to elude them, 480, their taking men eff at first ſron attending to their secular affairs not to be censured, 4.SS. Cº. Paul arrives there in his way to Jerusalem, tº. - - Corban, supposed to be an oath, 156. Corinth, Paul connes there from Athens, 450, n. where he works as a tent-maker, ib. c. preuches there, 450. is jºined by Silas and Timothy, i. e. being rejected by the Jews, turns to the Géntiles, 45l. preaches in the house of Justus, ib. is assured by the Lord that he had much jºonic there, ii). h. his continuance Here and success, 451, writes his Epistles to the Thessalonians and Galatia;;s at that place, jh. i. takes his leave of the brethren there, 452. Apollos preaches at Corinth, 453. but declines, returning thither, ib. f. the First Epistle to the Corinthians written fren Ephesus, ib. d. 436, a. the Second from Maceio'nia, 459, b. part of the First Epistle why introduced, 361, d. Paul revisits Corinth, 459. does not secun to have re- turned there from Philippi, ië, e. Corinthians much addicted to lewdness, 583, G. what their fault about the Lord's supper, 5S7, c, { s C. Corn, time eastern manner of threshing it alluded to, 578, e. Cornelius, his station, 411, a. a devout man, i5. b. sonds to Joppa for Peter, 4 Il. calls l;is friends together when he expected him, 413. Corner-stone refused by the builders, 265, f. 380 none of the thisigs Paul spake of done in a cor- mer, 484. Corruption put for the grave, 426, p. not seeing corruption, what it refers to, ih. - Covenant of redemption, observation on it, 296, a. new covenant established in the blood. of Christ, 300. cup in the eucharist, the seal of it, ib. e. stran- gets to the covenant, how many reap temporal advantage, 488, 97.7 b. at Sinai, mºde no gypress provision for the par’ don of wilful sin, 29, , c. hºw a covenant'im- ports the death of that by which it is confirmed, S13, and note c. - ovetousness, not to be indulggd, 84, 86. to be guarded against, 20ſ, b. fatal’ fruits of it, 292. the thoughts of death a proper antidote against it, 218, f. Paul covets no man's silver or gold, 462, the precept that forbids it relates to the heart, ină proves the spirituality of the law, #7, b. bow it is idolatry, 69], h. and pierces persons through with many sorrows, 768, e. Councils, reflections on the apostics being brought before them, 142,279, i. 388. Gurts of judicature among the Jews, 78, h. Cradock, Mr., his remarks, 69, h. 163, d. 198, n. 301, a. 332, f. 354, i. 408, l. 433, e. 438, d. 450, c, e. 470, f. 476, b. 491, b. . rates, a remarkable saying of his about orna - ments of dress, 858, a. Cre::tion, made subject to vanity, 521 earnestly expects the revelation of God, 522. Cretains, their º 786, b. Cºventinº, Abrahamic, why called cotenants, 680, and note a. the sons of Crete, Paul supposed to have sailed thither in his second progress, 438, d. , touches there in his voyage tº Rome, 485. quits it, 4S6. . Qrispus believes, with all his liouse, 451. e riticisms, unnatural ones a dishonour to Scrip- ture, 97, e. Cross to be taken up for Christ, 143, d. 164,212, 23S. usually carried by them that were crucified, 143, d. 334, h. how ready we should be to take it up, 165, 212. Crozcºn of thorns put upon the head of Jesus, 33], b. Crowns bestowed in the gaines, their different kinds, 580, i. - Crucifixion, a Roman punishment, 246, b. 259. the Jews insist on Cl:rist's crucifixion, 330, tº Pilate defivers him up to be crucified, ib. is led to it, 333, b. circumstances attending his cruci- fixion, 336–340, exquisite a figuish of such a death, 336, c. reflection on his coming down from the cross, 337, f. the Jews charged with häving crucificº him, 372, c. 374, 377, and note b. 380, §6. reflection ºn the crucifirion of the Jews by Titus, 330, g; 333, Q, the crucifixion of Peter foretold by Christ, 359. time of it not certainly kºwn, ib. c. opinion of some concerning it, *isł2; 9. - Cº. ºpot be added by any one to his stature, , b. 20 l. Cumbered about nºw.ch serving, how little need Martha had for it, 194, c. what a loss to her, ib. what a happ:::ess to be frae from it, ib. Cumberlant!, Bishºp,) conjecture of his, 371, g. Cup, its significatiºn, 2:17, d. 317, d. eastern cus- torn relatitiº to it, 3}7, d John painted with such a cup, 247, c. Christ takes the cup at the Passover, 293. , the sacramental cup different from this, ió. when called the acts co renant, how to be uilderstood, 360, e. cup of Christ's suffer- ings, reflecticns on i: , 3}7, and ficte h. would not refuse the cup his Father gave him, 318. Curiosity, often too much indulzed, I2]. Christ § hººks the curiosity of the a rºostles, 360, 367. inference drawn therefron, 367. Curse. hºw Christ inade a Curse for us, 655, and note i. how ail that are of the works of the law are, under a curse, iſ:... and note g. what it is to call Christ cursed, 589, b. Cirsing father or mother, could only be done in a passioń, 156, f. * - Cut kin asks: der, reaning of it, 203, and note l. ºth, g, Cymbal, what, and how fitly renticized by the apostle, 592, c. Cyprus, noted for the worship of Verºus, 493, gos- pel first preached there only to the Jews, 417. sonse of Cyprus and Cyrene preach it at An- tioch to the Greeks, ib. b. Paul and Barnabas go to Cyprus, #23. Elymas struck blind there, ib. Sergius converted, ib. Rareabas sails with John Hark to Cyprus, 438. Paul in his return to Syria sails within sight of it, 463, passes by it in his voyage to Ronic, 485. Cyrene, ratives of it preach to the Greeks at At- t;cch, 417. Cyrenius invested with the care of the enrolment at the time Christ was born, 31, b. spoken of as governor of Syria, ih, 99, e. Cyril, his addition to the text in John, 321, a. Cyrus, a robe of his put on by succeeding Persian kings at their coronations, 5-(0, nº. D Daemons, their happts, in , deserts, J20, i. 131, c. among tombs, i30, b. different ones presided over distinct regions, 131, f. knew Christ to be the Son of Ged, 101-2, 13]. were afraid of his power, Z3,131, 132. acknowledge him to be fºr Son of Gºd, 73,74, 102, 131. commanded by him to be silent, 74, and note e. 102. adjure Christ pot to torniant them; 13 J, d. why they might beg he would not order them to go into the abyss, ih. f... enter into the swine, ib. h., and drive thern into the sea, 133, i. goodness of God in restraining their power, 13.2. reckoned by the ews to have an agency in all remarkable disor- ders of the body, 206, a... but even in this respect are usider the control of Christ, 208. Jews pre- tend John the Raptist had a daemon, l 12, say the same of Christ, lié, 180, d. 189, a. 190. charge him with casting them out by the help of Beelzebub, J 16, 137. who proves the charge to be absurd ; inference on his casting them out, 117. children of the Pharisees take upon them to cast them out, ib. i. one that did not follow Christ casts them out in his name, 176, b. reflection thereon, 177, some daimons more malignant than others, 978 GENERAL INDEX. to be lamented immoderately, 137, 244. consider- ation that they are gone to the Father should comfort, us, 305, deliverance of Peter out of pri- son, emblem of what Christ's servants shall receive by death, 421. - Pº of Christ, º gºal, c. 258, 259, , I. 340, 34 l, f, g. 350, 372, d. Death, introduced by Adamſ sin, 512, and note d. eternal, the wages of sin, 515, c. which does not mean being cas: out of existence, ib. all men born in the territories of death, Š2, a. Debates about doubtful matters, 541, a. Debt, the greatness of ours to God is not to be ex- Pºssed, 115. not capable of satisfaction, 175, b. # *). Debtor, what kind of, will love his creditor most, about divorce, 234,235. cautioned not to imitate the scribes and Pharisees, 274. meet with the apostles after Christ's ascension, 368. join with them in choosing another apostje, 369. Spirit descends upon them, 370. tº: of it, ib. d. unite in prayer after, Peter and John had been examined by the Sanhedrim, 382, a. what hap- pºped thereupon, , 382, d., their number multi- plied, 388, c. are dispersed by persecution, 399, Disciples of John, instructed by him, 50, 51. two go after Jesus, 51, g. dispute with a Jéw, 60, c. jealous of their master's honour, 60, 110. ased to fast often, 133, had probably a form of prayer that John taught them, 195, a. might be many cf them Essenes, 134, e. why the disjes of Čhrist did not fast as they did, 133. bury j. Corpso, 145. he that cast out daemons in the name of brist was probably one of John's disciples, 176, b. Apollos also probably was one of thcºn, 453,e, Paul meets with some of John's disciples at Ephesus, 454, a. who being instructed by him, ib. b. receive the Spirit, 455. Diseases cured by Christ, 75, b. (See Sick.] T3, 94, 132, a good token to be sensible of them, 94. Disfiguring their faces when they fast, the practice of hypocrites, 84, q. Disobedience, how éod shut up all under it, 535, e. the apostles had power to punish disobedience, 565,. f. vide Apostolic Rod. . . . Dividing the word aright, what it alludes to, 775, f. Divine instructions, what, 151, f. Divinity, 08torm Ta distinguished from 6corn-a, givine pature, 499, i. - Divorce, 571. women had power to divorce, 572, a. Divorces, frequent among the Jews, 80. sometimes rivately made, 27, , b, disapproved, 20, b. the harisees questioned Christ on this head, 234. qebate among the ancient rabbies about it, ib. c. Christ's answer, ib. e. 80, f. 218, 235, f woman divorced, for adultery, whether forbidden, to marry, 80, g. 235, f. Women were not allowed by the Jewish jaw to divorce their husbands, 235, g. JDo as you would be done to, 87, h. 105. doing the will of Christ, necessity of it, 89, 106. powerful motives to it, 115, 119. e Doctors in the temple, used to instruct young per- Sons there, 40, and note c. learners sat at their feet, ib. d. not said that Christ disputed with them, ib. - - | Doctors of the law come to hear Christ, 91. Seo ! Lawyers. • * - i Doctrine of Christ, the people astonished at it, 71, 73, b. 89, 137, , 271, tendency of it, 116,...h. | imputation cast upon it should excite our indig- nation, 118. his doctrine of God, 180, b. Doctriués do not discover men, 88, i."what they sometimes refer to, 156, i. Dogs, who accounted such by the Jews. J58. Door of the sheepfold, 230., who intended by the door-keeper, ib. b. the fold shut up to secure flie flock, 230. Christ, the door, ib. d. what they that enter by him shall find, 230. Pºłº and effectual, what the phrase alludes to, 5 i s Dorcas dies at Joppa, 410. what the meaning of her name, ib. e. Peter raises her to life, 410. effect of this, ib. • * * Doves harmless to a proverb, 140. Christ urges his disciples to be like them, ib. Pgiºlºgy at the end of the Lord’s prayer doubtful, G-15 - Drachma, the woman's joy on finding it, 214, e. Dragon, a serpent of enormous bulk,927, a. proper emblem of Satan, ib. gave its power to the beast, $325, d. - - - Dreams in the morning imagined to be most signi- ficant, 33], e. - - Dropsy, a man cured of it by Christ, 210. Drowning in the sea, a punishment among the ancients, 172, g. - Drusilla, married to Felix, 477, a. hears Paul, 477. no impression made on her, 479, m. consumed in an eruption of Vesuvius, 477, a. Felix married to another Drusilla, ib. - Drusius, his remarks, 70, c. 78, l. 115, f. 156, g. 169, g. 271, e. - Pº restored by Christ, 116, 137, 159, 160, 168, Dupin, his order of the harmony,954-5. ..., Dust of their, feet, when to be shaken off, 140, o. 178, e. Paul and Barnabas shake it , off against the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia, 429. dreadful the condemnation of such who shall have it to wil- ness against them, 140, 178, 429. E 169, h. the apostles invested with authority to cast them Qut, 139. cast our many in their mis- sion, 143, joy of the Seventy on this occasion, 191. the power of casting thern out promised to them that believe; 362, p. supposed by heathens to be present at their 'sacrifices, 583, c. daºmon- worship, what, 922, h. *moniacs, supposed by some to haye been luna- tics or epileptics, 73, c. 132, i. this opinion re- futed, 75, k. See Póssessions. . Cures wrought on them by Christ, 73, 1.16, b, d. 130–132, 37, 158, 169, 414. parable of the relapsing da-moniac, 120. those troubled with unclean S;5irits, brought to the apostles at , Jerusaleſm, and healed, 3-4 many dispossessed, by Philip in Samaria, 399. others dispossessed by Paul at Philippi, 41, and note b. and Ephesus, 455. - Dalmanutha, Jesus comes thither, 160. takes ship there, and crosses to Bethsaida, 161: Damaris, her rank and conversion, 449. Damascus abounds with Jews, 404, d. Saul goes thither to persecute the Christians, 401, 46$. is converted on the way, 405, 458, 482. Amanias cures, him, there of his blindness, and baptizes him, 407,469. on which he preaches in the syna- gogues, 407, h. 483. the Jews conspire to kill hin there, 403, i. his escape thence, 403. I?ammatory sentence, reflection on it, 345. Dan, not mentioned among the tribes that were sealed, 918, a. - - Dancing at feasts, not usual in old times for ladies of high rank, 144, 1. Dangers ought not to discourage us from our duty, 246. escapes from them should engage to refor- mation, 94, 95, 185. Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks, 281, b. of the abomination of desolation, i5. Darkness when Christ was crucified, 333, how far extended, ih. e. not occasioned by an eclipse, ib., f. Darkness and the shadow of dº.1th, applicable to the Jews as well as the Gentiles, 26, i. Pºless without, what it implies, 10S, g. 268, h. * X - Amº Darkness, christians, in general, and not merely ggºts from heathenism, are rescued from it, 20, 1. Daughter;in-law at variance with her mother-in- a W., 142, C. - * - David, his age when Samuel, anointed him, 425, i. God’s testimony of him,396, reflection thereon, 427.,eats the shew bread, 99. desired to find a dwelling for God, 396, h. Jesus to have his throne, 22,373. born of salvation raised up in his house, 23, the Messiah to come from his segd, 181, a. 373. David speaking by the Spirit calls him Lord, 273, 373. raised up Jesus from his loins, 373, i. Joseph and Mary of his family, 22, 31, d. the remains of his family, whether present at the circumcision of Jesus; 33.9. the name of David sometimes given to the Messiah, 4:25, q. the blessings of his reign called the sure mercies of Dacial, ib. how sometimes wrote, 336, b. might know the curses he denounces on his pºsecutors would fall on the enemies of the Messiah, 338, d. spake of the resurrection of Christ, 373, and notes e and f is not himself ascended into heaven in the body, 373. but died, and saw corruption, 426. his sepulchre among them in the apostles' time, 373, h. remark on the treasure found in lt, tº. - * s Dawes, (Archbishop,) remark of his, 126, h. Day, many events in Christ’s ministry happened in one day, 74, d. 116, c. 129, a. part of a day put for the whole, 120, f. remark on things hap- pening aſter three days, or on the third day, ib. in those days, a very extensive phrase, 41, e. properly applied to the beginning of John's mi- i;istry, ib. Evangelists speak according to the usual way of reckoning days among other na- tions, 292, a. serging God day and night, how to be understood, 34, 1.482. Christ to be perfected on the third day, what it may signify, 209, g. Jerusalem had its day, 258. our day limited 25%, 237. of that day and hour, &c. what Fºrred .2 - 4 - to by sorne,.234, i. fitter to explain it of the last day, i.h. which is hastening on, 284. care to be taken concerning it, ib. 285. B. z with the Lord a thousand years, a proverb, vº hat it signifies, 873, f day of judgment, 1 John iv. 17, thought by some to refer to trials before pºrs 3 c 11t OIS, 885, c. of wrath, sometimes means temporal judgment, 917, n., of the Lord, 2 Pet. iii. 19. the final judgment, 873, g. Deacon, his character, 759, what that good degree which a good deacon procures, 760, h. Deacons, seven to be chosen, 388. the church con- cur in the choice, 389, e. names of them, 389. presented to the apostles, ib. proper, persons . inointed to this office, 390. have no right to preac : $ * i. - y 62. ve - - - Deaconesses; there were such officers in the primi- tive church, 548, as their charagter, 764, h; Dead raised to life by Christ, 109, llſ), 136, 24 f. may expect a better resurrection, 137, the apos- tles commissioned to raise the dead, 139, g. many of the saints come out, of their graves, 340, p. Peter raises Dorcas to life, 410. Paul raises, Eti- tych us, 46). one sent from the dead will not convince the hardened, 220, g, a proof of it in those who saw Lazarus raised, 244, R. the spirits of such as are dead; a proof of their remaining in a state of activity, 243, e. - Deaf, cured by Christ, 110. deafness and blind no s hardly ever met with in the same person, 116, d. cure the deaf and dumb, 159, 169. Death; how sometimes expressed, 136, 242, d. see- ing Žeath, a #ebraism, #4, f. tasting of it, what uſt for, 165, 190,_b. he that believes, &c. how to É. understood, 190, c. 191. Death always welcome to the good, 145. how we may talk of it with delight, 168. negºssary to prepare against it, 224, the death of fºis In Ot ! » Decapolis, where it lay, 75, I. many follow Christ #9m thence, ib. daemoniac publishes there what Christ, had done for him.132. Christ passes through the coasts of it to Galilee, 159. *çember not, likely to haye been the time of £hrist's birth, 31, i. very hot at noon in Judea, De flieu, his, observations, 105, e. 370, f.396, d. 491, f. 402, d. 408, t. 420, f. 435, e. 441, f. 483, k. Defilement, how contracted, 157, a. €fraud not, observation on it, 237, d. Peisis, in what mistaken, S7, h. Deity of Christ asserted, 18, b. inference drawn therefrom, 19, where strongly intimated, 190, h. hºlsed by Thomas, 357. taught by £hi. l 2 * - Dºñ. in the law of God, a sure trace of real piety, 518, m. Peliver us from eril, how to be rendered, S3, o. 195. eliveſ ancé, how may be working, 354. what we should desire relating to it, 421. Demetrius the silversmith, 456, d. raises a tumult 3 gainst Paul, 456,457. how it was appeased, 457, 25. Demosthenes, comparison of him and St. Paul, #SA: a. Roni. viii. 33. in his grand manner, 524, 23, 1). Denying Christ, ill consequences of it, 142, 199, d. Depart from me, how spoken, 89, d. §§6 erbe, Paul and Barnabas comé, there from Lys- tra, 432. quit it, ib. Paul and Silas come thither, Desert. See, Wilderness. Despising others, to be avoided, 115, 137, 173, 175. was the character of the Pharisees, 225. Christ, how despised, 178. what will become of his de- Spisers, 427, and note s. Destruction of others, reflections thereon, 206, 222. destruction never nearer than when forgotten, 422. Determined, or decreed, what it implies, 297, k. *3) §3, b. as many as were determined for eternal life, believe, 428, f. 429. - Devil, (6alparov,) rather expressed by damon, 73, c. . See. Džmons. * - Devil, (étaffoxos,) what it sometimes signifies, 155, f. applied by Christ to Judas, ib. evil, tempts Christ in the wilderness, 47, and i 2, O. note c. 48. what might induce him to it, ib. is a murderer from the beginning, 189. a liar, and the father of it; ib. the Jews told he was their father, ib. i. his influence over men, 73, 74. what his condemnation or first instance of pride, 759, f snare of the devil, what, ib. g. how devils in , chains, yet wander on earth, 870, f. Devotion, opportunities for it to be valued and im– proved, 35. . . • - Diana, worshipped under various titles, 457, g. the Ephesians her special votaries, ib. n. her sil- ver shrines, 456, d. tumult raised at Ephesus out of regard to her, 456, 457, n. reflection on their zeal for her, 458. Didrachma, its value, 170, d. - io Cassius, his account of the destruction of the Jews, 283, m. - Dio Chrysostom, of the antiquity of Tarsus, 468, b. Diogenes Lacrtius, his account of the anonymous al, ars at Athens, 448, l. Dionysius, the Areopagite, converted at Athens, y L = Discerning spirits, reflection on it, 401, d. Peter’s detecting Simon no instance of it, ib. s e Disciples of Christ, how influenced, 72. are invited to the marriage at Cana, 53. believe there more steadfastly, 54.20 to Capernaum, and from thence to Jerusalem, 55, and note a. Jesus baptizes by their ministry, 60,63, b. leave him at Jacob's well to go and buy food, 64. Wonder at their return to find him talking with the woman of Samaria, 65 a. desire him to eat, 65. are called to the spiritual harvest, 66, and told, that they should reap fruit for which they had not laboured, ib. 127, b, might 3ossibly leave Christ when he went to Sichar, }, i. their ##"; of a temporal kingdon, 148, k. 170, 171,247, 248,279, d. 302,310, b. 361, 367. Arévinčičáted from the censure of the Pſal risees, 99. twelve of them chosen for apostles, 103. and sent out to preach, 138. See Apostles. Their-happiness in seeing and hearing what they did, 124, 191, 192, are affrighted at the tempest in grossing the lake,...130. why they did not fast, jää, ää, ä. fºllow Christ to Nazareth, 37. bid to pray for more labourers, 138. reproved for their offence at Capernaum, 154. forsake him, ib. desire Christ to teach them to pray, 195, a. who repeats the form he had given before, 195. with encouraging circumstances, ib. are cautioned against hypocrisy, 82, 84, 198. animated against the fear of men, 198. and assured of the aid of the Spirit, 199, 200. charged to beware of covet- ousness, 200., ang anxious care, 201. ought to be on the watch; 202. and faithful stewards, 202, 203. warned of the extremities before then), 223. and the goming of the Son of man, i 4. in- quire of Christ concerning the blind man, 226, b. receive answer to their inquiry, 226, ask him Eagles, gather together, what it may allude to, 224, g. 283, and note m. its general import, 2S3. w Pg!. rising, a remark on the advantage of it, 9 2 - Earth, who meant by those under it, 70S. Earthquakes in divers places before Jerusalem was destroyed, 279, g. .earthquake at the death ºf Christ, 339.3t his rising from the dead,346. when Paul and Silas were in É. at Fºliº, 441, i. East and west most enlightened by the gospe!, Çy €. Eat bread, a Hebraism, 155, e. its signification, Ší1, a Christ até often with his disciples a ſter he rose from the dead, 354, 336, 358, 414. Eating with unwashed hands, contrary to the tra: dition of the elders, 155. the disciples are blanºd for it, ib. Christ's declaration concerning it, lá7, al. - - - a -a - Eating and drinking, ngt to be anxious about it, $5, 86, 201: eating and drinking ti I they were de- stroyed, meaning of it, 224, 2:5, a. - Eating, and drinking, in Christ's presence, pleaded in vain, 208. what it may refer to; ib. e. disciples shall eat and drink at Christ's tablé, 293, Ecclesiastical censures attended with civil incoil- vehiences, their effects, 906, e. - Ecclesiastical rulers, in what case with pleasure to be submitted to, 163, h. discussion of their right, 175, 436, q. 437, t. Ecstasy, the manner of it, 412 in one at Joppa, 441, Å13. praying in the teimple, 469, * Eilwārds, Dr. his observations, 178, e. 335, c. Egypt, Jesus carried thither, 37, a brought back from thence, 38. Egyptian literature, 394, d. Egyptian impostor raises a sedition, 467, a. Paul asked if he were not him, ib. , - Egyptian christians, the manner in which some of É. partook of the Lord's supper, 587, c. Elamites, observation on them, 371. g. - - El Jers, respect paid by the Jews to their traditions, 155, and note c. Jesus rejected by them, 164. who intentled by the elders ºf ºf 264, e. question Christ's authority, 264. silenced by him, ib. consult how to put him to death, 291-, send a gºrgº seize him,313,50m; even go with thºm, 3.19, 32), are present, when Jesus is brought be- fore Caiaphas, 321. declare him guilty of death, 325. accuse him before Pilate, 326. persuade the people to prefer Barabbas, 330. deride him when upºn the gross, 337, their behaviour when. Judas confesses his guilt, 344, 345. bribe the soldiers to say, that his disciples stole the body,351. present when Peter and John were examined, 379. ac- cuse Stephen, 390. Paul_appeals to them, 46.S. accuse him to Felix, 475. and º to Festus - - 9, 430. g. vision Peter had aul in one, while -y for judgmont against him, 478,479, - Elders, , when first mentioned in the christian church, 418, k, how constituted, 432, d. Paul àº'àºrnabas'Coºsuit them, 333, b. ſhd elders of the church at, Ephesus sent for to Miletus, 461. expressly, called bishops, ib. a. Paul takes his leave of them, 461–463, they lament that they shaji see his face no more, 463, r. all the elders at Jerusalem, present, when Paul reports his suc- cess among the Gentiles, 465. . . Jers, somé presided well who did not labour in the world, &c. 765, and notes; what the double honour of which they are worthy, ib., b. the term . sometimes only means aged persons, 763, a. Elect, shall be avenged. 225. the days of tribula- tion shortened for their sake, 282, i. impostors deceive the elect, 2S2. Christ will gather them together, 283, e. ect angels, 766, f. ection of grace, 532, b. lements of the world, what, 723, and note c. ijah, sent to a widow at Sarepta, 69. appears with Moses at the transfiguration, 166, and note e. John, should come in his power, 21, 112, g. 167. declares that he was not Elijah, 49, b. Jesus thought to be Elijah, 144. disciples' inquiry about his coming...167. Jesus's answer, ib.m. strange notion of Elijab's coming confuteſ, ib. 1. pleads against Israel, 532. the success of his prayer for a drought, 848. See Eloi. Elisha, cleanses Naaman the Syrian, 69. Elisabeth, barren, 20. angel foretells that she should bear a son, 24. her conception and retirement, ib. her joy at the Virgin, Mary’s visit, 23. the de- cency with which she hints her husband's unbe- lief, 24, b., is delivered of John the Baptist, 25. rºbably died while he was young, 23, 50, c. Eß...".º.º.º.º.”. 195, §§06, & 3ri, b, a very bold one, #6i, º, Eloi, Eloi, &c., not properly Hebrew words, 339, §. .# they implied, ib. h. Jews’ conceit there- Ilpo ſh; 10. Eloquence, abused to infamous purposes, 475, 47.6 Elsner, his criticisms and remarks, 18, e. 21, g. 25, c. 81, s. 95, 30, b. 138, i. 151, b. 156, g. 163, * * * - 216, h. 319, c. b. 281, c. 286 C. 345, e. f 5, d. 1; f. 172, g. 193, b, gº.215.5. 22# e. 223; g. 230; a 236, as 253, 23, d. 425, e, 433, i. 14), a. i4i, i. 343, f, h. 468, h. 475, f. > 476, d. 381, a 4SS, ſ. ; € - #º. GENERAL INDEX. Enty and Hººgºº, (Messrs.) their dispute with Mr. Hallet, 462, k. º - a Envy, to be avoided, 241. appeared in the disci- ples, 177, how to be cured, 61. paphras, converted by Paul, 456, a. - Epenetus, converted by Paul, 450. * - Ephesus, addicted to magical arts, 456, i. zealous for the worship of Diana, 457, n. acts of the a postles there, 433, 454, and notes a and b. 455, and notes e and f. 456, a. 457, and note k. 459, a. 462, In, the people there remarkable for learn- inz and abandoped characters, 678, b., how St. Paul, fought with beasts there, 602, k. fewer ir- regularities in that church than in most to which St. Paul wrote, 606, f. they seem to have reform- ed what he blamed, 906, e. Epistle to the Ephesians written at Rome, 492, g. Epistles, how the Corinthian converts were St. Paul’s epistles, 616, and note c. .." - Ephraim, yligre it lay, 20s, a. 245, c. Jesus retires to it with his disciples, 245, * * Epicureans, , account of their principles, 447, d. joined with the , Stoics, in opposing Paul, il. their contempt of him, ib. e. how they mistook his doctrine, ib. f. 449, s. Epiphanius, his observations, 368, a. 408, p. 470, c. Epistles, hints given from them, 432, c. 433, a. d. 437, a. 438, d. 439, and note a .444, a. 450, 451, and note 1. 453, d.f. 455, e. 456, a, c. 459, a, b, c. 463, r., 490, l. 492, g. Erasmus, his óbservations and remarks, 33, a. 40, h. 42, k., 43, b, e. 49, c. 59, g. 61, h; 184, a .206, º f. 302, c. 354, k. 371, i. 413, d. 415, 1 y A * Erastus, sent to Macedonia, 456, c. Erroneous principles to be avoided, 162., the fatal tendency of error, 182. not to be eagerly solicit- ous in opposing such mistakes as do not affect men's eternal state, 367. . - Esau, God said to hate him, refers to his posterity, not his final state, 526, g. why said to be rejected, 829, d, e. and charged with profaneness, ib., b. . Essay on the several dispensations of God, what it illustrates, 341, h. - - - Essenes, a sort of hermit Jews, 134, e. abstained from flesh, and even fruits, 541, b. Eternal life, whose gift, 233,312. whose command- ment, 262, the words of it, 152; what must be done to inherit it, 192., the knowledge necessary to it, 312, b. he that believeth hath it, 59, 152. the Jews unworthy of it, 428, c. can never he ob- tained by such as will not accept it on the terms of the gospel, 429. where secured we may be cheerful under ten-poral losses, 488. Evangelists, reflections on their writings, 119, d. iš, a. i. iść...i."jög, i. 17i,'? 'i, 5.357, c.32), 345, e, 346, h. 379, b. 472, e. * vans, Dr., his remarks, 52, e.87, g. 295, h. Eucharist. See Sacrament. Everlasting continuance of future rewards, &c. why so expressly asserted, 290, h. Evidence, how far to be insisted on, 68, the degrees of it are not to be prescribed to God, 162. Evil-speaking forbidden, what, 726, a. £vil-thoughts, how better rendered, 157, b. ' Eunapius, observations on him, 166, c. 298, b, . Eunuchs, of several kinds, 235, the Hebrew for it sometimes properly rendered an officer, 402, c. Ethiopian eunuch, conyerted, .402, 403. said to have planted a church in Ethiopia, 403, Im. Euroclydon, observation on it, 486, g. Eusebius, his remarks, 17, a. 19, i. 37, s. 38, R. 2S2, e. 334, s. 403, ms 419, b. 470, c. remark on him, 175, b. • Eutychus, restored to life by Paul, 460, j. Lxamination of ourselves urged in a view of the final retribution, 668. Example of Christ, what it should teach us, 113, ). 248,295. no warrant to speak of princes with severity, 209. Excommunication, various kinds of it among the Jews, 309, a., learnedly described by Grotius, 104, c. disciples warned to expect it, 308, 309. happy under it, 104. ordered by the Sanhedrim on confessing Jesus to be Christ, 227, i. did not hinder Paul and Barnabas from preaching in the Synagogues, 424, b. in the power of particular churches; 567, i. the ill effects of annexing civil s Inconyeniences to it, 2 e- . Xecutioners, none in ancient times, 145, p. Exorcisms practised by the Jews, 117, i. disap- pointment qf the exorcists at Ephesus, 455, g. Experience of mercy, what it should do, 150. ye, the light of the body, 85, 121, b. consequence of its being clear or distempered, S5, b. 121. to pluck it out, if it offends, S0, c. 172. a good or cril cyc, how used, 85, b. 155, 240, h. F Fabricius, his remarks, 360, e, 373, h. 388, a. Fair Havens, Paul advises to winter there in his voyage to Rome, 485. - Faith in Christ, of whom required, 91, c. 138, g. 69. not universally, 227, d. 409, a. where as a grain of mustard-seed efficacious, 169, g. 221, c. 263. faith in God, how Femarkably shown, 263, b. necessity of it, 59,61, 96, what that, which is saving ingludes, 61, i. the effect of a divine gnergy, .250, b. speculative, faith; where often found, 400. why exercised with trials, 150. how most acceptable, 357, its triumph in Moses, 395. how sometimes confirmed, [10, 111, 136, weak- pºss ºf the disciples' faith, 130, 149, ići, l68, 169, 201, 221, 350, 332. when Christ comes, will he find faith in the land 2,225, d. Faith of God, what, 504, and note b. Faith, purifies the heart, 435. why it, should be breached, 405, 483. sometimes put for fidelity, 76, a. an assent to the truth, of christianity, 756, a., fidelity, 666, g. miraculous, 590, f, un- profitable §§. love, 592. 593, and notes. St. | 979 as the sorcerer, opposes Paul, 423, h. is struck blind, 423. what this is an emblem of, 424. Embassadors for Christ, ministers may be called so, 623, d. St. Paul discharged the office in a chain, 699, l. - - Emmanuel, a name given to Christ, 27. Ethmaus, where situated, 352, h. Jesus appears to two disciples, as they were going thither, 352, 353. who these were, 353, c. 351, f. - Enallage, very frequent, 199, e, 360, a. §: Plural. Ely inas .* Encomiums, instruments of mischief, 27 - End of the world, the concluding dispensation of God to it, 5S2, h., of all things, how St. Peter says it is at hand, 862, a. - Jºndure to the end, good effect of it, 141. Enemies, no authority for hating them, 81. com- manded to love them, ib. 105. cxample set us of it, 336. the most inveterate those of a man's own family, 142: . - - Iºnemies of Christ slain before him, to what it ma refer, 251, i. his enemies made his footstool, 27. 373, k, not able to do more than shałl make a part of his scheme, 383, ... . Finemies of the cross of Christ, who, 713, d. Engiish Hanguage, its poverty, 25; b. 100, b. 149, b. Enoch's prophegy, a foolish book not quoted by ude, 898, e. his prophecy of the Lord’s coming, ib. f. why not recorded by Moses, ibs Enon, a place where John baptized, 60, a. Enrolmert at the time Christ was born, 3.1, b. cause of every one's going to his own city, ib. c. a proof that the Jews were subject to the Ro- mans, ib. many tumults occasioned by the taxa- tion it was followed with, 387, g, . Entertainments often made in the idol's temple, 576, e. hereby communion with the idol main. tained, 583, b, c, y 3, Paul's and St. James's notion of faith reconciled 7, h. 842, a, b, d. as used, 1 Cor. xiii. 2. diſ’ ferent from that spoken of in Rºmans, 593, d. St. Paul's definition of it, 820, 821, and notes; Saurin thinks we cannot conclude that all who are mentioned, Heb. xi. as instanges of it, were entitled to God’s final favour, $25,. k._the gift of God, 679, k. the work of his Spirit, 590, e. f. but this not meant, Col. ii. 13. when it is called faith of the operation of God, 724 f. th9 yay to enter into rest, 803, g. works }} ove, C63, and note b. is the christian's shield, 699, f, g, the just shall live by it, , and note h; it is im- puted to us for righteousness, 503. Ygt to be un- derstood consistent with our justification by Christ's righteousness, ib. e. what the proportion of faith, 536, f. and the prayer of faith,848, e. Faithful in a cery little, not faithful in another's, botſ; how rewarded, 218, g. - False Messiahs, how received by the Pharisees 97, g. many would come, 279, f. 282, H. cautions against them, 279, mary appeared during the siege, 2c2, 1. and the close of the Jewis state, 279, f. False prophets, how they come, 88, k, how spoken of by the Jews, 104; disciples warned against them, 280, 282. their signs and prodigies, no reason against admitting miracles, 282, I. False witnesses sought against Jesus, 324. none found, whose testimony was sufficient, ib, reflec- tion thereon, ib. c. 325. what he says misrepre- sented by two of them, 324, d. suborned against Stephen, 390, and note a. • Family prayer, its tendency to preserve family. peace, 689, m. y 6. *}x & .** Fangines and pestilences to precede the destruction of Jerusalem, 279, g, famine foretcid by Aga bus, 418, to which of the famines in the reign of Claudius this may refer, ib. g. - - Fº it from thee, various senses given to it, ; C. Farthings, Roman, their value, 199, b. fasts, wherefore to be kept, 84. Jesus fasts in the wilderness, 47. disciples vindicated in fasting less frequently than those of John, 133. daemons to be cast out by prayer and fasting, 169, h; re- flection thereon, 170. Pharisee boasts of his fast- ing, 225. days §ept as fasts by them and the primitive christians, ib. f. angel appears to Cor- nelius while fasting and praying, 413. fasting used when Barnabas and Saul were set apart, at Antioch, 423. and when they constituted presby- ters, 432. fast of expiation, when observed, 485, e. dangerous sailing after this fast, ib. those that sailed with Paul continue fasting to the four- teenth day, 487, c. - Father, his testimony to Christ: 97, 186, owns him by a voice from heayen; 46, 157, i. none has seen him but Christ;43, 97, 152, 153, who intimately knows him, IS2, d. how to be truly known, 45, 113, 191. not known by the Jews, 187. regard of Christ to his Father's house, 40, f 55. did not conceal from the Jews that God was his Father, 55, c. 95, c, f. Jews offended, at his calling him so, 95, c. , his declaration thereupon, ib. d. his Proofs of it, 95, and note e. all things given by the Father into Christ’s bands, 113, 191, has ap- pointed him a kingdom, 296. sealed him, 151, b. and given him as 1.hg 1 rug Bread from beaven, 1, d. and to have life in himself, 96. Jeflection on his living by the Father, J53, j. all that he gives to Christ to come to him, lá1, g. will that none should be lost, ib. 174 greater than all, 232. necessity of being taught by him, 152, 154, and note d. hides from the wise what he reveals to babes, 113, h. 191. this, why to be acquiesced in, 1.13, 191. sovereignty of his love admired, 192. knows what his people need, § 6,201. ready to bestow good things, 87. and yi]] give the Spi- rit to them that ask him, J95. himself loveth them, 311, whatever they ask in the name of hrist, he will do it, ib. 306, the Father's ºlea- sure, what, 201. Christ and the Father, one, 232, c. the Father greater than him, 305. Christ spake as the Father gaye him, commandment, 262, 304 and finished the work he gave him to do, 3.12. Christ's kingdom, not his to give, but to those for whom it is prépared by his Father, 247. if any serve him, the Father will honour him, 258. is thanked by Christ, as always hearing him, 244. Philip asks him to show them the Fa- ther;302, l. he that hath seen Christ has seen the Father, ib. p.m. when his disciples left bim, the Father is with him, 311. Christ's prayer to the Father, 312—315, speaks of his coming to him, 313, e. prays that he would glorify his name, 259, submits to his Father's will, 317. Christ had asked, would have given him more than twelve legions of angels, 320. but he would drink the cup his Father gave him, ib. Christ prays the Father to forgive his murderers, 335, ſ. commits his spirit to him, 339, l. Christ not yet ascended to his Father, 348, s. bids Mary go and tell his brethren, he was soon to ascend to his and their Father, ib. t. as the Father sent Christ so did he send his apgstles, 356., the times and seasons plaeed by the Father under his own a u thority, 363, 367. of that day and hour no one knows, but the Father, 284. * - Father or mother, not to be loved like Christ, 143. but even"to be hated in regard to him, 212, b. command to honour, them, rendered of no effect by the Pharisees, 156, g. Father and son at yariance, 141, 142, 204, 280. Fathers of the christian church, how far to be re- lied on, 468. supposed that each good man has his guardian angel, 173, a, , , - Favours from those whose intimacy is dangerous, not always to be refused, - - - Fear, not man, but God, to be the object of it, 142, I99. in comparison of whom we should fear no: thing 14], º 199, weakness of fearing man, 980 229. he that feareth God is acceptable to hirn, 413. , reflection on it, ib. c. 425, d. - Feast, used to signify the passoyer, 93, a. Qhrist might omit attending some of the great feasts, y is . , b, i. why Paul might choose to at- tend them, 453, c. 460, l. lowest place to be chosen at a feast, 210. which place Christ himself might probably take at the Pharisee' 3- #. chose the highest, 210, 274 Feast of Dedication, why observed by the Jews; 222, c. 232, a.kept in Decembers 232, as Samaritans refuse to entertain Christ going to this feast, 222. his cure at it of the blind Inglin, 226, a Jews at- tempt to stone him during this ièast, 232. - Feast of Tabernacles, design of its institution. 179. the seventy probably sent out before it, 177, a. , b. Christ goes up to . it in a private way, 179, f, g. his behaviour during the teast, 183), 183, a. his last circuit made between this and the Feast of Dedication, 191, a. ... - * Felix, an oppressive governor,475, e. presided in udea several years; 476, a. Egyptian imposior defeated by him, 467,.a. how lonx governºr when Paul was brought before him, 478, a. Paul is sent to him at Caesarea; 474. , the Jews accuse him be: fore Felix, 475. who all journs the cause, .477, f. but permits Paul to be visited by his friends, ib. g. trembles on hearing Paul's discourse, 473, c. guits the province, 478, followed by the Jews with com lº to Rome, ib. e. 475, e. Festus applied to by the Jews to send Paul to Je- rusalem, 478, f will, have him tried at, Caesarea ib. g. but asks him if he would so and be iºd at jerusalem, 479. on which Paul appeals io Caesar, and Festus adumits his appeal, i5. Festus informs Agrippa and Bernice of Paul’s case, 80,481. and brings him forth before a large its- sembly, 451. tells Paul he is inad, $3, n, o: Fever cured, 67,.g. 73, 489. rebuking the fever, a proper expression, 73, g, Field, he that is it work there should not go back to take his clothes, 224, 281. beauty in the expres- sion, 281, c. - Fiery darts, &c. what the expression refers to, 699, g, fiery trial. 852, c. . Fifty years old, Christ is spoken of by the Jews as not so old; 1 Fig-tree, cursed 'b: Christ, 261,263. parable of the barren fig-tree, what supposed by some to refer to, 206, d. of the fig-tree shooting forth its leaves, 84. Filling the heart; wherefore used, 383, d. Filth of the world, kaflºppata, what, 555, e. Fire on the earth, observation on it, 204, a. . . Fire from heaven, James and John, ask iſ they should call for it, 222. understood the genius of the gospel better afterwards, 400, a. Fire prepared for the devil and his angels, observe tion on it, 390, f fire not queriched, what it inay refer to, 172. *::::::::: the chaff with unque ſich able fire, meaning of it, 44, k. Fire, what it is to heap coals of fire on the head of an enemy, 533, e. what to be saved through it, 561, d. - a-- - First'shall be last, 208,239, 240. if any desire to be rst, let him be last. 171. * - - First-born, at what price redeemed, 33. insinuation contained º: it, b. c. Christ called the First- born, 27, and note f. First Boru, ºily saints called so,830, k. First day of the week, the day of Christ’s resurrec- tion, 335,346. the usual time when the disciples Selebrated tº eucharist, 459, g. First-fruits, 839, c. 930, b. - * T) Fishes, miraculous draught, at the request ºf Pêtêr and his partners, 72. reflections, thereon, ib. 71,k. another miracle of the same kind wrought, by Christ aſter his resurrection, 358, e. fish supplies Christ with tribute-inoney; 71, f. Five thousand fed with five loaves, and two sma]] fishes, 147, observations, the ſºon, lººk.,150. -s Fleming, Mr., his remarks, 32, K.,33, b. 47, a2, 56, - S, 81. 5, y §. !39. d. 140 O. 166, 8-, .#,”: āśāºšš..º.º. 36%, .31%, c. 318, 5.331, e, 340, nº o. 337; b. 379, c. 333; #. §§§ jiā. Śiś. 32, a 44%, 6,437, g. 468, h. Fiesh, what put for, 57, d. often signifies, man in this calamitous state, 19, In, profits nothing, 153. reveals not Christ to us... 163. - Fics} of Čárist, what, 151. how to be eat, ib. and note f. 15. - s table, ib. GENERAL INDEX, Fºrgiveness of injuries, whence enforced, 83, n. 5, 196, wherefore necessary to be granted to others, 83, 106, a. H; 265- ought to be re- peated to an offending brother, 175, 221, urged i. the freedom of divine forgiveness, 691, and ll Ottº S. Form of God, what, 707, and note b. Fornication, why forbidden the Gentiie converts, $36, S. observation thereon, ib. eating things of fered to idols probably called so, 909, b. Forsaking all for Christ, of whom required, 213. what to be followed with, 239. Fortuita Sacra, remarks on it, 84, q. "ortunatus visits Paul at Ebfiesús, 456, a. Foundation of God, and its inscriptions, 776, a. Fºur, thousand fed with seven loaves and a few little fishes, 160, manner how they were seated, RO. (i. Fourmont, Mr., observation of his, 3SS, a. For, a title given to Herod, 209, f. Fragments, twelve baskets full taken up, when the 599) were fed, 148, 161. seven, after feeding the 4000, 16), 162, * * * * - French Yersion, observation on it, 45, c. Friend; Dr., remark of his, v C. Friend’s yielding to the importunity of his friend, reflection on it; 195. convérse with friends, when to be broken off, 461. hot strange if some of them is prove false, 321. . Friendly garriage, its happy effects, $59, and note a. Friends of Christ, what they do, 307. his disciples not servants, but friends, ib, a. Friendship, how the greatest shown, 18, observa- tion thereon, -í is. will make us to rejoice, 24. Friages, the Jéws ordered to wear them, 135, those of the Pharisees very large, 274. Frugality, whence to be learnt; 148, 160. Fruits, put for action, $8, 1. discovers what men arº, i5., SS. finany things ready to prevent our ºfulness, 125. what necessary to promote it, t Fuller, Dr., explanation of his, 164, e. Furcifer, meaning of it, 334, b. , Future eyents, the knowledge of them no benefit to mankind, 444. the devil not acquainted with them, ib. Future state, remark upon it, 220, g. G Gabbatha, ilio place where Pilate passed sentence upon Jesús, 332, l. Gabriel. See .3 mgel. Gadarenes, or Gergesenes, Christ's actions in their country, 13 1. swine kept by them contrary to the law, ib., g. hearing they were driven into the sea, 131. are afraid of some further judgment, ºf désire Čhrist to depart out of their coasts, ib. in. their stupidity, in it, 133. their city.the first º by the Pomans in the Jewish war, 5 i • Gaining a loss, what intimated by it, 486, i. Gaius of Macedonia, seized by the mob at Ephe- - sus, 457, supposed to be the same with Gaius of Derle, 459, d. other particulars concerning him, ? 0. - Gaius, to wh9m St. John writes, who, 893, a. a latia, Paul travels through it in his second ºro- gress, 439, his Eğistle to the Galaţians, where written from, 451, i. Paul travels through it in his third progress, 453, d. Gal. ii. 2. what it relates o, 433, a. Gal. ii. 2. What it. Inay refer to, 437, a. Galátians, were a colºny of the Gauls, G4S. g. Galilac, Joseph goas from the ºnce, 3 l. returns there again, 34, 9, 38. n. takes Jesus tiere, lib. 34,...o. Herod Aritipas, when tetrarch of it, 41. Christ comes from thence to be baptized by jobn, 45, 46. returns there again, 52, a. where he attends a in arriage-feast, 53. and perforins his first miragle, 54, l, see 414. comes from thence to his firs 'assever at Jerusalem, 55. returns there ::gain through Samaria, 63. preaclies there, 67: travels through a considerable part of it, ib. 68. his faſte º through all the region round about, 73. takes a circuit through all Galilee, 75, l 16. Inakes but one tour to it between his first and second Passover, 70, f, goes from thence to his second Pºssover at. šćrºlºn, 93, a returns again, º, n, 101. and is followed by great multitudiºs, 101. tákes another progress through it, 1 16, 130. re- turns to it from the country ºf the Gadarenes, 132. and having gone round all their cities, 143. quits it, 146. but returns again, 149. uncertain whº thef Christ went up from thence to his third Passover, 155, b. 1.9, b. he quits, it aftiſt, 137, re- turns, 153. goes to the coasts of Magdala, 160. but soon returns, and quits it again; 16]. he º; D fl- vately through Galilee with his disciples, 170, a. where he gives thern an account of his approach- jng sufferings, 17i). and after walking there some time, 179. goes up to the feast of Tabernacles, ih. his coming out of Galilee urged as an ºbjec- tion to his being the Messiah, 183, 184, l. his last circuit through Galilee, when it appears to have been, 191, i. 208, a. observation on the 500 bre- threñ there, 19), c. 360, 0. Herod uneasy at his stay there, 359, i. those parts of Samaria that lay next to Gälilee, taken by him in his way to Jeru- salem, 221. no proof that he ever went back there. 222, a how he might be said to arise from thençc, 234, a. appoints his disciples to meet him; after he was risen, at a cortain mountain in Galilee, 315, b. this appointment is renewed, 350. appears to several disciples there, 357, d. and to above, 500 brethren, 360. most of whom continued in Gali- lee, when the apostles returned to Jerusalem, §63, the churches there have rest, 408, s. Galilee of the Gentiles, 70, c. Galilee, (Sea of,) 72, b. See Gennesareth. Galileans slain by Pilate,205, a. observation there- 153, f. -- - - Flesh, the Mosaic law, 516. flesh and spirit, what, 665, a works of the flesh, what, ib., include er- Korg and evil dispositions of the mind, ib., b., who are after the flesh, 530. what it is to mind, the fiesh, if those that do it cannot please Gºd, ib. of sowing to the flesh and spirit, and the different effects, 668. º Fióod, how it came upon them, 224, 285, a. Flowers, remark on them, S6, K. | £8 fiute-players, or minstrels, when *; l. Föjly 6f God, what the phrase means, 556, h. Fool, how º to be reſidered, 78, n. it answers to; 1b. 1-. a-; Foot to be cut off if it offerids, 172, k. #; races alluded to, 580. reproved, 757, k oppery in men or Women reprox. £1, of 23. #ºd instead of Therefore, 115, k, iði, d. för... iſ in St. Paul's writings often has not the forée of an illative particle, 511, f. is sometimes an expletive, § b. sometimes introduces a co- 6 what ordinate proof of something at a distance, 527 a. is a copulative, 603, d. or might be ſen ered, I say, 662, a vide yag in the Greek Index... Forgiving sing, whom it belongs to, 93, Plä, for- giveness, in whose name to be preached, 361, f. baptism required in order tº for £iveness, º Gl. repontance necessary to it; 379. Christ exalted to give repentange ºld fºrziveness, 386. how, it is £6 he received, 405, 48.3. prophets, bear witness of forgiveness through him, .314, h. through #im prºnºred by the apost les, 427. Oil , 1 Gall h. h. of bitte‘ness, remark on it, 401, f. / Gallio, Fºl of Aghaia; 451,.k, his conduct when Paul was brought before him, ib. l. 452, m. Gamaliel, yho;; 386, f his counsel to the Sanhe- drim, 385, 38 - effect of it, ib. observation theregn, ib. 388. Paul was educated by hiin, 468, d. 482, c. remark on his acquainting him with the advice he gave to the Sanhedrim, 386, f, died before Paul was brought before the Sanhedrim, 472, *Šiš. ascribed to him, 482, h. Games, Olympic, Circensian, &c. allusions to them; $9, and notes, 696, f_664, c. 712, k, ), m,n #7. i. i.iº. 783, c. 768, fºsſi.º.º. arden of Gethsemane, why so cailed, 315, a. where it lay, ib. Jesus often spent a considerāblo part of the night there, 291, 3 iá, 3.jS, a. his last Retirement, agony, and apprehension there, 315, $20. Garments of Jesus divided by the soldiers, 336, b. long garnsents affected by the Pharisees, 274. Garments spotted with the flesh, what, 899, k, to what the expression, blessed is he titat watch eth, and keepeth his garments, alludes, 935, e. Garthwait, his Harmony, 33, b. atés of hell, &c. how to bé understood, 163, f. remark thereon, l04. - - Gaza ruined and rebuilt, 462, b. Philip ordered to meet the eunuch in the way—to it, 402. Genealogy of Christ, by Matthew, 2S. observations on it, ib. e. 29, and notes g, h, k. 30, and note n. Genealogies, the foudness ºf the Jews for them, 7S9, f. the tables made at the taxation referred to by several early christian writers, S10, i. General expressions used in a confined sense, 843, c. SS0, i. 8S1, f. SS2, k. Generation of Jesus Christ, how to be rendered, 28, a. what it sometimes signifies, 3 i7, d. this gene- ration shall not pass a tray, &c. how to be under- stºod, 284, h. 3ch 9 sh gll declare kis generation 3 what it may signify, 403, g. Gentlesareth, (Like of,) the same with the Seas of Galilee and Tiberias, 72, b. 146, c. Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John, there, 71. mira- ulcus draught of fishes there, 72. preaches there out of a ship, 122. stills a tempest on it, i30. and having crossed it, returns, 132. Crosses it again, 149, 150. the people cross it after him, 150. goes ovct to Dalmanutha, 160. but soon returns again, 16]. appears to some of his discipk's there, 357, 358. and by a miraculous draught of fishes, discovers who he was, 358. Jesus goes ashore there, 149, l. entiles, how locked upon by the Jews, lº& times of the Gentiles fulfilled, what intended by it, 282, b. Christ not charged with any njessage to them, 15S. nor were they to be visited by the apostles, –39. inference drawn therefrom, 140, 362, B. 363. idolatrous Gentiles, what they might sometimes do, 214, a. included in the commission given to the apostles, 352, 1, 483, i. Peter a stranger to the calling of the Gentiles, 3, 4, d. Paul commissioned to preach to them, 405, 4S,3. at first might not fully understand it, 407, d. 483, is the same com- mission renewed, 189; i., 470. , the gospel, when first preached to the Gentiles; 411. Cernelius and his friends the first-fruits of the Gentiles, 414, i. evidence of God’s receiving them, 434. inference drawn therefrom, 415, 430. admission of the Gentiles into the church, not preached by Christ, 112, lič, 2:31, b. 41. eter blåp:ed for, going to them, 415, a. vindicates himself, 415, 416. the first preaching of the gospel to the idolatrous Gentiles, whem, 417, b. Barnabas, and Pºui set apart for that purpose, 423, .e. Sergius Paulus not the first convert aniolºg them, 424, 1. nuany converted at Antioch in Pisidia, 42S. no reaso. for calling this the harvest of the idola trous Gºri- tiłes, 429, i. Gentiles stirred up against Paul and Barnabas, 430. would have worshipped them ut Lystra, ib. 431. the church acquainted how God had ope:yed a door of faith to the Gei: tiles, 433, i. some insist that they should be circumcised, 433, 434. their freedom from the Mosiac ceremo- nies asserted, ‘i:36, 439, il. In any who were not proselytes Hight coniº out of curiosity to bear the apos; les, 429. a. iść), i. the aposties declare they will turn to the Gentiles, 42& d. 451. Christ was set ſer a light to them, 428, iS3. Paul tells the brothren what God had done among the Gen- tiles by his Qinistry, 405. wino glorify the Lord, ih. tells the Jews of his Inission to the Geutijcs, 470. and those of Rome, that the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, 492. Gentiles, cide Heathems, addicted to uncleanness, 738, U. their admission, to the privileges of the gospel foretold in the Old Testāment, 528, and note a. and in the promise to Abraham, 655, f. in what sense this Yvas a mystery, 675, h. their riches and fulness distinguished, 534,.a. how the offering of them sanctified, by the Spirit, 545, d. partakers of the º things of the Jews, 547. Gérgésenes, Sec Gadgrenes. Gerizin, the Sangaritans used to worship there, 64, n. their temple on it destroyed by Hyrcanus, 19. O. Gethsemane. See Garde?...., , ,- - Gifts, how to be improved, 123, 125, 148, 251, 288. obscrvation on them: ; J56, 157. º Gift; vide Spiritual, the unutterable gift of God, Giºiºſº the loins, what it refers to,202, b. servants, when used to do its 221, e. . Girdle, the form of those worn by the Jewish priests, 905, f. militury, girdle, a proper meta- phor to cxpress truth, G99, d. Girgashites, the same with Gergesenes, 130. Give to him that asketh thee, how to be understood, Ši, p. much bappier to give than to receive, 462, 4. Give us this day our daily bread, observation on it, § • Iſl. - Gijing glory to God, the blind man was ci ; $34, b J. r - (, §ºw contemplated, 20. he received called to GENERAL INDEX. 4. 981 not glory from man, 97, f, nor sought his own or secretly disobeyed by most, 268, danger of e. 369, k. .380, ſ.332, b. 389, i. 336, e. 339, e. lory, 190. but the glory of him that sent him, slighting its calls,...iff, illustration of its progress, 403, g, is 405, g, .408; r. 493, b. .4IS, k. 420, o, 80. Christ § his Father on earth, 312. 123, e, I:24, 125, 12S, 307. its growing success 425, f.433; d. 447, f, g, 436; d. 46t, a, b. 489, h. his people to behold the glory given him.81%,315. how to be observed, 238. should be preached Hand offending, to be cut off 80, 172. what may this refer to, 314, d. the glory Christ. among all nations, before Jerusalem was de- || Hand-writing, Col. ii. 14. Kºhat. and how against will appear in when he comes to judgment, 165, stroyed, 279,280; 281, the several parts in which us, 724, and note g. As h. 238, 289, a. 325, h. distinction between his it was preached by the apostles before that time, Happiness of the poor, mournful, &c.; 76, et seq., own glory and that of the Father, 165, h. 0, n. their, commission to preach it, 36!. re- }}. notions of the world concerning it, different Glory of God, Romn. iii. 23. thought by some to be flection on this; 363...was every where , offered, from those of Christ, 77. - a lucid resemblance of the Shechinah worn by 379, n., 407, 417, 423,424, 428, 430, 445, 450, Hard to kick, against the goods, proverhjal, 405, g, our first parents, 506, e. 519, u. Christ's appear- 451, 483. the success of it, what owing to, 417, Hardness of heart, to be prayed against, 150. Go ing without sin interpreted, of his wearing this, 418, 435. when it grew and was multiplied, 422, said to harden it, 260, c., dangerous to give way 16, k. glory beheld by Moses, an emblem of e. the progress of it to be prayed for, 383, 435. to it, 261. the excessive hardness to which a sin- that which christians §e. 618, f. heavenly aud if unconcerned about its propagation, to ſu! heart is §§§º of arriving, 266, d. amazing happiness meant by that phrase, 510. strong ex- ſeat we have no part in its benefits, 429, the proºf of it,352. deplorable to be hardened under pression to describe it, 621, a. light of it degrades the vanities of the heathen, the gospel, 493. Glorifying a ſ". remark on it, {8, 438. obstruction of it may tend to its furtherance, Harlots believed John, 265. Gluttony and b. drunkenness to be guarded against, 464., shall never be totally rooted out of the Harmony of the Evangeſis:s, rules for settling it, •y . . ." - - C. world; 47 's not a rule by which all men shall be 67, b. 71, c. 91, a. 130, a 248, a mistakes of seve- Gnashing of teeth explained, 126, h. . . judged,502, l.cstablished by means that secmed ra! in the Grder of it, 7 l. k. 79, a. lī)-i, a. 130, a. Gnostics, their extravagant motion, 19, i. when the yeak, 557, 565, d. its , plan and design, grand, 133, a, 179, b. 20s, a. 2:22, a , b. 226, a. 35S, d. sect rose, 754, c. . . - * 695, and, note c. preached to the dead, $61, m. some little anticipations not improner in compil- Go in peace, observations on it; 34, 3. 115, l. the last, dispensation, 5S2, b. 859, d, some think ing it, 301, h, care taken in it, 2.54, ſ. tºod, in what to be imitated by us;.81, u. often it is called the power of an endless life, S10, . . . Harrington, Mr., his observations, 430, g. 432, d. &ºiled the God of peace, 77, k. his directions, the Governments;, perhaps, those who presided in 45S, p. surest means of safety, 39, passions, , when aş- charitics, 536, h. 592, f. Harris, (Dr. Samuel,) remark of his, 325. l. 403, g. cribed to him, to be taken figuratively, 214, d. Goyernors, the ariostles should be º before | Harvest, how used, 126. joy of the spiritual liar- his name, why often introduced, 393, b, takes thein, 144, d. but the Spirit you]d heſp them in vest, 66. the labotirers in it ſew, 138, 77. pleasure in making his people happy, 231, d. is their defence, ib. e. this verified in Paul, 484. FIarvest corn eth, how to be underst cod, 66, c. re- not austore and rigorous, 251, f. 252,289. ready i Grace, how, it operates, 160. grace for grace, how mark on it, ib. to receive penitents, 217. represented as weigh- to be understood, 45, d. grace and truth, by Hate, often means no more than that something ing men's characters, &c. 398, r. knows ail his whom they came, ib. e. the riches of diving grace, else is greatly preferred, 526, g. works, 435, f. is not the God of the dead, &c. lºgy to be acknowledged, 224. reflection thereon, Hated by all mień fºr Christ's so ºr, to be expected 271, and cannot be of those whom he suffers tº 3.25. the wonders it effects exemplifical, 250. wiji by the apostles, 141, ſ. 379, §§ {}. which way to jerish, ib. f. the faithful live to him, and shall fili the heart with generosity, 383. the change it be accounted for, QS), k. by wholin still to be ex- {. raised, 271, and note g. is often said, to do wrought in Saúl, 403. its progress in him, 409. cted, 307, c. he that hat ºth Christ, hatetl his what he permits, 113, h. Christ given by his how it wrought on Lydia and the jailer, 442. 'at her also, 308: , reflection the regin, ill, h. the determinate counsel, 372, b. but without any those who experience it, ready to declare the Scripture ſulfilled in their hat it, g him without a violation of the freedom of those who were the way of salvation to others, 409. - cause, ib. i. should do good to them that hate us, instruments of his death, 297, R.374,382, b. God Grace, xapus, sometimes signifies a gift, 629, c. of S], 103 raised him up, 373. and has exalted him, ibs 386: God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia, Hating and loving, how used in Sci if:ture, 212, b. is to be feared as able to destroy both soul and what, 628, a. opposed to works, 532, c. how life itself to be liated for Christ, 5. body, 141, 198, a righteous, thing to obey God given us in Christ, 772, d. how the difference in Hay and Stubble, What, 561, f. , ºw- rather than º §§ n: 386, his counsel not to moral characters owing to it,563, f. the reality | Head of John the Raptist, given in a charger, 145. be overthrown, 387, 3SS, 472, h; intimations of and sovereignty of its operations, 70S, h. freely how treated by Heroditis, ib. Q. his will never to be resisted, 464. did not leave given, 831, r, Heads, men's to be uncovered, and won:en’s co- himself without witness, 43.1, n). obligation We Grafting, a beautiful allusion to it, 533, e. vergd, 5S5, a. * * are under to adore him, 431. Paul declares to th9 Grandeur and power, to whom dangerous, GQ, Hearing the word; of no advantage without doing Athenians the God whom they worshipped, 44S, 4$0. it, S9, 106. they that hear and dº it, how regarded J. and himself preaches, 448, 449, propriety of Grass, flourishes to-day, &c. 86, l. 201. green at hy Christ, J33, three sºrts of ūd'hºarº's, 'ºï. his declaring to Felix, that he worshipped the the bassover, 147, g. the fruitful hearg rs, 125. care what and bow we God of his fathers, 476, d; nothing impossible to Gratitude, delightful to the soul, 223. put for the Ilear, 123. . God, 23,238, who can easily baffle every purpose whole of religion, 499, i. Hearing Christ, required by a voice from lºcaven, of his enemies, 39. and raise up protectºrs for his faves opened at the death of Christ, 340, o, . p. 167. what it misiit refer to, ib. li. people, where they may least expect it, 3.SS,467, how Jesus is said to make his grace icith the rich H¢art, the six rink ºf all pollution. 157, and note a. 477, 487. happiness of such as are related to him, in his death, 342, l. reflection on his visit to it,343. 15S. necessity of a cºnstant wi. ch over it, il, t lic 487 could haye protected his apostles, 433. form i Graves that appear not, how the Pharisees were mouth Ayiſº speak accºrding to the ten, i.gr of the appointed in baptism, what it shows, 362, m. of like them, 197, e. going to the grave to weep, heart, l 18. infercºce drawn there frºnt, 1 }9. stu- this world, who, 619, d. the heathen, philºsophers customary with the ancients, 243, f. pid and grown stiff with fat prºss, 124, m. it's de- knew and yet denied the unity of God, 99, h. i Gregt, an Čpithet given to the heathen deities, ceit, 3.23. its confidence in its c wu strel; ºf 1, 3]6. he calls the things that are not as though they 457, h, - reflection thercºn, ih. iiist ºnce of its ; reachery, were, 509, d. is [,ight, 876, c. the Father of likhts, Greatest in the kingdom of h carºn, the apostles 478, c. 5-6 Hardy, rss. Cºnc h cert a rºc's c 1: , ;rº- $39, a. works all things agreeably to the cºsei dispute a hourt it, 17 72. Christ's closervations verbiał, 3S2, e. of his own will, 675, i. his sovereignty in many to them, ib. 247, 238, 395. Their contention about | Hºhens, anxious about ear! I, ly things, S6, 201, respects consistent with reason, and Scripture, it renewed, 294, 295. 209. vain repetitiºns in their prayers; t .3. h. the 527. his providence is concerned in events owing G recians. See Jºellenists. first prºachers of Christ's resurfection, 35], a. to the wickedness of men, $64, e. and exercised Greece, visited by Paul, 446, ct seq. 450. what they learned of the Jews and christians, over evil spirits, 935, f, his goodness strongly jºcks, a panie given by the Jews to all the Gen- Hö, n., how they represent the arrival of a publić expressed, 746, d. 839, b., he gnd urgs with great tiles, 4 17. b. sºme of they desire to sce Jesus betic factor, 70, e., their opinion of infamous per- long-suffering the vessels of wrath, 527, d. is $25S, a. who a dinits them, 25S, the gospel breached soils, 32, e. thought a sced man mix lºt sometimes called the God of peace, 549. will have all men to then), 417, and ilote b. 439, a. 430, b. 445, sec their deities, 77, i. how they supposed tº cºnn bo saved, 757, d. is the Saviour of all men, 702, 450, d. t lies heat Sosthches, the ruler of the *o appear for such as suffered wrongſtºliy, 44 i, j. e. the Father called the Saviour, 7S3, g. sight synagogue, 432, ni. hear the word at Ephesus, were Sensible of the sinſal:less of admitéry, 185. put for the knowledge of him, why, SSJ, d. ; 455, e. have the necessity of repent ance testified g. foolish poſion of their gods, 348, ni. were used Göd, as applied to Christ, how to be understood, to them, 46i, c. Paul charged with bringing to crown their victions with garlands,-430, i. their Ǻ Us - * * - - * * * them into the temple, 465, l. - uption of thºir, innages, ib. h. 457, ſ. sº-e Lisner- Godliness, how it has the promise of this life and Greek. See Criginal. Paul speaks Greek, 467. Vanities of their idol-worship boldly represented that to come, 762, d. - - Gregory Nysseº, reading of his, 53, f, . by the apost les, 431, l. Godly in Christ Jesus, what the phrase intimates, Grisºviñ; a tother, signifies to lead his to cem- Hºàtliens. (vide Gentiles,) had ou! - y a prº caricus (Ö; 1. . - . * --- unit si:), 5 iº; c. hope of a future state, 680, c., in what sense they Gods, meaning of this title, 233, f, g, supposed by Groſſining and sighing ascribed to Christ, 159, 161, were a theists, ih. Their moralists though: | yīng in the heathen to have descended in the likeness of 244. scnic cases justifiable, tie.9, k. iſ vir udºs, firſt y be men, 430, f. the worship of hºw jods forbidden Grotius, his dying words, 4), i. Quotations from, accepted through the at onement of Christ.877, b. by the Roman law, 44], e...473, d. Paul looked 65, p. and observations, 27, e. 31, d. 32, o. 34, Heaven, what it requires, 12. to headrºitted the re, upon at Athens as it setter fºrth of strange gods, R. 35, c. 36, l. 37, 4.39, a. 40, g. 42, j. 43, g, 45, in vain desired, when the door is shut, '..GS. this 447, f, said to be a god, 489, f, d. 49, c. 50, a. 54, l. 59, e, k. 62, R. 56, c. 6S, e, joys of it, how represented, 219, c. Christ's inti- Godwyn, his remarks, 156, §. 335, d. gº,73, d. 7.4, d, f.76, e. 78, h, 87, i. 94, k.98, b. mation of his own ascending to it, 154, b, how Gog and Mlagog, who, 942, f. - * -*. §§, e, 10.4, c. 113, as 1.15, R, 1 iſ, i, q, 18, a. said to prepare it for us, 3(S2, ſ. Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified, !?!, b. 139, b. 14), h; 153, S., 156, g, i. 161, b. Hºven, inow long shut up in the days of Efijah, 334, 335. 162, a. 163, f {6}, c. 167, f 168, b. 173, a. IS3, §§, n. this observed to agree with the time oft Gomórrha. See Sodom. ..., ess - h; i. 184, a. 202; d. 203, d. 2 lil, b. 211, i. 240, k. Christ’s ministry, ib. Good to be returned for evil, 538, how it heaps up $250 § 269, b. 271, f. 277, h. 294, c. 397, n. 333, Hçaven and carth, things in both united under coals of fire, &c. ib. c. 9.33S, b. 344, c. 357, a. 358, h. 360, f. 369, i. Christ, 675, i. heavenly happiness described as Goodman, Dr., his remarks, 215, e. * , - 33, p. §§ {, k. §§3; f. 3& a. 35. g. 390, b. a house nºt made with hands, 620, and note c. Gospel, should bo thankful that, we have it in 392, h. 397; ), m, 399, e. 405, m. 407, e, ſ. 411, heavenly things purified with blood, Slfi, f. writing, 17. and transmitted sº fely Q us, iii, con; 3, 419, 2.420, g. #23, i. 439, e. 449, g. 442, p. IIeayens opened at the baptism of Öhrist, 46, d. cerned to have our faith established by it, ib. sad 44, b.,437, ki. 1; 474, a. 476, c. 477, ſ. 479, h. yoise from thence declares him to be the Son of state in which it finds us, 70. reason to consider 4S4, r. 4SS, g. 489, f, g. God, 46. how Stephen saw the heavens one - - * * * * *- zºº, G v. - *... • - *A .- incid the preaching it as an acceptable time; ib. the Grove, Mr., a remark of his, $3, f. I 2 happiness of those that live under it; 134. neces- Gualtierius; his account of the greater and lesser leavenly things revealed by Christ, 5S, c. Gl. sary to improve, the blessings of it, 10.S. and the Syrtis, 4S6, i. Flebraisins, nºt retained in the version, 23, d. 96, aggravated guilt of those that despise, its l14, Gulf, between the blessed and the damned, 219, K. 34, f {6, l. 155, e. 917, e. where they may be iº9, 140, is often called the grace ºf Gºd. 42S, a. and note c. . . filly retained, 133, i. 1; othing at all, wint it sig. its spiritual sense to be attended to, 155. what Guyse; ºr: his observations, 18S, d. 106, d. 197, niſies, 30S, g. the pains of death, put for the bouds designed to do, S3, X. how perverted and abused, i. 2; i, f. 294, a. 319, c. 332, ni. 346, h, k. of it, 372, d. filling the heart, how used, 3S3, d. 79. the gospel-story not matter of amusement or the maine of God, what often introduced toº. curiosity, 48l. consequences, attending it; 363. H ja". • how our esteem of it should be, shown, 365 a. * Hebrew, not the language of the Jews in the apos- ceptance of it, what, 372, q, deplorable to be Hades, an unseen place, 906, b. what meant by tles’ time, 468. - hardened under it, #3, its diving authority, ſo its being cast into the lake of fire, 943, l. Hebrews, why complained of by the Grecians, whom it will appears 180, b. never without suſ- | Flair, worn, loose by mourmers, 114, b. adorned by 33S, b. the Epistle to them, when and where ficient eyidence, 362, i, the touchstone by which women 9f pleasure: ib. c. not a hair shall perish, written, 492, g. written before the destruction of men will be tried, 35. and is a humbling scheme roverbial, 250, l. 487, c. hairs of our head nunnº. Jerusalem, S32, h. about A. D. 63. S36. Hebrew to confound its enemies, 24, e. stupid objections ºś 199. w of the Hebrews, what, 71], and note e. against it; 137, e., revealing it to babes should Halº Sir Matthew,) his remarks, 317, h. 320, I, Heinsins, his observations and remarks, 19, g. 52, S not offend us, 114. nor the contentions it has •jº, Ils. R - - * * * * * e.80, i.'iis, b. 139, h. ii.3 m. º.º." 35 i. º.º. occasioned, 142, b. 143. the damnation it pro- || Hall, (Bishop,) his writings, I59, f his remarks, c. 335 d. 366, h. §§§.3%. h.357, n. 463, º: nounces no argument against the truth of it, 362, $27, c. 320, i. 344, d. . . - Holl, what a lit similiº it, 78, m. scidom in. k. malignity of sinners in rejecting it, 70, the Hallet, Mry, his observations and conjectures, 87, tended by the Greek word Hades, 163, f. the fire ospel-ſeast of long standing ;... millions regaled i. 261, g,448, l. . . - t-r rterer quicly ched, Yº. 172, and note i. weak argu- y it,212. reflections thereon, ib. neglected upon Hanımónd, º his observatiºns, §§§ 93.5. monts on it, 173, t. the meaning ºf the word ha- 43, e. 166, e. 237, d. 286, f, 317, des, 906, b. and of Tartnrtts, $70, a. Sée Gates. every low occasion, 21]... c. either openly rejected 103, g. 113, d. 982 Hºllgnists complain their widows are neglected, ÇENERAL INDEX. Roman account, 332, m, or that Mark, when he mentions the third it our, shouki not mean the hour ,0ſ the day, 335, d. - - iours of pray cr; the third and ninth reckoned the chicſ, 370, b. - Hour ºf Christ not yet come, its signification, 53, f. mentioned us the reason why tie Jews did not lay hands on hini, 182, 186. | House, to be rendered family, 31, d. 138, f. to be sillºited by, the disciples at their comitig to it, #ū, 177. who were not to go from house to house, & Cº. Igº of the Jews flat on the top, 91, and note e. y v i 1 !}owing, remark on it, #36, k. {{udson, lºr. his observatiotis, 425, i. 477, a. * Huinºle, his pliness promised them, 76, advantage of bein; l;unblo, 172. - Humiliation, Tarevogts expresses the disposition of a man’s mind, TuTévycorms his condition, 83S, f. - II untility, when becoming, 107, 226. to be learned from Christ, 13, l. 2 #S, 295, the way to © X- al; ed., 172, 240, 226, h. 247, 276, 295. ti lesson that occurs ten tings in the Evangelists, 275, k, in- stance of it in Peter, 416, and note b, Huntility 9t. Christ in his cures, 159. See Modesty. 1ſundred-fºld, an increase that sometimes haj- pc.1ed, 123, e. Huad red, and twenty, the number of disciples assembled after Christ's ascension, 368. Hungry shall be filled, 24, 76, 104. hunger and thirst after right cowsness, what expressive of, 4 Ox #. Hunger of Christ in coming to Jerusalem, how it might be occasioned, 26 l, e. Husbandmen, parable of the vineyard committed to theid, 263,265. applicable to the Jews, ib. Tusks, eaten by swine, what kind of fruit, 215, d. Hymenaeus and Alexander, who, 756, and note b. the freedom with which "ſºº" cºnsºres then, proves his cause good, ib. their conduct no objec- tion tigainst the doctripe of perseverance, 755, a. Hyran, Čailed the Hallel, sung by the Jews at the Passover, 391, h. uncertain whether the hymn used by Christ at the close of the eucharist, ºb. Hymns and other spiritual songs, what,727, e. Hyperbole, sometimes used in Scripture, 354, e. f U, e. Hypocrisy, folly and danger of it, . 19S, 199. the scribes and Pharisees charged with it, 156, 161, 197, 204, 269, 275, 276. the same charged on the ruler of the synagogue, 207. the disciples wari:cd to bewart of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, 198. Simon's hypocrisy, how it might be detected by Peter, 401, d. - Hypogriles, draw nigh to God with their mouths, while their hearts are far from him, 156. seek the applause of men, 82, and nute d. S4. are public in their givin; alms, S2, p. contrive that men sh9uld catch them while they pray, 83, f. aim at being taken notice of in their fasts, 84, tak notice of the faults of others, S6, S7, 105, 106. the wicked servant shall have his portion with them, 286, h. the most artful hypocrite shall be at leing th exposed, 298. * - Hyrcanus destroys the temple on mount Gerizim, ji i. obliges the Idumaeans to become Jews, Ü y º - I , b, deacons, most of them, Hellenists, 389, f. Paul preaches to them, 403, idle story raised by them against hini, ib. p. Helpers and governments, who, 592, f. Henry, \lr., observation of his, 147, g. hierillis in the ºu!! ic games, Pāī compares him- self to 9:ne, 5S°), 1:. . . * Ileresy, Paui's worship of God styled so by the Jews, 4.55, c. : he cºrt fºr of it, by whom met to be f : a re {, 4: ... solit::t; iii); worse th; a schisºn, 557, b. oºre of the works of the liesh, 6.jö, e. Heretics, who, 79), K. Jews is ept at a great distance froin thºse they rºck ("ied such, S$2, ii, some in- fºr fro::) Rev. x i:. . . i. 1 hat it is the wil; of God such shoul. He cut of , 9.37, t. Herod the Greill, a grºcł prince, 35, e. compli- nues, te: w;t in the title of the .41ess:w it, I, ſ, f. a larmed at the re:ºrt ºf th:: wise time , 35, 37, b. wine: they have fºund Citrist, of ers time:m to corne ina; R it iſ te: ; iii: n, 3.33 k h is rage o.: beiag tigiúiled by tºº, 33, e, f. (ſies, 3S, k. account of his disease, 122, ii, tits ki.g.:oin divided into four parts, 4 l. II rod, Antipas, acceºut of his quality and lineage, 3S, l. t.”, ( ++, ix. 325, a. in prisoils John the Baptist, 52, wouli put it in to death, but that he fears the pºojºſe, ib. beheasis him, I-15, hears time fume of Jesus, 14 F. opinion of his principles, ib. fears Jesus to be Jolt a the Baptist, ib., 145. is de- Firous to see hi:n, 1.44, thinks to drive him out of Galilee by threateuing to kili him, 293, f. is spoken of by Jesús us a fox, 299. ng, certainty that the king going to & &r allustes to Herod, 213, d. Jesus is sent to l; in by Pilate, 32S. I; is expec- tation to see sºn, 2 iniracle doine by...!: im, ib. is re- conciled to Pibute, 329. and combines with him against Jesus, 333, b, dies in ba:lishment at Lyons, 145, r. 419, a. Herod’ Agiºi, his lineage and arrival to the throue, 419, a. persecutcs the church, 419. im– *risoas Peter, ib. d. puts the keepers to death on § escape, 42), m. goes to Cºesarea, 42), a. makes t_ptiblic oration there, ib. b. is eaten with worms, 422, c, d. Herodidas, account of that sect, 101, f. 269, con- spire with the Pharisees against Christ, 101, f. attempt to inshare him by a question, 239, but are col; foun.ie, i, 279. Herodias, sejugéd and married by Herod, 62, a. the cause of his ruin, ib. g. is incensed against John the Baltist, ib., urges her daughter to ask his he, d. 145. which being ºrought her, she treats it very disdain fully, ih. q. dies, ib. r. Hesiod, his character of a goº: ploughman, 129, k. High-priest, who, when David ate the she w-bread, 99, e. two ine:\tioned as high-priests when John begain his ministry, 41, f. Caiaphas spuken of as high-priest, 245, a .321. Some of them Qf the sect of the Sad Îucees, 38.5, a, the rulers of the Jews meet in the high-priest's palace, 291. Peter smites a servant of the high-priest's, 32); l. Jesus led uway to Caia phas the high-priest, 321, a. John known to the high-infiest, .322, c. introduces Peter, 321. servant of the high-priest taxes Peter, its havigg been in the gilſ den with Jesus, 322. high-priest asks Jesus of his disciples, and about his doctrine, 323, 324. ex:unities him, 324, 325. adjures him to teil whether he be the Christ, 325, f. re:nds his clothes Q: Jesus’s answer, ill. i. and they all conde: nº him, as guiliy of death, 325. Annas calit::l high-priest, 389, d. i he high-priest an:l Salducees apprehead the twelve apostles, 335, a tire surprise!, to hear they were got out of prison, 3.35. it ce told they were teaching in the temple, ill- the high-prigst charges them with teaching in the name of Jesus, ib. are enraged at their vindicatio:), ib. but, having scourged them, dist1tiss them, 3S7. - - igh-priest calls, upon Stephen to answer for him- sºlf,331. Saud obt lists letters from the high-priest, 4) I, 453. a 'pe: is lo hitia, how violent a persecutor he hail inee;1, 455. reſiection thereon, ib. g. Ana- nias the high-priest comm ands Paul to be smit- ten, 47 i, b, c. xviio chargés liºn with acting con- trary to the filw', 472, d. his a us wer on being ucstio:ned the reg;, i. e. A manias the high-priest %. Paul to Caesarea, 475. Festus applied to by the high-priest, to send ſor Paul to Jerusalem, 478. observaiion on the high-priests at this time, i5. f. Highways, &c. sen! to for 3Uests, 212, ſ. 238, e. Iilary, a remark of his, 317, i. - Ilinnóñ, (Valley of ) an eſtablem of Hell, 79, n. oadly, (Bishop,) his remarks, 142, b. 63, h. IIv/y city, a title give a to Jerusalein, 47, g, often applied by the heat hens to those cities where oracles were º ii. the ground about Jc- rusalem counted holy, 2 S I, a. x- Homer, observations, on him, 242, d. 288, a. 358, g. his description of Tartarus illustrates 2 Pet. ii. 4. 570, e. * Honour, tities of, not to be affected, 274. * Iſºpe, no reason to suspect we are excluded from it, 151. Paul questioned for 1 he hone and resur- rviction of the dead, 472, g. acknowledges it, 476, 1:... deglares that fºr this hºpe lie was accused, 482, and in bon is, 491. how the Gentiles without it, }:{), c. - * : * * * Hopkins, (Bishop,) remark of his, 156, i. J} ºr!!erry, Mr., remark of his; 442 k. ** J ſurn of salpation, raised up in Christ, 26, a. | ºrses and chariots, the use of thern in war for- bilden to the Jews, 254, h, , . . . - Hosannah, its signification, 255, i. Hosannah to the Son of David, ib. the sa:me continued by the children in the temple, 257. - - - - - Hospitality, peculiar Qccºsion for practising it in the aposties' time, 537, 538, q. Hours, differently co:mputed by the Jews and Romans, 332, m. h9y the Jews computed them, 376, b. 1:ot probable that John should use the -> Jackson, (Dr. Thomas,) his curious discourse on the prophecies, 110, g. well a brigged by Bishop Atterbury, ib, h. his remarks, 45, b. 281, d. 2S3, Iłł. Jacob, how Stephen mentions him, 392, h. God's loving him refers to his favours bestowed on his posterity, not to his filial state, 526, g. wor- shipped, leading on the top of his staff, S24, e. the a postle's account reconciled with the Old Testament, ib. Jailer at Philippi, who supposed by some to be, 42, r. sets Paul and Silas in the stocks, 441, h. would have killed himself, but is prevented by Paul, 442, k, l. asks what he must do to be saved, ib. n. believes and is baptized, 442. washes their stripes, ib. and acquaints them in the morning, that orders were sept to release tſ;cm, 443. re- mark on his conversion, 442. * - * airus, applies to Jesus, in behalf of Iris dying daughter, 135, b. J36. who raises her to life, 136. Jambficus, a story of hiºn, whence borrowed fruin, 66, c. , prefers the Pythagoreans to all others, 298, b. has little regard to truth, when falsehood may cast, a skur upon christia iity, ib. what he says of Pythagoras, 332, q...remark on his a c- count of what Pythagoras did in Italy, 375, c. his a greatment with time words inade use of by Luke, 430, k. - Jam. v. 12. how to be understood, 80, i. . James, the son of Alpheus, a near relation of our Lord, 304, e. called James the Less, 34 ... wrote the Epistle, 420, i. chosen an a postle, 103. Scnt fºrth with the twelve, 139. Jesus scen of him after his resurrection, 357, no probability of lis vowing not to eat till Jesus arose, 355, b. Paul introduced to Peter and James, 408, Q. Why Pe:er would haye James informed of his deliver- ance out of prison by an angel, 429, i. Jan:gs gives his advice about the Gentile converts, 435, 436. but not with the authority of a bishop, 435, c. Paul's success among the Gentiles reporie to James and the elders, 465, their advice to him, 466, does not appear from Scripture, that James was bishop of Jerusalem, 465, b. - - James, the son of Zebedee, called by Christ as he, \º'fishing, ii. astonished at tie draught of fishes, 72. leaves all and follows Christ, 71, 72. is chosen an apostle, 103. and sent forth to preach with the twelve, 139, is one of the three disciples that were present at Christ's raising of Jairus's Jeffery, Mr., his daughter, 136. at his transfiguration on tha !ºunt, 165; and at his agony in the garden, 313, he and his brother John rebuked by Christ, 2?2, come with their mother, and petition fo sit petuſest him in his kingdon, 257, how answered by Christ, ib, and resented by the rest of the apostles, ib, asks Christ, what should be the sign of his conting, 278, .279. was one of those ºg whom Qhrist appeared at the sea ºf Tiborjãs, i. is beheaded at Jerusalem, 419, b. 430 was the first of the apostles who suitº martyrdom, 247, e. perhaps Christ appeared to him alone, (00, h., how the brother of our Lord, 649, 6. James the Less, the author of the Épistle, $35. why said to be, bishop of Jerusalem, 837, a. Jannes and Jambres, 77S, d. Jansenius, his remarks, 319, i. 331, c. Jason, accused at Thessalonica, 445. is dismissed O In hº ib. seems to have been a relation of tl Ully i Icºnium, Paul and Barnabas #30, and note d. visit it again, Idle wºrds to be accounted for, stood, 1 IS. b. - Idol, a Jewish aphorism that an idol is nothing, 576, c. cide Entertainment. Iºw they changed the truth of God into a ſle, 49S. Idolatries of the Romish church, 922, h, Idolatry practised by the Jews in the wilderness, 396, d. Athens greatly addicted to it, 447, b, 44S, i. reflection on it, 458. modesty of the apostles in bearing their testimony against it, Pººh there, 429, & how to be under- Jºy O. Idols, the eating things sacrificed to them forbid- den to the Gentile converts, 436, i, r, s, - dumäeans, obliged to become Jews, iOI, b. many of them hear Jesus, 101. Jealousy, , the ground .9f the phrase, “provoking the Lord to jealousy,” 5S3, d. Jechonias, the same with Jehoiakim, 29, g, h. how spoken of as childish, ib. i. remarks, 266, g. 296, c. 36S, d. 1, m. 373,.e. 378, i. 395, a. Jenkins, Dr., his observations, 56, i. 305, f, Jennings, Mr., remark of bis, 364, b. Jerºmiah expected to return to life by the Jews, , c. 162; d. Jesus thought by sonne to be Jere: miah, 163, d. Jeremiah quoted instead of Zecha- Tiah:344, d. a key to th;1t book, 29, g. Jer. xxii. 30. observation on it, ib. i. Jericho, Christ passes through it in his way to Jerusalem, 2-16... cures Bartimeus and another blind man near it, 248. converts Zacchcus there, 219, oue going thither from Jerusalem falls among thieves, 192, said to be the residence of many priests, and Levites, 193, f. - Jerome, his 9bservations, #7, k. 64, In. 145, q. 166, a. 2S7, b. 355, b. 373, h. Jerusalem, the city of the great king, 80, often called the holy city, 47, g. 26 1, a. whether the place where men should worship, G4. Jesus pre- sented there, 33. wise unci) conie there, 35. Jésus goes up thiſ her with his pare::ts at twelve years old, 39, taken thither in his temptation, 47, 1. pgople come from thence to be baptized by John, 42. priests sent from thence to exilmine him, 49. Jesus goes up there to the first Passover, 55, a. cures the info:ent man tiere, 94 cºmestiº tº the feast of Tabernacles; 17.9. to the feast of Dedication, 232, a to his last Passover, 246, 54. the city is lam:Gnted over as the murderer of the prophets, 209, and note i. 277. Jesus fore eſs its ruin, 233. . its desolation, when near, 2s l. warns his disciples to fied from the dangeſ: ib. 82. Jerusalem to be trodden down by the Gen- tiles, ib. g. daughters of Jerusalem weep for Christ, 334. the disciples ordered to preach re- pent ance and forgiveness to all nations, begin- ning at Jerusalem, 361. reflection thercon, 5. f. 363. are ordered to turry gºt Jerusalem iii. they received thg Spirit, 361, 363. Jesus sponds lis last days there, 366, e. the Spirit poured ot:t there on the disciples, 370, d. 37 H, i. Jerusalem filled with their doctrine, 3.36. great persecution raised there, 399. council held at Jerusalem about the Gentile conve: ts, 433, 434, 437. Pitt: seized there, 466. the prodigies that preceded its destruction, 37 l. D. for the tra::s: ctions of each day there, and the events that followed, see the Chronological T'a ble, 965, rt scq. and the articles Crucificion, Resurrection, &c. how it seen:ed to come down fro:n God out of 1:eaven, 943, b. Jesus, so inamed, 22, 27. Hjea: ing of it, , 27, d. answers to Joshua, it: ti; is nº me given l; in at his circumcision, 32. Fee Christ. Jesuits, remarkable dish oi!esty in their translation 571, c. their missionaries said to have dºlied that Christ was crucified, 556, g. . -w Jew, one of God's peculiº r pºei:le, 504, 907, b. Jews, their, aversion.1 o (lye Samaritatis, (;3, g. 193, i. fancied a peculiar bodiness in the land of Israel, 140, o. imagirie: a ſi the sced of Abrahã in shouji be happy, 117, G. J) re: cindcºl they were free, as Abrahaiji's seed, 18S. but it a recars tic devil was their father. Jö9.preyerb aingºg th; in, 4, k. looked upon the Geºtiles as dogs, 158. murmur at their partaking, the sanie church- } | I- vileges, 240, and note e. odiousness of this, 241: represented the christians as atheists, 491, a had a notion of the transmigration, 225.h. how they represent the angels, 214, c. , the office, they as- signed them, 219, c. how they considered the wicked, 74, h. admonished offe:nders in their synagogues, 174, g. and sometimes scourged them there, 141, c. 470, c. pervert the fifty-third of Isaiah, 403, i. the º trusted, 237, e. were remarkable for the hardness of their hearts, 334, c. 243, k. 366, c. 493, d. their last state was worse than their first, lz0, 1. their obstinacy where religion was concerned, 332, f, ordered to depart from Rome, 450, b. their superstitiousness, 54, g. 155, c. 156. when absolved by their rabbies, 473, k, vain repetl- tions in their prayers, $3, h. their thoughts on social prayers, 174, ã. their yearly payments to the temple, 176, d. redemption of their first-born, 3, . c. forbidden to use horses and chariots in their armies, 254, h. obseryation on their months, $33, f how they fixed their Passover, 93, c. their division of the night, 149, d. skill in the weather, b. 204. want of judgment to discern the signs of the times, 294. used to teach their children Sorne trade, 137, c. 450, c. their time for enter- tainments, 252, c. manner of buria), 342, salva- tion from the Jews, 64. are called the children of the prophets, 378, 379. Jesus sent first to them, 379, m. the gospel offered first to them, ib. 407, 4 17, 423, 425, 423, -429, 430, 44-4, 445, 447, 4.50, 45.5, 483. were under the guardianship of Christ, 9, k. in great darkness, 25, i. subject to the ſto- inans, 3 l, c. had not the power of executing capi- tal punish mants, 326, c. 332, h. admire Christ’s wisdom, 137. anazed at his understanding let- ters, 18.), a. but prejudiced against his being the Messiah, 181, a remark on their know in ğ. ib. b. are eager to have slain him, 95. . [For their obstimacy in rejecting Christ and his miracles, and zeal in persecuting him and his a postles, as also for discourses addressed to them ; see pas- sim...] Had many warnings of their §ſºft, destruction, 209, 255, 278, 270, d. 235, 334. by which they should fall in other countries, 224, S3, m. and perish as the Galilaeans did, 205, b. making their ruin sure by impenitence, 206. greatness of the tribulation that should come upon them, 282, e. the number of them destroyed by the Romans, ib. ſ. had the siege continued longer, must have suffered more, ib. i. what Mo- sesſiad foretoiſ them remarkably fulfilled. 2S3, m. furnished a danzerous precedent against thern- selves in crucifying Jesus, 33), g. the Gentiles in it only thair instruments, 372, c. their wishing his blood on themselves and their children dread- ully answered, 333, o. say that Jesus's body was stolen, 35 ſ. sought to propagate this story through the world, ib. but had no room for it, 352. their rejection of their deliverers no new thing, 396, c. revolted in the wilderness, ib. and note d. always resisted the Holy Spirit, 397. were the murder- ers of the righteous One, b. 1. remarks thereon, 378, and note d. 379. the conversion of the Jews, what expected to do, 378, e. their restoration foretoll, in Scripture, 2S2, h. observation on their continuing a distinct people, ib. k. the gospel to be preached first to them ; a remark on the frank- ness of the a postle in leclaring this, 49S. a. tri- bulation and wrath first rendered to them, 50l., e, f. they thought no Israelite could be deprived of heaven but by a postasy, idolatry, &c. 592, g. unconverted Jews often ad-lressed in epistles directed to christians, why, 503, a. hei: the therit of their observances, 508, b. how their rº jection the riches of the world, 533. to be restored to their own land, ib. a. this will convince many of the truth of the gospºl, 534. the prophecies of their conversion not fulfille, in the apostles' time, ib. a. how they were enemies to the gospel fºr the sake of the Gentiles, ib. c. their potion of the u:\lawſulaess of paying tribute to Caºsar op- posed by St. Paul, 540, g. some , of them in hea- then countries eat nothing hut herbs, 5 #1, b, the cross of Christ, a stumbling-block to them, 556, f. were permittel to try all but criminal causes in their courts, 568, d. which made the conduct of the Corinthians more inexcusable, ib. Paul box- came as a Jew, to them, 579, b. in what sense, and how reconciled with his reproving Peter, ib. c. they called Jesus tº by way of contempt, instead of snºwn, 539, b. called Satan, “the god who blinºis,” 6'9, d. their wise mea taught with- out pay, 635, g, Jews and Gentiles reconciled to one another by Christ,[8].most of the persecutions against christians came from the Jews,703, i.some intercourse between them and the heathen philo- sophers, 723, b. had a notion that angels were in- tercessors, 72 k, l. how they were contrary to all men, 735, and note a. many, of them destroyed not only in Jerusalem, but elsewhere, ib. b. fond of fables, 754, b. 7S9, f. their genealogies, what, 789, f. their traditions justly called, old, wives' fables, 762, b. a remarkable proverb of theirs about the inefficacy of hearing the law; 839, g. Jewish nation, Mr. Locke thinks St. Faui speaks in their name, Rom. vii. 7, &c. 517, e. Jewish ritual, why called worldly elements, 659, a. weak and poor elements, ib. d. a shadow of celestial things, 812, b. a figure of them, 814, and note e. not so much as the image of them, 817, a. Jezebel, who, 909, a . - Ignatius, one of the infants blessed by Christ, Ignorance of what Christ has thought fit to con- ceal, no inconsiderable part of learning, 185, d. lessens the guilt of sin, where unayoidable, 230, but will not excuse those who neglected the ser- vice of God, 203, o. crucified by the Jews through ig morance, 375, but this did not excuse them from guilt, ib. d. God overlooked the times of igno- rancé, but now charges all to repent, 449, r. Illyricum, St. Paul preached to the western shores of it, 545, a. # Images, thought by the heathen to have a kind of divinity in them, 457, f. image of Diana, sup- posed to have come down from Jupiter, ib. n. Immortality of the soul, the natural arguments for it compared with that which arises from the re- surrection of Christ, 602, l. - Imperative often put for the future, 140, n. . . . . tºgunate widow prevails with the unjust judge, 23 Impºsition, of doctrines, remark on it, 156, the folly of impºsing terms of communion not made by Christ, 434, of hands, 762, b. 766, 5, 807, c. GENERAL INDEX. of indifferent things, 541, a. as to matters of sen- timent, iii. e. s * Impºssible thing, Egyptian hieroglyphic for it, 149, e. what is impossible with men possible with God, 23S. º Impotent unan cured by Christ, 94. reproved by the Jews for carrying his couch on the sabbath- day, it. Jesus reminds him of his past iniqui- ties, ib. m. Imprecations in the Old Testament, how to be ac- counted for, 140, n. thy money perish with thee, how to be taken, 401, c. . g Imprisonment attended with great torments in the eastern countries, 69, h. 176, h. two sorts of pri- sons among the Jews, 468, f. Incarnation of Christ, how, Jolin expresses it, 19, § goretold by an angel, 22. reflections on it, 3 *.*.*. Inçcnse, the reason of ordaining it, 20, c. Infauts slain at Bethlehem, 3S, f. remarks thereon, 28). Infidels renew objections, 137, p. take advantage of the dissensions among christians, 314, b. wicked Servatit to have his portion with them, 293. , . Inheritance, Christ will not intermeddle in a dis- pute about one, 20%). Inheritance annong them that are sanctified, how to be received, 405, 4:3. the giving it to be referred to God, 462, o. Injuries, how to be endured, 81, l. 105. - Innocence, how often cleared up, 324, d. no Secu- rity from slanders, 323. the innocence of Christ overbºrne, 330. ſº under the means of grace, the danger Of It, i24. Inspiration of the New Testament, how to be ar- gued for, 273, d. arraignment of their conduct, no argument against the inspiration of the apostles, 415, a nor the debates that arose where they were present, 434, f, when not necessary to have recourse to it, 439, d. the great importance of be- lieving the inspiration of Scripture, 955. the truth of the gospel history proved elsewhere, ib. the nature of inspiration, ib., various kinds and degrees of it, ib. certainty of the inspiration of the New Testament, 936, 957. asserted by the primitive christians, 957. appears also from its internal characters, ib. proof of it, what drawn from, ib.—961; reflections on it, 961.962. argu- ments for the inspiration of the Old Testament, whence to be drawn, ib. Inspiration, of the Old Testament believed by St. aul, 504, and note a. 779, and note b. of St. Paul, 558, 571, as 575, l. 598, 73S, and note d. 740, and note d. 767, b, not inconsistent with the uncertail.ty with which he speaks of some facts, 3.0, 3- Interest of others rather to be sought than our own, fl. Interpretation of tongues, how distinguished from speaking with tongues, 597, g. Interrogation not always expressed, 36, h. 189, h. 4S2, . f. sometimes, removes a difficulty by ad- mitting it, 36; b. 167, m. 181, b. 189, h. 259, e. its force, 203, i. Inward part more to be regarded than , the out- ward, 1962, may be full of rapine and wicked- ness, ib. 276. Joanna, how thought, to have been converted; 67, d. attends Christ in his progress through Galilee, | 16. was one of the women that went to embalm his body, 345, 350. See Women. .. Jºh prophecy of his, how applied by Peter, f 3 ſhl. John the Baptist, sent from God, 19. his birth foretol: , by an augel, 20, 21. meaning of his name, 2], e. his character, 21, 26. his birth and circumcision, 25. his growth, ib. lives in the de- sert, 25. reasens for his retirement, ib. k. opens his ministry, 41. preaching the baptism of re- pºnt ºnce in the wilderness, ib. time and manner of his coming, 42. circumstances that awakened a regard to his preaching, 43, and note b. his admonition to the Pharisees, ib. his advice to the multitude, ib., 44. the people in doubt whether he be not the Messiah, 44. but lie directs them to one coming af er him, ib., 50, 51. his testimony to Jesus, 45, 49, 50. whom he knew at his first coming to him, 453 a . b. 50, d. though not ac- quainted with him before, 5ö, and note c. ba tizes in Bethabara, ib, where Jesus comes to be baptized by him, 46. sees the Spirit descend upon Jesus, ib. f. looks upon this as a sign, 50. owns that he is neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, 49, b, c. but the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 49. and refers them to Jesus as the Messiah, ib. 50. whom he declares to be the Lamb of God, 50. baptizes at Enon, 60, a. and, being informed that Jesus baptized, rejoices in his success, 60. expected to be soon dismissed from his ministry, ib. is imprisoned by Herod, 62. who would have put him to death, ñº he not feared the people, ib. l. reflection on his imprisonment, l 11, e. This testimony, how referred to by Christ, 97, b. how speaks of him, 97. remark thereon, ib, c. is told in prison of the miracles of Jesus, l 10, b. owned by Christ to be more than a common prophet, 1 ll. and greater than any of the ancient lºrophets, ib, a. the effect of his ministry, I 11. the publicans receive his baptism, ib. perversely called a demoniac, 112. men from his days grew violent in attacking, heaven, 11 J, f. 218, speaks of Christ more plainly than the law and the prophets, 111. is beheaded by Herod, 145, this no surprise to him, 146. Christ is supposed by Herod to be John the Baptist risen from the dead, 144., this the opinion of several concerning him, ib. 163. is pointed out by Christ, as the Elijah that should first come, 167, l. and who was already come, ib. n. his martyrdom not foretold in the Old Testament, ib. m. no miracle wrought by him, 233. his to stimony recollected after he 983 was dead, ib. the priests silenced by Jesus' ask- ing what, they thqught of John, 264; John bap- tized with water, but Jesus with the Holy Spirit, &c. 44, 49, 362,367. his preaching, how inen- tioned by Paul, 426, k. - John, the Apostle and Evangelist, a remarkable story of his exhorting to love4 when be was pot able to preach, c84, f. author of the three Epistles, though his name is to none of them, c.91, d. 1-ro- bably wrote them lefore the Revelation, S82, b. who the lady to whom he writes, tº I, b. a pecu- Jiarity of his style remarked, 893, d., remark on the style of his gospel and the Revelation, 904, a. the story of his being put into a çaldron of oij, ib. b. what is meant by ſº peing in the Spiri: , and in what manner the revelations were inha (ie to bim, 913, a. had a vision of those scenes ti; : are represented as succeeding on opening the seals; 915, d, f his descent, acts, &c. Iš, ; nºi note b. 19, 45, c. 46, 51, e. 60, b. 71, 72, 73, Jø.” 136, 139, 166, 176, 222, d. 247, and hote c. 278, §5, § 532,357,316, 31,333, 5. 33), a 333, n. $33,341, 336, i.” #, and’ſſo; i. 353, #7, and '#'; *jº 359, d. 360, f. 376, 3S0, 3S1, 401, y R x. * 3 >. John surnamed Mark, contes from Jerusalem to Antioch, 42.2. what we may learn of him from Scripture, ib., b. accompanies Paul and Barna- bas in their first progress, 423. returns to Jeru- salem, 424. rejected by Paul in thicir next pro- gress, 438. but sets out with Barnabas, ib. is a corn panion, afterwards, with Paul in his labours, & O. C. John, probably the celebrated rabbi Jechannan, present in the Satºhedrim, when Peter and John were examined, 380, c. Jonah, in the fish's belly, I 19, conjecture on the fish that swallowed him, 120, e. no other sign should be given to that evil generation, l 19, 161. comparison of the Ninevites and Jews, 120. Joºs, ºf; Jeremiah,) his rena rås, GS, d. 84, p. * > U 5 il e J 9 * * * . Joppa, one of the cities where Philip preached, 404, , d. Peter raises I}orgas to life therg, 410, f. tarries there with one Simon a tanner, ib. g, Cornelius directed by an angel to send thither for him, 411. Peter sets out frcm thence for Caesarea, 412,413. Jordan, John preaches in the country about it, . baptizes there, ib. Jesus baſilized there, 46. returns from thence, 47. goes into the country beyond Jordan, 233, 234, b. where many be-, lieve, 233. Joseph sold into Egypt,392, g, the oppºrtunity he had of nourishing his father in his declining days, rennark on it, 393. - Joseph, of the house of David, contracted to Mary, 22. how said to be the St. n of Heli, 30, o. his scruples on Mary's pregnancy, 27. takes her home, ib. uncertain how they lived afterwards, ib. f. goes up from Nazareſ h to Bethlehem, 31. where some suppose him to have had an state, ib. c. takes Mary there, ib. and riote e. brings Jesus to Jerusalem at the purification, 33. and probably returned from thence to Bethlehem, 34, 9. 36, n. is warned to flee into Egypt,37. ordered back, 3S. goes to Nazareth, ib. takes Jesus to Je- rusillem, when he was twelve years old, 39, con- jectures on the time of his death, 53, b. 152, a. Jº h of Arimathea, goes to Pilate and begs the body of Jesus, 342. his courage in requesting it, ib. i. buries the body in his own new tomb, 342. and rolls a great stone to the door of it, ib. oseph, called barsabas, proposed to succeed Judas as an apostle, 369. conjectures concerning him, ib. i. 3S3, a. 436, k. Josephus, his account of Moses, 393, b. 394, f. says that Saul reigned two and twenty years aſter Samuel's death, 425, i. gives a different account from that in l ićings vi. I. of the year when the temple was built, ib. h. his account of Solomon's borch, 232, b. when he speaks of the terople's eing finished, 56, h. gives a most bº de- scription of it, 278, a, b. his account of the height Qf the porch, 47, i. his description of the beauti- ful gate, 376, c remark on his calling it the outer gale, ib. takes notice of the inscriptions that were set up there, 466, I., mentions the alarm occasion- ed by Caligula, 408, s. speaks of a Jewish priest, as captain of the temple, 320, o, says that the Romans kept a guard about the temple on ſeast- days, 466, n. mentions the stairs that descended from the castle, of Antonia to the temple, 467, p. his account of the great number of victims offered at one Passover, 5.5, b. represents the Pharisees as the strictest scot of the Jews, 482, d. what he says of the Sudducees, show a by Scaliger to re- late only to their rejecting tradition, 27 ), c. ob- serves the Sadducean principles to have prevailed among the rich, 144, g., 472, f. says that some of the high-priests were of that sectſ 385, a mentions Annas by the name of 3 nanus, 321, a his accouni of Ananias the high-priest, 471, b, c. his character of the high-priests, about that time, 478, f his ac- count of the death of Hero: the Great, 38, k. lº of his repairing , 1)avid's sepulchre, 373, h. the treasures said by him to be found there, a fable, ib. his notice of the marriage of Hlero; Antipas with his niace Herodias, 62, a his obl servation, thereon, ib., b. represents. Herod as afraid of John's popularity, ib. f. gives a very bad character of Herodias, ib, g, says the Jews looked upon the calamities of Herod's reign, as a judgment for his injustice to John, ib. l. his ac- count of Herod Agrippa, 419. a. his character of him, 421, a. describes, the splendour of his robe, b. b. his account of his death, 422, c. remark thereon, ib. d. Speaks largely of the younger Agrippa, 480, a. mentions, his incestuous coin- merce with Bernice, ib. b. his character of Felix, 475, e. his account of Drusilla, 477, a. dubious passage concerning her explained by Dr. Hud- §84 son, ill. account of jºias Gaúio;;ites, 337, i, doi: lot mention the slaughter of the Galileans by Pilate: 235, a, says that Pilate was deposed by Vite}}ius, 334, s. the Theudas mentioned by him not the same that Garmaliel refers to, 3S7, K, h. his account of the Egyptian imposter, 45%, i. the E.gcount he gives of Alexander, who wººs alabarch of Alexandria, 380, e. mentions one Mansen, an Essene, 423, d. his account cf Gadara, 132, l. of the lake of Get;n&sareth, 72, b. of Antilst tris, ‘iſ-1, h. how he speaks of Caesarea. 464, c. the distance he makes it from Jerusaleai, 17 t, h. takes notice of a fainine in Juliea, in the days of Claudius, 'i (8, g. his accºuist of the ºutmber of Jews that were massacred at I?:Lair:tscus, 403, d. his obser- vation of, whº t each of the Jews paid yearly to S GENERAL INDEX, c; by Festus, 47S, the copious dews that fel] tiere, dangerous, 153, c. 318, a. the coldness of th; tºights more sensible in tinose hot countries, 322, 1. John baptizes in the wilderness there, {i. aii Judea come to him, 42. Jesus baptizes there by his disciples, 69, and tarries there about eight pionths, 63, c. he departs to Galilee, 63, is foll loyed by great multitudes from thence, 75, §6, !ºl, 103, his fame spreads through alſ. Judea, 109. will not waik there, 179. will not go thither to the feast of Tabernacles, ii). goes up pri- Yately, ºb. goes away to the coast of Juá. beyond Jordan, 233, 2:34, b. returns to Bethany, 2#. tilese that were in Judea warned to flee to the mountains, 2SI. Jesus is accused on account v. Bºg of Israel, Christ acknowledged as such, 52, 255, chief priests tell him, if he were so, to come down from the cross, 337. Kingdom divided cannot stand, 116. if Satan there- * fore, gast Qut Satan, how shall his kingdom stand, § 117. all, the kingdoms of the world shown to Christ, 48. kingdom shall rise against kingdom, 279, g. nobleman receiving a kingdom, 250, b. the gospel of the kingdom preached by Jesus, 75 138. should be preached in all the world, 280, n. some that heard him should not die, till they had seen him coming in his kingdom, 165, i. of his kingdom there shall be no end, §2. the sons of Tebedee desire to sit on his right and left in his kingdom, 247.2 blessed be the kingdom of our of the doctrines taught through Judea,328. Paul preaches through all the country of Judea, 483. the churches there have ...'; s. collection father David, 255, his kingdom not of this world, ; children, of the kingdom, what compared to, 26, the Father's good pleasure to give them the the temple, 170, d. How they reckoned their feasts, 338, f. an: that on fest days they se!, loin ate or serves that severai Jews were made free of Rome, 473), f. and that there was no people on earth who had not Jews inhabiting annong them, 370, e, shows that the Jews pretended to a power of castin; out tiaºnons, 455, g. Sºys it was ºustomary with the ºn to make vows, 465, e. speaks of some that bound themselves with an oath to kill Herod, 473, k, his account of their wickedness, 120, 1. 1S9, i. Isis stir prise at the Romans withdrawing from Jerusalem after their first approach to it, 2S 1, a. records the prodigies preceding its de- struction, 371, p. gives a moving account of the St00C; calamities attending the siege, 282, e. f. 333, o. his account of the destruction of Jerusalem, agrees with what was foretoll by Christ, 255, b. 79, e. the care of Providence in preserving such an author to us, 279, e. the truth of his history a day, how to be understood, 402, f. attested by the Emperor Titus, 371, p. why he Judgment of the world, committéd to Christ, 95, suppresses some remarkable facts, 38, fl. 93, g. 4.14, g. 449. his dignity as universal Judge, 333, e. 422, d. 450, b, some remarkable circum- the apostles shall sit upon thrones judging the stances concerting Moses mentioned by him, twelve tribes of Israel, 238, k. 296. allusion con- $2 : , i. - tained under it, 296, b. Paul reasons before Felix Jos::s, the son of Cleepas, ºne of the of judgment to come, 478, more tolerable in the c: ; ; Lord, 137, d. 338, b. 341, i day of judgment, how explained by some, 113, d. called Barsabas. - Jud; ment of zeal, what galled so by the rabbies, Joses, surnamed Barnabas, account of him,369, i. 97, p. the Jews in stoning Stephen acted on that 383, a. why called a son of consolation, 383, a. principle; it. would bave pleaded it, if they had sells his estate, and brings the money to the murdered Paul, 466, m. apostles, ib. b. See Barnabas. Judgment, Christ's descent to it described, 740. Irenaeus, his observations, 190, f. 399, h. 436, s. reflections upon it, ib., its suddenness beautifull - - - gººsed, 741, a beginning at the house of God, '33, g. drank till noon, 371, l, calls their religion by the inade at Antioch for the poor brethren in Judea, kingdom, 201. Christ will put them in possession word which we rant!er superstition, 480, d. ob- 18, i. * * - of §. kingdom prepared for them, 289. appoints Judge that feared neither God nor man, 225. his º a kingdom, 296., who shall eat and drink at his tablé, in his kingdoing it, children of the kingdom, shall be cast out, 198. all things that offend shall be gathered out of it, 126. the right- eous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, ib. thief on the cross begs, Jesus to remember him, when he came into his kingdom, 337. apostles ask him, if he would restore the kingdom to Israel, 363, 367. what his answer _may intimate, 367, g. * 4. Kingdom of God, compared to various things, 127, 207. thy kingdon come, meaning of it, 83, k. J.95. Jesus preaches the gospel of the kingdom of God, 67., the twelve sent forth to preach the kingdom, 39. the seventy sent on the same errand, 178. Jesus was to preagh it in other cities, as well as at Capernaum, 73. goes through, every city, preaching the glad tidings of it, 116. and speak- ing to the people of the kingdom of God, 146. none can see or enter into it unless born again, 573, and note c. no receiving it. but as a little child, 236. better to enter into it with one eye, than with two eyes to be cast into hell, 172. great §§§ in leaving temporal advantages for its sake, I 1 Judges, remark on their succession, 425, hº Jºſé not, explained, S6, 88, 105. reflection on it, 186. should be more severe in judging curselves, than in judging 9thers, 176, and note c. Judging after the flesh, charged on the Pharisees, 186. reflection thereon, ib. c. Judgment, What to the nind, 121. Odvantage of its being well informed,85, 121. necessary to correct its mistakes, 490. x- Judgment sent forth to victory, how to be under- tood, 102. h. in , dangcrof judgment, what it signifies, 78, h, k. Christ came for judgment, 229. now is the judgment of this world, its signifi- gation, 259, g. the prince of this world judged, 309. iii, his humiliation his judgment was taken § 1 - y brethren of , b. See Joseph 9. the least in it greater than John the Baptist, 1. from his days it is preached, and every one presses into it, 218, many shall come from all parts, and sit down in it, 208, misery of seeing Qthers in it, and themselves thrust out, ib. the Pharisees told, that publicans and barlots would go into it before them, 265. should be taken from the Jews and given to others, 266. Christ says of little children, that of such is the kingdom of od, 236, c. bids, one that followed him go and preach the kingdom of God, 129, g. tells another, that no man looking back is fit for it, ib. k. says of the scribe, that he is not far from the kingdom of God, 273. the kingdom of God and his right- eousness to be first sought, 86, n. 201. happy are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom, 104. happy is he that shall eat bread there, 211, a. tho rich shaji hardly enter into its 238. easier, for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into it, ib. h. some that beard Jesus should not die, he fore they had seen it come with power, 165. the Pharisees ask when it should conne, 223. is not observed by many, while among them, 224. expected when Christ was going to his last passover, 250. signs of its being just at hand, 283. Christ would not eat any more of the passøyer, till it was fulfilled in the kingdom of God, 293. nor drink any more of the fruit of the vine, till he drink it new in the º of God, 30]...g. or till, the kingdom of God should come, 293. Joseph ºf Arimathea waited for the kingdom of God,342. Christ, after his resurrgction, Spake of the things relating to it, 361, 366. this the subject of Philip's preaching, 400. and also of Paul’s, 455, 461. who testified to the Jews the kingdom of God, 491, b. and preached it to all that came to him, 432 must enter into it through much tribulation, 432. Isaiah, saw Christ’s glory c. 261, his fifty- third chapter shamefully per verted, 403, i. passage from him quoted oftener than any other text of the Old Testament, 492, d. the Jews say he was sawn asunder, S25, h. g Israel, represented as lost sheep, 139, 158. Christ seat only to them, 158. the apostles restrained to them, 139. how God exalted them. in Egypt, 4:25, c. and endured their behaviour in the wil- deriness, ib. f. the twelve tribes, why they serve 5.4, 4S2. Paul a prisoner for the hope of Israel, Julius conveys Paul to Rome, 485. uses him with great civility in the voyage, ib. and when the ship ran aground, preyents, the soldiers from killing the prisoners, that Paul might be sayed, 488, h. delivers the Rººners to the captain of the pratorian, band, 490, m. Jupiter and, Mercury, how represented by the heathens, 430, g. supposed to have often descend- ed, in the likeness of men, ib. f. Paul and Bar- nabas taken for them at Lystra, ib. g. priests of Jupiter offer to sacrifice to them, ib. b. 431. occa- sion of the fable of Europa, being carried away by Jupiter in the shape of a bull, 489, h. Jurieu, Mrs; strange argument of his, 120, k. Just shall live by faith, 655, and note h. how the phrase is accommodated to the gospel salvation, 498, and note d. rº- * , º Justification, to be had by Christ, 427, r. to justify, what it sometimes signifies, 1, c. the import of the word, 506, a. refers not merely to external privileges, 510, a., but generally to the transac- tions ; the last day, 523, d., yet believers are sometimes said to be Justified, now, ib. it some- times signifies freedom, from the bondage of sin, 4, g. by faith and the jmputation of Christ's Italy, Paul shipped for that country, 485. ſtaitan band at Caesarea, remark on it, 41], a. Iturea and Trachogitis, their situation; 41. Juºh, the city where Zacharias dwelt, probably Hebron, 23, a. Bethlehem not the least among the princes of it, 36, h. the signification of the worſi (praise) referred to Rom.ii. 29. 504, g. . Judaizing teachers, why so solicitous to preyail on christians to be circumcised, 668, c. • C, Ci- had peculiar spleen against Paul and Barnabas, 577, d. imposed ceremonies on converted Gen- tiles, 659, c. why the apostles, sº strenuously opposed them, 654, c, d. 63S, i. 660, fºr Ju i.is, or Jude, account of him, fö3, f. 139, 304, e. 333, b. 33s, b, chosen an apostle, 103. sent forth 5] -> with the twelve, 139. inquires of Christ, how he righteousness reconciled, 508, e. *Juji ſãaiśst himself to them, 304 conjecture Justin, his notice of the beauty of Moses, 393, b. Öa his ºxpectations, ih. e. remarkable resem= | Justin Martyr, his dialogue.'with Trypho the Jew, blance bºyea, some passages in his Epistle and 378, i. shows how industriously the Jews endea— St. Peter's, 898, h. voured to propagate the story, that the body of Jadas iscarfot, account of him, 103.252, and note Jesus was stolen away, 35], e. and to represent. Kingdom of Christ, given up to the Father, 602, g. % is chosen an apostle, 103. sent forth' with the the christians as atheists, 4öi, a. his account of Kingdom of hea???, What it signifies, 41, h. 89, a. twelve, 139. Christ speaks of him as a devil, 155. i.º. Simon Magus assumed, 399,h. 108, f. 126, a. ohn declares it at hand, 4]. Justus, Paul preaches in his house, 451. HK - Karaites, remark on them, 197. g. 274, c. Kedron, Jesus goes over it with his disciples, 315, as does Jesus, 67, 7]... the apostles directed to declare the same, 139, entrange into it, how to be obtained, 78, J71, 172, is likened to various things, iè6, 12%, ibs, 75,333,330, 267, 28.388. the disciples, know the mysteries of it, 123. the yiolent take it by force, 111, f...,disciples ask, who is the greatest in it, 17]... men, how accounted the least or greatest in it, 78. the keys of it given to ºsº, g. the scribes and Pharisees shut it UlD, 2 ſ ). g . . . Kiss, customary in receiving guests; 115, g. the signal Judas appointed to distinguish Jesus, 319, b, c., betrays the Son of man with a kiss, ib., e. a religious rite borrowed from the Jews, why laid aside, 548, kº- explained, ib. e., kings desired to see what the Knatchbulls (Sir Nortons), his disciples saw, 19]. the apostles should be brought remarks, 21...g. 38 É. 42, kº.82, d. 156, g, h, 169, before kings, 141, d, e. 279, i. Paul to bear, the h; 204, as 252, e. à 1, g.,299, c. 307, f. 414, e. name of Christ before kings, 407, how well he 428, f. 432, d. 455, d. 464, d. - behaved before king Agrippa, 4S4. the multitude Knox, not a man, a Hebraism,23, d. , . . would make Christ king, #. 8, i. thy king cometh Knowing our Lord's will, and not doing it, con- sitting on an ass’s coſt, 254, 255, blessed be the sequence thereof, 203. happy they tilat practise. king, that cometh in the name of the Lord, 255. what they know, 295. - - - - - - - the Jews accuse Jesus to Pilate, as having said, Kngwledge, the conceit of it hinders, copyiction. that he is Christ a king, 327. is asked by Pilate, 230.perfection in it a character of the Messiah, if he were a king, ib., the Jews affirm, that 52, f. Christ knew what was in man, 56. and that making himself a king was to speak against he should suffer death, 319, f, his knowledge of Caesar, 332. the apostles charged with saying: the most minute fortuitous eyents, What it must there is another king, 445, d. §st speaking of do, 254, b. 292, b. his knowing all ; con- himself as king, what it illustrates, 289, c. S to it conjecture on his following. Chrisis...ib; f. g.ob- jects to the ex;xense in an Olºnting Čhrist's feet, 352. reflection thereon, 253, h. agrees to betray jiàº, 25,392, why taken notige of by each of the £ºngeſists, 231; b. baseness of his betraying him, 333 reflection thereon, 345. his treachery often jºinted at by Christ, 295, e. 296. Jesus declares, à: they were eating the paschal supper, that one at tºo will betray hitn, 299. John asks him who it gag, 297. Jesus points him out, ib. Judas asks if it was he, ib. goes, away to execute his pur- Jose, iff hardness of his heart, 298, appears to ave going out before the Eucharis! was instituted, § 3. a finished hypocrite, 304, d. bone of them jóst but him, 313, f. comes to the garden with a bjö of sāīāicts, 338, and betrays Jesus with a kiss, 319, e. why, Judas was not rather struck than Śiścius, when Peter drew his sword, 320, j."ºjecture on the time, of his death, 334, a. 343, a repents, and carries bagk the thirty pieces of silver, 343. hangs himself. ib., but, the rope §reaking, fails down, ib. . b. 368, f. reflections on iim,345,333, d, e. his misèrable end, a prover- iii’ form of cursing, 369, g. another apostle ghosen in his room, ib. m. remark on his apos- tasy, 369. Judas, surnamed Baº * Rºº. 436, x horts the breth Ten, g Jià. with whom Saúl lodged at Damascus; 406. &l. JºJº, & Eey of knowledge, taken away by the scribes, what it may signify, 198, l. & Reys of the kingdom of heaven, given to Peter, 163. conjecture on it, tº. g. º Kidder, (Bishop,) remark of his, 261, g. Kºnºhown to Christ's disciples, good effects of it, - - King going to acar, 213. emblem of what, ib, d. how * - - his obscrvations and Barsahas, goes with Paul and and note k. where he fessed by his disciples, 311. Peter appea - Palile; º King of the Jews, Christ inquired for as born such, for the sincerity of his love, 359. Jºgº º: #.º.º."; "... 35. Pilate asks him, ifié were so,327, and speaks Knowledge of persons continued aſter the present 㺠after him, ib. k.might perhaps be referred of him to the Jews as their king, 330, 333, who life, 219, e. & ºr ings f relati - ni : ºë ist, 23), e affirm, they have no king but Češa, 333. the Knowledge of divine things frºm reyelation, in- to by Christ, 23 J, 9; jiàº's mock him, as king of the Jews, 331, and stanges given by the author of its 447 the Great, king of it, 20, 35. Ar- 38. Pontius Pilate governor 476, a. is succeed- Jadea, Herod chelaus, king there: .# it. ii. Felix presides there, Knowledge of siń by the law,506, c. what kind shali be abolished, 593, g. the word of know- bid him, if he were so, says himself, 337, g. this ; the king of the jewº,336. 5 **** * * - Labourer, ޺i -edge, what, 590, e. 525, d. knowledge, wisdoin, and understanding, distinguished, 719, 3. L of his hire, i. 178. more la- bourers wanted in the spiritual harvest, 138, GENERAL INHDEX. Lazarus of Bethany, being sick, sends for Jesus, 241, who comes, 243. and raises li: in it on the dead, 244. what he inigiit do after_his resurrec- tion, 233, k. sups with Christ at Bethany, 232. n:any Jews corne thither to see him, 253. Chigi priests, consult how to kill him, ºb. the people bear witness to his resurrection, 255, no depend- * 985 I, it tº chil., taken tº by Christ, to teach his dis- ciples ; tım; ſity, 172, the benefit of receiving one of his litt fe ones, ib., Christ will not have his lit- tle ot:cs despised, 173, the highest angeis minister to them, ib. a. the Son of 1:3am is conse to save theme, 174, b. nor will the Father suffer then to perish; 174. - <º { /, C. . • - ence on what is slug ºvu for his house, 244, g. labourers in the vineyard, parable of them, 240, Lazarus in the parable, what the name signifies, and note a how to be applied, ib. 219, a. reflection on it, ib., dogs come and lick Lacedæmonian law about stealing, wrong, 689, n. his sores, ib. b. what is added in some versions, laconic style, a ſing instance of it, 857, d. ib. his happiness in death, ib. c. lady to wholin St. Jºhn wrote, who, 891, b. Learning, where happy, 463. | lamb of God that taketh a way the sil ôf'the world, Leaven hid in three measures of meal, 127, 207. 50, a 51. - - -- * * what an emblem of, ib. 11ambs, what they may signify, 359. - Leaven c; the Pharisees cautioned against by Lame, wait for a cure at the pool of Bethesda, 94. Christ, 161, d. what it signified, 52,198. * Lº - - Ingº y çured by Qhrist, 110, 159,257, f. by §eter, aying temporal advantages for Christ, good | Little chilc, and ye shall see me, what it refers to, 76, et seq. 380. Paul, 430, 431. by Philip, effects of it, 239. 3]{), a. the apostles, know not its meaning, ib. Little children brought to Christ, that he might lay his bands on them, 236, a. the disciples re- buked for opposing it, 230. Christ declares, that gf such is the kingdom of God...172, 236, c. and blesses them, ib. and note b. Christ vitidicates them on their crying, Efosan ird # to the Son { arid, 257. pleasure to be taken in seeing chil- dren pay a regard to Christ, 258. the care that ministers should take of then, where intimated, 399. the lame to be invited when a feast is made, | IAEbbeus. See Judas or Jude. their dulness the reiſ, ib. b. 21 1, 212. entering lame into life, how to be un- Clerc, M., his observations, 17, §: 18, a.39, n. Locke. Mr., his remarks, 65, r. 155, f. 204, b. 307, derstood, 172, k. • 7. a. 53, k. . 77, n. 134, a. 151, g. 166, e. a. 332, g. 4 amentations for the dead, what attended with, 177, iš, e. 240, k. 282, h. 31ö, a 31& 4 ºn Locusts caten hy John the º; 32, K. Logos, (the PWord,) how rendered by some, 18, a. the creation of all things by it, a Jewish dogtrine, ib. c. remarkable passage ºf Philo concerning it, ib. Christ assumes not this title, 262, b. I_omerius, obseryation of his, 219, a. - Long life Jºsed to those that bonour their parents, 696, b. Lord's day, 606, h. Lord's supper, cide Sacrament. . . Lost }. of money, joy on finding it, 214, e. Lgt, the destruction of Sodom in his days, an em- blem of what, 224. Lot's wiſe, why to be remem- bered, ib. - Lºts used in fixing, the offices, of the priests, 20, a. 184, a. R.325, 5.333, b. 374. b3%iº. 433, f. Left hand not to know what the right is doing, 82, e. Legion dispossessed by Christ, 131, remark there: on, ib. e. number of a legion, 320, m. legions of angels at Christ's command, ib. Legs of Jesus, why not broken, 34 • * º * * *y Lamp, § candle,) is not put under a bushel, 77, 12ſ, 125. lamp lights thee by its sprightly lºstre, force of it, 121, f. our lamps to be burning, 202, b. Lampe, Alr., remark of his, 425.h. Lamy, Mr., observation of his, 231, a. J. Laneet in a sponge, 593, g. - Leicester Manuscript, negligently collated, 102, d. Laodiceans, the Epistle to the Ephesians thought | Leighton, (Archbishop,) remark of his, 309, b. by some to be that which Paul wrote to them, Le Moyne, M., conjecture of his, 302, d. 492, g. the epistle from them what, 730, f, Lending, to whom no praise, 105. where we should Lardner, Dr., his obseryations, 31, as b. 38; £ 56, ently up. e. s • * h. 133, m. 144, i. 183, f. 242, d. 36%, d 332, f, L'Enfant, Mr., his remarks, 19, ). #: **ś - y : ,- a. 55, 5." 7 7 :- h. 334, b. 335, d. .387, g, h, .k. .408, S. 418, 3. . f.63, d. 113, i. 115, b. 118, d. 422, d, a. 423, i. 448, i. 451, k. .452, a. 214, c. 219, c. 282, h. 348, s. 366, a. 384, he 3S9, 393, ...”360, i.”4:2, "jjā, ś, źiš, i. 23, i. y 1. 465, e. 466, n. 497, a. 470, d, f. 474, a. 479, i, j. g. 369, l. inquiries by them, lioncured by Go $º, c.4%. 6." Sá, 5.195, thº, i. " " " " | #3; #36. Él. 3; ; ; ; #3, #| 3:... " * 5 (1 Oy. Uz GC, asea, 485, d. •r 454, b. 462, m. * † r * - JLorc God ºrith all thy heart, &c. the first command- List days, for what commonly used,371, t). Lepers cleansed by Christ, I10, not allowed to live ment, 27.2. what is signified by it, 192, c. ‘ī;"; the fast dispensation to the world, 76], (t. Ö $3; O. - - 1,aw of Moses, required the same spirituality of obedience as Christ, 7S, a.. not one jot shall pass from it, till all be effected, ib. b. c. 21S. spiri- tual sense of it to be regarded by us, 79. the Jews did not keep it, 397. all violence in judg- ment forbidden by it, 472, d. the law judges no man before it hear him, IS4, the testiinouy, of two men declareſ sufficient by it, ico. sin-offer- ings were appointed by it for smaller offences, 427, r. moral law viadicated from the giosses of the Jewish teachers, 78, 19. seripe's agcount of what is written in it, 192, b. Carist's answer about the first commandment of the law, 272. regard to the ceremonial liv, expressed by him, 87. Stephen charged with speaking blaspire- mously against it, 390. reilection, thereon, i9. a. the observation of it imposed on the Ger; tile con- verts, 434. Peter's disapprobation the regi, i9. with the other steps relating to, 433, d. 43, , a. in towns, 9}, b. 222. one cured by Christ, after J.gve thy meighbour as thyself, a command like to his seraion on the mount, 90, b, c, ten lepers it, 272. the force of this rest rained by the Jews, cleaased, 222, reflection thereon, 93,223. 8.1. Cºmitted in their syriagogues, 192, b. our de- Letters, which the Jews wºndered, Jesus should fectiveness in both these comiti; andments, 273. no understand, what, referred to, lºſ), a. esteemed religion can subsist without it, ib. the highest, part of literature, 425, d. Love, where it will be greatest, 115. the love of vi. Sea JMatthew. - many will grow cool, 280. and hate often signify Levites sent to ask John, who he was, 49. Levite only to preſer greatly, 526, g. love of Christ looks at the wounded man, and passes by, 193, bears is arcay, 623, c. love preferable to gifts, . hºw Barnabas might sell his estate, being a 532, 593. the properties of it, 593. the exhorta- evite, 383, b. - - • tion to pursuc it explained, 594, a. low it covers Lewd persons, IIopyot, 567, g. conversation pro- a multitutie of sins, 862, b. the common privi- perly called corrupt. 690, o. forbid, 726. and ail leges of christians should excite it, 502, f love of kinds of lewdness, j91, and liq: es e. f. g. Gcd, its beights, breadths, &c., an emphatical Liars have their portion in the lake of fire, 944, d. expression, GS4, b. 19xe to God more difficult Libations, adiusion to them, 709, a. 779. than to our brother, 886, d. Yet ſnay pèrinaps be Liberality, cautions against those evasions by more certai: ly discerneſſ, ib. h. yhich persons excuse the nºglect of it, 65S, d. Love of Christ, illustration of it, 339, l. having iberty, the right of private judginent strongly as- loved his own, &c. what an introduction to, 293, serted, 541, e. f. His love in desiring to eat the passover, 293. - * - - - - Liberties, who, 389, J. their dispute with Ste- Love to Christ, how shown, 304,305, the Špirit to 466, t. Paul accused as teaching contrary to the phen, 389, 390, and note a. - e given in proportion to it, 394, n. 305. and law, 466. the Jews prejudiced against him, on Life to be parted with for Christ, 143, lù.5. to be returns made by whom, 304, loving him, &c. that account, 463, vindication of him, -ič9, a. hated in regard to him, 212, b. He that hates it, what it may refer tº, 359, a. Peter’s modesty on his purification, 463. nature of his charge, 474, shall keep it, 258. he that finds it, loses it, mean- being asked by Christ abºut it, ih. 430. His defence, 479. . See Prophets. , , , ing thereof, T43, e. 165, 224, 25S. gaining the Love to each other, cricined by Christ to his dis- Law of God, some of his laws not to be disobeyed, whole world, no amends for the loss of it, 165, f. cipies, 298, 299, 307, and urged as his cunimand- though a greater, quantity of good ºight a rise nor ransom sufficient for it, ib. g. all opportuni- me:1t, 397. how given is a new commandment, thereby to our fellow-creatures, 595, f. ties to be taken to perfor in the duties of 242. 398, h. as he has ſoved them they should love one aw, withgut, any limitation, often menºs the Life of man consists not in abundance, 200. Christ another, 299, 307:, how merciful a command, Mosaic, 502, h. Sometimes the whole Qll Test a- has life in himself, 96, is come that we might | 398. by t!; is shall all men know that they are his ment, 505, i. Sometimes the ceremonial, moral, have life, 230, f. gave his life a ransom for many, disciples, 299. how we should remember it, 300. natural, and revealed, 506, b. a lºw being once 24S. his laying down his life a voluntary act, loving then that love us, no extraordinary broken, must for ever coudemn, 655, and nºte 231, c. 339, T. Jews would not come to him, that praise, Sl, 105. h. is not made for a righteous man, 754, e. Mo- they might have life, 97. Paul values not his life, gve to our enemies, required by Christ, S1, 105. saic law, was giyen, 439 years after the prºfilise so that he may finish his cºurse with joy, 46.1, d. See Fly emies. to Abraham, 656, b. entered, that the offence Life, how secured by mortifying the deeds of ihe Love-fetists, the ſoundatiºn ºf them,211, i. alluded might abound, 513. was added because of trails- body, 520. Liſc of God, what, GS, is nil note a. te, Sãs, a. coinfounded by the Corinthians with gression, 657, c., by the ministry of ilngels, ib. Life and in micrtality brought to lisht by the ges- the Lord's suijzer, 5S7, c. why laid aside, 87], c, d. in the hand of a Mediator, ib.e. was a gove- pel, 773, e - - - - * - 893, a. nant of works, yet coutained intimations of the Lifted up, what it signified, 259. as Mºses lifted | Lowººans Mr. remark cf His, SS, d. covenant of grâce, 529, c. was attended with a curse, as well as that given to Adam, 655, p. is called worldly elemenis, 659, a. weak ind poor elements, ió. d. yet restrained from sin more powerfully than the mere light of nature, 519. s. nevertheless, the heights of virtue attained under it were not by it, but by evangelical promises, ib. t. though not adapted in, its own nature to lead men into sin, 517. Sinful passions operated by it so as to bring forth death, ib. 5 is... I hrough the despair it introduced, 517. which discovers the exceeding sinfulness of sin- ib., the Mosaic law was intended for life, ſ \ .f. and would hiive justified if any law: " 'ould have geºc it, 657, and note g. yet is called the minis- tratiºn of death, 647, tils. ad, those titat were justified under it were not justified by it, 509, b. that by it is the knotcledge of sin, proves the broken state of human nature, 506, C. it is good if it be used lawfully, 754, d. iºds to Christ, 85S, is established by the gospel, 507. yet it has dominion only while it lives, 5 it, a... and ciris- tia us are deal to it by the body of Christ, ib. an.] in Ote C. [...awful occasions, when, destructive to us, 212. Law-suits, to be avoided, 79, §§ , , p. 105. . • Lawyers, account, of them, 192, 197; f, g. Tºjected the counsel of God, lil. one inquires of Christ, what he must do to inherit. eternal life, 192. asks, which is the first and great comman:lineºt, 272, a. woes denounced against them, with the reasons why, 197; g. 198, l., Christ asks, them, if it was lawful to heal on the sabbath-day, 210. Doctor of the law advises the Sanhedrim to let the apostles alone, 385. Laying on º rite early used in blessing young persons, 236, a little children brought to Christ, that he might lay his hands on them, 236. used, also it, miraculºus guº, & 74. l; 138, 207, 362,389, 401, 405, 407, 4:23, 439, 455, 489. 124 up the serpent, &c. 59. when they had liſted him up, what they should know, 187. when he was lifted up, would draw all men to him, 239. ight shines in darkness, 18, f. John 1:ot that light, 19. Christ the true Ligiit, ib. g. h. his life the Ligit of men, 18. a Light to lighten the Geniiles, 34,438. Christ declares himself the Light of the world, lsº, a. 226, 26.2. reflection thereon, Sö, b, he that follows him shali have the light of life, J.Sö, J87, 262. his disciples the light of the world, 77. their light should shine before men, ib. light not to be concealed, ii. 12ſ., not to be darkness, ºb. if thy whole body be full of light, &c., not well ren- dered, ib. e. the light with us, but a little while, 259. why ought to be improved, ib. use we should make of it, i22, 260. danger of abusing it, 121, 122, 26). the light from heaven, that shone round Saul, remark on it, 405, e. was attended with the appearance of a human form, 405, Paul is sent to the Gentiles, that they may turn from dark- ness to light, 483. shows that Christ should be a light, both to the Jews and Geatiles, ib. Lightfogt, Dr., his remarks and observations, 33, e. 47, b. 5.3 h. 63, g. 63, a. 69, n. 7 S, h. 98, h - g. 109, d. 117, q. 156, f. 161; b. 190, f. 193, ſ. 207, c, d. 219, as 226, b. 337, f. 235, h. 3+2, c. 945, b, e, 959, f. 263, c. 269, c. 27.1, e. 272, a. 274, a, f. 275, c. 325, c. 343, b. 344, d. 350, k. 351, f. 357, b, c, 368,.e. 379, c. 376, a. 380, e. §§3. $S$ 3. Aid, e iii, i. 337, X. 333, d. 335, e.,467, o. 473, k.4S9, h. Light-houses, christians compared to them, 70S, i. Likë, the phrase it is like how used often, 112, i. 126, b, 267, a. Liligºlotled in a purer white than Solomon, 85, l. X29 . . Limborch, his remarks, 49, c. 79, r. 110, b. 229, f. 36S, f. - 'ſ 3. k 3 2, 451, h. 453, f b. 400, i. 403, i. 414, h. 424, 1. - y a • * - Linacer, observation of his, 78. Lusitis of Cyretº, one of the teachers at Antioch, #23. and Göe of the first preachers there, 417, a. Lºretiºs is a remarkabić iliustration of Rom, i. 22, 499, k - - > Litko, account given of him, 366, a. supposed to be one of the sevcnty, 177, a. thought by some to be one of the two disciples to whom Christ appeared as they were going to Emmaus, 353, c. 1;is attendance upen Paul, 439, f. 459, f. 485, c. remark thereon, 491. what histories of Christ he may refer to in the preface to his Gospel, 17, a. criticism on his order, ib. g. 4S, Q. 71, k. 90, it. 1 iſs, c. 117, l. l 19, d. 12}, g. 122, a. 294, b. 346, h. variations from it, l 17, I. 119, d. 122, a. 196, as 234, a. 294, b. 346, h. how he relates several things, 9}, a. 122, a. 264, d. mentions only one doemoniac, where Matthew speaks of two, 130, a. Qbservation on , his treatment of physicians, 135, c. is the only evangelist that gives an account of Christ's sending out the seventy, 177, b. gives a large account of several occurrences in Christ's last circuit through Gali- lee, i91, a. his account of Christ's curing, the blind may heat Jericho, reconciled with Matthew and Mark, 248, a. why he on its some passages, 267, a. 385, c. relates the circumstances of Christ's examination more distinctly than Mat- thew and Mark, 325, m. his account of Christ's commanding his disciples to wait, for the Spirit, where placed wrong,357, d. is ; liowed to have writtch the Acts, 386, A., his accuracy, 4ll, a. 423, i. 451, R., 467, a. 489, g. Rever speaks of uncircumcised persons as proselytes, 4 II, b. but gives them the character of aeſłouci'ot, 447, c. when he wrote both his Gospel and the Acts, 492, e, the anonymous brother mentioned, 2 Cor. viii. 18. 630, a high character of him, ib. not a Jew, 730, e Lunatics §ured by Christ, 75. Junacy and posses- sion distinct cases, ib. k. 180, d. remark on the 986 GENERAL INDEX. colne himself, and wait upon them, 202, d, t, ut will surprise the wicked servant, and cut him asunder * y S- {}3, J. 28 Matthew "cailed by Christ, at Capernaum, 92. makes a feast for Christ, where many publicans eat with him, 133, a. is desirous of introducing other sinners to him; 134. chosen an apostle, 103. and sent forth with the twelve, 139. is more exact than Luke, in the series of his story, 71, k. his order is sometimes to be changed, 91, a. 116 c. 129, a. 252, a, c.327, f. 33), a. speaks of two daemoniacs, where Mark and Like mention only one, 130, a.. uses the plural number for the sun- gular, §. h. criticism on his account of Judas's death, 334, a. 343, a, b. 368, f his gospel seems to have been written some years after Christ's resurrection, 351, e. Matthias, chosen and received into the number of the apostles, 369, no reason, to conclude from his name he was the same with Nathaniel, ib, m. Maundrel, Mr., conjectures and accounts of his, #73, at 64, k. 76, b. 77, o. 166, a. 244, g. 340, n. - º - - - - - Meanness of Christ's condition, should not offend UlS, - * - Mleasure of wheat for a penny, denotes a scarcity, 3. e. * * * Measures of the ancients, not certainly known, 54, h. contents of several Jewish measures, ib., 217, b. Measuring ourselves by ourselves, one of the greatest sources of pride, 633, f. Mºst of Jesus, to do the will of him that sent him, his flesh meat indeed, 153, g. the meat which erishes not to be laboured for, 151, a. 152 p - Mede, (Mr. Joseph,) his remarks, 70, d. 73, c. 74, l. 4 83, m. 271, f. 3i:4, a. 344, d. 354, g. 389, 3 e. d. 428, f. Mediator, is not the mediator of one, 657, f. See former, 168, b. the worst kinds of lunacy, what thought to proceed from by the Jews, 180, d. one that, was lunatic, and possessed with a dumb and deaf spirit, brought to Christ, 168, 169. Lusts, how said to choke the word, 125, b, the most beloved to be mortified, 80. Luther questioned the authority of St. James's Epistle, but changed his Qpinion, 835, note. . Luxury and extravagance forerunners of national ruin, 224, c. luxuries of life heighten future torments, 220. . Lycaonia, where it lay, 429, h. Paul and Barnabas preach there, 430. language of the inhabitants, , 8. Lydda, where situated, 409, c. Peter cures AEneas there, 499. and, all that saw him turn tº the Lord, 419. is called from thence to Joppa, ib, f. ydia converted by Paul, 440. Lying, forbid to christians, 689, k. some of the best heathen Imoralists allowed it in some cases, ib. Mlr. Woollastou's notion it, 944, d. Lysanias, whether sqn to Herod the Great, 41, d. ysias, rescues Paul from the yiolence of the Jews, #66 gives him leave to speak to the people, 468 orders him to be examined by scourging, 470, d., but desists from it on bearing he was free of Roune, ib. f. rings Payil before the Sanhedrim, 471. sends a guard to fetch him back, 472., is in- formed of a conspiracy of the Jews to kill Paul, 73. on Myllich he sentis him to Caesarea, 474, the Jews follow him thither, and complain of Paul as a notorious offender, whom Lysias had forced out of their hands, 475. the cause adjourned till Lysias should come down, 477. - Lystra, Paul and Barnabas flee there from Ico- nium, 430. cure a cripple there, ib. the people there persuaded to stolje Paul, 432. who, being left for dead, recoyers, and departs to Derbe, ib. his return tiere, ib. comes thither with Silas, 433. M Maccabees, mention inade therein of offering sacrifices for the souls of the slain, 270, b. Macedonia, Paul preaches there, 439, e. .440, g. oes from thence, 444, 445. Silas and Timothy eave it, 450, e. Paul thinks of returning through it to Jerusalem, 45ö, a. goes there, 459, a. Titus comes there, i5. b. Paul quits it, and returns there again, 459. sails from thence to Troºs, ib., e. *Iacedonian churches made a collection for the christians at Jerusalem, 547, d. - Madness not charged upon Christ by his friends, 109, b, Jews pretend he is mad, 180, d. 1S9, a. 31. Festus charges Paul with madness, 3S3, {1, O. - - Magdala, its situation, 116, a. Christ comes into the coasts of it, 160. , - - Magi, a title, to whom first given, 3.5, a. 399, g. See PWise Jºſen. - ,”- - Mºjº ºfts, burnt at Ephesus, 456. their great Will U16, 20. K. • Magistrates, why called, gods, 233, g. their office not contrary to the will of Christ, 424, i. are not to be evil spoken of, 47.2. worthy deeds done by them to be thankfully acceptetl, 476. have no right to digtate in matters of consciences...{23. scourge and imprison Paul and Silas at Philippi, 441. but the next morning corne themselves, and ray them to depart, #43. Jason... and others rought before the magistrates at Thessalonica, 445. happy those of them who will not submit to mean compliances, 4S0. . . - - - - e. Magistrates, (vide Authorities,) christians required to honour the emperor, though a persecutor, 57, d. • Mahometans contrive to be catched at prayer, Mained, as amazing instanges as any of the power of Christ, 160, a. where taken in a more extensive signification, 21 J, and note i. entering into iife maimed, how to be understood, 172, k. Maius, his remarks and criticisms, Äſſätt. xxviii. 345, a, e. 339, [. Malabarian converts, the poorest of the people, 557, k. a remark of one of them on the phrase, children of God, 831, a. Malchus, his ear cut off by Peter, 320, 1... Jesus heals him, ib. n. relation of Maichūs charges Peter with having seen him in the garden, 323. Malefactors, where usually executgd, 3:34, b. two led to be crucified with Jesus, ib. Jesus crucified in the midst, as the most infamous of the three, 335, one of them, reviling him, is rebuked by the other, 337, h. who begs Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom, 337. reinark thereon, ib. i. 338. * - Malice of others, reflection on it, 101. Malta, St. Paul's shipwreck, theſe, at least the fourth be suffered, 637, c. See Jiſciita. . Mammon, Syriac for riches, 85, c. no serving God and Manamon, 85,218. friends to be made with the unrighteous mammon, 2.17; e. the unfaithful in it will not be intrusted with the true riches, 18. Man, the old and new, 689, f, of sin, understood by some of the unbelieving Jews, 747, e. . Man of the mountain, allusion to his office in the blessing pronounced on him that watch eth and keepeth his garnents, 935, e. - Manáen, one of the prophets at Antioch, 423, d. and probably one of the first preachers there, 3. Manger of Christ, its dignity, 33. Manna, boasted of by, the Jews, as bread from heavén, 151. their fathers ate of it, and are dead, 53. and note k. a surprising circumstance re- lating to its descent, 629; f. Manne, Mr., his observations.33, b. 36, n. 37, c. 38, l. 41, 8. 55, d; C. 68, d. 93, d. 95, 8. 146, b, €. 2 C- - - JMansions, a proper word to signify the heavenly abodes, 302; g. in my Father's house are many Ina InSiOnS, º Mºn; worn by the Jews, where referred to, 81, Tl . 7 * > * Marçus Antoninus, how he speaks of himself, 423, g. Mark the evangelist, not j. Mark, an intimate companion of Peter, 422, b. 865, m. his gospel no abridgment, of Matthew, 130, a. 168, a. more cir- cumstantial in some things than the other evan- gelists, 16S, a. 237, a. mentions only one daemo- niac, where Matthew speaks of twº, 130, a. his account of Christ's purging the temple, a different fact from that related by Matthew, 256, c. 262, a. his order where to be followed rather than Mlat- thew's, 253, a. where different from Matthew and Luke, 256, e. uses the plural number, for the singular, 337, h., Peter said to have persuaded him to it, and to have reviewed it, 107, i. 316, d. remark thereon, 316, d. 322, d. Mark, sister's son to Barnabas. See John Mark. Mark of the Lord Jesus Christ, what, 670, e. of the beast, what, and what it alludes to,930, m. Markius, conjecture of his, 275, d. Marriage, neither allows of divorce nor polygamy 234,235.objected to as not expedient,335. 5ut all cannot live single; ib, goodness of Providence to be acknowledged in it, ii. and care taken to fulfil its, engagements, ib. bridegroom's expressing his delight in his bride, supposed by some to allude tº a ceremony in the Jewish marriages, 60, e. the blessed when they rise from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage, 271. its incon- veniences, 574, e, f. yet not discouraged in ge- neral, 571, b. 574, b. nor second marriages, 758, a. 764, i. but with unbelievers, 572, 626, and notes; a mystery relating to Christ and his church exhibited by it, 696, f. Marriage-feast, parable of it, 267, b. 268, f, h. what was intended by ii, 268. Martha entertains. Jesus, 194. who rebukes her ex- Cessive care, i5. her interview with Jesus on the §§h of Lazarus, 241. waits on Jesus at supper, 92. - Martyrs; how supported in their sufferings, 397, n. their blood the seed of the church, 418. martyrdom not to be rushed upon, 141: - Mary, (Virgin,) whose daughter, 30, n. her mira– gulous conceptiºn of Jesus foretold by an angel, 22. her visit to Elisabeth, 23. her song of praise, 24. Joseph thinks of divorcing, her, 27, b. but afterwards takes her home, 27. knew her not till she had brought forth her son, the first-born, ib. uncertain whether she had more children after- wards, ib. f. 137, d. goes with Joseph to Beth- lehem, 31, e. where Jesus is born of her, 31. and being visited by the shepherds, 32. on hearing what was told them by the ange!, keeps all these things in her heart, ib. her purification at Jeru- salem, 33. where Simeon tells her, that a dart should pierge through her soul, 34. this most signally fulfilled, 338, a. might probably return from thence to Bethlehem, 34, Q: 35, p. flees with Joseph and her child into Egypt, 37. re- turns and settles at Nazareth, 38. goes with Jesus to the Passover at Jerusalem, 39. and missing him in returning home, goes back and finds him in the temple, 40., expostulates with him about it, ib. does not understand his answer, ib. g. re- turns to Nazareth, and keeps his sayings in her heart, 40, is present, with Jesus at the mar- riage in Cana, 53, b. tells him of their wanting wine, 53. absurdity of addressing her, 54. goes with Jesus and his brethren to Capernaum, 55. desires to speak with him, but cannot conne at him for the crowd, 121. See JMother. Was living at Nazareth when Jesus preached there, 137. stands by him when he is crucified, 338. is consigned by him to the care of John, ib. nothing further recorded concerning her, except her con- tinuing with the disciples in praying after Christ’s ascension, ib. a. 368. but is reported to have died with Joha at Ephesus, 338, as Mlary, the wife of Cleopas, different from the mother of Zebedee's children, 341, b. the mar- riage at Cana probably at her house, 53; b. stands observing where His body was laid, joins in pro- viding spices to embalm it, 342. visits the sepul- chre with other women, 347, 349. See Women. Mary Magdalene, why so called, 116, a. whom thought to be, ib. p. 241, a. sever, dacmons cast out of her, 116, b. 349, attends Jesus in his pro- gress through Galilee, 116. stands by when he is crucified, 33S, 341. and observing where his body was laid, joins in providing spices to embalm it, 342. sets out very early the first day of the week, 345. and coming to the sepulchre, finds it open, 346. on which she runs bäck, and alarms Peter and John, ib. i. returns and looks into the sepul- chre, 347. sees Jesus himself, and takes him for the gardener, ib. q, r, who discovering himself to her, bids her not touch him, 348, s. but to go and tell his brethren he was risen, ib. t. thus he first appeared to Mary, Magdalene, 349. who tells the disciples of it, 350. s - - Mary of Bethany, wh9, 116, b. 24), a. is visited by Christ, 194. preferred to Martha, ib, sits weeping on the ground after the death of Laza- rus, 243, d. but hearing Christ was come, rises and goes out, 243. her interview_with Christ, 244, anoints his feet at Bethany, 252. for which Judas censures her, ib. but Christ commends her, 253. reflections on her love to him, ib Mary, the mother of John Mark, the disciples meet at her house º 420. Masius, a conjecture of his; 352, g. - Massey, Dr., his remarks, 239, l. 243, e. 259, g. . JMaster, how rather to be expressed, 135, h. a title not to be affected, 274. onc is our Jºſaster, even Christ, remark on it, ii. i. the master of a house will watch, if he know when the thief will coing, 202, 285. if he find his set vants watching, will by when Jesus was crucified, 338, b. 34], b. and J}{oses and Christ. Medicines, reflections, on them, 94. Mediterranean Sea, Philip preaches on the coast of it, 404, sailing there hazardous, after Sep- tember, 485, e. furious kind of winds there, 486, g. Meekness to be shown under affronts and injuries, $1, m. happiness promised, to the meek, 76, how Christ declares himself to be meek; 95 Melchisedec, a type of Christ, 809, Šjó. how. with- out father and mother, ib, b. the account in He- brews of his receiving tithes of Abraham, recon- ciled with that in Genesis, S09, a Melita, or Malta, Paul shipwrecked there, 489, a. the inhabitants, why called barbarians, ib. b. conclude Paul to be a murderer, ib. d. but after- wards take him for a god, il. f. the cures wrought there by Paul, 489. reflection thereon, 490. Paul departs thence, 489. \{enandrians, who, S76, b Mercury. See Jupiter. . - Mercy preferred to sacrifice, 99, g; 133; mercies received to be thankfully owned; 223. the mergi– ful shall obtain mercy, 76. merciful as God, 106. Merit, never to be claimed in any thing we do, 221. Messengers of the churches not diocesan bishops, 0, c. 710, d. Messiah, expected by the , Jews at , the time of Christ's coming, 20, d. 34, m. and looked for as the Son of God, 47, d. spoken of by the Jews as he that was coming, 110, c. expected also by the Samaritans, 65, q. many signs marked out of the time of his coming, 161, a. was to be born at Bethlehem, 36, 183. and to come of the seed of David, 183, 373. and was accordingly expected as the Son of David, 116, 273: the Jews' suppo- sition of his coming, 181, a. their opinion of his death, 259. represented as the Light of the world, J$6, a. intinations given of the peaceful state of his kingdom, 204, c. the glories of his kingdom, how considered by the pious Jews, 302, e. John owns that he was not the Messiah, 49,60, 61. and refers then to Jesus, 50. Andrey, tells Peter they had found the Messiah, 51. Philip declares the same to Nathaniel, 52. who is convinced of it, ib. f. Jesus acknowledges that he was the Mes- siah, 65, r. is cautious of owning if to the Jews, ib. yet gave some intimations of it, 120, h. which many understood, 227, i. daºmon:s acknowledge him as such, 73, 101, 131. is cautious of receiving the title from them, 74, e, 102. two of John's dis- ciples sent to ask him, whether he was the Mes- siah, I 10. Jesus refers them to his miracles for an– swer, ib., the people regard him as such, 484, i. many follow him with secular views, 122, 150, his own disciples look for a temporal §º: 48, k. 171,247,279, d. 294,302. and did not give up their expectation of it to the day of his ascen- sion, 279, d. 367. when they ask, if he would now ºrd the Kingdom to is rael, 363 367, g. many believe on him, and say, When the jièssiah C 0771 eS can he do greater miracles 3 182. Some conclude him the Messiah, 183. but others object to his coming out of Gililee, ib., his, sufferings, not in- consistent with his being the Messiah,320, p.354, g. Jesus was known by his apostles to be the Mles- siah, 154. Peter confesses him as such, ib. 163. he charges his disciples not to tell as yet that he was the Messiah, iii. owns himself tobě so to the blind man, 229, e. Martha professes, to believe him such, 243. the Sanbedrim ask if he were the Mes- siah, 324. (with what view, the question was put, i.e.) being adjured to tell them, he owns it, 325, g. je jews accuse him as saying he was Messińſ, 337. Jesus preached as the Messiah by Peter,373. and by Paul, 407,450, who proves that the Ales- siah ought to suffer, 445. A pollos shows that Je- sus is the Messiah, 453. the Messiah first intro- duced as speaking in the sixteenth psalm, 373, f, i. the notion of two Messiahs, 110, c. 181, a. Michael disputed with the devil about Mloses's body,897 ; J} , 1 ; K. . . - • - Midnight, absurd opinion of some concerning it, 287, b. º Afficius, Paul touches there, 460, and sending for GENERAL INDEX. father of Publius cured by Paul, 489, the miracles of the apostles' days not now to be expected, 456. Miracles might be wrought by those who shall at last be rejected as workers of iniquity, 89. Pro- digies shown by false prophets, no reason against admitting miracles as a proof of doctrines, 282, † X. JMiracles of Jesus Pindicated, an excellent treatise, 5 (1. 3 J = 1 --> I y b - Miraculous powers, (cide Spiritual gifts and ...Apostolic rod,) not confined to the apostolic age, 848, e. might be lost, 642, f. - Mirror, the proper import of £aom Tpov, 594, i. fine allusion to one, 2 Cor. iii. 17. 618, and note e. Misfortunes befall the best of mankind, 637, c. Mission of Christ, how confirmed, 98. See Wit- 72.82.S.S. - Mute, the value of it, 205, h. two mites bestowed by a poor widow, #5. Mitres worn by bishops, what supposed to allude to, 370, c. Mitylene, Paul come there, 460. Mnason of Cyprus entertains Paul, 464, d. . Moabites not fo enter into the congregation of the * * a . Modération of Pauls remark on it, 484, Modesty of Christ, 90, e. 136, m. 159, Mºre, Dr; his remarks, 259, 2US, g. . * * Mortality swallowed up of life, 632, d. Mortification of the most beloved f Mountain on whic Mount Gerizim. - - Mount of Qlives, Jesus retires thither, 184. makes lord, how to be understood, 28, d. the Israelites never to seek their peace or prosperity, 81, r. Model of doctrine to which christians are delivered, D. - #2, d. 244 É reſſection, thereon, 244, modesty of the sacred istorians, 439, Moloch, what he might represent, 396, e. Money, the apostles directed to provide none for their journey, 139, the seventy receive the same direction, 177. yet own, they wanted nothing, 301. Money-changers, why they sat in the temple, 55. driven out by Christ, 257,262. Moral evils proceed from the . 157. inference drawn therefrom, 15S. remainders of moral sense even in the worst of men, 100, d Moral Philosopher, passage of Eäsebius appli- cable to him, 19, i. - 5. 275, J. 316, b. 338, a. 339, h. 492, e. Morrow, unreasonableness of anxiety for it, 86. to-morrow and the third day, what it signifies, - * usts required, 82, 172. necessity of it, I { }. g • *: - e Mosaic sacrifices, their use, 814, f, dispensation refers to the gospel, b. e. is a shadow, of it; 817, flººd to death those that wilfully violated it, 3 C Moses, read in the synagogues every sabbath-day, ... the scribes and Pharisees sat in his chair, 274, a the law given by him, 45, e. boasts of the Jews concerning him, 151. appears with Elijah at the transfiguration, 166. allowed the use of divorces to the Jews, 234 showed that the dead are raised, 3%i. our flord's proof of it, ib. f sai by Jesus to have wrote of him, 98. and to accuse the Jews for rejecting him, ib. i. they boast of being his disciples, 228, c. but were inexcusable in professing a regard to him, and not believing the mission of Jesus, ib. d. 229, if Moses and the B.º. are not, believed, &c., 220, g. Jesus eginning from Moses, interprets concerning himself, 354, g. Moses spake of him as a prophet, 378,395, a reference thereof, 378, i. Peter warns the Jews of their infidelity in the very words of Moses, ib. k. Stephen accused of speaking blas- Flº. im,390, and note a crime of srael in rejecting Moses when sent as a deli- yerer, 393, c. , his beauty, ib. b. his learning, 94, d. his mightiness, ib, e, f when God would have delivered them by his hand, the Jews thrust him away, ib. § h. but though renounced, God makes him a deliverer, 395, k, this is he that prophesied of Christ, ib. a. and was in the assembly in the wilderness when the law was given, ib., b. yet they rejected him, and fell into idolatry,396, and note c. the believing Jews pre- judiced, against_Paul as teaching to apostatize from. Moses, 465, c. Paul testifies he had said nothing but what Moses had foretold, 483. a fine allusion to , the shining of his face, 618, f. the mediator of the Sinai-cqYenant, 657, e. which could not set aside the Abrahamic, because he was not the mediator of it, ib., f some remark- able stories told of him by Josephus, $24, f. what is meant, by the reproach of Christ which he preferred, ib.,g. what the recompence of re- ward to which he had respect, ib. h. Michael's dispute about his body, 897, h. Mote and beam in the eye, what they may signify, { º M. of Christ cannot come at him for the crowd, 121, 122, he declares those to be his mother and brethren that hear his word and do it, 122. his design therein, İb. h. i Mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, (different from Mary the mother of James the ess,) 338, b, petitions Jesus that her two sons might sit at his right and leſt. hand, in his king- dom, 247, beholds the crucifixion, 338, - ). - Mother-in-law shall differ, with her son’s wife, remark on it, 142, c. 204, d. h Christ was transfigured, con- jectures concerning it, 166, a. mountains may be removed by. faity 169: . . See Geriz. m. {{87 the elders of the Ephesian church, 461,.a. takes | his leave of them in an affectionate, discourse, 461–463. after which he proceeds on his voyage, 463. Milº his remarks, 102, d. 184, a. 185, d. 344, (l. 2 §. JMillennium, 94), a. 942, b, conjecture on it, 223, d. Millstone better hanged about a person’s neck, than offend one of Christ's little opes, 172, f, g, ilto:), opinion of his, 235, f. his use of the word except, 313, f. - e Mincha, what, 691, d. some think Cain only pre- sented this, Šči.e. - inisters, their duty, &c. 22, 41, i. 51, 58, 61, 66, and note d. 68, 72,73, 75, 87, f. 91, 102, 104,118, 3, 127, b. 28, 129, k. 134, 133,148, 153, 158, w - y 173, 177, 178, 188, 3. 2: {), 903 }). 204, 2 I 1, 2 (2, 230, and noted. 235, 256, 265, 270, 286, 292, 309, d._328, 358, 359, . b. 330, 353, 377, 379, 3:1, 3:3, 335, 389, e., 39), 410,415,429, 431, 433, 437, 43S, 440, 444, 446, 454, 456, 462, h. 463, 467, 471, 473, 479. - - -> Mlinisters, (See Bishop,) their maintenance, 578. an amiable pattern for them, 735. are to preside over the church, 742, a. 833, a... how they nay give their account without groaning, 833, c. what oss they may sustain if their work be burnt, 561, c. ought to be holy men, 687, l. grave and vene- rable. 715. f. to preserve peace and charity, as well as orthodoxy, 687,. o. should rebuke with severity, yet, long-suffering, 786, c. some think they are forbid second marriages, 758, a. 764, i. the salvation of their bearers may have an influ- ence on their own, 763, i. the right of people to choose their ministers vindicated from some ob- jections, 774, e. 779, c. Ministry, the divine goodness to be acknowledged in the settlement of a christian, ministry, 433, Paul's appeal, how faithfully he had discharged his ministry, 461, h., declares he is ready to lay .iown his life to fulfil it, 461, d. Minstrels, See Flute-players. - Micacles of Christ, infimation of them given by him to Nathanie), 52, h. his first public one wrought at Cana, 54, l. had probably wrought private ones before, ib., the particulars of many in of transmitted to us, 56, R. 69, m. cure of the iyo').leman's son mentioned as a second miracle, 63, h. more beneficial ones wrought by Christ in one afternoon, than by any of the pro- lºbets in all their lives, 137, Q. parallel between those of Moses and Christ, 229, f. Christ's mira- cles discovered him to be approved of God, 372, q. must haye been seen with astonishment, 137, 149, i. 159. brought many to believe, 56, 244, 2.53. were a specimen of the power he claimed, 75, h. are often, referred to as a proof of his pmission, 97, 233, 303, Nicodemus's acknow- ledgment concerning them, 57. John’s disciples referred to them for answer, whether he was the Messiah, 110, and note h. Jews expected to see them, 67, f, where the evidence of revela- tion is not attended to, the heart may still be hardened under them, 229, and note g. 24.4, k. how unbelief prevented Christ from working them, 69, m. 138, g, what great events might have been accomplished by them, had he, set up for king, 148, i. his passing unknown through the midst of his enemies miraculous, 70, p. 190, 233. his cures often performed at . a distance, 67, 6s, 103, 159. and always in the kindest manner, 109, I 10, e. actions or means sometimes used in working them, that cannot be accounted for, 159, e. 162. the most improbable in such a case not to be objected to, 139, e. % ostentation in them, 90, e. 242, d. 244, g. fre- quently directed the concealing them, 90, 137, Íñ9, 162, but they were commonly the more pro- claimed, 9%), 137, 159. miracle of the loaves, 147. bower manifested in it, 149, k. Soon forgot by }. disciples, 149, was the reason of the multi- tude following him, 150. another miracle of the same kind, 160. the remembrance of them pressed on his disciples, 162. Some, so great and benefi- cial, that no evil agent performed them, 227, g. people question whether the Messiah could do greater, 182. Sanhedrim acknowledge that he wrought many, 245. miracles, multiplied by Christ in his last visit to Jerusalem, 257, f. the Jews still so hardened as not to believe, 3 ºi- transforming power must attend them, or they have no effect,489, Jesus alone invested with the power of working them whenever he pleased, 308, i. meditation on their number and variety, 16). what pleasure must have filled the happy subjects of them, 161 satisfaction of Jesus in smrveying them, ib., the apostles empowered to work them, 103, 139. wrought many miragles in their progress, 143, give an account of them to Jesús, 146., the Seventy sent out with power to be:..] the sick, 178. give an accoutit, at their return, that even daºmons, were subject to them, 191, power of working them promised to them that believe, 362, p. not to be used for ostenta- tion, ib. T. Jésus tells his disciples they should do greater works than he had done, 303, a power which the apostles could not exercise at all times, 01, d. 436, q. observable difference between Christ and them in the manner of working them, 409, a. attempt of performing them in public, a remarkable instance of faith, 263, b. further remark thereon, ib: many mirackes are wrought by the apostles, 375, 384, the sigk recovered by the shadow of Peter, 384. Philip works many miracles in Samaria, 399, 400, k. why Peter wrought no miracle on his first preaching to the Gentiles, 414, h. many wrought by Paul and Barnahas at Iconium, 429, 430, extraordinar jºij wrought by Bauſt º: 455. sick cured at a distance by handkerchiefs, &c. carried from his body, ib. f. evil spirits cast out, 455. the exorcist Jews beaten by a daemoniac, ib. the Mourners, where they sat, 243, d. Mouth s 106, I d. 228. avoided | his public entry from thence into Jerusalem, 254, and note a tells his disciples, as he was sitting on the mount, what would be the signs of his coming, 278, et seq. teaches by day, in the temple, and lodges at the mount by nights. 29). goes with his disciples to the mount, 30 l ; b. comes to a garden at the foot of it, 315, a. where he is betrayed by Judas, 3.18. takes his disciples to the boundaries of Bethany on the mount of Qlives, 363, a. and thence ascends to heaven, 364., mount. Olivet, whence, he ascended, how far distant from Jerusalem, ib. c. §§ h. h - a DDy 1 hose that mourn under a sense of sin, 76, f. łº. eaks out of the abundance of the heart, - 8. what comes out of it defiles a man, 157, and note a. - Much required where much is given, 233. reflec- tion thereon, 204. Multitude. receive the baptism of John, 42. ask him what they shall do, 43. Herod rest rained by the ſcar of them from killing John, £2. Christ reminds thern of their regard to John, 11 J. fºllºw Christ from all parts, 75, 90, 10]... press with eagerness to hear him, 75, 90, J03, 1:5. give him not time to eat, 108, J46, their crowds, 19 S. stay with him several days together, 123, b. Jºë, c. are astonished at his doctrine, Š9, 253, 27J, hear him with pleasure, 273. carry diseased per- sons to him, 74,75, 150, wonder at his miracles, 159, 170, .248. have different, opinions of Hjn, 179, 183,231. afraid to speak favourably of Him, 180, I. think him a good man, ib. look upon him as a prophets 183., call him a seducer, 179; say, he is possessed, 180, d. 231. are despised by the Pha- risees, 183, i. rejoice jn the glorigus things he did, 207. attend him with hosannahs at his pub- lic entry, 255, 256. declare him to be the pro- phet, ib., hear him attentively, 257, i. 263; 291. the fear of them restrains the Jewish rulers from destroying him,257, 263,267. Judas contrives to betray him in their absence, 292. are persuaded to preſer , Barabbas to him, 330. gry tºt, that Jesus might be crucified, ib., 333. insult him on the cross, 336,337. are alarmed at the prodigies attending his death, 340. inference drawn there- ſigm, tº r, little ground to value their applause, 330, 433. should be thankful that we are not ex- posed to their rage, #$. Munster, his remarks, 43, d. 273, e. Murder, of the innocent, reflection on it, 246. suf- fered by Christ, 325. killing the servants of Christ thought acceptable to God, 309, b. 4.3. design of it approved by the jewish rulers, 473, k. 474. Murderer, preferred to the Prince of Life, 377, b. au}, why thought a murderer, 489, b. Musgovites, their motion about a bishop's marriage, x 4 ORC, d. - Mustard seed, one of the least of all seeds, 127, c. said to begome, a tree, ib. d. 128, 207, used as an emblem of faith, 169, g. Myra, Paul comes there, 485. Myriads of people crowd to hear Christ, 198, a. some of whom might be afterwards converted, 202, e. myriads of believing Jews at Jerusalem denote a great number, 465, b. Mysia, Paul travels through it, 439. Mystery, how far the calling of the Gentiles was a mystery, 682, e. how hid in God, 683, g, Mºjº: or impure heathen rites alluded to, C92, . 713, a. 715, b. . . Mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, granted to some, 113, 123. Naaman cleansed by Elisha, 69. Naim, account of it, 109, d. there, 109. Naked, who said to be so, 358, f. Name of a child, the father's office to give it, 21, e. usually given at the circumcision, 25, a how to be given in baptism, ib. Name of a person; what often put for, 56, i. 141, f...what intimated in it when applied to God of Qhrist, 59, h;..ywhatever is asked in the name of Çhrist, he will do it, 303, o. lame man cured b faith in his name, 378, c. no other name in which we must be saved, 380, h. hallowed be thy name, miracle of Jesus sense of it, 83, i. 195 Names, differently written in the Old and New Testament, 29, 30. names of many perished with them, 30. happy those whose names are written in the book of life, ib, reflection thercon, 192. Nathaniel, whence of, 52, 357. objects to Christ, 52, d. but hearing him declare his character, ib. e. owns him to be the Son of God, ib. f. is pre- sent at the first public miracle Jesus wrought ib. b. was one of those to whom Jesus appeared at the sea Qf Tiberias, 357. opinions concerning _him, 53, i. 357, b. 369, m. Nations, what the power over them which is pro- mised, Rev. ii. 26. 909, e. Native country, love to it natural, 43S. Natural affection violated, 141, 142, 133. Natural states all that believe not perish in it, 59, f abominations of our nature, 158. its degene. _racy, 112. - Natural, i. e. animal man, what, 500, and note o. Nature, the untaught dictates of the mind, 502, k. how we are by nature children of wrath, 67S. g. JYazgrene, Jesus so called, 39, o. Paul charged as a ring leader of the Nazarenes, 475, 476, c. Nazareth, , in Galilee, an infamous place, 22, a. 38. angels sent thither to the Virgin Mary, 23. Joseph goes up from thence with Mary to Beth- lehem, 31, and note e. do not seem to have re- turped to Nazareth immediately after the purifi- Qation;34, o. are directed thither on their return from Egypt, jº. 38. Jesus lives there with his parents, 3S, 39, is gº called his own country, 67, c. 69, 137, a. returns there from Je- Fusaien, 16. comes from thence to be baptized by John, 45. remark thereon, ib. b. Nºſ...i woulders any good thing should come out of Na- zareth, 52, d. Jesus preaches there, 68, they are all astonished at his words, 69, l. why he did not perform such miracles there as elsewhere, ib, m. 988 tells them, no prophet is acceptable in his own country, 69. their rage against him, ib. Jesus re- news his visit thither, 137, b. they wonder at his wisdom, ib. c. effects of their unbelief, 138, g. Q9es not appear after this to have returned to .Nazareth any more, ib.h. Nazarites. See Vows, Neapolis, Paul lands there, 440. . Nºity dispenses with ceremionial observances, Neglects of friends not to be severely resented, 115. Neighbour, who to be considered as such, 192, 193. See Love God. . . Nero, his persegution, when not begun, 492, f. one of his concubines said to have been converted by Paul, ib. g. - - Net that gathered in good fish and bad, an em- blem of what, 128, b. . . . . . JY'ever knew you, sense of it, 89, b. 287, d. Neutrality; where not allowable, 17. Newton, (Sir Isaac,), account of him, 75, m. his observations, ib. 63, c. 70, f. 91, a .98, b, c. l ; 1, e: 122, d. 129, d._188, b. 213, d. 222, b. 2:#), b. 9.51, 1952,953, note: 954, 964. - - İicanor, one of the seven denºons, 3S9. Nicephorus, his account of the death of Salonie, * 1 s - Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, 53, his coil- ference, with him, 57, as 58, c. remark thºreon 59, 95, b. stands, up for Jesus in the Sanhedrim, 184. is present when the blind man was exami,ing,l, would have appeared on his side, 227, h. joi..s with Joseph in burying Christ, 342. icolaitans, who, Göö, ä. 998, g. Derhaps tha fo!— lowers of Jezebel, 909, a. - icholas, ope, of the seven deacoits, 389. not the founder of the sect of Nicolaitans, ib. #. w ight, divided into four watches, 149, d. when it comes no man can work, 226. he that walketh then will stumble, 241,242. should quicken us to improve the day, 223,242. often spent by Christ in prayer, 103, b. 166, b. 291. Paul and Silas #. and sing at midnight, 441. Paul, leaving rças, continues his discourse, till midnight, 469, and note k. christians at Ephesus had their night-meetings, 462, n. Ninevites shall condemn the Jews, 120, g. .. Noah, condemned the old world by furnishing matter, for its condemnation, 822, i. what is meant by his becoming the heir of righteousness, ib. and note k. how he was the eighth person, 70, g. Noah’s flood, what an emblem of it, 223, 285. {qbleman at Capernaum, who thought to be, 67, d: cure of his son, ib. . Nobleman going to receive a kingdom, parable of fligº. b, c. 251, i. design of it, i5. remark on 1U, * Nominal christians separated from real ones, 128. Non-residence among the primitive ministers not connived at, 461, a. Notes at the end of the Epistles of no authority, 550, note. 606, e. 644. Nurture and admonition of the Lord, what, 697, c. O N N GENERAL INDEX, which might, sometimes hº twice, I39, d. Rules for settling it, 67, b. 7i, k. 91, a. i01, a. d. - - 3. Ordinanges, the pastures which Christ has pro- Yided for his sheep, 230. the greatest should not think themselyes above submitting to them, 404. the prostitution of them to be avoided, 400. those, that profess their faith in Christ to be readily admitted, 404, God How resisted, 417. ſºul...sometimes not to be expressed by a single word, 174, d. construction of it often Ter- plexed 9ſ uncommon, 26, e. 167, m. 169, e. 37S, c. #S. r. 414, e. 4SS, e. and sometimes incomplete, 195, c. . advantage of keeping it distinct, Tü9, fº its Spirit sometiunes lost, ib., §ge P. crisian. Ornaments of dress, the prohibition of them hot absolute, 85S, b. u remarkable saying of Crities concerni, is thens, ib.: ~$ - l- Orobiº, his régiarks, 339, f. 274, b, f. 379, n. 383, $; $59, º. 45S, 0.472, g. uijustly chârges. St. Paul with artifice, 7.40, e. is is objection againist th; accºunt of cuſſing the Geatiles -aºisweied, 534, {!. - - Orph;ºis, Christ wºuld not leave his disci; les ... Stieh; 3 24, c. 9; the fox professions, remark on thens, 71. Øsisi tºler, i.ecount of his harmony, 15, ta. Outside, wheir cleansed in visiº, 1913, 27 g. i.isisni- tissuicy of Qūtwº rºt strict:1ess, 134, 377. ºwen, 19+. His giaser vutious, -ītī, g. #7, c. “2 Yep, ºne:eºtBy the ciiieſ purts of a 1958) enſer- tº it, fileſi; , 267, c. P Pºiºday, what intended to culnºčniorate, « , ; * ( , !l. Pamply lia, Paul and Barnabas, eone tiere, 424. hºrough it again, 432. Paul sails over against ll 3 -HöO. - Papacy, its rise foretold, 2 Thess, ii. 5. 747, and nºtes; with several important circumstances of it, 751, and notes e, f, g. these predictions a proof of the divine original of that Epistle, 744. when it began, and how long it shall continue, 927, d. §§. n. represented by the beast with seven heads, 928, and note a. by the harlot, 936, &c. and by Babylon, ib. and its fall, by the desolation of that city,937, &c., and notes. Paphos, Elymas struck blind there-by Paul, 423, 424. Sergius Paulus converted there, 423. Papists, their opinions, &c., with remarks on the same, 35, b. 163, e. 171, c. 274, b. 287, c. 295, i. 300, c. 309, b, 317, e. 338, a. 355, d. 359, b. 373, g. 3S4, e. 420, k. 435, c. 457, f, ii. 459, g. have consecrated days in honour ot many of the saints mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans, 548, g. and of Aristobulus, though it is not certain he was a christian, ib. their argument against the continued obligation of the second command- ment, 696, a. Parables, ineaning of the word, 122, b. reflections on them, 122, c. 123, f. 128, f. 216, h. 219, a. 240, f 251, #. 266, c, d. why Jesus spake to the multi- tude in parables, 123, and nºtes k, l. 127. what the prophet said thus-fulfilled, 127. remark the re- on, ib. e. explains his paraiſes to the disciples, 124, 125. hour corning when he would no more speak to thern in parables, 31 H. his diseip!es ac- knowledge he did sº, ib. parables in this work, 196, 114, 120, 122, 123, 126, 127, 1:28, 133, 134, 157, 174. 175, 175, 192, 193, 200, 202, 203, 206, 2ij7, 21 1, 2}2, 2:3, 2:4, 215, 2; 6, 217, 9 is, 219, 225, 230, 239, 240, 239, 254, 26 1, 255, 207, 268, 2-4, 285, 2S6, 2$7, 2S3. s * Paradise and leaven distinguisłºd, 639, d. I’araiytics, cured by Citrist, 75, 9}. with a remark thereon, 91, and note e. 107, U.S. mixiny cured by Pi. ilip, 393. one cured by Peter, 409. Para phrase, rules to be observed in it, 19, J. 31, g iº, C. §§, d. iś7, 3.253, d. 3;2."g 'º', ; diffi- culty of keeping a dºne medium in it, Jig, f, why often longer on the first verse of a section, 171, a. the word probably, why Qū; it ted in it, 3}, g. how frequently better, 208, d. iii; it is tions, where sug- gested in it, 180, c. force of u wºrd often express- et?, 174, cl. See P’ crisiſ, n. Parent lieses, some rent:trkable is stances of them in St. i2. Lui’s writings, Roth. ii. 13, It. 592, I. Rom. v. i2––. S. 512, i. 1 Cer. viii. 1–i. 576, a. 1 Cor. x. 29, 3%). 584, d. 2 Cor. viii. 19. 630, b. 2 Cor. ix. 9, li). 331. Frºh. ii. begiºn. 678, a. yot perhaps not in H}}}}l. iii. begin. (S2, a. Parenthesis, tº be admited in some passages, 19, o 24, h. 45, c. 12.j, e. [67; p. 359, g. . - Parénts, some of great age when their children were born, 25, e. required by the Jewish canons to teach their chik! ren some trade, 137, c. should moderate their expectation in their offspring, 39. jpany have comfort from Christ in their death, } 09, 236. encouraged to bring their cluikdren to Christ, 236. their duty to them, 40, 6S, 170,25S. 39:2. honour a:nd relief they have a right to from them, 159. Parmenas, one of the seven deacons, 389. Partiality to the rich censured, 8 0, 841, and the I}Otes. - Particles, not always used with exactness, 99, i. the ſie!, rew pºles agabiguous, jö. Party-spirit, prejudices of it, how to he disarmed, l{}3. our regards pot to be confined to our own party, 81, t. Christians should not be ring leaders of pirties, 476. Passions, lot to be indulgest under religions pre- tences, 229. should be guarded against, 78, 79. Christ's power over then), 332. .Afgn of like passions, how to be understoo;1, 431, k. Passover, Jesus tº ke: to it by his parents, 39, a. conjectures on the number of Passovers in his tai-jistry, 5.5, a time of Christ's first Passover, 56, h. to which he won't up frºm Capºrnº urn, 55. the ſ. a. i ::\:::::::).:2.!, Joh’i v. 1. p ºb. , ; }; is se- Oaths, where required, 80, k. never to be taifled with, 276. blindness of the Pharisees in their distingtions about them, 275, m. See Sºcearing. used by St. Paul windicated, 614, g. 757, f. hrist constituted a Priest by an oath, 811. what that implies, ib. b. -- Obedience to magistrates, 857, and notes a, b, c, . See Jā uthorities and JMagistrates. * * * Obscene talk, properly called gorrupt, and ſorbid- den, 690, o. in any rites of the healthc: worship were obscene, 58], e. Offences, woe to him by whom they come, 172, 220. care should be taken not to give uniiecessary offence, 17 I, 437. - * - Offending one; force of it, 89, c. 172, e. offending members to be cut off, S9, 172. Janger of offensi- ing one of Christ's little ones, 172,221. offenders to be salted with, fires, 173, H. all things t|::ſt offend cast into hell, 126. Christ tells his disci- is, they should aii be offended because of him, 315. happy he that is not offended in Christ, 110, and notes b, f, See Brother. . . . . Officers, that supped with Herod on his birth-ſlay, conjecture on... them, 144, k, desirable to have our officers religious, 108, the Sanhedrin send officers to seize Jesus, 182, who return without him, 183, g. Jewish officers, sent to apprehend him, 318. who take and bind him, 320, and lead him away,321. one of the officers smites, Jesús, 324, a, b, officers cover his eyes, and strike him on the face, 325, speak, blasphemously 4 gainst him, ib. nn, n. joip with the chief priests in cry- ing out to have him crucified; 33]. officers sent to bring the twelve a postles inefore the S.A.:line- drim, 385. hearing they were in the team pie, go and fetch them without violence, 386, c. Olearius, criticism of his, 276, f. Ogºn, the meaning and propriety of the 14:Yass, O}d Testament, a hint given for improvid g its promises, 832, e. - One thing is needful, remark on it, 194. Strangely explained by some, ih. One thing panting to the young ruler, observation thereon, 237, f. . gºw Onesimus, the meaning of the Yorii, 7%, c. Önesiphorus, his friendship to Paul, 456, 3. a' Oººº; the mouth, what expressive of, 76, c. 403, . 41 Oratory, or prayer-house, Christ spen is the ºi :\, t in one, 103, b. their situation, &c. ib. 410, a. Paul goes to one at Philippi, 440, a. Order of the sacred story, not always ci"a rhy determined, 33, h. I 19. . . tº v3 is ( ; fſ ( : , ſº ºt'ſ i-, } which did riot intrºli- tº-13 f '4 sy, 3 }, ºil : . .i - * ~ *k- goºd Rºsse, er, -93, a. another is fixed by Sir }. Newton, 39, a. 98, g. Passover mentioned, Qian Vºl. 3; opiºidºs relating to it, 146, e. uncer. tain, whether Christ attended it, 155, b, most pro- bable that he did not, 179, b. another Passover, to Which many go up, 245, e. among the rest Jesus, 243. Wh9 cºmes to Bethany six days before it, §2. till, the Pussover came, teaches in the temple, §7, h., Greeks gome to worship at the Passover, 25S.Jewish rulers do not care to seize jesus at the feast,391, he sends two of his disciples to pre- pare the Passover, 292, a. and sits down to it With the twelve, 293, declares how earnestly he desired to eat it with them, ib, account of the ce. remonics used by the Jews in eating the Passover- ib. e. a sauce still used in eating it, 297, g. rules observed by the Jews in it, 300, a. 301 h. not probable that Jesus kept it on a different day from the rest cf the Jews, 297, m. what this feast may signify, ib., and refer to, 326. Peter seized by }{erod, with an intent to execute him after the Passover, 419. Paul hastens to Jerusalem to be tit the Piłssover, 453. remark thereon, ib.d. does not sail from: Philippi till, after the Passover Yeek, iè9, e., number of victims offered at one Piºssover, 55, b. Pessovers, suipmary of the principal events be- tween them, 954. Pastors and teachers, whether distinct or not, GS7, ... k. See Bishops and Ministers. Pat: rs, Paul touches there, 463. Putience, where to be shown, 81, l. 101. the soul to be pºssessed with it, 280, m. §§i. Patrick, (Bishop,) remark of his, 60, e. *aul, remark Gil his name, 4:23, k. See Sawl. His travels and acts, 424, 427, 3}} 430, and note d. 431, 432, and note d. 433, and note, b. 434, 435, 43ū, #37, and mote a. 438,439, c, e, f. 449;.g. 441, {{2, 433, #4, and note a. 345, 436, i. 37, 4:3, #9, 45%, c, d, .e. 451, g, h, i. 452, and note a. $33, and notes S. e. 454, 453, and dote". Ašš, , bi.e. 457, f, k. 459, and notes a, b, c, d, e, #. 8, 460, and notes. i., k, l. 461, a, f.463, r, a. 464, and note c. 465, 466, and notes f, R. 467,468, and note e. 469, and riote.a. 470, and note f. 471, an Inote c. 472, e. 472, i. 473,474, 475, g. 476, and Botes c, d, e. 477, § Žiš, and notes b, c, d, e. 473, and notes is k. 480, 481, 482, b, d. 483, and nºtes, g, h. 483, i. 484, *ś. r, s, t. 485, c. 485 $6,487, and nºtes b, & '4S$, d, .48%, 496, and notes n, o. 491, 492, and notes d, g. a conjecture as to his age, 794, a... how he opposed the ; l ignorantly,755, b. his character of himself . Conversion, #$3, b. probably upon it his goods were confiscated,71}, g. he considered the supply his friends sent him as an interposition of Provi- dence, 715, as and spoke of himself as possessing all things, 625. (a sublime expression, ib, f.) why he changed his name from Saul to Paul, 719, a. his inspiration, see Inspiration ; why he prayed that utterange might be given him, 699, k. and was called Iðvø7ms, unskilful in speech, though be spoke with tongues, 635, e, he had the same rights as St. Peter, 577, c. had power to punish disobedience, 565, f. ... his not sparing, the Corinthian faction a proof of his veracity, 642, b. some think he discerned what was dome in his absence, 566, c. the revelation mentioned, 2 Cor. xii. was made to him, 638, b, he began to preach immediately on his convérsion, 649, a, d. (this account reconciled with that in the Acts, i. though the apostle of the Gentiles, he preache first to the Jews, ib. c. and chiefly where Christ was nºt named, why, 546, b. 634, h. he went up frºm Antioch to Jerusalem by revelation, 650, c. what it was he communicated privately to those of note, ib. d. his conduct, in not permitting Titus to be circumcised, reconciled with his circumcis- ing Timothy, 65], e. his great fidelity and zeal, C37, h. concern for the Corinthians, 608, f. 627, and note b, tenderness, for the offending mem. ber, 615, f. regard for the Thessalonians, affec- tionate as a nurse or a father,735. he acquainted himself very particularly with the state of foreign churches, 548, g, wished to be an amathema after Christ, 525, . b. rejoiced, in the view of being offered as a libation, 709, a. and demanded con: gratulation on the account, ib. b., his labours and sufferings enumerated, 636, he pleaded the cause of the gospel under great disadvantages, yet successfully, 563, d. at Rome, though all men forsook him, 781, f. g. wrought with his own hands to maintain himself, 565. Sometimes even by night, 735,749, a. though he might have çJaimed a maintenance of the people, 735, a. fought with beasts at Ephesus, 602, k, was ship- wrecked at least four times, 637, c. how he fillèd up what was wanting of the afflictions of Christ, 722, a. in his Epistles he employed an amanu- ensis, 550, c. why, and what effect this would have on his style, 750, d. but commonly put his name to them, ib. and he wrote the, whoſe #: tle to the Galatians with his own hand, 669, b. probably he was inaccurate in forming the Greek characters, ib. a. he writes to whole societies on a supposition that they were in general true chris- tians, 510, a. 553, and notes, 719, b, often hºirésses”unconverted Jews in his letters to christians, 503, a. speaks in a borroyed person Rom. vii. 7, &c. 517, a. but not of a wicke man, 518, h. speaks of christians in general in his confidence that nothing should separate from the love of God, 524, k. what kind of unity, he recommends to christians, 554, b., most of his Epistles begin with exclamations of joy, 611, b. He wrote with peculiar savour of the things of God when in prison,. 685, . a. allusions in his Epistles to facts mºtioned' in the Acts, confirm the truth of both, 732. his writings discover an excellent spirit, and are a strong, proof of his Yeracity, ib., the manner in which he writes to Timothy, in the circumstances in which he then was, is a proof of his sincerity...and that, tho christian cause...was good, 771. a like remark on his Epistle to Titus, 784. he wrote some things hard to be understood, 874, l. to whom, espe- cially, they are so, ib. his language is often, yery emphatical and proper, 722, f. 741, , a, 746, c. 811; d.,828, h. yet his words are not always used with the most critical exactness, 571, b. and, he often #. the same word, though in somewhat of a different sense, 543, a. 564, a. he has many beautiful compound words, ë 7, d. , uses Jong sentences, 674; b. and long parentheses, see Parentheses ; has many allusions to architecture in his Epistle to the Ephesians, who were fond of it, 681, l. writes with great address, yet not in an artful manner 611, c. 612, and note, h, in- stances of fine address, in beginning his Epistle to the Romans with asserting his apostleship, 496, a. in the reason he gives why he desired to sommunicate spiritual gifts to them, 497, b. in the manner in which he passes from mentioning the vices of heathens to those of the Jews, 501, a. in his frequent discoursing on the benefit of fflictions, 510, c. in his enumerating the privi- leges of the Jews, before he mentions their re- jection, 525, c. in giving his solicitude for them as a reason for his zeal to convert the Gentiles, 533, b., in the oblique manner in which he op- poses their prejudices about paying tribute, 540, # in the manner in which he attempts to estab- ish his apostolical authority among the Corin- thians, 559, q. and opposes the faction there, 363, a, b, c. and in speaking of himself and Apollos, when he means to insinuate, how , little any ministers are in themselves, ib. d. in his reprov- ing the disorders among them that arose from the wänt of love, by describing the amiable effects of that disposition, 593, g. and, insinuating that the things on which they prided themselves were childish,597, a. in the satisfaction and confidence he expresses in them, 628, f. in his ſº at the notions which the judaizing teachers might Fº have of Christ, 689, c. and proposing eavenly objects to christians, to take them ºf from their bigoted attachments, 726, d. an awful insinuation as to the consequences of rebellin against the Father of our spirits, 828, h. he dig not expect to live till the judgment day, 604, i 0, e.746, and note b. the struggle in his mind, whether he should choose life or death, 705, a. P 7 y lºs º - eace be *::::::: house, a form of salutation, 140, m., 177. Christ came not to give, peace, 142, 204. what this may refer to, T42, b, the peaceful state of his kingdom, till when not to be expected, 204, g. Jerusalem lamented over, as not knowing the things belonging to its peace, 256, a. and as having not regarded them in , its days, ib. reflec- tion thereon, 257. his peace left by Christ with his disciples, as a legacy,304.joy we #% de- rive from a review of it, 305, they should haye peace in him, though they had tribulation in the world, 311. İmessage of peace sent, to Israel #. Christ, 413, d. how necessary to seek peace wit. God, 323. keeping the house in peace, what it refers to, 117, m. alarms of Christ should break the peace of sinners, 118., peace recommended, 78, 79, Kºś children of God, 77, k. Peace of God, what, 714, e. presiding in the heart to what it alludes, 727, d. the happy effects oš cultivating a peaceable temper, $44, b., , , Pearl of great price, what, an emblem of, 128. all to be parted with for it, ib. . Pearls not to be cast before swine, 87, d. . earce, Dr., his vindication of Christ's miracles referred to, 93, g., . Pearson, (Bishop,) his remarks, 27, d. 110, c. 261, d. ; e. , b. 418, f. 426, o. 459, b. 463, r. Penal laws, not suited to the spirit of the gospel 222. who most ready to have recourse to civi penalties, 452. - Pênce, value of the Roman pence, 114, e. 147, f. 175, d. 193, l. 252, g. one, the customary price of a day's service among the Jews and Romans, Penitent shall be comforted, 77. to upbraid them with their former sins does not become liss, I lj. joy in heaven over a penitent sinner, 214, d. re- flèction on the favour shown to us, 216, k. . Fº for a measure of wheat, a sign of scarcity, €. Pentecost, propriety of choosing that feast to glorify Christ by the effusion of the Spirit, 370, à. how said to be fully come, ib. b. Paul hastens to be at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, 460. reflection thereon, ib. l. - - - eople, an objection against their ghoosing their own ministers answered,774, e. 779; c. Perfect as God, &c. to be aimed at, 82. Perfect man, has often a very limited sense, $43, c. Pºgº their effects on different persons alluded to, 616, a. * - Perish, signifies eternal punishments, not amni- hilation, 502, i. Perga, Paul and Barnabas visited again, 432. * - - Perjury, providence, of God in restraining niºn from it,325. remark on the punishment our laws inflict upon it, ib. - Persecution causes many to be offended, 12!. in- creases the diſfigulty of religion, 87, i. the be- lieving Hebrews in danger of being wearied out by it, 225, d. the gain of those that suffer it for conscience sake, .239, J. many condemn it who are chargeable with it, 280. the disciples warned to expect it, 143, 197, 219, 282,307, 309, b, re- mark on what is said of it in Scripture, 307, e. Jesus persecuted in the persecution of his mem- bers, Jö. 406, 468, 482, 4S3. the dreadful task persecutors undertake, 306. , great persecution raised at Jerusalem, 399. advantage of it, 400, A18. power of Christ seen in restraining it from g GENERAL INDEX. 989 corne thither, 424. toughing the apostles, 400. persecution renewed y tier Od, ; :120, m. at Antioch, in Pisidia, by the Jews, 429, 430, 432. all that the christians suffered during the ºrioſ of the sacred history not recorded, 468, e. 482, g. persecution under Hero, time of it, 492, f. - Persecuted shall inherit the kingdom of heaven, 77. are happy, ib. required to pray for them that persecute thein, 81. - - Perseverance, what, no argument against it, 306, d. necessity of being exhorted to it, 418. the con- duct of Hymenaeus, &c. no objection to it, 756, a. nor Demas, 780, a. Persian letters, remark on them, 297, k. erson, how said to do a thing, 107, a. 260, c. 368, e. instances of a change in the person speaking, 3. 4 -- Peter. (Simon,) account gf his birth, acts, &c. 51, fiji.º.º.º.3, "13, 186, ižjjā’īš3. 137, 163, and note, e., 163, g, h. 154, b, c, d, e. 165, and note g. 170, 171, f. 175, 203, 238, 247, § 263, 274, g. 278, 292, 294, 297, 299, and note g. 16,”, i.”3íž,':#5, #i 3, #####!'... 323, and moles n, o, p. 346, 347, and notes m, o. 351, 355, 357,358, and note f 359, a, b, c. 369, 371, 373,374,376.377, 379, b. 380, and note k. 382, a. 383, 384, 386, 400, a. 401, 408, l, o. 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, a. 414, and note h. 415, a. 416, b, d. 419, 420, and notes h, k, l. 434, 435, c. 437, a. 492, g. had a wife after he was an apostle, 577, c. had no rights but what were common to St. Paul, ii. that Peter whom St. Paul reproved was the apostle, 652, a. why reproved in public, ib. b. the contention proves , there, was no im– posture carried on between them, ib., the strain of his Epistles agrees with that of St. Paul’s, 851. which he appears to have seen, 874, i. he had some peculiar reason for recommending watch- fulness, 864, g. probably wrote his First Epistle from the neighbºurhoof of Babylon 865, I. the difference of style in some parts of his Šćcond Epistle accounted fºr, 870, a... ngt saluted in àul’s Epistle fo the Romans, 548, i. Peter's wife's mother cured of a ſever, 73. Petit, conjecture of his, 452, a. Pharaoh, what is meant by his being raised up, 527, b. hºis heart was hardened, 527. Pharisees, well described by Dr. Prideaux, 43, a. the strictest sect of the Jews, 482, d. fasted twice a week, 225, f. exact in ceremonial institutions, 196, §3. placed a great part of their religion in condemning others; 86; ;1- 225. magnified the du- ties of the first table, 272, b. their children prac- tised exorcisms, 117, i. were used frequently to fast, 133. 134, e. come with the people to John's baptism, 43. are admonished by it, ib. are called a brood of vipers, ib. c. refuse, to be baptized, ib. l] 1. question John about his baptizing, 49. alarmed to hear that Jesus made mºre disciples than John, 63. follow him with a malicious view, l. charge him with blasphemy, 92. censure Christ's disciples for rubbing out the ears of corn Qn the sabbath-day, , 99, d. remark the reon, 99, 100. cavii at Christ's discourses, 155, 186, 218, 229. are offended at his healing on the sabbath- day, 210, 227. join with the Sadduceds in asking for a sign from heaven, 161, inquire of Christ when the kingdom of God should come, 223, b. reproved by Christ, 196, 197, 210, 218, 225, 230. cautions his disciples against them, 157, 161. Christ dines with a Pharisee, l 14, 115. dines with another, 196. and with another, 210. publican preferred to the Pharisee, 225. Pharisees send officers to seize Christ, 182. who return without him, 183. pretend that none regarded him but the common people, ib, think of insmaring Christ by questions, 234, c. 209, a. but are confounded at his answers, 270. dare not ask him any more Guestions, 273. are informed ef his raising Laza– rtis from the dead, 244. consult with the chief priests bow they should deaſ with Jesus, 245. agree he shot:14 he put to death, i. order any who know where he is to bring them information, iii. would have Jesus rebuke his disci, les for their acclama; : Gºis, when he reade his public en- try into Jerusalem: 255.com; lain that the whole work was gºine after him, il. fear of them pre- vºlts the rulers that believe! from confessing Hirn, Sū P. sent tº guard with Jºda's to seize him, 319. is fier Jesús was bºirie'', procure a guard to be set over the sep;}cłre, 344. i*i;a risees that be- lieved jusist th: t the Geiitiie co::verts should be circuixcised, -iči. Paul a P!::, risee, j72, 482, d. their righteousness what, 529, a. Sce Serić es and På ariscºs. - Pharos, the towcy in it is bilt for a ligh:-); obse, 7ſ); , i. Philadel; hia, the last of the seven churelies li; at fe!! into the hatris of the Turks, 911, c. Philemon, a convert ºf Patil, 453, a. Epistle to him, when written, 492, g. Philip, (the apostle,) accººt of him and his acts, 52; 103, iº9, 147,258, h 357, c. - Philip, º deacon,) 3.5. raised to lie an evapºre- list, 399, e. his acis, 33%, and note f. 490, i. 402 i). 303, 494, a tº notes n, Q. -iù-1. - Philip, (son of ii erod the Great,) 41. his character, !)-2, C. Philip, (anº; bºr sou of Hafod the Great,) deprived of his wife Herodias, 62, a. - Philippi, its situation, 440, g, h, Paul proaches there, 440. and note a. 441, 4-42, 443. Quifs it, 444, g, sails from thence to Treas, 459, c. Epistle to the Philippians, when writte‘y,492, g. Philippians, persecuted when the apostle wrote to them, 706, g. . Philo, calls the Logos the image of God, 720, a. §s of angels as presenting prayers to God, (X24; 1. Philo Judaeus, his observations and remarks on the Logos, 18, c. 79, p. 302, m. 420, h. 466, m. 485, €. 491, 8 . Philosophers among the heathen, conformed to the absurdities of idolatry, 431, 1. opposed Paul at Athens, 447, mage a jest of the resurrection of the deat!, 449, s. knew the unity of God, 499, h. became vain in their reasonings, ib. k. Phlegon, the only heathen writer who mentions the darkness when Christ was crucified, 338; e. Phocylides uses the same expression as St. Paul about contentment, 832, d. was probably ac- quainted with the Öld and New Testau:ents, ib, ligenice, those that sail with Paul attempt to get there, 486. Phoenicja, #º first preached there only to the º 417. Paul and Barnabas pass through it, 433. Paul comes to Tyre, 463. . - • . . . Phrygia, Paul travels through it, 439, visits it again, 453. - e Phylacteries, whence so called, 274, d. Pharisees made theirs remarkably broad, i5. º Physician, needful only tº the sick, 133. Christ, t jº 'sician of souls, 134. Physician, cure thy- se y * º - ... • Pierce, Mr., his remarks, 37, d. 77, p. 147, h. 238, ſ. 260, as 296, c. 339, o. 440, g. Pilate, (Pontius,) when governor of . Judea, 41. murders the Galileans, 205, a. Jesus, brought be- fore him, 326. his examination of him, 327, 328. sends Jesus to Herod, 328. Piiate and Herod be: çome friends, 329. combine against Jesus, 382, b. Pilate proposes to scourge him and to ſet him 9,329. asks the Jews whom they would have him to rejease, Ba rabbas or Jesus, ill. declares He found no fault in Jesus, 330,331. orders him to be scºurged, 330 would fain release him, 332, 377. , but the Jews insisting on. Jesus's death, Pilate then washes his hands before them, as in: nocent ºf his jood, 333, n., and delivers him to be crucified, 333. refuses to a ſter, the inscription on the cross, 336. Cºrders, the bodies to be taken down, and their legs broken, 341. commands Jesus's body to be delivered to Joseph, 342. orders a guard to the sepulchre, 344. probably governor when Stephen, was stoned, 397, p. his character,334, s. and administration, 333, p. re- mark on his crucifying Jesus, ib., is deposed, and sent to Rome, 334;. s. Filate's wife, disturbed by a dream on account of Jesus, 331...e. sends to Pilate to have nothing to do with him, 331. the Roman governors were not used at first to take thicir wives with them, l{J. C. Piłłar and groupd gf truth, what,760, b. christians n:āde pillars in the house ſ §§ *he phrase Ul(1&S, * * * * imports, and to what it a Pioneers alluded to, 41, i. Pisidia, Paul and £arnabas come thither, 424, a. pass through it, 4 Plagues, what they may signify, I 10, d. 135, e. Plantation, that God has not planted, 157. Plato uses 6 & 70s avöpg70s for the rational part of gur nature, a greeable to Rom. vii. 27. 518, m. a rºd has an expression nearly parallel to chap viii. 2S. 523, a. Pleasure and joy, what they result from, I 13, m. Plconasm, observations on it, 23, e. 76, c. j95, f. 2 fy - Pliny, mentions locusts as food, 42, k...his account of the sagacity of serpents, 140, b. observes, that het: then pcrisecutors forced the christians to re- nounce Christs $82, h, one of his epistles resem- bles that to £jilémon, 791. seems ashamed of the laws against christians, 860, e. Plough than, character of a good one, 129, k. what applicable to, ib. Plural number, used for the singular; 58, a. 73, a. 337, , h, may be sometimes used for the dual, y 11 - Plutarch, his procf of Mark Antony's eloquence, 183; g. his account of a serpent, 340, q. of the ancients' ways of preserving wine 3. , R. his dºption of such as had a Pythonic spirit, 1 x i. e. Pointing, a Jºnark on it, I87, f. 259, e. some altera- tions of this kind admitted, 18. e., 2], g. 167, #. 81, f. 204; 3. 238, i. 373, c 4:23, h. others only mentioned, 19, #. 32, R. See Intcryogation, Poison shall cot hurt them that believe, 362. exe- cyntions frequently done by it, ib. r. Polygamy, tolerated a panz the Jews, 20, b. not t!!}owed in the first_institution of Harriage, 234. discºuraged, 571, 75S, a. Poly; tıs, 37 l, 45 I’ool of Bethesda. P See E ºf cis-fa. GGr, have the gospel, preached, JJ 0, 113. to be invited rather than the rich, 2JJ. sent for, when the guests, fefused, te cºme, 212., lºw illey may be corn ſorted nº dººr lºresent slights, 22ſ). are always with, us, 253. Thºseness of pretending a cºckril fºr the pºor, as a cover for selfish de- signs, ib., cf. cn better to furnish then, with neces- s: ries, than to give time ºn thoney. 4IO. attending them in iiiness, an acceptable cl: a rity, 290, d. the pºorest, have room för charitable aftempts, ! 4, 27S., their mite_ºore valuable than the talents of the rich, 278. Christ used to relicº them, 297, 2:38, Poºr in spirit, how to be understood, 76, c. happi- mess promised to them, 76 º Pope, Mir...an observation of his, 136, n. Popery. See Papacy. Rotch rather to be régdered portico, 322, i. Porphyry, remark ºf his, 48, n. his meanness in aspersing our Lord’s character, 179, f. Possessions, why º: the time of Christ's appearance, 75, h. the curing them a proof of his mission, ib., the reality of them not to be tioned, 74, h. 131, d, e, h. 441, b. 455, h. otter, God compared to a potter, 527. Potter’s Field, why Šikº the Field of Blood, 344, 369. Pounds, the Yalue of them, 250, c. parable of ten pounds, , 251. remark on it, 250, c. 252. Power given to Christ,312. God anointed him with ques- {}{}{} power, 444, all power given him in heaven and 9th earth, 361. Sqn cf. man sitting, at the right hand of power, 325, h, a postles should receive hower, 363,367. Dower which Pilate had against esus, 332, h. Simon Magus looked upon as the great power of God, 399, power of life and death not vested in the Jews, 326, and note c. 332, h. but were allowed to execute any they should find profaning the temple, 475, g. remark thereos, 332, h, when taken from the Jews, some 1:)ight think it an acceptable service to hazard their lives in executing it, 399, a. ºr expect that °rovidence would add efficacy to their censures, ii), the stoiting Stephen an act of popular fury 397, p. mixht sometimes act from what is called the judgment of zettl, ib. 473, would have justified their killing Paul, if they had murdere him, 455, n). what Lysias says of rescui g Paul, as being a Roman, does not prove the Jews had a power of life and death, 474, a. nor that they had such it power from their at- tempting to Kill i'aul, 475, g. 479, i. Power, on a perso:l's head, a vaiſ, 586, b. of the world to conne, what, 807, f over the nations giyea to lºin that conquers, 909, e. Praise of men, reflection on it, 261. Prayer, cond pared to incense, 20, c, which the daily h9urs of pruyers, 375, b. 411, e. Standiug, anciently the usual posture when they prayed, 263, c. should be offered up in secret, 83. Christ frequeatly withdrew to a retired place to pray, 7 £, 7.5, 90, it 2. and often spent the night in prayer, 193, b. 166, b. 291, 315. voices from Heaven that bore witness to Christ, all pro- nounced as he was praying, 46, c. prayer Christ taught his disciples, 83, i95. conclusion, doubtful whether genuine, 84, p. reflectious on it, 84, 196, d. multiplicity of words to be avoided when we pray, S3, h. Pharisees inade long prayers, 275. reflections the reo:h, ih. repeated prayers, when affroats to heaven, 223. often know not what we ask, 24 S. time of answering our prayers to be left to Goºi, 22. exicºuragettie at to impºrtuții Y in prayer, 195, 225, 263, 303, o. 307, 311. Christ’s résence an encouragement to social prayer, 175. i. many the Jews thought shguld join in it, 174, g. no arguinéilt against pray 13%. , to Christ, 1n. what he says to his disciples, 311, e. prayer of Christ before his sufferings, what a model of, 312. whom for, 314. joy it must give to consider it, 315. Christ prays in the garden, 316, 317, g. où the cross, 335, f. good effects of the latter, 3.36, 376. disciples continue in prayer after Christ's ascension, 36S. pray for the ºlivine di- rection in the choice of an apostle, 369. unite in prayer after the examination of Peter and John, 352. remarks thereon, ib, a. Stephen's prayer to Christ, observation on it. 398, J. Paul prays in the temple, 439, b. Cornelius prays continually to God, 'tiſ, 413. why, Peter might go up to the R. by which they house-top fo pray, +1]; d. visio; he had there, 412, h. pr:; yer made for Peter when imprisoned, A 19. who bei: ; delivered by an angel, comes to them while prayiag, 420. Barnabas and Paul are set apart to preach to the Gentiles by fasting and prayer, 93. presbyteries constituted thus in every church, 432. Paul and Silas pray in prisºn at Philippi, 441, h. Paul, taking, leave of the §phesiah' ºlders, kneels down and prays, 432, 463, as he does also when he parts with the dis- çiples at Tyre, 463, 464. , incessant; what, 742, d. iſſing up holy hands without wrath or doubting, 57, g, \, without wavering, 837. a promise of is success, S&S, b, c. not to he made, fºr some siniers, ib. d. of faith, what, 848, e. social prayer a guard upon a person's general behaviour, * {3, - Prayer-bouse. See Oratory. . Prayer to saints, reflection on it, 219, e. * Prºhing, Jewish rabbies sat down to preach, 69, 75,274, A. Jesus often preached in the same man- mor, 33, 76, #22, 146, 33). as likewise the apostles, 4 Hijº dºes not a pºeir that any preachgd is tied: cons, 339, i. 399, e. but an extraordinary gall might justify private christians in doing it, 3S9, i. 399, d, e. - Preachin? curselves and Christ, what, 6.19, e. Preſſ lices hair tº: , the unj \il .333,33S., thee essary to gū’īr I against tººth, 53, 179,416. dangeſ of iº- âulging them, 12}... iS3, c. 223: necessity of di- viºle grace to subdue, thełm, 261. sweetly coin- quered by the gosp“ſ, 400, :1:1:1 note a. in arguigg with others should study their prejudices, 272. and tenderly regard then),437. {\O Preſ,aration. Ji tie gºspel of peace, what, 699, e. preparing Christ's way, tile, work of God, 42, "...o.º. frºters, how coºstituted by the #pottles, 432, d. When jot ſistinct from bishops, #1; as- Present te:nse, what used to signify, 43, f. 170, c. fºr sents, whº usually offered, 35, P *ressing to go one inile, &c. what it may refer to, the heart, 173, 295, 295. with ourselyes, one great what,879, e. 68, g. 101, l gº-y { S O. - Prije, deeply rooted in comparing ourselves, W. sºurce of ii., 6.33, f, of life, . - Priºleaux, §: lºgºrvations. 43, a. . 396, f. 399, g. +72, h. pºſſ their ºffice by lot, ??, 369, l. jºinistered in the temple barefoot, 394, i., Jay- ºf only for them to eat the shevy-bread, 9 did ºr ife works on the sabbath, ib. ńsk John the Baptist who be is: 49, apprehend Peter and ... };3, a great multitude of them believe, 3.39, h. reflection thereon, it. . Priests, Jeyish, guilty of great vices; 593; e. • prince of Life, whose chilt actºr, 377, b. Christ exãited to be a Prince and Sayiguſ, 3:650- Prínce of this world, (a title of Satan,) 305. what his being judged shows, 399, il 1- — ; Principalities and .#j how spoiled by Christ, º how the manifold, wisdºm of God made | ENERAL INDEX. Principles, what those first principles that are to be dismissed,806, a. Friscilla, her character, 598, c. See Aquila. Prisons. See Jinprisoninent. Prisoners of importance, sent to be tried at Rome, § b., how frequently secured, 419, d. Paul probably thus secured, 499, o. other prisoners known by the church to principalities, &c., 683, i. sent to Rome with Paul, 485. who owed their preservation to him, 4-8, and note h. are deli- yered at Rome to the captain of the Praetorian chand, 490, m. frivate judgment, the right of it strongly asserted, &om. xiv. 5. 54i, e. Privileges, to be carefully improved, 24]. danger of trusting in exterisal privileges, 386 civi pri- viléges not to be given up by christians, 446. Prochorus, one of the seven deacons, 389. Proconsul, to, whom properly applied, 423, i. 45], is thºse of Asia might be called 'Proconsuls, 458, p. Prodigal son, parable concerning him, 215, 216. what intended by it, 2.16, m. Prodigies attending the death of Christ, their con- sequences and effects, 339, 340, r. prodigies that preceiled the destruction of Jerus;: lem, 37 ), p. Professiºn, how viſin, 10,265, unere profession of no value, 89, 209, 213. danger of resuing in it; 286. Proiensis, instance of it, 367, d. Protmises, how we should act with regard to them, 23, 24, 25, 392, 473, l. 457, and note b. no pro- Inise given to encourage inactivity, it 8. In romisg 9f a resurrection, whom neatle to, 4S-2. Paul judged for the hope of it, ill. yea and a men in Christ, 613, c. oblige us to purity, &c. 626. Of the Old Testaurent, a hint given for their inn- Irovement, &, e. to conquerors, see Con- querors. Prophecies, how exactly answered, 110, g. do not take away the freedom of morºſ ageists, 123, 1. not the only proofs of christianity, 445, f. Prophecy, why called a lanip, S69, b. no prophecy, of private itn pulse, ib. c. what the neauing Gſ the expression, a mitore sure ºr ord of prophecy, Prophesying in the name of Christ, whose act it may be: S9. prophecy of Caiaphas, 245, b Zacharias's prophecy, 26. remark on it, ib. c. offi- cers bid Christ prophesy, 325. Peter observes, that in the last days their sons and daughters should prophesy, 371, o. miraculous gifts of the Spirit sometimes corn in unicated to wºmen, 464. Philip’s four daughters prophesy, ib. John’s dis- ciples prophesy, 455. - Prophet, what generally used by the evangelists for, 49, c. 4, f. at length applied otherwise, 143, f. John the Baptist counted a prophet, 26, 62, i. 264, how not that Prophet, 49, c. Jesus speaks of him as more than a prophet, l l I. and says, that no prophet had risen greater than John, ib. a. Jesús thought to be one of the prº- ſº risen again, 144, f. 163, 183, e. the peºple 2 - a - ook upon him as a prophet, 109, 144, 183, 256, 67. conclude he was that Prophet who s!..ould come, 148. Pharisees’ conjecture concerning his being a prophet, 114. owned to be a prophet,.64, 227, 2.36. §. spake of him as a prophet like unto him, 378, i. 395, a. all who would not hear that Prophet, to be destroyed, 378, k. prophet has no honour in his own country, 67, c. 69, 18S, f: remark thereon, 68. to urge that none should come from Galilee, trifling, 184, l. a prophet not to perish out of Jerusalem, how to be under- stood, 209, b. receiving a prophet, what entitles to, 143. testimony of one prophet, what reckoi.ed by the Jews sufficient to confirm, 264, g. ſurge sense of the word, 786, a. prophets and apostles the foundation of the christian church, 651, n}. prophets often speak of thinks ſuture, as past, 897, m. of the Old Testament, the Spirit of Christ in them, 853, f. apprehended that their prophe- cies referred to the Messiah, but did not fully understa;;d thern, ib. g. Prophets of old, their habit, 88, k. spake freely of wicked persons, 209, f. their example no v arrant to us to use the same severity, 309; ca nye is a m- bassadors * frºm God, 77, 397, i. Jews approve their fathers' killing tºº m, 197, 27.6. go ºn to persecute them, 197, 277, the bigºi of all the broi,hets to be required of thern, 197, 277. Jeru- sillém, titat killed the prophets, to be destrºyed, 209, 277. Dro; thets said tº have spoke of Çhrist from the beginni:12, 26, b. 37 S. did not always undersland what I hey said of him, 25, c. desired to see what ſhe disciples saw, i24, 19. in , whât. sense they all si;ake of Christ, 354, #. 378, l. #14, 1. how Cirist refers to wikit they wrote, 246,319, p. and interpreſs all that Moses and the propiºs had said, 354,351. Jews. old, that, what all the prophets had foretoll, Christ should suffer, wai. fulfilled, 378, their rulers know liot the yºices of the prophets, 423, Paul asks Agrippa, if he hº- lieved the prophets, 484. Jews callet) tire ºf il- dren of the prophets, 378, 379, should see alli he prophets in the kingdom of Gºd, 293. the law and the prºphets were until John; lll: 218, cºn- sequence of their being disregarded, 220, g. Christ game not to destroy the law and the prophºts, 78, a. what the law and the prophets, S7, h. what they depend on, 27.2. were read in the Syria gogue every sabbath-day, 4:24, 426. Paul's belief of all things written in them, 476. persuading them concerning Jesus out of the law and the prophets, 491, 492. prophets come from Jerusalem to Anti- och, 418. names of certain prophets in the church at Antioch, 423, c. Judas and Silas prophets, 437. conversion of the Gentiles ſoretold by the prophets, 435, e. * Proselytes, when baptized, 57, c. remark thereon, , e. industry used in making them by the scribes and Pharisees, 275, who made them more the children of hell than themselves, ib., who commºnly called proselytes of the gate, 258, a. and who proseiutes of righteousness, ib. not only these, but the idolatious Gºniiles would be re- gºjyed by Christ, 25S, d. what the word signifies, 3-9, g. h9w applied by Luke, Ali, b, no suffi! çight tº it hority, for two sorts of proselytes, ib. 447, c. fearing God, and working righteousness, the case of such as were in no sense jewish pro: selytes, 413, c. roselytes of the gatc, little more Iegarded by the Jews, 415, 1. no hint in the New estament ºf preaching the gospel first to those who are called proselytes of the gate, and then to those that were idolaters, 417, b, many religious proscly tris receive the word at Antiºch, #8, #. such as were determined for etermal life, cannot be meant as of proselytes of the gate, 429, g. title of 743 psiº not appropriated to stich, 447, c. nor any reason to think the devout woniet; such, whom the Jews stirred up against Paul an Fär. nabas, 429, g. or the Greeks who believed at leo- nium, 429, a. when Paul and Barnabas reported the conversion of the Gentiles, cannot be tauger- stºod as only speaking of prºsely tes ºf the gate, 4:3, d. ºor could the point debató d in the assem! bly, at Jerusalem reſate only to them, 434, h. 436, h, i. 439, b. In any, who were not prosely tes might come out of curiosity to hear the apesiles, 450, d. such as were circumcised counted 'feil, wº Citizens, 466, l. Lord Barrington thinks St. Peter, wrote oply to them, $52, a. pewly made, called by the Jews new-born labes, $55, a. Presperity, what it should engage us to, 105. Prostitution, practised by the priestesses of Venus as a part of devotion, 581, e. Protestants, in posing on their brethren, very ill becomes, then, 156. Proverbial expressions, often introduced, 69,81, - - , , § 106, J 17, q. 137, c. 129, k. J40, b. 165, fits, gliº. iić, c. 36i, i. 359, i.º.º.6. b. §§ö, 1. 382, e. 402, f. 465, g. 488, d. supposed to be alluded to in what is said Óf every idle word, l 18, b, - roy idence, the universality of it asserted, 142, a. 199. , all things fixed under its conduct, 44s, o. all places will be to us what Providence makes them, 39. should labour after a firm faith in it, 199. £ncouragements to a dependence on it, 85, J39, l. not to be objected to for suffering evil in the world. 39. has a singular regard to good men, 142, , 474, 490. though its ways are often unscarchable, I-15. the citrº of it, should prever;t our anxiety, 85, 201, 202, and its continued a gency cngage us to rely upon it, 262, Ž93. a pest)es directed to rely upon its care, 39, l. how it overruled the imprisonment of Paul, 481, 484, s. and inter Losed for his life, 478, g. 483, m. 457, -93. the weiglitiest matters to be referred to its determination, 3.9. Gur reasonings to be sub- mitted to it, 410, f. bor should we judge of it from a part of its ecºnduct, 393. its agency a c- knºwledged by the Romans, 475, f. and the be- liº of it to be traced among barbarous nations, 3. * * - - Prudence in our conduct, whom to be learnt ſigm, J 15. should keep us from running into untieces- sary difficult is, 47 l. the greatest pruderice how shown, 424. gospel hid from the prudent, i 13, h. 191. reflection thereon, 1 J4. prudent nian buil, is liis house on a rock, 106. Prussian translators, how they render Mjatt. xxviii. 17. 360, a. say the sufferings of John the Baptist were foretold, 167, m. See L'Enfant. Psalms, how Iſlaced in the a pºst ſes' time, 426, n. a]], written in them concerning Christ fulfilled, s30 I. Ptolemais, Paul sails there from Tyre, 464. its different names, &c., ib. b. Publicans, persons of an infamous character, 43, 92, g. love those that love them, S.J. conſe to John's baptism, 43. justified God, being balafized of John, how to be considered, l l J, c. lieſieved John, 265. Christ objected to as a Friend cf 1.ub- licatis and sinners, l 12. offence is taken at his re- ceiving them, J33, 214. vindicates his freedom in conversing with fl:em, J33. as they flock to lear him, 214, a. deſive rs several ja rables for thcir encouragen:ont, 214, 215, tº nil,le u!hican pre- ferred to the preuil ſharisco, 235. reſlection the rºom, 226. Cº. pressive public aris, how 11-inch the Rom:an law required the no to rest cre, 249, f. I’t:blius entertains l'aul at his house, 489. Pu:)ishments. See Apostolic Rod.—future, sche ti, ink a difference in thcin in: in a tod, Rev. xix. 30. $41, d. Strong expression of their et cruity, 942, g. I’ure in beart, how to he understood, 76, h. such #!'; G94, ub. i. meccssity ºf in ward purity, - ..): 3 24 }s Purgatory, vainly argued for, 79, r. the notion of it not favoured by 1 Cor. iii. 15. 561, d. ii:cot:- sisten! with Rev. xiv. 3, §3 , i. Purification of Alary, when it was, 3°, b. 34, o, 35, p. Jews super stitiºus in the ir purifying, 54. g. I 55, c. beat kens jjractised it, 4-ii), a. Jºš dispute with John's disciples about it, 60, c. Paul purifies himself. 466, g. His seiz ºrc by ilio º: towards thic beginning of his purification, 10... []. Purple and scarlet, Christ arrayed with it, 331. Puises; where nade by the Jews, 139, i. Pºli, Paul lands there in his voyage to Ronic, Pythagoreans, taught that men should not let the sun go down on their wrath, 68.9. m. Mr. Baxter thinks eating herbs, Roºm. xiv. 2. refers to con- verts from that sect, 54), b. - Pythoness at Philippi, , really possessed, 441, b. dispossessed by Paul, 441. consequences thereof, 10. C. Q. Queen of Shºbagº rise up against the Jews, 120 Quenching the Spirit wbat. (42, e. Questions, raying about them, remarkably trans- lated by Bishop Wilkins, 767, c. Quotations from the Old Testament, 33, 36, and note h. 37; d. 38, h. 41, and note a. 42, 47, e. 48, and noté'ſ. 49, and note c. 53, e. 55, d. 68, 63, k. 7% and note - d. 74, c. 99, g. 102, 123, 1. 124, m., 127, e. 133, 134, 31, 152, 156, and note i. 183, 184, 1922, 233, 234, 254, g.237, g: 260, c. § 2%, gºl, 33,33, §§0.93.3%. 301, 308, is 315, 335, e, 336, b. 337, 339, 341, 344, d, e, 368, and note q.37}}...m.;73...e., fºg, k. Šiš, and motºj Šºg,'380,383,333,337, i. 394, and note h; 395, and note a. 396, 397, 402, f.403, g. 425, 426, and notes n, o, q. 427, s. 428, 435, d, e. 472,492, d, how sometimes expressed, * - 703, h., 259, i. 26), c. neither agree exactly with the Hebrew nor the Septuagint, 68, e. 344, f. 492, d._how sometimes introduced, # d. 55, d. 74, c. 120, e. what they sometimes refer to, 38, h. 308, i. - - - - - Gen. ii. 7. 604, ii. 23, 24; 695. iii. 16. 598. xii. 2, 3. 808. xv. 6, 842. xvii. 1-6. 808. xxii. 16, 17. ió, and note b. xlix. 9, 10.914. e Exod. ix. 16, 527, and note b. xvi. 18.629, and note f. xx. 12, 636, ag b. xxxii. 6, 19. 581. Lev. xi. 44.854. xix. 2. ib., xx. 7. ib. xxvi. 12.626. Deut. xxi. 23.655, and note i., xxv. 4. 578. xxy. 24, 765. xxvii. 25.655, and note. g. xxix. 4. 532, xxx. 11-14,530. xxxii. 21. 531. xxxii. 35, 36.82). xxxii. 43. 545. Joshua i. 5. 832. 2 Sam. vii. I4. 798. 1 Kings XiX: 14. 532, a. Job v. 13. 562. - - - - Psalm, ii. 7... 798, k... ii. 9. 909, Yiii. 4.800. xvi. 10.599. xviii. 49.545. xix. 4. 531. xxii. 22, 26. 801. xxiv., 1.584, Xxxiv. 12.13. 859. xl. 7.817, £, f: Xly. 6, 7, 799, n, o, p. li. 4, 504. lxviii. 18. 686, ixix. 9. 544, and note a. xgiv. 11. 562. xcv. 7. 802. xcvii. 7, 199, cii. 26. ib., giv. 4. ib. cx. . 805, h. exii. 9. 6.31...cxvi. 10. 620, and note d. cxvii. 1.545. cxviii.22. 855. . Prov. iii. 11,828, d. iii. 34.845.xxvi. 11, 872. Isaiah i. 9,523. vi. 2, 3.913. vi.10. 532. viii. 18. 801. x. 22, 23. 528. xi. 10. 545. xxy. , 8, 603. xxyiii. 11.1597, and note... b. xxviii. 16. 529. xxix. 14. 556. xxxiii. 18, iſ . and mote c. x.). 5. 835. xli. 8. 842, Xlix. 8, 624, and note, g., lii. 7. 530, lii. 1). 626. Jii. 15. 346. Jiii. J. 531, liii. 4, 5, 6.857. liv. 1, 662, and note c. lix. 20. 534, and note b. lx. 1. 692, m. lxiv. 4. 55S, and note k. lxv. 1, 2.53 I. ixv. 16. 557. Jºi ix. 23. 557. xxxi. 31. 812, c. 813, d. xxxi. 33. Hosea, i. 10.528, and note a. Joel ii. 32. 530. Habak. ii. 4, 498, d. 655, and note h. Hag. ii. 6.830, o. Quotations, sometimes rather the sense than words referred to, 505, g. R. Rabbi, what it signifies, 51. Scribes fond of the title, 274, why Christ would not haye his dis- ciples affect it, b. f. remark on Nicodemus's calling Christ, so, 57, a. - Rabbies insisted much on washing before meals, 155, c.; how they speak of the earth, 169, g. Rabbi, Isaac, his remarks, 367, g. 393, a. Rab'Yi'nical writius;s, abound with incredible and insipid tales, 762, b. Rabboni, a title given to Jesus, 348. Raca, what it answers to, 7S, l. Rachael weeps for her children, 38, h. Rahab, in Christ's genealogy, 28, c. Railers, what they should think of 118, b. Rain, what a testimony of to the heathem, 431. how spoken of by them, ib. m. a Jewish proverb con- cerning it, ib. * , - - Rainbow of emerald, what it signifies, 913, b. Raphelius, his, Qbservations, 43, b, 165, i. 169, d. 172, f. 187, t. 169, c. 276, e. 298, b. 323, p. 3S0, h. 428, 1,429, h. 431, m, 436, m. 449, g. 447, f. 448 º º q. 462, k, p. 476, e. 477, g. 482, b. 484, p. .), Ul. Rash engagements to be avoided, 145. Rashness and inconsideration prevented by charity, y GENERAL INDEX. 593, f. Ray, Mr., observation of his, 85, i. Reiſiness for Christ's coming, what urged from, 202, f: 2S5, 2$6. Reading, Mr., his remarks, 211, h. 2S2, i. Reasonings, that are evil and corrupt, bring guilt on many, 157, b. - Rebuking the fever, a proper expression, 73, g. Rebuking with severity, consistent with long- suffering, 786, c. ... Received up. Šee Time, . *ś or rejecting Christ, what, 142, 143, 172, * ~ * Reconciliation with our brother, what necessary to, 73. danger of neglecting to be reconciled to God, Zºº). Recovered from a distemper, what expressed by in the original, 135, e. Redeeming the time, what, 693, and note a. Redemption, how sometimes used, 284, g, what the apostles might do in the view of it, ib. f. what the sense of redeeming love should stir us up to, 27. sometimes, signifies deliverance, 522; d. of the purchased inheritance, what, 676, o., Dr. Whitby. thinks there are two redemptions, ib. the day of it, ºt. 0, q. sometimes signifies the resurrec- tl Qū, ib. Reed, which the soldiers put into the hand of Jesus, what it may signiſy, 331: Q. Reeves, Mr., conjecture of his, 411, d. Reformation of life, reflection on it, 120, k. Regeneration, nature of it, 57, 58. operation of the Spirit in it, ib., what applied to. §§§, i. Reland, his conjectures, 258, b. 271, e. Relapsing into vice gºous, 121, parable of the relapsing daemoniac, 120. elation to Christ in a matural way, what less ad- i.º. than, 119, 122, i. what not so valua- C as, 180. - Relations set at variance § the gospel, 141, 142, 204, the nearest not to be loved like Čhrist, i43. to be even hated in regard to him, 212, b. gain of those who leave them for his sake, 239, often not expressed in the original, 393, a. . Relative pronoun, what it sometimes refers to, y II]. y C. - - - Relative duties expressed by being subject one to another, 694, e. Sóme particulars of then stated, J, (25, / C /. Religion, how to be undertook, 213., cannot be ex- pected to flourish in the soni without our care, 127, b, not intended only for a regulation of so- ciáſ life, 87, h. nor to be confined to, them that follow us, 177. the name of it why abused; I how weakened, 156. has often degenerated into craft, 458. if not condemned unheard, cannot be condemned at all, 467. God can raise up guardi- ans to...it from the most unexpected quarter, ib. 477, folly of public persons putting slights upon it, 475, f. introducing a new religion forbidden by the Roman law, 441, e. "Pauli’accused only ºf things relating to the Jewish religign, 480. re- marks thereon, ib. d. pure and j.d. what, 340, k. of no avail without charity, ib. l. Remembering things not sufficient, if the design be overlooked, 162, . • emembrance of his everlasting mercy, 24, h. Remphan, what it might signify, 396, e. Rent clothes. See Clothing. Repentance, preached by John the Baptist, 41, 43. by Christ, 67, 70, 71. by the apostles, 143. Christ came to call sinners to it, 133., urges it as neces- sary to escape destruction, 206. repentance to be preached in his name, 361, f. God has exalted him tº give repentance, 3%, ’d. the awakened Jews exhorted to repent, 374.”. 378, e. good effects that would attend it, 379, repentance unto life given to the Gentiles, 416, d, how not right to render it, ih. Paul testifies the necessity of re- pentance, 461, c. preaches to the Gentiles to re- pent, 483. unconverted sinners exhorted to repent- ance, 40], e. all commanded to repent, 449, r. the fruits of it in different persons, 628, d, . Repetitions, why sometimes made, 46, i. 144, h. 412. by no means vain, 96, h. attended with dig- nity, 187, e. truth of the Thistory requires them, 210, f. attention ought to be renewed where they Qccur, 105. passages repeated on other occasions, 89, e. 104, a. 172, h., 178, f. 191, d. 195, 198, 201. 204, 208, 213, 220, 235,236,250,274,276, 277, §6, §§ 333,234,995, 396,307, 31j.3%gº, sº tence of our Lord so frequently repeated as that concerning humility, 275, k. why Peter put Cor- nelius on repeating what he knew before, 413, h. ... Paul's conversion would bear to be repeated, 484. Reproaches to be borne with meekness, 181. those we suffer for Christ to be reckoned a glory, 28, g. and not to be wondered at, 246. Reprobate, what, 642, d, e. eproof, how ready men are to shrink back from it, 87, c. had men unfit to be reprovers of others, ib. should be managed with prudence, 87. will stir up sinners to malice, 145, Resist not evil, how to be understood, 81, l. Resistance to magistrates, 539, c, d, e. . . Respect of persons in religious assemblies, what kind forbidden,840, b. - Rest which the churches had in all Judea, to what it may be ascribed, 408, s: happy effects of it, ib. t. how long it might continue, ib. s. Restitution, a necessary part of repentance, 250, required by the Jewish and Román law, 343, f. restoring four-fold, when necessary, ib. restoring seven-fold, proverbial, ib. Resurrection from the dead, implied by Christ, 80, e. expressly asserted, 95, Jä2, 153. the pro- mise made to the fathers, 482, denied by the Sadducees, 270, a. their error therein, 270, 271. Ríº of the resurrection out of the law of Moses, 271. Salducees object to its ib. 272, grace discovered in it to be adored, ib, Jesus declares himself to be the resurrection, 243, should regard him in this character, 244, inference drawn there- from, ib. transports of the resurrection-day, ib. what it will raise us to, 137. Christ the first that rose from the dead, 483. many of the saints arose after Christ's rºsurrection, 340. remarks thereon, ib. o., p. apostles preach it as exemplified in Jesus, 379. Paul, how looked upon at Athens, in preaching the , resurrection, 447, . f. 449, s. de- clares he is called in question for it, 472, g. 477. professes his hope of it, 476. argues for its cre- dibility, 482, f... . Resurrection of Christ, what a proof of 56, i. how intimated, 56. what exemſ lified in, 120, JöI. his rising on the third day foretold to his disciples, 151, 167, 170, 246, 315, who understand him not, 167, 170,247. not knowing what the scripture had declared, 347, though, after he was risen, they remembered what he had said, 56, 349. Jews acknowledge he had declared that he would rise on the third day, 344, g. and pretend a sus- picion of his disciples' stealing him by night, ib. which they afterwards bribe the soldiers to say, 35l. no contract between Christ and the Jews, that he should rise in their sight, 344, i. persons to whom Jesus appeared after he was risen, 347,349, 350, h, i. 351, f. 352,355, and note b. 356, 357, 358, ână ote i. 365, 3éi, c. 36.36%. iiº. sonable in the Jews to complain of defect in the evidence of his resurrection, 362, reflections on it, 348; 356, 374. Scriptures show, that the §ſessiah ought to rise again, 36), 445. and that he was the first that should rise from the dead, 3. David, spake of the resurrection of Christ, 373, how Christ is said to have been begotten on 99 | the day of his resurrection, 426, o. the apostles witnesses of the truth of his resurrection, 361, g. 69, 373.377, 378, 382.386, 4143.326; their teşti- In Ony to it, 37 • ?: 32? 7, 378, 38. 386, 414, 426, 449. the Spirit a Witness of it,386. its miracu- lous gifts a proof of it, ib. e. 414, f. reflections thereon, ib. 415. many witnesses of it, 600., on the third day, how foretold in Scripture, 599, e. appears to have been a joyful, idea to the apos- les, 647, a, an evidence of the resurrection of christians, 741, and note a. º Resurrection of christians, some say it was already past, 715, g. 1 Cor. xv. not wholly employed in proving a resurrection, 601, d. nor in proving a resurrection of the dead in general, 601, e. 603, e. Fleming's notion of the first resurrection, 712, i. 713, b, of good men shall, precede that ºf others, 60l. and the change of § saints, 740, g. what that resurrection, than which ſhe martyrs and confessors expected a better,826, f. christians were often insulted for the hope of it, 599, a. Retaliating injuries not allowable, 81,82. Rººg for religious exercises, what it should Of IOW * Révéiation, how needful, 447, b. mentioned, 2 Cor. xii., was made to St. Paul, 638, b. to St. John made by certain images in his mind without archetypes, 913, . a. the great moral which the 99k, of Reyelation, was designed to illustrate, 904, d. Mr. Lowman’s scheme of that book, 916, a. Wide Introduct. Revelation. - Revelation examined with candour, what the auth9r shows, 234, d. Revellings, kaoplot, what, 666, f. Revenge forbidden, 538, and note, e. Revengeful spirit, not to be indulged, 176. Reverence, the inward disposition, qo@og, the outward conduct, Tipm, 540, h. Rewards, how to be proportioned, 240, g. 241. remarks thereon, 240, g. inference drawn from it, 143,251,289. - * Reynolds, (Bishop,) conjecture of his, 297, m. Reynolds, Mr., observation of his, 376, d. Rhegium, Paul sails by it, 490. Rhemish Jesuits, their ignorance, 279, f. under- stand ava)\oy wa Tris-cos of a confession of faith, 536, ſ. Rhoda, may be rendered Rose, 420, g. runs to the door when Peter knocked, ib. Rhodes, Paul sails there, 463. Riches, to be faithfully improved, 217. fitly called deceitful, 124, a. 217, e. not sufficient to make life happy, 200, render salvation difficult, 238, 39. not becoming us to be eager in seeking them, 171. . . . Rich, receive their consºlation, 104. shall be sent empty away, 24, f will hardly enter into the kingdom of God, 238. whom this is applied to ib. the gifts they cast into the treasury exceeded by the widow’s mites, 278, Rich fool in the parable, 200. Rich man and Lazarus, 219, a, c, e. 220. - Rich people exhorted to liberality in very strong terms, 769, d. Rich in this world, what is insinu- ated by the phrase, 769, c. Rich with respect to God, sense of it, 200, d. great advantage ºf attaining it, ib. Right eye or hand offend thee, -sense of it, 80, c. gradation observable in it, ib. d. Right hand of God, Jesus exalted to it 364, 373, 36. Stephen sees him there. 397, o. the son of man to be seen sitting at the right hand of power, O. Righteous, who need not repontance, query relat- ing to them, 214, d. receiving a righteous man not to be unrewarded, 143. happiness to atten it, 126, 289, 290. Righteous and good man, how distinguished, 511, g. to be constituted righteous, what, 512, k. the righteous scarcely saved, 863, h. Righteousness, happy those that hunger and thirst after it, 76, gº to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, 78, d, e. vain-glory to be avoided in it, 83, a. seeking first the kingdom of God and his º meant by the latter, 86, Im. what it may signify in the caution against practising it befºre men, $2, a. Paul reasons of it before Felix, 47S. remarks thercon, ib. b. 479. Righteousness of God often signifies the manner of becoming righteºus which he has appointed, 498, b. sometimes his righteousness in appoint: ing that meth94, 504, and n: 1e d. and sonićtimes the purity of his nature, 599. of the Pharisces, What; ib. a. a perfect righteousness necessary to justification by the law, ib. and note c. of saints, what, 940, a. Righteousness of Christ, how mainifested, 309. Rivetus, conjecture of his, 472, e. Robe, ring, and shoes, in the parable of the prodi- gaſ, what intimations of, 215, g. Rock, on which Christ would build his church, how to be understood, 163, c. how that in the wilder- ness was Christ. 5&i. Rocks torn asunder at the death of Christ, 339. remains of them still to be seen, ib. n. ome, number of Jews there, 371, h. who are 9rdered to depart from thence by Čáudiºs, 450, b. absurdity. of pretending Peter went to Róme after, his deliverance out of prison, 490, k. uncer. tajn by Whom the gospel was first preached thero, , k. Paul thinks of going to Rome, 456, the Lord assures him that he would testify concern- ing him at Rome, 472. Paul delivered to be cº- yeyed to Rome, 485, b. arrives there, 490, n). Før,his confinement there, &c., see Fani. Reigns of the several emperors within the limits of the Fospel-history, 964. some think it will be swall. lowed up in the lake of fire, 938, f Rgmags, the Sanhedrim airprehensive of their com ing:24; and hasten their ruin by what they did to avoid it, 246. sent as executioners of the divine vengeance, 224, 246, 267, d. 283. their setting up Q{}:2 their idolatiºus standards on holy Frgund, what a sign of 281, a. providence observable in their withilraying from Jerusalem after their first ap- proach, ù. a Roman guard, why attended near the tern ple, 32.), o. 465, n., used to examine by Scourgūg: $70, ºl, had a law that heade a riot capital, 458, r. did not allow attempts to intro– duce a tiew religion, 441, e. woul, I not suffer a Roman citizen to be bound or beaten, 443, c. 470. but made it highly criminal for such as were ugt so to plead this privilege, 4-13, c. Paul, pleads b is privilese as such, 443, 479, f. the freedºm of Rome was sometimes given as a reward, and sºmetimes bought, i5. Ilysias writes to Felix of aul's rein z a Roman, 474, a. subjection of the Jºys to them, 475, g. Roma: law allowed every citizº a rižht of a; pealing to Caesar, 479, R. re- ‘I aired accusations to be made in the presence of time accus:d, 430, c. Romans would have let Pant gº, 491. Epistle to them, when written, 459, C. - 3 J , i. ARoyalty, in whom vain, 39. - tal.;er-bands, design of loosening them, 488, f. ancients often had two rudders to their ships, ib. Rufus. See Ale cºnder. - Šišiler of the people not to be evil spoken of 472. K: lars of the Jews, examine Jesus, 55, e. when they let him alone, the people question, whether they knew he was the Christ, IS3. urged against Jesus, that none of the rulers believed in him, iſ, h. tº any of them believe, but are afraid of confess- in 4 hion, 23 1. seek for an opportunity to destroy Jesus, 257,291. reflections on their malice, 2:16, 292. tiley deliver up Jesus to death, 353. and so fulfil the Scripture, 426. did it through ignorance, 378, 426. yet this did not excuse their guilt, 378, d. are told by Peter, when the lame man was cured, it was done by the name of Jesus, 380. join with the Gentiles in a design of stoning Paul and Barnabas, 430, d. Rulers of the synagogue. See Synagogue. lèulers of the darkness of this world, who, 698, and F. :) : tº D. Rust, how to be rendered, 84, a . . . Ruth, remark on her being a Moabitess, 2S, d. Rymer, I)r., observation of his, 172, i. S GENERAL INDEX, ñil the christians at Damascus, 404, 4t:8. Lysias brings Paul before them, 47 l. but a dissension arisiſ:g in the council, takes him away, 472. Sapphira. See Angmias. Sarāb and Hagaf, their story allegorized, 66], 662. Sarepta, Elijah sent to, 69 . . arou, or Sharon, a valley in the neighbourhood of Lydda, whose inhabitants turn to the Lord, 409, and note c. Satan, enemy to God and man, 48, q, how used is Hebrew, l 16, g., what it often means, ib. 191, c. Jesus is charged with casting out da-mons by his help, l 16, but Satan will not cast out Satan, ib. what it sometimes signifies, 164, d. remark on Its jº. to Peter, ib. was seen by Christ to fall like lighining from heaven, 191. what that refers to, ib. c. , reflection thereon, 192. Christ's victory over him:, l 17, m, J 18, 259, 309. sows tares among the wheat, 126. binders the word from taking root, 124 enters into Judas, 291, 296,297. desires a permission to assault the apostles, 299. reflections thereon, ih. came to assault Christ, 305, filled the heart of Ananias, 3, d. reflections thereon, 385. His artifice often overruled, 455, h. Paul is sent to the Gentiles, that they may turn from the power of Satan, 405, 483, k...yºhat it is to deliver a person to him, 566, d. 756, and note b. . Satisfaction of Čhrist, wherein referred to, 300, f. to divine justice, what, 509, e. consistent with our obligation to holiness, ib. - Saved, how frequently applied, 135, d. , exception to it, 380, h. Christ is upbraided with his saving power, 337, f_ be ye saved from this perverse generation, 375. jailer’s inquiry, what he must do to be saved; 442, n. , , Saul, king of. Israel, his government included with Samuel's, 425, i. did not long survive him, 20. Saul, (afterwards Paul,) his birth, acts, &c.,386, §§ 3. º , b. 405, and notes e, h, j, k, l, m. 4G6, b. 407, and notes g, h; i.408, an 09, 417, d. 418, 422, a, t In Ote e. , and notes c, e, f. 363, i. 470, and note f. 472, 473, 482, and note d. See Paul; Savouring the things of men, and not of God, 164, e. our proneness to it, 165. . . Say winto you, what it may signify, 25], h. thou hast said, meaning of its 297, l. º 327. Séji.e. is criticisms, 38, § 173, Tºžić. Scarlet. See Purple. Scatter abroad, how to be understood, 117, Q. . . Sceya’s sons attempt to dispossess an evil spirit, 455. are driven away naked and wounded, ib. Schism, what it expresses, 183, f. Schmidius, conjecture of his, fi, f. Scholar, not above his teacher, 106. where usual for learners to sitt 40, d. 194, b. 468, d. Scot, (Dr. John,) his conjectures and remarks, 46, 8. 18 & y Vie - - Scott (p. Daniel,) his observations, 27, f. 28, a. 36, i. 36, i. ič, ć, 163, c. Scornful airs to be seriously accounted for, notes k b. 433, and 3. l. * - - scºpions, power given to the disciples over thcm, 1. Scourging, a punishment among, th9 Jews, 141, c. 70, c. apostles to expect if, 141, 276, 279. Saul thus punished them that believe, 470, c. Jesus scourged by Pilate, 330. used to precede cruci- fixion, ib. a. 333, q. apostles scourged by , the sanhedrim, 387. Paul, and Silas scourged at Philippi, 441. Paul ordered to be examined by Scourg Ing, * wº- Scribes, who intended by them, 274, Q. consulted erod where the Messiah should be born, 36. agreed that the Messiah was the Son of David 273. and that Elijah must first come, 167. Jews extravagant opinion of their words, 274, f. their way of teaching contemptible, 89, g. perceived that Jesus did not teach like them, 71, 89, g. their offence at his sermon on the mount, 91, b. scribe's readiness to follow him, 129, e. asks Jesus which is the first and great commandment, 272, a. and approvos his answer, 272. Jesus foretºſis being rójected by them, 164,246. contend with his dis- ciples, ić. and are reproved, ib. complain of the children, when they gried hosanna, 257. con- suit against Jesus, ib. 263,291. qugstion his a u- thority, 264, e. but are silei:ced, 264. commend what he said to the Sadducces, 27 l. disciples warned to beware of them, 274. send a multitude to seize Jesus, 319. assemble at the high priest's palace, 321. try him in the Sanhedrim!324. and de- clare him guilty of death, 325. cºnjit again bow to do this, 326. deliver him to Pilate, ib. attend him to Herod, 329. deride him as he hung upon the cross, 337, f. present when Peter and John are examined, 379. stirred up against Stephen, 390. intimate a spirit or an angel might litiye spoken to Paul, 472, h., scribe instructed to the kingdom of heaven, 128. sci ibes, and prophets gºist would send to be persecuted by the Jews, Sabbath made for man, 99. observed as a day of cxtraordinary devotion, but not with a strict rest, in the patriarchal age, 181, g. Jewish sabbath be: gan and ended at sunset, 74, a. Christ Lord of the sabbath, 99, i. remark thereon, ib. k. custom- ary with Christ to go on that day into the syna- g., gue, GS, 71, 73, IQ), 137. his sabbaths spent deſizłitfully, 75. reflection thereou, 70. Jews scrupled to carry any thing on it, 74; b. 94, count- c: it unlawful to rub out the ears of corn on that day, 99, d. priests worked on it, 99. Cures V.I.Ought by Christ on the sabbath-day, 73, 94, 100, 296, 210, 227. for which he is charged as a siameſ, 94, 2:27, but vindicates himself, 95, 96. and sh9 ws the Jews were unreasonable in censuring, him fºr it, 100, IS1, 207. christians to pray their flight milight not be on that day, 281. regard paid to the sabbath a 'ter Christ's crucifixion, 341, and note d. 3 #2. on that day the priests secure the sepul- chre, 3 |4. Paul attends the synagoguo on it, 424, 423, 44), 444, 450. Moses and the prºphets were read there every sabbath-day, 424, 439, 436. Spu- rious addition, with respect to working on the sabbath, 10), a.sccond sabbath after the first, how to be an.jerstood, 98, b. - * - - Sabbath, Jewish, abrogated, 724, i. the christian sabbath, the first day of the week, 606, J-i, C. Sabbath-day's journey, what reckoned such by the Jews, 334, c. a s - Sickclºth, the wearing it what a sign of 113, c. S.1crame. It of baptisin. See Baptism. Sacrainºt of th; Lord's supper, 587, 588. when might be thought of by Christ, 153, f, what shºuld be our views in coming to it, 154. instituted by Cirist at the close of the passover, 300, a re- mark on it, ib. h. infatuation of the papists, in taking the bread to be the real body of Christ i5. c. the cup how to be considered, ib. e. an received, ib. Thymn sung at the close, what it might be, 3) I, h. how we should approach it, 3jf. remark on it, 300, f. often celebrated by the Srinitive christians, 375, g. 459, g. plainly meant § breaking cread, when the disciples ºnet to- géther at Troas, 459, g. arguinent for denying the cup to the laity given up by the council of 'front, iſſ, what the Corinthian, fault about it, 557, c. the perpetuity of it argued frºm the reve- iation of it to St. Paul, ib. ſ. and from the ex- pression, till the Lord coine, 5S3, and note k. the jements after consecration, called bread and vºiſie, ii. i. unworthy attendance expressed by eating judgment, , &c. ib. n. christians early mingled water with the wine, why, 815, d. See Baptism. Sacrifices seasoned 173, m. - Sacrifices, heathen, were tokens of coin munion with their dºiries, 533, b., some part of then were often sjid in the sh;imbles, 584, a. Mosaic, their use, 814, f. Gºd will not Hºº", sin with- Out 3. sºiſ; 319s b. §ºr iyine institution insinuated, 821, e. See Stººlſ ērlºš. s sºil. º, so cajied, 270, a. well described by Dr. Prideaux, 43, a. deny a resuºtion, &c. 43,376, a 473. remark thereon, 270, A., their pºinciples prevail, much annong the rich, and great, 144, g, and high Qū?sts, 385, a. their regard to the law of Moses, 27], e.'coine to John's pºtism, 43. are admonished by him, ib. how jºi a brood of vipers, ib. G. refuse tº, be, bap- jº. 3... ask a sign from heaven, 161. Christ cautio;is his disciples against their leaven, ib., ić, no reason to suppose they had favourable with salt, design of them, thoughts of Christ, JS3, h. question Christ about the resurrectio;;, 271). who tells then they knew not the Scriptures, 271. and proves it out of the jaw of Moses, ib, e...on which they retire in con- fusion, ib. b. Join with the priests in apprehend- ing Peter and John, 379,380,381, seize the twelve a postles and imprison them, 3S5. consult how to put them to death, 386. dissension arises between them and the iºnarisees concerning the resurrec- tion of the dead, 472. Sages. See Ji ise in en. Saint-Real, \ions., conjecture C# his, 280, k. Saints, depariesl., incapable of reiicving such as pray to them, 219, c. vanity of trusting to their intercession, ih. SS7. remark on those that ap- peared after Christ's resurrection, 340, o, p. why §: the first-born, 830, k. first-fruits, S39, c. $3.5 ; :) - Salamis, Paul and Barnabas preach there, 423. Šalathiel, how said to be the son of Jeconiah, 29, i. Sulinasius, remark of his, 170, d. Salmone, Paul passes by it in his voyage to Rome, 4S5, and noted. Salome, who supposed by some to be, 341, c. brings spices to embalm Christ's body, 3.35. 'Śes iſºl 771.5 jº. - Salt, why used to season sacrifices, 173, m. if in- sipid, good for nothing, 77, n. 173, 213. Christ's disciples the salt of the earth, 77. are bid to have salt in themselves, 173. salted with fire, how to be understood, ib. l. - Salvation, born of, raised up in Qhrist, 26, a. Christ God's salvation, 34. offered first to Israel, 379, 426, 427. but, on their rejecting it, sent to the Gentiles, 492. no sharing in it, without turning from iniquity, 379, nor any way of obtaining it but in the name of Jesus, 380, h, who shall be for salvation to the ends of the earth, 428, pernicious doctrine concerning, it, 480, advantage of learn- . the way to it shamefully neglected, 481 of others may influence that of a minister, 763, i. Salutations to many persons in St. Paul’s Epistles, a testimony of their genuineness, 548, e. aluting our brethren only, no extraordinary thing, l, t. Seventy not to salute any by the way, 177, d. salutations in the market, affected § the Pharisees, 197,271. - Samaria, Christ passes, through it, 63,222, and note c. apostles to be his witnesses in Sannaria, 363, 367. Philip preaches, there, 399, and note f. increase of its churches, 439. - a maritans, had no friendly intercourse with the evs, 63, g. 193, i. rejected all the Scripture but the books of Moses; 27.1, e. offer their temple on mount Gerizim to Antiochus, 63, g. deduce their genealogy, from Jacqb, 63. their expectations, 65, q. Út, h. many believe, at Sichem, on hearing what the woman said of Jesus, 66. and many more, on hearing him discourse, ib. reflection thereon, ib. g. apostles instructed not to visit them, $39. Jésus reproached with being a Sama- ritan, 189. parable of the good Samaritan, 193. remarks on it, ib., h, j, k. Samaritans will not receive, Jesus, 222; intenaperate, zeal of his dis- ciples thereupon, ib., ten lepers cleansed, and but one, a Samaritan, gives. thanks, ib. 223. people of Samaria look upon Simon as the great power of God, 399. but, upon hearing Philip, believe, and are baptized, 400. Peter and John come to them, ib. gospel preached in their villages, 401. the Samaritans better prepared to receive it than most of the Gentiles, 399, f. Samuel, whence supposed to be the auth9r of the Pentateuch, 378, I. speaks very expressly of the Messiah, i5. his government included with that of Saul, 425, i. Samos, Paul touches there, 460. Samothracia, Paul sails thither, 440. Sanctification, sometimes refers to being externally set apart, 820, e. Sanctify them through thy truth, the , prayer of Christ, 314, a. who sanctifies himself for our sakes, ib. e Inheritance. - - - Sandals, apostles to...wear them in their journey, 139. form of them, ib. k. - Sandys, Mr., his account of the cleft in the rocks, In. - Sanhedrim, the supreme Jewish court, 55, e. dif- ficult to say who were properly members of it, 380, f. seat of the two principal officers, 247, c. alone could punish with stoning, 78, , and note h. had a right of punishing false ºrophets, 209, h. were allowed to try capital causes, 185, c. 326, c. 332, h. send priests to inquire of John the Baptist who he was, 49 ask Jesus fºr a sign, 55. Christ accused before them, 94, n. 95– 9.S. send officers to seize him, 182, e. who re- turning without him, JS3. they separate after a short debate, 184. examine the blind man, 227— 339. remark thereon, 228, 229. cqnsult how they should deal with Jesus, 245. resolve on his death, ib. and order any that knew where he was to dis- cover him, ib. duestion his authority, 264..are silenced by him, ib. renew their consultations against him,291. Judas agrees with them to be- tray him, ib. 292, send a . guard to seize him, 318. meet together at the high priest's palace, 321. endeavour to procure , false witnesses iſ gainst Jesus, 324. ask him if he were the Messiah, ib. e. adjudge him to death, 325, k, consult hºw to put him to death, 326. take him away to Pilate to confirm their sentence, ib. c. 332, h. Peter and John brought before them, 380 and note f. won- der at their boldness, 380. and having threatened them, let them go, ... the twelve, apostles brought before them, 386, they consult how to put them to death, ib., but Gamaliel adyising them to be cautious, ib. they scourge and dismiss them, 387. Stephen accused before them, 390, 391, et seq. who charging them with murdering the Righteous One, 397, l. they are enraged at him, 397. Saul commissioned by them to seize 2 ſ O. Scribes and Pharisces, their righteousness to be ex- ceeded, 78, what they taught, ib. d high opinion the Jews had of them, ib. e. sat in the chair of Moses, 274, a, b. but were not to be invitated in their works, 274. laid heavy burdens |''. others, which they would not touch, themselyes, ſº in- stances of their hypocrisy and pride, ib. 275. re- ject the counsel of God, 112, and nºte, h. watch for an opportunity to accuse Christ, 100. question him about the lawfulness of healing on the Sab- bath day, ib. and consult with the Herºdians how to destroy him, 101. charge Christ with acting by the help of Beélzebub, 116., and with having an unclean spirit, 118. are told of the gºpardºnable guilt of sfnning against the Holy Ghost, ib, and &autioned of the danger of such sinful, words, ib, et charge him again with acting by the help of #.i.iº, 137, p. desire a sign from heaven, a 219. a. are upbraided as an adulterous genera- tion, ibs, b. to whom no sign should be given, 119, 16}. offended at Christ's eating with publicans, 133. alarmed at his miracles, 155, b. seek, te in- snare him, 135...blame his disciples for neglecting traditions, ib. 156, ask Christ's judgment of the adulteress, 185. who bidding the guiltless person throw the first stone at her, they retire, ib., re- mark thereon, ib. e. endeavour to find out some- thing to accuse him, 198, renew their murmurs at his eating with sinners, 214. disobedient son an emblem of their hypocrisy, 265, h. take counsel against Jesus, 267. Woes dénounced against them, with the causes why, 197, e. 275,276. *cripture, the best defence against Satan, 48, 49. how abused, 47, k, enemies of christianity bot to be trusted in their representations of it, 179, f. sense of it not to be disguised, 151, g. sometimes obscured by those that audertake to explain, it 74, e. sense that first offers to an honest mind commonly the true one, ib. no word insignificant in it, 179, k. Scripture cannot be broken, what it refers to, 233,961, meaning of some places, how best determined, 56, 163, e. mings of the disci- ple: opened, to understand the Sgºreg 361. how said to be fulfilled in Judas, 368; d. Scrip- ture expressions often to be understood with limi- tations: 63, h. 80, h. 8), p. 96, i, k. 97, a. 104, d. iš, c. 2.É. i. 336, e, 385, d. 363, n.,’. 3öf. §. 3 ſº, i. 355, c. 338, h. 37ſ, e.”36%. 463, a $é ...All.] arguments drawn from upiversal phrases weak, 370, e., Scriptures testify of Christ, 97. how they ought to be received, 98, should be read in our public assemblies, 70, 427. and care- fully studied, 404. Search the scriptures, remark on it, 97, e., known to children, therefore not for- bidden to the laity, 779, a. Scripture expressº; sometimes used in a restrained sense, 843, c. 880, i. 882, k... negligence of transcribers ito argument against its inspiration,956. - - Sea obedient to Christ, 130, 149. . [See Walking on the sea..] seafaring persons to be remembered in ...P. 487. Sea of glass and fire, what, 932, and note a. what is meant when it is said, the sea was no more, - y 8. - - - Sealed of the Father, force of it, 151, b. reflection thereon, 152. * - Seals, the scenes that followed on opening them, how exhibited to St. John,916, d; sealed to the day of redemption, to what it alludes, 690, q. Seats, the uppermost at feasts, &c. chosen by the Pharisees, 197, 274. lowest to be taken, 2.1Q, g. Secret good actions shall be rewarded openly, 83, 84. º secret that shall not be revealed, J25, Secrets of the heart, how made manifest in preach- ing, 597, c. º sº º Sect, not always used in a bad sense, 476, c. Jews tell Paul, that the sect he belonged to was every where spoken against,491. christians represented as an atheistical sect, ib, a. - Secundus attends Pauſ with the collections to Je- rusalem, 459, d. - º * < **** Sedition, Christ accused as guilty of it, 327. Paul charged as exciting the Jews to sedition, 475. Seducing teachers, to be ayoided, 88. how to be known, ib. l. christians forbidden to receive them into their h9uses; 8 See death, a Hebraism, 34, f. - Seed that fell by the way-side, how explained, 124. that on good ground, what applied to, 125. Seed growing insensibly, what it may serve to illus- trate, 127. g- Seed of Abraham, not seeds, 656.., , , , Sceing, they see not, emphasis, in it, 123, is, such as will not see, justly left in darkness, 123. secing vow shall see, &c. how better rendered, b. 1, , . Seeing God, why put for the knowledge of him, y_{!. º * .* Seemed to be, ot 60ksvres, those that were, 651, g. Seemeth to have, remark on it, 125. f. Seleucia, Paul and Barnabas sail from thence, Self-denial of Moses;,394, d. 395, of Christ, 54, 118. of Paul, 460, 461. necessary to all, 164, , Self-murder, justified by some philosophers, 442, k. Selling their estates, by the first, converts, whence it might arise, 202, e. was a voluntary act, y e. why eligible at that time, 375, i. no reason to suppose the number of converts owing to a desire §. in them, ib. price of these possessions brought to the *ggs. 382. complaint that some were neglected, 38S, and note b. . - Sentence Christ will pass on the wicked, reflections on it, 290... . s º Separate spirits exist, 830, 1, do not, sleep, SOS, a. 622, g. are happy, 741, b, an objection against it answered, 780, e. are with Christ! 706, c. Separation, without the guilt of schism, 541, a. ** Septuagint, often followed by the eyangelists, 373, } 402, f. , 435, d. Cainan inserted from thence, 30, q. teaching for dactrines the commandments of men, taken from thence, 156, i. different accounts iven there of the number of souls that went into §t. 392, h. some think an attempt was made to alter some copies, and render them more agree- able to the New Testament, 303,5; g Sepulchres, adorned by the Jews, 276, c. Pharisees said to be like them, b. adorned, those of the prophets, 197. remark thereon, 276, and note d. sepulchre where Jesus was buried hewn out of a rock, 342. great stone, rolled to the door of it, ib, chief priests desire Pilate to have it secured, 344. and set a guard upon it, ib, women, going to embalm the body, find the sepulchre, open, . Peter and John come and go into it. 347. Mary looks, in, ib., 349. wonderful that Čhrist should ever have lain there, 350. Sergius Paulus calls for Barnabas and Paul, 423. believes, ; supposed to be the first by whom Saul was called Pawl, 423, k, no reason to ima- * * GENERAL INDEX. 993 $º him the first convert among the Gentiles, y & Sermon on the mount, where delivered, 76, b. 90, b. different from that recorded by Luke, 76, b. 102, a time taking it to be the same, cause of a mistake, 90, a.seygral passages related by Luke, repetitions of it, 89, e. not addressed to the disci- ples only, 76, a figurative expressions in it: S2, X. eloquence of it, 87, f., noble specimen of Christ's preaching, 89, f. should be a pattern to preachers ib. whose sermons are most useful when delivere in a familiar method, 125, c. - Serpent lifted up by Moses, how an emblem of hrist, 59, e. what intended by supposing ser– ent produced from the marrow of the back- one, 172, i. sº how he deceived Eve through subtilty, o y \º e & - Serpents remarkable for their sagacity, 140, b. their, prudençe recommended, ib. exemplified in aul’s behaviour, 473. disciples obtain power over them, 191, 36: asterns had an art of charming them, ib. . q. heathens thought there was something divide in them, 489, e. scribes and Pharisees called serpents by our Lord, 276. Serrarius, argument of his, 27], e. Seryant, how to be sometimes réndered, 107, d. 176. abides not in the house for ever, 188. strangely referred to by some, ib. d. not greater than his lord, 141, 295, 307. knoweth not what his lord doth: 307, a none can serve two masters, 85,218. not thanked for waiting on his master, ši, when all is done, are but unprofitable servants, ib. f. hired servants, why mentioned by the prodigal, 215, f. happy the servant who is found yatghing yhen his Lord conneth, 202, 203, 285,286. faith- ful servant rewarded, 203,286. wicked servant surprised by his Lord, 203, i. 286, g. his punish- ment: 203, l, n. 2S6, g, h., whº t it may refer to 286, f., negligent punished with stripes, 203, p, q. they that improve what is intrusted with thern ggſunended, 251, .288. the slothful condemned, 351, 288. ummerciful servant punished, 176. dif: ferent rewards of those that received the ten pounds, 251. rewards of those that received the talents, 2S8. Christ tells his a postles, that be who would be chief among them should be their ser– vant, 247, b. 274,295. - Servant of Christ must follow him, 25S. reflection º, 260. deserting his service, consequence Of it, & Set forth in 9rder, &c. antiquated phrase, 17, b. Seven, angels, before the throne, who, 920, b. churches, why so many mentioned, 906, c. ad- dressed in what is said to each angel, ib. ſ. 907, a. the epistles to them riot prophetić, 911, g. their resent state, 906, g. Lanps, what, 913, d. Spirits ofore the throne, who, §03, b. and who those scrut into the earth, 915, & Seventy disciples chosen, 177. time yºhen, ib. a. the account of them given only by Luke, ib. b. return to Jesus, 191, b. rejoicing that the daemons were subject to them, 191. should rather rejoice that their names are written in heaven, ib. Shadowc of death, what applicable to, 26, i. Shadow of Peter cures the sick, 3S4. Shaftsbury, (Lord,) remark of his iss, o. Shaking the earth and Beaven, what it refers to, 830, nso, p, q. * Shaw, 5...is obseryations, 42, k. 91, e. 420, f. Sheep, helped out of a pit on the sabbath, foč. if one go astray, the rest left to scek it, 174, c. 214. joy on finding it, 214. will hear the shepherd's Yoice, 230. Christ comes that his sheep may have life, ib. f. hireling, leaves them when the wolf is coming, 231. Christ had other, sheep, whom he would bring and make one fold, ib. and note b, giyes his sheep eternal life, 23.2. righteous and wicked separated as sheep from goats, 289, and pote c. Jews considered as sixeep without a shep- herd, 138, i. 146. Israel as lost sheep, 139. dis- çiples sent forth as sheep among wolves, 140, a. 177. Christ charges Peter to feed his sheep, 359. Sligº's clothing, false prophets said to conné in it, ë, K. Sheep-market at Jerusalem, where kept, 93, b. Shekels, their value, 171, f. 292, c, five paid for the redemption of the first-born, 33, c. but not to re- deem them from being sacrificed, ib. half a shekel paid yearly by each of the Jews to the tempic, 170, d; not so ºuch, paid in Nehemiah's time, ib. e. slave rated at thirty shekels, 29.2, c. Shepherd enters in at the door, 230, b., good shep- herd, gives his life for the jº. 231. when the shgpherd is smitten, the sheep shall be scattered, J 1 O. Shepherds informed of the birth of Christ, 3.I. re- mark thereon, ib., i find him in a unaniger, 32. spread the news abroad, ib. praise God for what they heard and saw, ib. n. Sherlock, (Bishop,) his remarks, 28, b, 254, h. o; 8. * * * * * *r Ships used by Christ and his disciples, observation on them, 3 h. - Shoes, the º to provide none, 139, 177. con- jecture on them; 139, k. putting them off, a token of respect, 394, i. s sº Shuckfºrd, Afr., a remark of his, 338, f. Sichem, called Sighar by way of reproach, 63, d. its site: 64, n. Jesus tarries there two days, 66, f. probably, went from thence to Cana, 67, b. the capital of that country, 399, f. Sigk healed by Jesus, 67, and note. g. 74, 75, i. 101, 103, 110, 138, g. 146,150, 159, 169. he is said to bear our sicknesses, 74, d. sick need a Bºsiº 133. the twelve sent forth to heal the sick, 103. haye power given them, to cure, every sickness, 139. anoint the sick with oil, 143, the seventy sent out with, the like power, 178, they that believe shall lay, their hands on the sick, and heal them, 362; sick cured by Peter's_shadoy, 384, and by Paul at a distance, &c. 455, f. 489. healing the sick, the apostles had not liberty to do it in every in- stance, 401, d. regard shown to his sick º, how considered by Christ, 290, and noted. Side of Christ, pierced with a spear, 341. remark thereon, iè; f, done that the scripture might be fulfilled, ib, h., reflection on our piercing him, 343. shows his disciples the mark in his side,355. homas will, not believe, unless ire may feel it. 356, b: yet believes on sight, 357, d. Sidon, Paul touches there in his voyage to Rome. 485 $º J/ e 7" (2. silºsºp; in his spirit, applied to Christ, 159. Sign required by the Jews, 55, 151. Paul warneg by a sign of what the Jews would do to him, 463. Sign from heaven, desired by the Pharisees, 119, a. 16], many such signs given by the ancient pro phets, 119, as Christ will give them no sign but that of Jonah, ib. 161. this exemplified in his re- surrection ijö. remark thereon, 120, f. Jews con- ...tinue the demand in the apostles' time, 161, a. Signs of his coming, declared by Christ, 279, et seq. and note h. 282, e. 283. . . . Signs of the times, not distinguished by the Jews, 3. gº Silas, (elsewhere called Silvanus,) his travels and ~x. note 1. 437, ** , and note 440, 441,442, 443, 444, a. 445, 446, h. 450, e. Silence *ś by Christ to those whom he cured, 90, d. 1363 159, Jó2. reflection thereon, 90, 91. Siyâm, pool of 'goš, c.º.º. water drawn from thence poured before the rd, 183, a. eighteen killed there by the fall of a tower, 206, c. remark on it, ib. blind man ordered to wash there, 227, and note c. s Simeon, who .# sed to be, 33, d. waited for the consolation of'ſsºi, 33 tºkes’jēsujii; 8. In 15, Simeon, called JWiger, one of the teachers at An- tioch, #23. probably one of the first preachers there, 417, a. _-- sº whence taken by Christ, 77, o. 127, 186, 2.50, I). Simon, one of the brethren of our Lord, 137, d. - +, e. 338, b. - Simon Peter. See Peter. Sintor; the Canaanite, why supposed to be so called, 3,b. , 103, g. no reason to imagine him the father of Judas Iscariot; ib. chosen an apostle, 103. sent out with the twelvé. 139. * Sitnon the Pharisee, invites Jesus to dinner, 114. offended at the woman's touching him, ib. re- mark on his calling Jesus ºn aster, ib. d. why he might omit some common civilities to him, 115, g. cxceeded by... the woman in respect, 115. re- mark thereon, ib. Simon the Leper, why so called, 252, b. who sup- §§§ed to be, 252, f. Jesus entertained at his house, 2.J.2 Sinnon of Cyrene compelled to carry the cross, 334. Sinch Magus, astonishes the people of Samaria with his énehantments, 399,400. professes to be- lieve, ii. i., k, offers money for the power of con– ferring the Spirit, 401. but is reproved for his prºposal, il. e. begs the apostles to pray for him, 401. renark thereon, ib. g. reported to have be- coule an enemy to the gospel, 402, k. Simon the tanner, lodges Peter, 410, his trade, why mentioned, ib. g. . Simplicity, what, 612, h. . . Sin, prepares for the reception of Satan, 120, k, he that counits it, what, lº& how should be im– bittered to us, 95. such as tº from it, what, 379, n., opinion of the Jews concerning it, 226, b. how they, would have had no sin, 308. and note g. sin of the world in not believing in Christ, how convinced,309. how taken away. by Christ, 50, a. how reviving the assurance of it, 115, further reflection thereon, ib. power given the apostles to remit sins, 356. arrogance of others in pretend- ing to claim such power, ib. sins of omission, What they do, 293, o. how it took occasion from the lºw, &c.; 517, c. what it is to be sold under sing 518.h.. Sºn sometimes means a sin-offering, 519, X. St. John's definition of it as a violation of the law, SS1, e. how it is said the children of God cannot commit it, ib. f. 882, k. Sin, against the Holy Ghost, how to be understood, l 17, p., all other sins but this forgiven, ib. q. 199. reflection thereqn, ; 18. Siłłai, how it might be touched, 829, f. christians not come to Sinai, but to Sion y J y = Singing, not confined to the Psalms, 727, e. Sinner, What it, often signifies, 225, 8,338, b. Jews suggest that Jesus is a sinner, 227,22S. Sinnºrs, represented as dead, 96, i. 128, h. 216, i. emblem of their character in the prodigal son, 216. Christ, came to call them to repentance, 133. reflection thereon, 229, 479. Christ objected to, as a Friend of sinners, 112. numbers of whom come to hear him; 214., offence taken at his eat- ing with them, 133,214, 249. and suffering a sin- mer, to touch him, 114. reflections thereon, 216, and note k. will be importunate when they see their need of Christ, , 250. are often hardened against the most awful rebukes, 321. know not what they do, while they are piercing Christ by their sins, 336, reflection on those that suffer re- markably, 205. are still to be considered as bre- thren, 216, l. nor should we despair of the greatest SinnerS, , and note e. 402. what a token in them for godd, 402. , attempts to be renewed on the most obstinate, 138, those who reject Christ self-condemned, ib. last state of hardened sinners worse than the first, 120. consequences of their obstinacy, 209, 277. taken captive by Satap, 777, C. We are not to pray for some sinners, §§ 3 *-1s all mankind represented in the gospel as sinners and condemned, 511, e. Simming wilfully, why apostasy from christianity expressed by, so general a phrase, 819, as Sin-offering, the consideration on which pardon 994 was granted, 816, c. for what offences they were allowed, 819, c. * * Sitting at the feet, a posture in which learners at- tended, 40, d. 194, Bºg. d. sitting at the feet of Jesus delightful, 194. . . - Slater, Mr., observation of his, 465, b. . - * Sº #: christians should avoid becoming Slå Ves, O Í j, I.” * - -- Sleep, why not to be indulged, 292. sleeping under the word, dangerous, 460. While Christ Dray's his disciples fall asleep, 316, 317, 318. Speaks ironi- cally, when he says to them, Sleep on now, 3.18. sleep sometimes used to signify death, 136. dis- ciples do not understand it, 242. remark thereon, ib. d. Slowness of heart, our proneness to it, 354. See Understanding: * -- - Smallbroke, (Bishop,) remark of his, 257, e. Socinians, explanation of theirs, 312, c. Socrates, fine expression of his, 381, m. weakness in his dying words, 431, l. . Sodom and Gomorrah, grown into a proverb, 113, e; would have repented had they seen the mira- cles of Christ, 113, their punishment more toler- able than that of Capernaum, ib. or the cities that reject the gospel, 140, 178. the destruction of Sodom, what an emblem of 224. Sodom and Egypt, fit emblems of the church of Rome,925, h. how Christ crucified there, 925. Sold under sin, what, 518, h. Soldiers came to John's baptism, 43, probably not Gentiles, ib. g. not becoming their character to bully those about them, ib., Roman soldiers. go to seize Jesus, 318. shrink back, on seeing him, 319. let his disciples go, ib. bind Jesus, ib., and lead him away, 321. spit upgn and buffet him; 325, m. dress him º: 31. put a crown of thorns upon his head, ib., b. salute him as king of the Jews, 331. lead him to be crucified, 334. give him vinegar to drink, 335., nail him to the cross, ib. part his garments, 333, a. sit down to watch him, ib. c. insult him as he hung, upon the cross, 337, g. 339, k. are terrified at the earth- quaké,340. pierce Jesus' side, 341, f. watch the sepulchre, 344. are terrified at sight of the angel, 346, g. report Christ's resurrection, 35). but are bribed to misrepresent it, ib. b. what they might think of it, ib. a., their conduct after it,352. Cor- nelius sends a soldier for Peter,411. four quater- nions set to watch him, 419. sleeps between two of them, ib. d. who are amazed at his escape, 420, I. and put to death, ib: m. soldiers employed in rescuing Paul, 467,474, 475. fetch him from the Sanhedrim, 472. conduct him to Caesarea, 474. in his voyage to Rome, hinder the mariners from jeaving the ship, 487. are for killing, the pri- ºis. h. Paul dwells at Rome with a sol- dier ; O. e * - - * - w Solomon not clothed like the lilies,85, i. 201. Christ fººtha" him, 120, h. should be owned as such, 121. - - Solomón's porch, its magnificence, 232, b. not de- stroyed by the Chaldeans, 377, f. Jesus...,dis- courses there, 232, c. people run thither to Peter and john, 377, apostles frequently meet there, Some, Mr., remark of his, 304, d. loss of his writ- ings lamented, ib. . - Son, a title given to inferiors, 92, f. to whom ºp- plied by the apostles, 422, b. , not to be loyed like Christ, 143. sons, &c. prophecy; rernark on it, • O-- . - rºº ºf m of David, who expected as such, 1.16, 273: if fjavid call him Lord, how, is he his Son, 273, e. the same, how explained, ib. Christ addressed as the Son of David, ,,158,248. remark on the woman of Canaan's calling him so, 138, n., peºple cry Hosanna to the Son of David, 255. childrcu repeat it, 257. g - Son of God, the character of Adam, 30; the title ºf Čhºist, 33,4]. the Messiah the Son of God, 47, d. 65, jeºs offended at Jesus for making himself so, 95, c. love of God in giving him as his only bégotten Son, 59, and note h. sent to save the world, ib. 262. has power to quicken whom he will, 95, even the dead shall hear his voice, 9}. all judgment committed to him, 95. abides al- ways in the family, 183., such as he makes free, are free indeed, ib. e. John testifies that Jesus is the Son of God, 50. Nathaniel's conviction of it, 53, f. Jesus tempted under that character, 47: &mons own him such, 73, 102, 131. worshipped as such, when he had călmed the tºgpeãº, 149. fêter confesses him to be so, 134, 163, Jesus’s acknowledgment that he is, the Son 9: Gºd, 229. sickness of Lazarus, that the Son of God might be giorified by it, 241, b, Martha declares, Jesus to 5e such,243. owns it himself before the Sanhe- drim, 325, this reckoned blasphgmy. 233.325. jews affirm he ought to die for it, 332, Pilate, why afraid, on hearing he made himself the Son of čd. iń. f. people urge him; if he were so, to come down from the cross, 337; centurion, con- Vinced that he is so, 340 º, God glorified him as his Son, 377,378. #inuºh elieves in him as such 403, k. É. º sº gº?. gospel written, that we may be 11eV& 1 L SO, - n of jian, applied to the Messiah; 41, h; 53, k. 65, r. 151, 163,349. how spoken of, 59. his a pearance to fjániel, whether referred to, 154, b. łºńat he came to do, 175, 222, 250; boy, he came, iTºjš, ižj end of his coming, 247, 248, unless tº eat his flesh, &c., what, 151, f. is Lord of the sabbath, 99, i. had power to forgive sinā, ś. speaking against him may be forgiven; 117, 199, and note e one of his days be desired in § §3. "was to be lifted up, 59, 187. what signifie thereby, 259, h. multitude äsk, who is this Son of man? ib. i. should be betrayed and put to death, ió4,167, 170, 246, 291; 318., and suffer, as written, 297, i. Woe to him. by whom he is...bg- trayed, 997. Judas betrays him with a kiss, 319, tº sº 7 GENERAL INDEX, e. should be a sign as Jonah, 120. and rise from the dead, 164, 167,170, 246. apostles would not have gone through the cities of Israel, till be should come, 141, g. some present not to die, till they had seen him in his kingdom, 165, is his coming, what it often signifies, 141, g. 165, i. would be sudden and unex cted, 223. described in terms applicable to the last day, 285, and note b. shall he find faith when he comes : * * is games at an hour when we think nqt, 202,285, 287. what that may relate to, 202, f, has author- ity to execute judgment, 95, 96, glory with which he shall come to administerit, 165,238,289, a re- resentation of his couning, to reckon with us, 6, g. 165, 199, 288, 289. of that day and hour no one knows, but the Father, 284, i. we to watch and pray, to be accounted worthy to stand before im,285, e. hour, come that he should be gkori- fied, 258. and God glorified in him, 298, seen by Stephen standing at the right hand of God, 397, o. happy to suffer for his sake, 104. Son of perdition, what it signifies, 313, g. none given to Christ lost but he, Tib. f. remark there- Oſly ll), - Song of Moses and the Lamb, 932, c. Sons bid to work in the vineyard, whom applied s to, 265.h., . . - Sons of God, privilege of becoming such to all that believe, 19. *- • Sop given to Judas, 297, after which Satan enters into him, ib. m. and Judas goes away, 298. Sopater of Bergea, or Sosipater, with Paul when he wrote his Epistle to the Romans, 459, c. at- tended him to Jerusalem, ib. d. Sorcery much practised by the Jews, 423, g, Sorrow, how may sometimes rise, 309, 3io. apos- tles’ sorrow on Christ’s leaving them, whât it neaQā, 310, c. to be turned into jºy, ib, found by Christ sleeping for sorrow §§ pangs of godly sorrow, how over-balanced, 406. sorrow for the death of friends to be restrained, 137, 244. when allowable, 244, godly, what, and its effects, 627. how the sorrow of the world worketh death, 10. sº beaten by the Greeks, 452, m. visits alli y J 3. 8 . Sovereignty of God, to be humbly acquiesced in, 114. vindicated, 527, improved,528. yet does not extend to the punishment of innocent creatures, § }. of divine influences, a motive to diligence, Š, h. - Soul, its existence in a separate state, how to be argued, 141, h. Inot easy to believe it mortal, 144, g. whole world no amends for the loss of it, 165, f. no ransom sufficient for it, ib. g. eyery other interest should be sacrificed to it, 151, a. 165, 488. less regarded by some than their cattle, 101. gºtº to heal the soul than the body, 7. will create a friendship for those by whom wrought, ib. • - Soul and spirit, spoken of as distinct, 639, c. , 688, b. 689, h. 743, g., 805, c. , See Separate Spirits. Sower, parable of,122. explained, º Spain, when Paul probably might go there, 492. probably no church planted there when St. Paul wrote to the Romans, 546, c. - Spanheim, remark of his, 404, a. parrows regarded by Providence, 142, 199, re- mark on Christ’s speaking. Qſ two sparrows, 142, a. Spinoza, weak objection of his, 357, c. - Spirit, , (Holy,) descends upon Christ, 46, f. sign by which the Baptist knew him, 50, d. how re- ferred to by Christ, 97, b. not given unto him, by . measure, 61, g, whom God anointed with it, 414. his operation in the new birth, 57. how not to be pried into, 58. effigacy of ordinances dependent on his influences, 94, would speak in the apos- tles, when brought before kings, 141, 199,279. the suitableness of such a promise, 141, e. 199, f. invitation to receive it from Christ, 183, remark thereon, ib., d., not to be given in an extraordinary manner till Christ was glorified, 183, encourage- ment to seek it, 195, 196. how promised by Christ to his disciples, 304, b. world cannot receive him, 304. Father would send him in his name, ib. would come and testify of Christ, 308. and con- vince the world of sin, &c. 309, would guide them into all truth, ib, and not speak merely of himself, ib. lhow would glorify Christ, ib. im: portant ends for which he is sent, what it should do, 310. Christ breathes on his apostles, as an earnest of their receiving it, 356, and gives them articular instructions by the influence of it, 361, §§§ c. Spirit should be given them as the pro- mise of the Father, 361,363,366. when we have most reason to expect it, 369,372. Spirit descends on the apostles, 370, d. what Joel had foretold thus fulfilled, 37 l, m, n., remark thereon, 372. judgments consequent on the contempt of it, 371, 372. Peter declares Christ had received the pro- mise of it, 373. gift of it promised to such as repent, 374. promise to them and their children, how to be understood, ib. c. , and , to all that are afar off, ib. d. disciples filled with it while pray- ing, 382. remark thereon, ib. d: Ananias attempts to impose on it, 383, d. the Spirit, a witness to Christ, 386, e. Jews are charged with resisting it, 397. was not bestowed by any inferior teacher, 400, 401, 407, g. given to the Samaritan converts, 400. Simon offers money for the power of con- ferring it, 401. Philip ordered by it to go and converse, with the eunuch,402., Snatched away by it,403, n. might probably fall on the eunuch after his baptism, ib. m. Saul receives the Spirit, 7, g. remark, thereon, ib. Spirit falls on Cor- nelius, 414, i. 416,434. they of the circumcision astonished at it, 414, k. Peter's remembrance of what Jesus had said of tºº. with it, 416. Barnabas and Paul ordered the Spirit, to be set apart, ...e. sent forth by it, ib.f. Gentile converts at Antioch in Pisidia filled with it, 429, i, assembly at Jerusalem make their decree under his influence, 436, q. Paul directed in his travels b §º. note c. disciples at Epho- sus not having heard of it, instructed by Paul, 4. a. receive it; 454, , and note b. Spirit testifies to Paul, that bonds and afflictions await him, 461. disciples tell him º the Spirit, not to go to Jerusalem, 463, a. Agabus warns him by it, 464, , , . Spirit of holiness, what, 496, c. what it is to mind the Spirit, 520. of bondage and adoption, what, 521, and note c. christians, *liged to live after the Spirit,521. the mind of the Spirit, is the dis- position of the human mind, as undef the influ- ence of the divine Spirit, 522, f. what is meant by St. John's being in the Spirit, 913, a. the Spirit manages affairs for the saints, 522, g. ſends his helping hand, ib. e. what the love of it, 547, e. his Deity, .558. his influence on the mind, 563, f. his anointing, sealing, and earnest, how distín- guished, 614, e, f, his niraculous gifts bestowed to confirm the christian faith, 654, c. why the Spirit is called the blessing of Ábrahan.';6,'. what his sealing alludes to, 690, q. how he is grieved, 690. he teaches to know the things that differ, 704, and note, K., is eternal. 814; R. how Christ offered himself by the Spirit, §3. Why he is spoken of as the Spirit of Christ, 853, f. and is spoken of as an unction,880, h. Spirit that operates. in the children of disobedience who,678, d, spirits in prison, how Christ reached to them, 861, c, spirits of wickedness in F.; places, who, 698, c. Spirit of glory resting on persecuted christians, what y Spirit, (human,) James and, john rebuked, as not knowing what kind of spirit they were of, 222, little do they know their own spirit, who would have recourse to violent methods, 223. spirit acill- ing, but, the flesh weak, remark on it, 317, f. spirit of Paul moved at the idolatry of the thenians, 447, a., his being pressed in spirit, what it implies, 450, f. Apollos fervent in spirit, 453. Paul’s , purposing- in spirit to, return b Mlacedonia to Jerusalem, what it refers to, 456, b. goes to Jerusalem bound in the spirit, 461. Spirit, or apparition; Jesus taken for one, 149,355. Sadducees believed no separate spirit, 472. Spirits, unclean. See Unclean. - Spiritual blessings, the phrase chiefly refers to the graces of the christian life,.674. why said to be In heºgº things, ib. d. gifts were miraculous, 497, a. 589. affºrded comfort to him that be: stowed, as well as those that received them, 497, b. might be left, 642, and note f. were inferior to love, 592,593. were abused by the Corinthians, 597. the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues distinguished; it. g. were to be estimated according to their usefulness, 495, d. Spiritual persons, not only those wº had received miraculous gifts, but graces, too, 667, a. Stable in which Jesus was born, reported to be cut out of a rock, 31, h. Staff, all the aposties should take for their journey, sº#. astomished, what it may sometimes signify, #Us) y e - Star seen by the wise men, probably a meteor, 36, l, how they knew its intent, 35, c. at what time it first gººd uncertain, 36, I]. Stars, the Jews called their teachers stars, 898, d. wandering stars a pººr emblem of teachers of unsettled principles, ib. - Statera, piece of money found in the fish's mouth, bow it might come there, &c. 171, f. Stature, how to be sometimes rendered, 85, h. 201. Stephanus, converted by Paul at Corinth, 450 visits him at Ephesus, 456, a. Stephen one of the seven deacons, 389, no reason to suppose him one of the seventy, ib. f. raised to be an evangelist, ib. i. his acts...}.c. ib., k, m. 390, 391, and notes a, b, c. 392, g. 393, a. 395, k. 396, g. 397, n, o, p. 398, q, r, 399. Stephenson, Dr., remark of his, 356, b. Steward that is faithful to be preferred, 203, and note i. 388, account we are to give of our steward- ship, what it should do, 218. See Unjust. Stillingfleet, (Bishop,) observation of his, 174, e. Stocks in which Paul and Silas are put at Philippi, conjecture on them, 441, h. . Stoics, account of their principles, 447, d. oppose au], 447. See Epicureams. Stone that shut up the grave of Lazarus, remark on it, 244; g. why Christ might order it to be removed, ib. great stone rolled to the door of Jesus’ sepulchre, 342, guard set upon it, 344, i. remark thereon, 345. women, solicitous who should remove it for them, .346. find it rolled away, ib. angel had done it, ië, one stone not to be left upon another in Jerusalem, 256. the same verified, ib. b. stone which the builders refused, become the head of the corner, 266, f., 380. on whomsoever it should fall, would grind him to powder, 266, h. - º Stones, God could raise up children from them to Abraham, how to be understood, 43, e. would cry out if the disciples were silent, §§3. temple adorned with stones of a prodigious size, 278, a. not one to be left upon another, ib.g. , . Stoning, two different ways of it, 266, h. in what Čºrderºd by theiaw to be the punishment of adultery, 184, b. attempted on Christ in the temple, 190, 232. executed on Stephen, 397, p. designed against Paul and Barnabas, 436 ext: cuted on Paul, 432, a, b. stºº, counts of his, 455, d. 468, b, d. - Strain at a gnat, &c. applied to the Pharisees, y a • - Strait gate, how to be understood, 87, i. necessity of striving to enter in, 208, b. danger of trifling about it, 209. - - Strangled, eating things strangled. See Blood. Štrangling, when used among the Jews, 184, b. Stretching forth the hand, remark on it, 481, a, Stººges In some cases to be more than in others, 203 - * ; I). Strong man must be bound before he can be spoiled, 117. overcome by a stronger, ib. and In Ote II). - - Struggle between the good and evil, principles, how consistent with having received the gospel, 518, k. Stumbling-block, akavča)\ov, what, 543, b. Submission, in what cases due to Christ, 159, e. 464, 465. - Suetonius, takes notice of the Jews being ordered to depart from Rome, 450, b. remark on him, 28). Suffered, how they that have suffered in the flesh are ceased from sin, 8 e Sufferers, not to be harshly censured, 206, nor ca- Iamities always reckoned judgments, 3öö. Suffering the consciousness of it confirms our mo- tives to obedience, 861. h. gº Sufferings of Christ, plainly foretold by him, 164, a. 170, 224, 246. more obscurely hinted, 59, 167, 187, 248, 259, 266,293,297, i. remark thereon, 259, i., readiness of Christ to meet his sufferings, 222, 248, 251, 293. his soul troubled at the view of them, 259, e. 260. does not pray to be excused from them, 317, h. his continued resolution under his agonies, 346, b, his heroic behaviour, through the whole of his sufferings, 319, f. 321, 327, 330, 331, 332,335, 33S. his crying out, that God, for- sakes him, a necessary part of his sufferings, 339, h. were to precede his entering into glory, 54. necessary to fulfil the scriptures, 361, 444, -b. what all the prophets had foretold, 378,483. apostles not ashamed to mention them, 428, m. should be willing to share in them, 248, and ex- ect them as the way to life and glory, 23S. É. shown how many things he should suffer 407, an image of Christ, in the courage he showed under them, ib., e. . Suicer, opinion of his, 375, g. Suidas, his ignorance, 68, c. . Sum, a round sum, how sometimes used, 391, f. un, Christ's disciples compared to it, 77, p. Sun of Righteousness, how, to be hailed, 20. good- ness of God to be owned in its arising on us, } • Superscription, usually put over criminals, 336, d. that over Christ written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, ib. e. offends the Jews, 336. Supper being ended, how to be translated, 294, a. what it must signify, ib., ceremony observed at the beginning of the Paschal supper, ill. c. while they were eating, Jesus, declares that Judas would betray him, 296. who upon this goes out, ; after supper Christ institutes the eucharist, Supper in the parable, guests called to it, 211. who excuse themselyes, ib. c. 212, d. poor called to partake of it, 212. this what an intimation Of 3 lº). - Supplement. See Pºersion. *s -> Surety, bow thankful we should be for Christ as such, 79. g , º Aº Surname, what it signifies, 103, d. Susann: h follows Christ, 116 - Swearing in common discourse to be avoided, 89. unlawful to swear, even by the creatures; ib. h. allowed by Pharisees, 275, m. swearing by the temple, &c. remark on it, ib. all swearing not forbidden, 80, h, k. the Jews addicted to it, sweat of Christ, as great drops of blood,318. bloody sweats mentioned by several, ib. k. Sweeping the house, how to be understood, 120, k, Swiné kept by the Jews, 131, g. dgemons permitted to enter into them, ib., h., run into the sea and perish, 131, 132. remark thereon, 132, i. tending them a mean º 215, c. , , , , Sword, he that had none should sell his garment, and buy one, 301. two swords, enough, ib. a. ob- servation thereon, ib. b. they that take the sword to perish by it, 320. * º Sykes, Dr., his remarks, 41, h. 53, k. 86, m. 141, g. 259, i. 284, h. 368, d. 435, e. Synagogue, had usually three rulers, 207, c. these always men of dignity, ib., d. might desire such as were not priests to officiate, 6S, c. when pub- lic worship was over, any might, make a speech there,424, c. frequent instances of disputes there, 154, a. doctors, how seated there, 274, e, highest seats there chosen by the Pharisees, 197, 274. hypocrites, their behaviour in the synagogues, 2. great number of synagogues, at Jerusalem, 389, i. most considerable had each a kind of aca- demy, ib.m. synagogue at Capernaum built by a centurion, 107. persons used to be scoursed there, 141, g. 470, c. apostles told to, expect it, i-I, 276,279. need not be solicitous what to Says when tried in the synagogues, 199, 280. Saul scourges in the synagogue them that believe, 470, c. 4S2’ any who should confess Jesus, to be cast out of the synagogue, 227. blind man cast 9 ut, §35, fear thereofprevents the rulers from confess- jag him, 361. disciples, assured they should be treated thus, 308. Paul and Barnabas ſlot, pre- vented thus from preaching, there, 424, b. Jesus made it his custon, to go to the synagogue on the sabbath-day, 68, always taught Phere openly,324. teaches in the synagogues of lee. 68, b. 3, iš7 preaches in the synagogue at Nazareth, 68, 6ö, 137, expe's a daman in the synagogue at Ca- pºrnaum, 73. many offended, as he teaches, there, jš4. curés a man whose hand was withered, as he is preaching in a synagogue; 100., and at another, a cooked woman, 207. ruler, of the synagogue applies to Jesus, 136. offended, at his healing on §§§tºtijº, remark on Christ's vindication of himself, ib. d. Saul is sent to Damascus with jetters to the synagogue, 404. , preaches Christ in ** aul and Barnabas preach in the it, 407, h. synagogues at Salamis, 423, at Antioch in Pisidia, I GENERAL INDEX. 425—427. and at Iconium, 429. Paul and Silas preach in the synagogue at Thessalonica, 444, a. and al Beroea, 445. Paul preaches in the syna- gogue at Athens, 447. at Corinth, 450, d. at Ephesus, 453. Apollos preaches there. ib. Paul preaches there again, 454. rulers of the synagogue at Antioch, in Pisidia, give Paul and Barnabas liberty to speak to the people, 424, c. ruler of the synagogue at Corinth believes, with all his house, 451, another ruler there beaten by the Greeks, 452. - Synagogue of the Libertines. See Libertimes. Syracuse, Paul comes there, 490, i. time when Ar- ... chimedes was slain there, ib. . Syria; many brought from thence to Christ, and healed, 75. Paul passes through it, 408, q. decree from Jerusalem directed to the Gentile brethren in Syria, &c., 436. Paul passes through it with Silas, 433, returns to it, 463. Syriac, the language spoken by the Jews in Christ's time, 51,369, g., what Paul spoke, when said to have discoursed in Hebrew, 468. Syriac version, omits the name of the prophet, where Jeremiah is mentioned for Zechariah,344, d. ascribes the Acts to Luke, 366, a. how explains Acts i. 2. ib. c. how renders what Paul says of his voting against the christians, 482, g. Syrophenicia, whence so called, láš, b. yrtis, afraid that the ship in which Paul sailed to - º Rome would run into them, 486, T Tabernacle of witness, why so called, 396. with what propriety Stephen speaks of it, ib. g. what fancied to be a model of, ib, d. abernacles, which Peter proposed to make, rather to be reſidered tents, 166, g. See Feast of Taber- macles. Tabitha. See Dorcas. * Table, posture of the ancients at it, 114,296, Tabor, thought to be the mountain on Christ was transfigured, 166, a. acitus, his account of the Jews that were banished from Rome by Tiberius, 389, I. his relation of the prodigies preceding the destruction of Jeru- salem, 371, p. Talents, computation of their value, 175, b. 2SS, a. when used to express our debt, what they may intimate, 175, b. and what when used to repre- sent the gifts committed to us, 2SS, a. parable of the talents given to servants, 288. gºal. talent to be accounted for, ib. c. who least concerned to improve them, ib. account_we are to give should be remembered by us, 252, 289. reflection on the doom of the slothful servant, 289. Talmud, shows the Jewish way Öf teaching in Christ’s time to be very contemptible, S9, g. mentions the great regard the Jews had to rash vows, 156, g. takes notice of the largeness of the mustard-tree, 127, d. gives an insipid imitation of the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, 240, R. says that Abraham will prevent any Israelite from going to hell, 43, d. ares, remark on them, 126, d. yº of them, 125, 126. the same explained, 126. though many tares are uningled with the wheat, not to root them out with violence, ib. - arsus, a considerable city, 468, b. the place of Paul’s birth, 468, c, d. 470, f. Paul sent thither by the brethren, 40S. Barnabas goes thither, 417. does not appear to have been a Roman colony, which f U, I. Taught of God, its signification, 152, c., Taxation of Cyrenius, 31, b. See Enrolment. aylor, (Mr. Nat.,) remark of his, 397, o. * Teacher, what it expresses, 114, d. why applied to Christ by the Pharisees, ib. s: emperance, used by combatants, 5S0, h. Tempests calined by Christ, 130, 149. . . * Temple, forty-six years in building, 55, h., fingly described by Josephus, 278, a vast, height of its porch, 47, i. Solomon's pgreb; the, Rompous workmanship of the Beautiful Gate, 376, c, pro- digious size of its stones, 278, as costly gifts it was adorned with, ib. b. Sanhedrim met, there, 55, e. inscription to prohibit strangers into it, 336, c. 466, i. angel appears to Zacharias there, 20. Jesus brought there, 33, 34. disequrses with the doctors there, 40. calls it his Father's house, ib. f. 55, c. what intended, when he speaks of something greater than the temple, 99, f, drives out the traders thence, 55. his saying of the tem- ple of his body, 56. accused as if he had said he would destroy the temple, 324, d. teaches there at the Feast of Tabernacles, 180, 181, officers sent to seize him in it, 182. place where he taught the treasury, 186. attempt to stone him in it, 190. walks there in Solomon's porch; 23.2. where he converses with the Jews, ib. e. 233, who again attempt to stone him,232. goes again to the tem- [. 257, drives out the traders from thence, as efore, ib. d. , blind, and lame healed there, ib. f. children vindicated, 257. teaches daily there, ib. drives out, the traders a third time, 262, a. preaches there, 264. observes the people casting their gifts into the treasury, 277., disciples take notice of the grandeur of its buildings, 278. teaches in the temple by day, but retires, at night, 291, returns again as soon as it was day, ib.a. no one offered to seize him while he àº; taught, there, 329. always spoke openly there 324. Christ charged with having said, he would destroy it, i.p. d. upbraided with this on the cross, 337. Judas throws down the thirty pieces of silver in the temple, .343. apostles, after Christ's ascension, always, in the temple, 363, d. first eonverts continue daily there praising God, 375. Peter and John cure the lame man there, 376, and note a, who goes with them, into the temple, 376. all the people run into Solomon's 995 porch, 377, Peter discourses there, 377, 378. the two apostles seized there, 379. disciples fre- quently met there, 3S4. , the twelve apostics preach there, 385. Sanhedrim...send officers to fetch them thence, 386, c. , but discharging them, they continue to preach in the temple, e Stephen charged with blaspheming the temple, 390. Paul's vision there, 469, and note a. goes with some who had a vow into the temple, 466. Jews from Asia, seeing him there, stir up the peºple against him, 466, k, ). who drag him out, 466,483, I. Paul accused before Felix with having attempted to profane it, 475, g. declares he came there in a regular manner, 477... and that he had cqmmitted no offence against it, 479. desolation of it foretold by Christ, 209,277,278, c. Julian's attempt to rebuild it, 282, g. heathen temple built in its place, ib. -> Temple, christians are the temples of God, 56], e. the temple alluded to in the scenery of the Revelation, 905, f. 932, a, c. why, 945, a. Temporal blessings, what to be referred to, 3, Il. Temporal kingdom, expected by the Jews, 41; h. ºhe disciples themselves, 75, g. See JMes- Slg.J. Tºº rizing to avoid persecution, the danger of it,90S, g. 931, g Temptation of Christ in the wilderness, 47, et seq. his condescension in it, 48. Temptation, the word probably once used in a good sense, 838, ń. & gº ºf Tempting God, what it signifies, 48, l. Tender mercy of God, 26, g. tenderness of Christ to sinners, 185, 209,257,278. erah, difficulty relating to his age solved, T; ofthe Lord awfully represented by Christ, f Tertullian, strange supposition of his, 167, I. prin- ciple laid down by him, 957, note. Tertullus, his speech against Paul, 475, d. Testament how to be rendered, 300, e. &affnkm, Heb. ix. 15. should be rendered covenant, not testament, $15,816, and notes. Testimony of Christ, highest reason to receive it, 5S. b. how he speaks of it,97, a., his testimony of himself to be admitted, 186, had the testimony of his Father also, ib., dreadful consequence of not regarding it, IS7. See itness. Thaddeus. See Judas or Jude. . . Theophilus, gospel dedicated to him, 17, h. and the Acts, 356, a. * , º, e. Theophºjačt, his criticisms, 98, b. 99, f. 277, g. Therefore better than for, 115, k. Thassalonica, Paul preaches there, 444, converts made by him, 445. founds a church there, 444, a, unbelieving Jews there stir up the mob, 445. Paul and, Silas, quit it by night, ib.: Timothy sent thither, 446, h. returns from thence, 450, e. . hessalonians, two Epistles to them, where written from £5ii. hints in them, 444, as . . . Theudas rose up, &c. 387. time of his rising, ib. g. Thief, if known at what hour he comes, the master would watch, 902, 285. Thieves. See Malefactors. Things of God, Ta Tpos Tov 6sov, a phrase that refers to sacerdotal affairs, 545, e. Thirst of the soul how to be satisfied, 64, h. such as thirst invited to come and drink with Čhrisjå. his thirst on the cross, 33 Thirty pieces of silver, the price of ā slave, 292, c. 44, e. Judas carries them back to the chief priests, 343, who lay them out to buy the potter's field, 344, c. remark thereon, ib. f. Thirty years old, the time when priests began their ministration, 46. the time also when Jesus, began his, ib. is not clear that he was subject to his paº rents till that time, ib. homas, why called Didymus, 103. chosen an apostle, ib. sent forth with the twelve, 139. say- ing of his to his ſellow-disciples, 242. reflection thereon, b. inquires of Christ, how they could know whither he was going,302. remark thereon iš. h. his increjulity, 356.357, and note c. and conviction, 357, e. reflection thereon, ib. f. one of those to whom Jesus appeared at the sea of Tiberias, 357. . Thorn in the flesh, what, 639, f. probably the same #. }. called by St. Paul his temptation, &c. D00, h. Th9ughts of men, known of Christ, 56, 92, 100, 115, and note k. JJ 6, 171, 196, 3} 0, b. 3] i. Thousand years as one day, 873, f. Threatenings, not to be used to servants, 697, e. Three days and three mights, how said of Christ's continuance in the grave, 120, f. 344, g. Three Taverns, Paul met there by the brethren, *; e Thunder, what often attended by, 259, f what reckoned a sign of by the heathens, ib. Tiberias, (sea of) whence so called, 72, b. 146, c. See Genesareth. Tiberius, his character, 332, k. year of his rei when John began his ministry, 41, b. when he began his reign, 964, year of his reign, when John began his ministry, 965. Tillºtson, (Archbishop,) §s observations, 110, g. 116, h. 7, p. 165, f. 18S, e. 197, h. 219, e, 2.49 *}}, fºgº.g., d. §§3, b. 81%, fºr “” Time of its visitation, not known to Jerusalem, 2.) $ Time of Christ not, yet comes 179. made him de- cline going up to the feast till after his brethren, ib.f. the time of his being received up, what it refers to, 222, as have explained it, ib. b. passage introduced there, when it occurred, ib. a. See Hour. Time of figs not yet, how to be understood, 261, g. imes and seasons, reserved by the Father, 363. should not curiously, inquire into it, 365, 367 times of refreshment how promised to the Jews , a. different senses in which somo. -- 996 378, e. heaven must receive Jesus till tile time of the restitution of all things, ib. §. Timon, one of the seven deacons, 389. GENERAL INDEX. heaping up-earthly treasure, 200, c. leart will be where the treasure is, 85, b. 204, a. 217, b. 249, e. 257, i.261, g. 277, g. 327 g; 430's often ſailºšoºth. #e of #. ôriº - Treasure hid in a field, what an emblem of, 128. ginal, 21, f. In. e. 1 . 144. i. 174, d. Timºfiya found by Paul at lºstra, 333, when reflection hereon, i.' " ** jº. 31, h. 30'. B."#65, d'á; ºšš, ; 316, Hºl's first acquaintanºiºh ºf ºh!, begiº | Treasury of the temple, use made of it, 277, a, b, d. 338, r. 148, K. 437, i. 379, i.i.dici. 2, c. is circumcised, 439, a. 440, and set apart esus discourses there, 186. observes the people y * - - *y sense of a word sometimes suggested in the para- Casting in their gifts, 977 - to the ministerial office, £39. Paul attended by phrase, 74, d. 174, d. 180, c. 338, i. 437, s. 444, f. him in his progress; ib; 440., Timothy remains at Tree knºwn by its fruits, S8, 106. 118. make the ambiguity sometimes to be preserved in the vér. Beroea, 446. jºins Haul 8t Atheni, apd then goes tree good,. &c. how to be understood, 118, a. sion, 32, Il. 40, f. 46, f. .. ...b. 96, i. 97, e. to Théssalonica, ib., h., to Corinth, 350, essent to Trºssés of liair, whence derived, 114, g. 236, c. 403, g. frequently not well expressed in Alacedonia, 456, c. return; and is left at Ephesus, Tribulation, why to be endured, 433. why St. 9ur.g.Qimmon translation, 17, c. 68, f. 83, m. 107, 459, the First Epistle to him, when written, 355, Paul so often treats of the benefits of it, . 121, e. , g. 190, 3. 3_Lye , n. 232, d. e. 459, b. 463, r. comes to Paul in Greece, 459, c. 5.10, c. * 235, f. 244, h. #9. e. 294, a. 307, d. 323, p. 324, attends him to Jerusºlem: ib. d: giher, particu- Tribune, how many men he commanded, 466. {l. $49, § 53, f_354, k. 371, k. 379, n. §§§ i. lars concerning him, ib. Second Epistlé to hiºn See Lysias. Tribunes attend when Paul is 391; e, 395, b. 412, h. 448, i, 1.464, d. 466, h. 474, when probably written, 492, g. why called St. heard before Agrippa, 481 a. 478, c. 480, d kºğ , c. liberties taken to aul’s son, 754, a. how he received the Spirit, and what care necessary not to neglect it, 7&, h. directed not to lay hands suddenly on any man, 766, g. why, directions were given to him about ordaining elders, ib. his great temperance, ib. h exhorted to be instant in preaching, not with- standing his infirinities, ib. to stir up the gift, what that expression alludes to, 772, a. exhorted to remember Christ, 775, a. ithing mint, &c. of no significance while weightier matters are neglected, 197,276. Titles of honour and respect, impossible to be per- fectly translated, 135, h. - itus, renmark on the £istle to him, 43S, d. why not circumcised, 439, a... expected to meet Paul ilt Troas, 459, a joins him at Macedonia, 459, b. sent back to the Corinthians, ib. first mentioned in the Epistle to the Galatians, 3550, p. who lie was, ib. St. Paul's refusing to let him be cir- gumcised reconciled with his gire; tıncisi:g Timothy, 651, e. his testimony to his character, Tit. iii. 10. how may be illustrated, 174, f. Titus, (the Roman genera!,) his acknowledgment of the hānī of God, in the destruction of Jeru- salem, 278, c. remark on the severity with which he ºated the Jews, 333, o. hardly probable that he exposed their women, &c. to wild beasts, 1.0. - Toland, his remarks, 304, b. 465, c. Toleration vainly opposed from the conduct of the Ephesian church and the commeisttation it re- _ceived, 906, e. Tolvi, the Jews called Christ so by way cf con- tempt, 556, f. - Tombs, why the da-mons drove such as they pos- sessed among them, 130, b. Tongue, the necessity of bridling it, S40, and note i. the difficulty of doing it, $43, S44. - Tongues, the power of speaking with new, ones promised to them that tongues, that came on them, 37 Q, c. 37 * - this wonderful event, 373. Cornelius und his friends speak, with tongues, 414, 4 ifi. John's disciples do the same, 455. how the g11t of tongues might be , abused, 595, f. and, how dis- tjaguished from the i.iterpretation of tongues, 597, g. Tophet. See Hinnon. • - Tormenting them before the time, complained of by the damons, 131, d. believe, .352. cloven upon the disciples, remark l, i. Peter’s declaration of ribute, paid by Christ, probably what, 171, f. seems to imave been Yoluntary, 170, e. Christ not exempted from it, ib. asked if it were lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, 269, and note a. his answer, ib, is due, and should be paid to civil Inagistrates, maintaining a regard at the same time to what is due to Gyd, 270, the Jews tly ought themselves exempted from paying it to Gºitiles, 540, g. pºw Triſiers mentioited by a very proper name, 764, l. 'i'rigland supposes the lawyers to have been Ka- raites, 197, g. 274, c. Triumphs, eastern, the success of the gospel ministry described in terms that alluded to them, 645, a. and the gifts which Christ bestowed when he ascended, 683, b. Troas, Paul comes thither, 439. is joined there by !...uke, ië. f. passes through there, 459, a crosses from Philippi to Troas, ii). e. remark thereon, ii. ſ. disciples incet there to celebrate the eucha- , rist, th: g. goes from thence, 460. Trogium, Paul touches there, 460. Trophies of Christ, glory of them, 169. rophimus of Asia accompanies Paul Jews' mistake about him, 436, l. sick º * Jº 3. C#. • Trumpet sounded before them when they give , altns, what it implies, S2, b, c. i'rust in God how to be confirmed, 102. Truth, what opposed to, 19, p. 65, p. how to be shown in actions as well as in words, 59, i...What it will do, 18S, b. remark thereon, ih. will bear repeated examinations, 229,381. Christ came to bear witness to it, 3.28, h. Pilate inquires, what is truth 2,328. reflection on it, ib., such as endea- vour to obstruct he progress of it, the children of Satun, 421. force of it, what it extends to, 459, d. filetum, *t i t . Turn the ſcarts of the fathers to the children, how mily be renderer!, 21, gº - Turn the other check to ſlim that smiles, pro- verbia], S1, m. , Turn not away from a borrower, 81, q. Twelve, a name by which the assembly of the a postles was całłed, though some yere, absent, 599, h. 600, h. Taceſ ce tribes, the Epistle of St. James addressed to them, 837, b. supposed by Josephus to be still in being, ib. b. are greatly dispersed, ió. c. - ºur elders, what that number imports, •3, C. make it more a recible to the genius of our lan- §§§5?, 17, b. 62, i. 68, b. 70, as 135, h. 136, n. T38, f' isi,j. fgg, c. 368, 6.”433, §.”sée Ér. isms. Supplements to be avoided in it, T51, g. remark thereon, 256, a. our own in the main a good one: 766, i. - Vessels of wrāth and mercy, spoken of in very gifferent terms, 527, e. Vials, mentioned in the revelation, what, 915. what they refer to,933, &c. and notes. . ine, occasion of Čáriº alluding to it, 306, b. he that abides in him will bear much, fruit, 306. eing in him, what used for, ib.d. fruitless branch thrown into the fire, ib. Christ would not drink of the fruit of it tiiſ the kingdom of God should come, 393 or tiji he drank it new in his Father's kingdom, 30}, remark thereon, ib.g. , . Christ, 335. 'inegar, mingled with gall given to Qffered him by the soldiers, 337, their gommon drink, 339, k. what he says after receiving it, Vineyard let out to husbandmen, 265, 266. true religion represented by , it, 267, i. 6asting out of the vineyard, remark on it, , e, , God has given us all some part of it to cultivate, rººf take it by force, how to be understood, Il 1, Viper fastens on Paul's hand, 489, d, f. Pharisees broods of vipers, 43, c. 118, 276, why expressed in the plural number, 43, c. e irgins that went to meet the bridegroom, what an allusion to, 287, a. parable how clouded, ib. b; the wise admitted to the feast, and the foolish shut out, 287. the case relating to them, 1 Cor. vii. 25—40,574, &c, an officer among the Greeks to educate them, 634, a. the manner in which the eastern yirgins were purified for the royal em- .brace alluded to, 695, |. Virtue in the New Testament, often means cou- rage, 867, c. ib. h. would not generally make men more unhappy, though there were no future , state, 601, c. - isions, what the effect of, 371. Deople perceive that Żacharias had seen a vision, 21. women see a vision, 349, d. Stephen sees one, 397, n. Lord ap- pears to Ananias in ope, 406. Saul has a yision of his coining to cure him, ib, b. has another in the temple, 469, 3...by which he is ordered to go tº the Gentiles, 470. is not disobedient to it,483. Cornelius and Peter see a vision, 41), 412. Peter Twins in the Zodiac, how anciently represented, f Tºwei I king, it shall be d 5 i = - wo agreeing to ask any tº ing, it shal! be done, Tortured. See Tympanum. * ~ * what it refers to, 174, g, il., where two or three Tºghigi, Ghrist, effectual to cure diseases, idl, assemblé in Čižístić afts, he is with them, jià. 03, 135, 150. . - - - - two in the field, &c. what it refers to, 224, e. Towers, why built,213, c. one building a tºwer, .335, 5. rewill first consider if he be able to º It, ti). Two and two, the apostles why sent thus, 139, d. Town-clerk at Ephesus. See º fews, & seventy sent out in the same manner, J17. *...*.*.*.*..."; º à T łºś. Asia, º; Paul, 459, d. other ©! tº - tº 7 y C. ^i JºJº C = à I’ll CUl I:l rS COil C. C. Til I ſh; j: j :}} , \ 0. §§§ his it coilih, ºd, c. and at Ephésus, T. ars congerning Him, 462 gives an account of it to the brethren, 415, 416, and 30te L. angel delivers Peter out of prison, who takes it only for a vision, 419. Paul's vision 9f a nian of Aiagedonia, 439, e. is encouraged in his work at Corinth by a vision of Christ, 451, h. Lord appears to him at Jerusalem by night, 472. angel assures him in his voyage to Rome that pope of them should perish; 486. Visits of Čhrist, remark on them, 25. Vitringa, his observations, 28, a. T8, a. 141, c. 192, ...b. 198.1. 207, c. 374, b. 378, e. 418, i. , C. Unºniglity of the first professors Óf the gospel, Termentors, unmerciful servants delivered to them, panum, a kind of torture, reſerred to Heb. -vº- . * "a l l zº-º- ... l I. 35. 826, d 368, 375, 3S2, 384. while they were unanimously Traders in the temple. See Buyers and Sellers. Tyrannus, a frequent name among ſhe Greeks, met together, the Spirit descended upon theiri, Tradition, not to be relied upon, 488, c. 455, d. Paul discourses in his schoo), ib. 70, 372 Traditions of the elders, disciples blamed for neg- lecting them, 155. neglect of the Pharisees con- sidered by them, 116, e. regarded thein more cles of Christ, ib. c. 17S. their condition more tolerable in the day, of judginest that that ºf the Tyre and Sidon, notorious for their vices, 113, b. - Unbelief prevented Christ from working miracles, would hºye repented if they had seen, the mira– l 38. g., necessity of praying, ib., and guarding against §: 22, help thow mine unt, cl. ºf, reflections n it, 16 * - than the command of God, 155, 156. , O ; C. l ; U. - - -- - Unbelievers, hate the light, 59. shall not see life, rance. See Ecstasy. . *y Jewish cities, 1 13, 17S. many from thence attend Transfiguration of Christ, 166, 167. where sup- Christ, 101; 103. Jesus coines into their coasts, posed to have happened, 156, a., reflectiºs on łºś. inhabitants a piply to Herod for peace, 4:21. it, lijS. cloud that over-shadowed them different Paul Hands at Tyre, 463. Quits it, iſ,. from other clouds, 167, h. might leave some rays of glory on the face of Christ, 168, 4. , • * Transgressors, foretold of Christ he should be V numbered with them, 301. this accomplished in his crucifixion, 335, e. - -r Translation, what it may sometimes do, 151, g. See Persion. - Transiation of 1727, remarks_on, it, 203, h, 1. 411, a singularities of it, 31, I. 31, b. '65, c. 87,0.99, i. 376, b. 366, c. 390, b. 399, h., 400, k; 403, g, 4.0, I). - 5 - - 426, q. 447, e. 455, e. gives a just paraphrase of: is 153, §..];1,...ſ.l. i., § 1993.5. 209, p. 237,9. lºmerciful servant forgiven, but will not forgive, seeing, they see not, &c. 123, i. has well expressed 2S2, h; 3:46, h. 35Q, k. 369, i. 379, d. 373, c. 393, , , )75, 176. delivered to the formentors, 176, h. the sense of. If you have not been faithful in ichat h, a .403, k, ºn. 403, g. i25, ſ., 420, p. 434, 5,441, Uºgnable sia. See Sim against ihe Płoby goas another's, &c. 218, g, followed in the version d. 443, a. 362, R. 482, b. 483, i. 485, a. 436, g. ... Ghost. ... --" - it gives of Acts xiii. 20.425, h. . . spurious addition to Luke, {{JD, a. difficulties in Voice from heaven, at Jesus's baptism, 46. at his Transmigrations of souls, notion of it whence bor- the sacred books, what sometimes owing to, 29. transfiguration, ió7, i. Yhen he i-rays the Father rowed by the Jews, 226, b. - i. 391, d. 393, a remark on the present reading of to gloriſy his name, 259. remarks thereon, ib. f. Transposition of words in the sacred writers dan- some passages, 29, i. 961,982. - vgice that spake to Saul, 468, h. renowrk on it, gerous, 87, d. should not be used to fix the sense, Vegetables, their growth, 127, a not to be judged , .405, i. . . - 53, f. a clause sometimes agcidentally trans- of in one country by what they are in another, Yossius, his obšrvations, 294, c. 335, d. - posed, 261, g. some remarkable instances of it, - ºcte, how Paul said to give his against the chris- º” , tians, 482, g Unclean, what God has cleansed not to be called , so, 412, 416. * Unclean spirits, remark on them, 103, i. , Dam ons and £24 moniacs. . . Çnderstanding, disciples slow of it, 157,161. infruitfulness, reflections on it, 206,306. pion among christians, consequence of the want of it, 314, b. Christ prays the Father, that they all may be one, 314. - injust steward, called to account by his lord, 217. provides for his future subsistence, ib. un- just in the least, up just in much, 218 - Sco Vander Iſard, conjecture of hiº, 3.5, a. Various readings admitted, as preferable to the common, 18, c. 46, i. 60, c. 82, a. 99, f. 7, b. iii.; "33%, hi. 35'ſ, i. 3., f iſz, i. ºff, d. 446, g. sometimes only hinted at, 19, g. 32, R. 33, a. a-- 81, p. § g. 102, d. 107, b. 139, g, h. 144 t" f 774, f. 793, b. " . . . • Transpositions - "ows, superstition of the Jews with regard to Ajänne and Mr. Whiston, imprºpable, §§; d. Veil on the Jews when the Old Testament is read, them, 156, g. vowing to Jeave something, to the why sometimes allowable, 176, a. 322, d. 334, a. 18- the gospel veiled in like manner to those that ign.je treasury, what it might oſten be, ib. Paul no consistent harmony to be made, if no transpo- perish, 619, c. shaves his head in performance of a vow, 452,.a. sition be admitted, 301, h. where none needful, Venerable christians. should endeavour to make joins with four ºthers under a vow, to purify 241, c. 382, b. 439, b. - - themselves so, 713, f. , , Transubstantiation, remark on it, 300, c. , Verb, sometimes joined with two nouns, 25, c. Treachery to Christ not to be concealed from his Perily, rorily, &c. force of it, 52, g. 95, h. s eye, i55. - - Versiºn, may sometimes he exagº, where, not lite- Treasure, where to be laid up, 85, 202 folly of ral, 23, d. 40, b. 68, b. I 1, f. 138, f. 151, g. 157. 7 U. Cle - - - 4. Veil of the temple rent, 339, reflection on it, ib.m. in the gospels, as supposed by Mr. how Christ's flesh resembles it,818, c. himself, 465, e. 466, h., remark theréon, 465, e. Jews bind themselves neither to eat or drink till they had killed Paul, 472. such vows usual with them, 473, k, mariniers made vows in times of extremity, 488, d. - Upper room, where the disciples assembled, con- º, ré on it, 364, d. 368, a. * Uprightness, what a security against, 181. ever upright man will see and own the gospel, 180, b. Usher, (Archbishop,) remark of his, 418, g. W GENERAL INDEX. wine, 371. Peter's answer, ib. l. no new wine at Pentecost, ib. k. excess said to be in it, 693, c. See Pine. º - Wine and oil, used in dressing wounds, 193, k. Wine mingled with myrrh, given to Čhrist upon *i. º 335. different from the vinegar and 3 II, to. C. - Wisdom justified of her children, 112. Compared to jewels, 128, g. the wisdom of God hath said, how to be understood, 197, i. . . Wisdom of words, what kind of writing the apostle disclaimed under that notion, 557, and note a. 58, e. 560, c, how it would rénder the cross of Christ vain, 555, b. word of wisdom and know: ledge, what, 590, e. 625; d. wisdom of Gqd made known to principalities by the church, 633, i. wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, distinguished, 719, g Wise. See Prudence, and Serpents. Wise men, how may be rendered, 35, a. were Gen- tile Pºpº ib., might come from , Arabia, ib. b. called JMagi, ib. a. how they might know the meaning of the star they saw, ib. c. inquire after Christ, 35. informed he should be born at Bethlehem, 36. guided by the star to the house where he was, ib., probably surprised at his mean appearance, ib. n. ſº homage to him, ib. o, their prostrations, what they probably, ex- pressed, 37, s. return home another way, ib. r. where their report might afterwards make way for the gospel, ib. g. uncertainty of the time of their visit, 35, p. , n. 38, g. Witchcraft, one of the works ºf the flesh, 665, c. Withered hand restored by Christ, 100. wither- ed, wait for a cure at the pool of Bethesda, Witness, Christ did not only bear witness of him- self, but John bare witness of him, 97. had a greater witness still in the miracles he wrought. ih. 232, 233, 308,372, a. and in his Father's tes: timony of him, 97. the scriptures also testified of him, ib. See Testimony. Witnesses, two or three establish, a matter, 174. apostles should be witnesses to Christ, 361, an note g. 363. See Resurrection of Christ. As the apostles were his witnesses, so was the Holy Spirit also, 3S6, e. Paul commissioned to be a witness to the Jews and Gentiles, 405, 483, i. and by the help of God, continued testifying, that Christ, should suffer, &c. 483, the two men- tioned in the Revelation, who, 924, b, what is meant by their revival after three days and a half, 925, i. - - Vitsius, Qbservations of his, 39, o, 261, g. 397, n. - - - , f. 4.1.2, l. 4RS2, h. Wives, an honourable subsistence is to be allowed them, 859, d. Woe to the rich, the full, the gay, and the applaud- ed, 104. to the impenitent cities, 112, 178. to the world, 172, 220. to the scribes and Pharisees, 7, 275. to the lawyers, 197, 198, 276, to them, that are with child, or give suck, 2S1. to him by whom the Son of man is betrayed, Wolfius, his remarks and observations, 173, l. 231, b. 237, b. 370, c. 389, l. 399, c. Woltzogenius, observations of his, 221; b. 432, a. Wolves, false prophets ravening wolves, SS, k. disciples sent forth, as sheep among wolves, 140, a. I77. hireling leaves the sheep to the wolf, 231. Paul warns the Ephesians, that grievous wolves will come in, 462. PPoman, a title of respect, 53, d. 338, c. Jews reckoned it scandalous to talk publicly with a YVOman, 0.0, a. Woman hearing Christ, exclaims, how happy was his mother, 119. remark the reon, ib. e. Woman in labour, forgets her sorrow when her child is born, 310. - Woman of Canaan, cries to Jesus, to cast a da mon Qut of her daughter, 158. who commends her faith, 159. Woman of Samaria, her conversation with Jesus, ; and note l. 65. calls the men of the city to | 1 m, 0.9. Wºman that was crooked cured by Jesus, 206, - and note f. 136. remark thereon, ib. 137. Woman that was a sinner, who supposed to be, 1 16, b. 241, b. her anointing Christ at the Phari. see's hºuse, different from Mary's anointing him at Bethany, J 14, a Pharisee offended that he should let so vile a singer touch him, I 14. Christ Yindicates her, 75. her many sins forgiven, there- fore she loved injeh, 115, k. W95)&n, attend, Christ in his progress through Galilee, 116. his conceru for their encourage. ment, 122, h, bewail him, as he was going to be crucified: 334. stand at a distance, mud behold his crucifixion, 341. their zeal for him, an honour to the Sºx, 341, a. provide spices to embalm his body, 342, 345, b. set out for the sepulchre, ii. d. find the stone rolled away, 346, seem to have staid at some distance till Mlary had called Peter and John, ib., i. how it might happen, that they gift not see Jesus, when he appeared to Mary, 47, o. coins to the sepulchre about sun-rising. and, go in, 3 Q, a. seeing two angels there, draw: back to the door, ill. b, c, are told that Jesus was risen, 349, c, and as they were running to the Apostles with the news, meet him, 350 tº]] ali these things to the disciples, i5. m. opinion of their report, ih. 353, e. continue with i. disci- pſes in prayer, 368. women concerned in perse— gu:i9n, 429, g. Paul preaches to the women at Philippi, 440; not a few of the principai at Thessalonica believe, 445. and likewise at Beroea ib, gifts of the Spirit sometimes communicate to Women, 464. ought to have power on their heads, 586, b. employed in some office in the ŽU) / . Woman with a ſlux of blood cured by him, 135, 997 church, 764, h. aboured in, the §º 714,. b. and sometimes spake in public, by inspiration, 585, but were nºt in commºn allowed to speak in the church, 598, 757. shall be saved by child- birth, 758, n. s - Woodward, Dr., remark of his, 285, as Woolston, ſº, his observations, 37, d. 93, g. Word was God, what a declaration of 18, b., was made flesh, &c. description contained in it, 19, in, n. Christ referred to under this title of th: ord, or Logos, 17, d. 262, b. 462, o. - Word of God, happiness of those that keep it, 119. how some would understand it, 97, d. where re- ceived with in attention, ºickly lost, 124. ma be received with }*. by such as afterwards fail away, ib. choked by worldly cares, 125, b. where retained, brings forth fruit, 125. our con- cern should be to profit by it, ib. many thing: ready to prevent our fruitfulness, ib. power, of it, where it prevails, ib, Ephesians commende to God and the word of his grace, 462. e Word of Christ with power, and not as the scribes, 71, 73,89, f, his words admired by all, 69, l. 183, g. we should receive them with delight and thank fulness, 184. word he spake not his, 304. those that keep it, never to see death, 190, b. its sºng: tifying influence on the heart,306. should be at- tended to to make us clean; b. his words spirit and life, 153. good effects of their abiding in us 4...if any hear them and believe not, the wor shall judge him, 262, b. inference drawn there- from, ib. heaven and earth shall pass away, but not his word, 284. gospel to be preached, as the words of this life, 385. word which God sent to Israel by Jesus Čirist how to be understood. 13, d. 414. a saying of Christ preserved by tra- dition, 462, q, Word of wisdom and knowledge, what, 590, e. § ... of God, living and efficacious, wiiat, 8.5 p. - Wörås discover the man, 106, l 18, 119. to be justi- fied or condemned by them, 119, c. every idle word to be accounted for, 118, b. unprofitable talk, ib. inference drawn therefºom, ib. .. Words, used in the same connexion in different senses, 543, a. 588, o. º - Workers of iniquity to be disowned by Christ, 89, 209. ºiſ, be thrown into despair, when thrust Out, lb. * - Working the works of God, Jews inquire how #. may do it, 151. Works of the law, some would render & spy cer vop, 8, Rom. iii. 20. by the law of works, 506, b. and grace opposed to one another, 532, c. World, God’s love to it, 59. Christ câme, not to çondemn, but to save it, ib. 262. knew him not, 18, f hated him, 179. cannot hate those who are FQverned by it, b. e. Christ not of this world, 187, should not be surprised at ill usage from it, 141. why cannot receive the Spirit of truth, 304. his disciples hated of the world, 307, 314. no Yvonder it hated them, 307, d. should have tribu- lation in it, 311. cares of it ought not to prevent our pious mºditations, 138. mced of guarding against it, 239. love of it dangerous, 56,263. force Qf worldly interest, J7]... gain of it, what like, 202, f, no amends for the loss of the soul, Jó5, f. Christ prays not for the world,313. nor that those whom the Father had given him should be taken out of its 314, their union prayed for, that the world might know the Father had sent him, ii. * , appstles charged with turning the world up- side down, 445. remark thereon, 446. their coß- § of the world, 461, d. §§§ thought the World was to he at an end when Jerusalem v.;s destroyed, 279, d. World, this, atav gros, 558, f, g, atov evss-ag, 647, d. what is meant by the world being crucified to us, &c. 669., the fiendship of the world enmity against God, 845, and note f. what love of it for- bidden, 878, and note d. worlds adjusted by the word of God, 821, c. world to come made subject to Christ, 800, d. World, or ages to come, what it sometimes tofors to, l 17, q. Shall mercrbc forgiven, &c. how to be understood, ib. Worldly elements, why the Jewish ritual called so, PP'orin merer dies, sense of it, 179, i. remark there- Cºn, 70. Wºrship, the place of it indifferent, 64. ill effects 9f contendini for the forms of it, 158. Worship, what it often signifies, 35, d. 413, a. \\rangling discouraged, 767, c. 775, c. Wrath, what it is to give place to it, 53S, d. of met) docs not promote the cause of religion, 839, and note e. to be guarded against in prayer, (9/ > g. - Wright, Dr., remark of his, 2S0, m. Writing on the ground with his finger, what Christ Inight intend by it, JS5, d. Wrong to be suffered rather than contend, S2. Pºrought in God, how to be understood, §§, k. Y Wake, (Archbishop,) observation of his, 383, a. Walking on the sea, what, 149. done by Christ, ib. Peter attempting it, ready to sink, ib. g. Walking, Inetaphor taking from it expresses several things in respect to religion, 843, b. Wall of separation, or chel, 681, g. Wallis, Dr., observation of his, 353, d. Wºon, Mr., his remarks, 190, e. 280, k. JU, ll. - Ward, Alr., observation of his, 467, a. Wars, and rumours of wars, preceded the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, 279, g. - Washing the feet, a service performed by Christ, 395. reſlection thereon, ib. li., i. Washing the hands, how used, 333, n. * - e. Washing their hands before meals, a tradition of the ºlders, 155. ridigulous height to which it was carried, ib. c. , practised among other nations, ib. the disciples blatned for neglecting it, ib. wonder Christ should omit it, 196. - Washing of pots and cups, &c. required by the Jewish traditious, 155. observed by the Pharisees, J5ö, 196,276. - Washing of water, to what it alludes, 695, b. Wusse, Mr., his remarks, 102, d. 164, c. 340, q. Watches of the night, 149, d. 202, e. Witchfulness, why urged as the duty of all, 202, 236. to watch ºf »rily, that we may stand before the Son of man, 285, e. disciples cxhorted to watch, and pray, 317, 318. Christ expostulates with them for not watching with him one hour, 317. reflection thereon, 376, c. - - Water, turned into wine, 54. remark thereon, ib. k. why provided at entertainments, 115, f, . g. living water offered to the woman of Samaria, Water-pots at the marriage-feast, how much they contained, 54, k. why Christ might choose to make use of them, ib. i. - Watts, Dr., observations of his, 113, l. 127, a. 4, e. Way' of life not easily changed, 134. Christ the true Way to everlasting life, 302, i. . . . Weather, the Jews' skill in prognosticating it, 161, Wedding-garment, intent of it in the parable, 268, want of it followed with speechless confusion, Well done, good and faithful servant, force of it, S8, b. * Wells, Dr., his conjectures and remarks, 407, h. SX2, C. Wellwood, Dr., his remarks, 448, l. What hast thou to do with me, how spoken by Christ, 53, e. . . - - Whiston, \fr. bis observations, 33, b. 55, a. 63, a. 7, a. ; d. 71, k. 72, as 90, g., 130, as 16S, a. 208, as 226, a. 252, a. 253, i. 256, c. 262, a. 34S, S. 361, h. 378, g. 397, i... . . Whitby, Dr., remarks of his, 19, l. 28, e. 43, d. §.'65. 78."...si.e."; f. i03, b. 1. . 114, u. 117, p, r. 151, g. 163, d. . .297, n. 316, 8, c. 400; a. In q. 139, g. 145, 168, a 204,3: 240; c. 266, h., 286, 4. ++ . 445, e. 457, b. 325, h; 340, 9:- , d. , ºl. 411, c. 418, k. 425, h. 429, a. 442, & 183, d. - - White robes, magnificent, 85, i. White rajment, what the promise of it imports, 910, f... Stone with a new name, &c. what, 90S, h, i. throne, why the judgment-seat so repre- sented, 942, h. "hole world and whole creation, all those parts , which had not received christianity, 8S9, e Yºke; shall be separated from the rightcous, J35, 128, 28S, 289. will be condemned for negº lecting Christ, 290. answer they are said to make, what it may imply, ib. g. their punish- ment everlasting, 290. Widow casts in two mites, 278, importunate widow, See Importunate. -- - Widows’ houses, devoured by the Pharisees, 275. idows, made deaconesses, 764, novy the younger widows were in danger of growing wanton against Christ, ib. Wilderness or desert, a general name for unculti- Yated ground, 214, b. why John might live in the wilderness of jujealºé, whº ñº. the voice of one crying in the wilderness, -1}, 42, 49. and began to preach there, 41, what they yent out to see there, l l I, , wilderness where Christ was tempted, probably near Jordan, 47, a remark on the horror of it, 48, m. wild beasts there offered him no injury, º, b. was the scene Qf the parable of the good Samaritan, ib., a, 192, d. Christ goes into a desert place, 75, withdraws into the , wilderness, 90. retires to the desert of Bethsaida, 146. people follow him, ib, disciples take notice it was a desert place, 147. Jesus feeds 5000, there, ib. pities the multitude, who had staid with him three days, 160. miraculously feeds 4000 of them, ih, retires into the country near the wilderness, 245, disciples warned against {Qing after a Messiah into the wilderness, 282. Philip sent into the desert, 402, b. Wilkins, (Bishop,) observation of his, 274, h. Kill be done, sense of it, 83, J. will of Christ not distinct from the Father's, 96, . 152. Windows of the ancients had no glass, 460, h. Wine, disciples reproached as filled with sweet Yoke, what often used for, 113, m. Yoke of Christ easy, J 13, m. Young, ones should havo allowances made, 134. our hopes often disappointed in those that are promising, 239. - Qung man fºllows Jesus as they led him from , the garden, . Young ruler comes to Christ, and asks the way to 9ternal life, 237, and notes e and f remark thercon, ib. g. i). Arthur,) his observations, 164, d. 280, oung, ( T]. y e - Youthful passions, what, 776, and note b - - - |) l, h 998 Z Zaccheus, a Jew, 249, g. and chief of the publi- cans, 249. gets up into a sycamore to see Jesus, i}, who calls him down, and goes to his house, ib. people murmur at it, ib. d. Jesus owns him for a true son of Abraham, ib. reflection on his curi, sity to see Jesus, 250. Zacharias, his character, 20. one of the ordinary priests, ib. c. probably dwelt at Hebron, 23, a. angel tells him his prayer is heard, 20, d. and GENERAL INDEX. that he should have a son, 21. he desires a sign of it, ib., is struck dumb, ib. people wonder at his tarrying in the temple, ib. i. find him deaf and dumb when he came out, ib. k. he returns home, 21, signifies in writing that, his child's name should be John, 25, recovers his speech, ib. re- mark on his song of praise, ib. c. when probably died, 50, c. 277, g. - - Zeal, how to be regulated, 56. zeal for circumstan- tials, when of dangerous consequence, 158, 277. zeal for human inventions, wrong placed, 156. is good in a good thing, 666, i. Zeal of Christ, 55 65, 66, 74, d. 104, 109, C, d. 292, - 315, a. his friends fºr restraining it, 10 Zeal of the apostles, 381. Zoal of Paul, 447, a. 460, k 492. Zebedee left, by his two sons, 71. See James. Zechariah slain, 197, k. 277. conjectures thereon, 3 vs x 8. . . Zegerus, his remarks, 102, g. 118, a. 205, a. e!otes, meaning of it, 3. 8. - Zeltnerus, conjecture of his, 332, m. . Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, probably differ- ent from the son of Pedaiah, 29, k. A T A B L E FOR THE MORE READY FINDING ANY VERSE OF THE EVANGELISTS IN THE HARMONY. N. B. The verses between those inserted in this TABLE follow each other in the same SECTION, and begin at the PAGE referred to. Thus, in MATT. chap. I. the verses from verse 1, to verse 17, are in sect. ix. and begin at page 28. And then from verse 18, to verse 25, which ends the chapter, they are in sect. viii. and begin at page 27 MATTHEW. CHA.P. YERSE SECT, PAGE ||CHAP. YERSE SECT . PAGE CHAP. W .E.R.3E SECT PAGE ||CHAP. YERSE SECT P.A. G.E. I. 1—17 ix. 28 || XI. lvii. 109 || XVIII. 10–20 | xciv I73 || XXVI. 17–20 clxviii 292 25 viii. 27 7—19 lyiii. Ill 21—35 | xcv. 175 21—25 clxx. 296 II. 1–12 | xii. 35 2 Iix. I12 || XIX. 1–12 | cz.xxv. 2:34 26–30 clxxii. 300 13–23 | xiii. 37 || XII. 1—8 | xlix. 98 13–15 cxxxvi 236 31—35 clz.xxi. 315 III. 1–6 | xv. 41 9—15 1. 100 || 16–30 | c.xxxvii 237 36–46 cłxxxii 316 7– XVI. 42 15–21 li. IQ1 | XX. l—16 cxxxviii 239 47–56 clxxxiii 31S 13—17 | xyiii. 45 22–32 lxi. , 116 17–28 cxlii, 246 57, 58 cINxxiv. 321 IV. l—II | xix. 47 33–37 lxii; ll& * 29–34 |. cxliii 248 59–68 clxxxy 323 XXXI:. 67 38–43 || |xiii. 119 || XXI. 1–3 | cxlvi 254 * Ö9–75 clxxxiv. 321 13–22 xxxiii. 70 46—50 lxiv. I21 4, 5 — || XXVII. 1, CIxxxvi 3:26 23–25 | xxxvi, 74 || XIII. I—17 | IXv, I22 6–8 sºme 3–10 | cyciii. 343 V. 1—16 xxxvii. 76 18—23 lxvi. 124 9 - - - 11 | clzXxvi 326 17—26 xxxyiii. 78 24–30 lxvii. 125 10—16 cxlvii. 256 12–14 * * *- 7–48 | xxxix. 80 31–35 lxviii. 127 17 cxlviii. 258 15–18 clzXxvii. 32S VI. 1—18 || xl. 82 36–4 Xvil: 125 18, 19 cylix 260 19 clxxxviii. 330 19—34 | xli. 84 44–53 || |xviii. 127 20–32 | cli. 263 20–23 clxxxvii. 32S VII. l—20 | xlii. 86 54–58 bºxiii. 137 33—46 || clii. 265 24–26 | clvskviii. 330 21–29 | xliii. 89 || XIV. 1, 2 lxxvii. 144 || XXIl. l—14 | cliii. 267 27–30 — *- VIII. 1–4 | xliv. 90 XXVIII. G2 15–22 || cliv. 269 31 5–13 lv. 107 6—12 || |xxvii. 144 23–33 clv. 270 32—34 | clxxxix. 334 14, 15 | xxxv. 73 13–33 || |xxyiii. 146 ge “g y= 34–46 clvi. 272 5–37 cxc. 3.36 16, 17 | xxxvi. 74 24–36 lxxix. 148 || XXIII. 1–22 clvii. 274 38 clxxxix. 334 18–27 | lxix. I29 || XV. 1–9 lxxxiii. 153 || - Cl V’ll I. 276 39—44 cxc, 336 28–34 lxx. I30 10–20 lxxxiv. 157 || XXIV. 1–14 | clz, 278 45—54 cxci, 33S IX I * 21— Exxxv. 153 15–28 clxi. 281 55—61 cxcii 341 2–9 | xlv. 91 3 Xxxvi; 159 36 clxii. 2S3 62–66 cxciii 343 10–17 | Ixxi. 133 || XVI. 1–12 || |xxxvii, 161 37–51 | clviii. 285 || XXVIII. 1–4 | cyciv 345 18–34 lxxii. l34 13–20 || |xxxyiii. 162 || XXV, 1—13 clxiv. 2S6 5–10 | cxcv. 349 35–38 || |xxiii. 137 21–28 lxxxix. 164 4—30 clxv. 2S 11—15 cxcvi 351 X. 1—15 lxxiv. 138 || XVII. 1—13 | xc, 166 * I—46 | clzvi 2S9 16–20 ccii. 360 16–23 lxxv, 140 14–21 | xci: 168 || XXVI. 1–5 | clxvii 291 29–42 lxxvi. l- 22–27 | xcji, 170 6—13 | cxlv. 252 XI. — it XVIII. 1–9 | xciii. I7] 14–16 clxvii 291 MARK. CHAP. W ERSE SECT, PAGE || CHAP. YERSE SECT. PAGE || CHAP. WERSE SECT. PA GE || C H A P. YERS E SECT. PA G 5 I. *::: XV. 41 || VI. #13; lxxvii. 144 || XI. }} §§ §§ XY. 66–7, º; 321 - 3. - ... . *T*a*, *. - CX IV* I I, jS XV. clxxxvi. 3.26 7,8 xvi. 42 39–$3 || |xxyiii 146 13–14 | c.N lix. 260 2 — 395 9–11 | xyiii. 45 47–56 lxxix 148 15–19 cl. 262 3 *T*--— || – 12, 13 | xix. 47 || VII. 1–5 | lxxxiii 155 20–33 cli. 26. 6–14 | clºxxvii. 39S ... 14, 15 | xxxi. 67 — || XIl l * - * 15 clxxxviii. 33) 16—20 | xxxiii. 70 9–13 = --- 1–12 | clii. 265 16–19 * 21–31 | xxxv. 73 14–23 lxxxiv. 157 13–17 | cliv. 969 20 — I — 32—39 | xxxvi. 74 24–37 lxxxv. 15S 18–27 | clv. 270 31—23 | clxxxix. 3.34 —45 | xliv 90 || VIII 1—10 lxxxvi J59 28–34 | clvi. 272 24 | cyc. 336 II. 1–14 | xlv. 9] 11—21 lxxxvii 161 34 — *-me 25 clz.xxix. 33-4 15–22 lxxi. 133 22—30 lxxxyiii 162 35–37 l — * * 26 cyc. 336 23–28 xlix. 98 * 31—38 lxxxix. 16-1 38–40 | clvii. 97.4 27, 28 clyxxix. 334 III. 1–7 : 100 PX. ! --ms- - * 41–44 | clix. 277 32 | c.Nc. 336 7–12 i. 101 2–13 Xc. I66 || XIII. 1–13 clx, 278 33–39 cxci. 338 13—19 lii, 102 14–29 |xci. I68 14–23 ciyi. 2S] 40–47 | cxcii 341 19—21 lvi. 108 30–33 xcii I70 24–32 clxii. 2S3 || XVI. l, 2 | c.Nciv 345 22–30 | xi. 1J 6 33–37 | xciii 17| 33—37 clxiii 2S5 2 cxcy 349 1—35 lxiv. 121 38–41 | xcy 176 || XIV. 1, 2 clxvii 291 3 | cxciv 345 - XVI:. & , 2 | CXXXV. * 3 CIXVI I * * * * * * • 26–34 || |xyiii. 127 3–5 * 12–17 | cly viii 292 3 exey 349 g 35–41 lxix. 129 6–9 * 18–21 clxx. 296 10, 11 *=s V. 1–21 | xx. 130 IQ–12 * 22–26 || clzxii 30 12, 13 cxcvi 351 —43 bºxii: 134 13–16 cxxxvi, 236 27–31 || clºxxi. 3] 14 | czcviii 355 VI. 1–6 lxxiii. 137 '' cxxxvii. 237 32—42 | clxxxii 316 15–18 ccii. 360 7-11 | xxiv. 138 32—3p 246 43—52 clxxxiii 3.18 19, 20 cciii. 363 12, 13 || |xxvi, 149 46–52 cxlulu. 248 53, 54 | clxxxiv. 321 14–16 lxxvii. 144 || X]. 1–10 ! cylvi. 254 5–65 clxxxv. 323 LUKE. STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. CHA P. WERSE SECT. PAGE || CHAP. YERSE SECT. PA GE || CHAP. YERSE SECT, PAGE || CHAP. YERSE | SECT. PAGI2 I. 1–4 i. 17 || VIII. 11—18 bºyi. 124 || XIII. 10–22 cxvii. 206 || XXII. 23 clxx. 296 5—25 | iii. 20. 19—21 lxiv 121 cxy111. 208 24 | clxix. 294 26–38 iv. 22 22 lxix 129 || XIV. 1–14 l cxix. 210 25–27 -* 39—36 v. 23 22–25 - 15–24 | cxx. 211 28–30 clxx, 296 57–66 vi. 25 26–40 lxx, 130 25–35 cxxi. 212 31–34 | clzxi. 298 67–80 vii. - 41–56 l lxxii. 134 || XV. 1–10 | cKxii; 213 35–38 cłxxiii. 30]. ll. 1—21 | x: 30 || IX. 1–5 || |xxiv. 138 11–32 cxxiii. 214 39 clxxxi. 315 22—39 | xi. 33 6 lxxvi. 142 | XVI. 1—18 cxxiv. 217 40–46 clxxxii; 316 40–52 | xiv. 39 7–9 || |xxvii. 144 19—31 cxxv, 219 47–53 clxxxiii. 3.18 III. 1–6 | xy: 41 10—17 || |xxviii. 146 || XVII. 1—11 cxxvi. 220 54—62 | clxxxiv. 321 7–18 xvi... 42 18–21 lxxxyiii 162 12—19 || cxxvii: 222 63–65 clxxxv. 323 , 20 | xxyiii 62 22–27 lxxxix 164 20–37 cxxyiii. 223 66–71 — | – 21–23 xviii. 45 28–36 | xc, 166 || XVIII. , 1–14 cxxix. 225 || XXIII. 1–4 | clxxxvi. 326 1X. 28 37–43 | xci. 168 15–17 cxxxvi, 236 5—17 | clxxxvii. 328 IV. 1–4 | xix. 47 43–45 | xcii, 170 18–30 cxxxvii. 237 18 — i — 5–8 - 46–48 |xciii. 171 31–34 | cxlii: 246 19 -*. 9–13 - 49, 50 | xcvi. 176 * cxliii. 248 20–23 —- || - 1. * - - 51–56 cxxvii 222 | XIX. 1—10 - - 24, 25 | clxxxyiii. 330 14–30 | xxxii. 68 57–62 1X. 129 11—28 cxliv. 250 26–31 | clxxxix. 334 31, 32 | xxxiii 70 || X. 1—16 | xeyii 177 Q cxlvi. 254 32 — — 33–39 xxxv. 73 17–24 | cvi. 191 41–48 cºlvii. 256 33,34 - xxxy1. 74 25–37 cvij 192 || XX. 1–9 || cli. 263 34 | czc. 336 V. 1—ll xxxiv. 7I 38–42 cyiii. 193 9—19 clii. 265 35–37 -*. 16 | xliv, 90 || XI. 1–13 cis. 194 20–26 cliv. 269 38 wº- 17–28 xlv. 91 14, 15 lxi. 116 27—40 clv; 270 39—43 — | - 9 lxxi 133 16 || |xiii 119 41–44 clvi, 272 44 | cxci. 338 VI. 1–5 | xlix. 98 17–23 lxi. 116 45–47 clyii. 274 45 | — — 6—ll | 1. 100 24–26 lxiii. II9 || XXI. 1–4 | clix. 277 46 -* 12–19 lii. I02 27, 28 lxii, 118 5—19 || clz. 278 47, 48 - - -* 20–35 | liii. 104 *29–32 || |xiii. 119 20–24 | clxi. 281 49–56 cxcii. 341 37–49 liv. 105 33–36 lxiv. 121 pº cłxll: 283 || XXIV. l, 2 | cxciv. 345 VII. 1–10 lv. 107 37—54 cx, 196 6 clxiii. 285 3–ji &cy. 349 11–17 | Ivi. ió8 || XII. 1–12 cxi. 198 37, 38 clxvii. 291 12 cxciv, 345 18–23 lvii 109 13–21 cxii. 200 || XXII. 1–6 - - - -* 13–33 cxcvii. 352 24–35 | }viii. 111 22–34 | cxiii. 201 7–18 clxviii. 292 33–43 cxcviii. 355 36—50 | lx. 114 35—48 cxiv. 202 19, 20 clxxii. 300 44–49 ccii; 360 VIIL 1–3 lxi. 116 49–59 cxv, 204 21 | clzx. 6 50–53 | coiii. 363 4–10 l lxv TÉ || XIII. 1–9 l cxvi. 205 - JOHN. CHAP. YERSE SECT . PAGE II CHAP. YERSIE sEct. PAGE || C H.A.P. VERSE SECT. PAGE || CHAP. YERSE SECT, PAGI - ii. 18 || VII, 1–13 | xcviii. 179 || XII. 20–36 cxlviii. 258 || XVIII. A 24 clxxxiv. 321 I. 1.Tiš xvii. 44 14–24 l xcix. 180 37–43 cxlix. 260 25–27 - 19—% XX. 49 25–36 | c. I81 44–50 cl. ..., 262 28 || clz.xxv. 29—42 | xxi. 50 37–53 ci. 182 || XIII. 1 clºyiii. 292 C! AxxWI 32% 43—51 | xxii. 52 || VIII. —ll cii. 184 2 cłxix. 294 39, 40 clxxxvii, 328 II. l—ll | xxiii 53 12–29 ciii. I86 2 || clxx. 296 || XIX. 1–16 clxxxyiii. 330 12–25 | xxiv. 55 30–47 civ. 188 3–17 clxix. 2.94 16–18 clxxxix. 334 IIL. 1–10 | XXV. 56 48–59 cv. 189 18–30 clxx: 296 19–22 cxc. 33( 11—21 | xxvi 58 || IX. l—23 cxxx; 226 31–38 clzxi. 298 23, 24 —- º 6 Xxvii 60 24–38 cxxxi. 228 || XIV. l—14 | clzxiii. 301 0 cxci: 338 IV 2—26 | xxix. 63 39—41 cxxxii. 229 15–31 || clzxiv. 303 31–42 cxcii. 341 º 27–42 | XXX. 65 || X. 1—10 - — li XV. 1—ll clxXV: 305 || XX. 1–17 | cxciv 345 43–54 | xxxi. 67 11—21 cxxxiii. 231 12–27 clxxvi. 307 18 cxcv 349 V 1–16 | xlvi. 93 2 I CXXXIV. 232 XVI. I—15 Clxxvil: 308 19–23 cxcyiii 355 º 17–30 | xlvii. 95 || XI. 1–16 l cxxxix. 241 clxxyiii. 310 24–29 cxcix 335 31–47 | xlviii. 96 17—46 cxl: - 242 | XVII. 1–12 | ClkXiX. 312 30, 31 || coiii. 36& VL I–15 lxxviii. 146 47–57 cxli. 243 3–36 clxxx; 314 || XXI. 1–14 || CC: § 16–21 lxxix 148 || XII. l—11 cxlv. 252 | XVIII. 1 CixXXI . 315 15–24 | cois 33; 22–40 || |xXX. 151 12 cxlvi 254 2–12 Cixxxiii. 3.18 - CC111 36: 41–58 lxxxi. 152 12, 13 - 13–18 Clxxxiv. 321 59–71 l lxxxii. 154 14–19 - 19– clxxxv. 324 THE END. --→→→→→’ №ſă! Ķ¿¿?: | }$ ?)((\ ș| ■ |\ ſº IĘŹ№{}{}S{}}ſae!ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ， O | ||№/Q|} }{4} ©Q @@. §§§ § ãº. Nº J) 9.SS) N} § Q C. % Q t | || № ( GOXGOG) º Q ſ %) GOCŞ 2 Fº § §). F A MII L Y R. E. CO R. TX. MiáMJBIRLI&AGP. 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